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 GO AND DO. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 ^vcacljcti in tijc OTntljctJral OTijurcf) of 23ristol, 
 
 ON OCCASION OF THE 
 
 MEETING OF THE CHURCH CONGEESS. 
 
 BY 
 
 HARVEY GOODWIN, D.D. 
 
 DEAN OF ET,V. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CONGRESS. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. 
 
 LONDON: BELL AND DALDY. 
 
 1864.
 
 CamiriUgc : 
 
 PRINTED BY a J. CLAY, MA. 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 d'C. 
 
 S. Luke X. 37. 
 
 Go and do. 
 
 Admirably as these three words express that ■wliich I desire to 
 make the substance of my sermon, it is with some misgiving 
 that I have chosen them for a text. 
 
 My misgiving has arisen from this, that I have feared even 
 to seem to garble a sentence spoken by om* Lord Jesus Christ, or 
 to use in a sense inferior to that which He intended them to 
 bear words uttered by His most sacred lips. I shrink from the 
 thought of taking a fragment from a sermon preached by Ilim, 
 and making it serve as a motto for a sermon preached by me. 
 But in truth I desire to use the emphatic words which I have 
 quoted in all their fulness. I desire to attribute to them all 
 their meaning. And 1 believe that so taken they will enforce 
 with singular power the lesson, which is most appropriate to this 
 present occasion : they will bring our minds to reflect upon the 
 practical side of the task committed to the Church of England, 
 and upon the duty which rests upon us to exert ourselves to tlie 
 utmost to render the Church equal to her task. 
 
 For in tlie words of my text our Lord cut a difficult knot of 
 Jewish divinity by desiring a lawyer to ffo and do as a certain 
 Samaritan had done. The question Who is my neigldiour? 
 would have served in the hands of any other Jewish teacher as 
 the iQ:s.i for a grand theological discussion : but when the ques- 
 tion was put to Him, who taught with autliority and not as the 
 Scribes, He entered into no discussion, but told a simple story 
 of a man who fell among thieves. The design of the story was 
 to hold up for imitation the example of a Samaritan, who when 
 he saw the man wounded and half-dead never asked the question 
 Is he my neighhour ? but went to him and gave him aid in his 
 distress. The Priest and the Levite, who were probably ac- 
 quainted with the arguments on both sides of the question, 
 
 1—2
 
 dctevmined against the claims of the wounded man to their 
 compassion : it was the Samaritan, with whom these men would 
 have no dealings, who shewed what they ought to have done by 
 going and doing it himself. And by holding up this man and 
 his simple charitable conduct as an example to a Doctor of the 
 Law, our Lord not only answered for ever the question WJio is 
 my neighbour? but He placed the seal of His most blessed 
 approbation upon active goodness. He asserted for Charity its 
 preeminence in His kingdom, and perhaps He may have sug- 
 gested to us that other questions would find their best and surest 
 solution not in speculation but in practice^ not in argument but 
 in doing. 
 
 I take the words of the text therefore as pointing out the 
 duty of the Church of England, and as limiting the deliberations 
 of this Cono-ress. It is of course not denied that the Church has 
 
 O 
 
 other work besides that which is specially marked out by the 
 words. Go and do: there is a faith to be preserved, as well as a 
 charity to be exercised : there is a duty of controversy, as well 
 as a duty of practical ministry : there must be a laborious pro- 
 gress of theology, bearing a certain relation to the general pro- 
 gress of human thought, as well as an imitation of Him loho 
 u-ent about doing good. Indeed it is impossible to look at the 
 Gospels and observe how large a portion of our Lord's own 
 Ministry was taken up with conflict, it is impossible to re- 
 member His own emphatic declaration that He came not to send 
 peace but a sivord, it is impossible to read the writings of the 
 Apostles and notice how much they are employed in dealing 
 with the great controversial dithculties of the early Church, — it 
 is impossible, in fact, to examine the New Testament, and not to 
 anticipate that the life of the Church would always be bound up 
 with strife. I do not say that we could have anticipated all that 
 has come to pass, or have guessed that Church History would 
 have been so sad a tale as it has proved to be ; but certainly 
 there was no ground for hoping that the Holy Church through- 
 out all the world would ever completely realise the idea of a 
 city at unity in itself and free from foes without, of a body of 
 men having one heart and one soul, knit together by the bands 
 of Christian love, all going about with one accord and doing- 
 good. 
 
 It is with no desire therefore of depreciating the import- 
 
 o
 
 ance of those great questions which are now being agitated in 
 England and in our Colonies, that I have taken a text which 
 expels them from our thoughts this morning, I have only 
 done that which this Congress has done, and in doing which 
 it has in my judgment acted wisely. It is very true that there 
 are great questions, which are just now agitating the minds of 
 thinking men with more than usual intensity : it is very true 
 that such questions need solution, and that he who can assist 
 in their solution is bound to do so: but then happily we are 
 not obliged to wait and see these questions solved, before we 
 can go and do the will of God. It is our happiness, Christian 
 brethren, as members of the Church of England, that we can 
 meet on that common ground which the Bible and the Book 
 of Common Prayer afford us, that we can take counsel toge- 
 ther as loyal servants of the same Master, that we can honestly 
 and heartily consult as to the steps most likely by God's 
 blessing to strengthen our Church and make her most efficient 
 as the spiritual mother of our brethren and as a preacher of 
 the Gospel to the world. In confining ourselves to practical 
 questions to be treated upon principles which we all allow, 
 we by no means disparage other questions which must be 
 bound up with controversy: let those questions by all means 
 have their proper treatment, but let it not be denied that 
 there is wisdom in keeping apart the discussion of questions, 
 which are mixed up with no doctrinal controversies, which are 
 darkened by no speculative difficulties, — questions, which men 
 of different schools of thought can examine calmly and find 
 how much of their divinity is common property, — questions 
 which we ought to be able to discuss with heartiness for the 
 common good of all, and which we shall be able so to dis- 
 cuss unless our membership in one Church and our adhesion 
 to one body of doctrine be no better than a delusion and a 
 sham. 
 
 But the questions may arise, — What can a voluntary gather- 
 ing of Clergy and Laity, such as that which constitutes a 
 Congress, really effect? How can our meeting here and in 
 other great towns help on the Avork of God? Are we not 
 taking the ])lacc and in appearance usurping the powers of 
 bodies legally constituted and having more power of action? 
 
 In endeavouring to answer such questions as these, I should
 
 be content to take in the first instance tliat which may be re- 
 garded as not the highest ground, and to learn wisdom from 
 those who have less important purposes to compass than our- 
 selves. If we find it practically conceded, that Congresses are 
 efficient in helping forward the various branches of liuman 
 science and increasing the attention given to subjects of great 
 human interest, then we may well believe that the same 
 method of procedure will be found valuable in carrying out 
 the work of the Church. AVitliout attaching any invidious 
 application to the words, we may remember that the children 
 of this world are wise in their generation : and when we find 
 that Congresses are held year by year for the Advancement 
 of Science in general, of Social Science and Medical Science 
 in particular, of Archaeology, and perhaps of other branches 
 of human knowledge, it seems almost evident that there must 
 be something good in the nature of a Congress: and if there 
 be something good in the nature of a Congress, it is obvious 
 that our own age, in which the difficulty of locomotion has 
 been almost annihilated, is suitable beyond all previous ages 
 for developing the good which a Congress involves. But to 
 be more particular, let me refer you to the Meeting or Congress 
 for the Advancement of Science, which lately took place at 
 Bath. Most of us will remember that in the infancy of the 
 Biitish Association it had to endure much newspaper raillery 
 and many disparaging remarks: and we all know that now 
 its position as an important engine of scientific progress is 
 universally recognised, and that no one cares to expose his 
 ignorance by jesting at its operations. The Association de- 
 served success: it has realised, more than ever had been realised 
 before. Bacon's magnificent, though in its details impracticable, 
 scheme of a general combination of minds for the unrav^elling 
 of the secrets of nature: it has formed a centre, to which men 
 can bring their contributions, at which they can exchange their 
 thoughts : it has stirred up zeal : it has called attention to 
 points of scientific interest in diffierent localities : and it has 
 extended the infiuence of English men of science beyond their 
 own land, brought them into contact witli foreigners, and tended 
 to give to the science of England a higher standing than it had 
 before in the scientific scale of Europe. 
 
 Now there seems to be no reason why a Church Congress
 
 sliould not operate in a similar manner with regard to tliosa 
 great subjects in which the Clim-ch of England is concerned. 
 
 It can hardlj be a fruitless work to bring together men of 
 different modes of thought and placed in different circumstances, 
 to discuss the great practical questions which must interest them 
 all : the Bishop and the Priest, the clergyman from the large 
 town and from the village, the Member of Parliament, the 
 employer of labour, the lawyer, the architect, and the musician, — 
 lajmen of all ranks and tastes, may bring their contributions to 
 the solution of the problem, How can the Church of England 
 most completely meet the wants of the nation? How can she 
 be most thoroughly furnished for doing the work of her Lord? 
 And even that result to which I referred in the case of the 
 Scientific Congress, that bringing together of England and the 
 Continent, may have its analogue in the case of our Congress: 
 it may at least do this; it may help to spread upon the Continent 
 a better knowledge than now exists of the character and constitu- 
 tion of our Church : nothing can be more certain than that the 
 knowledge on the Continent of the Church of England, her 
 principles, her worship, her Prayer-book, is almost indefinitely 
 small: it may be our own fault that this is so, but the fact itself 
 can hardly be denied: and if the result of public discussion of 
 the Church's work and the Church's wants, should be the pub- 
 lication of the fact that we have amongst us a Church pure in 
 its descent and primitive in its constitution, free from those evils 
 which many earnest members of the Churches in communion 
 Avith Rome deplore, and at the same time free from extreme 
 Protestant exaggerations of doctrine and of primitive simplicity, 
 then I must believe that such a result will tend to that better 
 understanding and more perfect intercommunion of Christians 
 throughout tlie world, to which we cannot fail to look forward 
 with hopeful longing prayerful hearts, though it be still in the 
 dim future. 
 
 Moreover a Church Congress ought to be a great engine for 
 the production of a wholesome influence on public opinion. 
 The power of public opinion is one of the most remarkable 
 phenomena in the present condition of our country: nowhere is 
 public opinion so potent as in England. Anyone, who has a 
 truth to tell, whether in science or in commerce or in politics, 
 cannot complain that his thoughts have not free action: and
 
 8 
 
 however unpopular a truth may be, still it will gain ground bit 
 by bit, until at length it becomes victorious. Now the great verities 
 of the faith are of course beyond the atmosphere of public opinion, 
 they are simply to be maintained and transmitted as a great 
 treasure which God has given us : but the practical working of 
 the Church of England, her modes of operation, her ministerial 
 efficiency, are matters concerning which it is highly desirable 
 that public opinion should be informed, and upon which it 
 should be brought to bear. And I would venture to say, let us 
 not be afraid of public opinion: let us strive to clear away any- 
 thing which may be justly criticised: let us fight against our 
 own abuses, if we feel them to exist : let us be zealous in re- 
 forming, if reform be required : let us strive to see things as they 
 are seen by honest and devout men, and so we shall gain for our 
 Church that which eventually forms public opinion, the opinion 
 of the wise and good. I am convinced that nothing can more 
 effectually strengthen the hands of the Church of England and 
 increase her usefulness, than the propagation of the belief that 
 there is nothing in her system of which she is ashamed, that she 
 has no class feelings or class interests, that she has no darling 
 and time-honoured abuses which she desires to retain, and that 
 she is as anxious to get rid of demonstrated defects and weak- 
 nesses as her best friends can desire. 
 
 Nor should it be forgotten that in a Church Congress there 
 is a special advantage arising from the intermixture of Clergy 
 and Laity in one body. No one doubts that in the practical 
 working of the Church the advice of the laity is most valuable, 
 and their cordial co-operation indispensable: but the precise 
 manner in which the lay element should be permitted to in- 
 fluence the direction of the Church's course is not so obvious. 
 Some time ago much was said about the introduction of a lay 
 element into Convocation; but on the other hand the opinion 
 seems lately to have gained ground that Convocation ought to 
 remain that which it constitutionally is, namely, a Convocation 
 of the Clergy, and that lay influence should be brought to bear 
 in some other way. I need not refer to the attempts which have 
 been made to introduce that influence : all that my present sub- 
 ject renders it necessary for me to say is this, that in default 
 of any more regular and constitutional sclieme for bringing tlie 
 clerical and lay mind into co-operative contact for the benefit
 
 of the Clmrcli, nothing can be more hopeful than the opportunit;^ 
 for jomt consultation which this Congress affords: here is a 
 connnon ground upon which clergymen and laymen may meet, 
 and upon which they may discuss in brotherly wise the best 
 plans for carrying out those evangelical works of piety which 
 both have at heart. 
 
 And in this view of the subject I may remark that advantage 
 is to be-<found in the migratory character of the Congress. As 
 the Scientific Association, to which I have already referred, finds 
 an advaiitage in holding its meetings sometimes here and some- 
 times there, — as the stir given to thought is thus greater, and 
 as different localities suggest a prominence for different subjects, 
 Newcastle calling attention to coalfields and mines, Bath to hot- 
 springs and their causes, so it may be well to remember that 
 different parts of English Christendom may be stirred successively 
 by visits of our Congress, and that different localities exhibit 
 different phases of Church feeling, different forms of religious 
 want, different conditions of Christian activity, and different 
 relations of the Church to other Christian bodies. And so, if we 
 wish to measure the needs and the effectiveness of the Church of 
 England, if we wish to know what she is doing, what slie has 
 yet to do, and how she is to do it, our investigations can best be 
 carried on by meeting for consultation sometimes in the North 
 and sometimes in the South, sometimes in a University, some- 
 times in a large manufacturing town, sometimes in a seaport, 
 sometimes in a district where Church feeling is strong, some- 
 times where it is weak, sometimes in towns where traditions are 
 all favourable to the Churcli, and sometimes in those modern 
 hives of industry, in which the influence of the Church is scarcely 
 felt and wliich yet cannot properly be said to be lost, because 
 (as has been well observed) they have never yet been gained. 
 
 Once more, I think we may justly regard our Congress in 
 its bearing upon those who are distinctly hostile to the Cliurcli. 
 It is painful to speak of enemies : loving the Church as we do, 
 we would wish to believe that every one loved her : nor ought 
 it to be forgotten that amongst those who nominally dissent 
 from her, there are many who pray for her peace, and Avho 
 regard her as the great bulwark of sound religion in our land : 
 and I suppose that even they who would pull her down as 
 a national establishment would still say that they sought her
 
 10 
 
 good, and that what we might call destruction they would rather 
 describe as liberation. Nevertheless, it is a fact to which we 
 cannot shut our eyes, that there is a party in England who 
 earnestly desire to throw the Church down from her present 
 position, to change her foundation as an establishment, to 
 confiscate her revenues, and to put her on the level of a volun- 
 tary association. Now it is not inconsistent with Christian 
 principle to shew a determined front to those, who, havifig these 
 views, may be and must be termed the Churcli's enemies : if 
 we fight for the established Church of our country, it is no 
 selfish war in which we are engaged : we fight for the con- 
 tinuance of a blessing, which by God's grace our fathers have 
 bequeathed to us, and which we desire to bequeath to our 
 children even in fuller measure than we have received it our- 
 selves. And the most effectual mode of defending our heritage 
 is to shew such unanimity of purpose, such a condition of pre- 
 paration against assault, such heartiness of determination, and 
 such a state of discipline, as shall overawe the enemy : the most 
 effectual protection that England has found against invasion 
 has been her Volunteer Army, which has rendered any attempt 
 at invasion hopeless : and so a Congress, conducted with spirit 
 and unanimity, working towards great practical ends, appealing 
 boldly to the Christian intelligence of the country, may be 
 a great instrument in God's hands for Church defence, by shew- 
 ing that the heart of England is with the Church, and that 
 hostility is fruitless. 
 
 But I must not weary you, Christian Brethren, with re- 
 marks, which, after all, will be chiefly applicable to those who 
 question the utility of our Congress, rather than to you who 
 shew by your presence that you are prepared to forward the work 
 which lies before the Congress now assembled. I would venture 
 however to add — indeed it would be very wrong not to add — 
 that I know no reason why we should not in this our Christian 
 Congress expect that blessing, which our divine Master promised 
 in all its fulness and generality to two or three met together 
 in His Name. It may have seemed to you, — and I have my- 
 self admitted, — that I have taken not the highest possible view 
 of the position and functions of a Church Congress : I have 
 argued from the analogy of secular associations, and have 
 treated t1>p. machinery of the Congress with reference to its
 
 11 
 
 apparent fitness to bring about certain results in accordance 
 with the ordinary rules of human consequence : but I have 
 not done so with the intention of excluding a higher and more 
 divine view of the aids and appliances which the Church has 
 at her disposal. 1 know that Christ our Lord said, not only 
 Go and do, but Go in My Name: I know that He has pro- 
 mised to be with us always, even to the end of the world: 
 I know that the operation of the Holy Ghost is necessary to 
 infuse unity and strength, and the spirit of love and of a sound 
 mind, into any congregation of Christians, and therefore into 
 our Congress. God forbid that I should encourage a low or 
 secular view of the work before us: rather I would endeavour 
 to press the highest possible view of our Congress and its 
 work. I would say, let us pray earnestly for the outpouring 
 of the Spirit upon us, let us think of Christ as Himself present 
 amongst us, let us guard against any rashness of expression, 
 any folly or intemperance of language, any irritability of temper, 
 any party spirit, any uncharitable feeling, which may be unfit 
 for the presence of Christ, and therefore damaging to His 
 Church and His cause. 
 
 I pass on to say a few words concerning the subjects which 
 may be profitably brought before a Church Congress, and con- 
 cerning some of those which will be discussed here. 
 
 The subjects are indeed abundant. Questions strictly doc- 
 trinal are excluded by the first principles of the foundation 
 of the Congress. Then there are certain questions, which, 
 though in one sense practical, do nevertheless so inevitably 
 run into the domain of doctrine, that it is difficult to classify 
 them : I refer cliiefly to questions of ritual observance. But in 
 addition to questions which are purely or partially doctrinal, 
 there is a large class which to members of the Church of Eng- 
 land are and must be purely practical. For instance, we are 
 all agreed that an increased supply of well-qualified and well- 
 trained clergy is necessary for the due performance of the work 
 of Christ in this land : we should probably be all agreed 
 that this increase of clergy ought to include Bisliops as well 
 as Priests and Deacons : and it is clear that the increase of 
 the number of clergy involves increased means of support, 
 and so the wide question of the best method of increasing tlic 
 revenues of the Church devoted to the support of the Clergy
 
 12 
 
 is a very useful and practical point for the considenxtion of 
 our Congress. With regard to Priests and Deacons, the ques- 
 tion is chiefly one of money, and ought not in this wealthy 
 country to involve much difficulty; with regard to the sub- 
 division of Dioceses and corresponding multiplication of the 
 Episcopate, there are no doubt difficulties of another kind, but 
 they are difficulties concerning which our Congress may very 
 well hope to elicit the opinion and general feeling of earnest 
 members of the Church, and so to hasten the time when the 
 question of subdivision shall be seriously entertained by those 
 who have power to solve it. 
 
 The education of the clergy is as important as their susten- 
 ance: it becomes perhaps daily more important: and any one 
 who has given attention to the subject will be aware of its diffi- 
 culty, and will know that it is much more easy to complain of 
 present deficiency than to say how the deficiency can be best 
 supplied. The discussion of this question in a Church Congress 
 can scarcely fail to be profitable. 
 
 Then from the living minister we may pass to the material 
 fabric of the Parish Church. Very much has been done, as we 
 all know, in the last quarter of a century towards making our 
 Parish Churches decent and even beautiful ; and the work is 
 still going on as rapidly and as vigorously perhaps as can be 
 desired. But the increased zeal respecting Churches and the 
 increased love for Church worship has raised some important 
 questions. The most important is one which is of no great 
 interest to many of our old parishes, with populations nearly 
 stationary, in which there is abundance of Church room for every- 
 body, but of enormous interest to new parishes and populous 
 districts, where the Parish Church is entirely insufficient, and 
 where the pew system has virtually banished the poor. Are our 
 Churches to be entirely free ? Are pew-rents to be admitted in 
 any, and if so in what form ? Are we to trust for the support of 
 free and open Churches mainly to the Offertory? Tliese and 
 many cognate questions demand discussion : they are not party 
 questions, and are altogether unconnected with minor differences 
 amongst Churchmen as to doctrinal views : they may very well 
 and profitably be discussed by a body of Churchmen whose only 
 aim and end are to make the Church the instrument in God's 
 hands of saving souls alive.
 
 13 
 
 That portion of our Service also wliicli is left very much to 
 the discretion of the minister and people, I mean the musical 
 portion, may properly come in for discussion. It is a part of 
 our service which just now is exciting special attention, and 
 there seems to be an almost unanimous effort to repair the 
 strange and woful neglect of Church music in days gone by: 
 it is a subject which pre-eminently requires the application of 
 good sense, enlightened taste, and technical knowledge, and I 
 think we may look for useful results from the discussion which 
 it calls forth in our Congress. 
 
 The Parish School supplies another crop of questions ripe 
 for inquiry. The education of all ranks of society may fairly 
 be regarded as a matter of interest to a meeting of Churchmen : 
 even the highest class of education has lately been thrown down 
 as a subject for public discussion : middle-class education also 
 has been brought into new and very just prominence : while the 
 education of the poor, ramifying as it does into minor details, 
 complicated as it is by its connection with the operations of the 
 Committee of Privy Council, and practically thrown as it is in 
 nine cases out of ten upon the energy of the clergyman, affords 
 numberless questions upon which fair public discussion can 
 hardly fail to bring forth good fruit. 
 
 My time will not allow me to touch upon all the subjects 
 which I find in the programme of this present Congress, much 
 less to speak upon other subjects which at some future time may 
 be rightly proposed for discussion. 
 
 The Foreign Missions of the Church of England, and the 
 supply of Missionary Candidates, were sure to find a place : the 
 same may be said of Home Missions and Lay Agency. The 
 Synods of the Church, and the cognate subject of Euridecanal 
 Chapters, may very well claim a share of our attention. The 
 mutual relations of the Churcli in England and the Church in 
 [reland are at this present time of more than ordinary interest, 
 and demand examination. And certainly Associations for 
 aiding Disabled Clergymen, and the Widows and Cliildren of 
 the Clergy, cannot fail to receive at our hands a kindly discus- 
 sion. Nor can I refrain from expressing my satisfaction that the 
 social hindrances which exist to the spread of Christianity are 
 to be brought under our notice, because I am sure that some of 
 our best efforts in educational and pastoral work are at present
 
 14 
 
 neutralised by social liinclrances over wliicli the clergyman lias 
 no direct control. 
 
 There is just one subject which I would venture to suggest 
 as suitable for a Church Congress : possibly it may come indi- 
 rectly within the scope of our present programme. I mean the 
 actual condition and the possible improvement of our Cathedral 
 foundations. Our Cathedrals have already been subjected to a 
 liasty, and I think most persons Avill now admit a shortsighted 
 and imperfect reformation : the position in which they have 
 thus been placed makes the careful consideration of their case 
 all the more necessary : that which has been done already and 
 done imperfectly may possibly render more difficult a well-con- 
 sidered revision of their purposes and uses, and may stand in 
 the way of a wise and enlightened reform. 
 
 It seems to me, I confess, that there is no department of the 
 Church's work, in which advantage might not be gained from 
 temperate and earnest discussion in meetings of our Congi-ess. 
 I will add that I should be very glad to see the influence of 
 the Congress brought to bear, not only upon the improvement 
 of Church work, but upon the abatement of Church abuses. It 
 is no grateful task to speak of Church abuses: but there is one, 
 for which the Church is by no means responsible, and which 
 yet is so hideous and so mischievous, that I cannot refrain from 
 directing attention to it. I refer to the present practice with 
 regard to the sale of Church preferment. The thing itself pro- 
 bably cannot be got rid of, and under suitable conditions may 
 be just and holy: we have recently seen an Act passed to en- 
 able certain livings in Crown patronage to be sold, and few 
 persons have regarded the measure as otherwise than good and 
 useful: but when Church preferment, — ^which after all means 
 the cure of immortal souls, — is trafficked in according to the 
 grossest and most vulgar principles of auctioneering and by 
 means of puffing advertisements, — when we find in the Eccle- 
 siastical Gazette the m.erits of the various livings in the market 
 set forth in accordance wuth the most worldly estimate of their 
 value, and frequently with the addition of a mysterious hint 
 concerning the probability of early possession, it is difficult not 
 to feel angry and impossible not to feel ashamed. Here is a 
 foul spot upon the Church's white robe : would to God it could 
 be washed out !
 
 15 
 
 But I must conclude. And I will do so by returning upon 
 the words of my text, and soyiug, Go and do. (Jo and discuss 
 tlie practical needs of the Church in an earnest, ])ractical, and 
 brotherly way. Depend upon it, we have a strong cause, and 
 God is with us. It is easy to draw deploral)le pictures of the 
 condition of the Cliurch, of the condition of the people, of tlic 
 condition of religion amongst us : and I do not say that tlicse 
 deplorable pictures must be altogether false ; but I do say that 
 otlier pictures may be drawn, quite as true, only taken from a 
 different point and with different lights and shades, wliich may 
 well rejoice our hearts and give us good hope for the future. 
 Never I believe was there a time in our Church's history, when 
 there was more steady work going on in our parishes, more 
 purity and holiness of life amongst the clergy, more zeal and 
 self-devotion amongst the laity, more earnest desire to make the 
 Church of England what she pretends to be and may be, tlie 
 spiritual mother of the nation. Of course our age has its pecu- 
 liar trials, its peculiar difficulties, (it may be) its peculiar sins ; 
 we have new evils, new dangers, new problems to solve, in ad- 
 dition to those which have been bequeathed to us by ages gone 
 by ; and of course the world the flesh and the devil arc as 
 active as ever, and there is abundance of unbelief and cold- 
 heartedncss and want of Christian love: but still I feel most 
 deeply that there is a briglit side of the picture, and that we 
 should be wanting in gratitude to that God who has cast our 
 lot in the middle of this wonderful nineteentli century, we 
 should be wanting in Christian discernment and in Christian 
 courage, Ave should be wanting in faith and in hope and in 
 charity, if we did not acknowledge with all our hearts that our 
 days are, in a very true sense, good days, days full of hope, days 
 in which we have every encouragement that God can give us to 
 work His work manfully and well. Therefore let us go and do: 
 and let us pray that the effect of our gathering together in this 
 Congress may be to warm our hearts, to encourage sympatliy 
 and mutual love; to stir us up, both Clergy and laity, to 
 greater zeal and more persistent effort in doing the work of 
 Christ.
 
 Canifai ttige : 
 
 PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
 
 THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN THE CIIAPEI, OF 
 
 ST. MARK'S COLLEGE, CHELSEA, 
 
 APRIL 2 5 T n, 1865. 
 
 REV. DERWENT COLERIDGE, M.A., 
 
 RECTOR OF HANWELL, AND PREBENDARY OF ST. PAUT/s CATTTEDKAI, ; 
 LATE PRINCIPAL OF ST. MARK'S COLLEGE. 
 
 LONDON : 
 EDWARD MOXON & CO., DOVER STREET, AV. 
 
 1865. 
 
 PBICE SIXPENCE
 
 12 
 
 themselves Christians, this great work of Cliristian charity 
 could never languish for want of means. If every one avIio 
 was in easy circumstances would devote one-tenth of their 
 yearly income to acts of piety, for the relief of the temporal 
 or spiritual necessities of their fellow-men, how difiPerent 
 would be the aspect of our country ! How few could there 
 then be who would say, * There is no one who cares for our 
 souls — none who feel for our straits and necessities ! ' And 
 yet, this pro])ortion of their annual revenue was the very 
 least amount which Jewish charity allowed to be enough to 
 satisfy such calls. If those who stint the measure of their 
 benevolence, with the view of amassing a fortune, and accu- 
 mulating wealth to aggrandise their family, could but feel 
 Avhat a drag this weight of wealth, thus gotten, must prove 
 to their heavenward ascent — in the path of godliness here, as 
 well as in the path to glory hereafter — they would be fain, 
 before it was too late, to lay up their treasure in heaven, and 
 to make themselves an everlasting Friend, by a righteous 
 use of the mammon of unrighteousness. But there is another 
 sacrifice besides that many may offer, and which many, we 
 rejoice to know, are willing to offer — and that is, the chas- 
 tening influence, and the fostering care of sisterly love, which 
 may cherish the good seed implanted in the penitent heart, so 
 that it shall bring forth fruit unto everlasting life. May such 
 gentle and winning guidance ever be found to conspire with 
 the movements of the Holy Spirit from above, in enabling 
 the returning wanderer to be steadfast and unmovable in her 
 Christian profession ; that, having escaped from the sore 
 bondage of sin, she may rejoice evermore in that liberty 
 which is the privilege of the children of God, and may be 
 among those who shall chaunt the new hymn of praise to 
 Him who hath redeemed us by His blood ! 
 
 BPOITISWOODE AND CO., PRISTEKS, NBW-ilBEBI 8<1UABE, LONDON. 
 
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