SER1V. 
 
 
 WILMOT BUXTON 
 
FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 
 5,/fX 
 
W3& 
 
THE LORD'S SONG. 
 
0X OF PrT^, 
 JAN it; 
 
 Cfje &o?tr'£ Song: 
 
 PLAIN SERMONS ON HYMNS. 
 
 BY THE ^ r 
 
 REV. H. J. WILMOT BUXTON, M.A., 
 
 VICAR OF S. GILES-1N-THE-WOOD, NORTH DEVON. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "PARABLE SERMONS TO CHILDREN." " THE CHILDREN'S BREAD.' 
 "LED BY A LITTLE CHILD." "THE PILGRIM BAND." " SOLDIERS OF CHRIST." 
 "MISSION SERMONS." "SUNDAY SERMONETTES FOR A YEAR." " SERMONS FOR 
 A YEAR ON THE EPISTLES OR GOSPELS." "MISSION SERMONS FOR A YEAR." 
 "THE LIKE WORTH LIVING." "NEW AND CONTRITE HEARTS." 
 "THE BATTLE OF LIFE," ETC. 
 
 Second Edition. 
 
 iLmrtron : 
 SKEFFINGTON & SON, 163, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1892 
 
To 
 
 THE REV HENRY J. STEPHENS, B.A., 
 
 Vicar of Worsthorne, Lancashire, 
 
 My Friend, and Fellow-Worker in many happy Missions, 
 
 These Sermons are dedicated. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/plainseOObuxt 
 
fit o n t e n t s . 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 THE GUIDING LIGHT. 
 
 (Advent. ) 
 
 Psalm lxxviii. 14. pag: 
 
 " In the daytime also He led them with z cloud, and all the 
 night with a light of fire." 31 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 THE LONG JOURNEY. 
 
 (Advent.) 
 
 Deuteronomy hi. 25. 
 
 " I pray thee, let me go over, that I may see the good land 
 that is beyond Jordan." 1: 
 
 SERMON III. 
 THE WARFARE. 
 
 (Lent.) 
 
 1 Peter v. 9. 21 
 
 "Whom resist, steadfast in the faith." 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 PAG 
 
 THE WARFARE. 
 
 (Lent.) 
 
 S. Matthew xxvr. 41. 
 
 " Watch and pray." 29 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 THE WARFARE* 
 
 (Lent. ) 
 
 Revelation in. 21. 
 " To him that overcometh." 37 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 TEE BRIGHT MORNING. 
 
 (Easter.) 
 
 Revelation xxi. 4. 
 "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 45 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 A 2IAN'S LIFE. 
 
 (Whitsunday.) 
 
 S. Luke xii. 15. 
 
 "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things 
 nhich he possessed!." 55 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 FAC 
 
 THE WANDERER. 
 
 S. Luke xv. 17, iS. 
 
 *' When he came to himself, he said, ... I will arise, and 
 go to my Father.' 63 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 THE FAITHFUL FRIEND. 
 
 S. John vi. 37. 
 "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." 75 
 
 SERMON X. 
 IN THE EVENING. 
 
 S. John vi. 17. 
 " It was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them." 83 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 THE HEALING TOUCH. 
 
 S. Mark i. 32. 
 
 " And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him all 
 that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils." 93 
 
X. 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 HOLY OFFERINGS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Psalm xx. 3. 
 "The Lord . . . remember all thy offerings." 103 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 TEE ONWARD AT ARC II. 
 
 Deuteronomy xxxi. 7, 8. 
 
 " Be strong and of a good courage, — and the Lord, He it is 
 that doth go before thee." 115 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 THE SAFE REFUGE. 
 
 Psalm xci. 2. 
 " I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress." 125 
 
 SERMON XV. 
 
 LEAVING JESUS. 
 
 S. John xiii. 3c. 
 'He went immediately out, and it was night." 135 
 
XI. 
 
 SERMON XVI. 
 TEE ONE FOUNDATION 
 
 PACK 
 
 COLOSSIANS I. l8. 
 
 He is the head of the body, the Church." 147 
 
 SERMON XVII. 
 UNKNOWN, YET WELL KNOWN. 
 
 Festival of S. Bartholomew.) 
 2 Timothy ii. 19. 
 " The Lord knoweth them that are His." 155 
 
 SERMON XVIII. 
 TREASURE IN HEAVEN. 
 
 (Festival of S. Matthew.) 
 
 S. Matthew vi. 20. 
 •• Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." 161 
 
 SERMON XIX. 
 
 TEE SEADOWS AND TEE SUBSTANCEi 
 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 S. John v. 39. 
 
 "Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
 life : and they are they which testify of Me." 167 
 
SERMON XX, PACF 
 
 THE SHADOWS AND THE SUBSTANCE. 
 
 (Fob a Children's Service.) 
 
 S. John v. 39. 
 
 ' ' Search the scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
 life : and they are they which testify of me." 177 
 
 SERMON XXI. 
 THE CHILDREN'S PORTION. 
 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 S. Luke ix. 47. 
 " Jesus took a child, and set him by Him." 133 
 
 SERMON XXIT. 
 
 TITTLE LIVES. 
 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 Proverbs xx. ix. 
 "Even a child is known by his daings." 193 
 
" Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, 
 Lead Thou me on ; 
 The night is dark, and I am far from home, 
 
 Lead Thou me on. 
 Keep Thou my feet ; I do not care to see 
 The distant scene ; one step enough for me. 
 » 
 " I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou 
 Should'st lead me on ; 
 I loved to choose and see my path ; but now 
 
 Lead Thou me on. 
 I loved the garish day, and spite of fears, 
 Pride ruled my will ; remember not past years. 
 
 "So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still 
 Will lead me on 
 O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 
 
 The night is gone. 
 And with the morn those angel faces smile, 
 Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile." 
 
SERMON I 
 
 <£he (gutting |Eighi 
 (Advent.) 
 
 Psalm lxxviii. 14. 
 
 " In the day time also lie led them with a cloud, and all th$ 
 night with a light of Jire." 
 
 Why do we sing hymns ? Perhaps it never occurred to 
 you to ask that question, or possibly if you did ask it, 
 you got a wrong answer. Some persons will tell you 
 that they sing hymns because they like the tune, or 
 because they know the words, or because they are fond 
 of hearing their own voice. Yet these are all wrong 
 reasons. I can tell you a story about this. Once there 
 was a little company of monks, who lived in a rude and 
 lonely monastery, in a wild country. Daily they sang 
 the praises of God, but their singing was rude and harsh. 
 One day a stranger came and stayed with them, and the 
 stranger had a very beautiful voice. He soon took the 
 management of the choir into his own hands, he told the 
 monks how rude and coarse was their singing, and he bid 
 them listen to his way of chanting the service. And so 
 
SEIte Combing Pfiht. 
 
 in time there was scarcely any other voice heard in the 
 choir except that of the stranger. One night the Abbot 
 saw a vision in which he thought an angel from heaven 
 appeared, and asked him why they never heard now in 
 heaven the beautiful praises which used to rise from the 
 lonely cloister. The Abbot in astonishment explained 
 that their singing had greatly improved of late. But the 
 angel answered that not one of the stranger's tuneful 
 notes had got as far as heaven, since there they heard 
 only the voice of praise, not of pride and self-righteous- 
 ness. Some one says very truly that many put hymns of 
 praise into their mouth to glorify themselves instead of 
 God. The reason why we should sing hymns is to praise 
 and honour that God who giveth all. As He gives us 
 music, and poetry, and voices, so we should consecrate 
 these gifts to Him. We should forget ourselves, and 
 think only of Him " who is worthy to be praised.' 1 And 
 not only in Church should we do this, a Christian's 
 whole life should be a consecrated life, a life of praise. 
 The world of nature teaches us this, where God has taught 
 
 " The ballad-singers and the Troubadours, 
 The street-musicians of the Heavenly city, 
 The birds, who make sweet music for us all, 
 In our dark hours, as David did for Saul. 
 The thrush that carols at the dawn of day, 
 From the green steeples of the piny wood, 
 Linnet and meadow-lark, and all the throng 
 That dwell in nests, and have the gift of song." 
 
%hz <$mlxn$ gight. 
 
 " Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, 
 do all to the glory of God." . Our work should be such 
 that we may praise God by it ; our joys should lift us 
 to God in thanksgiving ; our sorrows, instead of crushing 
 us, should lift us up, so that we may say " out of my 
 stony griefs Bethel I'll raise." Thus our whole life should 
 be, so to speak, a hymn of praise, an endless hallelujah. 
 But there is another reason for singing hymns. They 
 have a lesson for us. There is a sermon in a hymn, as 
 well as in the lesson, or gospel, or epistle for the day. 
 Let us try, by God's help, to bring out some of the 
 teaching of our favourite hymns, that what we sing with 
 our lipst we may believe in our hearts,' that we may in a 
 word, f sing praises with understanding." Let us look 
 at the hymn which we have just sung, " Lead, kindly 
 Light." Among the many thoughts which this solemn 
 Advent season brings to us, there is one which the hymn 
 suggests, our need of a guiding light through the darkness 
 of this world. How dark and miserable this earth would 
 be if Jesus Christ had not come to be the Light of the 
 World. How dark our hours of sorrow would be without 
 the light of Christ's sympathy to cheer us ! How black 
 and uncertain our path would be without the light of 
 Christ's Gospel to lead us ! Some time ago I was con- 
 ducting a Mission in the Black Country, and I went with 
 my brother missioner to hold services in several coal- 
 pits. It was a wonderful feeling to find oneself two 
 
Wit (gutting $ight 
 
 hundred yards down in the earth, with the black galleries 
 of the pit dimly lighted by candles stuck in their clay 
 sockets ; and it was still more wonderful when we began 
 to sing a hymn, and the well-known words. 
 
 " Jesu, lover of my soul, 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly,' r 
 
 sounded, perhaps for the first time since the earth was 
 made, through that strange place. Then followed an 
 address, listened to with the greatest attention by grimy, 
 half-clad colliers ; the only interruption coming from a 
 restless pony in his rocky stable, or f"om a deep amen 
 which one of the listeners uttered as the words went home 
 to his heart. When the service was over, I explored the 
 pit, and examined the different workings, and there I 
 learnt three things which you will do well to learn also. 
 First, I learnt that I must stoop my head if I wished to 
 go along the galleries of the pit. And there is a lesson 
 for us all ; we must stoop our heads, we must be humble, 
 if we are to pass through this life to life eternal. 
 Although the gate of Heaven is so high, it is not high 
 enough for us to enter except on bended knee, and with 
 bowed head. How shall we best prepare ourselves this 
 Advent to meet our Lord when He comes again in 
 glory ? By learning to be humble, even as He tells us, 
 61 learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly." Next, they gave 
 
vLhc (gutting $ight. 
 
 me a candle in a lump of clay to carry, and as 1 walked 
 with bowed head and careful steps, my candle went out. 
 Now if I had been alone in that strange place I should 
 have been lost : it was perfectly dark all round me, the 
 walking was very dangerous, and there were galleries to 
 the right hand and left, which led to distant parts of the 
 pit. But I was not alone ; I had a guide who went 
 before me, carrying a light, to show me the way. Then 
 I learnt that we must have a light in ourselves, and also 
 a guide to lead us through the darkness of this world, to 
 the bright day of Paradise. The light in ourselves is the 
 Holy Spirit, of whom holy David says, "Thou wilt light 
 my candle." The guide is the light of Christ's example 
 as given in the Bible, of which it is written, "Thy Word 
 is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." 
 
 Two words of advice were given me in the coal-pit, 
 they were " take care of your light," and u follow your 
 guide." " Take care of your light ;" the Holy Spirit was 
 given to us in Baptism ; in Confirmation, and in the 
 Sacraments, and the various means of grace, that Holy 
 Spirit is renewed in us, like oil in a lamp. Are we taking 
 good heed to " let our light so shine before men that 
 they may see our good works, and glorify our Father 
 which is in Heaven?" "Follow your guide." Jesus 
 saith unto us "follow thou Me." If I had chosen my 
 own way in that dark coal-mine I should soon have lost 
 myself, or stumbled and fallen. So there are many 
 
8 <&he <gml)itt$ gight. 
 
 people in the world who are like men in a coal-pit whose 
 light is gone out, and who foolishly choose their own 
 path, instead of following a guide. There may be some 
 such wanderers here. May God bring them to say with 
 truth — 
 
 *' I loved to choose and see my path ; but now 
 Lead Thou me on." 
 
 In the darkness of the coal-pit I could only see a few 
 yards before me. So it is with us all in life. We may 
 not see far away into the future ; we have to-day's work, 
 to-day's duty, to-day's journey to accomplish, to-day the 
 manna will fall, since God gives us our daily bread. 
 " The morrow will take thought for the things of itself." 
 
 ' ' Keep Thou my feet ; I do not care to see 
 The distant scene; one step enough forme." 
 
 There are many so-called Christians who fancy they 
 are walking in the light, but who are really groping in 
 darkness. These have not learnt what it is to be a 
 Christian. They have not learnt to be humble, to deny 
 themselves, to give up self for Christ. Their light is 
 gone out. Let such people learn these simple lessons. 
 Let them go in prayer to Jesus, the Light of the World, 
 He will light their candle. " Awake thou that sleepest, 
 and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." 
 
Wm (Sutbins Sight. 
 
 Then with bowed head, and carefully guarded light, go 
 iorth on thy pilgrimage, 
 
 " Through terrestrial darkness, 
 To celestial day," 
 
 following in the steps of Thy guide, even the steps of 
 Christ's most holy life, praying ever — 
 
 M Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, 
 Lead Thou me on." 
 
" Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer, 
 Pilgrim through this barren land ; 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand ; 
 
 Bread of Heaven, 
 Feed me now and evermore. 
 
 " Open now the crystal fountain, 
 
 Whence the healing streams do flow : 
 Let the fiery, cloudy pillar, 
 Lead me all my journey through ; 
 
 Strong Deliverer, 
 Be Thou still my Strength and Shield. 
 
 " When I tread the verge of Jordan, 
 Bid my anxious fears subside : 
 Death of death, and hell's Destruction, 
 Land me safe on Canaan's side ; 
 
 Songs of praises, 
 I will ever give to Thee.'' 
 
SERMON II 
 
 ^he gong Jottrneg. 
 (Advent.) 
 
 Deuteronomy hi. 25. 
 
 •' I pray thee, let me go over, that I may see the good land that 
 is beyond Jordan" 
 
 This was the prayer of the old man Moses when weary 
 and worn out with his long life's work. For years he had 
 led the people of Israel, and had suffered their manners 
 in the wilderness. Now his work was done, and he 
 longed for rest, and for a sight of that land towards which 
 he had journeyed so long. His eyes, tired of the desert 
 sand, yearned for the green pastures, and his aching 
 limbs for the rest that remained in the good land beyond 
 Jordan. And yet his prayer was refused. The old sin 
 of long ago was remembered, and Moses was not per- 
 mitted to enter the promised land. Brave, patient, 
 faithful though he had been, his prayer was refused. 
 God rewarded him indeed by taking him to the better 
 land of Paradise, but the one desire of his long life was 
 not satisfied. We learn from this first of all that one sin 
 
12 
 
 ^ht SJottfl Jfourtuj). 
 
 may shut us out of Heaven. Moses had committed a 
 sin long ago ; since then he had done God good service, 
 yet that sin was not forgotten, it shut him out of the 
 promised land. Sin always brings its own punishment, at 
 some time or other, and in some way or another. Some 
 sins, like some seeds, grow up and bear their bitter fruit 
 very quickly. Others lie hid for a long time, but they 
 bear fruit. Learn next, that doing good does not atone 
 for a past sin. How much good Moses had done, yet 
 his old sin shut him out from the good land. il All our 
 obediences," says an old writer of the Church, " cannot 
 blot out one sin against God." How vain for us to hope 
 to make amends to God for our former trespasses by our 
 better behaviour, when Moses had this one sin laid to his 
 charge after so many proofs of fidelity. When we have 
 forgotten our sins, God remembers them, and though not 
 in anger, yet He calls for our arrears. If Moses died the 
 first death for one fault, how shall they " escape the 
 second death for sinning always ?" Do not think that 
 the old sins of your past lives are of no importance 
 because you may have been living decent lives of late. 
 I tell you we shall not enter into the good land unless 
 our sins be forgiven us. All our good works cannot wipe 
 out the old score. True repentance alone can bring us 
 pardon, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, the 
 Saviour from all sin. 
 
 " I pray thee, let me go over that I may see the good 
 
^he ICong Journei). 13 
 
 land that is beyond Jordan." That was the heart's 
 desire of Israel of old, and it is the prayer of us, God's 
 Israel, to-day. Some of us, who have wandered these 
 many years in the wilderness, long very eagerly for that 
 " rest which remaineth for the people of God," and for 
 repose " in that still country where the mystery of this 
 strange life is solved, and the most feverish heart lays 
 down its burden at last." Many a one is tempted some- 
 times, when the sorrow is very sharp, and the road very 
 rough, to cry with David, " Oh! that I had wings like a 
 dove, for then would I flee away and be at rest." Many 
 a one, whose earthly work is not yet finished, is tempted 
 sometimes to say, " I pray thee, let me go over, that I 
 may see the good land that is beyond Jordan." But we 
 must remember the journey. Israel had to take a long 
 journey before they entered the Promised Land, and 
 many never entered it at all because of their sins. So it 
 is with us. There is a long journey for us, and our 
 prayer should be, 
 
 " Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer, 
 Pilgrim through this barren land; 
 I am weak, but Thou art Mighty, 
 Hold me with Thy powerful hand. 
 
 Bread of Heaven, 
 Feed me now and evermore." 
 
 Look at the first step in Israel's journey. They 
 escaped from Pharaoh and the taskmasters of Egypt, 
 
H 
 
 ^hc U on 9 Jfounug. 
 
 and passed through the Red Sea. Pharaoh and his host 
 pursuing them were buried in the Sea. Now look at 
 our own journey. We are born into a world of sin, a 
 world like Egypt, with its hard taskmasters, the Flesh and 
 the Devil. The sin of Adam, our birth sin, and the 
 curse for sin, pursue after us to destroy us. But in 
 Baptism we pass through the Red Sea of Christ's Blood, 
 and our birth sin, and the curse for sin, are buried there 
 like Pharaoh. Our old man, our old sinful nature, as 
 Adam's descendants, is buried with Christ in Baptism, 
 that the new man may be raised up in us. Now look at 
 the second step in the journey. Did Israel find them- 
 selves in perfect safety after they had passed through the 
 Red Sea ? No, they found themselves in the wilderness, 
 in a place full of enemies. Their old enemies were gone, 
 but new foes awaited them. So it is with us. After 
 Baptism we begin our life in the wilderness. The old 
 sin of Adam is forgiven us, but new sins and temptations 
 await us in the world. Yes, this world is for many 
 reasons a wilderness. We are all in the world as strangers 
 and pilgrims, and some of us live quite alone, like those 
 who journey through the desert. Even those of us who 
 have many friends see them grow fewer as the years roll 
 by. Where are those whom we knew in youth and child- 
 hood? Gone over to the greater number, to the more 
 thickly populated world beyond. It has been truly said, 
 "the years darken round us among new men, strange 
 
^he gong Jountcg. 15 
 
 faces, other minds." Again, this life is like a wilderness 
 because it is often very hard to find food in it. I do not 
 mean bodily food, though that is scarce enough to many, 
 but food for the soul. A Christian cannot nourish his 
 soul on this world's food, any more than the foolish king of 
 yore could satisfy his hunger when he had prayed that all 
 that he touched might be changed into gold. There are 
 plenty of people who are living for this life only, who 
 are trying to feed on this world's food, and they starve. 
 One lives for pleasure, and at last he ceases to have the 
 power to enjoy ; another lives for work, and it becomes 
 an irksome slavery. Another lives for money, and he 
 sees it melt away, or he has to leave it to another. Israel 
 would have perished in the wilderness if God had not 
 sent them Bread from Heaven. So we shall all likewise 
 perish unless we derive our spiritual food from God. If 
 we live without God, without prayer, without religion, we 
 must starve, for we shall be without that peace which the 
 world cannot give. Above all, we need to pray here in 
 the wilderness, 
 
 " Bread of Heaven, 
 Feed me now and evermore ;" 
 
 for the journey to the good land beyond Jordan will be 
 too great for us, unless we feed on the true Bread which 
 came down from Heaven, the Body and Blood of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 Again, we read of Israel in the wilderness, that ''hungry 
 
i6 
 
 <3Ehe ffong Jfotunej). 
 
 and thirsty their soul fainted within them." So with us, 
 we thirst for that which the wilderness cannot give us* 
 There is water in the world to quench bodily thirst, "but 
 whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again." Jesus 
 alone can give us " of the Water of life freely." When 
 sin and sorrow lie heavy upon us, when we are forced to 
 say, "I am weary of crying, my throat is dry," Jesus 
 alone can give us that refreshment which we need, " the 
 good news from a far country," which is " as cold water 
 to a thirsty soul." 
 
 " Open now the crystal Fountain, 
 Whence the healing streams do flow. 1 * 
 
 We know also that the wilderness was full of dangers 
 and enemies for Israel of old, so is our life to-day. 
 Thorns beset our path, and choke the good seed. Cares 
 and troubles vex us like the burning sand; often this 
 world becomes " a great and terrible wilderness, wherein 
 are fiery serpents and scorpions." Evil thoughts, fiery 
 lusts, and savage tempers, like serpents, attack us. Bad 
 companions lead us astray,' of whom we may say, " the 
 poison of asps is under their lips." Israel, we know, 
 " wandered out of the way," because the wilderness had 
 no clearly defined path for them to travel in. So in the 
 world there are many paths carved out by man's strength, 
 or pride, or selfishness, but none of these lead to the good 
 land beyond Jordan. One will say to us, " Never mind 
 
^he S?ong Journey. 17 
 
 the road to Heaven, enjoy what this earth can give you." 
 Another will whisper, " Work hard, do your best, that is 
 the road to Heaven;" another will say, "Goon your 
 own way, all will come right at last." Not so, brethren. 
 In Australia it is a common thing to find a man lost and 
 dead in the bush within call of his own home. - So in the 
 world many wander out of the path and perish with 
 Heaven before them, because they have lost their way. 
 Jesus alone can show us the Way. He says, " I am the 
 Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh to the 
 Father but by Me." 
 
 " Let the fiery, cloudy pillar, 
 
 Lead me all my journey through; 
 
 Strong Deliverer, 
 Be Thou still my Strength and Shield." 
 
 Seeing, then, that this world is like a wilderness, where 
 we are strangers and pilgrims ; which cannot satisfy the 
 hungry soul with goodness, nor the parched soul with 
 living water ; where enemies beset us, and which can 
 give us no path to Heaven, surely we need something 
 better than this world to live for, to look for, to work for. 
 The thought of the good land beyond Jordan cheered 
 Israel in their wanderings ; the thought of a still better 
 country should cheer us. When the path of duty seems 
 very hard, when innumerable sorrows have gone even over 
 our soul, when we see the wilderness marked with the 
 
 B 
 
1 3 ^he Scmg $onTvtz&. 
 
 graves of our dead, our dead friends, our dead hopes, 
 our dead joys; when old age, or sickness, or sorrow have 
 bowed down our bodies, and our weary limbs ache so, that 
 we are forced to echo the cry of a weary one who said, 
 " at times I feel the want to die, as the wakeful feel the 
 want to sleep ;" then, at such times as these, there comes 
 to cheer us the thought of the good land beyond Jordan, 
 and our prayer goes up to God, " I pray Thee, let me go 
 over, that I may see the good land." 
 
 11 When I tread the verge of Jordan, 
 Bid my anxious fears subside ; 
 Death of death, and hell's destruction, 
 Land me safe on Canaan's side ;'' 
 
 But remember, dear fellow pilgrims, we may not hope 
 to enter into our rest till our work is done and our 
 journey finished. 
 
 " Does the road wind up-hill all the way ? 
 Yes ; to the very end. 
 
 Will the day's journey take the whole long day ? 
 Trom morn to night, my friend.'' 
 
 Wishing for Paradise will not take us there. For us all 
 there is a work to be done, and a given time to do it in. 
 A quaint old writer tells us that M God sends his servants 
 to bed when they have done their work." Our journey- 
 through this world must be one of watching, of fighting, 
 of praying, and of waiting, and when that is over our 
 
%ht ICcng Jfmirrug. 19 
 
 Master will give His beloved sleep. When the American 
 saint and hero " Stonewall " Jackson was dying, he said, 
 " let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of 
 the trees ;" so may we one day hope to cross the river of 
 death, and to see the good land that is beyond Jordan, 
 and to rest under the shadow of the Tree of Life, " whose 
 leaves are for the healing of the nations." 
 
" Christian, dost thou see them, 
 On the holy ground, 
 How the troops of Midian 
 Prowl and prowl around ? 
 Christian, up and smite them, 
 Counting gain but loss ; 
 Smite them by the merit 
 Of the holy Cross. 
 
 " Christian, dost thou feel them, 
 How they work within, 
 Striving, tempting, luring, 
 Goading into sin? 
 Christian, never tremble, 
 Never be down-cast ; 
 Smite them by the virtue 
 Of the Lenten fast. 
 
 " Christian, dost thou hear them, 
 How they speak thee fair ? 
 ' Always fast and vigil ? 
 Always watch and prayer ?' 
 Christian, answer boldly, 
 1 While I breathe I pray :' 
 Peace shall follow battle, 
 Night shall end in day. 
 
 " Vv T ell T know thy trouble- 
 
 my servant true ; 
 Thou art very weary, 
 
 1 was weary too ; 
 
 But that toil shall make thee 
 Some day all Mine own, 
 And the end of sorrow 
 Shall be near My throne."' 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 ^iu WtixUxz. 
 (Lent.) 
 
 i Feter v. 9. 
 11 Whom resist, steadfast in the faith" 
 
 The Hymn brings before us a picture of the Christian 
 life as being a warfare, a battle with sin. Every Christian 
 man has a war to wage with his spiritual foes, "for we 
 wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principal- 
 ities, against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high 
 places." 
 
 " Christian, dost thou see them, 
 On the holy ground, 
 How the troops of Midian 
 Prowl and prowl around ?" 
 
 Yes, on the holy ground; for as Midian of old was 
 permitted to fight against God's Israel, so the devil and 
 his angels attack us on the holiest of ground. As Satan 
 came to Jesus when praying and fasting, so he comes to 
 us within the closet of secret prayer, into the Religious 
 house, to the Church and the Altar itself. You remember 
 
22 
 
 %hz ffiarfare. 
 
 how on a day when the sons of God presented them- 
 selves before Him, " Satan came also." So now he 
 and his angels come everywhere, tempting into sin. There 
 is never a service held in Church where Satan does not 
 come also ; there is never a Bible opened, nor a prayer 
 uttered, but Satan comes also, trying to pluck away the 
 good seed, striving to lead our thoughts astray. When 
 people kneel in Church, and begin to say the Confession, 
 " we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost 
 sheep," often their thoughts begin to wander, their sin is 
 forgotten, and left unconfessed. It is because Satan has 
 come also, and has led their minds away from their sins, 
 lest they should confess them and find pardon. Presently 
 the eyes of some begin to stray, they see a neighbour's 
 face, or mark a late arrival in Church, and the Prayer 
 Book is straightway forgotten ; the thread of the Service 
 lost ; Satan has come also, and led those eyes astray, lest 
 the people should see with their eyes, and believe in their 
 hearts and be saved. Presently, when the Sermon is 
 preached, the eyes of some grow heavy with sleep, and 
 the words of warning and of love fall unheeded. Satan 
 has come also, and has sent those people to sleep lest 
 they should be awakened to their true state, and repent 
 and be saved. Or perhaps there are some who are quite 
 awake, who hear every word of the sermon, and who 
 criticise it, and find fault with it, and are offended at it. 
 Again Satan has come also, and has put those proud and 
 
^he ffiavfarc 23 
 
 rebellious thoughts in the hearts of some lest they should 
 be turned to better things and be saved. The hosts of 
 Midian are prowling round us now on the holy ground. 
 A choir boy is tempted to look away from his book to 
 smile at a neighbour, and he loses his place, and sings 
 the wrong verse of the psalm ; Satan has come also, and 
 desires to turn God's praise into mockery. The preacher 
 enters the pulpit, and preaches earnestly and well, and 
 the people listen spell-bound to his words. Satan comes 
 also, even into the pulpit, and suggests thoughts of pride 
 to the preacher's heart. A saint of old after preaching 
 was once highly complimented : " What a grand sermon," 
 said his friends, and he answered, " the devil told me that 
 before I left the pulpit." Even at the Altar of the 
 Blessed Sacrament Satan comes also. There we come 
 close to Jesus, yet we may be parted from Him. The 
 two thieves at the Crucifixion come equally near to Jesus, 
 yet the one was saved, the other lost. So two people 
 kneel together at Holy Communion, both are equally 
 near to Jesus, both receive His Body and Blood ; the 
 one with earnest faith and fixed thought sees Jesus verily, 
 and receives Him into his heart ; the other careless, and 
 thinking of other things, sees worldly pleasure, and 
 earthly care floating in the very cup of Christ's dear 
 Blood ; and the one is satisfied with good things, the 
 other is sent empty away. Satan has come also, trying 
 to drag souls away from life, away from Jesus. Hence 
 
24 ^he ©attoe. 
 
 come our wandering thoughts in prayer, our dull, cold 
 Bible-reading, our useless attendance at Church ; Satan 
 is prowling on the holy ground, and we have not resisted 
 him. Hear the wise man's advice, " Keep thy foot when 
 thou goest to the House of God, and be more ready to 
 hearken than to give the sacrifice of fools." When you 
 are upon the holy ground remember that Satan comes 
 there also, and be on your guard. Fight against the 
 enemies of your soul, 
 
 " Smite them by the merit 
 Of the holy Cross." 
 
 Cry out to Jesus in the hour of your weakness. Try to 
 picture Him hanging upon the Cross. Try to realise the 
 sight of His dear Feet and Hands bleeding (ox you; cling 
 to the Crucified in prayer, then even Satan cannot harm 
 you, for he trembles before the Cross, even as Dagon fell 
 before the Ark of God. 
 
 " Christian, dost thou feel them, 
 How they work within, 
 Striving, tempting, luring, 
 Goading into sin?" 
 
 Our worst enemies are inside us, because Satan puts 
 evil thoughts into our hearts unless we keep them as 
 sanctuaries of the Holy Ghost. We go, perhaps, to some 
 scane of innocent amusement, where young people are 
 enjoying themselves. Satan comes also. He directs a 
 
^hz SEtarfar*. 25 
 
 woman's eye to a neighbour's dress, and fills her heart 
 with the sin of envy. People are talking together, and 
 Satan suggests some cruel speech about another's char- 
 acter. When the guests sit down to table, Satan comes 
 also ; he passes the wine cup round faster and faster, till 
 the devil of drunkenness is aroused in men's hearts. 
 Young men and women meet in innocent companionship, 
 Satan comes also, and suggests the impure thought, and 
 the impure word — " luring into sin." Or a man meets 
 with a terrible sorrow, he loses some one very dear to 
 him, or he loses his money, and then Satan comes also, 
 and tells him that God is cruel and unjust : "God allows 
 you to be ruined, permits you to starve, where is the use 
 of trusting in Him, curse God and die." Thus Satan 
 speaks, u goading into sin." 
 
 Dear brethren, do not be downhearted, if our flesh 
 tempts us with unholy thoughts, let us mortify our flesh ; 
 let us use such abstinence that our flesh may be subdued 
 to the spirit. 
 
 " Christian, never tremble, 
 Never be downcast, 
 Smite them by the virtue 
 Of the Lenten fast." 
 
 But Satan does not always attack us in the guise of an 
 enemy, he "speaks us fair," and then he is most dangerous. 
 It was said of old, " I fear the Greeks, especially when 
 
26 
 
 ^he SEarfaw. 
 
 they bring gifts ;" specially ought we to fear Satan when 
 he comes as a friend. 
 
 " Christian, dost thou hear them, 
 How they speak thee fair ? 
 * Always fast and vigil ? 
 Always watch and prayer ?' " 
 
 Satan speaks some of us fair, and lets us believe that 
 religion is a very good thing, that Church-going is quite 
 right, that prayer and fasting are useful. He will not 
 frighten us by coming as a fiend, he assumes the form of 
 an angel of light, and whispers, " always fast and vigil?" 
 He tells us that we should rest a little, we have had a hard 
 week's work, why should we go to Church on Sunday 
 morning ? especially, why should we rise early to go to 
 Holy Communion. Next week will do quite as well. Or 
 he tells us that the weather is stormy, and that we had 
 better stay at home instead of going to Church, although 
 we know that no amount of stormy weather would keep 
 us from our business. Dear brethren, Satan has spoken 
 to you in this way over and over again, and you have 
 listened sometimes. For the future, 
 
 " Christian, answer boldly, 
 While I breathe, I pray." 
 
 Satan trembles when he sees a Christian on his knees. I 
 know very well, as you know, that this battle of ours is 
 a very hard one, that this watching and struggling with 
 
^Ihc SBarfare. 27 
 
 lemptatio-i is very bitter at times, but some one else 
 knows it also. Jesus knows your sorrows. 
 
 11 Well I know your trouble, 
 () my servant true, 
 Thou art very weary, 
 I was weary too." 
 
 Yes, He who was tempted in the wilderness, He whose 
 sweat dropped like blood in Gethsemane, He who fought 
 out the bitter battle on Calvary Cross, Pie knows your 
 troubles, and will strengthen you for the fight. ,; Only 
 be strong, and of a good courage," bear the toil, and 
 fight the good fight to the end, since Jesus tells you, 
 
 " That toil shall make thee 
 Some day all mine own, 
 And the end of sorrow 
 Shall be near my throne." 
 
" ' Christian, seek not yet repose,' 
 Hear thy guardian angel say, 
 Thou art in the midst of foes ; 
 
 1 Watch and pray.* 
 
 " Principalities and powers, 
 Mustering their unseen array, 
 "Wait for thy unguarded hours : 
 
 4 Watch and pray.* 
 
 *' Gird thy heavenly armour on, 
 Wear it ever night and day ; 
 Ambushed lies the Evil one ; 
 
 1 Watch and pray.' 
 
 " Hear the victors who o'ercame j 
 Still they mark each warrior's way ; 
 All with one sweet voice exclaim, 
 * Watch and pray.' 
 
 " Hear, above all, hear thy Lord, 
 Him thou lovest to obey ; 
 Hide within thy heart His Word, 
 1 Watch and pray.' 
 
 " Watch, as if on that alone, 
 Hung the issue of the day ; 
 Pray, that help may be sent down ; 
 * Watch and pray.' ' 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 %hz Warfare. 
 
 (Lent). 
 
 St. Matthew xxvi. 41. 
 " Watch and pray" 
 
 I have told you that the warfare which we have to wage 
 is a spiritual warfare ; a fight against fallen angels far 
 more powerful, more swift and intelligent than ourselves. 
 The one desire of these enemies is to shut us out of that 
 Heaven which they have forfeited. We have seen that 
 these foes, countless in number, fight against us in 
 different ways, entering even into the holiest places, and 
 trying first one temptation and then another. 
 
 " ' Christian, seek not yet repose,' 
 Hear thy guardian angel say : 
 * Thou art in the midst of foes ; 
 
 Watch and pray.' 
 
 " Principalities and powers, 
 Mustering their unseen array ; 
 Wait for thy unguarded hours ; 
 
 * Watch and pray.'" 
 
30 
 
 ^ht SEarfarjc 
 
 From this battle there is no escape, from this hard 
 service there is no discharge. We must either fight, or 
 be taken prisoner by the enemy. We must either be 
 Christ's soldiers, or the devil's slaves. And this warfare 
 is a life-long battle, it is not equally severe at all times ; 
 but there is no period when we may safely lay aside our 
 weapons or our armour ; there is no time when we may 
 safely neglect our watch. 
 
 "Gird thy heavenly armour on, 
 Wear it ever night and day ; 
 Ambushed lies the Evil one ; 
 
 1 Watch and pray.' " 
 
 Let us think, then, who helps us in this hard warfare, 
 who is on our side. We could never fight the battle 
 alone. Our enemies are far too numerous and too power- 
 ful for us to resist unaided. Who, then, is on our side ? 
 First of all, Jesus is with us. 
 
 Jesus came and took our flesh upon Him, and in that 
 flesh He fought with Satan and conquered him. Not 
 only in the wilderness, but throughout His earthly life 
 Jesus was tempted as Man. He came on earth to give 
 us a perfect pattern for our life ; and as the human life of 
 Christ was one of constant struggle against the attacks of 
 Satan, so must our life be. Jesus carried our human 
 nature triumphantly through this battle, through death, 
 through a glorious resurrection ; thus giving us a pledge 
 that He will do the same for us. He gives us an 
 
^ke SSEarfare. 3 1 
 
 assurance that those who are His people, who still hold 
 closely to Him, who right in the strength which He 
 gives, shall come safely through all ; though often sorely 
 tried, often badly wounded, often weary and heart-sick, 
 and heavy laden, often downcast and sad, yet conquerors 
 at last, crowned with victory in that Heavenly Jerusalem, 
 where temptations come not. 
 
 Remember then, brethren, Jesus is with you in the 
 battle ; One who knows your trials and temptations ; 
 One who has fought a good fight Himself; One who 
 loves you ; One who will not suffer you to be tempted 
 above what you are able to bear. Who else is on our 
 side ? The Holy Angels are with us in the fight. As 
 the evil angels desire our ruin, so the holy angels, who 
 ever do God's will, desire our happiness and salvation. 
 " Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister 
 to such as shall be heirs of salvation ?" And who are 
 these heirs of salvation ? We who have been baptized in 
 Christ's holy Church. We who have been made children 
 of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven. Every 
 baptized person who is thus made God's child has a 
 guardian angel appointed to watch over him, to guide 
 him, to fight for him in the battle. 
 
 " • Christian, seek not yet repose/ 
 Hear thy guardian angel say." 
 
 When at the font you were brought to Jesus as a little 
 
32 ^oihe Wtext&xz* 
 
 child, there stood by you, all unseen, a watcher and a 
 holy one, an angel, who will never leave you unless you 
 go over to Satan, and forsake God utterly. Because we 
 cannot see our guardian angel, there is no reason for us 
 to disbelieve in its presence. We cannot see God, or 
 Heaven, yet we believe in both. We know, too, from 
 our Bible that many persons have seen angels, and it is 
 very common for dying people, who see far more clearly 
 into the unknown world than we who stay on earth, to 
 tell us that they can discern these messengers of God. 
 Think of this, my brethren, and learn to say — 
 
 " My soul, there is a country 
 Far beyond the stars, 
 "Where stands a winged sentr) 
 All skilful in the wars. 
 There, above all noise and danger, 
 Sweet Peace sits crowned with smiles ; 
 And One born in a manger 
 Commands the beauteous files." 
 
 Learn to believe that God has sent His holy angel to 
 minister to you during your life. When you are out in 
 the fields at your work, the angel is beside you, when you 
 are engaged in your domestic concerns at home the angel 
 is with you. The angel of your child watches over its 
 cradle. Your angel watches over you. When you say 
 or do anything wrong you grieve that holy watcher whom 
 God has sent to you. But above all you have the com- 
 
^he SEarfttr*. 33 
 
 fort of knowing that the holy angels fight against your 
 spiritual foes. There is ever this battle between good and 
 evil going on in the world, and in each one of our hearts. 
 At times we are forced to cry out, like the prophet's 
 servant, " Alas, my Master, how shall we do?" But the 
 comforting answer comes, "Fear not, for they that be 
 with us are more than they which be with them." 
 
 But remember this, that if we are to have God's angels 
 with us we must strive to live as God's people. We must 
 take care of what we do and say, "because of the angels." 
 If we go on sinning deliberately, never trying to do better, 
 we drive away the Holy Spirit from us, and then our 
 guardian angel flies away, and leaves us to our fate. Thus 
 far we have seen that in our warfare we have God and 
 the holy angels on our side. But more than this, we 
 have the prayers of the Saints to help us. 
 
 11 Hear the victors who o'ercame ; 
 Still they mark each warrior's way; 
 All with one sweet voice exclaim, 
 1 Watch and pray.' " 
 
 The whole Church of Christ, that part which is still 
 militant here in earth, and that part which is resting in 
 Paradise, prays for us. You know that in the Church 
 services we always pray for each other, for the whole 
 Church. We say, "give us grace to withstand the 
 temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil;" 
 
34 ^he SEarfare. 
 
 '* graft in our hearts the love of Thy name ;" so at this 
 moment wherever two or three are gathered together in 
 Church, they are praying for us. And in the Church in 
 Paradise the holy men and women of all ages, who have 
 entered into their rest, pray for us who are still fighting 
 the battle here in earth. Take courage, then, and take 
 comfort. Be brave, be strong, remember who fights on 
 your side. "Be strong and of a good courage, and the 
 Lord He it is that doth go before thee." 
 
 " Hear, above all, hear thy Lord, 
 Him thou lovest to obey ; 
 Hide within thy heart His Word, 
 * Watch and pray.' 
 
 Hung the issue of the day ; 
 Tray, that help may be sent down 
 4 Watch and pray.' ,; 
 
' Soldiers, who are Christ's below, 
 Strong in faith resist the foe ; 
 Boundless is the pledged reward 
 Unto them who serve the Lord. 
 
 " 'Tis no palm of fading leaves 
 
 That the conquerors' hand receives ; 
 Joys are his, serene and pure, 
 Light that ever shall endure. 
 
 " For the souls that overcome 
 "Waits the beauteous heavenly home, 
 Where the Blessed evermore 
 Tread, on high, the starry floor. 
 
 " Passing soon and little -worth 
 
 Are the things that tempt on earth ; 
 Heavenward lift thy soul's regard, 
 God Himself is thy reward. 
 
 tl Father, who the crown dost give, 
 Saviour, by whose death we live, 
 Spirit, who our hearts dost raise, 
 Three in One, Thy Name we praise.' 
 
S E R M O N V 
 
 ^hc cBarfare. 
 (Lent). 
 
 Revelation hi. 21. 
 " To him that ovcrcomeih'* 
 
 We have seen the nature of our spiritual warfare, the 
 foes with whom we have to deal, and the friends who aid 
 us, Next let me tell you how we are to fight, and with 
 what weapons. How are we to fight the battle ? First, 
 with patience and steadfastness. 
 
 *' Soldiers, who are Christ's below, 
 Strong in faith resist the foe ; 
 Boundless is the pledged reward 
 Unto them who serve the Lord." 
 
 Our warfare is a life-long battle, and thus it will not do 
 for us to be brave one day, and cowardly the next. It 
 will not do for us to fight hard at one time with prayer 
 and se^f-examination, and then to be careless and neglect- 
 ful. - We must strive to be patient in running the race, 
 and in fighting the battle ; remembering on the one hand, 
 how deadly is the hatred, and how great the cunning, of 
 our foes, and on the other hand, how infinitely greater is 
 
33 ^he SHarfare. 
 
 the love of God, and how far more the prayers of the 
 saints prevail than the wiles of Satan. Strengthened in 
 this way, the weakest will be made sufficient for the battle ; 
 for we know that even tender women and delicate little 
 children have overcome the temptations of the world, and 
 ihe fury of their enemies in the strength given them from 
 above. When you wake in the morning prepare for the 
 battle. Look on the day before you as one to be passed 
 in a batde field. There are very few people who will not 
 have at least one struggle with sin before the day is 
 ended. Picture to yourselves the dark ranks of your 
 foes, Satan's angels, sending forth their arrows, even 
 bitter words, evil fancies, impure thoughts, temptations of 
 all kinds. These will fight with you to-day. Then look 
 on those who fight for you. 
 
 Picture Jesus, your Brother, wearing your flesh, know- 
 ing your weakness, helping you in your need. Picture 
 your guardian angel standing beside you. Think of the 
 prayers of all saints, of the whole Church, going up for 
 you like a great cloud of incense. Then prepare yourself 
 for the day's battle. How? On your knees. Kneel 
 down, and think of the battle, of the hatred of the enemy, 
 of the prize for which they contend— your soul. Then 
 cry out to God to help you, to lead you, to strengthen 
 you — " Lord, direct my goings in the way. Hold Thou 
 me up that my footsteps slide not. Forsake me not, Lord 
 God of my help." Thus praying, go forth to your battle, 
 
f§Hu SBarfnre. 39 
 
 feeling, " they compass me about on every side, but in 
 the name of the Lord will I destroy them." Thus you 
 see, brethren, that you must fight your battle patiently 
 and steadfastly every day ; and your chief weapon will be 
 Prayer — never be without that. Let your motto be, 
 " whilst I breathe, I pray." To-day when the bad thought 
 comes, when the angry word rises, when the temptation 
 to say or do something wrong comes, think— the enemy 
 is fighting with me now, now the Philistines be upon 
 me ; then fly to your weapon, Prayer ; cry out to God, 
 with your heart, if not with your voice, " Lord, help me 
 iww\ Jesus, Master, have mercy upon me." 
 
 Next, we must fight > watching, and distrusting ourselves. 
 If you knew that robbers were coming to attack your 
 house on a certain night, you would watch. You would 
 make the doors and windows fast, you would call in help, 
 and have armed men ready. But very often you don't 
 do this against the worst of all robbers, Satan, who wants 
 to rob you of your soul, to defraud you of Heaven. The 
 doors and windows are often left wide open, the eye is 
 open to see a bad sight, the heart is open for a bad 
 thought to enter, the tongue is left unguarded. There 
 are no weapons ready, and suddenly the enemy comes 
 when least expected, and robs you of your innocence, or 
 your purity, or your peace of mind. I say then unto you all, 
 Watch ; " Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." 
 
 And next, do not trust yourselves. Do not think that 
 
40 t&hz &Xaxf&xz. 
 
 a 
 
 i 
 
 you are too respectable to be tempted, or too well brought 
 up, or too regular a Church-goer to fall away. Don't 
 trust yourselves, but watch yourselves. Have perfect 
 trust in God, and doubt yourselves. When we think we 
 are strongest, we are often most weak. The devil some- 
 times leaves us for a time that we may fall asleep, that our 
 weapons may grow rusty. Then our prayers are neglected, 
 our self-examination given up, our watchfulness omitted, 
 and just at the most unguarded moment comes the blow, 
 and we fall. Never suppose because we are sleeping 
 that Satan is asleep also. I have heard of an old man 
 who said to an aged neighbour, " I am dead to the 
 world." "Then," answered his friend, <( do not trust 
 yourself till you are out of the world, for if you are dead, 
 the devil is not." We need this constant watchfulness in 
 our battle because Satan does not always fight in one 
 way. He tries all kinds of attacks, and various sorts of 
 weapons. As Ishbi-benob, the giant, took a new sword 
 when he saw David waxing faint, and thought to have 
 slain him, so Satan ever and anon takes a new sword 
 against us. He sees some of us getting faint and 
 weary of the battle, neglecting our watch, laying aside 
 our armour; then he strikes us with a new sword, a 
 fresh temptation, and wounds our souls. He has been 
 trying some of you, perhaps, with the temptation to be 
 angry, or discontented, or to say foolish words, or to think 
 bad thoughts ; and you have fought bravely against this 
 
temptation, and have conquered. You have felt that it 
 is well with you, that you have got the better of your 
 bad habit, and then Satan has come with a new sword. 
 He sends the temptation of pride ; he leads us to think 
 how good we are, how much better than our neigh- 
 bours, and then if we are not prepared, we are wounded 
 grievously. Perhaps Satan has tempted you to keep away 
 from Church, and to neglect prayer, and you have fought 
 against this temptation, and have come to Church. Then 
 the tempter takes a new sword ; he puts some foolish or 
 wrong thought into your mind, and instead of getting 
 help and comfort from the service, your thoughts wander 
 away from God. Then Satan knows that his new sword 
 has struck home, you have come to Church, but he has 
 wounded you even there. 
 
 Take heed then, dear brethren, for the enemy is 
 doubtless preparing a new sword for you now. You have 
 been in earnest this Lent, you have looked into your way 
 of life, have examined the secret chambers of your hearts, 
 you have repented of some sin. Now take care of the 
 re-action. Soon the joyful Eastertide will be here. The 
 gloomy days of Lent will be ended. There will be a 
 time of holiday-keeping, when friends and neighbours 
 meet together. Then the devil will be busy, he will be 
 waiting to wound you. If he finds you careless after the 
 serious thoughts of Lent, if he finds you neglecting your 
 prayers and your duties, he will try you first with one 
 
42 ^hc SBariars. 
 
 sword, then with another. He will try one with the 
 sword of strong drink, another with the sword of bad 
 company, and then with the sword of bad talk, be on your 
 guard, Satan comes to us when we least expect him. 
 Judas was with the Apostles, Moses was working a 
 miracle, Cain was offering a sacrifice, Jonah was going to 
 preach, when the whisper of the Tempter came. 
 
 Be brave then, dear friends, and fight on. You will 
 grow stronger, and the enemy weaker, the longer you 
 fight. Cling close to Jesus in prayer and in the Blessed 
 Sacrament, and you shall conquer. Then think of the 
 reward promised " to him that overcometh." 
 
 " 'Tis no palm of fading leaves 
 
 That the conqueror's hand receives ; 
 Joys are his, serene and pure, 
 Light that ever shall endure," 
 
 For those who have overcome themselves, who have 
 conquered passion and anger, and lust ; who have tried 
 hard to quit themselves like men, and fight, enduring 
 hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, for them is 
 laid up the crown formed of the pure gold of God's per- 
 fect love, and studded with the priceless jewels of peace, 
 and joy, and contentment. For them is prepared the 
 white robe never more to be spotted with sin, even the 
 righteousness of Saints; and after the agony of Gethsemane 
 and the battle on Calvary, they shall find rest with Jesus, 
 even " the rest that remaineth to the people of God." 
 
" Ten thousand times ten thousand, 
 In sparkling raiment bright, 
 The armies of the ransomed saints 
 Throng up the steeps of light : 
 'Tis finished ! all is finished, 
 Their fight with death and sin ; 
 Fling open wide the golden gates, 
 And let the victors in. 
 
 " What rush of Alleluias 
 Fills all the earth and sky ! 
 What ringing of a thousand harps 
 Bespeak the triumph nigh ! 
 O day, for which creation 
 And all its tribes were made ! 
 O joy, for all its former woes 
 A thousandfold repaid ! 
 
 " Oh, then what raptured greetings 
 On Canaan's happy shore, 
 What knitting severed friendships up, 
 Where partings are no more ! 
 Then eyes with joy shall sparkle. 
 That brimmed with tears of late ; 
 Orphans no longer fatherless, 
 Nor widows desolate. 
 
 " Bring near Thy great salvation, 
 Thou Lamb for sinners slain, 
 Fill up the roll of Thine elect, 
 Then take Thy power and reign ; 
 Appear, Desire of nations, 
 Thine exiles long for home ; 
 Show in the Heavens Thy promised sign ; 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 %ht gright Jttorning. 
 (Easter.) 
 
 Revelation xxi. 4. 
 " God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 
 
 A little boy lay dying. The weeping friends around 
 the little bed knew that the end was very near. Presently 
 the child turned his wan face to his mother, and 
 whispered, " My doctor will come soon : I shall be 
 better in the morning." He was right. That night 
 Jesus, the Good Physician, came and took him home, 
 and he was better, aye, well, in the morning. "Sorrow 
 may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'* 
 And so with us, we are all troubled in one way or another. 
 Some are sick with sin, others sick with sorrow. Some 
 eyes are dim with weeping, others with old age. Some 
 of us have aching limbs, many of us have aching hearts. 
 Some are poor and needy, some lonely and forsaken. 
 But whatever our ailment be, if we are Christ's people, 
 we shall be better in the morning. " The night is far 
 spent, the day is at hand," and we shall be better in the 
 morning. 
 
46 ^Ehe ^Bright JHormng. 
 
 " On the resurrection morning 
 Soul and body meet again, 
 No more sorrow, no more weeping, 
 No more pain." 
 
 Here is the blessed message of comfort which Easter 
 brings to us. We must find sorrow here, pain, trouble, 
 disappointment, death. But after death comes the resur- 
 rection. The night of the grave is followed by the morn 
 of resurrection, and we shall be better in the morning. 
 Some of you, perhaps, have seen a beautiful picture, 
 called "the first Easter dawn" which represents two 
 angels flying, and shading their eyes to catch the first 
 glimpse of the Easter Dawn. It is very early in the 
 morning, the bare crosses of Good Friday still stand out 
 dark against the sky, and there is a golden light in the 
 east, which tells of the resurrection of Jesus, the Sun of 
 righteousness, rising with healing in his wings. 
 
 Ah ! my brethren, some of us are straining our eyes 
 through the gloom of this world to catch a glimpse of 
 the bright morning to come. We, too, can see the crosses 
 where we have suffered with Jesus ; crosses of pain, of 
 want, or of sickness. We can see the grave where we 
 buried our dear ones, and perhaps our joy along with 
 them. But beyond all these, beyond the cross, and the 
 grave, beyond the heart-ache and the pain, the eye of 
 faith can see the light of hope, the light of the resurrection 
 
t&hz fright £Xon\mQ. 47 
 
 morning ; " because Jesus has risen, we shall rise also ;" 
 41 joy cometh in the morning." 
 
 M Saints, your cross in patience bearing, 
 Mourners, stained with many a tear, 
 Penitents, in sorrow wearing 
 Darkest weeds of shame and fear ; 
 Christ is risen ! Lose your sadness, 
 Joying with the joyous throng, 
 Faithful hearts will find their gladness 
 Joining in the Easter song. 
 Christ is risen ! Risen, brother, 
 Brother, Christ is risen indeed !'' 
 
 How shall we speak of the wonders of the resurrection 
 morning? How shall we describe the joys of Heaven? 
 Painters have tried to picture those glories, poets have 
 sung of them, enthusiasts have dreamed of them, but all 
 have failed to realise them. Even the inspired words of 
 S. John fail to describe fully the City of our God. How 
 can man, laden with earth, fly, even in thought, up to 
 Heaven ? And yet we yearn to do so, as the eagle soars 
 up towards the sun, though beaten back by its fierce 
 glory. We can but catch, like Moses, a far-off glimpse of 
 the Promised Land, since " eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the 
 things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' , 
 
 What does the Hymn before us tell us of Heaven ? 
 
 first, it tells us of the conquerors who enter Heaven. 
 
4$ ^he fright Jrtxmtinrr. 
 
 " 'Tis finished ! All is finished, 
 Their fight with death and sin ; 
 Fling open wide the golden gates, 
 And let the victors in." 
 
 Jesus, the Captain of our Salvation, rose from the dead r 
 and ascended up on high, leading captivity captive. He r 
 the true Samson, went down to Hades, the city of Satan, 
 the Philistine, the enemy of souls ; thence he arose, bearing 
 off the gates of that gloomy Gaza, " for he hath broken 
 the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron asunder. ,r 
 Death and Hell are robbed of their victims. Death had 
 held all men in bondage, but Jesus rose to raise all men 
 up, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against them. 
 Thus Jesus arose and went to His Father; and then came 
 the Angels' shout of triumph — " lift up yourheads, O ye 
 gates, and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors, and the: 
 King of Glory shall come in." And so for us "a door 
 was opened in Heaven." And at the end of the world, on 
 the resurrection morning, He who has come to judge us 
 will once more ascend with all the multitude of His 
 redeemed, with all His saints, from those at the beginning 
 of the world, to those whose names were last written in 
 the Book of Life. The noble army of martyrs, and all 
 the victor throng will enter through the gates into the city 
 with their Captain. It is a grand sight even on earth to 
 look at an army of conquerors. I saw the troops come 
 home from the Crimea, and watched miles of bright 
 
^he $rtQht JExrrninij. 49 
 
 bayonets as regiment after regiment marched by ; men 
 who had fought at Alma and Inkerman, men who had 
 ridden in the death-ride at Balaklava, men who had lain 
 in the freezing trenches before Sebastopol. Hearts 
 throbbed, and eyes flashed as those conquerors went by. 
 But what must be the sight in Heaven, when high and 
 low, rich and poor, walk in one grand procession, bearing 
 the palms of victory ; of victory over sin, victory over 
 self, victory over pride or falsehood ! 
 
 The king will be there, who by his prayers conquered 
 the evil in his kingdom ; and there, too, will be the poor 
 widow who gave her mite to Jesus, and was thankful. 
 The martyrs who conquered by faith, when the lions 
 mangled them in the arena ; the little child who gave up 
 its own will for the sake of others ; all who have fought 
 a good fight, and kept the faith, will be there, "clothed 
 in white raiment, and palms in their hands," — 
 
 " Fling open wide the golden gales, 
 And let the victors in." 
 
 " 'Tis finished, all is finished :" there shall be no more 
 struggles with temptation, no more bitter battles with sin; 
 the hand that wielded the sword clasps the palm now ; 
 the soldier, " weary with the march of life," rests his 
 feet on the green pastures of the Better Land. 
 
 Next, the Hymn tells of the triumph song of Heaven, 
 
 " What rush of Alleluias 
 Fills all the earth and sky." 
 D 
 
50 ^ke fright JEoming. 
 
 We all know the wondrous power of music here on 
 earth. When soldiers hang back weary and dispirited, 
 the band plays, and they rush forward to the charge. 
 "When our spirit is disturbed, and our hearts feel sad, a 
 soft strain of music will often bring comfort to us, as 
 David's harp did to Saul. How full of rest and peace is 
 the quiet time spent in some vast cathedral, where we 
 listen to the anthem pealmg through the dim aisles, till it 
 dies away among the echoes ! I remember once when I 
 was holding a service on the upper deck of an Emigrant 
 ship one Good Friday, how the people, who were going 
 away from the old country for ever, sang " Rock of Ages." 
 At first only a few voices were heard, but gradually one 
 after another took up the dear old words, and a great 
 wave of sound rose up through the cold March air, and 
 passers by on the river checked their boats to listen in 
 wonder. Every heart was touched by that simple hymn. 
 
 But what must the music of Heaven be like, where all 
 who on earth sang the Lord's song in a strange land, 
 shall sing it anew in His presence, with hearts and voices 
 alike in tune ! Those who sang in trained choirs amid 
 the " dim religious light " of the Minster, the old who 
 quavered out "Guide me, O Thou great Redeemer," 
 with feeble voice, but with strong faith, these shall join 
 in the song of Heaven, and sing, perchance, the same 
 loved hymns as of old. Musicians tell us that on earth 
 no instrument is ever perfectly in tune ; but in Heaven 
 
c&hz gJright Jttrrrrung. 51 
 
 all things will be in tune to sing the one great song, the 
 praise of Jesus, our Brother, who was dead, and is alive 
 again, was lost, and is found. 
 
 Again, the Hymn tells of the meetings in Heaven. 
 
 There will be the meeting of parent and child. The 
 little ones who clung round their father's knee like flowers 
 springing at the foot of a forest oak, and who went before 
 us into the silent land ; the bright boy, the only son of 
 his mother, the gentle girl who faded away with the fatal 
 beauty of consumption on her face, these we shall meet 
 again. Augustine shall once more kneel by the side of 
 Monica, and murmur to his Lord, " I loved thee late, but 
 not too late for pardon."* And many another good 
 mother shall hear the words spoken — " Your schooling 
 led me here." 
 
 There, too, will be the meeting of friends, — 
 
 " What knitting severed friendships up, 
 Where partings are no more." 
 
 Once more Jonathan will clasp the hand of David, and 
 think not of the bloody fight at Gilboa. Moses will have 
 crossed the river at last, and Joshua will be there to meet 
 him. Those who loved us and were true to us, those 
 with whom we took sweet counsel on earth, will meet us 
 in Heaven, and we shall walk together in the House of 
 God as friends. Sometimes when friends meet on earth 
 * " Sero te amavi." Augustine. 
 
52 ^he fright Jftorning. 
 
 after long years of separation, time and trouble have so 
 altered them that we scarcely know them again ; but how 
 much greater will be the change in Heaven ! And yet I 
 believe we shall know our friends, though the dear face 
 which we remember scarred and wasted with disease will 
 be all healthful then. The crippled limbs, the blinded 
 eyes, the deaf ears, will be all cured there, where the 
 Good Physician dwells. The eyes of the poor mourner, 
 so often dim with weeping here, will be bright with 
 happiness there, for " God shall wipe away all tears from 
 their eyes." There will be no need to look for the tears 
 of Ruth, 
 
 " When, sick for home, 
 She stood in tears amid the alien corn." 
 
 She has gone home long ago, and has found Naomi 
 again, and all tears are wiped away. Mary need weep 
 no more for Lazarus, but may sit once more at the feet 
 of Jesus. S. John can lie once more on that dear breast, 
 and fear no malice of the traitor. And we, if we love our 
 dear Lord now, and try humbly and earnestly to do His 
 will, shall find a place in Heaven ; we, too, shall meet 
 the loving glance of those dear eyes ; we, too, shall hear 
 sweet words of praise for our poor efforts, — " well done, 
 good and faithful servants." 
 
 As I look at the quiet Churchyard, and " the grassy 
 barrows of the happier dead," I feel how true are those 
 words, "the Harvest is the end of the world." Oh! 
 
Wnz fright JExnmtng. 53 
 
 may it be truly said of each of us one day, " Lord, if he 
 sleep he shall do well." Yea, if we sleep in the Lord, 
 we shall indeed do well, since we know of a truth, 
 
 " When 'neath the sod 
 I have slept long, my God 
 Will wake me ud." 
 
• Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come; 
 And from Thy celestial home 
 Shed a ray of light Divine ; 
 Come, Thou Father of the poor, 
 Come, Thou source of all our store, 
 Come, within our bosoms shine. 
 
 " Thou of Comforters the best, 
 Thou the soul's most welcome guest, 
 Sweet refreshment here below j 
 In our labour rest most sweet, 
 Grateful coolness in the heat, 
 Solace in the midst of woe. 
 
 " O most Blessed Light Divine, 
 Shine within these hearts of Thine, 
 And our inmost spirits fill ; 
 Where Thou art not, man hath nought, 
 Nothing good in deed or thought, 
 Nothing free from taint of ill. 
 
 " Heal our wounds, our strength renew ; 
 On our dryness pour Thy dew ; 
 Wash the stains of guilt away : 
 Bend the stubborn heart and will ; 
 Melt the frozen, warm the chill ; 
 Guide the steps that go astray. 
 
 " On the faithful, who adore 
 And confess Thee, evermore 
 In Thy sevenfold gifts descend : 
 Give them virtue's sure reward, 
 Give them Thy salvation, Lord, 
 Give them joys that never end." 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 5V iftan's pfe. 
 
 (Whitsunday.) 
 
 S. Luke xii. 15. 
 
 " A man s life consistent not in the attendance of the things which 
 he 2}ossesseth.' i ' 
 
 A man's life ! Every thoughtful man will find much to 
 think about in those few words. A man's life ; — whence 
 comes it, whither does it go, what can be done with it ? 
 Or as individuals we may think — my life, what is it, what 
 am I making of it, what did God intend it to be ? Now, 
 life is the gift of God, the life of the body and the life of 
 the soul both come from Him. " In the beginning God 
 formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a 
 living soul." Life, then, comes from God. We can 
 destroy the life of the body, but we cannot give it. We 
 can kill an insect, or a man, but we cannot restore them 
 to life, nor can we prolong life when the time for death 
 has come. Since, then, life is lent to us by God, we may 
 
56 Jt Jtait'* $ifc. 
 
 not throw it away recklessly, as a gambler does money, 
 but we must use it carefully, looking to the future, as a 
 farmer uses his seed. 
 
 This subject of a man's life is a very wide one. I will 
 only take one or two points now as showing what a man's 
 life is not, and what it is ; and as specially bearing on the 
 teaching of the day, when true life was given to the 
 Christian Church by the Holy Ghost, who is the Lord, 
 and Giver of Life. The text tells us what a maris life 
 is not. " A man's life consisteth not in the abundance 
 of the things which he possesseth." It is a very common 
 mistake to suppose that a true life is a successful life, a 
 prosperous and wealthy man is said to have succeeded in 
 life. But that is not the sort of life to which Jesus refers 
 in the text. He shows us in one place the picture of a 
 man who had been prosperous, one who wore purple and 
 fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day ; one whom 
 many had envied. Yet his life was not a success, and 
 there are none of us who would care to change places 
 with him. The Gospel also shows us another example of 
 a mistaken life. It shows us a young ruler who had 
 great possessions, and many good qualities, yet his life 
 was not a success : he went away from the true Life, he 
 went away from Jesus. No, " a man's life consisteth not 
 in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." 
 It matters not whether we are rich or poor, successful or 
 unfortunate, clever or dull \ the secret of a true life con- 
 
Jt iEait's $ifc. 57 
 
 sists in trying to do our duty towards God and our 
 neighbour in that station of life to which it has pleased 
 God to call us. This is the only true life, the only life 
 worth living, the only life which brings comfort here, and 
 happiness hereafter, since " the path of duty is the way to 
 glory." Some one has said very truly, " The word duty 
 seems to me the biggest word in the world, and is upper- 
 most in all my serious doings." When Lord Nelson lay 
 dying, in the hour of his last great victory, at Trafalgar, 
 his last words were " thank God, I have done my duty." 
 Believe me, brethren, his is the only true life who can 
 say at the last, feeling all his failures and mistakes, and 
 humbly conscious of his weakness, " thank God, I have 
 tried to do my duty." There is only one path for us to 
 tread in as Christian people, and that is the path of duty 
 marked out for us by God. 
 
 " He that walks it, only thirsting 
 For the right, and learns to deaden 
 Love of self; before his journey closes, 
 He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting 
 Into glossy purples, which out-redden 
 All voluptuous garden roses." 
 
 It is related of a certain famous statesman, that in the 
 early days of photography, he was about to have his 
 portrait taken. The operator begged him to keep perfectly 
 steady for a moment, but he moved, and in consequence 
 
58 Jl JEan'0 g&fc 
 
 there was only a blur where a great man's likeness ought 
 to have appeared. How many people, from want of a 
 steadfast attention to their duty, present to the eyes 
 of the world merely a blur, instead of the picture of a 
 noble life ! I have said that the true life is the life of 
 duty. And that life, if truly carried out, will be an earnest 
 life. No one succeeds unless he is in earnest. This is 
 true of every calling and walk in life. If you look into 
 the ranks of men who have succeeded, the great dis- 
 coverers, the great men of science, the famous painters, 
 sculptors or soldiers, you will find that they were in 
 earnest ; that they began and persevered, often with little 
 or no encouragement. 
 
 We look at a certain boy, making a rude laboratory in 
 his garret, at Penzance, and by-and-bye we find that boy 
 grown into the great chemist, Humphrey Davy. Or we 
 read of another boy, working in a cook's shop, and 
 drawing pictures in flour and charcoal on the walls, and 
 presently we find him known as Claude Lorraine, the first 
 landscape painter of his age. These men were in earnest. 
 So it is with all work, from the meanest to the grandest, 
 to do it well we must be in earnest. If a labourer is set 
 to clear a field of weeds, and if he is in earnest, he takes 
 two hands to his work. So if we are to get rid of the 
 weeds of evil habits and besetting sins, if we are to sweep 
 the house, and search diligently till we find the precious 
 treasure which we have lost, we must put two hands to 
 
31 Jtot'0 Sife. 59 
 
 the work. Every man who wants to live a true life, must 
 have a definite object, and be in earnest in reaching it. 
 Those who succeed are those who aim high. The school- 
 boy who is contented with the second place in his class 
 will never be first. The man who is content to sleep in 
 the valley will never reach the mountain-top of success. 
 Of course our aims in life are very different. One deter- 
 mines to be a great preacher, another a successful 
 merchant ; one desires to be a good farmer, another a 
 clever mechanic. One woman has the power of helping 
 suffering humanity, and becomes a Florence Nightingale, 
 or a Sister Dora. Another has no wider sphere of work 
 than a labourer's cottage. But whatever our work is, if 
 we are to succeed we must be in earnest, we must do it 
 with our might. Never be ashamed of your work or 
 position ; if it be a humble calling, raise it and glorify it 
 by honesty and faithfulness in discharging it. Has not 
 Jesus sanctified labour in the Nazareth workshop ? It 
 has been well said that there is nothing to be ashamed of 
 in being a shoemaker, but there is something to be 
 ashamed of in making a bad shoe. But, brethren, the 
 highest life is not the earnest working for success. I tell 
 you to be in earnest in worldly matters, but do not put 
 them first. As Christian people your highest aim should 
 be to do your duty towards God. This life is for all men 
 a time of fighting and struggling, and working, and plan- 
 ning ; made up of actions, thoughts, and longings, great 
 
Co Jt £&nris $i£e. 
 
 and small, good and bad. Our aim should be to bring 
 this life into subjection to God's will ; so that we may 
 consecrate it to Him who has bought us with His Precious 
 Blood. As the Israelites saw the marks of the Passover 
 blood on their door-posts, and knew that they were saved, 
 so should we ever see the marks of Christ's redeeming 
 Blood upon us, and feel that we are not our own, that 
 our life is not our own, that our time is not our own, and 
 that our duty is to say, " Lo, I come to do Thy Will, 
 O Lord." Thus far we have seen that "a man's life 
 consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he 
 possesseth." He may be rich or poor, this is only an 
 accident. A true life is one of duty towards God and 
 our neighbour, done earnestly and with our might ; a life 
 which aims at Heaven, a life whose ruling principle is the 
 Will of God. And again, the true life is not only an 
 earnest life, but also an unselfish life. God will not only 
 have us good ourselves, but will have us make others 
 good. We all influence our fellow-men for good or evil, 
 just as we ourselves are good or evil. A bad man in a 
 parish or community is like a plague-spot, he is not only 
 bad himself, but he makes others bad. A good man in 
 a similar place is like a sweet flower in a garden, beautiful 
 in himself, and by shedding sweetness around him making 
 the lives of others beautiful. Believe me, the best sermon 
 is the example of a good life. Brethren, have you learned 
 to look at your life in this way ? Most of us, all of us 
 
Jt Jttan'0 $ife. 6 1 
 
 indeed, must confess that our lives are not altogether 
 satisfactory. There is too much of self, and too little of 
 God in them. . There is abundance of earnestness for 
 the things of this life, and too little for eternity. I have 
 read of a boy in a Sunday School who when asked if his 
 father were a Christian, answered, " Yes, he is a Christian, 
 but he is not working much at it just now." How true 
 that is of many of us. When we see the lives of some 
 who bear the name and sign of Christ's people, when we 
 mark how faint and languid is their interest in spiritual 
 things, we are forced to believe though they have the 
 profession of a Christian they are not working much at it. 
 How then, you ask, may we live the true life of which I 
 have spoken? I will tell you. We need a model, and 
 the means of imitating it. The model life is that of Jesus 
 Christ, as revealed to us in the Gospel ; since Jesus came 
 into the world not only to die for us, but to show us how 
 to live, and He ever lives now to make intercession for 
 us, and so to help us to live the true life of His redeemed 
 ones. We too often forget what Christ is doing now for 
 us, too much religious teaching never goes beyond Cal- 
 vary. Jesus promised to send the Holy Ghost to direct 
 His Church into all holiness. If the Holy Ghost directs 
 and rules our hearts we can make our life, however 
 humble, a good life, a noble life, acceptable to God. 
 Now, as you know, the Holy Ghost was first given to 
 the Christian Church on the Day of Pentecost, that first 
 
6 2 31 Jttan'0 gife. 
 
 Whit-Sunday of old. Many persons seem to think that 
 the gift is never repeated now. But the outpouring of 
 the Holy Spirit on the Church, both as a body and as 
 individuals, is constantly being repeated. The Holy 
 Spirit comes to us in the Sacraments, otherwise they 
 would be useless. He comes to us in holy Confirmation, 
 otherwise that sacred rite would have no meaning. He 
 comes to His Ministers in the solemn rite of Ordination ; 
 and to all His people in the services of His Church. God 
 the Holy Ghost will come to each of you, filling you more 
 and more with all fulness if you ask with faith. The clay 
 cottage of our body becomes the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost, if only we will have Him to dwell there. Without 
 that Presence, without that indwelling of the Spirit, we 
 cannot live the true life of a Christian; since "every 
 good gift, and every perfect gift is from above." And 
 the greatest of these gifts is the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
 who gives us the power to lead a gentle, pure, unselfish 
 life. Let us, who feel how much there is to amend in our 
 lives, pray to-night that the precious gift of the first Whit- 
 Sunday may be repeated now. 
 
 " Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come ; 
 And from Thy celestial home 
 Shed a ray of light Divine ; 
 Come, Thou Father of the poor, 
 Come, Thou source of all our store, 
 Come, within our bosoms shine." 
 
Jt glans Sift. 6 3 
 
 Let us learn the true dignity of a life for which Christ 
 died, since 
 
 " A sacred burden is the life ye bear ; 
 Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly. 
 Stand up, and walk beneath it steadfastly. 
 Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin, 
 But onward, upward, till the goal ye win." 
 
" I was a wandering sheep, 
 I did not love the fold, 
 I did not love my shepherd's voice, 
 I would not be controlled. 
 I was a wayward child, 
 I did not love my home, 
 I did not love my Father's voice, 
 I loved afar to roam. 
 
 " The Shepherd sought His sheep, 
 The Father sought His child, 
 They followed me o'er vale and hill, 
 O'er deserts waste and wild ; 
 They found me nigh to death, 
 Famished, and faint, and lone; 
 They bound me with the bands of love, 
 They saved the wandering one. 
 
 " They spoke in tender love, 
 They raised my drooping head ; 
 They gently closed my bleeding wounds, 
 My fainting soul they fed; 
 They washed my filth away, 
 They made me clean and fair; 
 They brought me to my home in peace 
 The long-sought wanderer. 
 
 " Jesus my Shepherd is, 
 
 'Twas He that loved my soul, 
 
 'Twas He that washed me in His Blood, 
 
 'Twas He that made me whole ; 
 
 'Twas He that sought the lost, 
 
 That found the wandering sheep ; 
 
 'Twas He that brought me to the fold, 
 
 'Tis He that still doth keep. 
 
 " I was a wandering sheep, 
 I would not be controlled ; 
 But now I love my Shepherd's voice, 
 I love, I love the fold. 
 I was a wayward child, 
 I once preferred to roam, 
 But now I love my Father's voice, 
 I love, I love my home." 
 
SERMON VIII 
 
 ^he SBattbevcr. 
 
 St. Luke xv. 17, 18. 
 
 1 ' When he came to himself, he said, ... J will arise, and go to 
 my Father" 
 
 The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of every one 
 who has sinned grievously, and who has been led by 
 God's mercy to repent truly ; of every one who has gone 
 away from God, and has come back again. That story 
 is told in the hymn which we sang just now. Some of 
 you know this sad truth from your own experience. You 
 can remember some sin, its weight, its misery, its wretched- 
 ness. And you can remember how you repented, and 
 went back to God. You can recall the misery of the 
 departure, and the joy of the return. Perhaps there are 
 some here who feel that they are still away from God, 
 still clinging to their sin, hating it perhaps, and fearing 
 its consequences, and yet not wise enough, nor brave 
 enough, to arise and go home. I speak to both classes. 
 There are four points for us to notice. The Prodigal 
 
66 ^he SEUrtierer. 
 
 leaving home. Then the Prodigal enjoying the pleasures 
 of sin. Then the Prodigal tasting the sorrows of sin. 
 And lastly, the Prodigal returning home. First of all, I 
 look at the Prodigal leaving home. Why did he leave 
 home ? Because he wanted to be his own master, and 
 to have his own way. 
 
 " I was a wandering sheep, 
 I did not love the fold, 
 I did not love my Shepherd's voice, 
 I would not be controlled. 
 I was a wayward child, 
 I did not love my home, 
 I did not love my Father's voice, 
 I loved afar to roam." 
 
 As long as a son obeys his father's commands, and 
 attends to the wishes of others, rather than his own, all 
 is well. He abides in his father's house, he enjoys one 
 of the greatest of all blessings, a happy home. But when 
 the son becomes wilful, and breaks the law of his father, 
 and forsakes the teaching of his mother, and follows his 
 own way, home is no longer home to him. He feels like 
 a criminal, because he knows he is deceiving those whom 
 he is bound to love and honour. Once he used to 
 look his father honestly in the face, now he is afraid to 
 meet his eye. Once he told his mother about his 
 troubles, now he has secrets from her. He has taken 
 the first step down hill. Soon he takes the second step 
 
^he SBanbmr. 67 
 
 down hill — he leaves his father's house. Now let us 
 look at ourselves. God our Heavenly Father has given 
 us certain laws and commandments. He says we are 
 to do certain things, and we are not to do certain other 
 things. As long as we keep His laws all is well with us. 
 We abide in our Father's House, the Church. We are 
 not ashamed to look our Father in the face, that is to 
 say, we pray to Him, and tell Him our secrets. We 
 look to His hand to feed us in the Blessed Sacrament. But 
 when we want to go on our way, when we break His law, 
 all is changed. And the first sign of the change is that 
 we want to hide away from God, just as Adam tried to 
 hide after his disobedience, and as Judas went away from 
 Jesus, " and it was night." And we show this wish to 
 hide from God by leaving our Father's House, the 
 Church. We are ashamed to come to God's House 
 bearing our guilty secret with us. I have known many 
 sad cases of people who were once regular Communicants, 
 and who ceased to come to the Altar. They had gone 
 wrong, and instead of going back to their Father, they 
 left His House, and went down hill, lower and lower. 
 Thus you see the first wrong step is the breaking of God's 
 law by sin, the next step is leaving the Church, our 
 Father's House. Just as the home life is all changed for 
 the prodigal, so our Father's House becomes changed to 
 those who have sinned. The words of the service or 
 sermon seem to point reproachfully to them, and to vex 
 
68 %\it §MarLbn*.cr. 
 
 them and make them angry. It is home no longer to 
 them. And so their place in Church becomes empty, 
 their place at the Altar knows them no more, they do not 
 pray, they are afraid to look their Father in the face. 
 Next, I look at the Prodigal enjoying what he calls the 
 pleasures of sin. Ah ! yes, sin seems pleasant enough at 
 first. To have our own way seems very delightful. 
 Satan gives us the good wine of pleasure first, and when 
 men have well drunken, then that which is worse. He 
 showers roses abundantly on the sinner's path at the 
 first, and keeps the sharp tearing thorns till later on. The 
 devil makes the down hill road very easy at first. He 
 is like the money-lender, who at the first makes every- 
 thing pleasant for his victim. " Here is your money,'* 
 he says, "you have but to sign your name here as a 
 matter of form." But when the day of reckoning comes, 
 the poor bankrupt finds his pleasant friend changed into 
 a cruel taskmaster. At first the bands of sin are like the 
 daisy chains which little children cast around them in 
 their play, but they grow heavier and heavier, till they 
 crush their victims like an iron shroud. The Prodigal 
 joins himself to a citizen of that country, that country 
 which lies outside his Father's House. In a word, he 
 gets into bad company. He is determined to serve the 
 devil, and the devil always finds suitable company for his 
 slaves. When the Prodigal begins to go wrong, Satan 
 sends him company to keep him wrong ; probably some 
 
^he SBanfcerer. 69 
 
 weak or vicious woman. And for a time this company 
 seems very delightful. The Prodigal has his own way. 
 He can spend riotous evenings with his loose companions, 
 he rejoices that there is no father to call him to account, 
 or to ask him how he has spent his time. Over and over 
 again he repeats, " I am my own master." Not quite, 
 my poor friend. You have a master, even the devil, and 
 he is a very hard master, and by-and-bye he begins to 
 pay his wages. No one ever found the pleasures of si a 
 satisfying, and everyone finds the price paid a terrible 
 one. The excitement of sin makes it seem very fascinat- 
 ing for the time, but when we look back upon it in 
 calmer moments, it is but a sorry sight. Have you ever 
 come down early in the morning to a room where a noisy 
 revel was held the night before ? How different everything 
 looks. How grim and wretched, and " stale, flat, and 
 unprofitable " appears the room in the cold grey morning 
 light ! The lights are burned out, the wine-cup is 
 drained, the fire reduced to cold ashes. So looks the 
 morning of remorse after the night of sin. The Prodigal 
 begins to be in want ; to be in rags, homeless, friendless. 
 This was the price which he paid. The devil always 
 brings his servants to rags and misery at last. He begins 
 by offering fine clothing, and abundance of pleasure, but 
 the end comes in rags and misery. Look at the drunkard, 
 singing and laughing with his gay companions. How 
 merry he is 1 Let us eat and drink, let the jest pass, and 
 
70 ^he SEanbmr. 
 
 the song be sung. He is well-dressed now, he has 
 friends and money now. But by-and-bye go and see the 
 drunkard die, as I have done. His fine clothes have 
 gone in drink, his money, his furniture, his good name, 
 his health have all gone in the same way. Can that 
 miserable, blear-eyed, trembling wretch, who gropes on 
 the floor for what is not there, can this be the same man 
 whom we saw lately ? Oh ! believe me, " the way of 
 transgressors is hard." It ends in rags, in want, in death, 
 "for the wages of sin is death." 
 
 Look at the story of a Prodigal daughter, of a girl 
 who leaves home, and despises the law of her mother, 
 and breaks the covenant of her God. At first her way of 
 life seems very pleasant. She meets with no interference. 
 There is no mother to reprove her. Her new master, 
 the devil, dresses her in gay clothing, and she may 
 flaunt in jewels. How pleasant a life ! Ah ! wait awhile, 
 the end is not yet. The dark time comes, and even 
 before it comes there rises some bitterness from the very 
 midst of her unholy pleasures. Then the dark days come, 
 and bring illness, loneliness, shame, poverty, and above 
 all, the memory of the past. At length she has time 
 to remembe>. Where are the gay dresses now? Where 
 are the wild companions now ? Who will take pity upon 
 that poor wasted body, or that poor broken heart ? Rags 
 and misery, and perhaps suicide in the black river, these 
 things are before her — " the wages of sin is death." So 
 
 
Wxt WLzixbtxzx. 71 
 
 we see that the pleasures of sin soon change into the 
 sorrows of sin. Go and look at a sinner alone with his 
 sin; tortured by the memories of a bad past, and by fears 
 for an unknown future. Once he said, " I don't care," 
 does he say so now ? He is haunted by the ghosts of 
 old sins, — 
 
 " The ghosts of forgotten actions, 
 Come floating before his sight, 
 And things which he thought were dead things, 
 Are alive with a terrible might. 
 And the vision of all his past life 
 Is an awful thing to face, — 
 Alone with his conscience sitting 
 In that solemnly silent place." 
 
 Think of the man who has led an impure life, think of 
 him alone with his conscience, and alone with his sin, as 
 he must be one day. What white faces of lost women 
 must haunt him ! What visions of once happy homes 
 blighted by him must throng upon him. Does he not 
 care now ? Does he make light of his sins now ? Such 
 an one is in Hell already, in the Hell of hopeless terror, 
 remorse and despair. I heard a clergyman once tell how 
 he had been summoned to visit a man, a stranger, who 
 was dying, and whose life had been very bad. The 
 clergyman tried various means to arouse the man's 
 interest in vain. He sat crouching over an empty hearth, 
 rocking himself too and fro, and ever and again uttering 
 
^ht Wiznbtxzx. 
 
 in a fearful voice the one word — Already, The visit was 
 repeated several times, but still the man spoke nothing 
 but the one word, Already ; and it was only just before 
 the end that it was discovered that the wretched man 
 meant that he was in Hell Already, 
 
 My brothers and sisters, now in your hot youth, if you 
 are tempted to think that sin is sweet, remember the end. 
 If you would escape the awful hours passed alone with 
 your sin, escape now for your life. Unless you escape, 
 you will come to spiritual destitution, to the hunger, to 
 the husks of the Prodigal. Would that I could arouse 
 some of you to cry now — " what must I do to be saved ?" 
 And the answer I would give you is " go home/' Make 
 up your mind now. Determine now, " I will arise ; I 
 will arise out of this bad company, out of this evil way ; 
 I see my mistake, I see my danger, Father receive me. 
 I will arise and go to my Father, and will say to him, 
 Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, 
 and am no more worthy to be called Thy son." Will you 
 do this now ? There is nothing to hinder you from 
 going home. Do you fear your reception there ? I tell 
 you God not only waits for your return, but He meets 
 you halfway, while you are yet " a great way off." 
 
 " The Shepherd sought His sheep, 
 The Father sought His child, 
 They followed me o'er vale and hill, 
 O'er deserts waste and wild. 
 
<£he SEaaberer. 73 
 
 They found me nigh to death, 
 Famished, and faint, and lone ; 
 They bound me with the bands of love, 
 They saved the wandering one." 
 
 My brothers and sisters, if these words touch your 
 hearts, make up your minds now. The Prodigal went 
 home at once, and was forgiven. Half our good resolu- 
 tions come to nothing because they are not acted upon at 
 once. Is there anything which keeps you back ? Some- 
 thing which makes you ashamed to look God in the face ? 
 Then give it up. Leave the bad thing behind, and go 
 home. Don't think that your Father will not receive you. 
 Some earthly fathers might shut the door against you, 
 your Heavenly Father will not. Jesus, your Redeemer, 
 is opening that door for you now. Your guardian angel 
 is drawing you towards it now. O Prodigal Son, O 
 Prodigal Daughter, whoever you are, go home. 
 
u ' Come unto Me, ye weary, 
 And I will give you rest.' 
 O blessed voice of Jesus, 
 "Which comes to hearts opprest ; 
 It tells of benediction, 
 Of pardon, grace, and peace, 
 Of joy that hath no ending, 
 Of love which cannot cease. 
 
 " ' Come unto Me, ye wanderers, 
 And I will give you light.' 
 O loving voice of Jesus, 
 Which comes to cheer the night ; 
 Our breasts were filled with sadness, 
 And we had lost our way ; 
 But He has brought us gladness, 
 And songs at break of day, 
 
 " ' Come unto Me, ye fainting, 
 And I will give you life.' 
 
 cheering voice of Jesus, 
 Which comes to aid our strife ; 
 The foe is stern and eager, 
 The fight is fierce and long ; 
 But He has made us mighty, 
 And stronger than the strong. 
 
 " ' And whomsoever cometh, 
 
 1 will not cast him out.' 
 O welcome voice of Jesus, 
 Which drives away our doubt; 
 Which calls us very sinners, 
 Unworthy though we be, 
 
 Of love so free and boundless, 
 To come, dear Lord, to Thee. 
 
SERMON IX 
 
 ^oThe Jjatthftti Jfrurtb. 
 
 S. John vi. 37. 
 " Him that cometh to Me I will in no tcise cast out." 
 
 There are some words which are equally beautiful in all 
 languages. The name Mother, for instance, in all tongues, 
 and in all ages, means love, sweetness, gentleness, trust. 
 In the old Bible days when a Hebrew child murmured 
 that name by its mother's knee, beneath the shadow of 
 the vine and fig-tree in Emmanuel's land ; in the warrior 
 days of ancient Greece or Rome, when the soldier in his 
 armour stopped to listen to his little one prattling in his 
 wife's arms ; to-day when we pause to hearken to our 
 child's first speech, it is always the same ; we hear the 
 word, which in Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, in the soft 
 southern tongue of Italy, or in the sturdy Anglo-Saxon 
 of our own land, means the same thing — love, sweetness, 
 trust — Mother. There is another such word which is 
 beautiful in any tongue, and that is the word Friend. 
 I should not care to learn a language which had not that 
 word ; I should not think this life worth living if I had 
 
76 <Wxt Jfaithful Jfriettb. 
 
 not a friend. The hardest, saddest thing, which can be 
 said of a man is " he has no friends." There is something 
 very grand and holy about an earthly friendship ; such a 
 friendship as that of Damon, which made him willing to 
 die for Phintias, or that of Jonathan for David. It is a 
 blessed thought that here in the world we have some one 
 who cares for us, one who will rejoice at our success, and 
 be sorry for our failure. Such a friend is better than 
 thousands of gold and silver, better than houses and 
 lands, for these are valueless if we are without a friend. 
 But earthly friends change. The friends of our childhood, 
 who played with us in the meadows at home, are scattered 
 far and wide. Some are fighting the battle of life in 
 foreign lands, others pass us in the crowd without knowing 
 us. Many are in their graves. The very fields where we 
 played are built over and become a town. Some of the 
 friends who promised to be always faithful to us quarreled 
 about politics, or allowed a little money, or a little land 
 to separate us for ever. Yes, earthly friends change. 
 But the hymn which we sang just now tells us of a Friend 
 who never changes, " with whom is no variableness, 
 neither shadow of turning ; Jesus Christ, the same yester- 
 day, to-day, and for ever." Let us think, then, of Jesus 
 as being our best Friend, first, because of what He did for 
 us, and is doing for us now. Some of our earthly friends 
 will do much for us, but who could or would do what 
 Jesus has done? He did not merely say that He loved 
 
^\u Jfaithful Jfriettb. 77 
 
 us, He proved it. He became poor for our sakes, that 
 He might make us rich. He gave up Heaven for us, 
 and exchanged the good things which eye hath not 
 seen, nor ear heard, the ministry of angels and the worship 
 of saints, for a homeless earth. He exchanged the songs 
 of Heaven for the angry voices of wicked men, the Name 
 which is above every name for one of reproach, the 
 unsearchable riches of God for poverty and want. He 
 was stripped of His garments that we might be clothed 
 with the white robes of righteousness. He had no place 
 to lay His Head that we might enter into that rest which 
 remaineth for the people of God. He was hungry that 
 we might receive the Bread of Life ; He thirsted that He 
 might give us to drink out of the well of salvation. He 
 was despised on earth that we might be exalted in 
 Heaven, He was rejected of men that we might be 
 accepted of God. He allowed His eyes to be blind- 
 folded that our eyes might one day see the King in His 
 beauty* He wore the crown of thorns that we might 
 wear the crown of glory. O marvellous Friendship for 
 those who did not love Him, who were even His enemies, 
 since whilst we were yet sinners, Christ died for us ! 
 
 And Jesus did all this willingly. The Son of God, who 
 could have called down legions of angels to help Him, 
 allowed a few soldiers to kill Him. God, who made all 
 men, died for the men whom He had made. And Jesus 
 is our best Friend, because of what He is doing for us now. 
 
78 %ht Jaithfxtl Jrimb. 
 
 He dwells with us; Emanuel, God with us. He gives us day 
 by day our daily bread, food for the soul as well as for 
 the body. As He gives bodily bread to strengthen man's 
 heart, so He gives the Bread from Heaven in the Blessed 
 Sacrament to strengthen man's soul. He daily renews in 
 us, by the work of the Holy Spirit, all that sin and 
 temptation have destroyed in us. He is in us as a well of 
 water ever flowing up to refresh us and keep us alive. 
 And besides all this, He is in Heaven ever pleading for 
 us at the right hand of God. Again, Jesus is our Best 
 Friend because He is the unchanging Friend of all the 
 kinds of people who will love Him. Jesus is the same 
 yesterday, the yesterday of childhood. Holy Child Jesus 
 is the Friend of little children. The poorest cradle is 
 not too mean for Him who lay in a manger. Jesus, the 
 learner, who when twelve years old was in the Temple 
 hearing, and asking questions, is the Friend of the school- 
 boy, and leads him in the path of wisdom. And Jesus is 
 the same to-day. He is our Friend to-day. The Friend 
 of Lazarus, the Friend of the penitent woman, the Friend 
 of Janus' dead child, is our Friend to-day. Hear how 
 He calls us according to our several needs — 
 
 " Come unto Me, ye weary, 
 And I will give you rest." 
 
 Ah ! who among us is not weary sometimes ? Some of 
 us are " weary with the march of life," weary with the 
 
^he Jaithful Jrienb. 79 
 
 battle against temptation, weary with the battle for bread. 
 On the path of some dead hopes and disappointed 
 wishes lie like dead leaves ; and visions of brighter days 
 never to come, fly past us like broken clouds. We look 
 for some one to have pity, and there is no one. Then 
 comes the gentle voice, saying, "Come unto me, ye 
 weary." Most of us are weary of our sins. We are 
 " weary of earth and laden with our sin." We try to 
 climb up to better things, and we fall back so often ; we 
 want to do right, yet evil seems ever present. Then we 
 are forced to cry — " Who will show us any good ? Who 
 will deliver us from the body of this death ?" Then comes 
 the answer — 
 
 " ' Come unto Me, ye weary, 
 And I will give you rest.' 
 O blessed voice of Jesus, 
 "Which comes to hearts opprest ; 
 It tells of benediction, 
 Of pardon, grace, and peace, 
 Of joy that hath no ending, 
 Of love which cannot cease." 
 
 Some among us are weary of their cross. They want to 
 be saved from their cross, like the impenitent thief, 
 instead of by the cross, like him who repented. They 
 murmur " it is so hard to bear all this trouble, so hard to 
 give up what I love best, why are these trials laid upon 
 me?" Then the gentle answer comes, "O weary ones, 
 
So ^he faithful Jfrienb. 
 
 O weary hearts, and aching brows, O tired pilgrims 
 through the wilderness of this world, cast your burden 
 upon the Lord," — 
 
 " Come unto Me, ye wanderers, 
 And I will give you light." 
 
 Many of us are filled with sadness, and we have lost 
 our way. All looks dark and threatening around us. 
 Egypt and its bondage are behind, the desert and its 
 dangers before, and we cannot see the lights of home. 
 Whither shall we direct our steps ; what must we believe 
 amid the strife of tongues, and the confusion of speech ? 
 Again, the answer comes — 
 
 " Come unto Me, ye fainting, 
 And I will give you life." 
 
 Some of us lie by the wayside of life, wounded ; Satan 
 has robbed us, and stripped us, and has left us half-dead. 
 We have fought in the battle of life, and the foe has been 
 too strong for us. Our armour is broken, we faint, we 
 die. Hearken ! One comes our way. " Jesus of 
 Nazareth passeth by." Jesus, the Good Samaritan passeth 
 by. He calls to us and says, " Come unto Me, ye 
 fainting." He will make us strong, He will give us 
 new life. 
 
 " O cheering voice of Jesus, 
 Which conies to aid our strife ; 
 
%)xt Jfaithfttl Jfrunii. 81 
 
 The foe is stem and eager, 
 The fight is fierce and long ; 
 But He has made us mighty, 
 And stronger than the strong." 
 
 But is Jesus my Friend ? Ah ! how many sad, doubting 
 hearts have asked that question ! In their sorrow they 
 cry — I have so often offended Him ; I have so frequently 
 broken His laws ; I have wandered so very far away from 
 Him ; I have been a prodigal son, and a wandering sheep. 
 Will He say me nay ? Hear the precious answer — 
 
 " Whomsoever cometh, 
 I will not cast him out." 
 
 Jesus waits for you, He longs for you, He cries to you, 
 11 Let Me be your Friend." All He wants in us is true 
 sorrow for our past sin, and a hearty desire to do better; 
 " since God who made us without ourselves, will not save 
 us without ourselves." If there be one who hears me now 
 whose heart is sad with the sense of sin, and who longs 
 for better things, let him arise and go to Jesus his Friend. 
 
 " * And whomsoever cometh, 
 I will not cast him out.' 
 O welcome voice of Jesus, 
 Which drives away our doubt ; 
 Which calls us very sinners, 
 Unworthy though we be, 
 Of love so free and boundless, 
 To come, dear Lord, to Thee.'* 
 
" Abide with me ; fast falls the eventide ; 
 The darkness deepens ; Lord, with me abide ; 
 When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 
 Help of the helpless, O abide with me. 
 
 " Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day. 
 Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away ; 
 Change and decay in all around I see ; 
 
 Thou who changest not, abide with me. 
 
 11 I need Thy presence every passing hour ; 
 What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power ? 
 Who like Thyself my guide and stay can be ? 
 Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. 
 
 11 I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless ; 
 Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness ; 
 Where is death's sting ? where, grave, thy victory ? 
 
 1 triumph still, if Thou abide with me. 
 
 Hold Thou Thy Cross before my closing eyes ; 
 Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies ; 
 Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee, 
 In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me." 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 3En the (Sbening. 
 
 S. John vr. 17. 
 " It teas now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.' 11 
 
 Night is falling on the Lake of Galilee. The disciples 
 are in a boat alone, rowing towards Capernaum. They 
 have just seen the miraculous feeding of five thousand 
 people with a few loaves ; and to escape the grateful and 
 excited crowd, Jesus, having sent away His disciples first, 
 has dismissed the multitude, andretired to a mountain alone 
 to pray. Jesus is up on high, where He has drawn near to 
 His Father in Prayer, in the calm peace of one alone 
 with God the Father. The disciples are below on the 
 sea, full of doubt and anxiety. Here we have a type of 
 two classes of people in the world ; the one class calm 
 and peaceful because close to God ; the other class out in 
 the stormy world, full of doubt and care because Jesus 
 has not yet come to them. Presently a sudden storm, 
 so common on the Lake of Galilee, arises j the wind 
 sweeps across the barren hills which rise on one side of 
 the lake, and rushes down the valleys opening on the 
 water. In a moment the waves are white with foam, 
 
84 3Ett the toning. 
 
 the short twilight dies out, and darkness falls suddenly ; 
 and a great wind blows, so that the disciples labour 
 painfully at the oars. Has Jesus forgotten them ? Wiil 
 He leave them there to perish ? Straining their eyes 
 through the mist and gloom, they see a bright Form in 
 the blackness. It is Jesus walking upon the sea. At 
 first they are afraid because they know not that it is 
 Jesus ; but presently, through the howling of the storm, 
 comes the well- loved voice, saying, "It is I, be not 
 afraid." Then the disciples willingly receive Jesus into 
 the boat, and immediately there is a calm and safety. 
 All which the labour of the disciples could not do is done 
 in a moment, the ship is at the land whither they go. I 
 see in this scene a parable of our lives. Let us think of 
 it in connection with the hymn so familiar to us all — 
 " Abide with me." We who are Christ's disciples are 
 embarked on the troublesome waves of this world, where 
 storms, and trials, and dangers beset us. Some of us are 
 trying to reach the farther shore without God's help, 
 trusting to our own rowing. With such people it is indeed 
 dark, and Jesus has not come to them. Such are the 
 unbeliever, or the worldly man who professes to do 
 without religion. By-and-bye when the sea rises by 
 reason of a great wind that blows, a wind of loss, or 
 temptation, or sorrow, it is no wonder that the waves of 
 the sea rage horribly, and go even over their soul. But 
 even for those who love their Lord, and who are trying to 
 
En the (Atoning. 85 
 
 keep His commandments, it is a very troublesome voyage 
 over the sea of life. There are so many currents, so many 
 rocks and quicksands, storms and tempests, that for us a 
 time often comes when we must say, " it is now dark." 
 When that time comes we need to have Jesus with us. 
 We need to see Him walking over the sea of trouble, then 
 all will be well, and we shall reach the shore whither we 
 go. In such dark hours we need to say, as the disciples 
 said to Jesus on a different occasion, " Abide with us, 
 for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent." 
 Look at the hymn — 
 
 " Abide with me, fast falls the eventide ; 
 
 The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide; 
 
 When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, 
 
 Help of the helpless, O abide with me." 
 
 There are dark hours in all our lives, when sorrow is 
 hard at hand ; when the prize for which we laboured 
 slips from our grasp, and the hope which we cherished is 
 disappointed ; when poverty and want fall on our home, 
 or illness casts a shadow over our way of life ; and the 
 voice of wife or child is hushed for ever. These are dark 
 times indeed ; how very dark for those to whom Jesus 
 has not yet come, who do not know where to look for 
 Him. In such dark times as these we cry out for light, 
 ^ince what are we all, but as — 
 
 " An infant crying in the night, 
 
 An infant crying for the light, 
 
 And with no language but a cry ?" 
 
86 In the &bmxnq. 
 
 Ah ! brethren, we want Jesus with us in these dark hours. 
 We need to feel that " the Lord our God will lighten our 
 darkness ; the Lord will light our candle." We need to 
 see Jesus walking on the sea of trouble, and saying to us, 
 " It is I, be not afraid." 
 
 " When other helpers fail and comforts flet, 
 Help of the helpless, O abide with me." 
 
 For us all the shadows are lengthening. 
 
 " Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day ; 
 Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away." 
 
 For us all the evening-time comes on very fast ; every 
 day shows us that the sun of our life is lower, and the 
 shadows longer. With the old people it is evening 
 already. They know that for them very soon " the night 
 cometh when no man can work." How will they take 
 that last journey through the valley of the shadow of 
 death alone? A lonely old age, when we have outlived 
 friends and relations, is sad enough, but how much worse 
 is an old age without God, without light, when *' it is now 
 dark, and Jesus has not come to them." O, you who are 
 old, round whom the shadows of night are gathering, let 
 your prayer be to Jesus — 
 
 " Abide with me, fast falls the eventide." 
 
 For all of us the time comes when — 
 
 " Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away." 
 
£n the ©betting. 87 
 
 A time when all that was sweetest and brightest in life has 
 lost its savour, when the dim eyes can no more look on the 
 sunshine, and the deaf ears fail to listen to the music. 
 As a child grows up it cares nothing for the toys in which 
 it once delighted. So there comes a time when the 
 crown to the king, and money to the wealthy, and 
 pleasure to the frivolous, are like cast-off toys. The days 
 come when of all these things we say, u I have no pleasure 
 in them." Change and decay are all around, the great 
 future is before, and all we need is Jesus to abide with us. 
 Again, there is a dark time when we fall into tempta- 
 tion, when Satan thrusts sore at us, when " the good that 
 we would, we do not, and the evil that we would not, 
 that we do." These dark times of temptation come to 
 all, to the very best of us. The holiest saints have had 
 the fiercest temptations. Woe unto us in that hour of 
 darkness if Jesus be not come to us ; if we have not cried 
 to Him, " Lord, save us, we perish." When our feet 
 stick fast in the deep mire, when we are weary of crying, 
 when there seems no break in the black clouds, then 
 above all times our prayer should be, " Abide with me, 
 for it is toward evening." 
 
 • ' I need Thy presence every passing hour ; 
 
 What but Thy grace can foil the tempter's power?" 
 
 If Jesus be with us in the ship in the dark time of sorrow 
 and temptation, the storm will have lost its power over 
 
88 In the Anting. 
 
 us. " Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness." 
 The storm may still rage, but we shall not be cast away. 
 
 But again, a time must come to us all when it is dark; 
 when the shadow of death falls upon us, and we must go 
 forth on that journey where there are no footprints back- 
 ward. When our strength faileth us, and the light of 
 our eyes is quenched, then it is " toward evening " with 
 us, and then, indeed, we need Jesus to abide with 
 us. Some death scenes are all dark, " it is now dark, 
 and Jesus has not come to them." The man who never 
 knew Jesus in life, seldom finds Him in death. " They 
 die, and make no sign." But those who have been with 
 Jesus on the stormy sea of life, may hope to " find Him 
 on the other side of the sea." If Jesus abides with 
 them, all is well even in death. " Yea, the darkness is 
 no darkness " to them. Those who have Jesus with 
 them have light in their dwellings, both in the hour of 
 death, and in the day of Judgment. There is a 
 beautiful story of a poor working-man, who had had 
 many sorrows and trials, but who loved his Saviour. 
 One night he fell down the shaft of an old forsaken 
 coal-pit, and as he lay crushed and mangled, know- 
 ing that he must die, he saw a star shining far above 
 him in the calm sky. And the fancy came to him that 
 it was the very star which guided to our Saviour's home, 
 and thus in that terrible evening time it was light. In 
 course of time he was found, but as they carried him 
 
In the ©betting. 89 
 
 homewards he died; " the star had shown him where to 
 find the God of the poor ; and through humility, and 
 sorrow, and forgiveness, he had gone to his Saviour's 
 rest." . Men of science tell us that the first thing which 
 a new-born child does is to turn its eyes to the light. 
 And we all know that just before death the dying always 
 crave for light. But the Christian longs for something 
 more than physical light, he looks for the light of God's 
 countenance, for Jesus to abide with him. A famous 
 schoolmaster in the hour of death fancied he was once 
 again in his school-room, and said, " it is growing dark, 
 boys, we must put off the rest till to-morrow." For you 
 and me there will come a time when of our work, and our 
 pleasure, and our life, we shall be forced to say, »« we 
 must put off the rest till to-morrow " — the tremendous 
 morrow of eternity. For all at the hour of death there 
 comes physical darkness, but for Christ's people the 
 promise is fulfilled, " in the evening-time it shall be light." 
 To some indeed the light seems to come most clearly at 
 the last evening-time of death. " It did not seem to come 
 to them in the morning of youth, and when the midday 
 of life was past, they cast wistful, almost reproachful 
 petitions to Heaven, and it seemed that there was neither 
 voice nor any that regarded. But in the evening comes 
 an answer, and comes light." Then, though the dark- 
 ness of death falls, and the winter of sorrow is hard, the 
 dying man can feel the brightness of Paradise in spite of 
 
90 Itt the ©toning. 
 
 darkened windows and sad faces, like one of whom the 
 poet says, 
 
 cl Spite of thick air and closed doors, 
 God told him it was June." 
 
 Surely the best sight for our dying eyes is that of Jesus 
 crucified for our sins, and now ever living to make inter- 
 cession for us. Surely our dying wish should be "We 
 would see Jesus." Surely our dying prayer should be 
 
 " Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes, 
 
 Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.'' 
 
 Then for us Jesus will say once more " let there be light," 
 and the morning shall break, that morning where no night 
 cometh. Then our lips will yearn to say with the angel, 
 " let me go, for the day breaketh," it is towards evening 
 here, but bright, glorious morning there. 
 
" At even, ere the sun was set, 
 The sick, O Lord, around Thee lay 
 Oh, in what divers pains they met ! 
 Oh, in what joy they went away. 
 
 " Once more 'tis eventide, and we 
 Oppressed w ith various ills draw near ; 
 What if Thy Form we cannot see? 
 We know and feel that Thou art near. 
 
 11 Saviour Christ, our woes dispel ; 
 For some are sick, and some are sad, 
 And some have never loved Thee well, 
 And some have lost the love they had ; 
 
 " And some have found the world is vain, 
 Yet from the world they break not free ; 
 And some have friends who give them pain 
 Yet have not sought a friend in Thee ; 
 
 M And none, O Lord, have perfect rest, 
 For none are wholly free from sin ; 
 And they who fain would serve Thee best, 
 Are conscious most of wrong within. 
 
 "O Saviour Christ, Thou too art man : 
 Thou hast been troubled, tempted, tried, 
 Thy kind but searching glance can scan 
 The very wounds that shame would hide. 
 
 " Thy touch has still its ancient power ; 
 No word from Thee can fruitless fall ; 
 Hear, in this solemn evening hour, 
 And in Thy mercy heal us all." 
 
SERMON XI 
 
 %\tz dealing ^onch. 
 
 S. Mark i. 32. 
 
 " And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto Him, all that 
 were diseased, and them that wei-e possessed with devils. 1 * 
 
 Again the scene is by the Lake of Galilee, the spot so 
 closely connected with the words and works of Jesus. It 
 is the close of the Sabbath, the first Sabbath of our 
 Lord's public ministry : and He has passed it in Caper- 
 naum, " His own city," then a prosperous and beautiful 
 town, overlooking the bright waters of the Lake. The 
 Lake is there to-day, as fresh and fair as when the 
 Apostles' fishing boats sailed there, and Jesus taught the 
 people out of the ship. But of Capernaum nothing 
 remains but a few broken pieces of marble, half buried 
 among thistles and rank grass. The pride and unbelief 
 of Capernaum have had their reward. " Thou, Caper- 
 naum, that art exalted unto Heaven, shall be brought 
 down to Hell !" 
 
 But on that Sabbath long ago, Capernaum was in 
 all its prosperity and pride. Jesus was staying at the 
 
94 ^he pealing ^oxxch. 
 
 house of S. Peter, where He found the mother of the 
 Apostle's wife ill of a fever, and He healed her. The 
 news spread far and wide through Capernaum, where 
 there must have been many sick and sad folk, as there are 
 in every large town. Scarcely waiting for the Sabbath to 
 end, no sooner does the setting sun tell of evening, than 
 a crowd of people of all classes and ages, seeks Simon's 
 house, bringing with them all that were diseased, and 
 them that were possessed of devils. 
 
 " At even, ere the sun was set, 
 The sick, O Lord, around Thee lay — 
 Oh, in what divers pains they met ! 
 Oh, with what joy they went away !" 
 
 It must have been a wonderful scene. The fair white 
 town, with its trees and gardens bathed in the colours of 
 sunset : the lake below, calm and beautiful, reflecting 
 every rosy cloud ; and in contrast to all this, the crowd of 
 afflicted people. Blind men were there who had never 
 seen the white town, nor the lake by which they dwelt : 
 lame and paralyzed men who had never done a day's work, 
 and who sadly watched the fishermen launching their 
 boats, and letting down their nets for a draught. Pale, 
 hollow-eyed women were in the crowd, who had spent all 
 their substance on doctors, and were no better, and chil- 
 dren with twisted limbs and stammering tongues. There 
 were seen the flushed face and wild eye of fever, the 
 shaking limbs of palsy, and worst of all, the foaming 
 
%hc gjealing ^onch. 95 
 
 mouths and savage shriek of those possessed by devils. 
 It is no wonder that " the whole multitude sought to 
 touch Him, for there went virtue out of Him and healed 
 them all." . 
 
 What rejoicing there must have been in the streets of 
 Capernaum that night ! How the dumb people, whose 
 tongues were loosed, must have shouted for joy ! How 
 the blind, who could say, " whereas I was blind, now I 
 see," must have gazed on the face of Jesus who had 
 healed them, how the lame must have leaped for joy! 
 To those sick folk, condemned so long to darkness and 
 pain and loneliness, that fair scene must have seemed 
 more like Heaven than earth, since, for the sick man res- 
 tored to health — 
 
 " The meanest flow'ret of the vale, 
 The simplest note that swells the gale, 
 The common sun, the air, the skies, 
 To him are opening Paradise." 
 
 Ah ! what happy gatherings there must have been in 
 Capernaum homes that night. Mothers clasped their 
 little ones whose once wan cheeks were now rosy with 
 health. The dumb man told his deaf neighbour the story 
 of his cure. Those once possessed with devils knelt to 
 thank God for deliverance. Well, all this happened long 
 ago. Capernaum and its people have long since been 
 called to their account. 
 
 But yet there are sick and sorrowful people in the 
 
96 %hz Dealing ^ottck. 
 
 world, and Jesus yet lives as the Good Physician to heal 
 them. There still goes virtue out of Him as of old, and 
 if we may but touch Him we shall be made whole. 
 
 " Once more 'tis eventide, and we 
 Oppressed with various ills draw near ; 
 What if Thy Form we cannot see ? 
 We know and feel that Thou art here." 
 
 Although we cannot look on Jesus as those people did 
 in Capernaum, yet we are certain that He is amongst us, 
 for He has said, " Wherever two or three are gathered 
 together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 
 And what are we all but a crowd of sick people who need 
 to touch Jesus ? 
 
 " O Saviour, Christ, our woes dispel, 
 For some are sick, and some are sad, 
 And some have never loved Thee well, 
 And some have lost the love they had. 
 
 " And some have found the world is vain, 
 Yet from the world they break not free ; 
 And some have friends who give them pain, 
 Yet have not sought a friend in Thee." 
 
 j. think there are a great many blind people among us ; 
 so blind that they cannot see their own sins. The man 
 who commits sin with his eyes open, knowing it to be 
 wrong, knowing what God says about it, and yet 
 deliberately does it ; the man who is not strictly honest 
 in business and in his work, who is not strictly truthful in 
 
t&hz Scaling ^ouch. 97 
 
 dealing with others, who confesses that what he does is 
 wrong, and yet does it, that man is blind. 
 
 The people who sin against purity, who are not ashamed 
 to do what decent people are ashamed to talk of, who 
 when reproved try to laugh the matter off, who try to pre- 
 tend that it is a sin of little consequence : these people 
 are blind. 
 
 Yes, and so are all those who think more of this life 
 than of the life eternal ; and what a crowd of such blind 
 folk there is among us. These are very quick-sighted in 
 worldly affairs, very sharp men of business, very keen at 
 making a bargain. They are very careful about the title 
 deeds of their estate, but careless of their inheritance in 
 Heaven. They are very accurate in keeping their busi- 
 ness accounts, they know what they owe to men, but they 
 forget what they owe God. They are punctual about seed- 
 time and harvest, but negligent of the seed-time of their 
 life, and the great harvest at the end of the world. They 
 are very much in earnest about getting up in this world, 
 but quite indifferent about getting up so high as Heaven. 
 They are particular about wearing a respectable suit of 
 clothes, but careless about the heart which it covers. I 
 say these people are blind. If I were to hold a crown of 
 gold and purse of money over a blind man's head, he 
 would take no heed, he would go on groping in the dark 
 as before, because he is blind. So when God holds the 
 crown of Life Eternal, and the treasure of Heaven, over 
 
98 ^ht Dealing ^onch. 
 
 a worldly man's head, he goes on groping in the earth, 
 and takes no heed, because he is blind. 
 
 Next, I think, there are a. great many lame people among 
 us. There are spiritual cripples as well as physical 
 cripples. These are the people who will walk in any 
 way rather than the right way ; who instead of keeping 
 straight in the path of holiness, will go crooked into the 
 foul bye-paths of evil. Who instead of following the 
 directions of Christ's Gospel, go their own way, and lose 
 themselves. Who prefer the slippery paths of deceit and 
 hypocrisy, to the ways of God's laws, and the works of 
 His commandments. These are the people who will 
 walk almost any distance for work or pleasure, but are 
 always too tired to come to Church : who never find their 
 fields too wide, or their place of business too distant, 
 but always complain of the long journey to Church ; 
 forgetting that even if the way be long, an angel counts 
 their footsteps. Then there are those who walk straight 
 for a little while ; who after their Confirmation come to 
 the Sacrament of the Altar for a time, and then fall away 
 and get on the wrong road ; these are the people whom 
 I call spiritual cripples. 
 
 I think, too, there are a great many deaf and dumb peo- 
 ple among us. God speaks to them in Church by the 
 message of the Gospel, and they take no heed ; they go out 
 of Church, and straightway fall into sin. God speaks to them 
 by some great good which He sends them ; they receive 
 
^he paling ^onch. 99 
 
 the blessing but cannot hear God's voice. He speaks to 
 them by some great loss or sorrow, and they murmur at 
 the trouble, but cannot hear God speaking to them. 
 These are the deaf people. Then there are the dumb 
 people, who say anything but their prayers : who never 
 thank God for the blessings of everyday life ; who rise up 
 in the morning, and lie down at night, and never ask God 
 to take care of them. These are the people who in 
 Church never utter a word of praise or prayer ; who out of 
 Church never speak a word of help or warning to a neigh- 
 bour. These are the dumb people. 
 
 I think, too, that there are a great many people among us 
 who are possessed with devils. There are tens of thou- 
 sands of people possessed with the devil of drunkenness, 
 exceeding fierce, so that no man can bind them ; and thus 
 they become murderers, and wife-beaters, and madmen. 
 There are tens of thousands of people possessed with the 
 devil of lust and impurity, who bring ruin upon innocent 
 homes, and drive their victims to disgrace and death. 
 You can scarcely open a newspaper without seeing how 
 commonly men are possessed with devils of this kind. 
 Many, again, are possessed with the devil of unbelief, 
 making them blaspheme the holy name of God. Others 
 are possessed with the devils of greed and worldliness, 
 driving them to give up all they have, time, and strength, 
 and mind, and soul, to making money. Then, too, there 
 are the devils of bad temper, bad language, discontent, 
 
ioo ^he gjeaiing ^Louck. 
 
 and many others, of which the time would fail me to 
 
 speak. And even those among us who cannot be said to 
 
 be blind, or lame, or dumb, or possessed of devils, and 
 
 who are trying to do God's will, these know, none better 
 
 than they, how often they are sick with some sin or other, 
 
 since — 
 
 " None, O Lord, have perfect rest, 
 
 For none are wholly free from sin ; 
 
 And they who fain would serve Thee best, 
 
 Are conscious most of wrong within." 
 
 What then must we all do to be healed from sickness, 
 and to be strengthened to bear our sorrows ? Just what 
 those people did of old at Capernaum, we must draw near 
 and touch Jesus. We read in the Gospel of a woman 
 who had tried all kinds of doctors, and spent all her 
 money upon them, and was no better. At last she came 
 to Jesus. She struggled through the crowd, she came 
 near, and touched the Lord. And immediately she was 
 healed. Some of you perhaps have been trying other 
 doctors, and other cures. One has tried carelessness and 
 indifference, and has said, " It does not matter what I 
 do." Another has tried pride, and has said, " I don't 
 want to be interfered with." Another has tried hopeless- 
 ness, and has cried, " Where is the use of trying, I shall 
 never be better ?" e Some have tried unbelief Ah ! 
 brethren, these are not the doctors to cure you. Do not 
 waste your time and substance upon them. Draw near to 
 Jesus, and touch Him : struggle through the crowd of 
 
^he pealing ^oxxch. 101 
 
 obstacles which stands between you and your Saviour. 
 Perhaps your friends stand between you and Jesus, since, 
 " Some have friends who give them pain, 
 
 Yet have not sought a friend in Thee." 
 Perhaps it is your work, or your home cares and wor- 
 ries, which come between you and Christ. Struggle 
 through the crowd, whatever it is. Do not rest till you 
 can get close to Jesus, and touch Him. You can do this. 
 Although He no longer stands in bodily form in our 
 midst, yet He has left means by which we may draw near 
 to Him, and touch Him. When we pray earnestly, we 
 draw near and touch Jesus with the outstretched hand of 
 prayer. When a little child, sick with the sin of Adam, 
 comes to Holy Baptism, he draws near and touches Jesus. 
 When you draw near to the Altar of the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment, there indeed you draw near and touch Jesus. He 
 comes to you veiled in the Sacrament under the form of 
 Bread and Wine ; as of old, He came under the humble 
 form of one whom they called the Carpenter's Son • and 
 then indeed you touch Him with the hands of faith, and 
 receive Him into your heart, and are made whole. Draw 
 near to Him now, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, 
 sad with sorrow, or sick with sin, draw near and touch 
 vour Lord in earnest prayer, and let that prayer be now— 
 " Thy touch has still its ancient power; 
 
 No Word from Thee can fruitless fall ; 
 
 Hear, in this solemn evening hour, 
 
 And in Thy mercy heal us all." 
 
" Holy ofFrings, rich and rare, 
 Offerings of praise and prayer, 
 Purer life, and purpose high, 
 Clasped hands, uplifted eye, 
 Lowly acts of adoration, 
 To the God of our Salvation, — 
 On His altar laid we leave them, 
 Christ, present them ! God, receive them ! 
 
 " Promises in sorrow made, 
 Left, alas ! too long unpaid ; 
 Fervent wishes, earnest thought, 
 Never into action wrought— 
 Long withheld, we now restore them, 
 On Thy holy Altar pour them : 
 There in trembling faith to leave them, 
 Christ, present them ! God, receive them !" 
 
 
SERMON XII 
 
 iolg (DtferiuQS. 
 
 Psalm xx. 3. 
 " The Lord . . . remember all Thy offerings. 1 * 
 
 " What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits 
 towards Me ?" There are people who will say that we 
 can give nothing to God who giveth all ; but I do not 
 think they speak the truth. These are the selfish folk 
 who really mean, even if they do not say so, " get all 
 you can from God, God wants no return." Now the 
 Bible says just the opposite. The Bible says, " present 
 your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.'' 
 The people who talk about "the finished work of 
 Christ," and who say that He has done all, and that 
 therefore there is nothing for us to do, forget that there 
 are two parts in the scheme of salvation. Jesus has 
 indeed done His part, but He bids us do certain things 
 also ; He not only came on earth to die for our sins, and 
 to rise again for our justification ; He came also to give 
 
104 UJolg <DffmnQ0. 
 
 us an example, that we might follow the steps of His 
 most holy life, " mortifying our evil and corrupt affections, 
 and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living." 
 And, believe me, this is no very easy matter. There is 
 a line in a hymn which I once read, which says, " cast 
 your deadly doing down." Now nothing can be more 
 foolish than to accept this kind of teaching. If you met 
 two men on the road going to a certain city, and the one 
 man were to say to you, " I have faith that I shall get to 
 my journey's end," and then sat down by the roadside ; and 
 if the other were to say, " I have faith also that God will 
 bring me to my journey's end, but I have also strong legs 
 which God has given me, and I mean to use them ;" I 
 think you would believe in the man who added to his 
 faith a manly determination to do what was required of 
 him. I lately met with a printed paper in which the 
 doctrine of doing nothing was so plainly set forth, that I 
 determined to try and show its falseness. Let me read 
 it to you side by side with the hymn which forms the 
 subject of this sermon. The printed paper of which I 
 spoke, and which exactly declares the doctrine taught 
 from many a pulpit and platform, begins in this way — 
 
 " Nothing to pay ? — no, not a whit ! 
 Nothing to do ? — no, not a bit ! 
 All that was needed to do or to pay, 
 Jesus has done in His own blessed way. 
 
gjxrlg (Dffmng*. 105 
 
 11 Nothing to do ? — no, not a stroke ! 
 Gone is the captor, gone is the yoke 
 Jesus at Calvary, severed the chain, 
 And none can imprison His freemen again. 
 
 "Nothing to fear ? — no, not a jot ; 
 Nothing unclean ? — no, not a spot 
 Christ is my peace, and I've nothing at stake, 
 Satan can neither harass nor shake." 
 
 Now I would not quote such lines as these did I know 
 how many people are deceived by what they teach. Let 
 us examine the statements here made. We have nothing 
 to pay. But, brethren, would it not be base ingratitude 
 if someone had been good and kind to you in trouble, 
 and you had not tried to make some return, however 
 small? Well then, ''how much owest thou unto my 
 Lord ?" Do you remember what the Lord Jesus paid 
 for us ? Have we nothing to pay, or to give to Him ? 
 You will answer that you have nothing good enough to 
 give to Him, But you have, you can give Him what 
 He asks for, your heart, your love. And, remember, 
 that love is shown in deeds, not in words. It is very easy 
 to say, "I love God;" Orpah kissed Naomi, and said 
 that she loved her, but Ruth clave unto her. There is 
 the difference between talking and doing. Many people 
 who say that they love the Lord Jesus Christ, forget those 
 words of His, " If ye love Me, keep My commandments." 
 
io6 gjtflg (BfttXXXtQS. 
 
 How then can we show our love to God, what offerings 
 can we present to Him ? Let the hymn tell us — 
 
 " Holy off rings, rich and rare, 
 Offerings of praise and prayer, 
 Purer life, and purpose high, 
 Clasped hands, uplifted eye, 
 Lowly acts of adoration, 
 To the God of our salvation, — 
 On His altar laid we leave them, 
 Christ present them ! God receive them! 
 
 In a word, one of the holiest offerings which we can 
 give to God is worship, and it is to offer this worship that 
 we come to Church. Many mistakes are made about 
 Church-going. One tells us that he goes to Church 
 because he likes it, he has always been brought up to the 
 Church. Another goes because he wants to get good ; 
 another from less worthy motives. But these are none 
 of them the true reason why we should go to God's 
 Temple. We should go there to make an holy offering 
 of praise and thanksgiving, an offering of worship. - The 
 common notion about Church-going springs from sheer 
 selfishness ; people are for ever asking, " what do I 
 need from God, what good shall I get from going to 
 Church ; what advantage is it to me to listen to a dull 
 preacher ; how can I possibly endure that kind of ser- 
 vice ?" This is. all selfishness. It is not a question of 
 what we want, or like, or desire ; it is not a question of 
 
gMg (Offering*. 107 
 
 preferring one preacher to another, or one kind of service 
 to another ; the question is — what is my duty towards 
 God, how can I best honour Him who hath done all for 
 me; what reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the 
 benefits which He hath done unto me? Why do we find 
 it so difficult to get people to Church ? Why do the 
 hours of service always seem so much longer than any 
 other to certain people ? Why does a little bad weather 
 invariably prevent these persons from attending Church, 
 though it never deters them from a place of amusement ? 
 The reason is simply this— they have not learnt that they 
 owe something to God, that there is "something to pay," 
 and that that something is an holy offering of praise and 
 thanksgiving, and that if this be neglected, God is 
 defrauded. This is what we can offer to Jesus — 
 
 11 Homage of each humble heart 
 Ere we from Thy house depart, 
 Worship fervent, deep and high, 
 Adoration, ecstasy ; 
 All that childlike love can render, 
 Of devotion true and tender — 
 On Thine Altar laid we leave them ; 
 Christ, present them ! God receive them !" 
 
 Above all, we offer an holy offering of praise in the 
 highest act of worship, in the celebration of the Blessed 
 Sacrament of the Altar. Many people misunderstand 
 this. They stay away from the Altar and excuse them- 
 
io8 ^olg ©ffmnj}*. 
 
 selves by saying " I am not good enough to come f or 
 " I should not get any good if I did come." But this is 
 not merely a question of getting good, it is rather one of 
 giving praise in worship and honour to Jesus Christ. He 
 gives you pardon, peace, strength, in a word, Himself. 
 But you have to give Him something. You should come 
 to adore your Saviour, present there in the Sacrament ; 
 you should draw near to Him who was once forsaken of 
 all, of whom it was said once, and might be truly said 
 now, " He is despised, and rejected of men." In the 
 service of Holy Communion we take part with the saints 
 and angels in Heaven in worshipping God. Remember 
 the meaning of those words, " Therefore with angels and 
 archangels, and all the company of Heaven, we laud and 
 magnify Thy glorious name, evermore praising Thee, and 
 saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven 
 and earth are full of Thy glory ; glory be to Thee, O 
 Lord most high." 
 
 Is there, then, nothing to pay ? Oh ! yes, a life of 
 devotion, a life of thanksgiving ; there is everything to 
 pay, even the best we have. " I will pay my vows now 
 in the presence of all His people," says holy David, and 
 yet there are some who tell us " there is nothing to pay." 
 
 Thus far we have seen that we can show our love to 
 God by giving Him the offering of a holy worship. Again, 
 we can make an offering to God by giving alms to His 
 Church. God gives us all we have, our money, and our 
 
 
gjolg (Dtfmttjjs. 109 
 
 means of making money ; and we are bound to dedicate, 
 to consecrate a part of what we have to Him. Now 
 people are often mistaken about almsgiving. I have 
 known a man to refuse to give to the offertory because he 
 did not like the clergyman ; and I have known another 
 man who would not give because he did not like the 
 way in which the alms were collected. But the reason 
 for this is easy to be understood ; people are thinking 
 about the?nselves instead of God. There are some people 
 who imagine that when they give to the offertory they are 
 paying for a seat in Church. Others give only when 
 coming to the Holy Communion \ and very many give at 
 all times the very least that they can. All these persons 
 have failed to understand that almsgiving in Church is 
 not a favour conferred by them, but a privilege and a 
 duty, to neglect which is to commit sin. When we give 
 to the Church we give to Christ, since the Charch is 
 Christ's Body, and He has said, " Inasmuch that ye have 
 done it unto the least of these, My brethren, ye have done 
 it unto Me." But remember, brethren, the spirit in 
 which you give alms. " The Lord loveth a cheerful 
 giver ;" the offering which is unwillingly and grudgingly 
 given cannot be called an holy offering, nor is it accept- 
 able to God. I have heard of a stingy man who, though 
 well off, always gave a penny to the offertory. One day, 
 by mistake, he gave a shilling. u Well, I shall get credit 
 for the shilling at all events," said he to a friend. " No," 
 
no gjolg (Dtferittij0. 
 
 answered his friend, " you will only get credit for the 
 penny." There is an old story of a saint who used every 
 night to wash the feet of twelve beggars. One night a 
 thirteenth appeared with the twelve, a stranger to all. 
 The saint asked the stranger who He was, and whence 
 He came, and the answer was, " Inasmuch as you have 
 done it unto the least of these, My brethren, you have 
 done it unto Me;" and then he knew it was the Lord. 
 How many are there among us who spend their money 
 freely on a new dress, or a passing pleasure, and yet 
 grudge the smallest offering to God ! And why ? Because 
 they love themselves better than the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 Again, this false teaching goes on to tells us that there 
 is nothing to do, and nothing to fear. What do you think 
 yourselves? You know that it is written, "without holi- 
 ness no man can see the Lord." Now, do you think 
 that you have nothing to do ? Do you find it very easy 
 to lead good lives ; to keep God's commandments, to 
 keep yourselves pure, and gentle, and patient, and for- 
 giving ? Do you find nothing to do in resisting tempta- 
 tion, in keeping under your temper, in checking bad 
 thoughts ? If there is nothing for us to do, S. Paul must 
 be wrong when he says, u work out your own salvation 
 with fear and trembling ;" and S. Peter must be mistaken 
 when he bids us "be sober, be vigilant, because your 
 adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, 
 seeking whom he may devour ; whom resist, steadfast in 
 
jolg Offering*. in 
 
 the faith." If there is nothing for us to do, why does 
 our Lord command us " to watch and pray, lest we enter 
 into temptation?" But, some one will say, all that we 
 can do will not save us. That is quite true. But, as 
 said a saint of old, " God who made us without ourselves, 
 will not save us without ourselves." Jesus has done His 
 part, but He nowhere tells you that you have nothing to 
 do. He died for your sins, and rose again for your 
 justification ; He promises you salvation, if you do your 
 part. There is this condition attached. Often when 
 people say, " I belong to Jesus, I am safe," they are 
 simply deceiving themselves. Some of the most atrocious 
 criminals have talked in this way. " By their fruits ye 
 shall know them." If you really do love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, you will try to obey Him. Jesus died for all, yet 
 all are not saved. He separates the sheep from the goats, 
 the chaff from the wheat, the false coin from the true. 
 Do not let us talk about our having nothing to do, or to 
 pay, or to fear, but rather let us try to devote all we have 
 to God, to pay the devotion of a life-time to Him, " to do 
 all, looking unto Jesus." And do you ask, "what must 
 I do ?" I answer, repent you truly or your sins past. 
 Offer your repentance as an offering to God, it will he 
 precious in His eyes. 
 
 " Promises in sorrow made, 
 
 Left, alas ! too long unpaid ; 
 
 Fervent wishes, earnest thought, 
 
 Never into action wrought — 
 
ii2 gjolg (Dtfertng*. 
 
 Long withheld, we now restore them, 
 On Thy holy Altar pour them : 
 There in trembling faith to leave them, 
 Christ, present them ! God, receive them !" 
 
 There is yet another offering which we can give to God, 
 the sacrifice of self. Every act of self-denial, every 
 pleasure abandoned for the sake of others, will be accepted 
 by Him who gave up all for us. 
 
 " Pleasant food, and garb of pride, 
 Put for conscience sake aside , 
 Lawful luxury foregone 
 To relieve some little one 
 Loved of Christ, by Him befriended, 
 And for His dear love attended — 
 On Thine Altar laid we leave them : 
 Christ, present them ! God, receive them !" 
 

 " Onward, Christian soldiers, 
 Marching as to war, 
 With the Cross of Jesus 
 Going on before. 
 Christ, the Royal Master, 
 Leads against the foe ; 
 Forward into battle, 
 See His banners go. 
 
 " At the sign of triumph 
 Satan's host doth flee ; 
 On then, Christian soldiers, 
 On to victory. 
 Hell's foundations quiver 
 At the shout of praise ; 
 Brothers, lift your voices, 
 Loud your anthems raise. 
 
 Like a mighty army 
 Moves the Church of God ; 
 Brothers, we are treading 
 Where the saints have trod ; 
 We are not divided, 
 All one body we, 
 One in hope and doctrine, 
 One in charity. 
 
 " Crowns and thrones may perish, 
 Kingdoms rise and wane, 
 But the Church of Jesus 
 Constant will remain ; 
 Gates of Hell can never 
 'Gainst that Church prevail ; 
 We have Christ's own promise, 
 And that cannot fail. 
 
 " Onward then, ye people, 
 Join our happy throng, 
 Blend with ours your voices 
 In the triumph song ; 
 Glory, laud and honour 
 Unto Christ the King, 
 This through endless ages 
 Men and angels sing." 
 
 
SERMON XIII 
 
 ^he (Dtttoarb JEauh. 
 
 Deuteronomy xxxi. 7, 8. 
 
 " Be strong and of a good courage, — and the Lord, He it is that 
 doth go before Thee." 
 
 So spoke Moses to God's Church of old as they came 
 near to Jordan, and the Promised Land. Dangers and 
 trials were before them, and a path by which they had 
 not travelled as yet, but before them also was the prize, 
 and longed-for rest in Sion. So Moses bid the people 
 to do their part ; as once before by the Red Sea shore 
 they had been told to go forward, so now they were 
 bidden to be strong and of a good courage, for the Lord 
 Himself would go before them. " Speak to the children 
 of Israel, that they go forward ;" " Onward, Christian 
 soldiers ;" such are the watchwords of the Church of 
 Christ. For the Church as a body, and for each of us, 
 its individual members, there must be progress, a going 
 forward, a growth in grace and holiness. For us, as 
 
116 ^hc ©ntoarb Jttarrh. 
 
 for Israel of old, there is a journey, a warfare, and a 
 reward ; and for us, as for them, there is the assurance 
 that the Lord our God goes before us. I once visited 
 an outward bound ship lying in the Thames, and noticed 
 her name, which was very striking ; it was " Forward Ho !" 
 I remember that I told the crew that there was the motto 
 for every Christian, afloat or ashore — Forward Ho ! As 
 that ship went ever forward through new dangers and 
 obstacles, through swelling waves and gathering storms, 
 till she reached the port whither she was bound, so must 
 our course be, ever forward ho, over the waves of this 
 troublesome world, through storms of affliction and 
 temptation, till we enter the haven where we would be. 
 
 We see that the command "go forward" has been 
 obeyed by the Church at large. There has ever been growth 
 and advancement. From the one family of Abraham 
 grew the whole Jewish Church. From the few faithful 
 people met in the upper room after the Ascension, grew 
 the whole Christian Church. And that Church is con- 
 stantly advancing, marching onward to do battle with 
 ignorance, and wickedness, and heresy, and schism. But 
 to each one of us, as individual members of the Church, 
 the command is given to go forward. From the day 
 when the seed of grace is sown in our hearts at Baptism, 
 we must go forward and onward, till we reach the river of 
 death, and pass to Jesus in the better land, where our 
 progress will not cease, but go on to such good things as 
 
^hz ©ntoarft Jttarrh. 117 
 
 the world cannot give. If we would succeed in the battle 
 of life we must be able to say — 
 
 11 Let us go forth, and resolutely dare, 
 With sweat of brow, to toil our little day." 
 
 And so, believe me, brethren, as Christian men, if we 
 want to succeed, if we want to be holy, if we want to 
 reach Heaven, we must go forward, fighting, praying, 
 watching, and waiting, but never idle, never looking back. 
 "God helps those who help themselves." This is no less 
 true in religious life than in our worldly business. He is 
 a coward who expects God to do for him the work which 
 he ought to do for himself. He is shrinking from his 
 duty. God will do for us what we cannot do for our- 
 selves, but we must do our part. It has been said of 
 some of the good old English navigators, who sailed to 
 the new world, that they were " indomitable, God-fearing 
 men, whose life was one great liturgy." But they did 
 something more than pray. They worked, and fought 
 their way through dangers and difficulties, calling on 
 God to help them, and doing their best for themselves. 
 
 11 In daily toil, in deadly fight, 
 God's chosen found their time to pray; 
 And still He loves the brave and strong, 
 Who scorn to starve, and strive with wrong, 
 To mend it, if they may." 
 
 So should it be with us. Knowing that the Lord is on 
 
n8 ^Ihe (Ehttoaub Jftarrh. 
 
 our side, knowing that He it is that does go before us, 
 our watchword should be — 
 
 " Onward, Christian soldiers, 
 Marching as to war, 
 With the Cross of Jesus 
 Going on before." 
 
 Each one of us, from the little child to the grey-haired 
 veteran, has a battle to fight with the evil in him, and 
 around him. And in this warfare he must go forward. 
 There must be progress in the spiritual life of each 
 individual soul. As the Church, as a whole, advances 
 daily in its victorious march against sin and error, so 
 each one of us ought to go forward and upward daily in 
 our spiritual life. Do not be satisfied because you won 
 a victory yesterday. Satan has many reserve forces to 
 bring against you. Once, in the midst of a battle, an 
 officer rode up to Sir Charles Napier, and said, " Sir, we 
 have taken a standard." The general made no reply, 
 but continued talking to one of his staff. " Sir," 
 repeated the messenger, "we have taken a standard." 
 " Then take another," was the brief answer. If, by God's 
 grace, you overcame some fault yesterday, and resisted 
 some temptation, strive to gain another victory to-day — 
 go forward. It is perseverance, not enthusiasm, which 
 wins a battle in the field ; and in the Christian warfare 
 he who strives daily to get nearer to God, and farther 
 from self; who tries daily to go forward, will win the 
 
^he (Dvttoarb Jftarch. 119 
 
 battle ; not the sudden convert who expects to spring at 
 one bound into the front rank of God's saints. But in 
 our onward march we not only have a Leader whom we 
 trust, but we have companions, good and faithful men 
 and women to the right and to the left of us, before us, 
 and behind. It is a great help in an earthly battle for a 
 soldier to feel that he has true and brave comrades march- 
 ing with him, shoulder to shoulder. So that if he falls, 
 another will be ready to take his place ; if he is wounded, 
 kindly hands will be ready to carry him out of the press ; 
 if he does well, hearty voices will be ready to cheer him. 
 So we Christian soldiers know that we form one great 
 army, the Church of Christ, enlisted in the same way, 
 bound by the same rules, fed by the same Sacramental 
 food, fighting the same battle, looking for the same 
 reward. 
 
 " We are not divided, 
 All one body we, 
 One in hope and doctrine, 
 One in Charity." 
 
 Some of our brethren have finished their earthly march 
 and warfare, they have fought the good fight, and have 
 kept the faith ; and these from their resting places pray 
 for us who are still enduring the burden and heat of the 
 day. Others are with us in the battle, bound to us by 
 one faith, one hope of our calling, one Baptism ; and 
 their prayers, their sympathy, help us to fight, and " to 
 
120 Wkz ©ntoari JEarrh. 
 
 keep rank." But in our march and our warfare we have 
 something else to do besides fighting. We must watch. 
 Perhaps the hardest part of a soldier's duty is that of 
 keeping watch at an outpost. In the thick of the battle, 
 in the rush of a headlong charge, all is excitement and 
 enthusiasm ; but the lonely watch for an enemy, who may 
 come at any moment, or not at all, this is a hard task. 
 So with us, some of us do not often meet with fierce 
 temptations to sin; the hosts of Satan do not charge 
 upon us, as it were. But in our daily lives we have to 
 keep watch over word, and thought and temper ; and this 
 is indeed hard work. There are people whose lives are 
 full of worry, who have to watch lest they lose faith, or 
 become fretful, or unkind. There are husbands with 
 small means and extravagant wives ; and hard-working 
 wives with reckless husbands. There are sickly people 
 who have never felt strong, and who cannot afford the 
 comforts and luxuries which they require. There are 
 those who have seen their fondest hopes blighted, and 
 their cherished plans frustrated ; people whose house is 
 left unto them desolate ; for such as these the battle is 
 very hard, just because it is one of watching, and wait- 
 ing, and patiently enduring, since it is 
 
 " Easier to smite with Peter's sword, 
 Than watch one hour in humbling prayer ; 
 Life's "great things," like the Syrian lord, 
 Our hearts can do and dare." 
 
Wxt ©ntoarb Jttach. 121 
 
 There is yet another thought to encourage us in our 
 onward march. Our path is a well-worn path, trodden 
 by thousands before us; our battle field is the scene of 
 countless victories. 
 
 ' ' Brothers ye are treading 
 Where the saints have trod." 
 
 If an army is called on to fight on the scene of some 
 former victory, we can imagine how eagerly the young 
 soldiers would listen to the story of their fathers' deeds on 
 that same field. How keenly would they Tiark the spot 
 where one died to save the colours, or where the devoted 
 regiment fought its way through overwhelming numbers 
 to victory. And looking on these scenes, the soldiers of 
 to-day would determine to do or die as bravely as those 
 who fought before them. Well, my brothers, the path 
 you tread has been trodden by such an one as Paul the 
 aged. In the battle in which you fight have fought such 
 soldiers of the Cross as S. Peter and S. John. The path 
 which you tread has often been wet with the tears of 
 saints and martyrs, young men and maidens, old men 
 and children, who have travelled the same way before 
 you. But above all, the Lord Jesus has trodden that 
 path before you, and fought the same bitter battle, and 
 gotten the victory. It is He who says to all of us, 
 c< Onward, Christian soldiers." And as we obey His 
 voice, and go forward, we must expect to go forward into 
 
%\\z (Dntosrb JEarrh. 
 
 sorrow. When the path seems very hard to travel on, 
 look foi the foot-prints of Jesus who travelled that way 
 before you. See how the Blood of the Saviour marks all 
 the road, and remember that you are not alone in your 
 sorrow. Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, the Lord your God, 
 He it is that doth go before you. 
 
 And in your onward march you must expect to go 
 forward into temptation and trial. But take courage, 
 iook at the thorny path of trial, and see there the shadows 
 of the wilderness, and of Gethsemane, the shadows of the 
 fasting and temptation, and let your cry be "By Thy 
 fasting and temptation, by Thine agony and bloody 
 sweat, good Lord, deliver us." And as you go onward 
 you must expect to meet with bereavement. You cannot 
 go far on your journey without finding a Cross, your 
 Cross. Then think of that other Cross on Calvary, and 
 remembet that Jesus has been here, in this your bitter 
 agony, before you. If your Cross be to see some one 
 very dear to you taken away, try to see Jesus leading 
 that loved one by the hand to the Better Land, and to 
 feel as did one who says — 
 
 ' And tho' my heart was breaking, 
 I strove my will to bow, 
 For I saw His Hands were pierced, 
 And thorns had torn His brow." 
 
 Once again, I bid you go " Onward, Christian soldiers," 
 
^hc ©tttoart) JtUrrk. 
 
 remembering that in all your battles, in all your journey- 
 ings, in all your trials and temptations, Jesus is with you. 
 And when at the last you come to the end of your 
 earthly journey, and the river of death must be crossed, 
 remember that Jesus has passed that way before you, 
 and that His Hand is ready to guide you to the shore. 
 
" Jesu, Lover of my soul, 
 Let me to Thy Bosom fly, 
 While the gathering waters roll, 
 While the tempest still is high : 
 Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
 Till the storm of life be past ; 
 Safe into the haven guide, 
 O receive my soul at last. 
 
 " Other refuge have I none ; 
 Hangs my helpless soul on Thee ; 
 Leave, ah ! leave me not alone, 
 Still support and comfort me. 
 All my trust on Thee is stayed. 
 All my help from Thee I bring ; 
 Cover my defenceless head 
 With the shadow of Thy wing. 
 
 '" Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
 Grace to cleanse from every sin ; 
 Let the healing streams abound, 
 Make and keep me pure within ; 
 Thou of Life the Fountain art ; 
 Freely let me take of Thee ; 
 Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 Rise to all eternity." 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 ^he <Safe llefttrje. 
 
 Psalm xci. 2. 
 u I will say of the Lord, Be is my refuge and my fortress ." 
 
 To the Jew of old human life was a sacred thing, as 
 being the gift of God. If, therefore, a man slew his 
 neighbour, even by accident, his own life must pay the 
 forfeit. The nearest kinsman of the dead became the 
 Avenger of blood, and was bound to slay the slayer unless 
 he could escape. For him who had shed blood innocently 
 there was a means of escape, for the murderer there was 
 none. He who had shed blood accidentally might escape 
 to one of the six Cities of Refuge, where he might 
 remain till the death of the High Priest. These Cities 
 were placed on either side of the river Jordan, three on 
 each side. The roads leading to them were always kept 
 in good repair, and there were direction posts placed at 
 intervals to point out the way, and bearing the word — 
 Refuge. Often a pale, weary fugitive was seen hurrying 
 towards one of these Cities of Refuge ; casting anxious 
 
i26 ^he gate JgLzfvLQt. 
 
 looks behind, and fancying in every sound the footstep of 
 the Avenger of blood. We can picture such an one 
 reaching the place of safety, and crying, " Thank God ! 
 I am safe at last." 
 
 Well, as for the Jew of old, so for us to-day, unless we 
 flee to our City of Refuge we are all dead men. What 
 then have we to fly from, and what is our City of Refuge ? 
 First, we need to fly from the sins and temptations of the 
 world. Everywhere around in God's beautiful world we 
 find man's sin. As you will see a once fair and spark- 
 ling stream poisoned and rendered foul by the impurities 
 of some great city, and the fair face of nature rendered 
 hideous ; so in the world of men you will find human 
 nature rendered hideous by sin. I look at a great city. 
 I see there prosperity, wealth, commercial enterprise, busy 
 men and women, and I know that the place is reeking 
 with sin. I know that here men lie and cheat and over- 
 reach each other. I know that here men curse and 
 blaspheme the name of God ; that there are many who are 
 drunken, many who are unclean, many who are mean, and 
 selfish, and cruel. I look at a country village. I see a 
 fair spot, and I think how simple, and pure, and innocent 
 must be the lives of the people. And yet I know that 
 discontent and hatred flourish here among the flowers, 
 and that many of the people are in their habits less noble 
 than the beasts which perish. From such lives we have 
 need to flee away and escape. 
 
^h* §&ft Refuge. 127 
 
 Again, we need to escape from the sinful feelings and 
 desires of our own hearts. What do I hear you say ? Your 
 hearts are not so bad ? Let us hear what God says in the 
 Bible about our hearts : " The heart of man is deceitful 
 above all things, and desperately wicked ;" " Man looketh 
 on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
 heart." What does God, " to whom all hearts be open, 
 all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid," see 
 in our hearts ? Is there no selfishness, no pride, no cold- 
 ness there ? Are there no thoughts and desires which we 
 keep secret from men, but which God knows all about ? 
 From these things we have need to escape. 
 
 And we have need to escape from the troubles and sor- 
 rows of life. " Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly 
 upward." This life has been wet with tears ever since 
 Adam shed the first tears over a lost Paradise. From the 
 day when Adam mourned over the grave of Abel, the 
 grave-digger has never been without employment. In all 
 ranks of life we find sorrow, and anxiety, and care, and 
 sickness, and death. And we need to flee from these for 
 comfort. Where, then is our City of Refuge ? 
 
 Let the hymn tell us : — 
 
 " Jesu, Lover of my soul, 
 Let me to Thy bosom fly, 
 While the gathering waters roll, 
 While the tempest still is high : 
 
128 c&ht <Safi> lUfctge. 
 
 Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
 Till the storm of life be past ; 
 Safe into the haven guide, 
 O receive my soul at last." 
 
 Yes, Jesus Christ is " a place to hide us in," He is our 
 City of Refuge, since u there is none other Name under 
 Heaven given among men whereby we must he saved." 
 If the Jew of old had sought any other city instead of one 
 of the six appointed Cities of Refuge, the Avenger of 
 blood would have slain him. The fugitive did not go to 
 Jerusalem, or to Bethlehem, or to some other place of his 
 own choosing, he might only find refuge in the place 
 assigned for him. So with us, we may not choose a City 
 of Refuge for ourselves. There are not even six cities 
 for us to select from : for us there is only one place of 
 safety — 
 
 u Other refuge have I none, 
 Hangs my helpless soul on Thee j" 
 
 and we must seek for Jesus, our Refuge, not in places of 
 man's devising, not among the strife of sects, and the 
 clamour of different doctrines, but in the place where He 
 has chosen to put His Name there, His Holy Church, 
 the same throughout the world. There we are safe in the 
 Ark, as was Noah when the Lord had shut him in. The 
 unbelieving world laughed at Noah's faith, * ' what time 
 the Ark was a building." They thought the flood would 
 not come upon them, or that they might escape in an Ark 
 
^he §&U fUfttgs. 129 
 
 of their own. So it is with many people now. They will 
 not come into the ark of Christ's Church j they think the 
 flood of sin and sorrow will not touch them ; or if it does, 
 they will trust to an Ark of their own — some sect of their 
 own choosing, some form of religion of their own inven- 
 tion. But now, as of old, there is but one Ark of safety 
 from the flood, one appointed place of refuge from the 
 enemy and Avenger. With Jesus we are safe from sin. 
 The City of Refuge is one against which the gates of Hell 
 cannot prevail. The strongest earthly fortresses have 
 fallen. Even the Rock of Gibraltar has been taken. But 
 our fortress is the Body of Christ, and Satan, the enemy, 
 cannot harm it. In our City of Refuge we find peace, 
 and joy, and rest : no matter how fierce the tempest 
 outside, no matter how the heathen furiously rage. 
 There is a legend of the Jews that the dove, sent forth by 
 Noah from the Ark, plucked the olive leaf, with which she 
 returned, in the garden of Eden, which was too loftily 
 situated to be reached by the flood. So we in the Ark 
 of Christ's Church receive the olive leaf of peace and 
 joy, brought to us from Paradise by the Heavenly Dove, 
 the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. I do not tell you that 
 sin does not come to us in the Church j but we know that 
 there we may find a place of repentance, a place of abso- 
 lution, a place of pardon, since Jesus " is faithful and 
 just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
 righteousness." I do not tell you that we shall never be 
 1 
 
lite <3af* fxcfuge. 
 
 tempted, never feel weak in our City of Refuge. But I 
 do tell you, that there we can receive the Bread of Life, 
 which will strengthen our souls to resist temptation ; that 
 there the streams of Blood and Water flow from the 
 wounded side of Jesus, in the Sacraments, to give us all 
 we need. 
 
 11 Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
 Grace to cleanse from every sin ; 
 Let the healing streams abound, 
 Make and keep me pure within." 
 
 If the Jew wandered outside the City of Refuge he was 
 in danger of death. So if we stay outside our Refuge, or 
 having entered, wander away into evil courses, or places 
 of refuge of our own choosing, then we shall prove the 
 truth of the promise, " The soul that sinneth it shall die." 
 " How then shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
 tion ?" 
 
 My brethren, there are some among us who are still 
 surrounded with the flood of sin, and the waves of a 
 troublesome world, and have not yet come into the Ark. 
 They have looked at the Ark perhaps with longing eyes, 
 they have sighed for peace and safety there, yet have not 
 obeyed the command, u Come thou and all Thy house 
 into the Ark." 
 
 There are some among us who have broken God's law, 
 and the Avenger is pursuing after them ; for every sin 
 
%\kz <Sa£e Refuge. 131 
 
 brings its punishment ; the Avenger may be slow of foot, 
 but he comes on surely. 
 
 If there be one who hears me now who feels the weight 
 of sin heavy on him ; who has been seeking rest and 
 finding none ; fleeing for refuge where no refuge was ; I 
 say to him, "escape for thy life," and escape now. The 
 Bible points to the way, saying, " Refuge, Refuge." 
 Come to the Lord Jesus through the door of repentance, 
 saying— 
 
 " ' Weary of earth, and laden with my sin,' 
 
 " Foul, I to the the Fountain fly, 
 Wash me, Saviour, or I die." 
 
 You will have no peace till you have passed through 
 the way of repentance, and have found pardon, and a 
 place of Refuge. 
 
 And, again, Jesus is our Refuge from trouble. Some 
 of the sorrows of this life are very bitter. It is false to 
 say we must not be sorry, and shed no tear. To be 
 indifferent does not mean to be resigned. To steel our 
 heart against sorrow is not to be like that Jesus who wept 
 for Lazarus. It is very hard to see our wife or child fade 
 as the grass. It is hard to miss the patter of baby feet, 
 and the song of baby lips. It is hard to see the bread- 
 winner brought home crushed and dead, or to find the 
 bank broken, or the business ruined. But the greater the 
 sorrow the greater our need of comfort. In times of 
 
132 Ih* <Sa£e Refuge. 
 
 severe affliction the world cannot comfort us. People 
 mean to be kind and sympathetic, but they are thinking 
 of their own affairs. They are glad that misfortune has 
 not fallen upon them, that their dear ones are well, or 
 their money safe. Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, alone has 
 a heart great enough for all the troubles of His people. 
 The only way to bear our cross is to seek the help of Him 
 who bore His Cross to Calvary. The only refuge in time 
 of trouble is with Him who is " our strong rock and our 
 castle." 
 
 O widowed mother, remember her of Nain ! O bereaved 
 sisters, think of the sisters of Bethany ! O mourning 
 parents, recall the daughter of Jairus ! O struggling peo- 
 ple, tried and troubled in one way or another, fly to the 
 City of Refuge, go to Him who says to you, " Come unto 
 me all ye that travail, and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest.'' 
 
I am not worthy, Holy Lord, 
 That Thou should'st come to rne ; 
 Speak but the Word ; one gracious Word 
 Can set the sinner free. 
 
 ° I am not worthy ; cold and bare 
 The lodging of my soul ; 
 How canst Thou deign to enter there ? 
 Lord, speak and make me whole. 
 
 I am not worthy : yet, my God, 
 
 How can I say Thee nay ? 
 
 Thee, who did'st give Thy Flesh and Blood 
 
 My ransom-price to pay. 
 
 O come ! in this sweet morning hour, 
 Feed me with Food Divine ; 
 And fill with all Thy love and power 
 This worthless heart of mine. ' 
 
SERMON XV, 
 
 JCearjing gtsms. 
 
 S. John xiii. 30. 
 11 He went immediately out, and it teas night, V 
 
 It was Judas who went out into the night, away from 
 Jesus ; loving darkness better than light, because his 
 deeds were evil. Look at the contrast offered by that 
 scene. There is S. John lying on the breast of Jesus, 
 in the light of God's own presence, the True Light that 
 lighteth every man that cometh into the world. And 
 there is Judas going away from that presence, away from 
 the Blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, away from 
 peace, and love, and truth ; going out into the darkness 
 of sin and despair, going to betray Jesus. What awful 
 feelings must have been working in the heart of Judas ! 
 What reproachful memories must have come crowding 
 upon him ! Did not those pleading eyes, that gentle 
 voice, those acts of love and mercy whisper to his heart 
 and say, " Come back ?" It was too late. The devil 
 had entered into Judas. He went out from Jesus, and 
 it was night ! Ah ! how dark, how black and cold a 
 
136 |£eabiit£ Jrsu*. 
 
 night for him ! A night of sin and ingratitude, without 
 one star of hope to brighten it ; a night followed by 
 death, by suicide, self-murder. My brothers, those of us 
 who go away from the Presence of the Lord Jesus, from 
 the vows of their baptism, from their prayers, from their 
 Church, from their Bible, go into the night, the black 
 night of sin. Judas went away from Jesus to betray 
 Him. So does the sinner now. The young man or 
 woman who goes away from a life of purity, who sins 
 with his body, betrays the Lord Jesus, and sins against 
 the Body of Jesus. The kiss of impurity is as the kiss of 
 the betrayer on the Face of Jesus. Sins of lust are as 
 the blows and spitting on the Face of Jesus. O young 
 man or woman, if you lead another into sin, you betray 
 the innocent blood, you trample on the Blood of Christ. 
 And these sins end in death, in suicide. Every sinner 
 who goes on sinning, kills himself, because God desireth 
 not the death of a sinner. But many of you will say, we 
 have not committed these sins, we have not gone away 
 from Jesus. Stay for a moment, and I will show you that 
 you do go away from His Presence Sunday after Sunday. 
 Week after week Jesus is despised and rejected by those 
 who turn away from the Altar, and leave the Church with 
 the many, whilst the few remain. The Church is filled 
 with people, many of them earnest, godly people, who 
 are trying to lead good lives, and yet they turn away 
 from Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament, as though 
 
g.ejUriitg Jesus. 137 
 
 they had no part or lot in the matter. These people tell 
 us that they can do very well without Holy Communion. 
 They are Church-goers, they lead decent lives, and there- 
 fore they think all is well. But all the while they are 
 acting in direct disobedience to the command of Jesus. 
 He says to us, " do this," — " take, eat, this is my Body." 
 And many of us will not. And yet these persons profess 
 to love the Lord Jesus. Love, however, is proved by 
 obedience. You would not believe in the affection of 
 your child if he systematically refused to obey you. So 
 our Master says to us, "If ye love Me, keep My com- 
 mandments." Again, to refuse to come to Holy Com- 
 munion is not only an act of disobedience, but an act of 
 folly. If you reject that Holy Food you starve your 
 souls. Jesus says in the most plain words, " Unless ye 
 eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, 
 you have no life in you. 
 
 My brethren, those of us who come to Church, but 
 are not Communicants, are trying to make a bargain with 
 God. They are saying, in fact, I will keep such and such 
 commandments, I will pray, I will read my Bible, I will 
 come to Church, but I will not do what Jesus tells me 
 distinctly to do, I will not " do this." Let us see what 
 it is which keeps people back from the Altar of their Lord. 
 First, there are those people who though Church-goers, 
 do not thoroughly believe or understand the doctrines of 
 the Church. These are the people who are attracted by 
 
138 fPeabing Jfcsus. 
 
 a popular preacher, or a beautiful service ; and having no 
 fixed principles of religion, they wander about from the 
 Church to the Meeting-house, and say it is all the same. 
 They naturally do not attach much importance to the 
 Blessed Sacrament. They tell us that it is only a 
 memorial of the death of Christ, and so they would be 
 no better for receiving it. Or they tell us that they might 
 just as well sit round a table at home and break bread, 
 as the Apostles did. We have no need of an altar, they 
 say, nor of any of the mystery and reverence which 
 surrounds the Sacrament. Well, all this would be true 
 enough if this Sacrament were nothing more than a 
 memorial, for then it would be an act of piety, but not a 
 Sacrament. But this Sacrament is something more. 
 Those who quote the words of our Saviour, li Do this in 
 remembrance of Me" ignore those other words of His, 
 " Take, eat, this is My Body ; drink ye all of this, for 
 this is My Blood of the New Testament." If the Blessed 
 Sacrament were nothing more than a memorial rite, and 
 if the elements in that Sacrament were nothing more 
 than bread and wine, I could understand why people 
 should regard it lightly ; but when we believe, as the 
 Church always has believed, that Jesus Christ is really 
 and truly present in that Holy Sacrament ; that He comes 
 to us then really, though spiritually, and feeds our souls, 
 and pardons our sins, so " that our sinful bodies may be 
 made clean by His body, and our souls washed through 
 
ICeabirtg $zsxi&. 139 
 
 His most precious Blood," then it seems to me madness, 
 suicide, to stay away from the life of our souls. And 
 again, we must remember that the Blessed Sacrament is 
 a sacrifice, and hence it is that " we have an altar," and 
 that the Christian Church has its Priests, as the Jewish 
 Church had. The Jew was looking forward to the 
 coming of the Saviour, and as often as he offered a lamb 
 in sacrifice it was as a type or shadow of the Lamb of 
 God, which was to be sacrificed for the sins of the people. 
 The Christian Priest looks back to that Sacrifice on the 
 Cross, and as often as he celebrates Holy Communion 
 it is as a memorial of that One Sacrifice. The Jew of 
 old did not think as often as he offered a lamb that 
 Christ was offered, neither does the Christian imagine 
 that he repeats " the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, 
 oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world," 
 when he commemorates these in the Christian Sacrifice. 
 But as the Jewish Priest in his sacrifice pleaded the One 
 Sacrifice which was to come, so do we plead that One 
 Sacrifice which has been offered at Calvary. But there 
 are others to whom I would speak, who believe in the 
 sanctity and power of the Sacrament on the Altar, yet 
 stay away from it. They are not fit to come, they tell 
 us. If by u fitness " they mean worthiness, then I 
 answer the best of men is not worthy to draw near to the 
 Sinless Jesus. It is the feeling of our weakness, our 
 liability to do wrong, our unworthiness, which makes the 
 
140 Jf-eabhtg Jfestts. 
 
 only real fitness for coming to Holy Communion. When 
 we kneel at the Altar we do not say, ll We are worthy, 
 O Lord, to kneel at Thy Table, we are very good, earnest 
 people ;" no, we say, " We are not worthy so much as to 
 gather up the crumbs under Thy Table ; we do not pre- 
 sume to come trusting in our own righteousness, but in 
 Thy manifold and great mercies." There is not a word 
 in the whole service about our having reached a certain 
 stage of holiness, a certain degree of goodness which 
 entitles us to come; rather we declare that we come 
 knowing our sinfulness, acknowledging our wretchedness, 
 seeking pardon for the past, and strength to do better in 
 the future. 
 
 " I am not worthy. Holy Lord, 
 That Thou should' st come to me; 
 Speak but the Word ; one gracious Word 
 Can set the sinner free. 
 
 " I am not worthy ; cold and bare, 
 The lodging of my soul; 
 How can'st Thou deign to enter there? 
 Lord, speak and make me whole. 
 
 " I am not worthy: yet, my God, 
 How can I say Thee nay ? 
 Thee, who did'st give Thy Flesh and Blood, 
 My ransom-price to pay." 
 
 But perhaps you answer me that you do not mean that 
 sort of fitness. Holy Communion is so solemn and 
 
|C cubing Jcsns. 141 
 
 sacred a thing, you say, that if you became a Communi- 
 cant you would have to lead a very different sort of life, 
 and to alter many things in your conduct. Now I 
 understand you. If it would be necessary to alter your 
 way of life, why do you not alter it ? If there is some- 
 thing wrong in your way of living, why do you not change 
 it? If you are "not fit" for Holy Communion, whose 
 fault is it ? Surely your own. Do you think, my 
 brethren, that you are free to lead this kind of life, which 
 you say is not quite right, because you are not a Com- 
 municant ? Do you imagine that those who come to the 
 Blessed Sacrament must lead one kind of life, and that 
 those who come to Church, but not to the Altar, are free 
 to lead another kind of life ? Believe me, there is only 
 one kind of life for all God's people. If you are not fit 
 to be a Communicant, you are not fit to come to Church, 
 and to be called a Christian. You will say to me, " that 
 is so different." But you are wrong. You come to 
 Church to praise and worship God, to confess your sins, 
 to obtain absolution, to ask for help, to gain strength 
 and comfort for your soul. All these things are done and 
 given in the highest sense in the service of Holy Com- 
 munion. If you are unfit for one, you are unfit for the 
 other. What is required of those who come to Holy 
 Communion? They must txamific themselves, not to 
 see if they are free from sin, but to find out whether they 
 repent truly of their sins. This self-examination, con- 
 
142 gibing SJzsns. 
 
 fession of sins, and repentance, are equally required from 
 all Church-goers. Next, those who come to Holy Com- 
 munion must steadfastly purpose to lead a ?iew life; they 
 must desire to do better to-morrow than they have done 
 to-day. , This applies equally to all of you who come to 
 Church. If you are quite satisfied with your present life, 
 you could not have meant what you said just now, " We 
 have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep, we 
 have offended against Thy holy laws." Next, it is 
 required of Communicants that they should have a lively 
 faith in God's mercy through Christ. This again applies 
 to you all. If you have not this faith in God's mercy, 
 why are you here in Church ? Next, we are required to 
 have a thankful remembrance of Christ's death. This also 
 is required of all Church-goers ; for if the Cross of Jesus 
 is not the beginning and the end of all our hopes for 
 pardon, what meaning can this Service have for us ? 
 And once more, we are to be in charity with all men. 
 This certainly applies to all Christian people. Do you 
 think that you are free to come to Church, and to praise 
 God, and pray to Him, and yet harbour unkindly feelings 
 against your neighbour? Do you think you can ask 
 God " to forgive you your trespasses as you forgive those 
 who trespass against you," without blasphemy, if you do 
 not forgive others? Do you suppose that if you stay 
 away from Holy Communion you are free to hate your 
 brother? No, believe me, there is the same fitness 
 
ICeabxttg Jestts. 143 
 
 required for Church-going as for being a Communicant; 
 the one ought to mean the other. If there is anything 
 in your lives which keeps you away from the Altar, and 
 which you are unwilling to give up, then remember that 
 sin keeps you away from God, away from salvation, and 
 you will not escape the punishment of your sins, because 
 you turn away from the Blessed Sacrament. Again, I 
 say, there is only one kind of life for all God's people ; 
 an earnest striving after holiness. God nowhere tells us 
 that some people are to lead better lives than others ; 
 He says to all, " Be ye holy." We are all One Family, 
 we have all One Pattern, the Example of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ; One Baptism, One Food, one end and hope to 
 look to. Let no one say, " these words are not for me ;" 
 they are for you. Let no one say, " this Sacrament is 
 not for me;" it is for you, since Jesus died for you. Do 
 not make idle excuses. Do not say that the Holy 
 Sacrament is so mysterious that you cannot understand 
 it. There is no need for you to understand it ; your 
 spiritual lives are full of mystery, the world around you is 
 full of mystery; "God is a God who hides Himself." 
 Only believe that Jesus can and will strengthen you in 
 that Blessed Sacrament That He will be present there 
 on the Altar; that He will give to the poorest and 
 weakest of you just the strength which you need to over- 
 come temptation. I have read of a poor, hard-working 
 woman, who was a regular Communicant, and who had 
 
i44 l^atiing Jesas. 
 
 to suffer much insult and ridicule from godless neighbours. 
 One day they asked her if she understood the mystery of 
 the Sacrament, or if she really knew that it did her good. 
 And she answered humbly that she did not understand 
 so great a mystery : but she added, " I know what good 
 I get from it, I go up empty, and I come down full." 
 There are two classes of people to whom I have been 
 speaking. The one class is indifferent about the matter, 
 ready to go on in the old way, and to take their chance ; 
 not willing to give up something which they know to be 
 wrong. To these people I say, if you are not fit for 
 Holy Communion through your own fault, neither are you 
 fit to be called God's people, nor to die and await the 
 Judgment. The other class is made up of people who 
 believe, who are half inclined to come to the Altar, but 
 who are nervous and uncertain about it. To them I 
 say, pray that God may show you now your need of the 
 Saviour in the Blessed Sacrament. Then make a resolu- 
 tion — " I will arise, and go to Jesus when next He calls 
 me lovingly to His Altar." 
 
 If there are any here who were once Communicants, 
 but have fallen away ; if, like Judas, they have gone from 
 the light of Christ's presence into the night ; to them, I 
 say, come back to the light, come back penitent, and 
 find rest once more with Jesus. If you are weak and 
 would be strong, if you are sorely tried and tempted, and 
 would be more patient, more gentle, more self-denying : 
 
JCciilnng Jesus. 145 
 
 if you are sad and need comfort, come to Jesus in the 
 Sacrament of His Love, and say — 
 
 11 Just as I am, 
 Without one plea, 
 But that Thy Blood was shed for me, 
 And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee, 
 O Lamb of God, I come." 
 
" The Church's One foundation 
 Is Jesus Christ her Lord; 
 She is His new creation, 
 By water and the word : 
 From Heaven He came and sought her 
 To be His holy Bride ; 
 "With His own Blood He bought her, 
 And for her life He died. 
 
 " Elect from every nation, 
 Yet one o'er all the earth, 
 Her charter of salvation 
 One Lord, one faith, one birth ; 
 One Holy Name she blesses, 
 Partakes one Holy Food, 
 And to one hope she presses 
 With every grace endued. 
 
 11 Though with a scornful wonder 
 Men see her sore opprest, 
 By schisms rent asunder, 
 By heresies distrest, 
 Yet saints their watch are keeping, 
 Their cry goes up, ' How long?' 
 And soon the night of weeping 
 Shall be the morn of song. 
 
 " 'Mid toil and tribulation, 
 And tumult of her war, 
 She waits the consummation 
 Of peace for evermore ; 
 Till with the vision glorious 
 Her longing eyes are blest, 
 And the great Church victorious 
 Shall be the Church at rest. 
 
 " Yet she on earth hath union 
 With God the Three in One, 
 And mystic, sweet communion 
 With those whose rest is won : 
 O happy ones and holy ! 
 Lord, give us grace that we, 
 Like them the meek and lowly, 
 On high may dwell with Thee. 
 
SERMON XVI 
 
 ^hc (Dire Jfxmttbaticrtt. 
 
 COLOSSIANS I. 1 8. 
 
 " He is the head of the body, the Church.'* 
 
 When the world was drowned by the flood, God saved 
 a faithful remnant, His Church, and kept it safe in the 
 Ark. To that Church He gave His Covenant, and sent 
 it forth into the world to propagate the true faith from 
 generation to generation. From the very first the leading 
 principle of the Church was unity, oneness. It was to be 
 one, holy, universal Church, composed of one people, all 
 having one language, one Covenant. And God's will is 
 the same now. .His Church has one faith, one Baptism, 
 one language, that is, one doctrine, all over the world. 
 In those early days, when Noah's descendants formed the 
 Church of God, man's pride and ignorance caused a 
 division, or schism, in the Church. The unity of the 
 Body was broken by the pride and folly of the dwellers 
 in the plains of Shinar, who said, " Go to, let us build us 
 
148 ^he (Dns Jfounuaiian. 
 
 a city and a tower, whose top shall reach unto Heaven, 
 and let us make us a name." 
 
 The tower which they built was probably intended for 
 some idolatrous purpose. God had saved the people, 
 and had bidden them to worship in a particular manner. 
 But their pride stood in the way. They wished to make 
 themselves a name, other than the name of God's Church. 
 They preferred to worship God in their own way, instead 
 of in God's way. They determined to be guided by their 
 own ideas, instead of by God's commands, and to found 
 a religious society of their own, in place of that which 
 was Divine. 
 
 Thus we get the first instance of schism, the first break 
 in the unity of the Church. And what was the result? 
 Just what always follows schism, confusion and strife. 
 God looked on the work of those Babel builders, and con- 
 founded their language, so that they could not understand 
 one another. They had built this tower that they might 
 not be scattered over the earth, and their act brought 
 about the very result which they dreaded. Now there is 
 a very plain lesson for us to be learnt from this history of 
 an old dead and gone sin. Our country to-day is like 
 the plain of Shinar, where men are busy building Babels. 
 One thinks that he will make himself a name, another that 
 he will reach Heaven by a way of his own. And the end 
 of all these Babels is confusion and destruction. They 
 are built as monuments of pride, and presently the tower 
 
^lu (Due Jjmtnbaiion. 149 
 
 which they made so strong for themselves falls, and great 
 is the fall thereof. There are those who build a Worldly 
 Babel. " Let us make a name," they say. So they live 
 lavishly, spend money beyond their means, encourage 
 their children in extravagance, till suddenly the tower 
 falls, and they are overwhelmed in the ruins of bank- 
 ruptcy. Another Babel-builder is the man who makes 
 his business the one great object of his life, who determines 
 that he will make money at any cost ; honestly if he can, 
 if not, still it shall be made. He tells us that he does 
 not object to religion, but it must not stand in the way 
 of his work. It must not come between him and a hard 
 bargain, or even an unjust act. His way is the way of 
 the world. The laws of God, the rules of the Church, 
 are not for practical men like him, but for Priests and 
 women. Ah ! foolish builder, your work is only a Tower 
 of Babel. You are hoping to make yourself a name, and 
 are heaping up riches without knowing who shall gather 
 them. What if the son for whom you have laboured 
 becomes a spendthrift and a prodigal ? How will your 
 work profit you then ? When you die, what will your 
 money profit you then ? The Babel falls to ruins. 
 
 11 Go to, let us make us a name." So speak the Babel- 
 builders of to-day. One desires the name of a sharp man 
 of business, another the name of a millionaire. One 
 covets the name of a clever sceptic ; he has discovered 
 that the Bible is all a mistake, and that a belief in God, 
 
150 ^ht (Dm Jfxmttbation. 
 
 or in Prayer, is old-fashioned and out of date. He would 
 have us believe in him rather than in God. And for 
 these men the day comes when they lie among the ruins 
 of their Babel. They hoped to make them a name, and 
 they have failed to gain the only name which endures, 
 one which is written in Heaven. 
 
 Again, there are those who build religious Babels. 
 They say, " Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, 
 whose top may reach unto Heaven." They would reach 
 Heaven by a way of their own making. The history of 
 schism, from the time of the Tower of Babel to this day, 
 has always been the same. Men build Towers of Babel, 
 and the result is confusion, division, strife. Brethren, we 
 as members of Christ's Church are members of One Body, 
 and to cause division or separation in that Body is grievous 
 sin. If we wander away from the Church, and seek some 
 form of religion of our own choosing ; if we break the 
 unity of the Church, the Family in which we " are all one 
 in Christ Jesus ;" if, having itching ears, we follow first 
 one teacher, then another, in various sects, all more or less 
 opposed to each other, and all opposed to the Church, 
 we commit a great sin. We create confusion, where God 
 would have order ; we rend the seamless robe of Christ, 
 which even the soldiers spared. Those who separate 
 themselves from the Church, and join some religious 
 society of man's making, are merely building a Tower of 
 Babel, and saying, " let us make us a tower which will 
 
^he (Dm Jfomtiaium. 151 
 
 reach unto Heaven." And the end of this is confusion 
 and division. 
 
 In the Church all are of one speech. The same holy 
 faith is proclaimed, the same holy Sacraments administered 
 wherever the Catholic Church is found. But among the 
 various Sects which have parted from the Church there 
 is confusion of tongues, so that a man cannot understand 
 his neighbour. One Sect holds one doctrine about holy 
 Baptism for instance, another maintains exactly the op- 
 posite view, and yet each of these religious bodies declares 
 that it is teaching the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and 
 preaching the Gospel. I am not now speaking to those 
 who have never been taught Church principles. I speak 
 to yon who profess to be members of Christ's Holy 
 Church, and I want you to realize the sin of dividing 
 yourselves, and separating from the One Family, the 
 Communion of Saints, the Church in Paradise and in 
 earth, whilst you strive to build a Babel of your own. 
 " Other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is 
 Jesus Christ ;" — " He is the head of the Body, the Church." 
 
 " The Church's one foundation 
 Is Jesus Christ her Lord, 
 She is His new creation, 
 By water and the word : 
 From Heaven He came and sought her 
 To be His holy Bride; 
 With His own Blood He bought her, 
 And for her life He died." 
 
152 ^hc (Due Jfomtbaiioit. 
 
 We have seen the Church, founded on the Apostles 
 and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the head corner-stone, 
 remaining unchanged, in spite of persecution and unbelief. 
 We have seen, too, endless heresies, and unnumbered 
 sects arise, and then pass away. Let us learn then that 
 Babel falls, but the City of our God stands firm. What 
 man does will fail, what God does shall endure for ever. 
 
" King of Saints, to whom the number 
 Of Thy starry host is known, 
 Many a name, by man forgotten, 
 Lives for ever round Thy throne ; 
 Lights, which earth-born mists have darkened, 
 There are shining full and clear, 
 Princes in the courts of Heaven, 
 Nameless, unremembered here. 
 
 " In the roll of Thine Apostles, 
 One there stands, Bartholomew, 
 He to whom to-day we offer, 
 Year by year, our praises due ; 
 How he toiled for Thee and suffered 
 None on earth can now record ; 
 All his saintly life is hidden 
 In the knowledge of his Lord. 
 
 " Was it he, beneath the fig-tree 
 Seen of Thee, and guileless found; 
 He who saw the good he longed for, 
 Rise from Nazareth's barren ground j 
 He who met his risen Master 
 On the shore of Galilee ; 
 He to whom the word was spoken, 
 c Greater things thou yet shalt see ?' 
 
 " None can tell us ; all is written 
 In the Lamb's great book of life, 
 All the faith, and prayer, and patience, 
 All the toiling, and the strife ; 
 There are told Thy hidden treasures ; 
 Number us, O Lord, with them, 
 When Thou makest up the jewels 
 Of Thy living diadem." 
 
SERMON XVII 
 
 SBnkttobm, £ct SEUU Jlnolrsn. 
 (Festival of S. Bartholomew 
 
 2 Timothy ii. 19. 
 " The Lord hnovceth them that are His." 
 
 Many of the greatest Saints have lived and died unknown 
 and uncared for by the world. These are God's secret 
 ones, unknown to men, well-known to God. About some 
 of the Saints and Apostles we hear much ; the lives and 
 works of S. Paul and S. Peter are familiar to us all. It 
 is not so with S. Bartholomew, and yet none of the 
 Martyrs worked more faithfully, or suffered more severely. 
 What we do know of him is gathered chiefly from sources 
 outside the Bible. He is supposed to have been the 
 same as Nathaniel, a native of Galilee, and at the time of 
 his call, a young fisherman. Bartholomew is closely con- 
 nected with S. Philip, who first brought him to Jesus ; 
 and with his teacher he worked and preached till S. 
 Philip became a martyr. When he was told that Jesus 
 of Nazareth was the Messiah, Bartholomew doubted, 
 
156 Bnfcrioton, ^et Weil ginotott. 
 
 wondering how any good thing could come out of a town 
 in hated and despised Galilee, but when once he came to 
 Jesus he remained faithful even unto death. After our 
 Lord's Ascension, and after the descent of the Holy 
 Ghost at Pentecost, Bartholomew is said to have begun 
 his Mission by preaching in Northern India. Among the 
 wild and fierce people of that distant land he made many 
 converts. In the Second Century of the Christian era 
 a Missionary in India was shown a Hebrew copy of S. 
 Matthew's Gospel, said to have been given to the ancestors 
 of the Christians there by S. Bartholomew. Travelling 
 to the west and north of Asia, S. Bartholomew, in com- 
 pany with S. Philip, came to Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia, 
 and showed the people there the folly of their idol wor- 
 ship ; many persons being converted to the faith. This 
 excited the anger of the authorities, and two crosses were 
 prepared for the preachers of the Cross of Christ. S. 
 Philip was actually put to death j S. Bartholomew was 
 bound to the cross, and prepared to yield up his guileless 
 soul to God, when fear, or repentance moved the people, 
 and they let him go free. Thus S. Bartholomew was, on 
 this occasion, a martyr in will, but not in deed. The 
 time came when he was a martyr both in will and deed. 
 Once more he went forth to his work and to his labour 
 until the evening of death. Having preached successfully 
 in Lycaonia, he went to Armenia, and there the king of 
 that region was converted, his wife and subjects following 
 
Etnknolim, ^et SStell glnrjton. 157 
 
 his example. Bartholomew bought these souls for Christ 
 at the price of his own blood. The idolatrous priests 
 persuaded the brother of the converted king to put the 
 Apostle to death, and he suffered martyrdom for the 
 second time at a city on the shores of the Caspian Sea. 
 It is said that he was flayed alive, according to the bar- 
 barous custom of the country, and afterwards crucified. 
 Yet he who laboured so successfully for Christ, and 
 suffered so severely, is only mentioned four times in the 
 New Testament, and then very slightly. There is no 
 word to record his hard toil, his burning love, his patient 
 suffering, and his noble death. 
 
 11 How he toiled for Thee and suffered, 
 None on earth can now record ; 
 All his saintly life is hidden 
 In the knowledge of his Lord." 
 
 And so it is with many of the greatest of God's saints. 
 No one knows the name of Naaman's little servant, who 
 brought her Master to God. The names of the Holy 
 Innocents appear in no earthly book. That pious widow 
 who gave all she had to the Temple is not named ; and 
 there are thousands of others, who though " unknown, 
 are well known " to God, whose names are not written on 
 earth, but are written in Heaven. There are many who 
 are now living for God, and working for Him, and 
 suffering for Him, of whom this world knows notlnng. 
 
i5 8 SJnkncton, j)et Widi glnohm. 
 
 There are Clergy labouring in obscure parishes, who have 
 never been heard of in the great world of London, who 
 will never be rich, who will be promoted, but who will 
 work faithfully for their Master, Jesus, till the evening, 
 and then go to rest under the shadow of the old Church. 
 Their names are unknown to fame, but they are written 
 in Heaven, — " the Lord knoweth them that are His." 
 There are Missionaries serving their Master in foreign 
 lands among the heathen, amid dangers, hardships and 
 death. When they die, perhaps a violent death, no 
 notice will be taken of them. There will not be, perhaps, 
 a paragraph about them in the newspapers, but "the 
 Lord knoweth them that are His." 
 
 Now think of yourselves. You all have a work to do 
 for Christ, and a life to live for Him. For most of you 
 that life will be one of obscurity. Your names will never 
 be published to the world ; you will live and die quietly 
 among your native woods and hills, and within the sound 
 of your own Church bells. But if you are trying to lead 
 a good life, and are helping others to do so, then though 
 your names may be unknown to the world, they are well 
 known to God. Every victory which you have won over 
 sin and temptation, though unknown to men, is known 
 to God. Every time you have denied yourself for the 
 sake of others ; every time you have done a kindly act 
 for Christ's dear sake, God knew it, these things are 
 noted in His book. The world knows nothing about the 
 
Itnknofem, j?et Sttcll ginoton. 159 
 
 simple old cottager who, in spite of poverty and rheu- 
 matism, and failing sight, is yet cheerful and contented, 
 and blesses God for his daily bread. But God knows all 
 about that simple saint of His. The world knows 
 nothing of the hard-worked, much-tried man or woman 
 who kneels regularly at -the Altar of Holy Communion ; 
 but Jesus, present there, sees and welcomes that humble 
 worshipper. Your way of life may be far from the noise, 
 and stir, and energy of the great world, your light may 
 be set to shine in a corner; your struggles, your sorrows, 
 your prayers may be all unknown to men, but they are 
 well known to God. 
 
 God has hidden saints in every place, dwelling under 
 cottage thatch, as well as in great houses. These are the 
 gems which no earthly eye has ever valued, but they will 
 shine none the less brightly on that day when God makes 
 up His jewels. Of the story of such lives men know 
 oothing, but 
 
 " . . . . all is written 
 In the Lamb's great book of Life, 
 All the faith, and prayer, and patience, 
 All the toiling, and the strife ; 
 There are told Thy hidden treasures ; 
 Number us, O Lord, with them, 
 When Thou makest up the jewels 
 Of Thy living diadem." 
 
" Dear Lord, on tins Thy servant's day, 
 Who left for Thee the gold and mart, 
 Who heard Thee whisper, * Come away, 
 And followed with a single heart. 
 
 " Give us, amid earth's weary moil, 
 And wealth for which men cark and care, 
 'Mid fortune's pride, and need's wild toil, 
 And broken hearts in purple rare, 
 
 " Give us Thy grace to rise above 
 The glare of this world's smelting fires j 
 Let God's great love put out the love 
 Of gold, and gain, and low desires. 
 
 " Still, like a breath from scented lime, 
 Borne into rooms where sick men faint, 
 His voice comes floating through all time, 
 Thine own Evangelist and Saint. 
 
 " Still sweetly rings the Gospel strain 
 Of golden store that knows not rust, 
 The love of Christ is more than gain, 
 And heavenly crowns than yellow dust. 
 
SERMON XVIII. 
 
 (Festival of S. Matthew.) 
 
 S. Matthew vi. 20. 
 " Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven** 
 
 What do we know of S. Matthew, whose festival we 
 celebrate to-day, and what lessons can we learn from his 
 life ? Matthew, or Levi, was the son of Alphseus, and 
 probably a native of Galilee. He was a publican or tax- 
 gatherer, and his special duty was to collect the dues and 
 customs paid on the cargoes of vessels which crossed the 
 sea of Tiberias. The publicans were a class hateful to 
 the Jews, first, because they were the servants of the 
 Romans, and next, because they farmed the taxes from 
 the Roman government at a fixed price, and tried to 
 enrich themselves by injustice and extortion. There were 
 two classes of publicans, a superior order of which 
 Zaccheus is the type, and an inferior class of collectors, 
 of whom Matthew was one. Doubtless S. Matthew was 
 well off, like most of his order 3 for both the upper and 
 
1 62 treasure in Igeaben. 
 
 lower class of Publicans made as much profit as possible 
 from the taxes. The summons of Jesus, " Follow Me," 
 meant therefore to S. Matthew a great sacrifice of self. 
 It meant giving up what he already had, and the chance 
 of acquiring much more. For plenty he would have 
 poverty, in place of rich and powerful masters he would 
 have a Master who had nowhere to lay His Head, who 
 was despised and rejected of men, All this was meant 
 by following Jesus. And S. Matthew made his choice, and 
 becnme one of those blessed ones, who are " poor, yet 
 making many rich, having nothing, and yet possessing 
 all things." He learned to feel — 
 
 " What is the gold of all this world but dross, 
 The joy but sorrow, and the pleasure pain ; 
 The wealth but beggary, and the gain but loss, 
 The wit but folly, and the virtue vain j 
 Thus, since to Heaven compared, the world is such 
 What thing is man to love the world so much ?" 
 
 S. Matthew gave up the gold of this world, but he had 
 found treasure in Heaven, even the goodly pearl of great 
 price ; and to gain this he willingly sacrificed all else. 
 For eight years after our Lord's Ascension, S. Matthew 
 preached to his brethren in Judsea ; and before setting 
 forth to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, he was urged 
 to write the story of Christ's life and works. Hence we 
 pet the Gospel of St. Matthew, written expressly for the 
 Jews, and therefore in Hebrew, although it was soon 
 
pressure in gjealnn. 163 
 
 translated into Greek by an unknown hand. Having 
 finished this task, the Evangelist went to Egypt and 
 Ethiopia. S. Chrysostom says, in reference to his success, 
 that "he washed the Ethiopian white." He is said to 
 have suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, but the manner of his 
 death is not known. 
 
 And now let us learn the lessons which spring from 
 S. Matthew's life. 
 
 " Dear Lord, on this Thy servant's day, 
 Who left for Thee the gold and mart. 
 Who heard Thee whisper, ■ Come away,' 
 And followed with a single heart ; 
 
 " Give us, amid earth's weary moil, 
 And wealth for which men cark and care, 
 'Mid fortune's pride, and need's wild toil, 
 And broken hearts in purple rare, 
 
 *' Give us Thy grace to rise above 
 The glare of this world's smelting fires ; 
 Let God's great love put out the love 
 Of gold, and gain, and low desires.'' 
 
 S. Matthew let nothing stand between him and Jesus, 
 he gave up all, and followed Him. He forms a strong 
 contrast to the young Ruler, who came to Jesus, but 
 without counting the cost, and so went away sorrowful. 
 There are many so-called Christians among us now, who 
 have not counted the cost of following Jesus, who are not 
 prepared to give up anything for Christ's sake. Believe 
 
164 treasure in g) en uen. 
 
 me, brethren, you can't have Jesus Christ and your own 
 way too. There is the mistake which so many of us 
 make. We try to make God's Will fit in with our 
 selfish wishes, instead of making God's Will our will. 
 But some man will say, " How impractical all this is ! 
 Do you wish me to give up my farm, or my merchandize, 
 to forsake my business, and become a beggar ?" Certainly 
 not. God does not require this of you. But He does 
 require you to give up whatever hinders you from being 
 a Christian ; whatever keeps you back from holiness, 
 however dear it may be to you. If a man says to me, 
 "My land occupies so much of my time that I have 
 scarcely any opportunity for religion;" then I say, "that 
 land of yours is lying between you and the Better Land of 
 Heaven." If you are saying in answer to the call of 
 Jesus, " I have bought a piece of land, and therefore I 
 cannot come," you must alter this. You must think of 
 God first, and your land afterwards ; you must put your 
 soul before your farm, otherwise at the last you will have 
 six feet of earth for your worn-out body, and you will have 
 lost your soul. If a tradesman says, " My business wont 
 let me be honest ;" then I tell him that he must give up 
 that business, or conduct it in a different way, or he cannot 
 be Christ's servant. If a man or woman says, " I stay 
 away from Holy Communion because there is some 
 pleasure, or habit, which I know to be wrong, but which 
 I don't like to give up 5" then let such an one know that 
 
 
treasure in gjeatim 165 
 
 he is staying away from Jesus, and suffering this darling 
 sin to stand between him and his Saviour. Brethren, 
 make your choice. Will you give up what you know to 
 be wrong, or will you give up everlasting life ? I knew 
 a man who made his choice, but not as S. Matthew 
 did. He had knelt many a time at the Altar, and received 
 the Blessed Sacrament from these hands of mine ; but he 
 fell into sin, and when urged to forsake it, he answered, 
 " I will not, if it costs me my soul." So he made his 
 choice. Your own conscience will tell you in each indi- 
 vidual case, what is keeping you back from being altogether 
 Christ's servant. Look into your hearts now while I 
 speak ; ask yourselves the question, " What must I give 
 up for Christ ? W T hat keeps me back from Him in my 
 daily life, in my pleasures, in my work ?" Find out what 
 obstacle there is between you and Jesus, and then ask Him 
 to give you strength to pluck it out, and to cast it from you. 
 It is better for us to enter into life maimed, and deprived 
 of some darling sin, than having had our own way to the 
 last to be cast out from God's presence for ever. 
 
 " Still sweetly rings the Gospel strain, 
 Of golden store that knows not rust ; 
 The love of Christ is more than gain, 
 And heavenly crowns than yellow dust." 
 
'* How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds, 
 In a believer's ear ! 
 
 It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
 And drives away his fear. 
 
 " It makes the wounded spirit whole, 
 And calms the troubled breast ; 
 'Tis manna to the hungry soul, 
 And to the weary rest. 
 
 " Dear Name! the rock on which I build, 
 My shield and hiding-place, 
 My never-failing treasury filled 
 With boundless stores of grace. 
 
 " Jesus ! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend, 
 My Prophet, Priest, and King, 
 My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, 
 Accept the praise I bring. 
 
 " Weak is the effort of my heart, 
 And cold my warmest thought ; 
 But when I see Thee as Thou art, 
 I'll praise Thee as I ought. 
 
 " Till then I would Thy love proclaim 
 With every fleeting breath ; 
 And may the music of Thy Name 
 Refresh my soul in death." 
 
SERMON XIX. 
 
 ^he glwboto* anb the <Substance. 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 S. John v. 39. 
 " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
 life : and they are they which testify of Me." 
 
 I am going to talk to you, my children, about reading the 
 Bible. I hope many of you read the Bible because you 
 love it. Some of you, perhaps, read it as a task, and 
 without interest. Now, if I were to ask you why we ought 
 to study God's Book, you would tell me rightly that we do 
 so to learn about God's holy will and commandments. 
 But what does our Lord Jesus Christ say about Bible 
 reading ? He tells us to search the Scriptures, because 
 they testify, or bear witness, of Him. When our Lord 
 said this did He refer to the New Testament ? Certainly 
 not, because it had not yet been written. So He tells 
 us that the Old Testament bears witness of Him. Perhaps 
 many of you children, like a good many older people, 
 have only looked for Jesus in the New Testament, You 
 
1 68 ^hc <Shat)ofcDs auk the Substance. 
 
 may have thought that the OKI Testament is a hard 
 book, very unlike the "sweet story of old," which we 
 hear in the Gospel. You may have looked upon it only 
 as the history of the Jews, and their laws, and their 
 battles, and their kings and judges. But if you read 
 the Old Testament properly you will see Jesus Christ 
 there. Have you ever seen a photographic artist take 
 one of those sun-pictures which are now so common ? 
 Well, at first there was no picture to be seen, only a 
 piece of glass with a kind of white cloud upon it. But 
 presently as the artist poured certain chemicals upon it, 
 a picture began to come out of the mist ; first one 
 feature, then another, till you saw the likeness of a friend. 
 The Old Testament scriptures sometimes appear strange 
 and uninteresting to you, there is a mist over them as it 
 were. But as you study the words, or hear them explained, 
 gradually new beauties, new features come out, and you 
 find a likeness. Whose likeness, my children? The 
 likeness of Jesus Christ, the Friend of little children. 
 I dare say none of you ever saw a kind of ink used for 
 secret writing. Common ink, you know, leaves a very 
 plain mark on the paper; but this ink, of which I am 
 speaking, fades away directly after it is used, and the 
 paper seems to be blank. But if that sheet of paper is 
 held to the fire, the writing comes out, and can be read 
 easily. Now to a great many people the pages of the 
 Bible, especially of the Old Testament, seem all blank, 
 
Uhe <Shauotrjs nnu the <Subshtnce. 169 
 
 without any beauty or interest. But if you learn to read 
 God's word with care and intelligence, above all, if you 
 pray to God to show you the true meaning, the pages 
 which seemed blank before will be full of interest for you. 
 But perhaps you think among yourselves, how can we 
 find Jesus in the Old Testament, when we do not read 
 of His Birth till we come to the Gospels ? I will try to 
 show you what I mean. If you were watching the wall 
 of the school-lane on a sunny day, when the children 
 were leaving school, what would you see? The shadows 
 of the children. Yes, and at a certain time of the day 
 their shadows would be cast before them, so that first 
 you see the shadow, then the child itself. Well, when 
 you read the Old Testament you see the shadow of Jesus, 
 in the New Testament you see the Substance, Jesus 
 Himself. And these shadows of Jesus are called Types. 
 Thus when we read the books of the Old Testament we 
 look forward to Jesus coming to die for our sins, and to 
 rise again for our justification. When we read the New 
 Testament we look back at the time when Jesus did 
 come, and live on this earth, and die on the Cross ; and 
 we look forward also to the time when He shall come 
 again to judge the quick and the dead. Now let us open 
 our Bibles, and look at some of the shadows of Jesus 
 Christ passing across the pages of the Old Testament. 
 Look at the story of Abel. Can you see any shadow of 
 Jesus Christ there ? What sort of sacrifice did he offer to 
 
170 ^he <Shabofcrjs n\\b the (Substance. 
 
 God ? One which was acceptable. And so Jesus 
 offered Himself as a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole 
 world, and it was accepted. And Abel was slain by his 
 brother's hand ; and here again we get a type of Jesus 
 who was put to death by His brethren. Now think of 
 Isaac. He was the child of Promise, the beloved son of 
 his father. He was chosen for a sacrifice, and he bore 
 the wood for that sacrifice to Mount Moriah. Here is 
 the shadow : now at the substance ; see Jesus, the Child 
 of Promise, the Beloved Son of His Heavenly Father, 
 carrying the wood of the Cross for His own sacrifice. 
 Or let us turn to that story which every child loves to 
 read, the story of Joseph. Ah ! how plainly you can see 
 the shadow of Jesus falling there. Joseph, the beloved 
 son, is sent to his brethren, and is hated of them. He 
 is cast into a pit, and is sold to the Ishmaelites. He is 
 put in prison on a false charge, his feet are made fast in 
 the stocks, the iron enters into his soul. He is bound 
 between two malefactors, to the one he promises life, to 
 the other death. He is raised up on high, the king sent 
 and delivered him. Then he feeds a starving people 
 with bread, because he was sent before his brethren to 
 preserve life. Now in all this, my children, we can see 
 the story of Jesus Christ. He, the Beloved Son, is sent 
 to His brethren in this world to preserve life, to give them 
 eternal life. He is hated of His brethren, despised and 
 rejected of men, He is numbered among the transgressors. 
 
 
%\it (Shabotus anb the ^ubstanrc 171 
 
 He is sold to His enemies, He is put in prison on a false 
 charge, He is bound on the Cross between two male- 
 factors, and promises life to one, and leaves the other to 
 his doom. He is delivered from the prison of the grave, 
 and is exalted to the right hand of His Father in Heaven ; 
 and He ever feeds His people with the Bread of Life in 
 the Blessed Sacrament. Now let us think of Aaron. 
 Again we see the shadow of Jesus Christ. Aaron was 
 the High Priest, and Jesus is called " Our great High 
 Priest, and a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." 
 What was the special duty of a Priest ? To offer sacrifice. 
 Can you tell me about a particular day when the High 
 Priest alone offered a special sacrifice ? That day was 
 the Day of Atonement, and then, on that day only, the 
 High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies, and offered 
 a sacrifice for the sins of the people ; sprinkling the blood 
 of the victim before the mercy-seat. Now, my children, 
 let us see how this was a shadow of Jesus Christ. Pie is our 
 Pligh Priest, He offered a sacrifice for the sins of the 
 whole world. So our day of Atonement was when that 
 sacrifice was offered on the Cross, when Jesus was Him- 
 self the victim. And can we see no shadow of Jesus as 
 we look at the High Priest sprinkling the blood before 
 the mercy-seat, in the Holy of Holies? Jesus has passed 
 into the Holy of Holies, that is Heaven. What does He 
 do there for us ? He pleads for us, for the sake of His 
 Precious Blood poured out for us, He pleads that we 
 
i72 %\it <SIta&oto0 mxb the .Substance 
 
 may be forgiven ; thus He sprinkles His Elood, as it 
 were, before the Mercy Seat. Never suppose that our 
 dear Lord's work was done when He died on the Cross. 
 He not only died for us, but He ever lives to make 
 intercession for us. Let us go on, my children, to think 
 of some types or shadows of Jesus which are less familiar 
 to you than these, about which we have spoken so often. 
 We will look into the Book of Joshua, and there we shall 
 see in almost every line a shadow of Jesus. 
 
 First of all, there is the very name of Joshua, which is 
 exactly the same name as Jesus, and means, as you all 
 know, a Saviour. When we see Joshua leading God ; s 
 people against their enemies, and after conquering them, 
 dividing the land of Canaan among the children of Israel, 
 do we not see the shadow of our Joshua, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ? What are the enemies which He conquered for 
 us ? Sin and death. What enemies does He help us to 
 conquer now ? The world, the flesh, and the devil ; all 
 the temptations and bad thoughts which come to us. 
 And does not our Joshua promise us a good land, which 
 He will divide among His people? Yes, surely, the good 
 land of Heaven, whither He says He is gone to prepare 
 a place for us. We read in the beginning of this book 
 how Joshua was appointed to succeed Moses, who had 
 given the people the law. So we turn from the shadow 
 ami see the Substance ; we see Jesus Christ sent to do 
 what the law could not do, to save the people. I dare 
 
^he <8habouis ana the (Substance. 173 
 
 say some of you can tell me a text about this? "The 
 law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
 Jesus Christ." Moses, with all his wisdom and goodness, 
 could not save the people from their enemies in Canaan, 
 nor was he even allowed to pass over Jordan into the 
 Promised Land. Joshua was chosen to do this. So we 
 know that " there is no other name given among men 
 whereby we must be saved," but the name of our Joshua, 
 Jesus Christ. So we do right to sing — 
 
 " How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
 In a believer's ear ! 
 
 It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, 
 And drives away his fear. 
 
 " Dear Name ! the rock on which I build, 
 My shield and hiding-place, 
 My never-failing treasury filled 
 With boundless stores of grace." 
 
 Do you remember, children, how the children of Israel 
 passed over Jordan ? The Priests bore the Ark of God, 
 and as soon as their feet were dipped in the waters of 
 Jordan, the waters flowed backward, and the people 
 passed over. There we get the shadow of Jesus Christ, 
 our great High Priest, who dipped His feet in the river of 
 death, which lies between us and the Better Land, and 
 then a way was made for us to pass over, since Jesus says, 
 "Whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die." 
 And do you remember how Joshua chose twelve men 
 
174 ^he .Shaootos anb the (Substance. 
 
 from the twelve tribes to carry twelve stones over with 
 them ? Well, here we get a shadow of Jesus choosing 
 the twelve Apostles, who were to be the foundation stones 
 of His Church. It was on the same day of the month 
 as that on which Jesus rode in triumph into Jerusalem, 
 that Joshua began his march to victory. That day of our 
 Lord's entry into Jerusalem is called Palm Sunday, 
 because the people strewed palm branches, the sign of 
 victory, in the way. Now can you tell me what was 
 Joshua's first victory? It was at Jericho, the city of 
 Palm trees. Thus far you see, my children, how the 
 features of the Lord Jesus Christ come out in the pages 
 of the Old Testament. We will look again at these 
 shadows on another occasion. 
 
SERMON XX. 
 
 9E!u <Shat)oiD0 artu thz (Substance. 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 S. John v. 39. 
 
 " Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life ; 
 end they are they which testify of Me" 
 
 There was once a famous artist who made a wonderful 
 shield, and worked his own name so cleverly into it, 
 that it could not be removed without destroying the 
 shield. The Bible is like that shield, and the name of 
 Jesus is so worked into it, that we find it everywhere. 
 Let us think now of the life of David, who is a most 
 perfect type of Jesus. First of all, my children, think 
 where David was born. In Bethlehem, the same place 
 where Jesus was born in the aftertime. David was of 
 the tribe of Judah, and of a noble race, for Jesse, his 
 father, was descended from one who had been a Prince 
 in the time of Moses. But when David was born, his 
 family was poor, and he seemed the least of those whom 
 he called his brethren. So our Blessed Lord, born of 
 
17 6 ^he <Shaicitc0 anu the <Sub0tan«. 
 
 the tribe of Judah, possessing all the riches of Heaven, 
 " became poor, that He might make many rich ;" and 
 we know that He was despised, and seemed as the least 
 among those whom He called His brethren. Next, we 
 know that David was a shepherd, and is not that one of 
 our Lord's names ? Yes, the Good Shepherd who layeth 
 down His life for the sheep. " We are the people of 
 His pasture, and the sheep of His Hand." Can you tell 
 me, children, how many times David was anointed? 
 Three times ; first at Bethlehem, secondly at Hebron, 
 as king over Judah, and again, after seven years, as king 
 over all Israel. Now the persons who were anointed 
 were, as you know, Prophets, Priests, and Kings, and 
 our Saviour was all three, and so may be said to have 
 been thrice anointed, as a Priest for ever, that Prophet 
 which should come into the world, and as the King of 
 Glory. When Jesse, the father of David, sent him to the 
 camp to see how his brethren fared, and to take them 
 food, he was badly received by them. When God the 
 Father sent His Son into the world, not only to see how 
 His brethren fared, but to deliver them, and to give them 
 the True Food, the Bread of Life, He too was badly 
 received. They said of Jesus, " Away with Him, away 
 with Him ;*' the brethren of His own household called 
 Him mad. David answered his brethren gently, saying, 
 " What have I now done, is there not a cause ?" So 
 Tesus, " when He was reviled, reviled not again," and 
 
^he (Shabotos anb the Uubstanre. 177 
 
 "as a lamb before her shearers, so He opened not His 
 mouth." You all know the story of the giant Goliath, 
 and how David the shepherd boy slew him. Well, we 
 see there the shadow of Jesus Christ. Goliath, the 
 Philistine giant, the enemy of Israel, is a type of Satan, 
 the giant of wickedness, the enemy of God's people. For 
 forty days Gol.ath drew near morning and evening, and 
 presented himself. So forforty daysSatan presented himself 
 to Jesus in the wilderness of temptation. David refused 
 Saul's armour ; and so Jesus took no armour, save that 
 of holiness, for His battle with Satan ; and He won that 
 battle clothed only with our poor, weak flesh. David 
 chose weapons despised of men, a staff, and five smooth 
 stones from the brook. What weapons did our Saviour 
 choose? Can you tell me what His staff was? The 
 Cross. And the five smooth stones were taken from the 
 brook of sorrow, of which He drank in the way, and 
 they were His Five Precious Wounds. David cut off the 
 giant's head with his own sword ; and Jesus by His death 
 conquered him who had the power of death; thus did 
 Jesus " bruise the serpent's head " with his own weapon. 
 
 Saul had promised great reward to him who should 
 conquer the giant. The promise was that " the king 
 will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his 
 daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel." 
 
 And now think of the rewards of our Lord Jesus, the 
 Conqueror of sin and death. He was to be enriched 
 
 M 
 
178 <oEhe <Sha£)otu0 anu the <§ubstan«. 
 
 with great riches ; " therefore will I divide Him a portion 
 with the great." But the reward given to Jesus was not 
 that of gold and silver. Can you tell me, my children, 
 what is the most precious thing in His eyes ? A soul 
 that is saved. Yes, Christ's reward was the souls of 
 His ransomed people. And what, think you, was the 
 Bride, the king's daughter, " all glorious within," which 
 was to be given to Jesus ? Do we not read of the Bride 
 many times in the Bible ? In the Book of Revelation, 
 for instance, we read, " The Spirit and the Bride say, 
 come !" Who is meant by the Bride of Christ ? The 
 Church ; and it was this Holy Bride which Jesus gained 
 by His victory over Satan. And it was promised too, 
 that His Father's house should be made free in Israel. 
 This too was fulfilled also, for His Heavenly Father's 
 House was made free from the bondage of sin and 
 death. You all remember how an evil spirit entered 
 into Saul, and how David soothed him and healed him 
 with his music. Now let us look for the shadow of 
 Jesus here. He came into a sinful world, and found 
 people troubled by evil spirits, and He healed them. 
 What was the music of Jesus? The music of the 
 Gospel, the sweet message, "Come unto me, all ye that 
 travail and are heavy laden." This was the music which 
 soothed and comforted the troubled hearts ; and more 
 than this, we know that He cast out the devils with His 
 word. When we read about Saul persecuting David, 
 
^he ghfttofos nub the <Substanre. 179 
 
 and how David forgave him, we see a shadow of Jesus 
 persecuted for righteousness sake, and praying for those 
 who did Him wrong. Twice Saul threw a javelin at 
 David, twice the Jews tried to stone Jesus. When we read 
 of Doeg, the Edomite, standing at the holy place before 
 the Lord, and afterwards betraying David, we look from 
 the shadow to the substance, and we see Judas Iscariot, 
 standing before the Lord at the Feast cf the Passover, 
 and afterwards betraying Jesus. Or when we see David 
 in the cave of Adullam, and find all the people who had 
 committed crimes, and were in danger, coming to him ; 
 we see Jesus in this world, a place like the cave of 
 Adullam, and becoming the "friend of publicans and 
 sinners."": Again, later in David's life, we hear of the 
 rebellion of his son Absalom, and there we see a shadow 
 of the Jews rebelling against Jesus, and saying, " We 
 will not have this man to reign over us." David, you 
 will remember, when full of sorrow and trouble at his 
 son's rebellion, departed from Jerusalem, crossed the 
 brook Kidron, ascended the mount of Olives, and wept 
 there ; he felt love and compassion for Absalom in spite 
 of his wickedness, and said, " Deal gently, for my sake, 
 with the young man ;" he forgave Shimei who cursed 
 him, and would not suffer him to be put to death. Now, 
 my children, look from the shadows to the substance, 
 and you will see Jesus going along the same path in His 
 sorrow, which David had traversed long before. He 
 
180 ^ht <SltafloU)<3 n\\b the (Substance. 
 
 crossed the brook Kidron, He wept over Jerusalem from 
 the mount of Olives, He was betrayed by Judas, as was 
 David by Ahitophel, He suffered agony of soul in the 
 Garden, He forgave those who cursed Him, and prayed 
 for those who had rebelled against Him — " Father, for- 
 give them, for they know not what they do." We will 
 look at one more shadow now. When the plague was 
 sent upon Israel, the angel of the Lord was bidden to 
 stay his hand at the threshing floor of Araunah, the 
 Jebusite. Now that threshing-floor was on mount 
 Moriah. Can you tell me, children, where that was? 
 At Jerusalem ? Yes ; and what great event happened 
 there in the old days ? There Abraham took Isaac to 
 offer him as a sacrifice ; and there God chose the spot 
 for the building of His Temple. David bought the 
 threshing-floor, and offered peace-offerings there, and the 
 plague was stayed. Now we look at the substance, and 
 we see Jesus offering Himself as a sacrifice at Jerusalem, 
 and staying the plague of sin and death which threatened 
 the world. Thus the shadows of the Old Testament 
 lead us all one way, to Bethlehem, and to Calvary ; and 
 as it used to be said of old that " all roads lead to 
 Rome," so every part of God's Word, if rightly followed, 
 will lead to Jesus Christ. 
 
u There's a Friend for little children, 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 A Friend who never changes, 
 Whose love will never die ; 
 Our earthy friends may fail us, 
 And change with changing years 
 This Friend is always worthy 
 Of that dear Name He bears. 
 
 " There's a rest for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 Who love the Blessed Saviour, 
 And to the Father cry ; 
 A rest from every turmoil, 
 From sin and sorrow free, 
 Where every little pilgrim, 
 Shall rest eternally. 
 
 " There's a home for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 And all who look for Jesus 
 Shall wear it by and by ; 
 A crown of brightest glory, 
 Which He will then bestow, 
 On those who found his favour, 
 And loved His name below. 
 
 " There's a song for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 A song that will not weary, 
 Though sung continually ; 
 A song which even angels 
 Can never, never sing ; 
 They know not Christ as Saviour, 
 But worship Him as King. 
 
 " There's a robe for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 And a harp of sweetest music, 
 And palms of victory. 
 All, all above is treasured, 
 And found in Christ alone ; 
 Lord, grant Thy little children, 
 To know Thee as their own." 
 
 
SERMON XXI. 
 
 ^lu (Hhilbxtris portion. 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 S. Luke ix. 47. 
 " Jesus tool: a child, and set him by Him" 
 
 This hymn, which you all know so well, tells us about 
 the good things which God has prepared for them that 
 love Him. These good things pass man's understanding; 
 and they are prepared for you and all God's children. 
 Let us see then what is the Children's Portion in the 
 good things of Heaven. First, we are told that 
 
 " There's a Friend for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 A Friend who never changes, 
 Whose love will never die ; 
 Our earthly friends may fail us, 
 And change with changing years, 
 This Friend is always worthy 
 Of that dear Name He bears." 
 
 Now, how do we know that Jesus is the Children's 
 Friend? We know it because when He was ou the 
 
/ 
 
 1 34 ^Ite Chilton's Jtortion. 
 
 earth He commanded the children to be brought to 
 Him, and He rebuked those who would have kept them 
 from Him. He took the children in His arms, and 
 blessed them ; on one occasion He took a child, and 
 set him by Him, and told His disciples that none could 
 enter Heaven unless they became like children. Does 
 Jesus ever take little children in His arms now ? Yes, when 
 you were brought to His Holy Baptism, then Jesus took 
 you in His arms, and blessed you, and received you as 
 God's own children by adoption. You, my children, all 
 have friends. He would be a very miserable child indeed 
 who had not at least one friend. You have some one to 
 whom you tell your troubles, and your pleasures ; to 
 whom you show your new toys, to whom you tell any 
 piece of news which interests you. And if that friend is 
 a true friend he will be happy if you are happy, and sad 
 if you are in trouble ; he will enter into all your feelings, 
 and think more of you than of himself. He will sympathise 
 with you. This is what we expect in a real friend. But 
 the greatest thing that a man can do for his friend is to 
 die for him. There have been instances of this devotion 
 between friends. In the French Revolution, when, as 
 some of you know, people were carried daily in crowds 
 to die on the scaffold, a certain man saved a prisoner in 
 this way. The prisoner and his friend were much alike 
 in size and appearance. Just before the fatal day of 
 execution, this friend visited the prisoner, and contrived , 
 
^he Children's portion. 185 
 
 to exchange clothes with him, and to remain in the 
 prison, whilst the condemned man went out free. And 
 then in a few hours the end came, and the friend died for 
 him he loved. Many long years ago, in the old days, a 
 great battle took place in Scotland, between two clans 
 who were enemies. The fierce warriors of those times 
 honoured and loved their chief above all men, and were 
 ready to die for him. So in this battle of which I speak, 
 the sons of one man were appointed to stand round the 
 chief and protect him. The old man loved his tall, brave 
 sons dearly, but he did not hesitate to give their lives for 
 that of his chief. And so as each of his sons fell mor- 
 tally wounded, he cried out, " Another for Hector," and 
 instantly another son sprang to his chieftain's side to 
 fight and die xike the last. And at last, when all his 
 sons had fallen, the old man himself fought by his chief 
 and fell. Perhaps some of you have heard what a brave 
 Swiss did long ago in a battle against the Austrians. The 
 Swiss soldiers fought manfully, but the Austrians were 
 too strong for them, and they formed a line with their 
 spears fixed, which the Swiss tried in vain to break 
 through. At length one man, a simple countryman in 
 the ranks of the Swiss, said, u Take care of my wife and 
 children, I will break through their line." So saying he 
 rushed upon the line of spears, receiving them in his 
 breast and arms, and though he fell dead, pierced by 
 many wounds, the line was for a moment broken, and the 
 
1 86 ^he Chilton's portion. 
 
 Swiss rushed through the fence which his death had 
 opened. But, dear children, what are these things com- 
 pared to the death of Jesus, our Friend ? He died for 
 all men, not for His friends, but for His enemies. God 
 became man, and suffered death for those whom He 
 had created. And this Friend of little children is an 
 unchanging friend. We know that 
 
 " Our earthly friends may fail us, 
 And change with changing years;" 
 
 Many of your schoolmates whom you call friends now, 
 will forget you when they go out into the world. But 
 Jesus is a Friend who never forgets us, however much 
 we may neglect Him. 
 
 Next, the Hymn tells us that — 
 
 " There's a rest for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 Who love the Blessed Saviour, 
 And to the Father cry ; 
 A rest from every turmoil, 
 From sin and sorrow free, 
 Where every little pilgrim 
 Shall rest eternally." 
 
 Ah! dear little ones, you all know what a blessed 
 thing rest is. You know what it is to come home after 
 a long day in school, or after a long ramble in the lanes 
 and woods, looking forward to sleep and rest. And as 
 you grow older and go out into the world, and journey 
 
SEhe Wkixlbxtn'* portion. 187 
 
 on till your clay's work be done, you will often be very, 
 very weary, and long for rest. There will be rough roads 
 for you little pilgrims to walk on, and steep hills of diffi- 
 culty to climb, and sharp thorns of sorrow to tear and 
 wound. v - But still for God's children there is a promised 
 rest ; rest here in earth, but often disturbed and broken ; 
 rest in Heaven hereafter, perfect and eternal. I do not 
 mean that you will be idle in Heaven. That would not 
 be happiness. But there you will have rest from sin, rest 
 from temptation, rest from pain and sorrow, and 
 
 •' Every little pilgrim 
 Shall rest eternally." 
 
 \nd next, the Hymn tells us that — 
 
 " There's a home for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 Where Jesus reigns in glory, 
 A home of peace and joy ; 
 No home on earth is like it, 
 Nor can with it compare ; 
 For every one is happy, 
 Nor could be happier there." 
 
 You all love your home, my children, it is the sweetest, 
 dearest word we have. And one of the hardest things 
 which we have to do is to leave home for the first time, 
 and go forth among strangers. But our home on earth is 
 not always what we would wish it to be. There are often 
 angry tempers and cruel words there, which make home 
 
188 <Slte CLhUfcren's goriiott. 
 
 miserable. Sickness, and want, and trouble often come 
 and make home very dark and wretched. Sometimes our 
 home is broken up, the old house has to be left ; the 
 place where we played as children will never know us 
 again. Well, then, we must remember that God's 
 children have a home 
 
 " Above the bright blue sky," 
 
 where no trouble or strife can ever enter, 
 
 " For every one is happy, 
 Nor could be happier there." 
 
 And what do you think makes this home better than any 
 other ? Because Jesus is there. We know that Jesus is 
 with us in our earthly homes, if only we are trying to be 
 good. A little child was once asked where Jesus was, 
 and he answered, " He lives in our street now." And 
 the child was right, for " where two or three are gathered 
 together in His Name, there is He in the midst of them." 
 But here we can only see Jesus by faith, but in that 
 home above we shall see Him face to face. 
 Next, the Hymn goes on to tell us that — 
 
 *' There's a crown for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 And all who look for Jesus, 
 Shall wear it by and by ; 
 A crown of brightest glory, 
 Which He will then bestow, 
 On those who found His favour, 
 And loved His Name below." 
 
^The Children « portion. 189 
 
 Now tell me, my children, who are those who wear a 
 crown ? Kings and queens, you answer. Yes, but there 
 are others who were crowned in former times. When 
 men ran races amongst the old Greeks and Romans, the 
 winner received a crown, which was made of parsley, or 
 some other plant. This crown was highly prized as the 
 mark of victory, but on the day after the race it was 
 withered and worthless. S. Paul was thinking of this 
 when he said, " they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, 
 but we an incorruptible." You all have a race to run, 
 my children, the race of holiness, the race along the 
 narrow way from earth to Heaven ; and do you know 
 how you must run this race ? " With patience, looking 
 unto Jesus." But there were others who were crowned 
 in old times, the conquerors who had gained a victory. 
 Now we have a battle to fight, a very hard battle indeed. 
 We have to fight against sin, against temptation, against 
 bad temper, against ourselves. And if by God's help we 
 conquer, we shall receive a crown which never fades. 
 Once there was a little boy who used to go every morn- 
 ing to the Church very early, to assist the Priest in the 
 service. It was winter time and bitterly cold. The roads 
 were white with snow, and the frost was thick upon tree 
 and window. One morning the little server-boy went to 
 Church, and lighted the candles, and prepared for the 
 Priest, but the old man did not come. He lay warm in 
 bed, and thought no one will be at Church this bitter 
 
io° ^he (Sliiltan's portion. 
 
 morning, why should I go ? The next day came, and 
 the cold was even more severe. The little boy lying 
 warm in bed thought, why should I go forth and face the 
 snow and ice ? The Priest wiil not be there. Then he 
 remembered it was his duty, so he went forth as before 
 to the Church, but the old Priest was again absent. The 
 third morning dawned dark and cold as ever ; and again 
 the little boy was tempted to neglect his duty, but he 
 struggled with the temptation, and went as before to 
 Church. Meanwhile, as the aged Priest lay in his bed, 
 he saw a vision or dream, in which he beheld the Lord 
 coming to him with three crowns in His hand. The old 
 man stretched forth his hands, eagerly crying, " Are these 
 for me, my Master ?" And the Lord answered, " Not 
 for thee, but for the little server-boy. Thrice he has been 
 tempted, thrice he has resisted. Crowns are for those 
 who conquer, not for those who fail." Dear children, 
 " hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy 
 crown." 
 
 And again, the Hymn tells us that — 
 
 " There's a song for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 A song that will not weary, 
 Though sung continually ; 
 A song which even angels ; 
 Can never, never sing ; 
 They know not Christ as Saviour, 
 But worship Him as King." 
 
 
^he Children's {fcrtixm. 191 
 
 All little children love singing, and I know in my own 
 parish I hear the children on their way to school, and 
 the young lads ploughing in the fields, singing our bright 
 Church hymns oftener than other songs. But you know, 
 children, that all have not an ear for music ; there are 
 some boys who could not sing correctly however hard 
 they might try. And we know too that we can only sing 
 "the Lord's Song" here on earth for a little while. 
 Death comes and hushes the music here for ever. But 
 we know this also, which is the best thing of all to know, 
 that if we have praised God here, " not only with our 
 lips, but in our lives," we shall one day take part in the 
 perfect song " Above the bright sky." And that song 
 which we shall sing in Heaven is even better than any 
 which the holy angels sing. Very often we hear people 
 say, "I want to be an angel, and with the angels dwell ;" 
 and sometimes parents speaking of a dead child say, 
 "my darling is an angel in Heaven." But when we die 
 we do not become angels. They are a different order of 
 beings, created by God before man was created, for we 
 know that " man was made a little lower than the angels." 
 If we are permitted to enter Heaven we shall be able to 
 sing what the angels cannot sing, the story of the Cross, 
 the praise of the Precious Blood which redeemed us 
 from our sins. 
 
 " Alleluia we sing in the Church we love, 
 Alleluia resounds in the Church above ; 
 
192 ^Iie QPkdXbxztC* -portion. 
 
 To Thy little ones, Lord, may such grace be given, 
 That we lose not our part in the song of Heaven." 
 
 And once more, the Hymn tells us that — 
 
 " There's a robe for little children 
 Above the bright blue sky, 
 And a harp of sweetest music, 
 And palms of victory." 
 
 And for whom is that white robe prepared ? For God's 
 saints, no matter whether they be little children, or old 
 men and women. For all whose sins are forgiven them, 
 through the precious Blood of Christ, and who try to lead 
 good lives by God's help. For you, dear little children, 
 are the Friend, and the rest, and the home, and the 
 crown, and the song, and the pure white robe ; try then 
 to live as God's children here in earth, that you may one 
 day have the Children's Portion in Heaven. Ask the 
 Friend of little children to be your Friend, and let your 
 prayer be now— 
 
 " Lord, grant Thy little children 
 To know Thee as their own." 
 
11 We are but little children weak, 
 Not born to any high estate ; 
 What can we do for Jesus' sake 
 Who is so high and good and great ? 
 
 " We know the Holy Innocents 
 
 Laid down for Him their infant life, 
 And Martyrs brave and patient saints 
 Have stood for Him in fire and strife. 
 
 " We wear the cross they wore of old, 
 Our lips have learned like vows to make ( 
 W T e need not die ; we cannot fight ; 
 What may we do for Jesus' sake. 
 
 " Oh, day by day, each Christian child 
 Has much to do, without, within ; 
 A death to die for Jesus' sake, 
 A weary war to wage with sin. 
 
 " When deep within our swelling hearts 
 The thoughts of pride and anger rise, 
 When bitter words are on our tongues, 
 And tears of passion in our eyes ; 
 
 14 Then we may stay the angry blow, 
 Then we may check the hasty word, 
 Give gentle answers back again, 
 And fight a battle for the Lord. 
 
 " With smiles of peace, and looks of love, 
 Light in our dwellings we may make, 
 Bid kind good humour brighten there, 
 And still do all for Jesus' sake. 
 
 " There's not a child so small and weak 
 But has his little cross to take, 
 His little work of love and praise 
 That he may do for Jesus' sake." 
 
SERMON XXII. 
 
 git He fCibw. 
 (For a Children's Service.) 
 
 Proverbs xx. ii. 
 " Even a child is known by his doings." 
 
 The Hymn which we have just sung tells us what u little 
 children weak" can do for Jesus Christ. Just as there is no 
 insect too tiny, no leaf, or speck of dust in the universe too 
 small to have its place and its work in God's great workshop, 
 so there is no child too small or weak to have a place in God's 
 Church. Do not think, my children, that when you grow 
 up to be men and women you will do some great work 
 for God. Everything in nature begins from a small com- 
 mencement ; so you must begin as little children with 
 little feet to tread in the path of duty, and with little 
 hands to do little acts for Christ's dear sake. 
 
 " We know the holy Innocents 
 Laid down for Him their infant life ; 
 And martyr's brave, and patient saints, 
 Have stood for Him in fire and strife, 
 We wear the Cross they wore of old, 
 Our lips have learned like vows to make ; 
 We need not die ; we cannot fight ; 
 What may we do for Jesus' sake ?" 
 
196 gitUe Ptas. 
 
 No, dear children, you are not called upon to die for 
 Jesus, but to live for Him, and that is sometimes the 
 harder task of the two. Your little lives may be, and 
 ought to be, beautiful with the beauty of holiness. I 
 want specially to talk to you now about your influence 
 over your companions, and about little efforts to do good. 
 Do not think — I am too small to do anything. You 
 know the great oak trees which grow in our parish, so 
 large that twenty little children can shelter underneath one 
 of them. Well, how did those giant trees begin ? — from 
 a tiny acorn. Have you ever seen an engine-driver pour- 
 ing oil on the machinery of his engine ? It seems a very 
 little thing which he is doing, only dropping a few drops 
 of oil here and there ; and yet without that oil the 
 machinery would not work. I dare say you have seen 
 men building a church or a house. At first you saw only 
 one brick or stone placed upon another, and it seemed 
 as though the work would never be done, yet the house 
 grew and was finished. Thus, Rome and London 
 started from one brick. Some of the greatest discoveries 
 have started from small beginnings. Sir Isaac Newton 
 was sitting in his garden when the sight of an apple 
 falling from a tree suggested the theory of gravitation. 
 James Watt was looking at a tea-kettle when the first 
 thought of the steam engine came to him. These small 
 beginnings were followed out with patience, and ended in 
 great scientific triumphs, according to the Eastern pro- 
 
gittlc |Cito. 197 
 
 verb, which says, that M Time and patience change the 
 mulberry leaf to satin." 
 
 " Think naught a trifle, though it small appear; 
 Small sands the mountains, moments make the year, 
 And trifles, life." 
 
 Now, each of you little children can do something for 
 Jesus Christ : it was for this purpose that you were sent 
 into the world. One thing you cannot help doing, and 
 that is to influence your companions, to lead them right or 
 wrong, just according as you do right or wrong yourselves. 
 Perhaps you think — I am only one, what influence or 
 power have I got over others ? But remember it is the 
 one individual, not the crowd, who influences others. 
 " All the great things have been done by the ones," as a 
 writer says very truly. It required one Samson to deliver 
 Israel, and one David to kill Goliath, and one Wellington 
 to win Waterloo. 
 
 So one good child in a school may do a vast amount of 
 good, and one bad child can poison the lives of hundreds, 
 just as a few drops of bad water leaking into a well may 
 destroy a whole parish. A chemist will tell you that one 
 grain of the drug called iodine will colour seven thousand 
 times its weight of water. So the influence of a little 
 child will give a colour to a whole school or parish. And 
 so the influence of ont bad habit, or one bad book, will 
 change a whole life and character. They say that if a 
 single seed of the Canada thistle, hidden away among the 
 
pttl* gibes. 
 
 straw of a packing case, happens to drop on congenial 
 soil, it will soon increase so as to spoil acres of ground. 
 So, little children, the little acts and words of your little 
 lives are able to do a great deal of good or harm. The 
 little acts and duties of everyday life are the most 
 important of all. 
 
 11 Oh, day by day, each Christian child 
 lias much to do, without, within; 
 A death to die for Jesus' sake, 
 A weary war to wage with sin. 
 
 " With smiles of peace, and looks of love, 
 Light in our dwellings we may make, 
 Bid kind good humour brighten there, 
 And still do all for Jesus' sake." 
 
 It is not the great torrent, like Niagara, but the little 
 trickling stream which makes the meadows fertile. And 
 so it is not so much the great work of the hero or the 
 martyr which makes up a Christian life, as the quiet 
 virtues of everyday life ; such virtues as gentleness, meek- 
 ness, patience and forbearance. These are virtues which 
 God's children should display, and by them little lives 
 are made divine. Every effort which you make to do 
 right, although it may be only a little one, God sees 
 and accepts. When things vex you in school, or at 
 home, and you feel inclined to get into a passion, and to 
 say angry words, and when you struggle against that 
 temptation, and conquer it, then you have fought a battle 
 
fgittle Site. 199 
 
 for the Lord, and the Lord will not forget it. You have 
 fought for your colours, the banner of the Cross. t At the 
 battle of Albuera, the French had almost cut one of our 
 regiments to pieces. A desperate fight took place for the 
 colours. The ensign who carried the flag was cut down, 
 and the colours seized by the enemy, but afcer a struggle 
 over his dead body the flag was once more recovered. 
 The second ensign was severely wounded, but he tore 
 the tattered colours from the flag-staff, and placed them 
 in his breast, where they were found after the battle, 
 soaked with his blood. That is how brave men fought 
 for the flag of their regiment. You, dear children, have 
 a harder and a nobler battle still to fight, since to con- 
 quer ourselves is the grandest of all victories. 
 
 " When deep within our swelling hearts 
 The thoughts of pride and anger rise, 
 "When bitter words are on our tongues, 
 And tears of passion in our eyes ; 
 
 " Then we may stay the angry blow, 
 Then we may check the hasty word, 
 Give gentle answers back again, 
 And fight a battle for the Lord." 
 
 There is a beautiful legend of the olden days which 
 tells us how a young man found a blue forget-me-not, 
 one of a kind which blooms but once in seven years. 
 He who carries it in his breast can surmount all difficulties. 
 
:oo gJitUe gibe*. 
 
 and discover all secrets and hidden treasures. So the 
 young man of the legend placed the flower in his breast, 
 and set forth on his journey. No bolts or bars could 
 check him on his way, no hill however steep, could hin- 
 der his journey. At length, as he climbed higher and 
 higher up a mountain, he came to a rock which barred 
 his farther progress. No sooner did he press against it 
 with his breast, where lay the flower, than the rock 
 opened, and he beheld within vast treasures of gold and 
 silver, and precious stones. Eagerly stooping to gather 
 up the glittering wealth around him, he loaded himself 
 with treasures ; but as he stooped to seize yet more, the 
 flower dropped unheeded from his breast. Turning to 
 leave the cavern with his treasure, he fancied he heard a 
 faint voice whisper, " Forget me not ! forget me not !" 
 but his very ears were filled with precious jewels, and he 
 heeded not ; and presently the rocks around him fell, and 
 overwhelmed him. Now, dear children, I can see a 
 parable in that old legend. Jesus has given each of you, 
 His children, a flower to wear ; that flower is Holiness, 
 and you are bidden to go forth on life's journey — 
 " Wearing the white flower of a blameless life." That 
 flower will help you to climb above all difficulties, and it 
 will open to you such treasures as the world does not 
 dream of, the treasures of God's love. But take heed 
 lest you lose your flower. Take heed, lest while you are 
 seeking the world's treasure, and are busy with your 
 
gDitile $ib*0. 
 
 20I 
 
 work, or your play, you lose the white flower of Holiness, 
 of Purity, — 
 
 11 A little flower, that ne'er again, 
 Though sought in penitence and pain, 
 Once lost, thou ever canst regain- 
 Forget it not ! Forget it not I" 
 
 The End. 
 


 K