SE^^^^^^^^^^^i^^ 
 
 ^ 4- 
 
Cornell University Library 
 arV16S98 
 
 New helps to a,,'JJj|y,,,,\iSff,'il| 
 
 3 1924 031 450 392 
 
 olin.anx 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031450392 
 
NEW HELPS 
 
 A HOLY LENT 
 
 ^''Sy the 
 Rt. Eev. Ff D.'^BUNTINGTON, D. D. 
 
 BISHOP OP OENTEAL NEW TOBK 
 AUIHOR OF "helps TO A HOLY LENT," " CHEISTIAN BELIEVING AMD UVING," ETC., ETO. 
 
 NEW YOEK 
 E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 
 
 713 Beoadwat 
 
 1876 
 33 
 
Copyright, 
 
 P. DUTTON AND COHPANT 
 
 1876. 
 
 Bir£Bsn>E, cahbbidge: 
 
 STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BT 
 a. HOUGHTON AMD COMPANY. 
 
The readings that are not original are taken 
 from the writings of English Authors, living or de- 
 parted. 
 
NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 agl^'CJlletjnegitiat. 
 
 Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord 
 of Hosts. 
 
 The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple. 
 
 He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall 
 purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that 
 they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. I 
 am the Lord. I change not. 
 
 Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find. 
 
 Bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, .... and prove 
 me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open 
 you the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that 
 there shall not be room to receive it. 
 
 And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee ; for My 
 strength is made perfect in weakness. 
 
 If we begin Lent with holy fear, determined in 
 earnest to deny ourselves in some way or other ; if 
 we go on soberly in that mind, and if we are not too 
 impatient for comfort, we shall find before long that 
 
6 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT, 
 
 comfort comes. It may not come so soon as \7e had 
 wished or imagined ; it may not come in the par- 
 ticular way we should have chosen ; for awhile it 
 may not seem to come at all ; but come it will, sooner 
 or later, to them that in humble obedience resign 
 themselves to the want of it. 
 
 At the beginning of the forty days, to look forward 
 to spending them strictly, (strictly, in such measure 
 as health and other duties may allow,) would be to 
 most of us a bleak, dreary kind of thought ; it would 
 require faith to make up our minds to do so. A dif- 
 ference in diet day after day ; more frequent prayer ; 
 keeping ourselves from some customary diversions ; 
 doing, in short, something or other, whatever our con- 
 science well directed tells us is best, to mortify our 
 souls and bodies, this is what no one naturally likes ; 
 no one of his own pleasure would look forward to it 
 for six or seven weeks together. But those who have 
 in some small measure tried it, tried it conscientiously 
 and ia earnest, and not for form's sake, have gener- 
 ally found, besides the benefit promised in Scripture 
 to such obedience, a peculiar kind of holy sweetness 
 accompanying their little acts of self-denial. If they 
 really tried to give themselves for the time entirely 
 to Christ, to rule their tempers as well as their ap- 
 petites, to be kind to others as well as strict to them- 
 selves, to mean what they said in their prayers and 
 
ASH-WEDNESDAY. 7 
 
 confessions, and to do all as secretly as possible, they 
 really have found oftentimes a comfort and refresh- 
 ment in their severities such as they were, — a com- 
 fort which they neither thought of before nor can 
 well understand, now they find it. Neither dare they 
 at all depend on it for the future, nor promise it to 
 themselves or others. Their way seems to be, thank- 
 fully to take it as it comes, discerning in it an an- 
 gelic message much like that which was sent to Elijah, 
 " Arise and eat because the journey is too great for 
 thee." 
 
 The Sundays, for example, at this time of Lent, 
 must come with a peculiar sort of welcome fragrance 
 to those who have been strict with themselves on the 
 week-days. The day of holy joy and thankfulness 
 stands out even higher than usual among so many 
 days of penitential sorrow. 
 
 Perhaps, too, the beautiful Spring weather, which 
 always comes in more or less with some part or other 
 of the forty days of Lent, may be not untruly re- 
 garded by considerate persons as a token of refresh- 
 ment : an angel touching them and bidding them be 
 of good hope that their prayers and self-denials and 
 alms do indeed go up for a memorial before God, and 
 are graciously received for Jesus Christ's sake, and 
 that their Lent will lead in due time to a happy 
 Easter. 
 
8 KEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Other times and ways of refreshment there are, 
 more regular, and such as may without presumption 
 be looked forward to, when people are encouraging 
 themselves and others to set out on the journey of 
 Christian penitence, otherwise too great for them. 
 Thus, what a blessing it is, when you come to con- 
 sider it, for those whose time is marked out by regu- 
 lar and very frequent returns of prayer. We know 
 how milestones or other objects at regular distances 
 shorten a road ; so do hours and times of prayer, care- 
 fully and devoutly kept, shorten the day, and days so 
 spent shorten the week, and weeks the month, and 
 months the year, and years the whole life of the pen- 
 itent, which when he looked on to it seemed as if it 
 would be a heavy and weary waste, full of strictness 
 for which he was little prepared. Do not think that 
 what is now recommended is a thing impossible for 
 poor, busy, hard-working men. Those at least who 
 know a good deal of the Psalms and Collects of the 
 Church might easily choose out a short psalm and a 
 short collect, which they might learn by heart and 
 say with the Lord's Prayer, every three or four hours, 
 without stopping their work so much as five minutes. 
 If any man were truly touched with a sense of his 
 sins, and wanted to exercise himself in continual de- 
 votion, this sort of exercise would be the greatest help 
 to him ; and by dividing the time it would greatly 
 
ASH-WEDNESDAY. 9 
 
 lessen what otherwise might be felt too much of a 
 yoke. 
 
 The greatest of all refreshments, as well as of all 
 helps, is the Holy Communion of our Lord's Body 
 and Blood, called as it sometimes is, on this very ac- 
 count, the stay of the wayfaring man. Who can tell 
 the greatness of the mercy which invites us so often 
 to arise and eat this Bread, since otherwise our jour- 
 ney would be far too great for us ? 
 
 Bless God for these and all other His untold un- 
 hoped-for loving-kindnesses, whereby He ever goes 
 out to meet poor returning prodigals, and not only 
 receives them but clothes and feeds them with His 
 best. Bless Him for these consolations, and use them 
 when they come, humbly and joyfully, but never 
 forget this one thing, — that you are penitents ; you 
 must neither depend on them beforehand, nor alto- 
 gether indulge in them as comforts when they come. 
 We are but beggars; it becomes us not to have a 
 choice. What God sends we must take thankfully 
 as it comes. It will seldom be exactly what we 
 should have fixed upon, but it will be enough to stay 
 us and help us on our way home. Elijah had but 
 one meal of bread and water, and it lasted him all 
 through his Lent, till he came to the Mount of God. 
 Our refreshments, bodily and spiritual, will be good 
 if they will bring us nearer Christ, and not else. 
 
10 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT, 
 
 " Wouldst thou glance 
 
 Into the dark depths of a human heart 
 
 One moment ? " And Christ set me in a trance, 
 
 Opening my eyes to see, 
 
 While at His word the gates flew wide apart. 
 
 I entered and essayed to advance. 
 
 But quickly back I drew with sudden start, 
 
 Chilled with the coldness of its vaults of sin 
 
 And all I saw within. 
 There 
 
 Envy, hatred, malice, pride. 
 
 Had each their altars ranged on every side 
 
 To self, the selfsame idol everywhere. 
 
 While through the cobwebbed windows light divine 
 
 Struggled to shine. 
 "Ah, Lord!"Icried, 
 " Surely this heart a heathen's heart must be, — 
 
 One who hath never heard of Thee." 
 
 With agony I learned that it was mine. 
 
 I fled away, 
 
 O'erwhelraed with sorrow and despairing gloom, 
 
 To breathe a purer air. 
 
 But in its dismal room 
 
 The Christ would stay ! 
 
 He shrank not even from this whited tomb, — 
 
 And it became His temple from that day. 
 
 f\ GOD, almighty but all merciful, to whom all hearts are 
 open, and from whom no secrets are hid, we know that no 
 unclean thing can enter into Thy Kingdom. Our hearts are 
 not clean, but Thou canst ptirify them. Our souls are sick, 
 but Thou canst heal them. Our eyes are blind, but Thou canst 
 
ASH-WEDNESDAY.^ 11 
 
 enlighten them. Too cold and lifeless haye we been in spiritual 
 things, and even in our communion with Thee, O Blessed Spirit, 
 the Lord of Holiness and the Fountain of Life. And now, in 
 the return of these days of our humiliation and of Thy wonder- 
 ful and peculiar grace, wilt Thou receive us, renew us, and re- 
 fresh us with Thy heavenly benediction and favor. Consider 
 not our unworthiness but Thine own comfortable declaration, 
 that Thou wiliest not the death of a sinner, but rather that he 
 shall turn from his wickedness and live. Turn Thou us, O 
 Lord, and we shall be turned. We hear and accept Thy most 
 patient invitation. Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy 
 laden, and I will refresh you 1 We renew our promises of obe- 
 dience to Thy commandments and fidelity in Thy service. Send 
 us the comfort of Thy help again. Bevive Thy work, O Lord, 
 in the midst of the years. Open Thou the windows of Heaven 
 and pour out blessings upon all Thine heritage. Search our 
 hearts, we beseech Thee, and leave no wicked thing in us. De- 
 liver us from our pride, and passion, and folly, and self-love, 
 from wrong companionships and false customs, and irreverent 
 and uncharitable thoughts, and all the powers of darkness. 
 And bring us on our way to the resurrection of the just in peace, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
12 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 fim Cl^urjiDat- 
 
 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in 
 much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 
 
 Tette faithfuiiNESs knows no distinction 
 
 BETWEEN GREAT AND SMALL DUTIES. From the 
 
 highest point of view, that is, from God's point of 
 view, nothing is great, nothing small, as we meas- 
 ure it. The worth and the quality of an action 
 depend on its motive only, and not at all on its 
 prominence, or on any other of the accidents which 
 we are always apt to adopt as the tests of the great- 
 ness of our deeds. The largeness of the consequences 
 of anything that we do is no measure of the true 
 greatness or true value of it. So it is in regard to 
 God Himself, and His doings. To Him, for His lofti- 
 ness, there is nothing high ; to Him, for His gen- 
 tleness, there is nothing low. He as gladly stands 
 by the sick-bed and binds up the broken-hearted, as 
 He "telleth the number of the stars." All that 
 vulgar error into which we are ever falUng — the 
 measuring of the magnitude by the apparent conse- 
 
FIEST THURSDAY. 13 
 
 quences of our deeds, — is the very ruin of all true 
 strength, and of all true obedience too. In one 
 respect nothing is great, nothing is small, except 
 according as the reason for which I do it is lofty, 
 because it is obedience to God ; or is lowly and 
 mean, because it is pleasure to myself. In another 
 respect eyerything that a man can do is great and 
 awful. All the beatings of that heart, all the work- 
 ings of that nature, are terrible with the light of 
 immortality. I have a soul that lives forever, and 
 I can pour that immortal being into every deed that 
 I do. What can be little to the making of which 
 there goes the force of a soul that can know God 
 and must abide forevermore? Nothing is small 
 that a spirit can do. Nothing is small that can be 
 done from a mighty motive. But even when we 
 adopt the distinction of great and small in regard 
 to men's actions, true fidelity must make no dis- 
 tinction in regard to the imperative nature of duty 
 in the small as in the great. The least action of life 
 can be as surely done from the loftiest motive, as 
 the highest and the noblest. Faithfulness measures 
 acts as God measures them. True conscientiousness 
 deals with our duties as God deals with them. Duty 
 is duty, conscience is conscience, right is right, and 
 wrong is wrong, whatever sized type they be printed 
 in. " Large " or " small " are not words for the 
 
14 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 vocabulary of conscience. It knows only two words 
 — right and wrong. And — just as the quality of 
 life may be as perfect in the minutest animalculse, of 
 which there may be millions in a cubic inch, and 
 generations may die in an hour — as perfect in the 
 smallest insect as in " behemoth, biggest born of 
 earth," so righteousness may be as completely em- 
 bodied, as perfectly set forth, as fully operative, in 
 the tiniest action that I can do, as in the largest that 
 an immortal spirit can be set to perform. The circle 
 that is in a gnat's eye is as true a circle as the one 
 that holds within its sweep all the stars ; and the 
 sphere that a dew-drop makes is as perfect a sphere 
 as that of the world. All duties are the same which 
 are done from the same motive ; all acts which are 
 not so done are alike sins. 
 
 And should not, this principle send us about our 
 daily life with a cheerfulness and a power to which 
 we are much strangers at present ? Why is it that 
 Christian people so constantly break down in the 
 minutiae of obedience, and in the little things of their 
 ordinary doing, but because, amongst other reasons, 
 we have got hold of that notion that small things 
 are less important than great ones, and that great 
 actions need mightier motives and larger faith than 
 the small ? Oh, it irradiates all our days with lofty 
 beauty, and it makes them all hallowed and divine. 
 
FIRST THURSDAY. 15 
 
 when we feel that not the apparent greatness, not 
 the prominence nor noise with which it is done, nor 
 the external consequences which flow from it, but the 
 motive from which it flowed determines the worth 
 of our deed in God's eyes. Faithfulness is faithful- 
 ness, on whatsoever scale it be set forth ! 
 
 To keep ourselves clear from the world, never to 
 break the sweet charities that bind together the cir- 
 cles of our homes, to walk within our houses with 
 perfect hearts, to be honest over the pence as weU as 
 over the pounds, never to permit the little risings of 
 momentary anger that seem but a trifle because they 
 pass away so quickly, to do tke small duties that re- 
 cur with every beat of the pendulum, and that must 
 be done by present force and by instantly falling 
 back upon the loftiest principle, or they cannot be 
 done at all, — these are as noble ways of glorifying 
 Christ and being glorified in Him, as any to which 
 we can ever attain. 
 
 That love is purest and most true 
 
 Which leans upon its Saviour's breast, 
 And thinks with pleasure ever new 
 
 How in all things to please Him best; 
 Which in all things, not great alone, 
 
 On serving Him is fully bent, 
 And knowingly will not to one, 
 
 No, not the smallest sin consent. 
 
16 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Begin, then, first with little things: 
 The smallest sin avoid and hate ; 
 
 Obedience to loTe adds wings, 
 And little faith will grow to great. 
 
 /~\ GRACIOUS GOD and most merciful Father, who hast 
 vouchsafed us the rich and precious jewel of Thy Holy- 
 Word, convert us with Thy Spirit, that it may be written in 
 om" hearts to our everlasting comfort, to reform us, to renew us 
 according to Thine own image, to build us up and edify us into 
 the perfect building of Thy Christ, sanctifying and increasing 
 in us all heavenly virtues. Grant this, O Heavenly Father, 
 .for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. 
 
FIRST FRIDAY. 17 
 
 fim -frtuat. 
 
 We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of 
 the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory 
 as by the Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, look- 
 ing unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the 
 joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the 
 shame. 
 
 " Looking to Jesus " is the only means of thor- 
 oughgoing, absolute self-denial. All other surren- 
 der than that which is based upon love to Him, and 
 faith in Him, is but surface work, and drives the 
 subtle disease to the vitals. The man that tries, by 
 paring o£E an excrescence here, and giving up a bad 
 habit there, to hammer and tinker and cut himself 
 into the shape of a true and perfect man, may do it 
 outwardly. He will scarcely do that, but it is possi- 
 ble he may partially. And then, what has he made 
 himself ? "A whited sepulchre : ' ' outside, — adorned, 
 beautiful, clean ; inside, — full of rottenness and 
 dead men's bones I The self that was beaten in the 
 
18 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 open field of outward life, retires, like a defeated 
 army, behind broad rivers; and concentrates itself 
 in its fortresses, and prepares hopefully for a victo- 
 rious resistance in the citadel of the heart. 
 
 Just as the old leaves drop naturally from the tree 
 when the new buds of spring begin to put them- 
 selves out, let the new affection come and dwell in 
 thy heart, and expel the old. " Lay aside every 
 weight " — " looking unto Jesus." Then, too, you will 
 find that the sacrifice and maiming of the old man 
 has been the perfecting of the man. You will find 
 that whatever you give up for Christ you get back 
 from Christ, better, more beautiful, more blessed, 
 hallowed to its inmost core, a joy and a possession 
 forever. For He will not suffer that any gift laid 
 upon His. altar shall not be given back to us. So, 
 the hand that is cut off, the eye that is plucked out, 
 the possessions that are rendered up, the idols that 
 are slain, — they are all given back to us again when 
 we stand in God's own light in glory — perfect men,, 
 made after the image of Christ, and surrounded with 
 all possessions transfigured and glorified in the light 
 of God. " There is no man that hath left house, or 
 parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the 
 kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive man- 
 ifold more in this present time and in the world to 
 come life everlasting. 
 
FIRST FRIDAY, 19 
 
 Is there a thing beneath the sun, 
 That strives with Thee my heart to share? 
 
 Oh, tear it thence and reign alone, 
 The Lord of every motion there. 
 
 Then shall my heart from earth be free, 
 
 When it has found repose in Thee. 
 
 Oh, hide this self from me, that I 
 No more but Christ in me may Uve : 
 
 My vile affections crucify, 
 
 Nor let one darling lust survive. 
 
 In all things nothing may I see, 
 
 Nor aught desire, or seek, but Thee. 
 
 /^ GOD, whose name is ineffable, who purifiest the cavern of 
 ^-^ man's heart from vices, and makest it whiter than the 
 snow; bestow on us Thy compassions? renew in our inward parts, 
 we pray Thee, Thy Holy Spirit, by whom we may be able to 
 show forth Thy praise; that being strengthened by the righteous 
 and princely Spirit we may attain a place in the Heavenly Jeru- 
 salem, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
20 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 fivat ^aturDa^. 
 
 The light of the body is the eye : if therefore thine eye be 
 single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 
 Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 
 
 God Himself is His greatest gift. The loftiest 
 blessing which we can receive is that we should be 
 heirs, possessors of God. 
 
 In general terms, spiritual blessings can only be 
 given to those who are in a certain spiritual con- 
 dition. Always and necessarily the capacity or 
 organ of reception precedes and determines the be- 
 stowment of blessings. The light falls everywhere, 
 but only the eye drinks it in. The lower orders 
 of creatures are shut out from all participation in 
 the gifts which belong to the higher forms of life, 
 simply because they are so made and organized as 
 that these cannot find entrance into their nature. 
 They are, as it were, walled up all round; and 
 the only door they have to communicate with the 
 outer world is the door of sense. Man has higher 
 gifts simply because he has higher capacities. All 
 
FIRST SATURDAY. 21 
 
 creatures are plunged in the same boundless ocean 
 of Divine beneficence and bestowment, and into 
 each there flows just that, and no more, which 
 each, by the make and constitution that God has 
 given him, is capable of receiving. In the man 
 there are more windows and doors knocked out than 
 in the animal. He is capable of receiving intel- 
 lectual impulses, spiritual emotions. He can think, 
 and feel, and desire, and will, and resolve ; and so he 
 stands on a higher level than the beast below him. 
 
 Not otherwise is it in regard to God's kingdom, 
 " which is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost." The gift and blessing of salvation 
 is primarily a spiritual gift, and only involving out- 
 ward consequences secondarily and subordinately. 
 It mainly consists in the heart being at peace with 
 God, in the whole soul being filled with Divine 
 affections, in the weight and bondage of transgres- 
 sion being taken away, and substituted by the im 
 pulse and the life of the new love. Therefore, 
 neither God can give, nor man can receive, that 
 gift upon any other terms than just this : that the 
 heart and nature be fitted and adapted for it. Spir- 
 itual blessings require a spiritual capacity for the 
 reception of them ; you cannot have the inheritance 
 unless you are sons. If salvation consisted simply 
 in a change of place; if it were merely that by 
 
22 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 some expedient or arrangement an outward penalty, 
 whicli was to fall or not to fall at tte will of an 
 arbitrary judge, was prevented from coming down, 
 why then, it would be open to Him who held the 
 power of letting the sword fall, to decide on what 
 terms He might choose to suspend its infliction. 
 But inasmuch as God's deliverance is not a deliver- 
 ance from a mere arbitrary and outward punish- 
 ment ; inasmuch as God's salvation, though it be 
 deliverance from the penalty as well as from the 
 guilt of sin is by no means chiefly a deliverance 
 from outward consequences, but a removal of the 
 nature and disposition that make these outward 
 consequences certain, — therefore a man cannot be 
 saved, God's love cannot save him, God's justice 
 will not save him, God's power stands back from 
 saving him, upon any other condition than this, — 
 that his soul shall be adapted and prepared for the 
 reception and enjoyment of the blessing of a spirit- 
 ual salvation. 
 
 There is no inheritance of Heaven without son- 
 ship; because all the blessings of that future life 
 are of a spiritual character. The joy, and the rap- 
 ture, and the glory of that higher and better life, 
 have, of course, connected with them certain changes 
 of bodily form, certain changes of local dwelling, cer- 
 tain changes which could perhaps be granted equally 
 
FIRST SATURDAY. 28 
 
 to a man, of whatever sort he was. But it is not 
 the golden harps, not the pavement of " glass min- 
 gled with fire," not the cessation from work, not 
 the still composure and changeless indwelling, not 
 the society even, that makes the Heaven of heaven. 
 All these are but the embodiments and rendering 
 visible of the inward thing, a soul at peace with 
 God in the depths of its being, an eye which gazes 
 upon the Father, and a heart which wraps itself in 
 His arms. Heaven is no heaven except in so far as 
 it is the possession of God. That saying of the 
 Psalmist is not an exaggeration, nor even a forget- 
 ting of the other elements of future blessedness, 
 but it is a simple statement of the literal fact of 
 the case, "I have none in Heaven but Thee ! " God 
 is the heritage of His people. To dwell in His love, 
 and to be filled with His light, and to walk forevet 
 in the glory of His sunlit face, to do His will, and 
 to bear His character stamped upon our foreheads, 
 — that is the glory and the perf ectness to which we 
 are aspiring. 
 
 Eye hath never seen 
 
 On this pale earth such glory, ear hath heard 
 
 No music like the songs which seemed to float 
 
 Across the place. Above the city stood 
 
 No sun, yet forth she looked, clear as the sun, 
 
 Fair as the moon, and terrible as some 
 
24 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Great army. And the shining of her walls 
 Was like the glory of a golden Dawn 
 On stainless snow. Upon the streets there went 
 And came a holy people clad in white, 
 With faces sealed to peace unspeakable. 
 I did not see His Face who sitteth King 
 Within the Shining City, but I saw. 
 Reflected on each face, His wondrous look, 
 And I could read that every eye within 
 The City saw Him, though I saw Him not. 
 The gates were open, and the voice of them 
 That sing for joy of heart was heard again within. 
 
 f\ MERCIFUL Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst redeem us 
 with Thy precious Blood, have mercy upon the souls 
 of Thy servants, and graciously bring them to the joyful 
 dwellings of Paradise, that they may there love Thee with 
 that unspeakable love which can never be separated from 
 Thee and Thine elect, who livest with the Father and the 
 Holy Ghost one God, world without end. Amen. 
 
FIRST SUNDAY. 25 
 
 fim ^unDat' 
 
 Beloved, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, 
 without spot and blameless. 
 
 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 What does growing in grace mean, but that our 
 spiritual intention should lengthen its reach, — should 
 extend itself more and more to every corner of our 
 life ? Some little business of routine calls my atten- 
 tion at a certain hour, having nothing sublime oi 
 extraordinary in it, but the neglect of which would 
 entail discomfort and annoyance, — a visit, or a letter 
 of courtesy, or an interview, in which a few neces- 
 sary words pass, and then it is over. Well; even 
 the most earthly of earthly actions, those which are 
 most bound up, with this transitory state of things, 
 and which have no intrinsic dignity or sacredness 
 whatever, may be spiritualized by importing into 
 them a spiritual intention. The little courtesies, 
 for example, which society requires, may be yielded 
 simply because they are social requirements, in which 
 
26 NKW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 case they will be often done " grudgingly, and of 
 necessity ; " or they may be regarded as so many op- 
 portunities of compliance with the inspired precept, 
 " Be courteous " — in which case they will be done 
 cheerfully, " as to the Lord, and not unto men." And 
 (generally) the meeting of all calls upon us, how- 
 ever humble, with the thought that they come to us 
 in the way of God's providence, and in the working 
 out of the system of things which He has appointed, 
 and are indications of the quarter in which He would 
 have us direct our energies, is a great means of puri- 
 fying our intention, and so of advancing in spirit- 
 uality. For nobody is aware what is going on in our 
 hearts, when we meet these calls in a devout spirit ; 
 our friends only see us doing commonplace things 
 which others do, and give us no credit. But, in so 
 meeting such calls, we have praise of God, who, like 
 a good Father, marks with approbation the humblest 
 efforts of His children to please Him. 
 
 I would have gone ; God bade me stay : 
 I would have worked ; God bade me rest. 
 
 He broke my will from day to day, 
 He read my yearnings unexpressed, 
 And said them nay. 
 
 Now I would stay ; God bids me go : 
 Now I would rest ; God bids me work. 
 
FIRST SUNDAY. 27 
 
 He breaks my heart tossed to and fro, 
 My soul is wrung with doubts that lurk 
 And vex it so. 
 
 I go, Lord, where Thou sendest me ; 
 
 Day after day I plod and moil : 
 But Christ my God, when will it be 
 
 That I may let alone my toil 
 And rest with Thee? 
 
 /^ GOD, who for the perfecting of our faith hast set us in 
 conflict between the flesh and the spirit, give us grace so 
 to walk in the spirit, that we may not fulfill the lusts of the 
 flesh. Perfect Thou us in love, that we may conquer our nat- 
 ural selfishness and hatred of others ; fill our hearts with Thy 
 joy, and shed abroad in them Thy peace which passeth under- 
 standing ; that so those murmiuings and disputings, to which 
 we are by nature prone, may be overcome. Make us long-suf- 
 fering and gentle, and thus subdue our hastiness and angry tem- 
 pers. Give us faith, meekness, and temperance, against which 
 there is no law. And thus crucifying the flesh with its affec- 
 tions and lusts, may we bring forth the blessed fruits of the 
 Spirit to Thy praise and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen. 
 
28 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ifirjst i^ontiat. 
 
 He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy 
 of Me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not 
 worthy of Me. 
 
 To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 
 
 Notice the habitual stress laid by Christ on His 
 own Person as the organ of Christian influence. 
 Nothing could be better calculated to strike the pop- 
 ular mind than this emphasis, laid by One who from 
 the first preaches lowliness of heart, and predicts the 
 shortness of His life and the ignominious violence of 
 His end, — on Himself as the source of an enduring 
 power, and the corner-stone of a divine kingdom. 
 The necessity of loving Him, the perpetual fame of 
 her who anointed Him for His burial, the grief that 
 will be rightly felt for Him when He leaves the 
 earth, the identification of men's duty to each other, 
 even to " the least of these, My brethren," with 
 their duty to Him, — all these are assumptions which 
 run through the whole Gospel. Though His king- 
 dom is to be the kingdom of which a little child 
 
FIRST MONDAY. 29 
 
 ia the true type, the kingdom in which it is the 
 " meek " who are blessed, in which it is the " poor 
 in spirit " who are to be the rulers, yet this is only 
 saying in other words that He is to be the life of it, 
 since it is because He is " meek and lowly in heart " 
 that those who come to Him shall find rest for their 
 souls. Whether you choose to say that it is in spite 
 of this humility or because of this humility, yet in 
 either case Christ proclaims Himself as the true 
 object of love, and the permanent centre of power 
 throughout the kingdom He proclaims. He declares 
 that His departure will be the first legitimate cause 
 of mourning to His followers : " Can the children 
 of the bride-chamber mourn as long as the bride- 
 groom is with them, but the days will come when 
 the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then 
 shall they fast." The love of Him is to predominate 
 over all other love. "He that loveth father or 
 mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he 
 that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not 
 worthy of Me." Exclusion from His presence is 
 everywhere treated as that outer darkness, where 
 there are weeping and gnashing of teeth. His vision 
 of the spiritual future of untrue men is of men cry- 
 ing to Him, " Lord, Lord ! " and entreating Him to 
 recognize them, to whom He will be compelled to 
 reply, " I never knew you ; depart from Me, ye that 
 
30 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 work iniquity." He justifies with warmth all honor 
 paid to Him personally : " The poor ye have always 
 with you, but Me ye have not always ; " " Verily, I 
 say unto you, wherever this Gospel Bha,ll be preached 
 in the whole world, there shall also this, which this 
 woman have done, be told for a memorial of her." 
 And now consider what usually comes of self-asser- 
 tion much less astounding than this in a human be- 
 ing, and what actually came of it in our Lord's case. 
 The greatest of the world's teachers make light of 
 themselves. Socrates treats his own death as of no 
 moment. The Jewish prophets never think of treat- 
 ing their own careers as of any significance, apart 
 from the message they deliver. And as a rule in the 
 world, when a man magnifies himself with gentleness 
 and simphcity, we smile ; we may find hitn lovable, 
 but there is always a little laughter mingled with our 
 love. When he does it arrogantly or imperiously, 
 we are revolted. In either case, the first generation 
 which does not personally know him puts aside his 
 pretensions as irrelevant, if not even fatal to his 
 greatness. But how was it with Christ ? The first 
 great follower who had never known Him in the 
 flesh, St. Paul, takes up this very note as the key- 
 note of the new world. To him, " to live is Christ, 
 to die is gain." His heart is " hid with Christ in 
 God." His cry is, " not I, but Christ thg,t worketh 
 
FIRST MONDAY. 31 
 
 in me." He makes his whole religious philosophy 
 turn on the teaching of our Lord that He is the Vine, 
 and His disciples the branches. In the land of the 
 olive St. Paul adapts the image to the husbandry of 
 the olive. Again, Christ is the head, and men are 
 the members. And vrhat is true of St. Paul is true 
 of all those in v^rhom the Christian faith has shown 
 its highest genius in subsequent ages. These sayings 
 of Christ as to being Himself the centre of human 
 affections and the light of human lives, instead of re- 
 pelling men, interpret their own highest experience, 
 and seem but the voice of- an interior truth and the 
 assurance of an imperishable joy, 
 
 I feel that I may love Thee as the Babe 
 Of Bethlehem's manger, as the wondrous Boy 
 Among the temple-doctors, strangely brave: 
 
 As He who gave 
 The wine mysterious: with the morning's joy 
 
 In fisher-boats upon Tiberias' sea, 
 Or with Samaria's daughter at the well; 
 Feeding the multitudes who followed Thee ; 
 Or patiently 
 Teaching high truths in glowing parable. 
 Oh, for a glance of thy kind human face ! 
 Then might I love Thee as I long to do. 
 If its pure lineaments I could but trace 
 One moment's space. 
 Would not my bowed affection prove more true? 
 "Would I not press, like Mary, to thy feet, 
 
82 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Who poured the perfumed oil with reverend touch? 
 And hear, perchance, Thy gracious lips repeat, 
 In accents sweet, 
 " Her sins are pardoned, for she lovetih much." 
 She loveth much, O wondering heart of minel 
 When shall this blest assurance be thine own? 
 Saviour, Redeemer, human yet Divine, 
 Each throb be thine 
 And for my lack may Thy great love atone! 
 
 T ADORE, I praise and glorify Thee, and I give thanks to 
 Thee, O Son of the living God, most gracious Jesus, that 
 Thou didst preach the kingdom of heaven, heal the sick, raise 
 the dead, and do many wonderful works ; graciously con- 
 versedst with men, and most mercifully comfortedst them ; and 
 for thirty-three years didst endure for my sake many labors, 
 sorrows, persecutions, with a most meek and lowly heart ; that 
 Thou mightest teach me most fully by precept and example, to 
 live justly and holily. O gracious Saviour, remember, I beseech 
 Thee, of Thy love and goodness, remember my great misery, 
 and have mercy upon me ; sanctify me wholly; give me full 
 pardon of my sins, and renew a right spirit within me; grant 
 that I may imitate Thy humility, resignation, patience, charity, 
 and all Thy virtues, that I may be well pleasing to Thee. And 
 may Thy holy name be blessed throughoat all ages. Amen. 
 
FIRST TUESDAY. 88 
 
 fivnt Cue0Dat» 
 
 Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord 
 is risen upon thee. 
 
 The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more 
 and more unto the perfect day. 
 
 SiNCB we are, one and all, in the number of those 
 to whom God has said, " Arise^ shine, for thy light 
 has come," let us take care that we do shine ; that 
 we keep our souls, like a clear mirror, free from the 
 mists and stains of earth, which would otherwise 
 dim the glorious image of the Son of God, offering 
 Himself to be reflected in them continually. When 
 angels look down on the regenerate soul, they ex- 
 pect to see it all bright and shining with a purity 
 something like their own ; disregarding what might 
 kindle evil desire, and turning itself night and day, 
 towards God, with reverential love. They expect to 
 see it also shining with cheerfulness; enlightened 
 evermore with a holy and religious joy ; a joy in 
 God, like that of the Blessed Virgin Mother, when 
 
34 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 she knelt beside the manger, earnestly beholding and 
 adoring her new-born Babe. Also we may believe 
 that the holy angels, who waited near Bethlehem on 
 the first Christmas Day, and were so ready and eager 
 with their songs of praise, and in instructing the 
 shepherds where they might find the Babe, — we may 
 well believe that these angels expect to find in us, 
 the new-born of Christ, a certain obedient and duti- 
 ful alacrity, a quick and bright way of going on from 
 one thing to another, earnestly seeking out and ful- 
 filling all His will. And this may be part of the 
 meaning of the Holy Spirit, when He says to each of 
 us by the Prophet, " Arise, shine," as who should 
 ask, " Are you not a Christian ? be not then slothful 
 and languid ; arouse yourself ; be up and doing in 
 your Lord's service ; and when you have done a little, 
 some one or two things, do not stand gazing on it, 
 but go on to the next thing ; stir thyself up continu- 
 ally, by devout and thankful meditation, to do more 
 and more for Christ ; this is the way to arise and 
 shine in good earnest." Do your work swiftly and 
 clearly, but as silently as possible : after the manner 
 of rays of light, which come from the sun in silence, 
 with inconceivable speed, straight to the point where 
 God intends them to fall. Such should our work 
 be ; no noise, no disturbance, no loitering about other 
 and meaner things. 
 
FIKST TUESDAY. 35 
 
 Let every faithful heart rejoice, 
 
 Lift up its hands to God on high, 
 And with its life and look and voice 
 
 Tell out His praises worthily ! 
 
 - Into this dark world Jesus came 
 
 That all eyes might his form behold, 
 While from the limits of its frame 
 He passed, — that we might be consoled. 
 
 To all He showed that gentle Face ; 
 
 On good and bad alike it shone ; 
 Its radiant loveliness and grace 
 
 The Lord of all concealed from none. 
 
 O love of Christ beyond all love ! 
 
 O Clemency beyond all thought ! 
 O grace all praise of men above 
 
 Whereby such gifts to men are brought ! 
 
 O Blessed Face, whose light we sing, 
 Here on our way we worship Thee, 
 
 That in the Country of our King 
 Filled with Thy glory we may be ! 
 
 TESUS, our Master, do Thou meet us while we walk in the 
 way and long to reach Thy Country ; so that following Thy 
 light we may keep the way of righteousness, and never wander 
 away into the horrible darkness of this world's night, while 
 Thou, Who art the Way, the Truth, and the Life, art shining 
 within us. Amen. 
 
36 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^econn CBetine0Da^. 
 
 Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to 
 give you the kingdom. 
 
 I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that 
 Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast 
 revealed them unto babes. 
 
 God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound 
 the things which are mighty. 
 
 Testimony meets us in all parts of the Gospel to 
 the early and deliberately announced intention of 
 Christ to found an enduring kingdom, on materials 
 which were not of the stuff of which earthly Got- 
 ernments are made ; the Moulder of which did not 
 contemplate, indeed, steadily refused to contemplate, 
 conquering within any assigned period the help of 
 earthly Governments for his purpose, or making 
 any alliance of that kind an essential condition 
 of the kingdom which He proclaimed. The Jewish 
 polity was a spiritual polity, but it rested on an 
 organization which wielded all the recognized powers 
 of the State. Christ rejected the idea of directly 
 availing Himself of these means, and declared His 
 
SECOND WKDNESDAT. 37 
 
 purpose to use means so unpromising that, in the 
 human sense, they were hardly means to such an end 
 at all. We never hear without the thrill of a new 
 surprise that calm, strange, and unique prophecy, 
 addressed at the very outset of His short career to 
 a dozen peasants, " Fear not, little flock, it is your 
 Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," 
 when we remember that a kingdom has really been 
 given to them, though not a kingdom of this world. 
 " Follow Me," He said to one or two couples of fish- 
 ermen, as they cast their nets into the waters, and 
 mended them on the shores of the Lake of Galilee, 
 " and I will make you fishers of men." And they 
 were made fishers of men, and obviously made so 
 solely by Him Who thus chose them from a calling 
 apparently so little qualified to fit them for the hope- 
 less task. It is remarkable enough that by far the 
 greatest of the Apostles, — he in whom even high 
 human insight might have discerned the elements of 
 marvelous force and moral influence, — was not 
 chosen for his work during Christ's earthly life. The 
 " little flock " to whom our Lord announces so early 
 and so peremptorily that they are " not to fear," be- 
 cause it is their " Father's good pleasure to give 
 them the kingdom," are such a "little flock" as no one 
 before ever proposed to make the founders of a new 
 world. Indeed, Christ asserts repeatedly that they 
 
38 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 are chosen because they are not " wise and prudent," 
 because they ai-e " babes," and no doubt because on 
 that very account they are not likely to aim at the 
 construction of an ambitious polity ; because they 
 have no sort of influence which would give them 
 authority, even in the little world of Judaea. They 
 are anxiously warned against any sort of striving to 
 acquire earthly dignity. Wealth is even forbidden 
 them. They are promised " the kingdom " in the 
 same breath in which they are told to sell what they 
 have, and provide for themselves bags which wax not 
 old, " a treasure in the heavens which faileth not," 
 in order that " where their treasure is, there may 
 their hearts be also." Moreover, while the Apostles 
 are forbidden all the ordinary means of binding to- 
 gether a great earthly organization, they are told 
 that they are to be for a long time few and scattered 
 sowers of division, preachers to people who could not 
 or .would not understand. " The harvest truly is 
 plenteous, but the laborers are few." The kingdom 
 is not to be a popular one, in that time at least. 
 Their Master speaks to the multitude in parables, 
 because to the few chosen it is giveli to know the 
 mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the many it 
 is not given. Yet the chosen Apostles themselves 
 misunderstand and misinterpret their Master. Peter, 
 after being told that his confession is the rock on 
 
SECOND WEDNESDAY. 39 
 
 which the Church should be built, is spoken of as a 
 tempter and an offense to his Master, as one who 
 savors not of the things which are of God, but those 
 which are of men. John is twice rebuked, once for 
 his revengeful spirit, once for his short-sighted am- 
 bition. Judas's treachery is predicted. All the 
 twelve are warned that they will fail at the hour of 
 Christ's trial. In a word, from beginning to end of 
 the Gospels we have evidence which no one could 
 have managed to forge, that Christ deliberately chose 
 materials of which it would have been impossible for 
 any one to build a great organization, unless he could 
 otherwise provide, and continue to provide, the power 
 by which that organization was to stand. Who can 
 hear the words, " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of 
 heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
 unto babes," without being consciously or uncon- 
 sciously impressed with the divine confidence of the 
 purpose which selected what we should have thought 
 the least promising of all materials for the most ma^ 
 jestic and enduring of works, and prove their fitness 
 by the history of the ages ? Now, the popular be- 
 lief in Christianity has much more to do with the 
 vivid impression made by these reiterated and em- 
 phatic assertions, ingrained into the very essence of 
 the Gospel, of our Lord's intention to establish a 
 
40 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 kingdom out of elements thus humanly hopeless, — 
 than with any learned evidences. Would it not be 
 something incredible that a mere man should profess 
 his intention to establish a kingdom which shall en- 
 dure forever, by the help of twelve ignorant men, 
 who will not even keep him with them for more than 
 a year or two, who habitually misunderstand his 
 words and mistake his spirit, and who are told that 
 they are destined almost involuntarily to drink of his 
 cup and be baptized with his baptism, in spite of 
 misreading the sort of destiny which that implies, 
 and the kind of glory to which it leads, — and then 
 that his mere prophetic guess should be so far ful- 
 filled as the history of Christianity has fulfilled 
 Christ's prediction at this day ? Is there not here a 
 vision of what would be to man an impossible future, 
 on the partial realization of which the popular mind 
 is far better able to pass a trustworthy judgment than 
 is even the most learned mind to pass judgment on 
 the intricate details of biographic or historic evi- 
 dence? Or consider only what is implied in the 
 words of the Last Supper. Christ announces, what 
 must then have been to the most judicial of human 
 minds nothing but conjecture, that He was then and 
 there to give up His life for the world. This could 
 not have taken place without His condemnation by 
 the Roman ruler, against whose rule He had been 
 
SECOND WEDNESDAY. 41 
 
 guilty of no offenae. At that time, it can scarcely 
 have seemed even probable to a sober-minded Jew, 
 that the anger of the Jevyish priesthood should bring 
 about such a result at all, much less immediately. 
 But Christ takes it so absolutely for granted, that 
 He speaks of the bread and wine as symbols of His 
 broken Body and poured-out Blood, and founds upon 
 the similitude a New Testament, which He declares 
 to be for the remission of the sins of many. And 
 not only does His death at once .follow as He pre- 
 dicts, but the bread and wine become in some sense 
 or other His body and blood to future centuries : — 
 
 Both faith and art have given 
 To that one hour, a life of endless rest, 
 And still, whoe'er would taste the food of heaven, 
 May to that table come a welcome guest. 
 
 Words which, coming at such a time from the mouth 
 of an ordinary man would have sounded like a melan- 
 choly conjecture and a tender metaphor, prove to 
 have been in Christ's mouth the solid foundation of 
 history and the corner-stone of a lasting faith. Now, 
 surely, the popular impression of these facts as imply- 
 ing that our Lord's knowledge had its roots planted 
 in the very well-springs of the world's history is, to 
 say the least, infinitely better justified by reason than 
 any inference, however judicial, from the careful sur- 
 vey of minute historic evidences possibly could be. 
 
42- NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 The materials of the building are not only intrinsic- 
 ally frail, but it is the Builder Himself who selects 
 them because they are so, and Who yet calmly an- 
 nounces that the building shall outlast the heavens. 
 His own death is to be the signal of defection and 
 despair to His followers, yet it is to be the firm foun- 
 dation of an eternal structure ; and, as a matter of 
 fact, no sooner is His visible hand withdrawn than 
 the living stones run from all quarters of the earth, 
 and pile themselves into the temple of the ages. Is 
 there not a real solidity in the conviction of divine 
 power which these evidences produce ? 
 
 Where the far-stretching nave and glorious choir 
 
 With stately transepts — intersecting — blend, 
 
 And form a mighty Cross, I see ascend, 
 As with a leap to heaven, the tapering spire. 
 It bids me lift my looks and longings higher 
 
 Than this world's smoke and clouds, to let them tend 
 
 To yonder azure Home and gracious Friend, 
 And set on things above my heart's desire. 
 So, resting on the Cross as on its base. 
 
 See the fair fabric of religion rise — 
 Truth her foundation and her topstone Grace. 
 
 Thus, ever upwards see her point men's eyes. 
 Which some celestial ladder seem to trace ; 
 
 Its foot on earth, its summit in the skies. 
 
 /^ GOD, who hast taught us that in Thy mysterious Erovi- 
 dence suffering must lead to glory : who hast placed the 
 
SECOND WEDNESDAY. 43 
 
 Cross before the Crown, and hast made much tribiilation the 
 entrance to Thy heavenly kingdom : may we learn from this 
 Thy will, to wait for our deliverance from the bondage of cor- 
 ruption into the glorious liberty of Thy children. Hasten, O 
 Lord, the day when the sons of God shall be manifested, and 
 disappointment and decay and sin shall be no more. Prepare 
 the way of Thy coming, O Thou who art the desire of all crea- 
 tion and the delight of the sons of men. Set up Thy sign in 
 the heavens, and gather thine elect from the ends of the earth. 
 Show us thy glory, and change us into Thy perfect image. And 
 thus reveal unto us the treasures which Thou hast prepared for 
 them that love Thee, where Thou livest and reignest with the 
 Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. 
 
44 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^cconu C^ur^Da^. 
 
 And there were certain Greeks among them, that came up 
 to worship at the Feast. The same came therefore to Philip, 
 which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, 
 Sir, we would see Jesus. 
 
 And in that day the eyes of the blind shall see out of ob- 
 scurity, and out of darkness. 
 
 We shall see Him as He is. 
 
 One disciple writes to another, " I am tired and 
 discouraged, and want some one to speak or write 
 to me about Christ and his love for us all." Some 
 of us, hearing these simple words, will say, " How 
 natural that is ! I have felt it myself, — that wear- 
 iness and discouragement ; I too have had a dim yet 
 deep impression that belief and comfort could come 
 to me only from the Saviour of mankind ; and so 
 I have longed to have some stronger soul, who had 
 a clearer experience and brighter visions of his love 
 than mine, tell me of it ; tell me of its power ; tell 
 me of its beauty ; tell me of its freeness, its abun- 
 dance, its patience, its sweet and satisfying thoughts." 
 
SECOND THUBSDAY. 45 
 
 It must have been this feeling, in some of its differ- 
 ent degrees, that brought many of his first followers 
 to Jesus. John the Baptist who had borne the sol- 
 itude and pain of his great prophetic calling, who 
 was "tired" of the hoUowness of courts and the 
 . frivolities of the people, and " discouraged " at the 
 slow advances of the latter day ; St. Matthew, from 
 the market-place ; Simon and John, from their nets 
 and boats, on the Lake of Galilee; Andrew and 
 Philip, along the banks of the Jordan ; Nathan- 
 ael, from under the fig-tree; the Centurion, from 
 the sick-bed of his servant, and the Syrophoenician 
 woman from that of her child ; the cultured Greeks 
 that came to worship at the Feast ; the woman of 
 Samaria in the midday heat, by the well ; the 
 woman that all the city knew for a sinner, unin- 
 vited, pressing through the formidable barrier of the 
 Pharisee's door, with her loosened hair and the ala- 
 baster box in her hand, — with one or another shade 
 of weariness or discouragement, with guilty con- 
 sciences, or homesick hearts, or unsatisfied desires, or 
 bereavement, or unsuccessful attempts to lead a right 
 moral life of themselves. Prodigals in appetite or 
 intellect or self-will, they aU wanted to know Christ 
 and his love. Something told them He could com- 
 fort them. So it has been with all the innumer- 
 able souls ever since, in all the generations and 
 
16 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 lands of the world, who have arisen from their 
 separate places and have been formed into the 
 mighty company of the faithful ; in some sense or 
 other, they were unsatisfied, empty-hearted, "dis- 
 couraged" with themselves, before they began to 
 long and listen for the love that Jesus only could 
 give. They did not come with some predetermined 
 theory of life or of religion and demand that the 
 word of Heaven should be set square to that ; they 
 did not lay down their Grecian philosophy, their _ 
 scientific conclusions, their Pantheistic or Platonic 
 speculations, or even their system of natural laws, 
 and ask that the way of salvation should be con- 
 formed to that. They never would have faith that 
 way if they had. For lo ! here was the Son of God. 
 The peace they wanted was that which passeth all 
 their understanding. Their intellectual conceit and 
 self-confidence was the very illusion they were 
 "tired" of, and they had first to become like little 
 children with new hearts, believing and praying to 
 enter into the kingdom. 
 
 But others, if the same thing were said to them, 
 " I am tired and discouraged, and want to see and 
 to know Christ," would wonder at it. Some secret 
 link is wanting to connect their feeling with that 
 confession. These are the same persons who, when 
 we say our general confession, do not feel it to be 
 
SECOND THURSDAY. 47 
 
 their confession, and do not say it with their heart 
 of hearts, — that they are "lost sheep," and have 
 become so by following their " own devices and de- 
 sires;" that there is "no health" in them; and 
 that they are " miserable offenders." " Tired " they 
 are not ; for the energies of both body and mind are 
 still full of vigor ; " discouraged " they are not ; for 
 money, luxury, social position, admiration, the fash- 
 ionable world, still seem worth pursuing, and the 
 •pursuit is keen and fascinating, as of those who run 
 for a visible prize, in a bracing air. They do not 
 want to be told of Christ, or to " see Jesus," because 
 they have no reason to believe He would help them 
 to their darling objects ; and these, for the present, 
 are enough. 
 
 Of this superficial satisfaction it is enough to say 
 now that being dependent on the frailest of condi- 
 tions, it never lasts long ; that any one of a thou- 
 sand common changes upsets and scatters it ; that 
 when it is thus dispersed the wretchedness which it 
 leaves behind is the saddest in the world ; and that 
 even while it continues it is never associated with 
 the nobler traits of human character, and never 
 wins the profound respect even of the world itself 
 in which it eats, drinks, and is merry. 
 
 And hence, the untiring and unceasing work of 
 God's compassion on earth is to bring human hearts 
 
48 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 over, from the one of these classes to the other : out 
 of unconcern to the hearty longing for Christ, — for 
 his love, his grace, his life. It is to stir and awaken 
 that desire, which never is despised if it is sincere, 
 and never disappointed if it is persevering. For 
 this the Holy Spirit keeps up his inward and invisi- 
 ble solicitation, speaking through the conscience. For 
 this the Providential plan of each individual life is 
 shaped and carried on, with its daily discipline. 
 For this the Prophets rebuke, the Apostles teach,, 
 the Martyrs die. For this the Scriptures are writ- 
 ten, the Gospel is preached, the Church is planted 
 and extended, the Sacraments are ministered, the 
 Prayers are offered. For this, — all ye whose groans 
 are relieved or smothered, — whose tears fall or, are 
 forced back upon their fountains in fear or shame, — 
 whose houses are desolate, whose springs of joy are 
 dry as summer-dust, whose career is a failure, and 
 whose ambition is dead, — for this you are " tired 
 and discouraged," scourged and lonely, — that you 
 might " want " some voice to " speak to you about 
 Christ and his love : " nay, that you might want 
 to see Jesus himself. Blessed are they in whom 
 the sorrow is not comfortless, but for whom it is 
 only the cruciform tree which yieldeth the peaceable 
 fruit ! 
 
 Coming to that " valley of Achor," and finding 
 
SECOND THURSDAY. 49 
 
 it to be thus " a door of hope," your heart will stand 
 just where the disciple mentioned at the outset stood, 
 with a peculiar mixture of two contending feelings : 
 " tired " with unsatisfactory attempts and " discour- 
 aged " with standards of duty not overtaken but fly- 
 ing a long distance before, — and yet, in the midst of 
 this unrest, having a deep trust within, the foreshin- 
 ing of an immortal hope, that Christ and his love are 
 realities after all which may he found. Somewhere, 
 they can be found.. Some tongue can tell about 
 them. " Tell me, oh Thou whom my soul loveth, 
 where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to 
 rest at noon." 
 
 There is a secret conviction that all help and light 
 and consolation can come only from the Saviour ; 
 yet there is a yearning for some outward assist- 
 ance in reaching Him. There is uneasiness, yet an 
 interior prophecy of the Lamb of God who can sat- 
 isfy it. There is a kind of faith in the Cross and 
 the Crucified ; yet there is a gulf of separation 
 needing to be bridged before the precious redemp- 
 tion can fill the soul with peace. In a word, Christ, 
 the Sacrifice, is felt to be the only living " Way," and 
 yet there seems to be needed a way first unto that 
 « Way." 
 
 So I have heard a careful and enterprising man 
 of business, accustomed to exact and practical habits, 
 
 4 
 
50 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 being struck down with disease, laid aside from all 
 his eager plannings, after clearly acknowledging his 
 mistake, and bitterly lamenting that neglect of many 
 opportunities which had wasted two score years that 
 belonged to his Master, to go on and say : " What 
 I want now is to see, to feel, to realize Christ ; I 
 want Him made very real to me ; I want to be con- 
 scious of his presence, and sure of his hand. This 
 is all that is wanting. I am heartily sorry for these 
 my misdoings, and I repent of them. I trust my 
 unworthy offering is accepted, and my pardon 
 sealed. I am sure I mean to glorify God in the 
 little remnant of a life that is left me. But I want, 
 chiefly and unspeakably, to see and feel Jesus Christ 
 with me." 
 
 That will come, according to the promise, — "I 
 and my Father will come to him, — if any man open 
 the door." The reason it comes slowly is, that long 
 courses of habit have turned the eyes another way, 
 and dulled their vision. They are now, thank God, 
 touched and anointed by the Heavenly Hand which 
 giveth light ; but at first they only " see men as 
 trees walking," and not the Son of man himself, 
 pteeminent in power and glory, and near at hand. 
 This new disciple must walk some way out from the 
 Jerusalem of his conversion to the Emmaus where 
 there is the breaking of bread, before he thoroughly 
 
SECOND THURSDAY. 61 
 
 beholds the Saviour, " as with open face." There 
 have been many negligences ; in prayer, in obe- 
 dience, in all the holy discipline and pious acts of 
 character and ordinance. Perhaps even yet the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not approached ; 
 or some other enjoined means of closer union with 
 Christ is not faithfully used. The way, then, to 
 this nearer, fuller, and more completely satisfying 
 fellowship and oneness With the Master is the way 
 Christ has opened in His Church ; it is by the altar 
 of sacrifice ; it is, while leaving no moral com- 
 mandment unlearned, to throw open all the win- 
 dows of the soul for the breath and sunlight of the 
 Spirit ; to let faith be free and unhindered ; to 
 take up whatever cross lies in the path ; to wait 
 patiently and thankfully on Him who never forgets : 
 — thankfully for what is already ^ven, — patiently, 
 as the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit 
 of the earth, through the latter as well as the early 
 rain. 
 
 The way, therefore, to the clearer and more com- 
 forting vision of the Lord's face is threefold. De- 
 tach the heart from every distracting object. Keep 
 it open, watching, waiting, looking for Him. And, 
 while there is aily strength for charitable work, arise 
 straightway and do it, in His name. 
 
52 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 We would see Jesus! we have longed to see Him 
 Since first the story of His love was told; 
 
 We would that He might sojourn now among us, 
 As once He sojourned with the Jews of old. 
 
 We would behold Him, as He wandered lowly, 
 'So room for Him, too often, in the inn ; 
 
 Behold that life, the beautiful, the holy, 
 And only sinless in this world of sin. 
 
 We would see Jesus! we would have Him with us, 
 A guest beloved, and honored at our board; 
 
 How blessed were our bread if it were broken 
 Before the sacred presence of our Lord. 
 
 We would see Jesus! we would have Him with us, 
 Friend of our households and our children dear. 
 
 Who still, should death or sorrow come among us. 
 Would hasten to us, and would touch the bier. 
 
 We would see Jesus not alone in sorrow. 
 But we would have Him with us in our mirth ; 
 
 He, at whose right hand there are joys forever, 
 Doth not disdain to bless the joys of earth. 
 
 We would see Jesus! but the wish is faithless; 
 
 Thou still art with us, who hast loved us well; 
 Thy blessed promise, "I am with you always," 
 
 Is ever faithful, O Immanuel. 
 
 /~V HOLY and most merciful Lord, the light of the world, 
 
 who didst open the eyes of the blind when they prayed 
 
 unto Thee, giving them sight, bid Thou our darkness flee away, 
 
SECOND THURSDAY. 53 
 
 remove the dimness from our vision of Thee and of Thy heav- 
 enly things, correct the wanderings of our desires, and lead 
 us so safely through the dangerous places of this world that 
 finally we may behold Thy Face in glory. Grant this, ,0 Thou 
 who livest with the Father and the Holy Ghost world without 
 end. Amen. 
 
64 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^econn friDat* 
 
 And looking up to heaven He sighed and said, Ephphatha, 
 that is, Be opened ! 
 
 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also 
 weeping, which came with her, He groaned in the spirit and 
 was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him ? They said 
 unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the 
 Jews, Behold, how He loved him ! 
 
 OiXE Lord was on the eve of healing a poor suf- 
 ferer disabled in two of his bodily faculties. " They 
 bring unto Him one that was deaf and had an im- 
 pediment in his speech, and they beseech Him to put 
 His hand upon them." Christ knew His own power. 
 Why did He sigh? In a few moments, this im- 
 prisoned mind will be rejoicing in the full restoration 
 and liberty of its action. And certainly there was 
 no occasion for sadness in the faith of the friends 
 who brought the man to the Healer's feet. For 
 nothing in all the offices of friendship is more pre- 
 cious to Him than its intercessions. At the same 
 instant, too, that He sighed He was looking up to 
 
SECOND FRIDAY. 55 
 
 Heaven, to the Father with whom His communion 
 was perfect. Why, then, should He sigh ? Or, just 
 as He was to give back Lazarus to life, why should 
 He weep ? 
 
 There can be but one answer. In all common 
 sights Christ saw more than our common eyes can 
 see. To Him everything, whether in nature or in 
 man, in lilies or in sparrows, in a poor widow's mites 
 of charity, in cups of cold water, in seed-grain, and 
 fishing-nets, and pieces of money, — everything was 
 set into divine connections and bore some spiritual 
 meaning. To a religious eyesight every place is 
 filled with God, and stands related to a divine pur- 
 pose. So looking on this sad victim of disorder, or 
 on the tomb at Bethany, Jesus is reminded of all the 
 load of miseries and maladies in our suffering Race. 
 His thought passes from the one case of wretched- 
 ness before- Him to the vast accumulations of phys- 
 ical sickness and anguish, which sometimes make 
 the earth itself look like a hospital, to the proces- 
 sion of pale and aching sufferers as they lengthen 
 down the ages. It would have been so with Him 
 if he had been visibly, as he certainly has been 
 actually, present, with the circles of mourners here 
 when we buried our dead or watched by the sick. 
 Would not His searching thought go behind all this 
 mortal discord, and penetrate the moral sources of 
 
56 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 it ? He sees that, back in its deep root and secret 
 origin, not only death but disease comes by sin ; 
 that as sure as there is agony, God's good law must 
 somewhere have been broken. " The sting of death 
 is sin." To be sure, we cannot, in individual cases, 
 trace out the exact line of causation and effect : 
 we should only commit .cruel blunders if we tried 
 to connect every instance of suffering with direct 
 and personal transgression: yet none the less true 
 it is, — as the Gospel, from Genesis, and even on 
 to the great anthems of redemption in the Apoc- 
 alypse of St. John, assures us, that outward dis- 
 tress is only the shudder of humanity rent asunder 
 from God's blessed will, and struggling under the 
 violation of His ordinances of mercy. It is the inar- 
 ticulate wail of sin. We are not isolated individ- 
 uals in this world, each having only his own separate 
 path through it, but we are bound together ; we 
 ache with each other's infirmities, and with hered- 
 itary maladies ; we all bear vicarious sufferings. In 
 the groan of every ailing body the Saviour heard an 
 echo of the retributive lamentation of the whole 
 groaning and travailing creation in its pain, crying 
 out for His Cross, and waiting for the manifestation 
 of the sons of God. What wonder if He sighed with 
 it ? All this suffering, these stripes, He must take 
 up, in the wonderful capacity and fullness of His rec- 
 
SECOND FRIDAY. 57 
 
 onciling work, into His loving and glorious person. 
 More than once, these premonitions of the Garden and 
 Calvary fell upon Him ; as He came to the burial- 
 place at Bethany, — as He was on the eve of working 
 those very miracles where His perfect mastery over 
 every kind of evil seemed to be proved, — He was 
 sad at heart. He sighed, and He wept. Can there be 
 any human heart among us that, seeing this, does not 
 feel some motion of gratitude and trust towards 
 Him? 
 
 Again, this expression of His sadness shows how 
 perfectly Christ was man. Beholding only the dis- 
 plays of his miracle-working Omnipotence, seeing 
 the winds and the sea, the sick and the dead, obey 
 Him, vigorous life flushing again through the pale- 
 ness and stiffness of death just as light and motion 
 did through the universe on the morning of the first 
 creation, we might fix our attention only on His 
 supernatural majesty, and so lose the tender sense 
 of His human oneness with ourselves. But the sound 
 of this sigh, — such as only a humain breast could 
 heave, — the sight of tears such as only a nature 
 fashioned in all points like our own could shed, — 
 this brings Him to our side. We look into those 
 moistened eyes, and believe Him.- We lean on that 
 sighing breast, and are at peace with Him. We 
 know that He was tempted in all points like as we 
 
58 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 are, that He might succor us when we are tempted. 
 Though the awful authority of Heaven and Earth 
 is in His hand, there is compassion in His heart. 
 We have not an High Priest that cannot be touched 
 with the feeling of our infirmities. We know in 
 ■whom we have believed, and that being made 
 like unto ourselves He is ' not ashamed to call us 
 brethren. 
 
 We are brought, then, to the import of this inci- 
 dent to ourselves. First, it discovers to us the true 
 character of Christian sympathy, as being something 
 far beyond a mere soft and sentimental instinct of 
 nature. Half the time sympathy is sought, and is 
 given, only as a superficial luxury of weak natures ; 
 only as a timid escape from God's strong and saving 
 discipline. But in the Son of God perfect tender- 
 ness is balanced with the highest pov(rer. This is the 
 complete manliness of Jesus. The Church has no 
 need of Mariolatry ; for in her Divine Lord she 
 fpresents us all the gentleness and pity of woman. 
 Still less than she wants virgin-worship does she 
 want a heathen hero-worship ; for courage, magnan- 
 imity, calm endurance, patient sacrifice of self, — 
 all the possible elements of heroic greatness have 
 also their manifestation and harmony in Him. Hence 
 His object is not so much to confer a little tran- 
 sient, shallow comfort on our uneasy nerves or limbs, 
 
SECOND FKIDAY. 59 
 
 as to accomplish the deep and inward cure which 
 sets us in lasting reconciliation with God, takes sin 
 away, and brings the peace that the world can neYer 
 give. "Be healed of thy passion, thy selfishness, 
 thy wicked will," He seems to say, " and then no 
 matter for this temporary aching of the flesh." Even 
 His miracles of bodily blessing are only symbols of 
 His redeeming truth and spirit, cleansing and quick- 
 ening the soul. What we really want of the fellow- 
 feeling of our friends is not only that it should come 
 down to the level where we are, and palliate the 
 pain ; but that it should strengthen us for a holier 
 submission, and so nerve us and lift us on for a 
 nobler life in the future. 
 
 Again, this brief glimpse of the text into the soul 
 of the Master shows us the Christian ministry of 
 sorrow. We need not be ashamed either of the feel- 
 ing or of the natural exercise of it. That is a false 
 ambition, not true manhood. Our Gospel is kinder, 
 as well as profounder, than Paganism. Jesus sighs, 
 and thereby the sighing soul of mankind is invig- 
 orated. He comes, groaning in spirit, to Lazarus's 
 grave, and we are sure that God Almighty is a God 
 All-True and merciful. He sheds a patriot's tears 
 over His nation and its superb Jerusalem, and we 
 learn from it the glorious trijj;h that our religion em- 
 braces every genial emotion and genuine interest of 
 
60 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 man, so that a country's terrible anguish for her law 
 and her liberty is justified, and the loyalty of her 
 sons and daughters is acceptable to God. 
 
 Here are two kinds of happiness. One is on the 
 surface. It comes of a favorable temperament, of 
 gratified desires, of uniform prosperity. It is easily 
 unsettled. Few have it unmixed. Fewer still keep 
 it. The other is a happiness attained through dis- 
 cipline, born in some conflict, the fruit of suffering, 
 staying by till the shadows flee forever away. This 
 is what gives some persons spiritual influence and 
 ascendancy over others. We never value those people 
 very much as our comforters who have never known 
 what it was to bear pain, and to sit in dark places 
 themselves. It is because Christ was alone with 
 the Tempter in the wilderness, that He helps us 
 every day, where the Tempter is trying to make a 
 wilderness of our life. It is because He proceeds in- 
 stantly from sighing for the sick man to acting for 
 him, that we know sympathy is not meant to waste 
 itself in mere feeling, but to stimulate our active 
 energies for useful service. It is because He sighs, 
 even while He looks up to heaven, because His soul 
 is sorrowful and exceeding heavy, even unto death, 
 amidst the triumphs of the Garden, with the angel 
 strengthening Him, that we find no inconsistency 
 between a healthy and resigned sorrow here and 
 
SECOND FRIDAY. 61 
 
 that faith in God which is still the victory that over- 
 cometh the world. 
 
 Give no place to that irreligious sorrow which does 
 not look up to heaven, but only sighs on earth. 
 Grief has two comforters, two angels that sit in the 
 empty tomb ; the prayer of faith, and work, for suf- 
 fering men. 
 
 But, give just as little place to an unsympathizing 
 religion. If the other is the world separating itself 
 from faith, this is faith separating itself from the 
 world. Selfishness wiU never sit at the Master's feet 
 by hidiag itself in chambers, or flying to the desert. 
 He will have, at the great love-feast of His Church, 
 not fastidious disciples, not dainty hands, not dreamy 
 devotees, making a fancy of their worship or their 
 creed, but such resolute, seK-denying, and holy souls 
 as are ready to follow Him steadfastly whithersoever 
 He goeth. All sorrow, all faith, all work are recon- 
 ciled in Him. For He sighs, he looks up to heaven, 
 and then He opens the ears of the deaf, and loosens 
 their tongues, for His praise. He weeps, and then 
 exclaims, " Lazarus, come forth," to live and work 
 once more. Nay, He groans in the Garden, and cries 
 out at the cross ; and thus He passes to open the 
 doors of the grave and the gates of the resurrection 
 morning, for all that believe and live and labor in 
 Him. 
 
62 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 The deaf may hear the Saviour's voice ; 
 
 The fettered tongue its chain may break; 
 But the deaf heart, the dumb by choice, 
 
 The sluggard soul that will not wake, 
 The guilt that scorns to be forgiven, — 
 
 These baffle even the cures of heaven ! 
 
 /^ LORD Almighty, we beseech Thee to have mercy upon 
 us Thy servants, whose souls are too like unto them that 
 lie in the grave. Open our eyes to behold Thy wonders. Open 
 our ears to hear Thy Word. Loosen our tongues that we may 
 bear faithful witness for Thee in the face of a foolish and 
 vain world, and evermore lift up our prayers and praises unto 
 Thee. Baise us up from the death of sin unto the life of 
 righteousness. Amen. 
 
SECOND SATURDAY. 63 
 
 ^econu ^aturtiat- 
 
 Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings 
 from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek 
 judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for 
 the widow. 
 
 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you 
 by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought 
 to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 
 
 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should 
 overtake you as a thief. 
 
 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; 
 we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 
 
 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others ; but let us watch and 
 be sober. 
 
 It is an inadequate conception- of the Christian 
 life to suppose it to be the mere quickening of the 
 emotional part of our nature, or the stirring up of 
 our imaginations. We may drive one part of our 
 nature faster than another part can follow. There 
 are some of dull sensibility to whom the discipline 
 is eminently salutary of quickening the emotions. 
 Those, too, who are engaged in busy and active life, 
 
64 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 may employ the same discipline with the greatest 
 advantage ; but there may be others for whom there 
 is a danger of raising the emotional part to God, and 
 leaving the rest behind. Do we not hear it said by 
 the world that a religious man is not always a better 
 man ; that a man who calls himself religious is not 
 in his dealings always the most straightforward, the 
 most honest and fair, the most incapable of taking 
 advantage in a bargain, the most truthful in his 
 words, the most charitable in his thoughts of others, 
 the most watchful to repress every unkind act, the 
 most self-denying and careful to repress all self-in- 
 dulgence ? Is there no truth in this which the world 
 sometimes says ? Is it not the experience of any chap- 
 lain, that he cannot trust those men who seem most 
 impressed by his speaking, and who are ready to ex- 
 press, in ardent words, their sense of the benefit they 
 derive from him ? Do not those of us who come in 
 contact with a young man who has fallen astray, 
 sometimes feel a morbid horror of cant, if we hear 
 him expressing too eloquently his repentance and his • 
 desire to improve ? Not that we of necessity suppose 
 him to be consciously insincere ; but we know how 
 often feeling dies away without ever becoming a 
 practical spring of action. We may take a lesson 
 from our Lord Himself. Is it not remarkable how 
 large a space of His discourses was occupied in re- 
 
SKCOND SATURDAY. 65 
 
 proving the religious world ? It was the Pharisees 
 who, in an age of unbelief, when even the future life 
 was denied, and the existence of angels and spirits 
 disputed, set their hearts on the unseen, and delighted 
 to make long prayers. What we must do if we would 
 deepen the divine life within us, is constantly to set 
 Christ before us, and refer to Him in everything 
 we do. Do we not feel, when we have an honored 
 guest in our house, that we desire to suppress every- 
 thing unseemly, and put ourselves, so to speak, on 
 our best behavior ? And when are we on our worst 
 behavior ? When there is no one, no one but God, 
 to watch what we are doing. Do we really live as 
 in the sight of God ? To live in His presence is 
 indeed an immense comfort in time of trouble. We 
 turn to Him in time of danger, but if we turn to 
 Him only then, is that really living the life that real- 
 izes the , presence of God ? Those speculative diffi- 
 culties, which have been raised as to the answer to 
 prayer, are difficulties for which men who call them- 
 selves religious are often responsible. The priests of 
 former days professed to be able to teach those who 
 employed their services how by prayer they could 
 gain for themselves the good things of this life. And 
 now that men of science declare that they are able to 
 teach better ways of gaining this end, prayer is put 
 forward as a means of gaining the good things of 
 i 
 
66 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 another life. But if prayer is supposed to have no 
 nobler end, we must expect men to raise questions as 
 to its efl&cacy. Is the hungering and thirsting after 
 righteousness, of which the Bible speaks, to hunger 
 and thirst merely after the rewards of righteousness ? 
 What should we think, if we could go to another 
 planet and hear a teacher enforcing the duty of eat- 
 ing and drinking, and informing the people how the 
 tissues of the body are wasted by work ? Should we 
 not say that the men, for whom all this was neces- 
 sary, had no conception of what hunger or thirst 
 was ? If we try to bring Christ before us, and lire 
 close to Him, we shall feel how far we are from being 
 like Him, and we shall feel a longing hunger to be 
 more like Him. To realize the Incarnation is the 
 necessary antidote to the skepticism of physical sci- 
 ence, which impresses us with the pitilessness of 
 physical force, and almost renders us incapable of 
 conceiving God as a God of love, unless we know 
 Him as manifest in the flesh. Remember, then, that 
 every time the thought of Christ puts from us one 
 temptation, every time an impure thought is sup- 
 pressed by the thought of His purity, every time 
 an unkind word or angry speech is checked by the 
 thought of His meekness, every time some self-in- 
 dulgence is put aside by the thought of His self- 
 denial, the very life of God gains depth and power 
 in our souls. 
 
SECOND SATURDAY. 67 
 
 The cloud which nearest to the moon doth lie 
 Shineth the brightest in the midnight sky; 
 
 The pathway of that Christian is most bright 
 Which cleaveth closest unto Christ the Light. 
 
 r\ HEAVENLY Father, who art the God of all power and 
 all peace, give us a perfect command over all our passions 
 and affections, that they being subject to our will, and our will 
 to Thine, we may never fall into any violent transports or vain 
 delusions, but that we may possess our souls in steadfastness 
 of faith, and a heavenly tranquillity, with evenness of temper 
 and sobriety of mind, and that weeping we may be as though 
 we wept not, and rejoicing as though we rejoiced not, because 
 our lives are hid with Christ in God ; unto whom with the 
 Father and the Holy Ghost be all praise and adoration, world 
 without end. Amen. 
 
NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^econn ^unnat- 
 
 Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Lord, 
 hear my voice : let Thine ears he attentive to the voice of my 
 supplications. 
 
 If Thou, Lord,- shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, \rho shall 
 stand? 
 
 But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest he 
 feared. 
 
 It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that 
 when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
 Him as He is. 
 
 What is the perfection of the spiritual life ? It 
 may be summed up in one definition, namely, that it 
 consists in a holy likeness to our Lord and Saviour. 
 If we approach His character, we approach the per- 
 fection of the spiritual life, and it is just in propor- 
 tion as we have the mind of Christ that we have any 
 real spirituality in our life. Now the question is, 
 how this likeness is to be promoted. In the first 
 place, there must be an acquaintance with God's 
 character. God's Word, which reveals it, must not 
 be read cursorily or idly, and in the midst of other 
 
SECOND SUNDAY. 69 
 
 engagements, or when the wearied brain is worn out 
 at night. God's Word must be deeply studied, and 
 prayed over, and passage compared with passage, if 
 we would become familiarized with the character of 
 the Lord. But we may go a step farther, and say 
 that out of the knowledge we obtain from God's 
 Word there should arise a personal intimacy and ac- 
 quaintance with the Saviour. It is a very easy thing 
 to know about Him; but a very different one to 
 know Him. We want to know Him in personal in- 
 tercourse, to walk with Him, to converse with Him, 
 to cultivate an intimacy with Him, to be able to go 
 again and again to Him with the words of the Psalm- 
 ist, " Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." And 
 now another point j in seeking His likeness, in culti- 
 vating His friendship, in making ourselves acquainted 
 with His mind, there is one great principle to be ob- 
 served, a principle which has brought life, peace, and 
 happiness to thousands of souls : it is that we must 
 observe the order of God's gifts. The natural heart 
 when first awakened invariably places the spiritu- 
 ality first, and the forgiveness and acceptance second. 
 Most men, when they first begin to think, would be 
 naturally disposed, had they been intrusted vsdth the 
 composition of the 130th Psalm, to have written, 
 " There is forgiveness with Thee, if I can but fear 
 Thee better." But mark how God puts it, " There is 
 
70 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared." 
 The whole of that holy fear, the whole of that spiritu- 
 ality, the whole of that reverential obedience to our 
 blessed Lord, is the result of the forgiveness freely 
 granted ; granted because, as we find in the seventh 
 verse of that same Psalm, " With Thee is plenteous 
 redemption." Now, if this order be observed, it fol- 
 lows that the sense of defect does not keep us at a 
 distance from God ; but being reconciled, and being 
 forgiven, we may go close to the Saviour to invite in- 
 timacy, even at the time of our deepest humiliation, 
 and seek His likeness in the confident hope that the 
 day will come when that passage will receive its com- 
 plete fulfillment, " It doth not yet appear what we 
 shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we 
 shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 
 
 There is a secret place of rest 
 
 God's saints alone may know ; 
 Thou shalt not find it east or west, 
 
 Though seeking to and fro. 
 If thou hadst dwelt within that place 
 
 Then would thine heart the while, 
 In vision of the Saviovff's face 
 
 Forget all other smile, 
 
 Would count it blest to live, to die 
 
 Where He is all in all : 
 Where rapt, earth unperceived goes by, 
 
 And from ourselves we fall, 
 
SECOND SUNDAY. 71 
 
 Till from His secret place below 
 
 To mansions fair above, 
 He leads thee, there to make thee know 
 
 The perfect joys of love. 
 
 f\ LORD, who alone canst give the hearing ear, and the un- 
 derstanding heart : open our minds, we beseech Thee, to 
 understand Thy word which Thou hast in mercy bestowed upon 
 us. Give us ears to hear, that we may apprehend those things 
 which are revealed unto us by Thee. Save us from using Thy 
 word deceitfully, — from wresting it to serve our own purpose, 
 — from being in bondage to the letter of Scripture while we 
 neglect its spirit. Save us also from carelessness and indolence 
 in the use of Thy word ; May we search the Scriptures dil- 
 igently, and find in them their testimony to Christ. And be- 
 holding His glory reflected in them, may we be changed into it 
 ever more and more, till we are made like Him in His heavenly 
 kingdom, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
72 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^econti ittonuat' 
 
 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon 
 us that we should be called the sons of God. 
 
 Now otu- Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our 
 Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting con- 
 solation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and 
 stablish you in every good word and work. 
 
 Fatherhood ! what does that word itself teach 
 us ? It speaks of the communication of a life, and 
 the reciprocity of love. It rests upon a Divine act, 
 and it involves a human emotion. It means that the 
 Father and the child shall have kindred life — the 
 Father bestowing and the child possessing a life 
 which is derived ; and because derived, kindred ; and 
 because kindred, unfolding itself in likeness to the 
 Father that gave it. And it requires that between 
 the Father's heart and the child's heart there shall 
 pass, in blessed interchange and quick correspond- 
 ence, answering love, flashing backwards and for- 
 wards, like the lightning that touches the earth and 
 rises from it again. A simple appeal to your own 
 consciousness will decide if that be the condition of 
 
SECOND MONDAY. 73 
 
 all men. Are you, my brother, conscious of anything 
 within you higher than the common life that belongs 
 to you because you are a body and soul ?~ Can you 
 say, " From God's hand I have received the granting 
 and implantation of a new and better life ? " Is your 
 claim verified by this, that you are kindred with God 
 in holy affections, in like purposes, loving what He 
 loves, hating what He hates, doing what He wills, 
 accepting what He sends, longing for Himself, and 
 blessed in His presence ? Is your sonship proved by 
 the depth and sincerity, the simplicity and power, 
 of your throbbing heart of love to your Father in 
 heaven ? Or are all these emotions empty words to 
 you, things that are spoken in pulpits, but to which 
 you have nothing in your life corresponding ? There 
 must be a gift of God. A Divine energy must be the 
 source and fountain of all holy and of all GodUke 
 life. Christ comes, comes to make you and me live 
 again as we never lived before ; Uve as possessors of 
 God's love ; live tenanted and ruled by a Divine 
 Spirit ; live with affections in our hearts which we 
 neve rcould kindle there ; live with purposes in our 
 souls which we never could put there. If we under- 
 stand, as we are too much disposed to do, that the 
 Gospel simply comes to work out a moral reforma- 
 tion, — why, there is no need for a Gospel at all. If 
 the change were a simple change of habit and action 
 
74 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 on the part of men, we could do without a Christ. 
 If the change simply involved a bracing ourselves up 
 to behave better for the future, we could manage 
 somehow or other about as well as or better than we 
 have managed in the past. But if redemption be 
 the giving of life from God ; and if redemption be 
 the change of position in reference to God's love and 
 God's law as well, neither of these two changes can 
 a man effect for himself. You cannot gather up the 
 spilt water ; you cannot any more gather up and re- 
 issue the past life. There is but one Being that can 
 make a change in our position in regard to God, and 
 there is but one Being that can make the change by 
 which man shall become a "new creature." And 
 He hoB come, and He has dwelt with us, and He has 
 walked in the midst of this world, and He knows all 
 about our human agonies and depressions and lowli- 
 ness, and He has carried in the golden urn of His 
 humanity a new spirit and a new life which He has 
 set down in the midst of the race ; and the urn was 
 broken on the cross of Calvary, and the water flowed 
 out, and withersoever that water comes there is life, 
 and whithersoever it comes not there is death I 
 
 O Lord! how happy should we be, 
 If we could leave our care to Thee, 
 
 If we from sin could rest ; 
 
 And feel at heart that one above, 
 
SECOND MONDAY. 75 
 
 In perfect 171501001, perfect love, 
 Is working for the best. 
 
 For when we kneel and cast our care 
 
 Upon our God In humble prayer, 
 With strengthened souls we rise. 
 
 Sure that our Father who is nigh 
 To hear the ravens when they cry 
 
 WiU hear his children's cries. 
 
 A BBA, Father, fulfill the office of Thy name towards Thy 
 ■^ servants ; do Thou govern, protect, preserve, sanctify, 
 guide, console them ; let them be so enkindled with love for 
 Thee, that they may not be despised by Thee, O most merciful 
 Lord, most tender Father. Amen. 
 
76 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^econti Cuejsuat' 
 
 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great 
 a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the 
 sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience 
 the race that is set before us, 
 
 Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, 
 who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, 
 despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the 
 throne of Grod. 
 
 Op course, the Apostle does not mean some one 
 special kind of transgression when he says, " the sin 
 ■which doth so easily beset us." He is speaking 
 about sin generically — all manner of transgression. 
 It is not, as we sometimes hear the words misquoted, 
 " that sin which doth most easily beset us." All sin 
 is according to this passage a besetting sin. It is the 
 characteristic of every kind of transgression, that it 
 circles us round about, that it is always lying in wait 
 and lurking for us. The whole of it therefore, in 
 all its species, is to be cast aside if we would run 
 with patience this appointed race. But then, besides 
 that, there is something else to be put aside as well 
 
SECOND TUESDAY. 77 
 
 as sin. There is " every weight " as well as every 
 transgression — two distinct things, meant to be dis- 
 tingnished. The putting away of both of them is 
 equally needful for the race. The figure is plain 
 enough. We as racers must throw aside the gar- 
 ment that wraps us round — that is to say, " the sin 
 that easily besets us ; " and then, besides that, we 
 must lay aside everything else which weights us for 
 the race — that is to say, certain habits or tendencies 
 within us. 
 
 Why mrist we lay them aside ? The whole of the 
 Christian's course is a fight. We carry with us a 
 double nature. The best of us knows that "flesh 
 lusts against spirit, and spirit against flesh." Be- 
 cause of that conflict, it follows that if ever there is 
 to be a positive progress in the Christian course, it 
 must be accompanied, and made possible, by the 
 negative process of casting away and losing much 
 that interferes with it. Yes ! that race is not merely 
 the easy and natural unfolding of what is within us. 
 The way by which we come to " the measure of the 
 stature of perfect men " in Christ, is not the way by 
 which these material bodies of ours grow up into 
 their perfectness. They have but to be nourished, 
 and they grow. That law of growth is used by our 
 Lord as a description, but only as a partial descrip- 
 tion, of the way by which the kingdom of Christ 
 
78 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 advances in the heart. There is another side to it 
 as well as that. The kingdom advances by warfare 
 as well as by growth. It would be easy if it were 
 but a matter of getting more and more ; but it is 
 not that only. Every step of the road, you have to 
 cut your way through opposing foes. Every step of 
 the road has to be marked with the blood that comes 
 from wounded feet. There is no spiritual life with- 
 out dying, there is no spiritual growth without put- 
 ting off " the old man with his affections and lusts." 
 The hands cannot move freely until the bonds be 
 broken. The new Life that is in us cannot run with 
 patience the race that is set before it, until the old 
 Life that is in us is put down and subdued. And 
 if we fancy that we are to get to heaven by a process 
 of persistent growth, without painful self-sacrifice 
 and martyrdom, we know nothing about it. That 
 is not the law. For every new step that we win in 
 the Christian course there must have been the laying 
 aside of something. For every progress in knowl- 
 edge, there must have been a sacrifice and martyr- 
 dom of our own indolence, of our own pride, of our 
 own blindness of heart, of our own perverseness of 
 will, wavering hearts that are drawn away from God 
 by the sweetness of this world. For every progress 
 in strenuous work for God, there must have been a 
 slaying of the selfishness which urges us to work in 
 
SECOND TUESDAY. 79 
 
 our own strength and for our own sake. All along 
 the Christian course there must be set up altars to 
 God on which you sacrifice yourselves, or you will 
 never advance a step. The old legend that the Gre- 
 cian host lay weather-bound in their port, vainly 
 waiting for a wind to come and carry them to con- 
 quest ; and that they were obliged to slay a human 
 sacrifice ere the heavens would be propitious and 
 fill their sails, — may be translated into the deepest 
 verity of the Christian life. We may see in it that 
 solemn lesson — no prosperous voyage, and no final 
 conquest, until the natural life has been offered up 
 on the altar of hourly self-denial. 
 
 Of course, there are duties which, by our own sin- 
 fulness, we make weights, and we dare not, and we 
 cannot if we would, lay them aside, A man, for in- 
 stance, is born into certain circumstances, wherein 
 he must abide ; he has " a calling whereunto he is 
 called." Your trade is a weight, your daily occupa- 
 tions are weights. The spirit of this commandment 
 before us is not, "Leave your plough, and go up 
 into the mountain to pray." Again, a man finds 
 himself surrounded by friends and domestic ties. 
 He dare not, he must not, he cannot, shake himself 
 free from these. There are cases in which to put 
 away the occupation that has become a weight, — to 
 sacrifice the blessing that has become a hindrance, — 
 
80 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 to abstain from the circumstances which clog and 
 impede our Divine life, — is a sin. Where God seta 
 us, we must stand, if we die. What God has given 
 us to do, we must do. The duties that in our weak- 
 ness become impediments and weights, we must not 
 leave. 
 
 But for all besides these, anything which, I know, 
 has become a snare to me — unless it be something 
 in the course of my simple duty, or unless it be 
 some one of those relations of life which I cannot 
 get rid of, I must have done with it ! It may be 
 sweet, it may be very dear, it may lie very near 
 thy heart, it may be a part of thy very being: 
 — never mind, put it away I If God has said to 
 you. There, my child, stand there, surrounded by 
 temptations ! — then, like a man, stand to your col- 
 ors, and do not take these words as if they said, — 
 I am to leave a place because I find myself too weak 
 to resist — a place in which God, for the good of 
 others or for the good of myself, has manifestly set 
 me. But for all other provinces of life, if I feel 
 myself weak I shall be wise to fly. As Christ has 
 said, " If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: "it is 
 better, it is better for thee to go into life with that 
 maimed and bleeding stump, an imperfect man, than 
 with all thy natural capacities and powers to be 
 utterly lost at the last ! Better a maimed man in 
 
SECOND TUESDAY. 81 
 
 Christ's fold, than a perfect man, if that were possi- 
 ble, outside of it. 
 
 With every weight now cast aside, 
 In Him my steadfast thoughts abide. 
 The sin most easy to beset 
 Is, in His strength, with courage met. 
 
 Temptation cannot come to me 
 Which He doth not as instant see. 
 No form of trial I must bear 
 But He hath known and still doth share. 
 
 I hear His voice; I touch His hands, 
 Which draw me nearer where He stands. 
 If sudden pain my soul alarms, 
 I feel the clasping of His arms. 
 
 If I am tempted to deny, 
 
 I only turn and meet His eye: 
 
 My heart doth break, and break again. 
 
 Before its speechless love and pain. 
 
 O grace, beyond my power of thought. 
 For me by my Redeemer bought! 
 O love, whose wondrous depth and height 
 Is far beyond my mortal sight! 
 
 O joy no language can express ! 
 For me — for me the blessedness ! 
 The stainless robe, the glorious crown, 
 For which He laid the ransom downl 
 6 
 
82 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 rpHOU, O Lord, art full of compassion, long-suffering, and 
 pity. Thou sparest when we deserve punishment, and in 
 Thy wrath thinkest upon mercy. Turn then Thine anger from 
 us and give us peace: and enable us by Thy grace to redeem 
 the time which we have spent in sloth, vanity, and wickedness; 
 to make use of Thy gifts to the honor of Thy name; and to 
 lead a new life in Thy faith, fear, and love. Release us, O 
 Lord, from the bands of those sins which, by our frailty, we 
 have committed. Strengthen us in our struggles with tempta- 
 tion. Fill us with just hopes, true faith, and holy consolations; 
 and enable us to do our duty in the state of life to which Thou 
 hast been pleased to call us, without disturbance from anxious 
 cares or evil imaginations, that in all our thoughts, words, and 
 actions, we may glorify Thy holy name; and finally, obtain 
 everlasting joy and felicity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen. 
 
THIRD WEDNESDAY. 83 
 
 ^j^ixh mzuntmv* 
 
 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God. 
 
 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; 
 but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 
 Abba, Father. 
 
 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are 
 the children of God : and if children, then heirs ; heirs of God, 
 and joint-heirs with Christ ; if so be that we suffer with Him, 
 that we may be also glorified together. 
 
 Do not account of small importance the awful sense 
 in wMcli Christ's suffering stands as a thing by itself 
 and unapproachable, a solitary pillar rising up, above 
 the waste of time, to which all men everywhere are 
 to turn with the one thought, " I can do nothing like 
 that ; I need to do nothing like it ; it has been done 
 once, and once for all; and what I have to do is 
 simply to lie down before Him, and let the power 
 and the blessings of that death and those sufferings 
 flow into my heart." The Divine Reedemer makes 
 eternal redemption. The sufferings of Christ — the 
 
84 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 sufferings of His life, and the sufferings of His death 
 — both because of the nature which bore them, and 
 of the aspect which they wore in regard to us, are in 
 their source, in their intensity, in their character, and 
 consequences, unapproachable, incapable of repetition, 
 and needing no repetition whilst the world shall 
 stand. But then, do not let us forget that the very 
 books and writers in the New Testament that preach 
 most broadly Christ's sole, all-sufficient, eternal re- 
 demption for the world, by His sufferings and death, 
 turn round and say to us too, " ' Be planted together 
 in the likeness of His death : ' you are ' crucified to 
 the world ' by the cross of Christ ; you are to ' fill up 
 that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ.' " 
 He Himself speaks of our drinking of the cup that 
 He drank of, and being baptized with the baptism 
 that He was baptized with, if we desire to sit yonder 
 on His throne, and share with Him in His glory. 
 Now what do the Apostles, and what does Christ 
 himself, mean, by such solemn words as these ? Some 
 people shrink from them, and say that it is trenching 
 upon the central doctrines of the Gospel, when we 
 speak about drinking of the cup which Christ drank 
 of. They ask, Can it be? Yes, it can be, if you 
 will think thus : If a Christian has the spirit and 
 life of Christ in him, his career will be moulded, im- 
 perfectly but really, by the same spirit that dwelt in 
 
THIRD WEDNESDAY. 85 
 
 his Lord ; and similar causes will produce correspond- 
 ing effects. The life of Christ which — divine, 
 pure, incapable of copy and repetition — in one as-- 
 pect has passed away forever from men, remains to 
 be lived, in another view of it, by every Christian, 
 who in like manner has to fight with the world, who 
 in like manner has to resist temptation, who in like 
 manner has to stand, by God's help, pure and sinless, 
 in so far as the new nature of him is concerned, in 
 the midst of a world that is full of evil. For were 
 the sufferings of the Lord only the sufferings that 
 were wrought upon Calvary ? Were the sufferings 
 of the Lord only the sufferings which came from the 
 " contradiction of sinners against Himself? " Were 
 the sufferings of the Lord only the sufferings which 
 were connected with the bodily afflictions and pain, 
 precious and priceless as they were, and operative 
 causes of our redemption as they were ? Oh no. 
 Conceive of that perfect, sinless, really human life, in 
 the midst of a system of things that is all full of cor- 
 ruption and of sin; coming ever and anon against 
 misery, and wrong-doing, and rebellion; and ask 
 yourselves whether part of His sufferings did not 
 spring from the contact of the sinless Son of man 
 veith a sinful world, and the apparently vain attempt 
 to influence and leaven that sinful world v?ith care 
 for itself and love for the Father. If there had been 
 
86 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 nothing more than that, yet Christ's sufferings as the 
 Son of God in the midst of sinful men would have 
 been deep and real. '^ O faithless generation, how 
 long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer 
 you? " was wrung from Him by the painful sense of 
 want of sympathy between His aims and theirs. 
 " Oh that I had wings like a dove, for then I would 
 fly away and be at rest," must often be the language 
 of those who are like Him in spirit, and in conse- 
 quent sufferings. 
 
 The death of Christ is a type of the Christian's 
 life, which is to be one long-protracted and daily 
 dying to sin, to self, to the world. The crucifixion 
 of the old manhood is to be the life's work of every 
 Christian, through the power of faith in that cross by 
 which " the world is crucified unto me, and I unto 
 the world." That thought comes over and over again 
 in all forms of earnest presentation in the Apostle's 
 teaching. Do not slur it over as if it were a mere 
 fanciful metaphor. It carries in its type a most 
 solemn reality. On this high level and not upon the 
 lower one of the consideration that Christ vrill help 
 us to bear outward infirmities and afflictions, do we 
 find the true meaning of all that Scripture teaching 
 that says indeed, " Yes, our sufferings are Sis ; " but 
 lays the foundation of it in this, " His sufferings are 
 ours" It begins by telling us that Christ has done 
 
THIRD WEDNESDAY. 87 
 
 a work and borne a sorrow that no second can ever 
 do. Then it tells us that Christ's life of obedience 
 — which, because it was a life of obedience, was a 
 life of suffering, and brought Him into a condition of 
 hostility to the men around Him — is to be repeated 
 in us. It sets before us the cross of Calvary, and the 
 sorrows and pains that were felt there ; — and it says 
 to us, Christian men and women, if you want the 
 power for holy living, have fellowship in that atoning 
 death ; and if you want the pattern of holy living, 
 look at that cross and feel, "I am crucified to the 
 world by it ; and the life that I live in the flesh I 
 live by the faith of the Son of God." 
 
 What if thou always suffer trihulation, 
 And if thy Christian warfare never cease ; 
 
 The gaining of the quiet habitation 
 Shall gather thee to everlasting peace. 
 
 But here we all must suffer, walking lonely 
 The path that Jesus once Himself hath gone ; 
 
 Watch thou in patience through this hour only, 
 This one dark hour before the eternal dawn. 
 
 Thou must walk on, however man upbraid thee 
 With Him who trod the wine-press all alone ; 
 
 Thou wilt not find one human hand to aid thee, 
 One human soul, to comprehend thine own. 
 
88 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 f\ LORD JesuB Christ, our sympathizing Saviour, who for 
 man didst bear the agony and the Cross, draw Thou near 
 to Thy suflFering servants ; hallow all their crosses in this life, 
 and crown them hereafter where all tears are wiped away ; 
 where, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, Thou livest and 
 reignest, one God, world without end. Amen. 
 
THIRD THURSDAY. 
 
 Cl^irD Cl^urgiDat. 
 
 Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of 
 the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the 
 early and latter rain. Be ye also patient ; stablish your hearts; 
 for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 
 
 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was 
 called. The time is short. It remaineth that they that weep 
 should be as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as 
 though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy as though they 
 possessed not; and they that use this world as not abusing it ; 
 for the fashion of this world passeth away. 
 
 It is our chief difficulty about the- formation of 
 Christian character, that we do not give enough time 
 to it. We do not make it sufficiently one continual 
 work through our whole lite, or so long as we have 
 the conscious exercise of the free will. We do not 
 begin early enough. We leave children too much to 
 chance ; to their own wayward wills, instead of re- 
 garding them from the moment of their baptism as 
 temples of the Holy Ghost — as objects of love for 
 the angels, and the deeper love of their Lord. Very 
 early in life troubles arise which cloud middle life 
 
90 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 and hang heavily over old age. Then, again, if we 
 do that, we are all too apt, when persons have 
 passed the middle of life, or even earlier, when they 
 have reached the age of discretion, and at Confirma- 
 tion have spoken out before the Church and God, to 
 consider that we need not interfere any more, or 
 talk to them about such matters as prayer, and the 
 difficulties which beset their soul. We think it would 
 - almost be an impertinence to a man, and a wrong to 
 his independence, to do so. But is that right ? Is 
 the battle of life over at twenty-one ? We may be 
 of age for some things, but yet only children in the 
 service of Christ. Reflect for a moment on the warn- 
 ings we have in the Great Book which God has writ- 
 ten for us. No book that I know of speaks out so 
 outspokenly as the Bible. And what do we find 
 there ? What are some of the great examples of 
 the buffeting of Satan ? We have heard of the 
 patience of Job, but do we always remember that 
 he is brought before us as a type of one- buffeted 
 by Satan ? And at what age ? He was a married 
 man, in middle Ufe, settled in his place ; one with a 
 family ; one with wealth around him. Such was the 
 man, at that age, when buffeted. He much needed 
 to keep on his watchfulness. We all know of the 
 royal penitent, David. Ah ! but when did his trouble 
 come ? Not as a youth on the hills about Bethlehem : 
 
THIRD THUESDAY. 91 
 
 not in all the action and excitement of army life, and 
 aU the gayety of the court of Saul, but when, in mid- 
 life, in married life, he had won a position which 
 should have satisfied his ambition, and he might have 
 begun to think of rest. It was then the cloud that 
 darkened David's life overshadowed him. It was in 
 middle life that he needed to preserve the duty of 
 discipline. What was the age of the penitent Apostle 
 when he had to be restored ? It was in married life : 
 it was when he had advanced beyond what many con- 
 sider the time when discipline and deepening are 
 necessary. If I may say it, with all reverence, do we 
 always remember that when the Captain of our Sal- 
 vation was pleased to descend into the arena of temp- 
 tation and throw a lustre round it, by proving to us 
 that temptation is not sin unless we yield, He was 
 thirty years of age ? And next, if we do not give 
 time enough, neither are we thorough enough when 
 we do set about it. If you would but think of some 
 of the warnings which are given us in the early 
 dispensation of God ! Think of the thoroughness, at 
 least in symbol, with which the typical sin of leprosy 
 was to be put away — how the man was to be put 
 out of the camp — how when he is brought in there 
 is to be the cedar and hyssop, and water and blood, 
 the living and dead bird — the life through death — 
 the purification, the scarlet, new blgod flowing again 
 
92 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 when he is brought within the camp. Then there is 
 the reconsecration of the man, almost point for point 
 like the consecration of the High Priest. And then 
 after this purification and consecration there comes 
 the entering of the religious life again, and the sacri- 
 fice goes on with all the greater thoroughness. Or 
 look into the New Testament. We are so familiar 
 with the examples there, that we pass them by as 
 though they meant nothing. Christ would tell us 
 that the religious life is not merely outward, but es- 
 sentially something within, the improving the inward 
 man, inward holiness, the working of the heart and 
 mind towards Him. This was the point on which 
 our Lord insisted. Some of His parables take their 
 outward form as naturally from what He watched in 
 the inward heart, as others take their outward form 
 from the scattering of the seed in the field. The 
 rich man says secretly to his soul, " Soul, thou hast 
 much goods ; " but God answers his secret words as 
 though they were spoken openly and aloud. The 
 Apostles are murmuring about the first place, and 
 He makes them silent by asking them what they 
 were talking about ? In the heart where the thoughts 
 are going on is the place where He would have us 
 watch. It is the contents of the hearts which leave 
 a defiling mark upon the man quite as much as that 
 which the world sees without. From within — here 
 
THIED THURSDAY. 93 
 
 is where the scar begins which offends the eye of the 
 Captain of our warfare. And so, again, if we listen 
 to some of the simple commands, how high they reach 
 — " Be ye perfect." We do not aim thoroughly 
 enough ; nor aim enough for the victory with Him. 
 So, again, if we turn to some of the earlier Christian 
 writings, how did the Bishop of Jerusalem, St. Cyril, 
 teach even the catechumen ? " Look up," he said, 
 " look up to the angels and archangels ; see in those 
 creatures, onc6 like yourselves, beings who, by the 
 aid of God's power, have reached a state in which 
 now they sin no more, but in perfect happiness do 
 His wiU — in perfect peace abide in the highest 
 heaven of His presence. Look up at those creatures 
 who have reached this perfect state. Gabriel and 
 Michael needed the help of God as well as you. 
 They have had their help, and therefore look to 
 them, and see in them what an exalted state of per- 
 fection God can enable a creature to reach." We 
 never outgrow the need of watchfulness, — till we 
 come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of 
 Christ. 
 
 What are we set on earth for? Say, to toil — 
 Nor seek to leave thy tending of the vines, 
 For all the heat o' the day, till it declines, 
 And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil. 
 God did anoint thee with his odorous oil, 
 
94 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 To wrestle, not to reign ; and He assigns 
 
 All thy tears over, like pure crystallines, 
 
 For younger fellow-workers of the soil 
 
 To wear for amulets. So others shall 
 
 Take patience, labor, to their heart and hand, 
 
 From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer. 
 
 And God's grace fructify through thee to all. 
 
 The least flower, with a brimming cup, may stand, 
 
 And share its dew-drop with another near. 
 
 /~V GOD, who in the beginning didst create the heavens and 
 the earth, and didst give unto all men their work, and the 
 bounds of their habitation, grant to us that we be not unwise, 
 but understanding Thy will : not slothful, but diligent in Thy 
 work : that we run not as uncertainly, nor fight Thy battles as 
 those that beat the air. Whatsoever our hand findeth to do, 
 may we do it with our might : that when Thou shalt call Thy 
 laborers to give them their reward, we may so have run that we 
 may obtain ; so have fought the good fight as to receive the 
 crown of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
THIRD FRIDAY. 95 
 
 Cl^itti iffnDai?. 
 
 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who 
 made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form 
 of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being 
 found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. 
 
 He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. 
 
 Be at peace among yourselves. 
 
 If when ye do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently, this 
 is acceptable with God. 
 
 What our Lord came, above all things, to teach 
 us, what He taught us, what He teaches us now, by 
 His very Being as Man, what He preached in act 
 from His birth in the manger ta His death upon 
 the Cross, what He made the first step to His Apos- 
 tles who were filled with the Holy Ghost, is to " be- 
 come as little children." Such rules as these may be 
 useful. They have been tried. 
 
 Know thyself ! Pray God to show thee thyself. 
 Bear in God's light to see thyself, bared of all out- 
 ward advantages, what thou thyself hast made thy- 
 
96 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 self, what thou hast been, what thou art. By God's 
 grace, the sight will never again let thee be proud. 
 
 Keep ever present with thee the knowledge of 
 thine own infirmity. Never seek praise, nor speak 
 of any good in thee, except for some good end, nor 
 say what may draw out praise. Yea rather if it 
 be useful to speak of thine own experience, it is best 
 mostly to hide, in some true way, that it is thine 
 own. 
 
 Do not even blame thyself if it makes others 
 think thee humble. 
 
 Mistrust thyself in everything, and in the very 
 least things seek, whenever thou canst remember it, 
 the help of God. 
 
 Be afraid of the praise of others. If there be 
 good in thee, own it at least in thine heart to be 
 God's, and think of thy evil and thy sins. 
 
 Take patiently any humiliation from others. It is 
 a precious gift of God. " Humiliation is the way to 
 humility, as patience to peace, reading to knowl- 
 edge." If thou endure&t not to be humble^?, thou 
 canst not be humble. 
 
 In all things humble thyself under the Hand of 
 God. Take aU things, through whomsoever they 
 come, as from Him. 
 
 Do not excuse thyself, if blamed, unless respect, 
 or love, or the cause of truth and of God require it. 
 
THIRD FRIDAY. 97 
 
 It is of more value to thee, to detect one grain of 
 fault in thyself than to show that thou deservest not, 
 as it were, a hundred weight of blame. 
 
 Be not careful to conceal any ignorance or fault in 
 thee, unless it would hurt another to know thou 
 hast it. 
 
 Do willingly humble offices, humbly. 
 
 It is but for a short time at the longest. Seek 
 here to be humble with the humble Jesus, and He 
 will exalt thee. As thou becomest, by His grace, 
 lowly here, thou shalt be exalted there. There is 
 greatness, which none envies; treasures, of which 
 thou wilt deprive none ; joys, in which all will joy 
 with thee. There, not thine own lips, or thine own 
 thoughts, but thy Saviour will praise thee. Seek 
 humility and thou wilt find it, and when thou hast 
 found it thou wilt love it, and by God's grace wilt 
 not part with it ; with it thou canst not perish. Yea, 
 thou wilt reign forever with Jesus, who was hum- 
 bled for thee, and with the choirs in the heavenly 
 dwellings. For there too thou wilt be humble, not 
 as now in the need of all things, but in the posses- 
 sion of all things, in glory, and honor, and power, 
 and beauty, and knowledge, and wisdom, of which 
 we have but the faintest shadow here ; and all from 
 God, and in God. For there, if thou attain, thou 
 shalt cast thy crown before the throne, saying. 
 
98 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 " Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and 
 honor, and power ; " and giving back all to God, 
 thou shalt receive all from God, in bliss everlasting, 
 through His Merits who humbled Himself to thee, 
 that thou being humbled with Him here shouldst 
 enter into His glory and His joy. 
 
 One evening, in a self-exultant mood, 
 
 Unto myself I cried, 
 " Surely mine actions of this day were good, 
 
 And I may rest to-night well satisfied. 
 I will the records note." 
 My pen, how readily it wrote 
 A tale of service unto God and man. 
 Once more the page to scan 
 I cast mine eye ; 
 And in a halo of bright vanity 
 
 The letters seemed to float. 
 Deeming at length the ink was dry 
 
 I closed the book; 
 But on the morrow when I came to look 
 Into this diary so fair once more, 
 
 I found, with pain and ruth. 
 
 Instead of that of truth 
 That I had used the ink of pride. 
 
 Which had not dried; 
 And through this sad mistake 
 My treasured page was blotted o'er and o'er, 
 
 And it from out the book I tore; 
 And on the next I penciled this short line — 
 
 "For Thy Son's sake 
 
TraED FRIDAY. 99 
 
 Forgive the sin of every deed of mine." 
 These words transfigured into gold did shine. 
 
 f\ LORD Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who wast given 
 both to be a sacrifice for sin and also an ensample of 
 godly life, who didst bid us take up our cross daily and follow 
 Thee, make, we pray Thee, the yoke of Thy commandments 
 sweet, and the burden of Thy cross light, unto our souls. 
 Conform Thy servants, Lord, to the likeness of Thy passion. 
 Give us grace, O Eternal Father, that we strive to keep the 
 way of the holy cross, and carry in our hearts the image of 
 Jesus crucified. Make us cheerfully resign ourselves to Thy 
 divine will, that, being fashioned after His life-giving death, 
 we may die according to the flesh, and live according to the 
 spirit of righteousness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and only 
 Saviour. Amen. 
 
100 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Cl^irD ^aturDat* 
 
 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl- 
 edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure 
 of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth be 
 no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with 
 every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craft- 
 iness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive : but speaking the 
 truth in love may grow up into Him in all things which is the 
 Head, even Christ. 
 
 Have true and sublime ideals for your youthful 
 fervor. These will preserve it to old age. Aspire 
 ardently after truth, purity, many-sided charity, 
 holiness of life; let everything else be put under 
 these things. Be convinced of great truths, feel in 
 the depths of your heart their beauty and their 
 force. Be able to say, " I know that God is my 
 Father, and the Father of mankind; I know that 
 the world and I have a Redeemer from evil ; I know 
 that mankind has been made Divine in Christ; I 
 know that there is a Divine Spirit in me and in 
 Mankind, who is educating us towards the perfect 
 
THIRD SATURDAY. 101 
 
 life. I know One who is the Resurrection and the 
 Life to all mankind." You cannot be convinced of 
 mighty truths like these without being set on fire 
 by them, and the fire will kindle every intellectual 
 and imaginative enthusiasm which you possess into 
 an abiding ardor of action so instinct with that from 
 which it flowed, that it will propagate the sacred 
 energy and set others on fire with the same. In 
 this manner seek to correct and develop your youth- 
 fulness of nature in the midst of advancing years. 
 By and by calm will come — not the calm of stag- 
 nation, but the calm which sits in the midst of in- 
 tensity of feeling. That which disturbs and tosses 
 our unregulated enthusiasm is vanity — desire of 
 fame — the intruding element of persortal interests. 
 Our fervor of spirit becomes quiet, yet strong, when 
 its highest impulse is beyond ourselves, when we can 
 fix our most ardent wishes upon Christ, and find in 
 Him the source of a sustained aspiration. For it is 
 not only truths which inspire us, but truths em- 
 bodied in One whom we can love. Pride, selfishness, 
 want of charity, may creep in when we devote our- 
 selves to noble ideas alone. But when we love them 
 in a perfect Person who loves us, self and conceit 
 are wholly lost, and in their loss calm is made coor- 
 dinate with ardent feeling. The most inspiring ideal 
 of the Apostle Paul is when he holds out to the dis- 
 
102 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ciple the prospect of coming in the knowledge of 
 the Son of God to a perfect man, unto the measure 
 of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 
 
 Dear Lord, of all the words of thine 
 Which for our comfort ring and shine 
 Through sacred air, on sacred page, 
 Prom sacred lips in every age, 
 No one has brought such blessed cheer 
 To me, — no one is half so dear. 
 No one so surely cometh home 
 To every soul, as this which from 
 A pure heart wrung with sorrow came, 
 " For He remembereth our frame." 
 
 Not merely that He can forgive, 
 And for His love's sake bid us live 
 When we in trespasses and sins 
 Are dead — but that our weakness wins 
 From Him such pity as alone 
 To fathers' yearning hearts is known; 
 Such pity that He even calls 
 Us sons, and in our lowest falls 
 Sees never utter, hopeless shame, 
 •' For He remembereth our frame." 
 
 Dear Lord, to Thee, a thousand years 
 Are as a day; with contrite tears 
 One prayer I pray I My little life, — 
 Its good, its ill, its grief, its strife, — 
 Oh, let it in Thy holy sight. 
 Like empty watches of a night, 
 
TfflED SATURDAY. 103 
 
 Forgotten be I And of my name, 
 Dear Lord, who knowest all our frame. 
 Let there remain no memory- 
 Save of the thing I longed to be I 
 
 T I6HTEN our hearts, O Lord, Lover of mankind, with the 
 incorruptible light of Thy divine knowledge, and open 
 the eyes of our understanding, that we may discern the truth of 
 thy joyful tidings. Implant in ns the blessed fear of Thy com- 
 mandments, so that, treading under foot all carnal desires, we 
 may begin to lead a spiritual life, our only thought being to please 
 Thee. For Thou art the light of our hearts and souls, O God 
 Christ, and to Thee we render the glory, and to Thy eternal 
 Father, and to Thy most holy and good and life-giving Spirit, 
 now and forever, world without end. Amen. 
 
104 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Cl^irD ^unDat' 
 
 And he looked up steadfastly into heaven, and said, Behold 
 I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the 
 right hand of Grod. 
 
 No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but 
 grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit 
 of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 
 
 Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners 
 against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 
 
 Since whatsoeYer befalls us of suffering or ill is, 
 however it comes, tlie will of God to us, what then 
 should we do when it comes ? Surely forget, as far 
 as we may, all besides, and go up in thought to the 
 Eternal Throne, and behold in- mind the heavens 
 opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 
 thence looking down upon us, allotting to us our 
 trials, even through the wrong tempers of men ; 
 thence passing down his strength to us, to bear them ; 
 thence preparing us for the place in heaven which 
 He ascended on high to prepare for us. Oh how do 
 all the ills of life fade into nothing ; how glad may 
 
THIRD SUNDAY. 105 
 
 any trial be, though painful to flesh and blood ; how 
 should we greet as goods the evils of life ; how would 
 its sadness become gladness, its thorns a crown, if we 
 but see in them the Eternal Hand of God, moulding 
 us by them for everlasting glory ; refining away, 
 through outward ills, our own inward evils ; chasten- 
 ing us, that we might not perish, checking us, that 
 we might not go astray ; recalling us when astray ; 
 alluring us by His goodness ; and then again wean- 
 ing us from the world by its very unrest and suffer- 
 ing, that in Him we might find everlasting rest and 
 peace. 
 
 " There should be no greater comfort to Christian 
 persons," our Church teaches when we are sick, 
 " than to be made like unto Christ, by suffering pa- 
 tiently adversities, troubles, and sicknesses. For He 
 Himself went not up to joy, but first He suffered 
 pain ; He entered not into His Glory before He was 
 crucified. So truly our way to eternal joy is to suffer 
 here with Christ ; and our door to enter into eternal 
 life is gladly to die with Christ, that we may rise 
 again from death, and dwell with Him in everlasting 
 life." 
 
 Death, sickness, pain of body and soul, came to us 
 by sin. We are sinners sick in soul, more or less, 
 whether we know our sickness or not. They know 
 their sickness best who are least sick. It is the worst 
 
106 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 sickness not to know that we are sick. St. John, 
 whom Jesus loved, says, " If we say that we have no 
 sin, we deceive ourselves." Life is one long sickness, 
 in which those of us who are using God's grace are 
 regaining our health, until the time come, when 
 He who "forgiveth all our sins," shall "heal all 
 our infirmities, and crown us with mercy and loving- 
 kindness." 
 
 " No chastening for the present seemeth to be joy- 
 ous but grievous." Every, the least, trial has its 
 own weight. Were it not so, people would not bear 
 trials so ill. It is not lack of faith to feel an ill, nor 
 to be oppressed by it, nor to be " heavy and exceed- 
 ing sorrowful under it." Our loving Lord sanctified 
 such human feelings by the heaviness which, in the 
 garden. He allowed to come over His soul. The 
 heart may, and must, rise and sink ; we can by God's 
 grace, control it, hold it down, keep it outwardly 
 still, hinder it from having any wrong -vent ; we can- 
 not hush its beatings. Hard words will vex ; un- 
 kindness tinll pierce ; neglect will wound ; threatened 
 evils will make the soul quiver ; sharp pain or weari- 
 ness will rack the body, or make it restless ; cold will 
 fret the frame ; hunger will gnaw it. But what says 
 the Psalmist ? " When my heart is vexed, I will 
 complain." To whom ? Not of God, but to God. 
 
 As thou learnest this lesson, to carry all thy sor- 
 
THIRD SUNDAY. 107 
 
 rows to God, and lie at the Saviour's feet, and 
 spread thy griefs before Him, thou wilt find a calm 
 come over thee, thou knowest not whence. Thy 
 heart will stiU rise and sink, not restlessly, nor way- 
 wardly, not in violent gusts of passion ; but whether 
 rising or sinking, amid all outward heavings of this 
 world's waves, resting in stillness on the bosom of the 
 ocean of the Love of God. 
 
 Then shalt thou learn, not to endure only pa- 
 tiently, but, in everything against thy will humbly 
 and quickly to see and to love the loving Will of God. 
 Thy faith and thy love and thy hope wUl grow, the 
 more thou seest the work of God with thee ; thou 
 wilt joy in thy sorrow, and thy sorrow will be turned 
 into joy. It will be a joy to thee, to be likened in 
 suffering to thy Lord, even though it be like the 
 dying robber at His side. 
 
 Upon my lips she laid her touch divine, 
 And merry speech and careless laughter died; 
 
 She fixed her melancholy eyes on mine, 
 And would not be denied. 
 
 I saw the west wind loose his cloudlets white, 
 In flocks careering through the April sky; 
 
 I could not sing though joy was at its height, 
 For she stood silent by. 
 
 I watched the lovely evening fade away, 
 A mist was lightly drawn across the stars ; 
 
108 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 She broke my quiet dream — I heard her say, 
 Behold your prison bars 1 
 
 Earth's gladness shall not satisfy your soul — 
 The beauty of the_ world in which you live, 
 
 The crowning grace that sanctifies the whole. 
 That I alone can give. 
 
 I heard and shrank away from her afraid, 
 But Sorrow held me, and would still abide ; 
 
 Youth's bounding pulses slackened and obeyed 
 With slowly ebbing tide. 
 
 " Look thou beyond the evening sky," she said, 
 " Beyond the changing splendors of the day; 
 Accept the pain, the weariness, the dread. 
 Accept and bid me stay." 
 
 I turned and clasped her close with sudden strength, 
 
 And slowly, sweetly, I became aware. 
 Within my arms God's angel stood at length. 
 
 White-robed, and calm, and fair. 
 
 And now I look beyond the evening star. 
 Beyond the changing splendors of the day. 
 
 Knowing the pain He sends more precious far, 
 More beautiful than they. 
 
 rpHOU, O Lord Jesus, art both, to me, the Mirror of suffer- 
 ■^ ing and the Reward of the sufferer. Each strongly urges 
 me on, and mightily kindles me. Thou teachest my hands to 
 fight, by the example of Thy virtue. Thou, after victory, 
 crownest my head with the presence of Thy Majesty. Whether 
 
THIRD SUNDAY. 109 
 
 I look on Thee fighting, or look for Thee, not crowning only, 
 but the Crown, both ways Thou aUurest me wondrously. Both 
 ways art Thou a most mighty cord to draw me. Draw me 
 after Thee ; gladly do I follow Thee, more gladly to enjoy 
 Thee. And with all Thy saints I will praise Thee, world with- 
 out end ! Amen. 
 
110 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Cl^itu ^onDat* 
 
 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others 
 standing idle, and saith unto them, Whj stand ye here all the 
 day idle? They say unto him. Because no man hath hired us. 
 He saith unto them. Go ye also into the vineyard. 
 
 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. 
 
 The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. 
 
 Many disquisitions have been written to explain 
 this doctrine of the eleventh hour. There is no very 
 dark difficulty or obscurity about it. No one para- 
 ble is made to illustrate with precision every point it 
 seems to touch. What Christ plainly meant is this : 
 not that it is as well to turn and serve and confess 
 him, late in life as early ; not that there is no pecul- 
 iar blessing on the beautiful and acceptable vows 
 of childhood's consecration, and the piety that grows 
 and strengthens as we grow in stature and in years ; 
 not, above all, that any sinner who purposely post- 
 •pones his submission to gain time for transgression 
 and neglect can look for his Lord's acceptance ; but 
 this rather, — that the earnestness and sincerity of a 
 
THIRD MONDAY. Ill 
 
 soul's conversion is of more consequence than the 
 time of it. In these great interests and concern- 
 ments of eternity, the element of time falls very much 
 out of the question. It is not, "When did you 
 come?" but " Have you come at all?" It is not, 
 " How long may I put off being blessed with peace 
 and glory in Christ Jesus, and then have it after 
 all ? " — but it is, " How soon may I make sure of 
 that power and that peace, and let that glory fall in 
 on my saved and thankful heart ? " It is a present 
 command; not for yesterday, not for to-morrow; 
 not a message .of despair that the great work was 
 not done sooner ; not a message of delay, as if it 
 could as well be done later. It is for the passing 
 hour. It is for this accepted time. " Go ye," now, 
 while the day lasts. Where does this vineyard of 
 Christian service lie ? Is it somewhere outside the 
 limits of the world's common work? Is it so 
 bounded off from the ordinary vineyards or every- 
 day employments by visible lines, — as a state is 
 from the states which lie around it, — that in order 
 to enter it you must leave all these, and in order to 
 work in them you must forsake this? So taught, 
 too much, a corrupt and morbid religion which was 
 never learned of Jesus and His Apostles, and which 
 we hope, is fast losing its superstitious hold, never to 
 yoke the mind of Christendom again. The house- 
 
112 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 holder of the parable is the Lord of all this world 
 and of all its lawful labor. His vineyard includes all 
 its vineyards, — business, study, society, and home. 
 They belong to Him ; and this Kingdom, as surely 
 as it is planted anywhere, is planted in the midst of 
 them. Whatever work is done for Him will be done 
 in them. Whatever workman or disciple follows 
 Him will be found in some of them. The field is 
 the world ; the Sabbath was made for man ; and the 
 Church was meant to sanctify and bless every part 
 and power of our life. 
 
 And yet, this voice, this command, this vineyard, 
 this work, all imply a special service, a special char- 
 acter, a way and a walk through this world, distinct 
 from the world's way, and more distinct from any 
 other than each of them from the rest. The voice 
 speaks directly into the midst of these familiar occu- 
 pations and multitudes of men, and says. Come out ; 
 stand forth ; there is a sense in which you muBt be 
 separate ; you must go spiritually into another vine- 
 yard ; there must be the beginning and the growth 
 in you of a life so new and so different, — i. e. so 
 evidently drawn and quickened out of the life of 
 the Son of God, that men, taking knowledge of you, 
 will know that you have been with Jesus, and that 
 your inmost strength feeds daily on Him. Money 
 must be got, not for itseK, or to be kept and counted, 
 
THIRD MONDAY, 113 
 
 but for Christian uses. There must be no mean acts 
 in getting it, no lying, no fraud, no greed, no dis- 
 honest bargain or hollow pretenses. Houses must 
 be kept not for luxury or ostentation, or to outdo 
 other houses in the neighborhood, not as animals' 
 stalls to eat and drink and sleep in, not as wardrobes 
 for dress, or mere shelters from the weather, but as 
 the generous training-schools of noble virtues, nur- 
 series of pure affections, retreats from the mad fash- 
 ions and wearing care of a selfish society, oratories 
 for prayer.. Industry must start from a new point. 
 Study must seek a superhuman wisdom. The arts 
 which make life beautiful must illustrate its loftiest 
 aims and inspire it with spiritual aspirations. Nor 
 is this all. With the heart you must believe unto 
 righteousness. With the mouth you must make con- 
 fession unto salvation. All this must be positive, 
 earnest, personal, special, and manifest. You might 
 be the most punctilious and successful merchant in the 
 market, the ripest scholar in the schools, the most 
 popular and brilliant favorite in society, and the 
 most notable and amiable housekeeper in the town, 
 — and yet, your Saviour says, except it is all done 
 in a lowly and self-renouncing faith in the Son of 
 God, crucified for you, you are none of His. For at 
 the best you are a short-comer and offender, and the 
 sentence of God's pure law is against you. You 
 
114 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 may go through the whole Gospel, with all its large 
 and tender and free and merciful offers of life ever- 
 lasting ; wherever you stop and ask, What shall I do 
 to obtain this great salvation? the answer is never, 
 — " Redouble your business enterprise ; extend your 
 secular knowledge ; accomplish yourself in the agree- 
 able qualities of good society ; be more careful or 
 indefatigable in the charge of your earthly house." 
 The answer is always one and the same ; Repent, be- 
 lieve, and be baptized ; take up the cross, and be 
 not ashamed of your Saviour before man. Do this, 
 and you also will be going into the vineyard ; after 
 that, you will put your faith into all your honest and 
 faithful work, and, being in the world, will not be 
 of the world. The stamp of another loyalty will 
 be upon you. The spring of another joy and liberty 
 vrill be in you. The difference will be in the motive 
 more than in the movement ; in the spirit more than 
 in the form. And then, — not till then, — will the 
 great end and object of your creation, as a spiritual 
 being, a son or daughter of God, begin to be realized 
 in your life. 
 
 Into a vineyard that the Lord had made 
 I hastened, knowing He had work for all, 
 And hearing that He did for laborers call; 
 
 But much dismayed, 
 Fearing, however I might toil, 
 I should the given task but spoil. 
 
THIRD MONDAY. 115 
 
 He, seeing I was so afraid, 
 
 Gave me a simple corner in the shade. 
 
 Where, hidden from all eyes save His alone. 
 
 The passing of mere prying feet. 
 
 The noon-tide burden and the heat 
 
 Of wide renown, 
 I should but tend some seeds that He had sown 
 
 Till they were grown. 
 Oh with what blessedness and heart-content 
 I kept the well-tilled soil! 
 Though others might have smiled 
 At labor suited even to a child, 
 I murmured not at those who had been sent 
 To grander vineyard labors, and who went 
 Obedient to the building of its towers. 
 While my poor powers 
 Were equal only to the growth of flowers; 
 My conscience and my Master satisfied, 
 I cared for naught beside. 
 
 f\ LORD Jesus Christ, who for our sakes didst become poor, 
 ^"^ that we through Thy poverty might be rich, and didst 
 teach us that, in ministering to the very least of Thy members, 
 we might minister unto Thyself, find us some lowly work to do 
 for others, and give us grace to do it as unto Thee, and not as 
 unto men, that we may receive, not for our labors, but for Thy 
 merits, the crown of everlasting glory, and magnify and praise 
 Thy name, world without end. Amen. 
 
116 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Cl^irD CuejSDa^. 
 
 Quench not the Sphit. 
 
 When [the heart] shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be 
 taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit : and where the 
 Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open 
 face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit 
 of the Lord. 
 
 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
 heaven is perfect. 
 
 Never should we let the world and its work 
 quench the demands of the spirit within us which de- 
 sires union with the living God. If you allow the 
 noise of your enthralling business to drown those in- 
 ward cries, they grow fainter then and fainter, and 
 the spirit falls into lethargy. The noblest portion of 
 your being is left ignorant as an infant. Is that to 
 be a complete man ? 
 
 Feed that immortal thing with its true food, love 
 to God, which is love to God's character in Christ ; 
 open its doors to the education of the Spirit of God, 
 and be not troubled but rather nobly proud, if your 
 spirit, trained by His power, prevent some of those 
 
THIRD TUESDAY. 117 
 
 many transactions in public life which make a for- 
 tune by running to the very edge of dishonesty, or 
 hinder you from taking a place the comfort of which 
 would have to be bought by the sacrifice of convic- 
 tions. A fortune — a position — these are not the 
 first things, in spite of the lying world which says 
 they are. The spirit which can hold fast to truth, 
 though it means the acceptance of ruin — the spirit 
 which can refuse to be enriched at the expense of 
 honor — the spirit which can do nothing which sins 
 against its neighbor, is better than the life of Dives 
 or the leadership of the fashionable world. 
 
 Let your effort be to be many-sided, while you 
 cling fast to your particular work. This is our 
 Christian duty. For Christ came to save the whole 
 of our nature, to present us, at the end, body, soul, 
 and spirit, perfect to his Father. 
 
 Our morality becomes formal. Truth, purity, and 
 the rest become habits', like the habit of walking. 
 Beware lest they become Pharisaic, and pass from 
 habits into mere forms. There is but one way of 
 avoiding this, and that is by cherishing a great aim, 
 which will not let us be satisfied. Christ gives us 
 that aim : " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your 
 Father in heaven is perfect." And He Himself sup- 
 plies the motive, for the great love which we nourish 
 to Him will sweep us continually out of the region of 
 
118 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 formal morality into that realm where the life of self- 
 sacrifice produces natural and noble action. 
 
 Our business is to go forward and to redeem the 
 past. We may not get back the freshness of early 
 inspiration ; but we may attain something better — 
 the resolute heart of noble faith, which, trusting in a 
 Saviour of men, has the confidence to take up duty 
 for his sake and for the sake of men his brothers, 
 and, though failure and failure come, to win at last, 
 through the doing of duty, those profounder, calmer 
 and more enduring feelings of nearness to God, which 
 will bear the test of time and overcome at the end 
 the shame and fear of death. 
 
 Oh the bitter shame and sorrow, 
 
 That a time could ever be 
 When I let the Saviour's pity 
 Plead in vain, and proudly answered, 
 " All of self, and none of Thee." 
 
 Yet He found me ; I beheld Him 
 Bleeding on the accursed tree. 
 Heard Him pray, " Forgive them, Father ! " 
 And my wistful heart said faintly, 
 " Some of self, and some of Thee." 
 
 Day by day His tender mercy, 
 
 Healing, helping, full and free, 
 Sweet and strong, and ah I so patient, 
 Brought me lower, while I whispered, 
 " Less of self, and more of Thee." 
 
THIRD TUESDAY. 119 
 
 Higher than the highest heavens, 
 
 Deeper than the deepest sea, 
 Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered ; 
 Grant me now my soul's desire — 
 " None of self, and all of Thee." 
 
 /~\ HOLY Christ, King of patriarchs and light of the 
 prophets ; master of the apostles and the fortitude of 
 martyrs ; the crown of the just made perfect in heaven, and the 
 only hope of Thy servants on earth, grant to us Thy weak and 
 wandering followers that Thy great name may he sanctified by 
 us on the earth as it is by the blessed spirits in heaven ; that 
 beholding the beauty of Thy righteousness we may be trans- 
 formed into Thy likeness ; that we may always and everywhere 
 behave ourselves as in Thy pure and immaculate presence, 
 carefully endeavoring while we acknowledge the wonders of Thy 
 power to keep and obey Thy commandments, and never to lose 
 our souls, or our portion in Thee, though it were to gain the 
 whole world. Hear us, O Christ, for Thy great goodness' sake. 
 Amen. 
 
120 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ifourti^ caietine0Dat* 
 
 Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and 
 experience hope. 
 
 In patience possess ye your souls. 
 
 Even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered 
 for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps. 
 
 Patience is the endurance of any evil, out of 
 .the love of God, as the will of God. There is noth- 
 ing too little, in which to approve ourselves to God ; 
 nothing too little, in which, without God, we should 
 not fail ; nothing too great, which, with the help of 
 God, we may not endure. The offices of patience 
 are as varied as the ills of this life. We have need 
 of it with ourselves and with others ; with those 
 below and those above us, and with our own equals ; 
 with those who love us and those who love us not; 
 for the greatest things and for the least ; against 
 sudden inroads of trouble and under our daily bur- 
 dens ; disappointments as to the weather or the 
 breaking of the heart, in the weariness of the body, 
 or the wearing of the soul ; in our own failure of 
 
FOUKTH WEDNESDAY. 121 
 
 duty, or in other's failure towards us ; in every day 
 wants, or in the aching of sickness or the decay of 
 age ; in disappointment, bereavement, losses, injuries, 
 reproaches ; in heaviness of the heart or its sickness 
 amid delayed hopes, or the weight of this body of 
 death, from which we would be free, that we may 
 have no more struggle with sin within, or temptation 
 without, but attain to our blessed and everlasting 
 peace in our rest in God. In all these things, from 
 childhood's little troubles to the martyr's sufferings, 
 patience is the grace of God, whereby we endure 
 evil for the love of God, and keep ourselves still and 
 motionless, that we offend not God. 
 
 All other virtues and graces have need of patience 
 to perfect or to secure them. Patience interposes 
 herseK and receives and stops every dart which the 
 evil one aims at them. " Patience is the root and 
 guardian of all virtue ; " impatience is the enemy of 
 all. Impatience disquiets the soul, makes her weary 
 of conflict, ready to lay aside her armor and to leave 
 difficult duty. Impatience, by troubling the smooth 
 mirror of the soul, hinders her from reflecting the 
 face of God ; by its din, it hinders her from hear- 
 ing the voice of God. It makes the soul outrun or 
 fall short of the will of God. Impatience listens 
 to nothing, heeds nothing, fears nothing, hopes noth- 
 ing, judges aright of nothing, perseveres in nothing 
 
122 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 except in restlessness. Impatience is a burden to 
 itself, distrusts man, rebels against God. It shakes 
 every virtue and enters into almost every sin. It 
 casts aside every remedy for itself or for any other 
 fault. Impatience made Cain a murderer, and Ab- 
 salom a parricide, and Judas a Deicide. Impatience, 
 not waiting for God, turns even goods into evils. 
 
 How does it shake faith to be impatient of evils, 
 either in the world, or in the Church, or those which 
 befall a person's own self ! How does impatience 
 with others' defects chill love, or impatience with 
 even our own failings and short-comings extinguish 
 hope ! To be impatient at blame is a blight to 
 humility ; at contradiction, destroys meekness ; at 
 injuries, quenches long-suffering ; at sharp words, 
 mars gentleness; at having one's own will crossed, 
 obedience. Impatience at doing the same thing 
 again and again hinders perseverance ; impatience 
 of bodily wants surprises people into intemperance, 
 or leads them to deceive, lie, steal. 
 
 " In patience," our blessed Lord tells us, " possess 
 ye your souls." By patience, we have the keeping 
 of our own souls ; we command ourselves, and our 
 passions are subdued to us, and " commanding our- 
 selves^ we begin to possess that which we are." 
 What is it to possess a thing but to have entire com- 
 mand over it, that we may do with it what we will ? 
 
FOURTH WEDNESDAY. 123 
 
 What, then, is it to " possess the soul," but to be 
 lord over all its powers, motions, emotions, and, by 
 the grace of God, to control and direct them accord- 
 ing to the will of God ? Whence even the World 
 calls a man " self-possessed " who cannot be thrown 
 ofB his guard, but, gathered up within himself, and 
 immovable, has a clear, steady command of all the 
 powers of his mind. He is spiritually " self-possessed " 
 who by the grace of God so keeps himself, that " no 
 vehemence of delight masters him, no tribulation 
 wears him out, no sudden temptation carries him 
 away, no unworthy affection draws him down from 
 God." 
 
 A ship unlading, busy sea-brown hands 
 
 Are lifting blocks of marble, one by one ; 
 Quarried where fair Carrara's golden sands 
 
 And purple hills lie sleeping in the sun. 
 
 The workman earned his share of daily bread; 
 The merchant counted up his gains in gold; 
 " What unwrought statues there," the artist said, 
 " What lines of beauty, rare and manifold! 
 
 "What grace and glory from these blocks shall spring! 
 What light shall clothe them in a little while! 
 This shapeless block, in beauty blossoming, 
 Shall breathe high thoughts or wear an angel's smUe." 
 
 O Lives that in a martyr-army stand, 
 May God's sweet message come to you and me. 
 
124 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 We are the marble, His the Sculptor-Hand 
 That fashions us for all eternity. 
 
 We only feel the pain His chastenings give; 
 
 The sharp incisions only can we see. 
 And He alone, by whom we move and live, 
 
 He sees the hidden glory that shall be. 
 
 He sees the glory without spot or stain, 
 
 The spiritual beauty all unpriced; 
 And in His love He sends each stroke of pain 
 
 To make us like our dear Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 O God of Love, give us calm, pitying eyes 
 And sweetest patience. Let us also see 
 
 The glory and the grace that underlies 
 Each shapeless mass that waits a touch from Thee. 
 
 f\ HOLT, blessed, and glorious Lord, blessed forever in 
 Thy patience and glorious in Thy meekness, we beseech 
 Thee to render continual help to us Thy inconstant disciples, 
 that we may learn to serve Thee in a patience and meekness 
 like Thine own, in long-suffering and gentleness of heart, in 
 kindness and charity towards others, in self-distrust and sub- 
 mission towards Thee. Dispose us cheerfuUy and steadfastly 
 to suffer all things for Thy sake, knowing that if we suffer 
 patiently with Thee here, we shall reign with Thee in Thy 
 glory forever. Grant this, O Christ, of Thy wonderful com- 
 passion, and for Thy Love's sake. ATnen. 
 
FOURTH THURSDAY. 125 
 
 fomtJ^ Cl^urgiDar. 
 
 So run that ye may obtain. Every man that striveth for the 
 mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a 
 corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, 
 not as uncertainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. 
 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest 
 tliat by any means when I have preached to others, I myself 
 should be a castaway. 
 
 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men 
 shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall re- 
 new their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; 
 they shall run and not be weary ; and they shall walk and 
 not faint. 
 
 The just shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun 
 riseth, even a morning without clouds ; as the tender grass 
 springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 
 
 Thbeb are some summer days which, after a clear 
 morning pass through a season of gloom. The sun 
 hides itself behind a veil of cloud ; depression falls on 
 animals and plants. All things retire into them- 
 selves, as if defrauded by the morning brightness. 
 The day itself seems to feel that it has not fulfilled 
 
126 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 the prophecy of its dawning, and lies heavily upon 
 the earth. But it is only for a time. Just as the 
 manhood of the day has come, it conquers its early 
 sullenness — the clouds disperse, the sun breaks out, 
 the birds resume their song, a new youthfulness runs 
 through the trees. 
 
 It is the image of one who, having in later youth 
 passed through much trouble, and lost during it the 
 use and joy and naturalness of youth, recovers these 
 in the midst of manhood. 
 
 There are certain characters which in youth lose 
 part of their youth. Something has stepped in which 
 has spoilt life. Sorrow or overwork has taken the 
 edge from enjoyment by taking away physical health ; 
 a gloomy home has repressed enthusiasm ; a willful 
 self-repression, born of religious asceticism, or of the 
 demands of exacting friendship, has driven so deep 
 the springs of natural feeling that with all their in- 
 nate force they cannot rise to refresh the surface of 
 the heart. Sometimes these characters never re- 
 cover : the process has gone too far, and they will 
 never taste of youth again till they go home to God. 
 Sometimes they turn to fanaticism and become the 
 curse of the earth ; but God, who knows the weak- 
 ness of men, will be just to them — victims of fate — 
 and remember that they are but dust. Sometimes 
 this repression, especially when inflicted by religious 
 
FOUETH THURSDAY. 127 
 
 parents, has its result in a reaction against the 
 tyranny done in the name of God, and nature crushed 
 in its natural breaks out in unnatural channels. The 
 man becomes a blasphemer and a profligate. The 
 woman flies into the dissipation of the world, or 
 meets a sadder though often a less sinful fate — the 
 easy victim of one of those men who make the 
 murder of womanhood their Tile trade and viler 
 pleasure. 
 
 Now, what is it that they want ? — for it is plain 
 that the inevitable fault of such characters is the dis- 
 sipation of thought, energy, and life. They want 
 concentration of will towards a single and a noble 
 aim ; not such a concentration as will destroy their 
 youthful feeling or injure their originality, — for the 
 very fact of that originality in the midst of a world 
 enslaved to customs is more than other men's work, 
 — but a concentration which will leave their nature 
 free, and yet make its freedom strong through the 
 rule of law. 
 
 We seek this concentration in one aim after an- 
 other. But there is always the chance of failure, 
 and failure is followed by despondency, and despond- 
 ency imprisons energy, and life is spoilt. Or the 
 aim becomes stained with a mean or selfish motive, 
 and we are then haunted with the sense of some- 
 thing radically wrong in us which strangles all en- 
 
128 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 deavor, and so drift back into our aimless, roving life 
 again. 
 
 We want an aim which never can grow vile, an 
 aim which cannot disappoint our hope. There is but 
 one on earth, and it is that of being like God. He 
 who strives after union with the perfect Love must 
 grow out of selfishness, and the nobility of the strife 
 malces meanness impossible. And as to failure, fail- 
 ure is out of the question ; our success is secured 
 in the omnipotent Holiness of God. 
 
 Concentrate, then, your will on this; Do not wish, 
 but will to be at one with God. 
 
 Who dreams of God when passionate youth is nigh, 
 When first life's weary waste his feet have trod — 
 
 Who seeth angels' footfalls in the sky, 
 Working the works of God ; 
 
 His sun shall fade as gently as it rose, 
 
 Through the dark woof of death's approaching night; 
 His faith shall shoot, at life's prophetic close, 
 
 Some threads of golden light. 
 
 For him the silver ladder shall be set — 
 His Saviour shall receive his latest breath — 
 
 He walketh to a fadeless coronet. 
 Up through the gate of death ! 
 
 A RM us, O Lord, with Thy Spirit, encourage us with Thy 
 -^ presence ; and let us feel the effectual working of Thy 
 power, which is ever made perfect through weakness ; that we 
 
FOURTH THURSDAY. 129 
 
 may live before Thee with clean hearts and undefiled bodies, 
 and sanctified spirits. Send us strength from above, that we 
 may retain onr integrity, may resist the enemy, and stand stead- 
 fast in the day of trial. Be Thou our strong rock and castle of 
 defense ; that, being preserved through Thy grace and assist- 
 ance, we may continue Thy faithful soldiers and servants unto 
 our life's end. Nourish all the seeds of grace that are sown in 
 our hearts, and make them fruitful unto every good word and 
 work. Give us the increase of faith, hope, charity, and all 
 other Christian graces ; and that we may obtain that which 
 Thou dost promise, make us ever to love that which Thou dost 
 command ; and this we beg through the merits and for the 
 sake of Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 9 
 
130 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ifourt^ fvintLV' 
 
 This is my commandment, That ye lore one another, as I 
 have loved you. 
 
 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his 
 life for his friends. 
 
 We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, 
 for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that 
 He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 
 
 While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 
 
 We are told of self-sacrifice, that it is the law or 
 moving power of Christ's kingdom ; it is certainly 
 far from being the law of natural life, yet it seems to 
 stir the heart, even as beauty moves the senses, in- 
 fallibly, by touching the spring of some hidden sure 
 affinity, lying deeper than the nature with which it 
 seems at present to war. Nothing belonging to 
 Christ's kingdom tells much upon the world which 
 has not in it the element of sacrifice and of Christ- 
 like willingness to participate in pain. A righteous 
 man may effect much good, through beneficent deeds 
 and wise and kind plans, for the benefit of others ; 
 but it is to the ffood man, the man for whom some 
 
FOURTH FRIDAY. 131 
 
 peradventure would even dare to die, the man who 
 himseK, if need were, would die for men, that the 
 hearts of men cleave. 
 
 When the saints are more perfectly joined to 
 Christ than they can be in this present dispensation, 
 we shall find that to be with Him in glory will be to 
 be more imbued with His especial law of life. We 
 shall then be able to help others more than is now 
 possible. Our spirits, set free from the law of self in 
 our members which resists the law of love, wiU be 
 able to do and bear more for the world, so long as it 
 still continues a suffering world, until the days when 
 death shaU. be swallowed up in victory. 
 
 So much, even in the natural region, is often 
 gained by contact with a soul at once stronger and 
 purer than our own, that even the natural heart will 
 claim its Saviour ; it will desire one who has given 
 Himself for it to restore it to purity and joy, it will 
 ask for deliverance through one more mighty than it- 
 self, for communion with one who is more pure. 
 Could its annals ever be written, they would tell not 
 only of martyrdoms, of self-abnegation endured in 
 the strength of merely human love, but also of mira- 
 cles wrought out by its quickening, energizing power. 
 How many lives deadened by failure and disappoint- 
 ment have been lifted into fresh vigor by the touch 
 of a strong and friendly hand ; how many depressed 
 
132 KEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 and discouraged spirits has the warm breath of kind- 
 ness floated into an atmosphere in which their own 
 wings can expand, a sunshine which but for their 
 blessed intervention they would have never reached. 
 No wonder, then, that the heart of man should feel 
 strangely yet sweetly at home in the region of spir- 
 itual intervention ; no wonder that expiation, and the 
 giving up of life for life, that intercession for others, 
 which is but the practical extension of the atone- 
 ment, the pouring out of one human soul for another 
 in prayer, even as Christ's soul was poured forth for 
 the world in agony and death, should become the 
 natural language of every heart whose highest en- 
 ergies divine grace has touched and kindled into life. 
 Intercession is the mother-tongue of the whole family 
 of Christ. 
 
 If no sin could be discovered 
 
 In the pure and spotless Lord, 
 If the cruel death He suffered 
 
 Is sin's just and meet reward, 
 Then it must have been for others 
 
 That the Lord on Calvary bled. 
 And the guilt have been a brother's, 
 
 Which was laid upon His head. 
 
 And for whom hath He contended 
 
 In a strife so strange and new ? 
 And for whom to hell descended ? 
 
 Brothers ! 't was for me and you ! 
 
FOURTH FRIDAY. 133 
 
 Now you see that He was reaping 
 
 Punishment for us alone ; 
 And we have great cause for weeping, 
 
 Not for His guilt, but our own. 
 
 r\ CHRIST, Son of God, who without sin wast delivered 
 unto death, and caught in the snare of the hunters, grant 
 that through Thine unmerited death the death which we merit 
 may be overcome, that Thou, who, though innocent, wast given 
 up for us, mayest through the gift of innocency make us to come 
 at length in blessedness to Thee, who reignest with the FaHier 
 and the Holy Ghost one God, world without end. Amen. 
 
134 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ijfourtl^ ^aturDa^. 
 
 The other disciples said unto Thomas, We have seen the 
 Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands 
 the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of 
 the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not be- 
 lieve. 
 
 And after eight days again £Qs disciples were within, and 
 Thomas with them. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut, 
 and stood in the midst and said. Peace be unto you. Then 
 saith He to Thomas, Reach' hither thy finger, and behold my 
 hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side; 
 and be not faithless but believing. And Thomas answered 
 and said unto Him, My Lord, and my God! Jesus saith unto 
 him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed. 
 Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed! 
 
 A STORY is told in the life of Saint Louis of 
 France, how a great master in theology once came 
 to Bishop William of Paris and begged to speak 
 to him. And when the master was about to speak 
 he began to weep very bitterly ; so the Bishop said 
 to him, " Do not be down-hearted, for no one can 
 sin so much that God cannot forgive yet more." 
 
FOURTH SATURDAY. 135 
 
 The master then explained that he was miserable 
 and no better than an infidel, because he could not 
 bring himself to believe in the gracious doctrine of 
 the Sacrament of the Supper. " Master," said the 
 Bishop, " tell me, when the enemy sends you this 
 temptation, is it pleasing to you ? " To which the 
 master made answer : " Sir, on the contrary, it annoys 
 me as much as anything can annoy me." " Now, 
 I ask you," continued the Bishop, " would you ac- 
 cept gold or silver on condition that you should utter 
 with your lips something against the Sacrament 
 of the Supper?" "I, sir !" exclaimed the master. 
 " Know that there is nothing in the world that I 
 would accept on that condition. I would rather 
 that they tore all my limbs out of my body than say 
 anything of the kind." " I will now say something 
 else to you," the Bishop observed. " You are aware 
 that the King of France is at war with the King of 
 England; and you are also aware that the castle 
 which is nearest to the frontier between the two is 
 La Rochelle, in Poitou. I will therefore ask you 
 one question : if the King had intrusted you vrith 
 the custody of La Rochelle, which is on the frontier, 
 and had consigned to me the keeping of the castle 
 of Laon, which is in the heart of France, and in a 
 land at peace, to whom ought the King to be most 
 grateful at the end of his war — to you, • who had 
 
136 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 guarded La Rochelle without losing it, or to me, 
 who had guarded Laon?" "In Heaven's name, 
 sir," cried the master, "it would be to me, who had 
 guarded La Rochelle without losing it." " Master," 
 resumed the Bishop, " I tell you that my heart is like 
 the castle of Laon, for I have no temptation or doubt 
 touching the Sacrament of the Supper. Wherefore 
 I say to you that for once God is pleased with me 
 because I believe steadfastly and in peace; He is 
 pleased four times with you, because you keep your 
 heart for Him in the war of tribulation, and have 
 such good-will towards Him that for no earthly 
 good, nor for any hurt that could be done to your 
 body, would you forsake Him. I tell you, therefore, 
 to be quite at your ease, for that your state under 
 these circumstances is more pleasing to our Lord 
 than my own." 
 
 When the master heard that, he knelt down before 
 the Bishop, and gave humble thanks to God. 
 
 There are two twilights unto every day — 
 Twilight of dawn and twilight of decay. 
 And likewise thus we find 
 Two twilights in the thinking of mankind — 
 The twilight of a seeking unto light, 
 The twilight of a doubting unto night. 
 
 There are two stones we may not dare to cast: 
 The stone of stumbling in our brother's way; 
 
FOURTH SATURDAY. 137 
 
 The stone of judgment at our brother's past — 
 We who like sheep have gone astray. 
 
 Lord, I unto this Sacrament draw near, 
 In humble confidence and heartfelt fear. 
 Fear of myself, and humble hope in Thee, 
 " O God, my God, be merciful to me." 
 And when I eat this bread and drink this wine, 
 Fill me with charity and peace like Thine ! 
 
 ■pvEFEND us, O most gracious God, from dishonoring Thee 
 "^ and our religion, by distrusting Thy goodness, and call- 
 ing Thy loving kindness in question towards those who are sin- 
 cerely bent to please Thee. Remove all troublesome imagina- 
 tions from us, and give us a clear understanding of Thee and 
 of ourselves. Or, when we are in darkness and confusion of 
 thoughts, grant us so much light and judgment, as not to con- 
 clude ourselves forsaken by Thee, but to reflect upon thy long- 
 continued favors, and many deliverances ; that so we may 
 resolve still to hope in Thee, to bear otu- present troubles 
 patiently, and to resign our will absolutely to Thy good pleas- 
 ure. And, O good Lord, enable us to look beyond these 
 clouds, to that blessed state whither our Saviour is gone, in 
 which there is no darkness at all, and in a humble hope of 
 coming to the same place where He is, to content ourselves 
 with any condition whilst we are here so far remote from that 
 region of light and glory. Let us always approach Thy altar 
 with fervent and heavenly affections, and with firm resolutions 
 of better obedience. Let us commemorate the mysteries of 
 our redemption with profound humility, with exalted thoughts 
 of Thy wonderful goodness, and with thankful acknowledg- 
 ments of Thy great love, demonstrated to the sons of men. 
 
138 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Let the mortified lives of Tliy saints raise us above the pleas- 
 ures of sense; and let the pattern of their piety and devotion, 
 their humility and charity, their meekness and patient suffer- 
 ings, be always so imprinted upon our minds that we may tran- 
 scribe their examples in our life and conversation; that thus 
 observing the days of rest and refreshment here below, we 
 may celebrate an eternal rest with Thee hereafter in Thy 
 heavenly kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
FOURTH SUNDAY. 139 
 
 MID-LENT OK REFECTION SUNDAY. 
 
 The angel of the Lord came again the second time, and 
 touched him saying, Arise and eat, because the journey is too 
 great for thee. ^ 
 
 This is God's rule with, regard to comfort in all 
 troubles : and it is especially His rule in that great 
 work of true repentance, the work of this holy season. 
 There is no more common feeling, among persons 
 trying in earnest to serve God better than they have 
 done, than a sort of dull, heavy dread of the irksome- 
 ness and gloom of a penitential life. To acknowledge 
 our faults and have our sins ever before us ; to pray 
 without ceasing ; to judge, condemn, punish our- 
 selves, that we be not judged of the Lord ; to humble 
 ourselves, if need be, before God's servants as well 
 as before Him ; to keep our eyes, tongues, appetites, 
 in order ; to say prayers on our knees often and 
 punctually, and always with real efforts to attend ; 
 to deny ourselves pleasures ; to be afraid of speaking 
 
140 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 about others ; to be meek and calm in interruption, 
 disappointment, ill-usage; to grudge one's self-en- 
 joyment, and watch for ways of self-denial ; all these 
 are necessary parts, signs, and tokens of real Chris- 
 tian repentance ; and of course, to look forward to a 
 whole life so spent must in itself be a disheartening 
 and dreary thought ; somewhat in the same kind of 
 way, as it is disheartening and dreary to a sick per- 
 son, when the physician tells him he must live by 
 rule, watch himself in his diet, and exercise, not take 
 liberties nor please himself as he used to do. Of 
 cours«, men had rather have their liberty; yet if 
 they have faith in the physician, they obey his direc- 
 tions; they put up with some degree of hardness, 
 rather than cast their health away. And mark the 
 consequence: it very generally happens, that the 
 very self-denial by habit becomes tolerable and easy 
 to them ; besides its benefit to their health, which 
 they do not always feel, it brings with it comforts 
 and advantages which they do feel. So, and much 
 more when Christians try to obey Christ because 
 they have faith in Him, and embrace a life of con- 
 trition and self-denial, rather than cast their souls 
 away. It seems indeed dreary beforehand ; how 
 should it be otherwise ? but that is the trial of their 
 faith. If they truly believe in Christ, the Healer of 
 souls, if they truly long for health in their own sick 
 
rOUKTH SUNDAY. 141 
 
 souls, much more if they have any touch of love to 
 Him who bore all for them, they will not shrink 
 from the remedy because it seems harsh and bitter, 
 they will embrace the cross boldly, and make up their 
 minds both to the heavy burden of it, and the sharp 
 anguish ; and having done so they wiU find to their 
 amazement a heavenly sweetness mingled' in the bit- 
 ter cup ; ten thousand refreshments which they knew 
 not of will help them along the journey which they 
 undertake in faith, knowing it to be too great for 
 them. Refreshment will come, if you do not look for 
 it, if you put away the thought of it from your mind, 
 if you keep saying to yourself it is not meet for such 
 as I am ; I am quite unworthy of it. But if you de- 
 pend on it, and are vexed at its not coming, that is a 
 bad sign of the truth of your repentance and looks as 
 if you wanted rather to be comfortable and easy, 
 than to please God. So far as it goes, it is making 
 your own choice, not leaving your Lord to choose for 
 you. It is taking the matter out of His hands into 
 your own. 
 
 Oh why should I have peace ? 
 
 Why ? but for that unchanged, undying love 
 Which would not, could not, cease, 
 
 Until it make me heir of joy above. 
 
 Yes, but for pardoning grace, 
 I feel I never should in glory see 
 
142 KEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 The brightness of that Face 
 That once was pale and agonized for me. 
 
 Let the birds seek their nest, 
 
 Foxes their holes, .and man his peaceful bed ; 
 Come, Saviour, in my breast. 
 
 Deign to repose Thine oft-rejected Head ! 
 
 Come ! give me rest, and take 
 The only rest on earth Thou loyest, within 
 
 A heart, that for Thy sake 
 Lies bleeding, broken, penitent for sin. 
 
 f\ MERCIFUL God, by whose Fatherly love we are helped 
 in our infirmities, take us under the shadow of Thy wings, 
 guard us against our spritual enemies, and let not any evil thing 
 approach to hurt us. In the darkness of our way on the earth 
 show us often the light of Thy countenance. If Thou makest 
 Thy faithful people sorrowful awhile, make them joyful again 
 with comfortable assurance of Thy favor, and refresh them 
 with the consolations of Thy Spirit. Send angels of strength 
 and peace from Thy right hand, lest the length and burden of 
 the way should be too great for us. O Lord, lift up Thy coun- 
 tenance upon us I Make Thy face to shine upon us I Give 
 times of rest to our bodies, and perpetual peace to our souls, 
 through Him who died for our reconciliation, and left us the 
 promise of rest and peace everlasting. Thy Son, our Saviour, 
 Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
FOtJETH MONDAY. 143 
 
 ■fourtl^ iHottua^. 
 
 And it came to pass that He went out into a mountain to 
 pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 
 
 The Lord is with you while ye be with Him. 
 
 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 
 
 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. God answereth 
 him in the joy of his heart. 
 
 Pray without ceasing. 
 
 In nothing, perhaps, is the Christian's progress in 
 holiness more signally manifest than in his prayers. 
 They become more and more the natural expression 
 of the new life. At first, prayer is either a part of 
 the exercise of religious obedience or else the indis- 
 pensable means of obtaining some desired benefit. 
 Accordingly, persons immature in faith and love 
 have a great deal of difficulty with their prayers. 
 No complaint is offcener poured into the ears'of spir- 
 itual pastors and teachers than that of unsatisfactory 
 devotions. It takes different forms. Sometimes the 
 heart is cold ; the hour of daily retirement is unwel- 
 come ; the closet has no attractions ; the words are 
 
144 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 nothing but words ; the whole transaction is a dead 
 form, or even a mockery. At other times the disap- 
 pointment is that the special petitions are apparently 
 not answered. Again and again the cry goes up, 
 and no evident sign is given of a hearing God. The 
 request is not granted ; the bad habit is not broken ; 
 temptation does not die ; doubt is not removed ; the 
 favor sought is not bestowed ; the comfort is not felt, 
 and it is questioned whether the Comforter Himself 
 draws near ; it is as if the supplication were driven 
 back from a shut up heaven and fell like a leaden 
 weight upon the breast. The baffled suppliant keeps 
 on entreating, rather because the letter of the com- 
 mand is plain, or because he knows it must some- 
 how be well for him to be on his knees before his 
 Maker, than because he is refreshed. 
 
 But with the increase of the inner life these 
 sources of misery disappear ; or, if they are after- 
 ward re-opened, the distress is short-lived, being gen- 
 erally due to some temporary disorder of the inward 
 man. Christ being more completely formed within, 
 the believer's seasons of communion with the Father 
 spread themselves more widely through his days and 
 nights. He passes very frequently, almost uncon- 
 sciously, and by imperceptible gradations of feeling, 
 from his ordinary existence among the things of this 
 world into direct converse with that Friend who is 
 
FOUETH MONDAY. 145 
 
 ever nearest, while also most high and most mighty. 
 The current of adoring thought flows on in joyous, 
 satisfying concord with the Eternal Will. We do 
 not stop, perhaps, to shape every aspiration into 
 articulate speech, but we yield to the Divine breath, 
 and move whithersoever the Spirit that maketh in- 
 tercession moves. In such measure as may be, the 
 disciple is in the Mount vnth the Master. Those 
 wonderful words of the Communion Office are real- 
 ized, " That we may evermore dwell in Him, and 
 He in us." As the Lord Himself sometimes, to the 
 very last, offered up particular entreaties, so it will 
 daily be with His most spiritually-minded followers. 
 But the communion will not end with these. A 
 larger and larger share of devotion will consist in 
 thanksgiving and praise, — a sure mark of spiritual 
 growth. Some new blessing, — a victory of faith, 
 a fresh beam of light falling froln heaven on the 
 path, — will as often stir the soul to its heavenly 
 conversation as a trial, loss, or throb of pain. There 
 will be no anxious concern about answers, for the 
 felt blessedness of the act is itself an answer. There 
 is no doubt that God will hear, because it is known 
 that He listened before his child called. May not 
 something like this be the meaning of the prayer 
 that is " without ceasing?" It is as Mr. Coleridge 
 strikingly said, the loftiest action of the spirit of 
 
 10 
 
146 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 man. It is hiding in the pavilion of the Most High, 
 and resting under the shadow of His wings. 
 
 Lord, it is hard to stand 
 Waiting and watching in this silent toil, 
 While other fishers draw their nets to land. 
 And shout to see their spoil. 
 
 My strength fails unawares, 
 
 My hands are weak, my sight grows dim with tears; 
 My soul is hardened with unanswered prayers, 
 And sick of doubts and fears. 
 
 But lol what form is this, 
 Standing beside me on the desolate shore ? 
 I bow my knees; BBs garment's hem I kiss; 
 Master, I doubt no morel 
 
 " Draw in thy net, draw in," 
 He cries, " behold the straining meshes break I " 
 Ah, Lord, the store I toiled so long to win 
 Is granted for Thy sake ! 
 
 The rosy day blooms out 
 Like a full-blossomed flower; the joyous sea 
 Lifts up its voice ; the winds of morning shout 
 All glory. Lord, to Thee! 
 
 A LMIGHTr and everlasting God, from whom cometh 
 -^^ every perfect gift, graciously accept this humble tribute 
 of praise and thanksgiving, and mercifully grant, that the 
 frequent meditation of Thine infinite goodness may constrain 
 our hearts to love Thee gladly above all things, and the serious 
 
FOURTH MONDAY. 147 
 
 consideration of Thy incomprehensible Majesty bring our un- 
 derstandings in joyful subjection to the obedience of faith; 
 that we may here, in reverence to Thy word, believe what we 
 do not see, and hereafter in the blissful vision of Thy glory see 
 more than we now believe, through Jesus Christ our Lord and 
 Saviour, who with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever liveth and 
 reigneth one Grod, world without end. Amen. 
 
148 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 fourtl^ Cuejsua^. 
 
 n any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to 
 all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 
 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. 
 
 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your 
 children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven 
 give good things to them that ask Him. 
 
 What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye 
 receive them and ye shall have them. 
 
 The promise of understanding is to prayer ; they 
 who ask of God shall receive spiritual wisdom. No 
 wonder if those who neglect to ask, however sharp 
 and knowing they may be in other things, remain as 
 children, without sense or discretion in their judg- 
 ment of what relates to God's kingdom. Many great 
 scholars have fallen into grievous errors, in spite of 
 their shrewdness and industry, for this simple reason, 
 that they were not devout, they did not in earnest 
 ask God's blessing on their labors. But do not im- 
 agine that great scholars only are likely to go wrong 
 in that way. Every man has his own soul to save, 
 
FOURTH TUESDAY. 149 
 
 and has need to be a scholar in the Scriptures, so far 
 as knowing the way to save it. But if he set about 
 this study, either reading or hearing the gospel, in a 
 proud, conceited, self-sufficient way, then, the quicker 
 he is in natural understanding, and the more diligent 
 he is to learn, and the more leisure he enjoys, the 
 farther he is likely to go wrong in his notions of the 
 meaning of Scripture. For, depending on himself, 
 he will not ask of God ; and not asking, he will not 
 obtain. When I say he will not ask, I do not sup- 
 pose that any person imagining himself to be a 
 Christian entirely neglects prayer to God. But I 
 mean that he will not ask earnestly ; he will not pray 
 from his very heart. That is, in God's sight, he will 
 not pray ; for God looks on the very heart, and 
 judges by what He finds there. 
 
 It would be well to bear this in mind when we are 
 looking at those portions of the Gospel which prom- 
 ise everything to faith and prayer. For example, 
 where our Saviour tells His disciples, " What things 
 soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye re- 
 ceive them, and ye shall have them." This it is 
 likely may have startled many. For who, it may be 
 said, ever received all the blessings he prayed for ? 
 But this is answered by asking again. Who ever 
 when he prayed, believed that he received what he 
 asked for in the full meaning of our Saviour's words ? 
 
150 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 For by such belief it should seem that He meant 
 such a faith as St. James describes : full trust in 
 Him, and entire submission to His holy will. Any 
 person so minded, any person thoroughly wilUng to 
 let God choose for Him, would in reality always 
 believe that he receives of God what he prays for. 
 For he would be more sure of God's love and dis- 
 position to do the very best for him, than of his own 
 love for himself. Suppose, then, he prays for any 
 worldly comfort, for his own health, or for the health 
 or life of a dear friend. It will all the while be 
 strong upon his mind, that God only is able to judge 
 whether this if granted would prove such a blessing 
 and comfort as one naturally imagines. Therefore, 
 how earnestly soever a thoroughly Christian devout 
 soul may feel and utter any particular wish, it will 
 always be tempered with this conviction deeply 
 rooted in his heart, that, however God may appear 
 to deny him. He will in fact grant the blessing he 
 asks for ; and if not in the very form and manner in 
 which He asks for it, yet still the same blessing will 
 come somehow, he is quite sure, in a way which God 
 knows to be better. 
 
 Our Saviour's words, then, may perhaps not im- 
 properly be thought to mean as if He said. All things 
 whatsoever ye desire when ye pray, ye desire suppos- 
 ing them to be really best for you. Now then, make 
 
FOUKTH TUESDAY. 151 
 
 up your minds to this, that God loves you so -well as 
 never to deny you what is really best for you, except 
 by your own fault. Make up your minds to this in 
 earnest and you will be as sure, when you kneel 
 down, to have the meaning of your prayers granted, 
 as a good child is when asking a favor of a wise and 
 kind parent. Nay, you will be as much more certain 
 of it, as God is wiser and more kind than the wisest 
 or kindest parent. 
 
 Such seems to be the meaning of our Saviour's 
 promise, in regard of aU our prayers generally ; and 
 St. James's words are the same promise in regard 
 particularly of spiritual wisdom. Of that as of all 
 other blessings, it is quite certain, by God's word, 
 that whoever comes to ask for it with a heart thor- 
 oughly resigned and contented, that is, in other 
 words, with a faithful heart, that nian shall receive 
 what he asks. 
 
 The prayer, how weak 
 
 Lord, that lifts my heart to Thee. 
 But this I seek — 
 
 This one thing give to me — 
 
 Help my infirmity ; 
 
 Within me speak, 
 And by the Spirit taught 
 
 1 shall know what to pray for as I ought. 
 
152 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 From pain and care, 
 O Lord! I seek not to be free. 
 
 But this my prayer — 
 Open my eyes to see 
 
 That Thou art leading me, 
 
 Then I can bear 
 To walk in darkness still, 
 Walking with Thee, submissive to Thy will. 
 
 r\ LORD, I know not what I should ask of Thee. Thou 
 only knowest what I want ; and Thou lovest me, if I am 
 Thy friend, better than I can love myself. O Lord, give to 
 me, Thy child, what is best, whatsoever it may be. I dare 
 not ask either crosses or comforts. I only present myself be- 
 fore Thee. I open my heart to Thee. Behold my wants, 
 which I myself am ignorant of ; but do Thou behold, and do 
 according to Thy mercy. Smite, or heal I Depress me, or 
 raise me up. I adore all Thy purposes without knowing them. 
 I am silent; I offer myseK in sacrifice. I abandon myself to 
 Thee. I have no more any desire but to accomplish Thy will. 
 Lord, teach me how to pray ! Dwell Thou Thyself in me by 
 Thy Holy Spirit. Amen. 
 
FIFTH WEDNESDAY. 153 
 
 fiftl^ meDne^na^. 
 
 The watchmen that go about the city found me : to whom I 
 said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little 
 that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul lov- 
 eth. I held Him, and would not let Him go. 
 
 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. 
 
 Jesus said, He that believeth in me, though he were dead yet 
 shall he live. 
 
 Believe in Me. 
 
 Christ does not merely say to us, Believe this, 
 that, and the other thing about Me ; put your cre- 
 dence in this and the other doctrine ; accept this and 
 the other promise ; hope for this and the other future 
 thing. All these come with but are not the central 
 act. He says, " Believe : believe in Me ! I am the 
 way, and the truth, and the life ; He that cometh 
 to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in 
 Me shall never thirst." Do we rightly appreciate 
 that ? The whole feeling and attitude of a man's 
 muid is different, according as he is trusting a per- 
 son, or according as he is believing something about 
 
154 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 a person. And this, therefore, is the first broad 
 truth that lies here. Faith has reference not merely 
 to a doctrine, not to a system ; but deeper than all 
 these, to a living Lord — " faith that is in Me.' 
 
 It is a relation which is expressed not more clearly 
 but perhaps a little more forcibly to us by substitut- 
 ing another word, and saying, Faith is trust. 
 
 It is the very same kind of feeling, though differ- 
 ent in degree, and glorified by the majesty and glory 
 of its object, as that which we all know how to put 
 forth in our relations with one another. We trust 
 each other. That is faith. We have confidence in 
 the love that has been around us, breathing benedic- 
 tions and bringing blessings ever since we were little 
 children. When the child looks up into the mother's 
 face, the symbol to it of all protection, — or into the 
 father's eye, the symbol to it of all authority, — that 
 emotion is the same as the one which, glorified and 
 made divine, rises strong and immortal in its power, 
 when fixed and fastened on Christ, and saves the 
 soul. The Gospel rests upon a mystery, but the 
 practical part of it is no mystery. 
 
 And then, if this personal trust in Christ as our 
 living Redeemer, — if this be faith, then there come 
 also, closely connected with it, certain other emotions 
 or feelings in the heart. For instance, if I am trust- 
 ing to Christ, there is inseparably linked with it self- 
 
FIFTH WEDNESDAY. 155 
 
 distrust. There are two sides to the thought ; where 
 there is reliance upon another, there must needs be 
 non-reliance upon self. There is the tree : the trunk 
 goes upward from the little seed, rises into the light, 
 gets the sunshine upon it, and has leaves and fruit. 
 That is the upward tendency of faith, — trust in 
 Christ. There is the root, down deep, buried, dark, 
 unseen. Both are springing, but springing in oppo- 
 site directions, from the one seed. And again, faith, 
 as thus conceived of, will obviously have for its cer- 
 tain and immediate consequence, love. Nay, the two 
 emotions will be inseparable, and practically co-ex- 
 istent. In thought we can separate them. Logi- 
 cally, faith comes first, and love next, but in life 
 they will spring up together. The question of their 
 order of existence is an often-trod battle-ground of 
 theology, all strewed with the relics of former fights. 
 But in the real history of the growth of religious 
 emotions in the soul the interval which separates 
 them is impalpable, and in every act of trust love is 
 present, and fundamental to every emotion of love to 
 Christ is trust in Christ. 
 
 "We are justified," says the Bible, "by faith." 
 If a man believes, he is saved. Why so ? Not as 
 some people sometimes seem to fancy, — not as if in 
 faith itself there was any merit. What difference is 
 there between what a man does with his hands and 
 
156 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 what a man feels in his heart? If .the one merit 
 salvation, or if the other merit salvation, equally we 
 are shut up to this, — Men get heaven by what they 
 do; and it does not matter a bit what they do it 
 with, whether it be body or soul. When we say we 
 are saved by faith, we mean, accurately, through 
 faith. It is God that saves. It is Christ's life, 
 Christ's blood, Christ's sacrifice, Christ's intercession, 
 that saves. Faith is simply the channel through 
 which there flows over into my emptiness the Divine 
 fullness ; or, to use the good old illustration, it is the 
 hand which is held up to receive the benefit which 
 Christ lays in it. A living trust in Jesus has power 
 unto salvation, only because it is the means by which 
 the power of God unto salvation may come into my 
 heart. It is not faith that saves us ; it is Christ that 
 saves us, and saves us through faith. 
 
 And now, take this one conviction into your 
 hearts, That what makes a man a Christian ; what 
 saves my soul and yours ; what brings the love of 
 Christ into my life, and makes the sacrifice of Christ 
 a power to pardon and purify, — that that is not 
 merely believing this Book, not merely understand- 
 ing the doctrines that are there, but a far more pro- 
 found thing than that. It is the casting of myself 
 upon Himself, the bending of my willing heart to 
 His loving Spirit ; the close contact, heart to heart, 
 
FIFTH WEDNESDAY. 157 
 
 soul to soul, will to will, of my emptiness with His 
 fuUness, of my sinfulness with His righteousness, of 
 my death with His life : that I may lire by Him, be 
 sanctified by Him, be saved by Him " with an ever- 
 lasting salvation." 
 
 My faith to try, in which I much did glory, 
 I said unto a mountain dark and hoary, 
 " Be thou removed and cast into the sea," 
 And watched to see it spread its wings and flee, 
 With movement swifter than the flight of bird; 
 
 But watched in vain : 
 
 The mountain did remain. 
 " It needed but a grain 
 Of faith. And surely I possess, indeed. 
 More than the simple grain of mustard-seed." 
 
 When lo ! a voice I heard — 
 " Thy faith is in thy faith, not in His name 
 Through whom alone such power man dare claim." 
 I named the Name of Christ, and now 
 The mountain, shaken to its depths, bowed low. 
 Then rose majestic with its crown of snow. 
 And floated seaward through the western air: 
 
 Oh! with what awe 
 Its ocean death amid the waves I saw; 
 
 Then kneeling did adore ; 
 
 But while I did rejoice. 
 
 The angel spake once more 
 
 With warning voice, 
 ' ' Great is the faith that mountains can remove, 
 But greater still is that which works by love." 
 
158 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 f\ SON of God, whom to know aright is life eternal, grant 
 us the hearts of little children, and such trust in Thy life 
 of sacrifice and Thy death of reconciliation, that our faith in 
 Thy sight may never be reproved. We believe; help Thou our 
 unbelief. Overcome for us the power of fear and sin and 
 death, that, being conquerors in Thee and more than conquer- 
 ors, we may enter into the Kingdom of Thy Peace, and he for- 
 ever with Thee whom our souls love, Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Ainen. 
 
FIFTH THUKSDAY. 159 
 
 ^iitl) Cl^urgDat- 
 
 O Lord God, I pray Thee, send me good speed this day. 
 
 Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take 
 thought for the things of itself. 
 
 He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gath- 
 ered little had no lack. 
 
 Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on 
 the well. 
 
 He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 
 My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish 
 His work. 
 
 Ho"W can we be made like unto Jesus ? How can 
 our poor, irksome sufferings, of cold or hunger, or 
 poor fare, or aching of limbs, or stiffness of our joints, 
 or sleeplessness, or weariness, how can they be hal- 
 lowed to us, how can they be borne so as to make 
 us like our Lord? First, many of these sufferings 
 our good Lord took in order to hallow them to us, to 
 give them a worth and a joy, painful as they are, be- 
 cause they were His. Was He not weary by the 
 well, and a hungered after His temptation, and were 
 
160 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 not His knees stiffened on the Cross, and His limbs 
 out of joint ? Was He not chilled with the dew of 
 heaven as He passed whole nights in the mountain 
 or in the garden in prayer for us ? and was not He 
 who feeds all creation fed by the barley-loaves, the 
 gift of His creatures to His poverty ? 
 
 But then, how did He hallow them ? By endur- 
 ing them as the will of God. " My meat is to do 
 the will of Him that sent Me." He " became obedi- 
 ent unto death, and that the death of the Cross." 
 
 And so for us. It is matter of faith that every- 
 thing, what seems to us the greatest and the least, is 
 ordained or overruled by God. What is good He 
 gives ; what is evil He overrules to the good of His 
 own. To God nothing can be great ; as to us noth- 
 ing is little, which in any way affects our souls. To 
 God, the fall of empires, the crash of the world, the 
 dissolving of the whole universe were as nothing. 
 By His Word they were created ; at His breath they 
 would pass away. More precious to Him than the 
 whole world is the value of one single soul. For the 
 world shall perish, the soul endureth. The world 
 and all its wondrous beauty is but the work of His 
 hands ; the soul made and re-made in the Image of 
 God was redeemed by the Blood of Christ. It were 
 more reasonable to think that God had not made 
 man at aU, than to think that He had set him in the 
 
FIFTH THURSDAY. 161 
 
 midst of this His Creation, and left him the mere 
 sport of chance, or of rude, unbending laws, and did 
 not order every, the least, thing concerning him for 
 the well-being of his soul. We often think of God 
 as too like ourselves. To us, it is a trouble and a 
 weariness, to look into little things, to attend par- 
 ticularly to this or that. And so men picture to 
 themselves Almighty God as having made certain 
 great laws of our world ; but they cannot bring home 
 to themselves, that every, the very least, accident of 
 every day is known, willed, overruled, by Almighty 
 God. If they ventured to put their thoughts into 
 words, they would think it a trouble to Almighty 
 God to attend to all the little details of our daily 
 life. As though God were like ourselves, beholding 
 with effort things one by one, giving His mind (so 
 to say), now to one thing, now to another, or, as 
 though having set this world in motion hke a great 
 machine. He put it in its own head to govern itself, 
 and did not weary Himself about it ! Rather, Al- 
 mighty God, not being divided and not having parts 
 and a bounded mind, as we, sees all at once, past, 
 present, and to come ; all things which to us have 
 been, or are, or shall be, or all things which could 
 be ; all things which He has made, or all of which, if 
 He willed, He could make ; all which He shall make, 
 
 and the whole history of every creature of His, 
 11 
 
162 KEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 spread out before Him, as in the mirror of His In- 
 finite Mind, present there. Unchanging, He changeth 
 all things; in perfect rest He endureth all things. 
 By His will He made them ; by His will He upholds 
 all which is upheld, and leaves to decay whatever 
 decays. Everything, at every moment of time, is 
 seen in the perfect stillness of His Infinite Mind, and 
 is ruled and overruled by His Infinite Will. He so 
 " upholdeth all things by the Word of His Power," 
 that our Lord saith, " not a sparrow falleth to the 
 ground without My Father." " The hairs of your 
 head are all numbered." 
 
 Our Lord teaches us, as to those very little things, 
 in, order that we may know and feel that nothing is 
 too little to be ordered by our Father, nothing too 
 little in which to see His Hand, nothing, which 
 touches our souls, too little to accept from Him, 
 nothing too little to be done to Him. Since the 
 hairs of our heads are all numbered, so is every throb 
 or shoot of pain, every beating of the heart. Every 
 tear which starts is seen, and if wept to Him is gath- 
 ered up by Him. Every heart's sigh He hears at 
 once from every bosom in His whole creation. He, 
 who is in the highest Heaven and fiUeth all things, 
 but is contained in none, is present to each single 
 heart, and, if the heart form its wish to Him He 
 hearkens. 
 
FIFTH THURSDAY. 163 
 
 " Vouchmfe, Lard, to Tceep ua this day without »»." 
 
 Yes, for this one, one day, 
 
 Low at Thy feet I pray, 
 Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep me without sin ! 
 
 Perchance another morrow 
 
 New prayers my soul may borrow ; 
 Upon another shore her life begin I 
 
 But for these few short hours, 
 
 In sunshine or in showers, 
 I care not, so. Thine own dear hand doth lead, — 
 
 Choose Thou for me my way. 
 
 Oh, do not let me stray I 
 Within Thy heavenly meadows may I feed. 
 
 So when my day hath fled, 
 
 And I shall rest my head 
 Like some blest, happy child kissed into sleep ; 
 
 Thou wilt look down on me, 
 
 And fondly smile to see 
 Sin hath not made the tired eyes to weep. 
 
 And if, with this day's close, 
 
 My soul shall find repose. 
 The sealed eyes never open more on earth again, 
 
 Oh, purer, happier morrow I 
 
 No trace of the old sorrow. 
 No need to pray, " Lord, keep me without sin ! " 
 
 f\ THOU, who on the earth didst hunger and thirst in 
 
 the body for our sake, who didst make it Thy meat to 
 
 do the Father's will, and who feedest the heart that trusteth 
 
164 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 and followeth Thee with the same heavenly food, grant unto us, 
 we beseech Thee, such a perfect trust in Thy Hand that we 
 may follow Thee without delay, and without wandering aside, 
 or falling away. Keep us this day without sin, and day by day 
 replenish us with Thy grace, and all the days of our life pre- 
 serve us in Thy faith and fear, for Thy mercy's sake, our 
 Mediator and Saviour. Amen. 
 
FIFTH FEIDAY. 165 
 
 fiftt) fvMV' 
 
 Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my 
 soul after Thee, God. 
 
 My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God. 
 
 Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul ? and why art 
 thou 60 disquieted within me ? Put thy trust in God ; for I will 
 yet give Him thanks for the help of His countenance. One 
 deep calleth another, because of the noise of the water-pipes: all 
 Thy waves and storms are gone over me. 
 
 A SHALLOW yiew of life rejects the Cross, just as 
 a shallow theology rejects it, but it is in allianoe with 
 all our deepest experiences, whether in the spiritual 
 or natural order. It is not only in Genesis that the 
 fall of man is written, not only by the pen of the 
 blessed Evangelists that his recovery is proclaimed. 
 Let us look where we will, either in the past or pres- 
 ent, we shall see Humanity ensnared, enslaved, de- 
 graded ; also, we shall see in human nature, simply as 
 it is, a New Testament, the elements of a better resur- 
 rection. How wonderful, even in the least excellent 
 of human beings, are the latent possibilities of good ! 
 
166 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 What gleams do we find among low and degraded 
 natures of an excellence only able to reveal and 
 maintain itself in a momentary flash, like that which 
 Homer says is apt to prelude death, yet proving 
 through that very flash its own deep hidden life. It 
 is evident that man's wound is curable ; he is a being 
 at once needing to be restored, and capable of being 
 so. In the depths of our mortal nature lies a dark 
 unsunned well, too deep sunk for the events of com- 
 mon life to stir and touch it, the waters of which 
 when troubled reflect the Cross, and prepare man's 
 heart for the cardinal doctrine of Christianity, i. e. 
 deliverance through a work not his own. Life's 
 deepest moments rouse man from the lethargy which 
 its ordinary course weaves round him, and bid him 
 listen for the footstep of Reuben coming to release 
 him, where he lies tied and bound, and incapable of 
 effort, at the bottom of the pit, " wherein is no 
 water." 
 
 Our best and our worst grow very close together ; 
 and the heart of man, out of its poverty, and out of 
 its wealth alike, when he has. once learnt either the 
 depth or extent of either, will testify to him of his 
 need of a Saviour. It will show him a dark, secret 
 inherency of evil, a stern outward bondage of cir- 
 cumstance, a " siege perilous " forever going on 
 against a principle of goodness, also latent in our 
 
FIFTH FEIDAY. 167 
 
 nature, — yet, without a superadded energy, too weak 
 for ultimate victory. It is not in the heart itself, 
 that the heart, be it the truest and kindest that ever 
 was fashioned by God — can trust in the fierce as- 
 saults of temptation. Neither will it turn to the 
 world ; Egypt, that broken reed, hollow, frail, and 
 deceiving, that has never failed to pierce to the very 
 heart him who has leaned upon it in the hour of 
 need. Man, in the extremity of conflict, is thrown 
 back upon his God ; and I would say again, that nat- 
 ure itself, when taken at its highest note, whether 
 of ecstacy or anguish, will respond to the very 
 chords that, at a lower pitch of feeling, seem most 
 utterly jarring and dissonant with its loud, con- 
 tinual chorus, — sacrifice, intervention, substitution. 
 These ideas are not foreign to the heart that warmly 
 loves or deeply suffers. " He that loves," as says 
 St. Chrysostom, " if it be not God, but man," will 
 at any rate understand us when we use them ; for if 
 he who loves not knows not God, there is yet an- 
 other thing which I will venture to affirm him igno- 
 rant of, and that is the excellence of which his own 
 spirit is capable. Any one who has truly loved an- 
 other human being knows that there is no conceiva- 
 ble amount of misery and degradation that he would 
 not, if it were possible, bear for that person, or share 
 with him, even with joy ; and if we once suppose 
 
168 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 the heart's scope to be widened, and its aim fixed on 
 a higher end, why should not Love be content to 
 suffer for any person, why not for every one ? 
 
 When across the heart deep waves of sorrow 
 
 Break, as on a dry and barren shore; 
 When Hope glistens with no bright to-morrow, 
 
 And the storm seems sweeping evermore; 
 
 Who shall hush the weary spirit's chiding, 
 Who the aching void within shall fill ? 
 
 Who shall whisper of a Peace abiding, 
 And each surging billow calmly still ? 
 
 Only He whose wounded Heart was broken 
 With the bitter Cross and thorny Crown, 
 
 Whose dear love glad words of joy had spoken. 
 Who His life for us laid meekly down. 
 
 /~v THOU who in Thine humiliation didst command the 
 winds and waves, and they obeyed Thee, do Thou so 
 dwell within us that we may be safe from all dangers and 
 steadfast in all temptations. Lord, Thou alone canst cast 
 out the evil passions and desires of the soul. Come among us, 
 we pray Thee, and with Thy great might succor us : subdue our 
 spiritual enemies, and set us free from the tyranny of our be- 
 setting sins. Blessed Jesus, we are weary and heavy laden, 
 and we come to Thee to give us rest. We would take Thy yoke 
 upon us; we would sit at Thy feet and learn of Thee; and find 
 rest unto our souls. For Thy yoke is easy, and thy burden is 
 light. Amen. 
 
FIFTH SATURDAY. 169 
 
 fittT^ ^atwDat. 
 
 Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is 
 heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can under- 
 stand? 
 
 Behold we count them happy which endure. 
 
 The question which obtrudes itself on the mind 
 as to the reason of God's remedying evil instead of 
 preventing it, can never, with our limited faculties, 
 receive an answer completely satisfactory. It be- 
 comes us to speak with caution and reverence on so 
 arduous a subject, as those, who may indeed, through 
 prayer and meditation, obtain glimpses, but never 
 a full and perfect insight into the mystery. It seems 
 probable that for the full apprehension and apprecia- 
 tion of Divine goodness by finite minds, it may have 
 been necessary to present the contrast of guilt, mis- 
 ery, and ruin. The allowance in the universe of 
 something antagonistic to God may have been essen- 
 tial, not indeed to the perfection of the Divine char- 
 acter, but to our appreciation of that perfection. 
 The contrast of a dark ground brings out a bright 
 
170 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 color to the eye. And in the absence of the dark 
 ground the bright color would not appear so vivid. 
 Let me take a more detailed illustration from nature. 
 We think little of the sunlight on a summer day, 
 when it pours around us the warm and golden flood, 
 in which the little insect disports itself ; the light is 
 the medium of our seeing other objects, but itself 
 stirs not our admiration. But let the sun's rays 
 shine out against the inky thunder-cloud, and form 
 the seven-hued arch of light, the sign of the cove- 
 nant which secures the earth against a second deluge. 
 The contrast brings out to our eyes the beauty ; we 
 apprehend, — we gaze with admiration upon the 
 prismatic colors, melting one into another by such 
 fine gradations. These colors really inhere in the 
 light which is all around us. But the refraction 
 from the drops of the thunder-cloud is essential to 
 their manifestation. So it may be possibly with our 
 mental apprehension of His character, respecting 
 whom it is testified that " He is Light." In order 
 that this character may display to a finite mind all 
 its intrinsic perfections of compassion, love, tender- 
 ness, holiness, truth, justice, — it may be essential 
 that evil should form a background for them and a 
 field for their operation, — that they should be re- 
 fracted, if I may so speak, from misery, degradation, 
 and ruin. 
 
FIFTH SATURDAY. 171 
 
 The allowed entrance of evil may have had refer- 
 ence to the perfecting of human nature, as well as to 
 the glorification of God. It was finely said of the 
 ancient tragedy, whose constant theme was a hero 
 in misfortune, that the gods approved the spectacle 
 of a good man struggling with adversity. And 
 doubtless it is a noble spectacle. A man surrounded 
 with evil — inhaling an atmosphere of evil with his 
 very breath of life — made the prey of calamity and 
 the sport of temptation — and yet battling stiU, and 
 surmounting all, in the faith of the invisible, — 
 troubled on every side, yet not distressed ; perplexed, 
 but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken ; cast 
 down, but not destroyed — like a valiant swimmer, 
 always rearing his head above the surge just when 
 we thought it had finally overwhelmed him — made 
 perfect, as the Apostle has it, through sufferings — 
 lifted up, Joseph-like, from the dungeon of this 
 world, to sit upon the throne — grappling with pain 
 and sin and error and death, and coming off more 
 than conqueror over them all, — is there not here 
 something intrinsically nobler than in an Adam of 
 Paradise, a creature spotless indeed, and holy, but 
 ignorant of evil and so untutored by the manifold 
 disciplines of evil ? May not tribulation perchance 
 be a condition essential to the perfecting of our 
 nature — to the elaborating of it into a vessel of 
 
172 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 honor, meet for the Master's service ? But tribula- 
 tion could not have entered where there was no sin. 
 It would there have found no rest for the sole of its 
 foot. 
 
 Summer days 
 And moonlight nights He led us over paths 
 Bordered with pleasant flowers; but when His steps 
 Were on the mighty waters, — when we went 
 With trembling hearts through nights of pain and loss, — 
 His smile was sweeter and His love more dear; 
 And only Heaven is better than to walk 
 With Christ at midnight over moonless seas. 
 
 /^ ETERNAL and blessed and glorious One, who seest 
 the end from the beginning; but who, for our safety and 
 our sheltering, dost cover us with a merciful veil, and suffer us 
 to see but parts of Thy wonderful ways, make us submissive 
 to Thy will while we adore Thy mysteries. Humble the pride 
 of our understanding, and preserve our hearts within us from 
 all profane discontents with Thine appointments. And inas- 
 much as Thou bringest good out of evil, and light out of dark- 
 ness, and dost nourish strength in the souls of those who 
 patiently endure pain and loss and suffering at Thy righteous 
 Hand, dispose us to an humble and thankful use of all Thy 
 dealings with us^ even of those which are darkest to our mortal 
 sight, and so to glorify Thy holy name, through Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 
FIFTH SUNDAY. 173 
 
 fift]^ ^unuat* 
 
 Your joy no man taketh from you. 
 
 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be 
 in the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields 
 shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
 there shall be no herd in the stall : 
 
 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my 
 salvation. 
 
 To cherish brightness in the inward life is a duty 
 that results from the union of the soul with the 
 Blessed Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in a radi- 
 ance and a glory, bright beyond all thought. It is His 
 everlasting dwelling-place ; the atmosphere ever sur- 
 rounding His presence. It is remarkable with what 
 earnestness and frequency St. Paul enjoins a spirit of 
 rejoicing, as an essential part of a spiritual life ; and 
 his words prove that this injunction is intimately 
 connected with the indwelling of the Blessed Spirit. 
 He represents " joy " as one of the fruits of the 
 Spirit, following next in order to "love." Again, 
 the Spirit of glory is spoken of as synonymous with 
 the Spirit of God, — " the Spirit of glory and of God 
 
174 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 resteth upon you," — and glory is the excess of joy- 
 ous light. The necessity of this outflowing of the 
 Spirit is most strongly pressed upon us: "Rejoice 
 always, and again I say, rejoice." 
 
 Moreover, as a bright joy is the proper result of 
 the presence of the Spirit, so is it a direct aid to the 
 attainment of virtue. There is an instructive lesson 
 in the incident recorded of Elisha, that once he 
 needed a minstrel with his instrument of music to 
 allay his perturbed soul, before "the Hand of the 
 Lord " could come upon him, and his lips utter the 
 voice of prophecy. It teaches the momentous truth, 
 that an unclouded peace, a harmony of thought in 
 communion with God, which is the secret of spiritual 
 joy, is the true condition for receiving His inward 
 illuminations. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that brightness is incon- 
 sistent with sorrow, or even with deep remorse of 
 conscience. It is compatible with all states of spirit- 
 ual life, however feeble, however burdened. Where- 
 ever the Spirit of God dwells there must needs be an 
 inward shining of the holy light though hidden from 
 the outward eye, hidden it may be even from the 
 consciousness of the soul itself, troubled and dark- 
 ened by the passing cloud. A secret radiance may 
 be within the depth of the spirit to shine out again 
 when the storm is overpast. Only sin, or unfaithful- 
 
FIFTH SUNDAY. 175 
 
 ness to the voice of conscience, or slothful decline 
 from grace, of necessity forfeits this blessed witness 
 of the presence of the Eternal Spirit. It may be 
 dimmed or overcast by the wUl of God, as a chastise- 
 ment, or discipline, teaching its own needful lessons 
 of humility and trust and patient endurance. But 
 we should ever pray for the continuance or renewal 
 of joy. Rejoicing is a grace to be earnestly cher- 
 ished, as well as a promised blessing ; a duty to be 
 steadily fulfilled, as well as a part of our blessed in- 
 heritance. We are expected to " hold fast the con- 
 fidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the 
 
 end." 
 
 Kejoice in Christ alway ; 
 
 When earth looks heavenly bright, 
 When joy makes glad the livelong day, 
 
 And peace shuts in the night. 
 Rejoice, when care and woe 
 
 The fainting soul oppress, 
 When tears at wakeful midnight flow, 
 
 And morn brings heaviness. 
 
 Kejoice, in hope and fear ; 
 
 Bejoice, in life and death ; 
 Eejoice, when threatening storms are near, 
 
 And comfort languisheth : 
 When should not they rejoice 
 
 Whom Christ His brethren calls — 
 Who hear and know His guiding voice. 
 
 When on their hearts it falls? 
 
176 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 r\ THOU who makest the sun to go forth in glory out of his 
 chamher, rejoicing as a giant to run his course, we bless 
 Thee for the light of this world, for the joy of beholding the 
 day and especially all the days of the Son of Man. Leave us 
 not in the shadow of spiritual death, or under the cloud of 
 mortal fear or despair, but may the bright Sun of Righteous- 
 ness, even the Lord Jesus Christ, never cease to shine within 
 us. And so may the desert of our nature rejoice and blossom 
 as the rose, and the earthly within us be changed into the 
 heavenly, to Thy praise and glory, world without end. Amen. 
 
FIFTH MONDAY. 177 
 
 fiitl) ^onnav* 
 
 Wherefore doth a living man complain? Let us search and 
 try our ways and turn again to the Lord. 
 Do all things without murmurings. 
 
 A SINGULAR subtilty attaches to the sin of ex- 
 cessive fault-finding, which makes it remarkably dif- 
 ficult of correction. SeK-knowledge is rare enough, 
 in respect to nearly all habitual transgressions. Al- 
 most every kind of science is mastered with less 
 painstaking. But this knowledge comes with pecul- 
 iar slowness to complainers. It is doubtful whether 
 one person in a hundred of those who are conspicu- 
 ously given to looking on the bad side of their lot, 
 pointing out real or imaginary foibles in their neigh- 
 bors, and speaking censoriously to their house- 
 mates, would be found to be conscious in the least 
 degree of having any other than a charitable judg- 
 ment, a sweet tongue, and a reasonably contented 
 disposition. In fact it would not be a thing totally 
 unknown if the eye, so keen in seeing defects, should 
 be considered by its possessor as a rather superior 
 
 12 
 
178 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 organ of discernment, the censoriousness a righteous 
 resentment at other people's offenses, and the bitter 
 speech, the frank vivacity of a clever critic. 
 
 But God searches us within, and searches us out. 
 These perpetual murmurings make no acceptable 
 music in His ear, and He has condemned them. 
 They find no pattern or sanction in the gentleness of 
 the conversation of Christ. They are at deadly war 
 with the charity which thinketh no evil, but suffereth 
 long and is kind. They disturb the air, ruffle the 
 temper, provoke angry rejoinders, make virtue diffi- 
 cult, discourage penitents, exasperate children, dis- 
 order society, and degrade the honor of the Church. 
 They are a gross form of ingratitude to God ; for if 
 we were really mindful of the countless mercies we 
 are receiving, how could we find time or heart to 
 speak only of the blemishes or short-comings of 
 those around us ? 
 
 Many a man who is honestly and energetically 
 doing a man's work in the world, and doing it on 
 Christian principles, and who really means to be 
 neither a bad neighbor nor an unkind father, mars 
 all his labor and intercourse by a ceaseless dribble 
 of ill-natured accusations or querulous comments. 
 Many a school-girl makes herself gradually hateful 
 by simply overlooking the good traits and exaggerat- 
 ing the weaknesses of her companions. Many a 
 
FIFTH MONDAY. 179 
 
 housekeeper moves about her domestic domain, not 
 a tyrant or a slattern, but more mischieyous than 
 either, fretting at the perversity of every article of 
 furniture, the imperfections of every servant, the 
 happening of every mischance. Nay, in a more sol- 
 emn and awful wronging of the Spirit, many a 
 mother, blessed with ten thousand daily benefits 
 from Heaven, gives her children only a daily ex- 
 ample of wretched dissatisfaction. She may even 
 aggravate and fix in the character of her child 
 habits of disobedience or negligence by simply ex- 
 pecting them, watching for them, satirizing them, 
 with never a healing whisper of approval or a gra- 
 cious accent of hearty encouragement. Not so does 
 the Father in heaven bring His "wandering and 
 distempered child " homeward, and give His sons 
 and daughters their cheerful places in His House. 
 
 Whoever is in bondage to an error so unsightly 
 and so disastrous may find help in these four brief 
 counsels : — 
 
 One day in every week keep a rigid account with 
 yourseH of all you say ; every few minutes ask your- 
 self how many times you have spoken complain- 
 ingly ; and present the score to yourself and God for 
 reckoning at night. 
 
 Dare to ask some trusted person to give you a 
 sign whenever you fall into the bad practice. 
 
180 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Be in the habit of counting up your blessings, 
 especially those that pertain to your person and your 
 home. 
 
 Ask God to send you special strength to conquer 
 this easily besetting sin. 
 
 Light human nature is too lightly tost 
 
 And ruffled without cause; complaining on — 
 
 Restless with rest — until, being overthrown, 
 
 It learneth to lie quiet. Let a frost 
 
 Or a small wasp have crept to the innermost 
 
 Of our ripe peach; or let the wilful sun 
 
 Shine westward of our window, — straight we run 
 
 A furlong's sigh, as if the world were lost. 
 
 But what time through the heart and through the brain 
 
 God hath transfixed us — we, so moved before. 
 
 Attain to a calm; aye, shouldering weights of pain, 
 
 We anchor in deep waters, safe from shore; 
 
 And hear, submissive, o'er the stormy main, 
 
 God's chartered judgments walk for evermore. 
 
 /^ GOD of infinite patience and long suffering unspeakable, 
 ^-^ who hearest all our miserable complainings, and seest 
 all our disregard of Thine unnumbered mercies, let not our 
 sins of word and temper be written against us. Grant us re- 
 pentance and better minds, that we may forgive as we hope to 
 be forgiven, and that we forfeit not Thy continued forbearance 
 and loving kindness towards us and those we love, for Thy 
 great goodness' sake in Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. 
 Amen. 
 
FIFTH TUESDAY. 181 
 
 slfift]^ Cue0Daf. 
 
 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. 
 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with hia 
 neighbor. 
 
 Faisehood, in other words, has its deepest guilt 
 and its certainty of punishment in this, — that it 
 crosses God's will, contradicts His character, and is 
 hateful to His feeling. The subject is lifted at 
 once out of the region of mere expediency, and set 
 purely on the grounds of religion. We are put in 
 mind not of the human consequences of lying, not 
 of its social mischiefs, nor of its moral meanness ; 
 its one great effect is that it offends the Almighty ; 
 its comprehensive mischief, under all its varieties 
 and disguises, is its sacrilege ; its worst meanness is 
 its ingratitude to the Heavenly Father. "We must 
 remember all along, therefore, that it is not merely 
 an immorality that we are contemplating, but an 
 impiety. The wise man does not charge it upon 
 lying lips, as he might, that they are an injury to 
 men : he strikes deeper and tells us the more alarming 
 
182 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 secret that they are abomination to the Lord. By 
 the Gospel every moral obligation is traced up to 
 its source in the mind of God ; there is no ethics but 
 Christian ethics ; the duties of society are all duties 
 first to the Creator ; and the highest motive for the 
 simplest act of justice is to honor God, or conform- 
 ity to His will. 
 
 And as this is the loftiest view of the subject, so 
 we shall find it is the most practical. The mind is so 
 constituted in itself, that it is impressed with a fresh 
 and fearful sense of what a falsehood is, the moment 
 it realizes that the falsehood is a contradiction of 
 God. No matter how trivial the occasion, or how 
 remote the matter of the lie may be from all the 
 high concerns of Heaven, it is told in the full pres- 
 ence and plain hearing of our Judge. Let it pertain 
 to so insignificant an interest as a piece of merchan- 
 dise in the market, or a school-boy's whisper, or a 
 demagogue's declamation, or a woman's jealousy, 
 instantly the roof is uncovered, the walls retreat, 
 earthly scenery sweeps away, — all is open up to 
 the Great White Throne, and the false tongue is 
 speaking to its Maker. He hears it, and it is an 
 abomination to Him. The lie may prosper for its 
 purpose. The multitudinous waves of traflSc roll on 
 with their noise, and the good bargain, closed by the 
 deceit, thrives without rebuke ; the child escapes the 
 
FIFTH TUESDAY. 183 
 
 punishment he deserved and forgets the sin ; the 
 slanderous speaker's point tells, and his candidate 
 goes in ; the swift stream of social gossip and mirth 
 makes no pause when the flippant or envious tongue 
 insults the unseen Auditor who is listening ; but He 
 is listening, and after the lights are all out, the 
 school-room locked, the election over, and the market 
 still, — the falsehood remains stamped in letters 
 which some time or other will look intensely bright, 
 as if they were written with fire because it was an 
 abomination to the Lord. 
 
 It will help us, too, to appreciate the surprising 
 facility that is shown in learning to tolerate the 
 abomination, and the energy of the temptation, to 
 notice the prolific variety of shapes into which a 
 spirit that is willing to be -false throws itself out. It 
 woidd seem, in fact, that there is scarcely an assaila- 
 ble point or quality in us, which is not capable of 
 being suborned into this depraved service of deceit. 
 There is the lie of sheer cowardice, told to evade some 
 threatened personal danger, or the formidable lion of 
 public opinion, or the ridicule of unprincipled associ- 
 ates, which was Peter's lie at the High Priest's court. 
 There is the lie of cupidity and money-making, — di- 
 rect and indirect, — one of the sordid sins of com- 
 mercial populations, and sometimes, as in Ananias 
 and Sapphira, making its sacrilegious compromise 
 
184 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ■with the profession of Christian liberality. There is 
 the lie of convenience, as when children, and beggars, 
 and tedious visitors are put off with a deception, to 
 get a riddance of their annoyance and importunity. 
 There is the lie of shame, like Gehazi's, when, after 
 craftily wounding his hospitable master's honor by 
 accepting Naaman's gifts, he said to Elisha, " Thy 
 servant went no whither." There is the lie of flat- 
 tery, with its double wrong, — Satan coming by it 
 in the angelic garment of amiability, or the wish to 
 please. There is the lie of ambition, the guile that 
 spoils the eloquence of orators and authors who have 
 popularity for their god and office for their heaven, 
 • — the crooked path through which thousands all 
 round us creep through corruption to the disappoint- 
 ments of what looked once to them like leading po- 
 sitions. There is the conventional lie, as in the false 
 labels of business, or the false excuse at the door, 
 for which it is pleaded that custom has made it 
 harmless, but of which it is enough to observe in 
 reply that if nobody were deceived by it it would not 
 be kept up, and that God has nowhere told us that a 
 custom in sin makes the sin sinless. There is the lie 
 of indolence, feigning sickness, or inability, to escape 
 work for Christ or trouble for the needy. There is 
 the lie of revenge, with the gall and wormwood of 
 slander dripping from its tongue. There is the lie 
 
FIFTH TUESDAY. 185 
 
 of vanity, with what the Apostle calls its "great 
 swelling words" of boasting, or else making the 
 abused body the burden-bearer of a whole theatre of 
 illusions. There is the lie of reckless ingenuity, the 
 love of the marvelous, inventing wonders or adding 
 to them, as if truth itself were but a plaything, and 
 imagination the godless conjurer to sport with it. 
 Then there are all the degrees of falsehood, — exag- 
 gerations, or adding to the truth, extenuations, or 
 taking from it, — of which it is enough to say that 
 when once a living conscience takes knowledge how 
 easily their falsifying processes go on, it must watch 
 their beginnings as we watch the first symptoms of 
 pestilence. There are equivocations, deceptions in 
 which people allow themselves by first practicing the 
 self-deception that a falsehood half-hidden from men 
 is wholly hidden from God, or that it is safe to go 
 half-way in that which is an abomination to Him. 
 You need not be reminded that there are acted false- 
 hoods, of manner and gesture, of signs and ornaments, 
 of pretended friendship and assumed cordiality and 
 hypocritical devotion ; nor need it be repeated to you 
 that speech is no more an expression of the mind 
 than action is, and that by lying lips Scripture 
 means all the lies that the whole -body can tell, and 
 that one of them is just as hateful to the God of 
 truth, and just as sure of judgment, as another. 
 
186 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Be God's prophet to yourseM, and let this Lenten 
 solemnity give you a brave and honest will to set 
 your standard of truthfulness, in speech and in con- 
 duct, at a higher mark ; to change, as you are per- 
 fectly able to do, by a little Christian courage and 
 spirit, ambiguous customs ; to cover up with refine- 
 ments and elegancies no hollow or deceptive hearts ; 
 to require of your clerks, your servants, your chil- 
 dren, no complicity in words or acts that will not 
 bear the full light of the Bible-inspiration and of the 
 judgment day, — to put away lying and speak every 
 man truth with his neighbor. Nor will there ever 
 be a better time to begin to come back to religious 
 reality than now. 
 
 All the grandeurs of righteousness grow out of 
 truth in the inner parts. All the glories of heaven 
 are but the triumph of the Truth, — say the blos- 
 soming of it, rather, into those immortal gardens 
 with no serpent in them. And so in all the black- 
 ness of darkness there is no depth of misery which 
 does not open down from that beginning of false- 
 hood, when the sinning heart says to itself, after 
 the great lie that blighted Eden and ruined man, 
 " Thou shalt not surely die." 
 
 One can imagine that under these awful sentences, 
 — " Without the gates of the City of God is who- 
 soever loveth and maketh a lie," — " The lying 
 
FIFTH TUESDAY. 187 
 
 tongue is but for a moment," — " Lying lips are an 
 abomination to the Lord," — and " He that saith I 
 know Him and keepeth not His commandments is a 
 liar and the truth is not in him," — the best soldier 
 of the Cross and the purest saint at the Saviour's 
 feet might be dismayed. And we can only reassure 
 ourselves, when we recall those wonderful words of 
 St. John which change the face of the world from 
 terror to thanksgiving : " If we say that we have 
 no sin we make Him a liar and the truth is not in 
 us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and 
 ]ust to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness. For we have an advocate with the 
 Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and He is the 
 propitiation for our sins; and the anointing which 
 ye have received of Him is truth and is no lie, and, 
 even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." 
 
 O man of Calvary and Bethlehem, 
 
 Thou who didst suffer rather than condemn, 
 
 Grant us to touch Thy garment's healino' hem. 
 
 Thou trailest Thy fau" robes of seamless light 
 
 Through this dark world of falsehood, death, and night; 
 
 Its blackness cannot mar Thy spotless white. 
 
 Thou dost not, Master, as we pass Thee by, 
 Draw in Thy robes lest we should come too nigh. 
 Our lying lives are open to Thine eye. 
 
188 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 There is no shrinking from our untrue touch, 
 
 Thy tenderness to us is ever such. 
 
 Change, and forgive ! and we will love Thee much. 
 
 TUST and true are all Thy ways, Thou King of Saints! 
 Pardon, we entreat Thee, the insincerity of our lips, the 
 deceitfulness of our minds, and the untruthfulness of our lives. 
 Thou, who earnest into the world to bear witness to the truth, 
 uphold us in the paths of integrity and honor. Make us both 
 ashamed and afraid to offend Thee by breaking Thy righteous 
 commandment. And suffer us at the last, through Thy pro- 
 pitiation, to enter in where entereth nothing that defileth or 
 that maketh a lie. We ask it for Thy mercy's sake. Amen. 
 
SIXTH WEDNESDAY. 189 
 
 ^ijctl^ mtanmaV' 
 
 The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. 
 
 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin 
 shall ye love. 
 
 A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight 
 is His delight. 
 
 Swinging in the air before our eyes this tangible 
 type represents the law and duty of justice with 
 singular accuracy and beauty. A pair of scales is 
 the symbol of mutuality, or reciprocity, between 
 man and man. Each side or cup of the scales with 
 its contents owes its position not to any natural 
 value or independent force it has in itself, but to 
 what there is on the opposite side of the support. 
 The true position, when both rest after their vibra- 
 tion, is that when the opposite weights are equal. 
 These are the mutual rights of men. The standard, 
 supporting the whole, firm and fixed, represents the 
 upholding Hand of God, keeping just men and unjust 
 men, for the time, alike, while it tries and proves 
 them, what manner of men they are, and how they 
 
190 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 turn. The two arms, parts of one whole, resting on 
 this upright prop, are the great regular operations, 
 the customs and laws, of traffic, social communica- 
 tion and influence. Suspended from them, by that 
 chain which ties us all to the social and commercial 
 system, are individuals, with their freewill, eon- 
 science, and temptations. Will you, the individual, 
 be just? — is the question. Will you be content 
 with the fair, right balance, between all your inter- 
 ests, pleasures, claims, rights, and other men's? 
 Will selfishness surrender that to which self has no 
 fair title ? Will you be uneasy, as the balances are, 
 till you honorably and righteously adjust yourself to 
 every fellow being's rightful demand ? Will you 
 empty your hands of everything in them, no matter 
 how much what you hold there may gratify sense, 
 or ambition, or pride, no matter how necessary it 
 may be to keep up the apparatus and style which 
 seem to you now like a part of your life, — will you 
 give it all up, and so be clean-handed even though 
 you shall be empty-handed, just with God ? Will 
 you ? Dare you ? Then you know where you are, 
 and Who is with you, and how it will all go and be 
 with you : for it is written down in almost every 
 form of benediction : " The just shall come out of 
 trouble." " A just man falleth seven times and 
 riseth again." " The oppressor may heap up silver 
 
SIXTH WEDKESDAY. 191 
 
 as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay, he may 
 prepare it, but the just shall put it on and the inno- 
 cent shall divide the silver." " The Lord blesseth 
 the habitation of the just." Nay, he has the spiings 
 of a jubilant satisfaction in himself. " It is a joy to 
 the just to do judgment." His course is no flat, 
 tame, or dusky road of drudgery and commonplace ; 
 it mounts up into the splendors where the spiritual 
 noontide fulfills the hope of the morning : " The 
 path of the just is as the shining light that shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day." Beyond that, 
 "the memory oi the just is blessed." It is written 
 in the first book of the Bible, — the prophecy of 
 all time : " I know him that he will command his 
 children and his household after him, and they shall 
 keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judg- 
 ment, that the Lord may bring upon him that which 
 He hath spoken." It is written in the last book, 
 where time is ended, and the resurrection of the just 
 has come, and the assembly of the just, now made 
 perfect, is gathered, and the everlasting anthem is 
 begun, " Just and true are Thy ways. Thou King 
 of Saints." And when these Scriptures eulogize the 
 heroes preeminent in justice, observe what lofty and 
 elect spirits they mention, Noah and Abraham, Lot 
 and Job, Simeon and John and Joseph ; nay, they 
 are not afraid to find in that plain virtue a title of 
 
192 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 dignity for Jesus Himself, calling Him " the Holy 
 One and the Just." 
 
 Come back now to our earthly societies, and the 
 daily trying of this virtue here. Almost all our life 
 is implicated in some social relation : and in all the 
 enlarging series of circles, — the family, the school, 
 the neighborhood, the sphere of public business, the 
 nation, — that balancing of mutual rights, with all 
 its delicate exposures and dangers, its sources of sin, 
 and pain, and meanness, and moral victory and 
 glory, is going on. Hence is the solemn necessity 
 and the religious sanctity of justice, — such justice 
 as only Christ teaches and the Christian learna. 
 And because of all these various kinds of commerce, 
 the commerce of material things, in property and 
 merchandise, stands as a kind of representative and 
 illustration, so the scales have become the recognized 
 symbol of commercial honesty. The "false bal- 
 ance " is the special falsehood of commerce : but it 
 is the emblem of all injustice. On the one side 
 something is given or taken for which there is no 
 offset on the other. And yet, observe there seems 
 to be an offset. The scales hang even to the eye. 
 But something which is not the just weight is put 
 in to look as if it were, to satisfy appearances by a 
 deception. The buyer gets something for which he 
 paid nothing; or the seller is paid something for 
 
SIXTH WEDNESDAY. 193 
 
 which he delirera nothing. And this is done, not 
 by the frank and open injustice which lets the un- 
 even scales hang out in sight, so that the victim may 
 know that he is wronged : that is the old and bold 
 injustice of semi-barbarous days, when feudal robbers 
 built their castles on rocks overhanging the fords 
 and entrapped the merchant caravans as they crossed 
 the streams between the markets ; that was the less 
 cunning and less cowardly robbery of the outlaw 
 and freebooter, whose only law was in his sword, 
 and his only conscience in his glove, and his only 
 right was might; it is done now rather by some 
 deception that slips the falsehood into the balance 
 itself, leaving the transaction unchallenged, the fraud 
 safe, and the villain to go unarmed and unques- 
 tioned through the streets every day, into good 
 society every evening, and on Simday to church. 
 The way these more open and disgraceful kinds of 
 dishonesty creep in is through the undermining of 
 sound principle first, the clouding of the clear con- 
 science first, the toleration of both the idea and the 
 fact of fraudulent connivance first, in trivial and un- 
 noticed affairs. " We are not worst at first." The 
 birth-place of those vast and awful wrongs, which 
 occasionally startle the community into horror, lies 
 back in the petty injustices where children are al- 
 lowed to take unfair advantage of those weaker or 
 
 13 
 
194 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 younger or poorer than themselves, La the selfish ex- 
 actions of the nursery, the over-reaching and decep- 
 tion of the play-ground, the careless accounts with 
 ignorant and dependent people which a loose moral 
 sense dismisses as insignificant. IsTo, they are fear- 
 fully significant. 
 
 Gradually the mind that is familiarized with the 
 notion of injustice grows unscrupulous and faithless. 
 That is the history of all the gigantic public oppres- 
 sions that have sent up their cry till the cry has en- 
 tered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You 
 will find that the warnings of the Old Testament 
 prophets, through the periods of national decline, 
 are almost constantly directed to uneven balances, — 
 to oppression and exaction, to legalized wrong, to the 
 making of the poor poorer, and the burdens of the 
 weak harder to be borne : " Are not my ways equal ? 
 Are not your ways unequal? Cease to do evil. 
 Reheve the oppressed. Right the fatherless. Plead 
 for the widow." " Shall I count them pure with the 
 deceitful balances ? " saith the Lord. It could not 
 have been by accident, that the Apostle took pains 
 to write to the Church, " Give unto your servants 
 that which is just and equal." The poor, who have 
 few friends to confide their sorrows to, often tell 
 them to their ministers ; and many a minister could 
 uncover if he chose amazing and humiliating wrongs 
 
SIXTH WEDNESDAY. 195 
 
 borne by needy work-women and artisans in the 
 humblest condition, from the simple withholding, 
 from day to day, or week to week, of their little 
 dues in wages by opulent employers, who would re- 
 sent the faintest suggestion of dishonesty, — their 
 Tery habit of. dealing only with large amounts mak- 
 ing it impossible for them to realize that a day's 
 delay of a dollar sometimes leaves the family board 
 absolutely bare of bread. It is the injustice of their 
 thoughtlessness. But it is injustice. The balance 
 is not even. The just weight is wanting. There 
 are hungry children crying in the night ; there is a 
 sad household somewhere ; there is no food for the 
 mouth, but there is fearful food for skepticism and 
 despair, — doubts of men and doubts of God, and 
 all that perilous preparation of dumb discontent, out 
 of which the whirlwinds of rcTolution are finally let 
 loose. 
 
 What we all most need in this great and holy 
 doctrine of justice is not so much a repetition of the 
 ordinary remonstrances against it, as that deeper 
 insight into its springs and secret workings, which, 
 in some sense, spiritualizes the morality of it, smiting 
 the soul with a reverent perception and adoration of 
 the immaculate justice in Christ our Lord. And it 
 is on that line of thought that you will all see how 
 far we come short of what He demands, if we stop 
 
196 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 and content ourselves with the mere external rules 
 of integrity. Think rather, — if you would begin 
 with the roots of the truth, and let it grow up strong 
 and living within you, — of the injustices of our 
 more retired and inward commerce with each other, 
 where no bargains are struck, and no visible value 
 changes hands. Think of the injustice of our social 
 judgments, — of our rash and envious suspicions, 
 not concealed either but spoken out, — of the unjust 
 imputation of motives, of prejudice, of unworthy 
 and unwarranted construction where a fairer theory 
 would suit the facts just as well. Consider the in- 
 justice done to children, in prejudging their little is- 
 sues, in shutting off their defenses and explanations, 
 in taking their silence, shyness, and unskillfulness 
 and alarm for tokens of conscious guilt ; in refusing 
 the patient sympathy that enters into the pathos and 
 misery of those hours of strange sorrow they have, 
 which are only the painful throes of high and nobler 
 aspiration beating against the bars of natural reserve 
 and fighting their way out to manly or womanly 
 power. Think of the injustice of anger and impa- 
 tience that is often intermixed in even their deserved 
 reproofs and punishments, and compare it with that 
 gracious judgment of the Rod of Jesus of which it 
 is so tenderly written that " He shall reprove with 
 equity for the meek of the earth." Think of the 
 
SIXTH WEDNESDAY. 197 
 
 injustice to sensitive natures in reckoning with them 
 all as if they were moulded in one pattern, with 
 uniform temperaments or the same discipline, or as 
 if all who undertake the Christian calling undertook 
 it with the same strength, or at the same point of 
 advance. Probably there are very few hearts but 
 feel that at times the balances are hung unevenly 
 and cruelly against them. Nor should we ever find 
 the reconciling of this wrong, if we did not betake 
 ourselves to Him who carried our griefs, who died, 
 the just for the unjust, and whose sacrifice of Him- 
 self righted the wrongs and redeemed the bondage 
 of our Race. 
 
 In fact, all these exercises of ours in what is just 
 and equitable between man and man are only a kind 
 of school to educate us the better into a completer 
 knowledge of the justice of God. Confess, as we 
 ought, praise and bless, as we must, the mercy and 
 the truth that go before His face, we can yet never 
 forget that it is justice and judgment that are the 
 habitation of His throne. Reverence would fail, 
 awe would sink, worship vrould degenerate into a 
 weak, fond familiarity, were the balance between 
 His equity and His compassion unsettled. So you 
 find that it is the men of the most scrupulous sense 
 of human right that appreciate this attribute in the 
 Almighty, while sentimentalists and visionaries, not 
 
198 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 trusting it in God, are the less trusty with men. So 
 you find, too, that that earlier economy of Divine 
 Law, given by Moses, which had it for its special 
 object to train and discipline God's People in the 
 one great reality of His Personal Government over 
 the world, practically worked this necessity of justice, 
 by repeated statutes and sanctions, into the national 
 mind. " Just balances, just weights, a just ephah 
 and a just hin shall ye have." " Thou shalt not 
 have in thine house divers measures, a great and a 
 small (lest possibly they might be mixed together) 
 but thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a 
 perfect and just measure, that thy days may be 
 lengthened which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 
 For all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto 
 the Lord thy God." And when this schooling of 
 the just law is filled out, opening into the richer min- 
 istry of Grace in the Cross, under whose shadow we 
 and the whole Church are now drawing day by day, 
 still Justice is never forgotten or discredited or 
 veiled ; the atonement loves justice while it loves 
 the unjust soul ; and so it is written of the Divine 
 and matchless mystery of reconciliation : " That He 
 might be just, and yet the justifier of him that be- 
 lieveth in Jesus." In St. Peter's burning sermon, 
 after the Resurrection, at Jerusalemj in St. Ste- 
 phen's dying defense, in St. Paul's divine commission 
 
SIXTH WEDNESDAY, 199 
 
 at Damascus, the Saviour is called the " Just One," 
 and we are told that none living are His, in the 
 regeneration here or the resurrection hereafter, but 
 the just by faith. 
 
 Business men and devout women may be Chris- 
 tians, and devising liberal things for their Master, 
 whose hands have never learned to wipe out the 
 small dust of deceit which usage and precedent have 
 left in the balance. But the sooner they make away 
 with it, the better honor for the Head, and the better 
 progress and power for the Church. Remember, 
 nothing stays her wheels like the frauds of her de- 
 fenders. Nothing under the Holy Spirit speeds 
 them like saints whose ways, patterned after their 
 Eternal King's, are true and just. 
 
 Once, as at this sorrowful season, it was Hebrew 
 hypocrisy and Roman contempt that denied that 
 Holy and Just Jesus. But oux injustices, shielded 
 under His name, may deny Him still. May He put 
 his balance and weight not only into our hands, but 
 into our hearts, lead us in the straight way, and 
 make His House of praise a habitation of the just ! 
 
 " My God, be merciful to me! " I cried. 
 He raised me up, 
 
 With wine revived me from His blessed cup, 
 And when I lifted up my drooping head, 
 
200 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 He gently said, 
 " He who would bear my light and easy yoke 
 1 Must wear love's bridle also in his lips. 
 
 Love is a spring 
 
 Which in the dark depths of the heart must rise, 
 
 Fed from the skies, 
 
 Extend its influence to everything, 
 I To just deeds, truthful lips, and gentle eyes. 
 I This is the charity alone I prize, 
 
 Not that which, while at clothes one brother, 
 I Doth pierce with wrong the spirit of another. 
 
 Go forth, my daughter, to thy work once more, 
 
 I for that garment wait without thy door; 
 
 But while their blessed work thy hands pursue, 
 
 Be thy thoughts also to their Master true." 
 
 He left me; and with spirit chastened, 
 
 Back to my work I hastened. 
 
 I sat and busily my fingers plied 
 
 In working for the poor and destitute. 
 
 My work within me did sweet thoughts create 
 
 Of Him who died, 
 
 And who would say of deeds of sympathy, 
 " Te did them unto Me." 
 
 But with these thoughts of grace 
 
 My lips, alas! refused to keep pace; 
 
 And harsh and unjust words I idly spoke; 
 
 When suddenly a light around me broke, 
 
 And I was in the presence of the King. 
 
 I sought the fond approval of His eye 
 
 By lifting up my work of charity. 
 
 And marveled that it did not win His smile; 
 
SIXTH WEDNESDAY. 201 
 
 TMien lo! I thought upon my words of guUe, 
 And fell before Him sadly on my face, 
 For now I knew what brought the dark eclipse 
 Betwixt the brightness of His face and me. 
 
 nnHOU God of righteousness and truth, whose blessing rest- 
 eth only on those who being justified by faith strive to 
 obey Thy just and holy law, blot out our transgressions, com- 
 mitted either through unbelief toward Thee or injustice to- 
 wards our neighbors. Bless all those that we have wronged, or 
 defrauded, or scorned, or slighted. Help us to restore to them 
 fourfold for every injury, and henceforth to walk with them 
 in uprightness and true charity. And so may Thy benediction 
 rest on our souls, our substance, our dwellings, and on Thy 
 Church in which we are members, through Christ Thy Son, 
 our Lord. Amen. 
 
202 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^iictt) €:i^ui;0Dat- 
 
 Jesus saith unto them, Follow Me. 
 
 He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth 
 much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing. 
 
 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 
 
 Set your affections on things above, not on things on the 
 earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in 
 God. 
 
 Believees are in Christ, so as to be partakers in 
 all that He ^oes, and has, and is. They died with 
 Him, and rose with Him, and live with Him, and in 
 Him are seated in heavenly places. When the eye 
 of God looks on them they are found in Christ, and 
 there is no condemnation to those that are in Him, 
 and they are righteous in His righteousness, and 
 loved with the love which rests on Him, and are sons 
 of God in His Sonship, and heirs with Him of His 
 inheritance, and are soon to be glorified with Him in 
 His glory. 
 
 So. also Christ is in those who believe ; associating 
 His own presence with their whole inward and out- 
 ward life. They know that Jesus Christ is in them, 
 
SIXTH THURSDAY. 203 
 
 except they be reprobates. They live, yet not they, 
 but Christ liveth in them, and He is their strength 
 and their song. This idea underlies all that is said, 
 gives the point of view from which every subject is 
 regarded, and supplies the standard of character and 
 the rules of conduct. We move in a new world of 
 thought, and are raised to a level of doctrine which 
 we had not reached before, though the Gospels had 
 prepared us for it, and the Acts had led us towards it. 
 In the Gospels we have stood like men who watch 
 the rising of some great edifice, and who grow famil- 
 iar with the outlines and the details of its exterior 
 aspect. In the preaching of the Acts we have seen 
 the doors thrown open, and joined the men who flock 
 into it as their refuge and their home. In the Epis- 
 tles we are actually within it, sheltered by its roof, 
 encompassed by its walls ; we pass, as it were, from 
 chamber to chamber, beholding the extent of its in- 
 ternal arrangements and the abundance of all things 
 provided for our use. We are here "m Christ 
 Jesus." The presence which was lately before our 
 eyes, and drew us towards itself, now absorbs and 
 wraps us round, and has become the ground on which 
 we stand, the air which we breathe, the element in 
 which we live and move and have our being. The 
 Churches are " in Christ ; " the persons are " in 
 Christ." They are " found in Christ " and " pre- 
 
204 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 served in Christ," are "rooted, built up," and " made 
 perfect in Christ." Their ways are ways that be in 
 Christ ; their conversation is " a good conversation " 
 in Christ ; their faith, hope, love, joy, their whole life 
 is " in Christ." They think, they speak, they walk 
 "in Christ." They labor and suffer, they sorrow 
 and rejoice, they conquer and triumph "in the Lord." 
 They receive each other and love each other " in the 
 Lord." The fundamental relations, the primal du- 
 ties of life, have been drawn within the same circle. 
 " The man is not vnthout the woman, nor the woman 
 without the man, in the Lord." Wives submit them- 
 selves to their husbands " in the Lord ; " children 
 obey their parents " in the Lord." The broadest 
 distinctions vanish in the common bond of this all- 
 embracing relation. " As many as have been bap- 
 tized into Christ have put on Christ ; there is neither 
 Greek nor Jew; there is neither bond nor free; 
 there is neither male nor female ; they are all one in 
 Christ Jesus." The influence of it extends over the 
 whole field of action, and men " do all in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Far 
 ther by Him." The truth which they hold is " the 
 truth as it is in Jesus ; " the will by which they 
 guide themselves is " the will of God in Christ Jesus 
 concerning them." Finally, this character of exist- 
 ence is not changed by that which changes all be- 
 
SIXTH THURSDAY. 205 
 
 sides. Those who have entered on it depart, but 
 they " die in the Lord," they " sleep in Jesus," they 
 are " the dead in Christ ; " and " when He shall ap- 
 pear," they will appear ; and when He comes, " God 
 shall bring them with Him," and they shall " reign 
 in life by one — Jesus Christ." 
 
 " Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus." That is not 
 the statement of a doctrine, but the summary of a 
 life. Surely I must ask, — Is it a life which I am 
 living now ? I glance over the writings of the Apos- 
 tles, and see the holy and beloved name shining in 
 every part of them, and mingling its presence with 
 every thought and feeling, every purpose and hope. 
 I see an ever present consciousness of being in 
 Christ, and a habit of viewing all things in Him. 
 Must I not look down into my heart, and ask 
 whether my own inward life bears this character? 
 Let me accept nothing in exchange for this. Men 
 bid me live in duty and truth, in purity and love. 
 They do well. But the Gospel does better ; calling 
 me to live in Christ, and to find in Him the enjoy- 
 ment ■oi all that I would possess and the realization 
 of all that I would become. 
 
 Kest of the weary, 
 
 Joy of the sad, 
 Hope of the dreary, 
 
 Light of the glad: 
 
206 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 Home of the stranger, 
 Strength to the end, 
 Refuge from danger, 
 Saviour and Friend I 
 
 Paiow, where lying 
 
 Love rests its head, 
 Peace of the dying, 
 Life of the dead: 
 Path of the lowly, 
 Prize at the end, 
 Breath of the holy, 
 Saviour and Friend. 
 
 When my feet stumble 
 
 I '11 to Thee cry, 
 Crown of the humble. 
 
 Cross of the high: 
 When my steps wander, 
 
 Over me bend, 
 Truer and fonder. 
 
 Saviour and Friend. 
 
 Ever confessing 
 
 Thee, I will raise 
 Unto Thee blessing. 
 
 Glory and praise: 
 All my endeavor, 
 
 World without end, 
 Thine to be ever, 
 
 Saviour and Friend. 
 
SIXTH "FHURSDAY. 207 
 
 /^ GOD who hast new begotten us from the dead by the Life 
 and Resurrection of Thy Son, grant unto us that we may 
 reckon ourselves dead unto sin but alive unto Thee through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath quickened us when we were 
 dead in trespasses and sins, and brought our immortality to 
 Ught. Mortify and kill all vices in us, and make us new in the 
 new creation of purity and holiness and love. Take from us 
 that fleshly mind which is death, and increase in us ever more 
 and more that spiritual life which is light and peace. May we 
 live in this world as if we were dead to it, it being no more 
 we that live, but Christ that liveth in us. And as years pass 
 on and natural death comes nearer to us, may we have a con- 
 tinually surer hope in Him who hath abolished death and taken 
 the victory from the grave — even the same Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 
208 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^in^ fum- 
 
 To do good and to distribute forget not, for with such sacri- 
 ficea God is well pleased. 
 
 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of 
 hosts. 
 
 Ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed 
 Thee ? In tithes and offerings. 
 
 A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one an- 
 other; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By 
 this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. 
 
 XJtteelt in vain is it that we keep with sober 
 manners and outward veneration the blessed Time 
 which is now bearing us on so near the Cross, if the 
 spirit of sacrifice is not in us. And what is sacri- 
 fice? 
 
 While every interest of human life, every faculty 
 of mind and body, and every sphere of action, gives 
 some opportunity for the spirit of sacrifice, its most 
 obvious form is in gifts of money, the current repre- 
 sentative of material value. Perhaps this is espe- 
 cially true of a community like ours, commercial in 
 
SIXTH FRIDAY. 209 
 
 its pursuits, apt to turn almost everything into 
 money, or to reckon it by that standard, exhibiting 
 the contrasts of fortune by sharp lines, and in a 
 thousand ways drawing back the minds of men to 
 this kind of calculation. No doubt some persons 
 are so constituted, or so situated, that it would be a 
 harder cross for them to give other things, as time, 
 or attention, or sympathy, or house-room, to Christ's 
 missions, or to God's poor, than a modicum of their 
 property. But of the great majority in these days, 
 and hereabouts, it may be safely said, as of the 
 young man in the New Testament, that if they can 
 resist the common passion for gain, and cheerfully 
 do their whole duty in giving up their money for 
 the Gospel's sake, they have gone a great way to- 
 wards the grand Christian attainment of overcoming 
 the world, and are not far from the Kingdom of 
 Heaven and of Christ. 
 
 If we would be as He is in this world, if we 
 would follow His steps as our loving Master, if we 
 would, not among men only but before His Father 
 and the Holy Angels, be acknowledged as His dis- 
 ciples, if we would receive a disciple's reward, if 
 we would hear the gracious words, " For as much 
 as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
 my brethren, ye have done it unto me," there is 
 but one way, one straight narrow way; the way 
 
 14 
 
210 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 of self-denying charity. Gifts, which are given out 
 of our abundance, may gain us credit among men, 
 they may show a kindly spirit, such as the Jews 
 were bid to cherish, but they are not tokens of 
 Christian love. Alas, would that we were not put 
 to shame by the very Jews, would that our right- 
 eousness came up even to theirs, and that we pro- 
 vided for our poor as they even now do for theirs ! 
 would that we, who are God's people, came up to 
 them, who for the time are " not His people ! " Of 
 old they bestowed year by year one tenth of their 
 substance on the poor, beyond the one tenth which 
 they gave to God's Priests; yearly they retained 
 but four fifths for themselves ; one fifth of the in- 
 crease wherewith God had blessed them, they gave 
 to Him in His ministers and His poor; and each 
 third year, they gave a third tenth to God. 
 
 And shall we then, on whom the very name of 
 the Son of God has been called, be content with a 
 Jewish charity? shall we, on whom the light and 
 love of the Gospel have been poured, fall short of 
 the measures of the Law ? have we no faith, no eyes 
 to see, no hearts to look for, heavenly treasures ? 
 shall we always be so fixed on the things of this 
 passing world, as to have no sense left for the things 
 of eternity? shall we, year by year, celebrate the 
 fasts and festivals of the self-denying love of our 
 
SIXTH FKIDAY. 211 
 
 Master and only Saviour ; year by year, accompany 
 Him in outward gesture from the manger whither 
 He descended from the highest Heavens to the Cross 
 whence He ascended thither again, and year by year 
 hear Him in word and deed bid us love these our 
 and His brethren as He has loved us and yet go on, 
 year by year, loving — not ourselves, but — the per- 
 ishable comforts, luxuries, ease, of our perishing 
 frames^ and neglecting those whom He has com- 
 mitted to our love, until He come again and require 
 of us an account of our stewardship, and of oar 
 deeds of love to those, in whom He bids us show our 
 love to Him? Shall we go on speaking of His 
 Atoning Sacrifice^ but ourselves sacrifice nothing ; 
 of His poverty for us, but have ourselves no thought 
 except for this world's riches ; of His humiliation 
 for us, but ourselves seek only how to exalt ourselves 
 and our families in this world ; of His abandoning 
 all His unspeakable gloryj and ourselves seek oui 
 glory and credit in this passing scene ; of His hav- 
 ing " emptied Himself " of His inherent Majesty, 
 and ourselves remain " full " ? Not in words but in 
 deeds did He love us, when He came down amid 
 our sin and shame and sufferings, to be hated, 
 scorned, crucified, to bear our sins ; not in words but 
 in deed do we hope that He will show His love, in 
 that way in which if He oompassioneth us not. with 
 
212 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 His exceeding love, we are undone forever ; not in 
 words then, but in deeds must be the love which we 
 meanwhile show to Him in His poor ; learning, 
 slowly it may be, but day by day, to deny ourselves 
 our own desires, to forego things in which we should 
 have pleasure, and what tempts the eyes, the taste, 
 the senses ; looking not at what we can afford to 
 spend upon self, but what we may lawfully deny 
 self; not what additional comforts we may keep 
 around us, but what indulgences which we have we 
 may part with, that we may give the more unto 
 Him ; looking in detail into our expenses, in order 
 warily to cut ofE superfluities ; seeking how our hab- 
 its may become more simple ; parting with luxuries 
 which perish in the using, and which soon must 
 part with us, in order to win the love of God ; 
 parting with what we now call comforts, to win the 
 only assured comfort, peace with God and joy in 
 the. Holy Ghost, the earnest of acceptance and of 
 everlasting rewards, — parting with earth to win 
 heaven ; with things temporal for things eternal, 
 with fading enjoyments for everlasting glory ; with 
 things without us, that Christ (as He has promised 
 to those who love) may make His abode in us. 
 
 Heaven's King 
 Doth bid thee to a marriage feast each day. 
 
SIXTH FKIDAT. 213 
 
 His banquet is full dressed. 
 
 He asks thee for His guest. 
 
 Nor count it a light thing 
 
 If thou refuse or if thou dost obey. 
 
 If thou shouldst go thy way, 
 
 And for earth's farm and merchandise 
 
 His great command despise, 
 
 Beware lest in His royal wrath He swear 
 
 That thou shalt ne'er partake its sacred fare 
 
 And that He seek for guests who will not say 
 
 Him "Nay." 
 The spirit of self-sacrifice 
 Stays not to count its price. 
 Christ did not of His mere abundance cast 
 Into the empty treasury of man's store. 
 
 The First and Last 
 Gave until even He could give no more, — 
 
 His very living 
 
 Such was Christ's Giving. 
 
 /"\ THOU who didst stretch out Thine hands on the Cross in 
 sacrifice for us, all unworthy, greater love can none show 
 than Thou hast shown. Thou didst lay aside the glory of 
 Heaven for the glory of Calvary. Thou who wert rich with 
 infinite treasures didst become poor, with no place to lay Thine 
 Head. Thou didst bear weariness and pain and hunger, and 
 gavest Thy sacred body to the smiters for our sake. Oh forgive 
 us, that, knowing this Thy love, we seek every one his own, 
 and keep back from Thee what is Thine, and give only a little 
 out of our comfort for Thy poor and Thy Church, and bestow 
 that which we shall not miss. Blessed Jesus, grant us more 
 
214 KEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 likeness to Thee, more love such as Thine, that we may sacri- 
 fice our possessions and comforts to others for Thy sake, and 
 count it hetter to give than to receive. O Thou loving High 
 Fiiest, who hast passed into the heavens within the veil, keep 
 us with Thy mighty intercessions, that we may stand accepted 
 in the Day of Thy coming again, who livest and reignest with 
 the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen. 
 
SATURDAY BEFOBE PALM-SUNDAY. 216 
 
 ^aturDaf before |aalm»^unliat^ 
 
 If any man serve Me, let him follow Me ; and where I am, 
 there shall also My servant be. If any man serve Me, him will 
 My Father honor. 
 
 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, Save 
 me from this hour Y But for this cause came I unto this hour. 
 Father, glorify Thy name. 
 
 Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I 
 will give you rest. 
 
 Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, 
 He also Himself likewise took part of the same. 
 
 The strength of all supporting bodies, or struct- 
 ures under strain, is proved at their weakest point. 
 Failing there they are worthless. The power of the 
 personal Life of Christ over man is proved by its 
 making man strong at just the weakest points in 
 his experience. They are such as discouragement, 
 suffering, the sense of sin, and the prospect of the 
 ends. Each has its resorts and resources, like diver- 
 sions, anodynes, philosophy. When these have all 
 done their best, the Son of Man, never resentful at 
 past neglect or repelled by disgust at the foolish 
 
216 NKW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT, 
 
 experiments of unbelief, brings the singular forces of 
 His own Mediatorship, — the condescension of His 
 divinity and the glorious splendor and triumphs of 
 His humanity, — to conquer where the world has 
 failed. 
 
 The daily stress of care has tired you out. The 
 slowness of those steps by which you are following 
 after your blessed Master, — slow in spite of your 
 best efforts, — has disheartened you. But think. 
 You have not to overtake your Lord, in order to 
 be sure of His comfort and His blessing. He is not 
 hurrying away from you. He has come to you. 
 All the way from heaven, — all the way down to 
 our poor, miserable mortality He has come, that He 
 might seek after us, and find us, and stand with us 
 just where we are, and love us here, — if only our 
 vnlling hearts will let Him. Think what He left 
 behind. Think what He gave up. Would He 
 have been likely to do and to give all that if He did 
 not love you ; if He did not mean to have you for 
 His own ? After doing and enduring so much, will 
 He push any follower from Him impatiently ? " For 
 this cause came I unto this hour." 
 
 Think again. It would be a great sacrifice for you 
 to leave your home, your comforts, and your friends, 
 and go down into some cabin of vile and filthy creat- 
 ures, where every taste would be offended and every 
 
SATUEDAY BEFORE PALM-SUNDAY. 217 
 
 sense would be disgusted, to stay there performing 
 menial offices, the -wretched and cruel inmates hating 
 and reviling you while you did them. That was what 
 Jesus did. The way from the glory, purity, blessed- 
 ness, that He had with the Father, down to us and 
 our selfish,. sinful ways, was farther than from our 
 doors to any hovel of uncleanliness or haunt of 
 heathenism in the world. We are all farther from 
 His Spirit than any of these fellow-sinners from 
 ours. The difference never can be so great be- 
 tween one degree of sin and another as it is between 
 perfect, spotless sinlessness and lives like ours. But 
 further than this ! Christ not only did this once : 
 He is doing it still. He is stiU dwelling with us ; 
 still forbearing, enduring, and patient with us.. Oh 
 the depth of the condescension, the riches of that 
 goodness, the love that passeth knowledge ! 
 
 As Christ the Saviour is really near at hand with 
 us, so He is still sensitive to our treatment of Him, 
 still suffers from our faithlessness, and still rejoices in 
 our affection. Every new sin we commit adds to our 
 Saviour's Cross some new sharpness and heaviness. 
 We mistake it, according to the superficial fashion 
 and feeble faith of our time, we imagine all the bad 
 consequences of that sin are limited to ourselves, 
 and inflict no hurt save on our own " consciousness " 
 or " progress." It drives deeper the nails of the liv- 
 
218 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ing Redeemer's torture. It sets fresh thorns into the 
 mock-crown that made His temples bleed. It puts 
 strength to the spear that pierced His side. Be- 
 cause it was not the wood, of cross or thorn, it was 
 not the iron, of nail or spear, that entered into His 
 soul and made up the real agony of His crucifix- 
 ion. These were only the material instruments that 
 touched and tore the flesh. The flesh itself was only 
 the visible vestiture and outer sign of the Man Christ 
 Jesus, who was crucifled for us. 
 
 Believe it, whoever hewed the cross, or drove the 
 nails, or platted the thorns, or pierced the side, — it 
 is indifference, it is ingratitude, it is unbelief, it is 
 selfishness, it is hard, cold, narrow worldliness, every- 
 where, always, here, now, yours, which crucifies the 
 Lord of Glory, and is the agency of His crucifixion. 
 Were these confined, do you think, to a few wicked 
 rulers, and a few reckless soldiers, and a few hating 
 hypocrites, in a Roman province, in Caesar's time ? 
 No more than those Galileans whose blood Pilate 
 mingled with their sacrifices were sinners above all 
 the Galileans. 
 
 Turn to the other and happier part of the same 
 solemn intimacy between the suffering Redeemer and 
 His disciple. Every struggle of self-sacrifice for His 
 sake delights Him, and lightens the gloom that dark- 
 ens about His Calvary. There is an old German 
 
SATUEDAY BEFORE PALM-SUNDAY. 219 
 
 legend of the bird called " the cross-bill," that it flew 
 to Christ's cross, at the hour of His crucifixion, and 
 tried to draw out the nails that fastened Him to the 
 
 tree : 
 
 " Stained with blood, and never tiring, 
 With its beak it doth not cease: 
 From the Cross 't would tear the SaTiour, 
 Its Creator's Son release: " 
 
 and the story runs that as a benediction for this sym- 
 pathy, the Lord promised the earnest creature that 
 the blood drops which then sprinkled its plumage 
 should stay, and color all its kind with that holy 
 sign, evermore. Like many other Christian imagi- 
 nations, the fable has a practical and a scriptural 
 meaning. The service and self-denial of His follow- 
 ers, rendered to the Saviour for His own sake, deep- 
 ens in them the marks and the blessing of His sacri- 
 fice, and makes its benefit permanent. Whatever 
 yon do or suffer for His honor, whether you come 
 by faith, humbly praying to see" Jesus, and sit at His 
 feet, or whether you take up the cross, and work and 
 give and endure hardship as a good soldier in His 
 cause, He sets a sign of living glory in your soul, bet- 
 ter than any crown. " Him will my Father honor." 
 You can afford to be weary many nights, and to 
 labor at hard drudgeries many days, for night and 
 day the Son of Man tells you by His own blessed 
 
220 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 lips, of " the love wlucli passeth knowledge," — and 
 that, being " rooted and grounded " in it, you may 
 "comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, 
 and length, and depth, and height ! " 
 
 Lord, who in pain and weariness 
 
 Thy path of sorrow here didst tread; 
 Who, scorned of man, and shelterless, 
 Couldst find no place to lay Thy Head; 
 Grant Thy shelter, Jesu meek, 
 To Thy poor who refuge seek. 
 
 Lord, who through long and saddened years, 
 
 Didst toil for suffering mankind; 
 Didst bind their wounds, didst calm their fears, 
 Didst cure the sick, the halt, the blind; 
 Grant Thy healing, Jesu blest, 
 To the faint, who long for rest. 
 
 Lord, who didst die upon the Bood, 
 
 That we might ever die to sin. 
 Who givest us Thyself as Food, 
 To make us strong the goal to win; 
 Grant Thy patience, Jesu dear, 
 Unto all who suffer here. 
 
 Lord, who from burial didst arise, 
 
 That we might rise to life in Thee, 
 And hence ascended to the skies 
 Dost rule all things in majesty; 
 Grant Thy glory, Jesu pure, 
 To the faithful who endure. 
 
SATURDAY BEFORE PALM-SUNDAY. 221 
 
 /^ MOST gracious Lord, our Saviour, who to do away our 
 offenses didst not only bear cruel stripes and shameful 
 insults and mockings, and a painful crown of thorns, but wast 
 willing to be fastened with nails to the Cross like a thief, we 
 entreat Thee by these Thy sufferings that Thou wouldst hear 
 us, Thy weak and erring followers; spare us when we confess 
 our sins; show us Thy hands and Thy feet when we are doubt- 
 ing; and make Thy wonderful condescension to our infirmities 
 to be our lifting up into Thine eternal salvation and blessed- 
 ness, that we may praise and glorify Thee with the Father and 
 the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen. 
 
222 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^alm^^unnuv* 
 
 We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for 
 the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor; that He 
 by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For 
 Doth He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of 
 one; for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 
 saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the 
 midst pf the Church will I sing praise unto Thee. Wherefore 
 in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren; 
 that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things 
 pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the 
 people. 
 
 On the next day much people that were come to the Feast, 
 when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took 
 branches of palm-trees and went forth to meet Him. 
 
 And many spread their garments in the way; and others cut 
 down branches off the trees and strewed them in the way. 
 
 The beginning of Holy Week finds the Sav- 
 iour in the family of His friends, Mary and Martha 
 and Lazarus. He is man, and human affection must 
 both deepen and soften the pain of the coming sep- 
 aration. From this moment, by the guidance of the 
 
PALM-SUNDAY. 223 
 
 Evangelists, we are able to follow the Great Sufferer 
 on, day by day, and step by step, to the hour of His 
 passion and of the world's redemption, when we 
 hear Him cry, " It is finished," on the Cross. Hav- 
 ing traveled southward towards the Holy City, from 
 the retired spot on the borders of Samaria where He 
 had spent several days in solitary preparation for the 
 dreadful commotions and agonies of His public trial 
 and crucifixion, — passing along the wild and dan- 
 gerous road between the plains of Jericho and the 
 uplands in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, — that 
 road where the scene of the parable of the good 
 Samaritan was laid, with its eternal lesson of Chris- 
 tian charity, — He seems to have come, late on Fri- 
 day evening, to the village of Bethany, lying three 
 or four miles east of the capital, — with the Mount 
 of Olives between them, — and then to have entered 
 that "highly-favored household," of which he had 
 called back one member from death to life, only a few 
 weeks before. There, in the evening, Simon makes a 
 Feast for this Divine Guest, knowing the human but 
 not the Divine Guest whom he entertains. There, 
 Lazarus, a living witness of His resurrection power, 
 sits with the company, his mysterious experience of 
 the grave hidden in his heart. There Martha, with 
 characteristic activity and anxiety, serves at the 
 table. There one of the Marys, with lavish and 
 
224 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 nncalculating devotion anoints her Lord's body for 
 its burying, and gains her everlasting memorial 
 " wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached." It 
 needs no very fertile imagination to fill out some 
 solemn and touching picture of that supper, — the 
 happy group, yet, with august apprehensions shadow- 
 ing their festivity, the tender communion, the thank- 
 ful remembrance of mercies and miracles past, the 
 mutual pledges of eternal fidelity, and then the part- 
 ing for the night's rest ; He who sleeps there in 
 mortal slumber the Living and Eternal Rest of the 
 weary world ! The next morning He took up His 
 sorrowful journey again, and moved slowly towards 
 the Temple. As the Passover, with its sacrifices, 
 was just at hand, companies of pilgrims, driving 
 sheep for the altar, would be seen in the highways, 
 all gathering up from the four quarters, to the centre 
 of the Nation's Faith. Among them goes the Lamb 
 of God, — the one sacrifice, — final, perfect, and suf- 
 ficient, whom these typical altars of thousands of 
 years had heralded with their banners of smoke and 
 flame. The day to see that marvelous fulfilled 
 'Scripture, that the Lamb should he slain in the full- 
 ness of ages and yet slain from the foundation of 
 the world, is, at last, close by ; " the hour " of which 
 He so often spoke, as if all reckonings of days, in 
 the knowledge of history, ran to and from that cen- 
 
PALM-SUNDAY. 225 
 
 tral point of time. But then He is not only Sacri- 
 fice and Priest ; not only Prophet and Fulfillment ; 
 but another of His comprehensive characters is King- 
 ship. So, in token of that royal office -whereby He 
 is to reign forever, He must enter the city of His 
 sacrifice with kingly honors, in meekness, to die, yet 
 in majesty, to triumph. The beast to bear him is 
 brought. The crowd is multipUed. Every hand 
 snatches a green palm-branch from the trees by the 
 wayside and waves it, or casts it at the conqueror's 
 feet. Suddenly, as they rise to the hill-top where 
 the city in its historic glory breaks on their sight, 
 the familiar words of ancient prophecy come to pass : 
 " Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King 
 Cometh." At first a few tongues raise together a 
 strain of triumphal welcome out of one of the 
 Psalms, sung once in prediction of the Messiah to 
 David's harp, and again by angels, over Bethlehem, 
 David's City, at His birth. Immediately, " a thou- 
 sand voices before and a thousand voices behind, 
 rising up to Heaven with mingled harmonies of ac- 
 clamation, cry together, saying, " Hosanna to the 
 Son of David; Blessed is He that cometh in the 
 name of the Lord." Thus entering Jerusalem, and 
 yet weeping human tears as he enters, at the thought 
 of its impending overthrow, Christ goes directly to 
 the Temple. " And when He had looked round 
 
 15 
 
226 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 about upon all things," writes the second evangelist 
 with impressive simplicity, " and now the eventide 
 was come, He went out (again) unto Bethany, with 
 the twelve." And so, in quiet contrast with the 
 morning procession and pageant, the day closed. 
 The living truth and consistency of all inspired 
 Scripture have had another sublime illustration : and 
 we are brought one day's journey nearer to Calvary. 
 
 The first great thought that now comes to fill our 
 souls, and to shut out for the moment, — if not for 
 all this Passion-week, — every thought besides, is 
 this, that Christ is a Sufferer, — a Sufferer before us, 
 a Sufferer with us, a Sufferer for us. At Bethany 
 " Jesus wept." Four days hence He comes to Geth- 
 semane, and the fifth to the Cross. He must gain 
 the whole world's faith, to save it ; He must lay 
 hold of the widest possible range of human sympa- 
 thies ; and to that end He becomes a Sufferer. Not 
 that He, or His religion, ministers to no states or 
 seasons but those that are painful. Something in 
 Him touches everything in us. 
 
 All our humanity, with all its possible moods and 
 conditions is somehow included, and mastered, and 
 interpreted, by Him. He goes with us in our rec- 
 reation as well as in the funeral procession j^ He sits 
 in the full circle of health at festivals, as well as 
 with the mourner by the new made grave, or amidst 
 
PALM-SUNDAY. 227 
 
 the fragments of ruined plans ; He comes to Beth- 
 any when the three there are well, not only when 
 Lazarus is dead. All the rooms of our houses are 
 for Him, to come in and abide, as well as the cham- 
 bers of sickness or of the laying out of the dead. 
 This indeed is a characteristic trait that distinguishes 
 the Christian Faith from every religious pretension 
 that was ever set up. It is not one-sided, as being 
 all for melancholy, or all for mirth, — not stoical or 
 epicurean. It has as many sides as our life has, goes 
 with us wherever we can go, and only asks that it 
 may consecrate everything with its blessing. The 
 Saviour sighs for us, that we may not sigh forever. 
 He weeps with us, and bids us weep with each other, 
 that even here we may be as though we wept not. 
 He rejoices with us, so that, gaining our hearts, He 
 may give them joys that are eternal. 
 
 But now, this comprehensive glory being claimed 
 for our Gospel, we shall all agree that Jesus takes 
 the ground of the largest and strongest influence for 
 men, when He appears in sympathy with their 
 troubles. Because our sharpest wants spring from 
 some kind of trial, — in conscience, or heart, or 
 body, — He meets us there with the spedal ministry 
 of His mediation. It is when, looking up to heaven, 
 with a miserable invalid before Him, He sighs ; it 
 is when, coming to the sepulchre of Lazarus with 
 
228 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 His bereaved friends about Him, He weeps; it is 
 when He cries out with His own anguish at Geth- 
 semane and the Cross, that He draws nearest, gives 
 M8 most of Himself, and makes us feel how really one 
 with us, this Divine Redeemer is. Imagine for a 
 moment a pretended Christ who demanded our 
 faith chiefly on the score of His interest in our hap- 
 pier moments : how the burdened heart of the world, 
 — and even of the happiest hearts in it, — would 
 turn from Him, disappointed! If He did not sigh 
 for us, we should still have to sigh for each other, 
 and then to turn and sigh still for a Saviour that 
 would sigh for us, — only in Him acknowledging the 
 Master of our life and of our death. 
 
 In principle, this seems to be illustrated in the 
 trust we put in any noble, masterly spirit. Take 
 some personal grief ; or take the grand peril and 
 ordeal of a nation struggling for its liberties : the 
 leader or the comforter who hopes there to centre 
 in himself the complete confidence of his fellows 
 must be seen to comprehend, and to feel, all the 
 human agony, to the bottom of it. Without this 
 deep yet simple secret, he can never command the 
 souls of the people. So it is, precisely, with the 
 spiritual Lordship of Christ. " For it became Him, 
 for whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto 
 glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect 
 
PALM-SUNDAY. 229 
 
 through sufEerings." "j^br," in that way, through 
 the common sympathy of suffering, " both he that 
 sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all 
 of one." 
 
 Yes, " of one ; " because men are really more at 
 one in what they suffer than in what they enjoy : 
 partly because they are more conscious of their 
 mutual dependence then, and so are cast more 
 vitally, and more openly, together; partly because 
 pain is by its nature more intense, more thirsty, 
 more exacting, than pleasure. It is not when some 
 piece of fine fortune befaUs a family in the neigh- 
 borhood, but when death desolates their dwelling, 
 or calamity darkens ifc, that they find out what gen- 
 erous treasures of good-will have been waiting for 
 them in houses close by, and their neighbors draw 
 near to them with reverential compassion. It is 
 not a period of public prosperity that kindles the 
 patriotism of a people, and binds them together in 
 the unity of one common purpose : it is danger and 
 war. 
 
 You scarcely see surprise in the gayest faces when 
 you speak, if you speak simply and earnestly, of 
 the sore struggle within, between the old man and 
 the new, of tears or even of heart-breakings, — be- 
 cause, even in those bright lives, though the reality 
 of affliction has not been felt, the shadow of it has 
 
230 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 been seen across the broad field of sunshine. None 
 ■would be quicker than they to confess the insufiB- 
 ciency of a Gospel which should provide only for 
 hours of mirth or comfort. However fortunate your 
 own lot at present, you would not trust yourself, for 
 salvation, to any but a man of sorrows, acquainted 
 with grief. When we imagine a world in which 
 " pleasures banish pain," we are thinking of a world 
 in which purity would banish sin. But this is not 
 the real world which you and I are living in. 
 
 Accordingly, we find in the Son of Man signs of 
 that intense sympathy with others' sorrow which is 
 a kind of willing sorrow in itself. This fact lies 
 close to the great central doctrine of our religion, 
 in the incarnation, sacrifice, and atonement of our 
 Lord, no matter how often a blind and stumbling 
 theology has said otherwise : the redemption in 
 Christ, though His death is an outward and histor- 
 ical fact, is not a cool transaction, wrought out at a 
 distance from us, outside of us, and then mechan- 
 ically brought over and paid down for us : oh, not 
 this ! Christ redeems us, by dying, and in that 
 death entering, with all the powers of His sacri- 
 fice, and all the spirit of His mercy, and all the ten- 
 derness of His Cross, into the living seats of affec- 
 tion and trust within us. We know His crucifixion 
 
PALM-SUNDAY. 231 
 
 only as we are crucified with Him. We are re- 
 deemed by Him, only as we are ever ready, in the 
 spirit of self-denial, to make up, in personal sacrifice, 
 that which is behind of His sufferings. We have 
 to be bearing about, daily, the dying of the Lord 
 Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be mani- 
 fested in these mortal bodies. 
 
 I lifted up my harp, one day, 
 
 And hasted forth to trace the great King's way. 
 
 By palms of victory across it lying. 
 
 I hurried on, regardless of a Child 
 
 That passed me by. 
 
 With wondrous eye. 
 Long did I search, until at length 
 I had exhausted all my feeble strength, 
 Until one day I did espy 
 Branches of palm, but withered all and dying. 
 Feeling that He in triumph here had passed, 
 I felt that I should find the King at last; 
 When lol an angel met me. " Wouldst thou see 
 Thy King? " He led me out to Calvary, 
 And there I found Him hanging on a tree; 
 And in that Man of pain 
 I knew the Child of heavenly look again. 
 Trembling, 1 asked the sorrowing angel, " Why? " 
 He told me that his Lord had come to die. 
 And that His death would be 
 Eternal life to me and such as me. 
 
232 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 f\ LORD Jesus Christ, who for the salvation of the world 
 wast willing as at this time, to bear patiently sorrows and 
 agony, passion and death, grant, we beseech Thee, that we, 
 mindful of all that Thou hast borne for us, may bear our light 
 afflictions patiently for Thy sake, so that sharing Thy suffer- 
 ings we may at Thy second coming awake and go forth to 
 meet Thee with the multitudes of Thy redeemed ones, and 
 enter with praises into the everlasting City, and be made par- 
 takers of Thy rest and glory, who livest and reignest with 
 the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen. 
 
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 233 
 
 ^onuat in i^olt Mtt^* 
 
 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours iu the day? 
 
 Oheist made this question His answer when His 
 disciples warned Him that to go up toward Jeru- 
 salem would be to go towards peril and death. 
 Great truths seldom wear so commanding an aspect 
 as when they look out upon us from some familiar 
 image like this. As His manner often is, the Divine 
 Teacher here makes a commonplace fact, lying 
 under our constant observation, — the mere duration 
 of the daylight, — represent a great doctrine of 
 practical religion. Having just heard, from the two 
 sisters of Lazarus, of their brother's sickness, and 
 knowing that he will die, Jesus proposes to His dis- 
 ciples to go to the bereaved house. At present they 
 are in a place of retirement and comparative safety, 
 — Perea, beyond the Jordan. A journey to Beth- 
 any will take Him close to Jerusalem, where bitter 
 enemies are watching for Him. Naturally enough. 
 His disciples remonstrate: "Master, the Jews of 
 
234 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither 
 again ? " There arises, then, one of those test- 
 questions of character, such as we all have some- 
 times to meet, where self-interest, with personal 
 security, stands in one path, and duty, with danger, 
 in another. He, whose joy it was to make Himself 
 a sacrifice for us, struck directly onward in the line 
 of His Father's will, whether it was only Bethany 
 and its hospitable roof, or Gethsemane and Calvary 
 beyond, with their blood and torture, that waited to 
 receive Him. 
 
 The first thought is that it can never be otherwise 
 than safe to do right. Almighty God fixes the 
 length of the day, — twelve hours. While you are 
 walking with Him, His plans protect you. His ordi- 
 nances befriend you. His hands hold you up and clear 
 the way. His sunshine flows down upon you, His 
 invisible angels watch over you. It may not always 
 seem so; it certainly will not so long as we look 
 only through the eyes of sense. Clouds and dark- 
 ness may appear to overhang the path of the just, 
 and night to be shutting in before its time ; but it 
 is appearance only. No outward hindrances can 
 shorten God's time, or take back His promise. Your 
 " day," for His service, has just twelve hours. 
 There may be pointed swords or treacherous pitfalls, 
 sneering faces or the substantial scourges of poverty, 
 
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 235 
 
 solitude and hatred, planted at every step, from this 
 safe Perea over to Jerusalem and the Judgment 
 Hall ; no matter ; if God's will and word command 
 you to go by that road, your strength will be equal 
 to your day, and your day wiU be as long as it ought 
 to be. If it seems to be cut short here, it will be 
 filled out in a glorious immortality, — not an hour 
 lost. 
 
 On the other hand, no paltry calculations can 
 keep us out of harm's way, when we are turning 
 back from Him who seeth the end from the begin- 
 ning. What is the rest of life worth, however 
 lengthened out, to the deserter from the army, or 
 the hireling that straggles to the rear on the morn- 
 ing of the battle ? You may be young or old ; a 
 man of business or a woman in retirement ; no mat- 
 ter what you are, or where you are. If your en- 
 emies are in any Jerusalem, and you run away from 
 your post of dangerous duty into any desert, there 
 are ten thousand unforeseen mischances there, any 
 one of which may make an end of you, or an end 
 of your peace, because you have made an end of 
 your Christian manhood, and of the fellowship and 
 pledged protection of your Lord. There is no se- 
 curity, no daylight anywhere, but in Him. 
 
 By being a loyal soldier of Christ, brave and self- 
 sacrificing, you may, perhaps, cut off some part of 
 
236 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 your life on earth, and perhaps not. God only 
 knows ; life and breath are His ; so is the life ever- 
 lasting. But what are a few days more or less? 
 What are a few more worth to you, if life is all 
 hollow, base, and worldly, with no covenant of grace 
 and mercy over it ? What a few less, if life is filled 
 up with honor, and its short day melts the sooner 
 into the perfect light of heaven ? 
 
 Hence this answer of our Lord brings in, for the 
 solution of these deep questions about duty and 
 danger, another arbiter besides conscience, and that 
 is Christian faith. Conscience may render a clear 
 verdict enough, but she is not strong enough to ex- 
 ecute it alone. The soul anxiously inquires. Suppose 
 this is right, and I follow conscience, — who is on 
 the side of right ? Who will stand by me and bear 
 me out ? Who will keep my feet from falling, my 
 eyes from tears, — or pity them when they come, — 
 and this soul from death ? Christ replies. Are there 
 not twelve hours of light, — and is not that light 
 sent down by Him who has promised that whoever 
 walks in it shall not stumble ? That is, entertain 
 no fears about results. The daylight you walk in 
 is not drawn from within you, and your success will 
 not be. The day's length is fixed. No human in- 
 terference can hinder the dawn or hasten the twi- 
 light. Everything is ordered and falls into place. 
 
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 237 
 
 All things work together for good to them that fear 
 God. Acknowledge Him, and thy foot shall not 
 stumble. 
 
 The second thought is that in following out the 
 right line of Christian duty, there is to be no rash 
 defiance of danger and no wild disregard of fit times 
 and seasons. In the hands of Christ, on His calm 
 lips, or in His wise and patient example, we never 
 find zeal blind-folded, decision running into obsti- 
 nacy, or devotion cut loose from reason. There are 
 repeated instances in the life of our Lord where He 
 carefully withheld Himself from useless exposure. 
 He avoided provocation. He forbade His friends to 
 precipitate upon Him or them a premature arrest by 
 an indiscriminate display of the " pearls " of His 
 Gospel. We are told of His unfolding the great 
 mystery of His Messiahship gradually to the people, 
 as they were able to bear it. How sublimely clear 
 His spirit is of all that eager ambition which mixes 
 up a personal willfulness with the high behests of 
 God's Law, the false independence and false bold- 
 ness which despise experience, reject authority, scorn 
 the past, and push their way by a headstrong pride I 
 Living habitually in the secret counsels of the 
 Father, acting always for that Holy will which it 
 was His meat and drink to do, flattery could not 
 bring Him forward or opposition drive Him back- 
 
238 NEW .HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ■ward. There was time enough, for the work given 
 to do, but not one moment for idleness, or display, 
 or sentimental indulgence. This is the exact differ- 
 ence between true earnestness and fanaticism. Fa- 
 naticism is inflamed and driven by passion, pride, 
 and bigotry ; true earnestness, born of a meek and 
 lowly faith, waits only to know God's will ; and 
 when once that is revealed cannot be kept back from 
 obeying it. There are twelve hours in its day. 
 
 Blending these two principles together, — the cour- 
 age of faith and the humility of faith, — we arrive 
 at this large and comforting doctrine for Christian 
 practice : There is room enough in every life for all 
 that life's work. God has a plan for every human 
 spirit's probation. Nothing falls out of that plan 
 by accident. Nothing interferes with it, but our 
 own rebellion. Even our freedom has its fixed limits 
 which it never can overpass. In little details of 
 conduct, a moment at a time, we may seem to have 
 our own way ; but in the long run we are overruled. 
 How common it is to hear resolute, energetic men 
 confessing their whole earthly course a failure I One 
 of the saddest documents I ever heard read was a 
 private letter written by one of our most distin- 
 guished countrymen to another, in which, though he 
 had been crowned with an almost unprecedented 
 succession of honors, and had scarcely ever spoken 
 
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 239 
 
 or written without winning the admiration of en- 
 tire communities of men, he pronounced his whole 
 career a miserable disappointment, too painful to re- 
 member. The great events that mark ofE and sig- 
 nalize existence are beyond control, — the strokes 
 of the hammer of that clock which tells the begin- 
 ning and the end of the twelve hours. None of us 
 can determine the circumstances that direct his early 
 steps and mould his youth ; none can command the 
 elements or accidents ; none can decide when he 
 shall be sick, or well, or find time to die. These 
 twelve fixed hours are not of equal length to all per- 
 sons. Ninety years are not too much for a good 
 man's pilgrimage ; yet another fills out a noble testi- 
 mony and finishes a glorious warfare on some public 
 battle-field or in some hidden corner of the vineyard, 
 before the dew of youth has been dried up. 
 
 " Alike in God's all-seeing eye 
 The infant's day, the patriarch's age." 
 
 It is not so much the period that is of consequence, 
 as the living of it all out, clearly and faithfully, in 
 the service of the Master, — as a Heaven-appointed 
 time. 
 
 It is for lack of faith in the God of our life that 
 we hardly undertake even a good enterprise before 
 beginning to be anxious about the result, impatient 
 
240 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 to finish it and see the fruit, or afraid life •will not 
 be long enough to finish it at all. Christ's word 
 here lifts the Christian up to a peaceable superiority 
 over this agitation, by the side of his Lord. It bids 
 the disheartened friends of beneficent undertakings 
 remember that God never allows the sun to set too 
 soon, and never crowds two days into one. It tells 
 those who doubt whether their prayers are heard, 
 that blessings sometime gain in richness by their 
 slowness in coming. It tells feeble fathers and moth- 
 ers, distressed lest their children should be left or- 
 phans, that there is a Father who lives and is con- 
 stant even when mothers die or forget, and that He 
 has more ways than one of training weakness into 
 power, orphanage into patronage, the forsaken into 
 the sons and daughters of honor singing as in the 
 days of their youth, and valleys of Achor into Doors 
 of Hope. It tell the lonely and sorrowing to fear 
 none of those things that they shall suffer, because 
 Christ has suffered for them in the fiesh and over- 
 come the world. 
 
 The doctrine is still further practical, because it 
 rebukes and cools down that feverish haste which 
 disorders so much human work, and is such a dis- 
 creditable characteristic of a worldly-minded and 
 irreverent age, with little faith and little love. It 
 is certainly remarkable, that in all the life of Jesus 
 
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 241 
 
 in the flesh, — though the weight of the world's re- 
 demption was pressing upon Him, and His minis- 
 try of eternal reconciliation'- was bounded by three 
 short years, yet there is not a single step or move- 
 ment of His, from first to last, that gives us an im- 
 pression of haste. Always straitened tiU His whole 
 work is accomplished, because the night cometh 
 when no man can work. He is yet always deliberate. 
 Are there not twelve hours in His day ? He is al- 
 most as free from hurry as He is from sin. You see 
 His disciples urging Him hither and thither. They 
 want Him to go sooner, or stay later, to call down 
 revengeful fire, or to make a more sudden manifesta- 
 tion. " If Thou be the Christ, show Thyself to the 
 world." But He still bides His time, and only says 
 His hour is not yet full come. Summoned to this 
 very miracle of mercy at Bethany, He paused and 
 waited, no one then knew why, tarrying four days 
 in the place where He was. It is thus when God 
 speaks by His Prophet of His grandest works, — 
 laying in Zion a sure foundation and a precious 
 corner-stone, — that He says, " He that believeth 
 shall not make haste." Faith works, works in- 
 tensely, works while all the twelve hours of the day 
 last, and yet can wait in cheerful submission, in hope, 
 and in peace. 
 
 There is only one thought more to be touched. 
 
 16 
 
242 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 The twelve hours are to be filled up. Not one of 
 them, or one minute or second in any of them, can 
 we afford to throw away, or lose. Christian waiting 
 is not idleness, but a kind of busy waiting. What- 
 ever compassion there may be for them that come 
 into Christ's vineyard at the eleventh hour, because 
 no man hath hired them, we are not of those. We 
 were all called long ago, and the reward was set 
 before us by the Author and Finisher of our faith. 
 There is an end of these hours, and it is near at 
 hand. There are only twelve, and they are all 
 short. They darken over in early youth, very often. 
 They end always at the Bar of a most solemn Judg- 
 ment, where small and great, those that die young 
 and those that die old, stand together before God, 
 and the Book of Remembrance is opened, and all 
 are judged out of the Book. 
 
 Lent is almost gone. The months are but hours ; 
 there are but twelve of them in a year. Compared 
 with what is to come, all our days and years now are 
 only as a night, which is "far spent." Another 
 " day is at hand." " If any man walk in the night 
 he stumbleth. If any man walk in the day, he 
 stumbleth not, because he seeth the Light of this 
 world." Who of us must not look up and ask, " Oh, 
 where is this light ? " Jesus said, " I am the Light 
 of the world. Whosoever liveth and believeth in 
 me shall not die eternally." 
 
MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 243 
 
 Even at Eleven 
 
 Grod sometimes giveth space to work for heaven ; 
 
 But yet I would not have thee wait 
 
 UntU twelfth hour of day, 
 Lest, when it groweth late, 
 
 Christ should not pass thy way; 
 But haste without delay 
 Into the market-place 
 Of grace: 
 There thou shalfc find 
 
 A Master kind, 
 And Uberal pay. 
 
 Take unto Thyself, O Father, 
 
 This folded day of Thine, 
 
 This weary day of mine. 
 
 Its ragged corners cut me yet, — 
 
 Oh still the jar and fret I 
 
 Father do not forget 
 
 That I am tired 
 
 With this marred day ot Thine, 
 
 This erring day of mine! 
 
 Forget not but forgive. 
 
 And let me live 
 
 The life divine! 
 
 f\ THOU Holy One who hast ordered the day and set each 
 ^"^ hour in its place, and who makest the morning and even- 
 ing to praise Thee, help us to work with our hands the thing 
 that is good while the day lasts, seeing that the night cometh 
 when no man can work. Purify our minds from all vain, evil, 
 and wandering thoughts. Enlighten our understanding. Kin- 
 
244 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 die our affections. Strengthen our love and gratitude. And 
 direct our hearts and bodies to the patient and diligent waiting 
 for Christ; and bring our souls to the everlasting life and felic- 
 ity of the faithful with Thee, O Christ, world without end. 
 Amen. 
 
TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 245 
 
 Cuejsua^ in i^olt ©leefe. 
 
 DAY OF DIALOGUES AND PAKABLES. 
 
 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. 
 
 We glory in tribulations also. 
 
 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through 
 Him that loved us. 
 
 In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and strength- 
 enedst me with strength in my soul. 
 
 Saviour, beneath thy yoke 
 
 My wayward heart doth pine; 
 All unaccustomed to the stroke 
 
 Of love divine. 
 Thy chastisements, my God, are hard to bear, 
 Thy cross is heavy for frail flesh to wear. 
 
 PerisTiing child of clay ! 
 
 Thy sighing I have heard ; 
 Long have I marked thy evU way, 
 
 How thou hast erred ! 
 Yet, fear not ; by my own most holy name, 
 I will shed healing through thy striqhen frame. 
 
 Praise to Thee, gracious Lord I 
 I fain would be at rest; 
 
246 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 Oh, now fulfill Thy f aithfvil word 
 
 And make me blest; 
 My soul would lay her heavy burden down, 
 And take, with joyfulness,*the promised crown. 
 
 Stay, tliou short-sighted child I 
 
 There is much first to do. 
 Thy heart so long by sin defiled, 
 
 I must renew ; 
 Thy will must here he taught to hend to mine, 
 Or the sweet peace of heaven can ne'er he thine. 
 
 Tea, Lord, but Thou canst soon 
 
 Perfect Thy work in me, 
 Till, like the pure, calm summer noon, 
 
 I shine by Thee, — 
 A moment shine, that I Thy power may trace. 
 Then pass in stillness to Thy heavenly place. 
 
 Ah ! coward soul, confess 
 
 Thou shrinkest from my cure, 
 Thou tremblest at the sharp distress 
 
 Thou must endure. 
 The foes on every hand, for war arrayed, 
 The thorny path in tribulation laid. 
 
 The process slow of years. 
 
 The discipline of life. 
 Of outward woes and secret tears. 
 
 Sickness and strife — - 
 Thine idols taken from thee one hy one, 
 TiU thou canst dare to live with me alone. 
 
TUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 247 
 
 Some gentle soids there are, 
 
 Who yield unto my love, 
 Who, ripening fast beneath my care, 
 
 I soon remove ; 
 But thou stiffnecMd art, and hard to rule. 
 Thou must stay longer in affliction's school. 
 
 My Maker and my King! 
 
 Is this Thy love to me? 
 Oh that I had the lightning's wing, 
 
 From earth to flee. 
 How can I bear the heavy weight of woes, 
 Thine indignation on Thy creature throws? 
 
 Thou canst not, my child, 
 
 So hear my voice again ; 
 I wUl bear all thy anguish wUd, 
 
 Thy grief, thy pain ; 
 My arms shall be around thee,- day by day, 
 My smile shall cheer thee on thy heavenward way 
 
 In sickness I will be 
 
 Watching beside thy bed. 
 In sorrow thou shall lean on me 
 
 Thy aching head; 
 In every struggle thou shedt conqueror prove, 
 Nor death itself shall sever from my love, 
 
 O grace beyond compare! * 
 
 O love most high and pure ! 
 Saviour, begin, no longer spare, 
 
 lean endure; 
 
248 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Only vouchsafe Thy grace, that I may live 
 Unto Thy glory, who canst so forgive. 
 
 OTHOU who art the God of patience and consolation, in 
 every hour of suffering beneath Thy Hand strengthen us, 
 we beseech Thee, with spiritual strength in our hearts, that 
 we may bear every yoke and burden of Thy laying on without 
 unwillingness. We are all unable to stand under the cross of 
 ourselves. But Thou, O holy Jesus, who wert pleased under 
 its distress to admit a man to bear a part of the load. Thou 
 who bearest all for man's sake, be pleased to help us, that we 
 may be strongest when we are weakest. If our spirits faint 
 within us, and we are cast down, still enable us to endure 
 whatever Thou pleasest. Give us holy consolations, and the 
 peaceable fruit of righteousness. Let us never fall from Thee 
 through pleasure or through pain, but so quicken our faith and 
 support our souls that we may at last come forth from Thy 
 furnace as gold tried in the fire, being made conquerors and 
 more than conquerors, through Him that hath loved us, and 
 given ffimself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 249 
 
 C^Lletiitejstiaf itt f olt SHeeft. 
 
 The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
 crucified unto me and I unto the world. 
 
 In the Apostle's ardent, rapid style, the figures 
 often follow each other so swiftly that they seem to 
 mingle together ; and there is sometimes a moment's 
 confusion. But there is always one simple key that 
 unlocks his complicated imagery, and makes the 
 meaning plain. It is his personal loyalty, love, and 
 faith, towards his Master. Just so far as we have 
 the light of that same holy passion in us, while we 
 read his writings, everything in them grows clear. 
 
 In one sentence we see three crucifixions ; and yet, 
 under all the three, there is one and the same grand 
 truth, one sublime principle of self-sacrificing love. 
 
 First, there is " the Cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." This is the personal crucifixion of the 
 Saviour Himself, — that Lamb of God whose pre- 
 cious blood is the only saving Life for every sinful 
 heart in the world. It is by virtue of that one only 
 complete and sufficient sacrifice, that every other 
 
250 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 self-denial gets its Christian value. Hence St. Paul 
 says, with his overpowering and exclusive energy of 
 thankful devotion, God forbid that I should glory in 
 anything but that ! 
 
 Next is the crucifixion of that mixed and ever-pres- 
 ent power of attraction and temptation, called " the 
 world." "The world is crucified unto me." This 
 fascinating, terrible Tempter, which tries the purity 
 and honor of every soul, whether saved or lost, has 
 to be so yoked under and broken down, so denied 
 and killed, to all such as will be saved, that it is said 
 to be slain on a cross. It must be humiliated, smit- 
 ten, trampled under foot, by the holy strength of a 
 regenerate will till all its eager mischief is dead, and 
 the emancipated disciple can walk through the midst 
 of it unhurt, in it. but not of it, untainted by its 
 corruption, and not so much as the smell of its fire on 
 his garments. ^ 
 
 But to that end there must be yet a third cruci- 
 fixion : " And I unto the world." The suffering is 
 thus represented as mutual, — " the world unto me, 
 and I unto the world," — only to give energy and in- 
 tensity to the expression of that profound and solemn 
 necessity. That is, the real agency by which the 
 worldly spirit is destroyed is not out in the world it- 
 self : for that dances on, as gay and lusty and proud 
 and selfish as ever : but it is within you, — in the 
 
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 251 
 
 secret pangs of the second birth to every new-bom 
 heart. It is that giving up of the world which tears, 
 pierces, bleeds, crucifies our self-seeking devices. For 
 you the cords are fastened, the limbs are stretched, 
 the nails are driven, the blood flows, and the fainting 
 flesh, under its torture, cries, " My God, my God, 
 why hast Thou forsaken me ? " And all this giving 
 up, this sacrifice of passion, of admiration, of .earthly 
 pleasure, of wrong pursuits and property, of idols in 
 business, idols in society, idols in the house, idols in 
 the secret ambitions and lusts of the mind, — all of it 
 is for Christ's dear and glorious sake, — hy whom, — 
 by whose faith and promise and life and death, by 
 whose inestimable gift, by whose agony and bloody 
 sweat, by whose Cross and Passion, — the blessed 
 power is given, and the triumph of renunciation is 
 gained. 
 
 But against all this the natural selfishness in us 
 rises in determined opposition. It will glory in any- 
 thing else rather than in the Cross ; in having its 
 own way, in reputation, in business success, in riches, 
 ia taking the lead in fashionable distinctions : it does 
 not wish the world to be crucified to it, for the world 
 is the theatre of its display : it does not wish itself 
 to be crucified to the world, for there it finds aU its 
 excitements and enjoyments. Here, then, is the per- 
 petual and deadly conflict between man's self-will 
 and the spirit of the Cross. 
 
252 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 We are not left in the least uncertainty as to what 
 this giving up of selfishness is to be. The Guide 
 deals in no vague generalities, but is wonderfully 
 definite and plain-spoken. Not only does St. Paul 
 set it before us under his strong images. The Gos- 
 pels resound in our compromising and divided hearts, 
 — paltering with a double purpose, and vacillating 
 between the Church and the market, — " No man 
 can serve two masters." And then, lest we should 
 lose the meaning in the generality of the language, 
 they go on to specify three of the commoner tempta- 
 tions of the sensual nature, — eating, drinking, dress : 
 " Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, 
 or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what 
 ye shall put on." 
 
 What the secularized Church among us needs, to 
 heal its backsliding, and rouse it to new and grander 
 power over men, is no external thing whatever, but 
 more of this unworldly self-sacrificing mind which was 
 in Christ Jesus. Lent and Passion Week and Good 
 Friday are mockeries without it. What we all need, 
 personally, to quicken our spiritual coldness or dead- 
 ness, to purify us as with a refiner's fire, to break up 
 the clouds of doubt and discouragement and fear 
 that hang about us, is only to get clear of this fatal 
 entanglement in the false standards of a worldly so- 
 ciety, and the bondage of a worldly indulgence. 
 
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 253 
 
 This is freedom, this wUl be peace, — to crucify that 
 sinful interior " world " which itself crucified the 
 Lord of glory, and so to glory in His Cross. 
 
 "Nothing," says the " Theologia Germanica," 
 "nothing burneth in hell but self-will. Therefore it 
 hath been said, ' Put ofE thine own will and there 
 will be no hell. Sin is nothing else than that the 
 creature wiHeth otherwise than God willeth. And 
 this contradiction to God's will is what we call, and 
 is, disobedience, and therefore ' Adam,' ' self-will,' or 
 the ' old man,' or ' departing from God,' do all mean 
 one and the same thing. Had Adam eaten seven 
 apples, and yet never claimed anything for his own, 
 he would not have fallen ; but as soon as he called 
 something his own he fell, and would have fallen if 
 he had never touched an apple." 
 
 "If a man truly loves God," said the saintly 
 Tauler, " and has no will but to do God's will, the 
 whole force of the river Rhine may run at him, and 
 will not disturb him or break his peace. If we find 
 outward things a danger or disturbance, it comes 
 from our appropriating to ourselves what is God's. 
 
 " We need to become like little children, willing to 
 let our Heavenly Father guide us, without imposing 
 upon Him any conditions ; willing to have much or 
 little, to be learned or ignorant, to go or stay, to sit 
 down or to rise up, to speak on or to be silent, to be 
 
254 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 honored or dishonored, to be on the mount of joy or 
 in the valley of humiliation, — to be anything or 
 nothing, just as God wills. To him who has reached 
 this blessed condition, salvation is no longer merely a 
 possible thing outside of him, but the soul is saved 
 and heaven already begun." 
 
 So, too, with wonderful truth and most scriptural 
 power, writes the spiritually-minded Culverwell: 
 " There is nothing contrary to God in the whole 
 world, and fights against Him, but self-wUl. Our 
 only way to recover God and happiness is, not to soar 
 up with our understandings, but to destroy this self- 
 will of ours, and then we shall find our wings to grow 
 again, and ourselves raised aloft into the free air of 
 perfect liberty, which is perfect happiness. God will 
 not hurt us, and hell cannot hurt us, if we will noth- 
 ing but what God wills. Nay, then we are aided by 
 God Himself, and the whole divinity floweth in upon 
 us. When we have cashiered this self-will of ours, 
 which did but shackle and confine our souls, our wills 
 shall then be widened and enlarged, to the extent of 
 God's own will, which is freedom indeed." 
 
 The narrative of the Evangelists, marking our 
 Lord's footsteps from day to day as He draws nigh 
 to the darkness which enfolds and hides for a mo- 
 ment the supreme glory of the earth, tells us noth- 
 ing of this Wednesday. A mystery of silence hangs 
 
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 255 
 
 between us and the meek and royal sufEerer. Who 
 can doubt what was passing in His solitary spirit ? 
 The august agony, the more sublime throughout for 
 its reserve, had already begun. The power of " the 
 world " was just as terribly present to His sight all 
 this day as when, a few hours after, it gleamed in 
 the soldiers' spears, and sat in purple on Herod's 
 throne, and dragged Him to Calvary. The suffering 
 was there, in His soul, burdened with all the selfish- 
 ness and sin of selfish and sinful men, — more than 
 in the torn body and bleeding side. Let us never re- 
 gard His Passion as a mere physical anguish. He is 
 girding up His gentle and mighty soul to bear the 
 last outbreak of a furious and mean self-love, which 
 vriU not know and confess its Saviour and its Lord. 
 And for this He will come to-morrow to meet His 
 murderers, knowing that to the world and to each 
 one of us such loss is gain, such suffering is peace, 
 such casting down is triumph, such ashes are glory, 
 such death is Everlasting Life. 
 
 Therefore, O friend, I would not if I might 
 Kebnild my house of lies, wherein I joyed 
 One time to dwell ; my soul shall walk in white, 
 Cast down but not destroyed. 
 
 These thorns are sharp, yet I can tread on them; 
 The cup is loathsome, yet He makes it sweet; 
 
256 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 My face is steadfast toward Jerusalem, 
 My heart remembers it. 
 
 Beauty for astes, oil of joy for grief, 
 Garment of praise for spirit of heaviness: 
 Although to-day, fading as doth a leaf, 
 I languish and grow less, 
 
 Although to-day he prunes my tree with pain. 
 Yet doth His blood nourish and warm my root; 
 To-morrow I shall put forth buds again. 
 And clothe myself with fruit. 
 
 Although to-day I walk in tedious ways, 
 To-day His staff is turned into a rod, 
 Tet will I wait for Him the appointed days. 
 And stay upon my God. 
 
 /^ BLESSED Son of God, who hast suffered for our sins a 
 ^^ more dreadful pain than we are able to know, that we 
 might be brought out of all the fear and misery of death, have 
 mercy upon our too great and continual love of ourselves. 
 Grant unto us, and unto all good people that have this Thy 
 blessed Passion now in remembrance, a deep and awful appreci- 
 ation of the mystery of mercy in Thy Cross, a godly and humble 
 life in this present world, a victory over it, and at last to dwell 
 with Thee in the Kingdom of Heaven which Thou hast opened 
 to all believers, where Thou livest and reignest, world without 
 end. Amen. 
 
THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 257 
 
 Cl^ur^Da^ in i^olt Meeft* 
 
 If a man love not his brother whom he hath seen, how can 
 he love Grod whom he hath not seen. 
 
 Above all these things, pat on charity, which is the bond of 
 perfectuess. 
 
 If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest 
 that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift 
 before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy 
 brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 
 
 Wbeb there no other peculiar interest attached 
 to the day before the Crucifixion than the delivery 
 of the new commandment of love, or charity, that 
 alone would lift this anniversary into a singular 
 eminence an(J dignity. Falling when it does, in 
 these searching commemorations, it calls us not to 
 general contemplations of the beauty of charity, but 
 to a fearless scrutiny of the causes of our lack of it ; 
 and first among the bad elements that make up un- 
 charitableness we must reckon an excessive self-love. 
 Between ourselves and those about us there is almost 
 always going on, if not an open competition, at 
 least a secret comparison. In that comparison, as 
 17 
 
258 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 others sink we relatively rise. To disparage or dis- 
 esteem a rival is a selfish advantage ; and to selfish 
 natures every neighbor is a rival. Other people 
 stand in our way, — or we fancy they do, — in busi- 
 ness, in reputation, in social favor ; and, by that 
 meaner disposition in us which allies us more to 
 animals and devils than to saints or angels, we try 
 to drag them down by an uncharitable judgment. 
 In the Litany we pray to be delivered from " envy, 
 hatred, and malice," before we come to " uncharita- 
 bleness," and from " pride " and " vain glory " before 
 those ; but the truth is, these ugly growths all have 
 one root; and when we begin to pray or to fight 
 against envy or pride, the attack on uncharitableness 
 is really begun. 
 
 Or, the process may be subtler and craftier yet. 
 One form of self-love is self-complacency. By pass- 
 ing severe denunciations on other men's errors, we 
 compliment the dehcacy of our own moral discrim- 
 ination and the keenness of our sense of right. How 
 can Haman be very far from right if he have such 
 a horror of Mordecai's wrong ? This is the way 
 Pharisees are made. Three crimes are committed in 
 one ; we condemn our fellows : we screen our own 
 sin : we flatter our own self-esteem. 
 
 A second bad element in uncharitableness is a 
 pleasurable exercise of unjust power. Characters 
 
THUESDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 259 
 
 are torn to pieces, good names are tarnished, faults 
 are exaggerated, not always from any deliberately 
 calculated advantage, but simply from the relish of 
 expending strength, and seeing the blow take effect. 
 Men stand over the real or imagined prostration of 
 another's fame, as children of eager animal spirits 
 exult in tormenting insects, sportsmen in killing 
 swift game, or pugilists in a victory of the ring. 
 It is not absolute, conscious cruelty ; it is the natural 
 unprincipled zest of expending strength. We have 
 heard an accomplished orator employ his learning 
 and his eloquence in personal abuse prompted by no 
 grudge, not even by political disagreement, but by 
 an anatomist's delight in a professional dissection. 
 And you have all heard two uncharitable talkers in 
 private seat themselves, as friends, to the dismem- 
 bering of an absent person's moral constitution, in 
 the thoughtless play of satire; and then, on sepa- 
 rating, repeat the same wicked experiment on one 
 another. Lacking the finer ability to satirize sys- 
 tems, ideas, or qualities, they make the cheaper and 
 coarser attack on individual men and women. Many 
 of the unjust and unkind speeches which make par- 
 lors a scene of moral gladiatorship and mutilation, 
 are only the uncharitableness of a self -asserting and 
 self-indulging barbarity. 
 
 A third pernicious element in this destructive un- 
 
260 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 charitableness is pride of opinion, with impatience 
 of opposition. The popular name for it is illiberal- 
 ity. Into that class those fall who lack the neces- 
 sary intellectual or moral dimensions to take in the 
 actual diversity of men's original composition, and 
 the many sidedness of truth. Narrow minds take 
 the colored refractions in the rays of God's great. 
 Heaven-filling light, as insults to their own vision. 
 Confounding a necessary difference on non-essentials 
 with a designed contradiction of their own conclu- 
 sions, and in fact seeming sometimes to deny that 
 there are any non-essentials in the whole domain of 
 belief, they make of every person who is of another 
 party or another interest than theirs a wrong-headed 
 and wrong-hearted enemy to God and man. In 
 large part, these uncharitable estimates spring more 
 from contracted capacities than from malice on the 
 one side, or disinterested zeal on the other. But 
 they are sins unless they are fought and overcome. 
 
 In addition to these prolific sources of uncharitable- 
 ness, with some kind of selfishness at the bottom of 
 them aU, reckon in a common confusion of honest 
 ideas as to how far our loyalty to truth and virtue 
 forbids us to give quarter or toleration to persons 
 who seem to us to have departed from that truth, or 
 violated that virtue ; and we have some conception 
 of the tremendous obstacles that beset the growth of 
 the greatest Christian grace. 
 
THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 261 
 
 What principles are there to guide us in overcom- 
 ing these obstacles and fulfilling Christ's law of 
 love ? 
 
 First of all is the great rule to distinguish be- 
 tween the error itself and the living man that holds 
 the error ; or the vice, which by its nature is alto- 
 gether evil, and the human heart of the human 
 brother or sister which with its mixed ingredients 
 is stained with the vice ; hating and condemning the 
 vice, but loving its victim ; nay, hating the vice the 
 more because it has made him its victim. You will 
 say that, in practice, such discriminations are ex- 
 tremely difficult. That is true ; but they are none 
 the less, for that, our Christian business; and no 
 great services to Christ are very easy. 
 
 We despise and wrong each other from sheer neg- 
 lect to understand each other. Between the pub- 
 lican and the Pharisee, between St.. Peter and St. 
 James, between some proud woman whose life-long 
 study has been the preservation of her dignity, and 
 some unguarded, careless child of the affections, 
 there is scarcely enough in common, by nature, to 
 furnish a foothold for human kindness ; and unless 
 that blessed interpreter. Christian Charity, comes 
 in with her considerate suggestions and favoring 
 imaginations, to invent some gracious theory, and to 
 reconcile them, they must hate each other forever. 
 
262 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Consider, further, that miseducation, corrupting 
 or misleading examples, the circumstances of early 
 youth unknown to you, domestic irritation or neg- 
 lect, positive instruction taking the child's mind on 
 its weakest side, may have secretly prepared the 
 way for that immorality which now defaces a fair 
 name or distresses a household. One has been con- 
 tinually baffled and goaded by disappointment ; one 
 has been soured by an imcongenial home ; one has 
 never known the sunshine of a cheering, encour- 
 aging accent or look ; one has been stung by aggra- 
 vating misunderstandings; one has been imitative, 
 and has seen none but base or ridiculous patterns. 
 How suddenly and completely many of our most 
 unhesitating and unqualified condemnations would be 
 silenced, if the whole early history of the wretched 
 subject of them could be laid open to us I We 
 should rather exclaim, in awe-struck and grateful 
 wonder, at the Providence that made our fortunes to 
 differ, and the tender mercies that prevented us ! 
 
 Charity requires us further to remember that what- 
 ever evil our neighbors suffer themselves to do, we 
 can never know how much they are tempted to do 
 which they effectually restrain. There are terrible 
 battles fought in aU human breasts, out of human 
 sight. Could we know all that is resisted, and all 
 that is overcome, behind these erring lips and lives, 
 
THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 263 
 
 we should often have to admire the virtue rather 
 thau condemn the fault. 
 
 These are some of the secret sources of that ever- 
 active and prolific disturber of our world, — an un- 
 charitable temper, with its uncharitable tongue. 
 When we turn to the beauty and the glory of its 
 celestial opposite, is it not amply worth all the 
 pains and the struggle that gain the mastery ? No 
 touch or colors can paint the heavenly loveliness of 
 love, like the Apostle's, on whose own valiant and 
 hardy manhood love sat, with the charm with which 
 power and courage always wear the grace of gentle- 
 ness. Having been just speaking of gifts of tongues, 
 he takes up the image, and tells us there is no magic 
 or fascination of melody in that instrument of mar- 
 velous delicacy and sympathy, the human voice, like 
 the music in the accent of charity. Nay, the image 
 is bolder than that. Leave out that secret charm of 
 charity, and even the anthems that fill heaven with 
 harmony wUl be jangling jars of dissonance, tor- 
 menting the ear. " Though I speak with the tongues 
 of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am 
 become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." 
 He has been writing to the Corinthians, too, of cer- 
 tain supernatural endowments of the early Church. 
 Not the brightest and rarest of these gifts could 
 make up for the absence of this diviner attribute, — 
 
264 KEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 attainable to the lowliest and plainest Christian in 
 the Church, — Christian love. " Though I have the 
 gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and 
 all knowledge, and though I have all miraculous 
 faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not 
 charity, I am nothing." We are apt to call our 
 little almsgivings, and our insignificant and broken 
 sacrifices of time and comfort for Christ, " charity." 
 See how the searching doctrine runs down deeper 
 than this superficial notion, tears open our disguised 
 and complacent self-seekings, and shows martyrdom 
 itself to be the possible evidence of some fanatic 
 ambitions or fame-procuring passion. "Though I 
 bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I 
 give my body to be burned, and have not true, in- 
 bred, self-renouncing, and Christianized charity, it 
 profiteth me nothing." Next follows that radiant 
 list of celestial offices wrought out by this iairest- 
 bom of the daughters of the sky, — such as only the 
 love of lovers and mothers can even faintly imitate, 
 — rising in a constantly ascending and accumulating 
 series of spiritual honors, till it culminates in the 
 climax of eternity. " Charity suffereth long and is 
 kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, 
 is not puffed up, doth not behave itself imseemly, 
 seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh 
 no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the 
 
THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 265 
 
 truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth 
 all things, endureth all things : charity never fail- 
 eth." Yes, see its eternity, — its immortal vigor and 
 freshness. For the door of Heaven itself is thrown 
 open, and lo ! Charity is there, as she was forever, 
 in the bosom of God, — now in the hearts of His re- 
 deemed people. All personal accomplishments, in- 
 tellectual masteries, miraculous exploits, prophecies, 
 tongues, earthly knowledge, are passing away ; the 
 brightest lights go out ; the finest brain is broken ; 
 the most eloquent voice is still. They " fail ; " they 
 " cease ; " they " vanish away." They are all " in 
 part," and are "done away," " when that which is 
 perfect is come." Half-blind, and groping, we see "as 
 through a glass darkly." How true that is ! The 
 skies are clouded. Our very eyes are weak, and ache 
 with straining to see. But all that lovely air is clear; 
 and when the purer eyes of the spiritual body are 
 opened, without dimness, doubt, or uncertainty, in 
 the wondering fullness of open vision, the children 
 of Christian charity shall see face to face, and in 
 the " love that passeth knowledge " know as they are 
 known. 
 
 In these days of tender commemoration of our 
 Lord's loving sorrow we multiply our acts of devo- 
 tion ; we confirm our faith ; we renew our hope. 
 Are we doing anything to enlarge and perfect the 
 
266 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 charity which is greater than either ? Empty and 
 profitless before God will all our prayers be, if we 
 carry over from these holy services into Easter-week 
 and the life afterwards any xmhealed enmity, any un- 
 charitable grudge, any unforgiving hatred, a heart 
 unreconciled to any child of God. 
 
 With sound of lute and paalter 
 
 I laid my gift one morning on the altar, 
 
 And much I marveled why 
 
 There came no sacred fire from on high 
 
 My offering to consume. 
 
 While kneeling on in dark and wandering gloom, 
 
 1 heard a voice from heaven say, 
 " Arise and go thy way; 
 
 First be thou with thy brother reconciled 
 
 Ere thou dost bring thine offering as a child." 
 
 I wept. 
 
 Then through the stillness of the temple crept, 
 
 Struggling with shame and pride. 
 
 I sought my brother in the busy street, 
 
 And drew him gently from the crowd aside — 
 " Give me thy hand; as brothers let us meet. 
 
 Revenge is bitter, but forgiveness sweet." 
 
 And lo! that moment in the eastern skies, 
 
 I saw the smoke of sacrifice arise, 
 
 And knew that fire divine 
 
 Had fallen on the offering that was mine. 
 
 TXTE adore Thee, we praise and glorify Thee, and we give 
 
 thanks unto Thee, O Son of the Living Crod, who in the 
 
 great and divine charity wherewith Thou hast loved the world 
 
THURSDAY IN HOLY WEEK. • 267 
 
 hast borne the suffering of death. Thou givest to all Thy 
 People of the inestimable benefits of Thy most precious sacrifice, 
 and upbraidest not. For when Thou wast despised and mocked 
 and crucified, Thou didst not open Thy mouth to complain, but 
 didst pray to the Father for them that persecuted and tor- 
 mented Thee. Oh grant to us a greater measure of this Thy 
 forbearing and charitable grace, that we may be reconciled and 
 merciful to all Thy creatures, and so follow the blessed steps 
 of Thy most holy life into the same place where Thou hast 
 gone before, there to worship and praise Thee, world withput 
 end. Amen. 
 
268 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 (5oon ifrinat. 
 
 For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also re- 
 ceived, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Script- 
 ures. 
 
 " FmsT of all : " that fixes the place of the Sav- 
 iour's sacrifice among the acts of His ministry and 
 the powers of His mediation. That determines 
 where the Cross stands in the moral scenery of the 
 Universe ; where this commemoration of the Lord's 
 Passion belongs among the days of the year ; where 
 the doctrine of redemption must be held among the 
 truths and teachings of the Christian system of faith. 
 For the Apostle, when he says, " first of all," does 
 not speak of the order of time in which he delivers 
 his inspired instructions to the Church; but of the 
 order of magnitude. Notice, for a moment, this re- 
 lation in which he places the atonement for sin to 
 the other principal topics of his instruction. He has 
 been dealing, not long before, very acutely and pro- 
 foundly, — as you will see if you look back along 
 the links of that chain of his great argument to the 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 269 
 
 Corinthians, so strong in thought and so ardent and 
 glowing in the fire of his feeling, — with the work- 
 ings of the Christian conscience, in the practical 
 questions of an upright life, — conscience towards 
 oneself , towards other men's consciences, and towards 
 God. But what would that keen and subtle faculty 
 be, he asks, with its awful discriminations between 
 right and wrong, setting up its throne of judgment 
 in every breast, — what would conscience be, but a 
 tormentor, and an avenger, if there were no reconcil- 
 ing Mercy with it, no ransom from its prison house, 
 no pledged and purchased pardon for the penitence 
 it awakens, no Christ dying for our sins ? A little 
 later, he pronounces that incomparable panegyric 
 upon Charity, putting it foremost in the impersonal 
 trinity of graces : but the real sublimity of that 
 matchless description is that it gives an ideal which 
 has its actual embodiment only in the love of the 
 Cross, and of Him who was crucified upon it ; nor can 
 there be a drop of it, anywhere, in all the cups of 
 kindness that the world passes about, having the 
 taste of the true heavenly sweetness in it, which does 
 not spring from the fountain at the foot of that Cross. 
 Farther on, he enters into some explanations of the 
 extraordinary gifts of the Spirit to the believer, — 
 those supernatural charismata that lightened on the 
 minds and loosened the tongues of the first witnesses 
 
270 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 for Jesus against the principalities and powers of the 
 world. But even these marvels of spiritual utter- 
 ance, he declares, are as nothing compared to that 
 Sacrifice for sin which is iihe one unutterable mys- 
 tery and miracle of God, and will be when tongues 
 have ceased and knowledge has vanished away. 
 Then he is proceeding to unfold the doctrine of the 
 Resurrection, in that great burial-chapter which 
 throws open the gate of heaven over every disciple's 
 grave. But he takes pains to pause and tell us that 
 before the doctrine of the Resurrection, underneath 
 it, prerequisite to it, is the doctrine of the Dying of 
 the Lord ; " this mortal " puts on its " immortality " 
 only by receiving the gift of the atonement; man 
 lives again from the Cross, or else he never would live 
 again from the broken tomb ; the Easter sun gets all 
 its singular light by its contrast with the Good Fri- 
 day darkness; "I delivered unto you," indeed, he 
 says, " how that Christ rose again the third day," 
 but I " delivered unto you first of all," as the pri- 
 mary and supreme reality, " how that He died for 
 our sins, according to the Scriptures." 
 
 Confining our attention to what he wrote to the 
 Corinthians alone, the proof would be abundant and 
 irrefutable. Standing before those susceptible and 
 cultivated admirers of the high things and the great 
 things and the beautiful things of this world, with a 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 271 
 
 humility of self-denial the more impressive because 
 of his own passionate intellectual aspiration, be says 
 quietly, in the grand meekness of that self-mastery, 
 which nothing else but the Cross had wrought in 
 him, — "I determined not to know anything among 
 you," — neither poetry nor philosophy, neither ethics 
 nor art, nothing " save Jesus Christ, and Him cruci- 
 fied," — and Him not living in righteousness merely, 
 not teaching a heavenly and holy wisdom for men to 
 live by merely, not the perfect example, or the at- 
 tested miracle-worker and Prophet, or the Head of a 
 new school of spiritual science merely, — as some 
 modem dilutions of Christianity tell you, — no, but 
 " Him Chtjcified." Dividing the whole world of 
 mankind into its two moral hemispheres by his com- 
 prehensive classification, he faces them both — Jew 
 and Greek — with his one all-sufficient message, — 
 "The Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after 
 wisdom ; but we preach Christ crucified, unto the 
 Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolish- 
 ness." When he saw there some Corinthian converts 
 making a party-leader of himself, and rallying around 
 him, in their admiration of his energy and zeal, for 
 party-purposes, scheming for his advantage to the 
 detriment of his brother Apostles, he points them 
 away from himseK to that supreme and central Ob- 
 ject of their faith, pleading only for Him : " Was 
 
272 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Paul crucified for you ? " When he entreats for 
 purity among them, and the purging out of their 
 sensuality, this is his reason : " Christ our Passover 
 is sacrificed for us." Keep your bodies holy as tem- 
 ples, for they are " bought with a price," — and that 
 price is Jesus' blood. When he remonstrates against 
 misleading or tempting an unguarded heart, — this is 
 his expostulation : " Shall the weak brother perish, 
 for whom Christ died ? " When he urges them with 
 all that tenderness which sometimes softened into 
 singular sweetness the robust strength of his manli- 
 ness, — to cherish a forgiving and forbearing temper, 
 this is his motive : "If I forgave anything, to whom 
 I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person 
 of Christ." When he sets forth the dignity and au- 
 thority of the Ministry in the Church, which Christ 
 ordained, he is careful to exhibit it as the " ministry 
 of reconciliation," preaching and publishing the suf- 
 ferings and atonement of the Crucified. When his 
 own sufferings and weakness oppress him, this is his 
 consolation, that in that infirm and aching body he 
 can "bear about the dying of the Lord Jesus." And 
 when he comes to offer to the reverential reception of 
 the Church that most precious of all its privileges 
 and most blessed of all its helps, the Supper of the 
 Lord, — this is the. inmost meaning he assigned to it; 
 it shows forth the Lord's death till He come ; it rep- 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 273 
 
 resents the dying love ; its profaners are they who do 
 not discern the Lord's broken body there. It is plain 
 enough where the Apostle Paul sets the doctrine of 
 the Propitiatory Sacrifice in the New Testament sys- 
 tem of theology, and among the practical powers and 
 consolations of the Christian life. He sets it where 
 the Church evangelic and Catholic finds it, and has 
 kept it, in the supreme and central place. 
 
 Let us turn from the great Apostle to the Master 
 HimseK. Keeping Him faithful company, through 
 the vivid narrative and clear report of the Evangel- 
 ists, from the beginning to the end, where should we 
 say He Himself lays the chief stress of His whole 
 mediatorial work for the world? Where does He 
 seem to regard Himself as most precisely and com- 
 pletely fulfilling the end of His appearing and the 
 will of the Father ? At what point in the whole 
 history does the grand consummation come ? Around 
 what spot does the most momentous interest gather ? 
 For what scene does all the rest appear evidently to 
 have been a preparation ? When was that " hour " 
 of which He exclaimed, — " Now is the hour come 
 that the Son of Man should be glorified ? " It was not 
 when he was delivering, by seaside and wayside, 
 those searching and inexhaustible parables that the 
 mind of man has never wearied of exploring since. 
 It was not when He preached the sermon of all ages 
 18 
 
274 NEW HELPS TO A HOLT LENT. 
 
 with the mountain for His pulpit, or at the gate of 
 the temple offered the thirsty people, in His doctrine, 
 the water of everlasting life, — speaking as man 
 never spake. It was not when He walked on the 
 sea, or fed the five thousand, or healed the sick, or 
 drove the traffickers from the courts of His Father's 
 House, or raised the dead, or even on the Mount of 
 Transfiguration, where the voice out of the cloud 
 testified to His Divinity. No, not then. Not in the 
 teaching, the example, in the deUvering of any new 
 truth, or in miraculous works, as wonderful in their 
 mercy as their power. We must all feel, if we read 
 deeply and in sympathy with the page, that through 
 all these deeds and discourses there was one constant 
 solemn undertone of prophecy, — foreshadowing the 
 Cross, — the death which He should accompUsh at 
 Jerusalem. 
 
 So stands the testimony for the supremacy of the 
 Saviour's sacrifice, among the facts of His ministry, 
 and the powers of His mediation. We should leave 
 the representation of the subject aU unfinished, if we 
 did not turn to the other side of it, and see there 
 how this doctrine meets our own practical, human 
 wants, furnishing to every sinning heart in the world 
 just the relief and the remedy it needs. What then 
 is it that such a heart, be it yours or mine, needs, — 
 " first of aU ; " what must Christ's minister, or mis- 
 
GOOD FKIDAY. 275 
 
 sionary, the Christian mother, the Christian watcher 
 by the sick and dying, the Christian nurse in the 
 hospital, yes, the good soldier and servant of Christ 
 everywhere, — have it to say, " first of all," when 
 such a heart, of child or man, — turns at last, in the 
 blessed anxiety of repentance, and asks. How can 
 I be saved ? What is this religion of yours ? What 
 will it do for me ? The answer, the message is, 
 "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us." 
 There has never yet been found an intellectual or 
 moral or social condition too high or too low for 
 this doctrine. No debasement has been too vile, and 
 no natural purity has been too refined for it. The 
 explorations of Christian missionaries have found no 
 nation or tribe on the face of the earth, — even where 
 the very idea of any deity was most nearly extinct, 
 — in which this simple message^ " Christ died for our 
 sins," has not been apprehended, seized, rejoiced in, 
 and lived upon, — as the opening eye welcomes light. 
 A benighted East India Pagan, his mind weak with 
 age and imbruted by years of superstition, has been 
 known to awake into a clear and rational faith by 
 reading on a scrap of a castaway leaf of the Bible, 
 " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
 A rude Indian child of the western woods, untaught, 
 has been known to spell out from a few rude signs a 
 satisfying and abiding assurance that to trust Christ's 
 
276 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 Cross is to be safe forever. Hooker and Butler, Am- 
 brose and Augustine, Anselm and Dante, Bossuet 
 and Edwards, if asked on what their hope of everlast- 
 ing life rested, would have answered in the same 
 simple words, — " Christ died for our sins." It is 
 not a deduction of a science or the result of a proc- 
 ess : it goes straight like a flash of light to the suf- 
 fering soul. Nothing wiU do, for a Grospel, that 
 leaves any trouble incurable, any sorrow uncom- 
 forted, any sin beyond forgiveness. The blood of 
 Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, all its kinds, and 
 all its degrees, — the hard cold sins of avarice and 
 hypocrisy ; the hot, impulsive sins of passion and 
 desperation. The most perfectly devised system of 
 morality, or even of spirituality, if the Cross is left 
 out of it, can do nothing like that. There are pallia- 
 tions, and there are supports, for nearly all the evils 
 and miseries of our lives hut one. That one is the 
 deep-struck conviction of wrong with God. 
 
 " Not poppy, nor mandragora, 
 Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world," 
 
 can drug that to sleep. When this tremendous sense 
 of sin and judgment wakes up and takes hold of uS) 
 all the other resources that helped us are stricken 
 down. You may stand before a man restless and 
 agonized under that conviction, — and you may re- 
 
GOOD FRIDAY. 277 
 
 peat to him any aphorism, any promise, any proposi- 
 tion, of any philosophic system that was ever origi- 
 nated among men, — but it fails to meet the want. 
 If he is ever satisfied and comforted, it is by this di- 
 vine declaration alone, — Christ died for our sins. 
 
 The message must be one that can be put into 
 very few words, words very easily understood, and 
 that do their work with quick power. Grant all that 
 may be claimed of the advantage of a deliberate and 
 gradually growing faith, where all the faculties of 
 reason, affection, conscience, and vrill consent togeth- 
 er, and the Christian character is built up day by day 
 to its completion. I claim as much of that advantage 
 as any, where it may be had ! But remember, there 
 are ten thousand cases where life and death struggle 
 together in a man's breast, in one short embrace, and 
 there is but little time or strength for a process of 
 the mind. Tell him then that the years of a good 
 life, that a faithful endeavor to do about right, or 
 that an indiscriminate and universal indulgence of 
 Heaven for good and bad alike, will save him, — you 
 mock him. Tell him a Saviour has died for his sins, 
 and to believe that, — and then, instantly, the old 
 things pass away, the new man is put on, — and 
 like the dying thief that, as on this day, on the 
 Cross, cried, " Lord remember me when Thou com est 
 into Thy kingdom," — his penitent soul may be 
 made white, and his pardon be sealed in heaven. 
 
278 KEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 So universal, so satisfying, so swift, is the remedy 
 of Christ's sacrifice for the soul's sin. A great deal 
 in the edifying of character, and the sanctifying of 
 life, and the growing in holiness, will remain to be 
 done, beyond all this, please God, under the ap- 
 pointed ordinances of the Church. But that soul has 
 passed from death into life. Its peace haa begun, 
 and begun to be like a river. That soul has only to 
 abide in the vine, where faith has grafted it in, to 
 bear fruit unto life eternal. 
 
 I saw again. Behold Heaven's open doorl 
 Behold a throne! The Seraphim stood o'er it; 
 The white robed Elders fell upon the floor 
 And flung their crowns before it. 
 
 I saw a wondrous book. An angel strong 
 To Heaven and Earth proclaimed his loud appeals: 
 But a hush passed across the Seraph's song, 
 For none might loose the seals. 
 
 And straightway up above 
 Stood in the midst a Wondrous Lamb, snow-white, 
 Heart-wounded with the deep, sweet wounds of love, 
 
 Eternal, infinite. 
 
 Then rose the song no ear had heard before! 
 Then from the white-robed throng high anthems woke, 
 And fast as Spring-tide on the sounding shore 
 The Hallelujahs broke. 
 
GOOD FBIDAY. 279 
 
 TTEAR us, O Lord Christ, crucified for our redemption, and 
 remember now the day when Thou didst commend Thy 
 blessed Spirit into the hands of Thy Heavenly Father, when 
 with a torn body and bleeding temples and a broken heart 
 Thou didst wonderfully suffer and mercifully die for our sins. 
 We beseech Thee, O Thou brightness and Image and Love of 
 God, so to heal and transform us by Thy most precious death, 
 that being dead unto the world -we may live only unto Thee, 
 and that at the last hour of our departing from this mortal Hfe 
 we may commit our souls, reconciled and cleansed, unto Thine 
 Sternal Hands, and that Thou mayest receive us into lite im- 
 mortal, there to reign with Thee world without end. Amen. 
 
280 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 ^atutua^ in l^olt laiecfi. 
 
 Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and 
 hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will 
 come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I 
 will come upon thee. Be watchful and strengthen the things 
 which remain. 
 
 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Ufe. 
 
 If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my 
 charge, I will give thee places to walk in among these that 
 stand by. 
 
 He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death; 
 I will gi'TO him to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of 
 the Paradise of Grod. 
 
 There is a great question for us all, at this sol- 
 emn time, when the services of the Forty Days are 
 closing, and our Lord's glorious Kingdom is nearer 
 by one whole round of holy memorial days. Let 
 each person consider whether he has yet applied 
 himself in earnest to the plain simple duty of honor- 
 ing and praising Christ in His Church, and follow- 
 ing Him in His Life, so evidently set forth in this 
 
SATURDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 281 
 
 Lenten history. Our Lord, we know, once told the 
 Pharisees that if the multitudes about Him should 
 hold their peace and not take their part in the great 
 Processional Hymn that greeted Him as He ap- 
 proached the sacred city, the very stones would im- 
 mediately cry out. It would be such unaccountable 
 ingratitude and wanton unbelief that all things in 
 heaven and earth would have a voice given them to 
 exclaim against it. Surely He spoke it of those also 
 who at any time stay scornfully or lazily away from 
 the blessed worship of His House. They do not 
 really believe His Kingdom, do not heartily care for 
 it ; how can they look for any portion in it when it 
 comes ? This is a warning to those who being mas- 
 ters of their own time and motions set themselves 
 conscientiously no fixed rule in the matter of serving 
 their Lord in His Sanctuary, but come or stay away 
 just as suits their fancy at the time. Christ does 
 not leave you at liberty to make one among those 
 who own and praise Him, or to hold your peace. He 
 expects one and all to join His Family and come to 
 His House, as He has given all commandment and 
 help and strength to do. His Eye sees all in the 
 congregation. His Ear hears all in the responses. 
 Let not man, woman, or child be wanting, but every 
 heart and every tongue join gladly and reverently 
 in the Hosannas of His public adoration. If this 
 
282 NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 has not begun with you already, begin it with the 
 awakening of Easter morning. 
 
 But there is an admonition also for the regular 
 chuTcb-goers. Our very Prayer Books seem to ask 
 us, now on Easter Even, how we have used them dur- 
 ing the Lent and Holy Week that are past. We 
 have turned over their leaves from day to day. 
 Have our minds and hearts gone along with what 
 we saw there? We have seemed to be following 
 Jesus so far on His way. Here we behaved like 
 those His first followers whom we heard Him so 
 graciously approving at the beginning of this week? 
 To be like them we should have stript ourselves of 
 our precious things, the things we most value, our 
 own worldly admirations and luxuries and fancies, 
 and laid them at His Feet. The thoughts that 
 were most welcome and delightful to us, if they were 
 not religious or innocent thoughts, should have been 
 diligently banished from our minds, — at least when 
 we were at our prayers. And wherever we were it 
 should have been a study and joy to us to find out 
 continually little silent ways of giving up something 
 to our Saviour, of making some real sacrifice for His 
 sake. How eagerly that multitude gathered about 
 Him, to bring if it were but the branch of a tree 
 to show Him homage ! When shall we be like them, 
 and see others around us like them, earnestly watch- 
 
SATURDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 283 
 
 ing for every little chance of doing Him honor, or 
 waiting on those, the sick, the poor, and the ignorant, 
 whom He reckons as part of His Body ? The very 
 heathen in their blindness might cry out if we hold 
 back our hands from such works of love in His 
 Name : and if in any part of our worship we are 
 backward or negligent or insincere, they will put us 
 to shame by their greater diligence. And may we 
 not well cry out upon ourselves when we think how 
 often, during this hallowed season that is now draw- 
 ing to an end, we have been unthankful for mercies, 
 careless of God's Law, anxious to please ourselves, 
 ready to blame others, forgetful of duties, heedless 
 of doing as we would be done by, wej the regular 
 church-goers, irreverent or idle or impatient ? These 
 questions mark the offerings for which He looks 
 who is our Saviour and our King, — as He passes on 
 the way in the midst of us from His Cross to His 
 Glory, towards the true and heavenly Jerusalem, 
 and casts His Eye around to see if we are following 
 Him and waiting on Him as we ought. We see 
 Him not, but He sees us. He watches every step, 
 every tone, every look ; and soon He will be at the 
 city gate. And soon our Guide will manifest Him- 
 self as our Judge. Time vrill end, our resurrection 
 will come and eternity begin. Then if not before 
 we shall wish in earnest that we bad regarded His 
 
28rt NEW HELPS TO A HOLY LENT. 
 
 invitations, that we had laid our wills at His Feet, 
 that we had sought out ways of serving Him. Well 
 for us if we can say already, and say then for the 
 last time among those who will be numbered with 
 His Saints in glory everlasting, " Blessed is He that 
 Cometh in the name of the Lord ! " He will soon 
 appear. Shall we be ready ? 
 
 " Whither goest Thou, O Saviour, 
 Without royal diadem, 
 With Thy regal hand unsceptred? " 
 " Bethlehem." 
 
 " Whither goest Thou, O Saviour, 
 
 Lord of Life and Lord of Death, 
 Light of men, in darkness shining? " 
 "Nazareth." 
 
 " Whither goest Thou, O Saviour, 
 Second of the Trinity, 
 Blessing joy and soothing sorrow? " 
 " Galilee." 
 
 " Whither goest Thou, O Saviour? 
 
 We would rise and follow Thee, 
 Glory of Thy people Israel." 
 " Calvary." 
 
 " Whither goest Thou, O Saviour, 
 
 From the grave returned to be 
 Resurrection, Life, and Glory?" 
 " Bethany." 
 
SATUEDAY IN HOLY WEEK. 285 
 
 " Whither hast Thou gone, O Saviour, 
 
 Lord of purity? " 
 " Whither I have gone, thou knowest. 
 
 I am He, 
 
 " Who hath overcome and conquered; 
 Those who follow me 
 Yet shall hear my voice — ' Ye blessed, 
 Come and see.' " 
 
 /^ GOD, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of 
 the whole Family in heaven and earth, we bow our knees 
 unto Thee, praying that Thou wouldest forgive all the sins of 
 our holy things and of our holy times and that Thou wouldest 
 grant us, according to the riches of Thy glory, to be strength- 
 ened with might by Thy Spirit in the inner man; that Christ 
 may dwell in our hearts by faith; that we, being rooted and 
 groxmded in love, may be able to comprehend with all Saints 
 what is the length and breadth and depth and height, and to 
 know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that we 
 may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him, the 
 Resurrection and the Life, who is able to do exceeding abun- 
 dantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power 
 that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church through- 
 out all ages world without end! Amen. 
 
Compantonsi tot H^ztont ^ouv^^ 
 
 Lent, 1 876, 
 
 New Helps to a Holy Lent. 
 
 By the Rt. Rev. F. D. Huntington, D. D., Bishop of Central New York. i6mo, 
 288 pages $1.50. 
 
 This book is on the saipe plan with the former volume, " Helps to a Holy Lent," 
 having a short reading, original or selected, with a few introductoiy sentences from 
 Scripture, followed by some lines of poetry and a Collect, for every day of the Sacred 
 Season. 
 
 Sin, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture. 
 
 The Hulsean Lectures by the Rev. Geo. M. Straffen, i2mo, cloth $1.00. 
 
 Six short and able Lectures on 
 
 X. The Sbnsb of Sin. 2. The Nature of Sin. 
 
 3. The Organ of Sin. 4. The Consequents of Sin. 
 
 5. The Disclosure of Sin. 6. The Propitiation for Sin. 
 
 The last having been delivered on Good Friday. 
 
 Our Lord's Three Raisings from the Dead. 
 
 By the Rev. Hugh RIacmiixan, LL. D. i6mo $i.5o. 
 
 Full of Comfort and Instruction, it is peculiarly appropriate for Easter-tide. 
 
 Imitation of Christ 
 
 By Thomas X Kempis. A New Edition, with an Introduction by Rev. F. W. 
 FarkaRjD. D. Author of "The Life of Christ," etc, i6mo $1.25. 
 
 Helps to a Holy Lent. 
 
 By the Rt Rev. F. D. Huntington, D. D., Bishop of Central New York. 
 Fourth thousand. 208 pages $i'25' 
 
 " A rich treasuiT filled with beautiful, living thoughts, the power and attraction of 
 which will be confessed by all who give the work due examination." — Churchman. 
 
Books for the Lenten Season. 
 
 Some Week Days in Lent. 
 
 By the Rev. G. H. Wilkinson, M. A., author of " Guide to a Devout Life," etc. 
 Paper, 30 cents; cloth 75 cents. 
 
 " Plain, earnest, and thorough, — good for distribution, and worth the attention of 
 the clergy as models of style and method in the pulpit." — Church ytntrmiL 
 
 Readings for Every Day in Lent. 
 
 Compiled from the writings of Bishop Jeremy Taylor, By Miss Sbwell. i6mo, 
 360 pages, price reduced to {^1.25. 
 
 Dear Feast of Lent. 
 
 A Series of Devotional Readings. Arranged by the author of '* Rutledge," " A 
 Rosary for Lent," etc. i6mo, beveled boards, red edges $1.25. 
 
 " Really excellent, and deserving of unqualified commendation." — Churchman. 
 
 ** There is such a genuine fervor and glow about these readings that they cannot 
 fail to inspire devout feeling." — Episcopal Register. 
 
 A Rosary for Lent ; 
 
 Or, Devotional Readings, Original and Compiled. By the author of " Rutledge." 
 z6mo, 360 pages ^1.50. 
 
 " To be with such poets as Herbert, Ken, Croswell, Faber, and Lyte, and with 
 such teachers of God's truth as A Kempis, Francois de Sales, Bernard, Robertson, 
 and Vaughan, will do much to help us to pass our Lent with Christ, to know more 
 of His love, and to serve Him more truly." — Churchman. 
 
 Shams in Lent ; 
 
 Or, the Real and the False in Lenten Duties. By the Rev. H. C. Potter, D. D. 
 Paper 10 cents. 
 
 The Choked Life. 
 
 Some Thoughts for Lent. By the Rev. H. C Potter, D, D. Paper, 15 cents. 
 " Plain truths, plainly told, with equal delicacy and force." 
 
 Lenten Discipline. 
 
 By the Rev. H. A. Yardlev, Chaplain and Professor in the Berkeley Divinity 
 School. Paper g cents. 
 
 Directions for Lent. 
 
 By the Rt. Rev. H. Soutugats, D. D. Paper 2 cents. 
 
 Lent: A Precious Season. 
 
 New edition, with an Application to Confirmation. Paper, 10 cents ; cloth, flex- 
 
 ible 
 
 .25 cents. 
 
f'-f