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PAROCHIAL SERMONS.

VOL. II.

BY THE
BEV. E. B. FUSEY, D.D.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF HEBREW, AND CANON OF CHRIST CHURCH.

"o knit our hearts unto thee,
That we may fear Thy Name."

THIRD EDITION.

OXFORD :
JOHN HENRY PARKER, AND 377, STRAND LONDON;
SOLD ALSO BY
MESSRS. F. AND J. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD,
AND WATERLOO PLACE.
1857.

pa +5

BRISTOL :
PRINTED AT THE S. MICHAEL'S HILL PRINTING TRESS.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The appearance of this Volume was delayed by the
loss of some Sermons, in a desk, taken from the
Reading Station. If the Sermons on the texts
Dan. iv. 27 ; and S. James v. 19, 20 ; or S. John
xx. 21, beginning " Peace is a holy rest," should have
fallen into any one's hands, the Author would be
thankful to have them restored.

TO THE RIGHT REVEREND
FATHER IN GOD,
THOMAS VOWLER,
Haxts mfyap at §>. SWatfj,
THIS VOLUME IS,
(with his permission,)
respectfully inscribed,
in grateful acknowledgment
of benefits received in youth
prom his earnest practical teaching,
and religious instruction,
of his faithful friendship
amidst advancing years,
and of his fatherly and episcopal kindness
until now ;
with the earnest prayer
that god will bless
his peace-loving spirit and his zeal for souls,
to the healing of our wounds
and the salvation of his people.

CONTENTS.

Page.

SERMON I.
FAITH.
Galatians v. 6.
" In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any
thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh
by love." ........ 1
SERMON II.
HOPE.
Psalm xxxi. 16.
" My hope hath been in Thee, 0 Lord : I have said,
Thou art my God." ...... 21
SERMON III.
LOVE.
1 Corinthians xiii. 13.
" And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three : but
the greatest of these is Charity." ... 41

VIII CONTENTS. PiUto.
SERMON IV.
HUMILITY.
H'.AHT 01' ST. IIAIITIIOI.KMKW.
St. Lukk xxii. iW. 27.
" lie that is greatest among yon, let him be as the younger,
and he that u chief as he that doth scree. I am
among yon as he that serveth." . . . .03
SKRMON V.
RKl'OND SUNDAY AI'ir.H 11A8TMK,
I St. Pktkr ii. Q2.
" Even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also
suffered for us, leaving us an example, that go should
follow His steps."  80
SKRMON VI.
sele-knowledoe.
St. Matthew xx. 3£.
" Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.
Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of,
and to be bapliaedwilh the baptism that I am baptized
with? They say nido Him, H'c arc able." . . 98
SKRMON VII.
LIVE A WARFAltU.
1 Corinthians ix. 2<J.
" / therefore so run, not as uncertainly ,• so fight J, not
as one that healeth the air." . , . [ j }

contents. ix
SERMON VIII.
THE BESETTING SIN.
Hebrews xii. 1.
" Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,
and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race which is set before us." . 130
SERMON IX.
VICTORY OVER THE BESETTING SIN.
St. Luke iv. 1, 2.
" And Jesus, being full ofthe Holy Ghost, returned from
Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
being forty days tempted of the devil." . . 140'
SERMON X.
PRAYER HEARD THE MORE THROUGH DELAY.
SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.
St. Matthew xv. 28.
" Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is
thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt." . .167
SERMON XI.
RE-CREATION OF THE PENITENT.
Psalm li. 10.
" Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew aright
spirit within me." ...... 181

X CONTENTS. Page.
SERMON XII.
THE SIN OF JUDAS.
PALM-SUNDAY.
St. Matthew xxvii. 3 — 5.
" Then Judas which had betrayed Him, when he saw that
He was condemned, repented himself, and brought
again the thirty pieces of silver to the Chief Priests
and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have be
trayed the innocent Blood. And they said, What is
that to us ? see thou to that. And he cast down the
pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went
and hanged himself." ..... 197
SERMON XIII.
THE ASCENSION OUR GLORY AND JOY.
ASCENSION-DAY.
St. John xii. 26.
' ' If any man serve ME, let him follow ME : and where
I am, there shall also My servant be." . . . 216
SERMON XIV.
THE TEACHING OF GOD WITHIN AND WITHOUT.
WHIT-SUNDAY.
Psalm xxv. 15.
" The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,
and He will shew them His covenant." . . #40

CONTENTS. xi
SERMON XV.
THE REST OF LOVE AND PRAISE.
TRINITY SUNDAY.
Revelations iv. 8.
" They rest not day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty, Which was, and is, and is to
come"  259
SERMON XVI.
FAITH IN OUR LORD, GOD AND MAN.
FESTIVAL OF ST. PETER, 1845.
St. Matthew xvi. 15 — 17.
" He saith unto them, But ivhom say ye that lam ? And
Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art Christ, the
Son ofthe Living God. And Jesus answered and said,
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, Which
is in Heaven." ....... 283
SERMON XVII.
GROANS OF UNRENEWED AND RENEWED NATURE.
FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
Romans viii. 22, 23.
" We know that the whole creation groaneth and tr avail
eth in pain together until now ; and not only they, but
ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. . 304

XII contents.

Pago,

SERMON XVIII.
VICTORY AMID STRIFE.
Rom. vii. 22, 23.
" / delight in the law of God after the inward man ; but,
I see another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind." ..•••• 327
SERMON XIX.
VICTORY THROUGH LOVING FAITH.
EASTER.
1 St. John v. 3, 4.
" This is the love of God, that we keep His command
ments ; and His commandments are not grievous. For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : and
this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith."  342
SERMON XX.
THE POWER AND GREATNESS OF LOVE.
FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
1 St. John iv. 7, 8.
" Beloved, let us love one another : for love is of God,
and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth
God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God
is love."  356
SERMON XXI.
OUR BEING IN GOD.
Acts xvii. 28.
" In Him we live, and move, and have our being" . 372
SERMON XXII.
THE SACREDNESS OF MARRIAGE.
Ephesians v. 33.
:( This is a great mystery ,¦ but I speak concerning . 387

Christ and the Church.

SERMON I.

FAITH.

Gal. v. 6.
" In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any
thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh
by love."
Faith is the foundation of the whole spiritual build
ing, whereby we are built on Christ Jesus. It is the
root of the whole spiritual life of grace, the ground
whereon the soul rests securely, the beginning of
our spiritual existence. Faith goes even before
love, in thought, but not in deed. It goes before
love, in thought ; for we love, because we believe,
not believe, because we love. Faith gives us, in this
our state, the knowledge of Him Whom we love.
Faith is instead of eyes. By Faith we see Him Who
to our eyes of sense is unseen. We behold both
backwards and forwards, and round about us, and
every way we behold the love of God. And, behold
ing and knowing His love, we ourselves, through
B

2 Faith.
His gift, love. Backward, we by Faith, behold God
creating us, and we see our own fall ; we behold His
Holiness, and Goodness, and Love, forming us to
love Him everlastingly ; and when we had fallen, by
Faith we behold Him, the Father, for us willing that
God the Son should take our fallen nature, should
be born, despised, tortured, crucified, die for us.
By Faith we see God the Son willing, for our sakes,
to become Man. We see our dear Lord and Re
deemer on the Cross, as though we were, with St.
Mary Magdalene, at its foot. Faith has no past nor
to come. It sees past and to come in the light of
God, and is sure of them ; yea, surer than of what it
sees. More readily could it doubt that itself is, or
that the things it sees are real. More readily could
it think that all which it sees around is a dream ;
all things of nature which are seen with the eyes of
the body, a vain show ; seeming to be, as in a dream,
yet not being, than it could doubt that God IS, or
IS what HE hath said HE IS. For what we see
around us we know to be, by our mere powers of
nature. Faith is a Divine power. They are mere
bodily powers, these eyes which shall soon decay,
which tell us that the things around us are. Faith
is the eye of the soul, which God has given us, to
behold Himself. If we trust the eye of the body in
things of earth, much more must we trust the eye of
the soul in the things of God. If that which is high
est in us, our soul, strengthened and enlightened by
God, could dec^ve us, much more these bodily eyes.
Had we the choice, ( which is impossible ) yet had
we to believe either that this world is a mere show,
just as a picture is a mere surface, without any real

Faith. 3
substance, or that God IS not, it were far easier to
believe that He had set us in the midst of a vast
waking dream, than that He was not the Maker of
all we see, that He Whom we love, IS not. To
Faith, then, the Crucifixion of our Lord is not, ( as
some have coldly said,) a fact which took place 1800
years ago, nor is Heaven a distant object, removed
far from us, in space and time, until the end of this
weary world. The Death of our Lord is to Faith
the Eternal Counsel of the Ever-blessed Trinity, the
unceasing Source of all spiritual blessings. Each
act of His Sufferings is a part of the determinate
Counsel and foreknowledge of God ; each is a mys
tery of Love, whereon the soul shall dwell in love
for ever. Faith beholds Him, because it is beheld
by Him. It gazes on Him, because He has first
caught and fixed its gaze. It sees, because He has
given it eyes to see. Yet so it beholds Him, and
He is more really present to the eyes of the soul,
than all around her. To Faith which loves, things
seen fade from sight, things heard fall dull upon the
ear ; it will be unmoved by all outward things ; for
it has an inward sight and an inward hearing, and
an inward touch, whereby it beholds Him dying on
the Cross for love of us, and hears Him pray for us ;
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do," and looks on Him Whom, by our sins, we sin
ners pierced, and catches the look wherewith He
looked on Magdalene and the thief, and clasps His
Feet, and in the shadow of His Cross feels itself
protected and healed. Yea, Faith can enter into
that Cleft of the Rock opened for us, whence gushed
" the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness,"
i)2

4 Faith.
and there it finds refuge from accusing thoughts, and
the Accuser's malice. The Cross is not far off, not
over the seas, in the Holy Land, nor removed by
length of time. Faith sees it close at hand, and
clasps it and loves it, and is crucified on it with Him,
dying to itself with its Lord, nailed to it, motionless
to its own desires, dead to the world, and living to
Him. Nor is Heaven far off to Faith. For where
its Lord is, there is Heaven. Faith is with Him,
present with Him in spirit, though absent in the
body ; a penitent amid those who, around the Throne,
sing " Holy, Holy, Holy." Although as yet unfit to
enter there, where nothing defiled can enter, there it
lives and loves, in " thea city of the Living God, the
Heavenly Jerusalem," with " an innumerable com
pany of Angels, and the spirits of just men made
perfect, and Jesus, the Mediator of the new cove
nant." There, with them, it worships Him ; it
beholds the glorious scars, radiant with Vajesty and
Love, which plead our cause with the Father, and
" tastes b and sees that the Lord is good "unto all
that seek Him.
Faith, in one sense, goes before love, because, un
less we believed, we should have none to love. Faith
is Divine knowledge. As in human love we cannot
love unless we have seen, heard, or in some way
known, so, without Faith, we cannot know aught of
God, or know that there is a God Whom to love.
Yet in act, Faith cannot be without love. " ' Thec
just,' says Scripture, ' shall live by his faith,' but by
a faith which lives. A dead faith cannot give life."
' Heb- XJ- **• 23- * Ps. xxxiv. 8.
' Ss. Bern, de offic. Episcop. c. iv. n. 15.

Faith. 5
Faith without love is the devils' faith. For they
" believe and tremble." They knew Jesus, that " He
was the Holy One of God." They knew, and they
owned, and they besought their Judge, " Art Thou
come to torment us before the time ?" " If Thou
cast us out, surfer us to enter into the swine."
Hearing must come before faith, for " faith d cometh
by hearing." But faith cannot for an instant be
separated from love. Who is the Object of Faith ?
God the Father, Who created us, and gave His Son
to die for vis ; God the Son, Who became one of us,
and by dying, redeemed us ; God the Holy Ghost,
Who sanctifieth us, and "pours forth love, " which He
is, " abroad in our hearts." We were as stocks and
stones without faith ; but He died, even " of these
stones to raise up children to Abraham." Are we
stocks or stones now, that, having faith, we can be
lieve without loving ? Which of His acts of bound
less love should we believe without loving ? Were
it not enough to bear us out of ourselves, for love,
to transport us, to make us give up our lives for love,
to carry us away out of ourselves and of all that we
are, to think that for us, earth-worms and defiled,
Jesus died ? Does not the very Name of Jesus make
the heart beat, and tremble, and thrill with love ?
Could a criminal really believe that he had received
a full pardon from his injured King, or that the
King's Son had suffered to obtain his pardon, and
was come to tell it him and forgive him, and not
love ? Well might he doubt such love. But he
could not believe it and not love. Faith and love
would enter his soul together. So is it with chil-
" Rom. x. 17.

6 Faith.
dren, who with simple faith believe, and place no
hindrance to belief and love. Tell them of their
Good Father in Heaven, and they together believe
in and love Him. Tell them of Jesus' love, and they
together believe in and love Him. Tell them of the
Holy Ghost the Comforter, that He vouchsafes to
dwell in them, and they listen with wondering awe
and love ; they believe at once and love.
Love is in all true faith, as light and warmth are
in the ray of the sun. Light and warmth are in the
sun's ray, and the sun's ray brings with it light and
warmth ; not, light and warmth, the sun's ray :
yet, where the sun's ray is, there are light and
warmth, nor can that ray be any where without
giving light and warmth. Even so, faith it is which
brings love, not love, faith ; yet faith cannot come
into the heart, without bringing with it the glow of
love, yea, and the light wherewith we see things
Divine. So soon as faith is kindled in the heart,
there is the glow of love ; and both come from the
same Sun of Righteousness, pouring in faith and love
together into the heart, and " there e is nothing hid
from the heat thereof." In winter, fewer rays come
upon any spot of this land from the sun ; whence
there is then less brightness of light and less glow
of heat than in summer ; and so the surface of the
earth is chilled ; and though for a time the frost be
melted by that fainter sun, this warmth, coming upon
it only for a short time, soon passes away. Even so,
there are degrees of faith and love. Yet they may
be real faith and love, even when the power of both
is lessened, in that the soul does not keep itself or
' Ps. xix. 6.

Faith. 7
live in the full presence of God. Or, as through a
closed window, more light comes than heat, so in
some hearts, there may be more of knowledge than
of love. And again, as on a cold misty day, when
the sun is hidden from our eyes, we are so oppressed
by the clamminess of the chill damp upon the surface
of our bodies, and by the heavy gloom around, that
we scarcely feel the presence of the light and heat >
and yet the light and heat are there, else we should
be in utter darkness, and our bodies would die ; even
so, many hearts, at many times, when some mist hides
from them the Presence of their Lord, feel nothing
but their own coldness and numbness, and all seems
dark around them, and yet in their very inmost selves
they believe and love, else their souls would be dead,
and they would be " past f feeling," and they would
not pine for more light and love. A dead body is in
darkness, and seeth not the light of this world, and
has an aweful coldness to the touch ; yet itself feels
not its own coldness, nor knows its own darkness.
Even so, the dead soul, being without the life of
God, feels not its own death, craves not to love more.
For He Who is Love hath left it, and it hath no
power wherewith to desire to love, unless or until the
Voice of Christ raises it from the dead and awakens
it and it hears His Voice, and lives.
Or think on the great instances of faith in Holy
Scripture. Think you not that Abraham loved, as
well as believed, when God first spake to him, and
called him to give up his country, and his kindred,
and his father's house, and instead of all, God said,
" I will bless thee," and he took God for his All, and
< Eph. iv. 19.

8 Faith.
" went out, not knowing whither he went," save that
he was following God? Or did not Moses love, when,
taught of God, he renounced " the wisdom of the
Egyptians," and " refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter, esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt ?" Or
David, did he not love, when, in zeal for the honour
of the Lord of Hosts, he went forth, a stripling, in
His Name, to meet the champion of the Philistines ?
or did not love with faith revive, when the royal
penitent said, " I have sinned against the Lord," and
much more, when the Lord had put away his sin, he,
all life-long, said, " My sin is ever before me 1" Why
did he wish to be cleansed with the atoning hyssop,
even the humiliation of our Lord in His Passion ?
Was it not for love of God ? " Thou desirest truth
in the inward parts." So he longed to be what God
would have him. What longed he for, but not to he
" casts out of God's Holy Presence," or lose His Holy
Spirit, His Presence, from the soul ? Or in St. Peter,
when both faith and love had been chilled in the night
of the Lord's Passion, did they not revive by that
gracious look wherewith He recalled him to Himself,
and melted him into tears of penitence and love ?
And of that other great penitent, St. Mary Mag
dalene, our Lord bears witness that in her there were
together love and faith ; and for both together, a
loving faith, or a " faith working by love," our Lord
tells her, " thy sins are forgiven." Truly, she had
great faith, Who knew and believed the Physician of
her soul, Whom the Pharisee who received Him,
knew not, who knew that " the Son of Man had
e Ps. li. 3, 7, 6, 11.

Faith. 9
power on earth to forgive sins," and could read her
heart, and know what she was and what she longed
to be, and what she came for, and would not disdain
her and would accept her love, and that she might
kiss His Feet, and that when she washed them with
her tears, He would wash away her sins. Truly she
had great faith, who, died to all that the world
thought of her, and seeing only her Redeemer, came
uncalled, with such holy boldness, to Him Who had
come to seek and to save that which was lost, yet
had drawn her only with the cords of love, in her
inmost heart. But our Lord speaks first of love,
" Her sins are forgiven her because she loved much,"
to shew us, that in all true repentance and faith there
must be love ; and then, having pronounced to her
the forgiveness of her sins, to herself He says, " Thy
faith hath saved thee." Faith saved her, because it
brought her to Him, the Saviour. Yet had not her
faith had love, she had not been forgiven, for He,
the Truth, says, " Her sins are forgiven her because
she loved much. And think you not, that she must
have loved much, when she poured out her tears
with the ointment upon His Sacred Feet? She knew
Him Whom the self-righteous Pharisee knew not.
She knew, far better than he, " who or what manner
of woman" she was who touched Him ; she knew far
better the depth of the loathsomeness of her own sin ;
for she loathed it in herself. But she knew what the
Pharisee knew not, Who He was Whom she touched.
She knew that Holiness came from His touch to her,
and that her touch could not defile Him, Who "was
Holy, Harmless, separate from sinners." Think ye
not that those hot burning tears which dimmed her

10 Faith.
eyes, and washed her Saviour's Feet, were tears of
burning love ? Could she but love, when she kissed
the Feet of God, wearied in seeking her, the lost one,
and He despised not her polluted and adulterous
lips, but rather "virtue went out of Him," to cleanse
them? Or was there not love in the faith of the penitent
thief, when he discerned his Saviour by his side, in
that marred Form, which " had no beauty or come
liness," " His Visage was so marred more than any
man, and His Form more than the sons of men," and
he said, "Lord, remember me in Thy Kingdom."
There was humility, as well deserving to be for
gotten, and wondrous faith which owned in Him,
" the rejected of men," his Lord and King and God.
But there was love too. For love only craves to be
remembered. The penitent cry in the very prayer of
the holy Psalmist. " Remember11 not the sins of my
youth, nor my trangressions ; according to Thy
Mercy, remember Thou me, for Thy Goodness'
sake, O Lord." There was mighty love, and hope,
and trust, which could so wrap up all its longings in
that one word," remember me." " Deal with me as
Thou wiliest, so Thou remember me." And so that
inward desire He answered, " To-day shalt thou be
with Me in Paradise." What would love have, but
to be with Him it loves ? The robber desired not
to be out of the thoughts of his Saviour. Jesus gave
him more than he dared ask or think, not at some
distant day, when He should come in His Kingdom,
but "To-day." Jesus would not "remember" him
only, as afar off; He would that the robber should

Faith. 11
be nigh Him. His Mother remained behind in sor
row, the Apostles in perplexity, the whole redeemed
world in darkness. But to the robber Jesus saith,
" thou shalt be with Me ;" " thou with ME ;" thou,
the blood-stained, with Me Who shed My Blood for
love of thee and of the whole world; thou, now defiled,
with Me the All Holy ; thou, the prey and sport of
all evil passions and of devils, with Me Who have
bruised Satan ; thou, who hast been like the beasts
which perish, with ME the All-wise, All-mighty, All-
good God. What a torrent of love does He pour
into the penitent 's heart. " Thou with ME." Yet
the love which He had given him, called for the love
which now He gives him. The cry of humble love,
" Lord, remember me," "me too, all unmeet to be
•remembered, Lord for Thy love's sake, remember,"
called forth the words of Divine Love, "To-day shalt
thou be with ME."
Or think you not that when God " opened ' the
heart of Lydia, to attend unto the things spoken by
Paul," He poured into her heart which He had
opened, love with faith ? Or when Paul said to the
affrighted jailor, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved and thy house," must not
he who just before would have killed himself, have
loved Him Who had brought His servant through
stripes and sufferings, to teach him, how not he
only, but his house might be saved from wrath, and
have everlasting joy in God ? Or when, amid the
mocking Athenians, Dionysius and Damaris and
others " clave k unto Paul and believed," was there
not love with faith ? Love is the glue whereby
* Acts xvi. 14, 31. k Acts xvii. 30.

12 Faith.
hearts cleave unto God, or to His messengers and
ministers for His sake Who sends them. Or when
Peter bade those, pricked in the heart, because
"that same Jesus Whom they had crucified, was
both Lord and Christ," " repent and be baptized
every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you
and to your children," think ye not that the three
thousand, who "gladly received the Word," were
full of love with faith, and that, believing, they
loved ?
Faith which loves not, is not faith ; it is dead.
And what is dead, hath ceased to be. The outward
form too will soon decay and come to nothing, when
life is gone. Where love is not, there is not the
Holy Spirit, Who is Love, and Who " shed abroad
love in our hearts." And without the Holy Spirit
there cannot be faith, since faith is the gift of the
Spirit. A dead body is a body without a soul ; a
dead soul is a soul without God. A " dead faith"
is a " faith without love." A dead body is, for the
time, until it wholly decays in outward form, like a
living body or a body asleep ; a dead faith has an
outward likeness to a living faith. But as a dead
body has no warmth nor power of motion, nor feel
ing, nor can use any of the powers it once had, nor
has them any longer, it can neither taste, nor see,
nor hear ; so a dead faith is that which has no love,
no power to do good works. It perceives not, hears
not, tastes not, feels not, the things of God. Devils
believe that God IS ; they know against Whom they
have rebelled and do rebel, Whom they hate. Devils

Faith. 13
or bad men may " believe God," that is, believe what
God saith. The devil, though of himself he cannot
foreknow it, believes that " he l hath but a short
time," and therefore hath the greater " wrath," and
puts forth the more hate. Bad men have believed,
" to-morrow we die," and so said, "let us eat and
drink," making this their belief the more an occasion
of sin. Neither devils nor bad men can " believe
in God." For " to believe in God," says a holy
man,m " is by believing to love, by believing to go
into Him, by believing to cleave unto Him and be
incorporated among His Members."
Judas believed that our Lord was the Christ,
when he betrayed Him. He believed that Jesus
was holy, and so repented when he saw Him con
demned. But sin and the love of money had stolen
away his love of God, and faith was dead. Pilate
believed, so as to fear, and to regard our Lord as
one, come from God, and innocent. He feared Caesar
more, and could not believe in Jesus. The High-
Priests believed that Jesus did many miracles ; they
could not believe in Him, because " they loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God." Cain
believed that God would punish him as He said ;
but, being of that wicked one, he had neither re
pentance, nor love, nor faith. Jeroboam and Jehu
believed what God told them of themselves, and did
His Word as far as it was what they wished. Nei-
the Jeroboam nor Jehu believed in God ; for Jero
boam was he who caused Israel to sin, and Jehu,
while he destroyed Baal out of Israel, departed not
1 Rev. xii. 12.
'" S. Laur. Justinian, de Fide, c. 3.

14 Faith.
from Jeroboam's sin. For the worship of the calves
favoured his worldly policy ; the worshippers of Baal
were Ahab's friends, and so were against himself as
well as against God.
As love is the life of faith, so with the increase of
love, faith increaseth. Even from man towards
man, faith and love grow together. The more we
love the more we understand and the more we trust
one another. We trust, because we love, and by
loving, know God. We can only know God, by
loving Him. St. Paul says, " I know in Whom I
have believed." Want of love is the cause of all
want of faith. Did we fully love God, who could for
a moment doubt of Him ? Who could repine at any
loss, or pain, or want, or sickness, or bereavement,
if he loved God with his whole soul and heart and
strength ? For strong love can have no hard thoughts
of God. All mistrust of God implies that He is not
All-good or All-wise.
But love liveth by good works. Love cannot live
torpid. Even in human love, love which never did
deeds of love would grow chill and die. We love
those most, to whom we do most good. Love is
perhaps increased more by doing than by receiving
good ; at least, by doing good out of the love of God.
Acts of love do not prove only that we have a living
faith ; they increase it. For to do good is to use
the grace of God ; and on the faithful use of grace,
more grace is given. " Faith worketh" ( literally
" inworketh,"" the word means, worketh in the very
soul itself) " by love."
But it has been thought, " if faith, on which God
11 ivepyov/jLevr).

Faith. 15
holds us righteous, or justifying faith, have love in
it, are we not accounted righteous for something in
ourselves ?" We are justified, or accounted righteous
before God, neither for faith nor love, but for the
Merits of our Lord Jesus Christ Alone. And faith
and love alike, although in us, are not of us ; both
are alike the gift of God. So St. Paul says, " to
you it hath been given [given, the word means, by
grace,0 and as grace] in behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake," and
again, "By p grace ye are saved, through faith, and
that [faith] not of yourselves ; it [faith] is the gift
of God ;" even faith whereby we are accounted and
made righteous before God, is not our own, lest we
should think we had anything of our own ; " it"
[faith] also, " is the gift of God." But this gift,
whether of faith or love, is so given, that it is with us
to receive it. We come to God by faith and love.
But " no man cometh unto Me" saith our Lord,
" except the Father Which hath sent Me, draw Him."
But by both He draws us through our will, not drags
us without or against it. The pleasures of sense
and of the world draw us one way. God the Father
and Christ draw us the other. Neither, irresistibly.
"If" says a father,11 "pleasure draweth, how much
more may we say that a man is drawn to Christ, who
is delighted by truth, delighted by blessedness, de
lighted by righteousness, delighted by everlasting
life, all which Christ is." " Believe/ and thou comest ;
love, and thou art drawn. Think not that it is a
0 ixapiarOw. Philip, i. 29. p Eph. ii. 8.
i S. Aug. in Evang. Joh. c. 6. Tr. 26. n. 4.
r Id. Serm. ad Pop. Serm. 131. n. 2. see p. 586. Oxf. Tr.

16 Faith.
rough and painful violence ; it is sweet, pleasant ;
the very sweetness draws thee." The. drawing of
grace changes nature, and strengthens nature, re
forms nature, subdues nature, but only if we be
willing to be changed, reformed, subdued, strength
ened. We are drawn with the cords of a man, not
dragged as brutes. "The drawing of grace raises
upwards towards Heaven the will, inclined towards
the flesh ; allures it, when resisting ; strengthens it,
when weak ; gladdens it, if saddened ; gives it, when
fearful, a good courage towards good."
It was man's sin that, " When He came unto His
own, His own received Him not," but " to as many
as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe in His
Name." "He gave them power" which by nature
they had not and could not have ; here is the grace
and gift of God ; but," to as many as received Him,"
here is the will of man, although enabled and receiv
ing power to receive Him, from God. He does not
say here, " He made them Sons of God," (although
when we receive Him, He doth so make us, for none
can make us the sons of God save God Himself by
the Holy Spirit of adoption) but here He goes further
back and says " He gave us power." " He wishes,"
says a father/ " at the same time to shew thee that
not even grace cometh upon us any how, but on
those who wish for it, and take pains about it." He
doth not give to us, unwilling or careless, but if we
ourselves will it and consent and long for it.
How then may we know if we have this faith?
How may it grow and be strengthened in us ? — How
a S. Chrys. Horn. x. n. 2. in S. Joh. i. 12. p. 84. Oxf. Tr.

Faith. 17
do we know that our bodies live ? " As," says a
holy man/ "we discern the life of this body by its
motion, so also the life of faith by good works. The
life of the body is the soul, whereby it is moved and
feels ; the life of faith is love ; because by it, it
worketh, as thou readest in the Apostle, ' Faith
which worketh by love.' Whence also when charity
waxeth cold, faith dies ; as the body, when the soul
departeth. If then thou see a man, earnest in good
works, and gladly fervent in conversation, doubt not
that faith lives in him. Thou hast undoubted proofs
of its life."
Wouldest thou again that thy faith should grow
and be strengthened in thee ? " If thou art not
drawn," says a father/ " pray that thou mayest be
drawn." If thou canst not pray fervently, pray for
the spirit of prayer and supplication, and " the Spirit
Himself shall help thine infirmities and make inter
cession for thee, according to the Will of God."
Heed not, if thou seem not at first to be heard.
Remember the Syrophenician woman, and take cou
rage. He Who seemed to neglect her, inwardly
drew her to persevere, and then crowned her perse
verance by the words of blessing, " O woman, great
is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
Act faithfully, according to thy degree of light,
and what God giveth thee to see ; and thou shalt
see more clearly. Hearken to the low whispers of
His Voice within thee, and thou shalt hear more
distinctly. Above all, do not stifle any motions of
conscience ; for this were to deaden faith.
* S. Bern, in Temp. Res. Serm. 2 n. 1. p. 906.
u S. Aug. in S. Joh. 1. c. n. 2.
C

18 Faith.
If thou art in doubt how to act, set the Day of
Judgment before thee, and act now as thou wouldest
then wish that thou hadst acted. It sorely injures
faith, to act, suspecting that thou art acting amiss.
For it is the part of Faith, to act without seeing, in
all which it dimly hopes to be according to the Will
of God.
Wean thyself from pleasures of sense, if thou
wouldest have strong faith. Moses despised the
pleasures of a king's court, and so became " a man of
God," " faithful in all his house," through faith ; the
children of Israel lusted after " the leeks and onions
and flesh-pots of Egypt," rebelled against God and
lost the promised land.
Be not taken up with an earthly future, if thou
wouldest look beyond the veil, and " behold Him
Who is Invisible."
Be not anxious about little things, if thou wouldest
learn, to trust God with thine all. Act upon faith
in little things ; commit thy daily cares and anxieties
to Him ; and He will strengthen thy faith for any
greater trials. Rather, give thy whole self into
God's Hands, and so trust Him to take care of thee
in all lesser things, as being His, for His Own Sake,
Whose thou art.
Meditate daily on the things of Eternity ; and by
the grace of God, do something daily, which thou
wouldest wish to have done, when that day cometh.
Eternity fades quickly from sight, amid the mists
and clouds of this world. Heaven is above our
heads, yet we see it not with eyes fixed on the earth.
Especially, in any temptation of Satan, call quickly
to mind Whose thou art, in Whom thou hast be-

Faith. 19
lieved. "Whom resist," says St. Peter, " steadfast in
the faith." " Taking," says St. Paul, " the shield of
faith, whereby ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the devil."
Above all things, in all things, "look unto JESUS,
the Author and Finisher of thy faith." Do things
through His grace, for Him, looking to Him as thy
everlasting Great Reward. Let nothing keep thee
back from Him. If thou failest, look to Him to up
hold thee ; if thou stumblest, hold swift His Hand
to keep thee ; if thou failest, lie not hopelessly there,
but look to Him to raise thee ; if by His grace thou
doest well, look to Him in thanksgiving, that He
has helped thee, and pray that thou mayest do better.
Mourn to Him, for love of Him, that thou ever of-
fendedst Him ; mourn to Him all thy offences, one
by one, against Him ; but pray Him that for love of
Him thou mayest no more offend Him.
" Do deeds of love for Him, to Him, following His
steps. " The severing of love," says a holy man/
" is the death of faith. Believest thou in Christ ?
Do the works of Christ, that thy faith may live.
Let love give life to thy faith, works prove it. Let
not earthly deeds bow down, whom faith of heavenly
things raises up. Thou who sayest thou abidest in
Christ, oughtest so to walk as He walked. If thou
seekest thine own glory, enviest the prosperous,
speakest ill of the absent, renderest evil to him who
injureth thee, this did not Christ.
" Thou confessest that thou lovest God, but in
deeds thou deniest Him. Thou hast given thy
tongue to Christ, thy soul to the devil. Thou canst
x S. Bern. Serm. 24. in Cant. n. 8.
c2

20 Faith.
not lift up the head, bowed down by the yoke of the
devil. Thou canst not raise thyself, when thine
iniquities go over thy head, a heavy burden, too
heavy for thee. Even a right faith, if it work not
by love, maketh not men upright. Nor can works,
although right, make the heart upright, without
faith. For * without faith it is impossible to please
God.' Whoso pleaseth not God, God cannot please
him. For whom God pleaseth, he cannot displease
God. If then neither faith without works, nor works
without faith, suffice to make the heart upright, let
us, who believe in Christ, labour to make our ways
and our deeds upright. Let us lift up our hearts
with our hands unto God, that we may be formed
wholly upright, proving by right deeds the Tightness
of our faith, loving and loved by the Bridegroom of
the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, God Blessed for
evermore. Amen." '

SERMON II.

HOPE.

Psalm xxxi. 16.
" My hope hath been in Thee, O Lord : I have said,
Thou art my God."
Satan ensnares mankind, alike through false hopes
or through hopelessness. He heeds not whereby he
ensnares them, so they fall into his hands. He will
allure or will affright them ; he shews himself as an
angel of light, or in his own hatefulness ; deceives
them through shew of virtue, or hardens them, openly
to defy God. Very often he first allures them through
false hopes, and then affrights them by false despair ;
blaspheming first God's Holiness and then His Mercy.
He leads them to follow him blindfold to the edge
of a precipice, as though they could not fall ; and
then he persuades them that it is too late, and that
they must fall. He persuades them, that they can
stop short when they will, and that so they may go

22 Hope.
nearer and nearer ; then he turns the brain dizzy,
and although, by one strong effort, through the yet
lingering grace of God, the hapless being might re
cover and shake him off, he persuades him that he
must fall. Up to their fall, Satan lures men by false
thoughts and hopes of the mercy of God ; as though
God were not so severe and would not so punish this
sin ; when fallen, he would keep them by false des
pair, as though there were no hope.
Against these wiles of our deadly foe, God gives
us for our shield, the gift and grace of Divine hope.
It much behoves us then, to know what true hope is,
that we be not lured to our ruin, by false hopes, or
held back in our Christian course by false hopeless
ness. For what should one say of the seeming hopes
of most of mankind ? What would ye say, brethren,
of the hopes of the seaman,3 whose open boat was
tossed in a heavy sea, rolling heavily now this way,
now that, at times half filled by the waves breaking
over it, and guided by an unsteady hand ? If ye
would think his hopes good, then think theirs also
good, who take no heed beforehand to the assaults of
their besetting sins, give way to their passions, and
without looking to the ways whereby they hurst
upon them, or to the Cross of Christ, are mastered
by them. Or what would ye think of him, who
without chart or steerage or knowledge of the coast,
was floating along in a dangerous sea, amid hidden
rocks and whirlpools, going he knew not whither?
Ye would say that if he were saved at last, it must
be through some secret mercy of God, not that he
himself has any ground of hope. Such are the hopes
a Preached in Hayling Island.

Hope. 23
of those, who go on, day by day, as chance may
carry them, without any strong, steadfast, earnest
purpose to find out the narrow way, which, amid the
thousand ways that lead to death, alone leads to life.
Or what would ye say of him, on whose vessel the
water was slowly but steadily gaining, and he, at no
pains to clear it out, though still far from shore and
his home ? What but that, unless aroused to greater
watchfulness, he too must founder and perish ? Such
are their hopes, who with unexamined, unsifted con
sciences, let petty sins creep into their lives day by
day, are careless about them, because they are little,
and empty them not out by daily penitence and daily
prayer for forgiveness. Or what of him who, having
escaped a dangerous sea, thanks God for his deliver
ance, and then, as if all danger were past, relaxes his
watchfulness, and lets himself be, little by little,
drifted back again into the same perils from which
he hardly escaped ? If this were presumption, what
is theirs who having been roused from their death-
sleep by some strong call of Christ, leave off, little
by little, what they had found good for their souls,
pray less frequently, are less strict with themselves,
less heedful of occasions of sin, and thinking that all
is well with them, are blindly sure, that all must be
well with them to the end.
There are many ways to death ; one only, a nar
row way, to life. There are many false, deceiving,
meteor hopes ; one only, sure and steadfast ; many,
which end on this earth, one only " which entereth
into that within the veil," even the Heaven of hea
vens, binding the soul, amid all the tossings of this
troublesome world, to the Throne of God. One only

24 Hope.
hope reaches already, yea and places us already
there, " whither the Forerunner is," (not, as it were,
for Himself, so Scripture speaks, but) " for us, en
tered," that where He is gone, there we might enter
in, might tread the way which He has trod before,
follow after, where He is the Forerunner and holdeth
wide open the Everlasting Doors, which lifted up
their heads to receive Him, a High Priest for ever
after the order of Melchizedeck, ever living to inter
cede for us.
This Hope is not a Gift only of God to cheer us
on. It is also a virtue, one of the chief virtues,
whose end is not man, but God Himself. If we he
Christians indeed, we not only may, we ought to
have this virtue of hope. Our Christian character is
wanting without it. It does not merely make the
difference of serving God with gladness of heart or
with heaviness, as slaves or as sons ; we do not merely
with it part with a great stay in trouble, a great
spur to noble devoted exertion ; we lose a grace,
and thereby our other graces and our whole tone of
mind are impaired.
What is true hope then ? how can we distinguish
it from those false hopes ? and if we seem to have it
not, can we attain it for ourselves, and how ?
Hope, as a Christian grace, it has been said, is,
" ab certain expectation of future blessedness, coming
from the grace of God, amid well-doing," or " a de
sire of heavenly good with a trustfulness of attaining
it." But hope, as well as its sister graces, faith and
charity, with which it is intwined by an indissoluble
bond, is capable of increase/* degrees ; so that the
b S. Laur. Justinian, de Spe. c. i. fin.

Hope. 25
first trembling hope of the returning prodigal may
be as different from the assured hope of Paul the
aged, when he had "fought the good fight," had
" finished his course," and " the crown of Righteous
ness, laid up for" him, stood just before him, as may
be their mansions in Heaven, or the glory of one
star above another.
Some hope there must be, as well as love, where
there is any faith. Without love, faith would have
nothing to dwell upon ; without hope, faith would
have no object for us. We might believe that Jesus
died for all, and we might be amazed at His Love
and Goodness, and the wondrous work of man's re
demption, " God made man ; " but it has been a very
miracle of grace, when love and faith have lived,
while hope seemed dead. There have been those
who, out of deep love which God gave them, loved
Him because they could not but love, though they
had but that joy of loving Him here for their re
ward, without hope for the life to come c ; but it was
one of His most wonderful works of grace, one of the
deepest trials of His most faithful ones. But, mostly,
hope, faith, and love are born together in the heart,
together grow, together are perfected ; together alas !
wane or die. All may be in an infant state ; all, weakly
or sickly ; all, strong and glowing. About all, the soul
itself may be deceived. There is a faith which is of
the head only, and a love which is but of the imagi
nation and excitement, and self-wrought, and there is
a hope which is but presumption. It is a separate,
yet not uncommon sickness of the soul, that hope is
weakly, when yet love is strong ; as in timid, mis-
c See the Life of Brother Lawrence. Hatchard.

26 Hope.
giving, scrupulous consciences, and these are objects
of deep and tender sympathy. It is a very anxious
sickness, when hope is buoyant, puffed up by vain
conceits, without due proportioned strength of faith
and love.
In a healthy state of the soul, faith, hope, and
love will be born, live, grow, thrive together. When
the first good tidings of salvation come to one out of
Christ, there must be hope for himself that he may
so be saved, and love for Him Who died to save him,
and faith in Him, that He, as S. Paul says, "loved
me and gave Himself for me." And so to one, again
dead in trespasses and sins, the hope that, on re
pentance, he can be saved, shoots like an electric
shock through the benumbed heart, and faith and
love revive together, and the dried-up soul gushes
forth anew in tears of penitential love, and cries to
Jesus, " my Redeemer and my God."
Hope, in a manner, goes before full faith, and
prepares the way for it. It opens the heart, fixes
the thoughts, prepares the will. In natural things,
too, the heart cannot believe, while it hopes not.
Jacob's heart was chilled with the hopeless thought
of years, that his son was dead ; hope, belief, love,
gushed forth together, " It is enough ; Joseph my
son is yet alive ; I will go and see him before I die."
Ye yourselves have felt, at times, how some ray of
hope kindled new faith and love ; or some fervour of
prayer which God gave you, wakened a thrill of
stronger hope ; or some deed of self-denying love,
wrought through the grace of Christ, warmed the
heart to hope that God had not forsaken it.
And thus, in their continual flight by which they

Hope. 27
bear the soul heavenwards, these three Divine Graces,
are seen as it were, at times this one, at times that,
before the other ; yet where one advances, the others
follow ; for, even if not seen, they hardly can but be
together. All have their being from the same source,
the love of God towards us ; all are fixed on Him ;
all return to Him. -They are a threefold way of
grasping or " apprehending" (as Scripture .speaketh,)
Him by Whom we have been apprehended ; three
modes of holding Him Who is Infinite, of containing
Him Who containeth all things. For what is faith,
but " the very substance of things hoped for," making
them present to the soul ? and hope maketh Him in
Whom we believe, our own : and love is the very
Presence of God Who is Love, in the soul. Faith
saith, " Christ loved me and gave Himself for me ; "
and " hope maketh not ashamed," and saith " I d know
in Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
He is able to keep that which I have committed unto
Him against that Day ; " and love saith " We love
Him, because He first loved us;" "I am my Be
loved's and my Beloved is mine."
Each of these graces will soar higher, as the others
rise also. All have their degrees. For after the
Apostles hadjbelieved in our Lord, it is told us again
and again, " His disciples believed on Him ; " and
just before His Passion they say to Him, "by6 this
we believe that Thou earnest forth from God," as
though, in each higher stage of belief, it was a new
belief, a belief such as they never had before. " Faith
is the substance of things hoped for." Without faith
then, things hoped for would have no substance, no
d 2 Tim. i. 12. c S. John xvi. 30.

28 Hope.
reality. We could not hope for what we believe
not. And hope again, is the support of faith and
love; as S. Paul again says, " having f heard your
faith in Christ Jesus, and your love towards all
saints, for the hope's sake which is laid up for you
in Heaven." They believed in Christ absent, they
shewed love to all who were His, for the hope of His
Presence, the hope laid up for them in Heaven,
where He is. And S. Paul calls himself "an Apostle
according to the faith of God's elect." This was the
substance of his office ; but its end is, he goes on to
say, " in the hope of eternal life."
S. Paul saith of faith and love together "yourg
faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every
one of you all toward each other aboundeth ;" and S.
Jude prays, " Mercy h unto you, and peace and love
be multiplied ; " and S. Paul, " This ' I pray, that your
love may abound more and more ;" and S.John speaks
of " love perfected ; " and of hope, S. Paul prayeth/
" The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that ye may abound (overflow1) in hope,
by the power of the Holy Ghost." He prays that in
and through their life of faith, the continual energy
of believing, God would give them joy and peace ;
that joy and peace should enter into their belief, and
be blended with it, and be a part of it, so that their
belief should be joyous and peaceful ; and not only
so, but that God would fill them with it, " the God
of hope fill you," and so that faith and joy and peace,
with which they were filled, should overflow and over-
1 Ci°\ L04' 5- 8 2 Thess. i. 3.
k iude 3- , ' Philip, i. 9.
k Kom. xv. 13. i tt '

Hope. 29
stream the soul, and the soul have enough, and as it
were more than enough, so that it cannot contain
itself for joy and hope, but its joy and peace and
hope should overflow to others also, and this " through
the power of the Holy Ghost," healing all wounds,
strengthening all weakness, kindling all chilliness,
bedewing all dryness, until all which should hinder
hope should cease, and hope be lifted above itself,
" through the power of the Holy Ghost."
And again S. Paul speaks of all these three graces
as living together, and putting forth their life, each
according to its own proper fruit. " Remembering,™"
he says, " your work of faith, and labour of love,
and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ ;" faith
working by love, and love not inactive, but toiling
in deeds of love ; and hope enduring all troubles and
all things contrary ; and all these " of the Lord Jesus
Christ" by His Merits purchased, by His Spirit given,
to Himself returning. So then faith, given by Him,
worketh in us towards Him ; and love, shed abroad
in the heart by Him, toileth for Him and for His
members ; and hope abideth all things, resting in
Him Who is the Rock, unshaken like Himself in
Whom it is.
For hope, as well as every other grace, is the Gift
of God the Holy Ghost ; and so again it too groweth
with the increased indwelling of the Comforter. It
is a fruit of the new birth, given us by the Holy
Ghost, in which we are born by Him, of Him.
"Blessed," saith S. Peter, "be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again," given us a
"' 1 Thess. i. 3.

30 Hope.
new, immortal birth and life, "unto a living hope
through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ ;" as though
this "living hope" were a very object of our new
birth through the Resurrection of Christ. And S.
Paul, " Now" our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and
God, even our Father, Which hath given us ever
lasting consolation and good hope through grace."
The comforts which God giveth are not like this
world's comforts, fleeting, but for ever. His hopes
are not, like this world's, evil and decaying, but
" good," and they are through His Grace, Which is
given us by the Holy Spirit. And, as a grace of
God, hope grows through every other grace. Each
grace of God, well used, draws down fresh grace from
Him Who hath said, "To him that hath shall he
given, and he shall have abundantly."
Hope, again, grows through deeds of love, done
through the grace of Christ. " God/" S. Paul saith,
c'is not unrighteous, that He should forget your
work and labour of love, which ye have shewed for
His Name's sake, who have ministered to the saints,
and yet do minister. And we desire that every one
of you should shew the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto the end." Hope they already
had. But " the full assurance of hope " as yet lay
beyond them. S. Paul had hopes for them; "we
are persuaded," he says, "better things of you;"
they had hopes for themselves ; but " the fulness of
hope" as yet they had not. This was an end which
they were to reach unto, " to the full assurance of
hope ;" and to this, he says, they would attain by
persevering diligence in what they had begun, self-
- 2 Thess. ii. 6. "Heb. vi. 11.

Hope. 31
denying deeds and labour of love. So should hope
become fuller and fuller, as the measure of their love
increased, until they should reach to its very ful
ness ; and as they shewed forth the same diligence,
so their hope also should in its fulness abide " unto
the end."
Again, like every other Christian grace, hope is
ripened through trials and afflictions. " Having
been justified by faith," S. Paul says, "we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by Whom we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory
of God." Such, S. Paul tells us, are the fruits of
faith ; a state of grace, steadfastness in it, ("wherein
we stand") peace with God, wherein we fear no wrath
nor condemnation, but with free, calm, joyous heart
and soul, as His children, "rejoice in hope of the
glory of God ; " that is, that He will give us of that
glory which He imparteth to all to whom He im-
parteth Himself, His own Glory, the Glory which
shone forth in the Only-Begotten Son, to Whose
Glory we shall be likened. And, rejoicing or glory
ing" in this hope of the glory of God, we rejoice
(however painful they may in themselves be) in all
things which lead thereto. And not only so, but
we glory or rejoice11 (it is the same word as before)
in tribulations also ; " knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope ; " that is, troubles and trials of
all sorts, but especially those borne for the sake
and cause of Christ, in the Hand and through the
Grace of God, work that endurance which, without
" Kavx<i>p.eOa. Rom. v. 2. ¦> Kavx<i>p-^0a. Ver. 3.

32 Hope.
that Grace, they would shatter.1 The hammer of
afflictions but knits closer together what it does not
break. For, by endurance, men become more ac
ceptable to God through Christ, and are tried ; and
through trial, hope is stronger. For if we hope more
of anything which has gone through any trial, (even
in things made, we trust most in those which have
been proved) how much more, when the trust is not
in man, nor in any natural power, but in God, that
He Whose love has carried His own through any
trial, will the more love and carry them to the end.
And so S. Paul sums up, " and hope maketh not
ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost Which is given to us."
Human hopes, and all hope in man out of God, do
" make ashamed ; " for they must fail us ; but hope
which is of God faileth not ; for it is the fruit of
love ; and love is poured out, he says, into the Chris
tian's soul "by the Holy Ghost which is given us."
Shall hope then fail ? But love, by which it cometh,
is poured out in the Christian's heart, a full stream
from the Fountain of love ? Shall love then dry
up? But it is "poured out" by God the Holy
Ghost. Will then the Holy Ghost leave us? But
He " is given unto us," and will not then part with
us, unless we (God forbid !) part with Him.
Our question, brethren, is already answered; how
may we distinguish true hope from false? True
hope is the gift of God, blended with faith and love,
r " Woe to the adversities of the world, once and again, and the
third time, from the longing for prosperity, and because adversity
itself is a hard thing, and lest it shatter endurance." S. Aug.
Conf. Oxf. Tr. B. x. p. 204.

Hope. 33
strengthened by deeds wrought in Christ, by acts of
love, and by patience in trouble.
They are not true, but deadly hopes, accursed of
God,8 when men, pleading the mercy of God, continue
in carelessness and sin, or delay repentance, as though
man might offend God, because He is long-suffering.
Of such, Scripture saith, " Not knowing that the
Goodness of God calleth thee to repentance, dost
thou treasure up to thyself wrath against the Day
of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God ?" It is to profane the very attribute wherein
our hope is, to make the mercy of God the occasion
of sin.
They are not true, but deceitful hopes, whereby
men trust that without effort, because they are as
other men arc, without- any real or deep repentance,
they shall be saved. For our Judge saith, " Unless
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
They are not true but presumptuous hopes, whereby
a man thinks he may be saved, although he avoid
not diligently all which arc occasions of sin to him,
or because he, without real repentance, has only left
off any sin because it has rather left off him.
They are baseless hopes, which a man hath, who
has not sifted his own conscience before God, nor
hath not, reviewing his whole life, repented him of
the evil.
They are blind hopes, if a man hope to be saved,
and yet will not bear the pain of looking into his
" " lt is an infidel confidence, capable only of a curse, when wo
sin in hope. Although that is not oven to be called confidence,
but rather an insensibility, and pernicious despondency." S. Bern.
Serin, in Annunc, p. 3. I)

34 Hope.
own heart, and "hateth the light, and cometh not
unto the light," suspecting that "his deeds are evil."
They are vain hopes, when " a man putteth his
trust in himself," and his own strength, and passeth
through trials without calling upon God.
It is a perilous and ruinous hope when a man
trusteth in his own merits/ They are broken, failing
hopes, which will pierce a man, as they break under
him, if he trusteth in man, and taketh man for his
defence, and in his heart departeth from the Lord.
They are false, sickening, miserable hopes, when
man seeks for any happiness out of God, or with a
heart divided between God and the world, hopeth to
have the world for his portion in this life, and God
for his Portion in the next.
Where, then, is true hope? Let us ask the Psalm
ist, when, beholding the end of all things, he saith
of all earthly things, "Man walketh in a vain show."
"And now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope
is even in Thee." His are true hopes, who, amid
whatever infirmity, yet knows that he has forsaken
sin, and would sooner than the whole world that he
had never done it, would not, for the whole world,
again do it, because it offended God. His are true
hopes, who, amid whatever failure, has set his heart
steadfastly to conquer any besetting sin, by the
Grace of God, and seeks to be watchful and prays
for grace to do it. His are true hopes, who, as our
Article11 says, "feels in himself the workings of the
Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh
and drawing up his mind to high and heavenly
things." His are true hopes, who, knowing his own
« S. Bern. Serm. 1. in Ps. qui habitat. » Art. 17.

Hope. 35
frailty, watchful of his own weakness, wholly mis
trusting himself, wholly trusting God, useth dili
gently grace given, "keepeth himself" that "the
wicked one touch him not ;" "having the hope that
he shall see God, purifieth himself as He is pure ;"
is "zealous to maintain good works," yet trusteth
not in his works, but in Him Who forgiveth all our
sin, and "crowneth" in us, not for our own merits,
but "in mercy and loving-kindness," the works which
His grace has given.
"Thou Lord art my hope." "Whatever," says
a holy man/ "is to be done, whatever avoided, what
ever to be borne, whatever to be wished for, 'Thou,
Lord, art my hope.' This is to me the cause of all
my promises, this the whole ground of all I look for.
Let another put forward his merit, boast that he
'bears the burden and heat of the day,' say that he
'fasts twice in the week,' or, lastly, boast that he is
'not as other men are,' but for me, 'it is good to
hold fast to God/ to place my hope in God. Let
others hope in what they will ; one, in learning ;
another, in cleverness of this world ; another, in
noble birth ; another, in dignity ; another, in any
vanity he wills ; all these 'I have counted as loss'
and dung for Thy sake ; for ' Thou, Lord art my
hope.' Hope who will, in uncertain riches ; I will
not hope for the necessaries of life save from Thee,
trusting in Thy word, at which I have cast away all ;
'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righte
ousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you.' For ' the poor committeth himself unto Thee,
for Thou art the help of the friendless.' If rewards
* Id. Ib. Serm. 9. n. 5. 6.
D2

36 Hope.
are promised me, through Thee will I hope to obtain
them ; 'if wars arise against me,' if the world slay-
eth, if the evil one stormeth, if the very 'flesh lusteth
against the spirit,' 'in Thee will I hope.'"
"Brethren, to be thus minded is to live by faith.
Nor can any other truly say, 'Thou, Lord, art my
hope,' unless he be inwardly persuaded by the Spirit
to cast all his cares on the Lord, knowing that 'He
careth for us.' Why, if we be thus minded, why
delay we wholly to cast aside miserable, vain, use
less, seducing hopes, and with the whole devotion of
our mind, with the whole fervour of our spirit, to
cleave to this one so solid, so perfect, so blessed hope?
If anything is impossible, if anything is difficult to
God, seek something else in which to hope. But
with a word He can do all things. If He have de
creed to save us, we shall be delivered : if He he
pleased to give us life, life is in His Will ; if to give
us everlasting rewards, He can do what He willeth.
Or doubtest thou not that He can, but hast misgiv
ings of His Will? 'Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'
Or how should that Majesty fail him who hopeth in
Him, Who so earnestly biddeth that we hope in Him?
Truly, He doth not leave those that hope in Him.
'He shall deliver them from the ungodly and shall
save them.' On what ground? 'Because they have
put their trust in Him.' Oh sweet, but effectual,
unanswerable ground. This is 'Righteousness ; yet
not of the law, but of faith.'"
Would you then grow in hope? First cast out
all vain hopes ; hope for nothing, hope in nothing
out of God.

Hope. 37
Then, hope is on high within the vail, "where
Christ sitteth on the Right Hand of God." Grovel
not in things below, among earthly cares, pleasures,
anxieties, toils, if thou wouldest have a good strong
hope on high. Thou canst not soar to Heaven and
stoop to earth. Lift up thy cares with thy heart to
God, if thou wouldest hope in Him.
Then see what in thee is most displeasing to God.
This it is which holdeth thy hope down. Strike
firmly, repeatedly, in the might of God, until it give
way. Thy hope will soar at once with thy thanks
to God Who delivereth thee.
And then cast all thy care on God. See that all
thy cares be such as thou canst cast on God, and
then hold none back. Never brood over thyself;
never stop short in thyself; but cast thy whole self,
even this very care which distresseth thee, upon God.
He hath said, "Cast all thy care." He has excepted
none ; neither do thou.
Hope is a grace and gift of God. Try not to
make it for thyself, nor look in thyself for grounds of
hope ; but pray God to pour it with faith and love
into thy soul.
Our hopes are where our hearts are. Meditate
often then on the love of God, the Passion of thy
Lord, the Price He paid for thee, His Intercession
for thee, His Providence over thee, His Gifts ever
renewed to thee, His Word pledged unto thee, and
plead to the Father, that He " despise not the work
of His own Hands, destroy not His own Image though
branded by sin;" to the Son, that He "despise not
the price of His own Blood, named after His own
Name," to whom He giveth His Body and Blood ; to

38 Hope.
the Holy Ghost, that He despise not us into whom
He breathed life, whom He has hallowed ; y and He,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost, in Whom alone is thy hope, will have pity
upon thee, and give thee strong, sure, sustaining,
well grounded hope in Him, grounded on Him Whose
"mercies" alone are "sure."
"My hope hath been in Thee, O Lord; I have
said, Thou art my God." "My hope is in Thee."
Sweet is it that our hope should rest in Him Who is
never shaken ; should abide in Him Who never
changeth ; should bind us to Him Who can hold us
fast to Himself, Who Alone is the full contentment
of the soul ; should, as it were, enter into Him ;
since " in Him is our being", Who is Love. Sweeter
yet is it, that this our hope is no fruit of our own
thought. We do not come at it by our understand
ings ; we do not gather it for ourselves even from
His Word alone. It is, with Faith and Love, His
Gift, poured out within us, drawing us upward to
Himself. Yet Holy Scripture has yet one sweeter
word still. Not only is our hope in Him, but He
Himself is our Hope.z " Thou art my Hope," saith
y Bishop Andrewes.
z " What has been said, brethren, might seem to suffice for the
explanation of this Psalm, if the Prophet had said (as it is in some
other Psalms) ' in Thee have I hoped.' But what he saith, 'Thou
Lord, art my Hope, ' meaneth perhaps something fuller and
sublimer, that my Hope is not only in Him, but Himself. For
more properly is that called our hope, which we hope for, than
that wherein we hope. There are indeed perchance some, who
desire to obtain from the Lord, certain things temporal or spiritual.
But perfect love thirsteth only for the Highest, crying aloud with
the whole vehemence of its longing, ' Whom have I in Heaven,

Hope. 39
the Psalmist. "God our Saviour and Lord Jesus
Christ" saith S. Paul/ "our Hope." Yea, there is a
deeper, nearer depth. "The Glory of the Mystery
ofthe Gospel," says S. Paul, "is Christ in you, the
Hope of Glory." Christ Himself is our Hope, as the
only Author of it ; Christ is our Hope, as the End
of it ; and Christ, Who is the Beginning and the
End, is our hope also by the way ; for he saith,
"Christb in you, the Hope of Glory." Each yearn
ing of our hearts, each ray of hope which gleams
upon us, each touch which thrills through 'us, each
voice which whispers in our inmost hearts of the
good things laid up in store for us, if we will love
God, are the Light of Christ enlightening us, the
Touch of Christ raising us to new life, the Voice of
Christ, "Whoso cometh to Me, I will in no wise
cast out ;" it is " Christ in us, the Hope of Glory,"
drawing us up by His Spirit Who dwelleth in us,
unto Himself, our Hope. For our Hope is not the
glory of Heaven, not joy, not peace, not rest from
labour, not fulness of our wishes, nor sweet content
ment of the whole soul, not understanding of all
mysteries and all knowledge, not only a torrent of
delight; it is "Christ our God," "the Hope of
Glory." Nothing which God could create is what
we hope for ; nothing which God could give us out of
Himself, no created glory, or bliss, or beauty, or
majesty, or riches. What we hope for is our Re
but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I would desire in
comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart fainteth ; but God
is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.'" S. Bern.
Ib. n. 8.
a 1 Tim. i. 1. b Col. i, 27.

40 Hope.
deeming God Himself, His Love, His Bliss, the Joy
of our own Lord, Himself Who hath so loved us, to
be our Joy and our Portion for ever.
Oh will ye not then say with me, brethren, once
for all, "Farewell all vain hopes and desires out of
God ;" " Whom have I in Heaven but Thee, and
there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison
of Thee." "Thou Thyself art my Hope and my
Portion in the land of the living." " In Thee I shall
not be disappointed of my Hope." -' >' '

SERMON III.

LOVE.

1 Cor. xiii. 13.
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ;
but the greatest of these is Charity."
"Charity/" as Holy Scripture speaks of it, "is the
love of God for Himself above all things, and of man
for God and in God." It shows itself in outward
acts of love to man, or, where it may be, in labour
for God. But these are only outward forms, wherein
the inward life puts itself forth. These shall cease
in the world to come, (for where there is no misery,
there is no room for works of mercy, nor for labour,
where all is everlasting rest), but "Charity never
faileth." It is itself deep within, in the heart, ever
there, even when not called to act, like hot glowing
coals, which dart forth in a quick consuming flame,
* S. Laur. Justin, de charitate c. 1. He adds, "Or Love is
life uniting the beloved with the Beloved," also "Love is a virtue
whereby we long to see and enjoy God."

42 Love.
when fuel is laid upon them, but their deep, pure,
white heat is within. Acts of love strengthen the
inward fire of love ; and love, which puts itself not
forth in deeds of love, would go out, as fire without
fuel ; but they do not first light it. Love is the
"fire," which our Blessed Lord "came to send upon
the earth, and would that it should be kindled."
He kindled it by His Own Death and Passion,
"heaping coals of fire upon our heads," to melt us
into love. He kindled it, by sending His Spirit into
our hearts, "a Spirit of burning" to burn out what
was defiled, enlighten what was dark, make what was
cold to glow, melt what was stone, purging away our
dross and changing the dull ore into the fine gold.
"Love is of God," and "God is Love." In God,
Love is Himself, His Very Substance, the very bond
of unity of the Co-Equal Trinity/ For "God is
Love." In Angels and man, Love is the gift of God,
given to man by Him Who is the Gift of God, "shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who is
b "For what in that Supreme and Blessed Trinity, maintaineth
that supreme and ineffable unity, but love ? Love then is a law,
a law of the soul, which in a manner holdeth the Trinity in Unity
and bindeth It together in the Bond of peace. But let no one
think that I here speak of love as a quality or accident. Else
(God forbid) I should say that there is in God something which is
not God. But I speak of that Divine Substance. And this is
nothing new or unwonted, since John saith, ' God is Love.
Rightly, then, is Love called both God and the Gift of God. So
then Love giveth love ; Substantial, the accidental. When Love
means the Giver, it is the Name of Substance ; when the gift, of a
quality." S. Bern. Ep. xi. n. 4. See also S. Aug. Horn. 39. in
S. Joann. n. 5. p. 537. Oxf. Tr. Horn. 14. n. 9. p. 224. Horn.
18. n. 4. p. 277. "How much more must the Father, Who is God,
and the Son Who is God, be, in the Fountain of Love, One God."

Love. 43
given to us." "Love giveth love." God Who is
Love, giveth His Spirit Who is Love, to pour abroad
love into our hearts.
Love then is the source and end of all good. " It
alone," says a father/ "distinguishes the children of
God from the children of the devil. " Without it,
nothing avails ; with it, thou hast all things. If it
were possible that, without it, thou couldest "have
all faith, so as to move mountains," the Apostle says,
thou wert "nothing." Judas cast out devils, we
must suppose ; but he was himself a devil. He was
nothing, for he had not the life of God ; he was but
a blot in God's Creation. Without love, all know
ledge of Divine things is ignorance ; all eloquence,
though it were the speech of Angels, "a tinkling
cymbal," hollow and empty, for it is not filled by
God. Without love, all gifts of a whole substance
to the poor, all zeal for the honour of God, yea, to
suffer death, if it were possible, for the Name of
Jesus, would profit nothing. With love, the cup of
cold water, given for Jesus' sake, or the two mites,
are rich acceptable gifts, and the mute longing of
the soul pleads eloquently for the conversion of sin
ners ; and unlearned and ignorant men speak with
the Spirit of Christ; and the weak things of the
world overcome the mighty, and children trample on
Satan, the prince of this world ; and "things which
are not, bring to nought things which are," since
they are filled and strengthened and ensouled and
empowered by Him Who Alone IS and is Love.
"Love," says a holy man/ "is the beginning of all
good, because it is from God, and moves to Him.
c S. Aug. d S. Laur. Just. 1. c. c. 2.

44 Love.
For Love worketh great things, where it is ; but if it
worketh not, it is not Love. Love is the means of
all good, for it is according to God, and fashioneth
our deeds aright. For it hath ever the eyes towards
God. It is the glue of souls, the union of faithful
souls; it is not cold through sloth, nor feigned in
action, not fleeting, not rash, not headlong. Love is
also the end of all goods ; for it is for the sake of
God, and directeth our works, and bringeth them to
the right end. It is the end of sins, because it de-
stroyeth them; the end of the commandments, he-
cause it perfecteth them ; it is the end of all our
toils, the end of all ends to us, for our rest is in life
everlasting, but God is the End in Whom we rest,"
and "God is Love."
Whence hath love its birth ? In the Infinite Love
of God, in the Essence of God. Faith and Hope
are towards God. They are graces put into the soul
by God, whereby the soul should cling to Him, hold
fast to Him, long for Him. But Faith and Hope
can have no likeness in God. They are virtues of
the soul towards God, bringing it near to Him, sup
porting it in cleaving to Him, opening it for His
Love. They are the virtues of the creature, when
absent from its Creator, companions of its pilgrim
state. In Heaven, neither Angels, nor Saints, hope
or believe, but see and know and feel and love.
Faith and Hope are great graces ; but they, as well
as works of love, will, in Eternity, cease to be. They
are a ladder to reach to Heaven. When Heaven is
reached, there is no more place for them. In Heaven
they cannot be. Faith cannot be, where there is
sight ; nor Hope, when He for Whom we hope, has

Love. 45
fully given Himself to us ; and we have Him, the
End of our faith, and are immersed in the Ocean of
Joy in Him we hope for ; and knowledge, such as
we have here, vanisheth away, and there will come
in its stead, another kind of knowledge, a knowledge
not coming to us in words, nor formed by our
thoughts, nor reflected to us, as through a glass
darkly, not faint images of things Divine, but the
Beatific Vision itself, the Very Essence of God. In
God, we shall, (if we attain) see God ; in God, know
God. Not only through the Manhood of Christ
Jesus our Lord, although inseparably united with
His Godhead and in God ; not through any thing
created, even His Adorable Manhood, shall we know
and see God. God Himself shall the Eyes of the
soul behold, unveiled in His Glory and Majesty and
Beauty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as HE IS.
But then, when the highest speech of God here, even
prophecies, words spoken of God, through God put
ting them into the mind, shall cease, and instead
thereof, shall be "the new song ;" then, when, for
this dim knowledge of God, through our imperfect
thoughts and words, spoken after the manner of men,
we shall "know as we are known," shall know the
Very Self, the Essence of God, even as He knows
our inmost selves ; yea, then when His Divine Nature,
as HE IS, shall be open to our gaze, Himself, with
all the treasures of His Wisdom and Goodness and
Love, shall be ours to behold ; and when the bright
torch of Faith, which guides us in this our darkness,
shall be lost in the Ineffable Brightness of the Sight
of God, and Hope shall be swallowed up in the un
ceasing, assured, satisfying Joy of Him we hope for,

46 Love.
beyond Whom, out of Whom, there is nothing to
hope for, but a certain knowledge that our joy shall
be as unchangeable as His Bliss, which shall be our
joy ; then, even then, "Charity never faileth." For
Charity is the love wherewith, throughout Eternity,
the blessed shall love God, and each other in God.
On this ground, then, is Charity greater than Faith
and Hope, and any other grace, because it has its
source in that which God IS. Charity is created love,
coming forth from the Uncreated, "shed abroad in our
hearts" by Him Who is Uncreated Love, "the Spirit
Who is given us." Love is that which is most akin to
that which God is. Love unites man to God. Love
lifts men to Heaven, because it is of God, as it bowed
God down to earth, to have pity on our miseries and
sins. Love is the return and flowing back of the
love of God. " We love Him because He first loved
us." He loved us with an infinite love. He would
have us return a whole undivided love, all for All ;
the whole love of man for the whole Infinite love of
God. It reaches as far as the love of God. Pru- '
dence and wisdom are likenesses of the Eternal Pro
vidence ; but they reach, when furthest, a very little
way. Love, when well ordered, loves, in its measure,
all which God Himself loves. It loves, in its height,
God Himself for Himself, because He IS What He
IS, even as (if we may reverently say it), God Al
mighty loves Himself, because He is Himself, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, the One Object of All-Perfect
love. It loves His holy creatures, Angels and Arch
angels, because they love Him, and His Love rests
upon them. It loves the Church, because it is His
Body, the multitude of His redeemed, whom He

Love. 47
"purchased with His Own Blood." It loves those
who love Christ, because Christ loveth them ; it loves
those who love Him not, because He willeth them to
be saved. It loves the weak tenderly, as Christ also
compassionates them. It joys in penitents, as He
saith "Rejoice with Me, for I have found the sheep
which I had lost." It exults in the triumphs of
martyrs, in the love of devoted souls, in the fervour
of the zealous, in the purity of innocence, in whom
Christ "seeth of the travail of His soul and is satis
fied." It " weeps with those who weep," as Christ
wept at Lazarus' grave. It was in St. Paul, "weak
with the weak," as Christ took the weakness and in
firmity of our flesh. It feels the goods and ills of
others as its own, as Christ hungers in the hungry,
is "thirsty" and "naked," "sick and in prison," in
His members. Who is there whom God loveth,
whom they who love by His love, love not ? They
love all whom God loveth, because God loves them,
and they love Him in them, and them in the degree
in which He is in them.
Hence then it is love which gives the value to all
deeds of faith, or devotion, or toil, or love, or mar
tyrdom ; because love is of God, and refers all to
God. Noble self-denying deeds may be for man's
praise or in self-complacency; chastity may be
proud ; alms-giving, vain-glorious. Active service
may be its own reward ; death itself may be under
gone amid obstinacy. Love hath no end but God,
seeketh nothing but Himself for Himself, "seeketh
not her own;" for in God she hath all things and
overfloweth ; hath, only to overflow to others ; receives
but to diffuse and to give back. All virtues are but

48 Love.
forms of love, for she is the soul of all. "Temper
ance," says a father/ "is love, keeping itself pure
and undefiled for God. Fortitude is love, readily
enduring all things for the sake of God. Justice is
love which serveth God alone, and so, hath command
over all things subject to man. Prudence is love,
distinguishing what helpeth it towards God, from
what hindereth it;" or, "Love/ kindled with entire
holiness towards God, when it coveteth nothing out of
God, is called temperance ; when it willingly parteth
with all, is called fortitude." Love contains all vir
tues ; it animates all ; but itself is beyond all. For
they are concerned with human things and human
duties, with the soul itself, or its fellow men, with
deeds which shall cease when our earthly needs and
trials and infirmities cease ; love bears them all up
to God, looks out of all to Him, does all to Him,
and in all sees Him, soars above all, and rests not
until she finds her rest in the All-loving Bosom of
God. But since the love of God is so great, so blessed,
so necessary a gift, how may we know that we have
it, how grow in it ? Blessed be God, there are many
degrees of it, else might most well fear that they had
not any of it. Yet this may be said at once. If
thou art pained that thou hast not more love for
God, and desirest to love, thou hast love. Love
only craves more love. Love only so contemplates
the Object of love, as to feel that all its love is too
little for His Adorable Love. Love only feels the
absence, or seeming absence of Him it loves. Love
only knows that God is above all things to be loved.
e S. Aug. de Mor. Eccl. c. 15. f lb. c. 22.

Love. 49
The worldly, careless, covetous, hard-hearted, the
lovers of pleasure, cannot love God, but neither do
they desire to love Him. They love their own god,
the god whom they have set up in their hearts to
love, serve, worship ; their pleasure, honour, gain,
indulgence of the body, lust, praise of man. If thou
knowest that God is to be loved above all things,
wouldest, sooner than the whole world, have one
pure drop of the love of God, wouldest, in order to
have the love of God, part with anything which thou
knewest to keep thee back from His love, thou lovest
God. Holy men have distinguished four stages of love.
Not that all these stages are so distinct that, as when
one crosses from one field to another, so soon as one
is in this, one is not in that. These several kinds of
love are often found mingled together ; and one
may have glimpses and flashes of a higher love of
God, even while, for the most part, one has but
the lower love of Him.
The first state of fallen man is, alas ! to "love8
himself for himself. For he is flesh, and can taste
only the things of flesh." In this state, he rather
fears God than loves Him. Yet man needs God.
"He cannot suffice for himself," cannot uphold him
self, "and so begins by faith to seek after and love
God, because he needs Him. And so he is brought
to a second stage of love, to love God for man's
own sake." Such is the love of most who love God
at all. It is indeed a strange unworthiness that He,
the Good of all goods, the Centre of all being, " of
Whom and by Whom and to Whom are all things,"
» S. Bern. Ep. xi. n. 8.
E

50 Love.
should he loved only for His creatures' sake ; that
man, this earth-worm, should love God, only because
God is needful to him. Much as a man might value
the sun, because it warms him and ripens his corn,
so man, at first, makes himself his centre, and loves
God because he needs Him. Yet God so condescend-
eth to man's wretchedness, He so humbleth Himself,
that He willeth even thus to be loved. Nay, He has
therefore surrounded us with the blessings of nature,
that all things around us may teach us to love God,
because He made them "very good." And how great
then must be His Goodness Who made them good,
and His Beauty Who made them beautiful, and His
Mercy Who in mercy made them all, and made all
to serve man ! Yet in some such way, might a
heathen love. "God left not Himself without wit
ness," saith the Apostle, "in that He gave us rain
from Heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts
with food and gladness."
It is a Christian form of this love of God for man's
own sake, if a man loves Him, because He has re
deemed him, because, without Him, he cannot he
saved, and he hopes to be saved by Him. Such is
the love of those who are taken up with the thoughts
and cares of this world, with earthly hopes, an earthly
future, and do not much rise out of them to the
thought of God, or pray much for His love, or dwell
upon His Goodness, or the boundless love of Jesus,
in His Suffering for us, and His Long-suffering with
us. The greater the Love of God, for which we
love Him, the more unworthy is it to love Him only
for ourselves. Strange is it for a Christian to love
God, only as One Whom he has need oi, when he

Love. 5 1
believes the Love of Christ which passeth beyond
all knowledge, that love whereby He took our misery
that He might give us of His own Joy in the Co-
Equal Father and Holy Spirit.
Yet it is something, if even for His gifts of nature,
any learn to love God. Nor can ye, by any act of
your own will, love God in any other way than ye
now do. Men may work upon their own minds,
excite their feelings ; but this is only self-deceit.
As a man is, such is his love ; and as his love is,
such is he. But by no act of his mind, no contem
plation of God, can he make his love, any more than
himself, other than it is. As long as ye make your
selves your end, so long, if ye love God at all, ye
must love God for yourselves. Ye must give your
whole selves to God, or ye must think on God, as
He is to you. God alone can lead men out of this
state ; and this He does, as they unlearn self, and,
"because they need Him, worship Him, and are
much with Him, thinking of Him, reading of Him,
obeying Him." "So," says a holy man/ "by some
sort of familiar intercourse, does God, slowly and by
degrees, become known to the soul, and consequently
sweet to it ; and so, having 'tasted that the Lord is
good,' he passes to the third degree, and loves God
for His own sake, not any longer for man's own."
Yet even, in beginning to love God for His own
sake, there is a snare, lest men should love God for
sensible sweetnesses and the consolations which,
when He sees good, He gives in prayer or the Holy
Sacrament ; and so He often withdraws these com
forts, and leaves the soul in darkness, after shew-
h S. Bern. Ep. xi. n. 8.
e2

52 Love.
ing her His light, and in dryness, after having bathed
her in His sweetness, that He may prove the soul
that she follows Him, not for the loaves and fishes,
because she did eat and was filled, but for love of
Himself Alone.
This is a pure chaste love, which loves God not
for any gifts of His, not even for everlasting bliss as
His gift. Pure love would not be contented with
all the glories and brightness and beauty of Heaven
itself : it stops short of nothing, could be satisfied
with nothing, but with the Love of God Himself.
For pure love is that which loveth whom it loveth,
for his own sake. Pure wedded or childish love is
that which loves, not for the sake of anything which
husband or parent bestows, but for himself. As
thou wouldest be loved, so must thou love God.
This love fulfils the commandment, because1 as
Christ sought us not for Himself, nor for anything
in us, but for ourselves, so it "seeks" not "its own,"
but "the things which are1 Jesus Christ's." It loves
God, "because He is good ;" and so it loves the
Will of God, and the Ways of God, and the Mind
of God, and becomes conformed to the Will of God,
and wills, or wills not, not for its own pleasure, but
for the Will of God.
And so the soul is formed towards that last stage
of love, of which the blessed are they who have for a
moment some faint glimpse in this life, but which is
life eternal, that man should love himself only for
1 " Who so loveth, loveth no otherwise than he is loved : him
self also, in return, seeking not his own things, but the things of
Jesus Christ, as He sought ours, or rather us, not aught of His
own." S. Bern, de dilig. Deo. c. 9.

Love. 53
the sake of God. In this, as holy men have spoken/
the soul, borne out of itself with Divine love, "for
getting itself," losing itself in a manner, as though
it were not, not feeling itself, and emptied of itself,
"goeth forth wholly into God, and cleaving to God,
becometh one spirit with Him, so that it may say,
'my flesh and my heart faileth, but Thou art the
God of my heart and God my Portion for ever.'"
For since God is the Centre of all things, so the soul,
when perfected, must will to be nothing but what
God wills ; to be, only that His will may be fulfilled
in it ; to be only that He may live in it ; to be dis
solved, as it were, and wholly transfused into the
will of God. This is life eternal, that God should
be All in all, that the creature should be nothing of
itself, except the vessel of the life and love of God.
Of these stages of love, the love of God only for
one's own sake, is plainly unsafe. Blessed is it, if
any love God even thus, as a step towards that
which is better. Blessed is any spark of the love of
God ! For it is life ; and faint as it may be, it may
be fanned and strengthened into a glowing flame,
which shall burn out all that is earthly, and burn on
to everlasting life. Yet so long as man loves God,
only for man's own sake, there is much danger lest,
if God gives him not what he wills, or gives him what
he wills not, he should lose what love he seemed to
have. Thus, frightful as it is, people have become
embittered or impatient through misfortunes, or sick
nesses, or bereavements, as though God had dealt
hardly with them, and have thrown off the love of
God. So the Jews, who seemed to love our Lord
k S. Bern, de dilig. Deo. c. 10.

54 Love.
when they followed Him and cried Hosanna, hoping
that He would deliver them from the Romans, so
soon as they found that His "Kingdom was not of
this world," crucified Him. Sorrow and disappoint
ment harden or soften, as man loves God for man's
own sake, or for God's.
How then are we to know whether we have love ;
how gain it? The tests whereby we may know
whether we have this love of God for Himself, are
also the means of gaining it, or of increasing it, if,
through them, He has given it. How is it with those
whom you dearly love on earth ? Be this the proof
of your love of God.
You gladly think of them, when absent. You
joy, in their presence, even though they be silent to
you. Love makes them seem to be present with
you, even when in body they are absent. You are
glad to turn from converse with others, to speak with
them. One word or look of theirs is sweeter than
all which is not they.
The soul which loves God for its own sake, thinks
only of God when it needs Him. When things go
smoothly, such a soul forgets Him ; she is taken up
by her own pleasure, and scarcely or coldly thanks
Him ; in trouble she recollects herself, and flies to
Him. The soul which loves God for His own sake,
gladly escapes from the business of the world to
think of Him, recollects Him in little chinks and
intervals of time, in which she is not occupied ; takes
occasion of all things to think of Him ; is glad of
hours of prayer that she may be with Him ; is glad
to be alone with Him ; glad to come to Him here in
this holy house or in His Sacraments ; to dwell with

Love. 55
Him and that He may dwell in her ; prays Him,
"Abide with me, Lord ; " hushes herself that she may
hear His Voice, gathers herself together, lest in the
distractions of things of self, she should lose Him.
She attends to the lowest whispers of His Voice, lest
she lose any, which should show her his mind and
will for her.
Again, you are glad to hear of those you love ;
you are glad when others speak good of them, even
if you dare not speak yourself: you heed not who
it is that speaketh of them, so that he tells you of
their goodness ; you would take pains to understand
any word of theirs which he told you.
"He who is of God," our Lord saith, "heareth
the words of God." Mary, who "loved much,"
" sat at the Feet of Jesus and heard His Words."
It is in reading the Words of Jesus, that the heart
burns within us ; it is in " musing " within us over
the Word of God, that " the fire kindles." Love
loveth to hear the humblest speak of Jesus' love,1 to
learn of any one how to love Jesus more. Love
knoweth that it knows all too little of that " love "
of Jesus "which passeth knowledge," and searches
His Words, and longs to know their meaning more,
and learns in all the ways it can, if so be, it may
learn more of Jesus and His Love.
Again, deep human love loves anything which
belongs to what it loves. Love will love a piece of
dress, a plant, dumb animals, simply because they
1 S. Laur. Justin, de caritate. c. ii. "He who truly loveth
God, gladly hears His Words. He seeks from all indifferently
what he sees to be lacking to himself; considers not how much
he knows, but of how much he is ignorant."

56 Love.
belong to the object of its love. How much more
if we love Jesus, must we love all for whom Jesus
died ! If we love God, must we not love man who
was made in the Image, of God, redeemed by His
Blood, sanctified by His Spirit, made by His Own
Hands, re-made by Him, and, though weak and
wayward and rebellious against Himself, still the ob
ject of His Love ? How much more, when He Whom
we would love, gave them to us in charge ! "A new
commandment I give unto you, that ye love one
another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one
another. By this shall all men know that ye are My
disciples, if ye have love one to another." He who
loveth another for the sake of God, what loveth he
in him but God ? Yea, love to God must overflow
in love to man. If we love God more than ourselves,
we must deny self for love of our fellow-men whom
He loves. Had not Apostles so loved God, we had
been heathen still. This has been the love which
has converted nations, spread the knowledge of God.
This still seeks out sinners for repentance, teaches
the ignorant, is patient with the wayward, bears
with the contradictory, tends the young, recalls the
wandering, has fellow-feeling with the worst of sin
ners, thinks nothing hopeless which Christ doth not
cut down, unconquered by weariness, unbroken hy
disappointment, unmoved by ingratitude; for truly
all this were we, when Christ, in long-suffering,
sought and found us. And hath He not Himself
said : "Shouldest thou not have had ?compassion
upon thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on
thee ?"
But love for God cares also for the bodily wants

Love. 57
of those whom, with it, God has loved. This is the
very test which the Apostle of love, the beloved
disciple, gives us, whether our love be love of the
lips or of the heart, in word and tongue, or in deed
and truth. "Whoso hath this world's good and
seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his
bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the
love of God in him 1"
Love gladly suffereth for one whom it loveth. It
joys to suffer in proof of its love. Toil ceaseth to
be toil ; it is joy, when it is to show its love. Love
sweetens all bitter things, softens all hard words,
smooths all which is toilsome, makes fasting a feast ;
self-denial for Christ's poor, a joy ; labour, rest ; and
rest out of God, weariness ; waking early with Christ,
refreshment. Bodily pain is hallowed to it by His
Cross, and it receives each throb or pang from its
loving Father's Hand, as distilling like the dew upon
it from that precious Cup, which He for our sakes
gave to His Well Beloved Son.
Love hath no other will than that of what it loves.
The very heathen said that, " Friendship is to will
and not to will the same things." How much more,
when the Will of God is nothing out of Himself !
The Will of God is not, as man's will may be, ac
cording to his own private wishes, or tastes. The
Will of God is the Eternal Wisdom of God, ordering
what will bring about the ends of His All-perfect
Love. "If ye love Me," saith our Blessed Lord,
" keep My Commandments." Through love we
have grace to keep His Commandments ; and
through keeping His Commandments, He giveth
increase of grace and love. For He giveth a fuller

58 Love.
measure of His Presence. "'He that hath My
Commandments, and keepeth them,' hath," saith a
father,™ "in memory, and keepeth in life; hath in
words, and keepeth in works ; hath by hearing, and
keepeth by doing ; hath by doing, and keepeth hy
persevering ; ' he it is who loveth ME, and he who
loveth ME shall be loved of My Father, and I will
love him and will manifest Myself to him.'" He
Who giveth us the love to obey Him, doth on our
free obedience give us yet more love. He loveth
us, so as to give us greater gifts of grace, yea, so as
to give us that greater gift of love ; and in love He
will discover Himself to the soul, in a way which
words cannot utter, but which the soul tastes, and
which gives it a knowledge of Himself which passeth
knowledge, and lights up the soul with an unearthly
brightness, and it knows that it loves, and loving,
knows that it is beloved ; (for "we love God because
He first loved us"), and grows in care and zeal and
watchful diligence to please God Who loves it.
Love is jealous for the honour of one it loves ; it
will not bear a slight ; it is eager to set those right
who speak amiss. Zeal for the honour of God
which longs that none should dishonour Him, none
blaspheme His Name ; which feels tenderly any
irreverence or slight to Him, is a good sign of love ;
if we are but first zealous with ourselves, that we
ourselves do, or occasion Him no dishonour.
Love which is deeply fixed on one object, valueth
not, for love of what it loves, any outward things
which others prize. Nay, it loves more deeply in
poverty of all things, than in abundance, in dis-
m S. Aug. Horn, on S. John. 75. n. 5. p. 807. Oxf. Tr.

Love. 59
honour than in praise, because then it is the more
assured, that it loves for the sake of the object of its
love alone. He who loveth God for Himself, loveth
Him the more, as he is bared of all, and nothing is
left him but his God. He feareth to keep things
about him, which may take off his thoughts from
God ; sits loose to the things of the world, or uses
them only that through the Mammon of unrighte
ousness given to His poor, he may the more gain
the love of God ; he feareth nothing but what may
lessen the love of God, desireth nothing but what
may gain him more love ; valueth no praise of man,
unless it cometh from the love of God, or issueth to
His Glory. It counteth all things loss, so that it
may win Christ.
To mention but one more token of love. Love
does all things for his sake whom it loves ; it counts
nothing too little, nothing too great to do for love.
Nothing so purifies the thoughts, heightens the acts,
shuts out self, admits God, as, in all things, little or
great, to look to JESUS. Look to Him, when ye
can, as ye begin to act, or converse, or labour ; and
then desire to speak or to be silent, as He would
have you ; to say this word, or leave that unsaid ; to
do this, or leave that undone ; to shape your words,
as if He were present, and He will be present, not
in Body, but in Spirit, not by your side, but in your
soul, so that of you too, in your measure, it may be
said : "It is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of
your Father Which dwelleth in you," "He hath
wrought all our works in us."
Faint not, any who would love Jesus, if ye find
yourselves yet far short of what He Himself Who is

60 Love.
Love saith of the love of Him. Perfect love is
Heaven. When ye are perfected in love, your work
on earth is done. There is no short road to Heaven
or to love. Do what in thee lies by the grace of
God, and He will lead thee from strength to strength,
and grace to grace, and love to love.
Be diligent by His Grace to do no wilful sin ; for
sin, wilfully done, kills the soul, and casts out of it
the love of God.
Seek to love nothing out of God. God re-makes
a broken heart and fills it with love. He cannot fill
a divided heart.
Think often, as thou canst, of God. For how
canst thou know or love God, if thou fillest thy mind
with thoughts of all things under the sun and thy
thoughts wander to the ends of the earth, and thou
gatherest them not unto God ? Nothing, (except
wilful sin,) so keepeth men torpid and lukewarm and
holdeth them back from any higher fervour of love,
as the being scattered among things of sense, and
being taken up with them away from God.
Bring all things, as thou mayest, nigh to God;
let not them hurry thee away from Him.
Be not held back by any thought of unworthiness
or by failures, from the child-like love of God.
When we were dead in trespasses and sins, Christ
died for us ; when we were afar off, Christ recalled
us ; when lost, Christ sought us ; much more
may we reverently love Him, and hope that we are
loved by Him, when He has found us, and we, amid
whatever frailties, would love Him by Whom we have
been loved !
Be diligent, after thy power, to do deeds of love.

Love. 61
Think nothing too little, nothing too low, to do lov
ingly for the sake of God. Bear with infirmities,
ungentle tempers, contradictions ; visit, if thou may
est, the sick ; relieve the poor ; forego thyself and
thine own ways for love ; and He Whom in them
thou lovest, to Whom in them thou ministerest, will
own thy love, and will pour His own love into thee.
"The love of God," says a holy man/ "produceth
the love of our neighbour and kindleth it ;" the love
of our neighbour winneth the love of God.
Where, above all, shouldest thou seek for His love,
but in the Feast of His Love ? Without It, ye cannot
have any true love. In It, JESUS willeth to come
to thee, to dwell in thee, to abide in thee. Canst
thou be warm, if thou keep away from the sun or
the fire ? Canst thou have any fire of love, if thou
keep away from JESUS ? or canst thou think to
find Him, if thou seek Him not where He is to be
found 1 He has said : "Except ye eat the Flesh of
the Son of Man and drink His Blood, ye have no life
in you." How should ye have life, if ye have not
Him Who is Life ? How should ye have Him, if ye
refuse to come to Him ? Come to Him, longing for
His Love ; come to Him that He may come to you ;
pray Him to enter into your soul and pour His Love
into you, and He will come, and, if you forsake Him
'not, will dwell in you everlastingly.
"Charity never faileth." How then is all lost,
which tendeth not to love ! O abyss of love, torrent
of pleasure, life of them that believe, paradise of de
lights, comfort of our pilgrimage, reward of the
blessed, root of all good, strength in all strife, rest in
n S. Laur. Justin. 1. c. c. 14.

62 Love.
all weariness ! Why will ye "labour for that which
is not bread," and toil for that which satisfieth not ;
why seek for .pleasures which perish in the grasp,
and when tasted, become bitterness; why heap up
things ye must part with, or why love vanities, when
ye have before you love which cannot weary, cannot
sate, cannot change, cannot fail ; for Love is the
Essence, the Bliss, the Being, the Glory of God ; and
this may be yours for evermore. God in Whom are
all things, Who is All-Goodness, willeth that ye love
Him eternally, and be eternally filled with His Love,
and enter into His Joy, the Joy of the Everlasting
Father in His Co-Equal Son through the Spirit, of
Both Proceeding, the Bond of Both, and that ye
should rest in the Bosom of His Love, and His Love
rest upon you and fill you for ever. Will ye not
then cast out now, for these few years, what hinders
in you the Love of God, that ye may have for ever
His Love which passeth all understanding, and he
one with God, being filled with the Love of God
Who is Love ?

SERMON IV.

HUMILITY.

FEAST OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW.
St. Luke xxii. 26, 27.
"He that is greatest among you, let him be as the
younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve.
I am among you as he that serveth."
Hidden indeed are the saints of God. After the
pattern of our Blessed Lord Himself, God willed that
little should be known of those who are nearest to
Him. Of our Lord Himself, St. John says that " if
the many things which He did should be written
every one, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books which should be written."
Wherein, in part, he spoke after the manner of men,
to express by strong words the number of our Lord's
acts of mercy and greatness and love. But if we
think of His Divine mercy and greatness and love
itself, the words are far too poor. For to speak of

64 Humility.
His Divine goodness and love surpasses not only all
the tongues of men in all ages, but of all the orders
of Angels. It will fill not the world only, but Eter
nity. Then will the Angels know fully what now
" they desire to look into." Then will each of the
redeemed know the mystery of the Redemption, and
the exceeding love of "God manifest in the Flesh,"
" which passeth knowledge." Then from all, men
and Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim,
will the praise of our Redeeming Lord, the King of
Glory, echo on through all created space. It will
fill all ; but it will not reach His Fullness. For His
Love and Wisdom are infinite as Himself.
And yet of His work and words of love, while
yet in the Flesh, how few have been related. How
do we wish to know something of His sacred Child
hood ! How, of the thirty years, of which we know
only that He taught the Doctors in the Temple, and
was subject to His parents, and was a Carpenter!
How should we long to know the "gracious words
which proceeded out of His Mouth" at Nazareth, or
those which Mary, who sate at His Feet, heard ; or
of those forty days when, after His Resurrection, He
spoke " of a the things pertaining to the kingdom of
God." We turn, again and again, with kindling love, to
those deep words and long discourses of love which
St. John records just before His Passion. How often
have we mourned, that they were so soon ended!
And since such was one discourse, which occupies
not one short hour, what must all those many, many
words have been, which for the three years and a
a Acts i. 3.

Humility. 65
half of His Ministry, He spake ! How would we
reverently approach, if we might, those Divine
thoughts of love, when He wept near the grave of
Lazarus, or when He "was moved with compassion
on the multitudes because they fainted and were scat
tered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." What
His thoughts were, in His Mysterious Agony and at
His Crucifixion, when in His outstretched Arms He
embraced the whole world in His love, and knew
how the price of His Blood would be wasted in
many who were called by His Name, and through
what perils of death He would lead many whom He
yet should save, none but Himself could tell. They
embraced the whole time and eternity of the whole
human race. The seven words which He did utter
on the Cross have been the food of devout minds,
ever since He spake them. And yet how little do
we know of the full meaning of what He did say ;
how little do we know of what He said at all ! How
often is all which is said of them but faint guesses
at the full meaning of His Words, each explaining but
a little, or only one side or aspect, of what He said.
And how have the Evangelists been guided to record
oftentimes the same words and deeds only, some
times teaching us by the very way in which each re
lates them, yet seeming to tell us the less of Him,
because they tell the same things. So did He in
His Glory complete the humility of His lowliness.
He offered Himself to reproaches ; He forbade His
good deeds from being known. He hid Himself from
being made a King ; He went forth to them to be
crucified. And now, few of His deeds or words are
told ; and of His inward thoughts scarce anything

66 Humility.
by Himself, save that for us He tells us, "My meat
is to do the Will of Him that sent Me," and that
slight glimpse into His sufferings, "My soul is ex
ceeding sorrowful even unto death." What is told
too, is told in such simple form. Like Himself, it
wins those who have hearts to receive it, and draws
and binds and glues them to Him, that they cleave
for ever to Him ; but to the wise in their own con
ceits, it is still a stone of stumbling and rock of
offence. As with the Master, so, in their degree, is it with
the disciples. Of most, we know almost nothing.
The few of whom we hear something, mostly come
out before us, for a little while, and then vanish out
of our sight. St. John, the beloved disciple, tells us
that His Master loved him. But after the Ascension
of our Lord, we hear only that he had part in one
miracle wrought, but not what part he had ; that the
High Priest marvelled at his and Peter's boldness,
but we are not told one word which he spake ; only,
that he was an unlearned and ignorant man ; and
then he is hidden from our eyes, until, after sixty
years, we find him in the Isle of Patmos exhorting
the Churches which he had founded, and beholding
the visions of God. And then, (strange close of an
Apostle's life !) we hear that he was reserved for ex
treme weakness, so that he could only say, "little
children, love one another," and his own flock were
wearied hy the sameness of his teaching, who had
seen the heavens opened, and our Lord in glory, and
had gazed above Cherubim and Seraphim, to the
throne of God, and thence told us, "In the begin
ning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

Humility. 67
and the word was God." And then when theyb told
him their weariness, he humbly told them that,
" perfect love is the whole of man."
We hear of the wisdom and spirit with which St.
Stephen spake, but none of his words, save those
which brought on his death. St. Peter appears at the
beginning of the Acts, St. Paul at their close. For
twenty-two years, the sacred history tells us of no
act of St. Peter. We hear of him at last, declaring at
the Council, how God made choice of him, that the
Gentiles should hear, by his mouth, the word of the
Gospel and believe. He tells how he believes, not
that the Gentiles only should be saved, but that
" through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved even as they," giving the first place to those
whom God had converted through him. And then
he gives place to the Apostle, who was Bishop at
Jerusalem. St. Paul's history is closed with the ac
count how ill the Jews received him, and the brief
words, " he dwelt two years in his own hired house
and received all that came in unto him." He had
sped like lightning through all lands, preaching,
working miracles, disputing with the wise of this
world, looked upon as a God for his eloquence in
Asia, and for his miracle at Malta ; and Holy Scrip
ture closes this account, not with his martyrdom, or
his hearing before the Emperor of the world, but in
his hired lodgings, speaking of Jesus to those who
came to ask him. How should we long to hear him,
as he stood alone before the Emperor Nero ! All
forsook him, as our Lord was forsaken by His dis
ciples. " No man," he says/ " stood with me."
b See S.Jerome in Gal. iii. lO.p. 529. Vail. " 2 Tim. iv. 16, 17.
F2

68 Humility.
" But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me,
that by me the preaching might be fully known and
all the Gentiles might hear." This hour he had
looked on to ; this had been foretold him, " Thou
must bear witness of Me at Rome ;" then, probably,
he converted even those of the very household of the
Emperor ; this was the end of years of prison and of
suffering ; and all which God bids him tell us of it
is, " the Lord stood with me and strengthened me."
Take again the Apostle of this day/ Of others we
hear little ; of him we do not know who he is. He
seems to be the same as Nathanael to whom our Lord
gave that great praise, " Behold an Israelite indeed,"
one worthy of the name of the people of God, one
who was " a prince with God," " in whom is no
guile." Yet we do not know with authority whether
he whom Jesus so praised was admitted to be one of
His Apostles ; and so, we know not certainly, whe
ther St. Bartholomew, though one of the twelve, was
so honoured by his Lord. Our Lord promised to
St. Philip and Nathanael, " Hereafter ye shall see
Heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of man." Yet when they
saw this, we are not told ; whence some have thought
that our Lord meant only that they should spiritually
see, that He was the Son of God, Whom Angels
served. And so, as to his close. It is certain that
he preached the Gospel in India. It is said that he
preached in Lycaonia, and suffered martyrdom in
Armenia, countries as far apart as the whole of our
Europe. We know that he was one of "the noble
army of martyrs ;" but by what death he glorified
d Preached on the Feast of S. Bartholomew.

Humility. 69
God, whether flayed alive, or crucified, or both, what
torments he endured for and with Christ, that he
might be glorified with Him, we know not.
My brethren, it may well shame us, to turn from
the thought of Him, who left us "an example that
we should follow His steps," and from those who did
so follow them, to our petty trials in this day. We
might almost be ashamed to have to learn humility
from such examples as these. Yet there is but one
path to Heaven ; one way, but with different tracks ;
one ascent, though with different heights ; one fight
with our fallen nature, and one victory through our
One Lord Who "instrengtheneth" us, though the
amount of victory is manifold; one glory of the
grace of God, although in Eternity "star" shall
" differ from star in glory."
And the first step on this road is humility. Our
Lord first descended, them ascended. First He came
down and took our nature ; then He descended lower
to the shame of the Cross, and so He placed our
nature at the Right Hand of God. We fell through
pride, lifting up ourselves to "bee as God ;" we must
rise by humility, lowering ourselves that God may
raise us up. One law there is. Wouldest thou become
great in God's Eyes, be little in thine own. Wouldest
thou enter the Kingdom of Heaven, "thou must be
converted," our Lord says, "and become a little
child." Wouldest thou be exalted there, and have
there more of the sight of God and the love of God,
and the fullness of God, "take the lowest place" here.
But "how is it possible," one may say, "how can
it be true ? God has kept me from great sins ; He
' Gen. iii. 5.

70 Humility.
has fenced me from great temptations. 'By the
grace of God I am what I am.' But would it be
thankful to the grace of God, would it be honest,
would it be real, to own myself less than those who
have openly fallen from God's grace ?" My brethren,
well is it, if any man from the heart says, " By the
grace of God, I am what I am." Well is it, if any,
by the grace of God, have been kept from great sins,
not of the body only, but of the soul also. For the
sin of the fallen Angels was a spiritual sin only.
Through spiritual sins, envy and pride, the Pharisees
delivered our Lord to be put to death. Through
anger and unbelief, His own citizens would have
"cast Him headlong." Through " love" of "man's
praise" or vanity, the Chief Priests and Scribes
"could not believe in Him." Spiritual sin alone is
enough to destroy the soul, although in fact, since
"God resisteth the proud," the proud mostly fall
even into disgraceful sins. God, even, lets them
so fall, that their eyes may be opened to see
their own misery, which before were closed up with
pride. Yet it must be true, that "he that is greatest,
must be as the least ;" for our Lord, the Truth, has
said it. And this not in outward act only. Outward
acts of humility help much to make us humble. Yet
the outward acts alone would be the body without
the soul, a slavish service, or hypocrisy. It must be
true that we are in lowliness to "esteem others
better than ourselves," since God the Holy Ghost
has so taught us.
For most of us, such as we are, this might be easy
enough. It might seem no great thing to own our-

Humility. 71
selves "miserable sinners", when we know that
we are such, or to think that others are not so
great sinners as we. But so, I believe, it is with
those who have great graces of God. To prefer
others, is not with them matter of understanding,
but of grace. Such know the greatness of the grace
of God towards them ; they know His Gifts and
their own sins, negligences, short-comings, failure to
that grace. What good there is in themselves, they
know to be God's work. In themselves they see
God's good and their own evil. In others they close
their eyes to evil which it is not a duty to see, and
see only whatever grace there is. And so the grace
of God becomes a sort of nature to them. They
know that any good they have, although in them, is
the gift and grace of God. But the evil which re
mains is too truly their own. We know not, either
in evil or in good, what we are in this life. "That
Day shall declare it, which shall try every man's
work, of what sort it is." And so, by a blessed blind
ness, while they forget their own good and see the
grace of God in others, they readily believe that any
one, (not openly God's enemy) is better than them
selves, and that even those, now God's enemies, may,
through His converting grace, and intenser love,
become more His friends than they.
There is so much of good, so much which is touch
ing and lovely, in those who are most outcast from
the world, so much which, by the grace of God, may
yet shine in them with His lustre for ever, that it
seems to be no hard thing for those who have much
of His grace, to think that, as to these poor outcasts
too, "the last may be first, the first last." Thus a

72 Humility.
holy and humble man said, "If f Christ had loaded
any wicked man whatever with the same mercy which
He has shown to me, I suppose that he would have
been much more grateful than I." And, "Every
man is what he is in the sight of God. Not from
the opinion of men who are often deceived, but from
the judgment of God, is the state of each to be ac
counted. But who knows what is his own, what
another's state before God ? Who knows how God
looks on him and on another ? Who knows that
another is fallen, himself upright, when in a moment
their state might be changed, and he who stood
might fall, and he who was fallen might rise again
to great grace ? If we know not these things, on
which man's greatness depends, well may we account
ourselves least of all, and set ourselves in the lowest
place." And for us, my brethren, humility is the beginning
of all solid good and of every grace. It opens the
heart for them, and guards them, where God has
given them. Humility scoops away the barren sand
of our self-conceit, that so our foundation may rest
solidly upon the Rock which is Christ. Then may
the building which we raise, reach to Heaven by
love ; for it cannot fall, being founded on the Rock.
Of humility there are many steps. Lay the first
solidly, and God will lead thee onward. The first is
to know seriously, truly, sincerely, thine own nothing
ness. Many will confess, in words, that they are
nothing ; but they neither believe themselves, nor
wish to be believed of others. They say that they are
miserable sinners. It is true and right. We all are.
f S. Francis of Assis. in Bonav. Vit. ej. c. 6.

Humility. 73
We confess it daily ; and we must not confess mere
words, nor lie to God. But it is one thing to own
that we are all by nature sinners, that we have come
short of the glory of God ; that we and our neigh
bours cannot stand in God's sight. Very different
is it, to be ready to own and that others should be
lieve, that thou thyself art a sinner. If men really
believed this of themselves, would they be so vexed
that others saw some fault in them ? would they
even be so vexed themselves, at their own failures ?
If we felt ourselves really helpless, should we be so
surprised and annoyed that we stumbled ? I mean
not in the greater sins. Those who are in the grace
of God may be kept from these. But were it not
for pride, we should grieve for, not be annoyed by,
our own failures or infirmities, from which man, in
this imperfect state, can scarcely be free. Still less
would people try to hide such faults from others, or
excuse themselves so eagerly ! And yet is it not an
every day thing to hide a negligence or carelessness
by a lie ? If a person has done a vain thing and is
charged with it, will he not lie to excuse it ? Lovely
indeed must humility be, since they who have it not,
are so ashamed of not being humble, that they will
sin to hide it. Still stranger is the perverseness that
people will accuse themselves, in order that they may
not be believed. They will call themselves sinners,
generally, or they will own lighter sins in themselves,
as that they are quick-tempered, or hasty, but they
will be angry if they are taken at their word. They
accuse themselves, in order that others may excuse
them. They own the truth of themselves, that others
may disown it to them, and cast dust in their eyes.

74 Humility.
How does it startle them, if their own words be
echoed to them, as seriously true! "O ye sons of
men, how long will ye love vanity and seek after
leasing?" What nothings will men own of them
selves! They will own that they are liable to be
overtaken by faults which, in man's sight, have some
thing noble mixed in them, or clever, or at least is
not despised. But to own that they are, in any
measure, what man despises, or that God hates what
they are, how will they shrink from it ! How com
mon is it, (ye know yourselves) to give soft names
(misfortune or the like) to open deadly sin ! And
yet those really in the grace of God, have seen that
they had in themselves the germs of all the deadly
sins. They have felt in themselves, that were the
grace of God withdrawn, they might fall into any
sin. "Thou knowest, Lord," says one/" that there
is no sin which man ever did, which another man
might not do, if his Creator, by Whom man was
made, were wanting to him."
Well might men shrink from the truth, if it thereby
ceased to be truth. But the truth is as surely truth,
as God is God. To what end to draw a vail over
your eyes, since the Day of Judgment is near at
hand, when every secret thing shall be revealed?
"Ownh and remember thy evil now, and God will
forget it ; forget thy good, and God will remember it."
This, then, let us learn, first to know, that we are
by nature nothing, that through our own fault (not
of our nature, for God's grace would have been suf
ficient for us) we became worse than nothing. It is
to rob God, to take anything to ourselves, any power
* Sold, i. 14. ap. S. Aug. * S. Chrys. on. S. Matt. Pt. 1

Humility. 75
of nature, any strength, understanding, memory,
quickness, knowledge, taste, art, any gifts of body,
or mind, or estate.
What is thy body? "Dust thou art and unto
dust shalt thou return." How then should "earth
and ashes" be "proud?" What thy mind? The
gift of God, of which He can deprive thee at once,
destroy thy memory, darken thy understanding, take
from thee clearness of mind, or words to utter it.
What thy soul ? Precious indeed above all price,
infinite in value, since it is the price of the Blood of
Christ ! If it is in grace, beautiful is it above all
created beauty, since it partakes of the Brightness
and Glory and Image of God ! But what of this is
thine own ? Thy sins, by which, in whatever degree,
thou hast marred the work of God in thee, or by
which the Brightness of God's grace is darkened, or
hidden, or dulled in thee! All else is the work of
God. Now, think in thyself, how often thou hast,
at least, in thy younger years, neglected the Voice
of God, done what thou oughtest not, not done what
thou oughtest. Nay, if thou thinkest now, that thou
fully obeyest the Voice of God, and doest all which
His Grace would enable thee to do, it shows this
only, that thou knowest not, how powerful, gentle,
tender, swift, mysterious, is the Grace of God. It
comes, it speaks ; if thou have not hearkened, it is
gone. If thou listen to thine own will, thine own
pleasure, thine own pride, or vanity, it is, for the
time, drowned.
What wouldest thou think of thyself, if this world's
glories and greatness had been offered thee for some
short toil, some self-denial, abstaining from some

76 Humility.
pleasure, rising early, and seeking the Love of Him
Who could give it thee ? Or what if thou mightest
have had strong powers of mind, gifts of speech,
skill, invention, memory, the wisdom of Solomon, if
thou wouldest have been at pains with thyself?
What wouldest thou think, if thou hadst put these
things aside, not as our Lord did the riches of the
world and the glories of them, not because thou
mightest be more easily saved, in a lowly place, but
through thine own fault ?
What, again, if thou hadst treated with shameful
thanklessness, forgotten, insulted Him Who, in love
for thee, offered thee these things. Surely thou
wouldest despise thyself, wouldest be indignant with
thyself, thou wouldest not boast thyself of any of the
poor things thou hast ; the thought of thy loss would
come before thee, and thou wouldest be dumb with
shame ! And what if others praised thee for what
thou hast, wouldest thou have pleasure in it, or be
proud of it, or wouldest thou not think with grief
and shame of what thou hadst wasted ? But what
were all the riches and glories of the world to the
least possession of the grace of God ? What to be
the very first in this world, to being the very last of
those who for ever see God, know God, love God,
are beloved by God ?
What any of us have wasted by our pride, our
negligences, our sins, has been, if, by God's mercy,
we are saved at last, or unless, by His grace and
greater diligence, we yet recover it, that degree of
the power of loving God, and being beloved by God.
We have wasted His goodness, His grace, His love
towards us, the price of the Blood of Christ, our

Humility. 77
Lord and God. And what knowest thou whether
any other in the whole world have wasted more ? It
may be that what others think well of thee for, are
rather God's natural gifts, than graces won by the
grace of God. It is no great thing to be easy tem
pered, if God made us so. It is a great thing, by the
grace of God, to subdue a quick, angry temper, if it
be the trial which God appointed us. And what
knowest thou of the hidden graces of others ? or with
what toil, by God's grace, they gained what to thee
seems so imperfect ? There is so much imperfection
in the good, so much good in all who have not wholly
shut out the grace of God, that it seems no hard
thing to suppose that any may be better than we ;
no hard thing, if we but know ourselves, our own
unfaithfulness to the grace of our God, our abuse of
His grace. But this we know that if we have all
gifts, without love, it profits us nothing ; if we could
have all without humility, it would be worse to us
than if we had them not. For if we abuse the gifts
of God to pride, or vanity, or to exalt ourselves, bet
ter for us that we had them not! The building not
founded through humility on the Rock, the higher it
is, the more heavily it will fall. The Publican went
down to his house more in God's favour than the
Pharisee. What our Lord came, above all things, to teach
us, what He taught us, what He teaches us now, by
His very Being as Man, what He preached in act
from His Birth in the manger to His Death, bared
of all and in shame, upon the Cross, what He made
the first step to His Apostles who were filled with
the Holy Ghost, to " become as little children," must

78 Humility.
be needful for us. Such rules as these may be use
ful. They have been tried.
Know thyself. Pray God to show thee thyself.
Bear in God's light to see thyself, bared of all out
ward advantages, what thou thyself hast made thy
self, what thou hast been, what thou art. By God's
grace, the sight will never again let thee be proud.
Keep ever present with thee the knowledge of
thine own infirmity.
Never seek praise, nor speak of any good in thee,
except for some good end, nor say, what may draw
out praise. Yea, rather if it be useful to speak of
thine own experience, it is best mostly to hide, in
some true way, that it is thine own.
Do not even blame thyself, if it makes others think
thee humble.
Mistrust thyself in everything, and in the very
least things, seek, whenever thou canst remember it,
the help of God.
Be afraid of the praise of others. If there be good
in thee, own it at least, in thy heart, to be God's,
and think of thy evil and thy sins.
Take patiently any humiliation from others. It
is a precious gift of God. " Humiliation is the way
to humility, as patience to peace, reading to know
ledge." If thou endurest not to be humbled, thou
canst not be humble.
In all things, humble thyself under the Hand of
God. Take all things, through whomsover they
come, from Him.
Do not excuse thyself, if blamed, unless respect
or love, or the cause of truth and of God require it.
It is of more value to thee to detect one grain of

Humility. 79
fault in thyself, than to shew to another that thou
deservest not, as it were, a hundred weight of blame.
Be not careful to conceal any ignorance or fault
in thee, unless it would hurt another to know that
thou hast it.
Do willingly humble offices, humbly.
Give way to all, in all things in which thou mayest.
It is but for a short time, at the longest. Seek
here to be humble with the humble JESUS, and
He will exalt thee. As thou becomest, by His grace,
lowly here, thou shalt be exalted there. There, is
greatness, which none envies ; treasures, of which
thou wilt deprive none; joys, in which all will joy
with thee. There, not thine own lips or thine own
thoughts, but thy Saviour will praise the. Seek
humility, and thou wilt find it ; and when thou hast
found it, thou wilt love it, and by God's grace, wilt
not part with it : with it, thou canst not perish.
Yea, thou wilt reign for ever with JESUS, Who was
humbled for thee, and with the choirs in the heavenly
dwellings. For there too, thou wilt be humble, not,
as now, in the need of all things, but in the posses
sion of all things, in glory, and honour, and power,
and beauty, and knowledge, and wisdom, of which
we have but the faintest shadow here ; and all from
God and in God. for there, if thou attain, thou shalt
cast thy crown before the throne, saying, "Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour,
and power;" and giving back all to God, thou shalt
receive all from God, in bliss everlasting, through
His Merits, Who humbled Himself to thee, that
thou, being humbled with Him here, shouldest enter
into His Glory and His Joy. <-¦' ^ -' ^

SERMON V.

PATIENCE.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.
1 St. Peter ii. 22.
" Even hereunto were ye called : because Christ also
suffered for us leaving us an example, that ye
should follow His steps."
Patience is the endurance of any evil, out of the
love of God, as the will of God. There is nothing
too little, in which to approve ourselves to God;
nothing too little, in which, without God, we should
not fail ; nothing too great, which, with the help of
God, we may not endure. The offices of patience
are as varied as the ills of this life. We have need
of it with ourselves and with others ; with those
below and those above us, and with our own equals;
with those who love us and those who love us not ;
for the greatest things and for the least ; against
sudden inroads of trouble, and under our daily bur-

Patience. 81
dens ; disappointments as to the weather or the
breaking of the heart ; in the weariness of the body,
or the wearing of the soul ; in our own failure of
duty, or others' failure towards us ; in every day
wants, or in the aching of sickness or the decay of
age ; in disappointment, bereavement, losses, in
juries, reproaches ; in heaviness of the heart or its
sickness amid delayed hopes, or the weight of this
body of death, from which we would be free, that we
might have no more struggle with sin within, or
temptation without, but attain to our blessed and
everlasting peace in our rest in God. In all these
things, from childhood's little troubles, to the mar
tyr's sufferings, patience is the grace of God, whereby
we endure evil for the love of God, and keep
ourselves still and motionless, that we offend not
God. All other virtues and graces have need of patience
to perfect or to secure them. Patience interposes
herself and receives and stops every dart which the
Evil one aims at them. " Patience a is the root and
guardian of all virtue ; " impatience is the enemy of
all. Impatience disquiets the soul, makes her weary
of conflict, ready to lay aside her armour and to
leave difficult duty. Impatience, by troubling the
smooth mirror of the soul, hinders her from reflect
ing the Face of God ; by its din, it hinders her from
hearing the voice of God. It makes the soul outrun,
or fall short of, the will of God. Impatience listens
to nothing, heeds nothing, fears nothing, hopes no
thing, judges aright of nothing, perseveres in nothing
except in restlessness. Impatience is a burden to
a S. Greg. Horn. 35. in Evang.
G

82 Patience.
itself, distrusts man, rebels against God. It shakes
every virtue, and enters into almost every sin. It
casts aside every remedy for itself or for any other
fault. Impatience made Cain a murderer, and Ab
salom a parricide/ and Judas a Deicide. Impatience,
not waiting for God, turns even goods into evils.
Jeroboam waited not for the goods which God had
promised him ; he forfeited them, destroyed his own
house which he wished to raise, and left of his am
bition no memorial save that it was he "who0 did sin
and who made Israel to sin."
The sins of the Jews in the wilderness,(our en-
samples,) whence sprang they, but from impatience of
hunger and thirst, or of the sameness ofthe food God
gave them, or of Moses delaying in the Mount, when
they "made gods to go before them into Eygpt,"
whence God had redeemed them ? It might seem a
natural thing, that impatience should be the ground
work of anger ; but strange it is, that even deadly
indulgence in miserable pleasure should be the fruit
of impatience.
How does it shake faith to be impatient of evils,
either in the world, or in the Church, or those which
befall a person's own self! How does impatience
with others' defects chill love, or impatience with
even our own failings and short-comings extinguish
hope ! To be impatient at blame is a blight to
humility; at contradiction, destroys meekness; at
injuries, quenches long-suffering; at sharp words,
mars gentleness ; at having one's own will crossed,
obedience. Impatience at doing the same things
again and again, hinders perseverance ; impatience
" 2 Sam. xvii. 1 — 4. « 1 Kings xiv. 16.

Patience. 83
of bodily wants, surprises people into intemperance,
or leads them to deceive, lie, steal.
"In patience" our Blessed Lord tells us "possess
ye your souls." By patience, we have the keeping
of our own souls ; we command ourselves, and our
passions are subdued to us ; and " commanding d
ourselves, we begin to possess that which we are."
What is to possess a thing, but to have entire com
mand over it, that we may do with it what we will ?
What, then, is it to " possess the soul," but to be lord
over all its powers, motions, emotions, and by the
grace of God, to control and direct them, according
to the will of God ? Whence even the World calls a
man "self-possessed," who cannot be thrown off his
guard, but, gathered up within himself, and immov
able, has a clear, steady command of all the powers
of his mind. He is spiritually " self-possessed," who,
by the grace of God so keeps himself, that " no " ve
hemence of delight masters him, no tribulation wears
him out, no sudden temptation carries him away, no
unworthy affection draws him down from God."
Patience, then, is the guardian of faith, the fence
of love, the strength of hope, the parent of peace.
Patience protects humility, keeps meekness, is the
soul of long-suffering, guides gentleness, strengthens
perseverance. Patience " bridleth f the tongue, re
strained the hand, ruleth the flesh, preserveth the
spirit, tramples on temptations, drives away offences ;
breaks the force of passion, calms the violence of
pride, quenches the fire of variance," bids, in its
d S. Greg. 1. c. e Paradise ofthe christian Soul, P. iv. p. 61.
' See Tert. on Patience, c. xv. p. 346. Oxf. Tr. S. Cyprian
on Patience, § 14. p. 262. Oxf. Tr.
g2

84 Patience.
Lord's Name, wind and storm " be still ; and there
is a great calm."
Patience makes the soul to be of one mind with
God, and sweetens all the ills of life. It casts the
light of Heaven upon them, and transforms them
into goods. It makes the bitter waters sweet ; the
barren and dry land fruitful. Desolation it makes
loneliness with God ; the parching of sickness to he
the fire of His love ; weakness to be His strength ;
wounds to be health ; emptiness of all things to have
all things from Him; poverty to be true riches;
His deserved punishments to be His rainbow of
mercy ; death to be His Life.
Great must be the blessing of evil, since it is so
widely spread in the works of a good God. Deep
must the blessing of evil be, since God vouchsafed it
so largely to those whom He made most like to His
own Son in the flesh. Very necessary must evil he
to us, since none, fence themselves as they may from
it, can escape it. None do, in any great measure,
escape it, save those who, resisting God, are at length
abandoned by God, and, forsaking Him and forsaken
by Him, are left unvisited by Him in His Mercy,
until they have treasured up His wrath to the utter
most. So strongly is this stamped upon our fallen
nature, that even the heathen B felt that unmingled
* " I wish both for myself and for those for whom I care, that
somtimes we may succeed, sometimes fail ; and so pass through
life, rather than succeed in all things. For never did I hear of
any one, who succeeded in all things, and did not at last end ill,
utterly perishing." Amasis to Polycrates in Herod, iii. 40. see
iii. 41 — 43. 125. and of Croesus i. 34. "M. Furius Camillus is
said to have prayed, that if his own fortune and that ofthe Roman

Patience. 85
prosperity was the herald of woe to come. Absence
of chastisement or trial, the fulness of the world's
prosperity, are the worst outward tokens of man's
salvation. Blow upon blow, and wound upon wound,
are signs of His Mercy.
Blessed are ye then, my poorer brethren, if ye
know your own blessedness, that God has allotted to
you a larger portion of the hardships of this life.
Far easier and safer and humbler is your lot, to en
dure the daily trials of this life, than for us to find
out self-denial for ourselves. In this too, "blessed
are" ye "poor, for yours is the kingdom of Heaven."
A ready road and straight path have ye to Heaven,
if, for the love of God, ye endure patiently the ills
which God appoints you, bless Him in them and for
them, and let not yourselves be turned to the right
hand or to the left, nor seek to remove them by doing
what will displease God.
Blessed indeed, must patient suffering be, since it
was the portion of the Son of God. "Even here
unto," to suffer patiently, "were ye called," because
"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that we should follow His steps." How must not
that be the way of salvation, which He, the Saviour,
trod and endured for us ? how not hallowing to us,
which He has hallowed for us, by undergoing it 1
how should it not be the path to Heaven, which He
people seemed to any of the gods "or men too great, he might
abate this displeasure by his own private trouble rather than by
the least public evil of the Roman people." Liv. v. 21. " Q.
Fabius Max. said that he feared fortune itself, lest it should seem
to any of the gods, to have been too great towards him, and more
constant than was consistent with the things of man." Ib. x. 23.
See further Valck. ad Herod, iii. 40.

86 Patience.
has tracked for us with His own Blood ? Glorious
is it, for the soldier to bear the ensigns of the Captain
of his salvation. Glorious for the Christian to bear
the marks of His Lord. What more blessed for the
bride, than to be likened to the Bridegroom ? what for
the members than to be likened to the Thorn-crowned
Head ? His Sufferings have even now passed anew
before our eyes. All the Sufferings of His Life were
gathered before us in His Death. What of bodily
suffering was missing, when every spot in His holy
tender frame was rent with scourges, when limb was
disjointed from limb/ every sense racked with agony,
when from the thorn-encompassed Head, in unrest
upon the hard Cross, to the pierced Feet, all was
"wounds and bruises and putrifying sores ?" What
suffering was spared, when the ears were sated with
blasphemies, the heart betrayed, denied, forsaken ;
the Soul seemed to be forsaken of the Father ; and
the consolations of the Divine Nature, wherewith It
was united, were denied to It ? What when man dis
owned his Redeemer, and accused the Holy One as
blaspheming Him Whose Will He came to do ; and
the Father, for the time, owned Him not ? And now
how is it ? The scars of His nailed Hands and
wounded Feet, and pierced Side remain, but in what
glory ! He rose again, a spiritual Body, yet with
the tokens of His Passion. Then He showed Him
self to His Disciples, to be seen, touched, felt. With
that same Body, He ascended into Heaven. In that
same Body, He there "liveth to make intercession
for us." These glorious Wounds, received for us,
plead for us with the Father night and day, to turn
11 Ps. xxii. 14.

Patience. 87
away His wrath from us. And how ? The beloved
Disciple saw Him as man could see Him, all-radiant
with glory, and " fell ' at His Feet, as dead." There
in the brightness of the Godhead, streaming with the
unspeakable glory of the Godhead, transparent, ra
diant, brilliant, beaming above the piercing dazzling
rays ofthe sun, are those Ever-blessed Wounds, the
memorials of His Passion, the ensigns of His Victory.
Brighter are they than all created brightness ; for
their brightness is the glory of the love of God.
Such is the reward of Suffering ; such the pattern ye,
in your measure are to follow ; such the image to
which we are to be conformed, of patient suffering
here, and everlasting reward ; for " if we suffer with
Him, we shall also be glorified together."
But how, ye will say, can we be made like unto
JESUS ? how can our poor irksome sufferings, of
cold or hunger, or poor fare, or aching of limbs, or
stiffness of our joints, or sleeplessness, or weariness,
how can they be hallowed to us, how can they be
borne, so as to make us like our Lord ? First, many
of these sufferings our good Lord took in order to
hallow them for us, to give them a worth and a joy,
painful as they are, because they were His. Was
He not weary by the well, and a hungred after His
temptation, and were not His Knees stiffened on the
Cross, and His limbs out of joint ? Was He not
chilled with the dew of Heaven as He passed whole
nights on the mountain or in the garden in prayer
for us ? and was not HE, Who feeds all creation,
fed by the barley-loaves, the gift of His creatures to
His poverty ? i Rev. i. 17.

88 Patience.
But then, how did He hallow them ? By enduring
them as the will of God. "My meat is to do the
will of Him that sent ME." He " became obedient
unto death, and that the death of the Cross."
And so for us. It is matter of faith, that every
thing, what seems to us the greatest and the least,
is ordained or overruled by God. What is good
He gives ; what is evil He overrules to the good of
His own. To God, nothing can be great ; as to us,
nothing is little, which in any way affects our souls.
To God, the fall of empires, the crash of the world,
the dissolving of the whole universe, were as nothing.
By His Word were they created ; at His breath they
would pass away. More precious to Him than the
whole world is the value of one single soul. For the
world shall perish, the soul endureth. The world
and all its wondrous beauty is but the work of His
Hands ; the soul, made and remade in the Image of
God, was redeemed by the Blood of Christ. It were
more reasonable to think that God had not made
man at all, than to think that He had set him in
the midst of this His creation, and left him the mere
sport of chance, or of rude unbending laws, and did
not order every, the least, thing concerning him for
the well-being ofhis soul. We often think of God
as too like ourselves. To us, it is a trouble and
weariness, to look into little things, to attend parti
cularly to this or that. And so men picture to them
selves Almighty God, as having made certain great
laws of our world ; but they cannot bring home to
themselves, that every, the very least, accident of
every day is known, willed, overruled, by Almighty
God. If they ventured to put their thoughts into

Patience. 89
Words, they would think it a trouble to Almighty
God to attend to all the little details of our daily
life. As though God were like ourselves, beholding
with effort things one by one, giving His Mind (so
to say) now to one thing, now to another, or, as
though having set this world in motion like a great
machine, He put it in His own stead, to govern it
self, and did not weary Himself about it ! Rather,
Almighty God, not being divided and not having
parts and a bounded mind, as we, sees all at once,
past, present, and to come ; all things which to us
have been, or are, or shall be, or all things which could
be ; all things which He has made, or all which, if
He willed, He could make ; all which He shall make,
and the whole history of every creature of His, spread
out before Him, as in the mirror of His Infinite Mind,
present there. Unchanging, He changeth all things ;
in perfect rest, He ordereth all things. By His will
He made them ; by His will He upholds all which is
upheld, and leaves to decay whatever decays. Every
thing at every moment of time, is seen in the perfect
stillness of His Infinite Mind, and is ruled and over
ruled by His Infinite Will. He so "upholdeth all
things by the Word of His Power," that our Lord
saith, "Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without
My Father ;" "The hairs of your head are all num
bered." Our Lord teaches us, as to those very little things,
in order that we may know and feel, that nothing is
too little to be ordered by our Father, nothing too
little in which to see His Hand, nothing, which
touches our souls, too little to accept from Him,
nothing too little to be done to Him. Since the

90 Patience.
hairs of our head are all numbered, so is every throb
or shoot of pain, every beating or aching of the heart.
Every tear which starts is seen, and, if wept to Him,
is gathered up by Him. Every secret sigh He hears
at once from every bosom in His whole creation.
Every secret wish or prayer He hears, while yet un-
uttered or unformed. He Who is in the highest
Heaven, and filleth all things, but is contained by
none ; He is present to each single heart, and hears ;
and, if the heart form its wish to Him, He hearkens,
This then is the first great ground of patience,
that God is our Father, All-wise, All-loving, All-
good ; that " Hek knows and wills and can what is
best for our souls," while "we, poor beings, neither
know, nor can, nor, as we ought, will it." He knows
not only every illness which in His Good Providence
He sends, but every ache or pain of it. He knows
our every want, in every day, and whether we shall
look to Him in it, or no. He knows every cross
which befalls us ; how piercing every wind is ; how
it threatens your future harvest.1 Every blade of
your corn which it nips, is as clearly before His eyes,
as if in the whole universe there were nothing besides.
He Who " breaks the ships of Tarshish with the east
wind," and sendeth rain upon the earth or withhold-
eth it, "causeth™ it to rain," He saith Himself,
"on one field, and not on another," giveth it in one
year or month, and withholdeth it in another ; and
that, to correct us, humble us, teach us our depend-
ance upon Him.
k Bishop Andrewes.
Preached in a village, in a parching spring.
m Amos iv. 7.

Patience. 91
This is a faith, such as the heathen might have
had, and in some measure, had. "God,"" St. Paul
says, "had not left Himself without witness, in that
He did good, and gave us rain from Heaven, and
fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and glad
ness." The heathen in a way, prayed or looked to
God for rain and for their needs ; and He, the Father
of all, gave it to them.
But further ; not only His gifts in nature, but the
hearts of men ; not only the ills in nature, but the
evil wills of man, are in His Hands. "Wind and
storm fulfil His Word," even when they lay waste
the face of His own world. Mankind and each
several human being, with all their sins, wayward
nesses, negligences, ignorances, work out through
their own ungoverned wills, exactly that measure of
trial which Almighty God, in His Infinite Wisdom,
knew to be best, for the perfecting of those who love
Him, or for the chastening of those who may be
turned to love Him. God wills not the wickedness
of the wicked. But, while they, by their sinfulness,
bring on themselves destruction, their very sins are
to the good the occasion of good. God, being good,
makes men's evil, against their will, work to the good
of His Own. God willed not the hatred of Cain,
nor the grudge of Esau, nor the oppression of Pha
raoh, nor Saul's blood-thirsty following of David,
nor the curses of Shimei. Yet they, through what
was against God's will, were to Abel and to Jacob,
to all Israel and to David the instruments of the
holy will of God. The Chaldeans who fell on Job's
flocks and herds, thought only of their own booty.
" Acts. xiv. 17.

92 Patience.
In God's Hands their evil will proved and made
glorious the patience of Job, as much as the wind
of the desert, which smote the corners of the house
where his sons were. The Assyrian thought only of
his own might and greatness ; the Prophet tells us
that he was " the rod of God's anger." The envy
of the Chief Priests, the treachery of Judas, the
fickleness of the poorer Jews, and their fear of the
Romans, the cowardice of Pilate out of an evil
concience, accomplished only that, " which God's
counsel had determined before to be done." Judas'
accursed kiss was the fruit of his disappointed covet
ousness and hypocrisy ; the very money which he
received, and his own base act fulfilled prophecy and
wrought out the will of God. Evil men are not the
less evil, they are the more evil, because God is good ;
but God is so good that they can do no real evil ;
their evil but works to good to those who love God.
St. Paul, when he persecuted the name of Christ,
and took part in the death of St. Stephen, against
God's will, fulfilled His will ; when converted, he ful
filled more blessedly the will of God by doing it.
The whole noble army of martyrs have been enrolled
one by one, through the cruelty of men who hated
God and slew them.
And so now too. God willeth not the wickedness
or death of the sinners ; but no sinners can harm the
good. Nothing can harm us, while, by the grace of
God, our own will stands firm to serve God. God
willeth not that man should be angry, revengeful,
slanderous ; but He wills, (if so be,) that our tem
pers should be proved by angry words, our patience
by the slanderous tongue.

Patience. 93
This then is of faith, that everything, the very least,
or what seems to us great, every change ofthe seasons,
everything which touches us in mind, body, or estate,
whether brought about through this outward sense
less nature, or by the will of man, good or bad, is
overruled to each of us by the All-holy and All-lov
ing will of God. This is the first lesson of patience,
that whatever befalls us, however it befalls us, we
must receive, as the will of God. If it befalls us
through man's negligence or ill-will, or anger, still
it is, in every the least circumstance, to us the will
of God. For if the least thing could happen to us,
without God's permission, it would be something out
of God's control. God's Providence or His Love
would not be what they are. Almighty God Him
self would not be the same God ; not the God Whom
we believe, adore, and love.
But since whatsoever befalls us of suffering or ill is,
however it comes, the will of God to us, what then
should we do when it comes ? Surely forget, as far
as we may, all besides, and go up in thought to the
Eternal Throne, and behold in mind, the Heaven
opened, and JESUS standing at the Right Hand of
God, thence looking down upon us, allotting to us
our trials, even through the wrong tempers of men ;
thence pouring down His strength to us, if we
will, to bear them ; thence looking to us graciously,
if we bear them, through His grace, aright ; thence
preparing us for the place in Heaven which He as
cended on high to prepare for us. O how do all the
ills of life fade into nothing ; how glad may any trial
be, though painful to flesh and blood ; how should
we greet as goods the evils of life ; how would its

94 Patience.
sadness become gladness, its thorns a crown, if we
but see in them the Eternal Hand of God, moulding
us by them for everlasting glory; refining away,
through outward ills, our own inward evils ; chasten
ing us that we might not perish ; checking us, that
we might not go astray ; recalling us when astray ;
alluring us by His Goodness ; and then again, wean
ing us from this world, by its very unrest and suffer
ing, that in Him we might find everlasting rest and
peace. A firm faith knows that whatever befalls it from
without, will, if, by God's grace, it perseveres, turn
to its everlasting good. " There should be no greater
comfort to Christian persons," our Church teaches
when we are sick, "than to be made like unto Christ,
by suffering patiently adversities, troubles and sick
nesses. For He Himself went not up to joy, but
first He suffered pain ; He entered not into His
Glory before He was crucified. So truly our way
to eternal joy is to suffer here with Christ; and our
door to enter into eternal life is gladly to die with
Christ, that we may rise again from death, and dwell
with Him in everlasting life."
To this faith, the stepping-stone is humility. Faith
tells us that all which befalls us, is the will of God.
A humble faith knows, that if it is good, it is of God's
goodness, not of our desert ; if evil, it is less than we
deserve. There was no evil in Paradise. Death,
sickness, pain of body and soul, came to us by sin.
We are sinners, sick in soul, more or less, whether
we know our sickness or no. They know their
sickness best, who are least sick. It is the worst
sickness, not to know that we are sick. St. John,

Patience. 95
whom Jesus loved, says " If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. " Life is one long sickness,
in which those of us who are using God's grace, are
regaining our health, until the time come, when He
Who "forgiveth all our sin," shall "heal all our in
firmities, and crown us with mercy and loving-kind
ness." Meanwhile, every evil is, in God's purpose, a
medicine to our soul, bitter, painful, but full of ever
lasting health. If we have a mortal disease of the
body, we bear, if we are wise, the knife which severs
a limb, that the whole body may live ; we take rea
dily what is nauseous, endure what is hard, abstain
from our food, if we indeed believe that it is for the
life of this body. Even so, if we are wise, we should
receive every ill of life, not as God's will only, but
as the wise and loving will of God, the tender Phy
sician of our souls, Who gives us no one pain which
is not, in His Hands, a means to everlasting joy.
"No chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous." Every, the least, trial has its
own weight. It is our wisdom and humility to own
this. Were it not so, people would not bear petty
trials so ill. It is not lack of patience to feel an ill, nor
to be oppressed by it, nor to be "heavy and exceed
ing sorrowful under it." Our Loving Lord sanctified
such human feelings by the heaviness which, in the
garden, He allowed to come over His Soul. Impa
tience is not, to feel the weight of suffering, but to
attempt to throw it off; not, to be bowed down, but
to rebel ; not, to be cut to the heart with anguish,
nor to writhe in agony, but not " out of the deep, to
call upon God." Impatience is not, mutely to shrink

96 Patience.
from suffering, but to toss feverishly, forgetting God.
The heart may, and must, rise and sink ; we can, by
God's grace, control it, hold it down, keep it out
wardly still, hinder it from having any wrong vent;
we cannot hush its beatings. Hard words will vex ;
unkindness will pierce ; neglect will wound ; threat
ened evils will make the soul quiver ; sharp pain or
weariness will rack the body, or make it restless ;
cold will fret the frame ; hunger will gnaw it. But
what says the Psalmist ? "When my heart is vexed,
I will complain." To whom ? Not of God, but to
God. As thou learnest this lesson, to carry all thy sor-
roAVS to God, and lie at thy Saviour's Feet, and
spread thy grief before Him, thou wilt find a calm
come over thee, thou knowest not whence ; thou
wilt see, through the clouds, a bright opening, small
perhaps and quickly closed, but telling of eternal
rest, and everlasting day, and of the depth of the
Love of God ; thou wilt forget the darkness of the
cloud, in the rich beauty of His all-encompassing
Bow, the witness of His enduring love, and of His
unwillingness to punish, which, without the cloud,
thou couldest not see. Thy heart will still rise and
sink ; but it will rise and sink, not restlessly, nor
waywardly, not in violent gusts of passion; but, whe
ther rising or sinking, amid all outward heavings of
this world's waves, resting in stillness on the bosom
ofthe ocean ofthe Love of God.
Then wilt thou know for thyself, that "God is
nothing but good" to thee; that chastisements are
but an austere form of His Love. Thou will find for
thyself, that tribulation, by the grace of God, opens

Patience. 97
thine eyes to thine own defects, and to the love of
God ; softens thine heart ; cleanses thy soul ; guards
thee from resting in the things of this life, and taking
up with thy portion here ; rouses thee from careless
ness ; keeps thee humble, even when thou succeedest
well with thyself; teaches thee to mistrust thyself,
and trust wholly in God, thy everlasting Strength.
Then shalt thou learn, not to endure only pati
ently, but, in everything against thy will, humbly
and quickly to see and to love the loving Will of God.
Thy faith, and thy love, and thy hope will grow, the
more thou seest the work of God with thee ; thou wilt
joy in thy sorrow, and thy sorrow will be turned into
joy. It will be a joy to thee, to be likened in suffer
ing to thy Lord, even though it be like the dying
robber at His Side. "Thou," says a holy man/
"0 Lord Jesu, art both, to me, the Mirror of suffer
ings and the Reward of the sufferer. Each strongly
urges me on, and mightily kindles me. Thou teach
est my hands to fight, by the example of Thy virtue ;
Thou, after victory, crownest my head with the Pre
sence of Thy Majesty. Whether I look on Thee
fighting, or look for Thee, not crowning only, but
the Crown, both ways Thou allurest me wondrously.
Both ways art Thou a most mighty cord to draw me.
Draw me after Thee ; gladly do I follow Thee ; more
gladly to enjoy Thee. If Thou art so good to those
who follow Thee, what to those who attain Thee ! " .
/J .¦"¦-.'
0 S. Bern, in Cant. Serm. 47. §. 6.

H

SERMON VI.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE.

St. Matthew, xx. 22.
" Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.
Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink
of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am
baptized with ? They say unto Him, We are able."
With glowing, burning fire of love did the two
blessed Apostles say, "We are able." With their
whole heart and with the lightning swiftness of their
affections, did they say it ; yet ignorantly. They
loved their Master. They had shared all with Him
till now ; His poverty, His temptations, His loneli
ness, the contempt and upbraidings and strivings of
the world. They thought that they could share all
besides which was His, His Cup ; because it was
His. To love, nothing seems too hard, if shared
with him whom it loves. They thought, perhaps, of
toil and labour and weariness and other sufferings to
which they were accustomed ; but with the sustain-

Self-knowledge. 99
ing Presence of their Lord. They thought not of
their Master being taken from them, of the seeming
failure of their hopes, the delay of reward and glory
to a distant day, and now, to see His Suffering.
Often as He had warned them, they had not been
able to think of Him, as really giving Himself up
into the hands of wicked men ; His Power not put
forth ; His Glory turned into shame ; Himself, the
willing prisoner of a mad multitude, and themselves,
powerless and forbidden to aid. Ignorantly they
said it ; for when He did drink of His Cup in the
garden, they could not " watch with Him one hour,"
but were "asleep for sorrow." When He gave Him
self up to His enemies, they too forsook Him, and
the Apostle of this day/ who, first of the glorious
company of the Apostles, was to shed his blood for
His Name, stood not by the Cross.
Yet they said it with truth of heart ; and our
Lord promised them the truth of deed also, and His
strength whereby to do it. Now they were unable ;
but Christ promises ; and what He promises, He
performs, that what they long to do, they shall here
after have power to do. " Ye shall indeed drink of
My Cup." But He tells them, that the future re
wards shall not be given by any favour even of His
Own, to those whom He had called " My Friends."
" It is not Mine to give," in any way of choice or
favour ; " but it shall be given to those for whom it
is prepared of the Father."
The blessed, glorious seats in Heaven shall be
given according to the measure of faith and love
which each, receiving first from the grace of God,
» Preached on the Festival of S. James.
h2

100 Self-knowledge.
shall, by his freed will, cherish. The measure of the
bliss of His redeemed shall be according to their
diligence in using His Grace, and the degree of at
tainment in all things pleasing to God, which by His
Grace they shall reach. Your eternal rewards and
everlasting lot in Heaven, if ye attain, will be given,
not for mere asking, not to ambition or lofty desires,
not for merely longing, but according to eternal laws
of right and truth and holiness, whereby " God will
reward every man according to his works." God
gives each of you the grace and power, if ye too
will, to do His Will. He gives to all freely. But
" God is no accepter of persons." Whoever is holy,
good, pleasing to Him, becomes so by using the
grace of God which God gives him, having first given
him the heart to use it. But although any good in
us is God's gift in us, which we have received, He
will give to all whom he receives into Heaven, just
that place, for which through their faithful use of
His free grace, they are fitted.
Our Lord does not say to these two Apostles, that
they shall sit near Him, as they longed ; nor does
He say to them, that they shall not so sit. But He
tells them, that then was not the time for giving it ;
then both for the Master and the servant was the
time for drinking the Cup of suffering. " It behoved
Christ to suffer, and after that, to enter into His
Glory." For the servant there is no other way than
for the Master. The servant must suffer in subdu
ing sin in himself, as his Master suffered in redeem
ing him from it, and paying the ransom of his soul.
" It shall be given," then, when in the eternal bright
ness of the truth of God, " the secrets of all hearts

SelfJcnowledge. 101
shall be open," and in the light of His Holiness no
one shall envy another, no one shall grudge to ano
ther his greater nearness to the Throne of God, or
his fuller knowledge of God, or deeper joy; no one
shall long for a seat above that, which, in the Eternal
Counsels of God, shall be allotted to his measure of
faithfulness to the grace of God.
Even these great Apostles then, whom, from the
ardent glow of their impetuous love, our Lord calls
"sons of thunder," were, before the descent of the
Holy Ghost, deceived in two ways. 1. They thought
that our Lord would bestow by favour the glories of
His Kingdom and nearness to Himself. 2. They
were mistaken as to themselves, and their own power
to endure that hardness, through which they were to
enter into eternal Bliss. In a word, they knew fully
neither their Master nor themselves.
This will always be. We judge of God by our
selves. No man who knows not himself, can know
God. Man shuts his eyes to that, whatever it be, in
God, which being unlike himself, he does not wish
to see. These very judgments ofthe Apostles are
repeated every day. Men think that they shall
enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, because they say
"Lord, Lord, and do not the things which He says."
They think that because they bear the name of
Christ's disciples, are called Christians, He will own
them as Christians in the Great Day. They think
that they can drink of their Master's Cup, because
they know not themselves, nor Him.
Strange it is, my brethren, but if ye have been
turned away from God, and now are turned to God,
ye know that the last thing in Heaven or earth,

102 Self-knowledge.
about which man, by nature, desires to know, is that
which most concerns himself; himself, his very self.
Man will interest himself about all things around
him. He will be curious to know the news of the
day, what is passing in other countries, or perhaps
the works of God, the courses of the stars or of the
winds, the history of past ages, the structure of the
world, or even of the human mind, or the evil of his
neighbour. One thing, unless touched by the grace
of God, he will not wish to know, nay, he will strive
to forget, to bury it amid the knowledge of the
things which he knows, the state of his own soul.
He will seek to know all things, for this very end, to
forget himself. Men wish to know about what they
have, the goods which perish ; they wish to forget
what they are. They wish to know of the health of
their bodies which must die ; they strive, not to
know the health of their souls which must live, in
weal or woe. And why this ? First, it is a trouble
to people to look really into themselves. Then, in
order to avoid the pain of looking into themselves,
they persuade themselves, that they know enough of
themselves. Then, they half suspect that if they did
look, they would find what they do not wish to see,
and would have to give up ways which they wish to
keep, to leave undone what they do, and do what
they leave undone.
And so if they look at all, they look at what is
good in themselves, or at defects in their neighbours.
They look in others at faults which they think they
themselves have not, as a sort of balance for faults
which they suspect they really have, but will not see
in themselves. They think like the Pharisee, " I

Self-knowledge. 103
should not have done what this man did ; I should
not have fallen like that ; I should not lie, nor steal,
nor be intemperate, as this, or that, or the other."
As though almost any one man had upon him the
whole body of human sins, or as though it were to
love God with the whole heart and mind and strength,
not to break all His Commandments ! Yet so do
men hide from themselves their own faults, and their
neighbours' good; they behold their neighbours'
evil and their own good ; in order doubly to deceive
themselves, both as to their own good and their
own evil.
But to what end not to know now, what thou
must know hereafter ? Of what avail not to know
on earth, when thou mayest amend it, what thou
must know in the Day of Judgment, when thou
canst not amend it ? If Apostles, so fervent in love,
as St. John and St. James, before the day of Pente
cost, did not wholly know themselves, how surely
must thou not know thyself, unless, by the light of
God's grace, thou look well into thyself ! The very
heathen knew that to " know thyself" was the sum
of true wisdom. They knew too, that, without
pains we cannot know ourselves. They bade us
thrice/ before we sleep, review ourselves, what we
had, in the past day, been and done.
If we know not ourselves, we cannot know God,
nor love God, nor become less unlike God, nor be
come like Him. We cannot know God. "If we
love not our brother whom we have seen, how can
we love God Whom we have not seen." So too, if
we know not what is so nigh to us, as our own souls> '
b Phythagoras.

104 Self-knowledge.
made in His image, how can we know Him Who
made them, Who made and Who fills Heaven and
earth ? If we understand not the least, how can we
understand the Infinite ?
We cannot know God, also, even because we can
not love Him unless we know ourselves. All things
which God hath done and doeth, hath made and up-
holdeth and ordereth, are " very good." But they
seem so only to those of humbled and cleansed hearts.
" God," says the Psalmist, when sore tried by the
evils of the wicked, " God is nothing but c good, unto
Israel" — but he adds, to the true Israel, "the pure
of heart." To those who know themselves, all things
work together for good, and all things seem to be,
as they are to them, good. The goods which God
gives, seem " very good," and God Himself in them,
because they know that they deserve them not. The
evils which God allows and overrules, seem also
"very good," because they see in them His loving
Hand, put forth to heal them of what shuts out God
from the soul. They love God intensely, in that He
is so good to them in each, and every, the least
good, because it is more than they deserve; how
much more in the greatest ! They love God for every
and each, the very greatest, of what seem evils, know
ing them to be, from His Love, real goods. For He,
by Whom " all the hairs of our head are numbered,"
and Who " knoweth whereof we are made," directs
everything which befalls us in life, in perfect wisdom
and love, to the well-being of our souls. He fits
every trial to the strength or sickness of that in us,
which is to be tried or purified. Now, if ye know
c aits ?jn Ps. lxxiii. 1.

Self-knowledge. 105
yourselves, ye see quickly, at once, why just this
trial was sent, and ye would bow before the justice
of God, and adore Him for His Love. What is all
the complaining in the world, but that either men
forget God, and believe not that all things are from
Him, or they forget themselves, and so know not the
wisdom of His dealings with them ? What we shall
see hereafter, he who knows himself sees now — how
perfectly God's ways are fitted for our souls.
Those who know God's works in nature see the
end of every part of every herb and flower ; they
see how every part of our human body, or of all
the varied "living creatures, each after its kind,"
which God has made, exactly answers the end for
which it was made, supplies its wants, or upholds it
in being. And can you think, that God Who hath
"so clothed the grass of the field," Who hath so pro
vided for the beasts which perish, or for our own
perishable bodies, hath provided less for the soul,
which He made in His own Image and Likeness,
which He gave His Son to save, which He would
adorn with grace, beautify with virtues, draw by His
love, make a dwelling-place for Himself here, fit it
to behold the Infinite Beauty and Majesty of His
own Being, prepare it to enter into His own joy
everlastingly ? There, if we attain, we shall see in
the Brightness of His Presence, how, from our birth
in the flesh to that last most blessed and eternal
birth, everything was, on God's part, ordered, at
each moment and turn of our being, in the fullest
wisdom and love for us. Then we shall find that,
on God's part every single thing was bestowed or,
withheld, delayed or taken away, as should most

106 Self-knowledge.
tend to our salvation. Not so surely does the door
turn upon its hinges, each part being fitted to the
other, so that it should open and shut at our will,
as our salvation turns on the events which God in
His Infinite Wisdom has fitted for us, and in His
Love appoints for us. It remains for us only, by
His Grace, to fit ourselves to them. Our whole lot is
by God's love ordered for us, as is best for each one of
us ; every the least event in our lives, and the whole
course of them, is such as is wisest for us ; all, our
fulness or our needs, our joy or our sorrow, our disap
pointments or the gaining of our joys, things against
our minds and our wills and our hopes, nay against
our very desire, (as we hope) to serve God, or God's
granting our heart's desire, is fitted by the finest and
most delicate Wisdom of God, to something in our
souls. He wounds them that they may be healed,
prunes them that they may bring forth more fruit,
takes away our earthly stay, that we may lean on
Him. But then, in whatever degree we know our
souls, we shall know and love God's will in each single
token of His good-pleasure. A child who has loving
and tender parents knows this. It knows, as far as
it knows itself, that its parents give, delay, withhold
the things it wishes for, whether for the health of
body or soul, wisely and lovingly. Much more must
the Eternal Father of spirits, Who formed us for
Himself, and things around us for us, Who, before
man's fall, made all things "very good," and now
that man, believing the evil one, has drawn on him
self the knowledge of good and evil, makes both
good and evil work to his salvation, if he will,—
much more must the Eternal Father, in Whose

Self-knowledge. 107
Hands are all things, man's heart, and the things
which touch and affect his heart, know how each,
the very least thing will, by His Grace, correct and
amend that heart, and fit it, cleansed and purified,
for His everlasting love. All the complaining in the
world is in truth, to deny that God knows what is
best for each of us, and knowing, sends it. God
knows us through and through. Not the most secret
thought, which we most hide from ourselves, is hidden
from Him. As then we come to know ourselves,
through and through, we come to see ourselves,
more as God sees us, and then we catch some little
glimpse of His designs with us, how each ordering
of His Providence, each check to our desires, each
failure of our hopes, is just fitted for us, and for
something in our own spiritual state, which others
know not of, and which, till then, we knew not.
Until we come to this knowledge, we must take all
in faith, believing, though we know not, the goodness
of God towards us. As we know ourselves, we, thus
far, know God.
This, then, is one great blessing of knowing our
selves, that we hereby come to know and love the
doings of God towards us. Then is the ground of
all rebellion against God's Will cut off, because we
see, that even, in seeming evil, He knows and wills
and works our good. Then is all rebellion turned
into love, because knowing our sin and the punish
ment which sins deserve, we know and feel the love
of God which we do not deserve.
Without knowledge of ourselves, I said, we can
not become less unlike God. For the first step to
become less unlike Him, is to see that we are unlike

108 Self-knowledge.
Him, and to grieve, for love of Him, that we have
injured His likeness in our souls. But none knows
this truly, save the humble of heart, he who has often
sifted himself in the sight of God, so that the light
of God fell upon him and revealed him to himself.
A man, except so far as he is in the grace of God,
will own in himself just so much as he cannot help.
No one would own quietly to himself, "I am avari
cious, or grasping, or niggardly, or vain, or worldly,
or sensual, or ill-tempered, or conceited." We see
and know of many, that they have these or other
faults ; but they themselves, if they know anything
of them, call them by light names, and soften them,
or forget them.
But meanwhile, what thousand, thousand sins,
which are not a man's chiefest outstanding sins, pass
by unheeded ! He lessens in his own sight, what he
cannot but see, and sees nothing which he can help.
He blinds himself when he can. If he cannot shut
out the light wholly, he shuts, or half shuts his eyes,
that it may not disclose to him what he wishes not
to see, himself. But thus, day by day, he adds to a
load of unrepented, deepening, sin. Sin itself, if it
lasts, blinds the eyes to itself. Conscience is a very
tender thing. If we listen to it, to know ourselves
or what we are doing, it speaks to us more plainly.
If we hush it, attend not to it, stifle it, we deaden it,
until it awake to condemn us.
Men think that they know themselves, because
they are themselves. And yet of others we are all
ready to think that they do not know themselves.
You yourselves think that you know well that your
neighbour has this or that fault. At least, people

Self-knowledge. 109
speak of their neighbour's faults, undoubtingly, and
condemn them, as though they well knew that, what
they condemned in them, was quite true. Think
you that in most cases, they know their own faults
as much and as clearly as you think you know them ;
that they see them, as you see them ? Surely, if
many so saw their own faults, as others see them,
they would be at more pains, by God's grace, to
subdue them.
Since then, as thou thinkest, people around thee,
those in whom thou seest ill, whom in thy mind, at
least, thou condemnest, deceive themselves, how
knowest thou, that thou art not deceived thyself?
The very heathen knew this self-deceit. "Change
but the name" they said/ "the tale is told of thee."
We know in what aweful sins David was sunk. His
conscience murmured doubtless, and shook his soul
at times, during that long year of impenitence. But
it needed a Prophet's voice to tell him, " Thou art
the man." Thou seest that others are ignorant of
themselves. How knowest thou, that thou knowest
thyself? One only way there is, as God bids you, "examine
yourselves." "Examine your own consciences," our
Church repeats, "and that not lightly and after the
manner of dissemblers with God" ; "examine your
lives and conversation by the rule of God's com
mandments." If thou hast not yet thoroughly ex
amined thyself, be sure that thou dost not yet know
thyself. Thou must examine thyself that thou may
est know thyself. Thou must examine thyself, that
thou mayest keep the knowledge of thyself, and not
4 Sat. Hor. i."69.

110 Self-knowledge.
forget thyself. Thou must examine thyself again
and again, as thou wouldest glean after harvest, that
nothing be lost. Thou must examine thyself, not
by the examples of those around thee, nor by the
maxims of the world, nor heeding the praise, (if so
be,) which men give thee, but by the light of God's
commandments. Above all, thou must pray to thy
Father Who seeth in secret, that He would shed His
light into thy soul, to teach thee, of what to repent,
what to amend ; to turn thee inside out to thyself;
that thou mayest know all, sorrow for all, leave all, be
forgiven all, which is against the will and goodness
of the All-Good God.
As that is true which the Truth spake, "What
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul ?" so then is that also true, "It
profits thee nothing, if thou know about the whole
world, and know not about thine own soul." Though
thou couldest know, not the things ofthe whole world
only, but the things beyond the world, all mysteries
and all knowledge, except the loving knowledge of
God and the knowledge of thyself, it would profit
thee nothing. Yea, it would be worse than nothing.
Knowledge of all things out of thyself is but a base
less fabric, which shall vanish into nothing ; like the
airy buildings in the clouds, but no real, solid, sub
stance. Such "knowledge" puffethe up, empty and
vain, like a bladder ( so the word is ) distended with
wind; but "charity," or the love of God or man,
"edifieth," or buildeth up on the solid foundation,
which is Christ.
My brethren, ye cannot, many of you, have much
' Qvcrioi.

Self-knowledge. Ill
human knowledge, but ye can have Divine. Ye
cannot know much now about earth or the things of
earth ; but ye may know of the heavens and the
heaven of heavens, and Him Who dwelleth in the
highest heavens, and in the lowly heart. Ye cannot
know very much of things which concern you not ;
but ye can know all which concerns you. Ye can
know "the love of God which passeth knowledge,"
and " the peace of God, which passeth all under
standing"; and ye can know the way to eternal life,
even Him Who is "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life," " Whom truly to know is eternal life," and
"then ye shall know, even as ye are known." "Many,"
says a holy man/ " seek knowledge ; few, self-know
ledge. But if with the same zeal and care, where
with worldly and vain knowledge is sought, self-
knowledge were sought, it would be found more
readily, and kept more usefully." " Where g shall
wisdom be found," asks Job, "and where is the place
of understanding ? The depth says, it is not in me ;
and the sea saith, it is not in me. God under-
standeth the way thereof and He knoweth the place
thereof ; and unto man He said, behold the fear of
the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil,
that is understanding." But " thou must know thy
self," says a holy man/ " that thou mayest fear God ;
thou must know Him, that thou mayest love Him.
In the one, thou hast the beginning of wisdom, in
' Tract, de Interiori Domo. c. 1 0. inc. auct. int. opp. S. Ber
nards. Ed. Ben. torn. ii. p. 354, ed. Ben. Al. de Conscientia. c. 2.
Ed. 1586, torn. i. p. 1430.
* Job. xxviii. 12, 14, 23.
" S. Bern, in Cant. Serm. 37. § 1.

112 Self-knowledge.
the other thou art perfected. For ' the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; ' and 'the fulfilling
of the law is charity.' "
But, above all seeking of thine own, and in all
seeking to know thyself, pray God to enlighten
thee. He will pour His grace into thy soul, and
will shew thee thy own deformity and His restoring
Hand ; thy readiness to sin, the frequency of thy
falls, and their occasions. He will teach thee to
know thy weakness, and by His grace, to shrink
from what, in thine ignorance, thou knewest not.
And so as thou knowest thyself, and condemnest
thyself, He will pardon thee ; as thou seest thyself
to be blind, He will enlighten thee ; as thou know
est thyself to be weak, He will strengthen thee ; as
thou feelest thyself ready for all evil, He will lead
thee to all good. For He will teach thee to seek
Him, ask of Him, cleave to Him ; and sooner shall
Heaven and earth pass away, than that one who
truly sought Him, shall not find Him. "Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not
pass away." But His Word is, "Ask, and it shall
be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and
it shall be opened unto you," even the everlasting
gates, where whoso entereth shall never more go
out, but shall dwell before the Face of the Lord, in
the joy of the Lord, for ever. *P * * ' ^ ;

SERMON VII.

LIFE A WARFARE.

I Corinthians ix. 26.
" / therefore so run, not as uncertainly ; so fight I,
not as one that beateth the air. "
We all own that life is a warfare. Holy Scripture
is full of it. It tells us of foes, fighting, armour,
rewards, life, death. It tells us of war within us,
and without us. Within us, are "the3 lusts which
war in our members," "war* against the soul," "the0
law in our members, warring against the law of our
mind, and bringing us into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in our members." Without us, are
foes, deadly, implacable, unsleeping, unceasing, ex
perienced in near six thousand years of human weak
ness, and passions, and unsteadfastness, in sin.
"Wed wrestle not," says St. Paul, "against flesh,
and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
a S. James iv. 1. h IS. Peter ii. 11.
-• Rom. vii. 23. d Eph. vi. 12.

114 Life a Warfare.
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places." There
seem to be ranks and powers of the evil angels, as
of good. One of these our Lord singles out, as our
chief enemy, who has an access to our souls;
" takes e the word out of men's hearts;" the father
of lies, and of those whof will not obey God ; who
entered into Judas, and put it into his heart to betray
our Lord; and who desired to have Peter, to sift
him through and through, if so be he might fall.
As a pattern to us, our Blessed Lord, although
without inward motion towards sin, allowed His
rebel creature to tempt Him with those three temp
tations under which men fall. Our Lord withstood
them in our nature that He might withstand him
and overthrow him in us. He gave power to His
own to "tread8 on all the power of the enemy."
He promises to bruise Satan under our feet also.
He sets before us, at once, the greatness of our war
fare and of our defence. He arms us from head to
foot, that we "may be able to stand in the evil day."
He gives us "the shield of faith, the helmet of sal
vation," and the rest of that Divine armoury. Yet
He shews us thereby, how whole and entire our
armour must be, if we would not be wounded. He
exhorts, by St. Paul, "to fight the good fight," and
to "lay," grasp, "hold of eternal life," as being one
and the same thing. "I have fought the good
fight," says St. Paul, when about to suffer death for
our Lord. Our Lord speaking to the whole Church
of all times, in His words to the seven Churches of
Asia, closes alike rebuke or encouragement with the
e S. Mark iv. 15. 'S. John viii. 24. ? S. Luke. x. 19.

Life a Warfare. 115
promise "to him that overcometh." Whether they
had to repent of leaving their first love ; to hold fast
what they had, and "to keep His works unto the
end;" to strengthen what remains ; or to cast off
lukewarmness, and "be zealous and repent ; " the
promise to all alikeh is, "to him that overcometh."
Our Lord sums up in the last, His sevenfold promise,
"to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
Me on My throne, even as I also overcame, and am
sat down with My Father on His throne." "He1
that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God, and he shall be My Son," are almost His
closing words. To be " saved k from the hands of
our enemies, " " delivered from the hands of our ene
mies, that we might serve God in holiness and right
eousness before Him all the days of our life," is the
sum of the promise "by the mouth of all His holy
prophets, which have been since the world began."
We have a warfare then to wage, a warfare within
ourselves, against ourselves, and against those, more
powerful, subtle, skilful than we ; enemies, who know
many of you, your weak points, better than you
know yourselves. We have "a strong man" with
whom to fight ; a stronger through Whom to over
come. Against us, is the craft of Satan to over
throw us. The strength, the wisdom, the love of
Christ our God, may be ours, through which to
overcome. And about what is the strife ? The soul, its life
or death. And what the loss? To be shut out
from the love of God, and be the companion of
h Rev. ii. 7 ; ii. 17, 26 ; iii. 5, 12, 21. ' Ib. xxi. 7.
k S. Luke i. 71, 74, 75.
i2

116 Life a Warfare.
devils, hating and hated. What the reward ? God
Himself. He Himself says, " I am your exceeding
great Reward."
And what are ye doing then ? Fighting, surely,
with your whole might, with the whole grace of God,
straining every nerve, watching at every moment,
guarding against every peril ! This is, surely, your
first thought in the morning, "What may I do this
day to make this great prize my own, to escape that
unbearable woe ? " This is your last thought at
night, "Wherein have I failed this day ? what can I
amend on the morrow ? " Whatever else ye do, this
cannot but be your first thought. This must be the
aim of all your aims. All things must be precious,
or cheap unto you, as they further this or no. For
if ye win this, all loss here is endless, boundless gain.
If ye lose this, all gain will but mock you, and add
intensity to that unendurable loss.
This ye would do, as wise men in this world, were
the struggle for some good of this world. For what
bauble of this world will not men rise early, and late
take rest, or toil, it may be, their whole lives, to gain,
at the end, what they must part with as soon as
gained ? If ye are not doing this for the life to
come, what are ye doing ?
Ye believe, ye cannot but believe, that God has
promised to those who are faithful and overcome,
those rewards ; Himself and the unspeakable joys,
the overflowing torrent of pleasure, in His Wisdom,
Power, Glory, Beauty, Love. Ye believe, ye cannot
but believe, that to those who are overcome, and
obey Him not, but obey Satan and their own pas
sions, He has threatened that unutterable endless

Life a Warfare. 117
woe. Ye believe, ye cannot but believe, (for our
Lord the truth hath said it,) that ye must " over
come," in order to enter into His joy. And to
" overcome," there must be conflict, as God warns
us. God the Son took our nature, not only to re
deem us, but to endure and overcome in it. God
has assigned one way to Heaven, a way of struggle,
effort, striving for the mastery over ourselves. How
is it, that men can believe, that God has appointed
to man this warfare against Satan and man's own
corrupt nature, has given him His Holy Spirit to
ensure him the victory, if he wills ; and yet be so
much at ease about themselves, although not engaged
in that warfare ; as much at ease, as if they were
already safe in Heaven ? How is it, that so many can
be content, though not struggling at all ? So many,
though continually defeated ? So many, though
making no progress ? Men can hardly imagine that
they are doing what God has appointed for their
salvation, and yet are as unconcerned and secure, as
if they were saved already, and could not miss it.
They are walking blindfold, yet have no fear of
missing their way.
The truth is, men blind themselves, and our very
proverbs tell us, that no blindness is so entire.1 They
know not themselves, and so do not know how deeply
they are slaves of their special sin. They know that
they have not all sin, and so, although they cannot
think themselves to be struggling, they can think
that they are not in all points defeated.
How does this self-deceit come ? To know how
it comes, may save some of us, my brethren, by
1 "None are so blind as those who won't see. "

118 Life a Warfare.
God's grace, from falling into it, or by His mercy
may open our eyes, that by His grace we may be
freed from it.
Most commonly, alas ! the self-deceit comes
through sin itself. It is hard to do sin, and to own
that it is sin. God's image, although defaced, is
still stamped upon the soul. God's law is, in a mea
sure, written in the heart. God's Holy Spirit, unless
finally driven away, lives within the soul. Our moral
nature, the Word of God, the Voice of God's Holy
Spirit, teaching, pleading, checking, warning, up
braiding, will not be silenced, so long as the soul itself
lives. Most, who have fallen into grievous sin, can
recollect that the first act of sin was violence to them
selves. Sin, to which any one is not tempted, seems
to him, what it is, not an offence against God only,
but shocking and revolting. There is scarcely a sin
however shocking or revolting, at which the soul
shrank back once, to which it cannot be accustomed,
so as to forget that it is sin. "Custom," you are
wont to say, "is a second nature." For good or
evil, it changes nature. It changes nature, not only
by commanding it, as a master, and demanding what
it is wont to, but by destroying the very feelings
which once resisted it. The change is the less felt,
because it is slow. The poison of sin creeps slowly
through the soul. It ends in death ; yet no one can
say, which drop will destroy life. The thought of
sin flashes through the soul, and is abhorred. It
comes again, and is thought impossible. "Is thy
servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" Per
haps the soul admits it the more in thought, because
it thinks it can never do it. It will have the pleasure

Life a Warfare. 119
of acting it in thought, because it thinks itself safe
from doing it. It would have the pleasure of ima
gining, without the guilt of doing. How often have
persons allowed themselves thoughts of revenge,
anger, contempt, rivalry, display, covetousness, be
cause they never meant to act them ! Satan is on
the watch ; they are unguarded ; and before they
know it, the act is done. Then comes self-reproach,
and either quick repentance, or the stifling of self-
reproach. Sin which seemed unendurable, little by
little, looks less grievous ; then it looks light ; then
it is thought necessary ; then it is not felt ; then the
soul is dead. Acts become more frequent ; frequent
acts become custom ; custom, unbroken, becomes
necessity ; necessity, unless God's chastening arm
awaken the sinner, is death.
But in every stage of this deadening of the soul,
the soul can retain the knowledge of what sin is,
only so far as it is not inured to it. We can only
fully understand what grace or virtue is, by ourselves
acting it. For God gives us light, while by His
grace, we do it. We can only understand the hide
ousness of sin, by not doing it. For those who do
it, blind their own eyes to it. One who is perfectly
true, or has been trained to think it disgraceful to
tell a lie, can hardly imagine himself saying what is
not true. His whole nature revolts at it. One, in
ured to lies, can scarcely imagine them to be wrong.
Those who steal make pleas to themselves, that this
or that is not stealing ; those who backbite their
neighbours, say that one cannot be so rigid about
speaking ; those who jest profanely, think that it is
innocent mirth, and that others who are shocked at

120 Life a Warfare.
it, are over-nice ; the angry man pleads that he can
not help anger or impatience. Avarice becomes
prudence ; dissipation, largeness of heart ; to cast
away God's truth, liberality. Even in sins which
desolate families, and mar innocence and purity, the
fault is cast upon God, Who made us as we are.
Man makes his sin into a necessity to him ; and
what is necessary, he holds to be God's doing, not
his own. One, inured to sin, either thinks that all
are secretly like himself, or that those who are not,
have chosen amiss, in not choosing his enjoyments.
Man must have peace. And so, if he will not
choose to be of the same mind with God, he must
make to himself a god of the same mind with him
self. "Perfect"1 love casteth out fear, and so does
perfect sin." He who walketh in light, fears not
evil ; for he sees it, to avoid it. He who blinds him
self, fears not evil ; for he sees it not, till he falls
into it. There are two ends in which men struggle
not ; when they are wholly free, and when they are
wholly bound.
This then is one vast wilderness of self-deceit, in
which men lose themselves. Every act by which a
man gives way to sin, blinds him to that sin, and, in
a measure, to all other sin. For it blunts the fine
ness of his feeling of good and evil ; it dulls his sight
to the beauty of good, and the deformity of evil: it
makes his ear heavy, that he hears no longer the gentle
whispers of the voice of God. Everything, good or
evil, in the soul, reveals or hides God's light to it.
And yet, until a man is wholly enslaved by his
sin, he is, of necessity, at times freed from it. Some-
ra S. Bern, de grad. hum. c. 21.

Life a Warfare. 121
times he is not tempted to it ; perhaps, if tempted,
he half escapes it. He deceives perhaps, but does
not directly lie ; he indulges overmuch, but does not
lose his reason ; is vain, but does no great open act
of vanity; takes unfair advantage, but does not
nakedly defraud or steal. And then whatever the
sin is, he quickly forgets what he has done. He
drowns, or distracts his thoughts ; the world and
Satan help him, and God, after a time, leaves him.
He thinks that he is not sin's slave, because he is not
always sinning in this particular way. A man will
count himself generous or kind, if he does from time
to time, kind or generous acts. He will not think
that he is given up to sin, although he commits it
whenever a strong temptation comes. And so he
abuses even God's mercy, Who by His Providence
shields him from temptation, and thinks that he does
not much offend God, because God keeps from him
the temptations to offend Him.
Again ; our trial, by God's appointment and
mercy, lies mostly in some few things. We bring
trials upon ourselves, which God did not intend for
us. We increase manifoldly our own trials by every
consent to sin. But by nature no one, scarcely, has
the whole mass of human sin and temptation to
strive with, although men have ended with staining
themselves with well-nigh all. Most are born with
some one leading fault, in which their own chief
trial lies. But few are born with very many faults ;
most have some natural graces. If angry, they soon
forgive ; if wanton, they do some kind acts ; if
covetous, they are careful for their own families ; if
they destroy their own souls, they are, it is said,

122 Life a Warfare.
"no one's enemy, but their own." And so whereas,
if we were wise, we should forget any good thing in
us, owning that whatever it is, it is God's gift in us,
and should think only of our remaining evil, people
blind themselves to their own evil, by thinking of
the evil of others and of their own good. Such was
the Pharisee, whom our Lord condemns. Doubt
less, he was "not an extortioner, unjust, adulterer,"
or, in many ways, "even as that Publican ;" he used
some bodily denial, and gave alms. These things
he dwelt upon. And so he contrived to hide from
himself his own besetting sins, pride and contempt.
We ought to compare ourselves with no one, except
to abase ourselves; and men do compare them
selves with others, only to exalt themselves. We
may see in well-nigh every one some grace better
than our own, from which we may learn ; and men
look to see in every one some evil which is not in
themselves, to comfort themselves that they are not
worse than others. To see graces in others, is often
a natural pain, because it is a reproach to them
selves ; to see defects in the good, is a comfort to
them, because they themselves look less evil.
Still sadder is it, when men use truths of God, to
comfort themselves in listlessness and want of faith
ful service to God. True it is, "that in us, that is,
in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing ;" that we have
"a law in our members warring against the law of
our mind;" that "what we would do, that we can
not;" that "in many things we all, offend," or
stumble. But did God tell us this, to make us
slothful, or to rouse us ? If we are told of a disease,
do we what in us lies to check it, or do we give it

Life a Warfare. 123
full play ? Patriarchs, Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs,
had the same sinful nature cleaving to them, as we.
St. James and St. John sought high places ; St. Paul
was a persecutor ; St. John was fiery ; St. Mark
shrank from peril ; St. Peter was rash and denied
our Lord ; all forsook Him in the time of peril.
But what became they ? How was Saul the perse
cutor transformed by the grace of God into the like
ness of his Master, and his soul conformed to Him,
and his spirit obeyed every motion of His Holy
Spirit, until he could say " not I, but Christ liveth
in me." And yet these blessed Apostles, whose
names were written in Heaven, and whose names on
the true Foundation, were laid in the foundations
of the holy City;11 they who, themselves subdued
to God, subdued the world unto the Crucified ; these,
chosen vessels of the Most High, to "bear His Name
before kings and princes," who made an unjust judge
tremble before his prisoner, and a king " almost " to
exchange his crown for their bonds ; these, to whom
"to live was Christ", who "bore about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus," to whom our Lord
bequeathed " the fellowship of His sufferings," to
" fill up " what he willed to " remain over of suffer
ing for His Church," these men were born with the
same passions as we, with the same law in their
members as we ; they had the same struggle which
every child of Adam has had to endure, whether
conquering or conquered. " By the grace of God,"
they "were what they were." Wherein we have
fallen short, not God's grace has been wanting to
us, but we, to the grace of God.
n Rev, xxi. 14.

124 Life a Warfare.
There is yet one more way of fighting uncertainly,
which besets even many who are conscious of their
own besetting sin, and are in some measure, earnest
against it. I do not now mean open sins, deliberate
breaches of God's commandments, such as plain
lying, or stealing, or being drunk, or swearing, or
breaches of the seventh commandment, from which
a man, if he would be a Christian at all, must by
God's grace, keep himself wholly, or, if he have
fallen into any, must repent and break off altogether.
Yet nothing is more common, (and some of you
must have felt it, my brethren) than for persons to
know more or less, what are their most besetting
faults, to pray, more or less, against them, to he
grieved and downcast about them, and yet to see in
themselves little or no progress towards subduing
them. It may, indeed sometimes be, that they are
really making progress, though perhaps slow, even
though they see it not. For faults which a person
through infirmity, (as of temper,) falls into, may be
less frequent than before, or in themselves less grave.
Although sometimes defeated, you may gain the
victory more often than before ; and when defeated
or overtaken, you may not fall so badly. For, step
by step people wade into the mire of evil habits, and
step by step must they mostly wade out of them ;
and though still soiled, and drenched, they may he
in less deep water and nearer to the shore of their
deliverance. Still, there is a good deal of uncertain
fighting, and Christians waste their strength and lose
grace and peace, still from the same want, "they
know not themselves." They struggle, but they
know not against what ; they know not on which

Life a Warfare. 125
side to expect their foes ; before they are aware,
they are overtaken and overthrown.
Our first step is to gain a knowledge of our own
selves, as a whole ; what our faults are. Then,
what our chief fault is, (whatever it be ;) that from
which the rest, whether it be pride, anger, animal
pleasure, or the like. It is something to know thus
much. For thus we know what to pray against,
what grace to pray for.
But we must have a nearer, more determined,
conflict still, if we would not waste our strength, and
fight in the air. And the same rule will be of use in
many of those temptations to more grievous sin.
Observe carefully, day by day, the occasion of thy
fall; what just before happens, which leads thee to
it. Thus, whether the fault be anger or pride, (to
take these,) people generally know thus much, that
they are liable to be put out, or to be proud ; and
perhaps they could tell, if they thought, that this or
that calls up their anger or their pride. But their
temptations come, now this, now that, in the different
accidents of life. They know that they do feel
angry or proud, and they wish they did not. But
they do not think distinctly what are the things
which lead to their anger and pride. And so they
fight at random and uncertainly. Now here, too,
the trials of each of you are fewer, than most of you
think. Here, too, we are spared many trials which
we might have had. If we be tempted to pride, or
anger, or gluttony, yet all things which tempt others,
do not tempt us. And mostly, you will find that
the things which tempt you to your besetting sin, are
much fewer than you think at first. You are con-

126 Life a Warfare.
fused about them, because you do not know them ;
and not knowing them, you think that they are many
more than they are. For, until you know them dis
tinctly, you do not know that it is one and the same
trial, coming again and again. Persons who have
observed narrowly, what are the outward temptations
to their sin, have often found, that even to some very
besetting sin, as anger, there have been, at most,
some seven or eight occasions. To know this,
and to know the occasions themselves, is, with God's
help, a great gain. We say commonly "forewarned,
forearmed." The very temptation to sin becomes,
when you know it well, the sentinel to warn you
against it.
Does this seem to you a long, toilsome process ?
It looks toilsome only, till you begin in earnest.
Persevere but a little, and it will grow easy to you.
Custom, which binds some miserably to sin, will, by
God's grace, be a help to you to do easily what you
do for Him.
But does the whole strife seem to you long and
weary ? Look to eternity. It is nothing to look on
to endless time. Time is no measure for eternity.
For when eternity comes, time will no longer he.
Yet even thus, look on to eternity. Look on to it, if
but as countless, endless time, no nearer to any end,
when thousands of thousands of years such as we
now count them, yea if each of these thousands of
thousands of years were told over as often as there
are grains of the dust of the earth, or sand on the
sea shore, shall have rolled by ; still thou must begin
again, and again, and again, and when time and
thought have failed thee, thou art still no nearer.

Life a Warfare. 127
And then say, what is the longest life on earth 1
Shrivelled into nothing. In the presence of eternity,
or of that countless time, not thy life only, but the
whole being of this world is as nothing. But look
on again in that eternity. I ask not where God hath
said thou shalt be, but, what shalt thou be ? Un
changeable as the unchangeableness of God, what
thou hast become in this world, good or bad ? And
where then is this weary strife which now seems to
thee so long, so hard, so unendurable ? Shrivelled
up into nothing, past and gone. And what is there
besides ? One unchanging, unchangeable state. In
all eternity, thou wilt be one and the same, even as
God Himself is One and the Same. Here we may
ever hope for change. We hope ever to be other,
better, than we are. But change, growth, amend
ment, enlargement of the heart, is here alone. There
our state is fixed. It is an aweful thing in itself to
think of our state being fixed ; of all power of amend
ing it, by God's grace, being gone. Who of us could
endure the thought of being in all eternity what they
are now, of having no more power to love than they
have now ? But think for one moment, what that
unchangeable eternity would be in woe, an eternity
" in the fire which never shall be quenched, where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ! "
And what will it be to you, my brethren, if ye, by
the grace of God, hold on for this little while ? What
is Eternity ? Eternity to the blessed, is God's un
changeable love, shedding upon the countless hosts
of Heaven, Angels and Archangels, Cherubim and
Seraphim, Martyrs, Prophets, Patriarchs and the
whole glorious company of the redeemed, and, if

128 Life a Warfare.
thou wiliest, by His Grace, on thee, the fulness of
His infinite love, opening to them the treasures of
His Infinite Wisdom, encompassing them round and
round with His Infinite Bliss, satisfying their souls
with His Infinite Beauty, and awakening in them, a
continual longing which shall ever be filled, never
be cloyed.
He saith to thee, "All which I have is thine,"
thine, according to thy power to contain it. Now
He bids thee, with one earnest strife, cast out of
thyself what chokes thy heart, that thou canst not
contain everlastingly His Love. He bids thee, hy
His grace, enlarge thy heart, that He may fill thee
more largely. All of this world will soon have
passed away. But God will remain, and thou, what
ever thou hast become, good or bad. Thy deeds
now are the seed-corn of Eternity. Each single act,
in each several day, good or bad, is a portion of that
seed. Each day adds some line, making thee more
or less like Him, more or less capable of His Love,
fitter for greater or less glory, to be nearer to Him,
or to be less near, or to be away from Him for ever.
Is the strife long and hard ? Long and hard it
would be, to be ever defeated. But Christ shall
lighten it for thee. He will bear it in thee ; He
will bear thee over it, as He will bare thee over the
molten surges of this burning world. Christ will go
before thee. He saith unto thee, " Follow Me, and
where I am, there shall thou be with Me." "Follow
thou Me." "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world." "If Christ be for us, who shall be against
us ?" Safely mayest thou fight, who art secure
of victory. And thou art safe if thou fight for

Life a Warfare. 129
Christ, and with Christ. Only give not way. If
defeated, be the humbler, and rise again ; begin
again, and pray to persevere. If thou succeed, give
"thanks to Him Who giveth us the victory, through
Jesus Christ our Lord." And He will, by His Blood,
intercede for thee; He will, by His grace, fight in
thee ; He will keep thee unto the end, Who Himself
crowneth, and is crowned, in all who are faithful to
His Grace. J J^^ /***

SERMON VIII.

THE BESETTING SIN.

Hebrews xii. 1.
" Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race which is set
before us."
Thus does St. Paul close that glowing account of
the deeds of faith under the Old Testament. He
had first taught what faith was. "Faith is the sub
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen." Faith makes the things of the life to
come, our life with God, our eternal rest in His love,
and our glory amid that rest, as present to the soul,
as if we saw them. They are or subsist in them
selves eternally. They are as present in the mind of
God, now, as they shall be to us, when we shall be
amid them. Faith makes them to subsist in us.
Faith is a divine knowledge, given by God, whereby

The Besetting Sin. 131
we know the things which shall be after death, as
certainly, though not as fully, as though we saw
them. Faith makes them to exist in the soul. The
being which they have, it makes to be in us. We
see by faith, what by our bodily eyes we see not ;
but we behold it as certainly, as if it were before our
eyes. Blessed, if we lose not sight of it !
Then, St. Paul sets before us, one by one, some
of the noble band of the faithful under the Old Tes
tament, and shews us the sort of faith of Abel,
and Noah, and Abraham ; how they acted on their
belief; shewed their faith by their faithfulness ; fore
went things present for the sake of things unseen ;
and obtained the praise of God, and the earnest of
things to come. Then, from single heroes of a
mighty faith, the captains of God's army, the leaders
of the people, he goes on to the whole army of Mar
tyrs and Confessors, who had suffered for God, before
Christ came ; who were " stoned, sawn asunder, slain
with the sword," every word speaking of some noble
deed of faith, crowning a life of faith. And so he
turns to the Hebrew converts. They too might then
be martyrs. The flame of persecution was lighted,
and was around them. But what does he teach
them ? "Having" he says "so great a cloud of wit
nesses," these witnesses to the might of God, and the
power of faith, and the reality of things unseen,
which yet in their souls they saw ; "having these
witnesses," encircling us as a cloud, uplifted above
the earth, flashing forth with the light of God, the
lustre of their mighty deeds, and the refreshing
streams of their heavenly teaching, " let us " — do
what ? follow their example ? do and suffer what
k2

132 The Besetting Sin.
they did and suffered ? St. Paul, as a wise teacher,
begins with the beginning, not with the end. He
says ; lay aside what hinders you from being like
them, that so in the end, ye may be like them, with
their Saviour and yours. " Let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us."
This is the first step. "Cease to do evil," and so
"learn to do well." He speaks of us as in a race, a
race for life eternal, of which our Lord and God,
Who gives us strength to run, the Author of our
faith, will be Himself the Finisher, complete it in
time, reward it in eternity. Now, two sorts of things
hinder men in a race, a weight to carry, or what ever
and anon entangles their feet. What is -the weight
in our way to Heaven ? Is it not the mass of worldly
thoughts, cares, longings, the confused heap of sins,
which bow us down, of which we confess, " the bur
den of them is intolerable" ? And what then, is the
one sin which doth so easily beset us ? It is that we
are mostly born with one special temptation; we
have not, all, the same trials ; but we have each, one
special weakness or passion, or evil inclination, which
besets us again and again, is ever twining itself
around us, and from which until we disentangle
ourselves, we make but little progress. It is the oc
casion of our stumbling, our falling, our slowness in
heavenly things. It comes to us, sometimes in the
very same shape, sometimes in another. It takes us
sometimes by surprise, sometimes by storm ; some
times in acts so slight that we heed them not, some
times, in temptations so vehement, that they carry us
off our feet. It comes to us, as I said before/ mostly
a Sermon vi.

The Besetting Sin. 133
in a few ways, but these so in and out, as it were,
sometimes in the one, sometimes in the other, that
till men examine it slowly, and take it away piece
by piece, it seems much stronger and more manifold
than it is. So you have felt when briars have en
tangled you and hindered your walking. The more
you stumbled on impatiently, the more hold they
seemed to have of you. If you took them off quietly,
you were surprised sometimes, how slight a thing it
was, which was hindering you.
St. Paul's words, then, suggest to us two sorts of
work before us to be done by the grace of God :
1. We have to strive against the whole body of sin,
everything which is against the holy will of God,
" every b evil inclination, all iniquity and profaneness,
neglect and haughtiness, strife and wrath, passion
and corruption, indolence and fraud, every evil
motion, every impure thought, every base desire,
every unseemly thought." 2. We have all, probably,
some one besetting fault, which is our own special
hindrance. Both of these we must learn by looking
into ourselves. They vary in all. No two persons
have exactly the same temptations, as no two minds
are exactly alike. And so we ought not to judge of
others, nor can we judge of ourselves by them. We
must look into ourselves. And this is the examina
tion of ourselves, which St. Paul bids us use ; of which
the Church reminds us ; which the heathen knew to
be good, though they knew so little of its use, without
the grace of God ; and which all who have grown in
the grace of God, have known to be necessary for the
soul ; and those most, who have heen most holy.
b Bishop Andrewes.

134 The Besetting Sin

&

We have then, these two searches into ourselves
to make ; one into every part of ourselves ; the other
into that part of ourselves, which is the weakest, and
through which we most often fall. Of these, holy
men recommend that we should begin with our be
setting fault. For this, there are many reasons. It
lies, most likely, at the root of many other faults.
It burrows under ground, as it were, and comes up at
a distance, where we look not for it. It branches
out into other faults ; twines round and kills some
grace ; hides itself behind other faults or virtues ;
puts itself forth in the midst of them. It colours
every other fault ; it interferes with, or overshadows
or overlays every grace. But the more this one fault
spreads, the more, if you uproot it, you will clear of
the field of your conscience ; the more will your
heart become the good ground, which, freed from
thorns, shall bear fruit, thirty, sixty, an hundred
fold, to life everlasting. When in clearing your
field or your garden, you pluck up thoroughly some
one weed, whose roots lie deep and spread widely,
you have often seen, how much more and far more
widely you have uprooted, than you thought before
hand to be possible. You have loosened, too, the
whole ground, and other lesser weeds are, without
your knowing, pulled up with it, and lie down and
die. In like way, when you set yourself in earnest
against your besetting sin, you uproot from your
soul much more varied evil, than you knew or thought
of. We have a picture of this in Holy Scripture.
The Philistines were the enemies of Israel, and blas
phemed God. When Goliath their champion stood,
they stood and defied the armies of God ; when he

The Besetting Sin. 135
fell, they fled. Your besetting sin is your Goliath.
Set yourself earnestly by the grace of God, to subdue
it, and the rest, will, by that same grace, give way.
Then, too, your besetting sin is that, by which
you most frequently offend God, and offend Him
most. They who would keep a fortified place against
an enemy, would defend most carefully its weakest
points. It is there, that he would most assail them.
So Satan most assails thee, wherever thou art weak
est. But, wherever he has power over thee, he gains
power over thy whole self. If thou sinnest, it is thy
whole self which sinneth. It needs not, to make thee
a sinner, that thou shouldest have the whole weight
of all sin upon thee. If Satan holds thee by any one
sin, he holds thee effectually back from God. It is
by thy besetting sin, that he makes thee most often
displease God. By thy besetting sin, he keeps thee
down to earth, afraid of God, a stranger to God,
empty of God, because thou art filled with things
which displease God.
For thy besetting sin lies most deeply in thy whole
nature. It springs from the most corrupt part of
thyself. It hurts thee most, because it is the sin
thou hast most love for. Other faults lie on the
surface ; this goes to the very depth of thy soul.
Other faults are not so done with thy whole heart.
Thou art in most peril, as to thy besetting sin, that
it take up thy whole heart, master thy affections,
occupy thy imagination, fill thy thoughts, engross
thy time, enslave thyself.
Thou hast then great reason to be most watchful
to uproot thy besetting sin, because 1. It is the root
of other sins, gives occasion to them, makes them as

136 The Besetting Sin.
bad as they are, makes acts which would have no
sin, to be sinful, because they have this sin in them.
And so while thy besetting sin reigns in thy soul, it
is the parent of many other sins ; when it is de
throned, and destroyed, many others die with it.
2. It is the sin which has most hold of thy mind,
and so it is the cause why thou most often offendest
God. It comes to thee oftenest, tempts thee most
strongly, and thou art the weakest here, and yieldest
the most readily. This is another separate evil.
People are wont to think of sin as a weakness,
whereby they do what is wrong. They own to
themselves, that it is their weak point. They do
not think to themselves, until God has touched their
consciences, that every single act is an offence against
Almighty God, contrary to His Holy Will and to
His Love. But this besetting sin so multiplies sin.
It is called the besetting sin, because it continually
besets thee ; that is, it is always about thee, always
on the watch for thee. It entangles thee at every
step. More of a man's sins are done through his
besetting sin, than through all besides. It becomes
his companion. He becomes so inured to it, that he
does not think of it as sin, or justifies it, or, at least,
pleads to himself that his nature is weak and that
he cannot help it. Nature is weak ; but grace is
strong ; yea, Almighty. But so he sins more ha
bitually. He multiplies sins, whenever the occasion
or temptation comes. And so there results, at last,
a fearful heap of sin against Almighty God. God
says that He "will bring every work into judgment
with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil."
God takes account of single acts. Every single sin

The Besetting Sin. 137
is treason against Almighty God. It is to choose
what He forbids and what Satan tempts to. God
says, He "will bring every work into judgment, with
every secret thing."
Sin then has two aspects. It is a condition, a
way of being, a whole, offensive to Almighty God.
And every separate sin is a separate defiance, or
neglect, or, any how, disobedience to Him. Dead
leaves fall, one by one, light almost as the air through
which they fall. What a heavy, putrid mass they
become, when they are thickened together, full of
all uncleanness ! In like way a man commits sin,
and thinks so lightly of it, that he will not be able
to tell, after a time, how many very deadly sins he
has committed. But, when he sees all, festering in
their own corruption and foulness, within and around
him, what a loathsome sickening sight they — yea he
himself is to himself. A man may have committed
the same grievous sin every day, or three times in
two days. In two years he will have committed
a thousand deadly sins against Almighty God. It
has been the ground-work of solid conversion to God,
to see, in a review of life, how many thousand sins a
person has thus, through this one sin, committed
against Him.
But even short of anything so frightful, the be
setting sin grows, day by day, sometimes in darker
forms, sometimes in lighter, but still continually. It
is the cause of most of those acts for which thou
wilt be judged ; for which, but for God's mercy,
thou wouldest be condemned.
3. Then too, it is the occasion of a man's worst
sins, because a man yields his mind most to it, goes

138 The Besetting Sin.
along with it, does it with pleasure. All sin is, to
choose something else, rather than God. But to
choose a thing eagerly, with zest, taking delight in
it, against the wise love of God, this is the deadliest
form of sin.
4. Then it will most likely be, that when not
tempted in act, a man will be tempted to the thought
of his besetting sin, both before and after. And so
he acts his sin over again in thought, when he can
not in deed. Thus he may multiply his sin, beyond
all power of thought. For thought is so quick;
each minute may have many thoughts crowded into
it. And minutes pass quickly by, when engaged in
thoughts upon which a person likes to dwell. And
so the sin is thought of beforehand, again and again,
before it is done ; and this is deliberate sin, and con
tinued sin of full choice against the will of God. The
sin is thought of afterward with pleasure ; and this
is confirmed rebellion against the will of God, even
when the temptation to the actual sin is not present.
No man, unless he has well sifted himself, can ima
gine how manifold these thoughts will be. The mind
sinks naturally into the thoughts, which it likes to
dwell upon, as a stone rolls downwards. It rests
there, when not moved elsewhere. They are its
home, its resting-place. Yet in this way, not only
are sins multiplied exceedingly, but the very mind
and will are corrupted. Everything around us sug
gests something connected with what is nearest to
the heart. To those who love God, all God's works
speak of God ; to those who deeply grieve, all sights
or sounds furnish some fresh memorial of their grief;
to those who love sin, all things suggest thoughts of sin.

The Besetting Sin. 139
Such then are grounds from the nature of the
besetting sin itself, why thou shouldest earnestly
and specially strive against it. It is thy deadliest
enemy ; that which most keeps thee from God, if
unhappily thou art separated from Him ; if not, still
it is that which most offends Him, hinders His love
from flowing to thee and filling thee, hinders thee
from loving Him with thy whole heart. It is the
cloud which chiefly comes between thee and the Face
of God ; the chain which binds thee down to earth ;
the snare which entangles thy feet, that thou "runnest
not the way of God's commandments," followest not
the steps of Jesus, Who died for thee, that serving
Him, thou mayest be with Him for ever. It closes
thy heart to the full Presence of the Holy Ghost the
Comforter, Who wills that, partaking of His holiness,
thou mayest have the fulness of His joy.
But then for thyself, too, it is thus that thou wilt
have most courage to fight. It has been, no doubt,
discouraging at some time, to most of us, that we
could not become good, all at once. We wished to
please God ; to be what God loves ; not to do what
He forbids ; to do what He commands ; but we knew
not wherewith to begin. Our garden, which we were
to make clean, seemed full of weeds. They seemed
to spring up fresh every day ; how could we clean
it ? And so the weeds of our sins grew, as they
would, left to themselves, with more luxuriant, foul,
rankness. It is said that one who thought thus,
dreamed that He who had given him his garden to
cleanse, came to him and asked him what he was
doing. He said, " I lost all hope of cleaning my
garden, so I laid down to sleep." His Good Father

140 The Besetting Sin.
said to him, "Clean every day as much as thou
coverest, where thou art lying, and all will be, in
time, cleaned." So God speaks to us. " Set about
some one thing for ME ; set thyself to get rid of
some one sin for love of ME, to become in one thing
more pleasing to ME, and I will be with thee ; I will
give thee victory in this ; I will lead thee on from
victory to victory, from strength to strength ; thou
shalt " run, and not be weary ; thou shalt walk, and
not be faint." By the same strength, by which thou
prevailest over thy first enemy, thou shalt prevail
over the rest. In human warfare, those who fight
are tired even by their victory ; in Divine warfare,
they are strengthened. For they fight not in hu
man weakness, but in Divine strength ; and "My
strength," He says, "is made perfect in weakness."
In victory over sin, God will give, if it be good for
thee, sweetness of consolation, and the comfort of His
Love, and good hope of His continued favour, " Who
has begun a good work in thee." In any case, thou
will find, that, in using the strength of God to sub
due one sin, thou hast, in a way unknown to thyself,
weakened the hold of many upon thee. So banded
are sins and graces together, that he who makes pro
gress in subduing one sin, has done much to subdue
all ; he who has made room in himself for the fulness
of one grace of God, has prepared the house of his
soul to receive all, has nerved his soul to strive and
strain for all, through His grace, Who giveth all.
This is another good in fighting against thy beset
ting sin. Thou art gathered upon one point. Thou
art striving with thy whole heart to please God in
that point ; thou wilt be asking for and using God's

The Besetting Sin. 141
grace for this. But therewith, secretly, thou wilt be
transformed thyself. In learning to subdue one sin,
thou wilt have been learning how, in time, to subdue
all. Thou wilt have learnt the wiles of the enemy ;
the weakness of thy own heart ; the force of out
ward temptations ; the need to avoid, if thou canst,
the outward occasion, but, in any case, the necessity
of resisting in the first moment of assault. Thou
wilt know, for thyself, the might which God gives
thee when thou so resistest ; the power of instant
prayer. Thou wilt have felt the peril of tampering
with sin ; the value of watchfulness ; the danger of
security after thou hast conquered ; how the tempter
withdraws in order to assail thee more vehemently ;
the peril of very little acts or thoughts, at all con
nected with the sin thou wouldest conquer. Thou
wilt have tasted the blessedness of gathering up thy
whole mind to serve God ; and giving thyself to
Him, morning by morning, to please Him in this,
and not to displease Him. Thou wilt have known,
in thine own soul, the value of obeying, at once, any
suggestions, which, by His Holy Spirit, or in thy
conscience, He giveth thee to avoid this or do that.
These and other things thou wilt learn in thy first
resolute, continued, endeavour to uproot, by God's
grace, thy besetting sin. But, therewith, thou wilt
have learnt to become a good soldier of Jesus Christ ;
thou wilt have learnt the way of the heavenly war
fare, and the temper of its armoury ; thou wilt have
proved its weapons, and gained skill to use them.
By one sin our first parent broke God's command
ment, and brought sin into the world. He had for
feited the obedience of his innocence ; he became

142 The Besetting Sin.
disobedient. He sacrificed his obedience to his self-
will, and became a rebel to his God, and all other
rebellion flowed from this one. Sacrifice thou one
darling passion to God, and thou wilt be, by His
grace, on the way to recover full obedience to Him.
It is true that God could, if He would, transform
thee at once, as He did Mary Magdalene, or the
robber on the cross, or as He made St. Paul a lamb
for a wolf, an Apostle for a blasphemer, full of love
instead of full of fury. He might, in one moment,
open thine heart as Lydia's, or the jailors. He does,
when He sees good, work wonders now in turning
souls, in one moment, to Him. So, in the course of
nature, He sometimes heals suddenly without human
means. But it is to presume upon His mercy and to
tempt it, to wait for this. God has not promised it,
nor is it the common way, which His Wisdom has
chosen. In grace, as in nature, He wills, that we
should learn with pains, with industry, with watch
fulness, with perseverance, with humility, with de-
pendance upon Him. He would not drive out the
Canaanites before Israel, at once ; but He " drove
them out by little and little, lest the beasts of the
field should increase upon them." Amid too easy
victory, we might neither know the deadliness of sin,
nor its hatefulness to God, nor its power over the
soul, nor the mercy of our Redeemer, nor the depth
of the riches of the love of God. We might just
miss that very lesson which, for all eternity, God is
teaching us, by placing us amid the perils and
temptations of this mortal life, in which, through
His Grace, we have to work out our salvation amid
toil, and hardship, and the deceitfulness of our own

The Besetting Sin. 143
hearts, and the world's seducing, but deadly sweet
ness. And now, before I go further, will ye, my brethren,
in such leisure as ye shall have, think, during this
week, each of you, within your own hearts, what your
besetting sin is ? It is as manifold, as human minds
are. " In many things we all offend," the Apostle
says. But besides those manifold infirmities, negli
gences, omissions, most have, as I said, some one
leading fault ; the captain of all his faults ; that
which most enters into all. The most widely de
structive are some appetites of the body. Other sins
slay their thousands ; sins of the flesh, their ten thou
sands. But as to spiritual sins also, in some, it is
pride ; in others, vain-glory, or love of praise, or
vanity about their poor bodies or their minds ; in
others, envy or jealousy ; in others, unforgivingness
or bitterness ; in others, discontent or restlessness ;
in others, selfishness ; in others, hard-heartedness,
or want of sympathy or of tenderness ; in others,
sloth ; in others, self-will ; in others, anger ; in
others, ambition ; in others, covetousness ; in others,
self-complacency ; in others, perverseness or obsti
nacy. Alas, my brethren, how many enemies there
are, who would dispute with us the love of God, and
our salvation. But mightier is He that is in you,
than he that is in the world. Many though your
enemies are, when their champion is dead, the victory
is, in earnest, won.
Ask God then in earnest prayer to shew you, each of
you, wherein his chief fault lies. Think, when death,
and the Day of Judgment comes before you, what sin
most frightens you ; or by what you fall most often ;

144 The Besetting Sin.
or for what your conscience most reproaches you; or
against what you have made most good resolutions,
and have broken them ; or what fault it would seem
hardest to you to give up ; or what makes you most
unhappy, or weighs most upon you when alone ; or
what seems most to keep you back from God, or
afraid to think of Him ; or what seems to stand most
in your way, when you would wish to serve God ; or
about what your conscience oftenest smites you in
hearing God's Word, or reading some good book;
or in what you would least like others to know you
just as you are ; or what you feel most guilty
about, when it is blamed in others ; or what frightens
you from coming to Holy Communion, or when you
come to It ; or what sin you are most tempted to
turn away from, and hide your own eyes from, that
you may not see it ; or again, on the contrary, what
subject your thoughts, when you have nothing else
to do, most dwell upon ; or what thoughts flash
across you, amidst other occupations, and come often
est to you, and you entertain them or take pleasure
in them ; or for what others have most often blamed
you ; or what you recollect, when you were little,
was your chief fault, of which your parents oftenest
told you. In some or other of these ways, God will
shew you wherein your chief sin lies ; or those who
know you well and love you, could help you ; or
perhaps God may, all at once, if you are in earnest,
bring it before you.
You will, I hope, by God's blessing, have been
encouraged to day to fight that good fight of faith.
God willeth that you should prevail. He will help
you, Who wills to crown you. Only purpose to

The Besetting Sin. 145
fight, as St. Paul bids you, "looking unto JESUS,
the Author and Finisher of your faith." In the
Name of JESUS, is untold strength. Without Him,
ye can do nothing ; with Him, ye can do all things.
For He will do all for you. Only He will do it, with
you, in you, through you, not without you. He has
overcome sin once for you, and slain it by His own
Death. Now, if ye will, He will overcome it in you.
When your hearts fail, He will comfort you ; when
ye are weak, He will strengthen you ; if ye stumble,
He will uphold you ; if, amid real strife, ye fall, He
will lift you up ; if ye be bruised, He will bind you ;
if ye be wounded, He will heal you ; if ye be faint
and weary, He will refresh you. Only look to Him,
pray Him ; and He will be in life your strength ; in
death, your stay ; in eternity, with the Father and
the Holy Ghost, "your exceeding great Reward."-^ "

SERMON IX.

VICTORY OVER THE BESETTING SIN.

St. Luke iv. 1, 2.
"And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned
from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, being forty days tempted by the devil."
Our Blessed Lord endured temptation, as well as
whatever besides He did and suffered, for us. It
must have been one of His most grievous Sufferings.
Whence in our Litany we beseech Him "by Thy
Fasting and Temptation, Have mercy upon us."
Within Him, there was nothing to yield to tempta
tion. He was All-Holy, being the Son of God.
There was nothing in Him which could rebel, could
balance between good and evil, could be drawn to
wards evil. In our temptations, there are four stages.
First, the thought is suggested ; then comes an in
ward pleasure in the thought ; then follows the
struggle ; and men consent or do not consent ; they
yield in act, or conquer. Our nature, being corrupt,

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 147
has a feeling of inward pleasure in what it likes, even
though God forbids it. If through the Grace of God
the feeling is put down at once by our will, it belongs
to the sinfulness of our nature, not to our own. By
putting it down, we gain the victory over our own
sinfulness. To yield even in thought, by an act of
our own, is sin. Our Blessed Holy Lord ever be
held sin, as God, with the same eyes as God the
Father. His Human Will was ever perfectly one
with His Divine. In Him there was neither sinful
ness, nor sin, nor capacity for sin. He ever hated
sin, which He came to destroy, with a perfect hatred,
while He loved us sinners.
To Him, temptation was simply suffering. To
restore our nature wholly, He willed to endure in
our nature the presence of temptation. Loathsome
to Him above all thought of ours, must have been
the presence of that rebel being, and his accursed
touch. Intensely hateful to His All-Holy soul, must
have been Satan's smooth words, his hypocritical
suggestions of evil under the guise of good, his al
leging the words of God in defence of rebellion
against God ; and the thought put before Him out
wardly, that He too should rebel against His Father.
This, too, He endured for love of us, to conquer
Satan in this way also, in our nature, and to teach
us how to conquer him.
Satan tried against our Holy Lord the threefold
temptation, by which he conquered the first Adam.
First, the desire of the flesh, that is, of what in us, the
flesh thinks necessary for it, what we think it must
have, and are tempted to give it against the will of
God. This was when he said, "If thou be the Son
l2

148 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
of God, command this stone that it be made bread."
Then Satan tried "the desire ofthe eyes," or what in
us is covetousness, when, "in a moment of time, he
shewed our Lord all the kingdoms of the world."
Then he hoped to find what, in us, is "pride of life,"
or vain-glory, when he said, "If Thou be the Son of
God, cast Thyself down from hence, for it is written,
He shall give His Angels charge concerning THEE."
Adam gave way to the desire of the flesh, when he
ate the forbidden fruit ; to pride, when he listened
to Satan's, "ye shall be as God;" to the desire ofthe
eyes, or covetousness, when he hearkened to his,
"knowing good and evil." Our Lord, in our Nature,
not only defeated Satan in these same things, but
taught us how to overcome them. First, by answer
ing Satan at once. To hesitate, to parley with Satan,
is the first step, (as you will unhappily have felt,)
towards defeat. We are in our own power, at the
very first moment of temptation, in a way, in which
we are not afterwards. Our mind is free, unclouded ;
our will, firm. We can then, by God's help, gather
ourselves up in one, and cast the evil one from us
like a serpent. It has become a proverb from sad
miserable experience, "Who hesitates, is lost."
Secondly, in answering Satan, our Blessed Lord
does not vouchsafe to enter into his subtleties. Satan
twice says, "If Thou be the Son of God." It may
be, he wished to know whether He were the Son of
God, " the seed of the woman," Who, he knew, was
to crush his head, and destroy his kingdom. To this
our Lord answers nothing. He does not enter into
questions, whether to do this were, or were not, be
fitting the Son of God. He simply puts down Satan,

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 149
with words of Holy Scripture, teaching us in our
fight with Satan, to set before us God's plain words,
to take some one plain command of God, and say to
him, and to ourselves, "It is written." Temptations
are sometimes very subtle. But the conscience, en
lightened by God's Holy Spirit, will readily see in
them, some one thing, which is plainly against God's
voice within it, and His Word. Hold fast to this,
and it will lead thee. Thus Satan often suggests to
people, "This or that is not to break the seventh
commandment." Call to thyself the text, " Thou,
God, seest me," or " God shall bring every secret
thing into judgment." Think whether you would
do this or that, if Jesus were by, or your parents, or
one you loved and respected, and then think, " Can
I dare do this, since God is by, in this very room ?"
And so, as to any grudge to one another, Satan tells
you, "You cannot help feeling so and so towards
such an one. You would not do him any injury.
You would not wish him evil." To wish or to do
evil would be greater evil. But call to thyself
quickly, "A new commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another ; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another." Did our Lord love
us when we were good or when we were evil ? And
so on, in other temptations.
Thirdly, our Lord teaches us, that there is an
order in Satan's temptations ; not the same order
in all, as perhaps He meant to teach us, when He
appointed that His temptations should be related in
a different order, by St. Matthew and St. Luke. In
both, the first temptation is that of the flesh, perhaps,
because this is the first and widest and most deadly

150 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
temptation of men. Then in St. Matthew, follows
that to vain-glory, perhaps because we are tempted
to vain-glory, through our very victories ; and then
perhaps the order was varied in St. Luke, because
covetousness may lead to vain-glory, or vain-glory
to covetousness.
But on the subject of which I was speaking to you,
last Sunday, our besetting sin, our Lord has been
thought, by successively subduing Satan in each of
our three chief temptations, to teach us to gather
ourselves upon our temptations, one by one, and so
when we have, by His grace, thoroughly uprooted
one, to go on to uproot another.
But now, before going further, I must again say,
that, in speaking of each one's chief fault, I do not
mean certain open deadly acts of sin, which a person
cannot do, and at the same time be a Christian at
all. There are some things which ought either never
to have been at all, or if, unhappily, they ever have
been, ought never to be again. You would, of your
selves, understand this, if I were to speak of murder.
You .could not picture to yourselves, a man commit
ting murder again and again, and repenting, and
resolving not to do it, and breaking his resolve, and
again murdering another. Even this, no doubt, has
been done in lands, where people have been more
tempted to deeds of violence, than men in this land
now are. In this self-deceit we should see, how
far the human heart, and so, our own, can deceive
itself. " The heart of man is deceitful above all
things, and" of itself "incurable."a But what says
" Jer. xvii. 9, ^sk is s0 translated, Job xxxiv. 6, Jer. xv. 18,
Micah i. 9, of "a wound" ; Jer. xxx. 15, of sorrow. In Isaiah

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 151
God's word ? " Be not deceived. Neither fornica
tors, nor adulterers, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God." Plainly, God is not here
speaking of even these sins, if repented of. God for
gives all, for which He gives the heart to repent.
And further, when He ranks the " covetous " or
" revilers " with those extremest sins, He means the
extreme form of these sins. St. Paul is speaking of
sins, which kill the soul at one stroke. God may
bring the soul to life. But the sin itself is death.
Do not deceive yourselves, my brethren ; but judge
of those sins, to which ye are tempted, by those
to which ye are not tempted. In sins to which
ye are tempted, the temptation bribes you. When
ye are not tempted, ye can judge, as God bids you.
As then ye would not think of a person's committing
murder again and again, and repenting again and
again, and yet being a Christian, so neither must
any of you, married or unmarried, do those things
which God forbids, and think that you are Christians,
because when the sin is done, and the temptation
over, ye wish that ye had not done it.
It is true, that even such deadly sins are to be
conquered in the same way as others. It is true,
that no one must despair, into whatever sins he falls.
But when Holy Scripture speaks of our Christian
warfare, it means a warfare, whereby we should be
wholly conquerors over such sins, as drunkenness, or
the deadly sins of the flesh, since the Apostle would
xvii. 11, it is rendered " desperate " ; and so our translators pro
bably mean, in this place, that the heart is " desperately " sick,
that is, difficult to be cured, or, by human help, incurable.

152 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
have those who so sin, separated from the common
intercourse of Christians, that they may be ashamed.
But although those sins kill at one stroke, other
sins steal away the heart from God, and banish God
from the heart. A vessel will sink, whether filled
with heavy stones or with sand. Fine grains of sand
will bury travellers in the desert. Fine flakes of
snow, so light that they seem to hang in the air, and
scarce to fall, will, if they gather over the sleepy
wayfarer, extinguish life ; if they drift, they will
bury whole houses and their dwellers. Fine, delicate
sins, as people think them, will chill the soul and
take away its life.
In speaking, then, of the battle which ye have to
fight with sin, I do mean a battle for your life, for
your undying souls, a battle, in which your prize is
to win God ; your loss, to be shut out from God, and
to be with devils.
But I do not mean, chiefly, strife with such sins,
as, if ye guard yourselves diligently, ye need never
have to fight with. No one is plunged into all sin
at once. No man would be tempted to commit mur
der, who had not often given way to strong passion.
No one would be tempted to be drunk, who had not
often indulged himself more than he knew to be
right. No one would be tempted to great dishonesty,
who had not allowed himself in petty acts, of which
he thought lightly, but which he would be ashamed
to have known. And so, no one would be tempted
to grievous sins against the seventh Commandment,
who had not first tampered with less.
I must say this, my brethren, lest any of you should
think that I set before you, as your Christian warfare,

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 153
a fight, wherein the question would be, whether ye
should be Christians at all. If any, unhappily, have
this fight, let them not think themselves shut out.
They must use the same means ; yea, use them the
more earnestly, because they are tempting the long-
suffering of God, and stifling His grace, and provok
ing God to withdraw it, and deadening their own
hearts, and searing their consciences with a hot iron ;
and what is so seared and deadened may be left by
God, and so, never again live. Surely our conflict
is, to uproot everything which interferes with the
love of God, and the thought of God, and the like
ness of God in our souls. Surely our warfare is, to
subdue our whole souls, every thought and wish and
motion of our hearts, to the will of God ; so that we
should will, love, choose, avoid whatsoever God wills
and loves, and willeth us to choose or avoid. What
saith Scripture ? " He that hath this hope purifieth
himself, even as He is pure." " Be ye perfect, as
your Father which is in Heaven, is perfect." " As
He is, so are we in this world."
I gave you some hints last Sunday, how you might
each, (if you knew it not already), discover your be
setting sin, hoping that some thoughts would help
one of you, some, another. For not only has God
made us differently one from another, but we our
selves increase in ourselves, each our own fault. We,
most of us, come into this world with some leading
good disposition which God gave us ; and we bring
with us, mostly, some leading wrong temper, through
the corruption of human nature, from our earthly
birth. That one fault is our besetting sin. But
even that one fault would not have so much hold

154 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
upon us, had we used the grace which God, through
Baptism, entrusted to us, and which He has ever since
been renewing to each of us, if we would have it.
This besetting sin it is, I said, with which our con
flict for life eternal, chiefly lies. This if we subdue,
we shall most grow in the grace and the love of God.
For this sin most closes our hearts to His grace
and love.
But if any of you have not been able to discover your
besetting sin, or should not be certain about it, do
not therefore give up having some special battle with
your sins, some one strife in which, by God's grace,
you shall endeavour to have complete mastery over
some one sin. Pursue, strike it down, whenever it
appears. One blow will not do to death a besetting
sin. It would not be well for us to have the victory
so easily. We might be puffed up with our success,
aud think success an easy matter, in our own hands.
We might think it our own work, not God's, and so
cast out one devil by another, pride, and in the end,
be the slave of both. It is this mistake, as though
sin were an easy thing to conquer, which makes peo
ple linger so securely in their sins. They do not
like to part with them now, and think that they
shall be able to part with them when they please.
They hope to have their pleasure in them now, and
yet be free from them, as soon as they wish. None
can know how hard it is, to get rid of any, even
deadly sin, until they in earnest strive. And yet
they half suspect that it is very hard ; but they do
not like to own it to themselves, lest they should be
constrained to strive in earnest.
And yet, on this very ground, thou must not be

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 155
discouraged by any defeats. We should be humbled
for them, always ask God pardon very humbly for
each of them, for Jesus' sake, but never despond
about them. Whatever a man's besetting sin is, he
has, through careless childhood, or self-willed, self-
pleasing youth, strengthened its hold upon him.
Thin, fine, invisible, as a gossamer's thread, when
the light from God shines not upon them, seem the
single threads of our sins. The enchantress11 sin
smiles sweetly on you, that you may conceive no ill,
until she has wound them slowly round you. When
she has wound them, she will clap her hands and
say, "Thou art mine." Slowly they intertwine, line
with line, fibre with fibre, sin with sin ; once inter
twined, no human strength can burst the tightened
cord. Stronger than thou, is he who, whilst thou
wert asleep and listless, wound them round thee ;
but stronger than the strong man is He Who will
unloose thee. Yet, one by one, didst thou let these
cords pass over thee ; by little and little didst thou
give thyself to be bound ; little by little will God
unbind thee ; that thou mayest know into how evil
and sore a bondage thou hast sold thyself, how help
less and powerless thou art to free thyself.
If thou canst not find out thy chief fault, apply
thyself to any bad one. It is better to gather thy
self to an earnest conflict with almost any one, than
to lose thy time in debating which to grapple with.
b The language and image are taken from Southey's Thalaba.
viii. 21 — 28. All deep moral poetry has a sacred meaning beyond
its words. A Hebrew proverb says, " Evil desire in the begin
ning is like a spider's web ; afterwards it is like a cart-rope."
Tract Succah.

156 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
Whilst thou art in earnest engaged about one, God
will disclose to thee others. Persons are often mis
taken as to their chief fault. They think it to be
one, while it is another, because they do not know
themselves. And so they hew at the branches, not
at the trunk. Still, hew on, and God will guide thy
strokes. One, practised in the knowledge of others'
souls and of his own, could often help thee. In any
case, God will not be lacking to thee, if thou art in
earnest, and not lacking to Him.
In this warfare there are some rules, alike for all
sins, some, special to each ; some, which relate to
self-knowledge; some, how to be on our guard ;some>
to help our repentance ; some, whereby we may gain
strength to fight.
It is of the very greatest moment, to know the
occasions of our sin, and the way in which it shews
itself. To know the occasions, puts us on our guard;
to know how our sin shews itself, gives us the means
of stopping it. Thus, as to these occasions ; one is
made angry, if he is found fault with roughly, or
even at all, or slighted, or spoken slightly of, or
laughed at, or kept waiting, or treated rudely, or
hurt even unintentionally, or if his will is crossed, or
he is contradicted, or interrupted, or not attended
to, or another be preferred to him, or if he cannot
succeed in what he has to do. These sound little
things, my brethren, when we speak of them in this
house, in the Presence of God, and in the sight of
Eternity. But these and such like little things make
up our daily trials, our habits of mind, our life ; our
likeness or unlikeness to God, Who made us in His
own Image ; our eternity.

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 157
Our first step is to know these things ; our next,
not to despise them. For as we act in them, such
we become ourselves, and as we become now, so we
shall be everlastingly. In these little things, then,
you must know yourselves, and thank God that, by
taking heed to such little things, you may please
Him. As you learn to know yourself, you will come to
be upon your guard : and morning by morning, you
should tell Almighty God in simple words what are
the temptations to this sin, which, by His grace, you
would subdue, and ask Him for grace. Tell Him
also, the wrong ways into which it betrays you, one
by one, and pray Him, to give you strength to keep
from the least shadow of them.
Even in graver sins, it is very needful to observe
whether the temptation begins from within or from
without. Thus, of two men who are greedy, to the
one, the greediness will begin with the thought ; to
the other, suddenly, in the act itself of taking food.
Thou must guard specially against that which is to
thee, commonly, the first beginning of the sin. This
will be the case even as to much graver sin. To
dwell with pleasure on praise, to be fond of dress, of
being admired, or loved, to go over in the mind soft
words, have most often been the beginning of deadly
sin, where there was no other temptation to it. But
in all cases, you must set yourself diligently to ob
serve where the temptation begins. For this is the
entrance of death, which you must the more carefully
close up. The remedy in one case might be to
check vanity ; in another, it would be to abstain at
least, from the fulness of food, or from strong drink.

158 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
Again, if our temptation were anger, we might per
haps be quiet when no one provoked us, and yet
suddenly surprised by any slight rudeness of another,
and resent it ; or, if we were of a quieter sort, we
might not be tempted to resent it at all, but brood
over it in our souls, and cherish unlove within us.
Then, it is useful to have special rules, with regard
to the special sin. Let them not be too hard, nor
for too long a time. It is easier to set before one a
rule for a short time. If we find it good for us, we
shall gladly renew it.
Thus, if we wished to gain contentment, we might
try such rules as these. 1. Allow thyself to com
plain of nothing (not even of the weather) knowing
that everything is ordained or overruled by God.
2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any cir
cumstances in which thou art not. 3 Never com
pare thine own lot with that of another. 4. Never
allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that
had been or were otherwise, than it was or is. Al
mighty God loves thee better and more wisely than
thou dost thyself. 4. Never dwell on the morrow.
Remember that it is God's not thine. The heaviest
part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. " The
Lord will provide."
Some few simple rules of this sort will be of use
against any other ruling passion. They brace the
soul, give it a definite steadfast aim ; teach it to
fight, not as uncertainly ; set acts before it, whereby
it may please God. They give it tests to itself,
whether it is exerting itself to please God or no.
Then do not try only, to abstain from sin, but
strive, by God's grace, to gain the opposite grace.

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 159
If thou wouldest save thyself from falling backward,
thou wouldest throw thyself forward. If thou
wouldest not slip back into sin, thou must stretch
forward to Christ and His holiness. It is a dull,
heavy, dreary, miserable, toilsome way, just to avoid
sin. It is to give up the miserable pleasure of sin,
without receiving in return the heavenly pleasure
of delight in God. It has nothing generous, nothing
noble, nothing ennobling, nothing worthy of the
price paid for us, nothing befitting what we have
been made, the sons of God. Thou wouldest not
simply not be impatient; thou wouldest long to be
like thy Lord, Who was meek and lowly of heart.
Thou wouldest not only not openly murmur; thou
wouldest surely long, like the beloved Apostle, to
rest on Jesus' breast, and will what He wills. Thou
wouldest not, only not be a defiled and loathsome
thing! Thou wouldest have thy soul a fit dwelling
for God the Holy Ghost ; thou wouldest have thy
body fit to be transfigured after death, into the hea
venly glory of thy Lord, and radiant with His purity
thou wouldest not have one thought unmeet for
the heavenly Inhabitant; thou wouldest have thy
thoughts free to soar aloft to thy future dwelling-
place and be, not with the beasts which perish, but
with the holy Angels, with them beholding, adoring,
loving, their and your Lord. Thou wouldest not only
escape hell, thou wouldest long to have thy capacity
enlarged to contain the Infinite love of God.
And now to review the method of this warfare.
This is a practice by which others have in a few
months gained more than in years before.
First go into thyself; ask light of God to see thy-

160 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
self; bear to know thyself, and to know well what
thy sins are ; and resolve firmly, by thy Saviour's
help, to part with them, rather than with Him.
Then observe, which of these is thy besetting sin.
If thou canst not find this for thyself, another, as I
said, perhaps may tell thee. Any how, take steadily
some one sin, which seems to stand out before thee,
to root it out, by God's grace, and every fibre of it.
Purpose strongly, by the grace and strength of God,
wholly to sacrifice this sin or sinful inclination to
the love of God, to spare it not, until thou leave of
it none remaining, neither root nor branch.
Then, as to this very sin, look carefully, day by
day, what gives rise to it. Observe, with especial
care, whether the temptation comes to thee from
within or from without. But observe also all the
ways in which this sin overtakes, surprises, masters
thee ; that thou mayest be on thy guard against the
assault and against thyself.
Observe too, as well as thou canst, the very ways
in which thou yieldest to the sin, thine anger, im
patience, or whatever else it be. Observe the very
acts or words thou most often usest, in giving vent
to it. Thou wilt find, very likely, that it is some
one, or some few ways of acting or speaking, into
which thou failest again and again. If thou art on
thy guard, thou wilt often be able to stop the usual
vent of thy sin; if thou stop this, thou wilt have
gained time, by God's grace to stop the sin too.
As you observe these, fix them in your memory in
the best way you can. If you can write, write down
something which may recall them. If you cannot, God,
if you are in earnest, will help you to remember them.

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 161
Fix, by God's help, not only to root out this sin,
but to set thyself to gain, by that same help, the op
posite grace. If thou art tempted to be angry, try
hard, by God's grace, to be very meek ; if to be
proud, seek to be very humble. In this way, God,
seeing thy earnest wish to please Him, will help thee
more ; and thou wilt be further from the borders of
sin, and so in less peril.
Then frame to thyself, or ask some one to help
thee to form for thee, some simple rules, which may
help to guard thee, or check thee from giving way to
thy sin, or which may aid thee in gaining the grace
thou desirest.
These things thou mightest do, once for all, or for
a long time, while thou art engaged in battling with
and destroying this sin. It will not hinder thy work,
to think how thou mayest please God ; or thou
mayest on Sunday, think with thyself, or ask one
who will help thee. Thus far is like making the in
struments of thy daily work. When thou once hast
them, they may require sharpening from time to
time ; but thy daily work is to use them.
Thy daily exercise may be very short. God looks
not at the length of words, but at the earnestness of
thy heart. If thou hast longer time, God will look
gracious ' upon thee, the more of thy time and
though/ thou givest to Him. In this too God saith
to each of you ; " If thou hast much, give plente-
ously ; if thou have little, do thy diligence gladly to
give of that little : for so gatherest thou to thyself a
good reward in the Day of necessity." If thou hast
but little, a few minutes will suffice.
When you wake, or as soon as you are dressed,
M

162 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
offer up your whole self to God, soul and body,
thoughts and purposes and desires, to be for that
day what He wills. Think of the occasions of the
sin likely to befall thee, and go, as a child, to your
Father Which is in Heaven, go to Him Who died to
redeem you, and tell Him in child-like, simple words,
your trials. Be not ashamed of using simple words,
or of telling Him your trifling troubles, or trials you
are ashamed of. We listen gladly to our children,
as they tell us their little troubles. To God, all of
ours is in itself, alike little. But all which concerns
our soul, is not little to Him Who sent His Son into
the world to redeem us ; it is not little to Him Who
became Man and died for us. The measure of the
soul's value is His Love Who is Infinite.
You can tell Him, then, your trials, and ask for
grace, in some such simple words as these ;
O Good JESU, my Saviour, and my God ; Thou
Who didst make me, knowest how weak I am. Thou
knowest, Good Lord, that I am tempted to — [then
name the temptations to it, and the ways in which you
sin, as well as you know them!] But, Good Lord, for
love of Thee, I would this day keep wholly from all
[naming the sin] and be very [naming the opposite
grace.] I will not, by Thy Grace, do one [N] act, or
speak one [N] word, or give one [N] look, or harbour
one [N] thought in my soul. If Thou allow any of
these temptations to come upon me this day, I
desire to think, speak, and do, only what Thou
wiliest. Lord, without Thee I can do nothing;
with Thee I can do all. Accept, Good Lord, this
my desire ; help me by Thy Grace that I fall not,
or if I fall, bring me back quickly to Thee, and

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 163
grant me to love Thee better, for Thy tender
mercy's sake.
It will help thee much in thy warfare, if thou first
set before thy soul thy Lord, as He showed forth
that grace which thou wouldest copy. If the grace
be humility, think of Him washing the disciples' feet ;
if meekness, think of His receiving the traitor's kiss,
and how thou hast betrayed Him by thy sins ; if
it be patience under injuries, behold Him standing
meekly, while they buffeted, reviled, mocked, spat
on Him; if it be love of thy brother who offends
thee, think of Him stretching out His Hands upon
the Cross, and embracing the whole world, and thee
too with thy brother, in His love. There is no
thought which has such power over the soul and
over sin, as the thought of JESUS. Behold Him
in thy soul, as thou hast seen Him here, pictured
before thee.c Gaze on His meek Countenance, His
Eye full of love resting on thee, the suffering of His
Brow pierced for thee, and so ask Him for His love's
sake, that thou mayest love Him, and be less unlike
Him. And then be very watchful ; watch with thy
Lord, for a short time ; summon thy whole strength
to keep thyself wholly from every form of this one sin.
But you cannot know whether you fail or no,
unless you examine yourself; and you will find that
it costs you less time, less weariness, less irksome-
ness, and is more hopeful, to examine yourself twice
or thrice, than once only at the end ofthe day. Thy
meal times will give thee a break. There is some
leisure before thy meal ; and to look back a few
c A representation of the Crucifixion in the east window of the
village Church of Pusey.
m2

164 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
hours, two or three minutes will suffice. At the end
of the day, the whole day becomes one confused,
colourless distance. Thou canst distinguish no ob
jects in it. It is like looking back on a day's journey,
If thou look back from time to time from some
height, thou canst see spread out before thee what
thou hast passed through. If thou wait to the end
of the day, by no effort of thy mind canst thou bring
back more than some two or three points which
arrested thee. Thinkest thou this a hard thing ? A
very heathen d advised to examine every morning on
rising from bed, what thou wert about to do, of how
much moment it is, not to give way to thy failings,
and to renew this oftener than morning and evening.
Listen not to Satan, telling thee it is hard. It is
hard, when thou beginnest. It is hard to resist sin ;
it is hard not to follow thine own will ; it is hard to
save thy soul ; but it is harder far and unendurable
to lose it and the sight of God. Thine own easy
ways will become hard to thee : God will make hard
ways easy.
Listen not again if Satan tells thee, when the
hour comes : " It is good, only not now ; now I am
tired, weary, I can remember nothing, think of no
thing. How can I think of what I have said, thought,
or done, through these hours ?" Pray God to shew
thee. Thou wilt most likely see but little at first.
All things are done ill at first. Only pray God to
forgive what thou seest. It will be a great gain, if
thou hast truly seen and repented of, but one thing.
To have learnt, in one day, with sorrow of heart for
d Galen de cognosc. curandisque animi morbis c. 5. 6. See
further note A, at the end.

Victory over the Besetting Sin. 165
love of Jesus, to look into thyself and bewail, not
thy sinfulness only, but the sins of that day to Him,
is the first and hardest step to eternal life. Pray to
persevere, and .all the rest will be easier. Thinkest
thou that it will be toilsome to thee, so, day by day,
to remove every speck of sin. What is it, then,
which it is so wearisome to cleanse ? A house which
will again be defiled ? a mirror which will again be
clouded ? a dress which shall again be soiled ? or
this poor outward form, which is one day to decay ?
These things thou thinkest it no hard thing to
cleanse, day by day, or week by week. What is it
then which it is so wearisome to look to, to cleanse ?
Is it something which concerns thee not, something
for a time only, something for another ? Truly it
is for Another too. For it is for the All Holy
Trinity. It is that thine own soul, thine own self,
thy very inmost self, whom thou shouldest love, may
be enlarged to contain God and the love of God ;
the eyes of thy soul be enlightened that they may
see Him as He is, and more fully in whatever degree
thou hast cleansed them here ; it is that thy soul
may be brightened to shine with the Brightness of
God ; thy senses may desire nothing but what they
have in that blessed-making Sight of God, and have
what overwhelms all their desire, to be blessed in
His Bliss, wise in His Wisdom, good in His Good
ness, joyous in His Joy, full of God, yet stretching
forth to God ; all thine which is God's, save His In
finity, and that will be for thee too, for thou canst
never reach the bounds of His Perfections and His
Goodness. And shall this too be for a time, my
brethren ? No ! for ye shall be, if ye attain, eternal

166 Victory over the Besetting Sin.
in His Eternity. Ye will not think it a hard thing
again, my brethren, to prepare yourselves for such
fulness of bliss. God grant that ye may, in some
way, begin to-day. "To-day" is ever "the Day of
salvation." /' rf-n*?

SERMON X.

PRAYER HEARD THE MORE, THROUGH
DELAY.

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.

St. Matthew xv. 28.

"Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman great
is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
Lent is especially a season of prayer ; and these are
in many ways Lenten days/ days of sorrow and
anguish of heart, days of penitence, days of humili
ation, days, in which, by our cries, to awaken our
Lord, " Arise and help us, and deliver us for Thy
mercies' sake. " And so our Lord, through the Church,
sets before us this great example of humble, peni
tent, persevering prayer, to shame us Christians by
the lowly fervor of a Heathen woman.
Our Lord had withdrawn Himself for a time, from
a Preached at S. Saviour's, Leeds, Lent, 1851. What was tem
porary and local is omitted.

168 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
the thanklessness of the Jews, and come to the
border-country of Tyre and Sidon. He would not
be known, that is, He willed to do those things
whereby He should be hidden. But He willed too
to be a blessing to the Canaanitish woman, to help
her, and to teach us by the way in which He helped
her. He had come into those coasts. " He could
not be hid;" because His Divine love would not.
He willed to be hid to those who sought Him not
earnestly. This poor outcast, He drew by His secret
grace, and willed to be found by her. And so He
brought her out of her heathen country, its igno
rance and its sins. He was sent first to the Jewish
people, and He had said to His disciples, " go
not into the way of the Gentiles," and so He held
Himself in the border-country. But He received
her when she came unto Him.
Us too He draws inwardly ; yet He wills that we
should, of ourselves, be at pains to find Him. So
when the prodigal son was among the swine-husks,
He put it into his heart to say, " I will arise and go
to my Father." He gave him strength to arise and
go ; He ran to meet him, while yet a great way off,
and fell on his neck. Still He willed that he should
himself arise and go. So this poor woman had " to
go forth out of these coasts." She, a Gentile woman
in her heathenish sins, was a picture of as many of
us, as have at any time, in our sins, forgotten our
Lord. The sinful soul, if it would by true repent
ance, return to God, must not only turn away from
sin, but must leave the whole coast of sin. If thou
wouldest repent, thou must not venture on the bor
ders of sin, thou must not do lesser acts which lead

Prayer heard the more, through delay. 169
to sin. Else most surely thou wilt fall back and not
find Jesus, nor be healed. So she "went forth out of
those coasts." In thy soul, thou must avoid all
thoughts, which border upon the things thou re-
pentest of, or which have led to them. In thy body,
thou must keep clear of all houses or streets, or acts,
or circumstances, or amusements or society, which
are the certain or frequent occasions of deadly sin
to thee/
" She cried out." It is a great word, which God
uses of this poor sinner. It is a loud cry. He uses
the same word ° of the loud cry by which our Lord
called Lazarus out of the grave, and of the strong
cry whereby the Son, when in the " flesh, offered up
prayers and supplications, with strong crying and
tears unto Him that was able to save Him from
death, and was heard in that He feared."
This is the second condition of being heard ;
earnest prayer. The first was, to forsake sin, and
to seek Jesus. The second when she saw Him,
though afar off, to cry aloud to Him, and that ear
nestly. " The Lord," says the Psalmist/ " hath not des^
pised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor, " — but
when he called unto Him, He heard him. "He
b To make this clearer by instances. It would be sin for one
to hunt who found that hunting always caused him to swear ; or
for one to frequent a tavern or society, in which he drank too
much ; or for one to play, who is continually tempted to dishonest
play. The cases in which the necessity is most stringent, are
those which fall under the seventh commandment.
c Expavyatre Matt. xv. 22, John xi. 43 ; p,era Kpavyijs icrjfupas
Heb. v. 7.
* Ps. xxii. 24.

170 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
saith not," says a holy man/ "he was worthy, he
was just and righteous, innocent in hands and of a
pure heart, therefore will I deliver him, I will pro
tect him and hear him. For if He said these, or the
like things, who would not mistrust? Who shall
boast that he has a clean heart ? But now ' there is
mercy with Thee, therefore shall Thou be feared.'
Sweet law, which places the ground of hearing in
the loud cry for helping ! 'He cried unto Me and
I will hear him.' Deservedly is he not heard, who
fails to cry aloud, either not asking, or asking luke
warmly or remissly. Earnest longing is a loud cry
in the ears of God; relaxed earnestness is a low
voice. How should it pierce the clouds ? how be
heard in Heaven ? To teach us that we must cry
aloud, our Lord admonishes us in the beginning of His
Prayer, that our Father to Whom we are about to
pray, is in Heaven ; that we may remember that we
are, with a certain might of spirit, to dart up our
prayers thither. God is a Spirit, and he must cry
aloud in the Spirit, who desireth that his cry should
reach to Him. For as God looketh not, like man,
on the face of man, but rather beholdeth his heart ;
so the ears of God are to the voice of the heart,
rather than of the body. And truly is He called
'Thou God of my heart.' Hence although Moses
spake not a word, he was heard within, and the
Lord said 'Why criest thou unto Me ? '"
And what did she cry ? "Lord, have mercy upon
me, Thou Son of David." She cried in love, for her
daughter's sufferings were to her, as her own. "Have
mercy upon me," she cries. She cries in faith, for
e S. Bern. Serm. 16. in Ps. qui. habitat.

Prayer heard the more, through delay. 171
she knows Him Whom she calls, to be God and
Man ; our Lord, yet, after the flesh, one with us ;
Mighty as Lord, but "for us men and for our sal
vation, become Man"; Very God and Very Man;
David's Lord and David's Son ; The Lord of Heaven,
but the Son of man. She cries also in humility.
Her only plea is Mercy, "Have mercy upon me,"
All-Merciful ! She pleads no desert, no good con
science, nothing of her own. She goes forth out of
herself to the mercy of her Redeemer, the boundless,
unfathomable Ocean of His Goodness. " Have
mercy upon me." The depth of her misery cries
aloud to the depth of His Mercy. She cries also
wisely. She tells her griefs only, and leaves it to
His Almighty Wisdom to deal with her as He sees
fit. So Martha and Mary whom Jesus loved, sent
to Him, "Lord, behold he whom Thou lovest is
sick." She owns Him Ail-Powerful. Her daughter
was grievously vexed, possessed by a devil, not vexed
nor haunted without, but possessed within ; not pos
sessed nor harassed nor driven to and fro, only, but
grievously/ the sport of devils.
Such was the faith, which Jesus tried, and by
trying, purified and heightened it ; and having puri
fied it, rewarded it. And how did He try her 1
" He answered her not a word." This was a heavy
trial even to David's faith. " Unto Thee do I cry,
O Lord my God ; be not silent unto me, lest if Thou
be silent unto me, I become like them that go down
into the pit." And if so to David, how much more
to this poor heathen ! He Who healed all the sick
who were brought unto Him, Who, when "multitudes
f KaKws 8<M|U,on£eTCH.

172 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
came unto Him, having with them those that were
lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and
cast them down at Jesus' feet, healed them," this
once alone seemed to be asked in vain. " He knew,"
says a Father/ "the pearl hidden in the woman, and
willed that we should know it, and therefore delays,
and vouchsafes no answer, that her great persever
ance might be a lesson to all afterwards."
And not she alone, but the disciples ask for her,
in vain. They say "send her away," knowing that
their Lord sent none away empty. It may be, that
they ignorantly dreaded, lest His answering her not
might bring an evil report. "Dismiss her," they
say, "for she crieth aloud after us." Our Lord's
answer was a death-blow to her hopes. " I am not
sent, save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
In His Own Person, it pleased our Lord, to preach
to the Jews only ; us, His other sheep whom He
would gather, He called by His Apostles. He was
now probably withdrawn within the house, where
St. Mark speaks of the cure. But her faith and
love followed Him even here. He had refused even
Apostles : He had spoken of her as not belonging to
His care, not one of the sheep to whom He was sent.
She who had been afar off, turns not away, but,
being refused, neglected, an outcast, presses into
His very Presence ; she came to Him, fell at His
Feet, doubtless held those sacred Feet, which had
gone to and fro to seek the lost, worshipped them
and said, " Lord help me." As though she would
say, " True ! I have not been one of Thy sheep, yet
I would be now. I lie at Thy Feet, I look up to
B S. Chrys. Horn. 49. in Gen. § 3. torn. iv. p. 451.

Prayer heard, the more, through delay. 173
Thee, as a sheep to its Shepherd. Lord help me.
Nay, rather she lays aside all pleas, except her sor
rows. She kneels before Him, as if in the whole
world there were only He and herself, " Lord, help
me" "Thou art Almighty ; I, in need : Thou canst
help ; I need help : Thou art the Creator ; I, Thy
creature : Thou earnest to save the lost ; I am as
one lost. Lord help me."
Such is often the inmost prayer of the soul in
need. It seeks not many words, knows not what to
ask for ; for it needs all. It needs forgiveness,
purity, holiness, faith, hope, love, humility, freedom
from Satan, power to pray. It knows not what first
to ask for, or how, and so gathers all its needs in
one, " Lord, help me." " Thou knowest all I need ;
I need all. Thou canst forgive all my sins ; Thou
canst heal all my infirmities. 'Lord, help me.' "
The soul may ask for the more, in that it only shews
to God all its leprous sores, and says to Him, " Lord
Who canst, and wiliest, and knowest what is best
for me, help me as Thou knowest."
One more trial remained, and it seemed the hardest.
She seemed to have done her all ; she was at His
Knees. He does not say " I will not ;" but He
seems to say more as it were, " I may not." "It is
not meet," not good, not becoming Me, "to take
the children's bread, and cast it unto dogs." It was,
as it were, robbery, to take from those whom God
chose for His children and give it to the unclean,
the unholy, the profane. Truly with God, we are
children, not by nature, but by grace ; and so without
God and without grace, we are as brutes. " Man
being in honour, hath no understanding, but is com-

174 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
pared unto the beasts that perish." " True, Lord,"
she answers, "it is as Thou hast said, I deserve not
the children's bread ; I am what Thou callest me, a
whelp." Yet, even as a whelp, I would be Thine.
Deal with me, then, as Thine. Thou art my Master;
Thou canst not cast me out. With thee are ex-
haustless stores of mercy. Thou ever feedest all,
and never failest. Thou fillest and yet overflowest.
Thy choicest gifts will not satisfy thy children less ;
Thy store for them will not be lessened, if Thou
give me too the portion of a dog, the crumbs which
fall from Thy, my Master's, table."
Her humility was completed, her perseverance
accomplished, her faith perfected. Almighty God
had allowed her to plead with Himself, and Himself
to be vanquished. He had been pleased to allow
His own words to be turned back upon Himself, with
eloquent humility, which prevailed. Like the Patri
arch Jacob, who said, "I will not let Thee go unless
Thou bless me," she had power with God, and pre
vailed. She had accepted the likeness of the dog,
and our Lord gave her the very title, which He gave
His Mother, "O woman." She asked help for her
child ; she received, over and above, the praise of
God, "O woman, great is thy faith." "Thou hast
not," says a Father,' "seen the dead raised, nor
lepers cleansed, nor heard the Prophets, nor medi
tated on the law ; thou hast not seen the sea divided,
nor any other miracle wrought by Me ; nay, thou
hast been reproached and perplexed by Me ; I have
rejected thy suffering and thou wentest not away,
11 VOwapLov.
' S. Chrys. de Chananasa, § 11. torn. iii. p. 443.

Prayer heard the more, through delay. 175
but didst persevere. Now therefore do thou too re
ceive a worthy and becoming praise from Me. ' O
woman great is thy faith.' "
" The woman is dead, and her praise remains
brighter than a diadem. Whithersoever thou goest,
thou hearest Christ saying, ' great is thy faith.' Go
to the Church of Persia, and thou hearest Christ
saying, ' great is thy faith ! ' Go to the Goths, the
barbarians, the Indians, the Moors, the whole earth
which the sun surveyeth. One word did Christ
utter, and that word is not silent, but with a loud
voice proclaims her faith, saying, ' O woman, great
is thy faith, be it unto thee as thou wiliest.' He
said not, 'be thy daughter healed,' but as 'thou
wiliest.' Thyself heal her ; be thou the physician ;
to the I entrust the medicine ; go thy way ; apply
it ; be it unto thee as thou wiliest. The woman
neither commanded, nor bade the devil, but only
willed, and the will of the woman healed and cast
out devils."
Great was her faith, and so, abundant was the
grace, " Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Hum
ble, trustful, loving, persevering, faith obtains all it
willeth. Being itself according to the will of God,
its will is done. The Divine will is as it willeth.
"Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her
daughter was made whole from that very hour,"
when Jesus spake. For He, as God, " spake and it
was done." He spake, as God spake in the begin
ning, " be there light and there was light."
And was it not good then, for the woman, that
Jesus delayed to hear her prayer ? Not only because
the praise of the Master Whom she owned, has for

176 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
1800 years echoed through all lands, but because
He thereby worked deeper grace in her soul. He
not only freed her daughter from Satan's bodily
possession, but enlightened her mind, and strength
ened her faith, and taught her, by experience, how
persevering prayer avails with Him, and deepened
her humility ; and surely he who dwelleth in the
High and Holy Place, and also in the humble and
contrite heart, dwelt in her cleansed heart, and made
it everlastingly, a dwelling-place for Himself. This
heathen woman alone, and the heathen Centurion
drew down by their faith, the praises ofthe Son of God.
God hears, by delaying to hear. He never hears
more deeply, than when He delays to hear. He
delays only, in order to repay with usury. He delays
only, in order to draw out of the inmost soul yet
deeper longings, that He may satisfy them. He
would but increase our hunger and thirst, that He
may fill us with Himself. God is not poor and
powerless, that He cannot give. But He giveth us,
as we are able to bear. He giveth as a tender father
giveth to his tender children. He giveth them not
what will hurt them, giveth them not as will hurt
them. A loving father will give a child bread ; he
will not give it poison. A wise father will give it
food as it needs ; he will not give what will sur
feit it. A careful father will even make his child
wait for the fitting time, when he may receive it
more healthfully. A Christian father will not give
at once, what is asked impatiently, lest the child,
while supplied in body, should be hurt in soul.
This is the trial of our faith. Our whole life is
a trial of faith. The very end of prayer is to nou-

Prayer heard the more, through delay. 177
rish our faith and love, that we may trust in God,
speak to God, and through speaking to God, love
God ; through trusting in God, be grateful to God.
But we see not that God hears us. " So often as I
speak of prayer," says a holy man/ "I seem to hear
in your hearts some words of human thoughts, which
I have both often heard from others, and sometimes
have experienced in. my own heart. How is it that,
although we never cease from prayer, scarce any of
us seem ever to experience what is the fruit of his
prayer ? As we go to prayer, so also we seem to
return. No one answereth us a word. No one
giveth us anything ; but we seem to have toiled in
vain. But what saith the Lord in the Gospel ?
' Judge not according to appearance, but judge right
eous judgment.' What is righteous judgment, but
the judgment of faith ? For ' the just shall live by
faith !' Follow then the judgment of faith, not thine
own experience. For faith is true, experience de
ceitful. What then is the truth of faith, save what
the Son of God Himself promises ? ' All things, what
soever ye ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive.'
Let none of you, brethren, hold his prayer cheap ;
He, to Whom we pray, holdeth it not cheap. Ere
it is gone forth out of our mouth, He hath it written
in His book. One of two things we may without
doubt hope, that He will either give us what we ask,
or what He knoweth to be more useful to us. For
' we know not what to pray for, as we ought,' but
He hath pity on our ignorance. He graciously re
ceiveth prayer ; but He giveth not, either what is
altogether not good for us, or what need not be given
k S, Bern, in Quadr. Serm, v. § 5.
N

178 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
us so speedily. Yet will not the prayer be without
fruit." But the human heart faints through delay ; some
prayers God hears, some He hears not. How shall
we know whether ours be such prayers as He hears ?
God hears not the prayers of those who will go on
in sin. "Though ye make many prayers, I will not
hear. Your hands are full of blood." God hears
not our prayers, if we pray for what will hurt us, or
will not further our salvation, (as when St. Paul
prayed for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, or
the two sons of Zebedee, although He loved them,)
or if we pray with a double heart, one heart for God,
and the other for the world. God hears not self-
satisfied prayers like the Pharisee's, or if we pray
with lukewarm hearts ; or if we have pleasure in
evil thoughts, or cherish anger or displeasure against
another, or secret grudge, or dislike, or hard thoughts
and words towards one who has wronged us. God
then in mercy hears not, that we, seeing in ourselves
what hinders our prayers and His grace, may, by
His grace, become such as He will hear.
Flee these things, and seek things pleasing to God,
and yourselves, to please God, and God will hear
you, when and as He sees fit, but more than you can
desire or deserve.
Pray, modestly, as to the things of this life ; ear
nestly, for what may be helps to your salvation;
intensely, for salvation itself, that you may for ever
behold God, love God.
Cleanse your heart now; for "the pure in heart
shall see God."
Be alone with God, that your soul may be free to

Prayer heard the more, through delay. 179
speak to Him, and to hear Him. But be alone in
your inmost hearts, shutting out busy, anxious
thoughts, that they throng not in with thy prayers,
and cloud not the sight and thought of God.
Practise in life whatever thou prayest for, and God
will give it thee more abundantly.
Bear patiently and humbly all daily crosses, con
tradictions, rebukes, and whatsoever is against thine
own will. They will conform thee to the mind of
God, be channels of grace which will cleanse thy
soul for yet further grace.
Deny thyself things earthly, if thou wouldest taste
the sweetness of things heavenly.
But this day, our Lord teaches, above all things,
to persevere in prayer. Many begin well ; many
hold on for a time well ; many pray well from time
to time ; some alas ! can even work themselves up
from time to time, to think they pray well, and to
feel what they pray ; many begin, again and again,
well. Few persevere ; for few they be, who find the
straight gate and narrow way which leadeth unto
life. If thou hast begun, pray that thou mayest pray
better. If thou hast failed, pray to begin again, and
to persevere. All who pray to persevere, gain what
they pray for. None who so prayed has perished.
He Who heard the poor woman of the Gospel,
still heareth us. He is present with us, when two
or three are gathered together in His Name. He is
more specially present when He, as now, is Himself
the Priest, Himself the Sacrifice, Himself giveth to
us His own Body and Blood. He Himself to Whom
we pray, He, in Heaven, prayeth for us ; He pre-
n2

180 Prayer heard the more, through delay.
sents before the Father the tokens of His Passion in
that Human Nature which for us He took, to plead
for us. How should he not obtain all things, for
whom, in whom, Christ prayeth? Prayer, in faith,
hope, charity, humility, is the voice of God in our
secret hearts, It goes up to God ; it speaketh to
God ; it converseth with our Judge ; not in our
name, but in Christ's. What should hinder it from
ascending to the Presence of God, to be presented
by Him, not for our unworthiness, but for His wor
thiness, Who gave it to us, gives to it the value of
His own Blood ?
God is not as man, that He should change, or fail
His promise. Which should fail, His Truth or His
Mercy, or His Almightiness, or His All-bountifulness,
or His Love, which is Himself ? All He has pledged
to thee, if thou persevere in asking. Thou wilt per
severe, if thou askest to persevere. Persevere in
asking, and thou canst not perish. For "He is
faithful Who hath promised. He also will do it."

SERMON XI.

RE-CREATION OF THE PENITENT.

Psalm li. 10.
" Create in me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a
right spirit within me."
Pardon, acceptance, peace, Heaven, are opened at
once to all, who, with penitent hearts, return to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. In one hour, one
moment, God could, if He saw fit, cleanse the whole
soul, and, like the robber, remove the penitent sin
ner from the Cross to Paradise. Yet He doth so
very rarely. He has willed mostly that we should
"fight the good fight." For some mysterious end
in His Infinite Wisdom, He hath willed that we
should be perfected through trial, wherein men
manifoldly fail, recover, and, through difficulty, learn
that every good gift cometh down from Him, and
that His "strength is made perfect in" their "weak
ness."

182 Re-creation of the Penitent.
And so we " are saved," but " in hope" only. His
Gracious Voice of pardon is the pledge of everlast
ing forgiveness; the love, wherewith He receives
returning prodigals, hath its spring in His unchang
ing, unending love ; the first gush of tears waters
the seed which shall be reaped in everlasting joy;
the intense, ardent longing to love is the earnest of
that fulness, wherein we shall love with an everlast
ing love Him Who hath so loved us. Yet if man,
when innocent, was to be perfected through trial,
much more, when fallen ! There must be some in
tense mystery of value in our learning freely to obey,
that God became Man to restore us to the power
and will to love and obey God. Intense must he
the value of souls, that God hath purchased them,
Scripture says, with His own Blood, and that He,
the All-good God, has seen good to form them thus,
even at the cost of the Sufferings of the Incarnate
Son, and the waste of such a countless multitude of
souls lost in endless misery.
We are replaced then, by repentance, on the road
to life whence we had wandered : yet at the begin
ning, not at the end. God does not take away trials
or carry us over them, but strengthens us through
them. When He turns men to Himself, He changes
their will, not their trials. Whereas, before, for
saking His grace, they were defeated, now, through
His Grace, He gives them victory over their besetting
sin. But there can be no victory without warfare ;
nor warfare without toil and pain. He turns men
round, that whereas, before, they "turned their
backs " on Him, henceforth they should hold Him
before them, aim at Him, stretch towards Him ; and

Re-creation of the Penitent. 183
He makes each act wherein they obey Him, a step
towards Himself and His Everlasting Love and Bliss.
Their whole course now, as a whole, is towards
Himself, whereas it was, before, as a whole, away
from Him. But where they left off in wandering
from God, thence is their starting point in their
return. Sin does us lasting injury. Each separate act of
sin changes, so far, our moral nature and our trial.
Each leaves its effects upon our souls. Even heathen
wisdom* saw that our acts, one by one, tell upon us.
They form habits, and these, as ye know, are a second
nature. And so, when we repent, we have not only
that corrupt nature to subdue, which we inherited
from Adam, but that second evil nature also, which
by our own personal sins, — sins which, by God's
grace, we might have withstood, but into which,
through negligence or wilfulness, we fell, — we formed
in us. And this evil nature, as we formed it by re
peated acts of disobedience to God, so it is mostly,
little by little, amid obedience to Him, and through
His grace, that God unmakes and re-makes it.
Step by step, act by act, ye have become whatever
ye are. Whatever the besetting sin of each is, ye
can recollect the time, at least in childhood, when it
was not such. Most can recollect the first decided
act, in which their sin mastered them. It might
without labour have been slain then. " Blessed,"
saith Holy Scripture, " is he that taketh thy little
ones and dasheth them against the stone." " What,"
says a father/ " are the little ones of Babylon, or the
great evil city of this world, but infant, unripened,
a Aristot. Eth. b Abridged from S. Aug. ad loc.

184 Re-creation ofthe Penitent.
new-born sins ? Blessed is he who taketh them, ere
they have yet gained strength, and dasheth them
against the Rock, that is, Christ."
In whatever degree we did not this, our trial is
changed. We nurture sin with our own hearts'
blood, and when we have strengthened it against
ourselves, we cannot at once destroy it. By the
grace of Christ we may subdue, keep it chained,
restrain its outbreaks ; but it is there still. It is not
dead, but lives within us, ever anew lifting up its
head and hissing at us ; still to be bruised again and
again by His Cross, Who bruised the serpent's head,
and will "bruise him under our feet shortly." It
may be subdued by His Grace, amid unwearied
watchfulness ; but if we relax our grasp, it anew
threatens, perhaps wounds us. Our path is in steep
slippery places ; if we loosen our hold of the Rock,
we slip back.
This is a weary warfare. Even the Apostle cried
out in the name of our whole nature, "who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" But we
make it more weary to ourselves, by not owning that
it is now our appointed warfare, and that our help
henceforth is not in -ourselves, but in God Alone.
The Apostle answers his own cry for a deliverer, "I
thank my God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The Prophet David after his fall sets his whole hope
in Him. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and
renew a right spirit within me."
Plain as this is, earnest souls often make their own
burthen heavier, by forgetting it. They feel (as it
may be) their minds darkened, unstrung, unearnest,
sluggish. Their souls are haunted with jealous,

Re-creation of the Penitent. 185
envious, proud, self-conscious, thoughts; they feel
perhaps the germs of every deadly sin within them.
The thoughts, although they hate them, do not seem,
like others, to flash across them, but to come from
the very depths of their own souls. The worms,
which crawl over them, seem to be gendered out of
their own corruption. And so they brood over them
selves and their wretchedness, and lose peace of mind
and all sense of reconciliation with God, and impair
their childike love, and seem to fear God as an enemy
or an offended Judge, and themselves to be enemies
of God, not forgiven prodigals in their loving Father's
house. Yet to despond because we are what we are, what
is this but still, in a subtle way, to imply that it is
in our own power to become otherwise ? So only
would it follow, that if our affections are not at once
changed, as we would, this is our own present sin,
and that we have not a heart right with God at all.
But this is to suppose that we ourselves can make
or mould or re-make our own hearts. Not so the
Prophet David, in that great Psalm of penitence,
which is the model for all true penitent souls ; the
language of the aching, hungering heart, which longs
to be restored to the full favour of God. In it, God
teaches us what to own of ourselves, and how to
pray ; what gifts we need, and how to ask for them.
David was forgiven. He had cast himself without
defence, without excuse, on the mercy of God, He
had summed up all in the great simple confession,
"I have sinned against the Lord," and gathered into
two wordsc a whole volume of confession. In him-

186 Re-creation ofthe Penitent.
self he speaks of nothing but sin : he pleads nothing.
All was one act of sin. "I have sinned," and that
"against the Lord." All creatures vanish from his
sight, "against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned."
All else disappears from before him ; and he stands,
as it were, alone in the whole world before God,
himself wholly a sinner, face to face, before the All-
Holy, All-Good God. And for his penitence he had
received his pardon. "The Lord hath also put
away thy sin." And yet, thus pardoned in the Name
of God, he still prays for himself, as injured by his
sin, his grace impaired, the gracious Presence of
God's Holy Spirit diminished, the stain of sin in
part remaining, the "free* noble, willing, generous,
princely," spirit, wherein he had, as "the man after
God's own heart," done devoted service to God, dim
med. He was already pardoned ; and so, through
out the deep Psalm, there is not one prayer for
pardon. But he had deeply wounded himself; and
so the whole Psalm is well nigh one prayer that God
would restore the graces he had lost.
This restoration he prays for, as gradual. "Wash
me thoroughly," literally "more and more,"6 "from
mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins." God
had forgiven him ; David owns that He had not yet
restored him wholly. "Wash me more and more,"
as though the white robe of purity and innocence,
which, by his two-fold deadly sin he had so deeply
soiled, needed an ever-renewed cleansing. Not once
only, doubtless, but through his remaining life did
he pray this, his own penitential prayer, "wash me
more and more," many times, manifoldly, wash me ;

Re-creation of the Penitent. 1 87
as confessing a deeply dyed guilt, which seemed as
though it could not be cleansed except by repeated
manifold washing. So our own good Bishop/ night
by night, prayed " forgive the guilt, heal the wound,
blot out |the stains, heal my soul, for I have sinned
against Thee," and St. Peter, cock-crowing after
cock-crowing, wept his fall.
And then the royal penitent further prays : " Cre
ate in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right
spirit within me." God's working is a continual cre
ation. " My Father," our Lord says, " worketh
hitherto and I work," in one sense, " the works
were finished from the creation of the world ; " in
another, all renewal of decay in nature, in our chang
ing corruptible bodies, is a continual creation, a
renewed supply of life, displacing what is dead or
decayed. And so in one way, we are, once for all, at our
first birth of Christ, created in Christ Jesus." As
the Apostle says, "We are His workmanship, cre
ated in Christ Jesus unto good works ; " and "if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature," or creation ;
and "neither circumcision availeth anything nor un
circumcision;" whether any have been Jew or Gentile,
it availeth not, but "a new creature," that is that he
have been re-created in Christ, a new being, living
a new life of faith and love in Christ, re-born in
Christ, having a spiritual being which before he had
not in Christ.
In the other way it is said, "be renewed in the
spirit of your mind ; and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true
' Andrewes.

188 Re-creation of the Penitent.
made holiness," that is, although already renewed in
Baptism, ye must again, day by day, be renewed ;
although clad with Christ, ye have need to be more
wholly encompassd with Him, so that your old
nature in no way appear, but Christ fill you with
His Spirit, hide your sins with His Righteousness,
adorn you with His Graces, Himself shed His grace
abroad in your hearts, and the lustre of His holiness
around your acts.
This "creation" is, in either case, from nothing.
David uses the same word of our creation, which
Moses uses of "the creation ofthe heaven and the
earth." Our creation "in Jesus Christ," is no mere
strengthening of our powers, no mere aiding of our
natural weakness by the might of the grace of God,
it is not a mere amendment, improvement of our
moral habits ; it is a creation out of nothing, of that
which we had not before. There was nothing in us
whereof to make it. We were decayed, corrupt,
dead in trespasses and sins. What is dead becometh
not alive, except by the infusion of what it had not.
What is corrupt, receiveth not soundness, save by
passing away itself, and being replaced by a new
production. "The old man" passeth not into the
new man, but is "put off." It is not the basis of the
new life, but a hindrance to it. It must be " put
off;" and the new man "put on," "created in Christ
Jesus." "We are His workmanship." We are as much
the work of His Hands by grace, as our bodies in
Adam were by nature. We are the clay in His
Hands, and were no more the authors of our own
spiritual being than of the life of these our bodies.

Re-creation of the Penitent. 1 89
Our creation out of nothing, in nature, was the work
of His Almighty Power, calling into being things
which were not, that they should be. Our creation
by grace is the work ofthe Almighty Mercy of Christ
our God, not through any merits or works of ours,
since we were dead, but through His Creative Voice,
which bid the dead to live.
Again, in our birth by nature, we not only receive
the first gift of life from God, but that life is main
tained, increased, nourished, through food which we
receive, yet not by any power of our own. "For
which of you," says our Lord, "by taking thought
can add one cubit to his stature?" So is the life of
grace upheld, strengthened, enlarged, not by any
power of ours, but through nourishment supplied by
Christ our Head, even "the love" and grace "of
God" shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy
Ghost which He hath given us."
Yet, again, the life which we had by nature seems,
after some grievous sickness, to be given anew to us,
and we seem not merely to be restored to health, but
fresh life, as it were, to be poured into us, and what
is corrupt is actually replaced. So in the life of
grace, there are seasons, especially the first return
of the prodigal soul to God, when decay is wonder
fully effaced by grace, freshness of soul is anew crea
ted; child-like feelings, which seemed dead, revive
in life ; what was dried and sere, breathed upon by
the Holy Spirit from above, lives through the life of
God in the restored soul.
But since this is so, where is the room for our
own acts ? " He," saith a father ,§ the great teacher
s See in Preface to Vol i. p. xiv.

190 Re-creation of the Penitent.
of the doctrine of grace, " He Who created thee
without thee, will not save thee without thee." In
the support of our bodies, we pray for " our daily
bread," and when given, we receive it as the gift of
God ; and the daily decays of our bodies are restored
through the powers which God gives us. So also
in the life of the soul, it is ours to pray for the daily
increase of grace, the enlarged gift of God's good
Spirit, and receiving It, to use It. We cannot give
to ourselves any grace : but we have the fearful
power of not asking for it. We cannot give our
selves the talents which God entrusts us with, but
we may through His Grace use them, or by neglect
of His Grace, be slothful servants, and hide them, or
bury, under a mass of earthliness, " our Lord's money,"
that Image, wherein we are "anew created in righte
ousness and true holiness," and the lines of which
should, by daily contemplation ofthe holiness of Him
in Whom we are anew created, be daily deepened
in our souls.
The truth of God is our comfort and stay, our
protection against our fears as well as against our
pride. Since we have nothing, but what we have
received ; and all which is our own, is that we have
not held back more from receiving it, where is boast
ing ? What beggar would boast that he had not
withdrawn his hand from the dole which a tender
charity gave him ? And we are beggars from the
Hand of God. But since we cannot give ourselves
any good gift, neither need we be cast down, because,
as yet, we have it not.
We need not, then, we should not, toss ourselves
to and fro, because we have feelings which we cannot

Re-creation of the Penitent. 191
remove ; thoughts which come unbidden, which we
hate, yea, though they seem to come out of a deep
well of corruption within us, ever gushing forth and
never stayed, never exhausted. That upon which
our salvation hangs, is not what we have been, not
what effects we suffer from our past sins, but what
we now are ; and whether, if in the right way now,
we persevere in repentance and the desire for the
love of God. What is loathsome, if we hate it, may,
by God's grace, but the more minister to humility
and the love of God, Who loved us, when we could
not love ourselves, being so loathsome. What we
hate in ourselves may be the mere tormenting of
Satan, or it may be the penalty of past sins. Evil
thoughts which enter into the heart, but are hated,
hurt it not. It hurteth us not, whether from head
to foot, we be covered with the scales of our former
leprosy, and our soul be as loathsome to ourselves,
as the shapeless mass of leprosy is to the bodily eye.
One thing only, amid the mercy of God, can hurt us
now, to part with God, to choose wilfully anything
which is not of God, against the will of God.
What we have made ourselves, we cannot ourselves
unmake. Be it then that we feel ourselves irreve
rent, lukewarm, selfish, envious, distracted, lifeless,
unloving, unearnest, hard-hearted, yea though we
seemed to grow, day by day, harder and harder,
colder and colder, though all within us seemed to us
hateful and displeasing to the Infinite Purity and
Holiness of the All-Good God, we should net despond.
It must indeed, in itself, be offensive to His Holy
Eyes ; and yet we ourselves may be the objects of
His tender Compassion and Mercy. What we hate

192 Re-creation of the Penitent.
in ourselves and do not, by any act of ours now,
make our own, will not, in His Mercy, be imputed
to us, but to Satan, who torments us with it.
Are we then to sit still under it ? Not so. But
since we are helpless, God, Almighty and All-loving,
and "more ready to hear than we to pray," to give
than we to ask, pray. This should be our one re
source. Pray for the Grace of God and for the
second grace to use it ; and then use it. "Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast
spirit within me," a spirit (literally) firmly fixed/
established, steadied ; not steady in itself, but steadied
by God ; steadied, as being firmly built on that Foun
dation Which is Christ.
We can, by the Grace of God, keep ourselves from
present grievous falls. "He that is begotten of God
keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him
not." We can, by His Grace, withhold ourselves
from words and deeds, akin to our past falls and
offences against God's goodness ; we can keep our
selves from consenting in will to those sins, or the
memory of them. We can, by His Grace, overcome,
in the main, present temptation, fight against them
through the might of Christ, be diligent in deeds of
good, as too many were once in evil, and wherein,
through human infirmity, we fail, we can by that
same Grace, quickly return.
Seek we His Grace to do this, and by His Grace
to do it, and then let us commit all the rest, all our
past sins, all which at present we hate in ourselves,
to His Almighty Mercy. "Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
h,fn

Re-creation of the Penitent. 193
Do we what by His Grace we can ; and what we
cannot, let us pray Him to do Who can, and will, do
all things for good to those who seek Him.
Brood not in heaviness over thine own state, or
what thou imaginest to be thine own state before
God. Count every thing temptation which holds
thee back from GOD. God willeth that all should
be saved. The Price of thy Redemption, Scripture
says, is " the Blood of God," wherewith " He pur
chased the Church." Thy Saviour on the Cross
stretched out His Almighty Arms to embrace the
whole world, even thee in thy misery. Satan would
hold thee back even by the semblance of graces ; by
a mock humility, as though thou wert not worthy,
or by reverence of God, as though He could not
receive one so vile. Satan would use all arts to
keep thee back from God. God entitleth Himself,
the Friend of Abraham, the Friend of those who do
whatsoever He commandeth them ; but also, in the
Flesh, He vouchsafed to be called " the Friend of
Publicans and sinners." He would use Almighty
Wisdom and Love to win thee back to Himself.
They are well nigh wasted hours, in which thou
broodest sorrowfully over thyself, as though there
were no hope, unless they issue in prayer to God.
There is hope, yea and assured salvation, for all who
will now hear God's call, and turn to Him. What
ever thy disease, stop not short in thyself; but go
forth out of thyself to thy Lord and thy God. Thou
wouldest not brood in silence over a disease of the
body ; thou wouldest not hide thyself from the phy
sician, though thou wert a leper as white as snow,
and thy disease would seem to have reached thy very

194 Re-creation of the Penitent.
bones. So now, though evil thoughts seem to be
generated by the very substance of thy soul, though
they be evermore thy first thoughts, the spontaneous
produce of thy soul, and better thoughts come slowly
after, as though from thy understanding and not
from thy heart, faint not and hold thee not back;
complain of thy misery, but to the All-Merciful.
We come to Him, not because we are whole, but
because we are sick. " Create in me a new heart,
O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Let
every pang of misery and self-reproach issue in a
brief prayer to Him, a sigh for His help, a longing
for His Purity, and He will create in thee a clean
heart, and every cry shall bring down the touch of
His Hand to cleanse it.
This, as it is the ground-work of our humility and
our hope, so is it of exceeding joy. " He made us
and not we ourselves." He re-made us ; and we, as
far as there yet remains any good thing in us, " are
His workmanship in Christ Jesus." He will once
more re-make us, and prepare us for that endless
Regeneration, when by our last blessed birth, death
shall be swallowed up in life, corruption shall put
on incorruption, dishonour shall be enveloped in
glory, and even the memory of past sins shall be so
overwhelmed by the presence of the love of God,
that it shall but increase our love, that such as we
once were, He chose, to be the companions of Angels,
the image of Himself, the partakers of the joy of
Christ Jesus, our Lord and God.
" Create in me a clean heart, O God." We shall
then be the same and shall not be the same. We
shall be the same selves, but all which now so clings

Re-creation of tlie Penitent. 195
to us, as to seem engrained in our very nature, the
whole old man shall be laid aside, melted away with
the fire of the Divine Love, and replaced by " the
new man which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness ; " and this by the Spirit of God,
by the gift of the Holy Spirit within us. " Renew a
right Spirit within me." And meantime, this new
self is re-created through every prayer to God. For
prayer is the voice of the Holy Spirit within us, and
calleth Him into ourselves. It is enlarged by every
act of humility, for He dwelleth in the contrite
heart ; by every deed of love, for God is Love ; by
every imperfect obedience, for with those who obey
Him He dwells ; by every earnest calling on the
Name of Jesus, for " He is very nigh unto all who
call upon Him.".
Faint not nor despond. If thou prayest, " thy
heaviness shall be turned into joy." Let thy heavi
ness ever issue in prayer, brief, but longing ; and
while thou art yet in heaviness on earth, thy prayer
which seems to fall back upon thee, Angels shall
waft on their golden censers, and thine Almighty
Intercessor shall present it before His Father ; and
unseen, perhaps unfelt, the Holy Spirit shall descend
upon thee, and thou shalt, day by day, be renewed,
not by any workings of thy own mind, nor by any
power over thine own thoughts, nor by any change
of thine own feelings wrought by thyself, but by His
might " Who subdueth all things unto Himself."
And especially at Holy Communion, pray Him,
when He vouchsafeth to come under thy roof, in
that deep prayer of the Church, to "cleanse thy
sinful body by His Body, and wash thy soul in His
o2

196 Re-creation ofthe Penitent.
Precious Blood ; and He shall dwell in thee and
thou in Him, thy impurity cleansed by His Purity,
thy lukewarmness kindled by His Love, thy pride
changed into His Lowliness, thine angry tempers
hushed by His Meekness ; that in the clean heart
which He has created He may dwell, and with the
right Spirit which He has renewed, thou mayest love
and obey, and be conformed unto Him, and thy ex
ceeding, everlasting joy be, that thou art wholly not
thine own, but His ; transformed from thyself and
made, Scripture saith, " one spirit with Him, through
His Spirit Which dwelleth in thee."

SERMON XII.

THE SIN OF JUDAS.

PALM SUNDAY.
St. Matthew xxvii. 3 — 5.
" Then Judas which had betrayed Him, when he saw
that He was condemned, repented himself, and
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the
Chief Priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in
that I have betrayed the innocent Blood. And
they said, What is that to us ? see thou to that.
And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple,
and departed, and went and hanged himself."
Strange picture is this day, of the world around us,
and in which we are ; may we not be of it ! Would
it were altogether of the world around us ! Would
that, at this time, when our Lord comes almost
visibly before us, in the mysteries of this holy week,
to recall to us the boundlessness of His love, any
multitudes of this great city* would go forth to meet
a Preached in London at the Chapel in Tichfield Street.

198 The Sin of Judas.
Him ! Would that, as the Psalms which celebrate
Him, were wont in the early centuries to echo in the
streets and the ways/ so either hearts or voices in
this great city would greet Him, their Redeemer,
" Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the
Lord ! Hosanna in the highest ! " Alas ! another
voice sounds there, in the varied notes of an untir
ing, unceasing discord, " Great is the goddess of the
Ephesians !" Hymns of praise go up on high from
the luxurious dwellings of the wealthy, from the
marts of those who speculate, from the counters of
our tradesmen, from the care-worn, anxious crowds
which throng our streets, from the "palaces" which
are the haunts of our homeless ones ; but they go up
to the god of this world, not to the God, Who made
them. There are, doubtless, in God's mercy, the
seven thousand, who have not "bowed the knee unto
Baal ;" but from far more than seventy times seven
thousand, one prayer there is from morning to even
ing, a prayer not from the lips, but from the heart ;
a prayer, not from divided affections, but from the
whole heart ; a prayer, not listless, but with the
whole energy of men's being ; a prayer, which lives
on in acts suited to the prayer ; "O Baal, hear us."
What do men's daily acts speak in the smooth accents
of the vicious refinement of the rich, or in the coarse
ribaldry of the poor, but, "We will not have this
b " Of other of the Divine Scriptures, you may see most men
remembering little or nothing ; but the spiritual hymns of the
divine David you may see many, many times, calling to mind, in
houses, and streets, and ways, and soothing themselves by the
harmony ofthe song, and gaining benefit through this pleasure of
the soul." Theodoret. Praef. in Psalm.

The Sin of Judas. 199
Man to reign over us ?" And none, well-nigh, careth,
none regardeth ; none well-nigh sacrifices anything,
none well-nigh prayeth, that this misery should cease !
This day, then, is now the picture, not of the
world, but of those who come to meet Jesus at all.
And what is it ? A multitude following Jesus for the
hour, when something stirs them, and straightway
forgetting Him ; nay, ready to give Him up and
choose in His stead any worldly idol, which abets
their ends, or flatters their passions ; and some re
penting, some repenting not. His nearer disciples,
trembling before the mad multitude, which denies
and persecutes Him ; holding converse with Him at
one moment, and then ashamed to own Him ; de
fending Him in an unseemly way and with hot, rash
temper, and then denying Him ; and one, betraying
Him, repenting a fruitless repentance, and dying in
his impenitence.
We have begun, this morning, that solemn course
of reading the four-fold history of His Passion ; His
betrayal, denial, crucifixion. We felt sorrow for it,
condemned Judas, the Chief Priests, Pilate, the Jews.
And yet it is but a portion of what too many have
been, of what some are. For to choose sin is to
reject Christ ; to be ashamed, for fear of man, to do
what Christ commands, is to deny Christ ; to do, for
fear of man, what Christ forbids, what is it but with
Pilate, to condemn Christ ? for a Christian to be
guilty of wilful deadly sin, what is it, but to crucify
Christ afresh, and put Him to an open shame ?
Of these, Judas is the type of some among those
who approach nearest and oftenest to our Lord, hear
most His words, and do them not. He, the betrayer

200 The Sin of Judas.
of our Lord, is not an ensample for the world, not
for those who blaspheme Christ, or openly disbelieve
in Him, or neglect Him, or go, like the prodigal,
into a far country away from Him. He is the type
and warning for those whom our Lord suffers to
come nearest to Him ; to whom He vouchsafes to
disclose most of Himself; whom He counts among
His friends ; to whom He entrusts His sheep, (as to
us, His priests,) or to whom as communicants,
(whether priests or people,) He gives His own Body
and Blood. He is a type and warning, in their de
gree, for all who have been made His members, or
who hear His word, who know, by hearing, of His
truth and love, who come to His house, or have
been taught to pray in His Name.
What then would our Lord teach us as to ourselves,
by admitting a traitor so near to His Sacred Person ?
As to ourselves, I say. For as to others He would
teach us, if we have any good in us, to bear with the
evil in the Church, as He bore with it, not to be im
patient at evil, or with it ; and whether there be
seeming hope or no, never, even when the world is be
traying its and our Redeemer, to give over labouring
to win it. Even then, our Lord called him by his fa
miliar name, a name which, like our name which we
bear from Himself, might recall to him so many me
mories of our Lord's own patience, gentleness, tender
teaching. As He loved His own, whom He loved,
unto the end, so He endured those whom He en
dured, unto the end. He, the Lord of Heaven and
earth, endured from His servant, whom He had
chosen to be His familiar friend, the traitorous kiss
on His all-holy Lips. He speaks to him by his

The Sin of Judas. 201
name, calls him " companion," if so He might recall
him to himself and bring before himself the strange
ness of his unthankfulness. " Companion/ where
fore art thou here ?" Strange change of an Apostle,
who ought to be there, to hearken, to reverence, to
learn, to love, and who is there, to betray ! " With
a kiss, the Son of Man betrayest thou ?" With the
pledge and token of love, betrayest thou Me, Who
became the Son of Man for love of thee ? And shall
it then be hard for us, to shew love ; to bear with
evil returns ; to be unwearied in love, though it
avail not ; to endure unthankfulness ; to tire out
with kindness the world's hardness; to bear with
those who, for love, as they think, to our Master,
hate or speak disrespectfully of us ?
But what would our Lord teach us, not as to
others, but as to our own souls ? What was the sin
of Judas ? Why was his repentance unavailing ?
The sin of Judas, up to the last, had been a very
common sin, a sin of which Holy Scripture speaks
very severely, as a rejection of God and displeasing
to Him, and setting up an idol in His stead, yet a sin
of which we account so little, that it is rather the
boast of this wealthy nation, the sin of" covetousness
which is idolatry." Holy Scripture tells us in naked
words the plain truth without our smooth excuses. It
says, " He was a thief, and had the bag, and bare
what was put therein." He bore that bag out of
which our Lord, Who fed thousands by His creative
power, with a few poor loaves, and fed the Angels,
vouchsafed, together with His disciples, to have His
human wants supplied. It supplied the needs of our
c S. Matt. xxvi. 30.

202 The Sin of Judas.
Lord, the Apostles and the poor. But Judas was
not without human excuses. He had, as we learn
from the Psalmist/ wife and children. Outwardly,
he had given up all gainful occupation. We are not
told, that he employed what he took, upon open sin.
In part, it belonged to him. His own needs he
might supply therefrom. He took out of the com
mon stock for his private ends, more than his due
share ; he took the property of the poor.
Alas ! how has this sin of Judas been enacted
again and again at different times well nigh through
out the west.e The patrimony of the poor was scat
tered among the rich, or taken to bear the burdens
of the state, which the rich should bear. Again, are
we stewards or owners of God's loans to us ? Do
we Christians belong to Christ, Who bought us, as
now, at so dear a price ? And if we ourselves are
His, whose is our wealth, whose our means, our sub
stance ? Would we belong to our Good Master on
such terms, as to be His, soul and body, to he bought
by Him, fed by Him, supplied by Him, and ourselves
lord it over all which we have, as though it were
our own, given to us in perpetuity, and never to be
asked of us again ? If we keep for our own, spend
upon our luxuries, or " the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye, the pride of life," what He asks of us in
His poor, to be fed, clothed, warmed, housed, tended
in them, what are we, who bear the name of Christ's
disciples, but thieves who bear the bags after Him,
but bear ourselves "what is put therein?" Or if,
d Ps. cix. 9.
e Monasteries were plundered for their wealth in England,
Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal.

The Sin of Judas. 203
in our eager haste to heap the more comforts on
ourselves, we beat down the wages of the poor, in
order to cheapen or multiply our own indulgences,
what else do we than defraud Christ, Who, in them,
still comes to us ?
Yet Judas, even now, was " a devil." Our Lord,
Who sees all things now as they shall be, so called
him, at the very opening of His Ministry, warning
him of the germs of what he should be. Covetous
now ; hereafter, a devil. Yet many have robbed
Christ's poor, many defrauded ; " this nation," says
the Prophet/ " from the least to the greatest are all
of them given to covetousness." " They g seek every
one his gain from his quarter." What then was the
special sinfulness of Judas 1 He was all along sin
ning against light ; he was wasting, or turning to
evil, the providences of God. He stood in the pre
sence of the true Light, and his soul chose darkness.
Every blessing of God, unused, becomes a curse.
Every aid of His Providence, neglected, becomes
condemnation. If, being fenced round from evil, we
become evil, our sin is the heavier, the rebellion
deeper. Our Lord gave the bag in mercy to Judas,
that, being able to content his desires, he might be
saved from sin. " The thing which should have been
for his wealth, became to him an occasion of falling."
He became without excuse. What should have
shielded him from sin, became an habitual sin. He
was a thief. He heard, day by day, our Lord's
Words, the same words which we hear now, of the
future portion of Dives, the true use of the mammon
of unrighteousness, the treasure in heaven, the peril
f Jer. vi. 13. i Is. lvi. 11.

204 The Sin of Judas.
of laying up treasure upon the earth, and of having
our hearts here, the peril of gaining the whole world,
and losing our own souls, the reward of those who
leave lands and houses, yea all, to follow Him. He
heard all things, which we too hear ; and having left
all, he went back. He made gain of his Apostle's
office ; he sinned in the very sight of his Master,
under His all-seeing Eye. Our Blessed Lord's words
were ever in his ear, never in his heart. He heard,
and did continually the contrary to what he heard.
How must his heart have often smitten him, and
how must he have steeled it ! To follow a Master
Who had not where to lay His Head, and himself to
be enriched through Him, Who for him had become
poor ! To hear, day by day, as ye too hear, of hea
ven, and to be fast bound to earth ! To be a hypo
crite in the sight of Him, the discerner of the heart !
And so he prepared for his next fall. When for
his covetousness he pleaded the cause of the poor,
whom did he blame ? In name, Mary Magdalene ;
in truth, Jesus his Master. For Mary's act was the
act of Jesus, Who allowed it. A hypocrite already
in presence of his Master, he became a hypocrite in
accusing his Master. He enacted the prelude to
His betrayal, accusing Him now Whom he should
afterwards betray.
Ripened hypocrisy ended soon in open betrayal.
Stung, as it seems, by the gentle reproof through
which his Lord would have brought him to himself,
and by the loss of what he coveted, he sold his
Master for the price of a slave. Yet, doubtless,
here too, he had his excuses for himself. Avarice
had blinded his eyes. The sinner seldom wants a

The Sin of Judas. 205
plea, or mitigation for his sin. Few cannot cozen
or deaden themselves. What some have urged in
excuse for Judas/ doubtless Satan taught him in
excuse for himself. He doubtless too thought that
our Lord should be a king ; he had heard our Lord
prophesy that He should be delivered up ; he had
seen His power and His miracles ; he himself had
wrought miracles in His Name. He had seen how
Jesus passed through the crowd unharmed, when
led to the brow of the hill of His city Nazareth ;
and in this very Jerusalem where they would have
stoned Him ; ' and, again, but a very little before,
when " they sought again to take Him." Why
should He not now ? Why might he not himself
replace his share of the wasted ointment, and com
pel his Master to put forth His power and declare
Himself the Christ. It is certain that he did not
expect Jesus to be condemned ; for when he saw that
He was condemned, he repented himself. He per
suaded himself, perhaps, that he might enjoy his
gain, and his Master too be the gainer.
And so now too, men who detest the sin of
Judas, and the Pharisees themselves, without even
the wretched plea with which Judas may have
cozened himself, buy and sell Christ. Christ is sold
whensoever any tempts another by money to commit
deadly sin. And yet this is done full thirty thousand
" Abp. Whately 's Characters ofthe Apostles, c. 5.
1 S. Luke iv. 29, 30 ; S. John viii. 59 ; Ib. x. 39. " He quits
them, as those who would not receive instruction ; but He did not
hide Himself, as one afraid, or fleeing into some poor house, or
turning aside behind a wall or a column ; but by heavenly power
making Himself invisible to those who laid wait for Him."
Quoted as S. Aug. in the Caten. Aur.

206 The Sin of Judas.
times every day, in open shocking sin, in this, which
is called a Christian city. Christ is sold, whensoever
for vain-glory, any is ashamed of Him, and exchanges
Him for the breath of man's poor praise. Christ is
sold continually, in the buying and selling, for un
worthy persons, the cure of souls. Christ is sold in
every wilful sin. And for what ? For " thirty pieces
of silver ? " Nay, Judas who despised Christ, and
fulfilled prophecy by selling Him at so vile a price,
valued Him highly, compared with Christians now.
For what is Christ not sold now ? There is nothing
too cheap, too vile, too sickening, for which Christ
is not daily sold. In every petty fraud, in every
brief delirium of defiling pleasure, in every wilful lie
of vanity, in every false flattery, in every preference
of every earthly toy, of every earthly sense, in every
wilful excess, Christ is sold. " They k have cast lots
for My people," says Almighty God, when pronounc
ing judgment on the heathen oppressors of the Jews,
"and have given a boy for a harlot, and a girl for
wine that they may drink." Now not boys and girls,
but Christ is sold. Yea, what is this whole city, its
luxuries, its pomps, its pride, its vanities, its covet
ousness, its selfishness, its neglect, and contempt,
and trampling upon, and bartering away of the souls
of Christ's poor, but one great market-place, wherein
Christ is sold for nought ?
Judas had covenanted to betray his Master ; he
had not as yet, in act, betrayed Him. Judas had
been proof against teaching, example, holiness, gentle
reproof. There remained yet but one sin more. It
was against love. Judas returned, from selling his
k Joel iii. 3.

The Sin of Judas. 207
Master, to the Holy Eucharist. He came to the
Holy Eucharist, not knowing what he did, but with
treason half-accomplished, and future treason in his
soul. Jesus received him, put no mark of shame
upon him ; gave to him Himself Whom he was be
traying; gave him, as a token of friendship and
honour distinct from the other Apostles, the sop.
Judas was proof against all ; and since he would not
receive Jesus in his soul, Satan entered in. Before,
Satan had put evil into Judas' heart ; now he him
self entered in,1 whether actually into his body, or
taking possession ofhis soul, that he should thence
forth be wholly his slave, to work sin at his will.
A less practised infidel in France whom God had
not yet abandoned, and who had not as yet quenched
His Holy Spirit, once asked a more experienced,
hardened, hoary, infidel, how he could get rid of the
torments of his conscience. "Receive the Euchar
ist," was the answer, "and you will never be trou
bled more." It was done, and was found true. The
Holy Spirit, Whose voice he, by this profaneness,
sought to quench, spoke to his soul no more.
Jesus was not yet, in act, betrayed. Judas, doubt
less, with a lingering awe of his Master, stifled and
deadened his soul, during the dreadful interval of
suspense, before his last act of sin. Those who sin
deeply, contrive often to forget the thought of the
sin itself, in the very business of preparing for it.
They cannot bear to look it in the face, though they
are bent to do it ; and so they fix their minds on
something around it, in order not to be forced to look
upon it beforehand, until it is done. The "swords
1 S. Luke xxii. 3 ; S. John xiii. 27.

208 The Sin of Judas.
and staves," which Judas knew must be useless, and
which perhaps, he hoped, would fall out of the hands
which held them, are a picture of the way in which
people cheat themselves from thinking of sin, which
they choose to do, but which they shrink to think of.
Judas, although, in purpose, a devil, was a man
still. The memory of his Lord's holiness, unwearied
love, forbearance, gentleness, must have still strug
gled up against the sullen anger and disappointed
avarice, wherewith Satan smothered it. He doubt
less held it down with some unexplained hope, that
he should escape, in some way, from the full guilt of
his sin. It can scarcely be imagined that he could
have approached with his accursed kiss, to his Mas
ter's holy Lips, had he thought that he thereby
sealed His death. He severed m himself for a while
from the rabble who followed him ; he returned, as
it were, to greet his Master, after an absence ; he
came unchecked by the warning, searching question,
" Companion, wherefore art thou here ?" gave the
abhorred kiss ; and that, with words of hypocrisy,
" Hail, Master !" Could he have been self-deceived
then ? Could any human being have done it, not
being self-deceived 1 God knoweth ! Both were
perhaps, in a measure, united in him. He was, per
haps, in part, half blinded ; in part, forcibly, by a
strong wilfulness in sin, he blinded himself still.
There are depths in the mystery of sin, which no
human eye can fathom. And this was the deepest
depth of human sin. Judas persisted still, completed
his treason under the form of love, and then finally
fell away, was separated from Christ's disciples, and
m S. Matt. xxvi. 49.

The Sin of Judas. 209
was found among them n who would take Jesus, and
fell to the ground before Him.
Alas ! how many now salute Jesus with a kiss,
and by the kiss betray Him. What else is it, to
feign to love the truth, and in party spirit to betray
it ? or to say in words that we believe in Christ, and
and in deeds to deny Him ? or to use the name^of
Christ and of truth, in order, half consciously, to
oppose the truth of Christ ? or to come to the Holy
Eucharist, meaning to return to deadly sin ? or to
wear a fair shew, in order to some worldly end ?
"O Lord Jesus," prays a holy man, in thought of
this traitorous kiss/ " grant me that I may never
betray Thee in my neighbours, or in myself, and that
to those that are mine enemies, I may not refuse the
office of brotherly love." Never shall we betray
Him, if we pray Him, that we may not betray Him ;
if, not in boldness, but in mistrust of self, we say
with the Apostles, " Lord, is it I ?"
And yet Judas in a degree repented. He seems
to do much, more than very many, or most, now.
He uses the very word of penitent David, " I have
sinned ;" he seeks to undo what he had done, and
bears witness to the innocence of Him Whom he had
betrayed ; he casts away (would that it were oftener
done now ! ) the gains of his iniquity. What was
wanting then to Judas' repentance ? Everything.
It was the body without the soul of repentance.
Remorse, which hated what it had done, but without
faith, or hope, or love, or humility, or return to his
Master. Satan, who had blinded his eyes, now
0 S. John xviii. 5.
0 Ludolph. Vit. Christi. P. 2, c. 59, p. 582. 2.
P

210 The Sin of Judas.
opened them to his sin, to despair; they still re
mained closed to his Master's love. He brooded
over himself ; he cast aside with loathing that for
which he had sold his soul ; he confessed his crime
to his accomplices, he returned not to his Master,
nor sought His pardon when it might be found ;
else he too, with the penitent thief, might have been
translated to Paradise. Repentance is not displea
sure with self ; the devils hate themselves ; impeni
tent sinners hate their folly, when they feel its fruits.
Repentance is to return humbly to God, with trust
in God, and faith in God, and some trembling hope
in God, and at least such love for God, that it would
not be separated from Him. Judas had destroyed
his faith and hope, by continual perseverance in sin
against light. Man cannot sin wilfully and perse-
veringly, and believe. Every act of deadly sin is a
wound to faith. Men cannot persevere in sin, and
in belief. They first blind themselves to their
sin, and then to God. There is no sin, however
horrible, to wliich man cannot become inured, and
does not, at length, justify, as right in him, because
it is necessary to him, it is become his nature. But
on prolonged sin, God, at length, leaves the soul,
and then faith and hope and love die. For the soul
itself, without God, is dead. Judas did not hope,
else he would have returned ; he did not love, else
he would have known that he might find love ; that
" with the Lord is mercy ;" he did not believe, for
he speaks only of the " innocent blood ;" the blood
of a man of the same nature as himself. He knew
not that he had sold his God. He knew not that
Jesus was God, in Whom he might find mercy.

The Sin of Judas. 211
Alas ! my brethren there are many shadows of
Judas ; many who have the impress and mark of
Judas upon them ; many who have taken many steps
along with him ; many who have perished with him
and like him. May there be none such among us !
It is an aweful thing to draw near to Jesus ; aweful to
hear His words ; aweful to receive His Body and
Blood. He is " a savour of life unto life ; or of
death, unto death." But He is a savour of death,
unto death, to those only, who will not receive life.
The warnings of Holy Scripture, as well as its
examples, are warnings to us in several degrees.
Every sin of anger has the character of murder. It
is the sin which, if nourished, harboured, full-grown,
becomes murder. Every wilful evil look, our Lord
tells us, is an enacting of adultery in the heart. All
"covetousness is idolatry." Every wilful lie in a
Christian, is a shadow of taking God's Holy Name
in vain. And so the aweful pictures of Cain, Balaam,
Esau, Saul, Judas, are pictures and shadows of sin
ners from the first lineaments of the sins of envy,
covetousness, self-will, profaneness, until the outline
be filled up, and the sin perfected. Judas was not
a devil at once. Step by step, he was covetous, a
hypocrite, a slanderer of those who hindered his
covetousness, a betrayer, an infidel, a suicide. Step
by step, through every fraud, he sold himself to
Satan, until, at last, the purchase was completed,
the price paid down, Jesus was wholly sold, and his
own soul, parted from Jesus, became the possession
and sport of the evil one. But all this was, in the
germ, laid up in his first childish sin of covetousness.
By God's grace it might have been nipped. Judas
p2

212 The Sin of Judas.
shut out this grace, and it ripened into the death-
fruit which poisoned his soul. Yet, in each stage of
his course, he was the type of those who should
hereafter, in that degree, follow his sin.
But apart from Judas' own besetting sin, he is a
type of another class ; nay, the special instructive-
ness of his sin, is more largely for all who, amid rich
means of grace, and full streams of light, knowing
what they do, yield habitually to a besetting, deadly,
sin. The frightfulness of Judas' sin, is darkness over
against the pure holy light of Christ. Christ, the
Light, shone upon him, but not into him. He was
encompassed with light, but it penetrated not his
soul. It overstreamed him, but kindled him not.
He went on with his sin, against the warnings, the
holy words, the deeds, the light, the Divine love of
Christ. Holy Scripture gives the perfected charac
ter. Judas may have had misgivings, pauses, lighter
and darker shades of sin. Who well nigh of very
monsters of sin, has not had them ? But Scripture
speaks of none of these. It tells us not of one good
deed, save that which helped on his own credit and
gainfulness and hopes of aggrandisement, that when
his Master sent out His Apostles to preach Him and
work miracles in His Name, he too must have cast
out devils from the body, who in the soul was himself
a devil. When the other Judas asked our Lord a
question, " How is it that Thou wilt manifest Thy
self unto us, and not unto the world ?" the Holy
Ghost guards us against thinking that the words
belonged to the traitor. " Then said Judas, not
Iscariot." Sin, then, against light, not only branches out, as

The Sin of Judas. 213
all sin does, into other sin, but it destroys gradually,
and extinguishes hope, love, and faith. Judas had
seen our Lord heal all who came to Him ; he had
heard Him often say, " Whoso cometh unto Me, I
will in no wise cast out ;" he had heard Him tell the
" weary and heavy-laden," " come unto Me, and I
will give you rest." He had seen Him forgive and
release the woman taken in adultery. His very envy
had been raised by the sight of her who, having been
forgiven much, was now admitted to anoint Jesus'
Head. He had never seen Him refuse any. Yet
he thought not of Him, save as "innocent blood"
which he had "betrayed." He had, with his sin,
lost his belief. How could he believe on Him,
Whose acceptance of the offering of the ointment,
he, in blaming the holy woman's deed, criticised ?
All indulged sin deadens faith. Men cannot be
lieve, who act contrary to their belief. They enact
unbelief more energetically. They destroy their
belief by their own deeds. They will to believe, and
they will to sin. And these wills are contradictory.
The one will must master the other. How can one
believe in a judgment to come, who does what will
be condemned in it ? or in life eternal, who lives only
for this earth ? or in future glories, who, in act, bar
ters them all for this world's praise ? or in the love
of God our Father, who never thinks of Him ? or in
the power of prayer, who never prays ? or in Christ's
tender mercies, who is himself unmerciful ? or that
he is or may be the temple of God the Holy Ghost,
who defiles that temple, his own body, and makes it
the habitation of devils ? "Ye cannot be partakers,"
says Holy Scripture, " of the table of the Lord and

214 The Sin of Judas.
the table of devils." What deep faith in the Holy
Eucharist can one have, who uses amiss the hand
which has received His Body, or the tongue which
has been reddened by His Blood, or who sells to sin
the body and soul in which he professes to have re
ceived the Body and Blood of Christ ?
Ye, my brethren, will flee the more diligently any
of these things. If any of you have, in times past,
or even of late, done any of these things, ye will, by
God's grace, do them no more. Infirmities, short
comings, surprises of wrong tempers, feelings of
worldliness, or envy, or vanity, or ambition, ye may
for the time have had. These are your warfare.
But ye will not allow them to lodge in you. Ye
will drive them away, as Abraham drove the birds
from the sacrifice. Ye are not, any of you, as
Judas, yet. Ye have, at the worst, faint hopes, a
smoking, but not extinguished faith. Ye have the
wish to love God ; and to wish to love God, is to
love Him. But beware of every deadly sin. Ye
are alive now. Beware how ye destroy yourselves.
Be watchful lest Easter undo what God has done for
you in Lent. Every deadly sin poisons life, faith,
love, hope. The last drop of poison destroys life.
Ye know not which it would be. Only, but for
God's grace, every deadly sin is the parent of other
deadly sin, and that of another, and that of another ;
and the children's children of deadly sin, are a dread
ful, fearful brood, each darker and uglier than its
parent, each destroying life more fatally, until it at
last ebb out.
Yes, my brethren, ye will flee these things. Re
member the poor, and God will remember you.

The Sin of Judas. 215
Do what ye know to be pleasing to God, and avoid,
by the grace of God, what ye know will displease
Him, and God will enliven your repentance and
enlarge your faith, and brighten your hopes, and
kindle your love. Only be very diligent, not know
ingly, to do anything which displeases God ; be very
diligent not to tamper with your conscience, and do
what you doubt may displease God. Yield not to
Him a stinted service, and the glorious everlasting
Easter day will soon be here, when ye will find every
sacrifice ye have made ; every tear ye have shed ;
every deed of love which, by God's grace ye have
done ; every petty self-denial ; every coin which,
whether out of your poverty ye have given little, or
out of your abundance largely : all the love of Christ
which ye have cherished, stored up to be repaid with
usury in the love of the Ever-Blessed Trinity, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, Who have compassed your
redemption, that ye might be like Them in life and
love everlasting, and made you for Themselves, that
ye may be one with Them. /A J~>-' /<j7^7-

SERMON XIII.

THE ASCENSION OUR GLORY AND JOY.

ASCENSION-DAY.

St. John xii. 26.

" If any man serve ME, let him follow ME : and
where I am, there shall also My servant be."
Truly, if we could ever live in this day, all were
joy. It is the crown of all joys, the joy of all cre
ation, the wonder of the blessed angels, the union
of all being, the finishing of the earthly course of the
Son of God, His entrance into glory.
It was the joy of the holy Angels. They joyed
at the Birth of Christ. Then too the multitude of
the heavenly hosts sang with joy. " Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards
men." They joyed that He Whom they adored,
Whom they beheld, Whom they loved, was come
down to dwell among us.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 217
They envied us not the honour, that our nature,
not theirs, should be for ever united with God, should
be the link and bond between the Creator and the
creature. They loved that the Will of God should
be. They loved us, because God loved us, and He
had come to us. They had sung for joy when this
our World was created. And now they saw the end
of the Creation. In the Birth of our Redeemer they
saw what they had desired to look into, the wonder
ful plan of man's redemption. They saw the end
of all their ministries, and how their broken ranks
would be filled up, and the voices wanting to their
endless song of praise be supplied. They saw that He,
their King, Who was to knit together all creation in
one and with God, was become one of us. Full often
had they, during His earthly ministry, " ascended
and descended upon the Son of Man," eager to hear
His words, learn from His ministries to man, and
watch every token of His Will. They longed for
His return, desired to look into the course of His
earthly being, and to gaze on His Divinity, now
visible and gleaming through It. Doubtless, many
were present at His agony although one only ap
peared. Many, together with the powers of dark
ness, hung in sorrow around His crucifixion, al
though" those only who were appointed, carried the
soul of the repentant robber to Abraham's bosom.
Many, doubtless, were present, joying at the Resur
rection, although one only rolled away the stone
after He was risen, and two in shining garments of
joy, sat, the one at the Head, the other at the Feet,
where the Body of Jesus had lain. But now, how
must not only " a multitude of the heavenly host"

218 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
have poured themselves out to meet their Lord ; but
all orders of the heavenly Hierarchy, Angels, Arch
angels, Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones, Dominions,
Powers, must, as if with one gaze, have wondered
at, reverenced, adored their and our Lord, returning
in His glory ! Since "there a is joy in Heaven, among
the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,"
what must have been the joy over the completed
Redemption, to see our Lord, " the first begotten
from the dead," arrayed with the Majesty of the
Father, "leading captivity captive," bringing the
fathers who had waited for His coming, to their
appointed place, and Himself, above all created
being, above the stars, above each rank of Angels,
at the right hand of God.
Forty-two days ago, He was mocked as a fool, a
pretended king, a rebel against an earthly sovereign,
a blasphemer. Then He was crucified. From the
humiliation of the Cross He descended to the humi
liation of the grave. He overcame death in the
abode of death. And then " from the lower parts of
the earth" He rose to this earth ; thence from earth
to Heaven, and " the Heaven of heavens." The
Cherubim who guarded Paradise against our fallen
nature, are His throne/ as they are the throne of
a " That they [the Angels] joyed, is plain from what Christ
saith, that there shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that re
penteth. But if the Angels rejoice seeing one sinner returning,
how should they not have received the greatest joy seeing, through
the First-fruits this day, our whole nature borne into Heaven."
S. Chrys. in Ascens. § 4. torn. ii. p. 453.
b " The nature on account of which the Cherubim guarded
Paradise, the Same sitteth this day above the Cherubim." S.
Chrys. Ib. § 2. p. 449.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 219
God. But He riseth not, as Elijah, through chariots
of fire and horses of fire. By the inward power of
His Divinity, through which He rose from the grave,
He riseth above all created being, until He reacheth
His own abode, the only abode where He can
dwell, Who, having become Man, is still God, the
right hand of God, " the Bosom of the Father."
What can this mean, "the right hand of God,"
since God does not exist in place, but fills all space ?
What can it mean, but a special nearness in Majesty,
and Power, and Bliss ? God uses our earthly lan
guage to shadow forth what is beyond all words, the
eternal and unspeakable glory of the Divine Nature
of our Divine Lord. We know not, what space is,
except as a creature of God. We know not what
nearness to Him is, Who is everywhere. But God,
although everywhere, is, since so He wills, otherwise
in hell, otherwise on earth, otherwise in Heaven.
In hell, He is present in His Power ; on earth, by
His Grace, Wisdom, Power, Justice, Love ; in Hea
ven, He is by the fullest presence of His Glory and
His Love. The fulness of the brightness of His
Glory and His Love, makes it to be Heaven. But
our Lord willeth that His Human Body should still
have the nature of a body, although all-glorious
and in-oned with God. It is there in place. It is
there in Heaven, where Heaven is farthest removed
from this earth ; yea, It is higher than the highest
heavens, and the "Heaven of heavens." For " He
is " higher than the Heavens." As was His descent,
so is His ascent. He descended " into d the lower
parts of the earth," than which there was nothing
c Heb. vii. 26. d Eph. iv. 10.

220 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
lower. He ascended not " above" only, but " far
above ;" not into the highest heavens, but " far above
all heavens", than which there is nothing higher.6
There, where no creature is, or can be ; there, above
all spirits, (for the Body of Christ, being united with
His Godhead, is above all created spirits) there, in
the noblest place which created being can have (for
this is the meaning of " the Right Hand of God ")
encircled, embosomed, impenetrated with the God
head, united with God, adored/ together with His
Godhead, by all creation, is the Body of Christ, our
God, our King, our Head, Who calls us "His Body,"
" calleth g us brethren."
Rise, in thought, as much as ye can. In a man
ner, it is not beyond all thought, although in a
manner, it is above all thought. It is not beyond
all thought ; for God tells us here, not of infinity,
not of eternity, not of His unbounded immensity, as
God. He tells us of the Human Body of our Lord,
which, all but our sinful imperfections, was once like
ours ; which rose, impassible, and a spiritual Body
from the grave, but was a Body still ; to be handled,
touched, felt, sustain the pressure of the Apostles'
hands ; in which He still vouchsafed to eat and
drink ; which rose from the earth the same Body
still, in its wonted act of blessing His own.
It is not beyond all thought. For, although there
are Heavens to which these our Heavens are as
earth, and Heavens of Heavens, these are in space.
They may but help us to ascend in thought with our
e S. Chrys. see pp. 221, 222.
f See letter to the Bishop of London, p. 155 — 159. ed. 8vo
p. 113—116. ed. 12mo. s Heb. ii. 11.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 221
ascending Lord. We know from Holy Scripture
that the third of these, the abode of those who sleep
in Jesus, is Paradise/ And doubtless the others
too have their own inhabitants, some order of Angels.
In all, to-day, from lowest to highest, the everlasting
doors were opened. Throughout them all, there
echoed, "The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of
Glory," as He received, while passing, the worship of
Angels, Archangels, and all the heavenly hosts ;
until His Human Nature sat down with His Father
on His throne, and all the eyes of all the blessed
Spirits gazed, admired, worshipped and loved that
Nature enthroned above them all, to which it was
once said, " Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt
return."1 Follow on, and yet follow on. Gaze, and
h 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4.
1 " To what nature did God say, ' Sit thou on My Right Hand ? '
To that which heard ' Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou
return. ' For it sufficed not to overpass the Heavens. It sufficed
not to stand with the Angels. Were not this too an unspeakable
honor ? But He went beyond the Angels, passed by the Arch
angels, went beyond the Cherubim, ascended higher than the
Seraphim, sped past the Powers, and stayed not until He took the
very throne of the Lord. Seest thou not what a space there is
'twixt earth and Heaven ? Yea let us begin from below. Seest
thou not, how great a distance there is from hell to earth ? from
earth again to Heaven ? from the Heaven again to the higher
Heaven ? from that to the Angels, to the Archangels, to the
powers above, to the royal throne itself? Up this whole dis
tance and height He upbore our nature. Look where it lay below,
and whither it hath gone on high. For neither could any go down
lower than man was gone down ; nor ascend higher than He hath
again upborne him. This Paul pointed to, saying, ' He Who de
scended, the Same is He Who also ascended. ' And whither did
He descend ? ' To the lower parts of the earth. ' And ' He as
cended far above all Heavens. ' Learn Who ascended and what

222 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
gaze, and gaze, higher, and higher yet, and yet
beyond. There are, in the heavenly Hierarchy,
many orders, each in its own nearness to the glory
of the Godhead. Each is one step towards the
throne of God. Picture to yourself those stars,
whose light, (it is thought,) travelling almost like
spirit, had in near six thousand years but just reached
this earth ; think of them, sun beyond sun, sun
beyond sun, at distances almost beyond the range
of thought !k Each sun is but one step towards the
nature, and in what condition it was before. For gladly do I
linger on the meanness of our race, that I may learn beyond all
measure the honour which came from the Lord's love for man.
We were ' dust and ashes. ' But this is no blame as yet. For it
was the weakness of our nature. We were more senseless than
the brutes. ' For man is compared to the senseless beasts, and
was made like unto them. ' To become like the irrational, is to be
worse than the irrational. For to be by nature irrational, and so
to remain, is of nature. But, having received the distinction of
reason, to fall into their senselessness, is the fault of the will. So,
then, when thou hearest, that he was made like unto the irrational,
think not that he said this, wishing to shew man to be equal to the
irrational brutes, but to point out that man was worse than even
they. For we had become worse, and more senseless than the ir
rational brutes ; not that, being men, we fell to this, but that we
drove on to yet greater senselessness." S. Chrys. 1. c. § 3. pp.
451, 452.
k " As this [twenty billions of our miles] is an inferior limit,
which it is already ascertained that even the brightest and there-
fore,(in the absence of all other indications) the nearest stars ex
ceed, what are we to allow for the distance of those innumerable
stars of the smaller magnitudes which the telescope discloses to
us ? What for the dimensions of the galaxy, in whose remoter
regions, (as we have seen,) the united lustre of myriads of stars is
perceptible only in powerful telescopes as a feeble nebulous gleam?'
"Among the infinite multitude of such stars [of the sixth mag
nitude] in the remoter regions ofthe galaxy, it is but fair to con-

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 223
throne of God, to that Light of light unspeakable,
to which the sun's unsufferable light is darkness.
If at the almost breathless speed with which we
can now be whirled along this earth, in which miles
are counted for minutes, we could move upwards, at
that speed it would require, day and night, unceas
ingly, forty thousand thousand years to reach the
nearest of the fixed stars above our heads.1 That
star whose distance we can hardly measure in thought,
about twenty-two thousands of thousands of thou
sands of thousands of our earthly miles, is but the
very lowest step towards the throne of God. In
that ladder which Jacob saw, which reached from
Heaven to earth, these thousands of thousands of
elude that innumerable individuals, equal in intrinsic brightness to
those which immediately surround us, must exist. The light of
such stars, then, must have occupied upwards of two thousand
years in travelling over the distance which separates them from
our own system. It follows then that when we observe the places
and note the appearances of such stars, we are only reading their
history of two thousand years' anterior date, thus wonderfully
recorded." Herschell, Outlines of Astronomy, 802, 803. The
magnitudes of stars are now classified, by the aid ofthe new tele
scopes, down to the sixteenth. If stars of the sixth magnitude
have transmitted their light, only in two thousand years, those
which, in the largest telescopes, are scarcely distinguishable as
stars (see below, p. 224) may well have occupied the whole time
since the Creation.
1 The light from the nearest fixed star is calculated to reach
this earth in three years and eighty-three days, at the rate of
192, 000 miles in a second. This, according to Sir J. Herschell,
(Outlines of Astronomy, n. 804), amounts to about twenty billions
ofmiles, or more precisely to 19,788,239,040,000 miles. But
taking into account the parallax of a Centauri, " about 0S.9128
or about ten elevenths of a second," (ib. § 807) ; the result would,
he about that in the text, that is, 21.67861 41 9

224 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
thousands of thousands of miles, must be told thou
sands of times over/1 before we could reach the
m " — Every increase in the dimensions and power of instruments
having brought into view multitudes of objects invisible before ;
so that, for anything experience has hitherto taught us, the num
ber of fixed stars may be really infinite, in the only sense in which
we can assign a meaning to the word," [that is, "to which we can
assign no limit," for " infinity" of material objects is a contradiction.]
Sir J. Herschell, Outlines of Astronomy, n. 778. " The whole
number of stars already registered down to the seventh magnitude,
inclusive, amounting to from 12,000 to 15,000." Ib, 779. "So
crowded are the stars in some parts of the Milky Way, that by
counting the stars in a single field of his telescope, Sir W. Her
schell was led to conclude that 50,000 had passed under his review
in a zone two degrees in breadth, during a single hour's observa
tion." Ib. 786. " The light of Sirius is four times that of a
Centauri, and its parallax only 0s. 230. This, in effect, ascribes
to it an intrinsic splendour equal to 63. 02 times that of our sun."
Ib. 818. "The brighter portion [of the great nebula, surround
ing the stars marked 6 1 in the sword-handle of Orion] is shewn
with the eighteen-inch reflector broken up into masses, whose
mottled and curdling light evidently indicates by a sort of granular
texture its consisting of stars; and when examined under the great
light of Lord Rosse's reflector, is evidently perceived to consist of
clustering stars. There can therefore be little doubt as to the
whole consisting of stars, too minute to be discerned individually,
even with these powerful aids, but which become visible as points
of light when closely adjacent in the more crowded parts, in the
mode already more than once suggested. — The conclusion can
hardly be avoided, that in looking at it we see through, and beyond
the Milky Way, far out into space, through a starless region, dis
connecting it altogether from our system." Ib. 885,887. "The
sublimity of the spectacle afforded by Lord Rosse's telescope of
some ofthe larger globular and other clusters, is declared by all who
have witnessed it to be such as no words can express. — Although
nebulae do exist, which even in this powerful telescope appear as
nebulas, it may very reasonably be doubted whether there be
really any essential physical distinction between nebulae and clus-

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 225
highest step of the Heavens which we now see
above us, towards the throne of God.
Beyond, above all these, surveying all, governing
all, " upholding all with the word of His power,"
judging all not by word, or motion, or command, but
by His obeyed will, on the throne of God, abides in
thy nature, thy Redeeming Lord. Where He is, we
can imagine ; for the human mind can imagine space
linked on to space, and space to space, although, to
our bounded sense, each seems all but boundless.
But what He is now, who can think ? We can think
of material glory, material light, light purer, intenser,
softer, brighter, than any, the fullest, softest radiance
which we ever saw, all-piercing, all-pervading, all-
dazzling. But what can we think of the glory of
God, wherein His Human Form lives, wherewith It
is radiant, that light which lightens all that lives,
fills all the heavenly hosts with light transparent,
yet which shrouds by its very brightness the depth
of the invisible glory of the Godhead ? Yet in
that Divine glory lives that very Human Form,
Which our Loving Lord took for us, unchanged, save
that the glory which, when He was for us on earth,
was veiled, now issues forth, the light and joy of
all throughout the spheres of Heaven. So in-oned
is It with God, that as God, through taking our
flesh, became Incarnate, the Manhood, being taken
ters of stars, at least in the nature of the matter of which they
consist, and whether the distinction between such nebulae as are
easily resolved, barely resolvable with excellent telescopes, and
altogether irresolvable with the best, be anything else than one of
degree, arising merely from the excessive minuteness and multi
tude of the stars, of which the latter, as compared with the former,
consist." Ib. 870, 871. Q

226 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
into God, is deified." "One0 God is That which
deifies, and that which is deified." God became
n " He deified that which He put on." S. Ath. c. Arian. i. §
42, p. 240, Oxf. Tr. " He received it, as far as man's nature
was exalted ; which exaltation was its being deified." Ib. § 45,
p. 245. " Being God, He has taken to Him the flesh, and being
in the flesh, makes the flesh, God." Ib. iii. § 38, p. 455. " Now
the flesh had risen and put off its mortality, and become God."
Ib. § 48, p. 469. " The manhood advanced in Wisdom, trans
cending by degrees human nature, and made God." Ib. § 53,
p. 475. " The Word of God did not receive by grace the title of
God, but His Flesh with Him was accounted God (iOeoXoyffl/)),
For he said not, ' the Word became God,' but, ' the Word was
God.' Ever, he saith, was the Word, God. And this same God
became flesh ; that His Flesh might become God Word." De
Incarnat, et c. Arian, § 3. p. 873, ed. Ben. "What could be
greater for the lowliness of man, than to be united with God, and,
from that blending, to become God, and to be so visited by the
Day-spring from on high, that the Holy Thing born should be
called the Son of the Most High, and there should be given Him
a Name above every name. And what else is this than God ? "
S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 30, § 3, p. 541, ed. Ben. " God went forth
with that which He had taken, [ the Humanity ] one (iv) of the
two contraries, flesh and Spirit, of which the one deified, the other
was deified." Id. Or. 38, § 13, p. 671. "For both are, by the
commingling, one ; God taking the manhood, and the man being
deified, or by what name soever any may call it." Id. Ep. i. ad
Cledon. Ep. 101, T. ii. p. 86, ed. Ben. " We say that the Body
too, whereby He took upon Him the suffering, being contempered
with the Divine Nature, was, through the contempering, made that
which the Nature assuming it, is. So far are we from thinking
anything poor of God, the Only-Begotten ; for the lower nature,
which was taken in that dispensation of love to man, this too
we believe to have been transformed to the Divine and pure
Nature." S. Greg. Nyss. cont. Eunom. Orat. iv. T. ii. p. 581.
" He (S. John) knew that the Word which was made Flesh, was the
° S. Greg. Naz. Carm. Iamb. x. 61, (cont. Apollin. ) p. 256.
ed. Ben.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 227
Man, taking unto Him, body, and soul, and mind ;
and the body, soul, and mind of the Man, Christ
Same with the Word Who was with God. But the Flesh is not the
Same with the Godhead, before it too is transformed to Deity."
Ib. pp. 588, 589. " The Godhead is emptied (Philip, ii. 7,) that
the human might be capable of receiving it ; the human is renewed,
becoming, by its contempering with the Divine, Divine. " Ib. p.
590. " The transelementing of man to Christ." Ib. fin. "He
[the Son] received [of the Father] when the Temple which He
took was deified ; and He was, by Nature, God, being the Word
ofthe Father." S. Cyril Al. Thes. L. 20. T. v. p. 196. "The
Word Himself became Flesh, conceived by the Virgin, but coming
forth, God with the nature which He had taken, itself too already
Deified by Him, as soon as it was brought into being, so that these
three were simultaneous, the taking it, and its being, and its deify
ing hy the Word." Joh. Damasc. de fid. iii. 12. p. 224, ed. Ben.
" This interchange of the natures is twofold. The one equal and
unlike, as in God made man, and man made God. For although
the man taken was as much deified, as God taking him was hu-
manate ; for both the humanizing and the Deifying were as to
body, and soul, and mind ; yet not alike. For God by Nature
became man, but Man by [Divine] appointment, God." (A father
in Euthym. Panopl. P. 1. tit. 7. vers. fin. Bibl. Pat. T. 19. p. 48,
and Petav.) " Then did the Virgin conceive in the womb, and the
Word was made Flesh, that the Flesh might become God." S.
Ambrose de Virg. i. 3. " Let not the opinion of some, not attentive
enough to the rule of faith and the oracles of the Divine Scrip
tures, steal over you. For they say ' He Who is the Son of Man
was made the Son of God ; but He Who is the Son of God was
not made the Son of Man.' In so saying, they meant what was
true, but were unable to express the truth. For what did they
mean, save that the human nature could be changed for the better,
but the Divine could not be changed for the worse ? This is true.
Yet thus too, (that is, the Divinity being in no way changed for
the worse, ) still the Word was made Flesh. For the Evangelist
does not say, ' Flesh was made the Word,' but ' the Word was made
Flesh.' What Christian would deny, that the Son of Man was
born of that woman ? But yet so that God was made Man, and so
q2

228 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
Jesus, are, by union with the Godhead, God.P Yet,
in that unutterable glory, He is, and shall be, for
ever, Man.
There, bright with uncreated glory, are the Eyes
which wept over His city, and which, on the Cross,
though dimmed with His Precious Blood, beheld us,
and had compassion on us. They are the Eyes of
God, even as the Church is said to have been re
deemed by the " very own Blood of God." There
are the Hands, once pierced for us, once stretched
out to embrace us, which, in parting from us, blessed
us. In form they are the Hands of a man, but with
the power, the might, the glory of God. They are
the Hands of God. For His Human Nature is the
Nature of the Son of God, and so each part of that
Nature is part of the Nature of the Son of God, and
with Him, God.
And yet, though glorified, God willeth not to
change It wholly, so that It should cease to be.
What was created, remains created together with
His uncreated Godhead ; what was bounded by His
Human Form, remains bounded, though in glory.
As when "He 9 hung aloft upon the Cross, His
Man was made God. For ' the Word was God,' and ' the Word
was made Flesh.' " S. Aug. Serm. 187, de Nativ. [al. de Temp.
19]. " Why then should we blush to confess that God, for man,
and in man, was born and suffered, when we do not deny that, by
the gift of God, that Very Man was made God ? " Capreolus Ep.
ad Vital. Bibl. P. T. vii. p. 7. " God was so made man, and
man made God, that yet neither was absorbed." Vig. c. Eut. L,
2. c. 8. B. P. viii. 727. [These instances, except those from
S. Ath. , are from Petav. de Incarn. iv. 9.]
p See a father ap. Euthym. not. n. p. 227.
q Eustath. Antioch. apud Theodoret Dial. 3, p. 236. ed. Schulz.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 229
Divine Spirit was within" that marred Form, yet
not bounded by It, but "walked on the heavens,
and compassed the whole earth, and commanded the
abyss, and searched through and judged every human
soul, and governed all things at once, as God," so
now, while It fills heaven and earth and is present
everywhere, not by motion nor change of place, but
by one simultaneous Presence, He willeth, in the
Body, to abide in that unspeakable glory, yet not
giving to His Natural Body, ubiquity, or co-extension
with His omnipresent Godhead.
All the mysteries of the " Word made Flesh" have
their special comfort for us, and so has this. It
were little for us, compared to this, that God the
Son had taken our nature, if then, (as misbelievers
said of old) it had been dissolved into the Majesty
and Glory of God, and had ceased to be, although
in God. These thought to do honour to God, by
denying the boundlessness of His condescending
Mercy. And so, our whole union with God would
have been forfeited. Christ would have ceased to
be ; and the Incarnation of God the Son would have
come to nought. Not so, blessed be God ! " God
and man are" still " One Christ." Our Redeeming
Lord, Who took our nature upon Him, glorified the
Flesh which He took, and made it life-giving ; He
deified, but retained it. In that very nature which
was the lowest of His rational creation, sunk deeper
by the fall, severed from God, the slave of Satan,
the willing sport of the foul tempests of its passions,
(which, if it would, it could not control, but more
miserably lost in that it would not,) degraded below
the brutes by its fall, (for a brutish and brutalized

230 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
nature is more frightful far than a brute's nature ) —
in that very nature, which in us was infected with
every foulness, every cruelty, every hatefulness, every
unnaturalness of sin, until what was against even its
fallen nature, became nature to it, — in that very Na
ture, in Him sinless, pure, holy, and now glorious
with the Indwelling Holiness, Purity, Truth, Beauty,
Majesty, Wisdom, Love, Glory of the Only Begotten
ofthe Father, one God and Co-equal with the Father,
did Christ our Saviour begin, on this Day, to sit at
the right hand of God.
It is a comfort to us, when those whom we love
are away, if we can set before us their faces, imagine
their looks, picture them in our souls, as when they
were most loving, gentle, tender, good towards us.
Who has not thought of those who have passed away
out of our sight to Paradise, as the martyrs have
been allowed to be seen of old, with the same coun
tenance and look of pure holy love, which they once
had here, yet now " surpassing1- bright, so that their
likeness could scarcely be recognized, because the
eyes of the flesh gleamed with angelic radiancy ? "
Yet, comfort and joy although it were, thus to dwell
on them, they could not speak to us, do not, as far
as we know, know our inmost hearts, and so know
ing, love us. But it is our very own Lord, He, Who
became one of us, Who walked to and fro among
us, Who went about, healing all who were oppressed
by the devil, comforting the broken-hearted, keeping
company with sinners, admitting publicans and har-
r ActaLucii, &c. about. A. 260, in Ruinart Acta Mart. p. 241,
quoted in S. Cyprian's Ep. 80, p. 313, n. e. Oxf. Tr.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 231
lots to come to Him, it is He, the sinners' Friend,
Who is now at the right hand of God, for us.
What He was, He is ; save as to those infirmities
which in Heaven cannot be. In Heaven, He cannot
again be hungry, or weary, or athirst, or sorrowful,
as neither shall we be, if, by His Grace, we attain
thither. But He has, even now, that of our nature,
which we, His members, shall not have in the glory
of the Resurrection. For, although nothing can
cloud that serene brightness of peace of our Lord's
in-wordeds Soul, yet, Holy Scripture says, He still
has a fellow-feeling with us, His members. It is
the very ground of the boldness of our approach to
His throne of grace, that "we have not an High-
Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of,"
cannot sympathise* with, (so the word is) "our in
firmities." Ill have they spoken, who have spoken
of our Lord, as " a severe Judge," as though there
were easier ways" of coming to Him than by ascend-
' See Petav. de Incarn. iv. 9. 8. Joann. Damasc. de Fid. Orth.
iv. 18. " When we speak with reference to the Superior nature,
we speak of the Deifying of the Flesh, the Inwording, Superexalt-
ation, and the like, forth shewing the richness which had accrued
to the flesh from its union and conjunction with the Most High
God, the Word." " For on account ofthe Hypostatic Union, the
Flesh is said to be Deified, and to be made God, and equally God
with the Word, (6/io0eos t<3 Ao'yw), pp. 285, 286.
' Su/wraftjo-ai, Heb. iv. 15. It is the same word as in Heb.
x. 34. " Ye had a fellow-feeling, sympathy, with my bonds."
It occurs only in these two places.
" " Now, when God is angry with a sinner whom Mary takes
under her protection, she restrains her son, that he may not inflict
chastisement, and saves the sinner." " She takes hold of her Son,
that He may not strike sinners." Glories of Mary, c. 3, § 2.
" The greater light is Christ, Who is over the just ; the lesser

232 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
ing in soul to His own Mercy-seat, or praying Him
to look down thence, from the highest Heaven, upon
our misery and our sins. Mistrustful and unjust to
His Goodness has any thought of any wanderer been,
who thought that his misery was deeper than that
Mercy, or that his cry could not reach that pitying
Ear. His Eyes, as the beloved Disciple saw them, were
" as a flame of fire," beaming brightly on those
who love or desire Him, consuming the impenitent.
" His Countenance shone like the sun in his strength"
with spiritual light, and the brightness of grace, and
radiant mildness, and enlivening glow. Yet it is the
same Countenance which looked upon Peter in his
fall ; the same look which melted the heart of the
dying robber by His Side. The same Eyes which
shone on Mary Magdalene at His Feet, live on,
shine on, unchanged, except in their glory. The
love must beam forth even more now ; since the
Divine Nature, veiled then, shines forth in Its strength
now ; and " God is love." His Feet seemed to St.
light is Mary, who is over sinners." Card. Hugo Ib. " The
world has no such execrable sinner, that she should abominate
and repel him, and whom she is not able, knows not, wills not, to
reconcile to her Son, if he but ask her help." Ib. from Bios.
" Therefore hast thou been chosen from eternity to be the Mother
of God, that thy mercy might procure salvation for those whom
the justice of thy Son could not save." Horn, de Praes. B. V.
quoted as S. Joh. Chrysostom's. It need hardly be said that there
is not a word of this sort in S. Chrysostom's real works. See
further in Abp. Ussher, on the difference between ancient and
modern invocation of Saints, Answer to a Jesuit, p. 445, sqq.,
extracted in Letter to Dr. Jelf, p. 196, sqq. ; and further, p. 210,
sqq. from the Glories of Mary, and Sermon on " The Rule of
Faith," p. 60, note 8.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 233
John, " like to fine brass, as if they burned in the
furnace ; " so transparent and translucent were His
very Feet with the Divine glory. Yet they are the
same Feet which St. Mary Magdalene anointed, and
" washed with her tears, and wiped with the hairs of
her head." They are the same Feet which for us
were pierced ; and the prints of the nails, in ever
lasting glory, bespeak and plead silently the depth
of His love, the merits of His Passion.
But since the very presence of His glorified Body
in Heaven is such an earnest of mercy stored up for
us, what when that very presence is for us ? " Who
ever liveth to make intercession for us." There He
asketh as Man, what as God He giveth. His Human
Nature is not, as it were, withdrawn into His God
head. He Who shall be our Judge, is God ; yet is
He "that Man Whom God hath ordained." He
shall come in the same Human Form in which He
went. His Human Will was ever on earth the same
as His Divine Will. Both willed together as one the
same as the Father willed. Yet is He still akin to us,
in that He hath a Human Will/ in union with the
Divine. Perfect Man He is, as well as Perfect God.
We cannot worship Him as God, without adoring
Him as Man. When we sue, weep, pour out our
griefs, tell of what weighs us down, complain of our
* "He"(S. Greg. Naz.) "in entire accordance with himself
and with the other fathers, preached the Will (that is, the human
will,) deified, as well as the Divine and Uncreated Nature in God,
the Word Incarnate, and for us perfectly Humanate, in that He
cleansed like by like, and, according to the true and merciful tra
dition of the mystery, healed all the natural powers of our nature
by all His own." Maximus Aquil. Orat. fin. in Cone. Lateran.
(A. 649) Act. 5. Cone. vii. 343, ed.Col.

234 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
darkness, dryness, distractions, unsteadfastness, or
all the natural miseries of our human life, we cannot
tell Him as God, without speaking to Him as Man.
For "God and Man are One Christ." If we think
of Him, His Human Form comes before our eyes.
Not in displeasure, even when He chastens us, not
as rebuking now, as He did His very disciples in the
flesh, not as upbraiding us, does He there sit, thence
look down and behold us. Much less in wrath !
" The wrath of the Lamb" is not yet. The words
which He spake on earth may well pierce us often
through and through, "as a two-edged sword, pierc
ing the very joints and marrow." His words which
He spake here, recall us to ourselves, as they shall
judge in the Last Day those who disobey them.
But He Himself " ever liveth to make intercession
for us." He pours down graces upon us ; He opens
our hearts to receive them ; He knocks at the door
of our hearts that He may enter in ; He, with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, comes and dwells with
those who love and obey Him. His Name, until the
Judgment Day, is nowhere mentioned in Holy Scrip
ture, save as to mercy and love. Through Him, and
in Him, are predestination, redemption, reconcili
ation, cleansing from sin, life, light, grace, peace,
faith, hope, love, righteousness, wisdom, sanctification,
sonship of God, inheritance of Heaven, oneness
through His in-dwelling Spirit, a new creation, per
severance, triumph over the enemy, victory, sal
vation.3' These are the gifts, which " when He as-
* Col. i. 14 ; Heb. ii. 17 ; 1 John i 7 ; Luke xxiv. 27 ;
Johni. 4 ; xx. 31 ; 2 Tim. i. 1 ; John xii. 46 ; Rom. iii. 24;
Eph. ii. 5—7, 14; Heb. xii. 2 ; Acts xxvi. 18; Col. i 27 ;

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 235
cended on high, He gave unto man." These He
sheds abroad in every human heart which will receive
them, in one continuous stream, from the Day of
Pentecost until the end. Until the end, He standeth
at God's right hand to succour us ; He liveth, to
intercede for us.
Yet, although in Body, for us at God's right
hand, He is still, as God, as near to us, as when He
was in the Flesh. Here, where we are gathered in
His Name, could our eyes behold Him, He is in the
midst of us. He is " with us unto the end of the
world." Yea, He is with us in a nearer way, if we
will, dwelling in us by His Spirit, and feeding us
with His Body and Blood. He giveth us, say our
Homilies from " the Ancient Catholic fathers," in
the Holy Eucharist, " the z salve of immortality, and
sovereign preservative against death, the pledge of
eternal health, the defence of faith, the hope of the
resurrection ; the food of immortality, the healthful
grace, and ghostly substance, the conservatory to
everlasting life." As His Human Body by being
united with the Eternal Word, is said to be deified,
so is the Holy Eucharist called a "deificala" Com
munion, in that in It, we, receiving Him, are united
with Him, Who is, by Nature, God.
Such are the present joys and glories to us of this
great day. Our own nature, as an earnest of God's
1 Tim. i. 1 ; Rom. v. 1 ; 2 Cor. v. 17—21 ; 1 Cor. i. 30
Eph. i. 2—H ; Gal. iv. 5 ; iii. 26—28 ; Eph. i. 18 ; ii. 10
Col. ii. 7 ; 2 Cor. i. 2 ; ii. 14 ; Rom. viii. 37—39 ; 2 Tim. ii. 10
1 Thess. v. 9, 10.
z Horn, xv. first part, " on the worthy receiving of the Sacra
ment." a Ibid.

236 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
mercy, set down at God's right hand; our Lord,
God and Man, there interceding for us, thence suc
couring us, thither drawing us. Oh ! may we follow
Him ! For there He is entered in, not for Himself
only, nor only to intercede for us, but to prepare a
place for us; "that where He is, there," He saith,
" may My servant be. " Nay, there, in a manner,
we are already. For where the Head is, there, in
some sort, in token, and in earnest, and in virtue, are
the members. Where He is, there are we who are
" in Him. " There " is our conversation ; " there
" our life is hid ; " there are " the first-fruits of the
Spirit ; " there has He made us " to sit in heavenly
places in Christ ; " there is our home ; there, if by
God's grace, we persevere, above the stars, are the
vacant seats prepared for us, that " as He overcame
and is set down with the Father on His throne, "so
we, by His strength overcoming, shall, He says,
"sit down with Me on My throne."
Oh ! let us listen awhile then, in peace and recol
lection of mind, this day, if we may catch some
sounds of that unutterable melody, which rang
through every sphere of creation, " Glory to Him
Who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."
Well might our hearts die within us for joy, could
we hear or picture to our souls the faintest echoes of
that everlasting harmony, in which the Church of
the First-born, men and angels, on this day first
blended, each separate voice singing, with its own
special sweetness of thanksgiving for His mercies to
itself, some distinct notes of that unceasing, un
wearying, undying, ever renewed, ever new, song,
whose compass none can reach, for it is of the In-

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 237
finite love and mercy of our God, Whose love hath
been, is and shall be, from everlasting to everlasting,
without beginning and without end. For He loved
us in eternity, when we were not ; and made us and
redeemed us, because He loved us ; and in all eternity
will He love all, who shut not out from themselves
His love.
1 May we, through His love, but love Him Who
first loved us ! We cannot now serve Him, as those
servants to whom He spake : " If any man serve
ME, let him follow ME." For they, after His Re
surrection, followed Him to prison and to death, and
laid down their lives for His sake, and are now set
on the twelve thrones appointed for them. Yet we
can serve Him, if we " follow Him," walk in His
ways, not in our own, " do all good works He giveth
us to walk in," for His sake ; do any, the poorest,
meanest, humblest office of our daily life, as He
wills. We can, each according to his several ca
pacity, minister to Him in the poor, the hungry, the
thirsty, the sick, the naked. Alas ! that those, born
to be members of Christ, are spiritually poor, naked,
blind, sick, famished, as to the Food of Life. All
around us, in this vast city, two millions of voices
should sing on this day, thanksgiving unto our God ;
two millions should lift their faces to the skies. And
now, what strange discordant song is sung in the
Lord's land ! and who, well-nigh, thinks more of our
ascended Lord, than if He had died to redeem some
other race of beings, or the very devils themselves,
had placed some other nature at God's right hand,
were interceding for the inhabitants of one of those
remotest worlds? Yet as Christ has taken our

238 The Ascension our Glory and Joy.
nature, so are they too of ours, purchased by the
same Blood, heirs of the same bliss in Him. Let it
not be our sin, that they perish. As we value our
own salvation, let us value theirs. Let us, at least,
think in what way we may, by self-denial, by alms,
by prayer, by love of our neighbours, bring some
out of this land of the shadow of death to the light
of Christ. If the light of Christ have indeed shone
into our hearts, let us see how it may so shine, that
others may glorify our Father and Redeemer. Let
those who can build such houses of God, as this
newly-raised to His Name,b where all, rich and poor,
one with another, may, in simple love, practise the
endless song of praise. The very poorest of you has
some child, friend, neighbour, whom ye may draw
with you to follow Christ, to love Christ, to depart
from evil, to choose Him, the everlasting Good.
The very simplest, if by the grace of Christ he love
Christ with all his soul, mind, strength, will preach
Christ, not by words, but by a life, and with the
power of His Spirit Who dwelleth in Him.
Ascend we to Him, in thought, in faith, in hope,
in love. Faith and prayer and love place us in one
instant at the Throne of God. For faith, prayer,
love, are the first fruits of His Spirit within us, Who
dwelleth at once in the highest Heavens and in the
humble heart. . Thither let us ascend in heart, that
we may ascend in body hereafter. There let us, in
His uncreated glory, behold the end of our being ;
thence behold the nothingness and the shadowyness
of all earthly things, save as they centre there and
by God's grace lead us thither ; there let us behold
b S. Mary Magdalene, in S. Pancras, London.

The Ascension our Glory and Joy. 239
what eye cannot see and heart cannot contain, the
boundless love of Him Who is Infinite, and act, day
by day, as those whose endless home, by our Re
deemer's mercy, is around, or beneath, the throne
of God.
" Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when
He cometh, shall find so doing ! " For He saith :
"Where I am, there shall my servant be." Where,
Lord ? In My Joy, the Joy of thine own Lord, the
Joy, after thy measure, of the Man Christ Jesus,
Whose Joy is in the Ever-Blessed Trinity, in perfect
knowledge, and blissful glory, and unvarying peace,
and fulness of the soul, and transporting love, and
^participation of the Godhead, Father, Son,^and Holy
Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON XIV.

THE TEACHING OF GOD WITHIN AND
WITHOUT.

WHIT-SUNDAY.

Psalm xxv. 15.

" The secret qf the Lord is with them that fear Him,
and He will shew them His covenant."
God reveals Himself in two ways to man, within
and without. Even when man had fallen from Him,
and God left him for a time to walk in his own ways,
He still, St. Paul says, " left not Himself without a
witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from
Heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with
food and gladness." By His Providence, in the order
and variety of the seasons, "bya the unspeakable
beauty of the whole world, by the rich and ordered
bounty of His unutterable Gifts," by His dispensa
tions of chastisement or of love, He revealed Him-
a De vocat. omn. Gent. ii. 4. ap. S. Prosper.

The Teaching of God within and without. 241
self without, "gave to the heart of man the tables
of an eternal law, " and wrote His word " on the
pages ofthe elements." "What," says a holy writer/
" is this exceeding variety of forms and countless
beauty in things created, but rays of the Godhead,
rshewing that He from Whom they are, indeed IS,
yet not explaining what HE IS, so that thou seest
what is from Him, not Himself."
But even on the heathen He wrote a more inward
law which answered to that outward, and interpreted
its voice, the law of conscience. " These," says St.
Paul of the heathen, " shew the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience bearing wit
ness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or
else excusing one another." "To all mankind,"
says a heathen/ " conscience is God." " Thinkest
thou," saith another,4 " that he hath escaped whom
his mind, conscious ofhis fearful deed, holds stricken ? "
" Night and day, they bear their witness in their
breast." Each of these Voices of God is made more distinct,
as man is brought nearer to God. Without, together
with God's Voice in nature whereby He still speaks,
when we forget His Voice of Grace, He hath given
us "the" writings ofthe law, the oracles of Prophets,
the melody of the Psalms, the instruction of Pro-
b S. Bern, in Cant. Serm. 31.
c Menander. I am not certain whether this be the same verse
as is quoted from the Adelphi in S. Justin de Monarchia, p. 41.
ed. Bened. " The mind is to the good ever God, as the wisest
deem." S. Justin also quotes from the Tibic. " For all things
are a temple to right reason. For the mind is the God which will
speak." d Juven. 13. 192. e Bp. Andrewes' Devotions.
R

242 The Teaching of God within and without.
verbs, the experience of Histories," the words of
the Son made Flesh by Himself or by His Apostles.
Within, together with the voice of conscience, He
speaks too by the Spirit.
These two voices must ever be heard together.
The outward voice falls dead and cold when the in
ward is not awakened ; the inward is not given, to
take the place of the outward ; and all who would
so use it, have mistaken suggestions of their own
mind or of the evil one, for the still Voice of God.
God's outward Voice reveals, His inward applies what
It has revealed. His outward Voice declares what
we are to believe and do ; His inward Voice opens
our ears and our heart, that we may believe and
love and do it. Without His inward Voice, we
should be like an instrument unattuned, which can
give forth none but harsh and discordant sounds.
Without the outward, we should be like the same
instrument, attuned, yet none to play upon it.
The Jews heard our Lord with the outward ear
and saw His miracles, and could not deny them, yet
in vain. " Hearing, they heard, but understood not ;
seeing, they saw, but perceived not ; for their heart
was waxed gross, and their ears were dull of hearing,
their eyes have they closed ; lest they should see
with their eyes and hear with their ears, and under
stand with their heart, and should be converted and
I should heal them."
God had opened the inward ear of Cornelius and
of the Ethiopian eunuch, and He wrought a miracle
that they should not lack his outward teaching,
sending St. Peter and St. Philip to instruct them.
He opened the jailor's heart by the terrors of the

The Teaching of God within and without. 243
earthquake, and gave him St. Paul to teach him
whereby he and his house might be saved. Lydia's
heart and the three or five thousand He opened at
once through the ministry of His preacher and the
inward teaching of the Spirit.
And so it is now. St. Augustine's heart God
opened f at last by the voice of his conscience and
by the word of the Apostle, " Put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh
to fulfil the lusts thereof;" St. Anthony's e He opened
by the words of His Son, " If h thou wilt be perfect,
go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven ; and come
and follow Me." Towards us too He often speaks
with power through some words of Holy Scripture
which we have often half heard and neglected, and
He draws water out of the flinty rock. He prepares
our hearts to fear Him, and so He speaks to them in
mingled sounds of terror and of hope.
Yet not in man's first conversion only or chiefly
does God thus speak. He is ever teaching us more
and higher truth, as we are obedient to His earlier
voice. The same Holy Scripture is at once " milk
to babes, and strong meat to men whose minds are
exercised." As the manna suited every man's taste, i
so the same Holy Scripture is to each, such as he
himself is. It nourishes the child ; it hath hidden
depths for the soul whose "life is hid with Christ
in God."
God speaketh ever to the heart, as He speaketh
1 Conf. L. 8. c. 12, § 29. p. 153, Oxf. Tr.
« S. Ath. Vit. S. Anton. § 2. p. 796. ed. Ben.
" S. Matt. xix. 21. ' Wisdom, xvi. 20.
r2

244 The Teaching of God within and without.
through His word. For He cannot contradict Himself.
But He speaketh to the soul mostly through it, at
times even without it. A voice which is contrary to
it, cannot be from Him ; and so it hath ever been a
rule in the Church, that were an Angel from Heaven
to seem to bid any thing really contrary to it, it must
be the evil angel, " transformed into an Angel of
light. " Yet at all seasons in the Church, God does
speak to the conscience, often without voice of words,
or audible sound, by His Spirit. He guides the soul,
or calls it, or reproves it, or upholds it, or comforts
it, or directs it, or bathes it with His consolations in
a way conformable to His word ; yet so, that it is a
secret voice to the hidden ear of the heart which
hears it. And " His sheep hear His Voice," and
know that it is He Who speaketh.
This is the very promise of the Gospel. " Thine k
ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is
the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right
hand, and when ye turn to the left ; " that is, walk
ye on, not stand still ; in the straight way, not out
of it ; however ye be tempted to turn to seeming *
good or real evil. Yet this inner voice is not with
out the outer voice of the ministers of Christ.
For the Prophet had just said1 " yet shall not thy
teachers be removed into a corner any more, but
thine eyes shall see thy teachers. " Yet He Who
truly teacheth, is within. " He," m saith our Lord,
" shall teach you all things." " For," saith a father, n
" unless the same Spirit be present with the heart of
the hearer, fruitless is the discourse of the teacher.
1 Is. xxx. 21. ' lb. 20. m S. John xiv. 26.
" S. Greg. Horn. 30, in Evangel. § 3.

The Teaching of God within and without. 245
Let no one then ascribe to the man who teacheth,
what he understandeth out ofthe mouth of our teach
ing ; for unless there be One within Who teacheth,
the tongue of the teacher toileth in vain without."
¦ The Apostles, " filled with the Holy Ghost," as
on this day, taught, wrote epistles with the finger of
God, even the Holy Spirit ; they built, they planted,
they watered, they "warned with many tears night
and day." Yet, says the beloved Apostle, " Ye °
have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know
all things", which it concerneth the faithful to know,
through the anointing Spirit and the seven-fold gift
which He imparts. Yea, while the Apostle'^ teach
eth, he telleth them " Ye >' need not that any one
should teach you ; but as the same anointing teach
eth you all things and is Truth, and even as it hath
taught you, ye shall abide in Him." He would say
against false teachers, " who," he says, " seduce " <•
you ; ye need no new teaching ; for ye have learnt
all things, the whole breadth and depth of Divine
truth and love, but from whom ? Through the ministry
indeed of man, but all of God ; as St. Paul says
" God giveth the increase." One only " baptizeth
with the Holy Ghost and with fire," although through
the hands of man. One only forgiveth sins, " God
alone," although He willeth to reach the soul through
the outer ear and the voice of words, " Thy sins be
forgiven thee." One only is the High Priest ; One
only consecrates, feeds with Angels' food, although
He hallows the elements without, by His Own Words
spoken by man. One only converts the soul, en
lightens the mind, strengthens the heart, kindles the
0 1 S. John ii. 20. » Ib. 27. * lb. 26.

246 The Teaching of God within and without.
soul with the fire of love, breathes into it the breath
of life, although fiery tongues sat, as on this day,
upon Apostles' heads, and with hearts and tongues
of flame, they spake with burning words the " fieryr
law " of love, wherewith their souls were kindled.
" Think not," says a father/ " that any learn any
thing from man. The Master is within. We may
warn you through the sound of words. Unless there
be within, Who teacheth, empty is our sound. How
many will go hence untaught. As for me, I have
spoken to all, but whom that anointing teacheth not
within, they return untaught. The ministries with
out come in aid, as it were, and warn. He hath His
seat in Heaven, Who teacheth the heart. Where
fore Himself also saith in the Gospel, * Call no man
master upon earth, for one is your Master, even
Christ,' May He then speak within, since none
among men is there. Be there one by thy side ;
none is in thy heart. And yet may there not be no
one in thy heart. May Christ be in thy heart ; His
anointing be in thy heart ; lest the heart be athirst
in a dry land, and have no fountain where to be
slaked. The Master within, then, is He who teach
eth. Christ teacheth ; His inspiration teacheth.
For where His inspiration and teaching are not, the
words, without, noise by in vain."
What then ? Because God must prepare the heart
and open the ear, and Himself speak to it, doth no
thing depend on us ? Doth He teach us, "whether'
we will hear or whether we will forbear ? " Not so.
r Deut. xxxiii. 2.
< S. Aug. in 1 Ep. S. Joh. Tr. iii. § 13, [p. 1136.] Oxf. Tr.
1 Ezek. ii. 7.

The Teaching qf God within and without. 247
He only speaketh ; but it is with us to hearken or
no. It is much, yea, it is everything, not to turn
away the ear, to be willing to hearken, not to drown
His Voice. " The secret of the Lord is with them
that fear Him." It is a secret, hushed voice, a gentle
intercourse of heart to heart, a still small voice,
whispering to the inner ear. How should we hear
it, if we fill our ears and our hearts with the din of
this world, its empty tumult, its excitement, its fret
ting vanities, or cares, or passions, or anxieties, or
shew, its rivalries, and its whirl of emptinesses ? A
loud voice will often not reach an occupied heart.
The Voice of the Son of God in the flesh, though it
waked Lazarus from the dead, reached not those
whose ears and minds were filled with the love of
the praise of men."
Would you then hear the inward voice which shall
lead you on a safe way, and shall speak to your hearts,
soothe you, still you, make your hearts burn within
you, yea, melt them as it speaketh, until ye hear
that other blissful voice, " Come, ye blessed of My
Father." There are two conditions, as there are
degrees of that inward hearing. First, ye must fear
God ; secondly, ye must be hushed yourselves.
" The secret of the Lord is with them that fear
Him." They then, who do not fear Him cannot
hear it. And this both on God's part, and on man's.
Man will not hear, unless he fears ; and in the end,
God doth not speak. But, whereas in grace, God
forecomes man, and man follows grace given ; in sin,
on the contrary, man begins ; he casts out grace,
deadens his own ear, until God's Voice sounds fainter
u S. John xii. 43.

248 The Teaching of God within and without.
and fainter, and comes seldomer, and at last there
follows the stillness of death. It is heard no more.
God leaves the soul and it is dead. Every wilful sin
is part of this deadening of the soul. Ye cannot
wilfully refuse to hear in one way or at one time,
and hear at another. Ye cannot stop your ears to
part of God's message, hear and not hear what ye
will. The soul is a beautiful instrument, attuned
by the Hand of God, and breathed in by His Holy
Spirit. It cannot be attuned and untuned at once.
It cannot yield at once the harmony of heaven and
the jarring discords of the world.
The very heathens saw that virtues were linked
together by a golden band, so that they said, whoso
hath one, hath all, and no one can have one perfectly
who hath not all. "Dead flies," saith the wise man/
" cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth
a stinking savour ;" that is, the sweet anointing of
the Holy Spirit is, by but a few dead works or evil
thoughts wilfully harboured, corrupted and destroyed.
The subdual of, or the yielding to, a man's one
chief sin, is commonly the change of the whole man.
For it is the question, whether a man will hearken
or no. To hearken is to hear. And if he hearken
not in this one point, in vain will he desire to hear
in all besides. Hence they who have turned to God
find, that whereas they hoped things were in the
main well with them, notwithstanding this or that
outstanding fault, everything in their whole lives
was, through that outstanding fault, tainted. It
only overshadowed the rest, so they saw them not.
Any sin, tampered with, or wilfully entertained or
* Eccles. x. 1.

The Teaching of God within and without. 249
harboured and allowed, spreads along every nerve of
the moral frame. For it is the question on which
all hangs, is God or self man's end ? is the flesh sub
dued to the Spirit, or the Spirit stifled by the flesh ?
is God or Satan the master whom man obeys ?
This then is the first condition of knowing the will
of God, to will to know it wholly. In vain is hea
ven opened to eyes fixed on earth. Love sees God.
As is our love, such are we. But the love of the
world and the love of God are contraries. The one
must cast out the other. " The holy spirit of disci
pline," says the book of Wisdom/ " flees deceit, and
will not dwell in a body subject to sin." God will
not dwell in the soul which harbours wilfully His
enemy. Light and darkness, fire and water, life and
death, cannot co-exist ; nor God and sin in the soul.
Man must " cease to do evil," ere he can " learn to
do well." To them that "fear » the Lord" "the Sun
of Righteousness will arise with healing in His
wings," but not to those who shroud themselves in
darkness, and " hate the light lest their deeds should
be reproved." He will arise and shine on our dark
ness, and will order the chaos of our souls. No chill
of past unlovingness is too great to be melted by the
heat of that Sun. No thickets a too tangled to be
penetrated by His Light. But one retained unlov
ingness has changed a martyr into an apostate ; b one
spot of darkness will blind the whole soul.
' Wisdom i. 5. z Mai. iv. 2. a Ps. xxix. 9.
b See in Ruinart Acta Martyrum. " In martyrium S. Nice-
phori et contra injuriam memoriam, " pp. 243 — 251. Nicepho
rus, a layman, suffered martyrdom under Valerian and Gallienus,
about A.D. 260. The touching story, briefly, is : — Sapricius, a

250 The Teaching of God within and without.
This is needful for all who would be saved. Yet
ye would not be saved only, that is, ye would not
wish to gain Heaven, merely to be saved from hell.
Ye would not, on this great day, when God the
Holy Ghost came down to shed abroad the love of
God in your hearts, love with a poor selfish love,
which would be brought near to God Who is Love,
only because " without, is weeping and gnashing of
teeth." Ye would, if ye dared, long, like the Apostle
of this day ° and all the Apostles, to be " filled with
the Holy Ghost," that ye might be kindled with the
fire of His love, and all be burnt up, which doth not
agree with His holy love. How then must this be ?
The Psalmist speaks not of " the secret of the
Lord" only, but of a "secret converse"11 with the
soul, as of a Friend with his friend. To enter then
priest, and Nicephorus, a layman, having loved exceedingly, quar
relled, and would not speak, if they met. Nicephorus, coming to
himself, sought to be reconciled. Sapricius refused. On the
breaking out of the persecution, Sapricius was apprehended, an
swered nobly, endured long the severest tortures, and was led out
to the light execution of being beheaded. Just then, Nicephorus
met him, sought his forgiveness humbly and repeatedly. Sapricius
was obstinate, did not forgive, and at the moment of martyrdom,
forsaken by God, apostatized. Nicephorus having in vain exhorted
him, himself confessed Christ, was executed and " crowned, as
cended into Heaven, through faith in Christ, and love and hu
mility." c Preached A.D. 1848, when Whit-Sunday fell on June 11th,
the Feast of S. Barnabas.
d iio (probably from ",nD']) is both " secret converse of friends",
Ps. Iv. 16 ; Job xix. 19 ; and "a secret," Prov. xi. 13 ; xx. 19 ;
xxv. 9. It is used ofthe favour and friendship of God, Job xxix. 4 ;
and of a " secret " revealed by God, Am. iii 7. It means both,
here, and Prov. iii. 32. ( It even enters into proper names, nT3
" friendship of God" Num. xxi. 10, n'f°? " in the friendship of

The Teaching of God within and without. 25 1
His secret presence, we must not be taken up with
things which are not He. To have the love of this
Great Friend, we must desire no love out of Him.
To be capable of the fulness of His love, we must
long to love Him ardently. Desire to love God
alone, and all things else in Him, to love Him for
Himself, love Him ardently, and no measure of His
love will He withhold from thee.
We must not he taken up with things out of Him,
if we would have His secret presence. Not man's
manifold labours, but his manifold cares, hinder the
presence of God. Labour, ordained by God and
wrought -for and in God, invites God's fuller pre
sence ; for God is in the heart of him who, in the
very sweat of his brow, toils as God appoints him.
Cares, whereof man himself is the end, so far shut
out that fuller presence, because they enter into, and
take up the heart. God Who chose the fishermen,
and the tax-gatherer, and the tent-maker, to confound
the wisdom and the greatness of the world ; yea, He
Who framed the worlds, but Himself became the
carpenter's Son and the Carpenter/ will fill and in-
God" Neh. iii. 6.) "Symmachus and Theodotion render this
more clearly [than the seventy]. ' The mystery ofthe Lord is with
them that fear Him, and He shall shew them His covenant.' For
He revealeth them, not to all, but to those that fear Him, and
sheweth them secretly the scope of His Divine Oracles." Theo
doret ad loc. " Aquila, ' the secret of the Lord ' ; Symmachus,
' the converse of the Lord ' ; Theodotion and the fifth edition, ' the
mystery of the Lord'. For thence did he who was above spoken
of, fearing the Lord, advance to so great blessedness, in that the
converse of the Lord, and His secret and His mystery became
known to him, and the mysteries contained in His covenant, that
is, in the Divine Scripture." Euseb. ad loc.
e S. Mark vi. 3.

252 The Teaching of God within and without.
undate with the sweetness of His Love, and enlighten
with His Wisdom, and enrich with His consolations,
the poorest and most unlettered, who plies his daily
task for Him. The very things of God Himself, if
sought for themselves, not for Him, may shut out
God. Nay, there is this very danger in the most
sacred things, in holy thoughts, or fervent words, or
transporting feelings, or labours of love, or heart-
uplifting sounds/ or Divine knowledge, that they
may take up the soul the more readily in themselves,
and the soul stop short in them, because it fears no
danger, being, as it were, on "holy ground." But
if even in these things, so nigh to God and shadow
ing out His very presence, men may forget God,
what should we think of those manifold cares and
thoughts of this world wherewith men encompass
themselves ? How can God speak to the soul, when
the eye is ever roving with curiosity, the ear ever
listening for some new thing, the mind ever musing
on things of this world. "If," says a holy man,s
" thou preparest the inward ear for this Voice of
thy God, sweeter than honey and the honey-comb,
flee outward cares. So shall thy inner sense be
clear and free, and thou mayest say with Samuel,
' Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' This Voice
soundeth not in the market-place ; nay, nor is heard
in public. A secret counsel calleth for a secret
hearing. He will assuredly make thee hear of joy
and gladness, if thou receivest Him with a sober ear."
" They who would behold God," says St. Gregory,
f Preached in Margaret Chapel. See S. Augustine's touching
account of himself. Conf. x. 33. § 50. pp. 210, 211, Oxf. Tr.
* S. Bernard Ep. 107. n. 13. ed. Ben.

The Teaching of God within and without. 253
"dwell in a loneliness of soul, and free from the tumults
of worldly cares, thirst for God. But11 what availeth
to be alone in body, if loneliness of heart be lacking ?
For whoso liveth apart in body, but, by thoughts of
worldly desires, mingles himself in the tumults of
human life, is not in loneliness. Again, if any, in
body, be thronged by the crowds of people, and yet
in heart feel no tumult of worldly cares, he is not in
the city. So then to those who live well, there is
first given a loneliness of mind, so that they keep
down the din of earthly desires rising within, and
through the grace of heavenly love restrain the cares
of the heart which bubble up from below ; and with
the hand of gravity drive away from the eyes of the
mind, like flies buzzing around, all the motions of light
thoughts, which obtrude themselves, and they seek
for themselves within themselves some secret place
with the Lord ; where, freed from that outward din,
they may, through inward longings, in silence speak
with Him."
And now, if thou wishest to live more with and
to God, and that God should dwell more in thee,
and be thy God, these few brief rules may help
you. Be with God in thy outward works, refer them to
Him, offer them to Him, seek to do them in Him
and for Him, and He will be with thee in them, and
they shall not hinder, but rather invite His presence
into thy soul.
Collect thyself from time to time in God, whatever
thou doest, and thou shalt feel Him to be with thee
in all. h In Job. L. 30. c. 16. § 52. ed. Ben.

254 The Teaching of God within and without.
Seek to see Him in all things, and in all things
He will come nigh to thee.
Look to Him and not to man, and thou shalt see
His good Hand in all evil, His healing Hand in all
things painful, His Love in all man's unkindness,
Himself over-ruling all evil, giving all good.
Then thou must seek His love for His love's
sake. Not for the praise of man, not for boastful-
ness, not to be satisfied with ourselves, not to have
high places in His Kingdom, not to be above others,
or thought well of, not even for inward consolations
in themselves, must we desire the secret love of God.
Self, not God, is our end, if we seek God for any
thing except Himself. He loveth not God purely,
who loveth God for anything but God. Yet only
the humble can so love God. The humble only abase
themselves the more, the more good God is to them.
Empty thyself of thyself if thou wouldest that
God should fill thee.
Seek the glory of God alone ; desire to be indwelt
by God, because He is love and the object of all
love, and in His love is all.
Be very jealous then how thou speakest of the
love of God to thee, or of the love which He giveth.
It is " the secret of the Lord." " Thy secret to thy
self," it was said of old. God can (so to speak) only
give Himself to the lowly, because His very gifts
would injure one, who was lifted up by His gifts.
Even St. Paul had " a messenger from Satan to
buffet him," lest he should be exalted by the reve
lations given him. "Let the servant of Christ," says
a holy inward man/ " who loveth virtues and fol-
1 S. Laur. Justin. De Orat. Perorat.

The Teaching of God within and without. 255
loweth prayer, have humility ; let him show humility
in acts, in life, above all, in prayers. When this
virtue shall have filled, cast down, melted his soul,
then shall the heart begin to be enlarged by love,
irradiated by truth, filled with light, bedewed with
exultation, gladdened by sweetness, fed with de
votion, upraised by the Spirit, borne out of itself k
with transports, enfolded in love, gleam with con
templation, encompassed with brightness, enriched
with joys ineffable. Hence ariseth the revelation of
secrets, the unfolding of Scriptures, the knowledge
of things to come, freedom from the senses, inward
partaking of heavenly goods, cleaving to the Divine
Goodness, and the blessed fruition of oneness of
Spirit.1" k Lit. "inebriated."
1 This glowing, fervent writer continues : — " All this is drawn
from the exercise of prayer, and the leisure of contemplation, and
the aid of the Divine mercy, affecting the heart of each, and di
viding gifts, as He wills. For these are not studies of learning,
nor of pleasure, not gained by strength of body, but spiritual,
peaceable, humble, in harmony with the humble, shewn to the de
voted, given to the pure in heart, granted to those who neglect not
the Divine Commandments. They are not practised without, but
are acted within, in the spirit of the mind, in fervor of spirit, in
the cleansing of the heart, where the man is renewed, putting on
the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness. But before these Divine things are laid open, these
heavenly things infused, the mind must be practised in works of
mercy, in the obedience of piety, in much patience, in many tribu
lations, in various temptations, in frequent infirmities, in continual
watchings, in many necessities, in injuries not unfrequent, in unjust
persecutions, in hard reproaches, sometimes also in perils of death
(2 Cor. xi. 26, 27 ; xii. 10). But when the soul shall be cleansed
by these and the like, then it is brightened by new light, consumed*
* Depascitur, if it be not for pascitur "is fed."

256 The Teaching of God within and without.
Then, (to say no more) thou must desire His love
with an ardent longing. How should we hope that
so great a good as God should be given to careless
unloving hearts who desired Him not ? Yet He
Who, out of His boundless love, longeth that we
should love Him, hath given us, on this great day,
the pledge, that He will give us, if we will it, the
longing for Himself, and Himself to our longings.
" If m ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your
Father Which is in Heaven give good things to
them that ask Him ? " He gave not, only ; He
[or fed] by unwonted affection, and enriched by the gift of contem
plation. For neither is the crown given without the labor of conflict,
nor the good of virtue without the attack and victory over vices,
nor the height of contemplation without some sort of perfection of
virtues. Wherefore whoso longeth for the taste of devotion, let
him not shrink from entering upon the conflict of virtues, but with
glad mind, glad desire, determined will, love unfeigned, large
greatness of soul, strenuous heart, prudent discretion, wise under
standing, humble mind, assiduous prayer, unslothful anxiety, and
persevering study, set himself, do violence to himself, in the ac
quisition of virtues. For he will not be deprived of the taste of
God, nor be without heavenly rewards, whoso, for the love of
Christ Jesus, shall. be an earnest assailant of vices, and no listless
lover of virtues. ' Blessed' says the prophet to the Lord, ' whose
help of in working grace is from Thee,' who in his heart hath fixed
to ascend in the valley of tears, plucking up, scattering, dispers
ing, destroying the habits and desires of vices, that he may mount
up to the perfections of virtues, because the Lawgiver will give
him blessing, and abundance of exultation, foretaste of spiritual
goods, through which, after this pilgrimage, after the conquest and
triumph over the world, and laying aside the burden of the flesh,
he will attain, face to face, with clear and joyous vision to behold
the God of gods in Sion, Who is of all who love Him, the salva
tion, life, bliss, and peace for ever and ever. Amen.
m S. Matt. vii. 11.

The Teaching of God within and without. 257
poured forth, poured out the Holy Spirit, that His
love might through Him be poured out, in an over
flowing stream into our hearts. We should of our
selves, have beheld, cold and unmoved, our Saviour's
love. Shame were it and confusion of face, that He
died for love of us, and we should with ungrateful
eyes, behold His Death ! But that this might not
be, He giveth us His Spirit. " Christ," saith one11
who loved much, " dieth and deserveth to be loved.
The Spirit toucheth the heart and causeth Him to
be loved. Christ doth that, for which He should be
loved ; the Spirit that, whereby He should be loved.
Christ ' commendeth His exceeding love' in us ; the
Spirit giveth it also. In Christ we see what we
should love ; from the Spirit we receive whence we
should love. From Christ then is the occasion of
love ; from the Spirit, the affection. What con
fusion were it to behold with ungrateful eyes the
Son of God dying ! Which yet might readily be,
were the Spirit wanting. But now since ' the love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost Which is given us' ; being loved, we love ;
loving, are fitted to be yet more loved. ' For" if,
when we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to
God hy the Death of His Son, much more, being re
conciled, we shall be saved by His Life.' For why ?
' He Who spared not His own Son, but freely gave
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely
give us all things ? ' "
Faint we not then, though we have choked our
hearts with vanities, or dulled them with fhe things
of sense, or chilled them by unlovingness, or dis-
n S. Bernard Ep. 107. n. 8. ° Rom. v. 10.

258 The Teaching of God within and without.
tracted them with cares, or swollen them with pride,
nay, or steeped them in the defilements of sin.
Mightier is the Blood of Christ to cleanse, than our
past sins to defile. Mightier the Good Physician to
heal than we to wound ourselves. Only yield we
ourselves to Him now. The windows of Heaven are
open ; close we up our hearts no more. Empty we
our hearts before Him, and He will cleanse them
anew with His Spirit, and fill them with the Wine of
His love. The pledges of His love are before you,
and now, by His Providence, to you who daily worship
here, He would give a twofold p measure of His gifts
and of His love. What should hinder your having
Angels' love, who have,in such fulness, Angels' Food?
God so loveth us, that He would make all things
channels to us and messengers of His love. Do for
His sake, deeds of love, and He will give thee His
love. Still thyself, thy own cares, thy own thoughts
for Him, and He will speak to thy heart. Cast out
love of self, and He will give thee Himself. Ask for
Himself, and He will take thee into Himself. Cease
to do evil, and He will give thee of His Good.
" The secret of the Lord is with them that fear
Him." Truly a secret, hidden thing is the love of
God, known only to them who seek it, and to them
also secret ; for what man can have of it here, is,
how slight a foretaste of that endless ocean of His
love ! For " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor
heart of man conceived the good things which God
hath prepared for them that love Him," Himself
Who Alone IS, and is Love and Bliss. Be thou His,
and He Who maketh thee His, is Himself thine. *-*J,
P The Thursday Communion had just been added.

SERMON XV.

THE REST OF LOVE AND PRAISE.

TRINITY SUNDAY.

Revelations iv. 8.

" They rest not day and night saying, Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and
is to comer
God resteth everlastingly, and yet worketh in time.
His work hindereth not His everlasting rest. His
resting from His works hindereth not His working.
It is said, after the six days of Creation, " He rested
on the seventh day from all His work which He had
made." And yet our Blessed Lord saith, "My
Father worketh hitherto and I work." He rested, in
that He ceased to create ; He worketh, in that He
upholdeth what He created. He created thenceforth
nothing outwardly new. All this fair harmony of
nature, sun, moon, and those thousand thousand
suns in almost infinite space, were created and made.
And this our earth was provided, once for all, with
s 2

260 The Rest of Love and Praise.
its herbs, trees, and all which walketh through earth
and sea, and above all, man, as God's Vice-gerent, in
the image and likeness of God. God worketh, in
that He bringeth into life all which lives, and re
tains it in life by His Will. But God is not like us,
that He should with effort create or uphold. He
has no limbs of flesh, which can be wearied ; nor in
Him do His thoughts come and go, so that it should
cost Him attention of mind, as it were, to behold all
things which are in Heaven and earth. What He
IS, that He ever was. What He sees, He ever saw.
In His infinite, unchanging, Mind, He beholdeth all
things which were, or are, or shall be, changing while
He remaineth. He beholdeth them, not one by one,
nor by motion, nor one less and the other more ; but
all alike, as we should say, spread forth before Him
as in a waveless mirror. Before the worlds were
made, He dwelt in the everlasting bliss and rest of
His love. When according to His eternal purpose,
He made them, He rested within Himself, although
He made, by His Will, things out of Himself, re
flecting Himself in some measure, yet subject to
labour and change. And in this world He worketh,
in that, in that unchanging rest, He still, by His
Will maketh anew and giveth life and motion to
things which come into being, grow, change, and
pass away. When this fleeting world shall come to
an end through that same unchanging Will of God,
God will in that same everlasting rest, uphold un
changeably all who have abode in, or returned to,
His love, in His own bliss, imparted to them.
How then doth the Apostle say, " They rest not,
day or night ?" There is an unrest of pain, and

The Rest of Love and Praise. 261
there is a "rest not" of joy. It is the sweetest rest,
to rest, and not to rest. For what is it but an un
ceasing, unwearying, unwearied rest, a river of joy
which flows on in one peaceful fulness of bliss, with
out bound and without end ? God giveth to the
blessed, in their measure, to be like Himself. Here,
to continue on in anything has weariness ; because
here is not our rest. There, upheld by God, the
blessed behold the Eternal Truth without toil of
thought ; they, in spiritual bodies, move swiftly as
the lightning without weariness ; they love God
above all things, with everlasting love and all be
sides, with undivided love. They, in their degree,
like Him, love none the less, because they love the
others more. They love with a full undistracted
soul, as God loves, at once, all whom He loves, with
the fulness of His infinite love. And as our love,
so will our praise be. What is praise, but to say,
how worthy of love is He Whom we love ? But
then we shall see without effort, praise without toil
of seeking words in which to praise, with the whole
unstrained power of our soul ; unstrained, because
sustained by God. Do we not find here, that if we
would praise whom we deeply love, our words fail
us ? Is not our deepest praise to dwell in silent
thought, gazing and feeling what is beyond our
power to utter ? And it is our deepest rest, so, en
tranced in love, to love without thought, or word, or
motion, but in our inmost souls, to go forth out of
ourselves, and dwell, without rest, on and in that
which we love. We cease to rest, not by pausing to
love, but if ever there is a pause in our love, or if
what we love is out of sight.

262 The Rest of Love and Praise.
But it has, doubtless, seemed to many of us, at
some time, as if we could not hold on thus through
out eternity in praising God. Here, after a few
minutes, we become weary. Well, if in a few
minutes, some thought dart not in, which is not of
God ! Here we love variety. We love varied plea
sures, or thoughts, or refreshment of the body, or
knowledge, or sights, or hearing or speaking words
or thoughts of love. How can we be occupied
throughout eternity in praising God ? How can God
be the one object of our thoughts or of our love ?
First, Holy Scripture hath not said, that we should
so love God, as to shut out any other love, or any
other joy, which does not shut Him out. God has
said in this life, "He that loveth God, let him love
his brother also." Heaven will not be a lonely place,
that we should not there have any beside God, to
love. Love of our brethren increases, it does not
shut out, the love of God. The more we love rightly
God or man, the more power we have to love both.
There all will love all. There we shall love all in
God, and God in all. We shall, in the love of
others, love God the more, because it is God whom
we shall love in them. They will not be separated
from God, that we could love them apart from God.
God will dwell in all there. All will be transparent
with His glory and His love. His beauty (as it
does here in a manner) shall make all beautiful.
His love shall make all lovely. His joy will beam
in every countenance. His wisdom will fill all their
thoughts. All shall be full of Him ; all shall joy in
Him ; the joy in Him shall vibrate from soul to soul.
All shall love Him the more, because He is so good

The Rest of Love and Praise. 263
to those whom He gave to love them and to be loved
by them.
There, in that abode of love, shall no special holy
love be lost. God has not formed us, yea, bidden us,
in this our nursery for the heavenly life, to love one
another, in all our several relations, that all this,
after this life, should cease. He has not bound us
in those varied sweet bands of love, fathers, mothers,
children, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, friends,
or those wider circles through which love radiates
here, that the love which is from Himself, and which
He has made part of the undying soul, shall die.
We could not think as to the very Human Nature
of our Lord, that in the full glory of God He does
not love still, with that same special love, with which
on earth He loved the disciple whom He loved. He
cannot change. For then too He was " Very God"
as well as " Very Man." His Human soul loved then
with the unchangeable love of the Godhead with
which It was united. Again, how could He, as Man,
not have fulfilled His own command, and not have
loved with the love of a son, the Mother who bare
Him after the flesh ? And how can that have ceased
now ? He Himself says of the twelve Apostles, that
they should " sit down on twelve thrones with" Him.
And since that holy love of His Manhood abides
in Him, in Whom our Nature is restored and united
with God, how should it not be, that all holy love,
which is His gift in us, should abide, if, by His deep
mercy, we enter into His joy ? Rather it shall be
part of our joy, to love all which we loved here ;
only how much more, because every infirmity which
in ourselves or in others, ever checked for an instant

264 The Rest of Love and Praise.
the flow of love, shall then have been absorbed into
the love of God, and God shall fill all with Himself.
Shall we not then find enough in God, to content
our souls ? What in God shall come to an end,
what shall we search out to the end, of what in God
shall we come to the utmost bound, that there will
be no more to satisfy our souls, and we shall need
this variety of outward things and employments to
fill up our joy ? His wisdom ? But it is infinite,
containing in itself, not only all things which are or
shall be, but all which is possible though it shall
never be. Or shall we come to the bound of His
love, that there shall be no more for us ? But love
is His own infinite Being. Tell me, what in God is
not infinite, beauty, or glory, or majesty, or holi
ness, or wisdom, or goodness, or love ; and then
you may think that you will be weary, because there
will be no perfection of love, for you to love. What
is infinity ? It is not that which has no bounds to
us, to which we can see or imagine no bounds, It is
that which has no bounds in itself. If it could have
bounds, there would be something beyond it, which
was not God. As Holy Scripture saith, "It was im
possible for God to lie," because it is contrary to His
all-holy Being ; or we may say for the same reason,
" God cannot contradict Himself," so, since it would
be contrary to the Being and Unity of God, we may
say, without presuming, " God could not create that
which should perfectly comprehend Himself."11 For
a " ' That which comprehendeth itself, is bounded to itself,' (S.
Aug. 83. quaestt. q. 14.) So then what comprehendeth another,
that other is finite to it. But God cannot be finite to any created
intellect. So then no created intellect can comprehend God."

The Rest of Love and Praise. 265
none can comprehend the infinite, save that which
is infinite, His Co-eternal Son and Holy Spirit.
Truly it would be infinite bliss to know and love
Him infinitely. It would be the bliss of God Him
self. Yet some think, that they could not be happy
in the love of God alone. Not happy in that which
is the bliss of God Himself ? Whence are Angels
and Archangels, Seraphim and Cherubim blessed ?
In that they behold and love what they cannot reach
to ; they search, what they cannot search out ; they
gaze on what they cannot gaze through ; they ap
prehend what fills their thoughts, yet passeth know
ledge. They behold for ever, and are satisfied with
the riches of the glory of God which they behold,
which yet, behold it as they may through the light
of God within them, is yet beyond them in its infinity.
But whence then is this fair variety of things beau
tiful on earth, or whence are things, without which
men suppose, they cannot be happy there ? Whence
have things pleasant their pleasurableness, or great
things their greatness, or things beautiful their
beauty, or the wise their wisdom ? Whence but
from Him Who made them ? Who would be satis
fied with the light in a dark cave, if he might be
bathed in the full, warm, genial glow of the sun 1
Who shall so take up with any of these things, which,
at best, are but faint rays of the exhaustless Source
" That the substance of God is incomprehensible, there is no
doubt to those who believe the Divine Scriptures." (Damasc. de
Fid. Orth. i. 4. et ult.)
" Whatsoever comprehendeth another, is either greater or equal
to it. But created intellect cannot be greater than, nor equal to
God. So then it cannot comprehend Himself." Aq. in Sent. iv.
d. 49. q. 2. art. 3. See alsoPetav. deDeo. vii. 3. 10, 11, et 9. 6.

266 The Rest of Love and Praise.
of all perfection, all glory, and beauty, and majesty,
and bliss, and love, as to think that God could not
satisfy his soul for ever, if his soul become but fitted
to behold and joy in God ?
To those, who, by God's mercy, attain to that
bliss, nothing shall be lacking to its perfection. All,
as it is most perfect here, is but a shadow of perfec
tion there. Youth is but an image of everlasting
freshness ; beauty of form, is but a faint picture of
the brightness of immortal glory ; the harmony of
music, the most unearthly sound upon this earth, is
but an echo of those angel choirs in which the re
deemed shall fill up the perfect unison of the new
heaven, and the new earth. No joy of any sense
shall be wanting there, but all shall be purified,
heightened, glorified. Blessed, eternally blessed,
they, who bear their part in the songs of heavenly
melody, in which countless voices of the glorified,
with wondrous and inconceivable sweetness, shall,
from end to end of the realms of the redeemed, blend
in one Alleluia, " to Him Who sitteth upon the
throne, and to the Lamb." " Blessed are they that
dwell in Thy house ; they shall still b be praising
Thee." Not as though, in the new song, we shall
evermore praise God in the use of the selfsame hu
man words. Angels and men shall then have one
tongue wherewith to praise God. But we shall
" still be praising Thee." In the praise of eternity,
we shall evermore " still " be praising Thee. Ever
more in the eternity of praise, there will be an
eternity of praise beyond, There will be no end of
praise, because there is no end of His glory and
b -nj>

The Rest of Love and Praise. 267
greatness and goodness which we shall praise ; nor
will there be any end of our love, wherewith He will
uphold us in the eternal longing gaze on His exhaust-
less beauty, and glory, and love.
Yet here too, we do not always praise Him in
words. Our whole heavenly life will be praise, be
cause our whole heavenly life will be love. With
our inmost souls we shall love Him, thank Him, ad
mire Him, adore Him. In whatever way we shall
then utter what is above utterance, or think what is
above thought, or love what no heart of man can
contain, or whatever the rest of our life in God shall
be, we shall ever be enwrapt with the love of Him,
ever be filled with His love, and from that fountain
of His love within us, shall return to Him love for
love. " To Thee, " says the Psalmist, " is the silence of
praise."0 Then do we most praise God, when, con-
« vbrtr\ n**n r^>. ps. lxv. 1 . The two Hebrew words seem to
form one thought, in which the two qualities are blended into one
another. So in Ps. xiv. 5, i?.??"1"1^- " meekness-righteousness," a
meek righteousness, and a righteous meekness ; a meekness which
hath righteousness in it, and a righteousness which hath meekness
init. In like way here, silence enters into all deep praise of God ;
and praise of the most deeply moved soul expresses itself to God
in silence. This thought is expanded in that magnificent passage
of Hooker, (E. P. 1.2. 2.) "Dangerous it were for the feeble
brain of man to wade far into the doings of the Most High ; Whom
although to know be life, and joy to make mention of His Name ;
yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know Him not as
indeed He is, neither can know Him ; and our safest eloquence
concerning Him is our silence, when we confess without confession
that His glory is inexplicable, His greatness above our capacity
and reach. He is above, and we upon earth ; therefore it behov-
eth our words to be wary and few." With this Mr. Davison and

268 The Rest of Love and Praise.
fessing that He is above all praise, we dumbly ad
mire His Infinite Majesty, and speak as speaking
what is unspeakable, and cease not to stretch on
because we cannot reach, seek in order to find, but
find as those who have yet to seek, utter what we
may, of the mercies of our redemption, and rejoice
that we cannot attain to the infinity of His mercy.
And Who or What is God, Who is thus to occupy
our souls for ever, of Whom men doubt whether He
can fill their souls for ever, so that they shall need
nothing but His love, and the love of those whom in
Him we love ? He is, " He Who Alone IS," the
Source of all being, which is. This is true ; but this
tells us not why we should be eternally happy in
Him. " God is Love," saith Holy Scripture. Here
there is contentment, that God is Infinite, and Infinite
Love. But how (we have, some of us, thought and asked)
did God in all eternity love ? He did not create in
all eternity. Time itself is His creature. We are
but of yesterday. When time was not, when Angels
and Archangels and all the Heavenly Host were
not, what did God love ? Love communicates itself,
imparts itself, is not pent up within itself. What
was, or is the infinite, eternal bliss of God ? It
seemed a cold answer, when it was said to us, " The
bliss of God is to contemplate His own infinite
Mr. Keble compare the eloquent words of Arnobius, " O Most
High, of Whom nothing can be said and expressed by the signifi
cance of human words ; Whom that we may understand, we must
be silent ; and, in order that a trembling conjecture may track
His footsteps in the dark shadow, not a word must we mutter."
See the Latin as quoted by Mr. Davison on Prophecy, end, and
Mr. Keble's Hooker, 1. c.

The Rest of Love and Praise. 269
perfections, His own goodness, and wisdom, and
glory." He has made it a part of the very instinct
of our nature, that our love, our bliss, is not to stop
short in ourselves. Self is not the object of our love
and bliss. Is it so in the infinite love and bliss of
Almighty God ?
A great thing it is, that we, earth-worms, who of
ourselves know only what creeps along this earth,
and that there are other worlds which we know not,
should ask about the love and bliss of the Infinite
God. What it is, we could not understand wholly,
unless we were ourselves God. For what is bounded
cannot comprehend the unbounded, the infinite.
We can know only what He has told us. Yet the
very mystery of this holy day tells us how and
whom God loves, in whom is His eternal rest of love.
It meets our thoughts, even while (as it must) it goes,
beyond them. It gives us a way in which we may
think worthily of God, although we cannot reach its
compass. We cannot conceive bliss without love,
and that, love which shall be met with love like and
equal to its own. Even of man God said, " It is not
good that man should be alone, let us make an help
meet for him." Man had the bliss of the garden
of Eden, flowers, fruits, trees, birds, singing their
Maker's praise ; he had all the beauty of the works
of God, which were very good, to behold ; he heard
the Voice of God, and he loved Him. But God saw
good, that, besides God Himself, Adam should have
some one like himself, to be with and to love. Can
then God, although One, be lonely ? Men and
Angels and Archangels once were not. But men,
Angels, and Archangels could not take away the

270 The Rest of Love and Praise.
loneliness of God, any more than beasts or birds,
flowers or trees, could take away the loneliness of
man. Like must love like. We should be not less
lonely, if we had the whole world and its glories at
our command, every comfort of the body, every de
light of the eyes, but had none like ourselves with
whom to share it in love. Perfect, supreme love is
the highest of all goodness, the fulness of all bliss.
Love, mutual love, cannot be wanting to Almighty
God. Yes ! Scripture tells us, that God had, in all Eter
nity, within Himself, the Infinite Object of His love,
of love like His own, the same as His own. We
cannot tell how it is, but the bliss of our own imper
fect love, out of ourselves, yet of beings like our
selves, is a shadow of the infinite love of God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, within Himself.
Observe, too, how the very words, which speak of
the Godhead of the Son, often tell us, also, of the
eternal love of the Father and the Son. " In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The Same was in
the beginning with God." See how St. John twice
dwells on the thought, that " the Word was with
God." He tells us, first, that, in all eternity, He
was ; that He " was with God ; and was God."
Then, since He had to tell us, how " all things were
created by Him," he repeats once more, what was
His Being, what He was, in all eternity. "The
Same was in the beginning with God." He had told
us Who He was ; he was going to tell us what He
did for us ; and now he gives us a glimpse into the
very mode of His eternal Being. " He, being God,

The Rest of Love and Praise. 271
was with God." In all eternity, God was with God ;
the Son with the Father ; dwelling in equal, eternal
love. Again, Scripture says, " the Only-Begotten Son,
Who is in the Bosom of the Father." We must not
imagine to ourselves, that God has a human form or
bodily shape. This would be against the Faith it
self. " God is a Spirit." Yet God speaks to us of
the things which we know, in order to shadow out
to us what we cannot now know, His own Being.
What then denotes, among us, to be "in His Bosom ?"
What did it in St. John himself ? To be enfolded in
Jesus' love. So then St. John tells us, that the
Only-Begotten Son, He Who alone is, by Nature,
the Son of the Father, is, eternally/ in the secret
presence15 of the Father, is there where no creature
can be, where He only can be, Who is Co-equal
with the Father, — not as we, in these bodily frames,
must be without one another, but, — within His in
most essence, One God with Him.
This our Lord sets forth yet more strongly in the
words, " I am in the Father, and the Father in Me."
" I and the Father are One" [Substance.] The
Father and the Son are not like created beings, who,
however near to one another, are yet outward to
one another. Not only is the Word with God, but
the Word, or the Son, saith, " I am in the Father."
He is "with the Father," not as without, but as
within, the Father. God filleth all space ; nothing
d '0 &v. " I am, is significative of Being ever, and being with
out beginning of Being, really and absolutely." S. Chrys. Horn.
15. in S. Joh. i. 18. p. 124, Oxf. Tr.
e S. Aug. Horn. 3. in S. Joh. §18.

272 The Rest of Love and Praise.
is without God. The Son then, being begotten of
the Father, is not without, but within the Father ;
and the Son, not being less than the Father, con
tains equally the Father. " I am in the Father, and
the Father in ME." O wondrous glimpse into the
Being of the Eternal God ; how in eternal love the
Father in His whole substance, and in the fulness
of the Godhead, is wholly in the Son ; and the Son
wholly reposeth in the Father, not as things mate
rial, " af body in a body, or a vessel in a vessel, but
in the unvarying sameness of substance, and the
oneness and likeness of Nature."
" All things," He saith, " which the Father hath
are Mine." The whole Substance, Life, Power,
Wisdom, Essence of the Father, are the whole Sub
stance, Life, Power, Wisdom, Essence of the Son.
The Father is the Father, and not the Son ; and the
Son is the Son, and not the Father ; but the Nature
is One. There is nothing of the Father's, which is
not in the Son, save to be the Father ; and nothing
of the Son's, which is not in the Father, save that He
is the Son : whence He saith, " he that hath seen
Me, hath seen the Father," because the whole God
head of the Father is in the Son.
Again, the Son is " the Brightness or Radiance of
the Father's glory." That is (as we say in our
Creeds) " Light of Light," Eternal Light from Eter
nal Light, and " the express Image of His Person or
Substance," co-existing, complete, indivisible ; the
natural and unvarying and living Image of the
Father ; in all things expressing Him. If anything
were lacking, He would not be " the express Image."
f S. Cyril, Al. in S. Joh. L. 1. c. 3. p. 28.

The Rest of Love and Praise. 273
He is "Oneg from One, True from True, Living
from Living, Perfect from Perfect, Power of Power,
Wisdom of Wisdom, Glory of Glory," "Lifeh from
Life, Good from Good, Eternal from Eternal."
Nothing is wanting to the full oneness of the
Father and the Son. The only begotten Son, Who
is in the Bosom of the Father, He evermore behold
eth the Father, and seeth in His all-perfect Being,
all which He Himself has and is. The Father be
holds in the co-eternal Son, as His all-perfect
Image, all which He is ; and " in Him," He saith,
"I am well pleased." In Him, perfectly, in all
things, supremely, infinitely, rests the full contents
ment and joy of the Father.
God the Son was, and is, everlastingly," in the form
of God;" "equal with God ;" "Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the Ending, Which is, and Which
was, and Which is to come, the Almighty." In all
eternity, then, in the Divine essence and substance,
which is, in number, One, there was, and is, the re
lation of Father and Son, in full and entire oneness
of Being. The Father, everlastingly, is the eternal,
unchangeable, Source of the Being of the co-eter
nal, co-equal Son. The Son hath in Himself, as
His own, the self-same essence, wisdom and life/
as the Father.
So also God the Holy Ghost is called God,k and
the Lord/ and the Spirit of God, " the Spirit of
8 S. Hil. de Trin. ii. 8.
h S. Greg. Nyss. c. Eunom. i. fin. T. ii. p. 428.
' See S. Anselm. Monolog. c. 43.
k Acts v. 3, 4.
1 2 Cor. iii. 18. T

274 The Rest of Love and Praise.
Jesus Christ,""1 "the Spirit11 of truth, Who pro
ceedeth from the Father," or " the Spirit0 of the Fa
ther," " the Spirit p of His Son ; " " sent by the Father/
in the Son's Name," and "sentr by the Son, from
the Father;" "the3 Eternal Spirit," "the Spirit4 of
life," " the Spirit, Whou is life ;" Who " quickeneth,"11
" makethy intercession for us," maketh us, by dwell
ing in us, "the temples2 of God," " by Whom3 we
have access to the Father ;" " through Whom, God
revealeth'0 to us," what He has prepared for them
who love Him ; Who, as the spirit of man, which is
in him, searcheth the things of a man, so " He search
eth the things of God," and "none but the Spirit
of God, knoweth the things of God ;" Who " divid-
ethc to every man severally, as He wills, the gifts of
God ;" to blaspheme* against Whom, is the one
unpardonable sin.
What a glimpse into His own ineffable Nature6
God again vouchsafes to open to us, in that He tells
us, that as the spirit of man is in man, his own pro
per spirit, and knoweth what is in himself, undis
closed by any other, so the Spirit of God is of God,
and in God, of His own Divine Nature, with a know
ledge as infinite as the knowledge of God the Father.
For the Spirit of God is God.
What a deep mystery, again, it leads us to, that,
m Rom, viii. 9; Philip, i. 19 ; 1 S. Pet. i. 11. "Of Jesus."
Acts xvi. 7, in the best authorities.
n S. John xv. 26. ° S. Matt. x. 20. P Gal. iv. 6.
4 S. John xiv. 26. r Ib. xv. 26. 8 Heb. ix. 13.
* Rev. xi. 11. " Rom. iii. 10. * 2 Cor. iii. 6.
y Rom. viii. 26. z 1 Cor. iii. 16. a Eph. ii. 18.
b 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. <= lb. xii. 11. <• S. Matt. xii. 31.
e S. Cyr. Alex. Thes. L. 33. p. 334.

The Rest of Love and Praise. 275
whereas the Father is a Spirit, and the Son a Spirit ;
and the Father also is Holy, and the Son is Holy ;
the Holy Spirit alone is so called by both titles toge
ther ; and that as His own especial Name. The Sera
phim continually do cry, "Holy, Holy, Holy," to the
three Persons of the all -holy Trinity. So One are
They, that Each is called God, and the whole Holy
Trinity is equally called God. Yetf while the Father
is Holy, the Son is Holy, there must be some ground
why Holy Scripture gives specially to God the Holy
Ghost, the title " the Holy Spirit." The co-eternal
Spirit, proceeding from Both, " common to Both, is
called especially that which Both are in common."
And what He is called that He specially imparts,
holiness ; in that Himself, the " Spirit of holiness,"
really and truly, not in a figure, dwelleth in us.
All this we, plainly, have no thoughts to grasp.
For it relates to the infinite Nature of God. If we
could grasp it, we should ourselves be God. But
even in ourselves, we may see some sort of likeness,
although indeed unlike to it. We have in us, some
thing which may shadow out this mystery ; an im
press which the Holy Trinity imparted to us, as the
work of Their hands ; like, because we are Their
workmanship ; unlike, because we are creatures,
finite, material, and " God is a Spirit."
We ourselves, then, are one, yet we have two na
tures, a spiritual nature, and a bodily nature. Our
two natures do not hinder our being one. Again,
we have in our spiritual nature, memory, and under
standing, and will ; our memory is not our under
standing, nor is our understanding, our will. Yet
f S. Aug. de Trin. xv. 19. See also de Civ. Dei xi. 24.
T 2

276 The Rest of Love and Praise.
these three co-exist in us. Again, the whole mind8
by thought, produceth the counsel, or the word,
within it ; and containeth it within itself. It is of
the very substance of the mind, and filleth the whole
mind, and is co-extensive with it. Yet the thought
is not the mind. Again, pointh upon point, line upon
line, surface upon surface, are but one point, one
line, one surface. So eternity in eternity, is but
one ; or light in light ; or God in God. Again, how
is the lighted air in a room where different lights
mingle, filled with the light. All the lights together
are blended1 in all ; all shine with one undistinguished
lustre, yet unconfused. For if you withdraw the
light of one, the light of the rest remains. Again, in
the sun's ray, light and warmth are ; light is not
warmth, nor warmth, light ; yet they are in one ray,
and the ray cannot be without them. We and the
Angels are many, each in our several oneness of
nature ; yet the nature, whether of Angels or of
men, is one, although our human nature is com
pounded. Again, God's attributes are infinite. They exist
where God does. God is Love, God is Wisdom.
God is wholly love ; yet not so as to cease to be
wise. We may speak of God, as Wisdom, or Good
ness, or Holiness. He is all these, and everything
besides, perfectly. Yet His love is not His wisdom,
nor is His wisdom, His love. But both are insepa-
ble and indivisible, eternal, unchangeable, uncreate,
infinite, as God Himself is. Wisdom and love co-
B Fulg. ad Monim. iii. 7. ap. Petav. de Trin. 4. 16. 15.
h S. Anselm de Proc. Spin S. Ib. § 16.
1 Dionys. de Div. Nom. c. 2. Ib. § 9.

The Rest of Love and Praise. 211
exist in Him eternally. He has no parts : so they
are one in Him, and yet, in some sense, distinct,
because wisdom, although all-loving and impene
trated with love, is not love ; and love, although
all-wise, and inseparable from wisdom, through the
whole range of its infinity, whereby it comprehends
all which is, or shall be, before it comes into being,
and enfoldeth all which doth not finally shut out the
love of God, still is not wisdom.
In God too, one, and the same Divine Nature is
everywhere, throughout all space, wholly ; for It is
indivisible. It is wholly in heaven, and wholly in
the heaven of heavens, wholly in earth, and in every
part of the earth. For if It were not wholly every
where, God would consist of parts. It is wholly
everywhere, throughout all space, and all the almost
infinite distance of the fixed stars, and yet the whole
is nowhere. For it contains all things, all time and
space, and is contained by none.
These images from things which we see, or from
our own nature, are but the very faintest shadows,
whereby we may be helped to think how that can
be, which is beyond all thought. We see that things
on earth, being manifold, are yet so one, that we
cannot distinguish them. It is then easy to faith,
that God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Whom we
Worship, are One God, and One Divine Substance.
We must not press these likenesses unduly. Else we
should fall into deadly error. They have enough of
likeness to shadow out some portion of the truth ;
they are unlike, because nothing can be wholly like
the Divine Nature, except Itself. In God, as a
Spirit, all is spiritual, His very attributes, wisdom,

278 The Rest of Love and Praise.
goodness, and holiness, cannot explain His simple
Nature. For it is ineffable. In Him all is perfect
Oneness. As we shall, in eternity, when there is no
more conflict between flesh and spirit, be perfectly
one, although made of two unlike natures, so, (to
use this only as an imperfect likeness,) is God per
fectly One, although in His one Godhead, there are
the three, co-eternal, co-equal, Persons, the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. "The Father is God, the
Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet
they are not three Gods, but one God."
This then was and is the eternal bliss of God.
None could love God in a way corresponding to
Himself, save that which was infinite as Himself.
Infinite love can alone return love infinitely. Infi
nite love can alone content infinite love. We know
in ourselves, how unsatisfactory is unequal love.
The Mystery of the Trinity (which Holy Scripture
reveals) shows how God in all eternity can act,
impart Himself, produce, not be (as the heathen
thought) inactive, contemplating Himself, and brood
ing in Himself. It is no more hard to conceive this,
I mean it no more contradicts our reason, than that
God is eternal. We cannot conceive eternity,
looking backwards. We can conceive time length
ened out, longer and longer and longer. We can
think of continuance. We cannot think of eternity,
without beginning. Let any one tell us how, with
out all beginning, God IS ; how He IS, without be
ginning to be ; and then he may ask us to explain
how the Father can be God, and the Son God, and
the Holy Ghost God, and yet One God. But al
though we see not yet, how it can be, yet we do see

The Rest of Love and Praise. 279
that the thought of God which Holy Scripture gives,
supplies what our own thoughts could not reach,
how God in all eternity was blessed, because the
Father loved the Son, and the Son the Father, and
Both the Holy Ghost, Who is the Bond of Both.
God in all eternity produced. Creatures He pro
duced in time. But when time and creation were
not, God the eternal Father, as the Source of all
Being, produced unchangeably and co-eternally the
co-equal Son, and Father and Son the Holy Spirit.
Such then is the Being in Whose love is to be our
eternal bliss. Such is the love which we are to be
hold. For we are to see Him as He is ; to know
Him, even as we are known by Him. Such is the
fulness of eternity to adore and behold and love
Him. It is not as our Creator only, nor our Re
deemer, nor our Sanctifier, that we are to behold
Him. He has been infinitely good, infinitely loving
to us ; eternal thanks be to His goodness ! But we
are to behold and love, not Him only Who is good
to us, and Who loves us ; but Him Who has in
Himself love of which ours is a tiny spark. We are
to love Him, Who in all eternity loved infinitely
and is infinitely loved, Who is all Goodness and all
Wisdom, and all Might, and all Holiness, and all
Beauty, and all Perfection, and all Love, and Whose
love is all good and all wise, and all mighty, and
all holy and all beautiful and all perfect, and Whose
very Being has been and is and shall be eternal,
equal, unchangeable, infinite love in Himself, the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Into this love we are, in our degree, entered.
We were baptized in the Name of the Father and of

280 The Rest of Love and Praise.
the Son and of the Holy Ghost. "Allk things are
full," say the ancient fathers of the Church, " as
from Him Who is Fulness, and perfect as from Per
fection." "He1 unites us with Himself and the
Father, not in one created, but in the Holy Spirit."
"What™ says the Lord? 'Baptizing them in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost.' How into the Name of the Father ? Be
cause He is the beginning of all things. How into
the Name of the Son ? Because He is the Author
of Creation. How into the Holy Ghost ? Because
He perfecteth all things. We immerse them to the
Father that we may be sanctified ; we immerse them
to the Son also for the same end ; we immerse also
to the Holy Ghost that we may be that which He is
and is called."
"Last of all, and above all," exhorts another/
" keep, I beseech thee, that good deposit for which
I live and act, and which may I take with me, when
parting from this world ; wherewith also I bear all
sorrows, despise all pleasures, the Confession of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. With this
I entrust thee this day. With this I shall immerse
thee and bring thee up. This I give thee as the
partner and presider over thy whole life, the One
Godhead and Power, existing in Unity in the Three,
comprehending the THREE severally ; every way
equal, the same every way, as there is one beauty
and greatness of the Heavens." This union was
* S. Hil. de Trin. L. ii. init.
1 S. Ath. Ep. i. ad Serapion. c. 11. p. 660.
m S. Greg. Nyss. in Bapt. Christi. T. iii. p. 372.
* S. Greg. Naz. Orat, 40 de S. Bapt. § 41.

The Rest of Love and Praise. 281
begun in us, when, baptized into the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, we had, though knowing it not,
the first seed of spiritual life imparted to us. This
union is increased, whenever we pray to God, for we
call Him into Himself; It is increased in us in the
Holy Communion ; for then, our Church teaches you,
" we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His
Blood ; we dwell in Christ and Christ in us ; we are
one with Christ and Christ with us."
This union was begun in love. Out of love, God
imparts Himself. To love, God imparts Himself.
He imparts Himself Who is Love. This Divine
grace is the first-fruit of the Spirit, because He,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One God, is Love.
Every growth in love is growth otHis Presence Who
is Love. Every growth in love, is growth of ever
lasting bliss, which is love.
" The world passeth away and the things thereof,
but the Word of God," and he who doeth the Will
of God, abideth for ever. When ye were gathered
here on the last Lord's Day, onec whom ye must,
many of you, have known, and whom to know ever
so little was to love, was passing away out of this
fleeting world and entering into that eternal love.
Ever was he full, from childhood, to that very hour,
of self-forgetting love. His very being was pure,
gentle, tender love. He had those things in this
world which many of you have not and cannot have,
understanding, rank, and this world's goods. These,
e The Hon. E. Herbert, who was well known to the little con
gregation at Pusey, and was loved in proportion as any knew him.
His soul had passed away in peace and faith and love, during the
time of morning service on Whit-Sunday.

282 The Rest of Love and Praise.
which some of you would have been glad to have,
are passed away. Understanding is changed into
knowledge ; faith into sight ; hope into the things
hoped for ; but love abides. In boyhood, youth,
middle age, whether those whom he loved were here,
or whether they were where he now is, one deep full
well-spring of love ever dwelt with him, ever, when
it had opportunity, flowed forth in deeds and words
of love. For nearly forty years I knew him, and
have seen in him a love such as is seldom found in
man, but never heard one word or beheld one deed,
at variance with pure, holy love. I have often
known his inward soul, yet never heard him so
speak, as one unprepared for death. " Whose faith
follow, beholding the end of his conversation, Jesus
Christ." For now what abides ? That love wherewith he
ever loved, how must it now be heightened, purified,
glorified, spiritualized in the love of God ! Love
then, my brethren ; love the Lord your God with all
your minds and hearts and soul and strength ; love
all whom you love in Him ; love those who love you
not, for Him ; love nothing out of Him ; so shall ye,
in the end, be gathered into His everlasting love.
For " he who dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God.
For God is Love." / A^ U. S^*"*

SERMON XVI.

FAITH IN OUR LORD, GOD AND MAN.

FESTIVAL OF ST. PETER, 1845.
St. Matthew xvi. 15 — 17.
" He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ?
And Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art
Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus an
swered and said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
but My Father, Which is in heaven."
To-day is indeed a festival of faith. To-day was
that confession of the Faith, which ye have heard,
" Thou, the Son of Man, art the Christ, the Son of
the living God," sealed by the blood of those twin
leaders of the Apostolic band, chiefs of the choirs of
saints/ lights of the world, in whom Christ lived,
through whom Christ spake, wrote, worked, drew all
men to Himself by the virtue of His Passion, and
a See S. Chrysostom's magnificent burst of feeling, Horn. 32.
on the Ep. to the Romans fin. p. 504—510, Oxf. Tr.

284 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
the might of His Resurrection. In one day, one
hour, both sealed it ; he who first made it, and to
whom the Father from heaven revealed it, and he,
not " a whit behind the chief of the Apostles," to
whom our Lord appeared in His ineffable glory to
reveal it. " Who art Thou, Lord ?" "I am Jesus,
Whom thou persecutest ; " " I, thy Lord and God in
heaven, Whom thou knowest not, am Jesus, the Son
of Man, Whom in my members on the earth, thou
persecutest." To both St. Peter and St. Paul was the same
truth revealed, although far differently. In both, it
wrought the same fruit. Both bore it throughout
the world. Both, as on this day, confessed it to the
end, and " in their death they were not divided. "
By death, they spread it more than by their life,
chiefs in the noble army of martyrs.
Doubtless, to-day, the powers of hell triumphed,
when these seemed to be laid low, the chief columns
of the rising Church ; they, at whose united prayer,
the first heretic had lately been struck dead,b and
the powers of evil had publicly been foiled, them-
b The death of Simon Magus in an attempt to fly through magic,
is mentioned by Arnobius (A.D. 303) in a work addressed to the
heathen (adv. Gent. ii. 12). His death through S. Peter is
owned even by Eusebius (H. E. ii. 15.) It is related in the
Constt. Apost. (ii. 44) and was believed by Lucifer writing from
Rome, A.D. 355. (in Baron. A.D. 355. n. 8.) S. Cyril Jerus. (vi.
15.) S. Ambrose (Hexaem. iv. 8. fin.) S. Augustine (de Haer. 1.)
Sulpitius Severus (Hist. ii. 28.) Theodoret (Haeret. Fab. i. 1.)
The fact of such an attempt seems to be alluded to by Dio Chrys.
(Orat 21.) and Suetonius (Nero c. 12.) S. Augustine (Ep. 36 ad
Casulam. § 21) says that " most Romans " thought the opinion of
many unfounded, that the Saturday fast, (which was peculiar to
Rome) was instituted by S. Peter in preparation for this conflict.

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 285
selves, "in the sight ofthe unwise/ seemed," in their
turn, "to perish." Their tongues were silenced,
by which Christ had spoken, which had borne the
Name of Christ and His salvation throughout the
world. They, at whose rebuke the devils had trem
bled, and hasted in fear from the bodies and souls
which they had possessed and held captive ; they,
who had broken the empire of Satan, put his instru
ments to shame, led, in their Master's steps, count
less myriads, in themselves poor, and ignorant, weak,
and unstable, and enslaved, to " wrestle against
principalities and powers," to " triumph and have
victory over Satan, the world, and the flesh," fol
lowers d of them as they of Christ, themselves, were
laid, as it seemed, in the dust of death. The eyes
which had seen Christ in His glory, which watched
for His coming, and in the daily care of all the
Churches, were dimmed. The hands which gave
the Spirit,6 and power over the enemy, were stiff.
The feet, "beautiful on the mountains, shod with
the preparation of the Gospel of peace," which had
carried " the good tidings into all lands, and His
words unto the end of the world," were motionless.
The " two bright luminaries of heaven," the golden
candlesticks which shed abroad the light of the glo
rious Gospel, seemed to be put out. The bodies, in
which the Holy Ghost so dwelt, that the very rai
ment which had touched them, had power over dis
eases/ and to cast out devils, seemed like a desolate
dwelling-place, left of its inhabitant. They whom
Christ had sent in His own stead, " As My Father
• Wisd. iii. 2. d 1 Cor- xi- 1-
e Acts vi. 6 ; viii. 17. f Acts xix. 12.

286 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
sent ME, even so send I you," the two very chief of
these, e the Apostle of the Circumcision, and the
Apostle of the Gentiles, the bearers of heaven's keys,
the stewards of the kingdom, the shepherds of the
sheep, he to whom, on his faith, Christ had vouch
safed to give His own Name, and as He Himself is
the rock, (petra) entitled him, " stone,h a piece from
the Rock," (Petros) giving him His own strength, to
be a foundation, in Himself the Foundation of all ;
to steady others, being steadied and stedfast in
Himself; and he, to whom He had given to be a
wise master-builder, to "fill up the measure of His
sufferings," to " bear His marks," in whom He Him
self lived, — what a triumph must it have seemed to
Satan, to have cut off these in one day ! How deso
late anew was the widowed Church, from whose head
the representatives of her Lord were taken ; no more
to hear the voice through which the Holy Ghost
spake, but to feed only, as we, on the writings
whereby they would, that she " should' have these
things always in remembrance." So sore a trial had
not the Church had, since, in the Ascension of her
Lord, she exchanged sight for faith, His visible for
His unseen Presence ; as now when her two princi
pal shepherds were withdrawn, who possessed the
fulness of His Spirit, and in whom He, her Saviour,
her Head, her Lord, spake, rebuked, warned, strength
ened, comforted.
g See quotations in Barrow " on the Popish supremacy," Supp. i.
vi. 7. 8. p. 123. S. Chrys. 1. c. p. 504. and n. c. Oxf. Tr.
h See S. Augustine and S. Jerome in note Q. on Tertullian,
p. 494. ed. 1.
1 1 Pet. i. 15.

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 287
Yet the triumphing of the wicked is but for a mo
ment; for a moment only, the "light affliction" of
the Church. " Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of His saints." Their prayers for the
Church, which here " had power with God and pre
vailed," were not the less availing, when they were
freed from this body of death, and, having overcome,
sat down on the throne of their Lord, even as He
" also overcame and sat down with the Father on
His throne," and " followed the Lamb whithersoever
He goeth." The Church grew, not diminished, as
her martyrs were transferred from earth to heaven,
and her numbers in heaven were multiplied above
those which were yet upon the earth. The seed-
corn again fell to the earth, not to die, but to yield
fruit. The faith, which they anew confessed, stood
unshaken. The Church, founded on its Rock, trem
bled not. Persecution's breath but kindled the glow
of faith. The grace of God was not extinguished.
Present tears were the earnest of future joy.
" Happyk Church," said one after a century, " on
which the Apostles poured out all their doctrine
with their blood ; where Peter had a like passion
with the Lord, where Paul had for his crown the
same death as John." On the confession of the faith
was the Church founded. By it, not by any outward
lot, is her prosperity or adversity attested. Then is
she secure, when she speaks it boldly ; then she fails,
if she speaks it feebly ; then is her strength renewed,
when she anew confesses it, her faith in Him, the
Rock on Whom she stands.
What, then, is this Apostolic faith, on the confes-
* Tert. de Prseser. c. 36. p. 470. Oxf. Tr.

288 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
sion of which the existence of the Church hangs,
" against which the gates of hell shall not prevail,"
planted by death, watered by the blood of the mar
tyrs ; speaking the louder, when they seem to die ;
conquering, by being destroyed ; rising up the more
heavenwards, the more it is oppressed ? '
To both St. Peter and St. Paul was it alike re
vealed, though in a very different way, yet to both
the same summary of the faith, as the very con
dition of their office, and the ground of their com
mission. To St. Peter, who saw our Lord as Man,
not through eyes of flesh and blood, (for these would
have shewn him only the " form of a servant," the
" despised and rejected of men,") but through the
revelation of the Father, was it made known, that He
was " the Christ, the Son of the living God," the
ever-living Son of the ever-living Father. To
St. Paul while yet a persecutor, was His Godhead
revealed ; and when, by the light of the glorious
Majesty which shone from our Lord's Human Body,
he was stricken down to the earth, Saul was taught
that Jesus, Whom he now owned as Lord and God,
was, although God, still God and Man. " I am
JESUS Whom thou persecutest."
To both was it of grace. Both were allowed to
fall. Peter, by His confession founded on the Rock,
and to be, in Him, a rock and pillar of the Church,
trembled at the breath of a little maid, and denied
that he knew Him Whom he loved, Whom the Fa
ther had revealed to him. Paul, in the midst of his
phrenzy was healed, was made for a wolf, a shep
herd ; for a blasphemer, a confessor of the faith ;
1 See Tertull. Apol. c. 50. p. 105. n. a. Oxf. Tr.

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 2S9
for a persecutor, an Apostle. Himself re-made, he
undid what he had done, preached the faith which
he had wasted, that it might be seen that the whole
was of God, requiting evil for good, making of the
evil, good. " Great deserts had Paul/' says a father,1"
" but evil."
To both, the blessing and their Apostolic commission
were given upon this faith. To St. Peter, our Lord
•graciously echoes, as it were, his words, in blessing.
"And /say unto thee ;"-^that is, thou hast avouched
Me to be thy Lord and thy God, and I, the very Son
of God, Whom thou hast confessed, say to thee,
" thou art Peter," or as a father" explains it, " I
am the unshaken Rock ; I, the Corner Stone, Who
made both one ; I, the Foundation, other than which
can no man lay. Yet thou also art a rock, because
thou art stablished by My strength, so that what are
of right My own, shall, by My imparting, be common
to thee with ME. On this might, will I build an
everlasting temple, and on the firmness of this faith,
shall arise the majestic height of My Church, which
shall reach to Heaven. This confession the gates
of hell shall not restrain ; the bonds of death shall
not bind ; for this voice is the voice of life."
Of St. Paul, on receiving the same faith, He said,
" he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My Name
before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of
Israel." This he had received ; this, like a stream
of life, gushing forth unto life everlasting, he was to
pour forth in the rich and enriching flow of Divine
truth, until the dry land should become like the
m S. Aug. de grat. et lib. arbit. c. v. § 12.
n S. Leo serm. iv. de anniv. suo c. 2, 3.
U

290 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
garden of the Lord. Blessed, precious vessel, flow
ing on until now, ever full and filling all, unstayed
so long as there be other vessels to receive through
him, the oil of Divine illumining.
The substance of the faith, then, on which the
Church is founded, " against which the gates of hell
shall not prevail," is in us, not of us ; not obtained
by ourselves, but the gift of God ; no reflection upon
ourselves ; no confession of what we are ; no thought
of self; it is the belief in our Lord, as God and Man
in one. This must be the sign of a " standing or
falling Church," since He Himself, the Foundation
of the Church, the Way, and the Truth, has said it ;
the belief in Himself, as what He is. " Revolving,"
says a great defender ofthe faith,0 "all the opinions
of those who believe untruly, those even who rush
headlong to deny the Holy Ghost, we know that
scarce any one ever left the right path, save one who
believed not the truth of the two Natures of Christ,
with the confession of His one Person."
This is the confession of St. Peter. His Human
Being our Lord had declared, " Whom say men that
I the Son of Man, am ?" Men had owned Him as
man, as more than ordinary man, as if alive from the
dead ; as John the Baptist, or Jeremiah. " But
whom say ye that I am ?" What more than man,
though being man ? " Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God." Our Lord had declared His
Birth of our flesh, of our nature ; His Birth in hu
mility ; what He had, for love of man, become. His
Birth, by Nature, of God, He graciously leaves to
His Apostle to declare ; what He Is and Was from
0 S. Leo Serm. xxviii. (de Nativ. Dom. 8.)

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 291
the Beginning, His unchangeable Being, "the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever, " His Divine Person
ality. "Whom say ye that I, the Son of Man, am ?"
" The Son of the living God ; " Very God of Very
God ; Life of Life ; having life in Himself as the
Father hath life in Himself ; of the Father, not after
the Father ; without beginning of time ; not created,
not made, not succeeding, but the Only-Begotten ;
abiding ever, the co-eternal Son of the eternal Fa
ther. It had been no great thing, nor entitled to so
great blessing, to have owned as more than man, or
as greater than any created being, Him Who shewed
Himself to be the ruler of the elements, Whom
" wind and sea obeyed," Who " treadeth p on the
waves of the sea, " the " searcher of hearts, " Who
"knew what was in man," Who "cast out the spirits
with a word," Whom devils owned, against their will,
to be " the Son of God. " But now, the Apostle
knew, not by human reasoning ; he saw beyond hu
man sight. Heaven, yea, He Who filleth the hea
vens, was present with him. The Everlasting Father
opened his eyes, and in His light he beheld the co
equal Son ; not in space, not with the bodily eyes,
but with that inward and ineffable light, whereby
" the pure in heart shall see God, " and he saw, and
confessed, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God."
This then was the full confession, that as He was
Son of Man, so He was Son of God ; Son of God in
eternity, co-eternal, and co-equal with the Father,
(since had not the Son ever been, the Father had
not ever been the Father, and there had been change
P Job xix. 8 ; S. Matt. xiv. 26.
u2

292 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
in the unchangeable,) and that He, God of God,
had for our salvation become Man, of our very flesh,
for us emptied of His own glory, and a partaker of
our shame. Blessed confession , thenceforth the bul
wark of the Church, the food of childlike minds, the
contemplation of angel-souls, the comfort of the
penitent, the stay of the broken-hearted, the fore
taste of heaven, to see, and confess, and adore, God
made Man for our redemption ; Man taken into God
for our endless, unspeakable glory in bliss ! Blessed
Apostle, who had already the bliss of heaven, to see
under the veil of mortality, Him, Whom " to know
is everlasting life," the fountain of holiness, the ful
ness of bliss !
Instructive, further, and mysterious is it, that this
saving truth was revealed not by our Lord Himself,
but by the Father. So our Lord said elsewhere
" No man can come unto ME, except the Father
Who hath sent Me, draw him." The very teaching
of the eternal Son fell on dull ears and stony hearts,
unless the Father unsealed the ears, and melted the
heart. And so, to shew the oneness of operation
of the Father and the Son, the Son revealed the
Father, and the Father inwardly drew to the Son,
by the sweet vehemence of grace. " The form of a
Servant " was beheld by all ; by Judas who betrayed
Him, and Caiaphas, who said, " We have heard His
blasphemy," and the council, who condemned Him as
guilty of death, and those who crucified Him. " He
was in the world, and the world knew Him not. "
" But to as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, who were born
not of the will of the flesh, but of God ; " even as our

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 293
Lord here says, " Flesh and blood hath not -revealed
it unto thee, but My Father Which is in heaven."
Then, visibly, He was in the world, as now invisi
bly in the Church ; yet then as now, He was seen
only of those whose eyes were opened, seen in diffe
rent degrees, even by those who saw Him truly.
For even Apostles had before this confessed, " Thouq
art the Christ," " Thou art the Son of the living
God," yet did not at once receive the blessing ; and
to Philip, who said " shew us the Father," He said,
" Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou
not known Me, Philip ?" He was in the world, not
to declare Himself, but to do His Father's Will and
His Father's works, to be rejected and blasphemed,
or believed in and loved, as each was repelled by
His outward humiliation, or drawn to Him by His
inward Majesty.
What then was the character of St. Peter to
which the Father revealed Him ? For such must
we too be, if we would that, in our measure, He
should reveal Him to us, draw us unto Him, and that
He should dwell in our hearts by love, and we, lying,
as it Were with His beloved Disciple, upon His
Breast, may drink of the depth and sweetness of
His truth.
What should we say, as is fitting, of him, the fisher
of men, who enclosed within the nets of the Gospel,
" ther dispersed of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
Bithynia," and converted Rome ; him who first con
fessed the Divinity of our Lord, and saw the mystery
which angels desire to look into ; on whose confession
our Lord founded His Church, giving her in his per-
9 S. Matt. xiv. 33 ; S. John i. 49 ; vi. 69. r 1 Pet. i. 1.

294 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
son, as a type of her, the keys of heaven, loosing
what he loosed, and binding what he bound ; who
gathered into the Church the first-fruits of Jews and
Gentiles ; the ardent lover of his Lord ; conformed
to His death, crucified with Him by the death, long
foretold ; yet, in humility, dreading too near an ap
proach to its outward likeness ? Yet little as we
can say, one may, out of the manifold graces which
his Lord imparted to him, name his deep humility,
ardent love, devotion to his Master's honour, prompt,
self-denying obedience. And these we see when they
were as yet half-unformed, before the Holy Ghost
had come down in the fulness of His presence upon
the Church. What reverent awe at the presence of
our Lord, which would even forego that presence
from very humility, " Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord." What instant love, when he
who refused to see Him, His Lord and God, pros
trate to wash his feet, yet, when threatened with the
loss of Him, said, " Lord, not my feet only, but my
hands, and my head !" What ready obedience, ere
yet he had been called to give up all, and follow
Him, "We' have toiled all night and taken nothing,
nevertheless at Thy.word, (at one word of Christ,)
I will let down the net." Even his very falls were
in love for his Lord. Out of human feeling he would
not that his Lord should die, and so drew on himself
the rebuke, " get thee behind Me, Satan." A rebuke
still full of mildness, bidding him " follow after," not
" go before," follow His Lord to death, not refuse
that He should die for him. In ardent, though as
yet, uninstructed zeal of love, he drew the sword on
B S. Luke v. 5.

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 295
the high priest's servant. Love drew him within the
high priest's palace, and that one grievous fall was
not only washed away by those bitter tears, but when
he had been forgiven, restored, loving and beloved,
it was avenged by the austerity of a whole life ; '
and the aged confessor, the undaunted witness of
the truth, arose, it is related, night by night, at cock-
crowing, to weep that once he fell.
Such then being some of those graces in St. Peter,
to which the Father revealed the faith, against which
the gates of hell should not prevail, ardent love, de
votion, humility, ready self-denying obedience, how
is it with us ? For faith must be kept alive through
the same means whereby it is produced. We cannot
maintain it ourselves ; we cannot keep it alive ; we
cannot directly act upon it ; we cannot re-kindle it,
as neither could we give it to ourselves. Too many
of us must have felt this. There are times when to
many, faith has grown dim. They can remember,
as it may be, purer or simpler or more unworldly
days, or their childhood, as yet unimpaired by very
grievous sin, when faith was stronger, clearer, brighter.
It faded, perhaps ; they felt they had less hold of it.
They would recall it, but they could not, Its grounds
were as strong as before. The mind seemed to hold
it in its inmost recesses, but to the heart it seemed
gone. Faith in holy doctrine will gradually expire amid
the study of its proofs, or (more miserably still) amid
the very reading of Holy Scripture which should
4 S. Greg. Naz. joins him, in this respect, with Elijah and S.
John Baptist ; and says that he was " supported with lupines for
three farthings." [an as] Orat. 14, de amor. paup. a. 4.

296 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
keep it alive. To worldly persons a deadly heresy11
has, in the very study of the Bible, seemed the most
natural. The sense of the higher, transporting,
blessed truths died out. Losing in themselves what
was akin to it, they lost it.
Unhappy men bear witness to this, while they even
dare to blame God, and cast off all conscience from
themselves, and say, " Man is not the master of his
own faith, and so is not responsible for it. God will
never judge men for their opinions." They say
truly " man is not in certain cases master of his
faith," as in certain cases he is not master of his
acts ; it may be he often is not, of the last crowning
act of any sin. Judas, it may be, was not master of
himself, when he " went out," or when he " went and
hanged himself." In his downward course, man may,
at last, be unable to check himself; but the outset
of that course was from himself. Being what he is,
he may be unable to believe aright, but what he is,
he made himself. And what he is, God can unmake
him, and unmaking him and restoring him, will give
him back, when remade, the faith now grown dim or
lost. Man is responsible for his faith, because he is
responsible for the acts, whereby he loses it, and
without which acts, one by one, he would not have
lost it. More blessedly responsible is he for it, in
that he may recover it, not by forming his faith, but
by reforming his life. He cannot make his own
faith, but he can use the grace of God to remove
what hinders faith.
But besides this loss of faith which is from sin,
there is a seeming loss of faith which is not of sin.
u Socinianism. Such cases have been known to the writer.

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 297
This is what people often mean by saying that they
do not " realize" eternal truths. To realize eternal
truths, is to act, as knowing that they alone are
realities, that all besides is but a vain shadow, ex
cept as it bears upon eternity. That only is, which
abides. The effect of what we do, abides ; its effect
on our own eternal souls throughout eternity abides ;
the things themselves, what we had, did, thought,
said, suffered, enjoyed, hoped, feared ; how we were
thought of, dealt with, loved, hated, despised, have
already, up to this moment, passed away. One
thing only remains, what its effect has been upon
our own souls, or what we have done or neglected
to do to the souls of others. All the rest will soon
pass away ; it too will only live in our souls.
He then " realizes" things to come, who, in all
things of choice, chooses as one to whom things
eternal are " real," whose chief aim in all he does, is,
not the fleeting end which will soon have passed
away, but that which abides, the good pleasure of his
God. He " realizes" what prayer is, who knows that
of himself he is nothing ; that he can do nothing, but
that God can do all things for him ; and prays. He
" realizes" what Holy Communion is, who meditates
upon the greatness of God's Gift beforehand, prepares
his soul for It, prays his Lord to come under his roof,
and lives afterwards, as knowing whereof he has been
a partaker. He " realizes" what repentance is, who
forsakes his sin, and sorrows that he ever offended
his God. He " realizes " what humility is, who is
humble ; he, what charity is, who is loving in act and
tender in word, and denies himself for Christ's poor.
" Reality " is in life, not in vivid imagining. Hum-

298 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
ble and earnest souls often disquiet themselves in
vain, because they mistake this, and seek to estimate
their own state before God, instead of acting simply
as far as they can, as God wills, and then casting
themselves on the mercy of Jesus, the all-merciful.
They wish not only to love, but to know they love ;
not only really to pray, but to feel that they are
praying devoutly ; not only to long for their Sa
viour's presence, but to have sensible tokens of His
presence. They long for sensible devotion. But
by this very longing they often hinder what they
long for. For their eyes are not to Him, the object
of their faith, their hope, their longing, but upon
themselves. And so they lose the fervour of devotion,
and dry up their emotions, and chill themselves, be
cause, instead of going out of themselves and going
forth to Jesus, Who would kindle their love, and
draw up their souls, and gather them up into Him
self, they are ever sinking back into themselves, to
see whether they feel, or picture holy truth vividly
to themselves, or are conscious of it. They pace
round and round themselves, instead of forgetting
themselves, and thinking only of Jesus.
This is very common. A cloud seems brought
over the soul. " Thou hast covered Thyself with a
cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." x
The soul prays, but the prayer seems lost ; it is, as
though it would not rise up ; it falls back upon the
soul, and the soul is heavy and weary ; the soul
would feel after God, but it finds Him not ; it would
lift up itself, but all is void to it ; God is to it, as
though He wrere not. " There is no voice, nor any
* Lam. iii. 44.

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 299
that answereth." It turns to its Lord, and even His
blessed Death touches it not. All seems as though
floating in the mind only, images and shadows of a
substance which is gone. There is no bound to
this. Even at Holy Communion, it will seem to
people as though they received nothing. They pre
pare for It ; pray for grace ; pray our Lord to give
Himself to them ; but know nothing of His sweet
ness, have no token of His blessed presence, no joy,
no consolation. They seem to go empty away.
Perhaps they work themselves up to feel, and then
sink back more weary and dead than before.
What should the soul do in stfch sickness as this ?
What should the sick do, but go to the Physician ?
What did the Canaanitish woman, when our Lord
answered her not a word, but cry the more loudly ?
What, when even disciples would have sent her
away, but cry after Him, " Have mercy upon me,
0 Lord, Thou Son of David." She makes the same
confession as St. Peter, " Thou art my Lord and my
God, and Thou canst help me ; Thou art the Son of
David, for our sake become Man, and Thou wilt
help me ; for Thou art touched with a feeling of our
infirmities." What did she, when He still treats her
as unfit to have the children's bread, but humble
herself, (as we from her, have learned to do at the
Holy Communion,) and pray, although unfit to re
ceive, that He would give her what was fit for Him
to give. What did the blind Bartimseus, when
"many charged him that he should hold his peace ?"
" He cried out the more a great deal, Thou Son of
David, have mercy on me."
Do thou the same. Cry on, looking to Him

300 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
alone, " Good Jesu, have mercy on me ;" and what
ever be thy blindness, Jesus will, at the fitting time,
touch thine eyes, and thou shalt see ; whatever thy
coldness, He will kindle thy soul. Though it were
dead and buried, He would raise it up. Mourn not,
and fret not, whatever grace, or faith, or token of
God's love, or hope that thou lovest Him, thou
seemest not to have. Let every aching of thy heart
be a cry for mercy, and He will give thee more than
thou darest ask or think. Seek not to gain it for
thyself; but ask of Him, the fountain of all good
ness, Who giveth to every man liberally and up-
braideth not, and He will give it thee. He will give
thee light for darkness ; life for deadness of soul ;
faith for blinded sight ; for coldness of heart, love.
He will set thee free from the bonds of sin and sense,
and wing thy soul, that, through faith and love, it
may mount up, yea, be caught up, even to Himself.
Faith is, from first to last, the gift of God. What
ever precedes, accompanies, follows faith, is of Him.
For " what hast thou, which thou hast not received ?"
" Peace be to the brethren," says Holy Scripture,
" and love with faith, from God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ." Faith, living by love, and
ending in everlasting peace, is from God the Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ." Its first beginnings are
in His fore-coming mercy and grace. Its growth,
through His love which " He hath shed abroad in
our hearts, through the Holy Ghost which He hath
given us." Perseverance to the end in faith, is His
crowning gift. " I have prayed for thee, that thy
faith fail not." Faith rests not on reasoning or proof,
although it uses them ; it sees the unseen, the in-

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 301
visible. It sees, because it believes ; it believes, be
cause it loves. It goes a directer way. It lives in
heaven. It sees, where it lives and loves. Earth-
horn clouds hide not its object from it. It lives
above the mists of worldly passions, cares, distrac
tions in the serene light of love. The heart's deep
fervent gaze strengthens its vision, clears what was
confused ; penetrates what afore was hidden. Love
cleanseth its eye, and it beholdeth God. It believes,
loves, sees, because He, the object of its belief and
love, reveals Himself unto it, yea, comes, as He has
promised, unto it and makes His abode in it.
Love then is the life of faith ; obedience, the life
of love. Yea, rather, Christ Himself is the life of
the soul. " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me." Christ liveth in our hearts by faith ; and that
presence He promiseth to those that love Him and
keep His commandments. Wouldest thou have faith
and love ? wouldest thou that they should revive,
grow, be perfected ? Obey. For to obedience Christ
has promised His presence ; and His presence is
"comfort, life, and fire of love;" the fountain of
holiness ; the death of sin and self-love ; wisdom,
pighteousness, sanctification, and redemption ; for
it is the fulness of Him in Whom dwelt all the ful
ness of the Godhead bodily.
Men would now fain take a shorter course, they
would excite their own faith, arouse their own love. It
seems to them a strange, circuitous way, to bid them
fast, give alms, deny themselves, forego the world
and its distractions, be less absorbed in outward
things, less careful as to comforts, humble them
selves, rise betimes for prayer, that they may grow in

302 Faith in our Lord, God and Man.
faith and love. Yet it is the way of God ; ye your
selves, as many as once had a stronger, loving faith,
know too well how ye lost it. Ye lost it, as your
knowledge, and taste and love of the world grew ;
your faith was buried in the things of time and sense ;
exaltation of self, the love of man's praise, self-indul
gence, blunted it ; things of sense became more real,
solid, tangible ; things unseen grew fainter, more
distant, and shadowy ; life, which is a dream, be
came real ; God, the only reality, like a dream.
Would ye recover what ye have lost, would ye have
again childhood's fine sense, implicit faith, simple
love, ye must, step by step, return. Step by step,
ye have lost your way amid the vanities of the world ;
step by step, ye must retrace it. Take but the first
in the Name of God and in His strength. Take
but the first, in real, earnest, longing for the sight
of His blissful Countenance in love. Faint, slight,
hesitating, wavering though it be, yet do it, for the
love of God. Break off some one evil, seek to uproot
some one sin, cut off some one self-indulgence, deny
yourself some one vanity, give, for the love of God,
some larger alms ; do it, I say, as an offering to
God, for the love of God, in hope once to see God ;
and some gleam of faith, and life, and love will stream
down upon thy soul from the everlasting Fount of
love. Follow on, and thou shalt never lose that
track of light. Step by step, it shall be a light to
thy feet, and a lantern to thy paths. Through
darkness, it shall gleam upon thee ; in distress, it
shall brighten to thee ; hid for a time, it shall flash
again more vividly, keenly, piercingly upon thee.
Forsake it not, and it will not forsake thee. For it

Faith in our Lord, God and Man. 303
is a ray from His undying love ; light from the un
varying, unchanging Father of lights ; an earnest,
(if thou pray to persevere), of His beatific Vision in
¦>¦ eternal light, when faith, and sight, and hope, shall
be absorbed in love.

SERMON XVII.

GROANS OF UNRENEWED AND RENEWED
NATURE.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
Rom. viii. 22, 23.
" We know that the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now ; and not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within our
selves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemp
tion of our body."
Highest and lowest are bound in one in Christ.
God is One ; One in Nature, although in the Blessed
Persons of that Nature, Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
distinct ; and that oneness He impressed on His
creation. Before the angels' fall, all things in hea
ven were one. Before man's fall, things on earth
were one ; uniform though multiform. They were
one, by reflecting His image Who is One ; one, by

Groans of Unreneived and Renewed Nature. 305
fulfilling His will. And when disunion was brought
in by the fall of angels and men, since all things are
held in one, only as they are in Him, the One only
God, He willed to knit all things which are in hea
ven and which are in earth again in one, in His co
equal Son.
Passing by the fallen angels, but taking the nature
of man, and uniting our human nature with His
Divine, He bestowed on us, of all the last, that inef
fable closeness of union with Himself. Through us,
the fallen from God, lost and far removed by sin,
did He will to bring His rational creation into a
nearness past all thought, the creature with the
Creator, the finite with the Infinite, man with God.
Thus willed He to seek out the one lost sheep in this
our wilderness, and to bring it on His shoulders to
the heavenly courts. Thus willed He, that His
elect, being made like unto the angels, should with
the holy angels form one Church, to the eternal
glory of His Holy Name ; one, as being filled by
Him Who is One ; His Body, " the fulness of Him
Who filleth all in all."
Elsewhere, Holy Scripture teacheth us, that the
highest of the heavenly hosts are interested in the
mysteries of man's redemption, and " desire to look
into the things" which relate thereto. It tells us,
that "untoa principalities and powers in heavenly
places is known by the Church the manifold wisdom
of God." Here, on the other hand, it reveals to us,
that the very lowest have in some way suffered by
man's fall ; that they, too, shall in his restoration,
gain in glory. Mysterious power of sin, that it
a Eph. iii. 10.
X

306 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
should so defile, not the sinner only, but the very
creation which itself partakes not of it ! Heaven
and earth are spoiled by man's sin ; and, as defiled,
must pass away, and be changed into " a new hea
ven and new earth," fit for righteousness to dwell
therein. Through our Lord's holy presence must
the heavenly places be purified11 from our sin ; and
this earth and all that is therein must be burnt up.
Mysterious efficacy of our Blessed Lord's Atone
ment, that all things which shut not out God ; all,
but they who, at the last, shall be found to have re
jected Him, shall partake of the glory, which He
hath purchased, and which floweth forth from Him !
For man's sake the earth was cursed. " God made
not death." "He" created all things that they might
have their being, and the generations of the world
were healthful ; and there is no poison of destruc
tion in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the
earth. For righteousness is immortal. But ungodly
men with their works and words called it to them."
" The creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly." " Vanity of vanities," saith the Preacher, " vanity
of vanities, all is vanity." Nothing comes to any
perfection ; nothing continues at one stay ; things
subsist but by renewal and decay : all things, by
change, foretell their own destruction, whereto they
are hastening. " Thed sun ariseth, and the sun goeth
down and hasteth to his place whence he arose."
He seemeth to rise, but to set ; no sooner doth he
reach his full glory in the height of heaven, than he
seemeth to sink towards his end. He shineth not in
b Heb. ix. 23. c Wisdom i. 13 — 16. a Eccles. i. 5.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renezved Nature. 307
his full glory, but he thereby draws clouds around
him ; when he putteth forth his fullest heat, then we
mostly feel that a change cometh ; or, if it cometh
not, his very brightness becomes the decay of that,
for which he shineth. " The wind," e says the Preacher
again, " goeth toward the south, and turneth about
unto the north ; it whirleth about continually." It
does, as it were, and undoes its own work, going
and returning ; and when it resteth, it ceases, as it
were, to be. " Thef rivers run into the sea, yet the
sea is not full. Unto the place whence the rivers
come, thither they return again. All things are full
of labour, man cannot utter it." All things bear
about them strange tokens of good and evil. Each
pictures to us some part of the glory of their Maker ;
each, of our vanity. They minister to us, only by
their corruption ; they live, only to die. Day dieth
unto night, and night vanisheth into day. Summer
seems to give way unwillingly to winter, and winter
unto summer. Seeds grow not, but by perishing ;
when grown, they are our food through their destruc
tion. Flowers turn not to fruit, but by the fading of
their glory. All seems to toil ; all changes ; all
decays ; all, in one weary and restless round, seem
to say " we abide not for ever ; here is not thy rest."
"The creature" then "is subject to vanity" through
outward decay ; itself perishable and serving to
perishable ends.
But more ! It was all formed " very good," to its
Maker's praise ; and now, through which hath not
He been dishonoured ?s If beautiful, man loves and
e Eccles. i. 6. f Ib. i. 7, 8.
E "The enemy of God hath corrupted, together with man him-
x2

308 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
admires it, without or more than God, or worships it
instead of Him. If any brings outward evil, man,
on occasion of it, murmurs against its Maker. All
were made to His glory ; all, through man's sin, turn
to His dishonour. Such was the condemnation of
the heathen. " Theyh changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator Who is Blessed for ever."
By love of them or displeasure at them, men alike
forget God. When through them, God chastens
them, they in fact upbraid Him. When He blesses
them, they forget Him, or sin against Him, through
His gifts. How is every object of every sense abused
to vanity ! Who, well nigh, escapes something
amiss in his very daily food ? how does it minister
to excess and luxury, to self-satisfaction, and full
ness, or undue pleasure, not to speak of gross and
carnal sins !
"Jeshurun5 waxed fat and kicked." " Shek did
not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold, which they pre
pared for Baal." What, even now, is not, even by
Christians, offered to some Baal of pride, or luxury,
or " covetousness, which is idolatry ?" Of what
thousand thousand sins are the daily supplies of our
daily food, the occasion ! "Whose god is their belly."
In unthankfulness or luxury, or daintiness, or hard-
self, the whole creation put into subjection to man for certain uses ;
whence also the Apostle saith that it was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, being subverted first through vain uses, and then
through such as were vile, and unrighteous, and ungodly." Tert.
de Cor. c. vi. p. 168, and not. p. [Oxf. Tr.J where the interpre
tations on this text in the fathers are collected.
h Rom. i. 25. * Deut. xxxii. 15. * Hos. ii. 8.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 309
ness of heart, if we have much ; if little, through
sin in procuring it.
How do all things beautiful minister to vanity ;
all things soft to luxuriousness ! The very outward
beauties of God's creation, men gaze on with mere
sensual delight. All " good things of this life" serve
to pride, when men have them ; to covetousness, if
they have them not. The more manifold their use,
the more manifold their abuse. Things of sense or
of spirit, the commonest supplies of our needs, or
the most refined objects, which employ our under
standing, all were alike made for good ; all are
turned, through sin, to evil. " The1 invisible things
of God from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead, so that men
are without excuse." And yet even on occasion of
the very knowledge of the visible creation, men exalt
themselves, or deny God, or His Truth. The very
sounds, which seem to float down as from another
world, and to echo the angels' harps ; the very voice
of praise, the language of heaven, we scarcely know
whether it is spiritual or material ; how, in our very
Churches, does it often steal away men's hearts to
love itself, not the praise of God, which by its speech
less voice it utters ! how, in the world, is it profaned
to feverish excitement and sensual pleasure, and
vanity, and sin ! Alas ! why multiply instances,
when every sin is committed through misuse of some
creature of God, which He made for good ; when
every spot of God's creation, every work of His
Hands, all, highest and lowest, are in turn stained,
1 Rom. i. 20.

310 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
and defiled, and marred by man's sin ! And there
fore, as God elsewhere saith, that " the whole earth
is oppressed and loatheth and vomiteth forth her
inhabitants,111 through whom she is defiled," so, now
that regenerate man panteth after his heavenly home,
"all creation groaneth and travaileth together ""
with him, that having, with him and for his sake,
been "made subject to vanity" and corruption, it
may, with him, be made partaker of incorruption
and of glory.
Such then, is the first sense of this great and
mysterious passage, that all nature, having suffered
together, shall be restored together. Things animate
and inanimate, as being the works of God, (as we see
in the use of Holy Scripture and even in the very
works themselves,) bear in themselves some likeness
to their Maker, and traces of His Hands. Things
seen speak of things unseen. How does the bright
gladdening glow of light speak of the purity of Light
inapproachable ; that one may not scan it with too
bold a gaze, how it warms, heals, lightens, directs,
penetrates, transfigures into itself, gladdens our in
most souls. And yet all around us and in us bear
also sad tokens of the fall. As then to us death is
to be the gate of immortality and glory, so in some
way to them. Whence Holy Scripture says else
where, " the earth shall wax old like a garment, and
m Lev. xviii. 25,
n " To grieve with, and groan with, is to grieve and groan with
another who groaneth or grieveth, that is, whereas he himself hath
no ground for groaning or grieving, yet he grieveth or groaneth
for him who hath such ground." Origen, in Ep. ad Rom. L. 7.
§ 4. p. 596. Ed. de la Rue.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 31 1
they that dwell therein shall die in like manner."0
We are to die "in like manner" with the earth.
As then we, so many as are in Christ, perish not
utterly, but put off only corruption, to be, by a new
and immortal birth, clothed with incorruption, so
also they.
Again,as Holy Scripture says of us,"the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed," v
so in their measure, of them ; " as a vesture shalt
Thou change them, and they shall be changed."9
It says not only " shall perish," but be " changed,"
and renewed to good.1 " The heavens being on fire
0 Is. li. 6. "All creation groaneth and travaileth together,
waiting for the revelation of the sons of God, that it may be changed
for the better ; and not only the souls of men, which are immor
tal, but the bodies too be changed into a glorified substance.
'For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal
put on immortality.' Since then heaven and earth wax old, con
sequently both the things which are contained in the circle of the
heavens, and men who are inhabitants of this earth shall ' die like
these,' not to their destruction, but to the ending of their ancient
vileness, and the renewal of glory to come, when the righteous
shall shine as the sun, and the old and past things being gone, all
things shall be made new. But if heaven and earth shall perish,
how can its inhabitants be consistently said to die and perish ' in
like manner' with them, whereas we know that the souls are im
mortal, and that the bodies will rise again ? Whence it is clear
that heaven and earth do not perish, nor are reduced to nothing
but are changed for the better." S. Jerome, ad loc.
P 1 Cor. xv. 52.
« Ps. cii. 26.
1 See on Tertullian, quoted in pp. 307, 308. The writer said
there, The Apostle is understood to speak of a restoration of the
natural creation, by S. Irenseus, S. Hilary, S. Ambrose, S. Greg.
Naz., S. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Proclus in S. Epiphanius, Gau-
dentius, S. Jerome, Maximus Taur. and others. This liberation

312 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat." Yet8 the fire which burns up heaven
and earth shall but free them from the wrongs which
they endure at our hands, the bondage in which they
have been held to corruption and vanity ; and, cleans
ing them from the stains and defilements of our sins,
shall yield them pure, "a new heaven and a new
earth," new for us renewed," incorrupt for us unde
fined ; so that as our dwelling-place has, as yet, been
marred by our sin, then should the love of God for
us overflow upon it, and the glory of His presence,
which shall be our joy, shall array it too with a glad
brightness, in harmonious sympathy with our joy.
"As' our human body shall be endued with a certain
supernatural form of glory, so the whole creation of
sense, in that glory of the sons of God, shall obtain
a newness of glory, and theu former things passing
away, and the oldness of decay, He shall make all
things new."
Elsewhere, too, Holy Scripture lends a voice to
mute and inanimate nature, saying, " allx the trees
ofthe creature, they state, will take place through its destruction.
This is said by S. Ambrose, S. Jerome, S. Augustine, S. Chry
sostom, S. Methodius, S. Cyril Jerus. S. Athanasius, Eusebius,
Prosper, Cassiodorus, Proclus, Gaudentius, S. Gregory the Great,
and others.
8 " In that conflagration of the world, the qualities of the cor
ruptible elements which suited our corruptible bodies, shall, by
burning, utterly perish ; and the substance itself shall have those
qualities, which, by a wondrous change, shall suit immortal bodies,
that the world renewed for the better, may fitly be suited to men,
in the flesh also renewed for the better." S. Aug. de Civ. Dei
20, 16, add c. 14. 17. 24.
' S. Thom. Aq. ad loc.
u Quoted by S. Jer. ad Is. ]x. x Ps. xcvi. 12, 13.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 313
of the wood shall rejoice before the Lord, for He
cometh, He cometh to judge the earth." " Break y
forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every
tree therein." Wherein it speaks doubtless in part in
a spiritual sense, how they shall abound and over
flow with joy in God, whom He hath planted in His
courts, filled with the life-giving, ever-flowing sap of
His Spirit, and made fruit-bearing trees ; or those
again, eminent in light and holiness, who like moun
tains, are rooted deep in humility, pierce the clouds
through faith, and catch the first beams of the Sun
of Righteousness . But it seems to picture too how
heaven and earth shall, when He cometh, wear a
dress of joy. So the Prophet says again that our
earth shall glow with a fuller light from heaven, in
that " ike7' light of the moon shall be as the light of
the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as the
light of seven days."
Such glorious tokens of our immortal state, such
wonderful signs of oneness and love, such touching
lessons of our passing away and our abiding, does
God shed all around us, that the very creation which
we misuse, should mind us of our end ; earth, sea and
sky, should bid us love not them, but Him Who
made them ; should by its very state and being, its
beauty and its decay, tell us to long for Him for
Whom itself seemeth to yearn, the perfection of
Beauty, Infinite in perfection, Who Alone abideth
for ever.
Yet since Holy Scripture saith " the whole creation
y Is. xliv. 23.
' Is. xxx. 26. So interpreted by S. Jerome ad loc. and on
Is. lxv. 17, 18.

314 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
groaneth and travaileth in birth-pain together with"
us, it, in some sense, includes all created being, and
tells us that all, from highest to lowest, have an inte
rest in our redemption ; all, are made subject, as it
were, to some imperfection ; all, with long and long
ing expectations, look " for the revelation of the sons
of God," when our life, now " hidden with Christ in
God," shall be disclosed, when " Christ, Who is our
Life, appearing, we also shall appear with Him in
glory." Not as though the holy angels, blessed in the
burning love of God, over-streamed with the bound
less river of delight from the Divine presence, ever
beholding the very Face of God, can be thought to
have pain and grief! Yet, as Almighty God is in
Holy Scripture said to "grieve and repent of the
evil," when in His unchangeable love He doeth that,
which we should do out of our imperfect feelings,
much more may the holy angels be said to groan
and travail in birth-pain together with us, while they
long for our immortal birth, which is yet delayed by
our sins. They long that the number of the elect
should be perfected, the full mystery of the love of
God in Christ which they desire to look into, be re
vealed, when all, freed from time, and change, and
chance, and toil, shall, in unvaried, unsetting bless
edness, that Morning that knows no evening, that
Light that knows no darkness, joy without fear of
losing Him, wherein it joys ; when, no fighting within,
no fears without, no corruption in any part resisting,
no disquiet any more harassing, our whole inferior
self subdued to our spirit, and we ourselves, wholly
subdued to God, shall breathe again and live wholly

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 315
in our God, in the glad repose, and peace, and rest
of perfect, everlasting love. " They," says a father/
"who rejoice over one sinner that repenteth, must
in a manner mourn over the sorrows of so many
sinners." Yet not the world below, or the world above alone
are said in a manner to groan and sympathize with
us, but all creation must include our nature too in
that one common groan and pang, our whole nature,
whether that which " having lost through sin the seal
of the image of God, remaineth," (a fatherb saith,)
" a mere creature," or that which having " the first-
fruits of the Spirit," is no longer called a creature
only, but " the sons of God." For in some sense, all
are " made subject to vanity, not willingly." " Wil
lingly" man sinned, against his will is he punished."
Willingly he binds himself with the cords of his sins ;
unwillingly often does he remain in them, galled by
the bondage which he cannot break, or, with a maimed
will, wishing that he could, in earnest, will. And
so, the heathen world, as of old it longed indistinctly
for the return of the glad bright days of its early
innocence, and now too, as it loathes the very wicked
ness wherein it lies, sees and approves what is best,
while it follows the worst, yearns, at times to be
a S. Ambrose Ep. 34, ad Horont. § 10. " They who rejoice
over the redemption," &c. Theodoret also, of a different school,
" Here he includes also the invisible creation. For he says, the
whole creation. But for its more accurate understanding, I will
recall the words of the Gospel. For the Lord hath said, that the
angels too in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repenteth. But
ifthey rejoice over repenting sinners, it is plain that they are sad
dened, seeing our transgressions."
b S. Aug. de queestt. 83. q. 67. § 4. c S. Aug. 1. c. § 3.

316 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
freed, is " subject to vanity, not willingly," and even
by its mute wretchedness, utters a speechless groan
that it is an outcast from its God. And this, as now
of late in India/ bursts forth from time to time, into
a louder cry, " Come and help us." And think you
not, my brethren, that here at your very doors, are
many, not willingly subject to their daily habits of
neglect of God, who might yet be gathered into the
fold of Christ ? Think ye not that in the heart-
sickening desolation of this wilderness of souls, there
are those sick at heart at their estrangement from
their God ? and will ye be for ever deaf to the com
mon cry ? Will ye by petty ineffectual efforts, and
cold prayers or heartless apathy, still, year by year,
delay the time of their redemption ? Will the cry
of the " six score thousand, who know not their right
hand from their left," for whose sakes God spared
Nineveh, and perhaps spares us, never reach your
ears ? Shall they, bone of your bone, flesh of your
flesh, fresh from your Maker's Hands, bought by the
same precious Blood, never move your pity ? Shall
they be born but to perish, unless God take them
away from the evil to come ? Shall they be for ever
allowed to drop into that black suffocating pool, de
filed, loathsome, whence few emerge, where those,
born with you into a redeemed world, float down,
unless God have pity, to the pit of hell ? Church-
going makes the sinful indifference to the salvation
of your brethren a sin against the light. How can
ye love Christ whom ye have not seen, if ye prize
not your brother's soul whom ye have seen ? How
d Preached soon after the application from the heathen at Tin-
nivelly to us to convert them.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 317
can ye think that ye prize that, which ye leave to the
care of the great shepherd of this metropolis ? The
shepherd of this metropolis is not our Lord. Few
are taught to know Him. We are not its shepherds,
shepherds of a few we are ; but we are but a hand
ful, who if we find a few stray sheep, can find mostly
no fold to bring them in. No other shepherds of
Christ are the shepherds of most of these two mil
lion souls. Who then is their shepherd ? who his
under-shepherds ? Who but he who cares most
watchfully for those whom no one cares for, — the
devil with his angels. They prize their companion
ship in hell, whose society in Heaven ye despise.
May ye not be their companions ! But if ye would
not be, ye must take more pains, that they be your
companions, there where ye profess to wish to be.
" Take heed that ye despise not one of these little
ones. " Are not some of us weary of the vanity
wherein we are yet in part held, and shall we not,
by some more devoted service, larger alms, more
fervent prayers, seek to burst both our bonds and
theirs ? Will ye not by some more self-denying
efforts hasten the time ?
Yet not alone, nor chiefly, doth inanimate nature
mutely long to be freed from the contagion of our
sin. Nor do angels only, grieve that " the heirs of
salvation" to whom "they minister," will not be re
deemed, and attend mournfully the wayward souls,
given to their care, as heirs with them of glory, but
themselves, for themselves, choosing shame and
death. Not only does unregenerate nature, in
feverish tossings, by its very misery, or by the in
ward cry of the earth-bound soul, put forth its as-

318 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
pirations after its lost estate, and complain, that it
too is " subject to vanity, not willingly," "for to
will," says the Apostle, of unregenerate nature " is
present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not." More than all, " we ourselves,"
the Apostle saith, " who have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop
tion, to wit the redemption of the body." More do
God's faithful ones mourn than all things around,
because that for which they mourn, their remaining
imperfect state, the strife of flesh and spirit, is their
own. They mourn more than they who have not as
yet " the first-fruits of the Spirit, " because they
know in some degree the blessedness for which they
pant, God, for Whom they long. Angels know, in
part at least, the bliss reserved for us, to be like6
them, when God shall be in All in all ; yet they
know not the weariness of our strife. Some who,
fighting, are yet overcome, know the misery of strife
and defeat ; but they know not the object of their
longing, who have " the first-fruits of the Spirit,"
and so have left their souls hanging upon God, by
Whom they have been drawn, to whom they have
cleaved, Whom they love.
Weary, indeed, were life in itself, were the things
of this life our heart's inward employ. Weary in
deed were an eternity of such a life as this ! Imagine
the fulness of all outward things, " the kingdoms of
the world and the glory of them, " all delights of
body, all intellect, all knowledge, all power, strength,
activity, ability to compass all ends, all praise and
honour, all possessed for ever ; what weariness were
e S. Matt. xxii. 30.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 319
it all, with our imperfections ! how dreary, what a
void, what an eternity of wretchedness, without the
Face of God ! What a living death were this life at
best ! Its very refreshments are but a delay of
death, themselves, if continued, a source of death.
All things by turn fatigue, as if to teach us that
none of all is our rest. The more we would find
rest in any, the more they weary. What so weari
some as continued amusement, or lengthened rest, or
too long refreshment ? Less painful are watchings
and fastings, though these too lengthened would
wear out the frame. Yet, in itself, what vanity is
this very variety with which God has tempered our
weariness ! To fill the body/ lest it fail : to make
it hunger, lest it be oppressed with food : to rest it,
lest it be exhausted by labour : to labour, lest it be
weary through repose : to sleep, lest it be worn with
watching : to wake, lest it be listless through rest :
what were life, so lengthened out, but a long disease 1
What is all which the world covets, for which men
sell their souls, but, at its very best, an enduring
"bondage of corruption?" So, even thereby that
we are in the body, are we "subject to vanity." Yet,
how dark seems a prison when a ray from Heaven
has illumined it! how weary the bondage, when the
fetters have for a moment been removed ! how dreary
to be cast back on things of sense and time, when
the soul hath gone forth of itself, and tasted of the
sweetness of God !
But much more weary, even if victorious, our
strife, sweetened though it be, in so far as we are
f See S. Gregory on Job L. xii. c. 13. n. 17. torn. ii. p. 56,
Oxf. Tr.

320 Groans qf Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
" subject to God, and not to vanity ;" if we are sub
jected " in hope," that we shall one day cleave, not
with the " first-fruits of the Spirit" only, but with
our whole selves, to Him the Eternal Verity. What
to saints as to St. Paul, that the flesh, though crucified
to the cross of Christ, should still rebel against the
Spirit ! What to the beloved disciple to " haveg
sin" ! What to have that within, still rising, though
still subdued, at variance with the perfect law of
God ! And such as we, who know not the keenness
of their sense of sin, what at best is our own burden
of continual frailty, our daily succession of defeat
and victory ! This, then, is chiefly the groaning
whereof St. Paul speaks, a groaning which he him
self knew, "having the first-fruits of the Spirit," of
which he was himself the first-fruits. The taste of
heavenly things kindles but the more burning thirst.
If such be the first-fruits, what the whole ? If such
it be, that the first-fruits be offered as a sacrifice
unto God, what when the whole burnt- offering is
kindled by the fire of Divine love ! If such it be, to
" have tasted the good word of life, and the powers
of the world to come ;" if such, but for a time to see
heaven opened, and hear the unspeakable words,
and, hushed11 to itself and all created things, to forget
itself, and be absorbed in God, to receive but one
gleam of the heavenly light, be melted by its warmth,
cleave but with the extremity of its spirit to the
everlasting Blessedness, what must it be, to be for
ever blessed through the bliss of God, to become
e 1 S. John i. 8.
h See S. Aug. Confessions, ix. 10. § 24, 25, p. 173 — 175,
Oxf. Tr.

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 321
light in His light, love in His love, "for1 ever
gazing on the Unchangeable Trinity, to be changed
into Their Unchangeableness" !
And then what " bondage of corruption" again to
sink down to earth ! " With toil," says St. Gregory,
"the soul conquering herself, hath beheld the things
of Heaven, but dazzled, shrinks back from the light,
whose rays had overflowed it ; the kindled spirit,
drawn with full longings close to the bosom of that
inward peace, is again disturbed by the strife of the
flesh ; or if subdued, it yet murmurs against the
mind, as a captive, from behind." What weariness
to those who love, to be absent from Him they love ;
to dwell in banishment by the streams of Babylon,
while they remember the heavenly Jerusalem ; to
have their dwelling in Kedar, afar from their ever
lasting peace ! Yet, weary as it is, how sweeter far,
"to be an abject at the threshold of the house of
God," although as yet unadmitted to gaze on its in
ward beauty, or be satisfied with its richness, than
" to dwell in the tents of ungodliness ;" yea, sweeter
far to"remember Jerusalem," the eternal long-delayed
house of God, " above man's chief joy !"k Sweeter
far to long for God, nay to long that we could long
for Him, sweeter the very faintest thought of the re
turning penitent that he may one day see Whom now
he darkly feeleth after, than all the unsatisfying ful
ness of all which is not God.
How is it then, my brethren, that we have so little
1 S. Laur. Justin, de Incend. Div. Am. e. 17. " How by cleav
ing to the Supreme Bliss are they blessed ; how, joined to the
true light, are they made light ; how, ever beholding, &c."
k Ps. cxxxvii. 7. Y

322 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
of these heavenly longings ? Why have we so little
of the Apostle's desire to be loosed from his bonds,
to be dissolved, and be with Christ ? how may we
obtain it ? Weary we all must be, sooner or later,
of this world's vanities, nothingnesses, disappoint
ments. Weary and heart-broken we must be, again
and again, by perplexities, failure of our hopes, the
decay of good, the rifeness of evil, darkness following
on light, dreariness perhaps on the brightness of
God's Presence. How can we exchange mere weari
ness of the world for hopes of future rest and repose
in God ? For ye know, who love, how sweet it is to
love, though that ye love is not attained.
In two ways is this longing for God attained, and
neither will avail without the other. First, unlearn
the love of self and of the world, and of its distrac
tions ; secondly, contemplate God, His loving-kind
ness and His promised rewards. The eye of the
soul must be made clean ; else it cannot have the
blessing ofthe "pure in heart" and "see God." It
must not wander unsteadily among the things of this
world ; else it cannot with eager gaze, look for, long
for, behold, God. We cannot long for things un
seen, while we are so taken up with things of time
and sense. We cannot love God, while we love the
world. We cannot but love the world, if, for its
own sake, we be occupied about it. That is our
end, for which we do what we do. To do the
meanest things out of the love of God, wins the love
of God, increases in us His love. To do the highest
things, if it were possible, to win souls, convert sin
ners, having self in view, reposing in self, extin
guishes the love of God. With this then we must

Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 323
begin. Break off things which displease God, and
whatever ye do, do it to please Him. Dedicate,
morning by morning, the actions of the day to God ;
live in His Presence ; do things or leave them un
done, not simply because it is right or kind, much
less, according to mere natural temper, but to God.
Offer to Him your acts beforehand ; recall yourself,
if the case admits, into His Presence, in the midst of
them ; give Him the glory with thy whole heart, if
they be well done, since nothing good is our own ;
if they be amiss, grieve to Him. If we make God
our End, He Who gave us the grace thus to seek
Him, will give us His love ; He will increase our
longing desire for Him ; and Whom in all we seek,
Whom in all we would please, Whom in all we would
love, Him shall we find, Him possess, here in grace
and veiled, hereafter, in glory.
Yet were it mere self-deceit, to think to offer all
our acts to God, while we retain, as before, all the
things of the world ; to offer intently with one hand
to our Lord half our heart, while with the other be
hind our back, we stealthily give the other half to
the world. "All for All." We cannot think that in
purpose of heart we offer all to God, if we retain all.
Happiest they who, bared of all, can follow Him,
Who for us bared Himself of all ; bared, not of out
ward good alone, but of self, to love Him Whom
they have chosen for Himself. Yet in some way to
deny self, to diminish our luxuries and softnesses,
out of love for Him in His poor, to deny our senses,
our ease, our curiosity about outward things, our
words, is the very condition of His love. Bear hard
ness for Him, and He will be thy rest. In fasting,
y2

324 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
He will be thy food. In silence for His sake, He
will speak unto thee. In weariness, He will be thy
refreshment. Make thyself poorer for His sake,
and He will be thy wealth. Withdraw thy thoughts
from the pomps and vanities and distractions of the
world, and He will gather them to Himself. Forego
the praise of men, and thou shalt feel the sweetness
of the praise of God.
But to sweeten the foregoing of things present,
meditate on Him in Whom thou hast all, in Whom
are laid up all which for Him thou foregoest. Thou
canst not love, unless thou think on Him Whom thou
wouldest love. Think then, as thou art drawn, one
while on thy Lord, beholding thee with love, upon
the Cross, bury thyself and thy sins in His Wounds,
enfold thyself reverently, with the penitent, around
His Cross ; or gaze on Him bound, that He might
free thee ; wearing the thorns of thy sins, that they
no more might pierce thee ; bruised, to heal thee ;
dying, to be thy life ; and pray Him to bind thee
fast unto His Cross and to Himself, that so thou
mayest be motionless with Him to all which would
draw thee from Him. Or gaze on thy future bliss
ful home, arrayed with unfading light, which needeth
not sun nor moon, for the Lamb is the light thereof ;
where is no toil to endure, no loss to sustain ; where
no evil entereth, nor is any cast out whom the Lord
has bid enter into His joy ; where is the blessed
and glorious society of Angels, Thrones, Dominions,
Powers, to whose life thou shalt be equalled. There
all, in unclouded joy and the overflowing fulness of
eternal bliss, shall joy in the sight of God ; each shall
be full of bliss, according to his measure, each enjoy

Groans qf Unrenewed and Renewed Nature. 325
in others the glory he has not in himself. There,
in His light, we shall see light ; and we ourselves,
bedewed and filled with the light wherein we are
immersed, even of Him Who is the brightness of the
eternal light, the Sun of Righteousness, the splen
dour of the Divine Majesty, shall become light, and
by His love shall love Himself, and in Him love all
beside in everlasting peace and indissoluble love, since
He shall be all in all, and all one in Him. Then
God shall rest in His works, and our everlasting rest
shall be in God ; "God1 shall rejoice in His works,"
and His works joy in Him. Him, of Whom now one
thought filleth the whole soul with joy, shall we ever
behold in His Beauty with unveiled Face. Eye to
Eye shall we behold God, even the Everlasting
Father, and His Co-equal Son, and the Holy Ghost,
from Both proceeding, of Both the Bond in love.
Him our eyes shall behold and not another, yet
cleansed by the light of truth and upheld by Him to
behold His Majesty. Our hearts shall be by Him
enlarged to contain His love ; our souls entering
into that sea of joy, shall be filled, yet overflowing,
encompassed, penetrated, transfigured, containing,
absorbed in, His all-containing love.
So shall the joys eternal, while we gaze, be present
to our souls, and this world's fleeting vanities, be
dull and faded by their heavenly lustre; and His
grace, to Whom we look, shall, one by one, loose
our bonds whereby we have been held captive to
vanity, and set our hearts at liberty. He shall loose
us, link by link, from the bondage of corruption,
and draw us by the band of His all-uniting Spirit,
1 Ps. civ. 31.

326 Groans of Unrenewed and Renewed Nature.
from the first-fruits and the earnest, to enter upon
our inheritance and the full possession. Thither
shall He draw us, whence He hath sent down His
Promise into our hearts, to knit our hearts to Him.
He shall give us sorrow that we were ever held, and
strength to run the way of His commandments, draw
us by His love unto His love, that tasting one drop
of His ineffable sweetness, we may henceforth find
nought sweet, save in Thee, our Redeemer and our
God. " O Good Jesu," is the prayer of an ancient saint/
" Word of the Father, brightness of the Father's
Glory, into Whom the angels desire to look, teach
us to do Thy Will, that led by Thy Good Spirit, we
may attain to that blessed city, where is eternal day,
and the spirit of all is one ; where is certain security,
and secure eternity, and eternal tranquillity, and
tranquil blessedness, and blessed sweetness, and sweet
joyousness, where Thou, God, with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, livest and reignest to endless ages.
Amen." -/' ; '
m S. Gregory at the close of the exposition of the Penitential
Psalms, T. iii. § 2. p. 559.

SERMON XVIII.

VICTORY AMID STRIFE.

Rom. vii. 22, 23.
" / delight in the law of God after ihe inward man ;
but I see another law in my members warring
against the- law of my mind."
Such is the weary conflict, which Adam's fall en
tailed on all born into the world in the way of
nature, on all save Him Who, born not after the
way of nature, came to redeem, renew, regenerate,
sanctify, transform our nature into the likeness of
His own. In paradise there was no momentary
disturbance to that inward peace of the soul, which
is wholly united with its God. God had made them
for Himself, and nothing had come between them
and God. They had no fear, no pain, no longing
for what they had not. They knew not sin, and so
knew not what it was to sin; they could not even
fear sin which they knew not. The forbidden fruit

328 Victory amid Strife.
hung before them ; but in calm faith and trust in
their Maker's word, they passed it by unheeded, as
the only thing to be shunned in His whole paradise,
because forbidden them by Him Who loved them,
and Whom they loved. They could not covet it,
because they had in them nothing sinful ; and to
covet is sinful. They did not even look at it. For
not until after Eve had listened to Satan's words,
did she see that it " was good for food, and pleasant
to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise."
Sinning not, they could not have any other evil,
since death and every other evil came into the
world by sin. Peacefully they enjoyed each other's
love, loving in it God who had made them for each
other, and nothing ever clouded the bliss of their
unceasing love. All God's works spoke to them of
God, and they loved Him, as the blessed shall ; and,
after the day's peaceful labour, they heard His Voice
in the evening, as a friend discoursing with his friend.
Man lived in paradise as he willed, since he willed
what God commanded ; he lived enjoying God, and
from Him, Who is Good, himself was good. He
lived without any want, and might so have lived,
until God should translate him peacefully, toilless,
painless, deathless, to those joys, to which we hope
to pass, as the end of weariness, toil, and pain, and
through death to be freed from death, where death
and sin shall be at an end for ever, and all shall be
full contentment of perfect bliss.
To fall from God, altered the whole face of man.
Easy was the command to keep. The heavier was
the disobedience which kept not a command so easy.
They mistrusted Him, from Whom, with no shadow

Victory amid Strife. 329
of evil, they had all good ; they disobeyed Him
Who, by a condition which cost them nothing, taught
them obedience, and the great bliss freely to serve
their God ; they rebelled against Him Who had set
nothing over them, save Himself, the Author of all
good. And so, because man rebelled against God, he lost
the command over himself. He would not obey his
God, and so he could not obey himself. By obedi
ence to his flesh, his soul became carnal. He would
be free from God and independent of God ; and he
fell into a slavery to his corrupted and debased self.
He would not what he could ; and so he could not
what he would. He would not have the free, loving,
blissful service of God ; and so he was subjected to
the hateful, restless service of his lower self. Every
faculty became disordered. The poison of the for
bidden fruit ran, like fire, through the whole frame
of his mind and body. Pleasure or pain became
alike sources of sin. He longed for what he had
not ; he became angered with those who thwarted
his will ; he envied those who had what he had not ;
he murmured against God, if He gave him not what
he willed, when he willed.
Yet is there, even in unregenerate man, some
trace of His Maker's Hands ; and so he is in conflict
with himself. By corruption of nature, he cannot,
without God's re-creating grace, truly serve God.
Through the remains of God's image in him, he can
not, until he has wholly destroyed his soul's life,
tranquilly serve sin. Yet, in himself, " lust of the
flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life " are the more
powerful. He obeys, though unwillingly, " the law

330 Victory amid Strife.
of sin "which he had taken upon himself ; not wholly
lost because not willingly.
Such was our state by nature, to heal which our
Redeemer came. He willed to restore us ; but He
willed not to restore us, without cost and trial of
our's. He wills that in that eternal, unchangeable
bliss we and, in us, His whole rational creation,
should know how sore a thing is rebellion against
God. He willeth to restore to us the freedom of
our will, and the mastery over ourselves, and to
make us again of one mind with Him. But He wills
to do this for us, through ourselves. He willeth to
give us the victory, but by overcoming in us.
The strife then remains. To have no strife with
ourselves, against ourselves, subduing our rebellious
selves, would be a sign not of victory, but of slavery,
not of life, but of death. The strife is, although
different in degrees, the same now as before our
Redeemer came. The grace is not the same. The
issue of the conflict ought not to be the same. As
far as S. Paul pictures a conflict, the conflict must be
one and the same, whether it be between the flesh and
the law of God still written on the table of the heart,
or that same flesh against the outward law given by
God, or that same flesh still, against the regenerate,
renewed mind, and the power of Divine Grace. But,
although " in many things we all offend," still in the
main the issue ofthe conflict should not be the same.
The conflict which S. Paul so pictures to the life,
belongs to all. The issue of which he speaks is that
in which it mostly ended, in himself too, but in his
unconverted state, as a Pharisee, proud, self-righte
ous, self-confident, before he believed in Christ, be-

Victory amid Strife. 331
fore Christ worked in him mightily, and he fought
the good fight, and could "do all things through
Christ instrengthening" him.
Plainly, the abiding state whereof he speaks can
not be that in which a Christian ought to be. " To
be sold under sin," (which is only said of the most
wicked of the wicked kings of Israel,) to be " car
nal," to " serve with the flesh the law of sin," to be
" brought under captivity to the law of sin which is
in my members," — this cannot be our state under
the Gospel. This cannot be our condition as sons
of God and members of Christ. If this were so,
where were "the liberty of the Gospel, wherewith
Christ has made us free ?" where " the bruising of
Satan under our feet ?" where our Lord's promise to
" him that overcometh 1" where His " strength made
perfect in our weakness ?" where " the good fight of
faith," if it ever ended in defeat ? where " the victory
of our faith, which overcometh the world ?" whence
come those armies of the saints who follow the Lamb,
as He goeth forth conquering and to conquer ? to
what end would be the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the
power of Christ within us, His Good Hand upon us,
His armour of righteousness, faith, peace, salvation,
wherewith, from head to foot, He compasses us ?
No ! the end of the Christian's conflict must be,
not defeat, but victory. There are, says an ancient
father," four states of man. In the first, man strug
gles not, but is subdued ; in the second, he struggles,
and is still subdued ; in the third, he struggles, and
subdues ; in the fourth, he has to struggle no more.
The first state of heavy sluggish acquiescence in sin
a See note B at the end.

332 Victory amid Strife.
is man's condition, when not under the law of God.
The second, of a fruitless, ineffectual struggle, is his
state under the law, but not with the fulness of
Divine grace. The third, wherein he is in the main
victorious, is under the full grace of the Gospel.
The fourth, of tranquil freedom from all struggle, is
in the blessed and everlasting peace.
Three of these states there are now. Some are
asleep in sin. Their consciences are deadened.
They struggle not, but are Satan's bondslaves.
Others make ineffectual struggles from time to time ;
but they have weakened their wills, perhaps they are
hopeless about themselves ; evil habits betray them
from within ; temptation is clamorous without ; they
are not masters of themselves, and they fall.
But however any be under the power of grace,
they, while in the flesh, must have conflict still.
It would not be a state of trial, without conflict.
And this conflict is within, as well as without. It
was reserved to our Lord's sinless nature to be
tempted from without only ; to have all Satan's
temptations pass before Him, as they do before the
sight of God, abhorrent and abhorred, as a putrid
loathsome carcase, from which we turn away in
loathing. In us, although reborn of God, and che
rishing that new birth within us, living by the life
of God and growing in His life, there yet remains
that "infection of nature" of which the Article
speaks/ " whereby the desire of the flesh is not sub
ject to the law of God."
This very condition of our being must be good
for us, since God, after He has redeemed, regene-
b Article 9.

Victory amid Strife. 333
rated, renewed us, has given us of His Spirit and
made us members of His Son, united us with Christ,
and made us temples of the Holy Ghost, still leaves,
more or less, in it, those who are heirs of glory, and
left in it those whom He willed to sit on His right
hand and His left in His kingdom. For even the
beloved Apostle says "If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
Yet through this very truth some deceive them
selves, some distress themselves, wrongly. They
argue in opposite ways. The truth is, we have an
infected nature, a nature prone to evil, ready to burst
out into sin, unless it be kept down by grace. But
by grace it may be kept down ; although not wholly,
yet increasingly ; so that the will should be more
and more conformed to the Will of God, the imagi
nation wander less from God, the desire thirst more
for God, and for nothing out of God, or contrary to
or beside His Holy Will. What is evil ought to be
continually lessened ; what is good, if not sensibly,
yet imperceptibly, ought to be strengthened, increase
and grow ; as the corn groweth, thou knowest not
how, but the growth is, after a time, seen. Yet this
infection within us, although of "the nature of sin,"
still, unless our will consent to its suggestions, is not
sin. So long as, by God's grace, we master it, it is
not sin, but the occasion of the victories of His grace.
People distress themselves, by not owning this ;
they deceive themselves, if they make it the occasion
of carelessness. The one says "My nature is sinful,
and therefore I am the object of God's displeasure,
and all is ill with me." The other says, " My nature
is sinful, and therefore I cannot help it, and am not

334 Victory amid Strife.
the object of God's displeasure, although I do what
is wrong." The one mistakes sinfulness of nature
for actual sin, and accuses himself of actual sin, on
account of that sinfulness of nature. The other ex
cuses actual sin, as though it were unavoidable, be
cause his nature is sinful.
Each is untrue. A man is not the object of God's
displeasure, on account of the remains of his inborn
corruption, if he in earnest strive with it. If he
strive not in earnest with it, he is the object of God's
displeasure, not on account of the sinfulness of his
nature, but on account ofhis own negligence as to that
sinfulness of nature, or his sinful concurrence with it.
Nothing is sin to us, which has not some consent
of the will. What is done without, or against, our
will, rather takes place in us, than is done by us.
Even although it be the result of past actual sin, it
is not sin to us now, unless our will in some way go
along with it.
It is an evil thing and bitter to have forsaken the
Lord thy God. Sin must have an evil, bitter, fruit.
It is an evil to have that within thee, which is hate
ful, which thou hatest, although, while thou hatest
it, it does not make thee hateful. It is misery to
be beset, assaulted by, tempted to, thronged by,
thoughts and feelings of sin ; but although misery,
it is not sin. It is miserable to have allowed sinful
tempers, which might have been nipped in the bud,
to grow and be full-blown. Thou canst not nip
them in that easy way now. Still they are suffering,
not sin ; nay, so long as they are suffering, they are
not sin ; because what thou wiliest not, so that thou
steadfastly resistest, is not sin.

Victory amid Strife. 335
Thus, if two persons came into this world with
exactly the same natural tempers, and the one were,
by God's grace, steadily to resist the evil, the other
were carelessly, on all or on most occasions, to give
way to it, their trials would, after some years, be
wholly different. The one, who by God's grace had
resisted, would have weakened the power of this
sinfulness of his nature upon him ; the other would
have increased its hold over him, its power within
him. Their nearness to Almighty God, their ca
pacity for future glory and love and bliss, their
spiritual condition, the hardness of their remaining
trials, would be different. This is the penalty of
sin, and the reward of obedience. But past sin in
volves present trial, not present sin. When a man
has once turned to God, his past sin will not be im
puted to him, either in itself or in its effects. One
who had given way would, by God's just appoint
ment, visiting for sin, have trials from which the
other would be freed. He need not, if he wills not,
by God's grace, have sin. Whatever the sinful
temper might be, which he had thus allowed to grow
upon him, the mere rising of the sinful emotion or
temper would not be sin to him. He would have
more need to guard his will, his thoughts, his acts,
lest the emotion which he could not help, should
gain even a moment's consent of his will, lest his
thoughts should for a moment, with full consent, go
along with that which is against the holy Will of
God, or the soul take willing pleasure in remem
bered sin. But while by God's grace he keeps him
self from these, the wicked one toucheth him not.
Sin is around him ; he is in an evil and tainted at
mosphere ; if he do not wilfully draw his breath

336 Victory amid Strife.
and draw it into himself, it will not hurt him. No
thing past, nothing present, can hurt the soul, if the
will hold firm to God by Whom it is held firm.
No storm of passion boiling within the soul, no fever
of the soul itself, no violence of temptation without,
no fierce assaults of Satan, though he shake the soul
through and through, no fears, or dizziness, or be
wilderment of the soul itself, no powerlessness to get
rid of the thought which the soul hates, no thoughts
of sin darted through the soul, nay though they
seem to be the very offspring of the inmost soul
itself, can hurt the soul, so that it give not a mo
ment's free consent to sin, nor, of its own will, en
tertain or harbour the thought of sin.
Not, plainly, that we should be careless about
such a state. To be careless as to our sinful incli
nations is itself sinful. If we were careless, we
should consent to sin. Sins of thought come very
quickly. It is a state contrary to the Will of God, a
state which He did not make, but which man drew
upon himself by sin, and which we have increased by
our own actual sins. It is a bondage of corruption
weighing down the soul, which we should long to
have lessened in us by the grace of God, from which
we should the more long to be freed, when we shall
be loosed from the body of this death, corruption
changed into incorruption, sickness into health,
weakness into strength, our fleshly body into a spi
ritual body, death into life everlasting. Still it is a
state which God permits, from which He wills not
to free us at once, with which He wills us to strive,
in which He willeth to give us the victory, through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are then to have this conflict ; we ought not,

Victory amid Strife. 337
hy God's grace, in any of the more grievous sins, to
be defeated in it. Weakness c is the guardian of our
strength. Through weakness we are kept humble,
that we fall not through pride ; through faith and
love we are raised toward God, not uplifted. In our
advance, we see what God gives ; in our weakness,
what we ourselves are. Since of ourselves we can
not remove what is the least, the emotions to sin,
how much less is it ours, that the greatest are sub
dued, (if they are indeed overcome) in us ! So then
for any thing which we have gained, we thank God ;
any power which we hope we have over ourselves,
we hold of God ; in every assault of evil we have re
course to God, by whose grace alone we are freed
from any evil or are advancing to any good.
This conflict is continual. It spreads through the
whole life, and through every part in man. "From
the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there
is no soundness in him." Man is besieged on all
sides. No power, no faculty, no sense, is free from
this warfare. Every sense is tempted or tempts to
sin; the law of sin is found, although by God's grace
it reigns not, in all our members. The hearing
tempts to curiosity, longs for forbidden knowledge,
or for flattery ; the eyes covet ; the taste invites to
greediness ; the touch to wrong softness, or sloth, or
passion. The mind wanders away from God to all
sins of the body, and is the seat also of its own pro
per sins, ambition, pride, anger, envy, avarice, and
the like. But though the whole man is besieged
thus within and without, his inward self, his life, his
soul, where God dwells, whereby he is united to
c S. Greg. Mor. 19, 6. T. ii. p. 461. Oxf. Tr.
Z

338 Victory amid Strife.
God, is hemmed in, but not overcome, unless his will
consents. " Sin lieth at the door." The will holds
the door closed ; the will alone opens the door. If
thou open not the door thyself, sin cannot enter in.
Thou hast then these two opposite sides, on which,
by God's grace, to guard thyself. Think not lightly
of the power of sin ; for it threatens thy life. Des
pond not on account, of this power of sin ; for God
will keep it chained, unless thou thyself free it, and
invite it unto thee. It does not in itself make thee
evil, although it is evil in thee. It is in thee ; but
if thou wilt, it may be subdued unto thee. It is
present to thee ; it is not thine, unless thou make it
thine. It does not separate between thee and thy
God. " The law of sin in the members," although
evil, is not thy evil, unless thou will it, and en
courage it, and make it " the law of thy mind."
" The law of God," if thou " delight in it in the inner
man," is God's good in thee, and thine, if thou will
it. And mightier will be God's good in thee, His
power, His grace, His love, His Holy Spirit which
He has placed within thee, than the evil of thy
nature to thee.
No risings, then, of any passion, yea, though it
should rise again and again against thee, and by
rising, weary thee and almost wear thee out ; no
thought by night, when thou hast not power over
thy soul, and thy will is not conscious ; no thoughts
by day, which come to thee again and again, and
besiege thee, and torment thee, and would claim
thee for their own ; no distractions in prayer, even
if they carry thee away and thou lose thyself, and
awake, as it were out of a dream, and thy prayer be

Victory amid Strife. 339
gone ; — none of these things are thine. Nothing
without thy will is thine, or will be imputed to thee.
It is not the mere presence with thee of what thou
hatest ; it is not the recurrence, again and again, of
what thou loathest, which will hurt thee ; not even
if it seem to come from thy inmost self, unless thy
will consent to it.
But the more good God is to thee, in thus not
imputing to thee that to which thy will gives no
assent, the more diligent thou must be, not for a
moment to give way, or to will what God wills not.
All this evil is against the Holy Will of God. " The
law of sin" which would assault thee and bring thee
captive to itself, does rebel against the law of God.
Only so long as thou hold it down, it rebels against
thee as well as against God. Do thou submit thy
own will to God, and God will subject this contrary
will to thee. Yea, thou wilt the more be of the same
mind with God, the more thou art opposed by what
is contrary to thee, if thou yet subduest it. Each
unlawful motion of the soul does, in truth, dispute
the wisdom and goodness of God, Who forbids it
and makes it unlawful. Every motion of envy is
against His love ; all anger is against His gentle
ness ; all pride is against His greatness and thy
dependence on Him ; all unholiness is against His
holiness ; all foul thoughts are against His purity.
But though these or other things boil up out of the
muddy lake of thy corrupted nature against the
brightness of His Serene and Holy Nature, give not
way, in the very least, and though they take place in
you, they will not be done by you.
Thou canst not have victory unless thou be as-
z2

340 Victory amid Strife.
saulted. The thickening of thy temptations may be
the very favour of God, Who permits Satan to try
and"sift thee like wheat," yet wills that thou shouldest
not fall. Even then, though fierce temptation should
come on thee in thy holiest moments, when thou art
most earnest in prayer, or after thou hast received
thy Lord in Holy Communion, or when thy will is
strongest, thy soul humblest, thy love most self-for
getful, fear not. Rather thou mayest take it as a
token of God's love, Who sets thee in the conflict.
He will uphold thee by His Hand, when the waves
are boisterous. So shalt thou have the victory
through His Spirit ; thou shalt, in His Might, trample
on the Evil One, the more he assaults thee. So shalt
thou hate sin the more, the more thou art tormented
by the sinfulness of thy mortal nature ; and be a
good soldier of Jesus Christ, Who willeth to crown
thee, and to be crowned in thee. Only hold fast to
Him ; grasp His Hand the tighter, by Whom thou
art held. He will refresh thee when wearied ; He
will meet thee, as the King of Righteousness, and
will recruit thee with spiritual Food, His Body and
Blood ; He will forgive thy sins ; He will heal thine
infirmities ; He will renew thy decays. He will hear
thee, when thou criest; He will answer thee when
thou prayest ; He will have compassion on thy
afflictions ; He will loose thy bands ; He will uphold
thy feeble knees ; He will make straight paths for
thy feet ; He Himself, thy Redeemer, will be thy
Way unto Himself, thy God.
Resist the very first motions. It is then that thou
art most in thy own power. Be not weary of resist
ing, although the temptation come again and again.

Victory amid Strife. 341
Be not off thy guard, although it go away for a time
in order to come again. Each such resistance is an
act of obedience to God ; each, done by His grace,
draws down more of His grace to thee ; in each,
His good pleasure will the more rest upon thee; by
each, thou wilt become more a vessel of His grace
and love, more fitted and enlarged for His everlast
ing love. Christ, Who is the Power of God and the
Wisdom of God, will dwell in thy soul, as in His own
abode. He will rule thee, He will teach thee, He will
speak with thee, He will fence thee from the assaults
of the enemy, with the helmet of salvation. He will
direct thy senses within, He will guard thee without.
And through all this conflict, the more thou art
tossed here, the more thou wilt learn to long for thy
heavenly home, the home of His rest and love.
Thou shalt learn to long lovingly for that day when
the remaining corruption shall be put off, and this
body of sin have died through the body's death, but
the body itself shall be instinct with new life, and
conformed to the glorious Body of thy Lord. Death
shall be to thee the gate of life, the end of woe and
conflict, the beginning of eternal refreshment, the
entrance into thine eternal dwelling-place, where
thou shalt have all thou now longest for, shalt rest
in the sight of God, joy in His love, be enriched by
His imparting of Himself. Thou shalt then see what
thou now believest ; thou shalt have what thou now
hopest for ; thou shalt attain to what thou now canst
not conceive. For thou shalt be one spirit with God,
united with Him, dwelling in Him, beholding Him,
encircled with His love, share His, and what is His
shall be thine for evermore. Amen. tP A t**, APJ&

SERMON XIX.

VICTORY THROUGH LOVING FAITH.

EASTER.
1 S. John v. 3, 4.
" This is the love of God, that we keep His command
ments : and His commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world : and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith."
The Gospels, in this our Easter Season, set forth
what Christ has done for us, the Epistles what He
wills to do in us. The Gospels speak to us of con
tinued, familiar presence with His disciples, His gifts
of peace, forgiveness of sins,a the love of the Good
Shepherd b for all His sheep, the joy c which no man
shall take from us, the joy of the Comforter d Whom
He sends in His stead, joy e amid tribulation, and
the unbounded fulness of His goodness, which knows
a First Sunday after Easter. b Second Sunday.
c Third Sunday. a Fourth Sunday. <= Fifth Sunday.

Victory through loving Faith. 343
no measure, save that of our asking. The Epistles
are full of earnest teaching, and plain rules for our
lives. S. Paul, S. John, S. Peter, and S. James,
preach to us, Sunday after Sunday, take up the same
solemn notes of death to sin, and life to Christ, vic
tory over the world through faith in Christ, treading
in Christ's steps, that we may be acceptable to God
in Christ, abstaining from fleshly lusts, becoming a
kind of first-fruits of His creatures, looking into the
perfect law of liberty, and continuing therein.
So would the Church work into our souls, by
God's grace, the solemn thoughts of wondering love
at our Lord's blessed passion, and the triumph of
the resurrection. She would not have us feel only,
but live and act in faith, and obedience, and love.
The Son of God died for you. The very sun, as he
shines in heaven, tells us of that scene of shame from
which he hid his face. That Holy Body was handled
as lifeless, and laid in the tomb, as the body of a
deceiver, its wounds livid and swollen as if awaiting
corruption ; His soul deigned to go, accompanied by
the restored malefactor, to the common abode of
the dead. And then what followed ? The grave
stands open and empty ; death and hell have been
conquered in their own kingdom, Satan cast down ;
our sins are atoned for, our chains loosed, our pardon
sealed, our Father reconciled to us, and our enmity
to Him, Whom we had offended, extinguished, the
wrath of God turned away, the kingdom of heaven
is opened to all believers.
And for what ? What is the end of this ? what
the object of recalling it? That we should have a
little passing thankfulness, some shifting April gleam

344 Victory through loving Faith.
of joy and comfort, and thought of love, and so think
that we are alive to God, because we haveieM ! This
were to deceive ourselves. To overcome the world,
to have victory, to love God and keep His command
ments, to have the witness in ourselves that we are
born of God, to "have the Son," abiding in Him
through faith, and love, and obedience, because He
abides in us through His Spirit and His Sacraments,
to have already eternal life, since we have Him Who
is life ; — these, these, are His Easter gifts, these are our
Easter joys. This is living faith, a faith which over
comes the world; this is love unfeigned, which keeps
God's commandments. Obedience is the fruit of
faith, the proof of love; it grows from faith and love,
and draws in life and strength, and the quickening
dew of God's grace, to enlarge, and strengthen, and
expand the stock on which it grows.
As Christ died, so He rose again, not for Himself,
but for us. For us did He raise in incorruption the
Body which, for us, He put on as corruptible ; for
us did He raise in glory, what for us He laid aside in
shame ; for us did He clothe with might what, for us,
He subjected to the weakness of death ; for us did
He quicken in spirit, and raise a spiritual Body, the
Body which, for us, He gave to the death of the
Cross. " Thee f thy God recalled to peace ; thee
He brought to the Father ; thee He advanced to
glory; thee He clad with beauty ; thee He clothed
with the robe of immortality. Thy body He renewed
in spirit, that He might re-form thy spirit in Him
self." Christ, Who is our life, took this our body,
that through the life which He Himself is, He might
( S. Laur. Just, in Res. Dom. p. 344.

Victory through loving Faith. 345
impart life to us, and make us to share all which
He is, His life, His holiness, His power over the
world and Satan, His love, and we might dwell in
His peace, peace from God and in God, "peace
which passeth all understanding."
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is
born of God." This is the first source of our life,
our strength, our victory, that we have strength not
our own, but by a new and spiritual birth of God ;
a birth whereby a new and spiritual life, above the
world, apart from the world's life, and unknown
to the world, is imparted to the soul ; and man,
through grace, becomes the son of God. Of this
birth the proofs are, the love of Christ ; the love of
one another, as members of Christ ; the love of God,
in keeping His commandments. Love is the proof
of our birth of God, because God is love. The son
hath a likeness of the Father. He, then, who is a
child of God, must have a likeness to his Father.
How could he be a son of God, who had not that in
him which God is, love ? He, then, who is born of
God, must have the love of God ; he who loveth the
Father, must love Him, the Son, Who is begotten
of Him ; he who loveth the Son, must love them
also who are members of Him, the children of God
in Christ. No one can rend one link of this golden
chain of love without destroying all. True love of
man cannot be without love of God, nor true love of
God without love of man. Nor, again, can there be
true love of God which does not love His command
ments. Who ever loved, and loved not the will of
the object of that love ? How much more, when
He Who is loved is the Fountain of all Good, Whose

346 Victory through loving Faith.
Will is very good, the rule, and law, and substance
of all good ? " And His commandments are not
grievous." For nothing is grievous or burdensome
to him who loves. They are not grievous, because
love makes them light ; they are not grievous, be
cause Christ gives strength to bear them. Wings
are no weight to the bird, which they lift up in the
air until it is lost in the sky above us, and we see it
no more, and hear only its note of thanks. God's
commands are no weight to the soul, which, through
His Spirit, He upbears to Himself ; nay, rather, the
soul, through them, the more soars aloft and loses
itself in the love of God.
" They are not grievous," he says," because every
thing which is born of God overcometh the world."
He saith not only whosoever, but " every thing
which," shewing the largeness of the gift. " Every
thing," of every age or sex, time or clime, " which is
born of God, overcometh the world," and that not of
of themselves, but of the gift of God ; not they, but
the power, through their new birth, in-born in them,
faith, love, grace, from God, unto God, and they, as
wielding in them a power not their own, overcome
the world. " The commandments of God are not
grievous," because we have a power implanted in us
mightier than all which would dispute the sway of
God's commandments and God's love, a power which
would lift us above all hindrances, carry us over all
temptations, impel our listlessness, sweep with it
whatever opposes it, sweep with it even the dulness
or sluggishness of our own wills, the Almighty power
of the grace of God.
This, then, is matter of faith, that if we will we

Victory through loving Faith. 347
can, by the grace of God, prevail over every temp
tation. This our Lord says, " In the world ye shall
have tribulation ; but be of good cheer, I have over
come the world." This God says by S. John, " Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them ;
because greater is He that is in you than he that is
in the world." This, by S. Paul, " If God be for us,
who can be against us ? " "I can do all things
through Christ instrengthening me." " Thanks be
to God Who alway maketh us to triumph in Christ.8 "
This by S. John again, " They overcame him by the
Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testi
mony." " The h victory of the saints is the work of
God, Who dwelleth in the saints." Christ willeth
to give us of His own power. He overcame the
world for us ; He willeth to overcome it in us. He
willeth, thus too, to be " the first-born among many
brethren," that as He overcame, so should we, through
His might, yea through Himself, as the power and
principle of life within us, overcome.
And with what weapons shall we overcome ?
"This is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith." This is the victory by which the
martyrs overcame, by which the weak became strong,
and, in Divine strength, mastered the strong ; the
strength of endurance wearied out the brutal might
of infliction ; children overcame their oppressor ; the
ignorant took captive the learning of the world ;
fishermen and the tent-maker subdued the world ;
the dying conquered the living ; the blood of martyrs
became the harvest-seed of the Church. By faith,
S.Paul says, "they subdued kingdoms"; by faith S.
& 2 Cor. ii. 14. h De vocat. Gent. 1. 24.

348 Victory through loving Faith.
Peter bids us resist the evil one. For faith knits
us to Christ ; faith obtains for us the power of
Christ ; faith prevails with Him who is Almighty,
and overcomes the world, for it has power with Him
Who has power over the world.
Faith binds us to Him who is Almighty ; but
faith too opens our own eyes to things invisible. It
imparts to us also of the power of the All-Powerful,
of the wisdom of the All-Wise. It gives us to see
the nothingness of all things which are but for a
time. It opens our eyes to the majesty and beauty
of things eternal. What to us are things which
perish in the grasp ? What to us are things of time
and sense, save as they speak of that which lives
when time shall cease to be, or as they shall them
selves live on, purified but indestructible ? One only
is above us, He Who made us. All we see is below
us. His friends we may be, His we have been made,
Who is Lord of the world. The world itself and all
which is in the world is for our use, subject to us, as
we to God. All things beautiful to sight, sweet to
taste, transporting in sound, pleasant to smell, and
thrilling to touch, all things are ours and for us, if
used in obedience to their and our Maker. But we
are above them. They were made for us, not we
for them ; they are made to serve us, not we to be
slaves to them. Faith shows us Him who is above
all things, but in all things; immortal, invisible, in
comprehensible, in light unapproachable, yet Who
willeth to come unto us, and make His abode in us.
God made us, because He willed to impart Himself
to us. He made us, not that He needed us, but to
shew us His love. He has made us for Himself, He

Victory through loving Faith. 349
willed not to make us apart from Himself. He
willed to join us to Himself. He Who hath and is all
things, of which we have the shadow here below,
"the^rue riches of wisdom, and spiritual delight,
royal glory, eternal power, a kingdom incorruptible,
eternal joy, overflowing peace, true bliss, certain
knowledge," pleasure for evermore, He willeth to
give thee all which is His, and much more, He will
eth to give thee Himself. Why shall we not trust
Him with the things of time, or with ourselves,
who must trust Him with our eternity ? Why not
trust that, for these few days and years, He will pro
vide for us, whom He has made for His love, if we
will have it, in those countless ages which time mea
sures not ?
Why is it, but that men cannot have faith, if they
will wilfully do deeds contrary to faith. " If thou
art not awed by His threats, nor drawn by His pro
mises, obeyest not His commands, nor listenest to
His counsels, though in words thou confess Him, in
deeds and indeed thou deniest Him."k "Victory
over temptation is the witness of thy heavenly birth."
Living and victorious faith is that whereby Christ
dwelleth in our hearts. But Christ will not dwell in
our hearts, if we fill our hearts with things which
He hates.
Yet is there then no victory, nor real faith, when
the world holds a struggle with us, sometimes over
coming us, sometimes overcome ? In some things
victory should be complete at once. Sins of in
firmity there may be ; sins against light there should
1 S. Laur. Just, de Int. Confl. c. 7, p. 304.
k S. Bern. Serm. in Oct. Pasch.

350 Victory through loving Faith.
not be. To do wilfully and knowingly what God
hates, destroys faith and hope and love.
But so that thou art fighting against thy besetting
sin, if thou art conquering thyself, thou art still
Christ's Soldier, even though in thought, word, or
deed, thou be from time to time, in lesser things,
surprised. God has so willed that everything, even
victory over ourselves, should be gained step by step.
Our buildings rise stone by stone. If they be large
and laboured, we only see from time to time that
they rise at all. Ye know how slowly ye have learnt
whatever ye have learnt, even if ye were at pains to
learn it, often forgetting, often mistaking, yet at last
mastering. God Alone works things at once. It
belongs to His Almightiness to say " Let there be
light and there was light." He, and He Alone "spake
the word and it was made; He commanded and it
was created." He created us in a moment; He giveth
us, in one moment, through His Sacrament, the first
spark and principle of Life ; He willeth that we should
through our whole lives, guard, cherish, enlarge, that
first gift, and receive it more fully, by being our
selves enlarged to receive it. He willeth that through
our very slowness and failures we should learn and
keep humility. He Himself hath likened to leaven
the workings of His Grace, His kingdom within us.
Ye know how leaven works. Small it is at first ;
hidden out of sight ; but it spreads silently and
slowly, until it has reached every part ; and the
heavy lump is lightened, and it expands and unfolds
itself and rises upwards. So mostly is it with the
grace of God. God lodges it in the soul. He places
in Baptism a principle of life within us, which, if we

Victory through loving Faith. 35 1
allow it to work, as we grow on, will fill our every
power, penetrate our whole souls," transform this
heavy mass of our earthliness into its own Divine
nature, make us "friends of God, fellow-citizens ofthe
angels, lords of the world, rulers of ourselves."1 Yet
though hidden out of sight, it is not therefore lost ;
though for the time it seems scarce to work at all,
yet need it not be therefore idle ; thou canst not
abridge for thyself the time of its working. Let it
work on peacefully, and, like the leaven, it will trans
form thy whole self into itself, the whole soul into its
own perfection, the perfection of Christ. Yet is this
complete change mostly slow. We hinder it our
selves, by our own early waywardness, the disobedi
ence of our youth, our self-will, presumption, care
lessness, whereby we allow habits of our besetting
sin to creep over us. If we were to conquer speedily,
we might think that the victory was easy, won
through our own strength, not through the grace of
God. No man is crowned, says S. Paul, unless he strive
lawfully. To be crowned then we must strive ; and
strife has hardship and weariness, at times defeat
and failure, or distress of temptations in which thou
knowest not whether thou hast yielded or no. The
things of this world are not gained without trial.
The children of this world, those who love this world,
know this law of God and count it as their portion.
They rise early and late take rest ; they are not
much disappointed, if they often fail ; they will toil
day after day, or month after month, with but far
distant hope of their reward. Loss only spurs them
1 S. Laur. Just. 1. c.

352 Victory through loving Faith.
anew to recover what they have lost. Ye bury your
seed out of sight, know that much will be wasted,
see it corrupt, know to what enemies it is exposed,
hope on amid lowering skies.
Take but the same pains for the seed-corn of eter
nity. As certainly as God is God, so certainly may
ye have the victory, if ye will. God has not pledged
Himself to you as to the seasons. He has not pro
mised us that He will not send us famine or the sword
or the pestilence ; yet we trust Him, and hope on even
at the worst. God has pledged to you His Almighty
Word, as to your soul. Think not, "this is impos
sible, this is beyond me, I have always failed in this ;
this fault is become part of my nature ; this ever
surprises me. If I succeed for a while, it again over
takes me, it overpowers me, overwhelms me. I have
no strength against it."
True, very true, if it were thyself alone. It is not
thou who art to overcome the world, within thee or
without thee, but thy faith, which is the gift of God,
and the grace of God, and the power of Christ within
thee. The strong man will not give way' to thee,
but he will give way to the power of Christ. Thou
mayest not see thy progress ; nor, for a while, per
haps, may others see it ; but strive on in humility,
strive on as for thy life, and pray God that thou
mayest strive on to the end, and thou canst not fail.
It is not thyself, although it is not without thyself.
All this veering to and fro, sometimes a little hoping,
more often desponding ; thinking a little on God's
mercy, but more on thine own misery ; now waiting
for a while calmly and patiently, and then, at the
next failure, fretting and complaining, and thinking

Victory through loving Faith. 353
" God will not hear me ;" thinking " a little of the
love of God," but more of His justice, and more of
His love to others than to thyself ; a little of the
greatness of God's goodness, but much more of the
greatness of thy sins, — all this vacillating, which but
for a brief time, rests on God, and then sinks down
to the contemplation of self, wastes the soul more
than thou canst think. It is as if thou hadst two
souls, one which hopes, the other which desponds ;
one which believes, the other which mistrusts ; one
which knows by the light of faith, that God will do
all we ask Him, the other so stunned and stupified
by its own miseries, that it cannot see what God has
plainly written, or hear what Christ has spoken, or
feel what God the Holy Ghost would speak in the
inmost heart.
Meanwhile, it may be that God " waits " only " to
be gracious," that He wills only that thou shouldest
learn to be patient, and in patience to persevere in
asking. He wills, it may be, to heal the wounds, if
thou wilt be still and not rend them open afresh.
He wills that thou gather up thyself into one, wholly
to depend upon Him, wholly to trust Him, wholly to
believe Him. Human things are gained by human
energy, Divine things by Divine. When Peter
looked round upon the waves which were boisterous,
he was ready to sink ; when he said " Lord save me,"
"Jesus stretched forth His Hand and caught him."
So then look not to the tumult around thee, look
not to thy fears within thee, but " go forth out of
thyself, and go to Jesus."
And now in these Easter days, try to set before
thyself in thought, if but for a minute in the day,
a a

354 Victory through loving Faith.
thy Lord's glorified Body as He arose for thee. The
closed tomb could not hold Him ; the closed doors
could not hinder His passing. It was not bounded
to this earth ; It came and went after the manner of
a spirit. He ate and drank with them, to shew that
His was no phantom body ; He came, He went ;
He appeared, He vanished out of their sight ; in
order to shew how His Nature was above the laws of
ours. And what is it now ? Something of what It
is now, you may see in the Revelations. Full It is
of the Majesty and Beauty and Glory of God ; visi
bly in-oned with God become visible. And such,
if we attain, are our poor bodies to be, conformed to
His glorious Body. Misuse them then not ; sin not
with them ; keep them pure by His grace, that they,
may be made like our Lord's. It is not long for
thee to wait for harvest, and for a return of thy
gains. Thou wouldest wait yet longer, if thy harvest
or thy earthly gain were thereby doubled, if every
day added to thy harvest, or thy gain. But, for
heaven, every day is thy seed-time ; day by day,
thou mayest sow that which thou shalt reap in life
eternal. As the hairs of your head are numbered,
so are the moments of your lives, and every event in
every moment, which shall be a portion of thy trial,
and may be a portion of thy crown. As not a hair
of your head shall perish, so neither a moment of
your time. A day lost wherein thou doest nothing
whereby to please God, is a loss for eternity. Every
day thou mayest store something for eternity ; every
day thou mayest be enlarged by the grace of God,
to contain the love of God, yea God Who is love, for
all eternity. " This is our reward ; this our crown ;

Victory through loving Faith. 355
this the prize set before us ; gladness itself, life,
glory, peace, pleasure, bliss, sweetness, overwhelming
joy, and all in one, for all shall be in God, and God
in all, Himself the life, the joy of all who love."
Let us not then be wearied, though the strife be,
at times, wearisome ; let us not relax, though it
need much watchfulness. Christ says His yoke is
easy. He Who saith so, can and will make it so.
He saith, my burden is light ; for He Himself will
bear it. His burden is light, for it will displace the
heavy burdens of thine own ; the burden of thy sin ;
the burden of thy passions ; the burden of thy rest
lessness ; the burden of thy desires ; the burden of
thy fears ; the burden of thyself. Christ's burden,
the larger it is, the lighter is it ; the closer thou fit it
to thyself, the more it will free thee ; the more thou
takest it on thee, the more it will uplift thee. It
will be borne by thee, but rather it will itself upbear
thee, where there shall be no yoke or burden more ;
but the free, calm, rest and dwelling in everlasting
holy joy. Yet the burden and the yoke are but for
a few days ; the glory and bliss are as eternal as the
everlasting glory and bliss of Almighty God, in
Whom shall be our glory and our bliss.

a2

SERMON XX.

THE POWER AND GREATNESS OF LOVE.

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.
1 S. John. iv. 7, 8.
" Beloved, let us love one another ; for love is qf
God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not
God ; for God is love."
God has set before us to-day in the Epistle and the
Gospel, two pictures, of love of self, and of love of
God, as shewn in love to our brother, and ofthe
end of those two loves, weal and woe, heaven and
hell, dwelling in God, and dwelling in torments.
And to-day it has come to me to speak to you of
love, love which is to be shewn to His little ones,
love which you are to shew by enabling this love the
more to be shewn to them, that they may be taught
to love Him. S. John, as it were, encircles us with
love ; he goes round from love to love ; from the
love of one another to the love of God, from the love

The Power and Greatness qf Love. 357
of God to the Being of God, which is Love ; thence
to His love of us in Christ, the source of our love to
Him and to one another, and so to the in-dwelling
by Him and in Him and the perfecting of our love,
and boldness in the Day of Judgment, and likeness
to God even in this world. He tells us, the source,
the birth, the ground, the fruit of love.
What is its source? God Himself. "Love is of
God." Whence is it born in us ? Of God Himself.
"Every one that loveth is born of God." What its
ground ? The love of God in Christ. Eternal love
sent Co-eternal love into the world to win us to
His love. "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins." What its fruit ?
Rather one might ask what is not its fruit ? Like
ness to God, the sight of God, the knowledge of
God, the in-dwelling of God, the dwelling in God, the
perfection of His love in us, and our perfection in
His love.
This is the greatness of the love of God, this its
power, this it is which makes it not the most eminent
only of all virtues, the first and great commandment,
but the essence and substance and soul of all vir
tues, the commandment of Christ, that "God is
love." This touches, so to speak, on the Essence of
the Divine Nature. "Thine, O Lord, is the great
ness, and the power, and the glory, and the ma
jesty;"* "wisdom, and riches, and strength, and
blessing," b and "praise, and dominion,"0 are His.
His " alone is Immortality." a Yet Holy Scripture
a 1 Chron. xxix. 11. b Rev. v. 12.
c 1 S. Pet. iv. 11. d 1 Tim- vi. 16.

358 The Power and Greatness of Love.
does not say "Thine is love," or "Thou art power,
Thou art righteousness or justice." For although
God in His simple Essence, is all-powerful, yet His
Being is not power, nor mind, but love. He Him
self has told us, that "God is love." In this way
then He brings us into direct relation to Himself.
In this way He calls us to return Him like for like.
He gives us that in us, although created, which an
swers, as it were, face to face, to what He Himself
IS. "Love," says a holy man/ " is the only one of
all the emotions, affections, and feelings of the soul,
in which the creature can, although not as an equal,
answer to its Author, and return like for like. If
God is angry with me, shall I be angry in turn with
Him ? Nay, I shall fear and tremble and sue for
pardon. If He rebuke me, He shall not be answered
by me, but shall rather be justified by me. And if
He judge me, I will not judge, but will adore, Him ;
and when He saveth me, He doth not seek Himself
to be saved, nor to be delivered by any one, Who
delivereth all. If He ruleth, I must serve ; if He
commandeth, I must obey ; and not require in turn
from the Lord service or compliance. See now how
different it is as to love. For when God loveth, He
willeth nothing else than to be loved ; for to no
other end doth He love, save that He may be loved,
knowing that they who love Him, will through that
very love be blessed. Great indeed is love !"
And so, by loving God we know God, as He says,
"every one that loveth knoweth God, for God is
love." We know a man when we know his inmost
self, that which is most himself. The very Being of
e S. Bern. Serm. 83. in Cant. § 4.

The Power and Greatness of Love. 359
God is love. To know God we need not to be
powerful, or learned, or wise, or clever, or under
standing. For God has power and wisdom and
knowledge perfectly, and all come from Him ; He is
in them but they are not He. But God is love.
The Heathen sought through wisdom to find out
God, for they thought of God as an infinite mind.
God has taught us that we shall know Him by love,
because, although infinitely wise, He is not mind,
but "He is love." No created eye by its own
natural power hath seen or can see God. No wis
dom, no piercing, penetrating sight, no power of
mind mounting up above man and all created things,
can reach what God is. It can only tell what He is
not. God must lift man, not only above all created
things, but above man's own self, and through His
own infused light enable him to enter with that
light unapproachable, which to created eyes shrouds
Him in darkness. But although we cannot see God
by the eye, we can know and see Him by that which
He is, love. We cannot see His Face, His Form.
But love, and thou knowest God ; thou knowest
Him by that which He is, love. Love, and He
dwells in thee ; abide in love, and He will not only
dwell, He will abide in thee.
And through that indwelling, we are renewed in
the image of God, and become like Him. "As He
is, so are we in this world." God does not make us
like to Himself, as an image or a lifeless statue is
like to the living being. Nothing can be like to
God, but Himself and what partaketh of Himself.
We could not make ourselves like to God, though
copying Him as a pattern. We could not imitate

360 The Power and Greatness of Love.
or copy God, without God. We do not become
like God, by doing an outward service, nor should
we, even if we could of ourselves, by obeying God, by
fulfilling His commandments. "Wind and storm
fulfil His word." "All things serve Him." "The
stars in their courses" obey His word ; "He calleth
them and they stand and say here we are." All
creation is, as, and because, and to what end, He
wills it. The inanimate creation obeys, it is not
like Him. We become like God, by His inward re
newal of us ; by His Spirit within us, not through
any power of our own (for of our own we have only
our own evil and the capacity of receiving from Him
His good), but His Spirit transforming us, His power
working in us, Himself within us, as the life of our
soul, the Spirit of our spirit, the framer of our
thoughts, the hallower of our affections, the con
troller or suggester of our words, the worker of all
our works in us. But love, which He creates, opens
the heart for love which He is. Love which He
gives, enlarges the heart to receive larger love. Love
softens its hardness, kindles coldness, purifies its
dross, melts it into one, glues it and unites it indis-
solubly to God. The uncreated love, which God
is, united our nature in oneness of Person with the
Eternal Word, that uncreated love with which
God loveth us, before He created us. Created love,
which uncreated love pours into our souls through
His Spirit which dwelleth in us, is the bond of per-
fectness, uniting and banding all graces together
through love, which is the soul of all, uniting all
souls to one another in the one Body of Christ, and
making all one in Him, joining each soul to Christ

The Power and Greatness of Love. 361
and in Christ to the Holy Trinity, conforming the
heart of man, with all its longings and all its powers,
to the eternal will and mind and love of the infinite
God. This, then, it is which makes " love the fulfilling
of the law." Thence is it that our Lord says :
" This is My commandment that ye love one ano
ther." For true love is the presence of the Holy
Ghost, the Sanctifier ; true love is the life of God in
the soul ; love is the life of every commandment.
Whatever commandment any one breaketh, he break-
eth with it, the law of love. Deadly sins destroy
love ; lesser sins weaken love. " Put ye on," says
S. Paul, " bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another." What of these
can be without love ? Or those sins which shut out
from the kingdom of God, " Adultery, fornication,"
could not be, if there were true love, any more than
hatred, variance, emulation, wrath, strife, sedition,
heresies, envying, murders. For whoso loveth not
the soul of another, loveth not their real self ; whoso
would tempt another to do what is against the will of
God, hates them, in truth, with most deadly hatred.
Or take again S. Paul's description of love. For
what sin could it leave place ? by what would it be
mastered ? Not by vexatiousness ; for it not only
suffereth long, but returns evil with good ; " it is
kind ; " not by envy, for it " envieth not ; " not by
pride, for it " vaunteth not itself ;" not by thinking
of its good deeds, for it " is not puffed up ; " not by
conceit of station or wealth, for it " doth not behave
itself unseemly ; " not by selfishness, for it "seeketh

362 The Power and Greatness of Love.
not its own;" not by injuries, for it "is not pro
voked;" not by suspicions, for it " thinketh no evil;"
not by malice, for it "rejoiceth not in iniquity ;" not
by error for it "rejoiceth in the truth;" not by all
ill-treatment, for it " beareth all things ; " not by
being deceived, for it " believeth all things ; " not by
despondency, for it " hopeth all things ; " not by
failure of all good or infliction of all evil, for it " en
dureth all things."
Love runs through the compass of all the com
mandments ; it runs through them and overflows
them all. It contains all and is contained by none,
except that one command to love. God gives to it,
as it were, of His own boundless Nature. Like
Himself, it is not bounded by time or space ; it em
braces all which has been or is or shall be, which
God can love ; it reaches to what is seen or what is
not seen ; it enfolds angels and archangels, the
patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and the little child
which is just born, fresh from its Maker's Hands.
It embraces all who shall in all eternity live in the
everlasting love of God, those whom it knows and
those whom it knows not ; those who lived before,
and those who shall live after. It knows of no
enemies, no rivals. It rejoices in the good of all,
though above itself, as though it were its own. It
rejoices that others have a sight of God, and a
knowledge of God, and a fulness of His love, to
which it cannot attain. It is gladdened by every
grace in every soul, which is won to the love of
God. But itself goes beyond them all, beyond all
created being, and is enlarged by God to love His
own infinite and adorable perfections, embracing

The Power and Greatness of Love. 363
in a manner, in that it loves, that which embraces
all, the infinite love of God, which is His own in
finite Being, since "God is love."
Some commandments are bounded by time and
place, by condition or station, age or sex. All others
are limited to this one state of trial. Rich or poor,
husbands and wives, parents and children, masters
and servants, learned and ignorant, ruler and sub
ject, old and young, are bound together equally to
and by the law of love. Other commandments
cease with this world ; the command of love will
then have its entire fullness, intensity, immensity.
Then shall it be impaired by no defect, restrained by
no weakness, confined by no ignorance, clouded by
no darkness, interrupted by no necessities. Then
shall we know even as we are known, and, one may
say, love as we are loved. As our knowledge shall
be enlarged, so shall our love ; for our love is the
parent of our knowledge. Since then Holy Scrip
ture says our knowledge shall have some relation to
the infinite knowledge of God, "then shall we know,
even as we are known," so, and much more, shall
our love, which is our very being, stretch forth toward
the infinite love of God. From that love it shall
ever flow ; to that love it shall ever flow back, that
from Him it may ever anew spring, anew to return
to Him. Rather all shall be one there ; for all shall
be unchangeable. .One love there shall be, ever
loving, ever filled with love from God ; evermore be
holding, evermore beheld, and illumined, and kindled,
and penetrated with the love of God ; evermore
thirsting for that which it has, and having what it
thirsteth for ; satisfied, so as not to have pain, and

364 The Power and Greatness of Love.
sated, so as not to desire the love which it shall still
have. And, of one another, since some spark of the
beauty ofthe grace of God and the love of God, now
so penetrates the soul, what will it be when the
whole soul shall be transparent, transfigured, trans
lucent with the light of the glory of the love of
God !
These two loves of God and of one another are,
in truth, one. For love is but one, different in de
gree, in measure, in intensity ; yet whether concen
trated in one, or spread forth toward many, there is
but one power of love, that capacity and might of
love which God pours into the soul ; there is but
one object of love, Almighty God, in Himself or in
the works of His Hands. For all which is lovely, is
lovely, as bearing some impress of God, shadowing
out God, speaking of God, containing God. God
Himself pours love into the soul, and how should
the soul which loves Him not love all which He
loves, or which it knows that He loves ?
The love of Christ constrains us that we should
love all, as Christ loveth them ; we must bear with
those whom Christ bears with as with ourselves ;
we must desire that all should love Him, whom He
willeth to love Him, for whom, with us, God became
man ; for whom, with us, Christ died ; whom with
us Christ redeemed, to be partakers of His own joy
and love.
Our very proverbs tell us, that if we love, we must
love the very poorest object of the love of those we
love.f The holy angels love us, and minister to us,
f From S. Bernard in Fest. S. Michael. Serm. 1. 3. p. 1026.
" Dicitur vulgari quodam proverbio, Qui me amat, amat et canem

The Power and Greatness of Love. 365
because Christ, whom they love, loves us. We are
but as dogs, unworthy as we own to gather up the
crumbs under our master's table. How should not
we, being so poor and mean in ourselves, love the very
poorest which Christ loves ?
The love of God is the fountain, the love of man
the stream in which it flows. Both are parts of one
whole, threads of one cord, so intertwined that thou
canst not have the one without the other, links of
one chain which binds us to Almighty God, descend
ing from Him to us, and lifting us up to His very
Being, which is love.
But of these two forms of that one love, God gives
us the love of our neighbour as the test of our love
of Himself. The love of God is the soul of the love
of our neighbour. But as we see not the soul, or
might think it away when it is in the body, and pre
sent when it is away, (so like each other are some
forms of life and death, as in sleep, or a swoon, or
extreme illness), so we might often deceive ourselves
as to the love of God, thinking that we have it when
we have it not, or have it not when we have it. But
love to others goes forth into acts, involves self-
denial, self-command, self-sacrifice. It is the living
body which enshrines the soul of the love of God.
We may deceive ourselves about what we see not ;
we cannot so easily deceive ourselves about what we
see ; for our very senses force the truth as to our
own hearts upon us. The very senses which distract
us from the thought of God, Whom we see not,
meum.' Nos vero, o beati Angeli, catelli sumus Domini illius,
quemtantoaffectudiligitis; catelli, inquam, cupientes saturari de
micis, quse cadunt de mensa dominorum nostrorum."

366 The Power and Greatness of Love.
impress upon us our thoughts towards our neigh
bour, whom we see.
Yet not only is love of our neighbour the test of
our love of God, it increases it. For God willeth to
infuse fresh grace or to withdraw what He has given
us, through or upon our acts. We use or refuse His
grace, and so we use or refuse Himself. What we
do of deeds of love, we do to Him ; what any refuse,
they refuse to Him. He Who said to Saul "Why
persecutest thou Me ?" He is sinned against in all
unlove ; in all deeds of love He is loved. And how
shall He Who loved us when we loved Him not,
loved us that we might love Him, not love us more
when we love Him and shew our love towards Him ?
Whoso injureth another, injureth Christ ; whoso
detracteth from another, detracteth from Christ ;
whoso neglecteth others, neglecteth Christ ; whoso
sheweth love to others, sheweth love to Christ ;
whoso giveth to others, toileth for others, for love's
sake, denieth self for others, hath pity upon others,
prayeth for others, beareth with others, instructeth,
cheereth, traineth, helpeth, comforteth others, for
the love of Christ, layeth up a store with Christ,
Who has said, " What thou spendest more, when I
come again I will repay thee."
If there be any one act of charity more than ano
ther to which our very nature turns, if there be any
one which touches the heart of all in which love,
however overladen with care or, pleasure, or selfish
ness, still lives, it is the love of those, one of whom
our Lord set in the midst and said, " Whoso receiv
eth one such little child in My Name receiveth Me."
Human nature, which knows of their future trials,

The Power and Greatness of Love. 367
temptations, sufferings, and all that developement to
good or evil to which they are day by day tending,
but which they know not of, imagine not, fear not, —
cannot but yearn over their yet remaining innocence,
Cannot but long for the well-being of those over
whom it yearns. If, then, there be any work of love
more than another, which love must desire, or che
rish, it is any plan which shall guard these little ones
against those future perils, arm them for a conflict in
which their innocence and purity will be maintained
or lost, the beauty of their soul be increased or fade ;
that freshness which we love in them, as God's work,
be blighted or matured ; they themselves be a bless
ing or a curse to the parents who bare them, a bless
ing or a curse to themselves ; their own souls be lost
or saved ; themselves be among those to whom our
Lord shall say " Come ye blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you ;" "enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord ;" or " Depart, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire."
Secular education will not so arm them. Know
ledge is but a two-edged sword to save or to destroy.
Knowledge in itself sharpens, it does not direct, nor
temper, nor guide, nor control the soul, nor teach,
much less empower the soul to control itself. Even
religious knowledge is not education. It is light,
not warmth. By itself it would only make sin more
deadly, in that it would be sin against light. Reli
gious education is to train the whole soul, to watch
and correct the temper, to strengthen what is weak,
soften what is hard, temper what is strong, check
what is heady, and bring the whole soul with all its
powers into the obedience of the law of the love of

368 The Power and Greatness of Love.
Christ. They only can really educate who are them
selves under the power of that love, and the vessels
of that love to others. Love, and thou mayest do
what thou wiliest. Love has power over the heart,
for it is the power of God. Love may rebuke. It
will be kindness, not fierceness, and will soften, not
irritate. Love may chasten or discipline ; love,
which uses discipline, because it dares not to leave
undisciplined, will, like the love of God, be loved
even while it chastens. But it were better, safer,
truer, far, to educate with love without knowledge,
than with knowledge without love. Better far were
such instructors of the young which we had of old,
with motherly matronly care over the few little ones
gathered under their dame's eye, though with very
little knowledge, than one who should teach them
all mysteries and all knowledge without love. Better
one grain of love than an hundred weight of know
ledge. Love, like a grain of mustard-seed, may
expand and grow until it fills the whole earth. All
the knowledge of the wisest of the heathen, but
turned to them to foolishness.
On this ground, the very first step towards edu
cating the poor, except as far as the clergy them
selves educate them, is to train those who are to
train them. Education is not the hour or two in
the day, if so be, given to the imparting of even reli
gious knowledge. It is the forming of the whole
mind and all its habits and powers. It is to mould
it in its daily acts, in whatever way it shews itself,
by whatever avenue lies open to it. And therefore,
since we are obliged to join with ourselves those who
shall aid us in educating the poor, it is of the ex-

The Power and Greatness of Love. 369
tremest moment to give the most careful heed to
whom they are committed. As God pervades and
fills all things, so the thought of God should leaven
all other thoughts, the knowledge of God should fill
all other knowledge, the love of God should pene
trate all things. Knowledge is partly of God's works,
partly of Himself. But as the whole Avorld is filled
with God, and " in Him," (though we see Him not),
" we live and move and have our being," and without
Him and His sustaining will all would fall back into
the nothing out of which He called it into being, so
all knowledge, without the light of God, is but one
shapeless, unmeaning, lifeless, lightless chaos. But
knowledge, whether of this world or of God Who
made it, or of man who has marred it, is, as I said,
but one part of education. The deepest, most in
most part of education is to train the soul ; to teach
it to subdue in itself, through the grace of God,
whatever is contrary to His holy law and will.
Christian education is not for earth, but for heaven ;
for earth, yet not in itself, but as the seedplot, the
way, the prelude of eternity.
It is then a blessed work which has been begun
by your Bishop, whose devoted energy in good ye
all know, ever ready to spend himself and his sub
stance for the good of souls, that he has devised a
larger plan than heretofore for training, in a village g
not far distant, those who are to be the future school
masters of the diocese. Secular knowledge will not
be neglected, nay, will be diligently pursued, in their
three years' course ; while yet the very chiefest
object will be, through the grace of God, so to form
S Culham. b b

370 The Power and Greatness of Love.
them, that they shall, in their turn, be able to train
others as good citizens, but still more as your fellow-
citizens in bliss. He has, amid the many calls for
works of piety and charity which press upon him,
given to his utmost of his own substance towards it.
It is already in active operation. It can afford room
for a hundred to be trained in it for this and another
Diocese ; which, in its turn, will educate the school
mistresses for this. But a heavy debt of three thou
sand pounds, upon which six thousand pounds more
depends,11 still weighs upon those who have under
taken and are responsible for it.
Your Bishop asks you to help him in his work.
Such of you as have witnessed his confirmations
know what love he has for the souls of the poor, how
like a father he speaks to their children, how out of
the love of Christ and with His love, he speaks to
their souls. Ye surely will gladly help him in this.
Yet not he alone, but Christ asks you. Christ
says to you " A new commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that
ye also love one another." How did He love us, my
brethren ? By emptying Himself of His glory, to
take our shame ; by laying aside His riches, to take
our poverty ; by giving His soul to death, and bear
ing for us, in His Human Nature, the weight of His
Father's wrath. He bids you, as renewed men, to
fulfil His new commandment ; He bids you, as Him
self renewing you, and giving you new powers of
love ; He bids you, as giving you, day by day, new
hopes, new strength, new love ; He bids you, as hav-
h The grants of the National Society and Privy Council, which
cannot be claimed until the whole remaining sum is raised.

The Power and Greatness of Love. 371
ing given us a new pattern of love, loving us when
we were hateful, that we might be renewed by and
into His love. " Beloved, if God so loved us, we
ought also to love one another." Christ gave His
life for you. What will ye give to Christ ? What
ye give He will give you back. He Who giveth you
all things now, and supplieth all your needs, will
own as done to Himself, whatever ye do for others
for love of Him and will give it you back, not in any
created thing, not in any thing out of Himself, or
short of Himself, but in the fulness of that everlast
ing love wherewith He loved you and gave Himself
for you. // J*/} /tPW-

Bb2

SERMON XXI.

OUR BEING IN GOD.

Acts xvii. 28.
" In Him we live, and move, and have our being."
Where is God, my brethren ? Ye will answer me
readily, "Oura God is in heaven." True, very true.
Our Lord teaches us to begin our prayer, " Our
Father which art in Heaven." When He taught us
so to pray, He would teach us that since "our
Father is in heaven," we too should long to be there ;
our hearts, our hopes, our thoughts should be there,
where our Father is. What child would not long to
be where its good and loving father was ? Here on
earth we do not, cannot, see God. In heaven He
is seen and shall be seen in His glory, and beauty,
and majesty, and wisdom, and love, and loveliness,
by the blessed angels and saints, and all to whom
He shall give power to behold that sight of over-
a Psalm cxv. 3.

Our Being in God. 373
whelming bliss, Himself. But, again, where is hea
ven, my brethren ? Above our heads, ye will say, or
ye will wonder at my asking you what seems so
simple. And yet we see in the heavens above us
sun, moon, and stars, but we do not see God. But
Holy Scripture tells us of "heavens of heavens,"
heavens to which this our nearest heaven is as
earth, and those heavens manifold times over, as we
would picture to ourselves stories of a house only that
each story, as it were would be a vastness of space
which we could not, even by our utmost stretch of
thought, measure. Well then, my brethren, in some
part of those heavens, which reach where thought
cannot soar, which to us seem all but infinite, God
is seen. It may be that those who live in those dif
ferent heavens see more or less fully and clearly the
greatness of the glory and beauty of God.
But do we then mean that God is in such wise in
those almost boundless spaces which we call hea
ven, as kings are wont to be seen in an inner chamber
of a palace, when we have gone through room after
room ? Is God confined to heaven ? Many doubt
less think of Him so as being a great way off. Many,
I fear, wish that He were a great way off, and so
would give no heed to them and to their ways. So
the Psalmist says, " Thy judgments are on high from
before him," b that is, the wicked is taken up with
this earth, and his own ends on this earth ; he looks
on ever before him, how he may bring them to pass,
and does not look up to God, and so thinks not of
Him or His judgments. They are on high, out of
his sight," and he, grovelling on earth, knows not of
b Ps. x. 5. ¦««» '

374 Our Being in God.
them, and thinks not of them. A drunkard could
not bear to think of God as on earth, in the very
place where he is, worse than a beast ; or the adul
terer, who waiteth for the twilight, that God is in the
very room where he is sinning ; or the thief, that God
is in the very place where he is stealing ; or the vain
person, that God is where he is walking with haughty
eyes and conceited look ; or the angry man, that
God is around him, where he is storming, and that
when he is casting out his anger, he is throwing out
his oath, as it were, in the very Face of God.
True it is " God is in Heaven," Scripture says so ;
our Lord says so. But God is not inclosed in hea
ven. It is not as the sun sends its light on every
part of this earth, and is here, in a measure, by its
light, although in its bodily substance it is in hea
ven. " God is a Spirit." God says Himself " Do I
not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord ? " God,
as being a Spirit, has not parts, so that He should
be in one place and not in another, or more in one
than in another. Place and space are, where God is.
Boundless, infinite space would be the Infinite Pre
sence of God. God contains space, not space God,
as it does us, or any created substance. The eter
nity of God contains all time ; the being of God, all
being ; the infinity of God, all space. Nothing can
be without God ; else God would not be infinite.
God, then, is not in heaven more than in earth,
although He is seen there, not here. He has willed
to be seen and glorified chiefly in that place, in what
are to us the highest Heavens, where our Lord, in
His Human Nature, dwells, and where are the high
est, purest, most perfect of angelic beings. But

Our Being in God. 375
although seen more there, in His beatific Nature, He
is not more there than He is here. Heaven is that
place where the blessed see Him. If we could see
Him here as fully, behold His glory as blessedly, gaze
on Him with the same intense sight of blessed-making
love as the blessed angels, this too would be hea
ven. The same God, Who is the eternal, unchang-
able bliss of the blessed beings in heaven, is here
in this very church, in the same fulness of presence,
the same glory, the same majesty, the same love,
the same infinity of perfections as in the highest
heavens. God is everywhere wholly, and yet the whole of
Him is nowhere. For if He were not here wholly, He
would be divided into parts, which cannot be. God
is present with us ; we, in that we cannot see Him,
are absent from Him. A blind man is in the light,
but he sees it not, because he has no eyes to behold it.
God is, so to speak, a vast ocean of Being, in the midst
of which we live, and move, and have our being, al
though we do not see, or feel, Him, because by our
senses He cannot be seen or felt. The air surrounds
us, and we are in it, although we do not see it, only,
at times, the moisture in it. God surrounds us, and
we are in Him, although we have no senses to see or
feel Him.
God worketh in all things around us ; all things
come into being, live, last, decay, by the working of
His will, by an ever-present working. Yet is He not
Himself aloft, working, as some have imagined Him,
at a distance, or giving laws by which all things
should be and fulfil their being. Where He work
eth, wherever anything is, or can be worked, there

376 Our Being in God.
is God. For God is Omnipresent, that is, everywhere.
Our earthly substances do not shut out God. God's
way of being is wholly different from ours. It is not
with God as when we build a house, and part off
what is without the house from what is within, that
so God should be shut out by the works of His own
Hands. He is above them, beneath them ; behind
them, before them ; without them, within them ; not
a part of them, not immingled with them, nor con
fused with them ; nor are they a part of Him ; yet
they hinder not His presence. He is not in one
way within them, in another way without them ; but
One and the Same God wholly everywhere. He does
not fill one with one part of Himself, and another
with another part ; but is One and the Same in all.
He is not stretched out in order to contain ; not in
place, although He is above and below, but the Same,
as the Same, ruling above, and supporting below ;
encircling without, with that same Being which filleth
within. One and the Same is He although not seen
in the same way, in heaven and in earth, and under
the earth, in hell. One and the same presence is
everywhere, although, such as angels, or saints, or
devils, or the damned are, they see different as
pects of the one indivisible, unchangeable, eternal,
God. But then, since God is everywhere, we move,
speak, act, think, in God. We rise up, we lie down,
we eat, we drink, we work, we rest, we speak of God,
we pray to God, or — men forget God, not only with
God's Eye ever upon us, as much upon us as if in
the whole circuit of created things there were, beside
God, no other living being, but our one self ; not

Our Being in God. 377
only with that all-beholding Eye resting upon us,
seeing every motion of our frames, every emotion of
our hearts, every thought before it is yet framed, every
word when as yet unspoken ; but all we do, think,
speak, by night or by day, we do, think, speak, in
God, encompassed by God. " In God we live and
move." This might be very blessed, the bliss almost of the
blessed in heaven. But it has its aweful side also.
Since we think, speak, act hi God, then every sin
which men commit, the foulest, most cruel, most
loathsome, most contrary to the nature which God
formed, is committed in God. It cannot be other
wise. You can no more escape out of the presence
of God than out of the air which you breathe. The
air you breathe is God's creature ; it has its being
from God's sustaining will. Nearer, closer, more
inward than that creature of His air, is God Himself.
The sun's rays are not defiled by shining on all the
corruption of the foulest parts of this earth. God's
all-holy Nature is not defiled by the presence of
sin, wrought by those who are encircled in it, any
more than It is pained because It is present amid
the pains of hell, which, in His infinite wisdom, God
maintains in being. God's infinite, unchangeable
holiness is sinned against by every sin of every crea
ture, but cannot be injured by all sin.
Yet it is a very aweful thought, my brethren.
The very human feelings which God has given us,
make men shrink form doing deeds of shame even
in this created light. Until shame itself is gone,
they seek to shroud themselves and their sins in
darkness. But to God, darkness is light. God not

378 Our Being in God.
only sees through the darkness, He is in it. There
He is, where thou sinnest. Find c some place out of
God, where to sin, and then sin as thou wiliest. But
first thou must find a place where to exist out of God,
without God, to be thyself thy God. Else, as thou
wouldest not sin, if those whom thou lovest were
by, so sin not, since God is not only near thee, close
to thee, closer than those who are beside thee, but
closer to thee than the very air thou breath est. The
very air has seemed to press upon the sinner ; the
very darkness has seemed to contain an eye which
beheld him ; the very sounds around him, have
seemed to him to speak of his deeds. If the view
less air which is around thy very frame, were all
eyes, all bent upon thee in thy sin, what a faint
image were it of the One, all-seeing, all-piercing
presence of God, in which " we live and move," and
in which and against which, if thou sin, thou sinnest.
Thou canst not turn away from God, except to meet
God. Thou canst turn away from His love, yet
only to meet Him in His displeasure. Turn, then,
in sorrow from thy sin, and thou wilt meet Him and
see Him forgiving thee.d
Yes ! so is there a more blessed presence, than
that through which, in nature, "we live and move
and have our being " in God. By nature, that is, as
God has formed us as mere rational beings, we have
our being in God, in that we are surrounded by God ;
we have our being in God, in that we have that
being, sustained, upheld, ever anew given to us, by
0 Ibi pecca, ubi necis esse Deum. De modo bene vivendi, c.
29. App. S. Bernard, ii. 870.
11 See S. Aug. Conf. v. 2. p. 66. Oxf. Tr.

Our Being in God. 379
God ; we exist in deed, because we exist in the mind
of God ; we exist through His existing in us.
But near and close and blessed as this being might
be, there is a way of being, nearer, closer, dearer,
fuller far, whereby the soul, through grace, may be,
or is, in God. God willed, before the foundation of
the world, before man was formed, or sin was, to
make us one with Himself in Christ. That oneness
which He Himself has, and is, within the Co-equal
Trinity, He willed to bestow in our measure, on us.
He did not make us, to exist only through Him, or
to be encompassed by Him. He willed that we
should be in Him, in the very closest union of love
and of being, of which created beings are capable.
To this end, God the Son, in eternal harmony with
the Father's will, took the Manhood into God. Our
Lord, Christ Jesus, was and is God and Man, One
God with the Father, one Man with us ; that, joining
together in His one sacred Person the Godhead and
Manhood, inseparably for ever, He might thereby
unite us the more closely with God. The Father was
in the Son, and the Son in the Father, by Oneness
of Nature, because the Son is all which the Father
is, save being the Father ; and the Father is all which
the Son is, save that in the One Divine Being, the
Father is the Father and not the Son, and the Son
is the Son and not the Father ; but Father and Son
with the Holy Ghost are the one indivisible God.
But in that God the Son took our Nature into Him
self in One Person, so closely were God and man
united in Him, that he who had seen our Lord in
the Flesh, had seen the Son ; and by seeing the Son,
he had seen the Father, as He Himself says, " he

380 Our Being in God.
who hath seen Me, hath seen the Father also." When
we see each other, what we see is the body, and the
soul through the body. When men saw our Lord
Jesus Christ in the Body, they saw Him Who was
not man only but God ; they saw Him Who was
with the Father, One God.
And this oneness with us He took, not only to re
concile us to God, by putting away the Father's
wrath, but to unite us to God in Himself. Does
this seem a strange nearness to God ? Strange in
deed and marvellous mercy it is, that we, so estranged
from God by sin, by our estranged wills and affec
tions, so estranging ourselves through our own wil
fulness, should — not only be brought so nigh, but
should — be made so one with God. Yet, one might
say boldly, since God has vouchsafed to do this,
stranger yet were it, that God, Who so surrounds
us, so upholds us, is the life of our life, the power of
our thoughts, the moving strength of our acts, —
stranger yet were it, that God should form us capa
ble of His love, and yet not give us His love, if we
will have it ; that He should make us capable of
being united with Himself, and not unite us closely,
if we will. So hath He not left us. He Himself
saith, " Whoso dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God,
and God in him." " He who is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit ; " one, not as our Lord was by
Unity of Nature, yet still one, through the oneness
of His in-dwelling by His Spirit. And again, " The
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the
Holy Spirit Who is given to us." Not the grace
only of the Spirit, not any created gift or quality, or
power, or habit of grace, but the Holy Spirit Itself

Our Being in God. 381
is " given to us," as the fountain of all grace, a hea
venly inhabitant of soul and body, making us to
partake of His own holiness and love. Thence
forth He is the life of our soul, the author, in-
worker, perfecter, of all holy thoughts, words, and
deeds ; the glow of our love, the strength of our
hope, the upholder of our faith ; He knits our souls
into one, and knits them in Himself to God. And
thenceforth man is the dwelling-place ofthe Holy
Trinity. For where one Person of the Ever-Blessed
Trinity dwells, there dwelleth the Undivided Trinity ;
and our Lord has said, " My Father will love him,
and We will come unto him, and make our abode
in him."
If, then, we are Christ's, we are in God, by God
dwelling in us. In a way of nature, He dwells
wherever there is any created being ; He dwells
there, being Himself " above all," through His ma
jesty, and " through all " through His upholding
power ; " and in us all " too, as the source of our
life. Yet " in us all," being Christians, He is, in a
nearer way of union with Himself, dwelling in us
that we may dwell in Him, He in us, by Himself, and
the fruits of His presence, in grace, and gifts of
grace, and holiness ; we in Him, by cleaving with
our whole united spirit, and all our powers and affec
tions to Him Who loveth us.
Since then all is of God, and in God, since we
ourselves, if our souls are alive, are in Christ and
through Christ in God, there is no room to claim
anything as our own. To claim, any gift of God as
our own, is to rob God. But who could wish to
hold any thing of His own? How much holier,

382 Our Being in God.
deeper, more blessed, more full of love, is it, to draw
every breath of our lives in Him, as supplying it ; to
move around Him as the centre of our being, Who
gives us power to move ! As in nature, even the
strength which men abuse against God, is, in every
separate act, still continued to them by God Whom
they offend, so, in grace, not only the general power
to do acts well-pleasing to God is given and upheld
by God, but each act wherewith, from the sacrifice
of Abel until now, God has been well-pleased, has
been done through the power of His grace put forth
in men, and by Him perfected in them.
Where then can be boasting, my brethren ? Where
any thought of any thing as our own ? Where any
pleasure in any works as our own ? Let them have
pleasure in works as their own, who have pleasure in
thinking of themselves as their own ! But we, my
brethren, who believe that we are not our own, but
bought with a price, even the Blood of Christ, our
glory and our joy shall be, that we have nothing of
our own, that all we have, all we are, (if we have any
thing good) is of God in Christ. Our joy shall be,
that we are not our own ; that our life, our breath,
our being, whether of soul or body, are not our own ;
that they are not even given to us, to have in our
keeping, as though they were our own ; but " in
Him we live, and move, and have our being ;" every
power, every grace, every thing lovely, every good
in us, is His work in us, Who hath " wrought all our
work in us." How poor, and mean, and miserable, a
thought were it, to be, (if it were possible,) the
highest archangel, or to have the wisdom of the
cherubim, apart from God, when God Himself, Who

Our Being in God. 383
filleth heaven and earth and infinity, eternity of
being, and unbounded space, He, the All-holy, All-
wise, All-pure, All-loving, will dwell in us, and
Himself be our righteousness, and wisdom, and
holiness, and love, working and perfecting them
in us.
To the true Christian, all is Christ's, all is full of
Christ. Do not speak, then, my brethren, any
more, (if any of you have,) of persons placing this or
that instead of Christ ; — the church, or the sacra
ments, or the minister of Christ. " Who is Paul,
and who is Apollos," says S. Paul," but ministers by
whom ye believed ? " S. Paul says not that they are
nothing ; but that they are nothing in themselves ;
yet much more than if they were any thing of them
selves, the instruments of Christ," ministers by whom
ye believed." What, again, is the Church, but " the
Body of Christ ? " What are sacraments, as our
church teacheth us, but " means, ordained by Christ
Himself whereby we receive the inward grace " and
presence of Christ ? How can any place the means
of receiving Christ " instead of Christ," when his
very hope is to receive thereby the grace of Christ
and Christ Himself, the author of grace ? What
is Baptism, but that whereby " we put on Christ ? "
What says S. Paul of the Holy Eucharist ? " The
Cup which we bless, is it not the communion of, " or
communication of," the Blood of Christ ? The Bread
which we break is it not the communion of the
Body of Christ ? "
And so, again, as to these churches/ why do we
e This was preached on the re-opening of a church. The
close, asking for help, has been altered.

384 Our Being in God.
value them, but for His promise Who has said,
" Where two or three are gathered together in My
Name, there am I in the midst of them ? " He Who
is by nature every where present, is present here in
a special manner by grace. He was in the Temple,
as much before He filled it with that unutterable
glory which " filled the house of the Lord ; so that
the priests could not stand to minister because of
the cloud." f But by that visible sight of glory He
shadowed out His invisible grace. These visible
churches are hot so holy, as may be the hearts of
Christians. Christ, by His Spirit, dwells in them,
when we come to worship here in spirit and in truth,
but with the soul of the Christian He unites Himself,
dwelling in her in holiness, that she may dwell in
Him everlastingly.
Yet these temples of God have their value, as
visible witnesses to His unseen presence, ensigns
and way-posts to the unseen world, amid the din and
distractions and absorbing whirl of things seen ;
folds, wherein we may be gathered to worship Christ,
hear His Voice, learn ourselves to follow Him, be fed
by Him with His own Body and Blood.
Blessed emblems are they of the heavenly Jeru
salem, and of the peace and rest above ; blessed are
they, as vestibules, wherein, if we worship here in
faith and. love, we may be prepared to enter into the
palace of the Great King ; resting-places amid a
weary and barren land ; refreshment to the weary
and thirsty soul ; pictures, in their rest, of the ever
lasting rest and peace in God.
Look chiefly then to that kingdom of God which
' 1 Kings viii. 10, 11.

Our Being in God. 385
is within you ; look to build to your Lord a temple
within your souls, there to commune with Him,
there to listen to Him, there long to receive Him ;
thither by faith, and love, and longing, invite Him.
These outward temples are but raised for the sake
of that more glorious temple, with which God Him
self unites Himself. That temple for God thou
buildest by every prayer ; for He says, " My house
shall be called a house of prayer," and by prayer we
call God to us, on Whom we call. We build it by
keeping His commandments through His grace ; for
He says, " If a man love Me, he will keep My com
mandments, and My Father will love him, and we
will come unto him, and make our abode in him."
That temple we prepare by casting out from us
thoughts, words, and deeds, at variance with His
holy will. We build up its walls, when we gather up
our whole souls to love what He loves, and flee what
He hates ; that so they may be whole and entire to
contain Him, and wilfully harbour nothing which
displeaseth Him.
Since, then, my brethren, " in Him we do live,
and move, and have our being," surely we ought by
our own wills " to live, move, and be, in" and to Him.
In Him we must be by the very law of our being,
since out of Him we could not be, nor exist ; we
must live, encircled, and enwrapt, and enfolded in
and by His Being ; we belong to Him, we are en
compassed by Him. Every breath we draw is
through Him. But more blessedly we may be in
Him by grace. He is the life of our soul, the Being
of our being. He wills to knit us to Himself. Not
more surely does our blood circulate through our
c c

386 Our Being in God.
frames, than the life of our souls may flow into us
continually from the Spirit of God, never decayed,
ever renewed. With Him thou mayest ever be ; He
will walk with thee by the way ; He will talk with
thee in thy secret heart ; He will be with thee as
thy Friend ; by night or by day He will not be se
parated from thee. He will teach thee through all
who teach. Through every dispensation of His
Providence He will instruct thee. He will teach
thee to pray by His Spirit within thee. In every
trouble He will be with thee, nearer than the trouble
nearest to thy heart, for He will be within thee.
He will kindle thee with love, He will strengthen
thy faith ; He will be Himself thy hope.
All which He gives thee now, shall be the more
precious, because they will not be without Himself,
but will be tokens of His presence. He will be " all
in all " things to thee now, the very good of all good,
the joy of all pleasure, the sweetness of all things
sweet, the life of thy life. He will be the essence of
all good here, that He may be thine All hereafter,
when " all " will be again " very good," because all
will be full of Him. o'PJo.:,^: APf<P

SERMON XXII.

THE SACREDNESS OF MARRIAGE.

Ephesians v. 33.
" This is a great mystery ; but I speak concerning
Christ and the Church."
Great indeed and holy is the mystery of marriage,"
Great and poor are all the things of man. Poor are
the things of man, as they belong to this earth ; great
are they, as they are the shadows of things unseen,
the foretaste, in some measure, of things eternal.
Great is the mystery of holy union. God Himself
Is, the Holy Blessed Three, and yet is One. His
eternal Being is one, simple, indivisible essence,
without parts, without passion. The Three Persons
in the Co-Equal Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, are eternally ; the Son everlastingly begotten
of the Father, and the Holy Ghost proceeding from
both ; yet Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are perfectly
a Preached in the Communion Service, after a marriage, as
contemplated in the Marriage Service.
C C 2

388 The Sacredness of Marriage.
One. " They are not three Gods, but One God."
And this is the eternal bliss of God, that, although
Three in Person, They are in perfectness One God,
and " God is love."
In some shadow of this oneness God willed
eternally to make us, His creatures. Even in Para
dise God instituted that two should be one. He
made the oneness the closer, in that He took from
Adam part of his very self ; that as, in the All-holy
Trinity, the Son is from the Father co-eternally,
that oneness should be shadowed out, as far as it
could be, in His creature ; and the woman was
formed not apart, as other creatures were, not as
a daughter only, but of the very substance, and
strength, and firmness of the man. And man and
woman were again to become one. But for the fall,
there would have been no passion in love and loving
intercourse ; no shame, no distress, no pain in child-
bearing ; but there would have been perfect union
of love. For in Paradise too God said," They twain
shall be one flesh." One they were, by origin one
of the other ; one they should be in their offspring ;
one they should be, in that they were to live through
life for one another alone ; one they should be in the
oneness of mutual love, and their one will, whereby
their souls should be knit together in one ; one
through the blessing of Almighty God, Who made
them what he declared them, no more twain, but one.
After the fall, all was changed. The fire and
poison of the forbidden fruit ran through the whole
of man. What was innocent and pure then, would
be shameless now. There was nothing then to be
ashamed of, because they had not then by sin changed

The Sacredness of Marriage. 389
what God had made. Man rebelled against God,
and so was no longer master of himself. Shame of
himself was the punishment ofhis pride against God.
He lost the glory and fearlessness of his innocence,
and veiled his shame, until his nature should again
be blessedly restored, and our vile body be conformed
to the glorious Body of Him, Who shall restore us.
Yet even thus God made the penalty of our sin,
our sin's remedy. Labour, weariness, and toil, are
the discipline of the body, and the rest and health of
the mind. Labour according to the will of God, is,
all but the contemplation of God Himself, the hap
piest condition of man. " The desire unto the hus
band," which corrected woman's wrongful tempting
of Adam, and her wrongful power over him in lead
ing him to sin, became the bond of mutual love ; pro
tecting, guiding, cherishing, on the husband's part ;
to the wife, the guardian of humility, unspeakable
tenderness, the deepest yearning of love. " Sorrow in
conception," which was the penalty of the pleasure of
the forbidden fruit, was softened by the hope of the
promised Seed Who was to bruise the serpent's head.
Thenceforth, marriage looked on to Him Who
was to come. Holy women longed that God would
give them children, because the victory over him
who had seduced them, was to be given through the
seed of the woman. And when He came, a far
deeper union succeeded.
Then there began a three-fold union of God with
man, of which that union of marriage was the image.
First there was the union of God the Word with our
flesh, whereby He betrothed indissolubly to Himself
our human nature, joining it in one Person with

390 The Sacredness of Marriage.
His Godhead, so that God and Man were one Christ.
God the Son, Who as God fills all space and all
eternity, liveth and shall live for ever as God Man
in perfect oneness. This union cemented that fur
ther union shadowed out in the Canticles, whereby
the whole number of the redeemed should be one
mystical body, united through His Spirit and His
sacraments with Him their Head. This union He
shadowed forth when He formed Eve from Adam's
side. From the Saviour's precious Side gushed
forth, in His passion, those two sacraments, water
and blood, by which the Church is formed. But
since what Christ does for the whole Church, He,
through His indivisible love, does for every soul
which He makes His, in that same aweful hour He,
with the bridal pledge and dowry of His outpoured
Blood, espoused to himself each single soul which,
by His love, He should draw unto Himself.
Hence, in the Gospel, marriage is a mystery,
blessed in itself, when lived in according to the law
and will of Christ ; blessed, and holy, and mysteri
ous, in that it is an image of a mystery as much
above itself as heaven is above earth, yea God above
man, the union ofthe Church or the single soul with
Christ. " This is a great mystery," says S. Paul,
"but I speak concerning Christ and the Church."
The oneness of marriage shadows forth that spiritual
oneness whereby Christ and the whole company of
the redeemed are so one, that He vouchsafes to speak
of Himself as not complete without them ; Himself
"the Head ofthe Church," " His Body, the fulness
of Him Who filleth all in all."
Blessed, thrice blessed, they whom Christ alone

The Sacredness qf Marriage. 391
sufficeth, the one aim of whose being is to live
to Him and for Him. For Him they adorn
themselves ; His eyes Alone they desire to please
through His graces in them ; Him they long to serve
without distraction ; at His Feet they ever sit ; to
Him they speak in their inmost souls, to Him they
hearken : He is their light, their love, their holy joy ;
to Him they ever approach with trustfulness ; Him
they consult in all things, on Him they wait ; Him
they love, even because they love Him ; and desire
nothing from Him but His love, desire no love but
only His. Blessed foretaste of life eternal, to desire
nothing on earth but the life of Angels, and the new
song ; to be wholly His, Whom her soul loveth, and
He, the Lord of Angels, to be wholly her's, as He
says, " I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine."
Yet blessed too are all who, in whatever outward
lot, are with virgin souls espoused unto Christ, in
faith entire, and grounded hope, and fervent charity.
Blessed, whether married or unmarried, are the pure
in heart, who seek to make their souls a bridal
chamber for Christ, fitted by His grace for His in
dwelling by His Spirit.
But since marriage is this high and wondrous
image of the union of the soul with Christ, how
holily ought it to be compassed, entered upon, lived in !
What is the pattern, and measure, and model of
the mutual love of the husband and the wife ? What
but the love of Christ Himself, and of His redeemed
Church for Him, it's Head ? " Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the Church." S.
Paul stops short in no created being ; He lifts us to
Him Who is God and Man, the All-holy, the All-

392 The Sacredness of Marriage.
loving. And how then did Christ love the Church ?
More than Himself, more than His own life. " He
gave Himself for her." In what condition did Christ
love the Church ? For her beauty, her goodness,
her holiness, her graces ? Nay, ye know well what
this our human nature was, before Christ came, how
foul, how defiled, how full of all evil and deformity.
And to what end did He love her ? That He might
array her with all beauty, that He might do away
with every spot or wrinkle, and make her like a bride
adorned for her Husband, holy and without blemish.
This, plainly, cannot belong to us. Christ is the
pattern to us, not as to power or gifts of grace, but
in His love. " Love your wives," he saith, " as
Christ loveth the Church." The love of Christ was
with power ; we cannot imitate the power, but we
can, through His grace, imitate the love. Christ
loved in the Church an undying beauty, which He
would give her. He loved all souls, not for what
they were, but for what He should make them. We
love after the pattern of Christ when we love in one
another that deathless beauty of the soul which
Christ gives ; when we love, in despite of defects,
which Christ will, by His grace, remove ; when we
are patient and forbearing with what Christ has not
as yet removed, looking and longing for His trans
forming grace now, yet onward still to that " mighty
working whereby He shall subdue all things unto
Himself." To love the beauty of the body, save as
the soul shines through it, is not to love like Christ.
Poor, fading, a shadow only of that which shall never
fade, is any beauty of the body. Beautiful above
the stars of heaven, more piercing than their lustre,

The Sacredness of Marriage. 393 '
and undying, is the beauty ofthe soul in grace. Look
then to that in one another which shall live on and
shine on in the heavenly courts, when all which is
of this earth shall be dissolved, yea when what is now
of this earth, but from our Maker's Hands, not from
our marring of His work, shall be transformed into
the glory of Christ.
Live then, day by day, for that Day ; love day by
day, with that Day before you ; love, as ye shall wish
that ye had loved in that Day ; love that which shall
abide in that searching Day, when wood, hay, stubble
shall be burnt up. But love, meanwhile, with a
tender, forbearing love, as Christ is tender and com
passionate with us, bearing with our decay, and
beholding us as what, by His grace, we shall one
day be ; cherishing one another, encouraging one
another, helping one the other along the narrow road
which leadeth unto Him ; denying, each, self for the
other, as Christ loved our souls more than Himself,
in that He poured out His own soul to death for us.
This love shall grow with years, as the love of Christ
and the grace of Christ, which is the beauty of the
soul, grows and is enlarged in each. This love shall
be refined and purified by sickness and the wasting
of the body, as the soul shall, through God's chasten
ing, purifying Hand, lay aside its dross, and glow
the more with the beauty of the grace of Christ.
This love shall not decay, much less die, even after
the body's death. For souls which are united in
Christ, shall not be separated from Christ ; they
shall live on still, one in the one love of Christ. In
heaven there shall be " neither marrying nor giving
in marriage," but there shall be love ; love, pure, holy,

394 The Sacredness of Marriage.
happy, like that of the angels of God in heaven,
who are ever filled with the love of God, ever behold
the Face of God, are ever over-streamed with the
radiancy of that love, which issues forth from the
eternal Fountain of love.
So may the love in this life be the prelude of the
love in life eternal. Daily, hourly, while we are in
this church, speaking, or listening, or praying, we
are hasting on towards our eternal home. " The
fashion of this world passeth away." Love then
with a love which shall not pass away ; a love of
Christ, from Christ, in Christ, to Christ. Kindle in
one another the love of eternity ; meditate together
on the things of heaven, the glories of heaven, the
joy, the peace, the purity of heaven ; do what ye
do with the thought of heaven, as " laying up trea
sure in heaven ; " so while ye live here, ye shall
" have " already " eternal life ; " so shall love here be
perfected there, where is the true substance of what
we have in shadows here, the abiding fulness of that
transporting, deifying love, where God shall be All
in all, and we shall be like Him Who is love, for we
shall, " accepted in Christ Jesus," " see Him as
He is." Amen. *P Ay U^^>

Cfjanfes &e to <Boti*

NOTES.

[A.J Extracts from Galen, (a heathen about A.D. 188,) on Self-
knowledge. Note on p. 164.
" He [Antonius] seems sometimes to exhort us to reflect that
we too fail like others ; sometimes, in what way, any one may
discern his own several failings ; or, again, how each may recall
himself from his failings. And this seems to me the object ofthe
whole discourse. For all the rest are useless and superfluous
unless they be referred to this.
" That it is probable that we do fail, although we ourselves
think that we are without failings, may easily be inferred from
this. We see that all men think that they themselves are either
altogether without failings, or offend against right reason in some
few and little things, and that this is chiefly the case with those
whom others think to fail very much. But I have had very large
experience of this, if of anything, that whoever have permitted
others to pronounce upon them and their character, these I ob
served mostly fail very little. But those who thought that they
were very good, and would not allow others to pass judgement on
them, these I observed to offend in very many and the greatest
things. Wherefore what I myself, when a boy, thought was ex
tolled without reason — that Pythian saying, Know thyself — as if it
was no great precept, this I afterwards found to be rightly praised.
For he only who has the highest wisdom, accurately knows him
self; all the rest, none accurately ; but some more, some less.
For as in the whole of life and in all sciences, any man may know
the great and outstanding differences of things ; but the lesser are
discerned by the intelligent and scientific only, so also as to fail
ings and passions. For if any is vehemently angry for some slight
cause, bites and ill-treats his servants, it is plain that such an one
is passionate. So again if any passes his time amid revelries, and
courtesans, and carousals. But it is not equally obvious, that to
be moderately disturbed for a great loss of property, or for dis
honour, also comes under the class of passions. Or again to
eat a cake rather eagerly. And yet to any who takes care of

396 NOTES.
his soul, and would reclaim it from all passions, it is plain
that these too need correction, and that it is a greater thing to eat
them out, although to avoid them is the more difficult, even be
cause they are little. Whoever then wishes to become honest
and good, must needs think that he is necessarily ignorant of many
pf his faults. .........
" For as iEsop said, we have two sacks hanging from our
necks, one before us, of others' faults ; the other behind, of our
own. Whence we always see those of others, but can never get a
sight of our own. Which account whereas all admit to be true,
Plato assigns the reason. For ' whatever loves,' he says, ' is blind
towards that which it loves. Therefore if each of us loves him
self most of all, each of us must needs be most blind as to himself.'
How then shall he see his own evils ? or how shall he understand
that he fails ? For both iEsop's fable and Plato's explanation
seem to make the discovery of our failings more hopeless than
before, for we can neither help loving ourselves, and that which
loves must needs be blind towards what it loves.
" However if this account does not allow you to judge of your
self, it allows that you can judge of another, whom you neither
love nor hate. When then you hear, in the city, of one of those
who are the objects neither of your love nor your aversion, praised
by many as flattering no one, then do you go to him, and make
some such trial as this whether he is what he is reported to be.
But if you find him such, speak with
him alone, and beg him if he should observe in you any of
the aforesaid passions, he would point it out at once to you, and
promise him that you will be very grateful to him, and that you
will think that you owe your life to him more than if he had
healed your body when sick. And if he promise that he will tell
you when he sees any of these faults in you, and then for many
days, although living with you, say nothing, chide him, and entreat
him yet more gently than before that he would forthwith shew
you whatever of these passions he sees in you. But if he tells
you that he has not said anything because he saw nothing of the
kind about you in the interval, do not believe this readily, nor
think that you are all of a sudden become faultless. But think
one of the two, either that your friend, through indolence, did not
attend to you, or that out of deference he suppressed the blame ;
or else that he did not like to be hated, because he saw that all

NOTES. 397
men (so to speak) are wont to hate those who tell them the truth.
Or, if for none of these grounds, know that he had no wish to do
you good, and was therefore silent, or for some other reason which
we do not approve. For it is almost impossible that you should
not have failed at all. Trust me as to this now, and you will
praise me hereafter ; seeing that all men fail daily in ten thousand
ways and act with passion, but do not trace it in themselves. So
then do not you think that you are anything better than a man.
But you do think that you are something better than a man, if
you persuade yourself that you have done all things well, I say
not, in a single month but in a single day. ....
" For since those who their whole life through, have practised
themselves in acquiring freedom from passion, do not believe
that they have perfectly attained it, much more you who never
practised it. Do not then believe one who has said that he has
seen nothing done by you with passion, but think that he so speaks
either because he wishes not to help you, or because he has not
chosen to observe what you do amiss, or as being anxious not
to be hated by you. Perhaps also he has known you, at some
time, to be vexed with some one who found fault with your fail
ings and passions, so that he has ground to be silent, not believing
that you are speaking the truth when you wish to know all your
failings. But if you change in silence the first of those things
which you do amiss, you will find soon afterwards many who will
faithfully correct you, and much more if, thanking those who
blame you, you rid yourself of that which is blamed in you. And
thereupon consider whether he blamed you truly or falsely ; so
shall you derive great benefit. And if you do this perseveringly,
determined in good earnest to become a good and noble man, you
will become such. . . • ¦ •
" Each of us needs this practise almost throughout life, in order
to become a perfect man. And yet a person must not give up
making himself better, even if, being fifty years old, he perceives
that his soul is deformed, yet not incurably or irreparably. For
neither if any one, fifty years old, were sick in body, would he
give himself over to his disease ; but he would try all means to
get better, although he could not get the good condition of Her
cules. So neither then let us give over making our souls better,
although we cannot attain the condition of the wise man. But
this too we may more readily hope to obtain, if we take care of

398 NOTES.
our souls from childhood ; but if not, let us be at pains that we
be not altogether deformed in soul, as Thersites was in body. For
had it been in our power, before we were born, to fall in with him
who had the care of our birth, we should have asked that we should
have some most noble body ; and if he denied it, we should any
how have begged him for the second, at least, or third, or foufth
degree of good condition. We should have been pleased, even if
we had not the strength of Hercules, to have that of Achilles, or,
if not even this, of Ajax, or Diomede, or Agamemnon, or Patroclus ;
or if none of these, some of the good old heroes. So then, if a
person cannot obtain the highest degree of good condition of soul,
he should be glad of the second, or third, or fourth from the high
est summit. But this is not impossible to one who willeth to
labour thereat, and for a long time steadily to practise it.
" Although you should not become much better, you may be
satisfied to advance some little towards what is better after the
first year. For if you persevere resisting the passions, and soft
ening the anger, you will advance more notably in the second year.
And if you continue to take heed to yourself, still more in the
third, and after that in the fourth and fifth year, you will perceive
a greater advance towards a graver life. For it is disgraceful that
a man should labour for many years successively, in order to be
a physician, or grammarian, or rhetorician, or geometrician, and
not choose to toil for a length of time, in order to be a good man.
" To me it seems far best to check those passions for a long
time ; when you get up in the morning to consider all you have
to do in detail. ' Is it best to live as a slave to passion, or to use
right reason in all things V Secondly, whoever would become
good and noble, must entreat some person to point out to him
each several thing in which he fails. Then in every day and
hour, to have this ever in mind, that it is best for him to become
good and noble ; and that this is impossible without having some
one who shall point out our failings. Such an one we ought to
count our saviour, and greatest friend, who points out to us our
several offences. And if he seems at any time to blame you un
truly, you must not seem annoyed. First of all, because it is
possible that he may see better than you the things in which you
fail, as you too in him. Then, although he should censure you
untruly, yet thereby he has roused you to examine more ac*

notes. 399
curately what you do, but chiefly herein ever keep before you the
fixed purpose to reverence yourself.
" What I have hitherto said of anger, account to be said of
other passions also. First of all, we must commit the judgment
of them to another, not to ourselves. Then we should not entrust
this to any chance person, but to elders who are acknowledged to
be good and noble, who also were expositors of these things before
us, and who are from their age unimpassioned. Then we must
not appear to be angry with such, if they tell us any of our faults,
but be grateful. Then daily recall yourself, it is best, often
times, but at least every morning before you begin to act, and in
the evening, before you go to rest. This advice, which is circu
lated as that of Pythagoras, I have been wont to read at first
twice in the day, and afterwards to speak orally. For it is not
enough to keep free from anger only, but also from gluttony, and
excess of wine, and idle curiosity, and envy." . . "If you
know how thus to reverence yourself, see whether you lived more
temperately yesterday, or to-day. For if you do this, you will per
ceive that it is daily easier to abstain from those things, and you
shall feel great joy in your soul, if you indeed love sobriety.
For what a person loves, therein he rejoices to make progress.
. . Bear in memory what has been well said, such as, ' Choose
the best life, custom will make it sweet.' . . . What I have
said on each occasion, I say now too. In one way to know one
self, is the most difficult of all things ; in another, it is very easy.
For if one wishes to know oneself inwardly, it is very difficult not
so to know oneself outwardly." De cognosc. curandisque animi
morbis, Opp. Graec. T. i. p. 352—356, ed. Basil, 1538. The
text, where imperfect, has been in some places supplied from the
Latin translation, Ven. 1562. Vol. 3. extra ord. class, libb. f.
14 v.— 17 v.
[B.] Enchirid, c. 118. (Shorter Treatises, p. 155, Oxf. Tr.) de
quajstt. 83. qu. 66. and more fully in Expos. Propos. ex Epist.
ad Rom. p. 904. ed Ben. Note on p. 331.
" So then we may distinguish these four states of man ; before
the Law ; under the Law ; under grace ; in peace. Before the
Law we follow the concupiscence ofthe flesh ; under the Law, we
are drawn by it ; under grace, we neither follow it, nor are drawn

400 NOTES.
by it : in peace, there is no desire'of the flesh. Therefore before
the Law we do not fight, because we not only have concupiscence'
and sin, but we also approve the sins. Under the Law we fight,
but are conquered ; for we confess the things which we do to be
evil, and confessing them to be evil, we are unwilling to do them,
but because as yet grace is not, we are conquered.
In this stage it is shown us how we lie prostrate, and while we
will to rise and yet fall, we are the more sorely afflicted. Hence
it is here said, ' The Law entered in, that sin might abound.'
Hence also what has just been laid down, ' for through the Law
is the knowledge of sin.' For it is not the taking away of sin, be
cause sin is taken away through grace alone. Tiie Law then is
good, because it forbids what is to be forbidden, and commands
what is to be commanded. But when any one thinks that he can
fulfil it through his own strength, not through the grace ofhis De
liverer, that presumption profiteth him nothing ; yea, rather it
only hurteth him, so that he is hurried along with a more vehement
desire of sin, and in sin is found also a transgressor. For where
there is no law, there is no transgression. When then he who so
lieth prostrate, knoweth himself that by himself he cannot rise, let
him implore the help ofthe Deliverer. Grace then cometh, which
remitteth past sin, helpeth us struggling, and bestoweth the love
of righteousness, and removeth fear. After this grace, although,
while we are in this life, certain desires of the flesh war against
our spirit, to lead it into sin, yet the spirit, consenting not to
them, because it is stablished in the grace and love of God, ceases
to sin. For we sin, not in the mere evil desire, but in our own
consent. This is the meaning of what the same Apostle says,
' Let not sin then reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey
the lusts thereof.' For hence he shows that there are desires,
which by obeying not, we suffer not sin to reign in us. But be
cause those desires spring from that mortal flesh which we inherit
from the first sin of the first man, whence we are born carnally ;
these desires will not cease, until through the restoration we shall
attain to that change of the body, which is promised us, when
peace will be perfect, when we shall be fixed in the fourth stage.
But peace will be therefore perfect, because nothing will resist us,
not resisting God."

May, 1857.
A LIST OF BOOKS
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY
JOHN HENBY and JAMES PAEKEE,
OXFORD ; and 377, STRAND, LONDON.

NEW THEOLOGICAL WORKS.
OXFORD LENTEN SERMONS.
A SERIES OF SERMONS preached on the Evening of each
Wednesday and Friday during the Season of Lent, in the Church of
St. Mary-the- Virgin, Oxford. Complete in one volume, 8vo., cloth
14s. Separately, Is. each.

Half-Repentance. By the Lord Bishof
op Oxford.
The Lord's Temptation. By the Lord
Bishop of London.
Self-Deceit. By the Rev. Dr. Hook.
Our 'Lord's Desertion by His Disciples.
• By the Rev. C. J. P. Eyre.
Alienation from God. By the Very Rev"
the Dean of Westminster.
Judas Iscariot. By the Rev. Dr. Mo.
BERLY.
Delay in Returning to God. By the Rev.
Dr. Heurtley.

Tlie Contempt cf our Lord before Pilate
and Herod. By the Lord Bishop
of Salisbury.
Spiritual Blindness. By the Rev. Canon
Wordsworth.
Our Lord's Agony. By the Rev. T. T.
Carter.
Final Impenitence. By the Rev. Dr.
Goulourn.
Repentance, from Love of God, Life-long.
By the Rev. Dr. Pusey.
The Passion. By the Lord Bishop of
Lincoln.
THE ANNALS OF ENGLAND.
THE THIRD VOLUME, completing the "Work. With an Ap
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Chroniclers, Foreign Collections, Government and Societies' Publications, Index
ofthe Statutes, and numerous Notes and Illustrations. Fcap. 8vo., cloth, 5s.
Vide also p. 7. of this Catalogue.
REV. W- BRIGHT.
•ANCIENT COLLECTS AND OTHER PRATERS, for the use of
Clergy and Laity. Selected from various Rituals. By William Bright,
M.A., Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Theological Tutor of Trinity
College, Glenalmond. 18mo., cloth, 2s.
OXFORD SERMONS ON THE ATONEMENT.
CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE ATONEMENT. Eleven
Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, with reference to the Views
published by Mr. Jowett and others.
With a Preface by the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor, and an Appendix of
Authorities. 8vo., cloth, 12s.
ARCHDEACON COTTON.
THE FOUR GOSPELS AND THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES,
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Cotton, D.C.L., Archdeacon of Cashel; formerly Student of Christ Church,
Oxford. Fcap. 8vo., roan, 3s. DAILY SERVICES.
DAILY SERVICES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ; com
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[557]

2 Books and Pamphlets recently published by
REV. G. ARDEN, M.A.
BREVIATES FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE. Arranged for use by
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THE PRINCIPLES OF DIVINE SERVICE. An Inquiry con-
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E. A. FREEMAN, M.A.
THE HISTORY AND CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS.
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DR. BURTON.
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REV. J. DAVISON.
DISCOURSES ON PROPHECY, in which are considered its Struc
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the Chapel of Lincoln's Inn, by John Davison, B.D. Sixth and cheaper Edition.
8vo., cloth, 9s. PLAIN COMMENTARY.
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St. Matthew. 2 vols., Is. I St. Luke. 2 vols., 7s.
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A MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF JOHN ARMSTRONG, D.D.,
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John Henry and James Parker.

A UNIFORM SERIES OF DEVOTIONAL WORKS.

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Books and Pamphlets recently published by

PAROCHIAL.

CATECHETICAL WORKS,
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