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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to
+Advent, by S. Baring-Gould
+
+
+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 Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent
+       A Complete Course of 66 Short Sermons, or Full Sermon Outlines for Each Sunday, and Some Chief Holy Days of the Christian Year
+
+
+Author: S. Baring-Gould
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 2, 2007  [eBook #21987]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VILLAGE PULPIT, VOLUME II.
+TRINITY TO ADVENT***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+THE VILLAGE PULPIT
+
+A Complete Course of 66 Short Sermons, or Full
+Sermon Outlines for Each Sunday, and Some
+Chief Holy Days of the Christian Year.
+
+by the
+
+REV. S. BARING-GOULD M.A.,
+
+Author of
+"A First Series of Village Preaching for a Year."
+"A Second Series of Village Preaching for a Year."
+"Village Preaching for Saints' Days."
+"The Preacher's Pocket."
+"The Mystery of Suffering."
+"Sermons to Children."
+"Sermons on the Seven Last Words." &c.
+
+VOL. II.
+
+TRINITY TO ADVENT.
+
+Second Edition.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+London:
+Skeffington & Son, 163, Piccadilly.
+1886.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+SERMON XXXVII.
+
+_CHRISTIAN UNITY._
+
+(Trinity Sunday.)
+
+S. Matt. xxviii. 19.
+
+"In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
+
+
+SERMON XXXVIII.
+
+_GREAT SURPRISES._
+
+(1st Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xv. 23.
+
+"In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments."
+
+
+SERMON XXXIX.
+
+_THE HOLY COMMUNION._
+
+(2nd Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xiv. 16.
+
+"A certain man made a great supper."
+
+
+SERMON XL.
+
+_RECEIVING AND SELECTING._
+
+(3rd Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xv. 2.
+
+"This Man receiveth sinners."
+
+
+SERMON XLI.
+
+_RASH DECISIONS._
+
+(4th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke vi. 37.
+
+"Judge not--condemn not--forgive."
+
+
+SERMON XLII.
+
+_THE SECRET OF SUCCESS._
+
+(5th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke v. 5.
+
+"We have taken nothing; nevertheless, at Thy word I will let
+down the net."
+
+
+SERMON XLIII.
+
+_PERSISTENCY IN WRONG DOING._
+
+(6th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. v. 25.
+
+"Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the
+way with him."
+
+
+SERMON XLIV.
+
+_THE MEASURE OF SIN._
+
+(7th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Mark viii. 2.
+
+"I have compassion on the multitude."
+
+
+SERMON XLV.
+
+_CASTING BLAME._
+
+(8th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. vii. 15.
+
+"Inwardly they are ravening wolves."
+
+
+SERMON XLVI.
+
+_PETTY DISHONESTY._
+
+(9th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xvi. 3, 4.
+
+"What shall I do?--I am resolved what to do."
+
+
+SERMON XLVII.
+
+_THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN._
+
+(10th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xix. 42.
+
+"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the
+things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from
+thine eyes."
+
+
+SERMON XLVIII.
+
+_SELF-INSPECTION._
+
+(11th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xviii. 13.
+
+"The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
+his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be
+merciful to me, a sinner."
+
+
+SERMON XLIX.
+
+_PERFECTION TO BE SOUGHT._
+
+(12th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Mark vii. 37.
+
+"He hath done all things well."
+
+
+SERMON L.
+
+_ZEAL._
+
+(13th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke x. 25
+
+"What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
+
+
+SERMON LI.
+
+_GRATITUDE._
+
+(14th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xvii. 18.
+
+"There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save
+this stranger."
+
+
+SERMON LII.
+
+_TRUST IN GOD._
+
+(15th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. vi. 31.
+
+"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness."
+
+
+SERMON LIII.
+
+_THE CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH._
+
+(16th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke vii. 12.
+
+"Behold, there was a dead man carried out."
+
+
+SERMON LIV.
+
+_HUMILITY._
+
+(17th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Luke xiv. 2.
+
+"Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that
+humbleth himself shall be exalted."
+
+
+SERMON LV.
+
+_PROFESSION AND PRACTICE._
+
+(18th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. xxii. 42.
+
+"What think ye of Christ?"
+
+
+SERMON LVI.
+
+_EVIL THOUGHTS._
+
+(19th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. ix. 4.
+
+"Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"
+
+
+SERMON LVII.
+
+_THE HEAVENLY BANQUET._
+
+(20th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. xxii. 4.
+
+"Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings
+are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage."
+
+
+SERMON LVIII.
+
+_EXAMPLE._
+
+(21st Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. John iv. 13.
+
+"And himself believed, and his whole house."
+
+
+SERMON LIX.
+
+_THE PREACHER AND HIS HEARERS._
+
+(22nd Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. xviii. 23.
+
+"The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain king, which
+would take account of his servants."
+
+
+SERMON LX.
+
+_THE IMAGE OF SELF._
+
+(23rd Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. xxii. 20.
+
+"Whose is this image?"
+
+
+SERMON LXI.
+
+DREAD OF RIDICULE.
+
+(24th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. ix. 24.
+
+"And they laughed Him to scorn."
+
+
+SERMON LXII.
+
+_WHAT LASTS, AND WHAT PASSES AWAY._
+
+(25th Sunday after Trinity.)
+
+S. Matt. xxiv. 35.
+
+"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not
+pass away."
+
+
+SERMON LXIII.
+
+_THANKFULNESS TO GOD._
+
+(Harvest.)
+
+S. Matt. xxii. 21.
+
+"Render--unto God, the things that are God's."
+
+
+SERMON LXIV.
+
+_THE FORMATION OF HABITS._
+
+(SCHOOL SERMON.)
+
+Proverbs xxii. 6.
+
+"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old
+he will not depart from it."
+
+
+SERMON LXV.
+
+_RELIGIOUS ZEAL._
+
+(Dedication Festival.)
+
+Psalm lxix. 9.
+
+"The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up."
+
+
+SERMON LXVI.
+
+_THE MEETING HEREAFTER._
+
+(Funeral Sermon.)
+
+Joshua iii. 17.
+
+"And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord
+stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan,
+and all the Israelites
+passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed
+clean over Jordan."
+
+
+
+
+XXXVII.
+
+_CHRISTIAN UNITY._
+
+Trinity Sunday.
+
+S. Matt. xxviii. 19.
+
+"In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--An ancient writer informs us that when the Egyptians named
+their Greatest God who was over all, they cried thrice, "Darkness!
+Darkness!  Darkness!"  And when we come to speak of the great mystery of
+the Holy Trinity, the utmost we can do is to repeat their cry, and say,
+"Darkness!  Darkness!  Darkness!  In the name of the Father--Darkness,
+and of the Son--Darkness; and of the Holy Ghost--Darkness!" for however
+much the mind may strive to penetrate this mystery, it can never attain
+to its solution.  Just as the eye, looking at the sun, sees the
+Overpowering light as a dark ball, being dazzled by its excessive glory,
+so the eye of the mind perceives only darkness, when looking into the
+infinite splendour of God in Three Persons.
+
+We may, indeed, see sundry likenesses here on earth, which assist us in
+believing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, but they are helps, and helps
+only; and not explanations.  Thus, the sun may shine into a glass, and
+the glass reflect in clear water, and we see three suns, a sun in the
+heaven, a sun in the glass, and a sun in the water, which proceeds from
+both;--and this assists us to understand how the Son of God is of the
+Father, and the Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son, and how that
+each is God, and yet that there are not three Gods, but one God.  But,
+after all, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a matter of Faith, and not
+of Reason.  We must believe, though we cannot understand.
+
+SUBJECT.--In this Holy Trinity of Persons there is perfect unity
+existing, an unity of substance, an unity of Godhead, an unity of
+perfection, an unity of love.
+
+And on earth, among men, there should be unity.  "Be ye perfect," said
+our Lord, "even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect."  The
+Father is love, the Son is love, and the Holy Ghost is the love of the
+Father and of the Son, and this love requires the same of us--even love,
+or unity.
+
+This is what God wills on earth, our living unity, even as it exists in
+Heaven between the Three Persons of the glorious Trinity.
+
+But there are three great hindrances to Christian Unity.
+
+I.  _Selfishness_.  Each man seeks his own interest, not the general
+interest.  Let his own selfish interests be touched, and all concord is
+at an end.  Look at two little dogs playing together, they put their paws
+on each other's shoulders, and dance round each other, and roll each
+other over, and are full of affectionate play.  Throw them a bone, and it
+is a true bone of contention at once.  All their affection is dead, and
+they are fighting each other for the bone.  It is the same with men, they
+are perfectly friendly with each other so long as no little bone comes in
+the way--some little money matter--and then there is no end to the
+snarling and snapping and growling.  How often it is that the dearest
+friends fall out about money!  This has been so often noticed that it has
+become a common saying, "Have no money dealings with your friend."  Even
+near relations become bitter, and are estranged, over some provision in a
+will.  All this arises from self-seeking.  Each cares for himself, and
+not for others.
+
+Now look at the Holy Trinity.  The Three Persons share in equal Power,
+Majesty, and Eternity.  The Father commits all power unto the Son, the
+Son gives all honour to the Father, the Son gives over to the Holy Ghost
+the government of His Church.  The Father shares with the Son and the
+Holy Ghost the Divine nature, wisdom, and glory.  All three are equally
+eternal, equally almighty, equally perfect.
+
+II.  _Pride_.  Each man seeks to place himself before another.  'I am as
+good as another, or I am above so-and-so,' is a common thought.  No man
+is content with what he is, he desires to thrust himself ahead of
+another.  The whole of society is like a cabbage-stalk covered with
+caterpillars, and none is satisfied till it has crawled to the top.  The
+caterpillar at the bottom bites the one above him, gets over his back,
+and then exults, 'There is a caterpillar nearer the bottom of the
+cabbage-stalk than I,' and so all the way up the stalk, those below
+scrambling over those above, and they at the top--at the proud elevation
+and unique honour of being at the head of a cabbage-stalk--tumble off,
+and are buried in the soil.
+
+Was there any such pride of place in the angel host?  Yes--once.  The
+Devil wanted to be at the top, and he fell.  The other angels are content
+where they are, and they remain angels.  If they began pushing ahead of
+each other, cherubim wanting to be above seraphim, and angels envious of
+archangels, what a falling there would be from heaven!  Falling stars
+indeed!  All turning into devils.  Look at the Blessed Trinity.  God the
+Son says, "My Father is greater than I."  He places Himself in the lowest
+rank.  He calls Himself "The Son of Man"; there is no boasting, "I am the
+Son of God."
+
+III.  _Obstinacy_.  That is the third source of discord.  Each man
+follows his own will, his dogged, headlong will, regardless of the wishes
+and advice of others.
+
+In the Book of Judges we read that Samson caught three hundred foxes and
+tied them together by their tails, and put burning brands between them,
+where their tails were tied.  What was the consequence?  The wretched
+creatures dashed in opposite directions, each wanted to get away from the
+brand that scorched his tail, and so each wanted to go exactly in a
+different direction from the fox to which he was tied, and so the whole
+lot went dashing in a mad, disorderly manner among the standing corn, and
+destroyed a whole harvest.
+
+That is something like a great number of people I know.  They will tear
+off in their own direction, and drag others after them who wish to go in
+another direction, and the fire of discord is between them.
+
+Look at the Blessed Trinity.  Christ said, "I came not to do mine own
+will, but the will of Him that sent me."
+
+"Let us make man," was said at the Creation.  God the Father did not say
+"I will make man," nor God the Son "I will make man in My image," nor God
+the Holy Ghost "I will make man, and breathe My spirit into him," but all
+united in one work, and that work was very good.
+
+CONCLUSION.--When Julian the Apostate was Emperor, three Christian
+soldiers were brought before him.  Their names were Emmanuel, Sabael, and
+Ismael.  He ordered them to be examined apart, lest they should encourage
+one another in their faith and endurance under torture.  Emmanuel, seeing
+his object, said, "Tyrant! we Three are one in one Trinity."
+
+Now, listen to our Lord's prayer, "I pray not for these alone, but for
+those also which shall believe on Me through their word, that they all
+may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee."
+
+
+
+
+XXXVIII.
+
+_GREAT SURPRISES._
+
+1st Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke xvi. 23.
+
+"In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--What a great surprise for Dives!  So utterly unawaited!
+Dives, who had lived so comfortably, clothed in purple and fine linen,
+and had had such a good coat, and such excellent dinners, and such a
+cellar of wine, and such good friends at his dinners, goes to sleep one
+night after a banquet, and wakes up, and lo!--he is in hell.  Surprise
+number one.
+
+He feels the flames, he perceives himself surrounded by demons, his
+tongue is burning with thirst, and he lifts up his eyes and
+sees!--surprise number two!--Lazarus, the poor dirty wretch who had
+lain full of sores at his door.  He did not know that the fellow was
+dead.  And--surprise number three!--this wretched fellow is in Paradise.
+
+There is another story of a great surprise in the Gospels.  That is of
+the man who laid up for himself great possessions, and said to himself,
+"Soul! thou hast much goods laid up for many years,--I will pull down
+my barns and build greater--take thy ease, eat, drink and be merry."
+That night he died, and when his soul came to realise the fact that he
+had nothing left of all he had laid by--that was a great surprise, and
+a very unpleasant one.
+
+SUBJECT.--Let us take care that we do not have some such a great and
+unpleasant surprise ourselves.  "Take heed," says our Lord, "to
+yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with
+surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day
+come upon you unawares."
+
+I.  Now I am going to tell you a story of another great surprise.  The
+king of Syria was engaged in war with the king of Israel, and one of
+the servants of the king of Syria told him that Elisha the Prophet saw
+and knew all that was planned by him against the king of Israel, and
+that he told the king of Israel, so that the Syrians were never able to
+catch him at a disadvantage, and defeat him.  Then the king of Syria
+enquired where this prophet lived, and was told that he was then at
+Dothan.
+
+"Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots, and a great host: and
+they came by night and compassed the city about."  Then Elisha prayed
+to God to deceive and blind the eyes of the soldiers, and he went out
+of the gates of Dothan to them, and said, "This is not the way, neither
+is this the city; follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you
+seek."  So he went before, and led them along the road to Samaria, the
+capital of the king of Israel.  Then he brought them all in through the
+gates, and they followed, as docile as lambs, and when they were in the
+market-place, he said, "Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may
+see."  And the Lord opened their eyes, and lo! they were in the
+market-place in the midst of Samaria, and all around them were the
+soldiers of their enemy, the king of Israel, with swords drawn, and in
+the windows were others armed with stones and javelins and molten lead
+to hurl down on them.  Here was an unpleasant surprise!
+
+The king of Israel and all his soldiers were eager to be at them and
+cut them to pieces, but Elisha was too good-hearted for that, he
+persuaded the king to be generous, to give them their breakfast and
+send them home.  So "He prepared great provisions for them; and when
+they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their
+master."  They were lucky to be let off so easily, and they owed their
+lives to there being a Saint of God there to intercede for them.  But
+you may be assured to their dying day they carried with them a lively
+recollection of the very unpleasant surprise it was to them when their
+eyes were opened, and they found themselves in the midst of their
+enemies, when they fondly supposed themselves in the humble and
+undefended little town of Dothan.
+
+II.  Now for you!--Whither are you going?  Whither are you being led?
+Are you at all aware?  I very much fear that a great many of you are as
+blind and as ignorant of the road you are treading as were those
+soldiers of the king of Syria.  You are going on headlong, chattering
+with one another, laughing and singing, in open order, very little
+discipline, and perfectly confident that you will come to no harm.
+Take care!  Some day your eyes will be opened, and you will experience
+an unpleasant surprise.  Then, when your eyes are opened you will see
+yourselves surrounded by the enemies of your souls, ready to drag you
+to destruction, and no help near.  Very unexpected was this case of the
+Syrians, that the prophet prayed for them, and that instead of being
+put to death they were fed and sent away in peace.  That is not what
+you must expect.  Dives, when his eyes were opened, cried to Abraham,
+but got no help, no, not even a drop of water to cool his tongue.
+
+III.  No man need go blindly to destruction, for God has given him
+guidance, and power of seeing whither he goes.  The prophet led these
+soldiers of Syria into the midst of their enemies, but God's good
+Spirit, which is our guide, will lead us into the Land of Righteousness
+if we will listen to His voice, and go where he points the way.
+
+We have no right to plead blindness and ignorance, if hereafter we find
+that we have gone astray, and our eyes are opened when we are in the
+midst of our enemies, for blindness can not come upon us unless we
+wilfully shut our eyes to the light, and with the teaching of Christ
+and His Church ever sounding in our ears, we have no right to plead
+ignorance.
+
+Moreover, God is so merciful, that He never allows any to go to
+destruction unwarned of their danger.  As He sent His angel to stand in
+the way of Balaam, so will He send some check, and throw some obstacle
+in the road you are treading, to bring you to your senses in time, and
+will not allow you to perish, unless you wilfully and deliberately
+persist in the road of evil, knowing the consequences, and knowing
+whither you are going.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Lastly.  It was a great surprise to Lazarus when he found
+himself in Paradise.  He had no doubt hoped and prayed to be admitted
+there, but when he found himself there, he was amazed to see how far
+its happiness and its peace surpassed his expectations.  So with those
+of us who are found meet to enter Heaven.  However great our
+anticipations, they will be surpassed.  Eye hath not seen, nor ear
+heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, to conceive those
+good things which God hath prepared for those who love Him.
+
+May He bring us all to that glad surprise.
+
+
+
+
+XXXIX.
+
+_THE HOLY COMMUNION._
+
+2nd Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke xiv. 16.
+
+"A certain man made a great supper."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--When the fulness of time was come, God the Eternal
+Father said: "In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin, I have no
+pleasure."  Then said the Son, "Lo, I come."  He came that He might
+take away the valueless sacrifice, and establish the one full and
+perfect propitiation for the sins of the world.  And indeed it was
+time.  All creation was groaning and travailing in pain, and waiting
+for redemption, then said He--"Lo, I come."  The souls of the faithful
+were in Hades, prophets, patriarchs, and kings, desirous to see His
+Day, prisoners of Hope, desirous to be released by His Blood of the
+Covenant,--then said He--"Lo, I come."
+
+Men wandered in darkness, desiring light, the whole head was sick, and
+the whole heart faint, and in their error, darkly, and in their
+sickness, faintly, they sought the Lord, if haply they might feel after
+Him; then said He--"Lo, I come."
+
+They knew not the way of God how they might walk, and they needed a
+guide; then said He--"Lo, I come."
+
+They were sunk in sin, and found that the old bloody sacrifices and
+burnt offerings could not take away guilt, they needed a more perfect
+sacrifice; then said He--"Lo, I come."  They knew not what the nature
+of God was, and they formed to themselves gods, in the likeness of men.
+How should they know without a teacher?  Then said He--"Lo, I come."
+
+Nor is this all.  At this day, still His answer is, promptly, when He
+is needed--"Lo, I come."
+
+Does any father desire his dear little one to be taken into the arms of
+Christ and blessed, still His answer is--"Lo, I come."
+
+Does any man need direction, guidance, help in the way of life?  He
+says, "Lo, I come; I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
+
+Does any desire sustaining food by the way?  He says--"Lo, I come, and
+the Bread I give is My flesh, which I give for the life of the world."
+
+Is any burdened with the weight of sin, and desires pardon and
+reconciliation, He says--"Lo, I come, though thy sins be as scarlet,
+they shall be made as white as wool."
+
+Is any in sorrow, and heart sore?  He says, "Lo, I come to bind up the
+broken-hearted."
+
+Is any dying?--He is still ready with His answer, "Lo, I come, when
+thou goest through the waters I am with thee."
+
+You see how striking is the readiness of Our Blessed Lord.  Now look at
+to-day's Gospel, and see how this is met by man.  Christ is represented
+as having made a great supper, the Holy Eucharist, and to that he
+invites all Christians, and He sends forth His messengers to bid them
+come, then they all with one consent begin to make excuse.  The
+messengers go to the man who has bought oxen, and invite him to the
+supper of his lord, and his answer is, "I pray thee, have me excused."
+They go to a man who has bought a farm, and his answer is, "I pray
+thee, have me excused."  They go to a man who has married a wife, and
+his answer is, "I cannot come."
+
+"Lo, I come!" says Christ.  "I cannot come," says man.  "Lo, I come to
+man," says Christ.  "I cannot come to Christ," says man.
+
+I.  It was the rule among the early Christians to communicate every
+Lord's Day.  The rule of the Church, as laid down in the service-books,
+then ordered that all those who were open and scandalous livers, all
+those who had committed some deadly sin, and had not been reconciled to
+God, should leave church before the Consecration, after the reading of
+the Gospel.  Now suppose some good old bishop of that day were to rise
+from the dead, and come into this church, what would he see?--Directly
+the sermon is over,--a rush of almost all in the church, men, women,
+and children, running out of the door, and only three or four, or at
+most a dozen, remaining to partake of the Lord's Body.  That is what he
+would see.  Now, what would he say?--He would lift up his hands in
+horror, and say, "What is this?  All these notorious sinners!  All
+these open profligates!  All these burdened with mortal sin, cutting
+them off from the grace of God!  Take me back to my grave, I do not
+want to see any more of such horrible days."
+
+But if I happened to be present, I would say to him.  "You are jumping
+to conclusions too rashly.  Times are altered.  It is not the criminals
+and profligates who go out of church before the Consecration of the
+Blessed Sacrament, and are unworthy to eat of the Lord's Body, it is
+those who cannot make up their minds to do exactly what the Lord
+commanded; it is those who are half-hearted, who wish to serve God, but
+do not want to serve Him very much."  Then, I doubt not, the old bishop
+would turn upon me with a wrathful face, and say, "Let me go back to my
+grave!  This is worse!  A thousand times worse!  The whole Christian
+world has grown cold of heart, and dead of faith, if all with one
+consent begin to make excuse, and say, 'I cannot come.'  I had rather
+they were either hot or cold, but because they are neither hot nor
+cold--away!  I cannot bear to look at their faces!  Let me go back to
+my grave."
+
+III.  I know what is passing in your minds as well as if you had got
+glass skulls.  And this is what I see that not a few of you are
+thinking.  "Ha! there is the Parson at it again! always hammering away
+at Communion.  Can he not leave us alone?  Let him talk to us of other
+matters; let him preach to us some real stinging gospel truth, and make
+us wince.  Anything but this eternal preaching about coming to
+Communion."  Now I will tell you why I preach about this, and hammer,
+hammer, at it.  Because it is good stinging gospel truth, and the
+grumbling that is going on is because your consciences really are
+wincing at what I say.
+
+Listen:--other folks talked like you in olden times.  When the children
+of Israel came out of Egypt, God in mercy sent them Bread from Heaven,
+the manna, to feed them on their way through the wilderness.  What said
+the people in return for the blessing?  Were they very grateful?  Were
+they very eager to gather up the Angels' food?  By no means, they sat
+grumbling in their tents and said, "Our soul is dried away; there is
+nothing beside this manna before our eyes."  Put into modern language
+that is, "Our souls have dried up for want of preaching of free
+justification, and no good at all in keeping the law; we don't want any
+of your Sacramental teaching, no Communion for us, we can do very well
+without that, our soul abhorreth this light food, as for this Holy
+Communion, there is nothing but that preached to us, year in, year out."
+
+Well!  If this Sacramental teaching be not God's own blessed Gospel,
+there is no meaning in words.  Listen to this!  I never said anything
+so strong, and this is what Christ Himself spake:--"I am the Bread of
+Life.  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  I
+am the living bread which came down from heaven, if any man eat of this
+bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My
+flesh, which I give for the life of the world."  "Verily, verily, I say
+unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
+blood, ye have no life in you.  Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My
+blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.  For
+My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed."
+
+Now--mark you.  When Jesus said this, many of His disciples said, "This
+is a hard saying"--and, from that time they went back, and walked no
+more with Him.  It is so still, it will be so always.  Just as many of
+the old Israelites loathed the manna and said, "Our souls are dried
+away; there is nothing but this manna before our eyes," so there always
+will be faithless disciples who when they hear the invitation to
+partake of the Body of Christ, the true Manna, will say, "This is a
+hard saying," and will thenceforth no more walk with Him.
+
+
+
+
+XL.
+
+_RECEIVING AND REJECTING._
+
+3rd Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke, xv. 2.
+
+"This Man receiveth sinners."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--In to-day's Gospel our Lord represents Himself as a Good
+Shepherd seeking His lost sheep, going out into the wilderness after
+them, to bring them back into the fold.
+
+The fold is that place where He keeps His flock shut behind the hurdles
+of the Ten Commandments.  Every now and then a sheep leaps one of these
+hurdles, or pushes his way between them, and runs away into forbidden
+pastures.  Then the Good Shepherd goes after the erring sheep, and
+brings it back.  "And when he cometh home, he calleth together his
+friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have
+found my sheep which was lost."
+
+SUBJECT.--Christ is not always to be regarded as the Saviour receiving
+sinners.  The time will come when He will be the Judge, rejecting them.
+He is a shepherd now, bringing back the straying sheep, and replacing
+them in the fold, but one day He will do just the contrary, He will go
+to His fold, and pick out the incorrigibly bad sheep, and cast them out.
+
+I.  We will consider Him now as the Good Shepherd.  What is His purpose
+in bringing back the straying sheep?  That they may remain within
+bounds for the future.  Christ has come to save sinners, that is to
+say, He brings them to repentance, and pardons their transgressions, in
+order that, for the future, they may walk in newness of life, and not
+commit the sins of which they were guilty before.  Thus if He brings
+back one who has been a liar, it is to truth that he returns, and
+Christ expects him to speak the truth ever after.  If He brings back a
+drunkard, it is to temperance, and He expects him to be sober for the
+future.  If He brings back one who has sinned through impurity, it is
+to chastity and modesty.  This is what S. Paul means when he says, "Put
+off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt
+according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your
+mind.  Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his
+neighbour.  Let him that stole steal no more, let no corrupt
+conversation proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the
+use of edifying.  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and
+clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.  And
+be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another."
+
+II.  We will consider Christ as the Judge.  The time will come when He
+will separate the bad from the good, when He will go over His fold, and
+pick out all those diseased sheep which are good for nothing, and which
+taint and infect the others, and will cast them outside.
+
+That is to say, the time will come, when Christ will no more call
+sinners to Him, and bring them to His Church, but will examine those
+who are in His Church, and unless they have mended their ways, unless
+they have become better for being there, He will throw them out, and
+have nothing further to do with them.
+
+When Joshua was leading the people of God into the Promised Land, God
+said to Joshua, "Up!  Sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves
+against to-morrow."
+
+In what did this sanctification consist?  "Joshua rose early in the
+morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was
+taken: and he brought the family of Judah; and took the family of the
+Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and
+Zabdi was taken: and he brought his household man by man; and Achan,
+the son of Carmi was taken."  Then Joshua learned how this man had
+sinned and incurred the anger of God, and he and all Israel carried him
+and his family outside the camp unto the valley of Achor, "and all
+Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they
+had stoned them with stones."  That was the sanctification of
+Israel,--the putting away the black sheep out of the flock.
+
+When Jesus sat with His Twelve in the supper chamber, at the Last
+Supper, Judas rose and went out, and when he was gone forth, Jesus
+said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him."
+A little while before, while Judas was in the room, we are told, "Jesus
+was troubled in spirit."  But the moment the evil one among the
+Apostles was cast forth, the glorification of the Son of Man began.
+
+So it is now, and so will it be hereafter.
+
+Now, as long as there is evil in the Church, as long as there are
+sinners who will not amend, as long as there are tares growing up with
+the wheat,--so long "Jesus is troubled in spirit."  But when the great
+Day comes, when our true Joshua will lead the people of God into the
+Promised Land, then He will sanctify His people by casting out from
+among them the Achans; then from the company of His Elect the Judases
+will be banished, and the Son of Man will be glorified indeed.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Therefore, my Brethren, be careful to amend.  You may have
+been strayed sheep who have been mercifully brought back to the fold,
+if so, amend your ways, and grow in holiness and in spiritual health;
+or in the Last Day you will be thrust forth as incurable, and the
+Children of God will be sanctified, whilst you are buried in the valley
+of Achor.
+
+
+
+
+XLI.
+
+_RASH DECISIONS._
+
+4th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke vi. 37.
+
+"Judge not--condemn not--forgive."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--Our Lord here condemns all rash judgments.  We know not
+the motives of other men's actions, and therefore have no right to pass
+a sweeping condemnation upon them.  From our ignorance, we ought to be
+cautious and merciful in our judgments, and from our own weakness, we
+should be forgiving to those who have trespassed against us.
+
+Rash judgments arise from pride.  It is because we are puffed up with a
+high opinion of our own selves, our own goodness, the soundness of our
+judgment, the sharpness of our perception, that we are so prompt to
+pass judgment on others.
+
+SUBJECT.--This same Pride urges us to something else, Persistency in
+maintaining that on which we have determined, even after we know it is
+unwise.  It is of this which I am going to speak to-day.  This fault is
+so closely akin to rash judgment of others, that I may well address you
+on the subject upon a Sunday when our Lord warns against the other.
+
+I.  Many a man, out of pride, sticks to what he says after he knows
+that it is wrong.  He will not admit that he is wrong, or he is moved
+by a false sense of what is due to himself to hold to his word, or to
+his opinion, when his conscience tells him that he is in error.  You
+must have met with those stubborn persons who are not to be moved by
+any argument, not to be convinced by any proof, that they are wrong.
+They have made up their minds once for all, and are no longer open to
+reverse their decision.
+
+Let us look to Scripture, and see if we have any examples of such.  I
+find two; and one of these is in a man of whom we might have hoped
+better things--King David.
+
+I.  When David came to the kingdom, he was very anxious to show
+kindness to any son of Jonathan whom he might find; and he heard of
+Mephibosheth, who was lame in both his feet, and at once made over to
+him all the landed property that had belonged to King Saul, his
+grandfather.  After seven years, Absalom, David's son, conspired
+against his father, and David was obliged to fly from Jerusalem, with a
+few friends.  As David was escaping, there came to him Ziba, a servant
+of Mephibosheth, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two
+hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred bunches of raisins, and an
+hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine.  Then David asked Ziba
+what these were for, and Ziba answered that he had brought them to the
+king as a present, thinking he might need them in his flight.  And the
+king asked after Mephibosheth; then Ziba said, "O! he is at home in
+Jerusalem, he said in my hearing, A good time is coming to me.  To-day
+shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father."  Now
+all this was a wicked lie.  Mephibosheth had sent the present, and Ziba
+had promised to tell David why his master could not come with him,
+because he was crippled in both his feet, and could not get about.  As
+for any idea of recovering the throne of Saul, it had not once entered
+his head.  Now when David heard the slander of Ziba, he was very angry
+with Mephibosheth, and at once he judged him, and condemned him,
+without waiting to hear more, and said to Ziba, "Behold, I will give
+thee all that belonged to Mephibosheth, if ever I get back to Jerusalem
+and recover my power."
+
+Not long after there was a great battle, and Absalom was slain, and the
+enemies of David put to flight.  Then David returned over Jordan from
+the wilderness where he had taken refuge, and Mephibosheth met him.
+This good man, full of love for David, "had neither dressed his feet,
+nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes," all the time of David's
+absence, to shew his great grief.  David at once reproached him for his
+disloyalty, and then only he heard how great a lie Ziba had told.  Then
+David answered, "Why speakest thou any more of thy matters?  I have
+said, Thou and Ziba divide the land."  Mark the wicked injustice.  The
+lying, slanderous servant is rewarded with half the property of poor
+Mephibosheth,--why?--because David had promised him the whole when
+misinformed.  David knows that Ziba has acted falsely, yet, because he
+had said to him that he should be given the land of his master, he
+keeps his word to him, though he knows he is doing an injustice to
+Mephibosheth.
+
+There you have a pretty example of an obstinate man sticking to what he
+has said, after he is convinced that he has been misled, and doing a
+great wrong rather than acknowledge that he had judged rashly, and
+condemned on no good grounds.
+
+II.  I can give you another example.  King Herod was pleased with the
+dancing of the daughter of Herodias one evening at a supper, and he
+swore to her, when he was half tipsy, that he would give her what she
+liked in reward for her display.  Then she asked him to cut off the
+head of S. John the Baptist, and give it her in a dish.  Now, as soon
+as she asked this, the king was sorry, for he knew that S. John was a
+good man, and he knew also that he had no right to have a man murdered
+in prison to please the whim of a wicked woman; however, because he had
+passed his word, he was too proud and cowardly to go back from it, and
+refuse her what she had no right to ask.  Then he sent an executioner,
+and he cut off the head of the saint, and put it in a dish, and it was
+brought thus to the girl, and she carried it to her mother.
+
+III.  A man is right to stick to his word, if his word be right.  He is
+right to stick to his promise, if he have promised that over which he
+has a just right.  He is right to stick to his opinion if his opinion
+be founded on good grounds, and if he have heard nothing that ought to
+cause him to alter it.
+
+But--no man has any right to stick to his opinion simply because it is
+his opinion.  He has no right to hold a promise which he had no right
+to make.  He has no right to adhere to a harsh judgment simply because
+he has formed that judgment.
+
+When our Lord bids us not judge, He bids us be very cautious in forming
+a decided opinion, and in sticking to it through thick and thin.  We
+know so little here, and so imperfectly, that our opinions must be
+formed on uncertain grounds, and therefore we have no right to be
+tenacious about them.  Yet many persons are as touchy about their
+opinions as though it were a sacrilege to dispute them.  Some of the
+greatest injustices have been done through obstinacy, in clinging to
+opinions that have become untenable.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Remember then the lessons taught you by our Lord in this
+day's Gospel, and also by the conduct of David.  Be very cautious of
+forming a judgment, and when you have formed one, do not allow Pride to
+stand in the way of confessing your fault, and changing your opinion,
+when you are given reasonable grounds for so doing.
+
+
+
+
+XLII.
+
+_THE SECRET OF SUCCESS._
+
+5th Sunday after Trinity
+
+S. Luke v. 5.
+
+"We have taken nothing; nevertheless at Thy word, I will let down the
+net."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--S. Peter and the other Apostles had been fishing all
+night, and had met with no success at all, then Jesus entered into the
+boat of Simon, and bade him launch out and let down his net.  S. Peter
+did not hesitate.  He had met with no success when fishing in the
+night, nevertheless now, at the word of Christ, he fishes again, and
+this time the net encloses a great multitude, so that the net breaks.
+No doubt our Lord desired to show those who were to become fishers of
+men that there were two ways of doing a thing, and that one way would
+be successful and the other would not.
+
+If they were going to become fishers of men, they must try to catch
+them by carrying Christ, _i.e._ a Christlike spirit, with them, and the
+spirit of Christ is love and gentleness.  If they were to be successful
+in winning souls, they must have a loving zeal, and that would gain
+more than hard work without love.
+
+SUBJECT.--We are all of us, in our several callings, fishers of souls.
+Of course, especially are the clergy fishers, but not they only, every
+man who loves God must seek to win souls for God, every man who is in
+the net of the Church must seek to draw others into the same net.  If
+the fisher is to be successful, he must fish in the spirit of Christ,
+that is, actuated by love, and must deal gently with the souls he
+desires to gain.
+
+I.  I say, we are all fishers.  Those of us who are parents desire to
+draw to Christ the souls of our children, those who are masters, the
+souls of their servants.  The husband seeks to win the wife, and the
+believing wife the husband.  "What knowest thou, O wife," says S. Paul,
+"whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man,
+whether thou shalt save thy wife?"
+
+The servant seeks to win the fellow-servant, the labourer in the field
+has the welfare of his fellow-labourer at heart, and seeks to draw him
+to God.  It was Cain who said, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  And the
+same isolating, selfish spirit is in those who take no interest in
+those they associate with, and do not seek their good.
+
+I was much struck last spring with something a gentleman said to me,
+who had been a good deal in America; he was much surprised and struck
+with the interest felt in England by the rich for the poor, by the
+master and mistress for their servants, by the landowner for his
+tenants, and he said to me, "This seems to me the most marvellous thing
+I have seen in England.  With us a master cares not one snap of the
+fingers what becomes of the man he employs, he no more thinks of what
+becomes of him than he does of a dollar that passes through his hands.
+He sees that he does his work, and if the man dies, the master gets
+another in his place to-morrow, and asks nothing about the man who has
+disappeared."
+
+Well!  I thank God we are not come to that yet, however advanced we may
+be in our independent ways; and it is not right and Christian that we
+should.
+
+II.  Now we come to the way in which we are to try to draw other souls
+to Christ, the souls of our children, of our servants, of our
+companions, of our fellow-workers.  The first principle of success is
+gentleness.
+
+In the 4th chapter of the 2nd book of Kings we have this story.  There
+was a Shunammite woman who had an only son.  She was a good
+kind-hearted woman, who had shown much hospitality to the prophet
+Elijah [Transcriber's note: Elisha?].  One day the little boy ran out
+into the harvest field, when the sun was hot, and he had a sunstroke,
+and was very ill.  "He said unto his father, My head, my head.  And he
+said to a lad, Carry him to his mother.  And when he had taken him and
+brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then he
+died.  And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and
+shut the door upon him, and went out."  Then she ordered one of the
+servants to saddle an ass, and drive her to the prophet; and when she
+found him, she told him the piteous story, and how the poor little
+fellow whom she loved so dearly, and who was such a darling of his
+father, and such a pet of the old Elisha when he paid them his visits,
+was lying white and dead upstairs on the bed.
+
+Then Elisha was sorely troubled, and he gave his staff to his servant,
+Gehazi, and made him run as fast as he could to the house of the
+Shunammite.  "Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and
+go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute
+thee, answer him not again; and lay my staff upon the face of the
+child."  Gehazi obeyed, but it was of no use.  "He laid the staff upon
+the face of the child: but there was neither voice, nor hearing."  Then
+Elisha came himself, and he shut the door, and laid himself beside the
+little body, and put his lips to the lips of the child, and his warm
+loving heart against the little dead heart, and took the chill hands in
+his.  Then the spirit of the child came back into him again, and he sat
+up, and Elisha delivered him alive to his mother.
+
+Now this story contains some lesson for us.  And this is the short
+comment on the miracle by an old writer, "Him whom the rod of terror
+will not rouse, _love_ will."  Or in other words, we may learn by this
+that gentleness will succeed where harshness will fail.
+
+In the time when all the north of England was heathen, there was an
+assembly held at Iona to decide who should preach the gospel to the
+English of Northumbria.  Then one missionary was sent, and after having
+laboured for some years, he came back to give an account of his
+mission.  And a council was held, and he said, "Those Northumbrians are
+a stiff-necked, hard-hearted people.  I threatened them with God's
+wrath, I spoke to them of Hell-fire, I warned them of the terrors of
+judgment, I denounced the vengeance of God on them, and they would not
+be converted."  Then one sitting in a bark seat said, "My brother, it
+seems to me that you went the wrong way to work.  You should have gone
+in love, and not in wrath.  You should have tried to win, and not to
+drive."  All eyes were turned en the speaker, and it was decided with
+one voice that he should be sent, and he went.  His name was Aidan--and
+he was the Apostle of all Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire.  He
+had the joy to see the whole people bow their necks to receive the yoke
+of Christ.
+
+What says S. Paul?  "What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or
+in love, and in the spirit of meekness?"  If he had come with the rod,
+he would have gone back disappointed.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Let us then, dear brethren, in dealing with the souls of
+others, approach them, not with the rod, or we shall fail to awake them
+to a new and better life, but in love, and in the spirit of gentleness,
+and then we shall meet, I doubt not, with good success.
+
+
+
+
+XLIII.
+
+_PERSISTENCY IN WRONG DOING._
+
+6th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. v. 25.
+
+"Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with
+him."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--I spoke to you the Sunday before last about the
+obstinacy of persisting in an opinion after you have good cause to
+believe that this opinion is unjust, or unreasonable.  I am going to
+speak to you to-day of another form of obstinacy.
+
+SUBJECT.--My subject is Persistency in doing wrong, because you have
+begun wrong.  This is only another form of the same fault.  The other
+is thinking wrong persistently, this is perseverance in doing wrong.
+And the source of both is the same, Pride.  Pride stands in the way of
+altering an erroneous opinion, and in the way of altering a wrongful
+course of action.
+
+I.  In the tenth chapter of the second book of Samuel we have a
+striking story of the way in which a man having once done a wrong,
+persists in it, and it brings about his ruin.
+
+King David, when firmly established on his throne, began to look about
+him to see who had been kind to him in his day of adversity, and to
+reward, or thank them.  He showed his gratitude to the memory of his
+friend Jonathan by investing his son Mephibosheth with his
+grandfather's property.  Then he remembered that Nahash the King of
+Ammon had shown him hospitality, and he heard also that he was just
+dead.  So David said, "I will show kindness unto Hanun the son of
+Nahash, as his father showed kindness unto me."  And David sent to
+comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father.
+
+The message was kindly intended.  David wished to show that he was not
+forgetful of past favours, that he was ready to make a lasting
+friendship with Hanun, and he desired to exhibit his sympathy with the
+son for the loss of his father.  These were the three motives actuating
+David, all good.  Now, how did Hanun act?  One would naturally suppose
+that he would appreciate these motives, and that he would be glad, when
+scarce settled on his throne, to secure the powerful friendship of King
+David.  No!--he was young, insolent, inconsiderate, and fond of
+practical joking,--a vulgar-minded fellow, puffed up with conceit at
+his elevation to power.  Hanun took the servants, the ambassadors of
+David, and shaved off half their beards, and cut off the lower half of
+all their clothes, and sent them back to David.  And when it was told
+unto David that his messengers had been thus ignominiously treated, "he
+sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed, and said,
+Tarry at Jericho, until your beards be grown, and then return."  As
+soon as Hanun and his Ammonites had done this, what was their next
+step?--As perhaps you are aware, by the laws of civilized and
+uncivilized people, the persons of ambassadors are held to be sacred.
+Therefore Hanun had not only done an insolent, and utterly blackguard
+trick, but he had gone against one of the first laws of nations.  What
+he ought to have done, was at once to send to David a most humble
+apology, with an acknowledgment that he had acted wrongly.  But he was
+too proud for this.  He would not admit that he had erred.  He at once
+sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba,
+twenty thousand foot soldiers, and of King Maacah a thousand men, and
+of Ish-tob twelve thousand men, so that this malicious trick began to
+shew that it was an expensive one.  Then David's army drew up in array
+against this army of Ammon and their hired allies, and at once, all the
+mercenaries ran away.  So then there was nothing for it but for the
+Ammonites to return as quickly as possible within the walls of their
+city.  Now, what should Hanun have done?  It was clear that David was
+not eager to punish him, for he had not even sent his army against
+Ammon till Hanun had collected the great host against him, and as soon
+as the Ammonites, deserted by their auxiliaries, had retired within
+their walls, the army of David had not pressed them, but gone quietly
+back to Jerusalem.  What then ought Hanun to have done?  Of course, he
+should now have sent his apology, and said how wrongly he had acted,
+how ashamed of himself he was, and how desirous he was to have the past
+forgotten.  But no, having done wrong once, his pride would not let him
+acknowledge it, and he went on.  He now engaged Hadarezar, King of the
+Syrians, and this time there was a great battle, and David slew of the
+Syrians seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote
+the captain of their host, so that he was left dead on the field, and
+all the Syrians who could escape ran away for their lives.  Then
+Hadarezer had had quite enough of fighting against Israel, and he made
+peace with David, and "So the Syrians feared to help the children of
+Ammon any more."  Now the Ammonites were left completely without
+auxiliaries.  What chance was there for them?  Still David did not
+press them.  A whole year passed, and he made no move.  He was waiting
+for an apology.  But no.  That headstrong Hanun was still too proud to
+make it.  He would die with all his people rather than say he had done
+wrong.  So, at the end of a year, David sent his army against the
+Ammonites, and destroyed them utterly.  He killed Hanun, and took away
+his crown, and plundered his capital town, and ruined all his cities.
+That was the end of one practical joke unapologised for.
+
+II.  In the Gospel for to-day, our Lord warns against the same
+hard-headedness in persisting in refusing an apology, and to make up
+friendship that has been broken.  "Agree with thine adversary quickly,
+while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary
+deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer,
+and thou be cast into prison.  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no
+means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."  He
+urges Christians when they have done an injury to any, frankly to
+confess it, to put their pride in their pocket, and to ask forgiveness.
+It is not an easy thing to do, to acknowledge that you have done wrong,
+but there is more true courage in doing so, than in persevering in
+spite of the consequences, in wrong doing.  Many a lasting and
+miserable quarrel has arisen because at the outset one little word has
+not been said, which would have made all things smooth.  Two families
+become estranged and bitterly hostile, because some one has reported to
+the mother in one, that the mother in the other had made a disparaging
+remark about her.  A little word, and all would be explained, and set
+to rights.  "Let not the sun go down on your wrath," says the Apostle,
+and an excellent piece of advice this is:--Make up all quarrels the
+same day that they break out.
+
+There was a good old bishop of Alexandria called John the Almsgiver,
+and he and the Governor of the city were great friends.  Something
+occurred which made a breach between them.  If I remember aright, it
+was this.  The bishop was very charitable, and was always urging the
+rich people to give to the poor, and they were constantly sending him
+money to distribute among the sick and needy.  Now at this time the
+Governor had experienced some difficulty in raising the taxes, and this
+ruffled his temper.  He was on a visit to the Bishop, when he saw on
+the stairs a number of servants of a rich lady bringing up, as a
+present to the bishop some pots, labelled "Virgin Honey."  The Governor
+said he did not believe they were pots of honey, but pots of gold, and
+when the bishop offered to open them and let him see for himself, he
+dashed out of the door in a rage, and said, "No wonder I can't get
+money in taxes when you swindle it out of the people, to feed the
+beggars on honey."  When the Governor was gone, the old Bishop was very
+troubled, and he sat in his room all the rest of the day, waiting for
+the Governor to come and make it up with him.  But no! the Governor was
+fuming with anger and would do no such thing.  That evening the
+Governor had a party, and as he was sitting at table with the guests, a
+little scrap of paper was put on his plate, a servant of the Bishop had
+brought it.  The Governor took it up and saw, "Dear old Friend--THE SUN
+IS SETTING."  Then his heart relented, he excused himself to his
+guests, and ran to the house of the Bishop, and they fell into one
+another's arms and made friends again.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Now remember this story.  Whenever you have a quarrel with
+another, let not the sun go down on your wrath.  Make it up before set
+of sun.
+
+
+
+
+XLIV.
+
+THE MEASURE OF SIN.
+
+7th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Mark viii. 2.
+
+"I have compassion on the multitude."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--In to-day's Gospel we see the tender compassion of our
+Lord for those who came into the wilderness to hear Him.  This is only
+one example out of many of His great love and mercy: and indeed "His
+mercy is over all His works."  "Thou, O Lord," says David, "art full of
+compassion and mercy, long-suffering and truth."  This is a verity of
+which we are so convinced that it is quite possible we may overlook the
+other truth, that His mercy, though unlimited in extent, is limited in
+its application.  His mercy is extended for a definite purpose, and
+when it ceases to avail for this purpose, then it ceases to flow.  What
+that purpose is, S. Paul tells us.  "Knowest thou not," he says, "that
+the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance."  That is, God is
+merciful that we may amend, not in order that we may continue in sin.
+Now, if men thought that when they had fallen into grievous sin there
+was no more a hope of recovery, then they would sink into despair, and
+become hard and impenitent.  But that this may not be the case, God
+assures us of His mercy, but he assures us of His mercy only to insure
+our amendment.
+
+SUBJECT.--It seems plain from Holy Scripture that to each man there is
+a fixed measure of sin, and that if he fills that measure, after that
+there is no place for repentance, and no more pardon.  This is a very
+terrible truth,--but a truth it is, as I shall show you.
+
+I.  There was a nation of Canaan called the Amorites, and God promised
+to Abraham that He would give their land to his descendants, but that
+He could not give it yet without injustice.  The land was in the
+possession of the Amorites, a people on their trial, and till the day
+of their probation was expired, their kingdom could not be taken from
+them.  "In the fourth generation," God said, "thy seed shall come
+hither, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."  Now
+actually it was not till four hundred and seventy years later that the
+destruction of the Amorites was accomplished.  Four generations after
+Abraham, that is some two hundred and forty years after, the measure of
+their iniquities was full, and yet they existed on till Joshua crossed
+Jordan with the Israelites, and then they were all put to the sword.
+
+In the New Testament we hear the Jews addressed as though they also had
+a measure of sin they must fill up before God would forsake them.  Our
+Lord says to them, "Ye are the children of them which killed the
+prophets.  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.  Ye serpents,
+ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Hell?
+Behold I send unto you prophets, and wise-men, and scribes: and some of
+them ye shall kill and crucify: and persecute them from city to city:
+that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth,
+from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of
+Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."  The Jewish
+nation had done great wickedness, but the measure of their iniquities
+was not full till they had rejected Christ, and had refused to listen
+to His Apostles, and the Holy Ghost speaking through their mouths.
+Till then He would not cast them off entirely.
+
+II.  David prays to God, "Lord, let me know the number of my days, that
+I may be certified how long I have to live."  No doubt, God has fixed
+for all men a certain length of life.  No doubt also He has set for
+each a certain limit of forbearance; a line, an invisible line drawn
+somewhere, and He says to man, Thus far mayest thou go, and I will
+still be merciful and pardon, but no further.  Transgress that line,
+and I forgive no more.  My Spirit will not always strive with man.
+
+In those cases which I have quoted to you, God is dealing with nations,
+but He deals with individuals in the same way.  His laws are uniform;
+as He deals with an assemblage of people, so He deals with single
+individuals.  If He fixes a bound to nations, beyond which they cannot
+go without His forsaking them, it is because there is the law, which is
+of general application to all human beings; a law applying to single
+persons, and to persons in the aggregate.
+
+In the Prophet Amos we read a message from God to Judah, "Thus saith
+the Lord: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not
+turn away the punishment thereof."  This means, if I mistake not, Judah
+has committed some two or three gross sins, and I was ready to turn
+away the punishment, had there been a sign of repentance, but when to
+the three they added a fourth, then it was too late.  The time of
+repentance was past, and the punishment threatened must fall.
+
+And now perhaps you can understand a saying of S. John in his first
+Epistle.  He says:--"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not
+unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin
+not unto death.  There is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall
+pray for it."  S. John is not speaking here of what we call mortal
+sins, but of mortal sins continued till the measure is filled up, and
+when the last sin has been added which completes the measure, that is
+the sin unto death, which it avails nothing to pray for, for that sin
+ends in death.  Before, there was life, spiritual life, perhaps
+flickering, but extant, then comes the last sin, and the life is gone
+out, all is dark, and dead, and cold, no more fanning of the black
+ashes is of any avail, the fire is out and cannot be revived.
+
+III.  How does God deal with those who have gone beyond this measure?
+In one of two ways.  Either:--
+
+1.  There comes a sudden call,--a sudden death-sickness or accident
+cuts them off.  Or:--
+
+2.  Dead impenitence settles over the soul, which no longer wishes for
+anything better, which feels no desire for pardon.
+
+Of the first case, we have instances in Scripture.  King Belshazzar had
+committed many transgressions, he was weighed in the balances, but
+still found wanting in the final and irreversible act of wickedness,
+till that night when he brought out the sacred vessels used in the
+temple to drink out of them at his riotous banquet in his palace.  That
+act of sacrilege was the one sin which weighed down the balance.  What
+says the sacred text?  "In that night was Belshazzar the King of the
+Chaldeans slain."  I may instance also Judas, who having for long been
+a thief, added to his former sins the one last and terrible sin of
+selling his Master, and then a fit of madness came over him in which he
+hung himself.
+
+But sometimes hardness and impenitence is the result.  The conscience
+is dead, and, to use S. Paul's words, "there remains no more sacrifice
+for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
+indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."
+
+CONCLUSION.--Let us, therefore, be very cautious of adding sin to sin,
+that grace may abound, but rather fly from it as from the face of a
+serpent.  We know not what is the number of our days determined by God,
+and we know not what is the number of our sins beyond which there is no
+forgiveness.
+
+
+
+
+XLV.
+
+_CASTING BLAME._
+
+8th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. vii. 15.
+
+"Inwardly they are ravening wolves."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--A Schoolmaster finds one day that several of his
+scholars are playing truant.  The morning passes and they do not
+arrive.  At last, in the afternoon, the truants turn up.  The master
+has a strong suspicion where they have been: however, he asks, "Why
+were you not at school this morning?"  "Please, sir, mother kept me at
+home to mind the baby."  "Indeed--let me look at your mouth."  He opens
+the mouth, and finds it black inside.  "Ah!  I thought as much,
+rambling in the woods, picking and eating whortleberries."  So with the
+others, they make their excuses, but he looks into their mouths, and
+the black colour betrays them.
+
+Now, my friends, I am almost afraid to look in your mouths, lest I
+should see them black, not with whortleberries, but with something much
+sweeter, blame and fault-finding.  You are, I suspect, all of you
+nearly fond of abusing your neighbours, of finding fault, of telling
+unkind things of them, of blackening their good names.
+
+SUBJECT.--I am going to take as my subject to-day the Casting of Blame.
+
+I.  "Be ye merciful," said our Lord, "even as your Father which is in
+heaven is merciful."  He did not mean only in our dealings with others,
+to be merciful to their bodies, and merciful in not exacting debts, and
+merciful in not punishing neglect, and so forth, but He meant also that
+we were to be merciful with their characters.  We are not to be ready
+to impute evil, not ready to cast blame, not ready to believe hard
+things of others and retail them to our neighbours, but to be very slow
+to suspect evil, very slow to charge it on others, and exceedingly slow
+to say what is evil of others.
+
+"Charity," says S. Paul, "is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil,
+rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all
+things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
+It seems to me, that charity is the exact reverse of this
+fault-finding, blame-imputing character.  "Charity thinketh no evil,"
+but how is it with you?  Do you not always suspect that the motives of
+people are bad, do you not always think people are worse than they
+really are?  "Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity."  Ha! there is a bit
+of scandal, something very bad has come out about So and so.  What a
+running about from house to house! the village is like a hive of bees
+swarming.  Do you mean to tell me it is not a delight, a joy to you, to
+have this little bit of iniquity to talk about?  I know better.
+"Charity rejoiceth not in iniquity," but charity is not to be found in
+that tittle-tattling, excited crowd of talkers.  "Charity believeth all
+things"--will, that is, believe and trust, as long as it is possible,
+that people are not so bad after all, that the stories told are not
+true, and "Charity hopeth all things," hopes even against hope that it
+is so.
+
+O! what a blessed thing is charity!  S. Paul said he would rather have
+that, than be able to speak with tongues, and to prophesy; he would
+rather have that than work miracles.  It is a better thing even to have
+that than Faith.  But, alas! if it be such a good thing, it is also a
+very rare one.
+
+II.  How very often we cast blame when there is no cause, and are
+therefore guilty of serious injustice.
+
+I was one day walking in the street of a little town, when a poor
+inoffensive dog passed me.  He went quietly along without a thought of
+doing anyone an injury, when he happened to pass a knot of boys just
+come out of school.  At once one of the urchins took up a stone and
+threw it at him, the others clapped their hands, and hooted after him,
+"Hit him!  Knock him over!  Mad dog!"  Away ran the unhappy cur, and
+all the boys yelling after him, throwing dirt, and striking at him with
+sticks.  What next?  Everyone in the street ran to the door, and saw
+the brute tearing down the way, with his tail between his legs.  Then
+out of every door rushed all the house-dogs, the butcher's dog, and the
+coach-dog, and even the little lap-dog jumped up, and ran down stairs,
+and out of the door, to join in the barking, and away went all the dogs
+of the place after the poor wretch.  There was a tumult!  And the
+people in their doors and at their windows shouted, and one said, "Kill
+him! he is mad!" and another, "He has bitten a woman!" and another, "He
+has stolen some meat!" and another, "He has knocked over a child!"
+
+Now all this arose from one boy throwing a stone at a harmless dog.
+And all the things said about the dog were untrue.  The proverb was
+verified, "Give a dog a bad name, and you may hang him."
+
+Is not this very much like what takes place among men?  Someone throws
+blame on a poor harmless person for no cause in the world but out of
+sheer malevolence, or love of mischief, and at once others join in.
+Everyone has something to say, everyone joins in the general abuse.  No
+lack of blame.  No lack of unkind things said.  And--all untrue, all
+unjust!
+
+I do not mean to say that when a person has done what is wrong we are
+not to speak of it at all; but what I do say is, that we should be very
+careful indeed not to cast blame till we are quite sure that we are
+justified in doing so.  "As for this way, we know that it is everywhere
+spoken against," was what was said of Christianity.  All sorts of bad,
+lying things were said of the early Christians, that they killed and
+ate children, that they practised horrible idolatries: the stories were
+not true, but they were believed, simply because everyone said these
+things were done.
+
+III.  Now this is the advice I give you:--
+
+_a_.  Be sure that blame is just before you cast it.
+
+_b_.  Be merciful in attributing blame even when it is deserved.
+
+First:--Be sure that you have real cause to cast blame, be sure that
+you are not committing a great injustice, and doing another a grievous
+injury which is unmerited.
+
+"Do to others as you would they should do to you."  Consider how
+miserable you would feel were you the subject of unmerited blame.
+
+Secondly:--Be merciful in attributing blame even when it is deserved.
+Remember that you yourself are not guiltless.  There are things that
+you have done which deserve censure quite as much as those things you
+blame in others.  One day a woman, taken in adultery, was brought
+before Christ, and the Jews desired to stone her to death because of
+her sin.  Then our Lord said, "He that is without sin among you, let
+him first cast a stone at her."  And when they heard it, being
+convicted by their own consciences, they went out, one by one,
+beginning at the eldest even unto the last.
+
+I say to you: when you are inclined to cast blame, even when just,
+think, "Am I without sin, that I should judge and condemn another?"
+
+
+
+
+XLVI.
+
+_PETTY DISHONESTY._
+
+9th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke xvi, 3, 4.
+
+"What shall I do?--I am resolved what to do."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--The dishonest Steward in to-day's Gospel shows us the
+natural tendency of the human heart when in a scrape--to have recourse
+to dishonesty to escape from it.  He knows that he is about to be
+turned out of his stewardship because he has been wasteful--not
+dishonest, but wasteful.  He has not been a prudent and saving steward,
+but a sort of happy-go-lucky man who has not kept the accounts
+carefully, and has been content so long as he has not lost much money.
+So soon as he sees himself about to be turned out of his stewardship,
+he is wakened out of his easy-going ways with a shock, and he says to
+himself, "Here am I in a predicament!  I shall lose my livelihood, and
+am not likely to get another situation; I am too old to work with my
+hands for my living, and I have too much self-respect to try.  What can
+I do?--I am resolved what to do.  I will cheat my master."
+
+SUBJECT.--I believe that a very similar process goes on now-a-days in a
+great many hearts.  Bad times come.  What is to be done?  There is
+nothing for it but to be just a little bit dishonest.  Honesty won't
+pay.  So the manufacturer weaves bad silk, and makes shoddy cloth, and
+the wine-merchant doctors his wine, and the brewer his ale, and the
+milkman puts water into his milk, and the butterman sells butter made
+of Thames mud, and the calico is dressed with chalk, and the ready-made
+clothes come to pieces because the thread's ends are not fastened, and
+the farm work is half done, and the whole trade and commerce of the
+country is one great system of adulteration and petty cheating.
+
+I.  Abraham was a very scrupulous man.  In all his dealings he was
+perfectly just and honourable.  Once five kings came into the valley of
+the Jordan, and made a sudden onslaught on the towns there; they
+carried away all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and thoroughly sacked
+the cities.  They did not only that, but they carried off as well a
+great number of the inhabitants as captives.  Then Abraham lent his
+servants to the king of Sodom to help him to recover the booty and
+liberate the captives, and there was a battle, the result of which was
+that the five kings were defeated, and all the spoil and the prisoners
+recovered.  Then the King of Sodom offered Abraham the booty in
+repayment for his valuable services.  He said, "Give me the persons,
+and take the goods to thyself."  But Abraham answered, "No!  I will not
+take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and I will not take any
+thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abraham
+rich."  Now, this was just an occasion when he might have fairly
+claimed remuneration from the recovered plunder, but no! he was far too
+scrupulous.  He knew of what that plunder consisted--it was made up of
+the household goods of the inhabitants of the towns of Sodom and
+Gomorrah; of all the sticks of furniture, and clothes, and crockery,
+and household ornaments that the people valued.  He would not deprive
+them of one, lest they should think that Abraham had enriched himself
+at their expense.  He puts an extreme case,--lest some poor woman
+should lament that she had lost all her thread wherewith to mend her
+torn clothes, and say, "Ah!  I had plenty of thread once, but Abraham
+has it now," or another should say, "I have no buckle to my shoe,
+Abraham has taken of the spoil, and my shoe-buckle he has got now."
+
+Well, now listen to what follows immediately.  This upright conduct of
+Abraham so pleased God, that we read, "After these things the word of
+the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abraham: I am
+thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."
+
+How many are there now who act like Abraham?  How many who fear lest it
+should be said of them that they had been enriched by those whose money
+they had no right to take?  There would be fewer failing banks, and the
+little stores of widows and orphans swallowed up, were the bankers more
+of the mind of Abraham.  There would be fewer swindling speculations
+swallowing up the savings of the thrifty, if men shrank from taking
+that which is not lawfully and fairly their own.
+
+II.  All purchases, and all agreements for labour, are contracts.  The
+purchaser asks for one thing, and of that thing a certain amount, and
+if for his money he is given another thing, or a smaller amount than
+that for which he has paid, then there is dishonesty.  If you went to a
+shop and asked for a pound of tea, and were given something which was
+not tea, or tea which weighed less than a pound, you would be dealt
+with dishonestly.  So if you go into another shop to buy flannel, and
+purchase three yards, and then when you come home and measure it, you
+find that it is six inches short, you would have been dealt with
+dishonestly.  In both cases you would be exceedingly angry with the
+traders, and justly so.  But consider, do you always act justly with
+your employers?  When you are hired for a day's work, do you give good
+work?  And is the time just measure?  Or is there much idling and
+talking when you are unobserved?
+
+Let there be honour and fairness all round.  How would you like to be
+paid in clipped coin, that was not full weight?  And yet you have no
+scruple in giving clipped time, and work in short weight.  I speak
+plainly about this, for it is a crying evil of the day.  There is
+everywhere apparent a lack of conscientiousness in the dealings of man
+with man.  We used to do a large trade with our manufactures in Europe
+and the East, and now we have to a large extent lost it--because we
+have sent out bad material and sold it as good.  It is a common
+complaint that men do not work now as well as of old in every
+department of industry.  They rob their masters of time and labour,
+which they have contracted to give.  Then the masters say, "What shall
+we do?--we are resolved what we will do, we will make up the loss by
+adulteration of our goods."  Then purchasers discover this and refuse
+to buy, so the trade of the country declines.
+
+III.  Remember, then, in all your transactions, how Abraham dealt with
+the King of Sodom, and how God rewarded him for his honesty, and you
+may be very sure that God will not overlook you if you deal with others
+faithfully.  The eye of God is over all, and He sees whether you fulfil
+your obligations honestly or not, and He will certainly bless
+abundantly those who recognise His presence.  S. Paul bids all who
+serve others--we all do that in one way or another--do their duty, not
+with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as though they were working for
+Christ, not as if they were doing the will of man, but the will of God,
+from the heart, "Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the
+same shall he receive of the Lord."
+
+
+
+
+XLVII.
+
+_THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN._
+
+10th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke xix, 42.
+
+"If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things
+which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--I spoke to you the other day about the measure of sin,
+and showed you that there was a certain limit allotted to every man,
+beyond which he could not go and still expect forgiveness, a point in
+the downward course at which the Holy Spirit will cease to strive to
+hold him back.  We see in this day's Gospel that there is also a Day of
+Grace, a period, that is, during which God is ready to give pardon and
+strength and guidance, and that if this Day of Grace be wasted, then
+those things belonging to our eternal peace which were offered are
+withdrawn, or hidden from the eyes.  This is, in fact, the same thing
+as what I said about the measure of sin; after a time of sin and
+neglect, the opportunity for redeeming the past is lost beyond recall,
+and that time is measured out by the amount of the transgressions of
+the person or the people with whom God is dealing.
+
+SUBJECT.--I am not, however, going to speak to you again on this
+subject from another aspect, but of sin itself, and the consequences it
+brings.  Those consequences we overlook.  We believe that God for
+Christ's sake pardons sin and wipes away transgressions, but we forget
+altogether that He does not deliver us from the consequences of sin,
+or, at least, not from all of them.
+
+I.  Sin is the transgression of God's commandment.  And it entails
+three consequences.  1. It separates from God.  2. It entails
+punishment.  3. It leaves a stain.
+
+God has given His Commandments for the good of men.  They are the
+maxims by which they must rule their conduct, in order that the world
+may go on in peace and orderliness, and that they may remain in
+communion with Him.  Sin is the violation of this law, the break-up of
+order, the disturbance of peace, and the interruption of communion.
+
+II.  _It separates from God_.  When mortal sin has been committed, the
+flow of divine grace is arrested, just as when something gets into a
+pipe it chokes it, so that the stream of water can no longer run till
+the stoppage is removed.  Thus the presence of mortal sin in the
+conscience at once cuts off from the favour of God, and prevents growth
+in the spiritual life.  The sinner is guilty in the sight of God, and
+if he die in unpardoned deadly sin, stands in great danger of being
+lost.
+
+Now, here it is that Christ intervenes.  He reconciles the sinner to
+the Father, and He takes away the barrier which separates them.  He
+removes the stoppage which interferes with the flow of Grace.  In one
+word, He removes the guilt.  That is the work of the Atonement.  For
+this Christ died.  But for the Cross of Calvary, man, once alienated
+from God by sin, must remain in alienation.  "Christ," says S. Paul,
+"having made peace through the blood of the Cross, hath reconciled all
+things unto Himself.  And you, that were sometimes alienated and
+enemies in your mind by wicked works, now hath He reconciled in the
+body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable
+and unreproveable in God's sight."
+
+_It entails suffering_.  God's law is that all sin must be
+punished--that is, where there is transgression, suffering must follow.
+When a man squanders his fortune by extravagance, he may bitterly
+repent, but he continues to suffer for his folly.  When a man has got
+drunk, he may be full of sorrow for what he has done, but he has a
+headache next day all the same.  When a woman has lost her character,
+she may weep tears of bitter repentance, and God may pardon her as He
+pardoned Magdalen, but she can never recover her character, and must
+suffer the consequences of her act.  In this world or in the next, all
+sin must be expiated by suffering.  Christ by His death removed the
+guilt of sin, but not the suffering for sin.  S. Peter bids us remember
+that suffering remains a consequence, for he exhorts us, "Forasmuch as
+Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
+the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from
+sin."  That is, the sin is wholly expiated only when the suffering it
+brings after it has been undergone.
+
+_It leaves a stain or scar_.  No man is the same after sinning as he
+was before.  The sin may be forgiven and suffered for, but the scar
+remains on his soul.  The soul as it leaves the hand of God is white
+and innocent, in its passage through life it meets with many
+self-inflicted wounds, these wounds of the soul are sin.  Thus it
+suffers till the wound is healed, and the medicine of the soul is the
+blood of Christ.  The blood heals, but the scar remains.  The soul, as
+seen by God and angels, is marked all over with the traces of the sins
+which have torn it.  The baptized child is given a robe of innocence
+white as snow.  Every sin is a stain upon it, and if you could see now,
+as angels see, your baptismal garment, you would find it spotted and
+smeared all over.  Suppose I were to take this surplice and splash it
+over with ink, I might with much labour take out the ink stains, but
+never so entirely cleanse it that no trace remains.  Or I might walk in
+it through the bushes, and get it torn with the thorns and brambles.
+Then all the rents might be carefully darned up, but--the surplice
+would never look as sound and beautiful as when new.
+
+This is precisely like the state of the soul after sin, it is torn and
+stained, and although the sins may be forgiven, and the stains washed,
+and the rents healed, yet to the end of life the marks remain of where
+they have been, the effects are uneffaced.
+
+III.  Now what are some of these effects?  In the first place, every
+sin weakens the soul.  It takes from it not only its innocence, but its
+power of resistance.  Just as a wound weakens you by the loss of blood,
+so a sin weakens you by loss of resisting power.  You are not so strong
+to fight against evil after sinning as you were before.
+
+In the second place, you have become more careless and even hardened
+about sin than you were before.  When you have a new coat or gown, you
+are very careful of it that it be not spotted and torn, but once it
+loses its first newness, you are not so particular, and the more
+spotted and torn it becomes, the less you care for the injuries done
+it, you say, "It is an old dress and very much used, another stain or
+patch does not matter."  So with the soul, when you have become
+accustomed to sinning, you no longer dread sin.
+
+CONCLUSION.--And now remember, in this thy day, the things that belong
+to thy peace, and dread sin for its consequences, lest by over much
+confidence you may exceed your measure, and then the chance of recovery
+will be gone from you for ever.
+
+
+
+
+XLVIII.
+
+_SELF-INSPECTION._
+
+11th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke xviii., 13.
+
+"The Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes
+unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me
+a sinner."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--I have spoken to you on former occasions pretty strongly
+upon the evil of backbiting, slandering, and casting of blame without
+sufficient cause.  I am not going to address this day those who speak
+evil, but those of whom evil is spoken.
+
+The Publican in the Parable stood far from the Pharisee, who had no
+good word for him, even in his prayer, and he took a great deal of
+blame to heart, and prayed to God for mercy on him for his
+shortcomings.  No doubt the Publican was well aware in what estimation
+he was held by the people, and how utterly he was despised by the
+Pharisee.  The Publican was the tax-gatherer, and as the tax-gatherers
+in those days were often hard men, and exacted more than was due to the
+State, that they might pocket the difference, the general opinion was
+that they were all of them dishonest men, and men without hearts.  This
+was not true, we know, of this Publican, nor of Zacchaeus, nor of Levi,
+who are commended in the Gospel.  Perhaps this Publican who was
+praying, saw the Pharisee cast a contemptuous glance at him, perhaps he
+even heard the words of his prayer, but if so, he made no attempt at
+justifying himself.  His prayer was not, "God, I am not what other men
+say of me, unjust, hard-hearted, peculating, exacting: on the contrary,
+I am strictly honest in my dealings, and I am very forbearing and
+tender-hearted, and I do not press for payment when no money is to be
+got."  No! nothing of the sort! all he says is--"God, be merciful to
+me, a sinner."
+
+SUBJECT.--I would have those who are blamed by others, instead of
+manifesting great eagerness to excuse themselves, and clamouring
+against those who speak against them, look into their own hearts and
+lives, and see if there be not something blameworthy there.
+
+I.  King Philip of Macedon was informed by some of his courtiers that
+one of his officers, Nicanor by name, was always speaking evil of him,
+that wherever Nicanor was, there he did nothing but grumble against the
+king, and disparage and blame him.  What was to be done?  Should he be
+arrested and thrown into prison.  "No!" said King Philip, "Before
+punishing Nicanor, I must look and see whether I have not given
+occasion for this abuse of me."  Then the king thought things over, and
+it occurred to him for the first time that he had not rewarded Nicanor
+for some signal services he had rendered him.  By some oversight no
+notice had been taken of Nicanor, though he had risked his life for the
+king.  Then Philip sent for him, and gave him a good appointment, which
+brought him in a handsome income, and was one of great honour.  Some
+while after, Philip said to his courtiers, "How does Nicanor speak of
+me now?"  They answered that he was never weary of praising the king.
+Then Philip said, "Do you not see? it lies in ourselves whether we are
+well or evil spoken of."
+
+It is seldom indeed that you will escape blame, that evil of some sort
+will not be spoken about you.  When that is the case, remember what
+Philip said, "I must look and see whether I have not given occasion."
+Always go to your own heart, always examine your own life, and see
+whether, after all, there be not something there which is wrong or
+unwise, and which may be altered, so as to cut off occasion from evil
+speakers.  As the proverb says, "There is no smoke without a fire," and
+it is not often that blame is cast without there being some cause for
+it.  It may be attributed unjustly, but it is sometimes just, though
+excessive.  Everything casts a shadow, and if you see a shadow you may
+be sure there is some body to cast it, though the shape and size of the
+shadow may be wholly unlike and out of proportion to the object which
+throws it.  A tree casts a shadow, a house casts a shadow, a needle
+casts a shadow, even a hair--where the shadow is, there is some
+substance to fling it; where great blame is cast, there is some
+occasion for it.  You may have stood on a rock, and seen your shadow
+thrown all down a valley and up the side of an opposite hill, an
+enormous figure, and a ridiculous caricature of yourself.  So the blame
+cast on you is often excessive and altogether unreasonable and
+monstrous.  Nevertheless it would never be cast at all unless there
+were some little fault to cast it.  Stick up a pin on a table when the
+sun is low, and it will throw a shadow from one end of the table to the
+other, four feet long, and the pin is only an inch in height.  So is it
+with faults: little faults throw long shadows, cause great talk, but
+there would be no talk at all if the little faults were not there.
+
+II.  What then is it that you should do?  Examine yourselves whenever
+you are blamed, and do your utmost to correct what is amiss in you.
+"Blessed are ye," said our Lord, "when men shall revile you, and shall
+say all manner of evil against you falsely."  Why?  Why when falsely?
+Because it will make you all the more watchful that you give no
+offence, that you avoid even the appearance of evil.  Blessed are ye
+when men revile you, and say all manner of evil against you, for then
+you will examine yourselves, and if you see there is any ground
+whatever for what they say, you will amend your ways; and blessed are
+ye when they speak evil against you falsely, for then, though their
+blame be exaggerated and lying, yet it will make you infinitely more
+particular to live a blameless life, and to have a conscience void of
+offence toward God and men.
+
+CONCLUSION.--If you do not use for your self-correction any blame you
+may undergo, then you may be sure that more and more will attach to
+you.  You may surmount one calumny, but others will follow at its
+heels.  In Revelation we hear that an angel cried, "One woe is past;
+and behold there come two woes more hereafter."  So will it be with
+you, if the first woe does not profit you to make you better.  If the
+plague of stinging, tormenting insects had made Pharaoh better, and
+amend his ways, the other plagues would not have fallen upon him.
+Thus, when you are tormented by evil tongues and spiteful words, if you
+do not strive your utmost to live better lives, and undo any wrong you
+may have committed, though the first woe may be past: behold, there
+will come two more woes hereafter.
+
+
+
+
+XLIX.
+
+_PERFECTION TO BE SOUGHT._
+
+12th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Mark vii., 37.
+
+"He hath done all things well."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--It was said by an old heathen writer that God cares for
+Adverbs rather than for Substantives.  That is to say, God had rather
+have things done _well_, than that the things should be merely done.
+He had rather have you pray earnestly than pray, communicate piously
+than merely communicate, forgive your enemies heartily than say you
+forgive, work diligently than spend so many hours at work, do your duty
+thoroughly than solely be content with discharging your duty.
+
+Of Christ, observe what is said.  It is not "He hath opened the eyes of
+the blind, He hath unstopped the ears of the deaf.  He hath loosed the
+tongue of the dumb, He hath healed the sick," but--"He hath done all
+things well."  The eyes do not become dull again, nor the ears again
+lose their power of hearing, nor the tongue stutter once more, nor the
+sick relapse into their sickness--what He hath done He hath done well
+and thoroughly.
+
+SUBJECT.--This, then, is what God desires of you--whatever you
+undertake, to do it well.  Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with
+all your might.  If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing
+well.  It is not sufficient for us to coldly perform our duties, we
+must perform them with zeal and thoroughness.
+
+The prophet Amos was one day shown a vision.  "Behold, the Lord stood
+upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand.  And the
+Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou?  And I said, A plumbline.
+Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my
+people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more."
+
+In this vision we have the work of God, as carried out by the
+Israelites, represented under the form of a wall.  God had given them
+certain duties to perform, so much work in this world to be done for
+Him, and He left them to themselves for a while.  Then they thought,
+"God is not here, He is not a hard overseer, we will work as we like,
+and take it easy.  So long as the thing is done, it does not matter
+very much how it is done."  So they did every thing in a careless,
+slovenly manner.  They neglected their duties or carried them out in a
+bare formal manner.  If we come back to the comparison of a wall, it
+was just as though masons engaged on one put in any sort of stones, any
+how, and did not trouble whether they built it in line and upright,
+whether some of the stones stuck too far out, and some were too far in.
+
+Then God appears to Amos and says, "I will not again pass by them any
+more; there has been too much of this sort of work.  I will not
+overlook it, I will try it with the plumbline of My justice, and the
+bad work shall be pulled down, the jutting stones knocked away, and the
+crooked wall made straight."
+
+This vision applies to you quite as much as to the Jews.  You have got
+a set task: you have to build up the wall of the Lord, that is, day by
+day you have to work at your salvation, and put in at least one stone
+so as to raise the work, and what you build must be good, and upright,
+and in line.  You have a prayer to say, say it well, say it with
+devotion.  Then it is a stone put on the wall in its right place, and
+it is a good stone of the right quality.  You have quarrelled with a
+neighbour, you have made it up, heartily and bear no more malice, that
+is a good stone;--forgiveness of injuries--a capital stone that won't
+let the water through.  Lay it level, and lay it upright.  You have a
+chance of showing a kindness to someone who needs, do it quietly and
+without fuss or show.  That will stand.  It was otherwise with the
+Pharisees.  When they did their alms, they made a noise and called
+attention to it.  That was like putting a stone in the wall that stuck
+a long way out, so that all might see it.  When the Lord comes with His
+plumbline, He will knock it off with His trowel, and it will go all to
+pieces like a bit of slate, and be no good at all.  You come to church,
+and you take my sermon home.  What will you do with it?  Toss it away
+on your road home, and make no use at all of it?  I hope not; build the
+lesson I am giving you tight into your lives, and it will raise your
+wall, and you can lay other good lessons on top of it.  What do you do
+with your Sunday?  Is it wasted in lounging about, ferreting rabbits,
+idle talking?  If it be so, then it will add nothing to the wall of
+your salvation.  It will be like a mere lump of earth put in where
+there should have been a stone; it will wash out and leave a hole.
+
+Now remember that our great architect, Jesus Christ, is the man with
+the plumbline, and He will go over all our work and try how it is done,
+and whether it is upright and likely to stand.
+
+II.  S. Paul gives another help to us to understand the parable of the
+wall.  He says that we are building the wall of our salvation on the
+cornerstone of Christ, and he goes on to say, "Now if any man build
+upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
+stubble: every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
+declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall
+try every man's work of what sort it is.  If any man's work abide which
+he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward."
+
+S. Paul, you see, says that the wall will be proved with fire, that is,
+that God will try all men's work and see of what sort it is--good,
+moderate, or worthless.  The worthless will disappear in the judgment,
+the moderate will be seen in its faulty condition, but the good will
+last for ever.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Try, then, to look upon your life as a time of building up
+the work of your salvation, and at every day as contributing something
+towards it.  Ask yourself each day, What have I done to-day towards
+this work set me?  And if I have done anything towards it, how has it
+been done?  Moreover, try to do all things well, to be zealous and
+thorough in every thing you undertake.
+
+Also, offer all you do to God, and ask Him to prove it, and to cut off
+from it all that is faulty, and to enable you to do better in time to
+come.
+
+When Nehemiah had rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, and restored much that
+was cast down, and put right many abuses, he prayed, "Remember me, O my
+God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done."
+Let this also be your prayer, that He may look on all you do for Him
+and bless it, and remember it for good, in the day when He tries every
+man's work of what sort it is.
+
+
+
+
+L.
+
+_ZEAL._
+
+13th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke x., 23.
+
+"What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--The Kingdom of Heaven, said our Lord, is like unto a
+treasure hid in a field.  One day a man is turning over the stones
+which lie in a heap in a corner of the field, and he finds under them
+an iron chest, and this chest he believes to be full of gold.  Then he
+carefully covers it up again with stones and earth, and goes off in the
+greatest excitement to the owner of the field, and offers him a price,
+and when that is refused he sells his house, and garden, and everything
+he can turn into money, and gives that to the owner in exchange for the
+field.
+
+I fear this is rather a picture of what ought to be than what is.  No
+doubt whatever that we ought to show just as great eagerness to gain
+the Kingdom of Heaven, as did that man to buy the field.  No doubt we
+ought to be just as eager to cast away everything that stands in the
+way, to divest ourselves of every thing we have, in order that we may
+gain the Kingdom of Heaven,--but, as a matter of fact, we show very
+little eagerness about it, and we are very indifferent whether we gain
+it or lose it.
+
+SUBJECT.--What we need is more zeal, more enthusiasm, more earnestness
+in our quest.
+
+I.  King Solomon built the Temple at Jerusalem.  He was engaged on it
+seven years, and after that, he built his own house, and on that he
+spent thirteen years.  He therefore spent very nearly twice as much
+time and labour, and I doubt not, money over his own house than he did
+over the work of God's house; he was wise and good, and he did a great
+deal for God, but he did more for himself, and not only for himself,
+but for his wives, since he built for them as well.
+
+It is just so with us, we are ready to do something of God's work, to
+seek a little the Kingdom of Heaven, but we do not put our heart in
+that work, all our heart and zeal is reserved for our own worldly
+affairs and our temporal interests.
+
+One day a heathen maiden came to the princess Pulcheria, sister of the
+Emperor Theodosius, to complain to her that she was an orphan, and that
+her two brothers had turned her out of the house on her father's death,
+and had taken all his inheritance to themselves.  Now the Emperor
+Theodosius, brother of Pulcheria, a young man, was behind a curtain,
+and heard the girl pleading her cause with many tears, and he saw how
+beautiful she was, and he loved her, and resolved to make her his wife
+and exalt her to be Empress of the East.  Pulcheria bade her come
+another day, and then she told the maiden what was intended.  After
+that she was taught the faith of Christ, and was baptized, and is known
+in history as the Empress Eudoxia.  Now when she came from her baptism,
+Pulcheria noticed that she was crying, and she went to her lovingly and
+said, "Why are you bathed in tears, Eudoxia?"  And then the young girl
+answered, "When you told me that I was to become the wife of
+Theodosius, and Empress of the East, my heart was like to burst with
+joy, but now that I have been made a member of Christ, a child of God,
+and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven, I feel no such exceeding
+joy, but take it all without any emotion,--and I am grieved at my
+coldness and want of faith.  That is why I am crying."
+
+Is it not very much the same with us?  Anything that concerns our
+earthly welfare fills us with excitement, but we trouble ourselves very
+little about our spiritual concerns.  If we have a chance of getting 50
+pounds a-year, we are full of delight, but we receive the precious gift
+of God without even gratefulness.  If we knew that an inheritance of a
+thousand pounds was ours if we applied for it, should we not apply?
+But when it comes to our approaching the altar of God to receive the
+Bread of Heaven, the priceless gift of the Body of our Lord, which will
+infuse into our mortal flesh the germ of immortality, we turn
+listlessly away.  If we had an acquaintance who, we thought, could put
+us into a good way of making our fortune, we would be always at his
+heels, but we are cold and careless about seeking God in His house, and
+in prayer, and yet our eternal welfare depends on our retaining His
+favour.
+
+II.  Now, this is not a satisfactory condition to be in.  "The Kingdom
+of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by storm," said
+our Lord, and He meant that if Heaven is to be won, it must be won by
+those who are in earnest, and vehement in their desire to get it.
+Half-hearted soldiers are not good soldiers.  Half-hearted servants are
+poor servants, half-hearted workers are unsatisfactory workers, and the
+battle we have to fight is a hard one, it is a battle against flesh and
+blood, against Satan and all his host, against the world, and against
+our own wills.  Is such a battle to be won when we go into it without
+any desire to be conquerors?  We are servants of God, and given a work
+in this world to do.  Are we likely to do it if half-hearted?  Are we
+likely to keep His commandments, if we care just a little to please
+Him, but only a little?  Are we likely to win our wage, Eternal Life,
+if we do not work zealously, but waste the time of work in half-hearted
+trifling with our task?
+
+No, we must be in earnest.  We want zeal.  How are we to acquire this?
+This is what the Holy Ghost gives.  Before Pentecost the disciples were
+half-hearted, and when temptation and trial came, they fell away and
+did not follow their Master.  But after the Holy Ghost came down, then
+they were of one heart and mind, and their souls were inflamed with
+zeal, they cared nothing what became of them, so long as they won the
+Kingdom of Heaven.  "I count all things as dung," said S. Paul, "if so
+be I may win Christ."
+
+III.  The Holy Ghost is still in the Church, and still His mission is
+to impart zeal.  He will come to you, if you pray, and will inflame you
+with that fire which will make your hearts burn within you, and give
+you no rest till you have set about the work appointed you by God.  "I
+am come," said Christ, "to send fire on the earth: and what will I, if
+it be already kindled?"  That fire is the fire of zeal; and it is for
+that fire we pray in the Whitsuntide hymn,
+
+  "Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
+  And lighten with celestial fire."
+
+
+
+
+LI.
+
+_GRATITUDE._
+
+14th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke xvii. 18.
+
+"There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this
+stranger."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION,--There is nothing that the merciful God desires more from
+man than thanks, and there is nothing of which He receives less.  In
+the Gospel for to-day we have an example.  Christ performs a notable
+miracle.  He heals ten lepers, and only one returns to thank Him.  The
+disease from which He delivered them was disgusting, and it was one
+which cut the sufferers off from association with other men.  They
+might not approach, under penalty of death, a man who was sound.  All
+at once they are healed.  The disgusting disease is removed, and they
+are restored to the society of their fellow-men.  Yet nine out of the
+ten are ungrateful, they do not take the trouble to give thanks to Him
+who had healed them.
+
+SUBJECT.--That story is repeated over and over again.  We are
+incessantly receiving blessings from God, and nine to one, but we do
+not thank Him: we take them as a matter of course.  However, God
+expects thanks.  S. Paul exhorts us, "In everything give thanks: for
+this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  And again,
+"Give thanks always, for all things, unto God and the Father, in the
+name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  And again, "Whatsoever ye do in word
+or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and
+the Father by Him."
+
+I.  When the children of Israel reached the river Jordan, on their way
+into the Promised Land, out of the wilderness in which they had
+wandered forty years, Joshua bade the priests that bare the ark go down
+into the river.  And as soon as their feet were dipped in the water,
+the river was divided, "The waters which came down from above stood and
+rose up upon an heap; and those that came down towards the sea of the
+plain failed, and were cut off, and the people passed over right
+against Jericho.  And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of
+the Lord, stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the
+Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed
+clean over Jordan."
+
+Now when this had taken place, Joshua ordered twelve men, one out of
+every tribe, to go down into the river, and each bring up a large stone
+out of the bed of the river, from the place where the priests had
+stood, and plant them in the earth, on the bank, at the place where
+they lodged that night.  But this was not all.  They were to carry as
+huge stones as they could manage down into the bed of the river, and
+set them up also there, so big and strong as to stand above the surface
+of the stream, and resist the force of the current.  This seems a
+curious proceeding, does it not? to take twelve stones out of the bed
+of the river and plant them on the ground, and roll twelve great stones
+off the bank into the river, and set them up there.
+
+What was the purpose of this?  Listen to what Joshua says: "This shall
+be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time
+to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?  Then ye shall answer
+them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the
+covenant of the Lord, when it passed over Jordan; and these stones
+shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever."  In one
+word, they were to be perpetual reminders to the Israelites to be
+grateful to God for having brought them into the land promised to their
+fathers, the land flowing with milk and honey.
+
+Very well! how many times has God sent you great deliverances, and
+brought great blessings upon you: has carried you through great
+dangers: has brought you out of the depths of sickness?  Over and over
+again has He done this.  He blesses you every day.  Look around--you,
+too, have got your tokens set up as a memorial unto you for ever.  Look
+at your houses, they are memorials to you of what God has brought you
+into.  Look at your children, every one of them is a little mark-stone
+or memorial of God's goodness to you.  Look at your health, your good
+strong arms.  They should be to you memorials for ever of God's loving
+protection extended towards you.  Look at your conscience, which stings
+you when you do wrong, which approves when you do right.  What is that
+but a mark-stone or memorial that God's Good Spirit has been given you
+to be a guide?  Look at this church, it is a mark-stone or memorial to
+you that God's word sounds in your ears, and God's Sacraments are
+celebrated for your benefit.  Look at that altar, it is a memorial for
+ever that Christ died for you, and gives His Body and Blood for the
+strengthening and refreshing of your souls.  Verily, you have only to
+look into your homes, and look through your lives, and you will find
+many and many a memorial set up to remind you of, the love of God, and
+also--mark this!--to be thankful.
+
+II.  When Jacob was dying, he said to Joseph, "Behold, I die, but God
+shall be with you.  I have given to thee one portion above thy
+brethren."  Now, my brethren, there are diversities of gifts, you have
+all received of God many gifts, some of one sort, some of another.  I
+turn to the rich.  You have been given wealth, whilst so many are poor.
+"God hath given to thee one portion above thy brethren."  What use do
+you make of it?  Are you thankful?
+
+I turn to those with talents.  "God hath given to thee one portion
+above thy brethren."  What use do you make of the talent committed you?
+Are you thankful?
+
+I look at you who are so healthy and robust.  There are numbers infirm
+and ailing.  "God hath given to thee one portion above thy brethren."
+How do you show your thankfulness?
+
+You, tradesmen!  On all sides I see men failing in business, but to you
+work comes, as much as you can execute.  Well, "God hath given to thee
+one portion above thy brethren."  Are you grateful?
+
+And you, good house-wife!  You have got a steady, affectionate husband,
+and, alas! so many have drunken or unthrifty mates, or husbands with
+bad tempers.  Verily, "God hath given to thee one portion above thy
+sisters."  Thank Him, thank Him on your knees.
+
+CONCLUSION.--"In everything give thanks," says S. Paul.  Remember, Adam
+and Eve were in Paradise surrounded by every blessing, but we do not
+hear that they thanked God for them, and they lost them.  Beware lest a
+thankless spirit forfeit those good things which you now enjoy.
+"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits!  Who
+forgiveth all thy sin: and healeth all thine infirmities: Who saveth
+thy life from destruction; and crowneth thee with mercy and
+loving-kindness."
+
+
+
+
+LII.
+
+_TRUST IN GOD._
+
+15th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. vi. 31.
+
+"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--We read in ancient Roman history that a general named
+Aemilius Paulus was appointed to the Roman army in a time of war and
+great apprehension.  He found in the army a sad condition of affairs,
+there were more officers than fighting men, and all these officers
+wanted to have their advice taken, and the war conducted in accordance
+with their several opinions.  Then Aemilius Paulus said to them, "Hold
+your tongues, and sharpen your swords, and leave the rest to me."
+
+It seems to me that our Lord's advice in this day's Gospel is of
+somewhat the same nature.  He finds in the army of His Church everyone
+clamouring after his worldly affairs, wanting this, and objecting to
+that, all seeking their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ.  Then
+He says, "Hold your tongues, and sharpen your swords, and leave the
+rest to Me.  Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or what shall
+we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed?  Your heavenly Father
+knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the
+kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
+added unto you."
+
+SUBJECT.--In our great solicitude after our temporal welfare, we do not
+seek first our spiritual welfare, but put that altogether in the
+background.  In fact, we do not trust God, we trust ourselves chiefly.
+We fear if we do not devote our whole attention to our worldly
+prosperity, we shall not get on.  And so we neither seek the kingdom of
+God, nor the righteousness of God; we seek only the world and the
+things that are in the world.  If we had more trust in God, it would
+not be so.
+
+I.  The Bible is made up of six classes of books.  To the first class
+belong the historical books.  To the second the book of Psalms.  To the
+third class belong the books that deal with Wisdom.  To the fourth the
+Prophets.  To the fifth the Gospels, and to the sixth the canonical
+Epistles.
+
+Now in all these different classes of books we find the same assurance
+made by God, that if we will but attend to our spiritual concerns, He
+will see that our temporal affairs do not suffer.  In one of the first
+historical books we have this promise (Levit. xxvi. 3, 4, 5), "If ye
+walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments and do them; then I will
+give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and
+the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and ye shall eat your
+bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely."  In the book of
+Psalms David says (xxiv. 9), "O fear the Lord, ye that are His saints:
+for they that fear Him lack nothing," and again (xlv. 23), "O cast thy
+burden upon the Lord, and He will nourish thee."  In the books that
+deal with Wisdom we have (Proverbs x. 3) "The Lord will not suffer the
+soul of the righteous to famish."  In the Prophets (Isai i. 19), "If ye
+be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land."  In the
+Gospels (S. Matt. vi. 33), "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
+righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  In the
+Epistles (Pet. v. 7), "Cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for
+you."
+
+We are generally perfectly satisfied when we have an agreement drawn
+out between man and man,--one promise on one scrap of paper is enough,
+but here we have at least five, and I could produce you plenty of
+others, yet, because it is a bond signed by God, you mistrust it, O ye
+of little faith.  You will take a bond signed by a Jew, but not one
+signed by God.
+
+II.  "Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
+things."  Is God not our Father?  There is no Father like to Him, no
+Father loves us as He does.  If He loves us, will He not care for us?
+What good father will neglect his child, and deny it those things that
+are necessary for it?  Ask any little boy whom you see in rags, 'My
+child, why are you in rags?  What will you do to get a new suit?  You
+have nothing of your own.'  Certainly, his natural and proper answer
+should be, 'I will ask my father.  He will supply me.'  When a child is
+hungry, whither should it go?  To whom should it apply?  To its father.
+Why then do not we trust our Heavenly Father as any little child will
+trust its father on earth?  Yet we know that He is our Father, and is,
+as S. Paul says, "rich in mercies" Our Lord bids us look at the birds
+of the air.  Who feeds them?  Their Creator.  Will He not then care for
+us far more, who are His noblest creatures?
+
+III.  A great poetical and satirical writer (Horace) says that this was
+the popular maxim of his day, "Seek money first, and be good
+afterwards." [1]  What he had the boldness to say, a great people have
+the boldness to do.  They leave the kingdom of Heaven to be sought,
+after they have spent their lives in seeking the things of this world.
+But the things of this world sought without God will not profit.
+
+When Isaac set his sons to bring him venison, that he might bless them
+and die, Jacob arrived first with the savoury meat; then Isaac lifted
+up his voice and blessed his son; "God give thee of the dew of Heaven,
+and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine."  Afterwards
+Esau came in with venison.  And when he saw that his brother had
+received the first blessing, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter
+cry, and said unto his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father."
+Then Isaac said to him, "Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of
+the earth, and of the dew of Heaven from above."  Each had the same,
+the richness of golden harvests, the abundance of fruit, and the soft
+dews and rains in their season.  But there was a notable difference,
+adapted to the characters of the two brothers.  Esau was a profane man,
+he disregarded divine things.  He was ready to sell his birthright, his
+privilege to be the forefather of Messiah, for a mess of pottage.  He
+cared not for God, neither was God in all his thoughts.  It was
+otherwise with Jacob, he regarded God, he sought God, he saw God in the
+visions of the night, he strove with God in prayer.  He had set God
+always before him.  And thus these several blessings were apportioned
+to them.  Esau had the fatness of the earth and the dew of Heaven,
+Jacob also had the fatness of the earth and the dew of Heaven, but
+Isaac said to Jacob alone "_God give thee_ all these things."  To Esau
+only "Thou shalt get for thyself all these things."  God before all to
+Jacob, and all these things added unto him.  All these things to Esau,
+and God nowhere.
+
+CONCLUSION.--And now, my brethren, try to trust God more.  Do not give
+up all thought to the concerns of this life, but leave them somewhat on
+the hands of God, whilst you consider the concerns of your soul.  You
+will not suffer for it.  "If ye be willing and obedient, and seek the
+kingdom of Heaven, He will nourish thee."
+
+
+
+[1] "Quaerenda pecunia primum, virtus post nummos."
+
+
+
+
+LIII.
+
+_THE CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH._
+
+16th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke vii. 12.
+
+"Behold, there was a dead man carried out."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--The name of the village where the miracle was wrought
+which is recorded in this day's Gospel, was Nain, and the meaning of
+the name is "Pleasant" or "Beautiful."  A sweet little village, you can
+picture it to yourself where you like, in the East, anywhere in Europe,
+here in England, it is all the same, an "Auburn" among villages, with
+thatched cottages, and green pastures, and the cows coming home lowing
+in the evening, when the curfew tolls the knell of passing day.  The
+grey church tower peeping above the lime trees, and the rooks cawing
+and wheeling above the old trees.  The trim gardens blazing with
+hollyhocks and large white lilies, and the orchards with the apples
+shewing their rosy cheeks to the sun.  The bell is slowly
+tolling--"Behold, a dead man is carried out."  Who is it?  To-day a
+young man, the only son of his mother, and she a widow.  To-morrow the
+old squire, who can no more mount his cob and go after the hounds, his
+whip and red coat are laid aside, and the bell is going.  "Behold, a
+dead man is carried out."  Again the Sexton is working in the
+church-yard, and turning up the fresh smelling earth.  The bell is
+going.  For what?  Up the steps and along under the avenue come little
+girls about a tiny coffin, over which is cast a white pall, and on
+which lies a wreath of white hyacinths.  "Behold, a dead child is
+carried out, the darling of its father."  And now the yellow leaves are
+falling, and are heaped about the feet of the limes, and fall through
+the warm damp air, that smells of dying vegetation, and the priest
+stands in surplice waiting in the path, and the dead leaves drop on the
+coffin as it is borne along.  Who is this?  "Behold a dead woman is
+carried out, an aged mother, with her weeping grown up sons and
+daughters and grandchildren all in black following."
+
+SUBJECT.--It is not a pleasant thing to think of, and yet it is well
+for you to contemplate, that some day the same question will be asked
+as the church bell tolls, Who is this?  Who is dead?  And the same
+answer will come, "Behold, a dead man is carried out," and that will be
+you.  Nothing is more commonplace than to say that we must all die, and
+nothing is less realised and taken to heart and acted upon.
+
+I.  That procession the Saviour met, was coming out of Nain, the
+"Pleasant," the "Beautiful."  And so, every dead man is carried out of
+what is a Nain to him, a pleasant, beautiful world.  It is a pleasant,
+beautiful world.  We cannot deny it.  God made it and pronounced it
+very good.  It has in it many unpleasantnesses, it has in it much that
+is ugly, but there is pleasure and beauty in it still, the traces of
+its own loveliness before sin drew furrows in its face and saddened its
+heart.  A very Nain it is.  We are now in Autumn, and the leaves are
+turning fast.  The dogwood leaves are bright carmine, and the maple
+yellow as sulphur, the last flowers are out in the hedges, the pink
+cranesbill and the blue oxtongue which will hang on till after
+Christmas.  The elder which was so white and fragrant in May, is
+covered now with purple berries, and the ash is hung with scarlet
+beads, so bright, so many, and so beautiful, that the swallows are
+hovering round them all day impatient to begin, and improvident of the
+future.  Nature even in its decay is beautiful, and what was it in
+spring?  Remember the primroses out on every bank, and the anemones in
+the wood, and the blue flush of wild hyacinths in the coppice!  Verily,
+we are in Nain, a pleasant and beautiful place.  Alas! alas! my
+brother! my sister!  Behold there will be a dead man, a dead woman
+carried out from it, to see it no more, and that will be one of us.  Is
+it sad?  Yes, no doubt it is.
+
+II.  But though sad, the thought of it must not be put away.  S. Paul
+says, "We have the sentence of death in ourselves."  We carry about in
+us ever the doom--we are sentenced men--and the sword will fall on us
+some day.  The story is told of a Norwegian king that he promised to
+give a young nobleman any reward he chose to ask for, because of
+something he had done for him.  Then the young man boldly asked for the
+hand of the princess, the only child and heiress to the kingdom.  The
+king answered him, "Yes!  I have promised.  You shall have her hand,
+and lose your head, the same day."  Then a grand wedding was prepared.
+And a stately procession moved to the church, of the bride in white,
+and the bridegroom in his most gallant apparel, but as he went along,
+he heard a sound of a file from the executioner's room, who was
+sharpening his axe.  And he stood before the altar with his bride, and
+the priest joined their hands,--but all the while the executioner was
+sharpening his axe.  Then the bells of the city pealed, and the heralds
+blew their trumpets, and the people shouted, and girls strewed flowers
+in the path, and their way went by the executioner's lodging where he
+was still engaged on his axe.  Then there was a great feast, and wine
+flowed, and the most dainty meats were put on table; it was a hot day,
+and the windows were open, and above the din of tongues and laughter,
+came the thud of a hammer.  In the courtyard of the palace the
+executioner was setting up the scaffold.  And after the banquet came a
+grand ball, and the rooms were lighted up, and the ball-room was hung
+with festoons of flowers, and the bride and bridegroom led the dance,
+but ever as they danced they turned their heads and looked out of the
+window, and saw the scaffold, which was being draped in black.  At
+length, in the midst of all the merriment, the bell began to toll, and
+the door flew open, and before all the dancers stood the executioner
+with his axe in hand and a black mask over his face, and he beckoned to
+the bridegroom to come.  "And behold a living man was carried out--to
+die."
+
+My Brethren, it is not so very different with us.  We carry about the
+sentence of death in ourselves.  Whatever we do, wherever we go, the
+sentence of death is in us.  You do your work.  You are ploughing the
+field and whistling, and you carry, as you make the furrow, the
+sentence of death in yourself.  You are busy about your house-work,
+good-wife, sweeping, dusting, mending, scouring, cooking,--and all the
+while you have the sentence of death in yourself.  You have a holiday,
+and go on a pic-nic, and laugh, and are merry, and come back under the
+evening sky singing and making jokes--but you carry with you to your
+pic-nic and back again the sentence of death in yourselves.
+
+III.  Now if this be so, how ought we to live?  Ought we to thrust the
+thought away from us as horrible?  Ought it to mar our happiness?
+Ought it to disquiet us in our work?  Far from it.  Nain is a pleasant
+and beautiful place, but there is one more pleasant and more beautiful,
+where the leaves do not fall, nor the flowers wither, where no sickness
+comes, and where no dead men are carried out.  Let us look to that, the
+new Jerusalem, the Heavenly City, the vision of peace, and that will
+banish our sadness, we shall not be downcast at leaving so much that is
+pleasant behind, but rejoice that we pass on from things temporal to
+things eternal.
+
+No! we shall not be saddened by the contemplation of death, but we
+shall be made more earnest to use this world without abusing it, to
+make the most of our opportunities, to redeem the time because the days
+are evil, to run our race temperately, and not uncertainly, and so to
+run that we may obtain the incorruptible crown, that we may attain to
+the goal, the prize of our high calling.
+
+
+
+
+LIV.
+
+_HUMILITY._
+
+17th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Luke, xiv. 2.
+
+"Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth
+himself shall be exalted."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--Both Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the apostle John saw in vision
+the glory of Heaven and the throne of God, and near it four beasts,
+"full of eyes, within and without."  That is to say the beasts saw all
+that was within them as well as all that was outside them.  Most of us
+here on earth are very different.  We are full of eyes without, we see
+everything that is going on among our neighbours, and a great deal
+which is not there also, but we have no eyes for seeing anything
+within, and we know nothing of ourselves, our own faults, and our own
+errors.
+
+We see every wrong thing done by a neighbour, we have eyes for this,
+but we see no wrong done by ourselves, we have no eyes for that.  We
+see all the weakness of others, we have eyes for this, but we see none
+of our own weakness, we have no eyes for that.  We see all the folly of
+others, we have eyes for this, but for our own stupid acts and words we
+are blind, we have no eyes for that.  It would be better if we were
+well supplied with eyes within, instead of so many eyes without.  It
+would be better for our neighbours, and it would be better for
+ourselves.  In to-day's Gospel we hear of the chief Pharisees watching
+Christ.  They had eyes for that.  They watched Him to find occasion
+against Him.  But that they were hypocrites and perverters of the law,
+they knew not.  They had no eyes for this.
+
+SUBJECT.--The first shall be last, and the last first, says our Lord.
+That is, those who have eyes without only, for the rest of the world,
+who see themselves as perfect, and have no eyes for their own defects,
+shall find themselves hereafter at the foot of the ladder, and those
+who have eyes within, seeing their own weakness, shortcomings, falls,
+who have therefore been humble, and esteemed others more highly than
+themselves, these will be exalted to the top of the ladder.
+
+I.  Most men value themselves more highly than they have any right, and
+value themselves very often for those things which are not their own,
+they take the honour paid to their possessions, as though due to
+themselves.
+
+This fable is related by an ancient writer.  An ass once had the golden
+image of the Goddess Isis set on his back, and he was led through the
+streets of a city in Egypt.  Then the Egyptians fell down on their
+faces and worshipped, and raised their hands in supplication.  The ass
+was puffed up with pride, and began to prick up his ears and prance.
+Then the driver brought down his stick upon his back, and said, "You
+ass! the honour is given not to you, but to what you bear."  There is
+many a man who is no less elated by his position, or by some good
+fortune that falls to him, than this ass.  The man of wealth holds up
+his head and expects every one to bow to him; he thinks a great deal of
+himself, and he finds that a great many persons cringe to him and
+flatter him.  "Man! the honour is given, not to you, but to the gold
+you carry."  It may be the same with office, or title; respect is given
+to the magistrate, or the nobleman, or the general, or the captain, or
+the poor-law officer, or the policeman, and he thinks much of himself
+accordingly.  "Man! the honour is given not to you, but to the title or
+office, or authority you carry."  And there is many a woman who puts on
+new and gay clothes, a new bonnet, or a new gown, in the highest
+fashion, and she sails into church with her chin in the air, and a
+flutter in her heart, knowing that all eyes are upon her.   "Woman! all
+are admiring--not you,--but the clothes you carry."
+
+Whatever it be that we have, which others have not, it should not
+elate, but humble us, for a talent entails a responsibility.  He that
+has gold has to answer to God what use he makes of it.  "How hardly
+shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of Heaven."  He that
+has office and authority is under great responsibility to discharge his
+duties in his office, and exercise the authority entrusted to him well.
+It was the fact that he was a man in authority which made the Centurion
+humble, and brought on him the commendation of Christ.  "Lord, I am not
+worthy that Thou shouldest enter under my roof; neither thought I
+myself worthy to come unto Thee, for I am a man set under authority,
+having under me, soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to
+another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
+it."  He that has intellectual gifts must be humble, not proud, because
+of them, for he is answerable for the use he makes of them.
+
+II.  God is very likely to humble those who set too high a price on
+themselves; and better that He should bring them down to a just
+appreciation of their own selves, in this world, than hereafter.
+
+King Nebuchadnezzar had a vision.  He saw a great image, the head was
+of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass,
+the legs of iron, and the feet of clay.  He called Daniel to interpret
+his dream to him, and Daniel said, "Thou, O King, art a King of kings,
+for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength,
+and glory--thou art this head of gold."  Then the prophet went on to
+speak of other great nations, and how that all would be involved in a
+common ruin, a little stone out of the mountain would roll down on the
+feet of clay and break them, and then the great image, golden head, and
+silver breast, and brazen body, and iron legs, would all go to
+pieces--they rested on an infirm footing, fragile clay.
+
+King Nebuchadnezzar, however, thought only of himself as the golden
+head.  Golden head must have golden breast, and a golden breast must
+have a golden trunk, and golden trunk golden legs, and golden legs must
+rest on feet of gold.  That will stand, and that will represent me
+better than this patchwork affair of which I dreamed.  So he set him up
+the golden image in the plain of Dura.  That represented himself as he
+regarded himself, the image seen in vision represented him as he was in
+reality, as God saw him.  What followed?  God smote him and he went
+mad.  He was driven out as a wild beast into the fields, as a raving
+madman, and thus he remained till his senses returned, and he
+acknowledged with humility, that his prosperity did rest on a fragile
+footing, and that God knew better what he was worth than did he himself.
+
+Now apply this to yourselves.  No doubt that each of you has his
+excellence.  One has got a head of gold, another a heart of gold.  One
+has the strength and endurance of iron, another has means, plenty of
+silver, each has something of which he can boast; but take care not to
+make golden images of yourselves and set them up, and expect every one
+to bow down before them and take you at your own estimation.  God will
+humble you.  The feet are of clay, and the proud statues will fall some
+day.  Therefore try to see yourselves as you really are, "Let him that
+exalteth himself take heed lest he fall."  "Be clothed with humility,"
+is the exhortation of S. Peter, "for God resisteth the proud and giveth
+grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
+of God, that He may exalt you in due time."  And S. James says, "Humble
+yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up."
+
+
+
+
+LV.
+
+_PROFESSION AND PRACTICE._
+
+18th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. xxii. 42.
+
+"What think ye of Christ?"
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--Many men are Christians neither in understanding nor in
+heart.   Some are Christians in heart, and not in understanding.  Some
+in understanding, and not in heart, and some are Christians in both.
+If I were to go into a Temple of the Hindoos, or into a Synagogue of
+the Jews, and were to ask, "What think ye of Christ?" the people there
+would shake their heads and deny that He is God, and reject His
+teaching.  The heathens and Jews are Christians neither in
+understanding nor affection.  But there are, and always have been pious
+men who have not known Christ, but have lived good self-denying lives,
+lived a great deal better than most Christians, and have died, yearning
+to see God, whom they groped after, but did not find.  I should say
+these were Christians in heart, though not in understanding.  If I were
+to put the question to you, "What think ye of Christ?" you would answer
+at once that He is very God, of one substance with the Father, and also
+very Man, of the substance of His Mother, the God-Man, your Redeemer,
+and Saviour, and Lord.  When I hear the answer, I say--Well! here we
+have indeed Christians in their understanding.  Now I want to know
+further, are you Christians in heart and affection?  S. Paul says that
+in his time there were some who were Christians in profession, that is,
+in understanding, and there their Christianity came to an end.  "They
+profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being
+abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."  Is
+it in any degree so with you?
+
+SUBJECT.--The true Christian is he who is such in understanding and in
+affection, or, in other words, in profession and in practice.
+
+I.  It is very necessary to have a good understanding of Christ and His
+truth.  "Without faith it is impossible to please God; for he that
+cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of
+them that diligently seek Him."  There are certain truths, the
+knowledge of which we believe are necessary to salvation.  That is,
+without an understanding of certain definite revealed truths, there is
+not much chance of salvation, for the ignorance of these truths is
+proper in a Christian, and without a knowledge of them, a Christian is
+not able to live a spiritual and a Christian life.  These truths are
+contained in the Creed, and are taught to every child.  It is not
+enough to repeat the Creed like a parrot, but the meaning of the truths
+contained in it must be grasped by the mind and understood.  This is
+the advantage of Christian instruction, and I think it would be well if
+we Clergy, instead of so generally appealing to your consciences to
+lead good lives, were more frequently to refresh your minds with the
+truths which you must embrace with your understandings.  I believe one
+great reason why you make so little advance in the spiritual life is,
+that you so little understand what God requires of you to believe.
+
+After the Children of Israel had been carried into captivity by the
+Assyrian king Shalmanezar, a number of persons were sent from Babylon
+to inhabit Samaria, the capital, and other cities of Israel.  They
+settled there, but did not thrive, for this reason, the land was
+overrun with lions.  You will find the story in 2 Kings xvii.  A great
+many of the colonists were killed by the lions.  "Therefore they spake
+to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed,
+and placed in the cities of Samaria, have lions among them, and behold,
+they slay them."  What course did Shalmanezar adopt, on hearing this?
+Did he send them hunters, expert in killing lions?  No.  Or dogs to
+drive them?  Did he supply them with snares, and teach them how to make
+pitfalls for the lions?  No!--listen to what he did.  "Then the king of
+Assyria commanded, saying, Carry thither one of the priests whom ye
+brought from thence; and let him teach them the manner of the God of
+the land."
+
+This succeeded, for we learn that the lions ceased to trouble the
+colonists when they had learned to know and fear the God of Israel.
+
+What a lesson this heathen king sets us!  "The devil walketh about as a
+roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, whom resist, steadfast in the
+faith."  Do you notice the words of S. Peter?  The lion who seeks to
+devour you, who lays waste the land, who destroys so many souls, can be
+mastered and expelled, but only if you are steadfast in the faith, only
+if, like these settlers in Samaria, you have been taught the manner of
+the God of our land.  Evil of all sort, temptations and snares, evil
+spirits and seductions will draw you into destruction, and you will be
+quite powerless to escape or resist, unless you know the manner of the
+God of our land, or--in S. Peter's words--are steadfast in the faith.
+
+II.  It is not enough to understand, you must also love and follow the
+law of your God with all your hearts.  You must not only know God, but
+you must obey Him.  You must not only be instructed in the manner of
+the God of our land, but you must also observe it.  Now there are a
+great many who are Christians in profession only, they draw near to God
+with their lips, and say Lord! Lord! but with their hearts they are far
+from Him.
+
+One day a philosopher came before king Herod Atticus, and when the king
+asked him what profession he was of, what office he held, the
+philosopher answered, "Look at my robe and you will see what I am."
+For the philosophers affected a certain sort of garment.  Then Herod
+answered, "Pardon me, I see the habit, but not the philosopher."  That
+is to say--"I see what you call yourself, and pretend to be, but I do
+not know whether you are the wise and learned man for which you give
+yourself out."
+
+I fear that if I were to follow and watch you during the week, I should
+be obliged to say--"I see the habit, but not the Christian."  It is
+true there is the profession.  You say you are a Christian, you assure
+me you believe in God, you undertake to live a sober and godly life, to
+resist evil, and cleave to what is good.  All this is the outside
+habit, the mere name and profession, I see the habit,--but in your acts
+I do not see the Christian.  No! there is not the Christian in you when
+you tell lies.  Not the Christian when you slander your neighbour.  Not
+the Christian when you deal dishonestly with your masters.  Not the
+Christian when you fly into a passion and swear and curse.  Not the
+Christian when you use foul words.  On Sundays you have on your Sunday
+coat, or your Sunday gown, and you are as demure as Saints, and attend
+Church regularly.  There is the habit.  I see the habit.  But where is
+your Christianity in the week?  How much prayer?  How much thought of
+God?  How much self-restraint?  I see the habit, but not the Christian.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Remember then that it is not enough to know Christ, and to
+believe.  You must also love Christ and obey.  Only by acting up to
+your profession, by walking worthy of the vocation whereby you are
+called, can you be regarded as a true disciple of Christ.  He is not
+the true soldier who is enrolled, and deserts; he is not the good
+servant who says to his master, I go, and goeth not.  If you know of
+Christ, you have a greater obligation laid on you to follow Him in love
+and obedience, than if you knew Him not.  "What think ye of Christ?"
+That is not enough.  "How live ye as Christians?" is needed as well.
+
+
+
+
+LVI.
+
+_EVIL THOUGHTS._
+
+19th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. ix. 4.
+
+"Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--Thoughts are only thoughts! who is to beheld accountable
+for them?  They are clouds blown about by fancy, taking various shapes.
+God is not so hard as to judge us for our thoughts; He will try us by
+what we have done, not by what we have dreamed.  No garden is without
+weeds; there are tares in every cornfield.  Who speak thus?  Is it
+those who are conscientious and scrupulous to drive away evil thoughts?
+Or those who allow their heads and hearts to be hives in which they
+dwell?  I allow that evil thoughts must enter the mind, and I add that
+they do no harm so long as they are not admitted into the heart.  I
+allow that it is impossible to keep the mind so closed against evil
+that no bad thoughts find admission.  There is no sin in the bad
+thoughts coming, but the sin begins when they are allowed to settle,
+and to fly-blow the heart.
+
+SUBJECT.--I am not going to speak to-day anything that will distress
+those good souls who struggle with, and drive away, evil thoughts when
+they torment them; God has seen fit to try them with these, as He
+suffered the Israelites to lie tried by the remnants of the heathen
+nations which remained in the land,--but I am going to speak to those
+who indulge in evil thoughts of all kinds, and make no effort to banish
+them.  I tell them that this is a dangerous thing.  If they rely on
+being safe so long as they keep their bodies from evil, and allow their
+minds and hearts to revel in evil thoughts, they are guilty of sin;
+they may not be staining their bodies, but they are corrupting their
+souls.
+
+I have lived for some weeks on the side of the Rhine where a bridge
+connected the German side of the river with the town on the other side,
+which is in Switzerland.  When the market-women came over the bridge,
+the Custom-House officers made them open their baskets, and they looked
+in to see whether they brought over anything taxable.  I would have you
+examine all the thoughts that come drifting through your head, and if
+they are bad, and not allowable, turn them back.
+
+I.  "Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?"  Our Lord tells us that
+sin commences in the heart, and is as truly in the thought as in the
+act.  "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt
+not kill.  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother
+without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.  Ye have heard that
+it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery.  But I
+say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath
+committed adultery with her already in his heart."  S. John Chrysostom
+truly said, "Men's souls are not so greatly injured by the temptations
+which assail them from outside, as from those evil thoughts which
+poison them within."  There may be evil thoughts of many kinds, envious
+thoughts, discontented thoughts, profane thoughts, unkind thoughts,
+angry thoughts, avaricious thoughts, impure thoughts.  All these
+thoughts come buzzing about the head and heart, and will settle to do
+harm, unless driven away.  They are only little thoughts.  Each is very
+small, but altogether they are a great host.  They are like flies.
+
+Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was plagued with flies.  They came upon his
+servants, and the houses of the Egyptians were full of swarms of flies,
+"and the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies."  The
+heads of a great many people are like the houses of the Egyptians--full
+of swarms of evil thoughts thick as flies, and all as small, and in
+themselves as insignificant.  The flies tormented the Egyptians when
+they sat in their chambers, flying round them, buzzing in their ears,
+lighting on their hands and faces; when they went to their meals the
+flies were there, all over the meat and the bread, and falling into
+their cups, and defiling every thing.  When they went to bed the flies
+were in their bedrooms, and all night long were racing over their
+faces, and driving away sleep.
+
+Now look at your evil thoughts, you who are plagued with a swarm of
+them.  When you kneel down to say your prayers, they are there
+distracting your attention.  When you are at table or with friends,
+they are there disturbing your thoughts, perhaps corrupting your
+conversation.  When you are alone, they are there filling your mind
+with images and sounds.  When you are in bed, they are there, keeping
+you awake.  Your thoughts--these evil thoughts, so numerous, in such
+swarms, never forsake you.  In church they are present, disturbing you.
+When you walk, they surround you, when you work, they interrupt you.
+And, like the flies in Egypt, "the land is corrupted by reason of the
+swarm."  Your hearts are corrupted by the bad thoughts always hovering
+over them, and settling down on them.
+
+Am I drawing a fanciful picture?  Not at all.  I know it is so with
+many, I do not say all, but with many.  They disregard evil thoughts
+because they are such trifling things--like flies, so easily brushed
+away; like flies, so light and volatile; like flies, so little.  And
+yet they utterly degrade and corrupt the heart.  "The land was
+corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies."
+
+II.  When Abraham prepared a sacrifice to the Lord, there came down on
+it swarms of birds of carrion (Gen. xv.)  And when they did so, we are
+told that Abraham "drove them away."  The chief Baker of Pharaoh had
+meats in a basket on his head, and the birds came down on them, and
+carried them off.  "The birds did eat them out of the basket upon my
+head" (Gen. xl.)  To Abraham was given a promise of a great blessing
+and glorious future.  To the Baker was given a warning that he should
+be hanged within three days.  One drove the birds away, and the other
+did not.
+
+Now this applies to evil thoughts.  If you will be like Abraham and be
+blessed, you will drive the evil thoughts away as fast as they come on.
+If you let them come, and make no effort to repel them, they will carry
+away from you all the graces wherewith you have been endowed at
+baptism, and they will corrupt your heart as well.
+
+
+
+
+LVII.
+
+_THE HEAVENLY BANQUET._
+
+20th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. xxii. 4.
+
+"Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed,
+and all things are ready; come unto the marriage."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--The Kingdom of Heaven has two meanings in this parable.
+It means in the first place the Catholic Church.  Into that the
+apostles and pastors of Christ invite men to enter, and many refuse.
+In the second place it means the Church Triumphant,--eternal
+blessedness, and into that the pastors of Christ's Church invite you
+continually, Sunday after Sunday, and many refuse.
+
+SUBJECT.--Our subject to-day shall be the Heavenly Banquet, and the
+invitation to it.
+
+I.  When God created the world, He did so with a "Let be."  He said,
+"Let there be light"--and light was.  "Let there be a firmament in the
+midst of the waters," and it was so, at once.  He said, "Let the waters
+be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear," and,
+immediately, it was so.  And it was the same throughout the work of the
+Seven Days.  He spake the word and the world was made, and all the host
+of heaven by the breath of His mouth.
+
+But when man's salvation was wrought it was otherwise.  There was
+nothing instantaneous about that.  Long ages passed before the time
+came for the Son of God to be born.  The preparation was lengthy, there
+was delay.  And when He came, there was no "Let there be," and it was
+done, but there were thirty-three years spent on earth, and there were
+the laborious ministry, the sufferings, and the death.  That was not
+all.  Still more was done.  The Son of God ascended into Heaven after
+having spent forty days on earth after His resurrection, founding and
+framing His Church.  Then He sent the Holy Ghost down on the Church He
+had made.  Still all is not done.  The Church has to battle with the
+world, to endure persecution, the blood of martyrs has to flow, and
+three hundred years to pass, before she emerges out of her hidden
+suffering life into light before the world.
+
+That is not all.  Still the work goes on.  The Sacraments are
+ministered, the word of God is preached.  Invitation to the Banquet of
+Heaven is given.  Salvation is not yet come; the work goes on, and goes
+on slowly.
+
+Look at yourselves, and see how slow the process is.  You are baptized,
+and thereby made a member of Christ.  Is all done?  By no means, the
+work is only begun.  You grow older, and your temptations grow
+stronger.  Then comes Confirmation, the Holy Spirit is given to
+strengthen, the seal is put on the Baptismal Contract.  Is all done?
+By no means, it is only progressing.  The Holy Communion is given you.
+You partake of the sacred Body and Blood of Christ.  Surely now all is
+complete, and salvation secured.  No--by no means, not yet.  All
+through life the work goes on.  It is not done at death.  It will not
+be done till the Judgment Day.
+
+Why is this?  Because man has Free Will, and can oppose and hinder the
+work of God.  He can even bring it to naught.
+
+When God made the world it was done at His word, for there was no
+opposition, no independent free will had to be taken account of; but in
+the salvation of man it is otherwise, man has to be considered, he has
+a will which can turn all the good intentions of God from him, and make
+them of no avail.  God cannot save man without his free consent.  God's
+grace cannot sanctify him without his co-operation with it.  God can
+invite and attract, He cannot force.  In the parable, the king sends
+out to entreat his subjects to come, and when they refuse he punishes
+them, but he does not send his soldiers to drive them into his
+banqueting hall.
+
+II.  All that God can do is to invite; but He invites most pressingly,
+and holds out every inducement that He possibly could.
+
+God desires all men to be saved, He willeth not the death of a sinner.
+"Christ," says S. Paul, "died for all,"--to reconcile all men to God.
+He hung on the cross for all, to save all that will come to Him and be
+saved--He died "for us men, and our salvation."
+
+The Amalekites attacked the city of Ziklag, and took it, and burned it
+with fire, and departed, carrying away with them the two wives of
+David, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, who had been the wife of
+Nabal the Carmelite.  When David knew this, he fell into great
+distress, and he gathered an army and went to the place, and there he
+wept "till he had no more power to weep."  And he pursued after the
+Amalekites with four hundred men, and he fell on them, and the battle
+raged four and twenty hours.  "He smote them from twilight even unto
+the evening of the next day," and he recovered out of their hands his
+two wives.  Now suppose that one of them, say Abigail, fell into low
+spirits, thinking that David did not love her, and would not bring her
+into his palace, and show her favour, one would say to her, What is the
+meaning of this?  Your sad spirits and gloomy doubts are proof of an
+unthankful spirit.  Look at David.  See a clear evidence that you are
+wrong.  Look! he is covered with dust from the battle, he is so
+exhausted that he can scarce breathe.  For you he fought, for you he
+exposed himself to great risk, for you he conquered.  He has redeemed
+you out of the power of the enemy.  See! he extends to you his hand,
+red with his blood shed for you.  He holds out his hand to invite you
+to follow him, that he may bring you home in safety.  Away with these
+wicked doubts and this black mistrust!
+
+I may say exactly the same to you.  Do you want any token of the love
+of Christ?  Any assurance of His goodwill towards you?  Look at Him!
+See what He has done and suffered for you!  For you He spent
+thirty-three years in struggle, for you He was exposed to the scoffs of
+the Jews, for you He was scourged, for you He was crucified.  To you He
+extends His hand, red with His blood, to beckon you to follow Him, that
+where He is there you may be also.  He has shown you His love.  What
+could He have done more?  He has promised you Heaven.  He has assured
+you that He is gone there to prepare a place for you, that He may
+receive you unto Himself.  He tells you that there is the kingdom He
+has prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  Could He make
+better promises?
+
+III.  But He can do no more.  He cannot drive you into Heaven.  It is
+left to you, to your free will to decide.  You can accept, or you can
+refuse.  You can make use of the Sacraments, the means He has provided
+for enabling you to gain the Kingdom, or you may turn your backs on
+them.  He will not drive you.  All He will do is to invite, and say,
+"Come! for all things are now ready."
+
+
+
+
+LVIII.
+
+_EXAMPLE._
+
+21st Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. John iv. 13.
+
+"And himself believed, and his whole house."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--As the tree so the fruit, as the parents so the
+children, as the master so his men, as the mistress so her household.
+This is not indeed a rule without exceptions, but as a general rule it
+holds.
+
+No man liveth and dieth to himself, we are all members one of another,
+and we all influence the conduct of others, and determine their
+careers, more than we ourselves imagine.  It is not, indeed, always
+true that good parents have good children, but it is generally the
+case.  It is not always that bad parents have bad children, but it is
+exceptional when it is otherwise.  Indeed, the virtues of parents
+become in some way inherent in their offspring, and the vices of
+parents last in the blood of their children, and even descend to their
+children's children.  How often is this the case with a tendency to
+drink!  Although the child may have lost his parent young, and not seen
+his bad example, yet he has in him a yearning after stimulants, and
+very often becomes a drunkard like his father.
+
+SUBJECT.--Let us, to-day, consider the effect of the example of parents
+on their children; and of teachers on their pupils.
+
+I.  There is a striking passage in the fifth chapter of S. John which
+may not hitherto have attracted your attention.  One Sabbath Day our
+Blessed Lord went to Bethesda, and there healed a man who had had an
+infirmity thirty and eight years.  He healed him, and bade him take up
+his bed, and walk.  The Jews were wroth, and said, "It is the Sabbath
+Day, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed."  Then we are told the
+Jews did persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done
+these things on the Sabbath Day.  "But Jesus answered them: My Father
+worketh hitherto, and I work."  That is to say--My Father worketh on
+the Sabbath, He sends His rain, He makes the grass to grow, He feeds
+the young ravens, He causes the sun to rise and set, He works good to
+all creatures, feeds, and heals, and as I see my Father act, so,
+naturally, as a Son, I act also.  Whatsoever the Son seeth the Father
+do, He doeth likewise.  The argument of the Jews avails nothing, that
+as the man has lain infirm for thirty-eight years, he may lie another
+twelve hours.  "My Father worketh hitherto good on the Sabbath, and
+therefore I work."  It matters nothing what the Law may enjoin, nor how
+strict may be the tradition of the Pharisees, "My Father worketh good
+on the Sabbath, and therefore I work."  Our Lord produces this as an
+argument against which there can be no resistance, to which there can
+be no reply, an argument commending itself to every man's
+understanding--to universal experience--As the father acts, so acts the
+son.  The example of the father is the law of right and wrong to the
+child.
+
+Do you know the fable of the crab and his children?  The crab was sore
+distressed to see his little ones run crookedly on the sand of the sea
+shore, so he said, "My sons, walk straight!"  "Yes," answered the
+little crabs, "lead thou the way, father, and we will follow thy
+footsteps."
+
+Is it a wonder to you, a wonder and a distress, that your sons do not
+turn out well, that they go to the public-house too much, and that they
+are idle workmen, that they swear and use foul language?  If you wish
+them to grow up differently, it is of no use saying to them, "My sons,
+walk straight!" you must lead the way, that they may follow.
+
+Is it a wonder and grief to a mother that her girls become giddy,
+frivolous, and unsteady, and perhaps cause her shame?  Do you want them
+to be quiet, to stay at home, and be neat, modest, unselfish girls?
+then do not be giddy and a gadabout yourself.  "Lead thou the way,
+mother, and they will follow."
+
+Do you, parents, find that your children ramble about the lanes with
+idle companions instead of coming to Church on Sundays, that they do
+not love the worship of God, that they do not fear God, and reverence
+His sanctuary?  Do you want them to be God-fearing, pious, consistent
+Christians?  Then do you lead the way and they will follow.
+
+Do you want your boys and girls to hold a check on their tongues, and
+not to be always wrangling and snapping at one another, scolding, and
+finding fault, and quarrelling?  Then do you lead the way, that they
+may follow.  Lead the way by keeping a check on your tongues, by being
+gentle and forbearing--you, husband and wife, one with another, not
+given to railing, but, contrariwise, to blessing.
+
+II.  You may have observed how often in Holy Scripture the expression
+recurs, "The God of your Father," or "The God of your Fathers," "The
+God of my Father," or "of my Fathers."  This is a remarkable
+expression.  Is God short of Names that He should be thus designated?
+Might He not be better termed Almighty, Everlasting, Jehovah?  The
+expression is of such frequent recurrence that it must have a
+meaning--and this is what it means.  There is such a thing as an
+hereditary religion.  As a man regards God, so will his children regard
+Him.  If a man is reverent and devout, and shows that he honours God,
+and regards Him as a just and righteous God, hating iniquity, and
+rewarding all those who keep His commandments, then his children will
+grow up regarding God as just and righteous; but if a man thinks of God
+as indifferent to righteousness, as so ready in His kindness to forgive
+everything, and let men do what they like, that He will pardon them for
+any and everything they do, then his sons will grow up looking on God
+as the great Author of moral disorder among men.  If a man regards God
+as expecting worship and honour, then the sons will grow up with the
+same idea of God, and will worship and honour Him, and if a man has no
+God at all, then his sons will also have no God at all.
+
+III.  In Exodus God threatens that He will "visit the iniquity of the
+fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the
+third and to the fourth generations."  In like manner He blesses a
+whole posterity for the righteousness of their parents.  You see now
+how and why this is.  It is because when a father and mother are
+wicked, their children grow up wicked also, and their children's
+children, till the whole family dies out through its vicious habits, or
+there rises out of it some redeeming element of good.
+
+In the same way good parents have good children, and these good
+children marry, and have also good offspring, and so the goodness of
+one pious and righteous pair goes on descending and spreading like a
+fertilizing river, bearing blessings to all who are near it.  What an
+encouragement this is to you parents to lead God-fearing lives!  What a
+warning to those of you who are careless!  The belief of the ruler
+brought belief to his whole house.   The salvation of Zacchaeus brought
+salvation to his whole house also.  Righteousness may bring a blessing
+to your children, and children's children, for many generations.
+
+
+
+
+LIX.
+
+_THE PREACHER AND HIS HEARERS._
+
+22nd Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matthew xviii. 23.
+
+"The kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain king, which would take
+account of his servants."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--I have been a good deal abroad, over the Continent of
+Europe, and whenever I am in a little country inn, I make a point of
+going into the room where the men are smoking and drinking wine or
+beer, and hearing their opinions on the politics of the day, and of
+their country.  Now, my experience tells me that in country taverns in
+France, and Germany, and Belgium, and Switzerland, and Austria, the
+main topic of discussion is--the Parsons.  I have not been much about
+in this way in England, but I have an idea that it is pretty nearly the
+same here.  What I have heard often said is this, "Nothing easier than
+to preach!"  "Ah! they are always preaching at us, it is a pity that
+they do not preach to themselves."  "Ah! if they would only practice
+what they preach, we would listen more readily."
+
+SUBJECT.--To-day I am going to preach to the preacher, to myself, at
+least in the first part of my sermon, and you may sit and listen.
+After that, I will have a word with you.  In to-day's Gospel we hear
+that the king will take account of his servants, that is, God will take
+account of all those who are His servants, first with those who are His
+special Ministers, the Clergy, and preachers of His Word, and secondly,
+of those who are the hearers.
+
+I.  Now, let me see what God expects of a preacher, and what I ought to
+be and to do.  S. Paul says: "We preach Christ crucified."  That is the
+first thing I am bound to do.  I must remember to do that.  Then, S.
+Luke says that Jesus was "mighty in word and deed," and as Christ has
+sent us even as He was sent by the Father, so must we preachers be
+mighty, as far as we can, both in word and deed, we must speak boldly
+and vigorously, and we must act in the same way, we must practice what
+we preach.  That is a great deal expected of us.  If we were only to
+preach up to the level of our own lives, it would be easier.  But the
+preaching goes first; we must preach the highest virtue, and then try
+to live up to that.  S. John the Baptist was set before us as an
+example of a preacher, and "he was a burning and a shining light."  We
+preachers must give you doctrine which not only shines but also burns,
+we must not only enlighten your minds by teaching, but also burn your
+consciences.  We must instruct the intellect, and warm and fire the
+heart.  That is requiring a great deal of us.  "He maketh his ministers
+a burning fire," says David, and S. Paul quotes his words approvingly.
+It is a pleasant thing to enlighten, but to burn is not so pleasant.
+Yet that is what we preachers are bound to do, we must not speak to you
+smooth things, but those things which will sting you and make you arise
+and cry out.  Not only what you like, but a great deal that you do not
+like.  That is what is demanded of a preacher.
+
+Then again he must not "use the Word of God deceitfully," twisting it
+to enforce what is not God's truth, but his own fancy.  We read that at
+the trial of Christ there were found two false witnesses who declared
+that Christ had said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days will I
+build it up."  Now when we look at S. John's Gospel we find that He did
+say this.  How, then, were they false witnesses?  They were false
+witnesses because they gave His words a meaning He never intended them
+to have.  He spoke of the temple of His body; they made His words apply
+to the temple of Jerusalem.
+
+Moses desired that his preaching might be as the dew.  "My doctrine
+shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small
+rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass" (Deut.
+xxxii. 2.)  Very pleasant it would be to speak so that one's words came
+down like the dew, or even as the small rain on the tender grass.  You
+would like that, and so would I.  You would hold up your heads like the
+flowers, and drink the dewy doctrine in.  But stay!  "As the showers
+upon the grass" as well, says Moses.  It will not do for the preacher
+to speak only gently; his words must come pattering about your heads
+like a driving April shower, when you will shrink from the rain and
+hide to get out of the way.  The preacher must pour out on you a good
+strong shower of hard words.
+
+But that is not all.  He must use the Word of the Lord as a sword.
+"The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged
+sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and of spirit, and
+is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  How will the
+hearers like that?  The preacher must not ask that, he must use the
+Word as it is given him, whether his hearers like it or whether they do
+not.
+
+There was at one time at Coimbra two famous preachers, and all the town
+ran to hear them; but some thought A. was the best preacher, and some
+thought that B. was the best.  It was discussed among the professors of
+the University, and then it was found that they were divided--some
+liked A., and others preferred B.; then an old professor spoke, "I will
+tell you what I think.  I have heard them both, and have formed my
+opinion.  When I have listened to a sermon by A., I come away highly
+pleased with the preacher; when I come away from a sermon by B., I am
+heartily disgusted with myself."  Then you see which was the true
+preacher.  A. sought his own glory and to show his talent, B. only
+considered the souls of those he was speaking to.
+
+And now I have said what a preacher ought to speak, and also how he
+ought to act.  I do not think it is so easy a matter, if he be a
+faithful preacher.
+
+II.  Now then I turn to you, the hearers.  Be ye not hearers of the
+Word, but doers.  The word preached you will not profit unless you take
+hold of it.
+
+One day Agilmund, King of the Lombards, was riding past a river.  At
+that time it was customary for heathen mothers to drown those of their
+children whom they did not care to rear.  He saw floating down the
+rapid stream a number of little crying babes in baskets in which they
+had been cast in.  The king's heart was touched, and he went to the
+edge of the river where there was a pool and an eddy, and he knelt down
+and held out his spear to the children; then one of them extended his
+little hands and clasped hold of the spear, and clung to it, and the
+king very gently and carefully drew the spear to him with the little
+fellow holding tight to it.  But all the other babes merely cried and
+sank into the water.  Then he carried home the child in his arms,
+adopted him as his son, and made him his heir to the kingdom.
+
+Now all the preacher can do for you, swimming down the great river of
+time, threatened with death, is to hold out the Word to you.  He cannot
+save you.  He cannot do more for you than that.  You must lay hold and
+cling tight to the Word.
+
+But why do I say the preacher?  It is Jesus Christ Himself who really
+extends the Word to you, and He will save you if you hold fast to it,
+and bring you through the waters, and land you in His country, and
+exalt you to His kingdom.
+
+
+
+
+LX.
+
+_THE IMAGE OF SELF._
+
+23rd Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matthew xxii., 20.
+
+"Whose is this image?"
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--Some people are very fond of contemplating their own
+excellencies, of admiring their good qualities, or their success in
+life; they will talk to you of what they have done, how they made this
+lucky hit, how they outwitted so-and-so, how they escaped such a danger
+by their foresight.  But they are not fond of considering their
+imperfections, of lamenting their faults, of confessing their failures,
+their lost opportunities, their neglected duties, their grave
+transgressions.  No, no! they do not see them, they see only their own
+good qualities and none of their blemishes, they extol their successes,
+and hold their tongues over their failures.
+
+SUBJECT.--But it would be well for us to contemplate ourselves as we
+really are, and see ourselves in the light in which we are seen by God,
+for the Apostle says: "If we would judge ourselves, we shall not be
+judged," that is, if we would only see ourselves with all our defects,
+and repent our faults here, and judge ourselves and go and amend, then
+we should escape the judgment hereafter.
+
+I.  King David says, in the 51st Psalm, "I acknowledge my faults, and
+my sin is ever before me."  Now, think of this!  If any man had
+occasion to boast it was King David.  He had been a poor sheep-boy
+attending the flocks of his father, a farmer at Bethlehem, and he was
+taken from the sheepfolds and exalted to be king.  What an exaltation
+for him from a humble origin to the highest place!  He might well look
+back on that with exultation; but no, a shadow steps between and clouds
+the view, "My sin is ever before me."
+
+I daresay his palace walls were hung with tapestry, or painted in
+colours with pictures representing his deeds.  There he was shewn
+fighting the bear, there taking the lamb from the lion's mouth, and
+smiting him.  There he was pictured with his sling going against the
+giant Goliath.  There he was represented standing over the fallen
+Philistine and hewing off his head.  Look! another picture! his
+marriage with Michal, the daughter of King Saul.  "Whose is this
+image?"  It is that of the conqueror over Amalek.  "Whose is this
+image?"  It is David crowned king of Judah in Hebron.  And here is a
+goodly picture; of whom is it?  This is David anointed King over all
+Israel.  There is another!  David defeating the Philistines in the
+battle under the mulberry trees.  There is one more!  "Whose is this
+image?"  It is that of David bringing the ark from Kirjath-jearim, and
+playing his harp and dancing before it.  What a goodly array of
+pictures!  All--all about the glories and successes of David.  David
+paces idly through the halls, he sees the tapestries and paintings, but
+he regards them not, "My sin is ever before me."  He sees only one
+picture, which is not upon the wall, which the flattering painter has
+omitted, his guilt with Bathsheba.
+
+He goes to war in his armour, and takes the city of Rabbah.  He carries
+off the crown of the king and puts it on his own head.  The spoil of
+the city is great.  In the turmoil of battle, in the flush of victory,
+"My sin is ever before me."
+
+He flees before his enemies, before his rebellious son, and is in
+hiding in the wilderness with a few faithful friends, and then there
+rises up before him the remembrance of his great transgression, and
+weighs down his heart.  "My sin is ever before me."
+
+In joy, in sorrow, in prosperity and in distress it is always the same.
+"Whose is this image?"  It is that of a great king, a mighty warrior, a
+sweet poet,--"No, no!" says David, "It is the image of a grievous
+sinner.  My sin is ever before me.  Let no man call me a good king, I
+gave over the innocent Uriah to the sword, and took from him his
+beloved wife.  Let no man call me a just man, I divided the land of
+Mephibosheth with his false, lying slave Ziba, because it went against
+my pride to go back from what I had said.  Let no man call me merciful,
+when I tortured the Ammonites cruelly, putting them under saws, and
+under harrows and axes of iron, and made them pass through the
+brickkiln.  Let no man speak of me as a conqueror, when I was miserably
+conquered by my wicked passions."
+
+My brethren!  I wish that you would see yourselves in the way in which
+David did.  I wish that instead of turning away your eyes from those
+pictures in your life which do you no honour, you would look at them
+with shame.  I wish that instead of boasting yourselves as the image of
+all perfections, you would see yourselves as sinners.
+
+II.  There was a painter called Bonamico, who was engaged by Cardinal
+Aretino to paint a series of pictures in his chapel.  He began with a
+beautiful fresco of Jesus Christ.  A day or two afterwards, when he
+came to his work in the morning, he found his picture smeared all over
+with dabs of colour, red, and black, and blue, and yellow, and utterly
+defaced and spoiled.  The painter was so angry that he refused to go on
+with his work till the culprit was found.  A watch was set, and then it
+was discovered who had done it.  When the painter had left the chapel,
+a pet ape of Aretino's came in, and having during the day seen the
+artist at work, he took up brush and colours, and began, in mischief or
+in imitation, to daub over what the painter had executed.
+
+"Whose is this image?"  You were made in the image of God, and redeemed
+by Christ.  Whose is the image?  You are expected to grow to the
+stature of the fulness of Christ, to be like Christ, but alas! the
+Devil, or your evil passions, deface the image, and obliterate the
+likeness.  Can I see anything like Christ in you?  Where are the traces
+of the divine image?  I know what Christ is.  "I am meek and lowly of
+heart."  Where is your meekness?  Some ape has daubed self-conceit over
+it, and I see nothing else but his bold colours.  "He shall not strive
+nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the street."  Where is
+this quietness and unobtrusiveness in you?  Do I not hear angry words
+and quarrelling?  Some ape has daubed out this feature of the Saviour.
+"I am come not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me."
+Where is this readiness to submit to the will of God?  Do I not see an
+eager following of your own wills?  Surely also this characteristic of
+the Son of God is effaced.
+
+CONCLUSION.--My brethren, one chief reason why we should see ourselves
+as we really are is, that we might be able by penitence to wipe out the
+ugly smears that deface the divine image, and that we might go on to
+perfection, becoming daily more like unto Him who is our pattern, so
+that at the Last Day, when we wake up, it will be with the likeness
+complete, for "we shall be like Him."
+
+
+
+
+LXI.
+
+_DREAD OF RIDICULE._
+
+24th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matt. ix. 24.
+
+"And they laughed Him to scorn."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--"All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
+persecution" (2 Tim. iii. 12.)  This is what S. Paul says.  This is
+what everyone of you must make up your mind to, if you intend to live
+godly lives, and, moreover, to live in Christ.  Do you know what that
+meant to the early Christians?  It meant that if they were going to be
+firm in their faith, live up to their profession, and eschew evil, they
+should be dragged before governors, and hung on what was called the
+"little horse," and their flesh torn with redhot pincers.  It meant
+that they should be scourged to death, or that they should be roasted
+alive over slow fires, or that they should be gored in the amphitheatre
+by a bull, or torn to pieces by a lion, or that they should have their
+skin taken off, or that their heads should be struck off, or that they
+should be crucified.  So when they were baptized and professed the
+Creed, and were signed with the cross, they knew that they were
+enlisted to suffer persecution if they acted up to their profession,
+and were worthy of the cross on their brows.
+
+But this is not the sort of persecution you will be subjected to.  The
+time of such cruel torture is over.  The world has become Christian in
+name, but in heart it is pagan still.
+
+"_All_ that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
+S. Paul does not limit this to his day.  It is not only all in the
+first century, but all in the nineteenth century as well.  Only this is
+altered--the mode of persecution.
+
+SUBJECT.--The persecution you will be subjected to, if you live godly
+in Jesus Christ is--Ridicule.  No one will make you suffer in the body.
+No pincers and knives will be brought against you,--only Tongues.
+
+I.  Noah was ordered by God to build an ark on dry ground.  Imagine the
+ridicule he met with!  How the people would flock out of an evening, to
+see how he was getting on.  What jibes!  How he was tormented with
+questions, When was the great boat to be launched?  How was he to bring
+the sea up to it?  Was he with his three sons to put their shoulders to
+it, and push it down to the seashore?  But Noah did not heed them, he
+went on with his building.  It was very unpleasant to bear.  It made
+him very red with shame and annoyance sometimes.  But he did not give
+up.  If he had done so, he would have been drowned.  And one day the
+flood came.  The fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the
+windows of heaven opened, and then the water overflowed the land.
+Then!--how was it with those men and women who had made fun of Noah?
+On whose side was the laugh now?
+
+The Israelites were ordered by God to camp against Jericho.  They were
+to march round the city once a day, with the priests going before,
+blowing their trumpets; this was to be done six days in succession, but
+on the seventh day they were to march seven times round the city, with
+the priests leading the way, blowing the rams' horns.  The first day
+the inhabitants of Jericho rushed to their walls, and watched, and
+wondered.  The second day they saw the same procession go round the
+town.  It had ended in nothing on Sunday, so they laughed and pointed
+at them.  What a ludicrous sight!  All those men armed with swords and
+spears, who do not use them, those priests blowing the horns as to
+encourage the Israelites to battle, and not one rushing forward to
+scale the walls.  The third day all the women and children were on the
+walls, marching round and mimicking them, blowing toy trumpets.  What
+jokes!  What jeers shouted from the walls!  So on to the Friday.  On
+the Sabbath the people got rather tired of this same scene.  It was
+growing monotonous; so they did not come in such numbers.  However,
+after the Israelites had marched round once, they began to march round
+a second time.  Here was something new!  Something still more
+nonsensical; and the people of Jericho came out on their walls again to
+flout them, and pass their jokes.  When the Israelites had been round
+twice, they started to go round a third time, then a fourth, then a
+fifth, then a sixth.  The mocking grew more excessive, the ridicule
+more keen.  But, when the circuit of the city was made the seventh
+time, then, the walls of the city fell down, and the Israelites rushed
+in over the ruins, and killed all they came across.  On whose side was
+the laugh then?
+
+II.  As I told you at the beginning of my sermon, if you will live
+godly in Christ Jesus, you must expect persecution, and the only sort
+of persecution you will get is Ridicule.
+
+Therefore, if you will live godly in Christ Jesus, you must be prepared
+to be taunted, and made fun of, and teased.  The tongues will wag and
+say all sort of hard things about you; You are a hypocrite, or you are
+going too far, or you are a fine person to set up to be a saint!  but
+be of good cheer, do not mind the laughter, it is only for a while, and
+then the tables will be turned, and the laugh will be on your side.
+
+It is very unpleasant to be made a butt for ridicule.  Of course it is,
+but it is not so unpleasant as to have your flesh torn off with redhot
+pincers.  The early Christians who would live godly in Christ Jesus had
+to expect that.
+
+It is very galling to have bitter things said of you, often unjust and
+untrue, only because you have begun to serve God, and lead a better
+life.  Of course it is, but it is not so bitter to bear as a cruel
+death, and that is what the early Christians had to expect if they
+would live godly in Christ Jesus.
+
+Then again.  As the Master was used, so the servant must expect to be
+treated.  Jesus Christ had not only to endure the cruelty of wicked
+men, but their ridicule as well, "They laughed Him to scorn."
+
+CONCLUSION.--Pluck up a little courage, my brethren, and do not be such
+cowards.  If you lack courage, ask of God, and He will give it you.
+The Spirit of Fortitude is one of the gifts of the Holy Ghost.  He gave
+it to the martyrs to strengthen them under torment, and they were able
+to endure and not forsake their Lord.  Then surely He will give to you
+that measure of fortitude which will enable you to stand up against
+Ridicule.
+
+
+
+
+LXII.
+
+_WHAT LASTS, AND WHAT PASSES AWAY._
+
+25th Sunday after Trinity.
+
+S. Matthew xxiv., 35.
+
+"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--Yes! all will pass away!  This beautiful world and all
+that is on it.  Our houses, our churches, our cities, will crumble
+away; the very earth with its mountains and rivers, and plains, and
+seas, will pass away.  The stars will fall from heaven, the sun will
+have exhausted its fires, the moon will sink into night.  But the words
+of Christ will last.
+
+SUBJECT.--Incessant is the change.  Ever are things present passing
+away, but there is still something that remains.  Things pass in their
+present fashion, but in substance remain.
+
+I.  S. Paul, in his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, says (vii. 31):
+"The fashion of this world passeth away."  It is as though this world
+were a theatre, on which pass many scenes.  The curtain rises, and we
+see first Eden, all beautiful; there is no sin, no death; how lovely is
+the world in its maiden freshness and innocence, the flowers are
+blooming, and the birds are singing, and Adam and Eve stand surrounded
+by the beasts, which fawn on them, and fear them not.  O that this
+lovely scene might remain!  But no!  "The fashion of this world passeth
+away."
+
+Another scene.  The Angel armed with the flaming sword drives our
+parents forth, the earth brings forth thorns and briars.  Man slays the
+beasts to provide him with food and clothing.  The earth is full of
+violence, Cain raises his hand against Abel.  All flesh is corrupt
+before God.  "The fashion of this world passeth away."
+
+The flood has purified earth, but now men are scattered through the
+confusion of tongues, and go over all the world colonising, cutting
+down trees, planting corn, hunting wild beasts, pasturing cattle, and
+having flocks of sheep.  "The fashion of this world passeth away."
+
+Great empires arise, the Chaldean or Assyrian, the Persian, the Greek,
+these three.  Do they last?  "The fashion of this world passeth away."
+A fourth arises; the mighty Roman Empire, extending over the whole
+known world.  The Roman poet wrote of it in the name of his false god,
+Jupiter, "I put no bounds to this empire, neither of space nor of time,
+I give it a kingdom without end."  Was it so?  We find scattered almost
+everywhere in the old world where we travel traces of this mighty
+empire, its roads, its castles, its palaces, its coins, but it is gone,
+gone utterly away, swept away by the hordes of Gothic barbarians.  "The
+fashion of this world passeth away."
+
+If we look back at the past times of our own country, what changes do
+we see! the fashion ever changing, the fashion of government, the
+fashion of religion, the fashion of dress, the fashion of architecture,
+all is change, change, and change.
+
+Have you ever seen fireworks?  Have you seen the rockets rush up into
+the air, casting a golden light, pouring forth sparks, and then
+bursting, this one into a silvery globe of light, that one into a
+thousand stars, crimson, blue, green, yellow, that again into sparks of
+curling fire-dust?  What became of them?  Down they fall, and all that
+remains is a stick and a bit of smouldering brown paper.  The fashion
+has wondrously changed.  Are not these rockets figures of the life of
+man?  Up we rush in the eagerness of youth, and cast a light about us,
+up, up, growing brighter, throwing out our stars and globes of light,
+and then, "the fashion changeth," and we come down and are laid in our
+graves, a little ash.  Here is the man who was full of wealth and
+honour, how he blazed as a sun, how he scattered his gold.  "The
+fashion changeth."  He is now a crumbling bit of clay.
+
+Here is the man who made such a noise in the parish, such a boaster, so
+quarrelsome, so litigious, no one could come near him.  "The fashion
+changeth."  He lies still as a mouse now, and can resent no injury done
+to his dust.
+
+Here is the active housewife, whose hand was always busily employed
+sewing, darning, scouring, never idle for one minute, keeping her house
+clean, and her children tidy.  "The fashion changeth."  She can stir no
+hand, can think for no one any more.
+
+II.  Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, was wroth with Daniel, because he
+denied that Bel was a god.  Meats were placed on the altar before the
+idol every night, and before morning they had vanished.  "Therefore,"
+said the king, "Bel must be a god."  But Daniel got fine ashes and
+strewed the temple floor, and locked the doors.  Next morning he came
+with the king to the temple, and when the doors were opened, the king
+saw that all the meat was gone, then he cried out that Bel was a god.
+But Daniel pointed to the floor, and there, in the ashes, were the
+prints of many feet, for the priests had a secret door under the altar,
+and in the night they came out with their wives and children, and ate
+what had been offered to the idol.  Then Evilmerodach had them all
+slain.
+
+Now, my brethren!  Job says of God: "Thou lookest narrowly unto all my
+paths," or, as it might be better rendered, "my footprints."  That is,
+Thou, O God, seest my traces where I have been, and Thou wilt take
+account of what I have done.  Mark this!--The steps pass away, but the
+footprints do not pass away.  The steps go on into Endless Life or
+Eternal Death, but the footprints remain to shew where you have walked.
+Your fashion in this world may pass away, but your footprints remain to
+tell tales of you; they pass not away.
+
+You house-father!  You house-mother! you will go your way, but your
+traces will remain in your family, the good you have done, or the bad,
+these cannot be wiped out.
+
+You who have done any dishonest act, spoken falsehood, dealt
+deceitfully, all your dishonest acts, and false words, and deceitful
+dealings, will pass away, but the traces will remain, and God will look
+narrowly at them.
+
+You have been given talents, intelligence, physical strength, spiritual
+opportunities; these pass away, but not their traces.
+
+You have been a boy, a youth, a man, and are now old.  Each age has
+passed away, but not the footsteps, they shall not pass away.  What you
+did when first you got your reason, your childish acts, are passed
+away, but not the results.  Your actions when young,--did you yield to
+your passions or conquer them? those acts are passed away, but not the
+results.  In your manhood, what have you done in your family, what
+example have you set?  You are now old and white-headed.  Vigorous
+manhood is over, passed away, but the footsteps, the tell-tale
+footsteps remain.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Now then, considering this, I urge you sincerely to live
+each day as if the last, to live so that you may not be afraid of your
+footsteps that will betray of what sort your life has been.
+
+
+
+
+
+LXIII.
+
+_THANKFULNESS TO GOD._
+
+Harvest
+
+S. Matthew xxii., 21.
+
+"Render--unto God, the things that are God's."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--David says in the 8th Psalm, "What is man, that Thou art
+mindful of him: and the son of man that Thou visitest him?  Thou makest
+him to have dominion of the works of Thy hands; and Thou hast put all
+things in subjection under his feet, all sheep and oxen; yea, and the
+beast of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea."
+
+I.  The mastery of man is even more extensive than this; he controls
+the elements.   The earth he tills and makes it bring forth fruit and
+corn, as he wills.  He will not suffer it to run wild, but schools and
+disciplines it.  He hedges it about, and ploughs, and sows, and reaps.
+He burrows into it for fuel and for metals, he cuts roads over its face.
+
+The air he makes use of also, it is his servant to turn the sails of
+his wind-mills, to grind his corn, it fills out the sails of his ships
+to carry his merchandise from one land to another.
+
+Fire, that most terrible of elements, he dominates and makes into a
+slave, it smelts the ore for him, it raises the steam that drives the
+engines, it heats his house, it lights it, it cooks his food.
+
+Water is also under control, he leads it where he will in canals and
+pipes, he makes it turn the wheels of water-mills, it is used for
+drinking, and for washing.  And yet even that is not all.  Man controls
+the lightning, he makes of that a slave to carry messages round the
+world, and he carries it into globes, and lights streets and railway
+stations, and shop windows with it.
+
+When man was innocent in Eden, the beast and birds were his familiar
+friends, but when he sinned they fled from him.  God said to Noah, "The
+fear of you, and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the
+earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the
+earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they
+delivered."
+
+See how the animals have been subjected to man; the horse, the useful
+cow, the dog, and the sheep have been tamed, the horse which once roved
+wild submits to have a saddle on his back, and a bit in his mouth.  The
+cow gives her milk and her meat, and the sheep both wool and meat, for
+the nourishment and the clothing of man; the dog, which, when wild, was
+fierce as his brother the wolf, has become the friend and companion of
+man; even the gigantic elephant has become docile, and the Indian
+mother leaves her babe under its charge, that the monster may brush
+away the flies from the sleeping infant with a branch.
+
+We have dominion over the birds in the air, we have tamed the domestic
+fowls and make them yield us their eggs, and we keep the pigeons about
+our homes that we may kill their young; we snare and shoot them as we
+will, their high flight and rapid wings are no protection for them.
+
+We have dominion over the fishes of the sea, we strew the net and bring
+them in for our food; we hunt the whale for his oil and for the fringe
+of bone in his mouth; we dive into the sea after the oyster that we may
+extract from it the pearl, and we strip the shell of its
+rainbow-coloured scales to inlay therewith our furniture.
+
+II.  What follows from all this?  Is not this enough to make man proud,
+to exalt him in his own conceit? unfortunately it would seem so, but
+the lesson I would draw from all this is, Render unto God that service
+which is due to God, as all inferior creatures render unto you the
+service you demand of them.
+
+An old writer (Hugo Victorinus) beautifully says--"It is as though the
+earth appealed to man, and said to him, See how He loved thee who made
+me for thee.  I serve thee because I was made for thee, and do thou
+serve Him who made thee and me."
+
+Suppose a king were to take you by the hand and lead you into a
+beautiful estate, and say to you, "Here, I give you this mansion, with
+the park and the fields, and the woods and the river, you may do what
+you will with it, hunt, and shoot, and fish, and till the soil, and
+pasture sheep, and cattle, I give it you all freely and entirely, I ask
+of you nothing but that you will recognise me as your king and not join
+my enemies in fighting against me."  Then, I think, you would embrace
+the offer with the greatest eagerness.  Now this is just what God has
+done to you; He has brought you into the world, and has given you power
+over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the fishes of the
+sea, He has given you the earth to grow your corn, and on which to
+pasture your cattle, He has given you dominion over the elements, and
+all He asks in return is that you will recognise Him as the Giver, and
+not join His enemies.  "Render unto God that honour and homage that be
+God's."
+
+III.  Balaam, the prophet and seer, rode on his ass to go to Balak,
+king of Moab.  God had forbidden him to go and curse the chosen people
+of God, but Balaam, moved by covetousness, and eager for honours from
+the king, started on his way to go.  Then an angel stood in the way
+with a drawn sword to stop him.  Balaam did not see the angel, but the
+ass did, and fell down under Balaam.  Then he cried out in a rage, "I
+would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee," and
+he beat the ass savagely with his stick.  Do you see!  Balaam expects
+the ass to obey him blindly, to go where he chooses; but he himself
+will not obey God, and refrain from going whither he is forbidden.
+
+How is it with you?  Is it not with you as with Balaam?  You expect the
+earth to yield you what you choose, and are wroth if it withholds the
+crop; but you do not yield to God what He desires, and show a harvest
+of good fruit unto life everlasting from the seed of Grace He has sown
+in you.  You expect your sheep to give their wool, and your cows their
+milk, and to obey you, and come into the fold, or go out into the
+pasture, docile to your will.  But do you act thus to God?  Are you
+docile to His will?  Do you eat that heavenly food He has prepared for
+you in the pastures of his Church?  You expect your orchard to yield
+you apples.  Do you show any fruit of the Spirit?  When Christ comes
+and searches among the leaves of your profession, does He find any
+fruit of good works there?
+
+CONCLUSION.--Then, Brethren, in your farm-work, bear this ever in mind,
+that as you expect the fields and the cattle to yield to you what is
+your due, so render also yourselves unto God that honour, that worship,
+that gratitude, which are God's.
+
+
+
+
+LXIV.
+
+_THE FORMATION OF HABITS._
+
+School Sermon.
+
+Proverbs xxii. 6.
+
+"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will
+not depart from it."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--There is a district, high up in the Black Forest, where
+the ground is full of springs.  It is a plain some nine hundred feet
+above the sea.  Thousands upon thousands of little springs gush out of
+the soil; you seem to be on the rose of a vast watering-can.  Now, from
+this great source flow a good many rivers, and they flow in very
+different, nay, opposite directions.  There rises the Danube, which
+runs East and dies in the Black Sea, and also the Neckar and a hundred
+other tributaries of the Rhine, which flows West, and falls into the
+North Sea.  A very little thing on that plain--a slight rise or fall in
+the ground, this way or that--decides the direction in which a river
+shall run.  You can easily make a little stream run this way and feed
+the Rhine, or that way and swell the Danube; but after a few miles all
+control over the stream is gone.  It runs on, and will run on to the
+end in the direction you have given it, or which it took by chance when
+it started.
+
+It is the same with children.  All these little springs of vigorous
+life are bubbling up round us, and whither shall they flow?  To the
+right or to the left?  To Life or to Death?  We can give them their
+direction now.  A few years hence, and all power over them will be gone.
+
+SUBJECT.--As a habit is formed in early youth, so it remains to old
+years.
+
+I.  We take our children and we train them for God.  God has given them
+to us for this, to train them as citizens of His kingdom.  We neglect
+our duty if we neglect this.  He placed the flexible little characters
+in our hands to bend this way or that, expecting us to make them grow
+upright and not crooked, to look to Heaven, instead of trailing on
+earth.  They are a solemn trust for which we must give account.
+
+It would have been one of the chief woes of Hell to Dives, if he had
+his five brethren there to reproach him for having set them a bad,
+selfish, luxurious example.  Think how bitter your future state would
+be, if your children in the outer darkness were to be for ever
+reproaching you, "You brought us up to the world and not to God, you
+fed our bodies but not our souls, you set before us the transitory life
+as the one thing to care for, and did not teach us to lay up treasure
+and toil for the life eternal!"  Think, also, how it will increase your
+happiness to have your children in Life Eternal, and to receive their
+blessing, and experience their gratitude for having so taught them, by
+word and example, that they have through life walked in the narrow path
+that leads to the gates of Heaven.
+
+"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will
+not depart from it."  You teach your children obedience, in order that
+when young they may form the habit of submitting to rule.  When they
+are old they will not depart from it.  God has His laws.  God exacts
+their obedience.  They learn now to bow to the commands of a teacher
+whom they can see, they will obey afterwards the invisible Divine
+Teacher.  You teach your children order and method when young, that
+they may live an orderly life when they grow older.  You teach them
+self-control now, that they may be able to exercise it in greater
+matters hereafter.
+
+II.  Habits of obedience, and order, and self-control, acquired in
+childhood will be confirmed in manhood, and will remain to the end of
+life.  A man of business, who has spent his youth and manhood in
+looking after his shop, or attending to his office, is miserable in old
+age when he gives up his business and retires; he misses the old
+routine, he would be happier if he could go on in the accustomed round
+till he drops.  The days hang heavy on his hands.  The relaxation to
+which he had looked forward, and for which he had worked, palls on him.
+And these are habits of industry.  Bad habits retain a stronger hold on
+man.  A bad youth and a bad manhood make a vicious old age.  Many an
+old man who had led a disorderly life retains his wicked habits, though
+they afford him no pleasure.  He goes on in vice merely because vice
+has become habitual, not because it is pleasurable.
+
+Eli, as we read in the 4th chap. I Sam., when aged ninety and eight
+years, and his eyes were dim, that he could not see, "sat upon a seat
+by the wayside watching."  What is the meaning of this?  The old man of
+nearly a hundred has his chair brought outside the temple, and sits
+there looking up the street, and that although his eyes are so covered
+with a mist that he can see nothing.  The sacred writer does not say
+that Eli sat on the seat by the wayside seeing what went on, but only
+straining his sightless eyeballs up the street.  If we turn back to the
+first chapter, we shall see that this was a habit with Eli.  When he
+was many years younger, some thirty years before, when Hannah came up
+to Shiloh to entreat the Lord to have mercy on her and take away her
+reproach, we read "Now Eli, the priest, sat upon a seat by the post of
+the temple of the Lord."  And his eyes, then sharp and clear, were
+peering about and watching all that was going on, and examining the
+faces of the people who were coming in and going out, and were engaged
+in prayer.  One would have thought that common decency would have kept
+him from watching the face of the poor woman who was engaged in prayer,
+but Eli had not acquired control over his eyes--indeed, his great
+amusement was peering into people's faces and guessing what was going
+on in their minds.  Hannah wept as she prayed, "And it came to pass, as
+she continued praying to the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth.  Now
+Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was
+not heard,"--then with that want of charity, and tendency to think evil
+which so commonly goes with peeping and prying--"Eli thought she had
+been drunk."  He saw what was not--drunkenness--in the weeping,
+sorrowful-hearted woman, but he saw not the wickedness which was in his
+disorderly sons.  Here is an illustration of how habits last.  Eli had
+acquired this habit of sitting in the gate and watching what went on,
+when he was a man in the vigour of his days, and when he was a very old
+man and blind, the habit continued.  He had his chair brought out into
+the street that he might look up and down it, though his eyes were dim
+and he could see nought.
+
+III.  Now the great advantage of a school to a child is that therein
+the child is taught good habits.  The child has got certain talents,
+but cannot turn these talents to any good account without application.
+In school he is given the habit of application; that is, of keeping his
+attention fixed on one subject.
+
+But application is not all; to that must be added perseverance.  No
+advance will be made in anything, unless a man first applies his mind
+to his task, and then perseveres in it till he has fulfilled what he
+undertook.  Nothing is more common than to begin a thing and to be
+disheartened at the first difficulty, and to throw it up.  At school
+the child is given the habit of perseverance.
+
+That is not all.  No work will be carried out thoroughly without order
+and system.  You see people who work all day and work hard, but never
+make any way, because they work in a muddle, and with no regular plan.
+At school the child is given the habit of orderliness.
+
+I have instanced only a few of those necessary habits which we try to
+impress on children at school.  We endeavour to impress them on the
+young, because then they are open to instruction, their characters are
+soft and take impressions, as warm wax does from a seal.  We train them
+up in the way in which they should go, trusting that when they are old
+they will not depart from it.  We teach what is good, that good may
+become a habit with them, and when anything has become a habit, it
+sticks.  It is not shaken off.
+
+
+
+
+LXV.
+
+_RELIGIOUS ZEAL._
+
+Dedication Festival
+
+Ps. lxix., 9.
+
+"The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--David spoke the truth.  The one great desire of his
+heart was the glorification of God by the erection of a temple
+befitting His worship at Jerusalem.  Although he had plenty of cares to
+distract him, yet he never had this out of his heart.  "I will not come
+within the tabernacle of mine house; nor climb up into my bed; I will
+not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eyelids to slumber; neither the
+temples of my head to take any rest; until I find out a place for the
+temple of the Lord; an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob."
+
+One of the first things he did after he was anointed King over Israel,
+was to go to Kirjath-jearim, and bring up thence the ark of God from
+the house of Abinadab in which it had lodged.  And David went before
+the ark playing his harp, and his heart was so full of joy that he
+danced before the ark, singing and striking the strings of his harp.
+Then Michal his wife, Saul's daughter, looked out of a window, and
+sneered at him, "and despised him in her heart."  She was one of your
+cold-blooded people, with no enthusiasm in her, with no zeal for God,
+no heart for God's glory.  Better David dancing for joy of heart, than
+captious Michal with a contemptuous curl of her lips.
+
+David collected great treasures to build the temple, and directly he
+was at peace, his heart began to yearn to be about the work, and build
+to the glory of God.  "See now," he said, "I dwell in an house of
+cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains."  But the word of
+God came to him by Nathan the prophet, forbidding him to build, because
+he was a man of blood, the temple was to be erected by his son Solomon.
+Nevertheless, David collected for the temple, and above all, composed
+his beautiful psalms to be sung in it.  The gold and the cedar that
+Solomon set up are gone, but the Psalms remain, and have passed over to
+be the heritage of the Church.
+
+SUBJECT.--How striking is the zeal of David, and how little zeal have
+we for God's glory, and for the adornment of His house!  Let us
+consider to-day this zeal for God's house, and for those things that
+appertain to the worship of God, and tend to His glory.
+
+I.  Of all the pathetic stories in the Bible, there is one which has
+struck me for its singular pathos, yet it is one which I dare say has
+escaped your notice.  You have heard of the zeal of David, how his
+enthusiasm carried him away, out of himself, so that he forgot his
+royal dignity, and danced before the ark.  You have heard of his bitter
+disappointment, how when through many years he had longed and planned
+to build the temple of God, his desire was not allowed to be carried
+into effect, but the honour was reserved for his son.  The zeal of
+God's house had eaten him up.  This was very touching, I think, but I
+remember a still more touching story of zeal for God's house, and God's
+honour, and that, not in a great man, but in a humble woman.
+
+Eli, the priest and judge of Israel, had two sons, Hophni and Phinehas,
+and they were priests in Shiloh.  They were utterly bad, profligate
+men, utterly regardless of the honour of God, and they disgraced their
+sacred calling by their shameless lives.  They snatched from the
+sacrifices the best portion of the meat, and kept it for themselves,
+and they dishonoured the tabernacle by their shameless immoralities
+committed with those women who came to Shiloh to worship.
+
+In a great battle fought between the Israelites and the Philistines,
+the ark of God was taken, and Hophni and Phinehas were both slain.
+Then the news was brought to Eli the priest, and the old man, when he
+heard it, fell back off his chair in a fit, and broke his neck and
+died.  The news also reached the wife of Phinehas.  We do not know her
+name.  We only hear of her this once, but by the one little incident
+recorded of her, we know what she was.
+
+"The daughter-in-law of Eli, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be
+delivered, and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was
+taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed
+herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.  And about the time
+of her death, the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not, for
+thou hast borne a son.  But she answered not, neither did she regard
+it. . .  And she said, The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark
+of God is taken."  Good, God-fearing, loving heart!  Not a thought
+about herself.  She is in great suffering; not a cry from her other
+than this, "The ark of God is taken!"  They tell her that her
+father-in-law, old Eli, has fallen and broken his neck, "But she
+answered not, neither did she regard it"--only she said, "The ark of
+God is taken."  They tell her that her husband has been killed in the
+battle.  "But she answered not, neither did she regard it"--only she
+cried, "The ark of God is taken."  They brought to her her new-born
+child, a son.  What dearer to a mother than the little infant to whom
+she has given life?  But no, even that does not move her mind from the
+one absorbing idea, "She answered not, neither did she regard the
+babe," only she cried, "The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark
+of God is taken."  Then the women who stood by said to her, "What shall
+the name of the child be, thy husband who should have named it is dead,
+thy father-in-law is dead, thou must name it."  "But she answered not,
+neither did she regard it,"--only she cried, "The glory is departed
+from Israel."  Then the women that stood by said, "So shall the name
+be," and they called the child Ichabod, which means, "Inglorious."  A
+few minutes later, and she was dying, and the last murmur on her lips,
+and the last thought of her heart were, "The ark of God is taken."
+
+I say this is a singularly touching story, for it shows us a woman
+whose whole soul was imbued with zeal for the glory of God, and that
+woman was the wife of a man whose whole priestly career was one of
+dishonour to God.
+
+II.  Now I have given you two striking instances of zeal for God's
+honour, one in a man, and one in a woman.  Have you any such zeal in
+you?  Are your thoughts at all taken up with God's church, God's altar,
+God's worship?  Are you eager that all should be beautiful and seemly
+in the temple of God?  Does it pain you above every other pain when you
+know of something which is to the dishonour of God and of His Church?
+Have you any zeal at all like that of David?  Have you any
+self-forgetfulness in what concerns His honour, like that of the
+nameless wife of Phinehas?  I think if there were a little of this
+zeal, so many of our churches would not be untidy, neglected, ruinous.
+There would not be moth-eaten altar-cloths, and worm-eaten altars.
+There would not be green mouldering walls, and broken pavements.  There
+would not be a service slovenly, unmusical, irreverent, or if not
+irreverent, at least unworthy of the glory of God.
+
+In heaven flame the golden candles, and the censers fume with
+frankincense.  In heaven the seven lamps ever burn, and the altar
+shines like the sun.  In heaven the angels and the saints cease not day
+nor night in singing praises, and bowing in worship--and we! how do we
+show that we love God's worship?  The zeal of God's house does not eat
+us up, we do not even know what it is.
+
+
+
+
+LXVI.
+
+_THE MEETING HEREAFTER._
+
+Funeral Service.
+
+Joshua iii. 17.
+
+"And the priests that bare the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood
+firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites
+passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over
+Jordan."
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.--That must have been a striking sight!  The whole of
+God's people passing over Jordan.  On one side, on that of the
+Wilderness, a crowd pressing down, and going into the deep river bed,
+on the other, those who had traversed, rising out of it, and spreading
+out on the high bank, looking down and watching those who descend into
+the bed, and cross through it to rejoin them.  They stand in a blaze of
+light.  The sun is setting, and the whole sky behind them is flaming
+with golden clouds, the light strikes in the eyes of those on the
+further bank, and they look down into the dark channel and shrink, it
+is immersed in shadow, but then again, they look up, and see the glory,
+and the forms of their fathers, and brothers, and mothers, and sisters,
+and children standing there, steeped in light, and they pluck up
+courage and go down.
+
+They have no cause to fear.
+
+In the midst of Jordan stands the Ark of the Covenant, and it will not
+move from that place till the last has passed over.
+
+SUBJECT.--That story may serve for our comfort.  We, like the
+Israelites, are on our journey, and we have to pass through the dark
+bed of the stream of Death, before we can enter into the promised land.
+
+And we have two subjects of consolation.
+
+(_a_) We have the Ark of the Covenant standing in Jordan to secure the
+path.
+
+(_b_) We have our dear ones watching and waiting for us on the farther
+shore.
+
+I.  We have the Ark of the Covenant standing in Jordan to secure the
+path.  "Lo, I am with you always," said Christ, "even unto the end of
+the world."  That Ark signifies His abiding presence in His Church,
+which stands between the living and the dead, a Church on this side,
+militant, on the other, triumphant, a Church on this side made up of
+good and bad, of tares and wheat, of sheep and goats, on that side, a
+Communion of Saints.
+
+The Ark and the priests stood in Jordan, so does God's Church and
+priesthood ever remain, so long as the world lasts, and that world will
+last till the number of the elect has been made up, till the last of
+the people of the Lord is passed over Jordan.
+
+The Ministry will remain to teach the way of the Lord, and point the
+path through the river bed, and to cheer those who are downhearted, to
+lift up the finger and bid them look to the further shore, and to the
+glory there, and to those who stand on it watching.
+
+The Sacrifice will remain, the atoning Blood for the remission of
+guilt, the altar will remain as well as the pulpit, the priest as well
+as the teacher, sacrifice as well as instruction.  Ever throughout the
+year, the atoning Blood will be pleaded with the Father for the pardon
+of the sins of the people.  The Bread of Heaven, the manna will remain,
+to be man's spiritual food and sustenance, and strengthen the heart for
+the passage of Jordan.
+
+The presence of Christ will remain, "I will never leave thee, nor
+forsake thee."  "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with
+thee, and through the waves, they shall not overflow thee."  Therefore,
+well says David, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
+Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."
+
+II.  Metabus, King of the Volsci, was pursued by his enemies.  He
+carried in his arms a little babe, his niece Camilla.  In his flight he
+came to the brink of a river, deep, troubled, and strong in current,
+and it arrested his flight.  He would not have been afraid of the
+stream himself, had it not been for the little child.  He hesitated.
+What should he do?  He dare not enter with the babe, as he must use
+both arms to battle through so strong a stream.  The enemy were behind.
+He heard their shouts!  From a distant hill-top they had spied him.  He
+could not find it in his heart to desert the little one whom he loved
+so dearly.
+
+Then, what do you suppose Metabus resorted to?  There were a great many
+reeds by the river side, with his dagger he reaped them down, and he
+wrapped the babe up in rushes and reeds thickly round it, and tied them
+together with his girdle, and then he raised the little bundle in both
+his hands, and flung it with all his might across the river.  After
+that he sprang into the water and swam across to the other side.  He
+picked up the dear little bundle, took the child out, found it quite
+unharmed, and escaped with it lying next his heart.
+
+My Brethren!  Is not this something like us?--we may have our little
+ones, and be called on to part with them.  There lies the river, the
+dark rolling river of death.  We must cross sometime ourselves.  Safety
+is yonder.  Danger, destruction, here.  In God's name, trusting in Him
+when He wills it, we part with those so dear to us.  We wrap them up in
+their white wraps, and close them from sight in their coffin, and cast
+them away.  They are gone--over the river, and then we are ready in our
+turn to plunge in and follow.
+
+Now it is a great encouragement to us to follow when we know that those
+we love are passed and are in safety.  You parents who have parted with
+your darlings, you have wrapped them up and cast them away.  Whither?
+They have only flown across the river, and when you leap in and swim
+through, you will find them there--your Camillas, safe and smiling on
+you, on the other side.
+
+CONCLUSION.--Ah! my brethren, what a happy meeting that will be!
+Father, mother, brothers, sisters, children, whole families gathered
+together.  What embraces!  What tears of joy!  What stories to tell of
+past troubles!  What gratitude to God for his mercies shown!  What
+thankfulness for His Ark that rested in the midst of Jordan, that
+supplied direction, sustenance, propitiation, comfort, and nourishment
+for the journey.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VILLAGE PULPIT, VOLUME II.
+TRINITY TO ADVENT***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 21987.txt or 21987.zip *******
+
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