^v OF PRi/vcT/g;^ 
 
 ^OtOGICAL St^^;^^ 
 
 BV 4259 .M6 1898 
 Mortimer, Alfred G. 1848- 
 
 1924. 
 Jesus and the resurrection 
 
JESUS AND THE RESURRECTION 
 
Jesus and the Resurrection 
 
 THIRTY ADDRESSES 
 
 FOR 
 
 GOOD FRIDAY AND EASTER 
 
 OCT ?9; 1920 
 
 A 
 
 '^osiui ll^^\t 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. ALFRED G. MORTIMER, D.D. 
 
 Rector of St. Mark's, Philadelphia 
 
 Author of '* Helps to Meditation," " Catholic Faith and Practice " 
 
 " The Seven Last Words," etc. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON 
 
 NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 
 
 1898 
 
Copyright, 1897, by 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 A II rights reserved. 
 
 Ube 'Stnicberbocker iprcss, "fi^evf l^orft 
 
TO THE PARISHIONERS 
 OF 
 
 S. MARK'S, PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 WITH MUCH AFFECTION 
 I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE addresses in this volume were mostly 
 given in S. Mark's, Philadelphia ; those 
 on the Seven Words on Good Friday, 1897, 
 and the greater part of the others at different 
 Eastertides. They are reproduced from the steno- 
 grapher's notes, and are intended for devotional 
 reading or as helps to meditation, and as sermon 
 notes for the Clergy. 
 
 As every picture needs its background, so the 
 joys of Easter require the gloom of Good Friday 
 to show them in their true light. Easter is not 
 only a revelation of life, but of life from the dead ; 
 it tells not only of the rising of our Lord, but of 
 His resurrection from the dead. Hence this book 
 begins with the Death on Calvary, with the last^ 
 Words from the Cross as a background. These 
 are taken as the heptachord of love ; the relation 
 of the notes of the musical scale to their tonic and 
 to one another being used to illustrate the 
 relation of our Lord's Seven Words to their great 
 key-note, Love. Each of the Words is considered 
 
 vii 
 
viii Preface, 
 
 as a manifestation of some special characteristic 
 of love. 
 
 After the Words from the Cross come the 
 Eastertide addresses ; the first one taking up the 
 Good Friday thought, the power of love ; and 
 they deal with all the recorded appearances 
 of our lyORD after His resurrection, concluding 
 with His appearance to S. Paul on the road to 
 Damascus. 
 
 The book is the result of a remark made by a 
 parishioner last Baster, that while the supply of 
 devotional reading for I^ent is so abundant, there 
 are but few books which treat of Baster and the 
 Great Forty Days. If this little book in any way 
 helps to supply this need, I shall be more than 
 thankful. 
 
 Ai.fre;d G. Mortimkr. 
 
 S. Mark's, Phii.adei.phia, 
 
 Feast of the Purification, i8g8. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS I 
 
 THE FIRST WORD 9 
 
 THE SECOND WORD l8 
 
 THE THIRD WORD TJ 
 
 THE FOURTH WORD 35 
 
 THE FIFTH WORD 44 
 
 THE SIXTH WORD 55 
 
 THE SEVENTH WORD 66 
 
 EASTERTIDE ADDRESSES. 
 
 I. THE POWER OF I^OVE 74 
 
 II. THE EARTHQUAKE 82 
 
 III. THE VISION OF ANGEI,S 92 
 
 IV. HOI.Y ASSOCIATIONS IO9 
 
 V. THE VISIT OF S. PETER AND S. JOHN TO THE 
 
 SEPUI.CHRE 115 
 
 VI. WHY WEEPEST THOU ? I25 
 
 VII. WHOM SEEKEST THOU ? 1 38 
 
 VIII. S. MARY MAGDAI^ENE I46 
 
 ix 
 
X Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 IX. S. PKTER 153 
 
 X. THE JOURNKY TO EMMAUS . . . . 160 
 
 XI. PEACE, THE FRUIT OF THE RESURRECTION . 169 
 
 XII. THE APOSTOWC COMMISSION .... 176 
 
 XIII. S. THOMAS 184 
 
 XIV. THE MIRACUI^OUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES . 1 96 
 
 XV. JESUS STANDING ON THE SHORE . . . 2o8 
 
 ILW. THE REVEI^ATION OF THE KINGDOM . . 215 
 
 XVII. THE GREAT COMMISSION .... 224 
 
 XVIII. THE PASTORAI, COMMISSION .... 236 
 
 XIX. THE ACTIVE AND THE CONTEMPI^ATIVE IvIFE 248 
 
 XX. S. JAMES 263 
 
 XXI. THE I^AST WORDS 275 
 
 XXII. THE APPEARANCE TO S. PAUI, . . . 284 
 
THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS. 
 
 WE meet at the Cross of our Lord Jksus 
 Christ, once more to listen to, once 
 more to consider, those dying Words 
 which are His legacy of love. And if we are to 
 pass these three hours profitably, if we are to use 
 them for the best, we need at the outset two 
 things. 
 
 First, we need to invoke the aid of God's Hoi<y 
 Spirit to enlighten our understanding, to kindle 
 our aflfections, and to stimulate our will, that we 
 may not only grasp something of the meaning of 
 these Words of our Adorable Saviour, but also 
 that we may be moved by them to greater love 
 for Him, and that their fruit may be manifested 
 in our lives. 
 
 And then, besides asking the aid of the H01.Y 
 Ghost, we ourselves must make a real effort to- 
 day in order to concentrate our minds upon these 
 Words of our I^ord. 
 
TJie Words from the Cross. 
 
 The hours are long, and we shall, perhaps, be- 
 come weary ; and in addition to the weariness and 
 weakness which belong to our own nature, we 
 know it is the special work of Satan to try to steal 
 away the good seed, and to suggest to us wander- 
 ing thoughts. We should, therefore, earnestly 
 resolve that for these three hours at least we will 
 strive against weariness and wandering thoughts 
 — that we will listen with great attention to our 
 lyORD's dying Words. 
 
 It is probably within the experience of most of 
 you here at some time or other in your lives to 
 have stood by the death-bed of one whom, per- 
 haps, 5^ou loved most dearly. You remember how 
 weak the sufferer was, how intently you leaned 
 over to listen, so that you might not lose one word 
 that he spoke ! In like manner, let us strive to 
 listen now. This church is the death-chamber 
 of JKSUS Christ. There on the Cross is He 
 Whom you ought to love best of all in this world. 
 As He speaks to you, listen intently, that you 
 may not lose one word, one thought of the precious 
 legacy that falls from His I^ips to-day ! Ask the 
 H01.Y Ghost to help you ; realise your own 
 weakness, and resolve that you will co-operate 
 with His grace. 
 
 The Seven Words of our I^ord on the Cross 
 have been likened to the diatonic scale in music. 
 From them we may produce infinite harmonies. 
 
Introductory, 3 
 
 For as from the seven notes of the musical scale 
 all diatonic harmony and melody is produced, so 
 in these Seven Words, the dying Song of the Son 
 of God, are to be found harmonies ever new and 
 inexhaustible, and divine melodies which by their 
 sweetness ravish the soul. 
 
 How manj' thousands of sermons are preached 
 throughout Christendom each year on these 
 Words !^and for how many centuries has this 
 preaching gone on ! The notes of the scale are 
 always the same ; the harmonies and melodies 
 they produce are constantly varjang. So here we 
 have always the same Words — the same * ' old 
 story," yet ever new in its power to touch the 
 heart, to transform the life. Let us strive to-day 
 from these seven notes to produce a harmony 
 which may long linger in our hearts and re-echo 
 in our lives. 
 
 In all music the key is determined by its signa- 
 ture. We need to know the key-note that we 
 ma}^ consider the other notes each in relation to 
 its key. So the Seven Words have been taken 
 from many points of view, and considered in 
 different lights — with a different thought as the 
 key-note, so to speak. To-day let us take as the 
 key-note of our Meditations a thought, a word, a 
 light which ought to be to us the greatest — the 
 word Love. Let us take each of the Seven Words 
 in its relation to that tonic, that key-note, Love. 
 
The Words from the Cross. 
 
 We read in the first verse of the thirteenth 
 chapter of S. John's Gospel that when our Lord 
 knew His end was near, ' ' Having loved His own 
 which were in the world, He loved them unto the 
 end," or, as some translate it, " to the utter- 
 most." Having loved His own which were in 
 the world, all through His Life, He loved them 
 unto the end of His Life ; He loved them to the 
 uttermost, on the Cross. Or we may take that 
 text in the Song of Solomon, which we find 
 in the fourth verse of the second chapter: '' His 
 banner over me was love." Let us raise as our 
 banner to-da}^ Love ; for '*' Greater love hath no 
 man than this, that a man lay down his life for 
 his friends," and we are about to contemplate 
 JKSUS Christ laying down His Life for us ; aye, 
 and thinking of us even in His dying agony. 
 
 Love was the cause of creation. It was the 
 overflow of God's love that called this world into 
 existence, that called you and me into being. 
 Love was the cause of the world's redemption. 
 It was love that caused the Son of God at the 
 Incarnation to leap from the Bosom of His 
 Father into this dark world of sorrow and sin. 
 It was love that led Him to die and so to make 
 atonement for us on the Cross. 
 
 It is love that even now brings Him every day 
 to our Altars in the Blessed Sacrament. It is 
 love which is the key to the strange mystery of 
 
Introductory. 5 
 
 God's dealings with us ; for love is the key to 
 His providences. God's relation to us is entirely 
 a relation of love ! '* He loved me, and gave 
 Himself for me," said S. Paul — loved me, as 
 though there were no other object for His love on 
 the whole earth. 
 
 Love is the great power which rules the world. 
 Side by side down the great stream of human life 
 we are able to trace two supreme forces, which 
 meet in conflict at every turn of the stream — the 
 forces of Sin and of Love. 
 
 First, w^e see that tremendous and mysterious 
 power of evil, which sooner or later touches every 
 life, marring all that is fairest in human nature ; 
 that poison which finds its way into the most 
 guarded life, embittering earth's joys, wrecking 
 man's happiness, destroying the soul's peace, 
 always, everj^where present, — the force of Sin. 
 
 And side by side with Sin, but in sharpest con- 
 trast, moving in and out amongst the throbbing 
 mass of humanity, there is another force, its rival, 
 the force of Love ! Love — as beautiful as sin is 
 loathsome, and found in every condition and rela- 
 tion of human life, in every state and age ; love, 
 almost as universal as sin. 
 
 The love of the little child for its mother, as it 
 nestles in her breast ; the love, so pure and un- 
 selfish, of the mother for her child ; the love of 
 man and woman in holy matrimony ; the love of 
 
The Words from the Cross, 
 
 friendship ; the love of the patriot for his country ; 
 the love of the citizen for his home. Even among 
 the criminal and outcast, love is often to be found 
 as the one redeeming spark in the darkness of sin, 
 the spark that gives hope of reformation, — love for 
 something, for someone. 
 
 And these two forces are ever in conflict, con- 
 stantly invading each other's domain. Sin is ever 
 finding its w^ay into the abode of love, sowing dis- 
 sension, jealousy, envy, robbing love of its home ; 
 or else, worse still, changing its holy flame to un- 
 hallowed lust. Sin is everywhere poisoning and 
 crushing love in all its relations, manifesting itself 
 in the rebellious, ungrateful child, the false friend, 
 the unfaithful spouse. 
 
 But victory is not always on the side of sin. 
 There are times when love invades sin's territory, 
 overthrowing its strongholds and setting free its 
 prisoners. 
 
 Yes, this is the key to all mission work, for it 
 is love which sends bands of holy women and 
 consecrated religious down into the haunts of sin, 
 into the slums of our great cities, — bringing back 
 the poor victims of sin, teaching them what love 
 is, inspiring them with the hope of better things, 
 telling them of the Precious Blood which hath 
 power to cleanse their soiled souls, and of the 
 Unction of the Hoi,y Spirit which cheers and 
 strengthens man in his struggle with sin. 
 
Introductory, 7 
 
 And these two forces of sin and love are found 
 in conflict all the waj^ down the stream of history, 
 until at last they stand revealed in their utmost 
 strength when they meet for their supreme and 
 decisive effort on Calvary, at the Cross of our 
 Lord and Saviour JKSUS Christ. There sin does 
 its worst, and crucifies the Son of God ; there love 
 does its best, paying the penalty of sin and re- 
 deeming the human race. 
 
 We trace sin step by step down the ages, until 
 it bursts, like a torrent in its fury, on our Lord's 
 devoted Head. We trace love everywhere, 
 through all the tangled skein of human life, until 
 it is revealed in its most splendid strength on the 
 Cross of Christ. 
 
 Sin points to the Cross and boastingly says, 
 ' ' Behold my strength ! See what I have done ! 
 I have scourged, crucified, killed all that is fairest 
 in human nature. ' ' And Love points to the Cross 
 and says, * * Behold and see how I conquer sin by 
 paying its penalty ! Behold how I conquer death 
 by dying ! " For love is stronger than sin, 
 stronger than death ; love is the supreme power, 
 love is almighty, for God is Love. 
 
 To our short-sighted vision sin sometimes seems 
 the stronger, especially when we perceive its 
 ravages in ourselves ; but when we trace the two 
 forces to their origin, we can have no doubt which 
 will win the ultimate victory. For great as is the 
 
8 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 force of evil, its origin is finite; we trace it to a 
 creature, the devil. But when we trace love back 
 to its source, we find it infinite, for its source is 
 God, and God is Love. 
 
 So let us take Love as the key-note of our Medi- 
 tations to-day, and consider each Word from the 
 Cross as a manifestation of love. 
 
THE FIRST WORD. 
 
 " FATHER, FORGIVK THEM ; FOR THEY KNOW 
 NOT WHAT THEY DO." S. Luke XXUl'., J^. 
 
 THIS Word considered in the light of love 
 gives us the first and most wide-reaching 
 example of the fruits of love, for it shows 
 us love manifesting itself in prayer, prayer for 
 others, intercessory prayer. 
 
 Behold the scene ! The Cross is laid on the 
 ground. Our Blessed L^ord is stretched upon it, 
 His Arms are extended, and the cruel nails are 
 driven first through His Hands and then through 
 His Feet. It was probably whilst this torture 
 was being inflicted that the first words were 
 spoken, and unlike the other words they were 
 repeated again and again, for the Greek word 
 (sXsys) which is translated *' said " is in the im- 
 perfect tense, and signifies " He kept on saying." 
 As the cruel blows of the hammer drove the 
 nails through the tender flesh and muscles. He 
 kept on saying, " Father, forgive them ; for 
 they know not what they do. ' ' 
 
 9 
 
10 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 Intercession to be effective must be importun- 
 ate ; in no prayer is greater persistence needed- 
 There must be the earnest solicitation, the pray- 
 ing " without ceasing," without wearying, which 
 is possible only when love is the motive power of 
 the prayer. How soon we grow weary of prayer, 
 especially of prayer for others ! And is not want 
 of love often the cause of this ? 
 
 Love, and you will not find it so diiSicult to per- 
 severe in prayer. Surely this is one of the simple 
 but practical lessons taught by this first Word. 
 For our Lord not only said, " Father, forgive 
 them," but He kept on saying it. So must we 
 go on praying the same prayer for the same per- 
 son or work, perhaps for weeks or months, or 
 even years. 
 
 Again, no kind of prayer is so all-embracing in 
 its subjects as Intercession. Mission work all 
 over the world ; souls in need ; those we love, or 
 who are bound to us by ties of relationship, 
 whether natural or spiritual ; those for v^^hom we 
 are responsible ; those whom we have neglected 
 or wronged ; those who have injured us : — for all 
 these our Lord here teaches us to pra3^ 
 
 The Cross was lifted up from the ground and 
 dropped into the hole prepared to receive it, ter- 
 ribly increasing our Lord's suffering ; but He 
 went on with His prayer, " Father, forgive 
 them ; for they know not what they do." 
 
The First Word. 1 1 
 
 All sin was gathered round Him there ; the 
 envy and jealousy of the priests, the moral cow- 
 ardice of Pilate, the callous cruelty of the execu- 
 tioners, the brutal and heartless curiosity of the 
 mob. Our Lord, as He looked down upon the 
 upturned faces, read in them as in hideous char- 
 acters every sort of sin. 
 
 What could He do ? For three years He had 
 gone from one end of the land to the other on 
 missions of love, preaching to sinners ; but He 
 could do that no longer, for His Feet were nailed 
 to the Cross. For three years He had done works 
 of love, laying His Hands in healing and blessing 
 on their sick ; but His Hands were nailed to the 
 Cross, so that now He could do that no longer. 
 
 There is one thing left ; His tongue is still free. 
 He can pray for them. He can no longer do 
 mission work, He can no longer go about doing 
 works of healing ; but love, the love which burns 
 undiminished in His Soul, finds expression in 
 prayer. And so He prays for them. 
 
 My brethren, we are in a world of sin, and we 
 are pledged to be followers of a crucified Lord ; 
 that is, we are bound to follow His example. 
 
 What can we do for the sin of the world ? Very 
 few of us can go out to foreign lands as mission- 
 aries to work for souls, for our feet are bound to 
 the spot where we are. We have our obligations 
 in life, we have the claim of family ties upon us, 
 
12 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 we cannot go ourselves as missionaries. We can- 
 not, perhaps, engage very much in mission work at 
 home, because our lives are such busy lives. But 
 we can all pray. Yes, the great duty, the great 
 privilege, the great power, of intercessory prayer is 
 within the reach of us all. We all of us can pray. 
 
 But why must we pray ? Not only because our 
 Lord sets us the example, but because we realise 
 at least partially what our Lord realised fully, 
 as no one else ever did — the value of the human 
 soul. From the Passion of our Lord we learn 
 the value of the soul, for we read there the in- 
 finite price He paid to redeem mankind. 
 
 But there is even a greater revelation of the 
 value of the soul than the Passion — for the Passion 
 might have been only from pity, from the love of 
 Compassion, as it has been called : there is a 
 greater revelation of the soul's value in the 
 thought that God loves the soul. 
 
 We often love things which are not worthy of 
 our love, which disappoint, bitterly disappoint us ; 
 and this because we are so blind, so easily de- 
 ceived, because we know things and persons only 
 as they seem, and not as they really are. But 
 God cannot be deceived ; He needeth not that 
 anyone should tell Him what is in man, for God 
 created man and knows what is in him ; and yet 
 God loves man, and God cannot love an un- 
 worthy object. 
 
The First Word, 1 3 
 
 Wonderful thought ! In man, then, there must 
 be something — in your soul, in every soul, there 
 must be something — which is worthy of God's 
 love ; and this thought should be the great stimu- 
 lus of all missionary work, of all intercessory 
 prayer. Souls that God loves, jewels in our 
 Lord's Crown, eternal, priceless, are in danger ! 
 Now they can be reached by work and prayer ; 
 but soon, perhaps, they may be beyond the reach 
 of either. Is not this enough to drive you to in- 
 tercessory prayer ? 
 
 Again, consider the dignity of intercessory 
 prayer. You are members of Christ, and as 
 members of His Body you are bound to join in 
 His great work of intercession. Its dignity comes 
 from the fact that not only does our Lord set the 
 example of intercession, but that it is the great 
 work of His Life in glory. In His great High 
 Priestly prayer in the seventeenth chapter of S. 
 John's Gospel, just before His Passion, He says, 
 ' * I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out 
 of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them 
 from the evil. ' ' And here, too, in this prayer upon 
 the Cross we find Him saying, * ' Fathe:r, forgive 
 them ; for they know not what they do. ' ' Thus 
 He sets the example. 
 
 And then — marvellous thought ! — not only did 
 He pray while on earth, but now that He is reign- 
 ing at the Right Hand of the Father in Heaven, 
 
14 TJie Words from the Cross. 
 
 His one work is intercession. ' ' He ever liveth, ' ' 
 we read, " to make intercession for us." He, our 
 great Head, in the glories of Heaven is interced- 
 ing for souls unceasingly ; and we, struggling in 
 this world of sin, as members of the Head must 
 join in His great intercession. So we learn from 
 Christ the dignity of intercessory prayer. 
 
 And then its efficacy ! Turn to the picture of 
 Moses in the seventeenth chapter of Bxodus. 
 While the Israelites in the valley are fighting 
 with Amalek, the hands of Moses are lifted in 
 supplication, and when he grows weary, Aaron 
 and Hur hold up his arms ; for when the arms 
 dropped Amalek prevailed, but when the arms 
 were held up Israel prevailed. 
 
 All over the world the Church is fighting. 
 Missionaries in far-off lands, missionaries in this 
 great city; missionaries in the slums, mivSsionaries 
 in our own parish, are struggling against the 
 powers of evil — and on what do they depend ? 
 Not on their own gifts, not on their own elo- 
 quence, not even on the self-sacrifice of their own 
 love ; but they have a right to depend upon our 
 holding up their hands by intercessory prayer. 
 
 Why do we have every day in this Church so 
 many Services ? It is not merely for those who 
 can come to them. If there were not one person 
 who could come, the Priest would still be bound 
 to say his Office every day. It is the intercessory 
 
TJie First Word. 1 5 
 
 prayer of the Church — the holding up of the arms 
 of her missionaries. 
 
 If we turn from the Old Testament to the New, 
 we read in S. James' Epistle, that " The effectual 
 fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, ' ' 
 and we are reminded of Elijah, a man of like pas- 
 sions with ourselves, who prayed that it might not 
 rain, and there was no rain for three years and 
 six months ; and he praj^ed again, " and the 
 heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her 
 fruit." 
 
 If we turn from the Bible to our own lives, 
 probably most of us have had blessed experiences 
 of answered prayer ; perhaps no one so much as a 
 Priest. He prays for a soul sometimes for years ; 
 and how Often, sooner or later, that soul comes to 
 God ! Oh, the efficacy, the power of intercessory 
 prayer ! 
 
 Why is the Church weak to-day ? Because, 
 amid the multiplication of organisations and 
 agencies of work we forget the power of prayer. 
 The Saints who again and again converted the 
 world — men like S. Francis Assisi, without wis- 
 dom, without worldly influence, without wealth, 
 and even without any great eloquence — prayed, 
 and it was their prayer that gave them their 
 power. It would be a good lesson for us this 
 Holy Week, if we learnt the efficacy, the duty, 
 and the dignity of intercessory prayer. 
 
1 6 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 And, then, recollect that its neglect is really a 
 sin, for which we shall have to answer. For we 
 read in the twelfth chapter of the First Book of 
 Samuel, and the twenty-third verse, that Samuel 
 said to the people, ' ' God forbid that I should sin 
 against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you." 
 He says that though they had behaved so badly 
 to him and sinned so grievously against God, yet 
 if he were to stop praying for them he would be 
 sinning against the Lord. 
 j Intercessory prayer : its dignity how high ; its 
 ! efficacy how great ; and its neglect sin ! 
 
 Now just a word or two about some hints for 
 intercessory prayer. One should set apart a cer- 
 tain time for it, and even in addition to that, strive 
 to use it at other times. The best time, if we can 
 give it, is between twelve and three in the after- 
 noon, when our Lord's Arms were outstretched 
 on the Cross, pleading for the world; for all inter- 
 cessory prayer must be in union with the Cross of 
 Christ. The best day of the week is Friday, 
 when our Lord died for souls. We need not, of 
 course, confine ourselves to that day or hour ; but 
 none can be more suitable. 
 
 It would be well when we have a spare hour 
 to take a sheet of paper and make a list of the 
 subjects for which we feel we ought to pray ; and 
 then each day to pray for some one or more of 
 them. 
 
The First Word. 17 
 
 First, going as far away from home as possible, 
 there would be prayer for foreign missions ; then 
 prayer for those around us who are in ignorance 
 of God, blasphemers or hinderers of His Word ; 
 and then for those who, knowing God, are in 
 mortal sin, — that they may be brought to repent- 
 ance. We should pray also for those who are in 
 great temptation, on the very verge of yielding to 
 sin and perhaps losing their souls ; for those who 
 are working for God in special ways ; for the sick^ 
 that they may be patient ; for the sufferings that 
 they may unite their sufferings to the sufferings 
 of Christ, so making them meritorious. And 
 then think often of the dying ; for we shall all 
 have to die some day. It is a charitable act to 
 say sometimes a prayer or litany for an 2mk?iown 
 dying soul. Pray, too, for the dead, those who 
 have died in the Lord. And lastly, pray for your 
 own parish ; for j^our Clergy — their ministrations 
 to you must depend very much on your prayers ; 
 and for the various works of the parish; — oh, the 
 persons and things to be prayed for are indeed 
 almost without number ! Make a list of some of 
 them, and then, from day to day, go through that 
 list, and, joining 3^our prayer with the prayer of 
 our Lord on the Cross, ask God to have mercy 
 and bless these different works and persons for 
 the sake of His dear Son our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
THE SECOND WORD. 
 
 ** VKRII.Y I SAY UNTO THKK, TO-DAY SHAI,T THOU 
 BE WITH MK IN PARADISE." S. Luke 
 
 xxiii.y ^j. 
 
 OUR lyORD was not crucified alone. On 
 either side of Him was a malefactor, a 
 robber. At first, both seem to have re- 
 viled Him, but His prayer. His intercessory- 
 prayer, worked for the benefit of the soul of one, 
 — the robber to whom tradition gives the name of 
 Dismas, — who was converted with a wonderful 
 penitence, and said, " Lord, remember me when 
 Thou comest into Thy kingdom, ' ' and who heard 
 the answer — not a future promise only, but a 
 promise in the present, to-day — *' To-day shalt 
 thou be with Me in Paradise. ' ' 
 
 Here we have the second note of the scale, and 
 we are to consider it in relation to its tonic, to its 
 key-note, Love. If the first note showed us love 
 manifesting itself in prayer for the souls of others, 
 the second shows us love manifesting itself in 
 almsdeeds, that is in works for the souls of others. 
 
 i8 
 
The Second Word. 19 
 
 Our Lord was asked by the thief for a bare re- 
 membrance in His kingdom, but He at once gives 
 him a share of that kingdom — the kingdom which 
 He was to win at so great a cost. How striking 
 and suggestive is the fact that the first to whom 
 He promises a share in His kingdom is a penitent 
 robber ! 
 
 Who could have deserv^ed less ? for in his own 
 confession he said, * ' We receive the due reward of 
 our deeds ' ' : — we have deserved our punishment, 
 our pain, our shame, our crucifixion — " but this 
 Man hath done nothing amiss ! " And yet the 
 Holy JKSUS, filled with the consuming fire of love, 
 having pra^^ed for the soul of that thief — as indeed 
 He prayed for all men — welcomes it as the first- 
 fruits of His pra3^er, and bestows upon it the first 
 share of His kingdom. 
 
 " Remember me ! " But were there not others 
 who had greater claims upon His remembrance ? 
 His mother ; S. Mary Magdalene and the other 
 Mar3^s, who stood at the foot of the Cross ; the 
 Apostles, who had followed Him through His 
 work ; and the women who had ministered to 
 Him of their substance ? And yet the thief said, 
 " lyORD, remember me when Thou comest into 
 Thy kingdom," and obtained more than he asked, 
 more than a remembrance, even a share in that 
 kingdom for eternity. 
 
 We may notice here the clear distinction which 
 
20 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 our Lord by His example draws between philan- 
 thropy and charity, between the love of men's 
 bodies and the love of their souls. We hear in 
 these days a great deal about philanthropy, and 
 it is very fitting that those who know nothing of 
 the love of God, and perhaps believe nothing in 
 regard to the soul's future in another world, 
 should minister to the bodies of men, of those who 
 are in want and suffering. 
 
 But can we not afford generally to leave this 
 kind of work almost entirely to those who are not 
 religious people, and who therefore would not 
 care to v>^ork for souls ? They are a large, an 
 increasingly large class ; and, this being so, 
 should not Christians, who do believe in God 
 and the value of the soul and its eternity, spend 
 their time and means chiefly in ministering to 
 men's souls, and not simply to their bodies — that 
 is, should they not minister to their bodies only 
 as a means of reaching their souls ? 
 
 When the robber said, *' Lord, remember me," 
 he was suffering the intensest agony, the pains 
 of crucifixion. What, then, ought our Lord to 
 have done, according to the views of philanthro- 
 pists ? He should of course have had him taken 
 down from the Cross, and his wounds staunched, 
 and fetched a surgeon to give him an anodyne to 
 deaden his pains : — that would have been popular 
 philanthropy. But our Lord was not a philan- 
 
TJie Second Word. 2 1 
 
 thropist in that sense, and so He left him there to 
 suffer, left him there to die ; because his suffer- 
 ings were part of the payment of the penalty of 
 his sins, and because suffering, so far from being 
 an evil, is perhaps one of the greatest and most 
 marvellous blessings of our life ; — that is, when 
 we bear our pain, as the penitent thief bore his, 
 as the due reward of our sins. 
 
 Our lyORD did not take him down from the 
 Cross. Our Lord did not by the exercise of 
 His divine power cause his bonds to fall off. 
 He left him there to die ; but He saved his soul. 
 In our Lord's treatment of the penitent robber 
 we notice the enormous difference between tem- 
 poral alleviation of pain and the eternal redemp- 
 tion of the soul. One is philanthropy, the other 
 is charity. The one rightly belongs to the chil- 
 dren of this world, the other to the children of 
 God. 
 
 In our consideration of the First Word from the 
 Cross, we dwelt on some practical suggestions for 
 intercessory prayer. Let us now briefly consider, 
 under the Second Word, in what ways we can 
 follow our Lord's example in manifesting our 
 love by almsdeeds, or works for others. 
 
 It is clear that our Lord, by sharing His king- 
 dom with a robber, sets before us the duty of 
 sharing with others that which God has given 
 us, our kingdom, that over which we have rule — 
 
22 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 our time, our money, our gifts. It would be well 
 for us deliberately to decide how much of each of 
 these we can use to the glory of God in working 
 for others. 
 
 First, our time. For what purpose was it given 
 us ? Certainly not exclusively for our own selfish 
 interests. Time, for each of us, is that brief space 
 between two eternities, the eternity when we 
 were not, and the eternity into which we pass at 
 our death. It is that short season in which we 
 are to work out our salvation. 
 
 But our salvation depends not only on the neg- 
 ative abstinence from evil, but also on the positive 
 fulfilment of duty ; and our great duty is to love 
 the lyORD our God with all our heart and with all 
 our soul and with all our mind, and our neighbour 
 as ourself. We ought, therefore, to consider 
 what portion of our time we can devote to work- 
 ing for God's glory and the good of souls. In 
 this we can certainly afford to be generous, when 
 we consider how much time we spend selfishly on 
 ourselves, and how much more even we waste. 
 
 Then there is the question of money ; what pro- 
 portion of our income can w^e devote to God's 
 service ? We should begin by realising the truth 
 of what we often say in the Service of the Church : 
 ' * All things are of Thee, O Lord, and of Thine 
 own have we given Thee. ' ' 
 
 We must remember that our money is not our 
 
The Second Word, 23 
 
 own to do what we please with, without responsi- 
 bihty to anyone, but that in the day when the 
 solemn words are said to us, " Give an account 
 of thy stewardship," one of the things for which 
 we shall have to account most strictly will be, the 
 way in which we have used our money ; — whether 
 our gold was moulded by our almsdeeds into a 
 crown of rejoicing, or by our selfish use of it the 
 weight was cast which will sink us into the abyss 
 of despair. 
 
 The proportion of income which each can de- 
 vote to God's service must necessarily depend to 
 some extent upon the amount of money God has 
 entrusted to his care. But we may lay down as a 
 minimum rule that it should not be less than 
 one tenth. This was God's command to the Jew, 
 and this the Church has required of her children. 
 Indeed, we should consider our tithe as scarcely 
 more than a debt due to God. Our gifts do not 
 begin until after that debt has been paid. 
 
 Under this head it would be well to read prayer- 
 fully the third chapter of the Book of the Prophet 
 Malachi, and to observe that in this prophecy 
 God speaks of the neglect to pay tithes as robbing 
 Him, and as the cause of the curse which at that 
 time rested on the Jewish nation ; and He further 
 promises a most abundant blessing if those tithes 
 are duly paid. The words are : " Will a man rob 
 God ? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, 
 
24 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 Wherein have we robbed Thee ? In tithes and 
 offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse : for ye 
 have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring 
 ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there 
 may be meat in Mine House, and prove Me now. 
 herewith, saith the I^ord of hosts, if I will not 
 open you the windows of Heaven, and pour -yow. 
 out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough 
 to receive it." (Verses 8, 9, 10.) 
 
 Moreover, to each of us God has given certain 
 gifts or talents to be used in His service, — in His 
 service, not merely for our own self-interest ; and 
 many who can give but little in money can do 
 much for the Church and for souls by using their 
 gifts in Church work. 
 
 Then again, as regards the objects of our alms- 
 deeds, we should carefully consider how we can 
 bestow them to the best advantage, ever remem- 
 bering that as stewards we must use our Lord's 
 goods not wastefully, but wisely ; and therefore 
 we must direct our time and money and talents 
 into such channels as shall produce the best fruits 
 for God's glory. 
 
 Here almost everyone would do well to seek 
 advice from the Priest of the parish ; for no one is 
 likely to know so well as he does the needs of his 
 work. How clearl}^ he often sees where a little 
 time or strength or money would produce really 
 wonderful results for the good of souls ! And how 
 
TJie Second Word. 25 
 
 often well-meauing persons, from lack of that 
 knowledge, waste these things ! sometimes by 
 selecting unworthy objects of their charity, and 
 at others choosing work for which they have no 
 aptitude. 
 
 This is especially the case in regard to their 
 bestowal of money. How often people give to 
 something which takes their fancy, not to that 
 which most needs their help ! sometimes, alas, 
 even to that which feeds their self-importance 
 rather than to that which feeds the hungry souls 
 in God's Church. 
 
 We have a most solemn warning against this 
 in our Lord's parable of the Rich Man and Laz- 
 arus. What was the sin of the rich man ? It 
 was not that he was clothed in purple and fine 
 linen and fared sumptuously every day ; for that 
 belonged to his state of life as a rich man. Nor 
 was it that he gave nothing in alms ; for as a Jew 
 he certainly gave his tenth, and there is no reason 
 to suppose that he did not as a rich man contribute 
 liberall}^ to the claims of his Church and of philan- 
 thropy. No ; his sin lay in the fact that he neg- 
 lected the very work of charity which was lying 
 at his own door ; and he neglected Lazarus, be- 
 cause, perhaps, he was so unattractive in his rags, 
 so loathsome in his sores. 
 
 Very likely as he passed him day by day he 
 went into the city and put his name down on 
 
26 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 subscription lists for large sums of money ; and 
 doubtless he had his own pet hobbies, to which 
 he contributed liberally, — just as people in the 
 present day give fortunes to the Society for the 
 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or to found a 
 home for cats, but will not give anything to pre- 
 vent the ruin and loss of souls, or to support mis- 
 sions in which the outcast may find indeed a 
 home ! 
 
 We are distinctly told by our I^ord what was 
 the result to the rich man of neglecting the work 
 of charity at his own door. It would be well for 
 us to coUvSider, on a solemn occasion like this, 
 whether we are in any danger of incurring the 
 same condemnation. 
 
 Yes, our Blessed I^ord in His Second Word 
 from the Cross teaches us how lovingly He 
 thought of the miseries of others, how wisely He 
 ministered to the spiritual needs of the penitent 
 robber ; and so He sets us the great example of 
 love manifesting itself in works of charity on be- 
 half of the needy and sinful. 
 
THE THIRD WORD. 
 
 ' ' WOMAN, BKHOI.D THY SON ! . . . BKHOLD 
 
 THY moth:e:r ! " S. /o/m xzx., 26, 2y. 
 
 IN the First Word we saw love expressing itself 
 in prayer for others ; in the Second, love ex- 
 pressing itself in almsdeeds, or work for 
 others. In this Word we see love manifesting 
 itself in sympathy for others. First, there was 
 charity working amid sin ; then charity bring- 
 ing the sinner to penitence ; and then, in the 
 Third Word, charity amid the surroundings of 
 home and social life. 
 
 The Bride in the Canticles, speaking of her 
 home relations with her Bridegroom, says, ' ' His 
 banner over me was love." And surely, in all 
 the surroundings both of the home and social 
 circle, the love of Christ should constrain us. 
 This should be our motto : ' * His banner over me 
 is love. ' ' 
 
 We are taking the Seven Words as represent- 
 ing the seven notes of the diatonic scale. This 
 Word would therefore correspond to * * the third, ' ' 
 one of the principal notes of the scale, by which 
 
 27 
 
28 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 the mode is decided, whether it be major or minor. 
 As in the musical scale the whole character both 
 of the harmony and the melody depends on the 
 third whether it be major or minor, so the in- 
 fluence and atmosphere of the home will often 
 colour and change the character of the whole life. 
 
 How many lives are tinged with sadness or 
 sorrow or sin, the result of habits acquired in 
 childhood ! How often are imparted to after years 
 the minor harmonies of penitential mourning, 
 ending with the plaintive cadence of the minor 
 mode, when the consequences to the temperament 
 or character of the mistakes of early training re- 
 main to the very end of life ! 
 
 On the other hand, how often we may trace the 
 salutary effects of a healthy and joyous childhood 
 in a man's ability to meet and rise superior to 
 the difficulties and disappointments of after life ! 
 Yes, it is not too much to say that all life's har- 
 monies are affected by the home life of childhood. 
 
 From our Lord's Third Word from the Cross, 
 read in the light of love, we may learn the power 
 of sympathy in moulding character, especially 
 sympathy in the home life and in that social bond 
 which we call friendship. Our Blessed Lord 
 looks down from the Cross upon His mother and 
 upon His friend, and though suffering so griev- 
 ously Himself, He thinks of their sorrows, and 
 by an act of generous self-sacrifice in surrendering 
 
TJie TJiird Word. 29 
 
 His mother and His friend, provides for their 
 future happiness by binding them together with 
 a new and hallowed bond. 
 
 The home life of Jesus — how beautiful it had 
 been ! that home at Nazareth, over which the 
 banner of love had been lifted— that home of 
 povert}^ in which ahvays the spirit of love reigned 
 — doubtless the nearest glimpse of Heaven that 
 could be found anywhere, at any time, on this dark 
 earth ! — that home at Nazareth, where for so 
 many years Mary and Joseph and JKSUS lived to- 
 gether ! Think of that home when the evening 
 sun was setting behind the hills, and jESUS and 
 Joseph, their work in the carpenter's shop finished 
 for the day, came home, and Mary welcomed 
 them. And then, as Jesus sat at Mary's feet and 
 rested His head on her knee, and Joseph looked 
 on with love — there indeed was a glimpse of the 
 peace and happiness of Heaven ! 
 
 And why are not all Christian homes like the 
 home of Nazareth ? It is only because love is so 
 often absent, and in its place is found envy, jeal- 
 ousy, impatience, selfishness, the spirit of criticism 
 and wilfulness, everyone wanting to have his own 
 way ; and so the home over which the banner of 
 love should have been lifted becomes the house, 
 the home of strife. Charity in home life ! All 
 those evil spirits — envy, jealousy, irritability, 
 selfishness, self-will — flee at once before the spirit 
 
30 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 of love ; just as the shadows of night vanish be- 
 fore the rising of the morning sun. Love must 
 be the principle of home life. 
 
 But our Lord looked down from the Cross not 
 only upon His mother — all that was left to Him of 
 the ties of home — but also upon His friend, S. 
 John. Next to the sacredness and sweetness of 
 home ties come the bonds of true friendship. 
 How unselfish it ought to be ! How mutually 
 stimulating and strengthening ! ' ' Iron sharpen- 
 eth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the countenance 
 of his friend" (Prov. xxvii., 17). In these words 
 the Wise Man describes the beneficent power of 
 friendship. 
 
 And yet, how often it is otherwise, — when 
 friends become a temptation to one another; for 
 how many falls can be laid at a friend's door ! 
 Or if there be not actually a fall, how often does 
 friendship, instead of sharpening the characters 
 of the friends, exercise an enerv'^ating effect on 
 both ! What is the cause ? Always the same — 
 want of love ; that is, of true love, which is ever 
 unselfish, and seeks not its own, but works for the 
 good of its friend. 
 
 Our Lord looked down from the Cross on His 
 mother and His friend, and His love showed itself 
 in S3^mpathy for their sorrows. He knew that 
 they each had a cross to bear, for who has not ? 
 Mary's cross was the sword that pierced her soul 
 
The Tliird Word. 31 
 
 as she saw her Son dying ; and S. John's — think 
 of his cross, as he saw the best Friend that ever 
 man had passing away from him ! They each 
 had a heavy cross to bear. 
 
 Our Lord spoke to them, expressing His sym- 
 pathy, and by the unselfish command with which 
 He sent them from the Cross, He bound them to- 
 gether with a new bond. To His mother He said : 
 " Behold thy son ! I am taken away from thee ; 
 I know the wound in thy broken heart. My 
 friend will strive in some measure to minister to 
 thee, and to bind up that aching wound." And 
 to His friend He says : ' ' Thou art losing One Who 
 is dearest to thee of all in life. I give thee in 
 My place her who is dearest to Me, My mother, 
 to be thy mother, thy comfort and strength." 
 What a wonderful manifestation of unselfish love ! 
 
 But what is love ? The most unselfish of all 
 virtues, for it is the outpouring of self upon an- 
 other. In its highest sense, all love must be for 
 God, since our love for our neighbour is but the 
 result of our love for God. 
 
 And what is this love of God, this charity, 
 which is the spring and source of all love ? Con- 
 sidered theologically, as inhering in our souls, it 
 is called Sanctifying Grace. 
 
 Every Sacrament conveys two sorts of grace. 
 The first is the grace of the Sacrament, that is, 
 the particular grace which is the end or purpose 
 
32 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 of that Sacrament, and which can be obtained, so 
 far as we know% in no other way. Thus, the grace 
 of the Sacrament of Baptism is Regeneration ; of 
 Penance, it is Absolution ; of Confirmation, the 
 Gifts of the Holy Spirit ; and so on. But be- 
 sides this, each Sacrament alike conveys an in- 
 crease of sanctifying grace, and sanctifying grace 
 is the love of God in the soul. 
 
 Sanctifying grace is a quality inherent in the 
 soul, a ' ' habit ' ' which remains in the soul until 
 destroyed by mortal sin. It is, as it were, *' the 
 wedding garment ' ' of the soul. 
 
 Where sanctifying grace in its fulness inheres 
 in a soul, there it is impossible for anything but 
 love to exist. You cannot have heat and cold in 
 the same place at the same time. You cannot 
 have light and darkness in the same room at the 
 same time. You cannot have love and hatred in 
 the same heart. 
 
 S. John writes so emphatically in his First 
 Kpistle that he almost startles us by the seeming 
 passion with which he says, " If a man say, I love 
 God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar " (i S. 
 John iv., 20). Yet this is true, absolutely true. 
 
 If a man say that he loves God, that he has 
 sanctifying grace in his soul, and really hates his 
 brother with a mortal hatred, he proves that he is 
 self-deceived, he proves that the love of God 
 which he thought was in his soul is not there ; 
 
TJie Third Word. 33 
 
 for you cannot love God without loving God's 
 creatures. You cannot have sanctifying grace 
 inherent in your soul as the habit of your spiritual 
 life, as the garment of your soul, without its per- 
 vading every action that you do, and causing a 
 manifestation of love and jo}^ and all the Fruits of 
 the Holy Spirit towards those with whom you 
 come in contact. 
 
 So you see that if j-our home is not the abode 
 of love it is not because you do not love one an- 
 other, — that is only a secondary cause ; it is really 
 because 3'ou do not love God. You cannot love 
 God without loving one another. 
 
 When our Lord says, * * Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and w4th all 
 thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first 
 and great commandment. And the second is like 
 unto it, Thou shalt love th}^ neighbour as thj^self ' ' 
 — He does not mean that they are really two com- 
 mandments ; for the second is only the result of 
 the first. 
 
 Love that is in your heart must shine forth 
 upon all around j-ou. You cannot bring a light 
 into your chamber without its dispersing the 
 darkness there. You cannot have heat in your 
 room without its driving out the cold. You can- 
 not have love in your heart without its pervading 
 your actions, making you gentle, kind, and full 
 of sympathy for those with whom you live. 
 
34 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 It has been said that the home is the strength 
 of the nation. Certainly in most cases home in- 
 fluence leaves its impression upon the character 
 throughout life ; but the influence of home life, 
 if it is to be for good, must be the influence of 
 love, the influence of a home where the motto is, 
 ' * His banner over me is love. ' ' 
 
 Our Lord in His Third Word on the Cross (the 
 third in the diatonic scale) shows us that it is not 
 enough to have love in our prayers and in our 
 almsdeeds, but that we must have love in our 
 home life, true love in our friendships, bringing 
 peace and joy to all. So our IvORd's love of His 
 blessed mother and of S. John manifests itself in 
 the precious legacy of these words, in which He 
 sympathises with their sorrows and provides for 
 their happiness in the future. 
 
THE FOURTH WORD. 
 
 "my god, my god, why hast thou forsakejn 
 MK ? " 6". Mark xv. , j/. 
 
 LOVE triumphing over despondency ! * * Why 
 hast Thou forsaken Me ? " — despondency ; 
 " My God, My God ! " — love triumphing 
 over the despondency. 
 
 Who is there among us who has not at one time 
 or another felt the bitterness of despondency, of 
 spiritual depression ? And yet this like all tempt- 
 ations, if it be rightly used, will be made a help 
 instead of a hindrance to our spiritual life. For 
 the true use of depression surely is this, to drive 
 us to God. When all else fails, when the world 
 forsakes us, when those who ought to help us 
 turn away from us, — then our despondency must 
 not lead us to despair, but rather it must drive us 
 to say, * ' My God, my God ! ' ' 
 
 ** Put not your trust in princes, nor in any 
 child of man, ' ' for you will be disappointed. Put 
 your trust in God, and He will never fail you. 
 In Te Domine speravi ; non conf^nidar in cBteriium — • 
 " O Lord, in Thee have I trusted; I shall no^vox 
 be confounded ! ' ' 
 
 35 
 
36 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 Then, too, there are times when depression 
 teaches us valuable lessons. For if we use it 
 aright it teaches us three most important things : 
 a knowledge of self, a knowledge of the world, 
 and a knowledge of God. 
 
 (i) It teaches us to know ourselves. It shows 
 us how mistaken we have been about ourselves. 
 For we are constantly waking up to our own sin- 
 fulness — those of us, at least, who are thoroughly 
 in earnest and who are striving to press forward 
 in the service of God — ' ' I thought I had made 
 such progress ; that terrible failure in spiritual 
 life shows me I had not. I thought I did so much 
 for God ; and a flash of God's light showed me 
 that I did most of it for myself. ' ' 
 
 When we feel depressed and low-spirited we 
 are not likely to take a very high estimate of our- 
 selves ; and it is only when we have reached the 
 very bottom of ourselves, and learned how little 
 good and how much evil there is in us, that our 
 spiritual life is on a firm foundation. Despondency 
 teaches us our weakness : " I thought I was so 
 strong in that particular virtue ; I failed in it. I 
 thought I had that spiritual gift, and that was 
 just the one I really lacked ! " 
 
 (2) But not only does despondency teach us a 
 knowledge of self ; it teaches us rightly to know 
 the world, and to realise how utterly worthless 
 it all is. The great instance of despondency in 
 
The Fonrth Word. 37 
 
 the Old Testament is, of course, Elijah. He had 
 called upon God to witness to the truth of his 
 mission by sending down fire from Heaven to 
 consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel, and God 
 had answered his prayer. Elijah had slain the 
 four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and ap- 
 parently had won a complete victory over idolatry 
 in the land. 
 
 And then it was, after this glorious triumph, 
 that he gave way to despondency. A message 
 was brought him from Jezebel that she would 
 have his life ; he fled into the wilderness, threw 
 himself down under a juniper-tree : " and he re- 
 quested for himself that he might die ; and said. 
 It is enough ; now, O lyORD, take away my life ; 
 for I am not better than my fathers." Like a 
 flash he saw how worthless were the triumphs of 
 the world. 
 
 So we, too, in time of depression learn to esti- 
 mate the world at its true value and to distrust it. 
 The world praises us, flatters us, ministers to us 
 up to a certain point and so long as we are useful 
 to it ; but then it drops us. When we feel low- 
 spirited we not only learn our own weakness, but 
 we learn the world's utter worthlessness. Who 
 ever trusted in the world without sooner or later 
 learning its insincerity, its utter nothingness ? 
 
 (3) Moreover, despondency gives us a know- 
 ledge of God. For when we are depressed, to 
 
38 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 whom can we go but to God ? So was it with 
 Elijah. When he threw himself down under the 
 tree and requested for himself that he might die, 
 God did not forsake him, but sent His angel to 
 minister to him. 
 
 So in times of despondency must we turn to 
 God and sa}' , ' ' My God, my God, why hast Thou 
 forsaken me ? ' ' and then go on to say, * ' Though 
 He slay me, yet will I trust in Him ! My God, 
 I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me ! " 
 Despondency reveals to us our own weakness, 
 the world's worthlessness, and God's eternal 
 love. 
 
 Yes ; and love is the only remedy for despond- 
 ency. When you have failed in something on 
 which you had set your heart, and are utterly cast 
 down, try and analyse the cause of your despond- 
 ency. You will generally find that it conies from 
 one of three things. 
 
 First, very often the despondency is physical. 
 The body has been overworked ; the nerves have 
 been overstrained ; there is a reaction. It was 
 so with Elijah. He had stood all that day on 
 Carmel, displaying splendid courage ; then ' ' he 
 girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the 
 entrance of Jezreel." Afterwards came his long 
 flight into the wilderness; and so his body was 
 worn out with the labour, and his overstrung 
 nerves reacted from the tremendous strain which 
 
The Fourth Word. 39 
 
 had been put upon them, and his depression was 
 intense. 
 
 Very often our despondency is physical. When 
 this is so, let us remember that the remedy is a 
 very humble and very simple one — food and rest. 
 God sent His angel to Elijah with food — a cake 
 baken on the coals, and a cruse of water. Elijah 
 rose and ate, and lay down and slept. He fed his 
 body and rested it. The physical despondency 
 departed, and he went in the strength of that 
 food and rest forty days and forty nights to Horeb, 
 the Mount of God. 
 
 Secondly, despondency often comes from our 
 temperament. Depression belongs, of course, pe- 
 culiarly to the melancholic temperament ; but it 
 is found to some extent in all temperaments, and 
 next to the melancholic, strange as it may seem, 
 it is most often manifested in the sanguine. The 
 sanguine man always has his fits of despondency. 
 If you know that you are subject to fits of depres- 
 sion, when you are low-spirited remember it is 
 only a part of your temperament, and a thing 
 which will pass away. 
 
 Thirdly — and this is, perhaps, the most import- 
 ant point for our consideration to-day — despond- 
 ency is often the result of disappointment. It 
 comes from failure. When our best efforts end in 
 failure, and our fondest hopes meet with disap- 
 pointment, we are naturally despondent. 
 
40 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 What is the best thing to do ? Go to the Cross 
 of Jesus Christ. Let love draw you there ; and 
 what do you see ? You see in the Cross — and we 
 need to impress it upon ourselves — you see in the 
 Cross the most wonderful failure that the world 
 ever witnessed. 
 
 A life which opened with such splendid promise ; 
 a life which was unmarred by any mistake, 
 untainted by any sin ; a life which drew the atten- 
 tion, commanded the respect, and won the admira- 
 tion of those who listened to Him — ended in the 
 failure of the Cross. Those for whom He worked 
 deserted Him ; those whom He loved denied, be- 
 trayed, forsook Him ; and there in the Cross of 
 Christ you see the most stupendous failure the 
 world has ever known — and yet it was that failure 
 which redeemed the world ! 
 
 The power of the Death of Christ has its retro- 
 spective effect, so marvellous, of undoing what in 
 one sense cannot be undone, of unmaking the 
 past, of reversing the most serious acts of life. For 
 the power of the Cross is the power by which our 
 failures, our sins, are undone, inasmuch as they 
 are washed away. 
 
 What tremendous consequences were involved 
 in our sins ! Yet from the Cross the Precious 
 Blood is applied to us as individuals through 
 penitence, our sins are undone, are washed away ! 
 There is nothing else in the world that can undo 
 
TJie Fourth Word. 41 
 
 the past but the Blood of JKSUS, the failure of 
 the Cross, — of which S. Paul says, " The preach- 
 ing of the Cross of Christ is to them that perish 
 foolishness. ' ' 
 
 But our Lord's Passion has not only a retro- 
 spective force ; its power is also prospective, since 
 it conveys grace for the future, and therefore hope 
 for the future. From the Cross there comes par- 
 don of all past sin ; and from the Cross, too, flows 
 -that grace in the power of which all our future 
 life should be lived. 
 
 When I am despondent, and the world has dis- 
 appointed me ; when my efforts have ended in 
 failure ; when success, which seemed within my 
 grasp, has eluded me, I go to the Cross, and see 
 there as in a mirror what my life ought to be— a 
 life, perhaps, of failure in many things, but a life 
 upon which the Blood of the Passion has been 
 sprinkled, blotting out its mistakes and sins, and 
 giving me strength and courage, giving me light 
 in darkness, and power to begin again. 
 
 ** My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me ? ' ' The remedy for despondency is the Cross 
 of Jesus Christ. Go and kneel down before it, 
 and ask 3''ourself if an3'-one has ever failed as our 
 IvORD seemed humanly to fail, and remember that 
 from His apparent failure sprang the greatest 
 success the world has ever known ; and learn 
 from this that the ' ' failures ' ' of your life may be 
 
42 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 its greatest blessings, and that the * ' successes ' ' 
 of your life may prove its ruin. 
 
 Learn that in the Cross there is a mirror in 
 which you ought to be able to see yourself re- 
 flected ; and if as you kneel before the Cross you 
 perceive in yourself no signs of crucifixion, then 
 be sure there must be something wrong in your 
 life. 
 
 On the octave of Easter Day S. Thomas said, 
 ' ' Except I shall see in His Hands the print of 
 the nails, . . . I will not believe." And un- 
 less you see in your own life the marks of the 
 Cross, you have great reason to doubt whether 
 you are a true follower of the Crucified. If you 
 know nothing of self-sacrifice for the love of 
 Christ, nothing of struggle, nothing of failure, 
 nothing of disappointment for the love of Christ ; 
 if the marks of the Cross are not in your hands, in 
 your feet, — then you are probably not a true fol- 
 lower of the Crucified. 
 
 The world wears the Cross in jevv^elled form. 
 The woman of fashion wears it covered with 
 sparkling diamonds as an ornament upon her 
 breast ; but it is the Cross which has been burnt 
 into our lives that proves us to be the followers 
 of Christ. The jewelled Cross is the true em- 
 blem of the world's religion ; the Cross in the life 
 is the emblem of the Christian's. 
 
 When you suffer most from despondency; when 
 
TJie Fourth Word. 43 
 
 you not only fail as regards the world, but seem 
 to have failed, perhaps, even in your spiritual 
 life ; when your prayers seem cold, your Com- 
 munions lifeless, and God appears to have with- 
 drawn Himself from you ; then go and kneel be- 
 fore the Cross, and say, '* My God, my God, 
 though Thou slay me, yet will I trust in Thee ! 
 My God, my God, under the shadow of Thy 
 wings shall be my refuge, until this tyranny be 
 overpast ! O my God, the eloquent lips of Thy 
 Wounds tell me of all Thy love for me, and Thy 
 love for me enables me to trust Thee in spite of 
 my despondency. Like Elijah I will arise in the 
 strength of the Bread of Heaven, the Holy Com- 
 munion, and go on with my journey ; and in the 
 power of Thy love I shall be able to meet my 
 difficulties and conquer them." 
 
THE FIFTH WORD. 
 " I THIRST." 5. John xix.y 28, 
 
 THE thirst of the body, how terrible it some- 
 times is ! The fevered sufferer tossing 
 upon the bed of sickness, moaning, * ' I am 
 so thirsty," — the drunkard, who by indulgence in 
 stimulants has immensely increased his thirst, 
 and who cannot satisfy it, — the shipwrecked sailor 
 in a little boat, without water, — all tell us that the 
 most terrible of all the appetites of the body, when 
 unsatisfied, is the appetite of thirst. Hunger is 
 terrible, but hunger can be endured far more 
 easily than thirst. 
 
 And is the thirst of the soul less terrible, less 
 intense ? — that craving which God Himself has 
 put into our souls ? The craving for what ? The 
 craving to know — the thinst of curiosity. The 
 craving to love — the thirst of passion. The crav- 
 ing to have — the thirst for possession. 
 
 This Word is the fifth note in the diatonic scale 
 of our Lord's Passion ; and the fifth is the "dom- 
 inant ' ' of the musical scale, so called from its im- 
 portance in relation to the tonic or key-note. And 
 
 44 
 
The Fifth Word. 45 
 
 our Lord's Fifth Word surely suggests the ques- 
 tion, What is the domi7iant passion of our soul ? 
 What is the ruling principle of our life ? For 
 what is it that we thirst ? 
 
 We thirst to know — to know what ? Is it to 
 know what the world can teach us of sin ? We 
 thirst to love — to love what ? What the world 
 can give us of creatures — creatures that disap- 
 point, and die, and pass away ? We thirst to 
 possess — to possess what ? The money that the 
 world can bestow, which we must leave behind 
 us when we die ? the honours which the world 
 can give and so quickly take away ? 
 
 Or we thirst to know, — what ? God's truth, 
 which alone can satisfy the intellect ? We thirst 
 to love, — what ? The most perfect Man that ever 
 lived, our Lord Jksus Christ ? We thirst to 
 possess, — what ? The God Who gives Himself 
 to us, and in giving Himself gives us all things ? 
 the God Who created our souls with that intense 
 thirst that He might gratify it ? — as S. Augustine 
 says, * * Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our 
 heart knoweth no rest until it rests in Thee." * 
 
 We thirst either for the Creator or for the 
 creatures ; either for that which is eternal or for 
 that which is temporal ; either for that which sat- 
 
 * ** Fecisti nos ad Te, et inquietum est cor nostrum 
 donee requiescat in Te." — S. Aug. Con/.^ i., i. 
 
46 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 isfies or for that which only stimulates our insati- 
 able thirst without fully gratifying it. 
 
 The soul of man is thirsty. It is one of God's 
 best gifts to the soul, that its thirst may impel it 
 to seek God, by Whom alone the soul's thirst 
 can be satisfied. For God has said, ' ' I will pour 
 water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon 
 the dry ground : I will pour My Spirit upon thy 
 seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring ' ' 
 (Isa. xliv., 3). 
 
 You, my brother or sister who are spending 
 these three hours before the Cross of JKSUS, ask 
 yourself. For what do I thirst ? You know what 
 was the thirst of our Lord's Life : it was to do 
 His Father's Will, to finish His work. For 
 what ^oyou thirst ? 
 
 Look around 5^ou in the world, and see the 
 various objects for which men spend their lives, 
 for which they thirst. There is the man who 
 thirsts to gratify his sensuality ; he is a drunkard. 
 How we pity him ! He is a sensualist. How 
 wretched after a while his life becomes even here ; 
 and oh, how awful must be his life hereafter, with 
 all those burning passions infinitely developed in 
 hell, but with nothing to satisfj^ them ! 
 
 Another man thirsts for money. Covetousness ; 
 the one sin which, next to pride, is the most 
 universal, and yet — oh strange fact ! — the one 
 sin which scarcely anyone recognises in himself. 
 
The Fifth Word, 47 
 
 Few persons ever make their Confession without 
 confessing the sin of pride. Few persons who 
 make their Confession ever confess the sin of 
 covetousness. And yetS. Paul says, " I had not 
 known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt 
 not covet" (Rom. vii., 7). 
 
 Next to pride covetousness is the most univer- 
 sal sin. How terrible to think that in this you 
 may be self-deceived ! You say, *' I know I am 
 proud ; I know I have a bad temper ; I know I 
 have a passionate nature ' ' ; but when it comes to 
 the Tenth Commandment, '' Thou shalt not 
 covet " — " Well, no," you say; " I do not think 
 I have broken that." It is indeed sad to think 
 how often the Devil succeeds in deceiving us, and 
 making us believe that our love of money or 
 money's worth is not covetousness ! 
 
 For what do you thirst ? There is the thirst of 
 the sensualist. There is the thirst of the miser. 
 There is the thirst which is said to be " the thirst 
 of noble souls," — ambition ; the thirst of making 
 a name, the thirst of power, the thirst of influ- 
 ence ! You say, ' * I mean to use it so well ; I love 
 to possess it ! " 
 
 Can any of these various appetites be fully 
 gratified in this world ? Is the sensualist satis- 
 fied ? Is the drunkard satisfied ? No, the more 
 he strives to gratify his appetite, the more he 
 adds fuel to the flames of the desire which is con- 
 
48 TJie Words from the Cross. 
 
 suming him. Is the miser, gloating over his gold, 
 happy and satisfied ? The miser ! From the 
 whole vocabulary of language the word " miser " 
 — " the wretched one " — has been chosen to de- 
 scribe this man, because in the eyes of all he is 
 so miserable. Is the statesman happy, with his 
 whole future trembling on a popular vote ? 
 
 Can any of these quench the thirst of their im- 
 mortal souls ? You might as well ask the ship- 
 wrecked mariner, who, maddened with thirst, 
 drinks copious draughts of sea water, — only to 
 have his thirst terribly intensified, — whether the 
 salt water satisfies. One has often read of men 
 who, saved from shipwreck on a raft or boat, and 
 suffering from the pains of thirst, in spite of warn- 
 ings have drunk the sea water to quench their 
 thirst, and then, becoming frenzied and insane, 
 have leaped into the deep and been drowned. 
 
 From such cases as these we may surely learn 
 the folly of those who in this life are striving to 
 satisfy the thirst of their immortal souls by sen- 
 suality, money, or power ; who thus stimulate 
 their thirst instead of satisfying it, and drown 
 their immortal souls in the sea of creatures into 
 which they plunge. 
 
 For what, then, do you thirst ? Ask yourself 
 this question most solemnly, in the presence of 
 the Cross of our lyORD Jesus Christ, as you 
 listen to that dying Word of His, " I thirst." 
 
The Fifth Word. 49 
 
 Ask yourself, What is the ruling passion of 
 my life ? Is it thirst for God ? Nothing but 
 that can ever satisfy me. Is it thirst for the 
 creature ? Is it sensuality in any of its forms ? 
 What is sensuality ? It is the development of 
 every evil passion in our nature, without its full 
 gratification in this life ; and these passions will 
 be like hungry wolves yelping for food in the life 
 to come, where there is no food for them. Think 
 of the sensualist's hell in eternity — the hell he 
 made for himself ! Think of the thirst for money, 
 — and the torment of the miser's hell ! Think of 
 the ambitious man with his thirst for power — 
 bound and chained in the fetters of his sin, long- 
 ing for power, but impotent, powerless ! 
 
 The saint of God, who thirsts for the glory of 
 God, thirsts to work in saving souls for his God 
 — what is his reward ? In this world a life of 
 true satisfaction, for he drinks in as from a river 
 streams of pleasure, and finds the grace of God 
 springing up in him like a well of living water ; 
 and in the life to come, he will drink in the Vision 
 of the Glory of God in Heaven, and join with 
 those souls whom he has helped to save, in sing- 
 ing God's praises through the endless ages of eter- 
 nity, happy with a happiness that no human 
 tongue can describe, and no human mind can 
 fully conceive ! 
 
 What is your ruling passion ? For what do 
 
50 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 you thirst ? What is the * ' dominant ' ' of your 
 life ? What do you think of day after day ? For 
 what do you make sacrifices ? You * * rise early, 
 and late take rest, and eat the bread of careful- 
 ness," — and for what? To make money? To 
 gain power ? Or is it for the glory of God ? 
 
 For what does the true Christian thirst ? 
 Chiefly for three things : though the three are 
 really but one. 
 
 (i) God is the first object of the Christian's 
 thirst. " O God, Thou art my God : early will 
 I seek Thee : my soul thirsteth for Thee. " " I^ike 
 as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth 
 my soul after Thee, O God. O how amiable are 
 Thy dwellings. Thou Lord of hosts ! My soul 
 hath a desire and longing " for the living God. 
 Thirst for God! God made the soul thirsty 
 that He and He alone might satisfy that thirst. 
 
 The passion of curiosity which spurs men on 
 to learn can be perfectly satisfied only with the 
 knowledge of truth — the knowledge of God and 
 His revelation. The passion of love, the strongest 
 of all passions, can be perfectly satisfied only with 
 the love of God. The passion of having, the 
 strange craving of which I have spoken, the 
 passion of possessing, whence did it come ? God 
 put it into the soul when He made the soul, be- 
 cause He meant to satisfy it. God meant you to 
 possess — what? Nothing less than Himself! 
 
The Fifth Word, 51 
 
 The passion of possessing God ! * ' God, Thou 
 art my God ! Though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou 
 art with me ! The Lord is my Light and my Sal- 
 vation ; whom then shall I fear ? the Lord is the 
 Strength of my life ; of whom then shall I be 
 afraid?" 
 
 The thirst of the soul is satisfied only with God. 
 Ask the drunkard, ask the sensualist, ask the 
 miser, ask the statesman, " Are you happy ? " 
 
 Ask the saint, who has given up all for God, 
 ' * Are you happy ? " ' * Happy ! " he replies ; 
 " words cannot tell the sweetness of possessing 
 God ; and happy as I am in this life, I know it is 
 but a slight foretaste of the infinite happiness of 
 the life to come." 
 
 Ask the sensualist, the miser, the statesman, 
 what he thinks about the life to come, — what he 
 expects to find there. '* Oh, perhaps there is no 
 life to come, ' ' he says ; " or at least I do not wish 
 to think of it." The pagan poet of old said, Non 
 omnis vioria^' — " I shall not wholly die." But the 
 men of whom we speak will wish in vain that they 
 could wholly die, that they might be annihilated ; 
 for they have developed in their souls a thirst 
 which in its insatiableness will be their misery 
 throughout eternity ! 
 
 (2) And secondly, there is the thirst ior perfec- 
 tion. God meant man to be perfect. God said 
 
52 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 to Abram, in His great revelation at Mamre, ** I 
 am the Almighty God ; walk before Me, and be 
 thou perfect'' (Gen. xvii., i). Man has fallen, but 
 God still means him to be perfect. Our I^ord 
 said in the Sermon on the Mount, " Blessed are 
 they that do hunger and thirst after righteous- 
 ness ' ' (that is, after perfection) ; "for they shall 
 be filled. " It is His promise. And what is per- 
 fection ? Perhaps you say, ' ' Oh, I can never 
 hope to be perfect ! I am so conscious of failure, 
 of sin ! I must take a lower standard of conduct 
 than perfection — much lower ! ' ' 
 
 But there is no standard that you can take, ex- 
 cept the imitation of Christ. Our Lord said, 
 ' ' Learn of Me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart : 
 and ye shall find rest unto your souls." If you 
 take Christ as your standard, Christ was per- 
 fect ; and He said to you in this same Sermon on 
 the Mount, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your 
 Father Which is in Heaven is perfect." Thus 
 thirst for perfection is thirst for God. 
 
 (3) Then, we thirst to become like God. '* As 
 for me, I will behold Thy Presence in righteous- 
 ness : and when I awake up after Thy Likeness, 
 I shall be satisfied with it " (Ps. xvii., 16). 
 
 The soul that thirsts for perfection finds in this 
 life a most intense interest in seeking perfection. 
 As the man of business, or the man of science, or 
 the statesman finds great interest in working out 
 
TJie Fifth Word. 53 
 
 his plans and reaching his goal, so the Christian 
 finds an all-absorbing interest every day in striv- 
 ing after perfection, that is, in striving to be like 
 Christ. 
 
 If we take a lower standard, how monotonous 
 does spiritual life become ! But when we hunger 
 and thirst after righteousness, then every day has 
 a new interest, calls for a new effort to become 
 more like Christ, more like God. And ' ' it doth 
 not yet appear v/hat we shall be : but we know 
 that, v/hen He shall appear, we shall be like Him ; 
 for we shall see Him as He is " (i S. John iii., 2). 
 
 Moreover, this hunger and thirst after righteous- 
 ness has its gratification even now in feeding upon 
 God. Oh, the joy of our Communions, the satis- 
 faction of finding our meat in doing His Will, in 
 finishing His work ! Do we hunger and thirst for 
 our Communions, or are they mere acts of obedi- 
 ence ? Do we come only because it is our rule to 
 come, and because we are afraid to stay away ? 
 Or do we come becau.se we are athirst for God, 
 saying, '' My soul is athirst for the living God ; 
 in my Communions I receive my God into my- 
 self" ? And then, do we thirst to do His work, 
 to glorify Him ? 
 
 " I thirst." The fifth note of the scale of 
 Christ's Passion ; the dominant, the ruling pas- 
 sion, that which detennines life here and life here- 
 after ! What is the ruling passion of my life ? Is 
 
54 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 it the world, or is it God ? Is it the creatures, or 
 is it the Creator ? Is it to satisfy my lower nature, 
 or is it to develop my spiritual life ? Is it to get 
 away from God now, or is it to dwell ever in His 
 Presence ? 
 
 " Blessed are they that dv/ell in Thy House : 
 they will be alway praising Thee. Blessed is the 
 man whose strength is in Thee : in whose heart 
 are Thy ways. Who going through the vale of 
 misery use it for a well : and the pools are filled 
 with water. They will go from strength to 
 strength: and unto the God of gods appeareth 
 every one of them in Sion." 
 
 This w^orld is the vale of misery ; but if we 
 thirst for God we can use it for a well, and so go 
 on from strength to strength, until we stand be- 
 fore the God of gods in the heavenly Sion. 
 
(< 
 
 THE SIXTH WORD. 
 IT IS FINISHED." 5. John xix., 30. 
 
 THE weary hours have almost passed ; the 
 watch by the Cross is nearly over ; and we 
 hear our Lord's triumph cry, '* It is fin- 
 ished ! " He looked back from that watch-tower 
 of the Cross, over all the long years, the three 
 and thirty years of His life on earth. Before 
 Him passed in review all the work that He had 
 come to do, all the work that He had accom- 
 plished ; and He bore witness of it all in the 
 words, ' ' It is finished. ' ' 
 
 We are told that when God had finished His 
 work of creation on the sixth day. He saw all that 
 He had made, " and, behold, it was very good." 
 So, in the new creation of grace, our Lord in the 
 Sixth Word looks back on all that He came to 
 do, and says of it, " It is finished." All is done ; 
 all is perfect. He had accomplished His Fathejr's 
 Will ; He had redeemed the world ; He had left 
 the only faultless example of a perfect life. " It 
 is finished. ' ' 
 
 55 
 
56 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 And we, as we look back upon our life to-day, 
 — what can we say ? Can we say ' ' It is finished ' ' ? 
 What is finished ? For some of us, the best part 
 of our life is past ; the best years of our life are 
 gone. Our opportunities for the most part are 
 over ; we cannot bring them back, if we would. 
 
 And, then, our sins ! Can we, as we look up 
 at that dear, dying Face, with its crown of thorns, 
 the Face of the Beloved of our soul — can we 
 through God's infinite love take to ourselves His 
 Words, and say of some of our sins, " They are 
 finished ; I will never do them again — never ! 
 They have been blotted out in His precious 
 Blood ; that part of my life is finished ; thank 
 God, it \s finished'' f 
 
 Again ; Lent, this Lent is finished. Has it 
 been the best Lent of our lives ? Some of you, 
 perhaps, may be able to say, *' Yes ; the very 
 best." But with others perhaps it has been a 
 constant fighting against God's pleadings, — the 
 worst Lent of your life. Or, it may have been 
 just an ordinary Lent, spent somewhat carelessly. 
 Whatever it has been, it is finished ! In a few 
 minutes the clock will strike, and Lent will be 
 over ; — " It is finished ! " 
 
 And then we shall be thinking of a grave ; a 
 grave with a stone upon it, and a seal upon the 
 stone. Who was buried there ? Our Lord and 
 Saviour jKsus Christ. 
 
The Sixth Word, 57 
 
 And what have we buried with Him ? Have 
 we buried our sins in His grave ? Have we buried 
 our prejudices, those prejudices which have so 
 often held us back from following Him ? Have 
 we buried them with Christ ? If so, we have 
 laid the best foundation we could lay for the 
 future ; and on the foundation of the mistakes 
 and sins and wrongs of the past, buried with 
 Christ, there may yet rise a fair and beautiful 
 spiritual house, to the glory of God and the eter- 
 nal joy of your own soul. 
 
 Can we say, you and I, as we kneel to-day be- 
 fore the Cross, '' My past life is finished. Its 
 mistakes, its sins, its prejudices are gone forever ; 
 and on their ruins I will build a new life in the 
 spirit of love ' ' ? Love has been the key-note of 
 all our Meditations to-day ! — love in prayer, mani- 
 festing itself by praying for all the world ! — love 
 in almsgiving, manifesting itself by self-sacrifice 
 for others ! — love in family life, expressing itself 
 through sympath3^ ! — love in despondency, tri- 
 umphing over depreSvSion ! — love, the ruling pas- 
 sion of life, thirsting for God ! And now our 
 thought is of love impelling us to build upon the 
 ruins of the past a home for God in our own soul, 
 a home where God may dwell with us and we 
 with Him. 
 
 We have but a few minutes left, and must pass 
 quickly over this Word ; but we may find a help- 
 
58 The Words from the Cross, 
 
 fill illustration of its teaching in the history of the 
 planet on which we live. You know that in 
 geology we divide the history of organic life in 
 this planet into three well-defined periods, which 
 we call Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary ; or 
 Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Kainozoic. 
 
 Of these perhaps the Primary period is the most 
 interesting and most easily studied. It began with 
 the lyaurentian rocks, — so called because they are 
 found in perhaps their greatest area along the 
 banks of the S. I^aurence, — containing the first 
 germ of organic life, the Kozoon Canadense, an 
 organism so tiny that some scientists still deny 
 that it was the product of life. For thousands of 
 years these animalculae went on building up the 
 immense masses of lyaurentian rock. Then came 
 the Cambrian period, with a further development 
 of life. The Silurian followed, with its abundance 
 of life — in the waters, fish ; on the land, reptiles. 
 Next came the Devonian, or Old Red Sandstone. 
 
 And then, bursting into vigour and splendour, 
 came the Carboniferous period, when the whole 
 world seemed like a tropical zone teeming with 
 vegetable life. Great trees rose to the height of 
 sixty or seventy feet, and then fell by their own 
 weight. In the Carboniferous period the world 
 seemed to have reached a time of productive 
 activity which promised splendid things in the 
 near future. 
 
The Sixth Word. 59 
 
 Then followed the Permian period, when all 
 the promises seemed to have failed, and the im- 
 mense productive activity of the Carboniferous 
 period seemed to have worn itself out, — a period 
 of volcanic action, ending with wreck and ruin, 
 when the Carboniferous vegetation was buried, 
 and the earth became one vast desert, almost as 
 ban'en as when the lyaurentian period began. 
 
 If anyone could have lived in those days, what 
 bitter disappointment would have filled him when 
 that teeming vegetation ended in utter barren- 
 ness, and was all buried beneath the Permian 
 rocks ! The Permian period was like a chilly 
 winter succeeding some glorious summer. It was 
 like the twilight of the Palaeozoic day. It was 
 like the stubble in the field, which has to be 
 turned under by the plough that it may make 
 way for a new verdure. 
 
 The winter of the Permian period came ; and 
 then — then the spring of a new age. For the 
 Permian rocks were the foundation of the glorious 
 world in which we live, — the ruins forming the 
 solid foundation upon which all that we now have 
 was to be built. But the Permian period was 
 more than that ; for we need heat in this rapidly 
 cooling planet of ours ; and whence do we get 
 it ? From the coal-fields of the Carboniferous 
 period. We dig down among the ruins of the 
 past, beneath the Permian foundation, and bring 
 
6o The Words from the Cross. 
 
 up the coal which supplies us now with light and 
 heat. 
 
 So it is in our spiritual life. There are gener- 
 ally two great conversions of the soul. The first 
 is the conversion of the soul to self, — ^when a very- 
 earthquake takes place in our nature, which re- 
 veals the hidden things of the soul, and wakes us 
 up to a realisation of its possibilities, and we begin 
 to live a spiritual life, largely for the happiness 
 which that spiritual life brings ; — when the soul 
 is absorbed in its own progress, and measures all 
 things by the sensible delight obtained from 
 them ; — when it loves to go and work for God, 
 and make sacrifices, because all these things bring 
 to it an increasing satisfaction. 
 
 This goes on, generally, for many 3^ears ; but 
 gradually the satisfaction begins to wane, and the 
 joy and sweetness of prayer passes away, and 
 winter with its cold and frost seems to hold the 
 soul in its icy grasp : — it is the Carboniferous 
 period of the soul's life. 
 
 Then there comes, as it were another earth- 
 quake in our nature, and a lightning-flash of God's 
 own light reveals to us a self of which we never 
 dreamed, and we see in ourselves an insincerity 
 which we never suspected. We learn how unreal 
 much of our spiritual life has been ; how much 
 that we thought was done for the glory of God 
 was really for the gratification of self ; and that 
 
The Sixth Word. 6i 
 
 the joy we experienced in prayer was not the joy 
 of serving God so much as the joy which God 
 bestowed upon us to encourage us in our first 
 efforts to pray. 
 
 We see, in this new light, how we had simply 
 shifted many of our ambitions from the sphere of 
 the world into the sphere of the spiritual life. 
 This is the Permian period, when much that 
 seemed beautiful dies down, and on the ruin we 
 slowly begin to lay the true spiritual foundations 
 of our life. 
 
 This is the second conversion, the conversion 
 from self to God. " O God, Thou art my God ! " 
 we say. * ' My God and my All, I love Thee not 
 for Thy gifts alone, but for Thyself ; and as Thou 
 withdrawest from me the gift of sensible devo- 
 tion, I desire to rest more and more in Thee 
 alone. O God, send me what Thou wilt, do with 
 me what Thou wilt, for I know Thou lovest me ! 
 Send me joy or sorrow, for Thou knowest what is 
 best for me ! Take away from me all that Thou 
 seest to be displeasing to Thee ! Send me what- 
 ever cross Thou knowest to be good for me ! 
 Lord, help me to live not for m5^self, but for 
 Thee alone." My brother, have you reached this 
 period ? Have you known this second conver- 
 sion ? 
 
 And then, in regard to the past, you say to me, 
 "It is finished. Is it, then, all lost? Those 
 
62 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 sweetnesses of my first fervours, when God seemed 
 so near to me, and my soul seemed to be on fire 
 with love of Him ; — is all that lost ? ' ' No, none 
 of it is lost. God has built up the earth as it is 
 now for man's habitation, and yet how much we 
 depend upon the past ! What could we do with- 
 out our coal ? All our manufactures would come 
 to a standstill. At night-time we should be in 
 utter darkness. All our heat and winter's warmth 
 would disappear. 
 
 So it is in the life of the soul. From among the 
 ruins and mistakes of the past we find two im- 
 portant things. 
 
 First, we find light, which enables us to deal 
 with the difficulties of the present in the light of 
 past experience ; and this is no small gain. How 
 many mistakes we made, which, now that we 
 know that they were mistakes, we shall never 
 make again ! Secondly, we get that which is far 
 greater, we get heat ; for the recollections of past 
 mercies, of sins forgiven, of mistakes which God 
 has enabled us to correct, of all the blessings of 
 the past — these are the fuel by which we keep 
 alive in our hearts the fire of Divine love ! 
 
 Being what we are by God's grace, we shall 
 not wish to forget what we were by our own sin ; 
 and when we are discouraged by the difficulties 
 of the present, the remembrance of God's love in 
 the past, and of all the trials and dangers through 
 
The Sixth Word. 63 
 
 which He guided us safely, will be the best stimu- 
 lus to renewed effort. 
 
 But the past has not been all mistakes and sins. 
 We find in it many treasures of God's love, on 
 the remembrance of which we can feed ; many 
 joys of Communion with Him, many answers to 
 prayer, much spiritual happiness. And when we 
 are in depression or trouble, we may recall these 
 experiences, and say in the words of the Psalmist, 
 * ' When I am in heaviness, I will think upon 
 God : when my heart is vexed, I will complain. 
 Thou boldest mine eyes waking : I am so feeble 
 that I cannot speak. I have considered the days 
 of old : and the years that are past. I call to re- 
 membrance my song : and in the night I commune 
 with mine own heart, and search out my spirit. 
 Will the IvORD absent Himself for ever : and will 
 He be no more entreated ? Is His mercy clean 
 gone for ever : and is His promise come utterly to 
 an end for evermore ? Hath God forgotten to be 
 gracious : and will He shut up His loving-kind- 
 ness in displeasure ? And I said. It is mine own 
 infirmity : but I will remember the years of the 
 Right Hand of the Most High. I will remem- 
 ber the works of the Lord : and call to mind Thy 
 wonders of old time " (Ps. Ixxvii., 3-1 1). 
 
 We are told in the Gospels of a woman who was 
 a sinner, — she is now one of the greatest saints, 
 and Churches are dedicated in her honour, — but 
 
64 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 who did what she could in the way of penitence, 
 for she confessed her sin before men, and washed 
 our Lord's feet with her tears. We are told that 
 JKSUS said of her that she loved much because her 
 sins, which were many, were forgiven. So the 
 recollection of God's forgiveness of past mistakes 
 and past sins can be thrown, as it were, upon the 
 fire of Divine love in our soul, to make it leap into 
 a blaze and kindle our whole being with its flame. 
 
 The history of God's works, written in the book 
 of nature, is often analogous to His work in our 
 souls. When we reach our Permian period, and 
 the fervour of our first conversion begins to grow 
 cold, and the fruits which we seemed to bring 
 forth so plentifully begin to wither, let us take 
 courage as we remember that the twilight and 
 even the darkness must generally come before the 
 glorious dawn of that better day in this life, when 
 we are more entirel}^ God's ; when we work for 
 Him and suffer for Him quite indifferent to sensi- 
 ble devotion or any other such gift which He may 
 bestow, seeking only to do His Will and so to 
 glorify Him, and confident that in doing this we 
 are really growing in perfection, and preparing 
 for the final happiness of Heaven. 
 
 " It is finished," — n^ life so far. The past is 
 gone ; I cannot recall it. So far as it was evil, I 
 can blot out its guilt through the Blood of JKSUS. 
 But its recollections, even of sins and of mistakes, 
 
TJie Sixth Wo7'd. 65 
 
 shall only be the fuel of my love, the stimulus of 
 my hope. Its ruins, like those of the Permian 
 period, shall be the solid foundation on which I 
 will build for eternity ! 
 
THK SEVKNTH WORD. 
 
 *' FATHER, INTO THY HANDS I COMMAND MY 
 
 SPIRIT." S. Luke xxiii.y <f.6. 
 
 THE seventh and last Word of our Blessed 
 Lord on the Cross ! 
 
 It is the peculiar function of " the sev- 
 enth " in music that, where not interrupted by a 
 discord, it demands at once a return to the tonic, 
 or key-note, and hence it is known as the leading 
 note of the key. So, when our Lord utters His 
 Seventh Word, * ' Fa ther, into Thy Hands I 
 commend My Spirit, ' ' the seventh carries us back 
 at once to the key-note, the First Word of love, 
 ''Father, forgive them ; for they know not what 
 they do." 
 
 We have been drawing near to the Cross to-day 
 that in the light of Christ we might see light ; 
 and His light has been the light of love. In the 
 light of love we have read each Word, and learned 
 our duty in regard to Prayer, Almsgiving, Home 
 Life, Despondency, the Ruling Passion of Life, 
 
 66 
 
The Seventh Word. 67 
 
 and New Beginnings. And now in the last Word, 
 in the light of love, we learn the lesson of all 
 lessons, the lesson of trust in God. 
 
 Our lyORD, Whose life has been one long act of 
 obedience and love, ends it with an act of trust : 
 " Father, into Thy Hands I commend My 
 Spirit." How often we need to say these words ! 
 Not only at the hour of our death, when we com- 
 mend our spirit to God Who gave it, — but daily, 
 in our difficulties, in our sorrows, in our failures, 
 in our temptations, we need to say, ' ' Fathkr, I 
 leave it all in Thy Hands. This difficulty, out of 
 which I cannot see the way, — Thou canst make 
 it plain. This sorrow, which seems so crushing, 
 — in union with the Cross of Thy dear Son it be- 
 comes a blessing. This temptation, which seems 
 so hard to struggle against, — in the power of His 
 Passion I know it can be conquered. Father, 
 into Thy Hands I commend myself in all things. 
 I will trust God, because I know that He loves 
 me. I trust Him, because He is my Father, 
 and I love Him." 
 
 Of the Gifts of the H01.Y Ghost, the second 
 — ^beginning from the lowest — which we some- 
 what unfortunately call ' ' true godliness, ' ' is really 
 filial love {pietas). Pietas is the childlike spirit 
 of perfect trust in God and love for God, because 
 God is our Father and therefore loves us. Our 
 lyORD said, *' Except ye be converted, and be- 
 
68 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 come as little children, ye cannot enter into the 
 Kingdom of Heaven ' ' ; and the first virtue of 
 childhood is trustfulness. A child is not worried 
 about the future, or anxious about providing food 
 and raiment. It trusts its parents to supply these 
 things. A child is not frightened in time of 
 danger, if only its father is near. A child will 
 follow its father through darkness, which to it is 
 often terrible, if only it can put its hand in its 
 father's and feel his grasp. 
 
 Next to trustfulness, and springing from it, 
 the great virtue of childhood is obedience. A 
 child does what it is told by its father without 
 questioning, because it trusts its father. 
 
 So let us end our Meditations on these Words 
 from the Cross, considered in the light of love, with 
 this last thought : that God is our Father ; that 
 He loves us far better than we can love ourselves ; 
 and that we, as His children, must love Him, and 
 therefore trust Him and obey Him in all things. 
 
 Obey Him — we must keep His Commandments ; 
 not only some of them, but all of them. ** If ye 
 love Me, ' ' our lyORD said, ' * keep My Command- 
 ments " (S. John xiv., 15). At the beginning of 
 their spiritual life people sometimes make the 
 great mistake of thinking that they will obey 
 God in some things, but not in all things ; that 
 they will keep some of His Commandments, and 
 some of the Precepts of His Church, where they 
 
TJie Seventh Word. 69 
 
 are not too hard, but not all His Commandments, 
 nor all the Precepts of His Church. 
 
 Our Lord said, *' If ye love Me, keep My 
 Commandments" ; and you say, "Yes, but I 
 have not strength sufficient to keep them all. 
 Some of them are so hard, involve such sacrifices, 
 require such self-denial ; and I am so weak ! " 
 Why do you say this ? Shall I tell you ? It is 
 because you do not trust God. If you really trust 
 Him you will be sure that God, Who is your 
 Father and Who gave you the Commandments, 
 will also give you grace to keep them. 
 
 Moreover, this lack of perfect obedience, which 
 proceeds from want of perfect trust, also implies 
 a lack of perfect faith. For if we believe in God 
 — that He is omniscient, omnipotent, and that He 
 loves us — we cannot but trust Him perfectly ; for 
 His omniscience involves His knowledge of all 
 things, and therefore He knows our needs and 
 sorrows and trials ; that He is omnipotent proves 
 that He is able to help us to the uttermost ; and 
 His love assures us that He will help us in each 
 difficulty, if it be for our good. If God is not 
 omniscient, omnipotent, and love, He is not 
 really God, but some imperfect being Hke our- 
 selves. 
 
 And so we end our Meditations with this last 
 Word, — an act of trust in God. When difficulty 
 or temptation or sorrow or failure is my lot, let 
 
70 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 tne resolve to go to the Cross and listen to these 
 Words, " Father, into Thy Hands I commend 
 My Spirit ' ' ; and then let me take them upon my 
 lips, and leave myself in God's Hands. Let me 
 say, '* In Thee, O Lord, have I trusted ; I shall 
 never be confounded ! The Lord is my Light 
 and my Salvation ; whom then shall I fear ? The 
 Lord is the Strength of my life ; of whom then 
 shall I be afraid ? O tarry thou the Lord's lei- 
 sure : be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart; 
 and put thou thy trust in the Lord. ' ' 
 
 We cannot end our Meditations on these words 
 to-day better than by fixing our gaze upon a scene 
 probably unfamiliar to most people, and yet one 
 of the most dramatic vScenes in history. 
 
 On the shores of the Straits of Messina are two 
 rocks, Scylla and Charybdis, one on either side 
 of the straits ; and upon the rock of Scylla there 
 was once a fortress, looking down in its mighty 
 strength upon the swirling tide in the straits be- 
 low. Go and see it to-day ; it is strangely silent. 
 The fortress is ruined and deserted ; the only 
 sound is the throb of the waves as they surge 
 upon the shore. 
 
 One hundred years ago it was the scene of a 
 terrible disaster. Calabria, as some of you per- 
 haps know, is one of the spots where earthquakes 
 are most frequent, and in 1783 one of the most 
 awful earthquakes that have been known oc- 
 curred upon that spot. 
 
The Seventh Word. 71 
 
 Riiffo, Prince of Scylla, was in the fortress, an 
 aged and pious man who trusted in God ; and 
 when shock after shock caused the fortress to 
 quake upon its foundations, and the village be- 
 neath to tremble, the people poured out in terror 
 to the strand, embarking in boats ; but the aged 
 Prince determined that he would spend the last 
 moments of his life in the chapel of the fortress, 
 before the crucifix. He went into the chapel, and 
 kneeling before the crucifix, waited for the end. 
 
 His thought was to die at the foot of the Cross. 
 But presently his courtiers came and begged him 
 to fly. ' * Most of the people, ' ' said they, ' ' have 
 reached the shore and are in the boats. It is but 
 a little way — there is a boat waiting for thee ! 
 Thou canst be saved if thou wilt fly ! " He lis- 
 tened, and reluctantly rising from his knees, was 
 hurried to the shore and into the boat. There in 
 boats on the strand of Sc3dla were some two thou- 
 sand five hundred people, the entire population of 
 the place. Presently, there was another earth- 
 quake shock, with a strange disturbance of the sea; 
 then boats and people were swallowed in the 
 billows and all perished ! The fortress began to 
 crumble ; but there still stands untouched to-day, 
 as it stood then, the chapel with the crucifix. 
 Had the Prince remained at the foot of the Cross, 
 he would have been saved ! * 
 
 * Istoria de' fenortieni del Tremoto avvenuto nelle 
 Calabrie neW anno 1783. Napoli, 1784, pages 225, 226. 
 
72 The Words from the Cross. 
 
 Can I leave with you a more helpful thought ? 
 You and I, my brethren, will have, perhaps, 
 many an earthquake to withstand before this life 
 shall end, many a shock that shall cause our very 
 nature to tremble. But when such shocks occur, 
 whether the convulsion be mental, through 
 doubts, or physical, in suffering and pain, or 
 from the pressure of the world around us — what- 
 ever it be, remember that the place of safety is 
 not on the waves of the world, but at the foot of 
 the Cross. 
 
 In every earthquake of our nature ; in every 
 sorrow and pain and trial ; in every difficulty, let 
 us remember the last Word from the Cross, 
 " Fathkr, into Thy Hands I commend My 
 Spirit, ' ' and say, ' ' My God, in Thee have I put 
 my trust ! Be merciful unto me, O God, be 
 merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in Thee ; 
 and under the shadow of Thy Wings shall be my 
 refuge, until this tyranny be overpast." 
 
 Kneel at the Cross beneath those outstretched 
 Arms, those Wings under which our I^ord would 
 gather you. His children ! I^ook up at Him ! 
 lycarn of His love, — He died for you ! Learn of 
 His power, — by His Death He redeemed you ! 
 And then resolve that nothing shall draw you 
 away from the Cross ; and say with S. Paul, ** God 
 forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of 
 our Lord Je^sus Christ ; by Whom the world is 
 
TJie Seventh Word. 73 
 
 crucij&ed unto me, and I unto the world." Look 
 up at the Cross, and learn there the lesson of love 
 and sin, two forces of life ever in conflict ; learn, 
 too, that in the Cross love will ever triumph, 
 and that in the Cross you will always find a haven 
 of refuge. 
 
e;astbrtide addresses. 
 I. 
 
 THE POWER OF LOVE. 
 
 " AND VKRY KARI,Y IN THE MORNING THE FIRST 
 DAY OF THE WEEK, THEY CAME UNTO THE 
 SEPUIyCHRE AT THE RISING OF THE SUN. 
 AND THEY SAID AMONG THEMSEI.VES, WHO 
 SHAI.I, ROI^I, US AWAY THE STONE FROM THE 
 DOOR OF THE SEPUIyCHRE ? " S. Mark xvi., 
 2.3- 
 
 I. CouivD any sight be more pathetic? — three 
 poor women stealing along the deserted streets of 
 the sleeping city while it was yet dark, on the 
 first Easter Day ; three poor women bringing 
 their gifts to the Dead, carrying with them the 
 spices which they had prepared to anoint the 
 Body of Him they loved. 
 
 And as they stole along in the twilight they 
 asked one another a question, "Who shall roll 
 us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ? ' ' 
 Who, indeed ? For not only was the stone great 
 and too heavy for them to move, but the soldiers 
 were watching it, so that they could not appeal to 
 friendly hands to help them. 
 
 74 
 
The Pozver of Love. 75 
 
 How hopeless seemed their quest ! And hope, 
 we are told, is the spring of all human action. 
 But it is not the only spring, for there is one 
 which is stronger even than hope — love. And in 
 the touching scene we have described, we see 
 love triumphing over hope, love triumphing over 
 difficulties, love triumphing over apparent im- 
 possibiHties. So that, as the last thought of Good 
 Friday was the greatness of love, the first revela- 
 tion of Baster Day tells us of its power. 
 
 How wonderful is the power of love ! How ab- 
 solutely without limit ! We are familiar with the 
 phrase " hoping against hope," but is there not 
 something greater than this — love triumphing 
 over despair ? 
 
 They asked one another, ' ' Who shall roll us 
 away the stone ? " There was no answer, yet it 
 did not discourage or daunt them. They went 
 on, for love knows nothing of impossibilities. It 
 is deterred by no obstacles. How pathetic ! how 
 unreasoning does their love seem as they carry 
 their offerings to the Dead, when it must have 
 seemed impossible for them to reach the Dead ! 
 The stone, the guard, would stop them. 
 
 * * Who shall roll us away the stone ? ' ' they 
 asked, and looking up they saw that the stone 
 was rolled away. While S. Mark alone tells us 
 of the question of the women, each of the Evan- 
 gelists dwells on the fact that the stone was 
 
76 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 rolled away, and S. Matthew tells us that there 
 had been ' ' a great earthquake : for the Angel of 
 the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and 
 rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon 
 it" (S. Matt, xxviii., 2). 
 
 And yet, in spite of their question and per- 
 plexity, the women seem to have taken it as a 
 matter of course when they found the stone rolled 
 away. It was the beginning of a day of wonders, 
 and this, the first, does not seem even to strike 
 them with astonishment, for love takes marvels 
 for granted. 
 
 II. All over the world this morning in the 
 early twilight groups of men and women might 
 have been seen making their way through the 
 silent streets of many and many a city. Whither 
 were they going ? What was their errand ? What 
 brought them out at so early an hour ? Rich and 
 poor, high and low, all alike were seeking the 
 Body of Chris'T. 
 
 And like the holy women, they brought the 
 spices w^hich they had prepared by I^enten fast 
 and penitence, not to anoint the dead Body, but 
 to lay at the feet of the risen Christ the offering 
 of themselves, their souls and bodies ; impelled by 
 that same power which drew the holy women to 
 the tomb — the power of love. 
 
 But as they wended their way this morning 
 through the silent streets, their thoughts were not, 
 
The Power of Love. yj 
 
 " Who shall roll us away the stone ? " for they 
 knew it had been rolled away. Their thoughts 
 were of a living I^ord, Who should meet them 
 upon His Altar-Throne ; and of a new tomb which 
 they had been striving to prepare in their hearts 
 for Him ; perhaps too of a seal and a watch — the 
 seal of some firm resolution, the great fruits of 
 their I^enten discipline, and the watch which they 
 would keep lest any enemy should come to steal 
 from their hearts the grace of their Communion. 
 
 HI. And so the first Kaster lives on, as Calvary 
 lives on. But what are its lessons ? The lessons 
 of the Resurrection are many, but surely, one 
 thing which the rolling away of the stone teaches 
 us is the power of hope and of love. 
 
 i. It tells first of the rolling away of the stone 
 oi sin. Before our I^ord rose, on the first Kaster 
 Day, how heavy, how hopeless was the load of 
 sin borne by the human race, weighing down the 
 heart of every child of Adam ! " Who shall roll 
 it away ? ' ' had been the cry of every age, and the 
 answer had been essayed by many a philosopher, 
 b}^ many a religious teacher among the heathen, 
 and among God's own people by patriarch, 
 prophet, priest ; all in turn had tried, all had 
 promised help, all alike had failed ! How heavy 
 that stone had become ! How great the misery 
 of man ! How hopeless that cry, ** Who shall 
 roll us away the stone ? " ! 
 
78 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 And now the question is answered — an- 
 swered for ever. He Who rose through the 
 sealed stone has sent His Angel to roll it away. 
 How many of those who, like the women of old, 
 come seeking Christ in the early dawn of Easter 
 Day, could tell from their own sweet experience 
 how God's Messenger had rolled away the stone 
 of sin from their hearts and lives, bringing them 
 the message of peace, ' ' Thy sins are forgiven 
 thee: go in peace" — "By Christ's authority 
 committed unto me I absolve thee from all thy 
 sins ! ' ' 
 
 And so they come not, like the women, with 
 heavy hearts, driven by love to seek Him Whom 
 they thought still dead, — but with joyous heart 
 and light step they come to seek Him Who is 
 alive for evermore, to feed upon Him, to enter into 
 the joy of His Resurrection, as the)'' have striven 
 in Holy Week to enter into the fellowship of His 
 Sufferings (Phil, iii., lo). Surely, this is the first 
 lesson which the rolling away of the stone sug- 
 gests. 
 
 ii. But there is another stone which was rolled 
 away on Easter Day — not only the stone of sin, 
 but of the wages of sin — death. 
 
 Think what death meant before Christ had 
 risen from the dead ! — death so dark, so gloomy, 
 so dreadful ! It is true there had been a glimmer- 
 ing of immortality among the heathen, but it was 
 
The Power of Love. 79 
 
 only a vague hope ; a little more than this existed 
 indeed among the Jews, but even with them it 
 was not general, for the Sadducees believed not 
 in any resurrection. 
 
 And so men looked forward to death as per- 
 haps the end of all things, or at best the begin- 
 ning of an unknown experience, of a dark and 
 mysterious world beyond, where, if there were 
 any existence, it was but shadowy and unreal. 
 
 Think of the despair with which the mother of 
 old saw her child die, lost to her as it seemed for 
 ever ! Think of the grief which the parting and 
 separation of death then brought into each family ! 
 The stone of death was indeed great and heavy — 
 so great that men scarce dared to ask, as they did 
 of sin, ** Who shall roll it away ? " 
 
 But on Easter Day there came a new revelation. 
 Death has been conquered by dying, and He Who 
 is its Conqueror proclaims, " I am He That liveth, 
 and was dead ; and, behold, I am alive for ever- 
 more, Amen : and have the keys of hell and of 
 death" (Rev. i., 18). 
 
 And so the stone was rolled away. For w^hen 
 He overcame the sharpness of death, He opened 
 the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers ; and now, 
 instead of being the gloomy, heavy, hopeless 
 stone it had been, weighing upon man's heart 
 and mind and life, death becomes the open door 
 which invites the poor captive to leave his prison 
 
8o Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 and enter into the glorious liberty of the endless 
 life. 
 
 From being the extinction of man's hopes, it 
 becomes the beginning of a new life so glorious, 
 so happ3^ that the Spirit saith, " Blessed are the 
 dead which die in the IvORD from henceforth. . . . 
 that they may rest from their labours ; and their 
 works do follow them" (Rev. xiv., 13). 
 
 iii. And may we not draw one more lesson 
 from the question, " Who shall roll us away the 
 stone?" — a lesson of encouragement in all the 
 difficulties of life ? What difficulty could have 
 been greater, what obstacle more hopeless than 
 that to which the women looked forward as they 
 wended their way to the tomb ? But they do not 
 seem to have thought for one moment of stopping 
 or going back. They went forward, and their 
 love was rewarded, for they found the difficulty 
 removed by an Angel hand. 
 
 So it was with God's people of old v/hen they 
 encamped at Baal-zephon on the shore of the Red 
 Sea, and the cry arose that the Egyptians were 
 upon them. Before the Israelites was the cruel 
 sea, — behind them their still more cruel foes. 
 Escape was impossible. Their case seemed hope- 
 less. But at this crisis the word of the Lord 
 came unto Moses saying, ' ' Speak unto the chil- 
 dren of Israel, that they go forward" (Ex. xiv., 
 15). As they went forward the path was opened 
 
TJie Power of Love. 
 
 for them through the surging waters, and they 
 passed across the Red Sea on dry land. 
 
 Yes, this is the lesson of all lessons which we 
 are taught to-day — the duty of going forward. 
 When diflSculties are in our path and there seems 
 to be no human help, we must go forward, rely- 
 ing upon the help of God. And as the Israelites 
 found the waters of the Red Sea rolled back 
 before their feet, and the women found the stone 
 rolled away from the tomb, so will the Christian 
 who goes forward in the power of faith, hope, and 
 love, find every difficulty yield before him. 
 
 Easter after Easter this scene is repeated, as 
 those who love Christ go early on Easter morn- 
 ing to seek Him in the Sacrament of His love. 
 May Easter after Easter in your lives, dear chil- 
 dren of Christ, tell of greater faith, of brighter 
 hope, of deeper love, and of the nearer approach 
 of that glad Easter when you shall hear the wel- 
 come of your EoRD, " Come, ye blessed of My 
 Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world " (S. Matt, xxv., 
 34). 
 
 6 
 
(< 
 
 II. 
 
 THK KARTHQUAKK. 
 
 AND, BE^HOI^D, THKRK WAS A GRKAT KARTH- 
 QUAKK : FOR THE ANGKI. OF THK I.ORD DK- 
 SCKNDFD FROM HFAVFN, AND CAMF AND 
 ROI.I.FD BACK THK STONK FROM THK DOOR, 
 AND SAT UPON IT. ' ' 6*. Matt. xxviU. , 2. 
 
 IN studying the records of our Lord's Life 
 which we find in the four Gospels, we often 
 notice that one Evangelist seems to have been 
 particularly impressed by some circumstance or 
 detail which the others pass over in silence, evi- 
 dently because it did not so deeply impress them. 
 Our text is an illustration of this, for it is S. 
 Matthew alone who records the strange convul- 
 sions of nature which accompanied our Lord's 
 Death and Resurrection. 
 
 While S. Mark and S. Luke, by mentioning the 
 rolling away of the stone, imply that there was an 
 earthquake at the Resurrection, S. Matthew alone 
 actually tells us that it happened ; and he alone 
 of all the Evangelists records the earthquake 
 
 82 
 
TJie EartJiquake, 83 
 
 which took place at the moment of our Lord's 
 Death, when " the veil of the temple was rent in 
 twain from the top to the bottom ; and the earth 
 did quake, and the rocks rent ; and the graves 
 were opened ; and many bodies of the Saints 
 which slept arose, and came out of the graves 
 after His Resurrection, and went into the Holy 
 City, and appeared unto many" (chap, xxvii., 
 
 51-53)- 
 
 I. From his mention of the earthquake on these 
 
 two occasions we may surely gather that S. Mat- 
 thew was very deeply impressed by it. He couples 
 the earthquake at the Resurrection with the rolling 
 away of the stone from the tomb by the Angel. 
 I<et us consider what lesson we may learn from 
 this detail of the story of the Resurrection. 
 
 The earth had shuddered with horror, when our 
 lyORD died, at the crime which had been committed 
 by man ; but at the time of His Resurrection the 
 earth vibrated with joy at His victory over death. 
 And indeed an earthquake was a fit accompani- 
 ment to our Lord's Resurrection, since every 
 resurrection seems to be associated with a com- 
 motion or upheaval of nature. 
 
 i. For we are distinctly told that there was an 
 earthquake at our Lord's Resurrection. And all 
 the Evangelists, in recording our Lord's great 
 prophecy in regard to the Last Day, tell us that 
 at the General Resurrection there will be great 
 
84 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 disturbances of the powers of nature, which shall, 
 as it were, herald the approach of our Lord to 
 judge the risen dead. And in S. John's Vision 
 recorded in the Revelation we read : ' ' The seventh 
 Angel poured out his vial into the air ; and there 
 came a great voice out of the temple of Heaven, 
 from the throne, saying, It is done. And there 
 were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; and 
 there was a great earthquake, such as was not 
 since men were upon the earth, so mighty an 
 earthquake, and so great " (chap, xvi., 17, 18). 
 
 ii. A similar occurrence may be observed in the 
 life of man, that is, in the spiritual resurrection of 
 the sinner. For when a man in penitence first 
 turns from sin and is converted to God, he gen- 
 erally experiences an intense struggle, the birth- 
 pains, as it were, of a new life. There is an 
 earthquake, as it were — an upheaval of his whole 
 nature. 
 
 The effort to repent requires an intense strug- 
 gle ; the energy needed to cast out the evil that is 
 in him, to break loose from the bonds of sin which 
 hold him back from God, to give up once and for 
 all much that has been pleasant in his past life, to 
 accept the humiliation which is necessary to secure 
 assurance of pardon through that Absolution 
 which frees the sinner from his bondage ; — all this 
 implies a very earthquake in the sinner's nature. 
 And this earthquake, like that of which we are 
 
TJie EartJiqiiakc. 85 
 
 told on Easter Day, is followed by joyous calm, 
 and is the prelude of a glorious peace. 
 
 Who is there who, on looking back upon the 
 time when he first really gave himself to God, 
 cannot recall this experience ? It seemed so diffi- 
 cult to make the necessary sacrifices, — indeed, it 
 appeared to be almost impossible ! All the powers 
 of his nature seemed out of course. 
 
 But when by the help of God's Holy Spirit 
 he had made his first great act of repentance, there 
 was a calm, a peace, a joy of which the first Easter 
 Day is a fitting type, and which was in itself a 
 foretaste of that great Easter Day of eternal peace, 
 when the risen saint shall enter into the fulness 
 of the joy of his Lord. 
 
 II. But while an earthquake may accompany 
 each resurrection from the dead — whether it be 
 that spiritual resurrection from sin which takes 
 place in this life or that resurrection to glory 
 which belongs to the life to come — we must bear in 
 mind that a resurrection is always a manifesta- 
 tion of God's own power, and always bears wit- 
 ness to His agency. 
 
 Our Lord, being God (as we must ever remem- 
 ber), rose again by His oivn poiver^ so that He 
 needed no Angel to roll back the stone ; indeed He 
 had risen before the stone was rolled back, for He 
 rose through the sealed stone. He foretold this 
 of Himself in the allegory of the Good Shepherd, 
 
86 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 when, speaking of the way in which the Good 
 Shepherd laid down His Life for His sheep, He 
 said, " I have power to lay it down, and I have 
 power to take it again." 
 
 And S. Peter, in his first speech on the Day of 
 Pentecost, directs attention to this Divine power 
 of our Blessed Lord, when he says : * * Whom 
 God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of 
 death : because it was not possible that He should 
 be holden of it." Our Lord could not be holden 
 by death, because He is God. 
 
 Every resurrection, then, is a manifestation of 
 God's power, for no man can raise himself from 
 a state of death, whether it be physical or 
 spiritual. 
 
 As we study our Lord's miracles of raising the 
 dead we notice this in every case. It is JKSUS 
 who says to the maiden, " Talitha, cumi; . . . 
 Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. " It is He Who 
 at the gates of Nain says to the dead man carried 
 out to be buried, " Young man, I say unto thee, 
 arise." It is our Lord's power that penetrates 
 the tomb at Bethany, when He cries with a loud 
 voice, " Lazarus, come forth." 
 
 And the same is true not only of resurrection 
 from physical death, but also of resurrection from 
 spiritual death. It is God alone Who can forgive 
 sin. The scribes were right, therefore, when 
 they asked, '' Who can forgive sins but God 
 
The EartJiqiiake. 87 
 
 only ? " But they were wrong when they refused 
 to recognise that Christ was God. 
 
 And we may trace the same law everywhere in 
 the kingdoms both of nature and grace. 
 
 Many years ago men thought that they had dis- 
 covered what they called " spontaneous genera- 
 tion,' ' that is, the power of dead matter of itself to 
 generate life. But numberless experiments made 
 since then by eminent scientists have shown that 
 this was entirely erroneous, and that only life can 
 produce life. 
 
 The sinner who is dead in sin has no more 
 power of himself to rise from his sin than the man 
 who has paid the penalty of nature by death has 
 power to return to life. 
 
 But the sinner can do something ; he can yield 
 himself to the promptings of grace, and co-operate 
 with God ; but the first motions of grace in his 
 dead soul must come from God. The H01.Y 
 Spirit, Who is the Lord and Life- Giver, must 
 first kindle in him the spark of spiritual life which 
 afterwards enables the man to rise from the death 
 of sin. 
 
 III. Again, we may observe that though our 
 Lord needed no Angel to roll away the stone 
 from His tomb in order that He might rise — for 
 He had risen before the Angel removed the stone 
 — yet it was absolutely necessary, in order that 
 pis Disciples and followers might know that He 
 
88 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 was risen, that the stone should be removed and 
 the emptiness of the tomb revealed. 
 
 The sending of the Angel, therefore, to roll 
 away the stone, was for the sake of those who 
 came seeking our Lord's dead Body on Easter 
 Day. It was to them an assurance that He had 
 risen ; for the Angel not only rolled away the 
 _stone, but announced the fact, * ' He is not here : 
 for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place 
 where the Lord lay." 
 
 Have we not in all these circumstances of our 
 Lord's Resurrection a striking analogy to God's 
 method of dealing with man in raising him from 
 the state of sin to the life of righteousness ? 
 
 i. The first motions of spiritual resurrection, as 
 we have pointed out, must come from God, 
 must be the operation of the Holy Ghost in 
 the sinner's soul. And the man's will must co- 
 operate with these impulses of grace. But some- 
 thing more than this is needed to prevent self-de- 
 ception on the one hand or despondency on the 
 other. 
 
 Most men know how little they can really trust 
 their own subjective feelings. The work of peni- 
 tence may be real ; a man may have corresponded 
 to grace and made a perfect act of contrition, such 
 as would be sufficient to ensure his forgiveness and 
 (therefore) his spiritual resurrection ; but, on the 
 other hand, he may be deceiving himself all th^ 
 
The Earthquake, 89 
 
 time, and mistaking his own easy-going forgive- 
 ness of self for God's forgiveness of sin. 
 
 To meet this danger God has willed that man 
 should have something more than his own self- 
 assurance on which to depend for his hope of 
 pardon, and has instituted in His Church the 
 sacramental power of Absolution ; He " hath 
 given power, and commandment, to His Ministers, 
 to declare and pronounce to His people, being 
 penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their 
 sins." That is, He has sent the Priests of His 
 Church as His ambassadors or messengers {^oty- 
 yeXoi) to roll away the stone of sin through the 
 power of Absolution, in order that men may have 
 not only their cwn subjective feelings to which to 
 trust for their forgiveness, but the objective proof 
 of God's pardon, conveyed by the lips of His ap- 
 pointed representative. 
 
 ii. For as the women at the tomb heard the 
 words of the Angel, *' He is not here, for He is 
 risen ; come, see the place where the Lord lay ' ' ; 
 so the sinner hears from God's messenger the 
 words : " By His authority, committed unto me, I 
 absolve thee from all thy sins ; in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the H01.Y Ghost. 
 Amen." 
 
 The one thing on which our salvation ultimately 
 depends is whether we are in a state of grace or 
 in a state of sin ; and it is surely impossible to ex- 
 
go Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 aggerate the importance — not only to our peace 
 of mind, but to our spiritual life — of possessing 
 some assurajice in regard to this fact. 
 
 Our Prayer-Book uses the word ** assure" 
 twice ; once in its definition of a Sacrament, 
 which is " an outward and visible sign of an in- 
 ward and spiritual grace given unto us ; ordained 
 by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we re- 
 ceive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof." 
 The other place is in the Prayer of Thanksgiving 
 after Communion, where it says that God does 
 ' * assure us " of His favour and goodness towards 
 us by vouchsafing to feed us with His Body and 
 Blood in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. 
 
 So that it is not too much to say that if we fol- 
 low the teaching of the Prayer-Book, the only 
 " assurance " which it recognises is that objective 
 assurance which is given us through the use of a 
 Sacrament ; and it was to provide us with just 
 such an assurance that our Lord instituted the 
 Sacraments of His Church. 
 
 iii. To neglect the use of Absolution is like 
 standing outside our Lord's tomb with the stone 
 still on it, and hoping that He has risen, but 
 refusing to allow the Angel to roll away the stone, 
 that our hope may be changed into certainty. 
 
 How thankful we should be for the fountain 
 opened for sin in Christ's Church, in which we 
 may wash and be clean, — the Fountain of the 
 
The EartJiqiiake. 91 
 
 Precious Blood ! How grateful we should be for 
 the ministry of Absolution which has been com- 
 mitted to the Priesthood of Christ's Church ! 
 
 And how reverently and carefully we should 
 use that means of grace, which our Lord bought 
 for us at the price of His own Life, and bestowed 
 upon His Church immediately after He had risen, 
 typifying it by the rolling away of the stone, and 
 actually conveying the power to His Ministers in 
 those first words which He spoke to them collect- 
 ively, when, " He breathed on them, and saith 
 unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; 
 and whose soever sins ye retain, they are re- 
 tained " (S. John XX., 22, 23). 
 
III. 
 
 THE VISION OF ANGBI.S. 
 
 **AND CKRTAIN WOMEN AI^O OF OUR COMPANY 
 MADE US ASTONISHED, WHICH WERE EARI,Y 
 AT THE SEPUI.CHRE ; AND WHEN THEY 
 FOUND NOT HIS BODY, THEY CAME, SAYING, 
 THAT THEY HAD AI^SO SEEN A VISION OF 
 ANGElyS, WHICH SAID THAT HE WAS AEIVE." 
 ►S*. Luke XXZV., 22, 2J. 
 
 THE Bible, from the first book of the Old 
 Testament to the last of the New, is a reve- 
 lation of the existence and ministrations of 
 Angels. Again and again they are mentioned 
 not as something extraordinary, but as something 
 most natural. We find them at God's command 
 guarding the gate of Eden. We find them sent as 
 God's messengers to the Patriarchs and Prophets. 
 And the New Testament opens with the ministry 
 of Angels. Gabriel appears to Zacharias to foretell 
 the birth of S. John the Baptist, and to the 
 Blessed Virgin to announce to her the Mystery of 
 the Incarnation. An Angel reveals that Mystery 
 
 92 
 
TJie Vision of Angels. 93 
 
 to S. Joseph ; another Angel heralds it to the 
 shepherds ; an Angel warns S. Joseph to flee into 
 Hgypt ; Angels minister to our lyORD in His 
 temptation and in His agony in the garden ; 
 Angels are found at the sepulchre after the Resur- 
 rection ; and Angels speak to the Apostles after 
 the Ascension. 
 
 And while they are thus recognised from first 
 to last throughout the Bible, we observe that in 
 the New Testament the special Evangelist of 
 the Angels is S. I^uke, who mentions their ap- 
 pearance much more frequently than any of the 
 other writers, and seems to have written as 
 though he lived in a conscious fellowship with 
 the unseen world. 
 
 I. And is not the unseen world all around us 
 and most intimately bound up with our daily life 
 and is not this the only question : whether we 
 have the spiritual faculty to observe this? For 
 the fact that the Angels succour and defend us on 
 earth remains the same, whether we. realise it or 
 not. 
 
 i. If we turn to the striking incident in the 
 Second Book of the Kings, where the army of 
 the King of Syria surrounds Dothan by night for 
 the purpose of capturing the prophet Klisha, we 
 read that when the servant of Elisha, who had 
 risen early, had gone forth, he discovered the 
 host compassing the city, and in despair said to 
 
94 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 his master, "Alas, how shall we do?" And 
 Klisha encouraged him by saying, * ' Fear not : 
 for they that be with us are more than they that 
 be with them. And Klisha prayed, and said, 
 lyORD, I pray Thee, open his eyes, that he may 
 see. And the I^ord opened the eyes of the 
 young man ; and he saw : and, behold, the 
 mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire 
 round about Klisha" (2 Kings vi., 14-18). 
 
 We must bear in mind that the opening of the 
 young man's eyes did not bring the Angels to 
 Klisha' s succour ; they were there before. Klisha 
 had spiritual sight enough to recognise them, and 
 by his prayer gained this gift for his servant. 
 
 ii. How many things there are all round us, in- 
 terwoven, as it were, with the most ordinary 
 actions of our daily life, of which we are ignorant 
 only because of the dulness of our sight or hear- 
 ing ! And while this is especially true of spiritual 
 things, it is also true of material things, and, per- 
 haps, may be best illustrated from the phenomena 
 of nature. 
 
 How many sights and sounds there are around 
 us in the world, of which we are not cognisant at 
 all ! And of those which are within the reach of 
 human ken, how many more are perceived by 
 some men than by others ! The uncultured sav- 
 age, as we call him, has the faculties of sight and 
 hearing trained to a degree of intensity which we 
 
TJie Visio?i of Angels. 95 
 
 can scarcely understand ; and there are other crea- 
 tures among the lower animals, whose senses are 
 even keener than his. 
 
 II. L/Ct us illustrate this by the consideration 
 of some well-known laws of sight and sound. We 
 speak of five senses, although a few moments' 
 thought will show us that we really have but one, 
 the sense of touch, and that all the others are 
 but different modes of that one sense. 
 
 We are now concerned only with sight and 
 sound. The former is but the registration, upon 
 the retina of the eye, of the vibrations of the 
 luminiferous ether ; while in the case of sound the 
 drum of the ear performs a similar office in re- 
 gard to the pulsations of the atmosphere. 
 
 i. For instance, if we examine the laws of 
 colour, we find that the sensation of scarlet re- 
 quires that 477 billion pulsations of the ether 
 should touch the retina every second ; and as the 
 vibrations become more rapid, and the light- 
 waves therefore become smaller, other colours are 
 produced, till we reach 700 billions of vibrations a 
 second, which causes in our organ of sight the 
 effect of violet. 
 
 Between these two extremes lie all the shades 
 of colour of which we have any cognisance ; that 
 is, the human eye is so constructed as only to let 
 in, so to speak, vibrations between the limits of 
 .477 and 700 billions. 
 
96 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 It is quite evident, of course, that there must 
 be colours, or at least vibrations, less in number 
 than the lower limit, and greater than the higher, 
 and yet of these we have no perception whatever, 
 that is, they produce no effect upon the optic nerve. 
 
 What is true of colour is true of all phenomena. 
 There may be beings floating about in the air, 
 which we do not see simply because of the inca- 
 pacity of our visual organs. And we know there 
 are creatures lower in the order of creation, which 
 have far greater powers of vision than we possess. 
 Eagles, for instance, can see objects at a distance 
 which is far beyond the reach of the human eye.; 
 and it has been shown by experiments that ants 
 see distinctly rays of light whose rate of vibra- 
 tion exceeds 789 billions a second, and they there- 
 fore see colours beyond the violet rays of the 
 spectrum. So that probably there is all about us 
 a vision of magnificent colours to which we are 
 quite insensible. 
 
 ii. If we now take up in the same way the laws 
 of sound, Professor Tyndall explains to us that 
 notes above or below a certain pitch are quite 
 inaudible to the human ear, even though the air 
 be filled with them. He tells us that Savart fixed 
 the lower limit at 8 vibrations a second and the 
 upper limit of hearing at 24,000 vibrations a 
 second. Helmholtz, however, in his experiments, 
 fixed the lower limit at 16 vibrations and the 
 
The Vision of Angels. 97 
 
 higher at 38,000 vibrations a second, and this is 
 generally considered accurate. 
 
 If, then, we start from the note 16, and multi- 
 ply continually by 2 eleven times, we shall find 
 that at eleven octaves above the fundamental note 
 the number of vibrations will be 32,768 ; so that 
 the limit assigned by Helmholtz allows the human 
 ear a range of about eleven octaves. 
 
 All the notes within these limits cannot, how- 
 ever, be employed in music, the practical range 
 of musical sounds being included between 40 and 
 4000 vibrations a second, which amounts in round 
 numbers to seven octaves ; the lowest tone of 
 the orchestral instruments being the E of the 
 double bass, with \\% vibrations a second, and 
 the highest probably the D of the piccolo flute, 
 with 4752 vibrations. In some countries there is 
 a difference in the pitch of these notes, but ap- 
 proximately we may accept Helmholtz' s state- 
 ment. 
 
 Then again, the limits of hearing are so differ- 
 ent in different persons, and the sudden transi- 
 tion from perfect hearing to total want of sound 
 perception is very striking. Sir John Herschel 
 and Dr. Wollaston, who have especially experi- 
 mented in this, say that as regards the sharp 
 sounds produced, for instance, by a very small 
 organ-pipe, some people will complain of the 
 penetrating shrillness of a sound which others do 
 
98 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 not hear at all ; and that even those of most acute 
 hearing pass, as it were, at one step into absolute 
 deafness. That is, they hear these shrill notes 
 with most penetrating distinctness, until at last 
 one is struck which is beyond the limit of their 
 hearing, and they would maintain of that note 
 that there was no sound at all, though another 
 with still more acute hearing would hear it 
 perfectly. 
 
 Professor Tyndall refers to a case of limited 
 hearing noticed by himself in crossing the Wen- 
 gern Alp in company with a friend. * * The grass 
 at each side of the path swarmed with insects, 
 which, to me, rent the air with their shrill chir- 
 ruping. My friend heard nothing of this, the 
 insect-music lying beyond his limit of audition." * 
 
 An examination of the laws of physical sight 
 and sound shows us how much is going on all 
 round us of which we know nothing, of which 
 some other men may know but little more than 
 we do, and some of the lower creatures a great 
 deal more than we do. If this is true — and no 
 one can reasonably doubt it — in regard to material 
 things, how much more may it not be true of 
 spiritual things ! 
 
 The scene at Dothan, where Elisha saw the 
 mountain full of horses and chariots of fire, shows 
 us how close to us are the angelic hosts, ^^lisha 
 ' On Sound y p. loi. 
 
The Vision of Angels. 99 
 
 saw them with his spiritual sight ; the young 
 man did not see them until his spiritual sight 
 had been strengthened by Klisha's prayer. 
 
 III. So in regard to the spiritual world ; the 
 Saints have seen many sights, have heard many 
 sounds of which sinners knew nothing. While it 
 would not be wise, and it certainly is not neces- 
 sary, to believe all the visions that are recorded 
 in the lives of various Saints, yet it would be a 
 very rash thing to say that they were none of 
 them real. 
 
 i. It would be altogether contrary to the laws of 
 evidence to reject the testimony of one very large 
 class of persons, whose experience extended over 
 mau}^ centuries, and who, from their special 
 training and sanctity, were peculiarly fitted to 
 see spiritual things, just because those who had 
 not gone through the same training, but on the 
 contrary had lived a life which necessarily blunted 
 their spiritual perceptions, had had no experi- 
 ence of such visions. 
 
 We accept scientific truth in regard to material 
 things almost entirely on the testimony of scien- 
 tific experts. Very few amongst us have had 
 the scientific training necessary to investigate 
 for ourselves the so-called laws of nature. We 
 realise this, and therefore do not hesitate to 
 accept them on the testimony of those who have 
 spent their lives in such investigations, and who 
 
lOO Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 have been peculiarly fitted for them by special 
 training. 
 
 How unreasonable we should be thought if we 
 were to reject, for instance, the physical laws of 
 sight and sound because the great majority of man- 
 kind had never made any experiments on them, 
 could not see the luminiferous ether, could not 
 measure the light-waves, and had never made 
 any experiments in acoustics ! 
 
 But it would be just as unreasonable to reject the 
 testimony of thousands of Saints in regard to 
 visions of spiritual things which they have experi- 
 enced, simply because the majority, who are not 
 Saints and have never trained their spiritual 
 faculties, — but rather have blunted them by a life 
 of worldliness, perhaps of sin, — have experienced 
 no such visions. 
 
 It is quite possible that some might think it a 
 sufficient answer to this if they said that the evi- 
 dence on which the visions of the Saints rested 
 was not supported by any testimony of real 
 weight. As our argument is addressed to Chris- 
 tians only, it would, perhaps, be sufiicient to reply, 
 that it is supported on the testimony of the in- 
 spired Word of God, which is the very same tes- 
 timony on which rest all the doctrines of the 
 Christian Faith. 
 
 ii. It does not seem to have occurred to some 
 people that from the first book of the Bible to the 
 
TJie Vision of Angels. lOl 
 
 last we are constantly assured that holy men of 
 God had visions of the spiritual world. We may 
 begin with the Book of Genesis, in which we are 
 told of the visions which Abram had, and we can 
 end with the Revelation of S. John. 
 
 We also find that these visions almost invari- 
 ably were experienced by holy people, men of 
 God ; and it is distinctly implied that others did 
 not see them, as in the example we have already 
 quoted, that of Klisha's servant. 
 
 So that when we are told that the holy women 
 saw a vision of Angels, the statement is one which 
 would seem most natural. 
 
 If we read the accounts, which are common to 
 all the Evangelists, of the appearance of the An- 
 gels to the women at the tomb, we can scarcely 
 fail to be struck with the way in which- the 
 women seem to have taken the angelic appear- 
 ance as a matter of course. For though they 
 were frightened, they listened to what the Angels 
 said, and spoke to the Angels in the most natural 
 way. 
 
 Perhaps it was because they had seen such 
 sights lately at the Crucifixion that nothing 
 could now astonish them. Or it may have been 
 that they had been living so near to our Lord in 
 sanctity that they had for some time been cogni- 
 sant of the angelic world around them. 
 
 This is the more likely when we consider what 
 
1 02 Eastertide A ddr esses. 
 
 had been their immediate and pecuhar prepara- 
 tion for this vision of Angels. 
 
 IV. There had been, first, a preparation of 
 penitence. Sin itself dims our spiritual sight, 
 coming between us and God, the Saints, and the 
 Angels, as the clouds sometimes come between us 
 and the sun, hiding it from our eyes. 
 
 They had kept Good Friday as perhaps no one 
 else ever kept Good Friday. They had stood at 
 the foot of the very Cross of our Blessed lyORD 
 and had watched Him die. They had listened to 
 and treasured up His last Words, His dying 
 legacy of love. 
 
 They had seen in His Passion the result of all 
 sin, of their vsin. They had repented — oh, with 
 what contrition ! The eye of the soul had been 
 closed by sin, but by penitence the hindrances to 
 its vision had been removed. 
 
 And then, if they had kept Good Friday as a 
 day of penitence, doubtless they had kept Holy 
 Saturday as a day of prayer. Good Friday had 
 been a trial indeed to their faith. Holy Saturday 
 to their hope. Then early on Kaster morning 
 love had drawn them to the tomb with their spices. 
 Penitence, faith, hope, and love — what prepara- 
 tion could have been better for a heavenly vision ? 
 
 If we see so little of the spiritual world, is it not 
 because we do so little to pi-epai^e ourselves for 
 that sight ? I^et us cleanse the eye of our soul 
 
TJlc Vision of Angels. 103 
 
 by real penitence, quicken our hope and faith by 
 earnest prayer, and cause the dull embers of our 
 love to burst into flame by feeding them with acts 
 of sacrifice ; and what may we not hope to see of 
 that world which is so near to us ? 
 
 V. Our fellowship with the Saints and Angels 
 is a matter of distinct revelation, and is one of 
 the most helpful doctrines of the Creed. Not to 
 quote more than one passage of Scripture, we read 
 in the twelfth chapter of the Epistle to the He- 
 brews : * * But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and 
 unto the city of the living God, the heavenly 
 Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of 
 Angels, to the general assembly and Church of 
 the firstborn, which are written in Heaven, and 
 to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just 
 men made perfect " (verses 22 and 23). 
 
 Here the writer of the Epistle, comparing the 
 two Covenants of God, given through Moses and 
 through Christ, contrasts the coming of the 
 Jews to Mount Sinai with all its terrors, with the 
 coming of Christ's people to Mount Sion, the 
 heavenly Jerusalem. And among the privileges 
 of Christians which he enumerates perhaps the 
 chief is fellowship with the Angels and Saints ; — 
 ' * the innumerable company of Angels, ' * and ' ' the 
 spirits of just men made perfect." 
 
 As we have already seen, the whole Bible is full 
 of instances of angelic ministrations to men ; and 
 
104 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 in the same chapter of the same Epistle we are 
 urged to lay aside every weight . . . because 
 * * we are compassed about with so great a cloud of 
 witnesses ' ' — of Saints and Angels (verse i). But 
 let us confine ourselves to the fellowship of the 
 Holy Angels. 
 
 What a help the thought of this fellowship 
 should be to us ! Some, however, may ask, *' In 
 what way can it be a help to us ? In what way 
 is the fellowship in any sense real ? for we cannot 
 talk to the Angels." No, but talking is not 
 everything. 
 
 To lovers of music there is probably no greater 
 pleasure than the performance of a piece of con- 
 certed music, and yet those who are performing it 
 cannot talk whilst they are playing, but they all 
 have a common interest in performing the same 
 work, each doing his own part ; they all pause 
 together, they all crescendo together, they all 
 keep the same time and rhythm. And so we and 
 the Angels have true fellowship with one another, 
 not by talking together, but by having the same 
 interests. 
 
 This fellowship may be traced in various ways. 
 
 i. Both we and the Angels have the same be- 
 ginning and end, — God. Of both it can be said 
 that they came from God, belong to God, and 
 have God as their end. 
 
 ii. Then there is a fellowship in work. With 
 
The Vision of Angels, 105 
 
 both the highest duty and greatest happiness 
 must be to do God's Will, to finish God's 
 work ; and we must remember that all work 
 which it is our duty to do, is in some sense God's 
 work, and therefore can be offered to Him. The 
 Angels, who obey God's commands in the vSpirit- 
 ual world, and man, who fulfils God's purpose 
 in every-day life, have a fellowship in common 
 work. 
 
 iii. There is also a fellowship in common wor- 
 ship ; and this is especiallj^ realised in the great 
 act of Christian worship, the offering of the Holy 
 Eucharist. At every celebration we are reminded 
 of this by the Preface, *' Therefore with A7tgels 
 and Archa7igelSy and with all the Company of 
 Heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name; 
 evermore praising Thee. " And all worship as it 
 were depends upon that solemn Eucharistic act ; 
 for the other Offices of the Church are but as 
 echoes of the Eucharist, and are almost meaning- 
 less where there is no offering of the Eucharistic 
 Sacrifice. 
 
 iv. Moreover, this fellowship with the Angels 
 involves mutual love. They love us because God 
 loves us ; and they willingly obey His behests in 
 ministering to our needs in a thousand ways of 
 which we know nothing ! But many instances of 
 angelic help are recorded for us in the Holy Bible ; 
 and in the Lives of the Saints too we read many, 
 
io6 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 many stories of angelic assistance in the hour of 
 need. 
 
 V. Again they help us, and the help is mutual ; 
 for we are continuing here on earth the battle 
 which the Angels began in Heaven when ** there 
 was war in Heaven: Michael and his Angels 
 fought against the dragon ; and the dragon 
 fought and his angels, and prevailed not ; neither 
 was their place found any more in Heaven. And 
 the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, 
 called the Devil, arid Satan, which deceiveth the 
 whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and 
 his angels were cast out with him " (Rev. xii., 
 
 7, 8, 9). 
 
 The Angels hurled the rebel lyucifer and his 
 hosts from Heaven, and it is our work to conquer 
 him on earth ; and this must be done before that 
 "consummation of all things, ' ' when the Devil and 
 his hosts shall be cast out of the earth too, and shut 
 up for ever in the bottomless pit. We are carrying 
 on the work the Angels began ; we are fighting 
 for their King against His ancient foe. 
 
 vi. The realisation of this fellowship with the 
 Holy Angels should give us confidence in our 
 struggle, and consolation in times of great tempta- 
 tion. We read that after our lyORD's temptation 
 Angels came and ministered to Him ; and they 
 minister no less to us, though from our want of 
 spiritual sight we do not see them. We should 
 
The Vision of Angels. 107 
 
 invoke their aid in time of danger, — for we know 
 that each of us has at least a Guardian Angel, — 
 and in our work ; and especially in our worship. 
 The thought of our fellowship with those bright 
 spirits should stimulate and refresh us as we strive 
 to fulfil in our poor way on earth what they do 
 so perfectly in Heaven. 
 
 ^ Perhaps we may realise this fellowship with the 
 Holy Angels best by thinking of the celebration 
 of a Solemn Mass in some great Cathedral. There 
 is the Priest at the Altar offering the Holy Sacri- 
 fice, with the Sacred Ministers and the Acolytes, 
 the Choir singing their parts and the orchestra 
 accompanying them. In that Choir and orchestra 
 each has a special part to perform ; some a part 
 prominent and important ; others have merely the 
 work of filling in the intermediate harmonies ; but 
 all are necessary to the general effect, and if any 
 one is out of tune or out of time, that one more or 
 less spoils the perfection of the work. 
 
 So is it in our fellowship with the Angels. 
 The universe is God's great Cathedral, our Lord 
 the Great High Priest ; and Angels and Saints 
 in Heaven, and men on earth, both in their work 
 and in their worship, are like the Choir and or- 
 chestra, all engaged in one great effort to glorify 
 God, to do His holy Will, and to praise His 
 sacred Name. 
 
 Our part may be like that of some insignificant 
 
io8 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 instrument in the orchestra, or a voice in the 
 chorus, fining in only the intermediate harmonies, 
 but if our part is not rightly performed we are in 
 danger of spoiling the perfection of the work. If 
 we rightly do our part here, the happy day will 
 come when, by the discipline of earth, we shall have 
 been tuned and trained to take our place before 
 the Throne of God, and to have our share in the 
 triumph-song of Heaven, where all will be perfect 
 harmony, all one glorious and eternal burst of 
 praise to Him Who has redeemed us by His Blood 
 and has made us kings and priests unto our God. 
 
IV. 
 HOLY ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 "he is not HKRK : FOR HK IS RISEN, AS HE 
 
 SAID. COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE THE 
 
 LORD LAY." kS*. Matt, xxviii., 6. 
 
 S MATTHEW and S. Mark both record this 
 invitation of the Angel to behold the place 
 where the L^ord lay. While its first pur- 
 pose may have been to assure the women by ocu- 
 lar demonstration of the truth of the statement, 
 *' He is not here. He is risen," by showing them 
 the empty tomb ; yet we may well gather from it 
 a lesson for ourselves in regard to the helpful- 
 ness of holy associations. 
 
 With what feelings of awe, reverence, and love 
 did the holy women stoop down and gaze into the 
 empty tomb ! " He is not here. He is risen. 
 Why seek ye the living among the dead ? ' ' And 
 yet there is the invitation, ** Come, see the place 
 where the Lord lay." In this seeming paradox, 
 — * * Why seek ye the living among the dead ? ' ' 
 
 Z09 
 
I lo Eastertide Addresses. • 
 
 " Come, see the place where the Loed lay," 
 — we have a lesson in regard to the usefulness 
 of holy associations, and a warning against their 
 abuse. 
 
 I. There are few among us, probably, who have 
 not at times realised the helpfulness of associations 
 of place. As we stood on the site of some old, 
 historic scene, how the place not only brought 
 vividly back what we had read in times gone by, 
 but quickened the dull page with life ! 
 
 For example, one's first visit to Rome : the 
 Forum, with its classic memories ; the Colosseum, 
 with its scenes of Christian heroism ; — what recol-, 
 lections did they awake of a glorious past, of which 
 we had read indeed with quickening pulse ; but 
 when we stood there on the very spot, how vividly 
 the scene came before our eyes ! 
 
 With what interest we examined every relic of 
 those martyrs who laid down their lives for Christ 
 so bravely, so willingly, and who b}^ their blood 
 washed idol- worship away from the fields of Eu- 
 rope. Nor did our conscience fail to reproach us 
 because, in spite of our noble resolves, we, their de- 
 scendants, had failed so often to confess our lyORD 
 even in the little details of daily Christian life. 
 
 And then, as we travelled from place to place in 
 that land rich with so many memories of the past, 
 how our heart burned within us as we wandered 
 through the cloisters and cells of San Marco at 
 
Holy Associations. 1 1 1 
 
 Florence, and studied the works of Fra Angelico 
 and Fra Bartolommeo, who seem to have painted in 
 lasting colours the inspirations which they caught 
 on their knees ! And then we visited the cell of 
 that great reformer Savonarola, and saw the cruci- 
 fix at the foot of which he learned that lesson, 
 which in burning words he taught the luxurious 
 nobles of Florence. Who shall say that we were 
 not the better for these thoughts ? 
 
 And then, when we visit the tombs of the 
 Saints and kneel at the shrine of S. Dominic at 
 Bologna, and of S. Francis at Assisi, and think 
 of the religious Orders they founded, the thous- 
 ands of devout souls who followed in their steps ; 
 or the tomb of S. Philip at Rome, or of his friend 
 S. Carlo at Milan, and think of the reformation 
 those two men effected in their day — what thoughts 
 arise in our minds ! Or when, at Toulouse, we 
 gaze at the head of that mighty theologian, S. 
 Thomas Aquinas, whose thoughts have guided 
 the theologians of the Church for so many cent- 
 uries, we seem to hear the words, ' * Come, see the 
 place where he lies." God's servant, man, like 
 thyself ; the same frail, sinful human nature, the 
 same flesh and blood, the same temptations, the 
 same grace — for what had they more than we 
 have in the Sacraments of the Church ? — and yet 
 centuries have passed, and their work remains. 
 
 And do not such thoughts rouse us to fresh 
 
1 1 2 Eastertide A ddr esses. • 
 
 eflfort, stir within us holy ambitions, and remind 
 us that our I^ord has given * ' to every man his 
 work " ? Are not such associations helpful ? 
 
 Or again, in our own life, have we not noticed 
 how associations of place call up memories of 
 earlier days ? In revisiting the scenes of boyhood 
 or youth, for instance ; the school, that little world 
 whose years were so few and whose experiences 
 seemed so many ; the Church in which we received 
 for the first time each Sacrament ; the Font in 
 which we were regenerated ; the Altar at which 
 we made our first Communion — how many holy 
 recollections roll in on the flood-tide of memory 
 thus awakened ! Holy desires, solemn resolu- 
 tions, alas ! often forgotten, many times broken ; 
 but are we not the better for facing them, and 
 has not many a one started afresh and persevered 
 more faithfully after such recollections ? 
 
 II. But there is the word of warning, " He is 
 not here." Those relics, helpful in many ways, 
 holy as they may be, are not all. We are to 
 think of the Saints enjoying their reward amid the 
 bliss of Heaven, drinking in, as from a river, 
 streams of delight, the glorious Vision of God. 
 
 And as we are fired by this thought to follow in 
 their steps, we may remember that we are * * com- 
 passed about with a great cloud of witnesses"; 
 that we not only think of the Saints, but they 
 think of us, care for us, watch us, and are ready 
 
Holy Associations. 1 13 
 
 to help us if we seek their aid. And so we ask 
 them to pray for us, that we may have grace and 
 strength to fight as they fought for Christ, and 
 hke them to win the crown. 
 
 But if these associations are helpful, how much 
 more so are all those which bring us, as it were, 
 into communication with our I^ord Himself ; 
 how great is the helpfulness of a thorough know- 
 ledge of all the circumstances of His I^ife, so that 
 we may recall the scenes, so that we may * ' come 
 and see the place where He lay," — making His 
 earthly life more real, more vivid to us, as we 
 meditate on it day by day. 
 
 How easily we forget these things ! All 
 helps to memory are good ; the visiting of holy 
 places is among the best, because of the power 
 that they have of quickening our memory and 
 our affection. 
 
 In conclusion, let us return to the first lesson 
 which these words are intended to teach — the les- 
 son of the empty tomb : * ' He is not here, He is 
 risen." We are not to be contented with the 
 mere associations of the past. For all the things 
 which remind us of Christ and of His Saints carry 
 our thoughts and hopes be3"ond this world, not 
 merely to the grave of earthly memories, but to 
 that glorious Kingdom where, if we are faithful, 
 we shall one da}'- reign with Him, and be '* num- 
 bered with His Saints in glory everlasting." 
 
 8 
 
114 Eastertide Addresses, • 
 
 And this thought robs earth's trials of their 
 terrors and sweetens life's sorrows, gives new 
 courage to bear the Cross, and urges us on to 
 follow Him ! " He is not here, He is risen. 
 Come, see the place where the I^ord lay. ' ' 
 
V. 
 
 THE VISIT OF S. PETER AND S. JOHN 
 TO THE SEPULCHRE. 
 
 " THE:n SHK runneth, and COMETH TO SIMON 
 PETKR, AND TO THE OTHER DISCIPLE, WHOM 
 JESUS LOVED, AND SAITH UNTO THEM, THEY 
 HAVE TAKEN AWAY THE LORD OUT OF THE 
 SEPULCHRE, AND WE KNOW NOT WHERE 
 THEY HAVE LAID HIM. PETER THEREFORE 
 WENT FORTH, AND THAT OTHER DISCIPLE, 
 AND CAME TO THE SEPULCHRE. SO THEY 
 RAN BOTH TOGETHER : AND THE OTHER 
 DISCIPLE DID OUTRUN PETER, AND CAME 
 FIRST TO THE SEPULCHRE. AND HE STOOP- 
 ING DOWN, AND LOOKING IN, SAW THE 
 LINEN CLOTHES LYING ; YET WENT HE NOT 
 IN. THEN COMETH SIMON PETER FOLLOW- 
 ING HIM, AND WENT INTO THE SEPULCHRE, 
 AND SEETH THE LINEN CLOTHES LIE, AND 
 THE NAPKIN, THAT WAS ABOUT HIS HEAD, 
 NOT LYING WITH THE LINEN CLOTHES, BUT 
 WRAPPED TOGETHER IN A PLACE BY ITSELF. 
 "5 
 
Ii6 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 THEN WKNT IN AI^SO THAT OTHER DISCIPLE, 
 WHICH CAME FIRST TO THE SEPUIvCHRE, AND 
 HE SAW, AND BELIEVED. FOR AS YET THEY 
 KNEW NOT THE SCRIPTURE, THAT HE MUST 
 RISE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD. THEN THE 
 DISCIPLES WENT AWAY AGAIN UNTO THEIR 
 
 OWN HOME. ' ' »S. John XX. , 2-1 1. 
 
 WE are so familiar with the details of our 
 Lord's Resurrection as a history that 
 probably most of us do not realise how 
 marvellously full it is as a revelation. Every type 
 of character and class of evidence seem to be 
 brought before us. Personal love, personal peni- 
 tence, impersonal thought, and even doubt, are 
 exhibited in S. Mary Magdalene, S. Peter, the 
 two Disciples at Emmaus, and S. Thomas, re- 
 spectively ; all finding their need supplied and 
 their faith in the Resurrection confirmed by a 
 special and individual revelation given to them 
 by our Lord Himself. 
 
 But besides the appearances to individuals and 
 to the assembled Disciples, we have in the case 
 of S. John an unique experience, leading to per- 
 fect faith in the Resurrection before he had seen 
 our Lord. Indeed, excepting of course the 
 Blessed Virgin, we may say of him alone, what 
 our Lord said to S. Thomas : " Blessed are they 
 that have not seen, and yet have believed." 
 
The Visit to the Sepulchre. 117 
 
 I. The passage of Scripture which we are now 
 to consider contains an account of this experience 
 of S. John, and tells us, as it seems, with great 
 accuracy exactly what was the character of the 
 evidence which led him to believe that his Lord 
 had risen. But before we consider it, let us glance 
 for a moment at the scene. 
 
 S. Mary Magdalene had hastened back from 
 her first visit to the tomb, and finding S. Peter 
 and S. John, had said to them, *' They have taken 
 away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know 
 not where they have laid Him." How pathetic 
 is her story ! — especially when we remember that 
 she had no expectation of finding that her Lord 
 had risen. She had set out to anoint the dead 
 Body, — all that was left her of Him she loved so 
 dearly, — and that was gone ! 
 
 How natural was the action of S. Peter and S. 
 John on hearing the news ! * ' They ran both to- 
 gether ; and the other Disciple did outrun Peter, 
 and came first to the sepulchre." He outran S. 
 Peter because, being younger, he was more agile ; 
 but reverence or some other feeling held him 
 back, for when he reached the tomb he stooped 
 down and looked in only, but did not go in. 
 
 S. Peter comes up soon after, and at once enters 
 the tomb, and sees the linen cloths lying, and 
 the napkin, which was upon His Head, not lying 
 with the linen cloths, but apart, rolled together 
 
ii8 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 in one place. Then S. John also entered, and saw 
 this and believed. " For as yet they knew not 
 the Scripture, that He must rise again from the 
 dead. Then the Disciples went away again unto 
 their own home. ' ' 
 
 We must very carefully notice in this place the 
 emphatic change, in verse 8, of the verbs to the 
 singular. The whole narrative is an account of 
 what two Apostles did together. They ran to- 
 gether. They entered the Tomb together, S. 
 John waiting for, but immediately after following, 
 S, Peter. Together they * * knew not " — or rather 
 understood not — " the Scripture, that He must 
 rise again from the dead." And they went to- 
 gether " away unto their own home." 
 
 And yet, although S. John writes the whole 
 account thus in the plural, he makes an emphatic 
 exception in verse 8 by using two verbs in the 
 singular which separate the plural verbs and can- 
 not, therefore, have been placed there uninten- 
 tionally. 
 
 S. John evidently desires to speak of an experi- 
 ence which was peculiar to himself. He cannot tes- 
 tify for S. Peter; he can do so for himself, and this 
 must have been one of the ineffaceable experiences 
 in his life. He tells us of it with special clearness 
 and in doing so admits us to see the evidence by 
 which he reached his belief in the Resurrection. 
 
 II. What was this evidence ? There can be no 
 
The Visit to the Sepulchre. 119 
 
 question but that it was the sight of the grave- 
 clothes ; and yet perhaps, it is not easy to see 
 why they should have produced such conviction 
 in S. John. 
 
 Many commentators tell us that the circum- 
 stance which convinced S. John that the Body 
 had not been taken away, but had risen, was (to 
 quote from Godet), that " these linen cloths, 
 spread out, did not suggest a removal, for the 
 Body would not have been carried away com- 
 pletely naked. The napkin especially, rolled up 
 and laid aside carefully, attested not a precipi- 
 tate removal, but a calm awakening." 
 
 This is undoubtedly true so far as it goes, and 
 yet seems scarcely a sufficient reason for so extra- 
 ordinary a conviction. For while the condition 
 of the cloths may not have suggested a precipi- 
 tate removal, it was at least compatible with the 
 removal of the Body, and there was no special 
 reason to suppose that a precipitate removal was 
 necessary. 
 
 But a careful examination of the original lan- 
 guage used appears to suggest a very different and 
 far more satisfactory explanation. It was not, as 
 Godet and others understand, that the napkin 
 had been " rolled up and laid aside carefully," 
 but that the napkin was in precisely the same con- 
 dition in which it had been left by those who laid 
 our Blessed Lord in the tomb. If we turn to 
 
I20 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 the account of our Lord's burial (S. Matt, xxvii., 
 59, 60), we read : ' ' And when Joseph had taken 
 the Body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 
 and laid it in his own new tomb." The word 
 * ' wrapped " (ersrvXi^sv) is in the aorist, and sig- 
 nifies the act, which they all witnessed, of wrap- 
 ping the linen cloth around the Body, a special 
 napkin being wound about the Head. 
 
 In the passage in S. John which we are now 
 considering, the same word is used in the perfect 
 participle (^evrsrvXty/Aerov), which signifies that 
 the napkin was still in the condition in which it 
 had been placed when it was wound about the 
 sacred Head. 
 
 Though the perfect participle might signify the 
 rolling up of the napkin after the grave-clothes 
 had been removed from our Lord's Body (if such 
 had been the case), yet nrvaaoo would have been 
 the ordinary word to describe this,* and is the 
 word which is actually used of the folding up of 
 a bandage, t It is noticeable that nrvGaoD in the 
 only place in which it occurs in the New Testa- 
 ment, S. Luke iv., 20, is used in this sense. J 
 
 The reason why evrvXiGGoo would not have 
 been a good word to represent the ordinary f aid- 
 ing up of a napkin, is that it implies the wrap- 
 
 * Homer, Od., i. 4, iii. 9, vi. in, 252. 
 
 \ Hippocrates, Frad., 758. 
 
 \ nai Ttrv^aS to /3i/3Xiov h. r. A. 
 
The Visit to the Sepulchre. 121 
 
 ping around soynething (the noun ru\// or rvXo^ 
 meaning a swelling), and that the verb in this case 
 requires that the swelling should have been pro- 
 duced by the Head around which the napkin had 
 been wrapped. 
 
 Now this is exactly what would have been the 
 case if our I^ord had risen passing through the 
 grave-clothes, as He did through the stone of the 
 tomb, wdthout unwrapping them. 
 
 The cloth wrapped about the Body w^ould col- 
 lapse on account of the greater width of the folds ; 
 the napkin wrapped around the Head would prob- 
 ably retain its form, and would be separated from 
 the other grave-clothes (for it was not attached to 
 them), possibly rolling slightly apart when that 
 which kept them all together was removed. 
 
 So S. John accurately observed that " the nap- 
 kin, which was about His Head," was " not lying 
 with the linen clothes, but rolled together — in a 
 place by itself " — literall}^ " apart, in one place." 
 
 What was it, then, which produced in S. John 
 a conviction that our Lord had indeed risen ? 
 Surely it was the circumstance that he found the 
 grave-clothes lying exactly as they had been 
 wrapped around our Lord's Body, and especially 
 the napkin retaining the form of the Head, thus 
 proving beyond question that the Body had passed 
 out of it without disturbing its folds. 
 
 This evidence is almost always overlooked, and, 
 
122 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 as it seems, misinterpreted — sometimes even con- 
 tradicted ; and yet the very noticeable change in 
 the verbs, which tells us that the sight of the grave- 
 clothes produced faith in S. John, surely implies 
 something more than that he merely saw the cloths 
 folded, which would have been quite compatible 
 with the removal of the Body by foes. And in 
 addition to this, we have the fact that the ordinary 
 translation ignores the force of ivrv\ia<y gj.^ 
 
 III. The lesson which we may draw from this 
 scene is the quickness of love to believe. ' * Blessed 
 are they that have not seen, and yet have be- 
 lieved. ' ' 
 
 * An objection which has been made to this is that 
 when £i5 is used instead of ev^ or rather has the force 
 of ev (for 8i<i is not infrequently construed with verbs of 
 rest), the idea of motion preceding or accompanying was 
 originally included ; so that erzErvXiyuevov si? sva 
 roTtov would be translated " wrapped together [and put] 
 into one place," the idea of motion in putting it in place 
 being understood. But is not this rule equally satisfied 
 if we understand that when the Body passed out of the 
 grave-clothes, the napkin, being deprived of that which 
 kept it in place, while retaining the form of the Head 
 (as expressed by evrsrvXiyjueror), by its weight rolled 
 slightly apart (xoopi'i) into one place? This gives to the 
 verb its exact significance, seems to satisfy all conditions 
 required by the Greek, and, at the same time, explains 
 the extraordinary conviction at once produced in S.John. 
 
 The Vulgate of this passage, " sed separatim involutum 
 in ununi locum^'" seems to support this view. 
 
TJie Visit to the Sepulchre. 123 
 
 Love has au intuition of its own. No one who 
 loves God is troubled much with doubts, for love 
 finds evidence for its faith w4iicli others would 
 entirely overlook. As we learn, then, to love 
 God more, we shall come to know Him better, 
 and our faith will have a firmer grasp of His 
 revelation. 
 
 The manj^ kinds of evidence for the Resurrection 
 which were offered to different temperaments, 
 different types of character, according to the needs 
 of each, will be noticed in considering the appear- 
 ance of our Lord to S. Thomas.* 
 
 Sceptics speak of faith in the Resurrection as 
 the result of an excited imagination in persons 
 who waiited to believe it. The Bible gives exactly 
 the opposite account ; it tells of incredulity in all , 
 even in S. John, and that this incredulity w^as 
 gradually overcome in individuals of different in- 
 tellectual mould by different kinds of evidence, 
 there being given to each that which was most 
 convincing to him. 
 
 It is a common though shallow accusation of 
 sceptics that God ought to have made His reve- 
 lation clearer, so that all might be compelled to 
 believe. But there can be no compulsion of faith, 
 for then it would cease to be faith. And surely 
 as w^e examine this fundamental miracle of the 
 Resurrection, on the truth of which Christianity 
 * Chap, xiii., p. 
 
124 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 depends, it seems impossible to conceive of 
 clearer evidence than that of which we read 
 in the Gospel record and which effectually re- 
 moved doubt from the minds of so many different 
 individuals. 
 
it 
 
 VI. 
 WHY WEBPKST THOU? 
 
 JKSUS SAITH UNTO HKR, WOMAN, WHY WKEPEST 
 THOU ? WHOM SKKKKST THOU ? ' ' 
 
 S. John XX. , 15. 
 
 THESE words have a significance of their own 
 which perhaps is not always noticed, and 
 which arises out of the occasion on which 
 they were spoken. S. Mark tells us that our 
 IvORD after His Resurrection appeared first to 
 Mary Magdalene, and as these were the first 
 words which He then addressed to her, we see 
 that they are the Jlrsf recorded words our Blessed 
 Lord uttered after His Resurrection. 
 
 They have, therefore, a twofold interest : that 
 which pertains to them as the first words of our 
 Lord's Resurrection Life, and then that which 
 must be aroused in us by any question asked by 
 our Lord. For He never asked any question for 
 lack of knowledge, but rather to lead us to inves- 
 tigate the true causes of such actions as from their 
 
 125 
 
126 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 very frequency we are in danger of misunder- 
 standing ; and by this means He would bring us 
 to a clearer apprehension of them. 
 
 But before w^e consider our Lord's question to 
 S. Mary Magdalene, let us briefly trace w^hat 
 passed after she, with the other women, reached 
 the tomb and found the stone rolled away. They 
 had carried the news at once to the other Disciples, 
 S. Mary especially addressing herself to ** Simon 
 Peter, and to the other Disciple, w^hom JKSUS 
 loved," saying unto them, " They have taken 
 away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know 
 not where they have laid Him " (S. John xx., 2). 
 S. Peter and S. John had then hastened to the 
 sepulchre, and had entered it — S. Peter first, and 
 afterwards S. John ; they had seen there the linen 
 cloths lying still wrapped together, as when 
 swathed around the Body, and they had departed, 
 — S. Peter wondering, S. John believing. 
 
 They had departed ; but Mary remained behind, 
 and stood without at the sepulchre, weeping ; and 
 as she wept, she took courage just to look into the 
 sepulchre. She sees ** two Angels in white sit- 
 ting, the one at the Head, and the other at the 
 Feet, where the Body of Jksus had lain " (S. John 
 XX., 12). They ask her the question which our 
 Lord afterwards asked her, * * Woman, why weep- 
 est thou ? ' ' 
 
 Neither the vision nor the question of the 
 
W/iy Weepest Thou f 127 
 
 Angels seems to surprise or to arouse her. She 
 answers, very much in the words which she had 
 addressed to S. Peter, ** Because they have taken 
 away my Lord, and I know not where they have 
 laid Him," the chief difference being that she sub- 
 stitutes, "my Lord" for ** the Lord." This 
 was the burden of her thoughts ; this was the one 
 idea in her mind. 
 
 She seems to answer the Angels almost mechani- 
 cally. She asks them no question ; she expresses 
 no surprise at their presence. She does not even 
 seek their help. She does but utter the ever- 
 recurring theme of her thoughts, ** The}- have 
 taken away my Lord, and I know not where they 
 have laid Him." 
 
 And then she became conscious of someone 
 standing behind her, and turning back " saw 
 Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. ' ' 
 How should she know ? For the jESUS Whom 
 she sought was the dead Body which she had 
 seen laid in the grave, and for the anointing 
 of which she had prepared and brought the 
 spices. 
 
 " Why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? " 
 asks our Blessed Lord. The first words are the 
 repetition of those of the Angel, but He adds 
 something more, something expressive of sym- 
 pathy — ''Who7n seekest thou?" How rightly 
 He interprets her tears, and, as it were, says, 
 
128 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 ' * Sorrov/ such as thine surely must be not for a 
 thing, but for a person." 
 
 Why did she weep ? For sorrow ; for love. It 
 was for Him Whom she had lost, W^ho had lifted 
 her from terrible sin. Who had freed her from de- 
 grading bondage. Who had cleansed her. Who 
 had taught her the possibilities of another life, of 
 another love — a life in which everything that was 
 noble in her nature was called forth ; a love puri- 
 fied and hallowed, and, like all true love, the joy 
 of her life. 
 
 Well might she weep, for she had lost Him. 
 
 What did she seek ? Only, as she supposed. His 
 
 lifeless Body. What did she find ? The risen 
 
 Lord. Was ever joy like hers when she heard 
 
 •^, the word ' ' Mary ! " ? We cannot realise it ; for 
 
 \ we cannot fathom the depths of her love, or of her 
 
 '; sorrow. How, then, can we measure the fulness 
 
 of her joy? 
 
 But here let us stop, and leaving S. Mary Mag- 
 dalene, let us take the question as addressed to 
 ourselves, and endeavour to answer it. " Why 
 weepest thou ? ' ' 
 
 This is a vale of tears, this world through 
 which we are passing. Sorrow is the universal 
 monarch here ; sooner or later every heart is 
 touched by his sceptre, and must bow before his 
 throne. How soon the face which is wreathed 
 with smiles is bathed in tears ! How early upon 
 
W/ij Wccpcst Thou ? 129 
 
 the childish memory is ploughed the recollection 
 of sorrow ! This is a vale of tears, for everyone 
 knows what it is to weep. But how many kinds 
 of tears there are ! I^et us ask, Why do we 
 weep ? What is the cause of our sorrow ? 
 
 I. There are the tears of bitterness, of disap- 
 pointment, oi failure; bitter, scalding tears, which 
 give no relief to the heart that sheds them ; tears 
 which only make this dark world still more dark 
 and gloomy. Are our tears ever of this sort ? 
 If so, let us remember that success in life is really 
 of very little value. For the Saints will not be 
 ranged in Heaven according to the degree of the 
 success which they won in this world, but some- 
 times rather in the order of the failure of their 
 worldly plans. 
 
 Let us remember how dangerous is success in 
 this world, fanning, as it does, the flames of am- 
 bition and pride, luring the soul on to dizzy 
 heights, not of spiritual progress, but of worldly 
 pre-eminence — dizzy heights, from which the fall 
 is proportionately great. And yet "how blessed is 
 that fall, if it takes place in this life, and we see 
 ' * that the world we loved so much has turned to 
 dust and ashes at our touch ' ' ! 
 
 How many glory in their own success ! How 
 many are glorified by others because they are 
 successful, and receive as their meed this world's 
 glory ! A Saint of jESUs Christ in the hour of 
 
130 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 his darkest experience, when even his work for 
 souls — souls, which he loved so dearly — seemed 
 to be an utter failure, proclaimed as the principle 
 of his life and work, * ' God forbid that I should 
 glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, 
 and I unto the world " (Gal. vi., 14). 
 \/ Bitter tears of disappointment and failure ! 
 
 And yet, perhaps, those very disappointments, 
 those very failures were God's loving ways of 
 drawing us to Himself, of holding us back from 
 the dangers of success in the world. For God is 
 ever devising means ' ' that His banished be not 
 expelled from Him " (2 Sam. xiv., 14); and chief- 
 est among those means we maj- count disappoint- 
 ments and the failures of our worldly plans. 
 
 If we ask what event has most changed the 
 course of this world and influenced it for good, 
 there can be but one answer — the Cross of JKSUS 
 Christ. And yet, of what does the Cross tell us 
 but of apparent failure ? We follow the Life of 
 Christ ; we see its fair promises developing ; the 
 little world in which He lived gradually gather- 
 ing around Him, bearing witness to Him, ' * Never 
 man spake like this Man," — " they wondered at 
 the gracious words which proceeded out of His 
 Mouth," — they glorified Him. 
 
 That beautiful Life promised so much, but the 
 Cross shows how those promises, humanly speak- 
 
W/ij Weepest Thou ? 131 
 
 ing, ended in failure. The nation He came to 
 teach rejected Him ; the people He came to save 
 crucified Him ; a few Disciples only remained 
 faithful to Him ; and 3'et out of that * ' failure ' * 
 came the greatest success the world has ever 
 known, the success which has regenerated man- 
 kind ! 
 
 The bitter tears of disappointment and failure — 
 are they yours ? Oh, if disappointment brings 
 tears to your eyes, let them not be tears of rebel- 
 lion or bitterness, but gentle tears, relieving the 
 burdened heart, — tears of resignation, tears of 
 patience, tears of thankfulness. For * ' They that 
 sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that now 
 goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth good 
 seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and 
 bring his sheaves with him " (Ps. cxxvi., 6, 7). 
 
 II. "Why weepest thou?" There are other 
 tears than those of disappointment or failure. 
 There are the tears of passion, tears caused by 
 the memory of wrongs done to us, or perhaps, 
 what is harder to bear, to those we love ; angry 
 tears. But alas ! angry tears are useless tears, 
 for they hurt only ourselves, not those who have 
 wronged us. 
 
 How many lives are hardened by such tears, 
 by the spirit of bitterness that cannot forgive, that 
 will not forgive ! Our lyORD had wrongs done to 
 Him such as none other ever endured, and when 
 
132 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 those wrongs had reached their climax, He said, 
 * ' Father, forgive them ; for they know not what 
 they do " (S. lyuke xxiii., 34). Mary Magdalene 
 had wrongs worse than her own — the wrongs 
 done to Him Whom she loved so well ; but her 
 tears were not tears of anger. She had learned 
 the lesson of Calvary, and doubtless could say 
 with her I^ord, " Forgive them ; for they know 
 not what they do." 
 
 And are our tears ever such as these, — are our 
 sorrows the outcome of injuries done to us, in- 
 juries which we resent, bitterly resent? How 
 much misery does anger bring into the world ! It 
 caused the first murder ; our Lord teaches that 
 it is essentially of the same character as murder : 
 * * 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" (S. Matt, v., 21, 22). If some wrong 
 is rankling in our heart and killing the love of 
 God in us, let us pray, ** From envy, hatred, and 
 malice, and all uncharitableness, good Lord, de- 
 liver us. ' ' 
 
 III. "Why weepest thou?" Not only are 
 there the tears of disappointment and of anger, 
 but yet again there are the tears of remorse. In 
 the last case we considered those tears which are 
 caused by our being unable to forgive others who 
 
Why Wcepest Thou ? 133 
 
 have wronged us. Now we must think of those 
 which flow because we cannot forgive ourselves. 
 
 Remorse ! What is it but the biting tooth of 
 self-reproach, finding its strength and permanence 
 in disappointed pride ! Remorse ! — the false peni- 
 tence of Judas, — not the change but the pain of 
 heart, eating into the life ! Vain regrets for a 
 past regarded in the light of its consequences 
 rather than in relation to its guilt — a past which, 
 while it can never be undone, can always be re- 
 pented of ! Remorse is a foretaste of hell, as 
 surely as true penitence gives almost a foretaste 
 of Heaven ! 
 
 Such were not the tears of Mary ; for her sins, 
 which were many, were forgiven, because she 
 loved much. Are our tears ever of this character 
 — tears of bitter self-reproach, not the tears of 
 humble penitence ? 
 
 IV. " Why weepest thou? " All these tears 
 which we have been considering were tears of bit- 
 terness, giving no relief to the burdened heart. 
 But there is another kind of sorrow, — the sorrow 
 of which our I^ord speaks when He says, * * Blessed 
 are they that mourn ; for they shall be comforted ' ' 
 (S. Matt, v., 4); the sorrow of which He says, 
 " Your sorrow shall be turned into joy " (S. John 
 xvi., 20) ; the tears- of which it is written that 
 * * God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ' ' 
 (Rev. xxi., 4); that " light affliction which . . . 
 
134 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory " (2 Cor. iv., 17). 
 
 Such were the tears of Mary. They were not 
 tears of disappointment, though perhaps none 
 had ever been more disappointed than she, and 
 disappointed in the loss of Him she loved, the bit- 
 terest of all sorrows ! No ; hers were not tears of 
 anger, though He Whom she loved more than life 
 had been so grievously wronged. Nor were they 
 tears of remorse, though her sins had been many ; 
 they were tears of sorrow, gentle sorrow. 
 
 They were like the summer rain falling so 
 quietly, and drunk in so eagerly by the thirsty 
 earth ; like the summer rain, refreshing the 
 parched ground and reviving the drooping 
 flowers. What a contrast there is between the 
 rainstorms of winter, in their violence denuding 
 the earth, leaving devastation and destruction in 
 their path, and the gentle showers of the summer ! 
 
 '' Blessed are they that mourn ! " Yes, there 
 are tears which bring joy, which relieve the pent- 
 up feelings, which seem to moisten the hardening 
 heart, which wash away in their course all bitter- 
 ness ! They are the tears of a sorrow which is 
 borne, like Hezekiah's, in reliance upon God ! 
 *' I did mourn as a dove : mine eyes fail with 
 looking upward: O I^ord, I am oppressed; under- 
 take for me. What shall I say ? He hath both 
 spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it : I 
 
W/ij/ Weepest Thou ? 135 
 
 shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my 
 soul. O Lord, by these things men live, and in 
 all these things is the life of my spirit : so wilt 
 Thou recover me, and make me to live" (Isa. 
 xxxviii., 14-16). 
 
 " Blessed are they that mourn ; for they shall 
 be comforted." " I did mourn as a dove." Yes, 
 as moved by the Dove, the H01.Y Ghost, the 
 Comforter. 
 
 i. And these blessed tears may have more than 
 one cause. Sometimes they come from physical 
 pain, from bodily suffering ; and yet the HoIvY 
 Ghost can teach us, as He taught S. Paul, to re- 
 joice in our sufferings, by enabling us to realise 
 that in some mystical way they fill up what is be- 
 hind of the sufferings of Christ, for His Body's 
 sake, w^hich is the Church ; we can rejoice in our 
 bodily sufferings because we have learned that 
 they are of sacramental efficacy in uniting us to 
 Christ in His Passion (Col. i., 24). 
 
 ii. Again, there are the tears which are the re- 
 sult of mental distress and perplexity, of dark- 
 ness and gloom, of doubt and difficulty, when we 
 cannot see our path, when we cry to God for help 
 and seem to hear no answering Voice — the sorrow 
 oi feeling ourselves forsaken by God. And yet 
 the Word of God which records our Saviour's 
 mysterious cry of dereliction, *' My God, My 
 God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? ' ' brings us 
 
136 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 also God's promise, " I will never leave thee, nor 
 forsake thee " (Heb. xiii., 5). 
 
 There are sorrows in which the Holy Ghost 
 helps us to say, " Though He slay me, y^\ will I 
 trust in Him ' ' (Job xiii. , 15) ; * ' I will not let Thee 
 go, except Thou bless me " (Gen. xxxii., 26) ; — 
 the tears of mental anguish which seem to gain 
 for their answer, *' Tarry thou the Lord's leisure : 
 be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart ; and 
 put thou thy trust in the Lord " (Ps. xxvii., 16). 
 
 iii. And then, hardest of all to bear, perhaps, 
 there are the tears of bereaved affection, when, 
 ytike Mary, " we mourn the lost, the dear." Nay, 
 V not lost, but gone before ; for our Lord at Easter 
 asks us the question, * ' Why weepest thou ? ' ' 
 that He may gently bid us wipe our tears. And 
 when we are tempted, like Martha, to say re- 
 proachfully, " Lord, if Thou hadst been here, 
 my brother had not died, ' ' He says to us, ' * Thy 
 brother shall rise again " (S. John xi., 21, 23). 
 
 iv. And then, lastly, there are the tears which 
 spring from penitence, blessed tears ! for " a 
 broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt 
 not despise" (Ps. li., 17). 
 
 Do our tears alwa3^s come under one of these 
 heads ? Are our bodil}^ sufferings borne in fellow- 
 ship with our Lord's Agony on the Cross, our 
 mental sufferings in union with His cry of dere- 
 liction ? Do we bear our bereavements looking 
 
W/ij Wcepest Thou? 137 
 
 " for the Resurrection of the dead, and the Life 
 of the world to come ' ' ? Do we make the re- 
 membrance of our sins the fuel of love, because 
 they have been washed away in the Precious 
 Blood ? 
 
 ' ' Why weepest thou ? ' ' How happ}^ if we can 
 answer. Because we have learned the sacramental 
 efficacy of sorrow : because we have experienced 
 the truth, ** Blessed are they that mourn ; for they 
 shall be comforted ' ' : because we would not lose 
 that special joy of Heaven, when our tears shall 
 all be wiped away by God's own Hand! How 
 sad it would be in that blessed day to have no 
 tears for God to wipe away ! 
 
VII. 
 WHOM SKKKEST THOU? 
 
 * ' JKSUS SAITH UNTO HKR, WOMAN, WHY WEEPKST 
 THOU ? WHOM SEEKKST THOU ? ' ' 
 
 ►S. John XX. , 75. 
 
 THERE are really two questions here, though 
 they are most intimately connected. ' ' Why 
 weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? ' ' The 
 first had already been asked by the Angels. In 
 the second our L^ord rightly interprets Mary's 
 grief when He asks, ' ' Who7n seekest thou ? ' ' He 
 assumes that grief such as hers can be only for a 
 person, not for a thing ; that the calamity which 
 has caused her grief must be the loss of one she 
 loved. 
 
 In the last address we considered the words 
 ' ' Why weepest thou ? ' ' Now let us turn to the 
 remainder of the question, " Whom seekest 
 thou?" 
 
 As we have before noticed, our I^ord's ques- 
 tions were never asked because He needed to 
 
 138 
 
Whom Seekest Thou ? 1 39 
 
 know, for, being omniscient, He knew all things. 
 His questions were always intended to awaken in 
 those to whom they were addressed (and also in 
 ourselves) a deeper train of thought than the mere 
 words themselves might seem to suggest. 
 
 In Mary's case, she was seeking not only her 
 love, but her Lord ; she sought Him Who was 
 not only her life, but also her religion. She was 
 impelled in her search not only by her love, but 
 by her allegiance, for Christ was indeed her All. 
 It was not that His teachings had merely helped 
 her and guided her in her life ; it was that His 
 power had cleansed her and cast out of her seven 
 devils. He was, therefore, not only the object of 
 her affections ; He was also, as she said, her 
 Lord. 
 
 ■ I. " Whom seekest thou ? ' ' When we ask this 
 question of ourselves in regard to our religious life 
 we are at the very outset confronted with that 
 unique feature which differentiates Christianity 
 from every other religion which has claimed the 
 allegiance of man. 
 
 Many points of resemblance may be traced be- 
 tween Christianity and those earlier religions 
 which, though imperfect and mingled with much 
 error, were still adumbrations of Christianity, 
 since the Word ever was and is " the Light 
 Which light eth every man that cometh into the 
 world " (S. John i., 9). All these, however, dififer 
 
140 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 from Christianity in this, that they claim alle- 
 giance to a system of philosophy or of religion, 
 while Christianity demands devotion to a Person. 
 
 Buddhism, Confucianism, Islamism, are all of 
 them systems which have no essential or continu- 
 ous relation to their founders, though they are 
 associated with their names. Any one of these 
 religions could be accepted and practised by 
 those who knew nothing of the life or character 
 of the founder. They demand the observance of 
 a set of rules ; that is, they enjoin certain pre- 
 cepts, which would be just as valuable and just 
 as binding if Buddha and Confucius and Mahomet 
 had been merely mythical personages. 
 
 Christianity, on the other hand, is the religion 
 of Christ, and if there were any uncertainty 
 about Him, about His Person and Character, 
 Christianity, except as a mere ethical S3^stem, 
 would be an utter failure. The Mahometan may 
 claim as his faith that ' ' Allah is great, and Ma- 
 homet is His prophet," but Mahomet is after all 
 only a memory. The Christian, on the other 
 hand, sums up his religion in the words of S. 
 Paul, '' Christ is All " (Col. iii., 11). 
 
 Take away Christ, and Christianity fails. For 
 by Christ the Christian means not a memory, 
 but Christ the living Person, Who demands the 
 devotion of the heart and mind and life as much 
 as, nay more than, when He walked this earth. 
 
Whom Seekest Thou ? 141 
 
 II. ' ' Whom seekest thou ? ' ' Let us see what 
 the answer to this question involves. 
 
 i. In the first place it involves some knowledge 
 of Christ's Life and history. To the Mahometan 
 or Buddhist it may be of interest to know the 
 story of the life of the founder of his religion, just 
 as we are interested in knowing the lives of all 
 great men who b}^ their personal force or teaching 
 have influenced the current of events in which we 
 find ourselves involved. 
 
 To the Christian it is not merely interesting but 
 it is esse7itial to know the Life of Christ, for the 
 events of His Life are the. dogmas of our faith. It 
 is not only interesting to learn about the birth and 
 parentage of our Blessed Lord ; it is essential, for 
 the Incarnation is the keystone of Christianity. 
 
 It is not only interesting to read the story of 
 our Lord's Passion and Death ; it is essential, for 
 " with His stripes we are healed " (Isa. liii., 5), 
 by His Death we are saved. His Cross is our hope 
 and refuge, and by His Precious Blood we were 
 redeemed. 
 
 It is not only of interest to be told the story of 
 our Lord's Temptation ; it is necessary that we 
 should know that * ' we have not an High Priest 
 Which cannot be touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as 
 we are, yet without sin " (Heb. iv., 15). 
 
 It is not only interesting to hear that He rose 
 
142 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 again the third day, and ascended into Heaven ; 
 it is essential to kiiow this, for if Christ be not 
 raised our faith is vain, we are yet in our sins 
 (i Cor. XV., 17); and if Christ be not ascended 
 He has not * * opened the Kingdom of Heaven to 
 all behevers," and we cannot follow Him '' in 
 heart and mind, and with Him continually dwell." 
 
 In a word, if we are seeking as the end of our 
 religion not the observance of a system of rules, 
 but devotion to a living Person, we must certainly 
 know His lyife. 
 
 ii. Moreover, we must not only know the events 
 of His Ivife, we must also make that I^ife our ex- 
 ample, for every act of His I^ife becomes a law of 
 our own life. Again and again He told those 
 whom He called to be His Disciples that they 
 must follow Him, and He made this the condition 
 of discipleship when He said, " If any man will 
 come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up 
 his cross daily, and follow Me " (S. Luke ix., 23). 
 
 iii. We must not only know the events of His 
 lyife and follow His example, but we must also 
 study His teachings ; for those who believe not 
 in Him yet bear witness that * ' never man spake 
 like this Man " (S. John vii. , 46) ; and He Himself 
 has said, " The words that I speak unto you, they 
 are spirit, and they are life " (S. John vi. , 63), ' ' He 
 that . . . receiveth not My words, hath one 
 that judgeth him : the word that I have spoken, 
 
WJiom Seekest Thou f 143 
 
 the same shall judge him in the last day" (S. 
 John xii. , 48), " If a man love Me, he will keep My 
 words " (S. John xiv., 23). 
 
 iv. And is this all ? No ; for it is possible to 
 know a great deal about Christ — in some measure 
 to accept Him as the perfect example — and even 
 to look upon His teachings as the best guide in 
 the affairs of life, and yet in no real sense to be a 
 Christian. 
 
 Something more is wanted, and that is devotion 
 to Himself, to His Person. S. Paul's prayer was 
 " that I may know Him, and the power of His 
 Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings' ' 
 (Phil. iii. , 10). There is an immense difference be- 
 tween knowing Him and " knowing about " Him, 
 between devotion to Him and mere interest, or 
 even faith, in the story of His Life. 
 
 S. Paul did not praj^ that he might know the 
 fact of His Resurrection, but its power. The 
 knowledge of the fact would be to us of little value 
 unless we experienced its power as a force making 
 itself felt in our own lives. S. Paul did not pray 
 that he might comprehend the greatness of our 
 Lord's sufferings, but that he might know their 
 fellowship, that is, that he might suffer in union 
 with Christ. 
 
 Oh wonderful thought ! if we are seeking Christ 
 as the end of our religious life, it involves not only 
 a knowledge of His Life and teaching and ex- 
 
144 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 ample, but a knowledge of Him, a devotion to 
 Him, a union with Him which makes His Life 
 and teaching and example a living force in our 
 own moral development. 
 
 Observe, it is devotion to His Person, not to 
 His memory only ; and then remember that His 
 Person is not a human person, but the Person of 
 the Word of God, the Second Person of the ever 
 Blessed Trinity. 
 
 V. Once more we ask, What does this seeking 
 of Christ involve ? When we realise that He is 
 our All, that He claims not our allegiance to a 
 mere system of theology, but our devotion to His 
 Person, and that He is God, surely love, obe- 
 dience, loyalty must follow. 
 
 lyove, — for " Greater love hath no man than 
 this, that a man lay down his life for his friends ' ' 
 (S. John XV., 13), and love begets love ; if He so 
 loved us, we must love Him. 
 
 But love implies obedience, for " If ye love Me, 
 keep My commandments" (S. John xiv., 15). 
 * ' If a man love Me, he will keep My words ' ' 
 (verse 23). 
 
 And again, love implies loyalty ; not only obe- 
 dience to precept, but that obedience of which S. 
 Paul speaks as " bringing into captivity every 
 thought to the obedience of Christ ' ' (2 Cor. x. , 
 5), — which is the expression of a loyalty so great 
 that not only our words and acts, but even our 
 
Whom Seckest Thou f 145 
 
 very thoughts constantly express our loyalty to 
 Him Who is our All, 
 
 vi. Once more let us each ask ourselves the 
 question, ' ' Whom am I seeking in my religious 
 life ? ' ' And in answering it let us not be con- 
 tented to say, ' * I am seeking Christ. ' ' I^et us 
 go on to consider in what way we are seeking 
 Christ — whether we are seeking Him merely 
 that we may know a great deal about Him, or that 
 we may know Him as our Lord and our God, 
 as the supreme object of our love and of our devo- 
 tion, that we may know Him, Whom truly to 
 know is life eternal. 
 
VIII. 
 S. MARY MAGDALENE. 
 
 ' ' JKSUS SAITH UNTO HKR, TOUCH MB NOT ; FOR I 
 AM NOT YKT ASCKNDKD TO MY FATHKR : 
 BUT GO TO MY BRETHRKN, AND SAY UNTO 
 THKM, I ASCKND UNTO MY FATHER, AND 
 YOUR FATHKR ; AND TO MY GOD, AND YOUR 
 GOD." S. Joh7l XX.^ ly, 
 
 TO some this passage has seemed one of diffi- 
 culty ; it will therefore be well for us to ex- 
 amine it and to endeavour to grasp its true 
 meaning, before we proceed to apply its lessons to 
 our own lives. 
 
 The apparent difficulty is twofold : to determine 
 exactly the nature and purpose of S. Mary Mag- 
 dalene's " touch " ; and to understand the relation 
 between the prohibition, *' Touch Me not," and 
 the reason given — " for I am not yet ascended." 
 
 i. There is one interpretation which must be 
 noticed only to be emphatically condemned, an 
 interpretation which makes the reason of the pro- 
 
 146 
 
6*. Mary Magdalene. 147 
 
 hibition to be the character of the special sin of S. 
 Mary Magdalene's life, — assuming that she was 
 the woman mentioned in S. I^uke vii., 37, who 
 was * ' a sinner. ' ' 
 
 That this interpretation has found favour with 
 some is amazing, since it surely shows an entire 
 misapprehension not only of our Blessed Lord's 
 love for sinners, but of His whole Ministry. And 
 it is quite inconsistent to suppose that He, Who 
 had allowed her at the beginning of her penitence 
 to wash His Feet with her tears and wipe them 
 with the hairs of her head, would repulse her and 
 forbid her to touch Him after she had been not 
 only washed and sanctified, but also had proved 
 her love both at the Cross and at the tomb. Nor 
 may we suppose that sin of any one character, 
 when forgiven, can be a bar between the penitent 
 and the Saviour. 
 
 ii. Upon consideration it seems clear that the pro- 
 hibition refers to the earthly character of Mary's 
 faith and love, and it may be best understood by 
 comparing this scene with its contrast in the 27th 
 verse of this chapter, where our Lord says to S. 
 Thomas, " Reach hither thy finger, and behold 
 My Hands ; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust 
 it into My Side : and be not faithless, but be- 
 lieving." 
 
 Mary looked 07ily for the restoration of our 
 Lord's Life under its earthly conditions ; and in 
 
148 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 clinging to Him she would, as it were, retain the 
 old earthly relationship and affection. She had 
 been seeking for the dead Body of her Lord, and 
 now that she found Him living, she thought only 
 of His restoration to the old life of earth. Our 
 Blessed lyORD in saying, " Touch Me not," cor- 
 rects her conception of His merely Human 
 Presence, lifting her love to a higher plane, and 
 pointing her to the truer and closer relationship 
 which was to be hers after His Ascension. 
 
 S. Thomas, on the other hand, thought the 
 restoration of the earthly life impossible, and 
 being offered the proof which he demanded, 
 rises from the recognition of the earthly form 
 to the fullest confession of the Godhead of his 
 beloved Master. 
 
 Mary substitutes a knowledge of the Humanity 
 of Christ for a knowledge of His whole Person. 
 Our lyORD in saying, ** Cling not to Me " (yw^ }j.ov 
 anrov), teaches her not to desire to retain the 
 merely human relationship, but to look for one 
 which because spiritual is higher and closer. He 
 does not repulse her love, but He rewards it by 
 making her His messenger to His brethren, al- 
 lowing her the privilege of being the first to 
 announce the joyful tidings of His Resurrection. 
 
 II. While it seems clear that we must consider 
 this to be the right meaning of the words ' * Touch 
 Me not, " it is perhaps a little more difficult to see 
 
S. Mary Magdalene. 149 
 
 the connection of this prohibition with the saying 
 " for I am not yet ascended to My Father." 
 
 The explanation of the difficulty, however, is 
 to be found in a realisation of the very fact to 
 which our Lord alludes, — that His Life during 
 the Forty Daj's between His Resurrection and 
 Ascension was peculiar, and in a certain sense an 
 * ' intermediate ' ' state. For though His Human- 
 ity possessed all the attributes of the Resurrection 
 Body, It had not yet been raised to the Right 
 Hand of the Throne of God ; and the Hoi,y 
 Spirit, by Whose operation the intimate union 
 between the soul and our Lord in glory is 
 effected, had not yet been given. 
 
 That is to say, the earthly conditions and re- 
 lationships had passed away at the Resurrection, 
 but the heavenly ones were not j^et fully estab- 
 lished. So He says, " Cling not to Me, as though 
 I were under the conditions of mere earthly re- 
 lationship, but work for Me now as My messenger 
 to My brethren, and look for\\^ard soon to possess- 
 ing Me by being incorporated into Me." 
 
 III. Having thus far endeavoured to clear up the 
 apparent difficulties in the text, let us now con- 
 sider, the spiritual lesson which it teaches us at 
 Eastertide. Its great lesson is one which is most 
 needed at this season, namel}^ that Easter is not 
 a halH7ig-place in the spiritual life. 
 
 i. How often, by a well-kept Lent, with its prayer 
 
150 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 and self-denial and penitence, do we make real 
 progress along the narrow way, and then when 
 Baster comes we relax our efforts and are content 
 to stand still ! And, therefore, since it is impos- 
 sible to stand still in the spiritual life, we go back, 
 and lose the fruit of our hard-earned victories. 
 
 No; Easter, so far from being a halting-place, is 
 but the beginning of a new and higher life. Lent 
 calls us chiefl}^ to the negative work of penitence, 
 the removal of sins and habits which are obstacles 
 to progress ; and then, when Kaster comes, there 
 is the command, ' ' Friend, go up higher ' ' ; — there 
 is the message with which Mary Magdalene was 
 charged, ' * Go to My brethren, and say unto them, 
 I am ascending unto My Father, and your 
 Father ; and to My God, and your God." 
 Follow Me. 
 
 ii. How seldom we realise that the Resurrection 
 was but an act, and not a state ! There was the 
 earthquake, and the rolling away of the stone, 
 but the Lord had risen. So in the sinner's life 
 there is the earthquake, the uprooting of his whole 
 nature by some great act of penitence, the rolling 
 awaj^ of the stone of sin as he receives his Abso- 
 lution, and then he is risen. 
 
 And here comes in the teaching of the opening 
 words of the Epistle for Easter Day — which are 
 not as we have them in our version, " If ye then be 
 risen with Christ, ' ' but (the verb is in the aorist) 
 
S. Mary Magdalene. 151 
 
 " If ye then were raised ys\\h Christ " (pointing 
 not to a state, but to a distinct act by which the 
 Resurrection was accomplished, the act of Baptism 
 or of Absolution). *' If" this act has been ac- 
 complished, then *' seek those things which are 
 above, where Christ sitteth on the Right Hand 
 of God." 
 
 iii. It is not the Resurrection Life, but the Life 
 of Ascension which follows on Easter Day. This is 
 what our Lord indicates in His first message : " I 
 am ascending ' ' {av affair 00), The act is not com- 
 pleted, but is going on. And it is not a little 
 striking that our Lord in this text uses the same 
 words as in the text which has already been 
 quoted from the Parable in S. Luke xiv., 7-12. 
 
 It is the soul which has taken its place in ' ' the 
 lowest room," in all the humility of penitence, to 
 whom our Lord addresses the words, " Friend, 
 go up higher." And here again we may note 
 that the word " friend " in the original is not the 
 word STaipe^ which is used four times in S. Mat- 
 thew — xi., 16 ; XX., 13 ; xxii., 12 ; xxvi., 50 — 
 but the word cpiXs, " beloved." 
 
 It is only to those whose sins have been for- 
 given that He can apply this term of love. To 
 such He says, *' Go up higher " {n poa av a ftifQ i) 
 — the word used in our text, ' ' I am ascending to 
 My Father," etc. 
 
 How glorious for us if instead of resting upon 
 
152 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 our Lenten victories we press forward in the 
 Ascended Life, following our Lord in heart and 
 mind, and with Him continually dwelling ! Then 
 the years as they pass will be one long going up 
 higher, until we rest at last in the Most High. 
 
 How often now each Lent we fight over again 
 the old battles, to win at Kaster the same place ; 
 and then, through the reaction which often sets 
 in at Easter, and the want of watchfulness and of 
 realising the command, *' Go up higher," we lose 
 the ground we have gained, and next year have 
 to begin all over again ! 
 
 Lent is over, Easter is come, and we must lift 
 our eyes from the details of our Lord's earthly 
 Life to the glories of Heaven. We must remem- 
 ber, too, that not only is our Lord the '* First- 
 Begotten from the dead," but that in the Session 
 of His Glorified Humanitj^ at the Right Hand of 
 the Father we see the First-Fruits of humanity 
 raised to the glory for which God originally cre- 
 ated it ; for in our Blessed Lord's Exaltation we 
 read the assurance of our own. 
 
it 
 
 IX. 
 
 S. PETER. 
 
 THK I.ORD IS RISKN INDEED, AND HATH AP- 
 PEARED TO SIMON." 6*. Lake, xxiv., j/. 
 
 OF all our Lord's Disciples and Apostles, tlie 
 saddest, when Easter Day dawned, must 
 have been S. Peter. Of all who needed 
 Jesus then, surely it is not too much to say that 
 he needed Him the most. 
 
 I. What a Good Friday had S. Peter passed ! 
 He had not been with S. John and the three 
 Marys at the foot of the Cross. Nor does it seem 
 probable that he was with the Apostles, who, 
 though in their cowardice they had forsaken their 
 Lord in His hour of need, were yet perhaps among 
 those who stood afar off ; he may, however, have 
 beheld the scene from a distance. 
 
 S. Peter must have been alone in his misery, 
 for not only had he deserted his Master, but he 
 had denied Him, not once, nor twice, but thrice ; 
 and this after his vehement declaration, " If I 
 
 153 
 
154 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 should die with Thee, I will not deny Thee in any- 
 wise. " It is true the3^ had all said this, but our 
 Lord had especially warned S. Peter and ex- 
 pressly foretold his denial. 
 
 It would seem difficult for us to understand how 
 S. Peter could have fallen into this sin after the 
 warning, were it not for our knowledge of our own 
 wayward hearts, of our own weak wills — were it 
 not that so often we do the same things ourselves. 
 
 He had denied his Lord, but Jesus had 
 ' * turned, and looked upon Peter ' ' ; and, pierced 
 by that look, ' ' Peter went out, and wept bitterly. ' ' 
 
 What must have been S. Peter's thoughts ! 
 In the hour of his trial, after all his promises, 
 after his Master's warning, he had failed. It 
 would not have seemed so hard to bear if he 
 could only have told our Lord of his bitter sorrow, 
 of his deep penitence, — but after having denied 
 Him, he had silently to see Him dragged away 
 to suffer the greatest ignominy, and to die a 
 malefactor's death ! 
 
 S. Peter had a strong, affectionate nature, and 
 though he had denied his Master he loved Him, 
 and he must indeed have been broken-hearted ; 
 but he was a broken-hearted penitent. For, with 
 all his deep self-reproach, his sorrow was not, 
 like that of Judas, remorse and despair. No ; that 
 look of JKSUS, which brought him to himself and 
 to penitence, saved him from despair. For while 
 
5. Peter. 155 
 
 the look must have been one of reproach, it was 
 also, we may be sure, one of love. 
 
 And as S. Peter went out, and in his misery 
 sorrowed over his sin, we can understand how 
 that look must have reminded him of another 
 supreme moment in his life, when, brought to 
 Christ by his brother Andrew, he had for the 
 first time seen our Lord. 
 
 For we are told that then, " when Je:sus beheld 
 him. He said. Thou art Simon the son of Jona : 
 thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpre- 
 tation, A stone " (S. John i., 42). In this verse 
 the term ''beheld" does but faintly convey the 
 force of the word efj.f^\e^pa?, which seems to sig- 
 nify that our Lord fixed upon S. Peter one of 
 those piercing glances which looked him through 
 and through and read as it were his inmost soul ; 
 and it was then, when S. Peter felt that our Lord 
 knew him as no one else had ever known him, 
 that our Lord uttered the prophecy ' ' Thou shalt 
 be called Cephas. ' ' 
 
 We can imagine S. Peter going away from our 
 Lord and thinking over and over again, ' ' That 
 first interview ! That piercing look ! How thor- 
 oughly He read me, how fully He knew me ! He 
 saw all my weakness, all my sin ; and yet He said 
 I might become a rock. And I will become a 
 rock!" 
 
 Let us consider how much had passed in those 
 
156 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 three years of trial and temptation ; how much 
 that was glorious, — how much that was sad ! On 
 the one hand there was that splendid confession 
 of faith which brought from our Lord's lips the 
 praise, ' ' Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona : for 
 flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
 but My Father which is in Heaven. And I say 
 also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this 
 rock I will build My Church." 
 
 But then on the other hand there were the many 
 failures, the many rebukes, beginning with '* O 
 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? " 
 (S. Matt, xiv., 31), and increasing in severity 
 until at last he heard the startling words; ' * Get 
 thee behind Me, Satan : thou art an offence unto 
 Me : for thou savourest not the things that be 
 of God, but those that be of men" (S. Matt, 
 xvi., 23). 
 
 Then on the eve of the Passion, after the won- 
 derful teachings of Holy Week, after the great 
 discourses, after the institution of the Eucharist, 
 S. Peter, in his passionate love for his Master, 
 had thought he could trust himself, and had 
 said, " I will lay down my life for Thy sake." 
 But his Master had replied, '' Wilt thou lay down 
 thy life for My sake ? Verily, verily, I say unto 
 thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast de- 
 nied Me thrice " (S. John xiii., 37, 38). 
 
 And yet, in spite of the warning, he had utterly 
 
5. Peter. 157 
 
 failed and shown himself no better than a coward. 
 He who could draw his sword against a band of 
 soldiers, had been afraid to confess his Master. 
 
 What a Good Friday that must have been for 
 S. Peter, with all this burden upon him ; with 
 the longing to get near to our L^ord that he 
 might say one word of penitence to Him, and 
 hear one word of forgiveness ! But it was too 
 late ; He died without speaking to him. Then 
 came Holy Saturday, when perhaps he sat apart 
 from the others, and thought over all these things 
 again and again in the bitterness of his soul ! 
 
 Yes, there was none who needed JKSUS on Kaster 
 Day so much as S. Peter ; and so, after first re- 
 warding Mary Magdalene's love, our lyORD next 
 blesses S. Peter's penitence. None can long for 
 Christ, none can really feel the throes of peni- 
 tence, without winning from our Lord the assur- 
 ance of His love and pardon. 
 
 II. " The Lord is risen indeed, and hath ap- 
 peared to Simon." What happened at that ap- 
 pearance — what S. Peter told our Lord, what 
 Jesus said to Peter — we know not, excepting so 
 far as we read its results in the history of S. 
 Peter's after-life. 
 
 Of the appearances on Kaster Day this seems to 
 be the only one of which we are told nothing but 
 the fact ; and yet from this very silence we may 
 learn the lesson that all real penitence must be in 
 
158 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 secret, — that a veil must ever be drawn over the 
 outpouring of the sin-laden soul, of the burdened 
 heart, at the Feet of JKSUS. 
 
 So the Church draws the veil of the Sacramen- 
 tal Seal over all penitence. What the Priest 
 knows as God's ambassador he must know less 
 than what he does not know at all. He comes 
 not between the soul and God ; but, as the am- 
 bassador of Christ, he comes to hear the story 
 of sorrow, to bring the message of love, to bind 
 up the wounds of the soul, *' to appoint unto them 
 that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for 
 ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of 
 praise for the spirit of heaviness " (Isa. Ixi., 3). 
 
 And may we not apply much of this to our- 
 selves — we who are so much more like S. Peter 
 in our denial of Christ than we are like him in 
 our love and penitence, — we, whose consciences 
 accuse us of such grievous sin against our Lord, 
 whose hearts tell us of our great need of pardon 
 and help ? 
 
 Put yourself at the foot of the Cross. Behold 
 our Lord dying there, as S. Peter probably be- 
 held Him. And as you gaze upon Him, realise, 
 as S. Peter did perhaps more than anyone else, 
 how you have sinned against Him. Think of all 
 your cowardice, all your disloyalty, all your want 
 of love. Pray Him to look you into penitence, as 
 He looked S. Peter. 
 
5. Peter. 
 
 159 
 
 Did you do this last Good Friday ? If not, it 
 is not too late. Do it now^ and you will be able, 
 after the experience of His pardoning words in 
 Absolution, to say, " The Lord is risen indeed, 
 and hath appeared to me, to bid me, to encourage 
 me, to help me — to rise with Him." 
 
A ^^^ 
 
 X. 
 
 THE JOURNEY TO EMMAUS. 
 
 " AND THKY SAID ONE TO ANOTHER, DID NOT 
 OUR HEART BURN WITHIN US, WHII.E HE 
 TAI^KED WITH US BY THE WAY, AND WHII,E 
 HE OPENED TO US THE SCRIPTURES?" 
 
 6*.. Luke XXIV. , 32. 
 
 THERE are three ways by which man ap- 
 proaches God, — three processes by which, 
 speaking generally, individuals are led to 
 accept Christ as their Lord and their God. 
 They are drawn by the cords of love, driven by the 
 burden of sin, or determined by the force of reason. 
 Love, penitence, thought. The heart, the con- 
 science, the mind. By one of these avenues each 
 man approaches God. 
 
 And so on Easter Day there are recorded three 
 appearances of our Lord to individuals, which in 
 each case produced absolute conviction in regard 
 to both His Resurrection and His Godhead. S. 
 Mary Magdalene, a loving woman, represents the 
 
 160 
 
TJie Journey to Evimaiis. i6i 
 
 first ; S. Peter, a penitent sinner, the second ; and 
 the two Disciples on their way to Emmaus, 
 thoughtful men, represent the third. 
 
 In the first two cases we know a great deal con- 
 cerning the character of those to whom our Lord 
 appeared, for there is something intensely personal 
 both in love and in penitence. But since thought, 
 on the other hand, is in a certain sense imper- 
 sonal, there is an appropriateness in the fact that 
 we know nothing of the individuals in the third 
 case, except that they were Disciples of Christ, 
 and that the name of one of them was Cleopas. 
 
 I. These two were Disciples of Christ, not 
 Apostles ; and therefore they probably had not 
 heard the wonderful discourses which our Lord 
 spoke on the last night of His earthly life, when, 
 apparently, only the Apostles were present ; and 
 therefore they probably knew nothing of the in- 
 stitution of the Holy Eucharist, — unless, indeed, 
 they had been told of it by the Apostles. 
 
 This, however, is scarcely likely to have been 
 the case when we remember that the Apostles 
 were dispersed on Maundy Thursday night when 
 our Lord was seized, that Good Friday had been 
 a day of great terror, and that Saturday was the 
 Jewish Sabbath. While it is of course possible 
 that from some one of the Twelve they had heard 
 something of the Eucharist, it is more probable 
 that they knew nothing of it, excepting, perhaps, 
 
1 62 Eastertide Addresses. * 
 
 so far as our Lord had pointed to it in His pre- 
 vious teachings. 
 
 The attitude of the two Disciples as believers 
 in our Lord was not, at this particular period, 
 unfavourable, although they were evidently 
 deeply disappointed. They were not prejudiced 
 against His Messiahship, but they demanded 
 evidence which they did not think was forth- 
 coming. 
 
 As thoughtful, hard-headed men, they con- 
 sidered that the report of the women, who said 
 they had seen a vision of Angels, was insufficient ; 
 and that to found upon such evidence our Lord's 
 Resurrection was to build upon it a greater super- 
 structure than the foundation could sustain. 
 
 With great simplicity they expressed their own 
 faith, that Jesus of Nazareth was " a Prophet 
 mighty in deed and word before God and all the 
 people." That He had been crucified was to 
 them a matter not of faith, but of common know- 
 ledge. His teaching had aroused in them hope 
 " that it had been He Which should have re- 
 deemed Israel," that is, the}^ had trusted that our 
 Lord was the promised Messiah. But in their 
 account of themselves there is no trace of any 
 belief in His Godhead. 
 
 In their religious position they represent a con- 
 siderable number of people whom we meet to-day, 
 who are not only not unfavourable to religion, 
 
TJie JoiLTuey to Emmaus. 163 
 
 but are deeply interested in it ; and who, having 
 examined the evidences of Christianit}', as they 
 think, dispassionately, have reached very much 
 the same conclusion about our IvORD as had been 
 reached by these two Disciples. 
 
 The}^ are quite prepared to admit that JKSUS of 
 Nazareth was a Prophet mighty in deed and word 
 before God and all the people, that is, that He was 
 a great religious teacher. But they believe only 
 that He was Jesus of Nazareth, the supposed son 
 of Joseph, and perhaps that He was the roj^al heir 
 of David, but not that He was the Son of God. 
 
 They are prepared also to accept the historical 
 facts of His Death, and to express their sense of 
 disappointment that a life so beautiful and so full 
 of promise should have ended so sadlj^, and that 
 He should have failed to deliver the people for 
 whom He sacrificed so much. Theirs is the 
 humanitarian view concerning our Blessed Lord, 
 which is so popular in the present day. Ecce 
 Homo is the cr}^ not Ecce Deus. 
 
 II. But the main interest in the story lies not so 
 much in its striking likeness to the religious atti- 
 tude of many in our own day, as in the fact that 
 it reveals to us our Lord's way of dealing with 
 such habits of mind, — the method which He used 
 in removing difficulties, and bringing such char- 
 acters to recognise Him as their God. 
 
 His method was a very simple one. He joined 
 
164 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 Himself to them and accompanied them in their 
 journey, without allowing them to recognise Him. 
 As an unknown but most interesting stranger He 
 entered into conversation with them, leading them 
 by skilful questions to give expression to their 
 difficulties. 
 
 Then, by using only such evidence as they were 
 prepared to admit, He gradually led them to the 
 inevitable conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah, 
 and that the report of the women was true. 
 When He had thus aroused their hope and quick- 
 ened their faith. He manifested Himself to them, 
 and they recognised Him as He vanished out of 
 their sight. 
 
 That country walk with Jesus, how wonderful 
 it was ! They had been talking of Him in the 
 sacred intercourse of friendship before He joined 
 Himself to them. As friends with a common inter- 
 est, with a common sorrow, they were discussing 
 the events which had just taken place at Jerusa- 
 lem, speaking of the bright hopes of past days, 
 perhaps also of the wondrous teachings they had 
 heard from His Lips, as well as of the sad cata- 
 strophe which had destroyed their hopes and 
 shaken their faith in Him. 
 
 And Jesus, all the time unknown, was with 
 them, guiding them in their conversation, open- 
 ing their understanding, expounding to them the 
 Scriptures in a light which they had never seen 
 
The Journey to Ernmaiis. 165 
 
 before, — but which they felt to be the true light, 
 — and causing their hearts to burn within them 
 with holy love ; and, while still unrecognised, 
 leading them to the conclusion that they had not 
 trusted in Him in vain ; and then crowning His 
 work by an act of blessing, which revealed Him 
 as the Master Whom the}^ thought they had lost, 
 — their Lord and their God. 
 
 III. May we not in passing gather up two im- 
 portant lessons here ? One is, the helpfulness of 
 that true sympathy where men in the sacred inter- 
 course of friendship reveal to one another the 
 hopes and fears, the difficulties and sorrows of 
 their souls' life. The other is, the importance, 
 in dealing with those who do not fully accept 
 our position, of not grounding our arguments on 
 any premises which are not fully admitted by 
 those whom we are striving to convince. 
 
 Our Lord confines Himself entirely to proving 
 from the Old Testament Scriptures, which the 
 two Disciples fully believed, the doctrines at 
 which they stumbled. That is. He led them 
 slowly, step by step, as they were able to follow, 
 making no demands upon them which required 
 greater faith than they possessed. 
 
 When they reached Emmaus the day was 
 drawing to a close. They constrained Him to 
 abide with them. In the " breaking of bread " 
 — not the Holy Eucharist, but the common even- 
 
1 66 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 ing meal — they recognised Him, and He vanished 
 out of their sight. 
 
 That walk to Kmmaus was a type of many a 
 life's journe}^ in this world, beginning in sadness 
 and doubt and difficulty, but ending in the joy of 
 assured faith. How many of those who have 
 come to know Christ as their Master and Lord, 
 are able to see, when they look back on their life, 
 how gradually their understanding was opened 
 to know Him, how gradually their hearts were 
 kindled to love Him, their prejudices and their 
 difficulties, their blindness and mistakes one after 
 another w^ere removed ! 
 
 At the time they hardly knew how it came to 
 pass ; but as the}^ look back upon the journey 
 when its end has been reached, the}^ see that it was 
 our lyORD Himself Who was with them always to 
 draw them on ; leading them to express their 
 difficulties that He might answer them ; lighten- 
 ing their e3^es that they might not sleep in death ; 
 leading them, by many a path of perplexity, at 
 last unto the glorious light of perfect faith. They 
 can say, as did these two Disciples, * ' Did not our 
 heart burn within us while He talked with us by 
 the way ? We did not know Him, but He was 
 with us all the time." 
 
 IV. Of the many lessons which this story teaches 
 us, let us take two. First, we learn from the ex- 
 ample of our Lord Himself to be very patient 
 
TJie Journey to Einmaus. 167 
 
 with those who are slow to accept the Faith, — 
 with those who require time and what seems to 
 us more than abundant proof. 
 
 Our lyORD teaches us to be very patient with 
 those men of thought who are uninfluenced, ex- 
 cept to a very small extent, by emotion, and who 
 are free from the necessity created b}^ great sin ; 
 men who are slowly but conscientiously groping 
 their way towards the Light ; men who are worth 
 all the trouble one has to take with them, for 
 (when they are convinced) the very gradual 
 growth of their conviction seems to ensure its 
 continuance. 
 
 The other lesson is for anyone who may be thus 
 seeking the truth, and who, perhaps, is disap- 
 pointed with his own life, and 3^et is unable to 
 give himself wholly to Christ. If we are in this 
 class, surely we learn from the two Disciples to 
 persevere in our investigations ; to strive with 
 open mind to search the Scriptures and the other 
 evidences of Christianity ; to refuse to go any 
 farther along the road of faith than we can hon- 
 estly see our way ; and to retain with us all helps, 
 such as come to us through friends, or through 
 reading, or attendance at the Services of the 
 Church, — even if we still fall short of absolute 
 conviction. 
 
 How blessed will it be if only we recognise our 
 Lord and abide with Him ! even though it be 
 
1 68 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 not till the eventide of life. How much more 
 blessed if we know Him in our youth and He be- 
 comes the Companion of our journey through 
 life, — if it can be said of us, as of Blisha and his 
 master in each stage of their last journey together, 
 " And they two went on " : — on, through all life's 
 difficulties, until they who have been guided by 
 our Lord through all the days of this life, * ' fol- 
 low the Lamb whithersoever He goeth ' ' through 
 all the days of eternity ! 
 
¥ 
 
 ft 
 
 XI. 
 
 PEACE THE FRUIT OF THE RESUR- 
 RECTION. 
 
 " THEN THE SAME DAY AT EVENING, BEING THE 
 FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, WHEN THE DOORS 
 WERE SHUT WHERE THE DISCIPLES WERE 
 ASSEMBI^ED FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS, CAME 
 JESUS AND STOOD IN THE MIDST, AND SAITH 
 UNTO THEM, PEACE BE UNTO YOU. AND 
 WHEN HE HAD SO SAID, HE SHEWED UNTO 
 THEM HIS HANDS AND HIS SIDE. THEN 
 WERE THE DISCIPLES GLAD, WHEN THEY 
 SAW THE LORD." 6*. /okn XX., ig, 20. 
 
 OUR lyORD on Easter Day first satisfies the 
 needs of representative individuals. But 
 Christ's Religion is not for man merely 
 as an individual, it is also for man as a race, for 
 society ; and though the Church of Christ is 
 made up of individual members, it is itself the 
 aggregate of those members. 
 And so before Easter Day has passed away our 
 
 169 
 
I/O Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 I^ORD appears to the reprevSentatives of His Church 
 when they were assembled, as we are told, with 
 the doors shut for fear of the Jews. He came and 
 stood in the midst of them, '* and saith unto 
 them, Peace be unto you." 
 
 I. This was His first greeting to His Church 
 after His Resurrection. This was His gift to His 
 people, — peace. And yet " Peace be unto you" 
 does not seem to have been His mode of greeting 
 His Disciples before His Resurrection. 
 
 For though in His discourse after the Last 
 Supper He said, '' Peace I leave with you. My 
 peace I give unto you, ' ' yet He was then speak- 
 ing in anticipation of the Sacrifice which was just 
 about to be ofiered, and of the battle which was 
 just about to be fought and won. Indeed He 
 had said, " Think not that I am come to send 
 peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a 
 sword" (S. Matt, x., 34). 
 
 i. This seems paradoxical, but it directs our at- 
 tention to a great truth — that " peace " is a word 
 which connotes its opposite. For we cannot 
 think of peace apart from war ; and so far as we 
 know by experience peace is always the result of 
 war. Thus our I^ord says, ' ' I came not to send 
 peace, but a sword." There must be a struggle 
 first, the battle must be fought, and the victory 
 won, before there can be peace. 
 
 So it was on Calvary, when all the powers of 
 
Peace the Fruit of the Resurrection. 171 
 
 evil hurled their forces against our I^ord upon 
 the Cross ; Nature shuddered, and the Sun hid 
 his face ; there was darkne.ss, and an earthquake, 
 as that battle between the hosts of evil and the 
 Captain of our salvation reached its climax. The 
 powers of hell had done their worst ; they seemed 
 to have triumphed as our Lord bowed His Head 
 upon the Cross and gave up the ghost ; but it was 
 only a seeming victor}', the real triumph was with 
 Christ. And on Easter Day, rising from the 
 dead, He bestowed upon His Church the gift 
 which He had won in the long conflict, — the gift 
 of peace, the conditions of which are contained in 
 the Gospel of Redemption. 
 
 This is not only true of the past, and of our 
 Lord's conflict and victory ; it is ever true of our- 
 selves. We cannot enjoy an}^ real peace except 
 as the result of war, of struggle, of victory. 
 
 ii. And even when peace has thus been won, it 
 needs continual preparation for war in order to 
 prCvServe it ; just as we see in the present day the 
 nations of Europe groaning under the burden of 
 taxation, and that taxation needed to keep up 
 large standing armies, — not because any nation 
 desires w^ar, but because all realize that in order 
 to avoid war and preserve peace it is necessary 
 to be always prepared for war. 
 
 This is a good Easter lesson. If by our Lenten 
 penitence we have won some victories, and through 
 
172 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 our Absolution and Communion are entering into 
 the joys of Baster peace, we must remember how 
 needful it is to be always ready for the battle, for 
 temptation may assault us at any time. How 
 dangerous to rest on our laurels ! How wise to 
 expect further struggles and to be always ready 
 for them ! 
 
 II. When our Lord has bestowed upon His 
 people, as the first-fruits of the Resurrection, the 
 gift of peace. He goes on to show them His Hands 
 and His Side. ' ' Then were the Disciples glad, 
 when they saw the Lord." 
 
 Here our Lord, having appeared to different 
 individuals, offers to His Church a proof not only 
 of His Resurrection, but of the identity of His 
 Resurrection Body with that which suffered on 
 the Cross. It is especially needful to notice this 
 in an age when the most inadequate views of our 
 Blessed Lord's Resurrection, and of our own, 
 find acceptance in many minds. 
 
 There are many who ofier to believe in a resur- 
 rection of the soul, but stumble at the resurrection 
 of the body. And yet we say in the Creed, " I 
 believe in the resurrection of the body ' ' ; and the 
 Gospel tells us that our Lord, in His first appear- 
 ance to His assembled Church, directed their at- 
 tention to the wounds in His Hands and His Side, 
 which were the evidences that His Body had 
 risen, and that His risen Body was identical with 
 
Peace the Fruit of the Resurrection. 173 
 
 the Body which had suffered on Calvary. Yes ; 
 it was identical, but under different conditions ; for 
 those scars were no longer the ghastly, gaping 
 wounds of Calvary ; they shone, we may well 
 believe, with glorious light, each of them as it 
 were a centre and source of radiant splendour. 
 
 " Then were the Disciples glad, when they saw 
 the Lord." And yet their first meeting with 
 Him might have filled them with fear and shame, 
 for one had denied, and all had deserted Him in 
 His hour of trial. Perhaps they felt this before 
 they saw Him, but when they saw Him they were 
 glad ; — glad at the glory and beauty which He 
 manifested in Himself ; — glad at the message of 
 peace, and therefore of forgiveness, conveyed to 
 them by the first words He uttered. 
 
 A story is told of a reckless son, who had broken 
 his mother's heart by his dissipation and neglect 
 of her ; he had been guilty even of cruelty, for at 
 their last meeting, when she gently tried to reason 
 with him, and to bring him to a consciousness of 
 the evil of his life, he had roughl}^ pushed her 
 from him, and she had fallen and hurt herself 
 Partly in shame, partly in anger, he had left the 
 house, and had never seen her again. And now 
 he was on his way home, summoned by a tele- 
 gram which told him that his mother was dead. 
 It was agony to him, as he thought of that dear 
 face, marked with the wrinkles and lines of care, 
 
174 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 which were all the result of his misconduct. How 
 could he meet her cold in death ? How could he 
 look upon the traces of sorrow on her brow ? 
 And yet, he must ! He reached home. Trem- 
 bling he entered the room where her body lay, 
 knelt down by the coffin, and looked upon her 
 face. How changed it was ! The wrinkles were 
 gone ; the face was calm and peaceful. Yes, her 
 conflict was over, her victory was won. The 
 vision she had gazed on was not the vision of the 
 sad past, but of the glorious future ; and it had 
 left its impress, as it were, upon the features of 
 the dead. 
 
 So it will be with us. We may fear to meet 
 Him when we think how we have wounded Him, 
 and how we shall have to look upon Him Whom 
 we have pierced b}^ our sins, and wounded by our 
 ingratitude and neglect. And yet, like the 
 Apostles, if we are at the moment of the Particu- 
 lar Judgment in a state of grace, we shall be glad 
 when we have seen the Lord, for we shall see the 
 King in all His beauty, and the very marks of 
 His love for us — the glorified wounds — will only 
 add to that beauty. 
 
 There is in one of our churches an altar frontal 
 of cloth of gold, and in the centre in rich em- 
 broidery and jewels our Lord in glory is repre- 
 sented, clad in Eucharistic Vestments and with 
 jewelled crown. He stands with outstretched 
 
Peace the Fruit of the Resurrection. 175 
 
 arms, and the wounds in His Hands and Feet 
 are indicated b}^ diamonds which may be seen far 
 down the church as they flash in the light. It is 
 a true conception, and teaches the Easter lesson 
 of our Lord's glorified Body with the wounds 
 streaming with light and attracting, instead of 
 ^repelling, those who behold Him. 
 
XII. 
 THE APOSTOI.IC COMMISSION. 
 
 "thkn said jksus to thkm again, peace be 
 unto you : as my father hath sent me, 
 even so send i you. and when he had 
 said this, he breathed on them, and 
 saith unto them, receive ye the hoi.y 
 ghost : whose soever sins ye remit, 
 they are remitted unto them ; and 
 whose soever sins ye retain, they are 
 RETAINED. ' ' S. John XX. , 21-2^. 
 
 THE Church of Christ needs not only the 
 gift of peace, but the means of preserving 
 that peace amid all the world's strifes. 
 And so our Blessed Lord on Easter Day, after 
 having given the representatives of His Church 
 the blessing of peace, went on to impart to them 
 those special gifts by which His work is to be con- 
 tinued to the end of the world. 
 
 He said to them again, " Peace be unto you." 
 For throughout the Church's earthly warfare she 
 
 176 
 
The Apostolic Commission, lyy 
 
 was to keep before her eyes the peace of God 
 which shall be realized in its fulness by those of 
 her members who, having been purified from all 
 sin, shall have passed into the Beatific Vision ; 
 that peace of God which in a lesser degree is not 
 unknown even to those who are still on the 
 battle-field of life. 
 
 I. "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send 
 I you." That is, Christ sent His Apostles for 
 the same work ; to be messengers of peace through 
 remission of sin, and to be witnesses of truth ; for 
 both functions necessarily belong to those who 
 are the commissioned representatives of Christ. 
 
 ' ' As My Father hath sent Me, even so send 
 I you. ' ' In the original there is a difference in the 
 * * sending ' ' which is lost in the English transla- 
 tion, for the verbs * * to send ' ' are not the same. 
 The first {aTtoffTeXXco) signifies a sending forth 
 from ; the second (Tri/uTtcj) implies a personal re- 
 lation between those sent and the sender, which is 
 expressed in S. Matthew (xxviii., 19, 20) by the 
 words ''''Go ye . . . lo, / a7n with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world." 
 
 Having revealed to them the nature of their 
 commission, that they were to continue the work 
 in the world which the Father had sent Him to 
 begin (Acts, i., i), our Blessed Lord went on to 
 bestow upon them the powers by which they 
 were to do that work. ' * He breathed on them, 
 
1/8 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 and saith unto them, Receive ye the Hoi,y 
 Ghost : whose soever sins ye remit, they are re- 
 mitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye 
 retain, they are retained." 
 
 ** He breathed on them." The word {iv£cpv(j- 
 Tjffs) used here by our Blessed I^ord is the same 
 as that which in the Greek Version of the Old 
 Testament expresses the act of God in the original 
 infusion of the Spirit of I^ife into man (Gen. ii., 
 7). This act is now repeated sacramentally by 
 God Incarnate ; it represented the gift to His 
 Church of that new life of which He, through 
 His glorified humanity, had become the Source. 
 
 We have here the Ordination of the first Minis- 
 ters of Christ's Church, and the potential be- 
 stowal upon them of those spiritual gifts of the 
 Priesthood which became operative after the de- 
 scent of the HoivY Ghost at Pentecost. 
 
 II. We must not confine to this one passage the 
 bestowal of all the gifts of the Priesthood, since at 
 the institution of the Holy Eucharist our Blessed 
 I^ORD seems to have given potentially the author- 
 ity to ofier the Holy Sacrifice, when He said to 
 His Apostles, ' ' Do this in remembrance of Me. ' ' 
 
 And we may with all reverence attempt to 
 explain the reason for this division of the two 
 great functions of the Priesthood. It was fitting 
 that at the very institution of the Blessed Sacra- 
 ment of the Altar the power should be given for 
 
TJie Apostolic Commission. 179 
 
 its continuation ; but the power to remit sins 
 could not in the same way be given until by the 
 Sacrifice of the Cross the victory had been won 
 and sin atoned for. 
 
 Hence the separation of these two functions of 
 the Priesthood. Probably neither of them was 
 exercised by the Apostles until after the Descent 
 of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, since He is the 
 Agent in all the Sacraments. 
 
 III. Here we may well pause to notice an objec- 
 tion which is sometimes made to the interpreta- 
 tion of this passage (as the Church always has 
 interpreted it) of the gifts of the Priesthood. The 
 objection " is that the words were not addressed to 
 all the Apostles, nor to the Apostles alone, since 
 Thomas was absent, and S. Luke tells us that 
 there were others assembled with the Apostles ; 
 and further, that there is no provision laid down 
 for the transmission of the gift, as the Church 
 teaches in her doctrine of Apostolical Succession. ' ' 
 
 We ma}^ obser\^e at the outset two things : first, 
 that the objection is entirely modern and contra- 
 dicts the whole Tradition of the Church ; and 
 secondly, that it does not flow naturall}^ from the 
 passage, but is, so to speak, invented in order to 
 avoid the acceptance of the Church's doctrine of 
 the Priesthood with its powers of Absolution. 
 
 It is the objection of those only w^ho do not be- 
 lieve in the power of Absolution committed to the 
 
l8o Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 Priesthood of the Church, and who strive to empty 
 of its plain meaning the passage which so em- 
 phatically asserts this power, — without being able 
 to offer any other interpretation which does not 
 do violence to the text. 
 
 With these two preliminary observations, let us 
 see how little ground there is for the objection. 
 
 i. The first part of the objection is, " that the 
 words were not addressed to all the Apostles, nor 
 to the Apostles alone, since Thomas was absent, 
 and S. lyuke tells us that there w^ere others as- 
 sembled with the Apostles ' ' ; and so these others, 
 it is contended, shared whatever authority to re- 
 mit sins was given by the words. 
 
 But this is a purely gratuitous assumption, and 
 not borne out by certain facts which are recorded 
 in other passages of the New Testament. As for 
 \h^ presence of others ^x'Cix the Apostles, there are 
 always present at an Ordination others besides 
 those who are ordained ; and it would seem ex- 
 tremely fitting that there should have been wit- 
 nesses of the Ordination of the Apostles, since 
 their testimony might have been necessary as an 
 evidence of so important an act. 
 
 Moreover, if the others who were present did 
 receive this authority, we should expect to find 
 them exercising it ; whereas nothing can be more 
 clear than that after Pentecost the Apostles, and 
 the Apostles alone, exercised these spiritual 
 
The Apostolic Commission. i8i 
 
 powers, until they committed tliem to others by 
 a distinct act of Ordination. 
 
 It was so, for example, in the case of the Dea- 
 cons ; although their Ministry was so humble, the 
 Apostles, " when they had prayed, laid their 
 hands on them" (Acts vi., 6), that is, ordained 
 them. And in the eighth chapter of the Acts it is 
 distinctly implied that S. Philip, one of the Dea- 
 cons, had not Apostolic powers ; since, while he 
 was able to baptize the people of Samaria, he was 
 not able to lay his hands on them, that they might 
 receive the H01.Y Ghost, that is, to confirm them. 
 
 It must also be remembered that S. Luke and 
 S. John regard the circumstance from dijBferent 
 points of view. 
 
 S. Luke, in his account of this appearance of 
 our Lord, dwells only upon the first part of what 
 S. John records, that our Lord gave them proofs, 
 both of the fact of His Resurrection and of the 
 identity of His risen Body with the Body which 
 had died upon the Cross. And as this evidence 
 was needed, not only by the Apostles, but by all 
 the Church, he mentions that there were others 
 present besides the Apostles. 
 
 S. John, on the other hand, dwelling chiefly on 
 the Ordination of the Apostles, makes no mention 
 whatever of the presence of anyone else. How 
 extremely natural this is ! If anyone were de- 
 scribing an Ordination, he would probably con- 
 
1 82 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 fine his description to tliose who were ordained, 
 and not go out of his way to speak of the people 
 who were in church witnessing the Ordina- 
 tion. 
 
 Moreover, S. John says it was " the Disciples " 
 {oi fxa^r/rai') to whom our Blessed Lord gave 
 these spiritual powers (of the kej^s) ; and this ex- 
 pression is not used by S. John (in direct narra- 
 tion) of any but the Apostles. 
 
 ii. The second part of the objection is just as 
 unreasonable. It is ' * that there is no provision 
 laid down for the transmission of the gift, as the 
 Church teaches in her doctrine of Apostolical 
 Succession." 
 
 It is quite true that there is no provision laid 
 down in these four verses. But the answer to the 
 objection is that immediately after Pentecost we 
 find the Apostles using these powers and trans- 
 mitting them to others ; and they certainly 
 would not have done this if they had not been 
 empowered and instructed to do so. 
 
 We are told (in Acts i., 3) that our Lord was 
 seen of the Apostles forty days, and spoke to 
 them " of the things pertaining to the Kingdom 
 of God." Surely it is perfectly reasonable to 
 conclude that during this time our Lord in- 
 structed the Apostles in regard to the perpetua- 
 tion of their gifts. And this view is confirmed 
 by the action of the Apostolic College in choos- 
 
The Apostolic Coniniission. 183 
 
 ing and consecrating a successor in the place of 
 Judas. 
 
 The transmission of these powers by Ordina- 
 tion, of which we read in the Acts, is too near the 
 time of their bestowal for any corruptioji to have 
 arisen in the interval. 
 
 Moreover, we find that the whole Church of 
 Christ has always understood the words of the 
 text as referring to the sacerdotal powers of the 
 Christian Ministry, and that it has been left for 
 those who disbelieve the Church's teaching re- 
 garding the Priesthood to invent in modern times 
 the theory which we have just been considering, 
 and which we have shown to be entirely without 
 foundation. 
 
XIII. 
 S. THOMAS. 
 
 BUT THOMAS, ONK OF THK TWKLVB, CALI^KD 
 DIDYMUS, WAS NOT WITH THEM WHEN JKSUS 
 CAME. THE OTHER DISCIPLES THEREFORE 
 SAID UNTO HIM, WE HAVE SEEN THE I<ORD. 
 BUT HE SAID UNTO THEM, EXCEPT I SHAI^I, 
 SEE IN HIS HANDS THE PRINT OF THE NAILS, 
 AND PUT MY FINGER INTO THE PRINT OF 
 THE NAILS, AND THRUST MY HAND INTO HIS 
 SIDE, I WILL NOT BELIEVE. AND AFTER 
 EIGHT DAYS AGAIN HIS DISCIPLES WERE 
 WITHIN, AND THOMAS WITH THEM : THEN 
 CAME JESUS, THE DOORS BEING SHUT, AND 
 STOOD IN THE MIDST, AND SAID, PEACE BE 
 UNTO YOU. THEN SAITH HE TO THOMAS, 
 REACH HITHER THY FINGER, AND BEHOLD 
 MY HANDS ; AND REACH HITHER THY HAND, 
 AND THRUST IT INTO MY SIDE : AND BE NOT 
 FAITHLESS, BUT BELIEVING. AND THOMAS 
 ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, MY LORD 
 AND MY GOD. JESUS SAlTH UNTO HIM, 
 THOMAS, BECAUSE THOU HAST SEEN ME, 
 184 
 
S. Thomas. 185 
 
 THOU HAST BEI.IKVED : BI.KSSED ARE THEY 
 THAT HAVE NOT SEEN, AND YET HAVE BE- 
 LIEVED. ' ' ►$". John XX. , 2^-so. 
 
 IT lias been obsen^ed by a thoughtful and 
 helpful writer on our Blessed lyORD's Resur- 
 rection, that while the accounts of the Resur- 
 rection are incomplete as a history, so that it is 
 extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible, to 
 piece them together in such a way as to obtain an 
 entirely coherent and consecutive account of all 
 that happened on Easter Day, — yet " the Gospel 
 of the Resurrection," if we may so call it, is abso- 
 lutel}^ and entirely complete as a revelation. 
 
 I. It is, indeed, most wonderful to observe how 
 every class of believer was considered and pro- 
 vided for by our Lord in His manifestations of 
 Himself on Easter Day and its octave. And it is 
 not a little instructive to observe how the Holy 
 Spirit in the inspired record which has been 
 preserved for us has provided for every type of 
 spiritual character, and every kind of religious 
 difficulty. 
 
 We have the record of at least three appear- 
 ances on Easter Day of our Eord to individuals — 
 to S. Mary Magdalene, to S. Peter, and to the two 
 Disciples on the way to Emmaus. (Some, per- 
 haps, w^ould add a fourth, considering the appear- 
 ance to the women at the tomb to be distinct from 
 
1 86 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 that to S. Mary Magdalene.) And to these we 
 may add another on the octave of Easter, when 
 our Lord appeared to S. Thomas and offered him 
 the particular proof of the reality of His Resur- 
 rection which he had demanded. 
 
 To some, doubtless, these manifestations which 
 the HoivY Spirit has recorded have seemed acci- 
 dental and without purpose ; but when we ex- 
 amine them more carefully, we cannot but be 
 struck with admiration at the marv^ellous way in 
 which they seem to have been selected so as to 
 meet exactly all the possible needs of humanity, 
 all the diflerent tj^pes of spiritual character. 
 
 Our lyORD said, just before His Passion, " I, if 
 I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
 unto Me " (S. John xii., 32); and when we con- 
 sider the methods by which men are drawn to 
 God, they seem to fall into four classes. And 
 this division is exhaustive, and corresponds to the 
 four appearances of our Lord to individuals after 
 His Resurrection. 
 
 i. The first way in which man is drawn to God 
 is by the attracting power of love. * ' I drew them 
 with cords of a man, with bands of love ' ' (Hos. 
 xi., 4). By this attraction the purest and 
 noblest are chiefly drawn to God. 
 
 And so our Lord's first recorded appearance 
 was to a woman who, both as the representative 
 of her sex, and also in her own individual charac- 
 
vS. Thomas. 187 
 
 ter, was the very embodiment of love. It was love 
 that had driven her to the Cross when strong men 
 forsook our Lord and fled. It was love that 
 drew her with other women to the tomb before 
 any men found their way thither. And so the 
 first and highest means by which our Lord draws 
 men to Himself is through that noblest gift of 
 man's nature, that greatest power of human life, 
 the passion — the power of Love. 
 
 ii. If we read the lives of God's saints, wherein 
 we can best study the movements of the human 
 soul towards God, we shall probably find that, 
 next to love, penitence has been the power by 
 which most men have been brought to Christ. 
 The noblest, the purest, have been drawn by love, 
 but the majority are not noble or pure in their 
 natural life, and these, in the misery of the reali- 
 zation of their sins, have been driven to Christ 
 as their Saviour through penitence. 
 
 Such an one was S. Peter. Grievously had he 
 sinned, — bitterly had he wept over his sin and re- 
 pented ; and so, apparently, the second appearance 
 of our Blessed Lord on Easter Day was to peni- 
 tent S. Peter. What passed between him and his 
 Lord is veiled from our knowledge, for all true 
 penitence is between God and the soul alone. 
 
 The world may see something of the fruits of 
 penitence in the amended life, but the pouring 
 out of the soul to God in contrition is known 
 
1 88 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 only to God and to God's Minister under the 
 Sacramental Seal. 
 
 And so, in truest anticipation of the Church's 
 teachings on this subject, all that is recorded of 
 this manifestation of our Lord to S. Peter is in 
 the words, ' ' The lyORD is risen indeed, and hath 
 appeared unto Simon " (S. Luke xxiv., 34). We 
 may imagine much, but we can know nothing of 
 what passed between the penitent and the Great 
 High Priest and Absolver. 
 
 iii. When we look for the third means by 
 which men are brought to God, we shall probably 
 find that it is by the process of thought. 
 
 While penitence is not confined to any type of 
 character, love and thought probably represent 
 two very distinct classes. Love asks not for 
 reasons, — needs not arguments, — leaps by surest 
 intuition to the fullest faith ; but such love does 
 not belong to every heart, and there are others 
 not less noble who come to God by the longer 
 paths and slower methods of earnest, careful 
 thought. 
 
 We may bless God that there are such men, for 
 without them we could not convert the world and 
 meet its intellectual opposition. Such an one, per- 
 haps, was S. Augustine, slowly and laboriously 
 thinking out the problems of Christianity, till at 
 last the Light burst with overwhelming power 
 upon his soul. 
 
S. TJiomas. 189 
 
 Such also seem to have been the two Disciples 
 whom our Lord overtook on the way to Emmaus. 
 " They communed together and reasoned. . . . 
 Their eyes were holden that they should not 
 know Him " (S. Luke xxiv., 15, 16). He joined 
 in their conversation, and gradually drew out of 
 them the arguments by which He proved to them 
 that He was the Messiah, ** He Which should 
 have redeemed Israel," — the Christ. For " be- 
 ginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He ex- 
 pounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things 
 concerning Himself." 
 
 It was not until the journey had drawn to its 
 close and the evening shades were falling that 
 ' * their eyes were opened, and they knew Him ; 
 and He vanished out of their sight. And they 
 said one to another, Did not our heart burn within 
 us, while He talked with us by the way, and 
 w^hile He opened to us the Scriptures ? " 
 
 iv. If this had ended our Lord's manifesta- 
 tions of Himself after His Resurrection, there 
 would have been a class of men still unprovided 
 for; a small class, it is true, and yet one, we may 
 venture to think, peculiarly dear to our Blessed 
 Lord, and found even among His Apostles ; a 
 class whose temperament brings with it peculiar 
 sufferings, peculiar difficulties ; a class for whom 
 the world can do nothing, for whom Christ alone 
 can do all things. 
 
1 90 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 And this class is represented by S. Thomas, who 
 by temperament seems to have been peculiarly 
 slow of spiritual apprehension, and to have been 
 the victim of that greatest of all mental suffer- 
 ings, doubt. 
 
 II. We should greatly err if we thought of S. 
 Thomas as in any way representing the self- 
 satisfied, easy-going sceptic of to-day. 
 
 Nay, he rather represents those chosen souls 
 who long with every power of their nature to give 
 themselves in unquestioning faith to their Lord, 
 but who are tortured by intellectual doubt, result- 
 ing often from the very keenness of their mental 
 powers, and the very fairness and thoroughness 
 of their investigations, — because they see so much 
 to be said on all sides that they suspend their 
 judgment and sometimes withhold the allegiance 
 they long to give. 
 
 This is largely a matter of temperament, and so 
 far from looking down upon this temperament as 
 something poorer than the others, we should re- 
 gard it as belonging in some degree at least to the 
 deepest and highest of all the temperaments, the 
 melancholic, — the temperament of S. Paul. 
 
 i. Apart from the lists which we have of the 
 Apostles, S. Thomas is brought before us in the 
 Gospel record only on three occasions. The first 
 is at the death of Lazarus, where, taking the 
 darkest view, as his temperament naturally led 
 
5. Thomas, 191 
 
 him to do, he says, ' * I^et us also go, that we may 
 die with Him " (S. John xi., 16). 
 
 Our lyORD, hearing that I^azarus was sick, had 
 proposed that they should go into Judaea again to 
 visit him, and His Disciples had reminded Him 
 of the great danger of going into Judaea, saying, 
 ' * Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee ; 
 and goest Thou thither again ? ' ' But S. Thomas, 
 with the clearest recognition of the danger, and 
 indeed with an expectation of the worst, yet with 
 no shrinking from it, said, ' ' lyCt us also go, that 
 we may die with Him." 
 
 Here we have some of the most beautiful char- 
 acteristics of the melancholic temperament, — 
 strong affection, leading to heroic self-sacrifice de- 
 liberately chosen without any hope of success or 
 escape. 
 
 ii. S. Thomas is introduced to us the second 
 time in the discourse after the Last Supper, as re- 
 corded in the fourteenth chapter of S. John. 
 
 Our Lord, speaking of His departure, had said, 
 * * If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come 
 again, and receive you unto Myself ; that where 
 I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go 
 ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith 
 unto Him, Lord, we know not whither Thou 
 goest ; and how can we know the way ? jESUS 
 saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the 
 life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by 
 
192 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 Me. If ye had known Me, ye should have known 
 My Father also : and from henceforth ye know 
 Him, and have seen Him " (S. John xiv., 3-8). 
 
 Here S. Thomas, with that intellectual honesty 
 which is one of the best traits belonging to the 
 melancholic temperament, interrupts our L^ord 
 when He says, ' ' Whither I go ye know, and the 
 way ye know," by protesting that this is more 
 than can be said of their faith — '* Lord, we know 
 not whither Thou goest ; and how can we know 
 the way ? ' ' 
 
 He will not suffer our I^ord to assume in him 
 any more faith than he thinks he really has. 
 This is one of the characteristics which often 
 makes the melancholic temperament difficult to 
 deal with, and which sometimes brings down upon 
 it thoughtless censure ; and yet it is this very 
 truthfulness which we all must admire, since it 
 will not allow anyone to think better of it than it 
 deserves. 
 
 So we find that it is in strictest accord with 
 what we have been told of S. Thomas before our 
 Lord's Passion, that he should be the one to 
 doubt of His Resurrection. 
 
 iii. By no mere accident, but * ' for the greater 
 confirmation of the Faith," S. Thomas was al- 
 lowed to be absent when our Lord appeared to 
 His Apostles on Easter Day. He heard the testi- 
 mony of others — of the women, of S. Peter, of 
 
6". Thojnas. 193 
 
 those from Bmmaus, of the Apostles gathered in 
 the upper chamber, — and yet he could not believe. 
 
 The news was too good to be true, too wonder- 
 ful, too overwhelming ; and so S. Thomas says, 
 " Except I shall see in His Hands the print of 
 the nails, and put my finger into the print of the 
 nails, and thrust my hand into His Side, I will 
 not believe." 
 
 It was no mere passing exclamation ; for we are 
 told that the other Disciples kept on saying 
 (J'Xeyov) to him, * ' We have seen the Lord ' ' ; 
 but to all their assurances he made once for all 
 (877t£v) the answer, ' ' Except I shall see in His 
 Hands the print of the nails, and put my finger 
 into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand 
 into His Side, I will not believe." 
 
 He thought of the Lord as He had seen Him 
 in death, with the gaping wounds caused by the 
 nails and the spear. These he must see, these he 
 must touch, before he could believe that his Lord 
 had indeed returned to life again. 
 
 The very test which he demanded implied an 
 entire misapprehension of the powers of a resur- 
 rection body, and showed that his thoughts were, 
 like Mary Magdalene's thoughts, still fixed, only 
 in a greater degree, on our Lord as existing 
 merely under the conditions of earthly life. 
 
 But when the proof which he had demanded 
 
 was offered him, he saw how inadequate it was, 
 13 
 
194 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 that is to say, he saw how far beyond anything 
 that he expected was the reality ; and so he did 
 not need to touch our lyORD. Our lyORD said, 
 ' ' Reach hither thy finger, and behold My Hands ; 
 and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My 
 Side : and be not faithless, but believing." But 
 Thomas was convinced, and without the test 
 of touch confessed, " My I^ord and my God ! " 
 He had thought of the resurrection of the dead 
 Body of his earthly Master ; he realizes that it is 
 the living Body of his God that he sees. 
 
 III. Of all the records of our Lord's appear- 
 ances after His Resurrection, perhaps none is of 
 greater evidential value than the appearance to S. 
 Thomas. For here was one whose doubts were 
 removed, who had the opportunity of testing the 
 truth of our I^ord's Resurrection, and who bore 
 witness not only to its reality, but also to its 
 power, when he utered his cry of adoring faith 
 ** My Lord and my God ! " 
 
 Not only is it of value evidentially, but it ob- 
 tained for us the utterance of our Lord's blessing 
 upon faith : ' * Blessed are they that have not seen, 
 and yet have believed " : a blessing so dear to us 
 in this age of want of faith. 
 
 And yet again, and by no means least in help- 
 fulness or importance, the appearance to S. 
 Thomas teaches us our Lord's patience and 
 tenderness towards those who are honest in their 
 
vS. Thomas. 195 
 
 doubts, and affords us an example of the way in 
 which we should deal with them. 
 
 Moreover, to those whose cross in life it is to 
 undergo the tortures of intellectual doubt, it gives 
 hope ; and more than hope — light, with the as- 
 surance, too, of the ultimate removal of all doubt 
 and of the gift of faith to those who are sincerely 
 seeking for the truth. 
 
 Though we may not be of the class which S. 
 Thomas represents, yet probably most of us have 
 our moments of depression, difficulty, and doubt. 
 At such times let us think of S. Thomas, and 
 of our lyORD's words, " Blessed are they that 
 have not seen, and yet have believed ' ' ; and with 
 S. Thomas, let us cry, in humble but earnest 
 faith, * * My IvORD and my God ! ' ' 
 
XIV. 
 
 THE MIRACUI.OUS DRAUGHT OF 
 FISHES. 
 
 ' * AFTKR THKSK THINGS JKSUS SHKWKD HIMSKLF 
 AGAIN TO HIS DISCIPLKS AT THE) SEJA OF TI- 
 BKRIAS ; AND ON THIS WISE SHEWED HE 
 HIMSEI.F. THERE WERE TOGETHER SIMON 
 PETER, AND THOMAS CAI,I,ED DIDYMUS, AND 
 NATHANAEly OF CANA IN GAI,II,EE, AND THE 
 SONS OF ZEBEDEE, AND TWO OTHER OF HIS 
 DISCIPIvES. SIMON PETER SAITH UNTO THEM, 
 I GO A FISHING. THEY SAY UNTO HIM, WE 
 AI.SO GO WITH THEE. THEY WENT FORTH 
 AND ENTERED INTO A SHIP IMMEDIATEI.Y ; 
 AND THAT NIGHT THEY CAUGHT NOTHING." 
 »S. Joh7l xxi.y I-J. 
 
 WITH the record which S. John gives of 
 the appearance of jESUS to the Apostles 
 at the Lake of Galilee and of the mirac- 
 ulous draught of fishes, we begin an entirely new 
 series of manifestations of the Risen Lord. The 
 appearances in Judaea are over, except that last 
 
 196 
 
The Miraculous Drang J it of Fishes. 197 
 
 appearance when our Lord led His Disciples out as 
 far as Bethany and in their sight ascended up 
 into Heaven. 
 
 At His express command the Apostles had re- 
 turned to Galilee, their home, and to the scenes 
 endeared to them by so many memories of their 
 Master's work and teaching. There was the 
 Lake where most of them had pursued their daily 
 toil before they were called to become fishers of 
 men. There was the Mountain on which had 
 been promulgated the fundamental Laws of His 
 Kingdom, the principles of sanctit}^, the condi- 
 tions of happiness. And so it was fitting that the 
 Lake and the Mountain, which had witnessed 
 His early toils, should be the scene of the last 
 manifestations of His risen Life. 
 
 Our Lord's appearance to His Apostles on the 
 shore of the Lake, with the incidents which ac- 
 companied it, undoubtedly forms one of the most 
 striking, as well as one of the most mysterious of 
 the manifestations of His risen Life. 
 
 There is an atmosphere of mystery about the 
 whole occurrence ; the Apostles toiling fruitlessly 
 through the dark night, and just as it began to 
 dawn, beholding the form of a mysterious stranger 
 standing on the shore and asking the question, 
 " Children, have ye any meat ? " and then giving 
 the strange command, " Cast the net on the right 
 side of the ship, and ye shall find." 
 
198 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 I. Then follows the miraculous draught of 
 fishes ; the net drawn up on the shore unbroken, 
 filled with great fishes ; the fire of coals with the 
 fish laid thereon, and bread, prepared for the 
 breakfast of these toilers of the night ; the invi- 
 tation, '' Come and breakfast," and then the 
 episode in which our Lord, so pathetically draw- 
 ing from S. Peter a confession of love, restores to 
 him the Apostolic Commission, and foretells the 
 manner of his death. 
 
 Then, in response to a question of S. Peter, 
 came the prophecy, in mysterious words, of the 
 long trial of patient waiting which was to fit the 
 Apostle of Love for his task as the Evangelist of 
 the Godhead of Christ, and to prepare him for 
 his eternal reward in Heaven. 
 
 An atmosphere of mystery shrouds the whole 
 narrative, and has led all great commentators on 
 Holy Scripture, from S. Augustine downwards, 
 to apply to it the principles of mystical interpre- 
 tation. We shall not err, therefore, in following 
 their example. 
 
 i. We may begin by noticing the two mystic 
 numbers (three and seven) which meet us at the 
 outset, for S. John tells us that it was " the third 
 time that JKSUS shewed Himself to His Disciples,* 
 after that He was risen from the dead." 
 
 It was the seventh appearance, counting all 
 
 * ro?5 fxaBrjTaii, see page 182, 
 
TJie Miraculous Draught of Fishes. 199 
 
 recorded ; for He had appeared on Easter Day 
 to the women, to S. Mary Magdalene, to S. Peter, 
 to the two Disciples on their way to Hmmaus, to 
 the Ten assembled in the upper chamber, and, on 
 the octave of Easter, to S. Thomas and those 
 assembled with him. This appearance by the 
 Lake, therefore, was the seventh manifestation of 
 the Risen Lord. 
 
 And further, we observe that it was to seven 
 Disciples, for S. John tells us that " there were 
 together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didy- 
 mus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the 
 sons of Zebedee, and two other of His Disciples, ' ' 
 seven in all. 
 
 ii. But the chief point to be considered is the 
 striking similarity between the first and the last 
 miracle of our Lord, both alike recorded only by 
 S. John. 
 
 Of the miracle at Cana of Galilee he says, "And 
 the third day there was a marriage at Cana of 
 Galilee " ; of the miracle of the draught of fishes, 
 that it was our Lord's third manifestation of 
 Himself to the Apostles.* 
 
 It has been said of the first miracle at Cana that 
 it has an importance of its own, not only as being 
 the first exhibition of our Lord's power and the 
 first manifestation of His glory, but (as we should 
 expect from such an occasion) as being a revela- 
 
 * roli na^rjrai'sf see page 182. 
 
200 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 tion of the purpose and method of God's work for 
 man ; the changing the water into wine typify- 
 ing the lifting up of the lower into the higher, the 
 law of progress leading towards perfection. 
 
 And surely, in this last miracle we may see 
 typified the result of all our Lord's work in the 
 world through His Apostolic Church, the gather- 
 ing together on the shores of eternity of the 
 " great multitude which no man can number," 
 the fishers and their fish, the missionaries and the 
 souls that they have brought to Christ, — and 
 their sitting down with their Master to the Feast 
 which He has prepared in His Kingdom in 
 Heaven. 
 
 But here we may pause to consider the circum- 
 stances which, as it were, led up to this mysterious 
 scene. 
 
 iii. The Apostles had obeyed the command 
 given them through the women, to whom our 
 Lord had said, '* Go tell My brethren that they 
 go into Galilee, and there shall they see Me." 
 They had left Judas. A time of waiting had ap- 
 parently elapsed, — the trial of their faith, — and 
 they had returned to their forsaken craft, and 
 resumed their ordinary toil. 
 
 If this had been before they fully believed in 
 the Resurrection, it would have seemed an aban- 
 donment of their faith and hope. We could 
 understand that if they had given up hope in their 
 
The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. 201 
 
 Master's Resurrection, and had come to look upon 
 all the fair promises of His teaching as nothing 
 but a beautiful dream, they would naturally have 
 returned to their avocations in the world. 
 
 But we know that if they had abandoned hope, 
 it was only because that hope had been changed 
 into certainty. They had seen their Lord, seen 
 the marks of His Passion, heard His gracious 
 words, seen Him not once, but many times. 
 
 What a magnificent display, then, of faith and 
 hope was this return to their daily labours ! One 
 might have thought that they v/ould have spent 
 the time in nervous expectation, from sheer in- 
 ability to do anything but think and talk about 
 the strange new life into which they seemed to 
 be ushered by the Resurrection of Christ. What 
 immense self-control, what great faith it must 
 have required (when they knew that our Lord 
 might appear to them at any moment), to take up 
 quietly and calmly the ordinary occupations of 
 daily life ! 
 
 But was it right for them to do this ? Had not 
 our Lord — on the memorable occasion of the first 
 miraculous draught of fishes, when some of them 
 had left their nets to follow Him — made them 
 fishers only of men ? And on another occasion, 
 when He sent them forth two and two, had He 
 not said to them, * * Provide neither gold nor sil- 
 ver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your 
 
202 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet 
 staves : for the workman is worthy of his meat ' ' ? 
 Yes, He had said all this at the beginning of 
 His Ministry. But just before His Death He had 
 seemed to give them different directions, which 
 were to guide them when He was no longer with 
 them ; for we read in the twenty-second chapter 
 of S. Luke's Gospel that " He said unto them. 
 When I sent 3^ou without purse, and scrip, and 
 shoes, lacked ye anything ? And they said, 
 Nothing. Then said He unto them. But now, 
 he that hath a purse, 'let him take it, and likewise 
 his scrip : and he that hath no sword, let him sell 
 his garment, and buy one" (S. Luke xxii., 35, 
 
 36). 
 
 So now they were following this advice, teach- 
 ing thus the sublime lesson, so greatly needed 
 by us all, that the period of waiting for Christ 
 must be a period of workijig, not of idle expecta- 
 tion ; teaching us, too, that it is in our work that 
 we are often to find our Lord, whereas in idle 
 waiting we do not discover Him. 
 
 II. S. Peter said, " I go a fishing," and the 
 others answered, * ' We also go with thee. ' ' 
 ''And that night they caught nothing." That 
 night ; it was therefore not the first night that 
 they had gone fishing, and their ill-success was 
 apparently an unusual experience. For the night 
 was the right time for fishing, and the morning, 
 
The Miraculous DraugJu of Fishes. 203 
 
 when the fish were able to see the net, was less 
 favourable. 
 
 Perhaps this is to teach us that real success de- 
 pends not so much on favourable circumstances as 
 on our Lord's presence with us and His blessing 
 on our work. 
 
 Jesus, Whom they saw standing on the shore, 
 asked the question, " Children, have ye any 
 meat ? ' ' and gave the command, ' ' Cast the net 
 on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find, ' ' 
 without being recognized by any of the Apostles. 
 Perhaps the light was not very good, for it was 
 just as the day was breaking. But more prob- 
 ably, as in the case of Mary in the garden, and 
 the two Disciples on their way to Kmmaus, there 
 was some characteristic of our Lord's risen Body 
 which hindered the immediate recognition of 
 Him. 
 
 Almost all commentators have pointed out that 
 this miracle needs, for its interpretation, to be 
 compared with the similar miracle recorded in the 
 fifth chapter of S. Luke's Gospel, which took 
 place at the beginning of our Lord's Ministry. 
 There is much that is similar in the two miracles, 
 and some things which are in striking contrast. 
 From both we may learn useful lessons. 
 
 i. In regard to the points of similarity, we may 
 notice in both the circumstance of the ' ' net cast 
 into the sea, ' ' which in His parable in the thir- 
 
204 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 teenth chapter of S. Matthew (verse 47) our IvOrd 
 tells us represents the Kingdom of Heaven. In 
 both miracles the net was cast by the hands of 
 Apostles ; in both this was done after a night of 
 toil and failure ; in both there was the express 
 command of Christ. 
 
 ii. While both miracles, casting their shadows 
 before, set forth the Kingdom of Heaven, yet it is 
 the Kingdom at different seasons and in different 
 aspects. 
 
 (i) In the first miracle the Apostles were 
 " called," but as yet were untried ; in the last, 
 they had been tried and chosen. The first, there- 
 fore, sets forth the Church of those who are called ; 
 the other the Church of the elect ; the one the 
 Church Militant, the other the Church Triumph- 
 ant invisible to earthly eyes, and resplendent in 
 its glory in Heaven. 
 
 (2) In the first miracle the fishes break the nets 
 and fill the boats, representing the Church on 
 earth, where, as S. Paul says, there must be 
 heresies and schisms, ' ' that they which are ap- 
 proved may be made manifest." 
 
 The ship tossing on the waves is like the ark, 
 a refuge alike for clean and unclean. 
 
 In the last miracle the net is unbroken, and is 
 drawn up, not into the boats, but to the shore, its 
 contents being hidden in the deep until safely 
 brought to land ; and this shore is the end of the 
 
The Miraculous DraugJit of Fishes. 205 
 
 world, as our lyORD Himself tells us in the para- 
 ble that we have quoted : "When it was full, they 
 drew to shore. ... So shall it be at the end 
 of the world" (S. Matt, xiii., 47-49). The un- 
 broken net drawn to shore, representing the 
 Church Triumphant, contains, not good and bad, 
 but is * * full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty 
 and three, ' ' the number of the elect. 
 
 (3) We may trace a further contrast in the num- 
 ber of the Disciples. In the first miracle there 
 were apparently four, S. Peter and probably 
 his brother, S. James and S. John. In this 
 miracle there are seven, the same four and three 
 others. 
 
 And here again we may see a mystical signifi- 
 cance in the numbers, for the number four repre- 
 sents the Church acting on the world, the Gospel 
 going forth to water and replenish the earth like 
 the four rivers of Paradise ; while seven is made 
 up of the divine number three added to that four, 
 and tells of the H01.Y Spirit sanctifying mankind 
 with His sevenfold gifts. 
 
 In the first miracle, as we have observed, it is 
 the work of the Church Militant which is set be- 
 fore us. In the last the work is done, mankind 
 is sanctified, the Saints are gathered into the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 (4) In this last miracle S. John tells us that 
 ' * they were not far from the land, but as it were 
 
2o6 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 two hundred cubits," — about a hundred yards, — 
 showing us how near Christ was to them in their 
 toil, and reminding us, perhaps, of the struggle in 
 Gethsemane, when '' He was withdrawn from 
 them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and 
 prayed " (S. Luke xxii., 41). 
 
 And is it not so now ? — so slight is the veil be- 
 tween the Church struggling and her glorious 
 Head interceding for her at the Right Hand of the 
 Father in Heaven ! What courage we could 
 often gain if we kept the thought more before us 
 that our Lord is not very far away, that He is 
 withdrawn only as it were a stone's cast, and is 
 interceding for us whom He has commanded to 
 watch and pray, because He knows the severity 
 of our struggle and the weakness of our flesh. 
 
 (5) Again, we may observe that in the first 
 miracle there was no direction regarding the 
 manner in which the net was to be cast. In this 
 the Apostles were commanded to cast it on the 
 right side, reminding us, perhaps, of the sheep, 
 who are gathered on the Right Hand of the 
 Judge. 
 
 (6) In the first miracle there was an indefinite 
 number of fishes, in the last one hundred and 
 fifty- three great fishes, a definite number, and yet 
 * * a great multitude, which no man could number, 
 of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues, who shall stand before God ' ' ; when the 
 
The Miraculous DraiigJit of Fishes. 207 
 
 sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and 
 the dead, small and great, shall be judged. 
 
 Let us therefore ponder this last miracle of our 
 Blessed Lord, striving to gather from it those 
 lessons of hope and encouragement which we need 
 so sorely as we toil upon the waves of this 
 troublesome world — straining our eyes towards 
 the eternal shore where, when the morning 
 dawns, we shall see Jesus standing and waiting 
 to welcome the pilgrims of the night. 
 
XV. 
 
 JKSUS STANDING ON THE SHORE. 
 
 "but whkn thk morning was now comk, 
 JKSUS STOOD ON THK SHORK. ' ' S. John xxi. , ^. 
 
 THE preceding verses of this chapter, which 
 we have already considered, tell us of the 
 Apostles returning to their labours as 
 fishermen and spending the night in fruitless toil. 
 '* That night they caught nothing." But the 
 night passed, and when the morning was come, 
 they saw our Lord standing on the shore. 
 
 I. We have here, at the outset, two contrasts : 
 night and morning ; the restless, changing sea 
 and the firm shore. 
 
 i. Night and morning. The night of time, 
 of this world ; a night of darkness, of difiiculty, 
 of doubt. And the morning of eternity with its 
 brilliant light, when all doubts, all fears shall be 
 cleared away. Night and morning ! 
 
 Our life in this world is like a journey at night, 
 over mountains, along a road passing close to 
 precipices, which, because of the darkness, we 
 
 208 
 
Jesus Standing on the Shore. 209 
 
 cannot see. Darkness is the great feature of 
 night and of our life in this world, — darkness 
 and unreality. 
 
 And as we dream at night, and awake to find 
 it all unreal ; so in this life we often dream that 
 we are what we are not. We build castles which 
 the dawning day will destroy. We think we are 
 what we are not ; think ourselves humble, sincere, 
 perhaps; we measure ourselves by our feelings, 
 by our good intentions, by what we wish to do 
 and to be. 
 
 This is one of the characteristics of our life 
 during the dark night of this world ; and when 
 the morning dawns our life will be examined in 
 the clear light of the everlasting day. Not our 
 intentions, not our wishes, not our feelings will 
 be scrutinized, but our actions and ourselves-^ 
 what we have done, what we are. 
 
 And then, in this world, too, we are always 
 making mistakes about others, judging them as 
 they minister to our pleasure or self-interest, not 
 as they really are. In the darkness of this life, 
 again, we sometimes make mistakes about God, 
 thinking that God is hard — as if that were pos- 
 sible ; thinking that God has forgotten us ; 
 thinking that God does not care how much or 
 what we have to suffer. 
 
 But when the night is over, and the morning 
 
 comes, and all these unreal shadows have been 
 14 
 
2IO Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 dispersed by the appearance of the Sun of Right- 
 eousness, our lyORD, standing on the shores of 
 eternit}^, we shall know all things as they are, — 
 ourselves, our neighbours and our God. 
 
 ii. And then, there is the other contrast — be- 
 tween the restless, changing sea and the firm 
 shore. The sea so unquiet, so treacherous ; ever 
 threatening us with shipwreck, its calms being 
 sometimes more dangerous than its storms ; for it 
 is by those calms that we are lulled into false se- 
 curity, while the storms frighten us and drive us 
 to our Lord for help. 
 
 The night upon the sea has to be spent in 
 work which is often disappointing, promising 
 much and ending, or seeming to end, in nothing. 
 This is so of necessity, since the true results of 
 all our labour cannot be really known until the 
 nets are drawn ashore in eternity. 
 
 II. "When the morning was now come, JKSUS 
 stood on the shore." The true reading of the 
 text here is, "Just as the dawn was breaking" 
 (TtpGDia'S yiro/ievTj^y not y£rojJ.8Vf^?). Just as 
 the night was dispersing, just as the darkness 
 was fleeing away, there upon the shore stood 
 jKSUS. 
 
 These few words are a sermon in themselves — 
 an Easter parable. For I^ent is our night-time 
 of penitence and sorrow, the work-time in our 
 souls for God ; and when the morning began to 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
Jesus Standing o?i the Shore. 211 
 
 break on Easter Day, just as the light was steal- 
 ing in through the windows of the church, JKSUS 
 was on His Altar to receive those who had been 
 struggling and working in penitence — to receive 
 them with the invitation, " Children, come and 
 dine ; children, come and break your fast" (for 
 this is what apL0ri](jare means). Yes, the fasts 
 of Lent are over, the gloom of lycnt is past, the 
 Feast of Easter come, and the glories of the Resur- 
 rection are filling us with exulting joy ! 
 
 But it is not only as a parable of our Kasters on 
 earth that we may take these words ; they may 
 be taken far more truly as a parable of the glori- 
 ous Easter of eternity. In this world, during the 
 night, in the ship of the Church, labouring, watch- 
 ing, praying, working, sometimes in calms, some- 
 times in storms, we strain our eyes towards the 
 eternal shores. 
 
 i. The calms should be spent in learning from 
 Christ ; for we remember that the first miracu- 
 lous draught of fishes, of which we read in S. 
 lyuke, was preceded by a calm, when our Lord sat 
 in the little fishing-boat and taught His Disciples. 
 
 So when there is a calm in our spiritual life, it 
 is not a time for idleness, not a time for holidays. 
 Our spiritual life is a school which only * ' breaks 
 up " once, and then the holiday is eternal. 
 
 In this world the toiler of the night can never 
 rest from his labour, can never give up his watch- 
 
212 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 fulness ; but when there is a little, brief space, as 
 it were, of calm in our lives, then we must labour 
 to learn more about God, more about His Reve- 
 lation. Then we must, like good mariners, put 
 our rigging and our ship in order, so that when 
 the storm comes it may find us prepared. 
 
 ii. Calm and storm. Andif the calm is the time 
 for learning, the storm is the time for practising 
 the lesson we have learned, that is, to trust in 
 God ; when the storm of temptation or trouble 
 bursts upon us, then is the time, in the words of 
 the Psalmist, to make our act of faith : ' ' God is 
 our hope and strength, a very present help in 
 trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the 
 earth be moved, and though the hills be carried 
 into the midst of the sea ; though the waters 
 thereof rage and swell, and though the mountains 
 shake at the tempest of the same" (Ps. xlvi., 
 1-3). Then is the time to make our act of faith, 
 to realize God's presence with us in the Church : 
 * ' God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she 
 not be removed : God shall help her, and that 
 right early " (v., 5). 
 
 And so life passes, — storm and calm, until at 
 last, in the great Easter Day, the eternal calm 
 breaks upon us, and the storm is stilled for ever 
 by our I^ord's words,'* Peace, be still." And as 
 the darkness is chased away by the dawn of that 
 great Kaster Day, we shall see J:^SUS standing 
 
Jesus Standing on the Shore, 213 
 
 on the shores of eternity to welcome the pil- 
 grims of time, to welcome the almost shipwrecked 
 mariners across life's sea, safe home, safe home 
 in port, — safe at last in the haven where they 
 would be. 
 
 III. But here we must work " while it is called 
 to-day " ; for there '* they rest from their labours, 
 and their works do follow them. ' ' How sad to 
 reverse the order, to rest here in the rest of idle- 
 ness, and so to have no work, or but little work 
 for God, to follow us into eternity ! 
 
 Here ceaseless prayer : " Lord, save us ; we 
 perish " in the storm ! There praj^er changed to 
 praise, to endless Alleluias ; for there the Lord 
 God Omnipotent reigneth, and sin and darkness 
 and doubt are gone. Here work and prayer, 
 there rest and praise. 
 
 And yet even here, amid all the darkness, through 
 all the storm, those who are striving with all 
 earnestness to serve God, those whose eyes are 
 strengthened by love and cleansed by penitence, 
 can pierce, as it were, the clouds and darkness of 
 time, and in the distance can see jESUS waiting, 
 standing on the shore, as S. Stephen saw Him 
 when he said, " Behold, I see the heavens opened, 
 and the Son of Man standing on the Right Hand 
 of God." 
 
 Yes, even in this life, those whose eyes are 
 fixed heavenward, v/ho are looking " not at the 
 
 b 
 
214 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 things which are seen, but at the things which 
 are not seen, ' ' not at the things which are tem- 
 poral, but at the things which are eternal, those 
 who are straining to pierce the heavens, they may 
 see JKSUS waiting to welcome them with those 
 words, *' Children, come and dine." 
 
 Children of the night, children of the morning, 
 children of the Resurrection, you who have been 
 feeding upon His Body here are invited to that 
 Marriage Supper of the Lamb there. " Children, 
 come and dine ' ' ; you are invited to that Feast 
 which knows no ending, to that Feast of which 
 your Communions here are but a foretaste, of 
 which your Basters here are but a type. 
 
 Let us, then, w^ork and watch and pray ; let 
 us repent, cleanse the eye of the soul by penitence, 
 and look forward to that day when, the night 
 being past, the sea crossed, and our work done, 
 we shall see JKSUS standing on the shore, wel- 
 coming us with the invitation, *' Children, come 
 and dine. ' ' 
 
XVI. 
 THE REVELATION OF THE KINGDOM. 
 
 " THEN THE ELEVEN DISCIPLES WENT AWAY 
 INTO GALILEE, INTO A MOUNTAIN WHERE 
 JESUS HAD APPOINTED THEM. AND WHEN 
 THEY SAW HIM, THEY WORSHIPPED HIM : 
 BUT SOME DOUBTED. AND JESUS CAME AND 
 SPAKE UNTO THEM, SAYING, ALL POWER IS 
 GIVEN UNTO ME IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH. 
 GO YE THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NA- 
 TIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF 
 THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE 
 HOLY GHOST : TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE 
 ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COM- 
 MANDED YOU : AND, LO, I AM WITH YOU 
 ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE 
 WORLD. AMEN." S. Matt. XXVtii., l6-20. 
 
 THE appearance of our Blessed Lord to His 
 Apostles and the assembled multitude of 
 believers, in a mountain in Galilee, differs 
 from His other appearances in that it was ex- 
 pected and prepared for. 
 
 For S. Matthew tells us that when our Blessed 
 
 215 
 
2i6 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 Lord appeared to the holy women on Easter Day, 
 He said, ' ' Go tell My brethren that they go into 
 Galilee, and there shall they see Me. ' ' And in 
 the words of our text this is referred to even 
 more explicitly, for we read that the Disciples 
 " went away into Galilee, into a mountain where 
 JKSUS had appointed them." 
 
 All the other appearances of our Blessed lyORD 
 were unexpected. This alone they had been pre- 
 pared for, by the appointment certainly of the 
 place, perhaps also of the time. 
 
 If we had only S. Matthew's account, w^e might 
 suppose that this appearance was confined to the 
 Apostles. But it is usual to consider that the 
 appearance to "" above five hundred brethren at 
 once," of which S. Paul tells us (i Cor. xv., 6), 
 is identical with this appearance on the mountain 
 in Galilee. 
 
 The fact that it had been appointed by our 
 Lord Himself, and was therefore expected, and 
 that there were gathered in that place not only 
 the Apostles, but a very large number of believ- 
 ers, would lead us to expect on this occasion a 
 manifestation of a very special character. 
 
 I. And indeed, w^e may consider this as our 
 Lord's regal manifestation of Himself, As the 
 Messiah He had been anointed on earth b)^ the 
 H01.Y Ghost to the threefold office of Prophet, 
 Priest, and King ; and now, before He leaves 
 
The Revelation of the Kingdom. 2 1 7 
 
 earth to exercise these offices for His Church 
 in Heaven, He delegates them in a spiritual form 
 to His Church on earth. 
 
 For, surely, He bestowed upon the Church the 
 prophetical office when He promised the Holy 
 Ghost Who should lead His Apostles into all 
 truth, and when He gave the pastoral charge to 
 feed His sheep. He delegated the priestly office 
 to the Apostles when He gave them power to 
 offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice. And in this man- 
 ifestation we have the delegation of the kingly 
 office ; for, after claiming all power both in 
 Heaven and in earth, He sent forth His Church 
 to gather in all nations, giving His Apostles the 
 keys of His Kingdom, — the power to loose and to 
 bind, which is clearly a kingly prerogative. 
 
 Indeed, this manifestation seems especially to 
 bring before us the kingly aspect of our Lord's 
 office. For He appears with His glorified risen 
 Body, as the King of kings, claiming authority 
 over all things, and delegating that authority to 
 the officers of His Kingdom. It is fitting, too, 
 that this occurrence should be recorded by S. 
 Matthew, since His Gospel is especially the Gos- 
 pel of the Ki7igdom. 
 
 II. Again, we may notice the place which our 
 Lord chose for this appearance. It was a moun- 
 tain in Galilee. Mountains have played a great 
 part in God's revelation to man. 
 
2i8 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 In the Old Testament they seem especially to 
 designate the holy places of God, where He 
 deigned to meet with man. For there we read 
 of Mount Sinai, where the I^aw was given ; 
 Mount Zion, where the Temple was built ; and 
 Mount Carmel, where God answered b}^ fire the 
 prayer of the prophet Elijah. 
 
 In the New Testament we have the Mount of 
 Beatitudes, whence Christ promulgated the 
 laws of His Kingdom ; Mount Tabor, where He 
 allowed His Apostles for a brief space to behold 
 the Vision of His Glory ; the Mount of Olives, 
 where they saw His conflict and pra\^er ; and 
 Mount Calvary, where they beheld His Death. 
 
 We do not know which of these mountains 
 was the one selected for this great event ; nor, 
 indeed, whether it was any of these, though 
 many writers consider it most probable that it 
 was the Mount of Beatitudes. If this was the 
 mountain chosen by Christ, it must have re- 
 called many holy memories of His early Min- 
 istry to those who were waiting for His appear- 
 ance. 
 
 S. Matthew tells us that "when they saw Him, 
 they worshipped Him ; but some doubted ' ' ; and 
 this reference to doubters shows us that there 
 must have been others present besides the Apos- 
 tles, since we know that the doubts in S. Thom- 
 as's mind had been removed when our I^ord 
 
The Revelation of the Kingdom. 219 
 
 appeared to the Apostles, on the octave of Kaster 
 Day, which was before they left Jerusalem. 
 
 Those therefore, who doubted, were some of the 
 * * five hundred brethren ' ' who were assembled 
 waiting for His appearance. When they saw 
 Him in all His glory, and heard His words, their 
 doubts must have vanished at once. 
 
 III. S. Augustine coUvSiders this the eighth ap- 
 pearance of our Lord after His Resurrection ; and 
 we may observ^e that these manifestations fall into 
 three classes. 
 
 (i) They were to individuals, to meet indi- 
 vidual needs, to deal with individual character- 
 istics ; (2) to the Apostles, to bestow on them the 
 gifts and powers necessary for the life and work 
 of the Church ; (3) to the great multitude on the 
 mountain, * ' above five hundred brethren ' ' (among 
 whom were the Apostles), representing by their 
 number humanity. It is on this last occasion 
 that He tells this Church that they are to make 
 disciples of all nations^ for He is the Saviour of 
 all men. 
 
 As individual souls we need our Lord, for He 
 alone knows us and can help us in all our diffi- 
 culties. As a corporate organization we need 
 Him, for the Church is His Bod3^ But as a race 
 also we need our Lord, for as the Son of Man, 
 He is the great Head of humanity. 
 
 IV. " Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, 
 
220 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in 
 earth." What a royal greeting ! He claims to 
 have received " all authority " {iB>ov6ia)^ and all 
 authority can be claimed by none but the King 
 of kings. 
 
 What a contrast to Calvary ! On the Cross had 
 been nailed the title written in derision by Pilate, 
 * * Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews ' ' ; and 
 now He reveals Himself not only as King of the 
 Jews, but of all people on earth, and of all Heaven 
 as well. 
 
 On Calvary He refused to use His kingly 
 power, and bore His Passion in all the weakness 
 of His Humanity. Not that He for one moment 
 laid aside any attribute of His Godhead in the 
 sense that He did not at that time possess it, for 
 this would have been impossible. Nor was He 
 deprived of the Beatific Vision ; only He refused 
 to yield up the ghost and to terminate His human 
 life before the moment when He could say of His 
 Father's Work, *' It is finished." 
 
 We may observe the contrast between our 
 Lord's regal and Divine power, — claimed and 
 exercised in the words, ** All power is given unto 
 Me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and 
 make disciples of all nations," — and the absence 
 of all earthly power in the humiliation of His Pas- 
 sion. 
 
 And we may learn from this contrast a difiScult 
 
TJie Revelation of the Kingdom. 221 
 
 but much-needed lesson in regard to the work of 
 Christ's Church in the world ; that it is in pro- 
 portion as the Church abstains from using the 
 mere natural powers of the world to accomplish 
 her spiritual results, that she is able to use those 
 Divine powers which were on this occasion com- 
 mitted to her by her Risen lyORD. 
 
 V. The early centuries of the Church's history 
 illustrate this. During the first three centuries, 
 when the Church had to depend entirely on the 
 strength which came to her from God, when she 
 taught fearlessly and without compromise all the 
 truth which her Master had committed to her 
 keeping, although she had all the powers of the 
 world against her— she grew and increased, not 
 only in numbers but in sanctity, with a strength 
 and growth she probably has never since mani- 
 fested. 
 
 When, however, at the accession of Constan- 
 tine, she began to use the powers of the world 
 to do her work and enforce her claims, her history 
 presents a piteous spectacle of discord, heresy. 
 and schism, which to some extent has lasted ever 
 since. 
 
 And in the various reformations or revivals of 
 the Church's life — such, for instance, as those as- 
 sociated with the names of S. Benedict, S. Ber- 
 nard, S. Francis Assisi, and S. Dominic — this 
 principle seems always to assert itself ; that it is 
 
222 Eastertide Addresses. • 
 
 just in proportion as the Church refuses to use 
 worldly instruments, and relies upon spiritual 
 weapons in her warfare with evil, that she carries 
 all before her. 
 
 VI. Have we not here a lesson much needed in 
 our own age, when we allow Church work to de- 
 pend so much on the use of ivorldly methods — 
 committees of influential persons, and organiza- 
 tions run "on business principles" — instead of 
 relying upon the almighty power of the HoIvY 
 Ghost speaking through the Creeds and working 
 through the sacramental channels of the Church ? 
 
 Our Lord claims that all power in Heaven and 
 in earth is His, and He has committed to His 
 Church all necessary power on earth. Yet the 
 world thinks the Church's powers absolutely in- 
 significant and contemptible, and recognizes as 
 something far more effective the puny powers 
 which her children are allowed to wield. And 
 too often, alas ! the people of God act as though 
 they took the same view. 
 
 It is reported of Archimedes that when he dis- 
 covered the properties of the lever, he exclaimed : 
 * ' Give me a spot on which to stand outside the 
 world, and I will move the world ! " * How truly 
 can they who have discovered the properties of 
 Divine grace say, that in proportion as they can 
 free themselves from the world and stand outside 
 
 * Aoi Ttov drc^j uai xrjv yrjv Htvj}6a>. 
 
TJie Revelation of the Kingdom, 223 
 
 its methods and powers, they can sway and move 
 the world at their will. 
 
 Humanity longs for the light of absolute truth, 
 and groans under the burden and the darkness 
 of sin. And yet the world, with all its boasted 
 powers, cannot remit one sin or reveal one doc- 
 trine of Divine truth ; while the humblest Priest 
 of God's Church, by virtue of the power entrusted 
 to him, can remit to those who are penitent all 
 sin by the application of the Precious Blood of 
 Jesus Christ, and can teach all revealed truth 
 with the authority of the Church which he repre- 
 sents. 
 
XVII. 
 THK GREAT COMMISSION. 
 
 "go YK THKRKFORK, and TE:ACH A.1X, NA- 
 TIONS, BAPTIZING THKM IN THK NAMK OP 
 THK FATHER, AND OF THK SON, AND OF 
 THF HOI.Y GHOST : TFACHING THKM TO 
 OBSKRVK AI,I, THINGS WHATSOKVFR I 
 HAVK COMMANDED YOU : AND I,0, I AM 
 WITH YOU AIRWAY, KVFN UNTO THK KND 
 OF THK WORIvD. AMKN." S. Matt. XXvUi., 
 19, 20. 
 
 WK have considered the circumstances ot 
 our Lord's regal manifestation of Him- 
 self upon the mountain in Galilee, and 
 His revelation that all authority had been com- 
 mitted to Him. We must now pass on to discuss 
 more in detail the terms of the great commission 
 which He gave to His Apostles after declaring 
 His possession of universal authority. 
 
 As we examine the details of His charge we can 
 scarcely fail to be impressed with the fact that it 
 seems so fully to meet the difficulties and needs 
 
 224 
 
The Great Commissioyi. 225 
 
 of the present da)^ that it would appear as though 
 it had been written especially for our instruction. 
 
 When we reflect on this, however, it brings 
 home to us the useful conviction that our age is 
 very much like other ages ; and that the reason 
 why these words seem so appropriate to our own 
 needs is that our L<ord knew the needs of human- 
 ity and in these words provided for them, and 
 that humanity is alwaj^s very much the same. 
 
 When we think we have observed features pe- 
 culiar to our own times, whether they be adverse 
 or favourable to the growth of Christianity, we 
 probably think them peculiar only because we do 
 not know accurately the experience of other 
 ages. 
 
 We may comfort ourselves sometimes with the 
 thought that each age has seemed to those who 
 lived in it especially full of difficult}^, and that 
 our Lord, knowing the needs of all ages, has 
 provided for each its remedy. 
 
 I. After claiming for Himself all authority in 
 Heaven and earth, our Lord gives a great com- 
 mission founded on this authority. He says, 
 "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." We 
 may observe that the word translated "teach" 
 is, in the original, "make disciples of" all na- 
 tions, that is, bring them into the Christian fold. 
 
 Our Lord then goes on to point out the means 
 
 by which this end is to be attained ; in order to 
 15 
 
226 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 become His disciples men must be baptized ' ' into 
 the Name of the Fathkr, and of the Son, and 
 of the HoivY Ghost." 
 
 We have teachers of a spurious Christianity in 
 our own day who tell us that men become the dis- 
 ciples of Christ by reading about Him, and 
 striving to frame their lives to some extent upon 
 the moral code which He set forth. 
 
 These men tell us that it is not necessary to 
 believe in the tremendous claims which Christ 
 makes upon the human soul when He reveals 
 Himself as the Possessor of all power and author- 
 ity because He is God ; nor do they consider it 
 important that all His teachings should be ac- 
 cepted and obeyed. 
 
 The)^ would allow admirers of Christ to choose 
 out of His precepts those which commend them- 
 selves to their judgment, or which do not inter- 
 fere too much with their self-indulgence. In a 
 word, they would allow the claims of Christ to 
 be reduced and minimized until they cease to 
 clash with the easy-going Christianity of the 
 present day. 
 
 The remedy for such teaching is provided in 
 the words of our Lord, '* baptizing them." Men 
 do not become Christians by adrniring Christ, 
 but by being incorporated into His Body by Bap- 
 tism. So that at the very outset of the Church's 
 life our Lord makes the Sacraments the condi- 
 
TJie Great Commission. 227 
 
 tion of reception into that society of believers 
 which we call Christians. 
 
 II. Again, we hear a great deal in the present 
 day about the beauty of "undenominational" 
 Christianity. And man}'- a scheme has been pro- 
 posed for Christian unity which would eliminate 
 from Christianity all that is objected to by this or 
 that sect, and take the little that is left as a com- 
 mon basis of union. 
 
 But it will be observed that our Lord's charge 
 is singularly " denominational," for He distinctly 
 says they are to be baptized ''into the Name'' 
 It is difficult to see how undenominational Chris- 
 tians, as they call themselves, can find much 
 comfort in this text. 
 
 But we may go further, and ask, what is meant 
 by " the Name ' ' ? There can be little doubt that 
 in all such passages as the one we are considering, 
 "the Name" signifies the Nature; and "the 
 Name ' ' here calls for a belief, not merely in the 
 existence of God, but in the doctrine of the Holy 
 Trinity as revealing to us, so far as we are able 
 to comprehend it, something of the Nature of 
 God. 
 
 In the history of God's dealings with man we 
 find three very distinct rev^elations of Himself by 
 means of a Name which reveals something of His 
 Nature. 
 
 i. To the Patriarchs He was revealed under 
 
 L 
 
228 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 His Name "Almighty," because they needed first 
 to learn that He was the Source of all authority 
 and power, and that without Him nothing could 
 be done ; the very power by which sin is com- 
 mitted being received from God, — the sinners be- 
 ing like rebels, who in their folly are striving to 
 use God's own power against Himself; and that 
 therefore He was a jealous God, Who would 
 share no worship with other gods, and allow 
 no rival in the affections and homage of man- 
 kind. 
 
 ii. To Moses a revelation far in advance of this 
 was vouchsafed when God appeared to him in the 
 burning bush, and revealed Himself to him under 
 His Name Jehovah, the Self-Existing One. This 
 declares the Nature of God to be underived, and 
 His existence in both directions to be eternal. 
 
 iii. But the supreme revelation of God's Na- 
 ture was reserved for the Christian Church. For 
 while there are many adumbrations of the Holy 
 Trinity in the Old Testament, the doctrine of the 
 threefold Personality of the one Godhead was 
 first distinctly revealed by Christ, and reserved 
 for the Christian Church to define. 
 
 All these revelations are to some extent summed 
 up in the Baptismal formula — ''baptizing them 
 into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the H01.Y Ghost." 
 
 ** Into the Name," not "Names" (fz's' ro 
 
TJie Great Commission. 229 
 
 ovojua^ not ra ovojAaTa). Here we have the 
 doctrine of the Unity of God as revealed to the 
 Patriarchs and to Moses. But the Name is ** the 
 Name of the Fathkr, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost. ' ' Here we have the doctrine of 
 the Trinity as revealed by our I^ord Himself to 
 the Christian Church. 
 
 III. Without now touching upon the doctrine 
 of the Holy Trinity in its dogmatic aspect, we 
 may briefly notice some points involved in the 
 Baptismal formula. 
 
 i. As a Christian you were baptized into the 
 Name of the Father. 
 
 You have a relation to that Father, Who crea- 
 ted you, Who has a purpose for you in life ; that 
 Father to Whom you stand in the relation not 
 of a slave but of a so7i ; that Father to glorify 
 Whom is the " end " of j^our life, and at the same 
 time your life's truest glory. For to fulfil God's 
 purpose is a glory which is indeed eternal. 
 
 When a man in the world attains the end he 
 proposed for himself he often becomes famous ; 
 but how short is human fame, and how worthless 
 to the man are the monuments which, as works 
 of art or historical records, speak to the world of 
 his name when he himself has passed beyond this 
 world ! 
 
 On the other hand, to have reached the end for 
 which you were created, this is truly glorious ; to 
 
230 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 have fulfilled God's purpose for you, this is in- 
 deed greatness ! 
 
 And then what a sonship is implied when you 
 think of God as your Father! A Father 
 omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving, implies a 
 son watched over by Almighty Power and sur- 
 rounded by all things needful for the develop- 
 ment of his life according to God's purpose. 
 
 ii. But Baptism is not onl}^ into the Name of 
 the Father, but also into the Name of the Son. 
 
 In the present da}^, among Unitarians and 
 Humanitarians we hear a great deal about the 
 Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man ; 
 a doctrine which does not necessarily involve any 
 acceptance of the Christain Faith, and which is 
 but a small advance upon the teachings of mere 
 natural theology. 
 
 The Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood 
 of man may sound well as religious phrases, but 
 what help do they afford to the man who has real- 
 ized the universal fact of sin, the universal neces- 
 sity of struggle, and who sees in himself the 
 weakness and helplessness which these involve ? 
 
 He needs something more than to be taught his 
 relation to God as a son to a Father. He needs 
 to know of the Son of God, Who became Man 
 that He might redeem man ; that He might not 
 only leave man a noble Example of unselfish life, 
 but that He might found a Church which should 
 
TJic Great Commission, 231 
 
 minister to all man's needs, and be entrusted with 
 the Sacraments by which his sin could be done 
 away through the Precious Blood of Christ, and 
 the cravings of his soul satisfied by that Bread of 
 Heaven which is Christ's own Body. 
 
 iii. And again, Baptism is into the Name of the 
 H01.Y Ghost, telling of that Eternal Spirit of 
 God, hke the Father and the Son, Almighty, 
 Whose gracious influence pervades the life, and 
 by its operation sanctifies the soul of the child of 
 God. 
 
 And then to help him there is the revelation of 
 a communion of Saints, of a great cloud of wit- 
 nesses who have passed through the same struggle 
 and won their crowns, and who are now watching 
 him, not merely with idle curiosity, but with 
 sympathetic interest, and more, with all the help- 
 fulness that comes from a common fellowship in 
 the Body of Christ. 
 
 How full of meaning then is Baptism into the 
 Name of the Holy Trinity ! And, when we real- 
 ize this, how poor seems the substitute of unde- 
 nominational Christianity ! 
 
 IV. But not only does our Lord in His charge 
 command His Apostles, for the purpose of making 
 disciples of all nations, to baptize them into the 
 Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost ; but after they are baptized He en- 
 joins upon His Church a further work ; for He 
 
232 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 adds : " Teaching them to observe all things 
 whatsoever I have commanded you." 
 
 Here again our Lord seems to anticipate and 
 to provide the remedy for the false teaching of to- 
 day. For there are some who, while accepting 
 Baptism as a mere empty form of admission into 
 the Christian Church, tell us that what we want 
 in the present day is not Creeds, not teaching, 
 but good works, practical philanthropy. 
 
 Our I^ORD said nothing about this, except in so 
 far as the corporal works of mercy are included 
 in the things which He has commanded. He 
 says the Church is to teach all things which He 
 has commanded ; and this charge is given to the 
 Church of every age. 
 
 One of the most striking contrasts between the 
 Church and the various systems of philosophy 
 which have sprung up during her existence is 
 that they are always changing in their doctrines, 
 while she is always the same. 
 
 The Church's doctrine, like her I^ORD, is " the 
 same, yesterday, to-day, and forever." We can- 
 not point out one doctrine of the Christian religion 
 taught by the Church in any age, which is not of 
 obligation now. 
 
 Or if we turn from the sphere of dogma to that 
 of morals, we cannot find one thing which our 
 Lord said was right in His day, or which the 
 Church has at any time set forth as a Chris- 
 
The Great Commission. 233 
 
 tian man's duty, which can ever cease to be 
 right. 
 
 There is a great effort in our day to reconstruct 
 both the theology and the morals of the Church, to 
 * * re-state ' ' the theology of the Church in terms 
 which will be acceptable to the thought of the 
 nineteenth century. This is generally only a 
 euphemism for watering down the absolute truth 
 which our Lord revealed, to suit the rationalism 
 and unbelief of the age ; it means the re-stating of 
 revealed truth in terms so vague that it will not 
 offend the prejudices of the heretic, schismatic, 
 or rationalist. 
 
 The moral law of the Church is similarly dealt 
 with ; for when it comes into direct conflict with 
 the low morals of society, the plain teachings of 
 the Church are often given up, or at least kept in 
 the background, lest they should offend the no- 
 torious evil livers who have broken God's law but 
 are still received as society's favourites. 
 
 How wonderful to think that with all the pro- 
 gress of civilization, and with all the changes 
 which have taken place since our Lord's time, 
 not one precept of His, whether in dogma or in 
 morals, has become obsolete or has lost its prac- 
 tical value ! The Church is still to teach all things 
 which Christ commanded. 
 
 V. "And, lo, I am with 5'ou alway, even tmto 
 the end of the world. ' ' So the great commission 
 
234 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 ends. Not only does our Lord claim all author- 
 ity in Heaven and earth as His, not only does 
 He bestow upon the Apostolic Ministry all neces- 
 sary authority, but more still : He says, *' I am 
 with you alway, even unto the end of the world." 
 
 The Gospel of S. Matthew begins and ends 
 with the mystery of His name Emmanuel. In the 
 first chapter we have the prophecy of Isaiah : 
 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall 
 bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name 
 Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with 
 us " (S. Matt, i., 23). And the last words of the 
 last chapter are these : " Lo: I am with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world." We might call 
 S. Matthew's Gospel the Gospel of the Presence 
 of God. 
 
 In the Greek the expression translated * ' al- 
 way " is "all the days" ; that is, all the ap- 
 pointed days. This, too, is a consolation to the 
 Church, that nothing happens to her without her 
 Lord's appointment. 
 
 Some days are so dark that we are inclined al- 
 most to despair ; others are so bright and full of 
 hope that the conversion of the world seems almost 
 in sight ; some so difficult, when the powers of the 
 world array themselves against the Church from 
 without, or heresy, like a canker, eats into the 
 Church's life from within ; some so easy, with 
 the easiness of lukewarmness and sloth, when 
 
The Great Commission. 235 
 
 the world seems too indifferent even to oppose 
 the Church, and too indifferent to support it, 
 when love seems to have grown cold. 
 
 Yet all these are the appointed days ; all these 
 troubles were foreseen by our I^ord, and through 
 them all He is present. " Lo, I am with you all the 
 appointed days, even unto the end of the world." 
 
 This is the Church's strength in her battle with 
 evil ; this is the Church's consolation in all her 
 discouragements ; this is the Church's power in 
 all her work for souls, that not only does she 
 come forth in her Lord's Name and with His 
 commission Who has all power and authority, but 
 that He comes forth with her and in her ; that 
 her work is all His ; and that He is with her un- 
 til the end of the world. 
 
 Hereafter it will be the fulness of her joy, that 
 she will be with Him through all the ages of eter- 
 nity. For this she suffers and toils now in order 
 to prepare herself " as a bride adorned for her hus- 
 band." For this she works and prays in order to 
 prepare herself for the great fruition of Heaven. 
 
 Here, toil and sorrow, pain and tears ; and yet 
 her Lord is with her through it all. There, 
 " God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; 
 and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, 
 nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; 
 for the former things are passed away ' ' (Rev. 
 xxi., 4). 
 
XVIII. 
 THE PASTORAL COMMISSION. 
 
 **JKSUS SAITH TO SIMON PE:TKR, SIMON, SON 
 
 OF JONAS, IvOve:st thou mk mork than 
 
 THKSE ? HE SAITH UNTO HIM, YEA, I,ORD ; 
 THOU KNOWEST THAT I I.OVE THEE. HE 
 SAITH UNTO HIM, FEED MY EAMBS." 
 
 S. JoJui xxi. , Z5'. 
 
 THERE are few scenes in the Gospel more 
 pathetic than that on which we are now to 
 meditate : the restoration of S. Peter to his 
 place in the Apostolic College, and the bestowal 
 upon him of the Pastoral Commission, after those 
 searching questions which must so bitterlj^ have 
 brought home to him his weakness. 
 
 The miraculous draught of fishes had been 
 brought ashore ; the m3^sterious meal had been 
 eaten. Our Eord sa3^s to S. Peter, ''Simon, son 
 of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these ? " 
 
 I. These words must have recalled to S. Peter's 
 mind, if not at the moment, at least in after time, 
 the two great crises in his spiritual life, — his first 
 meeting with our Blessed Lord, and his great 
 
 236 
 
The Pastoral Commission . 237 
 
 confession of our lyORD's Godhead. On each 
 occasion our lyORD had addressed him by this title, 
 ** Simon, son of Jonas." 
 
 We shall better understand the force of our 
 lyORD's questions if we give a few minutes to the 
 consideration of the two great events of S. Peter's 
 life to which we have referred. 
 
 i. In the first chapter of S. John's Gospel, S. 
 Peter's first meeting with Christ is described in 
 these words : " And he [S. Andrew] brought him 
 to Jesus. And when Jksus beheld him. He said, 
 Thou art Simon, the son of Jona : thou shalt be 
 called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A 
 stone " (S. John i., 42). 
 
 S. Peter and his brother seem to have been 
 among that school which gathered round S. John 
 the Baptist, and who were waiting in expectation 
 of the appearance of the Messiah. The first to 
 follow our I^ORD had been S. Andrew and S. John. 
 Bach of them went in quest of his brother to bring 
 him to Christ ; and in the verse which we have 
 quoted, there is brought before us most vividly 
 the meeting beween S. Peter and our I^ord. 
 
 I^et us try to imagine S. Peter's thoughts when 
 his brother came to him and said, "We have 
 found the Messias," and then proposed to take 
 him to Christ. If we realize at all Avho it was 
 that S. Peter expected to see — not merely a great 
 man, but the long-looked- for Messiah of the Jew- 
 
238 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 ish nation — we shall, perhaps, be better able to 
 enter into his thoughts as he followed his brother 
 on the way to our I^ord. 
 
 S. Peter may have turned over in his mind some 
 such thoughts as these : " What will He be like? 
 What will He say to me ? Shall I feel that He is 
 different from other men ? What shall I say to 
 Him?" 
 
 He came into our I^ord's Presence, and we are 
 told that JKSUS '* beheld him." But these words 
 very inadequately convey the idea of the original 
 word {efjLjSXeipag)^ which signifies that our I^ord's 
 glance was so piercing that it looked him through 
 and through, and read his very soul. 
 
 And then, when our lyORD seemed to S. Peter 
 to» have read the very thoughts of his heart, 
 He uttered the prophecy, "Thou art Simon the 
 son of Jona : thou shalt be called Cephas." 
 "Thou art by nature weak and wayward, san- 
 guine and impulsive ; full of generous purposes, 
 ending too often in humiliating failures. Thou 
 art capable of being attracted to noble ideals, but 
 easily diverted from their pursuit. Thou hast at 
 times great courage, but thou art capable of acts 
 of shameful cowardice. This is what thou art, 
 Simon son of Jona ; this is what thou art by na- 
 ture ; but thou mayest become a Cephas, a rock ; 
 all that is noble in thy character realized, all that 
 is weak overcome. ' ' 
 
TJie Pastoral Commission. 239 
 
 We can picture S. Peter leaving our lyORD 
 with these words ringing in his ears, with 
 the remembrance of that look. " He seemed to 
 know me thoroughly ; no one ever looked into 
 my innermost soul, and read me through and 
 through as He did. I feel that He knew me as I 
 am ; that He saw all my weakness ; but He said 
 that I should be called — that I should become, a 
 rock. And I believe His words ; I will become a 
 rock ; I will conquer myself ! " 
 
 And then in the story of his life we read of the 
 process by which he became the rock ; how S. 
 Peter came to know himself — his weakness, his 
 dangers — by temptation and trial; and not by temp- 
 tation only, but by many a fall, many a rebuke. 
 And then, side by side with it all was that wonc^er- 
 ful teaching which he drank in from our Lord's 
 lips day by da}^, and which was to S. Peter the 
 illuminative way, as his temptations were the pur- 
 gative way, by which he progressed in holiness. 
 
 ii. Then there came the second great crisis in S. 
 Peter's life, when Jksus again addressed him by 
 the title "Simon Bar-Jona," and when S. Peter 
 made the glorious confession of our Lord's God- 
 head : " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Liv- 
 ing God. And Jksus answered and said unto 
 him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh 
 and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My 
 Fathkr Which is in Heaven. And I say also 
 
240 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
 I will build My Church ; and the gates of hell 
 shall not prevail against it " (S. Matt, xvi., 16-18). 
 
 But this promise was followed by more trials, 
 more failures ; for when our lyORD went on to speak 
 of His approaching Passion, S. Peter "began to 
 rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord : 
 this shall not be unto Thee. But He turned, and 
 said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan : thou 
 art an offence unto Me : for thou savourest not 
 the things that be of God, but those that be of 
 men" (S. Matt, xvi., 22, 23). 
 
 Afterwards there came S. Peter's supreme trial, 
 about which he had been warned by our Lord, 
 when " Jksus answered him. Wilt thou lay down 
 thy life for My sake ? Verily, verily, I say unto 
 thee. The cock shall not crow, till thou hast de- 
 nied Me thrice" (S. John xiii., 38). But in 
 spite of the warning he fell and fell grievously. 
 
 Then, broken-hearted and repentant, he had 
 been assured of forgiveness on Easter Da}', when 
 the Lord newly arisen ** appeared unto Simon." 
 
 II. And now he was to receive the Pastoral Com- 
 mission. But first there came those searching 
 questions, which were answered so humbly, and 
 yet so earnestly. 
 
 i. " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more 
 than these?" S. Peter had said, "Though all 
 men shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I 
 
TJie Pastoral Commission. 241 
 
 never be oifended " (S. Matt, xxvi., 33). In his 
 self-confidence he had put himself before all ; and 
 with the memory of his denial upon him that self- 
 confidence is again tested b)^ our lyORD : ' ' lyovest 
 thou Me more than these ? " 
 
 S. Peter replies, "Lord, Thou knowest that I 
 love Thee." But he does not venture to say that 
 he loves our Lord more than the others ; he has 
 learnt that lesson. 
 
 Nor does he use the same word for ' ' love ' * 
 which our Lord uses. He is sure of his own 
 personal affection for our Lord, and so he uses 
 a word {qjiXelv') which signifies this. Our Lord 
 had used a word {ayaTtdv) which implied a love 
 more exalted than S. Peter dared to claim. But 
 his answer is true ; and so he is rewarded with 
 the commission, "Feed My lambs." 
 
 ii. As we read this passage carefully, we ob- 
 serve certain changes in the words of the original 
 which are not adequately represented in the au- 
 thorized version of our Bible. 
 
 Not only do we observe that the word for 
 "love" in our Lord's question and S. Peter's 
 answer is different, but that when our Lord asks 
 the question for the third time, He adopts S. 
 Peter's word for "love" (qjiXeiv), as though He 
 were even calling in question S. Peter's protesta- 
 tion of personal afiection. 
 
 And this it is which seems to touch S. Peter 
 16 
 
242 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 to the quick and wring from him that last answer, 
 so free from self-confidence and yet so intensely- 
 earnest, " lyORD, Thou knowest all things " — all 
 my weakness, all my sin, but — "Thou knowest 
 that I love Thee." 
 
 Again, in the second charge, we must observe 
 a difference unnoticed in our translation. It is 
 not really ' ' Feed My sheep, ' ' as our version has it, 
 but " Rule, "or "Shepherd My sheep" {noijxaivi)'^ 
 so that the threefold charge should really be as 
 follows : " Feed My lambs," " Shepherd (or rule) 
 My sheep," and " Feed My sheep." 
 
 III. While this Pastoral Commission applies, of 
 course, in its first and fullest sense to the Apostles 
 and their successors, the Bishops of the Church ; 
 yet in a very real sense it seems to set forth the 
 functions of every parish Priest, — functions which, 
 alas, are sadly neglected in our own day. 
 
 i. First, he is to feed the "lambs." Here we 
 have brought before us a Priest's work with the 
 young of his flock ; the work of preparing them, 
 let us say, for Confirmation and first Communion, 
 the feeding them with the first elements of religious 
 knowledge and with the first Sacraments. This 
 duty most of the Clergy recognize and strive to 
 fulfil. But alas ! so many are content to stop 
 here, and spend all their time and strength in 
 feeding their flock with what S. Paul would call 
 "milk for babes." 
 
The Pastoral Cominission. 243 
 
 ii. The second pastoral commission implies 
 that there is another work for the Priest to do, — 
 to guide, shepherd, or rule not the lambs but the 
 "sheep." Here we have his office as a director 
 of souls, an office sadly overlooked in the imme- 
 diate past. Even to-day it is not fully realized 
 that the Priest is a physician of souls, a guide, a 
 shepherd ; and that there are difficulties and dan- 
 gers, weaknesses and diseases in the soul's life, 
 with which it is his duty as one who has " the 
 cure of souls " to deal. 
 
 iii. But there is yet a third charge, "Feed My 
 sheep." This is a stage higher still, and one still 
 more often forgotten in the ministrations of to-day. 
 Not only is the faithful pastor to feed the lambs 
 with the elements of religious instruction and the 
 first Sacraments of the Church, and to guide and 
 shepherd the sheep generally, but he is to remem- 
 ber that as souls progress in the spiritual life they 
 need feeding with different food from that which 
 was sufficient for them in the earlier stages of 
 their progress. 
 
 So the last charge is that he should y"^^^ the 
 sheep, the grown members of Christ's Body, 
 those who are hungering and thirsting after 
 righteousness, hungering and thirsting to know 
 more of God and His Revelation to man. And 
 the Priest has to meet the needs of these by in- 
 structions in the higher walks of the spiritual life, 
 
244 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 in what is commonly called " ascetic theology," 
 which really means the practical application of 
 the laws of the spiritual life. 
 
 Is not this the reason wh}^ so many who have 
 begun well in spiritual things fall away and give 
 up the struggle? They have reached a certain 
 point ; they cannot stand still ; they do not know 
 how to go forward, for they have not been taught 
 what is that life of perfection to which they are 
 called ; and so they gradually relax their efforts 
 and become worldly. 
 
 To those who realize that our I^ord has said, 
 "Be ye perfect, even as your Father Which is 
 in Heaven is perfect, ' ' and who are taught what 
 this life of perfection is, and what is its food, 
 there can be no loss of interest in spiritual things ; 
 for each day has its own interest in the effort to 
 become a little more perfect than the day be- 
 fore. 
 
 Without this desire for perfection, our spiritual 
 life soon becomes a mere treadmill, a dull routine 
 of duties in which we have lost all interest ; but 
 with the hunger and thirst for perfection, one's 
 spiritual life is a life of the most intense interest, 
 for it is a life of continual progress, a press- 
 ing towards the mark for the prize, as S. Paul 
 says, of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jksus. 
 
 But this highest stage has its own peculiar food, 
 
The Pastoral Coimnissioii. 245 
 
 not only sacramental but intellectual. There is 
 much to be learned about the higher stages of the 
 spiritual life ; — and how shall they learn without 
 a teacher ? 
 
 IV. From our Lord's third charge, " Feed My 
 sheep," we may, perhaps, draw a beautiful les- 
 son, though one which is not likely to be often 
 noticed, since it depends upon a reading of the 
 Greek text. The best manuscripts use two differ- 
 ent words for " sheep" in the last two charges.* 
 In the second charge it is the ordinary word 
 (TtpojSara), but in the third charge it is the 
 diminutive form (npolSaria)^ and this diminutive 
 may be considered a term of endearment. 
 
 If we take this view of it, we find among the 
 great class of grown-up Christians, who are in- 
 cluded under the general term ** sheep," some 
 few, perhaps, who on account of their special 
 sanctity are peculiarly dear to our Lord, and are 
 called to the highest vocations of Christian life, 
 perhaps to that which is technically known as the 
 Religious Life. 
 
 In every large parish there would probably be 
 
 * In the second charge BC and some old copies read 
 Ttpoftdria, but i^ADX and most copies have Ttpoftara, 
 and Ttpoftdria is evidently imported from the third charge, 
 where it seems to be the true reading, being supported 
 by ABC and being a form of tender endearment which 
 goes well with (i66KE. 
 
246 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 at least a few such, and it is a parish Priest's duty, 
 as well as privilege, to strive to feed these ; not to 
 discourage their aspirations, not to blunt their 
 spiritual instincts, but rather to supply them with 
 that food which may help them to develop what 
 may be an incipient vocation into the higher dedi- 
 cation of themselves as "religious" to God's 
 service. 
 
 All these things seem to be suggested by the 
 wording of our Lord's three charges to S. Peter. 
 All these, surely, are included in the pastoral 
 commission given to every Priest. If only our 
 lyORD's teaching were more realized by the Clerg}^ 
 how different would be the life of most parishes ! 
 How often the noblest souls turn away from holy 
 things and go back to the world, because what is 
 given them does not satisfy their spiritual crav- 
 ings ! 
 
 It is of the greatest importance to realize that 
 all souls are not exactly alike, and that the pastor 
 who endeavours to feed all with the same meat 
 must inevitably be either starving some souls or 
 giving to others food which they have not the 
 power to assimilate. 
 
 And those who feel dissatisfied with their spirit- 
 ual state, who are becoming worried, perhaps, with 
 the monotony of religious duties, would do well 
 to remember that this very restlessness sometimes 
 indicates that they are called to higher things. 
 
The Pastoral Commission, 247 
 
 They should consider, therefore, not merely how 
 they can hold their present ground, but in what 
 way they can take a step forward in the spiritual 
 life, — in what waj^ they can surrender themselves 
 more entirely to God and His service. 
 
XIX. 
 
 ACTIVE AND CONTBMPI.ATIVE LIFE IN 
 THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. 
 
 " VKRII.Y, VKRILY, I SAY UNTO THKI5, WHEN THOU 
 WAST YOUNG, THOU GIRDEDST THYSKI.F, 
 AND WAIvKKDST WHITHKR THOU \VOUI.DKST : 
 BUT WHKN THOU SHAI.T BK OI.D, THOU SHAI^T 
 STRETCH FORTH THY HANDS AND ANOTHER 
 SHAI.I. GIRD THEE, AND CARRY THEE 
 WHITHER THOU WOUI.DEST NOT. THIS 
 SPAKE HE, SIGNIFYING BY WHAT DEATH HE 
 SHOUI.D GI.ORIFY GOD. AND WHEN HE HAD 
 SPOKEN THIS, HE SAITH UNTO HIM, FOI.I.OW 
 ME. THEN PETER, TURNING ABOUT, SEETH 
 THE DISCIPI.E V/HOM JESUS I.OVED FOIyl^OW- 
 ING ; WHICH AI^O IvEANED ON HIS BREAST 
 AT SUPPER, AND SAID, LORD, WHICH IS HE 
 THAT BETRAYETH THEE ? PETER SEEING 
 HIM SAITH TO JESUS, lyORD, AND WHAT 
 SHAI^Iv THIS MAN DO ? JESUS SAITH UNTO 
 HIM, IF I WHvL THAT HE TARRY TlI,Iy I COME, 
 WHAT IS THAT TO THEE ? FOIyl^OW THOU 
 
 ME." S. John xxi., 18-22, 
 
 248 
 
Active and Contemplative Life. 249 
 
 IN the last words of his Gospel S. John brings 
 before us in striking contrast the two types 
 of life and work which are to be found in the 
 Church at all times, and which are always neces- 
 sary for the Church's growth and usefulness in the 
 world — the active life and the contemplative ; the 
 one characteristic of S. Peter and those heroes 
 of the Cross who, by their self-sacrificing toil, 
 have planted Christianity all over the world ; the 
 other exemplified by S. John in his patient self- 
 effacement, and by those who, like him, have been 
 called to the life of thought rather than to that of 
 active work. 
 
 The one has produced the Church as a visible 
 organization ; has built up, as it were, the fabric. 
 The other has inspired it with life, and supplied 
 it with that spiritual teaching by which its life is 
 sustained and guided. 
 
 Those who are called to the sphere of active 
 labour in the Church of Christ, like S. Peter, 
 have to toil often under great disadvantages and 
 in the face of the strongest opposition, in order to 
 lav the foundations and to build the superstruct- 
 ure of Christ's Church all over the world. 
 
 But, (if we may use as an illustration the mate- 
 rial fabric in which we worship,) although the 
 building may be most substantial in structure 
 and most beautiful in style of architecture, and 
 though it may be supplied with all the accessories 
 
250 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 of public worship — yet unless the Spirit of lyife 
 be there, unless the teaching from the pulpit be 
 the truth as it is in JKSUS, and the offering of the 
 Holy Sacrifice the offering of loving and penitent 
 hearts, the beauty of the fabric will be of little 
 avail. 
 
 Nay, better would God be worshipped in some 
 hovel or barn where Catholic truth was taught 
 and Catholic worship offered, than in the most 
 beautiful Church in our land where the spirit of 
 worldliness and pride prevailed. 
 
 And this is true of the visible Church on earth, 
 the Body of Christ. It needs organization, and 
 rules, and precepts ; but behind all this it needs 
 a firm grasp of revealed truth, and the kindling 
 of that fire of the love of God, which is the life 
 of grace, the life of God Himself in the souls 
 which go to make up His Church. 
 
 In the last words of S. John's Gospel our 
 Blessed Lord indicates the work to which each of 
 the two great Apostles, S. Peter and S. John, 
 were to be called, and prophesies to what that work 
 would lead in their individual lives. Let us briefly 
 consider how the work was done and the prophecy 
 fulfilled. 
 
 I. We will first take S. Peter, called by natural 
 character and by his special training to be the 
 prince and leader of the Apostolic band. In him 
 we see exemplified the work not only of a great 
 
Active and Contemplative Life. 251 
 
 missionary, but of a great Church founder and 
 organizer. 
 
 i. We must remember that our Blessed I^ord 
 in His lifetime had only formed, as it were, the 
 framework of His Church. His mystical Body 
 was something like the body of Adam, if we may 
 use the illustration, before God breathed into it 
 the breath of life and Adam became a living soul. 
 It was not until Pentecost, when the HoIvY 
 Ghost was, so to speak, breathed into the body 
 of the Church, that it became that living organ- 
 ism which was to conquer the world and to pre- 
 pare men for eternity. And in the first stages of 
 this great work S. Peter is the most prominent of 
 the Apostles. 
 
 From the day of Pentecost until we lose sight 
 of him, he is everywhere the spokesman, the 
 leader. He it is who meets and answers the 
 questions which arise in the infant Church. His 
 activity is everywhere evident. By his training, 
 b}' the bitter experience of many a fall and many 
 an act of penitence, he has become the Rock, to 
 whom the others turn, on whom they lean. 
 Christ had praj^ed for him that when he was 
 converted he might strengthen his brethren. His 
 conversion is accomplished, and now we see him 
 going out as a glorious warrior to the fight. 
 
 ii. Once only did he err in his judgment and 
 waver in his straightforward course — by his atti- 
 
252 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 tude towards the Gentiles at Antioch, of which S. 
 Paul speaks when he tells us that he withstood S. 
 Peter " to the face, because he was to be blamed." 
 
 And how beautiful is this example of S. Peter's 
 humility, not only in receiving a rebuke from one 
 so much younger than himself, but, as is evidently 
 implied in S. Paul's words, in having accepted 
 it and changed his course of action, — yet re- 
 maining in perfect harmony with S. Paul, and 
 writing of him, as he did, in words of loving 
 commendation. 
 
 Yes, one of the great lessons which S. Peter's 
 life of discipline had taught him was humility. 
 No one can be a rock who has not learned that 
 virtue. Pride always implies the probability of a 
 fall ; humility, as the word itself implies, cannot 
 fall, because it is the ground of Christian char- 
 acter. 
 
 What an active life was S. Peter's ! How 
 tremendous was the amount of work he accom- 
 plished ! At Jerusalem, at Aiitioch, probably at 
 Corinth, certainly in Rome, possibly in Babylon, 
 the traces of his labours are to be found. He is 
 indeed the great example, in Christ's Church, 
 of the active life needed then and at all times in 
 building up the work of the Church and carrying 
 its message to those who otherwise would never 
 hear it. 
 
 iii. Such was the life of S. Peter ; and our Lord 
 
Active and Contemplative Life. 253 
 
 prophesies its end, — martyrdom. For He says : 
 "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, 
 and walkedst whither thou wouldest ; but when 
 thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy 
 hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee 
 whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, sig- 
 nifying by what death he should glorify God." 
 
 The world against which he witnessed, whose 
 vices he rebuked, whose opinion he defied, would 
 sooner or later wreak upon him its vengeance. 
 He was indeed to follow Christ to the very crown 
 of martyrdom, and he was to have the great hon- 
 our of dying, like his Master, upon the cross. 
 He had learned by past failures to count the cost. 
 He had said, not in any proud boasting, but in 
 the strength of deepest penitence, " IvORD, Thou 
 knowest all things ; Thou knowest that I love 
 Thee." That love was to send him forth to 
 evangelize the world ; that love should enable 
 him with joy to win the martyr's crown. 
 
 This much we learn from our Lord's prophecy. 
 But there is a legend generally accepted in the 
 Church, that when the hour of martyrdom came, 
 S. Peter in his humility asked, and his prayer 
 was granted, that he might be crucified with 
 his head downwards, deeming himself unw^orthy 
 to die like his Lord. Glorious humility of one 
 whose besetting sin in early life was self-confident 
 pride ! Glorious humility, the virtue of the Rock- 
 
254 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 man, which lasted to the very hour of his 
 death ! 
 
 II. And now we must turn from S. Peter to S. 
 John. For it is recorded that when our Lord 
 finished his words to S. Peter with the command 
 ** Follow Me," " Peter, turning about, seeth the 
 Disciple whom JKSUS loved following ; which 
 also leaned on His breast at supper, and said, 
 Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee ? Peter 
 seeing him saith to jKSUS, Lord, and what shall 
 this man do ? jESUS saith unto him, If I will 
 that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ? 
 follow thou Me." As S. Peter is the great ex- 
 ample of the life of active work, so S. John is the 
 great pattern of patient waiting. 
 
 i. Moreover, we may observe that in both Apos- 
 tles grace triumphed over mere temperament. 
 
 S. John, the Apostle of Love, with his choleric 
 temperament, his impetuous disposition, we should 
 have expected to have been the example of active 
 work. He was called to discipline and restrain 
 that fiery temperament, to hold himself back from 
 the active work he doubtless longed to do, and to 
 learn by patient waiting through long j^ears of 
 holy meditation that lore which was to be the 
 Church's greatest treasure. He was to read and 
 interpret as none other ever did that Life which 
 is the life of our life, the Life of the Son of God 
 Incarnate on earth. 
 
Active and Contemplative Life. 255 
 
 S. Peter, on the other hand, with his weak, 
 impulsive nature, was not the temperament out 
 of which leaders of men are usually made ; but 
 he, like S. John," was enabled to overcome the 
 difficulties of temperament by grace and dis- 
 cipline. So that in both we learn how "God 
 hath chosen the weak things of the world to con- 
 found the things which are mighty . . . that 
 no flesh should glory in His presence" (i Cor. 
 i., 27, 29). 
 
 ii. Upon the Cross our Lord had given to S. 
 John a legacy of love, the exalted privilege, the 
 supreme honour of being a son to Christ's own 
 Mother. S. John took her to his own house, and 
 from that day forward cared for her. 
 
 There is something pathetic, and at the same 
 time instructive in the fact that one of the leaders 
 of the Christian Church, one of her small body 
 of athletes (and that one in some respects among 
 the greatest) was withdrawn, as it were, from 
 active work, to watch over, to care for, and so far 
 as possible to comfort the Blessed Virgin. " Wo- 
 man, behold thy son ! Behold thy Mother ! " 
 had been our Lord's words. They were under- 
 stood ; they were obeyed. 
 
 And so, S. John, in spite of his impetuous tem- 
 perament, devotes himself forthwith to a life of 
 retirement and quietness in fulfilling the duty of 
 caring for the Blessed Virgin. 
 
256 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 From this we may learn one of the lessons so 
 often taught in the history of Christ's Church, 
 that times of enforced inactivity, of patient wait- 
 ing, are not wasted, are not lost. To the worldly 
 critic it might have seemed that some one of less 
 importance in the Church, with fewer gifts, with 
 less enthusiasm, with a smaller sphere of influ- 
 ence, might have been equally well selected to 
 care for our Lord's Mother. But it was not so. 
 
 Our Lord gave to her, whom He loved so well. 
 His best, — the Disciple whom He loved, the 
 Virgin Apostle, and as such the flower of the 
 Apostolic College, the youngest, the fairest, the 
 most lovable. And S. John, in obedience to his 
 Lord's words, turns away from the career of 
 active work, holds himself back from the great 
 rush of Church life, and in solitude and quietness 
 fulfils his Master's dying charge, and with aiFec- 
 tionate and respectful sympathy ministers to the 
 Virgin Mother. 
 
 We do not know how long S. John's duty to 
 her lasted, but surely the effects of those years 
 may be clearly traced in the Gospel of S. John, 
 that most wonderful of all works ever written. 
 How much Mary could tell him of JKSUS' words 
 and acts ! Her perfect sympathy with her Divine 
 Son, her marvellous spiritual insight into all His 
 Life, — are not they revealed in the Gospel of 
 the Godhead of Christ ? How much S. John 
 
Active a?id Contemplative Life. 257 
 
 owed to our Lady we can never know in this 
 world ; but we cannot doubt the greatness of 
 the debt. 
 
 iii. And wdien the Blessed Virgin died, and S. 
 John's duty was fulfilled, then he went on ponder- 
 ing the teachings of his Master, and the words of 
 His Mother, enlightened by the HoivY Spirit. 
 He learned to read in that great Life what is re- 
 vealed to us in his Gospel and Epistles. His 
 preparation for this was first the waiting at home 
 with Mary ; then the martyrdom in will at the 
 Latin Gate, when, as Tertullian and S. Jerome 
 tell us, S. John was cast into a caldron of boiling 
 oil, though without sustaining injur}'- ; then, ap- 
 parently, came the banishment to the mines at 
 Patraos ; and lastly old age at Ephesus. 
 
 Through all this long period of waiting, S. 
 John was pondering the words of our Lord, 
 meditating on the events of His Life, developing 
 that spirit of love which enabled him, in words 
 of supreme majesty, of marvellous depth, and 
 3^et of great siraplicit}^, to describe for us what, 
 with his eagle eye, he was enabled to see in that 
 Life of Christ, the Life of God Incarnate. 
 
 III. And surely to S. John and to those con- 
 templative souls who, following in his steps, have 
 given to the Church her theology, we owe as great 
 a debt as w^e owe to those pioneers of the Cross 
 
 who have spent their lives in active work. 
 17 
 
258 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 i. If S. John's writings were removed from the 
 New Testament, the loss would be so great and 
 so apparent that this value would be at once ap- 
 preciated. 
 
 ii. And the same debt is due, though, of course, 
 in a far lesser degree, to manj^ a soul (trained in 
 the school of S. John) in some quiet monaster}^ far 
 away from the busy haunts of men ; — disciplined 
 in self-restraint, trained in divine love to contem- 
 plate the Revelation of God, the mysteries of the 
 divine world; — who has left to the Church precious 
 treasure in spiritual writings, which could never 
 have been written except by one who had lived 
 this life of quietness, of waiting, and of con- 
 templation. 
 
 Such works, for instance, among dogmatic 
 theologians, are those of S. Thomas Aquinas ; 
 among ascetic writers, the writings of S. Thomas 
 a Kempis, Scupoli, or Blosius. 
 
 iii. The Church needed in her early days, and 
 has needed ever since, the two types of life which 
 are found side by side in these last words of S. 
 John's Gospel, and which are found side by side 
 in every age of the Church. They are mutually 
 complementary ; they are both necessary for the 
 spiritual building up and endowment of the 
 Church of Christ. And now^ as always, both 
 lives are needed. 
 
 But S. Peter's life, the life of active work, ap- 
 
Active and Conteviplative Lift. 259 
 
 peals, perhaps, most strongly to the world to-day, 
 with its tremendous rush, with its laborious toil, 
 with its highly developed organization, with its 
 great practical schemes often ending in utter dis- 
 appointment ; while the life of S. John, the life of 
 retirement and contemplation, attracts but few. 
 
 And why is this ? Because the world looks to 
 S. Peter's life alone, to the life of activity ; and 
 forgets that behind that activity there must be 
 the spiritual life that is developed not in the rush, 
 not in the struggle, but in the quiet contempla- 
 tion of God's Word, in earnest meditation and 
 prayer. 
 
 This is the spiritual force which alone can make 
 the Church's organization efficient. This is the 
 power without which the Church's machinery 
 must be useless. The work, to-day as always, 
 must be done first upon our knees in prayer to 
 God, before we go out to engage in the battle 
 against sin and the world and the devil. 
 
 Self-will, self-interest, pride, self-assertion, are 
 the characteristics of much of the active work of 
 to-day. We need humility, prayer, a great de- 
 sire for God's glory, perfect resignation to His 
 Will, the spirit of waiting rather than the spirit 
 of working, if we are to accomplish great results 
 for God. 
 
 IV. What a lesson we learn from the life of S. 
 John, in his withdrawal from the struggle at the 
 
26o Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 period of the Church's greatest need, to spend 
 his time ministering to the Blessed Virgin ! 
 
 Thank God, there are some waiting and think- 
 ing and praying to-day, of whom the world knows 
 but little, but for whom God cares much, and 
 upon whose prayers the Church's life and work 
 largely depend. Some, perhaps, are cut off from 
 active work by sickness ; others, in obedience to 
 the call of God, have deliberately chosen the life 
 of prayer — these are the lights burning like bea- 
 cons in the storm, helping those who are toiling 
 and struggling upon the waves. 
 
 i. S. John was not only a spiritual writer from 
 whom we learn much of the laws of our soul's 
 life ; he was also a great theologian. He is 
 called in the East ''The Theologian." Might 
 not theological writers to-day learn a lesson, 
 useful not only to them but to the whole Church, 
 from a vStudy of S. John's life? 
 
 What is much of the " theology " of to-day but 
 crude views on the most difficult subjects, put 
 forth with arrogant self-assertion ! Nothing is 
 too sacred to be attacked, not even an article of 
 the faith is safe from assault ; and yet the attacks 
 are constantly failing, because it is found that the 
 hastiness with Vv^hich the opinions were formed 
 has again and again led to error. 
 
 ii. Such writers should surely learn from S. 
 John's patient waiting and long study, that what is 
 
Active and ConteDiplative Life, 261 
 
 of value to the Church must be learnt in medita- 
 tion upon the knees, and not merely by reading the 
 brilliant though irreverent speculations of daring 
 and undisciplined minds. 
 
 There are in our day to be studied not only 
 questions of theology, but problems interwoven 
 with the most delicate relations of human life — 
 difficulties in family life and education, social con- 
 ditions, and religious differences. 
 
 And perhaps w^e may learn from S. John that 
 what we want to-day is not schemes for reunion 
 at the cost of truth ; panaceas for all the difficul- 
 ties of life, which, like narcotics, simply drug for 
 a while the sensibilities of the Christian con- 
 science, and deaden the pain of the smarting 
 wounds of humanity. 
 
 iii. What we want rather is patience ; we need 
 to learn from S. John to wait God's time, and in 
 the period of waiting to study our Lord's Life 
 and words and works, that in the revelation of 
 the Incarnation a solution of the problems of 
 human life, a remedy for its troubles, and the 
 supply of all its needs may be found. 
 
 The words of our text seem to bring before us 
 S. Peter going to martyrdom, S. John longing for 
 it ; the one laying down his life on the Cross, the 
 other patiently waiting till extreme old age, and, 
 in dying, leaving to the world one of its richest 
 possessions, — his meditations on the Life of 
 
262 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 Christ, his revelation of the mysteries of Heaven, 
 — to be the solace of countless weary souls, and 
 the inspiration of thousands of enthusiastic work- 
 ers. Thus he teaches us, above all, the lesson so 
 needed in these days of impatient haste : * * Tarry 
 thou the Lord's leisure : be strong, and He shall 
 comfort thine heart ; and put thou thy trust in 
 the Lord." 
 
XX. 
 
 THE APPEARANCE TO S. JAMES. 
 
 "aftkr that, hk was se:e;n of james." 
 
 I Cor. XV. , 7. 
 
 THE appearance of our IvORD to S. James is 
 not recorded in any of the Gospels, and is 
 mentioned only in S. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Corinthians. 
 
 I. We are met at the outset by two difficulties, 
 two questions : first, Was S. James one of the 
 twelve Apostles? second, If not, was he a be- 
 liever in our Blessed I^ord before His Resurrec- 
 tion ? 
 
 i. The question of S. James's Apostleship in- 
 volves the discussion of so many intricate theories 
 that we must simply refer those v^^ho are inter- 
 ested in the matter to Bishop Lightfoot's essay in 
 his work on the Epistle to the Galatians. His 
 opinion, which is accepted by the majority of theo- 
 logians, though by no means by all, is that S. 
 James was not one of the Twelve, but one of 
 the "brethren of the Lord," whatev^er may be 
 the exact meaning of the term " brethren." 
 
 263 
 
264 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 This term is used in four different senses in 
 Holy Scripture, to denote (i) actual brotherhood, 
 (2) common nationality, (3) kinsmanship, and (4) 
 friendship. In the case of our Lord's "breth- 
 ren ' ' undoubtedly the third of these is to be 
 adopted ; but the precise relationship which it 
 denotes must be decided upon other grounds. 
 Some think that S. James was a son of S. Joseph 
 by a former wife ; others that he was the son of 
 Mary the wife of Alphaeus and sister of the 
 Blessed Virgin, and that therefore he was our 
 Lord's cousin. 
 
 ii. If, then, we take the view that S. James was 
 not an Apostle, but one of the ' ' brethren of the 
 Lord," we are met with another difficult question: 
 Was he a believer in Christ ? 
 
 Here again opinions differ ; for we have two 
 traditions. One is probably found on the passage 
 in S. John's Gospel, "Neither did His brethren 
 believe in Him" (chap, vii., 5). This tradition 
 represents S. James's conversion to perfect belief 
 in our Lord as the result of the appearance after 
 our Lord's Resurrection which we are consider- 
 ing ; and those who accept it would place S. James 
 in the same category with the Lord's brethren, 
 who did not believe in Him. 
 
 The other tradition, quoted by S. Jerome from 
 the apocryphal Gospel according to the Hebrews, 
 relates that the Lord after His Resurrection 
 
The Appearance to S. James. 265 
 
 " went to James, and appeared to him ; for James 
 had sworn that he would not eat bread from that 
 hour in which the Lord had drunk the cup, till 
 he saw Him risen from the dead." JKSUS there- 
 fore "took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, 
 and gave it to James the Just, and said to him. 
 My brother, eat thj^ bread, for the Son of Man is 
 risen from the dead." 
 
 Without going deeply into this question, we 
 may observe that there are two difficulties on the 
 very surface which seem to prevent our accepting 
 the tradition of the Gospel according to the 
 Hebrews. 
 
 One is, that it seems to make S. James an 
 Apostle and to have been present at the Last 
 Supper ; the other, that S. Paul very distinctly 
 states in the passage from which our text is taken 
 that our Lord was not seen of S. James until after 
 He had been seen by the " five hundred brethren 
 at once " (that is, in the mountain in Galilee). 
 
 And this appearance, as we have alread}^ pointed 
 out,* could not possibly have happened until more 
 than eight days after our Lord's Crucifixion. 
 For He was in Jerusalem on the octave of Easter 
 Day, when He appeared to S. Thomas, and the 
 manifestation in the mountain in Galilee must, 
 therefore, have been later than this. 
 
 But that anyone should have fasted for so many 
 *Chap. xvi., p. 215. 
 
266 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 days seems most unlikely ; it is therefore highly 
 improbable that our S. James was the one referred 
 to by S. Jerome. 
 
 On the other hand, if we accept the first tra- 
 dition that S. James was not a believer in our 
 Lord until converted by our Lord's appearance 
 to him after the Resurrection, the difficulties do 
 not seem nearly so great. For this appearance 
 entirely accounts for the removal of all traces of 
 unbelief, as in the somewhat similar case of S. 
 Paul, who was converted by our Lord's appear- 
 ance on the road to Damascus. 
 
 Moreover, when we come to examine carefully 
 the text in S. John, we observe on reference to 
 the Greek, that it asserts no more than that the 
 brethren of our Lord did not believe in Him in 
 the fullest sense. For the expression marevaiv 
 ek avTov is to be carefully distinguished from 
 mareveiv avrcp ; the former (as in S. John vii., 
 5) implying full belief in a persoyi, that is, the 
 unreserved acceptance of his claims ; while the 
 latter signifies the acceptance only of a person's 
 words as true. 
 
 The two expressions are brought together in 
 striking contrast in the passage in the next chap- 
 ter, * ' As He spake these words, many believed 
 on Him \i7ti6rav<5av it^ avTOv']. Then said 
 Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him [tt^- 
 mGTSVHora^ aiircS]," etc. (S.John viii., 30, 31). 
 
The Appearance to S. James. 267 
 
 In the first case the Evangelist is speaking of 
 the unreserved acceptance of Christ by those who 
 heard His words ; in the second, he is speaking 
 of those Jews who simply believed Christ's teach- 
 ings, but did not believe in His Person or claims. 
 The latter had taken the first step, but needed to 
 go on to that fuller faith in Him to which the 
 others had attained. 
 
 If we now turn to the statement, " Neither did 
 His brethren believe in Him," we can see that all 
 that is asserted is that they did not believe fully 
 in His claim to be the Messiah ; but this does not 
 necessarily imply that they (and therefore that 
 S. James) did not believe in Him as a teacher. 
 
 II. In the appearance of our Lord to S. James, 
 as in that vouchsafed to S. Peter on Easter Day, 
 we have nothing more than the bare statement 
 of the fact. There it was, " The Lord is risen 
 indeed, and hath appeared to Simon" (S. Luke 
 xxiv. , 34) ; here, ' ' After that. He was seen of 
 James. ' ' In both cases we can form a supposition 
 in regard to what passed between our Lord and 
 His Disciple only by observing the change in 
 character which can be traced in the after life of 
 the Saint. 
 
 In the case of S. Peter, who was a type of the 
 sanguine temperament, we were able to point out 
 how the weaknesses of that temperament, which 
 so constantly showed themselves before our 
 
268 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 Lord's Resurrection, seem almost to have dis- 
 appeared in the history of S. Peter's life after 
 that great event. 
 
 In the case of S. James, we have not the same 
 materials out of which to construct his life before 
 the Resurrection ; but from his Epistle, and from 
 what we are told of him by Hegesippus, there 
 seems little doubt that he was an example of the 
 phlegmatic temperament. 
 
 Since we only see this temperament in its sanc- 
 tified aspect in S. James's after life, it may be 
 helpful to compare this with the general charac- 
 teristics of the temperament in its unsanctified 
 state, and to observe the changes which we may 
 well suppose were the result of this Easter reve- 
 lation of our Lord. 
 
 The phlegmatic temperament, of which S. 
 James was so distinguished an example, has for 
 its principal characteristic that it is very slow in 
 receiving impressions, but that when they are re- 
 ceived it holds them with tenacity. 
 
 We may note further, on its good side, the vir- 
 tues of trustworthiness and fidelit}^ It is the 
 temperament of the man who is true to his prom- 
 ise ; who is true to his friend when he has proved 
 his friend. It is the temperament of the man 
 who is truthful, and upright, and straightforward ; 
 who is stead}^ and courageous, who is consistent 
 and patient, who is free from vanity and ostenta- 
 
The Appearance to S. James. 269 
 
 tion, and yet not wanting in kindness and amia- 
 bility. 
 
 As the choleric is the most noble, and the san- 
 guine the most amiable ; so the phlegmatic is per- 
 haps the safest, and certainly in worldly matters 
 the most useful. 
 
 It is the predominant temperament of the An- 
 glo-Saxon race. And it has been the temperament 
 of some of the greatest soldiers of the world, of 
 men slow in receiving impressions, but tenacious 
 in holding them ; slow in reaching a decision, 
 but when the decision is made, absolutely inflexi- 
 ble in carrying it out. It was the temperament 
 of the general who successfully met and over- 
 threw Napoleon, the greatest soldier of the cen- 
 tury, — it was the temperament of Wellington. 
 
 But to turn now to its bad side ; for as we lis- 
 tened to the record of its virtues, we might have 
 thought it was the best of all the temperaments. 
 Trustworthy, truthful, .steady, courageous, tena- 
 cious ! What room is left here for faults? 
 
 But like all the temperaments, it has a dark 
 side ; it is intensely slothful, irritating in its 
 imperturbability, unsympathetic, procrastinating, 
 often superficial, and seldom really thoughtful. 
 At the same time it is the temperament of the 
 man who is always wishing to deliberate, wish- 
 ing to think, and yet often too slothful really to 
 think a thing out to its end. 
 
270 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 It is essentially the practical temperament, and 
 yet sometimes too practical. And alas, worst of 
 all, it is the sel^sh temperament. Its besetting sin 
 is often the sin of covetousness. And it is the tem- 
 perament which is least able to see its own faults. 
 
 The choleric man is generous, and, like most 
 generous people, ready to see at once his fault. 
 The sanguine man too is generous, and realizes 
 his weakness. 
 
 But it is very diflScult to make any impression 
 at all on the phlegmatic man. He it is who is 
 slowest to see his faults ; and unless the tempera- 
 ment be sanctified by grace it is in great danger 
 of becoming self-centred and selfish. 
 
 The choleric man espouses a cause — not often 
 his own cause, — the cause, perhaps, of a friend ; 
 and he espouses it with all his heart. The san- 
 guine man, too, is ready to rush into almost any- 
 thing that he thinks noble and good. 
 
 But the phlegmatic man, unless sanctified by 
 grace, is constantly holding back when the time 
 for action arrives, seeing difficulties, shrinking 
 from them, and allowing duties to go undone 
 and opportunities to pass unused. 
 
 III. When we compare this description of the 
 phlegmatic temperament with what we know of 
 the characteristics of S. James, we see at once how 
 great a work grace must have done in his soul. 
 For while we are able to trace most of the good 
 
TJie Appcara7ice to S. James. 271 
 
 features of the temperament, the bad ones, at 
 least in their darkest form, are not to be found at 
 all in him. 
 
 i. If we first try to study the character of S. 
 James as manifested in his Epistle, we shall ob- 
 serve at once how intensely practical he is. 
 There is no doubt that the Epistle of S. James 
 is less deeply spiritual than the other books 
 of the New Testament, but it is more intensely 
 practical. 
 
 S. James is impatient of mere profession and 
 sentimentality in religion ; the value of a man's 
 religion, he tells us, is to be determined by his 
 actions. "Show me thy faith without thy 
 works," he says, " and I will show thee my faith 
 by my works." He is not content with the mere 
 form of religion ; he tells us that " Pure religion 
 and undefiled before God and the Fathkr is this. 
 To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- 
 tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
 world." 
 
 The Epistle may not be spiritually deep, but it 
 is thoroughly practical. ** Be ye doers of the 
 word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own 
 selves." 
 
 In the second chapter, also, we have some im- 
 portant teaching on practical benevolence, to the 
 effect that true charity does not, and indeed can- 
 not, confine itself to mere words of sympathy. In 
 
2/2 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 the third chapter we find practical teaching about 
 the sins of tlie tongue. 
 
 In the fifth chapter he tells us what should be 
 done in times of sickness and death, giving prac- 
 tical instruction in regard to sending for the 
 Priest, the administration of Unction, the practice 
 of Confession, and of Intercessory Prayer. 
 
 All these things are treated not from a doc- 
 trinal but from a practical point of view. Indeed, 
 there is scarcely a doctrinal reference in the whole 
 Epistle, which is exclusively concerned with the 
 daily duties of a Christian man's life. 
 
 ii. S. James rose to a position of great promi- 
 nence in the early Christian Church, becoming 
 finally the Bishop of Jerusalem ; and we find him 
 presiding at the first Apostolic Council (of which 
 we read in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts), sum- 
 ming up its discussions, and pronouncing its sen- 
 tence in regard to the matters brought before it. 
 
 Hegesippus, a converted Jew who flourished in 
 the latter half of the second century, says of S. 
 James that he was "that James who had been 
 called Just from the time of our Lord to our own 
 da5^s ; for there were many of the name of James. 
 He was holy from his mother's womb ; he drank 
 not wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat animal 
 food; a razor came not upon his head. He did not 
 anoint himself with oil ; he did not use the bath. 
 He alone might go into the Holy Place, for he 
 
The Appearance to S. James. 273 
 
 wore no woollen clothes, but linen ; and alone he 
 used to go into the Temple, and there he was 
 commonly found upon his knees, praying for for- 
 giveness for the people ; so that his knees grew 
 dry and thin like a camel's, and he was constantly 
 bending them in prayer, and entreating forgive- 
 ness for the people. On account, therefore, of his 
 exceeding righteousness, he was called Just, and 
 Oblias, which means, in Greek, The Bulwark of 
 the People, and righteousness, as the prophets 
 declare of him." 
 
 Hegesippus goes on to give many interesting 
 details of the teaching of S. James, and ends by 
 telling us of his martyrdom. He says " that on 
 account of his witness to our Blessed lyORD, he 
 was hurled by some scribes and Pharisees from a 
 gable of the Temple ; and that, not being killed 
 by the fall, they began to stone him, sajdng, Let 
 us stone James the Just ; and that he turned 
 round, and knelt down, and cried, I beseecli 
 Thee, Lord God, Fathkr, forgive them, for 
 they know not what they do. Finall}^ one of 
 them, who was a fuller, took the club with which 
 he pressed the clothes, and brought it down on 
 the head of the Just One. And so he bore his 
 witness ; and they buried him on the spot by the 
 Temple. This was shortly before Vespasian com- 
 menced the siege of Jerusalem." * 
 
 *Kusebius, ii., 23. 
 
274 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 And this was the Saint to whom our Lord 
 appeared after His Resurrection. By His mani- 
 festation of Himself He transformed one who by- 
 temperament was slow to accept truth, into the 
 great Saint who lived as " the Just," and died a 
 martyr's death as Bishop of the Mother Church 
 at Jerusalem. 
 
XXI. 
 
 THE IvAST WORDS. 
 
 "when they therefore were come to- 
 gether, THEY ASKED OF HIM, SAYING, 
 I.ORD, WILT THOU AT THIS TIME RESTORE 
 AGAIN THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL ? AND HE 
 SAID UNTO THEM, IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO 
 KNOW THE TIMES OR THE SEASONS, WHICH 
 THE FATHER HATH PUT IN HIS OWN POWER, 
 BUT YE SHALL RECEIVE POWER, AFTER THAT 
 THE HOLY GHOST IS COME UPON YOU : AND 
 YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME BOTH IN 
 JERUSALEM, AND IN ALL JUD^A, AND IN 
 SAMARIA, AND UNTO THE UTTERMOST PART 
 OF THE EARTH. ' ' Ads i. , 6-g. 
 
 IN these verses we have the last recorded words 
 of our lyORD to His Apostles before His As- 
 cension. From the third verse of the first 
 chapter of the Acts we learn that the entire inter- 
 val between His Resurrection and Ascension was 
 forty days, and that during that time He spoke to 
 them ** of the things pertaining to the Kingdom 
 of God." 
 
 275 
 
276 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 There may have been, probably there were, 
 many appearances which are not recorded, but it 
 seems certain that on the occasion described in the 
 words of our text we have actuall}- our Lord's last 
 words. For in the ninth verse we read that "when 
 He had spoken these things, while they beheld. 
 He was taken up : and a cloud received Him out 
 of their sight." 
 
 In the fourth verse we have an account of a 
 previous appearance when our I<ord had told 
 them that they were to remain at Jerusalem and 
 to wait for the promise of the Fathkr — that 
 descent of the Holy Ghost of which He had 
 spoken to them so fully on Maundy Thursday 
 night. This we may pass over, and proceed to 
 the consideration of our L<ord's last words. 
 
 I. The passage begins with the question asked 
 Him by the Apostles, " Lord, wilt Thou at this 
 time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" — a 
 question which brings home to us very forcibl}^ 
 the enormous change which was wrought in the 
 Apostles afterwards by the Gift of the HoiyY 
 Ghost. 
 
 For here, but ten days before Pentecost, we find 
 them still clinging to their old Messianic hope of 
 a temporal restoration of the Jewish kingdom. In 
 spite of the revelation on the mountain in Galilee, 
 when they were told to go and make disciples of 
 all nations, they still appear to have thought that 
 
TJie Last Words. 277 
 
 there must be some special advantage for the Jews. 
 
 And this restoration of the kingdom to Israel 
 probably meant in their minds not only freedom 
 from the Roman domination and a restoration of 
 the glories of the kingdom as in the days of David 
 and Solomon, but something more ; perhaps a 
 consummation of all those glorious prophecies 
 throughout the Old Dispensation which pointed 
 to the days of the Messiah, and to which they, 
 like the Jews before them, were giving a temporal 
 and local significance. 
 
 They felt that they were on the very eve of a 
 great revelation of their Master's power and glory, 
 and with hearts fired with patriotism they asked, 
 in no mere spirit of idle curiosity, but rather 
 prompted by hope, whether this revelation of their 
 glorified Lord would not be the occasion of the 
 complete establishment of that Messianic kingdom 
 to which every Jew had looked forward as the 
 consummation of all that was glorious in the his- 
 tory of his nation. 
 
 Out of the fulness of His divine foreknowledge 
 our Lord might have answered directly in the 
 negative. But He did not. He rather takes the 
 opportunity to instruct them that such things are 
 in the hands of God alone ; that their duty is to 
 bear witness to Him, and that it is through such 
 witness that His Kingdom is to be established. 
 
 Our Lord's answer in this place reminds us of 
 
278 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 His similar answer in S. Mark : " But of that day 
 and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the An- 
 gels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but 
 the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray : 
 for ye know not when the time is " (S. Mark xiii., 
 
 32, 33)- 
 
 There He had been speaking to them of the end 
 
 of all things, of the coming of the Son of Man in 
 the clouds, with power and great glory, to estab- 
 lish His eternal kingdom ; and He warns them 
 that the time when this shall happen is hidden 
 from the knowledge of man in order that man may 
 be always watching, expecting, preparing for it. 
 
 Throughout His Ministry He seems to teach us 
 that it is not for us to pry with over-curious eyes 
 into divine mysteries, or to seek to know the 
 "when" of God's providences; rather we are 
 to be content to do our duty in the great present, 
 leaving the future to the loving hands of a merci- 
 ful God. 
 
 He tells them that it is not for them to know 
 * ' the times or the seasons ' ' ; but He again promises 
 them power through the coming upon them of the 
 HoivY Ghost. He tells them that for superhuman 
 knowledge they are not to look, although miracu- 
 lous powers will be granted to them for their work 
 and the confirmation of their teaching. 
 
 This power which they were to receive so 
 soon was to transform them, to enlighten them, 
 
The Last Words. 279 
 
 not that they should know all things, but that 
 they should be guided into all truth, — that they 
 might know all things that were necessary to 
 guide themselves and others in the ways of 
 God's appointment. 
 
 II. And then He ends by telling them of one 
 special purpose for which this power was to be 
 given — that they are to be witnesses of Him, 
 that they are to be His martyrs (J'aeadi /^ov 
 /xaprvpeg). 
 
 And what did this involve ? The showing forth 
 in themselves of His life. They had followed Him 
 through the trials of His Ministry, they had heard 
 His teaching, they had seen His miracles, they 
 had beheld His Death, they had been assured of 
 His Resurrection. Now they are to go out into 
 the world and witness to these things. 
 
 Not only are they to tell the story of His Life 
 and Death, with the eloquence which love for His 
 memory will beget ; but, after having received 
 the power of the Holy Ghost, they are to show 
 forth in their lives the effect of what they have 
 seen and heard. They are, as S. Paul writes to 
 the Corinthians of himself, to be ** always bearing 
 about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
 that the Life also of Jesus might be made mani- 
 fest in our body " (2 Cor. iv., 10). 
 
 How they fulfilled our Lord's command the 
 rest of the New Testament tells us. We find a 
 
28o Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 handful of weak, timid, and ignorant men, so 
 transformed through the power of the Holy 
 Ghost given them at Pentecost, as to become 
 stronger than all the powers which could be ar- 
 rayed against them ; bolder, more courageous than 
 the greatest heroes of history; and wiser than the 
 wisest philosophers the world has produced. 
 
 And all this strength and courage and wisdom 
 was directed to one great end, to the fulfilment of 
 our Lord's last command, — to witnessing to Him. 
 Wherever they went the topic of their preaching 
 was the same, JKSUS and the Resurrection, Jksus 
 Who died for our sins and rose again for our just- 
 ification. His Life, His Death, His Teaching, — 
 this was the theme of all their discourses. 
 
 It was as though those last words, "Ye shall 
 be My witnesses," were ever ringing in their ears, 
 and that last Vision of Him, as the cloud received 
 Him up out of their sight with His Hands raised 
 in benediction, ever before their eyes. 
 
 And this it was which enabled them to vSpeak 
 with words of such burning eloquence, not of an 
 historical Christ Whom once they had known. 
 Whose Life was beautiful and His Death pa- 
 thetic, but of a living, present Lord, Who had 
 said, '' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
 end of the world." 
 
 So they preached, and so they lived, that men 
 "took knowledge of them, that they had been 
 
TJie Last Words. 281 
 
 with Jksus " (Acts iv., 13). And when they 
 were persecuted and beaten and punished for their 
 witness, they departed " rejoicing that they were 
 counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name ' ' 
 (^Acts v., 41). 
 
 The effect of their testimony is among the 
 things which can be most clearly traced in the 
 history of the world. In every country, in every 
 clime, wherever the Cross has been planted and 
 the Gospel of Christ preached, there are the 
 fruits of the witness of Christ's Apostles. Well 
 has the prophecy of the Psalmist been fulfilled : 
 "Their sound is gone out into all lands: and 
 their words into the ends of the world" (Ps. 
 xix., 4). 
 
 III. But it is not for us merely to admire the 
 splendid heroism of our Lord's Apostles, merely 
 to observe the enormous powers conferred upon 
 them by the H01.Y Ghost as evidenced in their 
 changed lives after Pentecost, in order to do no 
 more than trace all these back to the thrilling 
 charge with which our Lord departed from them, 
 "Ye shall be My witnesses." For we must re- 
 member that the same words have been spoken 
 to us, the same Gift has been given to us, and 
 that it is the duty not only of the Priest of the 
 Church, but of every baptized member of it, to 
 bear witness to Christ. 
 
 And surely this is what is needed now, as it 
 
282 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 was needed in the apostolic age. Then all the 
 forces of the world were arrayed against Christi- 
 anity, but the power of a handful of ignorant 
 men, that is, the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 which was in them — was sufficient to conquer all 
 opposition, to overcome all difficulties, and to 
 convert the world. 
 
 And while we are inclined to say, and perhaps 
 with some reason, that our lot is cast in evil times, 
 that the age in which we live is not an age of 
 faith ; yet the difficulties we have to meet, the 
 obstacles we have to conquer are trifles compared 
 with those which confronted the Apostles. 
 
 We have the same charge, **Ye shall be My 
 witnesses." We have the same power, the prom- 
 ise of the Father, the Gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 If only we were to use it as the Apostles used it 
 — not merel}^ in talking about the teachings of 
 Christ, but in bearing witness in our own lives 
 to the power of Christ — how glorious would be 
 the result ! 
 
 What is it that the world needs? Scarcely 
 theological discussion, for we have a very Babel 
 of religious speculation all round us to-day. 
 What the world needs is the example of Christ- 
 like lives, the witness of men who believe in 
 Christ and His teaching ; not merely as an in- 
 tellectual conclusion for which they are ready to 
 argue, perhaps even with bitterness; but as a 
 
The Last Words. 283 
 
 moral convictiou, for which they are ready to live, 
 and if need be to die. 
 
 An earnest life, not a brilliant argument, is the 
 force by which the world is to be converted to- 
 day, as it was converted in the early ages of 
 Christianity. 
 
 How are we to bear witness ? Surely by com- 
 paring our lives with the pattern put before us 
 by our Blessed Lord, and striving to conform 
 ourselves more and more to His example. 
 
 Let us not read the words of the text and try 
 merely to estimate their effect upon the Apostles ; 
 but let us consider them as addressed to ourselves, 
 and strive to show forth their power in our lives. 
 After that we have received the gift of the H01.Y 
 Ghost, we must be His witnesses. 
 
 We have received the power in Baptism, in 
 Confirmation. How are we fulfilling the charge 
 of bearing witness to Christ ? The words of the 
 last charge of our Blessed Master should ring in 
 our ears. The power throbs, as it were, in our 
 souls. The Vision of His Ascension, with His 
 arms upraised in blessing, should be present to 
 our sight ; and then how changed our lives would 
 be, how great their effect upon the world in which 
 we live ! 
 
XXII. 
 THK APPKARANCK TO S. PAUI.. 
 
 ** AND I.AST OF AI,I. HE WAS SKKN OF MB ALSO, 
 AS OF ONE BORN OUT OF DUE TIME." 
 
 I Cor. XV. y 8. 
 
 OUR lyORD's last appearance after His Resur- 
 rection ! It was altogether unique in 
 regard to time and circumstances, as well 
 as in its far-reaching effects, both to S. Paul and 
 to the Christian Church at large. 
 
 A considerable time had elapsed since our 
 Blessed Lord's Ascension. The cloud had re- 
 ceived Him out of the sight of the gazing Apos- 
 tles, and they expected not to see Him again 
 until, as He Himself had prophesied, and as the 
 Angels foretold. He should come ** in like man- 
 ner," that is, *' in a cloud with power and great 
 glory " (S. Luke xxi., 27). 
 
 But there was to be one more bodily appear- 
 ance, and that last manifestation so strange, and 
 fraught with such enormous consequences to the 
 world, that we may well say that it was in some 
 
 284 
 
TJie Appearance to S. Paul. 285 
 
 sense the greatest of the manifestations of the 
 risen lyORD. 
 
 The other appearances had been to those who 
 knew, and loved, and belicvedin our Lord; unless, 
 indeed, we accept the theory of S. James's want 
 of faith. This was to one who probably had 
 never seen our Lord in the flesh, and who neither 
 loved nor believed in Him ; but was, indeed, His 
 sworn foe and, at the very moment of our Lord's 
 manifestation of Himself to him, was engaged in 
 the work of persecuting His followers. 
 
 I. It is impossible to fix accurately the time of 
 S. Paul's conversion ; some writers, such as Ram- 
 say, placing the event as earl}^ as a.d. 33, while 
 the majorit^^ would probabl}^ agree with Fouard in 
 thinking that it occurred about four years later. 
 
 The circumstances are so well known that we 
 need scarcely do more than touch upon them. 
 In the sixth and seventh chapters of the Acts 
 of the Apostles we find described with excep- 
 tional vividness the story and scene of S. Stephen's 
 splendid defence and glorious martyrdom. 
 
 In the ninth chapter we are introduced to a 
 member of the Sanhedrim who had consented to 
 S. Stephen's death, and had, perhaps, been one 
 of the foremost among his persecutors ; of whom 
 indeed, we are told, that he was the young man 
 at whose feet the witnesses laid down their clothes 
 when they stoned Stephen. 
 
286 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 S. Luke tells us that this young doctor of the 
 law, whose name was Saul, had started on the 
 road to Damascus, with the intention of seeking 
 there for Christian converts, that he might bring 
 them, whether men or women, bound unto Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 Then in a few graphic words S. Luke (who 
 afterwards became this young man's friend and 
 travelling companion, and doubtless heard many 
 times from his own lips the details of the event 
 which he describes) tells us of an experience 
 which, while in its literal sense it is altogether 
 without a parallel, yet became the pattern of our 
 Lord's dealing from time to time, and under ex- 
 ceptional circumstances, with other favoured 
 souls. 
 
 The incident is described in the following 
 words : ** As he journeyed, he came near Damas- 
 cus : and suddenly there shined round about him 
 a light from Heaven : and he fell to the earth, 
 and heard a Voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, 
 why persecutest thou Me ? And he said, Who 
 art Thou, Lord ? And the Lord said, I am 
 Jesus Whom thou persecutest : it is hard for thee 
 to kick against the pricks. And he trembling 
 and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have 
 me to do? And the Lord said unto him. Arise, 
 and go into the city, and it shall be told thee 
 what thou must do" (Acts ix., 3-7). 
 
The Appearance to S. Paul. 287 
 
 The dazzling light, the thrilling Voice, the 
 solemn question, all bring before us a scene in its 
 fulness quite unique, as we have said, in Christian 
 experience, and yet more or less the tj'pe of every 
 true conversion. The glorious light, so far be- 
 yond the splendour of the noonday sun, blinded 
 Saul ; ' * and when his eyes were opened, he saw 
 no man . . . and he was three days without 
 sight" (vv. 8, 9). 
 
 II. What a contrast ! From brightest light to 
 pitchy darkness ! And yet how w^onderful and 
 how fruitful must have been that darkness ! 
 With all the world shut out and the eyes of the 
 soul turned inward, with the recollection of the 
 Vision, with the words still ringing in his ears, 
 those three days of darkness must have been the 
 retreat in which S. Paul thought out and faced 
 all that was involved in his conversion, in which 
 he thought out and grasped the meaning of our 
 lyORD's words to him. 
 
 lyCt us strive to enter into S. Paul's thoughts 
 as he considered, during those three days of 
 darkness and solitude and fasting, all the conse- 
 quences of the act of self-surrender which he had 
 made when, without a moment's hesitation, he 
 said, ** Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " 
 
 i. On the side of encouragement, there were 
 the possibilities which that Vision for the first 
 time suggested, but of which he had never 
 
288 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 dreamed. There were awakened in him hopes of 
 a world beyond, in which the craving of his soul 
 should be satisfied by the possession throughout 
 eternity of Him the very sight of Whom had 
 won his love and transformed his whole life. 
 
 ii. But then, on the other hand, there came 
 before him the enormous sacrifices which his 
 chaiige of faith involved : the stultifying of all 
 his past life ; the destruction of his hopes and 
 ambitions ; the loss of all his friends ; the sur- 
 render of the prejudices and beliefs of a lifetime, 
 with forfeiture of everything that would be dear 
 to a man like S. Paul. The sacrifice demanded 
 was indeed tremendous. 
 
 iii. Again, in those daj's of darkness he faced 
 the probable future, with its hardships and evils 
 and cares. He saw the stupendous work to be 
 done, and the entire absence of visible means for 
 its accomplishment. He saw that he would have 
 to strive almost alone against the world, his only 
 allies being a few unlearned fishermen and Gali- 
 lean peasants. The most brilliant leader among 
 the Christians, so far as he knew, had been put 
 to death, and with his aid. 
 
 iv. We should not be able to comprehend at all 
 fully what these vSacrifices involved, if we did not 
 take into account the temperament of S. Paul, 
 which so greatly intensified his appreciation of the 
 difficulties before him. 
 
TJie Appearance to S. Paul. 289 
 
 For S. Paul was a great example of the melan- 
 cholic temperament which, while on the one hand 
 it made him exquisitely sensitive and greatly 
 enhanced his sufferings, on the other hand gave 
 him an intellectual grasp of his position which 
 showed him in the clearest light all its difficulties. 
 
 Had S. Paul been a man of sanguine tempera- 
 ment, like S. Peter, w^e can understand that he 
 would have thought only of the glories which the 
 Vision had revealed to him, and, dazzled by their 
 splendour, would have been blind for the time to 
 all obstacles and dangers. 
 
 But with S. Paul it was not so. While he re- 
 alized the magnificent future which had been 
 opened to him, while he did not underrate one 
 whit the dignity of being a follower of JKSUS, yet 
 he also saw, with a keenness of vision that few 
 possessed, all the difficulties which lay in his 
 path. 
 
 V. Then there was also the possible doubt, not 
 whether he should obey the call — about that he 
 never hesitated after he uttered the words, 
 " lyORD, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " — but 
 whether he would be sufficient for these things. 
 For as yet, we must remember, he had no experi- 
 ence of the power of Divine grace ; he knew no 
 one w^ho had passed through the same trial on 
 whom he could look as an example. 
 
 Having, however, counted the cost, he gave 
 
290 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 himself altogether to Christ ; and his after life 
 shows us that there was no looking back, no 
 further hesitation. Henceforth his motto was, 
 ' ' This one thing I do, forgetting those things 
 which are behind, and reaching forth unto those 
 things which are before, I press toward the mark 
 for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jesus " (Phil, iii., 13, 14). 
 
 III. S. Paul realized, to some extent at least, 
 the consequences to himself involved in the ac- 
 ceptance of our Lord's call. But how little (we 
 may suppose) did he think of the consequences to 
 the world ! 
 
 We, from our post of vantage, can better esti- 
 mate them, and yet we do not see them in all 
 their fulness. As we look back we see churches 
 founded, souls converted, ecclesiastical difficul- 
 ties and disorders of the infant Church met, and 
 by his large-hearted wisdom to a great extent 
 overcome. We also possess those writings, which 
 have been a light to the Church of all ages ; and 
 that teaching of the doctrine of Divine grace, 
 which is in a special sense S. Paul's contribution 
 to the theolog}^ of the Christian Church ! And 
 then, too, there is that marvellous analysis of 
 the human soul in its life of struggle and temp- 
 tation, which is the basis of so much in ascetic 
 theology, and the help of so many in the guid- 
 ance of souls ! 
 
The Appearance to S. Paul. 291 
 
 In estimating the effect upon the Christian 
 Church of S. John's life of patient waiting and 
 meditation, we tried to think what would be the 
 loss if his Gospel, the great fruit of that life, were 
 taken away from the Church. In the same way, 
 perhaps, we may best understand the effects of S. 
 Paul's conversion upon the world by endeavour- 
 ing to realize how much poorer the Church 
 would be in her dogmatic, moral, and ascetical 
 theology, if we had not S. Paul's Epistles to be 
 our guide in these three important departments 
 of the Church's teaching. 
 
 IV. We have been studying our Lord's ap- 
 pearances after His Resurrection, not only that 
 we ma)^ trace their effects upon those to whom He 
 made Himself manifest, but also that we may 
 learn from each case some lesson to help us in 
 life in this w^orld, which is but a preparation for 
 the great Eastertide of eternity. And perhaps 
 it is not too much to say that from no one of our 
 Lord's Easter revelations to individuals can we 
 learn more than from this appearance to S. Paul 
 in the way to Damascus. 
 
 i. For we learn something of that strange ex- 
 perience of every faithful soul which we describe 
 under the term ' * conversion . " It is a word which 
 has often been perverted in its use, but which the 
 Church, nevertheless, cannot afford to lose. It 
 implies nothing more than the turning of the will 
 
292 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 to God ; and of course, when the will turns to God 
 it means the turning of the whole being to Him. 
 There are several mistakes about conversion, espe- 
 cially as the term is used by Sectarians, which it 
 may be well briefly to notice. 
 
 (i) It is often confused with "regeneration." 
 Conversion is the act of man ; regeneration is the 
 gift of God. It is true that man cannot turn to 
 God unless by His preventing grace God puts into 
 man's heart the desire to turn to Him. But re- 
 generation has nothing to do with this. It is a 
 special " grace " given by God of His own good- 
 ness (through the medium of a definite Sacrament, 
 Baptism), which man cannot in any sense merit, 
 but by which the recipient is incorporated into 
 Christ, and made a child of God by adoption 
 and an inheritor of Heaven. 
 
 (2) Again, some think that there is only one way 
 of being converted, that is, suddenly and with in- 
 tense emotion. But there are gradual as well as 
 sudden conversions, for the Holy Spirit does 
 not work in all souls alike ; and while among the 
 Saints we find many instances of conversion which 
 remind us of S. Paul's, we also find not a few 
 whose conversion was most gradual. 
 
 (3) Another mistake is the supposition that con- 
 version is everything. It is really only the first 
 step, and, if we stop there, it is of no value. It is 
 of no use to turn to God and stand still. We 
 
The Appearance to S. Paul. 293 
 
 must follow our Lord ; and this implies ad- 
 vance. 
 
 When S. Paul was converted, he tells us himself 
 that he pressed forward to the mark for the prize. 
 And we know that it did not exempt him from re- 
 ceiving the Sacraments of the Church, for we are 
 expressly told that Ananias was sent to baptize him. 
 
 (4) A fourth mistake is the notion that we can be 
 converted 07ily once^ whereas we need conversion 
 every time we turn away from God ; and in the 
 history of almost every spiritual life more than one 
 conversion can be distinctly traced. 
 
 Indeed, it is a principle of spiritual life that 
 there are usually at least two conversions : the 
 one from sin to self, when the soul wakes up to 
 its own possibilities and serves God largely for 
 His gifts ; the other from self to God, when the 
 soul realizes that it cannot rest in gifts but mUvSt 
 find its end only in the Giver, God. 
 
 ii. We learn, too, from S. Paul's history, the 
 great test of our conversion, v/hich is a desire to 
 obey God. S. Paul's first question was, "I^ord, 
 what wilt Thou have me to do ? " And his after 
 life shows us how thoroughly he fulfilled the 
 promise of obedience which this implied. 
 
 (i) It would be well for us often to ask ourselves 
 whether we desire unreservedly to keep all God's 
 commandments, and that all God's Will should 
 be done in us and by us ; for if we find that this 
 
294 Eastertide Addresses, 
 
 is our case, we may be sure that our will is turned 
 absolutely to God. 
 
 If, however, we are willing to keep only some 
 of His commandments, and not all of them ; if, 
 indeed, there be but one which we neither desire 
 nor intend to keep, then our will is averted from 
 God, and we need conversion. 
 
 Even those who are living earnest lives require 
 very often to direct their wills anew to God ; for 
 though they have started with the intention of 
 surrendering themselves wholly to His service, 
 the attraction of the creatures of this world is 
 very liable to divert the will from its straightfor- 
 ward course to God. 
 
 (2) If this complete obedience to God's Will 
 seems to demand of us too great a sacrifice, we 
 must remember that another test (or rather effect) 
 of true conversion, which goes with obedience, is 
 the spirit of trustfulness in God. 
 
 A really converted soul finds no more difficulty 
 in trusting God than a little child does in trusting 
 its earthly father ; and our Blessed Lord Himself 
 has told us, "Except ye be converted, and be- 
 come as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
 Kingdom of Heaven " (S. Matt, xviii., 3) ; where 
 He associates conversion with the possession of a 
 childlike spirit. 
 
 The two most prominent virtues which belong 
 to childhood are obedience and trustfulness. If, 
 
The Appearance to S. Paul. 295 
 
 then, our conversion has made us like little chil- 
 dren, we shall have no difficulty in taking God 
 for our God and our Father ; and not only obey- 
 ing Him, but trusting Him to give us the strength 
 to accomplish what He commands. 
 
 We shall have the spirit of David, the man 
 after God's own heart, who could say of God, 
 * ' The Lord is my Shepherd ; therefore can I lack 
 nothing." 
 
 We find this trustfulness in S. Paul, both at 
 the time when he asked the convert's question, 
 " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" and 
 throughout his whole life. 
 
 iii. Another most valuable lesson which we 
 may learn from S. Paul's conversion is the im- 
 portance of counting the cost when we really give 
 ourselves to Christ ; that we may not only turn 
 our wills to God, but that we maj^ follow our 
 Lord in the narrow way which leads to eternal 
 life. 
 
 We read of a man who came to our Blessed 
 Lord during His Ministry on earth, and said, 
 " Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou 
 goest." And our Lord said to him, " Foxes 
 have holes, and birds of the air have nests ; but 
 the Son of Man hath not where to lay His Head ' ' 
 (S. Lukeix., 57, 58). 
 
 Here we have one who was attracted to our 
 Lord, was turned towards Him, converted, so to 
 
296 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 speak, and who in the enthusiasm of his conver- 
 sion made a great offer, " I will follow Thee 
 whithersoever Thou goest." Our Blessed Lord 
 does not reject the offer, but puts plainly before him 
 the hardships and trials which it involves, by- 
 telling him of the homeless condition of the Son 
 of Man, Who had not where to lay His Head. 
 
 We maj^ learn, as perhaps the most important 
 lesson of S. Paul's conversion, the cause of the 
 failure to persevere which we observe in the case 
 of so many who have started well in their spirit- 
 ual life. 
 
 It is not that they were not in earnest at the 
 time of their first conversion to God, but that 
 they did not stop to consider the consequences of 
 their conversion. And so, when difficulties and 
 obstacles and temptations met them in their spirit- 
 ual life, they became disheartened and gave up 
 the struggle. 
 
 The three days of blindness during which S. 
 Paul was left all alone, were devoted to the con- 
 sideration not only of the Vision which he had 
 seen and the Voice which he had heard, but of the 
 consequences involved in obeying Christ's call. 
 
 It is something like this that most men need at 
 the beginning of their spiritual life, and, indeed, 
 not only at the beginning but continually from 
 time to time ; something in the way of a Re- 
 treat, when being alone with God they can really 
 
The Appearance to S. Paul. 297 
 
 think out in His Presence what it is that God 
 calls them to do, all that is involved in obedience 
 to that call — not that they may reject it, but that 
 they may accept it prepared for whatever difficul- 
 ties may meet them in following Christ. 
 
 V. May we not fitly conclude these Eastertide 
 thoughts by asking ourselves some such questions 
 as these : 
 
 i. Have we ever realized the glorioics possibilities 
 involved in God's loving call to serve Him ? Have 
 we ever thought of what we might become, what 
 we might do, if we were indeed to consecrate all 
 our faculties to GOD ? 
 
 We build many castles in the air in connection 
 with this life. Have we ever earnestly thought 
 over the possibilities of the life to come in the 
 Presence of God in Heaven, if we were now to 
 develop all the powers of our nature in accord- 
 ance with God's gracious purpose for us ? 
 
 ii. Then, again, have we reall}^ tried to estimate 
 the sacrifices which perhaps God may demand 
 from us ? That is, have w^e counted the cost, 
 considered the difficulties which we may have to 
 meet, the trials which we may have to bear, the 
 temptations which we may have to overcome ? 
 
 iii. Can we really say to God, "Lord, what 
 wilt Thou have me to do ?" — having counted the 
 cost, and being ready to do what He tells us, trust- 
 ing to His grace to enable us to do it ? 
 
298 Eastertide Addresses. 
 
 If our trials and temptations seem very great, 
 let us turn back to Good Friday, and lift our eyes 
 to the Cross once more, and see what Je:sus did, 
 and bore, and suffered for us ; and then ask our- 
 selves if any sacrifice can be too great for us to 
 make if we really love Him. 
 
 Eastertide, as it comes round year by year, 
 shows us in our Lord's risen Life something of 
 the glories and possibilities of our own ; and as 
 Eastertide passes away it calls us, in this last ap- 
 pearance of our Lord to S. Paul, to raise our 
 eyes from earth to Heaven, where our Lord is 
 now reigning ; and to resolve that all our life here 
 shall be spent in the preparation and development 
 of the powers of our immortal soul, that they may 
 have their full beatitude and fruition in the glori- 
 ous Eastertide of eternity. 
 
 THE KND. 
 
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