Cardenal Newman Sermons Tom 1

PAROCHIAL SERMONS,
SPRING QUARTER,
THE WEEKS BETWEEN THE FIRST SUNDAY
IN
LENT
AND TRINITY SUNDAY.
VOL.
VI.
JOHN HENRY NEWMAN,

FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE.
B.D.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON:
FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON,
ST.
Paul's church yard,
and Waterloo place
&
J.
H.
PARKER, OXFORD.
1845.
OILBERT AND RIVINOTON, PRINTERS, ST. John's square.
9091
ADVERTISEMENT.
The Spring Quarter may
fitly
be called the Sacra-
mental, from the series of Feasts and Seasons which

it
comprises,
it
and the character of the doctrines
which
it
commemorates.
The
subjects then
which
introduces to our meditation are naturally of a

;
theological cast
but as
it
has been the wish of the
Author, in his foregoing volumes, to
make
his Ser-
mons, for the most

also, as far as
part,
bear upon conduct, so here
was consistent with reverence towards
the sacred events under review, he has selected such

as either are altogether ethical
and
practical, or
aim
at suggesting
advice,
or
removing perplexity, in
Trinity
matters of duty.
strictly
Though
fall
Sunday does
not,
speaking,
within the Quarter, he has

it
thought he might be allowed to include

course.
in this
Oeiel College,
Quinquagesima, 1842.
a2
CONTENTS.
SERMON
(Lent.)
I.
FASTING A SOURCE OF TRIAL.
Matt.
iv. 2.
PA6B
And when He had
fasted forty days
and
forty nights.
He was
1
afterward an hungered
SERMON
LIFE
II.
THE SEASON OF REPENTANCE.
Gen,
xxvii. 34.
And when Esau

me, even me
heard the words of his father, he cried with a
great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father. Bless
also,
O my
father
17
SERMON
(Lent.)
1
III.
APOSTOLIC ABSTINENCE A PATTERN FOR CHRISTIANS.
Tim.
v. 23.
little
Drink no longer water, but use a

sake,
wine
for thy
stomach's
and thine often
infirmities
29
vi
CONTENIS.
SERMON
IV.
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS A MEDITATION FOR CHRISTIANS.

(Lent.)
2 CoH. vhi. 9.
PAOB
Ye know
was
the grace of our
Lord Jesus
Christ, that,
though
He
43
rich, yet for
your sakes
He became
poor, that ye through
His poverty might be rich
SERMON
CHRIST,
(Lent.)
V.
THE SON OF GOD MADE MAN.

Heb.
ix. 11.
Christ being come, an

greater
is
High
Priest of
good things to come, by a

58
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that
to say, not of this building
SERMON
THE INCARNATE
SON,
(Lent.)
VI.
A SUFFERER AND SACRIFICE.
Phil.
ii.
8.
Being found
in
fashion as a man.
He humbled
Himself, and
.
became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.
75
SERMON
(Lent.)
VII.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST THE MEASURE OF THE WORLD.

John
xii.
32.
all
And
I, if I
be Ufted up from the earth, will draw
men unto Me.
91
CONTENTS.
SERMON
VIII.
DIFFICULTY OF REALIZING SACRED PRIVILEGES.

(Easter.)
PsALH
This
is
cxviii. 24.
PAGB
the
Day which
the Lord hath made,
we
will rejoice
and be
103
glad in
it
SERMON
IX.
THE GOSPEL SIGN ADDRESSED TO FAITH.

(Easter.)
Matt.
xii.
38.
Then
certain of the Scribes
Master,
we would
see a Sign from
and of the Pharisees answered, saying. 115 Thee
SERMON
(Easter.)
X.
IN
THE SPIRITUAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST
THE CHURCH.
John
xvi. 16.
little
while and ye shall not see

I
Me, and again
little
while and
131
ye shall see Me, because
go to the Father
SERMON
(Easter.)
XI.
THE EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE.

John
This
is
vi. 50.
the Bread which cometh

eat thereof
down from
heaven, that a
man
148
may
and not
die
Tiu
CONTENTS.
SERMON
XII.
FAITH THE TITLE FOR JUSTIFICATION.

(Easter.)
Matt.
viii.
11.
PAGE
Many
shall
come from the

Isaac,
east
and west, and

in the
shall sit
down
with
.
Abraham, and
and Jacob,
kingdom of heaven.
16C
SERMON
XIII.
JUDAISM OF THE PRESENT DAY.

(Easter.)
Hbb.
These
all
xi. 13.
died in faith,
not having received the promises, but

off,
having seen them afar
and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and

pilgrims on the earth.
189
SERMON
XIV.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE APOSTLES.

(Easter.)
Mark
ix. 38, 39.
And John answered Him, saying. Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy Name, and he foUoweth not us and we forbad
;
him, because he followeth not us.

not ; for there
is
But Jesus
said.
Forbid him
no man which
shall
do a miracle in
My Name,
207
that can lightly speak evil of
Me
SERMON
RISING
XV.
WITH CHRIST.
ill.
(Ascension.)
Col.
If ye then
3.
be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,

sitteth
where Christ
on the
right
hand of God. on the
Set your affec-
tion on things above, not on things
earth.
For ye are
226
dead, and your
life is
hid with Christ in
God
CONTENTS.
SERMON
XVI.
WARFARE THE CONDITION OF VICTORY.

(Ascension.)
Luke
And
xxiv. 52, 53.
PAGE
they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great
:
joy
and were continually
in the
Temple, praising and hiessing
God.
Amen.
"
.
240
SERMON
XVII.
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

(Ascension.)
Rev.
xxii. 20.
He who
Amen.
testifieth
these things,
saith.
Surely
come
quickly.
Even
so,
come, Lord Jesus
254
SERMON
SUBJECTION
XVIII.
OF THE REASON AND FEELINGS TO THE
REVEALED WORD.
(Ascension.)
,
2 CoR. X.
5.
Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 277
SERMON
XIX.
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

(Whitsuntide.)
Psalm
Ixxviii.
69.
like the earth
He
built
His sanctuary
like
high palaces,
which
He
293
hath established for ever
CONTENTS.
SERMON
XX.
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

(Whitsuntide.)
Matt.
x.xiii.
17-
PAGE
Whether
is
?
the greater, the gold, or the
Temple
that sanctifieth
the gold
304
SERMON
XXI.
OFFERINGS FOR THE SANCTUARY.

(Whitsuntide.)
Isaiah
Ix. 13.
The glory of Lebanon

tree,
shall
come unto
thee, the fir-tree, the pine-
and the box together,

I will
to beautify the place of
My Sanctuary,
320
and
make
the place of
My
feet glorious
SERMON
XXII.
SAINTS.
THE WEAPONS OF
(Whitsuntide.)
Matt.
xix. 30.
last shall
Many
that are
first shall
be
last,
and the
be
first.
340
SERMON
XXIII.
FAITH WITHOUT DEMONSTRATION.

(Trinity.)
John
iv.
48.
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye
will not !)elieve
355
CONTENTS.
xi
SERMON XXIV.
THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY.
(Trinity.)
Matt,
zzviii. 19.
PAGE
Go
ye, therefore,
and teach
all
nations
baptizing them in the
name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost.
372
SERMON XXV.
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
(Trinity.)
Isaiah
vi. 3.
And one
cried unto another,
and
said,
Holy, Holy, Holy,
is
the
Lord of Hosts
392
SERMON
I.
Matt.
"
iv. 2.
And when He had
fasted forty days
and
forty nights,
He
was
afterward an hungered."
The
lasts
season of humiliation, which precedes Easter,

for forty days,
in
memory
of our Lord's longthis day, the
fast in
first
the wilderness.
in Lent,
it
;
Accordingly on
Sunday
we
read the Gospel which gives
an account of
and in the Collect we pray Him, and forty

nights,
who
for our sakes fasted forty days
to bless our abstinence to the
good of our souls and
bodies.
We
fast
by Mây of penitence, and
in order to subfasting-
due the
flesh.
Our Saviour had no need of

His fasting was unlike
for either purpose.
ours, as
in its intensity, so in its object.
begin to
fast.
His pattern
is
set
till,
continue the time of fasting
when we before us and we in number of days,

yet
;
And
we have
There
equalled His.
is
a reason for this
in truth,
we must do
nothing except with

VOL. VI.
Him
in our eye.
As He
B
it is,
2
through
[Sbrm.
whom
alone
good thing, so
good.
we have unless we do
the power to do any

it
for
Him
it
is
not
From Him our obedience comes, towards

it
Him
must
*."
look.
He
work
all
says, "
is
Without
Me
ye can
do nothing
No
good without grace and
without love.
St.
Paul gave up
things " to be found in Christ,
not having his
own
righteousness which
is
of the
law, but the righteousness

faith ^."
which
is
from God upon
Then only are our righteousnesses acceptable

done, not in a legal way, but in Christ
faith.
when they are

through
Vain were
all
the deeds of the Law,
because they were not attended by the power of the

Spirit.
ture to
to
They were the mere attempts of unaided nafulfil what it ought indeed, but was not able
fulfil.
None but
the blind and carnal, or those
who were in
utter ignorance, could find aught in
them
ordi-
to rejoice in.
What were
its
all
the righteousnesses of
the Law, what

nary,
its
deeds, even
fastings,
;
when more than

all this
alms and
its
disfiguring of faces
and
afflicting of souls
what was
but dust and
dross, a pitiful earthly service, a miserable hopeless
penance, so far as the grace and the presence of

Christ were absent
selves,
fell
?
The
Jew^s might
humble themwhile they

themselves,
but they did not

in the flesh
;
rise in
the
spirit,
afflict
;
down
it
they might
but
did not turn to their salvation
they might
sorrow, but not as always rejoicing; the outward
man
'
.Tohn XV. 5.
'
Pliil. iii. 9.

I.]

perish,
might
but
tlie
inward
man was
not renewed
They had the burden and heat of the day, and the yoke of the Law, but it did not " work out for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." But God hath reserved some better thing
day by day.
for us.
This
is
what
it is
to
be one of
Christ's little
ones,
to be able to
do what the Jews thought they

to be possessed
could do, and could not; to have that within us
through which
we can do
;
all
things
by His presence as our

our hope, our crown
to
life,
our strength, our merit,

in a wonderful
become
way
His members, the instruments, or

sacramental sign, of the
visible form, or
One
life.
Invisible Ever-Present
Son of God, mystically

fasting,
reitei-ating in
each of us
all
the acts of His earthly

temptation,
His
birth, consecration,
sufferings,
;
conflicts,
victories,
agony, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension
He
being
all in all,
we, with
as little
power
in our-
selves, as little excellence or merit, as the
water in
Baptism, or the bread and the wine in Holy
Com-
munion
yet strong in the
Lord and
in the
power of
His might.
These are the thoughts with which we
celebrated Christmas and Epiphany, these are the
thoughts which must accompany us through Lent.

Yes, even in our penitential exercises,
when we
to us.
could least have hoped to find a pattern in Him,

Christ has gone before us to sanctify
them
He He
is
has blessed fasting as a means of grace, in that has fasted

for
;
and fasting
is
only acceptable
is
when
it
done
His sake.
Penitence
mere
formality, or
b2
FASTLNG A SOURCE OF TRIAL.

in love.
[Sehm.
mere remorse, unless done
If
we
fast,
with-
out uniting ourselves in heart to Christ, imitating
Him, and praying that he would make our fasting His own, would associate it with His own, and communicate to
it
the virtue of His own, so that
we
may be
in
Him, and
He
in us
we
fast
as Jews, not
first
as Christians.
Well
then, in the Services of this
Sunday, do
we
place the thought of

us, lest
Him
before us,
whose grace must be within ments we beat the

vain.
air
in our chastise-
and humble ourselves
in
Now
made
in
many ways
the example of Christ
may be
a comfort and encouragement to us at this
season of the year.
And,
first
of
all,
it
will
be well to
insist
on the
circumstance, that our Lord did thus retire from the

world, as confirming to us the like duty, as far as
we
can observe
it.
This
He
did specially in the instance
before us, before His entering upon His

try
;
own
minis-
but
it is
not the only instance recorded. Before
He
chose His Apostles,

" It
He
observed the same pre-
paration.
came
to pass in those days that
He
all
went out into a mountain to

night in prayer to
pray,
and continued
God
I"
Prayer through the night

fasting.
was a self-chastisement of the same kind as
On
another occasion, after sending away the mul"
titudes,
He went up
into
mountain apart to
pray *
;"
and on
this occasion also,
He
seems to have
Luke
vi.
12.
Matt. xiv. 23.
I.]
remained there through great part of the night.

Again, amid the excitement caused by His miracles,
" In the morning, rising
day,
up a great while before

into a solitary place,
is
He
went out and departed
and there prayed ^"

the pattern of
Considering that our Lord

nature in
its
human
perfection, surely
we cannot doubt
perfect.
that such instances of strict devo-
tion are intended for our imitation, if
we would be
most
he
But the duty
is
placed beyond doubt by

case of the
finding similar instances in the
eminent of His servants.

this day,
St. Paul, in
the Epistle for
mentions among other
suiFerings, that
and
his brethren
were
" in watchings,
in
fastings,"
and in a
often."
later chapter,
that he was
" in fastings
St.
Peter retired to Joppa, to the house of
one Simon, a tanner, on the sea-shore, and there

fasted
and prayed.
JVIoses
and Elijah both were supfasts,
ported through miraculous

as our Lord's. as
of the same length
Moses indeed,
at
two separate times
he
tells
us himself, " Thus I

first,
fell
down
before the
Lord, as at the
forty days
and forty nights;

^."
I did neither eat bread nor drink water
Elijah,
having been fed by an angel, " went in the strength

of that meat forty days and forty nights ^"
again, " set his face
Daniel,
unto the Lord his God, to seek
by prayer and
cloth,
supplications, with fasting,
and sack-
and ashes."
Again, at another time, he says,
" In those days, I Daniel
was mourning three
full
Mark
i.
35.
Dent.
ix. 18.
'
Kings xix.
8.
6
weeks.

I ate
[Skrm.
no pleasant bread, neither came
flesh
nor wine in
self at
all,
my
mouth, neither did I anoint my-
till
three whole weeks were fuliilled ^"
These are instances of fastings after the similitude

of Christ.
Next
I observe, that our Saviour's fast
was but
into the
introductory to His temptation.
He went
is
wilderness to be tempted of the devil, but before
He
it
was tempted. was

this
He
fasted.
Nor, as
worth notice,
but
a mere preparation for the

conflict in
conflict,
was the cause of the

that in the
good measure.
Init
stead of simply arming

is
Him
against temptation,
plain,
first
instance,
His retirement
and abstinence exposed

primary occasion of
it.
days and forty nights.
gered
;"
and then the

Himself.
Him to it. Fasting was the " When He had fasted forty He was afterwards an huntempter came, bidding Him
Satan made use of His
turn the stones into bread.

fast against
And
this is singularly the case

;
with Christians now,
who endeavour to imitate Him and it is well they should know it, for else they will be discouraged when they practise abstinences. It is commonly said, that fasting is intended to make us better Cliristians,
to sober us,
and to bring us more entirely and humility.

This
is
at Christ's
feet in faith
true,
viewing
last,
matters on the whole.

this effect will
On
the whole, and at

it
is
be produced, but
not at
all
cer-
'
Dan.
ix.
3;
x. 2, 3<
I.]

it
tain that
will follow at once.
On tlie
contrary, such
mortifications have at the time very various effects
on
different persons,
and are
to
be observed, not from

faith in the
their visible benefits, but
from
Word
of
God. Some men, indeed, are subdued by fasting and

brought at once nearer to
God
but others find
it,
however
slight,
scarcely
more than an occasion of

it is
temptation.
For instance,
sometimes even made
an objection to
practising
it,
fasting, as if it
it
were a reason
irritable
this.
for not
that
makes a man
it is,
and
ill-
tempered.
I confess it often
may do
Again,
what very often follows from

deprives
a feebleness which
him of his command over his bodily acts, feelThus it makes him seem, for ings, and expressions. instance, to be out of temper when he is not I mean,
;
because his tongue, his

his power.
use,
lips,
nay
his brain, are not in
He
does not use the words he wishes to
nor the accent and tone.

is
He
seems sharp when

this,
he
not; and the consciousness of
and the
is
reaction of that consciousness
upon
his
mind,
temptation, and
makes him
irritable, particularly if
people misunderstand him, and think

is
not.
him what he Again, weakness of body may deprive him

;
of self-command in other ways
perhaps, he cannot
to be serious,
help smiling or laughing,
when he ought
which
trial
;
is
evidently a most distressing and humbling
or
when thoughts
off,
present themselves, his

if it
mind
cannot throw them
any more than

;
were some
dead thing, and not
spirit
but they then

is
impression on him which he
not able to
make an resist. Or
8
again,
[Serm.
weakness of body often hinders him from
fixing his
mind on his
;
prayers, instead of
making him
body
is
pray more fervently

often attended with
strongly tempts a
or again, weakness of
languor and
sloth.
listlessness,
and
man to
Yet, I have not
men-
tioned the most distressing of the effects which
may
follow from even the moderate exercise of this great Christian duty.
tion,
It is
undeniably a means of tempta-
and
I say so, lest persons should
be suq^rised,
the merciful
;
and despond when they
find
it so.
And
it,
Lord knows that so
it is
from experience
and that
do not
He
has. experienced and thus knows

is
as Scripture
I
records,
to us a thought full of comfort.
mean
to say, God forbid, that
aught of
but
it is
sinful infirmity
sullied
His immaculate soul
plain from the
sacred history, that in His case, as in ours, fasting
opened the way to temptation.

is
And, perhaps,
this
the truest view of such exercises, that in some
Avonderful
for
unknown way they open
the next world
to
good ^nd evil upon us, and are an introduction somewhat of an extraordinary conflict with the
evil.
powers of
Stories are afloat, (whether
them-
selves true or not matters not, they
show what the

hermits
voice of
mankind thinks
likehj to
be
true,) of
in deserts being assaulted
by Satan in strange ways, His strength
yet resisting the evil one, and chasing him away,

after our Lord's pattern,
I suppose, if
and
in
and,
minds
I think
in I
we knew the secret history any age, we should find this,
of men's
(at least,
am
not
theorizing,)
viz.
a remarkable
I.]
9
grace have
union in the case of those,
who by God's
made advances
in holy things (whatever

not), a
be the case
where men have
union on the one hand of
temptations offered to the mind, and on the other,

of the mind's not being affected by them, or consenting to them, even in
momentary
acts of the will,
but simply hating them, and receiving no harm from

them.
At
least,
I can
conceive this
and
so far
persons are evidently brought into fellowship and conformity with Christ's temptation,
yet without
sin. if
who was tempted,

they
Let
find
it
not then distress Christians even
themselves exposed to thoughts from which
they turn with abhorrence and terror.
Rather
let
such a
trial
bring before their thoughts, with some-
thing of vividness and distinctness, the condescension

of the Son of God. For
if it
be a
trial to
us creatures
and sinners to have thoughts alien from our hearts

presented to us, what must have been the suffering
to the Eternal
Word, God of God, and Light of

to have
Light,
Holy and True,
been so subjected to
Satan, that he could inflict every misery on

short of sinning?
Him
Certainly
it
is
trial
to us to
have motives and feelings imputed to us before men,
by the accuser of the brethren, which we never

entertained
;
it is
trial to
have ideas secretly sug-
gested within, from which

for
we
shrink
it
is
trial
Satan to be allowed so to mix his
with ours, that
we
feel
own thoughts guilty even when we are not;

fire
nay, to be able to set
on
our irrational nature.
10
till

in
[Sbrm.
some sense we
really sin against our will
but has not

trial,
One gone
we
before us
more awful
?
in
His
more
glorious in His victory

are, yet
He
was tempted
sin."
in all points " like as
without
Surely
here too, Christ's temptation speaks
comfort and
encouragement to
This then
is,
us.
perhaps, a truer view of the conse-
quences of
course,
it
fasting,
than
is
commonly
taken.
Of
is
always, under God's grace, a spiritual
benefit to our hearts eventually,
and improves them,

;
through Him who worketh

is
all in all
and
it
often
a sensible benefit to us at the time.

often
it
Still it is
often otherwise;
bility
is
but increases the excita;
and
susceptibility of our hearts
in all cases
it
therefore to be viewed, chiefly as an approach to
God
an
is
approach to the powers of heaven

hell.
yes,
and to the powers of

there
And
is
in this point of
it.
view
something very awful in
For what we
know,
which,
Christ's temptation
but the fulness of that

infir-
in
its
degree,
and according to our

all
mities and corruptions, takes place in
His
ser-
vants
who seek Him.
And
if so, this
surely was a
strong reason for the Church's associating our season
of humiliation with Christ's sojourn in the wilderness, that
we might not be
left to
our
own
thoughts,
and, as
it
were, " with the wild beasts," and thereafflict
upon despond when we

feel that
ourselves
but might
we
are
what we
really are, not
bondmen of
Satan, and children of wrath, hopelessly groaning
under our burden,
Confessing
it,
and crying out,

I.]

wTetclied
] 1
"
man !" but
sinners indeed,
and sinners
;
afflicting themselves, and doing penance for sin
but
withal God's children, in

ful,
whom
repentance
is
fruit-
and who, while they abase themselves are exand at the very time that they are throwing
still
alted,
themselves at the foot of the Cross, are

soldiers,
Christ's
sword in hand, fighting a generous warfare,
and knowing that they have that in them, and upon

them, which devils tremble
at,
and
flee.
And
this is
another point which
calls for distinct
notice in the history of our Saviour's fasting and
temptation, viz. the victory which attended
it.
He
;"
had three temptations, and thrice

at the last
He
conquered,
He
said,
"
Get thee behind Me, Satan
on which " the devil leaveth Him."

and victory
in the
This conflict
world unseen,
is
intimated in
other passages of Scripture.
The most remarkable

to the
of these
is
what our Lord says with reference
demoniac,
whom
His Apostles could not cure.

be observed.
He
had just descended from the Mount of Transfiguration,
where, let
it
He
seems to have
gone up with His favoured Apostles to pass the

night in prayer.
He came down He
said, "
after that
com-
munion with the unseen world, and

clean
forth
is
cast out the un-
spirit,
and then
This kind can come

fasting
^,"
by nothing but by prayer and

less
which
nothing
than a plain declaration that such
exercises give the soul power over the unseen world
'
Mark
ix. 29.
12
[Sbrm.
nor can any sufficient reason be assigned for confining

it
to the
is
first
ages of the Gospel.

in
And
think there
enough evidence even

effects of
what may
be known afterwards of the
such exercises,
history,)
upon persons now, (not to have recourse to

to
show that these

over his fellows.
exercises are God's instruments
for giving the Christian a high
and royal power above
and
And
evil,
since prayer
is
not only the weapon ever
necessary and sure in our conflict with the powers of
but a deliverance from

it
evil is
ever implied as
the object of prayer,
follows that all texts what-
ever which speaks of our addressing and prevailing
on Almighty God, with prayer and

fact,
fasting, do, in
declare this conflict and promise this victory
over the evil one.
Thus
in the parable, the impor-
tunate widow,
is
who
represents the Church in prayer,
not only earnest with God, but against her adver"
sary.
Avenge me of mine
is
adversary," she says
and our " adversary "

devour
" the devil,
who, like a
roaring lion, walketh about seeking

;
whom
he may
whom
Let
resist," adds St. Peter, " stedfast in

it
the faith."
be observed
is
that, in this parable,
perseverance in prayer
us.
especially
recommended
that
to
And
this is part of the lesson

fast,
taught us by the
long continuance of the Lent

to gain our wishes
tion,
''
we
are not
by one day
set apart for humilia-
or by one prayer,
however
fervent,
but by
is
continuing instant in prayer."
This too
signi-
fied
to us in the account of Jacob's conflict.
He,
1.]

Saviour,
it
13
like our
niglit.
was occupied in
it
through the
Who
was
whom
we
he was permitted to meet

are not told
;
in that solitary season,
but
He
with
whom
he wrestled, gave him strength to wrestle, and on him, as

if to
at last left a token
show that he had
prevailed only by the condescension of
Him
over
whom he
till
prevailed
so strengthened, he persevered
the morning broke, and asked a blessing, and
He
whom
he asked did bless him, giving

his success.
name, in memory of
hast thou power with
prevailed
'."
"
him a new Thy name shall

for as a prince
be called no more Jacob, but
Israel
God and
with men, and hast
In like manner, Moses passed one of
his forty days' fast in confession
and intercession
for
the people,
I
fell
who had
down
raised the golden calf.
"Thus
down
before the Lord forty days and forty

at the first
;
nights, as I fell
because the Lord

I prayed therefore
had
said
He
would destroy you.

said,
unto the Lord, and
Lord God, destroy not

hast
Thy people and Thine inheritance, which Thou redeemed' through Thy greatness, which Thou
hast
brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand ^"

Again, both of Daniel's recorded fasts ended in a
blessing.
His
first
was intercessory
for his people,
and the prophecy of the seventy weeks was given

him. The second was also rewarded with prophetical
disclosures
;
and what
(if I
is
remarkable,
it
seems to have
had an influence
may
use such a word) upon the
'
Gen. xxxii. 28.
Deut.
ix. 25,
26.
14

it.
[Serm.
unseen world, from the time he began
"The
day
Angel
said,
Fear not, Daniel,
for
from
the first
that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to
chasten thyself before thy God,

heard, and
thy words were
/ am
come
for thy
words ^"
He came
at
the end, but he prepared to go at the beginning.
But more than

prince of the
But the kingdom of Persia withstood me one

this,
the Angel proceeds, "
and twenty days ;" just the time during which Daniel had been praying
chief princes,
" but
lo,
Michael,
one of the
I
came
to help
me, and
remained
there with the kings of Persia."
An
unto
Angel came
to Daniel
upon
his fast
so too
in our Lord's instance,
Angels came and ministered

too
Him; and
in
so
we
the
may
well believe,
that
and
now,
take comfort
thought,
even
Angels are especially sent to those who thus seek
God.
Not Daniel
only, but Elijah too was, during
his fast, strengthened
by an Angel
an Angel ap-
peared to Cornelius,
prayer
in
;
while he was fasting, and in
and I do
really think, that there is
enough
what
religious persons
may
see around them, to
serve to confirm this hope thus gathered from the
word of God.
"
He
shall give
His Angels charge over Thee, to

the devil
keep Thee
in all
Thy ways * ;" and

he used
full
it
knows of
and
this promise, for
in the very
hour of temp-
tation.
He
'
knows
well what our
power
is,
Dan. X. 12.
Ps. xci. 11.
y.]

is
15
wliat
his
fear while
own weakness. So we have nothing to we remain within the shadow of the

Almighty.
throne of the
"A
thousand shall
fall
beside Thee, and ten thousand at
Thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh Thee." While we are found in Christ, we are partakers of His security.
He
has broken the power of Satan;

lion
He
has gone
"upon the
and adder, the young lion and the

trod under His feet;" and hence-
dragon hath
He
forth evil spirits, instead of having
power over
us,
tremble and are
affi'ighted at
every true Christian.
They know he has

their master to scorn,
well,
;
that in him, which
makes him
that he may, if he will, laugh

flight.
all
and put them to

it
them They know this

upon
;
and bear
in
mind, in
their assaults
him
them power over him and their great object is, to make him sin, and therefore to surprise him into sin, knowing they have no other way of overcoming him. They try to scare him by
;
sin alone gives
the appearance of danger, and so to surprise
him
or they approach stealthily and covertly to seduce
him, and so to surprise him.
But except by taking

;"
him
and
let
at unawares, they can do nothing. Therefore let
us be,
as
my
brethren, " not ignorant of their devices

let us
knowing them,
watch,
fast,
and pray,
us keep close under the wings of the Almighty,
that they
may be our shield and buckler. Let us pray Him to make known to us His will, to teach us our faults, to take from us whatever may offend Him, and to lead us in the way everlasting. And
16
FASTING A SOURCK OF TRIAL.

let
during this sacred season,

selves as
us look upon ourveil
Mount with Him within the on from hid with Himnot out of Him, but with and whose presence alone Him, with Moses, of His of His Law Him
the
or apart
in
is life,
in
learning
attri-
butes with Elijah, of His counsels with Daniel

learning to repent, learning to confess and to
amend
learning His love, and His fear
unlearning ouris
selves,
and growing up unto
Him who
our Head.
SERMON
LIFE
II.
Gen.
"
xxvii. 34.
father,
And when Esau
heard the words of his
he cried with a
great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me,
even
me
also,
O my father."
SUPPOSE no one can read this chapter without
feeling
his
some pity for Esau. father would give him
He
his
had expected that

blessing,
but his
brother was beforehand with

ing instead.
He
him and got the blessdid not know what had happened,
be blessed, without
His
and he came
father, full of
in to his father to
any suspicion that he was not to be blessed.
amazement and
it,
distress, told
him, that
without knowing
see,
for
he was blind and could not

his brother
he had already given the blessing to

it.
Jacob, and he could not recall

burst out into " a great
On hearing this, Esau

bitter cry," as
and exceeding
the text expresses

in a
it.
All his hopes were disappointed
moment.
VI.
He had built much
upon
c
this blessing.
For Esau, when he was young, had committed a

VOL.
18
LIFE

against God.
[Serm.
very great
first-born,
sin
He
was
his father's
and
it
in those times, as
now among
the rich
and noble,
family.
was a great thing to be the eldest in a

Esau's
case these privileges were the
gift
In
greater, for they
were the direct
of God.
Esau,
as being the eldest born of his father Isaac, inherited
certain rights
and privileges which
Isaac, the long-
expected heir of Abraham, had received from Abra-
ham.
Now
Esau's
sin,
when he was a young man,

his birthright to his
had been
this
he parted with
He
little
it.
younger brother, Jacob.

great
gift.
thought lightly of God's

it is
How
he thought of
plain
by
the price he took for
Esau had been hunting,

faint.
and he came home

begged
cern
tired
and
Jacob,
;
who had
remained at home, had some pottage

for
and Esau
some of
it.
Jacob knew the worth of the

;
birthright,
it.
though Esau did not
he had
faith to dis-
So, when Esau asked

it
for pottage,
he said he
would give
to Jacob
to
Esau
in
exchange
for his birthright

it
and Esau, caring nothing

for the
for the birthright, sold
mess of
food.
This was a great
sin,
gift,
as being a
contempt of a
special gift of
God, a
which after his father Isaac no one in the whole

world had but he.
Time went
thus
fain
on.
Esau got older; and understood

gift
more than before the value of the

profanely surrendered.
which he had
but that was
Doubtless he would
have got
it
back again
if
he could
impossible.
Under
these circumstances, as
we
find
in the chapter
which has been read in the course of
II.]
LIFE

',
19
to-day's service
his father
proposed to give him his
soleirin blessing,
before he died.
Now this blessing in

it,
those times carried great weight with
as being of
the nature of a prophecy, and

first
it
had been from the

it,
intended for Jacob
Esau had no right to
but
in a
perhaps he thought that in this
way he should
it easily,
certain sense get back his birthright, or
what would
and
stand in
its
place.
He
had parted with
he expected to regain
it easily.
Observe, he showed
self-re-
no repentance
proach
;
for
what he had done, no
he had no fear that God would punish him.

without humbling himself;
his steps as quickly
He only regretted his loss,

quietly as he could.
and he determined to retrace and dress

with
as savoury
and
He went
meat
to
hunt
for venison,
it
for his father, as his
father bade him.

it
And having got all ready,

his father.
he came
it
and stood before
Then was
that he learned, to his misery, that God's gifts are not
thus lightly to be treated

recover.
ing,
he had
sold,
he could not
He
had hoped
to have
it
had
his father's bless-
but Jacob had received
instead.
He had thought
to regain God's favour, not
by fasting and prayer, but

account of the
by savoury meat, by feasting and making merry.
Such seems, on the whole,

given examples of
faith,
St. Paul's
matter, in his Epistle to the Hebrews.
After having
he bids
his Christian breth-
ren beware lest there should be any one

like
among them
Esau,
whom
'
he
calls
a "profane person;" as
Second Sunday
in Lent.
c 2
go
LIFE

little
[Serm.
having thought and acted with so
of real per-
ception of things unseen; "looking diligently," he

says,
" lest
any man
fail
of the grace of
God
lest
there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau,

\yho for one morsel of
meat
sold his birthright.
For
ye
know how
that afterwards,
when he would have

;
inherited the blessing, he was rejected
for
it
he found
carefully
no place of repentance, though he sought

with tears'."
This then
cry,
is
the meaning of Esau's great and bitter

first
which at
sight
we
It
are disposed to
pity.
It is the cry of
one who has rejected God, and God

is
in turn has rejected him.
the cry of one
who
the
has trifled
regain
with God's mercies, and then sought to

it
them when
was
all
too late.
It
is
cry of one
who
has not heeded the warning, "See
that ye receive not the grace of
God
in vain,"
and
It
who
is
has " come short of the grace of

"
God ^"
Then
the cry predicted by the wise man,

call
shall
shall
they
seek
upon Me, but

early,
I will not
answer ; they
Me
but they shall not find
Me ^."
That
subtilty
and keenness of
his brother Jacob,
by which
he got before him, and took the kingdom of heaven by violence, was God's act it was God's providence
;
punishing Esau for former
sin.
Esau had sinned;
he had forfeited his birthright, and he could not

get
it
back.
That cry of
his,
what was
it
like
it
was like the entreaty of the five foolish Virgins
Heb.
xii.
1517.
'
2 Cor.
vi.
1.
Prov.
i.
28.
II.]
LIFE

:
21
wlien the door was shut

us; but
you, I
" Lord,
said,
Lord, open to
He
answered and
not \"
Verily, I say unto

like
know you
It
was
" the
weeping
and gnashing of teeth " of

a great and bitter cry
it
lost souls.
Yes, surely,
well might be.
Well may
they weep and cry, as they will most largely,
who
have received God's grace and done despite to
it.
The mournful
viewing,
is
history then which I have been re-
a description of one
who was
M'as
first
profane
and then presumptuous. Esau

his birthright,
profane in selling
in claiming the
he was presumptuous
blessing. Afterwards, indeed,

it
he did repent, but when
was too
late.
And
I fear such as
Esau was of old
time, such are too
God's blessings
healthy
;
then,
many Christians now. They despise when they are young, and strong, and when they get old, or weak, or sick,
they do not think of repenting, but they think they
may
take and enjoy the privileges of the Gospel as a

if
matter of course, as
for nothing.
the sins of former years went
And
then, perhaps, death

it is
comes upon
them, and then after death, when
too late, they
would
fain repent.
Then they
;
utter a great, bitter,
and piercing cry to God

souls ascending towârds
and when they see happy

heaven in the fulness of
Gospel blessings, they say to their offended God,

" Bless
me, even
Is it not, I
me also, O my Father." say, quite a common case for men and

in their best
for
women
to neglect religion
days?
They have been
baptized, they have been taught their

'
Malt. XXV. 11, 12.
ft^
LIFE
[Sbrm.
duty, they have been taught to pray, they

creed, their conscience has
know
their
been enlightened, they

Tliis is their birth-
have leave to come to Church.
right, the privileges of their birth of
water and of
the Spirit; but they sell
it,
as
Esau
did.
They
are
tempted by Satan with some bribe of
this world,
and they give up their birthright
in
exchange for
what
it.
is
sure to perish, and to
make them perish with
Esau was tempted by the mess of pottage which

Satan aiTested the eyes
as
he saw in Jacob's hands.

of his
lusts,
and he gazed on the pottage,

fruit of the tree of
Eve
gazed on the
knowledge of good
their birthright for
and
evil.
Adam
and Eve sold
the fruit of a tree

sold his for a
that was their bargain.
Esau
mess of
lentils
that was
his.
And men
evil
now-a-days often
sell theirs,
not indeed for any thing
so simple as fruit or herbs, but for
some
gain
or other, which at the time they think worth purchas-
ing at any price
perhaps for the enjoyment of some
particular sin, or
more commonly
strict life,
for the indulgence
of general carelessness and spiritual sloth, because
they do not like a
and have no heart
for
God's service.
And
when
thus they are profane persons, for

gift
they despise the great
of God.
And
then,
all is
done and
over,
and their
souls sold to Satan, they never
seem
to understand
that they have parted with their birthright.
They
think that they stand just where they did before they
followed the world, the
flesh,
and the devil
and that
or
when they choose
to
become more decent,
more
II.]
LIFE

all
23
religious,
they have
their privileges just as before.
Like Samson, they propose to go out as at other

times before, and shake themselves.
And
like Esau,
instead of repenting for the loss of the birthright,
they come, as a matter of course, for the blessing.
Esau went out

promptly brought
high, his voice
to
it
hunt
for
venison
gaily,
spirits
and
were
to his father.
His
was cheerful.
It did
not strike him
that
God was angiy with him
for
what had past
years ago.
as if
He
thought he was as sure of the blessing
he had not sold the birthright.

then, alas, the truth flashed
And
It
upon him
it
he
uttered a great and bitter cry,
when
it.
was too
it
late.
would have been

was too
well,
had he uttered
before he
came
for the blessing, not after

it
He
repented
if
when
late
it
had been well
he had
in
repented in time.
So
I say of persons
who have
any way sinned.
It is
good
is
for
them not
to forget that
they have sinned. It
good that they should lament
and deplore
not here.
or then
?
their past sins.
Depend upon
it,
they
will wail over
them
in the next world, if they wail
Which is better, to utter a bitter cry now then, when the blessing of eternal life is
just
refused
them by the
to
Judge
at the last day, or

it ?
now, in order that they
may gain
Let us be wise
not in the
will
enough
next.
have our agony in
this world,
If
we humble
ourselves now,
God
pardon
us then.
after;
We cannot escape punishment here or hereto suffer
we must take our choice, whether and mourn a little now, or much then.
24
LIFE
THE SEASON OF REPENTANX'E.

see
[Serm.
Would you God ? turn to

too,
how
a penitent should
come
as
to
the parable of the prodigal son.

his birthright,
He,
Esau
Esau.
had squandered away
did.
He,
;
too,
came
and
for the
blessing,
!
like
Yes
but how
differently
he came
he came with
deep
confession
self-abasement.
He
said,
" Father, I have sinned against heaven

thee,
and before
:
and
am
as
no more worthy to be called thy son one of thy hired

arise,
make me
said, "
sersânts
:"
but Esau
Let
my father
and eat of
his son's veni-
son, that thy soul
may
bless me."
The one came
for a son's privileges, the other for a servant's drud-
gery.
his
The one killed and dressed his venison with own hand, and enjoyed it not for the other the
;
fatted calf
was prepared, and the ring
for his hand,
and shoes
for his feet,
and the best robe, and there
was music and dancing.

These are thoughts, I need hardly
suited to this season.
say, especially
From
the earliest times
down
to
this day, these weeks before Easter have been set apart
every year, for the particular remembrance and confession of our sins.
From
the
first
age downward, not
a year has passed but Christians have been exhorted

to reflect
how
we
far
they have
let
go their birthright,
as a preparation for their claiming the blessing.
At
Christmas
are born again with Christ
at Easter
we keep the Eucharistic Feast. In Lent, by penance, we join the two great sacraments together. Are you,
my
brethren, prepared to say,
is
there any single
Christian alive
who
will dare to profess,
that he has
II.]
LIFE
25
not in greater or less degree sinned against God's

free mercies
bestowed on him in Baptism without,

?
or rather against his deserts
Who
will say that
he
is
has so improved his birthright that the blessing

his
fit
reward, without either sin to confess, or wTath

?
to deprecate
See, then, the

"
Church
is
offers
you
this
season for the purpose.
Now
the accepted time,

it
is
now
the
day of salvation."
Now
that,
God
being your helper, you are to attempt to throw off
from you the heavy burden of past transgression, to

reconcile yourselves to
Him who
has once already
imparted to you His atoning merits, and you have

profaned them.
And
you, if
afflict
be sure of
this
that if
He
has any love for

soul.
He
sees aught of
good in your
afflict
He
will
you, if you will not
yourselves.
He
will not let
you escape.
of purging those
He whom He
has ten thousand ways
has chosen, from the

is
dross and alloy with which the fine gold
defaced.
He
can bring diseases on you, or can
visit
you with
misfortunes, or take
away your
friends, or oppress
your minds with darkness, or refuse you strength to

bear up against pain
when
it
comes upon you.
can inflict on you a lingering and painful death.

can
He He
make
indeed,
trouble
We, cannot decide in the case of others, when is a punishment, and when not yet this we
;
" the bitterness of death pass" not.
know, that
all sin
brings affliction.
We
have no
means of judging
others,
but we
may judge ourselves.

Let
Let us judge ourselves, that we be not judged.
26
US
afflict
LfFE
[Serm.
ourselves, that
God may
not
afflict us.
Let
us
come before Ilim with our

forgive us.
is is
best offerings, that
He
may
this,
Such advice
especially suitable to an age like
when
there
an
effort
on
all
hands to multiply
comforts, and to get rid of the daily inconveniences
and
distresses of
if
life.
Alas!
my brethren, how do
you
know,
you
avail yourselves of the luxuries of this

restraint,
world without
but you are only postponing,

chastisewill not
and increasing by postponing, an inevitable
ment
How
do you know, but
that, if
it
you
satisfy the
debt of daily sin now,

interest
?
will hereafter
this is
come upon you with
See whether
not a thought which would spoil that enjoyment
which even religious persons take

goods, if they would but admit
it.
in this
It
is
world's
said that
we ought
ness
it is
to enjoy this life as the gift of God.
Easy
circumstances are generally thought a special happi;
thought a great point to get rid of annoy;
ance or discomfort of mind and body

allowable
it is
thought
and suitable
to
make
use of
all
means
and
available for
making
life
pleasant.
We
desire,
confess
we
desire, to
make time
pass agreeably, and
to live in the sunshine. All things harsh
and austere
are carefully put aside.

lap of earth,
We
shrink from the rude
and the embrace of the elements, and
we
build ourselves houses in which the flesh

its
may
enjoy
lust,
and the eye
its
pride.
We
aim at
and
having
all
things at our will.

ill
Cold, and hunger, and
hard lodging, and
usage, and
humble
offices,
II.
LIFE

all
27
evils.
mean
appearance, are
considered serious
And
till
thus year follows year, to-morrow as to-day,

that this, our artificial
life,
we think
is
our na-
tural state,
and must and
will ever be.
But,
ye
sons and daughters of men, what
if this fair
?
weather
that
ût ensure the
stonii afterwards
what
if it be,
the nearer you attain to
making yourselves
lies
as gods
on the earth now, the greater pain

time to come, or even,
certain
(if it
before you in
must be
said,)
is
the more
becomes your ruin when time
at
an end ?
Come down
then from your high chambers at this
season to avert what else
may
be.
Sinners as ye are,
act at least like the prosperous heathen,

his choicest trinket into the water, that
who threw
he might
propitiate fortune.
Let not the year go round and

its circle
round, without a break and interruption in of pleasures.

that you
or
Give back some of God's

safely enjoy the rest.
gifts to
God,
may
Fast, or watch,
abound
in alms, or
be instant in prayer, or deny
yourselves society, or pleasant books, or easy clothing, or
take on you some irksome task or employ-
ment
do one or other, or some, or

say that you have
all
of these,
unless you
never sinned, and
may go
like
Esau
with a light heart to take
your
crown. Ever bear in mind that day which will reveal

all things,
and
will test all things " so as
by
it
fire,"
and Avhich
will bring us into
judgment ere
in
lodges
us in heaven.
And
for
those
who have
any grievous way
sinned or neglected God, I
recommend such persons
28
LIFE

;
never to forget they have sinned

not,
if
they forget
it
God
in
mercy
will forget
it.
recommend them
fall
every day,
morning and evening, to
on their
I
knees, and say, " Lord, forgive
me my
past sins."
recommend them
this
to pray
God
to visit their sins in

I
world rather than in the next.
recommend
them
to go over their dreadful sins in their minds,
(unless, alas! it
makes them
sin
afresh to do so,)
and to confess them to God again and again with

great shame, and entreat His pardon.
I
recommend
them
to look
as a
on
all
pain and sorrow which comes
on them
punishment for what they once were

patiently on that account, nay, joy-
and to take
fully, as
it
giving
them a hope
that
God
is
punishing
them here
instead of hereafter.
If they have
com-
mitted sins of uncleanness, and are
now
in
narrow
circumstances, or have undutiful children, let
them
take their present distress as God's merciful punish-
ment.
If they have lived to the world, and
now
and
have worldly anxieties, these anxieties are God's

punishment.
If they have led intemperate lives,
now
are
afflicted
by any malady,
this
is
God's
all
punishment.
Let them not cease to pray, under
circumstances, that
God
will
pardon them, and give

lost.
them back what they have
And
thus proit,
ceeding, through God's grace, they will gain
and
Esau's great and bitter cry will not be heard from
them.
SERMON
III.
APOSTOLIC ABSTINENCE A PATTERN FOR CHRISTIANS.
Tim.
v. 23.
little
" Drink no longer water, but use a
wine for thy stomach's
sake, and thine often infirmities."
This
tells
is
a remarkable verse, because
it
accidentally
us so
much.
It is addressed to
first
Timothy, St.
Paul's companion, the
Bishop of Ephesus.
Of
Timothy we know very

minister to St. Paul,
inferred that he was a
^but
little,
except that he did
and hence we might have
man
of very saintly character;
we know
little
or nothing of him, except that
he had been from a child a careful reader of Scripture.
This indeed, by
itself,
in that Apostolic age,
would have led us
to infer, that
he had risen to
;
some great height in spiritual excellence though it must be confessed that instances are frequent at this
day, of persons
knowing the Bible
well,
and yet
being
little
stricter
than others in their
lives, for all
their knowledge. Timothy, however,
had so read the

St.
Old Testament, and had
so heard
from
Paul the
30
APOSTOLIC ABSTINENCE
[Serm.
New,
him
"
that he was a true follower of the Apostle, as

:
the Apostle was of Christ
St.
Paul accordingly
calls
my own
son," or "
my
true son in the faith."
And
has "
elsewhere he says to the Philippians, that he
no man like-minded to Timothy, who would

for their state'."
naturally" or truly "care

still,
And
after
all,
this is
but a general account of him,
and we seem
the
to
desire something
more
definite in
way of
description,
saint,
beyond merely knowing that

which conveys no clear im-
he was a great
pression to the mind.
Now,
in the text
accidentally a glimpse given us of his

St.
we have mode of life.
Paul does not expressly

of mortified
tell
us that he was a
reveals the fact
man
habits; but he
indirectly
by cautioning him against an excess of

" Drink no longer water," he says, It should be observed, that
is
mortification.
" but use a little wine."
wine, in the southern countries,
the same ordinary
beverage that beer

costly.
is
here
it is
nothing strong or
Yet even from such

and
as this,
Timothy was
imprudently,
in the habit of abstaining,
restricting himself to
water
and, as the Apostle thought,
to the increase of his " often infirmities."
There
is
something very striking
in this accidental
mention of the private ways of this Apostolical Bishop.
We know indeed
life
from history the doctrine and the
of the great saints,

;
the Apostles' age
who lived some time after but we are naturally anxious to

'
Phil.
ii.
20.
III.]
A PATTERN FOR CHRISTIANS.
31
know something more

their associates.
St. Paul,
of the Apostles themselves, and

say, "
We
we
O that we
him
could speak to
that
could see
in his daily walk,
and hear his oral and familiar teaching!

could ask
that
we
him what he meant by

This
is
this expression in this or the other
his Epistles, or
what he thought of
not given to
us.
doctrine."
God might
it is
give
us greater light than
He
does
but
His gracious
will to give us the less.

is
given us in Scripture,
think, if our eyes
Yet perhaps much more as it has come to us, than

it
is
we
den
were enlightened to discern

the text
;
there.
Such, for instance,
it is
a sud-
revelation, a glimpse of the personal character

;
of Apostolic Christians
follow out.
it
is
a hint which
we may
For no one
will
deny that a very great

that this holy man,
deal of doctrine, and a very great deal of precept,
goes with such a fact as this
without impiously disparaging God's creation, and

thanklessly rejecting God's
lived a life of abstinence.
I
gifts, yet,
on the whole,
not
cannot at
all
understand
why such
it
life is
excellent in a Christian now, if

teristic
was the charac-
of Apostles, and friends of Apostles, then.
I really
do not see why the
trials
and persecutions,
which environed them from Jews and Gentiles, their

forlorn despised state,
forts,
and their necessary discomsuch
should not even have exempted them from

addition, unless
self-
voluntary sufferings in
imposed hardships were pleasing to Christ.

find that St. Paul, like
Yet we
Timothy, who
(as
the Apostle
S2
says)
had known
Paul
" his doctrine
[Sehm.
and manner of
to
life^"
I say, St.
also,
in addition
his " weariness
and
painfiilness," "
hunger and
thirst,"
" cold
and
nakedness," was " in watchings often," " in fastings

often."
Such were holy men of old time.

!
How
far
are
we below them
Alas for our easy sensual

!
life,
our cowardice, our sloth

the kingdom of heaven
is
this the
is
is
won ?
and
his
way by which this the way St.

all
Paul fought a good

or was
earth,
it
fight,
finished his course?
by putting behind
back
things on
is
and looking stedfastly towards

?
Him who
why
invisible
Now
at
first
sight
it
may
not be clear
this
moderation, and at
the use of God's
as our Lord,
least
occasional abstinence, in
gifts,
should be so great a duty,
for instance,
seems to imply, when
He
places fasting in so prominent a place in the
Sermon on the Mount, with almsgiving and prayer. But thus much we are able to see, that the great
duty of the
gospel
is
love
to
God and man

self-denial.
it
and that
this love is
quenched and extinguished
by self-indulgence, They who enjoy

self their idol
;
and cherished by
this
life
freely,
make
it
is
or
they are
gross-hearted,
and have
said,
no
eyes
to
see
God
it
withal.
Hence
" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God \"
And
again,
was the rich man who fared

neglected
sumptuously every day, who
Lazarus
2 Tim.
iii.
10.
'
Matt.
v. 8.

III.]
33
for sensual living
hardens the heart, while abstinence

it.
softens
and
refines
Now,
observe, I do not -mean
that abstinence produces this effect as a matter of
course in any given person,
else all the poor
ought
to be patterns of Christian love,
but
that where
men
are religiously-minded, there those out of the

will
number
make greater attainments in love and feeling, who do exercise themselves in

of the body.
I should really
devotional
self-denial
say,
be disposed to
You must make your

tian love.
grees.
choice,
you must
in
some way
higher de-
or another deny the flesh, or you cannot possess Chris-
Love
is
no common grace in
its
It is true, indeed, that, as

it
being the necessary
token of every true Christian,
must be possessed
in
some degree even by the weakest and humblest of

Christ's servants
turer stages,
amiable or
habits;
but any of and upright; easy

in
it is
its
higher and maIt is easy to
rare
difficult.
be
it
is
to live in regular
in
is
it
is
easy to live
conscientiously,
I say, all this
is
the
common
thing
is
sense of the word.

;
com-
paratively easy
but one thing
often lacking,
needful, and one
love.
We
may
act rightly,
yet without doing our right actions from the love of
God.
Other motives, short of

;
love,
are
good in
themselves
these
we may
have, and not have love.
this defect arises from any one cause, or can be removed by any one re-
Now
do not think that
medy; and yet
still,
it
does seem as
its
if
abstinence
so
and fasting availed much towards
removal;
much
so, that,
granting love
is
necessary, then these
VOL. VI.
34
are necessary
;
[Serm.
assuming love to be the characteristic

is
of a Christian, so
abstinence.
dispense with fasting; true; and you

also to cultivate love.
You may think to may neglect
And
truth
I
here a connexion
may be
traced between the
have been insisting on, and our Lord's

disciples did not fast.
fast
words,
when asked why His

they could not
;
He
said, that
while the Bride-
groom was with them

which
sence
;
but that when

fast.
He
was taken
thing,
from them, then they would

is all
The one
in all to us,
is
to live in Christ's pre-
to hear His voice, to see His countenance.

disciples
;
His
first
had
Him
in
bodily presence
among them
eye.
and
He
spoke to them, warned them,
was a pattern
of sense,
to them,
and guided them with His
But when He withdrew Himself from the world
how
should they see
their fleshly eyes
and ears saw
Him still? When Him no more, when

and blood cannot was interposed
flesh
He
had ascended whither
flesh
enter,
and the barrier of the
between
Him
;
and them, how should they any longer

" Lord, whither goest Tliou ?"
see and hear
they said
I
Him ? and He
answered to Peter, " Whither
go thou canst not follow
Me
now, but thou shalt

to follow
follow
me
afterwards."
veil,
They were
Him
through the
after
and
to break the barrier of the flesh
His pattern. They must, as far as they could, weaken and attenuate what stood between them and Him; they must anticipate that world where
flesh
and blood are not; they must discern truths

III.]

flesh
life,
35r.
which
live
and blood could not reveal; they must,

not of sense, but of
spirit;
they must
practise those mortifications
which former religions

dis-
had enjoined, which the Pharisees and John's

ciples observed,
with better
fruit,
for a higher end,
in a
more heavenly way,
in order to see
Him who
;
is invisible.
By
fasting,
Moses saw God's glory

still
by
fasting, Elijah
heard the "
small voice
;"
by
fast-
ing, Christ's disciples
were to express their mourning
over the Crucified and Dead, over the Bridegroom
taken away: but that mourning wôuld bring
Him
in
back, that mourning would be turned to joy;

that
mourning they would see Him, they would

;
hear of Him, again
they would see Him, as they
mourned and wept. long would they see
And while they mourned, so Him and rejoice for " blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted
;"
they are " sorrowful, yet always rejoicing ;" hungering and thirsting after and unto righteousness,
fasting in body,
that
their soul
;
may hunger and

" barren
thirst after its true
good
fasting in body, that they

;
may be
land,
satisfied in spirit
in a
and dry
look for
glory.
where no water
in holiness,
is *,"
that they
may
Him
"
and behold His power and
My
heart
is
smitten
down, and withered like
grass,
(says the Psalmist,) so that I forget to eat
my
bread.
For the voice of
my
flesh.
groaning,
I
will scarce cleave to
my
Ps.
my bones am become like
Ixiii. 2.
D 2
36
[Srrm.
a pelican in the wilderness, and like an owl that

in the desert. I
is
have watched, and
am
even as a
sparrow that sitteth alone upon the house-top."

" All day long have I
been punished, and chastened

consequence
for
?
every morning."
" Nevertheless, I
And what was the am alway by Thee

:
Thou
hast
holden
me by my
right hand.
Thou
shalt guide
me
with Thy counsel, and after that receive

glory.
me
with
Whom
is
have I in heaven but Thee? and

I
there
none upon earth that
desire in
com-
parison of
Thee?
My
flesh
and
my
heart faileth,
but
God
is
the strength of
my
heart,
and
my
portion
for ever
*."
Such was the portion which

Timothy
and
its
St.
Paul
and
St.
received, blessings;
when they gave up
this
world
not that they might not have

;
enjoyed them had they chosen
but because they
might, and yet gave them up, therefore they received

blessings out of sight instead.
And
in like
manner,
applying this to ourselves,
it is
our duty also to be
ever moderate, and at times to abstain, in the use of God's earthly gifts
;
nay,
happy
it
is it
for us, if
St.
God's
secret grace call us on, as
called
Paul and
life
Timothy, to a more divine and tranquil

that of the multitude.
It is
than
our duty to war against

it,
the flesh
as they warred against
that
we may
inherit the gifts of the Spirit as they inherited them.
If Saints are our patterns, this surely
means that we
must copy them.

*
Ps.
cii.
47;
Ixxiii.
13.
2225.
Ill]
A PATlÊRN FOR CHRISTIANS.

it
37
is
Here, however,
may be
objected, that there
presumption in wishing to be what Apostles and their

associates were.
That they had high
spiritual gifts
life
which we
have not, and that to attempt their

is
without these,
all
one with attempting to work
such miracles as they did, which

grant to be presumptuous.
any one would

is
There
much
;
truth in
such a remark so far as

all
this,
that to attempt at once
they did would be presumptuous
we can but
and
us
first;
put ourselves in the way.

third gifts to thoso
God
gives second
who improve
the
let
improve the
first,
and then we know not how high
may be
the spiritual faculties which at length
He
will give us.
Who
is
there,
who, on setting out on

his destination for a place
?
a journey, sees before

often,
him
How
when
a person
is
making
which he
has never seen, he says to himself, that he cannot

believe that at a certain time he really vdll be there
?
There
is
nothing in what he at present
sees,
which
;
conveys to him the assurance of the future

yet,
and
is it
in time, that future will

:
be present.
So
as regards our spiritual course
we know not what
we
shall
be
but begin
it,
and, at length, by God's
grace,
you and
will
end
it
not, indeed vdth the grace
He now
fuller
has given, but by fresh and fresh grace,

fuller,
increased according to your need.
Thus you
will end, if
;
you do but begin
but begin
;
not with the end
begin with the beginning

step.
mount
is
up the heavenly ladder step by

duty; but
Fasting
we ought
to fast according to our strength.
38
[Serb*.
God
the
requires nothing of us beyond our strength
but
utmost according to our strength.
"She has
done what she could," was His word of commendation to

is
Mary.
Now,
to forget or to miss this truth,
very
common
with beginners, even through mere
ignorance
or inadvertence.
They know not what

then,
they can do, and what they cannot, as not having
when what they hoped was easy, proves a great deal too much for them, they fail, and then are dispirited. They wound their conscience, as being unable to fulfil their own
yet tried themselves.
resolves,
And
and they are reduced
to a kind of despair
or they are tempted to be reckless, and to give

all
up
it
endeavours whatever to obey God, because they
are not strong
enough
for every thing.
And
thus
often happens, that
men
rush from one extreme to
another; and even profess themselves free to live
without any rule of self-government at

having professed great
gance, in their
strictness,
all,
after
or even extrava-
mode
of living.
all duties
This applies of course to

should be very
whatever.
We
are
much on our
guard,
lives
when we
;
engaged ip contemplating the

against attempting just
of holy men,
what they did
which might
be right indeed in them, and yet may be wrong in

us.
Holy men may

to say
say and do things which
we have
and the
no right
and do.
Profession
by word of
mouth, religious language, rebuking

like,
others,
may be
natural and proper in them, and forced

us.
and out of place in
We
ought to attempt
Ill]
A PAITERN FOR CHRISTIANS.
39
nothing but what
we can
do.
tells
There
is
a kind of
inward feeling which often

right to do,
us what
we have
and what we have not.

belong to
We
have often
to
a kind of misgiving, as if
do, does not really
what we are tempted

us.
Let us carefully
right to use the
attend to this inward voice. This applies especially to
our devotions
common men have no

it,
prayers which advanced Christians use without offend-
ing
and
if
they attempt
all
they become unreal
who have any faith and reverence, will endeavour earnestly to avoid. But if we will thus commence our religious course, it is certain we shall soon get tired of it we shall give
an
offence,
which
persons,
it
up; and our devotional feelings
will
thus be
shown, by the event, to have been but a fashion or
an impulse, which has no true excellence in
it.
And
mode
here I will observe, what
may be
of use even
in their
to those
who
are
most cautious and prudent

if
of conducting their self-denials,
they have
seasons in which they practise them, such as Lent
ought to be to
guard
after
ag-ainst
all
of us.
Be
very
a re-action to a careless
over.
It
is
much on your way of life
Lent
is
a caution
commonly and
usefully given, that after a dai/ of fasting

not,
when we break our
fast,
eat
we should unduly now I am

;
giving a similar warning concerning a season of abstinence, and not only as regards eating largely, but
against
all
laxity
and self-indulgence.
In Lent,
serious thoughts are brought
more regularly before

which we adopt.
the mind.
The
rule of abstinence
40
slight
it
[Serm.
however
restraint
may be
in itself, acts as a continual in other things.
and memento upon us

will
We
And
it is
cannot range at
wishing.
through the field of thinking and

also in prayer.
We
if
are
more frequent
especially,
we
feel ourselves able to
be
strict in
our
fast,
the weakness of body consequent on

us.
an additional check upon

lest,
fall
life,
Let us beware, then,
when
this
time
is
over,
and Easter comes, we
back into a lawless state of mind, and a random

as if God's paradise
were some Judaical heaven,

freely
where we might indulge oureelves the more

in this world's goods,
for
for
having renounced them
while.
This grievous
in
consequence
is
said
actually to
happen
some foreign
countries, in the
will
case of the multitude,
who never
our guard,
have a deep
lasts;
and consistent devotion while the world
and
we
should be
much on
lest it
happens
to us in our degree.
It will
be a sad thought for

shall find after all, that
remembrance
hereafter, if
we
we have undone what was

Lent exercises by a relapse
This, however,
right
and
profitable in our
in Easter-tide.
may be added
;
for our encourageis
ment, that to abstain for any length of time

beginning of a habit
the
and we may
trust, that
what
back,
we have begun
will continue, or
tend to continue.
And
even though, through our
frailty,
we
said,
fall
(which
easier
God
forbid
!)
yet
we
shall find
I just
our self-denials
next Lent.
Nay, as
now
for
we
shall
be able to do more.
to
us.
Self-denial will
feel
become natural
those indul-
We
shall
no desire
Ill]
A PAITERN FOR CHRISTIANS.
41
gences, whether animal or mental, which savour of

this
world
and our
taste
and
likings will begin
to
be formed upon a heavenly
rule.
it is
are accustomed to self-denials,
To those who more painful to
indulge than to abstain, as every one of

self-control
his
common
must know, from ordinary matters of

Persons in the humbler ranks,
own
experience.
of unrefined minds, look up to the rich, and wonder
they do not do this or that, which they would do

for certain,
is,
had they the
like means.
that these
rich persons,
The reason having a more perfect

and sense of pro-
education, have too

priety,
much
taste
even though religion be absent, to use their
wealth in what
may be
called a barbarian way.

in all its
Now
the same dislike of self-indulgence,

is
shapes,
matured, under God's grace, in the souls of those

in the
who seek Him

had
ting
to be
for to drink
way of
St.
austerity.
Timothy
wine
way. each
as put-
reminded by
use a
in
Paul to use a
little
wine was a trouble to Timothy,
him
(to
He
was happy
common phrase) out of his his own way. All men have
their
looks
own way, and they wonder at each other. Each down upon his neighbour, because his neighdown on foreigners, because their way is Happy he whose way is God's way when
;
bour does not like the very things he likes himself
We
he
is
look
not ours.
used to
easier,
it, it is
as easy as
any other way,

is
^nay,
much
To
for
is
God's service
perfect freedom,
whereas Satan
a cruel taskmaster.
conclude, let those
who attempt
to
make
this
42
APOSTOLIC ABSTINENCE,
profitable to their souls,
&c.
Lent
as
by such observances
have ever been in use at
this season since Chris-
tianity was,
beware
;
lest
they lose this world without
gaining the next
for instance, as I said just
now,
is
by relapsing.
Or
again,
by observing what
alone
in
itself right in a cold
and formal manner.
We
can
use the means, but
it is
God
who
blesses them.
He
alone turns the stones into bread, and brings
water from the hard rock.

into nourishment, but
He
can turn
all
things
He
alone can do
so.
Let us
that
pray
Him
to bless
what we venture
for
Him,
world
Yet,
we may not
and gather
very
give
little
it
only labour, but

fruit
may
receive our wages,

Tliis
is
unto
life
eternal.
thing to give up for the next.

in heart
if
we
up
and conversation, we
shall gain
the next.
Let us aim at the consistent habit of
mind, of looking towards God, and rejoicing in the

glory which shall be revealed. In that case, whether
we
eat or drink, or abstain, or whatever
we
do,
we
shall
do
all
unto Him.
;
Let us aim at being true

us humbly aspire to be His
heirs of the promise

elect, in
let
whom He
in the
delighteth, holy
and undefiled,
" blameless and harmless, the sons of God, vrithout
rebuke,
nation,"
midst of a crooked and perverse

shine "as lights in
life."
among whom we may
the world, holding forth the word of
SERMON
IV.
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS A MEDITATION FOR CHRISTIANS.
2 Cor.
viii.
9.
"Ye know
was
rich,
the grace of or
Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though
He
yet for your sakes

rich."
He
became poor,
that ye through
His poverty might be
As time
called
goes on, and Easter draws nearer,

to
we
are
upon not only
mourn over our
sins,
but
especially over the various sufferings
which Christ our
Lord and Saviour underwent on account of them.
Why
that
is it,
my brethren,
that
we have
so little feeling
?
on the matter as we commonly have
Why
is
it
come and go just like any other season, not thinking more of Christ than at other times, or, at least, not feeling more ?
are used to let the season
we
Am
if so,
not right in saying that this
is
the case
it is
and
?
have I not cause for asking why

are not
the case
We
sion
moved when we hear of the bitter of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for us.
it,
pas-
We
If
neither bewail our sins which caused
nor have any
sympathy with
\\e
it.
We
do not
suffer with
Him.
come
to
Church, wê hear, and then we go away
4-4
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
;
[Serm.
again
not distressed at
all
or if distressed, only for
the moment.
all
;
And many do
not come to Church at

this holy
eat,
and to them, of course,

is
and solemn
time
sleep,
like other times.

rise up,
They
and drink, and

and
carry the
and
and go about
died
their business
their pleasure, just as usual.
They do not
for
are,
thought of
them,
Him who
them, along with
with
in
them wherever they
with
them
" whether they eat, or drink, or whatever they do."
They
"
no sense "live," to use

faith of the
St. Paul's words,
by the
Son of God, who loved them

if it
and gave Himself

This, alas
!
for them."
cannot be denied. Yet,
be
so,
that
the Son of
God came down from
heaven, put aside
His
glory,
and submitted to be despised, cruelly
treated,
and put to death by His own creatures,

made, and
^by
those
whom He had
whom He had
prelife
served up to that day, and was then upholding in
and being,
that
is
it
reasonable that so great an event
should not
move
us
Does
little
it
not stand to reason
unless
we we have some
must be in a very irreligious state of mind,

gratitude,
some
little
sympathy, some
little
love,
some
little
awe, some
little self-reproach,
some
little
little
self-abasement,
desire of
some
for
little
repentance, some
amendment,
in consequence of
what
He has
done and suffered
us? Or, rather,
may not so
profound
great a Benefactor
demand
of us some overflowing gratitude, keen sympathy,

fervent
love,
awe,
bitter
self-reproach,
earnest repentance, eager desire and longing after a
IV.]
A MEDITATION FOR CHRISTIANS.

heart
?
45
then,
new
Who
is it
!
can deny
not so
?
all this ?
Why
my
brethren,
?
why
are things with us as
they are
Alas
I sorrowfully foretel that
time will
go on, and Passion-tide, Good Friday, and Easter-
Day
will pass by,
and the weeks
after
it,
and many
of you will be just what you were
not
at all nearer
heaven, not
lives,
at all
nearer Christ in your hearts and
not impressed lastingly or savingly with the
thought of His mercies and your

demerits.
own
sins
and
But why
is
this
the Gospel of
why do you so your salvation ? why

?
little
understand
are your eyes so
dim, and your ears so hard of hearing ?

so little faith? so little of
why have you

must express
little
heaven in your hearts?

if I
For
this
one reason,
in
my
brethren,
my meaning
tate.
one word, because you so
medi-
You do
is
not meditate, and therefore you are
not impressed.
What
meditating on Christ
it is
simply
this,
thinking habitually and constantly of
His deeds and

our minds as
sufferings.
It is to
Him and of have Him before
One whom we may contemplate, worship, and address when we rise up, when we lie down, when we eat and drink, when we are at home and abroad, when we are working, or walking, or at rest, when we are alone, and again when we are in
company
nothing
;
this
is
meditating.
And by
come
this,
and
short of this, will our hearts
to feel as
they ought.
We
have stony hearts, hearts as hard
as the high-ways; the history of Christ
makes no
4G
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
[Serm.
impression on them.
And
yet, if
we would be
saved,
;
we must have
hearts
tender, sensitive, living hearts
our
must be broken, must be broken up like ground, and dug, and watered, and tended, and cultivated,
till
they become as gardens, gardens of Eden,
acceptable to our God, gardens in which the Lord
God may walk and
dwell
filled,
not with briars and
thorns, but with all sweet-smelling
and useful
plants,
with heavenly trees and flowers. The dry and barren

waste must burst forth into springs of living water.
This change must take place in our hearts
if
we
would be saved
in a word,
we have not by
this to
nature, faith and love
we must have what and how is

;
be
effected,
under God's grace, but by godly

day
?
and
practical meditation through the
St.
Peter describes what I mean, when he
says,
speaking of Christ, "

in
Whom having not

Him
seen ye love
whom, though now ye see

Christ
is
not, yet believing,

full
;
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and
of glory'."
gone away;
He is
not seen
we never saw
an old say-
Him, we only read and hear of Him.

ing, " out of sight, out of mind."
It is
Be
sure, so it will
be, so
it
must be with
us,
as regards our blessed

all
Saviour, unless
we make
continual efforts
through
the day to think of Him, His love. His precepts. His

gifts,
and His promises.
We
must
recall to
mind what
we read in the Gospels and in holy books about Him we must bring before us what we have heard
;
'
Pet.
i.
8.
IV.]

;
47
in
Church
we must
pray
God
to
to enable us to do so,
to bless the doing so,
and
make
us do so in a
spirit.
simple-minded, sincere, and reverential

word,
In a
we must
meditate, for
all this is
meditation
and
this
even the most unlearned person can do, and
will do, if
he has a
will to
do
it.
Now
of such meditation, or thinking o-ver Christ's

;
deeds and sufferings, I will say two things
the
first
of which would be too plain to mention, except that,

did I not mention
it,
might seem to forget

:
it,
whereas I grant
is
it.
It is this
that such meditation

I
not at
all
pleasant at
first.
know
True
it;
people
will find it at first very irksome,
and their minds will

:
gladly slip
sider,
if
away
to other subjects.
but con-
Christ
thought your salvation worth the

your own concern) your
great sacrifice of voluntary sufferings for you, should
not you think (what

salvation worth
is
own
the slight sacrifice of learning to
meditate upon those sufferings ?
Can a
it
less
thing be
asked of you, than, when
He
is
has done the work, that
you should only have to believe in
and accept
it is
it ?
And my
second remark
this
is
that
only by
slow degrees that meditation
able to soften our

trials
hard hearts, and that the history of Christ's
and sorrows
really
moves
us.
It
is
not once thinking
of Christ or twice thinking of Christ that will do

it.
It
is
by going on quietly and
steadily,
with the
little
thought of
little
Him
in
our mind's eye, that by
and
we
shall gain
something of warmth,
light, life,
and
love.
We shall
not perceive ourselves changing.
48
It will
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
[Srrm.
be like the unfolding of the leaves

not see them grow
it.
;
in spring.
You do
you cannot, by watchit
ing, detect
But every
day, as
passes, has
able,
done
something
for
them; and you are
perhaps,
every morning to say that they are more advanced
than yesterday.
So
is it
with our souls
not indeed
we are able to we are more alive and religious than we were, though during the interval we were not conscious that we were advancing. Now, then, as if by way of specimen, I will say
every morning, but at certain periods,
see that
a few words upon the voluntary self-abasement of

Christ, to suggest to
you thoughts, which you ought,

all
indeed, to bear about you at

at this
times, but especially

;
most holy season of the year thoughts which

poor measure (please God) prepare you
will in their
for seeing Christ in heaven, and, in the
meanwhile,
will
prepare
you
for seeing
Him
in
His Easter
;
Festival.
Easter-Day comes but once a year
it is
short like other days.
that
of
it,
that
it
!
enjoy
days,
we may make the O that it may not
we may make much most of it, that we may

pass over like other
after
it
and leave us no fragrance

it
to
remind
us of
Come
then,
my
brethren, at this time, before the

let
solemn days are present, and

of the privations of the
us review some
Son of God made man,
which should be your meditation through these holy

weeks.
And,
chiefly,
He
seems to speak to the poor.
He
IV.]

in poverty.
St.
49
came
Paul
says, in
the text, "

Christ,
Ye
know
though
the grace
of our
Lord Jesus
your sakes
that
He
was
rich, yet for
He became
rich."
His poverty might be
Let not the poor suppose that their hardships are

their
own
only,
and that no one
else ever felt
them.
The Most High God, God the Son, who had reigned
with the Father from everlasting, supremely blessed,
He, even He, became a poor man, and suffered the

hardships of the poor.
I suppose such as these
ing,
:
What
are their hardships?
that they have bad lodgeat,
bad clothing, not enough to
or of a poor
kind, that they have few pleasures or amusements,

that
they are despised, that they are

for their living,
dependent
with
upon others
prospects
Christ, the
and that they have no
for the
future.
Now how
was
it
Son of the Living God ? Where was

stable.
He
born ?
In a
I suppose not
;
many men
suffer
an indignity so great
fort,
first
born, not in quiet and

;
com-
but amid the brute cattle

cradle, if I
and what was His
may
so call it? a manger.

life
;
Such
were the beginnings of His earthly
nor did
His condition mend as life went on. He says on one occasion, " Foxes have holes, and birds of the
air
have
nests,
but the Son of
Man
hath not where
to lay
His head^"
He
had no home.
He
was,
when He
began to preach, what would now be called There are persons who
with contempt a vagrant.
'
Luke
ix. 58.
VOL. VI.
oO
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
such, in
[Sp.rm.
are obliged to sleep where they can
good
measure, seems to have been our blessed Lord. hear of Martha

others
;
We
who was
hospitable to
Him, and of
seems, from
life
but,
though
little is told us,
He
what
ness
is told, to
have lived a rougher
than any
village peasant.
:
He
was
forty days in the wilder-
where do you think
He
slept then
in caves
?
of the rock.
And who were His

was
;
companions then
worse companions even than those
among.
He
bom
in a cave
He was He passed
born
forty
nights in a cave
but on His
birth, at least,
they
were tame beasts

the
ass.
whom He
was among, the ox and
But during His forty days' temptation

filled
He
" was with the wild beasts."
Those caverns in the
wilderness are
tures.
with fierce and poisonous crea;
There Christ slept
and doubtless, but
for
His Father's unseen arm and His own
sanctity, they
would have
fallen
is
upon Him.
another hardship which sensibly
Again, cold
afflicts us.
This, too, Christ endured.
He
remained
whole nights in prayer upon the mountains.

rose before day and
He
went into
solitary places to pray.
He
was on the sea at night.

is
Heat
parts,
a suffering which does not

is
aflflict
us
much
in our country, but
very formidable in the eastern

lived.
it
where our Saviour

the sun
is
INTen
keep at home
;
when
high, lest
should harm them
yet
we
read of His sitting do\\Ti on Jacob's well at mid-
day, being wearied with
His journey.
I
Observe
this also, to
which
have already referred.
IV.]
51
He
was constantly journeying during His ministry,

foot.
and journeying on
salem, to
fulfil
Once He rode
thirst.
into Jeru-
a prophecy.
Again,
He
endured hunger and
He
was
athirst at the well, and asked the Samaritan
woman
to give
Him
water to drink.
He
in
was hungry in the
wilderness,
when He
actively
fasted forty days.
At another
^.
time,
when
engaged
His works of mercy.
He
and His
disciples
had no time to eat bread
And
indeed, wandering about as
He
did,
could have been certain of a meal.

the kind of food
He seldom And what was
He
lived
on ?
He
was much in the
neighbourhood of an inland sea or lake, called the

sea of Gennesaret, or Tiberias,
and
;
He
and His
on one
Apostles lived on bread and
fish
as spare a diet as
poor
men have now,
or sparer.
five
We
hear,
well-known occasion, of
small fishes.
barley loaves and two
His Apostles
bread
*
After His resurrection

" a fire,
He
provided for
and
fish laid
thereon, and
fare.
;"
as
it
would seem, their usual
Yet
it
deserves notice that, in spite of this penury.

in the
He
and His were
custom of giving something
to the poor notwithstanding.
They did not allow

little
themselves to
had.
make
the most even of the
they
When
the traitor Judas rose up and went out

to him,
to betray
Him, and Jesus spoke
some of the
Apostles thought that
He
was giving directions about
alms to the poor
this
shows His practice.
'
Mark
vi.
31.
'
John xxi.
9.
52
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
[Serm.
And He
tained Ilini.
was, as need scarcely be added, quite
dependent on others.
Sometimes
rich
men
enter-
Sometimes, as I have
said, pious per-
sons
ministered to
him of
their substance*.
He
lived, in
His own blessed words, like the ravens,

feeds, or like the grass of the field,
whom God
which
God clothes. Need I add

creations
?
that
He
had few pleasures, few
re-
it
is
hardly in place to speak on such a
One who came from God, and who had other thoughts and ways than we have. Yet there are innocent enjoyments which God gives us
topic in the case of
here to counterbalance the troubles of
life;
our Lord
was exposed to the trouble, and might have taken

also its compensation.
But
is
He
refrained.
It has
been observed, that

ful
;
He
never spoken of as mirthgroaning, and
we
often read of His sighing,
weeping.
He
was
" a
man
of sorrows and acquainted
with grief."
Now
which
let
us proceed to other greater sufferings,
He
took on Himself
when He became
poor.
Contempt, hatred, and persecution from the world
was one of
flee
these.
Even
in
His infancy Mary had to
Him into Egypt to hinder Herod from killing Him. When He returned, it was not safe to dwell in Judea, and He was brought up at Nazareth,
with
a place of
evil
name, where the holy Virgin had

to her.
I
been when Gabriel the Angel came
need
Luke
viii. S.
IV.]
53
not say
how He was
set at
nought and persecuted
by the Pharisees and
priests
when He began
to
preach, and had again and again to flee for His
life,
which they wêre bent on taking.
Another great
suffering from
which our Lord did

in our case
not withdraw Himself, was what
we
call
bereavement, the loss of relations or friends by death.

This, indeed.
He
could hardly sustain

relation,
literally,
who
had but one earthly near

but even this
affliction
and so few friends
He tasted for our sakes. Lazarus was His friend, and He lost him. He knew, indeed, that He could restore him, and He did. Yet still He bitterly lamented him, for whatever reason, so that the Jews said, " Behold how He loved him."
But a greater and truer bereavement,
dare speak of
itself,
it,
as far as
we
was His
original act of humiliation
in leaving
His heavenly glory and coming

This, of course,
is
dowTi on earth.
a great mystery
to us fi"om beginning to
end
still,
He
certainly
vouchsafes to speak, through His Apostle, of His

**
emptying Himself" of His glory
so that
we may
fairly
and reverently consider
it
as
an unspeakable
underwent, in
and wondrous bereavement, which

being for the time, as
it
He
were, disinherited, and
made
in the likeness of sinful flesh.
But
with
all
;
these were but the beginning of sorrows

to see their fulness
Him
all
we must
look on to
His passion. In the anguish which
He
then endured,
we
see
His other sorrows concentrated and ex-
54
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
[Skrm.
ceeded
" time
though
I shall say little of it
now, when His
is
not yet come."
But
I will observe thus
much
first,
what
is
very
wonderful and awful, the overwhelming fear

of His sufferings before they came.
great they were
if
;
He
had
Tliis sliows
how
and,
but
it
would seem besides
this, as
He had
decreed to go through
trial
all trials for us,
among them, the

soul troubled,
of fear.
He
says, "
Now is My
I
and what
hour
;
shall I say?
this cause
Father, save
Me
from
this
but for
came
unto
this hour."
And when
the hour came, this terror

sufferings,
formed the beginning of His
and caused
His agony and bloody sweat.

Father, if
it
He
prayed, "
be
"
possible, let this
cup pass
O My from Me
St.
nevertheless, not
My
will
but Thine be done."
Luke adds
more
And
being in an agony,
as
it
He
"."
prayed
earnestly,
and His sweat was
were great
drops of blood falling
down
to the
ground
Next,
He
was betrayed to death by one of His
own
friends.
What
a bitter stroke was this

this
:
He
was lonely enough without
but in this
last trial,
one of the twelve Apostles, His o^vn familiar friend,

betrayed Him, and the others forsook
Him
and
fled;
though
heart a
St.
Peter and St. John afterwards recovered
little,
and followed Him. Yet soon

sin,
St.
Peter
himself incurred a worse
by denying
Him
thrice.
How
*
affectionately
He
felt
towards them, and
how
John
xii.
27.
Matt. xxvi. 39.
Luke
xxii. 44.
IV.]
A iMEDITATION FOR CHRISTIANS.
55
He drew
towards them with a natural movement of

trial,
heart upon the approach of His
though they
disappointed
Him,
is
plain from the words

;
He
said
used
towards them at His Last Supper

with you before I suffer ^"
"
He
unto
them, AVith desire I have desired to eat this passover
Soon
soul
after this
in
His sufferings began

this
and both
in
and
body was
Holy and Blessed Saviour,

life,
the
Son of God, and Lord of
given over to the
malice of the great
enemy
of
God and man. Job

the evil one was not
was given over to Satan in the Old Testament, but

within prescribed limits
;
first,
allowed to touch his person, and afterwards, though

his person, yet not his
life.
But Satan had power
to
triumph, or what he thought was triumphing, over

the
life
of Christ,
who
confesses to His persecutors,
" This
is
your hour, and the power of darkness ^" His
head was crowned and torn with thorns, and bruised

with staves
;
His face was defiled
\nth. spittings
His His
side,
shoulders were weighed
down with the heavy

nails
cross
;
His back was rent and gashed with scourges

hands and feet gored through with
;
His
;
by way of contumely, wounded with the spear
His
mouth parched with

so bedarkened, that
intolerable thirst
and His soul

God,
He
cried out, "

^
My
My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" And thus He hung upon the Cross for six hours. His whole body
one wound, exposed almost naked to the eyes of
'
Luke
xxii. 15.
Ibid, 53.
"
Matt, xxvii. 46.
56
CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS
" despising the
all
[Sbrm.
men,
shame \" and
railed at, taunted,
and cursed by
"Is and
who saw Him.

all
Surely to
Him
alone, in their fulness, apply the Prophet's

it
words
nothing to you,
ye that pass by? behold
see, if there
is
be any sorrow like unto
My
sorrow
which
done unto Me, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted
Me
in the
day of His
fierce
anger ^"
!
How
little
are our sorrows to these
how
little is
our pain, our hardships, our persecutions, compared with those which Christ voluntarily undertook for us!
If
it
He, the
that
sinless,
underwent
these,
what wonder
it
is
we
sinners should endure, if

?
so be, the
hundredth part of them

so little impressed
as
How
!
base and miserable

little,
!
are we, for understanding them so
for
felt
being
by them
Alas
if
we
them
we
ought, of course they would be to us, at seais
sons such as
now coming,
is,
far
worse than what the

illness.
death of a friend
or his
painful
We
should not be able at such times to take pleasure in

this
world
;
of earth
at heart,
we should lose our enjoyment of things we should lose our appetite, and be sick
;
and only as a matter of duty

Tlie
eat,
and drink,
and go about our work.
Holy Season on which we shall soon enter would be a week of mourning, We cannot, as when a dead body is in a house.
indeed, thus
so to feel.
ing,
r
feel,
merely because we wish and ought

cannot force ourselves into so
this
feel-
We
do not exhort
man
'
or that so to feel,
'
Hcb.
xii. 2.
Lam.
i.
12.
IV.]

it is
57
since
selves
not in his power.

into such feelings
;
We
or, if
cannot work our-
up
we
can,
it is
better
we should not, because it is a working up, which is Deep feeling is but the natural or necessary But though we cannot at attendant on a holy heart. our will thus feel, and at once, we can go the way thus to feel. We can grow in grace till we thus feel. And, meanwhile, we can observe such an outward abstibad.
nence from the innocent pleasures and comforts of
may prepare us for thus feeling such an abwe should spontaneously observe if we did thus feel. We may meditate upon Christ's sufferings, by which we shall gradually, as time goes on, be brought to these deep feelings. We may pray God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to tnake
life,
as
stinence as
us feel
rence,
ness,
to give us the spirit of gratitude, love, reve-
self-abasement, godly fear, repentance, holilivelv faith.
and
SERMON
CHRIST,
Heb.
ix. 11.
" Christ being come, an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that
is to
say, not of this building."
Before the Passover the Jews numbered fourteen

days,
and then the
feast came.
It
was to be the
even
;
fourteenth
day of the month,
at
and to
mark the beginning of that period more distinctly, it was made the beginning of months, that is, the first month of the year. We then, if our Easter answers
to the Passover, as substance
answers to shadow,
is
may
well account that from this day, which
four-
teen days before Easter, a more sacred season begins.
And
so our
Church seems
to have
determined
it,
since from this day,
the character of the Services
changes.
Henceforth they have more immediate
reference to
Him, whose death and
resurrection
we
CHRIST,
are soon to

Tlie
first
59
in
commemorate.
weeks
Lent
are spent in repentance, though with the thought of
Him
withal,
who
alone can give grace and power to

:
our penitential exercises
the
last,
without preclud-
ing repentance, are more especially consecrated to the thought of those sufferings, whereby grace and
power were purchased
for us.
The
history of the destruction of
Sodom and Go-
morrah; of Dinah, Jacob's daughter; and of Joseph in

Potipliar's house; the
account of our Lord's tempta-<
tion;
spirit
and the parable of the
man
out of
whom
fitly
the evil
went and returned sevenfold, which have been
read on Sundays at this season,

penitential subjects; and of the
may
be called
same character have

to-day's
been the
Epistle
',
Epistles.
On
the other hand,

is
from which the text
taken, speaks of
Christ's Incarnation
tells
and Atonement; while the Gospel
us of His Divinity,
He being that
And
same God who,

Himself
so again, next
as the first
Morning Lesson
relates, called
in the bush " I
am
is
that I am."
also
Sunday's Epistle
upon our Lord's Divinity
and voluntary humiliation, and one of the Lessons

and the Gospel contain the sacred narrative of His
passion and death.
The other second Lesson

first
is
also
on the subject of His humiliation, from
St. Paul.
And
further
all
four
Lessons of to-day and next

the Israelites
Sunday
relate to the deliverance of

is
from Egypt, which
the type of our redemption.
'
Fifth
Sunday
in
Lent.
60
CHRIST,

in
[Skhm.
Let us then to-day,
accordance with the appa-
rent disposition of our Services, remind ourselves of
one or two of the great truths which the Epistle

contains;
of course
we cannot do
;
so with any great

sufficiently to
exactness or completeness
but
still,
serve, through God's mercy, as a sort of preparation
for the
solemn days which
lie
before us in the course
of the next fortnight.
It will
be a
fitting preparation,
please God, for Good-Friday, to bear in
our Lord
is,
and what
He
has done for
mind who us. And, at
present, let us confine ourselves to this one subject,
who our Lord

this
is,
God and man

;
in
one Person.
On
most sacred and awful
subject, I shall speak as
simply and plainly as I can
merely stating what
has to be stated, after the pattern of the Creeds, and

leaving
those
who hear me,

it
as
the Creeds leave
them, to receive
into their hearts fruitfully,

for themselves.
and to
improve
it,
under God's grace,

I
say,
Let
us,
consider
who
Christ
is,
as
the
Epistle for the day sets forth in the words of the

text.
1.
First, Christ is
God
from eternity
is
He
was the
Living and True God.
This
not mentioned exit is
pressly in the Epistle for this day, though

nificantly implied there in various
sigit is
ways
but
expressly stated, and that by Himself, in the Gospel.
He
says there, " Before
Abraham
was, I
am
:"
by
which words
He
declares that
He
did not begin to
'
John
viii.
58.
v.]
CHRIST,
61
exist
from the Virgin's womb, but had been in ex-
istence before.
And by
I
using the words

said, to
seems to alhide, as
have ah*eady
the
/ m, He Name
of God, which was revealed to Moses in the burning

bush,
when he was commanded
to say to the children

:
of Israel, "
Paul says
/m hath sent me unto you ^" Again St. of Christ, that He was " in the form of God,"
it
and
yet
" "
thought
not robbery to be equal with God,"

of no
;
made Himself
St.
reputation."
In
like
manner
John
says
" In the beginning
was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And St. Thomas addressed Him as his Lord and his God and St. Paul declares that He
;
is
"
God
over
all,
blessed for ever

is
;"
and the prophet
Isaiah,
that
He
"the mighty God, the Everlast-
ing Father;" and St. Paul again, that

great
He
is
"our
God and
Saviour
;"
and
St.
Jude, that
He
is
" our only Sovereign
God
and Lord \"

on
this point,
It is
not
is
necessary, surely, to enlarge
which
constantly brought before us in Scripture and in our
Day by day we magnify Him, and we worship His name ever world without end ;" which would be idolatry were He not the Very and Eternal God, our Maker and Lord. We know, indeed, that the Father is God also, and so is the Holy Ghost but still Christ is God and Lord, most fully, comServices.
"
pletely,
*
and
iii.
entirely, in all attributes as perfect

14.
and
Exod.
Phil.
ii.
ii.
6, 7.
John
4.
i.
xx. 28.
Rom.
ix. 5.
Isa.
ix. 6.
Tit.
13.
Jude
62
CHRIST,
[Seum.
as adorable, as if nothing
had been told us of Father

to be adored, as, before
])y
or of
Holy Ghost
is
as
much
He
eîme in the flesh, the Father was adored
the
Jews, and
in truth."
now
For
to
be adored by us "
tells
in spirit
and
He
us expressly Himself, "

;"
He
that hath seen
Me, hath seen the Father
and
" all
men "
are to " honour the Son, even as they honour
the Father ;" and "
He
that honoureth not the Son,
honoureth not the Father which hath sent

2.
Him ^"
And
here
we
is
are brought to the second point
of doctrine which
while our Lord
or rather, that
it is
necessary to insist upon, that
He
He
is
is
God He is also the Son of God, God because He is the Son of

first
God.
is
We
are apt, at
is
hearing, to say that
He
at
God though
a cause.
the
Son of God, marvelling

to
the mystery.
is
But what
man
is
a mystery, to
God
is
He
God, not though, but because

"
is
He
the Son of God.

is flesh,
That which
born of the
is
bom
of the flesh
that which
is
Si)irit is spirit,"
and
That which
that
begotten of
God
is
God.
do not say
we could presume thus
to reason for ourselves, but
Scripture draws the conclusion for us.
Christ tells us
Himself, " as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath
He given
Paul
to the
Son
to have life in Himself."
And
St.
says, that
He
is
" the brightness of God's glory,

^."
and the express

that
Image of His Person
And
thus,
though we could not presume
to reason of ourselves
He that is begotten of God is God, as if it became

xiv. 9
;
John
v. 23.
"
John
v.
'2(>.
Hob.
i.
3.
v.]
CHRIST,

all
6.i
US to reason at
about such ineffable things,
yet,
by
the
the light of Scripture,

truth
we may.
And
after
all, if
must be
said, it is surely
not so marvellous and
mysterious that the Son of
God should be God, as It is as that there should be a Son of God at all. little level to natural reason that God should have a Son, as that, if there be a Son, He must be God
because
if
He
is
the Son.
Both are mysteries; and

what Scripture
is
we
admit, with Scripture, that there be an Onlyit is
begotten Son,
even
less to admit,
also declares, that that
Only-begotten Son
God
be-
cause
He
is
Only-begotten.
And
this is
what makes
because
the doctrine of our Lord's Eternal Sonship of such
supreme importance,
is
viz.
that
He
is
God
He
begotten of
God
and they who give up the
latter
truth, are in the
way
to give up, or will be found
already to have given up, the former.
The
great
is is
safeguard to the doctrine of our Lord's divinity
the doctrine of His Sonship
we
realize that
He
God
only
when we acknowledge Him

is
to be
by nature
and from eternity Son.

Nay, our Lord's Sonship
to us of
not only the guarantee
His Godhead, but also the antecedent of His
incarnation.
As the Son was God, so on the other hand was the Son suitably made man; it belonged to Him to
a servant's fol-m.
have the Father's perfections,
We
to assume must beware of supposing that

it
became Him
the Persons of the Ever-blessed and All-holy Trinity

differ
is
from each other only in

is
this,
that the Father
not the Son, and the Son
not the Father.

is
They
differ in this besides,
that the Father
the Father,
6i-
CHRIST,
is

the Son.
[Serm.
and the Son

substance,
While They
are one in
Each has
not.
distinct
characteristics
which
the
Other has
Surely those sacred
Names
reve-
have a meaning in them, and must not lightly be

passed over.
And
they will be found,

to
if
we
rently study them,
supply a very merciful use

;
towards our understanding Scripture

see a fitness, I say,
vealed, in the
for
we
shall
now that that sacred truth is reSon of God taking flesh, and we shall
thereby understand better what

in the Gospels.
He
says of
Himself
The Son of God became
the
Son a
second time, though not a second Son, by becoming
man.
He
was a Son both before His incarnation,

it.
and, by a second mystery, after
From
eternity
He
had been
the Only-begotten in the
bosom of the
still.
Father; and when
He came
on
earth, this essential

;
relation to the Father remained unaltered
was a Son, when
in the
form of a servant,
He
per-
still
forming the will of the Father, as His Father's
Word
and Wisdom, manifesting His glory and accomplishing His purposes.
For instance, take the following passages of Scripture

:
" I
do nothing of Myself;" "
He
that sent
left
Me
"
is ;"
with
"
Me;" "the Father hath not

I speak,
;"
Me
;"
alone
My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work

"I
Whatsoever
even as the Father said unto

in the
Me,
in
so I speak
am
Father and the Father
Me
^"
Now,
it is
true, these passages
stood of our Lord's
human
nature
but, surely, if
may be underwe
10.
Wohn
viii.
28, 29; v. 17; xii.
50; xiv.
v.]
CHRIST,
THE SON OF GOD MADE MAN. we run
05
confine
them
or,
to this interpretation,
the risk
of viewing Christ as two separate beings, not as one
Person;
plaining
again, of
gTadually forgetting and ex-
away the doctrine of His divinity altogether. If we speak as if our Lord had a human personality, then, if He has another personality as God, He is not
one Person
;
and
if
He
has not,
He
is
not God. Such

to speak
passages, then, as the foregoing,
would seem
of
neither of Christ's
solely,
human
nature, nor of His divine*

is,
but of both together; that
Him who
spoke
being the Son of
God
is
also
man.
He who
was one really existing Person,

Living and Almighty Son, both
and He, that one

the
God and man, was

and was
brightness of God's glory and His Power, and wrought
what His Father and

but in time.
this, as
;
He
willed,
in the
Father and the Father in Him, not only from eternity
From
eternity
He
was
this,
and did
this,
God and
in time
He
\ras this,
and did
that
in
that
true of
manhood which He assumed. It Him altogether, when He spoke,
was therefore
He
was
not alone,
nor spoke or \ATought of Himself, but
where
seen
He was, there was the Father, and whoso had Him had seen the Father, whether we think of
as
Him
God
we
His
or as man.
Again,
read in Scripture of His being sent by

interceding to
the Father, addressing the Father,
Him
for
disciples,
and declaring to them that
His Father
is
greater than
He
in
what sense says
and does
He
all this ?
He
speaks only in
Some will be apt to say that His human nature which words
;
VOL. VI.
66
CHRIST,

mind
[Sehm.
are perplexing to the
that tries really to con-
template
Him
as Scripture describes
Him,
as if
He
were speaking only under a character, and not in His

Person.
gracious
No
it is ti-uer
to say that
He, that One Alldivine perfections
Son of God, who had been with the Father

all
from the beginning, equal in
and one in substance, but subordinate as being the

Son,
as
He
had ever been His AVord, and Wisdom,
and Counsel, and Will, and Power in heaven,

after
so
His incarnation, and upon the earth,

after,
still
spoke
and acted
yet with,
the Father as
before,
though in a new nature, which

in humiliation.
He
had put on, and
This, then,
is
the second point of doctrine which
had to mention, that our Lord was not only God,

but the Son of God.
took on
We
;
know more than

though
all
is
that
God
dis-
Him
our flesh
mysterious,
we have a
tinct,
point of knowledge further and
more
viz. that it was neither the Father nor the Holy Ghost, but the Son of the Father, God the Son, God from God, and Light from Light, who came
down upon
taking on
earth,
and who
thus,
though gmciously
Him
new
nature, remained as
He
had
been from everlasting, the Son of the Father, and

spoke and acted towards the Father as a Son.
3.
Now,
thirdly, let us
proceed to consider His
mercy
in taking
on
Him
our nature, and what that

text speaks of " a greater
is,
act of mercy imjilies.
The
and more perfect tabernacle," that
greater than
any thing
earthly.
This means His pure and sinless
; ;
v.]
CHRIST,
67
flesh,
which was miraculously formed of the substance
of the Blessed Virgin, and therefore called "not of this

building," or
it
more
literally,
"not of
this creation," for
was a new creation by which
He
Mas formed, even

This was the
by the descent of the Holy Ghost.
new
and perfect
scribed by
tabernacle
into
which
He
entered
entered, but not to be confined, not to be circumit.
The Most High dwelleth not

it,"
in
temples
"
made with hands; though His own hands

it
made
and fashioned
still
He
did not cease to
be what
still
He
was, because
He became
in,
man, but was

not altered by
the Infinite God, manifested

flesh.
the
He
is
took upon
Him
our nature, as an
instrument of His purposes, not as an agent in the

work.
What
one thing cannot become another
His manhood remained human, and His Godhead
remained divine.
God became man,
yet was
still
God, having His manhood as an adjunct, perfect in

its
kind, but
so,
dependent upon His Godhead.
So
so.
much
that unless Scripture had expressly called
Him
man, we might well have scrupled to do
Left to ourselves,
rential to
we might have
human and
St.
felt it
more revebut not
have spoken of Him, as incarnate indeed,

flesh,
come
in
human
the
like,
simply as man.
But
Paul speaks in plain terms
of our one Mediator
as " the
man Christ Jesus,"

the subject.
not to
Still,
speak of our Lord's
own words on
we must ever remember, that though He was in nature

perfect
man,
He
was not man

is
in exactly the
same
sense in which any one of us

F 2
a man. Though man,
68
CHRIST,
[Sbrm.
He was not,
the word, a
strictly speaking, in the
English sense of
us,
man
He
was not such as one of
and
one out of a number.
He
was man because

but divine.
He had
our human nature wholly and perfectly, but His Person

is
not
human
like ours,
He who
was from
the
eternity, continued
one and the same, but
with an addition.
His incarnation was a " taking of
As He had no earthly father, so has He no human personality. We speak of Him we any indivimay not as speak of dual man, acting from and governed by a human
manhood
into God."
intelligence within
Him, but
He was
God, acting not
God from eternity, but now through the flesh also, when He would. He was not a man made God, but God made man.
only as
(1.)
Thus,
when He prayed
to
His Father,
it
was not
the prayer of a
Eternal Son of
man supplicating God, but of the God who had ever shared the glory
and
in
of the Father, addressing Him, as before, but under

fe.r
other
circumstances,
new way, not

was
in the
according to those most intimate and ineffable relations
which belonged to
lower world,
Him who
bosom of the Father, but

tion,
in the
viz.
economy of redempthrough the feelings
and
in
a.
and thoughts of human nature.
When He
wept
at
the gTave of Lazarus, or sighed at the Jews' hardness of heart, or looked round about in anger, or
compassionated the multitudes,
He
manifested the
tender mercy, the compassion, the long-suffering, the

fearful
wrath of Almighty God, yet not in Himself,
v.]
CHRIST,

if indirectly
69
as
from eternity, but as
through the
outlets of that
manhood with which He had clothed
Himself.
When " He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay \" He exerted the virtue of His
(2.)
Divine Essence through the properties and circumstances of the flesh.

disciples
When He
breathed on His
and
said,
" Receive ye the
Holy Ghost ^"
He
vouchsafed to give His Holy Spirit through the
breath of his
When virtue went out of Him, so that whoso touched Him was made whole, here too, in like manner. He shows us that He was
human
nature.
not an individual man, like any of us, but
God
acting
through
(3.)
human
it
nature as His assumed instrument.
When He
poured out His precious blood upon

it
the Cross,
was not a man's blood, though

full
be-
longed to His manhood, but blood

virtue, instinct
of power and
with
life
and grace,
as issuing
most
mysteriously from
world.
Him who was

is
the Creator of the
And
the case
the same in every successive
communication of Himself to individual Christians.
As He became the Atoning Sacrifice by means of His human nature, so is He our High Priest in heaven by means of the same. He is now in heaven,
entered into the Holy place, interceding for us, and
dispensing blessings to us. of His Spirit; but
still
He
gives us abundantly
He
gives It not at once from
'
Jolm
ix. 6.
John xx. 22.
70
CHRIST,
[Seum.
His Divine nature, though from eternity the Holy
Ghost proceeds from the Son as well

Father,
as
from the
but by means of that incoiTuptible flesh

has taken on Him.
which
He
For Christ
is
come
High
Priest through the perfect tabernacle which
He
assumed, a tabernacle not of this creation, or in the

ordinary course of nature, but framed miraculously
of the substance of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost
and therefore the streams of

as
life
flow to us from
Him,
God
indeed, but
still
as Gt)d incarnate.
"That
^."
which quickeneth us is the Spirit of the Second Adam,
and His
(4.)
flesh is that
wherewith
He
quickeneth
last
I shall
mention a fourth and

I
point in this
great mystery.
Saviour, the
have said that our High Priest and
Son of God, when

it,
He
took our nature
upon Him, acted through what
without ceasing to be
it
He
was before, making
but the instrument
of His gracious purposes.

posed, because
it
But
it
must not be supwas not
was an instrument, or because in the

it
text
it is
called a tabernacle, that therefore
Him, or that it was merely like what is commonly meant by a tabernacle, which a man dwells in, and may come in and out of; or like
intimately one with
an instrument, which a man takes up and

Far from
it
;
lays
down.
though His Divine Nature was sove-
reign and supreme
the
when He became incarnate, yet manhood which He assumed was not kept at a
from
ilistance
Him
(if
may
so speak) as a
mere
Hooker, Ecd. Pol.
v. 50. 8.
v.]
CHRIST,
71
instrument, or put on as a mere garment, or entered

as a
mere
tabernacle, but
it
was
really
taken into
the closest and most ineffable union with
Him.
He
dare
received
it
into His Divine Essence
(if
we may
so to speak) almost as a
of course I
as
is
new speak by way

indissolubly.
attribute of His Person
of analogy, but I
mean
singly
and
Let us consider what

mercy, or wisdom, and
meant by God's
shall perhaps
justice, or
we
have some glimpse of the meaning
when they speak of the Son's incarnation. If we said that the Son of God is just or merciful, we should mean that these are attributes which attach to all He is or was. Whatever He
of the inspired writers,
says,
is
whatever
He
designs, whatever
He
works.
He
just and loving
when He thus
says, designs, or
works.
There never was a moment, there never was
an act or providence, in which God wrought, without

being just and loving, even though both attributes
may
that
not be exercised at once in the same

is
act.
In
;
somewhat the same way the Son of God

is
man
all
is
necessary to constitute a perfect
manhood
fully as
attached to His eternal Person absolutely and entirely,
belonging to
Him
;
as really
and
His
justice, truth, or
power
so that
it
would be
as un-
meaning
from
to speak of dividing
one of His attributes
Him
as to separate
from
Him
His manhood.
This throws light upon the Catholic tenet, that

the
in
Godhead and JManhood were "joined together

Person, never to be divided
too
;"
One
words which
to
also
serve
often
to
bring
home
us
how
72
faintly
CHRIST,

true doctrine
it is
:
[Serm.
we master the
manhood
is
for
we
are
sometimes tempted to ask, where

ture that the
shall
said in Scrip-
never be divided from
the
if
Godhead ? which
to ask
as incongruous a question as
justice,
we were
whether God's
mercy, or
holiness, can
be divided from Him; or whether Scrip-
ture ever declares that this or that attribute
may not
disappear
as in in
for as these
have no real existence except
God, neither has our Lord's manhood except as

;
His Divine nature
it
;
never subsisted except as

it
attached to His divinity

itself
has no subsistence in
Thus
all
that
He did and
said
on earth, was but the
immediate deed and word of God the Son acting by
means of His human

Himself with
it;
tabernacle.
it
He
surrounded
He lodged
within him; and thence-
forth the Eternal
Word, the Son of God, the Second

the
other,
Person in the Blessed Trinity, had two natures, the
one His own as really as
divine
and
human
and
He
acted through both of them, some-
times through both at once, sometimes through
One
acts
and not through the
other, as
Almighty God
sometimes by the attribute of
justice,
sometimes by
that of love, sometimes through both together.
He
was
as entirely
man
as fully
God
as if
fully both at
once
as if He had ceased to be God, He had never become man, as as He was in subsistence at all.
The Athanasian Creed expresses all this as follows " The right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is God and
v.]
CHRIST,
7S
man God
;
of the substance of His Father, begotten

;
before the worlds
and
man
of the substance of His

Perfect
;
God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting who, although He be God and man, yet is
Mother, born in the world.
:
not two but one Christ ; one, not by conversion of the
Godhead
" but
into flesh," as if
He
could cease to be God,

it
by taking of the manhood into God," taking
into His Divine Person as
His own: "one altogether,
not by confusion of substance," not by the Divine
Nature and the human becoming one nature,
as if
He
ceased to be God, and did not become a man,
" but
by unity of Person^
This
is
what His unity
consists in,
not unity of
me
nature, but that
He who
came on
earth, was the very
Same who had been from
everlasting.
In conclusion,
to speak,
let
observe, that one ought not

truths,
one ought not to hear, such high
without great reverence and awe, and preparation of
mind.
And
this is a reason, perhaps,

;
why
this
is
proper season for dwelling on them
w^hen
we have
but in
been
engaged, not in
mirth and
festivity,
chastening and
says,
" Lord,
I I
The Psalmist am not high minded I have no

sobering ourselves.
;
proud looks.
do not exercise myself in great
matters which are too high for me.
But
I refrain
is
my
in
soul
and keep
it
low, like as a child that
weaned from
his mother."
When we
this world,
are engaged
weaning ourselves from
when we
are
74
CHRIST,
THE SON OF GOD MADE
MAxN.
denying ourselves even lawful things, when we have

a subdued tone of thought and feeling, then
is
an
allowable time surely to speak of the high mysteries

of the faith.
And
;
then, too, are they especially a

fasting,
comfort to us
light of
but those who neglect

too.
make
orthodoxy
But
to those
who through
God's grace are othermse minded, the creed of the
Church brings
relief;
when, amid the gloom of their

sun of righteousness,
beauty for ashes,
own
the
hearts, Christ rises like the
giving
oil
them peace
for disquiet, "
of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they
may be
called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
He may
be
glorified."
SERMON
VL
SACRIFICE.
THE INCARNATE SON, A SUFFERER AND
Phil. " Being found

in fashion as a
ii.
8.
man,
He humbled
Himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross."
He who
thus humbled Himself, being
first
made
had
man, then dying, and that upon the shameful and

agonizing Cross, was the same
who from
eternity
been " in the form of God," and was " equal with
God," as the Apostle declares in a preceding verse.
'*
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word
was with God, and the

in the
Word
God
;"
was God
the same was
beginning with
thus speaks St. John,
a second witness to the same great and awful truth.
And
made
he, too, goes

flesh,
on to
say, "
and dwelt among
us."
And the Word was And at the close
of his Gospel, as
we know, he
gives an account of
our Lord's death upon the Cross.
We
are
now approaching
fix
that most sacred day
when we commemorate
Let us try to
Christ's passion
and death.
our minds upon this great thought.
76
THE INCARNATE
try,
SON,
[Sbrm.
Let US
what
is
so very difficult, to put off other
thoughts, to clear our minds of things transitory,
temporal, and earthly, and to occupy
them with the

though
contemplation of the Eternal Priest and His one ever-
enduring Sacrifice
that
Sacrifice which,
completed once
and, in
its
for all
on Calvary, yet ever abideth,

its
power and
is
grace,
is
ever present
among
to
us,
and
at all times gratefully
and awfully
be commemorated, but now

is
especially,
when the
Let us
time of year
look upon
come
at
which
it
was made.
draw us
to
Him Mho was lifted up that He might Him and, by being drawn one and all to
;
Him,
and
let
us be drawn to each other, so that

feel that
we may
understand and
all,
He
we
has redeemed us one

love one another,
laid
and
that, unless
we
cannot really have love to

life for us.
Him who
down His
With
the hope, then, of suggesting to you some
serious thoughts for the

day', I will
week which begins with
this
make a few
remarks, such as the text

event,
suggests,
upon that dreadful yet most joyful the passion and death of our Lord.
And,
though
obvious,
for
first,
it
ought not to be necessary to

necessary even because
is
say,
is
it
may be
(for,
it
so
what
very plain
is
sometimes taken
is
granted by those
who know it, and hence
never
place,
heard by others at
all,)
this, I say, in
the
first
must be ever remembered, that
Christ's death
was
'
Sixth Sunday in Lent.
VI.]
77
not a mere martyrdom.

for the
martyr
is
one who dies was put was not
Church,
who
is
put to death for preaching

Christ, indeed,
and maintaining the truth.

to death for preaching the
Gospel
yet
He
a Martyr, but
He
a
was much more than a Martyr.
Had He been
man, so
mere man,
rightly called a Martyr, but as
He
was not a
He would have been He was not a mere mere Martyr. Man dies as a
God
we
dies as an
Martyr, but the Son of

Sacrifice.
Atoning
Here
then, as you see,
are at once introduced
into a very mysterious subject,
though one which
concerns us most dearly.
There was a virtue in His
death, which there could be in no other, for
He
was
God.
TVe, indeed, could
not have told beforehand

so high
what Mould follow from
an event as God
;
becoming incarnate and dying on the Cross but that

something extraordinary and high would issue from
it,
we might have been

us.
quite sure, though nothing
had been told

Himself
self, (if I
for
He would not have so humbled nought He could not so humble Him;
may use
the expression,) without
momentous
consequences.
we opened our minds to what is meant by the doctrine of the Son of God dying on the Cross for us. I do not say we shall ever be able to solve the mystery of it, but we may understand in what the Mystery consists and that is what many men are deficient in. They have no clear views what the truth of the matter is; if they had, it would make
It
would be well
if
78
THE INCARNATE SON.

serious than they are.
[Serm.
them more
Let
it
be under-
stood, then, that the
Ahnighty Son of God, wlio had

as truly as as the
been in the bosom of the Father from everlasting,
became man
God.
is,
became man
He was
had
always
;
He
was God from God,
Creed says
all
that
as being the
Son of the Father,
He
those
infinite perfections
from the Father which the Father
had.
He
was of one substance with the Father, and
was God, because the Father was God.

truly God, but
He
was
He became He
as truly in
man.
He became
man, yet so as not to cease
any respect being
what
He
was before.
added a new nature to

it
Himself, yet so intimately, that

actually left
"
was as if
He
had
His former
flesh
self,
:"
which
He
this
did not.
The Word became

not only Mas
oil
even this would seem
mystery and marvel enough, but even

all
;
was not
goes
Pontius
He " made man," but, as the to state, He " was crucified also for us Pilate, He suffered and was buried."
is
Creed
under
Now
here, I say,
a fresh mystery in the history

it
of His humiliation, and the thought of
will cast a
shall read
new and solemn
light
I
on the chapters we
during the week.

nation, man's nature
have said that after His incaras

;
was
much and
St.
as truly Christ's
as His divine attributes
Paul even speaks of
God
"
" purchasing us with
His own blood," and of the
Lord of glory" being "killed,"

had put on
expressions which,
more than any other, show how absolutely and simply
He
Him
the nature of man.
As
the
in a
soul acts through the
body
as its instrument,
VI.]
A SUFFERER AND SACRIFICE,
79
more
perfect way, but as intimately, did the Eternal
Word
of
God
act through the
manhood which He
it
had taken.
speaking;
When He
when He
spoke,
it
was
literally
God
any
suffered,
was God
could
suffering.
Not
that the Divine
Nature
itself
suffer,
more than our

soul sees so
soul can see or hear; but,
as the
and hears through the organs of the body,
God
the Son suffered in that
He
had taken to
human nature which Himself and made His own. And

did truly suffer; as truly as
in that nature
He
He
framed the worlds through His Almighty power, so

through His
human
earth.
nature did
He
suffer
for
when
He came
on
His manhood became

as
as truly
and intimately His,

from everlasting.
His Almighty power had been

ye light-hearted, and consider
last
Think of
this,
all
whether with this thought you can read the
chap-
ters of the four Gospels without fear and trembling.
For instance
"
When He
had thus spoken, one
of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the
palm of
his hand, saying,
Answerest Thou the high

said,
priest so ?"
The words must be
though
his
hardly
dare say them,
that
This
officer lifted
up
hand against
God
the Son.
is
not a figurative
way of speakand simple and buf-
ing, or a rhetorical form of words, or a harsh, extreme,
and unadvisable statement

truth,
it is
:
it is
literal
a great Catholic doctrine.
Again
feted
"Tlien they did spit in His
face,
Him, and others smote
Him
with the palms of
their hands."
" ;
80
"Tlie
THE INCARNATE
SON.
[Skrm.
men
that
held
Jesus mocked Him, and
smote Him, and when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, sajing,
Prophesy,
who
is it
that smote Thee? and
many other
things blasphemously spake they against Him."

"
And Herod
with his
men
of war set
nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed
Him at Him in a
Him
it
gorgeous robe, and sent
Him
again to Pilate."
" Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged
and the
put on
soldiers platted a
crown of thorns, and put

said, Hail,
on His head, and a reed
in
His right hand, and they
Him
!
a purple robe, and
King of
the Jews
reed,
and they smote
Him
on the head with a

wearing
and did spit upon Him, and, bowing their knees,
worshipped Him.
"
Then came Jesus

they were come
forth,
the crown of thorns and the purple robe."

Lastly
:
When
to the place
^between two
bidding
which
is
called Calvary, there they crucified
Him
all
malefactors, and even there they did
not cease insulting and mocking
Him
but
of
them, chief priests and people, stood beholding, and
Him come down

I bid
from the Cross.
Now
you consider that that Face, so ruth-
lessly smitten, was the Face of
Brows bloody with the thorns, posed to view and lacerated with the
God Himself; the sacred Body
the ex-
scourge, the
Hands
nailed to the Cross, and, afterwards, the Side

;
pierced with the spear
it
was the Blood, and the

Luke xxii. 63 65 Mark xv. 19. Luke
John
xviii. 22.
1, 2.
Matt. xxvi. 67.
xxiii. 11.
John xix.
Matt, xxvii. 29.
xxiii. 83.
VI.]
81
sacred Flesh, and the Hands, and the Temples, and
the Side, and the Feet of
God
Himself, which the

is
frenzied multitude then gazed upon. This
so fearful
it,
;
a thought, that
it
when
it,
the
mind
first
masters
surely
will
be
difficult
to think of anything else
so that,
it
while
to us,
lest it
we
think of
we must
pray
God
to
temper
it
and to give us strength to think of

be too much
into
for us.
rightly,
Taking
Himself,
account, then, that Almighty
God
shall
God
the Son, was the Sufferer,
we
understand better than

tion given of
we have
hitherto the descrip;
Him
by the Evangelists
used when
we
shall see
the meaning of His general demeanour. His silence
and the words
He
He
spoke, and Pilate's
awe
"
at
Him.
the high priest arose and said unto
And
Him,
Answerest Thou nothing ?

witness against Thee?
"
What
is
it
which these
peace'."
But Jesus held His
elders.
When He was accused of the chief priests and He answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto
Him, Hearest Thou not how many things they witness against Thee ? and He answered him to never
a word,
greatly
"
*."
insomuch
that
the
governor
marvelled
The Jews answered Him,
We have
a law, and
by our law
self the
He
ought to
die,
because
He made Himand went again

1214.
Son of God.
When
more
*
Pilate therefore heard

afraid,
that saying, he was the
Matt. xxvi. 62, 63.
Matt, xxvii.
VOL. VI.
8!^
THE INCARNATE SON,

judgment
hall,
[Serm.
into the
art
and
saith
unto Jesus, Whence
Thou ? But Jesus gave him no answer '." " And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding
:
glad
for
he was desirous to see
Him
of a long sea-
son, because
he had heard many things of
Him
and
he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him.
Then he questioned with Him He answered him nothing ^."

Lastly,
in
many
words, but
His words to the
women who
weep not
followed
for
Him,
" Daughters of Jerusalem,

for
Me,
For
but weep for yourselves and
your children.
behold the days are coming, in the which they shall

say.
Blessed are the barren, and the
wombs
that
never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Then
on us
shall
;
they begin to say to the mountains. Fall

to the hills,
and
Cover us ^"
After these passages, consider the words of the

beloved disciple in anticipation of His coming at the
"
end of the world.

and every eye
Behold
He
cometh with
also
clouds,
shall see
Him, they
so,
which pierced
Him
and
all
the kindreds of the earth shall wail
because of Him.
Yes,
Even
Amen ^."
weal or for woe, one
we
shall all of us, for
day see that holy Countenance which wicked

struck and dishonoured
;
men
we
shall see those

;
Hands
be the
that were nailed to the cross

pierced.
that Side which was

;
We
shall see all
this
and
it
will
sight of the Living God.

'
John xix. 7
9.
Luke
Rev.
xxiii. 8, 9.
i.
'
Luke
xxiii.
2830.
7-
VI.]
83
This being the great mystery of Christ's Cross and

Passion,
said, that
we might with
reason suppose, as I have

result
some great thing would
from
it.
The
sufferings
and death of the Word Incarnate could not they could not be a mere pass away like a dream martyrdom, or a mere display or figure of some;
thing
else,
they must have a virtue in them.

sure
of,
This
we might be
vealed;
it is
though nothing had been told
us about the result.

this,
But
that result
is
also
re-
our reconciliation to God, the
expiation
holiness.
of our
sins,
and our new creation
in
We had
need of a reconciliation, for by nature we
are outcasts.
From
the time that
Adam
" In
fell, all
his
all
is
children have been under a curse.

die
^,"
Adam
;
as St. Paul says.
So that every one of us

such
first
bom
into
this
life
world in a state of death
is
our natural
children
iniquity.
from our very

;
breath
sin
;
we
are
of wrath
conceived in
shapen in
We
are under the bondage of an inborn
element of
there
is
evil,
which thwarts and
stifles
whatever
us,
is
of truth and
goodness remaining in
it.
directly
we attempt
to act according to
This
that "
body of death" under which
St.
Paul de-
scribes the natural
man
as groaning,
and saying, "
wretched man, who shall deliver

ourselves,
me?"
Now
for
my
brethren,
we know
(praised be
God)
that all of us have from our infancy been taken out
"
Cor. XV. 22.
g2
84
of this
THE INCARNATE
miserable heathen
is
SON,
[Serm.
state
by holy baptism,
of regeneration.
;
which
God's appointed means
Still it is
not
less
our natural state

;
it is
the state
in
which every one of us was born

little
is
it is
the state in
which every
child
is,
Dear
as he
to those
when brought to the font. who bring him thither, and

is,
innocent as he
tized,
may
look, there
till
he
is
bap-
an
evil spirit in his heart,
a spirit of evil lying
hid, seen of
God, unseen by
man
(as
the serpent
among
the
the trees of Eden), an evil spirit which from

hateful to God, and at length will be his
first is
eternal ruin.
That
evil spirit
is
cast out
by Holy
Baptism, without the privilege of which his birth
would but be a misery

Baptism gain
of
its
to him.
But whence did

that great event
power?
From
;
we
are so soon to
God
incarnate.
commemorate the death of the Son Almost all religions have their
feel the
outward cleansings; they

they cannot supply
it.
need of man, though
Even the Jewish system,

;
though
divine, effected nothing here

;
its
washings
were but carnal
the blood of bulls and goats was but
earthly and unprofitable.
Even
St. John's baptism,
our
Lord's forerunner, had no inward propitiatory power.

Christ was not yet crucified.
But when
that long-
expected season came,
when
the Son of
God had
solemnly set Himself apart as a Victim in the presence of His twelve Apostles, and had gone into the
garden, and before three of
them had undergone His

and nailed to the
cross,
agony and bloody sweat, and then had been betrayed,

buffeted, spit upon, scourged,
VI.]
85
till
He
died, then
;"
He
with His
last
breath said, " It
is
finished
and from that time the virtue of the

pardon and regeneration of
its
Highest went forth through His wounds and with
His blood,
for the
it is
man
and hence
This
is
that baptism has

"
power.
why He
humbled Himself and became

us," says the
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

" Christ hath
redeemed
Apostle else-
where, "
from the curse of the Law, being made a

Again, he says that Christ has "
curse for us."
made
peace by the blood of His cross."

ciled" us " in the
He
has " recon-
body of His
Or, as St.
flesh
through death, to
the " saints
present us holy and unblameable, and unreproveable

in
His
sight."
John
says,
have washed their robes, and made them white in

the blood of the Lamb."
explicitly
Isaiah,
And no
one speaks more
on
this great
mystery than the prophet

it
many hundred
" Surely
years before
was accom-
plished.
carried our sorrows.

gressions,
He hath borne our griefs and He was wounded for our transfor
He
was bruised
our iniquities
the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with
His
stripes
gone
astray,
we are healed. All we like sheep have we have turned every one to his own
way, and the Lord hath laid on

us
all '."
Him
the iniquity of
We believe, then, that when Christ suffered on the

cross,
our nature suffered in Him.
Human
14.
Isa.
liii.
nature,
'
Gal.
iii.
13.
Col.
i.
20-22. Rev.
vii.
4 6.
86
fallen
it
THE INCARNATE
SON,
wratli of
[Serm.
and corrupt, was under the

it
God, and
was impossible that

till it
should be restored to His

its sin
favour
this
had expiated
by
;
suffering.
Why
was necessary, we know not
but
we
are told
expressly, that
we
are " all
by nature children of
shall
wrath," that " by the deeds of the law there shall no

flesh
be
justified,"
hell,
and that " the wicked
be
turned into
and all the people that forget God."

that
suffer
The Son of God then took our nature on Him,

in
Him
it
might do and
it.
what
in itself
was imitself, it
What it He carried it about Him through He carried it forward to agony a life of penance. and death. In Him our sinful nature died and rose again. When it died in Him on the cross, that death was its new creation. In Him it satisfied its old
possible to
could not effect of
could effect in Him.
and heavy debt

gave
it it
for the
presence of His divinity
transcendant merit.
His presence had kept
pure from sin from the
first.
His Hand had careand, separating from
fully selected
the choicest specimen of our nature

;
from the Virgin's substance

it all it
defilement. His personal indwelling hallowed

it
when it had been offered up upon the Cross, and was made perfect by suffering, it became the first-fruits of a new man it became a divine leaven of holiness for the new birth and spiritual life of as many as should receive it.
and gave
power.
thus,
;
And
And
thus, as the Apostle says, " If

all
one died
for all,
then did
die
;"
" our old
man
is
crucified in
Him^
that the body of sin might be destroyed;" and
" toge-
VI.]
87
in sins, hath
ther" with Christ "
when we were dead
He quickened
us
sit
us,
and raised us up together, and made
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
Thus
"
we
are
members of His body, from His

:
flesh,
and from His bones
for
whosoever eateth His
flesh
and drinketh His blood, hath eternal

flesh is
life," for
His
;
meat indeed, and His blood

flesh
is
drink indeed
and " he that eateth His

blood dwelleth in Him, and
and drinketh His
He
in
him "."
do these doc-
What
a very different view of
life
trines present to us
from that which the world takes.
Only think of
this
one thing,
of the eagerness of
the great mass of
men
after matters of time, after
engagements of
aggrandizement,
this wôrld, after gain, after national
after
speculations which
;
promise
public or private advantage

this,
and having thought of
turn back to the contemplation of Christ's cross,

say, as
and then
all
candid men, whether the world, and

is
that
is
in the world,
not as unbelieving
now
as
when
Christ came.
Does there not seem too great

its
cause to fear that this nation, in spite of
having
been baptized into the Cross of Christ,

a state, that, did Christ
is
in so as
unholy
come among us
?
He came
among
reject
the Jews,
we
should, except a small remnant,
Him
as well as they
May we
not be sure
that
men
now-a-days, had they been alive
when He
?
came, would have disbelieved and derided the holy
and mysterious doctrines which
He
;
brought
Alas
2 Cor.
V. 14.
Roui.
vi. 6.
Eph.
ii.
5,
v. 30.
John
vi.
54.
88
is
THE INCARNATE
there any doubt at
words,
all,
SON,
[Sbrm.
filled St. John's

it
"the darkness comprehended
that they
would have
ful-
not?"
:
Their hearts are set on schemes of this
world
there would have been no sympathy between
them and the calm and heavenly mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. They would have said that His Gospel was strange, extravagant, incredible. The only reason they do not say so
it,
now
is,
that they are used to
and do not
really dwell
!
on what they profess to

said,)
!
believe.
What
taking
(it
would have been

flesh,
the Son
of
God
human
?"
impossible
the Son of
!
God, separate from God yet one with

can these things be
Him
"
how
God Himself suffering on the Cross, the Almighty Everlasting God in the form of a servant, with human flesh and blood, wounded,
insulted,
dying? and
all
this as
an Expiation for
human
sin?
Why
why
(they would ask) was an Expiation
necessary?
could not the All-merciful Father

?
pardon without one

counted so great an
so marvellous a
why
?
;
is
human
to
sin to
be ac-
evil
We
see no necessity for
remedy we refuse
us
of.
admit a course
of doctrine so utterly unlike any thing which the face of this world
parallels
;
tells
These are events without
they belong to a
;
new and
distinct order
of things
and, while our heart has no sympathy with
them, our reason utterly rejects them.

Christ's
And
as for
miracles, if they
had not seen

;
tliem, they
would not have believed the report
if
they had, they
would have been ready enough if not, as the Jews juggling craft,
to refer
them
to
did, to Beelzebub.
VI.]
A SUFFERER AND SACRIFICE

will the holy truths of the
89
Such
love
gles;
its
Gospel ever ap-
pear to those
who
live to this world,
whether they
pleasures, its comforts, its prizes, or its strug-
their eyes are
waxen
gross,
they cannot see

is
Christ spiritually.
When
they see Him, there
no
beauty in
"
Him
that they should desire
Him.
Thus
he
they become unbelieving.
In our Lord's words,

:
No
servant can serve two masters
for either
will hate the
one and love the other, or else he will
hold to the one and despise the other.

serve
Ye cannot
God and mammon '."

Him.
Pharisees derided
"
When He said this, the And He said unto them,
but
are they which justify yourselves before men God knoweth your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." God grant that we may not be of those who "justify themselves before men," and "deride" those who preach the severe doctrine of the Cross God grant that, if we have any misgivings about the corruptions and defects of the religion now so popular among us, we may have the grace forthwith to desire honestly to know God's will God grant that we may not attempt to deceive our consciences, and
!
!
Ye
to reconcile together,
service of this world
by some
artifice or other,
!
the
and of God
God grant that we

Word, put
to
may
upon
not pervert and

it
dilute His holy
the false interpretations of men, reason our-
selves out of its strictness,
and reduce religion
an
'
Luke
xvi.
1315.
!)()
THE INCARNATE
SON,
&c.
ordinary coiiinioii-plaee matter,

it
iiii^tead
of thinking
what
it isy
a mysterious and supernatural subject,

lies
as distinct
this
from anything that

is
on the surface of
world, as day
from night and heaven from
earth!
SERMON
VII.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST THE MEASURE OF THE WORLD.
John
"
xii.
32.
all
And
I, if I
be lifted up from the earth, will draw
men
unto
Me."
GREAT number of men
live
and die without
re-
flecting at all
find
upon the
state of things in
which they
themselves.
They take
things as they come,

far as
and follow their inclinations as

opportunity.
they have the
They are guided mainly by pleasure

by reason,
principle, or conscience
;
and
pain, not
and
they do not attempt to interpret this world, to deter-
mine what
it
means, or to reduce what they see and
feel to system.
But when persons,
either from thought-
fulness of mind, or from intellectual activity, begin

to contemplate the visible state of things into
which
they are bom, then forthwith they find

a perplexity.
It
it
a maze and
solve.
drift.
it is
it,
It is a riddle
which they cannot
seems
full
of contradictions and without a

it
Why
what
it is,
and what
is
to issue in,
and how
it is,
and how we come to be introduced into

is
and what
our destiny, are
all
mysteries.
92
In this
of
life,
THE CROSS OF CHRIST

difficulty,
[Serm.
some have formed one philosophy
and others another.
Men
have thought they
had found the key, by means of which they might

read what
is
so obscure.
Ten thousand
them
?
things
come
and
before us one after another in the course of
life,
what are we
to give
to think of
what colour are we
Are we to look at all things in a gay and mirthful way? or in a melancholy way ? in a desponding or a hopeful way? Are M'e to make
them ?
light of life altogether, or to treat the
whole subject
little
?
seriously?
Are we
keep
in
to
make
greatest things of
consequence, or least things of great consequence
are
Are we we
to
mind what
present
is
past and gone, or
to look
on to the future, or are we to be

is
?
absorbed in what
at things?
this
is
How
are
all
we
to look
the question which
persons of
observation ask themselves, and answer each in his
own way. They wish

within them, which
is
to think
by rule
by something
adjust
may harmonise and

is
what
without them.
Such
the need
felt
by
reflective
minds.
is
Now,
let
me
ask,
what
is
the real key, what

?
the Christian interpretation of this world
What
cruci-
is
given us by revelation to estimate and measure
this
world by ? The event of this season,
the
fixion of the It
flesh,
is
Son of God.
the death of the Eternal

is
Word
of God,
which
our great lesson
how
we
to think
made and how

its
to speak of this world.
His Cross has put

see,
all
due
forall
value upon everything which

tunes,
all
upon
all
advantages,
all
ranks,
dignities,
VII.]
THE MEASURE OF THE WORLD.

;
9S
lust of
pleasures
upon the
lust of the flesh,

life.
and the
the eyes,
and the pride of
It has set a price
upon
the excitements, the rivalries, the hopes, the fears, the desires, the
It
efforts,
the triumphs of mortal man.

to
has given a meaning
the
various,
shifting
course, the trials, the temptations, the sufferings, of

his earthly state. It has
brought together and made

aimless.
consistent
It has
all
that
seemed discordant and

to live,
taught us
how
what
how
to use this world,

to hope.
It is
what
to expect,
to desire,
all
what
the tone into which
the strains of this world's
music are ultimately to be resolved.
Look around, and

high and low.
see
what the world presents of

See the
Go
to the court of princes.

all
treasure and skill of
nations brought together to
honour a child of man.

the
Observe the prostration of

Consider the form and
many
before the few.
ceremonial, the pomp, the state, the circumstance;
and the vainglory.

of
it all ?
Do
you wish to know the worth

see nation jealous of
look at the Cross of Christ.

:
Go
to the political world
nation, trade rivalling trade, armies
and
fleets
matched
against each other.
Survey the various ranks of the
community,
its
parties
and their
contests, the striv-
ings of the ambitious, the intrigues of the crafty.
What What
is is
the end of
all
this
turmoil?
the grave.
the measure? the Cross.
Go, again, to the world of intellect and science

consider the wonderful discoveries which the
human
its
mind
is
making, the variety of
arts to
which
94
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
[Serm.
discoveries give rise, the all but miracles
by wliich
it
shows
its
power; and next, the pride and confidence
of reason,
and the absorbing devotion of

is
transi-
tory objects, which
the consequence.
this
?
Would you
form a right judgment of all
look at the Cross.
Again
food
look at misery, look at poverty and desti-
tution, look at oppression

is
and captivity; go where

that
scanty,
and lodging unhealthy. Consider pain

diseases long or violent,
all
is
and
suffering,
frightful
and revolting.
?
Would you know how
to
rate all these
gaze upon the Cross.
Thus
things
It
is
in the Cross,
;
and
Him who hung upon

it,
it,
all
it.
meet
all
things subserve
all
things need
their centre
lifted
all
and their interpretation.

it,
For
all
He
was
up upon
be
that
He
might draw
men
and
things unto
it
Him.
the view which the Cross
But
world,
will
said, that
of Christ imparts to us of
is
human
life
and of the
if left
not that which we should take,

it
is
to
if
ourselves; that
not an obvious view;
that
we
look at things on their surface, they are far more
bright and sunny than they appear
the light which this season casts
when viewed in upon them. The

it.
world seems made for the enjoyment of just such a

being as man, and
man
is
put into
He
has the
capacity of enjoyment, and the world supplies the
means.
How
!
natural this, what a simple as well as
pleasant philosophy, yet
how
different
from that of
it
the Cross
The
doctrine of the Cross,
may be
said, disarranges
two parts of a system which seem
VIL]

for each other;
it
95
made
severs the fruit from the
eater, the
this solve
enjoyment from the enjoyer.

a problem
?
How
does
does
it
not rather
itself create
one?
jection
I answer,
first,
that whatever force this obit

is
may
for
have, surely
merely a repetition
in
of that which
Eve
felt
and Satan had infused,
Eden;
did not the
woman
is it
see that the for-
bidden tree was "good for food," and "a tree to
be desired f " Well, then,

the descendants of the
wôrld
trial
wonderful that
should
fruit,
still
we
too,
first pair,
be in a
where there
lie in
is
a forbidden
it,
and that our
should
possessing
and our happiness in

at first sight, apChrist's
abstaining from it?

pears
The world,
sorrowful
made
is
for pleasure,
and the vision of

but
Cross
a solemn and
sight interfering
with this appearance.
Be
it
so
why may
it
not
be our duty to abstain from enjoyment notwithstanding, if it
was a duty even

;
in
Eden ?
for pleasure
But again
ness.
it is
but a superficial view of things

is
to say that this life
made
and happi-
To those who look under the surface, it tells a The doctrine of the Cross does very different tale. more forcibly, still after though infinitely but teach, all it does but teach the very same lesson which this
world teaches to those
much
at
experience in
lips,
it,
who live long in it, who have who know it. The world is
taste.
sweet to the
first,
but bitter to the

last.
It pleases
but not at
It looks
gay on the outside,
but
evil
and misery
lie
concealed within.
When
it,
man
has passed a certain
number of
years in
he
96
cries
is
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
[Sbrm.
out with the preacher, " Vanity of vanities,
all
vanity."
will
Nay,
if
he has not religion
for his guide,

say,
he
be forced to go further, and

all is
"All
is
vanity and vexation of spirit;"

all is
disappointment;
sorrow;
all
is
pain.
The
sore
judgments of
and force a
Therefore the
God upon sin are concealed within man to grieve whether he will or no.
for us our experience of the world.
it,
doctrine of the Cross of Christ does but anticipate

It is true,
all
it
bids us grieve for our sins in the midst of
that
smiles and glitters around us; but if
we
will not
heed
it,
we
shall at length
be forced to grieve for

If
them from undergoing
their fearful punishment.
we will not acknowledge that this world has been made miserable by sin, from the sight of Him on whom our sins were laid, we shall experience it to be
miserable by the recoil of those sins upon ourselves.
It
may be
is
granted, then, that the doctrine of the
Cross
not
on the surface of the world.

a hidden doctrine
sight
startles
it.
The
is
surftice of things is
bright only, and the Cross

;
sorrowful
veil;
it
it is
it
lies
under a
at
first
us,
and
tempted to revolt from

out, "
Like
;
St. Peter, this shall
we we
;
are cry
Be
is
it
far
from Thee, Lord
not be
for
unto Thee
'."
And
yet
it
is
a true doctrine
Truth
not on the surface of things, but in the
depths.
And
as the doctrine of the Cross,
though
it
be the
'
Matt. xvi. 22.
VII.]

is
97
true interpretation of this world,
not prominently
is
manifested in
it,
upon
its surface,
but
concealed
so again, wlien received into the faithful heart, there

it
abides as a living principle, but deep, and hidden
from observation.
Scripture, " live
Religious men, in the words of

faith of the
by the
loved
them and gave Himself

tell this to all
for
Son of God, who them ^ :" but they
do not
it
men
they leave others to find
Our Lord's own command to His disciples \)v'as, that when they fast, they should " anoint their head and wash their face ^." Thus they are bound not to make a display, but ever to be
out as they may.
content to look outwardly different from what they
are really inwardly.
They
are to carry a cheerful
countenance with them, and to control and regulate

their feelings, that those feelings,
by not being ex-
pended on the
surface,
hearts and there live.
may retire deep into their And thus " Jesus Christ and
first
He
crucified"
;"
wisdom
is,
as the Apostle tells us, " a hidden
^hidden in the world, which seems at
sight to speak a far other doctrine,
and hidden
in
the faithful soul, which to persons at a distance, or to
chance beholders, seems to be living but an ordinary

life,
while really
it is
in secret holding
communion
" cruSpirit,
with
cified
Him who
was " manifested in the
flesh,"
through weakness," "justified in the
seen
of Angels, and received up into glory."
This being the case, the great and awful doctrine
'
Gal.
ii.
20.
Matt.
vi. 17.
VOL. VI
98
THE CROSS OF CHRIST
[Serm.
of the Cross of Christ, which \vc
now commemorate,
figure,
may
fitly
be
called, in the
language of
the
as
heart of religion.
The heart may be considered

it is
it
the seat of
life
;
the principle of motion, heat,
and
activity
from
the blood goes to and fro to

It sustains the
the extreme parts of the body.

in his powers
;
man
and
faculties
it
enables the brain to
think and when it is touched, man dies. And in like manner the sacred doctrine of Christ's Atoning
Sacrifice
lives,
is
the vital principle on which the Christian

is
and without which Christianity
not.
Within the
out
it
no other doctrine
Trinity, or in a
is
held profitably; to believe
in Christ's divinity, or in His
manhood, or
Holy
judgment
is
to come, or in the
belief,
resurrection of the dead,
an untrue
not
Christian faith, unless

Christ's sacrifice.
we
receive also the doctrine of

it
On
the other hand, to receive
presupposes the reception of other high truths of the
Gospel besides
divinity, in
it
involves the belief in Christ's true

sinful
His true incarnation, and in man's

;
state
by nature and
it
prepares the
feast, in
way
to belief in
the sacred Eucharistic
which
He who
was
once crucified
verily
is
ever given to our souls and bodies,

in
and indeed, in His Body and

is
His Blood.
;
But
fully
again, the heart
hidden from view

it is
it is
care-
and securely guarded;

so in like
not like the eye
set in the forehead,
commanding
all,
and seen of
all
and
manner the sacred doctrine of the

is
Atoning
Sacrifice
;
not one to be talked
of,
but to
be lived upon
not to be put forth irreverently, but
VII.]

;
99
to
be adored secretly
not to be used as a necessary
instrument in the conversion of the ungodly, or for

the satisfaction of reasoners of this world, but to
be unfolded to the docile and obedient; to young

children,
whom
the world has not corrupted

;
to the
sorrowful,
earnest,
who need comfort to who need a rule of life

;
;
the sincere and

to the innocent,
who need warning and One more remark

clude.
It
to the established,
it.
who have
earned the knowledge of
I shall
make, and then con-
must not be supposed, because the doc-
trine of the Cross
makes us sad, that therefore the Gospel is a sad religion. The Psalmist says, " They that sow in tears shall reap in joy ;" and our Lord
says, "
They that mourn shall be comforted." Let no one go away with the impression that the Gospel makes us take a gloomy view of the world and of
life.
It hinders us indeed
from taking a
superficial
view, and finding a vain transitory joy in
what we
see;
but
it
forbids our
immediate enjojuient, only to grant

It only It only says. If
enjoyment in truth and fulness afterwards.

forbids us to begin with enjoyment.
you begin with pleasure, you
will
end with
pain.
It
bids us begin with the Cross of Christ, and in that
Cross
we
shall at first find sorrow,

rise
but in a while
peace and comfort will
out of that sorrow. That
Cross will lead us to mourning, repentance, humiliation, prayer, fasting

;
we
shall
sorrow for our

;
sins,
we
shall
sorrow with Christ's sufferings
but
all this will
only issue, nay, will be accompanied with a happiness
h2
100
far greater
THE CROSS OF CHRIST

than the enjoyment which
careless
tlie
[Skrm.
world gives,
though
this,
worldly minds will not believe

it,
ridicule
the notion of
it,
because they never

a mere matter of
it
have tasted
and consider
it
words, which religious persons think
decent and
proper to use, and to try to believe themselves, and

to get others to believe, but which
no one
really feels.
This
is
what they think
but our Saviour said to His
disciples, "
Ye now therefore
have sorrow, but I
will
see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your
joy no
man
;
taketh from you."
..." Peace
;
I leave
with you
My
peace I give unto you
not as the
world giveth, give I unto you."

"
And
St.
Paul
says,
The
natural
man
;
receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of
God
for they are foolishness
unto him
spiri-
neither can he
know them,
"
because they are
tually discerned."
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,

into the heart of man, the
neither have entered
things which
God
hath prepared for them that love
Him
*."
And
it
thus the doctrine of the Cross, as con-
taining in
the view of Christ's redemption, as well
as of Christ's sufferings,
wounds us indeed, but
so
wounds
as to heal also.
thus, too, all
And
that
is
bright and beautiful,
even in the surface of
this world,
though
it
has no
for its
substance, and may not suitably be enjoyed
own
sake, yet
is
a figure and promise of that true

It
is
joy which issues out of the Atonement.
John xvi. 22. xiv. 27.
Cor.
ii.
9. 14.
VII.]

is
101
promise beforehand of what

raising
to be
it is
a shadow,
hope because the substance

God's usual
is
to follow, but
not to be rashly taken instead of the substance.
And
it
is
mode
in
of dealing with us, in
mercy
comes.
to send the
shadow before the substance, that

what
is
we may take comfort
to be, before
it
Tims our Lord before His passion rode
into
Jerusalem in triumph, with the multitudes crying
Hosanna, and strawing His road with palm branches
and their garments. This was but a vain and hollow

pageant, nor did our Lord take pleasure in
it.
It
was
It
a shadow which stayed not, but flitted away.
could not be more than a shadow, for the passion
had not been undergone by which His true triumph was \*Tought
glory before
out.
He
could not
8uff*ered.
enter into His
He
had
first
He
could not
take pleasure in this semblance of

it
it,
knowing that
was unreal.
Yet that
first
shadowy triumph was
omen and presage of the true victory to come, when He had overcome the sharpness of death. And we commemorate this figurative triumph on the last Sunday in Lent, to cheer us in the sorrow of the week that follows, and to remind us of the true joy
the
which comes with Easter-Day.
And
it
;
so,
too, as
regards this world, with
all
its
enjoyments, ye t disappointments.
let
Let us not
it
; ;
trust
us not give our hearts to

it.
;
let
us not
begin with
Let us begin with

let us
faith
let us
begin
with Christ
begin with His Cross and the

it
humiliation to which
leads.
Let us
first
be drawn
102
to
THE CROSS OF CHRIST,

is lifted
&c.
Him who
of
up, that so
He
may, with Himfirst
self,
freely give us all things.
Let us " seek
the
Kingdom
all
God and His
righteousness," and then
those things of this world " will be added to us."

are able tinily to enjoy this world,
They alone
who
begin with the world unseen.
who have
truly feast,
to use
;
first
abstained from
They alone enjoy it, it. They alone can

;
who have first fasted they alone are able who have learned not to abuse it they alone inherit it, who take it as a shadow of the world to come, and who for that world to come
the world,
relinquish
it.
SERMON
VIII.
DIFFICULTY OF REALIZING SACRED PRIVILEGES.
Psalm
" This
is
cxviii. 24.
the
Day which
the
Lord hath made, we

in it."
will rejoice
and
be glad
It
is
always very
difficult to realize
any great joy or

do
great sorrow.
80.
We cannot realize it by wishing to
What
is
brings joys and sorrows of this world

their circumstances
dies, wê
home
to us,
and accompaniments.
to be
When
in
a friend
first
;
cannot believe him taken
from us at
we cannot believe ourselves

it.
any new place when we are just come to

are told a thing,
When
we
it,
we
assent to
but we do not
it
feel it to
we do not doubt be true, we do not underit,
stand
as a fact
which must take up a position or
station in our thoughts,
and must be acted from and

:
acted towards, must be dealt with as existing

is,
that
we do not realize it. This seems partly the reason why, when Almighty God reveals Himself in Scripture to this
for
man
or that, he, on the other hand, asks

shall
some sign whereby he
know
that
God
has
104
DIFFICULTY OF REALIZING
[Serm.
spoken.
itself
rias,
Doubtless sinful infirmity sometimes mixed

in such questions, as in the case of
up
Zacha-
who being
a Priest in the Temple, the very of the Living
dwelling-place
God, where,
if
if
any
where, Angels were present, where,
any where,
God would
whereby to
speak, ought to have needed nothing

realize to himself God's power, God's
superintending eye, God's faithfulness towards the
house of Israel and

feeling,
its
priests.
Under the same

for the
though blamelessly, Gideon asked
miracle upon the fleece.

self to believe that he
He
he,
could not bring him-
was to be what God's Angel

the least of his father's
had declared.
What?
house, and his family poor in Manasseh,
how
could
he understand that he was to be the great champion of Israel against the Midianites
?
Not
true.
that he
doubted
feel,
it,
for
God had
so,
it
said it
it
but he could not

If
think, speak, act
as if
were
he
attempted to do
was in an unreal way, and
he spoke and acted unnaturally and on a theory, on

a view of things which he had mastered one minute
and which was gone the next.

of
The
special favour
God towards
is
him, according to the words, " The
Lord
*'
with thee, thou mighty

like a dream,
man
of valour'!"
seemed
If
and confused him.
So he
said
now so it be, certain consequences flow from it God is with me, it is the God of miracles who is with me, who can change the creature as He will
if
'
Judges
vi.
12.
VIII]
SACRED PRIVILEGES.
vouchsafe to do so
!
105
may He then
full
that I
may have the
impression on
my
;
soul, heart,
and mind, of what

familiarized to this
my reason receives
be raised above
to
that I
may be
strange and overpowering Providence, that
/ should
them
for
my brethren, and made God's minister good." And therefore he asked, first, that
it
the fleece might be wet, then that
might be dry
faith,
not as evidence whereon to build his

as a manifestation impressing his
heart.
but
imagination and
In somewhat the same way

also
;
we
are told of Jacob
"
when he saw the waggons which Joseph had

Jacob, to be sure, did doubt what his
sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father

revived'."
sons reported, from distrust of

sight of the
them
yet the
mere
their
waggons did not serve to prove

much,
to the
veracity nearly so
as to quiet his perplexed

it
imagination, and to reconcile
sudden news.
That news was more were untrustworthy.
startling,
than the reporters
And
all
thus
we
Christians,
though born in our very

heaven and
infancy into the
kingdom of God, and chosen above

vritnesses to
other
men
to be heirs of
the world, and though knowing and believing this

truth entirely, yet have very great difiiculty and pass
many
fully
years in learning
it.
Not any
;
one, of course,
understands
fair,
it
doubtless
even a
practical hold of it.
we have not And here we are, even

but
'
Gen. xlv. 27.
106
this great
[Sbrm.
on
Day,
this
arose from the dead,
Day
of days, on which Clirist
^here are
we, on this very
Day
as infants, lying helpless
and senseless on the ground,
without eyes to see or heart to comprehend who

are.
we
we
the
Surely so
it is
and
it
cannot be denied that

rise to
have
much
to do, very
much, before we
in the
understanding of our new nature and
its privileges,
and learn
to rejoice
and be glad
;
Day which
is
the Lord hath
made
" the eyes of our understanding
being enlightened, that
we may know what

is
the
hope of His
calling,
and what the riches of the glory

the exbe-
of His inheritance in the Saints, and what
ceeding greatness of His power to us-ward

lieve,
who
according to the working of His mighty power,
which
He
MTOught
in Christ,
from the dead, and set
when He raised Him Him at His own right hand

Such high words
as these
in the heavenly places \"

are,
alas
scarcely
;
more than mere words when
spoken to us
at best,
we but
believe them,
we do
not in any good measure realize them.
Now
rises
this insensibility or
it is
want of apprehension
scarcely necessary to
in great measure,
say,
from our exceeding

is
frailness
and
sinfulness.
Our
old nature
continually exerting itself against the

spirit
new
its
*'
;
the flesh lusteth against the
\"
is its
Its de-
sire is
towards this world.
This world
food
it
eyes apprehend this world.
Because
it is
what
Eph.
i.
1820.
Gal. V. 17.
VIII.]
SACRED PRIVILEGES.
to this world.
Tlie world
;
107
is,
it allies itself
and the
flesh
form a compact with each other
the one asks,
and the other

equal degree,
supplies. Therefore, in proportion as it
seduces us into the world's company, of course, in an

it
blunts our perception of that world

;
which we do not see

thus one
it
prevents our realizing it.
And
special cause of our difficulty in realizing

is
our election into the kingdom of heaven
our evil
nature, which familiarizes us with this world, Satan's
kingdom, and weighs on us and pulls us down w^hen
we would
Lord.
lift
is
up our
hearts, lift
them up unto the

it difficult
This
certain: yet, besides this, there are
certainly other reasons too
which make
for
us to apprehend our
state,
and cause us to do so but
gradually; and which are not our fault, but which

arises out of
our position and circumstances.

almost into the fulness of Christian
We are born
blessings, long before
we have
;
reason.
We
could
not apprehend them at

fault,
all, and that without our own when we were baptized for we were infants. As, then, we acquire reason itself but gradually, so we acquire the knowledge of what we are but gradu-
ally also
and
as it
is
no
fault in us,
but a blessing
to us, that
we were baptized
so early, so, from the
nature of the case, and not from any fault of ours,
do we but slowly enter into the privileges of our

baptism.
ourselves
So
it is
as regards all our
knowledge of
and of our position

it.
in the world
gradually gain
At
first
children
;
we but do not know

;
that they are responsible beings
but by degrees they
108
are,
[Sbrm.
not only feel that they

truth,
but
reflect
on the great
and what
it
implies.
Some
persons recollect
a time as children
what they
tended,
wêre,
when it fell on them to reflect whence they came, whither they

upon them long
after they
why
they lived, what was required of them.

fell
The thought
to realize
had
heard and spoken of
God
but at length they began
what they had heard, and they began to

themselves.
So, too,
it is
muse about
this world.
in matters of
stand
As our minds open, we gradually underwhere we are in human society. We have a
notion of ranks and classes, of nations, of countries.
We
begin to see
how we
stand relatively to others.
Thus a man
differs
:
from a boy; he has a general

becoming, what
is
view of things
he sees their bearings on each other

is
he sees his own position, sees what

is
expected of him, what his duty
in the
com-
munity, what his rights.
He
understands his place

is
in the world, and, in a word,
he
at
home
in
it.
Alas, that while
we
thus grow in knowledge in
matters of time and sense, yet

in
we remain
!
children
St.
knowledge of our heavenly

whereas Christ
privileges
Paul
says, that
is risen.
He
" hath raised us
up together, and made us

places in Christ Jesus
to learn; to
'."
sit
together in heavenly
is
This
what we have
still
know our
place, position, situation as
" children of God,
members of
Christ,
and inheritors
of the kingdom of heaven."
We
6.
are risen again,
'
Eph.
ii.
VIII.]
SACRED PRIVILEGES.
it
109
and we know
not.
We
begin our catechism by
we are so, but it takes a long life to We are like people apprehend what we confess. collect their thoughts who from sleep, cannot waking
confessing that
at once, or
little
understand where they are.
the truth breaks upon us.

;
By little and Such are we in the
present world
sons of light, gradually waking to a
knowledge of themselves.
let us pray, let
For
this let us meditate,
us work,
gradually
to attain to a
real apprehension of
what we
are. Thus, as
time goes
on,
we
shall gain first

little
one thing, then another.
By
shall
little
and
we
shall give
up shadows and
find the
substance.
Waiting on God day by day, we
make progress day by day, and approach to the true

and clear view of what
Christ.
He
has
made
us to be in
Year by year we
it
shall gain something,
and
to
each
Easter, as
comes, will enable
us
more
This
rejoice with heart
and understanding in that great
salvation
which Christ then accomplished.
we Our
shall find to
be one great providential benefit arising
from those duties which

duties to
He
exacts
of us.
God and man
are not only duties done to
Him, but they are means of enlightening our eyes and making our faith apprehensive. Every act of
obedience has a tendency to strengthen our convictions about heaven.
Every
zealous
every self-denial
makes us more makes us more devoted.

sacrifice
This
is
a use, too, of the observance of sacred seasons
they wean us from this world, they impress upon us

the reality of the world which
we
see not.
We
110
trust, if
[Sbrm.
we
thus proceed,
are.
we
shall
understand more
trust that, as
and more where we
We humbly
we
cleanse ourselves from this world, our eyes will
be enlightened to see the things which are only spiritually discerned.

in
We hope
that to us will be fulfilled

" Blessed
^."
due measure the words of the beatitude,
are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God
We
we
have good hope, which cannot deceive
us, that if
wait upon God, as the Saints have ever waited, with

fastings
and prayers
St.
if
we seek Him
as
Anna
sought
Him, or
Peter at Joppa, or holy Daniel before

;
them, Christ will be manifested to us
the day will
dawn and the
day-star arise in our hearts.
We
;
shall shall
see the sign of the
Son of man
in
heaven
we
eat of the hidden manna, and possess that secret of
the Lord which

like St. Paul,
lieved,
is
with those that fear Him; and

*'
we
shall
know whom we have
be-
and be persuaded that
He
is
able to keep that

against that
which we have committed unto

day ^"
Him
we
While then we
do not honour
earnest joy which
feel keenly, as
ought, that
we
this Blessed
is
Day with
this.
that lively and
its
due, yet let us not be dis-
couraged, let us not despond at
we
We do feel joy; feel more joy than we know we do. We see more
we know we
see.
is
of the next world than
If
duly improved the sacred season which

if
we have now past

with
we have
*
in
good earnest, and without
trifling
Matt. V.
8.
'
2 Tim.
i.
12.
VIII]
SACRED PRIVILEGES.
meat and
Ul
drink, and
;
ourselves, denied ourselves in
other indulgences, according to our strength
if
we
have been frequent in prayers according to our opportunities

;
it
cannot be but that a blessing has come
upon
us,
and
is
upon us now.
We may not
shall
be sen-
sible of
it,
but by and by
it.
we
know
it,
when we
this.
look back upon
AVhat has already happened in our

is
past experience surely
enough to assure us of
We know in what way we have been brought hitherto

to recognise so
tian blessedness
much as we do recognise of our Chrishow very gradually, how silently.

;
We
may
it
recollect,
perhaps,
one or other striking
occurrence.
Perhaps, as I have said,
we can put our

relations to-
hand, as
were, on a time in our childhood, when the
thought
first
came on us that we had

us,
wards other beings, and they towards

velled
and we marPerhaps,
force of
what we were, and why we

life,
existed.
in after
we
recollect seasons
when the
divine truth
came on us more sensibly and

it is
distinctly
but for the most part
not
so.
For the most part

cannot
we have gained we
first
truth,
and made progress from truth

it.
to truth, without
knowing
or
first
We
a
held
this,
that doctrine,
when which is now

tell
our joy and treasure.
It is " as if
man
should cast
seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night
and day, and the seed should spring and grow up he
knoweth not how
first
the blade, then the ear,

^."
after that the full corn in the ear
One may
see
"
Mark
iv.
2628.
112
this
[Serm.
on
all sides
one
may
see
it
especially at this
time.
God Almighty seems

numbers on
it
at this time to
be merit
is
cifully leading
to the full truth, as
in Jesus (if
be not presumptuous thus to speak)
He
is
leading
them
Tliey
on,
and they do not know

gradually
it
themselves.
are
modifying
and
changing their opinions, while they think they re-
main
stationary.
:
Others, perhaps, see

;
how
will.
it
is
with them
is
they do not
in
due time they
Such
God's wonderful way.

it.
Jacob was at Bethel before
he knew
We,
too, are in the

it,
kingdom of grace
without knowing
and
it is
manifested in us before
we
we
are sensible of the
manifestation.
As
infants
gaze around them, and yet seem to look at nothing,

too see our privileges, yet do not master them.
ever, that
Let us pray
we may know more and more
what we
feelings,
are,
and that we may duly apprehend our

;
own knowledge
in a word, that
we may have
is
right
and a corresponding creed.

now, to conclude, for
it
And
on
this
hardly befitting
Day
to speak
much, when God has done His

it
greatest work.
Let us think of
and of Him. Let

us
is
us rejoice in the
be "willing in
Easter Day.
selves with fear
Day which He has made, and let the Day of His Power." This
this again
Let us say
and again
to our-
and great
is
joy.
As
children say to
is
themselves, " This
the spring," or " This
the sea,"
trying to grasp the thought, and not let

travellers in a foreign land say, " This
city," or "
is
it
go; as
that great
This
is
that famous building,"
knowing
it
VIII.]
SACRED PRIVILEGES.
113
has a long history through centuries, and vexed with
know so little about it so let us say, This is the Day of Days, the Royal Day, the This is the Day on which Christ arose Lord's Day. from the dead the Day which brought us salvation. It is a Day which has made us greater than we know.
themselves that they
; ;
It is
our
Day
of rest, the true Sabbath.
Christ en-
tered into His rest, and so do we.

figure,
It brings us, in
through the grave and gate of death to our

of refreshment in Abraham's bosom.
dreariness,
season
We
and
have had enough of weariness, and

listlessness,
and sorrow, and remorse.

this
enough of
troublesome world.
din.
;
We have had We have had

is its
enough of its noise and
Noise
best music.
But now there

speaks.
is stillness
and
it is
a stillness that
is
is
We
know how
strange the feeling
of
perfect silence after continued sound.
Such
our
blessedness now.
Calm and serene days have begun

His
still
and Christ
is
heard in them, and
small
voice, because the world speaks not.

oif the world,
Let us but put
and we put on Christ.
The receding
from one
is
an approach to the other.

trying,
We
and
have
now
for
some weeks been
through His grace,

desires.
to unclothe ourselves of earthly wants
May
that unclothing be unto us a clothing

!
upon of
in
things invisible and imperishable

grace,
May we grow
till
and
in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour,
season after season, year after year,
He
takes to
Himself,
first
one, then another, in the order

I
He
VOL. VI.
114 thinks
little
fit,
DIFFICULTY OF REALIZING,
to
&c.
be separated from each other for a
while, to be united together for ever, in the
kingdom of His Father and our Father, His God

and our God,
SERMON
IX.
THE GOSPEL SIGN ADDRESSED TO
FAITH.
Matt.
"
xii.
38.
Then
certain of the Scribes
and of the Pharisees answered,

see a Sign from Thee."
saying, Master,
we would
These Scribes and wrought among them

did," and, as
Pharisees,
"
though Christ had
works which none other
man
God
all
one
of their
own company
confessed,
no man
could do miracles such as His " except

in asking for
were with him," persisted

In His
some
decisive
Sign, which would prove His divinity beyond

question.
reply, our
Lord denied and yet pro-
mised such a
sign.
He
says, "
An evil
;
and adulterous
In
generation seeketh after a sign
there shall no sign be
given to
it,
but the Sign of the Prophet Jonas."

it is
this sentence
implied, both that their wishes
were not to be granted, yet that a great miracle
was to be wrought.
On
a second occasion they asked again, Sadducees

Pharisees:
that
as well as
they "came, and tempting,
desired
Him
He
would show them a sign from
heaven." Joshua had stopped the sun and

I
moon
" in
116
THE GOSPEL SIGN

;"
[Smit.
the sight of Israel

harvest time
;
Samuel had brought thunder
at
they asked for a similar miracle.

;
They
still
asked for a sign from heaven
He
answered
by
promising a Sign from the earth,
sign like his,
who
was "three days and was
tliree nights in
the whale's belly."
A Sign was to be wrought and was to disappoint them:

it
to
be a Sign, but not to them
hence our Lord

I
says in the parallel passage in St.
Mark, " Verily
say unto you, there shall no sign be given to this
generation
'."
In an earlier part of His ministry, the same question
had been asked, and the same answer given

different image.
under a
Tlie
Jews
" said unto
Him,
What
sign showest
Thou unto
us, seeing that
Thou
doest these things?"
He
in like
manner answers;
" Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise

it
up ^"
They misunderstood Him, and He did not

right.
set
them
For they were
to see,
and see not
they were not to witness the Sign then, nor were they
allowed to apprehend His language now.
He
spoke
of the resurrection of His body, and they were not at

that season to see
Him whom
they had pierced.

this passage is this,
Now
that
what
is
remarkable in
our
Lord promised a great sign

;
parallel to
those wrought by the old prophet^s
yet instead of
being public as theirs was,

Jonah's, a secret sign.
it
was
in the event, like

it;
it
Few saw
;
was to be
to the
received by
all,
but on faith
it
was addressed
Matt. xvi.
1.
Mark
viii.
12.
John
ii.
19.
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
lowly.
117
humble and
When
it
took place, and St.
Thomas refused
said to him, "
to believe without sight, our
Lord
Thomas, because thou hast seen Me,

;
thou hast believed

seen,
blessed are they that have not

Tlie Apostle, perhaps,
and yet have believed."
might have been

great Sign, surely
arguing, " If this be the Lord's

it is
to
be seen.
What
is is
meant
to
by the resurrection but an evidence which

addressed to
is
be
to assure
my senses ? I have to believe, and this my belief." Yet St. Thomas would have
Christ's miracuit;
been more blessed, had he believed

lous Presence without seeing
and our Lord implied
that such persons there would be.
Now
what makes
this a subject of interest to us

all
is,
that our Lord does expressly promise
Christians
it
a certain gracious manifestation of Himself, which

is
natural, at first sight, to suppose a sensible

it
one
if it
and many persons understand
to
be such, as
see.
were not more blessed to believe than to
Our
Lord
loveth
says
"
He
that hath
it is
My
commandments and
keepeth them, he
that loveth
Me
and he that
Me,
shall
be loved of
My
is
Father, and I will

to him."
love him,
and
will manifest
Myself
When
wilt
Jude asked Him, "Lord, how

our Lord answered, " If a
it
that
Thou
will
manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world ?"
man
love
Me, he
keep
My
words
and
My
Father will love him, and
We
vnW come unto him, and make our abode with him \"
'
John
xiv.
2123.
118
THE GOSPEL SIGN
[Serm.
says, "
In accordance with this promise, St. Paul
The
Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
we
in
are the children of believeth on the

himself."
God
;"
and
St. John, "
He
that
Son of God hath the witness

gift,
Now,
that this great
whatever
it
be, is of a
nature to impart illumination, sanctity, and peace, to

the soul to which
it
comes,
far
from disputing, I
apprehended and
with a conscious-
would earnestly maintain. And,

doubtless,
it
;
in this indirect way,
is
in a certain sense
its effects,
perceived
perceived in
ness that those effects cannot
come of themselves,
were, the shadow, a
but imply a
gift
from which they come, and a preit
sence of which they are, as
voice of which they are the echo.
But there are
persons
to be
who desire the inward manifestation of Christ much more sensible than this. They will not
be contented without some sensible sign and direct

evidence that
God
no
loves
them
some
assurance, in
which
faith has
part, that
God
has chosen them
and which may answer to

hidden manna
their anticipations of
what
Scripture calls " the secret of the Lord,"

"
and
" that
which Christ
invites us to partake.
Some men,
for instance, hold that their conscience
would have no peace, unless they recollected the

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

Others consider,
that
in
God.
order
to
possess
the seal of election, they must be able to discern in
themselves certain
feelings
or
frames of mind, a
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
119
renunciation of their
own merit, and an

as if
it
apprehension
to re-
of gospel salvation
were not enough

Christ,
nounce ourselves and follow

lively consciousness that
without the
;
we
are doing so
and that
inward
in this lies " the secret of the
Lord."
Others go
further;
and think that without a
distinct
assurance of his salvation, a

state.
man
is
not in a saving
;
This
is
what men often conceive

by our Lord, and more
not con-
sidering that whatever be the manifestation promised

to Christians
it is
not likely to be
more
sensible
intelligible
than the great

that, like
sign of His
own
Resurrection.
Yet even
it
the miracle wrought upon Jonah, was in secret, and
who believed without than those who saw.

they
seeing
were more blessed
All this accords with what
is
told us about parti-
cular divine manifestations in other parts of Scripture.
The
saints reflected
on them afterwards, and mas-
tered them, but can hardly be considered as sensible
of them at the very time. Thus Jacob, after the vision,

says
;
" Surely the
Lord
is
in this place,
and
knew it
not."
Manoah
Gideon
said to his wife, after the
Angel had
departed, "
We shall
surely die because
we have seen
God."
in like
circumstances said, " Alas,
Lord God,
for because I
have seen an Angel of the

St. Peter, while the
Lord
face to face."
And
Angel
was delivering him out of prison, though he obeyed

him, yet " wist not that
it
was true which was done

he
by the Angel, but thought he saw a vision;" but

"
when he was come
to himself,
said.
Now
120
THE GOSPEL SIGN

that
[Serm.
know
of a surety \" Angel
the Lord hath sent
His
Let no one think
it
strange to say, that
God may
be holding communion with us without our knowing

it.
Do
are
not
all
good thoughts come from
Him ?
Yet
we
sensible that they so

?
how
they come
We
come ? Can we tell commonly speak of being in;
fluenced by God's grace, and resisting His grace
this
implies a certain awful intercourse between the soul
and God
yet
who
will say that
he himself can
tell in
particular instances
he
is
when God moves him, and when responding this way or that ? It is one thing,
upon
to
then, to receive impressions, another to reflect
them and
fest
be conscious of them.
us,
God may mani-
Himself to
and that to the increase of our

not realize that
;
comfort, and yet
we
He
does
so.
But now
to proceed
for there
is
more information
and on which
given us on the subject.
There was another occasion

for a sign,
on which the Jews asked
our Lord answered by promising one, not to His

Apostles only, but in continuance, like the manifestation
it
He
speaks
of,
to all
His
faithful followers.
And
less
was a sign not more sensible or palpable, not
the object of faith as regards the many, than that

sign of His resurrection which
He
gave once for

thousand
fishes
;
all.
He
had just before been feeding

five
five
men
sign
with
barley loaves and two small

this,
when,
not contented with
the Jews said, "
What
xii. 9.
Gen.
xxviii. IG.
Jiulg. xiii.
22;
vi.
22.
Acts
11.
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
121
showest Thou, that
we may
see and believe
Thee
What
them.
it is
dost
Thou workf
and they proceeded to refer
to the " sign from heaven,"

"
which Moses had given
Our
fathers did eat
manna
in the desert, as
written,
It
He
gave them bread from heaven to

they seemed to say, to
eat."
was a
little thing,
it
multiply bread, but
was a great thing to send down

thing,
bread from heaven,

of the creature
live
when the nature was changed, and men were made to
a great
by the word of the Lord.
Was
as this
the Son of
?
man
able to give
them bread such
Yes, surely,
He
ful,
had a Sign,
a Sign from heaven,
more wonder-
a fearful Sign, surpassing thought and surpassing
sight too, addressed to faith only, but not the less
true because
it
was hidden. Moses gave their fathers

it,
bread from heaven; they saw
ate
it,
and were
dead
His Sign was greater.
He
was Himself the
Bread from heaven under the Gospel, and the Bread

of
life.
need,
"
He took not of the creature to satisfy their but He gave Himself for the life of the world.
;
Moses gave you not that Bread from heaven

Bread of God
but
My
Father giveth you the True Bread from heaven,

is
for the
He which
is
cometh down from

I
heaven and giveth
life
unto the world.
am
the
Bread of
Life.
This
down from heaven,

not die."
that a
man may
eat thereof and
Now
am
not led to speak here of that
special ordinance in
is fulfilled ;'this
which His divine announcement

to
would be foreign
my present
gift in itself,
pur-
pose.
do but wish to consider the
and
I2
THE GOSPEL SIGN

itself,
[Sebm.
the sign in
as these
words describe
it.
It is a
sign greater than manna, yet beyond dispute, as the
passage itself shows, a sign not addressed to sight,
but to
to
faith.
For our Lord speaks of our
"
coming
Him," and " believing on
Him
;"
and
He
says that
"
it is
the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profitetb
nothing ;" and
He
warns
us, "
No
one can come unto

sent
Me, except the Father which hath

him."
Me
draw
His
His coming up from the heart of the earth

for faith, not for sight
;
was a sign
and such
is
coming down from heaven

self promised;
as Bread.
I have been speaking of the signs which
He Him-
but others were announced concerning

let it
Him by
His servants, and these,
be observed,
are secret also, and addressed to faith.
The Prophet Isaiah was commissioned to promise Ahaz a sign " Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God," he says,
" ask
it
either in the depth or in the height above."
When Ahaz
ceeded
:
would not
speak, the Prophet proshall give
"
The Lord Himself
you a Sign
behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and

shall call
His name Immanuel ^"

less
Yet could there
be a Sign more secret,

less
exposed to the senses,
addressed to the reason, than the Conception?
It
was a miracle, yet not an evidence.
And
so again,
when our Lord was bom,

;
the Angel
gave the shepherds a Sign
but which was the greater
evidence, the Angel himself, and the multitude of
Isaiali vii.
11.11.
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
123
the heavenly host, or the Sign itself which he sent
them
to see
" This shall be a Sign unto you," he
said, "
Ye
shall see the
Babe wrapped
in swaddling
clothes, lying in a
manger."
?
Was
Did
?
this
it
an evidence
of greatness or of meanness
prove
Him
to
be God, or was
it
trial
of faith
it is
And
so again,
though
not called a sign, yet

sign, that
it
had been published in the manner of a
the
Lord should suddenly come
to
His Temple, even
the " Messenger of the Covenant," that " the glory of the latter house should be greater than that of the
former," and that
His glory.
prophecies?
God would glorify the house of But how did He come to fulfil these As an infant in arms, recognised by
faith,
one or two holy persons, and that by means of

without pomp, or display of greatness.
in his
Simeon held
hands the immaculate form of the Saviour of

light
men, the
worship
still
and
life
of the world, the all-holy
and incorruptible Presence which the Angels of God

;
yet in what an outward appearance
Yet
and
the
he
said, undoubtingly, "

;
Mine eyes have seen
Thy
salvation
a light to lighten the Gentiles,

Israel."
is
the glory of
Thy people
What
is
true in these instances,
true of
all
parts of our Lord's gracious
economy.
He was " ma;
nifested in the flesh; justified in the Spirit; seen
of Angels
preached unto the Gentiles

;
believed on
in the world
received
up
into glory
?
;"
yet what was
the nature of the manifestation
The Annunciation
124
THE GOSPEL SIGN

;
[Serm.
was secret
the Nativity was secret
the miraculous
;
fasting in the wilderness
was secret
the Resurrec;
tion secret
the Ascension not far from secret
the
abiding Presence secret.
One
thing alone was public,
and
in the eyes of the world,
His death
the only
event which did not speak of His divinity, the only event in which
of weakness.
He seemed a sign, He was crucified in

all
not of power, but

weakness, but
He
was not crucified in secret. His humiliation was proclaimed and manifested
lifted
over the earth.

earth,
When
up indeed from the

;
He
displayed His
power
He
drew
all
men
to
Him, but not from what

faith,
was seen, but from what was hidden, from what was
not known, from what was matter of
from
holy
His atoning
virtue.
He
was, as far as seen, in
Simeon's words, " a Sign which should be spoken

against."
It
is
not by reason or by sight that

;
we
by
" as
accept and glory in the sign of the Cross

" laying aside
crisies,
all
it
is
malice, and all guile, and hypo-
and
envies,
and
all
evil speakings,"
and
newborn babes desiring the sincere milk of the

word, that
we may grow
thereby."
" If so be," as
is
St. Peter proceeds, " ye
have tasted that the Lord
gracious; to
whom
coming, as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and

precious,
ye also as lively stones are built up a
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer

ritual sacrifices, acceptable to
up
spi-
God by
Jesus Christ.
precious
;
Unto
you, therefore, that believe.
He
is
but
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
125
unto them which be disobedient, the Stone which

the builders disallowed, the same
is
made the head

and wonders, or
;
of the corner
."
Let us not seek then
for signs
ask for sensible inward tokens of God's favour
let
us not indulge enthusiasm, or become the slaves of

supei*stition,
who
are children of
God by
faith.
Faith
only can introduce us to the unseen Presence of
God
fore
let
us venture to believe, let us
make
trial
be-
we
see, and the evidence which others
demand
before believing,
believing.
we
shall gain
is
more abundantly by
hidden from us; the
to us
;
Almighty God
world does not discover

the right
Him
left,
we may go
to
hand and the
but we find
Him
not.
The utmost we can do in the way of nature is to feel after Him, who, though we see Him not, yet is not " Lo He goeth by me," far from every one of us.
says Job, "
and
I see
Him
not."
not
"
He
passeth on also,
and
I
I perceive
might
. . .
find
Him Him
!
that I
knew where
to
that I might
come even
His
seat.
Behold, I
go forward, and
I
He
I
is
not there
and backward, but

left
cannot perceive Him.
On
the
hand where
;
He
doth work, but
cannot behold
Him He
cannot see
all
hideth Himself on the right hand, that I
Him '."
;
This
is
the veil that
is
cast over
nations
the want of intercourse or
communion
it.
between the soul and
Him who made
We
to
can
speak to His creatures,
we cannot speak
"
Him.
"
1 Pet.
ii.
17.
Job
ix.
11
xxiii. 3. 8, 9.
12G
THE GOSPEL SIGN

it
[Serm.
Once
was not so
man was
fell,
created upright, and

lost
then he saw
God
he
and
God's image and

his privilege,
God's presence.
How
must he regain
?
but by becoming what he once was

sinning, he
must regain
it
by pureness.
it
He lost it by And till this

he
is
recovery he must accept

to
on
faith
allowed
apprehend and enjoy
it
by
faith.
He
;
begins with
is
faith, that
he may end with holiness
he
allowed
to begin with faith, because faith
is itself
of a holy
nature, and the
first fruits
and earnest of holiness to
come.
Faith
is
the religion of sinners beginning
to purify themselves for
God, and in every age, and

" endured, as seeing
under every dispensation, the just have lived by

faith.
"
By
faith"
;"
Moses
Him
who
is
invisible
for lack of faith
Balaam met an
not.
Angel
in the
way and
discerned
;"
him
Thus " we
walk by
faith,
not by sight
we
" look not at the
things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen."
We
set
Him
love
on our right hand, " whom

:
having not seen,

see
we
in
whom, though now we

rejoice with joy un-
Him
not, yet believing,

full
we
speakable and
faith,
of glory, receiving the end of our

souls."
even the salvation of our

to this generous
Opposed
and vigorous
faith are car-
nal blindness and grossness of heart, of which Scripture
speaks so often.
within us,
is
Whatever there
says, "
is
of spiritual light
tastes
quenched by indulging our natural
and appetites. Our Lord
Ye
cannot serve
pray,
God
and
and
mammon
;"
He
bids us watch and
beware of eating and drinking, buying and
selling.
"
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
127
marrying and being given in marriage.
We cannot
have our eyes at once on this world and on the

other.
Those who
;
live in
the sun's glare, can see
nothing in twilight
to the shade, see
but those whose eyes are used

things which the others will
many
flesh,
not believe they see.
So
is it
with our souls
the
minding of the
aiming at
this world's goods,
seeking to rise or succeed in

ness, rank, distinction,
life,
gazing on great-
abundance,
pomp and
show,
coveting wealth, measuring things by wealth, eating
and drinking without
restraint, placing
no curb upon
the passions, exercising no self-command, living with-
out rule, indolently and weakly following the

idea which presents
itself,
first
the
first
impulse, the
irreligious.
first
temptation,
it is
all this
makes the heart
Then
?
that
;
men
is
ask for clearer evidence, and reject the

say, "
truth
then they
How
can these things be
or "This
Thou
a hard saying:" or " What sign showest ? " for " the heart of this people," in the prois
phet's word, " dull of hearing,
waxed
gross,
and their ears are

;
and their eyes have they closed
lest
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears,
and understand with their
hearts,
and should
be converted, and I should heal them."

healed
When He
men
in the days of
His
flesh, it
was indeed by
means of His own sacred person. His touch, or His breath, or His voice; but still faith was the condition
on the part of the suppliants
;
and now
too,
though
He
is
with us ever so really
and
fully according to
His promise, yet
He
requires faith, as before, in
128
THE GOSPEL SIGN
[Seum.
order to our restoration to His favour and to His

image.
AVhat a contrast to such thoughts as these

conduct of the mass of
out
is
the
men
Truly they are " withis,
God
in the world,"
that
they do not keep
before their minds, in any sense, that
He
is
present,
though unseen
ought to do
so,
they do not even admit that they

or try to do so, or approach even to
the idea that there are persons
who do
is
live as in
the sight of the Invisible.
Go
into the general con-
course of men, and what notion
there entertained
of such a dependence upon, such an intercourse with,

things unseen, as Scripture prescribes
?
They
;
are
engaged in their several trades and professions

are active, companionable, and
friendly
civilities
;
they
they are
unexceptionable as far as the

nesses of mutual
and kind;
intercourse are
?
concerned
?
but
what are they more

they sacrifice this
Have they
to the
not,
seriousness
Are
they under the habitual influence of religion ?

life
Do
next?
Is there any-
thing which they do or do

do, or
which they would not

were religion a mere
that they are
would not omit

Is
to do,
idle tale?
God
in
any one of their thoughts?

they "of the
Do
to
they fear
be
Him ? Do they recollect judged? What "marks" have
Lord Jesus?"
ing for
How
show they that they are waitonly to
again?
Him who has gone away What an awful sight

who
it
!
come back
steps
does the baptized
world present to any one

out of
retires
some few
will
fearful thought, a
day
come when
IX.]
ADDRESSED TO FAITH.
129
every eye shall see

learn
Him
bodily,
!
whom
they will not
deed,
now to see spiritually O fearful thought inwhen all these indolent and careless men, to
say nothing of open scoiFers and profligates, will be
gathered together before His judgment-seat, to receive their
doom once
for all
At
present they
look upon religion as a dream, and religious

as
men
dreamers
they only think of them as narrowor superstitiously strict, or weak, or

;
minded men,
as persons
fanciful, or hypocrites, or fanatical, or party-spirited
who
profess
much, but
are, after all,
much
the same as other men, governed by the same weaknesses, passions,
and inducements.
miserable and
shall
most dreadful day of His coming, and who

abide
it ?
when
those
who
will not
acknowledge the
secret glory, shall at length feel the manifested
power
His
of the
Lamb
when
those
who
will not discern
tokens now, but think His ordinances. His Church,
His servants, to be but things of

see " the Sign of the
against their will
this world, will
then
Son of man
in heaven,"
and
must believe and tremble.
For
" then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and
they shall see the Son of
man coming
in the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory." wise in time

to-day
;"
;
Let us be
it is
let
us seek
Him
" while
called
let
us " seek the Lord and His strength,
seek His face evermore."
Let us seek
Him
in
His
Temple, and in
its
ordinances; especially in that most
sacred Ordinance in which
He
all
all
but reveals to us
His heavenly countenance,

VOL. VI.
but gives us to touch
130
THE GOSPEL
feet,
SIGN, &c.
His hands and

that
and put our hand into His

it is
side,
we may
see that
He
Himself, and that
we
are following no deceitful vision.
He
said to
Mary,
"Touch
Father."
Me
not, for I
am
not yet ascended to
My
He is now ascended, therefore we may touch

us, as far as is
Him. Let
permitted
us,
approach Him,
who walked upon
the sea, and rebuked the wind, and
multiplied the loaves, and turned the water into wine,
and made the clay give

the
will.
sight,
and entered through

at
closed
doors,
and came and vanished
His
Let us see
Him
by
it
faith,
though our eyes are
holden, that
we know
not.
Evermore may
whose
He
so be with us, a gracious Lord,
" garments
smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia," of "spikenard
and
saffron,
calamus and cinnamon, and

with
all trees
of
frankincense, myrrh, and aloes,

spices ^"
all
the chief
So may
flee
He
be with us evermore, moving

the day break and the
our hearts within
us, " until
shadows
away."
'
Ps. xlv. 8.
Cant.
iv. 14.
SERMON
X.
THE SPIRITUAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST
IN
THE CHURCH.
John
"
xvi. 16.
little

shall see
Me, and
I
again a
little
while
and ye
Me, because
go
to the Father."
Very
opposite lessons are taught us in different parts
of Scripture from the doctrine of Christ's leaving
the world and returning to His Father

opposite the one to the other, that at
lessons so
first sight,
reader might even find a
difficulty in
reconciling
them
together.
In an earlier season of His ministry,
our Lord intimates that

disciples should
when He was removed, His
sorrow,
that then was to be the

"
special time for humiliation.
Can the
children of
the Bride-chamber mourn,"
He
asks, " as long as the
Bridegroom
is
with them
but the days will come,
when
the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and

'."
then shall they fast
Yet
in the
words following
'
Matt.
ix. 15.
k2
132
THE SPIRITUAL PRESENCE

when
[Serm.
the text, spoken by Ilim
He
was going away,

shall
He
He
says
" I will see you again,
and your heart
rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you."

it,
And
you
says shortly before
" It
:
is
expedient for you
that I go away."
comfortless, I will
And
come
again
" I will not leave
to you.
Yet a
:
little
while,
and the world seeth
Me
no more
Father
but ye see Me."

at once a source
Thus
Christ's going to the

it
is
of sorrow, because
involves His absence, and of joy,
because
it
involves His presence.
And
out of the
doctrine of His resurrection and ascension, spring
those Christian paradoxes, often spoken of in Scripture, that
we
are sorrowing, yet always rejoicing

all things.
;
as
having nothing, yet possessing

This, indeed,
is
our state at present
we have
lost
Christ and
we have found Him; we
see
feet,
Him
yet
:
not, yet
we discern Him.
"
We
embrace His
is
He
says,
Touch
Me
not."
How
this
it is
thus
we have
lost
the sensible and conscious perception of
Him
enjoy
we do not
Him, follow
look on Him, hear Him, converse with
Him
from place to place
but
we
the spiritual, immaterial, inward, mental, real sight
Him a possession more real and more present than that which the Apostles had in
and possession of
the days of His
is
;
flesh,
because
it is spiritual,
because
it
invisible.
We
know
us,
it.
that the closer any object of
this
it
world comes to
the less
we can contemplate
come
Him.
so close to
and comprehend
Christ has
(if I
us in the Christian Church
may
so speak), that
we cannot gaze on Him
or discern
He
enters
X.]
OF CHRIST IN THE CHURCH.
133
into us,
He
claims and takes possession of His pur;
chased inheritance
to us,
He
does not present Himself
but
He
takes us to
Him.
He makes
us His
members. Our
faces are, as it were,
turned from
Him
we
see
Him
not,
and know not of His presence, ex-
cept by faith, because
He
is
over us and within us.
And thus we may at
the same time lament because
we
are not conscious of His presence, as the Apostles enjoyed it before His death and may rejoice because
;
wê
know we do possess
it
even more than they, accord(that

is,
ing to the text, "
whom having not seen

;
with
the bodily eyes) ye love

see
in
whom, though now ye

un-
Him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
speakable, and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls ^"
Concerning
this
great and mysterious
gift,
the
presence of Christ, invisible to sense, apprehended
by
faith,
is
which seems to be spoken of in the
text,
and
pose
suggested by this season of the year ^ I pur-
now
Now
or
some few words. observe what the promise

to say
:
is,
in the text
and
the verses following
a new
is
era was to
commence,
what
is
called in Scripture " a day of the Lord."

said in Scripture about the
We
know how much
awfulness and graciousness
of a day of the Lord,
which seems to be some
special
time of
visitation,
grace, judgment, restoration, righteousness,
and
glory.
Much
is
said concerning days of the
Lord
in the
Old
'
Pet.
i.
8, 9.
Easter,
134

In the beginning
[Serm.
Testament.
we
read
of those
august days, seven in number, each perfect, perfect all

together, in which
all
things were created, finished,
blessed, acknowledged, approved
by Almighty God.
still,
And
which
all
things will end with a day greater
will
open with the coming of Christ from
heaven, and the judgment;
this is especially
the
Day
of the Lord, and will introduce an eternity of

all believers.
blessedness in God's presence for
And
another special day predicted and
fulfilled, is
that long
season which precedes and prepares for the day of
heaven,
viz.
the
of the gospel, the
Day of the Christian Church, the Day Day of grace. This is a day much
it
is
spoken of in the Prophets, and

Observe how
account of
shall
the day of
us.
which our Saviour speaks in the passage before

solemn,
how high
a day
it is
this is
His
it,
" I will see
you again, and your heart
rejoice; your joy

in that
no man taketh from you.
And
Day ye
shall ask
Me
nothing.
Verily,
verily, I say
unto you. Whatsoever ye
shall ask the
Father in
My
Name, He
will give it you.
Hitherto
have ye asked nothing in

shall receive, that
My
name;
full.
ask,
. .
and ye
your joy
may be
At
that
Day ye
shall ask in
My
Name, and
I say not unto
you that
I will pray the
Father for you, for the Fa-
ther Himself loveth you, because ye have loved
and have believed that

forth from the Father,
came out from God.
Me, came
and
am come
into the world
again I leave
the world, and go to the Father."
The Day,
then, that
dawned upon the Church
at the
X.]
135
Resurrection, and
beamed
forth in full splendour at
the Ascension, that

will be,
Day which
has no setting, which
not ended, but absorbed in Christ's glorious
appearance from heaven to destroy sin and death;

that
Day in which we
are, is described in these
words
of Christ as a state of special divine manifestation, of

special introduction into the presence of
God.
By
Christ, says the
Apostle,
faith into this grace
"we wherein we
have the access by

stand."
sit
He
" hath
raised us
up together, and made us

"
together in
life is
heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
Your
is
hid
with Christ in God." " Our conversation
in heaven,
from whence also we look

Jesus Christ."
"
for the Saviour, the
Lord
God, who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to

give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
in the face of Jesus Christ." "
God
As many
and
as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

our Lord says
;
And
" I will love him,

.
.
will manifest
come unto him, and make Our abode with him." Thus we Christians stand in the courts of God Most High, and, in one sense, see His
Myself
to
him
.We
will
face
for
He who once
was on
earth, has
now departed
from
this visible scene of things in
a mysterious, two-
fold way, both to
His Father and into our hearts,

creatures one
thus making the Creator and His
according to His
comfortless, I
own words, " I will not leave you will come to you; yet a little while,
and the world seeth

because I
live,
Me
no more
live also.
but ye see
Me
ye
ye shall
At
that
Day

136
shall
[Serm.
know
I in
that I
*."
am
in the Father,
and ye
in
Me,
and
you
Now,
the
I
in behalf of this mystery, I observe
First, that Christ really is
with us now, whatever be
mode of it. This He says expressly Himself; " Lo, am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
even
says,
He
"Where two
name, there
or three are gathered
together in
My
am
I in the midst of
them
^."
And
in a passage already
quoted more than
once, " I will not leave
you comfortless, I will come

is
to you." Christ's presence, then,
promised to us still,
though
He
is
on the right hand of the Father.

;
You
I an-
will say, "
Yes
He
is
present as God."
Nay,
swer;
Christ
more than
is
this.
He
is
is
the Christ, and the
promised, and Christ

is
man
as well as
God.
This surely
plain even from the words of the text.

as
He said He was going away. Did He go away

or as
God
man ?
this
"A
little
He went away as man. man if, then, He promises to come again, surely He must mean that He would return as man, in the only sense, that is, in which He could return. As God He is ever present, never was
was on His death.
;
Me ;"
He
died as
otherwise than present, never went away
body died on the Cross and was buried,

soul departed to the place of spirits,
when His when His
still
He
was
with His disciples in His divine ubiquity.

*
The
2 Cor.
sepaiv. 6.
Rom.
iii.
V. 2.
Eph.
ii.
6.
Col. iii.3. Phil.
iii.
20.
Gal.
*
27.
John
xiv.
;
2123; 1820.
xviii. 20.
Matt, xxviii. 20
; ;
X]
137
ration of soul
and body could not touch His impas-
sible everlasting
Godhead.
When
then
He
says
He
should go away, and
come again and abide
for ever.
He
is
speaking, not of His omnipresent Divine na-
ture,
but of His two natures.
As being
Christ,
He
says that
He, the Incarnate Mediator,
shall
be with
His Church for ever.
But again
ration thus
;
you may be led to explain His decla-
"
He
has
come
is
again, but in
His Spirit
that
is,
His Spirit has come instead of

said that
is
Him
and
when
deny
it is
He
with
us, this
only means
that His Spirit

this
with us."
No
one, doubtless, can

truth, that
most gracious and consolatory

is
the Holy Ghost
come
but
why
has
He come ?
to
supply Christ's absence, or to accomplish His presence

a
? Surely to make Him present. Let us not for moment suppose that God the Holy Ghost comes in No such sense that God the Son remains away.
He
has not so
come
that Christ does not come, but
rather
He
comes that Christ may come in His

" In Christ
coming.
Through the Holy Ghost we have com-
munion with Father and Son.

of
we
are
builded together," says St. Paul, " for an habitation
God through
the Spirit."
"Ye
God
are the temple
of God, and the Spirit of

" Strengthened with
dwelleth in you."
might by His Spirit in the inner

faith."
man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by
The Holy
Spirit causes, faith welcomes, the indwell-
ing of Christ in the heart.
Thus the
Spirit does not
take the place of Christ in the soul, but secures that
1S8

St,
[Serm. this [)re-
place to Christ.
Paul
insists
much on
Spirit.
sence of Christ in those
who have His

(Spirit
"
Know
ye not," he
of Christ ?"
says, " that
your bodies are the members

are
"
By one
"
we
all
baptized into
one Body ... ye are the body of Christ, and

bers in particular."
memselves,
Know ye
is
not your
own
how
St.
that Jesus Christ

?"
:
in you, except ye be repro-
bates
" Christ in you, the

"
hope of
glory."
;
And
and he
John
He
that hath the Son, hath Life
that hath not the
Son of God, hath not

Abide
in
life."
And
you
:
our Lord
Himself, "
Me
and
I in
am
in
the Vine, ye are the branches.
He
that abideth
Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." The Holy Spirit, then, vouchsafes to come to us, that by His coming Christ may come to us, not carnally or visibly, but may enter into us. And
thus
He
has
is
both present and absent
absent in that
He
left
left
the earth, present in that

;
He
^"
has not
the faithful soul
or, as
He
He
?
says Himself, "
The
world seeth
Me
no more, but ye see
Me
You
will
say,
How
can
be present to the
Christian and in the Church, yet not be on earth, but
on the right hand of God

Christian Church
is
I answer,
that
the
made up
of faithful soids, and

is,
how can any

really
?
of us say where the soul
simply and
The
soul indeed acts through the body,

;
and
or
xii.
perceives through the body
but where
iii.
is
it ?
Eph.
ii.
22.
Cor.
iii.
16.
i.
Eph.
27.
1
17.
Cor.
vi.
15;
13. 27.
xiv. 19.
2 Cor.
xiii. 5.
Col.
John
v. 12.
John xv.
4,
X.]

it
139
it
what has
to
do with place ? or why should
be a
thing incredible that the power of the Spirit should

so visit the soul as to
tion,
open upon it a divine manifestaits
which yet
it
perceives not, because
present
shall
perceptions are only through the body?

limit the
Who
power of the gracious
Spirit of
God ? How
Christ
know
As
to
we, for instance, but that
He makes
present with us, by
making us present with Christ ?

is
the earth goes round the sun, yet the sun
said
move, so our
souls,
in fact,
may be taken up
to
when He is said to come to us. But no need to insist on one mode in which the mystery may be conceived, when ten thousand ways are possible with God, of which we know nothing. Scripture says
Christ,
enough
to
show us that influences may be exerted
upon the
soul so marvellous, that
we cannot
decide
whether the soul remains in the body or not, while

subjected to them.
says, "
St. Paul,
speaking of himself,
tell,
Whether
in the body, I cannot

tell
;
or
whe-
ther out of the body, I cannot

.
God knoweth
caught up to the third heaven."

:
And
tell,
:
he repeats
his statement
self,
"I
knew such
I
tell,
a man," meaning him-
"
whether in the body
cannot
or out of
the body I cannot
God knoweth
how
that he
was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable

words which
it is
not lawful for a
man
to utter."
St.
Paul was brought into Paradise, yet his body remained
where
from
it
was; and whether his soul
wâs separated
it,
was a question which he could not decide.
How
can we pretend to decide what the Holy Spirit
140

or
[Seem.
may
may
not do towards faithful souls now, and
whether
He
does not manifest
Christ
to
;
and in
consider
them, by bringing them to Christ ?

Satan's
Again
all
;"
power
in
shewing our Lord
the kingdoms
of the world " in a moment of time
may not
us,
the
Almighty
evil
Spirit
much more do
?
with
what the
one did with our Lord
May He
not in less
than a
moment
again
;
bring our souls into God's presence,
while our bodies are on earth ?
And
souls,
while
we know
so little about our
own
on the other hand, we are utterly ignorant of

world to
the state in which our Blessed Lord exists at present,
and the relation of

whether
it
this visible
Him;
or
may
not be possible for Him, in some

us,
mysterious way, to come to
though
He
is
set
down on
the right hand of God.
Did
He
not, after
His resurrection, come into a room, of which the

doors were shut, yet suffer Himself to be handled, to
prove that
He
is
was not a
spirit?
Certainly then,
is
though
He
clothed in our nature, and

glorified
perfect
man, yet His
body
is
not confined by those

lie.
laws under which our mortal bodies
But
further
whether
it is difificult
to conceive or
no, Scripture actually gives us
one instance of His

if to satisfy
appearing after His ascension, as
us that
His presence is possible, though

all
it
be mysterious.
We
John,
know
that
He
has often vouchsafed to appear to
His
saints in visions.
Thus
He
appeared to
St.
as related in the
Book of Revelation; and
to St.
Paul,
when he was
at Corinth, at Jerusalem several
X.]

and
in the
sliip.
141
times,
These appearances were not
an actual presence of Christ, as
we may
conjecture,
but impressions divinely made, and shadows cast upon

the mind.
And
in the
St.
same way we may explain
His appearing to
Stephen.
I see the
When
that blessed
Martyr
said, "
Behold
heavens open, and
the Son of
man
standing on the right hand of God,"

did not see this
it.
we may suppose he
really,
great
sight
but only had a vision of

visions
;
These, I repeat,
say to Christ's
may be
but what shall
we
appearance to St. Paul on his conversion, while he
was on the way to Damascus ?

hand.
"
For then the Lord
Jesus plainly was seen and heard by
him
close at
He
fell
to the
earth,
and heard a voice

persecutest thou
?
saying unto him, Saul, Saul,
why
Me
And
was
he
said,
Who
art
Thou, Lord
And
'."
the Lord said, I
am
Jesus,
whom
thou persecutest
How
in
this
We
do not know.
?
Can
;
a body be
I only say,
two places
is
at once
do not say so
Here
a mystery.
real sight of the to Ananias the
By way of contrast Lord, we are presently
with this
told that
Lord
appeared " in a vision"
And
hence, moreover,
said
that
when Ananias came to Saul, he that God had chosen him that he should " see Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth ^"
hence, too, he says himself in his Epistle to the
And
have
Corinthians, "
I
Am
I not
an Apostle ?
am
I not free
not seen Jesus Christ our Lord^?"

this, if
4, 5.
Would he
have said
he had had but a vision of

*
Him ?
'Actsix.
Acts xxii. 14.
'
Cor.
ix. 1.
142

not
[Serm.
Had he
only
?
many more
again, after
visions of
Him, not one

five
And
mentioning our Lord's ap-
pearance to St. Peter, the Eleven, and
hundred
last
brethren at once, and St. James, he adds, "

all,
of
He
was seen of
'."
me
also, as
of one
his
bom
out of
due time
That
is,
he speaks of
having been
favoured with a sight of Christ in as

literal
real, true,
and
a sense, as that in which the other Apostles

St.
had seen Him.
Paul then saw Him, and heard

the right hand of God.
for
Him
speak
who was on
And
this literal sight
seems to have been,
some un-
known
for,
reason, necessary for the office of Apostle

St. Paul's words, just
in accordance with
now
cited,
St. Peter says, when an Apostle was to be chosen in the place of Judas, " Of these men which
have companied with us
from the baptism of John
unto that same day when He was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His
resurrection."
raised
And
again, to Cornelius, "
Him God
up the
third day,
and showed
Him
openly, not
to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of
God, even to us ^."

Christ,
If St. Paul
saw only a
vision of
and
not Christ " verily
and indeed," in that
case he was not a witness of His resurrection.

if
But
he did see Him,
it is
possible for Christ to be
present with us also, as with him.
Once more
it
may be
said that " St. Paul
was
consciotis of the
presence of Christ on his conversion,

sights
i.
and that he actually saw the

'
and heard the

;
Cor. XV. 8.
Acts
21,
22
x. 40, 41.
X.]
14S
sounds of paradise, but that
we
see and hear nothing.
We,
this
then, are not in Christ's presence, else

it."
we
should
be conscious of
Now, with a view of meeting

account of His
objection, let us turn to the
appearances to His disciples after the Resurrection,
which are most important,
first,
as
showing that such

is
an unconscious communion with Christ

next, that
it is
possible
likely to be the
sort of
communion
now granted
to us,
from the circumstance that in that
period of forty days after the Resurrection,
He began
which
to be in that relation towards His Church, in
He
is still,
and probably intended to intimate to us

is
thereby what His presence with us
now.
Now
in the
observe what was the nature of His presence

after
Church
His Resurrection.
It
;
was
this,
that
rial
He came
and went as
He
;
pleased
that mate-
substances, such as the fastened doors, were no
impediments to His coming
and that when
He
was
present His disciples did not, as a matter of course,
know Him.
two
disciples
Emmaus, " in account more at length, says, that while He talked with them their heart burned within them. And it
is
Mark says He appeared to the who were going into the country, to another formr St. Luke, who gives the
St.
worth remarking, that the two disciples do not

to have
seem
been conscious of
this at the time,
but
on looking back, they recollected that as having been, which did not strike them while
they say, " did not our heart
it
was.
"
Did
us,
not,"
burn within
while
He
talked with us by the way, and while
He
opened
144

But
[Serm.
to US the Scriptures?"
at tlie time, their hearts

(if
seem
to have
been holden
we may
use the exreceiving
pression) as well as their eyes.
They were
impressions, but could not realize to themselves that
they were receiving them
afterwards, however, they
became aware of what had been. Let us observe, too, when

it
was that their eyes were opened
here
we
are suddenly introduced to the highest and most
solemn Ordinance of the Gospel,
for it
was when
He
consecrated and brake the Bread that their eyes were
opened.
There
is
evidently a stress laid on

his
this,
for presently St.
Luke sums up
account of the
it
gracious occurrence with an allusion to

cular
;
in parti-
"
They
told
what things were done
in the way,
and how
bread."
He
For
was known of them

so
it
in breaking of
was ordained, that Christ should
not be both seen and

seen, then
known
at once
first
He
was
He
was known.
;
Only by
faith is
He
known
to
be present
He is
not recognised by sight.
When He
vanished.
left
opened His
disciples' eyes,
He
at once
He removed He
His
visible
presence, and
but a memorial of Himself.
He
vanished from
;
sight that
might be present
His
for
in a sacrament
and
in order to connect
visible presence
with His
presence invisible.
He
one instance manifested

;
Himself
I
to their
open eyes
manifested Himself,
if
may
so speak, while
He
passed from His hiding-
place of sight without knowledge, to that of
know-
ledge without sight.
Or again
consider the account of His appearing
X.]

St.
14-5
to
Mary Magdalen.
While she stood
at
the
sepulchre weeping
not.
He
appeared, but she
knew Him
When He
as
if,
revealed Himself,
He
did not, indeed,
at once vanish away, but
He would
not let her touch
Him;
sense.
in another way, to
show that His preto be one of
sence in His
new kingdom was not

Him,
St.
The two disciples were not allowed to see
Him
after recognising
Mary Magdalen was

But
afterwards,
;
not allowed to touch
Him.
St.
Thomas was allowed both

the
full
to see
:
and touch
he had
evidence of sense
but observe what our
Lord
says to him, "
Thomas, because thou hast seen

;
Me, thou
hast believed
blessed are they that have
not seen, and yet have believed."
Faith
is
better
than sight or touch.
Let
so
much
suffice,
by way of suggesting thoughts

subject.
upon
with
this
most solemn and elevating
Christ
has promised
us,
He
will
be with us to the end,

is
^be
not only as
He
in the unity of the Father
and the Son, not
in the
omnipresence of the divine
Nature, but personally, as the Christ, as
God and man

still really,
not present with us locally and sensibly, but

in our hearts
and to our
faith.
And
it
is
by the
communion is effected. How He effects it we know not in what precisely it consists we know not. We see Him not but we are that we have been to believe that we possess Him,
Holy Ghost that
this gracious
;
;
brought under the virtue of His healing hand. His

life-giving breath, the
manna
flowing from His

side.
lips,
and the blood issuing from His

VOL. VI.
And
L
hereafter,
146

shall
[Serm.
on looking back, we
been thus favoured.
be conscious that we have

is
Such
the
Day
of the Lord in
which we
find oui*selves, as if in fulfilment of the
words
all
of the prophet, "
The Lord my God
shall
come, and
the saints with Thee.
And
it
shall
come
to pass in
that Day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark
but
it
shall
be one day which

:
shall shall
be known to the
Lord, not day, nor night but

at evening time
it shall
it
come to pass,
that
be
light \"
Nay, even before
the end comes, Christians, on looking back on years

past, will feel, at least in a degree, that Christ has
been with them, though they knew

lieved
it,
it
not, only be-
at the time.
They
will
even recollect then
the burning of their hearts.
Nay, though they seemed
to feel or believe nothing at the time, yet afterwards, if
they have come to
Him
in sincerity, they will expe-
rience a sort of heavenly fragrance
and savour of
it,
immortality,
when they
all
least expect
rising
upon
their minds, as if in token that
God
has been with
them, and investing

before seemed to
glory.
that has taken place, which

earthly, with
them but
is
beams of
the rites
And
this
true, in
one sense, of
all
all
and ordinances of the Church, of happen to us

;
providences that
that,
on looking back on them, though
they seemed without meaning at the time, elicited
no strong
ful,
feeling, or
were even
to
painftil
and
to
distaste-
yet if
we come
them and submit
them
in
faith,
they are afterwards transfigured, and
we
feel
Zech. xiv. 5
7.
X.]

it
147
that
has been good for us to be there; and
we
have a testimony, as a reward of our obedience, that

Christ has fulfilled His promise, and, as
He
said, is
here through
Father.
the Spirit,
though
He
be with the
May He enable us to make

and to obtain a
a
river,
full trial
of His bounty,
"
full
measure of
blessing.
There
is
the streams whereof shall
make
glad the city
of God, the holy place of
the tabernacles of the

;
Most High. God is not be moved God

:
in the midst of her

shall help
she shall
her and that right

I
Be still, and know that be exalted among the heathen, I

early.
...
am God
;
I will
will
be exalted in
the
the earth.
The Lord of hosts

is
is
with us
God
of Jacob
our refuge ^"

4
Psalm
xlvi.
11.
l2
SERMON
XI.
John
" This
is
vi.
50.
down from heaven,

and not die."
that a
man
may
eat thereof
The
quarter of the year from
Ash-Wednesday
it
is
to
Trinity
Sunday may
fittingly
be called the Sacrathe
mental Season, as the Season preceding

Season of grace; and as
we
are specially called in
the Christmas Season to sincerity of purpose, so
we
are called to faith.
God
does good to those
now who
are good and true of heart;
and
He
reveals His
is
mysteries to the believing.
The heart
the good
ground
in
which
faith takes root,
and the heavenly
truths of the Gospel are like the dew, the sunshine,
and the
grow.
soft rain,
which make the heavenly seed to

greatest and highest of all
The text speaks of the

the
vouchsafed, that of
Sacramental mysteries, which faith has been
Holy Communion.
is
Christ,
who
died and rose again for us,

in the fiilness of
in
it
spiritually present,
His death and of His resurrection.
140
We
call
His presence in
not as
this
Holy Sacrament a
spiritual presence,
if it
were but a name or
mode of speech, and He were really absent, but by way of expressing that He who is present there can
neither be seen nor heard
;
that
He
cannot be ap;
proached or ascertained by any of the senses
that
He
is
not present in place, nor present carnally,
though
course
is
He
is
is
really present.
And how
this
is,
of
a mystery. All that

is
we know or need know
that
He
given to us, and that in the Sacrament
of Holy Communion.
Now, with
from which
first
reference to the text and the chapter

taken, I begin by observing, what at
it is
sight one
would think no one could doubt, that

in fact, a
this
chapter of St. John does treat of the Lord's

is,
Supper, and
of
it
it,
comment upon the account
given by the other three Evangelists.

St. John's
We know
;
is
way
to
supply what his brethren
omit, and that especially in matters of doctrine

in like
and
manner
to omit
what they contain.
Hence,
while
all
three contain an account of the institution
of Holy
Communion
;
at
the last Supper, St. John
omits
it
and, because they omit to enlarge

it,
upon the
This, I
great gift contained in

say, is his rule
:
he enters upon
it.
thus, for instance, St.
Matthew and
said
St.
Mark
give an account of the accusation brought
against our
Lord
at
His
trial,
that
He -had
He
could destroy and build again the Temple of

in three days.
said
;
God
accordingly, St.
They do not inform us when He so John supplies the omission
150
[Serm.
and, while he passes over the charge at the time of
His
trial,
he relates
in his
second chapter the circumit
stances
some years before out of which

to
was framed.
The Jews had come
Him and
asked
Him
to
for
sign; then said He, referring in His
mind
His
resurrection which was to be, " Destroy this Temple,
and
in three
days I will raise
it
up;" meaning by
raising
it
Temple His own body, and by His

resurrection, after
up His
an
He
had been put to death.

St.
Again
St.
Matthew and
it
Mark
also give
account of His instituting the Sacrament of Baptism.

Christ instituted
on His ascending on high, but
He
did not explain the meaning and value of Baptism,

at least there
is
no record of His doing
so in St.
Matthew and
St.
Mark.
But
St.
John, while he
omits mention of the institution of that Sacrament

after the Resurrection,
does teach us
its
doctrinal
meaning, by means of a previous discourse of our

Lord's with
Nicodemus on the
say, in
subject, a discourse
which he alone of the Evangelists introduces.

in like
And
manner, I
the chapter before us he
explains as a doctrine,
deliver as an ordinance.
what the other Evangelists And,

further,
it is
remark-
able that in our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus, no
express mention
is
is
made
of Baptism, though Baptism
evidently the subject of that discourse.
Our Lord
;"
speaks of being born " of water and the Spirit

does not say, " of
He
Baptism and the

is
Spirit," yet
none
of us can doubt that Baptism
meant.
In like
manner, in the passage before
us,
He
does not say
XL]
151
definitely that bread
and wine are His Body and

words, however, which as evi-
Blood
His
but
He
speaks only of bread, and, again, of

;
flesh
and blood
dently refer to the Sacrament of His Supper, as His

discourse to
Nicodemus
refers to Baptism, in spite
of His not
naming Baptism
" water
in express words.
Of
did
course
it
would be very unreasonable to say that
when He spoke of
and the
it
Spirit,"
He
He
not allude to Baptism; and
is
as unreasonable,
surely, to say that in the chapter before us
does
not refer to His Holy Supper.
The
bearing, then, of our Lord's sacred

as follows, if
words
would seem to be
investigate
it.
one may venture to

in the chapter
At Capernaum,
now
before us,
He
solemnly declares to His Apostles that
none
shall
live for ever,
but such as eat and drink
His flesh and blood; and then afterwards, just before
He
was
crucified, as related in the other three gos-
pels.
He
points out to
them His way
in
which
them.
this
mystery of grace was to be

assigns the consecrated
fulfilled in
He
His
Bread as that Body of which
He
had spoken, and the consecrated

;
Wine
as
Blood
and
in partaking of the
Bread and the Cup,

our Lord's
they were partakers of His
Body and Blood.
It is remarkable, too, considering that
institution of
His Supper took place just before His
betrayal
by Judas, and that Judas had just parit,
taken of
that in the
discourse before us
I not
if
He
alludes to Judas. "
Have
chosen you twelve,
and one of you
is
a devil?" as
He
had before His
152
[Skem.
mind, in His divine prescience, what was to take

place
when He
instituted the
Sacrament formally.
Observe, too, at the time of that last Supper,

recurs to the idea of choosing them.
He
" I speak not
of you
all
know whom
have chosen \"
When,
then, Christ used the words of the text

it,
and of other parts of the chapter containing

was describing prospectively that
season, the consecrated bread
gift,
He
which, in due
to
and wine were
convey
to His
Church
to be,
for ever.
Speaking with reference to

" I
what was
He
is
says,
am
that Bread of Life.
Your
fathers did eat
manna
in the wilderness,
and
are dead.
This
the Bread which
cometh down
and not
from heaven, that a

die.
man may
eat thereof
am
:
the Living Bread which came
down from
is
heaven
if
:
any
man
eat of this Bread he shall live

I will
for ever
and the Bread that
give
My
flesh,
which
I will give for the life of the world."
In corroboration I would observe, that our Lord
had been just then working the miracle of the

in which
loaves,
He
had actually blessed and broken the

this,
Bread
upon
He
goes on to say as follows, " I
have wrought a miracle on the bread and fed you,
but the time
shall
come when
is
I will
give you the
true Eucharistic Bread, which
not like these perishit
able barley loaves, but such, that by

live for ever, for it
is
you
shall
My
He
flesh."
When,
then, before
He
was taken away,
did take bread, and blessed,
and brake, using just the same action as

'
He
had
John
xiii. 18.
XL]

tlie
153
used in
instance of the miracle of the loaves,

it
and even
called
His body,
how
could the Apostles
doubt that by that significant action
He
intended to
recall to their minds His discourse recorded in the
sixth chapter of St. John,
and that they were to

?
re-
cognise in
said
it
the fulfilment of His promise
He
had
He
flesh
would give them a bread which should be

and should have
life,
His
and surely they
recol-
lected this well.

but,
Who among us, had he been present,
under such circumstances, would have recog-
nised in His institution of His Supper the fulfilment
of that previous promise
Surely, then,
in St.
in,
we cannot
doubt that
this
announcement
is
John does look

the consecrated
on towards, and
If this be
accomplished
elements of Holy Communion.

so,
it
requires
no proof at
all
how
great
is
the gift in that Sacrament.

it,
If this chapter
does allude to
then the very words " Flesh and
Nor do they show it at all the less, if we do not know what they precisely mean for on the face of the matter they evidently mean something very high, so high that therefore we cannot
Blood" show
it.
;
comprehend
blessing
it.
Nothing can show more

is,
clearly
how high
its
the
than to observe that the Church's tenmarvellous-
dency has been, not to detract from

ness,
but to increase
little
it.
;
The Church has never

so far from
it,
thought
of the gift
we know
that one very large portion of Christendom holds
more than we
hold.
That
belief,
which goes beyond
154
[Seum.
ours, sliows
how
great the gift
is
really.
I allude
to the doctrine of
what
;
is
called transubstantiation,
which we do not admit
or that the bread and wine
cease to be, and that Christ's sacred
Body and Blood

This our Church
are directly seen, touched, and handled, under the
appearances of Bread and Wine.

considers there
is
no ground
contain
for saying,
and our
even
Lord's
own words
Let
us,
marvel
enough,
without adding any thing to them by way of explanation.

then,
now
consider
themselves, apart from additions which
them in came after-
wards.
He
Son of
you.
says,
then, "
Except ye eat the
flesh of the
life in
Man
and drink His blood, ye have no

eateth
Whoso
My
Flesh and drinketh

I will raise
is
My
at
Blood, hath eternal

the last day.
life,
and
him up
For
My
Flesh
meat indeed, and

that they
My
1.
Blood
is
drink indeed."
these words I observe,
first,
About
evidently declare
on the face of them some very

can they be otherwise taken
?
great mystery.
If they do not,
How
they must be a figurative way of

is
declaring something which

plain
not mysterious, but

it
and
is
intelligible.
But
is
conceivable that
He who
used
the Truth and Love
itself,
should have
diflficult
words when plain words would do?
Why
should
in
He
that
have used words, the

case,
?
sole effect
of which,
would be to perplex,
to
in
startle us needlessly
Does His mercy delight

Does
creating difficulties
He
jiut
stumbling-blocks
XL]
in our

way without cause?
Does
155
He
excite hopes,
;
and then disappoint them ?
It is possible
He may
is
have some deep purpose in so doing: but which
more
likely, that
His meaning
is
beyond
us, or
His
words beyond His meaning?
All
who read such
awful words as those in question will be led by the

first
impression of them, either with the disciples to

St.
go back, as at a hard saying, or "svith
Peter to wel-
come what way or the

site
is
promised
they will be excited in one
other, with incredulous surprise or with

?
believing hope
witnesses,
all
And
are the feelings of these oppoall
discordant indeed, yet
of
them
deep, after
unfounded? Are they to go
for nothing?
Are they no token of our

This desire, and
raised, are
Saviour's real
meaning?
again this aversion, so naturally
they without a real object, and the mere

all
consequence of a general mistake on
hands, of
what Christ meant

Surely this
2.
is
as
imagery,
for literal truth?
very improbable.
Next, consider our Lord's allusion to the Manna.
Persons there are

flesh
who
explain our eating Christ's
and blood,
as
merely meaning our receiving a

of the passion of His
pledge of the
effects
is,
Body and
Blood
that
in other words,
of the favour of
how can Christ's giving us His Body and Blood mean merely His giving us a pledge
:
Almighty God
of His favour ?
clear
as I
but
Surely these awful words are far too
and precise thus carelessly to be treated. Christ, have said, surely would not use such definite
156
terms, did
[Serm.
He mean
it
to convey an idea so far
removed
from them and so easy of expression in simple language.
Now
increases the force of this considera-
tion to observe that the
manna, to which
He compares
His
gift,
was not a figure of speech, but a something and

particular, really given, really received.
definite
The manna was not simply

favour, but a certain
health, or
life,
or God's
something which caused health,
continued
life,
and betokened God's favour.

Israelites,
The
and
manna was
a gift external to the
external also to God's
own judgment
of
them and
resolve concerning them, a gift created by
Him
and
partaken by His people.

says, that
And
is
Christ, in like
manner,
He
Himself
to us the true
Manna, the
;
true
Bread that came down from heaven
not like
that
manna which
could not save
its
partakers from
therefore
is
death, but a life-imparting manna.
What
manna was in the wilderness, that surely manna in the Christian Church the manna
the
;
the
in the
is
wilderness was a real
gift,
taken and eaten

It is
so
the
manna
in the
Church.
;
not God's mercy, or
favour, or imputation
it is
life,
not a state of grace, or

or the privileges of the
;
the promise of eternal

Gospel, or the
new covenant
says
it is
not,
much
less,
the doctrine of the Gospel, or faith in that doctrine
but
it is
what our Lord
it is,
the gift of His
own
precious
eaten as
Body and Blood, really given, taken, and the manna might be, (though in a way un-
known,) at a certain particular time, and a certain
XI]

;
157
particular spot
namely, as I have already
evident, at the time and spot
made it when and where the
Holy Communion
3.
is
celebrated.
Next, I observe, that our Lord reproves the
multitude, for not dwelling on the miracle of the

loaves as a miracle, but only as a
means of gaining
is
food for the body.
Now
observe, this
contrary/ to
what
He
elsewhere says, with a view of discounte-
nancing the Jews' desire after signs and wonders.

It
would seem then as
if
there must be something
peculiar
and singular
in
what
He
it.
is
here setting
their desire
finds fault
before
them.
He
generally represses
for signs,
but here
He
stimulates
He
here, because they did not dwell "
upon the
miracle.
Ye
seek me,"
He
says, " not because ye
saw the and

is
miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves
were
filled."
Now
supposing the Eucharistic Gift
a special Sign, the Sign which
He meant
this will
to give
them
sion
for ever of
His divine power,
account
for the difference
between His conduct on

it
this occa-
and on
others,
being as unbelieving to over-
look signs
withheld.
when
given, as to ask for
them when
It will account for His bidding them when about to promise them Bread from heaven. They were but imitating their ancestors in
marvel,
the wilderness.
Their ancestors, on the seventh day,
went out
to gather
manna
find
in spite of Moses' telling

it.
them they would not

to look for
What was
this
it
but
mere
food,
and to forget that
was
miraculously given,
and as such immediately de-
158
THE EUCHARISTIC
Let
PRESEN(3E.
ask,
[Serm.
pendent on the Giver ?
me
is
their conduct
in this age very different,
who come
;
to the Lord's
Table without awe, admiration, hope
without that
assemblage of feelings which the expectation of so

transcendent a marvel should raise in us
fear,
?
Let us
lest
real,
though
invisible
work of power
than that of the
being vouchsafed to
loaves,
us, greater far
which related only to
this life's sustenance,

it.
we
lose the benefit of it

is
by disbelieving
This
reflection
strengthened by finding that
St.
Paul
expressly warns the Corinthians of the great peril of
"not discerning the Lord's Body."

4.
In what has been
said, it
has been implied that
the miracle of the Loaves was a type of Holy
Comlet it
it is,
munion
this it is all
but declared to be in the chapit.
ter before us,
and much follows from

if
For
be considered,
the type be a miracle, which
how
great must the fulfilment be, unless the shadow
be greater than the reality? unless indeed we are

willing to argue, like those misbelievers
who deny
the
Atonement, on the ground, that though the

Moreover, the
Jewish Priests were types of Christ, the Antitype
need not be a Priest Himself.
inis
comprehensible nature of the miracle of the loaves
a kind of protection of the mystery of the Eucharist

against objections with which
it
;
men
is
are
wont
to assail
as,
for instance, that it

five
impossible.
For to
five
speak of
loaves,
thousand persons being fed with
may be
speciously represented to be almost a
contradiction in terms.
How
could
it
be
did the
XI.]

or was
it
159 the same
substance of the bread grow?
bread here and there and every where, for this
man
it
and
for that, at
one and the same time ?
Or was
created in the shape of bread, in that ultimate condition into
which the grain
is
reduced by the labour
of man, and this created

nothing,
till
again and again out of
the whole five thousand were satisfied.

is
What,
in short,
meant by multiplying the loaves

it
As
to Christ's other miracles, they are,
may be
do not
said, intelligible
though supernatural.
We
know
raised
/w^f7
;
ablind man's eyes are opened, or the dead
but we
know what
is
meant by saying that

:
the blind saw, or the dead arose
but what
is
meant
by saying that the loaves fed
five
thousand persons ?
Such then
against
is
the objection which
may be brought
and
let it
is
the
it
miracle of the loaves;

is
be
observed,
just
such as this which
urged
against the mystery of Christ's Presence in
Holy
Communion.
of the loaves
is
is
If the marvellousness of the miracle
no
real objection to its truth, neither
the marvellousness of the Eucharistic presence any
real difficulty in
our believing that
gift.
And
make
I
as if
still
more
closely to connect this
Holy
Sacrament with the miracle of the Loaves, and to

the latter interpret the former, our Lord, as
have observed, wrought the miracle of the loaves

acts,
by means of the same outward
which
He
ob-
served in the mystery of His Supper, and which His
Apostles have carefully recorded as the appointed
means of consecrating
it.
St.
John
says,
"
He
took
160
[Serm.
the loaves, and

tributed
to
when He had given thanks^ He the disciples." Compare this with
dis-
St.
Luke's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper.
"
He
took bread,
and gave thanks, and brake

Agâin,
is
it,
and gave unto them."

Evangelists thus
:
a fuller account of
the consecration of the loaves

"
given by the other
He
took the five loaves and
the two
fishes," says St.
Matthew, " and looking up

on the other hand,
to heaven,
He
blessed,
and brake, and gave the loaves

this,
is
to His disciples." told us
And
by the same Evangelist,

and brake
in
in his account of the
institution of the
Holy Communion.
it,
"Jesus took
it
bread and blessed

disciples."
it,
and gave
to the
Again,
the second miracle

:
seven loaves.
He
observed the same form
of
the
"
He
took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks,
and brake them, and gave to His

the form
is
disciples."
And
the same in the account of our Lord's
"As
and
to
celebration of the Sacrament after His resurrection
He
sat at
it,
meat with them,
He
took bread
blessed
and brake, and gave

read, "
to them."
And
of St. Paul
we
it,
he took bread and gave thanks
God
in the presence of
them
all,
and when he
had broken
he began to eat ^."

a necesso
One
cannot doubt, then, that the taking bread,

is
blessing or giving thanks, and breaking
sary form in the Lord's Supper, since

insisted
it is
much
on in these narratives
Luke
xxii. 19.
and
it
evidently beMatt, xxvi, 26.
John
vi. 11.
Matt. xiv. 19.
Matt. XV. 36.
Luke
xxiv. 30.
Acts xxvii. 35.
XI.]
161
tokens something extraordinary,
be insisted on
loaves tells us.
and what
Christ's
is,
else
why
is
shoidd
it
that
the miracle of the

observed,
For there the same form was
and there
it
outward instrument in
working a great " work of God."

of the
The feeding then

interprets the
is
multitude with the loaves,
Lord's Supper;
and as the one
a supernatural
work, so
is
the other also.

observation I will
One more
first sight,
make
besides.
At
what
an objection
may be brought
tell
against
has been said
from a circumstance, which,
when
examined, will be found rather to
the other way.
The Jews objected

what was
to our Lord, that
He
had said
when He spoke of giving us among themselves, saying, His flesh. They How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" Our
incredible,
" strove
Saviour in answer, instead of retracting what
had
said,
spoke
still
more strongly
He
"
Except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." But, when they still mur-
mured
at
it,
and
said,
"This
is
a hard saying,
who
can hear
it ?"
then He
He
now
did in
appearance withdraw
His words.
said, " It is
the Spirit that quickenIt
eth, the flesh profiteth nothing."
would take us
this de-
too long to enter

claration
;
into the
meaning of
but
let us,
for argument's sake, allow that
He seems in them to qualify the wônderful words He had used at first what follows from such an
;
admission? This:
that our Lord acted according to
His usual course on other occasions when persons

VOL. VI.
IGJi
THK
KUCIIAIUSI'IC PRESENCE.
[Serm.
refused His gracious aiiiiouuceiiients, not ui'ging and

insisting
on them,
])ut as
if
withdrawing them, and
thus
in
one sense aiding those persons even in
rejecting
what they ought

most
to
have accepted without
hesitation. This rule of God's dealings with unbelief,
we
self
find
fully exemplified
in the instance of
Pharaoh, whose heart
God hardened
law.
because he him-
hardened
it.
And
;
so in this very chapter, as if
in allusion to
some such great
He says, " Murmur

can come to Me,
;" Me, draw him
not
among
yourselves
No man
except the Father w^hich hath sent

as if
He
said, " It is
by a divine
gift that
ye believe
to take
beware, lest by objections you provoke
God
from you His

grace."
aid,
His preventing and enlightening
And
then, after they
had complained,
He
in
did in consequence withdraw from

light
them
that gracious
which
He
had given, and spoke the words

spirit,
question about the flesh and

to carnal
which would seem
minds
to unsay, or explain away,
what
He
had
said.
But
observe,
He
. . .
adds, " There are
some
were
of you that believe not.

you, that no
Therefore said I unto
man
can come unto
Me
except
it
given unto him of
My
Father,"
All this
is
parallel, let it
be observed, to His deal-
ings with the Jews in the tenth chapter of the same
Gospel.
He
there declares, " I and
My
Father are
One."
The Jews,
instead of embracing, stumble at
the truth, and accuse
Him
of blasphemy, as
if
He
being a
man made Himself God.
This was their ininference.
ference from His words, and a correct
XL]
163
just as in the other case they rightly understood

to promise that
Him
He
would give us His
flesh to eat.
But when they had
they, instead of embracing the truth which
correctly
inferred,
instead of humbling
it
themselves before the Mystery, repel
from them,
tell
He
does not force

it is
it
upon them.
He
does not
them, that
a correct conclusion which they had

recedes (as
it
drawn, but
He
were) and explains

rulers
away His words.
He
asks
them whether the
and prophets spoken of in the Old Testament were not called gods figuratively if so, much more might
;
He
call
Himself God, and the Son of God, being
the Christ.
He
is
;
does not
tell
them
that
He
is
God,
though
He
but
He
argues with them as
if
He
In
admitted as true the ground of their objection.
judgment.
As then
occasion
so
He reduces His creed to names and figures. He is really God, though He seemed on one to say that He was but called so figuratively,
us verily and indeed His
He
gives
in
Body and
Blood
sion,
Holy Communion, though, on another occasaying

so,
after
He
seemingly went on to
;
explain those words into a strong saying
and as
none but heretics take advantage of His apparent

denial that
He
is
God, so none but they ought to
make use
to us
of His apparent denial that

flesh,
He
vouchsafes
is
His
and that the Holy Communion

it.
high and heavenly means of giving
Such
reflections as the foregoing lead us to this
conclusion,
to feel that
it is
;
our duty to
make much
of Christ's miracles of love
and instead of denying
m2

16*
[Ssrm.
or feeling cold towards them, to desire to possess
our hearts with them. There

curiosity,
is
a
;
indeed a mere carnal

prying into
high-minded,
irreverent
also a holy
things sacred
curiosity
but there
is
and devout
sure
all who love God will in their meaThe former is exemplified in the instance of the men of Bethshemesh, when they looked into
which
feel.
the ark
the latter in the case of the
Holy Angels,
who
(as St.
Peter
tells us)
" desire to look into" the
grace
of
God
in the Gospel.
Under the Gospel
surely there are wonders performed, such as " eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered

into the heart of man."
Let us
feel interest
;
and
awful expectation at the news of them

ourselves in the
let
us put
way of them
let
us wait upon
God
day by day
hid
for the treasures of grace,
which are
in Christ,
which are great beyond words or

us pray
thought.
Above
and
all,
let
to give us faith.
Him to draw us to Him, When we feel that His mysand occasion us

to doubt,
teries are too severe for us,

let
lity
us earnestly wait on
Him
carnal
for the gift of liumi-
and
love.
Those who love and who are humble
will
apprehend them;
minds do not seek
them, and proud minds are offended at them;
but while love desires them, humility bears them.
Let us pray
nation of the
Him
then to give us such a real and
living insight into the blessed doctrine of the Incar-
Son of God, of His
birth of a Virgin,
His atoning death, and resurrection, that we
may

XL]
165
desire that the

tual
lizes
Holy Communion may be the effecNo one reatype of that gracious Economy. the Mystery of the Incarnation but must feel Holy Communion.
Let us
disposed towards that of
pray
Him
to give us an earnest longing after
a thirst for His presence
an
is
anxiety to
Him find Him
a joy on hearing that
He
to be found, even now,
under the
that
veil of sensible things,
and
a good hope
we
shall
find
Him
seen,
there.
Blessed indeed are
they
who have not
and yet have believed. They

;
have their reward in believing
they enjoy the con-
templation of a mysterious blessing, which does not
even enter into the thoughts of other
men
and
while they are more blessed than others, in the gift
vouchsafed to them, they have the additional privilege

of
knowing that they are vouchsafed
it.
SERMON
XII.
Matt.
"
viii.
11.
sit
Many
shall
come from
the east and west, and shall
down
with Abraham, and
Isaac,
and Jacob,
in
the
kingdom of
heaven."
Our Lord
here says, what
He
frequently says else-
where, that the Gentiles, who were heretofore thought

reprobate, should
inherit the
favour of
God
with
Abraham and
says,
the other patriarchs.

that
Moreover,
great
He
that
they would gain

;
privilege
through faith
for the
words immediately preceding
the text are, " Verily I say unto you, I have not
found so great
faith," that
;"
is,
as that of the Centu-
rion, " no, not in Israel
then
He
adds, "
and
I say
unto you, That many
come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." St. Paul, it is scarcely necessary to observe, declares the same
shall
thing most emphatically
so that
he may be called
:
the Apostle, as of the Gentiles, so of faith
as for

instance, " tlie Scripture, foreseeing that
justify the
167
God would
all
heathen through faith, preached before
the Gospel unto Abraham, saying. In thee shall

nations be blessed.
So then they which be of
faith
are blessed with faithful
Abraham
'."
In the hisis
tory of Cornelius's baptism, the
same great truth
declared by St. Peter, with some^ accidental variety
of expression.
" In every nation
he that feareth
is
Him, and worketh
righteousness,
accepted with
Him^"
Now here the question may be

asked,
asked, and has been
If all that
is
necessary for acceptance with
God be faith in Christ, how is Church Communion, how are Sacraments, necessary ? It is taught in
Church, that the grace of Christ
able regard with which
is
not a mere favoura mere state of
He
views
us,
acceptance and external imputation of His merits given

to
faith,
but that
it
is
a real and spiritual
principle residing in the Church,
and communicated
from the Church into the heart of individuals, and
extended
it
far
and wide, according as they come
for
to the Church,
and diffused
all
is
;
over the earth by
their joining the Church.
This
gift
what
is
taught by
the Church itself of

is,
its
own
and the question
How
is
this consistent
with the impression legi-
timately produced on the
mind by such passages
of Scripture as the text and others such as I have

cited
?
They seem
to speak as if the great gift of
'
Gal.
iii,
8, 9.
'
Acts X. 35.
168
FAITH THE TITLE
[Seum.
Christ were His favourable account of us, and the
means of
it
faith
whereas we seem to speak of
it
as being an inward renewal in us,

it
and the means of
being an union with the Church.

it
They seem
to
speak of
as
what any one may gain
for himself,
and have by himself.

gift,
it
We
speak of
it
as a certain
one and the same

for
it.
for all,
gained by coming to
and
They seem
to speak of the
as being
something individual
way of life and solitary; we speak

and a journey
unfair and
of
in
it
as a social
and united
enterprise,
company.
To
this it
may be
insist
replied, that
it
is
dangerous to
of others
;
on certain texts to the exclusion

it
that true though
be, that
still
some
texts
speak of faith and nothing

of Church
the
else,
others speak
else,
communion and nothing

salvation
;
as being
way of
and
if so, both,
both faith and

will
Church communion, are necessary, and that one

not save without the other
;
that our duty
is
to
if
to Christ in faith, through the Church,

this,
we
shall observe the rule

texts,
one set of
and
in the other,
and given us both and

who
says, "
come we do
in the
that they
deal with Scripture as violently,
think to be
saved by faith without Church fellowship, as those
who
think to be saved by Church fellowship without
faith.
For instance,
if
our Lord
All things are
possible to
says, " If
him
that believeth," yet
He
elsewhere
let
he neglect to hear the Church,
him be
If
unto thee as a heathen
man and
a publican."
He
says, "
Believe and ye shall have," yet elsewhere,
XII.]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
169
Spirit,
"
Except a man be born of water and of the

cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
says, that
lie
If St.
Paul
we
are justified by faith without the

still
works of the Law,

Christ
saves
he expressly assures
the
laver
us, that
us
"by
as
of regeneration,''
"that as
many
have been baptized into Christ

is
have put on Christ," and there

body, one
spirit," as
is
"
one baptism, one
well as " one faith," and that
the Church
" the pillar
and ground of the

is
truth."
Further, if St. Peter says, that every one
accepted
with
God who
fears
Him
and works righteousness,
yet he elsewhere says that " baptism saves us," and
exhorts his hearers to be baptized, in order to the

remission of their
sins,
and the
gift
of the
Holy
Ghost.
And
more
further, it
may be
this
shown, that nothing can be
natui*al
than
union of various distinct
means, in order to gain some particular benefit, and

that there
is
nothing forced in thus interpreting the
one
set of expressions in
harmony with the other;

conveyed by the one
and nothing
in the impression
inconsistent with the impression conveyed

other.
by the
and we
We have
cases of this kind every day,
use similar forms of speech every day.
For instance,
were a person to say that he would give some benefit,

food or clothing, to any poor person
who wanted
it,
would any one say that he broke
his promise, if
he
appointed some particular place where the food or the

clothing was to be got, and where those
it
who
desired
must go
for it
And would
it
be thought reason-
170
FAITH THE TITLE
[SeRm.
able, if a poor person accosted
him abruptly
it
in the
public way, and insisted on his giving
directly
from
himself, without his having to go to the place ap-
pointed? and why, forsooth?
on
the ground that
the other had said that he would give to any one
who asked
might
not
say,
of him.
"
As then
a charitable person
Ask, and ye
shall have,"
and yet might

the neces-
mean
to excuse those
who asked from

;
sity of
going to some place, and at some hour, when

his charity
and where he dispensed

ner Christ
" Ask,
so in like
manshall
may
say by
Himself or His Apostles,

" Believe,
and ye
shall receive."
and ye
be saved," and yet

certain rules,
may mean
to
enjoin
upon us
and to appoint a certain treasure-
house, for our gaining that gift to which our asking
and our
This
so
faith are sufficient to entitle us.

is
so plain, that
it
;
it is
hardly necessary to say

objected, that
:
much about
but
it
may be
it
it is
more true
in itself, than to the present puqjose
for
there are passages of Scripture,
may be said, which
speak so largely and absolutely, that to suppose any

conditions implied which are not specified, any other
means of gaining God's favour besides simple

is
faith,
doing violence to their language.
For instance,
suppose a rich
man
promised an alms to his poor
neighbour, and then,

said, " I promised
when
it
the latter
you indeed an alms,
came for it, and as a free
gift
and
mean
I
to give
you
nevertheless, I shall
exact one condition, which I did not then mention,
but which
meant
nevertheless, and which
is
not
XII
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
what I
said,
171
inconsistent in set terms with
and
this
five
one condition
is,
that you should walk
some
hundred miles
I
for
my
bounty, to some place where

first
have stored
it,
or that you should
learn a foreign
language, and petition

feel that
me
in
it
;"
every one would

Now,
it is
such conduct was a mockery in the rich

conis
man, and a cruelty to the poor one.

tended by the persons
I
speak
of,
that faith
so
prominently spoken of in certain passages of Scripture, as the
means of gaining the

it
benefits of Christ's
death, that
mtist
be meant to be the only means

in
the
silence
observed
such passages concerning
other means being equivalent to a denial of any other

;
and therefore, that
in very truth
full
we must be
justified
by
faith
only in a
and absolute and

sure, not in a
real sense, if the
word of Scripture be
certain sense merely, or in a certain point of view,
but in a sense peculiar and proper, by a prerogative
which no other means
possesses,
whether
rite,
or
work, or temper of mind.
For example,
striction, "
it is
said
by
St.
Paul without re-
There
:
is
no difference between the Jew
and the Greek

unto
call
all
for the
same Lord over
all is rich
that call
upon Him.
call
For whosoever
shall
upon the
Name
?
of the Lord shall be saved.
How
Him
shall
then shall they
on
Him
shall
in
whom
they
have not believed

of
and how
they believe in
whom
they have not heard?

?"
and how
then the
they hear without a preacher

;
And
Apostle concludes
"
So then
faith
cometh by hear-
172
ing,
FAITH THE TITLE
[Sehm.
and
liearing
said,
by the word of God."
Surely,
it
may be
these words phiinly do imply that the

is all
it
knowledge of the truth
that
is
necessary for any
person's application of
to
himself.
Give him a
book, the Bible
give
what
St.
;
Paul
calls
him the revealed doctrine, or the word of God; give him a
preacher
he
call,
requires nothing more.
will seize, claim, appropriate, use the
He may at promise. He
;
has but to
and he
is
will
be answered
he has but
to believe, and he
justified.
" For with the heart
man
believeth unto
confession
;
righteousness,
and with the
mouth
made unto salvation ^." Again how wide, it may be said, how comprehensive, how simple are the words, " Ask, and it shall be
is
;
given you
shall
seek,
and ye
;
shall find
knock, and
it
be opened unto you
for every
one that asketh
receiveth,
and he that seeketh

it
findeth,
and
to
him
that knocketh
shall
be opened \"
Is Scripture, it
it
may be
the
said, for plain
men
or not
does
is
speak to
it
artless, guileless,
and simple-minded, or does
require a refined and cultivated intellect to under-
stand
it ?
If to the poor the Gospel
preached, can
we doubt
which at
that
first
it
is
meant
it
to convey that
meaning
the
sight
has?
that all to
whom
sound of the Gospel comes have but to

to ask, to pray, to believe,
faith so shall
it
call
on God,
to their
and according
?
be done unto them

it
And
such, too,
may be
added, was St. Paul's
Rom.
X.
10-17.
'
Matt.
vii. 7, 8.
XII.J
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
Pliilippi,
173
said
language to the jailor at
he
" Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house \"

There
is
certainly
much
in such considerations,
and they are by no means lightly to be put aside. They do seem, with some explanation, to be true.
I
mean,
it
does seem as
life
if
every one to
offer
whom
had,
it,
the
message of
to take
his
came, had an
it,
of
it
if
he
chose to avail himself of

it
an interest in
is
a right
to himself; that his hearing

is
his warrant,
knowledge
his evidence, that his believing is
his power.
This would seem to be a broad truth,

;
whatever
able state
else is true
and in the present most miseris
of Christendom there
comfort in believ-
ing
is
it.
I proceed, then, to explain in
what sense
it
true,
what
it
implies,
and what
it
does not involve,
and what follows from
it.
I say, then, that hearing and believing,
that
is,
knowing, confessing, and asking,

covenant of grace a
right
title,
give us under the

And now
observe,
nay, are the sole necessary
and
title to
receive the gifts purchased for us
by our Lord Jesus on the Cross.

first,
what
this
does not imply.
1.
It does not
imply anything about the time or

Faith
is
mode
of our justification.
our right and

title
title to
be
justified,
the sole right and
necessary;
but has a person that forthwith, to which he has a

right
?
is
nothing more necessary for the possession
Acts xvi. 31.
174
FAITH THK
111
LK
title to
[Serm.
and enjoyment of things than a just

Is it so in
them
human
matters?
that
is
not a right the
first
thing indeed, but
is it all
?
is
necessary for having,

to
holding, and using
Are there no forms

of the
children of
be gone
?
through, no necessary instruments of possession
Or,
take again the case

parents.
Christian
The
infant children of Christians have a
right to be
made
Christians;
but are they
made
if so,
Christians merely hy the right to be so
made ?
why do we
origin
is,
baptize
them ?
is
Faith, then, in the general
scheme of the Gospel,

Christians.
what
their very birth
and
in the particular case of the

It constitutes a claim in
children of
our case that
we
should be
made
Christians
it is
an evidence, an
He means us to be made Christians it is a promise fi-om Him who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, that He means us, that He wills us, to be Christians. To him that hath, more shall be given. Him whom God gifts with faith, will He also in due time gift with
inward spiritual token from God that
;
evangelical, justifying grace
but the
first gift
it
;
does
does
not give the second
gift, it
does not involve
it
but prepare for
it, it
does but constitute a

title for
title to it.
;
Again
good works form our
heaven
but
does a person
who
is
fruitful in
good works and preI
pared for the next world at once die? or rather,

should ask,
is
he without death translated at once

?
both soul and body into heaven
is
there nothing to
wait for? nothing to go through, even in the case of

those
who
are ready for death
are there no persons
XII.]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
flesh,
175
detained in the
who,
if
they died yesterday or a

?
year since, would go to heaven
are there no saints

is
upon earth
same thing
Surely, then, to have a title

;
not the
as to be in possession
and
all
is
the texts
which can be brought to prove that

to
faith
our
title
it
be justified, fail to prove of themselves that

it
involves in
our justification, unless indeed children
are Christians without baptism because their parents
were Christians, and Saints are in heaven before

death because they are
fit
for heaven.
If,
I say, the
is
texts in question do but

title to
show that
faith
our sole
be
justified,
they prove nothing about anya certain benefit

is still
thing
else.
title to
title,
whether the benefit has been conferred or not.

does not cease to be the
benefit,
title title
It
because
nor
is it less
it.
of a
we have the because we have not

bound
to past, pre-
yet received
It is not at all
sent, or future. It is that
on w^hich we once received,
or by which
we now
hold, or /or which
we
are
If,
still
claiming the benefit, as the case
may
be.
then,
the texts in question merely say that he
who has
they
faith has a right to the benefit, of redemption,
merely
say,
(which
is
indeed much, but
is all
they
say,) that
he who believes shall to a certainty at some

justified.
time and by some means be

say
this,
And
that they
and no more,
is
plain from those texts to
which reference has already been made.

stance, "
For
in-
Whosoever
shall call
upon the
is
Name
of the
Lord
shall
be saved;" a promise
given, but the
how, the when, the where, the by what, these parti-
176
FAITH THE TITLE
[Skrm.
culars are by the very form of the proposition left
uncertain.
Time
is
not mentioned, nor

it
mode
is
but a promise given, that
shall be.
But, on the other hand,
if
we
say that faith
the
mode
say,
or the time as well as the

is
title,
we may
as well
too, that it
the Author of our justification.

it
We
may
as well say
supersedes Christ's Atone-
ment as a
ment.
meritorious cause, as Baptism as an instruso again of the text

;
And
it
says, that
sit
shall cofne
from the East and West, and
many down in
kingdom of heaven. Is coming the same as sitting down ? coming stands for faith, sitting down for baptism coming is our title, sitting down is posthe
;
session.
Coming goes
is
before, leads to, sitting
down
but
it is
not sitting down.

another.
title is
one thing, and

be shown
possession
And the same might

commonly
of the other texts which are

question.
2.
cited in the
This becomes
is
still
more clear, on considering that

in other places,
is
whereas faith
in
some passages made the means of

is,
gaining acceptance, prayer

of as the means
;
spoken
and, moreover, prayer
evidently
is
the ea^pression of faith, so that whatever
true of
prayer
insist
is
true of faith also.
Now
is
it
is
too plain to
upon, that, though success
certainly promised
is
to prayer in the event, yet the time of succeeding
not promised, and so far from
it
being immediate,
we
are expressly told to pray again and again, to

to succeed.
;
continue instant in prayer, in order

instance, "
For and
Ask, and
it
shall
be given you
seek,
XII.]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
;
177
ye shall find
you."
knock, and
salvation
is,
it it
shad be opened unto

were, put in our
is
Here
;
as
own
title
power
for
to hear the invitation

;
our sufficient
coming
to 'pray for the gift is the sure

it.
and
cer-
tain
means of receiving
act,
Most
true
but does the

it
word seek imply one

that
and one only ? does

for
?
imply
we gain
at once
what we ask
The contrary
is,
we
are elsewhere told to " strim to enter in at the
strait gate, for
many
will seek to enter in," that
seek without striving, "and shall not be able^." Again;
"He
spake a parable unto them to this end, that

always to pray and not to faint
men ought
It is
not one act of prayer, then, or two, but a course and

continuance of prayer, which entitle us to God's
mercy
and therefore, and to walk in

is
in like
manner,
it is
not one
live
act of faith which justifies us, or

in faith
faith
is
two
acts,
;
but to
our
title
and
to begin
to have faith
to enter the road leading, infallibly
leading, to justification,
ditions, of
by a
series of events or con-
which
faith is the first
and
sole
on our
part.
I say that the
message "Believe, and thou

shalt
shalt have," " Call,

little
is
and thou
be saved," as
call, is all
imply that one act of
faith,
one
that
requisite, as " Ask,
and
it
shall
be given you," im-
plies
that
we can
gain answers to prayer at the
willing.
Sometimes, doubtless,
God
mercifully an-
swers at one prayer, and sometimes
He
justifies at
one act of
faith
but I
am speaking
of what
we have
Luke
xiii.
24.
'Luke
xviii. 1.
VOL. VI.
178
FAITH THE TITLE

;
[Sehm.
a right to gather from such passages

all
and
I say, that
they can prove
is this,
that
he who has
faith has a
promise from
way, in God's
God own
that he
shall, shall in
God's
own
in
time, shall certainly
and surely
the event, be justified; that, as he
pray will sooner or later obtain, so he

shall, unless
who begins to who believes
he " draw back," be
justified.
3.
But
this is
made
a matter of certainty by the
instances
which we
find given us in the
New
Testa-
ment of
justification
by
faith.
We
find that faith
was not thought enough, but was made

other things.
to lead
on to
all,
man was
obtain.
not thought to have
to have obtained,
on believing, but to have a
title
whereby
to find
and
For instance, even in a
case which admits of being otherwise interpreted in
some respects, so much as this is certain. Cornelius was a special instance of faith ; but did this faith suflfice to make him a justified Christian ? No it did
;
but give him a

to
title to it. It moved the God of mercy work miracles for him. There was this circumstance, special and remarkable in his case, that the first spiritual gift was not given through baptism, but still it was not given at once upon his faith. So
far
from
it,
he had to send to an Apostle before

Paul himself.
it
was given.
Take again the instance of

faith
St.
By
he obeyed the heavenly
vision,
and went into

to wait,
^lie
Damascus, and waited.

not
justified.
But he had
and
He
waited three
;
days
he was
prayed
then Ananias was sent
he said, " Arise,
and be
XII]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
and wash away thy
sins,
179
calling
baptized,
on
tlie
Name
of the Lord*."
To
believe,
to confess, to
;
pray, to call,
were the
sufficient title for the gift

it.
but
baptism was the instrument of receiving

having
faith,
St.
Paul
was
sure, in
God's great mercy, eventu-
ally of receiving baptism,
but not at once.
Again, consider the case of the Ethiopian Eunuch.

" Faith
Cometh by hearing
This was
and hearing by the
word of God."
sufferings.
fulfilled in his case.
He
read the Prophet Isaiah concerning Christ's atoning
He
had
;
heard Philip preaching on the sacred

faith in Christ.
text.
He
He
had a
title
to
justification
it.
but he was baptized in order to receive
Hear his own words declaring it. " See, here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized ^ ?" You see, baptism was the great end which he was seek;
ing
why, except that

it
it
conveyed the
gift of life
Would
for a
have been
rational to have
been so earnest
rite
?
dead ordinance, for a mere outward
espe-
cially since
now he had
heard, and had believed.
Would he have
outward
inward
rite,
?
asked about hindrances to a mere

already obtained
it
when he had
the
gift
No, he sought baptism because
was
worth seeking.
says, "
And
Philip treats
it
as such:
he
Thou mayest,
is
if."
He
puts a condition.
Men
do not put conditions before worthless things.

condition
a price
men do not buy nothing with

to receive a^gift,
"
something.
The Eunuch was going
Acts xxii. 16.
Acts
viii.
36.
N 2

180
else there
FAITH THE TITLli
[Skrm.
had been no delay, no scrutin}% no engage-
ment.
helievest
Now
with
"
what
all
tvas the
condition?
"If thou
If thou
thine heart, thou mayest."
believest.
And
he answered and
is
said,
I believe
that
then,
Jesus Christ
the
Son of God."
title.
Faith,
was the
title,
the sole
"And
:
he com-
manded the down both

eunuch
;
chariot to stand
into
still
and they went

Philip and the
the water,
both
and he baptized him."
At
length
it
was
finished.
The deed was done
justification
the was accomplished and

;
gift
was given
therefore, "
when
they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of

the Lord caught away Philip."
He
did not take

it
him away before
He
did not think
enough
for
Philip to preach.
Philip
preached and baptized;
and then he was caught away. Had he but preached, and not baptized, and the Eunuch
faith,
still
had had
then doubtless, in God's great mercy and good
providence, another messenger from
Him would have
baptized him
the
;
Eunuch would not have gone

only he would not have had
without baptism
he would not have been frustrated

;
of the fruit of his faith

it
so soon.
to
it
He
would
still
have had the
title,
the
claim
baptism.
But God "finished the work,
and cut
short in righteousness ^"

;
He justified
new
the
believing soul through water
and then
Philip, his in-
strument, was caught away, and the

" went on his
Christian
way
rejoicing."
Rom.
ix. 28.
XII]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
181
One more
" Believe on
instance: St. Paul said to the jailor,

tlie
Lord Jesus
Christ,
and thou
shalt
be saved,"
and then he and
Silas " spake unto
him
the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his

house."
Here, then, " faith came by hearing, and

of God."
;
hearing by the word
Accordingly, the
promise was unto him and his

St.
and what next ? Let
Peter
tell
us what, on the day of Pentecost.

says,
"
The promise" he
and to
all
" is
unto you, and to your

off,
children,
as the
that are afar

shall call
;"
even as
many
Lord our God
and
therefore, " be
baptized.''
This was the issue
be baptizedwhy?
St.
" for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the

gift of
the Holy Ghost."
What
Peter said to the

or rather St.
Jews, that St. Paul did to the

Silas did it; for St.
jailor,
Paul says of himself, that he
was not sent to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.
He
did not baptize, because so great a gift was bap-
tism, that the Apostles
wished to avoid the chance
of seeming to baptize in their
own name, and

saved.
St.
of
seeming to be setting up themselves

rious
for the merito-
means through which men are

thank
Paul
says, then, " I
you," except one or
my God that I two whom he

I
baptized no7ie of
mentions, " lest

in
any should say that
had baptized
mine own
Church, to
name "."
ter chosen
As water
all
is
a feeble element, so the minisin the
was the feeblest vessel

was of God.
show that
Accordingly, the Apostle
Cor.
i.
14, 15.
]8
FAITH THE TITLE
[Serm.
generally had with
him some
friend,
who, while a
companion and comfort

offices
to him, administered those
which he did not take upon himself.

;
Philip
was a deacon, and baptized
St.
Paul was an Apostle,

I say, it is
and did not baptize

likely, in
jailor,
and therefore,
more,
the case before us, that Silas baptized the

St. Paul.
and not
;
However, baptized he was

in
and
all his
and then, and not before, took place

rejoiced, believing in
him the same inward change which happened

Eunuch,
house."
"
to the
all
he
God
with
his
He
had
believed before baptism,
but he did
not rejoice before baptism
he
rejoiced after baptism.

seek.
jailor
title
:
Men
rejoice
when they have found what they

baptized.
Both the noble Ethiopian and the humble

rejoiced
on their being
Faith gave a
baptism gave possession.
Faith procured them what

it.
nothing else would procure, and baptism conveyed
Enough has been

faith is
said to explain in
else
is,
what sense
what nothing
and does what nothing
else does.
He who
has the means of hearing the

in
it
Gospel, and believes
heartily, has, not a

;
means
he has
of gaining, but a
title to
receive justification
within him a warrant, not that
God
has justified him,

this
but that
He
will justify him.
And
was so
fully
understood and received by the early Church of Christ,

that, supposing a person, who
was candidate and under

its
preparation for baptism, happened to die before

administration,
his death
it
was believed that that person on

state of
was put by God's mercy into that
salvation, into
which he would have entered by
XIL]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
183
baptism.
Or, again, suppose a person was martyred
for his faith
and not baptized, then,
too, his salvation
was considered to be secured in

baptism.
like
manner without
faith,
For where a man has true

trust, would rather
Christ,
for
we humbly
work a miracle
his justification,
than deprive him of that which
He
or
graciously considers as his right.
He
it
that hath begun

in
a good work in us, will perform
some way
will,
other and bring
it
to perfection.
He
by His
or
providence, create Churches and Ministers of Bap-
tism round about the souls
whom He
will
visits
He
will lead them from Ethiopia to Jerusalem, and send
Philip to
meet them
will
or
He
speak in dreams by
for
His Angel, and send unto Joppa

prison
Peter
or in a
He
or
even make
a spring of water gush
forth miraculously
from the rock at an Apostle's

other means are suspended,
voice
He
will, if all
reconcile
the soul to
Him
without the appointed
ordinance at the
moment
of dissolution.
In some
way way
or other,
where
He
gives faith,
He
will
open a
for saving grace.
For whom
He foreknows, them
and whom He predestinates, them whom He calls, them He justifies; and whom He justifies, them He glorifies. And now it is plain what a consolatory light these
He He
predestinates
calls;
and
considerations throw
state of Christendom.
upon the present disordered

I trust there is
no presumption
in thus interpreting Scripture,
and in thus judging of

;
the state of things which
we
see
and
if not,
we may
true,
be thankful
in
being able to do
so.
It is
most
184
FAITH THE TITLE
[Seum.
then, and never to be exj)lained away, that the grace
of the Gospel
is
lodged in a divinely appointed body,

it.
and spreads from

and progression
wherever
It diffuses itself like leaven over
the world, according to the parable, by a continuity

;
not found here, and found there, in
a detached isolated way, but here, and there, and

it
is,
as portions of
one whole.
As
well
may
branches of a tree be strewed on the earth, and
the trunk be in the ground, and the leaves be whirled

in the air,
and the
all
fruit
be at the bottom of the

tree, as
stream, and yet
be one whole living

It
is
the
Church be divided.
are external to
it
impossible.
it
;
None who
it is
are included in
quite a
truism to say
this.
Neither faith nor anything else

is
can
make
that to be, which
not.
Wishing
will
not
serve instead of coming, and faith cannot
serve in the
place of baptism.
None
are justified but those wlio

;
are grafted into the justified body
and
faith
is
not
an instrument of grafting, but a title to be grafted.

It
is
baptism, " whereby, as an instrument, they that

it
receive
rightly," that
is,
by
faith, "
are grafted into

all its privi-
the Church."
leges
;
And
with the Church go

it
and on communion with

its
depends the inflow-
ing into the soul of
privileges.
He who
never has
;
entered into the Church has not the privileges
he
or
who
is
has seceded from
it,
or sinned grievously in
it,
born in a schismatical branch or heretical

privileges are suspended.
all
sect, to
him the
for
There are great
numbers, then,
about
us,
vast multitudes, who,

fault or
one reason or other, through their own
XII.]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
185
fails
the fault of their fathers, are in a position which
of the enjoyment of the privileges of regeneration.
The power of the

of the
Spirit,
the cleanness and lustre
new creature, the
intercourse with heaven, the
light of God's countenance, the fulness of justification,
are not participated
by these masses of men,
at least
according to the provisions of the Gospel covenant.
But
shall
in spite of this,
we may humbly,
is
yet confidently
say, that
where there
there
it is
true faith, there justification

it is
be
promised,
due,
it is
coming,
somehow, somewhile. Whether, as the Saints of the
Old Testament waited, and were not gifted with

Gospel justification
faithful souls will
till
Christ's first coming, these
be received into the glory and grace

;
of the Church at His second coming or whether they

enter into the
kingdom upon death
or whether,
by
an extraordinary dispensation unknown to us and to

themselves, they receive the gift here
this
;
or whether in
world their eyes shall at length be opened, and
the Church revealed to them, as the true treasure-
house of grace and home of refuge to

they be led to seek
it,
all believers,
and
and renounce the
sect of their
title
birth or of their choice,

if
it
they
shall
call,
they shall
any how, they have a be answered, they knock,

if
be opened to them.
tell,
Who have
this true faith

it
we cannot
no, nor
any more than when God rewards

assistance,
what measure of
what power of
spiritual influence
He
gives to those,
who
it
is
yet, like
the Jews, have not the peculiar gifts and
endowments
a great
of the Covenant of the Gospel.
Yet
186
FAITH THE TITLE
[Sbhm.
comfort to believe that God's favour is not limited to

the bounds of His heritage, but that, in the Church
or out of the Church, every one that calleth on the
Name
shall
of the Lord with a pure and perfect heart
be saved.
thus the possession of the Holy Scriptures
gift in
is
it
And
rightly,
an inestimable
a country, to those
who
use
whether they belong to the Church or
not,
and
so far
we may well
is
rejoice in their circulation; not
that possession justifies, or reading, or that the Bible

phrase, which
in fact
;
knowing not
;
our religion, according to the strange

has, alas, too true a
is
however
meaning
to-
but the Bible
the means, through God's
secret help, towards faith,
and
faith is the
means
wards
faith,
justification.
And
to
as reading does not involve

it,
yet
is
the
way
so faith,
is
though
title to
it
it.
does
not involve justification, yet
a sure
And
trust,
thus by reading Scripture, thousands,
we may
who
and
are not baptized, yet are virtually catechumens,

in heart
and
spirit candidates for
the cleansing
Sacrament.
Thousands who are

still are,
in unconscious he-
resy or unwilling schism,
through
faith,
in
the state of Cornelius,
when
his prayers
and alms
to
went up before God.
Thousands who are obliged
partake of the elements of Holy
Communion unrites,
consecrated, or administered with doubtful
yet
have that within them which the fault or ignorance

of the minister cannot take away,
heart.
a preparation of
Church
Thousands who are
in branches of the
which profane
men have
stripped of holy ordinances,
XII.]
FOR JUSTIFICATION.
187
it,
though the two Sacraments themselves remain to
may through
through those
their faith receive in the
Sacraments
those graces besides, which were wont to be given

lost ordinances.
And
thousands,
who
have been born and trained in separation, become

through their faith divinely enlightened to seek and
to join that
One Holy and
Catholic Body, in which

is
God's presence abides.
Such
the power of faith,
not to disparage ordinances, but to secure graces.

Lastly, at the
same time
it,
it is
plain,
and the face

is
of Christendom shows
ritual state,
how mournful
that spi-
even though happy in the end, in which,

will, faith is
contrary to Christ's
fication.
disjoined from justi-
Christ willed that justification should
come
at once
tism.
upon
faith
through the Sacrament of Bap-
Satan has so disordered Christendom, that

faith
numbers perhaps have

justification
;
without as yet having
an
interval,
not of days, as in Corlife,
nelius's case,
but of years, nay, perhaps of a
lying
between the two.

an anomalous state
We see
all
the consequence of such

us.
around
How
men
!
miserable
is
the inconsistency of even our good

lent in
clear
how
!
excel-
some
points,
how
very faulty in others

faith of many
!
How
and edifying seems the
very poorly advanced in sanctification

(strange to say)
who yet are how is faith
combined with profaneness, or with
pride, or with despondency, or with headstrong blind-
ness to the truth
What
is
does
all this
show but that

that the that
God's Spirit indeed
striving
is
among us, but

;
Church of the
living
God
hardly here
beams
188
FAITH THE TITLE,
&c.
of His favour are shed on us, but that the
Sun of
;
Righteousness
is
hid
that
He
has hid His face

;
that
evi-
we have
aids,
but not Gospel graces
signs
;
and
dences of mercy, but not justification
faith
pro-
ducing such
in
fruits as it best
may
in the
wide world,
a wild uncertain way, just as sweet plants might
flower,
and
rich trees bear, on the outside of Eden.
But
let us bless
us,
and praise God,

as
my
brethren,
if
He
has placed
we
trust,
within the bounds of

that
His kingdom;
let us
pray
Him
we may
avail
ourselves of this inestimable privilege; let us pray
Him to bring all others into it, to give light where He gives faith, and to join to the city of the Living
God
all
those whose faces are turned thitherward.
SERMON
XIII.
Heb.
" These
all
xi. 13.
died in
faith,
off,
not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar
and were persuaded of them, and

pil-
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and

grims on the earth."
What
many
faith,
St.
Paul here plainly states

viz.
is
a paradox to
persons of this day,
that any should have
and yet should not have the promise.

is
Yet
the whole of this chapter the old fathers

of
"
it
;
about the faith of
and again and again in the course

faith.
does he deny them the object of their

in
faith,'''
They died
yet " not having received the
promises," being " persuaded of them,
and embracing and

" con-
them,"
yet only " seeing
them
afar off,"
fessing that they

earth."
were strangers and pilgrims on the

Jacob and Esau
:"
"
By
faith Isaac blessed
concerning what?
"
about things to come."
Again
he
says, "
These
all,
having obtained a good report
through
faith,
received not the promise."
And
ob-
190
[Serm.
serve in the text the strong words, " persuaded of
them, and embraced them

faith
It is
;"
in
modern language,
it
their not.
apprehended the promise, yet they had
one thing, then, to have
faith,
another thing to
Faith does not
receive the promise through faith.
involve in itself the receipt of the promise.

It
is
equally clear what the promise

of,
is
which
is
spoken
regeneration.
"This
is
the covenant
that I will
it
make with
the house of Israel,"
announced in the prophets,

put
thus was "After those

days,
saith the Lord, I will

parts,
My
law in their inward

Again, " I will
and write
it
in their hearts."
pour
My
Spirit
upon thy
seed,
and
upon thine
within you
you."
offspring."
And
will
again,
My blessing "A new heart

put
Spirit within
also will I give you,

.
. .
and a new
I
spirit will I
And
put
My
Accordingly,
when our Lord was going away,

you."
He
said to
His Apostles, " Behold, I send the proAgain, "
mise of
My Father upon
And
hence,
Wait
for the
promise of the Father, which, saith He, ye have heard

of Me."
when
the multitude asked St.
Peter what to do, he
said, " Repent,

sins,
and be baptized
shall receive
is
... for the remission of
and ye
the gift of the IIol^ Ghost; for the promise

you, and to your children."
unto
And
St. Paul, in like
manner, says that we receive " the promise of the

Spirit
through faith."
Soon
after
he speaks of
'."
" the promise hy faith of Jesus Christ
Elsewhere
Luke
13.
Jer. xxxi. 33.
Isa. xliv. 3.
Ezek. xxxvi, 26, 27.

iii.
xxiv. 49.
Acts
i.
4;
ii.
38, 39. Gal.
14. 22.
Eph.
i.
XIII.]
191
he speaks of our being "sealed with that Holy

Spirit of promise."
It appears, then, that faith gains the promise,
and and
that the promise
is
the great gift of the Spirit
moreover, (from the instance of the old
Fathers,
is
spoken of in the chapter from which the text

taken,) that
as to
it is
not the same thing to have faith, so
embrace and apprehend the promise, and to

it
;
enjoy
that faith
is
a condition of Christian grace,
and yet not a token. and

still
not yet be justified
man may have true faith, he may have a faith for

;
justification,
tion,
he may be ordained unto

though
justifica-
yet
;
the time
of justification not yet have

justification is not yet his,
arrived
still
or, rather,
in God's secret counsels

it.
he may be ordained
a very consolatory one
unto
This doctrine seems to

at this time,
me
when
so
many
persons have not, or have
not certainly, the grant of justifying grace.
When
we
consider that baptism of water
is
solemnly con-
nected with regeneration by our Lord, and that such
numbers among us either are not baptized at

in such a way, or
all,
or
by such persons, or under such
circumstances, as to
it is
make
it
very doubtful whether

it is
real efficacious
baptism or no,
a great con-
solation to believe, that
though they are not newthey
born and
justified, yet
may have
faith, as
the
old saints had,
who were not

faith,
justified in the Spirit
and that
if
they have
even though they have
not Christian justification to the day of their death.
192
JUDAISM OF THE PRKSKNT DAY.

in tlie
[Serm.
they are but
condition of
tlie
old believers
and
He who alloAved the latter to die without receiving the promise, He who justified martyrs of old time, not
through baptism, but in their streaming blood,
at the
it
may
moment
Him,
of death, or before death, should

justify
so please
them
too,
even though unThis, of course,
baptized, in His
own
secret way.
allows no one to slight baptism

it,
when he can
obtain
nor to quench the whispers of grace within him,

to
suggesting
him the
necessity of baptism
nor
does
it
warrant us rashly to assert that this or that

faith,
unbaptized person has true

is
much
less that
he
justified
nor to suppose that such persons as are
in a
measure accepted without baptism, would not
have a
much
higher acceptance with
it
but
it
com-
forts us
with the thought, that if a
man
has faith,
he has or
will have justification. Sooner would an Angel descend from heaven, or an Apostle be provided, than one, whose prayers and alms had gone
up before God, should

receive the gift.
not, at
one time or another,
Almighty God has declared the immutability of His counsel to the heirs of promise;
that
whom He
them
calls,
them
He
will
justifies
whom He
His time
justifies,
He
glorifies.
The when and the

do
it
where are with Him.

as,
He
in
according to His
will,
sooner or
later.
from earth and brings into paradise those

has justified,
so,
sooner or
later,
does
He takes whom He He translate

Spirit,
is it
from the world into the Church, through His

those
whom He
has called by
faith.
But
not
XIIl]
for US " to
JUDAISM OF THE PRESEiNT DAY.
193
the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power ^"
know
Now
there can be no doubt that Christ meant no
length of time to interfere between faith and the

cleansing and justifying
new
birth.
long and
dreary interval had intervened in past ages, but that
was over.
"
St. Peter's
words are
sufficient to
show
this,
Repent and be baptized," or our

is
Lord's, "
He
that
believeth and
baptized shall be saved \"
Sufficient
too
is
the history of Cornelius, to
whom
some
regeneration
still,
was conveyed by a
was and thus
series of miracles; and
never-
theless, in Cornelius's instance,

;
interval there
in the case of Cornelius
and of the
Jews we have specimens given

occurs now,
us, at least in kind,
of that long and miserable delay which so
often
when
the times of the
Law seem
to have
returned, and
men believe and embrace what

in various
they die
without possessing.
Now
fault,
if
we have
ways gone back un-
wittingly to the state of the
Law;
if
without our
being falsely educated, or for other reasons,

solely, in
we
have rested on faith
an unscriptural way,
if
and neglected God's ordinances;
we have remained
away
to reli-
without baptism, or not been confirmed, or not been

frequent at the Lord's Table, or fallen
gious bodies where that sacred rite cannot be administered, or in any

circle of privileges
way been deprived of that full which Holy Church dispenses if

;
Acts
VI.
i.
7.
'
Actsii. 38.
Mark
xvi. 16.
VOL.
; ;
194
JUDAISM OF THE PRKSKNT DAY.
[Serm.
we have
thus been at disadvantage in one or other

;
way, and yet are not without faith

fallen into a
if,
I say,
we have
Jewish
state^ it
might be expected that
we
should display also a Jewish character of mindy
and course of conduct, and should exemplify in ourselves that paradox which we so wonder at when
recorded of the Jews in the text,
mises which
embracing
pro-
we do not
or do but partially enjoy
and we
are, I think, in
such circumstances, as I
now
proceed to show.
If the
it is
Jews had not received the promised

of that
Spirit
Spirit,
not wonderful that they did not show forth the

fruits
office
special
which was promised.
Now
the
us to
the
of the promised Spirit was to mortify
flesh, to
fulfil
write the law in our hearts, to enable
the righteousness of the law, to pour into
our hearts " that most excellent gift of love," to

enable us to do works acceptable to God, and to be
conformed in body,
have had
soul,
and
spirit
to
Him.
The
it
Jews were aided by God's grace,

faith,)
(else
they could not
but they were not inhabited by
they did good actions, they had holy desires and

tempers, but they had not that regenerate
life
within
them which
the people
again
;
Christians
are
promised.
am
not
speaking of this or that highly-favoured

;
saint,
but of
little
they were at best great now, and

;
some points high, and in others low with one grace, and not another. Some graces they had,
in
because they had faith
all
they had not, because This

is
they had not the Indwelling Spirit.
seen in
XIII]

faith given
195
some of the instances of

says, "
by
St.
Paul in
the chapter immediately before us.
For instance, he
not with
By
faith the harlot Raliab perished

;"
them that believed not
and what
is
still
more
is
to
as
the purpose, he refers to
Samson and Jephthah

;
examples of true and acceptable faith
yet
the
history of these men, particularly of Samson, consistent
with their faith
Nay, did we possess merely
the Old Testament, and

spired
knew
should
it is
not of St. Paul's in-
comment upon
?
it,
we
say that
Samson
had
faith at all
See what
to be in that middle
state
between
title
faith
and
justification of the Spirit,
between
and possession.
And
hence
it
has been
the belief of many, that the old Fathers did not,

after departing this
rest
life,
at once enjoy the blessed

till
of a justified
people,
Christ
came, and,
having overcome death and risen again, gave them

to
be
justified
by that
faith,
with which they had
long waited for Him, and to become members of His

spiritual
kingdom.
Again, the Apostle says, "
By
faith
they passed
through the Red Sea as by dry land."

is
Now
fell
this
said of that people "
whose carcases
in the
wilderness,"
and who could not enter into the pro" because of unbelief^'' as St.
mised land:
tells
why?
Paul even
us in the same Epistle.
Here, you
different
is it
see,
their faith failed

faith of Christ's
them.
How
!
with the
disciples
"
Simon, Simon," said
our Lord to St. Peter, "behold Satan hath desired

to
have you, that he might
sift
you as wheat
but I
o2
"
196

fnith fail 7iot^"
[Serm.
have prayed for thee that thy
Peter
had before
this
been commended
for his faith,

it
and
now
flesh
it
was
in jeopardy;
it
but in truth
was not from and
and blood,
was attended with the beginnings

;
of those Gospel gifts which the Jews had not
which are " without repentance," for they are as in-
ward
in
habits,
and
He who begins
own
a good work in us,
His mercy
carries it forward to
an end.
an
Again
St. Paul, in his
history, gives us
account of the state of the Jews, whose faith was

not supported, strengthened, spiritualized by the gift
of inward justification.
I
"
The law
;
is
spiritual,
but
am
carnal, sold
;
under
sin
for that
which
I
I do, I
;
allow not
for
what
do
I would, that
I.
do
not
but
!
what
I hate, that
shall deliver
wretched
man
that I am,
who
me
from the body of

"
this
death
How
different
this
from
;
St. John's description of
the true regeneration
Whosoever
is
born of
God
seed
is
doth not commit
sin, for
His seed remaineth in him"

?
what
Such
is
that seed but the Spirit
" His
remaineth in him, and he cannot born of God \"

is
sin,
because he
the case of those
who have
faith,
yet are
;
not yet justified with the grace of the Gospel
and
may we
Surely
not, with all reverence to so great
and holy
a prophet, say this in a measure even of David?

it is
no irreverence to speak of what he seems

in the flesh, if
to have
been
we
think that
now he
John
iii.
is
Luke
xxii. 31, 32.
Rom.
vii.
14, 15. 24.
9.
XIII.]

spirit,
197
with Christ in the
in the lot of the blessed,
and the light of the

life
justified,
though
in his earthly
the fulness of that gift had not yet been accorded
to him.
Surely
it is
no irreverence
to speak of
what
he was before he had received the promise, now that he has received it, more than to speak of what St.
Paul
AAas
Avhen he was Saul.
Nay,
is
far less, if
we
may
talk of less
where there
none.
For
St. Paul,
was even under God's displeasure before he was

Christian
heart,
;
but David was the
man
after God's
own
one
and an inspired prophet.
His Psalms are our

reverence
portion even to this day.
We
him
as
who was favoured on

favoured in heaven.
secured, though
earth,
and destined to be more

in
We see
allow that
him much
actually
in rudi-
we
much was but
ment.
And
therefore even we, without
blame may
showing
notice, and profitably consider, the imperfections of
holy David's
life in this
point of view,
viz. as
the state in which
men are found when they have faith,

Consider,
;
but have not yet received the promise.

then, the high excellences of his character
view him
;
leading the worshippers to the house of
God
think
of his zeal for God's service

spirit
;
his lofty devotional his thoughts his humility,
the tenderness and the piety of

to God's
his dutifulness
commands
simplicity, generosity, nobleness,
and affectionateness;
and then, on the other hand, view him in those particular passages of his history
which inspiration
re^
cords for our instruction, and you will, I think, see
by the instance even of so great a
light,
what the
198
JUDAISM 0F THE PRESENT DAY.
[Serm.
case was with the multitude, who, however inferior

to
him
in gifts
and graces, had
faith,
yet had not yet
gospel justification.
And
now, after these remarks on the state of the
Jews, let
me
ask you to turn to the present state of
this country,
and
to say
whether numbers are not,

in that
by their own confession,
same Jewish
state
and therefore whether and
it is
not true of them, as of
the Jews, in a certain sense, that, granting they have

faith,
it
is
a consolation to believe they have,
yet they are at best, in matter of fact, in that inter-
mediate, provisional, unspiritual state in which we
view them, who hold that the sacraments of the
Church
fication.
If,
are,
over and above
faith,
necessary for justi-
I say, justification
is
conveyed through Baptism

those
and the other sacred
rites,
who
reject the latter,
either have not received, or have lost the former.
But
on the other hand,

be
justified,
if
true faith gives
men
a title to
then they will be justified in God's
own
time, provided their faith endure.
Such, then, being
the state of good
men
who, from involuntary igno-
rance are in dissent, or in other grievous ecclesiastical

error,
do they not, I
?
say, stand exactly in the state of

;
the Jews
Certainly
for
the Jews had
faith,
yet
had not yet received the promise of the

is
Spirit,
which
Christian justification.
Well
then, I repeat, if
this
lives
be
so,
we
is
should expect that their opinions and

in a
would actually show that they were

This
Jewish
I
state.
what I am now
insisting on.
have
XIII.]

what the
state
I
199
said
of the Jews
was, moral
and
spiritual,
and now
are
am
going to show that just in
that state, and in no other, according to their

confession,
own
Christians
now, who neglect the
justifying ordinances of the Church.

1.
And,
same
Great numbers absolutely confess and believe,

the
Christian
that
ordinances are just the

to
as the Jewish.
They own themselves They
be in the
state in
which the Church lay before Christ suffered

distinctly assert that
and rose again.

is
Baptism
any high
no more than circumcision.
Thus they bear witness

for
against themselves.
They do not look
mysterious gift in Holy Communion, but they think

it
the same as the Jewish Passover

;
each, as they
think, figures our Lord's passion

that, in the
the difference being

in the
one
case, it
was yet to come,
The Passover prefigured, the Lord's Supper commemorates it the Jews looked forward, Christians look back. This is what they hold. They claim to be in the state of the Jews, in the state of those who had faith, but had not gospel
other
it is
past.
justification.
2.
Next,
let it
be observed, that they consider
justification to
be nothing more than God's accounting
them
righteous,
which
is
just
what
justification
was
to the Jews.
Justification is God's accounting a
man
righteous
yes,
but
;
it is
is
in the case of the Christian
something more
too.
it
God's making him righteous
As
beasts live, and
men
live,
and
life is
life,
;
and yet
life is
not the same in
man and
beast
but
2(K)
[Serm.
ill
man
consists in the presence of a soul
so
in
somewhat the same way Jews were

fication
justified,
and
but
it
Christians are justified, and in the case of both justi-
means God's accounting men righteous

it
in Christians
means not only an accounting, but

;
involves a
is
making
in
so that as the presence of a soul

life,
the
mode
him
which God gives man

is
so the pre-
sence of the Holy Spirit

gives
righteousness.
life,
the
mode
in
which God
This
is
that promise of the

is
Spirit of
because of which the Gospel
called
"a
of,
ministration of righteousness."
But the multi-
tude of religious professors at this day
whom
I speak
do not admit
this
they even protest against the

justification to
notion.
They think
be something,
is,
not inward, but merely outward; that
they ac-
knowledge themselves, they claim

they are justified, yet they
fication is not
justification.
to be, in the state
of the Jews, and though of course they contend that
own
that their
own
justi-
more than an outward

There
is
or imputative
no room here
for difference in
the use of words, and mutual misunderstandings. If
we maintain
it
is
that they have not inward justification,

if
not as
they maintained that they had, as

it
;
if
they aspired to
well as we.
it is
no more than they allow as

are justified in
They only contend they

is,
we allow they may be, if they have true faith I mean in that sense in which the Jews were justified, who died, not having
their sense, that
in such sense as
;
received the promise.

3.
Again.
They
lay an especial stress
upon
fait/i
XIlI.j

and comparatively neglect love
;
201
for salvation,
they
put faith before love.
words to assent to us
Now, is not this in so many when we place them with the

is
Jews ?
ligion,
For, whereas faith
the essence of
is
all re-
and of the Jewish and the
inclusive, love
is
the great
grace of Christianity;
Christianity
spirit
religion,
is
and
and
something more
of love
faith,
something more.
into love,
faith,
it lives
Christian faith is faith

in love,
developed
and love
is
greater than
because
it is its
Gospel perfection, according to
the Apostle's declaration, "

charity,
Now
abideth
faith,
hope,
is
these
"
three;
but the greatest of these
charity."
The
is
just shall live

;
by
faith," is
is
a Jewish
truth as well as a Christian
"
Love
the fulfilling
these per-
of the Law,"
Christian only.
is
When
sons say that faith
all
in all,
what do they but
allow that they are on a level with the Jews,

those
with
will
who had indeed

Again.
faith,
but had not yet attained
the Christian promise?

.4.
The Jews,
;
as I
have
said,
had the
without the power

the
will,
whereas Christ has unfettered

it
and enabled
to obey.
"
Awake, thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead,"

"
The Law of the
Spirit of Life hath
He says. made me free

by
fulfilling
from the law of

the
it
sin
and death
^."
Christ,
Law
for us, has given us also
power
to fulfil
after our measure, "
but after the Spirit."
who walk not after the flesh, The very test of a mature
Rom.
viii. 2.
Eph.
V. 14.
202

is
[Sekm.
Christian, of a true saint,
consistency in
fact,
all things.
Now,
of
is it
not a very remarkable
that the bodies
men
I speak of unhesitatingly appropriate that
melancholy seventh chapter to the Romans, to which

I
have been referring, and claim

descriptive
it
as being accu-
rately
of their
own
state?
Nay,
so
strongly and earnestly, that sometimes they will even say that no one
is,
in their sense, a true Christian,

also
;
who
does not claim

that if a
it
and why
because they say
man
does not find his own ea^perience bear
witness to the truth of the Apostle's statement in

that chapter, he cannot possess that state of
mind
which they consider essential to
all believers.
O true
confession to the misery of having faith without inward

justification
!
They make the
test of
a true Christian
sin.
to be, not spiritual perfection, but confession of
Thus they
nal, sold
glory, I will not say in their shame, but in
their misfortune.
They
;
are in bondage
it
;
they are car-
under
sin
they confess
they are like the
Jews, and they
call this
a spiritual mind, and say that

in a similar
none are true Christians but those who are

state.
Do
mean
if
to
promise persons that they
shall
be at once and altogether free from their

they follow Christ in His Church
?
natural bondage
Do
of
mean
to say that
we do
not, as well as the Jews,
in a certain sense recognise those
miserable
I
cries
human
nature as our
own ?
them,
No, but
mean
to
say,
that so far as
we
feel
we
too are in an
state, that
inferior
Jewish
state; that there is

it,
a higher
we
are
bound
to seek after
and that we can attain
XIII.]
203
that their
to
it.
But the multitudes
speak
of,
own
peculiar and intended condition, that state to which
they give the

Spirit has
name
of spiritual,
is
one in which the
no power.
Such
is
the consequence of
starting with faith rightly, but stopping short of the
Sacraments wrongly.
5.
Once more.
There
is
one virtue which of old
time good
men
especially
had
not.
Indulgences
were allowed the Jews on account of the hardness of

their hearts.
Divorce of marriage was allowed them.
More
wives than one at once were not denied them.

is
If there
one grace in which Christianity stands in

religion, it is that of
;
especial contrast to the old

purity. Christ
He remained a virgin; His beloved disciple was a virgin; He abolished polygamy and divorce and He said that there were
was born of a Virgin
;
those
kingdom of heaven's sake would be even as He. Now, as the Apostle says, " Every man hath his proper gift of God." I accept the word I
who
for the
do not outstep
so,
it
but as surely as each has his
gift, gift.
according to the Apostle, some have this
But now, my brethren, who way of the world at present is

such a gift?
I
will question that the
to
deny that there
is
am
all
not objecting here, I
am
not
wondering, that
men have
it
;
it
not; but what I
wonder
this,
at
is,
that none have
and I ask, does not
if
there were no other reason, show, that

It
is
have fallen back into a Jewish state ?
we now a
recognised principle with the world, that there can
204
JUDAISM OF THK PRKSENT DAY.

in
[Serm.
be no certainty of holiness except
married
life
and that celibacy
is all
but a state of
sin.
Nay, so
far
has this gone, that some of the greatest masters of the

doctrine of faith without love and sacraments, have
actually sanctioned
bigamy
in particular cases,
and
advocated polygamy in writing.
Too well then does

be among
that religion, which they promulgated, bear witness
against
its
itself,
that,
though
I
faith
still
followers,
which
am
far
from denying, and

it
is
have comfort in thinking,

of Jews,
yet
in
but the faith
who had a law

faith,
ring against the law of their
members warmind, and who died

their
indeed in
promise.
but without having received the
To conclude, though
to
I
it is
our Church's blessedness
have withstood the torrent of that error to which

it
have been referring, yet
could not be expected
that her individual

selves free
members should have kept them-
from
it.
And
in proportion as the acts
of individuals can counteract her

far doubtless
own
intentions, so
we have
It
is
suffered as others,
and in no
and
slight degree.
our business, instead of exalting
ourselves over others, to repent of our
own
sins,
to try to escape from the disadvantages
under which
we
find ourselves after
all.
Especially should
we turn
our thoughts to the consideration of Holy

nion,
Commu-
which
in ancient times used in
places to be celebrated daily, but
many or most now is celebrated

If that
commonly but
three or four times a year.

XIII]

life
205
holy ordinance be the continual

if
of the Church,
the Jews
" did eat
manna
in the wilderness,
and
shall
are dead," but if any

live for
man
" eat of this bread
he
ever ^"
is it
wonderful that those of us who
relinquish this Gospel gift, and rest in our faith for

salvation, should fall
Is it
back into a state like the Jews ?
wonderful that
we who
are the children of
promise should not enjoy the promise, seeing

not accept
that
it
;
we
it,
will
seeing
we
it,
think
it
enough
to believe
we
already have
or that
God
offers
and
will not
put out our hand to take
it ?
Is it
won-
derful that
we have no command over ourselves, when we do not come to Christ, "that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our
souls
it
washed through His most precious blood ?"
Is
wonderful that
we
are so inconsistent and variable,
when we
will not
seek of
Him
such daily suste-
nances of grace as
not pray to
He
offers to
us?
when we do
Him
daily, or
seek His house daily?
we may walk with Him, and not Is it wonderful that we have after our own hearts. no love, when we neglect altogether that great
that day by day
ordinance whereby love

fasting ?
is
nurtured, abstinence and
We
is
cannot hinder others thus acting

course of
things,
is
we
our
can-
not change the

sick,
nor heal what

at
will.
nor bind up what

act
for
broken,
But we can
ourselves,
whether
men
will
'
John
vi.
51.
206
hear, or
JUDAISM OF THE PRKSHNT DAY.

whether they
they
will
forbear
us,
and, while
we
so
act,
may oppose
but,
through
God's
grace, they will at length be

till
at length
pleasure
moved to follow us, them " all the good of His goodness, and the work of faith
He
will fulfil in
with power."
SERMON
XIV.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE APOSTLES.
Mark
"
ix. 38, 39.
And John answered Him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy Name, and he followeth not us and we
;
forbad him, because he followeth not us.
But Jesus
shall
said,
Forbid him not

in
for there is
no man which
do a miracle
My
Name,
Me."
Persons M^ho choose their religion

to another at
for themselves, or
who wander about from one communion

tlîeir
of Christians
will,
often urge upon us
who
wish to be disciples of the

delivered to the
One
Faith,
which was once

of Scripture.
saints, this
passage
They say that Christians may follow strange teachers, who come in their way, because our Saviour did
not allow St. John to hinder the stranger mentioned
in the text
from casting out devils in our Saviour's
Name.
St.
John came
to Christ,
and told
Him
that
he and the other Apostles had fallen in with a
man
who, though he wrought miracles, yet did not follow

the Apostles, and that they in consequence had for-
208
THE FELLOWSHIP
To which our Lord answered,
[Serm.
bidden him.
" Forbid
him
not."
Therefore they argue, as the Apostles

this stranger, neither
were not allowed to forbid
may
the Church forbid strange teachers and preachers;

that
all
have a right to preach, whether they follow
the Church or no, so that they do but preach in the
Name
of Jesus, without any molestation.
Such
it.
is
the objection, and I propose
now
to consider
Now
deny that the case

which
it is
in the text
is
at all
parallel to that
brought to
justify, as a
few remarks
1.
will show.
First, then, this
man was
This
is
not preaching
he was
casting out devils.
a great difference
^he
was doing a miracle. Our Saviour says

" There
is
so expressly
in
no
man which
;
shall
do a miracle
My
any
Name,
Me."
Now
one can preach
not every one can cast out devils.

;
Very few can cast out devils nay, at first sight, it would seem that none but a servant of God can cast
out devils.
Man
cannot overcome the

If a
;
devil, Christ
only overcomes him.
man
if
cast out a devil,
he
has power from Christ

Christ,
and
he has power from

;
he must have a commission from Christ
and
who
to
shall forbid one, to
whom God
gives commission
do miracles, from doing them ?

God.
That would be
fighting against
But, on the other hand,
man may
preach without being sent
many from God and

warns
having power from
Him
for Christ expressly
us against false prophets, and

shall
He
am
says that "

Christ,
many
shall
come
in
His
Name
saying, I
and
XIV
OF THE APOSTLES.
209
deceive many." It does not follow, then, because
we
we
must not
forbid those
who come with
a divine com-
mission from working miracles, that therefore
may
2.
not forbid those
who do not come with a comsaid, "
mission from preaching.
But
he
it
may be
The
effects of
preaching
are a miracle.
that
is,
good preacher converts persons,

from the hearts of those
;
casts out devils
whom
God.
on
he changes from
Therefore he
sin to holiness
and
this
is
miracle.
This he could not do without power from

is
sent from God, and therefore
he ought not to be forbidden.

this,
The question
is
turns
whether
is
his preaching
with power or not,
whether he
influential,
whether he touches the
hearts of his hearers.
If he does, no matter
not.
whether
he follows the Apostles or

ger from
For the Apostles

is
were but messengers from God, and he
a messen-
God
because he
is
able to do God's work,
and one messenger need not follow another messenger ?

is
What
is
Paul
to
:
or what
is
Apollos
He
as little
bound
follow the
Apostles, as the
Apostles to follow him

forbid the
he has just as much right to
Church
since
to preach, as the
Church
to forbid
him.
And
we may
is
not forbid him,

is said.
we may
follow him."
This
what
I answer, that
though such a person's preaching

is
were
all
that
it
said to be,
though
it
did work
what look
like miracles, this
would not prove that he
came from God;

VOL. VI.
for the false prophets against
whom
our Saviour warns us, are to do
" signs
and wonders,
p
210
to seduce, if
it
THE FKLLOWSmi'
were
possible,
[Serm.
even the
elect'."
do
not suppose that they will work miracles such as
God's servants work, but what seem to be such, what

are sufficiently like miracles to perplex those see
who
them yet these

;
prophets, of course, are not to be
listened to.
And,
apart from the

to the souls of
who kept Church, were said to do much good others, I should very much rejoice to
therefore, if a preacher,
it,
hear the report of
but I should pause and require

first,
;
many
things to be decided
before I could be
that
it
sure that good really was done

his doing.
or, if so,
is
was
What
seems good,
often not good.
Persons
life
who hear preaching
often take
tired of
up a
it.
serious
for a time,
and then get
Or they
and think
;
profess a great deal
more than they
feel,
themselves more in earnest than they are take that to be true religion which
is
or they
or they
not
change one bad state of mind
for another,
and account
certain feelings, or tempers, or opinions, or doings to
be pleasing to God, which are not

reasons
it is
so.
For
all
these
not at
all
an easy matter to determine

do cast out
-
that the self-appointed preachers in question do really
convert the hearts of men, that
is,
devils,
do work miracles, as they say they do.

3.
But again
or,
even
if sinners
are converted
upon
such a one's preaching, this would not show that he did

the work,
in
it.
at least, that
he had more than a share
The miracle
after all
might belong to the
'
Mark
xiii.
22.
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
If sinners are converted,
211
Church, not to him.
it
is
partly in consequence of their having been baptized,
and perhaps not owing to the preacher in question
more than
to
any other accident.

to think
Men
are touched,
and roused
which
of religion continually, by a
variety of striking accidents,
which God uses indeed,

do not
Supposing a
He
overrules for good, but which
therefore necessarily
come from Him.
man
fills
falls
into sin,
and that rouses
his conscience,
him with remorse, makes him fly to God for pardon, leads him to repentance and newness of life
comes from
his having
it is,
all this
committed
this parti-
cular sin, whatever

sin
but who would say that the

forbid; the sin
came from God? God
came from
the man's
ruled
it
own
him
self-will,
and God mercifully over;
God may condescend to overrule the preaching of those who preach at their own will, not from Him, without
to
for
good
and, in like manner,
countenancing them thereby in so preaching.
They
are but the occasion of the miracle, not the instru-
ment of
it.
And
with
let it
be observed, that persons who take up
new
religions,
and leave the Church to follow

Well,
the Church,
preachers, often grant that they gained their first
impression in the Church.

as they themselves
say,
if so,
wrought in them.
miracle.
How
has a share in the work The Church did part of the many a man, who thinks he is con-
verted by this or that preacher, gains the benefit

after all
from the parents or the clergyman who have
p2

212
tauglit
ness,
THK FKLLOWSHll'
him when young, and
trained
[Sf.rm.
him up
lives
in holi-
though he did not
profit
by their instructions
at the time,
and who, now that he
more
reli-
giously, ungratefully forgets themy
and
refers
it all
to
some
strange i)reacher, who, at the very farthest, did
but put the finishing stroke to the work,
who
flame,
led
him
to profit
by what he had been already taught,
who
that
it
rekindled what once before was lighted, and
who, perhaps,
rekindling
hurts
the
so
instead of being pure, serene, and heavenly,

is
smoulders, and
fits
full
of smoke, or blazes and

wildly and lights a
sinks by
and
!
starts, or flares
conflagi-ation
For
teach
all
these reasons, then,
it
would seem as
if
the
instance in the text did not apply to persons
who
new religions now: we may
forbid them, because
they do not work miracles, as the

did
;
man
in the text
and even though they seemed
in particular cases
to convert
the souls of their hearers, which would

it
be a miracle,
would be very
this,
difficult to
prove that
they really have done

conversion often
truth
;
both because what seems

spirit
is
not real conversion in

it
and
and, again, because though
be
real converit,
sion, yet, perhaps, they are
not the doers of
but the
Church itself before them.

1.
To proceed
that
is
It should
be observed, then, that

"
if
our Saviour
says on this occasion,

is
He
not against us
on our part," yet elsewhere
He
says, "
He
is,
that
is
not with
Me
is
against
''
Me ^"
xii.
The
30.
truth
while a
Matt.
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
is
213
system
things,
is
making way against an
existing state of
it
;
help of any kind advances
but when
it
established, the
it.
same kind of professed help
tells
against
Before the Gospel was received, those

;
who did not oppose the Apostles actually aided them when it was received, the very same parties interfered with them. Let us consider when our Saviour spoke It was at a time when there the words in the text. was no Church, when He had not yet set up His Church we have no warrant, then, for saying, that because men might work in Christ's name, without
;
following the Apostles, before
He
had
built
His
Church, and had
therefore such persons
made them the foundations of it, may do so lawfully since. He

it till
did not set up His Church and the Apostles in

after
His resurrection.
When He
;
spoke to St. John

St.
in the text.
rest
He
had not given to
John and the
their
commission
even though the

still
man who
cast out devils
had no commission,
the Apostles
had none
as yet
either.
In this respect he was not inferior
to St. John, who, though nearer to Christ, was not
His representative.
Our Lord had

and upon
still
it.
said to
I will
St. Peter, "
Thou
art Peter,
it
this
;
rock
build
My
Church V'
was
future
but after
said to
His resurrection
He
founded
Then He
him, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou

lambs, feed
Me?
feed
My
said
My sheep\"
In like manner
He
had
to all the Apostles before
His
resurrection, "
What-
'
Matt. xvi. 18.
John xxi. 15
17.

THE FELLOWSHIP
214
[Sehm.
soever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in
heaven
;"
the time was not yet
come
but after
it,
He
said, "
As
My
Father hath sent Me, even so
send I you \"
Then
all
He
did,
what before
He
pro-
mised
henceforth
men must
join themselves to
the Apostles, which they were not told to do before.

Accordingly,
we
read in the second chapter of the
Acts, that those

*'
who were converted and

it
baptized,
continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine,"
but not only doctrine,
was not enough to preach

as they, but
it is
and hold the same doctrine

in the
added,
Apostles'
" fellowship,"
they
" continued
steadfastly in
the
is,
Apostles'
doctrine
and fellow;
ship
."
That
they followed the Apostles
and
if
they had wished to depart from that fellowship,

the Apostles would have forbidden
it,
nor would
our Lord have said to them

not."
then, " Forbid
them
went
their
Accordingly,
into parties,
when the
set
St.
Christians of Corinth
and
up forms of doctrine of
to forbid
own, and neglected
Paul their Apostle, what did
he say? did
bade them.
said, "
is,
\\q forbear
them?
;
no,
he
for-
And he
gave
this reason
"
What
''
?"
he
came the word of God out from you
?"
that
did the word of
in like
God manner we may
originate with you
And
up a
say to those
who
?
set
distinct sect or
communion
for themselves,
did you get your knowledge of the truth

*
Where You may

ii.
Matt, xviii. 18.

'
John xx. 21.

1
"
Acts
42.
Cor. xiv.
.3fj.
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
the word of
it
215
tliink
God came
out from you, but
came to you from us ; nor have you received what you teach, as far as it is true, except through that Church which you oppose. That Church made you what you are, as far as you are Christian and the Church that made you has a right to rule
really
you, and to protest against you
when you
for
will not
be ruled
she has a right to bid you follow her, and
to claim jurisdiction over you,
you are
her's
whereas the
man
in the text
who
cast out devils
had
not received the power through the Apostles, and

therefore the Apostles had no claim on
to them.
him to submit
Afterwards, however, the Apostles were the sole

channels of grace
givers
;
and
as they
were the sole grace-
under Christ, so they were the sole governors,

all
under Him, of
transmitted
stance, St.
religious
life,
Christian people
and
as they
so they claimed obedience.

Baptist's disciples
in God's favour
;
For
in-
John the
were believers,
men, and
but,
when once
the Church was set up, they were obliged to submit

to the Church,
and to leave the
sect,
though divinely
founded, to which they belonged.
We
read in the
Acts of the Apostles of Apollos, " an eloquent man,
and mighty
in the
spirit,
in the Scriptures,"
who was
" instructed
way of the Lord, and being
fervent in the
spake and taught diligently the things of the

All
Lord, knowing only the baptism of John^"

'.it
Acts
xviii. 24, 25.
216
this availed,
THE FELLOWSHIP
and was accepted with God,
;
[Srhm.
till
lie had
set up,
set
it
up His Church
but when once
it
was
availed Apollos nothing, though eloquent, though
scriptural,
nay mighty in the Scriptures, though
in-
structed in the Lord's way, though fervent in
spirit,
though diligent in speaking and teaching, and that

boldly,
though belonging to the sect and baptized
among those born of women, no prophet was greater. The Baptist had taught him true doctrine, had taught him that
Christ was the
with the baptism of him than whom,
Son of God, the Lamb of God, our

;
Atoning
in turn.
Sacrifice
and
this
Apollos doubtless taught
What
?
did
call
he not teach which persons

themselves
especially
now
so
teach
preachers
who But
gospel
as the Baptist submitted to Christ,
must the
Baptist's followers submit to Christ's
followers, Apollos to the Church.
Apollos must not

taketh away
to
stand apart and so preach
Him who
come
the sin of the world; but he must
them who
alone could convey the Spirit; he must
come
for
Christian Baptism, in spite of his knowledge of the
Gospel.
So Aquila and
Priscilla "
took him unto
them, and expounded unto him the way of
God
the
more
perfectly."
is
Another instance
certain disciples
given us directly
after, in
beginning of the nineteenth chapter.
St.
Paul found
who had been

them
this
baptized into John's
baptism.
He
told
was not enough, and ac-
cordingly they were baptized in the
Name of the Lord
Jesus; and were next confirmed, and received the Holy
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
gifts.
217
Ghost, even His miraculous

observe that, for what
And
here I would
we know,
the very
man
in the
text was one of St. John's disciples, or,
if not,
one Avho
had received
his religious impressions
from John; who

cast out devils
might lawfully remain

in the
till
as
he
was,'
and
Name
of Jesus, without joining the Apostles,
the Apostles received the gift of the

to join them.
light
Holy Ghost,
and then he was bound

2.
And
here too
we have
thrown upon an
expression in the text which I have just used, and
which at
" In
first
sight
may seem
to
need no explanation
Our Lord speaks of those who do His Name." Now what is implied in this ? At first sight we might think that every one who uses the Name of Jesus, and professes to work in and by it, does do what he does in His Name. But
Name."
miracles " in
this is
My
not so
as
is
plain
from another part of the
chapter already quoted, where
we
read of certain
call
vagabond Jews, " who took upon them to
over
them which had

Jesus."
evil spirits
the
Name
who
;
of the Lord
Here, then, were persons
did not follow
the Apostles, using the Lord's
Name
The
but could they
in consequence be said really to speak in
No;
that
for
what happened?
evil
it
Name ? spirit whom

His
answered,
they were attempting to expel, cast

thei/
in their teeth,
did not follow the Apostles.
He
(I
"Jesus
know, and Paul

" but
know,"
know
the
Apostle Paul,)
like
who
are ye ?"
And
now, in
manner, the hosts of
evil
may
say to those
who
218
THE FELLOWSHIP
[Serm.
preach without being sent, " Jesus I know, and the
Church
enough
know, but who are ye ?"
Merely, then, to use the

to constitute
Name
;
of Jesus
is
not
what Scripture means by speak-
we must look for that sacred Name, and use that sacred Name, where He has lodged it. His Name is a Name of power we must seek where He has lodged His power, if we
ing in the of the Lord
;
Name
would speak with power.

at large in the world, but
in a secure dwelling-place
He has not left He has lodged

;
His His
and we have that
Name Name Name
engraven on us only when

place.
we
are in that dwelling-
For instance, you recollect the account of
the Angel
who
led the Israelites out of
Egypt into
speaks of
the land of promise,
how God Almighty
him. " Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place
which
have prepared.
Beware of him, and obey

not, for
his voice,
and provoke him
he
will not paris in
don your
transgressions, for
My Name
in the
to use
him
*."
The
Israelites
it
were to go forward
was not enough
to seek
it
Name of the
it
Lord; but
His Name,
was necessary
where
He had put that awful

;
Name. He had lodged
it
with the Angel

it
and to be
fol-
under the Name's protection,
was necessary to
low the Angel, and obey him. Again, when they came
into the promised land,
we
find
still
that they might
Exotl. xxiii. 20, 21.
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
219
it
not take up any religion they chose, and use
in
God's Name, but that they must seek and use the
Name
thus to
of
God where He placed it for Moses speaks them, " Unto the place which the Lord your
;
God
and
shall choose out of all
your tribes to put His

shall
Name
there,
even unto His habitation
ye seek,
not do
thither
thou shalt come ....

" every
Ye
shall
after all the things that

is
in the wilderness
we do here this day," that man whatsoever is right

come to the which the Lord your God
as yet
in his
rest
own
eyes.
For ye are not
and to the inheritance

you ^"
g-iveth
The
Israelites in the wilderness
were
somewhat in the condition of

Christ had set
there.
Christ's followers before
up His Church, and put His

but when once
Name
Men
might use His

;
His Apostles then
Name without following He had put His

were bound " unto
Name
in the Church, then they
His habitation to seek, and thither to come."

that His
And,
Name, which was once placed in Shiloh is now named upon the Church, is plain from the prophet Jeremiah, who first says, speaking of Christ, " This is His Name, whereby He shall be called," that is, under the Gospel, "The
and
in Jerusalem,
Lord our Righteousness^;" and next applies

special title to the Church, thus,
this
in his thirty-third
shall
chapter, "This
called, the
is
the
Name
is
whereby she
His
be
is
Lord our Righteou-sness."

His
Name
upon her
Name
her Name.
And
-
hence the
'
Deut.
xii. 5. 8, 9.
Jer. xxiii, 6.
iJLH)
THE FELLOWSHIP
[Serm.
prophet Malachi, speaking of the Church Catholic,
and
its
perpetual feast of bread and wine in

says, "
Holy
Communion,
the going
From
;
the rising of the sun unto
down of
the same,
My Name shall be great

offering,
among
the Gentiles
and
in every place incense shall

for
be offered unto
My
Name, and a pure

His
My Name
On
shall
be great among the heathen, saith
the Lord of Hosts \"
Name
is
there,
where
is
the predicted " pure offering." the whole, then,

it
would appear that the
stranger in the text might use the
Name
of Jesus
without following the Apostles, because they, though

Christ's
Apostles,
had not yet had the
Name
of
Christ
named upon them,

Church has
in order to their forming
together His Church; but that ever since His resurrection that
existed,
and has borne His

except in and under
Name
and to use His

is
Name
will
the Church,
to treat
His sacred
Name irreverently,
his
which whoso does, God

unless he does
it
not hold him guiltless,

;
in ignorance
and then, though
work
by
St.
will perish,
he
will
be saved, yet so as by
fire.
And
hence such earnest exhortations are given us

Paul against division and disobedience
;
for in-
stance, "
Mark them who

;"
cause divisions and offences
contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and
avoid
them *
"
Whereas there
;
is
among you envy*
ing and strife and divisions

"
are ye not carnal
?"
We
="
command you
11.
<
that you withdraw yourselves
Mai.
i.
Rom.
xvi. 17.
Cor.
iii.
3,
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
ggl
from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not

after the tradition
which he received of us
;"
"
Obey
them that have the

selves ^"
rule over you, and submit your-
I have but one point
more
to dwell
upon before
conclude.
have been showino^ what the text must
not be taken to
it
mean
at this day.
have shown that

to counte;
must not and cannot rightly be applied
nance those who now set up against the Church

the question arises, to what does
it
but
now
apply ? Every
;
word of Christ has a meaning

enough
to expose the
also.
is
at all times
it is
not
MTong meaning, unless we exThis

is
pound the right
just the reason
why
so
much
futing
of Scripture
taken in a wrong sense, because

satisfied
orthodox
it,
men
have been
merely with re-
instead of giving the right sense.

is
The way
apply this
to refute error
to preach truth
till
we
text rightly,
futations, to
it
will continue, in spite of all
our re-
be applied wrongly.
I proceed, then, to
say a few words by
way of showing the

so,
right expla-
nation; and, in doing
you will
see, I shall
be
enforcing from the text this very principle.
Let
to
it
be observed, then, who
it
was who was not

of Jesus, though
be forbidden to use the
Name
he did not follow the Apostles.

preached false doctrine,
Not one who not one who opposed the
Apostles, or interfered with them, or had separated
from them.
text,
Nothing then can be inferred from the

it
iii.
though we take
*
ever so
6.
literally,
xiii.
or apply
it
2 Thess.
Heb.
17.
222
THE FELLOWSUll'
[Srrm.
ever so exactly to the present times, notliing, peat

rate
it,
I re-
can be inferred
in
favour of tliose wiio sepa-
from the Church, who set up against the Clmrch, who interfere with it, and trouble it. But there are a number of persons to whom the text does more or less apply, and whom we ought to treat according to its spirit. There are a number of persons not memor
bers of the Church, rated from

it,
whq neither have themselves sepait,
nor oppose
nor usurp
its place,
but
in
who
are
more
or less in the condition of the
man
the text, " not following us," yet using the

Jesus.
Name
of
Many
sects
;
and
parties in this country are
of long standing
many men
are born in
them
many men have had no opportunities of knowing the truth. Again, it may so happen they are exerting
themselves for the cause of Christ in places where
the Church
itself.
is
unknown, or where
it
it
does not extend
And, moreover,
may
so be they
may have
and desire
upon them many consolatory proofs of

and earnestness, of a true love
to
for Christ,
seriousness
obey Him, and not to magnify themselves. Here,
then, our
Lord seems
to say,
"
Forbid them not in
their preaching."
The
ness
;
greater part of the world
is
in
heathen darkbe found
sectaries of various descriptions will
sending out missions for the conversion of souls to

Christ, into places whither the
Church has not sent
missionaries.
Now we
are not
bound
to support
them, for this reason, because they do not hold the

whole truth of the Gospel. But
we are not
to behave
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
;
22S
towards them in a hostile way

bless
rather
we ought
better.
to
God
for
whatever they mean well, and pray
Him
is
that they
may mean and

it
act
still
Or, again, even in a country into which the Church
sending missions,
seems the duty of those
whom
all
she sends thither, to be kind and tolerant towards

Christian bodies
who
are labouring there in the
same
will
cause, as far as these latter do not actively interfere
w^th her, or oppose her doctrine, which, alas

too often be the case.
We are not bound to join them

like ours,
were their doctrine ever so

did not follow
are to suffer
ours.
any more than

but
the Apostles were bound to follow the stranger

the}n,
which no one
to
will say
them
go their way, while
who we we go
parts
And
again
even at home there are
many
of the country into which the Church has not duly
come, and which perhaps owe what they have of the
Gospel to the labours of

evident,
sectaries.
Here, too, as
is
we
are
bound
to act very differently in places
from
what would be our duty

and against the Church
details,
it is
where they had
established themselves in the face of the Church,

;
and without going into

is
evident that there
a sense in which
our Lord's words in the text apply to them.
On
truths,
the
whole, then, I would

to
say this
when
strangers
the
Church preach
great
Christian
and do not oppose the Church, then, though

not follow them, though
we may
we may not
;
join
them, yet we are not allowed to forbid them
but in
53^4
THE FELLOWSHIP
is
[Serm.
proportion as they preach what
in
itself
untnie,
and do actively oppose Cod's great Ordinance, so

far
they are not like the
man whom
our Lord told
His Apostles not to
forbid.
But
in all cases,
whether they preach true doctrine
or not, or whether they oppose us or not, so
much
we may learn, viz. that we must overcome them, not so much by refuting them, as by preaching the truth. As we are told to overcome evil with good, so must we overcome falsehood with truth and as in baptism
;
the curse of
Adam
is
divine grace, so in like
removed by the in-coming of manner the reign of heresy is

ity
put to
flight,
not by merely attacking
but by the
manifestation of the pure gospel instead.

far
Let us be
more bent on preaching our own doctrine than on refuting another's. Let us be far more set upon alluring souls into the right way than on forbidding them the wrong.
Let us be like racers
in a course,
who do not impede, but

Let uS outstrip others
"
try to outstrip each other.
in our lives
and conversation,
longsuffering,
by pureness, by knowledge, by
by
Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the
kindness, by the
armour of righteousness on the right hand and on

the
left,
by honour and dishonour, by

and perseverance.
is
evil report
and
good
ness,
report."
Let us conquer by meekness, gentle-
forbearance,
When
the
voice of error and strife

let
loud, let us
keep silence
us not be unwilling to
be triumphed over as
blind and prejudiced persons, as bigots, or as fanatics,
XIV.]
OF THE APOSTLES.
225
or as zealots, or to be called
any other hard names
by the world.
Let us forbid them not.
avenge us in His own way and at
God will His own time.
The weak shall be strong, and the despised shall become honourable. " He shall make our righteousness
as clear as the light,
and our just dealing

wrath and
let
as the
noon-day.
fret
Leave
in the
off
go displeasure
to
not thyself, else shalt thou be
moved
do
evil.
Hope thou
shall
Lord and keep His way, and
He
promote thee, that thou shalt possess the land.

innocency, and take heed unto the thing that
for
Keep
is
right,
that shall bring a
man
peace at the
lastV
'
Ps. xxxvii. 6. 8. 35. 38.
VOL.
VI.
SERMON
XV.
RISING WITH CHRIST.
Col.
" If ye then be risen
iii.
3.
witli Christ,
seek those things which are

Set
above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. ye are dead, and your
life is
For
hid with Christ in God."
In the Communion Service we are exhorted to "
lift
up our hearts
the Lord,"
;"
we
answer, "
unto the Lord,

to
We
lift
them up unto
is
that
is,
who
ascended
risen,
on high;
Him who
is
not here, but has
appeared to His Apostles, and retired out of sight.
To that ascended and unseen Saviour, who has come death, and opened the kingdom of heaven
believers, this
overto all
day and
all
days, but especially at this
when we commemorate His resurrection and we bound to rise in spirit after His pattern. Far otherwise, alas is it with the many they
season,
ascension, are
are
hindered, nay, possessed and absorbed by this
RISING WITH CHRIST.
227
world, and they cannot rise because they have no

wings.
Prayer and fasting have been called the wings
of the soul, and they
who
neither fast nor pray,

lift
cannot follow Christ.

hearts to
They cannot
up
their
Him.
They have no
the earth
treasure above, but

faculties are
their treasure,
all
and their heart, and their

;
upon the earth

Great, then,
is
their portion,
and
not heaven.
is
the contrast between the many, and
those holy and blessed souls, (and

their company!)
affection
may we be
in
who
rise
with Christ, and set their

earth.
on things above, not on things on the
The one are in light and peace, the others form the crowd who are thronging and hurrying along the broad way "which leadeth to destruction;" who are
in tumult, warfare, anxiety,
and
bitterness, or, at least,

;
in coldness
and barrenness of mind
or, at best, in
;
but a short-lived merriment, hollow and restless

altogether blind to the future. This
is
or
the case of the
many; they walk without aim or

ligiously, or in
object, they live irre-
lukewarmness, yet have nothing to say
in their defence.
They
;
follow whatever strikes
them
and pleases them
they indulge their natural

their tastes
are, but
tastes.
They do not think of forming

ciples,
and printhey sink
and of rising higher than they
and debase themselves to their most earthly feelings

and most sensual
to
inclinations, because these
happen
be the most powerful.

;
On the
contrary, holy souls
take a separate course
they have risen with Christ,
and they are like persons who have climbed a mountain
Q 2
228
RISING WITH CHRIST.

top. All
is
[Serm.
and are reposing at the

so very
noise and tumult,
mist and darkness below; but on the mountain's top

it is
still,
so very
calm and serene, so pure,

sound below, and
so clear, so bright, so heavenly, that to their sensations

it is
as if the din of earth did not
shadows and gloom were no where to be found.
And, indeed, the mountain's top

in Scripture, to us of our calling in Christ.
is
a frequent image
sj)eaks
it
under which the Almighty Spirit
Thus, for instance,
was
prophesied of the Christian Church, " that the
mountain of the Lord's House should be established

in the top of the
mountains
and many people

let
should go and say.
Come
ye,
and
us go up to the
mountain of the Lord."
And,
in like manner, the
Temple
by Solomon was upon a high place doubtless, among other reasons, which at first sight
built
seem of an opposite nature, by way of showing us

that religion consists in retiring from the world, and
rising towards heaven. "
says the Psalmist, " even the hill of Sion which

loved.
I
He chose the tribe of Judah," He

His Temple on high
'."
And
there
He
built
do not mean, of course, that a man can be

neglects his duties of this world
life
;
religious
who
is
but that there
an inner and truer

life
in religious
men, beyond
see, or, in
the
and conversation which others

text, their " life is hid
the
words of the
God."
with Christ in
as
Christ, indeed.
Himself worketh hitherto,
His Father worketh, and
He
bids us also
"work
'
Isa.
ii.
2, 3.
Psalm
Ixxviii. 69, 70.
XV.]
RISING
it is
WITH CHRIST.
229
while
day ;"
yet, for all this, it is true that the

sight, that
Father and the Son are out of
They have
an ineffable union with each other, and are not in any dependence upon the mortal concerns of this world
and
so we, in our finite measure,
must
live after
Their divine pattern, holding communion with Them,

as if
we were
at the top of the
Mount, while we perirreligious
form our duties towards that sinful and

world which
lies at
the foot of
it.
The
history of
Moses
affords us another instance
of this lifting up of the heart to God, and that, too,

represented to us under the same image.
He. went
up
to the
Mount
for forty days,
and there he saw

all
visions.
And
observe, he
remained
this
time
without eating bread or drinking water.

culous fast was a lesson to us,
Christians are to
again,
That mirais
how
it
that
we
draw near
to
God.
But
observe,
while he was on the Mount, what was going

it.
on at the foot of
There was the turbulence, the
ungodliness, the sin of the world. His servant Joshua

said, as
is
they heard the noise of the shouting, " There

:"
a noise of war in the camp

is
but Moses
said,
" It
not the voice of them that shout for mastery,

is
:
neither
it
the voice of
overcome
hear I"
but the noise
them that cry of them that
for being
sing do I
Our Saviour's own
history gives us another striking
instance of this divine
communion, and the
trouble-
Exod. xxxii.
17, 18.
230
RISING WITH CHRIST.

in contrast.
[Seem.
some world
AVlien
He
ascended the
Mount
of Transfiguration with His three Apostles,

all
on the summit
was
still
and calm as heaven.
He
;
appeared in glory ; Moses and Elias with

Father's voice was heard
is
:
Him
the
it
St. Peter said, " Master,
good
for us to
be here."
their life
Then he and
his brother
Apostles
felt that
was hid with Christ
in
God.
But when they came down the mountain,

the scene was changed
!
how
It
was descending from
When He came to His disciples," says the Evangelist, " He saw a great multitude
heaven to the world. "
about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
And
straightway
all
Him, were
greatly
when they beheld amazed, and running to Him,

the people,
saluted Him."
And He
found that the Apostles

devil,
were trying to cast out a

then
and could
not.
And
He
spoke the word, conformable with Moses'
deed, " This kind can
come
forth
by nothing but by
prayer and fasting ^"
And
was
to
again
we may even
say that,
when our Lord
up on the Cross, then, too, He presented us the same example of a soul raised heavenwards
lifted
and hid
feet.
in
God, with the tumultuous world at
its
The unbelieving multitude swarmed about the Cross, they that passed by reviled Him, and the Meanwhile, He Himself was, scribes mocked Him.
amid His agony,
" Father, forgive
in divine contemplations.
He
said,
them
Mark
;"
"
Why
14,
hast
Thou forsaken
'
ix.
r,.
ir>.
29.
XV.]
RISING WITH CHRIST.
231
Me ?" " It is finished ;" " Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." And as He was hid in God, so too, even
moment, one was at His side gazing on Him, and hid in God with Him. The penitent thief said, " Lord, remember me when Thou comest
at that awful
into
Thy kingdom
*."
and Jesus said unto him, Verily,
I say
unto thee. To-day shalt thou be with
Me
in
paradise
And much more

withdrawn from
this
on His resurrection was

" I have set
He
troublesome world, and at peace,

it.
as the Psalmist foretold
My
King
upon
My
holy
hill
of Sion."
"
Ever since the world

;
beg-an hath
everlasting.
Thy seat been prepared Thou art from The floods are risen, O Lord, the floods
their voice;
have
lift
up
the floods
lift
up
their
waves.
horribly
;
The waves of the sea
are mighty and rage

is
but yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high,
mightier ^"
These passages
may be
is
taken as types,
if
not as
instances, of the doctrine'
and precept which the text
contains.
Christ
is
risen
on high, we must
sight,
rise
with
Him.
follow
He
gone away out of
and we must
too,
Him.
He
is
gone to the Father, we,

life is
must take care that our new

in
hid with Christ

is
God.
This was the gracious promise, which
signified in the prayer

for all
He
offered before
His passion
His
disciples,
even to the end of the world.
"
Holy Father,"
those
Name,
*
He said, " keep through Thine own whom Tliou hast given Me, that they
*
Luke
xxiii. 42, 43.
Psalm
ii.
6;
xciii.
5.
2ii2
RISING WITH CHRIST.

one, as
[Serb*.
may be
We
are.
...
pray not that Tliou
them out of the workl, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of
shouldest take
the world, even as I
am
not of the world.
Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on
Me through
their
word; that they
all
may
be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and

that they
I in
Thee
may be one in Us. ... I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one that the love, wherewith Tliou hast loved Me, may
. .
.
be in them, and
I in
them
^."
Agreeably to
this
sacred and awful announcement, St. Paul speaks in
the text and following verses
" If ye, then,
be risen
with Christ," he says, " seek those things which are

above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on

the earth. For ye are dead, and your
Christ in God.
life is
hid with
Mortify, therefore, your
members
which are upon the earth."

It is
then the duty and the privilege of
all disciples
of our glorified Saviour, to be exalted and transfigured with
Him;
to live in
heaven
in their thoughts,
motives, aims, desires, likings, prayers, praises, intercessions,
even while they are in the
flesh
to look like
other men, to be busy like other men, to be passed
over in the crowd of men, or even to be scorned

or oppressed, as other
men may
be,
but the while to
have a secret channel of communication with the
Most High, a
'
gift the
world knows not of

1.5,
to
have
John
xvii. 11.
16. 20, 21. 23. 26.
XV.]
RISING
WITH CHRIST.
God.
233
their life hid with Christ in

live in this world,
Men of this world

it;
and depend upon

;
they place
its
their happiness in this world
they look out for

not hid.
honours or comforts. Their
life is
And
man
every
one they meet they suppose to be like-minded. They

think they can be as sure that every other
looks
out for the things which they covet, as they can be

sure he has the same outward appearance, the
same
make, a soul and body, eyes and tongue, hands and

feet.
as
They look up and down the world, and, as far they see, one man is just like another. They know
that a great many, nay, far the greater part, are like
themselves, lovers of this world, and they infer, in
consequence, that
possibility of
all
are such.
They
discredit the
any other motives and views being para-
mount
in a
indeed, that a
man but those of this world. They admit, man may be influenced by religious
by them,
ulti-
motives, but to be governed by them, to live

to
own them
as turning points,
his conduct, this
and primary and

is
mate laws of
credit.
what they do not

that all of
Tliey have devised proverbs and sayings to
the effect that every

us have our
man
;
has his price
weak
side
that religion
religious
is
a beautiful
is
theory
and that the most
man
;
only he
who
hides most skilfully from himself, as well as

his
own love of the world and that men would not be men if they did not love and
from others,
desire wealth
and honour.
And,
all
in accordance with
these views, they imputed
base and evil things to
our Lord Himself, rather than believe
Him to be what
23i'
RISING WITH CHRIST.

said
[Seum.
He said He was. They He wished to make

miracles
He
was a deceiver
that
Himself a king;
that His
were WTought through Beelzebub.

the
But
in
He
all
the while,
Son of Man, was but
outward act sojourning here, and was in

heaven. Follow
forty days' fast,
spirit in
Him
into the wilderness during His
when He
did neither eat nor drink
or after the devil's temptation,
when Angels came
and ministered unto
Him
or go with
I
Him up
said.
that
mountain to pray, where, as
have already
He
was tmnsfigured, and talked with Moses and Elias;
and you
while
will see
where
He really was, and with whom,
He
sojourned upon earth,
with
Saints and
Angels, with His Father,
His beloved Son,

which
who announced Him as and with the Holy Ghost, who
descended upon Him.

is
He
was " the Son of
Man
in heaven,"
and " had meat to eat " which
others "
knew
not
of."
And
such in our measure shall

reality, if
appearance and in the

our fellowship
Jesus Christ
;" is
we be, both in the we be His. " Truly
with the Father, and with His Son
be of
little
it
because
we shall world knoweth us not, The account. knew Him not ^" Or, more than this, we
but, as far as this world goes,
"
may be
perhaps ridiculed for our religion, despised,

;
or punished
" If they have called the Master of the
house Beelzebub,
hold*?"
how much more them

the condition of those
of His house-
Such
is
who rise with
'
John
i.
iii.
1.
Matt. x.
Qf).
XV.]
RISING WITH CHRIST.
235
He rose in the night, when no one saw Him and we, too, rise we know not when nor how. No one scarcely knows anything of our religious
Christ.
;
history, of
our turnings to God, of our growings in
grace, of our successes, but

is
God
Himself,
who secretly
the cause of them.
In this way
let
us enjoy and profit by this holy
season; Christ hath "died, yea, rather hath risen again,
who
is
even at the right hand of God, who also

intercession for us."
maketh
Wonderful things had
taken place, while the world seemed to go on as usual.

Pontius Pilate thought himself like other governors.
The Jewish
prejudices
rulers
went on with the aims and the

and having seen
things as of this
which had heretofore governed them.

in his career of sin,
Herod went on
from a second.
world
;
and put to death one prophet, hoped to see miracles
They
all
viewed
all
they said, " to-morrow shall be as to-day, and

abundant."
much more
saw the
They heard the news and

for the
sights,
and provided
needs of the
moment, and forgot the thought of God. Thus men went on at the foot of the mount, and they cared not
for
what was on the summit.
They did not underveil
stand that another and marvellous system, contrary

to this world,
was proceeding forward under the
of this world.
So
it
was then
so
it is
now.
The
world witnesses not the secret communion of the

Saints of God, their prayers, praises, and intercessions.
But
thei/
have the present privileges of
saints, not-
M'ithstanding,
a knowledge, and a joy, andastrength,
; ;
236
RISING WITH CHRIST.
[Serm.
which they cannot compass or describe, and would

not
if
they could.
"
O how
laid
plentiful
for for
is
Thy good-
ness,
which Thou hast
up
them
that fear Thee;
and that Thou hast prepared

they in anxiety
"
them
that put their
trust in Thee, even before the sons of

?
men."
Are
by
Thou
shalt hide
them
privily
all
Thine own presence from the provoking of
men
Thou
ment ?
shalt
keep them secretly

of tongues."
from the
"
strife
in Thy tabernacle Are they in disappoint-
Thou
hast put gladness in their heart, since

oil
the time that their enemies' corn, and wine, and

increased."
"
Are they despised by the prosperous?

at their desire," says another
The^ have children
Psalm, "and leave the rest of their substance for

their babes
;
but as for me, I will behold Thy pre-
sence in righteousness, and
when
awake up
it."
after
Thy
in
likeness, I shall
be
satisfied
with
Are they
alway by
despondency?
the
Psalmist has provided them
with a consolation: "Nevertheless, I

Thee, for Thou hast hold en
am
me by my
Thy
right
hand
after
Thou
shalt guide
me
with
counsel,
and
that receive
me
with glory.
is
Whom
have I in heaven
I
but Thee? and there
none upon earth that
desire in comparison of Thee.
My
flesh
and
my
heart faileth, but
God
for
is
the strength of
my
in
heart,
and
my
portion
ever."
Are they
peril?
"Whoso
dwelleth under the defence of the Most
High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty

... a thousand shall
fall
beside Thee, and ten thouit
sand at
Thy
ri^ht hand, but
shall not
come nigh
XV.]
RISING WITH CHRIST.
237
Tliee."
Thus there
there
is
fulness without
measure
our
for
life
every need, to be found in

is
Him
with
whom
lodged
is
what
will " satisfy us with the
plenteousness of His house,
who
gives us to drink
of His pleasures, as out of the river.
For with
Him
is
the well of
life,
and in His
light shall
we
see
light."
So that they may
fittingly cry out,
" Praise
the Lord,
O my soul,
and
all
that
is
within
all
me
praise
His holy name ... who forgiveth

healeth
all
thy sin and

life
thine infirmities;
who
saveth thy
from destruction, and crowneth thee with mercy and

lovingkindness
things,
;
who
satisfieth
thy mouth
mth good
if
making thee young and

this,
lusty as an eagle ^"

is
All
my
brethren, I say
it.
our portion,
shall
we
His
choose but to accept

the
hill
"Who
who
dwell in
ascend into
of the Lord, or
?
shall rise
up
in
holy place
Who
shall
Thy
tabernacle, or
who
is
shall rest
upon Thy holy

life,
hill?
Even he
that
leadeth an uncorrupt
and doeth the thing that
right, and speaketh the truth from his heart.
He
the
shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteThis

is
ousness from the
God
of his salvation.
generation of
them
that seek
Him, even of them

Aspire, then, to be
that seek thy face,
Jacob."
" fellow citizens of the Saints
and of the household
of God."
Christ.
Follow their steps as they have followed
Though the
is
hill
be steep, yet faint not, for

till
the reward
'
great;
and
iv.
ciii.
you have made the

16;
Ixxiii.
Psalm xxxi. 21, 22;

1
8;
1.
xvii. 15,
22
xci.
7;
xxxvi.
8,
9;
25;
5.
238
trial,
RISING
WITH CHRIST.
tliat
[Sehm.
you can form no idea liow great

high
its
reward
is,
or
how
nature.
The
little
invitation runs,
is."
"O
if
taste,
and see how gmeious the Lord

thought too
If you
liave hitherto
of these things,
you have thought
religion lies merely in
what
it
cer-
tainly does consist in also, in filling your worldly
station well, in being amiable,
and well-behaved, and

if if
considerate,
and orderly, but

this,
you have thought
it
was nothing more than

to stir
you have neglected

is
up the great
gift
of
God which
lodged deep
if
within you, the gift of election and regeneration,
you have been scanty

sion, prayer,
in
your devotions, in interces-
and
praise,
and
if,
in consequence,
you
have
little
or nothing of the sweetness, the winning
grace, the innocence, the freshness, the tenderness,
the cheerfulness, the composure of the elect of God,

if
you are at present
really deficient in praying,
and
other divine exercises,

forth.
make
new beginning henceand

;
Start,
now, with
See,
this holy season,
rise
is
with Christ.
He
offers
you His hand
He
rising; rise with
Him.
Mount up from
and worldly aims
from a from
;
the grave
of the old
lousies,
Adam; from
fretfulness,
grovelling cares, and jea-
and
from the
thraldom of habit, from the tumult of passion, from

the fascinations of the
culating
spirit,
flesh,
cold, worldly, calselfishness,
from
frivolity,
from
effeminacy, from self-conceit and high-mindedness.
Hencefortli set about doing what

do, but
it is
so difficult to
left
what should
not,
must not be
is,
undone
watch, and pray, and meditate, that
according to
XV.]
RIS1N(J
WITH CHRIST.
239
the leisure which
God
has given you. Give freely of

if
your time to your Lord and Saviour,

If you have
little,
you have
it.
show your sense of the
privilege
by giving that
your God.
little.
heart and your
desires,
But any how, show that your show that your life is with
Set aside every day times for seeking

yourself that you have been hitherto
strictly to
Him.
Humble
so languid
and uncertain. Live more
Him;
take His yoke upon your shoulder; live by rule.

I
am
not calling on you to go out of the world, or
to
abandon your duties in the world, but to redeem

;
the time
not to give hours to mere amusement or
society, while
you give minutes to Christ not to pray

;
to
Him
only
;
when you
are tired, and
fit
for nothing
but sleep
not altogether to omit to praise Him, or
to intercede for the world
and the Church
but in
good measure to
text, to "
realize honestly the
words of the
;"
Set your affection on things above
and to
risen
prove that you are His, in that your heart
is
with Him, and your
life
hid in
Him.
SERMON
XVI.
Luke
"
xxiv. 52, 53.

to
And
they worshipped
:
Him, and returned

in the
Jerusalem with
great joy
blessing
and were continually
Temple, praising and
God.
Amen."
For
forty days after
His resurrection did our Saviour
Christ endure to remain below, at a distance from
the glory which
He
had purchased.
The glory was
now
His,
He
might have entered into it. Had
had enough of earth ? what should detain

sion of His throne
He not Him here,
instead of returning to the Father, and taking posses?
He
delayed in order to comfort
and instruct those who had forsaken

of
all
trial.
Him
in the
hour
A time
;
had just passed when
their faith
had
but
failed,
even while they had His pattern before
their eyes
and a time, or rather a long period was
in prospect,
when
heavier
trials far
were to come upon
them, yet
He
was
to be withdrawn.
is
They
hitherto
understood not that suffering
the path to glory,

and that none
not
first
241
sit
down upon
Clirist's
throne,
who do
still
overcome, as
He
overcame.
He
stayed to
impress upon them this lesson, lest they should
misunderstand the Gospel and

"
fail
a second time.
Ought not
Christ,"
He
said, " to suffer these things,
and to enter into His glory ?"
And
length
having taught
them
fully, after forty days, at
He
rose above
the troubles of this world.
He
rose above the at-
mosphere of
over
it.
sin,
sorrow, and remorse, which broods
He
entered into the region of peace and
joy, into the pure light, the dwelling-place of Angels,
the courts of the
Most High, through which resound

of blessed spirits and the
continually the chants

praises of the Seraphim.
There
He entered,
leaving
His brethren in due season to come after Him, by

the light of His example, and the
Spirit.
grace of His
Yet, though forty days was a long season for

to stay,
it
Him
was but a short while

them.
for the Apostles to
have
Him among
theirs,
What
feeling
must have
been
when He parted from them?
So
late
found, so early lost again.
Hardly recognised, and
then snatched away. The history of the two disciples

at
Emmaus was
a figure or picture of the condition
of the eleven.
Their eyes were holden that they

while
should not
know Him,
He
talked with
them
been,
for three years;
then suddenly they were opened,
and
I
He
forthwith vanished away.

all
So had
I
it
say,
with
of them.
"Have
been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not

VOL. VI.
known Me,
R
242
Philip
?"
WARFARE THE CONDITION

'
[Serm.
liad already
been His
ex])ostiilation with
one of them. They had not known His ministry.
Him
God
all
through
Peter, indeed, had confessed

;
Him
to
be the Christ, the Son of the Living
but even
in his
he showed inconsistency and change of mind

comprehension of
understand at that
after
this great truth.
They did not time who and what He was. But

it
His resurrection
was otherwise
side,
Thomas
touched His hands and His
and
said,
all
"My
began
the
Lord and
to
my God
;
;"
in like
manner, they
know Him
at length they recognised
Him as
down from heaven, and was the Life of the world. But hardly had they recognised Him, when He withdrew Himself once for all from their sight, never to see them again, or to be seen by them on earth never to visit earth
Living Bread which came
;
again,
till
He
comes at the
last
day to receive
all
Saints unto Himself, and to take

" So, then, after the
them
to their rest.
Lord had spoken unto them.

sat
He
was received up into heaven, and

Late found, early
first
on the right
This, per-
hand of God ^"

haps,
lost.
was the Apostles'
feeling
on His parting
from them.
And
;
the like often happens here below.
We
understand our blessings just when about to
forfeit
them
prospects are most hopeful, just
when
they are
years
most hopelessly clouded.
Years upon
we have had
great privileges, the light of truth,
the presence of holy men, opportunities of religious
'
John
xiv. 9.
'
Mark
xvi. 19.
XVI.]
OF VICTORY.
243
improvement, kind and tender parents.
knew
not,
or
Yet we thought not of our happiness; we

;
valued not our gift
and then
it is
taken away, just
when we have begun to value it. What a time must that forty days have been,
during which, while
He
taught them,
all
His past
teaching must have risen in their minds, and their
thoughts then must have recurred in overpowering

contrast to their thoughts
now
His manner of
life.
His ministry. His discourses. His parables, His miracles.
His meekness, gravity, incomprehensible mamystery of His thoughts and feelings

;
jesty, the
the
agony, the scourge, the cross, the crown of thorns, the spear, the tomb; their despair, their unbelief,
their perplexity, their
amazement,
their
sudden
;
joy,
their triumph
All this was in their minds
and
led
surely not the least at that awful hour,
when He
His breathless
day. "
lifted
followêrs
out to Bethany, on the fortieth

as far as to
He
led
them out
Bethany, and
it
He
up His hands and blessed them. And
came
His
to pass, while
He
blessed them.
He
'."
was parted from

Surely
all
them and
history,
carried
up into heaven
all
His dealings with them, came before

Then, as they
them, gathered up in that moment.
gazed upon that divine countenance and that dreadful form,
every thought and feeling which they ever
had had about
Him came upon them
at once.
He had
gone through His work; theirs was to come, their
'
Luke
xxiv. 50, 51.
R 2
244

their sufferings.
[Srhm.
work and
He
was leaving them
just at the most critical time.
up, Elisha said
"
My
father,
When Elijah went my father, the chariot

With
a like
of Israel and the horsemen thereof."

feeling,
might the Apostles now gaze up into heaven,

hope of arresting His ascent. God, the
Their
light of their eyes, the stay
feet,
as if with the
Lord and
away.
"
their
of their hearts, the guide of their
was taken
was gone.
My beloved had withdrawn Himself and My soul failed when He spake I sought
;
Him, but
gave
I could not find
Him
"
I called
Him, but
He
me no
answer
*."
Well might they use the

;
Church's words as
now
We
beseech Thee, leave
us not comfortless."
and
familiar with us,

sit
the way, and
at
Thou who wast so gentle who didst converse with us by meat with us, and didst enter the
vessel with us,
and teach us on the Mount, and bear
the malice of the Pharisees, and feast with Martha, and

raise Lazarus, art
Thou gone, and

it
shall
:
we
see
Thee
no more ? Yet so
was determined
;
privileges they
their thoughts
were to have, but not the same
and
henceforth were to be of another kind than heretofore.

It
was
in vain wishing
back what was past and over.
Tliey were but told, as they gazed, " This same Jesus,
which
is
taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come
in like
manner
as ye
have seen
Him
go into
heaven."
Such are some of the
feelings
which the Apostles
Cant. V. G.
XVI.]
OF VICTORY.
experienced on our Lord's ascension
all
;
245
may have
but
these are after
but
human and
them
ordinary,
;
and of a
kind which
all
of us can enter into
but other than
these were sovereign with

for
at that
solemn time,
upon the glorious Ascension of their Lord, " they worshipped Him," says the text, "and returned to
Jerusalem with greatjoy, and were continually in the
Temple
it,
praising and blessing God."
Now how
was
when nature would have wept, the Apostles rejoiced ? When Mary came to the sepulchre and
that
found not our Lord's body, she stood without at the

sepulchre weeping, and the Angels said unto her, as
Christ said after them,
"Woman, why weepest thou'?"

Apostles, they
Yet, on our Saviour's departure forty days afterwards,
when the Angels would reprove the

did but say, "
Why stand
ye gazing up into heaven ?"
There was no sorrow in the Apostles, in spite of

their loss, in spite of the prospect before them, but
" great joy," and
" continual praise
and
blessing."
May we
venture to surmise that this rejoicing was
the high temper of the brave and noble-minded,
who
it ?
have faced danger in idea and are prepared for
Moses brought out of Egypt a timid

the space of forty years trained
for the task of
it
nation,
and
in
to be full of valour
;
conquering the promised land
Christ
in
forty days trains His Apostles to be bold and
patient instead of cowards.
"
They mourned and
wept" at the beginning of the season, but at the end
'
John XX.
15.
21-0

full
[Serm.
they are
of courage for the good fight

their Lord,
their spirits
mount high with

return to
and when lie is received
out of their sight, and their
own
trial begins, "
they
Jerusalem with great joy, and are con-
tinually in the
Temple, praising and blessing God."

it
For Christ surely had taught them what

have their treasure in heaven
that their
;
was to
and they
rejoiced, not
Lord was gone, but that

were risen
aloft.
their hearts
had
gone with Him.

earth, they
Their hearts were no longer on
When He
Him,
died on the
Cross, they
knew not whither He was

had
said to
gone.
Before
He
was
seized, they
" Lord, whither
Thou ? Lord, we know not whither Thou They could but follow Him to the gTave and there mourn, for they knew no better but now
goest
goest?"
they saw
Him
ascend on high, and in
spirit
they as-
cended with Him.
Mary wept at
the grave because
she thought enemies had taken
Him
away, and she

"
knew
not where they had laid Him.

is,
treasure
there will your heart be also
Where your "." Mary

but the
had no
heart, for her treasure
was
lost;
Apostles were continually in the Temple, praising
and blessing God,
for their hearts
were in heaven,
or,
life
in St. Paul's words, they
"
were dead, and their
was hid with Christ

Strengthened,
in
God."
with this knowledge, they
trials
then,
were able to face those
which Christ had
first
undergone Himself, and had foretold as their portion.
MaU.
vi.
21.
XVI.]
OF VICTORY.
I go,"
247
"
Whither
He
had
said to St. Peter, "
thou
canst not follow

afterwards."
Me
now, but thou shalt follow

told them, "
Me
put
And He
They
shall
you out of the synagogues, yea, the time cometh, that

whosoever killeth you will think that he doetli
service ^"
God
That time was now coming, and they were
able to rejoice in what so troubled

before.
them
with
forty days
For they understood the promise, " To him

sit
that overcometh, will I grant to

throne, even as I also overcame,
Me
set
in
My
and
am
down
with
My
Father in His Throned"
It will
be well
if
we take
this lesson to ourselves,
and learn that great truth which the Apostles shrank

from at
fered,
first,
but at length rejoiced

;
in.
Christ suf-
and entered into joy
so did they, in their
measure, after Him.

It is written, that "
And
in our measure, so
do we.
through
much
tribulation
we
all
must enter
into the
kingdom of God."
hands.
God
has
He can spare, He can inflict He often spares, (may He spare us still but He often tries us, in one way or another He tries
things in His
:
own
!)
every one.
At some time
is
or other of the
life
of
every one there

it is
;
pain,
and sorrow, and trouble. So

it
and the sooner perhaps we can look upon
as
a law of our Christian condition, the better.

generation comes, and then another.
One
this
They issue forth

and
in
all,
and succeed
law
is
like leaves in
spring
observable.
They
are tried, and then they
'
John xvi.
2.
Rev.
iii.
21.

248

;
[Sehm.
triumph
they arc
huiiibletl,
and then are exalted

sit
they overcome the world, and then they

Christ's throne.
down on
amaze-
Hence ment and
St. Peter,
who
at first
was
in such
trouble at his Lord's afflictions, bids us not
look on suffering as a strange thing, " as though some

strange thing happened to us, but rejoice, inasmuch
as
we
are partakers of Christ's sufferings

shall
that
when
His glory
be revealed, we may be glad also with

Again, St. Paul says, "
tribulation
exceeding joy."
tribulations,
We glory in
worketh pa-
knowing that
And again, " If so be we suffer with Him, that wê may be also glorified together." And again, " If we suffer, we shall also reign with Ilim." And St. John, " The world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." " We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Ilim as lie is^." What
tience."
is
here said of persecution will apply of course to
all
trials,
and much more
to those lesser trials
which are
to en-
the utmost which Christians have
commonly
dure now. Yet
suppose
it is
a long time before any

his
one of us recognizes and understands that

state
trial
own
on earth
is
;
in one shape or other a state of
and sorrow
and that
is all
if
he has intervals of ex-
ternal peace, this
gain,
and more than he has a

different
right to expect.
Yet how
must the
state
of the Church appear to beings

it
who can contemplate

it
as a whole,
who have contemplated

Horn.
2 Tim.
12.
for ages,
'
Pet. iv. 12, 13.
v. 3.
ii.
John
iii.
1, 2.
; ;
XVI.]
OF VICTORY.
Angels
!
249
as the
We
know what
experience does for
us in this world.
Men
get to see and understand

it
the course of things, and by what rules
proceeds
and they can
foretel
what
will happen,
and they are
not surprised at what does happen.

history of things as
They take the a matter of course. They are

Night comes
and
after
not startled that things happen in one way, not in
another
it
is
the rule.
;
day
winter after
season.
summer
cold, frost,
snow, in their
Certain illnesses have their appointed times,
or visit at certain ages.

cess,
All things go through a pro-
they have
this,
a beginning and an end.

it is
GrowTi
men know
but
otherwise with children.
To
them everything that happens is strange and surprising. They by turns feel wonder, admiration, or fear at
everything that happens
it will
;
they do not
;
know whether
happen again or not
and they know nothing
of the regular operation of causes, or the connexion
of those effects which result from one and the same.
And
what
so too as regards the state of our souls

;
under
see
the covenant of mercy

is
the heavenly hosts,
who
going on upon earth, well understand, even

it
from having seen
often,
what
is
the course of a
soul travelling from hell to heaven.
They have
sow
seen,
again and again, in numberless instances, that suffering

is
the path to peace
that they that
in tears
shall reap in
is fulfilled
joy ; and that what was true of Christ
in a
measure in His followers.

accustom
oui-selves to this
Let us
subject.
try to
view of the
each in
The whole Church,
all elect souls,
250
its

turn
is
[Serm.
called to this necessary work.
Once
it
was
it
the turn of others, and
now
It
it is
our turn.
Once
was the Apostles'
turn.
was
St. Paul's turn once.

;
He
this
had
all
cares
on him
at once
covered from head
to foot with cares, as
Job with
sores.
And,
as if all
flesh
were not enough, he had a thorn in the
added,
some
my
personal
discomfort ever with
him.
Yet he did
his part well,
he was
as a strong
it
and was
bold wrestler in his day, and at the close of

able to say, " I have fought a
finished
good
fight,
'."
have
course, I have kept the faith
And
after him,
the excellent of the
earth, the white-
robed army of Martyrs, and the cheerful company of

Confessors, each in his turn, each in his day, likewise
played the man.
And
so
down
to this very time,
when
faith has well-nigh failed, first
one and then
another have been called out to exhibit before the
Great King.
to stand
It
is
as
though
all
of us were allowed
around His Throne at once, and
He
called
on
first this
man, and then
that, to take
up the chant
by himself, each
in his turn having to repeat the
melody which
his brethren
have before gone through.
Or
as if
we held
a solemn dance to His honour in

j)er-
the courts of heaven, and each had by himself to
form some one and the same solemn and graceful
movement
trial
at a signal given.
Or
as if
it
were some
of strength, or of
agility, and,
while the ring of
bystanders beheld and aj)plauded,
we
in succession,
is
one by one, were actors in the pageant. Such

'
our
2 Tim.
iv. 7-
XVI]
state
;
OF VICTORY.
251
before,
Angels
Christ
are looking
on,
Christ
has gone
has given us an example, that
we
may
follow His steps.
He went
through
far
more,
infinitely
brethren
we can be called to suffer. Our have gone through much more; and thay
more, than
seem
to encourage us
in,
by
their success,
it
is
and to sym;
pathize
our essay.
Now
our turn
and
all
ministering spirits keep silence and look on.
let
not your foot

dull, or
slip,
or your eye be false, or your ear

!
your attention flagging

;
Be
;
not dispirited
;
be not afraid keep a good heart be bold

back
bles
;
draw not
from
^you will
be carried through. Whatever trou;
come on
you, of mind, body, or estate

;
within or from without
from chance or from intent

your trouble be,
from friends or foes
whatever
men
though you be lonely,

be not afraid
!
O children of a heavenly Father,

in your day
;
quit you like
and
when
it is over,
Christ will receive you to Himself,
and your heart

Christ
all in all.
shall rejoice,
and your joy no man
taketh from you.

is
already in that place of peace, which
is
is
He
is
on the right hand of God.
He
hidden in the brightness of the radiance which issues
from the everlasting Throne.

abyss of peace, where there
distress,
is
He
is
in the very
no voice of tumult or
stillness, that greatest
but a deep
stillness,
all
and most awful of
goods which we can fancy,

profound,
that most
perfect of joys, the utter,
ineffable tranquillity of the
Divine Essence.
He
has
entered into His
rest.
252

great a good will
is
!
[Serm.
O how
blesome
that
it
be,
if,
when
this trou-
life
over,
we
in our turn also enter into
same
rest
If the time shall one day come,
when
we
be
shall enter into
His tabernacle above, and hide
ourselves under the

in the
shadow of His wings;

blessed dead
number of those
sea,
the Lord, and rest from their labour.

tossing
if we shall who die in Here we are
upon the
and the wind
is
contrary.
All
through the day

ways.
we
are tried and tempted in various

act,
We
cannot think, speak, or
but infirmity
and
sin are at hand.
But
in the
unseen world, where

is
Christ has entered,
all is
peace. Tliere
it,
the eternal
Throne, and a rainbow round about
like
unto an
emerald
and
in the midst of the throne the
Lamb
that has been slain,
and has redeemed many people

elders, all clothed in
by His blood
and round about the throne four-andwhite
twenty seats for as many
raiment, and crowTis of gold upon their heads.
And
four living beings full of eyes before and behind.
And
seven Angels standing before God, and doing
His pleasure unto the ends of the earth.
And
the
Seraphim above.
And withal,
all
a great multitude which
no man can number, of

people,
nations,
and kindreds, and

robes,
and tongues, clothed with white

"
and
palms in their hands.
These are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes
and made them white

"
in the blood of the
Lamb '\"
They
shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
'
Rev.
vii. 14.
XVI.]
OF VICTORY.
253
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat."

"
There
is
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying,
neither any
more pain;
for the
former things are

sin
;
passed away \"

guilt
;
Nor any more

; ;
nor any more

;
no more remorse no
;
no more punishment
trial
;
no
more penitence
press us
;
no more
no infirmity
;
to de-
affection to mislead us
no passion to
;
transport us
no prejudice
strife
;
to blind us
no
sloth,
no
pride,
no envy, no
but the light of God's

life,
countenance, and a pure river of water of

as crystal, proceeding out of the Throne.
clear
is
That
our
is
home ; here we are but on pilgrimage, and Christ

calling us
home.
He
calls
us to His
many mansions,
which
Bride
He
call
has prepared.
And
the Spirit and the
us too, and
all
things will be ready for us
by the time of our coming.
"Seeing then that
we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession
;"
seeing
we have
;"
" so great a cloud of wit-
nesses, let us lay aside every
weight
;"
" let us labour
to enter into our rest
" let us
come boldly unto the
Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and

find grace to help in time of
need \"
iv. 11.
Rev. xxi.
4.
Heb.
14. 16
xii. 1.
SERMON
XYIL
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
Rev.
"
xxii. 20.
saith,
He who
testifieth these things,
Surely
come
quickly.
Amen.
Even
so,
come, Lord Jesus."
When
quickly
our Lord was going away,

;
He
said
He
would
come again yet knowing that by mean what would be at first sight understood by the word, He added, " suddenly," or " as a thief." "Behold I come as a thief; blessed is he
" quickly"
He
did not
that watcheth, and keepeth his garments \"
Had
it
His coming been soon, in our sense of the word,

could not well have been sudden.
Servants who
are
bid to wait for their master's return from an entertainment, could not, one should think, be overtaken
by that return.
It
was because
it
to
us His coming
would not seem soon, that
was sudden.
fails
What you
to
expect to come, you wait for; what
come,
'
Rev. xvi.
1.5.
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
255
you give up; while, then, Christ said that His coming-
would be soon, yet by saying
it
would be sudden,
long.
He
said that to us it
would seem
Yet though to us
He
seem
is
to delay, yet
He
has
declared that His coming
speedy.
He
has bid us
first
ever look out for His coming; and His

lowers, as the Epistles
fol-
show
us,
zvere ever
looking
it,
out for
it.
Surely
it is
our duty to look out for
as
come immediately, though hitherto for near two thousand years the Church has been looking out
likely to
in vain.
Is it
not something significant that, in the
last
book of Scripture, which more than any other implies

a long continuance to the Christian Church, that there
we
last
should read such express and repeated assurances
that Christ's
coming would be speedy? Even
in the I
chapter
we
are told
is
it
three times.
"
Behold
come quickly; blessed

of the prophecy
quickly,
he thatkeepeth the sayings

"
of this book."
Behold
come
again,
and
My
He
reward
is
with Me."
And
in the text, "
that testifieth these things, saith,

is
Surely I come quickly." Such

and, in consequence,
the announcement
to be ever
we
are
commanded
looking out for the great day, to " wait for His Son
from heaven
;"
to " look
and haste unto the coming

one place
Paul cau-
oftheday of
It
is
GodV
St.
true, indeed, that in
tions his brethren against expecting the
immediate
'
Thess.
i.
10.
'2
Pet.
iii.
12.

256
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

;
[Serm.
coming of Christ
coming,
but
lie
docs not say more than
that Christ will send a sign immediately before His
certain dreadful
enemy
of the truth,
which
is
to be followed
by Himself at once, and there-
fore does not stand in our way, or prevent eager eyes
from looking out
for
Him.
And,
in truth, St. Paul
seems rather to be warning

disappointed
if
his brethren against
being
Christ did not come, than hindering
them from expecting Him.
Now
paradox
it
;
may be how is it
objected that this

possible,
it
is
a kind of
may be
asked, ever to
?
be expecting what has so long been delayed

has been so long coming,
What
It
may be
longer
still.
was
possible, indeed, for the early Christians,
who had
;
no experience of the long period which the Church was to remain on

earth, to look out for Christ
:
but
we cannot
help using our reason
there are no
more
grounds to expect Christ now than at those many

former times, when, as the event showed,
He
did not
come.
day,
Christians have ever been expecting the last
and ever meeting with disappointment.

peculiarities in their
They
little
have seen what they thought symptoms of His coming,
and
own
times,
which a
more knowledge of the world, a more enlarged experience, would have shown them to be common to
all times.
They have been ever frightened without

in
good reason, fretting
their
narrow minds, and
building on their superstitious fancies.
What
age
of the world has there been in which people did not
think the day of judgment coming ?
Such expecta-
XVIL]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
257
tion has but evidenced
and fostered indolence and
superstition
ness.
it is
to be considered as a
mere weak-
Now
1.
I shall attempt to say
something in answer
to this objection.
And
first,
considered as an objection to a habit

it
of continual waiting,
proves too much, as
it
is
called. If it is consistently followed up,
no age ought
ever to expect the day of Christ
the age in which
He Him
shall
;
come (whatever
is
it is)
ought not to expect
which
the very thing that
He
has warned
is
us against.
He
no where warns us against what

;
contemptuously called superstition
but
He expressly
If
it
warns us against high-minded security.

that Christians have expected
be true
come,
it
is
quite as true
Him when He did not that when He does come,

Him.
If
it
the world will not expect
be true that
Christians have fancied signs of His coming,
when
there were none,
it is
equally true that the world will
not see the signs of His coming

sent.
when they
are pre-
His signs are not so plain but you have to
search for
them
not so plain but you

;
may be
lies
mis-
taken in your search
and your choice

is
between
the risk of thinking you see what

seeing what
ages,
is.
not,
and of not
True
it
is,
that
many
times,
many
have Christians been mistaken in thinking they

Christ's
discerned
coming
but better a thousand
times think
Him
coming when
think
Him
not coming when
He He
is
is.
not, than once
Such
;
is
the
difference
between Scripture and the world judging

s
VOL. VI.
258
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
[Sbrm.
by Scripture, you would ever be expecting Christ

judging by the world, you would never expect Him.
Now He must come one day, sooner or later.

men
now; but whose
will
Worldly
have their scoff at our failure of discernment
be the want of discernment,
whose the triumph then? Aid what does Christ think of their ])resent scoff? He expressly warns us, by His
Apostle, of scoffers,
who
shall say, "
Where
is
the
fell
promise of His coming? for since the fathers

asleep, all
things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation .... But, beloved, (continues St. Peter,) be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day
is
with the Lord as a thousand years,

as
and a thousand years

It should
one day^"
too, that the
be recollected,
enemies of
Christ have ever been expecting the do^siifall of His

religion,
age after age

is
and
do not see why the one
more unreasonable than the other; indeed, they illustrate each other. So it is, undeterred
expectation
by the
failure of
former anticipations, unbelievers are
ever expecting that the Church and the religion of
the Church are coming to an end.

in the last century.
They think so now.

is
They thought so They ever

do not
think the light of truth
going out, and that their
hour of victory
see
is
come.
Now,
I repeat, I
why
it
is
reasonable to expect
after so
the overthrow
;
of religion
still,
many
failures
and yet un-
reasonable, because of previous disappointments, to
'
2 Pet.
iii.
4. 8.
XVII.]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
259
expect the coming of Christ.

least,
Nay, Christians at
over and above the aspect of things, can point
to an express promise of Christ, that
He
will
one
day come
profess
whereas unbelievers, I suppose, do not

all
any grounds at
for
expecting their
triumph, except the signs of the times.

sanguine, because they
own They are
seem
;
so strqng,
and the Church
of
God seems
so
weak
yet they have not enlarged
their
minds enough by the contemplation of past
history to
know
that such apparent strength on the

other,
one
side,
and such apparent weakness on the

this has ever
has ever been the state of the world and the Church
and that
been one chief or rather the

have
expected
the
main
reason,
why
Christians
immediate end of
all things,
because the prospects of

that, in fact, Christians
religion were so gloomy.
So
and unbelievers have taken precisely the same view

of the facts of the case
tinct conclusions
;
only they have dravm dis-
from them, according to their creed.
The
Christian has said, " All looks so full of tumult

is
that the world
coming
to an
to
an end
;"
and the unnothing,
believer has said, " All is so full of tumult, that the
Church
surely,
is
coming
end
;"
and there
is
more
superstitious in the one opinion than
in the other.
Now, when
they view
it
Christians and unbelievers thus unite
in expecting substantially the

differently,
same
thing,
though
according to their respective
modes of thought, there cannot be anything very

extravagant in the expectation itself; there must be
s2
260
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

in the world
[Serm.
something ever present

it.
which wan-ants
And
hold this to be the case.
Ever since
Christianity
came
it is
into the world,

it.
it
has been, in one
sense, going out of
It
is
so uncongenial to the
human mind,
it is
so spiritual,
and man
is
so earthly,
apparently so defenceless, and has so
many
It has
;
strong
it
enemies, so
many
false friends, that
every age, as
comes,
may
be called " the last time."
made
still it
great conquests, and done great works
but
has done
ness,
is
all,
as the Apostle says of himself, " in

fear,
weakit
and in
it
is
and
in
much
it,
trembling ^"
How
;
that
always
failing,
yet always continuing,
God
is
only knows
who
say,
wills
^but so it is
and
it
it
no paradox to
on the one hand, that

years, that it
it
has
lasted eighteen
hundred
may
last
many
have
years more, and yet that

is
draws to an end, nay,
likely to
end any day.
And God would
us give our minds and hearts to the latter side of
the alternative, to open them to impressions/rom this

side, viz. that the
end
is
coming
it
being a wholein our
some thing
It
to live as if that will
come
day
which may come any day.

was different during the ages before Christ
came.
He was
to come.
He
was to bring perfection,

perfection.
and
religion
was to
grow towards that
There was a system of successive revelations going on,

first
one and then another
each prophet in his turn
adding to the store of divine truth, and gradually
Cor.
ii.
3.
XVII.]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

full
261
tending towards the
Gospel.
Time was mea-
sured out for believing minds before Christ came, by

the word of prophecy; so that
He
never could be ex-
pected in any age before the "fulness of time" in
which
He
came. The chosen people were not bidden
to expect
Him
at once
but after a sojourning in
Canaan, and a captivity in Eg}^t, and a wandering

in the \\ilderness,
and judges, and kings, and prophets,
at length seventy long
weeks were determined

then
to in-
troduce
I
Him
into the world.

;
Thus His delay was,
as
may
say, recognised
and, during His delay,

fill
other doctrines, other rules, were given to

interval.
the
But when once the Christ had come,
as the
Son over His
owti house, and with His perfect Gospel,

saints.
nothing remained but to gather in His

higher Priest could come,
No
The
no
truer doctrine.
Light and Life of men had appeared, and had suifered,
and had
do.
its
risen again
and nothing more was

and therefore
left to
Earth had had
its
;
most solemn event, and seen

it
most august sight
was the
last
time.
And
may
hence, though time intervene between
Christ's first
(as I
and second coming,

For so
it is
not recognised
is,
say) in the
Gospel scheme, but

it
as
it
were, an accident.
was, that
up
to Christ's
coming in the
towards
it,
flesh,
the course of things ran straight

it
nearing
by every step
(if I
but now, under

so speak) altered
the Gospel, that course has

its
may
direction,
as regards His second coming, and runs,

it,
not towards
but along
it,
and on the brink of
it
and
is
at all times equally near that great event,
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

which, did
it
[Sebm.
run towards,
is
it
would at once run

;
into.
Christ, then,
ever at our doors
as near eighteen
hundred years ago as now, and not nearer now than

then
;
and not nearer when

says that
He
comes than now.

soon, " soon"
is
When He
He
will
come
not a word of time, but of natural order.
Tliis pre-
sent state of things, " the present distress" as St. Paul

calls
it, is
ever close upon the next world, and resolves

it.
itself into
As when
man
;
is
given over, he
may
some
die any
moment, yet
lingers
as
an implement of
at
war may any moment explode, and must

time; as
it
we
listen for a clock to strike,

;
and at length
on
surprises us
as a
crumbling arch hangs, we know
not how, yet

this feeble
is
not safe to pass
under
so creeps
weary world, and one day, before we know

are, it will end.
where we
And
here I
may
observe in passing, on the light

is
thus thrown upon the doctrine, that Christ
the sole
Priest under the Gospel, or that the Apostles ever

sit
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of
Israel, or that Christ is
with them always, even unto
the end of the world.

these expressions?
Do
you not see the force of

indeed,
The Jewish Covenant,

priests
had " sundry times," which were ordered "

manners
history
;
in divers
;" it
had a long array of
and a various
than another,
one part of the
series holier
and nearer heaven.

suffered,
But when Christ had come,
and ascended.
He
was henceforth ever near
us, ever at
hand, even though
He
was not actually

but come back.
returned, ever scarcely gone, ever
all
XVII]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
26S
He
is
the only Ruler and Priest in His Church, disgifts,
pensing
and has appointed none to supersede
Him, because
son.
He
is
departed only for a brief seaChrist,
Aaron took the place of
and had a
priesthood of His
own
but Christ's priests have no

are merely His shadows
;
priesthood but His.
They
and organs, they are His outward signs

they do.
ing
;
and what
He
does
when they
baptize,
when they
bless,
He
is
blessing.
its
He is baptizHe is in all
is
acts of
His Church, and one of
acts
not more
Tlius
truly His act than another, for all are His.

are, in all
we
its
times of the Gospel, brought close to His

as it were,
it
;
Cross.
We stand,
under
it,
and receive
blessings fresh from
only that since, historically
Holy One is away, certain outward forms are necessary, by way of bringing us again under His shadow and we enjoy
speaking, time has gone on, and the
;
those blessings through a mystery, or sacramentally,

in order to enjoy
them
really.
All this witnesses to
the duty both of remembering and of looking out

for Christ, teaching us to neglect the present, to rely
on no
plans, to
form no expectations,
for the future,

left us, so in
but so to
live in faith, as if
He
had not
hope, as if
live as if
He
had returned
to us.
We
must
try to try
the Apostles were living, and

life in
we must
to
muse upon our Lord's

as if
2.
the Gospels, not as

,^-îii\
a history, but
a recollection.
to
This leads
me
remark upon a second aspect
under which the objection in question

viz. that this
maybe
urged;
waiting for Christ
is
not only extrava-
261<
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

its
[Serm.
gant in
very idea, but becomes a superstition and

effect.
weakness whenever carried into
The mind,
intent upon the thought of an awful visitation close

at hand, begins to fancy signs of
it
in the natural
and moral world, and mistakes the ordinary events of

God's providence for miracles.
Thus Christians are
brought into bondage, and substitute for the Gospel

a fond religion, in which imagination takes the place of
faith,
and things
Tliis is
visible
and earthly the place of

;
Scripture.
the objection
it
yet the text, on
the other hand, while

in the
sanctions the expectation,
words
" Surely I
come
quickly," surely sanc-
tions the
temper of waiting
also,
by adding, " Amen,
even
so,
come. Lord Jesus."
I observe, then, that
though Christians might be
mistaken in what they took to be signs of Christ's

coming, yet they were not wrong in theirstate of mind;
they were not mistaken in looking out, and that for

Christ.
Whether credulous
or not, they only acted
as
one acts towards some person beloved, or revered,

Consider the
to a
or admired on earth.
loyal persons look
stories current,
mode
;
in
which
up
good prince
you
will find
up and down the country,
in his
favour; people delight in believing that they have

fallen in
with tokens of his beneficence, nobleness,
and paternal kindness.

false,
Many
of these reports are
yet others are true, and, on the whole,
we
should not think highly of that
man
who, instead of
being
touched at this mutual sympathy between

himself merely in
sovereign and people, occupied
XVII.]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

lie
265
carping at what
called their credulity,
and
sifting
the accuracy of this or that particular story.

thing, truly, after
all,
A great
few mis-
to be able to detect a
statements, and to expose a few fictions, and to be
without a heart
And
forsooth,
on the other hand, a

particular,
sad deficiency in that people, I suppose, merely to be

right
on the whole, not in every

!
and to
have the heart right
Who
would envy such a man's
knowledge ? who would not rather have that people's

ignorance?
he, who,
And,
in like manner, I
had rather be
comet or
from love of Christ and want of science,

sight
in
thinks
some strange
the sky,
meteor, to be the sign of His coming, than the man,
who, from more knowledge and from lack of

laughs at the mistake.
love,
Before now, religious persons have taken appearances in the heaven for signs
of Christ's
all.
coming,
which do not now frighten us at
Granted, but
the case.
what then ?
old
let us consider the state of
Of
time
it
was not known that certain heavenly
bodies
rule;
moved and appeared at ^êd times and by a now it is known; that is, now men are accustomed
were not accustomed.
to see them, then they
We
know
how they come, or why but then men were startled when they saw them,
as little
as then
now
because they were strange,

strange,
and now they are not

startled.
and therefore men are not
But how
it is
was
it
therefore absurd and ridiculous, (for so
that persons now-a-days talk,)
why was
it
a foolish
fond thing in a
man
to be impressed by what was rare
2G6
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

?
[Skrm.
and strange
Take a
parallel case
travelling
is
com-
mon
now,
it
was not common formerly.

travel without
:
In conse-
quence,
we now
any serious emotion

it
at parting from our friends
but then, because
was
uncommon, even when

out
risks
were the same and the
absence as long, persons did not go from
home
with-
much
preparation,
I
many
at
prayers,
and much
things than
leave-taking.
in being
do not see anything very censurable
more impressed
uncommon
at
common.
And you will observe, that in the case of which am speaking, persons who are looking out for Christ
^?^
are not only
looking out acting in obedience to
Him, but
out,
out,
are looking out,
in the very
wa^ they look

since the
first.
through the very signs through which they look
in
obedience to Him.
Always
Christians have been looking out for Christ in the

signs of the natural
and moral world.
If they have
been poor and uneducated, strange
sights in the sky,
or tremblings of the ground, storms, failure of harvest,

or disease, or any thing monstrous and unnatural,
has
were
made them think that He was at hand. If they in a way to take a view of the social and
then the troubles of states
like,
political world,
^wars,
revolutions,
and the
have been
Now
additional cir-
cumstances which served to impress them, and kept

their hearts
awake
for Christ.
all
these are
nothing else but those very things which

of His coming. " There shall be signs,"
He
Himself
" in
has told us to dwell upon, and has given us as signs
He says,
XVII]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

;
267
the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars
and upon
the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea
and the waves roaring men's hearts

;
failing
them
for
fear,
and
for looking after those things

;
which are
shall
coming on the earth

be shaken
. .
for the
powers of heaven
things begin to
for
And when these

up and
lift
^."
come
your
to pass, then look
up your heads,
redemption draweth nigh
One day
affairs
the lights of
of nations also
heaven will be signs; one day the

will
be signs
why, then,
is
is it
superstitious to look
towards them ? It
particulars
in doing so
not.
We may be wrong in
much
the
we
;
rest upon,
and may show our ignorance

nothing ridiculous or conis
but there
is
temptible in our ignorance, and there

religious in our watching.
It
is
that
is
better to be
all.
wrong
in our watching, than not to
watch at
Nor does it
whereas they
were His
follow that Christians were wrong, even
in their anticipations,
said,
though Christ did not come,
they saw His signs. Perhaps they
signs,
and
He
withdrew them again.
Is
there no such thing as countermanding ?

ful
Do not skil-
men
in matters of this world
sometimes form an-
ticipations
which turn out wrong, and yet we say that
they ought to have been right ? The sky threatens and
then clears again. Or some military leader orders his
men
shall
forward, and then for
some reason
recalls
them
we
say that informants were
wrong who brought
the news that he was moving ?

Christ
is
Well, in one sense
ever moving forward, ever checking, the

*
Luke
xxi. 25, 26. 28.
268
WAITING FOR CHRlST.
[Sbrm.
armies of heaven. Signs of the white horses are ever

appearing, ever vanishing.
rain;"
"
Clouds return after the

in pointing
is
and His servants are not wrong

and saying that the weather
does not break, for
it is
to them,
breaking,
though
it
ever unsettled.
And another thing should

Christians have
be observed, that though

Christ,
ever been expecting
ever
pointing to His signs, they have never said that
He
was come. They have but

ing, all but
come.
And
said that He was just comHe was and is. Enthusiasts, so
sectaries, wild
presumptuous men, they have said that
He
was
actually come, or they have pointed out the
exact year and day in which
He
would come. Not so
His humble
chambers,
followers.
They have neither announced
nor sought Him, either in the desert or in the secret

nor have they attempted to determine
" the times and seasons, which the Father has put in
His own power."

actually comes,
They have but waited

they will not mistake
when He
;
Him
and
before then, they pronounce nothing.

see His forerunners.
They do but
Surely there can be no great harm, and nothing

very ridiculous,
where men are
religious,
in
thus
thinking the events of their day more than ordinary

in fancying that the world's matters are
winding up,
and that events are thickening

for, let it
for a final visitation

in in-
be observed, Scripture sanctions us
terpreting all that

sense,
we
see in the world in a religious
and as
if all
things were tokens and revelations

will.
of Christ, His Providence, and
mean
that
if
XVII.]
WAITLXG FOR CHRIST.

its
269
this
lower world, which seems to go on in
own
way, independently of Him, governed by fixed laws

or swayed by lawless hearts, will, nevertheless, in an
awful way, herald His coming to judge

is
it,
surely
it
not impossible that the same world, both in

its
its
physical order and
temporal
course,
first,
speaks of
Him
also in other
manners.
this
At
indeed, one
might argue that
world did but speak a lan;
guage contrary to
heaven
Him
that
in Scripture
it
is
described as opposed to God, to truth, to faith, to

;
that
it is
said to
be a deceitful
veil,
mis-
representing things, and keeping the soul from God.
How
it
then,
it
may be asked,
it
is,
can this world have upon
tokens of His presence, or bring us near to

certainly so
after
all.
Him ?
it,
Yet
evil,
that in spite of the world's

in
it
He
is
and speaks through

the flesh "
though not loudly.

was in the
wôrld,
When He came in
He
and the world was made by Him,
and the world knew

cry,
Him not." Nor did He strive nor

in the streets.
nor
lift
up His voice
So
it is
now.
He
din
still is
here;
He still whispers to us. He still makes

voice
is
signs to us.
is
But His
so low,
and the world's

covert,
so loud,
is
and His signs are so
and the
world
so restless, that
it is difficult
to determine
when He
addresses us, and what

feel, in
He
says.
Religious
men
cannot but
is
various ways, that His pro-
vidence
guiding them and blessing them personally,

;
on the whole
finger
yet
when they attempt
to put their
upon the times and
places, the traces of

is
His
but
presence disappear.
Who
there, for instance,
270
WxMTING FOR CHRIST.
[Seum.
has been favoured with answers to prayer, such
tliat,
at the time, he has felt he never coukl again be un-
believing
Who
has not had strange coincidences
in his course of life which brought before him, in an
overpowering way,
tlie
hand of God
Who
has not
had thoughts come upon him with a
sort of myste?
rious force, for his warning or his direction
And
some
still.
persons, perhaps,
experience stranger things
Wonderful providences have before now been

;
brought about by means of dreams
or in other
still
more unusual ways Almighty God has

posed.
at times inter-
And
then, again, things which
come before
the spirit
our eyes, in such wise take the form of types and
omens of things moral

it is
or future, that
within us cannot but reach forward and presage what
not told from what it sees.
And
men
sometimes these
presages are remarkably fulfilled in the event.

then, again, the fortunes of
various, as if a
And
are so singularly
law of success and prosperity embraced

All
a certain number, and a contrary law others.

this
being
so,
and the vastness and mystery of the

us,
world being borne in upon

there
is
we begin
to think that
nothing here below, but, for what
we know,
has a connexion with everything else; the most distant

events
may yet be united, and meanest and highest may

offerif
be parts of one; and God may be teaching us and

ing us knowledge of His ways,
eyes, in all the ordinary matters of the day.
we will but open our

This
is
what thoughtful persons come to
believe,
and they
begin to show a sort of faith in the divine meaning
XVII.]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

(as
271
life,
of the accidents
they are called) of
and a
readiness to take impressions from them, which

easily
sive
may
become
as
excessive,
and which, whether excesYet, considering

Scripture
all
or not,
is
sure to be ridiculed by the world at
large
tells
superstition.
us that the very hairs of our head are

all
numall
bered by God, that

things
things are ours, and that
work together
for our good, it does certainly
encourage us in thus looking out for His presence

in everything that happens,
however
trivial,
and
in
trusting that to religious ears even the bad world
prophesies of
Him.
Yet, I say, this religious waiting upon

the day, which
is is
God through
which
so like that spirit of watching

is
under consideration,
scoffing
just as open to objection
and
from the world.
God
does not so speak

that you can
to us through the occurrences of
life,
persuade others of His speaking.
He
does not act
upon such
explicit laws, that
you can speak of them
with certainty.
self to raise
He gives
us sufficient tokens of
our minds in awe towards
HimHim; but
has done,
He
and
seems so frequently to undo what

to suffer counterfeits of
He
His tokens, that a con-
viction of His
wonder-working presence can but exist

It
is
in the individual himself.
not a truth that can
be taught and recognised in the face of
men
it is
not of a nature to be urged upon the world at large,

nay, even on religious persons, as a principle.
gives us
God
;
enough
to
to
make
us inquire and hope
not
enough
make
us insist and argue.
272
I
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

have
all
[Skbm.
along been speaking of thoughtful and

;
conscientious persons
those
It
is
who do
their duty,
and
who study
stition,
Scripture.
quite certain that this
regard of outward occurrences does become super-
when
it is
found in
men
of irreligious
lives,
or of slender knowledge of Scripture.
The great
and chief revelation which God has made us of His

will is
through Christ and His Apostles.

;
They have
given us a knowledge of the truth

forth heavenly principles
they have sent
and doctrines into the world
they have accompanied that revealed truth by divine

sacraments, which convey to the heart what otherwise
would be a mere outward and barren knowledge

and they have told us
to practise
what we know, and
obey what we are taught, that the
Word
of Christ
in-
may be formed and

spired,
dwell in
us.
They have been
moreover, to write Holy Scriptures for our
learning and comfort; and in those Scriptures

find the history of this world interpreted for us
we
and
by a
heavenly
rule.
When,
then, a man, thus formed
fortified within,
with these living principles in his heart,
with this firm hold and sight of things invisible, with

likings, opinions, views, aims,
moulded upon God's
revealed law, looks abroad into the world, he does
not come to the world for a revelation,

already.
he has one
the world,
is
He does not take his religion from

But
nor does he set an over-value upon the tokens and

presages which he sees there.
case
far different
the
when a man
is
not thus enlightened and informed
by revealed
truth.
Then he is but a prey, he becomes
XVIL]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.
273
the slave, of the occurrences and events, the sights
and sounds, the omens and

in the world, natural
prodigies,
which meet him

is
and moral.
His religion
bondage to things perishable, an idolatry of the creature,

tion.
and
is,
in the worst sense of the word, superstiit is
Hence
common
is
remark, that irreligious
men
are most open to superstition.
For they have
a misgiving that there
something great and divine

it
somewhere
and since they have
not within them,

it is
they have no difficulty in believing that

else,
any where
it.
wherever
men
pretend to the possession of
Thus you
arts,
find in history
bad
men
practising unlawful
consulting professed wizards, or giving heed to
astrology.
Others have had their lucky and unlucky
days
others have been the sport of dreams, or of
other idle fancies.
And
you have had others bowing
themselves
principle,
down
to idols.
For they have had no
no root in themselves.
They have been
ignorant, too, of Scripture, in which
God
see
has most
mercifully removed
the veil off a portion of this
world's history, in order that
we may
how He
works.
Scripture
is
the key by which

;
to interpret the world
but they
we are given who have it not,
roam amid the shadows of the world, and interpret

things at random.
The same want of inward religious principle is shown in the light, senseless way in which so many adopt wrong forms of religious profession. He who
has the light of Christ within him, hears the voice
of enthusiastic, mistaken, self-willed, or hjôcritical
VOL. VI.
274
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

calling
[Serm.
men,
him
to
follow
them, without being

conscious he
is
moved.
sinner,
But when
and not
man
is
a wilful
his
at peace with
God, when
own
heart
is
against him, and he has no principle, no stay

is
within him, then he
the prey of the
first
person
him with strong language, and bids Hence you find numbers running eagerly after men who profess to work miracles, or who denounce the Church as apostate, or who maintain that none are saved but those who agree
to
who comes
him
believe in him.
with themselves, or any one who, without any warrant of his being right, speaks confidently.
Hence
the multitude
is
so open to sudden alarms.
You
hear of their rushing out of a city in numbers at some

idle prediction that the
Day
of
Judgment
is
coming.
Hence
life,
so
many, in the private and lower ranks of

mention
because they have not the
are so full of small superstitions, which are too

to
;
minute
all
light of truth
burning in their heart.
But the true Christian is not of these. To him apply St. Paul's words, " All things are lawful unto
me, but
all
things are not expedient

I will not
all
things are
lawful for me, but
be brought under the

to " use this world
power of any *."

as not abusing
He knows how it." He depends
on nothing
in this
world.
He
trusts not its sights against the revealed
Word. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."
Cor.
vi. 12.
XVII.]
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

is
275
Such
the promise
made
to him.
it is
And
if
he looks
out into the world to seek,
not to seek what he
does not know, but what he does. a Lord and Saviour.

long since; and he
is
He
does not seek
He
has " found the Messias"

for
looking out
for
Him.
His
Lord Himself has bid him look
Him
in the si^ns
of the world, and therefore he looks out.
His Lord
Himself has shown him, in the Old Testament, how
He, the Lord of Glory, condescends to humble Himself to the things of
heaven and earth.
He knows
shape.
that God's Angels are about the earth.
He knows that
human
come
once they were even used to come in
He knows
on
earth.
that the
Son of God,
ere now, has
He knoM s that He
promised to His Church
the presence of a miraculous agency, and has never

recalled
His promise.
Again, he reads, in the Book
of the Revelation, quite enough, not to show
him
what
is
coming, but to show him that now, as here-
tofore, a secret supernatural

this visible scene.
system
is
going on under
And
therefore he looks out for

for
Christ, for
His present providences, and
His
coming
tion,
and though often deceived
in his expecta-
and fancying wonderful things are coming on
the earth,
forts
when they
still
delay,
he
uses,
and com-
him
with the Prophet's words, " I will stand

watch, and set
upon
my
me upon
the tower, and will
watch to see what

I shall
He
will say
unto me, and what
answer when I
am
reproved.
is
And
the Lord
answered
me
.... The vision
yet for an appointed
t2
27G
WAITING FOR CHRIST.

it
time, but at the end

it tarry,
shall
speak and not

it
lie;
though
it
wait for
it,
because
will surely
is
come,
will
is
not tarry.
Behold, his soul, which
lifted up,
not upright in him; but the just shall live by
his faith
V
^
Hab.
ii.
14.
SERMON
XVIII.
SUBJECTION OF THE REASON AND FEELINGS
TO THE REVEALED WORD.
2 Cor. x.
5.
" Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of

Christ."
The
question
may be
tells
asked,
How
it
is it
possible to
off,
?
live as if
the coming of Christ were not far us that
when our reason

It
probably
is
distant
may be
it
objected that there are no grounds for
expecting
now, more than for the

;
last
is
eighteen
hundred years
that if His long absence
a reason
for expecting it
now, yet His promise of a speedy

it
return was a reason for expecting
in early times
and
so
to
if
the one reason has turned out insufficient,

the other
;
may
that
if,
in spite of
His promise
tarry
be speedy.
still
;
He
has tarried so long,
He may
longer
that no signs of His coming can be
greater than were abroad soon after His departure

that, certainly, there
are no such signs
now;
nay,
that during the
first
seven hundred years, and again

later,
about the year 1000, and
there were
many

SUBJECTION OF THE REASON AND
278
[Sebm.
more signs of Christ's coming than there are now, more trouble of nations, more distress, more sickness, more terror. It may be said, that we cannot hope,
and
fear,
and expect, and
wait, as
we
will,
but
if
that
we must have reasons

coming
is
for so doing;
and that
we
are
persuaded, in our deliberate judgment, that Christ's
not probable,
we
cannot
make
ourselves
feel as if it
were probable.
which
I shall
Now
do, I
in considering this objection,
may have an
opportunity of stating a great
principle
which obtains in Christian duty, the sub-
jection of the whole

1.
mind
to the law of
God.
I deny, then, that our feelings
and likings are
moved according to the dictates of what we commonly mean by reason so far from it, that nothing is more common, on the other hand, than to say,
only
;
that reason goes one way, and our wishes go another.
There
is
nothing impossible, then, in learning to look
out for the day of Christ's coming more earnestly
than according to
reason.
its
probability in the
judgment of
As
reason
may be
a right guide for our feel-
ings and likings to go by
up
it
to a certain point, so
there
may be
its
cases in which
it is
is
unable to guide
us,
from
sinful
tells
weakness; and as
irreligious
not impossible for
and
men
to like
like
;
what
their reason
it
them they should not
therefore
is
not
impossible for religious
men
also to desire, expect,

is
and hope, what

and accept.
said, " I love a
their reason
is
unequal to approve
to hear
it
What
more common than
person more than I respect him
?" or.
XVIIL]
FEELINGS TO THE REVEALED WORD.

I love him?" Or, again,
219
"I admire him more than
we
know how
is
easy
it is
to
open the mind
to the infludifficult it
ence of some feeling or emotion, and

to avoid such influence
;
how
how
difficult it is to
get
a thought out of the mind, which reason says ought

to
be kept out, and which will intrude

;
itself
again
and again
how
It
is,
difficult to restrain anger,

tells
fear, or
other passion, which yet reason

restrained.
us should be
then, quite possible to have feelings

is dis-
and thoughts present with us in a way which

proportionate, according to the
judgment of
reason.
Or, take another instance.
We know how
may
the
is
mind
sometimes dwells upon the chance of what

possible, quite unreasonably,
barely
and often wrongly and

things
dangerously.
number of
it
happen, one
perhaps as likely as another; and yet, from weakness

of health, or excitement,
often happens that
we
cannot help thinking overmuch of some one of these

possible events,
and getting unduly anxious

Thus,
fire,
lest it
should happen.
if
some dreadful occurrence some

horrible
frightened, lest the
has taken place, a

accident, persons
or a murder, or
become
same
should happen to them, in a measure far exceeding
what a mere calculation of
probabilities warrants.
Their imagination magnifies the danger; they cannot
persuade themselves to look at things calmly, and

according to their general course.
They
fix their
thoughts upon one particular chance, in a

contrary to what reason suggests.
way
quite
Thus, so far from
280
[Serm.
our feelings being moved according to the
strict pro-
babilities of things, the contrary is rather the rule.
What Almighty God

in
then requires of us
is,
to
do that
one instance
for
His sake, which we do so commonly
in indulgence of our
own waywardness and weakness;

more than a way which His word alone
to hope, fear, expect our Lord's coming,
reason warrants, and in

warrants; that
say, that it
is
is,
to trust
Him above our reason. You

it.
not probable Christ will come at this
time, and therefore you cannot expect
Now,
I say,
you can expect

that
it.
You must
it
;
feel there is
a chance
He will come.
Well, then, dwell on that chance;

treat that chance just as
fire,
open your mind to
you
so often treat the chance of

peril
shall
or peril by sea, or
says, that
by
land, or thieves.
Our Lord
He
come
as a thief in the night.
that if there has been
Now you know some remarkable robbery,

They are
people are frightened far more than according to the
chance of their being themselves robbed.
haunted by the idea; say that the probability of their
own houses being attempted

thing itself
is
is
but small, yet the
an object of great apprehension to

happen, than of the
them, and they think more of the grievousness of the

event apprehended, should
small chance of
its
it
happening.
They
are
moved by
the risk.
And
;
in like
manner, as regards the coming
of Christ
do not say we must be excited, or unwith the thought, but

still
settled, or engrossed
we
must not
let
the long delay persuade us not to watch
XVIII.]

" Thougli
it tarry,
281
bids
for
it.
wait for
it."
If
He
us, as
a matter of duty, impress the prospect of His
coming upon our imagination,

thing
;
He
asks no hard
no hard thing, that
is,
to the willing
mind
opens
and what we can do we are bound to do.

2.
This
is
what
first
suggests
itself,
but
it
the
way to
further thoughts. For only reflect,
what is
faith itself
but an acceptance of things unseen, from
the love of them, beyond the determinations of calculation and experience

If there
is
?
Faith outstrips argument.

is
only a chance that the Bible
true, that
heaven
is
the reward of obedience, and hell of wilful

it is safe,
sin, it is
worth while,
It
to sacrifice this world
to the next.
were worth while, though Christ
told us to sell all that
we have and
follow
Him, and
it
to pass our time here in poverty
and contempt,
it.
were
worth while on that chance to do
This, then, is
it
what
is
meant by
faith
going against reason, that

;
cares not for the measure of probabilities
it
;
does
not ask whether a thing

if
is
more
or less likely
but
there
is
fair
and clear likelihood what God's

it.
will
is, it
acts
upon
left
If Scripture were not true,
we
should be
where we were; we should, in

;
the event, be no worse off than before

true,
but
if it
be
then
it
we
shall
if
be
infinitely
worse off for not

it.
believing
than
we had
believed
We all know
in the story,
the retort which the aged saint
made
when
a licentious youth reminded him,

life if
how he would
have wasted
there were no future state of re-
282

:
[Serm.
compense
" True,
my son,"
is
he answered, " but how

if
much worse a waste
yours
there
is."
Faith, then, does not regard degrees of evidence.
You might
lay
it doA;vTi
as a rule, speaking in the

to have
way
the the
of reason, that
the evidence
;
we ought
;
faith according to
is,
that the
more evidence there

and the
more firm
weaker
it
should be
less evidence,
will it
be required of us.
But
this is
not the
case as regards religious faith,
which
accepts the
it is
Word
of
God
as firmly
on the evidence which
vouchsafed, as if that evidence were doubled.

indeed,
earth
;
This,
we
see to be the case as regards things of
and surely what we do towards men, we may,

If any one
bear to do towards God.
whom we
;
trust
and revere told us any news, which he had perfect
means of knowing, we should

not believe
us
also.
it
believe
him we should
told
it is
more thoroughly because another

in like
And
manner, though
quite cer-
tain that Almighty God might have given us greater
evidence than
the Bible
;
we
possess, that
He
speaks to us in
yet since
He
has given us enough, faith

is satisfied, is
does not ask for more, but
and
acts
upon
what
signs,
is
enough
whereas unbelief
greater, before
ever asking for
more and
it
will yield to the
Divine Word.
Returning to
manner, what
my
main
subject, I observe, in like

is
is
true of faith
true of hope.
We
may be commanded,
or
to
if so be, to
hope against hope,
expect Christ's coming, in a certain sense,
XVIII.]

It is
283
against reason.
not inconsistent with God's ge-
neral dealings towards us, that
He
should bid us feel

if
and act
as if that
were at hand, which yet,

tells us,
we went
by what experience
we
should say was not
likely to be at hand.
If
He
bids us to believe in
Him
with our whole heart, whether the evidence of

less,
His speaking to us be greater or

not bid us wait for
signs of His
why may He
Him
perseveringly, though the

us,
coming disappoint
not
and reason de-
sponds ?
We cannot tell
is
;
in such a matter
what
is
probable and what
we
are told to do.
we can but attempt what And thai we can do we can

:
direct
and fashion our feelings according to His
word, and leave the rest to Him.

3.
Here, then, I
it
is
am
led to
make
a further remark
that as
our duty to bring some things before
our minds, and contemplate them
much more vividly

away from
us,
than reason by
itself
would bid
us, so again, there are
other things which
it is
a duty to put
not to dwell upon, and not to realize, though they
be brought before
us.
And
yet
it
is
evident, too,
it
that persons might here also object, and say that

is
impossible to help being
moved and
influenced
by what we know
is
for certain, just as they say that it
impossible to believe and expect what
we know to
be not certain.
For instance
we know that
it is
a duty not to be
vain and conceited about any personal advantage
we
may happen
is it
to possess.
it ?
Yet a man might
ask.
How
possible to helj)
He
might
say, " If persons
284
[Serm.
excel in any respect, they must
know
it
it is
quite
absurd to suppose, as a rule, that they should not
but
if
they
know
it,
how
is
it
possible they should
not take pleasure in their
own
excellence,
is
and adpersons
mire themselves for
it ?
Admiration
the natural
:
consequence of the sight of excellence
if
know they
selves;
excel, they cannot help admiring

if
them-
and
they excel, generally speaking, they

it
;
cannot but
excel
in,
know
and
this,
whatever
it
be they
whether in personal appearance, or in power
of speech, or in gifts of mind, or in character, or in
any other way."
But now, on the other hand,

ourselves on anything
is,
I suppose that
it
is
quite certain that Scripture tells us not to
pride
;
we
are,
anything
we do
it
that
not to indulge those feelings which,
seems, are
the natural and legitimate result of our knowing
what we do know.
Now
what
is
to
be said to this?
how are these opposites to be reconciled ? One answer would of course be this that religious men know how defective, after all, their best deeds are, or their best points of character or they know how much more others do or they know their own great deficiencies in other respects or they know how trifling some of those points are on which they may happen to be superior to others. But this is
; ; ; ;
not a sufficient answer

tion are excellences,
not, or
because the points in ques-
whether great excellences or
whether or not there be others greater, or

parties
however wanting the
may be
in other respects.
XVIII.]

lies,
285
all
And
their
herein
I think,
the temptation which
persons have to self-esteem, that in a certain sense
judgment about themselves
is
not wrong
not
that they are not very deficient in

if
many
things, not as
they did not
know
this,
but that they have certain
excellences,
feel
which
really are excellences,

is,
and they
help
them
and the question
how can they
feeling
It
them ?
suggested, perhaps, to account for the
may be
they
humility of religious men, that, whatever personal

gifts
it is
may
have, they are used to
them and
;
this
which keeps them from thinking much of them.

is
There
truth in this remark, of course, but
it
does
why they once have not thought much of them, viz. when the sight of what they were, was not so familiar to them as it is and if they did, we may
not explain
;
be sure that the

will
effects of their
former self-conceit
remain upon them now, having become habitual.

far better reason
is,
Another and
why
religious per-
sons are not self-conceited
that they dislike to
think of whatever
is
good in them, and turn away

it,
from the thought of

others be in
whether their superiority to
mind
or body, in intellectual powers or
in moral attainments.
more
It
direct reason,
But there is, I think, another and more connected with my
present subject.
is
this
though religious
it,
men
have
gifts,
and
It
though they know

is
yet they do not realize them.

is
not necessary here to explain exactly what

" realizing
;"
meant
by the word
we
all
understand the word
^86

for
[Sbrm.
enough
my
present purpose, and shall

is
all
confess
that, at least, there
an abundance of matters which

so.
men do
of this
not realize, though they ought to do

;
For instance
life,
how
its
loudly
men
talk of the shortness
of
vanity and unprofitableness, and of
the claims which the world to
This
is
what we hear
;
said
come has upon us daily, yet few act upon

They
the truths they utter

realize
and why ? because they do not

and His eternal
what they are so ready to proclaim.
do not see
kingdom.
Him who
is invisible,
Well, then, what

is
men omit
to
do when the doing
a duty, that they can surely also omit to do in cases

omission
if
it
when
is
a duty.
be,
Serious
their
men may know

excellences
are,
indeed,
so
what
whether
religious, or moral, or
feel
any other, but they
do not
them
in that vivid
way which we
call
realizing.
They do not open

it
their hearts to the
knowledge, so that
ledge
fruit
;
becomes
fruitful.
is
Barren know-
is
a wretched thing,
it
but
when it is a good thing, when

influential
given us to bear
it
would otherwise
realize a
act merely as a temptation.

truth,
it
When men
becomes an
and
principle
within
them, and leads to a number of consequences both
The case is the same as regards realizing our own gifts. But men of superior minds know without realizing. They may know that
in opinion
in conduct.
they have certain excellences,
if
they have them,
they
may know
that they have good points of cha;
racter, or abilities, or attainments
but
it is
in the
XVIII.]
287
way of an unproductive knowledge, which leaves the mind just as it found it. And this seems to be what
gives such a remarkable simplicity to the character of
holy men, and amazes others so

it
much
that they think
a paradox or inconsistency, or even a
mark of
little,
insin-
cerity, that the
same
persons should profess to
know
that
so
much about
themselves, and yet so
they can hear so they can bear so
much said about themselves, that much praise, so much popularity, so
much
deference, and yet without being puffed up,
or arrogating aught, or despising others; that they
can speak about themselves, yet in so unaffected a

tone, with so
much
nature, with such childlike inno-
cence,
and such graceful frankness.

this great gift of
Another instance of
without realizing,
jects to
is
knowing
indulge
afforded us in relation to sub-
which
I will
but allude.
Men who
their passions
have a knowledge, different in kind
from those who have abstained from such indulgence;
and when they speak on subjects connected with

realize
it,
them in a way in which others cannot realize them. The very ideas which are full of temptation to the former, the words which are painful to them to utter, all that causes them shame and confusion of
face,
can be said and thought of by the innocent

all.
without any distress at

sin
Angels can look upon
with simple abhorrence and wonder, without humi-
liation or secret
emotion
and ti like simplicity

;
is
the
reward of the chaste and holy
and that to the great
amazement of the unclean, who cannot understand the

288
[Serm.
State of mind of such a one, or
how he can utter or enfull
dure thoughts which to themselves are
of misery
and
guilt.
And
hence sometimes you find
these days in which the will of the natural
men in man is
with
indulged to the
full,
taking up the writings of holy

cloisters, or
men who
have lived in deserts or in
an angel's heart have ruled
Christ's flock,
life,
and broken
with holy hands the bread of

their
and viewing
nay, carping
words in their own murky atmosphere, and

;
imputing to them their own grossness

at the words of
Holy
Scripture,
which are God's, and
at the words of the Church, as if the sacred mystery
of the Incarnation had not introduced a thousand
new and heavenly
associations into this world of sin.
And
hence, again, you will find self-indulgent
men
unable to comprehend the real existence of sanctity
and severity of mind

all
in
any one.
persons must be
feelings
full
They think that of the same wretched

from the nature
thoughts and
which torment themselves.

it,
They think
of the case
;
that
none can avoid
only that certain persons contrive to hide

in their hearts, and, in consequence,
what goes on
they
call
them pretenders and hypocrites. is what they also say as regards the instance which I took first, a man's knowledge of his gifts. They think that men who appear to think
This,
too,
little
of themselves are conceited within, and that

is
what
I
called
modesty
is
affectation.
might make the same remark
also as regards the
absence of resentment upon injury or insult, which
XVIII.J
289
characterises a really religious
man.
is
Often, indeed,
such a one feels keenly what
done against him,
though he represses the feeling as a matter of duty

but the higher state of mind
feel,
is when he does not when he does not realize, that any inbeen done him so that if he attempts to
;
that
is,
justice has
speak of
unreal,
in
it,
it
will
be in the same sort of strange,

say,) forced
and
(as I
may
and unnatural way
which pretenders to religion speak of religious joy

spiritual comfort, for
and
he
is
as little at
home with
anger and revenge as hypocrites are with thoughts of

heaven.
Again; we may so unduly

virtue
is
realize that a life of
for our interest,
as to act
on prudential
motives,
not from a sense of duty.
And
again;
though
it
be our duty to inquire and search out the

so vaunt in
truth in religious matters, yet
we may our private judgment, and make a merit

cise of
it,
of the exer-
that our search becomes almost a sin.
Here then
illustrate
are a
number of
cases, all in point, to
one and the same truth, that the Christian's

is
character
formed by a rule higher than that of
calculation
or
life,
and reason, consisting in a divine principle which transcends the anticipations and critiJudging by mere worldly
be self-conceited,
evil,
cisms of ordinary men.
reason, the Christian ought to
for
he
is
gifted
he ought to understand
it
;
because he
sees
and speaks of
is
he ought to
feel
resentment,
because he
conscious of injury; he ought to act
from
self-interest,
because he knows that what
is
VOL.
VL
290
right
is

also expedient
;
[Serm.
he ouglit to be conscious and
fond of the exercises of private judgment, because
he engages
in
them
he ouglit to be doubting and

it
hesitating in his faith, because his evidence for
might be greater
but not so
he ought to have no expectation

because Christ has delayed so
of Christ's coming,
long
his
mind and heart
are formed on
a different mould.
ways,
In these, and ten thousand other
he
is
open to the misapprehensions of the
world, which neither has his feelings nor can enter

into them.
Nor can he
all
explain and defend
them on
not
considerations which
derstand.
men, good and bad, can un-
He
goes by a law which others

or judgment, but
Spirit,
know
by
not his
own wisdom
Christ's
is
wisdom and the judgment of the

parted to him,
which
im-
by
that inward incommunicable peris
ception of truth and duty, which

reason, affections, wishes, tastes,
the rule of his

that
is
and
all
in him,
and which
it
is
is
the result of persevering obedience. This

his
which gives so unearthly a character to

life
whole
high,
and conversation, which
is
"hid with
Christ in
God
;"
he has ascended with Christ on
and there "in heart and mind continually

;"
dwells
veil
and he
"
is
obliged, in consequence, to put a
upon
his face,
and
is
mysterious in the wôrld's

as
it
judgment, and
becomes
were a monster unto

because
many," though he be "wiser than the aged," and

have " more understanding than
his teachers,
he keeps God's commandments."

is
Thus "he that

yet he himself
is
spiritual
judgeth
all
things,
XVIII.]

;"
291
judged of no man
and with him "
it is
a very small
thing to be judged of man's judgment," for judge th him is the Lord \"
"he
that
One
additional remark
is
necessary in conclusion,
with reference to the subject with which I began,

the duty of waiting for our Lord's coming.
It
must
for
not be supposed then that this implies a neglect of our

duties in this world.
As
it is
possible to
watch
Christ in spite of earthly reasonings to the contrary,

so
is it
possible to
engage in earthly duties, in spite

Christ has told us, that
of our watching.
when He
at
left."
comes two men
shall
be in the
field,
two women
the mill, " the one shall be taken
and the other
You see that good and bad are engaged in the same way; nor need it hinder any one from having his
heart firmly fixed on God, that he
is engaged
in worldly
business with those whose hearts are

large plans,
upon the world.
we may busy ourNay, we may form selves in new undertakings, we may begin great works which we cannot do more than begin we may make provision for the future, and anticipate in our
;
acts the certainty of centuries to come, yet be looking
out for Christ.
Thus indeed are
wê
bound
in
to pro-
ceed, and to leave "times
and seasons
His Father's
things
power."
short
;
Whenever He comes. He will cut and, for what we know, our efforts and
begin-
nings,
though they be nothing more, are just as
necessary in the course of His Providence, as could
Cor.
ii.
15;
iv. 3, 4.
U2
29g
SUBJECTION OF THE REASON,
&c.
be the most successful accomplishment.

will
Surely,
He
end the world abruptly, whenever

will
He
comes;
He
break off the designs and labours of His

are,
elect,
whatever they
and give them what their

it.
dutiful anxiety aims at, though not through

as
And,
He will end, so did He begin the world abruptly He began the world which we see, not from its first seeds and elements, but He created at once the herb
fruit-tree perfect "
and the
whose seed
is
in itself," not
a gradual formation, but a complete work.
And
with
even a greater abruptness did
He display His miracles

all
when He came and new made
things, creating
bread, not corn, for the supply of the five thousand,
and changing water, not into any simpler, though precious liquid, but into wine.
And
as
He
began with-
out beginning, so will

or rather,
all
He
for
end without an ending;

are doing,
for less,
that
we
do,
whatever we
more or time
is
whether we have time
yet
our work, finished or unfinished, will be acceptable,

if
done
for
Him.
There
no inconsistency, then, in
watching yet working, for we

setting our hearts
on our work.
we
idolize the
work of our
may work without Our sin will be if hands if we love it so

;
well as not to bear to part with

faith
lies
it.
The
test
of our
in
our being able to
fail
without disap-
pointment.
Let us pray God

as well as in others
to rule our hearts in this respect

;
that "
when He
shall appear,
we
may have
confidence, and
not be ashamed before
Him
at
His coming."
SERMON
XIX.
THE GOSPEL PALACES.
Psalm
"
Ixxviii. 69.
He
built
His sanctuary
like high palaces, like the earth
which
He
hath established for ever."
There was one occasion when our Saviour said, " The hour Cometh, when ye shall, neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. The hour Cometh, when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father in
spirit
and in truth
'."
Did we take these
words by themselves, we might consider they implied,

that,
under the Gospel, there would be no outward

all,
tokens of religion, no rites and ordinances at

public services,
no
no assemblings of ourselves together,
and, especially, no sacred buildings.

rence, however,
Such an
infe-
would be a great
it
error, if it
were
only for this reason, that
has never been received,
never acted on in any age of the Church; so far
from
it,
that I suppose there are few indeed but

Johniv. 21. 23.
would
'
294
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

it,
[Serm.
shrink from the very mention of
and none
at all
who
it
could be found to testify that they had adopted
in their
own
case,
yet had not suffered from
it
in point of inward devotion to God's service.
That
cannot be the true sense of Scripture, which never

has been
fulfilled,
;
which ever has been contradicted

God's word shall not return unto
and disobeyed
for
Him
void,
but shall accomplish His pleasure and
prosper in His purpose.
Our Saviour
did not say to
the Samaritan
woman
for
that there should be no places
and buildings
worship under the Gospel, because

it
He
has not brought

all
to pass,
all
because such ever
have been, at
all differences
times and in
countries,
and amid
of faith.
And
the same reasons which
lead us to believe that religious edifices are a Christian ordinance,
though so very little
is
said about
them
in Scripture, will also to
show
that
it is
right
and pious
make them
enduring, and stately, and magnificent,

;
and ornamental
so that our Saviour's declaration,
when He
foretold the destruction of the
Temple
at
Jerusalem, was not that there should never be any

other house built to His honour, but rather that there
should be
many
houses
that they should be built,
not merely at Jerusalem, or at Gerizim, but every-
where
what was under the Law a
local ordinance,
being henceforth a Catholic privilege, allowed not

here and there, but wherever was the Spirit and the
Truth.
The
glory of the Gospel

;
is
not the abolition
of
rites,
but their dissemination
not their absence,
but their living and efficacious presence in the grace
XIX]
of Christ.
THE GOSPEL PALACES.
295
Accordingly, such passages as the text,

fulfilled
though spoken in the times of the Law, are

even at
this day, and, as
we
trust,
among
ourselves.
The Jewish Temple,

speaks in the
first
indeed, of which the Psalmist
instance, has
still,
come
to nought
but
he has a meaning
"
and a noble one,
as signifying
the Christian institution of Churches.
He
built
His sanctuary like high palaces, like the
earth which
He
hath established for ever."
How
much more
strikingly
and
fully
is
this
accomplished
!
in our times than in those of the

" exceeding magnifical" as
Law
Rich and
was Solomon's Temple,

it is
and
built at the
immediate command of God,
not presumptuous surely to say that Christian

ples have as far surpassed
it
Temcost-
in size, beauty,
and
liness, as in divine gifts and privileges, in spirit and
in truth.
"
He built
His sanctuary like high pajaces
;"
look through this very country,
compare
;
its
palaces
with
its
Cathedrals and Churches, even in their pre-
sent state of disadvantage, and say whether these
words are not more than accomplished

palaces of England should rather, by
so that the
way of honour,
first
be compared to the Cathedrals, than the Cathedrals

to the palaces.
And
rightly so
for
our
duty
is
towards our Lord and His Church, and our second

towards our earthly Sovereign.
And
still
more strikfulfilled to
ingly has the promise of permanence been

us.
For what were the years of Solomon's Temple ?
Four hundred.
hundred.
What
of the second Temple
Six
These were long periods, certainly; yet
29G
is it
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

plain that the
[Serm.
Church of Christ can more than
equal them, and that in a great
number of
in
cases.
Nay, there are Christian Temples

the world, which have lasted as
some
parts of
hundred
years.
Surely, then,
much as fourteen when Christ multiplied
His sacred palaces,

age, bringing back
He
also
gave them an extended
under the Gospel the days of the
Antediluvian patriarchs.
a more vigorous
at the
first,
life
The times are reversed, and has been infused among us than
saints
fill
and the reign of Christ and His

Temples. "
has begun long since, and the Apostles

thrones in His
their
He
hath built His sanctu-
ary like high palaces, like the earth which

established for ever."
Stability
cial ideas
He
hath
and permanence
are, perhaps, the espe-
which a Church brings before the mind.
It represents, indeed, the beauty, the loftiness, the
calmness, the mystery, and the sanctity of religion

also,
and that in many ways

all these,
it
still,
I will say,
more
It is
than
represents to us
is
its eternity.
the witness of
ending, the
Him who
the beginning and the

last
;
first
and with the

;"
it is
the token
and emblem
to-day,
of " Jesus Christ, the

it is
same yesterday,
and
for ever
the pledge of One,
who
has
said,
"I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee,"
but " even to your old age I

hoar hairs I will carry you."
in the building of a Church,
am
He, and even to
All ye
who take
part
admitted to the truest symbol of God's eternity.
know that you have been You
have built what mav be destined to have no end but
XIX.]
THE GOSPEL PALACES.
297
Christ's
coming. Cast your thoughts back on the time

buildings were
all
first
when our ancient

der the Churches
reared.
Consi-
around us
how many
!
generatill
tions have passed since stone
was put upon stone
the whole edifice was finished
The
first
movers
and instruments of ned

it,
its
erection, the
minds that planit,
and the limbs that wrought at

it,
the pious
lips
hands that contributed to

consecrated
yet
it,
and the holy
that
have long, long ago, been taken away;
we
benefit
by
their
good deed. Does
it
not seem
a very strange thing that we should be fed, and

lodged, and clothed in spiritual things, by persons
we
not
never saw or heard

could think of
us,
of,
and ^ho never saw

able, not
us, or
it
hundreds of years ago? Does
seem strange that men should be
merely by
acting on others, not by a continued influence carried
on through many minds in a long succession, but by

one simple and direct
us,
act, to
and
as if Mith their
?
come into contact with own hand to benefit us, who

a
visible,
live centuries later
What
palpable spe!
cimen
this,
of the
communion of
saints
What
on
privilege thus to be immediately interested in the
deeds of our forefathers

like
and what a
received
call
us, in
manner, to reach out our own hands towards our

!
posterity
give.
Freely
we have
let us freely
Let us not be slack to do what our fathers

;
have done
to
do a work, the
fruits
of which
we
If
cannot see, because they are too vast to be seen.

it
were told
us, that
a word of ours, uttered by the

it
mouth, should take, as
were, consistence, and float
298
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

air,
[Serm.
and continue in the

to
it is
and impart advice or comfort
men who were
to live five
hundred years to come,

;
would be an inspiring thought
and what but
this
our very privilege, in the leave granted us to mul-
tiply the
all
time
One Temple of God all over the earth, unto It is to make our deeds live it is to hold
;
fellowship with the future.
See what a noble principle
faith
is.
Faith alone
lengthens a man's existence, and makes him, in his
own
feelings,
live in
the future and in the past.

full
Men
and
of this world are
of plans of the day.
Even
in religion they are ever coveting

will
immediate
results,
do nothing at
their
all,
unless they can do every
thing,
can have
which
and see the end.

self fearlessly
own way, choose their methods, But the Christian throws himfuture, because
upon the
is,
he believes
is
in
Him
and which was, and which
to
come.
He
can endure to be one of an everlasting

in this world, as wêll as in the next.
company while
He
part,
is
content to begin, and break off; to do his
and no more
;
accomplish
what others must to sow what others must reap. None

;
to set about
has finished His work, and cut

ness but
it
short in righteous-
He who
is
One.
We, His members, who

fulness,
have but a portion of His

of His purpose.
execute but a part
One
lays the foundation,
and an-
other builds thereupon; one levels the mountain, and
another " brings forth the headstone with shoutings."
Thus were our Churches raised. One age would build a Chancel, and another a Nave, and a third
XIX]
THE GOSPEL PALACES.
299
would add a Chapel, and a fourth a Shrine, and a

fifth
a Spire.
;
By
little
and
little
the work of grace
went forward
about
it,
and they could
afford to take
it best,
time
and be at pains to do
who had a
fall
;
promise that the gates of hell should not prevail

against
lutions
it.
Powers of the earth

in course
;
rise
and
revo-
come
great families appear, and

in high places,
are swept
away; wise men are
and
walk amid the sparks which they have kindled. They

feel that they are short-lived,
and they determine to
make
the most of their time.
They grasp and push
forwards, they are busy and feverish, not only from
the feebleness and waywardness of their nature, but
from the conviction of their reason, that they have

but a short time.
" let us
wives,
"
Our time
is
short," say
they
buy and
sell,
and plant and
build,
and marry
for
and give
in marriage,
and eat and drink,

earth,
to-morrow we
too true of
die."
!
Poor worms of the
it is
them
Their aims and desires, their in-
struments, their goods, their bodies, their souls, are

all perishable.
In the words of the wise man, "as
soon as they are born, they begin to draw to an
end^" they begin
to die.
Their growth and profirst
gress, their successes, are
but the
stages of cor-
ruption and dissolution. Poor children of time, what

are they
?
They triumph over

its its
religion in their
its
day
they insult
tyrannize in
ordinances and
ministers; they
Temples, showing themselves that
'
Wisdom
V. 13.
300
they are gods.
to their
its
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

They
carry
[Sebm.
away
its
massive stones
own
houses, and trick themselves out with
jewels.
sacrilege
They
;
build
up
their families
by rapine
are not
and
they are wanton
when they
with
covetous;
and,
when
satiated
pillage,
they
But,
said
mutilate and defile what they do not destroy.

after
all,
how
speaks 'the Psalmist?

all
"I have
fall
ye are gods, and ye are

Highest.
the children of the
Most
like
But ye
shall die like
men, and
one of the princes."

have slept their
sleep,
"
The proud have robbed, they

all
and
the
men whose hands

" Fret not thy-
were mighty have found nothing."

self
because of the ungodly
neither be thou envious
against the evil-doers; for they shall soon be cut
down
like the grass,
and be withered even as the green

bay tree
herb. I
myself have seen the ungodly in great power,

like a green
; ;
and flourishing
lo,
went
by,
and
he was gone
I sought him,
but his place could

the morning, and,
not then be found ^"

behold, they are
passed, the
cast
ing.
all
We
rise in
dead corpses.
The storm has

is still
morning has broken, the Egyptians are

stand-
on the sea-shore, God's Tabernacle
As though no
violence had been in the night, no
assaults of Satan
and Antichrist, no arm of

for the
force,
no envious or covetous
places,
eye, they remain, those holy

;
where they were
Church abides
for
evermore, and her Temples, in their deep foundations,
and their arching heights, are her image and
manifestation.
'
Psalm
Ixxxii. 6, 7
Ixxvi. 5
xxxvii. 1,2. 36, 37.
XI X.J
I
THE GOSPEL PALACES.
301
have said that the sacred edifices which

us,
we
see
around
and
in
which we worship, remind us of their

;
builders,
though they lived so long ago
but in truth
they remind us of a time far earlier even than theirs.
Do we
were
suppose that the very builders of these shrines

in all in their building?
it,
all
Could any
men
whatever, did they but will
at
any time, build
what they have

at our pleasure
built
is
a Cathedral the offspring of
a random thought, a thing to will and to accomplish

?
or rather, were not those builders
but the successors and the children of others long

before them,
who made them what they
were, and
it
enabled them, under God, to do works, which
was
not given to every one to do, but only to the sons of
such fathers ?
Surely the Churches which
we
inherit
are not the purchase of wealth nor the creation of

genius, they are the fruits of martyrdom.
They come
of high deeds and sufferings, as far before their very
building as
we
are after
it.
Their foundations are
laid very deep,
even in the preaching of Apostles,

Saints,
and the confession of
and the
first
is
victories
of the Gospel in our land.
All that
so
oble in
their architecture, all that captivates the eye
and
makes
tion,
its
way
to the heart,
gift,
is
is
not a
human
imagina-
but a divine
a moral result, a spiritual

in hazard
work.
The Cross
and
it
is
ever planted
and
suffering,
watered with tears and blood.

fruit,
No
its
where does
take root and bear
except
preaching be with self-denial.

the ruling powers to
It is easy, indeed, for
make a
decree, and set religion
; ;
302
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

its
[Serm.
on high, and extend
range, and herald

it,
its
name
it.
but they cannot plant
they can but impose
The Church alone can

walls.
plant
the Church. The Church
alone can found her sees, and inclose herself within
None but
saintly
men, mortified men, preachfor the truth, can
ers of righteousness,
and confessors
home for the truth in any land. Thus the Temples of God are withal the monuments of His Saints, and we call them by their names while we
create a
consecrate
them
to
His glory. Their simplicity, grangrace,
deur, solidity,
elevation,
and exuberance of
and great
ornament, do but bring to remembrance the patience
and
purity, the courage, meekness,
charity,
the heavenly affections, the activity in well-doing,
the faith and resignation, of
men who
themselves did
but worship in mountains, and in deserts, and in

caves and dens of the earth.
in vain, for other
They laboured, but not
men
entered into their labours
and, as if by natural consequence, at length their
word prospered
after them,
and made
itself
a home,
even these sacred palaces in which

dwelt, and which are
as
still
it
has so long
us, in
vouchsafed to
still
token,
we
trust, that
word, and,
who spoke that with them. His Presence who gave them
they are with us
it.
grace to speak
O happy they, who,
in a sorrowful time, avail
them-
selves of this bond of communion with the Saints of
old and the Universal Church
wise and dutiful,
who, when the world has robbed them of so much,

set the
more account upon what remains
We
have
XIX.]
THE GOSPEL PALACES.

all,
;
303
not lost
while
forefathers
while
we have the dwelling-places of our we can repair those which are

sites
broken do^vn, and build upon the old foundations,
and propagate them upon new
Happy
they,
who when they
enter within their holy limits, enter
in heart into the court of
heaven
And most
skill
un-
happy, who, while they have eyes to admire, admire
them only
exhibit
;
for their beauty's sake,
and the
they
of grace
who regard them as works of art, not fruits bow down before their material forms, in;"
stead of worshipping " in spirit and in truth

their stones,
count
and measure
their spaces, but discern in
them no tokens of the
invisible,
no canons of
truth,
no lessons of wisdom, to guide them forward in the
way heavenward
In heaven
is
the substance, of which here below

;
we
are vouchsafed the image
and
thither, if
we be
worthy,
we
shall at length attain.

is
There
is
the holy
Jerusalem, whose light

cious,
like
unto a stone most pre;
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal

is
and
whose wall
great and high, with twelve gates, and

;
an Angel at each
Almighty, and the
whose
is
glory
is
the Lord
God
Lamb
the light thereof.
SERMON
XX.
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.
Matt,
" Whether
is
xxiii. 17.
the greater, the gold, or the the gold ?"
Temple
that sanctifieth
Temple there has been upon

composed of souls
earth,
a spiritual
I
Temple, made up of living stones, a Temple, as

say,
;
may
a Temple with
God
for its
Light, and Christ for the
High
Priest,
with wings
of Angels for
for its pillars,
its
arches, with Saints
and Teachers
for its pave-
and with worshippers

preached.
ment
such a Temple has been on earth ever since

first
the Gospel was

mysterious,
This unseen, secret,

exists
spiritual
Temple
everywhere,
all
throughout the kingdom of Christ, in

perfect in one place as if
it
places, as
were not
in another.
is;
Wherever there
and
charms and
is
faith
and
love,
thisTemple
faith
love, with the
Name
of Christ, are as heavenly
spells to
make
present to us this divine
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

Temple, in every part of Christ's kingdom.
305
This
Temple
it
is
invisible,
but
it is
perfect and real because
is
invisible,
and gains nothing in perfection by

There needs no outward
possessing visible tokens.
building to meet the eye, in order to

a
make
it
more of
all
Temple than
it is
in itself.
God, and Christ, and
Angels, and souls, are not these a heavenly court,

perfect, to
which
this
world can add nothing ? Though
faithful Christians
worship without splendour, withstill
out show, in a homely and rude way,

ship
is
their wor-
as acceptable to
God, as excellent, as holy, as
though they worshipped in the public view of men,
and with
all
the glory and riches of the world.

in its beginnings
;
Such was the Church
" built
upon the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Jesus

Christ Himself being the chief corner-stone," "builded
together
Spirit."
for
an habitation of
God through
it
the
In the Apostles' lifetime
was poor and perall
secuted, and the holy
Temple was
rites,
but
invisible.
There were no edifying
no various ceremonies,
no
rich music, no high Cathedrals,
no mystic vest-
ments,
no solemn
altars,
no stone, or marble, or
cost, or fine linen, to
metals, or jewels, or
signify outwardly,
woods of
and to honour duly, the heavenly

serve.
Temple
in
which we stand and

first
The
place
where our Lord and Saviour
celebrated the holy
Sacrament of the Eucharist, was the upper room of a

house, hired too or used for the occasion
'
that in
'
Mark
xiv. 15.
VOL.
VL
306
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.
[Seum.
which the Apostles and the holy women waited for the promised coming of the Comforter, was also " an upper
room
;"
and that was an

"
also in
which
St.
Paul preached
at Troas,
upper chamber, where they were
gathered together '."
What
we
other places of worship
do we hear of? The water

as at Philippi, where,
St.
side,
out in the open air;
are told, " on the Sabbath,"
Paul and his companions " went out of the city

river side,
by a
where prayer was wont
to
be made
*."
And
the sea shore;
"They
all
brought us on our
till
way, with wives and children,

the city
;
we were out
of
and we kneeled down on the shore and
prayed
'."
And
and
St.
St.
Peter was in prayer on the
house-top;
Paul and
St.
Silas
sang their
hymns and psalms

stocks;
in prison, with their feet in the
and
St. Philip baptized the
Ethiopian eunuch
in the desert.
prison, or
Yet, wherever they were, whether in

in the wilderness, or
in a private
on the house-top, or
by the
room,
river side, or
on the sea shore, or
God and
Christ were with them.
The
Spirit
of grace was there, the Temple of
God was around

Sion,
them.
They were come unto the mystical
and
to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of Angels, and

for
to the spirits of the Just.
There needed not gold, nor jewels, nor costly array
who had, what according was greater, who had the Temple.
those,
to
It
the
text
might be
right
and
fitting, if possible,
to have these precious

Actsi. 13.
Ibid. xvi. 13.
Ibid. xx. 8.
Ibid. xxi. 5.
XX.]
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

it
307
for
things also, but
was not necessary
which was
the greater
Such things did not make the Temple
more
holy, but
became themselves holy by being

the gold did not sanctify
used for the Temple;
the Temple, but the Temple was greater, and sanctified
the gold.
Gold
;
is
a thing of nought without

as in the
Christ's presence
and with His Presence,

it
days of His earthly ministry,

with.
might be dispensed
The
case
is
the same as regards the immediate
successors of the Apostles,
who were
in still
more
after
forlorn circumstances, as regards worship, than the
Apostles themselves. The Christians
who came
them, were obliged to worship in graves and tombs

to save their lives
from the persecutor.
In the
eastern and southern parts, where the Apostles and
the
first
converts lived, before the glad sound of the
Gospel had reached these northern and distant countries,
they were accustomed to bury in caves dug out
of the rock.
ing, in
Long
galleries there are still remain-
some places
for miles
underground, on each
side of
which the dead were placed.
There the poor
persecuted Christians
night.
met
for worship,
and that by
Or the
great people of the time built for
themselves high and stately tombs above ground, as

large as houses for the living
;
here too, in the dark-
ness and solitude of night, did the Saints worship.
Or
in
in the depth of
some wood, perhaps, where no one Such were the places
was
likely to discover them.
which the Invisible Temple was revealed in times
X 2
308
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

;
[Sebm.
of heathenism
and who
shall say that

it
it
?
wanted
and
aught of outward show to make

This
is
perfect
true and ever to be borne in
mind
yet no one can deny, on the other hand, that a great

object of Christ's
to claim
it
coming was
to
subdue
this world,
its
as
His own, to assert His rights as
Master,
to
destroy the usurped dominion

all
of the
enemy, to show Himself to

session.
men, and to take pos-
He
is
that Mustard-tree which was destined
silently to spread
and overshadow
all
lands;
He
is
that
Leaven which was
secretly to
make
its
way
through the mass of

till
human
opinions and institutions
the whole was leavened.
Heaven and earth had

like
hitherto been separate.

to
His gracious purpose was
make them
one,
and that by making earth
heaven.
He
was
in the world
from the beginning,

;
He came into the world in the flesh, and the world knew Him not He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But He came in order to make them receive Him, know Him, worship Him. He came to absorb this world into Himself; that, as He was light, so it might be light also. When He came. He had not a place to lay His head but He came to make Him;
and man worshipped other gods
self a place, to
make Himself a home,
to
make Him-
self houses, to fashion for
Himself a glorious dwelling
out of this whole world, which the powers of evil
had taken
captive.
He came
in the dark,
in the
;
dark night was
He
born, in a cave underground
in
a cave where cattle were stabled,
there was
He
XX.]
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

;
309
housed
in a
rude manger was

;
He
laid.
There
first
He laid His head but He meant not, blessed be His Name He meant not there to remain for ever. He did not resign Himself to that obscurity He came
!
The King of the Jews yea, rather, the was born to claim the kingdom Hope of all nations and the King of the whole earth, the King of kings and Lord of lords and He gave
into that cave to leave
it.
;
not " sleep to

till
His eyes or slumber to His eyelids,"

for a royal throne, for high palaces.
He
had changed His manger
and His grot
Lift
it
up your
is
eyes,
my
this
brethren, and look around, for
fulfilled at
day
yea, long ago, for
many
ages,
and
in
many
i^ the
countries.
"
Wisdom
hath builded her house, she

pillars."
hath hewn out her seven

grot ? where the
Where
stall for cattle ?
where the manger ?

Is it possible that
where the grass and straw? where the unseemly

furniture of that despised place
?
the Eternal Son should have been born in a hole
of the earth ? was the great miracle there wrought,
whereby a pure and
spotless Virgin brought forth
God ? Strange
strange triumph
condescension undergone to secure a

!
He
purposed to change the earth,
and
ness,
He
began
" in the lowest pit, in a place of dark-
and
in the deep."
All was to be by
Him
re-
newed, and
He
availed Himself of nothing
tliat
was,
that out of nothing
He
might make
all things.
;
He
ab-
was not born

the
in the
Temple of Jerusalem
;
He
horred the palace of David
He
laid
Himself on
damp
earth in the cold night, a light shining in
310
a (lark place,
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

till
[Serm.
by the virtue that went out of Him,

Temi)le worthy of His
He should create a And lo, in omen
Name.
with gold,
of the future, even in His cradle,
the rich and wise of the earth seek
Him
and frankincense, and myrrh,
as
an
offering.
And
He
puts aside the swaddling clothes, and takes in-
stead " a coat without seam,
woven from the top

water into wine
;
throughout."
And He changes
;
and
Levi feasts
Him
and Zacchseus receives
Him
and
Mary
anoints His head.
Pass a few generations, and

is
;
the whole face of things
changed; the earth

as
it
is
covered with His Temples
has been for ages.
Go where you
will,
you
find the eternal
mountains
hewn and fashioned

who^was an outcast
into shrines
where
His
He may dwell,
flesh.
;
in the days of
Rivers
forests
and mines pay tribute of their richest jewels

are searched for their choicest
woods
the skill of
man
is
put to task to use what nature furnishes.
Go
through the countries where His
Name
is
known,
and you
ful in
will find all that is rarest
and most wonder-
nature or art has been consecrated to Him.
Kings' palaces are poor, whether in architecture or

in decoration,
compared with the shrines which have
been reared to Him.
The
Invisible
Temple has
become
visible.
As on
a misty day, the gloom gra-
dually melts
and the sun brightens, so have the

lit
glories of the spiritual world
up
this
world be-
low.
rays.
The
dull
and cold earth
is
penetrated by the
All around
we
see glimpses or reflections
of those heavenly
thing-s,
which the elect of
God
XX.]
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

one day see face to
" the
face.
311
shall
The kingdoms of
sanctified the
this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord

;
and of His Christ

gold,"
Temple has
and the prophecies

the
" given unto
been
fulfilled to
made to the Church have letter. " The glory of Lebanon"

it,
has been
the excellency of Carmel and

fir-tree,
Sharon."
pine-tree,
"
The glory of Lebanon, the
the
and the box together, to beautify the place
of His sanctuary, and to

glorious.
make
the place of His feet
The multitude of camels have covered it, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah all they from Slieba have come they have brought gold and incense, and sho^n forth the praises of the Lord." " The labour of Egypt, and merchandize of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, have come over to it, in chains have they come over they have fallen down, they have made supplication ^" And He has made Him a Temple, not only out of
;
inanimate things, but of
men
the
also as parts of
it.
Not gold and

of
silver,
jewels and fine linen, and
skill
man
to use them,
make
House of God, but
worshippers, the souls and bodies of men,
whom He
Paul
has redeemed.
Not
souls alone.
He
takes possession
;
of the whole man, body as well as soul

says, " I beseech you,
for St.
therefore, brethren,
by the
is
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living

sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which
your
reasonable serviced"
And He
13
;
claims us as His own,
Isaiah
xxxv. 2;
Ix. G.
xlv. 14.
Roiiu
xii. 1.
312
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.
[Serm.
not one by one, but altogether, as one great company

for St. Peter
says,
that
we
" as living stones, are

offer
built
up a
spiritual house,
an holy priesthood, to
up
spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to
God by
Jesus
Christ ^"
All of
us,
and every one, and every part
of every one, must go to
make up His
mystical
body
for the Psalmist says, "

;
God,
my
heart
is
ready
I will
sing and give praise with the best
member
I
that I have.
Awake
thou, lute and harp,

I will give thanks
;
myself will awake right
early.
unto Thee,
praises
among the people I will sing unto Thee among the nations^." Our tongues
Lord,
voices sing of
must preach Him, and our
Him, and
our knees adore Him, and our hands supplicate
Him, and our heads bow before Him, and our countenances beam of Him, and our gait herald Him.
And
hence
arise
joint worship,
forms of prayer,
ceremonies of devotion, the course of services, orders

of ministers, holy vestments, solemn music, and other
things of a like nature
;
all
which
are, as it were,
the incoming into this world of the Invisible King-
dom
of
its its
of Christ, the fruit of
its
influence, the
sample
power, the earnest of
its victories,
the means of
manifestation.
Things temporal have their

Kings' courts and
visible establishment.
palaces, councils
and armies, have

till
dazzled the multitude, and blinded them,
they
worshipped them as
idols.
Such
is
our nature,
we
'
Pit.
ii.
5.
P.saliii cviii.
13.
XX.]
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

to look
313
must have something

admiring something
admire,
;
up
to.
is
We cannot help
nothing good to
then
and
if
is
there
bad.
we admire what
When
all
men
with
see proud Babel set
up on high with
her show
and pomp, when they see or hear of great

their stately mansions,
cities,
the streets swarming with

filled
chariots
and horses innumerable, and the shops

with
with splendid wares, and great

dressed,
many
attendants,
men and women richly and men crying.
Bow
the knee, and soldiers in bright array, with the
sound of the trumpet, and other military music,
and other things which one could mention, were

reverent to be particular, simple
to look
it
men
are tempted
up
to all this as the
and blessedness, nay, as I

presence of the Unseen.
summit of perfection have said, to worship what

it,
seems to them, though they do not so express
the
Hence come
;
in servility,
coveting, jealousy, ambition

in this world,
men
;
wish to be great
and try to be great
they aim at riches,

Christ, then, in
or they lie in wait for promotion.
order to counteract this
evil,
has mercifully set up
His own court and His own

have something to
fix
polity, that
men might
their eyes
upon of a more
divine and holy character than the world can supply

that poverty, at least, might divide men's admiration
with riches
that
meekness might be
set
up on high
as well as pride,
and sanctity become our ambition as

Saintly bishops with their clergy,
Mell as luxury.
officials
ites,
of
all
kinds, religious bodies, austere Nazar-
prayer and praise without ceasing,
all this
hath
31
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.
[Serm.
Christ mercifully set up, to outshine the fascinations
of the world.
So ran the promise

walls,
" I have set
watchmen upon thy

the Lord a
Jerusalem, which shall

" Sing unto
never hold their peace day nor night."
new
;
.
song,
and His praise from the end
of the earth
that
is
ye that go
.
down
to the sea,
and
all
therein
lift
Let the wilderness and the
cities
thereof
up
;
their voice, the villages that
Kedar
doth inhabit
let
let the inhabitants of the
rock sing
them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise
in the islands
'."
And
these words began to have
their fulfilment even

for, as I said
from the time that Christ came;

began, St. Paul and St. Silas sang
his party left Tyre,
when I
;
in the prison
and when he and
the men, women, and children, who accompanied them

out, kneeled
down on the shore with them, and prayed.

in the
Such were the forms of worship

till,
beginning;
fair tree,
as time
went
on, the Church, like

foliage,
some
put out her branches and

in all
and stood complete

spiritual ordinances,
manner of holy symbols and

first.
an outward sign of that unseen Temple

Christ had dwelt from the
in
which
And
now, in conclusion,
let
me
observe, that such
a view as has been taken of the connexion of the

ritual of religion
with
its
spiritual
and
invisible
power, will enable us to form a right estimate of

things external, and keep us both from a curious and
superstitious use,
'
and an arrogant neglect of them.

;
Isaiah Ixii. 6
xlii.
10
12.
;;
XX.]
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

is
315
therefore
The Temple
greater than
the gold
care not though the gold be
away
it
sanctifies it
therefore cherish the gold while

is
it is
present.
Christ
;
with
us,
though there be no outward show
sup-
pose
all
the
off,
comely appendages of our worship

yet where two or three are gathered
stripped
together in His
Name, He
is
in the midst of them.
Be
if
it
a cottage, or the open
fields,
or even a prison
or a dungeon, Christ can be there,
and
will
be there,
thig
His servants are there.
You
will ask
whether
does not countenance persons

apart from the Church, or
who hold meetings

in the streets?
who preach
No,
"
it
does not
because, in such cases,
men do
not
meet together
" in the
Name
of Christ."
He
are
says,
Where two
His
or three are gathered together in

it
My
met
Name."
in
for
Now,
does not follow that
men
Name
warns
because they say or think they are

us, "
He
Many
and
shall
come
in
My
Name,
saying, I
am
Christ,
is
shall deceive
many."
Many
man
is
thinks he
speaking in Christ's Name, when

Christ did not
he
preaching his o^vn doctrine.
send such men, yet they have run, and
He
owns
In
in this
them
not,
though they even worship

fields,
in
Church.
Church, or in the
matter.
would be the same
Stone walls do not make a Church. Though

Christ would not be with those
they were in the vastest, noblest, richest building
on earth,
once for
on.
still
who
preach another gospel than that which

all.
He
am
delivered
insisting
;
This
is
the very point I
It is the
Temple which
sanctifieth the gold
it
316
is
THE VISIBLE
TEMl'LE.
[Seum.
nothing but the invisible and heavenly Presence

sanctifieth
which
any place or any thing. Magnificent
or mean,' costly or
common,
it
alone sanctifies either

it
worshippers or building.
As
avails not to
have
sumptuous Churches without the

it is
Spirit of Christ, so
but a mockery to have large congregations, eloif
quent preachers, and much excitement,

cious Spirit
is
that gra-
away. But where
He
really places
His
it is
Name,
there,
be the spot a palace or a cottage,
sacred and glorious.

will still
He who once
lay in a manger,
condescend to manifest Himself any where,
as
He
did in primitive times.
No
indignities can
"
;"
be
is
done to
Him who
inhabiteth eternity.
Heaven
His throne, and earth His footstool heaven of heavens cannot contain
" the very

less
Him ;" much
any house which we can

to
build.
High and low is
alike
Him.
This
is
an obvious and very comfortable
reflec-
tion,
when we
think of the great irreverences and
profanations which sometimes take place in Church.
Men come
and even
ing
in
in,
;
in lightly
and thoughtlessly they care

;
;
not to uncover their heads

sing, as if
they talk, and laugh,
they were in a
is
common
build-
or,
when
there
any needful work to be done

of a sudden,
it,
and tools and other implements are brought

if,
they seem to think as
all
it
were
neso
turned into an unconsecrated place, because

cessary to exercise a trade in
it.
it is
Or, perhaps, if
at other times,
it
happen, they turn aside into

think that
it
and
God
is
not there, because
man is
not there
XX.] to see them.
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.
317
into certain
And
so again,
when we go
Churches, and see the neglected state in which they

are
to
left,
the font cast aside,
or, if not,
;
used as a place
keep any
sort of litter in
and the Holy Table

and
mean and
unsightly, with a miserable covering,
the pavement defiled and broken, and the whole building in a state of neglect, of which any neat person
would be ashamed even in

rooms were
his
own
cottage, (to say

feel,
;)
nothing what wealthy people would

left
if their
in such a condition
I say,
when
?
these and such like sights meet us, perhaps, for an

instant,
we
are tempted to say.
Can
Christ be here
Can
the Holy Spirit deign to sanctify water for the

sins,
washing away of
brought
in, as it is,
with such
Or,
irreverence of manner, and in so
mean a vessel ?
sacrificial
it
can the life-giving Presence and the
power
of Christ be upon that Altar ? nay, can
he
an Altar,
which
rather,
is
so
wretched to look upon

will ask himself,
But, I ask, or
any one
on second thoughts.
Doubtless, then.
Could Christ be
in a
manger ?
He
whom
the Angels of
begotten,
God worshipped, as the Onlywhen brought into the world in a place

be manifested, can be worshipped, in
for cattle, can
the most neglected Church.
No
our distress must
not be at
all
;
for
Him
such would be superstitious
and carnal our
distress
mus^ be
is
for the insult offered
Him, and
neglect I
tress there
so far as there
is insult.
If the state of
fault,
am
speaking of
no one's
if
then
dis-
must be none. But
there be blame, then
we may and must
feel distress, that
our Lord should
318
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

;
[Serm.
be insulted by His own servants
and yet more on
their account, tliat they should insult
Him.
these
They
who
as a
profane His presence,
common
is
house,
who treat its and make free with
resting-place
it,
men
The
do not hurt Christ, but they hurt themselves.
Temple
greater than the gold.
And, while
greater or
He
is
displeased with the profane,
He
accepts our offerings

less.
made
in faith,
whether they be
He
accepts our gold and our silver,

us.
it
not to honour Himself thereby, but in mercy to
When
said, "
Mary poured the ointment upon His head,

;
was her advantage not His
He
praised her, and
She hath done what she

his best
;
could."
Every one
he must
must do
he must pray
his best,
sing his best, he

it it
must attend show our
his best.
would be
little,
not worthy of
faith,
we did all, Him; if we do little,

If
may
suffice to
and
will accept
whatever
we
to
can
offer.
He in His mercy He will accept,
what we prefer giving
Him
to giving to ourselves.
When, instead of spending money on our own homes, we spend it on His house, when we prefer that He should have the gold and silver to our having it, we do not make our worship more spiritual, but we bring Christ nearer to us we show that we are in earnest, we evidence our faith. It requires very little of
;
true faith and love, to fel an unwillingness to spend
money on
one's
self.
Fine dresses,
fine houses, fine
furniture, fine establishments, are painful to a true
Christian; they create misgivings in his

his portion
is
mind whether
with the Saints or with the world.
XX.]
THE VISIBLE TEMPLE.

will feel
it
319
Rather he
suitable to lay out his
money
in God's service, to feed the hungry, to clothe the
naked, to educate the young, to spread the knowledge of the truth, and,
to build
"
among
other pious objects,
and to decorate the
visible
House of God.
this,
Remember me, O my God,
concerning
and
wipe not out

the house of
my good deeds that I have done for my God, and for the offices thereof-."
prayer,
Such was Nehemiah's

stirred
when he had been
up
to cleanse the sanctuary.

also,
if in
May God
!
re-
member
us
any measure His grace has

His glory
moved us
to similar acts of zeal for in
And,
O may He
whatever
His mercy grant that our outward
show does not outstrip our inward progi-ess; that

gift,
rare or beautiful,
we
introduce here,
may be but
shrine
a figure of inward beauty and unseen

!
sanctity ornamenting our hearts
Hearts are the true
wherein Christ must dwell.

is
"The King's
all
daughter
all-glorious within
sin,
;"
and when we are
repenting of past
and cleansing ourselves from

spirit,
defilement of flesh and
and perfecting holiness
in the fear of the Lord, then,
and then
only,
may
we
ing,
safely
employ ourselves
doing
in brightening, embellish-
and making glorious the dwelling-place of His

it
invisible presence,
with that severity, gravity,
and awe, which a chastened heart and sober thoughts

will teach us.
'
Neh.
xiii.
14.
SERMON
XXI.
Isaiah
"
Ix.
13.
thee, the fir-tree, the
The
glory of Lebanon shall
come unto
pine-tree,
and the box together,
to beautify the place of
My
Sanctuary, and I will
make
the place of
My
feet glorious."
Every
what
attentive reader of Scripture
must be aware
costliness
stress is there laid
upon the duty of
and magnificence
cast
in the public service of
God. Even an out-
in the first rudiments of the Church, Jacob,
and wanderer,
it
after the vision of the
Ladder of
before
Angels, thought
the
not enough to
bow down
Unseen Presence, but parted

say,
with, or, as the
world would
wasted a portion of the provisions

for the way, in
he had with him
an act of worship.
Like David, he
did not " offer unto the
Lord of that
which cost him nothing;" but
like that religious
woman at the opening of a more gracious Covenant, though he had not " an alabaster box of ointment of
321
;"
spikenard very precious," yet he did " what he could
making a
sacrifice
less
than hers in
its
costliness,
greater in his
own
destitute condition, for
he " took
the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set
it
up
for a pillar,
and poured
oil
upon the top of
it'."
What
Jacob did as a solitary pilgrim, David as a
wealthy king,
Mary
as a private
woman,
is
pressed
upon us both
fulfilled
in sacred history
and
in prophecy, as
under the Law, as foretold of the Gospel.
The Book of Exodus shows what cost was lavished upon the Tabernacle even in the Milderness; the Books of Kings and Chronicles set before us the
devotion of heart, the sedulous zeal, the carelessness of expense or
reared upon
toil,
with which the

Sion, in the
"
first
Temple was
Mount
commencement of
have I prepared,"
the monarchy of
Israel.
Now
.
says David, " with all
my
. .
might for the house of

silver
.
my
. .
God, the gold

the iron
set,
. .
and the
and the brass
and wood
onyx stones, and stones to be

colours,
glistering stones,
and of divers
stones,
and
all
manner of precious
abundance.
to the
and marble stones

set
in
Moreover, because I have
my affection
proper
house of
my
God,
have of
my own
all
good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the
house of
my
God, over and above
that I have
" rejoiced
prepared for the Holy House."
And he
with great joy," and "blessed the Lord," because

the people also " offered willingly, because with perfect
'
Gen.
xxviii. 18.
VOL. VI.
322

offered
[Serm.
heart they
willingly
to
the Lord."
And
Solomon, when he came to use these costly
offerings,
sent to another country for " a cunning man," " skilful

to
work
in gold,
and in
silver, in brass, in iron, in stone,
and and
in timber, in purple, in blue,
and
in fine linen,
in crimson
also to grave
any manner of graving,

which should be put to
and to lem
find out every device
him, with the cunning

'K"
men
in
Judah and
in Jerusa-
Such was the outward splendour of the

;
Jewish Sanctuary
tian to
nor were the glories of the Chrisvisible,
be
less
outward and
spiritual also.
though they
were to be more
The words of the Pro-
phet in the text are but one instance out of several,

of the promise of temporal magnificence
that Covenant which was to be eternal.
"
made to The glory

the pine-
of
Lebanon," says Isaiah, addressing the Gospel

fir-tree,
Church, " shall come unto thee, the

tree,
and the box together, to beautify the place of

Sanctuary, and I will
My
make
and
the place of
My feet
and
thou
glorious."
Again
" For brass I will bring gold, and

for
for iron I will bring silver,
wood
again
brass,
for stones
tion,
iron; thou shalt call thy walls

Praise."
Salva-
and thy gates
And
"
afflicted, tossed
with tempest, and not comforted, be-
hold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours,
and
lay
thy foundations with sapphires.
And
I will
make
be
thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles,
and
all
thy borders of pleasant stones ^"

1
Now if it
ii.
Chron. xxix.
2, 3.
f),
10.
2 Chron.
7.
11.
Isaiah Ix. 17, 18; liv. 11, 12.
XXL]
said that
323
some of these expressions are

;
figurative, this
may be
true
but
still
the very fact that such figures
are used in the prophecy, would
seem
to
show that
actually
the materials literally denoted
may be
suitably used
is
in its fulfilment, unless, indeed, such use
forbidden.
They do not cease
to be figures because
of.
they are seen as well as spoken
Real gold
is
as
much
a figure in the Church, as the mention of

;
it is
such in Scripture
and
it
is
surely in itself dutiful
and pleasant thus to make much of the words of

inspired truth
;
and, moreover,
the mere circumChristians did
stance that,
when the Gospel came.
thus proceed, and sanctified the precious things of

this
world to religious uses, looks like the fulfilment

is
of the prophecy, and

tative
of the nature of an authori-
command.
it
However,
cumstance
worship of
may be
objected that every attentive

cir-
reader of Scripture must be familiar with this

also, that
such outward splendour in the
God
is
spoken of in terms of censure or
jealousy by our Lord and Saviour.
Thus
He
says,
when enumerating
the oifences
of the Pharisees,
"Woe
for
unto you. Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
ye
make
clean the outside of the cup and of the

full
platter,
but within they are
of extortion and
excess."
And
again
"
Ye
are like unto whited
sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward,

fiill
but are \\ithin

uncleanness."
to our
of dead men's bones, and of
all
And when
His
disciples pointed out
Lord the great
size of the stones of
which the
Y 2
324
()FFERIN(JS
FOR THK SANCTUARY.

let
it
[Sehm.
Temple was
abruptly,
built,
a Temple,
shall shall
be noted, thus
ornamented by the impious Ilerod,
He
answered
'."
"There
not be
left
here one stone
upon another, that

account
not be thrown
down
These passages certainly should be taken into

;
but what do they mean
did our Saviour
say that magnificence in worshipping God, magnificence in His house,

in
its
furniture,
and
in
its
decorations,
is
wrong, wrong since
He has come
into
the world
Does
Did
He He
discourage us from building
handsome
Churches, or beautifying the ceremonial
of religion?
exhort us to niggardness? did

skill ?
He
we
put a slight on architectural

should please
did
He
imply
Him
the more, the less study and
trouble
we gave
to the externals of worship?
In
rejecting the offering of Herod, did
He
I
forbid the
devotion of Christians
This
gerate
is
what many persons think.

I say, that
do not exag-
when
they think the more homely

is,
and familiar
becomes.
their worship
the more spiritual
it
And
they argue, that to aim at external

is
beauty in the service of the Sanctuary,

the Pharisees, to be
fair
to
be like
without and hollow within
that whereas the Pharisees pretended a sanctity and

religiousness
outside
which they had not
inside,
therefore, every
sacrifices inward.
one who aims at outward religion

not
This
is
a consideration worth dwelling on
'
Matt, xxiii.
2'>.
27; xxiv.
2.
XXI]

its
325
it
;
indeed for
with so
own
weight, but because
weighs
because
many
people.
The
objection
is
this
the hollow Pharisees were outwardly holy, therefore
every one
who
is
outwardly holy
is,
or
is
in danger
of becoming, a Pharisee.
Now,
to take a parallel instance,
most of us peris
haps have heard a proverb, that " cleanliness

to godliness
is
;"
next
which means, that the habit spoken of

at
least accidentally,
of a moral nature,
and a
moral excellence, and that those who are deficient in

it,
are
commonly
deficient also in
other and more
religious excellences also.
Who
among
us will not
nay, under
admit that nothing
is
more unwelcome,
circumstances, nothing raises
more
serious
and anx-
ious thoughts, than the absence of neatness

is
and what
called
tidiness,
tell at
in appearance
and dress?
We
Alas
!
can often
once
how young
first
persons are con-
ducting themselves by the
glance at them.
;
we
read what
is
painful in their history
we read Or
of a change in their religious state in the disorder
of their look and the negligence of their gait.

enter a village school
:
are
we not
?
at once pleased
with a neat and bright-faced child
and do we not
?
at once take a dislike to such as are not so
But, now, suppose any one were to
come
to us
is
and
say, "
This
is all
outside
what God requires

:"
clean heart, not a
neat appearance
?
would
this
seem a pertinent objection

surely, that
We
should answer
is
what our duty requires of us
cleanness
of heart and decencv of attire also; that the one
3'26
[Serm.
point of duty does not interfere with the other
nay,
on the contrary, that inward exactness and sanctity

are likely to show themselves in this very way,
in
propriety of appearance
and that
if
persons
who
are
exact in their lives are, notwithstanding, negligent in

their persons, this
it
ought not to be
so,
and we wish
to say that
were otherwise.
But supposing the objector went on

those
who were
neat and respectable in their persons
and homes had often very bad tempers, were ever
making a point of being

"particular,"
neat,
and what
is
called
and quarrelled with every one who

their
interfered with
own
it
habits
and ways.
We
to
should answer, that
if so, it
was to be lamented;
be
but
still,
in spite of this,
was a right thing
neat,
and a wropg thing to be slovenly; that exactness within best showed itself in exactness without, and
that cleanliness was the natural and most appropriate
attendant on godliness.
And
again;
supposing the objector in question
said that propriety in dress
became love of
finery;
that those
who attended
it
to their persons
became
vain
that
was impossible to be neat and respectgaily,
able without going on to dress
and making a
show
to attract the attention of others.

all
We
should
answer that
this
ought not to be, and was very

;
wrong
that vanity was a great sin
that those
studied their dress disobeyed our Lord's
who command
not to think about raiment, and were exposing themselves

to
temptations,
and were going forth they
XXL]
327
knew not whither, going the way of death, going the way to become reckless, as about greater matters, so about dress itself. This we should say; but we
should add, that such considerations did not prove
that neatness and decency were not praiseworthy,
but that love of finery was perilous, and vanity

sinful.
But supposing the objector supported what he by Scripture; supposing he said, for instance, that our Lord blamed persons who washed their
said
hands before eating bread, and that
this proves that
washing the hands before a meal

taking no
fictitious case
:
is
wrong.
am
such objections really have

yet the answer surely
is
been made before now
easy,
namely, that our Saviour objected, not to the mere
washing of the hands, but to the making too much

of such an observance
;
to our thinking
it
religion,
thinking that
religion,
it
would stand
in the stead of
inward
and would make up
for sins of the heart. at-
This
is
what he condemned, the show of great

This
tention to outward things, while inward things, which
were more important, were neglected.

" These ought ye to have done," to leave the other," the inward, "
He
says Himself, in His denunciation of the Pharisees.
He
says,
"
and not
undoner
He
says
expressly they ought to do the outward, but they
ought to do more.
They did the one and not the
other; they ought to have done both the one and

the other.
^28

apply
:
[Serm,
Now,
Churches
this
is
to
the
case
of
beautifying
as
is
neatness and decency in an indi;
vidual, such
decoration in a Church
and as we and neglect

are so per-
should be offended at slovenliness in an individual,

so ought
we
to be oiFended at disorder
It is quite true,
in our Churches.
men
verse, (as the Pharisees were,) that they
sometimes
attend only to the outward forms, and neglect the
inward
spirit;
they
may
offer to
Him
costly furni-
ture and goodly stones,
while
they are cruel, or
bigoted
-just
as persons
may be may
neat in their
own
and and
persons and houses, and
yet be ill-tempered
quarrelsome.
tion to the
Or, again, they
carry their attenfar,
outward forms of religion too

;
become
superstitious
just as persons
may
carry on
a love of neatness into love of finery.
And, more-
over, Scripture speaks against the hypocrisy of those
who
are religious outwardly, while they are disobe-
dient,
-just
as
it
speaks against those

is
who wash
But
still,
their hands, while their heart

in spite of all this, propriety in
is
defiled.
appearance and dress

;
a virtue,
is
next to godliness
and, in like
man-
ner,
decency and reverence are to be observed in
the worship of God, and are next to devotion, in

spite of its being true that all are not holy
who
are
grave and severe,
all
not devout
is
who
are munificent.
What
what
fair
it
Scripture reproves
the inconsistency^ or
more solemnly
calls
the hypocrisy of being
without and foul within; of being religious in
XXL]

It
329
to
appearance, not in truth.
was one offence not
be
religious, it
was a second to pretend to be

our Lord, " did not
reli-
gious.
"
Ye
fools," says
is
He
that
made
within
that which
also ?"
without,
as
Such
make that which is a man is outwardly, such

"
should he be inwardly.
How
can ye, being
evil,
speak good things

heart the
for out of the
abundance of the
good things;
mouth
speaketh.
good man, out of the
good treasure of the and an

in the
evil
heart, bringeth forth
man, out of the
evil treasure, bringeth
forth evil things ^"

heart,
The light of divine truth, when ought to beam forth outwardly and
;
when a man
a
is
dark within, well were
it
that he
should show himself outwardly what he
is.
Such
as
man
is
inside,
such should be his outside.
Well
but do you not see that such a view of doctrine
condemns not only those who

without outward
For, if
affect
outward religion
affect
without inward, but those also

?
who
inward
it
is
an inconsistency to
pretend to religion outwardly, while

wardly,
it
it is
we
neglect
it
in-
also
an inconsistency, surely, to neglect
outwardly while
we pretend
to
it
inwardly.
;
It is
wrong, surely, to believe and not to profess
wrong
to
put our light under a bushel. St. Paul says expressly,

" If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus,
and
shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised

."
Him
is
from the dead, thou shalt be saved

;
Belief
not enough
we must
MaU.
xii.
confess.
Nor must we
*
con-
'
Luke
xi. 40.
34, 35.
Rom.
x. 9.
330
fess

with our mouth only
silence,
;
[Seum.
but by word and by deed,
by speech and by
by doing and by not doing,

in
by walk and conversation, when
company and
when alone, in time and in place, when we labour and when we rest, when we lie down and when we
rise up, in
youth and in age, in
life
and
in death,
and, in like manner, in the world and in Church.

to adorn the worship of
Now, make
God
our Saviour, to
the beauty of holiness visible, to bring offer-
ings to the Sanctuary, to be curious in architecture,
and reverent
is
in ceremonies,
all this
external religion
;
a sort of profession and confession

is
it is
is
nothing
but what
in those
It
is
natural, nothing but
what
consistent,
who
are cultivating the
life
of religion within.
most unbecoming, most

;
offensive, in those
who
are not religious

in those
but most becoming, most necessary,
who are so. Persons who put
aside gravity
and comeliness
in
the worship of God, that they

ually, forget that
God
;
is
may pray more Maker of all things,

is
spirit-
visible
as well as invisible
that
;
He
the Lord of our bodies

is
as well as of our souls
that lie
to
be worshipped
this
in public as well as in secret.
The Creator of
world
Christ
is
;
none other than the Father of our Lord Jesus

there are not two Gods, one of matter, one
;
of
spirit
is
one of the
There
all
one God, and

and,
Law and one of the Gospel. He is Lord of all we are, and

we do must be
and signature.
;
we have;
therefore, all
seal
stamped with His
We
nuist
begin, indeed, with the heart
for out of the heart
XXL]
proceed

all
831
good and
evil
but while
we
begin with
the heart,
we must
It
is
not end with the heart.
We
must not give up

the evil one.
this visible world, as if it
came of
into the
our duty to change
it
kingdom of heaven. We must manifest the kingdom of heaven upon earth. The light of divine
must proceed from our hearts, and shine out upon everything we are, and everything we do. It
truth
must bring the

tivity to Christ.
wliole
man, soul and body, into cap-
holy in
They who are holy in spirit, are body. They who submit their wills to Christ,
;
bow
knee
head
their bodies
;
they
who
offer
they they
who have faith in who honour His cross

it
bow His Name, bow

the heart,
the
the
inwardly, are not

rejoice with
ashamed of
before men.
They who
their brethren in their
common
salvation,
and desire
in,
to worship together, huild a 'place
to worship
and
they build
their
it
as the expression of their feelings, of

love,
mutual
their
common
it
reverence.
;
They
which which
sight
build a building which will, as

will profess
were, speak
and confess Christ

remind
their Saviour
will herald forth
His death and passion at

all
first
which
will
who
enter that
we
are saved
after
by His
cross,
and must bear our cross
Him.
They
word
ing,
will build
what may
tell
out their deepest and
most sacred thoughts, which they dare not utter in

:
not a mis-shapen building, not a sordid build-
but a noble dwelling, a palace all-glorious within;

God's high Majesty,
cont,in,
unfit, indeed, for
whom
fit
even the
heaven of heavens cannot
but
to express
S32
[Serm.
the feelings of the builders, stand and (as

it
;
a Temple which
all
may
were) preach to
the world while
the world lasts

to praise, bless,
which may show how
they desire
and glorify their eternal Benefactor
how they
desire to gain others to praise
Him
also
a building which
may
cry out to
all
passers by, " O,
magnify the Lord our God, and
fall
down
before
His
footstool, for
He
is
is
Holy
!"
O, magnify the Lord
our God, and worship

the Lord our
Him upon
His holy
hill,
for
God
is
Holy ^
This, then,
the real state of the case
and when
it
our Lord blamed the Pharisees as hypocrites,
was
not for attending to the outside of the cup, but for
not attending to the inside
also.
Now,
ing out,
in answer to the parallel I have been drawit
may be
objected, that " if the decoration
of God's public service be like the personal duty of

propriety in dress and demeanour, then decoration
is
wrong, when
are anxious
it is
intentional and studied. Those

look,
who
how they
and what others think of

if
them, are in the way to be vain,

already
;
they are not so

result of
decorum should be the spontaneous

exactness
;
inward
grace in manner and
apparel
should be the mere outward image of harmony and

purity of soul.
Therefore, holy persons attire them-
selves with simplicity, speak with modesty, behave
with gravity.
their severity,
Their ease, and their amiableness, and
and
their composure,
and their majesty
'
Psalm xcix.
5. 9.
XXI.]

little
333
are as
known
to themselves as the features of

If,
their countenance.
then, the parallel holds, exteras soon as

it is
nal religion
becomes excessive
this,
made
an object
and
of course, becomes practically an

consecration of wealth and of
argument against
all
art to the worship of
God."
One
single remark,
;
howfor,
ever,
let it
is
sufficient to invalidate this objection
be observed, in making
much
of our
;
own
ap-
pearance,
we making much
are contemplating ourselves
but in
of the ceremonial of religion,
contemplating another,
we are and Him our Maker and

and decisive a
except that
distinc-
Redeemer. This
tion, that I
is
so obvious
should not care to notice the argument
which has led
me
For
to
mention
it,
it
will
vrith
open upon us a further consideration connected

our subject.
it
so happens that, at present, far

its force,
it
is
from acknowledging
the
way of the
world to be most sensitively jealous of over-embellishment in the worship of God, but to have no
scruples
or
misgivings whatever at
an excess of
splendour and magnificence in their
own
apparel,
houses, furniture, equipages, and establishments.

I say
it is
the
way with us Englishmen, who
are
the richest people upon earth, to lay out our wealth
upon ourselves
minds,
if it
and when the thought crosses our
ever does, that such an application of

is
God's bounties
after
unworthy those who are named

stable,
Him who
we
all
was born in a
quiet
and died upon
the Cross,
them by
asking, "
What
is
the
use of
the precious things which
God
has given
334
US, if
OFFERINGS FOR THE SAiNCTUARY.
[Serm.
we may not
enjoy them
The
earth overflows
is
with beauty and richness, and

skill
man
gifted with
finds in
it.
to improve and perfect what he

delicate
What
rich
and costly things do the

to our eyes
! !
streets of
any
town present
!
what bales of mersilks
chandize
what
fine linen
what
from afar
what precious metals!

marbles
!
what jewels! what choice

worth
and M'hat exquisite workmanship, making

!
what
it is
is
in itself excellent, of double
What,"
inquired, " can be
done with
all this
it all
bounty of
Providence ?
has
He
not poured
lavishly into
?
our hands
was
it
given, except to be used
And
true of
what
in the
is
true of the
;
more precious
things,
is
the less precious
it is
true of such things as

;
come
if
way
of ordinary persons
the luxuries of opuall
lence are, in their degree, offered to
of us, as
we were
opulent, for
we
partake in the
opulence of our country; why, then,

enjoy the gifts of nature and
art,
common may we not which God has

this
given
I
have already suggested the true answer to
difficulty.
The earth
is
full
of God's
wonderful
works, do you say, and what are
we
to do
m ith them ?
what do with marbles and precious stones, gold and

silver,
and
to
fine linen?
Give them to God.
Render
them
to
Him
are
from whom, and through whom, and

things.
whom
all
This
is
their proper desti-
nation.
Is it a better thing to dress
up our
sinful
bodies in silk and jewels, or to ornament therewith
God's House and God's ritual
Does any one doubt
XXI]

all
335
?
what
least,
these excellent things are
meant
for
or, at
can he doubt what they are not meant for ? not
meant, surely, for sinners to

withal.
lessness
make
themselves fine
What presumption would that be, what sense?
Does not the whole world speak Does not every
in praise
of
God ?
star in the sky, every tree
and flower upon
earth, all that grows, all that endures,
the leafy woods, the everlasting mountains, speak of
God ? Do
not the pearls in the sea, and the jewels in
the rocks, and the metals in the mine, and the marbles in the quarry,
do
not
all
rich
and beautiful
substances everywhere witness of
Him who made
them ? Are they not His work. His token. His glory ? Are they not a portion of a vast natural Temple, the heavens, earth, and sea, a vast Cathedral for the
Bishop of our
created
souls, the All-sufficient Priest,
who first
all things,
and then again, became, by pur?
chase, their Possessor
Does
it
not strike you, then,

sort of sacrilege, to
as
extreme presumption, and a
consecrate
them
to
any one's glory but God's?
If
we saw
things aright, could there be a
more
frightful
spectacle,
an instance of more complete self-worship,

than
a more detestable idolatry,
men and women

might admire
self,
making themselves them? keeping

them
works
all
fine that others
these
things for
denying
to the rightful
Owner ? viewing them

sometimes
?
as if
mere
and
of " nature," as they are
called,
incapable of any religious purpose
Recollect
Herod
he was smitten by the Angel and eaten of worms,

because he gave not
God
the glory
and how did he
; ;
SS6
withhold

it ?
[Serm.
By
arraying liimself in royal apparel,
making- an oration, and being- patient of the cry, " It

is
the voice of a god and
not of a man."
The
royal apparel was imputed to
him
as a sin, because
lie
he used
a god.
it,
not to remind himself that
was God's
in the
minister, but to impress
upon the people that he was
And
every one, high and low,
who
is
practice of dressing ostentatiously, whether in silk
or cotton, that
at
is,
.every one
who
dresses to be looked
idol's ser-
and admired,
is
using God's gifts for an

to self.
vice,
and
offering
them up
No;
that
all
let
us master this great and simple truth,
rich materials
and productions of
turns
;
this world,
being God's property, are intended for God's service
and
sin only,
nothing but
sin,
them
that
;
to a dif-
ferent purpose.
All things are His
He in
His bounty
is
has allowed us to take freely of
all
in the
world, for food, clothing, and lodging
He
allows us
a large range,
He afflicts
us not by harsh restrictions
He
gives us a discretionary use, for which
we
are
answerable to
Him
alone.
Still, after all
permission,
on the whole we must not take what we do not

need.
We
may
take for
life,
for comfort, for enjoy-
ment; not
for luxury, not for pride.
Let us give
Him
of His own, as David speaks; let us honour
Him,
for
and not ourselves.

adorned, for
it
Let the house of God be

His dwelling-place;
;
richly
is
priests,
they represent
Him
kings, magistrates, judges, heads
of families, for they are His ministers.

called gods in Scripture,
These are
called
and "all that
is
God
XXL]
or that
is

worshipped,"
337
may
receive of His gifts

rich,
is
whose
sinful,
Name
they bear.
Nothing, however
;
which has a religious meaning
which
re-
minds us of God,
or love,
is
or of the absent,
whom we
revere
or of relations or friends departed; or
which
gift,
and not a purchase.

it
In proportion as
self,
we
disengage
it
from the thought of
and associate
with piety tow-ards others,

it.
do we succeed in
sanctifying
Abraham sent jewels to Rebekah, and Jacob made Joseph a coat of many
Hence
it is
that while
colours, St.
Paul gives his judgment " that
women
adorn themselves with shamefacedness and sobriety,

not vnih broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly
St. Peter, that their "
array
;"
and
adorning" should
hair,
not be " that
outward adorning of plaiting the
and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel,

but the hidden
pare the
man
of the heart
*."
Or
again
com-
Book of Ezekiel with the Apocalypse, and

and the wrong use of earthly
you
will see the right
magnificence instanced in the city of Antichrist and
Holy Jerusalem. God's judgments are denounced upon Tyre by the Prophet, for being proud of her
wealth and spending
in
it
on
herself.
"
Thou
hast been
Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was
thy covering; the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,

the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the
carbuncle, and gold."
And what
9.
1
followed or was
Tim.
ii.
Pet.
iii.
3, 4.
VOL. VI.
3ii8

?
;
[Serm.
implied in this
of thy beauty
"Thine heart was
lifted
up because
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by
reason of thy brightness; I will cast thee to the
ground."
read
also,
On
the other hand, of
new Jerusalem we
stones.
that the foundations of her wall " were

all
garnished with
first
manner of precious
The
foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the
third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald, the fifth
sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl, the ninth a topaz, the tenth a

chrysoprasus, the eleventh a jacinth, the twelfth an
amethyst.
And
the twelve gates were twelve pearls
every several gate was of one pearl, and the street of

the city was pure gold as
it
were transparent
it
glass."
And
all
this suitably
for
was God's
it,
city, "
and
the glory of
God
did lighten
and the
Lamb was
the light thereof ^"
Let us then, on the whole, learn from what has

been
said this lesson
:
to
be at
least as exact
and as
decent in the service of God, as

persons and our
we
if
are in our
own
own homes
and
we
are in pos-
session of precious things besides, let us rather devote
them
let
to
us
God than keep them for ourselves. And never forget that all we can give, though of
is
His creation,
worthless
in
comparison
of the
more precious gifts which He bestows on us in the Though our Font and Altar were of costly Gospel.
marbles, though our
communion
vessels
were of gold
'
Ezek.
xxviii. 13. 17.
Rev. xxi. 192.3.
XXI.]
339
and jewels, though our walls were covered with rich

tapestries,
what
is all
this
compared
to Christ, the
Son of God and Son of man, present

seen
!
here, but un-
Let us use
visible things
not to hide, but to

let
remind us of things
that while
invisible
and
us pray Him,
we
cleanse the outside of the cup and of

will give us the
is
the platter,
He
Living Bread from
heaven, and the Wine, which
His Blood.
z2
SERMON
THE WEAPONS OF
XXII.
SAINTS.
Matt.
"
xix. 30.
last,
Many
that are
first shall
be
and the
last shall
be
first."
These words are fulfilled under the Gospel in many ways. Our Saviour in one place applies them to the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles;
but in the context in which they stand as
cited them, they
I
have
seem
to have a further meaning,
and
to
embody a
great principle, which
we
all
indeed
acknowledge, but are deficient in mastering.

the dispensation of the Spirit
all
Under
things were to be-
come new and

life,
to be reversed.
Strength, number,
wealth, philosophy, eloquence, craft,
experience of
knowledge of human nature, these are the means
by which worldly men have ever gained the world. But in that kingdom which Christ has set up, all is
contrariwise.
"
The weapons of our warfare
are not
carnal, but mighty through
God
to the pulling
down
of strongholds."
What was
;
before in honour, has

in dishonour, has
been dishonoured
what before was

THE WEAPONS OF
come
to
SAINTS.
341
fails;
honour; what before was successful,

failed, succeeds.
little
;
what before
has become
What
before was great,

little,
what before was
has become
great. Weakness has conquered strength, for the hidden strength of God " is made perfect in weakness."
is
Death has conquered

for that spirit
life,
for in that death
a more glorious resurrection.

flesh
;
Spirit has
con-
quered
above.
is
an inspiration
from
new kingdom has been

all
established, not
it,
merely different from

contrary to
kingdoms before
but
them
a paradox in the eyes of man,
the visible rule of the invisible Saviour. This great change in the history of the world
foretold or described in very
ture.
is
many
passages of Scrip-
Take, for instance, St. Mary's

;
we
read every evening
she was no
Hymn, which woman of high
estate, the
nursling of palaces and the pride of a
people, yet she was chosen to an illustrious place in
the
kingdom of heaven.
sort of type of
What God
began in her
was a
His dealings with His Church.
So she ^poke of His
" scattering the proud," " putting
down
the mighty," " exalting the humble and meek,"
" filling the
hungry with good
things,"
and
" sending
the rich empty away."
This was a shadow or outline

Spirit,
of that
kingdom of the
which was then coming

His
on the earth.
Again
ministry,
when our Lord,
in the beginning of
would declare the great principles and com-
mandments of His kingdom, how did He express Himself ? Turn to the Sermon on the Mount. " He
312
THE WEAPONS OF
said,
SAINTS.
[Seum.
opened His mouth, and

spirit,
Blessed are the poor in
blessed are they that mourn, blessed are the

for
meek, blessed are they which are persecuted

righteousness' sake
'."
Poorness was to bring into the

;
Church the riches of the Gentiles

conquer the earth
in chains
;
meekness was
to
suffering
was
" to bind their kings

iron."
and their nobles with links of
On
"
another occasion he added the counterpart
Woe
unto you that are

;
rich,
for
ye have received
your consolation
shall
shall
shall
woe unto you that are full, for ye woe unto you that laugh now, for ye mourn and weep woe unto you when all men
hunger
;
speak well of you, for so did their fathers to

\"
the false prophets

St.
Paul addresses the Corinthians

see your calling, brethren,
in the
same tone:
"
Ye
wise
men
after the flesh, not

:
how that not many many mighty, not many

foolish
;
noble, are called
But God hath chosen the
things of the world to confound the wise
and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to con-
found the things which are mighty
and base things
of the world, and things which are despised, hath
God
to
chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring

:
nought things that are
that
no
flesh
should
glory in His presence \"
Once more
if
consider the
Book
of Psalms, which,
any part of the Old Testament, belongs immediately

Gospel times, and
is
to
the voice of the Christian
'
Matt.
V.
10.
Luke
vi.
2426.
Cor.
i.
2629.
XXII.]
THE WEAPONS OF
;
SAINTS.
343
Cliurch
what
is
the one idea in that sacred book of

?
devotion from beginning to end
This
that the
weak, the oppressed, the defenceless shall be raised

to rule the world in spite of its array of might, its
threats,
and
its
terrors
that " the
first shall
be
last,
and the
last first."
is
it
kingdom of the sons of God and while endures, there is ever a supernatural work going
Such
the
;
on by which
Yes, so
all
that
man
thinks gTeat
is
overcome,
and what he despises

it is
;
prevails.
since Christ sent
down
gifts
from on
high, the Saints are ever taking possession of the
kingdom, and with the weapons of Saints.

visible
The
in-
powers of the heavens, truth, meekness, and
righteousness, are ever
coming
in
upon the
"
earth, ever
pouring
in,
gathering, thronging, warring, triumphing,
under the guidance of

dead, and
ciple
is
Him who
is
alive
and was
dis-
alive for evermore."
The beloved
horse,
saw
Him mounted
on a white
and going
forth " conquering
and to conquer." "
which were in heaven followed

horses, clothed in fine linen,
And the armies Him upon white white and clean. And
it
out of His
mouth goeth
'."
a sharp sword, that with
He
should smite the nations, and
He
shall rule
them
with a rod of iron
Now
for
let
us apply this great truth to ourselves;
be
it
ever recollected,
are the soldiers of Christ.
we are the sons of God, we The kingdom is within us,

us.
and among
us,
and around
'
We
are apt to speak
Rev.xix. 14, 15.
34*
of
it
THE WEAPONS OF
as a matter of history
; ;
SAINTS.
it
[Sekm.
we speak of
it,
as at a
distance
but really we are a part of
or ought to
it,
be;
and, as
is
we wish
to
be a living portion of
which
our only hope of salvation,
we must
learn
It
first
what
is
its
characters are in order to imitate them.
the characteristic of Christ's Church, that the

last,
should be
and the
last first
are
we
realizing in
ourselves and taking part in this wonderful appoint-
ment of God
Let
me
explain what I
mean we have most of us

;
by nature longings, more or

something greater than
this
less,
and aspirations
after
world can give.
Youth,
especially, has a natural love of
what
is
noble and
heroic.
We
like to
hear marvellous
are,
tales,
which
throw us out of things as they

to thing's that are not.
invisible,
and introduce us
idea of the
We so love the
that
we even
build fabrics in the air for
ourselves, if heavenly truth
be not vouchsafed
us.
We
love to fancy ourselves involved in circumstances
of danger or trial, and acquitting ourselves well under
Or we imagine some perfection, such as earth has not, which we follow, and render it our homage
them.
and our
heart.
Such
is
the state more or less of

alters
it
young persons before the world

the world comes upon them, as
soon, with
its
them, before
often does very
polluting, withering, debasing, deaden-
ing
influence,
before
it
breathes
strips
on
off
them,
their
and
green
blights
foliage,
and parches,
and
and leaves them, as dry and wintry trees
without sap or sweetness.
But
in early
youth we
XXII.]
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
.345
stand with our leaves and blossoms on, which pro-
mise
fruit
we
stand by the side of the
still
waters,
with our hearts beating high, with longings after

our
unknown
good, and with a sort of contempt for

;
the fashions of the world

world, even though
with a contempt for the

in
it.
we engage
gaieties
Even though
it,
we
allow ourselves in our degree to listen to
and
to take part in its
mere
and amusements, yet

is
we
feel the while that
our happiness
not there
and we
in the
have not yet come to think, though
we
are
this
way
is
it,
to think, that all
that
is
beyond
world
after all
for
an
idle dream.
We
on
are on our
;
way
his
to think
no one stands where he was
desires after
what he has
not, his earnest thoughts
after things unseen, if not fixed
their true objects,
catch at something which he does see, something

earthly and perishable,
and seduce him from God.
But
am
speaking of
men
before that time, before
they have given their hearts to the world, which
promises them true good, then
cheats them, and

is
then makes them believe that there
no truth any
it.
where, and that they were fools for thinking
But
this
before that time, they have desires after things above

this world,
which they embody in some form of
world, because they have no other
them more than a shadow. If they are

they dream of becoming their
way of making in humble life,

if in
own
masters, rising in
the world, and securing an independence;
higher rank, they have ambitious thoughts of gaining

a
name and
exercising power.
While
their hearts are
340
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
if
[Serm.
thus unsettled, Christ comes to them,
they will
receive Ilim, and promises to satisfy their great need,

this
hunger and
till
thirst
which wearies them.
He
does
not wait
ings as
they have learned to ridicule high feel:
mere romantic dreams
He
comes to the
young
He
has
them baptized
betimes, and then pro-
mises them, and in a higher way, those

blessings which they yearn after.
in the
unknown
say,
words of the Apostle, "
He What
;
seems to
ye ignorantly
are seeking
worship, that declare I unto you."
You
what you see

great, I will
not, I give
it
you
you desire to be
make you so; but observe how, -just in the reverse May to what you expect the way to real glory is to become unknown and despised.
;
He
two
let
says, for instance, to
the aspiring, as to His
Whosoever will be great among you, him be your minister and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister "." Here is our rule. The way to mount up is to go down. Every step we take downward, makes us higher in the kingdom of heaven. Do you desire to be great ? make yourselves little. There
;
Apostles, "
is
a mysterious connexion between real advancement

If you minister to the
and self-abasement.
humble
sick,
and despised,
submit to
if
you feed the hungry, tend the

if
succour the distressed;

insult,
you bear with the
fro ward, for
endure ingratitude, render good
Matt. XX.
2C 28.

XXII.]
THE WEAPONS OF
are, as
SAINTS.
347
evil,
you
by a divine charm, getting power
over the world and rising
among
Thus
the creatures.
God
has established this law.

ful works.
He does
His wonder;
His instruments are poor and despised
knows their names, or not at all. They are busied about what the world thinks petty They are appaactions, and no one minds them.
the world hardly
rently set on no great works
:
nothing
to
fail.
is
seen to
come of what they do they seem

as regards religious objects
Nay, even
visible con-
which they themselves
profess to desire, there
is
no natural and
nexion between their doings and sufferings and these

desirable ends
;
but there
is
an unseen connexion in
rise
the
kingdom of God.
They
by
falling.
Plainly
so, for
no condescension can be so great as that of
our Lord Himself.

selves the
Now
the more they abase them-
more
like
they are to Him, and the more

their
like they are to
Him, the greater must be
power with Him.
When we
vidence
once recognize this law of God's proshall
we
:
understand better, and be more
desirous to imitate, our Lord's precepts, such as the
following
"
Ye
call
Me
feet
Master and Lord
and ye say well
for so I
am.
If I then, your
;
Lord and Master, have
washed your
feet.
ye also ought to wash one another's
For
have given you an example, that ye

Verily, verily, I
should do as I have done to you.

say unto you,
lord
;
The
servant
is
is
not greater than his
neither he that
sent greater than he that
348
sent him."
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
" If ye
[Sekm.
And
then our Lord adds

if
know
if
these things, happy are ye
yc do t]lenl^"
As
He
should say to us of this day,
You know
well that the
Gospel was at the
first
preached and propagated by the

;
poor and lowly against the world's power
you know
that fishermen and publicans overcame the world.
You know it; you are fond of bringing it forward as an

evidence of the truth of the Gospel, and of enlarging
on
it
as
;
something
striking,
if
and a topic
for
;
many
happy
;
words
happy are ye
ye yourselves
fulfil it
are ye \i ye carry on the
work of those fishermen
if
ye in your generation follow them as they followed
Me, and triumph over the world and ascend above

by a like self-abasement.
it
Again
wedding,
"
sit
When
not
thou art bidden of any

in the highest
man
;
. .
to a
.
down
room
but
when thou
room, that
art bidden,
go and
sit
down
in the lowest
when he
that bade thee cometh, he
may
thou
at
say unto thee, Friend, go
up higher then
:
slialt
have worship in the presence of them that
sit
meat with thee
for
whosoever exalteth himself
shall
be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be

exalted ^." Here
is
a rule which extends to whatever
we
do.
It
is
plain that the spirit of this
command
leads us, as a condition of being exalted hereafter, to

cultivate here all kinds of little humiliations; instead
of loving display, putting ourselves forward, seeking

to
be noticed, being loud or eager in speech, and
John
xiii.
1317.
Luke
xiv. 8. 10, 11.
XXII.]
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
349
to
bent on having our

rejoice in
own way, to be content, nay, being made little of, to perform what
offices, to
to
the flesh are servile

barely
suffered
think
to
it
enough to be
among men,
be patient under
calumny; not to argue, not to judge, not to pronounce

censures, unless a plain duty
comes
in
and
all this
is
because our Lord has said that such conduct

very
the
way
to be exalted in
His presence.
Again, " I say unto you, that ye resist not evil
but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, What a precept is turn to him the other also ^"
this
?
why
is
this voluntary degradation

it ?
is it
what good
can come to
resist evil is
left
not an extravagance ?
;
Not
be
to
going far
but to court
it,
to turn the
in-
cheek to the aggressor and to

!
offer to
!
sulted
what a wônderful command

?
it,
What ? must
we must
we
take pleasure in indignities

difficult to
Surely
however
understand
it.
however arduous
St. Paul's words,
:
and trying to practise
Hear
which are a comment on Christ's
" Therefore I
take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake

;
;"
he adds the reason

strong'."
"/or when
I am
weak, then
am
As health and
exercise and regular diet are
necessary to strength of the body, so an enfeebling
and
afflicting of
the natural man, a chastising and

body,
are
afflicting
of soul and
necessary to the
exaltation of the soul.
Matt. V. 39.
'
2 Cor. xii. 10.
; ;
350
THE WEAPONS OF
:
SAINTS.
[Serm.
Again
St.
Paul
says,
"
Avenge not
:
yourselves,
is
but rather give place unto
v^ratli
for
it
written,
Vengeance
Therefore
thirst,
Mine; enemy hunger, feed him; give him drink for in so doing thou
is
I will repay, saith tlie Lord.

if
if
thine
he
shalt
heap
is
coals of fire
on his head ^"

;
a Christian's revenge
this is
As how a
if
he
said,
This
Christian heaps
his
punishment and suffering on the head of

viz.
enemy;
has
by returning good
for evil.
Is there pleasure
?
in seeing
an injurer and oppressor at your feet
man
vrronged you, slandered you, tyrannized over
you, abused your confidence, been ungrateful to you?

or to take
what
is
insolent to you,
more common, has a man been shown contempt of you, thwarted

feeling
is this,
you, outwitted you, been cruel to you, and you feel
resentment,
and your
it
" I wish
him
no
ill,
but
should like him just to be brought

to
down
for this,
and to make amends

be, " I will
me
;"
rather say,
hard though
overcome him with love
except severity be a duty, I will say nothing, do

nothing; I will keep quiet, I will seek to do him a
service
will
;
owe him a
I
service,
not a grudge
and
be kind, and sweet, and gentle, and composed

cannot disguise from him that I
I, still
and while
with
know
be
well where he stands, and where

all
this shall
peaceableness and purity of affection."

!
hard duty, but most blessed
for
even to take into

it is, is
account the pleasure of revenge, such as
there
Rom.
xii. 19,
20.
XXII.]
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
351
not gTeater gratification in thus melting the proud
and injurious heart, than

wardly, without subduing
in
it
triumphing over
within
?
it
out-
Is there not
more of true enjoyment,

calling
in looking
up
to
God, and
is
Him
(so to speak), as
a witness of what
done, and having His Angels
as conscious spectators
of your triumph, though not a soul on earth
knows
any thing of
it,
than to have your mere carnal re-
taliation of evil for evil
presence of
all,
and more than
known and talked of, in the all, who saw the insult
it
or heard of the
WTong ?
The
is tlie
case
is
the same as regards poverty, which
fashion of the world to regard not only as the
greatest of evils, but as the greatest disgrace.
Men
count
arise
it
a disgrace, because
sloth,
it
certainly does often
from carelessness,
But, in
imprudence, and other

it is
faults.
many
life in
cases,
nothing else but
the very state of
which God has placed a man;

it
is is
but
still,
even then,
if
equally despised by the

set forth
world.
Now
there
one thing clearly
in the Bible
it is this,
that " Blessed are the poor."

;
Our Saviour was the

was a poor man.
yet for your sakes
great example of poverty
He
rich,
St. Paul says, "
Ye know
the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
He
was
He became
His poverty might be rich \"

"
Or
consider St. Paul's
very solemn language about the danger of wealth
The
love of
money
'
is
the root of
all evil,
which
while some coveted after, they have erred from the

2 Cor.
viii.
9.
352
faith,
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
[Serm.
and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows \"
Can we doubt
that poverty
is
under the
Gospel
better tlian riches?
I say U7ider the Gos])e],
and
in the regenerate,
and in the true servants of God.
Of course out of the Gospel, among the unregenerate, among the lovers of this world, it matters not whether one is rich or poor a man is any how unjusti;
fied,
and there
is
no better or worse in
his
outward
is
circumstances.
But, I say, in Christ the
poor
in a
more
blessed lot than the wealthy.
Ever since the

and had not
Eternal Son of
God was born
in a stable,
a place to lay his head, and died an outcast and as a

malefactor, heaven has been
grace,
selves,
won by
poverty,
by
dis-
and by
suffering.
Not by
these things in them-
but by faith working in and through them.
These are a few out of many things which might

be said on
this
most deep and serious

it is
subject.
It
is
strange to say, but
a truth which our
vation and experience will confirm, that

discerns in himself most sin
own when
obser-
man
and humbles himself
most,
when
his comeliness
seems to him to vanish
away and
all his
graces to wither,
when he
feels dis-
gust at himself, and revolts at the thought of himself,
seems to himself
odiousness, then
it
:
all
is
dust and ashes,

that he
it is is
all foulness,
and
really rising in the
kingdom of God
first
as
said of Daniel, "
From
the
day that thou didst
set thine heart to
understand
and
to chasten thyself before thy
God, thy words were
heard, and I
*
am come
vi.
for thy
words \"
"
Tim.
10.
Dan.
x. 12.
XXII]
THE WEAPONS OF
SAINTS.
35S
Let us then,
as the
my
brethren, understand our place,
redeemed children of God.
great in this world, but

selves great
;
woe
to those
Some 7nust be who make themOf

course
woe
to
any who take one step out of

them.
their
way with
is
this object before
no one
safe
from the intrusion of corrupt motives
but I speak of persons allowing themselves in such a

motive, and acting mainly from such a motive.
this
Let
be the settled view of
Christ's cause
selves,
is
upon
earth.
nothing can really
who would promote we are true to ourthwart us. Our warfare

all
If
not with carnal weapons, but with heavenly.
The
its
world does not understand what our real power is, and
where
it lies.
And
until
we put
ourselves into
hands of our ow^n

Till
act, it
can do nothing against
us.
we
leave off patience, meekness, purity, resignait
tion,
and peace,
is
can do nothing against that truth

is
which
it
our birthright, that cause which

all saints
ours, as
has been the cause of
before us.
But
in
let all
who would
labour for
God
in a dark
day be-
ware of any thing which
ruffles,
excites,
and
any
way withdraws them from the love of God and and simple obedience to Him.
This be our duty in the dark night, while
for the
Christ,
we
who
wait
day
while
we wait
for
Him who
who
is
is
our Day,
will
while
we
wait for His coming,
gone,
return,
will
and before
whom
all
the tribes of the earth
mourn, but the sons of
God
will rejoice.
:
" It
-
doth not yet appear what

that,
we shall be but we know when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for
;
VOL. VI.
A a
354
THE WEAPONS OF
shall see
SAINTS.
we
is
Ilim as lie
is.
And
every
man
made
that
hath this hope in
Him
purifieth liimself,
even as
He
like
pure
^."
It is
our blessedness to be
the all-holy, all-gracious, long-suffering, and merciful
God who made and who redeemed us

;
in
;
whose pre-
sence
is
perfect rest, and perfect peace
whom
the
Seraphim are harmoniously praising, and the Cheru-
bim
is is
tranquilly contemplating,
and Angels
in heaven.
silently
serving,
and the Church thankfully worshipping. All
order, repose, love,
and holiness
There
dis-
no anxiety, no ambition, no resentment, no

tumult. "
is
content, no bitterness, no remorse, no

wilt
Thou
keep him
:
in perfect peace,
whose mind
stayed
on Thee
because he trusteth in Thee.

for
Trust ye in
is
the Lord for ever:

everlasting strength ^"
John
in
the
Lord Jehovah
"
iii.
2, 3.
Isa. xxvi. 3, 4.
SERMON
XXIII.
John
iv.
48.
" Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."
We
are
now
celebrating the last great Festival in
the course of Holy services which began in
Advent
the Feast of the Ever-blessed Trinity, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, whose mercy has planned, accomplished, and wrought in us " life and immortality."
And
that
the present Festival has this peculiarity in

it
is
it,
the commemoration of a mystery.
Other
Festivals celebrate mysteries also,
but not because

the birth of
they are mysteries.

Christ,
The Annunciation,
all
His death on the Cross, His Resurrection, the

mysteries; but
descent of the Holy Ghost, are
we celebrate them, not on

blessings
celebrate, not
this account,
but for the
which we gain from them.
But to-day we
us, but,
an act of God's mercy towards
forgetting ourselves, and looking only upon Him,
we
reverently and awfully, yet joyfully, extol the
won-
Aa2
356
FAITII
WITHOUT DKMONSTRATION.
[Srrm.
ders, not of
His works, but of His own Nature,
We
lift
up heart and eyes towards Him, and speak
of what
He
is
in Himself.
infinite
We
dare to speak of
;
His everlasting and
Essence
we
directly
contemplate a mystery, the deep unfathomable mystery of the Trinity in Unity.
Doubtless, from that deep mystery proceeds

that
is
all
to benefit
and bless
us.
Without an Almighty
Yet, on
Son we
Spirit
are not redeemed,
without an Ever-present
its
we
are not justified and sanctified.
this day,
we
celebrate the mystery for
own
sake,
not for our sake.
On this
fix
day, then,
we should
forget ourselves,
and
our thoughts upon God.

;
Yet men are not
willing
to forget themselves
it
they do not like to become, as

to
were, nothing, and

like
have no work but

;
faith.
They
argument and proof better
they like to
satisfaction
satisfac-
be convinced of a truth to their own

before they receive
tion
is
it,
when, perhaps, such
impossible.
This happens in the sacred subthe Trinity

all
ject before us.

in
The solemn mystery of

it.
Unity
;
is
contained in Scripture.
is
We
know
it
this
there
no doubt about
it
fit
Yet, though
be
in Scripture,
does not follow that every one of us
should be a
Scripture,
judge whether and where

contained there
it
it is
in
It
may be
to
fully,
and yet
we not
able
see
fully,
for
various reasons.
Now
fall
this is the great

;
mistake which some persons

is
into
they think, because the doctrine
mainit
tained as being in Scripture by those who maintain

XXIII.]
357
as true, that therefore they have a right to say that they

will
not believe
It is
it till it is
proved to them from Scrip-
ture.
nothing to them that the great multitude
men in all ages have held it. They act like Thomas, who would not believe his brother Apostles that our Lord was risen, till he had as much proof as they, and who said, " Except I see and touch for myself, I will not believe." And they are like the
of good and holy
Jews
"
whom
our Lord reproves in the text, saying,

will not bebelief,
Except ye see signs and wonders, ye
lieve."
They
call it
an enlightened, rational
to
demand
for themselves proof

;
from Scripture before
they believe
and they think that any other admisis
sion of the doctrine
blind and superstitious, and
unacceptable to Almighty God.
And
when, perhaps, we have gone so
far as to
indulge them, and to profess that
we
are willing to
prove the doctrine from Scripture to their satisfaction,
and
that, as a previous step to their believing
and worshipping, then they meet us with such shallow and light-minded questions as the following
"
:
Where
in Scripture
do you
it,
find the
word Trinity ?"
"
Why do you insist upon

"Where
is
if it is
not in Scripture ?"
Again,
the
Holy Ghost expressly and

Again, "
plainly called God, in Scripture ?"
Where
does
does Scripture speak of

sons, as the
One
Substance, Three Per-
Athanasian Creed speaks ?
Where
Scripture say that the
uncreate
where, that
Son and the Holy Ghost are the Godhead of the Father,
'
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
is all
one, the
; ;
358
[Seem.
glory equal, the majesty co-eternal?'"
And so
they go
through the whole of our divine

ing,
faith, carping, objectit
and traducing, even though they do not mean

all for this
is
and
because
;
they will be judges them-
selves vrhat
in Scripture
and what not;

;
what
necessary to salvation, and what not

important, and what not
what words are
what sources of instruction
God has given besides Scripture, and what not. that Now, on such conduct, I observe as follows they who think it unreasonable to believe without
:
proof, are surely unreasonable themselves in so thinking.
What
warrant in reason, what right have they,

it
to say that they will not believe the Creed unless

is
proved to them to be in Scripture
They
profess
it
to act
by reason.
Well, then, I ask them. Is
according to reason to say, that they will not believe
the Creed without reasons drawn out to their

faction from Scripture
?
satis-
I think
not
I think I can
prove that
it is
not.
think a very few words will
make
it
evident, that they are unreasonable
and
in-
consistent in refusing to believe before they see the
Scripture proof.
1.
would
ask,
in the first place,
whether we
affairs
reason and prove before

life ?
we
act, in
the
of this
For instance, we are bound to obey the laws

that
we know
not
;
that if
we shall get into great trouble if we do we break them, loss of property or imbe the consequence
;
prisonment
will
so that
;
it is
of
great im])ortance that
we
should obey them
and we
know
that these laws are not always obvious to
com-
XXIII]
359
mon
his
sense; so that at times, a person
may break
upon
them with the best
intentions possible, if he act
own
private notions of right
and wrong. Accordfind persons,
ingly, every
now and then you

;
under
particular circumstances, alarmed lest they should be
unawares breaking the law

do
?
and what do they then
they consult some one skilled in the law,
who
has
made
to
the law^ his study and profession.
It
never
occurs to a
and
man so circumstanced to buy law books, make out the truth of any important matter
though
it is
for himself,
really contained in
law books.
No
neither in ordinary nor in extraordinary mat-
ters does
he
trust his
own judgment how the law

it
stands.
In ordinary matters he thinks

in general
;
safe to
go
by the opinion of men

he consults
vividly
in extraordinary,
men how much
learned in the law; feeling too

is
at stake to trust himself.
It is
not that he doubts, for an instant, that the laws of

the land are put into WTiting, and are to be found in
law books, and might be drawn out of them; but
he distrusts himself.
books, but his
risk,
He
ability.
distrusts,
not the
is
law
too
and
own much at
There
too great a
his
stake,
his property,
chain
racter, his person, are at stake.
He cannot afford,
such a case, to indulge his love of argument, disputation,
criticism.
No
this love
of argument can
only be indulged in a case in which
we have no
fears.
It is reserved for religious subjects.

differ
Such subjects
because
from
all
other practical subjects, as being those

feels free to speculate,
on which the world

3G0
it
FAITH Wli'HOUT DEMONSTRATION.

It has
[Serm.
does not fear.
no
fears
it
about religious
does not
feel,
doctrine,
no keen
sensibilities;
though
it
may
confess,
that
its
eternal interests are

for
at stake.
It suspends its
judgment;
it
what mat-
ters it to the
world whether
?
makes up
its
mind on
a point of religion, or no
will not believe
till
It
can afford to say, " I
I see proof in Scripture for be-
lieving,"
though
till
it
does not say, " I will not believe

it
lawyers
I understand the law," because
sees
is it
clearly and feels deeply that the law of the land
a real power, and that to come into collision with

is
*'
a real disaster
the Word
but
is
it
does not see and feel that
of God
quick and powerful, and sharper

piercing even to
spirit,
than any two-edged sword,

dividing asunder of soul and
the
and of the joints
and marrow, and
is
a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart."
Men
well understand that
they will be sure to suffer from they cannot judge of

that they can,
if
it
human
law, for all
by themselves, on the ground

but they cannot be made to
they choose, get other competent
men
to
judge
for
them
feel that they will hereafter have to answer for hav-
ing been told the truth, however, or from whatever quarter
they were told
it,
at
Church,
or
from
it
teachers, or from
religious books.
They
act as if
were no matter what they knew, unless they came

to
know
Now,
it
in one particular
way,
through Scrip-
ture.
surely, this parallel holds
most exactly, un-
less
one or other of two things could be shown,
XXIII.]

thinking,
or,
first,
361
it
unless
ters
is
we have reason for not what we believe

;
that
mat-
secondly, that no faith
acceptable in the case of individuals which does
not arise from their

Scripture.
own
'personal inferences
from
Let, then, ground be produced for either
of these two positions,
that correct faith

faith
is
unim-
portant, or that personal
must be
built
upon
argument and
opinion of
all
proof.
Till then, surely

us,
the general
first,
men around
all
and that from the and

superiors,
the belief of our teachers, friends,
and
of
all
Christians in
times and places, that the

in order
doctrine of the
to salvation,
is
Holy Trinity must be held

as
good a reason
for our believing it

it
ourselves, even without being able to prove

its
in all
parts
it
from Scripture
others,
is
I say, this general reception
of
it
by
as
good a reason
for accepting
without hesitation, considering the fearful conse-
quences which
the general
may follow from not accepting it, as belief how the law stands and the opinion
it is
of skilful lawyers about

their view of the law,
a reason for following
though we cannot verify that
view from law books.

2.
But
it
may
here be said, that the cases are
dif-
ferent in this respect,
that the commonly-received

is,
notions about what the law of the land
do not
diflS-
impose upon
our belief
any thing improbable or
cult to accept,
but that the Catholic doctrine of the

;
Trinity
is
mysterious and unlikely
and, therefore,
though
it is
reasonable to go by what others say in

it is
legal matters,
not reasonable to go by others
in respect to this doctrine.
S62
[Sebm.
Now, on
teriousness
the contrary, I consider that this mysis,
as
far
as
it
proves
any
I
thing,
recommendation of the
that
it is
doctrine.
do not say
;
true,
it
because
it is
mysterious
but that
It
in
if it he true,
cannot help being mysterious.

as has often
would be strange, indeed,

argument,
if
been urged
any doctrine concerning God's
infinite
and eternal Nature were not mysterious.

cerning His nature,
It
would
That
is
even be an objection to any professed doctrine conif it
were not mysterious.
the sacred doctrine, then, of the Trinity in Unity

mysterious,
trary
is,
;
is
no objection to
should
it,
but rather the con-
the only objection that can plausibly be urged

if so,
it
why,
be revealed
Why
should
we
if
be told any thing about God's Adorable Nature,

incomprehensible
He
be ?
it
is,
and mysterious the doctrine
about
Him must
This,
though can we ask
piously and reverently?
we be judges what He will can we^ worms of the earth, and creatures of a day, pretend to determine what is most suitable to Him
to
tell,
we may ask how can do on such a point ? how

it is
true,
what
is
best for us to know,

?
when He condeit
scends to reveal Himself to us us that
Is
not enough for
He
speaks to us at
all ?
and cannot we con-
sent to leave
Him
(if
may
so express myself) to
speak to us in His
will reveal to us
own way ?
Whether, then.
but
He
any thing about His own Nature or

;
no, our reason cannot determine
this it
can deIt
is.
termine, that ?y
He
does,
it
will
be mysterious.
no objection^ then, I repeat, to the doctrine, that

is
it
mysterious
and
it is
no reason, therefore, against
XXIII.]

it
363
it
receiving
is
on
tlie
general belief of others, that
mysterious.
It is
not more improbable that the

it is,
it is
;
doctrine should be what
than that the law of
the land should be what
and as we believe the
testimony of others about the law, without having

studied the law, so
we may
well receive the doctrine
of the Trinity on the testimony of our friends and

superiors, our Church, all
good men, learned men,
and
men
in general,
though we have not learning,
attainments, or leisure sufficient to

selves
draw
it
for our-
from Scripture.
It is not
stranger that the
testimony of others should be our guide as to the
next world, than that

This
is
it is
our guide in
this.
the
;
first
answer that I should make to

I will give
this
objection
but
now
another, which will

fully.
open the state of the case more

I suppose,
then, there
is
no one who has not

seeing,
heard, and
no one but would be shocked at

that
is,
what
is
called an Atheist,
is
a person
who
denies that there
any God at
all.
We
his
should be
shocked, not from any unchristian feeling towards

the unhappy
man who blasphemed
Saviour, but, without thinking of him^

feel that
Maker and we should

close
Satan alone could be the author of such
an impiety, and
we should be
sure that
we had
beside us a very special manifestation of Satan.
We
and
should be shocked to think
how
very low
human
nature could
fall,
when
it
so yielded to the temptafeelings,
tions of Satan.
Such would be our
surely very right ones; yet, perhaps, the
unhappy
3G4

in
[Serm.
man
question, quite unconscious himself of his
great misery, as unconscious as persons
who deny the

is
doctrine of the Trinity are of theirs (for this
the
property of Satan's delusions, that the
men
seized
by
them do not
this
suspect that they are delusions), I say,
man, altogether unconscious what a mournful

all believers,
object he was to
might begin
his
to argue
and dispute in
"
I
his defence,
:
and
argument might
in a
be such as the following
You
tell
me
is
that I
must believe
God, but
want
this doctrine
it.
proved to
my satisfaction before I
believe
It
very unreasonable in you to deal with
me
in
any other way.
Nay, you have gone against
reason in the case of your
own
faith.
For which of
exists?
you has ever set about proving that God

of you has not believed
believe
it
which
it
before proving it?

it.
You
But
because you have been taught
prove to
me the truth
affairs,
of this doctrine from the world
which we see and touch, from the course of nature

and of human and then
I will believe it."
Now
all
is
it
not a very happy thing that
not accustomed to speak in this way ?
men are Why, if so,

;
our
life
would be spent
in proving things
our
;
whole being would be one continued disputation
we should have no time for action

get so far as action.
things,
we
should never
Some
things, nay, the greatest
must be taken
fritter
for granted, unless
we make
;
up our minds to
away life, doing nothing. But
to return to the particular case before us
should
we
think ourselves weak and dull in not seeking
XXIII.]
365
proof that
God
exists before believing
it,
or the
if
man
is it
in question miserable in
sisted,
needing
it ?
Yet,
he per-
and was of an acute and subtle mind,

is
not plain, that abundant as
the evidence of God's
existence, providence, power, wisdom, and love, on
the face of nature and in
human
it
affairs,
yet
it
would
not at
all
be easy to prove
to hhn, not
merely to
his satisfaction,
but to our satisfaction
either. Clearly
as
we should not be able to bring out the proof so as to come up to our own notions what a proof oucjJit to be, and we should be disappointed with our own attempt. after For, let us see how this man would argue,
we
should feel the evidence,
all,
I scarcely like to say
what he would urge,

two
lest I
should speak in a
way
unsuitable to this sacred place;

things,
in
and yet
it
may
be useful to hint at one or
by way of showing how much we should be bound

consistency to admit, if
lieve
we
grant a
man need
be-
nothing for which he cannot be given a clear
and convenient proof,

"
tell
he
will say
is
then thus
You
tell
me
it.
that there
but one
God and you

;
me
to look abroad into the world, I
and
I shall
see proofs of
do look abroad, and I see good
and
evil,
I see the proof, then, of

evil.
two gods, a good

principles strug-
God, and another,
I see
two
gling with each other."
This shocking doctrine has
before
now been
held by those
who were determined
to prove to themselves every thing before they be-
lieved
and when
it
is
a question of argument and

it is,
disputation, blasphemous as
much
that
is
plausible
366

it.
[Serm.
can be said for

of
its
For
evil certainly
it
has a kingdom
own
in the world;
seems to have a place here,

calls
is
and
to act
on system.
;
Even Scripture
Satan
really
the god of this world
not meaning that he
god of
it,
(God
it,
forbid!)
but that he has usurped the

to
power of
every one
and seems
be god of
it.
If,
then,
is
bound
to prove his faith for himself

is
before believing, then he
bound, not only to prove
for himself the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity
from
Scripture, but he
must
first
prove from the face of

;
the world the doctrine of the Unity

first
and, as in the
case,
he
will,
unless properly qualified, be in
great risk of perplexing himself and denying that
God
that
is
Three, so will he, in the
latter,
run great risk

to be feared
of denying that
it is
God
is
One.
And
it is
only because
men
have the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity
and
cavil
to speak against, that they do not speak

;
against the doctrine of the Unity
they will doubt
about some thing or other; and were re-
vealed religion not before them, then they would
speak against natural religion, as in other times and

places they have already done.
Again
the deluded
man
;
am
supposing will
continue his bad arguments as follows: "
You
to
tell
me
that
God
is
almighty
now you may
prove
Him
be
see,
is
to be
mighty, but
how do you prove Him

all-seeing
almighty?
You
cannot prove more than you

to judge of "
and you must be

cdmixjlityr
what
Again
You
say that
God
is
infinite
but
all
you can know on the subject
is,
that the
XXIII.]
367
Intelligence that created the world surpasses your
comprehension; but by
how much, whether infinitely,

Again:
you cannot know, you cannot prove."

tell
is
"You
;
me
to believe that
;
God had no beginning
this
incomprehensible
do not know what you mean

It is as
cannot take in the sense of your words.
easy to believe the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity,

as that
God had no
it
beginning.
And
there
is less
;
proof for
than for the doctrine of the Trinity
for,
at least, there is proof in Scripture for that doctrine,
but what possible proof can you pretend to bring
from the face of the world that God was from everlasting?"
Now
do not see how such an objector can be

satisfactorily, if
answered
he
is
pertinacious.
You
(as
meet, indeed, with books written to prove to us
they
profess) the being of
an Almighty,
is
Infinite,
Everlasting God, from what
seen in the natural

it
;
world, but they do not strictly prove
they do but
to
recommend, evidence, and confirm the doctrine

those
who
believe
it
already.
They do not make an

it.
approach to a complete argumentative proof of
They
are obliged to pass over, or take for granted,
many
They
of the most important points in the doctrine.

are,
doubtless, useful to Christians, as far as
they tend to enliven their devotion, to strengthen

their faith, to excite their gratitude, their
and to enlarge
minds
but they are
little
or no evidence to
unbelievers.
And,
in saying all this, I
must not be
understood to say, that the course of the world does
3i)8
[Serm.
not justly impress upon us the doctrine of

Infinite,
One True,
that
and Almighty God

is
it
does
so,
but
the proof
cate,
too deep, subtle, complex, indirect, deli-
and
spiritual to
be analyzed and brought out
into formal argument, level to the comprehension of
the multitude of men.
And
I say the
same of the
proof of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in Scripture.
A humble, teachable, simple,

as
believing mind, will im-
bibe the doctrine from Scripture,
how
it
;
knows
not,
we drink in the air without man wants formal grounds for

him
tion
in a definite shape,
seeing
it
but when a
his belief laid before

for reflec-
and has little time
and study, and

I say,
little
learning or cultivation of
little
mind, then,
he can do
better than to
fall
back upon his impressions instead of proof, on thebelief

of
all
around him, and on the testimony of

us, then, learn
all ages.
Let
faith
strict
fair
;
from
this Festival to
walk
/)i/
that
is,
not to ask jealously and coldly for
arguments, but to follow generously what has

it,
evidence for
even though
it
might have
fuller
or
more systematic evidence.

all
It is in this
way
that
we
believe that there
is
a God.
us.
A
is
subtle infidel
might soon perplex any one of

might.
Of
course he
faith.
Our
very state and warfare

at,
one of
it
Let us aim
let
us reach after and (as
were)
is
catch at the things of the next world.
There
is
voice within us, which assures us that there
some-
thing higher than earth.
We
cannot analyze, define,

It
contemplate what
it is
that thus whispers to us.
has no shape or material form.
There
is
that in our
XXIII.]
369
hearts which prompts us to religion, and which con-
demns and
nature
rest
is
chastises sin.
And
this
yearning of our
met and sustained, it finds an object to upon, when it hears of the existence of an AllIt incites us to a
powerful, All-gracious Creator.
noble faith in what
we cannot
see.
Let us exercise a similar

teries of revelation also.
faith, as
regards the mysthe true use of

If
Here
is
Scripture in leading us to the truth.
we
read
it
humbly and inquire

trines of the
teachably,
we
shall find;
we
shall
have a deep impression on our minds that the doc-
Creed are there, though we may not be
able to put our hands
upon
particular texts,
and say
how much
there.
of
it
is
But, on the
contained here and how much other hand, if we read in order
to prove those doctrines, in a critical, argumentative
way, then
all
traces
of
them
will
disappear from
Scripture as
if
they were not there.
away
insensibly like hues at sunset,
They will fade and we shall be
left in
darkness.
We
shall
come
to the conclusion
that they are not in Scripture, and shall, perhaps,
boldly call
them
unscriptural.
is
Religious convictions
cannot be forced; nor

at will.
divine truth ours to
If
we
determine that
we
will find
summon it out, we
shall find nothing.

spells
Faith and humility are the only
which conjure up the image of heavenly things

;
into the letter of inspiration

consist,
and
faith
and humility
not in going about to prove, but in the outset
confiding on the testimony of others.
Thus
B b
after-
wards on looking back, we

VOL.
VI.
shall find
we have proved
370

set out to prove.
[Serm.
what we did not

trol
We
cannot con-
our reasoning powers, nor exert them at our will
or at any
moment.
It is so
with other faculties of
mind also. Who can command his memory ? The more you try to recall what you have forgotten,
the the less
is
your chance of success.
Leave thinking
about
it,
and perhaps memory returns.
And
in like
manner, the more you set yourself to argue and

prove, in order to discover truth, the less likely you
are to reason correctly and to infer profitably.

will
You
be caught by sophisms, and think them splendid
discoveries.
Be
;
sure, the highest reason
is
not to
reason on system, or by rules of argument, but in a

natural
proofs,
way
not with formal intent to draw out
but trusting to God's blessing that you
may
gain a right impression from what you read.
If your
reasoning
powers are weak, using argumentative
forms will not
make them
There
stronger.
They
will enable
you
to dispute acutely
and
is
to hit objections, but not
to discover truth.
nothing creative, nothing
progressive in exhibitions of argument.
they do
is
to enable us to state well
The utmost what we have
already discovered by the tranquil exercise of our

reason.
Faith and obedience are the main things;
believe and do, and pray to

will reason well without
God
for light,
it.
and you
knowing
for signs
Let us not then seek

clear, or strong, or
and wonders
for
compact, or original arguments;

evidence will come after faith as
it
but
its
let
us believe
reward, better than before
as its
groundwork.
XXIII.]

;
371
Faith soars aloft
it listens
for the notes of heaven,
the faint voices or echoes which scarcely reach the

earth,
and thinks them worth

but
all
the louder sounds

is
of
cities or
of schools of men. It
it is
foolishness in the
eyes of the world;
a foolishness of
God
wiser than the world's wisdom.
Let us embrace the
sacred mystery of the Trinity in Unity, which, as the
Creed
tells us, is
it
the ground of the Catholic religion.

let
Let us think
enough,
us think
it far
too great
a privilege, for sinners such as
we
are, for
a fallen
people in a degenerate age, to inherit the faith once

delivered to the Saints
let
;
let us
;
accept
it
thankfully
us guard
it
watchfully
let us transmit it faith-
fully to those
who come
after us.
Bb2
SERMON
XXIV.
THE MYSTERY OF THE HOLY TRINIIY.
Matt,
"
xxviii. 19.
Go ye, therefore, and teach all Name of the Father, and of the
in
nations
baptizing them in the
Son, and of the
Holy Ghost."
That
some
real sense the Father,
and the Son,
and the Holy Ghost are They

to serve
and worship, from
whom we are bound whom comes the Gospel
of grace, and in
centres, surely
is
whom
the profession of Christianity
shown, most satisfactorily and inthis text.
disputably,
by the words of
When
Christ
was departing,
of
He
gave commission to His Apostles,

first
and taught them what to teach and preach; and

all
they were to introduce their converts into His
profession, or into
rite,
His Church, and that by a solemn
which, as
He
had told Nicodemus at an
earlier
time, was to convey a high spiritual grace.
This
solemn and supernatural ordinance of discipleship
was to be administered
the
in the
it ?)
Name
(can
we doubt
of
Name of whom ? in Him whose disciples
; ;
MYSTERY OF THE HOLY TRINITY.

the converts forthwith became
;
373
of that
God whom,
from that day forward, they confessed and adored
whom
trusted
they promised to obey ; in whose word they

;
by whose bounty they were to be rewarded.

Christ would
Yet when
name
the
Name
of God,
He
does but say, " in the
Name of the
Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
I consider, then, that

is
on the very face of His sacred words there

culty,
till
diffi-
the doctrine of the
Holy Trinity
is
known.
What
can be meant by saying, in the Name, not of

It
is
God, but of Three ?

speech.
an unexpected manner of
said, "
Now
even
if it
were merely
of the Father
and the Son," there would surely be a

terms of His command.
that
difficulty in
the
We might indeed
commencing,
suppose
He
meant thereby to denote the Supreme Lord

(as
of
all,
and the instrument and mediator of His mercies
in the dispensation then
we
read of
God and His servant JMoses," and " worshipping the Lord and the king," David ;)
the Israelites " believing
but surely even then
it
would be strange and inexpli-
cable that Christ should say, "the Father and Son," and
not
like
"God and
;
the Son," or "
whereas the
Name
of
God and Christ," or the God does not occur at all,
and the two words used instead are what are called correlatives,
one implies the other, they look from one to
the other.
There
is
no mention of a Fount of mercies

that,
and a channel, and

but
it is
towards
man
the recipient
like the statement of

its
some sacred doctrine

independently of
which has
meaning
in itself,
874
THE MYSTERY OF
or of any
[Sbhm.
man
economy of mercy towards him. And

is
the force of this remark
increased by our Lord's
making mention,
Sacred
in
addition, of the
Holy Ghost,
Three
which much confirms
this impression that the
Names
introduced have a meaning relatively
to each other,
and not to any temporal dispensation.

run,
" in the
Did the text

Christ,
this
Name
I
of God, Jesus
and the
Comforter,"
do not say that

an Author of
events there
diffi-
would have overcome the
difficulty, or that it
would be
satisfactory to interpret it of
;
grace and His instruments

is far
but at
all
more
difficulty, or rather
an insuperable
culty in such an interpretation of the text, as Christ

actually spoke
it.
And
then, considering that if there
was one boon above another which a convert might

naturally claim of an Apostle,
it
was to know whom
he was to worship, whose servant he was to become,
who was
idols
;
to be his God,
instance,
now
that he had abandoned

said,
(as, for
Moses
"
When
come
and
unto the children of
Israel,
and
shall say
unto them.
The God of your
fathers hath sent
me unto you,
they shall say to me.
say unto them?" and Almighty
What is His Name? what shall I God acknowledged

it;
that the request was right by granting
and as
Jacob said, " Tell me, I pray thee.

as
Manoah
said,
"
What
is
Thy Name f" and Thy Name f " and as, in
accordance with these instances, St. Paul said to the

Athenians, "
clare I
Whom
;")
ye ignoranth/ worship.
Him
de-
unto you
I say,
with these considerations

that there would
before us,
we might have expected
XXIV.]
THE HOLY TRINITY.
^$
this,
have been in the Baptismal form a clear and simple
announcement of the
" In the
Christian's
God, such as
Name
of the
is,
God and Father

If indeed so
of our Lord
Jesus Christ," that
unless the Catholic doctrine of

it
the Holy Trinity be true.
be, as the
Church has ever taught, that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are the one God into whose service
Christians are enrolled, then good reason
They should
In
be named upon the convert on

that case there
is
his
initiation.
no
difficulty
the sacred form of
words precisely answers to the worshipper's question,
"What is Thy Name?" to " Him declare I unto you :"

"
is
the Apostle's
promise,
but on the supposition,
which impugners of the doctrine maintain, that by
Son "
not
is
meant a man, and that the Holy

(I
Spirit
God
or not a person, certainly a great and
unexpected, and
may
say,
humanly speaking,)
first
unnecessary obscurity hangs over the
act of the
Gospel teaching.
Nor
let it
be objected to Catholic believers, that
there can be no greater obscurity than a mystery;
and that the Sacred Truth which they confess

from considerations such as
I
is
greater perplexity to the convert than any which can

arise
have been
insistis
ing on.
For the point I have been urging,
the
improbability that
our Lord should introduce an
obscurity of mere words, with none existing in fact,
which
that
is
the case in the heretical interpretation
and
He
should prefer to speak so darkly

intelligibly
;
when He
whereas,
might have spoken simply and
376
if
THE MYSTERY OF
[Sebm.
there be an eternal mystery in the Godhead, such
as
we
aver, then, from the nature of the case, there
could not but be a difficulty in the words in which
He
revealed
it.
Christ, in that case,

;
makes no mys-
tery for the occasion
He
uses the plainest and most
exact form of speech which
of.
And
I
this deserves notice
human language admits for it may be extended

;
to the details of this great Catholic doctrine, of
which
I
propose presently to give some brief account.

that,
mean
much
as
is
idly
and profanely
said
against the Creed of St. Athanasius as being unintelligible, yet the real objection
which misbelievers
it is
feel, if
they spoke correctly,

tences can be
cise,
is,
that
too plain.
No
sen-
more
simple, nor statements

it
more pre-
than those of which

;
consists.
The
difficulty is
not in any one singly
but in their combination.
And
herein
lies
a remarkable difference between the
doctrine of the
Holy
Trinity,
and some modern dog-
matic statements on other points, some true and
some not
as
true,
which have been at times put forward
necessary to salvation.
Much
controversy, for
instance, has taken place in late centuries about the
doctrine of justification, and about faith
but here
endless perplexities and hopeless disputes arise, as

all
we
in
know,
as to
what
;"
is
meant by
" faith,"
and what
by "justification
words used
whereas most of the w(yrds used
the Creed to which I have referred are only

in their
common
common
and
sense, as "
Lord " and
"God,"
'
"eternal"
iOTiv a'ipiyfiu,
"almighty,"
"one" and
Oiat.
i.
OvK
itWa
fivartfpioi' di'wr. Athaii.
41.
XXIV.]
THE HOLY
TRINITY.
377
" three;" nor again are the statements difficult.

is
There
no
difficulty,
except such as
is
in the nature of
of,
things, in the adorable
mystery spoken
which no
wording can remove or explain.
And now
it
it
is
I propose to state the doctrine, as far as
can be done, in few words, in the

disclosed
to us in the text
mode
in
which
;
of Scripture
in
doing which,
if I shall
be led on to mention one or
two points of
detail, it
must not be supposed, as some

if
persons strangely mistake, as
such additional state;
ments were intended
for explanation
it
whereas they
leave the great Mystery just as
was before, and are

it
only useful as impressing on
our mind what

assert,
is
which the Catholic Church means to
and to
make
it
a matter of real faith and apprehension, and
not a mere assemblage of words.
And
often
it
first,
need scarcely
say, considering
how
one.
is
told us in Scripture,
that
God
is
" Hear,
is
Israel," says Moses, " the
Lord our God
one Lord."
"
To
us there
is
but one
God
of
the
Father," says St. Paul.

Faith, one Baptism,
Again, "
One
Lord, one
all."
one
God and Father
Again, "
One God, and one Mediator between God

for
and men ^"
"one?"
really are
Now, it may be asked, in what sense we speak of things being one which
as Scripture speaks of all Christians
many;
of
being made one body with sinners

;
God being made at one God and man being one Christ and
;
of
of one Baptism, though administered to multitudes.

*
Deut.
vi. 4.
Cor.
viii. 6.
Eph.
iv. 5, 6.
Tim.
ii.
5.
378
I answer, that
THE MYSTERY OF
[Sebm.
God
:
is
one in the simplest and

shows
;
strictest
sense,
as
all
is
Scripture
this
is
true,
what-
ever else
sense
;
true
not in any nominal or secondary

;
but one, as being individual

spirit is
as truly
;
one as
any individual soul or
one
nay, infinitely
more
truly,
all
because
all
creatures are imperfect, and
He
has
perfection.
In
Him
there are no parts or
passions,
nothing begun or incomplete, nothing by
communication, nothing of quality, nothing which

admits of increase, nothing
is
common
to others.
He
separate from
all things,
and whole, and

else ;
perfect,
and simple, and
like
Himself and none
and one,
not in name, or by figure, or by accommodation, or
by abstraction, but one in Himself,

speaks, one in substance or essence.
is
or, as
the Creed
All that
He
is,
Himself, and nothing short of Himself; His attri-
butes are He.
Has He wisdom ? this does but mean that He is wisdom. Has He love ? that is, " God is love," as St. John speaks. Has He omnipresence ? that is. He is omnipresent. Has He omniscience ? He is all-knowing. Has He power? He is almighty.
He
is
holy,
and
just,
and
true,
and good, not
in the
way of
truth,
qualities of
His essence, but

all
holiness, justice,
and goodness, are
one and the self-same
He, according as
He
is
contemplated by His crea-
tures in various aspects and relations.
We
is
;
men
are
incapable of conceiving of
attain to
Him
as
He
we cannot
call
more than
glimpses, accidental or partial
views, of His Infinite Majesty,

different names, as if
and these we
by
He
had
attributes,
and were of
XXIV.]
THE HOLY
TRINITY.
S^Q
deigns in mercy
a compound nature; and thus
He He
to us to speak of Himself, using even

sible,
human, sen-
and material terms

not touched by
;
as if
;
could be angry,
who
is
is
evil
or could repent, in
whom
no variableness
or
had
eyes, or arms, or breath,

is
who is
all
a Spirit; whereas
He
at once
and absolutely
perfection,
is
and whatever
is
He,
is all
He
is,
and
He
Himself always and altogether.

in all our teachinar
Thus we must ever commence

concerning the Holy Trinity
;
we must not
begin by
saying that there are Three, and then afterwards go
on to say that there
is
One,
of the nature of that

laying
down
the great
we give false notions One but we must begin by Truth that there is One God
lest
;
in a simple
and
strict sense,
is
and then go on
in
to speak
of Three, which
the
way
which the mystery

In the Old
was progressively revealed in Scripture.
Testament we read of the Unity; in the New, we are

enlightened in the knowledge of the Trinity.
And
here, let
it
be observed, that we have a sort
of figure or intimation of the sacred Mystery of the

Trinity in Unity even in
what has been now
said
concerning the Divine Attributes.

butes of
all
For as the Attri-
God are many in one mode of speaking, yet God so, too, there are Three Divine PerOne
in
;
sons, yet these
Three are One.
Let
it
not be for an
the two cases,
instant supposed that I
am paralleling
; ;
which
is
the Sabellian heresy

of the other
as
but I use the one in
illiLstration
and, in
I observe
follows
When
way of illustration, we speak of God as
880
THE MYSTERY OF
to say that
;
[Sbbm.
Wisdom, or as Love, we mean Wisdom, and that He is Love

same
other,
in
He
is
is
that
He
each
separately and wholly, yet not that

as Love,
though
He
is
both at
Wisdom is the once. Wisdom

from each
and Love stand

and not
In
to
for ideas quite distinct
be confused, though they are united
Him.
all
is
He
is
;
and
yet
all
it is
He
does.
He
is
Wis-
dom and He
Love
both true that
He
is
but One, and without

again that Love
is
qualities,
and withal true

Again, as
not Wisdom.
is
God
?
is
Wisdom
or Love, so
Wisdom
is.
or
Love
in
and with
so
is
God, and whatever God

His wisdom.
Is
Is
God
eternal
is
He
unchangeable? so
His wis?
dom.
Is
He
uncreate, infinite, almighty, all-holy

characteristics also. Since
is
His wisdom has these

God,
God
from
has no parts or passions, whatever

is all
really of or
that
He
is.
If there
is
confusion of lanthis
guage here, and an apparent play upon words,

arises
from our incapacity in comprehension and ex-
pression.
We
true,
see that
all
these separate statements
must be
need we
and
if
they result in an apparent con-
trariety with each other, this
we cannot
avoid
nor
be perplexed about them, nor shrink from
The simple accuracy of statement which would harmonize all of them is beyond us, because the power of contemplating the Eternal, as He is, is beyond us. We must be content
declaring any one of them.
with what
we can
see,
and use
it
for
our practical
guidance, without caring for the apparent contradiction of terms involved in our profession of
it.
XXIV.]
THE HOLY
TRINIT\'.
381
A second illustration may be taken from the material images which Scripture condescends to employ. We
read of the eye of God, and the arm of God.
Now we
know
that
man
has an eye and an arm as really parts

;
of him, and not as figures
but
let
us suppose for a
spiritual,
moment
that his
body were made
what
fol-
would be the consequence?

low we cannot
spirit
What
really
;
would
say, for it is
beyond us
but, since a
has no parts,
we may
conceive that all those
separate organs of man's

exist, instead
body which at present

it
of having a local disposition in

it
any
longer,
and springing out of
by extension, would
be
all
one, though all distinct
still.
A spiritual
body
might
possibly be all eye, all ear, all arm, all heart

all
yet not as if
these were confused together, and

if
names only
ing,
not as
henceforth there were no seefeeling,
no hearing, no working, and no

spirit
but
is
because a
has no parts in extension, and
what
it
it is all
at once.
And
I notice this,
because
shows us that things may really exist in a subject

notions created by our
which we are contemplating, though they look like

ideas only or
own minds.
As
a body need not be supposed to lose eye and

spiritual,
hand by becoming
exist in
it
but
its
organs might
it
as truly as before, because

it
was a body,
but in a new manner, because

to so
was
spiritual, so as
seem
like
mere
abstractions or unreal qualities;
may we
suppose that though
God
:
is
a Spirit and
if
One, yet
He may
be also a Trinity
not as
that
Trinity were a
name
only, or stood for three manifes-
tations, or qualities, or attributes, or relations,
such
S8H
THE MYSTERY OF
ideas or conceptions as
;
[Serm.
mere
we may come
to form
when contemplating God

which had become
but
that, as in that
body
spiritual,
eye and hand would not
be abstractions
so before
it,
after the change, since they
were not
nor would eye necessarily be the same
as the hand, though the

so, (if
body was all eye and
all
hand
this
we may
dare to use
human
illustrations
on
most sacred
subject,) the Eternal Three, (I
do not say
in the same way, for I
am
not attempting to explain
how the mystery is, but to bring out distinctly what we mean by it,) the Eternal Three, I say, are worshipped by the Catholic Church as distinct, yet One the Most High God being wholly the Father, and wholly the Son, and wholly the Holy Ghost yet the Three
;
Persons being distinct from each other, not merely

in
name, or by human abstraction, but

is
in very truth,
as truly as a fountain
distinct
from the stream which

its
flows from
it,
or the root of a tree from
branches.
Now
is
should any one be tempted to say that this

difficult speculation to set
dark language, and
be-
fore a Christian people, I
answer that
it is
not more
is
dark and
difficult
than the sacred mystery which

;
our great subject to-day

ejcposition of the sacred
that
it is
in fact but the
mystery as the Church has

but stating its meaning; and
received
it
that I
am
not engaged in defending the
Creed of
that you
St. Athanasius,
may
well bear.
My
Brethren, once in the
year to be reminded that Christianity gives exercise

to the whole
mind of man,
to our liighest
and most
subtle reason, as well as to our feelings, affections,
imagination, and conscience.
If
we
find
it
tries us,

XXIV.]
THE HOLY
TRINITY.
383
and
is
too severe, whether for our reason, or our ima-
gination, or our feelings, let us
bow
dowTi in silent
adoration, and submit to

turn,
it
each of our faculties by

sublimity or
its
not complain of
to proceed
:
its
range.
And now
much in the Old Testament of those attributes of God of which I have already spoken. His omnipotence " I am the Almighty God wâlk
hear
:
We
before
"
Me, and be thou
perfect."
Self-existence:
And God
said unto Moses, I
shalt thou say unto the
Am thus children of Israel, I Am hath

that I
:
Am
"
sent
me
unto you."
Holiness
Who
is
like Thee,
!"
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders
His mercy, and
justice,
and faithfulness: and
"The
Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abundant
for
in goodness
truth, keep-
ing mercy
thousands,
sin,
forgiving
will
:
iniquity,
and^
transgression,
and
and that and
by no means
the Lord
clear the guilty."
Awful majesty
"
That thou mayfrom
est fear this glorious
fearful
Name,
thy God."
Truth:
"His truth endureth

Omnipresence:
;
generation to generation."
"If
"
climb up into heaven, Thou art there

to hell.
if I
go down
:
Thou
art there also."
Omniscience
The
eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the

evil
and the good."
Knowledge of the heart
"
Thou
only knowest the hearts of the children of men."
Mysteriousness
Thyself,
" Verily Tliou art a
God
that hidest
O God
of Israel the Saviour."
Eternity
"Thus
saith the
High and
lofty
One
that inhabiteth
384
eternity,
THE MYSTERY OF
whose
[Serm.
Name
is
Holy
'."
These are some
out of numberless announcements in the Old Testa-
ment
yet
of the Divine Attributes;
and though every

is
thing concerning the Supreme Being
mysterious,
we do not commonly feel any mystery here, bewe see a sort of parallel to these attributes in what we call the qualities, properties, powers, and habits of our own minds. We are endowed by nature
cause
and through grace with a portion of certain excellences

which belong in perfection to the Most High,
as
benevolence, wisdom, justice, truth, and holiness;
and though we do not know how these attributes

exist in
God, nay how they exist in ourselves, yet since
we are
ourselves used to them, and cannot deny their
existence,
exist in
we
are not startled
when we
are told they
God.
But there
are certain other disclosures
made
the
to us concerning the Divine Nature, even from
first
page of Scripture, and growing in definiteproceeds, of which
ness as revelation
we have no
in conse-
image or
parallel in ourselves,
feel to
and which
quence we
be strange and startling, and call
we are not used to them, and mysterious because we cannot account for them. Thus in the history of the creation we read " The ;" Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters who shall say how this awful intimation is to be interpreted ? who but îll " desire to look into " such
unintelligible because
:
'
Gen.
xvii. 1.
Exod.
4
;
iii.
14; xv. 11
1.
xxxiv.
3.
6, 7.
Deut.
vi.
xxviii. 58.
Isa. xlv.
Ps.
;
c.
cxxxix.
Prov. xv.
2 Chron.
30.
15
Ivii.
15.
XXIV.]
THE HOLY TRINITY.

silent
385
deep things, yet be

till
from conscious weakness,

Trinity,
he hears the Catholic doctrine of the
which explains to him the inspired text by revealing

the mystery
?
Again we
read, that,
wrestled with the Angel, " he called the
when Jacob had name of the
place Peniel," for he had seen God's Face or Counte-
nance, " and," he adds, "
my
life is
preserved."
And
again
Almighty God promised Moses, "

go with thee, and I
My
Presence shall
will give thee rest."
And
Moses
asks, " I beseech Thee,

said, I will
. . .
shew
me Thy
Glory.
And He
fore thee
shall
make
all
My
Goodness pass be-
thou canst not see
My
face, for there
no man see
Me
and
live."
And we
Samuel
are told
in Shi-
that " the Lord revealed Himself to
loh by the
says,
"
By
the
all
Word of the Word of

the hosts of
Lord."
And
the Psalmist
the Lord were the heavens
made, and
them by the Breath of His mouth." And Wisdom says in the Proverbs, " The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way be;
fore
His works of
old, I
was
set
up from
everlasting,
I I
from the beginning, or ever the earth was ...
was was
by Him, as one brought up with Him, and

daily His
delight,
rejoicing
always before
read, "
Him."
I
And
in the prophet Isaiah
we
Awake, awake,
and again, "
put on strength,
arm of the Lord
;"
have covered thee in the shadow of
My
this
1
Hand*."
mention
iii.
Now
any one such expression once or twice used

;
might not have excited attention

*Gen.
i.
but
2; xxxii. 30. Exod. xxxiii. 1420.

Prov.
viii.
Sara.
21.
Ps. xxxiii. 6.
22, 23. 30.
Isa.
li.
9. 16.
VOL.
VI.
C C
38G
of the
THE MYSTERY OF
Word, and Wisdom, and
is
[Serm.
Presence, and Glory,
and
Spirit,
and Breath, and Countenance, and Arm,

too frequent, and with
and Hand of the Ahnighty

too
much
of personal characteristic, to he dutifully

;
passed over by the careful reader of Scripture

in matter of fact
it
and
did, before Christ

is
came, attract
the attention of Jewish believers, as
proved to us
in the I
most
clearly
by some remarkable passages

Ecclesiasticus, to
books of
Wisdom and
which
need
not do more than allude \

It
would appear, then, from the revelations of the

is
Old Testament, that while God

in
in
His essence most

is
simply and absolutely one, yet there
a real sense
which
cannot, furnish such representations of
He is not one, though created natures do not, Him as to en-
able us to acquiesce in the conclusions to which the
Scripture announcements inevitably lead.
We under-
stand things unknown, by the pattern of things seen
and experienced; we are able to contemplate Almighty
God
so far as earthly things are partial reflexions of

;
Him
when they
fail
us,
we
are lost.
is
And
as of
course nothing earthly or created

perfect image,
His exact and
we have
;
at best but
if
dim glimpses of
to
His
infinite glory
and
Scripture reveal
us
aught concerning Him, we must be content to take

it
on
faith,
without comprehending
how
it
is,
or
having any clear understanding of our o^vn words.
When
*
it
declares to us that
God is wise and

Ecclus. xxiv. 3,
good,
we
Wisdom
vii.
14, et seq.
ct so((.
XXIV.]
THE HOLY
is
TRINITY.
387
properties
;
form some idea of wliat

read of His arm or eye,
meant from the
and habits which attach to the human soul
when we
though
we have some
in the
faint,
unworthy shadow, of the truth

organs of the
Spirit, or
;
members and
read of His
human body but when we
Word,
or Presence, as at once very dis-
tinct
from Him, yet most intimately one with Him,

intimately one than our properties are one
souls,
more
with our
bers and
more
real
and
distinct than the
mem-
org-ans of our bodies,
we
feel the weight of
that Mystery, which exists also
of the Divine
Wisdom,
or
when mention is made the Divine Arm, though
we
feel it not.
this
And
it
is
Mystery, which the Old Testament obis
scurely signifies,
this,
in the
New clearly
of
all,
declared
is
and
that the
God
who
revealed in
the Old Testament,

lasting, called also
is
the Father of a Son from ever-
His
Word and
all
Image, of His sub-
stance and partaker of
His perfections, and equal
to Himself, yet without being separate from
Him,
also
but one with
Him
and that from the Father and
the Son proceeds eternally the Holy Spirit,

is
who
of one substance, divinity, and majesty with Father
and Son. Moreover we learn that the Son or

is
Word
a Person,
it,"
that
is, is
to be
;
spoken of as " He," not
"
and can be addressed

is
and that the Holy Ghost

subsists in
;
also
sons,
a Person.
Thus God
Three Per-
from everlasting to everlasting
first,
God
is
the
Father, next
God
is
the Son, next

is
God
is
the Holy
Ghost
and the Father
not the Son, nor the Son
c2
388
THE MYSTERY OF
[Sebm.
the Holy Ghost, nor the Holy Gliost the Father.
And God is these He is either the

Ghost.
in the
Three, and nothing else
that
is,
Father, or the Son, or the
Holy
Moreover,
God
is
as wholly
and
entirely
God
Person of the Father, as though there were

Spirit
;
no Son and
as entirely in that of the Son, as

;
though there were no Spirit and Father

in that of the Spirit, as
as entirely
though there were no Father

is
and Son.
And
the Father
God, the Son God, and

is
the Holy Ghost God, while there
but
that without any inequality, because there
One God and is but One

;
God, and
He
is
without parts or degrees; though
how
sible,
it is
that that
same Adorable Essence,
indivi-
and numerically One, should

in each of
subsist perfectly
and wholly
Three Persons, no words of
man
this
can explain, nor earthly illustration typify.

the passages in the
is
Now
these.
New Testament in
us, are
which
Sacred Mystery
First,
intimated to
such as
we
read, as I have said already, that
God
Son
;
is
One;
next, that
He
;"
has an Only-begotten
further, that this Only-begotten
Son
is
" in
the bosom of the Father
and
that "
He
is
and the
the
Father are One."
Further, that
He
is
also
Word
that " the
Word
is
is
God, and
with
God ;"
our
not.
moreover, that the Son
in
Himself a
distinct Per-
son, in a real sense, for
He
has taken on
Him
nature, and
become man, though the Father has

this
What
is
is all
but the doctrine, that that
God who
is
in the strictest sense

is
One,
is
?
both entirely the
Father, and
entirely the
Son
or that the Father
XXIV.]
THE HOLY TRINITY.

?
389
God, and the Son God, yet but One God

over the Son
is
More;"
the express " Image " of God, and
He
and
and
is
" in the
form of God," and " equal with God
" "
he that hath seen Him, hath seen the Father,"
He
:
is
in the
Father and the Father in Him."

all
Moreover the Son has

Father
the attributes of the
He
is
"
Alpha and Omega, the beginning

is,
and the ending, which

is
and which was, and which

;"
to come, the
Almighty
and
"
by
created, visible
consist
;"
invisible
;"
Him were all things " by Him do all things
knoweth the Father," and none but the Father "knoweth the Son." He
none but
"
He
;"
"
knoweth
all
things
is
He
" searcheth the hearts and
the reins
;"
He
" the Truth
and the Ldfe
;"
and
He is the Judge of all men. And again, what is true of the Son is true of the Holy Ghost for He is " the Spirit of God ;" He " proceedeth from the Father ;" He is in God as "the spirit of a man that is in him ;" He " searcheth all things, even the deep things of God ;" He is " the
;
Spirit of
Truth
;"
the " Holy Spirit
;"
at the creation,
He "moved upon the face of the waters ;"

shall I go," says the Psalmist, "
"
Whither
?"
from Thy Spirit
He
is
the Giver of
all gifts,
;"
" dividing to every
man
severally as
Spirit."
He
will
we
are
is
bom
again " of the
To
resist divine
grace
to grieve, to tempt,
to resist, to quench, to
is
do despite to the Spirit
He
the Comforter, Ruler, and Guide of the Church

;
He reveals things to come and blasphemy against Him hath never forgiveness. In all such passages,
890
it is
THE MYSTERY OF
surely implied both that the
[Serm.
Holy Ghost has a
Personality of His own, and that
He
is
God.
And
thus,
on the whole, the words of the Creed

is
hold good, that " there
one Pei-son of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost
but the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of

the Holy Ghost
jesty co-eternal.
is all
one,
the glory
equal, the
is,
mathe
Such
as the Father
such
is
Son, and such

nity,
is
the Holy Ghost.
And
in this Triis
none
is
afore or after other, none
greater
or less than another; but the whole Three Persons

are co-eternal together and co-equal
things, as
is
;
so that in all
aforesaid, the
is
Unity
in Trinity,
and the
Trinity in Unity,
Lastly,
it is
to
be worshipped."
added,
"He
therefore that will be

;"
saved, must thus think of the Trinity
on which
I
is
make two
remarks, and so conclude.
First,
what
very obvious, that such a declaration supposes that a
person has the opportunity of believing.
We
;
are
not speaking of heathens, but of Christians
of those
who
are taught the truth,

reject
it.
and who
teaching
who have the offer of it, Accordingly, we do not contemcalled misformation of

;
plate in this Creed cases of imperfect or erroneous

;
or of
what may be
the reason
or any case of invincible ignorance
but
of a man's wilful rejection of what has been fairly

set before him.
Secondly,
when
the Creed says that

it
we
"
must think
thus of the Trinity,"
would seem
to imply, that
it
had been drawing out a certain and

distinctive view of
clear, substantive, consistent,
XXIV.]
THE HOLY
is
TRINITY.
391
the doctrine, which
the Catholic view

it,
and
that,
in opposition to other views of
whether SabeUian,
that might be
or
Arian, or Tritheistic, or others

;
mentioned
all
of which, without denying in words
the Holy Three, do deny

event,
Him
in fact
and in the
and involve
is
their wilful maintainers in the
anathema which
ness,
here proclaimed, not in harsh-
but as a
faithful warning,
and a solemn
protest.
May we
we never
God's
it
never speak on subjects like this without
awe; may we never dispute without charity; may

inquire without a careful endeavour, with
aid, to sanctify
our knowledge, and to impress

it
on our hearts, as well as to store

!
in our under-
standings
SERMON
XXV.
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
Isaiah
"
vi. 3.
And
one cried unto another, and

the
said,
Holy, Holy, Holy,
is
Lord of Hosts."
Every
Lord's day
any.
It
is
a day of
rest,
but
this,
perhaps,
more than
commemorates, not an act of God,

glorious,
however gracious and

It
but His own un-
speakable perfections and adorable mysteriousness.

is
a day especially sacred to peace.
Our Lord
;
left
His peace with us when

with you
;
He went away
I give
'
" Peace
:
I leave
My peace
unto you
not as
the world giveth, give I unto you
;"
and
He said He
would send them a Comforter, who should give them

peace. Last
;
week we commemorated that Comforter's coming and to-day, we commemorate in an especial way the gift He brought with Him, in that great doc'
John
xiv. 27.
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
trine
3QS
"
which
is its
emblem and
ye
its
means.
These
things have I spoken unto you, that in
Me
have peace
in the world
shall
have tribulation
ye might ^"
Christ here says, that instead of this world's troubles,
He
gives His disciples peace; and, accordingly, in
to-day's Collect,
we pray
that
we may be kept
in the
faith of the Eternal Trinity in Unity,
and be
" defaith
fended from
all adversities," for in
keeping that
we
are kept from trouble.

too, in the blessing
Hence,
priests
which Moses told the

Israel,
to
pronounce over the children of

is
God's
Name
put upon them, and that three times,
in order to bless
and keep them, to make His face
shine on them, and to give

again, in our
them
peace.
And
hence
own solemn form

service,
of blessing, with
which we end our public
we impart
all
to the
people " the peace of God, which passeth
under-
standing," and " the blessing of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost."
God
is
the
God
of peace, and in giving us peace
He
does but give Himself,
He
does but manifest

is
Himself to us; ôr His presence

mised His
"
peace.
Hence
our Lord, in the same discourse in which

disciples peace,
He
pro-
promised
also,
that
"He
would come and manifest Himself unto them," that
He
and His Father would come to them, and

Peace
is
make Their abode with them ^"

'
His ever-
John
xvi. 33.
'
Ibid. xiv. 21. 23.
391
lasting state
;
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
in this world of space
;
[Serm.
and time lie

it
has wrought and acted
but from everlasting
was
not
so.
For
six days
He
wrought, and then
He
rested according to that rest which was His eternal

state; yet
not so rested, as not in one sense to "work
hitherto," in
mercy and
in
judgment, towards that
world which
He
had created.
And more
Son
especially,
when He
sent His Only-begotten
into the world,
and that most Gracious and
All-pitiful Son, our Lord,
condescended to come to us, both
He and
He
His Father
wrought with a mighty hand
and They vouchsafed

also
the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and
wrought
wonderfully, and works hitherto. Certainly the whole
economy of redemption
tinued works
;
is
a series of great and con-
but
still
they
all
tend to rest and

rest,
peace, as at the
first.
They began out of
and
they end in
rest.
Tliey end in that eternal state out
of which they began.
The Son was from
eternity in
the bosom of the Father, as His dearly-beloved and
Only-begotten.
of the world.
He loved Him before the foundation He had glory with Him before the
was in the Father, and the Father in
the Son but the Father, nor the
" In the beginning was the
world was.
He
Him.
None knew
Father but the Son.
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God."
He
was " the Brightness of God's glory

in this
and the express Image of His Person ;" and
unspeakable Unity of Father and Son, was the Spirit

also, as
being the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit
XXV.]
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
;
395
of the Son
the Spirit of Both at once, not separate

distinct,
from them, yet

Persons,
so that they Avere
Three
One God, from everlasting. Thus was it, we are told, from everlasting
or
before
the heavens and the earth were made, before

fell
man
Angels rebelled, before the sons of God were

veil their faces before Him and cry He existed without ministers, without attend-
formed in the morning of creation, yea, before there
were Seraphim to
"Holy,"
ants,
without court and kingdom, without manifested
glory, without
any thing but Himself

infinite rest.
He
His own
bliss,
Temple, His own
His own supreme

!
from eternity.
His majesty
O wonderful mystery O the depth of O deep things which the Spirit only
to creatures
knoweth
Wonderful and strange
who
grovel on this earth, as we, that He, the All-powerful,
the All-wise, the All-good, the All-glorious, should

for
an eternity,
for years
is
without end, or rather,
apart from time, which

that
but one of His creatures,
He should have dwelt without those through whom He might be powerful, in whom He might be wise, towards whom He might be good, by whom He might be glorified. O wonderful, that all His
deep and
infinite attributes
!
should have been without

!
manifestation
wonderful thought
and
withal,
thought comfortable to us worms of the earth, as
often as
we
feel in ourselves' and see in others gifts
which have no exercise, and powers which are quiescent

!
He, the All-powerful God, rested from
eter-
3d6
iiity,
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
and did not work
it
;
[Skkm.
and
yet,
why
7iot rest,
won-
derful though
self ?
be, seeing
He was
so blessed in
Him-
why
should ffe seek external objects to know,

all-sufficient
to love,
in
and to commune with, who was
Himself?
How
He
He
were a man,
He need fellows, as though when He was not solitary, but had

could
ever with
Him
His Only-begotten
Word
in
whom
delighted,
Spirit,
whom He
loved ineffably, and the
Eternal
the very bond of love

in
and peace,
?
dwelling in
and dwelt
it
by Father and Son
Rather
how was
a
that
He
ever began to create,
who had
fection,
Son without beginning and without impercould love with a perfect love?
it
whom He
What
exceeding exuberance of goodness was
that
ffe should deign at length to surround Himself with

creation,
who had need

conflict of
of nothing, and to change
His everlasting silence
for the course of

evil
!
Providence
and the
good and
I say nothing of
the apostasies against Him, the rebellions and blas-
phemies which
men and
devils
have committed.
say nothing of that unutterable region of woe, the

prison of the impenitent, which
is
to last for eternity,

if in rivalry
coeval with
blissful
Him
henceforth, as
of His
can-
heaven.
I say nothing of this, for

;
God
not be touched with evil
and
all
the sins of those

felicity.
reprobate souls cannot impair His everlasting
But, I ask,
how was
who was
all in all,
Son and the
it that He who needed nothing, who had infinite Equals in the Spirit, who were One with Him, how
XXV.]
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
that
397
was
it
He
created His Saints, but from simple

eternity
?
love of
them from
Why
should
He make
man
in the
Image of God, whose Image already was
the Son, All-perfect, All-exact, without variableness,
without defect, by a natural propriety and unity of

substance
?
And when man

did
fell,
why
race,
did
He
not
abandon or annihilate the whole

others
?
and create
why
He
go so
far as to
begin a fresh
us,
and more wonderful dispensation towards

as
and,
He
had wrought marvellously in Providence, work
marvellously also in grace, even sending His Eternal
Son
as
to take
it
on
Him
our fallen nature, and to purify

it,
and renew
by His union with
but that, infinite
was His own blessedness, and the Son's perfecand man's unprofitableness,
yet, in
tion,
His loving-
kindness.
He
determined that unprofitable
man
should be partaker of the Son's perfection and His
own
blessedness
And
thus
it
was
that, as
He
had made man

;
in
the beginning, so also
He
redeemed him
and the
history of this redemption
we have been
tracing for
the last six months in our sacred Ser\ices.
We have
gone through
in our
memory
the whole course of that
Dispensation of active providences which God, in

order to our redemption, has superinduced upon His
eternal and
infinite
repose.
First,
we commemo-
rated the approach of Christ, in the weeks of Advent;
then His birth, of the Blessed Mary, by a miraculous conception, at Christmas

;
then His circumci-
398
sion
;
PEACE
IN BELIEVING.
[Sehm.
His manifestation tb the wise

;
men
Ilis l)ap-
tism and beginning of miracles

the Temple
derness, in
;
His presentation in
garden
His fasting and temptation in the wil-
Lent
His agony
in the
;
His
betrayal
His mocking and scourging His burial

;
His cross and

;
passion
His resurrection
disciples after
His forty
;
days' converse with
His
it
then His
Ascension
in
and, lastly, the coming of the
Holy Ghost
His place to remain with the Church unto the
end,
unto
the end of the world

to
for so long is the

us.
Almighty Comforter
remain with
And
thus, in
commemorating the
past week,
Spirit's gracious office
during the
we were
brought, in our series of represenall
tations, to the
end of
things
and now what
is left
but to commemorate what will follow after the end?
the
what
return of the everlasting reign of God, the
infinite
peace and blissful perfection of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, differing indeed from

it
once was by the
fruits of creation
and
re-
demption, but not differing in the supreme blessedness, the ineffable
mutual
love, the
abyss of holi-
ness in which the Three Persons of the Eternal Trinity dwell.

celebration,
He, then,
is
the subject of this day's
the God
;
of love, of holiness, of blessedis

is
ness
in whose presence
fulness of joy
and plea-
sures for evermore
w ho
what
He
ever was, and
has brought us sinners to that which
He
ever was.
He
did not bring into being peace and love as part
of His creation, but
He
was Himself peace and love
XXV.]
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
eternity,
399
from
and
He
blesses us
by making us par-
takers of Himself, through the Son, by the Spirit,
and
He
so
works in His temporal dispensations that

is
He may
And
bring us to that which
eternal.
hence, in Scripture, the promises of eternity

;
and security go together

vicissitude also
is
for
where time
is
not, there
refuge," says
The Eternal God is thy Moses, before his death, "and underaway.
"
:
neath are the everlasting arms

out the
and
He
shall thrust
enemy from before thee; and shall say. Destroy

Israel
them
then shall dwell in safety alone."

wilt
And
whose
again, "
Thou
keep him
in perfect peace,
mind
vah
is
is
stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.
Trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehoeverlasting strength."
And
again,
"Thussaith
the High and Lofty
One
that inhabiteth eternity.

place, with
spirit,
... I dwell in the high
and holy
him
also
that
is
of a contrite and humble
to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones ... I create the fruit of the
peace, peace to
is
lips
him
that
is
afar
off,
and
to
him
that
near."
And,
in like manner, our
Lord and Saviour

speaking more
is prophesied of as being " the Everlasting Father
the Prince of peace''

especially of
And
;
again,
what
He
has done for us, "
The work of
righteousness shall be peace

eousness, quietness
*
and the
effect of rightever*.""
and assurance for
Deut. xxxiii. 27, 28.

17.
Isa. xxvi. 3, 4; Ivii. 15.
19
ix.
G;
XXX ii.
400
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
for
[Serm.
Ab then we have
us,
many weeks commemorated

this
the economy by which righteousness was restored to
which took place in time, so from
day forth
do we bring before our minds the

and enjoying them.
Hitherto
infinite perfections
of Almighty God, and our hope hereafter of seeing
we have
celebrated
His great works; henceforth we magnify Himself.
For twenty-five weeks we represent

is
in figure
rest,
what
to
be hereafter.
We
enter into our
by enter-
ing in with
Him
who, having wrought and suffered,

all believers.
has opened the kingdom of heaven to
For half a year we stand

in adoring
still,
as if occupied solely
in the text,
Him, and, with the Seraphim

all
crying, " Holy, Holy, Holy," continually.
All God's
providences,
God's dealings with

warnings,
us, all
His judgtend
to
ments,
mercies,
deliverances,
issue.
peace and repose as their ultimate
All our
troubles and pleasures here, all our anxieties, fears,
doubts,
difficulties,
hopes,
encouragements,
aflflic-
tions, losses, attainments,
tend this one way.
After
Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, comes Trinity
Sunday, and the weeks that follow
and in
like
manner, after our

birth of the Spirit
;
soul's
anxious travail;
after the
;
after trial
and temptation
at length
after
sorrow and pain

after daily risings
after daily dyings to the world

;
unto holiness
comes that
and
"rest which remaineth unto the people of God."
After the fever of

nesses
;
life
after wearinesses
;
sickfret-
fightings
and despondings languor and
XXV.]
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
and
failing,
401
fulness; struggling
struggling and suc-
ceeding; after
all
the changes and chances of this
troubled unhealthy state, at length comes death, at
length the
White Throne
of God,
at length the
rest, peace,
;
Beatific Vision.
After restlessness comes
joy
our
eternal portion, if
sight of the Blessed Three,
the we be worthy the Holy One the Three

; ;
that bear witness in heaven

in glory
in light unapproachable;
;
without spot or blemish
in
power without
" variableness, or
shadow of turning."
The Father
God, the Son God, and the Holy Ghost
God
the
Father Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost
Lord
the Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and

;
the Holy Ghost uncreate

sible,
the Father incomprehen-
the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost
incomprehensible.
For there
is
one Person of the
Father, another of the Son, and another of the
Holy
Ghost
and such
is
as the Father
;
is,
such
is
the Son,
and such
the Holy Ghost
and yet there are not
three Gods, nor three Lords, nor three incomprehensibles,
nor three uncreated; but one God, one Lord,
one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
Let
us, then,
use with thankfulness the subject of
this day's Festival,
and the Greed of

till it is
St. Athanasius,
us, if
as a
means of
peace,
given
we
attain
thereto, to see the face of
God
in heaven.
What
the Beatific Vision will then impart, the contemplation of revealed mysteries gives us as in a figure.
The
doctrine of the Blessed Trinity has been
made
the subject of especial contention

VOL. VI.
among
D d
the pro-
402
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
It has
[Serm.
fessed followers of ^Christ.
brought a sword
upon
it
earth,
but
it
was intended
to bring peace.
And
it
does bring peace to those
who humbly
to bless
it
receive
in faith.
Let us beg of God

it
;
to us to its
strife,
right uses, that
may
not be an occasion of
;
but of worship
not of division, but of unity
not of
jealousy, but of love.
Let us devoutly approach Let us look forward
Him
of
whom
this
it
speaks, with the confession of our lips

hearts. to the time
all its
and of our
when
must
world will have passed away and
de-
lusions;
and when we, when every one bom of woman, Let us desire
under the shadow of His wings.
an understanding heart,
is
either be in heaven or in hell.
to hide ourselves
Let us beg
Him
to give us
and that love of Him, which
the instinct of the

spiritual
life.
new
creature,
and the breath of

an honest
Let
us pray
Him
to give us the spirit of obedience, of

;
true dutifulness
spirit,
earnestly set to do
selfish
His
will,
with no secret ends, no
designs of
our own, no preferences of the creature to the Creator,
but open,
clear,
conscientious,
and
loyal.
So
will
He
vouchsafe, as time goes on, to take

;
up His abode
and Christ
in us
the Spirit of Truth,
whom
the world cannot

us,
receive, will dwell in us,
and be in
" will love us,
and
will
manifest Himself to us," and
" the Father will love us,

us,
and They
us."
will
and make Their abode with
come unto And when at

shall
length the inevitable hour comes,
we
be able
meekly
to surrender our souls, our sinful yet
redeemed
souls, in
much weakness and
trembling, with
much
XXV ]
self-reproach
PEACE IN BELIEVING.
and deep confession, yet
in
403
in firm faith,
and in cheerful hope, and

Father,
calm
love, to
God
the
God
the Son,
Blessed Three, the
God the Holy Ghost; the Holy One Three Persons, One
;
God, our Creator, our Redeemer, our

Judge.
Sanctifier, our
END OF VOL.
VI.
-K^:;^'^"
LONDON:
GILBERT
&
RIVINOTON, PKINTK.RS,
ST. John's square.
r-
V'
,/
4*^

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PAROCHIAL SERMONS,

THE WEEKS BETWEEN THE FIRST SUNDAY

AND TRINITY SUNDAY.

JOHN HENRY NEWMAN,

Paul's church yard,

and Waterloo place

OILBERT AND RIVINOTON, PRINTERS, ST. John's square.

The Spring Quarter may

be called the Sacra-

mental, from the series of Feasts and Seasons which

and the character of the doctrines

introduces to our meditation are naturally of a

has been the wish of the

Author, in his foregoing volumes, to

mons, for the most

bear upon conduct, so here

was consistent with reverence towards

the sacred events under review, he has selected such

within the Quarter, he has

thought he might be allowed to include

FASTING A SOURCE OF TRIAL.

And when He had

fasted forty days

THE SEASON OF REPENTANCE.

And when Esau

heard the words of his father, he cried with a

APOSTOLIC ABSTINENCE A PATTERN FOR CHRISTIANS.

Drink no longer water, but use a

and thine often

CHRIST'S PRIVATIONS A MEDITATION FOR CHRISTIANS.

the grace of our

rich, yet for

poor, that ye through

His poverty might be rich

THE SON OF GOD MADE MAN.

Christ being come, an

good things to come, by a

and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that

to say, not of this building

A SUFFERER AND SACRIFICE.

became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.

THE CROSS OF CHRIST THE MEASURE OF THE WORLD.

be Ufted up from the earth, will draw

men unto Me.

DIFFICULTY OF REALIZING SACRED PRIVILEGES.

the Lord hath made,

THE GOSPEL SIGN ADDRESSED TO FAITH.

certain of the Scribes

see a Sign from

and of the Pharisees answered, saying. 115 Thee

THE SPIRITUAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST

while and ye shall not see

Me, and again

ye shall see Me, because

THE EUCHARISTIC PRESENCE.

the Bread which cometh

FAITH THE TITLE FOR JUSTIFICATION.

come from the

and west, and

JUDAISM OF THE PRESENT DAY.

not having received the promises, but

having seen them afar

and were persuaded of them, and

embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and