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 OEIGEN. 
 
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ORIGEN the PREACHER; 
 
 BEING 
 
 FIFTY SHOKT SERMON NOTES 
 
 FOUNDED UPON 
 
 SELECT PASSAGES FROM HIS WRITINGS. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN m/aSHLEY, B.C.L. 
 
 VICAR OF FKWSTON. 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 J. T. HAYES, 17, HENEIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN ; 
 AND LYALL PLACE, EATON SQUARE. 
 
 MDCCCLXXVIII. 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
LONDON; 
 SWIFT AND CO., NEWTON STUEET, HIGH HOLBOUN, W.C. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Biographical Notice ... ... ... ... ix 
 
 Preface ... ... ... ... ... ... xvii 
 
 Index of Sermons ... ... ... ... xxxi 
 
 Sermons ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
( ix ) 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 
 
 Origen was born at Alexandria, a.d. 185. Leonidas 
 his father, a man both of fortune and position, an 
 ardent Christian and a lover of learning, instructed 
 his son in the Holy Scriptures from his earliest 
 years, causing him to commit to memory and re- 
 cite some passage of Holy Writ every day. This 
 pious seed was sown in a most kindly and fertile 
 soil. The child was ever thinking upon that 
 which he both read and learned, *' diving into 
 the abstruser senses of the text " {Euseh. Eccles. 
 Hist, llh, vi. c. 2), and delighting the soul of 
 a father who in word mildly rebuked, but in heart 
 rejoiced over the thoughtful and profound reason- 
 ings of the boy. Leonidas would frequently visit 
 the couch of his son whilst he slept, and un- 
 covering the breast of Origen would "reverently kiss 
 it," regarding it "as a shrine consecrated by the 
 Divine Spirit." (Euseh, in loco.) In the case of 
 
Biographical Notice. 
 
 Origen " tlie child was truly the father of the 
 man ;" so that it was no mere figure of speech 
 which- was used by S. Jerome when writing against 
 what he conceived to be his errors he added : 
 '^Magnus vir ah infantia." The fifth persecution 
 of the Christians under Severus began a.d. 201 : 
 and in a.d. 202 Lconidas suffered martyrdom for 
 the faith ; Origen's mother having been compelled to 
 hide her son's clothes, in order to prevent him joining 
 his father in his death. Origen wrote to him, 
 " Take heed not to change thy mind on account 
 of us." His mother and six younger brothers were, 
 by the confiscation of his father's property, left very 
 sadly off. A rich lady of Alexandria now received 
 Origen into her house ; but he very soon earned 
 his own bread by teaching grammar. In a.d. 203 
 he ^^as appointed Professor of Grammar at the Cate- 
 chetical School of Alexandria, being then eighteen 
 years of age, and soon afterwards succeeded to the 
 Chair of Sacred Literature. Having sold off his 
 secular books, and leading a hard, studious, and 
 modest life, chccpiered by many an act of Christian 
 charity, gaining an ever-increasing reputation, he re- 
 mained for twenty-nine years ; paying occasional visits, 
 
Bioffvaphical Notice. 
 
 XI 
 
 now to Rome, then to Arabia ; going to Antiocli (a.d. 
 218) to instruct Mammaea, the mother of Alexander 
 Severus ; confuting heretics at xlchaia ; and receiving 
 the gift of the Priesthood in Palestine, a.d. 228. In 
 A.D. 231, having incurred the jealousy of Demetrius, 
 the Bishop of Alexandria, he was degraded from the 
 Priesthood and banished to Csesarea ; where however 
 he was cordially welcomed by Theoctistus the bishop. 
 From this banishment he never returned ; but for 
 twenty years after it he laboured with untiring zeal 
 and energy in the support of that faith which was to 
 him so precious. Illustrious men flocked to his theo- 
 logical school at Csesarea from every quarter ; amongst 
 whom may be mentioned S. Gregory Thaumaturgus, 
 afterwards Bishop of Neocsesarea. During the first 
 four years of his residence at Caeserea Origen composed 
 his Commentaries upon S. John and Isaiah, and com- 
 menced his Exposition of Ezekiel. The sixth, or 
 Maximinian, persecution broke out a.d. 235, during 
 w4iich he wrote " An Exhortation to Martyrdom," 
 addressed to his friends Ambrose and Theoctistus, 
 who had been brought before the Emperor. He con- 
 cealed himself first at Athens, where he finished his 
 Commentary upon Ezeldel and continued his Com- 
 
xii B'Lograph'ical Notice. 
 
 mentary upon the Song of Solomon, thence he returned 
 home, and afterwards visited Firmilian at Caesarea in 
 Cappadocia. In a.d. 238 Origen visited Bostra ; and 
 both con\dcted of and converted from his errors 
 Berylhis, the bishop of that place. In the five years 
 from A.D. 245-250 he preached almost daily to the 
 people ; his sermons being taken down by transcribers, 
 and so preserved ; and at the same time he composed 
 his eight books against Celsus ; twenty-five volumes of 
 Commentaries upon S. Matthew, and a like number 
 of volumes upon the Minor Prophets; a letter to Philip 
 the Emperor, and one to Severa his wife. The 
 seventh, or Decian, persecution, a.d. 250, raged with 
 gi-eat severity at Ci\3sarea. Bishops Alexander and 
 Babylas both died in prison. Origen was for several 
 days confined in the deepest recesses of a dungeon ; 
 laden with an iron collar; stretched on the rack; 
 threatened with fire ; subject to torments just mode- 
 rated sufficiently to save his life. His prison Epistles, 
 composed during his confinement, are unfortunately 
 lost. At the time of his liberation Origen was sixty- 
 six years old ; worn out and broken in heart and body 
 he lingered on for three years more, and died at Tyre, 
 in tlic second year of the reign of Gallus, a.d. 253, 
 
Biographical Notice, xiii 
 
 at the age of sixty-nine. Truly he was of the number 
 of those saints of whom " the world was not worthy." 
 Origen was a most noble champion for the truth, hence 
 his surname of Adamantius ; so called either from the 
 strength of his reasoning (Photius), or from his hard- 
 ness in resisting error. (S. Jerome.) He was the 
 most learned man of his day ; he was very holy in his 
 life and conversation ; and his influence for good was 
 widely felt over the whole length and breadth of the 
 Catholic Church; and yet that Church proved a most 
 ungrateful mother to so worthy a son; just as the world, 
 by its bitter persecution, showed its hatred to the 
 valiant Christian scholar and priest. Origen suffered 
 alike from the Church and from the world; from the 
 fold within as well as from the wolves without. 
 Besides this twofold persecution, another remarkable 
 fact in his history is, that whilst he was so deep an 
 explorer and so ardent an admirer of the mystical 
 sense of Holy Scripture, he was most literal in the 
 application of its simplest precepts to his own life, even 
 to the extent of fulfilling in his own person the hint 
 given in S. Matt. xix. 12. Again, we note the most 
 imperfect and unsatisfactory state in which his writings 
 have come down to us. Origen wrote six thousand^ 
 
xiv Biogi'apJiical Notice. 
 
 tracts, or volumes as they were then called ; most of 
 wliicli are lost ; and of the few preserved to us the 
 larger portion exist only in the Latin version of 
 Rufinus, who tampered so considerahly with the 
 ori'dnal, that it is difficult to determine what was com- 
 posed by the author, and what by the translator. Yet 
 of priceless value, even in their present imperfect state, 
 are these memorials which time has spared to us of 
 this great theologian and Biblical critic. Profound 
 scholarship ; deep religious feeling ; unwearied in- 
 dustry ; a large, loving heart ; a genius that shed its 
 bright rays of glory over his every page ; a long life of 
 earnest, hard, self-denial, consecrated entirely to the 
 service of his Divine Master ; a nature noble alike in 
 head and heart; it is sad and sickening to think of 
 sucli a one as this — the possessor of all these varied 
 gifts — honoured and respected even by those who were 
 most jealous of his fame — wearied even to death by the 
 tortures and barbarities of the Caesarean prison — 
 dragging his poor old broken, mangled body from the 
 prison and the torture chamber, to find a grave in 
 Tyre, like as the wounded stag betakes himself to 
 the waters. The heathen may have pointed the finger 
 of scorn at the bent body and bowed head as Orio-en , 
 
Biographical Notice. xv 
 
 the old man, passed along the highways of Tyre, but 
 from them one day will the confession be wrung : 
 "We fools counted his end to be without honour; now 
 is He numbered among the children of God, and his 
 lot is among the saints." 
 
( xvii ) 
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 The present series of Sermon Notes have been 
 founded upon such remarks and expositions of Origen 
 as most arrested the writer's attention when reading 
 over his works with an eye to such a use of them. 
 He does not say that either Origen's most striking 
 speculations, or his most startling examples of 
 mysticism, will find any representation in the following 
 pages. As with his past use of S. Augustine, so 
 with his present use of Origen ; and he trusts, also, 
 that with his future use of S. Ambrose, whose writings 
 will next be treated in a similar manner ; his aim and 
 object is to present such germs of thought as might 
 be most usefully and practically worked up into 
 instructions fit to form the basis of sermons suitable 
 to be delivered from our parish pulpits. In parochial 
 preaching, the less of speculative and of philosophical 
 truth that there is the better ; and the simpler it is 
 II. b 
 
xviii Preface. 
 
 the more useful will be its service. That which is 
 really required in such preaching is, that the great 
 truths of the Faith — that its old leading principles, 
 axioms, and foundations — he ever presented, as far as 
 possible, in new forms, and be pressed home to men's 
 hearts and consciences in the most clear and striking 
 manner possible. Hence this little book is not to 
 be considered, any more than its companion, " S. 
 Augustine the Preacher," as containing any fair 
 representation of either the works or the teaching of 
 this great master of the Alexandrian School, but 
 simply as turning some small portion of his writings 
 to a practical account. Of course the general tone of 
 religious teaching in the second century must differ 
 considerably from that of the nineteenth. Sixteen 
 hundred years of prayer and thought must have made 
 their abiding and expanding influence felt by the whole 
 body of the Church of Jesus Christ ; hence the present 
 subjective nature of our religious teaching as compared 
 w'ith the almost purely objective form which is pre- 
 'sented to us in the WTitings of the Ante-Nicene 
 Fathers. We admit of an appeal to them, as 
 authoritative exponents of Christian dogma; but 
 surely we have passed beyond them in our applications 
 
Preface. xix 
 
 of that dogma to men's hopes, fears, sins, struggles, 
 and victories over temptation and error. Yet the 
 works of the great Fathers of the Church, taking the 
 most liberal and unecclesiastical view of the matter, 
 are indeed vast store-houses of theological wealth ; 
 full of thoughts holy and impressive, and which have 
 all the charms of novelty for those who take in hand 
 their serious and minute study for the first time. It 
 is not too much to state, that if any really good and 
 telling modern sermon were analysed, many, if not all, 
 of its best things would be found to be embodied in 
 the writings of one or more of the Fathers, and ex- 
 pressed, it may be, by them in better, clearer, and 
 terser language than that which is used by the modern 
 preacher. In the selection of the passages from 
 Origen, which have been expanded in the present 
 little book, the same principles have been applied as 
 in the case of S. Augustine ; but the task in this latter 
 case has proved to be a somewhat easier one, because 
 the works of Origen which have come down to us, the 
 treatise '^ Against Celsus ;" the "Peri Archon;" the 
 several fragments of his " Hexapla " (a magnificent 
 edition of which, most ably edited by Mr. Field, 
 has recently been completed and issued from the 
 
 h 2 
 
XX Preface. 
 
 Clarendon Press), and a few other minor pieces alone 
 excepted, are for the most part hortatorj^; his 
 commentaries even upon Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
 Psalms, Canticles, and especially those upon the 
 earlier Historic Books of the Old Testament, are all 
 put together in the form of homilies, and they partake 
 most strongly of a homeletic character. The very 
 simplicity of the style of Origen, of which the extant 
 Greek text of some of his writings affords abundant 
 proof, must have rendered him a most acceptable 
 preacher in his own day ; and forms no inapt vehicle 
 for the still useful translation of his thoughts to our 
 own times, after the lapse of more than sixteen 
 centuries. The homilies upon SS. Matthew and John, 
 and the Prophet Jeremiah, are alone fully represented 
 in their original Greek form ; the invaluable exposition 
 upon the other books of the Old Testament, save a 
 small part of the commentaries upon Genesis, Exodus, 
 Joshua, and the Psalms, exist only in the Latin 
 translation of Kuffinus, Jerome, and other unknown 
 translators. Yet this fact, whilst it often suggests a 
 doubt as to what Origen did or did not really write, 
 cannot wholly take away the charm which those 
 homilies possess even in their present mangled and 
 
Preface. xx 
 
 foreign garb. For Origen was a very sweet writer ; 
 so earnest, thoughtful, and brilliant ; he had such a 
 deep and loving knowledge of Holy Scripture ; he 
 compared so very forcibly things new with things old ; 
 that in the reading of His writings no one could be 
 made to feel that they were sitting down as a duty to 
 pore over the pages of a great Father of the Church, 
 with a somewhat heavy task before them, but that they 
 were rather gathering up the thoughts of a most 
 interesting and original thinker, and filling their 
 commonplace-book, as they went on with a great 
 diversity of new and striking thoughts, hints, inter- 
 pretations, comparisons, and other kinds of sermon 
 lore. It is true that Origen was a bold speculator ; 
 a deep mysticist ; a whilelom x x.. ./nist ; a fair 
 representative of the activity and brilliancy of thought 
 which was in general the characteristic of the Alex- 
 andrian School in its best and palmiest days. Ye 
 for all this, he is a most gentle, loving, and persuasive 
 writer, and one that carries his reader so completely 
 with him, that he allows him to be overcome with no 
 sense either of weariness or of irksomeness. And no 
 wonder that this should be so, seeing that the homilies 
 of Origen are not dry dogmatic commentaries upon 
 
xxii Preface. 
 
 the luspired Text, but they are a series of what may 
 be truly called panoramas of Holy Scripture, in which 
 history, doctrine, moral and spiritual applications all 
 pass in an infinite variety before the eye of the reader. 
 Things new and old are so originally and yet judiciously 
 blended together, that the unity of Holy Scripture 
 comes home to the student of Origen as a great reality. 
 Whether or not also the reader may be willing to 
 accept the several allegorical and mystical senses of 
 the Sacred Text which are propounded by Origen, they 
 are, as a rule, so original and striking, supported by 
 such abundant proof, commended by such a fulness 
 of illustration, that they cannot fail to arrest the 
 attention ; even when they do not command the assent 
 of the understanding ; they set the mind a thinking, 
 and remove every trace of dulness from his page. 
 TThe great problems of life ; the nature of the soul 
 and its attributes ; its states after death ; its relation 
 to the kingdoms of light and of darkness ; to the 
 mysteries of being and to the scheme of grace, are 
 subjects upon which Origen is ever ready to treat ; for 
 his theology consists not so much in a system of 
 belief, as in the application of Kevelation to unfold 
 many of the mysteries by which man and his destiny 
 
Preface. xxiii 
 
 are surrounded. The teaching of Origen is not dead i^' 
 but living ; it deals not with abstract truths but 
 with living verities, which are ever able to exert a 
 quickening influence upon the living, loving, fearing 
 souls of men.^/^he strange vitality of the old Greek 
 life seems to have transfused itself into his words 
 and works. Origen is essentially a Father of Eastern 
 rather than of Western Christendom. 
 
 If it be permitted to recall the general impressions 
 which the study of Origen' s writings have left with 
 the author, first and foremost stands out in his every 
 page, nay, every thought, the figure of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. He is never absent from his mind and affec- 
 tions : every incident, record, doctrine, or history is 
 referred to Him, as being a type, prophecy, or adum- 
 bration of His Blessed Person or Work. Jesus Christ \ 
 is the sun of Origen' s system of theology, around which 
 the Church, the Scriptures, and the Saints revolve in 
 their appointed courses, like the moon and stars. We 
 see Him everywhere — " all Genesis through " — as 
 giving the true significance to every historical record 
 of Old Testament History ; as unfolding in Himself the 
 deeper meaning of the Psalms ; as alone being the true 
 key to the interpretation of the Song of Solomon ; as 
 
xxiv Preface. 
 
 imparting a solemn prophetic utterance to the words 
 of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other Prophets ; 
 shining in His more perfect splendour in His deeds and 
 sayings in the Gospels. And Origen also takes us into 
 the higher life of Jesus Christ as being the Son of 
 God, by means of which life " He was truly substanti- 
 ally [substantialiter] ever present in Moses and in the 
 Prophets " (Geneb. ii. 83, A) ; and having been made 
 an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec 
 (Ps. ex. 4), "was able by the dispensation of His 
 death to divide the veil of the Temple ' in twain, from 
 the top to the bottom,' so that the things within could 
 be seen by eyes which were able to see." (Geneb. ii. 
 130, L.) In fact, the several offices, types, names, 
 and titles of our Blessed Lord are so fully treated of 
 by Origen, that it would be quite possible to weave out 
 of his works a profound and spiritual "Life of Christ;" 
 one that would fathom, as far as the human mind can 
 do so, the deep mysteries of His twofold being and 
 nature. Origen takes a very exalted view of personal 
 holiness. " They are said to be holy who have con- 
 secrated themselves to God " (Geneb. i. 1G6, M.), 
 fulfilling (S. Matt. xvi. 24; Gal. ii. 20). The saints 
 are clouds (Geneb. i. 371, C), into which God's truth 
 
Preface. xxv 
 
 reaches (Ps. Ivii. 10), who are to withhold their rain 
 when souls are found to be unworthy of the heavenly 
 shower. (Isa. v. 6.) They are also the hills, upon 
 which, as at the Mount of Transfiguration, the Lord 
 showed His glory. (Geneb. i. 341, B.) They are also 
 God's tabernacles of witness ; (Geneb. i. 119j D.) are 
 reckoned as being the possessors of true being (Geneb . 
 ii. 173, G), and as being the lights of the world. 
 (Geneb. ii. 171, A.) Fall of thoughts like these 
 is every page of Origen's writing ; yet we must 
 be content with a bare mention, in conclusion, of 
 tlie means by which a knowledge of his works can 
 best be gained. 
 
 With respect to the editions of the works of Origen. 
 The " Kdltio Princess ^^ is that of the Benedictines 
 of S. Maur, which is comprised in four folio volumes. 
 This great work was commenced by Charles de la 
 Eue, a pupil of Montfaucon, with the assistance of 
 his nephew Charles Vincent de la Eue, who com- 
 pleted the work after his uncle's death, and published 
 the fourth and last volume at Paris in 1759. Without 
 the Commentary, it was republished by Oberthiir, at 
 Wiirtzbourg, in fifteen octavo volumes. It has also been 
 reprinted by Migne. Next in value to this sumptuous 
 
xxvi Preface. 
 
 Benedictine Edition, is the Greek text of the Com- 
 mentaries of Origen upon Holy Scripture, by the 
 learned Peter Daniel Huet, Bishop of Avranches, 
 accompanied by a Latin translation, which was the 
 work of various hands : Huet himself translating the 
 ** Commentary upon S. Matthew;" Ambrose Ferrar, 
 that upon S. John, which is the longest and most 
 perfect of Origen' s exegetical works ; Francis Viger, the 
 fragments of the Pentateuch ; Valesius and Petavius, 
 the Psalms; S. Jerome, the Homilies on Jeremiah. 
 Huet's Origen is in two volumes folio. An elaborate 
 treatise upon Origen and his writings, entitled 
 ** Origeniana^'' consisting of 278 closely printed folio 
 pages of Latin, is prefixed to this edition, which was 
 published by John Berthelin, at Kheims, a.d. 1668. 
 Merlinus first, and afterwards Erasmus, published all 
 the Latin remains of Origen in two folio volumes, both 
 at Paris and Basle. He was followed by Gilbert 
 Genebrard, Eegius Professor of Hebrew in the Uni- 
 versity of Paris, who made a larger collection of the 
 writings of Origen, and published his collection at 
 Paris, in the years 1574, 1604, 1619, and also at 
 Basle in 1620. It is to Genebrard's first Paris 
 edition of 1574 that most of the references in the 
 
Preface, xxvii 
 
 following pages refer. It is a very complete edition 
 of the works of Origen, and being easy of possession, 
 both as to its price and the number of copies of it in 
 the market, it was deemed the most useful one to 
 which reference could be made in the present book ; 
 an exception being made in some few instances in 
 favour of Huet's edition of 1668. " The Commentary 
 upon St. Matthew " in Genebrard's edition is fi-om 
 the pen of Erasmus. A very convenient and accurate 
 edition of the " Contra Celsum " was published at 
 Cambridge, in quarto, in 1677, by William Spencer, a 
 Fellow of Trinity College. It consists of the Greek 
 text, accompanied by the Latin translation by Sigis- 
 mund Gelen, which appears also in Genebrard's 
 edition published just a century before it. '^ The 
 Dialogue against Marcion," edited in quarto, with 
 Greek and English, by John Kodolph Wetstein, 
 appeared at Basil, 1674. This is the edition which 
 is referred to in the Sermon Notes. There can be no 
 doubt, from internal testimony, that this Dialogue 
 belongs to a later age than that of Origen ; but as the 
 quotations taken from it are strictly Origenistic in 
 thought, and as it always forms part of his works, it 
 *ias been twice quoted on the present occasion. No 
 
xxviii Preface. 
 
 use has been made of William Reading's beautiful 
 edition of Origen's treatise " On Prayer," which 
 Tonson and "Watts published at London, a.d. 1728. 
 
 The student who is desirous of thoroughly master- 
 ing the writings of Origen, should consult the treatise 
 upon his life, writings, and opinions, which forms the 
 ninth and the greater part of the tenth volumes of 
 Gottfrid Lumper's " Historia Theologico Critica 
 Sanctorum Patrum," which was published at Ausburg, 
 A.D. 1792, 1793. It contains the pith and marrow of 
 Huet's " Origeniana," also of Bernard Marechal's 
 *' Concordantia Patrum " (2 vols. fol. Ausburg, 1763), 
 and of the notes, dissertations, etc., of the Benedictine 
 edition. Lumper often transcribes not only the 
 quotations from Origen, which are given by Marechal, 
 but actually his comments upon them, word for word. 
 It is a curious fact that both the " Historia " and 
 the " Concordantia " were published by Rieger, the 
 former just thirty years after the latter. The treatise 
 of Lumper consists of nine sections and one supple- 
 ment. These nine sections are divided into " chap- 
 ters," which are in turn subdivided into "articles.'' 
 The first ^' section " embraces the life of Origen ; the 
 second, his writings ; the third, his doctrine ; the 
 
Preface. xxix 
 
 fourth contains observations, disciplinal and historical; 
 the fifth, observations philosophical, hermeneutical 
 and exegetical ; the sixth, observations historico- 
 critical ; the seventh, observations philosophico-theo- 
 logical ; the eighth, the opinions of certain learned 
 men concerning Origen ; the ninth, and last section, 
 gives a resume of the whole treatise, and a catalogue 
 of the several editions of the works of Origen. The 
 fifth section is perhaps the most interesting portion of 
 Lumper's exhaustive and elaborate disquisition : it 
 gives a synopsis of Origen's method of interpreting 
 Holy Scripture, and in a series of well illustrated 
 '' articles " discusses, amongst other points, the 
 threefold sense of Scripture ; the value of the literal 
 sense ; the seeming imperfections of Scripture ; the 
 support which the New Testament itself lends to the 
 system of mystical interpretation ; certain rules for 
 the determination of the mystical sense ; and lastly it 
 explains very completely the system of Scriptural 
 interpretation which is generally adopted by Origen. 
 The valuable amount of exegetical matter which 
 Lumper has contrived to amass in the short space of 
 thirty-one pages is truly, marvellous. The thorough 
 digestion of this one '' section " would afford any 
 
XXX Preface. 
 
 student valuable material upon wliicli to occupy his 
 reading for a considerable period. Anyway Lumper's 
 treatise is the best companion with w^hich we are 
 acquainted to the text of this truly great Father. 
 
 Although in the following pages there is necessarily 
 more of the present writer than there is of Origen, it 
 is trusted that these short Sermon Notes will not be 
 found to be unacceptable to many who have neither 
 the time nor the opportunity to read him for 
 themselves ; that some of the seeds of thought w^hich 
 they contain may germinate and take root in other 
 more fruitful and more gifted minds, and may so 
 become the humble means of bringing the mysteries 
 of God's Kingdom and grace home with a new force 
 and power to many souls ; and that they may above all 
 things tend to the honour and glory of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ and His Holy Church; to Whom be glory, 
 praise, and dominion for ever and ever. 
 
 The third volume of the present series will be 
 founded upon S. Ambrose. J, M. A. 
 
( xxxi ) 
 
 INDEX or SERMONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SEEMON I. 
 
 Jesus Living (Easter Day). — Gal. ii. 20 . . . . . . 1 
 
 SEEMON II. 
 
 The Children of the Soul. — Dan. iv. 19 . . . . . . 5 
 
 SEEMON III. 
 Sorrow.— /S. 3Iatt. vi. 20 10 
 
 SEEMON IV. 
 God's Image. — Gen. i. 27 16 
 
 SEEMON V. 
 The Law of Sympathy. — S. Matt. xiii. 58 20 
 
 SEEMON YI. 
 
 The Strong Man of Doubt.— ,9. Matt. xii. 29 . . . . 26 
 
xxxii Index of Sermons. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 Impressions. — S. Matt. xii. 35 . . . . . . . . 31 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 The Eternal Eecord. — Jer. x. 19 . . . . . . . . 36 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 The Gardener. — S. John xx. 15 . . . . . . . . 41 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 The Middle Wat. — S. John xiv. 6 . . . . . . . . 46 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 The Eight Heart. — Acts viii. 21 . . . . . . . . 51 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 Heaven our Perfection, — Ps. 1. 2 .. .. .. .. 57 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 Perfect Faith.— ^S. John ii. 23, 24 60 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 The Sword of Teaching. — S. Matt. x. 34 . . . . . . 65 
 
 SERMON XV. 
 Guilty Words.— 5. il/u«. xii. 37 69 
 
Index of Sermons. xxxiii 
 
 SERMON XVI, 
 
 The Estate op Man. — Ps. viii. 5 
 
 PAGE 
 
 73 
 
 SERMON XVII. 
 
 Fellow- Workers with God. — 2 Cor. vi. 1 
 
 78 
 
 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 The Tabernacles op Knowledge. — Num. xxiv. 5 
 
 83 
 
 SERMON XIX. 
 
 Stumbltngblocks. — S. Matt, xviii. 7 . . 
 
 88 
 
 SERMON XX. 
 
 The Altar of the Heart. — Heh. xiii. 10 
 
 98 
 
 SERMON XXI. 
 
 Hell. — Isa. 1. 11 
 
 98 
 
 SERMON XXII. 
 
 Holy Persuasion. — 2 Cor. v. 11 
 
 ,. 102 
 
 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 The Mystery of Probation. — Deut. xiii. 3 . . 
 
 107 
 
 SERMON XXIV. 
 
 The Light of Truth —2 S. Pet. i. 19 
 
 ■fi2 
 
 • >-. 
 
xxxiv Index of Sermons. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SEKMON XXV. 
 
 A Holt Man. — Levit. xx\. 1 .. ,. 117 
 
 SERMON XXVI. 
 The Wine of Jot.— S. Matt. xxvi. 29 122 
 
 SERMON XXVII. 
 
 The Knowledge of Jesus. — S. Matt. xxv. 31, 32 . . . . 127 
 
 SERMON XXVIII. 
 
 Immortalitt. — S. John xvii. 3 132 
 
 SERMON XXIX. 
 
 The Spiritual Image. — S. Matt. xxii. 20 . . . . . . 138 
 
 SERMON XXX. 
 Attempts, — Exod. xiv. 12 . . . . . . . . . . 142 
 
 SERMON XXXI. 
 The Hallowing Presence. — Joshua v. 15 . . . . . . 146 
 
 SERMON XXXII. 
 The Noble Euin.— S. Matt. xxiv. 1 , . . 151 
 
 SERMON XXXIII. 
 
 Spiritual Vision. — S. Luke xvi. 23 . . . . . . . . 156 
 
Index of Sermons, xxxv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SEKMON XXXIV. 
 
 Holy Discipline. — S. Matt, xviii. 8,9 . . . . . . 161 
 
 SERMON XXXV. 
 
 The Grand Keceipt.— S. Matt. xv. 11 166 
 
 SERMON XXXVI. 
 Christian Culture. — S. Matt. xv. 13 . . . . . . 171 
 
 SERMON XXXVII. 
 The Moral Presence. — Gal. ii. 20 . . . . . . . . 176 
 
 SERMON XXXVIII. 
 
 The House of Jesus. — S. Matt. xiii. 36 . . . . . . 181 
 
 SERMON XXXIX. 
 
 The Consent to Sin. — EpU. iv. 27 . . . . • • • • 187 
 
 SERMON XL. 
 
 The Care of Jesus.— /S. Li<A;e x. 33 .. .. .. •• 192 
 
 SERMON XLL 
 
 The Good Behind. — 1 Cor. ii. 8 
 
 199 
 
 SERMON XLII. 
 
 The Descent froji the Mountain.— S. Matt. viii. 1 . . 205 
 
 C 2 
 
XXX vi Index of Sermons. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SERMON XLIII. 
 Jesus The Sun.— il/aZ. iv. 2 211 
 
 SEEMON XLIV. 
 
 Death unto Life.- 2 Cor. iv. 12 . . . . . . . . 217 
 
 SEEMON XLV. 
 The Inward Eye.— 2 Cor. ii. 16 223 
 
 SEEMON XLVI. 
 
 The Shadow of Life.— /S. Matt. xix. 17 . . . . . . 229 
 
 SEEMON XLVII. 
 
 The Woeds of Jesus Christ. — S. John vii. 46 . . . . 235 
 
 SEEMON XLVIII. 
 
 Conscience. — Rom. ii. 15 . . . . . . . . . . 240 
 
 SEEMON XLIX. 
 
 The One Gospel.— S. Mark xvi. 15 246 
 
 SEEMON L. 
 
 Night.— S. John xiii. 30 252 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 JESUS LIVING. 
 
 (Easter Day.) 
 
 " Christ liveth in me:'— Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 Origen. — ** In some Jesus liyes, in others, indeed, 
 He has died. Jesus lives in Paul, and in Peter, and 
 in all those who can truly say, ' I live ; yet not I, hut 
 Christ liveth in me.' (Gal. ii. 20.) Again he says, 
 ' To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' (Phil, 
 i. 21.) In such as these, therefore, Jesus is deservedly 
 said to live. But in whom has Jesus died ? In those, 
 without doubt, who by often repenting and often 
 falling away are said to mock at the death of Jesus. 
 Do you yourself consider with yourself. If when you 
 are thinking of covetousness and desiring the goods 
 of another, can you say, ' Christ liveth in me ?' Or if 
 when inflamed with anger, heated with jealousy, or 
 stimulated by envy, or raging with passion, or swelling 
 with pride, or attacking with cruelty, can you in all 
 these things say that ' Christ liveth in me ?' So. 
 
 II. B 
 
Jesus Living. 
 
 therefore, Christ is dead in sinners, in whom is neither 
 righteousness, patience, and truth, and not any of 
 those things which Christ works." — In Jud. Horn. ii. 
 Geneh. vol. i. p. 211, A. 
 
 What is that life which Jesus lives in the souls of 
 the faithful ? It is a life which is — 
 
 I. Quickening. — Many a soul seems to be either 
 asleep or dead ; barely giving any signs, of life or 
 animation ; capable of small emotion ; sluggish in 
 affection ; wanting in any high aspiration. A chord 
 is touched ; that soul is quickened into life ; the 
 dormant element of love, or hope, or resolution is 
 kindled into action and development. When the soul 
 receives the Presence of Jesus by Sacramental union, 
 by faith and prayer, then Jesus is living within it ; 
 then all things are made new to it. ^' The love of 
 God constraineth " it. It awakes, as it never has 
 awakened before, to a new sense of its own sin ; of 
 the Lord's redeeming love ; of the deadly nature of 
 its former estate. ^' It was dead and is alive again." 
 
 This quickening life — 1) intensifies every feeling ; 
 2) raises within the soul a new life ; 3) is the parent 
 of new desires and resolutions. It makes a true and 
 real Easter in the soul. 
 
 II. Productive. — All life is more or less productive ; 
 only death is barren and unfruitful. Jesus living in 
 
Jestis Living. 3 
 
 the soul, it produces its true and proper fruits. He 
 cannot be there without working His works of life. 
 Such are — 1) Repentance ; a turning away from past 
 sins ; sins which were suited to the old condition of 
 being, but which are utterly unsuited to the new. As 
 we adapt ourselves to our several stations in life, so 
 he in whom Jesus lives, adapts himself to the Life of 
 Jesus Christ. 2) Holiness ; the cultivation of all the 
 Christian graces ; so that the soul may become like 
 Him through Whom it now lives. It is a putting off 
 " of the old man and a putting on of the new." This 
 new man is immortal ; so when Jesus lives in the 
 soul He makes a true Easter therein. 
 
 III. Undying. — The life on earth is essentially a 
 dying life ; dying, inasmuch as it so very soon passes 
 away ; dying, since the present is ever d3dng to the 
 past ; dying as relating to things which in tliemselves 
 are mortal. When Jesus lives in the soul, His life- 
 giving Presence — 1) never passes away ; it remains 
 there through death ; it waxes stronger when the soul 
 is freed from the bondage of corruption'; it attains to 
 its full strength in the Resurrection state. 2) Allows 
 of no conditions of time : " Behold, I am alive for 
 evermore ;" it is the ever-present power of an endless 
 life. 8) It is concerned with things, beings, and 
 states of being which are as deathless as itself. 
 Therefore is this undying life, flowing from an un- 
 
 B 2 
 
4 Jesus Living, 
 
 dying Presence, the cause of an eternal Easter in the 
 soul. 
 
 IV. Sanctifying. — In some persons there is a 
 certain grace and dignity of manner and speech which 
 gives a charm to their very presence ; to their words, 
 be they ever so simple ; to their actions, be they ever 
 so common. When Jesus lives in the soul He gives 
 this charm to our lowly life ; He invests our thoughts, 
 words, and deeds, with the — 1) good which flows from 
 His own holiness ; 2) true, which reflects His own 
 perfect truth ; 3) beautiful, which shadows forth the 
 indwelling Presence of one Who is "fairer than the 
 children of men." So to gild and to glorify man's 
 common daily life cannot but be an hallowing Easter 
 to the soul. 
 
 Epilogue. — Christian soul ! if thou hast fallen 
 into a second death of trespasses and sins, rest not 
 day nor night until He Who now stands and knocks 
 at the door of thy heart (Rev. iii. 20) may find an 
 entrance there ; then will begin thy true Easter ; then 
 " risen with Christ " thou wilt truly live ; since Jesus 
 lives in thee in time and in eternity. 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE SOUL. 
 
 " His thoughts troubled him." — Dati. iv. 19. 
 
 Origen. — " There is therefore no period when the 
 soul does not bring forth. The soul ever brings 
 forth, ever generates children. But that generation 
 is blessed indeed which is produced, having been con- 
 ceived by the Word of God ; and this is the generation 
 of children through which it will become saved." — 
 In Numb., Horn, xx., Geneb. vol. i. p. 157, A. 
 
 " The thoughts which proceed from our heart — either 
 the memory of certain actions, or the contemplation of 
 certain matters and causes — we find to proceed some- 
 times from our very selves, at other times they are 
 accustomed to be formed from our contrary powers." 
 — Peri Archoiir, lib, iii. c. 2, Geneb. vol. i. p. 
 458, K. 
 
 This reproductive power of the soul forms its 
 greatest prerogative and responsibility. '' Out of the 
 heart " proceed thoughts high, holy, heavenly, and 
 
The Children of the SouL 
 
 low, " earthly, sensual, devilish." Hence the solemn 
 charge, ''Keep thy heart with all diligence" (Prov. 
 iv. 23), and the prayer, " God, try me, and know 
 my thoughts." (Ps. cxxxix. 23.) The due and proper 
 discipline of the soul is one of the most important and 
 hardest portions of the Christian life. We cry shame 
 upon those who neglect the children of their bodies, 
 leaving them ill-cared for, and not properly provided 
 with the necessaries of life. But what care do we 
 bestow in order to rightly control, discipline, and 
 arrange our thoughts, "the children of the soul?" 
 Yet these latter are worthy of all culture, as 
 being — 
 
 I. Numberless. — What hundreds, thousands, nay, 
 tens of thousands of thoughts pass over the mind in 
 the course of one day. Some originating in the soul 
 itself, others borrowed from those with whom we con- 
 verse, being indirectly or partially formed from our 
 external life and conversation ; these, " brethren, 
 which have at the same time worthily sprung in the 
 souls of others" {Plato Phwdr. 278, B), which we have 
 adopted and assimilated with our own. Multiply these 
 numbers by the days of a week, of a month, of a year, 
 by periods of twenty, forty, sixty, or eighty years. 
 During the waking hours of the longest life " there is 
 no period when the soul does not bring forth" her 
 children, more or less strong, wholly or more partially 
 
The Children of the Soul. 
 
 formed. These numberless creations of the soul 
 should lead to a sense of fear and shame, founded 
 upon the reflection that out of so vast a sum there 
 must be — 1) many which are sinful ; 2) more which 
 are valueless and unprofitable ; 3) few, very few, it 
 may be, which are worthy of our received grace, of 
 our knowledge, and of our powers of mind. How 
 large is the portion of dross intermingled with the 
 smallest and fewest grains of the pure metal which 
 will stand the trjdng fire. (1 Cor. iii. 13.) Very 
 worthless are many of the '' children of the soul." 
 
 II. Changeless. — A thought once issued from the 
 soul is changeless. It may be succeeded by other 
 thoughts, and so driven out of the mind ; it may be 
 repented of and atoned for ; but when once formed, it 
 has passed beyond the recall or power of the mind to 
 alter it. The tone and complexion of the thought 
 depends wholly upon its first formation. Material 
 things can be refashioned and rearranged. Groups 
 of thought and knowledge can be varied in the several 
 expressions of them ; but the primary thought re- 
 mains entire and perfect, as it existed at the first 
 moment of its formation. This consideration should 
 induce both care and prayer that the '' children of the 
 soul" themselves may be pure and holy; which can 
 only be the case when the habit and disposition of 
 the soul itself is— 1) Purified by divine grace; 
 
The Children of the Soul. 
 
 2) Chastened by divine discipline; 3) Watered by 
 Divine love. When the soil is good, the produce is 
 good ; and good fruit is the produce of a good tree. 
 (S. Matt. vii. 17.) 
 
 III. Immortal. — A child of the soul ; a thought 
 once born, being changeless, can never die. It may be 
 put away, be forgotten, be hidden behind the million 
 other creations of the brain, yet it exists stiU. It is 
 recorded by God ; it lives for ever. One thought 
 rapidly displaces another, or else the soul would 
 stagnate under the accumulation of its own pro- 
 ductions. We should be filled with horror and awe 
 could the thoughts of one short year be placed before 
 the mind in a moment of time. How many hopes, 
 desires, fears, and expectations have chased away 
 each other during this short interval ? Are these 
 "children of the soul," this vast multitude, really 
 mine ? 1) Mine by production, the produce of my 
 brain ? 2) Mine by possession, belonging to myself 
 and none other ? 3) Mine, to be owned by me one 
 day before the judgment- seat of God ? 
 
 IV. Secret and spi7'itual. — These " children of 
 the soul" are known only to God and the soul itself. 
 Hence the evil thought lacks the restraints of earthly 
 shame, such as pride and the like. Whilst word and 
 deed are kept strictly under control, thought is allowed 
 to run riot without let or hindrance. Hence the 
 
The Children of the Soul. 9 
 
 prayer (Ps. xix. 12) against "secret faults;" evil 
 *' children of the soul," which are not subject to the 
 ordinary laws of life. These secret and spiritual 
 children, unless subject to an unceasing watchfulness, 
 become — 1) overbearing and dominant ; 2) ugly in 
 form ; 3) morbid in substance. They become " a law 
 unto themselves " in the worst sense, and that law is 
 but the expression of our corrupt and fallen nature. 
 
 V. Influential. — These " children of the soul" are 
 all powerful in — 1) this life : they make or mar our 
 happiness, for the mind is truly the the mirror of life. 
 2) The life to come : they will save us or condemn 
 us, as they witness for or against us, as being holy or 
 sinful children in the sight of the Almighty Judge. 
 
 Epilogue. — Consider then, Christian soul, that 
 thy thoughts, the children of thy mind, are thy very 
 own ; thy voluntary offspring, which thou alone canst 
 transmit to others : and ever pray to be preserved 
 from producing children of perdition. 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 SORKOW. 
 
 '**Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth 
 nor rust doth corrupt."— S. Matt. vi. 20. 
 
 Or'igen, — *' It can be rightly said of him who has 
 laid up treasure in heaven, that not one moth of the 
 affections can touch his spiritual and heavenly riches. 
 I have said moth of the affections, taking occasion 
 from Proverbs, in which is written, " As a worm in 
 wood, so sorrow consumeth the heart of a man " 
 (Prov. XXV. 20, LXX.), for sorrow is the worm and 
 moth consuming the heart which hath not its treasure 
 in spiritual and heavenly things, in which, if any one 
 layeth up treasure, he will have his heart in heaven, 
 since ' Where your treasure is, there will your heart 
 be also.'— (S. Matt. vi. 21.)" Comment. S. Matt. 
 Huet. vol. i. p. 220, A. 
 
 Truly can that " sorrow of the world," which 
 " worketh death" (Rom. vii. 10), be called the 
 " moth of the affections." '' The affections " repre- 
 sent the desires, yearnings, and aspirations of life. 
 
Sorroiv. 11 
 
 as well as those sacred and holy ties by which, in this 
 world, hearts are knit and bound the one to the other. 
 The moth " corrupts " by slowly consuming ; eats into 
 and away the substance ; leaving sometimes a form 
 which a breath of air resolves into the finest dust — a 
 form, which for the moment takes the semblance of 
 the real object itself. Sorrow, like the moth, con- 
 sumes slowly the substance, the reality and joy of life, 
 leaving but a passionless feeble image of its former 
 self in its stead ; the sorrow which flows from a life 
 disappointment, unhealed by submission ; from a sin 
 cherished in secret, and not cast out of the soul by re- 
 pentance ; from a sore bereavement under which the 
 merciful chastisement of a Heavenly Father is un- 
 recognized. Unholy sorrow is a very moth, silently, 
 slowly, surely, day by day, preying upon the body of 
 its victim, and only ceasing in its dire work when 
 nothing further remains to corrupt. Ungodly sorrow 
 — " the sorrow of the world "-—eats out of life its — 
 
 I. Glory and beauty, — The face of nature is most 
 beautiful in spring-tide, when coldness, darkness, 
 " snow and vapour, wind and storm," give place to 
 the gentle zephyr, the genial sunshine, the clear blue 
 sether, and every living organism is nascent with life, 
 developing on all sides new and tender forms of living 
 beauty. The moth of winter has been slain by the 
 Spirit of Spring. So is the young life whilst m its 
 
12 Sorrow. 
 
 spring-tide ; whilst its soul hath been as yet undimmed 
 by sorrow, new thoughts, feelings, and faculties, 
 develope in it from day to day ; there is a glory and 
 beauty in it — a bloom of life upon it — which vanishes 
 under the first rude touch of the stern hand of sorrow. 
 Man's present life — destined to remain for so short a 
 time sorrowless, and in its first beauty — is a type and 
 emblem of what our own eternal life shall be in that 
 sinless state in which tears shall be wiped from every 
 eye, and the days of our mourning shall be for ever 
 ended. This ^' moth of the affections " — 1) corrodes 
 the fair surface of life ; 2) darkens the joys of earth ; 3) 
 overshadows the trust of the soul in the providence and 
 in the mercy of God. 
 
 II. Desires and Asinrations. — No plant can grow 
 with a canker at its root. No soul can put forth its 
 aspirations and desires when sorrow, the " moth of 
 the affections," is poisoning the current of life. 
 Sorrow, like sin, stays the growth of the soul in all 
 that is noblest and most blessed, even as some forms 
 of disease stay the growth of the body, and restrain 
 the manhood within the limits of childhood. The 
 soul, when it is free and unfettered, is ever rising, 
 carried before the winds of love, faith, and knowledge, 
 towards a higher and still a higher point of attain- 
 ment. Sorrow passes over the soul, and — 1) Dries it 
 up, even as the sirocco does the delicate flower, 
 
Sorroiv. 13 
 
 nipping its bud, staying its development. 2) Weighs 
 and presses it down ; so that all its energy is con- 
 strained, and at length perishes from the want of use 
 and exercise. What is called a blighting influence, 
 is often nothing more than a weight of sorrow, carried 
 in secret and borne in silence ; a burden that is 
 gradually and continuously pressing all the higher life 
 out of the soul. 3) Blunts its finer feelings and 
 sensibilities, until it loses its keen sense and apprecia- 
 tion of that which once awakened in it the loftiest 
 emotions, or excited it to the highest degree of 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 III. Strength. — How strong is the frame of those 
 
 who have never been laid low by sickness, and who 
 
 still rejoice in a vigorous and unimpaired manhood. 
 
 Such are in the fulness of their strength. When 
 
 disease has once passed over them in a malignant 
 
 form, they may recover their health, but they are never 
 
 again as they once were ; their strength and immunity 
 
 from pain has gone from them. So is it when sorrow 
 
 — the " moth of the affections " — rests upon the soul. 
 
 It weakens it, and deprives it of the threefold strength 
 
 of — 1) Purpose ; it now no longer, as it used to do, 
 
 holds on its own way with a tenacity of purpose that 
 
 neither opposition can daunt, nor obstacle hinder. 
 
 Shaken by sorrow, the soul becomes weak in fully 
 
 acting up to the former behests of its will. 2) En- 
 
14 Sorroic. 
 
 deavour ; it strives not as heretofore, when supported 
 by the mighty power of an unchecked life. Faltering 
 and wayward are the efforts which it now makes to 
 rise above and superior to the circumstances of life. 3) 
 Endurance : its toughness is turned to brittleness, and 
 it now sinks down into an apathetic state, without that 
 power of patient waiting which, sooner or later, must 
 bring victory in its train. 
 
 IV. Substance. — The moth eats away the substance 
 upon that which it feeds ; so does the " moth of the 
 affections" — sorrow — eat away by degrees the sub- 
 stance of the soul. Consuming — 1) its powers ; 2) 
 Destroying its hopes. 3) Loosening all its hold upon 
 that which, for its great profit, it had once made its 
 own. After sorrow has fulfilled its " perfect work, 
 but the semblance, shadow, or image, rather than the 
 substance of the soul itself, is left. Want of hearti- 
 ness is want of that substance which the " moth of the 
 affections" has by slow stages eaten away. 
 
 Epilogue. — Lay up then your heart and your treasure 
 in heaven, where moth doth not corrupt ; remembering, 
 that " not one moth of the affections " can touch 
 heavenly and spiritual riches. Let holy sorrow for sin be 
 ever cherished ; sacred sorrow for loved ones departed, 
 not wholly be denied ; a deep sorrow for the sufferings 
 of others maintain a kindly sympathy in the soul ; 
 but that morbid sorrow of the world ; that regret over 
 
Sorroio. 15 
 
 defeated ambition, lost honours, departed wealth ; 
 never let place be given to it for a moment. Cast it 
 from you as if it were a viper. Ere it gain a firm 
 footing in the inward man, kill it by — 1) Prayer ; 
 which will exorcise it as if it were an evil spirit. 2) 
 An earnest effort of the will, giving it not a moment's 
 peace. 3) Using all the circumstances of life against 
 it. An old Greek bard once sang words which may 
 thus be roughly rendered into our mother tongue : 
 
 '^ Oh cast from life for ever sorrow's bane, 
 Kinsman to life although it be, 
 And griefless mortal life is hard to gain. 
 Grief brings disease to man his direst harm, 
 
 The fortunate are sorrow free. 
 Such peace, the vessel's port, life's harbour calm." 
 
 —Foet. Min. p. 527. 
 
 Language this which is capable of translation into 
 a higher meaning if we read " the holy " for " the 
 fortunate ;" since the former carry with them that 
 Blessed Presence, even of Him Who promised once, 
 " your sorrow shall be turned into joy " (S. John 
 xiv. 20) ; and Who bade the faithful be comforted by 
 the words, " In the world ye shall have tribulation: 
 but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world." 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 GOD'S IMAGE. 
 
 " God created man in His own image." — Gen. i. 27. 
 
 Origen. — " Man was made in the image of God, in 
 whom also the marks of the Divine image are mani- 
 festly known ; not hy the likeness of the body-, which 
 is polluted, but through the prudence, justice, modera- 
 tion, virtue, wisdom, and discipline of the mind ; and 
 lastly, by all the choir of graces which are present with 
 God by substance [per substantiam] , and can be pre- 
 sent in man by industry [per industriam], and by the 
 imitation of God, as also the Lord signified in the 
 Gospel, saying, "Be ye therefore perfect," etc. (S. 
 Matt. V. 48.) — De Princip. lib. iv. Geneh. vol. i. p. 
 476, G. 
 
 We do not know, neither can we understand, 
 what God is really hke. The reflexion of His at- 
 tributes which we see in the created universe, 
 physical and moral, alone affords to our imperfect 
 minds some notion of what His powers may really be. 
 
God's Image. 17 
 
 but it affords no index to " the express image of His 
 Person." There are a few general attributes to be 
 assigned to His " image," as the term is used in 
 Holy Scripture, which may be considered without 
 offending against the ineffable majesty of His person. 
 The " image of God" in which He made us, is an 
 image that is — 
 
 I. RlgJitfid. — It belongs to us as God's sons and 
 daughters ; it is our noblest heritage and birthright. 
 Satan tried to take it away from man, and so to 
 despoil and defile it, that its chief characters might be 
 lost ; but Jesus Christ came into the world to restore 
 it to man again. It is, alas, easily defaced. A small 
 fragment chipped out of the marble alters the entire 
 contour of the features. One unrepented and habitual 
 sin changes the features of this spiritual image in a 
 complete and wonderful manner. We all dislike to be 
 defrauded of our money, our fair fame, our position, 
 onr possessions, and our honours. Beyond all, let us 
 dread the effects of sin, which defraud us of that 
 likeness by which when we cry to God we can claim 
 His parentage, sajdng, ** Abba, Father." 
 
 II. Glorious. — How can it fail to be so, since 
 it represents "the God of glory," Who is glorious in 
 His holiness ; in His works ; in His power, wisdom, 
 and knowledge ; in His dealings with the children of 
 men. God is glorious alike in His being and in His 
 
 II. c 
 
18 God's Image, 
 
 attributes ; and therefore the image of Him must be, 
 to some extent, representative of His glory. Look 
 at this poor and lowly life ; this frail, mortal body, 
 subject to disease, decay, and death ; filled with and 
 tormented by many a sore ache and a dire pain, and 
 then look within Thee. Consider, man, thy soul ; 
 there lies a hidden glory ; there is the image of 
 God. Wretchedness and rags may greet the eye of 
 man ; within there is a sight which gladdens the eye 
 of Angels. That poor despised one bears the glorious 
 image of God within him. 
 
 ni. Perfect. — There is no imperfection in God ; 
 nothing whatsoever wanting in Him ; and there is 
 nothing present with Him out of its due proportion. 
 The finest work of art is more or less spoiled through 
 some imperfection, either of form or of colour ; the 
 true image of God is absolutely perfect in its every 
 detail. What fault can be found with the earthly life 
 of Him in Whom God's image was so wonderfully 
 and perfectly represented to man ? 
 
 IV. Enduring. — " I am," " I change not ;" '^ from 
 everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." All else 
 may change but God and His image. Herein con- 
 sists man's true immortality : he bears about with him 
 the enduring image of God. 
 
 Epilogue. — Seek those divine graces by which this 
 image of God can once more be restored to the soul. 
 
God's Image. 19 
 
 Cultivate '^industry" in holiness, faith, and prayer. 
 Having gained that image, preserve it with all 
 care. Let not sin defile it ; protect it under every 
 temptation of life ; it will be its own passport to the 
 spirit world after death, and adorn the glory of the 
 resurrection. 
 
 c 2 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 THE LAW OF SYMPATHY. 
 
 He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." 
 —S. Matt. xiii. 58. 
 
 Origen. — By these words we are taught that 
 *' mighty works " were wrought amongst the helieving ; 
 since, ' Whosoever hath, to him shall he given, and he 
 shall have more abundance ' (S. Matt. xiii. 12) ; but 
 amongst the unbelieving He not only did no ' mighty 
 works,' but as S. Mark writes. He could not do any : 
 * He could do there no mighty work ' (S. Mark vi. 6) ; 
 for he does not say that He was unwilling, but ' He 
 could ' not ; as if in doing a ' mighty work/ help 
 comes from the faith of him upon whom it was being 
 wrought, and that it could be hindered by unbelief. 
 Note, that He replied to those asking, ' Why could 
 not we cast him out ?' ' Because of your unbelief.' 
 (S. Matt. xvii. 19, 20.) To Peter beginning to 
 sink He said, ' thou of little faitli, wherefore 
 didst thou doubt ?' (S. Matt. xiv. 31.) (Also cases of 
 S. Luke viii. 43 ; S. Matt. xvi. 20.) It seems to me that 
 
The Law of Sympathy, 21 
 
 as in corporal things, agriculture is not sufficient for the 
 formation of fruit unless the surrounding air works 
 together to this end, or rather He ordaining the nature 
 and quality of the air as He wills it ; neither also 
 does the air, without agriculture, or rather without 
 Him Who foresees, cause the things which grow 
 out of the earth to grow without agriculture. Once 
 He caused this to happen by these words, " Let the 
 earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, etc." 
 (Gen. i. 11.) Neither do the operations of ' mighty 
 works,' without the faith of them who are healed, 
 produce a perfect work of healing ; nor can earth do 
 this, let it be by what kind soever it may, without the 
 Divine power." — Comment, in Matt. Huet. vol. i. pp. 
 226, C ; 227, B. 
 
 Our Blessed Lord had all power to work miracles, 
 and no human creature could stay or hold His 
 Almighty hand ; yet He willed to be so stayed from 
 performing many a deed of love and mercy, unless 
 there was some sympathy between the Worker and 
 those on whose behalf He worked. Jesus Christ 
 connected His miracles with the faith of man, to show 
 the operation in its full force of the law of Sympathy. 
 He taught the lesson that men must feel with Him, 
 if they willed that He should work for them. Hence 
 
22 The Law of Sympathy, 
 
 His Gospel is one of love and sympathy, as contrasted 
 with the old Law of reward and punishment. As in 
 other particulars, so also in sympathy did the Lord 
 become to us a " Pattern Man." This sympathy, 
 fellow-suffering with another, or fellow affection for 
 him, is in its nature — 
 
 I. Subtle. — It cannot be strictly defined ; it comes 
 to the soul as an instinct, rather than as a sense that can 
 be corrected or developed. 1) It is felt even before 
 the grounds for such feeling are realized, so sudden is 
 it in its coming. Without preparation, without 
 warning, it takes possession of the soul. 2) It pene- 
 trates at once to the secret chamber of the heart, 
 awakening unto new life a faculty which may have long 
 lain unknown or undiscovered there. 3) It selects its 
 own point of contact, and holds fast by it, even when 
 the sympathetic nature becomes as it were a circle 
 to another nature, which can only touch it at one 
 point of contact. 4) Against the will itself; against 
 many a previous anticipation of antagonism it 
 asserts its silent sway. It in a moment converted 
 Saul the Persecutor into " Paul the Servant of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 II. Binding. — Sympathy when once established 
 can very rarely be broken off. It may be denied an 
 active manifestation, but it lies no less securely at the 
 root of the affections. It may receive many a rude 
 
The Law of Sympathy. 23 
 
 shock, but only in the extremest cases is it severed. 
 It binds soul with soul. 1) Unselfishly ; it is a 
 complete and entire going out of self, which is forgotten 
 in the thought and care for another. Sympathy with 
 the sufferings of Jesus makes the Christian unmind- 
 ful of his own petty cares and sorrows ; he rather goes 
 out of himself to sympathize in spirit with his suffering 
 and sorrowing Lord. 2) Closely ; it is no mere liking 
 for, or appreciation of, but the highest and most 
 intense form of feeling with the one upon whom it is 
 exercised. No true holiness can exist without sym- 
 pathy, which makes " the mind of Jesus Christ '' 
 become another's mind, and the life of Jesus Christ 
 another's life. 3) Lastingly ; it is the product, some- 
 times of a moment, producing a lifelong effect ; which 
 survives in many cases the power to give it active 
 expression. Li old age even, keen and bright as 
 when first appealing to the heart of youth ; like love, 
 sympathy is verily stronger than death. 
 
 III. Influencing. — Sympathy frequently asserts its 
 superiority to the will, proving that the heart is 
 stronger than the head, influencing the whole inner 
 man. It influences — 1) the judgment; hence it is 
 so difficult to form any judgment upon another that is 
 strictly just ; that is not influenced by the opposing 
 forces of either sympathy or antipathy. Sympathy, 
 called into active exercise for or against a cause. 
 
24 The Law of Si/jnjmthy. 
 
 doctrine, or person, seldom allows the reason to take 
 its legitimate share in the formation of opinion. 2) 
 The course of life. Sustained by sympathy, we can , 
 bear much, that without it would almost press down 
 the soul to death. It may afford no material aid, yet 
 in spite of this its help is often ver}'- real. Its entire 
 solitariness must have formed no small item in the 
 unspeakable Passion of our Lord. It is a stern fact of 
 death, the having to die alone. 3) The perfection of 
 truth. Sympathy is demanded for any writer or mind, 
 before that writer or mind can be understood and 
 appreciated. It is because men have so little 
 sympathy with things divine that the mysteries of the 
 faith are so little known, understood, and cared for. 
 To awaken intellectual sympathy is the one great object 
 of education ; to awaken spiritual sympathy is the one 
 great object of faith. 
 
 IV. Exciting. — Sympathy awakens in the soul new 
 desires, aspirations, emotions, hopes ; it stimulates 
 the soul to new and increased exertions ; it draws out 
 many a faculty, the existence of which was before un- 
 known. ]) It kindles a new life in the heart, 
 breeding a host of fresh feelings, and unlocking many 
 an affection well nigh frozen. 2) It enlarges the 
 sphere of both thought and action, making its 
 horizon commensurate with its own growth. 3) It 
 adapts to its own good uses and purposes many a 
 
The Law of Sympathy. 25 
 
 means before unrecognized ; many an opportunity 
 before unheeded. 
 
 Epilogue. — There is a sympathy with evil as well 
 as with good ; with all that is basest and devilish in 
 our lowly nature, as well as with all that is best and 
 holiest. There is a sympathy to be shunned and 
 stamped out of the soul, as well as one to be fostered 
 and tended. It is a mighty power for weal or for 
 woe. If the want of a righteous sympathy could 
 hinder the work of Jesus Christ in the flesh, see that 
 the want of such sympathy hinders not the work of 
 His Spirit in the heart. In sympathy with all that is 
 Christlike, good, and great, man regains his lost 
 heritage on earth, and will inherit a new and better 
 Paradise of God when called upon to sit in " heavenly 
 places with Christ Jesus." 
 
( 26 
 
 SERMON VL 
 
 THE STRONG MAN OF DOUBT. 
 
 ♦' How can one enter into a strong man's lionse, and spoil bis 
 goods, except he first bind the strong man ? and then he will 
 spoil bis house." — S. Matt. xii. 29. 
 
 Origen. — ''First, therefore, is the strong man 
 bound and restrained by the bands of questions, and 
 then the entering in, to the spoiling of his goods and 
 the liberation of the souls which he had possessed by 
 the fraud of deceit." — In Ex. Horn. iv. Geneh. vol. i. 
 p. 43, E. 
 
 " The strong man " well represents those doubts 
 which at times assail every earnest soul ; and the 
 " goods " which he retains in his possession, are the 
 affections, with the graces of faith, love, fear, and 
 hope. '' The souls which he had possessed," well 
 represent the several powers and faculties of the mind. 
 To some, doubt is indeed a " strong man," who has 
 taken possession of all that is best and holiest in 
 them ; who has eaten out all the noblest elements of 
 their life and character ; has paralyzed every earnest 
 endeavour ; has destroyed every ardent aspiration and 
 
The Strong Man of Doubt. 27 
 
 hope. How then can this strong man be overcome ? 
 This is a matter of the gravest moment, and a great 
 master of the spiritual life answers that he is to be 
 " bound and restrained by questions ;" that is, by a 
 rigorous examination of the ground upon which he 
 bases his claims, so that when they are thoroughly 
 sifted and examined his falsely-gained possessions 
 may be wrested from him again. These " questions " 
 by which the strong man of doubt is bound and 
 restrained must be — 
 
 I. Searching. — A cursory or half-inspection of a 
 complex title-deed would lead to no results. A casual 
 glance of doubt would not solve any of its difficulties ; 
 it must be ''bound and restrained" by questions 
 which reach to the depths of— 1) Faith. Upon what 
 is faith grounded ? Exists there a revelation from 
 God to man? Is there a Mediator and Redeemer 
 Who must stand between the soul and God ? Are 
 there supernatural channels of grace conveyed from 
 heaven to earth in the Sacraments of the Church ? 
 If the Christian faith be rejected, can it be replacei". 
 by another equally credible, equally suited to man'b 
 needs, equally appealing to that which is best and 
 highest in his nature ? 2) Life. What is the mystery 
 of man's being ? By whom and for whom was man 
 created? What is the final cause and purpose in 
 man's existence ? Has not every creature a determined 
 
28 The Strong Man of Doiiht. 
 
 and pre-ordained mission to sustain and course to 
 run ? What is my course and mission ? 3) Ex- 
 perience. What are the lessons which I learn from 
 the past days of my life ? Have they taught me that 
 there are such things as providence, conscience, 
 rewards, and punishments ; certain moral and spiritual 
 laws which have been implanted in the soul by a most 
 wise and most just Great First Cause of all things ? 
 The past is full of lessons, and it testifies most 
 abundantly to the ordering of all things by One Who 
 is alike the God of nature and of grace. 
 
 II. Solemn. —Not to be asked in a careless way, as if 
 their answer one way or the other was as a matter of 
 no moment. An eternity hangs upon their answer ; 
 an everlasting existence of either happiness or misery ; 
 heaven or hell ; as well as our present peace. They 
 must be asked in a spirit which is not — 1) frivolous ; 
 inclined to jest at or to lightly treat holy things. 
 2) Supercilious ; as being above and beyond all law 
 and conditions of life, and therefore impressed with 
 a lofty contempt for all who trouble themselves about 
 their final and lasting estate. 3) Indifferent ; as if 
 it mattered nothing whether the answer was for or 
 against ; involving no issues about which the soul 
 need seriously concern itself. 
 
 III. Thoughtful. — An expression of every lurking 
 difficulty and doubt which may be in the obscurest 
 
The Strong Man of Doubt. 29 
 
 recesses of the soul ; framed to meet the particular 
 bent or habit of mind of the propounder. They 
 must represent a mind taking counsel with itself, and 
 disputing with itself concerning the faith./ These 
 questions should bring into action the whole power of 
 the — 1) Understanding; in order that the question may 
 be fairly, and in all particulars, placed before the 
 mind. 2) Reason ; that the consequences and deduc- 
 tions from each argument may be rightly estimated. 
 3) Memory ; that no part of the argument may be lost 
 sight of during the flow of thought. 4) Will ; that 
 all the powers of the mind may be concentrated 
 upon and directed to the one single topic under 
 review. 
 
 IV. Plain. — The " strong man " of doubt is surely 
 to be bound by questions which are plain in their — 
 1) askings. 'No uncertain sound or meaning must be 
 left to lurk in the impression which they convey to 
 the mind. They must be brought out in the simplest 
 and clearest manner possible. 2) Answers. A clear 
 question can hardly fail to beget a clear response ; 
 short, often nothing more than a yes or no ; and yet 
 all the more direct from this very brevity. 3) Con- 
 sequences or deductions. Upon such deductions the 
 solution of the larger number of the problems of life 
 depend. More than half the error and misunder- 
 standing in the world arises from a certain want of 
 
30 The Strong Man of Doubt. 
 
 clearness of expression, which both engenders and 
 fosters donbt. 
 
 Epilogue. — May we, by earnest, prayerful examina- 
 tion of soul first, be so enabled to bind '' the strong^ 
 man of doubt," that we may recover those goods of 
 which, from time to time, he has so basely robbed us, 
 and so rejoice in the liberty wherewith Jesus has made 
 us free. 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 " A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth 
 good things ; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth 
 forth evil things."— /S. Matt. xii. 35. 
 
 Grig en. — " Every man has some food within him- 
 self which he can yield to his neighbour coming to 
 him. For it is not possible when we men have 
 approached each other and joined in discourse, that 
 we have not given or received some taste either from 
 an answer or a question or from some other sign. 
 And if he, indeed, is a pure man and of a good mind 
 from whom we take the taste, we take good food ; but 
 if he is impure whom we lay hold of, the food is 
 impure." — Geneb. vol. i. p. 87, D. E. In Levit. 
 Horn. vii. 
 
 We are ever receiving " tastes " or impressions from 
 those by whom we are surrounded. The stronger 
 mind acts unconsciously upon the weaker ; and a word 
 uttered in jest, an opinion often expressed at random, 
 a statement which is bold, but unfounded, sinks into 
 
32 Impressions. 
 
 the mind and colours the whole tenor of the life. In 
 our common intercourse, in our daily conversation, we 
 are feeding perpetually, either for good or for ill, the 
 minds of others. Never does a conversation pass in 
 which we do not receive " some taste " or impression 
 which ahides in the memory long after the suhject of 
 the conversation itself is lost sight of and forgotten. 
 The earthly recorded life of the Lord is full of " tastes " 
 or impressions which are the result of His particular 
 action, word, and dealing all combined. His blessed 
 life as a whole, as well as every special portion of it 
 conveys an impression or 'Haste" which brings a holy 
 and soothing remembrance with it. We note that 
 these impressions are often — 
 
 I. Sudden. — They are conveyed to the mind in a 
 moment of time. Quicker than the course of lightning 
 does the soul seize upon them ; so quickly that their 
 leaven is already at work ere the mind is conscious of 
 their reception. The understanding does not stay to 
 analyse, it accepts the impression at once ; it imbibes 
 the taste without effort, without consideration. The 
 mind resembles the prepared plate upon which the 
 image mirrored by the camera is impressed almost 
 instantaneously. This sudden impressiveness should 
 make us — 1) Watchful ; guarding the soul with all 
 diligence. 2) Well-grounded in our faith and prin- 
 ciples, so as not easily to be led away. 3) Candid 
 
Impressions. 33 
 
 and open, that no occasion from which we may derive 
 profit, spiritual, moral, or intellectual, may escape us. 
 Spiritual discernment will enable the mind to sift the 
 bad from the good, without any effort of thought. 
 
 II. Delicate. — " Tastes " or impressions are fre- 
 quently the result of a combination of causes, of some 
 indirect action upon the soul. They are formed upon 
 one deed or word, but are the product of a thousand 
 reflections, associations, and memories, all combined. 
 Our impression of character is usually a summary of 
 all the qualities which we have noted in the person 
 subject to thought. Hence we should be — 1) Cautious 
 in allowing too strong a place to our own likes and 
 dislikes, since another's mind is as the moon when 
 seen by us at its fulness ; there is still a half of it in 
 darkness on the other side beyond our range of vision. 
 2) Cautious in tampering for interested motives with 
 an impression which our spiritual or moral sense 
 knows and feels to be a true one. Such an impression 
 is a case of conscience. 3) Cautious in trying to 
 reduce to hard rule and rigid outline the somewhat 
 misty though true and delicate impression which the 
 mind may have justly received. 
 
 III. Powerful. — Our whole life is under the 
 dominion of one or other sets of impressions, since 
 it is these which give us our likes and dislikes ; which 
 determine our line of life and action ; our hope, faith, 
 
 II. D 
 
34 Impressions. 
 
 love, desire, aim, and final cause in all that we are, 
 or in all that we are seeking to become. Very 
 powerful are they, and they rule us — 1) Unconsciously : 
 we know not the motive power by which we are 
 guided, yet none the less surely are we walking under 
 its guidance. 2) Irresistibly : they are no tangible 
 enemies with which we can fight, against which we 
 can struggle ; they form a part of our very selves and 
 of our lives. 3) Universally : there is no portion of 
 our mind or conduct which is left untouched or 
 uninfluenced by them. 
 
 IV. Lastingly. — The " taste " or impression which 
 is so sudden that it is formed in a moment, may last 
 throughout life, and perhaps abide with the soul in 
 eternity for ever. In this, as in other respects, the 
 action of an instant carries with it an eternal conse- 
 quence. Through all the changes, joys, sorrows, 
 temptations, victories, and defeats of life, the one 
 impression remains, unbroken, unsubdued. This 
 consideration makes our impressions to be solemn 
 in their — 1) Continuance; abiding ever, still the 
 same. 2) Consequence ; knowing no determinate 
 period of effacement. 3) Connection with all that 
 is real and vital as concerning this world and the 
 next. 
 
 Einlogue. — As givers, of " tastes " or impressions, 
 the Lord's words in the text have a grand force; 
 
Impressions, 35 
 
 warning me, lest by my action, word, or deed, a false 
 impression may lead my brother's soul astray. As 
 receivers, to take this saying of Jesus as a touchstone 
 and a warning by which every spirit may be tried, to 
 see whether or not it be of God. 
 
 D 2 
 
( 36 ) 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 THE ETEKNAL KECORD. 
 
 " My _^ wound is grievous." — Jer. x. 19. 
 
 Orlgen. — '^ In the wounds of the body, after they 
 have been cured, there sometimes remains the mark 
 of the wound itself, which is called a scar. It is hardly 
 ever so cured that no trace of the received wound is 
 seen to remain. Pass now from this shadow of the law 
 to its truth, and mark how the soul which has received 
 the wound of sin, even if it be cured, has the scar of 
 sin remaining in the place of the wound, which, 
 although cured, bears still the indication of the old 
 wound in the traces itself of the scar." — In Levit, 
 Horn. viii. Geneb. vol, i. p. 90, M ; p. 91, A. 
 
 It has been established by philosophers that motion 
 is imperishable, and that the vibrations of every spoken 
 word last for ever. An infinite intelligence can read 
 aright all the aerial undulations that have been formed 
 by man from Adam's day to our own. Hence the act of 
 speech, to the Divine Mind, carries with itself its own 
 eternal record. Again, light, rapid as it is, still takes 
 
The Eternal Record. 37 
 
 time to travel. As God removes His source of vision 
 further from this earth, so does He see that which 
 has been done upon it in time past. If the inhabitant 
 of a star of remote magnitude could behold this world 
 he would see it as it was before man appeared on the 
 scene at all; or coming nearer, he could see Adam 
 walking with Eve in Paradise. Thus the omniscience 
 of God can be explained by His omnipresence. Thus 
 the very light itself, rapid as is its course, carries an 
 eternal record of our acts from the cradle to the grave. 
 Lastly. The heart is allowed by many to be its own 
 witness, as bearing its own eternal record of every 
 thought, whether for good or for evil, which has ever 
 passed over its surface. It was the greatest unin- 
 spired mind which the world had ever known who 
 insisted most strongly upon the fact, that the mind 
 or soul was its own eternal witness to all the thoughts 
 which it had ever conceived — it being a book in which it 
 chronicles its own thoughts. (Plato. Phil. 58, E.) In 
 the case of pardoned sin, the scar or mark of former 
 wounds and suffering remains. The Lord is still 
 pleading by his five most sacred wounds, living streams 
 of gi'ace and mercy for us men who are encompassed 
 with so many infirmities of sin and sorrow. The scars 
 of conquered sin are more noble than even the medals 
 which the brave soldier wears. Scars may be also 
 the last remains of a past dishonour, and may serve 
 
38 The Eternal Record. 
 
 to keep their possessor humble even in the midst of 
 glory. Standing around the throne of the great King 
 we shall still feel some sense of shame at bearing so 
 many traces of our former sin. Each scar becomes a 
 living monument of God's great grace and mercy to- 
 wards us. Of these scars of sin we note that they 
 are — 
 
 I. Memorial. — They bring our past state and the 
 former events of life before the memor}^ The scars 
 of the sacred hands and feet and side of Jesus recall 
 to Him throughout eternity the life of suffering which 
 He led here on earth ; they never allow Him to forget 
 for one single instant that which for our sake He once 
 endured. The scars or marks which the soul will 
 bear in Heaven will remind us — 1) Of a former con- 
 dition, when we were under the powerful influences of 
 temptation and sin. They will for ever mark the 
 epoch of our lowly walking in this present imperfect 
 state and life. 2) Of our healing and deliver- 
 ance through the infinite love and mercy of our dear 
 Lord. 3) Of the mighty contrast between this glorious 
 present and the saddened past which went before it. 
 
 II. True. — Not a trace of any false witness will 
 be found in the evidence which they give. They were 
 graven on the heart by our own thoughts ; they are the 
 evidences of that which once found a place there. In 
 number also they will be not one scar too many, not 
 
The Eternal Record. 39 
 
 one too few. They are wholly and absolutely true in 
 their — 1) Number. Like the register of a turnstile 
 they record a just number of falls, repentances, seasons 
 of doubt and of faith, of hate and love. 2) Character. 
 Some scars are larger, deeper, uglier than others, 
 according as the sins and conflicts have been more 
 less mortal and severe. 3) In order and succession. 
 Some scars will be found to overlap others, as the 
 successive growth of an exogenous tree is recorded by 
 rings of an increasing diameter. No ground of com- 
 plaint against them on the score of their want of 
 fidelity can stand. 
 
 III. Voluntary. — Not in their presence and inscrip- 
 tion, but in the causes whence they sprang. A large 
 portion of our sinful thoughts it is in our power, by the 
 prayerful use of Divine grace, to hinder. The more 
 we give way to evil thoughts, desires, and inclinations, 
 the larger w^ill be the number of those scars which will 
 bear their eternal record against us. We all could 
 have saved many a scar by resisting — 1) the temp- 
 tations and insinuations of sin in thought; 2) the 
 occasions of sin in act ; 3) the agony and struggle 
 which must ever follow true repentance after a fall. 
 It will be through carelessness and effeminacy, through 
 obstinacy and hardness of heart, that many a soul is 
 now, during this present life, being scarred and 
 marked. 
 
40 The Eternal Record. 
 
 IV. Indelible. — They can never be blotted out. No 
 after tears, no final glory, will either wash them en- 
 tirely away or gild them over. They will remain, and 
 form for ever an eternal chronicle of time. They 
 will be indelible in — 1) Their presence ; never to be 
 got rid of. 2) Their witness ; silent, yet patent to 
 God and ourselves. 3) Their effects upon those who 
 know of no escape from their mark. 
 
 Epilogue. — These thoughts suggest — 1) an in- 
 creased holiness and prayerfulness of life ; 2) the near 
 relations which exist between time and eternity ; 3) 
 the use of sacramental grace to purify the soul. 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 THE GARDENER. 
 
 " She, supposing Him to be the gardener."* — S. John xx. 15. 
 
 Origen. — " Oh ! Mary ! if you seek Jesus, why do 
 you not know Him ? And if you know Jesus, why do 
 you seek Him ? Behold ! Jesus comes to thee, and 
 He Whom you seek asks of thee, * Woman, why 
 weepest thou ?' and you, not knowing Him, suppose 
 ' Him to be the gardener.' For He is Jesus, and a 
 Gardener, since He Himself sows every good seed in 
 the garden of thy soul, and in the hearts of His faithful 
 ones. He plants and waters all the good herbs in the 
 souls of the holy, and it is Jesus Himself Who speaks 
 with thee." — Horn. x. De Diver. Geneh. vol, ii. p. 
 293, E. 
 
 In explaining the Parable of the Tares the Lord 
 Himself said, " He that soweth the good seed is the 
 
 * " The Gardener and His Garden." Eeading XVIII. in Dr. 
 Neale's " Sermons for Children," is a beautiful exposition of this 
 same thouglit. Fourth Edition (Hayes), pp. 127-133. 
 
42 The Gardener, 
 
 Son of Man." (S. Matt. xiii. 37.) Since what- 
 soever good things are produced in the sonl of man 
 are from the Word which was " in the beginning with 
 God." (S. John i. J.) {Origen in loco.) The 
 human application of a garden or vineyard is beauti- 
 fully made by the Prophets of old. (Isa. v. 1-7 ; Jer. 
 xii. 10 : Micah i. 6.) In fact a garden is no inapt 
 similitude of the soul of which Jesus Christ, as the 
 Lord of souls, is the Gardener. The consideration of 
 this similitude involves a reflection upon — 
 
 I. The Gardener. — Jesus Christ may well be called 
 the Gardener of the garden of the human soul, since 
 this garden — 1) He owns. It is His own garden. 
 He does not tend it for hire, for the good of others, 
 but for Himself. Jesus bought this garden at the 
 price of His most precious blood. It was in the 
 possession of God at first ; then Satan obtained it by 
 craft ; lastly Jesus Christ became Incarnate, lived and 
 died that He might redeem this garden, and obtain it 
 for Himself for ever. 2) He loves. Jesus may have 
 richer and fairer domains, more costly and magnificent 
 possessions, but He loves this poor garden of the soul 
 wdth the deepest, tenderest, fondest love. It was the 
 one object of His thoughts when He dwelt in heaven 
 at the I'ight hand of God ; during the time of His 
 earthly sojourn ; now and for ever wliilst He is seated 
 at the " right hand of the Majesty on high." Love 
 
The Gardener. 
 
 is careful, watchful, and jealous ; so — 3) He tends this 
 garden with an anxious solicitude, lest harm should 
 happen to it ; rank weeds grown up in it — deadly 
 weeds of sin ; lest the walls of it should be broken 
 down ; the barriers of belief give way, and so the 
 garden become a wilderness of confusion and of doubt. 
 May we be led to value this garden of the soul at 
 the same high price at which the Saviour Himself 
 valued it ! 
 
 II. The Garden. — This garden of the soul is — 1) 
 fruitful. The soil of the soul is most productive ; it is 
 ever bringing forth. The harvest and fruit-gathering 
 season will determine both the nature and the value 
 of its produce. The soul is no wilderness ; it never 
 can be wholly barren ; if not productive of good it 
 must be productive of evil. It is a fruitful garden, 
 whether for heaven or for hell. 2) Pleasing. A 
 garden in good order and cultivation is always a 
 pleasing object. Nature and art are working together 
 towards the same end, and the combination suggests 
 a sense of prosperity, progress, and peace. The 
 garden of the soul, tended by the love and care of 
 Jesus Christ, and watered by the Holy Ghost, affords 
 a fair scene upon which the eye may well rest content. 
 Sad when this fruitful place becomes a desolation ; 
 covered with a rank overgrowth of evil habits and 
 desires. 3) Profitable. It bears fruit not for time 
 
44 The Gardener. 
 
 only but also for eternity ; fruit, the use and value of 
 which we are unable to gauge and measure here. May 
 the gardens of our souls be productive in heavenly, 
 pleasing, and eternally profitable fruit ; bearing much 
 fruit, and so being worthy of all the loving care and 
 attention of the G-ardener. 
 
 III. The floioers of the garden, — With such a 
 Gardener and so rich a soil, a like richness and 
 diversity ought to be found in the flowers which grow 
 therein. Amongst the flowers which must flourish 
 there, if the garden would please the Heavenly 
 Gardener, we note the — 1 ) white lily of purity, with 
 graceful stem and large creamy petals ; stately yet 
 modest ; beautiful yet unobtrusive. This is a flower 
 which both adorns the garden and consecrates ail the 
 other flowers there. Without the Christian grace of 
 purity no other graces can avail, or glorify by their 
 proper colours the beauty of the garden. 2) Snow- 
 drop, of hope and consolation ; delicate, tender head 
 of bell-shaped petals, peeping trustingly out of the 
 snow-covered ground. Many a season of winter or 
 sorrow in every life when the emblem of the time of a 
 future summer of joy is grateful indeed. 3) Ivy of 
 fidelity ; which clings for support to the old faith of 
 the ages, inserting its roots into the very structure of 
 the Church, and gaining a new life and vigour from 
 its association with the old. 4) Syringa of memory, 
 
The Gardener. 45 
 
 with its lovely scent, strongest at eventide ; minister- 
 ing to the close of the day, as memory does to the 
 close of life. 5) Canary- grass of perseverance ; often 
 uprooted, with small hold upon the soil, yet still 
 existing, and not to be destroyed and eradicated. The 
 soul is often sorely tried ; and weak, bending down to 
 the storm with, it may be, a small hold upon the 
 mysteries of the faith, yet never wholly giving way ; 
 maintaining against fearful odds its own hold upon 
 things divine. 6) Ox-eye of penitence, which flows 
 from that plain, stern examination of self, which 
 reveals imperfection, and casts the soul upon God's 
 mercy for pardon and for peace. 7) Moss-rose of 
 love, with its red opening and scented petals ; fit 
 emblem of that refreshing fire of love which warms 
 up all the inner man ; which consumes indwelling sin, 
 and unites man's spirit with the cherubim. Such are 
 a few of the flowers which, growing in the garden of 
 the soul, are cherished and tended by the heavenly 
 Gardener. 
 
 Epilogue. — What are the plants which are growing 
 in the garden of your soul ? There are plants of evil 
 as well as of good. May — 1) the evil plants be rooted 
 up (S. Matt. XV. 13) ; 2) the good plants multiply ; 
 3) the heavenly Gardener rejoice in His garden of 
 your heart. 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 THE MIDDLE WAY. 
 
 " I am the way," — S. John xiv. 6. 
 
 Origen, — ''Let us therefore, declining neither to the 
 right hand nor to the left, walk in the middle way, 
 which is the Lord Christ, since the Lord directeth 
 the steps of those who walk in Him." — Horn. iii. 
 in PsaL xxxvi., Geneh. vol. i, p. 285, F. 
 
 Besides being " the way " to heaven, our Blessed 
 Lord came down to earth to be " the way " to man 
 during his present life on earth. The teaching and 
 the life of Jesus Christ alike point Him out to us as 
 giving us a " middle way " in which we should strive 
 to walk in this our middle state between the past and 
 the future ; between non-existence and final glory. 
 The earthly life of Jesus Christ, which is our pattern 
 life, was truly a " middle way " between — 
 
 I. Humiliation and glory. — A lowly birth of lowly 
 parents ; a poor, hard life ; homeless and houseless ; 
 an ignominious death ; these stood between the choirs 
 of Angels who chanted out His Christmas hymn ; His 
 
The Middle Way. 47 
 
 Divine power ; the glory of His Transfiguration ; His 
 Resurrection and Ascension. The outward life of the 
 Lord was one of sore humiliation ; the inner life, one 
 of perpetual and sustained glory, which was but rarely 
 manifested. So also is the Christian life one of 
 humiliation flowing from — 1) A sense of sin and of 
 weakness ; 2 ) want of sympathy with the world and 
 the world's ways ; 8) the daily sacrifice of the 
 present to the future. The Christian walks humbly 
 as in the presence of a higher Power ; as ever 
 surrounded by a spirit world which encloses him on 
 all sides ; as having the end and just reward of life 
 constantly before his eyes. Yet is this humiliation, 
 tempered with some few faint rays of that glory which 
 shall be revealed in him hereafter, since he carries 
 about with him the means of — 1) Spiritual conquest. 
 He is ever striving and often overcoming. Each 
 victory over sin adds new lustre to his future crown. 
 2) Divine grace ; which helps his infirmities, endows 
 him with new and peculiar powers, adorning his soul 
 with many a heavenly attribute. 3) Future perfection. 
 This the Christian feels most strongly ; although 
 now I am greatly unworthy, I shall be most worthy 
 by-and-by. When all false appearances shall have 
 for ever passed away, then shall I shine as the sun in 
 the firmament of my Heavenly Father's Kingdom. 
 Thus the holy life, humble as it really is, contains 
 
48 The Middle Way, 
 
 the seeds of all exaltation within it. It is a " middle 
 way " between humiliation and final glory. 
 
 II. Joy and Sorrow. — The life or " middle way " 
 of Jesus Christ was one of sorrow. He was emphati- 
 cally the "man of sorrows" (Isa. liii. 3); sorrowing 
 over all that He gave up for the sake of man ; over 
 the seeming failure of His earthly mission (S. John 
 i. 11) ; over the ingratitude, distrust, and coldness 
 which was so often His sad portion whilst ministering 
 to men ; over the bitter death which He knew was 
 before Him. (S. Luke xii. 50 ; S. Matt. xxvi. 38.) 
 Behind this outward garb of sorrow there must have 
 been a deep, inextinguishable joy in His heart. The 
 Saviour could look beyond Calvary to Bethany ; 
 beyond Bethany to "the throne of His glory;" beyond 
 the contradictions and narrow-mindedness of the 
 Scribes and Pharisees of to-day, to the "regeneration" 
 when in the midst of His redeemed the triumph of 
 His saving love would assuredly be glorious and com- 
 plete. So the Christian life is one of sorrow, for it is 
 one of earnestness, and all earnest emotion in this 
 present life is sad. He treads the sorrowful '' High- 
 way of the Holy Cross" in his — 1) Self-discipline; 
 2) Repentance ; 3) Condemnation of an un- Christlike 
 world. Yet he sorrows not without hope : it is a godly 
 sorrow which he now bears ; a sowing in tears, one 
 day to reap in joy. Looking onwards and upwards, 
 
The Middle Way. 49 
 
 he hears the whisper of his Lord saying, " Your joy," 
 etc., (S. John xvi. 22.) The future consecrates the 
 present, and he therefore rejoices — 1) In the common 
 blessings of daily Hfe as being the gifts of his 
 Heavenly Father. 2) In the beauties of creation ; of 
 moral goodness and of intellectual achievement. 8) 
 In a calm sense of pardoned sin. 4) In the firm 
 hope of future glory. His joy is deep, firm, and 
 lasting ; the world gave it not and therefore cannot 
 take it away. The faithful soul treads the " middle 
 way " between perfect joy and a sorrow without 
 hope. 
 
 III. Fear and Love. — As Son of Man the Lord 
 walked partly in fear of man (S. John vi. 15) and of 
 God (S. Matt, xxvii. 46) ; yet love to both man and 
 God was the one passion of His holy soul. During 
 His earthly ministration His love was pent up and 
 restrained. It showed more brightly after His 
 resurrection ; it will show in all its brightness when 
 the Great Shepherd will be one day with His sheep ; 
 when there shall be no let or hindrance to the full 
 exposition and outpouring of His love. Now, too, 
 does the faithful soul walk along a "middle path" 
 between a fear which leads to — 1) Hopelessness and 
 despair ; 2) which paralyzes all effort ; 3) which 
 degrades man and dishonours God ; and a love which 
 is perfect— 1) As casting out all fear; 2) as giving 
 
 II. E 
 
50 The Middle Way. 
 
 repose to the soul and so weakening the desire for 
 further perfection ; 3) as fulfilling the heavenly life 
 whilst being still subject to the conditions of sin and 
 death. 
 
 Epilogue. — The faithful soul, humbly walking 
 along the " middle way" which the Lord trod before 
 it, gains a threefold spirit of — 1) Thankfulness. There 
 has been a deliverance from the lowest estate of 
 humiliation, sorrow, and fear. 2j Contentment. 
 The present, not itself perfect, contains the germs of 
 future perfection ; it is a worthy walk, with high 
 opportunities, promising great rewards. 3) Hope. 
 The " middle way " will resolve itself into a way of 
 perfect and eternal glory, joy, and love. Oh follow 
 Jesus, along that "middle way." He beckons you 
 to follow Him; He says, '^I am the way." 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 THE RIGHT HEART. 
 
 " Thy heart is not right in the sight of God." — Acts viii. 21. 
 
 Orlrjen. — ''We know Simon Magus, proclaiming 
 himself to be the ' Power of God,' that is, called great, 
 fell away together with his silver to destruction and 
 perdition." — Comm. in Joan, Huet., vol. ii. p. 36, D. 
 
 " Simon Magus, the Samaritan, endeavoured to 
 deceive certain persons by magic." —Cont. Cel. 
 lib. i. sec. 57. 
 
 It is said that if the physician of the body had the 
 power of observing every internal organism, he would 
 discover something not " right " even in the healthiest 
 subject ; some small function of the human mechanism 
 to be out of order, even in the strongest and most 
 robust frame. If this be true of the body, how much 
 more true must it be of the soul. The great 
 Physician of souls, knowing '' what is in man," must 
 discern, not merely a trace of disease here and there, 
 but souls innumerable full of spiritual ''wounds 
 bruises, and putrifying sores." A ghastly sight must 
 
 E 2 
 
52 The R'ujlit Heart. 
 
 the inspection of the souls of men present to Him, 
 before Whom "^ all hearts are open." In the case of 
 Simon Magus it was neither the head nor the body 
 which was diseased, it was his heart which was " not 
 riofht in the siofht of God." There must have been 
 much good in Simon ; his character as represented in 
 the inspired chronicle was not wholly bad. True, 
 that he practised magic and sorcery ; " that of a long 
 time he had bewitched " the people of Samaria " with 
 sorceries ;" but his calling was a recognized one 
 among the superstitious people with whom he lived, 
 and at the particular age of the world in which he 
 flourished. He was distinguished from a vast number 
 of other sorcerers, chiefly by the extraordinary note 
 and success that he gained in his profession. When, 
 however, Simon Magus heard of the better life through 
 the preaching of Philip, we find that — Firstly : He re- 
 nounced his old calling, profitable and influential as it 
 was ; which renunciation must have cut him ofl" from 
 further increase of means ; from many of his old 
 associates, and given the lie to his former life. How 
 many Christians would be willing to give up a means 
 of livelihood in which they had been successful, for the 
 sake of the honour and fealty which is due to Jesus 
 Christ? Secondly: *' He believed;" his mind was 
 open to receive the impression and conviction of truth 
 when it was brought before him. Such belief implied 
 
The Right Heart. 53 
 
 a candid and impressible mind. Thirdly : *' He was 
 baptized." Simon was neither ashamed to confess 
 nor to profess his new faith. This act implied a 
 certain amount of moral courage rarely to be met 
 with, and worthy of all praise. Fourthly : '' He con- 
 tinued with Philip " to learn the way of God more 
 perfectly ; to be more fully instructed in the mysteries 
 of the faith. This fact implies a humble and docile 
 disposition. Fifthly : After his unholy proposition had 
 been denounced by S. Peter in language both strong 
 and severe, Simon took the correction in a becoming 
 spirit, still asserted his belief in the efficacy of prayer 
 to S. Peter's God, and begged of the Apostle '' to pray 
 to the Lord " for him. From a sense of personal 
 disappointment, mortification, or pique, he did not 
 throw over his newly-embraced faith, and betake him- 
 self to his old trade of sorcery again. Simon Magus 
 committed a grievous sin, and fell, as many a better 
 man than he had fallen before him ; but not on that 
 account is he worthy of unmitigated reprobation. The 
 fall of Simon shows but too plainly that there was 
 something radically wrong about him ; and what that 
 something is, S. Peter revealed in the solemn words : 
 " Thy heart is not right in the sight of God." 
 Simon was in the main " right in the head," he was, 
 alas ! wholly wrong in the heart, being '' still in the 
 gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity." Even his 
 
54 The Right Heart, 
 
 very desire to buy " the gift of God, with money," 
 was an evidence of true faith living within the man. 
 It showed that he was willing to part with his material 
 substance, if by such loss he could receive some 
 spiritual gain. The power of conferring the Holy 
 Ghost was more to him than the possession of so much 
 silver. Herein it must be acknowledged that a sixth 
 trait of goodness appears in his disposition ; one in 
 addition to those which have been already enumerated. 
 Like the young man in the Gospel, Simon Magus was 
 "not far from the Kingdom of God;" whilst his 
 request most clearly revealed the fact, that despite 
 his self-sacrifice, his baptism, his sojourn with holy 
 Philip, he had not actually entered into that 
 mysterious, invisible, and spiritual world which is 
 designated by the title of the " Kingdom of God." 
 
 As far then as his head was concerned, Simon 
 Magus was not so very far wrong. The failure and 
 the cause of ill was certainly to be traced to his heart, 
 which *' was not right in the sight of God." This 
 want of rectitude in the heart arose doubtless from its 
 not being — 
 
 I. Sanctified hy God's Grace. — As the soul grows 
 in holiness, so does it grow in a keen sense of its own 
 sin and unworthiness in particular, and in a special 
 and acute sense of sin in general. Had Simon Magus 
 been sanctified by the grace of God, he would have 
 
The Right Heart, 55 
 
 been so humbled under a sense of bis own un- 
 wortbiness, tbat be would bave refused tbis Divine 
 gift bad it been freely offered to bim ; be would bave 
 felt bimself unfit for its possession. Tbe working of 
 holiness would have deepened to an almost infinite 
 degree tbe contrast between his own heart and tbe 
 Spirit of Truth. Reverence for tbe mysteries of tbe 
 Kingdom of God increases in proportion to tbat 
 holiness which — 1) brings them nigh to tbe heart ; 2) 
 conforms the heart to them ; 3) gives the heart 
 possession of them. 
 
 II. Enlightened by Goers Spirit. — Tbe eye o' 
 faith, when enlightened by God's grace, far outstrips 
 tbe mental or intellectual vision ; faith being above 
 reason. Simon bad an intellectual conception of the 
 teaching of Philip, but be lacked spiritual enlighten- 
 ment. Of this need (1 Cor. ii. 11) his case was 
 not that of (Eph. i. 18) ; hence be was not fully alive 
 in respect of tbis spiritual gift which he desired, to 
 its— 1) Sacredness ; embodying the very Person of 
 God tbe Holy Ghost. 2) Power; influencing for 
 eternity souls made after God's own image and 
 likeness. 3) Glory ; bringing God down to man ; 
 heaven to earth ; light to darkness ; purity to sin ; life 
 to death. Tbe sacredness, power, and glory of tbe 
 Sacraments of tbe Church can only be fully realized 
 by those eyes God hath opened. 
 
56 The Right Heart. 
 
 III. Touched by God's Love, — Had (Kom. v. 5) 
 this very shedding abroad been present, it would have 
 filled Simon with holy fear. That perfect love of 
 God which casteth out all fear, belongs more properly 
 to the future state of glory than to the present state 
 of imperfection ; belongs to the very few, alas, who 
 have made their calling and election sure. True love 
 renders the heart — 1) Sensitive ; fearful in all things 
 of offence. 2) Diffident of its own power of winning 
 and receiving. 3) Jealous of the honour of the loved 
 one. True love must have stayed Simon Magus from 
 his unholy request. 
 
 Epilogue. — God says, " Give Me," not thy mind, 
 but " thy heart." (Prov. xxiii. 26.) Give God thy 
 heart then, if that be " right," accepted by Him ; all 
 else will be " right " for time and for eternity, every 
 thought, word, and deed. 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 HEAVEN OUR PERFECTION. 
 
 " Zion, the perfection of beauty." — Ps. 1. 2. 
 
 Origen. — " For neither is this world able to 
 apprehend that which is perfect wherein the necessity 
 of the body suggests, now food, now drink, now 
 sleep ; all of which things, without doubt, interrupt 
 the continuity of the festival of God." — In Numh^ 
 Horn, xxiii. Geneh. vol. i. p. 165, B. 
 
 Graver imperfections are attached to the soul and 
 the state of life ; but Zion is the perfection not of 
 beauty alone, but of every form of it which stands in 
 contrast with this imperfect and changing world. 
 
 In contrast then with earth and this present life 
 we note in Heaven a state of perfect and absolute — 
 
 I. Justice. — In this world it often seems that 
 God's providence is apparently eminently unjust. 
 Some have such an easy path in life before them : 
 being born to honours, riches, luxuries, and refinements 
 of all kinds; whilst the lot of others is hard, very hard. 
 
58 Heaven our Perfection. 
 
 Some are blessed with health, beauty, and strength ; 
 others are subject to perpetual weakness, deformity, 
 disease. Some are very highly gifted ; others are 
 destitute of all gifts and graces. The whole history 
 of man is a repetition of that of Dives and Lazarus on 
 its every page. A place of reparation and restitution 
 must remain for man beyond the grave. For the 
 worn and weary, the miserable and the depressed, 
 the feeble and the outcasts of this lowly existence, 
 there remains a " bosom of Abraham " in which God's 
 providence will be fully seen and His justice entirely 
 vindicated. Heaven is the abode of righteousness or 
 justice. 
 
 II. Freshness. — In this world man is ordained to 
 labour either in mind or in body ; this labour is 
 absolutely needed to develope man's power ; it is as 
 essential to his development as the constant move- 
 ments and restlessness of very little children is an 
 important factor in their growth ; but here all labour 
 is attended with weariness, sometimes with infirmity 
 and pain. In heaven there will be ceaseless energy 
 and operation combined with the feeling of perfect 
 rest. Freshness and activity go hand in hand. 
 Glorious state to be for ever doing and yet to be able 
 ever to do, 
 
 III. Joy. — It is one great mark of imperfection, 
 that there is no such thing as pure, unmixed joy in 
 
Heaven our Perfection. 59 
 
 this world ; an element of sadness tinges our brightest 
 moments, and dims the lustre of earth's greatest 
 glories. All earthly joy is stained with some — 1) actual 
 pain, as painful remembrances ; 2) want, which renders 
 it incomplete ; 3) saddening thought, such as that so 
 very soon it will pass away. 
 
 IV. hnmortality . — Earth is but a temporary rest- 
 ing-place ; an inn, not a home. Hence earth is 
 imperfect in — 1) Its ties, so soon to be snapped 
 asunder. The nearest and dearest ties of earth last 
 but for the shortest time. The ties in heaven are as 
 immortal as is our own nature. 2) Its works. Man 
 often does much in the thirty or forty years of his 
 life, during which he has had very many hindrances. 
 What work can be carried on throughout the immor- 
 tality of heaven ? 3) It is ever tending to a future ; 
 imperfect in its present. In heaven time is not — 
 past, present, future are blended into one perfect 
 whole. 
 
 Epilogue. — Strive, by the help of Divine grace, so 
 to combat with the imperfection of sin here as to 
 rejoice to enter upon a state of heavenly perfection 
 hereafter. 
 
( 60 ) 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 PERFECT FAITH. 
 
 "Many believed in His Name when they saw the miracles which 
 He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them." — 
 S. John ii. 23, 2i. 
 
 Origen. — " Some one may ask why ' Jesus did not 
 commit Himself unto them,' of whom it had been 
 witnessed that they believed. Because it is said not 
 to those who believe ' in Him ' Jesus did not commit 
 Himself, but to those who believed ' in His Name.' 
 It is one thing to believe * in Him,' another thing to 
 believe ' in His Name.' Therefore, he who through 
 faith is not condemned, is not condemned because he 
 believes ' in Him,' not because he believes * in His 
 Name.' For the Lord says, ' He that belie veth in Me 
 is not condemned,' but not he that believeth 'in My 
 Name' is not condemned. Many are said to believe 
 not ' in Him,' but ' in His Name.' They only who 
 believe * in Him ' are they who walk along the narrow 
 and straight way leading to life, which is therefore 
 found by few." — In Evang. Joan. torn. xi. ; Geneh. 
 vol. ii. p. 211, C. D. 
 
Perfect Faith. 61 
 
 At His last as well as at His first Passover many 
 believed "in His Name;" they shouted out, ^'Hosanna 
 to the Son of David " (S. Matt. xxi. 9) in one breath, 
 and in another, " Crucify Him." The belief " in the 
 Name" soon vanished: it had no real hold upon either 
 life or heart ; it expressed little, it led to no result. 
 It is possible to believe " in the names " of many who 
 are to us nothing more than names ; who are asso- 
 ciated with us by no ties ; who are incapable of ex- 
 ercising any action upon us. It is a barren, dead faith 
 which finds expression in the belief in a mere name. 
 Something more than this is required. It was because 
 Jesus Christ ''knew what was in man" (S. John 
 di. 25), that He would not ''commit Himself" to those 
 merely who "believed in His Name." Perfect faith 
 believes '^ in Him ; " and such faith is — 
 
 I. Personal — To meet the needs of our own per- 
 sonality we require a personal Saviour, and our Lord 
 fulfils this requisition, being a " High Priest Who is 
 touched with the feeling of our infirmities " (Heb. iv. 
 14) ; hence He can have " compassion upon the ignorant 
 and upon those who are out of the way " (Heb. v. 2) 
 of hope, help, life, and joy. As a profession we may 
 believe in a name ; as a support and direction for life 
 we must believe in a person. Our Blessed Lord 
 therefore comes to us as a Friend, and more than a 
 Friend ; as the Elder Brother of our race ; as bone of 
 
02 Perfect Faith. 
 
 our bone and flesh of onr flesh. This belief in the 
 Person of Jesus Christ makes Him — 1) Near. Al- 
 though He is God, yet is He through participation of 
 our common nature very nigh unto us. 2) Visible. 
 We can see Jesus, and follow Him throughout every 
 detail of His earthly life. 3) Familiar. There can be 
 no familiarity, but fear and dread, in the contempla- 
 tion of a spirit. (Job iv. 16.) Such a personal faith 
 in Jesus appeals to all the higher and better faculties 
 of our nature. He is a Person holy and divine ; and 
 as such He exercises a holy and divine influence upon 
 the soul and life. 
 
 ' n. Loving. — It is next to impossible to love a mere 
 name ; to feel affection for an abstraction. There 
 was much that was good, true, and beautiful in the 
 religions of the world before the Gospel came into it ; 
 but they all failed in their mission, because they 
 appealed to the intellect and the understanding rather 
 than to the affections; they influenced the bead rather 
 than the heart. Jesus Christ drew men to Himself 
 by '* the cords of a man and by the bands of love." 
 (Hos. xi. 4.) Hence, the more He is loved the more 
 is He believed in ; and the more He is believed in 
 the more He is loved. Faith and love are united in 
 the Loving Person ofeTesus Christ. This loving faith 
 becomes the true source of — 1) Obedience. In all 
 things the will of the loved one passes into law. It 
 
Perfect Faith. 63 
 
 goes hard with the heart to disappoint or to displease 
 one who is tenderly and truly loved. 2) Imitation. 
 " Be ye followers of Christ as dear children." (Eph. 
 V. 1.) Imitation begets likeness; likeness begets union ; 
 and union is perfected in final glory. 3) Joy, The 
 command, ''Rejoice in the Lord " (Phil. iv. 4), can 
 only be fulfilled in those who believe in that Lord with 
 a faith which worketh by love. (Gal. v. 6.) 
 
 III. Experimental. — The multitudes at both the 
 first and last Passovers who believed " in the Name " 
 of Jesus Christ had made no trial of their faith. It 
 had stood them in no stead in their seasons of sin, 
 sorrow, and weakness. Such had never tasted how 
 gracious the Lord is. Experimental faith in a name 
 must needs be small indeed ; it wants a person either 
 by himself or by his influence to comfort the sorrow- 
 ful, strengthen the weak, awaken the sinner, and heal 
 the soul-sick. Experimental faith in Jesus Christ 
 finds Him — 1) Willing to help man. The promise, 
 " I will, be thou clean," applies to every circumstance 
 of life. 2) Able, as being stronger than sin, death, 
 and hell. 3) Actually exerting this willing power on 
 behalf of all who humbly seek the blessed help. 
 Hence His invitation. (S. Matt. xi. 28.) Make trial 
 then of Him, and you cannot fail to believe in Him. 
 
 IV. Living.— The multitudes that " beheved in 
 His Name " had given no evidence of their faith. It 
 
61 Perfect Faith. 
 
 had produced no fruits meet for repentance. (S. Matt, 
 iii. 8.) The true disciple of the Lord says with the 
 Apostle, " I will show thee my faith by my works." 
 (S. James ii. 18.) Faith should so operate in the heart 
 that all men may take knowledge of the faithful that 
 they have been with Jesus. A living faith produces 
 Christlike — 1) Thoughts ; 2) words : 3) deeds. 
 
 Epilogue. — So believe in the Person of Jesus Christ, 
 that He may commit Himself to you whollj^ continu- 
 ally, and eternally. (Kev. iii. 20.) 
 
( Q5 ) 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 THE SWOKD OF TEACHING. 
 
 " I came not to send peace, but a sword." — S. Matt. x. 34. 
 
 Origen. — " For trulj' before He had descended, there 
 was not a sword upon the earth, neither was the flesh 
 lusting against the spirit, nor the spirit against the 
 flesh. But when He came, and we had been taught 
 the things which were of the flesh and of the spirit, 
 THE TEACHING became as a sword in the earth, dividing 
 the flesh and the earth from the spirit. And the earth 
 indeed was exterminated, because we bear about in 
 the body ' the dying of the Lord Jesus ' (2 Cor. iv. 
 10) ; and we live no longer ' after the flesh ' (Rom. 
 viii. 1) but wholly to the spirit, lest of the flesh we 
 should ' reap corruption.' (Gal. vi. 8.) — Ho?n. in 
 Jerem. xi. Huet. vol. i. 113, B. C. 
 
 Man on earth is placed between two powers and 
 kingdoms ; that of light and that of darkness : midway 
 between heaven and hell ; between God and Satan : 
 between absolute holiness and confirmed unpardonable 
 
 II. F 
 
66 The Sword of Teaching. 
 
 sin. To neither state nor power was man as a race 
 wholly allied ; he was separate from God, yet he was 
 not delivered up unconditionally to Satan. The Lord 
 came to bring " peace on earth, to men of good will " 
 (S. Luke ii. 14), by reconciling them to God; and ''glory 
 to God in the highest," in the salvation of man. Peace 
 with God implies war and fire with sin and Satan : 
 peace with holiness implies a conflict with, and a 
 victory over, every form of evil. To man's higher and 
 better nature the Lord brought peace ; to his lower 
 nature, which is " earthly, sensual, devilish" (S. James 
 iii. 15), He was the herald of war. The doctrine of 
 Jesus Christ is a sword ; it is the operating knife in the 
 hand of Him the Great Physician. The functions of a 
 sword are performed by His teaching or doctrine, 
 which : — 
 
 I. Wounds, — When the body is smitten with a 
 sword it cannot but wound ; the blow may not be a 
 hard one, but it must produce some effect. " The 
 sword of teaching" wounds — 1) The conscience, by the 
 conviction of sin. It brings home to the conscience 
 its sad and many defalcations ; how untrue it has been 
 to itself, and to its better yearnings and promptings. 
 Conscience may have felt a misgiving before : the 
 doctrine of Jesus Christ ; His love, power, pardon, 
 and kingdom of grace, wound it to the very quick. 2) 
 The heart or affections, which had been hardened by 
 
The Sword of Teaching. 67 
 
 neglect, by unrepented sin, by a low and sordid view 
 of life. ''The sword of teaching" breaks through 
 this outer crust of worldliness, and renders it fit to 
 receive and profit by the dew of Divine grace. 3) The 
 understanding, so long darkened by ignorance of Divine 
 things ; a wound or rent is made in it, and the light of 
 the glory of God shines in upon it. 
 
 II. Separates or divides. — The sword cuts off one 
 member from the rest : a joint or a limb, as the case 
 may be. The *' sword of teaching" wielded by Jesus 
 Christ divides — 1) The flesh from the spirit ; man's 
 lower from his higher nature ; the " old man " (Eph. 
 iv. 22) from the '* new man ;" severing the desires and 
 inclinations of earth from those of heaven. 2) The 
 occasions of sin and temptation. From those who 
 seek to lead a holy life " the sword of teaching " cuts 
 off from evil companions, looks, the indulgence of sinful 
 thoughts. 3) The past life of sin, from the present 
 life of grace and amendment. 
 
 III. Kills. — The sword sometimes kills ; so does the 
 sword of the Lord's teaching. It kills the whole body 
 of indwelling sin, that man should not henceforth serve 
 sin. It slays — 1) The life of sin, making man " dead 
 unto sin ; '' thus checking and staying its further growth 
 and desire. 2) The power of sin. Sin was strong as 
 Goliath before his fall ; with its life, the power of sin 
 is destroyed, it can no longer lead man captive at its 
 
 F 2 
 
68 The Sword of Teaching. 
 
 will. 3) The effects of sin, sorrow, and vanity here ; 
 hell and eternal separation from God hereafter. 
 
 Epilogue. — Quench not this " Sword of the Spirit, 
 which is the Word of God." (Eph. vi. 17.) Pray and 
 seek that it may perform its work upon your heart — 1 ) 
 Thoroughly ; since it is powerful. (Heb. iv. 12.) 2) 
 Savingly ; that sin being wounded, separated, and 
 killed within you, the kingdom of heaven may be 
 gained by the violence of the *' sword of teaching." 
 
( 69 ) 
 
 SERMON XV. 
 GUILTY WORDS. 
 
 ♦' By thy words thou shalt be condemned." — S. Matt. xii. 37. 
 
 Origen. — ^'Let us therefore take away abominations 
 out of the mouth, removing slanders, words vain, idle, 
 and about to bring accusation against us in the Day of 
 Judgment." — In Jerem. Homil. v. Hiiet. vol. i. p. 
 82, D. 
 
 Reflecting upon the words spoken during a single 
 day even, it seems impossible that any one can escape 
 condemnation. Think upon the infinite number of 
 words which have been uttered during a long life. 
 How few of profit ; how many of sin. What a mighty 
 effect for everlasting weal or woe have many of our 
 words had. They live long after we are dead and gone; 
 live on in the minds, principles, and actions of those 
 who come after us. With our Blessed Lord's fearful 
 statement before us, we should almost fear to speak at 
 all. Like one of old, we should almost desire to pass 
 our days in silence. Yet the gift of speech was given 
 
70 Guilty Words. 
 
 to us for our use ; for justification, and not for condem- 
 nation. Out of the almost infinite variety which speech 
 assumes, it is difficult to classify our guilty words 
 which may condemn us. We take then the three 
 classes which a great Father of the Church has set 
 before us ; not as being exhaustive, but as being simple, 
 and as leading to an easy personal application. We 
 note — 
 
 I. Thoughtless ivords. — Such are the product of 
 an idle and unthinking mind. Any harm which they 
 may do — and they often do a great deal of harm — is 
 not intentional. They proceed from carelessly allowing 
 the mind to ramble on how and whither it will, and 
 the speech to express these ramblings all unheeded 
 and unchecked. They are guilty, not perhaps in what 
 they mean, but from the source whence they spring. 
 Guilt}^, since they imply a mind which is — 1) Undis- 
 ciplined; having never been properly subjected to God's 
 will and the teaching of conscience. 2) Idle ; for we 
 have been too careless to take any thought what the 
 mind shall speak ; indifferent as to what its produce 
 may turn out to be. 3) Weak ; and so have allowed 
 thought to expend itself recklessly, so that all its 
 strength and self-containment has been lost. Life, 
 with all its earnest purposes ; eternity, with its momen- 
 tous consequences looming in the distance ; the mind, 
 with its powers and capacities ; the soul, with God's 
 
Guilty Words. 71 
 
 Spirit, ever pleading with it ; all rise up to condemn 
 thoughtless words. 
 
 II. Vain words. — These are more directly guilty 
 than the former class. They imply thought which is 
 directed to a wrong end ; the prostitution, by a deli- 
 berate intention of the will, of that which Grod intended 
 to be so great an instrument of good. Vain words 
 lure on to sin ; harden the heart ; fix the affections upon 
 this lower world ; end in disappointment, sorrow, and 
 shame. Vain words are — 1) Unholy ; they contain no 
 love or reverence for God. 2) Harmful ; as leading 
 to neither the purity of the affections nor the cultiva- 
 tion of the understanding, 3) Contemptible ; as being 
 below the utterance of a creature made in the image 
 of God the Father, and redeemed by the Precious 
 Blood of God the Son. 
 
 HI. Slanderous ivords. — Such words are more 
 deadly than the cruellest sword ; they slay the reputa- 
 tion of the innocent ; they impute wrong motives ; they 
 prevent justice ; they destroy the mutual love between 
 man and man. Slanderous words are — 1) Deadly in 
 their issue; 2) devilish in their origin; 3) degrading 
 in their utterance. 
 
 Epilogue. — 1) Take as much account of speech as 
 of action. That which you would be ashamed to do, 
 be ashamed to speak of. 2) Pray that your every 
 word may be watched and discreet, so that you ''offend 
 
72 Guilty Words. 
 
 not with the tongue." The end of speech is mutual 
 improvement, sympathy and help in things lovely and 
 of good report. See that you receive not this great gift 
 of God in vain. 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 SERMON XVI. 
 
 THE ESTATE OF MAN. 
 
 " Tiion bast made bim a little lower tban tbe Angels, and bast 
 crowiied bim witb glory and honour." — Ps. viii. 5. 
 
 Origen. — "I say that man is endowed with freedom 
 of will, and, saying this, that he has been exceedingly 
 graced by God. All other things, by a certain 
 necessity, are obedient to the Divine ordination. If 
 you mention heaven, it stands still, bearing rule, not 
 being moved from its defined place. If you desire to 
 speak to me concerning the sun, this perfects its 
 ordained motion, not wandering from its course, but 
 by a certain necessity serving the Lord. And you 
 see the earth truly stable and producing its appointed 
 fruits. Likewise the rest of created things serve their 
 Creator by necessity, nor is any of them able to do 
 anything save that for which they were made. Where- 
 fore we do not praise these things under these con- 
 ditions obeying their Master ; nor for them is there 
 any hope of better things laid up in store, because 
 they have faithfully guarded their decreed state. But 
 
74 Tlte Estate of Man. 
 
 God wills that man shuuld obey with the under- 
 standiDg, and he received the power of governing 
 himself, neither being bound by any necessity of 
 nature nor being deprived of power ; so that I say, on 
 account of better things, he is endowed with free will, 
 in order that he may receive more of them from the 
 Better One (which things flow to Him from obedience), 
 and as being a debt from the Creator. I do not say 
 that man is so constituted for his loss, but for his 
 gain. If he had been as one of the elements or their 
 like, a compulsion would have been laid upon him to 
 serve God, yet he would have received no reward 
 worthy of his choice, but man is as an instrument of 
 the Creator, and the cause of those things that he 
 uses. But man would have known nothing better, 
 had he known nothing save that which came to him 
 from nature. Therefore I say that God so honoured 
 man that he should excel in the counsel and in the 
 knowledge of tlie highest things, and He gave the 
 power to liim of doing that which he desired." — Cont. 
 Mar. sec. iv. Wetst. pp. 103, 104. 
 
 The estate of man is indeed but " a little lower 
 than the Angels ;" since man was created for earth 
 and not for heaven ; and, unlike them, was made 
 
The Estate of Man. 75 
 
 subject to certain conditions of time and space ; 
 '' crowned with glory and honour " as being a creature 
 of a moral order ; the recipient of vast powers ; the 
 subject of a course of probation ; bearing about in his 
 person the image and likeness of God ; being God's 
 Vice-regent in the world, and the Lord of all the 
 inferior creatures. The estate of man is one of 
 exceeding dignity, and, alas ! one of peril too ; a 
 temporary and contingent estate, now at this present 
 time ; but one which will quickly pass onwards, 
 either to eternal glorification or to "everlasting shame 
 and contempt." Of this estate of man we note that 
 it is — 
 
 I. Exalted. — " God so honoured man that he 
 should excel in counsel and in the knowledge of the 
 higher things." Man is infinitely exalted in the 
 possession — 1) Of a mind and understanding which 
 differs but in degree from the mind of God Himself ; 
 an understanding that by memory connects the past 
 with the present; and from this combined knowledge 
 he can, under certain restrictions, look onwards to the 
 future. (Note a very powerful poem by Byrd, 1588, 
 entitled, "My Mind to me a Kingdom is.") 2) Of 
 a power and dominion. " Thou hast put all things 
 in subjection under his feet." (Ps. viii. 5.) The 
 dominion of man over nature is one great proof of his 
 exalted nature. Man compels the elements even to 
 
76 The Estate of Man. 
 
 do his bidding ; turning wind, water, and fire into his 
 servants. 3) Of the promise of a future state of 
 absokite perfection, glory, and happiness, as being 
 the heir presumptive to an eternal kingdom. This 
 promised future sanctifies and ennobles the present ; 
 removes from sorrow and death all their bitterness 
 and their sting. 
 
 II. Free. — In possessing freedom of the will man 
 stands above the heaven, the sun, the earth, and the 
 rest of created things. Man is a creature of under- 
 standing, will, and feeling, and not of necessity. Man 
 has " received the power of governing himself," and 
 the conditions of such self-government are also within 
 his power. Man is free in — 1) Thought and imagina- 
 tion ; hence the beautiful conceptions to which the 
 human mind has given birth ; no limit to the range 
 of the imaginative and the speculative faculties. 2) 
 Will, purpose, or intent. He can "set himself" in 
 any way that he lists towards heaven or hell ; towards 
 glory or abasement. 3) Action ; to a large extent to 
 do or to leave undone ; to work well or ill durinof his 
 day of life. When so vast issues hang upon the 
 stake, this freedom of man is indeed a solemn and 
 responsible prerogative. 
 
 III. Progressive. — The cell of the bee, the web of 
 the spider, the nest of the bird, are all formed now 
 as they were at the beginning ; man alone is ever 
 
The Estate of Man. 77 
 
 improving ; ever going on to that which is higher and 
 better. Knowledge of every kind — art, civilization, 
 etc. — is ever on the increase. One generation begins 
 where the former generation left off. Dare we say that 
 human progress is unlimited ? We may say that it 
 is — 1) Constant; never leaving off; changing it may 
 be its centres, but ever gaining ground. 2) Con- 
 tingent upon man's knowledge of and obedience to the 
 laws of God. 3) Tending towards, but never reaching 
 perfection in any one single thing, be it great or 
 small. 
 
 IV. Retributive. — Neither praise nor reward waits 
 upon compulsory service. Man alone has the hope 
 and the promise that one day '^ he may receive better 
 things from the Better One." This retribution will 
 be — 1) Just ; rendered to every man according to his 
 work. 2) Full and ample ; no stint with God. 3) 
 Suitable ; a reaping as the sowing hath been. 
 
 Ejnlogue. — A personal question : Am I vindicat- 
 ing this my high estate ? Is my daily life crowning 
 me with glory and honour ? 
 
( 78 ) 
 
 SERMON XVII. 
 
 ^ELLOW-^^'ORKERS WITH GOD. 
 
 " Workers together with Him." — 2 Cor. vi. 1. 
 
 Origeii. — " They will be the feet of Christ who run 
 to peace-making ; who hasten to help those who are 
 placed in necessity. They will be the hands of Christ 
 which are extended in mercy, which bear help to the 
 needy, which are stretched out as an aid to the weak. 
 So will they also be the eyes of Christ which supply 
 the light of knowledge to another body. (S. Matt, 
 vi. 22.) The teeth, they who are able with the teeth 
 to chew the strong and solid food of the Word of God, 
 and to reduce it to the utmost fineness ; those of 
 whom the Apostle speaks in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. (Heb. v. 14.) But to the imperfect 
 Corinthians he says, ' I have fed you with milk,' etc. 
 (1 Cor. iii. 2.)" — In Gen. Horn. xvii. Geneb. vol. i. 
 p. 34, I. K. 
 
 The work of Jesus Christ on earth did not cease at 
 His Ascension, but it has been carried on by His 
 
Fellow-workers ivith God. 79 
 
 faithful servants and followers from that time until 
 now, and it will be continued in the world until the 
 end of time. Blessed are they who are called to have 
 any part or lot in this glorious work which is carried 
 on — 
 
 I. In the Church. — By duly qualified and rightly 
 ordained persons, unto whom it is committed to 
 administer the Sacraments, and to officiate at public 
 prayer, and to preach, etc. This work of Christ in the 
 Church is perpetuated by a priesthood which is solemnly 
 consecrated to this most holy duty and service. 
 Which act of consecration — 1) Conveys the gift of 
 Divine grace which flows through Christ's minister who 
 is duly ordained, as through a channel to those for and 
 to whom he ministers. As the work of Jesus on earth 
 was a work of supernatural grace, so is the work of 
 those who are duly constituted to minister in His 
 Name, to consecrate, to absolve, to baptize, to preach, 
 and to teach. The Kingdom of God must soon come 
 to an end if Orders lost their Divine grace, and 
 the priests of Jesus had only such power and 
 grace as belong to all good Christian people in 
 common. 2) Again, this solemn consecration to the 
 priesthood in a certain degree separates the ordained 
 one from the ordinary and common business of every- 
 day life. It lifts him above the arena of many of the 
 world's struggles, ambitions, disappointments, and 
 
80 Fellow -workei's ivith God. 
 
 successes. It enforces upon him a holier and a 
 calmer life. 3) It ensures, as far as man can ensure 
 anything, that a certain preparation, fitness, and 
 training has preceded the solemn act of ordination ; 
 a preparation which, however unworthy its recipient 
 may prove himself hereafter to be, must leave some 
 traces of its good effect upon him which can never 
 wholly pass away. The ordained hands used to con- 
 secrate ; the mouth used to absolve, bless, reprove, 
 and expound ; the eyes used to enlighten darkened 
 souls in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven ; the 
 feet which are swift to carry the message of the Gospel 
 to the ends of the world, may all be truly said to be 
 the hands, eyes, mouth, and feet of Jesus Christ. 
 
 II. In tlie world. — This work of Jesus Christ is 
 carried on by means of — 1) Schools and colleges " of 
 sound learning and religious instruction," in which 
 Holy Scripture is studied in its original tongues ; the 
 history of the Church read from its very beginning ; 
 the writings of the great fathers and doctors unearthed, 
 re-edited, and brought to bear upon doctrinal questions. 
 2) Institutions for healing, reformation, and refuge and 
 help; by means of which the great precepts of the 
 love of Jesus are carried out into their practical work- 
 ings. 3) Missionary and other enterprises, by which 
 the knowledge of the Person and Kingdom of Jesus is 
 carried into all lands. The missioner goes with 
 
Fellow-ivorkers with God. 81 
 
 swiftness, representing the feet of Jesus Christ ; with 
 hands like His extended in loving help ; with the 
 voice of Jesus to proclaim the glories of His Gospel ; 
 with the eyes of Christ to enlighten the nations which 
 have long walked in darkness. In whatsoever way 
 men work for Jesus in the world, they hecome His 
 feet, hands, eyes, teeth, as the case may be. 
 
 III. In the heart. — If the afflictions of Christ can 
 be filled up in the body (Col. i. 24), how much 
 rather can the work of Jesus be wrought out in the 
 soul? The feet of the soul — the thoughts — being 
 swift to travel towards Him ; the hands of the mind — 
 the will — extending themselves to receive Him ; the 
 eyes of the soul — the understanding — enlightening 
 all the dark recesses of the mind ; the teeth of 
 meditation reducing things spiritual to that state in 
 which they can afford nourishment to the inward 
 man. 
 
 Epilogue. — The true member of the Body of Christ 
 is a co-worker with Him ; all his parts and faculties 
 being devoted to His interest and service. The work 
 of Jesus in this world consists of three spheres of 
 labour : the honour and glory which is due unto His 
 Name and worship ; the salvation of the soul, and the 
 bringing it into a state of righteousness through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord; and, lastly, through love to Jesus 
 the seeking in every way to ameliorate man's condi- 
 
 II. G 
 
82 Fellow-workers with God. 
 
 tion and to aid in the bettering of his estate. To 
 carry on this work, all the members of the body — feet, 
 hands, eyes, etc. — must be pressed into this holy and 
 glorious service. 
 
( 83 ) 
 
 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 THE TABERNACLES OF KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 " How goodly are thy tabernacles, Israel." — Num. xxiv. 5. 
 
 Origen. — " Tabernacles are the particular dwellings 
 of those who are ever on the road, and are ever 
 walking, and have not found the end of their journey. 
 Israel represents those who display a desire for wisdom 
 and knowledge ; of which there is no end. For what 
 will be the limit of the wisdom of God ? Where by 
 how much more any one may have approached, by so 
 much more will he find deeper things ; and by how 
 much more he may have searched, by so much more 
 will he discover things more ineffable and incompre- 
 hensible ; for the wisdom of God is incomprehensible 
 and inestimable. Therefore those who make the 
 journey of the wisdom of God are fond of tabernacles, 
 in which they ever walk and ever advance ; and the 
 more they advance, by so much is the way of 
 advancing increased for them, and is stretched out 
 towards the immeasurable. And if any one has made 
 
 G 2 
 
84 TJie Tabernacle of Knowledge. 
 
 some advances in knowledge, and has gained something 
 by experience in such things, he knows truly that 
 when he has lighted upon any theory or agnition of 
 spiritual mysteries, that there the mind tarries as in 
 a certain tabernacle. When, indeed, from those 
 things which it has found, the understanding searches 
 after and advances towards others, then as if the taber- 
 nacle was being struck, it reaches forward to higher 
 things, and there it places the seat of the mind, fixed 
 by the stability of the senses ; and thence again from 
 these it finds other spiritual senses, which the con- 
 sequences of the former senses without doubt have 
 disclosed. So the soul ever extending itself to that 
 which is better, seems to walk in certain tabernacles. 
 For the soul when enkindled by the ember of know- 
 ledge can never rest and be still, but is ever called 
 forth from good things to better, and again from the 
 better to the highest things." — In Numb. Horn. xvii. 
 Geneb. vol. i. p. 150, H. I. 
 
 It is thus that they — the true and spiritual Israel 
 of God — the holy souls, who being led by the Spirit 
 of God become at length Sons of God (Rom. viii. 14), 
 are ever constrained to press onwards towards the 
 prize of their "high calling of God." (Phil. iii. 14.) 
 
The Tabernacle of K^ioidedge. 85 
 
 As the spirit, during this life, dwells not in the 
 permanent house, hut in the tahernacle of the flesh, 
 so does the mind in its present imperfect state — whilst 
 it sees through a glass darkly — dwell in the tahernacles 
 of Divine love and knowledge, making a continuous 
 and steady progress towards that perfection to which 
 it will one day attain. What similitude more apt could 
 be found to express the highest knowledge of Divine 
 things which can be obtained in this imperfect state 
 in which we only *' know in part " ? (I Cor. xiii. 9.) 
 The tent, tabernacle, or dwelling is — 
 
 I. Of slight value. — Houses or mansions are built 
 of solid material, and are often decorated at a great 
 cost. Tabernacles, on the other hand, are constructed 
 of very simple materials ; canvas, cordage, and a few 
 beams and pegs constitute the whole of the structure. 
 So is our present knowledge, compared with that 
 which it will be hereafter, of very slight value ; rude 
 and rough, lacking both form and decoration. It is 
 permitted to man to pick up a fragment only of 
 universal knowledge here and there. The finished 
 structure of the temple of knowledge will be built in a 
 perfect place by perfect natures, to endure for a perfect 
 and an eternal state. The canvas of opinion, the 
 cords of love, the pegs of hope, and the beams of 
 labour ; these form the tabernacles of knowledge here 
 below, which will be changed into a temple when 
 
86 The Tabernacle of Knoivledge. 
 
 " we shall know even as we are known." Slight and 
 valueless is our present knowledge as contrasted with 
 its future extension; hence we learn to be — 1) 
 Diffident in opinion. 2) Humble in thought. 3) 
 Careful to store up and acquire. 
 
 II. Temporary. — The tabernacle serves for a 
 purpose and for a time ; useful as far as it goes, yet 
 is destined to give place to something higher, better, 
 more worthy and permanent. Our present knowledge, 
 even of Divine' things, is fitted for our present imper- 
 fect state. There are many revelations which the 
 Lord will one day make to us, but we *' cannot bear 
 them now." In this our state of childhood it behoves 
 us to rest content with the rudiments of things. Learn 
 not to confound things temporal and eternal ; that 
 eternal knowledge which shall remain for ever, with 
 the fleeting speculations and philosophies of men, 
 which after having had their day, pass away as if they 
 had never been. 
 
 III. Shifting. — As the march progresses, so does 
 the tabernacle keep pace with it ; ever being pitched 
 and ever taken down again. The earnest soul is not 
 content to dwell in one place, but is ever pressing 
 onwards and upwards ; striving after the unattained ; 
 praying and thirsting for larger and still larger 
 
 ' measures of grace and illumination ; perpetually 
 moving the tabernacle of knowledge into richer and 
 
The Tahernade of Knotvledge. 87 
 
 richer pastures; seeking to penetrate deeper and 
 deeper into the understanding of the Divine mind. 
 
 Epilogue. — Led by faith, disciplined by holiness, 
 conformed by love to Jesus Christ, let the soul dwell 
 now in the tabernacle of Divine knowledge ; journeying 
 onwards toward that everlasting temple, in which is 
 stored up the fulness of knowledge. 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 SERMON XIX. 
 
 STUMBLINGBLOCKS. 
 
 •♦ Woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." — 
 S. Matt, xviii. 7. 
 
 Origen — " But do not believe that there are in na- 
 ture and in the constitution of things those offences 
 which certain men, through whom they originate, seek 
 out. For as God did not create death, so neither did 
 He beget an offence ; — but He begat the freedom of the 
 will, an offence in some not willing to endure hard- 
 ship for the sake of virtue." — Comm. in Matt, Huet, 
 vol. i. p. 328, D. E. 
 
 Infinite are the causes of stumbling to a holy life ; 
 offences or stumblingblocks are continually rising up 
 on all sides to stay the course of the soul in the know- 
 ledge of Divine things ; to weaken love ; to destroy 
 faith; and to hinder the carrying out into word and 
 deed of many a holy desire and a good resolution. 
 Hence the complaint of the faithful, as to the large 
 amount of evil that there is in the world ; of the ex- 
 ceeding: sinfulness which attaches itself to all things 
 
StumhlinghlocJcs. 89 
 
 belonging to this time and life. Whence come these 
 offences, stnmblinghlocks, or causes of sin ? since " it 
 must needs be that offences come." (S. Matt, xviii. 
 7.) They can but proceed either from God Himself; 
 that is, from the constitution of things as ordered by 
 Him ; or from man as turning from holiness to sin ; 
 from God to Satan ; from man denying his true race 
 and parentage ; rejecting his first lawful Master ; for- 
 feiting his high estate and privileges of gi^ace. '' Man 
 fabricates the sword which stabs his peace " with God ; 
 with his fellow man ; with his own conscience ; which 
 destroys his happiness in this present world, and the 
 certain hope and expectation of happiness in the next. 
 The offence and stumblingblock relates to — 
 
 I. God. — It is an offence to God when men — 1) 
 Distrust His providence. In many ways this is done. 
 Every murmur against God's ordering of the course 
 of life implies a certain amount of distrust, as does 
 every unholy attempt to alter by human strength the 
 course of the Divine will. The unresigned soul is ever 
 distrustful of God's fatherly goodness. Undue taking 
 '' thought for the morrow," is another form of the same 
 offence, since it places man's own care, forethought, 
 and action above the workings of the Creator of the 
 world and man. To a noble spirit, nothing is so gall- 
 ing as distrust. With what infinite contempt must the 
 All-wise and All-powerful One view the ungrateful dis- 
 
90 Stumhlinf/hlocks. 
 
 trust of those creatures who live, move, and have their 
 being in him. 2) Doubt of His Revelation. This is 
 almost a greater offence than the other, since it per- 
 tains to the understanding rather than to the affec- 
 tions and the needs of this present life. By such 
 doubt the mind of man sets itself in judgment upon 
 the mind of God ; revealing thereby a littleness, com- 
 bined with a pride and arrogance of intellect with 
 which God must be highly displeased. Such doubt is 
 an expression of that intellectual pride which cast 
 Lucifer (Isa. xiv. 12) from heaven. 
 
 II. Self. — Man is capable of placing various stum- 
 blingblocks in the way of his advance in life, whether 
 it be an outward, moral, or a spiritual advance. Every 
 bad habit, idleness, carelessness, ill-temper, etc., are 
 so many obstacles to success in life ; and such bad 
 habits can by proper discipline be first weakened and 
 then destroyed. In the spiritual life offences are occa- 
 sioned — 1) By allowing sinful desires to arise unhin- 
 dered, and to find a place in the soul. The mind has 
 the power to say, " Get thee behind me, Satan ;" and 
 if it does not rebuke, but encourages these messengers 
 from hell, then must the existence and presence of 
 these stumblingblocks be laid to a man's own charge. 
 " Resist the devil (evil desires), and he will flee from 
 you." (S. Jam. iv. 7.) 2) More terrible still, is the offence 
 which is caused by the wilful and habitual indulgence in 
 
Stumhlinghlocks, 91 
 
 sin, either of thought, or word, or deed. Such indulgence 
 places a barrier upon the King's highway of the Holy 
 Cross, shutting out all view of the heavenly country ; 
 stajdng all further progress ; paralyzing the will, so 
 that it can make no serious endeavour to overcome the 
 stumhlingblock, and thus to continue on the heavenly 
 journey. 3) Delay in repentance is an offence which 
 the soul commits against itself, sometimes to its eternal 
 loss. Now, there is time, means, and opportunity to 
 escape from the past, to press onward to higher and 
 holier things, to obtain pardon for that which has 
 gone by, and fresh supplies of grace for that which is 
 to come. How long dare any one say that this season 
 will last ? 
 
 III. Others. — How often does it happen that in- 
 stead of becoming a help and a blessing, we become a 
 curse and a hindrance to others ? The prosperity of 
 the wicked ; the seemingly happy life of those alto- 
 gether unmindful of their souls ; the sorrows and 
 afflictions which the righteous are often called upon to 
 bear, all become offences to others who do not view 
 these things aright. Man not seldom becomes an 
 offence to his fellows by his — 1) Words, written or 
 spoken ; the former a heritage inlluencing future 
 generations either for evil or for good. 2) Example^ 
 The power of example is so great that it is next to 
 impossible to overrate it. Example acts upon others 
 
92 StumhUnr/hhcJiS, 
 
 — a) Unconsciously, h) Gradually, c) Surely ; form- 
 ing in others, if not a perfect, a partial likeness. 
 How careful should men he to let their ''liMit shine 
 
 o 
 
 before men." 
 
 Epilogue. — Seek in all things to be " void of 
 oifence " (Acts xxiv. 16) towards God, others, and 
 yourself. Watch and pray, lest ye enter into this 
 temptation. May the Lord's words ever be sounding 
 in your ears: ''Woe unto that man by whom the 
 offence cometh." 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 SERMON XX. 
 THE ALTAE OF THE HEART. 
 
 " We have an altar." — Heb. xiii. 10. 
 
 Origeii, — '' In this building of the church there ought 
 to be also an altar ; whence I deem that whosoever 
 of you * as lively stones are built up ' (1 S. Pet. ii. 5). 
 into it, are ready to be intent upon prayers, and that 
 they may offer ' prayers night and day ' (1 Tim. v. 5,) 
 and sacrifice the victims of supplication. These are 
 they of whom Joshua builds an altar. But note what 
 praises he ascribes to the stones themselves of the 
 altar : ' Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of 
 Israel, of whole stones over which no man hath lift up 
 any iron.' (Joshua viii. 30, 31.) Who do you imagine 
 are these ' whole stones ?' The conscience of each one 
 knows who is whole and who is uncorrupt, unpolluted, 
 unspotted in the flesh and in the spirit. Who is he 
 * over which no man hath lift up any iron ?' He 
 who hath not received the darts kindled by an evil 
 concupiscence, but who hath extinguished and repelled 
 
94 The Altar of the Heart. 
 
 them with the shield of faith. It is he who hath never 
 received the iron of contention, of war, of strife ; hot 
 who hath been ever peaceful, ever quiet and meek, and 
 conformed to the humility of Christ. These are there- 
 fore the ' living stones,' out of which our Lord Jesus 
 ' built an altar of whole stones over which no man 
 hath lift up any iron,' that He may offer upon them 
 the burnt offerings and peace offerings." — In Jesu 
 Nave. Ho)ii. ix. Geiieh. i. p. 188, H. 
 
 The entire life of man ouo'ht to be one lonsj-con tinned 
 sacrifice of self. That this sacrifice be acceptable to God; 
 that He may bless our endeavours when weak ; our 
 discipline of the affections when strong ; our conflicts 
 with sin when severe ; our offerings of self upon the 
 several shrines of duty, obedience, and love ; the 
 motive in all that we do must be holy, pure, and good. 
 In other words, our every thought, word, and deed 
 must upon the altar of the heart be offered as a 
 sacrifice to the God and Father of us all. In order 
 that the sacrifice be acceptable the heart must be — 
 
 I. Entire. — Composed of ** whole stones." It is 
 an attribute of our imperfect nature to allow itself to 
 be divided, mutilated, and so impaired, as to be unable 
 to bring all its powers to a focus ; to fix them plainly 
 and consistently upon one object. When the heart is 
 
The Altar of the Heart. 95 
 
 weakened by division, when the altar is built of broken 
 stones, it loses all firm purpose ; it will bear the weight 
 upon it of no sacrifices. The " Altar of the heart " 
 must be whole and entire in — 1) Desire, Not doing one 
 thing and longing to do another ; not walking along 
 the narrow path it may be, but ever and anon casting 
 many a lingering, longing glance towards the other 
 fatal, though more pleasant, road. Conflict of desire 
 deprives the soul of all real rest and calm ; it eats out 
 any joy or satisfaction which might follow the commis- 
 sion of a righteous act; it makes the commands of love 
 to be irksome, the burden of duty all but intolerable to 
 bear. Let the desire be whole, and the altar becomes 
 capable of consecrating any sacrifice. 2) Purpose and 
 endeavour. Setting one aim and one object steadily 
 and persistently before it ; and using every means and 
 every power to carry it out faithfully, honestly, truly, 
 so far as it is possible to do so. Desire is the fount 
 of endeavour ; but without the struggle to obtain, the 
 longing is in vain. 3) Allegiance to the Lord. It is 
 His sacrifice, and only His, which is to be ofi'ered upon 
 the "Altar of the heart," not that of the world, the 
 flesh, or the devil ; a sacrifice ofi'ered thiough love to 
 Him, in His Name, and for His sake ; by Him to be 
 presented through His mediation to the Eternal 
 Father. 
 
 II. Living.— Composed of " lively stones," (1 S. 
 
96 The Altar of the Heart. 
 
 Pet. ii. 5, ) This altar of the heart must be composed of 
 stones which are not only entire, but which are also 
 instinct with a life which is — 1) Glorious : as being 
 glorified by the indwelling Presence of the Holy Ghost, 
 the Lord and Giver of life and glory. 2) Free : de- 
 livered from the bondage of sin, and translated into 
 the glorious liberty of the children of God. Free 
 from the obstructions of the whole body of the flesh ; 
 liberated from the demands and dominion of our old 
 unregenerated nature. 3) Prophetic : in its yearnings, 
 desires, and aspirations after the infinite and sublime. 
 Prophetic of that life which shall be lived wholly unto 
 God. 
 
 III. Feel hi ff. — Endowed with an active sensibility 
 to many a pang and many a throe ; endued with almost 
 infinite capacities of — 1) Sorrow for sin. 2) Joy in 
 repentance and pardon. 3) Hope and trust in the love 
 and mercy of Jesus. 
 
 IV. Deathless. — Never to pass into nothingness 
 and non-existence ; but to be a means by which an 
 eternal sacrifice can be ofiered to the Father through- 
 out eternity. The power of an endless life must rest 
 upon both altar and sacrifice alike. Deathless, in 
 suffering every kind of change without distinction. 
 
 V. Childlike. — The Sacred and Immaculate Heart 
 of Jesus was a living Altar, upon which He, whilst He 
 was on earth, offered to His Heavenly Father one 
 
The Altar of the Heart. 97 
 
 continuous sacrifice of the — 1 ) Will . ' ' Not My will but 
 Thine be done." 2) Affections. " Whosoever will 
 do," etc., " the same is my brother and sister and 
 mother." 3) Life. " Father, into Thy hands I com- 
 mend My spirit." The whole earthly life of Jesus was 
 one unbroken offering of Himself unto the Father upon 
 the Altar of His heart. 
 
 Epilogue. — Offered upon such an altar — 1) Our 
 meanest sacrifices will be accepted ; 2) our commonest 
 gifts will be allowed ; 3) our ablest ministrations ever 
 accepted. 
 
 II. 
 
( 98 ) 
 
 SERMON XXI. 
 
 HELL. 
 
 "Walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have 
 kindled."— Isa. 1. 11. 
 
 Introduction. — " In these words it seems to be 
 pointed out that the sinner kindles for himself the 
 flame of his own fire, and that he will be submerged 
 not in any fire which had been previously kindled by 
 another, or which had existed before himself. The 
 food and material of this fire are our sins, which by 
 the Apostle Paul are named, ' wood, hay, stubble. ' 
 (1 Cor. iii. 12.) I deem also that as a superabun- 
 dance of meat and food of a given quantity and quality 
 generates fevers in the body of difi'erent kinds and 
 durations ; so in the soul, when it may have congre- 
 gated a multitude and abundance of evil works and sins 
 in itself, in due time this entire congregation of sins 
 ferments, and the punishment is inflamed to torments. 
 The conscience itself is agitated and pierced bj" its 
 particular stings, and becomes an accuser and a wit- 
 ness against itself. (Rom. ii. 15. 16.) From which it 
 
Hell. 99 
 
 can be understood, that from the harmful affections of 
 sins, certain torments are generated around the 
 substance itself of the soul ; as when it is wasted by the 
 fires of envy or jealousy ; or agitated by the madness 
 of anger ; or consumed by the immensity of sadness. 
 
 " The ' outer darkness ' (S. Matt. xxv. 30) I do not 
 think is to be understood of any atmosphere which is 
 dense and deprived of light, but rather of that darkness of 
 profound ignorance into which they are plunged who are 
 without the light of the Divine understanding." — Peri 
 Archon. II. c. xi. Geneh. vol. i. pp. 447, E ; 448, I. 
 
 It may perhaps be lawful when taking a purely 
 subjective view of the question to interpret the ex- 
 pressions of Holy Scripture as to the punishment of the 
 future state somewhat figuratively, and we can then 
 resolve them into the worm of conscience ; the fire of 
 sin ; and the darkness of ignorance. The Prophet's 
 words are capable of being accommodated in an ironical 
 sense to the wicked and their punishment. Taking the 
 spiritual or subjective view of Hell, we note that it is — 
 
 I. A State, not a Place. — It is quite possible to be 
 happy and contented in the most miserable of places. 
 With an inward contentment, outward circumstances 
 lose much of their power. It is equally possible to be 
 most miserable amidst all the grandeur, comforts, and 
 
 H 2 
 
100 Hell. 
 
 refinements of life. Happiness and misery are states, 
 not places. It is a very common mistake to confound 
 place with state ; whereas the one may change whilst 
 the other remains permanent; the one may depend 
 upon conditions without a man ; the other resting 
 upon that which is in his own power. 
 
 II. A state of our own making, — By means of sin 
 we can make a hell for ourselves ; by a right use of 
 Divine grace we can make a heaven. God has given 
 us great power and means, whereby we can order our- 
 selves either for happiness or for misery. The forma- 
 tion of a spiritual hell is a mighty abuse of man's pre- 
 rogative of free will ; such formation being the result 
 of the will's — 1) consent to ; 2) preference for ; 3) per- 
 sistence in sin. 
 
 III. A state ivhich is present ivith us note, — We 
 need not wait to enter into this spiritual hell until we 
 die. Many and many a soul who is now living on 
 earth is truly living in hell. The worm of a remorseful 
 conscience is ever gnawing ; the fire of sinful thoughts, 
 lust, anger, envy, revenge, is ever burning, consuming 
 the noblest qualities of the soul. In the ''outer dark- 
 ness " of despair are quenched all the hopes, desires, 
 affections, and aspirations which make a man Godlike, 
 and which prepare him for heaven. The hell on earth 
 is the beginning of a more fearful hell to be entered 
 upon after death. 
 
Hell. 101 
 
 IV. A state from tvhich there is only one deliver- 
 ance. — The sinner, now burning in the pains of his 
 spiritual hell, calls out in an agony, " wretched man 
 that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death ?" (Rom. vii. 24.) Who ? Only One can 
 do so. He Who came to deliver out of the hands of 
 Satan those whom he held in such dire bondage. 
 Jesus Christ can deliver you. He can pardon you 
 and save you : quench your fire in His living water of 
 grace ; your sparks in the ocean of His love. 
 
 Epilogue. — Now before the second death cometh 
 upon you, sinner, call upon your Saviour ; come 
 out of this spiritual hell, and then hereafter you will 
 be delivered from that hell which is both a state and 
 a place. 
 
( 102 ) 
 
 SERMON XXII. 
 
 HOLY PEKSUASION. 
 
 "We persuade men." — 2 Cor. v. 11. 
 
 Origen. — '' Not only is energy needed in him per- 
 suading, but also complaisantness on the part of him 
 who is persuaded — the acceptance of the things spoken 
 by the persuader. It is no fault of God if He does 
 not persuade, but of those who do not receive the 
 precious words of God. Eloquence moves some, bat 
 does not affect others. Although persuasive words 
 proceed from God belief does not come from Him, as 
 S. Paul plainly teaches us in these words, * This 
 persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth 3'ou.' 
 (Gal. V. 8.) Such also is the passage, * If ye be 
 wdlling and obedient,' etc. (Isa. 1. 19, 20.) For as 
 some one may desire those things of which the 
 minister speaks, and obeying, becomes worthy of the 
 promise of God, there is need of the assent and 
 purpose of the hearer, as it is solemnly declared in 
 Deuteronomy, ' What doth the Lord thy God require 
 
Holy Persuasion. 103 
 
 of thee, but to fear the Lord,' " etc. — (Deut. x. 
 12, 13.)— C. Celsum. lib. vi. c. Ivii. 
 
 Stern as was our Blessed Lord in denouncing every 
 form of sin, secret as well as open; plain and un- 
 compromising as were all His statements as to the 
 obedience, self-denial, love, and other Christian graces 
 by which the kingdom of heaven was to be gained ; 
 still persuasion formed the groundwork of His teaching 
 and ministration to men. Persuasion was the main 
 factor in those " cords of a man and bands of love " 
 (Hosea xi. 4) by which He drew such multitudes of 
 hearts to Himself. In His words are to be found 
 persuasive invitations (S. Matt. xi. 28), persuasive 
 parables, persuasive promises. His many *' mighty 
 works " invited men to love and to follow Him ; 
 persuaded them of His love for their bodies as well as 
 their souls. Jesus Christ might well have said that 
 which the Apostle said long afterwards, ''We persuade 
 men." The Lord could, had He willed it, have com- 
 pelled men to accept His Divine message ; He rather 
 persuaded them, since He knew that persuasion was 
 far better than compulsion, inasmuch as it is — 
 
 I. Kind and gentle. — Harshness and bitterness 
 were alien from the mind and purpose of Jesus, when 
 to seek and to save the lost. He visited in love 
 and mercy this sin-ridden and sorrow- stricken world. 
 
104 Holy Persuasion, 
 
 The Mission and Gospel of Jesus Christ did not 
 appeal to craven fear, or to sordid terror, hut it did 
 and does appeal to the higher faculties of — 1) Con- 
 viction ; by which the whole profitlessness and mistake 
 of an unholy life is made clear to the conscience. 
 
 2) Compunction ; by which is engendered an intense 
 sorrow that so many past sins of omission and com- 
 mission should lie at the door of the soul ; sure 
 evidences of an ungrateful, careless, and hard heart. 
 
 3) Love ; by which a complete purification and pardon 
 should be assured to the offender. It was because 
 the Lord appealed ever to the higher, rather than to 
 the lower, faculties of our race that He used, in His 
 dealings with men, persuasion rather than compulsion, 
 and thus made it allowable for the Apostles to 
 beseech "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." 
 —2 Cor. X. 1. 
 
 II. Liberal. — Persuasion, unlike force of any kind, 
 recognizes the higher elements of our nature. It 
 addresses man as a being possessed of — 1) Reason. 
 Hence the Lord often disco arsed and argued with 
 men ; and promised moreover that after His departure 
 from the world the appeal to reason should not cease. 
 (S. John xvi. 8.) Persuasion implies a relationship 
 between man's state and his faculties ; between his 
 present and his future. 2) Freedom of will ; either 
 to accept or to reject that which is offered. Without. 
 
Holy Persuasion. 105 
 
 freedom of will, persuasion would be used in vain, 
 there would be no qualities upon which it could act. 
 It would lead to nothing. 3) Conscience ; which 
 passes <in approving or disapproving sentence upon 
 every thought, word, or deed. Persuasion is fully 
 adapted to natures which were created after the 
 likeness and in the image of God. 
 
 III. Thorough. — A reaching down to the depths of 
 man's moral and spiritual being. Compulsion is but 
 superficial ; it can command an outward service only ; 
 it leaves the depths of the soul untouched. Persua- 
 sion, as a key, unlocks the nature of the inner man, 
 reaching downwards to the — 1) Affections ; enlisting 
 them on its side, and inclining the heart to open itself 
 as it directs. 2) Desires ; influencing those many 
 yearnings of the soul that hardly find a definite 
 expression in words. 3) Purposes ; whence spring 
 those resolutions which it is the special attribute of 
 persuasion to engender. Our Blessed Lord used 
 persuasion in order to reach the inner soul and 
 conscience of man ; to melt his hard heart ; to subdue 
 his unruly will ; to lead him onwards gently, tenderly, 
 and safely to those higher gifts and graces which 
 He had to bestow. 
 
 IV. Powerful. — Persuasion is all-powerful ; it takes 
 possession of and moulds the entire man. It allows 
 of no — 1) Opposition ; barriers and objections break 
 
106 Holy Persuasion. 
 
 down before it, 2) Division ; all the faculties and 
 powers must work with one will and one mind. 
 3) Doubt ; one by one it dissolves all the clouds 
 and darkness by which the mental vision may be 
 encompassed. 
 
 Epilogue. — Hearken unto the voice of Holy persua- 
 sion ; let it — 1) Lead ; 2) govern ; 3) enlighten thy 
 life. It is a mighty influence for good. Remember 
 the old ^sopian fable of " The Sun and the Wind." 
 
( 107 ) 
 
 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 THE MYSTEKY OF PROB.^TION. 
 
 " The Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love th© 
 Lord your God with all your heart." — Deut. xiii. 3. 
 
 Origen, — " We must consider the fact, that it was 
 not immediately after the departm-e from Egypt that 
 the people were numbered. Nor is it said they were 
 numbered, when having passed over the Red Sea 
 they came to the desert. For not yet had they been 
 tempted; nor yet had they been attacked by the 
 enemy. They contended against Amalek and con- 
 quered ; but not then, indeed, were they numbered ; 
 for one victory did not suffice for the perfection of 
 those advancing. They receive the food of manna, 
 and they drink the draught of the water from ' the 
 rock that followed them;' but not then were they 
 numbered; for not yet in them had grown up the 
 things which are said to be fitting for their numbering. 
 The Tabernacle of witness is constructed; but not 
 then even had come the time for numbering the 
 people. The law is given by Moses ; the order of the 
 
108 TJie Mystery of Probation. 
 
 sacrifices is delivered ; the rite of purification is 
 taught ; the laws of sanctification and the sacraments 
 are instituted ; and then by the command of God the 
 people are led to the numbering. Write, hearer, 
 these words doubly and trebly upon thy heart. See 
 how great are the things which are transferred to 
 thee ; how great things are endured ; how many 
 advances, how many temptations, how many conflicts 
 there are for you to engage in and conquer, in order 
 that you may be able to be enrolled in the Divine 
 number, that you may be included in some reckoning 
 with God." — In Nitnih. Horn. ii. Geiieh. vol. i. p. 114, 
 G. H. 
 
 The probation of the Israelites was only one more 
 expression of that general law which God has observed 
 in dealing with His creatures ever since man was 
 *' created and made." Probation is a law of life, 
 whether it be viewed in relation to the life that now 
 is, or in reference to that which is to come. There 
 is nothing which is w^orth the having that can be 
 gained without toil, discipline, thought, and some form 
 of self-sacrifice, and the very means employed to gain 
 the desired end, becomes in itself the cause of trial 
 or probation. This is eminently true of the Christian 
 course. It is only after a life of conflict with self, of 
 
The Mystery of Probation. 109 
 
 struggle against sin ; of . earnest endeavours after 
 holiness ; and of a successful issue arising out of all 
 this, that the promise of inheritance (Kev. xxi. 7) 
 passes into a possession. The eternal inheritance and 
 sonship of God depends upon an accepted probation 
 ■^.vhich has been first passed through. Glorious things 
 are written, both to and for " him that overcometh." 
 (Eev. iii. 12.) Yet does man's probation remain, and 
 will remain, to the end of time a mystery. We can- 
 not understand why God, having the power, did not 
 give man grace enough to fulfil all His commands ; 
 why He left him with the possibility of " falling away 
 into perdition ;" why, in short. He demanded a 
 probation in which man might fail, and thus frustrate 
 both the schemes of nature and of grace in relation 
 to himself. Although understanding it not, we 
 cannot fail to perceive that this mystery of probation 
 is — 
 
 I. Wise. — It is adapted to the constitution of man. 
 As a creature of free will, endowed with reason, man 
 is rightly subjected to a discipline which will end 
 either in reward or punishment, according to the 
 manner in which it has been used. Wise : inasmuch 
 as it — 1) Restrains many an unholy appetite and 
 desire. Sorrow and suffering of all kinds have a 
 purifying influence : softening the heart ; lowering the 
 tone of the " animal man ;" limiting both the desires 
 
110 The Mystery of Probation. 
 
 and the means for their fulfilment. 2) Strengthens. 
 Body and soul alike are hraced by discipline. The 
 very act of nerving up to the resistance of sin or of 
 self, braces and invigorates the moral nature. What 
 exercise in due and proper measure is to the body, 
 and study is to the mind, that is the discipline of 
 probation to the entire life, including body, soul, and 
 spirit. 3) Developes. Great crises bring out great 
 characters ; great needs elicit the powers required to 
 meet these needs. God desires to make the best of 
 man, fallen as he is, and therefore He introduces the 
 mystery of probation, which pertains alike to the 
 orders of virtue and of grace. 
 
 II. Consistent. — It harmonizes with the other 
 attributes and perfections of God. Our Heavenly 
 Father is too merciful and loving either to force His 
 creatures against their will, or to crush them by a 
 blind fate ; He is too holy to reward and encourage 
 any infraction of His own laws : God therefore places 
 man in a state of probation ; He endows him with 
 supernatural grace, and leaves him a free agent, to 
 be either true or untrue to his high and holy calling. 
 The mystery of probation is thus consistent with God's 
 — 1) Mercy; 2) holiness; 3) truth. 
 
 III. Gloriovs. — It affords man the prospect and 
 expectation of working out " a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory ;" of rising, through the work 
 
The Mystery of Probation. Ill 
 
 and merits of Jesns, to a state of dignity which is 
 beyond that of either angel or archangel. Suffering 
 enhanced the glory and dignity of Jesus. (Phil, 
 ii. 8, 9.) **No cross, no crown;" no conflict, no 
 victory ; no endeavour, no means. The mystery of 
 probation is glorious in its — 1) Working upon man; 
 exalting, perfecting, purifying him. 2) Preservation 
 of the honour and dignity of God, as connected with 
 ^ man's salvation. 3) Eewards and honours which it 
 promises to those who have " striven lawfully." 
 
 Epilogue, — Be true to your heavenly probation, 
 "Work out your own salvation with fear and 
 trembling" (Phil. ii. 12, IS), for God is your 
 fellow- worker ; and " endure hardness as a good soldier 
 of Jesus Christ."— 2 Tim. ii. 3. 
 
( 112 ) 
 
 SERMON XXIV. 
 
 THE LIGHT OF TKUTH. 
 
 "A light that shineth in a dark place."— 2 S. Pet. i. 19. 
 
 Origen. — " If any one desires to search the Divine 
 dogmas of truth, lovingly and not strife-lovingly, he 
 will find the most far-beamiug truth." — Cont. Marc. 
 Wets., p. 70. 
 
 The common life of man is a state in which the 
 clouds and darkness of error and of doubt are all around 
 him ; he wanders first hither and then thither, seeking 
 in vain to find and to follow '' the path of life ;" he 
 has lost his track ; motive, principle, faith, are alike 
 enveloped in the common gloom ; he knows not 
 whether to press forwards or to stand still ; to rest or 
 to advance ; to turn to the right hand or to the left. 
 He camiot see his way before him. Often in the 
 sorest time of doubt or of despair, a light is seen; the 
 " light of truth," following which he walks on his way 
 rejoicing for this light both guides and enlightens him; 
 since it shows — 
 
 I. Surely. — Truth can neither lie nor deceive. It 
 
The Light of Truth. 113 
 
 cannot be gainsaid or overcome. Truth ever conquers. 
 Hence when our Blessed Lord came down to earth to 
 show to man the way to heaven, He said, " I am the 
 Truth," as well as, " I am the Light of the world ;" 
 that if any man should follow Him Who is the Light 
 of Truth he might not walk on in darkness, but should 
 have the light of life. Truth would cease to be truth, 
 could it in anywise deceive or delude. There are 
 many false lights in the world, like that of the " Ignis 
 Fatuus ;" but there is only one ''light of truth," though 
 it be many-sided and variously coloured in its rays. 
 There are physical truths, moral truths, intellectual 
 truths, spiritual truths ; all of which are radiations 
 from the one "light of truth," which emanates from 
 the God of truth. There can be no wrong going in 
 following the light of truth, since all truth is — 1) Con- 
 sistent and harmonious. No one truth can contradict 
 another truth. Anything that admits of a valid con- 
 tradiction cannot be a real truth. 2) A reflection of 
 the mind of God Who has revealed His nature in His 
 laws and in His Word : in His book of nature as wexi 
 as in His book of grace. 3) A purifier of the mind, 
 from that darkness of ignorance which is the result of 
 sin and degradation. Truth being so sure a guide can 
 be — 1) ImpHcitly trusted ; 2) humbly followed ; 3) 
 reverently treated. 
 
 II. t7m?;ersa%.— The "far-beaming light" of truth 
 
 II. I 
 
114 The Liffht of TnUh. 
 
 shines — 1) Above the world; and is a beacon by which 
 the rocks and shoals of error can be avoided. It be- 
 coraes a guide by which man is led on to glory. It 
 shines above the world, setting before men an aim ; 
 just as the Star of Jesus incited the wise men onward 
 and led them to Bethlehem. 2) On the world ; not 
 only as a guide overhead, but as a lamp to our feet 
 and a light to our path ; showing the right road to 
 life, and revealing the different turnings and features 
 of that road. Hence truth gives to this world a life 
 and a promise ; supplying a means by which men may 
 walk on to higher and better and holier things. 3) In 
 the world ; in and among men, being to them both 
 a source of comfort and of strength. Like the sun, 
 truth can be seen by all, felt by all; and like the sun 
 it cheers and invigorates all who bask under its blessed 
 and kindly influence. 
 
 III. Contmualli/. — Not waning like the inconstant 
 moon, but always appearing, and ever the same, 
 Hence the light of truth never — 1) Ages; never grows 
 old. A truth once born into the world can neither 
 age nor die. It is as bright and fresh now as at the 
 moment of its propagation. Truth in the world is the 
 representative of that enduring state in which decay 
 and death are alike unknown. 2) Changes. Men 
 alter the relations under which they may regard truth, 
 but truth itself is changeless. As in passing swiftly 
 
The Light of Truth. 115 
 
 through the country the objects are perpetually 
 changing to our view according to our position in 
 relation to them, so men in their travels of life are 
 ever viewing one and the same truth under altered 
 circumstances and connections. 3) Wearies. Its 
 adaptive power is so great, that in one form or another 
 it appeals to the heart with a vigour and a freshness 
 as if heard for the first time. The Holy Gospels are 
 never stale, never tedious ; we both read them and 
 listen to them over and over again, year after year, 
 and day after day ; and yet they are always bright 
 and fresh to the soul. ''Far-beaming truth" has ever 
 shone over this world of darkness and of sin. 
 
 IV. Clearly. — Every form of error is misty and in- 
 distinct ; has no clear outline, consequence, or con- 
 nection. "Far-beaming truth" ever shines with a 
 clear and transparent light, that there may be no 
 possible mistake between it and its counterfeit. Truth 
 is clear in its — 1) Statements. It admits of no double 
 meaning. It conceals nothing that ought to be com- 
 municated. The lying oracles of Pagan Greece were 
 invested with a twofold sense, so that one way or 
 another the prophecy must be fulfilled. 2) Conse- 
 quences. The deductions which flow from it are as 
 unequivocal as the parent whence they sprang. (3 
 Adaptation. Presenting itself to the mind in that due 
 proportion in which each particular understanding is 
 
 I 2 
 
116 The Light of Truth, 
 
 capable of laying hold of it. Hence the " Divine 
 dogmas " are clear to all, although differently com- 
 prehended by each one according to his spiritual and 
 intellectual conception. The peasant has a perfectly 
 clear conception of *'the truth as it is in Jesus;" 
 though his conception differs materially from the grasp 
 of that same truth by a mind of higher cultivation and 
 of larger powers. 
 
 V. Profitably. — " Far-beaming truth " does not 
 shine as a dry or a barren light ; like the sun, it has 
 to do for the world of men that which the chief 
 luminary of our system does for the world of nature. 
 It — 1) Dispels like the sun the mists of darkness, of 
 ignorance, and of error ; showing all things in a clear 
 and true light. This mist of error lends the one 
 great enchantment to sin. 2) Reveals fully all de- 
 fects ; shuts out all false reasonings, and condemns 
 all false hopes. 3) Restores and heals many hopeless 
 and fainthearted ones, who have been waiting for 
 further light. 
 
 Epilogtie. — Man's duty towards truth is urgent and 
 solemn: he is bound to — 1) Cherish it; lest any truth 
 be lost to him. 2) Submit himself to it. Truth 
 speaks with a supreme authority. 3) Revere it ; so 
 that it be not tampered with by error. 
 
( '117 ) 
 
 SERMON XXV. 
 
 A HOLY MAN. 
 
 *' He is holy unto his God." — Lev it. xxi. 7. 
 
 Origen. — " If you have understood why an animal, 
 or vessel, or garment is called lioly, understand con- 
 sequently that by these observations and laws man is 
 also called holy. For if any one has consecrated him- 
 self to God ; if any one shall have implicated himself 
 in no secular concerns, that he may, please Him to 
 Whom he has commended himself; if any one has 
 separated and severed himself from the rest of men 
 who are living carnally and bound up in worldly affairs — 
 not seeking the things which are upon earth, but 
 those which are in heaven — such an one is deservedly 
 called holy. For whilst he is mixed up with the crowd, 
 and is enrolled in the multitude of the doubtful, neither 
 is he intent upon God alone, nor is he severed from 
 the herd; — he is not able to be holy." — In Levit. 
 Horn. xi. Geneh. vol. i. p. 100, H. 
 
 The idea of holiness which is contained in these 
 words is one of separation. Separation ''unto his 
 
118 A Holy Man. 
 
 God;" separation from worldly concerns as a matter 
 of pleasure ; separation from those who live without 
 God in this world, and for this world alone ; separation 
 from the tumults, doubts, and strifes of those who are 
 led hither and thither, ever seeking something that is 
 new. Holiness has been described under other aspects, 
 such as the likeness to, and union with, Jesus Christ ; 
 the daily and hourly realization of the heavenly citizen- 
 ship ; the strict discipline or denial of self in such a 
 measure that it becomes the carrying of a daily cross ; 
 all of which are other qualifications of the same great 
 Christian grace. At present we will consider the holy 
 man as one who is separated from his unholy fellows, 
 and from the world which is lying around him, by his — 
 I. Devotion. — The holy man "is holy unto his 
 God;" dedicated and consecrated to His honour and 
 service. This devoted separation is — 1) Continuous. 
 It was commenced at Baptism, carried on by Confir- 
 mation and First Communion, and is sustained by the 
 perpetual and increasing nourishment of the spiritual 
 life. Once broken by a lapse into deadly sin, the con- 
 tinuity of the stream and channel of grace once cut oft", 
 it is hard indeed to be regained. The "temple of 
 God " has been defiled, and many tears of contrition 
 and repentance are needed to cleanse it again. It is 
 always easier to destroy, than to create ; to pollute, 
 than to cleanse ; to deface, than to restore. 2) Entire. 
 
A Holy Man. 119 
 
 God accepts of no half heart. " Ye cannot serve God 
 and mammon." (S. Matt. vi. 24.) With all the 
 powers of the soul directed to this one object, the ser- 
 vice which man can render to God is but feeble and 
 imperfect ; and it is only accepted by Him when He 
 can make a gracious allowance for the shortcomings 
 of the soul, knowing in all truth that " she hath done 
 what she could." (S. Matt. xiv. 8.) 3) Voluntary. 
 Most willingly and lovingly rendered devotion, dedi- 
 cation, and service ; no fear of hell or hope of heaven 
 being mixed up with it ; but simply the love of God, 
 and gratitude to Him constituting the sole cause by 
 w^hich the soul seeks ever more and more to surrender 
 itself up freely, wholly, and continually to Jesus Christ. 
 II. Aims and desires. — The holy man aims not at 
 ''the things which are upon earth, but [at] those 
 which are in heaven." His affections and thoughts 
 are associated with things both above and beyond the 
 realm of time and sense. A life and spirit not of 
 nature but of grace has been vouchsafed to him ; lead- 
 ing him to despise and soar beyond — 1) The passing 
 gratification of the senses. Yet over how many, do the 
 senses of the body exercise a rigorous if unconscious 
 sway. They live to gratify the appetites of the body, 
 even if it be in their less harmful propensities of sight 
 and sound, to say nothing of their grosser and more 
 animal manifestations. 2) The present life and tem- 
 
120 A Holy Man, 
 
 poral gain of riches, honour, and the like. Worldly 
 advancement, in some one of its many forms, is the 
 one absorbing desire of thousands, nay, of tens of 
 thousands, of redeemed immortal natures, who yet 
 know and feel the shortness of the time during which 
 they are permitted to remain in this world. 3) The 
 natural conceptions and creations of the mind. Faith 
 carries the soul into a region in which reason has no 
 power to follow. Tlie holy soul derives its highest 
 inspirations not from its own imaginings and conceits, 
 hut from the strivings and revealings of that Spirit 
 "Who takes of the things of God which are spiritually 
 discerned and shows them unto it. 
 
 III. Actions. — The actions of the holy man are all 
 performed with this one object, " that he may please 
 Him to Whom he has commended himself;" they are 
 therefore not regulated by reference — 1) To any code 
 of earthly laws. The world allows of and glories in 
 many deeds which God has forbidden in the most 
 positive manner possible. It pleads for the exercise of 
 revenge and anger ; the rendering of evil for evil, which 
 the Saviour emphatically denounced. The '' Codex 
 Legum " of man is the expression of a necessary 
 temporizing with human imperfection and crime ; 
 whilst that of God aims at the renovation and restitu- 
 tion of his moral and spiritual nature. 2) They are 
 performed without any reference to temporal gain or 
 
A Holy Man, 121 
 
 loss; they have respect "unto the recompence of the 
 reward" in another and holier kingdom, in a higher 
 and nohler condition of being. 
 
 Epilogue. — The holy man — 1) Is a contradiction of 
 the world by his consecration to God, in his aims, and in 
 his actions. 2) Is a standing protest against its weak- 
 ness, sorrow, and sin. 3) Is a prophet of a high and 
 solemn order, who, by "his life and doctrine," pro- 
 claims that he belongs to another kingdom which is 
 '' not of this world ;" a kingdom which is eternal, glo- 
 rious, and happy, because it is holy. His Master's 
 words are for ever ringing in his ears : " Be ye holy, 
 for I am holy." 
 
( 122 ) 
 
 SERMON XXVI. 
 THE WINE OF JOY. 
 
 " I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that 
 day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.'' 
 —S. Matt. xxvi. 29. 
 
 Origen. — " We read : ' Thou sbalt make them 
 drink of the river of Thy pleasures.' (Ps. xxxvi. 8.) 
 The Lord also says in Jeremiah : ' I will satiate 
 \inehriaho] my people.' ( Jer. xxxi. 14.) And Isaiah 
 says, ^Behold, My servants shall drink.' (Isa. Ixv. 
 13.) And you will find in Holy Scripture many 
 things related of this same inebriation. Which 
 drunkenness is accepted, without doubt, for joy of 
 soul and rejoicing of mind. If we have, therefore, 
 understood what this drunkenness is, and how it is 
 granted to the holy in promise, w'e can understand 
 how it is that our Saviour does not drink wine until 
 He shall drink it new in the Kingdom of God. My 
 Saviour also now grieves over my sins. My Saviour 
 cannot be joyful whilst I remain in iniquity. Why 
 not ? Because He is the Advocate with the Father 
 
The Wine of Joy. 123 
 
 on behalf of our sins. (1 S. John ii. 1.) How can 
 He therefore, Who is the Advocate for my sins, 
 drink the wine of joy. He Whom I grieve by sinning ? 
 I will drink it, He says, * with you in my Father's 
 Kingdom.' As long as we so act that we cannot 
 ascend to that kingdom, so long is He, alone, not able 
 to drink that wine which He promised that He would 
 drink with us. He is, therefore, so long in sorrow, as 
 we persist in error." — In Levit. Horn. vii. Geneh. vol. i. 
 p. 85, A. B. 
 
 The fact that man's sin and failing upon earth can 
 affect the stale of the Son of God in the glory of 
 Heaven, shows how intimate is the relationship 
 which exists between Jesus Christ and the race which 
 He came to redeem and to exalt ; how His wondrous 
 life in eternity is bound up with our dark and erring 
 life in time. The "with you" of the Gospel gives 
 one more view of that close bond of unity which joins 
 the Head to all the members of His mystical body ; 
 proving, as it does, that if one of the members suffer, 
 all the members suffer with it. That man can stay 
 or mar the perfect happiness of Jesus ; can delay His 
 draught of the " Wine of Joy," is a fresh revelation of 
 the attributes of Jesus Christ towards us of — 
 
 I. Patience. — His own work for man was quickly 
 
124 The WineofJoij. 
 
 done. He delayed not either His Incarnation, mission, 
 or death, one moment beyond the appointed time. 
 He was ever ready, willing, and waiting to fulfil all 
 His Father's will. It is man, and not God, who delays 
 and procrastinates, and who wastes the precious 
 moments, seasons, and occasions of grace. Jesus 
 was both prompt to act, and is alike patient to wait. 
 Plis patience in tarrying for the completion of His 
 Kingdom is — 1) Inexhaustible in its nature. It out- 
 lasts all man's prevarications and delays. There is 
 no time, whilst the season of grace lasts, during 
 which the patience of Jesus can be worn out or ex- 
 hausted. Had it not been so, long since would He 
 have given up the sons of men to their lost estate and 
 ruin. 2) Untiring in its operation. It was so when 
 He was on earth ; enabling Him to bear with meek- 
 ness every rebuff, all scorn and contumely. 3) 
 Blessed in its results. Gaining many a soul by His 
 patient waiting for it. Because Jesus is thus patient 
 is it for us to put His patience to a severer test, to tax 
 it to the uttermost of our feeble power ? Dare we, as 
 Christians, abuse His goodness by our delayed repent- 
 ance ? He is waiting to drink the " Wine of Joy " 
 with us in heaven. 
 
 II. Sympathy. — It is not enough for Him by Him- 
 self to drink the new wine in His kingdom of glory ; 
 He must drink ''with you;" with our race. The 
 
The Wine of Joy. 125 
 
 noblest natures upon earth liave but small care for 
 solitary pleasures ; their joy is but a half gladness 
 when it is not shared with others. The great 
 happiness of heaven will consist in the fact that the 
 joy of one will be the joy of all. With us sympathy 
 is a need, because of the imperfection of our nature ; 
 with Jesus it is the expression of a heart overflowing 
 with love, going out towards us not for His sake, but 
 for our own. This sympathy arises from His perfect 
 knowledge of — 1) What we are now ; so helpless, tied, 
 and bound, so dependent, so weak ; so untrue to our- 
 selves in all things, both temporal and spiritual. 2) 
 What we are capable of becoming when all the latent 
 powers of the soul are developed, and the purification 
 shall be made of the incrustations of this lower life. 
 The sympathy of Jesus consists of the two factors, pity 
 and hope. He is longing to drink " the Wine of Joy " 
 with us in heaven. 
 
 III. Condescension. — ''With you;" knowing full 
 well that which you once were ; and remembering 
 that it is only by My favour and grace that you are 
 what you are now. '' With you ;" not with the Father 
 and the Holy Ghost only, nor with the blessed orders 
 of the Angelical or Heavenly Hierarchy only ; but 
 ** with you," who were once poor degraded outcasts, 
 who by slow degrees have been purified from sin, 
 and admitted into the company of the ''just men 
 
126 The Wine of Joy. 
 
 made perfect." This infinite condescension of Jesus 
 is — 1) Of purpose, not of impulse ; is a part of the 
 settled order of His Divine grace towards us. When 
 He planned our recovery, it was that He might become 
 the Elder Brother of our race ; and the condescension 
 of earth was to be continued and perfected in heaven. 
 2) Of no degree ; unlimited in its operation, there 
 was naturally before the Incarnation no common 
 measure between Jesus and the human race. Now 
 He will never be ashamed to drink " the Wine of Joy " 
 with the redeemed. 
 
 Epilogue. — Resolve so to act that you may be found 
 worthy to ascend at length to that kingdom, and to 
 drink the new "Wine of Joy" with Jesus. Resolve 
 not to lengthen His sorrow by your continued sin and 
 impenitence, but rather to present Him with the first 
 fruits of the '' Wine of Joy," by your holiness of life. 
 
( 127 ) 
 
 SERMON XXVII, 
 
 THE KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS. 
 
 "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy 
 Angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His 
 glory: and before Him shall he gathered all nations." — S. 
 Matt. XXV. 31, 32. 
 
 Origen. — '' I think that there will be a time of the 
 Advent of Christ in which there will be so great a 
 manifestation of His Person and His Divinity, that 
 not only none of the righteous, but that not one of the 
 sinners will be ignorant of Him as He really is ; when 
 also sinners will know their sins in His sight, and the 
 righteous will manifestly see the goal to which their 
 seeds of holiness have brought them. 'And before 
 Him shall be gathered all nations ;' they will know 
 Christ as He is." — In Diversos Horn. ix. Geneh. vol. 
 ii. p. 289, F. 
 
 How changed would be the present condition of the 
 world, if throughout its length and breadth there was 
 diffused a just, though even a partial, knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ. How many sins would be prevented ; 
 
128 The Kno7vledge of Jei^ii^. 
 
 Low many souls would he saved ; how greatly would 
 the joy and peace of earth be multiplied. The world 
 would seem like a new place altogether, if the "Person 
 and Divinity" of Jesus were brought home to men's 
 hearts ; for then sinners would understand the course 
 of sin, and the righteous would have more certain 
 l^roof of the end of their life and conversation. Seek- 
 ing for a perfect knowledge of Him at His coming, 
 w^e note that the imperfect knowledge which we can 
 gain of Him now is for the practical purposes of life — 
 I. Perfect and sujjicient. — Jesus Christ was per- 
 fect man, as well as perfect God ; and being this, the 
 knowledge of Him brings with it a knowledge of human 
 nature in its fulness and perfection. 1) Jesus was 
 infinitely wise in the understanding, for *'in Him 
 dwelleth all the wisdom of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 
 ii. 9.) Knowing this wisdom, we can reach to the heights 
 of the loftiest intelligence. " The mind of Christ " is 
 the most profound and expansive mind that was ever 
 contained in the tabernacle of our flesh. He saw "be- 
 fore and after ;" no mistake could be made by Him 
 in anything. Hence, in knowing Him, we know all 
 things. At present, alas, " such knowledge is too 
 wonderful and excellent, for we cannot attain unto it.'' 
 (Ps. cxxxix. 6.) 2) Jesus was infinitely pure in feel- 
 ing. His loving heart probed the capacities of our 
 loving nature to its very depth. In knowing Him, we 
 
The Knowledge of Jesus, 129 
 
 know what true affection means ; what unselfish, 
 burning love for others implies. The emotional nature 
 of man is mirrored in its tenderest guise in the sym- 
 pathetic soul of ''the Man of sorrows." 3) Jesus was 
 infinitely holy in action: ''This man hath done 
 nothing amiss." (S. Luke xxiii. 41.) The principles 
 of action can be traced in Him to their truest and 
 most exalted source. The knowledge of Jesus must 
 be the basis of all sound knowledge of self ; and it 
 brings with it the knowledge of sin in its beginning, 
 course, and end ; and the knowledge of holiness in its 
 seed, growth, and development; so that by it "the 
 righteous will manifestly see the goal to which their 
 seeds of holiness have brought them." Hence the 
 knowledge of Jesus Christ is satisfying to the soul : 
 it leaves nothing further to be desired. 
 
 II. Pimfyinff. — The knowledge of Jesus cannot exist 
 in the soul without its exerting a purifying influence 
 upon the whole man — body, soul, and spirit. It is like 
 "the leaven which leaveneth the whole lump." (1 Co- . 
 V. 6.) Knowing Him, the desire to become like Him 
 acquires an irresistible power. It purifies the soul 
 from — 1) Worldliness : by the contemplation of His 
 unworldly life. " My kingdom is not of this world." 
 (S. John xviii. 36.) Jesus Christ reversed the world's 
 traditions. 2J Error : " I am the Truth."— S. John 
 xiv. 6.) No one really prefers error to truth ; many 
 II. K 
 
130 The Knoideclge of Jesus. 
 
 fall into it, blinded by sin, or as still being surrounded 
 by the mists of ignorance or superstition. If clearly 
 seen truth will ever conquer error. The knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ corrects errors of all kinds : of life, of 
 thought, and of action. 3) Sin: the loving one seeks 
 to be like the beloved. The good cannot be known 
 without a certain desire after the imitation of such 
 goodness being engendered. All true knowledge re- 
 fines the soul ; but the knowledge of Jesus Christ 
 cleanses it in an eminent degree. 
 
 III. Personal. — Jesus Christ is no mere spiritual 
 or philosophical abstraction ; but a living Lord and 
 Saviour : High Priest, Prophet, King, and Elder 
 Brother of our race. In knowing Him we know a 
 Person Who is — 1) Infinitely lovely. " Thou art 
 fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured 
 into Thy lips." (Ps. xlv. 2.) Men often, by a 
 most strange contradiction, love all else but Jesus ; 
 they love the beautiful in earth, air, water, in men 
 and women, in all creation, save in the Author of 
 creation; Himself being the fairest and most beauti- 
 ful of all. Yet there cannot be found one dark or 
 ugly spot upon the person of Jesus Christ. 2) In- 
 finitely loving. One Who never turns away from any 
 who come to Him ; nay, rather the greater their need, 
 the larger becomes the measure of His love. 3) In- 
 finitely united to and bound up with mankind in time 
 
The Knoivleclge of Jesus. 131 
 
 and in eternit}^ In time, a tender Friend and a 
 mighty Saviour ; in' eternity, to become the cause Of 
 everlasting joy, gratitude, and adoration. 
 
 Epilogue, — What is the want which the knowledge 
 of Jesus Christ will not supply ? What is the gain of 
 all other knowledge, lacking this ? Is there any other 
 knowledge so lasting, so universal, so all-important in 
 its consequences as is this ? Does not each question 
 demand an assent ? If so, may all men he led to 
 make it their daily prayer, "That I may know Him," 
 etc. (Phil. iii. 10.) 
 
 K 2 
 
( 132 ) 
 
 SERMON XXVIII. 
 
 IMMOKTALITY. 
 
 " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent." — S. /o/m xvii. 3. 
 
 Origen. — " ' I have set before you life and death ; 
 therefore choose Hfe.' (Deut. xxx. 19.) If the human 
 race had done this, verily it would never have 
 embraced the mortal condition. But since man 
 leaving life has followed death, this has come to pass. 
 I ask, what is that death which he says ' I have set 
 before you?' Of the life itself it cannot be doubted 
 that God will point out Himself, Who said, ' I am the 
 truth and life.' (S. John xiv. 6.) What is that death, 
 contrary to life, which God has placed before us ? I 
 think that it was of it that Paul said, ' The last enemy 
 that shall be destroyed is death.' (1 Cor. xv. 26.) 
 This is therefore the enemy, the devil, who at the 
 first verily was set before us, but is destroyed the 
 last. He has been set before us, not that we should 
 follow, but that we should avoid Him. Whence I 
 consider that the human soul, of itself, cannot be said 
 
Immortality. 133 
 
 to be either mortal or immortal ; but that if it should 
 lay hold of life it will be immortal from the participa- 
 tion of life ; but if that, turning itself from life it 
 should contract the beginning of death, it causes 
 itself to become mortal. Therefore the Prophet says, 
 ' The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' (Ezek. xviii. 4.) 
 Although we are of opinion that its death is not the 
 destruction of substance, yet we believe that to be 
 really death which is alien and exile from God Who 
 is the true life." — In Levit. Horn, x. Geneh. vol. i. p. 
 98, I. K. 
 
 When thoroughly sifted and analysed, our notions 
 of the eternal world beyond the grave are confessedly 
 vague and indistinct. We are so accustomed to use a 
 certain set of words and phrases in reference to the 
 future, that we have become for the most part quite 
 content to rest in them, without pausing to consider 
 whether or not they carry any definite meaning with 
 them. If it be, as most assuredly it is, " life eternal " 
 to know God and Jesus Christ ; that is, to love, serve, 
 and obey them ; to accept the scheme of redemption 
 which is offered to us by the Saviour; then, by 
 inference, it must be something short of eternal life 
 not to know them. Is there a middle path between 
 eternal death and life ? We know of no such. The 
 
134 Immortality. 
 
 consideration of the immortality of the soal leads to 
 the conviction that such immortality implies — 
 
 I. A Distinction, — It is not a parado:s to say that 
 there is a life which is truly death ; and that there is 
 a death which is truly life. Life, as a state, consists 
 of the due and proper exercise, development, and use 
 of every function and faculty of the living being. 
 Where this takes place, there is perfect holiness, 
 happiness, and content. Nothing further is left to be 
 either longed for or striven after. Life, as a principle, 
 consists of a certain something which, while it is 
 present, keeps death at bay. In some stages of 
 disease, a large portion of the body may be absolute^ 
 dead ; the state of the patient is a state of death ; but 
 wMst that subtle visitant — the principle of life — is 
 there, the body is not dead, it remains still an 
 inhabitant of " the land of the living." This principle 
 of life forms that which this great Father and thinker 
 calls the substance [substantia] of the soul. This 
 substance, ens or being, can never die ; hence it can 
 be subject to an eternal state of death. Could it die, 
 death must happen in a given instant of time, and the 
 soul would pass at once out of existence. It was the 
 purpose and object of Jesus coming into this world, 
 that this principle of life in the soul of man might, by 
 His merits and intercession and pardon, be led to attain 
 to a state of life, that is of perfection and of enjoyment, 
 
Immortality. 135 
 
 for ever and ever. These distinctions then, force 
 themselves upon us — 1) Both the principle and the 
 state of life in the body can be killed, and itself 
 reduced to non-existence. 2) The state, but not the 
 principle of life in the soul can be killed, yet it cannot 
 be preserved from an eternal state of death. 3) The 
 contrast is most marked between relative values of the 
 principle and the state of life ; the latter being of an 
 infinitely higher value. 
 
 II. A Condition, — If we accept such means as God 
 lias placed before us in His infinite mercy and love, 
 the state of " life eternal," in which the substance, 
 ens or behig, of the soul will be placed for ever in 
 gior}^, perfection and happiness, will become ours. 
 Reject this grace, degrade, debase, and defile the soul, 
 and then its substance, ens or being, will be for ever 
 placed in that state of misery, imperfection, and unful- 
 filled desire, which is justly spoken of as eternal 
 death. The state of eternal death, or eternal life, is 
 in the power of each Christian sou the principle of 
 life, which must be subject to one or other of these 
 influences, is wholly beyond man's power to aftect. 
 The conditions under which the state of eternal life 
 can be obtained are — 1) Within man's power. 2) 
 The highest and best under which he can live. 3) 
 The producers of the largest amount of happiness. 
 The question may well be asked. Why, man, 
 
136 Immortality. 
 
 wilt thou elect to enter into the state of eternal 
 death ? 
 
 III. A Present. — The life of the soul is independent 
 of the life of the body, and therefore its state of 
 eternal life can surely begin here on earth. Many 
 elements of the heavenly life can find an exercise and 
 operation before the soul is separated from its present 
 perishable tabernacle of the flesh. The eternal life of 
 the soul has begun, whilst as yet the body has to die. 
 Hence the exercise of holiness, faith, love, and the 
 other Christian graces is the exercise of immortality ; 
 and each several act of goodness becomes a factor in 
 the soul's eternal life. Holiness is not a mere 
 obeying of the law of Jesus and walking conformably 
 to His will and mind, but it is the entering into the 
 state of immortality, the glories of which will be fully 
 enjoyed in another and higher state of being. Well 
 may we ask, *' death, where is thy sting?" The 
 resolution should on these grounds be made to enter 
 upon the soul's real immortahty in time ; then will 
 man be true — 1) To God, Who made and redeemed 
 him ; 2) to himself, as capable of and fitted for this 
 high destiny. 
 
 IV. A Future. — In which this eternal life will be 
 exercised and spent ; an eternal future, corresponding 
 with eternal life itself : full, glorious, and perfect, as 
 being — 1) A sensible manifestation of the Presence of 
 
Immortality. 137 
 
 God. Then shall the King be seen in His beauty. 
 2) A union with the love of God ; dwelling in God, 
 Who is love. 3) A participation in the power of God; 
 through which all things, deeds, and states of being 
 will become possible. 
 
 Epilogue. — " This is life eternal '' which truly — 
 1) Completes our being. 2) Subdues death and all 
 man's other enemies. 3) Glorifies God by the fulfil- 
 ment of His end and purpose in the creation of a 
 nature made after His own image and likeness. 
 
( 138 ) 
 
 SERMON XXIX. 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL IMAGE. 
 
 " Whose is this image ?"— 5', Matt. xxii. 20. 
 
 Origen. — " All men verily bear an image either of 
 the heavenly or of the earthly ; but there is a great 
 diversity in these images themselves, and so looking 
 for each one in yourself, you will find a diversity of 
 image, whether of the earthly in sinners, or of the hea- 
 venly in saints. Everything indeed which is done by 
 us in each hour or moment, forms a certain image, 
 and therefore w^e ought to examine each of our single 
 acts, and to prove ourselves in that work and in that 
 word as to whether a heavenly or an earthly image is 
 painted in our soul." — Ho))i. ii. in Psal. xxxviii. 
 Geneh. i. p. 300, K, L. 
 
 There is an outward corporeal image, patent to all, 
 wdiich it is the business of life to impress upon all 
 men. Feature, dress, gait, manner, speech with its 
 tone, inflection, and accent, all combine to form our 
 outward bodily image. The state of society in which 
 men move ; their pursuits in life ; their culture and 
 
The Spiritual Image. 139 
 
 education ; are so indelibly stamped upon them, that it 
 is easy for any one of sufficient knowledge and 
 experience to read their belongings at a glance. The 
 life of study begets a countenance which is grave, 
 earnest, and thoughtful ; of pleasure, an expression of 
 feebleness and superficiality ; of sin, a worn and scared 
 look, which is no untruthful index of the life within. 
 There is also a spiritual image, towards the foundation 
 of which each thought, word, and deed contributes. 
 The experience of life tells no less truly upon the 
 spiritual, than it does upon the bodily nature. If we 
 write our lives upon our faces, we also write that same 
 record in other characters, but just as truly upon our 
 souls. Of a spirit entering the spirit-world, it may well 
 be asked : "Whose is this image ?" And if the coin both 
 as to country and to value can be determined at a glance, 
 so likewise can the coin of the soul be read at a glance 
 by other spiritual natures, who on looking at it will be 
 able at once to decipher the image that has been 
 forming upon it during all the years of its sojourning 
 in the flesh. A solemn thought that, " everything 
 which is done by us in each hour or moment forms a 
 certain image." Which image is — 
 
 I. True. — As the sun is a true artist, and the 
 photograph reproduces every minute character of 
 feature or of landscape w^hich passes through the 
 lens of the camera ; as the electric wire delivers at 
 
14U The Spiritual Image. 
 
 its one end a message precisely the same as that 
 which it received at the other ; so does the soul register 
 exactly every emotion to which it has given rise. It 
 bears its own true Avitness on its own behalf. We 
 may deceive men, we may lull our own conscience to 
 sleep, we may blunt our moral perceptions ; we may so 
 confuse the understanding, as to confound light with 
 darkness, bitter with sweet, truth with falsehood ; yet 
 the soul is all this time forming itself and shaping 
 itself, so as to present to the All- seeing qjq of God, 
 and of the Holy Angels, a true and perfect image of 
 our every thought, word, and deed. This image is 
 — 1) True in outline and proportion. There is no 
 chromatic aberration in it ; thought, word, and deed, 
 are all recorded in it in their proper and relative pro- 
 portions. 2) True as to the minutest details. Nothing 
 is omitted, nothing is too trivial to find its record 
 there. 3) True, in the perfect and complete likeness 
 which it gives of the whole temper and current of 
 life. 
 
 II. Enduring. — The image on the coin, after a 
 certain use wears out, nay, the metal itself may be 
 re-melted and coined anew. This spiritual image is, 
 on the other hand, living and enduring. If the soul be 
 immortal, the form which it takes must be immortal 
 too. It may be glorified by heaven ; it may be defiled 
 by hell ; but under these altered circumstances it 
 
Ihe Spiritual Image. 141 
 
 remains the same image still. Extra pains, thought, 
 toil, and care are hestowed upon a lasting work ; a 
 building that is to endure but for a few centuries ; a book 
 which will perpetuate the fame of the author but for a 
 few generations. How much greater care ought to be 
 bestowed upon a work that will never decay, and will 
 know no end ? Hence this eternal spiritual image 
 should be formed with all possible — 1) Prayer; 2) 
 thought ; 3) earnest endeavour. If so be it may be 
 found worthy of this lasting endurance. 
 
 ni. Typical. — The image on the coin represents a 
 certain king or queen. The spiritual image on the soul 
 is likewise a typical one, representing either Jesus 
 Christ —an " image of the heavenly " King and Lord ; 
 or Satan — an "image of the earthly;" yet in both 
 cases retaining the strict individuality of the soul who 
 bears it. In certain lineaments an image of 'either 
 holiness or sin, yet still a true and living image of 
 that responsible moral nature which gave it birth; 
 
 Epilogue. — The master sculptor aims at nothing 
 less than absolute perfection in his figure. Shall the 
 Christian aim at less '? His image is not formed of 
 marble, but of his living, loving soul, which he is 
 bound to conform to Jesus Christ. 
 
( 142 ) 
 
 SERMON XXX. 
 
 ATTEMPTS. 
 
 " It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we 
 should die in the wilderness." — Exod. xiv. 12. 
 
 Origen. — "These are the words of the soul fainting 
 under temptation. But who is so blessed, who is so 
 freed from the weight of temptation, that no thought 
 of doubt creeps into his mind ? These are the words 
 of fragility and temptation. Otherwise it is false — 
 for it is better far to ' die in the wilderness ' than to 
 serve the Egyptians. For he who ' dies in the 
 wilderness,' inasmuch as he has been separated from 
 the Egyptians, and departed from the rulers of 
 darkness, and from the power of Satan, has made 
 some advance, although he was not able to reach the 
 whole. For it is better for him seeking the perfect 
 life, to die in the journey, than not to have set out 
 upon the search after perfection." — In Ex. Horn. vi. 
 Geneh. i. p. 45, B. 
 
 An attempt, even if it end in failure, is a certain 
 gain ; the effort itself carries some good with it ; 
 
Attempts. 143 
 
 Avhilst the failure of to-day may lead to the triumph 
 of to-morrow. In all things attempts are to be 
 encouraged, since they point out — 
 
 I. An earnest purpose. — Longings and yearnings 
 towards holiness ; towards the good, the true, and 
 the beautiful, are so many God-sent inspirations, and 
 are to be cherished and developed ; yet not wholly to 
 be relied on, since many a soul has been lost by 
 resting in the mere desire ; by being content to 
 acknowledge present imperfection and sin without 
 making any honest endeavour to amend that unhappy 
 state. An earnest purpose must seek some means 
 towards its realization ; it cannot rest satisfied with 
 the acknowledgment of a longing after the better ; 
 the idea must pass onwards to its practical embodi- 
 ment. The earnest purpose of reaching towards the 
 goal as yet unattained implies — 1) Careful thought ; 
 a planning of ways and means (S. Luke xiv. 25) ; a 
 vveighing of capacity and strength ; a due consideration 
 of the difficulties implied in our undertaking. 2) A 
 determined will ; that will be turned aside and away 
 from its purpose for no slight cause or impediment. 
 3) A confidence ; founded upon a sense of Divine help 
 being given to bless, carry on, and make the purpose 
 fruitful. 
 
 II. A firm endeavour. — Better to leave Egypt at 
 any risk, to undergo any amount of privation, rather 
 
144 Attempts. 
 
 tlian remain there ; to change the state of life under 
 any circumstances, when that state is subject to 
 the slavery of sin. The present estate of the soul is' 
 unholy, unsatisfactory, and incomplete : if possible it 
 must be amended. This endeavour to amend must 
 be firm, so as not to be — 1) Frightened by seeming 
 opposition. It must be dauntless in its courage. It 
 must look all possible danger clearly in the face ; meet 
 all coming struggles nobly with an unflinching eye ; 
 and still it must press onwards. It will not for a 
 moment expect to walk over a clear and untroubled 
 course. 2) Discouraged by frequent failures and 
 disappointments. It regards each successive obstacle 
 that has been overcome as another victory which has 
 been gained ; as one more step in advance. The 
 Christian life is one lonsf series of conflicts and 
 
 o 
 
 victories. 3) Weakened or wearied out by the length 
 of the journey. It husbands its strength ; it holds 
 on bravely, having prayed for and received the gift of 
 perseverance. By some such course as this, each soul 
 has travelled which has gained the confines of the 
 higher life. 
 
 III. A miglity gain. — True, the Promised Land is 
 after all not reached ; the goal is still not attained. 
 Is all the good purpose and endeavour lost in con- 
 sequence ? Surely not. 1) It is much to have 
 renounced the old life ; to have freed ourselves from old 
 
Attempts. 145 
 
 enemies ; to have gained a brighter and a purer air. 
 2) It is more ; to have by this exercise enlightened, 
 disciplined, and purified the soul. 3) It is most of 
 all to have gained the approval of God, and to hear the 
 conscience saying, " He hath done what He could." 
 Out of many things we are bound to seek to gain 
 some, when we should be well pleased were it possible 
 for us to gain all. 
 
 Epilogue. — Ever seek to rise to the higher life, 
 and use every efibrt to escape from the bondage of 
 sin. He quenches Egypt [the world of indwelling 
 sin] who does not do the works of darkness ; who 
 drives wicked and impure thoughts from his soul ; 
 *' taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able 
 to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." (Eph. 
 vi. 16.) By tliis means we can see the Egyptians 
 dead on the sea shore, and Pharaoh drowned, if we 
 hope in and have faith that God will bruise Satan 
 under our feet shortly. 
 
 IT. 
 
( 146 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXI. 
 
 THE HALLOWING PRESENCE. 
 
 " The place whereon thou standest is holy." — Josh. v. 15. 
 
 Origen. — '' 'As Captain of the host of the Lord 
 am I now come.' (Josh. v. 14.) And Joshua, when 
 he heard this, adored and said, ' What saith my Lord 
 unto His servant ?' Joshua knew that He was not 
 only of God, but that he was God ; for he would not 
 liave adored Him unless he had known Him to be God. 
 For who else is ' Captain of the host of the Lord,' 
 unless our Lord Jesus Christ ? Joshua is in Jericho ; 
 the enemy still held the city, they were not yet over- 
 come ; and yet he calls the standing-place ' holy.' 
 How can Jericho be a holy land which is held by 
 enemies ? Perhaps this is what is indicated, that 
 wheresoever ^ the Captain of the host of the Lord ' may 
 come, he sanctifies the place. Jericho itself was not 
 yet a holy place ; but when ' the Captain of the host of 
 the Lord' comes there, it is spoken of as a holy place. 
 I also dare something further, and say that the place 
 
The Hallowing Presence. 147 
 
 in which Moses was standing (Exod. iii. 5) was not in 
 itself a holy place, but, because the Lord was standing 
 with Moses, the Presence of the Lord had sanctified 
 the place." — In Jesii, Nave, Horn, vi. Geiieh. vol. i. 
 p. 183, D. E. 
 
 Wheresoever Jesus is, the place becomes hallowed ; 
 His Spiritual Presence surely brings a consecration 
 with it. It is this blessed Presence which hallows the 
 Eucharistic bread and wine, the water in the font, the 
 house of God, the several forms of prayer, the ordain- 
 ing hands of the Bishops with the presbyters. As the 
 sun cannot shine in any spot without illumining and 
 making beautiful the landscape, so does the Presence 
 of Jesus beautify, glorify, and hallow the commonest 
 places, things, actions, and persons of this our 
 common daily world and life. The heart, by its weak- 
 ness, indifference, sin, and rebellion, may have been 
 an unhallowed and common place enough ; but when 
 Jesus has come into it by His Sacraments, Word, or 
 Spirit, it becomes changed altogether ; for '^ the 
 Presence of the Lord had sanctified the place." When 
 Jesus comes into the soul He brings with Him an 
 influence of — 
 
 I. Power. — When He was on earth, the Lord 
 carried His Divine power about with Him wheresoever 
 He went. He never lost it; it accompanied Him 
 
 L 2 
 
148 The Halloiv'ing Presence. 
 
 always. The unclean spirits felt it at once. ^(S. Matt. 
 viii. 29 ; S. Luke viii. 28.) At every place He was 
 able to heal the sick, to forgive sins, or to show some 
 other sign of His supernatural gifts. Jesus was ever 
 working whilst He was on earth. He is still ever 
 working when He enters into the soul. The spirit of 
 Jesus within a man — 1) Excites and quickens : all was 
 dead and lifeless there before He came ; now all is 
 changed. The old life is despised, a new life is 
 desired ; the true bearings and ends of things are 
 seen in a way clearly, as they were never seen before. 
 All the faculties of the mind are aroused ; they want 
 to be up and doing; purging out '^ the old leaven ;" 
 putting off the old man ; awaking out of the sleep of 
 sin ; taking to themselves the whole armour of God. 
 The Master and King of spirits has condescended to 
 man's spirit, and all its faculties are constrained to 
 fall down in adoration before Him. 2) Restrains and 
 keeps the old thoughts and associations of sin under 
 and in due subjection ; they are brought into contact 
 with a Presence more powerful, absorbing, and glorious 
 than their own. In time past the heart verily was 
 unholy, but, " the Presence of the Lord hath sanctified 
 the place." 
 
 n. Association. — Sin is propagated by association. 
 Contact with sin begets sin, just as contact with con- 
 tagious disease begets disease. Hence the Apostle's 
 
Tlie Hallowing Presence, 149 
 
 quotation from the wise saying of Menander. (1 Cor. 
 XV. 33.) Holiness too is engendered by holiness. 
 Hence the effect which certain holy places, scenes, as- 
 semblies, and words have upon the unholy and the 
 depraved. When Jesus enters the soul. He brings with 
 Him all His associations of purity, holiness, goodness, 
 and truth. In the presence of saintliness, the unseemly 
 thought, word, and deed are alike restrained ; the}'" 
 would be felt to be unseemly and utterly out of place. 
 So when Jesus enters the soul the ''army of the 
 alien" sins is routed and broken up, and the thoughts 
 of evil are forced down into the lowest and darkest 
 recesses and caverns of the heart. This association 
 is of — 1) His past life of holy suffering for our sakes. 
 2) His present living : watching over and pleading for 
 our sins ; His longs uffering : waiting to be gracious 
 unto us. 3) His future reign, triumph, and glory : in 
 which we also look forward to having our share. The 
 heart was full of sad and dark remembrances ; but 
 Jesus came into it, bringing His holy associations with 
 Him ; and " the Presence of the Lord had sanctified 
 the place." 
 
 ni. Relcitionship. — Man was ever God's creature ; 
 made by God, and for God ; belonging to God. The 
 Christian man has been redeemed by and made one 
 body with the Lord. This sense of relationship which 
 has been lost by sin, is renewed and invigorated when 
 
150 The Hallowing Presence, 
 
 Jesns by His Presence hallows the soul ; for then man 
 becomes not one body only, but one spirit with the 
 Lord. (1 Cor. vi. 17.) This renewal of relationship 
 acts upon the whole spiritual nature, making it to feel 
 most keenly how unworthy a thing would it be were it 
 to disgrace so glorious a kindred. Therefore does 
 this relationship — 1) Ennoble. It removes all that is 
 ignoble and base from the heart. 2) Guards the 
 portals of the soul from many an unauthorized ^dsitor 
 in the shape of temptation. 3) Stimulates the soul to 
 render itself worthy of such exalted connections. It 
 Avas dead to these considerations, ere " the Presence 
 of the Lord had sanctified the place." 
 
 Einlogue, — The soul hallowed by the Presence of 
 Jesus will feel with Jacob : " Surely the Lord is in 
 this place ; and I knew it not. How dreadful is this 
 place !" (Gen. xxviii. 16, 17.) 
 
( 151 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXII. 
 
 THE NOBLE EUIN. 
 
 " His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of 
 the Temple."— /S. Matt, xxiv. i. 
 
 Origen. — " Afterwards they say to Jesus, as another 
 Evangelist more expressly states, ' Master, see what 
 manner of stones and what buildings' (S. Mark xiii. 
 1), that they might incline Him to pity towards that 
 place, so that He might not perform that which He 
 had threatened. These w^ords may have been corporeally 
 so spoken, yet morally on this wise. Since the admir- 
 able building of human nature is made, that is to say, 
 the temple of God and of His Word, the disciples and 
 other holy men not only then but also now confessing 
 the wonderful works of God in relation to the human 
 formation, intercede before the face of Christ, and 
 beseech Him that He would not forsake the human 
 race on account of their sins, but that His wonderful 
 works should rather move Him to indulgence, than the 
 iniquity of them to anger." — In. Matt. Tract xxvii. 
 Geneb. vol. ii. p. 83, E. 
 
152 The Nolle Ruin, 
 
 Onr human nature since its fall tbrongli sin, resembles 
 a noble niin, which everywhere exhibits traces of its 
 former beauty and magnificence ; and which, even as a 
 ruin, is not wholly devoid of a certain majesty and 
 glory. The remains which still are standing suggest 
 to the mind's eye that which the perfect whole was once. 
 The mind supplies the missing portions of the fabric, 
 and the stately fragments indicate very plainly what 
 the former majesty must have been. So is it with the 
 " noble ruin " of our human nature. From what is 
 left we can judge of that which has been taken away ; 
 from its present we can conjecture fairly as to its past. 
 The ruined church, castle, or hall, is destined to 
 undergo a still further process of decay, until at last 
 " one stone shall not be left upon another ;" but it is 
 far otherwise with the '* noble ruin " of our human 
 nature ; since it is capable of a complete and perfect 
 restoration ; the means of which are now supplied 
 ready to hand. By His Divine grace, by His example, 
 and by His propitiation, our Blessed Lord will one 
 day present our common nature to the Almighty 
 Father as pure, as glorious, and as godlike as when at 
 first it came fresh from the Creator's hand. Even now, 
 by sacrament, pardon, and instruction, has the process 
 of restoration begun under the heavenly influences 
 and delegated powers of its Divine Architect. Most 
 praiseworthy, therefore, was it for the disciples to 
 
The Noble Ruin. 153 
 
 call the Lord's attention to it — "See what manner 
 of stones" — that He might be indaced to pity and 
 restore, rather than to demolish them and to altogether 
 throw them down. The followers of Jesus Christ had 
 passed beyond the Temple and the sphere of Temple 
 influences, and yet they pleaded for it ; influenced by its 
 past magnificence and its former hallowed associations. 
 So does every thoughtful Christian plead for his 
 common nature, and direct the mind of Jesus to the 
 "noble ruin " which sin has left, and intercede with 
 Him for its restoration and acceptance. These 
 " buildings of the temple " of human nature, this ruin 
 of humanity is noble verily in — 
 
 I. Thought. — The power [of human thought is — 1) 
 Penetrative. Whither cannot the thought of man roam ? 
 By faith it can penetrate into the heaven of heavens, 
 and enter into the sanctuary of the glory and majesty 
 of God. It can picture the unseen ; it can reproduce 
 the past ; it can portray the future. 2) Productive. 
 One thought generating another, analyzing another, 
 until at last a whole body of knowledge is stored up in 
 the mind. 3) Godlike. As the mind thinks so does 
 man act ; for thought is the parent of word and deed ; 
 it is the ruler, counsellor, and governor, of the entire 
 man. Keflection makes man akin to God, with 
 Whom to think, to will, and to do are alike one. 
 
 II. Word. — Words are noble, as being — 1) The 
 
154 The Noble Ruin, 
 
 exponents of thought, representing its — a) expression ; 
 h) communication ; and c) definition. They are not 
 symbols only, but they fix and define its meaning ; 
 they reduce it to a consistent shape and intelligence. 
 Human nature is but a ruin ; but how noble are these 
 ruins : the mighty words of poets, historians, philoso- 
 phers, the great and holy and noble sayings which 
 have been either uttered or written from the beginning 
 of the world until now ! 2) Things. " Words are 
 things," things worthy of all love and reverence, 
 from which an odour of goodness and grace ever 
 proceeds. Many are the words prostituted, and both 
 badly spoken or evilly written ; but good and great 
 words are indices as to what language would have 
 been, had tongues never been divided ; had man never 
 fallen. 
 
 III. Deed. — " What manner of stones" ? What 
 noble deeds have been done by mankind. 1) Material : 
 of a nature beyond belief, so mighty and magnificent ; 
 from the pyramid of yesterday to the railway- station of 
 to-day. 2) Moral : invoking an energy, courage, and 
 sacrifice itself, which truly certifies man to be of the 
 Divine kindred. 3) Showing a power and a progress 
 which it is the prerogative of man alone to possess. 
 
 Epilogue. — The more noble the ruin, the greater is 
 the gain by its restoration : hence the work of Jesus 
 Christ can only be appreciated by those who value truly 
 
The Noble Ruin. 155 
 
 onr human nature ; not unduly exalting or unduly 
 depressing it, but setting it down as made by God for 
 God, to be glorified for ever with God, by those who 
 rejoice and give exceeding thanks to Him Who at so 
 great a cost has effected so great a restoration of so 
 " noble a ruin " as the nature of the human race. 
 
( 156 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXIII. 
 
 SPIRITUAL VISION. 
 
 " In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abra- 
 ham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." — S. Luke xvi. 23. 
 
 Origen. 
 
 Marcus [a Marcionite]. — " Was ever any one able 
 to see from earth to heaven ? It is impossible. Who 
 having lifted up their eyes from earth, nay, rather 
 from hell, is able to see into heaven, even if there was 
 no ' great gulf between them ?" 
 
 Adamantias [orthodox]. — The bodily eyes are only 
 able to see the nearest objects, but the spiritual eyes 
 range afar. And it is certain that they, having cast 
 off the body, henceforth behold one another with the 
 e3^es of the soul. Mark how the Gospel reads : That 
 ' he lift up his eyes.' The word ' lift up ' implies to 
 heaven and not to earth." — Contra Marc. sec. ii. 
 Wests, p. 56. 
 
 In various ways education gives a new sense of sight 
 to the bod}^ The botanist, as he walks abroad, notes 
 plants which an experienced eye is alone able to detect ; 
 he sees that at a glance which others can discern onl^^ 
 
Spiritual Vision. 157 
 
 when it is pointed out to them. The artist, in like 
 manner, notices features in a landscape which are 
 wholly invisible to the untrained eye ; he recognizes 
 a hundred beauties in form and colour, which an un- 
 disciplined vision would never be able to observe. 
 Education is capable of bringino- the several senses of 
 the bod}^ to a high state of perfection. To the deep 
 and calm thinker abstract truths take a concrete form, 
 and become actual, well-defined verities. To the 
 poet, and to those who cultivate the imagination, 
 events of the past are presented to the mind as clear 
 and as distinct as the actual occurrences of the 
 present ; more than this, the cultivated imagination 
 can invent, and conceive, and describe, so that the pro- 
 ducts of the brain become to themselves and to others 
 substantive realities. If all this be true of earthly 
 things, it is eminently true of things heavenly. God's 
 prophets of old were at the first called "seers" 
 (1 Sam. ix. 9) ; for they saw, being illumined by the 
 light of God's Spirit, things which were hidden from 
 the common gaze. They were enabled to penetrate 
 that veil which God has seen good to place befoi'e the 
 future. Faith in the soul gives a new sight to the 
 mind, and reveals to it, as in a mirror, the deep things 
 of God. Inward holiness brings an inward vision 
 with it. The leading of God the Holy Ghost does in 
 an infinitely greater degree for the soul, that which 
 
158 Spiritual Viitilon. 
 
 human education does for the development of the bodily 
 vision. The range and extent of the spiritual vision 
 is indicated in this history of Dives and Lazarus ; the 
 disembodied soul of the rich man partaking of a power 
 of spiritual vision which is well worthy of consideration 
 as touching upon what our own faculty, in this respect, 
 may be after death. The attributes of spiritual vision 
 in the body now may be said to indicate that such 
 vision will be — 
 
 I. Boundless. — There is a limit to the bodily 
 vision even when aided by the most powerful glasses ; 
 but the spiritual vision is conj&ned to no limita- 
 tion of space. In proportion as the eye of faith 
 is illumined by Divine grace, so is the extent and range 
 of its vision. This vision looks over and beyond the 
 hills of sin and sorrow to that everlastinjTf hill whence 
 comes the soul's true help. It is boundless in — 
 1) Extent. It embraces life and its dark providences; 
 the past with all its manifold changes and contradic- 
 tions : the present with its infinitude of hopes and 
 fears. The '' eye of faith " sees not one point of the 
 horizon alone, but all around it. The view is taken 
 from a Pisgah height unto which the soul has been 
 lifted b} God's grace. 2) Depth. It looks far below 
 the mere surface of things ; tracing Divine providences 
 from their first unfoldings to their issues ; unmasking 
 the conventional views with which education or a par- 
 
Spiritual Vision. 159 
 
 ticular aspect of civilization invests things. 3) Effect. 
 The vision reacts upon the recipient of it ; and according 
 to its glory and its wonder, does it move and influence 
 the whole of the inner man. The " eye of faith " in 
 this respect far transcends the eye of reason. The 
 former may accompany the latter for a short portion 
 of its course ; but the latter soon exhausts the measure 
 of its power, and the former travels onwards into 
 higher and loftier regions alone. 
 
 II. Clear. — A blurred and imperfect sight is but 
 one remove from total darkness. The man who saw 
 *'men as trees walking" (S. Mark viii. 24), was as 
 yet only partially restored to sight. To rightly judge 
 of the forms and relative distances of objects we re- 
 quire a clear eyesight. A thousand circumstances 
 conspire to render the bodily vision indistinct ; atmo- 
 spheric influences ; mist and vapour ; the insufiiciency 
 of light ; the condition of the eye itself ; are all so 
 many disturbing causes. When the soul has been 
 cleansed, purified, and illumined from above, it sees 
 with a clearness which is free from any admixture of 
 — 1) Weakness. Being strong in the hold which it has 
 upon heavenly and eternal things. It can examine 
 without flinching the glory of the Sun of Eighteousness ; 
 beholding the face of God's sky. 2) Error. One object 
 is not mistaken for another ; light is not mistaken for 
 darkness, nor bitter for sweet. (Isa. v. 20.) Things 
 
160 Spiritual Vision. 
 
 are seen clearly as tliey are. 3) Hindrance. No 
 mists of passion or prejudice arise to obstruct the 
 view, and to darken that which God ordains shall be 
 most clear to the faithful soul. 
 
 III. Real. — The untutored eye, in examining a 
 landscape for the first time, or on its first glance into 
 a microscope, sees in both cases many objects which 
 have no existence there ; shadows and semblances are 
 taken for realities. In the intellectual vision, too, 
 motives and delusions which are but apparent are 
 presented to the mind as indisputable truths. Hence 
 the hold that mere opinion has upon so many men. The 
 spiritual vision, the product of faith, deals with the 
 real alone. It beholds the devil as a real person ; sin 
 as substantial ; heaven and hell as local states and 
 places. It invests with a distinct personality each 
 Christian grace. This vision is real as showing — 1) 
 E'lernal realities; things which the resurrection body 
 will also acknowledge. 2) A present course of life 
 and action. 3) A future state which will last for 
 ever. 
 
 Epilogue. — Darken not by sin this spiritual vision. 
 Close not the eye of the soul to the revealings of God's 
 mind, which enlighten the dark pathway of this life. 
 Bear in mind the Divine saying. (S. Matt. vi. 22. 23.) 
 
( ici ) 
 
 SERMON XXXIV. 
 HOLY DISCIPLINE. 
 
 " If tLy band or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them 
 from thee : it is better for thee to enter into life halt or 
 maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast 
 into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it 
 out and cast it from thee : it is better for thee to enter into 
 life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast 
 into hell fire."— -S. 3Iatt. xviii. 8, 9. 
 
 _ I 
 
 Origen. — " The hand is understood to be the act of; 
 the soul sinning ; and the foot, the walk of the soul 
 sinning ; and the eye, the sight of the soul sinning ; | 
 which it behoves to cut oif, if they cause offence. For ( 
 frequently in Scripture the works themselves of the 
 members are expressed by the members, as, ' My 
 hands also will I lift up unto Thy commandments.' 
 (Ps. cxix. 48.) We ' lift up ' not the hands them- 
 selves, but the work of the hands to the commandments 
 of God when we do works worthy of God. And. 
 ' Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes.' (Ps. cxxiii. 1.) Not 
 these eyes, but the mind which sees through these 
 eyes. Again, ' I turned my feet unto Thy testimonies.' 
 (Ps. cxix. 59.) Not the feet, but the motions of the 
 
 II. M 
 
162 Holy Disciiilinc, 
 
 soul are turned to the testimonies of God when we 
 may have begun or may wish to live according to God. 
 All of which powers, that is, sight, act, and walk, ought 
 to be cut off if they are evil, that so without them we 
 may enter into life ; not doing what we desire, rather 
 than that fulfilling our own wills, we may enter into 
 the fire. And in the first place, it is a blessed thing 
 to abstain from all offence ; that no power of the soul 
 may be taken in evil, but that we may use all for good. 
 For so with two feet, and with two hands, and with 
 two eyes, of the body and the soul, we may enter into 
 eternal life." — In Matt. Tract v. Geneh. vol. ii. 
 p. 37, D. E. 
 
 No loss, however great it may seem to be, is a real 
 loss, if by its means there is gained eternal life. The 
 salvation of the soul stands before all else ; everlasting 
 happiness and glory, before any suffering either of 
 mind or body in time. This is the great truth that 
 our Blessed Lord meant to teach men : that no 
 sacrifice is too great to be submitted to, if heaven can 
 thereby be gained. The surgeon may amputate a 
 hand or a foot to save the life of the body, and his 
 work is received with submission, and even thankful- 
 ness ; how much rather to save the life of the soul 
 should we not be willing to lose a spiritual hand, or 
 
Holy Discipline, 163 
 
 foot, or eye ? This sacrifice of the part for the whole — 
 of time for eternity ; of the present for the future — 
 was often insisted upon in the teaching of the Lord 
 (S. Matt. V. 29 ; S. Mark ix. 43-48 ; S. Luke xvii. 
 33) ; it formed a prominent article in His spiritual 
 code of laws. The three subjects of Holy Discipline 
 which are especially hrought before us iu the Gospel 
 are — 
 
 L The TFzZL— "The act of the soul sinning."' 
 The will is the cause and ground of all human action ; 
 it is to the soul just that which the hand is to the 
 body. If heaven is to be gained, the will is to be 
 disciplined ; and if still stubborn and rebellious, it is 
 to be " cut off" altogether, so that man's will may no 
 more rule, and God's will alone be allowed to direct 
 and order the heart. Our Blessed Lord could alone say 
 truly and utterly, "Not My will, but Thine be done;" 
 for in Him alone were the human and Divine wills one 
 and indivisible. The discipline of the rebellious will, 
 forms one of the hardest tasks of the spiritual life, 
 since it implies — 1) Self-sacrifice ; which is manifested 
 in its inner and its severest phase, which implies not 
 a giving up of that only which is outward, and can 
 easily be dispensed with, or is of small value, but a 
 renunciation of that which forms part of the soul's own 
 nature ; of a cherished affection ; of a fond ambition ; 
 of a stern resolve which is opposed to the loving com- 
 
 M 2 
 
1G4 Holy Discipline. 
 
 mands of Jesus. 2 ) Self-government ; the power of 
 bending the inward nature according to a rule which is 
 received from without. The word of Jesus becomes the 
 law of life, before which the will bows down in lowly 
 submission. 8) Self-knowledge ; a clear and perfect 
 understanding as to the tendency and bearing of these 
 hands of the soul, and the work in which they are 
 engaged. Let the right hand be cut off, the firmest 
 resolutions be given up, rather than let be hazarded 
 the salvation both of body and soul. 
 
 II. TJie Reason. — Which " is the foot, the walk of 
 the soul." By reason the soul proceeds to acquire 
 knowledge, walking by the inductive step, building up 
 a general system from a careful and increasing noting 
 of particulars. This reason, this marching power, 
 this foot of the soul, sometimes carries it into regions 
 which are — 1) Forbidden. God has revealed much 
 to man, but He has hidden more from him. Keason 
 sometimes tries to fathom the depths of God's 
 providence ; to solve problems the key of which is in 
 His hand alone ; to pry curiously into things which 
 God has purposely left concealed. There is a 
 forbidden realm of reason when it becomes an offence 
 and needs to be " cut off," and its walk stayed. 2) 
 Dangerous. Many a path of reason leads to the pit 
 of doubt ; to the precipice of danger ; to the quagmire 
 of impurity. ]f reason becomes an offence, then " cut 
 
Holy DisripUne. 165 
 
 it off " with the knife of faith, and pass beyond it under 
 a snre guidance. 
 
 III. The Imagination. — Which is " the eye, the 
 sight of the soul ;" by which it sees things far beyond 
 the reach of mortal vision ; things which are still in 
 the future. The imagination is far-reaching and 
 prophetic; and it causes offence when it — 1^ Deceives : 
 running riot, picturing the glories of heaven whilst 
 unmindful of the life of holiness on earth ; the infinite 
 mercy of God as opposed to His justice ; the harmless- 
 ness of sin, and the littleness of its punishment. 2) 
 Hinders : leading the soul to despise this day of small 
 things, because of the brilliant visions which it sets 
 before it. 3) Puffs up : by the '^ greatness of the 
 revelations " which it presents to the soul ; engendering 
 a certain pride in itself, as well as a despising of the 
 incidents aud powers of this time and life. This 
 imagination causing " offence " must be " cut off" by 
 an application of the sober standard of revealed truth. 
 
 Epilogue. — Three conditions are set before men— 
 1) With two hands, two feet, and two eyes ; with un- 
 subdued reason and imagination to go down into 
 eternal death. 2) With one hand, etc., disciplined in 
 all the spiritual powers to gain eternal Hfe. 3) With 
 the fulness of a sanctified will, reason, and imagination, 
 with two hands, etc., both of body and soul, to enter 
 into eternal life. 
 
( 166 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXV. 
 THE GEAND EECEIPT. 
 
 " That which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man." 
 —S. Matt. XV. 11, 
 
 Origen. — *^ Moreover, let us see that the things 
 which go onfc and pollute man do not do so because 
 they go out, but they hold the ground of pollution in 
 the heart, when they go out of the heart before they 
 go out of the mouth ; they are evil thoughts ; of which 
 the species are, ' murders, adulteries, fornications, 
 thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.' For these are 
 they which defile a man when they go out of the heart ; 
 and hence egress is made by the mouth ; for had they 
 not gone forth out of the heart, but had been confined 
 in that place close to the heart, and refused an 
 utterance by the mouth, they would have soon been 
 abolished, nor further would the man have been 
 polluted. Evil thoughts are the fount and origin of 
 all sin. For if these do not overcome, there will be 
 neither homicide nor adultei-y, nor any one of those 
 
The Grand Receipt. 167 
 
 evils. Wherefore ' keep thy heart with all diligence ' 
 Prov. iv. 23)." — Tract i. in Matt. c. xv. Geneh. vol. 
 ii. p. 17, B. C. 
 
 A receipt which cures some dire and long-standing 
 disease may justly be considered to be of inestimable 
 value. Our Lord's words are, '* Out of the heart pro- 
 ceed evil thoughts." (S. Matt. xv. 19.) And the teach- 
 ing of a great Father of the Church is, that if these evil 
 thoughts are not allowed to proceed out of the heart 
 they soon wither up and die. As fire becomes extinct 
 without fuel ; as the lamp dies out if the oil be con- 
 sumed ; so does sin pine away and die if it has no 
 room for expansion, no fresh soil in which to root 
 itself, no fresh faculties upon which to operate. The 
 " occasion " propagates as well as generates sin. Let 
 the " occasion " be denied, and the sin dies a natural 
 and a speedy death. It has nothing upon which it 
 can live. There is something very noble in this pre- 
 rogative of man ; that, with the aid of Divine grace, he 
 can, by the action of his own free will, conquer and 
 utterly slay indwelling sin ; that by the power of his 
 will he can subdue his direst and greatest enemy ; 
 the sinful pleadings of a wayward and debased souL 
 All know and practise self-restraint in regard to the 
 body ; few happily allow it to run into either a wilful 
 or a riotous excess. The same self-restraint applied 
 
168 The Grand Receipt. 
 
 to tlie soul, staj^s the growth of evil, and goes far to- 
 wards ^' perfecting holiness in the fear of God." The 
 application of this grand receipt must be made — 
 
 I. Unsparingly. — When evil thoughts arise, the wdll 
 must put them down with an unsparing hand. No 
 exception must he allowed. Many a well-loved hut 
 unholy thought wdll plead for some small indulgence. 
 An ©Id affection will claim exemption from the general 
 edict. A particular cast of thought, leading to dis- 
 content, indolence, or harsh judgment of others, will 
 assert that it has become part of our nature, and 
 besides is not after all so very sinful, But in no 
 single case is the stern discipline to be relaxed. The 
 harder the task of repression the greater is the victory 
 which is gained over conquered sin ; the more complete 
 is the remedy. This sternness of application demands 
 that the action of the mind be under all circumstances 
 — 1) Impartial : dealing alike with every kind of un- 
 holy or of un-Christlike thoughts. 2) Courageous : not 
 shrinking from a little suffering and even from severe 
 discipline ; not expecting to gain so great a result 
 without corresponding pains and labours. 3) Tho- 
 rough : not caring to deal with half measures, but 
 willing to part with a right arm or a right eye, so 
 that the great and glorious end be attained. Sin can 
 thus be practically subdued by a stern repression and 
 by the exercise of an unflinching discipline. 
 
The Grand Receipt. 169 
 
 II. Continuously. — Evil thoughts are ever ready to 
 arise, and when checked onl}^ hide their time to 
 spring up again into a new life and vigour. Let the 
 policy of repression be relaxed even for a day, nay, for 
 an hour or for a moment, and sin in one of the many 
 forms of thought is the result. The heart as well as 
 the mouth must be guarded without any intermission. 
 This continuous self-restraint demands — 1) Watch- 
 fulness : it must be untiring in its energy and cautious 
 in its operation, so as to be never deceived or beguiled. 
 2) Self-knowledge : so as to know and to feel by the 
 instincts of the conscience and the impulses of the 
 soul when the thoughts are going astra}^ 3) A 
 standard : to become a rule of life and of faith ; the 
 deviations and conformations to which admit of a plain 
 and decided expression. 
 
 III. Hope fully . — As being sure of a victor^' sooner 
 or later. Hope is the mainspring of all success, spirit- 
 ual, moral, intellectual, and material. The remedy 
 must be applied in the firm hope that it will do its 
 proper work upon the disease. Depressed, anxious, 
 and humiliated we all must be when, thinking upon 
 the sad amount of indwelling sin, we apply the "grand 
 receipt " in the hope that it will by these means be 
 destroyed. This hope includes — 1) Earnest desire : 
 a longing and a thirsting for a holiness not yet at- 
 tained. 2) Earnest endeavour : that which we hope 
 
170 The Grand Receipt. 
 
 for we strive with all our powers to obtain. 3 
 Earnest prayer : that our hopes may be crowned with 
 success ; being helped by a spirit which is as much 
 holier as it is mightier than our own. 
 
 Epilogue. — Why continue in sin ? Why be untrue 
 to your new nature ; to the purpose of Jesus concern- 
 ing you ? It is in your own hands, by applying '' the 
 grand receipt," to "work out your own salvation," 
 even if "in fear and trembling," for it is " God Who 
 worketh in you." (Phil. ii. 13.) 
 
( 171 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXVI. 
 
 CHRISTIAN CULTURE. 
 
 "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall 
 be rooted up." — S. Matt. xv. 13. 
 
 Origen. — *' Therefore God plants ; and there is a 
 certain particular ap'riculture of God, and it is needful 
 that this field which God cultivates and plants should 
 not have one species of tree [only], but like the country 
 of a rich and powerful husbandman should be well fur- 
 nished with the germs of every kind of shrubs But how 
 all things ought to be ordered in the field of God, we 
 should consider from the fields of this world which 
 men cultivate. Does the Pcderfamilias husbandman 
 in his own field have all vines, or all figs, or all apples, 
 or all palms ? But does i:ot he who is a diligent and 
 industrious planter have his field planted and well 
 furnished with all these ? If therefore we can un- 
 derstand, in the field also which God plants there 
 is not one species alone of trees which only bears 
 sweet apples, but some sweet and others sour." — 
 Horn, in Lib. Reg. Geneb. vol. i. p. 221, C. 
 
172 Christian Culture, 
 
 The hnman soul is a fruitful soil. It is always 
 producing. The circumstances, needs, and associa- 
 tions of life are ever casting seed into it, which seed is 
 watered hy the thousand varied influences which pass 
 over the mind as rapidly as thought itself. As the 
 wicked soul can well he called the garden of Satan, so 
 the Christian soul can he reo^arded as the garden of the 
 Lord, in which Jesus the heavenl}^ Husbandman is 
 ever so working by His Spirit and by His grace, that 
 the trees — the thoughts, intents, purposes, and desires 
 of the soul — may be of the proper genus and species, 
 and that they may be so tended that they may bring 
 forth their due fruit unto everlasting life. All know- 
 ledge that is true and real is a purifier of the heart : 
 inasmuch as it disciplines the understanding it 
 elevates the conscience ; it subjects and restrains the 
 lower appetites and passions. Therefore secular and 
 religious knowledge are both handmaidens of the same 
 Master ; the former preparing the soul to receive 
 larger measures of Divine grace, and to enter more 
 keenly and deeply into the sublimities and mysteries 
 of the faith. As a rule, the most one-sided, bigotted, 
 and defective views of Divine Truth are taken by 
 those who have limited their studies to specially 
 religious subjects ; and thus have deprived themselves 
 by their own narrow-mindedness of the power of 
 mounting to any eminence of height, from which can 
 
Christian Culture, 173 
 
 be descried the greater glory of God. The bitterness 
 of religious sectaries is in a direct ratio to their want 
 of mental culture. In the Garden of Eden in addition 
 to the " Tree of Life," was "the Tree of knowledge 
 of good and evil," and many other varied and beautiful 
 trees besides, all of which added to the glory and 
 completeness of this Paradise of Delight, where — 
 
 " Overhead up grew 
 Insuperable height of loftiest shade, 
 Cedar and pine and fir and branching palm, 
 A sylvan scene ; and as the ranks ascend 
 Shade above shade a woody theatre 
 Of stateliest vievv 
 
 a circling row 
 Of goodliest trees, laden with fairest fruit ; 
 Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue." 
 
 — Paradise Lost, Book iv. 137-148. 
 
 The elements of the culture of the Christian mind 
 ought to be — 
 
 I. Varied. — There is an infinite variety in God's 
 creative works : in the seasons, and in the aspects 
 of the sun, the clouds, and the sky, changing as they 
 do from hour to hour. More subtle variety still, is 
 to be found in the human mind in its several instincts, 
 aspirations, conceptions, and experiences of things. 
 The body does not thrive upon one kind of food 
 alone ; and for its continuance, the mind in the 
 same way requires a varied mental diet, if it is to be 
 
174 Christian Culture. 
 
 preserved in a healthy condition. This very variety 
 of culture gives the mind — 1) Freshness. Bringing it 
 for a time into a new sphere of thought, and placing 
 it under new circumstances and relationships. 2) 
 Rest. Change of position is rest to the sick body ; 
 change of employment affords comparative rest in 
 manual labour ; change of the current of thought rests 
 the mind by engaging and bringing into play, for the 
 time, a new set of faculties. 3) Reparation. We 
 love home, yet still we take a *' change of air." We 
 return to it again with stronger feelings of attachment 
 and affection than we had before. So we love spiritual 
 meditation. Our true home is the mind of Jesus ; but 
 we turn for an interval to the mind of man, and then 
 fall back again with a renewed love and energy upon 
 the study of the Gospels. 
 
 II. Representative. — In Jesus Christ are summed 
 up all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 
 ii. 3.) He represents in His own person God, heaven, 
 and human perfection ; so ought the Christian mind 
 to be a representative one : representing — 1) The God- 
 like thoughts of many minds past as well as present. 
 2) Phases of character which unite the excellences of 
 the many, with the imperfections of the few. 3) That 
 wisdom of the Spirit which accompanies His sevenfold 
 gifts. 
 
 III. Subordinate. — x^lthough varied and represen- 
 
Christian Cultuj^e. 175 
 
 tative, the elements of Christian culture ought to be 
 subordinate to the culture of the spiritual life, which 
 is the produce of — 1) Faith working by love. (Gal. v. 
 6.) 2) Holiness in thought, word, and deed. 3) A 
 soul waiting upon God (Ps. Ixii. 1), to be taught by 
 Him ; submitting all things to His will, and using all 
 knowledge to His honour and glory. 
 
 Epilogue. — The Christian is the highest style of 
 man, and he should partake to the full of his proper 
 share of the knowledge and accomplishments which 
 make up the culture of this world ; and in addition to 
 this, " the Tree of Life " should grow in the field of his 
 soul ; whilst from his Pisgah of faith he looks onwards 
 and forwards to the heavenly Canaan. Not despising 
 earthly culture, he subordinates it to the heavenly 
 teaching ; and bides in faith and patience until the 
 time when he shall be wholly and for ever " taught of 
 God." (S. John vi. 45.) 
 
( 176 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXVIi: 
 
 THE MORAL PEESENCE. 
 
 '• I live : yet not I, but Cliiist liveth in me." — Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 Origen. — " This was the language of one disowmng 
 himself, of one putting aside his own life, hut of one 
 who has received Christ into himself that he might 
 live in Him as righteousness, and as wisdom, and as 
 sanctification, and as ' our peace,' and as the power of 
 God, working all things in Him." — Commen. in Matt. 
 Huet. vol. i. p. 288, B. 
 
 How does Jesus Christ live in the souls of the faith- 
 ful and hecome their true life ? This is a deep and 
 solemn question, one moreover which has received 
 divers answers. The whole body of the Catholic 
 Church says, by maintaining a sacramental presence in 
 the soul ; that the worthy recipient of the Sacrament 
 of the Altar receives Jesus Christ Himself, spiritually, 
 really, and substantially ; first into his body, afterwards 
 into his soul. Others — the various sects and their he- 
 resiarchs — affirm, that by a dreamy, hazy, imaginative 
 faith, by a kind of undefined behef in Him, He becomes 
 
The Moral Presence. 177 
 
 present in a spiritual and mysterious sense to the heart ; 
 or rather He is represented there. Lastly, many 
 regard Jesus Christ as the perfection and personifi- 
 cation of all the Christian graces. They declare that 
 Jesus Christ is not merely righteous, but that He is 
 Righteousness ; not merely wise, but Wisdom ; that He 
 is not the possessor of an abstract grace, but the Per- 
 sonification of such grace in a concrete form. Jesus 
 Christ, assert they, is humility ; and when I become 
 humble the humility of Jesus dwells within me ; when 
 I am true the truth of Jesus dwells within me. So 
 that with every successive spiritual adornment the 
 soul receives a new "Moral Presence" of Him in 
 Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 
 (Col. ii. 9.) Because man is imperfect here on earth, 
 he now can enjoy only a partial Presence of His Lord ; 
 but when he shall have become holy as He is holy, 
 he will enjoy this blessed Presence in its fulness and 
 perfection. These three explanations of the Presence 
 of the Lord in the heart can be distinguished as sacra- 
 mental, virtual, and moral. This "Moral Presence" 
 which may be either united with or caused by the 
 Sacramental Presence, may be stated to be — 
 
 I. Plain. — It cannot be misunderstood. There can- 
 not by any possibility be any mistake as to whether 
 Jesus is or is not present in the soul. If the " mind 
 of Christ " is in a man, the Presence of Jesus Christ is 
 
 II. N 
 
178 The Moral Presence. 
 
 in him too. When an absent loved one is perpetually 
 being imitated, in thought, word, and deed, there can 
 be little doubt about the fact that the memory of that 
 absent one is fresh, green, and active within the heart. 
 So if there are certain things which are contrary to 
 flesh and blood which Jesus Christ alone can teach, 
 the manifestation of any or of all of those things is a 
 proof which is nearly sure as to — 1) Who the Teacher 
 is. 2) The place in which He is. 3) The work which 
 He is now doing there. " I live ; " I am becoming like 
 Jesus Christ; yet after all, it is "not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me." 
 
 II. Practical.— Thh " Moral Presence " goes beyond 
 a dreamy confession of faith, which has either no 
 or at best a very small influence upon the life. Our 
 Blessed Lord said of the false prophets, "Ye shall 
 know them by their fruits." (S. Matt. vii. 16.) So are 
 men ever known by the fruits of their lives, which are 
 expressed in word and deed. Indwelling righteousness 
 makes a man righteous in thought, word, and deed; 
 indwelling wisdom makes him wise ; indwelling sanc- 
 tification makes him holy ; and so of all the other 
 Christian graces. Jesus Christ living within and 
 quickening the inner man with His blessed Presence 
 produces a Christ-like life ; reproduces on a feeble and 
 imperfect scale His own human life on earth, which 
 He led whilst tabernacled with us in the flesh. When 
 
The Moral Presence. 179 
 
 the Presence of Jesus Christ comes into the soul 
 He produces a new life of — 1) Thought ; 2) Word ; 
 3) Action. " Behold," saith He, " I make all things 
 new." (Rev. xxi. 5.) Old sins are banished ; old 
 errors are cast away ; old doubts are dissipated ; all 
 men can take knowledge of such that they have been 
 with Jesus. (Acts iv. 13.) '^ I live" in holiness, 
 self-sacrifice, love, humility, and faith; "yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me." 
 
 III. Progressive. — It comes into the soul as the sun 
 arises upon the earth at morn. There is a faint streak 
 of light upon the horizon, then a twilight ; afterwards 
 by little and little, by slow degrees, does the sun come 
 into view and gild all creation with the glory of his 
 newly-risen light. So by degrees, progressively, does 
 Jesus Christ come into the soul. He comes in the 
 form of one grace ; then in the form of another ; until 
 he has fully come ; when there is not another grace to 
 be gained, and so in His perfection He comes not 
 during this present life. Still there is a progressive 
 presence in the souls of all those whose path shineth 
 more and more until the perfect day. This pro- 
 gressive presence accords with the progressive nature 
 — 1) Of the Chribtian life ; which is a going on to 
 perfection. 2) Of the schemes of nature and of pro- 
 vidence ; which are one continual unfolding of the 
 wisdom and of the power of God. 3) Of the human 
 
 N 2 
 
180 The Moral Presence. 
 
 soul ; which inclines ever to forget the things that 
 are behind and to reach forward unto those which are 
 before. " I live," progressing from day to day, grow- 
 ing in grace, nearing heaven ; *' yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me." 
 
 Einlogue. — Learn — 1) The inestimable value of this 
 Blessed Presence. 2) That it is ever given to those 
 who desire it and seek for it. 3) The infinite loss both 
 for this world and the next which they experience who 
 live without Jesus. 
 
( 181 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXVIII. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF JESUS. 
 
 " Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house : and 
 His disciples came unto Him." — S. Matt. xiii. 36. 
 
 Orlgen. — " When Jesus was with the multitude He 
 was not in His house. The multitude was without 
 the house, and it was of His love and benevolence 
 towards men that He left the house, and went out to 
 those who could not come to Him. Afterwards, when 
 He had sufficiently discoursed to the multitude in 
 parables, He sent them away, and ' went into the 
 house,' where His disciples, who had not remained 
 with those whom He had dismissed, came unto Him. 
 Whosoever indeed with a purer mind hear Jesus, first 
 follow Him, afterwards ask where He has His house, 
 are invited that they may see Him ; coming, they see 
 and remain with Him ; all indeed that day, but some 
 of them it may be longer. Therefore we also if we de- 
 sire to hear Jesus, not after the manner of the mul- 
 titude, but after the manner of those whom He allows 
 to enter the house, receiving something particular 
 
182 llie House of Jesus. 
 
 beyond the multitude, may be established as servants 
 and domestics of Jesus ; that like His disciples we may 
 approach Him after He has come home ; and drawing 
 near may ask to be taught ; bat that it may be more 
 fully understood, that which the house of Jesus may 
 intrust to us, let some one gather up from the Gospels 
 whatsoever things are spoken of the house of Jesus, 
 whatsoever He may have said or done therein ; for 
 these heaped together into one mass, will convince such 
 an attentive reader that the things which are written 
 in the G-ospels are not only simply [simpliciter] written 
 as some imagine, but on account of the simple [s'lm- 
 plicibus] according to the economy, are put forth as 
 simple [slmplicia]. But they who desire more acutely 
 and are able to strain their ears, for those, there are 
 hidden there things of great wisdom and worthy of the 
 Word of God." — In Matt. c. xiii. Geneh. vol. ii. p. 3, 
 B. C. 
 
 Holy Scripture may rightly be termed the ''House of 
 Jesus ;" His Presence is in it ; the impress of His mind 
 can be traced directly or indirectly by type and prophecy 
 upon its every page ; it reveals His mind and will ; 
 it presents us with a living portraiture of Himself ; 
 it contains the record of that which He did and said 
 
The House of Jesus. 183 
 
 during His three-and-thirty years' sojourn amongst us 
 in the flesh; it is the house or home of His earthly 
 sayings and memories : enshrined there as in a "Holy 
 of Holies," is the loving, living, suffering, pleading, 
 yearning heart of Jesus. Do you want to know Him? 
 you will meet Him there. Do you want to under- 
 stand the full purport of His gracious words and 
 works ? you will learn it there. It is His house 
 consecrated by His Spirit, just as heaven is now His 
 dwelling-place, the place of His sojourning in His 
 ascended Body. It is not until we live with a person 
 for some time that we can be said to know them ; to 
 understand their particular looks, ways, words of 
 speech ; become, in short, so familiarised with them, 
 that what may appear in them strange to others, 
 becomes quite natural to ourselves. Holy Scripture is 
 then the '' House of Jesus," and if you would be beyond 
 " the multitude," jow. must enter into this house and 
 there abide ; not merely for a day or for an hour, but 
 for all your lives long. In other words. Holy Scrip- 
 ture must be studied — 
 
 I. Cont'uiuously. — It is only by abiding continu- 
 ously in a house that you can learn the character of its 
 inmates ; passing, flying visits would never reveal this. 
 Much more true is it of the study of any book or author. 
 At first the study is strange ; there is no bond of 
 sympathy between the author and the student ; by 
 
184 The House of JesKS, 
 
 slow degrees the style and phraseology become familiar, 
 and having become familiar are naturalized in the 
 mind. Longer time is required ere the spirit of the 
 writer and the reader are blended into one. Yet until 
 this process has been accomplished, and a common 
 bond of sympathy has been drawn between them, no 
 one can be fairly said to have entered 'into the house 
 of his author. Holy Scripture is an inspired house ; 
 not built by mere human hands ; containing no mere 
 human presence ; furnished with no earthly furniture ; 
 and a continuous residence is therefore all the more 
 necessary if the mind is really to inhabit this " House 
 of Jesus." It is only by perpetual, prayerful study 
 that " the mind of it " can be translated into the mind 
 of man ; that the leaven of Scripture can leaven the 
 inner man ; <tha:t the soul can be brought from an out- 
 ward gaze upon the n^ysteries of the faith to feel and 
 to realize tlieir esoteric force and meaning. Such 
 continuous study must be made — 1) Daily. Else the 
 soul loses the tone and temper which the Sacred Oracles 
 had impressed upon it. 2) Throughout life. So that 
 the spirit of Revelation may be intertwined and inter- 
 mingled with all the varying pulses and emotions of 
 the mind. 3) Naturally. Not in any constrained or 
 forced condition of feeling, but just as we pass from 
 room to room in the house in which we take up our 
 abode. By this continuous study, and by it alone, 
 
The House of Jesus. 185 
 
 can the mind become familiarized with the house and 
 its Master, and become as one admitted within, and 
 not Uke the multitude be kept at the door without. 
 
 II. Diligentlij. — In the " House of Jesus" none can 
 afford to be idle ; there is so much to be learnt, there 
 is nothing that is unimportant ; nothing that is un- 
 worthy of observation. The smallest hint that is 
 dropped ; the simplest possible allusion ; the apparently 
 most common-place circumstance ; will, when duly 
 pondered upon and compared, be found to contain the 
 germ of some valuable truth beneath the surface. It 
 is only by such minute and accurate observation that 
 the soul can be made thoroughly at home in the " House 
 of Jesus ;" can be made to feel the full significance 
 and value of its gaining an entrance there. Our 
 Blessed Lord never spoke a word in vain ; never per- 
 formed even the slightest action without a purpose. 
 That which it behoved Him either to say or to do, it 
 surely must be profitable for His followers to note and 
 reflect upon. This minute and accurate study of Holy 
 Scripture demands — 1) Great care and attention. The 
 sacred page must be read in no hasty or irreverent 
 spirit. 2) Frequent repetition. " Line upon line, pre- 
 cept upon precept, line upon line ;" over and over again; 
 ever pressing the grapes for a further vintage. 3) 
 Careful comparison. Noting and comparing the several 
 yersions of " the one Gospel ;" the difi'erent lights in 
 
186 The House of Jesus. 
 
 which the same saying or fact is viewed. Hence the 
 urgent need there is that small portions only of the 
 Bible be studied at a time. 
 
 III. Lovingly. — His disciples came unto Jesus in 
 the house because they loved Him ; because they 
 longed for His Presence ; because they felt alone and 
 astray without Him. Love is the key to the entrance 
 of that house ; no unloving soul can enter therein as a 
 guest. Our houses are entered by those who are not 
 our friends from motives of gain, curiosity, or other 
 business ; but such persons are not dwellers in them . 
 Jesus must be loved in order to be known; and the 
 more He is known the more will He be loved. 
 Coming as a faithful, loving disciple into this '.'House 
 of Jesus," there will be left in the soul no spirit 
 for idle — 1) Curiosity. A mere desire to explore the 
 wonders of the place. 2) Cavil or doubt. Taking 
 exception at anything which may be met with there. 
 3) Contempt. For the humbleness of some of its 
 furniture. 
 
 Epilogue.— Considering that the " House of Jesus" 
 contains precious, priceless treasures — all the treasures 
 indeed of wisdom and knowledge — who will be content 
 to stay with the multitude without, and not seek to 
 enter into this " House of the Lord "? 
 
{ 187 ) 
 
 SERMON XXXIX. 
 
 THE CONSENT TO SIN. 
 
 "Neither give place to the devil." — Eph. iv. 27. 
 
 O rig en. — " ' The children of Israel did evil again 
 in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened 
 Eglon king of Moah against Israel.' (Judges iii. 12.) 
 You see that sins furnish strength to the enemy, and 
 that when we do evil in the sight of the Lord and for- 
 sake Him, then our enemies are strengthened by the 
 Lord ; then strength is given to the contrary powers. 
 Or if yon seek this according to the letter, you will so 
 find that onr sins could not become more powerful un- 
 less we endowed them with strength ; or if you should 
 consider it in spiritual things, the contrary virtues 
 likewise would not grow stronger against us, nor could 
 Satan himself prevail anything against us, except we 
 furnish him with strength through our sins ; he would 
 be exceedingly weak against us unless we made him 
 strong by sinning ; unless through our sins he could 
 find a place of entering in and ruling over us." — In 
 Jud. Horn. vii. Geneb. vol. i. p. 213, D. 
 
188 The Consent to Sin. 
 
 Each act of the will giving a consent to sin is an 
 admission of the principle of sin into the heart; it 
 implies the giving of a certain place in the soul to the 
 devil, who is the author of sin. Sins committed 
 against tlie will may be deadly ; they may entail much 
 punishment ; and they may have been committed whilst 
 yet the cry of '^No surrender" has been sounding in 
 the soul ; yet their indirect action upon the spiritual 
 nature is not nearly so sad as that which is exercised 
 upon the soul by the smallest transgression which is 
 committed through the agency of the will. Hence the 
 sin of Adam was incomparably greater than that of 
 Eve ; for *' Adam was not deceived" (1 Tim. ii. 14), 
 whilst Eve was deceived, and fell through w^eakness. 
 With regard to the consent to sin, even in the smallest 
 matters, we note that it — 
 
 I. Weakens. — Every bad habit becomes a cause of 
 weakness to the body, and every sin produces a corre- 
 sponding weakness in the spiritual nature. Humanly 
 speaking, our Blessed Lord was so strong because He 
 was absolutely holy ; He was invincible against sin 
 because sin had never gained an entrance into His 
 soul. He well knew what sin was ; he was sorely 
 tempted by it ; but He never gave way to it, and there- 
 fore His power over it was complete. Keep the water 
 entirely out of the vessel and all is right ; one little 
 leak soon multiplies itself, and the whole hulk of the 
 
The Consent to Sin. > 189 
 
 ship becomes in time rotten and worthless. As long 
 as the soul is sin-tight, so long is it strong. Hence 
 it is that after having once fallen into sin the second 
 fall is so much more easy than the first ; that from 
 successive falls the habit of sin is gained and fixes 
 itself upon the heart with an iron grip. The consent 
 to sin weakens — 1) By familiarizing the mind with sin. 
 Causing it to accept as a matter of course that which 
 before such consent would have filled it with loathing 
 and horror. 2) By multiplying the occasions of sin. 
 With such consent being gi-anted, it does not need 
 any great or signal temptation to cause a fall. 3) By 
 increasing the desires of sin. Once let evil thoughts 
 prevail they will be both indulged in and longed for ; 
 whilst the more they are indulged in the more will 
 they be longed for. 
 
 II. Arms. — The consent to sin supplies the adver- 
 sary of the soul with fresh arms or weapons to be used 
 against the sinner, who fabricates those very instru- 
 ments which work his own destruction. The three 
 great arms of sin which acquire an almost irresistible 
 power over the consenting sinner are — 1) Persuasion. 
 At first the delusive accents are disregarded, then 
 they are listened to, aud finally they are accepted and 
 acted upon. Having been victorious once, a second 
 and succeeding victory becomes more than a proba- 
 bility. 2) Occasion. The will consenting to sin, Satan 
 
190 The Consent to Sin. 
 
 finds most readily an occasion or opportunity for its 
 gratification ; in his evil purposes fulfilling to the letter 
 the old proverb, " Where there is a will there is a way." 
 3) Imitation. Satan sets before the mind of the willing 
 sinner the examples of other sinners who have sinned 
 far more grievously than himself, with apparent 
 impunity and success. Quoting the example of David's 
 sin, without making any record of David's repentance. 
 
 III. Betrays. — The consent of the will to sin betrays 
 the sinner in regard to his sin, in the several matters 
 of its — 1) Guilt. The consenting will tries and argues 
 the matter with the conscience, making little of that 
 which God has made much of; saying in the language 
 of the tempter of old, " Ye shall not surely die." (Gen. 
 iii. 4.) 2) Extent. The consenting will pleads for 
 this one little sin, and for this one only ; not for a 
 whole course of disobedience to God's law. Satan 
 knows full well that sin is like a torrent, when once 
 the flood-gates are opened the course of the water 
 cannot be further stayed. 3) Issues. The consenting 
 will promises to the sinner all gain or pleasure, 
 immunity from punishment or harm or loss ; whereas 
 in this life, as well as in the future, a most heav}'' 
 penalty is inflicted for the transgression of any of God's 
 holy laws, spiritual, moral, or physical. '' Be sure 
 your sin will find you out ;" here as well as hereafter. 
 
 Einlogiie. — Kemember, since the grace of God has 
 
The Consent to Sin. 191 
 
 come, to the Baptized Christian, that there is no ex- 
 cuse for sin ; and that all sin is now voluntary and 
 willingly committed ; since if the unaided will is not 
 strong enough to resist, God has promised to give His 
 grace, which will overcome nature, enabling the victor 
 over sin to say : "I can do all things through Christ 
 Which strengtheneth me." 
 
( 192 ) 
 
 SERMON XL. 
 
 THE CARE OF JESUS. 
 
 "A certain Samaritau as he journeyed, came where he was: 
 and when he saw him, he had compassion on him." — S. Luke 
 X. 33. 
 
 Origen. — '' The man therefore who went clown from 
 Jerusalem to Jericho (S. Luke x. 30), because he 
 desh-ed to descend, afterwards ' fell among thieves " 
 (id.), of whom the Saviour said, ' All that ever came 
 before Me are thieves and robbers.' (S. John x. 8.) 
 What are the blows, what the wounds, by which the 
 man was wounded ? Vices and sins. But it came to 
 pass that by the same way first a priest, afterwards a 
 Levite, ' went down,' who it may be had done certain 
 good deeds to other men, but not to this man who 
 
 * went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.' The ' certain 
 priest,' I think to be the law ; the ^' Levite,' I suppose 
 to be the prophetic word. Providence was preserving 
 the ' half dead ' by Him Who was stronger than the 
 law and the prophets. This is He who sleeps not : 
 
 * He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor 
 
The Care of Jesus, 193 
 
 sleep.' (Ps. cxxi. 4.) He descends that He may save 
 and guard those about to die ; to Whom the Jews said, 
 ' Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil. (S. John 
 viii. 48.) Who When He denied that He had a devil, 
 was not willing to deny that He was a Samaritan, for 
 He knew that He was a guardian. When therefore He 
 came to the * half dead,' and saw him wallowing in 
 his blood, pitying, He came to him, that he might 
 become his neighbour. But that you may know that 
 it was according to the providence of God that this 
 Samaritan descended that he might heal him who fell 
 among thieves, you will learn plainly from the fact, that 
 he had with him bandages and oil and wine ; which I 
 think He, the Samaritan, carried with Him on account 
 of this one ' half dead,' and also for others who have been 
 wounded by various causes, and who need bandages, 
 and oil, and wine. He ' set him on His own beast;' 
 that is, on His oAvn body, which is His vouchsafing to 
 become man. This Samaritan ' hath borne our griefs,' 
 etc. (Isa. liii. 4.) He ' brought him to an inn ;' that 
 is, to the Church, which receives all and denies her help 
 to none ; to whom Jesus calls all saying, ' Come unto 
 Me, all ye that labour,' etc. (S. Matt. xi. 28.) And 
 after He had brought him, He did not leave him im- 
 II. o 
 
194 The Care of Jesvs. 
 
 mediately, but remained with the ' half dead ' one day 
 in the inn, and healed his wounds ; not alone in the 
 day but also in the night, bestowing His remaining 
 solicitude and industry [upon him]. The ' host ' is the 
 Angel of the Church. The ' two pence ' seem to me 
 to be the conception of the Father and the Son, and 
 the knowledge of the mystery that the Father is in 
 the Son and the Son in the Father; which as rewards 
 are given to the Angel, that he may care the more 
 diligently for the man committed to him ; and he is 
 promised recompense for anything of his own which 
 he may expend in healing the * half dead.' " — In Luc. 
 Horn, xxxiv. Geneh. vol. ii. 156, G. H. I. 
 
 In this Parable the .Lord expresses His care and 
 provision for souls ; and from it we glean that this care 
 is — 
 
 I. Tho2ightfiil or iwudentlal. — There was fore- 
 thought displayed in the Samaritan meeting with the 
 " half dead " on the road, and more still in his being 
 provided with the necessary bandages and dressings 
 and appliances for the wounds. All care, to be of 
 avail, must be thoughtful or prudential. The Sama- 
 ritan might have sympathised sufficiently without his 
 bandages, oil, and wine ; but he could not have rendered 
 the same substantial service to the poor man in his 
 
The Care of Jesus, 195 
 
 distress. This thoughtful care is a recognition — 1) Of 
 the needful union of wisdom with affection and pit3^ 
 Wisdom is needed in any helpful expression of sym- 
 pathy. 2) Of the value of means. The Samaritan 
 knew that commiseration alone would not bind up, and 
 cleanse, and heal wounds. 3) Of contingent prepara- 
 tion. The Samaritan might have made many journeys 
 without the bandages being needed, and so at length 
 have left them at home, and when most wanted they 
 would not have been at hand. The means of doing 
 good is often lost for want of thought. The Lord 
 planned out His salvation for man with equal wisdom 
 and love. 
 
 II. Personal. — The Samaritan did not depute others 
 to go and tend the '' half dead," but he ministered to 
 him himself. He gave his own personal service, time, 
 and attention to him. He made it his own personal 
 business to succour this one in distress. Hence we 
 learn the value of personal service, which is rendered 
 in the way which is — 1) Quickest and readiest. The 
 '* half dead " might have died before others could have 
 been found to come to his relief. Others might have 
 been promptly called, but they would have pleaded the 
 need of attention first to their own concerns ; perhaps 
 even others might not have been found who would 
 have been ready to go. 2) But who else would have 
 rendered such hearty, cheerful, able aid as tlie Sama- 
 
 o 2 
 
196 The Care of Jesus. 
 
 ritan Himself did ? He was no hireling ; his heart 
 was in his work. The " half dead " was his own 
 concern, thought, and care. 3) Most grateful. The 
 " half dead " must have felt far more gratitude for 
 this personal service than if the Samaritan had sent 
 some one to represent him, even at his own cost. 
 Hence we learn never to depute to others that which 
 we ourselves are able to perform. First-handed 
 service is always the best. The Lord Himself came 
 down on earth to seek and to save the lost. The 
 Lord is now Himself pleading for man on the throne 
 of His mediatorial kingdom. 
 
 III. Unselfish. — 1) The Samaritan thought not of 
 himself, his means, time, and trouble ; bandages, 
 beast, money were, with his own care, equally devoted 
 to the " half dead." All that was wanted, he for the 
 time most readily gave up for another's use. 2) He 
 looked for neither thanks nor recompense, for that 
 which he was doing he did out of the generous 
 impulse of his own nature. 3) He regarded not the 
 merits of the case itself, as to whether the " half dead " 
 had come to this state by his own fault or folly, and 
 was, or was not worthy of his help. The claim to his 
 compassion was the state in which he found him. So 
 did Jesus give up all for man ; looking for no return ; 
 unmindful of man's unworthiness and ingratitude. 
 Let your care for others be shown in that you go out 
 
The Care of Jesus. 197 
 
 of yourselves, wholly and entirely, in helping and 
 ministering. 
 
 lY. Tender. — The Samaritan did not leave the inn 
 at once, but stayed that day and that night there, still 
 tending the " half dead ;" He would not leave him 
 until the crisis of his fate was passed. The tender- 
 ness of his care was seen in — 1) Watching over as 
 well as in delivering the " half dead" from his present 
 distress. 2) Waiting to cheer and comfort, after the 
 man had been lodged and his wounds dressed ; not 
 rendering him the least possible, but the greatest 
 possible, amount of service. 3) Interesting himself in 
 the issue of the event ; not willing to pass onwards 
 until assured somewhat of the recovery. With the 
 Lord there is nothing prefunctional, or hard, or harsh ; 
 but He is tender, gentle, loving in all His works and 
 ways. A type as to the spirit in which all our help to 
 others should be rendered. 
 
 V. Most needful. — The traveller would have died 
 had help not been forthcoming ; — 1) Promptly ; any 
 delay would have been fatal. The '' half dead " with- 
 out assistance must soon have died. 2) Efficiently; 
 with a certain skill and knowledge of the needs of the 
 case. 3) Freely ; without stint in the manner of its 
 application. Our Good Samaritan cares for our souls 
 in like manner ; by His grace helping the sinner 
 quickly, wisely, and bountifully. 
 
198 The Care of Jesus, 
 
 Epilogue. — Every means of grace is a token of the 
 care of Jesus. Are such means used — 1) Humbly ; 2) 
 believingly ; 3; continually; for the quickening renewal 
 and purification of the soul ? Is the example of the 
 Good Samaritan imitated in its several aspects in your 
 own dealings with others ? 
 
( 199 ) 
 
 SERMON XLI. 
 THE GOOD BEHIND. 
 
 " Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of 
 Glory."—! Cor. ii. 8. 
 
 Origen. — "The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was 
 double. Does it seem to you a strange and new word, 
 when I say that the Cross was double ? that is, it 
 appears to be double for a twofold reason. Because 
 visibly indeed the Son of God was crucified in the flesh ; 
 but invisibly on that Cross the devil, with his princi- 
 palities and powers, was fastened. Will not this seem 
 true to you, if I produce the Apostle Paul as a witness 
 of these things ? Hear, therefore, what he himself 
 pronounces concerning them : ' Which was contrary 
 to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His 
 Cross ; having spoiled principalities and powers, He 
 made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in 
 the wood of the cross.' (Col. ii. 14, 15.) Although 
 other copies read triumphing ' in Himself,' yet the 
 Greeks have ' in the wood.' There is, therefore, a 
 twofold reason for the Lord's Cross : one which i& 
 
200 The Good Behind. 
 
 expressed by the Apostle Peter : ' Christ crucified 
 left us an example.' (1 S. Pet. ii. 21); and this 
 second : that the Cross was the trophy of the devil, 
 on which he was crucified and triumphed over. 
 Therefore, and lastly, the Apostle Paul said : ' God 
 forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ ; by Whom the world is crucified 
 unto me, and I unto the world.' (Gal. vi. 14.) 
 You see that in this place also Paul has brought 
 forward a twofold reason of the Cross : for he said 
 that tw^o things contrary to themselves were crucified ; 
 himself being holy, and a sinful world ; according 
 to that form, without doubt, of Christ and the devil, 
 which we have expressed above." — In Jesu Nave. 
 Horn. viii. Geneh. vol. i. p. 186, I. K. 
 
 The Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, the world's 
 highest mystery and crowning act of redeeming love, 
 reads to us the lesson of " a good behind," which 
 ought never to be forgotten when judging of the ex- 
 periences of life. Of all things it was the inost impious 
 to crucify and slay the Son of God, the Lord of life and 
 and glory ; most unjust to kill " this Man," Who had 
 '' done nothing amiss ;" the highest ingratitude to re- 
 ward with death One Who ever " went about doinof 
 good." Yet was there another work oroinoj on whilst 
 
The Good Behind. 201 
 
 the Lord was "' nailed to the accursed tree :" another 
 crucifixion which the Jews had neither knowledge nor 
 thought of; else, " had they known it, they would not 
 have crucified the Lord of Glory ;" seeing that with 
 Him were likewise crucified, " the devil with his 
 principalities and powers, sin and death." The hody 
 of sin was crucified with the Body of Jesus on the 
 Cross; death, too, was slain in the dying of the 
 Lord. Li this most wicked of human acts there 
 was a " good behind ;" and the dark clouds of Calvary 
 had a silver lining, though invisible then to mortal 
 eye. So in all the sorrows of life : its stern disci- 
 pline ; its wasting sickness; its bereavements; its 
 disappointments; there is a *' good behind" which 
 is — 
 
 I. Providential. — Allowed for and ordained by the 
 good, wise, and loving providence of God. Had it not 
 been for the invisible crucifixion of sin, perhaps God 
 would never have permitted the visible crucifixion of 
 His Beloved Son. In all that we here are called 
 upon to bear and suffer, there is also a providential 
 *'good behind," which has been both foreseen and 
 provided for by our Heavenly Father and our God. 
 Affliction is backed by glory (2 Cor. iv. 17) ; death 
 by life (S. Matt. xvi. 25) ; chastisement by reward 
 (Heb. xii. 11) ; humiliation by honour (S. Luke xiv. 
 10) ; depravation by recompense. (S. Matt. xix. 28.) 
 
202 The Good Behind. 
 
 There is a providential " good behind " in the meanest 
 and most unpromising incidents in life. 
 
 II. Indirect. — Prayer, for instance, has a direct 
 action upon God ; an indirect action upon ourselves. 
 Any act of kindness which we may show, benefits 
 another much, but ourselves more in softening the 
 heart, in bringing joy and satisfaction to the con- 
 science. All that we do or say, beyond the immediate 
 object of our action, has an indirect effect by way 
 of example. The direct purpose of the Jews was to 
 crucify Jesus of Nazareth ; the indirect purport of 
 their act was to crucify the devil. Seek to connect 
 every dispensation with that indirect " good behind " 
 which takes away its sting, and consecrates it for our 
 acceptance. 
 
 III. Hidden. — At the time, this " good behind " 
 is unthought of ; is never for a moment conceived of as 
 being possible. Past experience of life shows that 
 many bitter trials, which when they occurred seemed 
 to afford just causes for unmitigated grief, had indeed 
 a hidden '^good behind " them, which in after events 
 and after years was clearly revealed. This thought 
 should cause us to suspend our judgment upon 
 present events ; not to be hasty either to praise or to 
 condemn, but rather to wait for *' time, the great re- 
 vealer," to unfold to us God's good purpose concern- 
 ing us when He thinks it best. This " good behind " 
 
The Good Behind. 203 
 
 is often hidden, to test— 1) Faith in God's promises. 
 2) Patience in waiting upon God. 3) Endurance; 
 reaping, if the soul faints not, in due time. 
 
 IV. Lasting.— The "good behind" is often lasting, 
 when the sorrow which went before it is of short dura- 
 tion. It is so with all sacrifices made in time for 
 eternity, with the discipline of the earlier years of life 
 which, as a rule, leads to a prosperous and success- 
 ful manhood. The knife of the surgeon is bitter in its 
 operation, but it may purchase many subsequent years 
 of a happy and healthful existence. Our dear Lord's 
 visible Crucifixion was soon over; His Body soon 
 taken down from the Cross, and restored to life again; 
 but the invisible crucifixion of the devil and his hosts 
 is going on still, and will go on until the end of all 
 things. Shrink not from temporary sorrow, if it 
 carries with it a " good behind " which contains the 
 elements of eternal joy. 
 
 V. Contingent. — Not to be separated from the out- 
 ward visible act. If Jesus Christ had not been 
 *' visibly crucified in the flesh," the devil would not 
 have been "invisibly fastened to the Cross." Contin- 
 gency is the expression of a law of life. In this world 
 there is no good without some contingent evil ; no joy 
 without some contingent sorrow. This life is a 
 middle state ; and all the actions performed or sufi'ered 
 therein are capable of a twofold relationship — either 
 
204 The Good Behind. 
 
 with heaven or with hell. Hence we learn that 
 unlimited condemnation helongs not to beings in this 
 present state. The " good behind " is contingent upon 
 present evil. 
 
 Epilogup. — May the Cross of Jesus, as carrying a 
 *'good behind" it, teach to all the lessons of — 1) 
 Submission under trial. 2.) Contentment with the 
 present lot in life. 3) Hope for the future. To be 
 overcome by no trials ; never to be swallowed up b}' 
 the sorrow of the world which worketh death. 
 
( 205 ) 
 
 SERMON XLII. 
 
 THE DESCENT FROM THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 "When He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes 
 followed Him."— S, Matt. viii. 1. 
 
 Origen. — " The Lord now descending, that is, inclin- 
 ing Himself to the infirmity and impotence of others, 
 pitying their imperfection or weakness, "great mul- 
 titudes followed Him." — Hom.Y. InDiversos. Geneh. 
 vol. ii. p. 284, H. 
 
 This descent from the mountain indicates '' Christ, 
 the Pattern Man in sympathy," (Wilberforce "In- 
 carnation," c. iv.) The few, could alone be taught, 
 enlightened, advised, and spiritually healed (Origen) 
 upon the mountain, but it was when He " came down " 
 therefrom that the multitudes followed Him ; claimed a 
 share in His words and works ; appropriated Him as it 
 were to themselves. The few, possessed Him on the 
 mountain-top ; He became the heritage of the many, 
 descending into the plain. And this was so because 
 that descent of His holy Body was typical of another 
 and a deeper descent which was demanded by the 
 economy of His earthly mission ; in the fulfilment of 
 
206 The Descent from the Mountain. 
 
 which onr Blessed Lord descended not from the 
 ''Mount of Beatitudes" alone, but from the four 
 mystical mountains of — 
 
 I. Glory. — The Lord came down from the mountain 
 of His heavenly glory when He '* made Himself of no 
 reputation," etc. (Phil. ii. 7. 8.) The change from 
 heaven to earth is one that we, with our feeble know- 
 ledge of the Heavenly City, can but dimly conceive of. 
 The contrast is something stupendous between the 
 majesty and the glory of heaven and -the humiliation, 
 sorrow, and suffering of this present life on earth. 
 Such a change would crush a nature which was only 
 mortal. It was the Divine nature of our dear Lord 
 that sustained Him under the economy of His Incar- 
 nation. It was part of His mission that " great mul- 
 titudes" should "follow" Him, and therefore it was 
 needful that He should descend from the mountain of 
 glory. The resplendent glory of His Grodhead on earth 
 would have been — 1) Incongruous, or out of place ; 
 as a court dress would be unseemly in the poverty- 
 stricken purlieus of a large city. But small sympathy 
 could exist between a Preacher so glorious and a con- 
 gregation so poor and humble as the poor unto whom 
 Jesus ministered, and therefore He put aside His glory. 
 2) Unbearable. The reflection even of His glory in 
 the fiice of Moses was more than man could bear to 
 look upon. (2 Cor. iii. 7.) At the Transflo-uration the 
 
The Descent from the Mowiiain. 207 
 
 vision of His glory was almost more than the disciples 
 were able to endiii'e. Had the Lord showed His glory 
 to men, they would have tm-ned away from Him, as 
 being wholly unable to bear the resplendent majesty of 
 His person. 3) Cruel. As setting off to so great dis- 
 advantage the distance between "the Lord of glory " 
 aud His fallen creatures ; as seeming to be a kind of 
 scorn and mockery of the lowly children of men. 
 Therefore He *' came down from the mountain " of 
 glory, that He might be humble with the humble ; 
 one to them of their very selves. 
 
 II. Poiver. — Those in robust health and strength, 
 who have hardly ever had a single day's illness in 
 their lives, can hardly realize the life and feelings of 
 those who are strangers to health ; who are the sub- 
 jects of weakness and disease, and whose existence is 
 one continued exercise of patient suffering. They 
 have never been subjected to the discipline which ever 
 waits upon bodily infirmity. Therefore, as a rule, the 
 strong are less feeling ; less tender ; less considerate 
 for others than the weak. Had the Lord not descended 
 from the mountain of His power. He could hardly 
 have had compassion upon the weak ; hardly have so 
 fully entered into their failings, trials, and hopes. 
 Therefore, like His servant, "to the weak," He 
 " became as weak " that He '' might gain the w^eak." 
 (1 Cor. ix. 22.) The Lord's descent from the moun- 
 
208 The Descent from the Mountain. 
 
 tain of power showed His purely unselfish soul. It 
 was not for Himself that He became weak ; weak in 
 suffering, though not in endurance ; weak in the hands 
 of others ; weak in resisting the opposition of a harsh 
 and cruel world. He was still strong and powerful 
 — 1) Over Nature. He commanded the winds and the 
 seas, and they obeyed Him. (S. Matt. viii. 27.) He 
 healed the sick ; restored the blind to sight ; raised the 
 dead. 2) Over the spirit-world. Casting out devils ; 
 forgiving sin. 3) Both in heaven and hell. Both 
 with God the Father and over Satan, whom He bruised 
 under His holy feet. Powerful indeed was the Lord 
 for all, but Himself ; powerful He knew Himself to be 
 (S. Matt. xxvi. 53), yet for the sake of men He became 
 weak, that they might have in Him a High Priest Who 
 could be touched with a feeling for their infirmities. 
 (Heb. iv. 15.) To succour the vast company of the 
 suffering and the weak did the Lord descend from the 
 mountain of power. 
 
 III. Hajypiness. — Just as the strong have small 
 compassion for the weak, so the happy and joyous 
 have but little fellow-feeling with the stricken and the 
 sorrowful in soul. Li sympathy with our race the 
 Lord resigned the joys of heaven, and He became the 
 " Man of sorrows." (Isa. liii. 3.j Descending from 
 the mountain of happiness the Lord endured the sorrow 
 which is common to our humanity on account of man's 
 
The Desce7it from the Mountain. 209 
 
 — 1) Past loss. Original righteousness; God's favour ; 
 immortality; and happiness on earth. 2) Present 
 estate ; one of suffering, humiliation, sin, and death. 
 3) Future prospects ; death eternal was before man ; 
 and did He not come and give men life ? Eternal tor- 
 ment was to be men's portion; and did He not come and 
 give them peace ? Hell eternal gaped and opened its 
 mouth for our race ; and did He not come and open the 
 door of heaven for men ? Therefore did the Lord 
 descend from the mountain of happiness to bless all 
 mankind. 
 
 IV. Immortality. — There is no death in heaven, nor 
 can death tarry among the heavenly natures. Death 
 is the one shadow cast by sin over the fairness and 
 beauty of life. As heaven is a sinless, so also is it a 
 deathless state. The Lord descended from the moun- 
 tain of immortality to suffer and to die on earth to 
 conquer death for man, by taking away its — 1) Sting ; 
 the Lord loving and holy died not only for us but also 
 before us. 2) Power ; the Lord rose again and we 
 shall rise through Him. His subjection to a like 
 nature established a community of nature between the 
 Lord and His redeemed. 
 
 Epilogue. — He descended from this fourfold mount 
 
 that with Him and by Him we might ascend. He 
 
 came down not with us for ever to remain in a low 
 
 estate, but for us to gain the glory, honour, and im- 
 
 II. p 
 
210 The Descent fr 0771 the Mountain. 
 
 mortality that He had with the Father before the 
 world was. Seize Him, ding to Him, in love and 
 obedience, that so with Him you may ascend for 
 ever. 
 
( 211 ) 
 
 SERMON XLIII. 
 
 JESUS THE SUN. 
 
 " The Sun of Eighteousness."— ITaZ. iv. 2. 
 
 Origen, — ''As in that firmament which has heen 
 called heaven, God ordered two lights to divide 
 between the day and the night (Gen. i. 16), so can it 
 be with us ; if we study both to be called and to be 
 made heaven, we shall have lights in ourselves which 
 will enlighten us — Christ and His church. For He 
 Himself is the ' Light of the world ' (S. John viii. 
 12), Who also illumines the Church by His light. 
 If any one so advances that he becomes a son of God, 
 let him ' walk honestly as in the day ' (Eom. xiii. 13), 
 as a son of God and a son of light ; he becomes 
 illumined by Christ Himself, as the day is by the sun. 
 As the sun and moon illumine our bodies, so by 
 Christ and the Church are our minds illumined." 
 — Horn, in Gen. ii. Geneh. vol. i. p. 2. K, L. 
 
 " The Spiritual Sun Who is the Sun of Kighteous- 
 ness, in Whose wings is said to be (Mai. iv. 2) healing, 
 illumines and girds with all brightness those whom it 
 
 p 2 
 
2V2 Jesus the San. 
 
 has found to be rigbt of heart and standing in the 
 constellation of its splendour ; but those who walk 
 obliquely towards it, by necessity also itself does not 
 so much regard obliquely as it despises. For how can 
 they who are perverse receive that which is right ?" 
 — In Cant. C<i)i. Horn. ii. Geneh. vol. i. p. 324, L. 
 
 That which the sun is to the natural world is Jesus 
 Christ to the spiritual world ; the functions which the 
 one sun performs in the world of nature are exceeded 
 in number and excellence by the other Sun in the 
 world of grace. Of the natural sun we note that — 
 
 I. It is a Centre. — All the heavenly bodies of our 
 system are placed in relation to the sun ; they revolve 
 around it whilst itself remains stationary. The sun 
 regulates their orbits, determines their seasons, assigns 
 their relative periods of darkness and light. Jesus 
 Christ is in like manner the centre of the Gospel 
 System of Divine Grace. His saints can but revolve 
 around Him as their centre ; the one grand enduring 
 centre of their hope, love, pardon, and grace. Were 
 the sun to be removed from his place, all would be 
 chaos in the regions of space : when the Sun of 
 Righteousness is deposed from the centre of the soul, 
 all is doubt, confusion, vanity, and ruin. This Sun — 
 1) Regulates the orbit of the holy. The Holy pre- 
 cepts and example of Jesus determine the limits and 
 
Jesus the Sun. 213 
 
 the range of their action ; their own law of repentance 
 for themselves, and their law of forgiveness for others ; 
 the degree in which they ought to conform to the 
 world ; their openness or their reticence with regard to 
 the faith ; with a thousand other questions of a like 
 nature, to determine which an answer must be sought to 
 the question, " What would Jesus Himself have said or 
 done under the like circumstances ?" Be3^ond the 
 range of His teaching and example the holy dare not 
 travel. As the sun regulates the motions of the 
 heavenly bodies, so does Jesus regulate the every 
 motion of his saints ; they ever hear Him saying, 
 " Without Me ye can do nothing." (S. John xv. 5.) 
 2) Determines their seasons of growth and decay. 
 Makes the winter of their souls, during which there is 
 but small profit when He goes away from them ; and 
 He brings the cheering summer-tide to their souls 
 when he returns nearer to them again. In this life 
 under an entire spiritual winter the soul would die ; 
 under an entire spiritual summer the soul would 
 become enervated and weak, and forget that this 
 world was not its rest. 3) Assigns their relative 
 periods of darkness and of light, of day and of night, 
 of prosperity and of adversity, of joy and of sorrow. 
 For as night, bringing its rest with it, braces up both 
 mind and body for the coming da}^, so does sorrow 
 and temptation brace up the soul to " endure hard- 
 
214 Jesvs the Sun. 
 
 ness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ " (2 Tim. ii. 3), 
 to '' resist the devil " (S. James iv. 7), to wrestle 
 " not only against flesh and blood, but against princi- 
 palities," etc. (Eph. vi. 12.) May the law of Jesus 
 form the orbit in which every soul of His Mystical 
 Body undeviatingly revolves ; neither falling short of 
 nor transgressing its due line or course, but steadily 
 and unceasingly moving around Him as around the 
 soul's true centre ; referring to Him its every thought, 
 word, and deed. 
 
 II. It Quickens. — Without the warmth and light 
 of the sun vegetation could not be quickened, the seed 
 would not germinate, the sap would not rise, the bud 
 — which afterwards expands into leaf, flower, and fruit 
 — would not form. The sun is the quickening power 
 of the natural world ; and just so is Jesus Christ the 
 quickening power of the spiritual world. He recalls 
 dead souls to life again ; and He renews those who are 
 fainting and ready to die, by His — 1) Crace. His Spirit 
 comes down into them, so that whereas they were dead 
 they now live. " Christ liveth in me" (Gal. ii. 20), is 
 that which the once dead one feels when quickened 
 into life. 2) Words. Which are " spirit and life " (S. 
 John vi. G3) : for — a) they convey a message of life, 
 pardon, and acceptance with God. h) A means of 
 life forming the food of souls. Plants and animals 
 take dead matter and convert it into living organisms ; 
 
Jesus the Sun, 215 
 
 so likewise do sounds and words pass into the living 
 organisms of immortal natures, and become in them a 
 principle of life, c) A means of sacramental life ; 
 water, bread, and wine, blessed and consecrated, 
 become the channels of life-giving energy. 3) Works. 
 So full of love, gentleness, and goodness, that they 
 enkindle by their imitation a new and holier life within. 
 All noble and heroic action awakens dormant sympa- 
 thies, and arouses the best and highest elements of our 
 nature. May this Blessed Sun of Eighteousness so 
 quicken our dead souls, that thej^ may awake to new 
 forms of glory and beauty. 
 
 III. It Ripens. — The sun does more than quicken 
 nature into life ; it ripens the fruits of the earth when 
 produced. It would be of no profit if the fruit never 
 reached maturity, and so availed not for the wants of 
 man. God never leaves His work half done : the sun 
 that quickens ripens too. The *' Sun of Righteous- 
 ness " also ripens in the faithful the " fruits of 
 righteousness, which are by grace unto the glory and 
 praise of God." (Phil. i. 11.) A beautiful and lovely 
 sight is it, to watch day by day the fruits of the 
 earth ripening under the genial influence of the warm 
 cherishing sun ; but a far more beautiful sight is it to 
 watch the fruits of holiness daily growing unto perfec- 
 tion, fostered by the ripening hand of Him Who loved 
 us and gave Himself for us. (Gal. ii. 20.) 
 
216 Jesus the San. 
 
 lY. It neve?' Sets. — When the natural sun shall 
 have set in the gloom of an eternal night, the " Sun 
 of Kighteousness " will shine on — if possible, with 
 increased and increasing glory — for ever and ever. It 
 will never give place to darkness and desolation ; Its 
 work of glory will never he done. In the soul of the 
 faithful one It shines more and more unto the perfect 
 day which knows nothing of either night or of morrow. 
 Jesus Christ is the Sun of Heaven as He is the true 
 Sun of earth ; the Sun of Eternity as He is the Sun 
 of time. The light from this Spiritual Sun is — 1) All 
 glorious ; beyond all the shining of this lower sun. 2) 
 Immortal ; enduring throughout the countless ages of 
 eternity. 3) All-penetrating ; reaching to the utmost 
 confines of the kingdom of the redeemed. 
 
 Epilogue. — 0, Christian Soul ! walk not on in un- 
 profitable darkness ; let this Spiritual Sun of Eighte- 
 ousness ever shine upon you, with its centralizing, 
 •quickening, ripening, and enduring rays. 
 
( 217 ) 
 
 SERMON XLIV. 
 
 DEATH UNTO LIFE. 
 
 "Death worketh in us."— 2 Cor. iv. 12. 
 
 Or'igen. — " But also ' death ' itself which ' worketh 
 in us ' seems to me to have three differences. For 
 as in Christ one w^as the time of death, since it is 
 said, ' When Jesus had cried with a loud voice . . . 
 He gave up the Ghost' (S. Luke xxiii. 46) ; and 
 another, ' When placed in the sepulchre He lay there 
 with the mouth closed ' (S. Matt, xxvii. 66) ; and 
 a third, indeed, when sought for in the tomb He is 
 not found (S. John xx. 13), because He had already 
 risen — the beginning of Whose Eesurrection was 
 visible to no man ; so also in us who believe this 
 threefold reason of death is to be understood. And 
 first, indeed, the death of Christ is shown in us by 
 confession of the voice, since ' With the heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth 
 confession is made unto salvation.' (Rom. x. 10.) 
 Secondly, truly in the mortification of the ' members 
 
218 Death unto Life, 
 
 which are upon earth ' (Col. iii. 5), when we are 
 always ' bearing about in the body the dying of the 
 Lord Jesus ' (2 Cor. iv. 10) ; and this is what it says, 
 * That death worketh in us.' The third, verily, when 
 we rise from the dead, and ' walk in newness of life.' 
 (Rom. vi. 4.) And that we may more briefly and 
 clearly explain : the first day of death is to have 
 renounced the world ; the second, to have renounced 
 the sins of the flesh ; but the fulness of perfection in 
 the light of wisdom is the third day of the Resur- 
 rection." — In Ep'ist. ad Rom. c. vi. 1. v. Geneh. vol. 
 ii. p. 353, D. 
 
 The death of the body, as it is the end of earthly 
 ties, work, possessions, desires, and associations, so 
 is it also the beginning of new ties, work, desires, and 
 the rest. Death is a beginning as well as an end ; 
 a beginning as really and truly as birth is. The death 
 unto sin, is in like manner the beginning of a new 
 life in the soul. Like bodily death it is at the same 
 time an end and a beginning. Of this spiritual death 
 unto sin, which is but the beginning of a new life, the 
 death of our dear Lord in the body was an earnest 
 and a type. The death of Jesus was not the end but 
 the beginning of His mediatorial work ; it was the 
 foundation upon which His mediatorial kingdom was 
 
Death unto Life, 219 
 
 to be raised. In death, as in life, that Lord Whose 
 whole life was one continuous parable of action, be- 
 came to man a similitude. As there is a death unto 
 death, so there is a death unto life ; and the succes- 
 sive stages of this latter death are represented to us 
 by the death of our Blessed Lord. This spiritual 
 death unto life has its three days ; of which we note : 
 the first day of death, to the world without ; the 
 second day of burial, of our earthly affections and 
 desires, of death to the world within ; and the third 
 day, when the soul arises to the new life of grace. 
 Hence this " death unto life," as represented b}^ the 
 death of eTesus Christ, implies a — 
 
 I. Renunciation. — The world of sin without has to 
 be renounced ; *' the pride of life " has to be given up. 
 This can only be done when the conviction is forced 
 upon the mind that honours, riches, pleasures, and 
 the like, when they form the sole end of life, are both 
 purposeless and vain* Confession is then made that 
 these things are not really that which they seem to 
 be ; that they are transitory ; unavailing in the time 
 of the greatest need ; and that they fill the soul to the 
 exclusion of that which is best, highest, and alone 
 profitable for its eternal good. The lower must be 
 renounced if the higher is to be gained. In all things 
 it is ordained that a choice and a selection has to be 
 made. This renunciation is — 1) Imperative. Our 
 
220 Death unto Life. 
 
 Blessed Lord said, '' Ye cannot serve God and 
 mammon." (S. Matt. vi. 24.) The desires, motives, 
 and actions of the one are essentially opposed to those 
 of the other ; no common ground of concord can be 
 found to exist between them. According to the 
 Divine command a choice has to be made. 2) Just. 
 Each master awards according to his kind. " The 
 wages of sin is death " (Rom. vi. 23), " but the gift 
 of God is eternal life." (Id.) We cannot serve the 
 world and God ; we cannot accept the wages of sin 
 and of God. It is just, therefore, that a selection be 
 made between them. 3) Congruous. A soldier must 
 belong to a definite army ; it is meet that he must 
 wear the livery of some country. All men are soldiers. 
 Jesus or Satan are their respective leaders. 
 
 II. Mortification. — A death to the world of sin 
 within ; to the pleadings of an undisciplined body ; to 
 the yearnings and vain imaginings of an unchastened 
 soul. The first day of the confession of sin imphes 
 the renunciation of sin in act ; the second day 
 of the mortification of the old nature implies the 
 renunciation of sin in desire and in thought. 
 Modification of self is a second step in advance of 
 renunciation of the world ; more searching, touching 
 more nearly the '' apple of the eye," than the former 
 one. It is signified by our Lord when He rested in 
 the tomb, and therefore it implies a stilling or quieting 
 
Death unto Life. 221 
 
 of the affections. 1) No longer are they to he let 
 to run riot upon earthly objects wdthout either measure 
 or stint. The one object of love with heart, soul, 
 mind, and strength, is God Himself. All other love 
 is to be subordinate to this. 2) Desires ; hankering 
 after that which we have not and are not. Many a 
 holy and profitable life is frittered away through 
 indulgence in vain desire ; always longing for that 
 which is not ; always discontented with that which is. 
 3) Will ; so that in holy submission it may accept 
 God's providential dealings. 
 
 III. New Life. — Of which our Lord's rising from 
 death was a similitude : the completion of that death 
 unto sin which results in a new and better life. Such 
 new life is an — 1) Exchange. Every sacrifice in the 
 cause of that which is good and holy, brings some 
 compensation in its train. In the Gospel, if a man is 
 bidden not to love this world and the things of it, a 
 brighter, purer, and better world is offered to him in 
 exchange. In every way Jesus Christ came to make 
 men richer, not poorer, than they were before. 2) A 
 gain. Spiritually as well as bodily "to die is gain." 
 The new life is so much better than the old ; it is 
 lasting, satisfying, ample, and perfect. 3) A triumph 
 and a result. It represents the end and working out 
 of the renunciation and mortification of the world and 
 the flesh ; it is a triumph of the spirit over the flesh ; 
 
222 Death unto Life. 
 
 of the immortal over the mortal nature. By dying 
 Jesus conquered death ; by dying unto sin, we can 
 also conquer sin. 
 
 Epilogue. — Pray that this death unto sin may 
 indeed work in the heart — 1) Fully ; 2) perseveringly ; 
 3) triumphantly. Then will be fulfilled (Gal. ii. 20). 
 
( 223 ) 
 
 SERMON XLV. 
 
 THE INWAED EYE. 
 
 " To one the savour of death unto death ; and to the other the 
 savour of life unto life." — 2 Cor. ii. 16. 
 
 Origen. — " But if you are able to understand morally 
 the difference of tlie Word which is proclaimed both 
 by ' the foolishness of preaching ' (1 Cor. i. 21) to 
 those who believe, and in ' wisdom among them that 
 are perfect ' (1 Cor. ii. 6\ you will perceive that the 
 Word of God has, verily, to them who are newly 
 introduced to the faith, ' the form of a servant ' 
 (Col. ii. 7) ; as they may say. We saw Him, and ' He 
 hath no form nor comeliness.' (Isa. liii. 2.) But 
 amongst the perfect He comes ' in the glory of His 
 Father ' (S. Matt. xvi. 27), so that they may say, 
 'We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only- 
 begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' 
 (S. John. i. 14.) For to the perfect will appear the 
 glory of the Word ; that He is ' the Only-begotten 
 of the Father ;' that He is ' full,' at the same time, 
 ' of grace and truth ;' which he cannot receive who 
 
224 The Iiucard Eye. 
 
 still stands in need of the 'foolishness of preach- 
 ing.'" — In Matt. Tract, ii. c. xvi. Gench. vol. ii. p. 
 27, E. F. 
 
 Our Blessed Lord Himself as revealed in Holy 
 Scripture, and every single truth therein contained, 
 can be viewed in one or more aspects according to 
 the '^ Inward Eye" with which they are regarded. 
 This " inward eye " is like the sun, which in shining 
 imparts a loveliness and a glow to the commonest 
 landscape, and which in retiring behind the clouds 
 leaves the loveliest prospect dull and incomplete. 
 This "inward eye" is like the tinted glass which, placed 
 before the eye, reduces all colours to a monotonous 
 monochrome. Spiritual and moral truth, persons, 
 places, the circumstances and relationships of life, are 
 all subject to the influence of the "inward eye,'' and 
 are viewed in strict accordance with its ruling. Hence 
 the mysteries of the Faith become " to one the savour 
 of death unto death;" to another, "the savour of life 
 unto life." (2 Cor. ii. 16.) As bodily taste depends 
 upon the state of bodily health, so does the spiritual, 
 moral, and intellectual vision depend upon the several 
 capacities which influence this faculty. As we are 
 in ourselves, so do we see outward things. Their 
 impressions are really our own. We may note that 
 this reflective vision of " the inward eye " is — 
 
The Inward Eye. 225 
 
 I. Variable. — We view life and its several circum- 
 stances to-day with different eyes than those with 
 which we beheld them yesterday. According to our 
 present mood and temper so is the appearance of all 
 taings to us, whether mental or material. To the 
 jaundiced and the diseased, most things are shorn of 
 their brightness, but they are not ever equally 
 depressing and gloomy. At times we " rejoice in the 
 Lord;' whilst at other seasons, such as those of 
 spiritual dryness. He seems to melt away, and to 
 become hardly more than a mere abstraction to us ; 
 and to have lost all power of influencing either the 
 feelings or the life. Bearing this fact in mind, we 
 learn caution, in judging by our feelings of truths which 
 are manifest, and of the first importance. Even the 
 Lord Himself comes before us now as a ^' Servant," 
 or then as a '' King," according to the temporary view 
 of the interior eye. Many great saints have been 
 made miserable, and have doubted of their election, 
 by having mistaken a temporary depression of spirits 
 for a final falling away from grace. In all things, as 
 far as possible, a mean ought to be struck between the 
 depression of the past — day, week, or month — and the 
 exaltation of the present ; and a certain correction 
 should be applied so as to bring into harmony those 
 opposing states of feeling ; both of which may have 
 their ordained purposes, of reminding man of his 
 
 II. Q 
 
226 The Inward Eye. 
 
 mixed nature and relationship ; that he belongs to 
 two worlds ; and that at present he is placed midway 
 between the two. Here man leads a dying life, and 
 the " savour " both of death and of life are, and must 
 be, his alternating portion. 
 
 II. Contingent. — Many elements are contained in 
 the one word " happiness ;" a thousand contingent 
 circumstances likewise combine to form the vision of 
 " the inward eye." Of these contingent circumstances, 
 some are in our own power ; we can either close our 
 eyes to all but the immediate objects of our vision, or 
 we can let them wander hither and thither and so 
 diminish its special effect. Looking directly at a 
 single mountain, the longer it is gazed at the higher 
 and more magnificent does it appear. Take off the 
 eye, survey the whole noble range of hills, and the one 
 single peak loses its first startling efi'ect of grandeur 
 and magnificence. Directing the eye of the soul long 
 and earnestly to the contemplation of some one truth, 
 that one truth grows in dignity and importance ; but 
 by letting the mind range over other kindred truths, the 
 firm sharp outlines of the former become blurred and 
 indistinct. The difficulties, apparent inconsistencies, 
 of the human element in the Gospels being considered, 
 the Lord dwindles almost down into **the form of a 
 servant;" the other higher and supernatural side of 
 the Gospels coming before the mind, the majesty and 
 
TJte Inward Eye, 227 
 
 the glory of the Lord appear in all their solemnity and 
 greatness. The Lord meditated upon singly and 
 alone, becomes indeed a great mountain ; dishonoured 
 by earthly comparisons and reasonings He sinks down 
 into a little hill, into the " Perfect Man." Learn to 
 make allowance for "disturbing causes" as to the 
 conception of Divine truth whensoever they may arise. 
 III. — Personal. — '^ The inward eye " colours all 
 things with its own personal tint or hue. There are 
 certain features in the workings and teachings of our 
 Blessed Lord which commend themselves above the 
 others to certain minds ; and by such minds our Lord 
 is regarded in the aspect which appeals most forcibly 
 to their own feelings and views of things. In a 
 greater or in a lesser degree our personality is stamped 
 upon our every thought, word, and deed. It influences 
 our judgment, it impairs our rigid sense of justice, 
 and yet becomes a means of strong and holy 
 attraction. To the humble in soul, the humility of 
 Jesus will come home with special power. To the 
 self-sacrificing, this utter forgetfulness of self will 
 bring Him very near to them. To those striving after 
 purity, the glory of His sinless life will have a special 
 charm. The character of Jesus is many-sided, and 
 jet every side has its own peculiar beauty. Jesus 
 has something special for each one ; some thought 
 that aw^akens a deep chord in a particular soul. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 The Inward Eye. 
 
 IV. Progressire. — The vision of the Saviour begins 
 with a siglit of Him as He came at His first coming, 
 and will end with the sight of Him as He will appear 
 at His second advent. We need at first " the foolish- 
 ness of preaching ;" afterwards, "amongst the perfect," 
 we learn to understand the '' wisdom of God." " The 
 inward eye," by the discipline of faith, obedience, 
 prayer, and Sacramental communion gains — 1) 
 Strength ; 2) Far-sightedness ; 3) Power of dis- 
 crimination. Strength, to endure the sight of that 
 which at one time it could not behold. Far-sighted- 
 ness, to extend the range of its vision to the kingdom 
 of God. Power of discrimination, which enables it to 
 discern one spiritual truth from another. 
 
 Epilogue, See then that "the inward eye" be 
 kept bright and pure ; that it be constantly and 
 perseveringly exercised ; that it be directed from all 
 that is base and lowly, and that it be lifted up to all 
 that is high, holy, and heavenly ; then will it rejoice at 
 length in -the Beatific Vision, and will realize Isa. 
 xxxiii. 17. 
 
( 229 ) 
 
 SERMON XLVI. 
 
 THE SHADOW OF LIFE. 
 
 " If tliou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." — 
 S. Matt. xix. 17. 
 
 Origen. — " Consider, that lie who was asking Him 
 concerning the ordained good, was as yet as if beyond 
 the pale of life ; so He answers, * If thoii wilt enter into 
 life.' I demand here how any one is beyond the pale 
 of life, and how he may * enter into life.' By chance 
 in one way, indeed, that man is without the pale 
 life who is without the pale of Him Who said, ' I an, 
 the life.' (S. John xiv. 6.) But after another 
 fashion every one who is upon the earth, although he 
 may seem to be most just, is able to be verily in the 
 shadow of life ; but not in life itself whilst he is 
 surrounded by the ' body of death,' and is saying, 
 * Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? 
 (Kom. vii. 24) ; and is sitting ' in the region and 
 shadow of death' (S. Matt. iv. 16), in that he has 
 not yet come to the land of the living. But any one 
 may enter into life who, abstaining from dead works, 
 
230 The Shadow of Life. 
 
 is desiring living works ; never also speaking dead, 
 but living words, according to the word of the living 
 God ; and who has not dead but living thoughts in 
 the heart." — In Matt. Tract viii. Geneh. vol. ii. p. 
 46, G. 
 
 True life consists in the full development of every 
 faculty, free from any admixture of decay. Can the 
 life of this world develope our every faculty ? Can 
 anything, save God, satisfy and develope that mind 
 which bears the reflection and impress of Himself? 
 Imperfection of every kind hinders life. Ignorance, 
 care, toil, sorrow, suffering, disappointment ; and sin 
 most of all. A shadow is —1) Unreal. Is man's 
 mere earthly life a real one ? Does it deal with the 
 absolutely true, beautiful, and good ? Does it Jay hold 
 on one thing that is immortal as being imperishable ? 
 No; man's "days are as a shadow that declineth." 
 (Ps. cii. 11.) A shadow is — 2) Changeable. It is ever 
 altering in size, form, brightness, or dulness. So does 
 the life of man ever change during each portion of his 
 earthly pilgrimage : from childhood to youth ; from 
 youth to manhood ; from manhood to old age. 
 Changing in expression, thouglit, feeling, desire, 
 aptitude, and capability. A shadow is — 3) Fleeting. 
 It soon passes away and is gone. Man's life is com- 
 pared by inspired lips to the " morning dew," " a little 
 
The Shadow of Life. 231 
 
 vapour," and other fleeting and evanescent things. A 
 shadow is — 4) Representative. It is the reflection 
 which is thrown by a real object passing between 
 itself and the light; and the form of this object is 
 delineated in the shadow. So is this present life a 
 shadow of that real life which is truly life itself ; an 
 adumbration of something far more glorious than itself 
 which is in the background. To the faithful soul in 
 the article of death, *' the shadow life " gradually gives 
 place to the real ; and whilst the eyes of the body 
 close in darkness, the eyes of the soul awaken to the 
 brightness and glory of a light of life which shall 
 never die. This " shadow life " of man suggests — 
 
 I. The falling of the shadoiv. — Before ''sin came 
 into the warld, and death by sin," man's life was real, 
 and not at all the " shadow life " which it is now. It 
 was real, unchangeable, and abiding ; it was the full 
 development af that spirit which God breathed into 
 man's nostrils. The fall took away the substance, and 
 left but its shadow in its place ; it cut off communion 
 with the source of life ; God Himself, with the 
 objects of life, the know"ledge and service of Him ; 
 with the reward of life, translation into a higher and 
 more glorious if not into a more perfect state of being. 
 The first falling of the shadow was when the presence 
 of evil came into the Paradise of God ; the second, 
 when that presence, like an evil leaven, began to work, 
 
232 The Shadoio of Life. 
 
 sufTiieistiiif]: the first thousjhts of sin. The third, when 
 
 DO O O ' 
 
 the solicitation to sin was listened to, argued about, 
 tampered with, instead of being crushed out of the 
 heart at onne. The fourth, when the sin was actually 
 committed, and the true life of the soul — which con- 
 sists in communion with God — was withdrawn. After 
 this, a formal, physical life remained, which rightly 
 can be called the '' shadow of life." 
 
 II. The deejjening of the shacloiv. — The shadow 
 deepened as men went further and further away from 
 God ; as the true ends, aims, and purposes of life 
 gradually passed out of the soul ; when not liking to 
 retain God in their knowledge He gave men over to a 
 reprobate mind ; when all men's thoughts, words, and 
 deeds, were wicked, their souls were dead in trespasses 
 and sins. As men went down impenitent and blind 
 after a wicked life to an unhallowed grave and gate of 
 death, the '' shadow of life " grew in intensity. From 
 the beginning to the end of time, sin ever has, and 
 ever will, take all the joy and brightness out of life ; 
 it will throw into shade that which God meant to 
 shine with its own pure light ; it will darken 
 knowledge, quench love, uproot faith, eat out and 
 destroy the dignity and beauty of the soul's life. The 
 shadow of one sin resting upon a tender conscience 
 has at times spread its baneful influence over the 
 whole soul, and made '' the shadow of life " to become 
 
The Shadow of Life. .233 
 
 dark indeed. It was a marvellous saying of Infinite 
 Wisdom, '' If thine eye be single " — thy heart, the eye 
 of thy soul, be pure — " thy whole body shall be full 
 of light " (S. Matt. vi. 22), and the deepening shadow 
 which sin cast over life shall be exchanged for the 
 real life of the joy of holiness. 
 
 III. The dispelling of the shadow. — Not for ever 
 was man to be left in the valley of the shadow of 
 death, or to be contented with " the shadow of life ;'' 
 life itself was to become his portion, when the Life 
 Himself came into this world in order that all men 
 might live through Him, and in Him might have life 
 more abundantly. Jesus Christ changed " the shadow 
 of life," into life itself for man ; slowly but surely He 
 chased away the shades of spiritual death ; restoring to 
 man's soul eternal life, the gift of Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. He came into this world, and by His coming 
 His spirit was given unto men, that they might think 
 the thoughts of life, become filled with holy and 
 heavenly desires, and might see the things which are 
 afar off by the eye of faith. He came, and by His 
 life-giving Presence gave new hopes and promises 
 which were full of life for man. He came, and 
 conquered black death, and opened to man, by His 
 precepts and His pardon, the kingdom of life. The 
 more the mind of Jesus Christ becomes a man's own, 
 the more does the real life of Jesus belong to Him ; He 
 
234 The Shadow of Life. 
 
 lives for life-giving objects ; in themselves a source 
 of life. 
 
 Epilogue. — Will you accept " the shadow of life," 
 when the real life is within your reach ? Will you 
 rest satisfied with the semblance, when the substance, 
 with all its vast powers and prerogatives, can be made 
 your own ? 
 
( 235 ) 
 
 SERMON XL VII. 
 
 THE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 " Never man spake like this Man." — S. John vii. 46. 
 
 Origeii. — '' I think that every word of Christ the' 
 Son of God is gi-eat, even if it may have been gentle 
 [lenis] ; and the Scripture testifies to this fact ; chiefly 
 in those pL^ces in which it desires to excite the heairef^ 
 that he may pass beyond that which the many can 
 understand and not remain in it ; although according 
 to the simple sense I find in it some truth that by some 
 means he can worthily understand on account of the 
 great discourse of the Lord." — In Matt. Tract xxxv.j- 
 Geneh, vol. ii. p. 129, B. 
 
 Introduction. — One of the greatest of uninspired 
 utterances is contained in the Memorials of Socrates, 
 as recorded by Xenophon. Its teaching is pure, use- 
 ful, and exalted from first to last. Many of the 
 sayings of the great Philosopher are of infinite value^ 
 and immortal in their teaching. The " Memorials " 
 have not inaptly been styled " The Socratic Gospel." 
 
23G The Words of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Between, however, this human and the Divine Gospel 
 there is a chasm that cannot be bridged over ; there 
 is a difference that no amount of sophistry can either 
 ignore or reason away. " The words of Jesus Christ" 
 stand alone ; their echo or like has not ever been 
 heard in the world, either before or since He uttered 
 them. '* Never man spake like this Man." The words 
 of the Lord stand alone in their — 
 
 I. Purpose. — The teaching of the Lord was in- 
 structive. He instructed men in all the several duties 
 of life ; probing down to their very depths the secret 
 motives and springs of action ; setting the glory and 
 beauty of holiness before a sorrowful and a sin-stricken 
 world; awaking new hopes in men's hearts, and filling 
 their souls with a new light. But it was more even 
 than all this : it was a Revelation ; the revealing of 
 an invisible world existing around man on all sides 
 during his sojourn here ; of a providence which could 
 be but imperfectly read in the dim workings of its de- 
 crees ; of a new and of a glorious home, prepared and 
 reserved for immortal natures to abide in when they 
 shall be glorified for ever. ' ' The words of Jesus Christ " 
 were indeed ''great " in their purpose, which was to lead 
 man to a knowledge of himself ; of God, and of God's 
 gracious intentions towards him both in the present 
 and in the future. This purpose was — 1 ) Eternal ; the 
 promises conveyed in the Lord's words are everlasting. 
 
The Words of Jesus Christ. 237 
 
 2) Loving ; the greatness of the love of Jesus for souls 
 expressed itself in the depth of the regrets which He 
 pronounced over the unheeding and the unloving. (S. 
 Matt, xxiii. 37.) 3) Tnflexihle ; no ingratitude, no 
 coldness, no misrepresentation, could change the tone 
 of the Lord's words. The prayers of the " gaest- 
 chamher " (S. John xvii.), and of the Cross (S. Luke 
 xxiii. 34), breathe one and the same spirit. The 
 restoration of a fallen world at such a mighty sacrifice, 
 itself was indeed a great purpose, that invested with 
 a greatness and dignity of its own the words in which 
 it was declared. (S. John x. 18.) Eegarding tho 
 import and purpose of His words, we must confess 
 " never man spake like this Man." 
 
 II. Simplicity. — "The words of Jesus" are so very 
 beautiful because they are so very simple. As a 
 great Father observes : '* The Lord^s sayings were 
 short and concise ; He was no rhetorician." (S. 
 Justin.) In their " simple sense " there is always 
 some truth that is patent to all, and which is ''profit- 
 able both for correction and for instruction in righte- 
 ousness." It is a sign of greatness of mind to clothe 
 deep and abstruse truths in such plain language that 
 all can gain some knowledge of them. This, beyond 
 all others did the Lord ; representing the "deep things 
 of God " in parables, and under similitudes^ and by 
 deductions and lessons mainlv drawn from the events 
 
238 The Words of Jesus Christ. 
 
 which were passing around Him. Yet was this sim- 
 plicity — 1) Dignified. There was in it nothing miworthy 
 of a God-sent and Divine teacher ; nothing unworthy 
 of the dignity of the message He willed to deliver. 
 2) Pertinent. The Lord seized upon the salient points 
 of the matter in hand; and these He pressed home to 
 His hearers with due force and illustration. 3) Im- 
 pressive. No one hearing Him could possibly make 
 light of what He said. Many were convicted ; some 
 to repentance and faith, others to rebellion and final 
 condemnation. So *' great " are the words of the 
 Lord in their simplicity, that not one of the vast 
 multitudes who crowded round Him need to go away 
 without having gained some good from what they 
 heard. Hence their efi'ect upon the masses. (S. 
 Matt. vii. 28, 29.) 
 
 ni. Power. — (S. Lukeiv. 32.) — Uninsj)ired words 
 have often moved men's hearts, and excited in them 
 emotions which were great and noble ; which produced 
 worthy deeds. But '' the words of Jesus Christ " did 
 far more than this : they commanded the spirit world 
 (S. Mark i. 25) ; they ruled the elements (S. Matt 
 viii. 26); they raised the dead (S. John xi. 43); they 
 consecrated both bread and wine (S. Matt. xxvi. 26- 
 29; xxviii. 19) and water. The power of these words 
 is seen, moreover, in other aspects : in the love with 
 which the poor listened to them, and " wondered at the 
 
Tlie Words of Jesus Christ, 239 
 
 gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth ;" 
 in the melting of hearts which followed those blessed 
 utterances, and which still accompanies their repeti- 
 tion. 
 
 IV. Result. — The greatness of "the words of Jesus 
 Christ" is well seen in the results which followed 
 upon their promulgation. They have — 1) Changed 
 the religion of the greater part of the civilized world ; 
 and they will eventually win the whole world to ac- 
 knowledge their dominion. 2) Given a new life, 
 purpose, hope, and aim to millions upon millions of 
 immortal natures. 3) Peopled heaven with an in- 
 numeraHe company of the faithful ; who having 
 believed these words, have found thereby a path 
 to heaven in the midst of the toils, cares, sins, and 
 sorrows of this mortal life. The result of His words 
 will only be fully known at the last day, when their 
 greatness will be made manifest to all, both angels 
 and men. 
 
 Epilogue. — Are these great words abiding in your 
 souls ? Do you — 1) Listen to them, meditate and 
 think them over, as guides of life ? 2) Love them for 
 the sake of Him Who spake them ? 3) Obey them, 
 remembering that a precept is attached to every 
 promise ? 
 
( 240 ) 
 
 SERMON XLVIII. 
 
 CONSCIENCE. 
 
 " Conscience also bearing witness." — Rom. ii. 15. 
 
 Origen. — '' The Apostle says that they used the 
 .testimony of a good conscience who had ' the law 
 written in their hearts.' Hence it seems necessary 
 to inquire what that is which the Apostle calls 'con- 
 science,' whether it be not something else beside heart 
 or mind. This faculty is said elsewhere to ' condemn ' 
 and 'not to condemn' (1 S. John iii. 20, 21); 
 and that it shall judge man, yet itself shall not be 
 judged ; for, ' If our heart condemn us not,' says John, 
 'then have we confidence towards God.' And again, 
 Paul himself says in another place, ' Our rejoicing is 
 this, the testimony of our conscience.' (2 Cor. i. 12.) 
 Because I observe, therefore, that its liberty is so great 
 that it ever rejoices and exults indeed in good deeds, 
 but that in evil deeds it is not attacked, but it reproves 
 and attacks the soul itself to which it adheres ; I 
 apprehend that it is the Spirit which by the Apostle 
 
Conscience. 241 
 
 is said to be with the soul as a pedagogue, and as a 
 certain companion and ruler to it, that it may advise 
 the soul concerning better things, or may chastise and 
 condemn it concerning faults ; about which also the 
 Apostle says, ' What man knoweth the things of a 
 man, save the spirit of man which is in him '? (1 Cor. 
 ii. 11) ; and itself is the spirit of conscience of which 
 he says, ' The Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
 spirit.' (Kom. viii. 16.) And perhaps this, itself, is 
 the Spirit who coheres with the ' souls of the righteous,' 
 and that therefore it is written, ' ye spirits and 
 souls of the righteous, bless ye the Lord.' (Dan. iii. 
 86. Vulg.) If the soul, truly, is disobedient and 
 contumacious to it, it will be divided and separated 
 from it after death. And this, I think, is expressed 
 in the Gospel concerning the unjust servant, that the 
 Lord ' shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion 
 with the hypocrites.' (S. Matt. xxiv. 51.) Conscience 
 is perhaps that spirit of which it is written, that 
 uncorruptible ' is the spirit in man.' (Job xxxii. 8.) 
 Which we have said before is divided and separated 
 from the sinful soul that it may receive its portion 
 with the hypocrites. Likewise to the soul and 
 conscience can be adapted the expressions, ' two shall 
 
 II. R 
 
2 4 "2 Conscience. 
 
 be in the field,' etc., and " two women shall be 
 grindmg at the mill.' (S. Matt. xxiv. 40, 41.)"— I/i 
 Ejj'ist. ad Rom. Geneh. vol. ii. p. 309, D. E. 
 
 Conscience then may be defined to be the spirit 
 which leads, plays the pedagogue to, and otherwise 
 influences the soul. As such, conscience becomes 
 " God's deputy," representing the mind and will of 
 God to man. As the deputy of God, the conscience — 
 
 I. Observes. — Being, as it were, an eye of God. 
 Nothing escapes God's eye, but " all things are naked 
 and open unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to 
 do." (Heb. iv. 13.) Conscience observes — 1) Per- 
 petually. For *'God neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Ps. 
 cxxi. 4) ; and there is no intermission in the watch- 
 fulness of conscience. Whensoever the soul is capable 
 of action, its companion, conscience, is awake to its 
 every motion. 2) Narrowly. Being ever present 
 with the soul, nothing can escape the searching eye of 
 this spirit. The half-formed thought, the inclinations 
 which have not as yet taken definite forms, are alike 
 clear to the conscience. No concealment of any kind 
 is possible in the smaller as well as in the greater 
 matters. 3) Openly. The observing presence of 
 conscience is ever felt, known, and recognized, not as 
 a secret spy, but as an appointed observer ; conscience 
 takes note of man's every thought, word, and deed. 
 
Conscience. 243 
 
 How careful should man become with such a sleepless, 
 watchful, inseparable companion ever by him. 
 
 II. Judges. — Conscience, as God's deputy, not only 
 observes the smallest thought, desire, and emotion of 
 the will, as well as every w^ord or deed, but it also 
 passes judgment upon that which it sees. Which 
 judgment is — 1) Just. Conscience is as true as is 
 that Master whom it represents ; its judgments, there- 
 fore, must be perfectly just ; they are not in any 
 degree perverted by inclination, emotion, or any other 
 passion ; for conscience is passionless, even as God is 
 without passions. 2) Final. Being just, there can 
 be no appeal against the judgment of the conscience ; 
 there remains nothing in its sentence upon which an 
 appeal could be founded. 3) Immediate. Instant 
 judgment is passed by the conscience ; almost before 
 the thought has had time to shape itself, its approval 
 or its disapproval has gone forth. Conscience is an 
 immediate Court of Appeal : hence its power of checking 
 the rising thought or wish ; of staying the word as yet 
 unspoken; of hindering the action about to be per- 
 formed. 4) Inevitable. There is no escape from this 
 tribunal of " God's deputy." Conscience speaks 
 whether the mind will hear it or not ; it will pass its 
 decree and its judgment, even when by every device 
 men shut their ears to, and try to stay, its " still small 
 Yoice " of reproof. May you, by holy thought and 
 
 R 2 
 
244 Conscience. 
 
 action, change this judge into a friend ; an accuser 
 into a comforter. 
 
 III. JVitnesses. — Conscience is an inward witness. 
 *' Their conscience also bearing witness." (Eom. ii. 15.) 
 This witness, as " God's deputy" — 1) Condemns every 
 unholy and un- Christlike thought; every offence against 
 received grace, light, knowledge, and opportunity ; 
 every unkind thought, w^ord, or deed directed against 
 another; everything in short, that does despite to man's 
 better, higher, and holier nature. Worthy of all 
 thanksgiving is such a witness as this ; guarding 
 against yielding to many a temptation ; preventing the 
 commission of many a sin. 2) Absolves ; even when 
 the doing itself may be wrong, if the intent be but 
 good and true, let the motive be ever so misunder- 
 stood and wrongly read. There is a mighty comfort 
 in the absolution of conscience when it is freely and 
 entirely granted. A real confidence is begotten 
 towards men, as well as towards God, when our heart 
 condemns us not. (1 S. John iii. 21.) Conscience 
 sustains under many an undeserved hardship ; it 
 cheers under many an otherwise blighting discourage- 
 ment. Outward praise is valueless when it is com- 
 pared with the peace of an absolving conscience. 
 
 IV. Records. — The recording conscience is a never- 
 dying worm — a never-quenched fire — at the last day 
 giving up its record before the Judgment-seat and the 
 
Conscience. 245 
 
 assembled multitudes. It records — 1) During the 
 present. After the commission of some great sin, its 
 record becomes at length often so painful that confes- 
 sion of it has, of sheer necessity, to be made. The 
 soul becomes unequal to the effort of bearing about 
 with it the tormenting records of an avenging 
 conscience, that is at once sleepless and unforgetful. 
 It records also many a past conflict under temptation ; 
 many a struggle, and many a victory too. 2) At the 
 eternal future. In heaven or hell, for ever and ever, it 
 will deliver in its final record. 
 
 Epilogue. — How do you treat this solemn inhabitant 
 of the soul ? 1) Put it to sleep, like David (2 Sam. 
 xii. 7) ; like the brethren of Joseph (Gen. xlii. 21) ; 
 like Belshazzar? (Dan. v. 5.) 2) Or harden it, 
 searing it as with a hot iron ? (1 Tim. iv. 2.) Strive 
 and pray, that " God's deputy " may be tended and 
 preserved; exalted and made much of, as being the 
 truest and best of all friends. Seek to gain a 
 conscience — 1) Purged from dead works. (Heb. ix. 
 14.) 2) Void of offence towards God and man. 
 (iVcts xxiv. 16.) 3) Witnessing in all things to that 
 which in God's sight is true, just, and holy. 
 
( 246 ) 
 
 SERMON XLIX. 
 
 THE ONE GOSPEL. 
 
 " Preach the Gospel."— S^. Mark xvi. 15. 
 
 Origen. — " Megethius [a Marcionite]. * On the 
 other hand I argue, that the Gospels are false ; for 
 the Apostle calls the Gospel one (Gal, i. 8, 9 ; 1 Cor. 
 ix. 16) ; but you have mentioned four.' 
 
 " Adaviantiiis [Orthodox]. * The Evangelists, 
 indeed, are four, but the Gospel one ; for they have 
 proclaimed one Christ, and enunciated the same thing. 
 But if, therefore, each of them had proclaimed or 
 preached another and a difterent Christ, you would 
 have said rightly ; but if the four speak of one Christ, 
 the Gospels are no longer four, but one.' 
 
 " Meg. * The Apostle does not say, " According to 
 my Gospels," but " according to my Gospel." (Eom. 
 ii. 16.) He pronounces it to be one when he says, 
 " Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other 
 Gospel." (Gal. i. 8.) When he says that they are 
 one, how do you contend that they are four ?' 
 
The One Gospel. 247 
 
 ^^ Adam. ^We say that the Gospel is one, but 
 the EvangeHsts four.' " — Cont. Marc. Sec. i. Wetst, 
 p. 9. 
 
 Our Blessed Lord does not say, '' Preach the 
 Gospels," but " Preach the Gospel ;" "the Gospel," 
 plainly implying that there are not many but one ; 
 "the " Gospel to be preached. Hence it is wrong to 
 say, as some do, " The Gospel of SS. Matthew, Mark," 
 etc. ; it is " the Gospel " — the one Gospel, that is — 
 " according to SS. Matthew," etc. As there is " one 
 faith, one Lord," etc. (Eph. iv. 5), so there is one 
 Gospel, and only one ; '^ One Lord Jesus Christ, by 
 Whom are all things, and we in Him." (1 Cor. viii. 
 6). The Gospel is one for it — 
 
 1. Concerns one Person.^Th.e " one Lord Jesus 
 Christ " is the sum and centre of the Gospel. What- 
 soever additions Revelation may have made to His life, 
 they are but expansions of that which is contained in 
 the Gospels in the germ. The closer men adhere to 
 the plain teaching of the Gospels, the purer, clearer, 
 and more catholic will be their faith. The works and 
 words of Jesus are all-sufficient for salvation. The 
 Gospel is not so much a system of Theology — although 
 it is that — as a personal record of personal application 
 to the hearts and consciences of all. S. Paul elabo- 
 rates the theory of Justification ; Jesus Christ gives the 
 
248 The One Gospel. 
 
 precepts for, and the example of, a holy life, which mast 
 through Him lead on to glory and immortality. His 
 wondrous Person in its Divine and inspired record forms 
 the foundation and the substance of our faith. Jesus 
 Christ was one and wholly alone in His — 1) Divinity. 
 The only Divine and sinless One Whom the world has 
 seen or ever will see. He is God ; the Maker of all 
 things ; the Opener of heaven ; the Unfastener of hell ; 
 the Conqueror of death ; the Ransomer from Satan ; 
 the world's God, as well as the world's Great Teacher 
 and Prophet. 2) Humanity. Jesus Christ is the One 
 Perfect Man ; truly man, hone of our bone, flesh of 
 our flesh ; the Head of the new family of man ; the 
 Prince and Redeemer of our common humanity. "The 
 one Gospel " is a record of the life of the "' Pattern 
 and Representative Man," of Whom the whole family in 
 heaven and earth is named. 3) Union of the Godhead 
 with the Manhood. Jesus was and is both God and 
 ^tan. He was truly God when, as a babe, He lay in 
 the manger in the cradle at Bethlehem ; and is truly 
 Man, now seated at God's right hand, " far above all 
 principalities and powers ;" truly Man, standing " in 
 the midst of the elders, a Lamb as it had been slain." 
 (Rev. V. 6. ) This hypostatic union of the two natures — 
 the Divine and the human — makes the Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ to be "the one Gospel;" existing, distinct and 
 alone and separate from every other message of mercy 
 
The One Gospel. 249 
 
 or of lio'ht which has ever fallen upon this sin-ridden 
 world. " Preach the Go?5pel " — '' the one Gospel " — 
 which testifies of Me. 
 
 II. Relates one Message. — Which is singular, and 
 one which men would have least expected to receive. 
 It has several characteristics which belong to itself 
 alone. It is — 1) Sublime, yet simple. Sublime, in 
 the promises it holds out ; in the hopes which it sets 
 before man ; in the lofty aims and principles of action 
 which it inculcates. Simple, in the plain and homely 
 precepts, which all men can understand, in which its 
 message is delivered. No mere human composition 
 could have clothed such mighty truths in such simple 
 language, and have so adapted them to the wants and 
 experiences of men. 2) Saving. From many of the 
 mistakes and pitfalls of life ; from the misdirection of 
 many powers and the loss of opportunities in this life ; 
 and from the greatest of all losses, that of eternal life 
 in the world beyond the grave. 3) Adaptive. Since 
 the precepts and promises of the Gospel come home 
 to every emotion and temptation of the heart ; to every 
 circumstance and condition of life. Considered as a 
 temporal message only, the lessons of the Saviour are 
 full of wisdom ; considered as an eternal message, they 
 are of inestimable and priceless value. They reach all 
 the circumstances of every condition and estate of man. 
 In this adaptive power, 'Hhe one Gospel" of Jesus 
 
250 The One Gospel, 
 
 Christ stands out alone, clear and distinct from any 
 other. 
 
 III. Produces one Effect. — It has changed the 
 opinions and thoughts of the entire civilized world. 
 There is much sin and sorrow still in the world, yet this 
 '' one Gospel " has regenerated — 1) Nations. Brought 
 them from darkness to light ; redeemed them from the 
 power of Satan unto God ; altered their laws ; amelio- 
 rated their condition. 2) Men. Mighty indeed is 
 the power of this '' one Gospel" upon the human 
 heart. It has infused new life ; given new hope ; 
 it has led men from a sad and ruined estate to recover 
 their lost birthright as sons of that God by Whom 
 they themselves and the world were made. 3) 
 Creation. For it will deliver " the creature itself from 
 the bondage of corruption," and vindicate at the last 
 God's final purpose in the creation of the world and of 
 man. Judged by its mere effect alone, the Gospel of 
 Jesus stands out in the world's history as one grand 
 exception in the world, and as a heaven-sent means 
 for the regeneration and purification of a lost and fallen 
 race. It is essentially " one Gospel " in result. 
 
 IV. Tends to one Issue. — For this "one Gospel" 
 is one in substance. There is an intrinsic harmony — 
 1) In every part of this Gospel. No contradiction 
 can be found in it. One part of it agrees with the 
 other entirely and perfectly. It forms one harmonious 
 
The One Gospel. 251 
 
 and perfect whole. 2) In the means which it proposes 
 for the instauration of man's estate. On God's part, 
 " acceptance through the Beloved ;" on man's part, 
 obedience to and conformity with the mind and will of 
 Jesus Christ. 3) In the end and issue of its working', 
 which tends to the relief of man's condition here, and 
 to his final salvation hereafter, and to the glory of God. 
 Nothing is opposed to this one message of glad tidings; 
 which rejoices alike the heart of man and the highest 
 heavens. Preach the Gospel — this " one Gospel " — 
 which is a consistent and harmonious body of Divine 
 truth. 
 
 Epilogue. — This "one Gospel " is the heritage of 
 the faithful, as being the great tradition of that Church 
 which is the Body of Christ. Let each member of the 
 Church ask his heart, Is it my Gospel ? Do I love it ? 
 Do I obey it ? Live for it, and hope to die in it ? 
 
( 252 ) 
 
 SERMON L. 
 
 NIGHT. 
 
 "It was night." — -S'. John xiii. 30. 
 
 Origen. — '' This sensible night one must read as 
 an imajie of the ni^ht that was in the soul when 
 
 * darkness was upon the face of the deep ' (Gen. i. 2) ; 
 for ' Satan entered into Him.' (S. John xiii. 27.) 
 
 * The darkness He called night.' (Gen. i. 5.) Where- 
 fore Paul says we are not children of the night ; de- 
 claring, ' We are not of the night nor of the darkness.' 
 (1 Thess. Y. 5.) Again, ^Let us who are of the day 
 be sober.' (1 Thess. v. 8.) Wherefore it was not night 
 to those w^hose feet were washed by Jesus, but it was 
 the most splendid day to those who, being cleansed, 
 had cast off the defilements in the feet of their souls ; 
 and especially it was not night to him who ' was 
 leaning on Jesus' bosom ' (S. John xiii. 23) ; because 
 Jesus loved him, and by that love cast out all the 
 darkness." — Comment in Joan. Huet. vol. ii. p. 412, 
 A. B. 
 
Night. 253 
 
 The physical darkness which reigned at the time 
 of the natural night when Judas the traitor went out 
 from the Presence of the Lord, was typical of the far 
 denser and more terrihle spiritual darkness of soul 
 which falls upon those who go out in spirit from the 
 Presence of the Lord, casting away all their faith, 
 love, and ohedience to Him. Night is often in Holy 
 Scripture used as an emblem of sin ; but it is also in 
 itself a type, both clear and expressive, of the effects 
 of sin. As light is the fitting emblem of purity, hope, 
 usefulness, and knowledge, so darkness is a most apt 
 similitude of sin, despair, vanity, and ignorance. Oa.: 
 Blessed Lord was " The True Light, which lighteth 
 every man that cometh into the world." (S. John i. 9.) 
 Satan is "the power of darkness." (Col. i. 13.) Pdghtly 
 then is it said that at this time, when '' it was night,*' 
 immediately before Judas '^ went out," " Satan 
 entered into him." (S. John xiii. 27.) Tracing some 
 few analogies between the natural night of the day 
 and the spiritual night of the soul, we note that these 
 nights are alike — 
 
 I. Terrihle. — The ninth plague — that of darkness — 
 lasted for only three days, yet it affected the Egyptians 
 more than any of those which had gone before. 
 Darkness is — 1) Terrible, as awakening fear. It gives 
 rise to many an unreal suspicion and imagination. 
 In the darkness, when moved by fear, man sees danger 
 
254 Nlfiht. 
 
 everywhere. The night of sin ever brings fear and 
 suspicion in its train, judging all things by its imper- 
 fect and unholy standard. The shadows and fancies 
 of a darkened soul, though unreal, are more terrible to 
 bear than are the saddest experiences of actual life. 
 2) Terrible, as confining the soul in the house of 
 wickedness. " Neither rose any from his place for 
 three days." (Exod. x. 23.) Whilst the night lasts 
 there is no going forth, no progress, no change ; the 
 soul is shut up in its own place, devoid alike of help 
 and hope. When the soul goes out of its own house 
 to Jesus Christ, there comes light, and joy, and peace 
 to it ; out of its own house, to commune with the 
 good and the wise, then also are all the mists and 
 obscurities of night cleared away. Without escape 
 from the house of darkness there can be no real 
 improvement or lasting deliverance. 3) Terrible, as 
 depressing the soul. Paralyzing all its healthy action ; 
 generating therein many a morbid growth ; so weak- 
 ening it as to render it unfitted to bear any very bright 
 manifestation of the Sun of Eighteousness and of truth. 
 Terrible, indeed, was that night of the soul in which 
 Judas, possessed by Satan, *'' went out " to the 
 betrayal of his Lord. 
 
 n. — Dangerous. — Night brings a certain amount of 
 danger with it. In the night a man cannot discern 
 — 1) Secret enemies. They may be '* about his path 
 
Niflht. 255 
 
 and spying out all his ways," yet he cannot see them ; 
 hirking hither, and lying thither, in this or that dark 
 nook or corner. Hence he is easily attacked, and still 
 more easily overcome ; for, although suspicious, he is 
 usually unprepared. It is so also with the soul that 
 walks " on in darkness ;" it is unconscious of the 
 whereabouts of its spiritual enemies, which are lurking 
 in ambush, waiting for it on every side ; it is easily 
 attacked, since it knows not which is the proper side to 
 guard, which temptation will atta(3k it with the direst 
 force ; and it is, alas, but too easily overcome, since 
 its weapons of defence are not ready for use, and its 
 arm has lost much of its old power to defend and to 
 strike. 2) Hidden dangers. There is no long high- 
 way in the world that is absolutely free from danger 
 if trodden in darkness. The way of life is more 
 dangerous to traverse than any earthly way or road : 
 it is subject to more dangerous pitfalls ; it is beset 
 with severer stumbling-blocks. 3) The right way. 
 In the night the traveller cannot see the path before 
 him ; he is liable to ''wander out of the way," nay, 
 to so alter his course, that he may be going back- 
 wards instead of forwards. When the night of the 
 soul is very dark, it cannot find out the " way of 
 holiness ;" the " way of peace." It walks on still 
 in darkness, with all its foundations put out of 
 course. 
 
256 Night. 
 
 III. Unprofitahle. — " The night cometh when n- 
 man can work" (S. John ix. 4), "work" that is to 
 any advantage or profit. In total darkness there is 
 total idleness ; bat the dusky light of night allows 
 certain works to be done which are called " the 
 unfruitful works of darkness." (Eph. v. 11.) The 
 night of the soul is therefore unprofitable — 1) In 
 thought. What brightness and purity of thought can 
 arise in a benighted soul ? How dim must be its eye 
 of faith ; how limited its conceptions ; how dull and 
 '^ slow of heart " to enter into the thoughts of those 
 who rejoice in the light of the true, the beautiful, and 
 the good. 2) In word. '' Out of the abundance of 
 the heart the mouth speaketh ;" as the thought is, so 
 is the speech ; where the one is profitless, the other 
 must be of little or no value. 3) In deed. For action, 
 like speech, is also the product of thought. It is 
 motive which both originates and ennobles or debases 
 action. The enlightened act with enlightenment; 
 the benighted and ignorant are equally consistent in 
 then- deeds. When the " Light of the World " shined 
 upon the souls of men, it was to give them " light in 
 the Lord," that all the unprofitableness might be 
 taken from them ; that their lives might be redeemed 
 from destruction, and crowned with lovingldndness 
 and tender mercy. 
 
 IV. Solitarij.—Dmmg their three days and three 
 
Night. 257 
 
 • — — — ■ — - — — 
 
 nights of darkness, the Egyptians " saw not one 
 another." They were deprived of all external associa- 
 tion ; each one remained solitary and alone. The 
 night of the soul is likewise solitary ; for sin by its 
 darkness separates it from — 1) God, Who is hght. For 
 " what communion hath light with darkness ?" (2 Cor. 
 vi. 14) ; which separation becomes to it an eternal and 
 an irreparable loss. 2) Good men. From "the 
 children of light;" cutting the soul off wholly from 
 " the communion of Saints;" from having any " part 
 or lot " in their matters, life, aims, objects, or estate. 
 3) " One another." Since darkness engenders suspicion, 
 distrust, and fear, between those who are dwelling in 
 the same region of darkness. Judas *' went out" 
 alone ; he suffered his remorse alone ; he died alone, 
 an outcast fro*iii his fellows ; separated from all his 
 kind, the night of his soul and body was solitary 
 indeed. 
 
 Epilogue. — Like the Beloved Disciple, may you 
 come to Jesus Christ the " True Light," and He will 
 make '^ all your darkness," and sin, and doubt of soul 
 '' to be light." He will fill you with the light of— 1) 
 Love*; which forms the brightness of the Cherubim. 
 2) Truth ; so that you can never eiT and fall away 
 from grace. 3) Holiness ; clothing you with a 
 heavenly and a Divine light, as with the garment of 
 the Lord ; the vestments fit and proper for the 
 II. s 
 
258 Night, 
 
 children of the clay. " For days are understood to 
 be the precepts and dogmas of truth, placed in 
 the Scriptures for the illumination of intelligent 
 souls." — Origen in Matt. Tract xxix. Geneh. ii. 
 p. 92, G. 
 
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