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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16979-8.txt b/16979-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3fce71 --- /dev/null +++ b/16979-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2860 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Discipline of War, by John Hasloch Potter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Discipline of War + Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent + +Author: John Hasloch Potter + +Release Date: November 1, 2005 [EBook #16979] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + + +THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR + + +_Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent_ + +FROM ASH WEDNESDAY to EASTER SUNDAY + +WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING + +SUGGESTED SUBJECT FOR MEDITATION, AND SUITABLE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE, +FOR EACH DAY IN LENT + + +BY THE REV. + +J. HASLOCH POTTER, M.A. + +_Hon. Canon of Southwark and Vicar of St. Mark's, Surbiton, Surrey_ + + + London + SKEFFINGTON & SON + 34, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C. + _Publishers to His Majesty the King_ + + 1915 + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +The war has introduced into countless lives new conditions, and has +strangely modified, or emphasised, those already existing. These +Addresses, prepared under much stress of other work, are intended to +supply, in very simple fashion, hints for conduct and points for thought +along the lines of our fresh or deepened responsibilities. An Appendix +gives a suggested subject and a passage of Scripture for each day during +Lent. May God the Holy Ghost, without Whom man's best labours are in +vain, bless this little book to its purpose. Please say a prayer for the +writer, who, as much as any, needs grace that he may try to practise +what he preaches. + + J. HASLOCH POTTER. + + Surbiton. + The Conversion of St. Paul. 1915. + + + + +FOREWORD + + + Kingston House, + Clapham Common. + + _January 19th, 1915._ + +My dear Canon,-- + +You have invited me to say a few words introductory to the little book +you are putting forth, and of which you have sent me the advance proofs. + +From the great excellence of that which I have read, I am convinced +that your Lenten meditations on the Discipline of War, will be of +pre-eminently spiritual value in a time when publications on the +subject are multiplied. That the war is to leave us on a higher +plane of self-discipline, and with higher ideals of citizen life and +responsibility, every Christian must acknowledge. Your little Lenten +scheme is just that which is needed to give reality and action to what +might otherwise be left in the realm of theory. May the Holy Spirit make +use of your work to the benefit of us all and for the Glory of God. + + Your sincere friend, + + CECIL HOOK, + _Bishop._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I + PAGE + + The Discipline of the Will 1 + + II + + The Discipline of the Body 9 + + III + + The Discipline of the Soul 18 + + IV + + The Discipline of the Spirit 27 + + V + + Discipline through Obedience 35 + + VI + + The Discipline of Sorrow 44 + + VII + + Discipline through bereavement 52 + + VIII + + Discipline through Self-sacrifice 62 + + IX + + Discipline through Victory 70 + + * * * * * + + Appendix 81 + + + + + + +THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR + +I + +=The Discipline of the Will= + +ASH WEDNESDAY + +Isaiah lviii. 6 + + "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" + + +Discipline is the central idea of the observance of Lent. An +opportunity, rich in its splendid possibilities, comes before us this +year. Much of the discipline of this Lent is settled for us by those +tragic circumstances in which we find ourselves placed. + +God seems to be saying to us, in no uncertain tones, "Is not this the +fast that I have chosen?" + +Our amusements are already to a large extent curtailed, maybe by our own +individual sorrows or anxieties; maybe by the feeling of the incongruity +of enjoying ourselves while anguish and hardship reign supreme around +us. + +Our self-denials are already in operation, under the stress of +straitened means, or the vital necessity of helping others less favoured +than ourselves. + +Our devotions have already been increased in frequency and in +earnestness, for the call upon our prayers has come with an insistence +and an imperiousness that brook no denial. + +To this extent, and further in many directions, our Lent has been taken +out of our own hands; ordered and pre-arranged by that inscrutable, yet +loving, Providence which has permitted the War to come about. + +Thus, at the very outset, we are brought into harmony with the central +idea of discipline--not my will, but God's will. + +Broadly, discipline is defined as "Mental and moral training, under +one's own guidance or under that of another": the two necessarily +overlap, and therefore we shall speak of God's discipline, acting upon +us from outside, and of our own co-operation with divine purposes, which +is our discipline of self from within. + +In the forefront of the subject, and including every aspect of it upon +which we shall touch, stands that tremendous word--_will_. + +Have you ever attempted to gauge the mystery, to sound the depth of +meaning implied in the simple sentence "I will"? + +First of all what is the significance of "I"? You are the only one who +can say it of yourself. Any other must speak of you as "he" or "she"; +but "I" is your own inalienable possession. + +This is the mystery of personality. That accumulation of experience, +that consciousness of identity which you possess as absolutely, uniquely +your own; which none other can share with you in the remotest degree. "A +thing we consider to be unconscious, an animal to be conscious, a person +to be self-conscious." + +This leads on to a further mystery, alike concerned with so apparently +simple a matter that its real complexity escapes us. + +"I _will_": I, the self-conscious person, have made up my mind what +I am going to do, and, physical obstacles excepted, I will do it. + +The freedom of man's will has been the subject of endless dispute from +every point of view, theistic, atheistic, Christian and non-Christian. + +Merely as a philosophic controversy it has but little bearing upon daily +life. The staunchest necessitarian, who argues _theoretically_ that +even when he says "I will" he is under the compulsion of external force, +yet acts _practically_ in exactly the same fashion as the rest of +mankind. + +When the freedom of the will is considered in relation to religion, then +it bears a totally different aspect. If the will be not free, religion, +as a personal matter, falls to the ground, for its very essence is man's +voluntary choice of God. + +Here too those who deny the freedom of man's will doctrinally yet accept +it as a working fact. Calvin, whose theory of Predestination and +Irresistible Grace seems to exclude man from any co-operation in his own +salvation, yet preached a Gospel not to be distinguished from that of +John Wesley! + +For us Christians the freedom of the will is absolutely settled by Him +Who says, "Whosoever will let him come." + +If you are sometimes troubled by certain passages in Scripture which +seem to imply that God's predestination overrides man's will, remember, +that whenever we are considering any question which concerns both God's +nature and man's nature, difficulty must arise, from the very fact that +our finite mind can only comprehend, and that but imperfectly, man's +side of the transaction. Things which now seem incompatible, such as +prayer and law; miracle and, what we are pleased to call, nature; God's +foreknowledge and man's free-will in the light of eternity will be seen +as only complementary parts of one divine whole. + +Remember too that you must take the general bearing of Scripture; not +isolated passages in which, for the necessity of the argument, one side +is strongly emphasised. The Apostle who, thinking of the boundless power +of God's grace, says, "So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him +that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. ix. 16) is the one +who says "He willeth that all men should be saved" (1 Tim. ii. 4). + +The love by which the Father gave up His Son; the life and death of that +Son; the ministry of God the Holy Ghost; the whole dispensation of the +Catholic Church, form one great tender appeal to the free-will of man. +Your free-will, my free-will, before which is placed the tremendous +responsibility of choosing or rejecting. + +And now from the broad thought of will, at its highest point, occupied +with eternal choices and spiritual decisions, we turn to will as the +governing power in our lives. + +It is, to a certain extent, self in action, for before even the +slightest movement of any part of the body, there must have gone, +automatically and unconsciously, an act of will. + +Before every deliberate action there takes place a discussion, which +ultimately decides the attitude of the will, that is your final purpose. +Put quite simply, the _motives_ determine the _will_, and are +themselves decided by the _principles_ at the back of them. + +Let us make this plain by an illustration. It is pouring with rain, you +are sitting cosily over the fire with an interesting book. The thought +comes into your mind, I ought to go and see my sick friend. Then follows +the deliberation: the flesh says, "To-morrow will do just as well." The +spirit says, "No, it won't; you may both be dead to-morrow." The flesh +says, "Perhaps I shall catch a cold"; the spirit says, "That fear +wouldn't keep you from going to a Picture Palace." The flesh says, +"Perhaps he won't care to see me to-day"; the spirit replies, "It's a +dull, wet afternoon, and he's very likely to be alone." + +Now notice that at the back of each set of motives is a vital principle. +In the one case the lower self, in the other the higher self, that is to +say "I" and "God." + +The purely natural, human side of even the greatest saint would prefer +to sit over the fire; but then our nature is not left unassisted, and +even in a simple thing like this God the Holy Ghost comes to our aid +with His suggestions of the higher course, and illuminates the path of +duty. That is one of the most blessed features of the ministry of the +Spirit; He enlightens, He persuades, He never compels: if He did, your +will would not be free. + +This explains what the discipline of the will really means. It is just +the laying of ourselves open to the voice of the living God, speaking +within us. + +As we do this, day by day, the will itself becomes braced and +strengthened, so that the struggle against the lower nature grow less +and less fierce, the power of choosing the higher course more and more +easy. + +Here is our first practical thought for this Lent. + +Watch yourself and your life, especially in those particulars in which +you know that you have been getting out of hand. The prayers omitted, +curtailed, said carelessly, said or attempted in bed, instead of on your +knees: what a grievous failure, isn't it? + +The carelessness about preparation before and thanksgiving after +Communion, the irregularity of your attendances; the habit of +Self-Examination, or of Confession, dropped--why? The Bible neglected. + +Then the self-indulgences in the matter of sleep, food, drink, and +purely wasted hours. + +All these things are sapping the manhood and dignity of the will. +Sometimes even more dangerously and insidiously than open sins, because +with regard to these conscience does speak; but when we are merely +drifting down the stream of time, the pleasant lapping of the ripples on +the side of the bark lulls conscience into fatal sleep. + +Look at your life, ask yourself the question, boldly and honestly, what +is the principle upon which it is being lived, God or self? When the +answer comes you will see clearly the first steps to take in the +disciplining of the will. + +Glorious examples of what can be done abound around you. Think you there +has been no struggle on the part of those tens of thousands who have +given up comforts, home, prospects, harmless pleasures, in exchange for +the ghastly miseries of the trenches, the appalling risks by land, on or +beneath the sea, in the air, all at the call of a stern, compelling +duty, which told them that the life really worth living was the one +spent, laid down if need be, for King and country? + +Think too of the heroism of the wives, the mothers, the sweethearts, on +whose lips there must have trembled over and again, "I will not, I +cannot let you go." Yet the will was disciplined, the words remained +unspoken, the tears were shed in secret, and these brave hearts, even in +breaking, shall find their reward. + +It was at Waterloo one afternoon, a young officer was being seen off for +the front by father, brother, and _fiancée_. The two former bravely +and cheerily said their good-bye, and withdrew a little to leave the +young couple for their farewell; a kiss, a close embrace, outward +smiles, but tears very near the eyes; and then as the officer got into +the carriage just this one remark: "It's precious hard upon the women." +What a world of meaning there was in that. + +Above all, as your pattern and your power, look to Him Who said, "I came +down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of Him that sent +Me." + +_For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix._ + + + + +II + +=The Discipline of the Body= + +FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT + +1 Cor. ix. 27 + + "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." + + +On Ash Wednesday we were considering some purely subjective realities, +such as principles, motives, will--things we could not see. To-day we +think about a very objective substance, ever present to our senses--our +body. A man may deny point blank the existence of his soul--using the +word in its ordinary acceptation--he cannot say, "I have not got a +body." Even if he should conceive of that body as a mere bundle of +ideas, an accumulation of sensations, yet there it is, making itself +felt in countless ways. + +So intimately bound up is it with every part of our life, apparently so +infinitely the most real part of us, that we often think of it as being +our true self. Yet every cell and fibre of it changes in the course of +seven years. Therefore in itself it cannot maintain our identity. Have +you ever pinched your nail, right down at its base, and watched the dark +mass of congealed blood making its way to the tip of the finger, and +then dispersing? This gives you some idea of the pace at which the body +is being burned up and renewed. + +All the while the personal "I" remains, deep-seated in the +self-conscious intellect, memory, will. + +Of course the body plays an immensely important part in the complex +story of our existence. It is the machine by which the personal self +acts, speaks, loves, hates, chooses, refuses; therefore we can neither +ignore it nor despise it. + +The popular notion concerning religion is that it is meant only for the +salvation of the soul. If this were so, then the coming of the Holy +Ghost would have sufficed for all needs. + +One manifest purpose of the Incarnation was to give to the body the +possibility of holiness here, resurrection hereafter. + +Very marvellous is the dignity conferred upon the body by the fact the +"Word was made flesh." From that flows forth the high position of the +Christian, whose body is a "temple of the Holy Ghost." + +It is through the body that we receive the Sacraments, which are means +of grace to the soul. + +Did time permit, it would be deeply interesting to trace out the use of +the word body in this connection--the natural body of our Lord, His +spiritual body after the Resurrection, His mystical body, the Church, in +which sense He Himself is called "the Saviour of the body" (Eph. v. 23), +His Sacramental Body, of which He says, "This is my body." + +The discipline of the body. + +The thought is prominently before us at the present moment, and first +let us look at it from its purely material side. Thousands of youths who +a few months ago were slouching, narrow-chested, feeble specimens of +underbred humanity, have now-expanded into well set up, hardened men. +The body has been disciplined by drill, exercises, route-marching, and +the like. Those who return from the war uninjured will, we may hope, be +in such improved condition as may somewhat compensate for the terrible +loss of vigorous life which is taking place. + +Had there been universal military training of the youth of our land for +the past few generations, either the present war would never have taken +place; or the results of the first three weeks of it would have been +vastly different from what they were. + +Now take another significant fact: letter after letter from the front +says, "We are all very fit." The average "fitness" in the trenches is, +broadly speaking, higher than that of training camps at home, especially +of those where little or no supervision is exercised as to strong drink. +How plainly this shows that hardness, even of an extreme character, +braces up the body; softness and self-indulgence enfeeble it. + +S. Paul affords a wonderful illustration of this; obviously a man of +very delicate health, frequently ill (probably this was the thorn in the +flesh), yet accomplishing vast labours, and, in addition, buffeting his +own flesh lest it should get the upper hand. + +Here, then, we reach the first great principle in the discipline of the +body. It must not have its own way, or it will infallibly assert its +sway over the man's real self. + +That is what happens in the case of the habitual drunkard or the slave +of lust. That which at first is a temptation, perfectly capable of being +resisted, becomes at last what the doctors call a "physical" craving +that, humanly speaking, cannot be overcome. By constant yielding the +will has been weakened to such an extent that the personal "I" no longer +reigns; the usurping body has taken its place and rules supreme. + +Let us take the main thought of self-control, which is the true +rendering of the word temperance, the state in which, as S. James says, +the man is "able to bridle the whole body" (S. James iii. 2), and test +ourselves by it this Lent. Am I retaining my dominion over my body, or +is it gradually pushing itself into my place? + +Self-examination, honestly performed, will reveal this at once, for +conscience, unless blunted by neglect, will speak infallibly. + +For instance, when you find some indulgence of the flesh concerning +which you say "I can't help it," there your body has vanquished you. It +is absorbing your personality, robbing you of your divine birthright, in +which you say, "I will," "I will not." + +And now to go a step further--the disciplining of the body, care in +regard to eating, drinking, amusements, and the like; strictness as to +luxuries and things which, though lawful, may not be expedient, not only +tend to bodily strength and mere physical well-being, but brace up the +will power, because they entail the constant exercise of it. + +Here is where the practical wisdom of the Church comes in as regards +fasting. One day in every week is set apart, beside other days and +seasons, as a reminder of the fact that fasting is a duty of the +Christian life, just as much as almsgiving and prayer--a duty sanctified +by the example enjoined by the precept of our Lord Himself. + +True, no hard and fast rules are laid down, but a little sanctified +common sense will dictate to us how to make fast-days a reality, by some +simple acts of self-denial. + +Our last thought is one of intense practical importance--our attitude at +the present moment towards strong drink. + +Lord Kitchener and the Archbishop of Canterbury have both on several +occasions called the attention of the nation to the terrible evils +arising from the unhappy custom of treating soldiers to strong drink. + +_Punch_, always on the side of morality and rightness, has dealt +with it in the following trenchant fashion:-- + + +TO A FALSE PATRIOT + + + He came obedient to the Call; + He might have shirked, like half his mates + Who, while their comrades fight and fall, + Still go to swell the football gates. + + And you, a patriot in your prime, + You waved a flag above his head, + And hoped he'd have a high old time, + And slapped him on the back, and said: + + "You'll show 'em what we British are! + Give us your hand, old pal, to shake"; + And took him round from bar to bar + And made him drunk--for England's sake. + + That's how you helped him. Yesterday + Clear-eyed and earnest, keen and hard, + He held himself the soldier's way-- + And now they've got him under guard. + + That doesn't hurt you; you're all right; + Your easy conscience takes no blame; + But he, poor boy, with morning's light, + He eats his heart out, sick with shame. + + What's that to you? You understand + Nothing of all his bitter pain; + You have no regiment to brand; + You have no uniform to stain; + + No vow of service to abuse; + No pledge to King and country due; + But he has something dear to lose, + And he has lost it--thanks to you.[1] + + +[Footnote 1: O.S. in _Punch_, November 4th, 1914. By kind +permission of the Proprietors.] + +A man who had so distinguished himself at the front as to be mentioned +in a despatch came home slightly wounded. In less than twenty-four hours +he was in a cell at a police station, and the next day fined forty +shillings. Oh! the pathetic pity of it. That man got into trouble +through the exhibition of one of the purest and best features of our +human nature, the desire to show kindness. In their well-intentioned +ignorance this man's friends--yes, they were real friends--knew of only +one way of displaying friendliness--they gave him liquor. + +I am not going to blame them, nor him entirely; I am going to lay some +of the fault upon ourselves. + +Since the beginning of the last century the habits of the upper classes, +to use a generic though unpleasant term, have improved immeasurably. +Then excess was more or less the rule among men of good position, was to +a certain extent expected and provided for; witness _The School for +Scandal_, or the leading novels of the period. Now, the man who +disgraces himself at a dinner-table is never invited again. + +And even as we go down in the social scale much improvement is apparent. +Those who remember Bank Holidays on their first introduction will +recollect that the excess of the working classes was quite open and +shameless; but to-day some effort is generally made by the victims, or +their friends, to hide the disgrace, because Public Opinion is +improving. That is where we come in. + +Many causes of intemperance in strong drink are matters for legislative +or municipal action; for example, overcrowding, insanitary dwellings or +surroundings, sweating, excessive hours of labour, adulteration of +liquors. But there are two factors upon which we can exercise direct +influence, because they are connected with that great corporate entity +called Public Opinion. + +First let us take the one upon which we have already touched--the notion +that friendliness and good fellowship are essentially connected with +strong drink. This is at the bottom of those terrible scenes when troops +are leaving our great London railway stations. Scenes so inexpressibly +sad to all thinking people. + +Everyone who abstains entirely, or who takes the khaki button--a pledge +not to treat nor be treated to strong drink during the continuance of +the war--is helping to knock a nail into the coffin of one of the +silliest and most fatal delusions that has ever wrought havoc to body, +soul, and spirit. + +And then there is that other weird notion that you cannot be really +strong and healthy without stimulant. For you the glass of beer or wine +may be a mere harmless luxury, in the way in which you take it. I +purposely exclude spirits, which I am fanatic enough to think should +only be used medicinally. But every individual total abstainer helps to +swell the testimony not only to the non-necessity of alcohol, but to the +fact that, according to the view of a large part of the medical +profession, the human frame is better without it. + +You may say, "What good will my abstinence do to people with whom I +never come in contact?" Tell me what influence really is; how it +spreads, by what unseen modes it ramifies and extends. + +Tell me the real significance, the true spiritual value, of the fact +that "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: if one +member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it." + +Then perhaps you can explain in some way, how your abstinence shall +spread to desolated homes, to stricken lives, in crowded slums or quiet +villages, in fire-raked trenches or storm-tossed ships. + +No act of self-sacrifice for His sake, Who though He was rich yet for +our sakes became poor, ever went without its rich reward. + +No tiny wave of influence ever yet sped forth from a Christian heart, +but what reached its mark and wrought its work of beneficent power. + +_For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix._ + + + + +III + +=The Discipline of the Soul= + +SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT + +St. John vi. 38 + + "For I am come down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but + the will of Him that sent Me." + + +To-day we are going to speak of the soul not in its popular sense, as +set over against the body, but in the scriptural meaning of the word as +the broad equivalent of life. + +To enter upon a philosophical discussion might prove interesting from a +merely academic point of view, but would be eminently unpractical. +Suffice it to say that when S. Paul speaks of the "body, soul and +spirit" (1 Thess. v. 23), he takes the two latter as different faculties +of the invisible part of man. + +Soul ([Greek: psychê]) is the lower attribute which man has in common +with the animals; spirit ([Greek: pneuma]) the higher one which they do +not possess, and which makes man capable of religion. + +In this sense, then, the soul would mean the life the man or woman is +leading, in the home, the business, the pleasures, the relaxations, as +distinct from the definite exercise of devotion or worship. + +Of course it is absolutely impossible to draw a hard and fast line +between sacred and secular. All secular affairs, rightly conducted, have +their sacred side; and conversely all sacred matters have their secular +side, for they form part of the life the man is living "in the age." + +It is the neglect of this truth which is responsible for much of the +moral and religious failure of the day. + +Business is secular, prayer is sacred, and so they have no practical +connection each with other. + +Amusement is secular (often vastly too much so, in the very lowest sense +of the word); Holy Communion is sacred; therefore there is no link +between them. Whereas the prayer and the Communion should be the +ennobling and sanctifying power alike of work and play. + +Bearing this caution in mind, we shall to-day look at certain features +of the so-called secular life of the day in which discipline needs to be +strongly exercised. + +No doubt about it, the soul of the nation has been growing sick, sick +"nigh unto death." + +Luxury has been increasing with giant strides; the mad race for pleasure +has helped to empty our Churches, to rob our Charities, to diminish the +number of our Candidates for Holy Orders, to make countless ears deaf to +the call which the country, through that magnificent Christian soldier, +Lord Roberts, and many others, has been making to manhood of the land. +Week-ending, meals in restaurants, turning night into day, have robbed +home-life of its grace and power, and produced a generation of young +folk _blasé_ and discontented before they are out of girlhood and +boyhood. + +With this has come, inevitably, the loss of sense of responsibility. So +long as I can enjoy myself and get my own way, why should I vex myself +with the outworn question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" No! That has gone +into the limbo of effete superstition. + +And further, loss of the sense of proportion. There are some to whom it +causes no moral shock to wear a dress costing a hundred guineas, while a +vast number of seamstresses, shirtmakers, artificial flower makers, +boot-closers, and the like, are working seventy hours for 5s. to 8s. a +week. One mantle-presser, in Dalston, receives 1/2_d._ per mantle; +she is most respectable, has four children, and earns from 5_s._ +6_d._ to 7_s._ a week! + +We do not grumble at the hundred guineas being spent upon the dress, or +a thousand guineas even, if the money went in due proportion all round +to supply the _full living wage to each one engaged in its production_: +and if the wearer interested herself keenly in social problems, and used +her means wisely and well to afford relief where it was needed. This, +alas! does not happen when the sense of proportion is lacking. + +Take another case--alas! a fearfully common one. Men and women will +gamble recklessly at Bridge, lose heavily, pay up, at whatever cost, +because it is _a debt of honour_. All the while a hard-pressed +tailor, a famished dressmaker and her children are kept out of their +money, because it is only _a debt of commerce_. Could there be a +more ghastly parody on the word honour? + +Yet once more--the lack of seriousness. By seriousness we do not mean +gloominess, nor withdrawal from society, or anything of the kind. We +mean the flippant attitude towards life, the lack of serious, sustained +interest in literature, in music, in art, in the legitimate drama; +witness the theatres being turned into cinema shows, and the terrible +paucity of sound, strong plays. Everything must be scrappy, light, and +if a little (or more than a little) risky, so much the better. + +We do not for a moment say that these evils are universal, God forbid, +but none can deny that they have eaten deep into a large part of +society, using the word in its broadest, not in its technical sense. + +The soul of the nation needed discipline, and it has come suddenly, +sharply, but, who shall dare to say, not mercifully? + +And even in its very coming it brought a tremendous opportunity, for we +were not compelled to make war, notice that! + +We had an option. The temptation was subtle. You have no concern with +Servia, throw over Belgium, let France take care of itself. + +For a time, probably a very short time, we should have avoided war and +its horrors. The bait was held out by some peddling politicians that we +should have stood in a magnificent position to obtain trade, to control +markets, to dictate prices to the rest of the world. Magnificent +prospect! We went to war, and, by a strange paradox, secured peace with +honour: peace of the national conscience. Had we forsaken Belgium we +could never again have held up our heads among civilised honourable +nations. Thus the very circumstances under which the War came about +formed an appeal to the soul of the nation as embodied in its +legislature; the Government rang true, and the nation, as one man, +endorsed its decision. + +And now the discipline has commenced. + +Who can be flippant and careless with our coast towns liable to +bombardment, and over a hundred lives already sacrificed in this little +island, which we have always deemed to be the one absolutely secure spot +in the whole world? Five months ago an earthquake in London would have +seemed a far more likely event than the bombardment of Hartlepool, +Scarborough, Whitby, and the dropping of shells on Yarmouth foreshore, +or of bombs at Dover and Southend. + +Who can be unconcerned when our ships are liable at any moment, and +apparently in almost any place, to be sent headlong to the bottom of the +sea by torpedoes or mines; possibly sometimes by those very mines we +have been compelled to lay, and which happen to have broken loose? + +This is one of the unavoidable hazards of war under modern conditions. +It does not make us ignore the magnificent work of our Fleet, nor +tremble for the ultimate issue. + +Who can be giddy and careless with darkened streets, trains, trams, all +telling of the awful possibilities of the new development of aerial +warfare? + +Who, even among those not directly touched by anxiety or bereavement, +can go on just as usual in luxury, self-indulgence, and ease amid the +crushing mass of suffering around them on all sides? + +Thank God that, though we may have erred very grievously through +softness of living, we are not a callous people, but we needed a strong, +stern discipline of the national soul; some stirring and trumpet-tongued +appeal to the national life, and in the righteous mercy of God it has +come. + +Some of the immediate effects are obvious; but what are the lasting +results to be? + +The _Guardian_, of a few weeks back, thus soundly comments upon the +matter:-- + + "It is true that the outbreak of war put a sudden end to much that + was thoughtless, stupid, and even base in contemporary life. 'Tango + teas' and afternoon Bridge among women have receded almost as far + into ancient history as dinners at Ranelagh or suppers at Cremorne. + But human nature is easily frightened into propriety by a crisis; + it is not so easy to maintain the new way of life when the fright + is safely over. The things that are amiss in our national life, and + above all that lack of seriousness which so many observers have + lamented during the last few years, can be amended only by a clear + conviction of the inherent unsoundness of our outlook, and a firm + determination to rebuild it upon new and more stable foundations." + + +The soul of the nation needs discipline, and that can only come through +the effort of the individual to discipline his own life. + +There is a ceaseless temptation to echo the cry of the disciples in +regard to the few loaves and fishes: "What are they among so many?" + +Of what value or power is my feeble little life among the teeming +millions that go to make up the nation? + +Put away the thought, for it is a direct temptation of the Devil. + +It was just when, in the very depths of his human despair, Elijah cried +out, "I, I only am left," that God revealed to him the seven thousand +men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. + +It was because Athanasius was content to stand _contra mundum_, +against the world, that the Catholic faith was preserved to the Church. + +Let us very seriously examine ourselves as to the use we are making of +our life with regard to other people. + +We have considered that life, in various details, in respect to +ourselves, and only incidentally as it affects others, but now let us +put away all thought of self. + +Take the one absolute standard of life as set in the text, "I came down +from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." + +The result was a life entirely devoted, from the first moment to the +last, to one stupendous cause: the lifting up of humanity to the very +throne of God. + +You and I cannot reach even a fraction of the way towards that perfect +standard; but it is our pattern, our plummet, our measuring-line. + +Very practically, then, we must ask ourselves such questions as these: + +What proportion of my time is spent for others? + +Have I any method of employing time or any stated hours that I give to +philanthropic or religious work; or do I just, in a casual way, let +other people have odd moments, when I happen to think of it? + +Similar questions should be asked as to money. Many people, especially +those who do not keep accounts (which everyone ought to do), would be +shocked if at the end of a year they could see the enormous +disproportion between the vast amount they have frittered away on self, +and the pitiful little doles they have handed out in the cause of +charity. + +One man, who kept three cars for private use, reduced an already paltry +allowance made to a dependent because the price of petrol had gone up! + +It is not that people cannot give; it is often only that they do not +think. Look at the vast sums being poured into the Relief Funds. Why has +not some proportion of it gone long ago to Hospitals obliged to close +their wards, Waifs and Strays Societies compelled to refuse poor little +outcasts? The money was there; it could have been spared then as well as +now, but it needed some great shock to wake its owners up to the sense +of proportion, the realisation of responsibilities. + +And so in regard to such gifts as music, painting, acting, mechanics, +stitchery; even such simple things as reading and writing. Have you ever +read a book to, or written a letter for, anyone else? We might multiply +these questions indefinitely, but enough has been said to enable us +seriously to take in hand the disciplining of the soul, remembering that +this life of ours is a precious loan entrusted to us by God the Father, +redeemed for us by God the Son, sanctified in us by God the Holy Ghost, +to be used by us, in due proportion, for our neighbours and ourselves. + +_For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix_. + + + + +IV + +=The Discipline of the Spirit= + +THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT + +St. Luke vi. 12. + + "He continued all night in Prayer to God." + + +Last week we looked at the soul as that faculty of life which, to a +certain extent, we share with animals; to-day we pass on to consider, +under the title of spirit, the higher endowment by which man is enabled +to look up and, in the fullest exercise of his whole being, to say +"my God." + +A man without religion is undeveloped in regard to the highest part of +his complex nature. In attaining to self-consciousness, and the special +powers it brings, he has gone one step further than the animal, but +has utterly failed of his true purpose. The supreme object of the +self-consciousness, which reveals to him his personality, is that it +should disclose its own origin in the personality of God. + +One very striking effect of the War has been to produce a vast amount of +testimony to the fact that man is, broadly speaking, religious by +nature. + +The services in the places of worship all over the land have been +multiplied, intercession is becoming a felt reality, congregations have +grown. + +It is asserted, by those who have the best means of knowing, that by +far the majority of the letters from the front contain references to +religion, such as acknowledgments of God's providence, prayer for His +help, or requests for the prayers of others. Sometimes, in the strange +double-sidedness of human nature, accompanied by expletives obviously +profane. Mention is often made of the bowed heads, and the prayer, in +which both sides join, at the time of a joint burial during a temporary +truce. + +All these things show that the deeps of the fountains of natural +religion have been broken up in wondrous fashion. + +Our question to-day is: How shall we discipline that spirit which +enables us to realise religion as a fact? + +Let us try to get to the root of the matter. + +There are two chief derivations of the word religion. One comes from the +verb which means "to go through, or over again, in reading, speech, or +thought." Hence religion is the regular or constant habit of revering +the gods, and would be represented by the word devotion--an aspect most +important to bear in mind. + +The other derivation, and the more usual, derives religion from the idea +of binding together, and tells of communion between man and God. For us +Christians this thought finds its highest ideal and fulfilment in the +Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +The great characteristic action of religion is prayer; varying in its +methods and degrees from merely mechanical performances, like the +praying wheels of the Chinese up to the heart devotion of the Christian, +poured out when commemorating, in the Holy Communion, the death and +resurrection of His Lord. + +The first essential of any prayer which is to be of value in the +discipline of the spirit is regularity. No words can exaggerate the +importance of morning prayer. Yet, alas! tens of thousands of professing +Christians are content with evening prayer alone. The one who goes forth +in the morning prayerless is just as ill-equipped to do his duty, and +meet his temptations, as the foodless man is to perform physical work. + +The whole story of the saintly life, alike in the Old Testament, the New +Testament, and the Church, is that of diligence in prayer. It was to +promote that spirit that the Church of Christ, following on the lines of +the Jewish Church, from very early days adopted special hours for stated +devotions, with the daily offering of the Holy Eucharist linking the +whole system together. + +The lowest standard to aim at is private prayer morning and evening, +midday too if possible, and regular attendances at God's House on +Sundays and Feast Days. The guiding principle, to be kept ever in mind, +is not what my own inclinations suggest, but what the glory of God +demands. Were this always the case, what magnificent congregations there +would be. + +Prayer represents a real business of the spirit into which we put the +whole endowment of our being, intellect, memory, emotion, will. + +Oh! those wandering thoughts, how they do distress us; and just in +proportion as we wish to pray and are learning to pray, so we feel our +deficiencies the more keenly. + +A few moments before we commence our prayers spent in saying very +quietly, "Thou God seest me," or "In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Ghost," coupled with a simple yet earnest act of the +realisation of God's presence, will be of infinite use. + +The railway train coming into a station does not draw up with a jerk, +but gradually slows down. So with us; we cannot come out of our rushing +lives all in a moment into the quiet of God's presence; we need to slow +down. + +But much of the wandering in prayer is the direct result of the habit of +wandering in life. Flitting from one subject, one book, one occupation +to another; scrappy reading, talking, thinking; then, as a natural +consequence, scrappy praying. A great master of the spiritual life used +to say, "You will get far more help in your prayers by leading a more +useful life, than by making tremendous efforts after concentration when +you are actually at prayer." + +The one who tries to keep alive the habitual sense of God's presence +makes his whole life a prayer, of which the stated devotions only form a +natural part. It is comparatively easy for such a one to concentrate his +thought and to keep his attention fixed when engaged in his prayers. + +Just a word or two about books of devotion. They serve a most useful +purpose, especially in preparation and thanksgiving for Confession or +Communion, but should never be allowed to take the entire place of the +Christian's glorious privilege of pleading the "Abba Father," and +speaking to God in his own words, day by day. + +Be careful not to use prayers which are manifestly beyond your own +standpoint or out of harmony with your own feeling. The mere repetition +of phrases that do not represent your inner attitude towards truth only +tends to formality; the effort to force a kind of artificial conformity, +because you think you ought to feel this or that, invariably ends in +unreality. Given these cautions, devotional books may be of great use, +even for regular daily prayer, and often help to call back the thoughts +which are flying off at a tangent. + +To speak of discipline without touching upon Confession would be to omit +one of its most essential features. Nightly self-examination must be +performed, and that not perfunctorily, but with real intention of +repentance and strictness of living. Self-examination is nothing more +nor less than spiritual account-keeping; without it the man has no real +idea of how the business of his soul stands. + +When it reveals the fact that sin is making headway and the spirit +losing ground, then the wise teaching of the Prayer Book should be +followed; "the grief"--for such it ought to be--opened in Confession to +God, before one of God's ministers, and the benefit of absolution +secured. + +Much of the terrible prejudice felt against this practice arises from +the mistaken idea that the priest professes to forgive us our sins. The +words of the Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick, in our own Prayer +Book, put the matter on its true footing:--"Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who +hath left power to His Church to absolve, ... _forgive_ thee ... and +by His authority ... I _absolve_ thee." The source of all pardon and +the right to exercise it rest in God alone, but the message declaring +the fact is part of the "ministry of reconciliation," committed, in the +infinite condescension of God, to the "earthen vessels." An illustration +may be taken from the pardon of a criminal condemned to death; the Home +Secretary recommends it, but the King, on his sole authority, grants it, +and then the message, the _absolvo te_, which lets the man go free, +is delivered by the governor of the gaol. + +Penitents, especially after a first confession at some crisis in mature +life, often bear witness to the fact that it seemed to bring them +straight into the presence of Jesus Christ; to make them feel the +reality of His pardoning blood in a way they never could have believed +possible. How strange that the very thing which by so many pious and +thoroughly honest souls is dreaded because it is supposed to bring a man +in between God and the soul, should yet so often be used by the Holy +Spirit to give a wondrous and precious vision of Christ the Saviour. + +Thus far we have spoken only of that kind of occasional Confession which +is obviously contemplated by the Prayer Book; we have no time to dwell +on its habitual use. + +Suffice it to quote some words from the first English Prayer Book:-- + + "Requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession, not + to be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfying, + the auricular and secret confession to the priest; nor those which + think needful or convenient to open their sins to the priest to be + offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession + to God, and the general confession to the Church." + + +That staunch Evangelical Churchman, Bishop Thorold, who was strongly +opposed to habitual Confession in our Communion, once said, "We cannot +ignore the fact that the giants of old owed much of that saintliness, +which we of the present day can only wonder at but cannot reproduce, to +the practice of Confession." + +If you should be in doubt about it for yourself, consult some +spiritually-minded person who possesses experience in the matter. Not, +on the one hand, the man who will tell you that it is the greatest curse +the Church has ever known; nor, on the other, the one who would have it +practised by everybody. + +Surely for us sober Church folk there must be a loyal middle course, +which leaves absolute freedom, so long as the individual "follows and +keeps the rule of charity, and is satisfied with his own conscience." + +Last, but most important of all, in the discipline of the spirit comes +the Holy Communion, about which we shall speak next week. + +As our closing thought, let us go back to what we said just now. The +object of religion is God's glory, not man's enjoyment. See how this +puts feelings down into their right, and subordinate, place. They are +sometimes very delightful, sometimes very depressing, but always liable +to be misleading. A great saint of old used to say:--"If God never gave +me another moment of sensible devotion in prayer, I would go on praying, +because His glory demands it." + +Religion has to do with facts: the facts of what God the Father, God the +Son, and God the Holy Ghost have done, and are doing, for us; the facts +of what we have to do, to make the finished work of Christ our own. + +Here, as always, our Lord Himself gives us the highest illustration. +Neither as God, nor yet as perfect Man, was there an actual need for Him +to pray; yet His whole life was punctuated with prayer: first because +the glory of the Father required it, and next because His chosen +Apostles must be taught by example as well as precept. + +Let the same mind dwell in us. It is for the glory of God that I should +have salvation; therefore by the help of God I will discipline my +spirit. + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +V + +=Discipline through Obedience= + +FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT + +St. Luke xxii. 19 + + "This do in remembrance of Me." + + +Our subject of to-day flows quite naturally out of what we said last +week. Religion rests on facts, and its object is God's glory, not merely +our profit. Our duty, therefore, is an absolute submission to those +facts--in other words, implicit obedience. + +This is being illustrated on all sides in regard to the War. + +The facts are indisputable. Lord Selborne put the matter in a nutshell +when he said: "The task in front of us is colossal. We are fighting for +nothing less than our lives, in circumstances which make it the duty of +every Englishman to put everything in the world he possesses, everything +that he values, into the scale to ensure success, and I am sure there is +not one of us, whatever his position, who would flinch in the slightest +from the duty he owes to his country and to his deepest self." + +The response to the facts has been obedience, immediate and +unquestioning, on the part of a vast number. True, not all have yet been +reached who ought to come forward, and some are even now crying out for +that compulsory service which may yet prove inevitable. They forget that +the obedience of one free man is worth more than the forced submission +of many. Let us wait hopefully, energetically; losing no opportunity of +pressing the stern logic of facts wherever we may. + +And those who have joined the services have come at once under a +discipline totally different from that of the sternest school or the +strictest house of business. The surrender has been made voluntarily, +and it has placed the whole life in each detail under the claim of an +absolute obedience. + +The disposal of every moment of time belongs to the authorities. The +private in high social position must obey the orders of a young +lance-corporal just as exactly as he expected his own commands to be +carried out in his business or his household. + +Who can estimate the immense development of moral fibre that surely must +take place in succeeding generations from the fact that so vast a +number, in all ranks of society, are now under obedience? Not because +they were driven to it, but because they embraced it by an initial act +of obedience. + + --Thus they answered,--hoping, fearing, + Some in faith, and doubting some, + Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming, + Said, "My chosen people, come!" + Then the drum, + Lo! was dumb, + For the great heart of the nation throbbing, + Answered, "Lord we come."[2] + + +[Footnote 2: _The Reveille_, Bret Harte.] + +Let us apply this thought to the command in our text, "Do this in +remembrance of Me." The facts are undisputed. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in +the tenderness of His compassion, instituted an ordinance by which we +might remember Him and feed upon Him. + +Further than this we cannot go on the ground of universal consent. +Strangely enough, that rite which is the same in its central act, +whether celebrated by the nonconformist in his ordinary dress, or the +priest clad in costly vestments, whether in the humble room or the +stately cathedral, which is, on the one hand, the well-nigh universal +mark of all who profess and call themselves Christians, is yet the +battle-ground of fierce dispute and bitter disagreement. + +The present crisis is undoubtedly deepening in our minds the exceeding +value of this blessed gift of Christ to His Church. + +It is deeply suggestive of the spirit of our young officers that a group +of old public-school boys, just about to leave for the front, should +have begged their late schoolmaster--now a Bishop--to give them a +Celebration of Holy Communion in his own private Chapel on their last +Sunday in England. What a beautiful send-off! + +Then, turning to the scene of operations itself, we find a touching +witness in the simple record sent by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe to his +brother at Southampton. "We spent our Christmas Day waiting for the +Germans, who did not appear. But we managed to find time for church and +for three celebrations of Holy Communion, although the whole time we +were cleared for action and the men were at their guns." + +Who can contemplate unmoved that spectacle of the men, not gathered in +the peaceful security of the House of God, but out upon the ocean, +expecting attack, realising the possible nearness of the end, leaving +their guns but for the moment, then back again, strengthened for life or +death by the sacred Body and Blood. + +Or take the witness of Rev. E.R. Day, one of our Senior Army Chaplains +serving with the Expeditionary Force. While home on a few days' leave he +preached at Lichfield Cathedral, and, touching upon the efficacy of +prayer, testified how enormously it was valued by our soldiers now +serving at the front. The Holy Communion was especially appreciated. On +Christmas Day there were no fewer than seven hundred communicants from +one regiment and four hundred from another, and the service was held in +a ploughed field with a packing-case for an altar. He had conducted +these services sometimes in the back-parlour of a public-house, in a +stable, in a loft, in a lean-to shed, and in the open; anywhere, in +fact, where room could be found. Out on the battlefield there was hardly +any need for a compulsory parade service; the men had only to hear that +a service was to be held and they would crowd to it. + +Most of the reasons given by those who stop away from Communion centre +in self. + +"I am not worthy." Of course not, nor is the priest who celebrates, nor +is any member of the congregation. We sadly misread that caution of S. +Paul about receiving "unworthily." + +Let us take a homely illustration. Our good Queen Victoria was very fond +of visiting cottagers in the Highlands and reading the Scriptures to +them. You can imagine how one of them might say, "I am not worthy of +such an honour; this little place is so poor and mean." Quite true, yet +she could tidy up the home, mend her frock, make everything neat and +clean, so as to receive the Queen "worthily." Until you realise the +fact-- + + "I am not worthy, gracious Lord," + +you will never receive Him worthily. No one who examines himself, +confesses his sins, and firmly purposes to amend, ever yet came to +Communion unworthily. + +"I don't feel inclined to come." Because you have not realised in its +full meaning two facts: yourself as a great sinner, Christ as a great +Saviour. Feelings have nothing to do with duty. If they had, our army +would be about half the size it is. Do you suppose that all those who +are joining the Services like leaving home, wife, friends, comforts? +Feelings have been sacrificed to facts. + +"I'm too great a sinner." Then you are not fit to die. Repent, turn to +the Saviour, and then in His holy ordinance you will find the very +strength you need to keep you from falling back. + +"I have such terrible temptations." So we all have, priest and people +alike. Temptations are not sins; they are the enemies on the +battlefield, and if you never meet them, you--the Christian soldier +enlisted at your Baptism--will never have the chance of winning a +victory. The one who stays away from Communion because of temptations or +sins, which he is really trying to resist, is like the sick man who +looks at the bottle of medicine and says, "I will take it when I get +well." + +"So many communicants are hypocrites." That shows that you know enough +about the Christian life to be able to judge your fellow creatures. Are +you making things any better by neglecting your duty? + +"I have got an enemy." Have you honestly tried to be reconciled; are you +willing to forgive and bury the past? "Yes, but he is not." All the more +need then for you to come to the Communion and pray for his heart to be +changed. + +It was said of one great saint that some people might never have had the +blessing of his prayers for them but that they were his enemies. + +All these excuses centre in self. They could not do otherwise, for no +one has ever yet found in Christ any reason why they should stay away +from Him. + +Obedience forms so large a part of discipline--nay, is almost identical +with discipline--because it takes us out of self. + +Our Lord Who has bidden us "do this" knows exactly what is best for us. +In putting aside feelings, fancies, unworthy scruples, and casting +ourselves unreservedly upon His boundless mercy, we shall taste of the +treasures of His grace and be satisfied. + +One important part of the discipline of this obedience is making a +special and very careful preparation before, and thanksgiving after, +each Communion. + +Preparation which consists first of all of real self-examination and +repentance, using fearlessly the "ministry of reconciliation" when +necessary, and then of special prayers which help to put us into the +attitude of hopeful, grateful anticipation. + +Thanksgiving; definite prayers and praises, continued for a day or two, +unless we are very frequent communicants, so that we may lose none of +the preciousness of the blessing by our own forgetfulness or +ingratitude. + +In this, as we said last week, books can _help_, but that is all; +they cannot make the preparation or the thanksgiving for us. + +Early Communion, quite apart from the doctrinal question of fasting +reception, is a useful feature of the discipline of obedience. It is a +custom which comes from primitive times, and is universal in the greater +part of the Catholic Church. + +To give the early hours of the day to our Blessed Lord is surely more in +accordance with what His great love requires than to choose our own time +and come when it suits us best: that is when it requires less effort and +self-denial, and when our minds have been distracted by the cares of the +advancing day. + +The coming on of old age or sickness may necessarily debar us from the +privilege and joy of early Communion, but, while we can, let us make the +most of the blessed morning hours, when in all the freshness of our +newly awakened life we draw near to Him Who ceaselessly watches over us. + +The question is often asked: "How often ought I to receive the Holy +Communion?" The answer depends upon so large a number of considerations +that no general rules can possibly be given. Spiritual capacities vary +infinitely. + +One broad principle we can lay down: Do not receive so often that you +begin to neglect preparation and thanksgiving. Better by far six +Communions a year, which have meant real, living intercourse between +yourself and your Saviour, than a weekly one which has degenerated into +a perfunctory form. + +It is to be remembered that there is nothing to prevent your attending +the service whenever you wish, joining in the praises and prayers, even +though for some good reason you are not going to receive. + +But, whatever your custom may be, have a rule about your times of +receiving, and keep to it strictly. + +Aim at regularity for your own sake. One of the greatest causes of +many of the obscure modern complaints is the irregularity of meals, +consequent upon the exacting conditions of life. Precisely so, much +sickness of spirit springs from the careless way in which the chief +spiritual food is treated. People go to the Holy Communion when they +feel inclined, instead of according to a fixed rule, modifying the rule, +just as they would in the case of their meals, by circumstances which +may arise; spiritual sickness might dictate abstention from Communion +for a while, just as bodily disease might require a period of fasting. + +Be regular for others' sake. The consistent example of the communicant +who lets neither weather nor inclination interfere with duty exercises +an influence far wider than he could imagine possible. + +Be regular for Christ's sake, in grateful recognition of that tender +love which has given us the highest privilege of the Christian life. +Surely never is our Lord more satisfied in seeing of the travail of His +soul than when His faithful ones are gathered before His Holy Table, +worshipping Him in the tremendous reality of His spiritual presence, +feeding upon Him in the mystery of His Body and His Blood. + +Thus out of our obedience to the great "Do this" comes discipline of the +highest kind. That discipline which is ever putting self in the +background, ever exalting the person and the work of Christ. + +Then follows the reward, never attained by those who in self-interest +seek it, only poured forth upon such as are content to lose their life +in finding it, "He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +VI + +=The Discipline of Sorrow= + +FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT + +Revelations vii. 14 + + "These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed + their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." + + +Two considerations only can throw any light on the dark mystery of +suffering, the problem which has baffled the intellect, the perplexity +which has torn the heart of mankind from the dawn of conscious life--"I +believe that Jesus Christ was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin +Mary, and was made man"; "I believe in the life of the world to come." + +The two thoughts blend in our text with a harmony of illumination which, +though it does not solve the problem, renders it less dark. + +Only in the light of another world, where the seed sown here shall bear +wondrous fruit, can we even begin to reconcile the existence of +suffering with the goodness of Almighty God. If there be no hereafter, +then indeed suffering must be the work of a vengeful tyrant rejoicing in +cruelty, or of a fatalistic machine grinding out its foreordained +consequences. + +What we require is some comprehensive plan which will knit together +past, present, future in one great purpose of progress towards ultimate +perfection, which will guarantee not only _an_ existence hereafter, +but will render that existence personal, conscious, capable of the +highest development. + +We find this in the Incarnation, the eternal purpose of God the Father, +formed in the eternity of _the past_, that His Son should take our +human flesh. + +This plan is working itself out in _the present_ by the power of +God the Holy Ghost, through the life of the great Church of Christ, +militant and expectant. + +It stretches forth into the future, with regard to which we have +parables, promises, visions, warnings, all pointing to a continuously +progressive growth till the perfect manifestation of the Kingdom of +Christ be reached. + +Thus the Incarnation supplies the unifying principle, and in its light +we catch some ray of hope on the dark problem of suffering. + +In consequence of sin our Lord was a sufferer, even in some mysterious +sense was "made perfect through suffering" (Heb. ii. 10). + +The climax came in the "full, perfect, and complete sacrifice, oblation, +and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world" made upon the Cross. + +It is suggestive that these words should occur in the Consecration +Prayer of the Holy Communion Service, as if to remind us that our true +spiritual and commemorative sacrifice draws all its validity, power, and +preciousness from the one offering of Christ made by Himself in His +death. + +Thus we see that most essential act for our salvation was not one of +victory, triumph, or glory, as the world reckons these things. Oh, no! +It was one of absolute self-surrender, involving untold anguish of soul +and body. The results of the sufferings of our Lord have justified their +tremendous cost. + +Its efficacy consisted not in the physical pains, but in the entire +yielding up of the will. Thus it represents for us that victory over +self which is the only path to eternal life. + +But this victory, even now in these emphatically feather-bed days, is +always more or less painful. In the early times it meant persecution, +poverty, isolation, death, for the sake of Jesus Christ. + +It is always so; the greatest deeds the world has ever known, +nationally, or individually, have been wrought out by suffering; because +suffering, more than any other agent, deepens character. + +Look around among your friends and acquaintances. Who are the morally +strongest? To whom do you turn in your times of difficulty, doubt, +trouble? Not to those whose lives have been easy, to whom the lines have +fallen in pleasant places, to whom success has come without effort! No! +You turn to the one who has fought his way through the doubt, the +difficulty, the trouble, and you find a tower of strength. There is the +secret of Charles Kingsley's power as a counsellor; once he did not +believe that there was a God; he went through the agonies of doubt. + +There is the secret of the wondrous force of Archbishop Temple. Rough, +rugged, almost discourteous at times; hating shams and penetrating +them with an unerring instinct, but tenderness itself to the really +distressed. He knew what it was as a lad to do field labour in poor +clothes and with insufficient food. In later years, when up at College, +he was wont to study by the light in the passage, because he could not +afford oil for his own lamp. + +Yet another illustration, showing the directly spiritual influence +of suffering--those countless cases of bed-ridden invalids, often in +intense pain, who develop an intense, fervent, yet restful piety, seldom +attained even by the most devout in active life. + +Those who have had experience in missions or dealing with individual +souls know how constantly suffering--especially in middle life--lays the +foundations of conversion. Ay, and lays them strong and deep. The soul +in trouble feels its need of God, turns to Him, and then gets to know +the fulness of His mercy, even in and through the affliction. + +And now, how stands it in regard to the War? We need not repeat in +detail those various points on which we have already dwelt. Spite of +all the ghastly sufferings the War is bringing in its train, nay, in a +sense, because of them, it has linked together the Empire in the closest +bonds, allayed political and polemical strife, evoked a wealth of +heroism, self-sacrifice, prayer, and benevolence, and braced up the +moral fibre of countless lives. + +Yet all this does not explain the existence of suffering, the why and +the wherefore still lie hidden in that region of the infinite which we, +finite beings, cannot penetrate. We can see, from its results, that +suffering is no more incompatible with the eternal love of God, than the +surgeon's knife is inconsistent with the tenderness of his heart. "Whom +the Lord loveth He chasteneth," "God dealeth with you as with sons" +(Heb. xii., 6, etc.). Our great mistake is to look upon trouble as +punishment, inflicted by an angry God, and to rebel under the chastening +hand. When God sees that His child, whether the nation or the +individual, needs discipline He sends it, and there is no more lack of +love than there is on the part of the wise earthly parent, when he +corrects his child and makes him suffer pain. Nay, it is the very love +that prompts the discipline. + +Once more, let us look at suffering in its power of producing sympathy. + +The Incarnation was the greatest act of sympathy the world has ever +known. The Word made flesh, our Saviour born as a babe, that He might +enter into all the experiences of our human nature; that He might not +simply feel _for_ us, but feel _with_ us. + +Here is the essence of the word; take it in Latin, compassion; take it +in Greek, sympathy--alike it means feeling with. And in the wondrous +mystery of the Church, the spiritual body of Christ, the same great +principle is still working itself out. + +Very strange, very mysterious, yet real with the essence of reality, is +the connection between the suffering Christ and the suffering Church, +"inasmuch as ye have ministered to one of the least of these My +brethren, ye have done it unto Me." And yet it is the Christ Who helps +and sustains us from on high. The same Christ Who was here upon earth, +suffering in His martyr Stephen was yet standing at the Father's right +hand to succour him. + +The same Christ Who flashed the wondrous vision of Himself on the eyes +of S. Paul, was yet so intimately present in and with His infant Church +that he "thundered" forth the question, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest +thou Me?" + +It is just this thought of Christ still present in the person of His +suffering children, that gives the glow of enthusiasm to philanthropic +work of a definitely Christian character. But may we not go a step +further and try to see Christ, in a measure, in all suffering, even that +of the animals? He came to redeem the world, and we in our little view +are apt to narrow down the purposes, and limit the possibilities within +very contracted lines. + +The War is opening up to us opportunities boundless in their character +and scope. Probably to-day tens of thousands who have hitherto spent +aimless lives; whose time, means, gifts have gone in the shallow channel +of self, now know something at least of the joy of launching out on to +the broad stream of living, loving sympathy. This has been because, +though in some instances unconsciously to themselves, Christ, in the +power of His Holy Spirit, has touched their lives. + +If anguish has come to our hearts let it work its discipline upon us in +and through Christ, by the opening out of ourselves to Him, that we may +take in the full measure of His priceless sympathy. Let us try to lose +ourselves in ministering to others, one of the surest anodynes for grief +and pain. + +But if we have, as yet, passed unscathed, let us be all the more +diligent, tender, and loving in our care for others. + +There is no need to go into details. Wherever your lot be cast you have +only just to look around and you will find there are individuals, wives +at home, soldiers at the front, whose lot you can brighten in very +simple yet very real ways; perhaps institutions, such as Red Cross +Homes, Hospitals, Belgian Hostels, to which you can render practical +service; Funds to which you can send your money; all these are means +through which you may enter into the glorious discipline of opportunity +that comes through suffering. + +Have you ever thought how infinitely poorer the world would be in all +that is highest and purest in its life, were there no suffering to call +forth the tender ministry of sympathy? + +And now let us summarise what we have been saying. Suffering is a +great mystery, but two facts throw light upon it--the hereafter, the +Incarnation; suffering does discipline character, therefore, judging by +results, it is not incompatible with the love of God, even though its +existence be still a problem; suffering presents us with the splendid +possibility of sympathy, to be exercised in the power of the loving +Christ. + +Can we close better than with the thought of the saints in Paradise? + +On earth they lived in the always realised consciousness of a personal +Christ. When the Apostles were persecuted and beaten, they departed from +the Council "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for +His name." So it has been all down the long story of the ages. And the +saints are those "who have washed their robes and made them white in the +blood of the Lamb"; their sufferings sanctified by, and borne in, the +power of Him Who was made perfect by the things which He endured. Their +"light affliction, which was but for a moment, has worked out for them +the exceeding abundant and eternal weight of glory." + +Thus the Incarnation, the eternal counsel of the past, that embraced +them while they were on earth, is still enfolding them, while they, +with us, wait and pray for its final consummation, in the coming of +the Kingdom. + +Let us so use our opportunities for discipline now, that the uplifting +of character shall be permanent; not a mere spasm of passing enthusiasm, +but a real growth into the character and likeness of Him Who suffered +death upon the Cross, that all might live unto Him. + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +VII + +=Discipline through Bereavement= + +SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT + +1 Thess. iv. 13 + + "We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall + asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope." + + +Of all kinds of sorrow, bereavement is in some senses the sternest, +the most irrevocable, and the one in which human compassion is of +least avail. + +All that we said last week on the discipline of suffering applies here, +but with enhanced force. If suffering generally cannot be rationally +contemplated outside of the doctrine of a future existence, still less +can death be tolerated unless it lead to further life. If sorrow in the +bulk needs the Incarnation to throw upon it the light of God's love, +still more does this particular grief require the assurance that the +finished work of Christ operates within, as well as without, the vail. + +Broadly speaking, all over the world there are torn and bleeding hearts +mourning the nearest, the dearest; in the vast majority of instances, +from the circumstances of the case, men in the beginning or the very +prime of life. + +The heroism of the women has been as magnificent as that of the +men--nay, in a sense, more so. For those who go forth there is the +novelty, the excitement, the nerving sense of duty. Their time is so +ceaselessly occupied that but little space remains for brooding or for +anxious thought, on behalf of themselves or those at home. The men who +remain behind, the fathers, brothers, friends, have the priceless boon +of daily occupation, often vastly increased in amount. There is no such +infallible anodyne of care as plenty of honest work. + +But the women--theirs is the harder task, the fiercer trial, of keeping +up the brave appearance, the show of cheerfulness, whilst all the time +the load of apprehension and fear lies heavy on their hearts. None will +ever know the crushing reality of the offering the women are making to +their country, in one great stream of self-sacrifice. + +Nor can we forecast the end, nor estimate the claims that are yet to be +made in the cause of patriotism. The nations engaged, at least the chief +of them, are fixed irrevocably in their determination that peace, when +it comes, shall be no temporary patching up of hostilities and arranging +of indemnities, but a solid, lasting settlement, which shall, as far as +possible, place another vast European war out of the range of practical +politics. + +To tens of thousands there has come the ceaseless yearning for + + The touch of a vanished hand, + The sound of a voice that is still. + + +Now notice how S. Paul deals with the matter. "That ye sorrow not as +others which have no hope." There is no injunction here not to sorrow +at all; that would be contrary to human nature, and would bespeak +callousness rather than resignation. Our Blessed Lord wept at the grave +of Lazarus, and in so doing sanctified human grief. The keenest faith, +to which the other world is an absolute reality; the fullest hope of the +sure and certain resurrection for the dear one; the most disciplined and +submissive will which accepts unquestioningly the dispensations of the +Father; all these are not proof against the natural grief at the removal +of a loved one from this sphere of tender intimacies, into another, +where we can only commune with him in thought and prayer. + +How often this is illustrated at the death of a chronic invalid who has +suffered much. With tears streaming down the cheeks, the mourner will +say, "I am so thankful he is at rest." No selfish, rebellious side of +grief is exhibited by those tears; only human sorrow, blending in loving +harmony with perfect resignation. + +Now notice carefully the ground on which S. Paul bases the Christian's +hope for the departed; first, faith in the death and resurrection of +Christ; "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again." It is a mere +platitude to say that the whole of S. Paul's teaching is founded on the +actuality of the resurrection. "If Christ hath not been raised, your +faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen +asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in +Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 17). Then out of +this fact of the resurrection flows a consequence: the dead, as we call +them, "sleep in Jesus," and will be His immediate companions at the last +day. We cannot enter into a discussion as to the exact conditions of +what is called "Hades" or the "intermediate state"; suffice it to say +that one great feature of it is nearness to Jesus, "having a desire to +depart and be with Christ" (Phil. i. 23); "absent from the body, present +with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 8). Herein consists the blessed hope set +before us in regard to the faithful departed; the crucified, risen, +ascended Jesus has them in His keeping; we and they alike are parts of +the one great Church, knit into the "Communion of Saints" by the mystic +bond of the sacred bread, linked each to the other by mutual prayer; +they for us and we for them. + +Very beautifully and tenderly does the Archbishop of Canterbury deal +with this thought in one of his late sermons:-- + + "As with bowed head and quivering lip we commend their souls into + the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour we feel + how the very passing of those brave and buoyant lives into the + world beyond pierces the flimsy barrier between the things which + are seen and temporal and the things which are unseen and eternal, + and again we can and do give thanks. God is not the God of the dead, + but of the living:-- + + + "Nor dare to sorrow with increase of grief + When they who go before + Go furnished, or because their span was brief. + For doubt not but that in the worlds above + There must be other offices of love, + That other tasks and ministries there are, + Since it is promised that His servants there + Shall serve him still. Therefore be strong, be strong, + Ye that remain, nor fruitlessly revolve, + Darkling, the riddles which ye cannot solve, + But do the works that unto you belong." + + +Here is the magnificent prospect of hope for those who mourn: that +the Incarnation of our Lord is still working itself out in all its +beneficent purposes. By the power of the Holy Ghost, in the Church +expectant as in the Church militant, the answer to the constant prayer, +"Thy Kingdom come," is being ceaselessly given; and the fulness thereof +will be realised in the Church triumphant. The saints on earth and those +in Paradise are equally in the hands of the Lord, though the latter have +clearer vision and nearer sense of the fact than the former. By some +this is used as an argument against the practice of prayer for the +departed, but surely this thought of the unity of the whole body leads +in exactly the opposite direction. No argument can be adduced against +this most ancient and primitive custom, observed by the Jews long before +the coming of Christ, but what equally applies to any petition for an +absent friend still on earth. In each case they are in the keeping of +Him Who knows best and will do right, yet for those still here we pray, +believing that in His own way God will take account of our prayers and +knit them up into His own dealings, so that they become part of His +eternal purposes. When commending the departed to Him, naturally our +words will be chastened and restrained because we know somewhat less of +the conditions of the "intermediate state" than we do of those of our +own dispensation. Somewhat less; for how little do we really understand +of the circumstances around us now in all their bearings as they lie +open beneath the eye of God. Therefore it is that whenever we pray we +must ask in full submission to our own limitations and in the spirit of +the Master, "Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done." + +Thank God this matter is not one of argument; no, it lies in another +plane: the innate feeling of one who really knows what prayer means and +who has grasped in some degree the doctrine of the "Communion of +Saints." + +A pious evangelical, well fortified with arguments against prayer for +the departed, had been nursing her sick sister and taking care of the +little daughter of the house. The sister died, and the same evening +the motherless girl knelt down at her aunt's side to say her prayers. +"Auntie, may I say God bless dear mother?" The whole drift of the aunt's +training and theology would have led her to say "No" point blank. There +was no time for argument or explanation, for facing the inevitable "If +not, why not?" The instincts of natural religion prevailed; the aunt +replied, "Yes, dear"; and from that day onward never failed herself to +say, when remembering her dear ones, "God bless my sister." + +Whatever the effect of such prayers in the other world, there is no +shade of doubt that to the bereaved they bring an infinite sense of +nearness to their beloved, and of the reality of the life of the world +to come. + +Thus far we have been speaking of those who may fairly be called the +faithful departed, the cases in which hope may be reasonable and assured +almost to certainty. + +Now let us go a step further. The mind staggers as it contemplates the +tens of thousands being hurried into eternity who, either according to +the teaching of the Catholic Church or the notions of popular theology, +would be deemed unprepared. + +We trust, in a dim sort of way, that the all-embracing mercy of God +will accept their sacrifice of themselves for their country, and in +some fashion place it to the credit side of their account. No doubt +He will. But can we not get a more evangelical, and at the same time +more catholic, view of the matter? We find it in an extension of our +conception of the possibilities of the intermediate state, the condition +of souls between death and judgment. Evangelical to the backbone, +because it is the work of Christ which we conceive of as being there +carried on. Catholic, because the Church from very early times has +recognised the idea of the discipline of souls as being a process +continued after death. The authority of S. Paul has been appealed to on +account of his words to the Philippians (i. 6), "being confident of this +very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until +the day of Jesus Christ"; and to the Corinthians in that mysterious +passage concerning "the fire which shall try every man's work" (1 Cor. +iii. 13). The doctrine was developed and materialised till it resulted +in those corruptions which were so largely responsible for the +Reformation. In their zeal to root out error, the Reformers fell into +the opposite extreme and abolished the idea of the intermediate state +altogether. Hence arose the popular notion, unknown to the Catholic +Church till then, of Heaven or Hell as the immediate issue of death. + +Of course, the Church's teaching had regard to the condition of its own +members after death, and we cannot press it into an argument as to those +not dying, technically, in a state of grace; but at least this much we +may say: Surely no intelligent person can contemplate the thought of +these vast hosts being hurried off into eternal perdition, and at the +same time retain his reason or his faith in a God of love. Whatever the +possibilities of the world to come, they are but the extension of the +boundless love of God in Christ, and hold out no promise for us if we +wilfully neglect our day of grace. + +But now to pass on to one further source of consolation which comes +in its measure to all the bereaved alike; the chastened joy from the +thought of the splendid sacrifice the dear one has been privileged +to make. + +Take an illustration--a letter from Major-General Allenby to Lady de +Crespigny on the death of her son:-- + + + "Dear Lady de Crespigny,--I and the whole of the Cavalry + Division sympathise with you, and we feel deeply for Norman's loss. + But I must tell you that he died a hero's death. The brigade was hotly + engaged, and on the Bays fell the brunt of the fighting on September + 1st. Norman, with a few men, was holding an important tactical point, + and he held it till every man was killed or wounded. No man could have + done more, few would have done so much. + + "With deepest sympathy, yours sincerely, + + "E.H.H. Allenby." + + +How the bereaved hearts in the midst of crushing grief must have lit up +with gladness at such a record as that! + +But to close. The discipline of bereavement consists essentially in the +trial of faith, yet at the same time brings with it the power of faith. +In bereavement, above all other forms of sorrow, comes the felt need of +God; it has been so with countless souls. The answer to the need is the +revelation that God makes of Himself in Christ; then comes the peace of +God, which passeth all understanding, which dries the tears and heals +the broken heart. + +_Note_.--The question of prayer in connection with God's foreknowledge +is so admirably treated in "Some Elements of Religion" (Liddon) that we +append an extract:-- + + + "What if prayers and actions, to us at the moment perfectly spontaneous, + are eternally foreseen and included within the all-embracing + Predestination of God, as factors and causes, working out that final + result which, beyond all dispute, is the product of His Good Pleasure? + + "Whether I open my mouth or lift my hand is, before my doing it, + strictly within the jurisdiction and power of my personal will: but + however I may decide, my decision, so absolutely free to me, will have + been already incorporated by the All-seeing, All-controlling Being as an + integral part, however insignificant, of His one all-embracing purpose, + leading on to effects and causes beyond itself. Prayer, too, is only a + foreseen action of man which, together with its results, is embraced in + the eternal Predestination of God. To us this or that blessing may be + strictly contingent on our praying for it; but our prayer is + nevertheless so far from necessarily introducing change into the purpose + of the Unchangeable, that it has been all along taken, so to speak, into + account by Him. If, then, with 'the Father of Lights' there is in this + sense 'no variableness, neither shadow of turning,' it is not therefore + irrational to pray for specific blessings, as we do in the Litany, + because God works out His plans not merely in us but by us; and we may + dare to say that that which is to us a free self-determination, may be + not other than a foreseen element of His work." + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +VIII + +=Discipline through Self-sacrifice= + +GOOD FRIDAY + +1 Tim. ii. 6 + + "Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all." + + +To-day we reach the solemn climax which embraces in itself the whole +idea of discipline under each of those aspects upon which we have +touched. Will, body, soul, spirit, obedience, suffering, death, all +summed up in the tremendous self-sacrifice declared by the Cross of +Christ. + +The principle of sacrifice is one of those deep mysteries which seem, +as it were, to be rooted in the very nature of our being. It begins +in the initial fact by which man's existence is maintained upon +earth--motherhood, a vast vicarious sacrifice. Yet borne with gratitude, +readiness, ay, even with joy because of the dignity, the love, the +delights it brings with it. One of the surest signs of the decadence +of a nation is when its women, through desire of merely living for +themselves, begin to rebel against the high privilege of motherhood, or +to neglect the duties it should entail. This attitude of mind poisons +life at its fountain-head. + +Time would fail us, nor indeed would it be profitable, to enter upon a +discussion as to the exact theological bearing of the death of Christ +upon the forgiveness of sins. This is a matter which may rightly occupy +the attention of theologians and scholars who endeavour, so far as +infinite verities can be expressed in finite language, to give a reason +for the hope that is in them. Such books as Liddon's Bampton Lectures, +Dale on the Atonement, or Illingworth on Personality, will be found most +valuable by those who have the time and the capacity for studying them. +It is a good thing, especially in these days, that the intellect of the +Christian should be well-equipped, so that he may silence the taunts of +those who say Christianity is purely a matter of emotion. + +The personal acceptance of Christ as a personal Saviour rests, not so +much on arguments, as on a sense of need; when this is accompanied by +strong intellectual grip of truth then the influence of the Christian +upon others becomes a great missionary factor. The beauty of the Gospel +story lies in its wonderful adaptability. It is the same in its power to +a Pascal, a Butler, a Liddon, as it is to the unlettered peasant, who +can neither read nor write. + +Scripture declares quite plainly that the death of Christ was "for us"; +how far this may be pressed to mean "instead of us" is a very grave +question. The words will bear that interpretation, no doubt, but we must +remember that they do not necessarily involve any more than "in our +behalf," that is, for our benefit. + +It has been the forcing of the words into an unnatural and immoral +theory of substitution, the notion of an angry God claiming a victim, +that has done such terrible harm to the cause of Christianity, and has +led many thoughtful minds to give it up in disgust or despair. Probably +in a wise commingling of the two lines of thought we shall arrive most +nearly at the truth. We all agree that our Blessed Lord's death was "in +behalf of us"; that is for our everlasting welfare; in a very real sense +this was "instead of us," since His sufferings were endured so that we +might not lose the blessing of salvation. + +Very beautifully is the matter summed up by a modern writer: "In the +death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for the +sins of the world, the moral perfections of God find their highest +expression, and the deepest necessities of man's moral and spiritual +life their only complete satisfaction."[3] + +[Footnote 3: Dale on the Atonement.] + +The death of Christ was not only typically but, in a certain sense, +actually the offering up of our bodies on the Cross. Notice very +carefully the words of St. Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ" +(Gal. ii., 20 R.V.). Not simply, as in the old Authorised Version, +"I am crucified with Christ," but something much more definite and exact. +When Christ ascended the Cross He took up with Him our human nature +collectively, as bound up in Himself by virtue of His Incarnation. Hence +it follows that you, the individual, have been crucified with Him; just +as you, the individual, have been buried with Him, and raised with Him +in your Baptism (Rom. vi., 4). How completely this takes the sting out +of the reproach brought against Christianity, on the ground of the +immorality of the Crucifixion! It is no longer the Innocent one +suffering instead of the guilty, but it is the sinless One taking upon +Himself human nature, with all its guilt and consequent punishment, and +"in His own body on the tree," offering that human nature up to God. He +in us, we in Him, that the redemption of human nature may be complete. +Canon Liddon thus puts it in one of his University sermons, "The +substitution of the suffering Christ arose directly out of the terms of +the Incarnation. The human nature which our Lord assumed was none other +than the very nature of the sinner, only without its sin. Therefore He +becomes the Redeemer of our several persons, because He is already the +Redeemer of this our common nature, which He has made for ever His own." + +We have already noticed that it was not the sufferings of Christ which +were acceptable to God the Father. To think this would be to fall back +into the very crudest and most repulsive idea of substitution. No, it +was the offering up of the will of Christ that formed the essence of the +sacrifice. If we may presume to attempt a mere earthly illustration of +so tremendous a matter, let us take the case of a General whose son +meets with a terrible death while leading a forlorn hope. The father's +heart is torn with anguish both for the death and the circumstances of +it; but at the same time the father's heart swells with pride, ay, even +with joy, that his son should have been true to the highest thing in the +world--duty. + +He Who said, "I come not to do mine own will but the will of Him that +sent Me," also said, "I lay My life down of Myself, no man taketh it +from Me." Herein is the discipline of sacrifice complete by the using +of one's own will to surrender it absolutely to the will of another. + +We have spoken so fully of the surrenders of will being made on all +sides that we need say no more now on that point, but for further +illustration let us turn our thoughts in a somewhat fresh direction. + +The example of Belgium is a living witness of the power of +self-sacrifice. + +G.K. Chesterton has put forth a striking pamphlet entitled "The +Martyrdom of Belgium"; in it he says: + + "There are certain quite unique and arresting features about the case + of Belgium. To begin with, it cannot be too much considered what a + daring stroke of statesmanship--far-sighted, perhaps, but of frightful + courage--the King of the Belgians ventured in resisting at all. Of + that statesmanship we had the whole advantage, and Belgium the whole + disadvantage: she saved France, she saved England--herself she could + not save." + + +Had Belgium yielded instead of standing out, then, humanly speaking, +nothing could have averted the immediate success of the German dash +for Paris. + +Now think for one moment of the solemn obligation this lays upon us in +regard to that gallant, struggling, yet temporarily dismembered little +nation. We must look after the refugees. There are those who say, "The +Government have brought the Belgians over here, let the Government make +their support a State matter." + +One almost blushes to have to deal with such a sentiment. Could +1_s._ in the £ income-tax take the place, morally, spiritually, or +ethically, of the rich profusion of voluntary aid now being poured +forth? The loss to the nation, of that which is purest and noblest in +its life, would be simply unspeakable. It is suffering that provides +opportunity for the exercise of the highest duty known to man, "Bear ye +one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ." Try to picture +to yourself, quietly yet resolutely, what it would mean to you to-morrow +morning, to find suddenly that you had to leave your house, not in a +motor-car for a railway train; no! but to turn out at once, without time +to put together any belongings; to tramp, perhaps in pouring rain, along +miles of road, foodless, cold, exhausted; seeing those around you +dropping out to faint or die by the wayside; not knowing where or how +the journey should end. This is what has happened to tens of thousands +of Belgians; many, cultured and refined, coming forth penniless from +homes of comfort and plenty! + +In ministering to the needs of the Belgians you find a glorious +privilege, a priceless opportunity. Again, to quote G.K. Chesterton: + + "In a sense Belgium could still have saved her face; but she preferred + to save Europe. This, it seems to me, gives her a claim on something + beyond pity or even gratitude--a claim on our intellectual honour beyond + anything that even suffering could extort." + + +Our Lent is nearly over. With all its opportunities, its calls, +its privileges, it is now behind us. Some perhaps began it with high +resolves and brave hopes, and are disappointed at the apparently small +results. None, we trust, are wholly satisfied with themselves, for that +would point to a condition far worse than despair. There is such a thing +as divine discontent, and every true Christian should know something of +it. For all the conscious failures ask pardon, but do not give up +striving. + +Standing under the Cross of Christ, as we do to-day, we have a standard +for the measuring of ourselves which makes our little efforts at +discipline look very poor indeed. Yet He remembers our frame, He knows +whereof we are made; He can and will accept the feeblest struggles of +our will towards His. Perhaps some progress in the life of grace may +have been made, then thank Him and take courage. + +Let us just cast our minds back. The discipline of the will means, +laying ourselves open to listen to the voice of the living God. The +discipline of the body means, never letting it get the upper hand of the +real self. The discipline of the soul means the taking a very serious +view of the responsibility of life. The discipline of the spirit means, +a close approach to God by every channel of worship. The discipline of +obedience means, that we put self in the background, so that we may +exalt the person of Christ. The discipline of sorrow means, that Christ +is still present in His suffering ones, and there is our opportunity. +The discipline of bereavement means, the trial of our faith that it may +enter into the realities of the spiritual kingdom. + +Then comes the crown and climax, the discipline of self-sacrifice. +Place steadily before you the thought of Christ crucified, see there the +culmination of all possibility of the offering up of self for others. +No element of completeness was wanting. The sacrifice was voluntary, +was made for enemies, brought no return to self. + +Strong in His strength go forth ready to spend and be spent, if only by +the discipline of self-sacrifice you can lighten the load borne by any +one of your fellow-creatures. + + + What hast Thou done for me, O + Mighty Friend, + Who lovest to the end? + Reveal Thyself that I may now behold + Thy love unknown, untold, + Bearing the curse and made a curse for me + That blessed and made a blessing I might be. + + Wounded for my transgressions, stricken sore, + That I might sin no more, + Weak, that I might be always strong in Thee: + Bound, that I might be free; + Acquaint with grief that I might only know + Fulness of joy, in everlasting flow. + + + * * * * * + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +IX + +=Discipline through Victory= + +EASTER DAY + +Romans vi. 9 + + "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." + + +To couple the word discipline with victory may seem incongruous almost +to the point of impossibility. Yet, if we look below the surface, we +shall see that never is the connection more strong and the need for +realising it more urgent. + +Lent is over, its special discipline has passed, and now the danger +begins. The danger is lest any progress made, any victory won, should +lead to that self-confidence which can only end in disaster. Success is +often a discipline far more fatal in its results than failure. + +We celebrate to-day the grandest victory the world has ever known: a +victory which sprang out of the depths of an apparently complete defeat. +"We trusted that it was He which should have redeemed Israel." Vain +confidence, for how could One Who had died as a malefactor, Who could +not save Himself, rescue His nation from the tyranny of the Roman power? +And then He, this stranger Whom they knew not, opened to them the +Scriptures; showed them the necessity of the sufferings, and the great +climax, in the Resurrection. The ears were dull, the hearts unconvinced, +as they generally are by mere argument, till he revealed Himself in "the +breaking of bread." The eyes of love could not be deceived and sorrow +gave place to joy. + +Some dispute has arisen as to whether we ought to pray for victory in +this War. The matter is well put by an anonymous writer: "If we are only +to pray in matters wherein there is no difference of opinion our prayers +will be few, and if we cannot pray for the triumph of honour over +falsehood, of respect for treaties over unscrupulousness, of order +over cruelty and outrage, for what are we ever to pray? We must pray +according to the light we have. And if we end our prayers with the truly +Christian supplement 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt,' +we cannot be doing anything contrary to the principles of the highest +religion. Surely prayer is, or should be, merely the expression of our +best hopes and wishes submitted to a Divine tribunal." + +Putting aside the question of prayer, let us consider for a moment what +should be our attitude as we look into the future. First and foremost +one of confidence and hopefulness. Without arrogance we can say that we +believe firmly and strongly in the absolute righteousness of our cause. +In violating the neutrality of Belgium, Germany itself confesses that +a wrong was done. A wrong which necessity compelled, as they say. What +necessity? That of getting to Paris at the earliest possible moment. And +so when Germany prays for victory, as of course it does, and ought, at +the same time it has to confess to an initial wrong, which was certainly +not made right by the fact that it was the quickest way of accomplishing +an end. + +We have purposely abstained in these Addresses from fanning flames, or +appealing to passions. But here is a broad ground upon which, by the +very confession of our enemies, we stand on a higher platform. We went +to war because we would not break a treaty, nor forsake a friend too +weak for self-defence; Germany commenced the war by a treacherous act. +Therefore, strong in the belief that the God of righteousness will cause +the right to triumph, we can calmly look forward to ultimate victory, + + To doubt would be disloyalty, + To falter would be sin. + + +Much more might be said in the same direction, but let the broad thought +suffice. + +The war has produced a type of pessimism which, in some instances, runs +almost to disturbance of mental balance. Every reverse is exaggerated, +and accepted with a kind of confident despondency; every success +discounted and treated with half-hearted incredulity: "The Germans have +destroyed another ship; what is our Navy doing?" "Oh, but that's only +one little hill; the Germans will have it back soon enough." Surely +this kind of pessimism, except where the victim of it is not really +responsible, must be as offensive to God as it is exasperating to man. + +But now to turn to our chief thought for the day, that is, the +permanence of the victory of Easter Day, "Christ dieth no more." That +is why He is called "The first fruits of them that are asleep." Several +resurrections are recorded both in the Old and New Testaments, but these +are cases of those who were raised by others, and then died again. +Christ raised Himself and death hath no more dominion over Him. The +resurrection is permanent and keeps on perpetuating and extending itself +in the life of the whole universal Church. It was not an isolated act, +but part of a wondrous plan. Not only does it possess doctrinal +significance in that plan, but vital force for the carrying of it out. +"He died for our sins," but "He was raised for our justification." + + Yes, death's last hope, his strongest fort and prison, + Is shattered, never to be built again; + And He, the mighty Captive, He is risen, + Leaving behind the gate, the bar, the chain. + + +We are praying constantly, earnestly, that we "may be brought through +strife to a lasting peace"; and that "the nations of the world may be +united in a firmer fellowship for the promotion of Thy glory and the +good of all mankind." No conditions of peace are worth accepting unless +they will, humanly speaking, secure this result. Germany on the one +side, and the Allies on the other, both realise that this is a "fight to +a finish." Singularly enough the object of both sides is similar--to +render another great European war impossible: but the ideals in respect +to its attainment are by no means the same; one looks to the setting up +of a world dominion; the other, to the establishment of a state of +balanced power and mutual interests among European nations. We are +fighting essentially for the principle of "live and let live," and +therefore have to face unflinchingly all the sacrifice that still lies +before us. When peace is concluded it must be upon terms which will make +results permanent! Should Germany, in the mysterious providence of God, +be allowed to become supreme, there will be peace, but, alas! only the +peace of desolation and the numbness of despair. But, as we have already +said, it seems disloyal to all our deepest instincts, all our truest +feelings, even to contemplate such a possibility. + +But when the Allies triumph, what then?--the discipline of victory. +Think for one moment of what the victory of Christ meant, as the +ratification of the treaty signed upon the Cross, in the very hour of +apparent defeat. It meant for you and me all that is included in the +words "the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; the means +of grace and the hope of glory." The resurrection puts the seal to the +great charter, commenced at Bethlehem, indited page by page through the +wondrous life of three and thirty years, closed, as to its earthly side, +on Calvary, sealed, signed and delivered on Easter morning. In the power +of that treaty of peace you and I live, day by day; secure except for +our own carelessness; beyond all possibility of hurt from spiritual +enemies, unless by our own traitorous dealings with them. The victory +was complete! "He hath put all enemies under His feet"; the victory is +permanent, for, "death hath no more dominion over Him." + +In these Addresses we have said much about those large results which God +is allowing us already to see as obviously coming out of the war; on our +Day of "Humble Prayer to Almighty God" we solemnly thanked Him: + + + For the laying aside of controversies at home, and for the unity of + the Nation and Empire; + + For the loyal and loving response of our fellow-subjects beyond the + seas; + + For the full harmony between our Allies and ourselves, and for the + success which has already been granted to our common efforts; + + For the devotion of those who have laid down their lives for their + country; + + For the revelation in danger, in suffering, and in death, of the power + of the Cross and the benefits of the Lord's Passion. + + +Now remains the question, Are the results to be permanent? That entirely +depends upon our attitude towards the discipline of victory; or how we +are going to behave ourselves in the hour of success. It is written +concerning Israel, "The Lord saved them from the hand of them that hated +them: and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. Then believed they +His words, they sang His praise. They soon forgat His works: they waited +not for His counsel." God willing we shall ere long be singing our Te +Deum; oh! yes, we shall do it with all our heart and soul; but how are +we to fix the emotions, to render permanent that thankfulness which we +shall really feel. The Israelites "waited not for His counsel." They +failed, that is, under the discipline of success. Victory is given that +it may be used for good, just as much as failure is sent that we may +rise on "stepping-stones of our dead-selves" to fresh endeavour. + +As a nation we have been single-minded and honourable in our entry upon +and our waging of the War; when it is over we are to be just the same in +our use of the fruits of the War. Victory will not come to us simply for +our own sakes and that it may be selfishly exploited for our own needs. +No, assuredly not: it will come for the mutual benefit of all concerned, +and unless the very first fruits of it be dedicated to the cause of +heroic Belgium, to her re-instatement in something of her former +condition, it will have come in vain. The time of distress and disaster +has knit together the Empire in a wondrous unity of brotherhood. There +will be debts to be repaid to India and our Colonies, debts which can +never be discharged in money, but in those higher acts of fellowship, +justice, endeavour, which will knit yet closer the bonds that have been +formed. There will remain a large heritage of disablement and +unemployment to cope with which will require wise counsel, comprehensive +measures, real self-sacrifice. It is computed that should the war last +another eighteen months there will be nearly a quarter of a million men +more or less unfitted to resume their ordinary callings. + +All this, you say, is the concern of the State; certainly, but what is +the State? Only another term for you and me. Therefore the seriousness +of attitude, the sense of proportion, the realisation of brotherhood, +that by the mercy of God we have gained, must be retained for the facing +of the new problems that will lie before us. + +Turning to the more purely personal aspect of it, there will be the +temptation to grow slack and cold in intercessions and communions, when +the immediate occasion that prompted them has passed. To be forewarned +is to be forearmed, let us look out for this, expect it, then we shall +not be afraid to meet it. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no +more"; think what the permanency of that victory has meant all down the +ages of the past in the triumphs of the saints, in the deaths of the +martyrs, in the splendid story of the Church of Christ. Think what it +means to-day in the lives of millions of the faithful; in all the deeds +of charity which are brightening homes, cheering hearts, giving hope to +the hopeless, healing to the sick, and soundness to the maimed: think of +all it means in rest and refreshment to the souls in Paradise; think of +all it still will mean in the growth of the Church of Christ up to the +fulness of its destined and glorious completion; think of all it may +mean for you in your individual life, right up to the day when you shall +be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is. + +In the permanence of the victory of Christ, may we each one of us so use +the discipline of victory that it may redound to the glory of Him, in +Whom we live, and move, and have our being. + + + + +APPENDIX + +GIVING A SPECIAL THOUGHT AND PASSAGE FOR +MEDITATION FOR EACH DAY IN LENT +SUGGESTED BY THE ADDRESSES. + + + + +APPENDIX + +A SUGGESTED THOUGHT FOR DAILY MEDITATION + +_N.B.--You will find it useful to look up references in a reference +Bible._ + + +Ash Wednesday: God wishes that we should be saved.--1 Tim. ii. 3, 4; 2 +Pet. iii. 9. + +Thursday: Our natural will is in conflict with God's will.--Rom. vii. +21-25. + +Friday: God the Holy Ghost assists us by illuminating the will.--S. John +xvi. 13-15. + +Saturday: What is the guiding principles of our lives?--Ps. xxxix. 7; S. +Matt. vi. 19-24. + + +1st Sunday in Lent: The Incarnation the mission of Christ to the +body.--S. John i. 1-14; Eph. v. 23. + +Monday: The body in its physical aspect wonderfully suited to its +purposes.--Gen. i. 26-28; ii., 7; Ps. cxxxix. 14. + +Tuesday: The body the external means by which we receive the +Sacraments.--Heb. x. 22; Acts viii. 14-17; 1 Cor. xi. 26. + +Wednesday: The body in its ultimate destiny.--1 Cor. xv. 42-49; 1 John +iii. 2, 3. + +Thursday: Disciplining the body braces the will.--2 Tim. ii. 3; Heb. xi. +32-40. + +Friday: The corporate life of the Church in its bearing on influence and +conduct.--1 Cor. xii. 12-27. + +Saturday: The duty of example in respect of the temperance question.--1 +Cor. viii. 7-13; 2 Cor. viii. 9. + + +2nd Sunday in Lent: The inner value of our life.--S. Mark viii. 34-38. + +Monday: The deadening effect of prosperity.--S. James v. 1-6. + +Tuesday: Our Lord's example of single-mindedness.--S. Mark vii. 37; S. +Matt. xxvi. 39-44. + +Wednesday: The need for seriousness in thought.--S. Matt. xv. 10-20; +Phil. iv. 8. + +Thursday: The need for seriousness in word.--S. James iii. 1-11. + +Friday: The need for seriousness in deed.--S. James iii. 13-18; 1 Pet. +v. 8. + +Saturday: The need for perseverance, lest we forfeit our blessings.--Rom +ii. 4-7; Rev. ii. 18-29. + + +3rd Sunday in Lent: Man seeking after God.--Ps. xlii. + +Monday: The Incarnation the means by which the union between God and man +is brought about.--S. John xvii. 17-26. + +Tuesday: Prayer the characteristic act of religion.--S. Matt. vii. 7-12; +Eph. vi. 18. + +Wednesday: The importance of self-examination as leading to +self-knowledge.--Gal. vi. 3-5. + +Thursday: Confession of sins to God the only condition of +forgiveness.--1 John i. 5-10. + +Friday: Forgiveness of sins comes from God through the blood of +Christ.--Eph. i. 3-12. + +Saturday: The ministry of reconciliation committed to the ministers, as +Christ's ambassadors.--2 Cor. v. 18; S. John xx. 22, 23. + + +4th Sunday in Lent: The natural body of Christ the source of +healings.--S. Matt. xiv. 34-36. + +Monday: The spiritual body of Christ found in His Church.--Eph. i. +18-23. + +Tuesday: The sacramental body of Christ, given to us in the Holy +Communion.--1 Cor. x., 14-21. + +Wednesday: Obedience the test of religion.--Rom. vi. 16-23. + +Thursday: Self-indulgence the great obstacle to obedience.--S. Luke xvi. +19-31. + +Friday: Self-renunciation the condition of service.--Acts xx. 17-24. + +Saturday: Our Lord's example of obedience.--Phil. ii. 1-11; Heb. xii. +1-3. + + +5th Sunday in Lent: Suffering in the light of eternity.--Rev. vii. 9-17; +2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. + +Monday: Suffering in the light of the Incarnation.--S. Matt. viii. 16, +17; Heb. iv. 14-16. + +Tuesday: Christ still suffering in His people.--S. Matt. xxv. 34-46; +Acts ix. 4. + +Wednesday: Devotion to Christ the power of endurance.--Acts v. 40-42; +Rom. viii. 35-39. + +Thursday: Christ succouring those who suffer for Him.--Acts vii. 54-60; +xxvii. 21-26. + +Friday: Character disciplined by suffering.--Heb. x. 32-36; xii. 4-11. + +Saturday: Suffering giving opportunity for sympathy.--Heb. xii. 12, 13; +S. James i. 27; ii. 14-16. + + +6th Sunday in Lent: The resurrection of Christ, the basis of hope.--1 +Thess. iv. 13-18. + +Monday: The Holy Spirit the power of the risen life, here and +hereafter.--Rom. viii. 5-11. + +Tuesday: The communion of Saints in the one body of Christ.--Heb. xii. +1, 2, and 22-24. + +Wednesday: The departed remembering us.--S. Luke xvi. 19-31; esp. v. 24; +Rev. vi. 9. + +Thursday: The glorious reward of faithful service.--S. Matt. xxv. 14-23. + +Good Friday: What does the death of Christ mean to me?--S. John xix. +23-30. + +Easter Eve: Am I showing the fruits of my Baptism by leading a risen +life?--Rom. vi. 1-11. + + * * * * * + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. 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J. Hasloch Potter, M.A. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + p { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; } + .poem { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left; } + .poem .stanza { margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; } + .poem p { margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; } + .poem p.i2 { margin-left: 1.5em; } + .poem p.i4 { margin-left: 2.5em; } + .poem p.i6 { margin-left: 3.5em; } + .poem p.i10 { margin-left: 5.5em; } + .quote { margin-left: 6%; margin-right: 6%; text-indent: 0em; font-size: 90%; } + .toc { float:left;width:100%;} + center { padding: 0.8em;} + span.sc { font-variant: small-caps; } + span.r {float:right;} + td > h4 { margin:0; padding:0; } + .center { text-indent: 0; text-align: center; margin: 1.5em; } + div.appendix > p { text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 2em; } + a { text-decoration: none; } +/*]]>*/ + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Discipline of War, by John Hasloch Potter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Discipline of War + Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent + +Author: John Hasloch Potter + +Release Date: November 1, 2005 [EBook #16979] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR +</h1> + +<h3> +<i>Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent</i> +<br /> +FROM +<br /> +ASH WEDNESDAY to EASTER SUNDAY +</h3> +<h4> +WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING +<br /> +SUGGESTED SUBJECT FOR MEDITATION, AND SUITABLE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE, +FOR EACH DAY IN LENT +</h4> + +<h3> +BY THE REV. +<br /> +J. HASLOCH POTTER, M.A. +</h3> +<h4> +<i>Hon. Canon of Southwark and Vicar of St. Mark's, Surbiton, Surrey</i> +</h4> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<p style="text-indent: 0; text-align: center; font-size: 75%;"> + <span class="sc">London</span> +<br /> + SKEFFINGTON & SON +<br /> + <span class="sc">34, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C.</span> +<br /> + <i>Publishers to His Majesty the King</i> +<br /> + 1915 +</p> + +<a name="h2H_4_0001" id="h2H_4_0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + AUTHOR'S PREFACE +</h2> +<p class="quote"> +The war has introduced into countless lives new conditions, and has +strangely modified, or emphasised, those already existing. These +Addresses, prepared under much stress of other work, are intended to +supply, in very simple fashion, hints for conduct and points for thought +along the lines of our fresh or deepened responsibilities. An Appendix +gives a suggested subject and a passage of Scripture for each day during +Lent. May God the Holy Ghost, without Whom man's best labours are in +vain, bless this little book to its purpose. Please say a prayer for the +writer, who, as much as any, needs grace that he may try to practise +what he preaches. +</p> + +<p class="quote" style="text-align:right;"> J. HASLOCH POTTER. </p> + +<p class="quote"> +Surbiton. +<br /> +The Conversion of St. Paul. 1915. +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_FORE" id="h2H_FORE"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + FOREWORD +</h2> +<p class="quote" style="text-align:right;"> + <span class="sc">Kingston House</span>,<br /> + <span class="sc">Clapham Common.</span> +</p> +<p class="quote" style="text-align: right;"> + <i>January 19th, 1915.</i> +</p> +<p class="quote"> +<span class="sc">My dear Canon,—</span> +</p> +<p class="quote"> +You have invited me to say a few words introductory to the little book +you are putting forth, and of which you have sent me the advance proofs. +</p> +<p class="quote"> +From the great excellence of that which I have read, I am convinced +that your Lenten meditations on the Discipline of War, will be of +pre-eminently spiritual value in a time when publications on the +subject are multiplied. That the war is to leave us on a higher +plane of self-discipline, and with higher ideals of citizen life and +responsibility, every Christian must acknowledge. Your little Lenten +scheme is just that which is needed to give reality and action to what +might otherwise be left in the realm of theory. May the Holy Spirit make +use of your work to the benefit of us all and for the Glory of God. +</p> +<p class="quote" style="text-align: right;"> + Your sincere friend, +<br /> + CECIL HOOK, +<br /> + <i>Bishop.</i> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<table border="0" summary="Table of Contents" width="100%"> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> I </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="r" style="font-variant: small-caps;">page</span> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0003">The Discipline of the Will</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0003">1</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> II </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0004">The Discipline of the Body</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0004">9</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> III </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0005">The Discipline of the Soul</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0005">18</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> IV </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0006">The Discipline of the Spirit</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0006">27</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> V </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0007">Discipline through Obedience</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0007">35</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> VI </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0008">The Discipline of Sorrow</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0008">44</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> VII </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0009">Discipline through bereavement</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0009">52</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> VIII </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0010">Discipline through Self-sacrifice</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0010">62</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"><h4> IX </h4></td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_4_0011">Discipline through Victory</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_4_0011">70</a> </span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="sc"><a href="#h2H_APPE">Appendix</a></span> </td><td><span class="r"> <a href="#h2H_APPE">81</a> </span></td></tr> +</table> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0003" id="h2H_4_0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR +</h1> + +<h2> + I +</h2> +<h3> +<b>The Discipline of the Will</b> +<br /> +ASH WEDNESDAY +</h3> +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">Isaiah</span> lviii. 6 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" +</p> + +<p> +Discipline is the central idea of the observance of Lent. An +opportunity, rich in its splendid possibilities, comes before us this +year. Much of the discipline of this Lent is settled for us by those +tragic circumstances in which we find ourselves placed. +</p> +<p> +God seems to be saying to us, in no uncertain tones, "Is not this the +fast that I have chosen?" +</p> +<p> +Our amusements are already to a large extent curtailed, maybe by our own +individual sorrows or anxieties; maybe by the feeling of the incongruity +of enjoying ourselves while anguish and hardship reign supreme around +us. +</p> +<p> +Our self-denials are already in operation, under the stress of +straitened means, or the vital necessity of helping others less favoured +than ourselves. +</p> +<p> +Our devotions have already been increased in frequency and in +earnestness, for the call upon our prayers has come with an insistence +and an imperiousness that brook no denial. +</p> +<p> +To this extent, and further in many directions, our Lent has been taken +out of our own hands; ordered and pre-arranged by that inscrutable, yet +loving, Providence which has permitted the War to come about. +</p> +<p> +Thus, at the very outset, we are brought into harmony with the central +idea of discipline—not my will, but God's will. +</p> +<p> +Broadly, discipline is defined as "Mental and moral training, under +one's own guidance or under that of another": the two necessarily +overlap, and therefore we shall speak of God's discipline, acting upon +us from outside, and of our own co-operation with divine purposes, which +is our discipline of self from within. +</p> +<p> +In the forefront of the subject, and including every aspect of it upon +which we shall touch, stands that tremendous word—<i>will</i>. +</p> +<p> +Have you ever attempted to gauge the mystery, to sound the depth of +meaning implied in the simple sentence "I will"? +</p> +<p> +First of all what is the significance of "I"? You are the only one who +can say it of yourself. Any other must speak of you as "he" or "she"; +but "I" is your own inalienable possession. +</p> +<p> +This is the mystery of personality. That accumulation of experience, +that consciousness of identity which you possess as absolutely, uniquely +your own; which none other can share with you in the remotest degree. "A +thing we consider to be unconscious, an animal to be conscious, a person +to be self-conscious." +</p> +<p> +This leads on to a further mystery, alike concerned with so apparently +simple a matter that its real complexity escapes us. +</p> +<p> +"I <i>will</i>": I, the self-conscious person, have made up my mind what +I am going to do, and, physical obstacles excepted, I will do it. +</p> +<p> +The freedom of man's will has been the subject of endless dispute from +every point of view, theistic, atheistic, Christian and non-Christian. +</p> +<p> +Merely as a philosophic controversy it has but little bearing upon daily +life. The staunchest necessitarian, who argues <i>theoretically</i> that +even when he says "I will" he is under the compulsion of external force, +yet acts <i>practically</i> in exactly the same fashion as the rest of +mankind. +</p> +<p> +When the freedom of the will is considered in relation to religion, then +it bears a totally different aspect. If the will be not free, religion, +as a personal matter, falls to the ground, for its very essence is man's +voluntary choice of God. +</p> +<p> +Here too those who deny the freedom of man's will doctrinally yet accept +it as a working fact. Calvin, whose theory of Predestination and +Irresistible Grace seems to exclude man from any co-operation in his own +salvation, yet preached a Gospel not to be distinguished from that of +John Wesley! +</p> +<p> +For us Christians the freedom of the will is absolutely settled by Him +Who says, "Whosoever will let him come." +</p> +<p> +If you are sometimes troubled by certain passages in Scripture which +seem to imply that God's predestination overrides man's will, remember, +that whenever we are considering any question which concerns both God's +nature and man's nature, difficulty must arise, from the very fact that +our finite mind can only comprehend, and that but imperfectly, man's +side of the transaction. Things which now seem incompatible, such as +prayer and law; miracle and, what we are pleased to call, nature; God's +foreknowledge and man's free-will in the light of eternity will be seen +as only complementary parts of one divine whole. +</p> +<p> +Remember too that you must take the general bearing of Scripture; not +isolated passages in which, for the necessity of the argument, one side +is strongly emphasised. The Apostle who, thinking of the boundless power +of God's grace, says, "So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him +that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. ix. 16) is the one +who says "He willeth that all men should be saved" (1 Tim. ii. 4). +</p> +<p> +The love by which the Father gave up His Son; the life and death of that +Son; the ministry of God the Holy Ghost; the whole dispensation of the +Catholic Church, form one great tender appeal to the free-will of man. +Your free-will, my free-will, before which is placed the tremendous +responsibility of choosing or rejecting. +</p> +<p> +And now from the broad thought of will, at its highest point, occupied +with eternal choices and spiritual decisions, we turn to will as the +governing power in our lives. +</p> +<p> +It is, to a certain extent, self in action, for before even the +slightest movement of any part of the body, there must have gone, +automatically and unconsciously, an act of will. +</p> +<p> +Before every deliberate action there takes place a discussion, which +ultimately decides the attitude of the will, that is your final purpose. +Put quite simply, the <i>motives</i> determine the <i>will</i>, and are +themselves decided by the <i>principles</i> at the back of them. +</p> +<p> +Let us make this plain by an illustration. It is pouring with rain, you +are sitting cosily over the fire with an interesting book. The thought +comes into your mind, I ought to go and see my sick friend. Then follows +the deliberation: the flesh says, "To-morrow will do just as well." The +spirit says, "No, it won't; you may both be dead to-morrow." The flesh +says, "Perhaps I shall catch a cold"; the spirit says, "That fear +wouldn't keep you from going to a Picture Palace." The flesh says, +"Perhaps he won't care to see me to-day"; the spirit replies, "It's a +dull, wet afternoon, and he's very likely to be alone." +</p> +<p> +Now notice that at the back of each set of motives is a vital principle. +In the one case the lower self, in the other the higher self, that is to +say "I" and "God." +</p> +<p> +The purely natural, human side of even the greatest saint would prefer +to sit over the fire; but then our nature is not left unassisted, and +even in a simple thing like this God the Holy Ghost comes to our aid +with His suggestions of the higher course, and illuminates the path of +duty. That is one of the most blessed features of the ministry of the +Spirit; He enlightens, He persuades, He never compels: if He did, your +will would not be free. +</p> +<p> +This explains what the discipline of the will really means. It is just +the laying of ourselves open to the voice of the living God, speaking +within us. +</p> +<p> +As we do this, day by day, the will itself becomes braced and +strengthened, so that the struggle against the lower nature grow less +and less fierce, the power of choosing the higher course more and more +easy. +</p> +<p> +Here is our first practical thought for this Lent. +</p> +<p> +Watch yourself and your life, especially in those particulars in which +you know that you have been getting out of hand. The prayers omitted, +curtailed, said carelessly, said or attempted in bed, instead of on your +knees: what a grievous failure, isn't it? +</p> +<p> +The carelessness about preparation before and thanksgiving after +Communion, the irregularity of your attendances; the habit of +Self-Examination, or of Confession, dropped—why? The Bible neglected. +</p> +<p> +Then the self-indulgences in the matter of sleep, food, drink, and +purely wasted hours. +</p> +<p> +All these things are sapping the manhood and dignity of the will. +Sometimes even more dangerously and insidiously than open sins, because +with regard to these conscience does speak; but when we are merely +drifting down the stream of time, the pleasant lapping of the ripples on +the side of the bark lulls conscience into fatal sleep. +</p> +<p> +Look at your life, ask yourself the question, boldly and honestly, what +is the principle upon which it is being lived, God or self? When the +answer comes you will see clearly the first steps to take in the +disciplining of the will. +</p> +<p> +Glorious examples of what can be done abound around you. Think you there +has been no struggle on the part of those tens of thousands who have +given up comforts, home, prospects, harmless pleasures, in exchange for +the ghastly miseries of the trenches, the appalling risks by land, on or +beneath the sea, in the air, all at the call of a stern, compelling +duty, which told them that the life really worth living was the one +spent, laid down if need be, for King and country? +</p> +<p> +Think too of the heroism of the wives, the mothers, the sweethearts, on +whose lips there must have trembled over and again, "I will not, I +cannot let you go." Yet the will was disciplined, the words remained +unspoken, the tears were shed in secret, and these brave hearts, even in +breaking, shall find their reward. +</p> +<p> +It was at Waterloo one afternoon, a young officer was being seen off for +the front by father, brother, and <i>fiancée</i>. The two former bravely +and cheerily said their good-bye, and withdrew a little to leave the +young couple for their farewell; a kiss, a close embrace, outward +smiles, but tears very near the eyes; and then as the officer got into +the carriage just this one remark: "It's precious hard upon the women." +What a world of meaning there was in that. +</p> +<p> +Above all, as your pattern and your power, look to Him Who said, "I came +down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of Him that sent +Me." +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix.</i> +</p> + + + +<a name="h2H_4_0004" id="h2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + II +</h2> +<h3> + <b>The Discipline of the Body</b> +<br /> +FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT +</h3> +<p class="center"> +1 <span class="sc">Cor.</span> ix. 27 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." +</p> + +<p> +On Ash Wednesday we were considering some purely subjective realities, +such as principles, motives, will—things we could not see. To-day we +think about a very objective substance, ever present to our senses—our +body. A man may deny point blank the existence of his soul—using the +word in its ordinary acceptation—he cannot say, "I have not got a +body." Even if he should conceive of that body as a mere bundle of +ideas, an accumulation of sensations, yet there it is, making itself +felt in countless ways. +</p> +<p> +So intimately bound up is it with every part of our life, apparently so +infinitely the most real part of us, that we often think of it as being +our true self. Yet every cell and fibre of it changes in the course of +seven years. Therefore in itself it cannot maintain our identity. Have +you ever pinched your nail, right down at its base, and watched the dark +mass of congealed blood making its way to the tip of the finger, and +then dispersing? This gives you some idea of the pace at which the body +is being burned up and renewed. +</p> +<p> +All the while the personal "I" remains, deep-seated in the +self-conscious intellect, memory, will. +</p> +<p> +Of course the body plays an immensely important part in the complex +story of our existence. It is the machine by which the personal self +acts, speaks, loves, hates, chooses, refuses; therefore we can neither +ignore it nor despise it. +</p> +<p> +The popular notion concerning religion is that it is meant only for the +salvation of the soul. If this were so, then the coming of the Holy +Ghost would have sufficed for all needs. +</p> +<p> +One manifest purpose of the Incarnation was to give to the body the +possibility of holiness here, resurrection hereafter. +</p> +<p> +Very marvellous is the dignity conferred upon the body by the fact the +"Word was made flesh." From that flows forth the high position of the +Christian, whose body is a "temple of the Holy Ghost." +</p> +<p> +It is through the body that we receive the Sacraments, which are means +of grace to the soul. +</p> +<p> +Did time permit, it would be deeply interesting to trace out the use of +the word body in this connection—the natural body of our Lord, His +spiritual body after the Resurrection, His mystical body, the Church, in +which sense He Himself is called "the Saviour of the body" (Eph. v. 23), +His Sacramental Body, of which He says, "This is my body." +</p> +<p> +The discipline of the body. +</p> +<p> +The thought is prominently before us at the present moment, and first +let us look at it from its purely material side. Thousands of youths who +a few months ago were slouching, narrow-chested, feeble specimens of +underbred humanity, have now-expanded into well set up, hardened men. +The body has been disciplined by drill, exercises, route-marching, and +the like. Those who return from the war uninjured will, we may hope, be +in such improved condition as may somewhat compensate for the terrible +loss of vigorous life which is taking place. +</p> +<p> +Had there been universal military training of the youth of our land for +the past few generations, either the present war would never have taken +place; or the results of the first three weeks of it would have been +vastly different from what they were. +</p> +<p> +Now take another significant fact: letter after letter from the front +says, "We are all very fit." The average "fitness" in the trenches is, +broadly speaking, higher than that of training camps at home, especially +of those where little or no supervision is exercised as to strong drink. +How plainly this shows that hardness, even of an extreme character, +braces up the body; softness and self-indulgence enfeeble it. +</p> +<p> +S. Paul affords a wonderful illustration of this; obviously a man of +very delicate health, frequently ill (probably this was the thorn in the +flesh), yet accomplishing vast labours, and, in addition, buffeting his +own flesh lest it should get the upper hand. +</p> +<p> +Here, then, we reach the first great principle in the discipline of the +body. It must not have its own way, or it will infallibly assert its +sway over the man's real self. +</p> +<p> +That is what happens in the case of the habitual drunkard or the slave +of lust. That which at first is a temptation, perfectly capable of being +resisted, becomes at last what the doctors call a "physical" craving +that, humanly speaking, cannot be overcome. By constant yielding the +will has been weakened to such an extent that the personal "I" no longer +reigns; the usurping body has taken its place and rules supreme. +</p> +<p> +Let us take the main thought of self-control, which is the true +rendering of the word temperance, the state in which, as S. James says, +the man is "able to bridle the whole body" (S. James iii. 2), and test +ourselves by it this Lent. Am I retaining my dominion over my body, or +is it gradually pushing itself into my place? +</p> +<p> +Self-examination, honestly performed, will reveal this at once, for +conscience, unless blunted by neglect, will speak infallibly. +</p> +<p> +For instance, when you find some indulgence of the flesh concerning +which you say "I can't help it," there your body has vanquished you. It +is absorbing your personality, robbing you of your divine birthright, in +which you say, "I will," "I will not." +</p> +<p> +And now to go a step further—the disciplining of the body, care in +regard to eating, drinking, amusements, and the like; strictness as to +luxuries and things which, though lawful, may not be expedient, not only +tend to bodily strength and mere physical well-being, but brace up the +will power, because they entail the constant exercise of it. +</p> +<p> +Here is where the practical wisdom of the Church comes in as regards +fasting. One day in every week is set apart, beside other days and +seasons, as a reminder of the fact that fasting is a duty of the +Christian life, just as much as almsgiving and prayer—a duty sanctified +by the example enjoined by the precept of our Lord Himself. +</p> +<p> +True, no hard and fast rules are laid down, but a little sanctified +common sense will dictate to us how to make fast-days a reality, by some +simple acts of self-denial. +</p> +<p> +Our last thought is one of intense practical importance—our attitude at +the present moment towards strong drink. +</p> +<p> +Lord Kitchener and the Archbishop of Canterbury have both on several +occasions called the attention of the nation to the terrible evils +arising from the unhappy custom of treating soldiers to strong drink. +</p> +<p> +<i>Punch</i>, always on the side of morality and rightness, has dealt +with it in the following trenchant fashion:— +</p> +<h4> +TO A FALSE PATRIOT +</h4> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> He came obedient to the Call; </p> +<p class="i4"> He might have shirked, like half his mates </p> +<p class="i2"> Who, while their comrades fight and fall, </p> +<p class="i4"> Still go to swell the football gates. </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> And you, a patriot in your prime, </p> +<p class="i4"> You waved a flag above his head, </p> +<p class="i2"> And hoped he'd have a high old time, </p> +<p class="i4"> And slapped him on the back, and said: </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "You'll show 'em what we British are! </p> +<p class="i4"> Give us your hand, old pal, to shake"; </p> +<p class="i2"> And took him round from bar to bar </p> +<p class="i4"> And made him drunk—for England's sake. </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> That's how you helped him. Yesterday </p> +<p class="i4"> Clear-eyed and earnest, keen and hard, </p> +<p class="i2"> He held himself the soldier's way— </p> +<p class="i4"> And now they've got him under guard. </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> That doesn't hurt you; you're all right; </p> +<p class="i4"> Your easy conscience takes no blame; </p> +<p class="i2"> But he, poor boy, with morning's light, </p> +<p class="i4"> He eats his heart out, sick with shame. </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> What's that to you? You understand </p> +<p class="i4"> Nothing of all his bitter pain; </p> +<p class="i2"> You have no regiment to brand; </p> +<p class="i4"> You have no uniform to stain; </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> No vow of service to abuse; </p> +<p class="i4"> No pledge to King and country due; </p> +<p class="i2"> But he has something dear to lose, </p> +<p class="i4"> And he has lost it—thanks to you.<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> </p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<p> +A man who had so distinguished himself at the front as to be mentioned +in a despatch came home slightly wounded. In less than twenty-four hours +he was in a cell at a police station, and the next day fined forty +shillings. Oh! the pathetic pity of it. That man got into trouble +through the exhibition of one of the purest and best features of our +human nature, the desire to show kindness. In their well-intentioned +ignorance this man's friends—yes, they were real friends—knew of only +one way of displaying friendliness—they gave him liquor. +</p> +<p> +I am not going to blame them, nor him entirely; I am going to lay some +of the fault upon ourselves. +</p> +<p> +Since the beginning of the last century the habits of the upper classes, +to use a generic though unpleasant term, have improved immeasurably. +Then excess was more or less the rule among men of good position, was to +a certain extent expected and provided for; witness <i>The School for +Scandal</i>, or the leading novels of the period. Now, the man who +disgraces himself at a dinner-table is never invited again. +</p> +<p> +And even as we go down in the social scale much improvement is apparent. +Those who remember Bank Holidays on their first introduction will +recollect that the excess of the working classes was quite open and +shameless; but to-day some effort is generally made by the victims, or +their friends, to hide the disgrace, because Public Opinion is +improving. That is where we come in. +</p> +<p> +Many causes of intemperance in strong drink are matters for legislative +or municipal action; for example, overcrowding, insanitary dwellings or +surroundings, sweating, excessive hours of labour, adulteration of +liquors. But there are two factors upon which we can exercise direct +influence, because they are connected with that great corporate entity +called Public Opinion. +</p> +<p> +First let us take the one upon which we have already touched—the notion +that friendliness and good fellowship are essentially connected with +strong drink. This is at the bottom of those terrible scenes when troops +are leaving our great London railway stations. Scenes so inexpressibly +sad to all thinking people. +</p> +<p> +Everyone who abstains entirely, or who takes the khaki button—a pledge +not to treat nor be treated to strong drink during the continuance of +the war—is helping to knock a nail into the coffin of one of the +silliest and most fatal delusions that has ever wrought havoc to body, +soul, and spirit. +</p> +<p> +And then there is that other weird notion that you cannot be really +strong and healthy without stimulant. For you the glass of beer or wine +may be a mere harmless luxury, in the way in which you take it. I +purposely exclude spirits, which I am fanatic enough to think should +only be used medicinally. But every individual total abstainer helps to +swell the testimony not only to the non-necessity of alcohol, but to the +fact that, according to the view of a large part of the medical +profession, the human frame is better without it. +</p> +<p> +You may say, "What good will my abstinence do to people with whom I +never come in contact?" Tell me what influence really is; how it +spreads, by what unseen modes it ramifies and extends. +</p> +<p> +Tell me the real significance, the true spiritual value, of the fact +that "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: if one +member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it." +</p> +<p> +Then perhaps you can explain in some way, how your abstinence shall +spread to desolated homes, to stricken lives, in crowded slums or quiet +villages, in fire-raked trenches or storm-tossed ships. +</p> +<p> +No act of self-sacrifice for His sake, Who though He was rich yet for +our sakes became poor, ever went without its rich reward. +</p> +<p> +No tiny wave of influence ever yet sped forth from a Christian heart, +but what reached its mark and wrought its work of beneficent power. +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix.</i> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0005" id="h2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + III +</h2> +<h3> + <b>The Discipline of the Soul</b> +<br /> +SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT +</h3> +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">St. John</span> vi. 38 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "For I am come down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but + the will of Him that sent Me." +</p> + +<p> +To-day we are going to speak of the soul not in its popular sense, as +set over against the body, but in the scriptural meaning of the word as +the broad equivalent of life. +</p> +<p> +To enter upon a philosophical discussion might prove interesting from a +merely academic point of view, but would be eminently unpractical. +Suffice it to say that when S. Paul speaks of the "body, soul and +spirit" (1 Thess. v. 23), he takes the two latter as different faculties +of the invisible part of man. +</p> +<p> +Soul (<span title="[Greek: psychê]"><b>ψυχη</b></span>) is the lower attribute which man has in common +with the animals; spirit (<span title="[Greek: pneuma]"><b>πνευμα</b></span>) the higher one which they do +not possess, and which makes man capable of religion. +</p> +<p> +In this sense, then, the soul would mean the life the man or woman is +leading, in the home, the business, the pleasures, the relaxations, as +distinct from the definite exercise of devotion or worship. +</p> +<p> +Of course it is absolutely impossible to draw a hard and fast line +between sacred and secular. All secular affairs, rightly conducted, have +their sacred side; and conversely all sacred matters have their secular +side, for they form part of the life the man is living "in the age." +</p> +<p> +It is the neglect of this truth which is responsible for much of the +moral and religious failure of the day. +</p> +<p> +Business is secular, prayer is sacred, and so they have no practical +connection each with other. +</p> +<p> +Amusement is secular (often vastly too much so, in the very lowest sense +of the word); Holy Communion is sacred; therefore there is no link +between them. Whereas the prayer and the Communion should be the +ennobling and sanctifying power alike of work and play. +</p> +<p> +Bearing this caution in mind, we shall to-day look at certain features +of the so-called secular life of the day in which discipline needs to be +strongly exercised. +</p> +<p> +No doubt about it, the soul of the nation has been growing sick, sick +"nigh unto death." +</p> +<p> +Luxury has been increasing with giant strides; the mad race for pleasure +has helped to empty our Churches, to rob our Charities, to diminish the +number of our Candidates for Holy Orders, to make countless ears deaf to +the call which the country, through that magnificent Christian soldier, +Lord Roberts, and many others, has been making to manhood of the land. +Week-ending, meals in restaurants, turning night into day, have robbed +home-life of its grace and power, and produced a generation of young +folk <i>blasé</i> and discontented before they are out of girlhood and +boyhood. +</p> +<p> +With this has come, inevitably, the loss of sense of responsibility. So +long as I can enjoy myself and get my own way, why should I vex myself +with the outworn question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" No! That has gone +into the limbo of effete superstition. +</p> +<p> +And further, loss of the sense of proportion. There are some to whom it +causes no moral shock to wear a dress costing a hundred guineas, while a +vast number of seamstresses, shirtmakers, artificial flower makers, +boot-closers, and the like, are working seventy hours for 5s. to 8s. a +week. One mantle-presser, in Dalston, receives ½<i>d.</i> per mantle; +she is most respectable, has four children, and earns from 5<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i> to 7<i>s.</i> a week! +</p> +<p> +We do not grumble at the hundred guineas being spent upon the dress, or +a thousand guineas even, if the money went in due proportion all round +to supply the <i>full living wage to each one engaged in its production</i>: +and if the wearer interested herself keenly in social problems, and used +her means wisely and well to afford relief where it was needed. This, +alas! does not happen when the sense of proportion is lacking. +</p> +<p> +Take another case—alas! a fearfully common one. Men and women will +gamble recklessly at Bridge, lose heavily, pay up, at whatever cost, +because it is <i>a debt of honour</i>. All the while a hard-pressed +tailor, a famished dressmaker and her children are kept out of their +money, because it is only <i>a debt of commerce</i>. Could there be a +more ghastly parody on the word honour? +</p> +<p> +Yet once more—the lack of seriousness. By seriousness we do not mean +gloominess, nor withdrawal from society, or anything of the kind. We +mean the flippant attitude towards life, the lack of serious, sustained +interest in literature, in music, in art, in the legitimate drama; +witness the theatres being turned into cinema shows, and the terrible +paucity of sound, strong plays. Everything must be scrappy, light, and +if a little (or more than a little) risky, so much the better. +</p> +<p> +We do not for a moment say that these evils are universal, God forbid, +but none can deny that they have eaten deep into a large part of +society, using the word in its broadest, not in its technical sense. +</p> +<p> +The soul of the nation needed discipline, and it has come suddenly, +sharply, but, who shall dare to say, not mercifully? +</p> +<p> +And even in its very coming it brought a tremendous opportunity, for we +were not compelled to make war, notice that! +</p> +<p> +We had an option. The temptation was subtle. You have no concern with +Servia, throw over Belgium, let France take care of itself. +</p> +<p> +For a time, probably a very short time, we should have avoided war and +its horrors. The bait was held out by some peddling politicians that we +should have stood in a magnificent position to obtain trade, to control +markets, to dictate prices to the rest of the world. Magnificent +prospect! We went to war, and, by a strange paradox, secured peace with +honour: peace of the national conscience. Had we forsaken Belgium we +could never again have held up our heads among civilised honourable +nations. Thus the very circumstances under which the War came about +formed an appeal to the soul of the nation as embodied in its +legislature; the Government rang true, and the nation, as one man, +endorsed its decision. +</p> +<p> +And now the discipline has commenced. +</p> +<p> +Who can be flippant and careless with our coast towns liable to +bombardment, and over a hundred lives already sacrificed in this little +island, which we have always deemed to be the one absolutely secure spot +in the whole world? Five months ago an earthquake in London would have +seemed a far more likely event than the bombardment of Hartlepool, +Scarborough, Whitby, and the dropping of shells on Yarmouth foreshore, +or of bombs at Dover and Southend. +</p> +<p> +Who can be unconcerned when our ships are liable at any moment, and +apparently in almost any place, to be sent headlong to the bottom of the +sea by torpedoes or mines; possibly sometimes by those very mines we +have been compelled to lay, and which happen to have broken loose? +</p> +<p> +This is one of the unavoidable hazards of war under modern conditions. +It does not make us ignore the magnificent work of our Fleet, nor +tremble for the ultimate issue. +</p> +<p> +Who can be giddy and careless with darkened streets, trains, trams, all +telling of the awful possibilities of the new development of aerial +warfare? +</p> +<p> +Who, even among those not directly touched by anxiety or bereavement, +can go on just as usual in luxury, self-indulgence, and ease amid the +crushing mass of suffering around them on all sides? +</p> +<p> +Thank God that, though we may have erred very grievously through +softness of living, we are not a callous people, but we needed a strong, +stern discipline of the national soul; some stirring and trumpet-tongued +appeal to the national life, and in the righteous mercy of God it has +come. +</p> +<p> +Some of the immediate effects are obvious; but what are the lasting +results to be? +</p> +<p> +The <i>Guardian</i>, of a few weeks back, thus soundly comments upon the +matter:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "It is true that the outbreak of war put a sudden end to much that + was thoughtless, stupid, and even base in contemporary life. 'Tango + teas' and afternoon Bridge among women have receded almost as far + into ancient history as dinners at Ranelagh or suppers at Cremorne. + But human nature is easily frightened into propriety by a crisis; + it is not so easy to maintain the new way of life when the fright + is safely over. The things that are amiss in our national life, and + above all that lack of seriousness which so many observers have + lamented during the last few years, can be amended only by a clear + conviction of the inherent unsoundness of our outlook, and a firm + determination to rebuild it upon new and more stable foundations." +</p> +<p> +The soul of the nation needs discipline, and that can only come through +the effort of the individual to discipline his own life. +</p> +<p> +There is a ceaseless temptation to echo the cry of the disciples in +regard to the few loaves and fishes: "What are they among so many?" +</p> +<p> +Of what value or power is my feeble little life among the teeming +millions that go to make up the nation? +</p> +<p> +Put away the thought, for it is a direct temptation of the Devil. +</p> +<p> +It was just when, in the very depths of his human despair, Elijah cried +out, "I, I only am left," that God revealed to him the seven thousand +men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. +</p> +<p> +It was because Athanasius was content to stand <i>contra mundum</i>, +against the world, that the Catholic faith was preserved to the Church. +</p> +<p> +Let us very seriously examine ourselves as to the use we are making of +our life with regard to other people. +</p> +<p> +We have considered that life, in various details, in respect to +ourselves, and only incidentally as it affects others, but now let us +put away all thought of self. +</p> +<p> +Take the one absolute standard of life as set in the text, "I came down +from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." +</p> +<p> +The result was a life entirely devoted, from the first moment to the +last, to one stupendous cause: the lifting up of humanity to the very +throne of God. +</p> +<p> +You and I cannot reach even a fraction of the way towards that perfect +standard; but it is our pattern, our plummet, our measuring-line. +</p> +<p> +Very practically, then, we must ask ourselves such questions as these: +</p> +<p> +What proportion of my time is spent for others? +</p> +<p> +Have I any method of employing time or any stated hours that I give to +philanthropic or religious work; or do I just, in a casual way, let +other people have odd moments, when I happen to think of it? +</p> +<p> +Similar questions should be asked as to money. Many people, especially +those who do not keep accounts (which everyone ought to do), would be +shocked if at the end of a year they could see the enormous +disproportion between the vast amount they have frittered away on self, +and the pitiful little doles they have handed out in the cause of +charity. +</p> +<p> +One man, who kept three cars for private use, reduced an already paltry +allowance made to a dependent because the price of petrol had gone up! +</p> +<p> +It is not that people cannot give; it is often only that they do not +think. Look at the vast sums being poured into the Relief Funds. Why has +not some proportion of it gone long ago to Hospitals obliged to close +their wards, Waifs and Strays Societies compelled to refuse poor little +outcasts? The money was there; it could have been spared then as well as +now, but it needed some great shock to wake its owners up to the sense +of proportion, the realisation of responsibilities. +</p> +<p> +And so in regard to such gifts as music, painting, acting, mechanics, +stitchery; even such simple things as reading and writing. Have you ever +read a book to, or written a letter for, anyone else? We might multiply +these questions indefinitely, but enough has been said to enable us +seriously to take in hand the disciplining of the soul, remembering that +this life of ours is a precious loan entrusted to us by God the Father, +redeemed for us by God the Son, sanctified in us by God the Holy Ghost, +to be used by us, in due proportion, for our neighbours and ourselves. +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix</i>. +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0006" id="h2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + IV +</h2> +<h3> + <b>The Discipline of the Spirit</b> +<br /> +THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT +</h3> +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">St. Luke</span> vi. 12. +</p> +<p class="center"> + "He continued all night in Prayer to God." +</p> + +<p> +Last week we looked at the soul as that faculty of life which, to a +certain extent, we share with animals; to-day we pass on to consider, +under the title of spirit, the higher endowment by which man is enabled +to look up and, in the fullest exercise of his whole being, to say +"my God." +</p> +<p> +A man without religion is undeveloped in regard to the highest part of +his complex nature. In attaining to self-consciousness, and the special +powers it brings, he has gone one step further than the animal, but +has utterly failed of his true purpose. The supreme object of the +self-consciousness, which reveals to him his personality, is that it +should disclose its own origin in the personality of God. +</p> +<p> +One very striking effect of the War has been to produce a vast amount of +testimony to the fact that man is, broadly speaking, religious by +nature. +</p> +<p> +The services in the places of worship all over the land have been +multiplied, intercession is becoming a felt reality, congregations have +grown. +</p> +<p> +It is asserted, by those who have the best means of knowing, that by +far the majority of the letters from the front contain references to +religion, such as acknowledgments of God's providence, prayer for His +help, or requests for the prayers of others. Sometimes, in the strange +double-sidedness of human nature, accompanied by expletives obviously +profane. Mention is often made of the bowed heads, and the prayer, in +which both sides join, at the time of a joint burial during a temporary +truce. +</p> +<p> +All these things show that the deeps of the fountains of natural +religion have been broken up in wondrous fashion. +</p> +<p> +Our question to-day is: How shall we discipline that spirit which +enables us to realise religion as a fact? +</p> +<p> +Let us try to get to the root of the matter. +</p> +<p> +There are two chief derivations of the word religion. One comes from the +verb which means "to go through, or over again, in reading, speech, or +thought." Hence religion is the regular or constant habit of revering +the gods, and would be represented by the word devotion—an aspect most +important to bear in mind. +</p> +<p> +The other derivation, and the more usual, derives religion from the idea +of binding together, and tells of communion between man and God. For us +Christians this thought finds its highest ideal and fulfilment in the +Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. +</p> +<p> +The great characteristic action of religion is prayer; varying in its +methods and degrees from merely mechanical performances, like the +praying wheels of the Chinese up to the heart devotion of the Christian, +poured out when commemorating, in the Holy Communion, the death and +resurrection of His Lord. +</p> +<p> +The first essential of any prayer which is to be of value in the +discipline of the spirit is regularity. No words can exaggerate the +importance of morning prayer. Yet, alas! tens of thousands of professing +Christians are content with evening prayer alone. The one who goes forth +in the morning prayerless is just as ill-equipped to do his duty, and +meet his temptations, as the foodless man is to perform physical work. +</p> +<p> +The whole story of the saintly life, alike in the Old Testament, the New +Testament, and the Church, is that of diligence in prayer. It was to +promote that spirit that the Church of Christ, following on the lines of +the Jewish Church, from very early days adopted special hours for stated +devotions, with the daily offering of the Holy Eucharist linking the +whole system together. +</p> +<p> +The lowest standard to aim at is private prayer morning and evening, +midday too if possible, and regular attendances at God's House on +Sundays and Feast Days. The guiding principle, to be kept ever in mind, +is not what my own inclinations suggest, but what the glory of God +demands. Were this always the case, what magnificent congregations there +would be. +</p> +<p> +Prayer represents a real business of the spirit into which we put the +whole endowment of our being, intellect, memory, emotion, will. +</p> +<p> +Oh! those wandering thoughts, how they do distress us; and just in +proportion as we wish to pray and are learning to pray, so we feel our +deficiencies the more keenly. +</p> +<p> +A few moments before we commence our prayers spent in saying very +quietly, "Thou God seest me," or "In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Ghost," coupled with a simple yet earnest act of the +realisation of God's presence, will be of infinite use. +</p> +<p> +The railway train coming into a station does not draw up with a jerk, +but gradually slows down. So with us; we cannot come out of our rushing +lives all in a moment into the quiet of God's presence; we need to slow +down. +</p> +<p> +But much of the wandering in prayer is the direct result of the habit of +wandering in life. Flitting from one subject, one book, one occupation +to another; scrappy reading, talking, thinking; then, as a natural +consequence, scrappy praying. A great master of the spiritual life used +to say, "You will get far more help in your prayers by leading a more +useful life, than by making tremendous efforts after concentration when +you are actually at prayer." +</p> +<p> +The one who tries to keep alive the habitual sense of God's presence +makes his whole life a prayer, of which the stated devotions only form a +natural part. It is comparatively easy for such a one to concentrate his +thought and to keep his attention fixed when engaged in his prayers. +</p> +<p> +Just a word or two about books of devotion. They serve a most useful +purpose, especially in preparation and thanksgiving for Confession or +Communion, but should never be allowed to take the entire place of the +Christian's glorious privilege of pleading the "Abba Father," and +speaking to God in his own words, day by day. +</p> +<p> +Be careful not to use prayers which are manifestly beyond your own +standpoint or out of harmony with your own feeling. The mere repetition +of phrases that do not represent your inner attitude towards truth only +tends to formality; the effort to force a kind of artificial conformity, +because you think you ought to feel this or that, invariably ends in +unreality. Given these cautions, devotional books may be of great use, +even for regular daily prayer, and often help to call back the thoughts +which are flying off at a tangent. +</p> +<p> +To speak of discipline without touching upon Confession would be to omit +one of its most essential features. Nightly self-examination must be +performed, and that not perfunctorily, but with real intention of +repentance and strictness of living. Self-examination is nothing more +nor less than spiritual account-keeping; without it the man has no real +idea of how the business of his soul stands. +</p> +<p> +When it reveals the fact that sin is making headway and the spirit +losing ground, then the wise teaching of the Prayer Book should be +followed; "the grief"—for such it ought to be—opened in Confession to +God, before one of God's ministers, and the benefit of absolution +secured. +</p> +<p> +Much of the terrible prejudice felt against this practice arises from +the mistaken idea that the priest professes to forgive us our sins. The +words of the Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick, in our own Prayer +Book, put the matter on its true footing:—"Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who +hath left power to His Church to absolve, ... <i>forgive</i> thee ... and +by His authority ... I <i>absolve</i> thee." The source of all pardon and +the right to exercise it rest in God alone, but the message declaring +the fact is part of the "ministry of reconciliation," committed, in the +infinite condescension of God, to the "earthen vessels." An illustration +may be taken from the pardon of a criminal condemned to death; the Home +Secretary recommends it, but the King, on his sole authority, grants it, +and then the message, the <i>absolvo te</i>, which lets the man go free, +is delivered by the governor of the gaol. +</p> +<p> +Penitents, especially after a first confession at some crisis in mature +life, often bear witness to the fact that it seemed to bring them +straight into the presence of Jesus Christ; to make them feel the +reality of His pardoning blood in a way they never could have believed +possible. How strange that the very thing which by so many pious and +thoroughly honest souls is dreaded because it is supposed to bring a man +in between God and the soul, should yet so often be used by the Holy +Spirit to give a wondrous and precious vision of Christ the Saviour. +</p> +<p> +Thus far we have spoken only of that kind of occasional Confession which +is obviously contemplated by the Prayer Book; we have no time to dwell +on its habitual use. +</p> +<p> +Suffice it to quote some words from the first English Prayer Book:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession, not + to be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfying, + the auricular and secret confession to the priest; nor those which + think needful or convenient to open their sins to the priest to be + offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession + to God, and the general confession to the Church." +</p> +<p> +That staunch Evangelical Churchman, Bishop Thorold, who was strongly +opposed to habitual Confession in our Communion, once said, "We cannot +ignore the fact that the giants of old owed much of that saintliness, +which we of the present day can only wonder at but cannot reproduce, to +the practice of Confession." +</p> +<p> +If you should be in doubt about it for yourself, consult some +spiritually-minded person who possesses experience in the matter. Not, +on the one hand, the man who will tell you that it is the greatest curse +the Church has ever known; nor, on the other, the one who would have it +practised by everybody. +</p> +<p> +Surely for us sober Church folk there must be a loyal middle course, +which leaves absolute freedom, so long as the individual "follows and +keeps the rule of charity, and is satisfied with his own conscience." +</p> +<p> +Last, but most important of all, in the discipline of the spirit comes +the Holy Communion, about which we shall speak next week. +</p> +<p> +As our closing thought, let us go back to what we said just now. The +object of religion is God's glory, not man's enjoyment. See how this +puts feelings down into their right, and subordinate, place. They are +sometimes very delightful, sometimes very depressing, but always liable +to be misleading. A great saint of old used to say:—"If God never gave +me another moment of sensible devotion in prayer, I would go on praying, +because His glory demands it." +</p> +<p> +Religion has to do with facts: the facts of what God the Father, God the +Son, and God the Holy Ghost have done, and are doing, for us; the facts +of what we have to do, to make the finished work of Christ our own. +</p> +<p> +Here, as always, our Lord Himself gives us the highest illustration. +Neither as God, nor yet as perfect Man, was there an actual need for Him +to pray; yet His whole life was punctuated with prayer: first because +the glory of the Father required it, and next because His chosen +Apostles must be taught by example as well as precept. +</p> +<p> +Let the same mind dwell in us. It is for the glory of God that I should +have salvation; therefore by the help of God I will discipline my +spirit. +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix.</i> +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0007" id="h2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + V +</h2> +<h3> + <b>Discipline through Obedience</b> +<br /> +FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT +</h3> +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">St. Luke</span> xxii. 19 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "This do in remembrance of Me." +</p> + +<p> +Our subject of to-day flows quite naturally out of what we said last +week. Religion rests on facts, and its object is God's glory, not merely +our profit. Our duty, therefore, is an absolute submission to those +facts—in other words, implicit obedience. +</p> +<p> +This is being illustrated on all sides in regard to the War. +</p> +<p> +The facts are indisputable. Lord Selborne put the matter in a nutshell +when he said: "The task in front of us is colossal. We are fighting for +nothing less than our lives, in circumstances which make it the duty of +every Englishman to put everything in the world he possesses, everything +that he values, into the scale to ensure success, and I am sure there is +not one of us, whatever his position, who would flinch in the slightest +from the duty he owes to his country and to his deepest self." +</p> +<p> +The response to the facts has been obedience, immediate and +unquestioning, on the part of a vast number. True, not all have yet been +reached who ought to come forward, and some are even now crying out for +that compulsory service which may yet prove inevitable. They forget that +the obedience of one free man is worth more than the forced submission +of many. Let us wait hopefully, energetically; losing no opportunity of +pressing the stern logic of facts wherever we may. +</p> +<p> +And those who have joined the services have come at once under a +discipline totally different from that of the sternest school or the +strictest house of business. The surrender has been made voluntarily, +and it has placed the whole life in each detail under the claim of an +absolute obedience. +</p> +<p> +The disposal of every moment of time belongs to the authorities. The +private in high social position must obey the orders of a young +lance-corporal just as exactly as he expected his own commands to be +carried out in his business or his household. +</p> +<p> +Who can estimate the immense development of moral fibre that surely must +take place in succeeding generations from the fact that so vast a +number, in all ranks of society, are now under obedience? Not because +they were driven to it, but because they embraced it by an initial act +of obedience. +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4"> —Thus they answered,—hoping, fearing, </p> +<p class="i6"> Some in faith, and doubting some, </p> +<p class="i4"> Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming, </p> +<p class="i6"> Said, "My chosen people, come!" </p> +<p class="i10"> Then the drum, </p> +<p class="i10"> Lo! was dumb, </p> +<p class="i2"> For the great heart of the nation throbbing, </p> +<p class="i6"> Answered, "Lord we come."<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> </p> +</div> +</div> + + + +<p> +Let us apply this thought to the command in our text, "Do this in +remembrance of Me." The facts are undisputed. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in +the tenderness of His compassion, instituted an ordinance by which we +might remember Him and feed upon Him. +</p> +<p> +Further than this we cannot go on the ground of universal consent. +Strangely enough, that rite which is the same in its central act, +whether celebrated by the nonconformist in his ordinary dress, or the +priest clad in costly vestments, whether in the humble room or the +stately cathedral, which is, on the one hand, the well-nigh universal +mark of all who profess and call themselves Christians, is yet the +battle-ground of fierce dispute and bitter disagreement. +</p> +<p> +The present crisis is undoubtedly deepening in our minds the exceeding +value of this blessed gift of Christ to His Church. +</p> +<p> +It is deeply suggestive of the spirit of our young officers that a group +of old public-school boys, just about to leave for the front, should +have begged their late schoolmaster—now a Bishop—to give them a +Celebration of Holy Communion in his own private Chapel on their last +Sunday in England. What a beautiful send-off! +</p> +<p> +Then, turning to the scene of operations itself, we find a touching +witness in the simple record sent by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe to his +brother at Southampton. "We spent our Christmas Day waiting for the +Germans, who did not appear. But we managed to find time for church and +for three celebrations of Holy Communion, although the whole time we +were cleared for action and the men were at their guns." +</p> +<p> +Who can contemplate unmoved that spectacle of the men, not gathered in +the peaceful security of the House of God, but out upon the ocean, +expecting attack, realising the possible nearness of the end, leaving +their guns but for the moment, then back again, strengthened for life or +death by the sacred Body and Blood. +</p> +<p> +Or take the witness of Rev. E.R. Day, one of our Senior Army Chaplains +serving with the Expeditionary Force. While home on a few days' leave he +preached at Lichfield Cathedral, and, touching upon the efficacy of +prayer, testified how enormously it was valued by our soldiers now +serving at the front. The Holy Communion was especially appreciated. On +Christmas Day there were no fewer than seven hundred communicants from +one regiment and four hundred from another, and the service was held in +a ploughed field with a packing-case for an altar. He had conducted +these services sometimes in the back-parlour of a public-house, in a +stable, in a loft, in a lean-to shed, and in the open; anywhere, in +fact, where room could be found. Out on the battlefield there was hardly +any need for a compulsory parade service; the men had only to hear that +a service was to be held and they would crowd to it. +</p> +<p> +Most of the reasons given by those who stop away from Communion centre +in self. +</p> +<p> +"I am not worthy." Of course not, nor is the priest who celebrates, nor +is any member of the congregation. We sadly misread that caution of S. +Paul about receiving "unworthily." +</p> +<p> +Let us take a homely illustration. Our good Queen Victoria was very fond +of visiting cottagers in the Highlands and reading the Scriptures to +them. You can imagine how one of them might say, "I am not worthy of +such an honour; this little place is so poor and mean." Quite true, yet +she could tidy up the home, mend her frock, make everything neat and +clean, so as to receive the Queen "worthily." Until you realise the +fact— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "I am not worthy, gracious Lord," +</p> +<p><br /> +you will never receive Him worthily. No one who examines himself, +confesses his sins, and firmly purposes to amend, ever yet came to +Communion unworthily. +</p> +<p> +"I don't feel inclined to come." Because you have not realised in its +full meaning two facts: yourself as a great sinner, Christ as a great +Saviour. Feelings have nothing to do with duty. If they had, our army +would be about half the size it is. Do you suppose that all those who +are joining the Services like leaving home, wife, friends, comforts? +Feelings have been sacrificed to facts. +</p> +<p> +"I'm too great a sinner." Then you are not fit to die. Repent, turn to +the Saviour, and then in His holy ordinance you will find the very +strength you need to keep you from falling back. +</p> +<p> +"I have such terrible temptations." So we all have, priest and people +alike. Temptations are not sins; they are the enemies on the +battlefield, and if you never meet them, you—the Christian soldier +enlisted at your Baptism—will never have the chance of winning a +victory. The one who stays away from Communion because of temptations or +sins, which he is really trying to resist, is like the sick man who +looks at the bottle of medicine and says, "I will take it when I get +well." +</p> +<p> +"So many communicants are hypocrites." That shows that you know enough +about the Christian life to be able to judge your fellow creatures. Are +you making things any better by neglecting your duty? +</p> +<p> +"I have got an enemy." Have you honestly tried to be reconciled; are you +willing to forgive and bury the past? "Yes, but he is not." All the more +need then for you to come to the Communion and pray for his heart to be +changed. +</p> +<p> +It was said of one great saint that some people might never have had the +blessing of his prayers for them but that they were his enemies. +</p> +<p> +All these excuses centre in self. They could not do otherwise, for no +one has ever yet found in Christ any reason why they should stay away +from Him. +</p> +<p> +Obedience forms so large a part of discipline—nay, is almost identical +with discipline—because it takes us out of self. +</p> +<p> +Our Lord Who has bidden us "do this" knows exactly what is best for us. +In putting aside feelings, fancies, unworthy scruples, and casting +ourselves unreservedly upon His boundless mercy, we shall taste of the +treasures of His grace and be satisfied. +</p> +<p> +One important part of the discipline of this obedience is making a +special and very careful preparation before, and thanksgiving after, +each Communion. +</p> +<p> +Preparation which consists first of all of real self-examination and +repentance, using fearlessly the "ministry of reconciliation" when +necessary, and then of special prayers which help to put us into the +attitude of hopeful, grateful anticipation. +</p> +<p> +Thanksgiving; definite prayers and praises, continued for a day or two, +unless we are very frequent communicants, so that we may lose none of +the preciousness of the blessing by our own forgetfulness or +ingratitude. +</p> +<p> +In this, as we said last week, books can <i>help</i>, but that is all; +they cannot make the preparation or the thanksgiving for us. +</p> +<p> +Early Communion, quite apart from the doctrinal question of fasting +reception, is a useful feature of the discipline of obedience. It is a +custom which comes from primitive times, and is universal in the greater +part of the Catholic Church. +</p> +<p> +To give the early hours of the day to our Blessed Lord is surely more in +accordance with what His great love requires than to choose our own time +and come when it suits us best: that is when it requires less effort and +self-denial, and when our minds have been distracted by the cares of the +advancing day. +</p> +<p> +The coming on of old age or sickness may necessarily debar us from the +privilege and joy of early Communion, but, while we can, let us make the +most of the blessed morning hours, when in all the freshness of our +newly awakened life we draw near to Him Who ceaselessly watches over us. +</p> +<p> +The question is often asked: "How often ought I to receive the Holy +Communion?" The answer depends upon so large a number of considerations +that no general rules can possibly be given. Spiritual capacities vary +infinitely. +</p> +<p> +One broad principle we can lay down: Do not receive so often that you +begin to neglect preparation and thanksgiving. Better by far six +Communions a year, which have meant real, living intercourse between +yourself and your Saviour, than a weekly one which has degenerated into +a perfunctory form. +</p> +<p> +It is to be remembered that there is nothing to prevent your attending +the service whenever you wish, joining in the praises and prayers, even +though for some good reason you are not going to receive. +</p> +<p> +But, whatever your custom may be, have a rule about your times of +receiving, and keep to it strictly. +</p> +<p> +Aim at regularity for your own sake. One of the greatest causes of +many of the obscure modern complaints is the irregularity of meals, +consequent upon the exacting conditions of life. Precisely so, much +sickness of spirit springs from the careless way in which the chief +spiritual food is treated. People go to the Holy Communion when they +feel inclined, instead of according to a fixed rule, modifying the rule, +just as they would in the case of their meals, by circumstances which +may arise; spiritual sickness might dictate abstention from Communion +for a while, just as bodily disease might require a period of fasting. +</p> +<p> +Be regular for others' sake. The consistent example of the communicant +who lets neither weather nor inclination interfere with duty exercises +an influence far wider than he could imagine possible. +</p> +<p> +Be regular for Christ's sake, in grateful recognition of that tender +love which has given us the highest privilege of the Christian life. +Surely never is our Lord more satisfied in seeing of the travail of His +soul than when His faithful ones are gathered before His Holy Table, +worshipping Him in the tremendous reality of His spiritual presence, +feeding upon Him in the mystery of His Body and His Blood. +</p> +<p> +Thus out of our obedience to the great "Do this" comes discipline of the +highest kind. That discipline which is ever putting self in the +background, ever exalting the person and the work of Christ. +</p> +<p> +Then follows the reward, never attained by those who in self-interest +seek it, only poured forth upon such as are content to lose their life +in finding it, "He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix.</i> +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0008" id="h2H_4_0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + VI +</h2> +<h3> + <b>The Discipline of Sorrow</b> +<br /> +FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT +</h3> +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">Revelations</span> vii. 14 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed + their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." +</p> +<p> +Two considerations only can throw any light on the dark mystery of +suffering, the problem which has baffled the intellect, the perplexity +which has torn the heart of mankind from the dawn of conscious life—"I +believe that Jesus Christ was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin +Mary, and was made man"; "I believe in the life of the world to come." +</p> +<p> +The two thoughts blend in our text with a harmony of illumination which, +though it does not solve the problem, renders it less dark. +</p> +<p> +Only in the light of another world, where the seed sown here shall bear +wondrous fruit, can we even begin to reconcile the existence of +suffering with the goodness of Almighty God. If there be no hereafter, +then indeed suffering must be the work of a vengeful tyrant rejoicing in +cruelty, or of a fatalistic machine grinding out its foreordained +consequences. +</p> +<p> +What we require is some comprehensive plan which will knit together +past, present, future in one great purpose of progress towards ultimate +perfection, which will guarantee not only <i>an</i> existence hereafter, +but will render that existence personal, conscious, capable of the +highest development. +</p> +<p> +We find this in the Incarnation, the eternal purpose of God the Father, +formed in the eternity of <i>the past</i>, that His Son should take our +human flesh. +</p> +<p> +This plan is working itself out in <i>the present</i> by the power of +God the Holy Ghost, through the life of the great Church of Christ, +militant and expectant. +</p> +<p> +It stretches forth into the future, with regard to which we have +parables, promises, visions, warnings, all pointing to a continuously +progressive growth till the perfect manifestation of the Kingdom of +Christ be reached. +</p> +<p> +Thus the Incarnation supplies the unifying principle, and in its light +we catch some ray of hope on the dark problem of suffering. +</p> +<p> +In consequence of sin our Lord was a sufferer, even in some mysterious +sense was "made perfect through suffering" (Heb. ii. 10). +</p> +<p> +The climax came in the "full, perfect, and complete sacrifice, oblation, +and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world" made upon the Cross. +</p> +<p> +It is suggestive that these words should occur in the Consecration +Prayer of the Holy Communion Service, as if to remind us that our true +spiritual and commemorative sacrifice draws all its validity, power, and +preciousness from the one offering of Christ made by Himself in His +death. +</p> +<p> +Thus we see that most essential act for our salvation was not one of +victory, triumph, or glory, as the world reckons these things. Oh, no! +It was one of absolute self-surrender, involving untold anguish of soul +and body. The results of the sufferings of our Lord have justified their +tremendous cost. +</p> +<p> +Its efficacy consisted not in the physical pains, but in the entire +yielding up of the will. Thus it represents for us that victory over +self which is the only path to eternal life. +</p> +<p> +But this victory, even now in these emphatically feather-bed days, is +always more or less painful. In the early times it meant persecution, +poverty, isolation, death, for the sake of Jesus Christ. +</p> +<p> +It is always so; the greatest deeds the world has ever known, +nationally, or individually, have been wrought out by suffering; because +suffering, more than any other agent, deepens character. +</p> +<p> +Look around among your friends and acquaintances. Who are the morally +strongest? To whom do you turn in your times of difficulty, doubt, +trouble? Not to those whose lives have been easy, to whom the lines have +fallen in pleasant places, to whom success has come without effort! No! +You turn to the one who has fought his way through the doubt, the +difficulty, the trouble, and you find a tower of strength. There is the +secret of Charles Kingsley's power as a counsellor; once he did not +believe that there was a God; he went through the agonies of doubt. +</p> +<p> +There is the secret of the wondrous force of Archbishop Temple. Rough, +rugged, almost discourteous at times; hating shams and penetrating +them with an unerring instinct, but tenderness itself to the really +distressed. He knew what it was as a lad to do field labour in poor +clothes and with insufficient food. In later years, when up at College, +he was wont to study by the light in the passage, because he could not +afford oil for his own lamp. +</p> +<p> +Yet another illustration, showing the directly spiritual influence +of suffering—those countless cases of bed-ridden invalids, often in +intense pain, who develop an intense, fervent, yet restful piety, seldom +attained even by the most devout in active life. +</p> +<p> +Those who have had experience in missions or dealing with individual +souls know how constantly suffering—especially in middle life—lays the +foundations of conversion. Ay, and lays them strong and deep. The soul +in trouble feels its need of God, turns to Him, and then gets to know +the fulness of His mercy, even in and through the affliction. +</p> +<p> +And now, how stands it in regard to the War? We need not repeat in +detail those various points on which we have already dwelt. Spite of +all the ghastly sufferings the War is bringing in its train, nay, in a +sense, because of them, it has linked together the Empire in the closest +bonds, allayed political and polemical strife, evoked a wealth of +heroism, self-sacrifice, prayer, and benevolence, and braced up the +moral fibre of countless lives. +</p> +<p> +Yet all this does not explain the existence of suffering, the why and +the wherefore still lie hidden in that region of the infinite which we, +finite beings, cannot penetrate. We can see, from its results, that +suffering is no more incompatible with the eternal love of God, than the +surgeon's knife is inconsistent with the tenderness of his heart. "Whom +the Lord loveth He chasteneth," "God dealeth with you as with sons" +(Heb. xii., 6, etc.). Our great mistake is to look upon trouble as +punishment, inflicted by an angry God, and to rebel under the chastening +hand. When God sees that His child, whether the nation or the +individual, needs discipline He sends it, and there is no more lack of +love than there is on the part of the wise earthly parent, when he +corrects his child and makes him suffer pain. Nay, it is the very love +that prompts the discipline. +</p> +<p> +Once more, let us look at suffering in its power of producing sympathy. +</p> +<p> +The Incarnation was the greatest act of sympathy the world has ever +known. The Word made flesh, our Saviour born as a babe, that He might +enter into all the experiences of our human nature; that He might not +simply feel <i>for</i> us, but feel <i>with</i> us. +</p> +<p> +Here is the essence of the word; take it in Latin, compassion; take it +in Greek, sympathy—alike it means feeling with. And in the wondrous +mystery of the Church, the spiritual body of Christ, the same great +principle is still working itself out. +</p> +<p> +Very strange, very mysterious, yet real with the essence of reality, is +the connection between the suffering Christ and the suffering Church, +"inasmuch as ye have ministered to one of the least of these My +brethren, ye have done it unto Me." And yet it is the Christ Who helps +and sustains us from on high. The same Christ Who was here upon earth, +suffering in His martyr Stephen was yet standing at the Father's right +hand to succour him. +</p> +<p> +The same Christ Who flashed the wondrous vision of Himself on the eyes +of S. Paul, was yet so intimately present in and with His infant Church +that he "thundered" forth the question, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest +thou Me?" +</p> +<p> +It is just this thought of Christ still present in the person of His +suffering children, that gives the glow of enthusiasm to philanthropic +work of a definitely Christian character. But may we not go a step +further and try to see Christ, in a measure, in all suffering, even that +of the animals? He came to redeem the world, and we in our little view +are apt to narrow down the purposes, and limit the possibilities within +very contracted lines. +</p> +<p> +The War is opening up to us opportunities boundless in their character +and scope. Probably to-day tens of thousands who have hitherto spent +aimless lives; whose time, means, gifts have gone in the shallow channel +of self, now know something at least of the joy of launching out on to +the broad stream of living, loving sympathy. This has been because, +though in some instances unconsciously to themselves, Christ, in the +power of His Holy Spirit, has touched their lives. +</p> +<p> +If anguish has come to our hearts let it work its discipline upon us in +and through Christ, by the opening out of ourselves to Him, that we may +take in the full measure of His priceless sympathy. Let us try to lose +ourselves in ministering to others, one of the surest anodynes for grief +and pain. +</p> +<p> +But if we have, as yet, passed unscathed, let us be all the more +diligent, tender, and loving in our care for others. +</p> +<p> +There is no need to go into details. Wherever your lot be cast you have +only just to look around and you will find there are individuals, wives +at home, soldiers at the front, whose lot you can brighten in very +simple yet very real ways; perhaps institutions, such as Red Cross +Homes, Hospitals, Belgian Hostels, to which you can render practical +service; Funds to which you can send your money; all these are means +through which you may enter into the glorious discipline of opportunity +that comes through suffering. +</p> +<p> +Have you ever thought how infinitely poorer the world would be in all +that is highest and purest in its life, were there no suffering to call +forth the tender ministry of sympathy? +</p> +<p> +And now let us summarise what we have been saying. Suffering is a +great mystery, but two facts throw light upon it—the hereafter, the +Incarnation; suffering does discipline character, therefore, judging by +results, it is not incompatible with the love of God, even though its +existence be still a problem; suffering presents us with the splendid +possibility of sympathy, to be exercised in the power of the loving +Christ. +</p> +<p> +Can we close better than with the thought of the saints in Paradise? +</p> +<p> +On earth they lived in the always realised consciousness of a personal +Christ. When the Apostles were persecuted and beaten, they departed from +the Council "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for +His name." So it has been all down the long story of the ages. And the +saints are those "who have washed their robes and made them white in the +blood of the Lamb"; their sufferings sanctified by, and borne in, the +power of Him Who was made perfect by the things which He endured. Their +"light affliction, which was but for a moment, has worked out for them +the exceeding abundant and eternal weight of glory." +</p> +<p> +Thus the Incarnation, the eternal counsel of the past, that embraced +them while they were on earth, is still enfolding them, while they, +with us, wait and pray for its final consummation, in the coming of +the Kingdom. +</p> +<p> +Let us so use our opportunities for discipline now, that the uplifting +of character shall be permanent; not a mere spasm of passing enthusiasm, +but a real growth into the character and likeness of Him Who suffered +death upon the Cross, that all might live unto Him. +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix.</i> +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0009" id="h2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + VII +</h2> +<h3> + <b>Discipline through Bereavement</b> +<br /> +SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT +</h3> +<p class="center"> +1 <span class="sc">Thess.</span> iv. 13 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall + asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope." +</p> + +<p> +Of all kinds of sorrow, bereavement is in some senses the sternest, +the most irrevocable, and the one in which human compassion is of +least avail. +</p> +<p> +All that we said last week on the discipline of suffering applies here, +but with enhanced force. If suffering generally cannot be rationally +contemplated outside of the doctrine of a future existence, still less +can death be tolerated unless it lead to further life. If sorrow in the +bulk needs the Incarnation to throw upon it the light of God's love, +still more does this particular grief require the assurance that the +finished work of Christ operates within, as well as without, the vail. +</p> +<p> +Broadly speaking, all over the world there are torn and bleeding hearts +mourning the nearest, the dearest; in the vast majority of instances, +from the circumstances of the case, men in the beginning or the very +prime of life. +</p> +<p> +The heroism of the women has been as magnificent as that of the +men—nay, in a sense, more so. For those who go forth there is the +novelty, the excitement, the nerving sense of duty. Their time is so +ceaselessly occupied that but little space remains for brooding or for +anxious thought, on behalf of themselves or those at home. The men who +remain behind, the fathers, brothers, friends, have the priceless boon +of daily occupation, often vastly increased in amount. There is no such +infallible anodyne of care as plenty of honest work. +</p> +<p> +But the women—theirs is the harder task, the fiercer trial, of keeping +up the brave appearance, the show of cheerfulness, whilst all the time +the load of apprehension and fear lies heavy on their hearts. None will +ever know the crushing reality of the offering the women are making to +their country, in one great stream of self-sacrifice. +</p> +<p> +Nor can we forecast the end, nor estimate the claims that are yet to be +made in the cause of patriotism. The nations engaged, at least the chief +of them, are fixed irrevocably in their determination that peace, when +it comes, shall be no temporary patching up of hostilities and arranging +of indemnities, but a solid, lasting settlement, which shall, as far as +possible, place another vast European war out of the range of practical +politics. +</p> +<p> +To tens of thousands there has come the ceaseless yearning for +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> The touch of a vanished hand, </p> +<p class="i2"> The sound of a voice that is still. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Now notice how S. Paul deals with the matter. "That ye sorrow not as +others which have no hope." There is no injunction here not to sorrow +at all; that would be contrary to human nature, and would bespeak +callousness rather than resignation. Our Blessed Lord wept at the grave +of Lazarus, and in so doing sanctified human grief. The keenest faith, +to which the other world is an absolute reality; the fullest hope of the +sure and certain resurrection for the dear one; the most disciplined and +submissive will which accepts unquestioningly the dispensations of the +Father; all these are not proof against the natural grief at the removal +of a loved one from this sphere of tender intimacies, into another, +where we can only commune with him in thought and prayer. +</p> +<p> +How often this is illustrated at the death of a chronic invalid who has +suffered much. With tears streaming down the cheeks, the mourner will +say, "I am so thankful he is at rest." No selfish, rebellious side of +grief is exhibited by those tears; only human sorrow, blending in loving +harmony with perfect resignation. +</p> +<p> +Now notice carefully the ground on which S. Paul bases the Christian's +hope for the departed; first, faith in the death and resurrection of +Christ; "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again." It is a mere +platitude to say that the whole of S. Paul's teaching is founded on the +actuality of the resurrection. "If Christ hath not been raised, your +faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen +asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in +Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 17). Then out of +this fact of the resurrection flows a consequence: the dead, as we call +them, "sleep in Jesus," and will be His immediate companions at the last +day. We cannot enter into a discussion as to the exact conditions of +what is called "Hades" or the "intermediate state"; suffice it to say +that one great feature of it is nearness to Jesus, "having a desire to +depart and be with Christ" (Phil. i. 23); "absent from the body, present +with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 8). Herein consists the blessed hope set +before us in regard to the faithful departed; the crucified, risen, +ascended Jesus has them in His keeping; we and they alike are parts of +the one great Church, knit into the "Communion of Saints" by the mystic +bond of the sacred bread, linked each to the other by mutual prayer; +they for us and we for them. +</p> +<p> +Very beautifully and tenderly does the Archbishop of Canterbury deal +with this thought in one of his late sermons:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "As with bowed head and quivering lip we commend their souls into + the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour we feel + how the very passing of those brave and buoyant lives into the + world beyond pierces the flimsy barrier between the things which + are seen and temporal and the things which are unseen and eternal, + and again we can and do give thanks. God is not the God of the dead, + but of the living:— +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> "Nor dare to sorrow with increase of grief </p> +<p class="i2"> When they who go before </p> +<p class="i2"> Go furnished, or because their span was brief. </p> +<p class="i2"> For doubt not but that in the worlds above </p> +<p class="i2"> There must be other offices of love, </p> +<p class="i2"> That other tasks and ministries there are, </p> +<p class="i2"> Since it is promised that His servants there </p> +<p class="i2"> Shall serve him still. Therefore be strong, be strong, </p> +<p class="i2"> Ye that remain, nor fruitlessly revolve, </p> +<p class="i2"> Darkling, the riddles which ye cannot solve, </p> +<p class="i2"> But do the works that unto you belong." </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Here is the magnificent prospect of hope for those who mourn: that +the Incarnation of our Lord is still working itself out in all its +beneficent purposes. By the power of the Holy Ghost, in the Church +expectant as in the Church militant, the answer to the constant prayer, +"Thy Kingdom come," is being ceaselessly given; and the fulness thereof +will be realised in the Church triumphant. The saints on earth and those +in Paradise are equally in the hands of the Lord, though the latter have +clearer vision and nearer sense of the fact than the former. By some +this is used as an argument against the practice of prayer for the +departed, but surely this thought of the unity of the whole body leads +in exactly the opposite direction. No argument can be adduced against +this most ancient and primitive custom, observed by the Jews long before +the coming of Christ, but what equally applies to any petition for an +absent friend still on earth. In each case they are in the keeping of +Him Who knows best and will do right, yet for those still here we pray, +believing that in His own way God will take account of our prayers and +knit them up into His own dealings, so that they become part of His +eternal purposes. When commending the departed to Him, naturally our +words will be chastened and restrained because we know somewhat less of +the conditions of the "intermediate state" than we do of those of our +own dispensation. Somewhat less; for how little do we really understand +of the circumstances around us now in all their bearings as they lie +open beneath the eye of God. Therefore it is that whenever we pray we +must ask in full submission to our own limitations and in the spirit of +the Master, "Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done." +</p> +<p> +Thank God this matter is not one of argument; no, it lies in another +plane: the innate feeling of one who really knows what prayer means and +who has grasped in some degree the doctrine of the "Communion of +Saints." +</p> +<p> +A pious evangelical, well fortified with arguments against prayer for +the departed, had been nursing her sick sister and taking care of the +little daughter of the house. The sister died, and the same evening +the motherless girl knelt down at her aunt's side to say her prayers. +"Auntie, may I say God bless dear mother?" The whole drift of the aunt's +training and theology would have led her to say "No" point blank. There +was no time for argument or explanation, for facing the inevitable "If +not, why not?" The instincts of natural religion prevailed; the aunt +replied, "Yes, dear"; and from that day onward never failed herself to +say, when remembering her dear ones, "God bless my sister." +</p> +<p> +Whatever the effect of such prayers in the other world, there is no +shade of doubt that to the bereaved they bring an infinite sense of +nearness to their beloved, and of the reality of the life of the world +to come. +</p> +<p> +Thus far we have been speaking of those who may fairly be called the +faithful departed, the cases in which hope may be reasonable and assured +almost to certainty. +</p> +<p> +Now let us go a step further. The mind staggers as it contemplates the +tens of thousands being hurried into eternity who, either according to +the teaching of the Catholic Church or the notions of popular theology, +would be deemed unprepared. +</p> +<p> +We trust, in a dim sort of way, that the all-embracing mercy of God +will accept their sacrifice of themselves for their country, and in +some fashion place it to the credit side of their account. No doubt +He will. But can we not get a more evangelical, and at the same time +more catholic, view of the matter? We find it in an extension of our +conception of the possibilities of the intermediate state, the condition +of souls between death and judgment. Evangelical to the backbone, +because it is the work of Christ which we conceive of as being there +carried on. Catholic, because the Church from very early times has +recognised the idea of the discipline of souls as being a process +continued after death. The authority of S. Paul has been appealed to on +account of his words to the Philippians (i. 6), "being confident of this +very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until +the day of Jesus Christ"; and to the Corinthians in that mysterious +passage concerning "the fire which shall try every man's work" (1 Cor. +iii. 13). The doctrine was developed and materialised till it resulted +in those corruptions which were so largely responsible for the +Reformation. In their zeal to root out error, the Reformers fell into +the opposite extreme and abolished the idea of the intermediate state +altogether. Hence arose the popular notion, unknown to the Catholic +Church till then, of Heaven or Hell as the immediate issue of death. +</p> +<p> +Of course, the Church's teaching had regard to the condition of its own +members after death, and we cannot press it into an argument as to those +not dying, technically, in a state of grace; but at least this much we +may say: Surely no intelligent person can contemplate the thought of +these vast hosts being hurried off into eternal perdition, and at the +same time retain his reason or his faith in a God of love. Whatever the +possibilities of the world to come, they are but the extension of the +boundless love of God in Christ, and hold out no promise for us if we +wilfully neglect our day of grace. +</p> +<p> +But now to pass on to one further source of consolation which comes +in its measure to all the bereaved alike; the chastened joy from the +thought of the splendid sacrifice the dear one has been privileged +to make. +</p> +<p> +Take an illustration—a letter from Major-General Allenby to Lady de +Crespigny on the death of her son:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "<span class="sc">Dear Lady de Crespigny</span>,—I and the whole of the Cavalry + Division sympathise with you, and we feel deeply for Norman's loss. + But I must tell you that he died a hero's death. The brigade was hotly + engaged, and on the Bays fell the brunt of the fighting on September + 1st. Norman, with a few men, was holding an important tactical point, + and he held it till every man was killed or wounded. No man could have + done more, few would have done so much. +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "With deepest sympathy, yours sincerely, +</p> +<p class="quote" style="text-align:right;"> + "<span class="sc">E.H.H. Allenby</span>." +</p> +<p> +How the bereaved hearts in the midst of crushing grief must have lit up +with gladness at such a record as that! +</p> +<p> +But to close. The discipline of bereavement consists essentially in the +trial of faith, yet at the same time brings with it the power of faith. +In bereavement, above all other forms of sorrow, comes the felt need of +God; it has been so with countless souls. The answer to the need is the +revelation that God makes of Himself in Christ; then comes the peace of +God, which passeth all understanding, which dries the tears and heals +the broken heart. +</p> +<p> +<i>Note</i>.—The question of prayer in connection with God's foreknowledge +is so admirably treated in "Some Elements of Religion" (Liddon) that we +append an extract:— +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "What if prayers and actions, to us at the moment perfectly spontaneous, + are eternally foreseen and included within the all-embracing + Predestination of God, as factors and causes, working out that final + result which, beyond all dispute, is the product of His Good Pleasure? +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "Whether I open my mouth or lift my hand is, before my doing it, + strictly within the jurisdiction and power of my personal will: but + however I may decide, my decision, so absolutely free to me, will have + been already incorporated by the All-seeing, All-controlling Being as an + integral part, however insignificant, of His one all-embracing purpose, + leading on to effects and causes beyond itself. Prayer, too, is only a + foreseen action of man which, together with its results, is embraced in + the eternal Predestination of God. To us this or that blessing may be + strictly contingent on our praying for it; but our prayer is + nevertheless so far from necessarily introducing change into the purpose + of the Unchangeable, that it has been all along taken, so to speak, into + account by Him. If, then, with 'the Father of Lights' there is in this + sense 'no variableness, neither shadow of turning,' it is not therefore + irrational to pray for specific blessings, as we do in the Litany, + because God works out His plans not merely in us but by us; and we may + dare to say that that which is to us a free self-determination, may be + not other than a foreseen element of His work." +</p> +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix.</i> +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0010" id="h2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + VIII +</h2> +<h3> + <b>Discipline through Self-sacrifice</b> +<br /> +GOOD FRIDAY +</h3> +<p class="center"> +1 <span class="sc">Tim</span>. ii. 6 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all." +</p> + +<p> +To-day we reach the solemn climax which embraces in itself the whole +idea of discipline under each of those aspects upon which we have +touched. Will, body, soul, spirit, obedience, suffering, death, all +summed up in the tremendous self-sacrifice declared by the Cross of +Christ. +</p> +<p> +The principle of sacrifice is one of those deep mysteries which seem, +as it were, to be rooted in the very nature of our being. It begins +in the initial fact by which man's existence is maintained upon +earth—motherhood, a vast vicarious sacrifice. Yet borne with gratitude, +readiness, ay, even with joy because of the dignity, the love, the +delights it brings with it. One of the surest signs of the decadence +of a nation is when its women, through desire of merely living for +themselves, begin to rebel against the high privilege of motherhood, or +to neglect the duties it should entail. This attitude of mind poisons +life at its fountain-head. +</p> +<p> +Time would fail us, nor indeed would it be profitable, to enter upon a +discussion as to the exact theological bearing of the death of Christ +upon the forgiveness of sins. This is a matter which may rightly occupy +the attention of theologians and scholars who endeavour, so far as +infinite verities can be expressed in finite language, to give a reason +for the hope that is in them. Such books as Liddon's Bampton Lectures, +Dale on the Atonement, or Illingworth on Personality, will be found most +valuable by those who have the time and the capacity for studying them. +It is a good thing, especially in these days, that the intellect of the +Christian should be well-equipped, so that he may silence the taunts of +those who say Christianity is purely a matter of emotion. +</p> +<p> +The personal acceptance of Christ as a personal Saviour rests, not so +much on arguments, as on a sense of need; when this is accompanied by +strong intellectual grip of truth then the influence of the Christian +upon others becomes a great missionary factor. The beauty of the Gospel +story lies in its wonderful adaptability. It is the same in its power to +a Pascal, a Butler, a Liddon, as it is to the unlettered peasant, who +can neither read nor write. +</p> +<p> +Scripture declares quite plainly that the death of Christ was "for us"; +how far this may be pressed to mean "instead of us" is a very grave +question. The words will bear that interpretation, no doubt, but we must +remember that they do not necessarily involve any more than "in our +behalf," that is, for our benefit. +</p> +<p> +It has been the forcing of the words into an unnatural and immoral +theory of substitution, the notion of an angry God claiming a victim, +that has done such terrible harm to the cause of Christianity, and has +led many thoughtful minds to give it up in disgust or despair. Probably +in a wise commingling of the two lines of thought we shall arrive most +nearly at the truth. We all agree that our Blessed Lord's death was "in +behalf of us"; that is for our everlasting welfare; in a very real sense +this was "instead of us," since His sufferings were endured so that we +might not lose the blessing of salvation. +</p> +<p> +Very beautifully is the matter summed up by a modern writer: "In the +death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for the +sins of the world, the moral perfections of God find their highest +expression, and the deepest necessities of man's moral and spiritual +life their only complete satisfaction."<a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> +</p> + + + +<p> +The death of Christ was not only typically but, in a certain sense, +actually the offering up of our bodies on the Cross. Notice very +carefully the words of St. Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ" +(Gal. ii., 20 R.V.). Not simply, as in the old Authorised Version, +"I am crucified with Christ," but something much more definite and exact. +When Christ ascended the Cross He took up with Him our human nature +collectively, as bound up in Himself by virtue of His Incarnation. Hence +it follows that you, the individual, have been crucified with Him; just +as you, the individual, have been buried with Him, and raised with Him +in your Baptism (Rom. vi., 4). How completely this takes the sting out +of the reproach brought against Christianity, on the ground of the +immorality of the Crucifixion! It is no longer the Innocent one +suffering instead of the guilty, but it is the sinless One taking upon +Himself human nature, with all its guilt and consequent punishment, and +"in His own body on the tree," offering that human nature up to God. He +in us, we in Him, that the redemption of human nature may be complete. +Canon Liddon thus puts it in one of his University sermons, "The +substitution of the suffering Christ arose directly out of the terms of +the Incarnation. The human nature which our Lord assumed was none other +than the very nature of the sinner, only without its sin. Therefore He +becomes the Redeemer of our several persons, because He is already the +Redeemer of this our common nature, which He has made for ever His own." +</p> +<p> +We have already noticed that it was not the sufferings of Christ which +were acceptable to God the Father. To think this would be to fall back +into the very crudest and most repulsive idea of substitution. No, it +was the offering up of the will of Christ that formed the essence of the +sacrifice. If we may presume to attempt a mere earthly illustration of +so tremendous a matter, let us take the case of a General whose son +meets with a terrible death while leading a forlorn hope. The father's +heart is torn with anguish both for the death and the circumstances of +it; but at the same time the father's heart swells with pride, ay, even +with joy, that his son should have been true to the highest thing in the +world—duty. +</p> +<p> +He Who said, "I come not to do mine own will but the will of Him that +sent Me," also said, "I lay My life down of Myself, no man taketh it +from Me." Herein is the discipline of sacrifice complete by the using +of one's own will to surrender it absolutely to the will of another. +</p> +<p> +We have spoken so fully of the surrenders of will being made on all +sides that we need say no more now on that point, but for further +illustration let us turn our thoughts in a somewhat fresh direction. +</p> +<p> +The example of Belgium is a living witness of the power of +self-sacrifice. +</p> +<p> +G.K. Chesterton has put forth a striking pamphlet entitled "The +Martyrdom of Belgium"; in it he says: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "There are certain quite unique and arresting features about the case + of Belgium. To begin with, it cannot be too much considered what a + daring stroke of statesmanship—far-sighted, perhaps, but of frightful + courage—the King of the Belgians ventured in resisting at all. Of + that statesmanship we had the whole advantage, and Belgium the whole + disadvantage: she saved France, she saved England—herself she could + not save." +</p> +<p> +Had Belgium yielded instead of standing out, then, humanly speaking, +nothing could have averted the immediate success of the German dash +for Paris. +</p> +<p> +Now think for one moment of the solemn obligation this lays upon us in +regard to that gallant, struggling, yet temporarily dismembered little +nation. We must look after the refugees. There are those who say, "The +Government have brought the Belgians over here, let the Government make +their support a State matter." +</p> +<p> +One almost blushes to have to deal with such a sentiment. Could +1<i>s.</i> in the £ income-tax take the place, morally, spiritually, or +ethically, of the rich profusion of voluntary aid now being poured +forth? The loss to the nation, of that which is purest and noblest in +its life, would be simply unspeakable. It is suffering that provides +opportunity for the exercise of the highest duty known to man, "Bear ye +one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ." Try to picture +to yourself, quietly yet resolutely, what it would mean to you to-morrow +morning, to find suddenly that you had to leave your house, not in a +motor-car for a railway train; no! but to turn out at once, without time +to put together any belongings; to tramp, perhaps in pouring rain, along +miles of road, foodless, cold, exhausted; seeing those around you +dropping out to faint or die by the wayside; not knowing where or how +the journey should end. This is what has happened to tens of thousands +of Belgians; many, cultured and refined, coming forth penniless from +homes of comfort and plenty! +</p> +<p> +In ministering to the needs of the Belgians you find a glorious +privilege, a priceless opportunity. Again, to quote G.K. Chesterton: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + "In a sense Belgium could still have saved her face; but she preferred + to save Europe. This, it seems to me, gives her a claim on something + beyond pity or even gratitude—a claim on our intellectual honour beyond + anything that even suffering could extort." +</p> +<p> +Our Lent is nearly over. With all its opportunities, its calls, +its privileges, it is now behind us. Some perhaps began it with high +resolves and brave hopes, and are disappointed at the apparently small +results. None, we trust, are wholly satisfied with themselves, for that +would point to a condition far worse than despair. There is such a thing +as divine discontent, and every true Christian should know something of +it. For all the conscious failures ask pardon, but do not give up +striving. +</p> +<p> +Standing under the Cross of Christ, as we do to-day, we have a standard +for the measuring of ourselves which makes our little efforts at +discipline look very poor indeed. Yet He remembers our frame, He knows +whereof we are made; He can and will accept the feeblest struggles of +our will towards His. Perhaps some progress in the life of grace may +have been made, then thank Him and take courage. +</p> +<p> +Let us just cast our minds back. The discipline of the will means, +laying ourselves open to listen to the voice of the living God. The +discipline of the body means, never letting it get the upper hand of the +real self. The discipline of the soul means the taking a very serious +view of the responsibility of life. The discipline of the spirit means, +a close approach to God by every channel of worship. The discipline of +obedience means, that we put self in the background, so that we may +exalt the person of Christ. The discipline of sorrow means, that Christ +is still present in His suffering ones, and there is our opportunity. +The discipline of bereavement means, the trial of our faith that it may +enter into the realities of the spiritual kingdom. +</p> +<p> +Then comes the crown and climax, the discipline of self-sacrifice. +Place steadily before you the thought of Christ crucified, see there the +culmination of all possibility of the offering up of self for others. +No element of completeness was wanting. The sacrifice was voluntary, +was made for enemies, brought no return to self. +</p> +<p> +Strong in His strength go forth ready to spend and be spent, if only by +the discipline of self-sacrifice you can lighten the load borne by any +one of your fellow-creatures. +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> What hast Thou done for me, O </p> +<p class="i4"> Mighty Friend, </p> +<p class="i4"> Who lovest to the end? </p> +<p class="i2"> Reveal Thyself that I may now behold </p> +<p class="i4"> Thy love unknown, untold, </p> +<p class="i2"> Bearing the curse and made a curse for me </p> +<p class="i4"> That blessed and made a blessing I might be. </p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Wounded for my transgressions, stricken sore, </p> +<p class="i4"> That I might sin no more, </p> +<p class="i2"> Weak, that I might be always strong in Thee: </p> +<p class="i4"> Bound, that I might be free; </p> +<p class="i2"> Acquaint with grief that I might only know </p> +<p class="i4"> Fulness of joy, in everlasting flow. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"> +<i>For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix.</i> +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_4_0011" id="h2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + IX +</h2> +<h3> + <b>Discipline through Victory</b> +<br /> +EASTER DAY +</h3> +<p class="center"> +<span class="sc">Romans</span> vi. 9 +</p> +<p class="center"> + "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." +</p> +<p> +To couple the word discipline with victory may seem incongruous almost +to the point of impossibility. Yet, if we look below the surface, we +shall see that never is the connection more strong and the need for +realising it more urgent. +</p> +<p> +Lent is over, its special discipline has passed, and now the danger +begins. The danger is lest any progress made, any victory won, should +lead to that self-confidence which can only end in disaster. Success is +often a discipline far more fatal in its results than failure. +</p> +<p> +We celebrate to-day the grandest victory the world has ever known: a +victory which sprang out of the depths of an apparently complete defeat. +"We trusted that it was He which should have redeemed Israel." Vain +confidence, for how could One Who had died as a malefactor, Who could +not save Himself, rescue His nation from the tyranny of the Roman power? +And then He, this stranger Whom they knew not, opened to them the +Scriptures; showed them the necessity of the sufferings, and the great +climax, in the Resurrection. The ears were dull, the hearts unconvinced, +as they generally are by mere argument, till he revealed Himself in "the +breaking of bread." The eyes of love could not be deceived and sorrow +gave place to joy. +</p> +<p> +Some dispute has arisen as to whether we ought to pray for victory in +this War. The matter is well put by an anonymous writer: "If we are only +to pray in matters wherein there is no difference of opinion our prayers +will be few, and if we cannot pray for the triumph of honour over +falsehood, of respect for treaties over unscrupulousness, of order +over cruelty and outrage, for what are we ever to pray? We must pray +according to the light we have. And if we end our prayers with the truly +Christian supplement 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt,' +we cannot be doing anything contrary to the principles of the highest +religion. Surely prayer is, or should be, merely the expression of our +best hopes and wishes submitted to a Divine tribunal." +</p> +<p> +Putting aside the question of prayer, let us consider for a moment what +should be our attitude as we look into the future. First and foremost +one of confidence and hopefulness. Without arrogance we can say that we +believe firmly and strongly in the absolute righteousness of our cause. +In violating the neutrality of Belgium, Germany itself confesses that +a wrong was done. A wrong which necessity compelled, as they say. What +necessity? That of getting to Paris at the earliest possible moment. And +so when Germany prays for victory, as of course it does, and ought, at +the same time it has to confess to an initial wrong, which was certainly +not made right by the fact that it was the quickest way of accomplishing +an end. +</p> +<p> +We have purposely abstained in these Addresses from fanning flames, or +appealing to passions. But here is a broad ground upon which, by the +very confession of our enemies, we stand on a higher platform. We went +to war because we would not break a treaty, nor forsake a friend too +weak for self-defence; Germany commenced the war by a treacherous act. +Therefore, strong in the belief that the God of righteousness will cause +the right to triumph, we can calmly look forward to ultimate victory, +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> To doubt would be disloyalty, </p> +<p class="i4"> To falter would be sin. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Much more might be said in the same direction, but let the broad thought +suffice. +</p> +<p> +The war has produced a type of pessimism which, in some instances, runs +almost to disturbance of mental balance. Every reverse is exaggerated, +and accepted with a kind of confident despondency; every success +discounted and treated with half-hearted incredulity: "The Germans have +destroyed another ship; what is our Navy doing?" "Oh, but that's only +one little hill; the Germans will have it back soon enough." Surely +this kind of pessimism, except where the victim of it is not really +responsible, must be as offensive to God as it is exasperating to man. +</p> +<p> +But now to turn to our chief thought for the day, that is, the +permanence of the victory of Easter Day, "Christ dieth no more." That +is why He is called "The first fruits of them that are asleep." Several +resurrections are recorded both in the Old and New Testaments, but these +are cases of those who were raised by others, and then died again. +Christ raised Himself and death hath no more dominion over Him. The +resurrection is permanent and keeps on perpetuating and extending itself +in the life of the whole universal Church. It was not an isolated act, +but part of a wondrous plan. Not only does it possess doctrinal +significance in that plan, but vital force for the carrying of it out. +"He died for our sins," but "He was raised for our justification." +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i2"> Yes, death's last hope, his strongest fort and prison, </p> +<p class="i4"> Is shattered, never to be built again; </p> +<p class="i2"> And He, the mighty Captive, He is risen, </p> +<p class="i4"> Leaving behind the gate, the bar, the chain. </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +We are praying constantly, earnestly, that we "may be brought through +strife to a lasting peace"; and that "the nations of the world may be +united in a firmer fellowship for the promotion of Thy glory and the +good of all mankind." No conditions of peace are worth accepting unless +they will, humanly speaking, secure this result. Germany on the one +side, and the Allies on the other, both realise that this is a "fight to +a finish." Singularly enough the object of both sides is similar—to +render another great European war impossible: but the ideals in respect +to its attainment are by no means the same; one looks to the setting up +of a world dominion; the other, to the establishment of a state of +balanced power and mutual interests among European nations. We are +fighting essentially for the principle of "live and let live," and +therefore have to face unflinchingly all the sacrifice that still lies +before us. When peace is concluded it must be upon terms which will make +results permanent! Should Germany, in the mysterious providence of God, +be allowed to become supreme, there will be peace, but, alas! only the +peace of desolation and the numbness of despair. But, as we have already +said, it seems disloyal to all our deepest instincts, all our truest +feelings, even to contemplate such a possibility. +</p> +<p> +But when the Allies triumph, what then?—the discipline of victory. +Think for one moment of what the victory of Christ meant, as the +ratification of the treaty signed upon the Cross, in the very hour of +apparent defeat. It meant for you and me all that is included in the +words "the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; the means +of grace and the hope of glory." The resurrection puts the seal to the +great charter, commenced at Bethlehem, indited page by page through the +wondrous life of three and thirty years, closed, as to its earthly side, +on Calvary, sealed, signed and delivered on Easter morning. In the power +of that treaty of peace you and I live, day by day; secure except for +our own carelessness; beyond all possibility of hurt from spiritual +enemies, unless by our own traitorous dealings with them. The victory +was complete! "He hath put all enemies under His feet"; the victory is +permanent, for, "death hath no more dominion over Him." +</p> +<p> +In these Addresses we have said much about those large results which God +is allowing us already to see as obviously coming out of the war; on our +Day of "Humble Prayer to Almighty God" we solemnly thanked Him: +</p> +<p class="quote"> + For the laying aside of controversies at home, and for the unity of + the Nation and Empire; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + For the loyal and loving response of our fellow-subjects beyond the + seas; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + For the full harmony between our Allies and ourselves, and for the + success which has already been granted to our common efforts; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + For the devotion of those who have laid down their lives for their + country; +</p> +<p class="quote"> + For the revelation in danger, in suffering, and in death, of the power + of the Cross and the benefits of the Lord's Passion. +</p> +<p> +Now remains the question, Are the results to be permanent? That entirely +depends upon our attitude towards the discipline of victory; or how we +are going to behave ourselves in the hour of success. It is written +concerning Israel, "The Lord saved them from the hand of them that hated +them: and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. Then believed they +His words, they sang His praise. They soon forgat His works: they waited +not for His counsel." God willing we shall ere long be singing our Te +Deum; oh! yes, we shall do it with all our heart and soul; but how are +we to fix the emotions, to render permanent that thankfulness which we +shall really feel. The Israelites "waited not for His counsel." They +failed, that is, under the discipline of success. Victory is given that +it may be used for good, just as much as failure is sent that we may +rise on "stepping-stones of our dead-selves" to fresh endeavour. +</p> +<p> +As a nation we have been single-minded and honourable in our entry upon +and our waging of the War; when it is over we are to be just the same in +our use of the fruits of the War. Victory will not come to us simply for +our own sakes and that it may be selfishly exploited for our own needs. +No, assuredly not: it will come for the mutual benefit of all concerned, +and unless the very first fruits of it be dedicated to the cause of +heroic Belgium, to her re-instatement in something of her former +condition, it will have come in vain. The time of distress and disaster +has knit together the Empire in a wondrous unity of brotherhood. There +will be debts to be repaid to India and our Colonies, debts which can +never be discharged in money, but in those higher acts of fellowship, +justice, endeavour, which will knit yet closer the bonds that have been +formed. There will remain a large heritage of disablement and +unemployment to cope with which will require wise counsel, comprehensive +measures, real self-sacrifice. It is computed that should the war last +another eighteen months there will be nearly a quarter of a million men +more or less unfitted to resume their ordinary callings. +</p> +<p> +All this, you say, is the concern of the State; certainly, but what is +the State? Only another term for you and me. Therefore the seriousness +of attitude, the sense of proportion, the realisation of brotherhood, +that by the mercy of God we have gained, must be retained for the facing +of the new problems that will lie before us. +</p> +<p> +Turning to the more purely personal aspect of it, there will be the +temptation to grow slack and cold in intercessions and communions, when +the immediate occasion that prompted them has passed. To be forewarned +is to be forearmed, let us look out for this, expect it, then we shall +not be afraid to meet it. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no +more"; think what the permanency of that victory has meant all down the +ages of the past in the triumphs of the saints, in the deaths of the +martyrs, in the splendid story of the Church of Christ. Think what it +means to-day in the lives of millions of the faithful; in all the deeds +of charity which are brightening homes, cheering hearts, giving hope to +the hopeless, healing to the sick, and soundness to the maimed: think of +all it means in rest and refreshment to the souls in Paradise; think of +all it still will mean in the growth of the Church of Christ up to the +fulness of its destined and glorious completion; think of all it may +mean for you in your individual life, right up to the day when you shall +be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is. +</p> +<p> +In the permanence of the victory of Christ, may we each one of us so use +the discipline of victory that it may redound to the glory of Him, in +Whom we live, and move, and have our being. +</p> + + +<a name="h2H_APPE" id="h2H_APPE"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + APPENDIX +</h2> +<p class="center"> +GIVING A SPECIAL THOUGHT AND PASSAGE FOR +MEDITATION FOR EACH DAY IN LENT +SUGGESTED BY THE ADDRESSES. +</p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + APPENDIX +</h2> +<h3> + A SUGGESTED THOUGHT FOR DAILY MEDITATION +</h3> + +<p class="center"> +<i>N.B.—You will find it useful to look up references in a reference +Bible.</i> +</p> + +<div class="appendix"> +<p> +<span class="sc">Ash Wednesday</span>: God wishes that we should be saved.—1 Tim. ii. +3, 4; 2 Pet. iii. 9. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: Our natural will is in conflict with God's +will.—Rom. vii. 21-25. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Friday</span>: God the Holy Ghost assists us by illuminating the +will.—S. John xvi. 13-15. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Saturday</span>: What is the guiding principles of our lives?—Ps. +xxxix. 7; S. Matt. vi. 19-24. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p> +<span class="sc">1st Sunday in Lent</span>: The Incarnation the mission of Christ to +the body.—S. John i. 1-14; Eph. v. 23. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Monday</span>: The body in its physical aspect wonderfully suited to +its purposes.—Gen. i. 26-28; ii., 7; Ps. cxxxix. 14. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Tuesday</span>: The body the external means by which we receive the +Sacraments.—Heb. x. 22; Acts viii. 14-17; 1 Cor. xi. 26. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Wednesday</span>: The body in its ultimate destiny.—1 Cor. xv. 42-49; +1 John iii. 2, 3. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: Disciplining the body braces the will.—2 Tim. ii. 3; +Heb. xi. 32-40. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Friday</span>: The corporate life of the Church in its bearing on +influence and conduct.—1 Cor. xii. 12-27. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Saturday</span>: The duty of example in respect of the temperance +question.—1 Cor. viii. 7-13; 2 Cor. viii. 9. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p> +<span class="sc">2nd Sunday in Lent</span>: The inner value of our life.—S. Mark viii. +34-38. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Monday</span>: The deadening effect of prosperity.—S. James v. 1-6. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Tuesday</span>: Our Lord's example of single-mindedness.—S. Mark vii. +37; S. Matt. xxvi. 39-44. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Wednesday</span>: The need for seriousness in thought.—S. Matt. xv. +10-20; Phil. iv. 8. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: The need for seriousness in word.—S. James iii. +1-11. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Friday</span>: The need for seriousness in deed.—S. James iii. 13-18; +1 Pet. v. 8. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Saturday</span>: The need for perseverance, lest we forfeit our +blessings.—Rom ii. 4-7; Rev. ii. 18-29. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p> +<span class="sc">3rd Sunday in Lent</span>: Man seeking after God.—Ps. xlii. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Monday</span>: The Incarnation the means by which the union between +God and man is brought about.—S. John xvii. 17-26. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Tuesday</span>: Prayer the characteristic act of religion.—S. Matt. +vii. 7-12; Eph. vi. 18. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Wednesday</span>: The importance of self-examination as leading to +self-knowledge.—Gal. vi. 3-5. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: Confession of sins to God the only condition of +forgiveness.—1 John i. 5-10. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Friday</span>: Forgiveness of sins comes from God through the blood of +Christ.—Eph. i. 3-12. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Saturday</span>: The ministry of reconciliation committed to the +ministers, as Christ's ambassadors.—2 Cor. v. 18; S. John xx. 22, 23. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p> +<span class="sc">4th Sunday in Lent</span>: The natural body of Christ the source of +healings.—S. Matt. xiv. 34-36. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Monday</span>: The spiritual body of Christ found in His Church.—Eph. +i. 18-23. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Tuesday</span>: The sacramental body of Christ, given to us in the +Holy Communion.—1 Cor. x., 14-21. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Wednesday</span>: Obedience the test of religion.—Rom. vi. 16-23. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: Self-indulgence the great obstacle to obedience.—S. +Luke xvi. 19-31. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Friday</span>: Self-renunciation the condition of service.—Acts xx. +17-24. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Saturday</span>: Our Lord's example of obedience.—Phil. ii. 1-11; +Heb. xii. 1-3. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p> +<span class="sc">5th Sunday in Lent</span>: Suffering in the light of eternity.—Rev. +vii. 9-17; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Monday</span>: Suffering in the light of the Incarnation.—S. Matt. +viii. 16, 17; Heb. iv. 14-16. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Tuesday</span>: Christ still suffering in His people.—S. Matt. xxv. +34-46; Acts ix. 4. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Wednesday</span>: Devotion to Christ the power of endurance.—Acts v. +40-42; Rom. viii. 35-39. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: Christ succouring those who suffer for Him.—Acts +vii. 54-60; xxvii. 21-26. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Friday</span>: Character disciplined by suffering.—Heb. x. 32-36; +xii. 4-11. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Saturday</span>: Suffering giving opportunity for sympathy.—Heb. xii. +12, 13; S. James i. 27; ii. 14-16. +</p> + +<div style="height: 2em;"><br /><br /></div> + +<p> +<span class="sc">6th Sunday in Lent</span>: The resurrection of Christ, the basis of +hope.—1 Thess. iv. 13-18. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Monday</span>: The Holy Spirit the power of the risen life, here and +hereafter.—Rom. viii. 5-11. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Tuesday</span>: The communion of Saints in the one body of +Christ.—Heb. xii. 1, 2, and 22-24. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Wednesday</span>: The departed remembering us.—S. Luke xvi. 19-31; +esp. v. 24; Rev. vi. 9. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Thursday</span>: The glorious reward of faithful service.—S. Matt. +xxv. 14-23. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Good Friday</span>: What does the death of Christ mean to me?—S. John +xix. 23-30. +</p> +<p> +<span class="sc">Easter Eve</span>: Am I showing the fruits of my Baptism by leading a +risen life?—Rom. vi. 1-11. +</p> +</div> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h2>Footnotes</h2> + +<a name="note-1"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>1</u> (<a href="#noteref-1">return</a>)<br /> +O.S. in <i>Punch</i>, November 4th, 1914. By kind +permission of the Proprietors. +</p> + +<a name="note-2"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>2</u> (<a href="#noteref-2">return</a>)<br /> +<i>The Reveille</i>, Bret Harte. +</p> + +<a name="note-3"><!--Note--></a> +<p class="foot"> +<u>3</u> (<a href="#noteref-3">return</a>)<br /> +Dale on the Atonement. +</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: 75%;"> +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., <br /> +BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK. +</p> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Discipline of War, by John Hasloch Potter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 16979-h.htm or 16979-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/9/7/16979/ + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Discipline of War + Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent + +Author: John Hasloch Potter + +Release Date: November 1, 2005 [EBook #16979] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + + +THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR + + +_Nine Addresses on the Lessons of the War in Connection with Lent_ + +FROM ASH WEDNESDAY to EASTER SUNDAY + +WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING + +SUGGESTED SUBJECT FOR MEDITATION, AND SUITABLE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE, +FOR EACH DAY IN LENT + + +BY THE REV. + +J. HASLOCH POTTER, M.A. + +_Hon. Canon of Southwark and Vicar of St. Mark's, Surbiton, Surrey_ + + + London + SKEFFINGTON & SON + 34, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C. + _Publishers to His Majesty the King_ + + 1915 + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +The war has introduced into countless lives new conditions, and has +strangely modified, or emphasised, those already existing. These +Addresses, prepared under much stress of other work, are intended to +supply, in very simple fashion, hints for conduct and points for thought +along the lines of our fresh or deepened responsibilities. An Appendix +gives a suggested subject and a passage of Scripture for each day during +Lent. May God the Holy Ghost, without Whom man's best labours are in +vain, bless this little book to its purpose. Please say a prayer for the +writer, who, as much as any, needs grace that he may try to practise +what he preaches. + + J. HASLOCH POTTER. + + Surbiton. + The Conversion of St. Paul. 1915. + + + + +FOREWORD + + + Kingston House, + Clapham Common. + + _January 19th, 1915._ + +My dear Canon,-- + +You have invited me to say a few words introductory to the little book +you are putting forth, and of which you have sent me the advance proofs. + +From the great excellence of that which I have read, I am convinced +that your Lenten meditations on the Discipline of War, will be of +pre-eminently spiritual value in a time when publications on the +subject are multiplied. That the war is to leave us on a higher +plane of self-discipline, and with higher ideals of citizen life and +responsibility, every Christian must acknowledge. Your little Lenten +scheme is just that which is needed to give reality and action to what +might otherwise be left in the realm of theory. May the Holy Spirit make +use of your work to the benefit of us all and for the Glory of God. + + Your sincere friend, + + CECIL HOOK, + _Bishop._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I + PAGE + + The Discipline of the Will 1 + + II + + The Discipline of the Body 9 + + III + + The Discipline of the Soul 18 + + IV + + The Discipline of the Spirit 27 + + V + + Discipline through Obedience 35 + + VI + + The Discipline of Sorrow 44 + + VII + + Discipline through bereavement 52 + + VIII + + Discipline through Self-sacrifice 62 + + IX + + Discipline through Victory 70 + + * * * * * + + Appendix 81 + + + + + + +THE DISCIPLINE OF WAR + +I + +=The Discipline of the Will= + +ASH WEDNESDAY + +Isaiah lviii. 6 + + "Is not this the fast that I have chosen?" + + +Discipline is the central idea of the observance of Lent. An +opportunity, rich in its splendid possibilities, comes before us this +year. Much of the discipline of this Lent is settled for us by those +tragic circumstances in which we find ourselves placed. + +God seems to be saying to us, in no uncertain tones, "Is not this the +fast that I have chosen?" + +Our amusements are already to a large extent curtailed, maybe by our own +individual sorrows or anxieties; maybe by the feeling of the incongruity +of enjoying ourselves while anguish and hardship reign supreme around +us. + +Our self-denials are already in operation, under the stress of +straitened means, or the vital necessity of helping others less favoured +than ourselves. + +Our devotions have already been increased in frequency and in +earnestness, for the call upon our prayers has come with an insistence +and an imperiousness that brook no denial. + +To this extent, and further in many directions, our Lent has been taken +out of our own hands; ordered and pre-arranged by that inscrutable, yet +loving, Providence which has permitted the War to come about. + +Thus, at the very outset, we are brought into harmony with the central +idea of discipline--not my will, but God's will. + +Broadly, discipline is defined as "Mental and moral training, under +one's own guidance or under that of another": the two necessarily +overlap, and therefore we shall speak of God's discipline, acting upon +us from outside, and of our own co-operation with divine purposes, which +is our discipline of self from within. + +In the forefront of the subject, and including every aspect of it upon +which we shall touch, stands that tremendous word--_will_. + +Have you ever attempted to gauge the mystery, to sound the depth of +meaning implied in the simple sentence "I will"? + +First of all what is the significance of "I"? You are the only one who +can say it of yourself. Any other must speak of you as "he" or "she"; +but "I" is your own inalienable possession. + +This is the mystery of personality. That accumulation of experience, +that consciousness of identity which you possess as absolutely, uniquely +your own; which none other can share with you in the remotest degree. "A +thing we consider to be unconscious, an animal to be conscious, a person +to be self-conscious." + +This leads on to a further mystery, alike concerned with so apparently +simple a matter that its real complexity escapes us. + +"I _will_": I, the self-conscious person, have made up my mind what +I am going to do, and, physical obstacles excepted, I will do it. + +The freedom of man's will has been the subject of endless dispute from +every point of view, theistic, atheistic, Christian and non-Christian. + +Merely as a philosophic controversy it has but little bearing upon daily +life. The staunchest necessitarian, who argues _theoretically_ that +even when he says "I will" he is under the compulsion of external force, +yet acts _practically_ in exactly the same fashion as the rest of +mankind. + +When the freedom of the will is considered in relation to religion, then +it bears a totally different aspect. If the will be not free, religion, +as a personal matter, falls to the ground, for its very essence is man's +voluntary choice of God. + +Here too those who deny the freedom of man's will doctrinally yet accept +it as a working fact. Calvin, whose theory of Predestination and +Irresistible Grace seems to exclude man from any co-operation in his own +salvation, yet preached a Gospel not to be distinguished from that of +John Wesley! + +For us Christians the freedom of the will is absolutely settled by Him +Who says, "Whosoever will let him come." + +If you are sometimes troubled by certain passages in Scripture which +seem to imply that God's predestination overrides man's will, remember, +that whenever we are considering any question which concerns both God's +nature and man's nature, difficulty must arise, from the very fact that +our finite mind can only comprehend, and that but imperfectly, man's +side of the transaction. Things which now seem incompatible, such as +prayer and law; miracle and, what we are pleased to call, nature; God's +foreknowledge and man's free-will in the light of eternity will be seen +as only complementary parts of one divine whole. + +Remember too that you must take the general bearing of Scripture; not +isolated passages in which, for the necessity of the argument, one side +is strongly emphasised. The Apostle who, thinking of the boundless power +of God's grace, says, "So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him +that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. ix. 16) is the one +who says "He willeth that all men should be saved" (1 Tim. ii. 4). + +The love by which the Father gave up His Son; the life and death of that +Son; the ministry of God the Holy Ghost; the whole dispensation of the +Catholic Church, form one great tender appeal to the free-will of man. +Your free-will, my free-will, before which is placed the tremendous +responsibility of choosing or rejecting. + +And now from the broad thought of will, at its highest point, occupied +with eternal choices and spiritual decisions, we turn to will as the +governing power in our lives. + +It is, to a certain extent, self in action, for before even the +slightest movement of any part of the body, there must have gone, +automatically and unconsciously, an act of will. + +Before every deliberate action there takes place a discussion, which +ultimately decides the attitude of the will, that is your final purpose. +Put quite simply, the _motives_ determine the _will_, and are +themselves decided by the _principles_ at the back of them. + +Let us make this plain by an illustration. It is pouring with rain, you +are sitting cosily over the fire with an interesting book. The thought +comes into your mind, I ought to go and see my sick friend. Then follows +the deliberation: the flesh says, "To-morrow will do just as well." The +spirit says, "No, it won't; you may both be dead to-morrow." The flesh +says, "Perhaps I shall catch a cold"; the spirit says, "That fear +wouldn't keep you from going to a Picture Palace." The flesh says, +"Perhaps he won't care to see me to-day"; the spirit replies, "It's a +dull, wet afternoon, and he's very likely to be alone." + +Now notice that at the back of each set of motives is a vital principle. +In the one case the lower self, in the other the higher self, that is to +say "I" and "God." + +The purely natural, human side of even the greatest saint would prefer +to sit over the fire; but then our nature is not left unassisted, and +even in a simple thing like this God the Holy Ghost comes to our aid +with His suggestions of the higher course, and illuminates the path of +duty. That is one of the most blessed features of the ministry of the +Spirit; He enlightens, He persuades, He never compels: if He did, your +will would not be free. + +This explains what the discipline of the will really means. It is just +the laying of ourselves open to the voice of the living God, speaking +within us. + +As we do this, day by day, the will itself becomes braced and +strengthened, so that the struggle against the lower nature grow less +and less fierce, the power of choosing the higher course more and more +easy. + +Here is our first practical thought for this Lent. + +Watch yourself and your life, especially in those particulars in which +you know that you have been getting out of hand. The prayers omitted, +curtailed, said carelessly, said or attempted in bed, instead of on your +knees: what a grievous failure, isn't it? + +The carelessness about preparation before and thanksgiving after +Communion, the irregularity of your attendances; the habit of +Self-Examination, or of Confession, dropped--why? The Bible neglected. + +Then the self-indulgences in the matter of sleep, food, drink, and +purely wasted hours. + +All these things are sapping the manhood and dignity of the will. +Sometimes even more dangerously and insidiously than open sins, because +with regard to these conscience does speak; but when we are merely +drifting down the stream of time, the pleasant lapping of the ripples on +the side of the bark lulls conscience into fatal sleep. + +Look at your life, ask yourself the question, boldly and honestly, what +is the principle upon which it is being lived, God or self? When the +answer comes you will see clearly the first steps to take in the +disciplining of the will. + +Glorious examples of what can be done abound around you. Think you there +has been no struggle on the part of those tens of thousands who have +given up comforts, home, prospects, harmless pleasures, in exchange for +the ghastly miseries of the trenches, the appalling risks by land, on or +beneath the sea, in the air, all at the call of a stern, compelling +duty, which told them that the life really worth living was the one +spent, laid down if need be, for King and country? + +Think too of the heroism of the wives, the mothers, the sweethearts, on +whose lips there must have trembled over and again, "I will not, I +cannot let you go." Yet the will was disciplined, the words remained +unspoken, the tears were shed in secret, and these brave hearts, even in +breaking, shall find their reward. + +It was at Waterloo one afternoon, a young officer was being seen off for +the front by father, brother, and _fiancee_. The two former bravely +and cheerily said their good-bye, and withdrew a little to leave the +young couple for their farewell; a kiss, a close embrace, outward +smiles, but tears very near the eyes; and then as the officer got into +the carriage just this one remark: "It's precious hard upon the women." +What a world of meaning there was in that. + +Above all, as your pattern and your power, look to Him Who said, "I came +down from Heaven not to do mine own will but the will of Him that sent +Me." + +_For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix._ + + + + +II + +=The Discipline of the Body= + +FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT + +1 Cor. ix. 27 + + "I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage." + + +On Ash Wednesday we were considering some purely subjective realities, +such as principles, motives, will--things we could not see. To-day we +think about a very objective substance, ever present to our senses--our +body. A man may deny point blank the existence of his soul--using the +word in its ordinary acceptation--he cannot say, "I have not got a +body." Even if he should conceive of that body as a mere bundle of +ideas, an accumulation of sensations, yet there it is, making itself +felt in countless ways. + +So intimately bound up is it with every part of our life, apparently so +infinitely the most real part of us, that we often think of it as being +our true self. Yet every cell and fibre of it changes in the course of +seven years. Therefore in itself it cannot maintain our identity. Have +you ever pinched your nail, right down at its base, and watched the dark +mass of congealed blood making its way to the tip of the finger, and +then dispersing? This gives you some idea of the pace at which the body +is being burned up and renewed. + +All the while the personal "I" remains, deep-seated in the +self-conscious intellect, memory, will. + +Of course the body plays an immensely important part in the complex +story of our existence. It is the machine by which the personal self +acts, speaks, loves, hates, chooses, refuses; therefore we can neither +ignore it nor despise it. + +The popular notion concerning religion is that it is meant only for the +salvation of the soul. If this were so, then the coming of the Holy +Ghost would have sufficed for all needs. + +One manifest purpose of the Incarnation was to give to the body the +possibility of holiness here, resurrection hereafter. + +Very marvellous is the dignity conferred upon the body by the fact the +"Word was made flesh." From that flows forth the high position of the +Christian, whose body is a "temple of the Holy Ghost." + +It is through the body that we receive the Sacraments, which are means +of grace to the soul. + +Did time permit, it would be deeply interesting to trace out the use of +the word body in this connection--the natural body of our Lord, His +spiritual body after the Resurrection, His mystical body, the Church, in +which sense He Himself is called "the Saviour of the body" (Eph. v. 23), +His Sacramental Body, of which He says, "This is my body." + +The discipline of the body. + +The thought is prominently before us at the present moment, and first +let us look at it from its purely material side. Thousands of youths who +a few months ago were slouching, narrow-chested, feeble specimens of +underbred humanity, have now-expanded into well set up, hardened men. +The body has been disciplined by drill, exercises, route-marching, and +the like. Those who return from the war uninjured will, we may hope, be +in such improved condition as may somewhat compensate for the terrible +loss of vigorous life which is taking place. + +Had there been universal military training of the youth of our land for +the past few generations, either the present war would never have taken +place; or the results of the first three weeks of it would have been +vastly different from what they were. + +Now take another significant fact: letter after letter from the front +says, "We are all very fit." The average "fitness" in the trenches is, +broadly speaking, higher than that of training camps at home, especially +of those where little or no supervision is exercised as to strong drink. +How plainly this shows that hardness, even of an extreme character, +braces up the body; softness and self-indulgence enfeeble it. + +S. Paul affords a wonderful illustration of this; obviously a man of +very delicate health, frequently ill (probably this was the thorn in the +flesh), yet accomplishing vast labours, and, in addition, buffeting his +own flesh lest it should get the upper hand. + +Here, then, we reach the first great principle in the discipline of the +body. It must not have its own way, or it will infallibly assert its +sway over the man's real self. + +That is what happens in the case of the habitual drunkard or the slave +of lust. That which at first is a temptation, perfectly capable of being +resisted, becomes at last what the doctors call a "physical" craving +that, humanly speaking, cannot be overcome. By constant yielding the +will has been weakened to such an extent that the personal "I" no longer +reigns; the usurping body has taken its place and rules supreme. + +Let us take the main thought of self-control, which is the true +rendering of the word temperance, the state in which, as S. James says, +the man is "able to bridle the whole body" (S. James iii. 2), and test +ourselves by it this Lent. Am I retaining my dominion over my body, or +is it gradually pushing itself into my place? + +Self-examination, honestly performed, will reveal this at once, for +conscience, unless blunted by neglect, will speak infallibly. + +For instance, when you find some indulgence of the flesh concerning +which you say "I can't help it," there your body has vanquished you. It +is absorbing your personality, robbing you of your divine birthright, in +which you say, "I will," "I will not." + +And now to go a step further--the disciplining of the body, care in +regard to eating, drinking, amusements, and the like; strictness as to +luxuries and things which, though lawful, may not be expedient, not only +tend to bodily strength and mere physical well-being, but brace up the +will power, because they entail the constant exercise of it. + +Here is where the practical wisdom of the Church comes in as regards +fasting. One day in every week is set apart, beside other days and +seasons, as a reminder of the fact that fasting is a duty of the +Christian life, just as much as almsgiving and prayer--a duty sanctified +by the example enjoined by the precept of our Lord Himself. + +True, no hard and fast rules are laid down, but a little sanctified +common sense will dictate to us how to make fast-days a reality, by some +simple acts of self-denial. + +Our last thought is one of intense practical importance--our attitude at +the present moment towards strong drink. + +Lord Kitchener and the Archbishop of Canterbury have both on several +occasions called the attention of the nation to the terrible evils +arising from the unhappy custom of treating soldiers to strong drink. + +_Punch_, always on the side of morality and rightness, has dealt +with it in the following trenchant fashion:-- + + +TO A FALSE PATRIOT + + + He came obedient to the Call; + He might have shirked, like half his mates + Who, while their comrades fight and fall, + Still go to swell the football gates. + + And you, a patriot in your prime, + You waved a flag above his head, + And hoped he'd have a high old time, + And slapped him on the back, and said: + + "You'll show 'em what we British are! + Give us your hand, old pal, to shake"; + And took him round from bar to bar + And made him drunk--for England's sake. + + That's how you helped him. Yesterday + Clear-eyed and earnest, keen and hard, + He held himself the soldier's way-- + And now they've got him under guard. + + That doesn't hurt you; you're all right; + Your easy conscience takes no blame; + But he, poor boy, with morning's light, + He eats his heart out, sick with shame. + + What's that to you? You understand + Nothing of all his bitter pain; + You have no regiment to brand; + You have no uniform to stain; + + No vow of service to abuse; + No pledge to King and country due; + But he has something dear to lose, + And he has lost it--thanks to you.[1] + + +[Footnote 1: O.S. in _Punch_, November 4th, 1914. By kind +permission of the Proprietors.] + +A man who had so distinguished himself at the front as to be mentioned +in a despatch came home slightly wounded. In less than twenty-four hours +he was in a cell at a police station, and the next day fined forty +shillings. Oh! the pathetic pity of it. That man got into trouble +through the exhibition of one of the purest and best features of our +human nature, the desire to show kindness. In their well-intentioned +ignorance this man's friends--yes, they were real friends--knew of only +one way of displaying friendliness--they gave him liquor. + +I am not going to blame them, nor him entirely; I am going to lay some +of the fault upon ourselves. + +Since the beginning of the last century the habits of the upper classes, +to use a generic though unpleasant term, have improved immeasurably. +Then excess was more or less the rule among men of good position, was to +a certain extent expected and provided for; witness _The School for +Scandal_, or the leading novels of the period. Now, the man who +disgraces himself at a dinner-table is never invited again. + +And even as we go down in the social scale much improvement is apparent. +Those who remember Bank Holidays on their first introduction will +recollect that the excess of the working classes was quite open and +shameless; but to-day some effort is generally made by the victims, or +their friends, to hide the disgrace, because Public Opinion is +improving. That is where we come in. + +Many causes of intemperance in strong drink are matters for legislative +or municipal action; for example, overcrowding, insanitary dwellings or +surroundings, sweating, excessive hours of labour, adulteration of +liquors. But there are two factors upon which we can exercise direct +influence, because they are connected with that great corporate entity +called Public Opinion. + +First let us take the one upon which we have already touched--the notion +that friendliness and good fellowship are essentially connected with +strong drink. This is at the bottom of those terrible scenes when troops +are leaving our great London railway stations. Scenes so inexpressibly +sad to all thinking people. + +Everyone who abstains entirely, or who takes the khaki button--a pledge +not to treat nor be treated to strong drink during the continuance of +the war--is helping to knock a nail into the coffin of one of the +silliest and most fatal delusions that has ever wrought havoc to body, +soul, and spirit. + +And then there is that other weird notion that you cannot be really +strong and healthy without stimulant. For you the glass of beer or wine +may be a mere harmless luxury, in the way in which you take it. I +purposely exclude spirits, which I am fanatic enough to think should +only be used medicinally. But every individual total abstainer helps to +swell the testimony not only to the non-necessity of alcohol, but to the +fact that, according to the view of a large part of the medical +profession, the human frame is better without it. + +You may say, "What good will my abstinence do to people with whom I +never come in contact?" Tell me what influence really is; how it +spreads, by what unseen modes it ramifies and extends. + +Tell me the real significance, the true spiritual value, of the fact +that "if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it: if one +member rejoice, all the members rejoice with it." + +Then perhaps you can explain in some way, how your abstinence shall +spread to desolated homes, to stricken lives, in crowded slums or quiet +villages, in fire-raked trenches or storm-tossed ships. + +No act of self-sacrifice for His sake, Who though He was rich yet for +our sakes became poor, ever went without its rich reward. + +No tiny wave of influence ever yet sped forth from a Christian heart, +but what reached its mark and wrought its work of beneficent power. + +_For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix._ + + + + +III + +=The Discipline of the Soul= + +SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT + +St. John vi. 38 + + "For I am come down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but + the will of Him that sent Me." + + +To-day we are going to speak of the soul not in its popular sense, as +set over against the body, but in the scriptural meaning of the word as +the broad equivalent of life. + +To enter upon a philosophical discussion might prove interesting from a +merely academic point of view, but would be eminently unpractical. +Suffice it to say that when S. Paul speaks of the "body, soul and +spirit" (1 Thess. v. 23), he takes the two latter as different faculties +of the invisible part of man. + +Soul ([Greek: psyche]) is the lower attribute which man has in common +with the animals; spirit ([Greek: pneuma]) the higher one which they do +not possess, and which makes man capable of religion. + +In this sense, then, the soul would mean the life the man or woman is +leading, in the home, the business, the pleasures, the relaxations, as +distinct from the definite exercise of devotion or worship. + +Of course it is absolutely impossible to draw a hard and fast line +between sacred and secular. All secular affairs, rightly conducted, have +their sacred side; and conversely all sacred matters have their secular +side, for they form part of the life the man is living "in the age." + +It is the neglect of this truth which is responsible for much of the +moral and religious failure of the day. + +Business is secular, prayer is sacred, and so they have no practical +connection each with other. + +Amusement is secular (often vastly too much so, in the very lowest sense +of the word); Holy Communion is sacred; therefore there is no link +between them. Whereas the prayer and the Communion should be the +ennobling and sanctifying power alike of work and play. + +Bearing this caution in mind, we shall to-day look at certain features +of the so-called secular life of the day in which discipline needs to be +strongly exercised. + +No doubt about it, the soul of the nation has been growing sick, sick +"nigh unto death." + +Luxury has been increasing with giant strides; the mad race for pleasure +has helped to empty our Churches, to rob our Charities, to diminish the +number of our Candidates for Holy Orders, to make countless ears deaf to +the call which the country, through that magnificent Christian soldier, +Lord Roberts, and many others, has been making to manhood of the land. +Week-ending, meals in restaurants, turning night into day, have robbed +home-life of its grace and power, and produced a generation of young +folk _blase_ and discontented before they are out of girlhood and +boyhood. + +With this has come, inevitably, the loss of sense of responsibility. So +long as I can enjoy myself and get my own way, why should I vex myself +with the outworn question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" No! That has gone +into the limbo of effete superstition. + +And further, loss of the sense of proportion. There are some to whom it +causes no moral shock to wear a dress costing a hundred guineas, while a +vast number of seamstresses, shirtmakers, artificial flower makers, +boot-closers, and the like, are working seventy hours for 5s. to 8s. a +week. One mantle-presser, in Dalston, receives 1/2_d._ per mantle; +she is most respectable, has four children, and earns from 5_s._ +6_d._ to 7_s._ a week! + +We do not grumble at the hundred guineas being spent upon the dress, or +a thousand guineas even, if the money went in due proportion all round +to supply the _full living wage to each one engaged in its production_: +and if the wearer interested herself keenly in social problems, and used +her means wisely and well to afford relief where it was needed. This, +alas! does not happen when the sense of proportion is lacking. + +Take another case--alas! a fearfully common one. Men and women will +gamble recklessly at Bridge, lose heavily, pay up, at whatever cost, +because it is _a debt of honour_. All the while a hard-pressed +tailor, a famished dressmaker and her children are kept out of their +money, because it is only _a debt of commerce_. Could there be a +more ghastly parody on the word honour? + +Yet once more--the lack of seriousness. By seriousness we do not mean +gloominess, nor withdrawal from society, or anything of the kind. We +mean the flippant attitude towards life, the lack of serious, sustained +interest in literature, in music, in art, in the legitimate drama; +witness the theatres being turned into cinema shows, and the terrible +paucity of sound, strong plays. Everything must be scrappy, light, and +if a little (or more than a little) risky, so much the better. + +We do not for a moment say that these evils are universal, God forbid, +but none can deny that they have eaten deep into a large part of +society, using the word in its broadest, not in its technical sense. + +The soul of the nation needed discipline, and it has come suddenly, +sharply, but, who shall dare to say, not mercifully? + +And even in its very coming it brought a tremendous opportunity, for we +were not compelled to make war, notice that! + +We had an option. The temptation was subtle. You have no concern with +Servia, throw over Belgium, let France take care of itself. + +For a time, probably a very short time, we should have avoided war and +its horrors. The bait was held out by some peddling politicians that we +should have stood in a magnificent position to obtain trade, to control +markets, to dictate prices to the rest of the world. Magnificent +prospect! We went to war, and, by a strange paradox, secured peace with +honour: peace of the national conscience. Had we forsaken Belgium we +could never again have held up our heads among civilised honourable +nations. Thus the very circumstances under which the War came about +formed an appeal to the soul of the nation as embodied in its +legislature; the Government rang true, and the nation, as one man, +endorsed its decision. + +And now the discipline has commenced. + +Who can be flippant and careless with our coast towns liable to +bombardment, and over a hundred lives already sacrificed in this little +island, which we have always deemed to be the one absolutely secure spot +in the whole world? Five months ago an earthquake in London would have +seemed a far more likely event than the bombardment of Hartlepool, +Scarborough, Whitby, and the dropping of shells on Yarmouth foreshore, +or of bombs at Dover and Southend. + +Who can be unconcerned when our ships are liable at any moment, and +apparently in almost any place, to be sent headlong to the bottom of the +sea by torpedoes or mines; possibly sometimes by those very mines we +have been compelled to lay, and which happen to have broken loose? + +This is one of the unavoidable hazards of war under modern conditions. +It does not make us ignore the magnificent work of our Fleet, nor +tremble for the ultimate issue. + +Who can be giddy and careless with darkened streets, trains, trams, all +telling of the awful possibilities of the new development of aerial +warfare? + +Who, even among those not directly touched by anxiety or bereavement, +can go on just as usual in luxury, self-indulgence, and ease amid the +crushing mass of suffering around them on all sides? + +Thank God that, though we may have erred very grievously through +softness of living, we are not a callous people, but we needed a strong, +stern discipline of the national soul; some stirring and trumpet-tongued +appeal to the national life, and in the righteous mercy of God it has +come. + +Some of the immediate effects are obvious; but what are the lasting +results to be? + +The _Guardian_, of a few weeks back, thus soundly comments upon the +matter:-- + + "It is true that the outbreak of war put a sudden end to much that + was thoughtless, stupid, and even base in contemporary life. 'Tango + teas' and afternoon Bridge among women have receded almost as far + into ancient history as dinners at Ranelagh or suppers at Cremorne. + But human nature is easily frightened into propriety by a crisis; + it is not so easy to maintain the new way of life when the fright + is safely over. The things that are amiss in our national life, and + above all that lack of seriousness which so many observers have + lamented during the last few years, can be amended only by a clear + conviction of the inherent unsoundness of our outlook, and a firm + determination to rebuild it upon new and more stable foundations." + + +The soul of the nation needs discipline, and that can only come through +the effort of the individual to discipline his own life. + +There is a ceaseless temptation to echo the cry of the disciples in +regard to the few loaves and fishes: "What are they among so many?" + +Of what value or power is my feeble little life among the teeming +millions that go to make up the nation? + +Put away the thought, for it is a direct temptation of the Devil. + +It was just when, in the very depths of his human despair, Elijah cried +out, "I, I only am left," that God revealed to him the seven thousand +men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. + +It was because Athanasius was content to stand _contra mundum_, +against the world, that the Catholic faith was preserved to the Church. + +Let us very seriously examine ourselves as to the use we are making of +our life with regard to other people. + +We have considered that life, in various details, in respect to +ourselves, and only incidentally as it affects others, but now let us +put away all thought of self. + +Take the one absolute standard of life as set in the text, "I came down +from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." + +The result was a life entirely devoted, from the first moment to the +last, to one stupendous cause: the lifting up of humanity to the very +throne of God. + +You and I cannot reach even a fraction of the way towards that perfect +standard; but it is our pattern, our plummet, our measuring-line. + +Very practically, then, we must ask ourselves such questions as these: + +What proportion of my time is spent for others? + +Have I any method of employing time or any stated hours that I give to +philanthropic or religious work; or do I just, in a casual way, let +other people have odd moments, when I happen to think of it? + +Similar questions should be asked as to money. Many people, especially +those who do not keep accounts (which everyone ought to do), would be +shocked if at the end of a year they could see the enormous +disproportion between the vast amount they have frittered away on self, +and the pitiful little doles they have handed out in the cause of +charity. + +One man, who kept three cars for private use, reduced an already paltry +allowance made to a dependent because the price of petrol had gone up! + +It is not that people cannot give; it is often only that they do not +think. Look at the vast sums being poured into the Relief Funds. Why has +not some proportion of it gone long ago to Hospitals obliged to close +their wards, Waifs and Strays Societies compelled to refuse poor little +outcasts? The money was there; it could have been spared then as well as +now, but it needed some great shock to wake its owners up to the sense +of proportion, the realisation of responsibilities. + +And so in regard to such gifts as music, painting, acting, mechanics, +stitchery; even such simple things as reading and writing. Have you ever +read a book to, or written a letter for, anyone else? We might multiply +these questions indefinitely, but enough has been said to enable us +seriously to take in hand the disciplining of the soul, remembering that +this life of ours is a precious loan entrusted to us by God the Father, +redeemed for us by God the Son, sanctified in us by God the Holy Ghost, +to be used by us, in due proportion, for our neighbours and ourselves. + +_For suggested meditations during the week, see Appendix_. + + + + +IV + +=The Discipline of the Spirit= + +THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT + +St. Luke vi. 12. + + "He continued all night in Prayer to God." + + +Last week we looked at the soul as that faculty of life which, to a +certain extent, we share with animals; to-day we pass on to consider, +under the title of spirit, the higher endowment by which man is enabled +to look up and, in the fullest exercise of his whole being, to say +"my God." + +A man without religion is undeveloped in regard to the highest part of +his complex nature. In attaining to self-consciousness, and the special +powers it brings, he has gone one step further than the animal, but +has utterly failed of his true purpose. The supreme object of the +self-consciousness, which reveals to him his personality, is that it +should disclose its own origin in the personality of God. + +One very striking effect of the War has been to produce a vast amount of +testimony to the fact that man is, broadly speaking, religious by +nature. + +The services in the places of worship all over the land have been +multiplied, intercession is becoming a felt reality, congregations have +grown. + +It is asserted, by those who have the best means of knowing, that by +far the majority of the letters from the front contain references to +religion, such as acknowledgments of God's providence, prayer for His +help, or requests for the prayers of others. Sometimes, in the strange +double-sidedness of human nature, accompanied by expletives obviously +profane. Mention is often made of the bowed heads, and the prayer, in +which both sides join, at the time of a joint burial during a temporary +truce. + +All these things show that the deeps of the fountains of natural +religion have been broken up in wondrous fashion. + +Our question to-day is: How shall we discipline that spirit which +enables us to realise religion as a fact? + +Let us try to get to the root of the matter. + +There are two chief derivations of the word religion. One comes from the +verb which means "to go through, or over again, in reading, speech, or +thought." Hence religion is the regular or constant habit of revering +the gods, and would be represented by the word devotion--an aspect most +important to bear in mind. + +The other derivation, and the more usual, derives religion from the idea +of binding together, and tells of communion between man and God. For us +Christians this thought finds its highest ideal and fulfilment in the +Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +The great characteristic action of religion is prayer; varying in its +methods and degrees from merely mechanical performances, like the +praying wheels of the Chinese up to the heart devotion of the Christian, +poured out when commemorating, in the Holy Communion, the death and +resurrection of His Lord. + +The first essential of any prayer which is to be of value in the +discipline of the spirit is regularity. No words can exaggerate the +importance of morning prayer. Yet, alas! tens of thousands of professing +Christians are content with evening prayer alone. The one who goes forth +in the morning prayerless is just as ill-equipped to do his duty, and +meet his temptations, as the foodless man is to perform physical work. + +The whole story of the saintly life, alike in the Old Testament, the New +Testament, and the Church, is that of diligence in prayer. It was to +promote that spirit that the Church of Christ, following on the lines of +the Jewish Church, from very early days adopted special hours for stated +devotions, with the daily offering of the Holy Eucharist linking the +whole system together. + +The lowest standard to aim at is private prayer morning and evening, +midday too if possible, and regular attendances at God's House on +Sundays and Feast Days. The guiding principle, to be kept ever in mind, +is not what my own inclinations suggest, but what the glory of God +demands. Were this always the case, what magnificent congregations there +would be. + +Prayer represents a real business of the spirit into which we put the +whole endowment of our being, intellect, memory, emotion, will. + +Oh! those wandering thoughts, how they do distress us; and just in +proportion as we wish to pray and are learning to pray, so we feel our +deficiencies the more keenly. + +A few moments before we commence our prayers spent in saying very +quietly, "Thou God seest me," or "In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Ghost," coupled with a simple yet earnest act of the +realisation of God's presence, will be of infinite use. + +The railway train coming into a station does not draw up with a jerk, +but gradually slows down. So with us; we cannot come out of our rushing +lives all in a moment into the quiet of God's presence; we need to slow +down. + +But much of the wandering in prayer is the direct result of the habit of +wandering in life. Flitting from one subject, one book, one occupation +to another; scrappy reading, talking, thinking; then, as a natural +consequence, scrappy praying. A great master of the spiritual life used +to say, "You will get far more help in your prayers by leading a more +useful life, than by making tremendous efforts after concentration when +you are actually at prayer." + +The one who tries to keep alive the habitual sense of God's presence +makes his whole life a prayer, of which the stated devotions only form a +natural part. It is comparatively easy for such a one to concentrate his +thought and to keep his attention fixed when engaged in his prayers. + +Just a word or two about books of devotion. They serve a most useful +purpose, especially in preparation and thanksgiving for Confession or +Communion, but should never be allowed to take the entire place of the +Christian's glorious privilege of pleading the "Abba Father," and +speaking to God in his own words, day by day. + +Be careful not to use prayers which are manifestly beyond your own +standpoint or out of harmony with your own feeling. The mere repetition +of phrases that do not represent your inner attitude towards truth only +tends to formality; the effort to force a kind of artificial conformity, +because you think you ought to feel this or that, invariably ends in +unreality. Given these cautions, devotional books may be of great use, +even for regular daily prayer, and often help to call back the thoughts +which are flying off at a tangent. + +To speak of discipline without touching upon Confession would be to omit +one of its most essential features. Nightly self-examination must be +performed, and that not perfunctorily, but with real intention of +repentance and strictness of living. Self-examination is nothing more +nor less than spiritual account-keeping; without it the man has no real +idea of how the business of his soul stands. + +When it reveals the fact that sin is making headway and the spirit +losing ground, then the wise teaching of the Prayer Book should be +followed; "the grief"--for such it ought to be--opened in Confession to +God, before one of God's ministers, and the benefit of absolution +secured. + +Much of the terrible prejudice felt against this practice arises from +the mistaken idea that the priest professes to forgive us our sins. The +words of the Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick, in our own Prayer +Book, put the matter on its true footing:--"Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who +hath left power to His Church to absolve, ... _forgive_ thee ... and +by His authority ... I _absolve_ thee." The source of all pardon and +the right to exercise it rest in God alone, but the message declaring +the fact is part of the "ministry of reconciliation," committed, in the +infinite condescension of God, to the "earthen vessels." An illustration +may be taken from the pardon of a criminal condemned to death; the Home +Secretary recommends it, but the King, on his sole authority, grants it, +and then the message, the _absolvo te_, which lets the man go free, +is delivered by the governor of the gaol. + +Penitents, especially after a first confession at some crisis in mature +life, often bear witness to the fact that it seemed to bring them +straight into the presence of Jesus Christ; to make them feel the +reality of His pardoning blood in a way they never could have believed +possible. How strange that the very thing which by so many pious and +thoroughly honest souls is dreaded because it is supposed to bring a man +in between God and the soul, should yet so often be used by the Holy +Spirit to give a wondrous and precious vision of Christ the Saviour. + +Thus far we have spoken only of that kind of occasional Confession which +is obviously contemplated by the Prayer Book; we have no time to dwell +on its habitual use. + +Suffice it to quote some words from the first English Prayer Book:-- + + "Requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general confession, not + to be offended with them that do use, to their further satisfying, + the auricular and secret confession to the priest; nor those which + think needful or convenient to open their sins to the priest to be + offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession + to God, and the general confession to the Church." + + +That staunch Evangelical Churchman, Bishop Thorold, who was strongly +opposed to habitual Confession in our Communion, once said, "We cannot +ignore the fact that the giants of old owed much of that saintliness, +which we of the present day can only wonder at but cannot reproduce, to +the practice of Confession." + +If you should be in doubt about it for yourself, consult some +spiritually-minded person who possesses experience in the matter. Not, +on the one hand, the man who will tell you that it is the greatest curse +the Church has ever known; nor, on the other, the one who would have it +practised by everybody. + +Surely for us sober Church folk there must be a loyal middle course, +which leaves absolute freedom, so long as the individual "follows and +keeps the rule of charity, and is satisfied with his own conscience." + +Last, but most important of all, in the discipline of the spirit comes +the Holy Communion, about which we shall speak next week. + +As our closing thought, let us go back to what we said just now. The +object of religion is God's glory, not man's enjoyment. See how this +puts feelings down into their right, and subordinate, place. They are +sometimes very delightful, sometimes very depressing, but always liable +to be misleading. A great saint of old used to say:--"If God never gave +me another moment of sensible devotion in prayer, I would go on praying, +because His glory demands it." + +Religion has to do with facts: the facts of what God the Father, God the +Son, and God the Holy Ghost have done, and are doing, for us; the facts +of what we have to do, to make the finished work of Christ our own. + +Here, as always, our Lord Himself gives us the highest illustration. +Neither as God, nor yet as perfect Man, was there an actual need for Him +to pray; yet His whole life was punctuated with prayer: first because +the glory of the Father required it, and next because His chosen +Apostles must be taught by example as well as precept. + +Let the same mind dwell in us. It is for the glory of God that I should +have salvation; therefore by the help of God I will discipline my +spirit. + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +V + +=Discipline through Obedience= + +FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT + +St. Luke xxii. 19 + + "This do in remembrance of Me." + + +Our subject of to-day flows quite naturally out of what we said last +week. Religion rests on facts, and its object is God's glory, not merely +our profit. Our duty, therefore, is an absolute submission to those +facts--in other words, implicit obedience. + +This is being illustrated on all sides in regard to the War. + +The facts are indisputable. Lord Selborne put the matter in a nutshell +when he said: "The task in front of us is colossal. We are fighting for +nothing less than our lives, in circumstances which make it the duty of +every Englishman to put everything in the world he possesses, everything +that he values, into the scale to ensure success, and I am sure there is +not one of us, whatever his position, who would flinch in the slightest +from the duty he owes to his country and to his deepest self." + +The response to the facts has been obedience, immediate and +unquestioning, on the part of a vast number. True, not all have yet been +reached who ought to come forward, and some are even now crying out for +that compulsory service which may yet prove inevitable. They forget that +the obedience of one free man is worth more than the forced submission +of many. Let us wait hopefully, energetically; losing no opportunity of +pressing the stern logic of facts wherever we may. + +And those who have joined the services have come at once under a +discipline totally different from that of the sternest school or the +strictest house of business. The surrender has been made voluntarily, +and it has placed the whole life in each detail under the claim of an +absolute obedience. + +The disposal of every moment of time belongs to the authorities. The +private in high social position must obey the orders of a young +lance-corporal just as exactly as he expected his own commands to be +carried out in his business or his household. + +Who can estimate the immense development of moral fibre that surely must +take place in succeeding generations from the fact that so vast a +number, in all ranks of society, are now under obedience? Not because +they were driven to it, but because they embraced it by an initial act +of obedience. + + --Thus they answered,--hoping, fearing, + Some in faith, and doubting some, + Till a trumpet-voice proclaiming, + Said, "My chosen people, come!" + Then the drum, + Lo! was dumb, + For the great heart of the nation throbbing, + Answered, "Lord we come."[2] + + +[Footnote 2: _The Reveille_, Bret Harte.] + +Let us apply this thought to the command in our text, "Do this in +remembrance of Me." The facts are undisputed. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in +the tenderness of His compassion, instituted an ordinance by which we +might remember Him and feed upon Him. + +Further than this we cannot go on the ground of universal consent. +Strangely enough, that rite which is the same in its central act, +whether celebrated by the nonconformist in his ordinary dress, or the +priest clad in costly vestments, whether in the humble room or the +stately cathedral, which is, on the one hand, the well-nigh universal +mark of all who profess and call themselves Christians, is yet the +battle-ground of fierce dispute and bitter disagreement. + +The present crisis is undoubtedly deepening in our minds the exceeding +value of this blessed gift of Christ to His Church. + +It is deeply suggestive of the spirit of our young officers that a group +of old public-school boys, just about to leave for the front, should +have begged their late schoolmaster--now a Bishop--to give them a +Celebration of Holy Communion in his own private Chapel on their last +Sunday in England. What a beautiful send-off! + +Then, turning to the scene of operations itself, we find a touching +witness in the simple record sent by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe to his +brother at Southampton. "We spent our Christmas Day waiting for the +Germans, who did not appear. But we managed to find time for church and +for three celebrations of Holy Communion, although the whole time we +were cleared for action and the men were at their guns." + +Who can contemplate unmoved that spectacle of the men, not gathered in +the peaceful security of the House of God, but out upon the ocean, +expecting attack, realising the possible nearness of the end, leaving +their guns but for the moment, then back again, strengthened for life or +death by the sacred Body and Blood. + +Or take the witness of Rev. E.R. Day, one of our Senior Army Chaplains +serving with the Expeditionary Force. While home on a few days' leave he +preached at Lichfield Cathedral, and, touching upon the efficacy of +prayer, testified how enormously it was valued by our soldiers now +serving at the front. The Holy Communion was especially appreciated. On +Christmas Day there were no fewer than seven hundred communicants from +one regiment and four hundred from another, and the service was held in +a ploughed field with a packing-case for an altar. He had conducted +these services sometimes in the back-parlour of a public-house, in a +stable, in a loft, in a lean-to shed, and in the open; anywhere, in +fact, where room could be found. Out on the battlefield there was hardly +any need for a compulsory parade service; the men had only to hear that +a service was to be held and they would crowd to it. + +Most of the reasons given by those who stop away from Communion centre +in self. + +"I am not worthy." Of course not, nor is the priest who celebrates, nor +is any member of the congregation. We sadly misread that caution of S. +Paul about receiving "unworthily." + +Let us take a homely illustration. Our good Queen Victoria was very fond +of visiting cottagers in the Highlands and reading the Scriptures to +them. You can imagine how one of them might say, "I am not worthy of +such an honour; this little place is so poor and mean." Quite true, yet +she could tidy up the home, mend her frock, make everything neat and +clean, so as to receive the Queen "worthily." Until you realise the +fact-- + + "I am not worthy, gracious Lord," + +you will never receive Him worthily. No one who examines himself, +confesses his sins, and firmly purposes to amend, ever yet came to +Communion unworthily. + +"I don't feel inclined to come." Because you have not realised in its +full meaning two facts: yourself as a great sinner, Christ as a great +Saviour. Feelings have nothing to do with duty. If they had, our army +would be about half the size it is. Do you suppose that all those who +are joining the Services like leaving home, wife, friends, comforts? +Feelings have been sacrificed to facts. + +"I'm too great a sinner." Then you are not fit to die. Repent, turn to +the Saviour, and then in His holy ordinance you will find the very +strength you need to keep you from falling back. + +"I have such terrible temptations." So we all have, priest and people +alike. Temptations are not sins; they are the enemies on the +battlefield, and if you never meet them, you--the Christian soldier +enlisted at your Baptism--will never have the chance of winning a +victory. The one who stays away from Communion because of temptations or +sins, which he is really trying to resist, is like the sick man who +looks at the bottle of medicine and says, "I will take it when I get +well." + +"So many communicants are hypocrites." That shows that you know enough +about the Christian life to be able to judge your fellow creatures. Are +you making things any better by neglecting your duty? + +"I have got an enemy." Have you honestly tried to be reconciled; are you +willing to forgive and bury the past? "Yes, but he is not." All the more +need then for you to come to the Communion and pray for his heart to be +changed. + +It was said of one great saint that some people might never have had the +blessing of his prayers for them but that they were his enemies. + +All these excuses centre in self. They could not do otherwise, for no +one has ever yet found in Christ any reason why they should stay away +from Him. + +Obedience forms so large a part of discipline--nay, is almost identical +with discipline--because it takes us out of self. + +Our Lord Who has bidden us "do this" knows exactly what is best for us. +In putting aside feelings, fancies, unworthy scruples, and casting +ourselves unreservedly upon His boundless mercy, we shall taste of the +treasures of His grace and be satisfied. + +One important part of the discipline of this obedience is making a +special and very careful preparation before, and thanksgiving after, +each Communion. + +Preparation which consists first of all of real self-examination and +repentance, using fearlessly the "ministry of reconciliation" when +necessary, and then of special prayers which help to put us into the +attitude of hopeful, grateful anticipation. + +Thanksgiving; definite prayers and praises, continued for a day or two, +unless we are very frequent communicants, so that we may lose none of +the preciousness of the blessing by our own forgetfulness or +ingratitude. + +In this, as we said last week, books can _help_, but that is all; +they cannot make the preparation or the thanksgiving for us. + +Early Communion, quite apart from the doctrinal question of fasting +reception, is a useful feature of the discipline of obedience. It is a +custom which comes from primitive times, and is universal in the greater +part of the Catholic Church. + +To give the early hours of the day to our Blessed Lord is surely more in +accordance with what His great love requires than to choose our own time +and come when it suits us best: that is when it requires less effort and +self-denial, and when our minds have been distracted by the cares of the +advancing day. + +The coming on of old age or sickness may necessarily debar us from the +privilege and joy of early Communion, but, while we can, let us make the +most of the blessed morning hours, when in all the freshness of our +newly awakened life we draw near to Him Who ceaselessly watches over us. + +The question is often asked: "How often ought I to receive the Holy +Communion?" The answer depends upon so large a number of considerations +that no general rules can possibly be given. Spiritual capacities vary +infinitely. + +One broad principle we can lay down: Do not receive so often that you +begin to neglect preparation and thanksgiving. Better by far six +Communions a year, which have meant real, living intercourse between +yourself and your Saviour, than a weekly one which has degenerated into +a perfunctory form. + +It is to be remembered that there is nothing to prevent your attending +the service whenever you wish, joining in the praises and prayers, even +though for some good reason you are not going to receive. + +But, whatever your custom may be, have a rule about your times of +receiving, and keep to it strictly. + +Aim at regularity for your own sake. One of the greatest causes of +many of the obscure modern complaints is the irregularity of meals, +consequent upon the exacting conditions of life. Precisely so, much +sickness of spirit springs from the careless way in which the chief +spiritual food is treated. People go to the Holy Communion when they +feel inclined, instead of according to a fixed rule, modifying the rule, +just as they would in the case of their meals, by circumstances which +may arise; spiritual sickness might dictate abstention from Communion +for a while, just as bodily disease might require a period of fasting. + +Be regular for others' sake. The consistent example of the communicant +who lets neither weather nor inclination interfere with duty exercises +an influence far wider than he could imagine possible. + +Be regular for Christ's sake, in grateful recognition of that tender +love which has given us the highest privilege of the Christian life. +Surely never is our Lord more satisfied in seeing of the travail of His +soul than when His faithful ones are gathered before His Holy Table, +worshipping Him in the tremendous reality of His spiritual presence, +feeding upon Him in the mystery of His Body and His Blood. + +Thus out of our obedience to the great "Do this" comes discipline of the +highest kind. That discipline which is ever putting self in the +background, ever exalting the person and the work of Christ. + +Then follows the reward, never attained by those who in self-interest +seek it, only poured forth upon such as are content to lose their life +in finding it, "He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +VI + +=The Discipline of Sorrow= + +FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT + +Revelations vii. 14 + + "These are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed + their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." + + +Two considerations only can throw any light on the dark mystery of +suffering, the problem which has baffled the intellect, the perplexity +which has torn the heart of mankind from the dawn of conscious life--"I +believe that Jesus Christ was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin +Mary, and was made man"; "I believe in the life of the world to come." + +The two thoughts blend in our text with a harmony of illumination which, +though it does not solve the problem, renders it less dark. + +Only in the light of another world, where the seed sown here shall bear +wondrous fruit, can we even begin to reconcile the existence of +suffering with the goodness of Almighty God. If there be no hereafter, +then indeed suffering must be the work of a vengeful tyrant rejoicing in +cruelty, or of a fatalistic machine grinding out its foreordained +consequences. + +What we require is some comprehensive plan which will knit together +past, present, future in one great purpose of progress towards ultimate +perfection, which will guarantee not only _an_ existence hereafter, +but will render that existence personal, conscious, capable of the +highest development. + +We find this in the Incarnation, the eternal purpose of God the Father, +formed in the eternity of _the past_, that His Son should take our +human flesh. + +This plan is working itself out in _the present_ by the power of +God the Holy Ghost, through the life of the great Church of Christ, +militant and expectant. + +It stretches forth into the future, with regard to which we have +parables, promises, visions, warnings, all pointing to a continuously +progressive growth till the perfect manifestation of the Kingdom of +Christ be reached. + +Thus the Incarnation supplies the unifying principle, and in its light +we catch some ray of hope on the dark problem of suffering. + +In consequence of sin our Lord was a sufferer, even in some mysterious +sense was "made perfect through suffering" (Heb. ii. 10). + +The climax came in the "full, perfect, and complete sacrifice, oblation, +and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world" made upon the Cross. + +It is suggestive that these words should occur in the Consecration +Prayer of the Holy Communion Service, as if to remind us that our true +spiritual and commemorative sacrifice draws all its validity, power, and +preciousness from the one offering of Christ made by Himself in His +death. + +Thus we see that most essential act for our salvation was not one of +victory, triumph, or glory, as the world reckons these things. Oh, no! +It was one of absolute self-surrender, involving untold anguish of soul +and body. The results of the sufferings of our Lord have justified their +tremendous cost. + +Its efficacy consisted not in the physical pains, but in the entire +yielding up of the will. Thus it represents for us that victory over +self which is the only path to eternal life. + +But this victory, even now in these emphatically feather-bed days, is +always more or less painful. In the early times it meant persecution, +poverty, isolation, death, for the sake of Jesus Christ. + +It is always so; the greatest deeds the world has ever known, +nationally, or individually, have been wrought out by suffering; because +suffering, more than any other agent, deepens character. + +Look around among your friends and acquaintances. Who are the morally +strongest? To whom do you turn in your times of difficulty, doubt, +trouble? Not to those whose lives have been easy, to whom the lines have +fallen in pleasant places, to whom success has come without effort! No! +You turn to the one who has fought his way through the doubt, the +difficulty, the trouble, and you find a tower of strength. There is the +secret of Charles Kingsley's power as a counsellor; once he did not +believe that there was a God; he went through the agonies of doubt. + +There is the secret of the wondrous force of Archbishop Temple. Rough, +rugged, almost discourteous at times; hating shams and penetrating +them with an unerring instinct, but tenderness itself to the really +distressed. He knew what it was as a lad to do field labour in poor +clothes and with insufficient food. In later years, when up at College, +he was wont to study by the light in the passage, because he could not +afford oil for his own lamp. + +Yet another illustration, showing the directly spiritual influence +of suffering--those countless cases of bed-ridden invalids, often in +intense pain, who develop an intense, fervent, yet restful piety, seldom +attained even by the most devout in active life. + +Those who have had experience in missions or dealing with individual +souls know how constantly suffering--especially in middle life--lays the +foundations of conversion. Ay, and lays them strong and deep. The soul +in trouble feels its need of God, turns to Him, and then gets to know +the fulness of His mercy, even in and through the affliction. + +And now, how stands it in regard to the War? We need not repeat in +detail those various points on which we have already dwelt. Spite of +all the ghastly sufferings the War is bringing in its train, nay, in a +sense, because of them, it has linked together the Empire in the closest +bonds, allayed political and polemical strife, evoked a wealth of +heroism, self-sacrifice, prayer, and benevolence, and braced up the +moral fibre of countless lives. + +Yet all this does not explain the existence of suffering, the why and +the wherefore still lie hidden in that region of the infinite which we, +finite beings, cannot penetrate. We can see, from its results, that +suffering is no more incompatible with the eternal love of God, than the +surgeon's knife is inconsistent with the tenderness of his heart. "Whom +the Lord loveth He chasteneth," "God dealeth with you as with sons" +(Heb. xii., 6, etc.). Our great mistake is to look upon trouble as +punishment, inflicted by an angry God, and to rebel under the chastening +hand. When God sees that His child, whether the nation or the +individual, needs discipline He sends it, and there is no more lack of +love than there is on the part of the wise earthly parent, when he +corrects his child and makes him suffer pain. Nay, it is the very love +that prompts the discipline. + +Once more, let us look at suffering in its power of producing sympathy. + +The Incarnation was the greatest act of sympathy the world has ever +known. The Word made flesh, our Saviour born as a babe, that He might +enter into all the experiences of our human nature; that He might not +simply feel _for_ us, but feel _with_ us. + +Here is the essence of the word; take it in Latin, compassion; take it +in Greek, sympathy--alike it means feeling with. And in the wondrous +mystery of the Church, the spiritual body of Christ, the same great +principle is still working itself out. + +Very strange, very mysterious, yet real with the essence of reality, is +the connection between the suffering Christ and the suffering Church, +"inasmuch as ye have ministered to one of the least of these My +brethren, ye have done it unto Me." And yet it is the Christ Who helps +and sustains us from on high. The same Christ Who was here upon earth, +suffering in His martyr Stephen was yet standing at the Father's right +hand to succour him. + +The same Christ Who flashed the wondrous vision of Himself on the eyes +of S. Paul, was yet so intimately present in and with His infant Church +that he "thundered" forth the question, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest +thou Me?" + +It is just this thought of Christ still present in the person of His +suffering children, that gives the glow of enthusiasm to philanthropic +work of a definitely Christian character. But may we not go a step +further and try to see Christ, in a measure, in all suffering, even that +of the animals? He came to redeem the world, and we in our little view +are apt to narrow down the purposes, and limit the possibilities within +very contracted lines. + +The War is opening up to us opportunities boundless in their character +and scope. Probably to-day tens of thousands who have hitherto spent +aimless lives; whose time, means, gifts have gone in the shallow channel +of self, now know something at least of the joy of launching out on to +the broad stream of living, loving sympathy. This has been because, +though in some instances unconsciously to themselves, Christ, in the +power of His Holy Spirit, has touched their lives. + +If anguish has come to our hearts let it work its discipline upon us in +and through Christ, by the opening out of ourselves to Him, that we may +take in the full measure of His priceless sympathy. Let us try to lose +ourselves in ministering to others, one of the surest anodynes for grief +and pain. + +But if we have, as yet, passed unscathed, let us be all the more +diligent, tender, and loving in our care for others. + +There is no need to go into details. Wherever your lot be cast you have +only just to look around and you will find there are individuals, wives +at home, soldiers at the front, whose lot you can brighten in very +simple yet very real ways; perhaps institutions, such as Red Cross +Homes, Hospitals, Belgian Hostels, to which you can render practical +service; Funds to which you can send your money; all these are means +through which you may enter into the glorious discipline of opportunity +that comes through suffering. + +Have you ever thought how infinitely poorer the world would be in all +that is highest and purest in its life, were there no suffering to call +forth the tender ministry of sympathy? + +And now let us summarise what we have been saying. Suffering is a +great mystery, but two facts throw light upon it--the hereafter, the +Incarnation; suffering does discipline character, therefore, judging by +results, it is not incompatible with the love of God, even though its +existence be still a problem; suffering presents us with the splendid +possibility of sympathy, to be exercised in the power of the loving +Christ. + +Can we close better than with the thought of the saints in Paradise? + +On earth they lived in the always realised consciousness of a personal +Christ. When the Apostles were persecuted and beaten, they departed from +the Council "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for +His name." So it has been all down the long story of the ages. And the +saints are those "who have washed their robes and made them white in the +blood of the Lamb"; their sufferings sanctified by, and borne in, the +power of Him Who was made perfect by the things which He endured. Their +"light affliction, which was but for a moment, has worked out for them +the exceeding abundant and eternal weight of glory." + +Thus the Incarnation, the eternal counsel of the past, that embraced +them while they were on earth, is still enfolding them, while they, +with us, wait and pray for its final consummation, in the coming of +the Kingdom. + +Let us so use our opportunities for discipline now, that the uplifting +of character shall be permanent; not a mere spasm of passing enthusiasm, +but a real growth into the character and likeness of Him Who suffered +death upon the Cross, that all might live unto Him. + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +VII + +=Discipline through Bereavement= + +SIXTH SUNDAY IN LENT + +1 Thess. iv. 13 + + "We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall + asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope." + + +Of all kinds of sorrow, bereavement is in some senses the sternest, +the most irrevocable, and the one in which human compassion is of +least avail. + +All that we said last week on the discipline of suffering applies here, +but with enhanced force. If suffering generally cannot be rationally +contemplated outside of the doctrine of a future existence, still less +can death be tolerated unless it lead to further life. If sorrow in the +bulk needs the Incarnation to throw upon it the light of God's love, +still more does this particular grief require the assurance that the +finished work of Christ operates within, as well as without, the vail. + +Broadly speaking, all over the world there are torn and bleeding hearts +mourning the nearest, the dearest; in the vast majority of instances, +from the circumstances of the case, men in the beginning or the very +prime of life. + +The heroism of the women has been as magnificent as that of the +men--nay, in a sense, more so. For those who go forth there is the +novelty, the excitement, the nerving sense of duty. Their time is so +ceaselessly occupied that but little space remains for brooding or for +anxious thought, on behalf of themselves or those at home. The men who +remain behind, the fathers, brothers, friends, have the priceless boon +of daily occupation, often vastly increased in amount. There is no such +infallible anodyne of care as plenty of honest work. + +But the women--theirs is the harder task, the fiercer trial, of keeping +up the brave appearance, the show of cheerfulness, whilst all the time +the load of apprehension and fear lies heavy on their hearts. None will +ever know the crushing reality of the offering the women are making to +their country, in one great stream of self-sacrifice. + +Nor can we forecast the end, nor estimate the claims that are yet to be +made in the cause of patriotism. The nations engaged, at least the chief +of them, are fixed irrevocably in their determination that peace, when +it comes, shall be no temporary patching up of hostilities and arranging +of indemnities, but a solid, lasting settlement, which shall, as far as +possible, place another vast European war out of the range of practical +politics. + +To tens of thousands there has come the ceaseless yearning for + + The touch of a vanished hand, + The sound of a voice that is still. + + +Now notice how S. Paul deals with the matter. "That ye sorrow not as +others which have no hope." There is no injunction here not to sorrow +at all; that would be contrary to human nature, and would bespeak +callousness rather than resignation. Our Blessed Lord wept at the grave +of Lazarus, and in so doing sanctified human grief. The keenest faith, +to which the other world is an absolute reality; the fullest hope of the +sure and certain resurrection for the dear one; the most disciplined and +submissive will which accepts unquestioningly the dispensations of the +Father; all these are not proof against the natural grief at the removal +of a loved one from this sphere of tender intimacies, into another, +where we can only commune with him in thought and prayer. + +How often this is illustrated at the death of a chronic invalid who has +suffered much. With tears streaming down the cheeks, the mourner will +say, "I am so thankful he is at rest." No selfish, rebellious side of +grief is exhibited by those tears; only human sorrow, blending in loving +harmony with perfect resignation. + +Now notice carefully the ground on which S. Paul bases the Christian's +hope for the departed; first, faith in the death and resurrection of +Christ; "if we believe that Jesus died and rose again." It is a mere +platitude to say that the whole of S. Paul's teaching is founded on the +actuality of the resurrection. "If Christ hath not been raised, your +faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen +asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in +Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 17). Then out of +this fact of the resurrection flows a consequence: the dead, as we call +them, "sleep in Jesus," and will be His immediate companions at the last +day. We cannot enter into a discussion as to the exact conditions of +what is called "Hades" or the "intermediate state"; suffice it to say +that one great feature of it is nearness to Jesus, "having a desire to +depart and be with Christ" (Phil. i. 23); "absent from the body, present +with the Lord" (2 Cor. v. 8). Herein consists the blessed hope set +before us in regard to the faithful departed; the crucified, risen, +ascended Jesus has them in His keeping; we and they alike are parts of +the one great Church, knit into the "Communion of Saints" by the mystic +bond of the sacred bread, linked each to the other by mutual prayer; +they for us and we for them. + +Very beautifully and tenderly does the Archbishop of Canterbury deal +with this thought in one of his late sermons:-- + + "As with bowed head and quivering lip we commend their souls into + the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Saviour we feel + how the very passing of those brave and buoyant lives into the + world beyond pierces the flimsy barrier between the things which + are seen and temporal and the things which are unseen and eternal, + and again we can and do give thanks. God is not the God of the dead, + but of the living:-- + + + "Nor dare to sorrow with increase of grief + When they who go before + Go furnished, or because their span was brief. + For doubt not but that in the worlds above + There must be other offices of love, + That other tasks and ministries there are, + Since it is promised that His servants there + Shall serve him still. Therefore be strong, be strong, + Ye that remain, nor fruitlessly revolve, + Darkling, the riddles which ye cannot solve, + But do the works that unto you belong." + + +Here is the magnificent prospect of hope for those who mourn: that +the Incarnation of our Lord is still working itself out in all its +beneficent purposes. By the power of the Holy Ghost, in the Church +expectant as in the Church militant, the answer to the constant prayer, +"Thy Kingdom come," is being ceaselessly given; and the fulness thereof +will be realised in the Church triumphant. The saints on earth and those +in Paradise are equally in the hands of the Lord, though the latter have +clearer vision and nearer sense of the fact than the former. By some +this is used as an argument against the practice of prayer for the +departed, but surely this thought of the unity of the whole body leads +in exactly the opposite direction. No argument can be adduced against +this most ancient and primitive custom, observed by the Jews long before +the coming of Christ, but what equally applies to any petition for an +absent friend still on earth. In each case they are in the keeping of +Him Who knows best and will do right, yet for those still here we pray, +believing that in His own way God will take account of our prayers and +knit them up into His own dealings, so that they become part of His +eternal purposes. When commending the departed to Him, naturally our +words will be chastened and restrained because we know somewhat less of +the conditions of the "intermediate state" than we do of those of our +own dispensation. Somewhat less; for how little do we really understand +of the circumstances around us now in all their bearings as they lie +open beneath the eye of God. Therefore it is that whenever we pray we +must ask in full submission to our own limitations and in the spirit of +the Master, "Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done." + +Thank God this matter is not one of argument; no, it lies in another +plane: the innate feeling of one who really knows what prayer means and +who has grasped in some degree the doctrine of the "Communion of +Saints." + +A pious evangelical, well fortified with arguments against prayer for +the departed, had been nursing her sick sister and taking care of the +little daughter of the house. The sister died, and the same evening +the motherless girl knelt down at her aunt's side to say her prayers. +"Auntie, may I say God bless dear mother?" The whole drift of the aunt's +training and theology would have led her to say "No" point blank. There +was no time for argument or explanation, for facing the inevitable "If +not, why not?" The instincts of natural religion prevailed; the aunt +replied, "Yes, dear"; and from that day onward never failed herself to +say, when remembering her dear ones, "God bless my sister." + +Whatever the effect of such prayers in the other world, there is no +shade of doubt that to the bereaved they bring an infinite sense of +nearness to their beloved, and of the reality of the life of the world +to come. + +Thus far we have been speaking of those who may fairly be called the +faithful departed, the cases in which hope may be reasonable and assured +almost to certainty. + +Now let us go a step further. The mind staggers as it contemplates the +tens of thousands being hurried into eternity who, either according to +the teaching of the Catholic Church or the notions of popular theology, +would be deemed unprepared. + +We trust, in a dim sort of way, that the all-embracing mercy of God +will accept their sacrifice of themselves for their country, and in +some fashion place it to the credit side of their account. No doubt +He will. But can we not get a more evangelical, and at the same time +more catholic, view of the matter? We find it in an extension of our +conception of the possibilities of the intermediate state, the condition +of souls between death and judgment. Evangelical to the backbone, +because it is the work of Christ which we conceive of as being there +carried on. Catholic, because the Church from very early times has +recognised the idea of the discipline of souls as being a process +continued after death. The authority of S. Paul has been appealed to on +account of his words to the Philippians (i. 6), "being confident of this +very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until +the day of Jesus Christ"; and to the Corinthians in that mysterious +passage concerning "the fire which shall try every man's work" (1 Cor. +iii. 13). The doctrine was developed and materialised till it resulted +in those corruptions which were so largely responsible for the +Reformation. In their zeal to root out error, the Reformers fell into +the opposite extreme and abolished the idea of the intermediate state +altogether. Hence arose the popular notion, unknown to the Catholic +Church till then, of Heaven or Hell as the immediate issue of death. + +Of course, the Church's teaching had regard to the condition of its own +members after death, and we cannot press it into an argument as to those +not dying, technically, in a state of grace; but at least this much we +may say: Surely no intelligent person can contemplate the thought of +these vast hosts being hurried off into eternal perdition, and at the +same time retain his reason or his faith in a God of love. Whatever the +possibilities of the world to come, they are but the extension of the +boundless love of God in Christ, and hold out no promise for us if we +wilfully neglect our day of grace. + +But now to pass on to one further source of consolation which comes +in its measure to all the bereaved alike; the chastened joy from the +thought of the splendid sacrifice the dear one has been privileged +to make. + +Take an illustration--a letter from Major-General Allenby to Lady de +Crespigny on the death of her son:-- + + + "Dear Lady de Crespigny,--I and the whole of the Cavalry + Division sympathise with you, and we feel deeply for Norman's loss. + But I must tell you that he died a hero's death. The brigade was hotly + engaged, and on the Bays fell the brunt of the fighting on September + 1st. Norman, with a few men, was holding an important tactical point, + and he held it till every man was killed or wounded. No man could have + done more, few would have done so much. + + "With deepest sympathy, yours sincerely, + + "E.H.H. Allenby." + + +How the bereaved hearts in the midst of crushing grief must have lit up +with gladness at such a record as that! + +But to close. The discipline of bereavement consists essentially in the +trial of faith, yet at the same time brings with it the power of faith. +In bereavement, above all other forms of sorrow, comes the felt need of +God; it has been so with countless souls. The answer to the need is the +revelation that God makes of Himself in Christ; then comes the peace of +God, which passeth all understanding, which dries the tears and heals +the broken heart. + +_Note_.--The question of prayer in connection with God's foreknowledge +is so admirably treated in "Some Elements of Religion" (Liddon) that we +append an extract:-- + + + "What if prayers and actions, to us at the moment perfectly spontaneous, + are eternally foreseen and included within the all-embracing + Predestination of God, as factors and causes, working out that final + result which, beyond all dispute, is the product of His Good Pleasure? + + "Whether I open my mouth or lift my hand is, before my doing it, + strictly within the jurisdiction and power of my personal will: but + however I may decide, my decision, so absolutely free to me, will have + been already incorporated by the All-seeing, All-controlling Being as an + integral part, however insignificant, of His one all-embracing purpose, + leading on to effects and causes beyond itself. Prayer, too, is only a + foreseen action of man which, together with its results, is embraced in + the eternal Predestination of God. To us this or that blessing may be + strictly contingent on our praying for it; but our prayer is + nevertheless so far from necessarily introducing change into the purpose + of the Unchangeable, that it has been all along taken, so to speak, into + account by Him. If, then, with 'the Father of Lights' there is in this + sense 'no variableness, neither shadow of turning,' it is not therefore + irrational to pray for specific blessings, as we do in the Litany, + because God works out His plans not merely in us but by us; and we may + dare to say that that which is to us a free self-determination, may be + not other than a foreseen element of His work." + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +VIII + +=Discipline through Self-sacrifice= + +GOOD FRIDAY + +1 Tim. ii. 6 + + "Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all." + + +To-day we reach the solemn climax which embraces in itself the whole +idea of discipline under each of those aspects upon which we have +touched. Will, body, soul, spirit, obedience, suffering, death, all +summed up in the tremendous self-sacrifice declared by the Cross of +Christ. + +The principle of sacrifice is one of those deep mysteries which seem, +as it were, to be rooted in the very nature of our being. It begins +in the initial fact by which man's existence is maintained upon +earth--motherhood, a vast vicarious sacrifice. Yet borne with gratitude, +readiness, ay, even with joy because of the dignity, the love, the +delights it brings with it. One of the surest signs of the decadence +of a nation is when its women, through desire of merely living for +themselves, begin to rebel against the high privilege of motherhood, or +to neglect the duties it should entail. This attitude of mind poisons +life at its fountain-head. + +Time would fail us, nor indeed would it be profitable, to enter upon a +discussion as to the exact theological bearing of the death of Christ +upon the forgiveness of sins. This is a matter which may rightly occupy +the attention of theologians and scholars who endeavour, so far as +infinite verities can be expressed in finite language, to give a reason +for the hope that is in them. Such books as Liddon's Bampton Lectures, +Dale on the Atonement, or Illingworth on Personality, will be found most +valuable by those who have the time and the capacity for studying them. +It is a good thing, especially in these days, that the intellect of the +Christian should be well-equipped, so that he may silence the taunts of +those who say Christianity is purely a matter of emotion. + +The personal acceptance of Christ as a personal Saviour rests, not so +much on arguments, as on a sense of need; when this is accompanied by +strong intellectual grip of truth then the influence of the Christian +upon others becomes a great missionary factor. The beauty of the Gospel +story lies in its wonderful adaptability. It is the same in its power to +a Pascal, a Butler, a Liddon, as it is to the unlettered peasant, who +can neither read nor write. + +Scripture declares quite plainly that the death of Christ was "for us"; +how far this may be pressed to mean "instead of us" is a very grave +question. The words will bear that interpretation, no doubt, but we must +remember that they do not necessarily involve any more than "in our +behalf," that is, for our benefit. + +It has been the forcing of the words into an unnatural and immoral +theory of substitution, the notion of an angry God claiming a victim, +that has done such terrible harm to the cause of Christianity, and has +led many thoughtful minds to give it up in disgust or despair. Probably +in a wise commingling of the two lines of thought we shall arrive most +nearly at the truth. We all agree that our Blessed Lord's death was "in +behalf of us"; that is for our everlasting welfare; in a very real sense +this was "instead of us," since His sufferings were endured so that we +might not lose the blessing of salvation. + +Very beautifully is the matter summed up by a modern writer: "In the +death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Sacrifice and Propitiation for the +sins of the world, the moral perfections of God find their highest +expression, and the deepest necessities of man's moral and spiritual +life their only complete satisfaction."[3] + +[Footnote 3: Dale on the Atonement.] + +The death of Christ was not only typically but, in a certain sense, +actually the offering up of our bodies on the Cross. Notice very +carefully the words of St. Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ" +(Gal. ii., 20 R.V.). Not simply, as in the old Authorised Version, +"I am crucified with Christ," but something much more definite and exact. +When Christ ascended the Cross He took up with Him our human nature +collectively, as bound up in Himself by virtue of His Incarnation. Hence +it follows that you, the individual, have been crucified with Him; just +as you, the individual, have been buried with Him, and raised with Him +in your Baptism (Rom. vi., 4). How completely this takes the sting out +of the reproach brought against Christianity, on the ground of the +immorality of the Crucifixion! It is no longer the Innocent one +suffering instead of the guilty, but it is the sinless One taking upon +Himself human nature, with all its guilt and consequent punishment, and +"in His own body on the tree," offering that human nature up to God. He +in us, we in Him, that the redemption of human nature may be complete. +Canon Liddon thus puts it in one of his University sermons, "The +substitution of the suffering Christ arose directly out of the terms of +the Incarnation. The human nature which our Lord assumed was none other +than the very nature of the sinner, only without its sin. Therefore He +becomes the Redeemer of our several persons, because He is already the +Redeemer of this our common nature, which He has made for ever His own." + +We have already noticed that it was not the sufferings of Christ which +were acceptable to God the Father. To think this would be to fall back +into the very crudest and most repulsive idea of substitution. No, it +was the offering up of the will of Christ that formed the essence of the +sacrifice. If we may presume to attempt a mere earthly illustration of +so tremendous a matter, let us take the case of a General whose son +meets with a terrible death while leading a forlorn hope. The father's +heart is torn with anguish both for the death and the circumstances of +it; but at the same time the father's heart swells with pride, ay, even +with joy, that his son should have been true to the highest thing in the +world--duty. + +He Who said, "I come not to do mine own will but the will of Him that +sent Me," also said, "I lay My life down of Myself, no man taketh it +from Me." Herein is the discipline of sacrifice complete by the using +of one's own will to surrender it absolutely to the will of another. + +We have spoken so fully of the surrenders of will being made on all +sides that we need say no more now on that point, but for further +illustration let us turn our thoughts in a somewhat fresh direction. + +The example of Belgium is a living witness of the power of +self-sacrifice. + +G.K. Chesterton has put forth a striking pamphlet entitled "The +Martyrdom of Belgium"; in it he says: + + "There are certain quite unique and arresting features about the case + of Belgium. To begin with, it cannot be too much considered what a + daring stroke of statesmanship--far-sighted, perhaps, but of frightful + courage--the King of the Belgians ventured in resisting at all. Of + that statesmanship we had the whole advantage, and Belgium the whole + disadvantage: she saved France, she saved England--herself she could + not save." + + +Had Belgium yielded instead of standing out, then, humanly speaking, +nothing could have averted the immediate success of the German dash +for Paris. + +Now think for one moment of the solemn obligation this lays upon us in +regard to that gallant, struggling, yet temporarily dismembered little +nation. We must look after the refugees. There are those who say, "The +Government have brought the Belgians over here, let the Government make +their support a State matter." + +One almost blushes to have to deal with such a sentiment. Could +1_s._ in the L income-tax take the place, morally, spiritually, or +ethically, of the rich profusion of voluntary aid now being poured +forth? The loss to the nation, of that which is purest and noblest in +its life, would be simply unspeakable. It is suffering that provides +opportunity for the exercise of the highest duty known to man, "Bear ye +one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ." Try to picture +to yourself, quietly yet resolutely, what it would mean to you to-morrow +morning, to find suddenly that you had to leave your house, not in a +motor-car for a railway train; no! but to turn out at once, without time +to put together any belongings; to tramp, perhaps in pouring rain, along +miles of road, foodless, cold, exhausted; seeing those around you +dropping out to faint or die by the wayside; not knowing where or how +the journey should end. This is what has happened to tens of thousands +of Belgians; many, cultured and refined, coming forth penniless from +homes of comfort and plenty! + +In ministering to the needs of the Belgians you find a glorious +privilege, a priceless opportunity. Again, to quote G.K. Chesterton: + + "In a sense Belgium could still have saved her face; but she preferred + to save Europe. This, it seems to me, gives her a claim on something + beyond pity or even gratitude--a claim on our intellectual honour beyond + anything that even suffering could extort." + + +Our Lent is nearly over. With all its opportunities, its calls, +its privileges, it is now behind us. Some perhaps began it with high +resolves and brave hopes, and are disappointed at the apparently small +results. None, we trust, are wholly satisfied with themselves, for that +would point to a condition far worse than despair. There is such a thing +as divine discontent, and every true Christian should know something of +it. For all the conscious failures ask pardon, but do not give up +striving. + +Standing under the Cross of Christ, as we do to-day, we have a standard +for the measuring of ourselves which makes our little efforts at +discipline look very poor indeed. Yet He remembers our frame, He knows +whereof we are made; He can and will accept the feeblest struggles of +our will towards His. Perhaps some progress in the life of grace may +have been made, then thank Him and take courage. + +Let us just cast our minds back. The discipline of the will means, +laying ourselves open to listen to the voice of the living God. The +discipline of the body means, never letting it get the upper hand of the +real self. The discipline of the soul means the taking a very serious +view of the responsibility of life. The discipline of the spirit means, +a close approach to God by every channel of worship. The discipline of +obedience means, that we put self in the background, so that we may +exalt the person of Christ. The discipline of sorrow means, that Christ +is still present in His suffering ones, and there is our opportunity. +The discipline of bereavement means, the trial of our faith that it may +enter into the realities of the spiritual kingdom. + +Then comes the crown and climax, the discipline of self-sacrifice. +Place steadily before you the thought of Christ crucified, see there the +culmination of all possibility of the offering up of self for others. +No element of completeness was wanting. The sacrifice was voluntary, +was made for enemies, brought no return to self. + +Strong in His strength go forth ready to spend and be spent, if only by +the discipline of self-sacrifice you can lighten the load borne by any +one of your fellow-creatures. + + + What hast Thou done for me, O + Mighty Friend, + Who lovest to the end? + Reveal Thyself that I may now behold + Thy love unknown, untold, + Bearing the curse and made a curse for me + That blessed and made a blessing I might be. + + Wounded for my transgressions, stricken sore, + That I might sin no more, + Weak, that I might be always strong in Thee: + Bound, that I might be free; + Acquaint with grief that I might only know + Fulness of joy, in everlasting flow. + + + * * * * * + +_For suggested Meditations during the week see Appendix._ + + + + +IX + +=Discipline through Victory= + +EASTER DAY + +Romans vi. 9 + + "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more." + + +To couple the word discipline with victory may seem incongruous almost +to the point of impossibility. Yet, if we look below the surface, we +shall see that never is the connection more strong and the need for +realising it more urgent. + +Lent is over, its special discipline has passed, and now the danger +begins. The danger is lest any progress made, any victory won, should +lead to that self-confidence which can only end in disaster. Success is +often a discipline far more fatal in its results than failure. + +We celebrate to-day the grandest victory the world has ever known: a +victory which sprang out of the depths of an apparently complete defeat. +"We trusted that it was He which should have redeemed Israel." Vain +confidence, for how could One Who had died as a malefactor, Who could +not save Himself, rescue His nation from the tyranny of the Roman power? +And then He, this stranger Whom they knew not, opened to them the +Scriptures; showed them the necessity of the sufferings, and the great +climax, in the Resurrection. The ears were dull, the hearts unconvinced, +as they generally are by mere argument, till he revealed Himself in "the +breaking of bread." The eyes of love could not be deceived and sorrow +gave place to joy. + +Some dispute has arisen as to whether we ought to pray for victory in +this War. The matter is well put by an anonymous writer: "If we are only +to pray in matters wherein there is no difference of opinion our prayers +will be few, and if we cannot pray for the triumph of honour over +falsehood, of respect for treaties over unscrupulousness, of order +over cruelty and outrage, for what are we ever to pray? We must pray +according to the light we have. And if we end our prayers with the truly +Christian supplement 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt,' +we cannot be doing anything contrary to the principles of the highest +religion. Surely prayer is, or should be, merely the expression of our +best hopes and wishes submitted to a Divine tribunal." + +Putting aside the question of prayer, let us consider for a moment what +should be our attitude as we look into the future. First and foremost +one of confidence and hopefulness. Without arrogance we can say that we +believe firmly and strongly in the absolute righteousness of our cause. +In violating the neutrality of Belgium, Germany itself confesses that +a wrong was done. A wrong which necessity compelled, as they say. What +necessity? That of getting to Paris at the earliest possible moment. And +so when Germany prays for victory, as of course it does, and ought, at +the same time it has to confess to an initial wrong, which was certainly +not made right by the fact that it was the quickest way of accomplishing +an end. + +We have purposely abstained in these Addresses from fanning flames, or +appealing to passions. But here is a broad ground upon which, by the +very confession of our enemies, we stand on a higher platform. We went +to war because we would not break a treaty, nor forsake a friend too +weak for self-defence; Germany commenced the war by a treacherous act. +Therefore, strong in the belief that the God of righteousness will cause +the right to triumph, we can calmly look forward to ultimate victory, + + To doubt would be disloyalty, + To falter would be sin. + + +Much more might be said in the same direction, but let the broad thought +suffice. + +The war has produced a type of pessimism which, in some instances, runs +almost to disturbance of mental balance. Every reverse is exaggerated, +and accepted with a kind of confident despondency; every success +discounted and treated with half-hearted incredulity: "The Germans have +destroyed another ship; what is our Navy doing?" "Oh, but that's only +one little hill; the Germans will have it back soon enough." Surely +this kind of pessimism, except where the victim of it is not really +responsible, must be as offensive to God as it is exasperating to man. + +But now to turn to our chief thought for the day, that is, the +permanence of the victory of Easter Day, "Christ dieth no more." That +is why He is called "The first fruits of them that are asleep." Several +resurrections are recorded both in the Old and New Testaments, but these +are cases of those who were raised by others, and then died again. +Christ raised Himself and death hath no more dominion over Him. The +resurrection is permanent and keeps on perpetuating and extending itself +in the life of the whole universal Church. It was not an isolated act, +but part of a wondrous plan. Not only does it possess doctrinal +significance in that plan, but vital force for the carrying of it out. +"He died for our sins," but "He was raised for our justification." + + Yes, death's last hope, his strongest fort and prison, + Is shattered, never to be built again; + And He, the mighty Captive, He is risen, + Leaving behind the gate, the bar, the chain. + + +We are praying constantly, earnestly, that we "may be brought through +strife to a lasting peace"; and that "the nations of the world may be +united in a firmer fellowship for the promotion of Thy glory and the +good of all mankind." No conditions of peace are worth accepting unless +they will, humanly speaking, secure this result. Germany on the one +side, and the Allies on the other, both realise that this is a "fight to +a finish." Singularly enough the object of both sides is similar--to +render another great European war impossible: but the ideals in respect +to its attainment are by no means the same; one looks to the setting up +of a world dominion; the other, to the establishment of a state of +balanced power and mutual interests among European nations. We are +fighting essentially for the principle of "live and let live," and +therefore have to face unflinchingly all the sacrifice that still lies +before us. When peace is concluded it must be upon terms which will make +results permanent! Should Germany, in the mysterious providence of God, +be allowed to become supreme, there will be peace, but, alas! only the +peace of desolation and the numbness of despair. But, as we have already +said, it seems disloyal to all our deepest instincts, all our truest +feelings, even to contemplate such a possibility. + +But when the Allies triumph, what then?--the discipline of victory. +Think for one moment of what the victory of Christ meant, as the +ratification of the treaty signed upon the Cross, in the very hour of +apparent defeat. It meant for you and me all that is included in the +words "the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; the means +of grace and the hope of glory." The resurrection puts the seal to the +great charter, commenced at Bethlehem, indited page by page through the +wondrous life of three and thirty years, closed, as to its earthly side, +on Calvary, sealed, signed and delivered on Easter morning. In the power +of that treaty of peace you and I live, day by day; secure except for +our own carelessness; beyond all possibility of hurt from spiritual +enemies, unless by our own traitorous dealings with them. The victory +was complete! "He hath put all enemies under His feet"; the victory is +permanent, for, "death hath no more dominion over Him." + +In these Addresses we have said much about those large results which God +is allowing us already to see as obviously coming out of the war; on our +Day of "Humble Prayer to Almighty God" we solemnly thanked Him: + + + For the laying aside of controversies at home, and for the unity of + the Nation and Empire; + + For the loyal and loving response of our fellow-subjects beyond the + seas; + + For the full harmony between our Allies and ourselves, and for the + success which has already been granted to our common efforts; + + For the devotion of those who have laid down their lives for their + country; + + For the revelation in danger, in suffering, and in death, of the power + of the Cross and the benefits of the Lord's Passion. + + +Now remains the question, Are the results to be permanent? That entirely +depends upon our attitude towards the discipline of victory; or how we +are going to behave ourselves in the hour of success. It is written +concerning Israel, "The Lord saved them from the hand of them that hated +them: and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. Then believed they +His words, they sang His praise. They soon forgat His works: they waited +not for His counsel." God willing we shall ere long be singing our Te +Deum; oh! yes, we shall do it with all our heart and soul; but how are +we to fix the emotions, to render permanent that thankfulness which we +shall really feel. The Israelites "waited not for His counsel." They +failed, that is, under the discipline of success. Victory is given that +it may be used for good, just as much as failure is sent that we may +rise on "stepping-stones of our dead-selves" to fresh endeavour. + +As a nation we have been single-minded and honourable in our entry upon +and our waging of the War; when it is over we are to be just the same in +our use of the fruits of the War. Victory will not come to us simply for +our own sakes and that it may be selfishly exploited for our own needs. +No, assuredly not: it will come for the mutual benefit of all concerned, +and unless the very first fruits of it be dedicated to the cause of +heroic Belgium, to her re-instatement in something of her former +condition, it will have come in vain. The time of distress and disaster +has knit together the Empire in a wondrous unity of brotherhood. There +will be debts to be repaid to India and our Colonies, debts which can +never be discharged in money, but in those higher acts of fellowship, +justice, endeavour, which will knit yet closer the bonds that have been +formed. There will remain a large heritage of disablement and +unemployment to cope with which will require wise counsel, comprehensive +measures, real self-sacrifice. It is computed that should the war last +another eighteen months there will be nearly a quarter of a million men +more or less unfitted to resume their ordinary callings. + +All this, you say, is the concern of the State; certainly, but what is +the State? Only another term for you and me. Therefore the seriousness +of attitude, the sense of proportion, the realisation of brotherhood, +that by the mercy of God we have gained, must be retained for the facing +of the new problems that will lie before us. + +Turning to the more purely personal aspect of it, there will be the +temptation to grow slack and cold in intercessions and communions, when +the immediate occasion that prompted them has passed. To be forewarned +is to be forearmed, let us look out for this, expect it, then we shall +not be afraid to meet it. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no +more"; think what the permanency of that victory has meant all down the +ages of the past in the triumphs of the saints, in the deaths of the +martyrs, in the splendid story of the Church of Christ. Think what it +means to-day in the lives of millions of the faithful; in all the deeds +of charity which are brightening homes, cheering hearts, giving hope to +the hopeless, healing to the sick, and soundness to the maimed: think of +all it means in rest and refreshment to the souls in Paradise; think of +all it still will mean in the growth of the Church of Christ up to the +fulness of its destined and glorious completion; think of all it may +mean for you in your individual life, right up to the day when you shall +be like Him, for you shall see Him as He is. + +In the permanence of the victory of Christ, may we each one of us so use +the discipline of victory that it may redound to the glory of Him, in +Whom we live, and move, and have our being. + + + + +APPENDIX + +GIVING A SPECIAL THOUGHT AND PASSAGE FOR +MEDITATION FOR EACH DAY IN LENT +SUGGESTED BY THE ADDRESSES. + + + + +APPENDIX + +A SUGGESTED THOUGHT FOR DAILY MEDITATION + +_N.B.--You will find it useful to look up references in a reference +Bible._ + + +Ash Wednesday: God wishes that we should be saved.--1 Tim. ii. 3, 4; 2 +Pet. iii. 9. + +Thursday: Our natural will is in conflict with God's will.--Rom. vii. +21-25. + +Friday: God the Holy Ghost assists us by illuminating the will.--S. John +xvi. 13-15. + +Saturday: What is the guiding principles of our lives?--Ps. xxxix. 7; S. +Matt. vi. 19-24. + + +1st Sunday in Lent: The Incarnation the mission of Christ to the +body.--S. John i. 1-14; Eph. v. 23. + +Monday: The body in its physical aspect wonderfully suited to its +purposes.--Gen. i. 26-28; ii., 7; Ps. cxxxix. 14. + +Tuesday: The body the external means by which we receive the +Sacraments.--Heb. x. 22; Acts viii. 14-17; 1 Cor. xi. 26. + +Wednesday: The body in its ultimate destiny.--1 Cor. xv. 42-49; 1 John +iii. 2, 3. + +Thursday: Disciplining the body braces the will.--2 Tim. ii. 3; Heb. xi. +32-40. + +Friday: The corporate life of the Church in its bearing on influence and +conduct.--1 Cor. xii. 12-27. + +Saturday: The duty of example in respect of the temperance question.--1 +Cor. viii. 7-13; 2 Cor. viii. 9. + + +2nd Sunday in Lent: The inner value of our life.--S. Mark viii. 34-38. + +Monday: The deadening effect of prosperity.--S. James v. 1-6. + +Tuesday: Our Lord's example of single-mindedness.--S. Mark vii. 37; S. +Matt. xxvi. 39-44. + +Wednesday: The need for seriousness in thought.--S. Matt. xv. 10-20; +Phil. iv. 8. + +Thursday: The need for seriousness in word.--S. James iii. 1-11. + +Friday: The need for seriousness in deed.--S. James iii. 13-18; 1 Pet. +v. 8. + +Saturday: The need for perseverance, lest we forfeit our blessings.--Rom +ii. 4-7; Rev. ii. 18-29. + + +3rd Sunday in Lent: Man seeking after God.--Ps. xlii. + +Monday: The Incarnation the means by which the union between God and man +is brought about.--S. John xvii. 17-26. + +Tuesday: Prayer the characteristic act of religion.--S. Matt. vii. 7-12; +Eph. vi. 18. + +Wednesday: The importance of self-examination as leading to +self-knowledge.--Gal. vi. 3-5. + +Thursday: Confession of sins to God the only condition of +forgiveness.--1 John i. 5-10. + +Friday: Forgiveness of sins comes from God through the blood of +Christ.--Eph. i. 3-12. + +Saturday: The ministry of reconciliation committed to the ministers, as +Christ's ambassadors.--2 Cor. v. 18; S. John xx. 22, 23. + + +4th Sunday in Lent: The natural body of Christ the source of +healings.--S. Matt. xiv. 34-36. + +Monday: The spiritual body of Christ found in His Church.--Eph. i. +18-23. + +Tuesday: The sacramental body of Christ, given to us in the Holy +Communion.--1 Cor. x., 14-21. + +Wednesday: Obedience the test of religion.--Rom. vi. 16-23. + +Thursday: Self-indulgence the great obstacle to obedience.--S. Luke xvi. +19-31. + +Friday: Self-renunciation the condition of service.--Acts xx. 17-24. + +Saturday: Our Lord's example of obedience.--Phil. ii. 1-11; Heb. xii. +1-3. + + +5th Sunday in Lent: Suffering in the light of eternity.--Rev. vii. 9-17; +2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. + +Monday: Suffering in the light of the Incarnation.--S. Matt. viii. 16, +17; Heb. iv. 14-16. + +Tuesday: Christ still suffering in His people.--S. Matt. xxv. 34-46; +Acts ix. 4. + +Wednesday: Devotion to Christ the power of endurance.--Acts v. 40-42; +Rom. viii. 35-39. + +Thursday: Christ succouring those who suffer for Him.--Acts vii. 54-60; +xxvii. 21-26. + +Friday: Character disciplined by suffering.--Heb. x. 32-36; xii. 4-11. + +Saturday: Suffering giving opportunity for sympathy.--Heb. xii. 12, 13; +S. James i. 27; ii. 14-16. + + +6th Sunday in Lent: The resurrection of Christ, the basis of hope.--1 +Thess. iv. 13-18. + +Monday: The Holy Spirit the power of the risen life, here and +hereafter.--Rom. viii. 5-11. + +Tuesday: The communion of Saints in the one body of Christ.--Heb. xii. +1, 2, and 22-24. + +Wednesday: The departed remembering us.--S. Luke xvi. 19-31; esp. v. 24; +Rev. vi. 9. + +Thursday: The glorious reward of faithful service.--S. Matt. xxv. 14-23. + +Good Friday: What does the death of Christ mean to me?--S. John xix. +23-30. + +Easter Eve: Am I showing the fruits of my Baptism by leading a risen +life?--Rom. vi. 1-11. + + * * * * * + + PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. 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