V IH m * LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, mmu dqttjnggt Jf a. M4S UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. $k m ■f^rfs,'-.-: ;^i Klli Sermons On the Gospels SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR LAY READERS. For the Sundays and Holy Days, Trinity to Advent. ^ OF COtfty JUN 22 1895 MILWAUKEE, WIS.: 3 OS' The young Churchman Co. 1895. The Library op Congress WASHINGTON COPYRIGHT BY The Young Churchman Co. 1895. I Publishers' Preface. THE Publishers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the distinguished Bishops and Presbyters of the Church who have so willingly and satisfactorily contributed to this volume of Sermons on the Gospels,* for the use of Lay Readers. The publication is an experiment, but it is believed that such a volume, by American' Clergy, will be appreciated by those who have occasion to make use of the material furnished. This volume completes one half of the Christian Year; a further volume will follow, to cover the remaining portion of the year, if the result from the sale of the present book proves the desire for the completion of the series. * There are three exceptions, otherwise each Sermon is on the Gospel for the Day. Table of Contents. Trinity Sunday. By the Bishop of Pittsburgh 9 First Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. Jos. L. Tucker, D.D. , Rector of Christ Church, Mobile, Ala 20 Second Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. H. B. Restarick, Rector of St. Paul's Church, San Diego, Cal 31 Third Sunday after Trinity. By the Ven. G. Mott Williams, Archdeacon of Northern Michigan 39 Fourth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. H. B. St. George, Jr., Canon of All Saints' Cathedral, Milwaukee 49 Fifth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. Wm. Galpin, Rector of St. John's Church, Elkhart, Ind 56 Sixth Sunday after Trinity. By the Bishop of Milwaukee 66 Seventh Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. E. W. Hunter, Rector of St. Anna's Church, New Orleans 78 Eighth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. C. S. Sargent, Dean of Grace Cathedral, Indianapolis 91 Ninth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. S. N. Watson, D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, Iowa City, Iowa 102 Tenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. D. W. Dresser, S. T.D. , Rector of Emmanuel Church, Champaign, 111 112 Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. R. F. Sweet, S.T.D., Rector of Trinity Church, Rock Island, 111 122 Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. A. W. Mann, General Missionary to Deaf Mutes 131 Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. J. W. Gilman, Rector of Emmanuel Church, Racine, Wis 140 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. D. D. Chapin, Rector of Church of the Nativity, Maysville, Ky 152 Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. D. C. Peabody, Rector of Trinity Church, Mobile, Ala 160 Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. W. H. Moore, Dean of the Cathedral, Quincy, 111 168 Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. W. E. Toll, Rector of Christ Church, Waukegan, 111 178 Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Bishop of Nevada and Utah 187 Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. Thos. Burry, Rector of Trinity Church, Pass Christian, Miss 194 Twentieth Sunday* after Trinity. By the Rev. H. M. Chit- tenden, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Alton, 111 204 Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. Chas. Scad- ding, Rector of Trinity Church, Toledo, Ohio 216 Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Rector of Trinity Church, Atchison, Kan 221 Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. J. W. Ban- croft, General Missionary, Western Michigan 229 Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity. By the Rev. M. M. Moore, Rector of St. John's Church, Springfield, Mo. 239 Sunday next before Advent. By the Rev. J. J. Faude, Rector of Gethsemane Chttrch, Minneapolis, Minn 247 St. Barnabas' Day. By the Rev. L. D. Hopkins, Rector of Grace Church, Sheboygan, Wis 254 St. John Baptist's Day. By the Rev. Y. Peyton Morgan, Rector of St. John Evangelist Church, St. Paul, Minn. 263 St. Peter's Day. By the Rev. A. Sidney Dealey, Rector of St. Luke's Church, Jamestown, N. Y 270 St. James' Day. By the Rev. F. W. Keator, Rector Church of the Atonement, Chicago 279 TABLE OF CONTENTS. The Transfiguration. By the Rev. A. C. Haverstick, Rector of St. John's Church, Frostburg, Md 290 St. Bartholomew's Day. By the Rev. E. J. Harper, Rector of Fort William, Ontario 299 St. Matthew's Day. By t^e Rev. J. W. Babcock, Rector of St. Mary's Church, Mitchell, S. D 310 St. Michael and All Angels. By the Yen. F. W. Taylor, D.D., Rector St. Paul's Church, Springfield, 111 318 St. Luke's Day. By the Rev. A. J. Graham, Rector of St. Mark's Church, Washington, D. C 329 SS. Simon and Jude. By the Rev. D. F. Davies, Rector of Grace Church, Mansfield, Ohio 336 All Saints' Day. By the Bishop of Vermont 345 St. Andrew's Day. By the Rev. Carroll M. Davis, Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, Mo 357 TRINITY SUNDAY. The Holy Trinity Revealed in Christ.* Text : He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father —St. John, xiv. 9. By the Rt. Rey. Cortlandt Whitehead, S.T.D., Bishop of Pittsburgh. IT is said that the Doctrine of the Trinity is much less preached about than it used to be fifty years ago. Not that the Church holds it less strongly, not that it is any the less the foundation of all true theol- ogy, not that the multitude misbelieve it any more than formerly. But this is a practical age; and the minds of preachers and hearers turn more naturally towards ethics than towards the bare statements of theology, and the doctrine of the Trinity is thought of in these days as a practical every-day truth, to be interpreted by daily living. The persecution of mis- believers has become a thing of the past ; the search- ing out of heresy has, for the most part, ceased ; and men are not tested now by their dogmatic statement of the doctrine, but rather by their every day life and conversation. If belief in the Father be avowed, and the example of the Son be followed, it is assumed * I have endeavored in this sermon to simplify for the use of Lav Readers much that others have written, not to originate new lines of argument. — C. W. 10 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. that both avowal and conduct attest the presence and influence of the Spirit. And yet, one cannot fail to see that in this appar- ent carelessness of dogmatic statement entire ship- wreck would be made of the Faith, did not the Church continually repeat her Gloria Patri, her Te Deutn and her Creed. No liturgical Church can be- come Socinian or Unitarian, because the continual repetition of Creed and Gloria fastens the faith of even the most indifferent, and, however some may drift away, the multitude are safely moored. So, too, the influence of this Festival is verv weighty. The annual recurrence of a day on which the doctrine is broadly asserted, and (even if not carefully proved, is nevertheless) impressed upon the minds of hundreds of thousands of people — what strength there is in such an observance, and how without peradventure such a Festival, universally kept throughout the world, must be to the glory of the great Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost ! So the doctrine of the Trinity does not force its way into the recognition of the generations as they come, but gently, by simple repetition of familiar words, and by the brightness of this annual feast, gains its place in their hearts, and, unconsciously to themselves, gives strength to their Christian lives, and consistence to their faith. It is a favorite argument with those who assault the doctrine of the Trinity that it is manifestly ab- surd. How can one be three, and three be one? Ab- surd, indeed, if the three and the one be used in the same sense ; so absurd that no one could possibly be- lieve it. But let us consider the matter, even at the TRINITY SUNDA Y. 11 risk of going over well-worn and well-known ground. I make no apology for using on this subject the reasoning and sometimes the very words of others.* First of all, let us distinctly understand that when Ave say Three Persons we^ are immediately misled by the words we use. When Ave talk of Personality, our idea is of a being bounded by space ; and then, to say in this sense that Three Persons are One, and One is Three, is simply contradictory and absurd. The dis- tinction in the Trinity is not physical, but meta- physical. To use a material illustration, it is not three things in one thing, it is three essential qualities of one thing. Just as every substance has, and must have, size, shape and color, so in His very nature, God in His unity has a distinct Fatherhood, a distinct Sonship, and a distinct Spirit. Color is not shape, shape is not size, size is not color ; they are three dis- tinct qualities, and yet they all form one unity, one single conception, one idea. Let us take an illustration from animate nature. The lower in the scale any being is, the simpler its unity; the mollusk, so far as we know, has scarcely more sensation or activity than an inorganic body ; the lower animals give evidence of the possession of qualities which only in the higher animals attain to a measure of perfection ; until in the horse, the ele- phant, the sagacious dog, the unity of their being is no longer simple and low, but noble and manifold. And when Ave look into man's nature, how mar- vellous is the trinity of Body, Soul and Spirit, each one necessary to the complete idea of manhood, three * F. W. Robertson. Sermons. Third Series. Also J. H. Newman. Parochial Sermons. 12 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. parts to the one man, the one man duly manifested only by the three. Until we can understand our brother man, whom we can see, let us not denounce as impossible and absurd the revelation of God, whom we cannot see. Again, looking at the spiritual part of man, the part which differentiates him from other terrestrial beings, writers on this subject have been wont to take as an analogy the will, the affections, and the thoughts of man. His will is not his affections, neither are his affections his thoughts, and it would be imperfect and incomplete to say that these are mere qualities in the man. They are separate con- sciousnesses, as distinct and as really sundered as it is possible for three things to be, yet bound together by one unity of consciousness. The anatomist can tell you, also, where these several powers of the mind have their centers or seats ; so that there are in the mind of man three distinct localities of three distinct qualities, personalities, consciousnesses; yet all these three are one. Once more, the act that a man does, is done by one particular part of the man. You may say it was a work of his genius, or of his fancy ; it may have been a manifestation of his love, or an exhibition of his courage ; yet that work was the work of the whole man. Somewhat thus, special works are attributed to certain personalities of the Deity, the work of redemption attributed to one, the work of sanctifica- tion to another. And yet, the whole Deity is engaged in the work attributed to one essential Personality. From all which we may learn (not to understand the doctrine of the Trinity, but) that the doctrine of TRINITY SUNDAY. 13 the Trinity is not irrational. On the contrary, we perceive that it is eminently rational. Man is the best illustration of it, and most naturally , because he was made in the image of God. And from these con- siderations we maintain that the higher we ascend in the scale of being, the law of unity implies and de- mands in all higher creations a manifold unity, and that "grandness either in man or in God must be a unity of manifoldness." Nay, more, the unity of the Infinite God must be so far beyond our ken, that the incomprehensibility of the doctrine of the Trinity is rather in its favor than against it. Nevertheless, I can somewhat understand it by study of my own being. Conscious of my own personality in the dis- tinct consciousness of my mind, being personal in my will, my affections, my thoughts, I have a hint of the truth in the infinitely higher nature of God, whose personality, intensified in every quality, character- istic, or consciousness, would make the natural ex- pression of His Being to be " Manifold Personalities in one God." We know how strongly marked is the personality of a strong character, so that everything such a per- son says, or does, bears the impress of his nature. We read here what he has written thousands of miles away, and we say, that is himself, his method of ex- pression, his mode of thought, his trick of style. His personality has passed over to the written or printed page. So in an infinitely exalted way must it be with God ; His attributes, His acts, His thoughts, are in- stinct with personality, with the intensity of His positive exhaustless life, the source of all being. All that He is, is Himself, and nothing short of Himself; 14 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. His attributes are He. Has He wisdom ? This does but mean that He is wisdom. Has He love? This does but mean that He is love. He is holy, and just, and true, and good, not in the way of qualities of His Essence, but holiness, justice, goodness, truth are all one and the self-same HE* Thus we catch a glimpse of His unity, and we can get some kind of an idea why, as regards men and their salvation, the God- head is revealed to us as a Tri-unity — three Persons in one Eternal God — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Happily for us, the precise statement of the doc- trine is not the key to everlasting life. Neither our Lord nor His Apostles have specifically laid down the terms of its announcement. And yet our Master bids all His converts to be baptized into the Name of the Triune God, to be made members of that household in which the Love of God the Father, and the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, are pledged and given ; and we have it on His own authority that "this is life eternal: to know God" — to have the knowledge of the Deity. " The knowledge of God, " says one, " is the blessed- ness of man. To know God and to be known bv Him, to love God and to be loved by Him, is the most precious treasure which this life has to give ; properly speaking, the only knowledge ; for all knowledge is valuable only so far as it converges toward, and ends in, the knowledge of God, and enables us to acquaint ourselves with God, and be at peace with Him." Now, the doctrine of the Trinity is the sum of all * J. H. Newman. Parochial Sermons. TRINITY SUNDAY. 15 that knowledge which has, as yet, been gained by men. But I do not, and cannot, understand it. I can accept it by faith. I can see that it is not irra- tional. I can comprehend the practical and logical necessity for the doctrine, 4 but how can it gain for me the knowledge of God ? If eternal life consists in that knowledge, how shall I attain unto it, and thus be saved ? To all these inquiries the text gives blessed answer : 4i He that hath seen Me," said Christ, "hath seen the Father/ ' The manifoldness of Unity in the God- head has graciously been compressed, as it were, into the form of humanity ; the abstract has become the concrete; the invisible has assumed visibility. "No man hath seen God at any time, the Only Be- gotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him," and we may behold "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We have, then, a refuge in our perplexity; when words mislead, facts will give assurance ; when doc- trine seems unprofitable, the personal Christ leads the way to light and to knowledge. How often did our Lord direct His disciples to this thought! To them He had given no instruction as to the doctrine of the Trinity. They knew of the Fa- ther, the one Jehovah, Creator and Preserver of His people ; they saw in their Master the marvellous man and teacher who claimed to be (in astounding myste- riousness of terms) at once Son of God and Son of Man. He had made promises — to them obscure — of a coming Divine Spirit, who should direct and guide them. How perplexed they were, we may easily 16 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. imagine, and may detect very readily from the inter- ruptions and inquiries recorded as breaking in upon the Lord's discourse at the Last Supper and after- wards. " Who is this Son of Man?" they asked. "Lord, whither goest Thou? " " Why cannot I follow Thee now?" u We know not whither Thou goest, and how can we know the way? " "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." " How wilt Thou mani- fest Thyself unto us and not unto the world?" " What is this that He saith — 'a little while, a little while? ' — we know not what He saith." Now, amid all this inability to grasp His meaning, the Master persistently brought their thoughts back from all speculation to rest upon Himself. He was there present with them — very Man, bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh, their Friend, their Coun- sellor, their Elder Brother ; Him they could touch ; Him they could see; Him as a breathing, loving, sympathizing fellowman, they could believe in, trust and love, and, at least partially, understand. And He said, " He that believeth on Me, believeth on Him that sent Me ; he that beholdeth Me, beholdeth Him that sent Me; he that receive th Me, receiveth Him that sent Me. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me. Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip ? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father, and how say est thou then, Show us the Father? If a man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him." And so on, in many ways, but always with the TRINITY SUNDAY. 17 same truth, that through Him was the knowledge of the Father. Equally distinct was His announcement that through Him was to be sent the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, to abide with them forever, to lead them into all truth, to bring all things to their remem- brance, whatsoever He had said to them, to give them peace. So that the case is clear that not by the reasoning powers, not by speculation, not by dogmatic state- ment, but by experience of the heart, by the practical conduct of the life, through the high and heaven-born faculty of faith, is to come to men the knowledge of God, which is eternal life. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. " What a comfort this is in the mysteries of the faith! The Man Christ Jesus is the same, yester- day, to-day and forever. His humanity touches ours, and makes us akin to God, and God akin to us, and in Him we have the deepest and most blessed truth of revelation. "The Unitarian maintains a divine humanity, a blessed truth ; but there is a truth more blessed still, the humanity of Deity. Before the world was, there was that in the mind of God which we may call the humanity of His Divinity. It is called in Scripture the Word, the Son, the Form of God. It is in virtue of this that we have a right to attribute to Him our own feelings ; it is in virtue of this that Scripture speaks of His wisdom, His justice, His love. Love in God is what love is in man ; justice in God is what justice is in man ; creative power in God is what creative power is in man ; indignation in God is that which indignation is in men, barring only this, that the one is emotional, but the other is calm, 18 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. and pure, and everlastingly still. It is through this humanity in the mind of God, if I may dare to speak so of Deity, that a revelation becomes possible to man. It was the Word that was made flesh; it was the Word that manifested itself to man." * It is in virtue of the connection between God and man that God made man in His own image, that through a long line of prophets the human truth of God could be made known to man, till it came forth de- veloped most entirely and at large in the Incarnation of the Redeemer. And that this Redeemer proclaimed, and made actual, a still closer and more enduring re- lation in which God stands to us, whereby the exter- nal God and an external Christ become internal (as it were), "dwelling" in us, " formed" in us, blended by the operation of the Spirit with man's spiritual nature, so that man even becomes " partaker of the Divine nature," even as the Word had been, and re- mains, partaker of the human nature. On this feast of mystery let us not, then, be lost in speechless wonder, or in futile efforts to understand the mystery. All the rays of dazzling light of Deity are tem- pered and blended in Christ, the Man of men, of like nature with ourselves. Looking upon Him, we look upon God. In Him we have the knowledge of God. Enter into His fellowship, obey His commands, listen to His teachings, and to you shall come the assurance of sonship to the Father, for "He was manifested that He might make us the children of God, and heirs of the Father's inheritance." * F. W. Robertson. TEINITY SUNDAY. 19 Heed His teachings and ponder His words, and to you shall come (all unconsciously, it may be, but none the less surely) the peace and comfort of the Holy Ghost, who shall " guide you into the truth" and "make all consolation to abound towards you." The Son leads us by the hand of faith to the footstool of the true God, " whom to know is everlasting life ; " and the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts bids us look up with grateful recognition, while we say by tongue and life, "Abba, Father." The Man Christ Jesus has opened for us the way ; His hand points steadily towards the Father; while "the Spirit help- eth our infirmities, maketh intercession for us," and transforms us into Christ's image more and more as we gaze into His blessed human face. Through the Son we thus "have access by the Spirit unto the Father." The doctrine of the Trinity is not, then, a bald theological statement, but is full of life, and peace, and love, intimately connected with our daily lives, and with our hopes for the world to come ; and the Apostolic benediction is not mere tender sentiment, but of daily practical meaning for all who hold fast the Catholic Faith : "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and th # e fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all evermore. Amen." THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Parable of Dives and Lazarus. Text: But Abraham said, Son, remember. — St. Luke, xvi. 25. By the Rev. Joseph L. Tucker, D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Mobile, Alabama. PROBABLY no subject has ever so engrossed the thought of mankind as that of the condition of the soul after death. All the false religions have theories concerning the state and the circumstances of the disembodied spirit. Our literature is full of ro- mantic or dogmatic or imaginative inventions about the world to come. Innumerable speculations are hazarded about that world, and almost every man has a series of conjectures concerning it, and what shall be his own environment in it, which seem to him not only reasonable but almost as if they were ascer- tained truths. The great majority of men have formed such hypotheses of the life be3 r ond the grave ; and those who reject Christianity do so because of their own firm belief in the mental picture the}' have formed of that world, and the laws which govern it — in which picture they behold themselves in safety and at ease, in a life very much like this life ; or in a life which differs from this because of other reasons than sin and retribution. Authentic information about that world, then, should be very welcome to us, and should be carefully studied, in order that we may THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 21 have a sure basis for the conjectural superstructure which mental necessity will compel us to erect. The Church gives us, in the Gospel for today, the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Is this authentic in- formation ? We ask the question because the narra- tive does not pretend to be anything but a parable. But we note two things concerning the information contained in this parable. First, our Lord said to Nicodemus : " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen;" therefore, this parable is testimony based upon knowledge and sight of similar things. Second, our Lord's parables concerning this world were true pic- tures of events in this world; so true that all the world has adopted them. We all love the parable of the Prodigal Son ; it is true to life and to our own natures. The parables of the Sower, of the Tares of the Field, of the Two Debtors, of the Unmerciful Ser- vant, of the Good Samaritan, and of the Pharisee and the Publican praying in the Temple, are vivid pictures of things familiar to all of us. By these we are sure that His parables concerning the world to come are true pictures of that world. The Lord Jesus, in teaching by parable, did not throw any false gloss upon the circumstances of this world ; and He certainly did not throw any false gloss upon the circumstances of that world ; because, if He did, He was a false witness . Now, let us look at a few points in this parable. We have time only for a fragmentary consideration of the information it conveys. We have, then, a poor man who has missed all the good things of this life, but who is of such character that, at his death, the 22 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. angels have carried him to Paradise. He was a good man, a child of God, yet condemned to live a life of extreme and humiliating poverty, in physical pain and mental distress. We must confess that we see things like this all around us constantly. God made no effort to relieve this man's sufferings. He saw his tears, heard his moans, beheld the pitiful plight to which he was reduced when the dogs came and licked his sores — saw the contempt or indifference of the rich man and his friends, and yet made no movement to help him. An evil spirit, looking on, would have said that the dogs had more pity than God. But the Fa- ther, as Jesus represented Him, had no pleasure in suffering. This suffering, then, was permitted for an object; and the object is disclosed when Lazarus is carried to Paradise. An All-wise and All-powerful God must order each man's life in such wise that it is the best path for him to final happiness. Had the angels come earlier to Lazarus, bringing health and healing, they might have lost their better errand later. A lifetime of suffering was a small price to pay for Paradise. When we consider the rich man, a thousand thoughts arise. He was clothed in purple and fine linen, and hence thought much of his dress. He fared sumptuously, and hence thought much of his table. Nor was there harm in these, had he discharged the duties laid upon him by his station in life. His was a higher nature than the beggar's — certainly in some respects — for he did not need the discipline of suffer- ing that was essential to Lazarus. If our hairs are numbered, and not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father's knowledge, certainly the greater THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 23 things do not come by chance. We may infer, there- fore, that salvation would not have been possible — or, at least, not as possible — to Lazarus without his sufferings. Had the rich man needed poverty to make salvation possible, God would have sent him poverty ; else God is not infinite in love, knowledge, and power — not infinite in Fatherhood. Had Dives needed pain in addition, God would have sent him pain. The All-wise makes no mistakes in the deal- ings of His Providence. Perhaps poverty would have made the rich man a thief, a man of violence and blood. It was not his riches that condemned him. They gave him his best — perhaps his only — chance for salvation. The wealth God gave him brought him as near as God could bring him to eternal life. He and Lazarus stood an even chance, under the Provi- dence of God, for the life that follows death. So much God could do for them, and probably no more, without coercing their freedom of will. His power God could use so that one should not be handicapped beyond the other, nor one discouraged beyond the other. He makes no mistakes, and has no respect of persons. If He send wealth, it is because the rich man would perish if poor ; if He send poverty, it is because the poor man would perish if rich. The rich man may need the discipline of giving; if he do not give, then he defeats God's merciful purpose in grant- ing him riches. The poor man may need the disci- pline of patience and humility and submission ; if he refuse to be patient, but fills his soul with querulous complaining, then he, too, defeats God's merciful purpose. To God it is a small matter that any of us are rich or poor, but a great matter that we should 24 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. have eternal life* so to this end He arranges the workings of His Providence, and His answers to our prayers. Both men went down to death, and woke to find themselves fixed in eternity; the one in peace, the other in torment. How expressive is this word " tor- ment ! " Dives said : " I am tormented in this flame" The flame was not material fire, for material fire could not touch a spiritual being. The body of flesh, which alone could suffer from material flame, lay buried in the earth, turning again to its dust. The soul could pass through material fire, and never feel it or know it. Nor was the pain so extreme as ma- terial flame to a material body ; for, were a human body of flesh and blood thus shriveling and crackling and shrieking in material fire, there could be no pos- sibility of looking away to a distance to see two per- sons, to recognize who they were, the one by his appearance, the other by some mental process of reasoning, and to carry on a conversation, even an argument, with one of them concerning third per- sons. In such extremity of agonized pain as fire produces, we notice nothing, feel nothing, but the pain. But to spiritual beings, spiritual things are as real as material things are to us. And this torment was something which could be best described to us, who know nothing of spiritual things, by images which we could understand ; hence, it is called to us "flame." We must note here that pain is not visible to us. Many of us suffer keen pain for years, with no change of body, no lesion of tissues, no traceable cause or visible effect. Pain is invisible. It is a spiritual thing. We cannot define it, or describe it, THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 25 or explain it, or see it, or touch it, or weigh it, or measure it. It is impalpable, imponderable, invisible, immaterial ; and hence, spiritual. We notice that Dives was in this "torment" im- mediately after death. This is the word of the Lord Jesus; it is, therefore, truth. Lazarus w^as in the place of blessedness, beside that Abraham who was the "Friend of God." He was not in purgatory. The dogma that there is a purgatory, to which all the saved must go to have their sins purged aw^ay by fire is, therefore, not true. That Lazarus was carried by the angels immediately from earth to Paradise, is the word of the Lord Jesus, who said: " We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. 11 Dives seems to have been aware that there w^as no deliverance for him, since he asked only for a tem- porary relief. Surely his urgent and importunate cry would have been to be delivered from this place, to be taken out of this torment, had he not in some way known that it was not possible. It was a pitiful appeal that he made — for only a drop of water to cool his tongue. Not even this could be granted him. Whatever his sufferings were, they were a part of his condition, and must be borne with what fortitude he could muster. In the spiritual world, spiritual things are visible; and a man's own soul, a man's own character, the possibilities of it and the hopelessness of it,* become visible to himself when he lays aside the body of flesh. A man in this world knows that he cannot fly, that he cannot pass into or through a solid substance. In that world, the spiritual impossibili- ties — that he cannot change his will, or his affections, or his fixed character, and, therefore, cannot change 26 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. his condition — become equally plain to his conscious- ness. Thus, Dives did not ask for deliverance, but only for a drop of water. Abraham's answer is full of information of deep significance: " Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you y cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. " A great gulf fixed! This describes absolute impossibility. Dives knew that he himself could not mount upward out of that place, but evidently thought it possible for Lazarus to come to him. He perceived, also, that Lazarus would not suffer, being beyond the power of the "flame" which tormented him. Certainly Dives would not have expected Abraham to send Lazarus down into a flame which could have any effect upon him. But Lazarus could not come. It was a phy- sical impossibility to pass the gulf in either direction. Again. Dives in torment was much concerned about his family still living upon earth, and prayed that a warning be sent to his five brethren. He had, therefore, not changed in character from what he was on earth; he was still kindly to his friends, still affectionate to his equals, anxious to do good to his kinsmen and to save them from his own sad fate. It is, therefore, apparent that death, and even condem- nation after death, does not bring any change upon the character. Men have asked why Dives was con- demned, seeing there was so much good in him ? But we must remember to reason deductively : learn the facts, first, and then construct our theories upon them. Here is a man with a kind disposition to- wards his five brothers, who yet is in retributive THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 27 pain. This is the fact, the phenomenon which is pre- sented to us. The man is under condemnation, and it is, therefore, manifest that his kind disposition did not save him. His character brought him into retri- bution, even though that character contained these elements of kindliness and affection. The true ex- planation, however, is very simple. God had ap- pointed a certain definite way to obtain salvation, and Dives did not choose to avail himself of it ; he, therefore, did not obtain salvation. That is all. God knew all the facts, and He arranged the way to meet the facts. Dives preferred to trust to his own judg- ment; and, when he found out his error, it was too late, and there was nothing more to be said. Abraham refused to send Lazarus back into this world; not in this case because it was impossible, but because it would be useless. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per- suaded though one rose from the dead." How much more might it be said in our day : " If they believe not Moses nor the prophets, nor Christ the Son of God, nor the Apostles, nor the holy Church throughout all the world, the witnesses to the truth, neither will they be persuaded though the dead arose to testify." Truly, were the dead to return, the men who do not believe would assert that they had been buried alive, and would call their testimony the foolish visions of a trance. And if many came back, they would say it was a new process of nature. And more, hoping to come back themselves and thus to have a new chance for salvation, they would live this life out more wickedly, and with more desperate abandon- ment to evil, because of such hope. 28 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. " But Abraham said, 'Son, remember." Remem- ber what? Why, that Dives had in his lifetime re- ceived the good things of this world, and likewise all the opportunities that Lazarus or any one else had for salvation in the world to come; but that he had set aside all his opportunities, smiled at all his warn- ings, exhausted all his chances; and so, when death came, there was nothing left but to sink down into inevitable torment. "Son, remember." — What a ter- rible answer to an appeal for help ; what a terrible judgment passed upon a suffering soul ! Memory was left to Dives; — memory and reason and forecast and apprehension and affection and the capacity to suffer. No hint was given him of a final extinction ; but with Abraham's answer there settles upon him a dark cloud of utter hopelessness and despair, through which our eyes cannot penetrate. Alas for Dives ! Relying upon the truth of Jesus, who spake that which He knew, we feel that there is nothing to be done, no more to be said. There is nothing but suf- fering and despair underneath the cloud that hides Dives from our sight. But, men of to-day, the Lord Jesus told this par- able for our sakes! Are there not among us those who, when salvation is offered us, smile and decline? Forgiveness of sins and a complete pardon for the past, with the covenant and promise of God for eternity come within twenty paces of us, here, in this sanctuary of God ; and how often do we turn and walk awa} r , hardening our hearts and making another day of provocation? How often have we been before the altar, where the sacrifice was ready to be offered, where the mercy of God was read\ r to THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 29 descend, where the Ambassador was speaking words of entreaty, where God was waiting to make a covenant with us — when, too, we have felt our hearts strangely softened and have been conscious of the urging of an angel of God, and even of God Himself whispering to us, "Son, come up hither ;" so that we did almost, within ourselves, consent to be forgiven and saved — yet hardened our hearts and turned away, ah, how often! And what shall be the end of it all? Shall we, too, one day be in torment and complain? Shall we, too, hear a calm voice, pitiless in its statement of fact, say to us, "Son, Remember"? Remember what? Look look back and remember that we have never been so warned of a^^thing as of this thing. Look back and remember how often we smiled to ourselves and said, "That old story again!" Look back and remember how we avoided certain persons who frequently spake a word to us on this subject, crossing the street or turning aside to escape them ; and counting it a bore to be remined of our duty to Avar ds God and our own soul. Look back and remember how that sometimes we were angry and wondered that men had so little sense, or were so wanting in courtesy as to even name to us the possibility of a fate like this. Look back still further, and remember the teachings of childhood, the prayer learned at our mother's knee when we wereinnocent and loved God. See how, all our life long, we have steadily grown worse ; steadily grown more corrupt ; steadily capa- ble of greater and greater evil; steadily more con- temptuous of the warnings, like this, that have reached us. Nothing was left undone that could be 30 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. done to save us. Had one thing more been done at any time, or one word more been said, we would but have been the sooner hardened, and our fate the sooner made inevitable. We hardened our hearts by a perversity which none of our friends could understand, and which we, ourselves, cannot explain. Salvation became impossible to us, not because sal- vation changed or God changed, but because we changed — we, ourselves, changed with regard to it. Brethren, let us heed the word of the Lord ! Them who come to Christ now, in the day of salvation, He will in no wise cast out. But they who acknowledge no need and feel no desire for salvation, whose sins do not oppress them, who smile or frown or forget when warned, who turn away from God and the Church and the covenant of God, and by so doing decline forgiveness, surely these are walking open-eyed down into the pit; and when from thence they cry for mercy, we have the sure word of the Lord Jesus that there is an impassable gulf fixed between them and any possible help ; while the only appropriate, per- haps the only possible answer must be, "Son, Remember." And now to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all Glory, Power and Dominion, forever and ever. Amen. THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text : And they all with one consent began to make excuse. — St. Luke, xiv. 18. By the Rev. H. B. Restarick, Rector of St. Paul's Church, San Diego, California. ANY one who has had experience in work for the Kingdom of God knows how natural it is for people to begin to make excuse for neglect of duty, or indifference to privilege . In the parable of the Great Supper, which is a parable of the Kingdom, the three men had accepted the call to the feast. But when the time came for its obligations to be performed, and its blessings to be enjoyed, they of- fered excuses. The fact is, people do not like to ac- knowledge the plain truth in regard to neglect of religious duties. They want to appear as having some reason for their conduct ; so they begin to make excuse, just in the way the men did in the parable. Some plead lack of time: "I must needs go and see the piece of ground which I have bought." Some put forward other interests and preferences: U I go to prove my oxen." Others say that domestic affairs interfere. They are perfectly satisfied that their excuse is a good one: "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." Now, when one begins to make excuses, it seldom 32 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. means that the heart is far from God, or wholly in- different to the claims and privileges of religion. At first there is, in the secret heart of the one who urges them, a sense that they are not quite sufficient, that they are not the whole and exact truth. But the trouble is, that when men and women once beg-in to make excuses, they go on making them again and again, until they almost convince themselves that they are sufficient. They begin to be satisfied to live on in neglect; and, too often, they go on until the conscience is so quieted and dulled with the deceits so frequently administered, that, at last, it falls asleep. If excuses are still thought necessary, they are but the result of habit, and are no sign that the heart feels smitten with a sense of neglect for the claims and graces of the Kingdom of God. We see, at once, the weakness and the wrong of these excuses when we examine the nature of them. What are they, each and all, but a placing of the things of the world before the things of God? If the first man had been honest and frank, he would have said : "I am more devoted to the service of Mammon than to the service of God." The next would have said: "I prefer to follow my own in- clinations than to obey my religious obligations." The last would have said: "I think more of the claims of human relationships than I do of my duty to God." Those who begin to make such excuses are enter- ing upon a dangerous drift of mind and heart, which bids fair to end in lower interests usurping the place of the higher in the life's affections. Let us go for practical illustration of excuses to THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 33 those in common use to-day. "I have bought a piece of land, and must needs go and see it." This is the man who is so fully occupied with his business that he has no time for attention to religious duties and privileges. Probably he has made the excuse so often that he believes it is a good and sufficient one. He is the man, remember, who has accepted the call of God. The promises in Holy Baptism are his. Perhaps he has renewed them in Confirmation. He knows, too, in his heart of hearts, that the worship of God is essential to the best interests of his life. But he has no time. He can not even spare one hour of the one hundred and sixty-eight in each week for the quiet, the rest, the refreshment to be found in the House of God. And yet, what is it that is breaking down Ameri- can men ? What is this dull pain at the base of the brain, this early decay and death of which we hear so much? We know that it is because there is no rest. No day is allowed to put out of heart and brain the dollars and cents, the farm and the merchandise. Nothing is permitted to interrupt the grind for gain. No higher interests are allowed to break the strain of business, or ease the burden of care. There is no time to stop. But some day God sends a time ! A man dies amid his wares and stocks, his ledgers and profits, and a soul goes, with its excuses for lack of time, into eter- nity. Or, we hear men and women pleading lack of time as an excuse for taking no interest in the work of the 34 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Church for the bodies and souls of men, to which God has called every baptized soul. "I have no time," comes the answer to the one who bids them. What is too often the truth? These people find time for other things. They find time for social en- joyments ; time for amusements ; time for the news- papers and magazines ; time for idleness ; time for anything to which the world calls them; but they have no time to attend to the calls of God and His Church. And so worldly interests grow, and heavenly in- terests lessen. The daily life takes his steps away from God, and more and more moves away from touch with His Church. "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them." This man pleads his own desires as an excuse. He could have tried the oxen on some other day. He evidently does not care to fulfil his engage- ment. To the messengers who came he must say something ; so he makes his excuse, which is really no excuse at all. Just as worthless are many excuses made to-day. You ask a man why he does not at- tend church. He gives an answer something like this : "Well, I was made to go to church when I was young, so that now I have no interest in it." Now, generally, this is the merest form of an excuse. If he had spoken the exact truth, he would have said : "I don't go, because I prefer to spend my time in some other way." If you apply this style of excuse to am r other affairs of life than to religion, you see at once its worthlessness and fallacy. Suppose a man is living in utter disregard of his duties to other men ; he lies THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 35 and cheats ; lie is unfaithful to his family. Suppose he were to urge as an excuse that he was so carefully brought up as to his duty to his neighbor, and that honesty and truth were so constantly drilled into him, and that he was made to be so respectful to his parents, that he now disliked truth and fair-dealing, and shunned all sense of responsibility to his family ; you would know at once that the man had allowed love of gain and sinful selfishness to overcome his training ; that his present conduct was not the result of his training, but in spite of his training. So, when a man says — as men often do — in effect: "I was brought up so carefully in religious duties and re- ligious practices that now I am indifferent," you may be sure that the excuse is a mere attempt to hide the truth that he has grown to prefer his own wilful desires, and his own selfish interests, to the duties and blessings to which God has called him in His kingdom. He seems to assume that if he had, as the modern saying is, "been left to choose for himself" in the things of God, he would now pay attention to re- ligion. But, we may be sure in that case, also, he would still have chosen the same self-seeking, indif- ferent life. Again, you sometimes hear one say: "I don't go to Holy Communion, because my business is such that I have to do a great many things which prevent me from having a clear conscience." What is the truth behind this excuse ? It is that the man is not strong enough, and brave enough, to stand out for the right. He values the " meat " more than he does the "life." He does not want to stand 36 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. out against deceits. He prefers his selfish interests to a clean heart. His business is bad because he has made it bad; he has resorted to bad methods. His excuse is really a confession that he prefers his own gain to the grace of God. He prefers to try his oxen, to sell his wares, to publish his newspaper, to make his trades in the way that suits his desires, rather than to do his duty in that state of life in which it has pleased God to call him. The last man in the parable says that the duties and the pleasures arising from his human relation- ship, absolutely prevent his attention to the call of God. It is true, indeed, that every human relationship brings with it duties which it would be wrong to neglect. But the heart which is right before God, the conscience which is not seared, has no difficulty, as a rule, in seeing clearly what duties come first in their claim upon the life. If the man who had married a wife had looked at the matter rightly, he would have seen that he would fulfil his duties to her far better in the end, if he were, first of all, faithful and devoted in the service of God. And yet, we hear excuses of this kind frequently : "I can not go to church because my husband does not, and I consider my duty is first to him ; and so I go with him on the only day of leisure which he has." Or: "I could not go to church because I had visitors at my house/ ' Or: "I feel it my duty to spend Sun- day at home with my wife and children. " All of these excuses are plausible, and put forward in good faith as sufficient. And yet, each one of them is the placing of a lower duty before a higher. The THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 37 wife gains nothing for herself or her husband by neglect of duty to God. Neither the host or the guests gain any respect for religion by a supposed duty and courtesy, whiclr is a false one. The man staying at home will not help his wife and children in gaining the habit of worship, nor assist them in bearing their Christian duty. All are false; all are wrong. We have spoken of the Lord's Day in this connec- tion, because neglect of its duties and privileges in- evitably results in decadence of spiritual life. And how steadily the character goes downward tinder the habit of excuse! You look back to the day when you came to Confirmation. How full of good purposes the heart was ! How hopeful of pro- gress, of increase in God's Holy Spirit, day by day! But you began to make excuse. You remember, per- haps, how, as you knelt sometimes to receive the Blessed Sacrament, you saw the falsity and wretched weakness of your excuses. But you went on. It became easier every day to place earthly interests before the heavenly, and to make excuses for your conduct. Gradually, the world crowded out God from your affections, and your excuses now are but the sign of the lingering remains of an early love and obedience. At last the poor soul will be saying, " Lord, I pray Thee have me excused. I had so much to do in looking after my own affairs, watching over my pleasures and profits, caring for my body and my mind, that I had no time to give to the training and nurture of my soul. My business and my family had so many claims upon me, that I could not attend to religious matters. I pray Thee have me excused." 38 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. The special lesson which our Blessed Lord gave to those who sat at meat with Him on that Sabbath Day in the house of the Pharisee, was, that privileges are of no advantage unless they are used. One of the company said: " Blessed is he that eateth bread in the Kingdom of God." The parable told them plainly that the first in point of privilege were often the last in point of blessings received, because other interests were put before the call of God. Even the despised, the blind, those shut out from light, the lame, those whose lives were halting and feeble from lack of means of nurture — these would, at the end, be before those who had great opportunities and re- fused them. There is a special lesson for Churchmen here. What will avail the privileges of Apostolic faith and order? What the rich heritage and blessed gifts which the Holy Catholic Church is empowered to dispense, if we refuse to use them, and place other things before them in the heart's estimation? In- stead of being an advantage, they will rise to con- demn us ; and we shall hear the voice of the Lord saying : "I say unto you, these men which were bid- den shall not taste of my supper." When God's servants come to us ; when we hear the bidding voice in church, in Holy Scriptures, in worship, in sermons, in the Holy Spirit working within, let us not begin again to make excuse, but let us say, rather: "Lord, here am I, ready to do Thy bidding — ready to worship — ready for Thy grace and nurture — ready in heart and mind to set above all else in my life the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness . ' ' THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Joy Over the Returning Sinner. Text : Joy shall he in Heaven over one sinner that repent eth . — St. Luke, xv. 7. By the Re v. G. Mott Williams, Archdeacon of Northern Michigan. THE Gospel for this Sunday is otir Lord's way of answering the Scribes and Pharisees, when they murmured at His reception of Publicans and Sinners, and His willingnesss to eat with them. He appeals, as He so often did, to the analogy of common, every- day life. (True religion is bound up with all of life. It is illustrated best from daily life, because it has to be lived out to be anything real.) He tells them how surely the shepherd's heart longs for the one lost sheep out of his hundred, how he goes to seek it, and, finding it, makes a joyful company of neighbors to celebrate the recovery. He doubles the lesson and the parable by bringing it into the very house ; how the woman searches diligently for the one lost piece of money out of the ten, and how she makes a festi- val day over its finding, calling in friends and neigh- bors. Just so, there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety and nine persons who need no repentance; joy in God's own living presence, even among the angels, over something happening out of heaven, and among sinful men. It is not hard to point the moral. The Scribes and 40 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Pharisees were not, at all, bad people according to our usual way of judging. We are accustomed to blame them because they withstood our Lord's teach- ing; but we do not always see just how, and why, their opposition arose. The tendency which led them astray exists just as strongly now as it did then. Leaving out the con- scious hypocrites in the class of the outwardly relig- ious, of whom Christ spoke such bitter words, the Scribes and Pharisees were careful morally, correct in life, and punctilious in religious ceremonies. They were perfectly respectable, were what we should call good citizens. But they had accepted their whole life as a matter of form. If there were inconsistencies here and there, they were unable to see them. They had no deep underlying principle in the thing; they missed the whole purpose of the Church of God. When the despised Publican awoke to the fact that here, in the Person of Christ, was a man who cared for his soul, who " spake as never man spake, " who had something to say that he must hear ; when the sinner, or man who so far despised public opinion that he did not seem to care who knew that he was careless of law and of God ; whose faults seemed by their openness to show him past shame; when he came to hear Christ, and the Saviour did not turn him away, the Scribes were not glad to see this pros- pect of reformation at all. They despised the Pub- lican, but were apparently unwilling to allow him to become anything else ; and they gave to Christ, what is, to us, one of His most precious titles, " The Friend of sinners," in scorn. They did not consider that they needed any repentance for themselves, and ig- THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 41 nored many of our Lord's sweetest invitations, be- cause they could not include themselves among the sinners He addressed. St. Paul was a Pharisee and a Scribe. It needed nothing less than his conversion to make him see that God hath included us all, Jew and Gentile, Pharisee and Publican, under sin, that He might have mercy upon all. Consequently, we find that, though moral, the Scribes and Pharisees were not happy. They could not be happy, for their thoughts were centered in themselves and their own righteousness. There was nothing to elevate them, to comfort them. They be- came censorious, suspicious, self-righteous, bitter per- secutors. Their children survive thern. They pre- sented the spectacle which had so long repelled such men as the Publicans from making their peace with God ; for they assumed to have all that religion could give them. And the sinner looked on and said to himself, "I know I am no better than I should be, and terrible questions in this world and the next, if there is any next, confront me, and scare me, when I dare dwell on them for a moment ; but then I do not pretend anything. There is nothing in religion if it can only make a Pharisee.' ' Our Lord was not the only one who knew that there was a religion of sham, pretence, and secret extortion before Him. The mockery had already had its effect in driving many from the Church. But this repelled class came to Christ to hear Him, because there was something different in Him. He showed His profound knowledge of the human heart every time He spoke. He had words of power and of heal- ing. He knew all, and He loved all. His declared 42 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. welcome to all who would be better was, " Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Now, we have among us the spiritual descend- ants of these men. I leave out the conscious hypo- crites, who are always thorough unbelievers in any truth and real virtue. But the Pharisee may be a very honest man, whose position and bundle of pre- cepts are the result of strong tendency everwhere visible. Every organization of good people, every thing in the Church has to fight against this tendency of associations of good people to live for themselves, and forget the duty incumbent on them of extending the realm of truth and righteousness, by welcoming others to the fold of Christ. No doubt, the fact that we do not see many of the Publicans and sinners of the day in our churches, is, in large measure, unavoid- able. They do not come of their own accord, and we repel them unconsciously, from the simple knowledge they have that we do not approve of their way of liv- ing. The way in which many churches are arranged makes this difficulty more apparent. We can by no means expect to see the prominent saloon-keeper sit- ting in the pew with the zealous municipal reformer. Where one would have us stand at the door of our churches and shake hands with all who present them- selves, another would point out that the only possi- ble way to get some people into God's house, is to let them come in unnoticed, to let the doors swing free, to have quieter services when the crowd is not to be much expected, and when the minister of Christ is easily accessible to the inquiring soul. But Christianity is not doing its normal work,, unless its chief representatives are deeply concerned THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 43 to keep wide open the doors betwen the lower and the higher, that is, to have them open upward easily. We need divine skill in this behalf. We work but blunderingly when we do work, and too often the first press of difficulty in anything a church, or a Christian man, has to do, is the sure signal that it will not be done. When Christ says to us, "This kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting," that settles it. We cannot be expected to pray or fast, and so the devil is not cast out of our brother. Is it not, therefore, true that our enjoyment of the Church depends entirely too much on good preaching, good society, and good music, and that we estimate the success of the Church too much by these things ? We have little joy in our religion, because w r e are not seeking it in the heavenly w^ay, and do not much believe in it. The steps in seeking to amend this state of affairs, would begin w r ith a rigid search into our own per- sonal religious life, as to the depth and reality of our own repentance. We were baptized, probably in infancy; we have been, perhaps, kept from bad com- pany, and mercifully preserved from the grosser forms of vice. It may be that this outward conformity to God's law has made the deep expressions of penitence in the Church's services seem unnatural, and forced, to us. We are like the rich young man who, w r hen our Lord said to him, " if thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments," on finding that the simple and ordinary commandments of the decalogue were meant, replied in all seeming honesty, " all these have I kept from my youth up." If w^e are like this young man, 44 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. we need to deepen our acquaintance with the real char- acter and deadliness of sin ; to realize that even the flower of humanity, such a pure one as the Blessed Virgin, owes heaven to the fact that Christ died for her. Our coldness, too, should be recognized as the lack of true fellowship with God, as the result of sin. Not to love God, not to love souls, is grievous sin. We need, therefore, true repentance ourselves before we can enter into joy. The results of true repentance are to show us the reality and dreadfulness of sin, the depth of God's mercy, and to fill us with songs of thankfulness that we have been redeemed. This joy will be intensified by association and fellowship. We are bidden to rejoice with the rejoicing, and to weep with the mourners. There are few who have not been so fortunate as to know some of those dear people, who, without having many real " blood relations/' seem to be necessary to the sorrows and rejoicings of many other people. They have a capacity for sympathy, which marks them out as nearer to us at times than our own kindred, who think but little of the bonds which God has made between us. These show us how the joy of redemption can be greatly intensified by association. We feel at times in public worship, especially in the Holy Communion, when it is no mere pride in numbers which thrills us, as many souls are brought near to Christ in the Sacrament of His death. It is a sure defense against coldness in God's service, thus to associate with ourselves the rejoicings of all those who have much to thank God for. It kindles our love, it gladdens our days. Everything about the church thus becomes more precious to us. THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 45 We look with eyes of interest upon all our fellow communicants. To be a Christian is a sure passport to our brotherly welcome. It puts us on a common ground of rejoicing. % We find much to emphasize this in St. Paul's Epistles. His disciples are his glory, and his joy. They are to rejoice in the Lord always, to rejoice again. He uses "the rejoicing w^hich we have in Christ Jesus," as a solemn witness to his doctrinal teaching. It must have been very real. The sins men had escaped from, then, were so gross, that the reality of their deliverance seemed more plain. It can be as plain to us if we enter more into its spirit. Sal- vation must not be allowed to become a word of faded meaning. As long as sin, death, sorrow, loss, retribution retain their meaning, Salvation will be " a joyful sound. " These steps will help us up to the true stand- point of the Christian, which is that of one re- deemed, and who should be an active agent in redemption. It will, henceforth, be impossible for us to look upon any man, without realizing that he is one of the immortals. His life will be thought of, not in any narrow sense, but as begun for eternity. We will long to know how he stands with God. We need not be impertinent in finding out, but we will do our best to see him one with us in the joy of the pen- itent. We will never despair of any man too soon, we will do much rather than fail in softening, win- ning, retrieving a fallen man or woman, whose life touches ours, as our opportunity. Our doors will swing in. Our hearts will be always open. Our true joys will have just seemingly begun. 46 • SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. True, our sorrows will broaden out, because we will sorrow over things which are not accounted of much consequence by worldly people ; but we will be with Christ there. It is good to be with Christ. His sorrow will bless us in sharing it. But the spectacle of men who have been in any way helped by us, com- ing to Him, will be a " seeing of the travail of our souls " — the highest mead of satisfaction which can be granted to a human being. Has it ever been a murmur with us in the past? Have we ever been blessed with the spectacle of many coming to sit down with the Lord of the patriarchs, and failed to realize it ? It is high time that we changed our views of life, that we lighted our candle at the gospel light. There is joy in heaven over one ; there will be joy over us when we have first learned to enjoy, to be glad to see the Publicans and sinners going in to the kingdom. The situation is beset with difficulties. People may assent to every word here spoken on this point, and still not seem to be able to do anything to carry them into effect. But difficulties do not excuse us from doing good ; they are not allowed to baffle us in any other business but the business of salvation. Remember, that we need all the joy which belongs to us. We are in danger of allowing the world to per- suade us that all the true pleasure belongs to the men of the flesh, to to-day's service. We may feel as if to be Christians required us to be resigned to a faded life of all self-abnegation. It would be wrong, indeed, to min- imize the sacrifices which we are called upon to make, but worse to minimize either the joy set before, or the joy to be had in this life, by doing Christlike things. As our Lord had taught us that " it is more blessed THE THIRD SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. 47 to give than to receive," so the principle goes on in this : it is almost more blessed to be concerned in wel- coming, helping, a soul to Christ, than to come to Him ourselves. We have grown in our capacity for spiritual joy by this time. We feel like fathers and mothers, like the elder brothers in Israel; these souls are saved, and we have helped to save them; the grace came from our Lord, but He has let us touch it on the way, made us the vehicle of sending it on. It is true that "evil communications corrupt good manners." It is true that a man may set out on an errand of salvation, and come nigh to los- ing himself. We are not meant to touch sinners with our own skill, or strength. Too much self-reliance may result in contamination; but never contamina- tion from the touch of Christ. We may compromise ourselves with society, we may lose friends and asso- ciates who will probably misunderstand us, but we "will not lose in the end. We may also expect rebuffs •from those we would help ; we will be misunderstood by them, as well as by those who ought to help us, but are murmurers, and obstructionists, like the scribes. We have no right to expect better things, or better success, than fell to the lot of our Blessed Lord. Of many Publicans who came to hear Him, not many succeeded in breaking away from their past, though we know nothing as to where the good stopped, because the issue was not always the same. St. Matthew became an Apostle; salvation came, and was made welcome, at the house of Zaccheus. His life became one of restitution, which is the hardest test repentance can demand. (It is easier to give in charity than to pay up what one has retained too 48 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. long.) But there was joy in heaven; there was joy among heavenly-minded people on earth. We may not win all ; but we are sure to win something, if we work for souls in love and gentleness. It is likely,, too, that we may fail to recognize all we really do,, but that recognition will be only postponed. There can be no better, purer joy conceived of, than to see those who have been helped by us enter- ing into endless felicity. Where they precede us to Paradise, we may go as far along the way as is per- mitted us, and catch some radiance of the light which shines on them, and hear, by faith, their welcome home. To think that they have overcome the foes to which they were once in bondage, that the3^have had the last temptation, suffered the last earthly pain„ and that the gospel of peace which speeds them heav- enward has been made known to them by us, we could not ask more than that, save to be granted grace to help still another, and thus worship our Lord truly and practically. And there is still the joy set before. If the joys of the Christian life are of God, there is a special prom- ise left for those who carry out the spirit of their Master's teaching, by spending, and being spent, for their fellowmen, asking only that men should need them before they help them. May it be given to us in the Church of Christ so to catch the spirit of our Leader and Head, so to behave ourselves to those who would surely fail of eternal life without a whole-souled welcome home, that when the Friend of Sinners shall come again with His an- gels, He may say to us, with countless others who have kept His word: " Come, ye blessed/' " Enter into the joy of your Lord." THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text : Cast out first the heath out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.— St. Luke, vi. 42. By the Rey. Howard B. St. George, Jr., Canon of All Saints' Cathedral, Milwaukee. IF the meaning of the words of to-day's gospel is very plain and very simple, their application is difficult and far-reaching. Our Lord is laying down some rules for our guidance in Christian charity. "Judge not" — He says — " condemn not ; " and, at first sight, such instruction seems impossible to keep. For we know that there is no fault to which w r e. are so habitually tolerant as that of sitting in judgment on others. At the same time, there is no one to whose faults we are so consistently lenient as ourselves. Our Lord says, "judge not; " and yet, as a matter of fact, w r e cannot help passing judgment on incidents and events and actions that come to our knowledge. The faculty of distinguishing between right and wrong is the highest, the most distinct, and the most precious of the faculties with which we are endowed. It cannot be disregarded — we cannot close our eyes to the moral value of actions of which we have cogni- zance ; we cannot, unless we are ourselves absolutely dead to all that is noble and honest and of good report, view with indifference moral evil and wrong doing. Now, what our Lord teaches us is, that very few of us are in a position to sit in judgment on any other person. Only those "who have taken the beam 50 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. out of their own eye " — that is to say, those who are habitually correct, and have corrected their own faults — can,with a clear conscience, criticise the faults of others ; and then their criticism w r ill be the charity, softened with experience, which helps to overcome the failures of others, but does not seek to hurt or upbraid the wrongdoer. Let us note some reasons which prevent us from forming an accurate judgment about people. We say about people, because it is generally the people we talk about, and not the action we criticise. If we criticise the action, it is generally in connection with, and almost exclusively because of, the person asso- ciated with it. If the person occupies a prominent position, or is well known, that furnishes so much more material to work upon, and to talk about. We hunt up all the particulars w^e can ; we speculate on the probable motives ; we are as eager to impart our information to others as to get it. Now, it is this way of looking at the faults of others, be they great or be they small, that our Lord condemns. And why? Because, in the first place, our judgment is likely to be unjust to the person con- cerned. There is so much beneath the surface which goes to make or mar the morality of every action as it appears in the sight of God, that here we have neither the right, nor the power, to judge at all. No doubt, for instance, a lie is a lie all the world over ; but the gravity of the act in itself is one thing, the guilt of the person under his particular circumstances is another. We do not know, in each particular case, what a person's education or bringing up may have been. We may know little of his present surround- THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 51 ings, and nothing of his temptations. A very grave fault in one whom we are ever ready to condemn, may mean less unfaithfulness to light and grace than what we deem our little faults. We know that we are ever ready to excuse the faults into which we, ourselves, fall. It will help us to silence our criticism of others, to transfer our own excuses to those upon whom we would pass judgment. Another consideration which will help us to think and speak more kindly and justly of others is, to con- stantly remind ourselves of our own, real, sinful con- dition beneath the eye of God. There was one thing which was particularly offensive to our Lord, and that was hypocrisy. This fault in the Pharisees he rebuked severely, and often. He notes it here in con- nection with the law of charity: "Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye." There is something of the Pharisee in most of us; there is certain to be a great deal of him, unless we keep a steady look out. When a Christian has learnt really to know him- self, he has no heart to be hard on others. He sees that, so far as he is concerned, the Bible account of man's disposition to evil, of the chronic state of his heart, is literally true. Regenerate though he be, there is the old leaven of a sinful nature within him. He knows, only too well, from his own experience, that there is in him a great, unexhausted capacity for evil, which is kept in check only by the grace of God — only by the influences which, through God's love and providence, surround him; and, therefore, with David, he exclaims: "I was shapen in wicked- ness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. Thou 52 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. requirest truth iiTthe inward parts. " " Enter not into judgment with thy servant, Lord, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified/ ' When we learn thus to look at ourselves in the true spirit of penitential sorrow, the result of self- examination and self-knowledge, we will never find it possible to sit in judgment on others for faults which may have been our own, but for the grace of God. The penitent Christian will feel that the difference between himself and another is, after all, an outward, rather than an inward, difference. "Such an one/' he will say, "may, for all I know, be really better than I am. In his position, or in his circumstances, I might, probably, have been much worse. God only knows. " But the hypocrite looks upon himself with the eye of tranquil self-approval. He rejoices, forsooth, that he is not as others. He remembers his little charities, and his religious observances, and quietly assumes that he is better than others in God's sight. He sup- poses sin is measured simply by its quantity and weight, and not by one's opportunities or want of opportunities. We know — each one of us knows only too well — that it is otherwise. If any one point is clear in our Lord's teaching, it is this : that to whom much is given, of him shall much be required ; and, as a consequence, the man who prides himself on his own excellence, or on his own knowledge of right and wrong, and therefore on his ability as a critic and a judge of others, is, as a consequence, and by his own showing, in a much more responsible posi- tion towards God and towards others than those who make no such pretensions ; and, therefore, with THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 53 him a slight offence may be much more serious than a graver sin in another — at least in the eyes of the Eternal Justice. This consideration should prevent a readiness to compare ourselves with others. As a matter of fact, we know nothing about them. We know not what they might have been, had they enjoyed our oppor- tunities. They may possibly be worse than we are; they may be better. " Judge not, and ye shall not be judged." The person who is ever ready to judge an- other, cannot help secretly reflecting with satisfaction upon himself. He may, he thinks, have done wrong in his day; everybody, he observes, does so, more or less. In other matters he flatters himself that, at least of late years, he is conspicuously better. He has kept out of great sins, and the tongues of scan- dal-mongers have not been able to wag about him. He goes to Church regularly; he pays his subscrip- tions to Church objects and various charities will- ingly; he is, in every particular, up to what is con- sidered the standard of religious respectability. Surely, he thinks in his secret heart — surely God can- not but feel what he feels himself, that he bears a very high character, and that he, if any one, is en- titled to sit on the failings and shortcomings of others. But our Lord says: "Thou hypocrite! first cast the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye." How blind to our own sins and imperfections that beam makes us all ! If we would only use that power of judging, first and chiefest, against ourselves, we would learn to be more lenient to others. He who 54 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. keeps a strict watch over himself, who examines his own life and conduct, habitually and conscientiously, by the rule of God's commandments, who analyzes his motives, knows only too well how the hungry passions plead with conscience for a hearing; how the reason suggests arguments to induce the still, small voice of conscience to yield; how expediency will make its appeal. He knows how often, when the one desire has been to do right, that it seemed im- possible to decide what was right ; and, therefore, as he learns to know himself, so he learns the difficulties and struggles of other souls, and to be more merciful to others, even as he hopes for mercy from his Father in Heaven. All of us alike need mercy. Those of us who have many religious advantages, and appreciate and use them, those who are disposed to think well of their own case, assuredly need mercy not less than others "whom they esteem lightly. So long as men think little and care to know little of their real sins, and think much of their presumed excellences, they are not likely to understand the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus ; and so long as they imagine themselves able by their natural strength to reach that standard of virtue which the current opinion of the time approves, they are not likely to care for the graces of the Spirit of Jesus, or for the power of the Sacraments of Jesus. Let us struggle, let us pray, while yet we may, for a real knowledge of ourselves. Let us endeavor to keep an account of that inward history which belongs to each one of us, and which will be fully unraveled at the Judgment, to which every day that passes adds something of which God knows. To do this THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 55 may take trouble, but the result is worth a great deal of trouble. Anything is better in religious mat- ters than spending our time and feasting otir appe- tites on the failings of others. What we need to be concerned about is God's goodness and justice, and our own sinfulness and insignificance. And the more w^e know about God, the more shall we be dissatisfied with self, and the less heart shall we have to worry ourselves over the falls of our neighbors. Our own needs will be too real, our own view of ourselves too humiliating, to warrant any comparison between ourselves and others. Our cry for help and mercy to Jesus Christ, who took our nature upon Him, and who died upon the Cross that He might save the lost, that He might save us, will be earnest and real. There is no reason for anxiety, if we will but come to Him simply with penitent sorrow in our hearts. Our merciful and Great High Priest will find excuses for us, when others will condemn us ; even as He could find an excuse for the unfaithful Apostles, when, with the bloody sweat still damp upon His brow, and the fearful weight of the sins of the world still hanging over Him, He could say to the sleeping Apostles : u The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak." So when we fail our Lord when He expects some- what of us, we are convicted of the weakness of our nature, of the instability of our will. When, in the depths of real sorrow, and the shamefacedness of our sin, we exclaim, "God be merciful to me, a sinner! " we are learning as we only can learn to cast the beam out of our own eye, and the neighbor's mote we may well let alone ! THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Taking Christ at His Word. Text : Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.— St. Luke, v. 4. By the Rev. William Galpin, Rector of St. John's Church, Elkhart, Indiana. THE central truth of this text is that of taking Christ at His word. We are to do what He wills, even where to us obedience may seem useless, and a waste of energy. It is a message from God covering all those dilemmas of life where duty comes in conflict with doubt and hesitation. When we feel that our noblest endeavors are in vain, that no good can ever come from our sacrifices, that we might just as well surrender our Christian principles and live for self, for all these moments of despondency the words of the Gospel are an encouragement from above, still to fight the good fight of faith. Notice at once how strikingly this needed lesson is brought home to us by the scene we are to study to-day, of Christ at the Lake of Gennesaret. A few poor fishermen had been toiling all night to earn a humble support for their families. All through the long hours of darkness they had dragged their nets up and down the lake, and had taken nothing. They had given up in despair. Weary and disheartened, they were washing their seines, and were about to go to their homes. Just at this moment Jesus appears THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 57 among them, and tells them to go out into the lake once more, and let down their nets for a draught. It looked useless to those tired men to do so. Already they had given a fair and faithful trial, but without result. What was the use, they must have asked themselves, in trying again ? The morning was come now, and long experience had taught them how im- possible it was to catch anything in the daytime, in that warm climate. Their natural prompting must have been to go home, and rest for another trial at evening. Everything, in fact, fatigue, experience, and their better judgment, was against resuming the dis- couraging task of fishing again that torrid morning. It was their trusted Master, however, who told them to try again ; and, summing up all the hope and confidence at his command, one of them replied : u We have toiled all the night, and taken nothing ; never- theless, at Thy word I will let down the net." The very tone of those words reveals the conflict in the Apostles' minds between obedience to Christ and their own judgment. The boat was pushed out into the deep, however, and the net let down. You know the result of that act of faith. So large was the catch that not until others in a near-by boat came to help them, were they able to drag the net to the shore. We see, then, the evident teaching of this miracu- lous draught of fishes. It is a message of encourage- ment from Christ Jesus to His disciples for all time, to take Him at His word and trust Him for the final results. What looks to us as impossible, can yet be done if Providence wills it. We, Christians, are to launch out into the deep of life's dark problems, and there do our Master's service without doubt or hesi- 58 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. tation. Our part is simply to do as He bids. He will see that success crowns the end. We are merely to let down the net of Christian principles, and Christ-like ideals in the stormy waters of life's voy- age, and sooner or later there shall be a due reward for our efforts. This lesson of our text is not an Utopian one, though it may, at first sight, appear so. It is a teaching of which all practical life is, at once, a proof and a commentan^. Every worthy cause in behalf of the public good, every new project of moral or material betterment, every success of any of the world's bold leaders, has had to begin amid discour- agements and the sneers of those who declared its impossibility. Look, for a moment, at a few illustra- tions of this truth, and notice how aptly they corro- borate the lesson of to-day's Gospel. We need only be reminded of America's discoverer to appreciate the bearing of his sad career upon the truth we would emphasize. How this man was ridiculed for his faith in the earth's rotundity, how almost every one argued against what was called the absurdities of his belief, is familiar to us all. Yet, that worthy soul was undaunted by rebuffs and op- position. He bravely held to his convictions of heart. At last he won a noble queen to his cause, and then, with three frail ships, he launched out into the deep, and proved what doubt had before branded as impossible and absurd. It was the old conflict be- tween faith and human wisdom, such as was in the fishermen's minds on Lake Gennesaret. Everything seemed against the possibility of success. It looked foolish, even, to make a single effort. Yet the net THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 59 was let down, and Columbus has immortalized his name. Like all the world's heroes, he won victory in the very face of sneers and unbelief and antagonism. A similar commentary upon the truth of our text is afforded us in the development of one of America's greatest business enterprises, the construc- tion of the Erie Canal, in New York. Such a vast project, in that day, was not to be accomplished with private capital. State aid was needed to carry it through. Long and patiently did its projectors have to contend for it. Ridicule and demagogue- ism did everything possible to oppose the plan. One dignified legislator arose to speak against the measure of state aid, and boldly asserted that he would drink every drop of water which came from Lake Erie to Albany, so impossible and so absurd did the construction of the proposed canal seem to his mind. Here, again, it was the old conflict of courage and confidence against doubt and hesitation. The few far-seeing minds of the day held to their principles, however. They saw the good that was to come from opening up this channel of commerce, the earnestness of their endeavors Avon others to their views, and soon the contest was Avon. Faith launched out into the deep, regardless of the many who op- posed and argued against the worthy project, and thus was it that the victory was gained. See another illustration of man's duty to take the Saviour at His word, in one of the noblest works of philanthropy of this generation. Qtiietly and unob- trusively, a young lady of Paris has been at work trying to better the lot of those who are known as V the idiotic." The idea came to her heart that these 60 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. unfortunates could enjoy a happier existence than be- fore had been theirs. She was convinced that this class were not mentally dwarfed beyond improve- ment. They were not "foolish" according to her suddenly born thoughts, but simply backward, be- cause their mental faculties worked so slowly. This thought in the young lady's mind was, probably, a direct inspiration from God ; at least so the devout Christian will be apt to explain it. But, whatever be the explanation, this heroic soul gave no heed to those who would dissuade her from what she believed to be her great mission in life. With difficulty she, at last, obtained the consent of the officials of an asylum for the "idiotic " in Paris, and bravely went to work to see what she could do. She gathered those unfor- tunate children about her, gained their affection by her patient care for them and interest in their wants, and, at last, proved her theory that they are only backward intellectually. Many of them have been taught useful trades of a simple nature, and some have been sent back to their parents cured from what was before considered an utter idiocy. Those who desire to read more fully regarding this new work, are referred to The Charities Review for December, 1892. Here, again, we find the same conflict between faith and calculation. The good work which the heart of that noble young woman prompted her to do looked utterly impracticable. There were abso- lutely no prospects of success, looking at the matter from an earthly view-point ; yet she took what she believed to be the Divine Messenger in her heart at His word ; she launched out into the deep of what she felt to be her dutv, and this is her reward : the THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 61 world is all the richer for this venture of faith on the part of Leontine Nicolle. We need not take the time to point out other illus- trations of this great lesson of practical life, that the motive behind nearly all the world's notable achieve- ments is confidence rather than reason. For you have only to glance at the pages of history, or to look about you in the present, to see instance after instance of this central truth of all progress. Lin- coln, still working for the preservation of a united country when everything seemed to prove its impos- sibility; the inventor, bravely holding to his hope when all his friends are telling him it cannot be done ; a Parkhurst, struggling for honest administration in New York City, even in the face of his taunters that " religion is religion and politics is politics " — all these victories, out of predicted defeat, are only another voice from above, in attestation of the lesson of our text. The message from every source is ever the same; that is, to take Christ at His word, to heed the promptings He puts in our hearts, and then trust Him for the sure result. Let us apply this principle of faithful adherence to the right and to duty, to a few of the problems of present day life where they seem to be sadly needed. First of all, there is a personal application which needs to be made. We are living in a time when strict rectitude and purity does not always win the regard of those about us. It is not always true that the honest man receives the respect which is due to his merits. The trickster who has taken advantage of another, or the person of unprincipled methods in business, who have won a fortune, are too often 62 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. courted by the world to the neglect of those who are honest and upright, but poor. There are, thank God, many well-to-do people who have honestly made their wealth, and richly deserve the respect which is shown to them. But with life as it actually is, when faithfulness to duty and to prin- ciple does not always seem to succeed half as well as does a compromised living, it is not strange that we sometimes hear it said that a Christian life does not pay. If such ever be your misgiving, if, some- times, you are tempted to swerve from the right path, stop a moment and reflect upon the Saviour's miracle at Lake Gennesaret. Do not give up in despair ; but launch out into the deep and let down your net for a draught. You may not be rewarded here in this world ; but what of it ? This short so- journ of three-score years and ten is only a small part of life. There is another and eternal world to follow this. And remember what our Saviour promises in it to His faithful followers — "many that are first shall be last, and many of the last shall be first,' ' there. Again, then, launch out into the deep ; " grieve not thyself at him whose way doth prosper, against the man "who doeth after evil counsels." But "put thy trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed." Again, we need to take Christ at His word in our social and political relations. Here, too, the outlook is often dark and discouraging. It does look, at times, as if virtue were at a discount in the practical affairs of life. There is a general suspicion in Ameri- can minds that not a few seats in the United States Senate are practically bought, and that more than THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 63 one measure has passed Congress through the liberal use of money. In business life men are often found who deplore the prevalence of questionable methods in trade, and then excuse this wrong by saying it can not be helped — that it is impossible to do business without some deviations from strictly honest meth- ods. Fashionable society, also, too often ignores the Scriptural injunction which commands that the liber- tine and disreputable character be marked, and that the Christian have no social companionship with him that he may be ashamed. We need to take Christ at His word, also, in our religious life. This is an age of skepticism, and a time when many demand that every thing shall be explained before they accept it. They forget how they accept hundreds of things in their daily life which no scientist has yet explained. When it comes to religion, however, these people ask that every little thing be made as plain to them as that two and two make four. They will have no mysteries here. And this current, inconsistent doubt in the world at large has its influence, too, even in Christian circles. Take the fundamental doctrine of Holy Baptism, and the benefit it confers, as an illustration of the way some professed believers garble the Master's teachings. One school of thought tells you that this sacred rite is only a form; " con version' ' is the one thing important, Whether Baptism be administered at all, or not, is a matter of little importance. Think of the way, too, that some Christians regard the Holy Communion ! To them, this is not a food for the soul; they see no direct spiritual strengthing in that sacrament, and openly neglect it, and this, too, 64 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. in the face of Christ's declaration, that " except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." And thus is it with most of the essential teachings of the Divine Master. He is made, according to the popular theology of the day, to have founded no Church, to have instituted no visible material chan- nels for giving His grace to sinful men, to have taught no definite principles of conduct, but to have preached a moral system in such a vague way that it has degenerated into a set of conflicting views and opinions so little understood, that no one knows ex- actly what He did teach. Now, individualism like this is not religion at all. Unless we take our Saviour at His word, and accept implicity what He reveals to us, we have no right to call ourselves Christians. To substitute our narrow ideas for the fulness of truth as the Divine Master taught it, is the very opposite of being Christ 1 s ones, or Christians, as that word means. There is no faith in Christ according to this standpoint. The only confidence such opiniated ideas betoken, is the utmost faith in our supreme selves. We who call ourselves Christians need to take Christ Jesus at His word, in our religious life, and belief. Suppose we do not understand fully the doctrine of Baptismal grace ; what if we do not see how the bread and wine become spiritual food and drink in the holy sac- rament of the altar; this is no reason why we should call it a "form," and that alone. The true disciple will do as did the fishermen at Lake Gennesaret. They could not understand every thing. What Christ told them did not seem reason- THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 65 able. They trusted Him, however, and cast the net into the sea. And likewise will the true Christian launch out into the deep of all the Gospel mysteries, taking the Master at His word, and trusting Him for the final good result. He will grow in grace, simply from his implicit trust in Christ, as truly as the laborer in any worthy cause grows to love it, and to believe in it, from his very activities for it. Let us truly believe that the principle of taking Christ at His word, is the very basis of our spirit- ual growth and usefulness in this world. Trust and hopefulness, rather than cold balancing of prob- abilities, is the secret of all of life's noblest accom- plishments. Our Gospel for to-day is merely telling us what the successful scholar, or merchant, or he who has succeeded in any field of labor, or adventure, will tell us. We must not be dismayed by obstacles. Duty must never be compromised. However futile our efforts may look from a human view-point, we are still to keep a brave heart. Pessimism and de- spondency have no place in a Christian's soul. When he hears the Master's voice calling to him, even in the darkest storm, when there seems no possible prospect of success, he will yet launch out into the deep, and let down his net for the draught. And sooner or later, if not in this world at least in the next, he will receive the reward for all his faithful labors. THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Outline (1) — We have an Altar. (2)— It is the place to bring gifts. (3) — It is the place for special remembrance. Text: If thou bring thy gift to the Altar, and there remem- ber est that thy brother hath aught against thee. — St. Matthew, v, 23. By the Rt. Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, S.T.D., Bishop of Milwaukee. THESE are our Blessed Lord's words, spoken to His disciples, spoken in that great sermon which followed the giving of the memorable Beatitudes, up in the holy mount. Hence their solemn gravity, their importance ; hence the need that we give quick ear to what things they teach. He is speaking first, with reference to those old historic customs of the Jews, in their mode of public worship. He pictures before them the great high altar, in their noble temple ; towards which all faces were wont to turn, all heads bent in reverence, while their beautiful choral worship of Almighty God went on, and when the sacrificial offering was sent up. How well each one of those Jews who stood by could recal the familiar allusion ? Not then was the Lord's song sung in a strange land ; but in His own Home, in His House ; of which He once afterwards said, "My House is the House of Prayer for all people. " There the incense was swung, its clouds ascending THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 67 towards Heaven ; and that whole House purified and filled with the sweet perfume thereof. And there the gifts were placed, and the many oblations ; the sacri- fices were steadily offered to atone for the sins of many. Verily, that was a worship devout and most reverential. And with the great crowds filling the whole space of those courts of the Lord's House, it was literally a worship "in the beauty of holiness." "I will fill this House with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts." And here was some fit expression of the presence of that wondrous " Glory of the Lord." But our Lord was here referring in this text, not only to those local and past historic customs of the venerable Jewish worship. He was also speaking for all time to come, even for the distant future. For His words are all living and eternal words, which do not pass away. He was even speaking prophetically, of the coming worship of that great and wide spread Catholic Church, which was soon to begin its earthly career; when the times of the Gentiles should fully come in, and when all the kingdoms of the world should begin to be the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. With the mind and e} r e of the prophetic Seer, our Lord was here clearly laying down certain principles, and fixed realities of the worship of His sanctuary, which should ever remain, and must per- manently mark the pious customs and ways of His children, in their public worship of Him on this earth, and to the end of time. Now, what are some of these fixed principles of worship, easily gathered from the living words of this text ? (1) First, That we must have an Altar — dignified, well-adorned, and well-placed — in His sanctuary, as 68 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the focus and center towards which all earthly wor- ship in the Temple must tend. "If thou bring thy gift to the Altar :" the words are positive and strong. One of the inspired Apostles so well under- stood this, that, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, having in mind this same mighty theme of divine worship, he boldly asserts, "We have an Altar" (Heb. xiii. 10). And so soon as the Christian Church began to put up its material buildings — yea, even be- fore that time, when it was yet worshipping in secret upper rooms, "for fear of the Jews;" when it was having its quiet gatherings "in dens and caves of the earth," in the catacombs where the dead were wont to be buried, an Altar was always the first piece of furniture in evidence ; perhaps a stone tomb of some departed saint, with the two lights placed thereon, to give light to those who stood by, as also to sym- bolize the two-fold nature of that God-Man who came as the Light of this dark world ; who came to "lighten our darkness," that in His light we might see light, and thus be saved. And when Christianity grew stronger and bolder, in numbers and in mate- rial wealth, ^vhen it began to peep above the surface and build its great churches and cathedrals, surely the Altar ever had the same place of pre-eminence in the structural work of the building. It remained where God's decree had formally placed it with the Jews, — the dominant sight over all other pieces of fur- niture in His House. Whether of massive stone, in memorial of those stone sepulchres wherein the bodies of the saints had lain, or where the very Body of the Son of God had been entombed ; or whether of solid wood, in memory of that wooden Ark of Noah, or THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 69 those wooden altars whereon lay the burnt sacrifices, or that notable wood of Calvary's cross, on which the Lord was crucified when cruelly they nailed Him to the tree; — yet there ever was, in every place, this great, massive, high Altar, open and clear to the sight of all worshippers, exposed to intelligent view; not hid and cumbered by some huge pulpit in the way, nor looking like some small domestic table. Rather was this great Table of the Lord — this Holy Table, as sometimes it might be called — this God's Board, verily an Altar in prominence, in solid shape, in dignit3 r , in artistic decoration, as befitting the earthly seat and throne of Him who dwelt in that House ; whose way could ever be found in that sanc- tuary ; who therefrom fed His children with His very Body and Blood, that true Bread " which cometh down from Heaven." Let us then remember the Altar in our sanctuaries as indeed a fabric of God's own special appointment. Let us ever, with devout hearts and hands, love to decorate it and dress it, to build it with our highest sense of skill and beauty. Let us lavish there our largest outlays of material wealth. We remember once standing in a plain and humble church building, simple and unpretentious in its architecture, built in our revolutionary period when the measure of eccle- siastical skill as applied to architecture was neither learned nor deep ; but in which building, along the eastern wall, some devout parishioner had recently erected as a memorial gift a really splendid Altar and Reredos, in solid stone. Admiring its beauty and its graceful proportions, as we stood by, and yet at the same time criticising somewhat sharply those very 70 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. humble surroundings, in that plain church building, a good priest made this striking rejoinder to our criti- cism : " Yes, but remember that a proper and digni- fied Catholic Altar can really make even a stable appear devotional, and inspire religious awe." This witness is true. Let us pity, but let us never admire or copy, even at long range, the iconoclastic fury and mistaken zeal of those Puritans in Cromwell's evil day in Eng- land, when the churches were turned into stables for horses, and barracks for soldiers ; when Altars were thrown down ; when " they brake down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers"; when the maddened bigots, with some zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, defiled those dwelling places of God's Name "even unto the ground." Rather let us make all the reparations we can for those wicked deeds, and atone for them. Let us thank God that yet "we have an Altar " in every one of His churches, restored and beautified; and that we love to keep these as the best and most honorable adornment we have in His house, the very seat of His earthly pres- ence. And worshipping constantly before this seat, with our eyes upon it, and our thoughts fixed upon Him who sitteth thereon, let us ever say and sing: " I'll wash my hands in innocence, And round Thine Altar go : Pour the glad Hymn of Triumph thence, And thence Thy wonders show. " My thanks I'll publish there, and tell, How Thy renown excels : That seat affords me most delight, In which Thine honour dwells." THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRIXITY. 71 (2) "If thou bring thy gift to the Altar." Let us note, secondly, from this text, that the Altar is pre- emently the place for our gifts. They are to be brought there, laid there before the Lord, there offered to God, thereby sanctified to His use, and formally received by Him. What is there placed before Him, as a gift, no longer belongs to us. It is His, and He thus takes it as His own. So the Prayer Book plainly teaches. Notice that rubric in our communion service, at the time of the offertory. " Whilst these sentences are in reading, the deacons, church wardens, or other fit persons ap- pointed for that purpose, shall receive the alms for the poor, and other devotions of the people, in a decent bason to be provided by the parish for that purpose ; and reverently bring it to the Priest, who shall humbly present and place it upon the Holy Table.' ' Here our offerings are called " Alms for the poor," and rightly are they also called " other de- votions of the people;" gifts and sacrifices devoted to God and His work, and henceforth belonging to Him. These are to be brought to the Altar; the Priest in God's Name and as His appointed agent, receives them ; he first humbly presents them, hold- ing them aloft as an heave-offering unto the Lord, and then places them reverently on the Altar. And all this is to be done u in a decent bason" specially provided for that purpose, and to be used for no other purpose. With what minute care and exact reverence the Church orders the doing of this simple act ? How careful she is in her directions about these seemingly little things, in so many portions of her divine service! Well says an Anglican Bishop who 72 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. yet remains with us adorning his high office : " It is this minute care of little things, in the worship of God, which makes the wide difference between a decent and a slovenly worship, in God's House and before His Throne." (Dr. Thorold.) Our offerings then, are not to be looked upon as a dun, as the demanding of money from the unwilling pockets of the people. They are, rather, an oppor- tunity — and a large spiritual opportunity, — a privi- leged and appointed time for the fulfilment of a sol- emn duty. The devout Jew then brought in his tithes, his tenth of all he possessed, and he gladly offered these unto God. In this gift he placed upon the Altar, he but offered what was God's own. The holding back of this tithe he regarded as defrauding God, robbing Him, and so bringing a certain blight and stain on the soul. Would that our worshipping people did realize this plain christian duty, and gave some heed to this clear teaching of the Bible, of our Lord, and of His Church ! " If thou bring thy gift to the Altar." This bringing of our gifts on each Lord's Day is an essential part of our public worship. St. Paul refers to it : " Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." The prayers and the praises are not acceptable without our gifts. Teach this to your young children and see that they practice it, when- ever they come to church. Our alms must go up, and our other memorials, coupled with our prayers. There is no real worship of God, in these public as- semblies of His people, without some act of sacrifice ; and this the sacrifice of our substance and store. Never, then, deride the offertory, nor pass its oppor- THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 73 ttmities lightly by. "Alms do deliver from death ;" and many a soul burdened with its sin, many a con- gregation weighed down with that heavy weight of a dead formalism, suffering from the blight of a spir- itual decay, and a dangerous dry-rot, can be roused to some spiritual earnestness by this show of an open liberality towards God, in these " alms and other devotions of the people.' ' We have met many well-to-do people in our congre- gations who care, seemingly, more about the penu- rious holding on to a five-dollar note, and fear more to lose hold of it, than they care for or fear the ter- rors of hell. We meet yet more, whom God hath blessed with much increase — made either by the fruits of their own toil, or by the blessing of inheritance — who place their pennies and dimes in the alms-basons as a dole, and that grudgingly, when " the tithe of all they possess " is really the exact measure of God's claim on them, and His just claim, as some return for all the benefits He hath done to them . Where has gone this lost art of true Christian worship, in our frequent " alms and other devotions " reverently placed in the alms-bason, as a necessary and integral part thereof? What a bad alloy so much of modern Protestantism has brought into our worship, in its expulsion there- from of this wholesome doctrine and practice ? How heavy the sleep of death in many a soul because this public tribute of the " alms and other devotions " has no longer its large place in our practice of religion ? Remember, giving to God is religion; giving means health and wealth to the soul ; giving is the best evi- dence of a living faith ; giving is an open expression of duty; giving is one of the very means, and that a 74 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. principal means, of our eternal salvation. We have seen Christian congregations so moved and stirred with religious fervor, that besides their gifts of money, the rings and diamonds and bracelets, also the large checks with prayers written on the face of them, have thus been gladly placed in these alms-basons, and rever- ently given to God. We have seen large church debts thus wiped out, splendid memorials built, heavy sac- rifices made; and these " other devotions of the people " thus piously brought, and placed upon God's Board. We once knew an earnest Churchman, stirred by strong missionary zeal, moved by a yearning desire to make some real sacrifice, who sold his some- what palatial home, bought a more modest one, moved into it, took the difference of several thous- ands of dollars, and, without any solicitation, prompted only by the love of God, and His Church, impelled by this inner hunger to do some good and really crucify himself— placed it, one Sunday morning, quietly in the alms-bason as it went quickly by ! Yes, that man believed in the Altar, and believed that the Altar did really sanctify his gift. His was worship with sacrifice. He did not come before the Lord empty, nor did he go quite " empty away." Verily, " thine alms and thy prayers are come up as a memorial before God;" and the Lord shall ever "reward thee according to thy works." (3) "And there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee." Let us now look lastly at this third and most helpful teaching of our text. The Altar, where the gifts are thus brought, is also pre-emently the place for rememberance. Memory, Christian memon^, penitential memory of our Lord, THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 75 loving memory of the living and of the departed, is best quickened then, and there receives its largest increment, its exceeding great reward. Its most active stimulus comes then, imthe way of loving God more; helping our brethren more, whether in this life or in that other life " beyond the veil; " growing in the use of divine grace ; deepening our sense of sin ; yea, this chosen meeting place betwixt earth and Heaven, this point where the two roads meet, doth help our Christian memories far more than any other time or place this earthly side of eternity can ever provide. "And there rememberest. " This man of whom our Lord was here speaking, must there recal his own faults more vividly, whereby some brother was offended by him. And also recal forgivingly what faults that brother had committed against him, and thus wipe out the score. Think we here of that practical exhortation in our communion office, in the Prayer Book, how that reconciliation should always precede our acts of communion; that forgiveness must be present in the soul where enmity and discord did reign before. The hearts of those who approach God's Altar must be cleansed. We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven. " First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." There is another beautiful office in our Book of Common Prayer, so rich in all its spiritual teachings, which most significantly brings out this same Christian doctrine. We mean the Feast Day of the " Presenta- tion of our Lord in the Temple ; commonly called the Purification of St. Mary the Virgin." Two things were done on that dav, as its double title well shows ; 76 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS, on that 40th day after the birth of the Holy Child. Following after the ancient Jewish law and custom, the Blessed Mother came, and first w^as "purified according to the law." After that she did " present her child unto the Lord." Observe, the quiet and penitential office of purification must first be said by every Jewish mother, according to that old historic custom; and then must follow the open act of pre- sentation unto God. What lessons are here for each and every soul that comes to God, before His Altar? And seeks to come according to His will, and not empty in its gifts? Purification first, and afterwards our presentation. The careful preparation done before, the searching of heart, the confession of sin, the bene- fit of absolution, the doing of some act of contrition, the thoughtful regard for God's law broken by our sins, the tear of sorrow, the promise of amendment; and then with this spiritual discipline well performed, with this purification of soul, come ye with your gifts to His Altar, welcomed by Him ; offer your sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving, give Him of His own, do good and distribute. Surely then shall His love de- cend upon thee, " as the dew upon Israel." His smile and benediction shall follow thee, and His presence shall go with thee " all the day long." Christian people, when shall we all come to be thus mindful of these words and teachings of Jesus Christ our Lord ? When shall we learn to follow daily their simple and most practical teaching ? When shall we value aright these three Christian privileges, and observe their attendant duties : the Altar of God — what it is in His Mind ; these gifts He wants us to lay continually upon it ; these interior conditions and THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 77 preparations we should have, in our worship before it, and our approach to it ? Let us say daily in our hearts, that thus "I may go unto the Altar of God, even unto the God of my joy and gladness.' ' And let us say also in our hearts that other deep refrain of the Psalmist, " So will I always sing praise unto Thy Name, that I may daily perform my vows." THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. "Satisf action.' ' Text : From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread, here in the wilderness ? — St. Mark, viii. 4. By the Rev. E. W. Hunter, Rector of St. Anna's Church, New Orleans, Louisiana. IN the miracle recorded in to-day's Gospel, the Lord illustrates a great truth. A truth which every age has needed to have indelibly impressed upon the con- sciousness of its people, but which, in many instances, has been obscured, and sometimes, even obliterated by human misapprehension. This truth fully responds to the question of how to obtain happiness, which each human being propounds to himself, and, when acted upon, fully meets each individual's keenest requirements. There is no one who has not a paramount object in life, one greater and more important to him than all others. Nay, has not each of us one only object? For, though the methods employed to realize that ob- ject be as diverse as possible, the object itself, under all circumstances, and in every case, is identical. The one object of the human race is to obtain Satisfaction. When one is satisfied he has no more cravings ; he has attained that for which he has longed so ardently. Around this central orb, Satisfaction, all his hopes, all his efforts, all his prayers revolve, draw- THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 79 ing from its generating warmth, the life and strength which prevent him from yielding to the deadly influence of indifference. The desire of the race is to so live as to feel conscious th^t life is not being lived in vain ; to so garner our resources that the best may be gotten out of our fleeting existence ; to so think, speak and act, as to cause a sense of infinite peace, or contentment, or Satisfaction to steal over and take complete possession of the whole being. This being the real aim or purpose in life — the main-spring which sets in motion all the delicate machinery of the human mind — we should not be surprised that until that end is realized, discontent and unrest should occupy a prominent place in the sphere of human existence. In order to satisfy this universal longing, some concentrate their efforts upon business methods; some worship at Mammon's golden altar, while some set domestic happiness on the highest pinnacle. Some lay the greatest store on sensual pleasure, some see their God in the fuller development of the intellect, while others forget all other considerations in the intricate meshes of the social* web. This ungovern- able desire, this insatiable craving, this intense hun- gering after something which shall afford Satisfac- tion, leads people on to efforts, and still greater efforts, to procure this healing balm. It is perfectly right that everyone should seek in some way to still the storm, to quiet the unrest, to soothe the agita- tion which besets their mortal lives. It would be unnatural to do otherwise. But how to do it is the perplexing question. The key that will unlock this hidden treasure, and assure us a happy and well-spent future, is faith; 80 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. faith in Him who touches the very soul of our exist- ence, and would make us a divine melody, in har- mony with all creation. Life has ever been the most complex problem of the ages, replete with dreams and fancies, visions and chimeras, very rarely fulfilling man's expectations. As we stand upon the threshold of life, how fair and beautiful everything stretches before us; How the roseate hues of hope and anticipation tinge every- thing with a brightness, and a glamour, that makes the future seem but the continuation of a poem, a song to be sung with a deeper gladness as we go for- ward with the march of time, and reach its noontide summit crowned with happiness and health! Ah! is life the happy picture we would paint it in our youth ? Does the future unfold to us the fulfillment of those rich promises it ever held up to our longing gaze, as we stood upon life's threshold ? Yes ! a thousand times, yes. The future is always ready to fulfil our anticipations ; the picture to become a reality. But, in order that we may realize the full fruition of our youthful dreams, dreams that came to us when we were fresh from our Maker's hands, and in- nocent of all baleful influences, we must have Faith for our bulwark of defense, and, under the guidance of Him who is with us always even to the end of the world, trust, and go forward ! The mission of Christ to man was to solve this difficult problem of life ; to enable him in the depths of his human life's unsatisfied yearnings to find the rare, the precious jewel of unutterable satisfaction. Our Lord, very clearly illustrates this fact in the THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 81 miracle which forms the narrative of to-day's Gospel. In the sunshine of moral life, there float, like airy gossamers, innumerable motes ; while, in the gloom and darkness of its night, hov^er glimmering will-o'- the-wisp lights, ever tending to bewilder and deceive us. Always flickering before man, they lead him astray, far from the true path, and from his heart's desire. It was so in the days when the Holy Child, im- maculately conceived of the purest maiden in all Israel, graced the earth with His sacred presence; when the Offspring of the Divine conjunction of the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Virgin, shed the light of His teachings from Galilean shores into the darkened recesses of many a human heart. It is so to-day, with those who fail to see a practical application to themselves, in this notable miracle, offering as it does spiritual food to be assimilated, and illustrating an important truth. It was the Lord's custom to draw from nature illustrations which would serve to teach divine truths ; to impress upon the minds of his hearers lessons of great value, by calling their attention to familiar objects. The lovely lilies which grew in great abund- ance in Palestine, and which were of royal magnifi- cence, were employed to make clear the constant watchfulness of God in providing the helpless with those things essential to their bodily welfare. The blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear, found their exposition in the gradual growth of the seed sown in the soul at Holy Baptism, and continually developing into the attainment of the well-rounded Christian life. The fig tree, on the public road between Jeru- 82 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. salem and Jericho, in the neighborhood of Bethphage, growing in royal grandeur, but barren of fruit, a dis- appointment to the hungry traveller, was a vivid picture of the unfruitful lives of those who professed to believe in God, and yet did not put that belief in practice. So, in this instance, the Lord draws the multitude into a wilderness ; He causes them, through a long fast, to experience the natural pangs of hunger ; then He satisfies their hunger by making that, which, humanly speaking, was inadequate, more than suffi- cient. For, after He had blessed the seven loaves and few small fishes, and fed the four thousand to their satisfaction, there were gathered of that which was left, seven baskets full. God is interested in the tem- poral welfare of the human race and, therefore, through His bounty, the earth is made to yield for man's use, her best and most needful gifts. But our temporal welfare is not God's first con- cern, nor should it be man's; for "a man's life con- sisteth not of the abundance of the things which he possesseth." While, therefore, it is true that Christ on this occasion satisfied the physical cravings of the multitude, He did so, not as a matter of primary, but of secondary, importance. The idea of minister- ing to their material necessities, doubtless, did enter His mind ; but it must be remembered that He, Him- self, was the cause of their hunger, and, in satisfying their cravings, He satisfied that of which He was the author, with the intention, doubtless, of making their hunger serve to illustrate a spiritual lesson. Christ w^as aware of the fact that He was leading the multi- tude away from the inhabited portions of the country, and He saw that the moment would surelv come, THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 83 when that great, surging mass of people would be inspired by one common thought — their bodily necessi- ties. Now, when the supreme desire of that vast con- course of human beings became the gratification of their human cravings for food, they found themselves in a wilderness — a place where their yearnings could not possibly be assuaged. Belonging to Bethsaida, beyond the Galilean sea, lay this vast wilderness — a desolate country — where the cries of a famished people could have received no answer, save from the hidden recesses of rocky cav- erns, the unsatisfying echoes to their own despairing lamentations. To this scene of desolation, this land of mountainous inclines, of uncertain winding paths, of unexplored caverns, were they purposely brought by their Heavenly Leader. Here they learned the lesson that the satisfaction that the human race will always seek to attain, is to be found only in God. We who are seeking Satisfaction everywhere but in the paths that lead to God, shall seek it in vain. We must learn to grasp the truth exemplified in this Gospel's miracle, and " grapple it to our souls with hooks of steel." The hope of attaining Satisfaction is that which gives inspiration to our every effort. As well might that vast multitude, in that desert country, seek to satisfy their pangs of hunger by the thorns and brambles which the wilderness offered to their anxious cravings, as that, we, to-day, in the wilder- ness of the world, should seek, by its false and flimsy pretenses, to satisfy our great longings in life which lie at the foundation of, and give vitality to, all our efforts. One of the causes of this unrest, of this dis- 84 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. quiet, of this discontent, is to be found in the insuf- ficiency of the object upon which people concentrate their efforts in order to secure Satisfaction. There are some who have solved the problem of life al- most to their entire satisfaction — some, doubtless, who have not only almost, but entirely, demon- strated the fact that Satisfaction is found only in following in the footsteps of Christ, and in waiting upon Him. Satisfaction — true, perfect, unimpaired Satisfac- tion — is to be obtained in this world, though it is to be feared, very few attain it in all its ideal beauty. In life we taste of this sweet peace, this holy calm, only in so far as we have consecrated our lives to God. That the whole being can be suffused with this heavenly rest, is proved by the exultant deaths of mam r martyrs, who have thought it their chiefest glory to be found worthy to die for Christ ; that they have made their lives " one grand sweet song," and, as the poet sings, "Done noble deeds, not dreamed them all day long." It is not, however, those lofty souls that some divine creative process has rendered capable of becom- ing either saints or martys, of whom many are doubt- less now living, that are addressed to-day, but rather those feebler spirits, still struggling, whose wavering wills and unsteady purposes require mam^ warnings and repeated invitations to come and be partakers of that grace so freely extended to all. These must needs travel through the thorny wilderness that their lacerated flesh and aching hearts, torn by disappoint- ment and regret, mav know that there is but one THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 85 fountain of living waters, from whose overflowing bounty all who drink shall thirst no more. Come, therefore, quaff, and be satisfied. Observe the frantic zeal of others who have built upon their human strength, their human power; mark how at some seemingly auspicious moment, they will seize upon what they conceive to be their chiefest blessing, and, to their utter disappointment, they will find it to be as devoid of substance as the shadow which falls athwart the earth, and is but an obscurit}^ caused by the density of our own bodies. Why should there be this universal longing for Satisfaction? And why is it that in the ordinary channels of life man finds it not ? These questions are easily answered. Besides the inadequacy of the object sought for, Satisfaction is not found in irreligion. It is irrelig- ious to give to any other object than God the chief place in our hearts, and minds, and souls. This being the case it follows as a natural and necessary sequence, that it is irreligious to set too great a value upon the things of this world, which, like ourselves, endure but for a moment, then pass on, forever. Ask the philosophers of to-day, those who have startled the world by their scientific treatises, their materialistic conceptions and their metaphysical reasonings, if their theoretical philosophy, their dar- ing scientific declarations, their comprehensive psycho- logy, has won for them the victory for which they longed so ardently ? Have they secured that sooth- ing peace which passeth all understanding ? Ask the rich man, whose great object in life is to add to his alreadv more than sufficient store, if the treasure that 86 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. he has gathered, that for which honor is too often bartered, health ruined, and friendship destroyed, has obtained for him what he thought it would — Satis- faction ? Ask the poor man, who looks up with envy to the rich, whose object in life is to imitate on a smaller scale the power and influence of his wealthier brother, if his endeavors, when successful, have brought him — Satisfaction ? Now the devout soul — the one who has hidden himself in God — who has lost his individuality by putting on Christ — who has made God his place of refuge, and the things which pertain to God his chief- est treasures — will tell you, that in proportion as he has so done, has he realized that Satisfaction which is not of the earth, earthy. He may not be learned as the world reckons learning, with all its unchrist- ian theories of materialistic philosophy, its psycho- logical speculations, and wonderful scientific experi- ments ; but he may be wise without these, with the wisdom which is of faith. He may be wise with science, made congruous with divine truth, and sub- stantiated by divine revelation. Wealth, with its almost unlimited earthly power, or poverty, with its desires to accumulate, and its strivings to rise higher in the world's estimation, he may not have; yet, he may have bought the " Pure gold tried in the fire" from the inexhaustible treasury of the Christ-King. On his brow may rest the radiating diadem of love, and peace, and sweet humility which his Master wore. Whatever his condition — if he be rich, his riches have been consecrated to the service of his God; if he be poor, the weight of his poverty has been lightened by his Master's love. THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, 87 In life, conditions, in themselves, are nothing; the end to which we shape conditions, everything. • Human interests are necessarily manifold ; human wants, cravings, desires, aspirations, are diverse; each man's actions being governed by different mo- tives. The world has never been devoid of deeper natures, who claimed for mankind a destiny more worthy than mere material gratification. Carlyle says, "that man's soul is no dead balance for ' mo- tives ' to sway hither and thither, but a living, divine soul, indefeasibly free, whose birthright it is to be the servant of Virtue, Goodness, God, and in such service to be blessed without fee or reward." Again he says : " Has not man a light from Heaven within him, to which the splendor of all earthly thrones and principalities is but darkness? If that same light from Heaven, shining through the falsest media, sup- ported Syrian Simon through all weather on his sixty -feet pillar, how much more should it do when shining direct and pure from all intermixture? We must be able, then, to suffer our small persecutions and inflictions, though sickness be of the number, in patience, or admit that ancient fanatics and bedlam- ites were truer worshippers than we." Nevertheless, God has placed the desire of peace within the human breast, and it is strong within us. He has purposely placed it there, and purposely has He led us into the wilderness of a world which is in- capable of healing even the wounds which itself in- flicts, much less to satisfy our immortal yearnings. Have we sought for Satisfaction, looked for peace, hoped for rest, in any other way than in God and His mercy? Have our anguished hearts recoiled 88 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. upon themselves in disappointment? Let us not despair. Down through the vista of years, and along the centuries of time, there falls upon the anxious ear the gracious invitation: "Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He who uttered these words is Truth, Holiness, Love. He will not blight the wearied seeker with the deadly chill of disappoint- ment. Those who seek for Satisfaction in Christ, will find it, even as it is written : " My people shall be sat- isfied with My goodness, saith the Lord." Life may have its burdens ; the harmony of human existence may be marred by distress ; our weary lives may endure exceedingly painful and grievous tribula- tions ; but those who have sought their satisfaction in God, and His Kingdom, can not be robbed of that sweet and holy peace which is the just reward of the consecration of their lives to a Divine Ideal. To them, these untoward circumstances in life are only seemingly burdensome, for their thoughts take higher flights above. Troubles lose their weight, sorrow has no sting, anxieties are rendered powerless to vex, or to annoy. To the question , then , in t o-day s 's Gospel : ' * From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread, here in the wilderness ? " which, in its spiritual application, may be rendered : From whence can the human race obtain the Satisfaction which it craves, here, in the world? we answer: Not from man, nor man's de- vices, though he be made "a little lower than the Angels;" but from God, and God alone. Again, those cheering words come to us : " Come unto Me, and I will give you rest. " "Seek ye first the King- THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 89 dom of God." Let us consecrate our lives to God's service ; seek strength from God in the Holy Commu- nion; realize the fact that our " citizenship is in Heaven;" frequent the services of the Church, and let the things of the Kingdom of God on earth, the Church, be to us of supreme importance. The Church is here in the wilderness. It is the Body of Christ — the oasis in the desert. It is as " the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, as a covert from the tempest, and a hiding place from the wind." In the Church is Christ, who is with us " always, even unto the end of the world." The craving of the human heart for Satisfaction is the craving of the soul for something higher, better, purer, nobler than this world can give ; it is the insa- tiable craving for God. This yearning, which it is impossible for the world to satisfy, God placed within the human breast, because He desired the race to al- ways feel the need of its Heavenly Father; that it might find its truest joys in those virtues which are but reflections of His eternal goodness ; that it might illustrate His divine will here on earth by imitating, as far as to man is possible, the immaculate example He has s^ven us, in the person of His Incarnate Son. It is His will that we follow the Lamb for evermore, and be numbered among the white robed ones upon whom the beloved disciple gazed, and of whom a voice from Heaven said : ' ' These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple : and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They 90 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall tlie sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of them, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." These are they that echoed with their human voices the Psalmist's cry: " My soul is athirst for God." On earth they sought, and found, Satisfaction in God and the treasures of His kingdom, and God shall be their Satisfaction forevermore. THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Collect: O, God, Whose never failing- providence ordereth all things both in Heaven and earth : We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which are profitable for us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. By the Rev. C. S. Sargent, Priest, Grace Cathedral, Indianapolis. THE service for each Sunday is designed to espec- ially emphasize one truth, and then to teach us how to feel and how to act in view of it. So, running through the Collect, Gospel, and Epistle for the day, we can always expect to find one thought. Some- times it may lie beneath the surface. But it is always there, and the particular passages were chosen espec- ially to illustrate it. We should, therefore, always search for it in order to learn the special lesson for the day. Otherwise we drop out one link in the chain of the Church's system of instruction to her children. We ask then, what is the especial theme for this Eighth Sunday after Trinity ? Frequently, almost always, we can find the key to the day in the Collect, which gathers up and embodies in a short petition the whole subject, and the teach- ing of the Gospel and Epistle upon it. Very plainly this is so to-day. The theme is presented to us in the opening sentence of the Collect: "0, God, Whose 92 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. never failing providence ordereth all things both in Heaven and earth/' Here we have God presented before our minds as the One, not only Who has created all things, but Whose mercy is over all His Works ; Who ever provides for the needs and wants of all His creatures ; Whose never failing providence ordereth all things both in Heaven and earth. These words of the Collect beautifully state the revealed truth about God, which is our especial les- son to-day. Let us then dwell upon it a few mo- ments. God's providence and care for the Heaven and earth, for all His creatures, for man made in His image, especially for His servants who love Him, is the theme of the whole Bible. It is the foundation of all our trust in Him; it lies at the basis of all our hopes in His salvation. Thus, David sings of God's providence over the earth and all His creatures. i i He covereth the heavens with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth; and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men ; who giveth fodder unto the cattle ; and feedeth the young ravens that call upon Him." " Hesendeth the springs into the rivers which run among the hills. All beasts of the field drink thereof, and the wild asses quench their thirst." " He watereth the hills from above, the earth is filled with the fruit of thy works. He bringeth forth grass for the cattle ; and green herb for the service of men ; that He may bring food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of man ; and oil to make him a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen man's heart." " He appointed the moon for certain seasons; and the sun knoweth his going down." THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 93 " He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names." " Thou makest darkness that it may be night ; wherein all the beasts of the forest do move. The lions, roaring after their prey, do seek their meat from God. The sun ariseth, and they get them away together, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labor, until the evening. Lord, how manifold are Thy works ; in wisdom hast Thou made them all ; the earth is full of Thy riches. So is the great and wide sea also ; wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. " .... "Thesewait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them meat in due season*. When Thou givest it them, they gather it; and when Thou openest Thy hand, they are filled with good. " Job also recognizes God's providence for the earth. "He hath compassed the waters with bounds until the day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His reproof. He divideth the sea with his power. " "-By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens. " And Job here brings out a lesson we generally overlook. It is His Spirit, that garnished the heav- ens. The Holy Spirit is especially occupied in the work of God's providence. It is He that broodeth over all things. Moving upon the face of the waters, and garnishing the heavens, renewing the face of the earth, painting the Ely and adorning the field, giving life to all creatures, and bestowing upon them powers according to their nature. But does He " order all things both in heaven and earth " ? So David realized when He said : " Whither 94 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. shall I go then from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I go then from Thy Presence ? If I climb up into heaven, Thou art there ; if I go down to hell, Thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning and remain in the uttermost part of the sea ; even there also shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me." Everywhere, over all God's works, is His Spirit brooding, His Providence ordering all things, both in heaven and earth. But is that providence a never-failing providence? Yes, so long as man shall need it. That is God's promise. So was the covenant which He made with Noah. " While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and night and day, shall not cease." Now-a-days, and, indeed, in all times, there have been those who question God's providence, and refuse to see the wisdom of it, or the love in it. If they could make a world, they would make a better one than this. They would not have any toil, or disagreeable things. They would have man's food already cooked, and his clothes already made. They would have them grow right by his door, so that he would not have to go out and dig and plant and sow and reap. God tried this plan with the children of Israel in the wilderness, but the}' were no happier for it. They grew to loathe their light food, and mur- mured against God. And how about all of God's creatures, with their varied wants? Man, selfishly, would forget about these, in his desire to place himself in a little paradise of his own. But God's mercy is over all His works, and He provides for all His creatures. Yes, and man THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 95 does not know himself. He could not provide for himself as well as God has. And so, the more we study God's revelation of Himself, as we find it pic- tured in the Bible, the more w;e are convinced of its truth. We are more and more filled with the deepest awe and reverence at His never-failing providence, and with grateful love, that we can realize that provi- dence so infinite that it takes in all the varied wants of all that He has created, from the tiniest lichen to the highest archangel. And when we contemplate how marvellously God has worked this great problem of supplying the wants of all creatures, recognizing the varied needs of every one upon the earth, and in the heavens, too, and giving each its due consideration ; and, besides, so ruling over all as to bring about the steady devel- opment of the earth, and man's advancement, men- tal and spiritual, we feel like prostrating ourselves before this new manifestation of God's mighty power and infinite love, and saying, "0 God, surely Thy never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth." We can realize something of how Job must have felt when God answered him out of the whirlwind : " Hast thou an arm like God ? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him?" And Job answered: "I know that Thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefor I, abhor im^self, and repent in dust and ashes." And now let us note only one law as to the man- ner of God's never-failing providence. We read it 96 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. very plainly in the physical world around us. And yet the physical world is only a sacrament of the spiritual world. What we see in the visible realm we can believe to be equally the law of God's working in the invisible and spiritual realm of His universe. This law is the way in which God provides for the varied wants of His creatures. He scatters abroad with a lavish hand all the elements necessary. He does not separate them in nature, but strews them around indiscriminately. That which would be poison to man is food to some other beings. And God places both together, one along side of the other about us. So each one meets continually what is evil, and he can only call it evil ; and yet, God calls it good, and has some use for it, and so preserves it and scatters it about for those who need it. How else could God supply the varied wants of innumerable kinds of beings ? And to accomplish the purposes of His providence, He has given to His creatures the faculty of selection. Each animal, by instinct knows its own food, and turns from what would injure it. It knows where to make its home and how to adapt itself to the changes of season, which He has ordered, and of day and night, which He has established. God has given man this same faculty of selection. But man has more varied wants, and is exposed to numerous evils. He has physical, mental, moral and spiritual needs. And God's never failing providence provides for all these. And He has endowed man with a higher power than instinct, with reason and intelligence. And yet the law is the same; man, by means of these, must exercise the same faculty of selection in all things. So, then, God's never failing THE EIGHTH SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. 97 providence, in order to fulfil its wise and good pur- poses, requires of His creattres to co-operate with Him; to choose and select out of His lavish provision, each for itself, what is good,^ and to reject what is evil. We, who are God's children by adoption, not only can recognize His providence generally, but have it promised to us personally, by Jesus Christ. But let us not forget one thing. We know of our- selves that we often do not desire the best things, nor our highest good. Our wills are weakened, and our judgement is unwise. Our nature is depraved from that which God made in man; so that we do not naturally choose and select as He made us to do, and as is necessary in order to receive all He has provided for us. Nevertheless, we know we should desire the right things, and we know God has promised to help our infirmities. Therefore Ave, His children, when we contemplate His never-failing providence, are filled with awe and love before Him, and can only find our true expression in prayer. " We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful thimgs, and to give us those things which are profitable for us ; through Jesus Christ our Lord." And now, as children of God, what are the most profitable things for us ? Manifestly, those that have to do with our relation to him, with our spiritual life. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of god and His righteousness." But our Baptism tells us that we are born into another life, a spiritual and invisible life, but a real one; a real relation to an invisible and heavenly Father. And to us God sends His Spirit of adoption, 98 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. giving us the faith and love to say, "Abba Father, Our Father. " So the " Spirit also bears witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God. " And as we read of Christ and study about Him, and in the Spirit of a Child learn of Him, the Spirit will teach us how to choose those things that are profitable to our Spiritual life, and avoid those things that are hurtful. For there are plenty of things about us that are hurtful to us ; and some of these appeal to us very strongly. That life is a life of faith — a living not as things seem to us, but as we know God looks at them — and so is full of conflicts and trials. And we need all the encouragement of hope to strengthen us. Realize then, that if we are Children of God "then are we heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together. " And to the Child of God, thus looking to Him for help and guidance how to choose rightly those things that are profitable, God speaks in many ways, with many voices, through many agents. In times past He spoke by the prophets. He spoke often to Israel by prophets, rising up early and sending them. Sometimes His people hearkened unto them, and some- times they did not. And false prophets came; and sometimes they listened to them, to their misfortune. And God has His prophets in these days, also bearing a living message to men ; and in these days, also, there are false prophets that we must beware of and know. And we have a standard by which we can guage them. It is that same Scriptures. " Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation ; so that THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 99 whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation/ ' And, furthermore, we have a rule whereby to inter- pret the Bible. That rule is the Apostles ' and the Nicene Creeds. These have been the safeguard of the Church in all ages. They have been substantially handed down to us from the Apostles themselves. They are our only safeguard to the Faith once for all delivered to the Saints. And if any come, who teach contrary to these Creeds, or who deny and reject them, or who do not interpret them honestly to mean what they were plainly intended to mean, of such we should beware. The\ 7 may teach much that is true, yet in some way they will fail of the fulness of truth, and lead some astray. There are many false prophets about us to-day. They teach the Gospel of the Brother- hood of Man, of Humanity, of Socialism. These are harmless words, if one means by them that these sub- jects are the field wherein the Gospel should make its most earnest application to-day. But they are false prophets that come to us in sheep's clothing, while inwardly they are ravening wolves, if they offer these subjects as a substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or bid us love our fellow man in the place of God. And these words of our Lord have a still wider appli- cation to us to-day. With the Jew, down to the time of our Lord, his sole intellectual activity seems to have been the reading and hearing of prophecy. The only Hebrew literature, of which we have any rec- ord, is the Law and the Prophets, and certain Expos- itory writings upon these. So that our Lord, Who 100 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. always addresses Himself to those before Him, in these words would comprehend the whole range of His hearers' intellectual life. If so, then they have a much broader meaning to us to-day. They would tell us to beware of the false prophet that lurks con- cealed under an attractive garb, in the book we are reading, in the lectuce we listen to, the play we enjoy, the conversation of the friend we receive into our home. In these days of general intelligence and thought, God has many instrumentalities through which to speak to us ; and, correspondingly, the devil finds many instruments, also, and we are surrounded by many false prophets. And if we recognize God's never- failing providence, ordering all things, both in heaven and earth, is not our duty very plain and urgent to beware of these false prophets ? How can we ask God to put away from us all hurtful things, and then deliberately read the book whose tone is immoral, or whose tendency is enervating or un- healthy? How can we seek the companionship of one who lives contrary to God's law; who blas- phemes His Name ; whose life is a sneer at Him or an hypocrisy; who says, "Lord, Lord," but who does not the will of his Father which is in heaven. Surely we do not realize sufficiently that God, in His providence, has placed around us things that are profitable for us, and things that are hurtful for us, for our intellectual and moral and spiritual life, as well as our physical ; and that there are all about us as violent poisons for the soul as for the body ? And God is depending upon us to avoid the one as well as the other. THE EIGHTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 101 These, then, are the two lessons of to-day's service : First. God's never-failing providence, that order- eth all things, both in heaven and earth. Let us realize this. Let tis believe it'in all its liter alness, and rejoice in it. Second. The law of God's providence, and, hence, the necessity of our faithfully and earnestly working with God ; selecting the good and profitable, and fleeing from the evil ; praying for help, and seeking to be led by the Spirit in all things ; working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. If we recognize these lessons, then our Collect of to-day will become a real prayer to us, and will most truthfully express the desire of our hearts. "0 God whose never failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth ; We humbly beseech Thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and to give us those things which are profitable for us ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Amen." THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. St. Luke xvi. 8. By the Rev. Samuel Newell Watson, D.D., Rector Trinity Church, Iowa City, Iowa. THE parable of the Unjust Steward, which forms the Gospel for the day, contains some words and verses, upon which enough has been written in the way of discussions and interpretations to fill a vol- ume. It contains, also, some plain truths not "hard to be understood, " about which no disputes can gather like a cloud ; and, among the plainest spoken of them all, are the words of the text : " For the chil- dren of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." They are the Master's com- ment; His summing up, as it were, of the pointed lessons He meant to teach by the parable — not only to His disciples, for whom it was originally meant, but also to the Pharisees who stood about, and who had evidently conscience enough to take its meaning to heart; for, we read, " they derided Him." We shall, therefore, apply ourselves to-day directly to the plain and incisive teaching of the words of the text, leaving out of our consideration altogether all those other parts of the parable more doubtful of in- terpretation. To many of us, from the days of our childhood, when the parables of Holy Writ were the only parts of the Bible-Book that we simple folk could grasp THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 103 and understand, this story of the Gospel for the day has been an oft-told tale; We need, therefore, but re- mind you of its incidents. When the owner of some old estate had heard that the man whom he had en- trusted with his interests had been misusing the trust, he gave him warning, in all kindness, that he must soon give up his place and render an accounting. The steward knew what the warning meant, but the time had passed when honesty was possible for him, and, like many another man both before and since, he found that one lie necessitates a second to cover it. He cast about him for some means of securing his own future interests, even if he were dismissed from his post; and he therefore called to him those who owed the owner of the property, and commuted their debts, in order that motives both of kindness and of fear should bind them to support him in what was to come upon him. "And," we read, " the Lord com- mended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely : for," said He, " the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." It was a clever expedient; and, although the "Lord," who is said to have commended the Un_ just Steward, undoubtedly- means the rich house- holder, and not our Blessed Lord Himself; we none the less think, that the Master does not condemn, but rather commends, that spirit which led the steward to use every endeavor to secure his interests, and pro- tect his living, though, by no means, commending the manner in which it was done. For, we should interpret the words of the text as meaning, that the children of this world are wise in their generation in bending every effort to advance those interests which 104 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. are, to them, of most importance; sacrificing time, and money, and self, and present ease and comfort, for the temporal end they seek ; while the children of the light have much to learn from these self-same children of the world in methods of promoting the interests of their generation, and in wholeness of de- votion to what St. Paul calls "The Business ;" the children of this world seeking with full earnestness the things which are seen, which are temporal ; while we children of the light are "slothful in the business of serving the Lord," but half-hearted seekers of the things which are not seen, which are eternal. Now, while the Unjust Steward does, without doubt, appear in the parable as the representative of the "children of this world," he can hardly be taken as the type of the whole class ; the analogy should not be made to cover more than it was meant to cover. "The children of this world" are, many of them, yes, most of them, far better people than was the Steward of the parable ; and they are mentioned in it only that the characteristic trait of mind and ac- tion which is ascribed to them might be commended. That trait of character is, in plain English, what we are wont to speak of as "attention to business." There is not one within the reach of these words who does not know many "children of this world," for whom, in many ways he has the highest respect; and for whose zeal in following up the work by which he makes his living he can have but unmixed admiration. There are such men in ever}' community, men "wise in their generation," active, energetic, prompt, faith- ful, obliging, eager to serve to the best of their abil- ity that public whose wants are the life of trade. THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 105 The wisdom which these men show in the affairs of their generation is based upon two things : First, they are intent tipon making a success of their busi- ness ; and, second, the}" have"' a deep faith in the constancy and fidelit}^ of that power which has de- clared in the unwritten revelation of daih r life, as well as in the pages of the written word of God, that every man's work shall stand by its merits. There is something truly admirable in these stalwart men of business, who push their unswerving way, often- times from small beginnings, but always with high aim and constant purpose, towards that success which so generally crowns their efforts. For they do succeed ; and they ought to succeed. Their success is God's reward, bestowed with generous hand on those who show by every action that they have full con- fidence in His righteous and equitable laws. We err when we attribute their attainment of their long- sought business prosperity to any other, or lower, cause. God does bless men who work. He, in whose Holy word it is written that "he that worketh not, neither shall he eat," has promised blessings, not only at the last, but now, in this his generation, to the man who keeps innocency, and takes heed unto that which is right, to the man who sow's in the morn the seed of industry, and at the eve withholds not his hand from work. There is no scripture more true to the past and to the present of human life, equally with its future, than this Book of God; and the development of man- kind means — must mean — that God has written it down as a law that cannot be broken with impunity, that industry, and care, and watchfulness in human 106 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. work, or any other kind of work, brings its due and certain reward ; and that idleness and improvidence > and carelessness will come to want in the end. And it is well that it is so ; for were it not so, where would be the inducement to men to work hard to cover the earth with the growing witnesses of civilization, to build up houses and cities that men may dwell there- in, to improve and cultivate the fertile fields, to lay by in store from the surplus of plenty against the evil day of want ? If it were possible for the idle and the careless to prosper in the earth, and to have riches in possession equally with those who so late take rest and eat the bread of carefulness, industry and economy would be at a discount, and civilization would be an impossi- bility. No ; the man who works hard and steadily, with definite aim and sure purposes, striving with whatever motive behind it to build up and increase his material prosperity, is a man who is so far, at least, obeying the laws which God has written in one realm of His dominion, the realm of work; and, fur- thermore, it is fully possible that even such children of the world who are successful in their generation because of thus obeying the laws of the Eternal — it is possible, that they may be blessed in their deeds, with a higher blessing than that of material prosperity only. For, it is not impossible for any one to be one of the children of this world, and one of the chil- dren of light also. We believe that it is fully possible for a man to devote his energies with the strong pur- pose which brings success to the attainment of busi- ness prosperity, making due use of that characteristic THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 107 which the Master commended in these same children of this world — " attention to the business in hand ; " and also to use that same characteristic of earnest, unswerving devotion to " The Great Business," when- ever and wherever its opportunities present them- selves. More; — We believe that many a man is the better and more zealous in his Churchmanship and his religious life for being a man who has a firm grasp on those principles which make a successful business man than he would be without it. When our blessed Lord says, as He does shortly after this parable, "Ye cannot serve two Masters — ye cannot serve God and Mammon," He was very far from meaning that a man must be improvident, or unsuccessful, in order to be a religious man or a Christian. A man's first seeking may be the " King- dom of God and His righteousness," and the work of God in His Church may be the work that he has most at heart, and the serving of his Master, Christ, may be the keynote to his action at every deciding point in life; and yet the man may have the same success in business-life that comes to many others less worthy, because he is faithful in that which is least, without neglecting to carry those same principles of action into that which is greatest. We err oftentimes in our use of that word? "worldly," and in our application of it to those whom Ave know about us. To be " worldly " does not mean to have this world's goods in abundance, to be suc- cessful in business, to be active and diligent in the prosecution of those labors which make up the daily occupation of human kind, to have the capacity for social enjoyment, to be sought out by hosts of friends. 108 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Houses filled with comforts and elegances, — these may be the means, of worldliness ; they certainly are not the evidences of it. They may be, they often are, the honest rewards which come to honest labor and constant diligence, to courtesy and kindliness, to beauty of character or of face. Nor yet does unworldliness consist of poverty, rags, and dirt, in shiftlessness, bad manners, or unat- tractiveness. The tramp is no type of saintliness to the more sensible piety of this day and generation, nor would Simon Stylites be considered a man of holy life to-day. The root of worldliness lies deep in character, and forms itself by the motives that rule men's actions, and is hidden within the heart of man ; while unworldliness simply consists in seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, what- ever else may be sought for second, or whatever be the result of that seeking. It may often be true that worldliness in rags and in the gutter, casts the sneer at unworldliness who rides by in the carriage. Whatever else, then, the children of the light may have, whether much or little of this world's goods, they have this one characteristic : their dominant motive in life is to do God's work in the world. To be a child of God, and of the light, by faith in Jesus Christ, means that God's business is recognized by us as our first duty. And Christ says that men show vastly more sense in attending to their affairs of trade than they do in prosecuting those interests which are everlasting. Success in trade means, as we have seen, " attention to business," and success in the business may be had upon precisely the same terms, and upon no other. THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 109 The successful business man has, as has been shown, two fundamental principles at the heart of that success — first, he believes in his business, and its possibilities, with a definite and positive faith not easily shaken ; and, second, he believes that, to make a success of it, good, hard, honest work will tell, and that nothing else will. Therein consists the wisdom of the children of this world, in their generation: they believe in their aim in life so thoroughly that they are willing to put every energy into its attain- ment. It is the only possible wisdom in the business of any generation. To make thew^ork of the religious life — the work of upbuilding a spiritual character — the work of lifting up mankind to the level of Cal- vary's Cross and the Resurrection — the work of Christ and His Church — a successful thing, the children of the light must thoroughly believe in that work, and must be willing to bend every energy of their spiritual lives to its attainment. It has been well said that there is no way to get something for noth- ing in this world, except by stealing it; and success in God's w r ork cannot be stolen, though men and wo- men often seem to think that they can get it for nothing, and by methods which they know would bring prompt failure in any other line of work. The w^ork of the Church prospers in any town or city because there are men and women who believe enough in it to give it thought and impetus. The life of God in your soul, or mine, grows from feeble beginnings to full and mature strength, just in pro- portion as we watch its growth w T ith loving care, and foster it by those means which foster any grow- ing life, a proper environment, and proper nourish- 110 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. ment. Neither of these sides of God's work will make any marked headway if simply let alone to struggle for itself, any more than customers will seek a store which does not push itself to the front ; or, than a field of wheat or corn will stand thick with the golden harvest, if left through all the summer's working- time to the mercy of the heat and weeds. Now, we do not question that the children of the Church's light do believe in the Church, and her pos- sibilities of attainment in this busy world, in a certain sort of way. We do not question that they know and appreciate the value of honest, thorough, devoted work in the advancement of any secular enterprise, anything which they would call " business." The failure comes in here ; they have been taught, or have taught themselves, or, by being untaught at all, have come to think that these two things, faith and works, have little in common; they have been allowed to divorce their faith in the Church from their work; they have come to believe that their own business is " The Business ; " and that the Church's work is not business at all. It is an error, as fatal to the highest development of the Church's work, as it is to the ennobling and uplifting of the life of trade. The man who carries his Church's manly faith to his office and his store with him ; who deals with his Church and her work with the same enterprise and zeal that he manifests in his secular interests ; and who uses the same watchfulness and caution and desire for advancement in furthering his own spir- itual well-being that he finds of value in keeping up his character as a progressive, wide-awake merchant or professional man, is the man who makes the most THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Ill of each and all of these interests, and who shows that his wisdom as a child of the light is not less than his wisdom as a child of this world. To do all this requires that a< man shall guard him- self against losses, shall watch his words and deeds, refraining from an unclean word, or speech that is profane, as he would from a forgery or a fraudulent account ; and keeping himself clean from all that de- grades a man in his outward acts, as he would from endorsing paper that was not good ; using the same forethought to prevent the loss of character and cleanness of hands and heart in the sight of God, as he would to prevent the loss of dollars in trade or practice. And it further requires that a man shall be ever ready to take advantage of every opportunity for gain, investing freely of hi^ time, and his money, and his influence, that the Church of God may pros- per and increase, and using every opportunity that offers for worship and for prayer, for receiving the bread from Heaven, and for hearing God's Holy Word read and preached ; showing, that making con- tinual gain in Godliness is not less an interest in his life, than taking advantage of every opportunity for business prosperity. Now, we doubt not this sounds very common- place, very secular, very far from spiritual elevation, to some to whom these words may come. But the road to Heaven has its beginning on earth; the " afterward that which is spiritual" must always be preceded by the " first that which is natural;" and the life of our Master, Christ, was lived as a human life among human things, that common things might be turned to uncommon uses, and be glorified thereby. THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Goodness and Severity of God. Text: And when He was'come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying; If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another ; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. — St. Luke, xix, 41-44. By the Rev. D. W. Dresser, S.T.D., Rector of Emmanuel Church, Champaign, Illinois. TWO striking pictures are presented to us in the Gospel for this day. One of them exhibits the great gentleness and loving tenderness of Christ our Saviour; the other His sharp severity. In the first we see Him weeping over the city which had rejected Him ; weeping because of all the beauty and splendor before Him, which He knew would so soon be blighted and destroyed for the sins of that people. In the second we see Him cleansing His temple — this same Jesus who had just wept over Jerusalem, we see in holy indignation, or a certain kind of divine fury, driving out from its courts the unscrupulous buyers and sellers who were profaning His holy house of prayer. THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 113 Time, however, will not allow us to consider at present more than one of these pictures, — the first; and to that therefore, let us now give our particular attention. And even here we find something of the same gen- eral thought and teaching which has been just re- ferred to : Namely, that of the combined mercy and jus- tice, " goodness and severity " of our God and Saviour. It was on the first "Palm Sunday," when our Lord was going up for the last time to Jerusalem, go- ing to His death, to be " perfected by His sufferings," and to conquer by dying. It was the one and only occasion on which He allowed Himself anything like earthly pomp or parade, — the occasion of the "palm branches," and the "garments spread in the way;" when the multitudes that went before and that fol- lowed after, cried " Hosanna to the Son of David." And now, as His eye fell on the Holy City, from the Mount of Olives, His human sympathy made Him pause. He saw Gethsemane and Calvary, and the result of it all ; the awful curse and ruin that was upon that people. And "He wept;" wept amid the loud hosannas of the people. The whole city was "moved at His coming," we are told. The air rung with hosannas on every hand, and all hearts were filled for a time with a great fire of enthusiasm. Alas, for our poor human nature! Alas, for our self-respect ! all this to be followed only six days later by another cry, and another very dif- ferent procession, — the same silly crowd now shout- ing themselves hoarse with the words, "Crucify Him," "Crucify Him." But, though our blessed Lord wept and was deeply 114 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. distressed on this occasion, did He change at all the divine purpose with regard to this wicked cit}^, and its inhabitants? Did He say, "No, this can never be. I cannot allow this place and nation to be destroyed, for all their sins, for all their perverseness and dis- obedience; it grieves Me so, I cannot have them suffer "? No, our tender and gracious Lord Jesus was not thus weak. Nothing of this sort is recorded about Him in sacred scripture. Though, as a Friend and Brother, never so kind and forgiving, even full to overflowing with all sweet tenderness and sympathizing affection ; yet, He is not only Friend and Brother, but King a#d Judge also, as well; we should ever remember this. There is too much prevalence of this notion or fancy at the pres- ent time — that "God is only love;" that Christ is only merciful and kind. We presume upon this supposition sometimes, and flatter ourselves that it does not matter very much what we do, or how we live. " It will be all the same at last," we imagine. "We have nothing to fear; Christ has atoned for all sin. God is so all-good that He will forgive us anyway, whoever or whatever we be or do." But no! It is a grievous mistake to speak or think thus. We read that " God is a right- eous Judge," and "God is provoked with the wicked every day." For there is no promise of pardon, anywhere, except to the penitent. " Except ye repent," says our gracious Saviour Himself, "ye shall perish." God is our good and kind Father, indeed; but what truly wise and kind, and good father will not punish bad conduct in his children, if he can, and if he be aware THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 115 of their wrong-doing ? What kind of a father is he who will allow his children to do just as they please ? Christ is, indeed, our Saviour, our Friend and our Brother ; but He is also our King. And what king is he, worthy of the name, who will give no attention to the execution of the laws, but will neglect govern- ment and pardon all criminals without inquiry ! This day we are reminded — and need to remember particularly — that Christ is King. As a king He rode into Jerusalem, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy: " Zion, behold thy King cometh unto thee." The cry, " Hosanna to the Son of David ! " meant that He was a king; for David was Israel's great king, and his "Son " is King — "the King of the Jews," risen now and ascended triumphant in heaven; Head of the great spiritual kingdom over all the earth and throughout all the ages to come. How often and forcibly is this position of our Saviour brought before us! "Art Thou a king, then?" said Pilate to Him from the judgment seat, and the prompt answer was : " Thou sayest right, that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world." While very tender and gentle, then, and full of lov- ing sympathy for all manner of suffering and sorrow, our blessed Lord, we may be sure, will not, by any means, spare the perversely wicked and impenitent; but the " wrath of the Lamb" will be all the more fierce and dreadful because it is the wrath of the ten- der and gentle and long-suffering "Lamb of God," who has called and called again and again, and borne with us, and waited and waited, but all in vain ; and has even toiled and suffered and died that we might be converted and live — but all to no purpose. 116 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. This was the case with the Jews at that time — the difficulty with them, or the cause of the ruin which even Christ would not avert or delay. They had been called but refused; had enjoyed privileges, but abused them; had neglected opportunities until there was no longer any hope for them. This is another lesson from the Gospel for to-day ; namely, the danger of neglected opportunities ; the loss, the ruin which comes from wasted time, and privileges slighted or abused. " If thou hadst known at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace/ ' The real trouble was that they did know ; they had known all along ; but they did not care, they would not heed. From pride, bigotry, envy, or whatever other vile affection or disposition, they had shut their eyes to the truth ; some of them were grossly wicked; they would not hear and be- lieve; at length they wilfully and wickedly rejected the Christ, their own promised Messiah. And so, at last, the privileges and opportunities enjoyed by them were forfeited, and taken away. They were justly and rightly visited with judicial blindness. It would seem that they had now come to that pass where they could not see the truth, and do the right. "Now they are hid from your eyes; " namely, those " things which belong to your peace." Elsewhere our Lord is found to utter other, but very similar words on another occasion: "0 Jeru- salem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gath- ered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." Yes, here we perceive the explanation of this blind- ness, and of the ruin which was now come to this THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 117 people. It was because they "would not" when they had the opportunity ; wheij prophets and teach- ers were sent to them continually ; when the eternal and blessed Son of God Himself came to them with sublimest teachings, and most startling miracles, — " bttt they would not." Their privileges reached " up to Heaven/' so to speak— their opportunities, and the gracious influences brought to bear upon them ; but resisted and refused as they were, the people were hardened and blinded by degrees, until now there was no hope for them. Even the tender and merciful Jesus, who could weep over their impending misery and destruction, would not, and, with reverence we say it, could not, consistently, lift a finger to rescue or relieve them. This is, indeed, a solemn and awful warning to us now. With all our privileges, in view of our great and marvellous light, our wonderful and most prec- ious blessings and opportunities. What are we do- ing? How are we living? Had even the Jews of that ancient time such privileges, such blessings as we ? Such cumulative evidence of the truth of the Gospel? Such favorable conditions, in almost every respect, for spiritual cultivation and elevation? No, surely not. It becomes us, then, to look to our steps well, and take good care, lest we fail and all be lost at last. Privileges cannot save. It must be the good and proper use of privileges. For this, only, we are responsible. Let us take care that the time does not come when, for us likewise, it- will be too late. 0, the awfulness of the words, "too late." "This, thy day is past ; it is too late." 118 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. We do not say the time will ever come when God is unwilling to be gracious, or when the truly pen- itent may not be forgiven; but we mean what all Scripture declares, that the time may come when we can not repent; even as with Esau of old, when grovel- ling worldliness and persistent neglect have so dulled and hardened, or dwarfed the heart and soul, that little or no moral or spiritual capacity remains any longer, and there is, and can be, only hopeless ruin of all the higher, finer, or better parts of our nature. " God," let us say, " 0, good Lord Jesus, save us from this fearful doom, from this curse of our own contriving ! " Now, " while it is called to-day " let us make good use of our time, our light, our strength, and all our God-given privileges and opportunities, lest the day come when for us it will be too late. Thus a certain poet writes, in strict accord with this lesson of the text : " Where are thy moments ? Dost thou let them run Unheeded through time's glass ? Is thy work done ? Hast thou no duties unfulfilled ? Not one That needs completion ? Thou would'st not cast thy money to the ground ; Or, if thou did'st, perchance it might be found By one who, schooled in poverty's harsh round, Knew not repletion. " But thy time lost, is lost to all and thee ; Swiftly 'tis added to eternity, And for it answerable thou must be ; So have a care. Gather thy moments, lest they swell to hours ; Stir up thy youthful and still dormant powers ; Now only canst thou plant Heaven's fadeless flowers, Therefore, beware." THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 119 There is one thought more concerning this most interesting and instructive Scripture ; it relates to the certain fulfilment of our Saviour's words. We are reminded that both His promises and His threats alike are sure to come to pass. 0, Christian, be glad and rejoice; be full of hope. 0, sinner, fear and be dismayed ; take warning, and repent before it is too late! It seemed little likely, when the Saviour wept over Jerusalem that day and said; "The days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." It seemed little likely then that there would ever b.e any event correspond- ing at all with this prediction. Many laughed, no doubt, at what they deemed the absurdity of the suggestion. But what has been, and is, the fact, we all know. Still more plainly Christ declares, in another place, that that people should be "led captive into all na- tions," and "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. " And what shall we say of this? The "unspeakable Turk" is a "Gentile;" the Saracens of the middle ages, and the Crusaders who disturbed and desolated the Holy City and its people almost as much as their Saracen foes, were " Gentiles ; " Vespasian and Titus, the Roman Emperors, who are said to have plowed the city with salt, and who scattered the people of that land in all directions over the face of the earth, were i i Gentiles . ' ' 120 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Christ is a true prophet, surely; He knew that whereof He spake. He tittered the truth, not only when declaring the will of God, or revealing the mysteries of the other world, but, also, as well, when looking down the line of human history, and fore- telling the destiny of men and of nations. He, who foretold that, against all outward appearances, the brave confident and loving Peter should deny Him thrice in the time of His bitter trial ; He, who pre- dicted that Himself, all innocent and kind as He was, should be hated and scourged, spitted upon, beaten and killed by Jewish priests and rulers, but should rise again, "on the third day" as He did; He foretold also this, about the Jewish nation and the City of Jerusalem, in all its striking exactness of detail. And He who foretold this, let us remember, foretold also the coming of a Day of Judgment and righteous retribution; a time when He will come again to reckon with His servants, and when the believing, faithful and Godly shall be received up with glory and happiness to dwell with Him forever in Heaven ; and when the unbelieving, wicked and impenitent shall at length come to the awful " resurrection of damnation." Brethren, let us take heed and fear. Let us anx- iously inquire, "What is our condition?" "Where will we be then?" "Which way will we go?" His "words are unmistakable, "these shall go away into everlasting punishment." They are words of the gentle, loving Saviour, — and well-weighed words, doubtless. He is a true prophet, the eternal Son of God. He knows with absolute certainty what shall be, and His words are unmistakable, "these shall THE TENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 121 go away into everlasting punishment, btit the right- eous into life eternal." % Let us be prepared for that time, by repentance, and true devotion, and earnest efforts after honest and godly living. We have need to do so. Yes, we see here in this Gospel and all through the whole of the scriptures, every where, both the goodness and severity of God, the wonderful love and yet strict- ness of our Lord Jesus Christ. While we hope in His love, then, and continually thank and praise Him, especially for His Infinite Sacrifice of Himself for us, let us not be so foolish as to insult His goodness, and dare His justice by im- penitence and persistent continuance in sin, and dis- obedience to His holy will and commandments. Now, as soon as possible, while the opportunity is yet ours, let us turn, and with a greater fervor and earnestness than ever before, seek His love and mercy whose wrath we cannot endure. For He is King, let us remember ; King as well as Friend and Brother and Saviour ; and, as it is written in a certain place, "the King's business requireth haste.' ' That is, there can be, no trifling here ; no idle- ness or needless delay ; no fooling along the way. We poor, weak and once lost and ruined men, are called to be the servants, friends, and it may be, messengers of the Eternal King. "And the King's business re- quireth haste." Amen. THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Self-Exaltation and Self-Abasement. Text: Everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. — St. Luke, xviii. 14. By the Rev. R. F. Sweet, D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, Rock Island, Illinois. IN these words our Lord closes the Parable of the "two men" who went up into the Temple to pray. The Parable immediately preceding sets forth the duty of praying earnestly ; this Parable teaches the duty of praying humbly. The one sets forth the duty of prayer, the other teaches us the true spirit in which prayer is to be offered. The "two men" represent the two great classes of religious men of that day. The Pharisees were strictly the religious class among the Jews. Their exactness in the observance of the law was proverbial among the people ; their very name denoted their sep- aration from all others. They were the aristocratic class, also holding themselves aloof from social inti- macy with the common people, whom they called "the people of the land," or the vulgar. They were not necessarily wealthy or luxurious in their habits, for Josephus tells us that they lived frugally, and that one reason why they obtained so much influence over the people was because of their self-denial and auster- THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 123 ity of life. But in their religious life they were among the most intense formalists the world has ever seen. The Publicans, on the other hand, were the most despised class among the people of Judea. The Roman Empire, under which Judea was subjected, farmed out the direct taxes and the customs duties to individual capitalists, or joint stock companies, who, in turn, re-let the privilege to native agents, called Publicani or Publicans. The Jewish Publicans collected taxes for the Roman Empire from the Jew- ish people. And the Jews, who prided themselves on being the free-born children of Abraham, and as such, the chosen people of God, thought it unlawful to pay tribute to Caesar, and did it only under compulsion ; therefore, any Jew who could so far forget his sacred character as to be the collector of such tribute, was looked upon with horror — as an apostate and an outcast of society. The calling of the Publican had also been made doubly infamous by the extortion and dishonesty which tlaey notoriously practiced. To be a Publican and to be a sinner were therefore regarded as one and the same thing; Pharisees, Scribes and people alike hated and despised them. These are the two characters which our Lord de- scribes as going up into the Temple to pray. And the object of the parable is to teach us the true spirit in which prayer is to be offered. The place of this prayer was the Temple; that masterpiece of Jewish art and architecture, where the Divine Presence was manifested by the Shekinah, or Divine Glory above the Mercy Seat. The Temple was 124 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the centre of all worship for the Jew, and wherever his lot might be cast, he ever turned his face towards it in prayer, and longed to enter its sacred precincts in person. The " two men " of the Parable are representative men of all times — for their day and ours. Let us briefly study their attitude of mind and heart; because when our Lord puts before us the story of these two men, He tells us how we appear in the sight of God when we come before Him in prayer. Nothing can be of greater interest to us than this: to know, not what we may seem to be to ourselves or to others, but what we really are in God's sight — weighed, as it were, in the balance by God Himself. These men went into the Temple, no doubt, at one of the stated times of prayer, sac- rifice, and offering, and both stood in reverent atti- tude. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself, that is, secretly; whispering with his own voice into his own ear; recounting his own merits in prayer, his eye fixed on himself, scarcely glancing at God. He was a religious man, righteous according to the Law, fast- ing, giving tithes, and he attributes all his righteous- ness to God, he gives God thanks for preserving him from extortion, dishonesty and adultery. And in thanking God for all this he was undoubtedly right ; his fasting, his tithes, his avoidance of evil, were all commendable, according to the Law. But you cannot really call his words a prayer, for he asks nothing of God. He simply draws a flatter- ing portrait of himself, and holds it up for the admira- tion of God. He not onlv shows an utter absence THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 125 of all humility, but he also gives us a remarkable proof of self-deceit. He not only* compares himself with others, but he is uncharitable enough to mention the Publican by name as being despised by him. In his own eyes he was the saint, while the Publican, as well as the best of men, were sinners. Let us turn to the Publican, who, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, " God be merciful to me a sinner. " He thought not of other men, but of God ; not of other men's sins, but of his own. In his own sight he was the sinner above all men. Because he was filled with a deep sense of the holiness, power, and mercy of God, he would not lift his eyes unto Heaven; like the angels who cover their faces in God's presence. In the grief of his spirit he smote upon his breast, as though in his con- demnation of his sin he would chastise it. And our Lord, who reads the heart, and therefore needs no interpreter of it, and who teaches that God is a spirit, and must be worshipped "in spirit and in truth," yet mentions and approves these outward acts of the Publican as fit indications of sincere devotion. Man is composed of body and soul; and God, who made both body and soul, demands the reverence of the body as well as the devotion of the soul. And, because the Publican stood afar off, God brought him near by hearing his prayer ; because, in his humility, he would not venture to lift up his eyes to heaven, God looked down from heaven upon him, and lifted up upon him the light of His countenance. True prayer is always according to the greatness 126 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. of the desire and the greatness of the need ; and his desire and his need were infinite. The Pharisee had no desire, and, therefore, he felt no need. The Publican's desire was great, and his need im- perative. And he, being hungry, was filled with good things ; while the Pharisee, feeling rich, was sent empty away. And so the Lord says that the Publican went down from the Temple justified rather than the Pharisee; not more than the Pharisee, but rather than the Pharisee. The one found acceptance with God, the other stands on record as a warning to mankind forever. The Publican was justified, ac- quitted, pardoned, accepted; the Pharisee was con- demned and rejected. The spiritual pride, which was the characteristic of the Pharisee, may lurk under the humblest theory of religion. The religion, whatever be its theory, of which the main effect is to establish in the mind a persuasion that there is something in ourselves which belongs not to others of Christ's brotherhood and family — which makes the ruling feeling of any to be to thank God that he is not as other men — is in great danger of producing also the worst points of Phari- seeism. We know that all our actions pass under our Lord's judgment; and so, when our Lord approves and justifies the Publican, we may be sure that He approves his acts of worship, as well as the spirit of his worship : both the downward look of the eye and the smiting of the breast. The} r were the " outward signs of the inward grace." THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 127 And, therefore, it would be an abuse of the teach- ing of the Parable to infer that external observances, as fasting and almsgiving, are worthless forms, or acts, because in the case of the Pharisees they were united with a self-righteous spirit. The essence of religion does not consist in an occasional abject cry for mercy , however careless the life maybe of external signs of worship, are very helpful, and very precious. The want of humility in worship was what con- demned the Pharisee, while the Publican starts out as the very model of that great virtue. Our Lord's words in concluding the Parable are the very motto and moral of the Gospel. In the Par- able of the Laborers in the Vineyard He closes with words which warn us not to presume on what we have done more than others as entitling us to reward — "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen. " Both St. Peter and St. James use the same language in declaring "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." Like many other Gospel truths, we find the anticipa- tion of all this in the Book of Proverbs : " Surely He scorneth the scorners,but giveth grace to the lowly." And again, in the Song of Hannah, she sings : "Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogance come out of your mouth ; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are guided with strength." While in the Magnificat, Mary, taking Hannah as her model of praise, pours out her divine song: "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry 128 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away." All worshippers in God's house (or every where, in fact,) may be ranked in two classes: the self- righteous, sin-stained, but all unconscious of it, clothed in the filthy rags of human pride ; and the humble worshippers, sin-stained, but conscious of it, confessing it and craving pardon. The one, arro- gant and unbending in human pride, boasting of their good works, comparing themselves with others ; the other meek and lowly in heart, feeling the burden of their sin, and longing for freedom from its power. How is it with us when we come up to God's house ? Do we realize the truth that here we are in the more immediate presence of God ; that the office of consecration has made this building none other than the house of God, and the very gate of Heaven ; that as God was pleased to manifest His special pres- ence above the Mercy Seat of the Temple in Jerusalem, so here His presence is manifested on His Altar- throne; that, as the Desire of all Nations has come, so He has filled this house with His glory. The consecrated Church building of to-day should be far more to the Christian than the Temple was to the God-fearing Jew, even as we know more of God than the Jew did, because we see God in the face of Jesus Christ. The character of our worship will depend in large measure on our conception of the sacredness of the place, and the immanence of God's presence. While the spirit of worship should always be present with us, and active in us, there is a special character of worship connected with our public devotions in God's THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 129 House. Surely, want of reverence in the House of God is the prevailing sin of many in our day. We hear so many sneers against those who assume a reverent attitude in God's House, uniting the wor- ship of the body with that of the spirit. The absence of reverence is due to the fact that men do not realize the certainty of the Divine Presence. We may thank God that in the rubrics of the Pra} r er Book, the Church wisely provides for the attitude of the body, as well as for that of the mind and spirit. If, on our knees, in the spirit of child-like obedience, we would study these instructions, we should realize more fully their profound importance in promoting the spirit of true worship. Then, again, the preparation for public worship is so important and so much neglected. "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go unto the House of the Lord." If this were the prevailing spirit there would be less of habitual late attendance at worship. Men would wait on the Lord, rather than have the Lord wait on them. Due preparation for public worship requires self-examination ; and an honest self-examination would save us from the self- righteousness of the Pharisee. "Two men," says our Lord, "went up into the Temple to pray." And still, after the teaching of nearly two thousand years, the two sorts of wor- shippers are found in God's House; the one utterly unworthy, clothed in the repelling garments of human pride; the other, meek and lowly in heart, conscious of his unworthiness, and asking mercy in the name of Jesus Christ, the only Name under heaven whereby men can be saved. 130 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. We are filled according to our desires. According to the size of the vessel we take to the Eternal Foun- tain, is the measure of the water of refreshment which we carry away. We all long for comfort : while we too often forget that to have peace with God is to be at war with ourselves. THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Ephphatha. Text: And they bring- unto Him one that was deaf and had an impediment in his speech: and they beseech Him to put His hand upon him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers into his ears, and He spit, and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven He sighed, and saith unto him, Eph- phatha, that is, Be opened. And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.— St. Mark, vii. 32-35. By the Rev. Austin W. Mann, General Missionary to Deaf-Mutes. THESE words of the Gospel for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity describe what has been called the first sermon in sign language. Its great brevity seems to forbid the designation ; but it is in keeping with the brief and comprehensive spoken discourses of our blessed Lord, that meet every spiritual need, and are capable of infinite expansion in the mind of the preacher. Think of the sermons and voluminous literature in all languages that these divine utter- ances have inspired ! To one familiar with sign lan- guage, each gesture of the Son of Man has a mean- ing. In the restoration of hearing and speech to the unfortunate man, we find lessons of general appli- cation. It may be wondered why our Lord addressed the man in this silent way, instead of saying at once the word, and clearing away the long-existing barriers 132 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. of deafness and silence. One object, it is safe to say, was to make an impression on him that would re- main in memory. Another, we are sure, was to awaken in him an antecedent faith, be it even so small as the grain of mustard seed. But we see in the divine gestures, certainly sufficient sanction of the present special means of the Church to promote the spiritual welfare of the " children of silence." He, by whom all things were made, knew that hand- signs, with expressions of face and eye, were a lan- guage papable, like speech, of transmitting ideas. It is most interesting to note, that the signs used by our blessed Lord on the occasion belong to uni- versal sign language, that is understood everywhere, in all tongues. It is the only vehicle of expression that has come down to the present day without any change. Speech has changed, or become extinct, but gestures are the same as they ever were, because based upon imitation of forms, objects, actions, which are unchangeable. Pictures are also based upon the same principle of resemblance. In the early days of mankind, speech was limited by insufficiency of words. Sign language met this deficiency. Its use decreased with the growth of the vocabularies. Still, at this day, hand-signs are useful in case of difference of speech, as one finds while trav- elling in the midst of a strange tongue. They are also useful to public speakers, in emphasis and description. This proves that signs are an universal language, and not the exclusive property of deaf-mutes; al- though in their hands it has reached a high degree of development, necessarily, on account of the loss of a sense. Thev have become a most facile instru- THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 133 mentality in their intellectual and religions advance- ment. The graceful expressions of hands, face, and eye, present ideas clearly, and are to them what pleasing sounds are to hearing people. They are capable of swa^dng the emotions and influencing the will. Holy Scripture gives other instances of the use of signs in communicating ideas. In the Book of Acts we read that Peter and Paul beckoned to the people to be silent, so they could speak. The universal sign for silence is made by placing the forefinger across the lips. In another chapter we read that Felix, the governor, made signs to Paul to speak in his own defence. In St. John's narrative of the Lord's Supper, when Jesus said : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me/' Simon Peter signed to the " disciple whom Jesus loved," to ask who "it should be of whom He spoke." Jesus' answer was that the revelation would be by means of a sign — the "dipping of the sop," and handing it to the guilty one. St. Luke tells us of Zacharias, the Priest, and father of John the Baptist, being deprived of the power of speech and hearing for doubting the prom- ise revealed by the heavenly messenger, yet able to tell his congregation by signs of the vision he had seen in the Temple. He did not give up his ministra- tions at once, as would be expected, on account of the disabilities laid upon him ; for, as the Evangelist tells us, "as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house." During those days, no doubt, he relied somewhat upon gestures. Afterwards, when the child was 134 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. born, he was asked by signs what name should be given it. Calling, in the same silent way, for writing materials, he wrote that its name should be John. Each sense has a language related to it: speech and music for the ear ; signs and pictures for the eye ; forms for the sense of touch ; all conveying ideas to the mind. The spoken word is the most common ve- hicle of thought, since most people hear. When the sense of hearing is lacking, sign language comes into use. As already stated, it presents ideas clearly. It excels speech in descriptiveness. A sign lecture on the antiquities of Rome by a deaf-mute who had visited that city, gave hearing persons, familiar with the sign language, a better idea than the half-dozen spoken lectures that they had heard on the same sub- ject. In the hands of the teacher, sign language is a key to unlock to the deaf the treasures of literature. It reveals to them the meaning of written words, and explains their grammatical relations, until they are able to write sentences. But the greatest work accomplished is the impartation of knowledge of God and the work of Jesus Christ in the salvation of man- kind. In the translation of the Church's services of Prayer and Praise, and the preaching of the Word, no other means equals this divinely sanctioned me- dium of expression. The words of the Apostle Paul: " Faith cometh by hearing/' do not necessarily refer to the mere physical sense of hearing. The deaf receive faith through instruction by means of signs, and by read- ing. They are able to " speak plain," by signs, or writing, and "give a reason of their hope." The ears of their souls, as it were, gladly and faithfully drink THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 135 in the blessed Gospel truths. In this case, physical deafness is not a calamity, like perverse, inward deaf- ness, to the call of the Spirit. After this brief and necessarily incomplete explana- tion of the uses of sign language in its relation to deaf-mutes, we will turn to the lessons of the text. It need not be supposed that they apply to the " child- ren of silence." One of the lessons teaches the very important duty of bringing the spiritually neglected to the Church, that she may lay her hand upon them, and that they may bear her " Ephphatha." This duty is sadly neglected by professing Christians. They are unlike the neighbors of the neglected deaf man who brought him to Christ, and pleaded for him. All having received the seal of the Church in Holy Baptism and Confirmation should seek to bring the spiritually destitute, or indifferent, to the same light and peace they have found. Neglect of this be- tokens a heart concerned only with self. Natural history tells us that when a bee finds a new source of supply, instead of keeping to itself the discovery, it communicates it in some mysterious way to its fellow gatherers of honey. True, this is only instinct, and any bee will do that ; still this is an illustration of what evefy Christian should be, that is, instinct with concern for the spiritual welfare of his fellow beings, which, can be shown in many practical ways. Many members of the " royal priesthood " do not realize the glorious duty, as well as privilege, of being workers w4th the ministerial priest ; not mere hearers of what he says in the pulpit, nor mere participators with him in the worship. Let everyone note the 136 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. words of the prophet : " And they that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." This is assurance that every little en- deavor in behalf of the spiritual welfare of anyone is noted on high. There is "joy in heaven over every sinner that repenteth;" and, surely, the recording angel notes down the act of the faithful one who is in- strumental in bringing him into the way of salvation. It is God's wish that all choose the right way, and live in happiness hereafter. Oh, that all realized how blessed it is to be a St. Andrew! "He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ." Having found the long expected One, his £rst thought was for a brother, to share his peace and joy. Labor for the welfare of others acts reflexively, blessing the worker with a larger heart and deeper love of God and humanity. The sympathies are broadened by the exercise. Somewhere we read the story of a traveller in the Alpine region. On discover- ing in the snow a benumbed and perishing human form, he sets to work to rouse the diminishing circu- lation and save a life. 'Soon he finds the exercise hav- ing an effect upon himself, also, the numbness of his own hands disappearing and his own body glowing with warmth. The dumbness, or difficulty of speech of the deaf man is typical of the predicament of some professing Christians when asked to "give a reason of their hope." They can not speak as one well grounded in the fundamental verities of Christianity. In contest THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 137 with unbelievers, who often are better equipped, they find themselves silenced. Often their faith is sadly shaken, if not entirely destroyed. Mortification fol- io ws failure to "convince the gainsayers," as the apostle calls them. This ignorance astonishes the children of the world and disappoints the anxious in- quirer after truth. The politician generally seems better able to defend his own creed than many Christians are able to defend theirs. Christ set an example in His examination before the doctors in the temple. "And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers." In His human nature he submitted to be taught like other children. The Church, in her capacity as teacher, seeks to make of her children intelligent Christians, and strengthen them in the faith. She seeks to fulfill our blessed Lord's command: "Go ye, and teach all nations." When Christ touched the ears and tongue of the deaf man He meant that his two great needs were understood — hearing, typifying knowledge ; and speech, meaning ability to utter the name. The Church, likewise, recognizes these needs. By teaching her children, she "looses the string of their tongues," to use the words of our text, so that they "speak plain" before the multitude. Her work well done, they say of her as the people said after the healing of the deaf man: "He hath done all things well; He maketh both the deaf tohear and the dumb to speak." Christ looked heavenward ; the gesture of prayer, familiar to the silent man. He had witnessed it in the devotions of the home circle and in the house of prayer, in neither of which could he take any part. The upturned face of the divine Physician, lighted 138 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. with love and sympathy, was to abide in memory, and direct the thoughts upward in prayer to the un- seen Source of all blessing. " Ephphatha," spoken at last, removes the barrier, and in rushes a flood of thoughts, awakening new sensations. He was happy in the fullest sense of the word. The world of music and literature was open to him. The voices of the dear ones greet him for the first time. Best of all, he is restored to the worship and instruction of his fathers. From that day on, the faint gospel revelation by divine sign language expanded under the teaching of the living voice. Nearly a century ago the hand of education was reached out to the deaf of this land. At its touch, mind brightened; and eye beamed with intelligence. Besides the training for useful citizenship, knowledge of God and the future life was imparted them. Gradua- tion day came at last, and young men and women on whom patient, loving care were bestowed by teach- ers, stepped out into the world, fitted for life's battle. For nearly fifty years the Church, with her blessed Prayer Book system, the "form of sound words, " has " laid her hand upon them " in holy Baptism and Confirmation. Many now come to her altars for the i ' bread of life. ' ' In the large cities she has established churches and missions, with ministrations in the language that best touches their minds and hearts. One of her Priests, blessed with hearing and speech, was providentially fitted to take the initiative in this great opportunity. He was perfectly familiar with the sign language, his mother and childhood asso- ciates being deaf-mutes. From the small Bible class of adult deaf-mutes, started by him nearly half a THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 139 century ago in New York City, has grown the work to its present proportions. Opportunities are con- stantly presenting themselves ; and more workers and means are needed to meet them. It is becoming the custom to remember the work of the deaf-mute mission with offerings on the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. In the course of time a question new to the Church arose. It referred to the ordination of fit deaf-mute men. It was settled by Bishop Stevens of Pennsyl- vania. In his sermon at the ordination of one who had studied at Trinity College, Hartford, and Cam- bridge University, England, he used these words: "When, therefore, we find a man truly prepared, spiritually and intellectually, to minister to this silent people in their own special mode of inter-communica- tion, we feel that we are but following the leadings of God's Providence in setting him apart for that high and holy work. Such a man, taken from their own ranks, will teach them the practical reality of our sympathy with them, and our desire for their mental and moral advancement, more forcibly than anything else could do." Since this ordination, five more deaf- mute men have been received into the sacred ministry. In conclusion, as we read the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the Book," we feel that they have been fulfilled. The conditions which have led to the intellectual and re- ligious advancement of this class are due to Christi- anity, whose touch everywhere elevates mankind. THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: Thou sh alt love . . . thy neighbor as thyself. — St. Luke, x. 23. By the Rev. J. W. Gilman, Rector of Holy Innocents Parish, Racine, Wisconsin. ^jQLESSED are the eyes which see the things that I) ye see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings," who have been robbed and wounded by their enemies, the devil and his evil angels, and left half dead by the wayside, "have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them ; and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them;" for they have found the law unwilling, or unable, to help them ; but the Lord Jesus, Himself the Good Samaritan, has been willing and able to help them all. " And behold a certain lawyer stood up ;" for had not the Lord, in these words, spoken very bitter things against the Law ? This champion of the law cross-questioned our blessed Lord, saying : " Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? " An encounter between Love and Law ! What an interesting spec- tacle ! Love said unto him : " What is written in the Law? How readest thou?" And the lawyer said: "Thou vshalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind ; and thy neighbor as thyself." Love could not Himself have answered better. Thus far the combatants were evenly matched; neither , THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 141. had gained the advantage. And Love said: "This do, and thou shalt live." But the lawyer, willing to justify himself— perhaps a little piqued that he was not gaining more advantage over his antagonist — said unto Jesus : " And who is my neighbor ? " That was a tell-tale question ; it laid the questioner open to the home-thrust that Love was not slow to give ; it showed that there was nq real love in the lawyer's heart. And Jesus answering, said : "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain Priest that way;" he too, had turned his back on his Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, and was going, like the Prodigal, down and away on the road that is neither narrow nor straight. What could we expect of such a Priest? "When he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, wdien he was at the place, came and looked on him " — alas, he was worse than the Priest ! — " and passed by on the other side." "But a certain Samaritan as he journeyed" — he was surely on his way up to the Holy City — "came where he was ; and when he saw him he had compas- sion on him, and went to him." He had the same excuses as the other men. How easily he might have quieted his conscience by saying to himself: "My business is very pressing. This man is not long for this world ; he is beyond relief. My life and property are in danger here from these same cruel brigands, who must be still in the neighborhood." 142 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. In spite of all such misgivings, the Good Samari- tan "went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And, on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host ; and said unto him : Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves ? " " He that shewed mercy on him," said the lawyer ; grudging, even then, to give the credit directly to a Samaritan. Then said Jesus unto him : " Go, and do thou likewise." Blessed Jesus, pour into our hearts that precious gift of love which does not stop at loving God or kin- dred or neighbor, but goes on even to loving enemies ; because it rejoices to exercise itself as far and wide as possible, and so to grow strong ! The writer once sat by the bedside during the last moments of a friend who was then living in Ver- mont. He was a clergyman who had resigned his charge not quite a year before, and from that moment had sunk quietly towards his grave. "No," he said to me, "I do not want to die. I am afraid. I do not like strange new things. I do not want to leave my books and my study." "But, dear brother," was the reply in astonish- ment, "it is going home to your Father's House." " I know not what home is, friend," he said, "in the sense of regret or longing for one. My early home was but as the egg to the bird, a prison wherein I was born, from which I fled. Nor was my ideaof a father one that commends itself to me as a type of good." THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 143 His parents had lived on a lonely farm in Vermont where they had the hardest of all .work to do ; forc- ing from rocky and reluctant fields, enough to feed and clothe their family. Life had been to them like a brief browsing on a rocky ledge surrounded on all sides by the abysses of eternity. They had lived only to prepare for death, and see their children follow in the same uninteresting, bitter pilgrimage. The wife was a meek, spiritless creature, with no sentiment and little feeling, always downcast to think that after she had done all, she was an unprofitable servant, and afraid to love her children lest it should be idola- try. Her husband, although very pious in Puritan fashion, was a hard man, gathering where he had not strewed and reaping where he had not sown ; a tyrant where he could be tyrannical in safety — in his own household. Two children, out of ten, alone survived this pair. By a fate, which science calls "the survival of the fittest, " they had spindled up among the mullein- stalks of their stone- strewn pastures, as gray, lank, dry and forlorn as the mulleins themselves, with pale eyes, straight white hair, sallow faces, and the shy aspect of creatures who live in the woods, and are startled at a strange foot-step. They were taught to work as soon as they could walk, while play was an unknown factor in their dreary existence. Both parents died at the same time of some malig- nant disease. It was a sad funeral. The parson's words awoke no thrill in either heart. They stood by the double grave like one in a dream. No tear dimmed their eye; no quiver moved their set lips. Thev knew well that these deaths were no loss to 144 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. them; and they were too vitally and thoroughly honest to put on any otitward show of mourning. Neither father or mother had ever tried to awaken in their children one spark of affection. D-uty, grim, hard duty, had been the main-spring of the father's life. He had toiled, and prayed, and striven to fulfil his tale of debt towards one whom he knew only as an exacting Master. Both the children had grown up unloving, because they were unloved. Beloved, how much better the world would be if only we kept this commandment of Love in its first and easiest application ! What a difference it w^ould make in the happiness of mankind, if only all the " cruel habitations " were eliminated from the world \ What a difference in history, if those wounds, those bitterest and hardest of all wounds to bear, "the wounds received in the house of friends, " could only be done away with ! If fathers would not " provoke their children to wrath," how much young life in parish and household would escape being crushed out ! If we only loved our neighbor so far as to love our own kith and kin, so many would be saved from being robbed of the best things in life, and left wounded, stripped of raiment and half dead by the desert wayside ! But is not this picture of this man's family a fair portrayal of our first parent's life, after they were driven forth from Eden ? They had fallen into the hands of the enemy of our souls, and he had robbed them of the best things they possessed and had left them wounded and half dead by the desert wayside, where they must earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, and where the ground was cursed for their THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 145 sake, and grew nothing but thorns and thistles. Who was there to come and rescue them from this deplorable condition? Who should set them free from that ledge of rock, surrounded b}^ the abysses of eternity, on which they got such scanty pasturage? The Priest and Levite came along that way and tried to redeem them with the law ; but the law was ineffectual. The Priest went by on the other side. The Levite came and looked on the sufferer, but then followed the Priest's example. Both these men knew as well as the lawyer, who cross-questioned our blessed Lord, the teaching of the law. They knew: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." They knew it was written : " I will have mercy, not sacrifice/ ' and "the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith ;" and, "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way and hide thyself from them ; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again." Here was not a brother's oxnorhis ass, but a brother himself lying in his own blood ; and they hid them- selves from him. If thou hast not love in thy heart, beloved, thy laws will do thee no good ; nor will fine distinctions as to who is, and who is not, my neigh- bor. If any man was neighbor, this Priest and Levite were neighbors to the wounded man; but they did not lift a finger to help him. The Law has the words and the keen definitions ; but they profit little if Love is not in the heart. The lawyer, for instance, probably expected Jesus to define philosophically what "neighbor" meant; he thought He would say : "Why, a neighbor must be a 10 146 SERMONS 0_N THE GOSPELS. person who is self-determined and free. No man who is bribed — no man who is subject to a narrowing creed like the Samaritans', who believe in their elev- enth commandment, 'Thou shalt build an altar on Mt. Gerizim, and there only shalt thou worship; ' no such man can be a person worthy of our love. A person is also a neighbor only when contiguous to us in space; only when a worshipper at the same altar ; or one who lives within the same city walls ; or one who is a member of the same great family, tribe or nation/ ' But Jesus did not enter into any such definitions. If any one had injured His personality by sectarian narrowness, it was the Samaritan ; if any one w^as an enemy of the Jews, it was the Samaritan. Only a few years before a Samaritan had secretly entered the Temple at Jerusalem and had scattered human bones in all directions about the sacred enclosure. Nothing could have so outraged the feelings of the Jews as this sacrilegious pollution ; yet the man had not acted without provocation, for the Jews had excommuni- cated his people, anathematized them in his syn- agogue, prayed that they might have no part or lot in the resurrection of life, proclaimed their testimony to be worth nothing, and said that to eat a morsel of their fare was to eat swine's flesh. Such a man, such an impaired personality, such an enemy, Jesus says, we should consider our neighbor. Love does not ask the wicked question, " Who is my neighbor?" or, "How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?" or, "Whom shall I love? " It is glad to extend itself to all, as far and wide as it can. Love is not tested when we love only THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 147 those whom it is easy to love ; the agreeable, pleas- ant, reputable persons who, as Emerson says, " be- long to IIS." It is shown whether we have love in our hearts when we can love those who are hard to love ; people like the Jew, the thieves, the priest, the Levite, the lawyer. We should love not only God Who has been a good Neighbor to us ; we should love not only kith and kin, not only those near to us in space, but we should love even our enemies. This is the extreme test of love ; this is the hardest part of the lesson to learn. Would you learn it ? Then do not sulk in your tents, and neglect to come to Church because you dis- like some one person here or there in the congrega- tion. How often it happens that men or women stay away, cease their contributions, and even cut them- selves off from the Holy Communion, because of hatred for some one or other who has not behaved just right in the Woman's guild, or in the Choir, or in the Vestry, or in this or that helpful organization ! They seek, apparently, to visit on God and His dear Church their wrath at some individual. They, how- ever, do not injure Him or His Church in the least. The harm they do is in their own hearts, where they cut down the most precious flower that grows there, the most precious fruit of the Holy Ghost, that most excellent gift of Love, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before Thee, 0, most loving Jesus ! God does not give us this commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, and not keep it first Him- self. He loves us as Himself. Indeed, He has treated 143 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. us as the Good Samaritan treated the poor, wounded and plundered Jew. He found us on our way down from Jerusalem, on our way from His Holy City and Church, on our way in pursuit of the pleasures and business of the worldly city, Jericho, which He has cursed. He found us lying there by the wayside, robbed of all our wealth; our garments, even, not spared ; and our life-blood fast oozing out from our many wounds. Life without God in the world is still this " falling among thieves." We have to stand back to the wall, and with our good sword defend ourselves against all comers until we sink exhausted and overcome. He came to us in this 'deplorable condition. The Priest and the Levite had gone by. The Law had tried to do something for us, but was unavail- ing. Blessed are the eyes which see the things which we have lived to see ! Many prophets and kings have desired to see and hear them, but have not. Yes, we are blessed indeed; for the Good Samaritan, God the Father, in the Person of His only Son, Jesus Christ, has come to us and, with His Holy Sacra- ments, has bound up our wounds, " pouring in oil and wine ; " and has set us upon His own beast ; and has taken us to the Inn of His Church ; and, there, has left money and injunctions to His Ministry to care for us. It is true He has gone back to Heaven and we are left in the Inn ; but His parting words were: "Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." So, whatever the keepers of the Inn do for us, or spend for us, they need fear no loss ; for He will make it good to them. THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 149 What a blessed thought, that we are God's neigh- bors ! That He has loved lis as Himself! Can we refuse to "go and do likewise?" Is not our heart touched by the unexpected kindness of the Good Samaritan ? Shall we reject His kind offices ? Shall w^e turn and rend Him when He has cast before us His pearls ? Shall we taunt Him with being a Samari- tan, "say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil ?" Ah, that is precisely what w^e have done ! That is what humanity did to Love, when Love came into this world and bound up its wounds and set it right before God. Yes, humanity, — so desperately wicked is the heart of man, — human- ity went so far as to reject Love. They even bound Him and mocked Him ; they put on Him a purple robe, and a crown of thorns, and a reed in His hand; and they bowed the knee before Him, and cried : " Hail, King of the Jews ! " They spat in His face, and smote His cheek, first having blindfolded His eyes, and then challenged Him to tell, prophet that He was, who it was that smote Him! Then they scourged Him, and made Him bear His cross, until He sank exhausted in the way. Then they crucified Him, and left Him, lying by the way- side half-dead, stripped of His raiment, wounded and bleeding, and thrust into the company of two thieves, two of their own band, who deserved, even in their eyes, such an ignominious death! That is the way they treated the Good Samaritan after He had done so much for them. That is the sequel of the story in the Gospel. Before he was well of his wound, poor mankind rose up and bound his benefactor. Truly, the devil must have put it into 150 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. men's hearts to treat Him so, who had been so kind to them! He, the devil, was angry and envious of this Good Man who had so well treated the poor vic- tim he had left bleeding by the wayside ; so he put it into his heart to turn and rend him. Mankind turned into something worse than the bandits who infested the road down from Jerusalem. They were not content with robbing, and stripping; they must insult and crucify One, who was trying to be neigh- borly. O, Beloved, shall we yield to the devil's wicked suggestions? Shall we play thieves and robbers, instead of neighbors? Shall we play priests and Levites, turn our backs to God's Church, and hide ourselves from our own flesh and blood? Nay, let us, while some man is yet a sinner, risk our life for him ! Let us love our neighbor, yea, even if he is our enemy, as ourselves ! Let us not be thief, nor priest, nor Levite. Let us be Good Samaritans, and say to the devil : " Get thee behind me, Satan ! " Thou wouldst make me like these thieves, and priests, and Levites ! I am determined to be like my Divine Master. He is my neighbor, and He has treated me as such. He has loved me as Himself. He has done more than risk His life and spend His money for me. He has suffered, for me, death upon the cross; and, for me, He has spent His precious Blood. Thou hast never done anything but envy and hate me. Thou didst envy me when, as a harmless infant at the font I was washed clean in the water of regeneration, and saved from the death-dealing waters of this world. Thou didst envy me at my Confirmation, and at my First Communion. Thou didst envy me every time THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 151 that thou sawest me go to the Sacrament of Absolu- tion. Thou hast done nothing but beat and bruise me, from the time thou didst first take notice of me. " Get thee behind me, Satan!" "It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve." He is a neighbor that I can not only love — I can worship Him ; and so shall I do with all my heart, and mind, and soul, and strength! THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Ingratitude to Christ. Text : And Jesus answering, said, Were. there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger. — St. Luke, xvii. 17-18. By the Rev. D. D. Chapin, Rector of the Church of the Nativity, Maysville, Kentucky. THE words of the text are from the recorded ac- count of the cleansing of the ten lepers by our blessed Lord. The circumstances, briefly, are these: Our Lord, with His Disciples, was making His last journey — was on His way to Jerusalem, where the last passion was to be endured. His course through Galilee was ended, and apparently Eastward He was making His way toward the Jordan, travelling on the confines of Samaria. He came to a certain vil- lage (which one is not told us); but, as he was enter- ing the village, ten men — nine of them apparently Jews of Galilee, and so of the seed of Abraham, the other a Samaritan — men whom common misery had drawn together, standing afar off, for their disease was a polluting one — hailed Him, and besought pity upon themselves. The universal sympathy of the Lord was aroused, and He bade them, in accordance with the Mosaic Law, go and show themselves to the priests. The narrative is very graphic. "And it came to pass as they went they were cleansed." THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 153 How the imagination follows them ! See them at once set out, perhaps for Jerusalem, a long journey before them. How far they travelled, we know not; but, as they went, at once they found themselves healed; not ceremonially cleansed only, but actu- ally, physically made whole ; their flesh healthy and sound again. We cannot stop to picture their sur- prise and astonishment, the gladness and excitement of the occasion, nor to wonder at the marvellous power of God. One of them — the Samaritan — hastens back, and, coming to the Lord, falls at His feet, praising and glorifying God; the other nine, who were Jews, we see no more. Thankless and ungrateful, they disap- pear. Their ingratitude calls out the expression of indignation from our Lord which we have taken as a text: "And Jesus answering, said, 'Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine ? There are not found to return to give glory to God save this stranger.' " And the stranger was rewarded. The Lord fur- ther said unto him: "Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole." Some greater and better gift was bestowed on him than the cleansing of his body. We can only infer what it was. It was, perchance, the cleansing of the soul. His faith made him whole, and whole only as faith can make a man whole. So brief, so pointed, so charged full to overflowing are the words of Holy Writ. We will not dwell longer on the incidents of the Miracle. The one impression, perhaps, chiefly left upon us in reading it, is the ingratitude of the nine who received the blessing, yet failed to acknowledge 154 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. it. We are shocked at their conduct. How could they thus fail, at least, to return and thank their Benefactor ? And yet, is not this the way of nearly all the world ? Our thought, to-day, will grow out of this : the World's Ingratitude to Christ; the selfishness and forgetfulness of the human heart. Ten receive a blessing; nine forget to thank God for it! We fear this is about the proportion as the world goes. The Blessed Jesus had left His Father's Throne in Heaven ; " became man for our salvation ; " " endured the cross, despising the shame;" redeemed the race; brought them back to God ; opened a way for the cleansing of all the nations, not from leprosy alone, but from every disease of soul as well as body ; from death itself. And what is the gratitude of the world ? How many of all the race, even now living, fall at Jesus' feet and glorify God ? Alas ! Does one in ten ? Careless and thoughtless they go away ; the heathen world know not God; know not that their sinful nature has been purged by the Godhead embracing it; on their way they go, seeking still their own in- ventions, groping on and on, shutting their eyes to the Light which has dawned upon them. In their wilfulness they know not God. They will not come and sit in adoration at His blessed feet. But we need not go to so-called heathen lands to find this ingratitude ; we shall find it nearer home, as we shall see. In so-called Christian lands how fares it? Let us look about us. How many of all the jostling crowd even profess and call themselves Christ- ians ? How many even know the name of Christ, ex- cept to take it in vain ? Alas ! Sometimes it is to be THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 155 feared not even one in ten. Yet here are men living under the full light of Heaven, with all the privileges Christianity brings. To what is our civilization due ? To Christ. Why do we differ from the heathen world ? Christ is preached. What is the secret of all the moral and intellectual growth we see around us, of which we boast so much ? Christianity. What is the secret of our material wealth and prosperity? The peace and security the Gospel gives. Think it all over, and you will say it is so. And now what do we see? How many of all these teeming millions return and thank God for it all ? The thought is a sad one ; but we shall soon learn that, after all, the nine ungrate- ful lepers were not so much worse than many others of their kind. Our search will bear further pursuit. We say this is called a Christian land. The Church of Christ is here. The Word is preached; the Sacraments admin- istered. The Church doors are open every Lord's Day; many, every day. Think of it again. How many of all the crowd return to His House to give Him thanks ? A Christian land, forsooth ! We some- times think the name is irony ; but yet the effects we speak of recall us to the fact. There is some remem- brance, some gratitude ; the few here to-day witness to that fact. God is not wholly forgotten; the nine may have gone on their thoughtless, ungrateful way ; but one, at least, is found at the Saviour's feet. Yes, God be thanked, it is a Christian land yet. Faith is not dead. A few faithful souls forget not the Giver's Hand. A few are found, with each recurring Lord's Day, to meet together to praise and glorify His Blessed Name. 156 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. And how many of us who are here to-day profess and call ourselves the Disciples of Christ ? Why are we here? Is it to give thanks that we are healed? Do we come as idle spectators, as the thronging crowd of such who ever followed the footsteps of the Lord? or as the glad Samaritan, falling at His feet? Think of it ; only to the thankful and glad one was the glorious word spoken, "Thy Faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. " We will soon pass out at yonder door, but will those blessed words, "Go in peace/ ' "The peace of God which passeth all under- standing, " follow us ? or will we go as the nine went, ■with thankless, thoughtless, ungrateful hearts, and so go away unblessed ? How wide of application the thought is ! The lepers, chafing in their misery, tortured with disease, lifted up their voices and cried : "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." Often does the Minister of Christ hear this cry in sick rooms, by dying beds, in affliction: i ' Jesus , Master, have mercy onus." The cry is heard , perchance; the sick are well, the Hand of God has been stretched out, which alone can heal. "Were there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine?" Alas ! how true still ! How few from a sick bed, when well again, remember their cry, and return in health with thanksgiving upon their lips, and in their hearts. And when in any adversity , men have called upon God, and He has heard them, and prosperity returns, how few see and acknowledge the Hand of God in it all ! Let us ponder well this thought, and see if our conduct in all things corresponds to that of the re- turning Samaritan, or the nine ungrateful sons of Abraham. THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 157 The foul disease of leprosy, ever in Holy Writ, is the type and symbol of a fouler spiritual disease, one contaminating the whole nature of man, the disease of sin. All who read their Bibles know this. And the Lord, in coming in contact with human nature, by His touch thereupon, opened a way for its cure. At His death, from His wounded side blood and water flowed forth, a living fountain for the cleansing of the race. He left His Church, His Sacraments, a living, ever-flowing stream, without money, without price. The Race has been redeemed. Alas ! we have seen how few avail themselves of this redemption; how few come to the stream flowing from the smitten rock! But thought comes closer yet. The stream flows on, and thousands in Holy Baptism are plunged beneath it. Their sins, through Faith, are washed away, their leprosy is cleansed. Here, right here, is the ap- plication of the Atonement to the soul. Thousands approach the Blessed Lord, crying: " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us," and go away healed; and what then? How many of all this baptized host return, and glorify God in His other Sacrament of Thanks- giving and Praise ? This thought is a startling one. It is our chief thought to-day — the main lesson to be learned. We are angry at this ingratitude of those nine cleansed lepers of old ; but how is it now ? Are one in ten of thosebaptized found to return and glorify God in the Blessed Eucharist? And what must be said of such as return not, what must the Master Himself say? Think of His indignation and sur- prise ! Alas, how few are found at the Sacramental Altar as opportunity offers, at the feet of Jesus for His 158 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. blessed gift! " There are not found save this stran- ger" — one, perchance, not always of the Fold. A Samaritan; once an enemy; one come late; a " stran- ger," who in childhood knew not the Church, was not as a child made an " inheritor of the kingdom of God." The nine who went away were children of the Promise, the seed of Abraham. Alas ! how many children of the Church do we see now go on their way, forgetful to return, and, perchance, only the stranger, the Samaritan, is found in gratitude at Jesus' feet. And for us, who are communicants — who, from time to time, are wont to return — there is a word. It is a word of cheer and hope, if we return in the same spirit in which the one cleansed leper did. To him came the blessed words : " Thy faith hath made thee whole." Body and soul were healed ; herein a double blessing was secured. The nine ungrateful ones were hastening back to the world. Alas! that their cleansing in the end should avail them naught ! Only to the returning and thankful heart is the promise complete. And this is our joy. Here we can come and show our gratitude, and claim His full assurance that our souls are healed. This is the great significance of the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. It is, among many other things, an Eucharistic Feast, which means a feast of thanks. In the one Sacrament of Baptism we were cleansed, our sins were blotted out; as we say in the Creed, there is "one Baptism for the re- mission of sins." And in the other Sacrament we thank God for this " inestimable benefit," and lay in another store of strength by heavenly food to fight THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 159 the battle of the Christian life. Returning here, we come to our Redeemer's feet. Let us look up, and behold His blessed, loving face. Let us not forget these words to-day. Let us not treat them as the idle wind, but let us lay well to heart the lesson the Lord and His Church would teach us in this Gospel of to-day. Amen. THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: Consider the lilies of the held, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. — St. Matthew, vi. 28, 29. By the Rey. Douglass Cairnes Peabody, Rector of TrinitY Church, Mobile, Alabama. HOW simple, how beautiful, how full of teaching, and thought and study, are all of our Lord's parabolic comparisons ! There are no outward things but that are made to. teach some special lesson of its own : the sky, overcast with clouds ; the earth, car- peted with grass and flowers, or yielding golden ears of corn ; the vine, the fig-tree, the worthless tares, the thorn and brier — each speaks to him " who hath ears to hear, and eyes to see," who, "hearing, can under- stand, and who, seeing, can perceive. " So it is as clearly, plainly true and manifest that "the invisible things of God are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." In this Gospel for the day do we have two clear and plain lessons taught to us all. It will be our fault if we do not, each and all, so learn from them as to make a continual advance in that which shall redound to our greater good. First, we have the inestimable value and benefit of following the example of our Lord, Himself the THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, 161 God of Nature, in studying nature : " the grass of the field, the lily of the valley.' ' Second, the constant warning against " carping care," of fretting and worrying, which Christ so for- cibly teaches in this Gospel, and in many other parts of His Word. At one time it was said of Galileo — who had been accused of infidelity because he asserted that the earth went around the sun, in apparent contradiction to Scripture — that when questioned by the Inquisition as to his belief in a Supreme Being, he pointed to a straw lying on the floor of his dungeon, saying, that from the construction of that trifling object, he would infer with certainty the existence of a Supreme Creator. It is remarkably true that a " light and superficial knowledge of natural things may, indeed, consist with Atheism ; but a deep and profound search brings men back to God." " Consider the lilies, how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Study them; understand them well and thoroughly! By means of the rays of the sun and the refreshing showers, by absorbing nourishment from the soil in just that kind and proportion which it needs, that wonderful transformation, or resurrection, takes place by which form, color, scent and substance are all evolved out of the bulb of the lily. "The forms of Eastern lilies," says Baron Hum- boldt, "are, indeed, striking, and they dazzle the eye by their variety and splendor ; and yet, there is not : a 11 162 4 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. flower in the whole field but which sets God before us in lively colors." " They toil not, neither do they spin ; " they simply obey the laws of nature impressed upon them by the God of Nature. Simple as the laws of nature may seem to some of those who do not understand them ; yet, when their knowledge is increased, so that they do understand how extremely fine and intricate are all of her laws, then their admiration and love for that Being who is back of, and above, all nature, should be propor- tionately increased. This, however, is not the case; for knowledge is no more a sign of goodness than is ignorance a universal sign of evil. Simple as is the growth of the lily, frail and tender as its life, yet Solomon in all his glory was not ar- rayed like one of them. Why ? Because God clothed the lily, while man clothed Solomon. How great, how glorious must He be, who thus made and fashioned all things ! How infinite His wisdom, His power, and His goodness ! How abiding must that love be, how kind and cheering to us all must be the mercy of that Creator, who hath num- bered even the hairs of our head, and without whose knowledge not even a sparrow falls to the ground ! He created the lilies of the field. He gave to you and me our senses of sight and smell; those two senses which, even in the most depraved, almost always bring pleasure at the sight of a beautiful flower. The Tyrian purple of the East, the azure blueness of the sky, the whiteness of the purest white, were all common colors to the Eastern kings; yet to what- ever perfection they might have brought their color- THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 163 ing, however grandly and sumptuously they may have arrayed themselves, they could not rival, in all their princely grandeur the simple beauty of the "lily of the field," the lily of the valley. Here, the Master points to those productions of His hand which derive no aid from man. It is the lily of the field, and not of the garden, to which He calls the attention of His disciples. Those which grow wild, and derive none of their beauty from the fostering care of cultivation are these; God has be- towed a beauty beyond the powder of man to reach in the productions of human art, or skill. This is the beauty which they have, though they toil not, neither do they spin, " as men toil, and as women spin." Christ assures us that the care and the watchful providence of our heavenly Father extends far be- yond those things which are absolutely necessary for mere existence. He supplies us, not only with food and raiment, but also with those wonder- ful gifts which lift us above the animal creation, which adorn the mind, and give grace and dignity to the body. He who gives to us the necessary things out of His abounding love, adds, also, beauty to the crea- tions of His hand. This is the beauty — the beauty of the things of nature made by the God of nature — in which Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed. And this is the declaration of Christ. The word which is here used for glory, is com- monly used to denote splendor of clothing. The glory of Solomon's reign, the grandeur of his vestments, the magnificence of his appearance, were favorite themes with Jewish writers. 164 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. The force of this declaration is made stronger when we remember that white was the favorite color of Eastern monarchs on state occasions. White is also the color of the lily, Christs' own flower of the Resur- rection ! " Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field/' which He has provided with organs for the carrying out of those functions which are necessary for its life; the drawing up of the sap through the roots ; its dis- persion through its various parts ; twigs and leaves for shelter and shade; a most beauteous array of flowers, surpassing in their simple beauty even Solo- mon in all his glory ; giving it also a fragrance which is pleasing both to beasts and man ; with healing prop- erties ; and with that wonderful power which shows Him to be a God of purpose, of design, of law and order, the power to reproduce itself in its own like- ness — what, therefore, will He not do for man, whom He has made in His own image, in His own likeness ? The Gospel for to-day does not forbid industry, "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.' ' It does forbid over-anxious care ; fretting and worry- ing over things which we can not help. It tells us that no man can serve two masters: that he who worships the world can not, will not, serve God ; that he who worships God in sincerity and in truth, can not, will not, serve the world. God clothes the lily, has made all the necessary provision for it, because the lily can not do these things for itself. He feeds the birds — by provision only, not by com- pulsion. He provides them with food, and all the means for them to seek ; which means they must use THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 165 or perish. He provides man in like manner, and he, too, must use that provision. > If, then, God has taken such wonderful care and provision for the things of earth; how much more will He take care for those to whom He has given the unspeakable gift of an immortal soul ? Giving us of that spiritual life which He, Himself, enjoys ! And if He "so clothe" — that is, if He clothe with such rare and exceeding beauty — these perishable and perishing flowers of earth; how senseless, how lack- ing in faith, is that distrust, that anxiety for the necessaries of life, which is a source of such constant perplexity to so many of the children of men ! This anxiety for food and raiment, or for the greater things of life, to the exclusion of our Christian duties, is absolutely forbidden us. Because, all such care and anxiety destroys the love of God in our hearts ; and hinders, if it does not utterly retard, our obedience to Him. "Ye can not serve God and mammon." Because, over-anxious care and solicitude — like over-much righteousness — is always misplaced and useless ; for, with all our care, or fretting, or worry, or desire, we "can not add one cubit to our stature." Because, all such perplexity, and over-anxious care and solicitude are impious and unholy; arising as they do, from unbelief in God. They show a heart full of distrust, both of the love and the power of our common Creator, who will sup- ply all our wants, we working, of course, according to His laws of provision. Christ here seems to say that the lavish beauty which the Father has bestowed on the simple things 166 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. of earth, for the mere use, or gratification of man, ought to preserve us from all unnecessary care, or anxiety; because, He who thus " clothes the grass of the field/' will give to man all that is necessary for the body ; all that can minister to the grace of the soul, and the real adornment of that creation who possesses an endless life. If, then, the child of God is forbidden to take undue thought about the necessaries of life, how unpardon- able is that care, labor, and strife, which men bestow upon its superfluities, its luxuries, its riches, its vain and empty ambitions ! We are to remember that, while we must earn our daily bread, while we must provide decent and suffi- cient raiment, we must not forecast the future. We live in the present. We are here to-day. We receive grace and help for this day. We are taught to pray : " Give us this day our daily bread.'' There are far more white heads, unsmiling lips, broken hearts, and cheerless, forbidding homes caused by foolish, sinful worry and anxiety than is generally known. This day's Gospel warns us against all this vexing, carping care and anxiety; this troubled, anxious thought about the future of our worldly affairs. We all of us need to cultivate a cheerful, happy dispo- sition. We all of us need, ifiore and more, to show forth, both by our acts and words, the simple, child- like faith, that He who watches over all things — even "the lily of the field" and "the birds of the air" — will continue to watch over us, and will guard us on, and over, life's journey ; that, as long as we do our part, He will take care of the future. THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 167 How much better this would be for us all ! How many more happy, bright, cheery, contented, God- fearing and God-loving homes would there be in our land ! The motto of George W. Childs, one of our best and greatest philanthropists, was : " Do the best, and leave the rest." So Christ, our blessed Lord and Master, says: " Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteous- ness, and all these things shall be added unto you." " Take, therefore, no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: And He came and touched the bier. — St. Luke, vii. 14. By the Rev. Walter H. Moore, Dean of the Cathedral, Qtiincy, Illinois. ST. LUKE'S narrative has given the little town of Nain a deathless fame. Dean Stanley says : "On the northern slope of the rugged and barren ridge of little Hermon, immediately west of Endor, which lies in a further recess of the same range, is the ruined village of Nain. No convent, no tradition marks the spot. But under the circumstances the name is sufficient to guarantee its authenticity. One entrance alone it could have had — that which opens upon the rough hillside on its downward slope to the plain. It must have been in this steep descent, as according to Eastern custom they ! carried out the dead man/ that nigh to the gate of the village the bier was stopped, and the long procession of mourners staid, and the young man delivered back to his mother." Here, then, is the scene of one of those greatest miracles by which Jesus declared Himself to be the Lord of Life. St. Luke, in a few strokes of his pencil- pen, pictures the pathos of the funeral of the only son of the widowed mother. The group of weeping mourners passes out of the city gates to the place of burial. The Lord meets the train, arrests its progress THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 169 as He touches the bier, speaks the words of power, 4i Young man, I say unto thee, Arise," and gives back the son alive to the love of the sometime desolate mother. It is an illustration of the demands which hostile unbelief makes upon Christian faith, that we are asked to reject this raising of the dead, and to accept in its place the theory that this was a case of sus- pended animation, and that our Lord happened to meet the funeraj procession just at the very time that the supposed dead man recovered consciousness. The Lord seized the opportunity to impose upon the ever- awing throng His claims to have power over death, and to gain credit for the miracle of a resurrection. We must, then, regard our Lord as a charlatan, de- signedly by deceiving mankind, practising upon the credulity of men, and establishing the system of Christianity by means of unworthy tricks ; or, we must conclude that, in this instance at least, He ex- hibited a power of observation which is superhuman, as He had the discernment to appear just at the right time to recall the young man to his senses, as his trance was leaving him. Surely, the ordinary mind will be quite content to receive the story of the Gospel as the Evangelist relates it, as one much more probable, and exacting much less of the imagination or reason. For, if the facts related of the Lord Jesus Christ are true, if they can stand the test to which other facts of human his- tory may be submitted, then we may reasonably con- clude that they are related of one who was more than man; who, as the Eternal Son of God, had power over death. 170 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Thus it is that hostile criticism defeats itself. It is far more difficult to accept its explanation of the event recorded, than to take it as one of those series of great works which the Lord wrought in attesta- tion of His claims. Thus, the labored way in which a celebrated French writer seeks to cast discredit upon the resurrection of our Lord Himself, is much more of an affront to the understanding, and a task to the imagination, than the fact which he strives to disprove. For the strength of the Gospel is, that it deals in facts. They are events in the record of the human race, matters of human history which challenge in- vestigation, and defy disproof. Those facts can be predicated of none other than the Son of God. Hence, if they can be proved, acceptance of the Son of Mary as the Son of God follows as a logical and inevitable consequence. It is upon that issue that the Gospel is presented to men. It was that which the Apostles preached. They bore witness ; they gave testimony. " That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you." The miracles which our Lord wrought testified of Him. They were not done at hap-hazard, by im- pulse, or pity. They served, and were intended to serve, to reveal Him toman as one who came mighty to save. The raising of the young man at the gate of Nain has its place in that series of wonderful works which proclaimed Him to be the Lord of Life. He came and touched the bier, and that masterful gesture tells us much of His mission, and of His nature. It is an instinct to think of Him as our High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 171 our infirmities. His true human nature makes Him at one with us, and of us. He knew sorrow ; there is no description of Him which touches us so nearly as that He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. There is noth- ing which makes humanity turn to Him with readier confidence, than the fact that His tears fell as He entered into the sorrows of man. We turn to Him intuitively when shadows fall upon our lives, because we have read in the Gospels of His quick sympathy with those who mourn. We know that we have from Him something more than the show of sym- pathy, than the formal words by which men some- times express a conventional grief, because we know that He has experienced sorrow, that He was in all points tried as we are. Stronger than the love of friends, greater than all human affection, He is a brother strong to bear, whose sympathy and tender- ness will enwrap us when all earthly comforts fade and fail. Christianity is peculiarly the religion of humanity, because by this very sympathy with human wants and woes, which its Founder bears. It is not only that He is God, mighty to save, but that he is Man, mighty to endure; that He, in His human nature, entered into the full conditions of our life, and knows its burdens and sorrows through actual experience. So that we may say in any condition which presses upon us the burdens of life — He has borne it; He knows how hard and heavy it is ; He knows why we grieve, and how we sorrow, for He has experienced it. He is not an inaccessible Deity, far removed from the circle of our mortal life. He has entered into it, and 172 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. lived in it. Though throned in the eternal glory, He is still a man with us, quick to hear, instant to sym- pathize, strong to help. Therefore we can appeal confidently to His compassionate heart ; we may sob out our story of broken hearts, and crushing cares, into ears which are not strange to the tale of human experiences. "I am human, and nothing human is alien to Me," He seems to say, as He meets and stays the burial procession on the hillside. As He touches the bier, it is as one who loves and pities, all tenderly human. He came to minister to the distress, as well as to sympathize with the sorrow. That is characteristic of His Gospel. Christianity brought into the world a new dispensation of care and tenderness to the poor, and sick, and unfortunate of the earth. It was a new revelation to men that they were members of a Divine Brotherhood, whose love embraced all men. It had not been so. The poor and weak must go to the wall, or be trodden down by the more fortunate. Weak and deformed children might be exposed to die. It was not worth while to rear them. The sick were happy if the claims of natural affection and relation- ship were strong enough to insure attention. Human- ity owes to Christianity hospitals and orphanages, all the ministeries of mercy by which suffering is alle- viated, and parental care supplied. It was a proof of Christ's Messiahship that "the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them." So it was that His earthly ministry abounded in works which ministered to the comfort and happi- THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 173 ness of men, and to the relief of their necessities. Full as are the Gospels of the record, of these acts, they narrate but a few. All could not be told, but these are written that we might believe, that we might know something of the character of the Kingdom of God. He meets and touches the bier that He might again proclaim Himself able and willing to lighten sorrow, to comfort the distressed, to turn weeping into joy. Nor this alone. In meditating upon this, and other works of our Lord, we are not to think that they were only for temporary relief, and had to do only with present distress, and the conditions of this mor- tal life. They did, indeed, comfort and succor, confer health and life, and lift up the drooping heads. But they had a larger purpose. Their immediate effect was to give relief, and to cause joy and thanksgiving. But the sick whom He healed were not thereby ex- empted from the common lot of mortal men. In time they passed under the power of death. The blind, to whom He had given sight, closed their eyes at last to the scenes of earth. The daughter of Jarius was given back but for a time. The son of the widow of Nain lived, perhaps, to cheer and stay his mother during the remaining years of her pilgrimage, and then, in turn, was gathered to his fathers, and was buried. Lazarus was given a respite ; for the second time he died. If these miracles had to do only with this life, then their power and effect would have been but transi- ted, and we might question their utility. But the Lord touched that bier with the power of life, and thus made good His declaration that He is the Resur- rection and the Life. He stood there upon the hillside 174 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. as one who had power over death, and who had life in Himself. His miracle, then, proclaimed Him to be not merely a prophet, sent from God with power to give signs as testimony of the truth of His mission, but as the God who gave life, and who renews it at His will. Yea, of His own life He said : " I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." It was with the possession and consciousness of this power that He accomplished His ministry. He came to give a new life to the world ; that He might gather into Himself the polluted stream of human life, and give it back again, pure and revivifying for the restored race. "This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." It was because the race was dead in trespasses and sins, that the Source of life recreated it in the true manhood which He took to Himself. This miracle, and all His works, were witnesses to the fact that He who made man, recreated him ; that the Lord of life said to the race which lay in darkness and the shadow of death : " I say unto thee, arise." His own resurrection is the triumphant and over- whelming proof, that, to " as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, . . . . which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." The open grave, in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, tells us that He who laid there had life in Himself; life which had been attested by the fact, that, at His bid- ding, death had yielded up its victims, and the under world had heard His voice calling the departed spirit to return. There is no need, now, that such wonders should be repeated. Every \ r ear w T hich has passed since THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 175 the angel rolled away the stone from the door of the Sepulchre, has added to the evidence of the truth that the Lord of life liveth; that as once and again upon the earth He declared His power, so now He is the one that liveth and was dead, and, behold, is alive for evermore. He needs not now to restore our dead to us for a time to commend Himself to our faith. His own Res- urrection is the assurance that the day is coming when all the dead shall hear His voice, and, too, that they are in His care, who is the God, not of the dead, but the living, for all live unto Him. If after that, men will not believe, if they believe not Moses and the Prophets, nor the Gospels, nor the tremendous fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead every year or ever week, to testify to the Lord of life. Nor must we fail to note the significance of our .Lord's action in touching the bier. We may see a similar gesture, or act, in very many of His works. Now, it is the hem of the garment ; again, the taking by the hand, the anointing of the eye, the touching of the ear, which accompanies the act of restoration. Surely, it is not reading into His action that which was not intended, if we say that His healing was Sacramental in operation. It would have been enough for Him to have willed it without visible deed, to ac- complish His purpose, that the spiritual work might be wrought without material circumstance. But it is not thus in His dealings with us. There is the outward sign which is the vehicle of the inward cleansing, or healing, or life. He seems to take us as we are in this material world, and to use the visible 176 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. and sensible means about Him as the instruments by which He will bless us. It is not they who accept Him in spirit only, in the recesses of the mind, who see His Kingdom; but, " except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Not they, who in the elevation of the soul, and the perfection of human thought, rise to the clear heights of communion with Him, and live the larger life; but " except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." It is the contact with the Life of God which gives life to man. That gift is tied by Divine institution, to its outward and visible sign, that these may be to us, in this world of sense, visible and definite assurances and pledges that the gift is communicated. The Sa- craments of Grace are the instruments and means, adapted to our mortal condition, by which the Lord of life incorporates us into His living and glorified Humanity, and preserves us in that union unto the perfect day. So, then, faith loves to contemplate our Lord in this work of love and power. We see Him — the com- passionate High Priest — touched with our sorrows, listening with a tender sympathy to the tale of our woes, and we may, therefore, "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that Ave may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." We behold Him — the Giver of all good gifts — ministering to our needs, and consoling us in the darkest hours of life. As He gives the son to his mother, we may be assured, in what- ever trial life may bring to us, that though heaviness may endure for the night, certainly joy will come in the morning, when the shadows flee away. THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 177 We hear His words of power, as He calls the dead to life again; — yea, we hear the angels speaking at His own tomb, "He is not here: He is risen, as He said ; " and we know that the voice which called the young man to life, which rang in the tomb of Lazarus, which St. John heard at Patmos — " a great voice, as of a trumpet" — shall one day sound o'er land and sea, to call us, and all who sleep in Jesus, from the dust of death to the glories and beauties of that land where we shall ever be with the Lord. 12 THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: Whosoever exalteth himself, shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. — St. Luke, xiv. 11. By the Rev. William E. Toll, Rector of Christ Church, Waukegan, Illinois. TO be clothed with humility, to have our life adorned with it, as the body is with a garment, to walk in all lowliness and meekness, in honor to prefer one another, to esteem others better than our- selves is the lesson the Church would teach us to-day, through the holy Gospel, which tells us what hap- pened when Jesus came into the house of a man who was chief among the Pharisees. If there were no other reason binding us to seek after and acquire this precious virtue, this ought to suffice for all those who desire to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ ; that He has commanded all His disciples, saying : " Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." There are, however, many other reasons why we should endeavor daily to be of an humble mind. The acquirement of this most gracious adornment of the Christian life and character is a very difficult one; and, like all things hard to be obtained, when once possessed is most precious and abiding. It is, more- over, so entirely contrary to the natural man, and the puffings up of the fleshly mind, that it may be con- THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 179 sidered distinctly a Christian virtue; and, therefore, one of those marks of our discipleship in the Lord which attract men and make them take knowledge of us, that we have been with Jesus. We shall see the exceeding importance which the Divine Master attached to this quality in human life, from His whole bearing and actions on this occasion. Everything which surrounded Him at this house in which He had been bidden to eat bread, was the very opposite of what He used as His opportunity to teach. He was a guest, even, by malice aforethought. Seemingly, this chief or ruler among the Pharisees had invited Jesus to dine with his associates and neighbors as an honored Teacher; but in reality it was to ensnare and entrap Him. And Jesus, know- ing all this, showed not, as on some similar occasions, a righteous indignation towards this ruler in Israel, and the sect of Pharisees to which he belonged, but controlled Himself as with a divine reserve. He whose property is always to have mercy, per- haps saw beneath the malice and envy of this assem- bled company some element of goodness yet remain- ing, some vulnerable part in their hearts not wholly hardened ; and therefore giving no offence in anything sought to the uttermost to save such as would come unto God through Him. The whole bent and pur- pose of His mind, heart and will, at this time seems to have been to turn without any delay a feast, made for the delight of the body, into a banquet whereby He might enrich the soul. As already intimated, there was design with a pur- pose on the part of this ruler of the Pharisees and his 180 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. friends, thus convening together for a social feast , with Jesus a guest among them. Their purpose, as the narrative plainly shows, was an ignoble one which, strange to us as it may appear, He who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, either overlooks, or, to say the least, passes by without indignation and scorn. It was, perhaps, His last opportunity to seek and to save that which was lost ; and now, as always, He strives in all lowliness to make the best use of it possible. Reclining about the Triclinium (a table with three sides and open at the fourth for the servants to pass in and serve) the partaking of the meal only having fairly be^un, they were watching Jesus intently, and waiting anxiously to see if the object of pity they had set up would ensnare Him. In oriental countries doors are left open at meal times, for other than invited guests to enter, if they so desire. We see this illus^ treated when, on an occasion other than this, Mary Magdalene came in and knelt at the feet of Jesus, weeping. At this meal, however, there was a sufferer of another kind, a man who had the dropsy, and who evidently had been set in a conspicuous place by this ruler of the Pharisees and his friends, for the purpose of attracting the attention of Jesus and to ensnare Him. Such the narrative clearly implies in the words : " Be- hold, there was a certain man there before Jesus, who had the dropsy.' ' All were in anxious expectation to see the result of their purpose. They watched their guest with great desire as to what He would do. He, who knows what is in man, did not keep them long in suspense, but quickly responded to their most THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 181 ardent wishes. Jesus answered, as if speaking to the very desire of their minds, and said to the lawyers and Pharisees: "Is it lawful or not to heal on the Sabbath day?" They could have answered this simple question very readily, biit they did not, as honesty would have compelled them to say, "yes." Therefore, in their confusion and shame, they held their peace. Whether Jesus accepted their silence as giving con- sent, we cannot say; but this we know, while this silence prevailed, and they were for the moment over- awed by His simple majesty, He took the man which had the dropsy and healed him, and liberated him from the thraldom they had put upon him, and sent him on his way rejoicing. This done, He turns His thoughts once more wholly towards them, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and live. " Which of you," He addresses them, "shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straitway pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer Him again to these things." No, their hearts must have been harder than adamant, and their faces more brazen than burnished brass, to have attempted it, and not to have seen the force and point of what was suggested in this question of our Lord : that it is far more in accordance with God's will al- ways to do one real act of mercy, than it is to per- form any number of unmeaning sacrifices. Moreover, if man is thus taught by nature to be kind and merciful to his beast, then our Lord would have us take knowledge and learn from Him, that it is in full accord with His counsel to liberate all 182 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. such, even though it be done on the Sabbath Day. So far, then, He would teach them, that this, as all other acts done by Him of a like nature to this, should set the mere keeping of the letter of the Com. mandment at rest for ever. At this juncture He proceeds more directly to bring out in His teaching that thought and purpose which seems to be uppermost in His mind all along. It is the great need, the overwhelming importance of teaching all His would be followers, both by precept and example, that if they would be made meet for an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, they must,, above all things, " be clothed with humility." Probably few of us realize the emphasis our Lord puts upon the acquisition of this great virtue. It; entered into the very w r arp and woof of His Divine Personality. It was the exercise of this Heavenly virtue that brought Him down from Heaven for us men, and for our salvation. When He took upon Himself to de- liver man, He humbled Himself to be born of a Virgin. And this need of humility seems always to have been among the very foremost thoughts of His mind. When we think of that rich young man who came running to Jesus, asking what he should do that he might inherit Eternal Life, we think most of his riches, as being the great hindrance to his finding an en- trance there. But, if we look at the subject more closely, we shall find the greatest barrier to be the qualities and disposition of mind that grow out of his possession of riches ; and among these, Christ en- umerates a trusting or confidence in these riches, and great swelling pride. THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 183 Listen to His words: "How hardly shall those having riches enter the Kingdom of Heaven." " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. " Why? Is it because he is a rich man? Surely not. It is rather because riches have made him self-confident, and self-important, because of their power ; and he is filled with the spirit of pride and arrogancy. It has been said that there is a low archway, called the needle's eye, under which pilgrims with their camels must pass in entering one of the gates of Jerusalem. This archway is so low that the camel with his protruding back and heavy load must needs bend and stoop, and with the greatest difficulty force his way through. But, be this as it may, this expression of our Lord implies something exceedingly difficult ; more difficult, however, is it for the man who trusts in his riches to lay aside that wherein he trusts, to become of a lowly mind, and thus enter into the kingdom of God. Do not experience and observation teach us the same thing ? We need not wonder then that our ever true and faithful Friend, the Saviour of all men, again and again teaches the great importance and necessity for acquiring this excellent virtue, ere we can attain a place at all worthy in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. The instances of His teaching upon this subject are too many for our present consideration. They all alike teach that while self-exaltation excludes from the Kingdom of God, meekness and lowliness prepare and make us ready for an entrance there. When His 184 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. very body guard, His chosen ones were once disputing among themselves as to who should be the greatest, He took a little child and placed him in the midst of them and said: " Except ye be converted, and be- come as this little child, ye can not enter the King- dom of Heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself, and become as this little child, (lowly and trustful, and loving), the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. On another occasion, seeing certain Scribes and Pharisees who thought themselves righteous above all others — asserting their pride at feasts by choosing the highest places, in the market places by demand- ing salutations, and in the synagogues by occupying the first seats — Jesus called the attention of His Apostles to all this unseemliness; and, as heralds of the new and better dispensation, said unto them: " Let it not be so with you ; but, let him who would be greatest of all, be servant of all. " Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for the many." Furthermore, He closed His instruction at this time, with the same words He used on other like occasions, saying: " Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted." Again, " Jesus spake this parable to certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others — saying, two men went up into the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a Publican." You know their behaviour, as He the Master THE SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 185 Painter describes it, and it need not be repeated here. The great Discerner of hearts and lives gives the con- clusion of the matter, saying : "I tell yoti of a truth that this man, who was a sinner, and knew it, and confessed it, and was sorry for it, went down to his house justified rather than the other. For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, but whoso humble th himself shall be exalted." And, lastly, we come to the parable in this day's Gospel. It was suggested to the mind of Jesus, from the scene which had been present before Him. While taking their places at the Feast, He had observed in their conduct, self assertive spirit for precedence — they sought for themselves the chief seats. There- fore, He said unto them — When thou art bidden to a wedding, recline not in the highest seat, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden; and he that bade both thee and him come, and say to thee, give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowes t place. But, when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest place, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher! Then shalt thou have the place of which thou art worthy, in the presence of them that sat at meat with thee. And now for the third time, speaking on this very important theme, Jesus ended by saying the same words: "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. " Assuredly in all this, the hearers must have ob- served our Lord's most holy example, as well as listened to his precepts. His very manner in dealing with these lawyers and 186 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Pharisees on this occasion justifies us in believing that His whole outer demeanor among them must have been specially marked by His own lowliness and meekness. Their bearing and manner of life towards Him would have justified His meeting out to them, as He did to some other lawyers and Pharisees on a like occasion, His righteous scorn and indignation.. But not thus does He deal with them now. In His gentleness towards them, perhaps, He seeks to make them great — that having Him for an Example, they might be led to follow His steps. It is certain, He knew full well that thus only could men anywhere be taught and induced in honor to prefer one another ; and to walk in love, even as He loved us. In view, therefore, of any desire to acquire this lowliness of mind, to be clothed with humility, and to esteem others better than ourselves, let us remem- ber that it cannot be attained without seeking and striving for. It can, however, be had by us all for the asking and working. Seek God's preventing grace to remove from you all self-exaltation and pride. This being done away, ask His co-operating grace that you may put on humbleness of mind, all lowliness and meekness, so as to bring your will and all your thoughts into the obedience of Christ. Let this be your determination of mind ; and with the grace which He gives you, He will lift you up from death, and give you an inheritance among all them that are scanctified, through the faith which is in Christ Jesus. THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Lesser Commandment. Text : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. — St. Matthew xxii., part of 39th verse. By the Rt. Rev. Abiel Leonard, D.D., Missionary Bishop of Nevada and Utah. THE lesson which the Church teaches her children on this day is one of chief importance. It is taught not only in the Gospel, but its spirit is re- flected in the second lesson in this morning's service. Every one who has read God's Word most casu- ally, knows full well the immediate occasion which called forth the utterance of the text. The Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, had endeavored to ensnare our Lord in making the inquiry w^hose wife should the woman be, in the resurrection, of the seven brothers who had taken her; and he had silenced them completely in the rejoinder, " that, in the resur- rection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven," suggesting that, in that blessed life, the relationships which men shall know differ from those w^hich they here know. Then it w r as that the shrewd lawyer among the Pharisees proposed a question which, he thought, while appearing so simple, would, nevertheless, take Him unawares, and so confound Him — " Which is the great commandment in the law ? " Now, at the time of which we speak, this is said really to have been a much debated question among" 188 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the Jews. Some contended that a chief command of the law was that which urged the offering of sacri- fices ; and hence the lawyer well said : ' ' To love his neighbor as himself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. " And to this Christ said: - ' Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." The answer returned by our Lord to the question pro- pounded to Him by the lawyer was very compre- hensive — " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." This was the complete answer to the ques- tion put to Him : but He did not stop here. Then He suggested that this was not the whole law. There was a second commandment, lesser in importance, but like unto the first in every respect, and of equal obligation — "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- self." About these two commandments cluster all Christian duties. We have called this second a lesser commandment; only so, however, because it has to do with man ; and yet it has the same root as that from which the other springs. The first command- ment covers the second, of course ; for, such love of God as that which it directs, includes, also, love for man. These two commandments are the two sides of one great truth ; for, he who loves God will love his brother also, and, on the contrary, he who has learned to love his neighbor as himself, will love his God as well. " He that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ? " It is, then, with this lesser commandment that we are concerned to-day. Let us keep the thought before us constantly, that this command is next in importance to the first, THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 189 which bids us love God with all our powers of mind, soul and heart. That is supreme. God will have no rival. All our affection must be given Him ; and yet, not in such a manner as to exclude all other affection. Self-love has been deeply rooted in every heart — for a wise and good purpose. The word as in the text does not, necessarily, mean in the same measure, but rather, perhaps, in the same manner. As we never, intentionally, do ourselves any kind of injury, so should we show the same consideration for our neigh- bor. To go thus far only, however, is to consider duty in a mere negative aspect, while there is a posi- tive side to be considered, which is really more im- portant. There are, by far, too many people who are content with a mere negative kind of spiritual existence. They seem to think the sum of Christian obligation is met by simply doing nothing which may be condemned. That which is most of all demanded is, that we shall do men good; that we be aggres- sively active in the performance of every duty. There was never a period in the world's history when a greater demand was made for definite and positive work than in these days. It is no doubt true that " God's kingdom is in the world, but not of it." This, by no means, signifies that the Church is to have no concern for the things of the world. The kingdom of God is represented in Holy Scripture by many figures of speech, but by none more forcibly than in that which compares it with leaven, " which a wo- man took and hid in three measures of meal." Just as the particles of leaven seized upon, and affected, the entire mass of meal, so God's Church must needs make itself felt in the world, acting upon, influencing, 190 SBRMONS ON THE GOSPELS. and molding the whole tone of society. There is, in our country, a justifiable opposition to anything which looks like an union of Church and State. Un- der our constitution, it would be intolerable. The Church, as such, has nothing to do with the State, as such. The two are in the world, existing side by side ; and, while their lines of activity run along together, there need be no danger of any kind of overlapping. Men may be citizens of both, at one and the same time ; and there need be no conflict between the alle- giance which they owe to each. The principles incul- cated, and the type of living commended, by the Church of God, are needed in all that concerns the State. In other words, God's Church should be a power in the world, influencing and molding the lives of men daily, bidding them love their neighbors as themselves. We have called this the lesser commandment, but only so because our Lord called the first the great commandment. The second is closely akin to the first, for both are based upon the same principle of love; and this love is greater than all Christian graces, greater even than faith, by which such marvellous results are attained. The blessed Word of God is full of injunctions to love others, and so fulfil the law of Christ. " Owe no man anything/' said St. Paul. That is, be under no kind of obligation. His advice was to avoid every species of debt as burdensome, and then he has tried to add one exception, and that was to love one another. This was an obligation under which he would have men always rest. " See that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently." Now there is THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 191 nothing unnatural or unreasonable in the command to love our neighbors as ourselves. God has not implanted in our natures the principle of self-love, and in His Word commanded that which is contrary to it. In the consideration of our t£xt, there are two simple questions to be answered : The one is, " Who is our neighbor ?" The other, "What is it to love him as ourselves ? " The parable of the Good Samar- itan sufficiently answers the first question. The broad teaching of that parable is that every man who requires at our hands an office of any kind, is our friend, neighbor, brother. The answer to the other question may not be so readily found, though men were never so busily engaged in the effort to dis- cover it as now. To love our neighbor as ourselves then is, among other things, to recognize him as one with us in the great brotherhood of humanity. The question has often been asked, yes, repeated almost daily, "is the world growing better ?" Pessimists are wont to shake their heads doubtfully, as they read of the almost daily recital of brutal deeds. A thoughtful Chinaman, who landed not long ago in San Francisco, expressed the utmost surprise to learn that twelve murders had been committed the day before, in various parts of the United States ; and remarked that missionary effort was required quite as much within our borders as in his own country. Such facts as these, however, are not a necessary evidence of increase in crime. The means of easy communication with all parts of the world, bring to our notice daily, accounts of all the evil things which have been done the day before, and the shock to our moral sense is the greater because so sudden. No 192 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. man with faith in God, and His constraining love, can for a moment believe the world is going back- ward. To do so would be an admission that the entire Church of God is failing in its mission. It would be a cold and cruel condemnation of our want of that brotherly love which our text inculcates. The world is advancing. Never were men so possessed with the aggressive missionary spirit as now ; never so busy planning for the relief of others, of putting them on their feet, making them feel themselves to be men — one with ourselves. Recognizing every man as our brother, we shall do everything which is wise to help him through the difficulties which surround him. While it is true, as we have said, that men were never more aggressively active than at this time, still there is danger lest our own personal spiritual lives be dwarfed by the use of too much machinery in our efforts. In other words, lest we conclude that the sum of Christian duty is concluded in doing good to men's bodies. That is a real danger. It is quite as much a mistake as to fancy that one's whole Christian obligation is entirely discharged by the celebration of religious services, or the participation in the Sacraments, as supremely important as all these are. There must be a combina- tion of the two "to keep oneself unspotted from the world" is quite as much a part of every man's duty as to do all that is implied in visiting " the fatherless and widows in their affliction." We shall show our love for others most truly and most wisely in the sympathy which we give them. It is for this that many hearts yearn. This is something which every soul can give. To give a dollar at the THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 193 door is an easy way in which to free ourselves from a greater responsibility, for this may be done without the least exercise of that divine charity, without which all our doings are nothing worth. If the object of all Christian training is the symmetrical develop- ment of immortal souls, then we have failed in our duty to our neighbor, to the beggar with God's image stamped upon his brow, unless we give not only of our means and of our sympathy, but also of our time in planning for his elevation in the scale of being, and for his emancipation from the hard bondage of evil habit. And yet, how many people really concern themselves for the spiritual uplifting of others ? No one may be indifferent to his neighbor's thought or act, for each is his " brother's keeper." To do this is to be unmindful of the fact that each is a part of a great organism, namely, the mystical Body of Christ our Lord. Each sustains a close relation to Christ the Head, as well as to each other in the Body ; and the obligation rests upon us broadly, to "do good unto all men, and especially unto them who are of the household of faith." May God the Holy Ghost, who came to lead men to the Truth, make us see what is His will, and give us grace and power to do that will, for His sake, who died that we might live, and who ever maketh inter- cession for us, even Jesus Christ our Lord. 13 THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: They brought to Him a man sick of the palsy. — St. Matthew, ix. 2. By the Rev. Thomas Burry, Rector of Trinity Church, Pass Christian, Miss. THE utter helplessness of the sinner away from, or out of Christ, is vividly portrayed in the accounts by three of the Evangelists concerning the healing of the man sick of the palsy. The record, by St. Mat- thew, of this miracle, forms the Gospel for the Nine- teenth Sunday after Trinity. In the further accounts as recorded by St. Mark and St. Luke we learn that this afflicted man was brought by friends into the presence of the Divine Healer only after much difficulty, and under most trying circum- stances; for the throng of people, it seems, was so great in and around the dwelling in which the Master was then teaching, that after many unsuccessful at- tempts made to reach Him, they resorted to what appeared the only possible way of gaining admit- tance ; they carried their helpless charge to the house- top, took away a portion of the tiled roof, and through the opening thus made, lowered the sick man into the Divine Presence. Our Lord sees in this act a demonstration of great faith on the part of these friends. He reads, too, the honest heart of the poor paralytic ; seeing there, as He must, an unbounded faith in His Divine Power to heal him both in soul and body, for we can not but THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 195 believe this man's heart was in a receptive state capa- ble of receiving Absolution. He must not only have realized the necessity of a soul-healing, as well as the recovery of his bodily strength, but have had a strong belief in the power of the great Teacher to accomplish this, and therefore thus mutely appealed for help. We say a mute appeal, for we have no record of a word being spoken, either by the paralytic or his friends. Hearts were now speaking in silent eloquence. Here was, most truly, a case of faith in action ; a faith demonstrated by works. The Master sees all this, and at once pronounces those gracious words, so full of tenderest compassion and Divine love: "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." The enemies of our blessed Lord seemed ever present with Him. And so we find them among the multi- tude on this occasion. And note how quickly these words of pardon and peace, and blessed assurance of forgiveness are taken up and secretly commented upon by these Scribes and Pharisees. They will not believe in His Messiahship; they deny His Divinity; and so, although unspoken by them, the secret verdict of the heart is: "This Man blasphemeth," for " who can forgive sins but God only ? " But He " unto whom all hearts are open . . . . from whom no secrets are hid," reads the heart of a hypocritical Pharisee, as well as a helpless par- alytic. He utterly confounds these unbelievers. After seeing so many of His miracles they were, apparently, still in doubt as to His ability to cure this man of his palsy. This we should judge from our Lord's answer. And, of course, they natur- 196 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. ally question His authority to forgive sins. Their silent comment ; their adverse criticism of the Master's words of Absolution was only what might be ex- pected of them; "This Man blasphemeth." Our Lord replies : ' * Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts ? For whether is easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk ? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose and departed to his house.' ' The Evangelist adds: "But when the multitude saw it they mar- velled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men." We must bear in mind that there is always a har- mony of thought; some special truth, or teaching, running, like a silken thread, through Collect, Epistle and Gospel. In this Collect for to-day, which is one of the most beautifully worded and fervent soul- utterances we find in our Book of Common Prayer, we have this prominent truth, stated in just one short sublime sentence, yet very complete in its brevity: u 0, God, forasmuch as without Thee we are not able to please Thee : mercifully grant that Thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts." No words can improve the beauty of that sentence. The helplessness of human souls, unaided from above, and the need of the Blessed Spirit's guidance and control of otherwise rebellious, w ay ward hearts, is the lesson for us to-day. In the Epistle we learn how impossible it is to please God with a darkened understanding, "alien-^ THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, 197 ated from the life of God," through ignorance and blindness of heart. And surely in the Gospel for to- day, with those implacable enemies of the Master, do we find this darkened understanding ; this ignorant, blinded, prejudiced heart. Here were men having every opportunity for en- lightenment; hearing the Master's gracious words of wisdom ; witnessing the mighty miracle He wrought ; hearing, seeing so much, and then after all, attribut- ing those miracles to the work and power of the Evil One, and ignoring His teaching with simply a passing wonder regarding it: " Whence hath this man this wisdom?" They did not, and would not believe in Him, nor in His Divine Mission. With but few words, parenthetically here used, we pass over the thought that arises, although most ap- plicable to our subject, how fearfully, sadly true, to- day, are these words with a certain class, or "school," if you will, of men professing and calling themselves Christians. That such a false doctrine; such a dread- ful heresy as the denial of our Blessed Lord's Divinity, His Virgin Birth, His most real and glorious Resur- rection in the Body, and other fundamental doctrines of Christ and Holy Church should be held, believed in, or taught by any one who professes to believe in the Creeds of the Catholic Church, is simply astound- ing! But, when men question these solemn Gospel truths, what is it but a veritable denial of Him; a refusal of belief in His own words: "I and My Father are One " the like sin of those blinded Jew- ish leaders? And what is such unbelief but virtually saying as they said: " This man blasphemeth? " Ah, 198 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. it seems a far worse offence than that of which those fanatical Jews were guilty. They were honest in their opposition to Divine teaching, for they made no pre- tence of believing in Him ; they never professed them- selves teachers of Christianity ! May the Holy Spirit guide all such wayward hearts, these mistaken souls, who have thus dared to deny Him, back into "the ways of truth and peace." Yes ; these bitter enemies and unrelenting persecu- tors of the Master would not accept Him. " He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." Ah, if they had but known, they were in a far worse con- dition than the poor paralytic lying before them. "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." With their bodily eyes they could, of course, see; but it was a sight without perception, without under- standing. The things that belonged to their everlasting peace were hidden from their spiritual vision. A wicked prejudice prevented them from either seeing or hearing. It was simply spiritual paralysis. How truthful a picture of many a poor deluded soul to-day! Thousands everywhere that hear the Gospel of the Kingdom read to them, preached to them, shown them in various ways, by Sermon, by Sacrament, Sunday after Sunday, year after year> and still they heed not the message. There is no im- provement, no spiritual advancement. Rather is it a worse state they are in, for opportunity after oppor- tunity thus neglected, allowed to pass by unimproved, will most surely produce it. Says one: "Unwillingness to see, is punished by THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 199 incapacity for seeing. The natural punishment to spiritual perversity is spiritual blindness.' ' Let us remember that this indifference to the soul's most vital interests for time and eternity does not always remain the same. Indifference in these matters does not mean passivity. If there is no progression, there must be retrogression. The soul cannot remain in that mild, quiescent state on which it once was. And the longer the reaction from this lethargic condition is put off, the more intensified becomes the spirit of indifference, and the harder to overcome. Thus is the soul gradually, and, we doubt not, in many cases, unconsciously deadened, paralyzed, and hardened; and nothing but the fire of the Holy Ghost can possibly soften such. This is one of the strongest weapons of the devil with poor, weak, human nature. It lulls the soul into a state of false security ; into a non-realization of its impotency. How much of this is daily seen ! " Lives that are past feeling," says the Apostle. Does not that plainly mean paralysis? Souls benumbed by sin; men spiritually dead, with hindrances in the way to life that, with human effort alone, would be insur- mountable. But the barriers around these deluded souls are of their own building. " Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you." They are the bolts and bars of the human heart, that must be removed before the Master can take up His abode there as its Ruler and Guide. And this impotent man cannot do without Divine help; for "Without Me ye can do nothing." He is as helpless as the paralytic on his couch. 200 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Then learn from this miracle the readiness of the Master to give His all-powerful help, when the soul can realize its weakness, its helplessness, and turns to Him. The least sign of returning life is cause for re- joicing. "The smoking flax will He not quench. " This, too, is the work of the Spirit that " helpeth our infirmities, " that works in souls both to will and to do." The first faint desire of the sinner towards right and duty, is but the gift of God. It is the first sign of life, and "it is the Spirit that quickeneth." The willing must first come. But there must be action as well as sentiment. While we realize the great truth in the Collect for to- day, of man's inability to do any good thing with- out Divine help, we must remember that without effort on man's part, God cannot help us. Only with a strong faith and subsequent action can the cure be effected. The poor paralytic had that faith. The Master bids him arise ; to take up his bed. The effort was at once made, and the strength came. Oh, for a faith like that! A faith that can take the Blessed Christ at His word ; an implicit faith, a faith that begets a ready obedience to His every com- mand. Action is the only sure test of faith. A right faith must show itself thus. Yes, this all-powerful Healer stands ever ready to answer the feeblest prayer; the least desire for help, whether spoken with the lips, or the unuttered desire of the heart. Far "more ready to hear is He than we are to pray." "Before they call I will answer." None have to wait who earnestly desire. Rather, is not the waiting on God's side? "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Behold Him standing at THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 201 the door of human hearts ; waiting, waiting, so pati- ently for admittance; not willing that any should perish, but that all should come and receive for their poor, diseased, paralyzed souls Divine health and strength. And thus He ever stancls. " Heaven gives the needful, but neglected call, What day, what hour, but knocks at human hearts, To wake the soul to sense of future scenes." Let us try and realize that it is possible for these calls to cease, through the constant, persistent rejec- tion of them. Think of a human soul reaching that dreadful state, when it can neither hear the knock, nor recognize the Voice! Oh, " quench not the Spirit !" That such a thing is possible, we are plainly assured in God's Inspired Word. The pos- sibilities lie in the human will! Beloved, God never drives a man into goodness. He did not compel the paralytic to come to Him, or force the friends to bring him. Neither will He com- pel us. Whether we go to Him for the soul's great- est need ; whether we open our hearts and admit this heavenly Guest; whether the Holy Spirit shall direct and rule there; or, we refuse His gracious offers of pardon and peace, forgiveness of sins, restoration to perfect health, a clean heart and a right spirit, rests entirely with us. A lovely feature in connection with this miracle is seen in the untiring devotion of the friends of the paralytic to a known duty. They overcame every obstacle ; they rested not until they had placed their helpless charge at the feet of the Master. All thought of self is apparently forgotten in their great concern for the welfare of the sick man. It was a hearty 202 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. sympathy showing itself in vigorous action. It was not what they felt, simply, towards their friend that the Saviour approved and so publicly com- mended, but what they did. It was entirely an un- selfish work. Thank God for occasional evidences of the same spirit to-day, in this very selfish world. While being much concerned in the salvation of our own souls, we are liable to overlook, or give but little heed to, the necessities of the perishing thousands around us. Let us, dear friends, make our souls worth saving, by having a little more Christian charity for souls for whom the Blessed Christ died. And let us remember that a man never performs a gracious act of kindness to any needy one — whether for the relief of physical distress, or for the salvation of an immortal soul — but will prove a double blessing to himself. The more he gives, the more he will re- ceive; for " Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance/ ' God help us, everyone, to be more charitable, more loving, more Christ-like. Let us take, then, beloved, the lesson of to-day home to our hearts. Let us try to feel our helpless- ness; our utter un worthiness. Then let us plead for Divine help w4th the faith of the paralytic, and we cannot plead in vain. And as this man, although healed in soul and body, was commanded to take up his bed and thus go to his house, we, too, may, yes, we most assuredly will, have our load to carry. And we need look for no exemption while life lasts. We must carry our burden — all the thousand trials and difficulties in the THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 203 way of a truly spiritual life ; we must expect to carry it until our home is reached ; that home of rest ; of unspeakable joy; of unutterable bliss in the blessed Paradise of God. Let us bring the will into perfect harmony with the Divine will, by rendering an implicit obedience to His command, and the strength for the journey will surely be given ; for " My grace is sufficient for thee." "I can do all things," says the courageous St. Paul, " through Christ which strengthened me." And we can then joyously sing with the Psalmist: " Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thy sin, and healeth all thine infirmities." THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Text: The first fourteen verses of the Twenty-second Chap- ter of the Gospel according- to St. Matthew. By the Rev. H. M. Chittenden, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Alton, Illinois. THE parable of " The Marriage of the King's Son," which is contained in the first fourteen verses of the Twenty-second Chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, is the Holy Gospel for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity ; and is one of the most compre- hensive, and also one of the plainest of our Blessed Lord's parables. Plain as the teaching of this parable is, however, we shall fail rightly to understand it, unless we have, to begin with, a correct and clear idea of its subject; unless we know what our Blessed Lord meant by the term or expression " The Kingdom of Heaven." The study of other " Parables of The Kingdom," of other portions of the New Testament, and of Church History, bring us to the conclusion, that "The Kingdom of Heaven " and " The Church," are identi- cal, i. e., are one and the same thing. If they be not one and the same thing ; if we cannot with perfect propriety, substitute the term " The Church " for the term, " The Kingdom of Heaven "in the parable with- out changing its teaching in the least, then, the para- ble itself is a most perplexing problem, and it is im- possible satisfactorily to interpret or to explain it. THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 205 Let us attempt briefly to identify "The Church," as described in the New Testament, and known in the world, with "The Kingdom of Heaven" as set forth in the " Parables of the Kingdom," and in other por- tions of the Gospel Record. First. It was not long after St. John Baptist, and our Blessed Lord and His Apostles had preached, as they all did preach, "Re- pent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, "that the Church was established ; and the truth was, that when they preached that " The Kingdom of Heaven" was at hand, the Church was about to be founded. Second. "The Kingdom of Heaven" is described as containing both good and evil. We know that from its very beginning, "The Church" has had among its members, wicked men as well as saints. Third. " The Kingdom of Heaven" is further de- scribed by our Blessed Lord, as containing those who shall attain final salvation. In the last verse of the second Chapter of "The Acts," we read: "And the Lord added to the Church daily, such as should be saved." Fourth. It was foretold by our Blessed Lord that "The Kingdom of Heaven" would spread through- out the world. As a matter of fact, "The Church" is so spreading; and at the present rate of growth, must herself in the course of time, fulfil that predic- tion. The identification might be carried much fur- ther, but the time at our command will not allow it. We have seen, however, that the essential charac- teristics of "The Church," and of "The Kingdom of Heaven" are the same, and that the description of the one, in the Gospels, accurately describes the other, as set forth in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles. 206 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Therefore, we are confirmed in our first inference, that the expression " The Kingdom of Heaven, " which our Blessed Lord used to define the subject of this parable, of "The Marriage of the King's Son," is but another name for the " The Church," which is really what He was describing and teaching about ; and as He, Himself, declared that no opposition should ever prevail against M The Church " and taught that " The Kingdom of Heaven " would be in the world until the end of time, we are certain that "The Church" is now in the world, and, that it is "The Kingdom of Heaven" upon the earth. It is most important that these truths and these facts should be apprehended, held fast, and earnestly contended for, as truths, and as facts; for there are some Christians, who are uncertain as to the identity of "The Church" with "The Kingdom of Heaven" of the parables; there are others, who deny the identity; and still others, who say that "The Kingdom of Heaven," of the parables, has not yet been established upon the earth. We also hear and read much about "The Church of the Future," but we are sure that " The Kingdom " that our Blessed Lord commanded men to seek that in it they might acquire the righteousness of God, was in the world then, and is in the world now ; that it was "The Church" to which, in the days of the Apostles, the Lord added such as should be saved; and we are certain that the same Apostolic Church is in the world to-day ; so that men may be very sure when they come in contact with " The Church " that "The Kingdom of Heaven " is come nigh unto them. It follows then, that this parable of " The Marriage THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 207 of the King's Son " teaches us about " The Church " and that by this parable our Blessed Lord shows us, that the preparation for, and the establishment of "The Church" in the world, the relations of the in- habitants of the world to " The Church," and the re- sults of those relations, are all shown forth symbol- ically in the particular events of the imaginary Ori- ental marriage feast he described. • With this preparation, which is necessar} r , possibly, let us proceed to a brief study of the principal teach- ings of this parable: (1) "And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said : (2) "The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a cer- tain king, which made a marriage for his son, (3) "And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding; and they would not come. (4) "Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen aud my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage. (5) "But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. (6) "And the remnant took his servants, and en- treated them spitefully, and slew them. (7) "But when the King heard thereof, he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city." The first half of the parable shows forth the estab- lishment of " The Church " in the world by God, who ( is the King, and the refusal of the Jews to receive "The Church" as "The Kingdom of Heaven " upon earth ; and also the punishment which their rejection of it brought upon them. The law and the prophets 208 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. ' were both a preparation for " The Church " and also an invitation to the Jews ; but the first call, in the parable, was the preaching of St. John Baptist, to- gether with the preaching, teaching and miracles of Christ and of His disciples, the twelve Apostles and the seventy. The second and more urgent call, w x as the preaching and witness of the Apostles, and of the increased ministry of "The Church' ' after Pentecost, when the promised gifts had been received from above, and the first or early meal of the wedding feast was read}^. These two calls were practically fruitless, however, for it is stated in the parable, that those who were bidden would not come. This we know was true of the Jews, as a people, comparatively few- of whom, came into " The Church ; " their worldiness and gross covetousness rendering them insensible to the value of her spiritual treasures. At the same time " The Church " as the promised Kingdom disappointed their expectations, and of- fended their narrow nationalism. It was not what they had looked for, and it in no way realized their anticipations ; so they rejected it with contempt. There w^as, however, another party of the Jews, if not numerous, yet influential, who knew that our Blessed Lord was the promised Messiah, and also that "The Church " was " The Kingdom of Heaven " in the world, as is shown in the parable of the "Wicked Husbandmen," but they allowed themselves to become the servants of Satan, and to fight against God, in trying to overthrow " The Church." In the parable they are described as the remnant who took the King's servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 209 As soon as "The Church" began to grow, this party began bitterly to persecute its members, even slaying some of them, among whom were St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and St. James the Just. Such a rebellious spirit, and sucli insults, must have turned God, the King, from forbearance to wrath ; and as we read in the Seventh verse of the parable ; "but when the King heard thereof, he was wroth ; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city," so God's vengeance w r as visited upon the Jews, by the Roman armies, which were His for this work, for the earth is the Lord's and all that therein is, and the Jewish nation was overthrown, and the city of Jerusalem destroyed in the most awful siege of which we have any record, so soon after the murder of St. James the Just, that Josephus himself believed, that horrible crime brought • this terrible punishment upon the Jews. In the second half of the parable we have the call of the Gentiles, and an anticipation of our Blessed Lord's command to the Apostles, at the time of His ascension, to go and make disciples of all nations ; for we see the invitation of the first half no longer offered to the Jews only, but sent out into the world. (8) "Then saith He unto His servants, the wed- ding is ready, but they which were bidden w r ere not worthy. (9) "Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. (10) "So those servants went out into the high- ways, and gathered together all, as many as they found, both bad and good; and the wedding was furnished wnth guests." 14 210 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. When our blessed Lord spake this parable on the third day of Holy Week, it was all prophetical ex- cept the third Terse, which is an account of the first call to the Jews to come into "The Kingdom of Heaven" — "The Church." To-day we may say that it is all historical except the last part; and that its prophecies, excepting the last one, have been plainly fulfilled. The servants of the King, and the Ministry of the Church, have gone into the high- ways of the world, and have bidden as many as they could find, both bad and good, to the marriage ; and the wedding has been furnished with guests. Millions to-day of different races, tribes, and tongues enjoy the privileges of the Church, and may if they will, use all of the means of grace to prepare them- selves for the great festival of the marriage, which is yet to come. We must remember that in this para- ble our Blessed Lord described a marriage feast, which in accordance with Asiatic custom lasted sev- eral days, during which there would be frequent, if not continuous feasting ; and as this marriage feast was given by a king, its climax is reached when the royal host himself appears before the guests. The last four verses of the parable describe this event, which is the only prophesy in the parable, that re- mains unfulfilled. (11) "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man which had not on a wedding garment. (12) "And he said unto him, friend, how comest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment ? And he was speechless. (13) " Then said the king to the servants, bind him, THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 211 hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (14) "For many are called, but few T are chosen. " We have before us now theconiplete outline sketch of "The Church," "The Kingdom of Heaven," upon earth, and of her history from the beginning unto the end of the world, as set forth by our Blessed Lord in this parable ; but we find in it nothing essentially different from what He had taught in other parables, and in other sayings. The teaching of the last part of this parable is only another form of what he taught in the parables of " The Wheat and The Tares " and of "The Net Cast Into The Sea." The unworthy, in this parable, include not only those who reject the in- vitation, but some also, wdio accept it, at least out- wardly, but do not properly prepare themselves. Ac- ceptance must be followed by fitness. The good and the bad will be mingled so closely together in "The Church," until the end of the world, that no human judgment can separate them ; but as the king, in the parable, when he came in to see the guests, at once detected the man without a wedding garment, and ordered his servants to take him away from the light and the feasting, and to cast him out into the darkness of the night; so, at the end of the world, the Lord, who can read the hearts of men, will 'come and so scrutinize his servants in the Church, that every unfaithful and unworthy one will be dis- covered; and will order his servants, the angels, to take them aw^ay from the joy and glory of His pres- ence, and to banish them into the terrors and tor- ments of the awful outer darkness. 212 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. The parable ends with this startling statement, "For many are called, but few are chosen. " We know who are the many called ; but "who are the few chosen? The parable teaches that the chosen are some, perhaps much the greater number, of those who accept the call and come to the marriage feast, and who have on the wedding garment, when the king appears. It follows then, that the chosen are in "The Church;" for we saw that the Lord adds to "The Church,' ' such as are being saved ; and it follows also that they are those in " The Church " who shall have acquired or put on that which is symbolized by the wedding garment. We may not be able to define completely what is meant by the wedding garment, but we need not be uncertain as to how that which it signifies is to be acquired ; for this is plainly shown in the records of the first days of "The Church, " given in the second Chapter of "The Acts." On that day of Pentecost, that followed the ascension of our Blessed Lord, which was the first Whitsundav, the apostolic ministry, as the servants of the king in the parable, so effectively called men to come to the mar- riage feast, i. e.,to the great privileges of membership in "The Church," "The Kingdom of Heaven" upon earth, that thousands were persuaded, and came to them, asking, " Men and brethren what shall we do ? " The answer was, " Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and yeshall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Those who repented and believed, were baptized, and in accordance with the promise, must have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and must have been led by Him, to continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 213 and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers, and in good works, and in brotherly love, as described in the latter part of the chapter. The parable teaches that the work of putting on the wedding garment, that is, becoming fit to remain in "The Kingdom of Heaven " forever, is the joint work of God and man. God, like the king in the par- able, provides the wedding garment, and also oppor- tunity and means for putting it on ; but in the actual putting on, the individual himself must do a part, as St. Paul teaches in such sayings as, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," and others of like import. Let us all remember, however, that our Blessed Lord declared that His words are spirit and life, and that they shall not pass away, though both heaven and earth shall pass away. Let us remember, also, that we have His words, and the teaching and the practice of the Apostles, who heard His words, and were inspired by the Holy Ghost to understand them, to put them into practice, and to teach others. Surely, then, they are our safest and truest teachers as to the meaning of our Blessed Lord's words and acts ; and the only wise course is to learn of them ; and, learning of them, we believe and teach what they believed and taught — that men work out their salvation in "The Church" by the right use of the Sacraments and of the other means of grace. It ap- pears, then, that the acquiring of the wedding gar- ment, upon which our final salvation depends, is the result, principally, of the right use of the Sacraments. It is most important, therefore, that we should know how to use them rightly. 214 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. The Sacraments are outward and visible means,, ordained by Christ Himself, whereby we receive in- ward and spiritual gifts ; and, like all means of grace, their effectiveness depends upon internal states and conditions. If we pray without faith, and give alms without love, we are not profited. If we come to Holy Baptism without faith and repentance, we are not cleansed from sin and born anew ; or if we come to Holy Communion without penitence, faith and love, we do not rightly receive the Body and the Blood of our Blessed Lord, and have not eternal life. My dear brethren, the knowledge of this awful pos- sibility ought to be sufficient to keep us from careless- ness, or lukewarmness, or presumption, or unbelief for it is quite possible that a continuance for an in- definite period in any one of these states would make * us castaways at last. We should remember always our Blessed Lord's warning words, " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation/ ' for we shall con- tinually meet with temptations not to persevere in the use of the Sacraments and the other means of grace. Finally, my dear friends, if we have come into "The Church/' "The Kingdom of Heaven/' upon earth, through the gate of the new birth by water and by the Spirit in Holy Baptism; if we have come with repentance and faith to the reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost in the laying on of hands ; if we are humbly and patiently abiding in the apos- tolic doctrine ; if in obedience to our Blessed Lord's command, we come often in penitence, faith and love to eat His Flesh and to drink His Blood in the Holy Communion ; if we are regular and frequent in the use of private prayer, and of the public worship of " The THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 215 Church; " if we are fruitful in good works of brotherly love, and of mercy ; if these be our internal states and our external practices, then we may be sure that we are acquiring that which is represented by the wed- ding garment in the parable ; we in ay be sure that we are putting off the old man, and putting on the new man, even the Lord Jesus Christ; and that we are now in truth the children of God, though we may not appear to be, to ourselves nor to others; and that when our blessed Lord shall appear, then our external appearance will correspond with our internal nature, and we shall belike Him, and shall be accepted of Him, and chosen by Him, to be with Him in glory forever. THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINIRY. Text: The nobleman said unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way ; thy son liveth. — St. John, iv, 49-50. By the Rey. Charles Scadding, Rector of Trinity Church, Toledo, Ohio. HOW tranquil and tender is the tone in to-day's Collect ! Its sweet rythmical measure sets itself to music. Who, in these busy, noisy, active times, does not long for the rest and peace that enables us to serve God with a quiet mind? But the whole tone of the Church's teaching for the Twenty First Sunday after Trinity, reminds us that such peace comes only as the victory after the noise, and din, and dust of battle have passed away. The Christian life is a warfare for which we must put on the whole armour of God. The spiritual life is, at times, an internal wrestling with God in prayer, after which comes the restful de- pendence upon Him. God's first requirement from man is obedience, and His glorious reward for faith- fulness is pardon and peace. Observe how plainly this is taught in the miracle, which is also a parable, mentioned in to-day's Gospel. The son of a certain Capernaum nobleman was at the point of death. The father, having heard of the cures Jesus had wrought, hurriedly rode some twenty-five or thirty miles to see THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 217 Him. He presses through the crowd, and comes close to our Blessed Lord, and with the intense appeal of an anxious parent, sa}^s: "Sir, come down ere my child die." It is true that in his appeal there is some trace of a pride characteristic of his nobility, in his dictating to the Master the manner in which the miracle should be wrought ; but, surely, we are more impressed with his importunity. It is as if he said : " Come, Master, my boy is dying — come, come down with me at once. I need thee. Here is my chariot waiting; come, hasten back with me at once, ere my child die." Oh ! my friends, do we know what it is to come to Jesus in such a " spirit of importunity;" to press through the crowd to His feet, as if our case were the only one in the world ? Do we know what it is to throw ourselves upon Him with a reckless abandon, to struggle with Him in prayer, and not to go until He bless us ? Fathers and mothers, are we anxious enough about our sons and daughters? Ah! yes, if at the point of physical death we will pray for them, we will go any distance to bring some cure to them, but what about their spiritual ailments ? Do we know that many of our boys and girls are growing up with shrivelled, paralyzed, diseased souls? And Jesus, who alone can heal them, is far off from our homes, and we make no effort to bring Him unto them. Instead of our sons and daughters being "the polished corners of the temple," we permit them to remain the rough rubble in the quarry. Shall we not intercede for them with God: "Sir, come down, come down ere my child die!" God's 218 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. answer will be given to us as surely as to the noble- man : " Go thy way ; thy son liveth." Yes, "go thy way," return to thy son, and do thy duty by him. Obey Me, and the very act of your obedience shall be the very instrument of cure. Yes, it is so to-day. It is in going back to our homes in the spirit of Christ, that the cure for the moral and religious sickness of this generation is to be found. Some loud-voiced, would-be leaders of the people, tell us it is only by a social upheaval, by strikes and anarchy, that the cure is to be found. Some women, ignorant or unmindful of the weightier matters of the law of womanhood and motherhood, assure us in violent platform utterances, and magazine articles, that women should claim their rights (that no one disputes), that there should be placed upon their sex responsibilities which, after all, few women really care to bear, and in this a cure for other evils of our rising generation shall be found. To both, our Lord's message is precisely what it was to the nobleman : " Go thy way." Go back to thy house. Minister in thy home, and in simple obedience to My command, " thy son liveth." Shall we not, then, Christian fathers and mothers, be guided by the wisdom of the nobleman, and take our home-cares, and troubles, and sickness, and sin, to God in prayer ? And then, in our home lives let us be chiefly concerned about obeying Him. He will in- deed manifest Himself to those who simply keep His commandments . In this morning's first lesson we are told of the cleansing of the Syrian leper. We see in him the same wilfulness that is observed in the Capernaum THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 219 nobleman. Both, however, finally submit their wills, and obedience strengthens their faith. By " doing the will of God," thev come to "know the doctrine" of God, and God reveals Himself as the healer and consoler. As this miracle finds its analogy in all our home lives, so it finds its analogy in each individual life. You and I are like the nobleman. The son is the soul God has given to each of us, and for whose welfare we must be very solicitous. Do we consider its disease sufficiently ? Do we habitually go to God and say : " Sir, come down ere my soul die " ? If we do, the answer will be given us: "Go thy way, thy soul liveth." And as thou goest back thou wilt find re- newed life within. In one of Bishop Brooks' sermons he emphasizes very strongly this " Childship of the soul." God has breathed into us our souls. It is His child as well as ours, and we are to take care of it under His direc- tion. He has promised to manifest Himself to those who keep His commandments. Our souls are tor- mented with some form of spiritual disease. Per- haps it is carlessness in devotion, or wandering thoughts at time of worship, and we say: "Lord, come down ere my child die." He does not come down. He gives an order: "Go thy way, heed the commandment, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." We simply try to obey Him, and in that obedience He manifests Himself. Or, again, our souls are being seduced by some car- nal beauty of the world, and that false love comes nigh killing all that is pure and sweet in our souls. Again we go to Jesus. "Lord, come down ere my 220 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. child die." Again He says: "Go thy way, thou shalt not commit adultery.' ' Again, we make an honest effort to obey, and in that obedience He manifests Himself, and at that very hour our souls begin to amend. Shall we not from this moment besiege the throne of grace in behalf of these evil hearts of ours ? Most assuredly, if we are faithful in our approach and faithful in our obedience, God will bestow on us the reward of faithfulness, " pardon and peace " ; and we shall be able to live amidst all life's cares, and wor- ries, and disease, with " a quiet mind." THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. Text : Peter said unto Jesus, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but. Until seventy times seven. — St. Matthew, xviii. 21. By the Rev. John Henry Hopkins, Rector of Trinity Church, Atchison, Kansas. FOR some two years or more, Simon Peter had followed our blessed Lord, and yet had not grasped the true principle and privilege of forgive- ness. Like all well-trained and earnest Jews of His gen- eration, and like a large proportion of our American people to-day, he had regarded the practice of for- giveness as something comparatively optional. The Jewish teaching of his day held that an offender should be forgiven three times, and not more; and, quite probably, it seemed a great advance to raise the number to seven.. There was a mystical atmosphere about the num- ber seven; it symbolized perfection. Three being the number which spoke of Heaven, and four the number of the world, seven gave the ideal of completion — the union of Heaven and earth. 222 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. What greater measure of forgiveness could one's erring brother expect than such a fixed and perfect limit as this ? The impulsive disciple must have been astonished beyond all po wer of comment at the reply of Christ ; for the vivid contrasts and tremendous force of the parable which immediately follows, startle us from self-complacent theory, and shake us loose from every low and earthly ideal, till we begin to see why no one is fit to say, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins," until after he has said all that precedes that article in the God-given Creeds of the Church Catholic. Our Lord instantly faced the subject of sin and forgiveness from the standpoint of God ; Simon, on the contrary, had only looked at the question from the standpoint of man. His brother had sinned against him. That was as far as he had thought it out. As a man of somewhat generous disposition, with some knowledge of the Christian law of brotherhood, he proposed to give up what he considered his natural right to cherish a grudge, even until seven times. Certainly, from a merely human point of view, this were the height of generosity ; but, from the Di- vine point of view, it was the height of presump- tion. Truth is not man's way of looking at things, but, rather, God's way — that is, Christ's way. And the truth about our forgiveness of others is, that we simply have no right to set any limit, whatever, be- cause, in the sight of God, we are all sinners alike; and the worst condition of miserv known — even to THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 223 the imagination — is that which would shut us away from "the perfect remission and forgiveness" of God. Our Bishops have lately * reminded us that a fun- damental note in the false teachiiig of our day is the revival of the old heresy — the self-perfectibility of man. It is, also, undoubtedly true that many are losing, in a great degree, that keen and sensitive realization of sin, which was so strong in days gone by, and which is so necessary to the true conception of our real position in the sight of God. If a man thoroughly believes that he is sinning every day, in spite of his best efforts; that, even if, in the superficial opinion of his five hundred friends, or in the more superficial estimate of the public at large, he may pass as a good man, he stands before God laden with many sins of omission, as well as with the burden of all his positive trangressions ; if he be honestly convinced that the Perfections of Christ are what each life ought to show, and that he cannot "save himself" by his own ethical culture, but that the only ground of his actual acceptability in the sight of God is the love of God Himself, shown to us in Christ, and won for us by Christ, he will not be so ready to refuse forgiveness to his brother man. But, if he falls a prey to the false teaching which lurks on every hand in our current literature and thought; if he begins to think that the easy-going standard of the world is the judge of right and wrong ; if he feels that he is sufficiently worthy if he *The Bishop's Pastoral of 1895. 224 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. simply conforms to its decrees and customs ; if, in- deed, he goes a little further — rises, as he thinks, above that standard, and thanks God that he is " not as other men are " — he will find it very difficult to ex- tend unlimited forgiveness to his fellows. Why should he do so? If he has made himself good, why haven't they done the same? And if he does forgive it will be very difficult for him to do it humbly. He will rather fancy that he is conferring a favor, instead of simply doing his duty. It will tend to make him prouder and more self-satis- fied than ever, instead of opening his own heart to a deeper recognition of his own shortcomings. Forgive- ness administered like this will only tend to lead a man farther than ever from God. It must have been this fact which Christ would have us bear in mind, when He began this parable by placing a certain man before his King. The amazing proportions of the debt thus revealed are enough to warrant us in using the most unre- stricted self-examination, and the most reverent hu- mility of spirit. They show us why the most sanctified lives of every age are those who most deeply deplore their own sinfulness. They open the secret of such wonder- ful and contrite humility as that of Keble, and Pusey, and Maurice. They help us to understand the penitential psalms, and to measure far into the unfathomable depths of the Seven Words spoken from the Cross. " Know thyself,' ' is a maxim which it is no part of progress to leave in the sole possession of an ancient and pagan philosophy. And he w T ho seeks to know THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 225 himself by first learning to know Jesus Christ, will find it a matter of simple candor and honesty to own that his debt to God is best expressed in terms of talents ; while his brother's debts to him are but so many pennies in contrast. If we would learn to for- give, we must first learn to confess. Then, the in- stincts of the contrite heart will quickly point us to the prayer, "Forgive us, Lord, as we forgive." Another point in this tremendously powerful para- ble is its teaching about fear. The unmerciful servant was evidently more terri- rified than conscience-stricken when he heard that slavery was to be the doom of his family and himself, and that confiscation awaited his entire property. He fell down at his master's feet and cried: " Have patience with me and I will pay thee all." It is very remarkable that he was forgiven, in spite of the fact that his ruling emotion was the mis- ery of fear. It could not have been love and gratitude, and the humble-mindedness of true contrition ; else the man, once forgiven, could never have rebounded into the savagery of the unforgiving spirit, as we are told he immediately did. For those who are moral cowards, God has spoken the terrors of the Religion of fear. It is as idle as it is irreverent and rash to attempt to extrude the Gospel of penalty from the pages of the New Testament. There stand the words, spoken by the lips of the King of Love, words which tell of the distress and horror which unrepented sin always brings down upon its wretched devotees. 15 226 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. But to reach men through their fears alone is to leave them, at best, in a dangerous condition. " My God, I love Thee, not because I hope for Heaven thereby, Nor yet because, if I love not I shall forever die. But Oh! my Jesus, Thou dids't me Upon the Cross embrace For me dids't bear the nails and spear And manifold disgrace." u Perfect love casteth out fear, for fear hath tor- men t." If we would learn the truest motive for heart- whole confession, and the abiding appeal to our steadfast and unlimited forgiveness of others ■ sins, we should kneel at the foot of the Cross. He who there was " lifted up," who now intercedes for us on high, will draw us unto Himself with such irresistible bands of love that we will lose all sight of fear in the depths of our sorrow. If, to win complete forgiveness for the race, and to show to the uttermost the Love of God for man, He bore the anguish of that awful death, who are we that we should flinch at the trifling injuries which others inflict upon us ! If, as one brutal soldier struck the nails into those blessed Hands, which were never used but to bless and to heal, and another pierced the blessed Feet of Him who always went about doing good, there fell from the lips of the crucified One that heart-stirring cry of intercession, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," — who are we that we should ever dare to think ourselves outraged, or THE TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 227 offended, by a fellow creature beyond the power of forgiveness ! From the foot of the Cross, the vision of our two- fold duty towards God, repentance and love, lifts us so far above the pitiable plight of the unforgiving spirit, that hatred, and malice, and such uncharit- ableness, shrink into all the pettiness of spiritual pride and hardness of heart. Even a partial conception of our duty towards our neighbor will tend to do the same. The world knows no such thing as forgiveness. Take, for example, the one sin which the commercial spirit universally forbids, namely, financial dishonesty. There is no forgiveness in the business world for a man who has served his term for forgery. Who of us has met an instance where such an offender was re- stored to the full confidence which he had forfeited by his criminal weakness ? How miserable is the blight which such an offence invariably gains at the hands of the business public ! People say: "We can't trust him. He was once a forger. Forgive him ! How do we know that he will not forge again?" And so the cold shoulder is turned, as the busy world hurries on its way. Even if we do not blame the world, we pity the victim of unforgiven sin. Yet, that is the very deed which we commit when- ever we refuse to pardon from our heart our brother's trespasses. There is one more rule about forgiveness which is very difficult to keep, but which alw ays justifies its observance. Itistherule of taking the initiative when v^e have received an injury at the hands of another. 228 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. The world says that the one who hurts us ought to come to sue for our forgiveness. But Christ says plainly: " If thy brother hath sinned against thee, go and tell him of his fault between him and thee alone. If he will hear thee thou hast gained thy brother.' ' What is the basis of this very difficult rule? It is the profound truth that the one who is really injured is the one who commits the sin, not the one against whom the evil has been wrought. Our brother offends us, but he can never hurt us half as much as he hurts himself by doing the wrong. Therefore, in truth, he is the one in trouble, although his blinded vision may not recognize the f^ct. And, if our brother be in trouble, it is our duty to go to him with help and charity in our heart. Once more let us gaze at the Cross. Is not this what God Himself has done ? Were not our offences mountain high when "He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not per- ish but have everlasting life." " If ye forgive men their trepasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you ; therefore, be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." " To err is human, To forgive divine." THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINTIY. Text: Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things that are -Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's. — St. Matt, xxii. 21. By the Rev. Joseph Webb Bancroft, General Missionary, Diocese of Western Michigan. THE Pharisees had undertaken to draw from our Lord some statement which might be used to destroy His popularity among " the common people. " With this in view, they went to the length of inviting to their assistance their political opponents, the He- rodians, whom they hated scarcely less than they did our Lord Himself; for the Pharisees, an intensely partizan religious sect, and the Herodians, the popular political party of the day, had nothing whatever in common, save a common antipathy and contempt for " Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." There was an open, oft-debated question between them, as to the lawfulness of paying tribute to the imperial government; the one teaching the wicked- ness of such payment, and making no secret of their hostility to the Roman emperor ; while the other, ac- cepting the fact of the national subjugation, were sufficiently politic to profess loyalty to Herod, the king. After mutual consultation, they agreed to refer 230 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. this open question to our Lord's decision : not that they cared one straw for His decision in itself — whether He should answer "aye" or "nay;" but they felt confident, whichever way He should decide the point, He would certainly give additional offense to one party or the other. To disguise, if possible, their real design, they in- troduce their question with a bit of flattery, compli- menting Him on His loyalty to truth and His inde- pendence of character. " We know/' say they, " that Thou art true, and teaches t the way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any man ; for Thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest Thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? " It was a deferential approach, a plausible address,, apparently sincere and candid; yet their motives were malignant. "Dissembling in their double heart," they were, nevertheless, perfectly transparent to Him who judges, not as we do, and must do, man's heart by his words, but man's words by his heart. Hypocrisy and craft underlay their fair speech* Their concern was not for the truth's sake, but to get support for their own unrighteous and failing cause. But their plot miscarries. Our Lord demands sight of the tribute coin, and draws from them the acknowledgment that it bears the name and profile of the emperor. Their tacit consent to trade with Caesar's money had taken from them all ground for honestly withholding his dues. Caesar's image on the coin in their hands gave witness of their subjec- tion to him as civil ruler, and demonstrated their duty to render to him all that was involved in the THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 231 relation which they had thus accepted. It was too late, so our Lord virtually reminded them — too late to bring forward a question already actually disposed of by themselves ; and nothing remains but for them to " Render, therefore, unto Caeskr the things which are Caesar's ; " — render them not as a voluntary gift, but pay them over as a recognized claim — his due, his right, as their civil ruler. This recognition of Caesar's just clainm upon his subjects was a sufficient answer to their question; and the Lord Jesus needed not to add the words, "and to God the things that are God's." But the principle underlying Caesar's right to the tribute money was too broad and too far-reaching to be left with only a limited application. Caesar's rights and dues must be recognized and respected on the lofty ground that "there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." Civil rulers, so the Holy Scriptures assure us, are God's ministers to us for good. Christians owe a double allegiance in virtue of their being at once citi- zens of the state and citizens of God's Common- wealth. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, "is Christian law ; and thus the obligations of the higher citizenship are inclusive of those of the lower. Loyalty to God covers loyalty to Caesar, because Caesar — the State — is God's or- dained agent for the administration of Law in the sphere of physical and social life; and, also, includes loyalty to the Church, which is God's corporate in- strument for ministering His Grace — the Grace by which alone men may secure their spiritual and eter- nal interests. 232 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. It is especially significant that our Lord asserts a parallelism of Caesar's things and God's things, allowing tis to regard the Church and the State as co-ordinate powers in social life and secular concerns, whose final objects are one and the same ; that is to say, for man's needs, and for God's glory; yet whose immediate purposes and proper methods are in marked contrast. The State deals with men as moral beings who need to be kept, by force if need be, within certain limits which they would otherwise transcend. The Church is ever drawing men, rather than forcing them; appealing to them to choose and pursue cer- tain courses for which they have no natural inclina- tion. The State resorts to compulsion, relies on the re- straining power of fear : The Church employs only the sweet constraint of that Love which is, we know, " the fulfilling of the Law." The one deals with the overt acts of men, the other deals also with their secret thoughts, motives and intents. The one must try to deter evil-doers from their wickedness, and the other must attempt to transform such persons into righteous men and women. The one is successful if it keep men from be- coming worse; the other is not successful unless it actually makes them better. Thus, both the State and the Church are adapted to the natural condition of men as sinners. But each must keep within its own province. Caesar may not presume to regulate the things of God, nor may the Church set the State aside, as if superfluous. So long as sin remains in the world, so long will man need the THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 233 protection of the State against his fellow man, and so long will the State need to do its utmost to promote the common weal, and make this a tolerable world for sinners to live in, by legislating directly against both the natural selfishness of inen and the studied waywardness and lawlessness to which they habitu- ate themselves. Yet no legislative, executive nor judi- cial action of civil government can ever dislodge sin from the human heart. But the precise business of the Church in this world is to apply a cure for this universal, generic human disorder. The State can not afford to let men do as they please about obeying its laws, and so it appeals to the interests and the fears of men, and, with every enactment, provides a penalty which it holds itself ready to enforce promptly. But God, infinite and eternal, is pleased to wait, and give men ample time to show what they have a mind to do. He wishes, not an obedience springing only from their fears and their selfishness, but, that volun- tary obedience which is born of faith, and works by love, and purifies the heart. The obedience which springs from love of God, of truth, and righteousness, does make men better. To prevail upon men to love God with all their faculties of mind and heart and spirit, and their neighbors as themselves, is to " work the works of God." And to promote this blessed re- sult is exactly the province of the Church. Men are to 'be rescued from devotion to self as the centre of all their activity, and induced to make God that centre. For this purpose, He has endowed the Church with His Word and His Spirit, with The Faith and the 234 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Sacraments, with Apostles and Prophets and Teach- ers, " for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ. " But, meantime, the civil ruler in his own province remains as truly " the minister of God/ ' bearing "not the sword in vain," "to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Our Lord's argument is, that as it was the plain duty of Caesar's subjects to pay into his coffers, as he required, the coin which bore the impression of his name and likeness, so it was also their duty to render to God themselves ; because, created in the image of God, they bore the impress of a Divine origin. The Creator's autograph, traced on every human being, is the evidence of an indisputable title, the ground of God's claims upon us for our faith and love and obedience. We do but render to God of His own whenever we pay Him tribute, voluntary tribute, of the affections, the intelligence and the volition where- with He has endowed us. And that we may thus ever render to God that which is, at once, of our own because first it was of His own, we need to know our- selves, to apprehend our true moral and social posi- tion, ascertain our adaptations, our liabilities, our limitations, and recognize the attributes which con- stitute man's similitude to His Maker. Accordingly, we search ourselves and ask, what is man's life? With whom do we rank in the scale of being ? What are those faculties and attributes which are peculiarly human? What is that substantive quality, if any, which differentiates man from all else in the world — from all things and all inferior beings? It is needless to formulate replies to these suggestive THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 235 questions. It is enough to say there is such a differ- entiating quality. It is the gift of personality, our Creator's endowment, in virtue of which we have the consciousness of being, the consciousness of in- dividuality, a self-determining will, the power of re- flection and forecast, a sense of responsibility and obligation, and generally, the possession of all the constituents of a moral character befitting a rational being made in the image of his Maker. When our blessed Lord declared of Himself, "I am the Truth, " He disclosed Himself as the sole answer to the universal and irrepressible longings of mankind. Men may strive to find all they need in the fodder of beasts; they may undertake to "live by bread alone," as if there were no food but for the body; or they may flatter themselves that " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," comprise all good, either needful or desirable, for them; neverthe- less, their deepest longings will remain unsatisfied. With large capacity and intense craving for happi- ness, they miss its attainment, unmindful that the lines of happiness and duty coincide. " But one thing is needful; " and, as there is but one absolute good, so there is but one way to infinite and eternal good. He, who is Himself the Truth, declares He is also the Way and the Life. Only by pursuit of the Way can it be possible to obtain the Truth and realize the Life. And it can never be said of us that we are in the way of righteousness and life, unless it be evident, as a matter of consciousness and observation, that we are rendering " to God the things that are God's." We know, and the world knows, very well, whether we are constantly giving ourselves to God in a sober, 236 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. righteous and godly life, as rational, accountable be- ings should, or whether we are debasing the God-like gifts of personality, conscience, faith, hope and love, and living a merely sensuous, or animal, life, mindful only of self and the present, intent on trifles, and con- tent with what we are, with no moral aims and no spiritual aspirations. And we cannot but know that God has a Creator's rights in us ; that He has made us for purposes of His own — purposes which we may now only surmise, but shall some day know — and that He is ever giving Himself to our needs. He has endowed us with some of the attributes of His own Personality, thus mak- ing it possible for us, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to become " partakers of the Divine na- ture; " and, as such, and because not our own, but " bought with a price, " even " with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish," therefore, we are in duty bound to " glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's." Because God our Creator does thus give Himself to His creatures — to us, to the extent of our capacity — it is but simple justice that we, in return for such noble endowments, should give ourselves to Him, freely, wholly, perpetually. We must not think to satisfy His claims by any partial surrender. No sub- stitute can render to God for us the tribute of loving service. He will not accept, in lieu of our personal devotion, either our money, or our promises, or our cheap words of endorsement. He will have ns, or nothing of ours. Let us give Him, then, our affec- tions, our conscience, our intelligence, our reason, our devotion, our thoughts and prayers and hopes, our THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 237 time and influence and example ; in fine, all that be- longs to us as creatures stamped with the image of the Creator. How, then, is it with us ? Have we in good faith begun to pay these dues ? Do we recognize them as valid, or, do we repudiate them ? If we have been permitting God's dues to accumu- late from year to year, no counsel can be more appro- priate for us than the advice to sit down quickly, and reckon up the Divine claims upon us, and give a correct answer to the question, "How much owest thou unto my Lord ? " You would call a business man either foolish or fraudulent, who should make a practice of deferring the claims of creditors, as though it were easier to pay by and by, instead of at once practicing a rigid economy and self-denial, and systematically meeting his obligations in their time. It is worse than folly for us to defer rendering to God His dues as Creator and Sovereign, as Father, Redeemer and Sanctifier. If we withhold these Divine dues, we are doubly fraudulent ; because while we withhold from God His own, we, at the same time, cheat ourselves out of those reflex benefits which the faithful service of God invariably returns to His servants. And thus to rob ourselves of inestimable benefits, mercifully placed before us, is to call down upon ourselves de- served retribution. Caesar punishes, and justly punishes, those that withhold his dues. But we punish ourselves when we put out of sight and thought the claims of Him in whose likeness we were made. Thus, to wrong God in this matter is the greatest possible outrage upon 238 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. our own souls ; for whatever man does according to God's Will and for God's Glory, is exactly so much done for man's own eternal well-being. If, then, we have been doing ourselves untold injury by withhold- ing God's things, will we not bestir ourselves to repair our neglect, and begin to discharge that first, great- est, indispensable obligation of every soul born and reared under the benediction of the Blessed Gospel of the Son of God, the rendering unto God at once, and ever, that belief with the heart and confession with the mouth, which are unto righteousness and salva- tion? THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Touching Christ. Text: If I may hut touch His garment, I shall be whole. — St. Matthew, ix. 21. By the Rey. M. M. Moore, Rector of St. John's Church, Springfield, Missouri. THE incident of the healing of the woman twelve years' diseased, is related in the Gospel for the day. In mentioning the same incident, St. Mark pre- sents other facts in connection with it. He states that the woman "had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew- worse." This would show the seeming hopelessness of her case. He also states that "having heard of Jesus " was the reason of her coming to Him ; that she came behind Him, "in the press," or thickest part of the crowd, manifestly for the purpose of escaping His notice, and that the moment she touched His garment she felt in herself that she was fully restored to health. St. Luke also states that Jesus instantly detected that touch, and asked, "Who touched Me?" and in reply to the question St. Peter said, in effect, "Mas- ter, dozens, hundreds are thronging You, touching You all the time; who can tell who touched You? " His answer was, as St. Luke records it, "Somebody lias touched Me, for I preceive that virtue is gone out of Me." The woman's touch was for a distinct pur- 240 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. pose, and was vastly different from the thoughtless,, heedless touch of the crowd — a touch which drew no virtue from His Sacred Body. Let us briefly, but attentively, consider the Sacra- mental teaching of the Gospel for the day. A few words only will suffice to remind us of the nature of a Sacrament. It is a sign ; it is something we see, or touch, which represents something we see not. It is the means by which a benefit or blessing may be conveyed to the person using it. It is the trans- mitting agency of the reality of which it is the sign. But the benefits, or virtue, of the Sacrament are re- ceived and possessed only by those in whom certain conditions exist.* The incident we are considering clearly illustrates this fact. In Christ was a virtue needed by every soul in that crowd; but of all that touched Him, in one, only, existed the condition which permitted that virtue to pass through the Sacramental touch. We may note, in passing, that when Jairus, the ruler of a synagogue, came to ask Christ to heal his daughter, he asked for a Sacrament: " Come, and lay Thy hands upon her." It was not the act itself, not the touch of the hands, wherein Jairus consid- ered the healing lay, but it was the power in the Man which, through the medium of the touch, would give health to the dying girl. And when the Master came to the bedside His hand was outstretched to touch and hold the hand of the dead child, and through the *" The communicants are reminded how they must diligently examine themselves ; and this, in the first place because of the un- speakable greatness of the benefits offered in the Holy Communion — benefits which, by their very nature, can only pertain to the faithful receiver. Church Doctrine Bible Truth. Page 172. THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 241 contact the power of Christ was exerted, and life came again to the child. And yet we need to remember that the life-giving and healing power of Christ, the virtue in Him, is not tied to a Sacrament. He, Himself, teaches us that the virtue in Him over-steps, and acts independently of, mere agents when He so wills it. He restored the nobleman's son, and the centurion's servant, from a distance. He touched a leper and said, "I will, be thou clean ;" but He sent the ten lepers, with- out touch, to show themselves to the priest. At the same time, we may not personally determine when intermediate agencies may be set aside. There is, then, a lesson, which is as beautiful as it is strong, to be learned from the incident of the woman who touched the hem of Christ's garment. We may learn something from it that will help us much in making our communions, and which may ex- plain some things that may seem strange to us as we note our lack of progress in the Christian life. The woman had suffered many years from disease. In one sense, we may say that all sickness is the re- sult of sin; for this human nature would not have been exposed to sickness and death, but for the sin of Adam. But, in a particular sense, a great deal of sickness is the immediate result of sin. We may won- der why the woman acted so secretly, why, knowing her necessity, and Christ's reputed power, she did not come boldly to His face, and ask to be healed. Who can tell? But there appears a probable reason for the woman's secret act. She knew the cause of her disease to be a great sin ; and, if Christ had Divine power, He also had Divine knowledge, and would 18 242 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. know of her sin. Shame made her act in secret. "How can I look this holy Man in the face, or ask that His pure hands shall touch my sinful body? But He has the power to heal, and, oh ! my wretched- ness is so great. May not the mere clothing that en- wraps His Body be the medium of imparting His virtue to me? If I may but touch the hem of His garment, I shall be whole/' Faith caused the touch; faith drew virtue from Christ. The woman knew her great need, she believed in the power of Christ, and her touch was the evidence of her faith. The garment was the sacramental door through which the virtue of Christ could pass to the woman, to make her whole and sound. We must have already anticipated the lesson to be drawn from this incident. In a true sense of the word, which it is not necessary to explain here, Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist. In someway, as our Holy Church teaches, His Sacred Body comes within reach of our touch. If language has any meaning to it, then, in the words we hear spoken by the Church at every celebration of the Holy Communion, we learn that Christ is present at Her Altar. He is present to touch, and be touched. The Sacrament is the garment which enwraps His Body. It is not the mere use of the Sacrament itself, not the receiving of the consecrated elements alone, where- in is the benefit of the Sacrament, and whereby its vir- tue is imparted. There are many who imagine the benefit to be in the mere act of making a Communion. The sickness of sin is in all of us. Some of that sick- ness is seen, and known, of all; some of it is known only to ourselves, and God. But it is Christ alone THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 243 who cleanses us of that sin. It is because He can lay His hand upon us, and dispel that sickness, or because we touch Him, and draw from Him the virtue which will drive out the sin. The Holy Eucharist, by His own appointment, by the Church's use of it, is the medium of the touch. Do you not see the point, the truth ? At every in- stant when Christ was thronged, He was filled with healing virtue. The crowd pressed Him, the virtue was in Him, but went not forth at such a touch. They did not realize their needs. They did not believe in His power to heal. They did not touch in faith, and so their touching Him again and again left them just as they were. Is not the same thing true to-day? Hundreds, thousands are thronging Christ upon the Altar. They go their way, seemingly no better for the touching. The open, known sins are not diminished, are often in- creased. The secret sins, we who are plagued with them, know they are as strong as ever. We may be growing worse, rather than better. At all events, it is certain that, with many of us, progression in the Christian life, the growth of zeal, devotion and holi- ness, bear no proportion whatever to the frequency of our professed touching of Christ when we kneel at His Altar. Why is it that our touching Christ in the Blessed Sacrament does not make us better, does not give health and strength to the soul ? It can only be be- cause virtue does not go out of Him into us, through the medium of the Sacrament ; it is because of the ab- sence of a proper condition to receive that virtue. The clothing, even the Body of Christ could be touched 244 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. without benefit. And to-day, the Elements of Bread and Wine, the mystical clothing of His Body, that Body Itself, may be touched without benefit. But what are the conditions of an efficacious touch- ing of Christ to-day ? The conditions are these : The realization of sin ; faith in the power of Christ to heal by means of a right use of the Sacrament, and to un- derstand, as this woman understood, that it is not the garment, but the virtue in the Body enwrapped by the garment; it is not the Sacrament, but the virtue in the Body enwrapped by the Sacramental garment which we need. The realization of sin — is that present in any meas- urable degree with many who approach Christ upon His Altar ? Do they realize that they are under the penalty of spiritual death, and that only as they search out, and confess their sins, and obtain pardon, may they escape the penalty ? Oh, if any of us were convicted of an offense against the state, which car- ried with it the penalty of death, what fear, what trembling, what aching of heart, what tears would be ours! But, too, what earnest, tireless, desperate efforts would be ours to avert that penalty. But there are offenses against God which we are constantly committing. As long as they are unre- pented of, unabsolved, we are facing a spiritual death. It is because we do not realize this — it is because we think so lightly of sin — that we do not seek Christ's pardon by the touch of faith. The touch we do make, means just nothing for our good. And again, as we kneel to touch the Sacramental garment of Christ, is it only the garment we see, the Elements we touch and receive? Or does the eye of THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 245 faith look upon, and the hand of the soul reach out to touch, the Master Himself? Herein is the work- ing — if we may so speak — of the act of Communion. There are those who do not believe in the Real Pres- ence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Be it so. Yet, it is their belief in the virtue-giving nature of Christ's Body that enables them to touch and receive, through the medium of the Sacrament, the benefits they seek. And there are those who profess a belief in that Real Presence, but who never touch that Presence, because they trust to the hem of the gar- ment — to the wrapping — of that Presence, only. We see the difference now, as it was seen then. It was but one among the many who touched in faith, and all could see the result. And, to-day, mark those who often touch Christ, indeed, in the Holy Sacra- ment, and we shall see a changed life, a progressive life, a growing Christian. It cannot be otherwise, for virtue from Christ will flow out in response to the touch of faith. It will not flow out where there is but the heedless, unbelieving touch of a ceremonial observance. No one will desire to touch Christ, no one can truly ask, or seek, virtue from Him who does not realize his need of it. If we are perplexed because, after so many com- munions, w^e do not see that we have progressed in the Christian life ; if we find that we are not proving to be better men and women ; that it is not easier to give up sin, or to resist temptation ; that we are not more zealous, faithful, and loving disciples of Christ, then, had we not better try to understand exactly what our spiritual condition is ? Let us try to under- stand w^hat we mean, and expect, w r hen we come to 246 ' RM( '.'. the Altar to touch the Bod; of Christ through the medium of the Hoi; - iment. ••Who touched Me "Master, the multitude throng Thee, and press The* d sayest Thou, 'Who touched Me? ,M "No, no,' 1 the Master answers, " l speak not of the multitude. Hut somebody h - n oily touched Me; somebody's faith has drawn virtue fn >m Me f! >r his h THE SUNDAY MAT >RE ADVENT. Feeding phb Multitude. Ti \i '* When Jesus then lifted up His eyes and saw & great company come unto Him t He saith unto Philips whence shall we hu . . that t\ —St. John vi. 5, . |. J. Paudb, rcthsemane Church, Minneapolis, Minn. THESE words will form our text simply by way of introduction to the win >le account of the miracle, in the several I V tspels. This sixth chapter Of St. John's Gospel is a most striking one, It is herein that we learn of the desire of the people, by force, to make Jesus a king, and of His consequent departure; of Hi- coming to the dis- ciples upon the wind-tossed sea; of the great discourse in which He announced I I i nisei fas the Bread of] [eaven, and declared the necessity of eating His Flesh and >od; of the fact that many, from that day on, walked no more with Him, and of Jesus' announce- ment that Judas had a devil. In such a setting do we find the narrative of the great miracle of the feeding of the multitude. Let as, on this last Sunday of the Christian year, gather up the fragments of truth that we may be able to discern, that nothing be lost. I. In the Saviour's compassion for the multitude there is both consolation and stimulus to duty. Con- solation because we are assured that our Lord does behold the multitude; that notwithstanding the vast- ness of the undertaking, as it seems to our finite 248 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. understanding, He not only realizes our need, but pro- Tides what we need. To the disciples the undertaking of feeding that vast concourse of people was simply food for despair. No doubt the}^ would gladly have helped to feed those people, but what were those five barley loaves and two small fishes among so many ? So it often seems to many as if the oversight of the whole universe were too vast a matter for even God. Special providences are scouted at as impossible. God provides for us, say some, by keeping the laws of the universe in operation ; we cannot expect Him to re- gard us individually. Yet in this case was not the need of that multitude the need of each individual? Christ our Lord had compassion on the multitude because He had compassion on the individuals who, composed it. And so, also, He governs the universe as a whole because of His interest in each soul. Man does not exist for the universe, but the universe for man, and man for God. Think then, as you face your hard and unappre- ciated life; as, in an unsympathetic family you meet your affliction ; as, in a superficial age you bat- tle alone for truth; as, in a materialistic community you strive for high ideals; as, in a selfish world you live self-deny ingly, that Jesus had compassion on the multitude, and so will He have compassion upon3^ou ; that the vastness of the numbers of the human race can make no difference against you, and that He can provide comfort, strength and fulness of sympathy. But that compassion on the multitude ought not to be remembered sentimentally. Christ's life was the example for us. His compassion should move us to compassion also. What multitudes are hungering THE SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT. 249 to-day, not only for the bread of their physical lives but also for the bread which cometh down from Heaven! Multitudes hungering for sympatic, en- couragement, cheer in loneliness, in distress. Multi- tudes famished in soul, fed with the husks of the world, but not knowing of the heavenly feast. And the very Christian, whose duty it is to follow the ex- ample of our Saviour Christ, pleads business or soci- ety as the excuse for each of that practical compas- sion which would lift the fallen, help the weak, or stimulate the despairing ! Is it not a sad comment- ary upon our Christianity, that besides membership in Christ's Church, we need organizations whose ob- ject and purpose are to teach us to bring men and women to Christ? While we ought to be grateful for such, as for all remedies, ought it not to fill us with shame to realize that such remedies are needed, and that the knowledge of our own state of salva- tion does not of itself impel us to go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in? II. Hear another lesson: The disciples came to Jesus, saying, " This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat." Here was, apparently, a command to do the impossible, and yet such a command was never given hy any Person of the Eternal Godhead. Any hard command or requirement of God's is, hy the very fact of its enunciation, capable of fulfilment. How full is all experience of illustrations of the fact that our natures and their powers are so elastic that tasks, seemingly beyond our capabilities, are yet pos- 250 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. sible, when they are laid upon us. Great men are developed by great emergencies and great responsi- bilities. In the history of our own country do we not see that the trying times were the times that brought forth the great men, the wise statesmen, the successful generals ? The Revolutionary period was rich in men who seemed gifted with unusual skill for the tasks laid before them. In our civil war many men rose up of whose latent powers few had any^ conception — men whose superiors were not to be found in any age of the world's history. Sometimes we lament the small number of men of commanding ability, of overtowering strength. But give the men we have great problems to solve, and their powers would be evoked to the utmost heights. The fash- ionable girl of society, who has had no care or anxiety, is left, in course of time, a helpless widow, with little ones depending upon her for support and training. To the world it seems a cruel lot, and it is hard enough and sad enough. Wise parents would have provided her with those resources of body and mind and soul which would have made her time of trial and affliction less grievous to be borne, and have given her vastly more resources for her painful condi- tion. But, in spite of such three-fold poverty, has there not often been developed a strength which was surprising — self-sacrifice, heroic bravery, uncomplain- ing devotion — these, and other traits, called out by the situation, and responded to through the great mother- love, which is God's one talent to so many women? We rarely know how much we are capable of until an emergency is before us. This fact it is which makes our shrinking from duties so inexcusable. The THE SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT. 251 times of testing come, and we admit defeat before making the effort to perform what is required of us. " Give ye them to eat," might have been answered by saying, ' ' That is out of the question. ' ' And so in effect it was answered. " There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many ? " It was for this very reason, no doubt, that the disciples had asked Jesus to send the multitude away. They could not provide for them and so they must dismiss the people. In like manner the Church faces a deficit in the missionary treasury and there is talk of reducing the number of stations and workers. A parish finds its revenues low and deliberates upon depriving the people of the Means of Grace, " discharging the Minister," and waiting for a return of prosperity. A small mission station is con- stantly bemoaning the fact that its " numbers are so few" that it can undertake nothing that suggests large faith, either in personal work or in matters re- quiring substantial outlays. " Give ye them to eat " was the command to this little band of disciples ; feed this multitude of " five thousand besides women and children," although you have but five barley loaves and two small fishes; " stretch forth thine hand, ' ' was the command to the paralytic; i 'launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught," was the command to the discouraged fishermen who had toiled all the night and taken nothing. These commands — may we not believe? — are but illustra- tions of what our Lord meant when He said, "All things are possible to him that belie veth." III. Why, then, are we so faithless as our course all too often indicates ? Is it not because our lives are "252 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. on such a low level, with the world instead of with God in all our thoughts ? Business, society, advancement for ourselves and for our children in the things of this world, these are the things which engross us, and keep our eyes down to the ground, instead of lifting them y up to the hills from w r hence cometh our help. We forget that " Our little systems have their day, They have their day and cease to be : They are but broken lights of Thee, And Thou, Lord, art more than they." As the sailor's trained eyes see further than the landsman's, so does the soul that is close to God in all its thoughts, have vouchsafed to it, visions of possibilities which no materialist can have. "If ye have faith ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done." Must not even those who look upon such language as figurative, at least admit that it ex- presses the possibility, under certain conditions, of the apparently impossible, and that certainly when we are doing God's work in God's way the obstacles will vanish ? IV. But it was not the power of the disciples which wrought the miracle, it was the power of their Lord. They brought the lad, the loaves and fishes, to Jesus, who when He had blessed them, distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were set down. So it is always — no matter who the hu- man agents may be the power behind it all is Christ, "by whom all things were made." Hereinafter all is the great source of encouragement — the apparently impossible thing is not to be done by ourselves but THE SUNDA Y NEXT BEFORE ADVENT. 253 by Christ. We have but to lend ourselves to Him, as the human means and instrumentalities and He will accomplish it. Our powers, talents, influence, time, means, if brought to Him will be multiplied far be- yond their worldly value, and under His blessing be- come potent for what to the world will seem miracles. While this is true of all things w r here w^e are the active workers, it is still more true in the Means of Grace, w T here w^e are recipients. No wonder that many deny the efficacy of the Sacraments, when they think only of the human side and ask how can w^ater applied by man become the means for the washing away of sin? How can the laying on of hands, even with prayer, become the means for conveying the gifts of the Holy Spirit? How can bread and wine, even wdien administered to men on bended knees, be- come spiritual food ? As the questions are stated we can only answer, they can not. But the Eternal Logos using the material means, and human agency,, conveys into them, in accordance with His promise, the eternal power which saves, sanctifies and feeds.. Just as certainly as He used His Divine power to multiply the loaves and fishes, so certainly does He give to Sacraments and ordinances the supernatural power. And yet just as certainly does He use human means. The Priesthood is a necessity to the human race. Through the Priesthood Christ conveys His grace to men. He working through men saves men.. ST. BARNABAS' DAY. Fraternal Love. Text: This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. — St. John, xv. 12. By the Rev. Lucius D. Hopkins, S.T.B., Rector of Grace Church, Sheboygan, Wis. THE words of the text are those of our blessed Lord, not the words of fallible man. He says that they are His — "My commandment, That ye love one another." We cannot, therefore, despise or neg- lect the commandment without disobeying Him, and endangering our own eternal life in the world to come. The love which w^e are bidden to have is not a mere momentary feeling, which may be ours to-day, and be a thing of the past on the morrow ; but it is to be a real, deep, and lasting affection for our brother, which fills our very inmost being, and manifests itself in our daily intercourse with him, in thought, word, and deed. It is to be identical with Christ's love for ourselves — even " as /have loved you ." Do we realize how great that love of Christ's was, and is, to-day, in all of its beauty, and power, and greatness ? We are afraid not. We read about it in God's Word. We read: " Be- ST. BARNABAS DAY. 255 hold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God " ; " Love is of God " ; " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us"; " God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him " ; " For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments . ' ' We suppose that it is from this very reason that "God is love" that we cannot define it in a manner that is fully satisfactory. Like God, it "passeth knowledge." And yet, in mercy and love God has vouchsafed to reveal Himself to us, here upon earth, to such an extent that we can well and truly say : " I love God with all my heart, and soul, and strength." It is even as God tells us in His Book : " Hereby per- ceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us." That is: it is Christ hanging upon the shameful Cross that enables us to perceive the love of the Godhead. We are also helped in our perception of the love of God, not only by the sending, on the part of the Father, and the voluntary coming, on the part of the Son, to take our nature ujJbn Him, but, also, in the long preparation of the world for that coming; in the stooping to the earth, and taking of our nature — of the substance of the Blessed Virgin ; in His life and ministry, — especially in the working of His miracles, whereby He manifested His Divine power over things animate and inanimate, over life, disease, and death ; in His Resurrection and Ascension, and in the sending of the Holy Ghost to be our Guide and Comforter through this world of sin and woe. Certainly we can sing with heart and lips — 256 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. " Jesus, Thy boundless love to me No thought can reach, no tongue declare; knit my thankful heart to Thee, And reign without a rival there! Thine wholly, Thine alone, I am; Be Thou alone my constant flame." But Almighty God has not only said : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," but, also, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' ' In fact, we think that the precept, in its various forms, "Love thy neighbor/ ' "Love one another,' ' etc., is stated more often in God's Word than the precept relating to the love of God. Our dear Lord Himself calls this Sec- ond of the Two Great Commandments not only His — "My" — but, also, a New Commandment. Perhaps He so named it the "New Commandment " because it calls us out of the old ways of selfishness and sin, and bids us not only " love one another," but also to love even as the dear Lord loves us. As He has re- ceived us, we are to receive one another; as He has borne with us, so are we to bear with one another; as He has died for us, sow ought we to lay down our lives for our brothers. We are all aware, we are sure, that this command- ment, and the extent to which it reaches, our blessed Lord taught by His own example. He did not preach and not practice. It was His love, was it not, for mankind, who became His brethren by the humble act of Incarnation, which led Him to come into this world, and so to unite all mankind to Himself? What an act of humility ! What an act of self-sacri- fice ! What an act of love ! ST. BARNABAS' DAY. 257 "O Love, how deep, how broad, how high! It fills the heart with ecstacy, That God— the Son of God— should take Our mortal form for mortals' sake." "He sent no angel to our race Of higher or of lower place, But wore the robe of human frame, Himself, and to this lost world came." Moreover, what an example of obedience He left us ! Every command of His blessed Mother and Foster Father was obeyed. Every law and rule of God's Jewish Church were observed and obeyed. And when He commenced His ministry, what a record of kindly words and deeds we have! He healed the sick ; He restored sight to the blind ; He cleansed the lepers ; He fed the hungry ; He raised the dead. Was there any misfortune to which He was (or is) insen- sible ? As He went about from place to place, did He not always do something to benefit His brothers in blood? Was there any manifestation of His own power to glorify Himself? Were not these manifesta- tions for the benefit of mankind? He was kind to all, especially to little children and to the poor. Do we not find that our Blessed Lord was not only the unfailing Comforter, Guide, and Teacher of all man- kind, but also did He not have a tear for every sor- row, a succor for every want ? Can you find in that record of His earthly life a single moment which was not spent for others ? Always, every where, He went about doing good ; — sacrificing Himself, His time, His strength, His love, His sympatlry, for others — for His brothers. How patient He was with His disciples, with their ignorance, with their rude and untaught ways. One betrays Him; yet gently He addresses 17 258 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. him as "friend." Another denies Him. He turns and looks upon him ; and there is in the benign glance that which melts the very soul. And so one could go on with the record ; but here is enough, surely, for us all to recall to mind, Christ's eternal, unchanging love for His brethren — for all mankind. His was, beyond preadventure, a pure, deep, lasting, fraternal love. This same love, so un- selfish, so self-sacrificing, so patient, so gentle, so kind. He bids us have love for one another. Can we have it ? We answer, yes, we can. Christ would not command anything that was impossible for us. This He commanded and this He expects of His true and loyal children. That it is possible for us to love one another as Christ loved us we may see from the life and char- acter of him whose festival we celebrate to-day — St. Barnabas. St. Barnabas was a man of like passions with ourselves. He had this same human nature with its tendency to sin. He had the same flesh, world and Devil to fight against that we have. He had the same helps that we have, no more, no less ; for he had all of the spiritual privileges and sacra- mental grace to be had in Christ's Holy Catholic Church. We have the same. He had the example of Christ. We have the same. With these helps St. Barnabas built a beautiful and manly character, which is so aptly described in a few words in the Epistle for this day : "He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and faith." Now St. Barnabas loved his brethren even as Christ. This we know from the record of his life — from what he did for his brothers in the flesh. In the ST. BARNABAS 1 DAY. 259 the first place, he was rich in this world's goods, be- ing the son of rich though pious parents, and belonged to the Priestly tribe of Levi. He was also highly ed- ucated, having been trained at the feet of that famous Doctor of the Law, Gamaliel with St. Paul. What did he do with his wealth ? Keep it for himself, or his own immediate relations and friends the way so many are doing to-day? St. Barnabas, we are told, sold his land " and brought the money and laid it at the Apostle's feet," for the extension of Christ's Kingdom among his brothers and for the relief of the poor and needy. This was not only a sign of how much he loved his Saviour, but also of how much he loved his brothers. It was an act of self-sacrificing love, the becoming poor that his brothers might be made rich. We can do the same. Again, we are all aware of how much we need human sympathy and help and befriending at times. A brother of St. Barnabas was in this condition once. He had been a leader among the Pharisees. A bitter persecutor of the Christians, yea, even had allowed the clothing of the Proto-Martyr St. Stephen to be laid at his feet, while the cruel stoners were doing their deadly work. This man had been converted while on his way to Damascus to put to death the Christians, andhad beenbaptized in the Triune Name. His old Jewish friends not only hated him, but threat- ened his life ; the disciples of Christ were suspicious of him. There St. Paul was, as far as human friendship is concerned alone. There was no one to take him by the hand, or speak a loving, sympathetic, encouraging word to him. We know what that means, do we not ? Ah! St. Barnabas goes to him, comforts him, encour- 260 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. ages him, and brought him to the Apostles, and be- came his surety or sponsor to them. Was not this a brotherly, yea, a Christ-like act — the doing even as St. Barnabas would like to have been done by? Can we not do the same ? When the Apostles had heard of believers at Anti- och, to which place the persecuted Christians had fled from Jerusalem, St. Barnabas was the one chosen to goto them; and we doubt not he went gladly, to exhort, to comfort and to establish them in the faith. We read that when he had come and had seen the grace of God among them, he was glad " and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord." That is, he was not envious at the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit where he had not sown the Divine Seed; but rejoiced at their ad- vancement; and exhorted them all to grow and in- crease spiritually, and to persevere in the good work. The account makes known to us how ready and will- ing he was to help, comfort and encourage his broth- ers in the stern battle of life — how real was his fra- ternal love. While at Antioch the good man immediately thought of the eloquent preacher St. Paul, and thought that he could help them, i. e., he was especially raised up to preach to the Gentiles. So he goes to Tarsus and persuades St. Paul to come back with him and com- fort these people. This was, most likely, a double act of love — love for St. Paul who had, we suppose, gone to Tarsus in self-mortification, and thus needed some one to encourage him ; and love for those Gentile seekers after the Truth. It was a manifestation of fraternal love. ST. BARNABAS' DAY. 261 We next see him going up to Jerusalem on an errand of mercy. The Christians there were in need of help. Persuading the Gentile Christians to give to their necessity Saints Paul and Barnabas carried the alms to Judea for the relief of the distressed. This is a most practical example of u love " for others in word and deed . The Apostles return to Antioch ; and St. Barnabas is sent with St. Paul on his first Missionary Journey in Cyprus and Asia Minor to preach Christ crucified to his brother men, and apply Cleansing Blood to the sin-stained souls. It was self-sacrificing work for Christ, and for his brothers. There is one act of his life that would seem to be wrong, viz.: His dissention with St. Paul about his nephew, St. Mark, and the parting with him because the dissention was so sharp. But was it not St. Barnabas' tender, compassionate nature, and earnest desire to help St. Mark to become a better man that caused him to withstand his friend and co-laborer, St. Paul? We think so; and think that St. Paul, who was so severe and strict with himself, was too severe and harsh with his younger brother, St. Mark. Such, briefly, was the life of St. Barnabas. It was full of love for God — that love " which passeth knowl- edge" — and very full of loving thoughts, words and deeds for his brothers in the flesh. In fact, it is a striking example of that fraternal love for one an- other which Christ has commanded us to have. If it were possible for St. Barnabas to have this love, it is possible for us. We can love our brother " indeed and in truth' ' if we will. If we have this love, or would seek to cultivate it, we must do deeds of love; we must, like St. Barna- 262 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. bas, give alms. If we are striving to acquire this love, and so to obey Christ, we wall not say to our brother, if he be destitute, " depart in peace be ye warmed and filled," and not help him; but we will provide food and clothing and fuel according to his necessities and our ability. This wall we do, even though he be one who has wronged us grievously. He is a brother, he is in distress, and, therefore, real love will not turn the cold shoulder to him, nor leave him to suffer, but real love will cause us to provide the things necessary for the alleviating of his pain. Pride and injured feelings will be laid on the altar of love, and sacrificed in the Name of Christ. God's love for us is boundless. Our love for our brothers should likewise be boundless. Dear friends, the age, the time, the sinfulness, the forgetfulness of God, call for pure and holy and con- sistent love for God and for man — for self-sacrificing love in deed and in truth. With steady hand we should build the noble and stately edifice of fraternal love upon the demolished ruins of every selfish desire and every selfish interest. We should extend the free gift of love to all of our fellow creatures — our broth- ers — wherever they are. Whether in Arctic snows or Afric's burning sands ; to the man who has re- duced himself to the condition of a brute, to the un- taught savage, to the cultured gentleman, to all man- kind. Christ came to all in love ; we should go to all in love. Let us, dear friends "love one another" in deed and truth. ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST'S DAY. i Text: His name is John. — St. Luke, i. 63. By the Rev. Y. Peyton Morgan, Rector of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, St. Paul, Minn. THIS is a birthday. The official title given to it in the Table of Feasts to be observed throughout the year is " The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist." It is the only Saint's birthday that we celebrate, ac- cording to the Calendar. All other Saints' days com- memorate some event in life, distinctive teaching, or notable characteristic. We record the Calling of Saint Andrew, the Mar- tyrdom of Saint Stephen, the Love of Saint John the Evangelist, the Sacrifice of the Innocents, the Doubt of Saint Thomas, the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Purification and Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Election of Saint Matthias, the Instruction of Saint Mark, the Steadfastness of Saints Philip and James, the Grace of Saint Barnabas, the Confession of Saint Peter, the Fortitude of Saint James, the Preaching of Saint Bartholomew, the Renunciation of St. Matthew, the Ministry of Saint Luke, and the Doctrine of Saints Simon and Jude, and the Com- munings of All Saints' ; but the Gospel for St. John the Baptist's Day contains simply the story of his birth. The other birthday that we celebrate is the Na- tivity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The one occurs on 264 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the 25th of December, and the other on the 24th of June — six months apart ; for it is commonly believed that Saint John was that much older than our Lord. The herald must precede his Prince, and the Church, by commemorating the nativity of Saint John rather than his life and death, summons our attention to the great fact of the Incarnation. There is a pretty legend which finds a lesson in the date, recalling those wondrous words of humility, " He must increase, but I must decrease/ ' By the end of June the summer days grow shorter, and the nights increase; so Saint Augustine writes: "John was born to-day, and from to-day the days decrease/ ' But "He must increase" ; and at Christmas-tide the nights begin their retrocession before the advent of the day. The Gospel for the day does not recount the story of the angelic vision, when Gabriel appeared to Zacharias standing before the altar, and said, "Thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John"; but it does refer to his par- alysis, caused by inability to believe news so joyous. He was old. No angel visit had been recorded for five hundred years. Only two are mentioned by name — Michael, the executor of God's decrees, and Gabriel, the herald of His purposes. It is possible that the doubt of Zacharias was not unlike that of the disciple, who, when the Master "showed them His hands and His feet, believed not for joy." At any rate, his speech came when he wrote the words, " His name is John." When the child is born, the first thing to do is to give it a name. The naming of the baby is a matter ST. JOHN THE BAPTISTS DAY. 265 in which not only parents are concerned, but in which friends and relatives claim the privilege of giving ad- vice and making suggestions. Euphony is, by no means, the only phase of the subject which receives attention. Relationship plays an important part; and, since the days of Israel, we have inherited the legacy of attaching more or less importance to family names. Vivid hopes of the prospective generosity of some rich uncle, aunt, a distant relative, and a supposed claim upon their financial interests, ofttimes cause the child to be afflicted with a name that becomes a life- long burden. Parental love begets a fondness for family nomenclature that leads to its perpetuation in the household. The occasion is one which friends are called to witness, and is accompanied by more or less festivity. The Church is summoned to sanction and sanctify the act, and the name thus bestowed is by common consent called the Christian name, as dis- tinct from the family or civic title. Since the institution of the Church, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism has been the ordered method of be- stowing the personal name. Prior to that time, the custom among the Jews, and certain heathen nations, was the ceremony of circumcision, and by them is the present practice. To dedicate the children to God, and, in this way, set them apart by a sacred token, was a duty w-hich no Jewish family would for a mo- ment neglect. "On the eighth day," says the Book of Jebillu, "Thou shalt circumcise thy child; for in that day were Abraham and the people of his house circumcised." A ceremony similar to that which occurred at the 266 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. house of Zacharias, when the neighbors and cousins had arrived is thtts described: " The naming of a child took place at its circumcision on theeighth day. The first thing to be done is to choose Sandakin, something similar to God-parents, save that they assume no responsibility for the education of the child. They are generally selected from immediate relatives. The name must be one adopted in the family, or that of some celebrated man or person. On the evening before the Sabbath the announcement is made in the synagogue that a child is born. After the service a few friends are entertained at the par- ents' house with fruit and wine. The child is brought to the synagogue by the God-mother, and is received by the God-father. In the middle is a large chair with two seats, one for the God-father, and the other to be left vacant : it is the seat of Elijah, the Prophet, who,, though invisible, is believed to witness the ceremony. The right performed, prayers follow by the officiant, and after an offering for the poor, the child is ad- mitted to the congregation of Israel, of which he is henceforth a member. Among a people so unchang- ing as the Jews the customs of to-day are the same as yesterday ; and only the Oriental setting is needed to place before us the scene at Hebron, two thousand years ago. The resemblance of the Hebrew ceremony to the Order of the Church justifies the consideration of the worth and sanctity of the Christian name, the name given in Baptism, wherein I am made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the King- dom of Heaven. What's in a name? Much every way, just what ST. JOHN THE BAPTISTS DAY. 267 you ptit into it, just what you make of it, the reputa- tion you give it and the character it stands for. " His name is John." A common name among the Jews ever since the captivity. The neighbors and cousins de- murred, " There is none of thy kindred called by that name." They would call him after his father. His mother said, "not so; but he shall be called John." His father wrote, " His name is John." That w^as the name already- given at the Altar, already sanctioned by the Angelic Messenger, and awaited the enactment of the law-. That common name became the name of him of whom Jesus said : "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." To-day it is at once the greatest and the commonest of names save the Name that is above every name. Great in proportion as it stands for character, and mean, inas- much as it is divested of those conditions which goto make the possessor a child of God. The statement of what fact could give greater emphasis to the responsibility of sponsors and par- ents ! With what luster does it crown the glory of that dedication in the temple, for which the Church so lovingly, and yet with so great solemnity, pro- vides ! Upon this dedication, and the consequent re- sponsibilities, depends the destiny of the world. " Fu- ture Nations are now rocking in the cradle." "The saving of the world is not within the power of this generation, nor the next; but in that which is to come, when sound bodies and pure blood shall be the heritage of childhood. When no more shall be visited upon the children unto the third and fourth genera- tion the sins of the fathers ; but mercv unto thous- ~268 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. _ _» , , ands of generations of them that keep His command- ments." Every tm dedicated, uneducated, untrained and morally neglected child pushes further into the future the hope of the world ; for the approach to that hope is measured, not by individuals, but, by generations. The eras of progress are marked by births rather than conversions. We commemorate in the Gospel for the day, not simply an ancient rite of a peculiar people that has become an effete custom. We emphasize a great ne- cessity. We hold the key of possibility for all futurity. Therefore, the dedication of childhood to God by the token of a sacred name, is not a matter of conven- ience, or opinion. Duty is not done, until all means have been attempted to secure an education worthy of the endowment of the Christian name. That system of religious training is provided by the Church, and it needs only the co-operation of her members to ensure its efficacy. If the Church's order has failed, it is because it is neglected, and the responsibility lies with those who have assumed most solemn obligations, and failed to meet them. The solemn injunction of the Church thus worded, may come to some like a dream of days long since forgotten: "Ye shall provide that this child be brought up to lead a Godly and a Christian life." The name given in Holy Baptism is God's name for the child ; and, as such, is a sacred trust, a prec- ious birthday gift, to be kept unsullied by sin, and un- tarnished by taint of the world. It serves to differ- entiate the individual from the race. It is the name ST. JOHN THE BAPTISTS DAY. 269 of the soul. It makes personal the love of the Father for his child. " His name is John," and he made that name illustrious. What is your name? Who gave you this name? What have you done with it ? To what uses are you putting it ? To what influences are you lending it ? What does your name mean to the world? What does it mean to the Church, wherein it is enrolled ? We bless God for the nativity of St. John Baptist. Who blesses God that we were born? Some wish that they were dead, but if we are members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, we can be glad that we are born. We celebrate the birthday of the Baptist by the offering of the Holy Eucharist, as appointed by the Church. Why not each child of God celebrate his own in like manner ? Let no birthday pass without the presentation of soul and body, a reasonable sac- rifice at the altar, and an act of thanksgiving in the words of the universal birthda\^ collect, which reads : " Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we Thine unworthy servants do give Thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving kind- ness to us and to all men; We bless Thee for our creation." ST. PETER'S DAY. Self-C onfidence . Text: Peter said unto him, though I should die with thee } yet will I not deny thee.— St, Matthew, 26 ; 35. By the Key. A. Sidney Dealey, Rector of St. Luke's Church, Jamestown, New York. ST. PETER'S DAY brings to our consideration St. Peter's strength, and St. Peter's weakness. In the Gospel for the day we see his strength. We see the power that was in the man, which made him a leader among the Apostles. We see it in the confes- sion which he made of the dignity and glory of his Master, Jesus, when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." He is strong in the strength of his conviction of a great truth. He is strong in his open and public confession of it. But, in our text, we see his weakness ; covered up, indeed, under a 4 specious appearance of strength, but still there, and to be made manifest in the issue. "Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." Brave words, confident words, sincere words. But words which — to us who can see into the spirit which inspired them — are a manifestation of his weak- ness. For they are se7£confident words ; words which sprang out of his own trust in himself. And such a trust seems to be, through the consti- tution which God has given to our moral nature, an element of more or less complete failure in any duty ST. PETER'S DAY. 271 which we owe to Him. In the confession that St. Peter had made before, there was nothing of self. It was the strong and open statement of a truth, which was as a Rock on which the Church of the Living God could be founded, because it was made by the power of the Living God. " Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in Heaven/ ' The truth was no human fancy. It was uttered from no transient impulse of St. Peter's own spirit. It was of God, and came from God; and he " spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost." And so the truth remained ; and it was in the strength of it that the Apostle did such noble and faithful work for Christ and the Church, in after years. But these words of our text, the inspiration of a spirit of self-confidence and uttered by the impulse of that spirit — had no truth in them, and the event proved their weakness and their falsity. He who had said of himself " I will never deny" denied his master thrice within a few hours after he had said it. He who said " though I die yet I will not deny" denied when there was, so far as appears, no danger of any harm or hurt to him at all, denied at the charge of a maid-servant that he was a follower of the man to whom he had made such a strong profession of at- tachment ! But was it only the event — the thrice repeated de- nial — that proved the weakness and falseness of the words, sincerehr though they were said? What are the words themselves but another, and the first im- plicit, though not the first, open denial of the Lord ? He, of whom St. Peter had confessed, " thou art the 272 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Christ, the Son of the Living God." He, whom St. Peter, with the rest of the Apostles had called " Mas- ter" and "Lord," said to St. Peter, "thou shalt deny Me thrice." "Nay," says St. Peter, "I will not deny." And in saying so he denied, then and there. He denied in pretending to know better than his Master and Lord what he was able to do. In thinking and saying that he could shape his course otherwise than as Jesus told him, he denied his own confession that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the Living God." One, therefore, "to whom all hearts are open," and "from whom no secrets are hid." Self-confidence — trust in his own power to keep himself from falling — was the inward weakness of which the subsequent denial was merely the natural and necessary result. It can not be necessary for the lesson which we wish to draw from our text to go over the details of the Apostle's denial. It is sufficiently familiar to us all. What we want to get out of the sad story now, and to impress on ourselves, is only the broad, gen- eral principle that self-confidence is at the bottom of our failures to resist the many temptations which assault our Christian life. There is need to do so. Our ears are dull of hearing, and our hearts are hardened against the reiterated statements of the principles which ought to regulate our Christian conduct. The stories of the virtues and the vices, of the suc- cesses and the failures, the weakness and the strength of the men and women of old time, are read to us, out of the Scriptures, continually. But how few there are who seem to understand that these stories were "written for our learning," that in the men and ST. PETER'S DAY. 273 women, and in what they said and did, and in -what was said and done to them, God is trying to teach us by object lessons as His children in the great school of life. And so we go blundering on, missing the points of His patient instruction, and learning only by hard experience of our own what we might less painfully have learned through the experience of others. Therefore, let us once more patiently turn our thoughts to what the Apostle Peter said in answer to his Master's warning ; and what came of his brave words, and good resolutions after all; and why. Perhaps, old as the story is, and often as we have heard it, we can learn something from it yet, which, by God's grace, will make " a way for us to escape " in some temptation 3^et to come to us. The temptation will come to us, just as surely as we live. To us, as to St. Peter, the Lord Jesus says, " Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." We are Christ's people; sworn sol- diers and servants of His, sworn to true and faithful service, meaning, no doubt, to render it, and not without love to Him whom we acknowledge as our Master and Lord. Do we think that the evil spirit, who tempted the Master Himself, and tried to draw Him aside from the will of the Father, will let us alone, and leave us untouched and untried ? Not so, indeed. Some more, some less ; some in one way, and some in another, but all in some way, and in some degree we shall be tempted to deny the Lord. And if the Apostle, who was once strong enough to make the noblest confession of faith in Jesus as the Son of God, if he who was full of an earnest and 18 274 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. sincere affection for his Master, yet was drawn away to such a base and cowardly denial, may not we be in danger too ? If he denied because he thought him- self to be wiser than his Lord, and to know better than He what was in man ; if he denied, because, for the moment he was relying wholly on his own pow- ers, and was forgetting that the inspiration and strength for duty comes to man only from God, why may not we entertain the same feelings ; why may not we, as the natural result, be guilty of our special denial of the Lord, as St. Peter was of his ? We not only may be, but we are guilty of such de- nials. We deny our Lord, as St. Peter did, through fear— often a shameful, unmanly fear, like that of St. Peter before the poor maid servant who kept the door. We are Christ's, and we are often in company where Christ, and His religion are unpopular. Christ is on trial, as it were; Christ is mocked, derided, spitted on. We make no motion, say no word, in His defence. We are accused by some one of the keen wits, in whose company we are. We are twitted by some shallow, fashionable worldling — who thinks himself wise, because he has "said in his heart, there is no God' ' — * * Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. ' ' Are we not too often silent in such company, even if we do not openly say, " I know not the man ? " We may not, perhaps, be able to refute the ably presented fallacy, or the keen sophism that may be directed against our Lord and our Faith! We may not have the ability to convince by argument the worldling, that though he may be " wise in his own conceit," he is, nevertheless, a fool. But we may, and we should, in such company, be ready, with quiet ST. PETER'S DAY. 275 manliness, with true fidelity, to state our position, and leave it in no way doubtful as to which side we belong. We have a poor opinion of the man who de- serts in the face of the enemy. We should have a poor opinion of ourselves if we desert the cause of Christ before such enemies as these. How should we ever face the sword and the flame, if we are frightened by the sop of a keenly put objection to the truth of our Holy Religion, and run away from the fire of ridicule of our Christian profession ? We deny Christ from love of pleasure, not neces- sarily of pleasures which are unlawful, but of such as we, who are Christ's disciples, may rightly, in moder- ation, use and enjoy. What is the Christian life ? To what does Christ call us ? Let His own life show us that. The Christian life is one of prayer. In the desert and in the mountain, He, who is our Example, spent long hours in communion with His Father. The Christian life is one of labor. "I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do." Such is the witness which He who is " the faithful and true witness" bears to Himself. The story of the Gospels shows how true the witness is, and how He gave Himself up completely to labors for the good of men. In our place as His servants are we to do little or nothing of all this ? Is there to be no reflection, or but a faint and feeble one of His life of prayer and labor in ours? though the servant cannot be above His Master, he is to be as his master, and to follow, as closely as he can, "the blessed steps of His most holy life." But look at the Christian life of many who bear the Christian name. Abstract from it that part of 276 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the time which is occupied in the necessary duties of business or household care, and what is done w^iththe rest ? We amuse ourselves, w^e lounge, we ' i kill time ' ' in one way or another, as seems best, or most pleasant to ourselves. We work at trifles in a way which is but a sort of busy idleness. Often there is scarcely a half hour in the day taken by many who bear the Christian name for private prayer and communion, with God, who is the strength of His people, and without whom we are but dead, while we seem to live. Often scarcely one half hour in the day is given to any work which is directly, and of set purpose, done for the glory of God, and the good and increase of the Church. Yet, if it were not for the love of our own ease and pleasure, might there not be at least so much time as this given to the Lord ? When the work of our calling has been done each day, whether its duties lie in the office, or the workshop, or the household, when the necessary relaxation from that work has been taken, is there not, in most lives, time enough left for a little prayer to strengthen our souls in the love of God, and a little work, perhaps, to be done for His greater glory ? Christ, who prayed and worked, is calling us to siich a use of our time. Is it anything but the love of our own ease, the pursuit of our own pleasures, which makes us turn a deaf ear to His call ? Is not that refusal to hear His voice practically to deny Him ; to call Him Master, and Lord, and Son of God, with our lips, but in heart to turn from Him, and in act to " do not the things which He says ? " We deny our Lord through our human affections. ST. PETER'S DAY. 277 In many ways these lead tts from our Lord. These, it may be, turned Adam's heart from his duty. " The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat,"* His affection for Eve had perhaps blinded his eyes to his faith and duty towards God. True to nature, too, is the excuse put into the mouth of one of the guests, bidden to the marriage of the King's Son, when we apply it to Christ's invitation to take the good things prepared for us in the Gospel: "I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." How often we see the truth of it illustrated. Two young people who bear the name of Christ, and who do not, really, mean to live unworthy of that Holy Name, enter into the Holy estate of matrimony. How often they begin their married life by denying, in one point at least, their Lord, through their human affections. For some trifling reason the wife does not go to Church, and the husband thinks that he must stay at home to keep her company. Or the husband gets careless in this matter, and it is the wife who follows the bad example. And this, as it always does, " increases to more ungodliness," and the Lord comes to be denied in many ways, in that household, through having been first denied in one. Peter was, at first, only wiser than his Lord. And then he simply denied Him, when he was accused of being a friend of His. And at last he " began to curse and to swear," in the vehemence of his determined denial. What a fall for him, who had made the good confession, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Liv- ing God," and had been blessed by his Lord, therefor ! How sad it is that, in this world of ours, "Noblest 278 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. things find vilest using; " and that our human affec- tions, reflections as they are of the union which sub- sists between Christ and the Church, should be made the occasion of a denial of their Lord by those who have once openly and nobly confessed Him. Remember, to-day, St. Peter's confession, and re- member, at the same time, his fall. Let us be ashamed, if we have joined in his confession, of our many de- nials of our Lord which have followed it. Let us saturate ourselves, as it were, with the truth that we are Christ's, and that Christ is both God's and ours. In the power of that knowledge Ave may be preserved in faithfulness for the time to come. May God grant that we may feel the reproachful, yet compassionate, eye of our Lord upon us, and be recalled to ourselves out of our failures and our sins. May we be able to answer, as the forgiven Apostle did to his Risen Lord: "Lord Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." And may we do Him yet more faithful service than the past has seen us doing, so that we who have confessed Him here, both in heart and lips and life, as "the Christ the Son of the Living God " may be confessed by Him as His true servants, and bidden to "enter into the joy of our Lord." ST. JAMES' DAY. Text: Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. — St. Matthew xx. 27. By the Rev. F. W. Keator, Rector of the Church of the Atonement, Chicago. WHAT are the Saints' Da}^s in the calendar of the Christian year and why are they there? Here are two practical questions which may well de- serve an answer. The Church professes to do nothing without a rea- son for doing it — a reason which shall justify the thing done, and commend it to all fair minded men. Thus, the orderly division and arrangement of the Christian year has arisen out of the sense of responsibility which rests upon the Church to preach the whole Gospel of God ; and no one can see and un- derstand the Church's way to secure the teaching of the whole Gospel by the annual round of festival and fasts, without seeing the wisdom of her way. And so we must believe that a practical reason has prompted the setting apart of Saints' Days. These days, as we may see by a very little effort, are days named in honor of certain scripture person- ages ; for the most part, those who were the chosen friends and companions of our Lord, who had the inestimable privilege of seeing, hearing and knowing Him, and who are witnesses of Him to us. More- 280 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. over, they are days which the Church keeps in mem- ory of those who, as we may say, exemplify the teaching of the Master, men of like weakness and imperfectness with ourselves, whose lives gradually were changed by His life and influence, showing how our lives may be changed and beautified by the same Life and influence, and encouraging us to submit our- selves to them, and patiently wait until they have their perfect work in us. And it must be plain to any one who thinks of it aright, that the reason why the Church keeps such days, is the same reason why the State keeps the anniversaries of some of her children. The State loves to honor those, who, by their lives of devotion and faithful service, have brought special honor, and won lasting blessings for her. The State honors their memories ; but, more than this, in so doing she seeks also to preserve the lessons of citizenship which their lives teach, to other generations, that they may con- tinue to spur them on to nobler virtues and grander service. The Church loves to honor those who, as the instruments of God, have wrought signal bless- ing for her, and have left to those who come after them examples of life worthy to be followed. And so the Church would turn these Saints' Days, these days of memory and honor, into days of practical account; and, as they come, would have us think upon and learn the lessons which they bring. St. James' Day, we may be sure, has its practi- cal lesson for us. Perhaps there are more than one; but, at least, the Gospel for this day sets before us this practical lesson which our Lord draws from the ST. JAMES' DAY. 281 life and character of this Apostle, viz : that the right path of the Christian's ambition and zeal is the path of service. The incident related in the Gospel for the day — the asking by St. James and St. John his brother, through their mother, Salome, that our Lord should give them the chief places in His kingdom — is not the only one which gives us an insight into the character of St. James. In St. Mark's account of the call of the Twelve, James and John his brother are mentioned, with the added comment that our Lord "surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder." We might be at loss to know what there was about them to justify this name, were it not that St. Luke tells of an incident in the journey of our Lord and His disciples to Jerusalem, when a Samaritan village refused to receive them ; and James and John, stung by the in- sult, asked the Master's consent to their commanding "fire to comedown from Heaven and consume them." This incident tells us plainly enough, that, along with the gentle and loving nature of these disciples, there was a vehemence of zeal, and an energy of impetu- ousness, which fully justified their name, and from the Epistle for the day, we learn that it was this same characteristic which brought St. James to his death ; for, when " Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church," they undoubtedly fell first on St. James, because his zeal-had put him in the very forefront of those who aroused the enmity of the authorities. His zeal made him a marked man. It appears, then, that the incident in to-daj^'s Gos- pel was not a mere chance, but something which, 282 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. knowing the Apostle and his brother, we might have looked for. The same energy which attracted our Lord's attention to them, and called forth from Him the surname He gave them, the same zeal which na- tural! y put them first in other things, prompted them to ask our Lord for the chief places in His Kingdom. They did not see any thing wrong in such a request, — nor, for that matter, did their brethren. When the ten heard of it, "they were moved with indignation against the two brethren ; ' ' but it was not at the presumption of the question, but at the presumption of the two in asking it, and thus seeking the pre-emi- nence above their brethren. And now, as coming to the practical lesson which our Lord drew from this incident, the practical lesson also which St. James' Day sets before us, let us notice that He does not condemn outright the ambition of these two disciples. He does not take them to one side, and tell them that the spirit they have exhibited is altogether wrong and unworthy of them. Nor, in the presence of the ten, does He reprove them, and humiliate them. It does not appear that He has any word of reproof for the zeal and ambition they have shown, in and of themselves. That which is wrong, that which does call for correction, is rather the way in which their zeal and ambition are exhibited, the ends or aims on which they would expend them. And since the spirit of this wrong use dwells in all the disciples, the ten as well as the tw^o, He calls them all to Himself, and teaches the needed lesson. That lesson, in substance, is this : There is a greatness which the world admires, a greatness of w^hich you know, and with the w^ays of attaining which you are ST. JAMES' DAY. 283 familiar. Now, greatness, as the world regards it, is not for you, neither are the world's way of attaining greatness to be heldamongyou. This does not mean that there is no greatness to which yon may aspire- On the contrary, while it is not greatness which the world would call such, it is true greatness, a great- ness which you may seek, and for which you should all aspire. And, as this greatness is the very oppo- site of that which the world calls greatness, so are the ways of attaining it the very opposite of those which the world employs. It shall be no longer among 3 r ou, as in the world, lordship and rule, but obedience and service. Service — the service of one an- other — is the right path for your zeal, and in which you may hope to attain the greatness of My King- dom, which is your rightful ambition. It was a striking lesson ; one which they could not forget, although it might be a long time before they had learned it well enough to practice it. It was also a necessary lesson, since it enshrined one of the very fundamental principles of Christ's Kingdom, the prin- ciple of unselfishness, the principle of humility, the im- portance of which we may learn from the fact that our Lord so often and so earnestly dwelt upon it. Nor are we to imagine that when our Lord spake thus to His disciples He w^as speaking to them alone, giving to them a sort of counsel of perfection which they might receive, but which they, and they only, could fulfil. It was, rather, the declaration of a law of His Kingdom which like His Kingdom should be perpetual, of permanent obligation, and binding force upon all citizens of His Kingdom in every time and place. 284 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. And, therefore, the words of the text in the Gospel for St. James' Day : " Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant/' are living words, as containing a principle, or law, binding upon us as members of Christ's Kingdom, to which principle or law this day directs our attention. And first, let us notice that there is a greatness which is the proper ambition of the followers of Jesus Christ. On this point, indeed, our Lord's words in this day's Gospel leave no chance for doubt. The words, "Whosoever will be great among you," tell us as plainly as words can tell us, that there is a greatness which He not only permits, but which He also sets before us as an object of our ambition and striving ; while the words of the text, " Whosoever will be chief among you," tell us, with equal plainness, that in the pursuit of this object some will outstrip others, and thus be greater than they. But we are not limited to these words for our authority. They are quite in keeping with other words of like meaning, teaching the same principle ; and, more than this, they are the illustration of our Lord's own life and work among men. Looking, as we may, upon that life in its entirety, and discovering, as we may, under the promised guid- ance of the Holy Ghost, the true purpose of that work, we see and know that what our Lord has done for us is to afford us the means of the restoration in us of the image and likeness of God, in which we were created ; which image we have all but destroyed, and which likeness we have lost through sin. And thus He has opened for us the way to that greatness which ST. JAMES' DAY. 285 once was man's by God's gift, but which man has lost by his own act. But this great benefit which Christ has won and made so real to us He does not force upon us. He makes it possible for us, and provides the means of attaining it; but in this attainment, effort on our part is necessary, and therefore, in a very real sense it may be said that there is a greatness, a true great- ness, which every disciple of Jesus Christ should seek and seek diligently, even that greatness which God gave once in creation, and now gives again in re- demption through Jesus Christ. But since in every case the attainment of this greatness is dependent upon effort " as much as they will," through the use of the means which Christ affords, it follows naturally and necessarily that some will attain more than, others, and therefore be greater than others. And what has been said concerning the greatness which Christ sets before His disciples, will help us to realize its true character, and to distinguish it from that which the world esteems greatness. - Greatness, as the world measures it, is the great- ness of wealth, of physical strength, of mental capac- ity. But if we look at these things aright, it is evi- dent that they can not constitute the true greatness of man, for the reason that they are external to the real man. Wealth, for example, one may acquire and use, but it is no part of one's real self. And, likewise, strength of arm, or of mind, while they belong to parts of the man, are not the whole man. The real self— that w r hich God sees, and which we know makes us what w^e really are — is readily separable from all these things. And the true greatness of a man is the 236 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. greatness of this inner man ; " that mastery over him- self which means the nearest likeness we can attain to the Supreme God ; that something of which the grave can not rob us, upon which time, decay and death have no power whatever.' 7 Of course the world will smile at such a distinction, and continue to cling to its own greatness, tempting us to do likewise. And we, as "in the world," may use the things of the world. Christ does not bid His disciples to despise material wealth, to care nothing for strength of arm, to beware of power of will, and capacity of mind. What in principle He does tell us is, that as not " of the world," we are not to look upon them as constituting true greatness. As means in the attainment of the true greatness, they may be used; but never in themselves can they be made to pass for true greatness.. But, secondly, besides the true greatness which our Lord sets before His disciples, we must notice the way in which it is to be attained, viz : the way of service. And here, again, the world will smile at the very mention of such a way. It is so different from that which it uses ; so contrary to the very idea of great- ness which it holds. To be great in the world's estimation is to rule, to command ; to serve is only an indication of weakness — of littleness. But, since the greatness which the world seeks is not man's true greatness, so we may believe that its way to attain greatness is not the true way. It is our Lord, who knew so well what is in man — his dignity, capacity and destiny — who says that service is the way to true greatness, and His words ought ST. JAMES' DAY. 287 not to be disregarded. It may be that a little earnest thought upon them will show that He knew, and therefore could point out the right way to true great- ness. Certain it is, that the .more we study our Lord's words on the conduct of life, the more we are convinced that He knew man, and what in every case is best for him. And so when we study His direction of the way to greatness, we cannot help seeing that it is the right way. First of all, we must realize that service is in ac- cord with the very law of our being. That law is that we are only creatures, that " we are not our own centre, but that our life, when properly ordered, simply revolves around a Being to whom we owe our existence, and upon whom we depend for the continu- ance of life. " As a life of dependence, then, our life must be one also of service, and cannot attain to its true and proper greatness except it be through service. This fact of our dependence is often forgotten. The world makes such constant demand upon our varied capacities and powers, the world holds out so many prizes, the very possession of which it says will give us greatness, that we are constantly led away from the thought of our dependence, and all, in greater or less degree, forget that it is true. Greatness, as the world knows it, is always, in es- sence at least, the aggrandizement of self, the inde- pendence of self, the sufficiency of self. The greatness of Christ, that to which He bids His followers aspire, is the surrender of self, the full and free acknowledge- ment of our dependence upon a Higher Will, and the voluntary giving of ourselves to the doing of that 288 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Will. The greatness of the universe consists in the wondrous harmony which exists in its parts between it, and the law which governs it. And man's great- ness can only be attained by obedience to the law of man's being, and, therefore, not by independence and rule, but by self surrender and service. But service is not only the fulfilment of the law of man's being, it is also the fulfilment of that command- ment which God has given him, and which Christ has fully revealed to him. That commandment, though twofold in aspect, is but one law. It is love ; love to God and love to man. And love in its essence is the giving of self— the willingness — nay, more, the earnest desire to sacrifice self for the object of our love. And so our blessed Lord, when He came to reveal God to man, and man to himself, made known the good and perfect will of God, not only by word, but also by deed, by a life of service, the service of God on the one hand, since it was His "meat and drink to do the Father's will," and the service of His brethren on the other, since He came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." He is our Pattern, for among the sons of men He is confessedly chief; even His critics owning that ' * there is none born greater than Jesus." By His life He has taught us the true greatness of our life, and by His service He has pointed out the true path to its attainment. The lesson of St. James' Day is a practical lesson, for the lesson of its Gospel is our Lord's teaching to His apostles, and through them to us ; and in prompt- ing us to follow them, it is but urging us to follow Him, the one Lord and only Saviour. ST. JAMBS' DAY. 289 To be great is the desire of every man. To be great in the truest and highest sense, should be the more earnest desire. Greatness, as the world measures it, is not for every man. Greatness, as Christ measures it, is for all, and all are called to seek it. Opportuni- ties for its attainment are multiplied on every hand, and no place on earth is so lowly, but that, with the help which Christ affords, it may manifest a true greatness. Only let us remember that true greatness can never be had save as it is attained by the path of service, the service of God, and the service of our fel- low-man. 19 THE TRANSFIGURATION. Text: " And behold there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias." — St. Luke ix. 30. By the Rev. A. C. Haverstick, Rector of St. John's Church, Frostburg, Maryland. IN the earthly history of our Lord , the occasions are few when His glorious divinity outshone His humble human frame. The miracles He performed were ex-. hibitions of His power, but all the time the same lowly Jesus of Nazareth stood before the people. In no case is this so striking as when He stood at the grave of Lazarus. It was the Son of God who called the dead to life; it was the Son of Man who shed tears of sym- pathy for His friends. In the Transfiguration, which event the Church bids us to commemorate to-day, it is not so. He is temporarily carried away beyond earthly scenes. He is once more, as it were, in the courts of heaven, or at least in the ante-chamber ; and His body assumes that glorious magnificence which was its characteristic after His resurrection. There is some resemblance between this scene of the Transfiguration and tfiat of the agony in Gethsem- ane — the one on the mount of glory, the other in the valley of humiliation. In both cases He went apart with His three chosen disciples, Peter, James and John ; in both He was visited from heaven; in both His THE TRANSFIGURATION. 291 earthly companions were overcome by sleep. In this instance they awoke in time to note the divine glory and heavenly visitants. The deep impression it made is evident from the silent meditation the Gospel men- tions ; and years after, St. Peter, in his second epistle, records the voice from heaven which he heard " when we were with Him in the holy mount." As was His custom, our Lord withdrew from human sight and earthly distraction, to engage in prayer. His disciples sleep, but God lets Him not wrestle alone. Comforters come, who can assure Him that God answers prayer in His own time, and His own way. Had not Moses asked to see the promised land ? And now he sees it. Had not Elijah longed to see Jehovah's altars restored, and the covenant renewed? And he now sees the preparation for a new covenant to be made, and altars multiplied upon which a purer offer- ing would be laid than Israel knew. Here were the two greatest men of the old cove- nant, Moses and Elias, the representatives of the law and the prophets, both of whom testified of Christ, and were well able to speak " of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." To them the cross was no stumbling block, as it had been to St. Peter, when our Lord began to show that He must suffer many things. Did not the law foreshadow it by sac- rifices and burnt offerings ? Did not the prophets fore- tell it? There was an appropriateness in selecting these two visitants. Moses was the mediator who mar- ried Israel to Jehovah; Elijah, as it were, gave the bill of divorcement, when Israel had committed her adulteries with the gods of the surrounding coun- 292 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. tries ; but now Christ came, speaking better things^ and to unite forever, not only Israel, but the whole race of Adam, to God. This suggests how a thread of resemblance runs through the lives of all the three, worthy of being mentioned. Moses gave the law, Elijah renewed it,, and Christ perfected it. Each endured a forty days' fast; Moses was in the presence of God; Elijah was alone in the wilderness ; but Christ was tempted by the Devil, to make His trial the most severe of all. Concerning the death and burial of the three, there was a marked peculiarity. Moses died, but God buried him, and "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." Elijah was taken to heaven without tasting death. Christ was placed in a " new tomb," " wherein was never man yet laid," and "the third day He rose again from the dead." Not only were these two visitants representatives of the law and the prophets, but also of "the quick and the dead." When Christ shall come to judge, St. Paul tells us, "the dead in Christ shall rise first;" these are represented by Moses. " Then we which are alive, and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air;" these are represented by Elijah, upon whom the hand of death was never laid. The vision of the Transfiguration did not last long. A cloud received the two prophets out of sight, as before a cloud had concealed Moses on Sinai, and made known to Elijah on Carmel the gracious good- ness of God. The scene was over; the glory which had surrounded our Lord passed away. Again His divine majesty secreted itself under His human form j THE TRANSFIGURATION. 293 again all were returned to earth ; and we, with the disciples, may inquire among ourselves what all this meant, and ask what is the lesson of the Transfigura- tion — what special teaching does it impart? First, is there not here a revelation of Christ's di- vinity ? There are times when we would never take Mount Vesuvius to be a volcano. It seems like other mountains. We see no rising smoke, no falling ashes, no molten lava flowing from its crater. It slumbers and sleeps. In another moment it will be ablaze, the heavens will be illuminated by bright flames of fire, or the sun darkened by thick clouds. The volcano has awakened from its lethargy, and is revealing its power. So it was with Christ. He veiled His Divinity in the likeness of human flesh ; but this Transfigura- tion was like the bursting of the volcano, the long- pent up glory broke through the bands which con- fined it. It was the first real insight into what, after His resurrection the disciples would fully know. As they meditated upon His power over the forces of nature, and the authorit} r with which He spake, they knew something was behind and under the mere ex- terior of this Son of Mary. In fact, St. Peter had been led up to the confession that He was the Son of God. Here, then, was an inkling of the secret, a draw- ing aside of the veil, to give one glimpse. The better to confirm the vision, and reassure their faith, the voice of the Father, just as at His Baptism, gave the testimony : " This is My beloved Son." The Divinity of our Lord raises us beyond many perplexing problems. No longer need we question the power of the Crucifixion to take away sin ; and it 294 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. throws a halo around all He did, and all He said. The Divinity of Christ satisfies man's longing after something tangible to worship. The desire for ob- jective worship lies at the root of all idolatry. No sooner was Moses removed from the sight of the Israelites than Aaron made a golden calf, saying: " These be thy gods, 0, Israel, which brought thee tip out of the land of Egypt/ ' When, then, we want something visible to wor- ship, we look upon the Son of God, who, by becom- ing Man, assumed a form upon which men could pour their adoration. While it is true He has again ascended into Heaven, He is represented in the Apoc- alypse as sitting at the right hand of God, as the Lamb to receive the praise of saints and angels. He has left behind Him memorials of His continual spiritual presence. He for whom St. Peter at the Transfiguration would build a tabernacle, still taber- nacles wdth men. The Church, which is His Body, is something for us to hear, to obey, and to love. The Sacrament of His Body and Blood is a means by which we can worship the Crucified One, and apply the merits of His passion. The Divinity of Jesus gives authority and force to His Church, and also gives value and efficacy to His Sacraments. They may be outw r ard forms, but are not barren, empty husks. Deny His Divinity, then His testament and memorials are useless human in- stitutions, only entitled to such respect as we choose to bestow. Believe in His Divinity and all He left be- hind Him, to mark His presence, will be prized as coming from His all-seeing eye, and moulded by His all powerful hand. Jesus is Divine, the Son of God* THE TRANSFIGURATION. 295 and all emanating from Him bears the Divine stamp pressed upon it. Secondly, the Transfiguration teaches us the truth of the resurrection. Man is both a credulous and in- credulous being. In the main, he believes only such things as come within the range of his own senses, for it is not until the natural man is converted into a Christian, that he walks by faith and not by sight. Yet man is continually accepting facts upon the testi- mony of others. In the popular mind nothing is so hard to comprehend as the resurrection of the body. Philosophers have favorably spoken of the immortal- ity of the soul, but the resurrection of the body which they see deposited in the grave to dissolve into its original elements is beyond their conception. Our faith may not unravel the mystery, but from it we learn that the body returned " ashes to ashes, dust to dust" is in some sense raised again a spiritual body. We cannot explain it, any more than we can explain how an oak grows from an acorn ; but we see in these heavenly visitants at the Transfiguration, an illustration that in some way our bodies will like- wise be changed like unto Christ's own glorious body. The Moses of the Transfiguration was the same Moses who received the two tables of stone, and yet how altered is he. No longer is he the man burdened with the cares of a great nation, gray with age and with furrows on his brow. He has received the same, but a glorified body, a reflection of the Divine glory. When he came down from the mount, after his forty days converse with God, his face shone so, that it was necessary to cover it with a veil. Now ages had 296 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. passed, and from the long contact with heavenly things, and long continuance in the Divine presence the same glory was greatly intensified. If then, any from a desire to cavil should say the resurrection of Christ is no proof of ours, and that He, as the Son of God, could not remain in the bonds of the grave and death, but that we, poor human mortals, might not have the same power; we an- swer, of course we have not the same power in our- selves, but in Him we have; and the proof of it is in this visit of Moses and Elias talking with Jesus. The subject of their conversation was just what we might imagine it to be; namely, "His decease which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem." That decease of His opened the graves, "and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose. " St. Peter says, He "preached to the spirits in prison. " So here He freely tells Moses and Elias what would be accomplished by His cross and passion, the benefits of which they received even before He had suffered. As the mind turns upon this scene in the mount, may we not well sing, " death where is thy sting, grave where is thy victory ! " Lastly, we learn from this Transfiguration, the possible recognition of each other in the next world. We say possible recognition ; for what can we posi- tively know of the other world except as it is positively revealed to us ? We must be careful what we affirm of the other world from a correspondence to this. The Sadducees were mistaken when they supposed that marriages were made in heaven. In the parable of Dives, we find Dives and Lazarus and Abraham are all acquainted with each other. St. John saw the THE TRANSFIGURATION. 297 souls under the altar, still keenly interested in the affairs of this world, and mindful of their brethren left behind to endure the tribulation of persecution. Here we have Moses and Elias in company, and by some inexplicable mystery the disciples upon earth know them. Here is a hope of recognition in the future. "We may not be able to answer positively the question, "Shall we know each other there?" but the Bible does not forbid the hope, and much of it tends to nourish the flame. Part of the Saviour's mission on earth was to bind up the broken hearts, to offer consolation to the afflicted. When does the human soul more need the consolations of religion than when bowed down with grief? A darling child, a beloved spouse, a father, a mother has pierced the veil. They are not lost forever. The separation is only for a time. " We will meet be- yond the river." The sting death would cause the living is removed as well as from the dying. Behind the pain of temporary separation is the joy of reunion. David could not restore his dead child to life, but he •could go to it ; and unless he could recognize the child, where was the consolation in the thought ? But there is one cloud above the horizon. We commit our beloved ones to the tender mercies of God. Will we follow? When we have been called upon to render our account, will we be summoned to Paradise to rejoin those departed this life in faith and fear, or will we be doomed to eternal condemnation ? Moses and Elias in this Transfiguration beckon us to come. They now stand upon the farther shore, be- fore them the Church triumphant and an innumer- able company of saints. 298 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Useless the lesson drawn from this Transfigura- tion, or any other event in the life of otir Lord, if we are not impelled to good works. We may recognize our friends in the next world, but find ourselves on the other side of the great gulf. To our sorrow, in torment we may lift up our eyes and see them in Abraham's bosom. Let us strive to do what is right, not content merely with believing in the divinity of our Lord, or being assured of the resurrection, or hopeful of recognition; but working out our own salvation, by building a tabernacle in our hearts, in which Christ shall dwell. ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. Text : And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. — St. Luke, xii. 24. By the Rev. Edward J. Harper, B.A., Rector of Fort William, Ontario. THIS is the day devoted by the Church to the com- memoration of the life of St. Bartholomew. All that we know of him in Holy Scripture may be summed up in a few lines. He was one of the twelve apostles of our blessed Lord, chosen, most probably, like his companions, for some peculiar excellence and fitness in disposition and character, to be a witness and herald of the precious message of the Gospel. His name first occurs in the list of the Apostolic College given by St. Matthew (x. 3), where it is asso- ciated with that of St. Philip. He was the son of Talmai, and there can be little doubt that Nathaniel, mentioned in St. John, i. 45, is the same person as Bartholomew mentioned above. His birth-place was Cana, in Galilee, on the north side of the plain now called El Battauf, on which Jesus had so often looked down from the Nazareth hill-top. There was a tradition in the primitive Church that Bartholomew was of noble birth, and by occupation a shepherd, or gardener. It was Philip who, one day, carried to him the news that the long-expected Mes- siah, " of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets 300 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. did write," had actually appeared. At first, Bar- tholomew doubted that the person indicated could be the Messiah, for he, too, had heard of the Prophet of Nazareth. The wickedness of this town w^as prover- bial; hence it was that the enemies of Christ long afterwards used the term "Nazarene" as an epithet of reproach. But, whatever grounds there might be for enter- taining such an opinion of Nazareth and its inhabit- ants, it was surely going too far to suppose that " no good thing" could arise out of it. Yet, such is the force of prejudice ; it blinds the eyes of men, and per- verts them from receiving the truth. Many take up opinions merely upon report, and never give them- selves the trouble to be accurately informed before coming to a decision. In this way, many persons are prejudiced against the Church. They hastily adopt certain notions and opinions respecting her doctrine, discipline, or form of government, from some idle or malicious story, invented for the purpose of beguiling the unwary, or of throwing a stumbling-block in the way of a weak brother. In such cases, the best course, whenever you happen to hear persons reviling the Church, or speaking evil of her priests, is to say to them, as Philip said to Bartholomew (Nathaniel), u Come and see." Come, and judge for yourselves, before coming to a rash or hasty conclusion. Put yourselves in the way of receiving religious instruc- tion, and you shall soon arrive at a knowledge of the truth, and know of the doctrine, whether it be of God. And as Bartholomew approached Him whom he was soon to follow as his teacher and guide, Jesus, ST. BARTHOLOMEWS DAY. 301 struck with the simplicity of his appearance, and knowing the earnestness and single-mindedness of the man, said, probably to those within hearing, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile !" While many of his neighbors had nothing but the name and outward form of religion, he worshipped God in sin- cerity and truth; while too many of his countrymen mingled hypocrisy with a fair profession, he was just and upright ; the same before God as he appeared to his fellow-men, and, in his general conduct, devoid of insincerity. This decided attestation of our Lord to the char- acter of Philip's friend greatly surprised him ; and with a consistent frankness, as he became better ac- quainted, one day he ventured to ask Jesus how He had known anything of him. Jesus in reply, recalling the occasion when Philip had spoken to him of Him- self, said: "I saw thee, Bartholomew, before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree" (St. John i, 45). Hereupon came Bartholomew's full and unreserved acknowledgment of the Messiahship of Jesus. "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the king of Israel." Let us ask ourselves if we have believed on evi- dence like this ? Have we expressed our hope and confidence in Christ upon the first discovery that He is acquainted with all our thoughts, words and actions ? Or, have we for years been sitting under the sound of the Gospel, and do we still remain uncon- vinced of its truth and importance ? Or, being con- vinced, have we resisted conviction, and hardened our hearts, lest we should believe and be saved ? We know that many among the Jews did this ; and,, 302 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. we know also, the awful consequences of such un- happy delusion. Of the subsequent history of this Apostle we know nothing from the sacred record. Tradition tells us that he preached the Gospel in India, and that he suf- fered martyrdom by being flayed alive, and then crucified with his head downwards. Thus would seem to pass out of our memories the recollection of this noble saint of God. The Church, however, would seek in her anniver- sary of this blessed Apostle, to bring, annually at least, some phase in his life before us ; and, while in- viting us to dwell on this member of our Lord's inner circle of friends, to whom God gave grace truly to be- lieve and preach His word, she would teach us to pray that we may "love that word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same." Notwithstanding the fact that Jesus had been most careful in selecting His Apostles from those who had been longest with Him, and had witnessed many wonderful deeds and heard many marvellous utter- ances from His sacred lips, there occurred, every now and then, those little scenes of emulation and strife among them "which of them should be accounted the greatest," which represent the Apostles as being men of like passions with ourselves. True, He might have called to Him a Rabbi, a young ruler, or some other more important persons. These would, how- ever, have been perverted and prejudiced. He sought and obtained men of simple, plastic minds — men free from prevailing notions of the age, whose minds were more open to the Eternal truths He came to an- nounce, and ready to accept the Spiritual Kingdom ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 303 He came to found. Faith must always characterise the seeker after truth. St. Anselm was right when he pleaded : " He who does not believe will not experi- ence ; and he who has not experienced will not under- stand/ ' If indifference to sacred things be one phase of the present age, surely, want of faith is another. With the spread of mere worldly education, without any reference to the training of the moral conscience, or recognition of God, we look in vain for that condition of mind which feels after the higher life. The mental vision, trained only to discern the true ring of a cur- rent coin, has little in it that can appreciate a dog- matic statement, however palpable it may be to the eye of faith, and however reasonable to the truly thoughtful. So whatever else the Apostles of Jesus were, they were not among those who suffered indifference or prejudice to obscure their faith. Indeed, could they have forseen the part which they were destined to take in the propagation of Christianity ; could they have forseen the trials, and sufferings, and persecu- tions which they would be called upon to endure for the sake of Christ ; or, had they known that they would be brought to bear testimony before rulers and kings, for their Master's sake, they might well have shrunk back with dismay at the prospect of what awaited them. But the kind and merciful Master to whom they were about to attach themselves, well knowing the infirmities of human nature, withheld from them a knowledge of their future trials, until they were able to bear it. Gradually the great plan of human redemption was unfolded to them, as well 304 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. as the part they were to take in proclaiming its glad tidings ; so that when the time came, they were en- dewed with power from on high, to bear testimony to the truth. Happily for us, too, it is not given us to see what awaits us in the course of our varied journey through life. The veil which hides the future from our view is a veil woven by the hand of mercy ; but to the Chris- tians, struggling against accumulated trials, the promise is, " according to thy day so shall thy strength be," and he knows that he serves a gracious Master, who will lay upon him no greater burden than he is able to bear. Let us now try to enter into some of the scenes of the daily life of these men, after they had left their re- spective callings to become missionaries in training their great subsequent life work. The sun as it arose over those eastern hills would find them already awake, and making preparations for their scanty breakfast. This, doubtless, would consist then — as it does now among those who could not afford luxuries — of bread dipped in oil, rice, olives,, syrup of grapes, melted butter, eggs and vegetables. Their Master would join them at this meal, as at others, when He was not fasting, and would bless the provision thus made for the sustenance of their bodies. As they ate, the Apostles would talk familiarly to one another, or listen to words of cheer and comfort, or even of reproof, from the lips of Him who spake as never man spake before. A busy day — and our Lord had few that were not — soon brought many ap- plicants for help. These were the blind, for blindness is still common in Palestine, sometimes guided by ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DA F. 305 friends, but often left to themselves to grope their way toward His presence guided by the sounds that proceeded from the crowds who followed Him. There were the lame, who by the aid of their crutches would manage to appeal for relief, in person at least, from some of the Apostles, and so be brought under His notice. Then there were the perfectly helpless, who had to be borne by the strong arms of others, seeking relief from life-long injuries or misfortunes. And among all those who came to their Master, none per- haps would arouse more sympathy, and sometimes a feeling of repulsiveness — for the disciples were Jews, and carried with them all the popular prejudices con- cerning ceremonial uncleanness — than the poor, un- fortunate lepers. But each in turn was healed, or made whole. Scenes of this kind must have become familiar to St. Bartholomew as the months sped rapidly by, while Jesus journeyed from hamlet to village, and from village to town ; now resting by the wayside ; now in the seclusion of the hills of the Galilean Lake; or again under the hospitable roof of St. Peter. Along with the rest of the Apostles, our Saint would have listened to the conversation between Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman. Stung, per- haps, at times, with the seeming indifference of the Master to her sad appeals, how he must have rejoiced when her prayer was heard ! — her daughter was healed, and she was dismissed, rejoicing in the suc- cess of her errand. From this episode all the Apostles would learn something of the breadth of the Master's love, that even heathen " dogs " w^ere not to be sent, unheard, away. 20 306 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Then there was the raising of the little daughter of Jairus. Yes, but St. Bartholomew was not among the Apostles invited to witness this. Peter, James and John were allowed to see this triumph over the King of Terrors ; but Bartholomew was among the nine who heard of it afterwards. Then, too, on another occasion these three favored Apostles, who seemed to be more in sympathy with their Master, and could better enter into His feelings, were chosen to witness His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Of this marvellous transaction Bar- tholomew heard nothing, unless, perchance, he over- heard the favored * ' three ' ' discuss it among themselves ' Hill the Son of Man was risen from the dead." Among the hardships the Apostles were called upon to bear in the voluntary consecration of their lives, may be reckoned, occasionally at least, a lack of bread, and this before they had gone their several ways as Apostolic missionaries. The occasion on which Jesus supplied by miracle the physical needs of the four thousand, found our blessed Lord and His Apostles with but a scanty provision for their own use. Seven barley loaves and a few dried fishes — only the barest necessaries — were all they had. If, indeed, these princes' of the Kingdom of God did not actually suffer, how plain, and even coarse was their daily fare ! And thus day succeeded day; and so eager were the disciples to follow the Lord that, not unfrequently, all thought of providing even these necessaries appears to have escaped their minds (St. Mark viii, 14) . Jesus had often spoken of His Kingdom, but as yet their notions of it were crude and indefinite. Sharing in ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 307 the ordinary Jewish conception of a Messiah who should restore their nation to its former position of grandeur among the nations, the Apostles were not without some serious speculation as to the positions of honor which each of them might be called upon to occupy. They had their eyes already fixed upon the chief seats. Some had even made special requests to be nearest their Master, in what they supposed would be His earthly glory. "And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest." That questions of this kind should sometimes pre- sent themselves would seem quite natural. Called as they were from different ranks of life, the Apostles would have been more than human were they free from all social friction and emulation. Hot zeal seems to have been a characteristic of St. John; James, too, shared with his brother a quick temper. Peter, we know, was impetuous. Simon, the zealot, must have found it difficult, with all his fanatical passion for Jewish strictness and exclusiveness, to follow the Master. Though little is recorded of the rest of the twelve, they must have had their different traits. We have already seen that three of the Apostles were our Lord's sole companions on two important occasions. The preference thus shown may have given rise to some little resentment in the minds of the others, and have been at the bottom of the strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. Whatever it was, Jesus desires now to teach them, and through them, as of the Nineteenth Century, a 308 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. lesson in humility. In substance did our Lord say : — " Ye know that they who rule over the Gentiles, ex- ercise authority upon them ; this is according to the government of the Caesars. In My Kingdom, how- ever, this is reversed. Here greatness is littleness, and humility is true nobility. In my Church, in which you, My Apostles, are called to be pillars, your rule must not be arbitrary, autocratic, tyrannical, but fatherly ; resting on loving sympathy and reverence, not on force. I am among you now, though your Master, as one that serveth ; for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ranson for many." " The greatest minister of the Church,' ' says Ques- nel, "is he who is most conformable to the example of Christ, by humility, love, and continual attendance on his flock, and also looks upon himself as a servant to the children of God. We do not know what an exceeding honor it is to serve one single soul for the sake of God, in the spirit of the Holy servitude of Christ.' ' The practice of humility, however, is not an easy thing. Men choose to be proud, and run the risk of God's resistance, far more readily than they do to be humble, though it carries with it the promise of His grace. It is not because men make so much of their work, but because they make so little of it, that they can not forget themselves in it. " Yonder is myself with- out the inconvenience of myself," said Lacordaire, when his brother monk was elevated to a position above him. Let us, then, efface ourselves if we would have our work stand. Let us take for our pattern ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY. 309 the symbol which the prophet Isaiah saw in the vision of the Seraphim. Here a quality of consecrated power is indicated by the wings with which each seraph covered his feet, and self is out of sight behind the activity of self. The home, the parish, the community, the state w^ould then be served without noise or ostentation. Each work would seem, then, to have accomplished itself without bringing notoriety to any particular individual, while there would be no room for strife as to which should be accounted the greatest. ST. MATTHEW'S DAY. Text: And as Jesus passed forth from thence. He saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He said unto him, Follow- Me. And he arose, and followed Him. — St. Matthew, ix. 9. By the Rev. John H. Babcock, Rector of St. Mary's Church, Mitchell, South Dakota. ST. MARK and St. Luke tell us that the original name of Matthew, which signifies "the Gift of God, ' ' was Levi, which signifies ' * Joining. ' ' His name like those of Simon and of Saul, was changed when he became an apostle. Probably Matthew himself made the change, in grateful recognition of the honor conferred upon him. It recalls the many instances in which God gave new names to those whom He asked to come and serve Him, or with whom He offered to enter into a covenant; and reminds us of what is said in the Book of the Revelation about the new name written in the white stone, which shall be given to him that overcometh ; as also the new name writ- ten upon him that overcometh and shall be made a pillar in the temple of God. It also admonishes each Christian to consider the honor and dignity of the name that is given in holy Baptism, and to remember his duty to live as becometh one who has been called by the holy name of Christ. Matthew was a "publican." The publicans were ST. MATTHEW'S DAY. 311 men who undertook to collect the tribute and the tolls on merchandise, and the taxes, and agreed to pay a certain amount to the government. The prin- cipal ones were men of great credit and influence ; but many of their subordinates, not being restrained by any law or power, were guilty of extortion and ra- pacity, and gained for themselves and their chiefs the well-deserved reputation of thieves and robbers. These taxes, being paid to the Romans, were regarded by the Jews as not only a heavy burden, but also as a mark of galling and disgraceful bondage. Accord- ingly, the publicans, as a class, were cordially hated and heartily abused ; they were classed with sinners ; were not allowed to enter the temple or the Syna- gogues, to join in the public prayers, to make any offerings, to hold any judicial office, or to give testi- mony in a court of justice. Especially the child of Abraham who had sunk so low as to collect the tribute imposed upon his breth- ren by a foreign despot, was not only despised for his baseness, but also detested as a traitor to his country. The Publican in Palestine nineteen centuries ago was decidedly more unpopular than the tax- gatherer in our dav. One day when St. Matthew was at his place of business in the suburbs of Capernaum, Jesus, coming out of the city, saw him and said unto him, " Follow Me." St. Matthew must have heard something about this Man who was known as Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, who had been teaching through all Galilee, and had cured people of all manner of sickness, and diseases and torments. And, having heard, he must have formed some kind of opinion as to the character 312 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. and nature of this person who spoke with authority, and cured the ills of the body, and claimed the power to forgive sins — to heal the sickness of the soul. And that opinion, it would seem, must have been some- what favorable ; enough so at least to incline him to accept the invitation to be the follower of such a wonderful man. But, on the other hand, there was something to be considered. If he accepted the invi- tation he must leave his business. The companion of one who spent his days in journeying through the country on foot, and had not where to lay his head at night, could not sit at the receipt of custom and gather in the coin. That man and His companions had lio house in which silver and gold could be stored. He had not even the small piece of coin with which to pay his poll-tax. Indeed, when a certain young ruler, who had great possessions, came to Jesus and asked how he could get more treasure, the treasure of eternal life, Jesus told him to go and sell all he had, and give it to the poor. So that Matthew, being a man like us, probably felt, as we would have felt, that to give up everything for nothing could hardly be considered a good business transaction. But whatever he may have felt or thought, he did what an}^ of us probably would not have done, he arose and followed Jesus. Even more; he made a great feast. Many of his friends and business associates were there. But these friends of Matthew were not the only guests. Among them were Jesus and His Disciples; Jesus, whom the Pharisees reviled for being a friend of Publicans and sinners, and who answered their reproaches by say- ing, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Perhaps St. Matthew's neigh- ST. MATTHEWS DAY. 313 bors did not regard his great feast as a success socially ; but the presence and words of one of the guests must have given much comfort and strength to His followers. What may we learn from this act of our Lord? One lesson is plain. No Christian will deny that Jesus calls men to follow Him. So far from denying that fact, we rejoice and give thanks that the invita- tion given to St. Matthew has ever since been extended to all men. If so, then it is our duty to obey the call. If so, then following Christ is not a matter of choice on our part ; not a thing which we may rightly do or not do as we choose ; but it is a plain matter of obedience or disobedience. In an army there is one sole paramount duty, obedience. The chief impera- tive dut}^ of a soldier is to obey his captain. When, therefore, Jesus calls us, we must follow. And what does following mean to us ? It means to us precisely what it meant to St. Matthew. The call of Jesus implied that he should leave his wealth, and his chances of making money, and his enjoyment of the pleasures that money was procuring for him ; should be for a time the travelling companion of a poor man; should listen to the words and observe the deeds of his Master. After his Master had been put to death , and had risen again, and had gone away from His followers, then St. Matthew should spend the rest of his days in teaching others what he had learned, and in imitating his Master's example of doing good to all men. His call meant to St. Matthew that his life thenceforth should be different from what it had been ; that he should live not for himself but for others, for his Master and his fellows. It meant that he must deny himself many pi s; in - >rt, thai no\i hii sole- objed and business should be, not the pursuit ol isure in any manner • fl >rmance of tin l \ Ami the call i u\ one of us, now, means precisely the sam< d in principle implies just .»^ much, as did the call I [< I at tlu-w I [is call to each of tin apostles, His < any time implies one and the same spirit denial, of willing t\u i . i I, and to die in the flesh, it" n< •• der b t tain • 1 1 1 . 31 M.it thew when «l with that o\ other Ap nstructive ; it Bh< i as what Jesus demands of all men. of what He demands of us in these d - In on< thecal! to .-ill the Apostles was th< All w asked t« i fi >H >\\ I h • same M lure simi- lar privations while with Him. and while they «i carrying out His injuncti Iter He should lea them. But they werenot equal value of what they were required to leai Peter and Andrew and James and John wt ihermen. They were not rich; although they seem to have owned their boats and empl men ; yet the value of their property could not have been \ r gr at. But St. Matthew was a rich man; hecould give great feas he had plenty of money. As r Is this world's >ds,he was in the same fortunate position in which many men are now placed; when, therefore. Je8U8 called him. a man of wealth ; when He went to his office where he was receiving the t. nd tolls and tribute, and there said to Him, com- and follow Me." MATTHEW'S DAY. 315 He certainly must have intended to teach all those who might be situated like him, that what lie said to St. Matthew was them also. What He Matthew w, 3 eainly meant for us. But wedonot do - St. Matthew did. Bach one - I am tOO busy." And what we s::y is true; we are too busy. But about what are we busy? Our lofbu tting wealth. According to the I m» >n g the only true busi- 9, But Jesus said something about its being His duty : tend to Hi - business in His bouse. And He drove out of that house those who v g money inits outer courts; was I [is idea i >f 1 1 This mistafe - from a mistaken oncerning true riches, and true life, and true happiness We Bupposc that we can live as we ought ad can be happy, if only we have money liable us to live at ease, and to -ratify all our desires. But such an idea of life is a mistaken We know it is 'i the correct view, because it differs from that of Christ. He said, "Takeheedand beware of covetousness : for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he poss th." And He also spoke of two kinds of riches— which is false, and is laid Up on the earth, and g es; and another, which is true, and is laid Up in heaven, and endures. Thecause of this mistake on our part is declared St. Paul, in the Epistle tor the Day. He saysi "The (rod of this world (which is Mammon) hath blinded the minds of them that believe not." We do not believe what Jesus has taught, but accept as true 316 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. only what we ourselves can see. And we cannot judge correctly. Our eyes are so dazzled by the glitter and glare of silver and gold that we cannot perceive the real nature of the things of this world. Their nature is revealed only by the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. If we were allowed to behold the glories of the New Jerusalem, our eyes would delight not in its revelations of divine glory and heavenly love, but in the pure gold, transparent as glass, that formed the street of the city, and in the precious stones of the foundations and the walls. We can find some encouragement in the fact that one of the apostles was what we call a " business man." Some people think that business and religion will not prosper together. They cannot see how any one can be, as St. Paul exhorts us to be, not slothful in business, and, at the same time, serving the Lord. But was not St. Matthew's situation similar to ours? Yet Jesus called him. He knew that he was engaged in a business that specially exposed him to the danger of becoming covetous, therefore, He called him. He knew that St. Matthew, if he accepted the invitation, would become a mighty instrument for good. Therefore He called him. Ought not that to encourage us ? Jesus knows our hearts. If, then, He calls us, is not that evidence that we can do what He wants us to do ? The fact that He calls us to serve Him ought to assure us that we can do so. Our Saviour, in calling St. Matthew, did not regard the opinions of St. Matthew's friends, or the prejudices of his enemies, or even St. Matthew's own estimate of his ability and qualifications. He knew his heart and character. Therefore, He called him ; and thereby He ST. MATTHEW'S DAY. 317 gave us another proof of His power to quicken what we consider lifeless, and to strengthen what we con- sider weak. \ God's almighty Power transformed a Jewish pub- lican into a faithful messenger of His blessed gospel. His infinite Love caused the flower of Christian holi- ness to spring out of heathen corruption. When Matthew, the Publican, obeyed the call and followed Jesus, he became St. Matthew, the Apostle, and the Evangelist. The same Jesus will surety give His light and strength to all those who will folio w Him. Every follower of Jesus may become His herald. Every Dis- ciple may secure to himself the reward promised by his Master, who has said : " Every one that hath for. saken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit, everlasting life . ' ' ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS' DAY. The Scriptural Account of the Hoey Angels. Text : Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. — St. Matthew, xviii. 10. By the Ven. Frederick W. Taylor, D.D., Rector of St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Springfield, Illinois, and Archdeacon of Springfield. THE Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, com- monly called Michaelmas, is the link in the chain of our yearly commemorations which binds together the higher and the lower, the Divine and the human, in the universe of Grace. Some of the Festivals and Holy Seasons — the higher ones — commemorate the attributes and works of God, as Trinity Sunday ; or of the mercies of God manifest in the flesh, as our Redeemer; such are Christmas and Epiphany, Good Friday and Easter Day. Others, again, are devoted to the setting forth of certain phases of God's dealings with His people, as the seasons of Advent and Lent, and the Sundays after Epiphany, and after Trinit\^. Others, again, are days upon which we give God praise for His Saints, and which we observe in honor of that glorious com- pany, the blessed Virgin Mother, the Apostles and Martyrs, who were nearest to our Lord in His ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS' DAY. 319 earthly life and sufferings. And then we close the Christian year with the Feast of All Saints', yielding unto God "most high praise an^d hearty thanks for the wonderful grace and virtue declared" in those "who have been the choice vessels of God's grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations/' the brightest galaxy of stars in our blessed Lord's crown of glory. But now, linking together these higher and lower commemorations, the Church sets apart one Festival in honor of those bright and blessed created beings, who are not less the trophies of divine grace than His saints are; those holy ones, who, when tempted to rebel against God, "kept their first estate," remain- ing pure and sinless through the fiery trial of their faith — St. Michael the Archangel and all the Holy Angels. "0 praise the Lord, ye angels of His; ye that excel in strength ; ye that fulfil His command- ment and hearken unto the voice of his words." The Holy Scriptures contain a wonderful revela- tion of the angelic hosts, their nature, condition, ser- vices and occupations, and their relations to God and to mankind. The Book of Genesis makes early men tion of them, when fallen man was turned away from the gate of Eden, and cherubim, with a flaming sword, kept the way of the tree of life ; and the tri- umphs and judgments described in the Apocalypse are to be, or are being, executed by the same zealous messengers of the Lord of Hosts. God's chosen servants among men, one after another, are the recipients of angelic ministrations and communications. They came to Abraham under the oaks of Mamre, to tell him of the judgment of 320 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Sodom ; and angels delivered Lot from the burning, and smote the men of that wicked city with blind- ness. Jacob beheld in a dream at Bethel the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the heavenly ladder, a type of the mystery of the Incarnation, and at Peniel he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. At Sinai, when God appeared in majesty and awe, His " chariots were twenty thousand, even thousands of angels ;" and the law, declared St. Stephen *long afterwards, was received "by the disposition of angels. " A mighty angel foretold the birth of Sam- son, and another encouraged Gideon. Angels delivered Daniel in the den of lions and led the Apostle Peter forth from Herod's prison, and comforted St. Paul in the watches of the night on his perilous journey to Rome. An angel announced to the pious Centurion, Cornelius, his acceptance be- fore God for his prayers and alms, and ushered in the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the Holy scriptures, in both Testa- ments, we become familiar with the presence and the ministrations of angels in all the works of God's providential care, and in the guidance and protection of His Church. They are fellow servants with men in accomplishing God's Holy will; and our beautiful collect for Michaelmas expresses, w r ith brevity and simplicity, the truth set forth in the whole Bible, when it asserts that " Almighty God " has " ordained and constituted the service of angels and men in a wonderful order." Not only in services of love and duty to man, or ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS' DAY. 321 Divine judgment, are the blessed angels engaged, but again and again the very heavens are opened, and the eyes of mortal men are permitted to behold the glorious ritual of the eternal courts and their ears to hear " the sound Symphonious of the ten thousand harps that tuned Angelic harmonies. ' ' At the creation, " the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy. " The Evan- gelical prophecies of Isaiah are prefaced by the revela- tion of the adoring Cherubim, and the prolonged antiphonal strain of the Seraphic Trisagion, which has re-echoed through the ages in the Liturgies of Catholic Christendom. Ezekiel, too, beheld the mighty hosts of heaven encompassing the throne of God when He went forth in judgment; and, to the beloved Apostle on his lonely island there was vouchsafed the vision of the worship of the heavenly Jerusalem, when man's Redemption had been accomplished, and the Lamb of God in the midst of the throne receives, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the profound homage of the vast multitude of the redeemed, together with that of Angels and Archangels, and all the company of heaven. And since such is the conjunction of the services of Angels and men as noted in Holy Writ, we are not surprised to read of Angelic ministries attend- ant upon the Lord Jesus during His days of humiliation among men. He who, in His Divine Nature, w^as ever adored as consubstantial with the Father by the heavenly hosts, was still served by them when He assumed the form of our lowly estate, and was made man. One of the highest Archangels announced His 21 322 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Conception and Birth to His Virgin Mother, thus completing the duty which he had begun when he ap- peared to Zacharias in the Temple. The hymn, " Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace/ ' fell upon the ears of wondering Shep- herds in ineffable Angelic harmonies which floated over the hills of Bethlehem. An Angel guided Him in safety into Egypt from the malice of Herod. Angels ministered to Him in the desert wilds, when He had vanquished the Tempter. In the hour of His agony in Gethsemane there appeared an Angel of God, strengthening Him. And, although, when He went forth to suffer and to die upon the Cross He went alone and unattended bv the "more than twelve legions of Angels " that would have been obedient to His summons, yet when the hour of darkness was past, His Sacred Body was guarded by those Angels of the Resurrection, who rolled away the great stone, who performed even the most trivial duties of rever- ence in His empty sepulchre, and comforted the weep- ing women who sought their crucified Lord, and found Him risen, indeed, on that Easter morn. And when at last He led His chosen band to the top of the Mount of Olives, and was parted from them by His Ascension, He was still surrounded by these Celestial servants, who left with His waiting Church the announcement of His more awful Advent. "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus which is taken up into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." Yes, "in like manner; " for He, Himself, had told them, "when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS' DAY. 323 and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His Glory." Before Him, in the presence of His holy angels, shall we appear, each one, to learn the issue of that last judgment, whether our eternal award shall be to dwell forever in the company of that blessed angelic throng, or to be cast out into the abyss with those rebellious and evil spirits, who by trangression fell, and "left their own habitation." This teaching of Holy Scripture about the holy angels was endorsed, because it was assumed as true by our Lord in His recorded sayings in the Gospels. One sentence of His to Nathaniel takes in, as at a glance, the consistent revelation of the ministry of Angels in the Old Testa- ment: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, hereafter ye shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascend- ing and descending upon the Son of Man." And, not to dwell upon other passages, we have the most instructive and comforting saying of all in the Gospel for this Feast. "Take heed that ye de- spise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, That in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in Heaven." He was speaking of the children, ' ' the little ones that believe in Me," the children of His Kingdom. The angelic min- istrations that were attendant upon Him who is the Head, are also, by divine appointment, bestowed upon the lowliest, humblest and most helpless mem- bers of His Mystical Body, the children whom He loved and blessed so tenderly, the little ones concern- •ing whom "He blamed those who would have kept them from Him." The Gospel for this day was evidently chosen in 32-i SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. order to enforce this truth upon us, to teach us how, in one respect at least, God has " ordained and con- stituted the services of angels and men/' by giving to each child of God his guardian angel, to be, doubt- less, the minister to him of the Eternal Father's lov- ing care and countless blessings. "He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.'* How great is the dignity of God's children! How blessed their privilege to sustain such close relation- ship to those pure spirits, who ever look upon the face of God ! Where a modern world, blinded by its own mate- rialism, condescends to please itself by seeing in this truth a beautiful fancy, the ancient Church, with its vivid and tenacious faith, realized the presence and the co-operation of the angels of God, according to His Word. That little company of believers who were praying in the house of St. Mark, in Jerusalem^ could not believe the almost incredible report of the damsel who announced that, even then, the Apostle for whose deliverance they were interceding was knocking at the gate; and they said: "It is his angel! " Reasons why such a full and explicit revelation concerning the existence and ministry of the holy angels has been made to us, are not far to seek. (a) We may humbly conceive that we are told so much about the angels in order that we may rightly apprehend both their, and our, true place in the uni- verse, their relations to God, and to us. Were this not understood the corrupt imagination of mankind would not fail to supply the void with theories, which might easily trench upon the honor and worship due ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS 1 DAY. 325 to Almighty God alone. The history of heathen re- ligions, of certain phases of later Judaism, and even of portions of the Holy Catholic Cfiurch itself, bears witness to this erroneous tendency. St. Paul fotmd it necessary to warn the Colossians against a judaiz- ing heresy, which would " beguile them from their re- ward in a voluntary humility, and worshipping of angels." Even the Beloved Apostle records of him- self, that he fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed to him the mysteries of the Apocalypse ; but he also records the rebuke which he suffered. The complete revelation of Holy Scripture concerning the angels of God, is the necessary cor- rective of human errors in regard to them ; and this is a reason for the fulness of detail with which it is given. (b) Again, God's Holy Word tells us so much about the Angels, because, by our Baptism, " our citi- zenship is in heaven ;" and it behoves us to try to realize the existence of that unseen and supernatural world, and our true place in it. We must understand our present condition, "made a little lower than the angels," yet "crowned with glory and honor," by our being made members of Christ, and adopted sons of God, and destined to occupy a higher place in the regenerated universe than even angels can attain to. That sceptical, Sadduceean spirit, which says "there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit," is far too prevalent in our day, and, by the common law of re- action in the human mind, it is the preparation for a perverse belief in delusive spiritual manifestations, and other " doctrines of devils," of which the vigilant Prince of Darkness is not slow to take advantage, to 326 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the ruin of souls. The history of religious thought proves that there is the closest and most subtle con- nection between the rejection of divine revelation and the acceptance of a debasing creature worship. The French atheists of 1798 worshipped the goddess of Reason in the person of a harlot. Perhaps those who thoughtlessly disregard, or only half believe in the revelation given us in the Bible concerning the holy angels, and superciliously affect to consider all such ideas childish, antiquated and beneath their notice — perhaps they might do well to remember that all our authoritative knowledge of the angels is inseparably bound up with our equally authoritative knowledge of God, the Creator of angels and men. The divine revelation of the unseen and eternal world must be taken as a whole; and, if we permit ourselves to explain away and reject a part, we may insensibly go on to give up the whole of it. The Church is therefore guiding us in accordance with the expressed spirit and teaching of her own. Scriptures, when, upon the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, she calls us to meditate upon the nature and operations of the Heavenly hierarchy, and when in the celebration of every Eucharist she bids us join " with Angels and Archangels, and with all the com- pany of Heaven to laud and magnify God's glorious Name " in the Tersanctus. It is the Divine design that the Church works from in thus making us familiar in our worship with the Scriptural teaching about the holy angels, in order that we may recognize the truth that we are even now fellow-workers with them. And when we are called to enter into that world bevond the veil, its ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS' DAY. 327 blessed inhabitants and angelic ministers may thus not be wholly strange to us. As they witnessed the many trials, and the faith even unto death, of God's prophets and martyrs, so may they surround our deathbed ; and as they bore the soul of Lazarus to Abraham's bosom, so may they guard our souls to the gates of Paradise, even to the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ. (c) But, however, somernay scoff at the belief in the existence of the angels, that faith is of practical im- portance from a moral point of view. We are taught by our Blessed Lord Himself, to pray that w r e may do God's will on earth as it is done in Heaven. And if we w r ould know how it is done in Heaven, we must read, mark, learn and inwardly digest what God has revealed to us about His Holy Angels. The very statement that God's w r ill is done in Heaven, implies that there are some created intelligent beings there who understand, love and ohej it. The holy angels are examples, therefore, divinely commended to us, of obedience to the will of God. Nor do we need to search the Scriptures laboriously to learn how read- ily and faithfully, how patiently and joyously, with what love and zeal and unselfish devotion, they do the will of God, for everywhere in the Bible some in- stances of their holy obedience instruct us. It would seem that God has left us no excuse for ignorance as to how His will is done in Heaven, in order that we may the better, by His grace, learn to do His blessed will on earth. And, at the same time, this revelation of the obedience of all the celestial powers is an encourage- ment and comfort to us, since those blessed spirits are 328 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. not only coordinated with us in their service and ministry, but a large part of their appointed duty is to " succour and defend us on earth/' And their suc- cour is never so potent as when our wills are in ac- cord with theirs, in striving to fulfil the righteous purposes of God, and to overcome the evil in our hearts, and in the world. The innocence of childhood they guard, the strength of manhood they encourage, the feebleness of old age they comfort with visions of the rest that remaineth after toil and warfare. For "are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? " " Grant, Lord, that when around th' expiring world Our Seraph Guardians wait, While on her deathbed, ere to ruin hurl'd, She owns Thee, all too late, They to their charge may turn, and thankful see Thy mark upon us still ; Then altogether rise, and reign with Thee, And all their holy joy o'er contrite hearts fulfil." ST. LUKE'S DAY. Laborers Together. Text: After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two, before His face, into every city and place whither He Himself would come. — St. Luke x, i. By the Rev. Andrew J. Graham, Rector of St. Mark's Church, Washington, D. C. THE aim of this sermon is not biographical, but practical. With the aid of a concordance and the New Testament, one may easily gather nearly all the reliable information that exists, touching the life of St. Luke. Combining Scripture and other ancient authorities, this much may be briefly said concerning the Evangelist ; he was born in Syrian Antioch, and trained up to the medical profession. The exact date of his conversion to Christ is not known. It is claimed with considerable reason that he was con- verted by our Lord Himself, and became one of the seventy ; and also that he was one of the two who took that memorable journey to Emmaus with the risen Jesus. Three times is St. Luke referred to by name in the New Testament. In Colossians, he is styled the " Beloved Physician ; " in the second epistle to Timothy occurs the phrase, " only Luke is with me," while the epistle to Philemon reckons him one of the "fellow laborers." There is scarce a doubt that St. Luke wrote the 330 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Acts of the Apostles, as well as the third Gospel. His work in the Church seems to have been in constant company with St. Paul, or under his immediate in- fluence and direction; so much so, that after the death of the Great Apostle, the Beloved Physician passes into such obscurity that we know- nothing of the time, or manner, of his death. The one purpose of this sermon is to emphasize and illustrate the practical meaning of the words ; "two and two before His face, into every city and place, whither He Himself would come. ' ' These words state a principle which is as wide as humanity in its application. They point to the truest and most fruit- ful mode of missionary labor. They suggest how hu- man force and gifts may be wisely developed and em- ployed with sure results ; not in isolated individuals, with impoverished affections, narrow sympathies, aridity of thought, hasty judgment and one-sided spirituality ; but, in human beings with heart beating against heart, thought striking thought, will modify- ing will, judgment tempering judgment, and spiritual life enriched by emulation and absorption. This is a part of the lesson which we may learn from the text. The twelve Apostles, as well as the seventy, were sent out "two and two ; " but the need of that prin- ciple, and the benefits flowing from it, are not confined to the Christian ministry. In one way or another they apply to the whole human family. Man is pre- eminently a social being, and his perfection conies on apace, in proportion to the kind and number of rela- tions he sustains to other men. In a wider sense than that of marriage, it is not good for man to be alone — in study or labor, in moral conflict or spiritual strug- ST. LUKE'S DAY. 331 gles. No man can live in himself without becoming impoverished as to character. In all labor, the wise conception of plans and their wise Execution depend upon counsel and advice, and that means companion- ship, fellowship, friendship. The principle of " two and two," that is, of human association and co-laborship, is one of the fundamen- tals of Divine economy. Many a man, at a. critical period in his life, has made a failure because his vision has been bounded by his own thoughts. Standing alone at times of eagerness and excitement, one is apt to decide and judge hastily, and repent at leisure. It is not alway easy to guard well one's thoughts, or to keep one's mouth, as it were, with a bridle. But if there be one to whom a man may turn as to his other self, and commune, the excitement is cooled, the mind clarified, the judgment straightened, and reason and truth resume control. There are not wanting busi- ness and professional men who gladly confess that, after the heat and confusion of a hard business day, the wife's quiet and instructive grasp of truth has given them the key to the solution of the difficulty. This simple illustration is not putting into the text something foreign, but is drawing out from it a little fragment of the all-embracing truth there enfolded. The weaving of the web of friendship, and the strength and beauty which inhere in it, are marvellous in the process and the result. You stand to-day for the first time face to face with another man ; you ex- change greetings, shake hands, and enter into conver- sation. Thus there is thrown over between you a tiny bridge of influence, like the small thread cast over Niagara, destined to draw after it the rope, and wire, 332 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. and all the materials of the vast structure which binds the shores together, and bears up the traffic of nations ; your acquaintance is extended over months and years ; you pass together under the rod of sorrow ; through scenes of peace and conflict ; up the hill of difficulty toward the mount of transfiguration ; and your two lives, so strengthened and rounded and completed, each by the other, present a clearer illus- tration of the principle of "two and two'' than any sermon of words could possibly picture. Niagara's bridge is strong because it stands on two supports ; and so thought and wisdom are stronger when resting on a double brain. It must be understood that this friendship is built upon the basal granite of Christ's religion. There can be no coterie of true friends unless their friendship rests upon a common friendship with the man, Christ Jesus. "I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." He is the creating and sustaining Word ; the life and light of men; the center of the physical, intellectual, moral and spirittial universe. Through the operation of the Holy Ghost, He has extended the Incarnation of Him- self in His Church; and they who perceive that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and who gladly walk on before, in mutual confidence and endeavor, as redeemed brethren, are surely preparing hearts and places " whither He Himself would come." Beside the clearer perception of truth and fairer judgment that come from Christian companionship, there is another thought, illuminated by our Lord's own life. You will recall how, after the hard day's ST. LUKE'S DAY. 333 labor and cruel opposition of sinful men, He used to pass down over the hills to Bethany, to spend a night with his three orphan friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus ! How glad we are that these things were written for our learning! This is one of the most truly human touches of the Gospel; even Jesus needed, and craved, sympathy and friendly faces ; He was in all points like unto us, sin only excepted. Under the old olive trees of Gethsemane, His aching heart turned again and again to Peter, James and John. It may be that the spiritual and economic value of our Lord's action in sending the twelve and the seventy out by "two and two," was more clearly perceived by St. Luke on account of his being a physi- cian. His profession would quickly seize on the thought that loneliness in labor is mental suicide. " Cor tie edito," said Pythagoras, eat not the hearts And the words of a modern poet are : " A millstone and the human heart are turning ever round ; If they have nothing else to grind, the^ will themselves be ground." One passage from Lord Bacon deserves to be com- mitted to memory, and repeated each day with our prayers. "We know that diseases of stoppings and suffocations are most dangerous to the body ; and it is not much otherwise in the mind; you may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, flower of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend; to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or confession. " And he further adds that this "com- 334 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. municating of a man's self to his friend works two contrary effects; for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in halves. For there is no man that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more ; and no man that imparteth his grief to his friend, but he grieve th the less." And now, let us speak more explicitly of Christian labor. There is a deep well of meaning in the words, " Ye are members one of another." In Baptism were Ave all made " members of Christ, children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." All we are brethren and servants of one Master. One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one Cup are ours, and one deep underlying principle should pervade the work of the disciples. All wisdom comes from the Divine Word, and no one disciple receives its fulness. To each one comes a certain measure, and his contribution is needed that the Christian Church, parish or family may labor wisely. Many a parish project has failed because of narrow judgment; many a missionary enterprise comes to nought for lack of wisdom. In practical Christian work, where counsel, and carefulness are necessary, the voice of the people is most likely to be the voice of God. Let no brother or sister hastily conceive a plan, and straightway proceed to give it birth ; God never gave to any one so heavy a brain as that possessed by the united Christian community. Emerson's suggestion that a strong man is one who changes his mind, is full of wisdom. Perhaps we should interpret this passage to mean that a strong man changes his mind by enlarging it, rather than by contradicting what he before believed. If problems, like a kaleidescope, revolved around a center, present- ST. LUKE'S DAY. 335 ing every side to an individual, he might have better judgment as to their solution. As it is, he sees but one side, and that through glasses colored by prejudice. Some one has said that we are small creatures, the largest of us ; and that we can only become great and wise by entering into the greatness and wisdom of the many. The social side of Christianity is not sufficiently appreciated. Rousseau taught that individuals are separate atoms, sustaining no relation to each other, except those imposed by human laws and contracts. Christ teaches that all men are organically related ; children of one Father, branches of the one Vine. It would seem beyond doubt that only as these relations are recognized, and the disciples draw near and enter into each other's lives, that they would be able to go forth, not only "two and two," but many and many, to prepare places for the coming of the Son of Man. Those tremendous problems which loom up across the threshold of the twentieth century, utter a most solemn note of warning to the Christian world that, unless the capitalist and farmer, the banker and mechanic, the woman of ease andher sister in distress, are able and willing to go forth side by side in the conflict with evil, our vaunted civilization will be arrested by that inexorable law of God Almighty, which orders that no one man or class of men, can, or shall, rule the destinies of the human family. ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES.. The World and the Church. Text: If ye were of the world, the world would love Ms- own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. — St. John. xy. 19. By the Rev. D. F. Dayies, M.A., Rector of Grace Church, Mansfield, Ohio. IT was the night before the Crucifixion. The Lord had His Apostles about Him. He had instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, and He was, giving the Apostles the instruction which they needed in view of what was to befall them. He was appar- ently to be taken away from them ; but it was im- portant that they should learn that there was to be no separation between Him and them. The relations in which He stood to them were vital. He was the vine; they the branches; and these relations were to be sustained always. The currents of the life of the Son of God were to come into their spirits, and they were to live in Him. This relation which they sustained to Him, was to deterniine their relations to each other. They were more than fellow-disciples in the same school; they were the redeemed by the same Lord ; and their rela- tions to each other were to be the relations of the ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES. 337 redeemed. They all lived in the one Lord. They drew their spiritual life from the same source. They all loved the one Person; and then they were bound to each other by this common life, and love, and faith. The bond, thus, of their relations to each other, was love. They were to love each other, because Hfc was the vine and they were the branches. They were to regard each other in their relations to the common Lord, and, out of this relation to Him, would spring love for each other. But there were others who did not look at the Lord as the Apostles did. He was not the Lord for them. They did not care to receive His life. His love went out to them ; but they closed their hearts to it, and lived as though He had not come to the world to redeem the world. The principle which ruled them was different from the principle which ruled Him and the Apostles, whom He had chosen out of the world. These persons constituted the world, and they were not in sympathy with the spirit of the Apostles. They opposed that spirit, and thus hated the Apos- tles ; and they hated the Apostles because the spirit of the Apostles was different from their spirit. We have here, then, on the one hand,, the Apostles in their organic relations to the Lord, and to each other, and, on the other hand, the world. The Apostles, in these organic relations, constituted the Church; they stood for the Church. And then, the Lord here contrasts the principle of the world and the principle of the Church. At these two opposing principles we shall now look. I. The principle of the world is that which deter- mines the activity and life of the world as distin- 22 338 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. guished from the Church. It is the ruling motive of worldly activity. It is a life which is centered on itself. It always seeks gain. While it does not always seek to injure others, it does not make its whole activity a minis- try of usefulness to others. It avoids sacrifice, and always associates sacrifice with loss. It tries to win, and does not see that the greatest gain is in the going out of oneself in the service of others. The common word of the world is " competition." It regards life solely as an opportunity for this strug- gle against others. It seeks to make all people its servants. Its ideal of greatness is when one receives the service of others, and not when one is the servant of all. It speaks much of struggle ; and, in these days, we are told much of the struggle for life. Its doctrine is "the survival of the fittest." But this struggle is not for the good of others, but for the victory of those who struggle over others. Its great man is the one who climbs to renown over the prostrate forms of those whom he has conquered. This world-spirit does not object to the Christ- spirit in others ; but those who are ruled by the world-spirit do not seek to receive more of the Christ- spirit. They are willing that others shall make sacri- fices, and, moreover, key their lives to the Christian note of sacrifice, and live always to do good; but they themselves do not choose so to rule their lives. They hold that that is not the meaning of life. One who follows the spirit of the Lord is doomed to fail- ure. The only law of success in the world is selfish- ness. The man who cares much for himself, and little ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES. 339 for his neighbors, and compels his neighbors to serve his selfish ends, is the successful man. His success means the failure of others. But hfe does not give them a thought. He is too intent on congratulating himself on his own good fortune to have any time to pity the less fortunate. We have an illustration of this principle in the case of Simon the Zealot, before he came in contact with the Lord, and was chosen by the Lord out of the world, and given the transforming Spirit of the Lord. He belonged to the party which was characterized chiefly by its hatred of Rome. He was governed by great zeal ; but it was the zeal of hate. He probably hated Rome more than he loved anything in the world. He could not think that he had any duty to Rome. The Romans were enemies, and they deserved nothing but hate. He would take all from them to enrich himself and his compatriots. He was governed by the world-spirit ; and he was no less a worldling because his zeal against Rome was in the name of his religion. Now, this world-spirit forms its own theory of life, and it forms it from the materials which come from below, and not from above. It will not look at the Cross, and learn the truth which it reveals — that the life of man is realized in love, that the expression of love is always sacrifice, and that its mission is ser- vice for the good of others. It does not believe this truth. It is not according to its impulses, and it goes on in its obedience to its law of selfishness. It is cut off from the Spirit of the Lord, and so it is out of vital relation to God. Each one is a centre to himself, and does not see that, as he is to draw his 340 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. own spiritual life from the Lord, he is to go forth and expend his energies in the service of others. The spirit is in antagonism to the Spirit of the Lord, and this antagonism is the hate of which the Lord spoke. II. Contrasted with this spirit of the world, is the spirit which dwells in the Church, and which is re- ceived from the Lord. This is the opposite of the spirit of the world. It fs the spirit of mutual love. Each one thinks of the others, and aspires always to be of service to others. The meaning of life is service ; and the force which is. expressed in this servicers the force of Christian love. It is seen that the measure of success in life is, not the amount of service which one wrings from others, but the amount of service which one can do for others. The greatest is the servant, and he who does the most good in the world, is the one who receives the ap- proval of the Lord. This spirit, also, impels one to make the most of himself, to improve all his opportunities, to unfold all the powers of his being by means of education ; but it is that he may be the better fitted for service. He would get that he may impart. He is a trustee of all that he receives ; and he sees that he receives it that he may pay it out in work for the good of others. The whole life is keyed to usefulness, and he lives that he may enrich the world in goodness and happiness. Now this spirit, which is in those who are in the Church, is the effect of the vital union of the soul with the Lord. He is the vine, and His people are the branches, and the life force of the Lord comes into them. There is a real force, comingfrom the Son of God, by the operations of the Holy Ghost, into the lives of the ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES. 341 people of God and always toning their lives up into fuller harmony with the Spirit of the Lord. The effect of this union with the Lord is two-fold. (1) For one thing, the spirit is quickened to see the truths of the Gospel. They stand out as great facts which are not to be put by, and which rule the life, as the physical facts of the world determine the activity of the body. It is seen y and not only held, that God is the Father, that the Son of God is the Redeemer, and that the Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier. It is seen that love is life, that usefulness is greatness, that humility is exaltation, that selfishness is degradation, that sin is death, now and always. The teachings of the Gospel become facts, great, and clear, and lumin- ous ; and the soul lives in them, as the body lives in the atmosphere, which holds the world in its embrace. (2) Another effect is that the affections are puri- fied and intensified. In the glow of the vision of the love of God in His Son, the dross of the selfishness is burned away. The affections go out with energy on the objects to which they are directed by the teaching of the Gospel. The force of love is given to the heart, and released, and it impels the life to service. The law, the ruling principle of the Kingdom, then, is love. This is the spirit which dwells in it, and works through it on the world. One meaning of the Incarnation, and the establishment of the Church by the Lord, is that this is a law which will work in this world. It is not true that the Christian principle is not practicable. The Son of God has come to the world to show that the law of Heaven can. work on ^arth. Men can live according to the Gospel, and reap the fullest measure of success. The business of 342 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. the world, the politics of the world, can be conducted on the principles of the Kingdom ; and in all relations of life, the law of love can work its way. The Church has been established as the constant witness to this truth, and, moreover, as the present body of the Lord, who gives this truth to the world. The law of the life of the Church is love, and this law it is to urge upon the world. Now, it is very clear that the reception of this spirit of the Lord, which is the spirit of the Church, inspires one with enthusiasms for the work of the Lord ; and the work of the Lord is the salvation of the world. The spirit which He brought to the world is the spirit of helpfulness. It goes out to others. It seeks opportunities of service for others. It is the spirit of ministry. It is impelled by love, and love never wearies. It never does enough. It is the spirit of the Son, and not of the bond servant, and the Son works in the impulse of love. This is the spirit which is always in the Church, which is the body of the Lord ; and this is the spirit which is offered to, and is beating up against, the lives of all those who are in the Church. This is the spirit which is communicated in the Holy Commu- nion. It is to this spirit that we are redeemed. III. This truth of the spirit of the Church is not only a truth which satisfies the intellect, but it also comes to us and enlightens us as to our duty. The Church is the corporate form of this spirit in the world. It is the abiding witness to the fact of the presence of Christ still in the world ; and then the triumph of the Church is the triumph of the Christ- spirit over the world-spirit. ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE, APOSTLES. 343 The influence of the Church has gone forth beyond the walls of the Church. The spirit of love is going through the world. Men praise it.* In these days men talk much of altruism. It is said to be duty to think of others. It also is said that altruism is the highest product of the development of the life of man. In all this we rejoice. It shows how far the work of the Church is reaching. But still, the fact remains that this spirit of love is the spirit w^hich the Church has given to the world, and the mission of the Church in the world is to supplant the world-spirit by the Christ-spirit. The Church is the embodiment of this spirit. It is to grow on, and take the whole world into its embrace, and make the kingdoms of the world the kingdom of our Lord. Then what an incentive here to prosecute the work of the Church ! Who does, not wish to live in such a way that his life will enrich the world ? Who would be willing to leave the world poorer in love and righteousness than he found it? Who does not, too, ask how he may do good ? What is the work which he can do ? Here is the answer : The Church is the body of the Lord. He dwells in it, and His spirit is always with it. And then, to help forward the work of the Church is to help win the world for the Lord. Then, all work for the Church is work for the Lord, and for the good of the world. One additional person brought into the communion of the Church, is another joyfully subjected to this spirit of love, and another center of Christian influence to tell on other souls. The Grace of God is given us, if we seek it. Holy 344 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. discipline is afforded us. We have the instruction of the Church. We have also the means of grace fur- nished us by the Church. We receive the Holy Ghost. And it is all that the love-spirit of the Lord may be strengthened in us, that the world-spirit may be mastered, and that we shall be more and more con- formed to the image of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. ALL SAINTS' DAY* The Communion of Saints. Text : There is one body and one spirit. — Eph. iv. 4. By the Rt. Rev. A. C. A. Hall, D.D., Bishop of Vermont. DAY by day, or as often as we come to Church, many of us solemny affirm before God that we believe in the Communion of Saints. What do we mean by those words which we so constantly repeat in the Apostles' Creed ? Must it not be said of many of us — Nothing, or at least nothing definite or clear enough for me to explain? What, then, ought we to mean? What is the meaning of the words as they are given us by the Church? What is the truth of Scripture which the Creed guards ? It is a profitable consideration for the Festival of All Saints' — the truth enshrined in this article of our faith; the consolations, privileges, duties which flow therefrom. 1. First, for the actual meaning of the words as they stand in the Creed, " The Communion of Saints." The term " Saints" here does not apply only to per- sons who have been pre-eminent in holiness, as we commonly use the title for God's specially favoured servants, as when we speak of St. Mary the Blessed Virgin, St. John the Beloved Disciple, St. Paul the Apostle. 346 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Nor does it include only those who having finished their course in faith, have been taken out of this world of trial and temptation into the more immedi- ate presence of God. No, the term " Saints" is used in the Creed as it is commonly used in the New Testa- ment, for all Christians, all the members of the Christ- ian Church. They are all " called to be saints," " sanctified in Christ Jesus," made members of the Holy Body, partakers of the Holy Spirit. They have the principle and germ of sanctity planted within them. In this sense St. Paul constantly addresses himself in his epistles "to the saints and faithful brethren," meaning the general body of the Church. Accordingly this clause stands in the Creed in ap- position with the preceding words, " the Holy Catho- lic Church." It vsr as added at a somewhat later date, not as setting forth any fresh object of belief, but as a further explanation of what has gone before. To- gether the two clauses form one article of our Faith. Viewed on its spiritual side, "the Holy Catholic Church" is "the Communion of Saints." We, all of us, are included in the designation. As many of us as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. We are Saints by profession, by privileges, by design. We are called to perfect holi- ness in the fear of God. ("Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.") What shame and fear must this title excite in our hearts as we contrast with our vocation our actual condition ! But without dwelling on this thought at the pres- ent time, let us go on to consider — 2. What is the "Communion" or partnership which these, "the Saints," have one with another- ALL SAINTS' DAY. 347 what the relationship which exists between them; the fellowship which they enjoy ? They are members of One Body. All are gathered round Jesus Christ as their common centre. As the load-stone attracts towards itself every thing of a kindred nature, so does Jesus Christ gather His disciples round Himself. As they are drawn to Him they are drawn to one another round Him. In Him all meet. And He gathers us not merely round Himself as a common object of attraction, but into Himself as a common source of new life, and so into union with one another. The unity of the Church is a real organic unity, the result of our incorporation into "the mystical Body of Christ," which is " the blessed company of all faithful people." It is based upon our common participation of the Sacraments of Grace. "As the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by One Spirit are we all baptized into One Body .... and have all been made to drink into One Spirit." Again, " we being many are One Bread and One Body, for we are all partakers of that One Bread." The incorporation which is affected in Baptism is maintained and cemented in the Holy Eucharist. Thus is the Church One Body, animated by One Spirit. The One Spirit flows through the whole Body, vivifying every member. Herein is the Communion of Saints, in their possession of a common life. 3. This unity of life, spreading throughout the whole Body, extends to the unseen world. The Communion of Saints embraces all on earth, however separated by distance or nationality or civ- 348 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. ilization. The great multitude is gathered out " of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues." It includes all who have been made members of the Body of Christ, down to the little child that was bap- tized to-day, and who have not forfeited, by unre- pented sin, their union therewith. It embraces God's servants at rest in Paradise, as well as those still militant on earth. When we pro- fess our belief in the Holy Catholic Church, we do not mean that small portion of it which happens at the present time to be on earth. The Body of Christ has but her feet resting on the earth ; far the larger part is with the Head in Paradise. It is to this communion between the Church on earth and this Church in Paradise that our thoughts are more especially directed at this season. Death does not make any change in our relation to God. It will reveal what that relation is. Death, therefore, cannot break the Communion of Saints which is based on their common relation to God. Relationships, however intimate, which are merely of the earth, will be sundered and destroyed by Death. They perish with the perishing world. Remember this, husbands and wives, parents and friends. But relationships which are cemented by Grace, which are in Christ, last on, and will be found in another world transformed and spiritualized. In " Jerusalem, my happy Home," "Apostles, Prophets, Martyrs there Around my Saviour stand : And all I love in Christ below Shall join that glorious band." ALL SAINTS' DAY. 349 It is the death of the soul, spiritual death, sin, which we must fear as the destruction of the Com- munion of Saints. When we fall awky from God, re- sist His grace, quench His Spirit, we are withdrawing from the fellowship of the Saints, breaking away from the Body of Christ. The sap ceases to flow in the branches, and the leaf withers and falls. The blood ceases to circulate, and the limb putrifies and must be cut off, as a source of corruption, from the body. So at the last, if not before, the Body of Christ must shake off all lifeless members, any in whom the Spirit of Christ is not working. Death will reveal whether we are truly in the Faith, and so living members of the Body of Christ, or only hanging on with a parasitical life. 4. How is this Communion exercised ? In many ways, doubtless, many that we know not of, that are beyond our present perceptions. The doctrine covers a very wide field, and includes many truths. "The words express many relations, many mysteries ; they stand for a great network of complicated, involved, confusing, but most precious and blessed truths."* Some ways we may trace. It is exercised (1) in the common worship and service of God ; (2) in mu- tual service and help, — by {a) the sympathy which the several members have one for another, (b) in ac- tive ministries, (c) in intercession, they for us and we for them . 1. In the Common Worship and Service of God. The One Body, animated by One Spirit, under the Rev. Morgan Dix, S.T.D. 350 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. One Lord, illuminated by the One Faith, cleansed by the One Baptism, pressing towards the One Hope, adores One God and Father of all. This is the life which thrills through the whole Body, binding in a unity of life, not merely of organization, all who are baptized into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 2. In Mutual Service and Help. The duty and privilege of Intercessory Prayer is a consequence of the sympathy which is a necessary part of the Com- munion of Saints. The members must have the same care one for another, and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Exclusiveness and selfishness by which we limit our desires, even in spiritual things, to ourselves, shut us out from the Body of Christ. We can only ap- proach God as members of the Family — of the Body of Christ. As we only pray acceptably in the Name of Christ, so we can only approach God in Christ's Name as members of His Bod}^. Accordingly our Lord bade us, when we pray, say, " Our Father, " etc. Whatever our special intention for ourselves or others, our prayers must include the whole Body of Christ. This mutual sympathy and intercession extends into the unseen world. We pray for and with (not to) those who are departed and who rest in Paradise. "In Christ we both have access by One Spirit unto the Father." The Saints are described by St. John as watching the progress of the successive changes of the dispensations of God, grieving at the continued triumph of evil and the oppression of the truth. " As our blessed Lord says that He is persecuted in His ALL SAINTS' DAY. 351 members, or receives benefits in them, so they who are perfected must have a care for us who are yet in our pilgrimage, and are beset by infirmities, and whose crown is as yet unworn" * How they may express this sympathy is a farther question. May it not be well imagined that they help us by active ministry, their energies quickened to a vigor unknown on earth ? Scripture would seem to point to this. " The Revelation of St. John pictures scenes of earnest life among the dead, while the Res- urrection of the Saints is yet to come The Saints are represented as no less actively employed than the Angels who appear in the same visions. As God employs ministries of men on earth to carry out His purposes, so may the ministries of the Saints, even in their disembodied state, fulfil high behests in more transcendent spheres. This may, in part at least, explain the calling away of many whom we think we can ill spare, taken from us in their full strength and spiritual maturity. They have other service in higher worlds . They are needed where alone more blessed tasks of love can be accomplished, "f Of one way in which they help us we may be sure. They pray for us. How should it not be so ? Is it possible that the devout grow in the habit of Inter- cessory Prayer up to the hour of death and then cease to pray thus forever? Can we imagine that those who here have contended earnestly for the Faith once delivered, become indifferent to its maintenance now when they behold its value more clearly, or that they *Bp. A. P. Forbes. fRev. T. T. Carter. 352 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. feel no interest in those who succeed to their toils and sufferings ? Or shall we suppose that those who have spent their lives in the service of the sick and poor and suffering, or in reclaiming the fallen, close their hearts with their eyes to the sorrows and needs to which up to the last they ministered, and which now in more efficacious ways perchance they can relieve ? Will the mother forget her child; the son, his father ; the friend, the companion with whom he has shared his inmost thoughts ; the Pastor, those to whom through life he has ministered, and followed with the voice of warn- ing or encouragement ? God forbid ! Rather let us say with Origen, who in this is but the spokesman of all the early Bishops and Doctors of the Church: i i Who doubts that all the holy fathers help us by their prayers? " And he goes on to argue that as knowl- edge is perfected in the life to come, so, too, are other virtues, especially love. i ' One of the principal virtues, according to the Divine Word, is charity towards our neighbor, which we must needs think is felt by the de- parted Saints towards those who are struggling in this life, more exceedingly than by those who are yet in human infirmity, and are struggling together with those who need aid." Those who are at rest pray for us. Being drawn nearer to the source of all love, their love for those on earth is quickened ; and themselves secure from the temptations of the world, they pray for us who are still militant here. If Dives in torments felt and expressed an interest in his brethren in the world, certainly the Martyrs and Saints in Paradise are not unmindful of us. If the prayers of the righteous avail much on earth, ALL SAINTS' DAY. 353 great must be the power of the supplications of just men made perfect. Let us rejoice to claim our share therein, and to think of all the faithful, on earth and in Paradise, as children of one Father, together plead- ing, and for all, " Our Father, Who art in Heaven,' ' etc. And we pray for those who are departed, and who rest in Paradise. Cold and heartless and unnatural it is to drop their names out of our prayers, to pray with them and for them until the last breath is drawn and then to stop ! When we have laid their bodies in the grave to cover up their memories, too, to forget them w^hen we come before God ! Further we know not how much they may need our prayers. This Ave know, that they have not yet attained their full joy. They still cry, " How long, Lord ? " They wait for the Resurrection — for the regenerate body to be given back as the help-meet of the soul. They yet hope for the welcome, " Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you" (which shall be given at the Last Day) . They have yet to undergo the last dread scru- tiny. With them, for them, we cry both " Thy king- dom come," and "In the day of Judgment, Good Lord, deliver us." We may speed on their perfection by our prayers, begging for them not conversion — the day of grace for this work is over — but advance in the knowledge and love of God ; not deliverance from pains like to those of the lost in Hell save for their not being end- less — for the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God; but Rest, Light, Peace, we ask for them, and cleansing from all stain of earth which may still cling to them and render them unfit for the perfect vision of God ; a merciful judgment, and a speedy consum- 354 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. mation of bliss both in body and soul in God's Eternal and Everlasting Glory. " To pray thus for the departed is a deep instinct of natural piety ; but it is much more than that, it is one of the best attested doctrines of the primitive Church. The Jews at the time of our Saviour, as they do to-day, prayed for the dead ; and there is not a word proceeding from the lips of our Lord which can be tortured into a condemnation of the practice. There is no doubt that St. Paul prayed for Onesi- phorus when dead ; for the phrase ' his household ' implies his absence ; and he prays for no grace for this life, but only ' the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.' The early Litur- gies of the Church, which, traced back to the apos- tolic times, bear witness to the public teachings of the most remote antiquity, are unanimous in this re- spect." Let me quote but one, the Liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem, called after St. James: " Re- member, 0, Lord God, the spirits of all flesh, those of right faith whom we have mentioned and whom we have not mentioned, from Abel the just to this day. Do Thou Thyself give them rest in the region of the living, in Thy Kingdom, in the delights of Paradise, in the bosoms of our Holy Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whence sorrow, grief and lamentation are banished away, where the light of God's countenance visits and shines continually." We have seen something of the truth enshrined in these words, "I believe in the Communion of Saints." Let us not lose the consolation and the strength which it affords . Let us seek to lay such lessons to heart this All Saints' Festival. Let no exaggeration ALL SAINTS' DAY. 355 on the part of some deprive us of this blessing. There is as much danger in defect as in excess. It is at least as wrong wholly to ignore k truth of the Gospel, as to draw some unwarrantable deductions from it. (a) Let us cherish the remembrance of our union with the Body of Christ : Let us remember it in our prayers. As with Angels and Archangels and all the company of Heaven we praise God's Holy Name, so along with Saints and Angels let us supplicate His mercy. Let us ask of God to give us a share in the prayers and supplications of those who are gone be- fore and who plead within the veil ; and beg for bless- ings on the departed such as He knows they need. Especially at the Holy Eucharist, let us call them to mind and mention their names to Him, as we show forth our Lord's Death and plead the great Memorial Sacrifice, that "we and all Thy whole Church" — on earth and in Paradise — " may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of His Passion." (b.) And we may remember it in our temptations, as a check to sin and an incitement to virtue. A child is sometimes restrained from some action which he otherwise would do, by the thought that he would disgrace a respected father or an honored family name. So may we be held back from sin by the fear of dis- honoring or defiling the Body of Christ, of which we are members. In a time of trial, remember the great cloud of witnesses wherewith we are compassed, and run with patience the race that is set before us. Re- member that we are fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the Household of God, that we may be strength- ened to more heroic acts of supernatural virtue. 356 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. When overborne by the influence of the world, its maxims, its arguments, its ridicule, let us throw our- selves on the sympathy of this friendly host. "I be- lieve in the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. " "Fear not, they be more that be with us than they that be with them." Whatever maybe the opinion of the world, the popular imbelief or disbelief of those round about us, this — the Catholic Faith — is the belief of the Saints throughout the world and throughout the ages, as they have been taught by the Spirit of God. Whatever may be the laxity of the world's life and its pleadings for self-indulgence, this — the way of self- denial and the cross — has ever been the path of the Saints. Let us follow their foot-prints. Let us not sever ourselves from their company, nor withdraw from their fellowship. Yes, dear friends, as we praise God for the good examples of His servants, let us seek to live worthy of their company. We must be associated with the Saints of God here in common interests, common aims, a common life, if we would attain to their company hereafter. Let us resolve on it, mindful of their example, strengthened by their sympathy, aided by their pray- ers ; contemplating their reward. So may God of his infinite mercy grant us in the end to be numbered with His Saints, in glory everlasting. ST. ANDREW'S DAY. Text: And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him. — St. Luke, v. 11. By the Rev. Carroll M. Davis, Canon Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, Mo. THESE words are found at the close of St. Luke's account of the calling of the first four disciples. A graphic picture is given in that account. Already the Master's reputation had gone abroad ; already the Baptist had pointed Him out with the words : " Behold the Lamb of God which beareth the sin of the world." And so great was the crowd, that He stepped into one of the ships, and thrust out a little from the land, and there taught the people. When He had finished speaking unto them, He bade Simon and Andrew launch out into the deep, and let down their nets for a draught. It was the wrong time of day for casting the nets, and, besides, they had toiled all the night and taken nothing. Nevertheless, they would not refuse. They obeyed His word, and great was their surprise; for, imme- diately the nets were filled, so that theybegan to break. They called their partners, who were in the other ship, to come to the rescue, and they filled both ships, so that they were ready to sink. Great was the astonishment of all; and so overwhelmed was Peter that he fell down at Jesus' knees and besought 358 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. Him to depart: " Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord." But the Master's comforting reply was: "Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men." "And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him." These words are most often connected with the call to what is technically termed the Religious Life ; and never was there a time when there was more urgent need for those who are able to devote them- selves absolutely to the service of Christ. Men are wanted in the ministry — earnest, strong, large- hearted, God-fearing men. And women, too, are wanted — faithful, patient and zealous — to minister in love and mercy to the sick and suffering, and to teach the careless and ignorant. And yet, not these alone follow the example of these first-chosen disciples. Many there are who plod along in the ordinary common-place daily life. Some are rich, and more are not; some are educated, and more are not; some are known, and more are not; — yet they have left all, and are following Him. They have heard the Gospel story ; they have recognized in Jesus Christ the Son of God ; they have taken Him at His word; they have believed His teaching; they have seen in His life and suffering the awfulness of sin; they have seen in His life, also, the tender com- passion, of the Father's heart; they believe that, when He came to earth, He came to take away the sins of all His people ; they believe that He sent His Holy Spirit to give life and reality to all the ordi- nances and commandments which He left; they believe that God is a loving Father, who cares for His children, sinful and weak though they be; that ST. ANDREWS DAY. 359 He is watching over them, protecting them, guiding them; and so they trust Him, and strive to do His will. But, to do this, they have left all their own will and their selfish desires; they have recognized in life a trust given of God. The glory and beauty and all the wondrous possibilities of that life are seen in Jesus Christ ; and, although the ideal is very high, and the present likeness to it very dim, yet there is the possibility. Christ, who became man, was none other than the Son of God; and when, in the Incar- nation, He took upon Him humanity, it was all hu- manity. In Him, and through Him, all humanity was taken up into the Divine. Yet, being made in the image of God, men were given free-will, and so even God will not compel them to accept the gift. Naturally, men are not inclined to accept it. Their wills have become perverse and wayward. They love their own way. Their appetites and desires crave to be gratified. Their pride and love of power will assert themselves. Pain and suffering and sorrow fill them with rebellious thoughts. But all these they have for- saken . They have seen the Master overcome all these . His will was to do the Father's will. Every prayer, even, was uttered in the spirit, "not My will, but Thine, be done." He humbled Himself, even to the death on the Cross . He endured grief, suffering wrong- fully. Through pain and sorrow He was made per- fect. The divine within Him triumphed over all that was low and carnal, and in Him they see their pattern. So they have forsaken all— the world, the flesh and the devil — yea, and their own wills, that they may follow Him. We cannot better put this thought of yielding up the will than in the words of another : 360 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. " Laid on Thine Altar, O my Lord Divine, Accept my gift this day for Jesns' sake ; I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine, Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make. Bnt here I bring within my trembling hand This will of mine, a thing that seemeth small ; And only Thon, dear Lord, canst understand How when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all. " Hidden therein Thy searching Eye can see Struggles of passion, visions of delight, All that I have, or am, or fain wonld be, Deep love, fond hopes and longings infinite. It hath been wet with tears, and dim with sighs, Clinched in my grasp till beanty it hath none ; Now from Thy foot-stool, where it vanquished lies, One prayer ascendeth — May Thy will be done. 44 Take it, Father, ere my courage fail, And merge it so in Thine own will, that e'en If in some desperate hour my cries prevail, And Thou give back my gift, it may have been So changed, so purified, so fair have grown, So one with Thee, so filled with peace divine, I may not know or feel it as my own, But gaining back my -will may find it Thine." Beloved, is that our daily praj^er ? Alas ! how few of us dare say yes. We do believe the Gospel message, in part, at least. We would gladly prefer to follow Christ, but through the wiles of Satan, or the lust of the flesh, or the cowardice of our own weak hearts, we follow afar off*. We find in our own immediate lives hindrances which seem beyond our control ; and so we try to content ourselves with a half-way ser- vice, and think that we are not of those who are called to forsake all. But, in spite of our shortcom- ings, or of our strivings to satisfy conscience that this ST. ANDREW'S DAY. 361 is true, that message to forsake all is meant for every- one, for you and me. There is no exception. There may be different ways in which the call is obeyed, and the differences outwardly may be as vari- ous as the different walks of life. But to one and all alike — who hear the message of Jesus Christ, who know Him to be the Incarnate Son of God, who be- hold the glory and beauty of His life — to one and all comes the call : Forsake all, and follow Him. In joy or sorrow, in prosperity or adversity, through good report and evil report, at all times and in all places, He, the great Leader and King, claims our first thought and our highest allegiance. And this He does because He, too, has been tempted and has suffered. But He has overcome the evil one. He has gained the victory over sin, has made known true life, and longs to have us do the same. On all sides we are hearing the mutter of discon- tent. Ineqalities among men are pressing ever harder and harder. An age of money -getting, pleasure seek- ing and self-indulgence is increasing the sorrows of humanity. Panaceas and nostrums of all kinds are being commended. Even the teachings of Christ are being put forth in such one-sided ways as to almost caricature the love and goodness of God. It is the fashion just now to condemn wholesale the rich and the powerful, and to patronize the down-trodden and the poor. But, too often, the whole thing is material. As if money could make a man rich, or the lack of it make him poor ! The present condition of things will not be made better until, as individuals, we learn the meaning of the Master's call, and try to follow it. The one thing needful now among all classes and con- 362 SERMONS ON THE GOSPELS. ditions is a recognition of the value of our true life and character. If the Gospel of Jesus Christ be true, God is our Father and we are His children. Our lives are not our own, but are given that we may use them to His glory. And that we might know how to do this, Christ came into the world, and by His life and teaching showed forth the way in which we are to follow. And, in so far as we, individually, seek to fol- low Him, and to forsake all other w ays, and all other teaching, just in so far shall we do our part to better the condition of humanity. Those four men, called by the Master, took Him at His word, and great was the influence they exerted. Forsaking all, they found all. Losing their lives, in Him the;y found true life — life that is real and worth the having; even life eternal. And He who made that call to the four humble fishermen on the Lake of Genessaretis making it still. From the Cross of suffering, from the tomb of victory, from the throne of glory, Jesus Christ — the same yes- terday, to-day and forever — calls out to every child of man: " Follow Me." Glorious records there are in the pages of the world's history.' Heroes for ages remembered. Vic- tories writ in the hearts of the race, deeds of valor, and courage, and honor, by bards and poets continually sung ; but when the record of time has ended and the scroll is opened to view, blessed, indeed, will they be of whom it is written: " They forsook all, and fol- lowed Him." IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS Reasons for Being a Churchman. By the Rev. Arthur W. Little, M.A. 26th thousand. Cloth, $1.00 net; paper, 50 cents net. The most useful theological book of the century. The Church in the Prayer Book. 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A very excellent book for Family Devotions. Our Family Ways. By a Sister of the 0. H. N. Cloth, 50 cents net. Instruction for young people on the Church and Sacraments. The New Creation. By the author of " Our Family Ways." Cloth, 50 cents, net. Elementary theology for the young and unlearned. The Holy Warfare. By the author of " Our Fam- ily Ways." Cloth, 50 cents net. The doctrine of the Holy Angels. What Is Modern Romanism? By the Bishop of Springfield. Cloth, 75 cents net. The best book for refuting the claims of Rome. Notes for Meditation on the Collects. By the Bishop of Vermont. Cloth, $1.00 net. Brief notes for meditation on the Collects for the Sundays and Holy Days. Published by The Young Churchman Co., Milwaukee, Wis. T v\ '// \ M *i >v r^ v* > ^ ^v v X V* V x /\ vs > *< : — V u. V ^ ■' Ul 4 %* s K f ^ lb A«t»* »yJ K >j© ,&z