V... 
 
 THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN CALLING.
 
 THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN CALLING 
 
 REV. J. LLEWELYN DAVIES, M.A. 
 
 RECTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH, ST MARYLEBONE. 
 
 Honfcon : 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 [All Rights resenwi.]
 
 PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
 
 THE first ten Sermons in this volume were 
 preached as a continuous course in All 
 Saints' Church, Scarborough, in the August 
 and September of this year. It will be 
 observed that they aim at setting forth some 
 leading features of the state of life to which 
 Christians are called, Peace, Liberty, Right- 
 eousness, Holiness, and Love, in their 
 twofold aspect, as towards God and as 
 towards men. The desire of the Vicar of 
 All Saints', the Rev. R. Brown Borthwick, 
 that these Sermons should be printed has 
 led to the publication of the volume, which 
 will be a memorial of Sundays to which I 
 look back with much pleasure and thankful- 
 ness. The other Sermons deal chiefly with 
 difficulties which are felt as besetting a life 
 according to the Christian calling at the 
 present time. 
 
 December, 1874. 
 
 2015182
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PEACE WITH GOD i 
 
 II. 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN . 15 
 
 III. 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP 29 
 
 IV. 
 CIVIL FREEDOM 43 
 
 V. 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH 59 
 
 VI. 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES 74 
 
 VII. 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD 89 
 
 VIII. 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD . . . . . 104 
 
 IX. 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD 119
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 X. 
 
 PAKE 
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN 134 
 
 XI. 
 THE PRIMARY BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE . . . -152 
 
 XII. 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD . . . .168 
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE 184 
 
 CESAR AND GOD 199 
 
 XV. 
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER . . . .214 
 
 XVI. 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL . . . -231 
 
 XVII. 
 
 CHURCH-GOING: ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS . . 248 
 
 xvm., 
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION 265 
 
 XIX. 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP 280 
 
 XX. 
 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD 298
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 2 CORINTHIANS v. 18. "God hath reconciled us to himself by 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 I CAN only allow myself a very few words of 
 introduction, in commencing the course of Sermons 
 which by the kindness of your Vicar I have been 
 invited to preach in this Church. You know, I 
 think, that my subjects are to be certain leading 
 features of the state or condition into which it has 
 pleased God to call us. By giving our attention to 
 these in the order in which I have arranged them, 
 and in their several aspects towards God and to- 
 wards men, I hope that we may be led, God 
 helping us, into a surer knowledge of our Christian 
 privileges and duties. I desire that we should 
 throughout bear in mind that both privileges and 
 duties rest alike upon the calling of God. "All 
 things are of God;" let this be the general motto 
 or text of my course. What we know of God is 
 just so much as it pleases him to reveal of himself; 
 
 D. S. S. I
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 and he has revealed himself in calling us. That is 
 why St Paul corrected himself when he had said 
 "after that we have known God;" adding, "or 
 rather, have been known by God." Our true at- 
 titude towards God is wholly a responsive one ; he 
 calls, we listen, and look, and answer. Those who 
 thus hear the voice of God, let it speak to them in 
 whatever way it will, begin to know something of 
 God, at the same time that they are learning really 
 to understand themselves. 
 
 And now I hasten to bring before you my first 
 topic, Peace with God ; by which I mean, the 
 peace which God has made between himself and us. 
 This, as you know, is the Scriptural and Apostolic 
 account of peace with God. It originates with God ; 
 it is he who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus 
 Christ. To declare this, was the office of Apostles 
 and Evangelists. 
 
 And I think we shall understand better what 
 their Gospel still continues to proclaim, if we first 
 make an effort to think of their message as coming 
 new and fresh to men who have not heard it before. 
 In the Apostolic age, the Gospel had this genuine 
 novelty ; and therefore the original language con- 
 cerning the Gospel, which we read in the history 
 and the letters of the Apostles, assumes for the
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 most part that its work is being newly done and its 
 first impression produced. Let us trace then the 
 working of the Gospel when it is "good news," 
 news as well as good ; when it is brought as a 
 light to those who have hitherto been sitting in 
 darkness. 
 
 You may think of heathens, or men who have 
 not heard of Jesus Christ, in any age of the world 
 in the first century or in the nineteenth. There 
 is no great difference between one age and another 
 in respect of the essential qualities and conditions 
 of human nature. 
 
 Suppose the Evangelist to present himself to 
 such persons as a stranger. He lets it be known at 
 once that he speaks in the name of God. What- 
 ever his audience may be, he may always count 
 upon some sort of acknowledgment of God in their 
 hearts. There is that in the universal heart of 
 man, yes, I say it confidently, not forgetting 
 the absurdities of idolatry, or the blindness of the 
 lowest savages, or the scepticism which prides it- 
 self on being in the forefront of civilization, which 
 is ready at once to confess a just Power, ruling 
 above, to whom men owe reverence. When a 
 serious and forcible appeal to such a Power has 
 elicited this acknowledgment, it will probably
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 awaken at the same time two conflicting feelings. 
 The thought of Supreme Righteousness can never 
 be wholly unwelcome to men ; it may stir up a 
 lively hope and joy in their souls. But it will also 
 make them conscious of the wrong that is in them. 
 Supreme Righteousness cannot appear friendly to 
 human unrighteousness. So it is a matter of 
 course that some sense of fear and estrangement 
 should be awakened in all men who hear of a just 
 God. " How can he regard me ? " says the voice 
 of conscience in the sinner. " He must be my enemy. 
 This stranger comes to tell me of one who may 
 probably take vengeance upon me." 
 
 The Evangelist, we will suppose, goes on to 
 speak of God as gracious. He knows there is need 
 to overcome the repugnance to the thought of God 
 created by the consciousness of wrong-doing. He 
 assures his hearers that the God of heaven and 
 earth is not a vengeful Destroyer; he points to 
 proofs of his beneficence and of his longsuffering. 
 His hearers listen not unmoved, not without some 
 degree of assent. But the sinner in each man says, 
 "What can there be in common between me and 
 this good and gracious Being ? It is impossible 
 that he should look with any satisfaction on me ; 
 nor is it a pleasure to me to dwell in thought on him.
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 I wish to follow my own ways, and to be let alone. 
 I should like to forget this gracious Lord of heaven, 
 and to escape out of his sight. Still, he may be 
 powerful, and I may not be too insignificant for his 
 notice ; if I can learn any means by which I might 
 ward off his hostile purpose, it will be safer to try 
 to propitiate him." 
 
 The Evangelist never says that such apprehen- 
 sions are idle. He never tells the sinner that he is 
 sure to go unpunished. It is not his commission to 
 proclaim that God does not care about men and 
 their doings. He affirms earnestly that God is 
 grieved by sin, and will punish it. But he is still 
 more earnest in conveying the announcement which 
 he is charged to deliver. He takes for granted that 
 his hearers are sinners, alienated from God by their 
 sins. It is no wonder to him that they do not like 
 to retain God in their thoughts. But he brings 
 them overtures of reconciliation from God himself. 
 He calls sin their enemy ; God he declares to be a 
 Friend who is seeking to deliver them from their 
 enemy. He assures them that while sin is and 
 must be a barrier between them and God God 
 himself removes the barrier by forgiveness. God 
 is sending to them the message of a pardon which 
 puts away their sins, and claims them as reconciled
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 to him. But the Evangelist is not the bearer of a 
 merely verbal forgiveness. He has the story of 
 Jesus Christ to tell. He says that he comes in the 
 name of the Son of God, who has lived and died in 
 Judea. In accordance with ancient promise and 
 expectation, God has sent his Son into the world. 
 Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Son of the 
 living God. He lived amongst his countrymen, 
 and in the closest intimacy with a chosen few, but 
 he spoke and acted as the Son whom the Father in 
 heaven had sent. He was the living embodiment 
 of Divine forgiveness, seeking the lost that he 
 might save them, shewing infinite sympathy with 
 all who were unhappy, making common cause with 
 the ignorant, the weak, and the helpless, trying to 
 awaken faith in those amongst whom he taught, 
 and then blessing with acts of healing and deliver- 
 ance those who believed. But this active unwearied 
 grace is not all that the Evangelist has to tell of 
 in the Son of God. He adds, with wonder in his 
 own heart springing up anew each time he tells the 
 story, that the Son of God came to suffer and die, 
 as well as to teach and to do good. His own coun- 
 trymen, enemies in their minds through wicked 
 works, blindly rejected his grace and sought to 
 destroy him. Jesus went to meet their anger, not
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 7 
 
 bending before it, but yielding himself willingly to 
 all it could do against him. As he approached the 
 death which he foresaw, the essential Divine glory 
 revealed itself in him more and more perfectly to 
 those who believed in him. Giving himself up with 
 no reserve to his Father, he died, as the Son of 
 man, the cruel death of the Cross. For the moment 
 all hope and light seemed to perish with him. The 
 cause of unhappy sin-laden men descended with 
 him into the grave. But it was safe with him 
 there, and could never again be parted from him. 
 The Father, having given up his Son to death, 
 raised him again from the dead. Jesus Christ rose, 
 to live for ever at the right hand of God, not 
 abandoning mankind, but carrying them with him 
 to the Father. Thenceforth it is his glory to work 
 out the Divine purpose of redemption. He has 
 given his Spirit to be the life of all who come to 
 the Father through him. He has commissioned 
 those who were intimate with him on earth, and 
 others after them, to go forth as his envoys, pro- 
 claiming everywhere the Divine reconciliation, and 
 entreating men to receive the forgiveness of sins 
 and to be at peace with their Father in heaven. 
 
 This is the substance of the Gospel of Christ, 
 coming as good news to ignorant and sinful men.
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 It is a message of peace, a declaration of pardon, a 
 pleading offer of reconciliation; and it points to 
 Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man, the cruci- 
 fied and risen, as the Mediator the Living Peace 
 between God and men. No one believing in 
 him can doubt God's grace. No one can consider 
 him, without being drawn and won by him. In 
 him the enmity between God and man is done 
 away. Where any longer is place for it? The man 
 who believes in Christ is a rebel who lays down his 
 arms, making no conditions, urging no excuses, 
 overwhelmed with the love and grace which seek 
 not his, but him. 
 
 It never happened, in the Apostolic age any 
 more than in subsequent times, that when this 
 word of God was spoken to a multitude, it was 
 welcomed by all who heard it. No: to many it 
 has seemed incredible, in many the enmity has 
 been too strong to be overcome. Sometimes it has 
 appeared to be spoken altogether in vain. The 
 seed might be widely scattered, but it was not sure 
 to find the good soil in which it could take root 
 and grow. But those who have gladly received 
 the word have always had this experience, in pro- 
 portion to their faith, that they have entered into 
 peace. However deep their humiliation, however
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 genuine their disgust with themselves might be, 
 they have perceived and felt that, in Christ, God 
 was making peace with them. The Death and 
 Resurrection of the Son of God have been power- 
 ful to dispel all misgivings as to the insuperable 
 nature of sin, all doubts as to God's willing and 
 availing acceptance of the sinner. Christ has ef- 
 fectually proved himself to be Peace between God 
 and men. 
 
 But we hereditary Christians are in a different 
 position from non-Christian audiences, in Antioch 
 or in Ephesus, in modern India or in Africa, hearing 
 the good news concerning Christ for the first time. 
 There is no question for us about becoming Chris- 
 tians and joining the Church ; we are members of 
 the Christian Church already. 
 
 Well, brethren, the Church of Christ to which we 
 belong is built up upon the reconciliation or atone- 
 ment which the first Evangelists proclaimed to an 
 estranged world. Men asked to be joined to the 
 Church, because they believed that in Christ they 
 were reconciled to God. They came into it as par- 
 doned sinners. Each one, in becoming a member, 
 received a washing with water which assured him 
 that he was a forgiven man, cleansed by the un- 
 bought grace of God. From the Day of Pentecost
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 to this day, that Sacrament of Baptism which Christ 
 ordained has stood forth in all its simplicity, the 
 abiding witness of the remission of sins. The Chris- 
 tian profession rests upon reconciliation, freely given, 
 humbly and gratefully accepted. No one that is a 
 baptized Christian has a right to be anything else 
 than reconciled to God. 
 
 Christians may be addressed in two ways. 
 
 This is one way : a teacher may dwell upon 
 the symptoms of worldliness and corruption in them, 
 symptoms which their neighbours can easily discern, 
 and of which they can hardly be unconscious them- 
 selves. He may expostulate with a man, " What 
 are you, to claim to be a Christian, to profess to be 
 pardoned and reconciled ! Don't you know that 
 you are walking in the ways of carelessness and sin, 
 with a heart too seldom turned towards God, caring 
 for the things of this life, not setting your affections 
 on things above ? What have you to do with peace ? 
 Your Christianity is merely nominal ; beware how 
 you in any way count upon it. Your place is with 
 the outside heathen. Until your heart be changed, 
 you have no part or lot in the matter." There may 
 be too much truth in such warnings ; and it may 
 seem both faithful and wholesome to utter them 
 plainly.
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 There is another way, which to some might 
 seem less safe. This is, to urge upon Christians, 
 not their own shortcomings, more or less grave and 
 deplorable, but their vocation. Instead of telling 
 them that they are not Christians and trying to 
 prove it, the teacher might plead with them 
 earnestly, " You are Christians. You are washed, 
 you have received the washing which typifies 
 spiritual cleansing and bears witness of forgiveness ; 
 you have been called, you have been consecrated ; 
 your true condition is that of being reconciled to 
 God, having comfort and assurance in approaching 
 him, and walking in conformity with his will. If 
 you call yourselves Christians, this is what Christian- 
 ity is. Claim your privileges by all means. Assume 
 that you are at peace with God through him who 
 gave himself for you on the Cross." 
 
 This mode of address you will recognize as 
 familiar to you in the Epistles of the New Testa- 
 ment. St Paul spoke in this way to the Corinthians 
 and others. If it is objected that to become a 
 Christian in those days required courage, involved 
 many sacrifices and dangers, and therefore implied 
 an earnestness of faith which we cannot count upon 
 in an ordinary Christian now ; I admit it. But it is 
 also true beyond dispute that the little societies
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 which St Paul so confidently addressed as elect 
 and holy, were deformed by disbelief, by im- 
 moralities, and by disorders, which we in these days 
 can scarcely think of as compatible with any sort 
 of Christian profession. Amongst the Christians of 
 the New Testament were at all events some who 
 denied a resurrection, some who required to be 
 warned very solemnly against fornication, some 
 who exhibited vulgar insolence and greediness in 
 the Communion of the Lord's Supper. 
 
 But the real justification of this mode of address 
 is not to be sought in the character of those who 
 are addressed, but in its own proper tendency. So 
 far from condoning sin and carelessness, it wages 
 a relentless war against them. It does not say to 
 a man, " You may be at your ease in cherishing 
 enmity against God ; " but "What manner of person 
 ought you to be, you who by the blood of his Son 
 are reconciled to God ! " We cannot appeal thus 
 to those who do not profess to be Christians ; but 
 in speaking to those who do, who have been bap- 
 tized and have never cast off their Christianity, and 
 who are to be found in Churches, may we not use 
 their Christian calling with great force against their 
 unfaithfulness and inconsistency? 
 
 After declaring without reserve, " God in Christ
 
 PEACE WITH GOD. 13 
 
 reconciled you to himself," it was entirely natural 
 to St Paul to go on, with pathetic entreaty, "I be- 
 seech you, in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God !" 
 God has laid the foundation ; each Christian might 
 assume it and stand upon it, the more he did so, 
 the better; but then he had to build on it the 
 superstructure of his conscious and progressive 
 life. 
 
 What say you, my brethren? If the testimony, 
 "God has reconciled you to himself," comes home 
 to you with any reality, does it not make you 
 conscious with shame and self-reproach of the 
 estrangement which too surely mars your peace 
 with God ? Will you not ask the God of all grace 
 to purge your hearts of the dispositions which are 
 so dishonouring and so displeasing to him ? Let 
 me say and may the Spirit of God put life and 
 power into the words ! to him that is least a Chris- 
 tian amongst all the Christians who hear me, "My 
 brother, believe me, God has made peace between 
 you and himself. Do not look for the evidences 
 of this reconciliation in your own soul. Tainted, 
 distracted, perverse, desponding, all this your soul 
 may be. You know partly in your own conscience 
 what you are, and God knows still better. But it 
 is not in yourself that you are to look for the
 
 14 PEACE WITH GOD. 
 
 grounds of reconciliation. See them in Christ, see 
 them in his words of authority, see them still more 
 clearly in his Passion. See what an eternal foun- 
 tain of pardoning love has been opened in him ! 
 Suffer yourself to be touched and won. Break 
 through the evil influences which keep you back 
 from the Saviour who calls you. Know your 
 true Friend, know your real enemies. The influ- 
 ences that flatter your self-will would be your ruin ; 
 God, who asks for your heart, will be your strength 
 and salvation !" And you that have come out of 
 estrangement into God's peace, let me entreat to 
 value that peace more highly and to be more 
 thankful for it. Never suppose that it depends on 
 your goodness or on your faith. What you have 
 to do is not to make it but to enjoy it. It is your 
 blessedness to live the daily life of those whom 
 Christ calls his friends.
 
 II. 
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 COLOSSIANS in. 15. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to 
 the which also ye are called in one body." 
 
 IT is particularly required of Christians, as every 
 one knows, that they should be at peace amongst 
 themselves, and that they should endeavour, so 
 far as lies in them, to live peaceably with all men. 
 The common conscience of Christendom bears 
 witness that this is a Christian duty ; and those 
 who do not profess to be Christians themselves, 
 will often reproach professing Christians with their 
 wars and schisms and private quarrels, as proving 
 their reckless inconsistency. "How hollow and 
 false modern Christianity must be," they say, 
 "when it cannot even constrain Christian men and 
 nations to be at peace!" 
 
 There is, we must admit, much that is hollow 
 and false in our Christianity, and we ought to be 
 thankful to any one who will make us aware and 
 ashamed of it. Taunts like these are not, however,
 
 1 6 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 aimed in general with any discrimination. What 
 they may most usefully do for us, is to awaken us 
 to the consideration of our own principles. We 
 shall best learn where we as Christians are wrong, 
 by asking ourselves what it is to which we are 
 called. Undoubtedly we ought to be at peace. 
 Why then ought we ? What is the foundation upon 
 which external peace should be built up ? To 
 what kind of peace are we called ? 
 
 When peace is mentioned in the New Testa- 
 ment, it is not always easy to determine whether 
 peace with God is meant, or peace amongst men. 
 In any such uncertainty, it can hardly be wrong to 
 meet the difficulty by saying that both are meant. 
 For it was a deeply rooted feeling in the minds of 
 the Apostles, as it was the doctrine of their Master, 
 that God, in reconciling men to himself, at the 
 same time and by the same act reconciled them to 
 one another. St Paul, for example, having in his 
 eye the two divided and hostile sections of the 
 world with which he was concerned, the Jewish and 
 the Gentile, rejoiced to declare that God had re- 
 conciled both to himself in Jesus Christ, so making 
 peace. If the Jews were drawn to the Father in 
 Christ, and if the Gentiles were also drawn to the 
 Father in Christ, they were of course drawn toge-
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 17 
 
 ther. They were like two separated bars of iron 
 attracted by the same magnet. If, instead of think- 
 ing of sections of the world, you think of two indi- 
 vidual men, that had been enemies, both at the 
 same time reconciled to God, you will feel that it 
 is impossible they should remain enemies. It is 
 not indeed a matter of course that two persons 
 should become hearty friends by being attracted to 
 the same person. You may remember that even 
 amongst the loyal and affectionate followers of the 
 Lord Jesus there were jealousies occasioned by the 
 desire to receive distinguishing marks of his favour. 
 But that was when Jesus was "known after the 
 flesh," before he had gone up to his Father's right 
 hand. Consider, brethren: he who is at peace with 
 God has thankfully received the pardon of his sins, 
 of the sins which alienated him from God, and 
 caused him to be troubled by the thought of God. 
 He has repented of his sins; but what are they? 
 All things that offend the just and gracious Father. 
 Amongst the chief of them are all the dispositions 
 which set man against man. Can he who hates his 
 brother be on happy terms with the just and for- 
 giving Father? It is in the nature of things impos- 
 sible. Every Cain must feel his countenance fall 
 when he brings an offering to the Lord; he drives 
 D. S. S. 2
 
 1 8 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 himself out from the presence of the Lord, and 
 must be hid from his face. It is only when God is 
 not truly known that the man who harbours ill-will 
 in his heart can come to the Being whom he mis- 
 takenly worships as God with prayers and offer- 
 ings. He who has found in Jesus Christ the way 
 to the Father has been made ashamed of jealousy 
 and resentment. The Spirit of sonship is the Spirit 
 of the family, the Spirit of brotherhood. The true 
 Christian is moved to this kind of appeal to God, 
 " O our Father in heaven, forgive us our trespasses, 
 as we forgive them that trespass against us." 
 
 When we ask ourselves therefore why it is that 
 Christians are bound in some eminent and peculiar 
 degree to be lovers and makers of peace, let us 
 answer that it is because God whose Gospel we have 
 received has called us to peace, to a peace that is 
 first with himself and then of necessity with all 
 whom he names his children. This may not be the 
 only reason, but it is the profoundest reason, and 
 the most expressly Christian. It is the motive that 
 ought to work in us most powerfully and abidingly, 
 and that will guide our desires most surely into the 
 practical way of peace. Taking our stand upon this 
 ground, we shall recognize that our conceptions of 
 peace must always be in the first place and essen-
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 19 
 
 tially spiritual. We cannot begin from an outward 
 or superficial peace. It is the rooting out of ill-will 
 and its seeds from the heart that must be the Chris- 
 tian's primary object. And experience tells us that 
 these feelings have private life for their chief sphere. 
 Common daily efforts, such as all may make, are 
 those which it would be most satisfactory to me to 
 urge upon you ; and I believe that in giving our 
 minds chiefly to these, we shall be discharging most 
 loyally our obligations as children of the Divine 
 peace. 
 
 We have not much to do, we who are assembled 
 here, and at this moment of nearly universal peace, 
 with the question of wars between nations. But 
 you are aware that it has been not uncommon to 
 speak of open war between nations as the one great 
 violation of God's peace, and the scandal by which 
 Christendom is most deeply disgraced. To some 
 it has seemed the natural and consistent inference 
 from this view, that a nation ought not to go to war 
 under any provocation. Others are ready enough 
 to assume that this would indeed be the Christian 
 mode of acting, but that it is incompatible with the 
 honour and safety of a nation. Now I admit war 
 to be shocking, and a cause of wide-spreading 
 misery, but I do not allow that it is a necessarily 
 
 2 2
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 unchristian act to go to war. Nor does it seem to 
 me at all clear that war in general is accompanied 
 by the ill-will, which is the real violation of God's 
 peace, in anything like the degree in which it causes 
 fighting and bloodshed. Fighting and bloodshed 
 and devastation are miserable works for men to be 
 engaged in ; but war, we may gladly acknowledge, 
 can be carried on in a generous temper of mind and 
 with none of the malignity or baseness of hatred. 
 When we look at the matter from the specially 
 Christian point of view, we must not begin from the 
 measurement of outside evils. Our duty is to see 
 that we remember the bonds by which God in 
 heaven has knit together the nations of the earth ; 
 that we do not give way to national vanity, cruelty, 
 or vindictiveness, in time of war ; and that in time 
 of peace we cultivate the behaviour, of justice, 
 courtesy, and good feeling, towards other nations, 
 which may tend to prevent war. It is certain that 
 when war is declared, some one has been in the 
 wrong. A preacher of the Gospel should urge his 
 countrymen to be just, generous, and self-restraining, 
 not only as individuals, but as a nation. But I 
 know of nothing in the Gospel which forbids na- 
 tions to strike blows against injustice or greed, or 
 which would stamp the prudence that prepares for
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 war, the regard of the citizen for national honour, 
 and the gallantry of the soldier, as unchristian. 
 
 There is another class of conflicts with which 
 we are somewhat more closely concerned. Peace, 
 in its outward aspect, is greatly marred by religious 
 divisions and controversies, and by civil struggles 
 between parties and interests. We cannot but see 
 in the multiplied schisms of Christendom memorials 
 of obstinate self-will, and hindrances to the ideal 
 unity of the kingdom of God, which may well cause 
 us to grieve. In the struggles between classes of 
 society, especially between the richer and the poorer, 
 when the privileged classes and those which have 
 capital try to hold fast all their comparative ad- 
 vantages, whilst the industrial multitudes try to 
 win for themselves a less meagre share of what is 
 desirable in life, there is much that Christians 
 must lament. But here again, let me suggest, we 
 should not begin from the outside. The essential 
 violation of God's peace is not in controversy itself, 
 but in the elements which embitter it, in rancour, in 
 hardness, in unwillingness to recognize good on the 
 opposite side, in making the support of a public 
 cause minister to personal pride and interest. Every 
 Christian ha,s need to pray earnestly that zeal for 
 the cause to which he is attached, be it that of the
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 Church, or of Liberalism, or any other, may not 
 betray him into intolerance and spite, and into that 
 sin against the Holy Ghost which attributes gracious 
 and beneficent action to an evil origin. Wilful mis- 
 construction of motives, to which controversy so 
 often gives occasion, is a terrible sin against God's 
 peace. We cannot tell how far, or how quickly, 
 external divisions would disappear, if every one in 
 contending for his communion or his party were 
 enabled to feel kindly and justly towards those from 
 whom he differed ; such results we may be content 
 to leave in the hands of God ; but all Christians 
 are assuredly pledged by their calling to cherish 
 the just and kindly feeling, and we cannot doubt 
 that its effect would be great and glorious. Mean- 
 time let us be thankful for the softening influences 
 which have passed over both civil and ecclesiastical 
 contests in our land, and which make it much 
 easier than it was formerly for the private Christian 
 to be moderate and charitable. 
 
 But it is in social and domestic life that the 
 most important triumphs of God's peace are to be 
 won. 
 
 I do not mean to underrate great causes and 
 public affairs, the progress of mankind, the dignity 
 and the duty of our country. Still less would I imply
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 23 
 
 that the Gospel has nothing to do with these larger 
 interests. Our Christianity, if it is that of the New 
 Testament, ought to raise us out of the narrow 
 egotism of our individual hopes and fears, and to 
 nourish our humanity and public spirit. But it 
 seems to me that it is in the more private sphere, 
 of the home and of the neighbourhood, that it is 
 most difficult to fulfil the duty of living peaceably 
 with all men ; and also that if the peace of God 
 could govern our hearts in these our relations with 
 those who are nearest to us, we should be sure to 
 be made in all other respects followers and servants 
 of peace. 
 
 And each of us, my brethren, has his neighbours, 
 in contact with whom he must live. No one is so 
 insignificant, no one is so solitary, that he has 
 not some with whom he may either quarrel or be 
 at peace. Nor is any one, I venture to affirm, so 
 happy in his lot or in his temper as to be without 
 his own trials in this matter. 
 
 Where the tie is closest, and human lives are 
 most inseparably entwined together, there it is most 
 blessed to be at peace, there the misery of discord 
 is most intolerable, and there patience and sweetness 
 of temper may be most severely tried. A preacher, 
 when he speaks of the irritations of the home and
 
 24 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 of the houshold, may make sure that he is touching 
 a responsive nerve, a responsive chord of the heart, 
 in every one of his hearers. The peace which we 
 have in view now is something more, you under- 
 stand, than a decent veil of behaviour and good 
 manners. You may vex and alienate, without 
 openly breaking the peace. We know that explo- 
 sion's not unfrequently take place ; but we cannot 
 say in how many cases self-respect restrains the 
 inward resentment from exploding. You can 
 scarcely become intimately acquainted with any 
 family circle without learning that there are mem- 
 bers of it who find it hard to get on with other 
 members. In local society, how inevitable is 
 jealousy between those who aim at the same dis- 
 tinction, scorn exhibited by one who thinks him- 
 self or herself superior, angry defiance thrown 
 back by those who regard themselves as insulted 
 by the scorn, the unreasonable misunderstanding 
 which sees an unintended slight, the long smoulder- 
 ing feud which a little good sense and placability 
 might quickly extinguish ! 
 
 My Christian brethren, amongst us, partakers 
 of the heavenly calling, these things ought not so 
 to be. " No, certainly they ought not," I think I 
 hear some one answer, "but it is not / that am in
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 25 
 
 fault ! I do not wish to quarrel, I am a very rea- 
 sonable person, but I am specially unfortunate in 
 my circumstances. It may be that I have been 
 born with a somewhat irritable temper, but I could 
 control it, if I had not to deal with a companion or 
 a neighbour with whom it is impossible to be on 
 pleasant and easy terms." My brother, be assured 
 of this, that there are scores of persons round you 
 saying precisely the same thing. The instinct of 
 us all is to excuse ourselves and throw the blame 
 on others. Very likely others deserve the blame. 
 But let us not wait to get the due share of respon- 
 sibility accurately apportioned to each. That the 
 Eternal Judge alone can determine. Let us think 
 rather with more earnestness of the solemn fact, 
 that God is calling us to peace. How are we ever 
 to reach it, if we are severally bent on justifying 
 ourselves ? Look upon peace as a blessing which 
 God holds out to us, a blessing to all and to each, 
 a common good, a common glory, which is to be 
 won, not by self-justification, but by self-sup- 
 pression. If we must justify ourselves, let us try 
 to do it, not before men, but before God. Let us 
 not imagine ourselves, as we are so often apt to do, 
 pleading our case in a human court, ingeniously 
 putting forward everything that tends to excuse or
 
 26 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 to commend ourselves ; but let us come at once 
 into the presence of our God. See whether the 
 steady recollection of God's grace and purpose 
 does not brush away our pleas like cobwebs. 
 What is it that we believe that God has done for 
 us ? Has he been extreme to mark what is done 
 amiss ? Has he exacted of us all that is due to 
 him ? Nay, because we had nothing to pay, he 
 has frankly forgiven us all. When we were sinners, 
 Christ died for us. The Father has reconciled 
 offenders to himself in the Son of his love. His 
 desire and end is Peace. He entreats us to receive 
 his forgiveness. He says to us daily, " Be at 
 peace." 
 
 If you go into the presence of this gracious 
 Father, and allege, "My neighbour commits this 
 or that trespass against me," the unmistakeable 
 voice of God enjoins you, "Forgive him!" You 
 ask, perhaps, "What, if he does not confess his 
 fault in a proper manner and beg my forgiveness ? " 
 "Yes!" God replies to you, "Let there be no barter 
 of your grace. Think only of extinguishing the un- 
 friendly feeling, of healing the wounds and making 
 the scars invisible, of bringing about peace, so 
 long as it be genuine, in any way you can." The 
 sense of our unworthiness in God's sight is the best
 
 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 ally of humility and forbearance and graciousness 
 in our dealings with our fellow-creatures. But it 
 is good also to realize that God's end in redemption 
 was to establish amongst his children the living 
 unity of one body in his Son. All discord is a 
 rebellious violation of that unity; and every one 
 who fails to do what in him lies to keep that 
 unity, is setting himself against God's redemptive 
 purpose. 
 
 It is a world in which the most true-hearted 
 Christian could not hope to go through life without 
 giving offence. We are not to let truth and justice 
 suffer, in a vain attempt to preserve peace. Even 
 the Prince of Peace was compelled to say, in 
 anguish of heart, "Think not that I am come to 
 send peace on earth! I am not come to send 
 peace, but a sword !" There was something of 
 the same sadness in the heart of his Apostle, when 
 he said, "If it be possible, as much as lies in 
 you, live peaceably with all men." That is all 
 that each Christian can make the aim of his en- 
 deavour. But how much might thus be accom- 
 plished ! Let us have faith in him who calls us. 
 The Peace which is to be the crowning glory of 
 him whom we follow is to be conquered gradually 
 from the powers of strife. We have to be fighters
 
 2 8 PEACE AMONGST MEN. 
 
 for peace, soldiers in the army of the Divine peace- 
 maker. It is only by long struggles with himself 
 that an inheritor of human passions can hope to 
 subdue those tendencies which would make him 
 a promoter of strife rather than a peace-maker. 
 But what reward can be more blessed than that 
 which is granted to all such efforts ? To possess 
 a deep inward joy, to spread happiness around, to 
 be an instrument in working out the great Divine 
 purpose, is it not worth while to make earnest 
 and ever-renewed efforts for the sake of such 
 privileges ? And these are not distant, imagined, 
 rewards. You have seen them, I trust, actually 
 given by the God of peace to some of his favoured 
 servants. He lets us all see in some measure with 
 our own eyes how good and joyful a thing it is to 
 dwell together in unity.
 
 III. 
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 
 
 ROMANS vm. 15. "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage 
 again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, 
 whereby we cry, Abba, Father." 
 
 THERE is a danger against which we in these 
 days have some special need to be put upon our 
 guard, described by St Paul under the name of 
 bondage, or a servile condition, in things relating to 
 God. Our tendency at the present moment is to 
 shrink from irreligion, and to rejoice in the spread 
 of all religious feelings and practices. There are 
 many, I believe, to whose thoughts it has scarcely 
 occurred that there is such a thing as a spirit of 
 bondage by which the most religious persons may 
 be oppressed, and from which it is the glory of the 
 Gospel to set men free. Such forgetfulness is not 
 due to any lack of warnings and explanations in 
 the New Testament. No 'doubt the kind of bond- 
 age most familiar to us, and of which none but 
 the utterly careless can be unmindful, that of law- 
 less desire and a perverse will, is constantly kept
 
 30 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 
 
 in view in the New Testament as opposite to Gos- 
 pel liberty. But the Apostles, and especially St 
 Paul, are often speaking of a bondage expressly 
 associated with religion. And the two forms of 
 bondage are in their view connected in kinship or 
 close alliance. DeatJi, Sin, the Law, are three op- 
 pressors in league together. There is a whole 
 world of practical theology in these few words, 
 " The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin 
 is the law ; but thanks be to God who gives us the 
 victory through our Lord Jesus Christ !" Here 
 "the law" might be explained as the religion 
 which brings into bondage. It is impossible that 
 the danger of such a bondage can have passed away 
 from the world. I fear rather that we may have 
 too little knowledge of that liberty of the Gospel 
 which makes the bondage also known and felt. 
 
 You Christians, St Paul says, did not receive a 
 spirit of slavery again unto fear, but what you 
 received was a Spirit of sonship, in which we cry 
 Abba, Father! 
 
 That they had received some kind of spirit was 
 to the Christians of that age a fact of experience, 
 which no one doubted. The entrance into the 
 Church was marked, as a general rule, for every 
 believer, by an access of new spiritual emotions
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONS HIP. 31 
 
 prompting him to unwonted utterances. So that 
 a Christian defined himself no less as a partaker of a 
 Spirit from above, than as a believer in a risen Lord. 
 St Paul therefore takes the receiving of a spirit for 
 granted ; the question is what kind of a spirit it 
 was. He tells his readers emphatically that it was 
 not one suitable to slaves, generating a habit of 
 fear ; they had not simply exchanged a heathen or 
 a Jewish spirit of bondage for a Christian spirit 
 of bondage ; the Spirit received by the Church was 
 he does not here use the formally opposite 
 phrase, one of freedom, but an equivalent and more 
 instructive term one of sons/tip. From the day of 
 Pentecost onwards, the true Spirit of the Church 
 had always prompted the believers to cry to God 
 with trust and hope as to their Father. That 
 impulse declared the nature of the Spirit ; it 
 was evidently a filial Spirit ; if its cry was one 
 which God inspired, then they in whom it moved 
 were God's children. God was himself claiming 
 them as his children, by teaching them to call him 
 Father. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, 
 they are sons of God," otherwise, how could they 
 call God Father? And the Spirit of sons/lip is 
 essentially the Spirit of freedom. In no other way 
 can men attain to the highest kind of freedom, and
 
 32 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 
 
 be permanently secure against every kind of 
 bondage, than by living the inner life of children 
 of God. 
 
 If you wish to see how much slavery there may 
 be in religion, you have but to glance at some of 
 the heathen religions. They have not been all 
 equally oppressive; where nature has been bright 
 and free from terrors, there religion has generally 
 had its cheerful and joyous elements. But how 
 frightfully have some races been tormented by 
 their religions ! Having experience of arbitrary 
 rulers and cruel enemies in the visible world, 
 they have peopled the invisible with principalities 
 and powers far more cruel and capricious. Their 
 worship has been devil- worship. Imagine how the 
 fear of their false gods must have harassed the 
 souls of a people, before they would make their 
 sons and their daughters pass through the fire, to 
 propitiate them ! This seems the last extremity to 
 which the spirit of bondage could drive human 
 beings ; but, short of that, the lives of men have 
 been filled with misery and darkness in various 
 degrees by the malevolent powers which they have 
 placed in their heaven. 
 
 Whilst much of this dread, and of the servile 
 temper nourished by it, prevailed in the world to
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SON SHI P. 33 
 
 which the first preachers of Christ offered their 
 Gospel, there were some in that age who congratu- 
 lated themselves on having found emancipation 
 from superstitious terrors in philosophy. " Happy 
 he," says the Roman poet, " who has been able to 
 learn the causes of things, and who has put all fears 
 and inexorable Fate and the noise of greedy Ache- 
 ron under his feet ! " We cannot forget how many 
 in our own day are seeking freedom in the same 
 path. It would be anything but Christian to fling 
 reproaches at those who, whilst they persuade 
 themselves that all the region which bounds this 
 visible life of ours is an impenetrable blank, still 
 hold by a high moral standard, and endeavour to 
 live so as to serve their generation. Looking back 
 to the time of the Roman Empire, we see the same 
 experiment being tried. There were then also men. 
 who believed in no God, who despised the super- 
 stitions of the vulgar, who pursued knowledge so 
 far as it was within their reach, and whose tone of 
 mind was sustained by philosophical dignity. But 
 we Christians of to-day are followers of men in the 
 first century who did not pretend to be philo- 
 sophers, but whose far higher pretension was that 
 they had a calling of God. They also were lovers 
 of liberty, though their doctrine of liberty was a 
 D. s. s. 3
 
 34 THE FREEDOM OF SONS HI P. 
 
 different one from that of the philosophers who 
 despised superstitions. They valued liberty even 
 more, they longed for it more earnestly, they were 
 enthusiastic I do not say more so than the philo- 
 sophers, for they hardly had this enthusiasm at all, 
 in desiring to make other men partakers of it. 
 They held and taught that the God who sent them 
 was offering freedom to men, and that every man 
 who would come to the Father through Christ and 
 accept the Spirit of sonship might become truly 
 and consciously free. 
 
 Now in thus regarding spiritual liberty as a 
 priceless gift from God to men, the Christian Evan- 
 gelists were distinguished from mere propagators 
 of a religion. They were raised above the passion 
 of making proselytes. They quickly became aware 
 that men might profess to be Christians without 
 inheriting the liberty of the children of God. It 
 must have been a very painful discovery. I am 
 speaking now especially of St Paul, the greatest of 
 the founders of the Church, in labours more abun- 
 dant than all the others, but at the same time the 
 one who made the lightest of a mere profession of 
 Christianity, and the most watchful against in- 
 fluences which might mar the Divinely intended 
 effects of the Gospel. It was the purpose of the
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 35 
 
 Gospel to make men free ; the grace of God was 
 therefore frustrated if men, instead of coming with 
 open truthful hearts to God, put themselves under 
 the tyranny of a law or a ceremonial or formal 
 works of any kind. That was to regard God as an 
 Exactor rather than as a Giver, as a hard Ruler 
 rather than as a Deliverer, as one who was to be 
 shunned and to be put off with the barest fulfil- 
 ment of a bargain or task rather than as one who 
 was to be trusted and appealed to for help. And 
 St Paul saw with true spiritual insight the servile 
 dispositions which grow naturally out of the servile 
 relation, and which threatened to degrade the 
 Church of Christ. To be a slave almost implies 
 as a matter of course to be deceitful. What slave- 
 owner ever felt that he could trust his slaves? 
 Govern a child tyrannically, and you are respon- 
 sible for breeding in him a reserved, suspicious, un- 
 candid, temper of mind. So, those who cannot 
 come to God in the Spirit of sonship, enjoying 
 trustful access and freedom of speech before him, 
 almost inevitably learn to lead a double life. Their 
 aim is to close the secret recesses of their hearts for 
 themselves, and to give a certain outward service 
 to God. Formalism, legalism, asceticism, are always 
 dangerous to the open, truth-loving disposition which 
 
 32
 
 36 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 
 
 the grace of God would cherish. Nor are they 
 really powerful against the dominion of the senses. 
 The "Law," in Pauline language, is weak against 
 the flesh, because it cannot give life; it cannot 
 cleanse, brace, quicken the soul ; that is the work 
 of the Spirit, of the Spirit which is filial and makes 
 free. 
 
 So that whilst there was the world to conquer 
 for Christ, St Paul thought it worth while to spend 
 a great part of his labour in contending for free- 
 dom against bondage in the little societies of 
 baptized believers. His doctrine is perfectly clear, 
 but it needs to be insisted upon in every age of 
 the Church as in the first. The Gospel, he taught, 
 is the story of the Son of God who revealed 
 his Father as perfectly fatherly towards men. 
 What is fatherliness ? It is made up, we may 
 briefly say, of the two elements of justice and 
 goodness. To call God our Father is to say that 
 he is altogether righteous and gracious towards us. 
 Well, the Father through Christ invites men to 
 come to him. On their part, everything might 
 keep them back, unworthiness, dread, want of de- 
 sire. But by his free grace and by spiritual help 
 God removes these hindrances. He appeals to 
 faith, and shews himself to be such a one as
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 37 
 
 may be trusted. The only way of going to God 
 is with the inmost emotions of the soul. There 
 must be confession without reserve, thankfulness 
 for pain as well as for pleasure, the sense of de- 
 pendence, the supplicating desire of the highest 
 good. When the heart thus opens itself and allows 
 itself to be drawn into the holy of holies which is 
 the felt presence of the Eternal Father, there is 
 freedom. No longer is there any constriction of 
 the heart, no longer the pressure of any chain upon 
 the soul, no longer a cowardly fear of the future, no 
 longer a suspicion that the forces of nature may be 
 wielded by a destroyer. This freedom, won and 
 enjoyed, is what men want and what God desires 
 for them; every thing else is comparatively unim- 
 portant. What pleasure can God who sees in 
 secret find in any outward service, in any arbi- 
 trary self-infliction? 
 
 It is quite true that we creatures of flesh and 
 blood have to live an outward as well as an inward 
 life. This will not bear to be forgotten. The out- 
 ward must serve the inward. But when the out- 
 ward separates itself from the inward, when it ven- 
 tures to come into competition with it, then it must 
 be treated even with contumely. When the liberty 
 of the children of God is in question, even Scrip-
 
 38 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 
 
 tures, sabbaths, almsgiving, denials of appetite, 
 prayers, sacraments, may find themselves put aside 
 with something like disrespect. 
 
 Christian brethren, it is not easy for us to rise 
 to the high spiritual level of St Paul's teaching ; 
 but this, you surely know, is what he taught, and 
 this doctrine, even if you have misgivings as to its 
 being too lofty, your consciences must confess to 
 be profoundly and gloriously Christian. Do not 
 believe that it is in itself dangerous; only per- 
 versions of it are dangerous. Free thinking, free 
 living, free love, have acquired bad associations ; 
 but the things which have become justly odious 
 under these names have no right to connect them- 
 selves with St Paul's teaching. You cannot make 
 too much of spiritual freedom, so long as you 
 understand by it what St Paul did, the free access 
 of the soul, in the filial Spirit, to the righteous and 
 gracious Father. 
 
 This kind of freedom is very far indeed from 
 setting people at their ease to do what they like. 
 It by no means tends to promote a free and easy, 
 inconsiderate, habit of mind. Let any one try it, 
 and see what the effect upon him is. Let him 
 come to God with the utmost imaginable confi- 
 dence, with the fullest assurance that there is.
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONS HI P. 39 
 
 nothing to debar him from intimate communion 
 with God. But of course he must remember who 
 and what God is, that he is true and just and 
 loving, that he is the Father of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ who died for us on the Cross. Our freedom 
 is to know God as he has thus been revealed to us. 
 And is such a Father to be approached without 
 reverence, without awe ? Judge, if you please, by 
 what you know of the mind of the most spiritual 
 Christians. Was St Paul a light, irreverent, kind 
 of person ? Did he take life easily ? Or were those 
 who had known the Lord Jesus as a companion 
 and friend and who had believed what he told 
 them of God's goodness and desire that they 
 should be made free, distinguished by levity and 
 unconcern? St Peter, in one of the most instructive 
 passages of holy Scripture, urges that the con- 
 sciousness of having been set free and of being 
 admitted into filial communion with God will di- 
 rectly promote watchfulness and awe. " If ye call 
 on the Father, who without respect of persons judges 
 according to every man's work, pass the time of 
 your sojourning here in fear ; forasmuch as you 
 know that you were not redeemed or set free 
 with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from 
 your vain conversation, or empty manner of life,
 
 40 THE FREEDOM OF SONS I II P. 
 
 handed down from your fathers, but with the 
 precious blood of Christ... who was manifest in 
 these last times for you who by him believe in 
 God that raised him from the dead and gave him 
 glory, that your faith and hope may be in God." 
 To put our trust and hope in God, this is the con- 
 dition of freedom bought for us by the sacrifice of 
 Christ. As the redeemed or freedmen of Christ 
 we are entitled to call upon the just God as our 
 Father. But therefore it is not for us to live care- 
 lessly, without purpose or aim, doing the first thing 
 that routine or desire suggests. This is the very 
 bondage from which Christ came to rescue us. No, 
 the children of him who is known to us through 
 Jesus Christ must feel reverence in their hearts for 
 the Heavenly Father in the first degree, and then 
 for their brethren, for the world which he creates, 
 for the work which he has put us into the world to 
 do. St Paul says even more than this; "Work 
 out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it 
 is God who works in you both to will and to do 
 of his good pleasure." You see that this extreme 
 view, of God working in man both to will and to 
 do, does not involve to St Paul the apparently 
 logical consequence that man is irresponsible; on 
 the contrary it produces a deeper sense of responsi-
 
 THE FREEDOM OF SONS HIP. 4* 
 
 bility. Another of the Apostles, St John, does 
 indeed say that perfect love casts out fear; but 
 then by adding, "because fear hath torment," he 
 shews that he means by fear that kind of it which 
 has torment. He also would have commended the 
 fear that is consistent with love, the awe of pro- 
 found admiration, the sense of unworthiness, the 
 anxiety not to displease or to forget such a Father. 
 Yes, my brethren, there must be seriousness in 
 the mind and the life of a Christian, a seriousness 
 tempered by trust and hope and joy, but often not 
 unmixed with sadness. The little use we make of 
 our true freedom, the small value we set upon it, 
 are enough of themselves to fill us often with 
 sorrowful self-reproach. It is the will of our 
 Father that our path through the world should be 
 beset with difficulties and trials ; we often cannot 
 see our way clearly; at the very best we cannot 
 always stand upright. But let our sins and our 
 perplexities not drive us away from God, and 
 make him distant to us and persuade us to seek 
 help and comfort in rules that we can observe and 
 works which we can perform, but bring us nearer 
 in confession and prayer to him. May he never 
 be transformed in our eyes into a Being from 
 whom we should reasonably desire to escape ; may
 
 42 THE FREEDOM OF SONSHIP. 
 
 he be always to us our supreme helper and friend. 
 Let us not approach him as those who have to 
 deprecate his anger by grovelling before him. Even 
 in the forms of our outward worship, Christian 
 freedom, or in other words reverence for the true 
 character of God, would disapprove of any acts 
 appearing to symbolize the servility of a fright- 
 ened offender. Let us ever keep our thoughts 
 fixed on Eternal Righteousness shining upon us 
 through Eternal Love. Let us bear in mind that 
 the Sacrifice of the Son of God was intended to 
 set us free, and that his glorious name is the Re- 
 deemer. Our deserts at God's hands are indeed 
 as bad as we can imagine them to be. But God 
 does not give us only what we deserve. He gives 
 us his Son to be our Head ; and with him he gives 
 us the Spirit of his Son. It is due to God that 
 we should welcome into our hearts the Spirit of 
 Jesus Christ and suffer it to work in us all filial 
 affections.
 
 IV. 
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 GALATIANS v. 13. "Ye have been called unto liberty: only use 
 not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one 
 another." 
 
 IT is a very common observation, that the word 
 freedom has various senses, and that there is need 
 of discrimination in using it; that a man may be 
 perfectly free, for example, in the sense of being 
 perfectly protected from injury by a just and equal 
 law, and yet be a slave to an appetite like the love 
 of drink, or be oppressed and fettered by igno- 
 rance. Every one who has to say anything about 
 freedom will find a similar reflection occur to him. 
 No sooner do we begin to speak about it, than a 
 multitude of distinctions and qualifications have to 
 be made. Whether freedom ought to be desired 
 or not, whether it ought to be allowed or not, is 
 entirely uncertain till we understand the kind of 
 freedom which is meant and the circumstances in 
 the midst of which it is to be exercised.
 
 44 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 Nevertheless the idea of freedom must be a 
 high and noble one, or it could not have excited 
 so much enthusiasm as it has done in men's minds. 
 There is a spell in the name of liberty, which we 
 may be hardly able to account for. The true and 
 only way, as I believe, of accounting for the inspi- 
 ration which has moved men to suffer and die in 
 the cause of liberty, is to understand that liberty 
 in its highest form is essentially spiritual, and to 
 regard all inferior forms of it as deriving their life 
 and worth from the highest. My purpose to-night 
 is to shew the vital connexion between the com- 
 mon forms of freedom as between man and man, 
 and that freedom which we enjoy towards God 
 through receiving the Spirit of Sonship. 
 
 How would you describe liberty? If you say 
 that a man is free when he is able to do what he 
 pleases, the definition is a natural and obvious one, 
 and certainly has some truth in it ; but you will 
 never persuade yourselves that it is a great and 
 glorious thing for a man to be able to do as he 
 pleases. On the contrary, there could be nothing 
 worse than to tell a number of foolish persons that 
 there is no restraint upon their doing just what 
 they like. That would end in license and anarchy; 
 and these are names of confessedly evil meaning.
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 45 
 
 The state of things when each man "does what 
 is right in his own eyes," is one which we do not 
 desire to bring about. It is felt to be a blessing 
 when license and anarchy are suppressed by the 
 force of a superior authority. It is plain therefore 
 that the freedom whose cause is a holy one cannot 
 consist in the simple absence of restraint upon 
 men's acts. 
 
 But add a qualification, such as every one is 
 ready to suggest. Personal freedom, it will be said, 
 must of course have its limits. It is a good thing 
 to be able to do as one likes, so long as one does not 
 interfere with the corresponding liberty of others. 
 When men live in society, the freedom of each 
 must be limited by what the rest may similarly 
 demand. Social freedom will be perfected, when 
 the individual spheres within which each may do as 
 he likes without interfering with his neighbour are 
 as large as possible. This view is a very intelligible 
 and convenient one, but it surely does not account 
 for our reverence for freedom. Again I repeat, 
 there is nothing sacred in the idea of a man doing 
 as he pleases. The restraints are better than the 
 freedom. If it were a supremely good thing that 
 the sphere within which a man may do what he 
 likes should be as large as possible, then it would
 
 46 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 seem to follow that the less we enter into those 
 relations which have the effect of restraining us, the 
 better. An unmarried man has more liberty, in 
 this sense, than a husband and a father. He is 
 much more at liberty, as we say, to do as he pleases, 
 to go where he would like to go, to adjust his 
 habits to his private tastes. According to this view, 
 the lover of liberty will regard with disfavour 
 domestic ties, social ties, and the general complexity 
 which belongs to advancing civilization. The boast 
 of freedom will be that expressed in Dryden's lines, 
 
 "I am as free as Nature first made man, 
 Ere the base laws of servitude began, 
 When wild in woods the noble savage ran." 
 
 But that is to reduce the idea of freedom to an 
 absurdity. We do not need to argue in these days 
 with any one who thinks that freedom is to be 
 sought by reversing progress and by dissolving 
 society into units. 
 
 According to the principle which I have under- 
 taken to expound, our essential freedom comes of 
 God's calling. We are free, when we are God's true 
 spiritual children, as he would have us be ; when 
 we are in filial sympathy, of knowledge, affection, 
 and will, with the gracious and righteous Father. Of 
 this freedom I spoke this morning. The freedom 
 of politics and social life may appear to be some-
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 47 
 
 thing quite different in kind from this, but I do not 
 believe that it is. It is nothing less than this that 
 stirs the enthusiasm with which liberty is honoured 
 by the wise and good. Liberty, thus regarded, 
 is voluntary self-conquest, not self-indulgence, a 
 noble instead of a base thing : and the common 
 recognized conditions of political and social free- 
 dom are felt to be good, because they minister to 
 the essential liberty of God's children. Freedom 
 is realized, when men are awakened to a conscious- 
 ness of their high destiny and responsibility. There 
 cannot be anything that deserves the name of free- 
 dom, except where there is the dignity, the eleva- 
 tion of character, arising from this consciousness. 
 Whatever has a tendency to promote such a cha- 
 racter in a natiort is worth contending for. 
 
 We are all of one mind in holding slavery, I 
 mean the possession of a man as a piece of property 
 by a fellow-man, to be a hateful evil. We are 
 proud of the old glory of this English soil, upon 
 which a bondsman could not put his foot without 
 becoming free. If we have to confess that our 
 history is stained by the complicity of Englishmen 
 in the slave-traffic and in slave-owning, it is some 
 comfort to us to think of the solemn and costly act 
 by which the nation abolished slavery throughout
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 the British dominions. Now this our feeling about 
 slavery is due perhaps mainly to our knowledge of 
 the barbarities which have been so naturally asso- 
 ciated with it. Moreover the thought of a man being 
 bought and sold by another man is so contrary to 
 our ingrained belief as to the relation between man 
 and man, that it excites in us an instinctive repug- 
 nance. But take slavery at its best; suppose the 
 slave to be never bought and sold, and always 
 kindly treated ; slavery of this kind may be made 
 by its apologists to appear a very tolerable condi- 
 tion. Still, in the absolute subjection to the will of 
 another, which is implied in all slavery, there is an 
 essential mischief. It excludes the slave from the 
 dignity of responsibility. It keeps the man a child. 
 It stunts and dwarfs his humanity. The cares of 
 the husband and the father are not fully laid upon 
 him, so as to train him in the higher qualities of the 
 man. And this, let me remark by the way, is one 
 of the worst evils of dependent pauperism. It 
 encourages people to throw off their domestic re- 
 sponsibilities, to be careless and servile in their 
 habits ; and so it wages a steady and insidious war 
 against elevation of character. If it is represented, 
 then, that the condition of the slave may be a very 
 comfortable one, and that he has the advantage of
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 49 
 
 having no cares, we should reply "No, not the 
 advantage, but the degradation. Our point of view 
 ought to be that of the spirit, not of the flesh. To 
 be free is, for a spiritual being, to be tried, to be 
 called upon to act, to be constrained to care for 
 others and to provide for oneself. The flesh may 
 look back with longing to the fleshpots of Egypt ; 
 but it is better for the spirit, for the man, to wan- 
 der and to hunger in the temptation of the wilder- 
 ness." 
 
 The freedom bestowed on the Israelites by the 
 deliverance out of Egypt was national, even more 
 than personal. The children of Israel were treated 
 as a people, to whom the blessing of orderly legis- 
 lation was given, and who were to take possession 
 of a promised land. And the freedom which has 
 inspired the trumpet-notes of song and nerved 
 the patriot to effort and endurance and sent its 
 bracing breath through human history has gene- 
 rally been the deliverance of a people from a 
 foreign yoke. Why then is it glorious to fight and 
 suffer and die for national independence ? Because 
 to be conquered and made tributary involves moral 
 humiliation. The land that serves strangers is 
 spiritually disinherited. The prosperity of the 
 inhabitants may be reasonably cared for; they 
 D. S. s. 4
 
 50 CIVIL FREEDOM, 
 
 may not be subjected to constant galling insults, 
 though these can hardly be absent : but the higher 
 spirit in the nobler part of the population feels that 
 it has not its just rights. The citizens of an inde- 
 pendent country acquire elevation from the con- 
 sciousness of a national calling. It may be a small 
 country, a Switzerland or a Belgium ; but, so long- 
 as it is independent, it is able to reflect that it, too, 
 like its neighbours, has its appointed place in the 
 world. It has the duties, the responsibilities, of 
 one of the family of nations. This is food for high 
 thought, exercise for high faculties. When it has 
 lost its self-respect, the heart of a people is smitten 
 as if with a blight. The child is no longer born to 
 an inheritance of noble traditions and solemnizing 
 responsibilities. Ah, my brethren, think what it 
 ought to be to us to be born to such an inheritance 
 as ours 1 God grant to us not to be unworthy of it. 
 Once more, there is a kind of freedom which 
 we English know well, opposed to the condition of 
 being governed, Hot by a foreign race, but by des- 
 potic authority at home. We hardly call it a free 
 country, in which the citizens do not personally 
 possess a sliarc, in some form or other, of the 
 powers of government. In this sense of the word, 
 that country is the freest in which the greatest
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 51 
 
 number of people are practically interested in the 
 life and work of the nation. Our historical mode of 
 enjoying this freedom is through representation. 
 We vote for representatives ; and our representa- 
 tives, when assembled together, have a predominant 
 voice in the supreme government of the country. 
 In thinking about these things, we are compelled 
 to admit that no form of government is ideally 
 perfect. Voting for those who are to govern us is 
 evidently not everything ; for most of us very 
 decidedly disapprove of what is a perfectly genuine 
 form of it, that of electing by a plebiscitum a Ruler 
 who is to exercise despotic power. It is not a 
 vote, given now and then, that nourishes the free- 
 man's responsibility and dignity ; it is the fact of 
 having, in one way or another, or in various ways, 
 some living interest and influence in the national 
 life. One nation cannot in this matter lay down 
 laws for another. But we may say generally, that 
 there are two points to be aimed at by those who 
 would promote domestic political freedom. One 
 is, that each citizen should have some link of con- 
 tact with the sovereign power, so that he may feel 
 that he has something to do, though it may be 
 extremely little, with the greatest affairs of the 
 nation. The other is, that he should have a more 
 
 42
 
 52 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 visible and realizable interest in the small affairs of 
 his own neighbourhood and society. For that 
 which freedom, in any genuine shape, has to do, is 
 to call out the sense of responsibility and to mix a 
 man up with larger than selfish interests. Des- 
 potism is adverse to true spiritual freedom, because 
 it encourages a man to feel that public affairs are 
 provided for without him, and that he may there- 
 fore give himself up without distraction to the pro- 
 motion of his own interest. 
 
 Questions concerning political freedom and the 
 way in which it may be most healthily diffused are 
 sifted in the discussions and struggles of the day. 
 I have only two or three observations to offer from 
 the point of view of this sermon. 
 
 I. First, as to religion and the Church. I am 
 quite ready to admit that religion may be and 
 often has been adverse to freedom. Here indeed 
 we have one test of the better and the worse reli- 
 gion. But the method we have been following 
 leads us to the conclusion that a national Church, 
 apart from its direct work of bearing witness to the 
 Gospel of grace, ought to serve the cause of free- 
 dom in an important degree by giving elevation 
 and sacredness to the idea of the country. The 
 .national Church is the witness qf the Divine Call-
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 53 
 
 ing of the nation. It should keep us in mind that 
 it is God who gives us this beautiful land of ours 
 with its golden harvests, and that we are placed 
 and nourished here in order that this nation may 
 be a servant of God in the world. I ask you, my 
 brethren, whether you are not consciously lifted in 
 the scale of spiritual freedom by thinking of our 
 England as a Christian country, which accepts the 
 election of God and confesses Christ as Lord. 
 
 But it is greatly to be desired, in this same 
 interest of spiritual freedom, that the people gene- 
 rally should claim an active share in Church 
 matters. Through Parliament and the Crown 
 the nation generally has as much power in Church 
 matters as it chooses to exercise. In these days 
 in which we live, representatives should be made 
 aware that it will not do to neglect matters so 
 vitally affecting the welfare of the country as those 
 of religion. And I cannot but believe that it 
 would be a great gain to extend, through some 
 such machinery as that of parochial Church Coun- 
 cils, the local and educating influence of responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 2. Again: it' is an important problem, what 
 amount of legal regulation is desirable in the com- 
 mon life of a people, with a view to the promotion
 
 54 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 of genuine freedom. It is absurd to assume that 
 law is the opposite of freedom ; but it is quite true 
 that there may be an excess of government, that 
 the machinery of law may interfere more than is 
 desirable in private and social life. I believe that 
 this problem is not to be settled by theory, but by 
 'experience. Political tact ought to feel its way 
 towards the best limit of regulative interference. 
 Such maxims as that you cannot make people 
 virtuous by Act of Parliament, and such sayings as 
 that of an eloquent orator, that he would rather see 
 England free than sober, appear to me to confuse 
 rather than to help the inquiry. We already, with 
 universal assent and approval, do a great deal in 
 the way of regulation. The question is whether we 
 cannot do more, without defeating our highest 
 object. That object is to train and help all Eng^ 
 lish persons to .r^-government, and so to lift them 
 to a higher exercise of genuine freedom. Whether 
 a particular step will help or hinder this object is 
 -to be determined by practical wisdom rather than 
 by theoretical maxims. 
 
 3. My own belief is, if I may venture to ex- 
 press it, that we do rightly in cautiously pressing 
 interference in several directions. In some depart- 
 ments, as for example, in the relations of capital
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM- 55 
 
 and labour, the legislation required may be that 
 of withdrawing special interference, rather than 
 that of extending it. It is not to be denied that 
 a great deal of the best legislation of this century 
 has consisted in thus withdrawing regulation from 
 interests and arranging that they shall be let alone. 
 But on the other hand experience seems to have 
 abundantly proved that much good may be done 
 by putting a check upon occasions of temptation. 
 The regulation of labour in factories is almost uni- 
 versally admitted to have been a great blessing. 
 The regulation of the sale of intoxicating liquors is 
 allowed as good by all up to some point or other; 
 it is an important question whether further steps in 
 the same direction may not be successfully made 
 in the future. It is a good thing that gambling 
 should be hindered as much as possible. In all 
 such matters, it is a gain to do something when we 
 cannot do everything. In one most important 
 matter, I am confident that we may hopefully 
 go forward, I mean in compelling parents to 
 send their children to school. To press this com- 
 pulsion firmly, and to apply it universally, would 
 be, I am persuaded, a great and almost unmixed 
 benefit to the country. 
 
 These are lines in which a lover of freedom and
 
 56 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 of his country may still find practical work to do. 
 So much has been done in the way of removing 
 injustices and abolishing privileges, that it is not 
 easy now to discover a grievance. But we have 
 always the higher aim before us, of promoting 
 universal elevation of mind and character through- 
 out the land. To labour in this cause is now the 
 truest service of freedom. 
 
 I hope it does not appear to you an arbitrary 
 connexion which I have endeavoured to bring out, 
 between the liberty of the children of God and 
 every inferior form of liberty which can claim our 
 reverence and service. I do not see how the loyal 
 Christian could really care for anything secular 
 except through seeing its relation to the kingdom 
 of God and the work of redemption. But if the 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Ruler of the 
 world, this relation can nowhere fail. Let me not 
 be supposed, however, to forget that the grace of 
 God is able to bestow the transcendent freedom in 
 the absence of every other. For the spiritual freed- 
 man of Jesus Christ, 
 
 "Stone walls do not a prison make, 
 Nor iron bars a cage." 
 
 Slaves, in the first Christian century and in all 
 subsequent times, have been made truly free by
 
 CIVIL FREEDOM. 57 
 
 the grace of God, and have been content to bear 
 their lot without rebelling against it. You may 
 trace in thought how the sense of responsibility, 
 the consciousness of a calling, the feeling of self- 
 respect and dignity, might be awakened in the 
 breast of a slave, and be made to work in him 
 far more powerfully, by the direct voice of the 
 Gospel, than if he were trained from infancy 
 and through manhood to the blessed cares of 
 the family and of citizenship. So now, whilst 
 we acknowledge with thankfulness what we have 
 gained from the happy conditions of our English 
 Christian lives, and whilst we long and strive that 
 such advantages may be imparted to all our bre- 
 thren as widely as possible, let us not think it 
 enough to be free citizens, responsible parents. 
 No ; these relations point to a higher. We can 
 only realize the most perfect freedom in these 
 lower though still Divinely ordained conditions 
 by being free in that condition to which God 
 calls us all, in the filial Spirit of his Son. We 
 are not free till the chains of sin by which we 
 are tied and bound are loosed from us by God's 
 accepted forgiveness. When we can come to God 
 as our Father, remembering his righteousness, his 
 holiness, his goodness, not afraid of him, but throw-
 
 58 CIVIL FREEDOM. 
 
 ing ourselves upon his grace and help, then we 
 can stand upright amongst our fellow-men, then 
 we can lead an inward life over which neither cir- 
 cumstance nor desire shall have dominion. 
 
 Seek then, dear brethren, the freedom which is 
 to be found in the fellowship of the believer with 
 his Lord. If the Son shall make you free, said 
 Jesus himself, ye shall be free indeed. Aim always 
 at the highest blessings, knowing that our God 
 loves best to give us these; and there is nothing 
 higher than a life of faith in the Son of God, a life 
 fed by his Spirit, a life whose secret power is hid 
 with Christ in God.
 
 V. 
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 ROMANS vi. 13. "Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are 
 alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of right- 
 eousness unto God." 
 
 MY endeavour this morning will be to press 
 home to your reasonable convictions the great 
 doctrine of justification by faith. The advance of 
 knowledge has not, I believe, either falsified this 
 doctrine, or made it obsolete. It needs to be 
 guarded against perversion: but, rightly under- 
 stood, it goes to the roots of our inward nature, 
 and reveals to us both the way of our true life 
 and a danger that will never cease to beset us. 
 
 St Paul's well-known phrase is, that faith is 
 counted, reckoned, or imputed, unto us for right- 
 eousness. He borrowed it from the history of 
 Abraham in the book of Genesis, where it is said, 
 Abraham believed in the Lord, and he, the Lord, 
 counted it to him for righteousness. The word 
 impit,tcd, I may observe, means precisely the same 
 thing as counted or reckoned; and it would help to
 
 60 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 clear away some artificial notions from the doctrine 
 of righteousness by faith, if we were to put aside 
 the word imputed, and to use instead one of the 
 plainer words, counted or reckoned. You will thus 
 perceive that something of a false emphasis has 
 been laid on imputed. "Imputed righteousness" 
 is named, as if it were a particular sort of righteous- 
 ness; but you could hardly give this significance 
 to "counted righteousness" or "reckoned righteous- 
 ness." St Paul's point is, not that righteousness 
 is imputed or counted or reckoned, but that it is 
 of faith. According to him, a man is righteous in 
 God's sight when he believes ; that is to say, not 
 when he has duly performed a certain set of re- 
 quired acts or observances, but when in his inmost 
 soul he trusts God and surrenders himself to him. 
 But, if a man is thus righteous, by trust and self-sur- 
 render, as Abraham was and as all true Christians 
 have been, whose is the righteousness to be properly 
 called ? St Paul gives the profoundly true answer. 
 It is not the man's own righteousness ; he does not 
 originate what he does; he yields himself to God, 
 and his members as instruments of righteousness 
 unto God. It is Gods righteousness therefore, dis- 
 posing of him and working in him ; and the man 
 is righteous in so much as he does not claim to be
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 6 1 
 
 righteous in himself, but rejoices to be clothed 
 with the righteousness which is of God. I need 
 hardly add, that when St Paul spoke of righteous- 
 ness, it was the same thing whether he said that of 
 God or that of Christ: he held that the Eternal 
 Righteousness had been revealed in Christ, and 
 that the form of it which had been seen in Christ 
 was precisely the ideal form for man. 
 
 There is nothing arbitrary or artificial therefore 
 in our receiving the righteousness which is of God 
 by faith. All is as real as possible. A man is in 
 his proper condition, is as right as he can be, when 
 he believes in God; and this essential Tightness of 
 faith for man is verified by experience when it is 
 proved that the more thoroughly he believes, the 
 more easily and successfully does he lead a good 
 life. 
 
 We need not trouble ourselves about *' imputa- 
 tion"; what is most necessary for us is to under- 
 stand as well as we can the nature of the Divine 
 Righteousness, and the meaning of Faith in relation 
 to it. 
 
 One way of regarding Righteousness, and the 
 most helpful for our purpose, is to .think of it as 
 bringing forth order. Our understanding is always 
 baffled when we attempt to arrive at ultimate ideas
 
 62 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 of what God is in himself. But the affirmation 
 that God is righteous has a clear and adequate 
 meaning, if we take it as declaring that God origin- 
 ates and maintains the living Order of the uni- 
 verse. For us, correspondingly, to be righteous 
 will be to conform to this Divine order, to take 
 our place in it, and to go forward, without breaking 
 loose from it, in its progress and development. 
 
 The order of the external world is a part of 
 that which God, the Righteous Being, originates. 
 The constancy and regularity of the material crea- 
 tion might be called God's physical righteousness. 
 The inspired men of the Old Covenant were full 
 of admiration and awe towards the order of Nature, 
 and used to speak of it freely as illustrating the 
 righteousness of the Eternal Maker. They did 
 not indeed know the wonders which the inquiries 
 of science have laid open to our view in these 
 later days. But they were accustomed to meditate 
 reverently upon the obvious phenomena of the 
 visible world; and their profound appreciation of 
 Righteousness in the higher sphere prepared them 
 to see with pleasure the signs of Law in the lower 
 sphere. The elements, they perceived, were ruled 
 by the Maker's eternal statutes. His word ran 
 swiftly through their changes. He had given them
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 63 
 
 a law that was not to be broken. Modern science 
 has enabled us to see in existing phenomena an 
 almost infinite complexity, and has at the same 
 time succeeded in tracing back the growth of things 
 to simpler and simpler origins; but its very boast 
 is that it discovers order and development every- 
 where, in the remotest past as in the present. 
 Here then, let us say, we have the physical aspect 
 of the Divine Righteousness. 
 
 But there is another kind of order, more im- 
 portant than that of the material universe, the order 
 of the world in which spiritual beings and spiritual 
 affections are the elements, and with reference to 
 which we do not speak so much of what must be 
 or will be, as of what ought to be. The will, con- 
 science, responsibility, introduce entirely new con- 
 ditions into our conceptions of order. Scientific 
 men may delight to shew how certain antecedents 
 making certain consequences inevitable the natural 
 world could not have been other than it is. Organ- 
 isms and their environments must, they tell us, 
 act and react upon one another so as to bring 
 about the results in which we fancy we trace de- 
 sign. Their language, in expounding this universal 
 necessity, tends to become grandiose and authori- 
 tative, as if they had then reached the height of
 
 64 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 things. But when they come to real human life, 
 they are themselves compelled to change their 
 language. They then praise and blame, reprove, 
 rebuke, exhort, like any unscientific person. They 
 will say "If you do this, such a thing will happen; 
 if you do that, such a thing will happen; you may 
 do which you please, but you ought to do this, 
 and you ought not to do that." There is plainly 
 something more here than molecules and molecular 
 attractions and repulsions. The mystery of dis- 
 order has entered. Whilst we speak of the Divine 
 Righteousness, originating and sustaining a certain 
 order in the spiritual world, we are obliged to re- 
 cognize z*;/righteousness, which refuses to conform 
 to that order. It is true that the two worlds, the 
 physical and the spiritual, are so subtly interwoven 
 that we know not how to separate matter and 
 spirit. This need not surprise us, when we confess 
 that both come of one Creator. But the most 
 ordinary human being whose conscience is not 
 dead may infer with certainty from the inward 
 conflicts of which he is conscious, that he belongs 
 to another world as well as to that of which he 
 shares the conditions with the plants and the 
 stones; and he cannot doubt that in the ideal 
 order which suffers so many violations, we come
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 65 
 
 nearer to the Creator himself than in the natural 
 order which has received a law which cannot be 
 broken. 
 
 Whilst then we Christians look up to an Eternal 
 God who has ordained and constituted the services 
 of men and of other spiritual beings in a wonderful 
 order, we always take for granted that it is in our 
 power to observe or to violate this order. Simple 
 necessity, we affirm, belongs to the inferior kind of 
 order, choice and voluntary action to the higher. 
 The seed cast into the ground has no power to 
 choose whether it will germinate or not ; it is subject 
 to what scientific men are fond of magnifying as 
 inexorable law. But man, appealed to by Pleasure 
 and Duty, has the consciousness of making a choice 
 between them. If he chooses Duty, he conforms to 
 the order of God's righteousness ; if he chooses Plea- 
 sure, he fails from that order. We do not shut our 
 eyes to the difficulty there is in holding that man 
 may disarrange what God ordains ; we confess the 
 difficulty, and hold the belief in the face of it. It 
 is the method of God's dealing with his spiritual 
 creatures to let them know something of his spiri- 
 tual order, and not to coerce them as involuntary 
 atoms but to move them as thinking and willing 
 persons to conform themselves to it. 
 
 D. s. S. 5
 
 66 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 But this word which I have been repeating so 
 often will be more significant when we have consi- 
 dered what God's spiritual order actually is, and so 
 have made the word a living one to our minds. 
 St Paul's doctrine of righteousness by faith gives a 
 simple and positive definition of it. God's order 
 for men is that of a Family of his children. As the 
 Righteous Being, this is the plan according to which 
 he constitutes mankind. He does not set them in 
 motion like whirling atoms, out of whose physical 
 concourse indefinite combinations may proceed; he 
 makes them his children, members of a family, 
 having the two great primary and comprehensive 
 relations of sonship to himself and brotherhood to 
 each other. You can easily see that this is not a 
 mechanical or stationary order. It admits of end- 
 less growth and development. It is good for us to 
 think of God as gradually unfolding his Creation, 
 the spiritual part as well as the physical. He is 
 continually making it more complex and wonderful. 
 There is always something more for men to learn, 
 always something not quite the same for men to be. 
 As the child grows into the man, so the human race 
 has grown from the infantine stage to what it is 
 jiow. And as we see in the child, so it is in the 
 race ; it is by living and trying and striving that
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 67 
 
 men grow. They feel forward into the future, 
 along the lines which the Maker has laid down for 
 them, and after the objects which he more or less 
 distinctly presents to their view and aspiration. 
 But at no point do we see or shall we ever see 
 the two great relations disappear from this advanc- 
 ing order, or cease to be primary in it. Still, the 
 highest ideal for men is to be children towards the 
 Eternal God, and to be to one another as children 
 of the same heavenly Father. 
 
 And now, what is Faith, the Faith by which a 
 man becomes righteous? It is the act or movement 
 which joyfully accepts these relations for the govern- 
 ment of the heart and life. When God says to a 
 man, as he does in the Gospel through Christ, 
 " Thou art my son," justifying Faith replies, " I 
 thank thee, O heavenly Father, this is what I re- 
 joice to be and will be ; I will trust in thee, will 
 yield myself up to thy purposes, will find my joy in 
 learning and doing thy will. I will be nothing in 
 myself, be thou all to me, and in me, and through 
 me!" Faith is the filial response to God's father- 
 liness. All believing has its secret and perfection in 
 the filial attitude towards the true God. 
 
 By faith, or the filial mind, we may confidently 
 say with St Paul, a man is justified. To accept 
 
 r 2
 
 68 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 without reserve the relation of sons and daughters 
 to God, is the appointed and only righteousness for 
 human beings. God requires nothing more of them 
 than this. If they do this, they fall into the order 
 of his spiritual righteousness. They yield them- 
 selves to be what he would have them and what 
 by his persevering Providence and discipline he is 
 making them. 
 
 By faith then a man is justified, and not by 
 works. 
 
 Not by works. But let us give to " works" here 
 the sense which St Paul has consistently in his 
 mind. He means acts which can be separated 
 from the inmost self, all that do not involve and 
 express the real feeling of the doer, works which it is 
 possible to do whilst the doer has some other mind 
 and consciousness than what might be represented 
 by his actions. Generally, it is enough to say that 
 works are outward things. But this definition is 
 not adequate or strictly accurate. For the works 
 which do not justify may even be emotions, when 
 the emotions are artificial. To submit the soul or 
 nervous system to the thrills of a revival or a mis- 
 sion, in the belief that this emotion is something 
 that God will receive as satisfactory, is, in essence, 
 to seek justification by works. And on the other
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 69 
 
 hand, man is and must be a doer, not less in his con- 
 dition as a believer and child of God than when he is 
 choosing to be independent of God. And the word 
 " work" is often used for that which is /^/separable 
 from the man himself for what he really does, and 
 therefore for what he really is. In this case, "works " 
 are opposed to profession or person, as reality to 
 show. And as the word faith may very naturally be 
 used for religious profession, you may have this, 
 curious result, that one who says "a man is justi- 
 fied by works and not by faith" may be meaning 
 the very same thing as one who says " a man is 
 justified by faith and not by works." Actually the 
 same thing. For they both mean to affirm that God 
 accepts reality, not appearance ; the man himself, 
 not something separable from him ; the genuine 
 attitude of the heart, and not religious observances 
 or outside works. 
 
 Who could describe in their infinite variety all 
 the ways in which men have sought to manufacture 
 a righteousness of their own before God ? My 
 brethren, there is an all but ineradicable desire in 
 the human heart to put God off with something 
 which is not really itself! The most plausible form 
 of this something is religion, I mean external reli- 
 gion. Sacrifices, confession and penance, Church-
 
 70 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 going, these are express attempts to offer to God 
 what is supposed to be pleasing to him ; and surely, 
 men say to themselves, if we abound in such offer- 
 ings, God will be pleased with us and count us 
 righteous ! But it is not difficult to see how hollow 
 these observances may be ; and many, emanci- 
 pating themselves from these, have sought a right- 
 eousness of their own in two other principal paths. 
 In morality ; in the punctual performance of what 
 men in general recognize as good works. And in 
 spiritual religion, with its professions and phrase- 
 ology and exclusiveness. These also, the morality 
 and the so-called spiritual religion, though the 
 doers may be flattering themselves that they are 
 not as those formalists who hope to commend them- 
 selves to God by religious observances, may be just 
 as truly works, by means of which men may be 
 seeking to establish their own righteousness. Our 
 human nature, like the garrison of a besieged for- 
 tress, tries every expedient to avoid unconditional 
 surrender, the blessed humiliation which is really 
 honour and deliverance and happiness ! 
 
 The weakness of all these " works " is that they 
 are ineffectual and betray us ; they stand in the 
 way of our becoming what God would have us be. 
 The Gospel of God's grace, persuading us to be-
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 7 1 
 
 lieve, calls us to real living righteousness. Com- 
 pare two men together, the one keeping his eye 
 upon some " law," and laboriously endeavouring in 
 his own strength to make himself irreproachable by 
 the perfect fulfilment of it, the other casting himself 
 on the goodness of God, rejoicing in hope of God's 
 glory, and surrendering himself to be the instru- 
 ment of God's will. Can you doubt which of the 
 two will be the best man, the most thoroughly 
 righteous, by every test of righteousness ? The 
 preachers of Christ who have spoken most boldly 
 of faith as the one thing needful have not been 
 indifferent to practical goodness. No, indeed ; it 
 has been their love and longing for it that has made 
 them fearless of misconstruction in denouncing the 
 vain attempts of self-righteousness. They have 
 desired to see men humble, self-forgetful, alive 
 with a joy and strength given them from above, 
 and thus able to do the good and acceptable and 
 perfect will of God. We commonplace Christians 
 are deeply indebted to those who, like St Paul and 
 like Luther, have felt so keenly the obstinacy of 
 self and the need of stripping it of every disguise 
 and of driving it out of every stronghold, so that 
 the Christian may live no longer in himself but in 
 Christ. Life, as they knew, power of life, is what
 
 72 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 
 
 we want ; and that is to be had, not through per- 
 petual miserable disappointments and condemna- 
 tions in vain efforts to keep the law, but through 
 the fellowship of faith with Christ the Risen Son 
 of God. In him we have the Divine forgiveness, 
 free and full ; in him the unspeakable gift of son- 
 ship. If we realize him as raised from the dead on 
 our behalf by his Father and ours, then we may 
 have courage to call God Father with the full con- 
 fession and surrender of the heart ; then we may 
 feel that we are not our own, but his, bought with 
 a price which secures us to be his for ever. In 
 that consciousness we are righteous, and the Spirit 
 of the Son of God is able to flow into our hearts 
 and through our members, actuating and enabling 
 them for the service of God. Therefore, dear 
 brethren, if any one amongst you feels with inward 
 dissatisfaction that his life is at the best a poor one 
 for a Christian, sadly wanting in happiness and in 
 energy, let him ask himself whether he has entered 
 with any reality upon his inheritance of sonship. 
 Let him be assured that the filial state is the abso- 
 lutely right one for him, that from this he must 
 take his start to run the race that is set before him, 
 that on this he must build up his practical life. 
 And that he may learn to be filial towards God,
 
 THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH. 73 
 
 let him contemplate Christ. It is the glory of 
 Christ not only to have proved through suffering 
 his own supremely perfect sonship, but to draw 
 men his brethren to himself and to the Father that 
 they may be sons of God in him.
 
 VI. 
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 ROMANS xm. 7. "Render to all their dues." 
 
 I BELIEVE that a certain distinction has established 
 itself in the general mind between Righteousness 
 and Justice. The two words were both originally 
 used in the same sense, the former being English 
 or Teutonic, the latter its Latin equivalent. Thus 
 when we want to say "make righteous" in one 
 word, we say "justify." But, partly perhaps because 
 Righteousness is a great Bible word and Justice the 
 word of jurisprudence, we have come to think of 
 Righteousness as a relation between men and God, 
 and of Justice as a relation between man and man. 
 It is of Justice, accordingly, that I am to speak to- 
 night. 
 
 Justice is at once the support and the fruit of 
 civic life. Men cannot live together without some 
 degree of justice ; and as they go on living together 
 and their social life becomes richer and more com- 
 plex, the action and experience of life breed the
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 75 
 
 higher and more perfect forms of justice. But, 
 secular as Justice truly is, we shall not find our- 
 selves compelled to separate it from the Right- 
 eousness of faith. On the contrary, my hope is 
 that by considering secular justice as it connects 
 itself with the Christian calling, we may improve 
 our conceptions of what is just. It ought always 
 to be the ambition of theology, not merely to de- 
 fend itself within an exclusive circle of its own, but 
 to prove itself able to throw light upon all duties 
 and interests. 
 
 Human righteousness towards God is of faitJi; 
 that is to say, God has called men to be his chil- 
 dren, and they will be right, and do the works 
 which he has prepared for them, when they accept 
 the condition of sonship with its proper feelings of 
 trust and dependence and self-surrender. But God 
 does not isolate his children from one another. It 
 is a part of his calling that he places them together, 
 and binds them with many ties, and calls upon 
 them to feel and act towards one another as those 
 who are children of the same Father. In making 
 men his children, God makes them also a Family. 
 
 Here then we find the Christian account of 
 Justice. The true order of mankind is that of 
 spiritual persons living and advancing together
 
 76 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 as members of the one family of the Heavenly 
 Father. To be completely just is to behave to- 
 wards each person according to his place in the 
 family. To fill one's own place and to act towards 
 all others in accordance with the tie by which God 
 has bound us respectively to each, this is what 
 the Christian acknowledges to be his duty. The 
 same law is described in Christian theology under 
 the expressive figure of a Body. Each member or 
 organ has its own function, and to discharge this is 
 its proper business. The eye has to see, and the ear 
 to hear. But the many members make one body; 
 and each organ, if we imagine them conscious, has 
 to respect the functions of the others, and to work 
 with them for the purposes of the whole body. It 
 is the natural action of growth to develop the 
 number and the perfection of organs by a pro- 
 cess which philosophers call differentiation. That 
 is to say, at a low point in the scale of creation, 
 there are fewer distinctions in a body; at a higher 
 stage we find more organs, performing more offices, 
 and we call the body more perfect. But the per- 
 fection of the body depends on the subordination 
 of the parts and the harmony of the whole. A 
 similar process of differentiation goes on in the 
 growth of human society. Occupations, trades,
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 77 
 
 offices, become more numerous and are more 
 distinctly separated from each other. The rela- 
 tions of human beings to one another become in- 
 definitely manifold and subtle and complex. And 
 thus Justice grows with the growth of society. But 
 it is at all times "a kind of harmony." It is most 
 thoroughly realized when men fill their own places, 
 serve the whole society, and are affected each to- 
 wards each according to their mutual relations. 
 This is the eternal and Divine ordinance. God, 
 who has called men to be his children and to have 
 his Son for their Head, binds them together in one 
 body, and bids them live a harmonious life of 
 mutual obligation and regard. The more entirely 
 we live to God as his children, the more success- 
 fully shall we live together as brethren. Each rela- 
 tion that life develops we shall reverence as God's 
 appointment, and it will be a part of the righteous- 
 ness of faith to fulfil it. 
 
 No other maxim could better sum up the re- 
 quirements of Justice than that of our text, "Ren- 
 der to all their dues." Of course we do not mean 
 by dues only those which men are compelled by 
 penalties to render. It is impossible for any one 
 who takes a spiritual view of Justice to see in it 
 what the law of the land enforces and nothing
 
 78 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 more. It is the weakness and misfortune of think- 
 ers who do not expressly acknowledge a spiritual 
 basis of human life, that they either seem to build 
 a moral structure on the air, or that they outrage 
 moral feeling by making force the origin and ex- 
 planation of everything. There are those who 
 admit no conception of justice except the will of 
 -the stronger, expressed in threats. A man's duty, 
 according to this doctrine, is what he is ordered by 
 a stronger than he to do, on pain of its being the 
 worse for him if he refuses to do it. You see at 
 once how different the Christian conception of 
 Justice is from this. When we Christians adopt 
 the maxim, which is not itself an exclusively Chris- 
 tian one, " Render to all their dues," we understand 
 by " dues," all that, according to the idea of man- 
 kind as the Family of a Heavenly Father, is due 
 from each to each. To some extent, the interpre- 
 tation of "dues," thus understood, is variable and 
 progressive, because, as I have taken pains to 
 shew, society is developed as it advances, and we 
 learn through experience what corresponding action 
 or affection any new or modified relation demands. 
 Christian morality, therefore, ought not to be sta- 
 tionary. We are pledged by our Christian calling 
 to study with reverence the circumstances in which
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 79 
 
 we find ourselves and to watch with a pious hope- 
 fulness for improvements. A faithful willingness 
 to be led onward by the Heavenly Hand ought to 
 characterize the Christian mind in dealing with 
 mutual obligations. At the same time no one 
 doubts that the main requirements of Justice are 
 thoroughly ascertained. Our need is not to find 
 them out, but to be persuaded to comply with 
 them. Our natural selfishness is always putting 
 us in the way of thinking what is due from others 
 to us, and not what we owe to others. And Jus- 
 tice will never flourish as beneficently as it might 
 do, so long as each of us thinks earnestly and with 
 spirit of his rights, languidly and as if under com- 
 pulsion of his duties. 
 
 The sentiment of Justice is, thank God, a pow- 
 erful one in the English mind. The more flagrant 
 forms of injustice excite in us a healthy indignation 
 which refuses to tolerate them. The appeal to 
 Justice, when it is a well-grounded one, never finds 
 dull ears in an English audience. Often, it is 
 scarcely necessary to say, we are embarrassed by 
 conflicting obligations. Those who see a case from 
 one point of view only may think there is an injus- 
 tice where those who look at it from another will 
 reply that there is none. Conflicting obligations
 
 8o RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 are means of spiritual discipline evidently intended 
 to train us in discernment and faithfulness ; and 
 the experience of the difficulties and perplexities 
 which they create ought to make us considerate in 
 judging each other. But on the whole, it could not, 
 I think, be fairly charged against us that we are 
 indifferent to justice. 
 
 But the maxim, " Render to all their dues," if 
 we enter thoroughly into the feeling of it, will make 
 us aware of a certain divergence of our habitual 
 standard of justice from the Christian rule, to 
 which I desire to call your particular attention this 
 evening. We are too much biassed by the fact of 
 possession. It is not to be denied that possession 
 is entitled to great consideration. The course of 
 our history in this favoured land, which has been 
 so happy in its freedom from violent changes, has 
 tended to give to possession an unexampled te- 
 nacity. The maxim " Let each keep what he has " 
 might be alleged with some reason to be more 
 characteristic of the English conception of justice 
 than that of St Paul, "Render to all their dues." 
 
 " Let each keep what he has." I readily admit 
 that in a country where a matured system of law is 
 administered with punctilious integrity in the pene- 
 trating light of public knowledge, this principle will
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 8 1 
 
 go a long way in maintaining justice. And it is 
 very natural that here, more than anywhere, the 
 legal form of justice should encroach too much 
 upon its moral or spiritual form. But, not the less, 
 the ideal of justice will be very poorly satisfied in a 
 Christian community by the defence of existing 
 possession. 
 
 I may illustrate what I mean by our extraor- 
 dinary reverence for property, for vested interests, 
 and for bequests. Now, it would be a very bad 
 thing for us if no one could call what he had his 
 own, if life had no stability, and industry no 
 secure reward. All that is patent. It would be 
 a downfall, indeed, if we were to lose the protec- 
 tion of a settled law of rights and ownership. But 
 what I am noting, from the Christian point of view, 
 is this, that we have given ourselves up to a kind 
 of worship of property and vested interests and be- 
 quests. Our regard for these things, instead of being 
 cool and moderate and conditional, has been touched 
 with the imaginative emotion which turns it into a 
 religion. The very phrase, "the sacredness of pro- 
 perty," discloses the feeling with which we regard it. 
 We are inclined to exalt possessions, as objects of 
 worship, above the irreverent discussions of reason. 
 When we hear of speculations which question how 
 D. s. S. 6
 
 82 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 deeply the right of an individual to what he has 
 inherited or received goes down into the nature of 
 things, and by what conditions it should be limited, 
 we are not content with putting ourselves temper- 
 ately upon our guard, which would be reasonable 
 enough, but we look upon the speculators as pro- 
 fane and cry out upon them with a kind of horror. 
 Who is not familiar with these symptoms of a wor- 
 ship which the Christian can hardly call anything 
 but an idolatry ? 
 
 The Christian who takes his principles from 
 the New Testament learns there no reverence for 
 the rights of the individual possessor as against the 
 claims of the community. To put it thus, seems 
 almost ironically moderate, when we think of the 
 history of the Christian Church and of the teach- 
 ing of our Lord and of his Apostles. The Holy 
 Spirit coming down on the day of Pentecost to 
 create the Church of Christ, persuaded every be- 
 liever to give up his rights of ownership and to 
 throw what he had into the common stock. 
 Throughout the New Testament, possessions are 
 studiously disenchanted of prestige and sacredness. 
 The believer is to consider them as a trust, for the 
 management of which he will be held responsible. 
 Everything is done in the earliest Christian teaching
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 83 
 
 that could be done, to prevent men from setting 
 an undue value on property and from regarding it 
 as what the possessor might do what he liked with. 
 The assumption throughout is that there was 
 no need at all to lead men to reverence property, 
 but a great deal of need to guard them against 
 making too much of it. It was the common interest, 
 not the individual, which needed the sanction of 
 religion to sustain its claim. 
 
 The Scriptural doctrine of private rights agrees 
 exactly with its doctrine of justice. We are to 
 render to all their dues ; and in estimating dues, 
 we are to remember that society is a whole, one 
 body, and that it is a Divine family. Now it 
 stands to reason that a single member, a single 
 organ, cannot set up its rights against those of the 
 body. The habitual feeling of every member must 
 be that the interest of the body is incomparably 
 more important and more to be considered than 
 that of any part of it. I can understand the theory 
 that would subordinate society to the individual, 
 and maintain that all social arrangements have for 
 their chief purpose to secure each single person in 
 the enjoyment of his exclusive rights ; but this is 
 demonstrably not the Christian theory, and the 
 mind into which the Christian idea of the body and 
 
 62
 
 84 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 its members has been thoroughly wrought must 
 find such a view wholly uncongenial to it. A sen- 
 sitively Christian instinct ought to shrink with more 
 repugnance from the assumption that private own- 
 ership is sacred and above discussion, than from 
 protestations on behalf of the interest of the com- 
 munity. But the Christian hears God telling him 
 that society is not only a living whole, but also a 
 Divine family. And I think no one will contend 
 that exclusive ownership is congenial to the family 
 feeling. You who are parents know that your 
 children are ready enough by nature to appropriate 
 what they can, and to exclaim defiantly, " This is 
 mine !" But it is not your delight to cherish and 
 exalt this feeling, nor would you be distressed if 
 your children learnt to say with pleasure of many 
 things, " This belongs to the family." I do not say 
 that you can abolish private rights, either under the 
 domestic roof, or in society ; what I urge is that to 
 consecrate private rights and give them predomi- 
 nance, is uncongenial to the properly Christian 
 sentiment of justice. 
 
 The secular justice that is rooted in the soil of 
 Christian theology is of a nobler and a finer kind, 
 believe me, than that which watches over private 
 ownership and vested interest and the grasp of the
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 85 
 
 dead hand on property. It teaches us to throw 
 our sympathies on the side of the poor when their 
 interests seem to come into competition with those 
 of the rich, on the side of the weak more willingly 
 than on that of the strong. To do this is not mere 
 condescending benevolence ; it is justice, the justice 
 that renders to all their dues. " Giving honour unto 
 the wife, as tmto the weaker vessel" there speaks 
 the Divine instinct, dropping as it were by the way 
 a thought quite natural to one who had the mind 
 of Christ, but one which could not have proceeded, 
 at least with the same significant unconsciousness, 
 from any other morality than that of the New Tes- 
 tament. What is due to the weak and defenceless? 
 Protection. What is due to the ignorant? En- 
 lightenment. What is due to the misunderstood ? 
 Endeavours to enter into their thoughts and feel- 
 ings. What is due to those that are down ? Efforts 
 to lift them up. Your Christian hearts, I hope, bre- 
 thren, have given these answers freely. Once more, 
 What is due to the rich and great ? An answer 
 does not, I imagine, rise so readily to the lips. 
 Shall we say, Honour, flattery, gaping admiration, 
 sedulous anxiety to take out of their way any hin- 
 drance that would restrain them from doing what 
 they like with their own, not only while they live,
 
 86 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 but down to the twentieth generation after them ? 
 Are these due from their brethren in the Divine 
 Family to the rich and great ? It is hardly the 
 Christian in any one that will give this answer, in 
 the life any more than with the lips. Pause, if you 
 please, before you pronounce definitely what is due 
 to the rich and great. But you could hardly help 
 including amongst their dues such as these, that 
 the arrogance to which their position tempts them 
 should not be fostered, that occasions of falling 
 should not be put officiously in their way, that it 
 should be urged upon them by importunate re- 
 minders that the true glory of a man is not in 
 having or enjoying but in serving, and that they 
 should be rigorously made to understand that the 
 community does not exist for their sake, but they 
 for the sake of the community. Such dues we have 
 no clear right to withhold from those that have 
 wealth and rank and privilege amongst us. 
 
 The spirit of Christian justice has, you will see, 
 to fight against the immense power of selfishness in 
 human nature and those influences and habits 
 which make up "the world." The strong are al- 
 ways tempted to abuse their strength, the rich to 
 fancy that the earth is made for their enjoyment, 
 the multitudes to domineer over the few. Chris-
 
 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 87 
 
 tian justice appeals to the ordinances of a just and 
 gracious God ; it declares that he has made men 
 and classes for one another ; it demands a more 
 considerate care for all who are not able to take care 
 of themselves ; it stands up for the rights of slaves, of 
 the poor, of women, of unpopular sects and schools. 
 Above all and over all rights it proclaims incessantly 
 the dignity of the whole community, of the human 
 race itself. The order, the harmony, the well-being, 
 the growth, of the body, are ends for the sake of 
 which individuals are sent into the world and unto 
 which it is their happiness to serve. It is an or- 
 dained limitation of the deference to be rendered 
 to the weak, that it must not endanger the general 
 welfare. Authority must not be sacrificed to sym- 
 pathy. Those who have money must not give it 
 away mischievously. Demands for equality ought 
 not to be allowed to outweigh the general good. 
 
 It may be a comfort to us to remember, when 
 we think of the work which justice has to do and of 
 the adversaries against which it has to contend, 
 that, for the Christian, justice is the same thing as 
 the righteousness which is of faith. We want to be 
 guided by light from above, to be helped with 
 strength from above. If we all bore in mind habi- 
 tually that we are righteous by faitJi, and therefore
 
 88 RIGHTS AND DUTIES. 
 
 sought more and more earnestly with prayer and 
 effort to be men of faith, simple, humble, fearless, 
 setting the will of our Father above every earthly 
 interest and power, what a reinforcement we 
 should bring to the cause of harmony and happi- 
 ness, what services might we not hope to render to 
 our country and our kind! Let me plead with you, 
 my Christian brethren, not to be indifferent to 
 the perfect fulfilment of justice, that is, of right- 
 eousness, that is, of the righteousness and Kingdom 
 of God. Our Saviour exhorts us to be indifferent 
 to everything else, in comparison of the Kingdom 
 of God and his righteousness. And there is no 
 conceivable way in which these can triumph, except 
 through the prevalence of the living spirit which 
 renders to all the dues which God assigns. If you 
 see, as you may, an honourable devotion to the 
 cause of justice in men who do not profess to be 
 Christians, render honour to the men, for it is 
 their due, and beware of undervaluing their cause 
 as a merely secular one. The way to serve your 
 Christian profession is to shew how considerate, 
 how delicately just, how courageous, how devoted 
 to the common good, Christians can be. This is 
 what Christ asks of us. This is the way to honour 
 him, because it is to walk in his own steps.
 
 VII. 
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 ROMANS i. 7. " Called to be saints," 
 
 THIS word "saints" has practically fallen out of 
 use in our modern religious language. If we were in 
 the habit of using it as it is used in the New Testa- 
 ment, we should call ourselves here " saints." We 
 should not need to make any distinction between 
 those who are truly religious and those who are 
 only nominal Christians; our proper title, taken as 
 we are, would be, the "saints" assembled in this 
 Church. But we do not, and could not, thus 
 describe ourselves. We have long dropped this 
 title, and we use another in its stead. Where the 
 Apostles would say " saints," we say " Christians." 
 The Church owes this latter title to the heathen by 
 whom the believers in Christ were surrounded in 
 Antioch and other Gentile cities. Amongst them- 
 selves they were not "Christians" in the New 
 Testament age, but sometimes the brethren, some-
 
 90 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 times the faithful or the believers, sometimes the 
 saints. You may find these names in the addresses 
 at the beginning of the Epistles, as well as in- 
 cidentally elsewhere. Thus Paul an Apostle and 
 Timotheus a brother write to the "saints and faith- 
 ful brethren in Christ at Colossae," or, as it might 
 have been rendered, "to the holy and faithful 
 brethren." And St Paul asks, " Dare any of you, 
 having a matter against another, go to law before 
 the unjust, and not before the saints ?" By this 
 name all the members of the Church, all the Chris- 
 tians, are comprehensively described. 
 
 I said not only that we do not, as a matter of 
 usage, call ourselves saints, but that we could not. 
 The name has come to have associations in our 
 minds which prevent us from giving it this general 
 application. We do not now understand by 
 "saints" ordinary Christians doing the work of the 
 world, (i) One class which the word denotes to us 
 is that of eminent Christians of the early ages of 
 the Church, who have had days in the Calendar 
 assigned to their memory. Our separation from 
 the Church of Rome, by leading us to reject the 
 commemoration of the great multitude of middle- 
 age saints, has helped to clothe the word with this 
 peculiarly primitive character. (2) If by chance we
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 91 
 
 describe any one of our own time as a saint, we 
 mean to denote by .the name excellence of a pecu- 
 liar type, not such as ought to characterize Chris- 
 tians universally, but such as belongs to an excep- 
 tional nature and an exceptional lot in life. The 
 saintly virtue, as we conceive of it, is retiring and 
 contemplative rather than active and energetic, 
 ascetical rather than joyous, feminine rather than 
 masculine. The odour of sanctity is blown away, 
 as it were, by the breezes of the world. (3) It is 
 in accordance with this feeling that we more 
 willingly think of saints as inhabitants of heaven 
 than as living on this earth. This habit of associ- 
 ating the saints with the unseen world has created 
 some important differences between us and those 
 to whom the saints were primarily the members of 
 the Church on earth. Thus, when we profess our 
 belief in the " Communion of saints," we naturally 
 suppose it to mean some kind of intercourse be- 
 tween saints in heaven and believers here below. 
 But its more natural primitive sense would be 
 " the partnership or fellowship of Christians." And 
 the faith in it would be a belief that Christians, as 
 such, are united to one another by bonds which 
 give them common hopes, common interests, com- 
 mon affections, mutual obligations. This view is
 
 92 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 in agreement with the doctrinal part of our Collect 
 for All Saints' Day, which calls to memory that 
 God has knit together his elect in one communion 
 and fellowship in the mystical body of his Son 
 Christ our Lord. And so the dedication-name 
 of an All Saints' Church, like this, bears witness 
 to the idea of the Catholic or universal Church, as 
 a body of consecrated members. 
 
 It is no loss on the whole, perhaps, to drop the 
 title "saints" as a designation of members of the 
 Church of Christ, in order that we may replace it 
 by that of Christians, which appeals with so much 
 power to our hearts. But if the word in falling out 
 of use, has abstracted with it from the general 
 Christian calling any of the holiness which was at 
 first considered an essential feature of it, that, as- 
 suredly, is a serious loss. 
 
 The word "saint," which is borrowed from the 
 Latin, is exactly equivalent to the word " holy." 
 But it has the convenience of having been made a 
 substantive, whilst holy remains an adjective, so 
 that "a saint" can be said for a holy person, and 
 "saints" for "the holy" or holy persons. In the 
 passage I quoted just now, it is doubtful whether 
 it is best to read "the saints and faithful brethren" 
 or "the holy and faithful brethren." Similarly, we
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 93 
 
 might read with equal accuracy, " called to be 
 saints," or "called to be holy." To sanctify is, as 
 you know, to make holy. 
 
 Let us now endeavour to recover distinctly the 
 original and guiding sense of these words, at least 
 so far as their usage in Scripture is concerned. 
 
 That sense stands out more obviously, perhaps, 
 in the Old Testament than in the New. The idea 
 of holiness pervades all the institutions of the Jew- 
 ish people. Places, times, offices, things of all sorts, 
 were made holy to the Lord. That is, they were 
 separated from other common uses, that they might 
 belong to the express service of God. To be holy 
 was to be set apart for God. You will do well to 
 hold fast to this, brethren, as the essential and per- 
 manent idea of holiness. It is the condition of 
 being consecrated to God. 
 
 The Jewish people were frequently reminded in 
 their sacred books of the reason why there was so 
 much setting apart of things for Jehovah in their 
 appointed customs. Their elaborate ritual service, 
 with its multitudinous consecrations, and the dis- 
 tinctions of clean and unclean by which their life 
 was burdened, were all intended to bear witness to 
 them and keep them in mind, that they were them- 
 selves a people holy to the Lord. By word and by
 
 94 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 symbol alike it was pressed upon them that their 
 God Jehovah had called and chosen them for his 
 own people. They belonged to him ; he had made 
 them his own from amongst the surrounding na- 
 tions ; by his voice of calling, by signal deliver- 
 ances, by guidance, and by promises, he taught 
 them his purpose of election. But they were slow 
 and careless to remember him to whom they be- 
 longed. The principle of separation or setting 
 apart was therefore wrought into their life, private 
 and public, from morning to night, that they might 
 feel their God Jehovah to be a calling and separat- 
 ing God. " I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign 
 between me and them, that they might know that 
 I am the Lord that sanctify them," this may serve 
 as a key of all the ordinances of consecration 
 amongst the Jews ; they were symbols and wit- 
 nesses of the holiness of the people, that is to say, 
 of the fact that Jehovah had called and chosen 
 them, that he might dwell among them and they 
 might be his. " I am Jehovah your God, and you 
 are my people," this is the assurance which with 
 incessant iteration runs through the Scriptures of 
 the Old Covenant, and in being thus appropriated 
 to Jehovah consisted the holiness of the Jewish 
 people.
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 95 
 
 In passing from the Old Covenant to the New, 
 we do not observe any change of the essential 
 principle of holiness. Still the calling of God is 
 the cause of holiness, separation unto God who 
 chooses is the meaning of it Christians are holy 
 in that they belong to the Father who chooses 
 them for his own in his Son. 
 
 In the instructions which our Lord gave to the 
 Eleven before his Passion, he was careful to impress 
 upon them that they had received this holiness. 
 "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you :" 
 thus he reminded them of their special calling. 
 Through this calling and the continuous personal 
 discipline by which he had attached them to him- 
 self they were to regard themselves as having been 
 made holy and clean. The Apostles were in the 
 most solemn sense consecrated persons ; and this 
 meant that they were chosen out of the world and 
 set apart for the special service of Christ and the 
 Father. 
 
 The task assigned to the Apostles as founders 
 of the Church was a special one, but their consecra- 
 tion was not exclusive. Every believer taken into 
 the Church was taught that he too was a " saint." 
 The faith to which he was invited was that God 
 had chosen him and was calling him, and that he
 
 96 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 was henceforth to consider himself as separated 
 and holy to the Lord. The Apostles were not in 
 the habit of making distinctions between the mem- 
 bers of the Church. It would have been entirely 
 contrary to their feeling and conviction to use for 
 example such language as this, " Some of you, 
 who shew by your lives that you are truly devoted 
 to Christ, we shall gladly recognize as saints, the 
 rest we must sorrowfully regard as unholy and pro- 
 fane." Speaking to a mixed multitude of Chris- 
 tians, St Peter says freely, " Ye are a chosen gene- 
 ration, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pecu- 
 liar people ; that ye should shew forth the praises 
 of him who has called you out of darkness into his 
 marvellous light : which in time past were not a 
 people, but are now the people of God ; which had 
 not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." 
 And if any one urges that though the Apostle does 
 not in word discriminate, yet he must have had in 
 his mind an implied distinction, between those who 
 were truly religious and those who were only nomi- 
 nal Christians, I answer that the distinctions of 
 personal character were not one but many, but that 
 St Peter was not thinking of personal character in 
 the Christians whom he was addressing, but of 
 God's calling. From this point of view it is certain
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 97 
 
 that any distinction between some members of the 
 Church and others was foreign to the Apostolic 
 mind. The first teachers of the Church wished 
 every Christian to believe that he was chosen and 
 called. To those who were still outside the Church 
 the preachers of Christ said, " God has sent us to 
 you, and to every one whom the offer of salvation 
 can reach, to assure you that he forgives you and 
 calls you into reconciliation." As many as con- 
 sented to believe, they washed with water in sign 
 of cleansing through forgiveness ; and then to the 
 baptized they addressed their appeals on the 
 ground that they had been chosen, called, washed, 
 consecrated, and were therefore no longer their 
 own. 
 
 It is most true, however, that there is a distinc- 
 tion between the consecration of unconscious things 
 and that of the conscious spiritual creatures of God. 
 A building can be set apart for Divine worship ; 
 and a living soul can also be set apart for Divine 
 worship : but a living soul is a very different thing 
 from a building. In the conscious being, consent is 
 required ; and until the consent of the heart is 
 won, the consecration remains in a manner frus- 
 trated. So that there is profound reason in the 
 twofold Apostolic exhortation, though it may sound 
 D. s. S. 7
 
 98 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 illogical, " You are holy ; therefore be holy." These 
 two clauses sum up the New Testament teaching 
 as to sanctification. Each clause, the affirmative 
 and the imperative, was spoken with solemn 
 earnestness ; but I am inclined to believe that the 
 former was then felt to be the more important of 
 the two. The former declared the foundation, 
 laid by God, the latter pointed to the superstruc- 
 ture, to be built by the Christian. And it was 
 through knowing and feeling what God had done, 
 that men were drawn and enabled to contribute 
 their part to the accomplishment of God's purpose. 
 To say with inward thankfulness and joy, 
 " Thou hast chosen me and made me thine own, 
 let me be thine!" is the instinctive utterance of 
 Christian holiness. Our Lord himself is the Holy 
 One for us to imitate, in that he perfectly surren- 
 dered himself to his Father's will. " They are not 
 of the world," he says to his Father, of those whom 
 the Father had given to him, " even as I am not of 
 ths world. ..As thou hast sent me into the world, 
 even so have I also sent them into the world. 
 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they 
 also might be sanctified through the truth." The 
 Lord Jesus sanctified himself. It is usual, I think, 
 and right, to regard this as meaning, " I devote my-
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 99 
 
 self, in my approaching sacrifice." It was in his 
 Passion and Death, most completely, though not 
 only, that our Lord offered himself to his Father. 
 But this self-consecration or sacrifice of Christ did 
 not originate in himself. As he so often said, the 
 Father sent him, commissioned him, sealed him, 
 anointed him. It was his glory, his meat, his life, 
 to fulfil the will of the Father who had sent him. 
 This was the sanctification of the Holy One. And 
 the same kind of consent to be taken and used for 
 God's service is the holiness of Christians. Holiness 
 is not any more than righteousness the laborious 
 discharge of a ceremonial ; it is, let me repeat it 
 inward consent to God's election. If we would be 
 holy, the sense that God calls us to be entirely his 
 must master us, so that we shall desire and strive 
 to be in all things and effectually his. 
 
 Look at the things that men do, good and bad, 
 right and wrong, from the point of view of this 
 . principle of holiness. They do them from various 
 motives, or from almost no motive ; from some in- 
 ward prompting and preference, or because others 
 have done the same things before. The principle 
 of holiness will constrain us to discriminate between 
 these in a certain manner. We are in the world, 
 immersed in the general human life, conscious of 
 
 72
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 the influence of custom and desire ; but we are not 
 of the world, we belong to God. Our question will 
 be, Which of these things fall in with our resolve 
 to yield ourselves to God's service ? Which of 
 them do we know by instinct or learn by experi- 
 ence to be contrary and destructive to it ? These 
 latter we call unholy, profane, and they ought to 
 become thoroughly repulsive to us. The right 
 feeling will be that they defile, as dirt does the 
 clean body, a spirit that is pledged to entire dedi- 
 cation to God. 
 
 One word here, to meet a difficulty which the 
 conception of holiness as meaning separation to 
 God's service may suggest. If we mean by " holy" 
 that which is set apart, unconsciously and con- 
 sciously, to God's service, how can we speak of 
 God himself as holy ? What we imply, I think, 
 when we call God holy, is that he disapproves and 
 repels these human acts and affections which we 
 learn to be inconsistent with our devotion to God. 
 God's holiness is not another element or attribute 
 of his nature, it is another aspect of it. It expresses 
 the repugnance that there must be between the 
 perfect nature of the just and loving God, and the 
 things which in us are unholy and produce defile- 
 ment. It is wholesome for us to remember with
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 awe that we have to do with a jealous and a holy 
 God. 
 
 There can surely be no doubt, dear brethren, 
 as to the powerful influence which the consciousness 
 of having been made and claimed for God's ser- 
 vice, of having been chosen in Christ to be holy 
 and blameless before him, would have upon our 
 lives. There would issue from it a perpetual con- 
 demnation of the cruelty, disregard of ties, and 
 sensuality, by which this world which Christ re- 
 deemed is still denied. And therefore it is well 
 that we should cherish all recollections and habits 
 which may impress upon us our sanctity as Chris- 
 tians. We, like the Jews, have holy seasons, holy 
 places, holy things ; and of late years there has 
 been a considerable revival amongst us of reverence 
 for all things that minister to the worship of God. 
 Sacraments, Churches, holy days, have been rescued 
 from comparative neglect, and are the objects of 
 pious and increasing consideration throughout all 
 classes in the land. This revival of reverence 
 is good, upon one condition, that we do not look 
 upon external things as inherently sacred, but as 
 witnesses that we ourselves who live and work 
 are sanctified by the Lord our God. God, we 
 ought to know, does not want holy tilings, but
 
 HOLlA r ESS TO THE LORD. 
 
 holy persons, minds and hearts and members given 
 up in rational sacrifice to him. Our holiness is 
 essentially spiritual ; and God, who knows our 
 weakness and does not blame us for it, gives us 
 a Spirit which the Church has always called the 
 holy and sanctifying Spirit. Without his inspira- 
 tions, how would it be possible for us to live for 
 God ? God is invisible, and we are creatures of 
 flesh and blood, upon whom the visible world 
 is always crowding its impressions. It is so natural 
 for us to live as children of the world ! Yes, 
 if it were not that we are subject to other im- 
 pressions also ; that our heavenly Father is con- 
 tinually appealing to us by higher influences, and 
 making himself known to us, and stirring up in us 
 the consciousness in which we may know that we 
 are not of the world, even as our Saviour and 
 Master was not of the world. Do not believe 
 that there is anything arbitrary, unmanly, or ob- 
 solete, in true Christian sanctity. Christ as our 
 Head, and the Holy Spirit moving in us, make 
 it natural for every one who professes and calls 
 himself a Christian to be holy. We are not bound 
 to any strained asceticism, to any desertion of our 
 appointed industry, to any gloomy religious fears. 
 The ideal we shall aim at in giving ourselves to
 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 103 
 
 God will be to become guileless and pure and 
 gentle and courageous and diligent as well as 
 devout and prayerful. We are to desire, as fol- 
 lowers of Christ, to be innocent as little children, 
 not in their mere ignorance and inexperience, but 
 through the power of those affections of the children 
 of God which lift us above the world, and give 
 us a hearty distaste for all that is base and vile. 
 He that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable 
 to God, and though he does not seek their appro- 
 bation, he ends by being also approved of men.
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 ST JOHN xvn. 16. "They are not of the world, eren as I am 
 not of the world." 
 
 I ENDEAVOURED to make it clear this morning 
 that the proper idea of holiness is that of dedica- 
 tion to the exclusive service of God. Holy things 
 are those which are set apart for the use of worship ; 
 holy persons or saints are those whom God has 
 made his own by election and calling, and who 
 consent to be his. Holiness therefore implies 
 separation ; and those who are to be in any sense 
 holy must in some way be separate. What kind 
 of separation is rightly involved in, or required 
 by, Christian holiness in the present age, is the 
 question which we are to consider this evening. 
 
 The most obvious way of being separate is that 
 of refusing to have fellowship with other people 
 who do not think or feel as we do. "Come out 
 from among them, and be ye separate," is an ex- 
 hortation addressed by St Paul to the Christians
 
 THE CHURCH AXD THE WORLD. 105 
 
 of Corinth. And when we look back to the be- 
 ginnings of the Church, we see small societies of 
 persons who have come out very decidedly from 
 the world surrounding them. The Christians were 
 separated in religion, in morals, and in social life, 
 from their neighbours. Their Christian profession 
 imperatively required them to be thus separated. 
 Their holiness was endangered by free association 
 with the heathen. And it was necessary that they 
 should draw together closely and seek support for 
 their faith in mutual encouragement and in the 
 common atmosphere of a Christian society. We 
 can understand easily enough this state of things, 
 when we recall the circumstances of the first age 
 of the Church. Within the Church there is a close 
 communion or fellowship of the saints with one 
 another; on the outside there is a marked sepa- 
 ration between the few saints and the unholy world 
 surrounding them. 
 
 But the scene changes when we pass from the 
 first century to the nineteenth. What is to be said 
 about separation when the whole society is pro- 
 fessedly Christian ? From whom are we, the Chris- 
 tians of this country, to separate ourselves ? Chris- 
 tians are not a select few in England; rror is 
 England a little Christian land surrounded by
 
 106 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 heathen nations. How far can we use, in what 
 way can we reasonably and honestly apply to our 
 own case, the Scriptural doctrine concerning the 
 separation of Christians from the world ? What 
 is for us the holy fellowship, and what is the 
 world ? 
 
 The true and thorough answer to be given to 
 these questions is this, that the primary and 
 essential separation of the holy is from all that 
 defiles. This is to be insisted upon now as much as 
 ever and in all possible circumstances. But the 
 social separation from persons or classes is alto- 
 gether a secondary and variable matter. It may 
 be that the only way of avoiding defilement is by 
 separation from certain persons ; then such separa- 
 tion becomes a duty of holiness. But otherwise all 
 refusal of fellowship between human beings is un- 
 desirable and to be regretted. There ought never 
 to be separation for separation's sake, between 
 Christians and non-Christians, or between some 
 Christians and others. And to trust to such separa- 
 tion for the promotion of holiness, is a fatal error. 
 It is the more fatal, because it is also a very natural 
 and seductive error. 
 
 There are two conspicuous forms of this per- 
 version of the idea of holiness in these later ages.
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 107 
 
 In both, men start from the notion that it is a fun- 
 damental necessity of Christianity to cut out some 
 portion of the world for God, and to leave the rest 
 of it as not God's. The one kind of separation we 
 may call religions, the other ecclesiastical. 
 
 I. When Christians have been most in earnest, 
 great stress has been laid upon the difference be- 
 tween being really, and being only nominally, 
 Christian. The Bible speaks of regeneration, of 
 conversion, of the absorbing faith of the believer, 
 of the required renunciation of all earthly things. A 
 great number of baptized and professing Christians 
 have been very unlike what Christians according to 
 the Bible standard ought to be, some shamelessly 
 profligate, many conspicuously followers of fashion 
 and pleasure, still more, cold and heartless believers 
 in the crucified and risen Christ. How was it pos- 
 sible to assume that such Christians as these had 
 undergone the new birth and were living a life 
 in Christ ? It was a natural conclusion that there 
 must be an inner circle of true believers as well as 
 the larger body of nominal Christians. The be- 
 lievers, it was held, had undergone the inward 
 change which transformed them from being chil- 
 dren of the world into children of God. The line 
 of separation, it then appeared evident, was to be
 
 Io3 THE CHURCH AXD THE WORLD. 
 
 drawn between the regenerate and the unregene- 
 rate. The genuine Christians would know one an- 
 other by having the same tastes and interests, the 
 same preferences and the same aversions; they 
 would feel also the vital difference between them- 
 selves and the unconverted. There would thus be a 
 living communion or fellowship of the holy, and a 
 more than formal separation between them and the 
 rest of the world. And it would then be regarded 
 as highly important for the true believers not to 
 make light of their separation from the world, but 
 while they longed to persuade their perishing 
 brethren to submit to the inner change which would 
 enable them to cross the line, to fake care that the 
 line was not obliterated. It became a duty of 
 charity to the unconverted themselves, to warn them 
 by protests and by repulsion of the danger of re- 
 maining children of the world. 
 
 There is something pathetic in the distress and 
 perplexity which have been occasioned by this 
 theory of the difference between converted and 
 merely nominal Christians. There is so much that 
 is true in it, so much that is high and self-denying 
 in the life that it enjoins. To many and many a 
 humble Christian it has seemed absolutely necessary, 
 at any cost of feeling, to hold it and act upon it.
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 109 
 
 And yet nothing, I think, can be more clear and 
 certain than that the kind of distinction assumed 
 does not exist in fact. When the Gospel is sud- 
 denly preached with warmth in the midst of an 
 utterly dead and careless generation, the real dif- 
 ference between those who accept it and those who 
 turn their backs upon it may for a time be nearly 
 as great as the theory assumes. But in the families 
 and the households of the converted, and generally 
 in an age like our own and in such a society as that 
 represented, for example, by this present congrega- 
 tion, the line comes to be more and more evidently 
 an arbitrary one. It is difficult, is it not impossi- 
 ble ? to say that a select number of this congrega- 
 tion have undergone a change which makes them 
 utterly different from the rest. Your mind refuses 
 to effect the separation practically, which is the 
 way in which, if made at all, it ought to be made. 
 The most thoroughly honest will be the. most un- 
 able to decide in their own case whether they be- 
 long to the regenerate or the unregenerate. I have 
 heard it said, "The test may be a very simple and 
 Catholic one; a person can surely tell whether he 
 loves Christ or not." But no: this test fails, the 
 moment you begin to apply it. Every one here, I 
 may hope, loves Christ a little ; no one here loves
 
 I ro THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 Christ in the degree in which it is reasonable that 
 saved sinners should love their Saviour. In brief, 
 you have not two sets of persons, one set of one 
 nature, the other set of a totally different nature. 
 The two natures are struggling together in each 
 person ; and the degrees of difference between 
 Christian and Christian are so various as to be 
 indeterminable by any measurement. 
 
 I have alluded to the distress which the attempt 
 to make a separation of the converted from the 
 unconverted has occasioned to multitudes of earnest 
 souls. But the pain thus given is not the worst 
 result of it. A graver evil is that it tends to make 
 religion unreal and artificial. Religious people 
 have been led to cling to arbitrary forms of out- 
 ward habit as if they were identical with the deep- 
 est spiritual characteristics. To dance or not to 
 dance has been made the test of a Christian. Con- 
 sciences have been miserably confused. And along 
 with artificiality a very genuine worldliness has 
 stolen into the most exclusive Christian society. 
 The strictly religious have not been more kind, 
 more frank, more magnanimous, than others: and 
 people of the world have had too much excuse for 
 justifying themselves on moral grounds in not 
 desiring to be religious.
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. Hi 
 
 Happily, as members of the Church of England, 
 we are under no constraint or even temptation to 
 bisect Christian society into the two classes of the 
 converted and unconverted. The necessity of 
 doing this is a tradition of the religious world, but 
 not of the Church of England. Our Church treats 
 all its members as the Apostles treated the mem- 
 bers of their Churches. It throws the broad man- 
 tle of the Christian calling over them all ; and be- 
 neath this, it assumes that there may be every 
 kind and degree of unworthiness. It is our own 
 fault if we allow this comprehension to seduce us 
 into indifference to holiness. There are none here 
 who have a right to think of their condition as 
 other than a holy one. You are all holy brethren, 
 partakers of the heavenly calling, called to be 
 saints. The same standard is placed before all, 
 and each will have to answer to himself and to 
 God for the manner in which he conforms himself 
 to it. 
 
 2. I turn now to another mistaken mode of 
 effecting the separation implied in holiness, that 
 which I have called the ecclesiastical. According 
 to this, the Church is holy, and the world in its 
 '~ivil form and organization is not holy. It is very 
 important in these days that we should set this
 
 1 1 2 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 view distinctly before our minds and ask ourselves 
 whether we assent to it. 
 
 It is not so easy, however, to make the theory 
 a satisfactorily distinct one. The " Church" is a 
 word which is notoriously difficult to define. So is 
 the "World." The case is simplest in modern 
 Romanism. There the Church means ultimately 
 the Pope. The portion of mankind which adheres 
 to the Pope is holy, and holiness is bound up with 
 hearty and unqualified submission to the Pope. 
 Civil governments, so long as they are obedient to 
 the Holy Father, partake of his holiness ; as soon 
 as they set themselves in any opposition to Rome, 
 they become unholy and profane. That is intelli- 
 gible enough as a theory. But the holiness of the 
 Church, thus understood, proves itself to be only a 
 matter of definition and theory, when we find civil 
 governments more righteous, more observant of 
 the will of God, as they often have been, than the 
 Pope and the Church. In the long struggles of 
 history between the Papal See and national go- 
 vernments, it is impossible for any fair inquirer to 
 refuse to admit that the policy of Rome has been 
 continually marked by falsehood, intrigue, and vio- 
 lence. The Court of the Pope has often been as 
 profligate as any other Court. The title of " His
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 113 
 
 Holiness" seems one of bitter irony, when given to 
 some of the occupants of the Papal See. But in 
 our own Church, which does not acknowledge the 
 Pope, there is a strong tendency to make out that 
 the Church, as clerically organized, appropriates 
 God's calling and is alone holy, and that the world, 
 as organized under civil government, is altogether 
 outside of that calling which makes holy. Eccle- 
 siastical assemblies are held to have the Spirit of 
 God pledged to them exclusively. Men quote our 
 Lord's saying, " Render to Caesar the things that 
 are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," 
 as if Caesar meant civil government and God eccle- 
 siastical government, and as if Caesar and God had 
 separate jurisdictions, each limiting the other. 
 But Caesar did not mean the national government 
 as distinct from the ecclesiastical, and most cer- 
 tainly God did not mean the ecclesiastical govern- 
 ment, and it is even absurd to imagine that God's 
 authority does not interfere with that of secular 
 government. There is nothing in the New Testa- 
 ment to suggest that ecclesiastical organization has 
 God with it any more than the civil system of 
 society. The Lord Jesus did not come as a priest, 
 but as the son of a carpenter ; the Apostles were 
 not Jewish priests, they were all drawn from the 
 D. S. S. 8
 
 114 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 ranks of the laity. Pilate, the representative of a 
 secular foreign dominion, did indeed put our Lord 
 to death : but our Lord himself said, "He that de- 
 livered me unto thee hath the greater sin." The 
 priests were those who really caused Jesus to be 
 put to death ; he was sentenced to death for blas- 
 phemy by the Church Court of the Sanhedrim. 
 When the Apostles were addressing and teaching 
 the believers in Christ, they used abundantly, as I 
 have shewn, the terms expressing holiness ; but 
 these terms were invariably applied to the whole 
 body, and to the body not as organized under over- 
 seers and elders, but as doing the work of God in 
 the world. I am not contending for a general con- 
 fusion of functions ; I do not say that ecclesiastics 
 have not their own place and honour ; but I confi- 
 dently deny that the holiness of the Church is in- 
 tended to belong to its ecclesiastical functions only. 
 Because the Church is holy to the Lord, therefore 
 all the business of life, including the high and 
 sacred work of civil government, is to be discharged 
 as to the Lord, and may claim the assistance of the 
 Divine Spirit. 
 
 The simple truth is that any theory of holiness 
 which would cut out a portion of the world for 
 God, leaving the rest as not God's whether the
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 115 
 
 selected portion be the inner circle of true believers 
 or the outward ecclesiastical organization is alto- 
 gether a wrong one. The Scriptural doctrine of 
 holiness claims all the world for God. It does re- 
 ject and excommunicate, indeed ; but not willingly 
 any portion of society or any person, assuredly not 
 civil government; but all tempers and habits dis- 
 pleasing to the just and gracious God. 
 
 My brethren, when you have been repelled by 
 some erroneous notions of exclusive sanctity, 
 when you have turned away from the sainthood of 
 men who thought they gave themselves up to God 
 by deserting the world and by outraging the senses, 
 or from the Pharisaism of narrow religious cliques, 
 or from ecclesiastical fanaticism, the easiest course 
 may seem to be to throw aside all ideas of holiness, 
 and to content yourselves with what society may 
 determine to be sensible and moderate and prac- 
 tical in morals and religion. Let me entreat you 
 to beware of this bias, and to resist it as a tempta- 
 tion. Be not persuaded to take a worldly view of 
 life and to make respectability your standard. 
 We cannot afford to lose the elevating influence of 
 the consciousness of sanctity. You know what the 
 sense of honour has done for the privileged classes 
 of society, how it has made men regard it as an in- 
 
 82
 
 Ii6 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 tolerable insult to be charged with lying, cowardice, 
 or meanness, and has thus been in some degree a 
 real safeguard to them against the faults deemed 
 unworthy of a gentleman. Well, holiness is the 
 Christian's honour. The sense of holiness is a 
 much better thing than the sense of honour. It is 
 the heritage of the poorest and most despised, as 
 well as of the highly bred. It does not threaten 
 an accuser with sword-point or pistol-ball, whether 
 the accusation be well-founded or not ; but it 
 shrinks with disgust from the sin itself. It che- 
 rishes the instinct which feels shame not in being 
 thought to be defiled, but in being defiled. I know 
 not how the place of this instinct of holiness could 
 be supplied. 
 
 Let it not be lost from amongst us, Christian 
 brethren. Let us not have to cast about for new 
 influences to be furnished by philosophy to do the 
 purifying work of Christian sanctity. Begin from 
 God, and seek his effectual aid. Study to think of 
 yourselves, not only he-re and on Sundays, but on 
 week days and in your appointed industry, as 
 dedicated to God. Has he not called you to be 
 his own ? How come you to be Christians ? You 
 have not chosen Christ, but he has chosen you. 
 He took you for his members before you could
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. llj 
 
 have an opinion or make a choice. So far as your 
 Christianity has any honest meaning at all, it means 
 that you have been introduced by God into a holy 
 state, made members of Christ, children of God, 
 and inheritors of the Kingdom of heaven. "What ? 
 know you not that your body is the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of 
 God, and you are not your own? For you are bought 
 with a price ; therefore glorify God in your body, 
 and in your spirit, which are God's." Bear in rnind 
 God's character, as well as the calling and gifts you 
 have received from him ; remember with what an 
 abiding anger he hates sin ; try to imagine with 
 what feelings the perfect Heavenly Father must 
 behold his children corrupting and defiling them- 
 selves. And do not think of yourselves as if you 
 were alone in the world. Look not every man on 
 his own things, but every man also on the things of 
 others. Respect those around you as also holy- 
 like yourselves with a Divine consecration. God 
 has put into our hands the awful power of edifying 
 or corrupting one another. Therefore beware that 
 no corrupt communication proceed out of your 
 mouth, but that which is good to the use of edify- 
 ing, that it may minister grace to the hearers. 
 These are the incomparable exhortations of Chris-
 
 Il8 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 tian duty. They are not the precepts of a worldly 
 and secular morality: they require the Christian 
 to emancipate himself absolutely from the dominion 
 of the world. But they are good for the world. 
 They are in no respect unpractical, or opposed to 
 the welfare of the world. The world is better for 
 all denials of its authority over the children of God. 
 Let us therefore come out of it, that we may the 
 more effectually serve it. Let us refuse to be 
 governed by custom, to be awed by fashion, to 
 follow a multitude to do evil. Whatever the cost 
 may be of a life regulated from heaven, it is wise 
 to look to God for guidance, for support, and for 
 reward. Having the Eternal God for our Father, 
 let us cleanse ourselves earnestly from all filthiness 
 of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear 
 of God.
 
 IX. 
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 2 THESSALONIANS in. 5. "The Lord direct your hearts into the 
 love of God." 
 
 THE first and great commandment, said our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, is this, "Thou shalt love thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy mind, and with all thy strength." 
 
 This commandment does not impose upon us 
 onerous labours ; it does not require us to perform 
 services which would eat out a large part of our 
 life. It was not this commandment to which St 
 Peter referred, when he described the yoke of Ju- 
 daism as one "which neither our fathers nor we 
 were able to bear." To love is the happiest exer- 
 cise of our human nature, not incompatible with 
 other employment, not a burden superadded to 
 life, but the sovereign lightener of its load. But is 
 the command therefore an easy and a light one? 
 There are many, I am sure, to whom such an 
 account of it would at times seem ironical and a
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 mockery. "Thou shalt love." Do we then love 
 at command and by compulsion ? If we are bidden 
 to do a thing within our power, we can do it, 
 whether we like it or not ; but if we are bidden to 
 like it, the very dictate is more calculated to pro- 
 voke aversion than to create the liking. And what 
 kind of affection is it that is thus imperatively 
 demanded of us ? Nothing languid or neutral, but 
 a feeling of the utmost conceivable energy. We 
 are called upon to love God with all the heart and 
 soul and mind and strength. He who is to be the 
 object of this love is a Being whom we have never 
 seen, and whom, however near us he may be, it is 
 certainly possible to forget. Add the further con- 
 sideration, that our affections are being at all times 
 powerfully solicited by quite different objects. It 
 is no wonder if this commandment, when it is 
 understood and acknowledged as calling for a real 
 obedience, instead of being regarded as a light 
 thing, often excites in our minds a feeling of help- 
 lessness and despondency. " There is nothing like 
 such love in our hearts," we say, when we look 
 within. And when, as we always do, we look at 
 others to compare ourselves with them, we may 
 reassure ourselves a little by seeing too plainly 
 that our fellow-Christians in general are almost
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 as far from keeping this commandment as we 
 are. 
 
 I am not speaking now to persons who have 
 made up their minds that there is no God who can 
 be known, and that all who have believed in a God 
 have been merely crouching before an enlarged 
 shadow of themselves projected upon the obscure 
 curtain of the surrounding world. I am addressing 
 Christians, not altogether ignorant of the happiness 
 of loving God, willing to believe that if it Were only 
 possible, there would be joy as well as safety in 
 loving God with entire devotion, and even now, 
 loving God more than they have given themselves 
 credit for doing. But we are all troubled in some 
 measure by the difficulties which weigh heavily at 
 this time upon many ingenuous minds. Far as we 
 may be from holding the creed that God is un- 
 knowable, we do not find him easy to know. We 
 are aware that conceptions about God have varied 
 greatly amongst religious persons and nations. 
 Many opinions concerning the Divine nature have 
 been abandoned, not it would seem because 
 men have observed God more closely, but because 
 the advance of scientific and social knowledge has 
 made those opinions untenable. Each, in his own 
 experience as a believer in God, has had to put
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 away childish things. If we desire to make our 
 knowledge of God more sure and defined, we are 
 much at a loss how to do it. We cannot employ 
 our senses upon the Divine nature, we cannot sub- 
 ject it to tests, we cannot go round it and survey 
 it. We have no means of demonstration by which 
 we can compel all rational minds to assent even to 
 the most fundamental conclusions about God, and 
 it is at first a shock and always a discouragement 
 to find that there are able thinkers who do not 
 share the convictions which to us are sacred. It 
 may seem to us, moreover, that the high and lofty 
 One inhabiting eternity, filling the immeasurable 
 universe, needing nothing from us, with a range of 
 government to which our life is so microscopically 
 insignificant, is not such a Being as to draw forth 
 emotions in us which we should naturally call love. 
 We do not render the warmth of our hearts to an 
 unsearchable mystery. And when we have con- 
 fessed that the God of our worship is really en- 
 titled to our love, and our consciences have wit- 
 nessed that we ought to love him, there is always 
 the hardness of our hearts to deplore. We are 
 wayward and selfish and sinful, and bestow our 
 love wrongly, and either give way to evil influences 
 or struggle against them with constant ill-success.
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 123 
 
 How poor and fitful, at the very best, must any 
 human love of God be ! 
 
 I am speaking, I say, to those who know that 
 they are called to love God, but who are painfully 
 conscious of the immense difference between the 
 demand made on them by their calling, and the 
 fulfilment of it by themselves and their fellow- 
 Christians, and who are inclined to plead in excuse 
 the difficulties which beset the human soul with 
 regard to the knowledge and love of God. In 
 what I have to say this morning, my endeavour 
 will be to suggest to you some few thoughts, in 
 the light of which those difficulties may appear, 
 perhaps, less depressing and insurmountable. 
 
 i. Let us not take pleasure in fixing our 
 thoughts upon the inevitable imperfection of our 
 knowledge and the inadequacy of our faculties, 
 so as to forget or underrate what we can and do 
 know of God. Rather let us admit and take for 
 granted whatever can be said as to the incompre- 
 hensibility of God, and then putting this admis- 
 sion aside let us consider whether God does not 
 in fact in some manner and with whatever qualifi- 
 cations make himself known to us. 
 
 It is a first principle of the Christian belief 
 in God, that he has revealed himself as a Father
 
 124 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 to us in his Son Jesus Christ. We have no higher 
 or more essential or more trustworthy knowledge 
 of God than that which we receive by studying 
 Jesus Christ. Now when we think of this, we have 
 before our minds much that need not be affected 
 by the weakness of our faculties or the variableness 
 of our mental conceptions and acquirements. 
 
 Go to the heart of what the Son of God de- 
 clared by word and life concerning his Father. 
 If Jesus Christ was true, God the maker and 
 controller of all things is essentially good. Christ 
 does not directly tell us much of the modes of 
 God's relation to created things ; he passes by 
 metaphysics and ontology. But he gives us to 
 understand that goodness is higher than power, 
 and moral creativeness more Divine than physical. 
 He shews the Father to us as having a gracious 
 will, and purposes of blessing, and an orderly and 
 trustworthy moral government. The degree of 
 Divine Love which he declares is very difficult for 
 us to believe ; the way in which that Love acted 
 through Christ may strike us at first as strange 
 and incongruous. The Love shewed itself not by 
 a mastering and overpowering benevolence, but in 
 self-humiliation and sympathy and appeal, seeking 
 not to make all men happy by arrangement, but
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 125 
 
 to win human hearts into spiritual fellowship with 
 itself. The former method might have seemed 
 to us the more likely : but compare the two, both 
 as to essential quality and as to the value of the 
 effects produced, Love speaking to human hearts 
 in sacrifice and appeal, and Love arranging things 
 so that there may be no suffering. Which is the 
 better ? This is perhaps the most absolutely vital 
 of all possible questions. All other questions of 
 belief seem to me to mount up ultimately into 
 this. If our hearts confess that Love is more 
 Divine than Power, and that Love manifested in 
 Sacrifice surpasses Love in any other form, then 
 the fact that we should not have expected to 
 behold the Eternal Father giving up his Son, or 
 the Lord of Glory consenting to be crucified, be- 
 comes to us a strong additional argument for be- 
 lieving that in this act of Sacrifice we do indeed 
 see the essential Divine Nature revealing itself. 
 And no difficulties of the understanding, which, 
 as we are agreed, is quite incompetent to com- 
 prehend God, ought to be allowed to overthrow 
 this testimony in which spirit recognizes Spirit. 
 
 When we have caught a glimpse of this highest 
 thing, Love appealing through sacrifice and thus 
 working out a living spiritual order, we may say
 
 126 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 that we have a knowledge of God which is not 
 liable to be affected by the conditions which make 
 so many of our apprehensions temporary and un- 
 stable. St Paul saw that faith and hope and love 
 abide ; compared with imagination, understanding, 
 and exposition, which have to do with things in 
 a perpetual condition of development, and which 
 experience shews to be variable, faith and hope 
 and love are permanent; they are substantially 
 the same in the child and in the man, in the 
 primitive and in the civilized stage of culture. 
 To these faculties of the spirit God reveals that 
 which is eternal. So far as we apprehend his gra- 
 cious and righteous will, drawing out our trust 
 and hope and love, we have been permitted to 
 penetrate to that which is essentially Divine. 
 
 Whilst, however, the revelation of God made 
 to us through Christ is the supreme one, it is not 
 isolated or exclusive. The Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ is to be looked for in the glorious 
 framework of Nature, in the gradually developed 
 institutions of human society, and in the inspira- 
 tions by which our individual life is visited and 
 guided. Not embarrassing ourselves with attempts 
 to form systems by which we may account for the 
 whole world and all that we see in it, attempts
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 127 
 
 which may very likely be unsuccessful and dis- 
 appointing, we may hold fast in all inquiries and 
 contemplations our belief in Supreme Love and 
 Righteousness, and watch devoutly for the signs 
 by which they may manifest themselves. Other 
 revelations of God will not supersede that which 
 has been given in Christ, and brought to us through 
 the Bible and the tradition and development of the 
 Church, but they will illustrate it, and bring it 
 home to our minds at multiplied points of contact, 
 and help us to feel its reality and power. 
 
 2. God then, let us be sure, is not a Being 
 whom we cannot possibly love for want of knowing 
 him. But what is the kind of affection with which 
 we can regard the Being thus genuinely revealed 
 to us ? Must we not say that he is too mysterious, 
 too much above us, to be loved? 
 
 Now, in Holy Scripture, the great test of love 
 is devotion. What will a man do for one whom 
 he loves? is the question. And it is from this 
 point of view that we may most wisely regard 
 the command that we should love God. The first 
 and great commandment ought not, indeed, to be 
 relaxed and toned down to suit human infirmity. 
 The Righteous Judge will make due allowance 
 for our frailty, but his commandments remain un-
 
 I 2 8 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 changed. They represent what is right and best 
 for man. God has made it good and right for us 
 to love him with all the energy of which our hearts 
 are capable. That is an eternal law, expressed 
 for our benefit in the form of an imperative de- 
 mand. But if we wished to examine ourselves 
 about the keeping of this commandment, it would 
 probably not be the wisest course to look back 
 upon our inward experiences, and to try to estimate 
 the warmth of emotion of which we have been 
 conscious towards God. Our emotions are not 
 directly under our control ; and, of the various 
 kinds of feeling comprehended under the name 
 of love, we might not perhaps understand accu- 
 rately what is best suited to our relation to God ; 
 and we might therefore judge ourselves wrongly. 
 It might be best to ask ourselves, not so much 
 how we have felt, as how far we have been loyal 
 to God in our outward and inward acts. Such 
 loyalty will be the safest proof of our love. 
 
 We have examples, it is true, in all ages, of 
 language of intense emotion uttering in words of 
 undoubted sincerity the desire of the human heart 
 towards God. Such is that of the Psalmist, " Like 
 as the hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth 
 my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 129 
 
 God, yea, even for the living God." And I doubt 
 not that the most fervent and passionate utterances 
 of this kind of love will often awaken a sympathe- 
 tic response in the Christian hearts of our own day. 
 Where there is the sensibility that thrills easily 
 into unsatisfied yearning, it is certain that the con- 
 templation of God as he reveals himself to us, in 
 the blended tenderness and mysteriousness of his 
 nature, will touch it and draw forth the longing 
 desire of love. But the love required by the com- 
 mandment may be rendered in other forms than 
 that of a brooding emotion. Let me suggest what 
 the ordinary type of the Christian's love towards 
 God would be. It ought to be grounded in awe. 
 The fear of the Lord is the beginning, not only of 
 wisdom, but of love. All increase of the knowledge 
 of God must tend to deepen our reverence. Whe- 
 ther we dwell upon the vastness and subtlety of his 
 creative operations, or enter into the secrets of his 
 redeeming work and purpose, a spirit of reverence 
 that will hush all mere familiarity of intercourse 
 cannot fail to take possession of us. But our fear 
 of God will be such as to dwell in entire harmony 
 with a grateful sense of Jds goodness. The consci- 
 ousness that we are unworthy in ourselves of the 
 least of God's mercies will feed our reverential 
 D. s. S. 9
 
 130 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 gratitude. All the delightfulness of nature, all the 
 bounty of the fruitful seasons, all the charities of 
 domestic and social life, will form a scale of blessing 
 leading up to the redeeming and fatherly love of 
 God in Christ ; and the privations and crosses 
 which give us pain, instead of being an account on 
 the other side to be deducted from the goodness, 
 will undergo a marvellous conversion when we 
 learn that by these means God is making us more 
 truly his children, and thus, with more power than 
 any happiness untouched by sorrow, will teach our 
 hearts to be thankful. A very ordinary Christian, 
 moved by influences which come to all alike, may 
 Avell be expected to feel habitually a desire rising 
 at times into intensity, to cast himself at the feet of 
 God and to give himself up utterly to his service 
 and pleasure. But, above all, the Christian's love of 
 God should imply earnest and deliberate choice of 
 tlie will of God in preference to anything that goes 
 counter to that will. Loyalty, I repeat, will be 
 taken as the essential proof of our love. Without 
 loyalty, emotions would have no worth in God's 
 sight, but rather would be distasteful to him. And 
 the inwardly loyal Christian will assuredly grow 
 according to his endowments and capacity in the 
 filial love of God.
 
 LOVE TOWARDS COD. 131 
 
 3. And now let me refer in a few words to the 
 hindrances which our sinful and worldly dispositions 
 put in the way of our loving God. Ah, brethren, 
 it is here, as you know too well, that we find our 
 chief difficulty. Whilst the spirit within us, moved 
 by the Divine Spirit, is crying Abba, Father, the 
 flesh is lusting against the spirit. We love the 
 world, and if any man love the world, the love of 
 the Father is not in him. God is too good for our 
 foolish and sinful hearts to love. 
 
 Well, we must lead a life of continual conflict. 
 As the Eternal Father has made us to love him 
 and claims our love, and on the other side enslaving 
 and corrupting influences are always soliciting us, 
 we cannot live as those who yield to a current which 
 carries them along. We must keep ourselves in an 
 attitude of watchful resistance, ready to unmask 
 disguised forms of evil, and exercising ourselves in 
 the love of God. And let us be sure that in all 
 preference of good to evil God recognizes love 
 towards himself. Never accustom yourselves to 
 associate God with technical religion only. No 
 habit, believe me, can be more fatal to the honest 
 and manly love of God. No, let me read in your 
 ears once more those invaluable words of St Paul, 
 " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are 
 
 92
 
 132 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 
 
 honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
 things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, what- 
 soever things are of good report ; if there be any 
 virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these 
 things." Remember, brethren, these are the words 
 not of a modern thinker who sets morality above 
 religion, but of him who declared in the same letter 
 that he counted all precious things but dung that 
 he might win Christ and be found in him. That 
 love of all good things is in living harmony with the 
 most intense devotion to Christ. To Christ; yes, 
 it is through him that we are most effectually bound 
 to the Father and to all things in the world that are 
 of the Father. As we consider Christ, we bring 
 ourselves under the influence of the full stream of 
 the Divine Love; and it is God's love, shed abroad 
 in our hearts, which teaches us to love. We love 
 God, because he first loved us. No human heart 
 can really love God, except responsively, except 
 through becoming conscious of being loved by God. 
 So it is that sin and worldliness are most effectually 
 shamed. If we knew nothing of the redeeming 
 and adopting love of God, we might perhaps excuse 
 ourselves in our running after vanities and our 
 many insincerities and our degrading bondage to 
 ease or luxury or excitement. But what sort of
 
 LOVE TOWARDS GOD. 133 
 
 tastes are these for souls for which Christ died ? O 
 we must sometimes hate ourselves for the answer 
 that we render back to the Divine Love ! Cling, 
 dear brethren, as for life, to the glorious Sacrifice 
 which provokes in us this salutary shame. We do 
 not want to be reconciled to our worse selves, we 
 want to be reinforced against them. And the 
 Cross that bears witness of the mingling of Divine 
 Love and Sorrow will nerve our strength for conflict 
 as well as soften our hearts in contrition. Under 
 that ensign we shall be more than conquerors 
 through him that loved us.
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 
 
 i ST JOHN IV. 21. "This commandment have we from him, that 
 he who loveth God love his brother also." 
 
 IF the voice of Christian doctrine were entirely 
 silenced, it cannot be alleged that there would 
 be any lack in these days of teachers to enjoin 
 benevolence and philanthropy. Love to man is ear- 
 nestly enforced by some moralists who either 
 affirm or imply that there is no God for us to 
 love. They delight to draw a contrast between 
 Religion, which they suppose to be occupied with 
 vain guesses about the unseen world and with 
 the selfish hopes and fears of men as to what 
 may be awaiting them after death, and the purely 
 human morality which studies the happiness of 
 mankind in this present world and the means 
 which may most effectually promote it. The 
 central principle of this morality is that the world 
 is evidently the better when human beings seek 
 to promote the general welfare. What is good 
 for the whole is good for the members.. Therefore
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 135 
 
 they say, let each control his selfish propensities ; 
 let him keep in view the greatest happiness of the 
 greatest number, or the true progress of society; 
 and let him cultivate the benevolent affections 
 with skilful care. They urge that society should 
 use all its influence, especially through the edu- 
 cation of the young, to train individual men and 
 women in unselfish benevolence ; and they believe 
 that benevolence may thus be bred to any point 
 of perfection, as we see courage and other qualities 
 to be bred. 
 
 I have no wish to deny that much may be 
 accomplished by the steady cultivation of bene- 
 volence. A child may be so taught from infancy 
 to consider the feelings of others, that a habit 
 of kindness may become a part of the permanent 
 texture of his character. Reverence for goodness 
 and self-sacrifice may be cherished in boys and 
 girls by holding up these qualities before them 
 as ideals, and by treating with honour the more 
 signal examples of generous devotion. The ex- 
 periment of promoting love for humankind without 
 that love of God and Christ which is the basis 
 of it for Christians, when tried with enthusiasm 
 by persons eagerly desiring it to succeed, has had 
 some undeniable success. Do not wonder at it.
 
 136 LOVE TOIVARDS MEN. 
 
 The second of the two great commandments is 
 this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: 
 and those who set themselves earnestly to fulfil 
 one of the greatest of the Maker's laws are not 
 likely to go unrewarded. The moralists of whom 
 I am speaking are teaching an integral part of 
 what we Christians are bound to teach. Put the 
 doctrine of the Christian Calling by the side of an 
 exclusively human morality, and what do we see ? 
 All that can really commend and establish itself 
 in the latter has a place and a welcome in the 
 former. The human morality says, Thou shalt 
 prefer the promotion of the general well-being 
 to the seeking of thine own pleasure. Well, 
 that is what the Christian doctrine also says. It 
 is evidently impossible for any morality to assert 
 principles of benevolence wider or higher than 
 those of the Christian Faith. But on the other 
 hand the merely human morality does not even 
 pretend to give an ultimate reason or authority 
 for what it enjoins. It may say as emphatically 
 or enthusiastically as it pleases to a man, " Prefer 
 the general good to thy own pleasure ;" and the 
 man is likely enough to listen with deference, 
 taking the command as being really, what it is, 
 the voice of the Maker : but if he is assured at the
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEX. 137 
 
 same time that there is no invisible Power to 
 which he owes loyalty, he may have the courage 
 to ask, " Why should I prefer the pleasure of others 
 to my own ? Who are you that dictate to me?" 
 And no satisfying answer can be given to him. 
 He may be told that the voice of the wisest and 
 best of mankind is to be heard in this command, 
 but it may occur to him to reply, "Yes, but those 
 wisest and best men thought they were only echoing 
 the voice of the Supreme Maker," or he may simply 
 refuse to submit his will to a tradition. Chris- 
 tianity gives the same command, and claims at 
 the same time to surround it with authority and 
 warmth and light drawn from the invisible world. 
 
 i. The first and greater commandment is, 
 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. " That means," 
 some have said, "that Religion is to take pre- 
 cedence of the service of mankind and to form 
 the larger half of human duty. The service of 
 mankind will therefore evidently be the gainer if 
 we can get rid of Religion." But that is a too 
 hasty conclusion. The truer statement would be 
 this : " He to whom as our Maker and Spiritual 
 Father we owe absolute allegiance tells us that 
 he has made men to be his family, and that it 
 is his will that we should love one another. The
 
 138 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 
 
 Eternal God has placed us here and given us 
 the work and probation of life, that each may 
 learn to subordinate himself and to live for his 
 brethren." Do you not feel that the command 
 to love one another, when it is thus received as 
 from God, instead of encountering a formidable 
 rival, has on the contrary been 'reinforced by the 
 most impressive authority imaginable ? You might 
 as well want to get rid of the steam-engine 
 from the train, as to divorce duty to man from 
 loyalty towards God. The belief that duty to 
 man is a command of God brings to the aid 
 of human goodwill and service all those feelings 
 of reverence and awe and obligation which we 
 know to be the most powerful by which the human 
 soul is moved. 
 
 2. The Gospel, moreover, presenting Christ, 
 the Divine Son of man, to men, offers to their 
 homage a worthy and ideal human object. It 
 makes man sacred, with a sanctity in which the 
 meanest share. A point, surely, of incalculable 
 importance. If you look at men as mere earthly 
 creatures, knowing them after the flesh only, you 
 may with much reason have a very poor opinion of 
 them. In your own circle you may have much 
 fault to find with most of those with whom you
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 139 
 
 have to do. But how differently do men look 
 when they are seen in CJirist! The habit of confess- 
 ing Christ as Lord, and the feelings of reverence 
 and love drawn out towards him, cause us in some 
 degree to assume and act upon the relation of our 
 fellow-men to Christ even when we do not distinctly 
 or consciously realize it. Most certainly, to a 
 true Christian, no man is entirely dissociated from 
 his Lord. Our fellow-men are those for whom 
 Christ died ; their flesh and blood have been worn 
 by the Son of God. If we know anything at all of 
 him, we know that it was his glory to humble him- 
 self for the sake of his brethren, not separating 
 himself from the weak or the defiled, but rather 
 striving to raise them by sympathy and fellowship. 
 In the lowest, Jesus Christ saw children of his 
 Father, to be loved and sought and saved. It was 
 his earnest desire and effort to persuade his follow- 
 ers to see men in him and him in men. Remember 
 those words of judgment, " Inasmuch as ye have 
 done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
 ye have done it unto me. Inasmuch as ye did it not 
 to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it 
 not unto me." What a violently strange notion it 
 would have seemed to a St Paul or a St John, that 
 the following of Christ should turn any man away
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 
 
 ST JOHN xvn. 16. "They are not of the world, even as I am 
 not of the world." 
 
 I ENDEAVOURED to make it clear this morning 
 that the proper idea of holiness is that of dedica- 
 tion to the exclusive service of God. Holy things 
 are those which are set apart for the use of worship ; 
 holy persons or saints are those whom God has 
 made his own by election and calling, and who 
 consent to be his. Holiness therefore implies 
 separation ; and those who are to be in any sense 
 holy must in some way be separate. What kind 
 of separation is rightly involved in, or required 
 by, Christian holiness in the present age, is the 
 question which we are to consider this evening. 
 
 The most obvious way of being separate is that 
 of refusing to have fellowship with other people 
 who do not think or feel as we do. " Come out 
 from among them, and be ye separate," is an ex- 
 hortation addressed bv St Paul to the Christians
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD. 105 
 
 of Corinth. And when we look back to the be- 
 ginnings of the Church, we see small societies of 
 persons who have come out very decidedly from 
 the world surrounding them. The Christians were 
 separated in religion, in morals, and in social life, 
 from their neighbours. Their Christian profession 
 imperatively required them to be thus separated. 
 Their holiness was endangered by free association 
 with the heathen. And it was necessary that they 
 should draw together closely and seek support for 
 their faith in mutual encouragement and in the 
 common atmosphere of a Christian society. We 
 can understand easily enough this state of things, 
 when we recall the circumstances of the first age 
 of the Church. Within the Church there is a close 
 communion or fellowship of the saints with one 
 another; on the outside there is a marked sepa- 
 ration between the few saints and the unholy world 
 surrounding them. 
 
 But the scene changes when we pass from the 
 first century to the nineteenth. What is to be said 
 about separation when the whole society is pro- 
 fessedly Christian ? From whom are we, the Chris- 
 tians of this country, to separate ourselves ? Chris- 
 tians are not a select few in England ; rror is 
 England a little Christian land surrounded by
 
 142 LOVE TOWAKDS MEN. 
 
 best sense of the proverb, "Charity begins at home." 
 It is in the home that love has its first place. The 
 child's primary love is due to the parent ; and as 
 the infant grows into the man, he finds other bonds 
 which claim according to their degree the feeling 
 appropriate to each. In accepting our various do- 
 mestic and social relations as having Divine autho- 
 rity, we learn through experience what is the best 
 form for our love in each case to take. Children 
 are to honour their parents, parents to govern their 
 children ; the husband is to be as the stronger 
 partner, the wife as the weaker, in the closest of all 
 unions ; there is an ideal affection of brothers and 
 sisters, friend and friend, of fellow-citizens, and of 
 fellow-Christians. Love begins in the home; and 
 from thence it spreads, as in the water-circles which 
 become gradually larger and less strongly marked, 
 till it embraces all mankind. 
 
 There is one form of love to man, which is at 
 the same time thrown out into prominence by 
 natural causes, and specially characteristic of Chris- 
 tianity I mean kindness towards the unpros- 
 perous and the afflicted. I have desired that this 
 should be considered as one form of that love due 
 from man to man which has its more important life 
 in the closer relations of human beings. It is most
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 143 
 
 undesirable that we should fall into a habit of 
 thinking the second great commandment to be ful- 
 filled in compassion towards the poor. But there is 
 no claim more conspicuous and undeniable than 
 that which the condition of the miserable makes 
 upon the goodwill of the prosperous. On the one 
 side there is need, on the other side there is power 
 to relieve. The law of Christ takes note of these 
 differences in the external lot of those whom Christ 
 calls his brethren, and imperatively requires the 
 happy to sympathize with and help those who suf- 
 fer. " Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his 
 brother have need, and shutteth up his heart from 
 him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ?" When 
 the Son of man sits on his throne of glory and 
 judges the nations, he dispenses blessing to those 
 who have given meat to the hungry and drink to 
 the thirsty, who have taken the stranger in and 
 clothed the naked and visited the sick and im- 
 prisoned, whilst a terrible curse is pronounced on 
 those who have done none of these things. There 
 is nothing peculiar to Christianity in its commenda- 
 tion of this simple kindness towards the unfortunate. 
 Every religion, every system of morality, has some 
 maxims of pity and philanthropy. What Christ 
 has done is to build up practical compassion upon
 
 144 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 
 
 the foundation of sonship to God. He, the Son of 
 God, makes the cause of the afflicted his own. "If 
 you would please the Father," he says to us, " see 
 that you do not harden yourselves against your 
 brothers who are in need." The teaching of Christ 
 and of his Apostles has not been without fruits. It 
 has been the glory of Christendom that those who 
 have cared for their Christian calling and profession, 
 amidst all differences and errors of belief have 
 never been callous to the cry of distress. Hospi- 
 tals, orphanages, almshouses, countless agencies for 
 the relief of suffering and destitution, spring up like 
 flowers over all ground which the Gospel has con- 
 quered for the name of Christ. 
 
 Experience has taught us that there is another 
 need, besides that of urging the claim of the hungry 
 and the naked upon Christian charity. Every 
 precept of the Gospel requires to be understood 
 spiritually, and to be applied with reasonable re- 
 gard to the conditions of particular cases. We 
 are under a dispensation, not of letter, but of 
 spirit. This being a principle of supreme im- 
 portance for all Christian life, the neglect of it 
 is visited by a Nemesis which often seems hard 
 to comprehend. The very best and most cha- 
 racteristic precepts, when they are followed literally,
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 145 
 
 are smitten as it were with disease, of paralysis 
 or of corruption. There are two alternative forms 
 of legislation, either of which it was open so to 
 speak to Christ to choose. He might have laid 
 down nothing about the spirit, but have given 
 every command surrounded with qualifications re- 
 lating to all possible circumstances, so that his 
 disciples might have found in the books handed 
 down to them an immense directory of conduct. 
 This method Christ did not choose, but preferred 
 the other. He impressed upon his hearers that 
 they were, first of all, subjects of the Spirit. This 
 was their essential and characteristic privilege ; 
 their difficulty, it might prove to be, but a glory 
 of which they could not divest themselves. To 
 disciples who were thus pledged to think and live 
 and act in the spirit, Christ delivered precepts 
 in bold and trenchant form. He threw aside qua- 
 lifying conditions ; these were needless for those 
 who would use spiritual discernment ; the absence 
 of them would be an abiding witness against un- 
 spiritual and literal discipleship. But the one com- 
 prehensive perversion of Christianity and all its 
 maxims and practices is the materializing, which 
 is also the literalizing, tendency. Christians have 
 always been forgetting and refusing to live in the 
 D. S. S. 10
 
 146 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 
 
 Spirit. And what does Gospel teaching become 
 to those who take it and judge it " after the flesh " ? 
 It cannot, thank God, altogether lose its virtue ; 
 but it does become in a very considerable degree 
 unintelligible and unpractical, and in a very pain- 
 ful degree misleading. The subject is too large 
 a one to illustrate now, except by the single 
 instance of the New Testament precepts of alms- 
 giving. These are very direct. "Give to him 
 that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow 
 of thee turn thou not away." " He that hath two 
 coats, let him impart to him that hath none ; and he 
 that hath meat, let him do likewise." Precepts like 
 these ought to have protected themselves against 
 a merely literal interpretation. But most unfor- 
 tunately, instead of seeing that they were to be 
 understood in the spirit, people have assumed 
 that they were expressed hyperbolically, and were 
 to be discounted. They have said, " I will not 
 go so far as to keep to myself but one coat, 
 or to lend to any one who would like a loan ; 
 but if I see any one who has not a sixpence, 
 I cannot as a Christian refuse to give him some- 
 thing." And so all the way down the course 
 of Christianity, people have given away money, 
 bread, coals, blankets, tickets, without regard to
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 147 
 
 consequences, as a Christian duty. But it is never 
 a Christian duty to act without regard to con- 
 sequences. And it has been found out that a 
 great deal of moral and social and physical mis- 
 chief has been done by alms- giving; and some 
 cry out that Christianity has been proved to be 
 wrong, and others retort that political economy 
 is hard and unfeeling, and tell themselves that 
 they have at any rate to save their souls by 
 obedience and charity, and that God who gave 
 the precepts must take care of the consequences. 
 But the only mistake is that the precepts have 
 not been understood as they were intended to be, 
 in the spirit. It may easily happen that a precept 
 can only be fulfilled in the spirit by doing the 
 opposite of it in the letter. Our hearts, my Chris- 
 tian brethren, ought to be such as would gladly 
 share our superfluities with those who are less 
 fortunate. Do not think that there is anything 
 hyperbolical or extravagant in this principle. If 
 there is a rich man in this land who would not 
 willingly give up his wealth to make many of 
 the poor in city or country less wretched, he is not 
 fulfilling the law of Christ. This needs still to be 
 proclaimed unflinchingly, as Christ proclaimed it. 
 But would he then fulfil the law of Christ by 
 
 10 2
 
 148 LOVE TOWARDS MEX. 
 
 selling all that he has and dividing it amongst 
 the needy refuse of some great population ? No, 
 he would not; and for this simple reason, that 
 \ve know with absolute certainty that such an act 
 would do more harm than good to the very persons 
 who were made partakers of the gift As to the 
 careless giving of doles to those who ask for them, 
 so as to maintain a certain number of persons 
 in idle and degraded mendicancy, that is not only 
 a social mischief, but it is so easy that it has been 
 not undeservingly stigmatized as a culpable form 
 of self-indulgence. I suppose there is no one 
 here who has not learnt that it will cost him 
 more under certain circumstances to refuse aid 
 than to give it. It is beyond all question that 
 the law of Christian charity often requires us to 
 incur for our brother's sake the pain of refusing 
 what he asks. It is plain to the eye of the most 
 moderate intelligence that to give relief is often 
 and often to place a stumbling-block or occasion 
 of falling m the way of a weak brother. And 
 our Saviour has said with the gravest solemnity, 
 "Woe unto him through whom stumbling-blocks 
 come !" 
 
 Let me exhort you then, brethren, to give 
 earnest rational heed to what our Lord and his
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 149 
 
 Apostles have enjoined concerning brotherly kind- 
 ness. Do not think that there is anything ex- 
 travagant, obsolete, or unpractical, in these in- 
 junctions. They tell us, in the simplest possible 
 manner, what the mind of the true Christian should 
 be. You will never fulfil them as thoroughly as we 
 ought to do. In striving to be utterly unselfish 
 and compassionate according to the mind of Christ, 
 you will be on your guard against acts which, 
 however they may be prompted by pity, have 
 a proved injurious tendency. You will interpret 
 the obligations of those who have this world's 
 good, not with more laxity, but with more severity. 
 Whatever can be done with money, whether by 
 restriction or by expenditure, to lessen effectually 
 the more painful inequalities between Christian 
 and Christian, tJiat the law of Christ requires to 
 be done. Christ points to the miseries of the 
 wretched, and says to those who care to listen 
 to his voice, not " Bestow in charity and offerings 
 some fiftieth or twentieth part of your income," 
 but, "Give thought, give effort, give considerate 
 and respectful kindness, give things more precious 
 than money, but do not spare money, to heal 
 these sorrows. Those toiling multitudes, those 
 ignorant and reckless creatures, are children of your
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 
 
 heavenly Father. Say not, Am I my brother's 
 keeper? for the Father has made all responsible, 
 according to their opportunities, for their brethren. 
 You will lay up treasure in heaven, treasure to 
 which all the gold of earth is dross, if you can 
 minister light and hope to any that are down 
 and draw them with a helping hand into the 
 freedom and blessedness of sonship." 
 
 And now, dear brethren, I bring to a close 
 the course of sermons which I have been per- 
 mitted to deliver in this place. I have preached 
 to you, not as I could have wished, but as I have 
 been able, upon great and inspiring subjects. I 
 have endeavoured to shew you how glorious is 
 the calling with which we Christians are called, 
 how solid the foundation on which we stand, how 
 various and fruitful the works which God has pre- 
 pared for us to walk in. God grant to you to feel, 
 with some quickened energy of conviction and 
 hope, that the promise of the future still belongs 
 to the Christian faith. We have entered into 
 a time of sifting, a time, to many, of perplexity 
 and discouragement. Such a time has been neces- 
 sary, in order that we may be freed from some 
 things that were temporary in our religion, from 
 some that were dishonouring to the name of the
 
 LOVE TOWARDS MEN. 151 
 
 heavenly Father, from a general artificiality and 
 dependence on tradition. Let us be thankful if 
 through any discipline we are thrown back on 
 the centre of our faith, and brought nearer to 
 him who not only was, but is, and is to be. It is 
 a time to be cautious and discriminating, but not 
 to give up hope. Be careful how you pledge the 
 heart of your faith to the more secondary and 
 outward traditions of our religion. Your safety 
 is with Christ and the Father. Pray that God 
 will uphold you with his free Spirit. Let your 
 inward life be one of faith, nourished by the in- 
 visible dews and rains of heaven, and your outward 
 life will grow in strength and usefulness and dignity. 
 In one word, be Christians ; you may well be 
 content to be nothing more ; resolve that with 
 God's help you will be nothing less. And may 
 he who has called and is calling you sustain and 
 reward your endeavour !
 
 XL 
 
 THE PRIMARY BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 EPHESIANS VI. 7. "As to the Lord, and not to men." 
 
 HUMAN Society, as we see it wherever it can 
 be said to exist, is made up of certain primary 
 relations. These relations are represented to us 
 most simply by the correlative terms, husband 
 and wife, parents and children, master and servant. 
 The relations thus denoted may be variously modi- 
 fied in different countries and in different ages, 
 as regards the reciprocal claims and duties implied 
 in them ; but the fact of their subsisting as they 
 do so tenaciously under various modifications, only 
 shews more impressively their permanent and uni- 
 versal character. Look at early stages of society, 
 and you see in primitive forms the ties of husbands 
 and wives, parents and children, masters and ser- 
 vants. Look at society as it is now in civilized 
 countries, after undergoing gradual developments
 
 4 THE PRIM A R Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 53 
 
 which have made it more complex, and you find 
 these relations still holding their place of import- 
 ance. The most vital questions for us in these 
 days are still apt to attach themselves to the 
 mutual claims of husband and wife, of parent and 
 child, of master and servant. 
 
 Now when we consider these relations with 
 the instinctive desire to explain them, asking their 
 why and wherefore, and trying whether they can 
 be brought together under some common principle, 
 we have a choice of three different methods of 
 interpretation, which I will call the utilitarian, 
 the historical, and the Christian. The two former 
 are comparatively modern, the last is set forth 
 in the New Testament. 
 
 I. According to the first, the one true object 
 of action for men is happiness. All men desire 
 pleasure ; and the one universal rational rule is 
 that life should be so arranged, and that men 
 should so act^as to secure the greatest amount of 
 general happiness. The reason why man and woman 
 come together is that they may be the happier; 
 the reason why any pair is marked off from other 
 pairs is that all the pairs may be the happier. 
 The justification of a life-long marriage tie is in its 
 tendency to promote happiness. If there were
 
 1 5 4 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. < 
 
 reason to believe that human society would on 
 the whole be made the happier by an easily dis- 
 soluble bond, that would make it not only allowable 
 but a duty to introduce divorce at discretion. 
 Similarly, it is found to conduce to happiness 
 that parents should protect and rear their young 
 children, and that the children whilst young should 
 be under the control of their parents, and after 
 a certain time should become independent. Again, 
 the relation of master and servant is to be ex- 
 plained as promoting under certain circumstances 
 the general happiness. It may be the better, it 
 often has been the better, for the ruled as well 
 as the ruler that subordination should be established. 
 But this relation ought to be sharply looked into 
 and watched ; for as soon as ever and in whatever 
 degree it ceases to be for the benefit of the sub- 
 ordinate as well as for that of the ruler, it ought 
 to be brought to an end or modified. 
 
 This explanation of human life and morality, 
 as I need not tell you, has charmed and satisfied 
 many minds by its simplicity and comprehen- 
 siveness and rationality. 
 
 2. But the great tendency of recent specu- 
 lation has been towards the historical method of 
 inquiry, which has been so strikingly fruitful in
 
 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 5 5 
 
 many departments of knowledge. Men look to 
 see how things have come to pass, and they per- 
 ceive everywhere the indisputable signs of natural 
 growth. All things were once rudimentary, and 
 through various strivings and pushings they have 
 come to be as developed and complex as they are 
 now. There is an extreme interest in thus dis- 
 covering the mode of growth, and inquirers are 
 apt to be absorbed by it, and to be impatient of 
 theories for explaining any thing that exists, other 
 than the actual historical causes of which they can 
 trace the working. Human society as it is now, 
 in families and communities, is according to this 
 view nothing more than the result of the struggle 
 for existence. This and that arrangement are 
 found to be necessary, chiefly as protecting against 
 dangers by which life has always been beset. 
 Each custom which has prevailed in any race 
 and in any age is traced to some want or difficulty 
 or peril which it has helped men to meet. The 
 most familiar examples of this law are in the 
 physical world. It has been shewn very wonder- 
 fully, how the forms and clothing of animals have 
 been gradually rendered, through what has been 
 called the principle of the "survival of the fittest," 
 such as would best enable them to thrive in the
 
 1 5 6 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 particular circumstances in which they are found 
 existing. But the manners and customs and laws 
 of human society may also to a considerable extent 
 be similarly explained. There has been no fixed 
 rule, for example, about marriage in primitive com- 
 munities. Customs of marriage have been found 
 to be very much those which helped particular 
 bodies of men to survive or to be strong. Many 
 singular customs relating to marriage or other 
 human institutions have been accounted for as 
 being relics, preserved by the force of habit, of 
 arrangements which were needed in a former stage 
 but the reason for which has died out. 
 
 This historical explanation of social institu- 
 tions is very interesting, and in great part novel. 
 It cannot be denied that there is much truth in it. 
 But it is defective in suggesting no principles of 
 morality. So far indeed as it suggests anything 
 at all as to the regulation of action, it seems to 
 sanction the principle of selfishness. If society 
 has been moulded into its present form by the 
 struggle for existence, we may be supposed to 
 fulfil the law of our destiny by continuing to 
 struggle. On the other hand, it might certainly 
 be urged that through self-defence and self-ag- 
 grandisement men have been led into the firm
 
 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 5 7 
 
 establishment of those relations by which peace 
 and mutual help are inevitably fostered. 
 
 3. We do not find the utilitarian theory, or 
 the historical method of accounting for things, in 
 the Bible. The doctrine of the Bible is that human 
 society is ordered by statutes of God. It is the 
 Divine Lawgiver who joins pairs together, who 
 sets men in families and in communities, who au- 
 thorizes some to rule, and bids others to obey. 
 
 This doctrine is certainly not identical with the 
 principle that society arranges itself with a view 
 to happiness, or with the principle that the forms 
 of society are due to the struggle for existence. 
 And when the ordinances of God are so described 
 that they can only be regarded as artificial, and 
 cannot be understood as working through the order 
 of Nature, the Bible doctrine of the regulation 
 of all things by the will of God may be made to 
 contradict and exclude the two other theories. 
 But this is not necessary. It is quite open to 
 us to believe that the commandments of God 
 are to be discerned in what looks purely natural. 
 But unquestionably the Bible teaches us to connect 
 these permanent institutions of human society most 
 closely with the mind and the working of God. 
 
 The devout worshipper of God cannot think
 
 1 5 8 THE PRIM A R Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 of the world as going on without him. To the 
 Christian, the laws of the universe are always 
 and necessarily, in whatever way they may manifest 
 themselves, with whatever matter they may deal, 
 the laws of God. 
 
 It is our God "who covereth the heaven with 
 clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth, and maketh 
 the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb 
 for the use of men." "Fear ye not me? saith 
 the Lord : will ye not tremble at my presence, 
 which have placed the sand for the bound of 
 the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot 
 pass it ; and though the waves thereof toss them- 
 selves, yet can they not prevail ; though they roar, 
 yet can they not pass over it ?" Yes, the laws 
 of nature are firm and unchanging, because they 
 are the laws of the Eternal God. Does the earth 
 nevertheless change and advance ? That is because 
 the "Father is working hitherto;" because "the 
 everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends 
 of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there 
 is no searching of his understanding." It is our 
 privilege to see the mind of God in all fixed 
 law, the working of God in all advance towards 
 perfection. 
 
 But man's nature is nearer to God's than that
 
 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 5 9 
 
 of the hills and the clouds, than that of the beasts 
 and the feathered fowls. Our spiritual endow- 
 ments join us in closer affinity to the Divine Spirit. 
 The qualities and the relations which belong to 
 the perfection of our race, so we have been taught 
 to believe, grow out of the Divine nature, and 
 rest upon the Divine power and will. This there- 
 fore is our faith about those primary and enduring 
 institutions of human society, the relations of hus- 
 band and wife, parents and children, master and 
 servant, that the everlasting God ordained them, 
 that the Divine life is in them. We need not 
 be expected to deny that these ordinances pro- 
 mote human happiness: how could it fail to be 
 so, when they are the ordinances of our Father ? 
 Nor need we deny whatever the researches of in- 
 quirers may appear to tell us, as to the gradual 
 growth, under natural influences, of the more per- 
 fected forms of these relations. We shall conclude 
 that God intended human society to grow as we 
 may learn that it has grown. The two facts, that 
 the essential forms of social life promote happiness, 
 and that they have passed through stages of na- 
 tural growth, will be in harmony with, but secondary 
 to, the greater fact that they are the expression of 
 the Divine will.
 
 1 60 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 It is to St Paul that we owe the most striking 
 tJteological interpretations of marriage, family bonds, 
 and subordination. 
 
 He has taught us to see in the union of the 
 wedded pair an image of the union between Christ 
 and the Church. This idea did not however ori- 
 ginate with St Paul. It was an old Jewish idea. 
 In the prophets the Lord is spoken of as a husband 
 to whom the daughter of Zion, the Jewish people, 
 is married. And amongst the Jewish imagery of 
 the Apocalypse we read of the marriage supper 
 of the Lamb, and of his bride arrayed in fine 
 linen, white and clean, which is the righteousness 
 of the Saints. But St Paul, dwelling with his 
 devout insight upon this poetical language, and 
 putting together the two facts, of the common 
 union between man and wife and the union be- 
 tween God and humanity, which have been seen 
 by th3 prophet's eye to resemble each other, per- 
 ceives that the analogy cannot be a mere fanciful 
 one. The God who takes humanity to be his 
 bride is the creator of the union between man 
 and wife. When we look upon a married pair, 
 we see a piece of the handwriting of God. We 
 may learn by means of this to know something 
 of the union between Christ and the Church ; and
 
 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 6 1 
 
 then, having ascended to this idea, we may bring 
 it down again to consecrate and explain and define 
 the bond which unites the woman to the man. 
 
 You know that polygamy has not only been 
 extensively practised amongst many races, but 
 that it prevailed amongst the Jews of the Old Tes- 
 tament time, and has so far the Old Testament 
 sanction. But when St Paul had built up the law 
 and duty of married life upon the mysterious union 
 between Christ and the Church, it was thereby 
 sufficiently enacted that in the Christian society 
 the one husband should have the one wife. The 
 marriage which was the most accurate type of the 
 Divine mystery would be held in most honour by 
 Christians. And the form of marriage thus com- 
 mended to us is that which the experience of ages 
 has found to be altogether best. The union of the 
 one husband with the one wife, not to be broken 
 so long as they both shall live, is that which minis- 
 ters to the noblest kind of family life, which fosters 
 the most spiritual affections, and which we there- 
 fore believe to be ordained by the Divine will for 
 all to whom it has been revealed. 
 
 As the coming of Christ was a kind of celebra- 
 tion of a new marriage between God and humanity, 
 so it was by the revealing of the Son of God that 
 D. s. S. ii
 
 1 6 2 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 fatherhood and sonship amongst men were made 
 newly and powerfully illustrative of fatherhood and 
 sonship in God. It is St Paul again who tells us 
 that the Fatherhood of God is the origin and ground 
 of all fatherhood whatsoever. The common rela- 
 tion of parents and children has become the living 
 type of the most wonderful mystery in the nature 
 of God. By observing what parents and children 
 are to one another, we are helped towards some 
 conception of what the Father is to Christ, and 
 Christ to the Father ; and when we have learnt in 
 some poor degree what the love is between the 
 Father and the Son, we bring back the idea of that 
 love to exalt and to explain the common earthly 
 relation. For the Christian, the bond between 
 parents and children is one chief revelation by 
 which God instructs men about himself. 
 
 Once more : we are taught to look upon the 
 relation of master and servant as a Divine ordi- 
 nance. " The powers that be," says St Paul, " are 
 ordained of God." The vulgar notion of rule and 
 service, that those are lucky who can command the 
 services of others, and that subjection is a misfor- 
 tune to be got rid of or made the best of, is not 
 that of Christian morality. We have been taught 
 to see all the creation obeying the Maker in a
 
 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 63 
 
 wonderful order. The ordinance of rule and ser- 
 vice amongst men is both a part and an illustration 
 of that subordination. The ruler, in the eye of the 
 Christian, rules not for his own pleasure but for 
 the good of those whom he rules and for the glory 
 of God. His authority is a burden, his govern- 
 ment a ministry. It is the glory of those placed in 
 higher positions, not to refuse to rule, but to serve 
 by ruling. The best ruler is he who is most con- 
 scious of being a servant ; who knows that he, as 
 well as those whom he directs, has a master in 
 heaven. 
 
 Now let me ask you to think, dear brethren, 
 how the common life which we live is affected by 
 this Christian interpretation of it. You see that it 
 is made genuinely sacramental. The universal 
 ordinances of social life exist in part for the shew- 
 ing forth of mysteries. When we see the visible 
 things, we may look through them to the invisible. 
 The married pair may speak to us of Christ and 
 the Church. The family may make us think of 
 the gracious Fatherhood of God, of the submissive 
 sonship of Christ. The voice of command and the 
 act of obedience may remind us of the orderly sub- 
 jection of all created things and persons to the one 
 Lord. How wonderfully is our common life thus 
 
 II 2
 
 1 64 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 exalted, dignified, consecrated ! God is in it all ! 
 We are moving in a world, nay we are parts of a 
 world, through which God is always manifesting 
 himself, in which God is always putting forth his 
 energy ! Our own life, instead of being a limited 
 vulgar thing made by ourselves, is in the closest 
 contact with Divine mysteries, with the Divine 
 infinity ! Our feeling therefore ought to be one of 
 reverence for our mutual obligations and affections, 
 for ourselves and our doings ! 
 
 And this mystical mode of regarding life, in- 
 stead of being dreamy and unwholesome, has an 
 immediate and most salutary bearing on practical 
 morality. In order that we may do our duty 
 faithfully, we greatly need, not only a persuasion 
 that certain rules are for the best, but a constrain- 
 ing sense of obligation, a deep feeling of reverence. 
 And it was with this that St Paul reinforced 
 the accepted teaching of morality. Others could 
 say, Let the husband treat his wife with the love 
 of the stronger, and let the wife pay back to her 
 husband the love of the weaker. Or they could 
 say, Let parents bring up their children kindly and 
 wisely, and let children obey and honour their 
 parents. Or, Let masters be just and considerate, 
 and let servants be loyal and honest. But then we
 
 THE PRIM A R Y B ONDS OF HUM A N LIFE. 1 6 5 
 
 know what terrible difficulties hinder us in the dis- 
 charge of our duties, how much irritation is apt to 
 be engendered between those who are thrown most 
 closely together, how men are plagued by arro- 
 gance, obstinacy, jealousy, indolence, perverse or 
 passionate desire. Against such influences, with 
 the ready sophistry of excuses which they com- 
 mand, maxims based upon calculations about the 
 general happiness are apt to prove weak. The 
 Christian teacher says, Remember the Lord your 
 God. You have to do with the Father, with Christ, 
 with the Holy Spirit. The secrets of the heart 
 are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom 
 we have to do. Remember that God has brought 
 you, man and wife, together. You were indeed 
 mutually attracted, but this was a part of God's 
 instrumentality for making you man and wife. 
 And this relation into which you have been brought 
 is, depend upon it, a very solemn one. It is not 
 one of pleasure only ; it is one of blessed heavenly 
 discipline. Don't imagine you are free to do as 
 you please. Your faithfulness is due not only to 
 each other but to the Lord. You who are parents, 
 be sure that it is God who has given you your 
 children. You are to bring them up for him. 
 They are not to be your playthings, or objects for
 
 1 66 THE PRIM A R Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 
 
 your pride to feed on ; they are God's children as 
 well as yours. It will be no trifling matter for 
 you, if you by neglect or selfishness manage to 
 alienate them from God. Children, respect the 
 parents whom God has set over you. He is your 
 heavenly Father, they are parents through whom 
 he teaches you what his fatherhood is. See in 
 them not only such earthly creatures as they may 
 happen to be, but representatives and ministers of 
 God. Masters, bear in mind that you are God's 
 commissioners, appointed to see that some of his 
 work is done. Beware of selfish arrogance. Expel 
 it by the remembrance of your Master in Heaven. 
 Servants, the just commands which come to you 
 are not the wilfulness of one whose better fortune 
 you may envy and resent, but the commands of 
 the heavenly Master who makes the universal 
 order. Obey, not only for the sake of the earthly 
 superior under whom you are placed, or in propor- 
 tion to his worthiness, but with the devout and 
 loyal submission of the heart to God. 
 
 Brethren, when you hear this Christian enforce- 
 ment of your common duties, let not fear alone 
 enter into your hearts, though you may well revere 
 with trembling. Surely in these views of life there 
 is light and hope also. We have the privilege of
 
 THE PRIMAR Y BONDS OF HUMAN LIFE. 1 6 7 
 
 looking up to the Source of health and strength. 
 Our affections may be refined, purified, made 
 heavenly. Our prospects are not buried in the 
 grave. If we let Christ unite us according to his 
 law to those around us, we may know Christ the 
 better through them, we may know and love them 
 the better through Christ.
 
 XII. 
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 ST MARK x. 23. "How hardly shall they that have riches enter 
 into the kingdom of God ! " 
 
 WHENEVER the New Testament is looked into 
 with any fresh spirit of inquiry, a contrast is re- 
 vealed which can hardly fail to produce some 
 strong effect on the mind of a modern reader. 
 
 The contrast I mean is between the doctrine of 
 the New Testament about poverty and riches, on 
 the one hand, and the circumstances and habits of 
 a wealthy industrial community, on the other. 
 
 This contrast may be misunderstood and mis- 
 represented ; various inferences, more or less erro- 
 neous, may be drawn from it : but that the contrast 
 does exist in a startling degree ought not to be 
 denied. It is real, and demands our constant and 
 most serious attention. 
 
 Let me revive your recollection of what the 
 New Testament teaches about poverty and riches
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 169 
 
 by two or three illustrations which happen to be 
 brought before us to-day. 
 
 It is St Matthew's day ; and we read of a man 
 named Matthew, or Levi, whose business it was to 
 receive the customs or dues which the Romans 
 exacted from the subject Jewish population. It 
 was a gainful occupation ; partly, because it was 
 so odious a one that no one would undertake it 
 without the chance of being able to make a good 
 deal of money by it. But there was nothing ne- 
 cessarily immoral in it Matthew was sitting at 
 his official place on the beach of the Lake of Gali- 
 lee, when Jesus of Nazareth passed by, and said to 
 him, Follow me. And Matthew arose and followed 
 him. 
 
 That is to say, he abandoned his occupation of 
 publican or collector. We are not to suppose that 
 the incidents recorded in the New Testament took 
 place generally in the abrupt way in which the 
 narrative relates them. The process reported in 
 two brief phrases may have been a gradual and 
 deliberate one. Matthew no doubt resigned his 
 post in an orderly manner. But he did resign it at 
 the call of Jesus, and became one of his followers. 
 
 He thus became associated with a remarkable 
 band. Jesus had come forth from the family of a
 
 170 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 carpenter, probably a well-to-do family, and had 
 begun the life and work of a prophet He pro- 
 claimed the nearness of the kingdom of God, and 
 taught, and did works of healing. He drew fol- 
 lowers after him, from whom he chose twelve, 
 naming them his envoys or apostles. These were 
 mostly fishermen, not particularly poor men, for 
 they owned fishing boats, but they all left their 
 trades to go with Jesus and to do his bidding. We 
 do not exactly know how they all lived ; they may 
 have received money from their respective families 
 in consideration of what they had given up. But it 
 is certain that they lived very hardly, having a 
 common purse, and giving out of that to the re- 
 lief of the poor. 
 
 Matthew, who was one of the Apostles, became 
 also in after years the compiler of one of the Lives 
 of Jesus. In his Gospel we find the longest and 
 most characteristic example of the moral teaching 
 of his Master, commonly called the Sermon on the 
 Mount. From this discourse is taken the Gospel 
 for this Sunday after Trinity; and we learn from it 
 that Jesus spoke to his disciples as to poor men, 
 that he did not urge upon them the duties of indus- 
 try and providence, but bade them rely upon the 
 bounty of the heavenly Father who fed the birds
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 171 
 
 and adorned the flowers. He warned them, poor 
 as they were, against care, and against the desire 
 of riches. 
 
 Matthew was also, as an Apostle, one of those 
 who had the charge of organizing the Church of 
 Christ in its first days. It was done, as they be- 
 lieved, under a special impulse of the Divine Spirit. 
 The most characteristic feature of the social life of 
 the Church was that its members had all things 
 common. They were mostly from the poor class, 
 and when any one who had possessions was con- 
 verted, he threw what he had into the common 
 stock. This actual community of possessions did 
 not last long ; but its principle survived as of abso- 
 lute authority in the Church. It was a part of the 
 Gospel carried with them into the world by the 
 Apostles, that in the Kingdom of God as they 
 founded it upon the earth no one was to count 
 what he had as his own, that private riches were 
 dangerous to the soul, that the brother of low de- 
 gree was to rejoice in that he was exalted, but the 
 rich in that he was made low. As was natural, 
 those who came into the Kingdom of God were not 
 in general the rich ; God called the poor of this 
 world to be rich in faith and heirs of the promised 
 kingdom. And the great enemy of the Gospel of
 
 I7 2 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OE GOD. 
 
 Christ was worldliness. The Cross and the World 
 were in opposition the one to the other. When 
 men could not recognize the glory of the Cross, 
 which was the glory of sympathy, the glory of the 
 high making common cause with the low, it was 
 because the god of this world blinded their eyes. 
 
 Such is the doctrine of the New Testament. 
 Critics need not pervert it very much, though 
 they must pervert it somewhat, to make out that 
 it is utterly opposed to the maxims upon which the 
 life of a modern industrial community is built up. 
 Certainly, the New Testament ideal looks strangely 
 by the side of the Christian England of to-day. 
 Here, it might seem, the one universal aim is to 
 become rich. The modes of acquiring riches have 
 been digested into a science. Community of goods 
 is so far from being an accepted institution, that it 
 is regarded by Christians with something like 
 horror. Wealth has increased, and is increasing, 
 in an unprecedented degree ; and the rich rejoice 
 more in being exalted than in being made low. It 
 is not indeed true to allege, as some do, that whilst 
 the rich are becoming richer, the poor are becoming 
 poorer. On the contrary it is evident enough that 
 the poor of this country, and of the rest of the 
 world, are becoming less poor. Still, the social
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 173 
 
 differences between the rich and the poor are very 
 great ; and whilst there are some persons enormously 
 rich, there are many miserably poor. And there 
 are two circumstances especially remarkable. One 
 is that those who study the interests of the poor 
 most earnestly and sympathetically do not urge 
 them to live like the birds, but to look forward to 
 the morrow, and to lay up treasure on the earth. 
 They would have them, it might be said, prac- 
 tise providence rather than trust to Providence. 
 The other is that, according to appearances, it is 
 now easier for the rich to enter into the Kingdom 
 of God than for the poor. The upper classes are, 
 superficially at least, more religious than the lower. 
 The Churches in which the New Testament doc- 
 trine as I have just illustrated it is read and pro- 
 claimed with authority are better attended by 
 those who have possessions than by those who are 
 without them. 
 
 Will you not allow, my Christian brethren, that 
 the contrast of which I have spoken is a real one, 
 and one which should naturally cause us some per- 
 plexity and uneasiness ? For my part, I cannot 
 imagine a Christian of these days reading the New 
 Testament in any other than a dead mechanical 
 way, without having this problem presented over
 
 174 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 and over again to his mind, How is the teaching 
 of Christ and of his Apostles to be reconciled with 
 the modern industrial and accumulating spirit? 
 In what way ought an honest Christian in these 
 times to act with reference to the questions of 
 riches and poverty ? 
 
 Suppose that we desired to be quite uncompro- 
 mising and to follow the right without reckoning 
 what it might cost us. 
 
 We take the side of the New Testament. We 
 call Christ our Master ; we confess him to be the 
 Son of God who died for us. We are sure that it 
 is not only right, but also safe in the long run, to 
 follow him. What alternative indeed have we, so 
 long as we profess to be Christians and disciples of 
 Jesus Christ, but to follow him ? 
 
 Shall we then set ourselves against the whole 
 modern constitution of society ? Shall we denounce 
 property, however it may plead that it is an essen- 
 tial condition of social well-being, as the unright- 
 eous mammon ? Shall we maintain that it is the 
 duty of every one who awakes to the obligations of 
 his Christian calling, to give all that he has to the 
 poor ? Shall we teach that all true Christians, in- 
 stead of providing for the morrow, ought to cast 
 the care of their support upon their heavenly
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 175 
 
 Father ? Shall we protest against all distinctions 
 of society, and proclaim that in Christ there is no 
 master and no servant, no employer and no work- 
 people, no buyer and no seller, but that all are 
 equal and everything is common ? 
 
 These views, it will be said, are unpractical, 
 revolutionary, Utopian. But the uncompromising 
 New Testament Christian might reply that he 
 quite expected to hear them so described by the 
 world. It is nothing to him what the wise of this 
 world may think of his views ; he is the disciple of 
 a faith which began by being esteemed as foolish- 
 ness. He is quite willing to bear the reproach of 
 being unpractical and Utopian, so long as he bears 
 it with Christ and the Apostles. 
 
 Let us avoid then offering anything that might 
 seem like a worldly objection to the course of con- 
 duct I have supposed to be suggested. Let us re- 
 fuse, if we will, to let political economy over-ride 
 our Christianity.. 
 
 But our Christianity itself will interpose with a 
 decided veto to check any such application of the 
 doctrine of the Gospel. Suppose it were announced 
 that a score of our richest men, penetrated by a de- 
 sire to be thorough and not merely nominal Chris- 
 tians, had resolved to give all their goods to the
 
 I?6 RICHES AXD THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 poor. How would you receive such an announce- 
 ment ? With admiration and delight ? The feel- 
 ing which could prompt such a resolution would be 
 indeed admirable ; but the act would be one which, 
 as Christians, we should reasonably contemplate 
 with grave alarm. I do not see how it could fail to 
 do moral evil. As Christians, we long that our 
 brethren should grow into the true Christian cha- 
 racter; i.e., that they should become, amongst 
 other things, temperate, self-denying, contented, 
 peaceable, helpful. But what would be the effect 
 of an announcement that fifty millions were to be 
 distributed with the purpose of realizing equality 
 amongst men, upon the moral character of those 
 whom it affected? It could not fail to be disas- 
 trous. You know that it would generate idleness, 
 covetousness, discord, disappointment. It would 
 feed the fleshly tempers, instead of fostering the 
 spiritual, in hundreds of thousands of our brethren. 
 Ought a Christian to do an act which is sure to 
 make his neighbours worse Christians rather than 
 better ? 
 
 If any one therefore were to ask me, Why don't 
 you, as a believer in Jesus Christ and in the Ser- 
 mon on the Mount, make common cause in the 
 things of this world with the most destitute around
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 1 77 
 
 you, and trust for the needful food and raiment to 
 him who feeds the fowls and clothes the lilies ? I 
 should not answer that such an act would be fanati- 
 cal or enthusiastic, or that political economy forbids 
 it, but that, whatever else I ought or ought not to 
 do, I believe in my conscience that to give away all 
 I have to the poor would not be the best way to 
 serve them as a brother in Christ. I know with 
 undoubting conviction that we all need, for our 
 spiritual benefit as children of God, the discipline 
 of forethought and voluntary self-denial, of family 
 responsibilities, of measured and considerate helpful- 
 ness. And therefore to turn the orderly arrange- 
 ments of industrial life into a medley of equal 
 enjoyments would seem to me to be committing an 
 outrage upon New Testament Christianity at least 
 as much as upon worldly wisdom. 
 
 There is another alternative. Does uncompro- 
 mising honesty require us then to adopt the lamen- 
 table course of rejecting the earliest Christian 
 teaching on this great question of riches and poverty 
 as mistaken and visionary? Must we say, we hold 
 by the order of modern industrial life, and therefore 
 we put aside the Sermon on the Mount and the 
 example of the Day of Pentecost as having no 
 authority over us? 
 
 D. S.S. 12
 
 1 78 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 Let us pause before we do this. Let us consider 
 whether we do not need that that very teaching 
 should become instinct with living power over us. 
 
 We have been justifying industry and accumu- 
 lation as instruments for making us truer children 
 of God. St Paul does virtually the same thing, 
 when he exhorts, "Inasmuch as you have put on 
 the new man in Christ, let every one labour, work- 
 ing with his hands the thing which is good, that he 
 may have to give to him that needeth." But do 
 we mean therefore to approve all that devotion 
 to the pursuit of wealth by which this age is charac- 
 terized ? Very far from it. There is, in fact, no 
 thoughtful person amongst us who is not sometimes 
 filled with shame and disgust and dismay at the 
 predominance which wealth has gained over the 
 motives of modern Englishmen. We are, beyond 
 denial, idolaters in the serving of Mammon. Riches, 
 to us, cover the multitude of sins. People are 
 ashamed of being poor. We make a necessity of 
 the most superfluous luxuries. All this is com- 
 plained of by the poets, by satirists, by moralists, by 
 political economists themselves. Those who profess 
 no allegiance to Christ denounce the sway of the 
 moneymaking spirit as dwarfing and vulgarising to 
 the character, as lowering the dignity of human
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 179 
 
 nature, as spoiling the quality of genuine enjoyment, 
 as tempting men to dishonesty, as occasioning 
 widespread disasters. The evil is a real one, the 
 disease dangerous. 
 
 Now what cure, I ask, for the serving of Mam- 
 mon is to be compared with the simple uncompro- 
 mising service of God? This is the real point of 
 all the teaching of Christ. " Break absolutely and 
 finally," he insists, "the dominion of Mammon, of 
 riches and the pleasures which riches can buy, over 
 your hearts. Do this at any cost, by whatever 
 means is the most likely to be effectual. Give 
 yourselves wholly, with no reserve, to God. Give 
 yourselves and whatever you have to God. And, 
 inasmuch as God is the Father of your brethren, 
 and desires more than anything else that is known 
 to you the high well-being of you all, to give your- 
 selves and all that you have to him will become, 
 in its practical application, nearly the same thing 
 as to give yourselves and all that you have to 
 your brethren." 
 
 By what particular acts we may do the most 
 good is to be learnt, according to the plainest 
 teaching of Scripture, by experience and honest 
 study. . I do not doubt that it was right for Mat- 
 thew the publican to leave his gainful seat. I do 
 
 122
 
 l8o RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 not doubt that it would have been better for the 
 rich young man if he had consented to sell all that 
 he had and to give to the poor and to go and follow 
 Jesus. But it is not to be inferred that every 
 collector of tolls or taxes ought to give up his 
 occupation, or that every rich man ought to divest 
 himself of his possessions. 
 
 The teaching of the New Testament, carried out 
 to its ideal length, lays upon us the responsibility 
 of using our means for the good of others as com- 
 pletely, as unselfishly, as if we parted with them 
 and left ourselves with nothing. Is this easy, in a 
 world like this ? Nay, my brethren, it is difficult, 
 most difficult. It seems to me, and I dare say you 
 would think so too, that it might be easier to make 
 a great sacrifice once for all, than habitually through 
 a lifetime to hold all that one has as a trust for the 
 service of God and for the benefit of others. It 
 would be churlish to refuse to join in the chorus of 
 admiration awakened by the liberality of that good 
 man, Mr Peabody; but it may be permitted to say 
 that, for an old man without wife or children to 
 give away to the poor a great slice out of enormous 
 wealth makes less demand upon Christian charity 
 than for the parents of a family to manage un- 
 selfishly and liberally an income of a few hundreds
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF COD. 181 
 
 a year or less. To be completely unselfish in the 
 laying out of money is supremely difficult; and it 
 is another difficulty, to lay out wisely. Where is 
 the book, who is the sage, that will inform us how 
 we ought to spend, how much we ought to give, by 
 what giving we may do most good ? If it is so 
 difficult to use money according to Christian perfec- 
 tion in the present social order, let me at least be 
 acquitted of recommending any low compromise 
 between the spirit of this world and the spirit of 
 Christianity. I recommend no compromise; I do 
 not suggest the easiest course. I point out how, 
 amidst many difficulties, it is conceivable that the 
 highest Christian ideal might be realized without 
 subverting the industrial order of society. And I 
 say, if you would do your part faithfully in the 
 place in which you find yourselves, if you would 
 seek protection from snares which are constantly 
 threatening to beguile and to master you, then keep 
 your minds on the New Testament teaching about 
 the things of this world. Study it reverently, teach- 
 ably. See without misgivings in the joy and self- 
 sacrifice and concord of the Pentecostal commu- 
 nity the workings of the Spirit of God. Look with 
 admiration on the company of those who left all and 
 followed the Master who knew not where to lay his
 
 1 82 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 
 
 head. The more we are entangled in a rich society, 
 the more we need the warning and bracing influence 
 of these examples. No less than the Apostles, than 
 the first Christians, ought we to be superior to the 
 things of this world, free masters of our money, be 
 it much or little, and not its servants. There are 
 better things, let us be sure, than those which 
 money can purchase. There is treasure in heaven. 
 There are virtues, graces, joys, denied to those who 
 care much about money, the heritage of the true 
 children of God. If others are not prizing the real 
 jewels, let that be no excuse to us for childishly 
 preferring the showy counterfeit to the genuine 
 treasure. Let us bear in mind the men in all ages 
 who have shewn a lofty spirit about money, refusing 
 to be bribed by it, not sacrificing the true interests 
 of life to the pursuit of it, bearing with equanimity 
 the loss of it. 
 
 Above all, let us consider Jesus Christ, the Son 
 of God, who though he was rich, for our sakes be- 
 came poor, that we by his poverty might be enriched. 
 He is not the kind of master to be rejected by such 
 a generation as this. He is the Saviour we need 
 the more, precisely because the hold of the world 
 is so strong upon us. God intends us, let us be- 
 lieve, to be members of a prosperous community,
 
 RICHES AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 183 
 
 with distributed functions, with increasing command 
 over the products of the earth. But he intends us 
 to rule these earthly things as instruments of the 
 spirit, and as a means for knitting mankind happily 
 in one. And that we may be able to do this, he 
 gives us not only this earthly prosperity, but also 
 fellowship with Christ. He makes us citizens of the 
 Kingdom of heaven. He pours into our hearts 
 his own Spirit, to raise us up, and exalt us to the 
 place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before. 
 Brethren, let not these best gifts of our Father be 
 thrown away upon us. If we value these according 
 to their worth, he will provide that we shall have 
 such enjoyment as is good for us of his lower gifts 
 also.
 
 XIII. 
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 ST JOHN X. 2. "He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd 
 of the sheep. " 
 
 IN the passage in which our Lord declares himself 
 to be the Good Shepherd, he is not speaking of 
 himself only. He begins with a denunciation of 
 bad shepherds. Shepherds here mean rulers, men 
 who have any control or power over other men. 
 The name was commonly used in ancient times to 
 denote the governing part of a country or society, 
 the superiors who stand above inferiors. It is of 
 the qualities which ought to characterize rulers or 
 superiors that our Lord is speaking. 
 
 The passage, when thus considered, acquires a 
 new interest to many readers. The quality which 
 our Lord ascribes to himself becomes in him more 
 real when it is recognized as the fountain and high- 
 est example of that which should be shewn by all 
 men in their relation as superiors. And his teach- 
 ing on this subject is perceived to be a lesson not
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 185 
 
 only of what we are to him as his flock, but also of 
 what we ought to be, as his followers, to those who 
 are put in any way under us. 
 
 A chapter of the prophet Ezekiel, which was 
 probably in our Lord's mind, begins thus: "The 
 word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of 
 man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel." 
 And he proceeds to prophesy, accordingly, with 
 astonishing directness and vigour, against the 
 ruling classes of his country, telling them that the 
 Lord God says, " Behold I am against the shep- 
 herds ; and I will require my flock at their hand, 
 and cause them to cease from feeding the flock." 
 Now, a greater prophet than Ezekiel, he who was 
 not merely a son of man but the Son of man, was 
 again moved to prophesy against the shepherds of 
 Israel. Jesus of Nazareth was in declared opposi- 
 tion to those who then exercised the chief power 
 amongst his countrymen. St. John, in giving 
 illustrations of the conflict, sometimes calls them 
 " the chief priests and Pharisees," sometimes " the 
 Pharisees," sometimes simply "the Jews." The 
 following passage indicates what the state of affairs 
 then was. " The Pharisees heard that the people 
 murmured such things concerning him," that is, 
 that the common people were beginning to think
 
 186 THE DIVIDE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 that Jesus must be the Messiah. "And the Phari- 
 sees and the chief priests sent officers to take him." 
 The officers returned without him to the chief priests 
 and Pharisees; "and they said unto them, Why 
 have ye not brought him ? The officers answered, 
 Never man spake like this man. Then answered 
 them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived ? Have 
 any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in 
 him ? But this people, who knoweth not the law, 
 are cursed." There we learn the temper of the 
 shepherds of Israel both towards their flock and 
 towards the prophet who was calling them to ac- 
 count. A little later, after the cure of a blind man, 
 Jesus spoke some words significantly asserting the 
 authority which lays bare imposture and de- 
 nounces usurpation. " For judgment I am come into 
 this world ; that they which see not might see, and 
 that they which see might be made blind." It 
 was sufficiently understood for whom such allusions 
 were intended, and some of the Pharisees who 
 were near him could not keep silence, but broke 
 out, " Are we blind also ? " Thus challenged, 
 Jesus was ready to tell them what he thought of 
 them. " If ye were blind, ye should have no sin ; 
 but now ye say, We see ; therefore your sin remain- 
 eth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
 
 THE DIVIXE RIGHT TO RULE. 187 
 
 entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but 
 climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief 
 and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door 
 is the shepherd of the sheep." 
 
 It is plain that our Lord is denouncing the 
 shepherds of Israel as being not true shepherds 
 but rather thieves and robbers. But what is the 
 particular fault he finds with them ? This is not 
 quite on the surface, and his hearers, we are told, 
 did not exactly understand him. The fault, in one 
 word, was this, that the rulers did not identify 
 themselves with the people, 
 
 Besides that chapter of Ezekiel, there is another 
 much older passage, which may well have been at 
 the same moment in our Lord's mind. It is in 
 Numbers xxvii. We read that Moses, desiring the 
 appointment of one who might be his successor, 
 spoke thus unto the Lord (ver. 16), "Let the Lord, 
 the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over 
 the congregation, which may go out before them, 
 and which may go in before them, and which may 
 lead them out, and which may bring them in ; 
 that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep 
 which have no shepherd." In answer to which 
 prayer, Joshua the son of Nun was selected and 
 consecrated to be the leader of the children of
 
 1 88 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 Israel. You observe the curious emphasis of repe- 
 tition with; which the relation of the leader to 
 the people, that he goes before them and they 
 follow him, is here insisted upon. This relation 
 is equally the prominent point in our Lord's ac- 
 count of the genuine shepherd. You must bear 
 in mind the mode of tending sheep in that East- 
 ern country. The pasture lands are wide and 
 open ; the fold is an enclosed place, protected by 
 a sufficient wall. The shepherd does not drive the 
 sheep before him, but he leads them, going out 
 with them from the fold in the morning, returning 
 with them into the fold at night. He is in the 
 front, to encounter any danger, to find the best 
 pasture, and to encourage the flock with his voice. 
 The sheep know his voice, trust to his guidance 
 and protection, and follow him. 
 
 This, says our Lord, is the type of the true 
 leader of men. A man is not set over his fellow- 
 men that he may make them tools of his ambition, 
 food to his vanity, ministers of his pleasure, foils of 
 his splendour. He has his superiority as a charge, 
 that he may serve those put under him by leading 
 them. The real test of the genuine ruler is this, 
 Does he separate himself from his people, or does 
 he associate them with himself? The good ruler
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 189 
 
 goes in and out at the head of his followers by the 
 same door with them ; the bad one tries to separate 
 and exalt himself, climbs lip some other way. 
 
 This is a central and a universal principle, the 
 divine key to all lordship and superiority amongst 
 men. Let men talk of the divine right of kings, or 
 of the rights of property, or of the deference due to 
 rank and station, as they please ; according to the 
 law of the eternal Maker, as illustrated by the his- 
 tory of mankind, as vividly declared by the Son of 
 God, and what is more than all as embodied in 
 the life of the Son of man, a man has no real divine 
 right to his higher position except as he makes it 
 useful to those beside him in the lower. This is 
 true in Church and in State, of the savage chief, of 
 the imperial autocrat, of the constitutional ruler, 
 Sovereign, President, or Minister, of the com- 
 mander of an army, of the employer of labour, of 
 the mistress of a household, of the master of a 
 school, of the parent of a family. Our Lord's 
 teaching about the good and the false shepherd, 
 familiar and sacred as it is to our ears, fails to 
 reach our minds and consciences unless it reminds 
 us that the divine right to rule is in serving. To 
 apply this test resolutely to all who have power, is 
 not dangerous to a community; it is the true safety.
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 In the eyes of a Christian, the example of 
 Christ must settle the question. Do we call him 
 Master and Lord ? Yes, and we say well, for so 
 he is. What Christian does not acknowledge his 
 Lordship ? He is not Lord of the clergy and 
 Sunday school children only, but of all sorts and 
 conditions of men. And how did he reveal him- 
 self? He came not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister. " I am among you," he said to his obe- 
 dient followers, " as he that serveth." He did not 
 abolish command and obedience, ruling and serv- 
 ing, superiority and inferiority. No, but he insisted, 
 that as he who was the Master of all gave himself 
 to be the servant of all, so amongst them who 
 should call themselves by his name, he should be 
 held chief who did the most service. As regards 
 human laws, it may no doubt be found expedient 
 that privilege and power and authority should be 
 secured against attack, however unworthy and 
 unserviceable the person in whom they are vested 
 may be : but by the law of the kingdom of heaven 
 no man can claim to be a ruler of others except by 
 proving that he can serve them. 
 
 And if we consider the rulers who have distin- 
 guished themselves in history, it may be seen that, 
 on the whole, those have been felt to be the best
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 191 
 
 shepherds who have most thoroughly made com- 
 mon cause with the sheep, not climbing up by some 
 exclusive way, but going in and out before the 
 sheep through the door of the fold. There have 
 been selfish and ambitious conquerors who have 
 been very successful although their chief motive 
 was to aggrandise themselves, a class of whom the 
 first Napoleon is the most conspicuous example : 
 but even these have generally had the instinct or 
 the skill of identifying themselves with their armies 
 or populations, and have really led by sympathy 
 and endurance men who willingly followed them. 
 But the best rulers have been those who have 
 consciously lived for their subjects, men like the 
 Moses and the David of sacred history, who felt 
 that they were called and appointed to a charge of 
 great responsibility, not that they might lord it 
 over God's heritage, but that they might lead the 
 people onward in the path of safety and prosperity. 
 Wherever rule has been justified to the common 
 conscience, so that men have rejoiced in their 
 rulers and been grateful to them, whether the 
 power was nominally despotic or limited by law, 
 the secret has been that the rulers cared not for 
 themselves but for the people. But there is a na- 
 tural and Divinely inspired discontent felt against
 
 192 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 those who have power, when they shew that they 
 have forgotten the essential reason of authority and 
 subordination, and that they fancy that, because 
 they were born in a certain station or have in some 
 way got power into their hands, the Maker and 
 Father of all has put some of his children under 
 their feet to pamper their luxury or their pride. 
 You might be sure that if the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ has ordained government and subjec- 
 tion, the end of such ordination must be the good 
 not of the few but of the many ; and this truth, 
 which Christ has taught, the instincts and experi- 
 ence of mankind have abundantly illustrated. 
 
 Yet the tendency of vulgar greatness is always 
 to dissociate itself from the common herd ; to be 
 exclusive rather than sympathetic, in interest, in 
 taste, in enjoyment. We in England, my brethren, 
 know perfectly well what this danger is. We know 
 too well the secret of what made the false shep- 
 herds of Ezekiel's time and of the days of our 
 Lord. There is not one of us here, I venture to 
 say, who may not be the better for being reminded 
 that the true shepherd is one who walks with his 
 sheep and gives his life for them. There is not 
 one of us who has not been tempted to draw off 
 from other persons, to look down on them, to find
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 193 
 
 satisfaction in claiming to belong to a superior 
 class, or to have a more cultivated taste. That 
 impulse, to make the burdens of others our own, is 
 so rare, so difficult to cherish ! That desire, to help 
 and encourage others with any advantage that we 
 possess, has so weak and occasional a hold upon 
 our hearts ! The simple and natural fellow-feeling, 
 which joins hands with the true man in each neigh- 
 bour in spite of any vulgarities and faults, and 
 would help him unconsciously against the vulgari- 
 ties and the faults, the fellow-feeling which draws 
 and binds human beings together, and builds up a 
 living society, -has so hard a fight against our 
 stupid vanity and self-love ! 
 
 It is good, then, that we should be led to 
 honour a character and a career like those of the 
 heroic traveller and missionary, whose mortal re- 
 mains were laid yesterday in the most sacred soil 
 of this our English land. We reasonably pay a 
 tribute to Livingstone's energy and unconquerable 
 resolution ; these are qualities we cannot afford to 
 make light of. But it is not by these chiefly, I 
 think, that the national heart has been drawn to 
 Dr. Livingstone. We have all learnt something of 
 his goodness, his generosity, his gentleness, his 
 enthusiastic and yet patient desire to serve the 
 D. S. S. 13
 
 194 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 natives of Africa, his willingness to lay down his 
 life for them in contending against the wolfish 
 slave-trade which has been devouring them. Hard- 
 ly any one has known so much of the native races 
 of Africa as Livingstone, no one has spoken of 
 them with more respect, no one has behaved 
 towards them with a more hearty and simple good- 
 will. And I suppose no European has been so 
 successful in winning their confidence and affec- 
 tion. 
 
 This career, of long and successful fellowship 
 with men of inferior races, is one of great interest 
 for us to contemplate. It is evidently not easy for 
 Englishmen, when they come into contact with 
 inferior races, to be mindful at all times of their 
 Christianity or even of their civilization. English 
 settlers and soldiers, finding the Oriental or the 
 African to be generally untrustworthy, sometimes 
 treacherous, sometimes filthy, always difficult to 
 understand and appreciate, have too often fancied 
 themselves to be justified in treating these dark- 
 coloured subjects or neighbours as if they were 
 wild beasts. They have allowed themselves to 
 beat and shoot and burn, in Africa and the East, 
 with a freedom which would be considered shock- 
 ing if the objects of these wild severities had been
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 195 
 
 white men. It is difficult for us in England to 
 judge fairly those who are tried by difficulties and 
 exposed to dangers of which we have no experi- 
 ence ; and we most of us feel a natural and not 
 ungenerous desire to stand by our countrymen and 
 justify them in any proceedings they may think 
 necessary against savages. I hope it was unwil- 
 lingness to say a word which should appear to 
 reflect on the conduct of the handful of gallant 
 men who vindicated the honour of our country on 
 the pestilent shores of the Gold Coast, which kept 
 almost every English tongue from uttering even an 
 expression of regret at the burning of Coomassie. 
 And yet it is scarcely possible, surely, to think 
 without misgivings as well as pain of the deliberate 
 destruction by fire in cold blood of all the houses 
 of a populous city, as a punishment of the faith- 
 lessness of its ruler. If such a thing were done, 
 even in hot blood, in Europe, it would excite, as 
 we well know, a cry of execration against its per- 
 petrators. The excuse is that the men, women, 
 and children, whose every home was made a ruin 
 in Coomassie, were African savages, and that the 
 town had been defiled by atrocities which seemed 
 to 'cry to heaven for vengeance. Well, I am as 
 unwilling as others to judge the humane and 
 
 132
 
 196 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 honourable men who set that unhappy city on fire. 
 But, when it is assumed that savages, or people of 
 Oriental civilization like the Chinese, are not to 
 have the benefit of the laws which mitigate the 
 horrors of war between European nations, but that 
 we may give their cities and their palaces to the 
 flames without mercy, it is timely, I think, that we 
 should ask ourselves why we are proud of Living- 
 stone. Is it not, in a great degree, because he 
 treated Africans let those who will scoff at the 
 phrase as men and brothers? Is it not because 
 he would have shrunk with repugnance from doing 
 to an African what would have been an act of 
 brutality if done to a European ? From his grave 
 in Westminster Abbey the single-minded friend of 
 the Africans yet speaks to us ; a more tried friend 
 than any other, because he lived so long alone 
 amongst them, bearing alone whatever was repug- 
 nant to European taste in their customs, and not 
 turning from them in disgust ; a friend who, the 
 more intimately he knew them, felt for them not 
 only the more pity but also the more respect. 
 He appeals to us most earnestly to do whatever 
 we can to help his Africans, and especially to 
 drive away that desolating scourge of the slave- 
 trade from their shores. But he appeals to us also
 
 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 197 
 
 to cherish in all our dealings that spirit of large 
 and tender humanity which he had himself re- 
 ceived from heaven, and to be in this respect fol- 
 lowers of him, even as he was of Christ. 
 
 It has been my chief desire this morning, 
 brethren, to commend to you this spirit of the 
 true Shepherd as one which, if we admit it into 
 our hearts, will pervade and Christianize all our 
 actions and manner of life. But before I conclude, 
 let me remind you of the more familiar lesson, that 
 we are the sheep of the Good Shepherd. Our 
 Lord did not shrink from declaring " I am the 
 Good Shepherd." He was referring, no doubt, 
 primarily to his Galilean followers. They knew him 
 as the perfect Shepherd, going before them, lead- 
 ing them with his voice, prepared to suffer death 
 for their deliverance. But he had other sheep than 
 them ; other followers who in other times and 
 places were to learn the tones of his attracting 
 voice, and to find safety and joy in going where he 
 leads. His voice is that of the Father's love, en- 
 treating us also to come to God and to be at one 
 with him. It calls us to the labour and pain of 
 self-conquest, perhaps to the patience of suffering. 
 But it bids us go nowhere but where Christ has 
 gone before. As we follow that voice, we keep
 
 198 THE DIVINE RIGHT TO RULE. 
 
 near to him, and he will lead us to refreshing 
 pastures and sweet waters. Let us not choose to 
 stray from his guidance. If we do we shall lose 
 ourselves, and one day we shall repent of our 
 wilfulness. If we are straying now, the Good 
 Shepherd is seeking us, and calling us by name 
 with that voiqe of mercy. He desires to save us 
 from ourselves and from our enemies. He pro- 
 mises us rest in obedience. " Take my yoke upon 
 you and learn of me ; for my yoke is easy, and 
 my burden is light."
 
 XIV. 
 
 'CvESAR AND GOD. 
 
 ST MATTHEW xxn. 11. "Render unto Caesar the things which 
 are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." 
 
 I HAVE protested in a recent sermon 1 against a 
 current and plausible misinterpretation of this 
 saying. But I am induced to ask your attention 
 to a fuller exposition of the true meaning of it, 
 because the public interest is especially engaged at 
 the present moment by controversies in which this 
 saying is adduced as an authoritative text, and the 
 sense put upon the precept is, I may say, a demon- 
 strably erroneous one. It is worth while, I feel 
 assured, to try even by repetition to guard our- 
 selves against this misapprehension, and to fasten 
 to our minds the true sense of our Lord's pro- 
 foundly edifying admonition. 
 
 The saying is supposed to refer to the pro- 
 vinces of the State and the Church, or of the 
 civil authority and the religious authority, respec- 
 tively, and to lay down the principle that these 
 
 1 Seepage 113.
 
 C&SAR AND GOD. 
 
 provinces should be kept carefully distinct. In 
 this sense the text is invoked equally by the 
 Roman Catholic and by the Protestant Dissenter, 
 by Archbishop Manning and by Mr Miall. The 
 Romanist alleges that when the State interferes 
 with the province of the Church, this direct com- 
 mand of Christ is violated. " The province of the 
 Church is that of faith and morals ; within that 
 province the Church ought to be supreme ; it is 
 sacrilege and blasphemy for the civil power to 
 make regulations, except as the obedient servant 
 of the Church, which have anything to do with 
 faith and morals." Considering, as Mr Gladstone 1 
 is pointing out to us, that our whole life belongs in 
 some sense to the sphere of faith and morals, we 
 can only see in this doctrine a claim on the part of 
 the Church, as distinct from the State, to rule the 
 whole of human life. If we demur to what seems 
 to involve such consequences, we are reminded that 
 our Lord bade us render to Caesar the things that 
 are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. 
 The interference of the State with the Church is 
 named "Caesarism"; it is the presumption of a Caesar 
 taking to himself the things that belong to God. 
 
 1 This sermon was preached on the Sunday after the publication 
 of the " Vatican Decrees."
 
 CAESAR AND GOD. 
 
 With a very different understanding of what " the 
 Church " is, English voluntaryism equally appeals 
 to this saying as affirming the separate independ- 
 ence of the civil power and of religion. It declares 
 the sphere of the conscience to be one, and the 
 sphere of the law to be another. In maintaining a 
 State-Church, we render, it complains, to Caesar 
 things which belong to God only. In our own 
 Church, established as it is by law, this command 
 of Christ is continually quoted as guarding in some 
 way the independence of the Church and of reli- 
 gion, though the interpretation put upon it by 
 Romanist and by Dissenter may be thought too 
 extreme. The Parliament, say not a few, must not 
 pass any law affecting the Church or religion with- 
 out the consent of the Church as represented by 
 the Convocations of Clergy, because our Lord 
 has solemnly said, "Render to Cassar the things 
 that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are 
 God's." 
 
 Now it only requires a careful reading of the 
 narrative to see that when our Lord spoke these 
 words he w r as not intending to make any distinction 
 at all between the secular and the ecclesiastical 
 provinces, between the claims of the State and the 
 claims of the Church. The ecclesiastical organiza-
 
 AND GOD. 
 
 tion of his country, or of any other country, was not 
 in our Lord's mind, any more than it was in the 
 minds of his questioners. When the words are used 
 to prove that the Church has rights with which the 
 State ought not to interfere, they are applied to a 
 purpose with which they really have nothing to do. 
 So we lose, on the one hand, the benefit of the true 
 meaning of an important lesson ; whilst on the 
 other hand Christ's sanction is given to an arbitrary 
 and impracticable theory. 
 
 I need hardly remind you of the condition of 
 Judaea in our Lord's day. The country had lost 
 its independence. It was a part of the great 
 dominion of Rome. The imperial authority of the 
 Roman Caesar was represented in the land of Israel 
 by vassal princes and governors and garrisons and 
 tribute-collectors. The land had gone through 
 many vicissitudes since the times best known to us, 
 those of the kings and the prophets. But the 
 national idea cherished by devout Jews in every 
 generation was that of a "theocracy." This means 
 a system of government in which the God of the 
 national worship was regarded as ruling the nation 
 through his appointed ministers. It is the very 
 principle of a theocracy, that the civil and the 
 ecclesiastical organizations are not kept distinct
 
 CsESAR AND GOD. 203 
 
 from one another. When you read the Prophets, 
 is it religion or politics that you find in the pages 
 of Isaiah or Jeremiah ? One just as much as the 
 other. It is all religion ; it is all politics. The 
 people of Israel are addressed as the people of their 
 God Jehovah by prophets claiming to speak in his 
 name; they are addressed with reference to their 
 national faults, their national dangers, the national 
 glory that was promised them. This entire blending 
 of politics and religion in the life of the ancient Jews 
 must be evident to all who read the Old Testament. 
 When the people of Jehovah fell under the yoke 
 of a heathen emperor, it seems hardly reasonable to 
 assume that this degradation produced a happy 
 separation of the temporal and the spiritual func- 
 tions. Csesar was a foreign despot, under whose 
 sway it was impossible for Jews who cherished the 
 traditions of Israel to live contented. 
 
 It was however a peculiar baseness in the Jews 
 who persecuted the Lord Jesus and his followers, 
 that they tried to bring them into collision with 
 the Roman authorities. They would pay a homage 
 of which they were bitterly ashamed, for 'the sake 
 of destroying those whom they hated. They de- 
 nounced Jesus to Pontius Pilate as a pretender 
 inciting the people to insurrection ; they afterwards
 
 204 CAESAR AND GOD. 
 
 denounced the preachers of the Gospel to the 
 Roman authorities throughout the Empire as pro- 
 moters of sedition. 
 
 The Pharisees took counsel, we are told, how 
 they might entangle Jesus in his talk. They 
 wanted to get him into a difficulty. So they sent 
 emissaries to him, charging them to compliment 
 him on his courage and his truthfulness, and then 
 to propose to him a perplexing question. They 
 addressed him thus; "Master, we know that thou 
 art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, 
 neither carest thou for any man; for thou regard est 
 not the person of men. Tell us therefore, what 
 thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to 
 Caesar or not?" Their object was to force Jesus 
 into a dilemma. If he said, partly persuaded by 
 their flattery, that it was not lawful, then they might 
 accuse him to the Roman government. If he 
 answered that it was lawful, they hoped to bring 
 him into discredit with the people. For they 
 regarded him as a man who wanted to make a 
 party and gain a following, and who was seeking to 
 accomplish these ends like other popular leaders 
 by appealing to the old religious patriotism of his 
 countrymen. And if Jesus had been what they 
 supposed him to be, their plan would have been
 
 AND GOD. 205 
 
 a very promising one. But Jesus perceived their 
 wickedness, and instead of having recourse to any 
 conciliatory evasion in his reply, he made them 
 wince under his righteous indignation. "Why 
 tempt ye me" that is, Why are you making your 
 experiments upon me "ye hypocrites?" There 
 was no honest purpose in their inquiry, he knew. 
 Still, they should have their answer, and know that 
 he was not afraid to answer them plainly. "Shew 
 me the tribute-money." "Whose" he asked, 
 when they brought him a coin "Whose is this 
 image and superscription?" " Caesar's." It was the 
 Imperial coinage. And what did the currency of 
 this coin imply? It implied that Caesar was the 
 actual accepted ruler of the land, a foreign con- 
 queror, it was true, but still, keeping the peace, 
 administering justice, exercising the necessary 
 functions of government. The ruler of the land 
 might claim tribute. Our Lord leaves here un- 
 touched, I think, the questions, whether it was 
 right that the Caesar should have become the ruler 
 of the land, whether the people would in any cir- 
 cumstances be justified in rising against him, how 
 far they might plan resistance or indulge discontent. 
 He knew, we may venture to say, that there was 
 not the mind, the faith, in the people, certainly
 
 206 C-&.SAR AND GOD. 
 
 not in these hypocritical questioners, that would 
 justify an appeal to arms in behalf of national inde- 
 pendence. It was from the first the fixed resolution 
 of the Lord Jesus, not to encourage any insurrec- 
 tionary movement. In that day, and for the 
 population of that land, it was needful and right to 
 submit to the Roman government. There could be 
 no question, if this were so, about the lawfulness of 
 paying tribute. The Caesar who was God's minis- 
 ter for keeping order and repressing crime and 
 faction could claim the tribute as his due. " Render 
 therefore to Caesar what belongs to Caesar." But 
 there are other dues to render. Mark this, ye 
 hypocrites, who are seeking to slay God's prophet 
 because he speaks the truth to you. "Render to 
 God what belongs to God." 
 
 And what then were those Pharisees and Hero- 
 dians to think of as belonging to God ? 
 
 You will perceive that at all events the claims 
 of ecclesiastical as distinct from civil authority are 
 foreign to the occasion. There is no question here 
 about the authority of the priests or of the council. 
 The one question had been, Ought we children of 
 Abraham to pay tribute to a heathen conqueror ? 
 Yes, pay it, said Jesus, so long as it is God's just 
 judgment on your fathers and you that you should
 
 AND GOD. 207 
 
 be his conquered subjects. Render to Csesar his 
 dues ; and render to God his dues. . 
 
 Primarily, perhaps, this last command should 
 be associated with our Lord's rebuke to the trea- 
 cherous falseness of his questioners. They knew 
 in their consciences that in cherishing this mind 
 they were defrauding the God of truth and right- 
 eousness of the homage which was his due. He 
 required truth in the inward parts. He required 
 of them to do justly and to love mercy and to 
 walk humbly with him. The demand, Render to 
 God what belongs to God, was well aimed at the 
 conscience of the Pharisee. As soon as he began 
 to ask himself, What then does God require of us ? 
 answers would not be wanting. He could not stop 
 till he had confessed that he had himself to render 
 to God, his possessions, his powers, his heart. 
 
 And then perhaps it might occur to him there 
 was an apt symbolism in the coin and its image 
 and superscription. Was there anything in him- 
 self answering to that coin ? Yes, he too bore an 
 image stamped upon him. It was the faith handed 
 down to him, that God made man in his own 
 image. If Caesar claimed the coin with his image 
 upon it, so God claimed the man with his image 
 upon him. Nay, the children of the covenant bore
 
 208 CsESAR AND GOD. 
 
 a superscription also, in the sign of the covenant, 
 which legibly declared them to belong to their 
 God. Render to God his dues, you that have 
 given yourselves to be children of the spirit of lies 
 and hatred : render to the righteous God what bears 
 his image and superscription, your own nature, 
 made in the Divine image, having the Divine name 
 and the call of the covenant written upon it. 
 
 It may be open to question whether this sym- 
 bolism was in our Lord's primary meaning. It is 
 enough to say that Jesus, penetrating with his 
 Divine indignation to the conscience of the Phari- 
 sees, bade them consider what they owed to God, 
 and how they were paying the debt. Most cer- 
 tainly it was not a part of themselves, not one 
 province of life, which they owed to God, whilst 
 the rest was reserved for Caesar. If God could 
 claim anything, he claimed the whole man, body, 
 soul, and spirit. In paying tribute to Caesar, they 
 were rendering to God himself a part of his claim. 
 This, as you will remember, is St Paul's doctrine. 
 " For this cause ye pay tribute also ; for rulers are 
 God's ministers, attending continually upon this 
 very thing." So that loyalty to rulers is compre- 
 hended in duty to God, and servants of God must 
 be loyal subjects for conscience's sake.
 
 CAESAR AND GOD. 209 
 
 Let us, Christian brethren, find a lesson in the 
 rebuke and warning addressed to those hypocrites. 
 The truth of it is not for them only. It turns the 
 payment of earthly dues into a witness to our 
 heavenly obligation. As you pay your tax loyally 
 to the earthly government which, however imper- 
 fect, gives you benefits worth far more than your 
 contribution, consider also the heavenly govern- 
 ment under which you live, and what it requires 
 of you. Render to God, the Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, what he claims of you. Are you 
 not his ? Were you not bought with a price ? Have 
 you not been sealed in your baptism with his 
 Name ? You bear God's image and superscription, 
 you have no right to withhold yourselves from God. 
 Render yourselves up to him, in sincerity, in trust, 
 in loving obedience. 
 
 You will not allow, I hope, this acted parable 
 to be displaced in your minds by that unfortunate 
 misapprehension which takes Caesar, the name of 
 an alien despot, to represent civil government, 
 which assumes that God is another name for an 
 ecclesiastical assembly, and which implies that the 
 civil ruler and God are two coordinate and inde- 
 pendent powers. But when the relations of Church 
 and State are occupying our minds, and troubling 
 D. S. S. 14
 
 CAESAR AND GOD. 
 
 them, perhaps, as a perplexing problem, you may 
 go on to ask, " If there is nothing in this passage 
 which lays down any law about those relations, in 
 what other parts of the New Testament shall we 
 find maxims that will guide us either in making 
 claims for the State or in asserting the independ- 
 ence of the Church ?" I believe we should look in 
 vain for such maxims. Precepts are given in the 
 New Testament with reference to the actual cir- 
 cumstances of those to whom they are addressed ; 
 and the circumstances of the New Testament 
 Christians were extremely different from ours. 
 They formed little new aggressive communities 
 in the midst of a vast pagan empire; they were 
 happy if they could escape persecution ; their 
 policy was to be as submissive and loyal as it was 
 possible for them to be without denying Christ, 
 and to avoid every needless occasion of offence, 
 whilst they lived a secret life of their own, in which 
 those around them could have no part. The 
 wonder is that the Roman authorities are treated 
 with so much respect in the Epistles, that St Paul, 
 with a Caligula and a Nero in his mind, could say, 
 " the powers that be are ordained of God." But it is 
 obvious that the rules of conduct adjusted to the 
 circumstances of the Christian Church in the first
 
 CAESAR AND GOD. 
 
 century could hardly suit our circumstances in the 
 Christian England of to-day. Indeed it must soon 
 become clear to any who look back to history or 
 abroad upon the world, that the relations between 
 the Church and the State must vary with the cir- 
 cumstances of each time and country. At one 
 extreme you may see one Christian Communion 
 comprehending all the inhabitants of a country ; at 
 the other you may see a nation split up into a 
 number of separate religious bodies of which none 
 can claim undisputed precedence. In either of 
 these cases the policy to be adopted would be 
 comparatively simple, determined without contro- 
 versy by the facts themselves. We in England 
 have a much more complex state of things to deal 
 with, and we have great need to ask for wisdom 
 and grace to guide us in right action. We cannot, 
 shut our eyes to the fact that the majority of the 
 people in Scotland are Presbyterians, in Ireland 
 are Roman Catholics, and that in England and 
 Wales we have a most powerful minority of Non- 
 conformists. The two questions will inevitably 
 arise, Is it fair that the Church of England should 
 be preserved as the public Church of so mixed a 
 population ? Is it fair that the Church of England 
 should be regulated by a Parliament representing 
 
 142
 
 CAESAR AND GOD. 
 
 that mixed population ? On the one hand there is 
 the possibility of injustice to the people ; on the 
 other hand there is the possibility of injustice to 
 the Church. I repeat it, there are no propositions 
 in the New Testament which can be made to serve, 
 without forcing, as answers to these questions. We 
 can only look for guidance to God himself teaching 
 us through the facts of history and through the 
 inspirations of his justice and love. 
 
 But the God to whom we look is the God of 
 the New Testament, he who spoke to mankind in 
 his Son Jesus Christ, he who began the building of 
 the Church upon his Son through his holy Apo- 
 stles and Prophets. We know that this our God 
 claims earth for himself as well as heaven, that he 
 leaves out no province of secular life from his 
 dominion, that he taught the faithful to look for- 
 ward to the future glory when the kingdoms of 
 this world should become the kingdoms of our 
 Lord and of his Christ. We know that there is 
 nothing ungodly in civil government, no necessary 
 godliness in religious assemblies. After Jesus had 
 justified the payment of tribute to Caesar, Caesar 
 through his officer put the Lord of glory to an 
 unjust and cruel death. But those that delivered 
 Jesus to Pilate had the greater sin, and they were
 
 CAESAR AND GOD. 213 
 
 God's priests, who offered God's sacrifices in God's 
 Temple. The State may be in the wrong, and the 
 Church may be in the wrong ; and both are likely 
 to miss the more excellent way when their repre- 
 sentatives boast of their rights and substitute 
 arrogance for docility. Above the State and 
 above the Church there is the one God over all, by 
 whom kings reign and Parliaments legislate, by 
 whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is 
 governed and sanctified. In looking to him we 
 shall see light, in surrendering ourselves to him, 
 Church and nation, societies and individuals, we 
 shall find safety and blessedness.
 
 XV. 
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER'. 
 
 PHILIPPIANS il. 3, 4. "Let nothing be done through strife or 
 vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other 
 better than themselves. Look not every man on his own 
 things, but every man also on the things of others." 
 
 LIKE all our English institutions, our great schools 
 are being constantly brought under the criticism of 
 the public opinion of the day. It is no unfriendly 
 criticism, certainly, for we are all proud of our 
 public schools, the like of which are not to be 
 found in any other land ; and there can hardly be 
 an Englishman of the middle and upper classes 
 who has not personal reasons for being interested 
 in one or more of them. In the newspapers and 
 in conversation, schools and school life are always 
 a welcome subject of discussion. But when this 
 anniversary brings you together in the place of 
 your common worship, it is the office of the 
 
 1 Preached in the Chapel of Marlborough College on Michaelmas 
 Day, 1874.
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 215 
 
 preacher to remind you that schools like this are 
 not only English but Christian schools. You have 
 another judgment to think of than that of your 
 countrymen ; a standard to aim at which is not set 
 by the tradition of English schools or by the best 
 modern culture. Your presence here confesses 
 that you are under law to Christ. 
 
 I am thankful that in these days we are not 
 permitted to hold our Christianity lazily separate 
 from our practical life. The keen and anxious 
 spirit of inquiry which is abroad forbids it. It 
 probes hollow profession, asking eagerly, "What 
 is the Christianity you profess ? Will it stand, will 
 it live and work, in this modern age? Are you 
 really acting upon it in the strain of life, or is your 
 scheme of conduct framed according to other 
 principles ? " It is good for us, though it may be at 
 the cost of pain and disturbance, to be thus called 
 to account. We may well regard anything as a 
 boon, which forces our faith and our life into 
 closer contact, and which will help us to know the 
 glory and power and hope of our calling. 
 
 Speaking then as a Christian to Christians, I 
 shall ask you to-day to consider one very con- 
 spicuous feature of education as it is now, and to 
 bring it honestly into comparison with a great law
 
 216 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 of our Christian calling. There is an apparent 
 discord between the two, to which we ought not 
 to be insensible. The principle of Competition 
 has been introduced into every part of our edu- 
 cational system, and is impressed upon it be- 
 yond all former precedent ; Suppression of self 
 is the Christian principle to which it seems to 
 be opposed. The age is exhorting you, " Strive 
 incessantly in all things to be foremost ; " the 
 voice of Christ says to you, " Follow me, in lowli- 
 ness and self-sacrifice ; many that are first shall 
 be last and the last first." Let us consider how 
 far, and under what conditions, competition may 
 be approved by those who would conform them- 
 selves sincerely, however imperfectly, to the mind 
 of Christ. 
 
 Competition is no new thing in education, any 
 more than in the business of life. Teachers have 
 at all times endeavoured to stimulate their pupils 
 by appealing to the desire of each to outdo his 
 fellows. "Always to excel and to be superior to 
 others " has been the motto of the trainers of youth 
 in every generation. But there is something new 
 in the prodigious development of the system and 
 machinery of competition which has taken place 
 within my own memory. From infancy upwards,
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 217 
 
 boy is matched against boy, young man against 
 young man, in every department of effort. Let a 
 youth look before him along what line he will, he 
 sees a prize tempting him. If he can beat his 
 competitors, he may carry off something desirable, 
 an honorary distinction, a book, an exhibition, a 
 scholarship, an appointment for life. There never 
 was anything like it before. Keen eyes seem to be 
 perpetually ranging over the whole compass of 
 human activity, in the hope of discovering some 
 form of exertion to which prizes have not yet been 
 offered, so that one more department, however 
 insignificant or incongruous, may be added to the 
 domain of formal competition. Nor is it only in 
 serious pursuits that registered success is thus 
 made the object of effort. It is so at least equally 
 in games. Sports are pursued, not so much from 
 love of the occupation or for the sake of refresh- 
 ment from labour, as with a view to beating com- 
 petitors. Cricket, one might fear, would lose half 
 its charm, if scores were not kept and published. 
 As in horse-racing no one thinks of the enjoyment 
 of the sport by the horses, so in boating the 
 pleasure of the exercise is completely subordinated 
 to the necessity of coming in first. The shooter, I 
 believe, is hardly less solicitous about the number
 
 2i8 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 of the lives he takes than the cricketer about his 
 score. The climbing of mountains became a pas- 
 sion when it was made a form of racing as to 
 height and time. That predominance of bodily 
 exercise against which all educated good sense is 
 now beginning to protest, and which will have to 
 be in some way checked, is manifestly due, not to 
 imitation of the Greeks or to theories of the moral 
 value of muscular exertion, but to the fact that 
 the honours and prizes which youths desire are to 
 be won by athletics and boating and cricket. 
 
 I speak the more freely, perhaps, because it is 
 not my purpose to denounce this all -subduing 
 system of competition. It would be a serious at- 
 tempt, indeed, to assail it, one not to be under- 
 taken with a light heart. Besides, I know not who 
 could commence the attack with clean hands. No 
 one thinks it a sin to accept the benefits of com- 
 petition when they come in his way. Nor can any 
 one easily resist the evidence of the good done by 
 the stimulation of rivalry for prizes, in the pro- 
 motion of really beneficial effort. This seems to 
 me so unquestionable, that I should have no more 
 scruple than others have in offering prizes and 
 inviting the young or grown-up persons to compete 
 for them, as, for example, with the aim of extend-
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 219 
 
 ing certain advantages to a poorer class. We may 
 all justly lay on each other some share of responsi- 
 bility for the system which has become so dominant 
 in the England of our day. 
 
 But now let us recall to mind that we are 
 Christians. It is true that even from the Christian 
 point of view our calling has been described in 
 terms borrowed from the splendid games of ancient 
 Greece. We are reminded that we have a race 
 to run, that we are engaged in a contest which 
 demands all our energy. He whom we follow is 
 said to have kept his prize in view. In looking to 
 Jesus, we look to one who for the joy that was 
 set before him endured the cross, despising the 
 shame. But what was the joy set before him? 
 That of saving his brethren. Nothing exclusive, 
 nothing that could feed selfish pride or vanity. 
 The mind that was in Christ Jesus was shewn in 
 the emptying of self, in voluntary descent and 
 humiliation. The Apostle says to us Christians, 
 "Let this mind be in you." He proposes to us the 
 glory of caring for others more than for ourselves, of 
 putting self back, of willingly relinquishing the 
 objects of human desire whenever the great end of 
 building up the body in harmony and efficiency may 
 thereby be promoted. It is because this suppression
 
 220 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 and sacrifice of self is so difficult to us that the 
 language of the arena is applied to it. It is so 
 natural to love pre-eminence, to love praise, to love 
 pleasant and precious things, that we are reminded 
 of the necessity of struggling against these desires 
 as the wrestler struggled against his antagonist. 
 To look round on our neighbours and say, "Here 
 are competitors to be beaten," is to know them 
 after the flesh ; to know them after the spirit or 
 after Christ is to say "Here are brothers to be 
 served and helped." Those that would be Chris- 
 tians have the law of self-surrender unmistakably 
 declared to them, the joy of ministration and sym- 
 pathy and of pleasing the Father unmistakably 
 held out to them as their prize. 
 
 What then is the attitude which we ought to 
 take as loyal Christians towards the method which 
 stimulates exertion by offering prizes to those who 
 outstrip their fellows ? 
 
 Let me endeavour to give some partial answer 
 to this importa-nt question, in reflections which I 
 hope may be practical for you who hear me. 
 
 I. I have intimated already that I do not think 
 we are called upon, as a Christian community, to 
 abolish the whole system of competition. We can 
 see that it has certain good effects. These are
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 221 
 
 entitled to fair consideration. It is unlikely that 
 a practice out of which good comes should be 
 itself intrinsically and necessarily evil. We are 
 warranted in taking into account all the bearings 
 of the question. We are at liberty to inquire, with 
 our best judgment, whether the system of compe- 
 tition does on the whole more good or harm. We 
 must not rashly assume that if it were removed its 
 place would instantly be taken by ideally perfect 
 motives. Suppose, for example, that every prize 
 and comparison of one boy with another were 
 abolished in this school, and that no competition 
 remained in either mental or bodily exercises; you 
 would probably find school work and school life 
 considerably flatter, and we have no reason to 
 believe that by this simple process they would be 
 made nobler or more Christian. Dullness and 
 inertia form no natural soil for the highest qualities 
 to grow in. Experience and analogy seem to prove 
 that competition is an appointed condition of the 
 merely natural order throughout all human exist- 
 ence. The struggle for the first place does not 
 lose its usefulness until it is absorbed into higher 
 motives. Some day, possibly, we may grow out 
 of the competition of buying and selling ; but if we 
 ever issue from it, it must be by growing out of
 
 222 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 it ; we cannot decree that there shall be no compe- 
 tition. Nature would baffle us, and in attempting 
 to accomplish our desire we should find ourselves 
 throwing away a convenient and indispensable force 
 without being able to put another in its place. So 
 it is with regard to the play of competition in 
 educational training. It is right, let us say, to re- 
 cognize and to use it. We want very much any 
 agency that promises to promote life and activity, 
 if it is not an incurably unwholesome one. We 
 want some means of selection also, in which the 
 community can place confidence. And on the 
 whole the plan of getting boys to exert themselves 
 by inducing them to try to beat one another is 
 found in practice to work better than that of 
 leaving them without this stimulus. 
 
 2. But if we recognize and use competition as 
 a natural and therefore in a proper sense Divinely 
 ordained condition of human life, we are bound 
 to take care that it does not usurp an undue pre- 
 dominance over the life of Christians. There are 
 things which we are to use without abusing them, 
 which we are to use as instruments without allow- 
 ing them to become our masters. 
 
 And it will hardly be questioned, in a vigorous 
 school like this any more than in the outside world
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 223 
 
 that we are in danger of having our minds too 
 much engaged and possessed by incessant emula- 
 tion, by incessant comparison of the producible 
 work of one with that of another, by incessant 
 anxiety to gain distinctions. It is not desirable, 
 or at all events not the most desirable character- 
 istic, in a boy-community, that the most energetic 
 should be taught and compelled to be always 
 thinking of gaining competitive victories. I gladly 
 admit that the particular evil which would have 
 been feared beforehand, that of spoiling goodwill 
 and friendship between rivals, does not appear to 
 have been produced in any painful amount by 
 competition. I have no doubt it has been proved 
 here, as it certainly has been elsewhere, that spirited 
 competitors may be hearty and affectionate friends. 
 If this were impossible, the system would be de- 
 cisively stamped as unchristian. But to be matched 
 against a friend for a highly valued prize, and still 
 more to be defeated by a friend, can hardly fail to 
 be now and then a severe trial of friendship. And 
 the tone of mind produced by the tension of these 
 contests is not the noblest any more than the 
 happiest. 
 
 It is a great point, then, to see clearly that com- 
 petition belongs to the lower to what St Paul
 
 224 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 would probably have called the fleshly order. It 
 ought to be kept down in its lower place. It has 
 no sacredness in it to the Christian mind, no high 
 moral dignity. The real question of interest about 
 man or boy is not whether he has beaten such or 
 such competitors, but how well he has done the 
 work committed to him, how high he has risen, 
 not by comparison with certain other persons, but 
 in the real Divine scale. 
 
 3. But, thirdly, let the strong pressure which 
 this system is continually bringing to bear upon us 
 be an argument for fixing our thoughts the more 
 earnestly upon the mind that was in Christ. This 
 is the best way to deal with anything questionable in 
 the customs of that world of which we individually 
 form so powerless a part. It is often difficult to 
 make up our minds whether an existing custom 
 has on the whole an influence for good or for 
 evil ; it is very difficult to reorganize society in any 
 important respect according to our minds ; it would 
 be still more difficult to secure that nothing but 
 good should come in with the change. But it is 
 always possible, when there is anything in external 
 order or method that does not look like a Christian 
 form of life, to take this as a warning to cherish 
 with more thorough devotion the essentially Chris-
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 225 
 
 tian mind. Take for example the distribution and 
 employment of wealth amongst us. This must 
 often strike us as painfully unlike the Christian 
 ideal. Well, whatever it may be possible and 
 right for any of us to do in the way of promoting 
 change in the relations of the rich and the poor, 
 every one of us may constantly remind himself of 
 the supreme principles which Christ has laid down, 
 as that each is the steward and not the absolute 
 owner of what he possesses, that all possessions 
 should be made available for the common good, 
 that riches are dangerous to spirituality, that every 
 poorer person has a kind of natural claim on every 
 richer, that the weaker or less comely member 
 ought to be the more honoured in the body of 
 Christ. So, if the age is setting you to race and 
 struggle with one another, it is the more necessary 
 to take to heart those eternal principles of the 
 Christian calling which ambition has at least the 
 appearance of thwarting. 
 
 Let me name first the sentiment of generous 
 goodwill. Our public schools have not been want- 
 ing in the power of cementing mutual attachment 
 amongst those whom they have trained. Let the 
 corporate spirit which lives in the atmosphere of a 
 great school be exalted into Christian goodwill, 
 D.S.S. IS
 
 226 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 and clothe itself with gentleness, with consideration 
 for the weak, with refinement. Let all inclination 
 towards grudging and jealousy, all impulse to pass 
 unfair and detracting judgments, and still more, 
 let the baseness which would take a mean or dis- 
 honest advantage, be shamed in disciples of Jesus 
 Christ by the true Christian consciousness. Chi- 
 valrous feeling is a genuine element of the Chris- 
 tian mind. And there is something in competition, 
 as in the generous rivalry of Arthur's knights, 
 which may even stimulate it. But it is well that 
 those who are thrown into the arena together 
 should seek, not merely to breathe the conven- 
 tional sentiment of honour, but to imbibe at its 
 perennial fountain the more vital instinct of sym- 
 pathy which joins member to member in the body 
 of Christ. 
 
 There is another disposition which the Chris- 
 tian is plainly called to cultivate, and which the 
 temptations of competition might naturally bring 
 to our mind. It is the endeavour to abide in one's 
 own place, and to do the duty of that place in 
 contentment and modesty. We have the happi- 
 ness of believing that we are objects of Divine 
 care and providence, not coming into the world by 
 chance to struggle for existence, but having each
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 227 
 
 of us an assigned place, with work answering to it, 
 and endowments which will enable us to perform 
 the work. This faith is the basis of Christian 
 patience, modesty, and sense of responsibility. St 
 Paul teaches " Bear ye one another's burdens, and 
 so fulfil the law of Christ;" but he adds almost 
 immediately, "Every man shall bear his own bur- 
 den," and he exhorts therefore, " Let every man 
 prove his own work." The probation of life may 
 be said to consist in finding out with the help of 
 experiments what our appointed work is, and then 
 in trying how well we can do it. The temper of 
 mind thus encouraged is a different one from the 
 restless eagerness to be before others which con- 
 stant struggling is apt to engender, and it is surely 
 a most desirable one for both boys and men to 
 cultivate. There is real lasting strength in it, and 
 it is the safeguard of many virtues. Not only will 
 our life be happier and more wholesome, but our 
 work will in the end be more perfectly done, if we 
 can say, "My business is not to get before others, 
 but to do well what is given me to do. I must not 
 waste my time, which is not indeed mine to waste. 
 I must do the best I can to satisfy those for whom 
 and under whom I work ; but it is not to them 
 that I am ultimately responsible. Let me live and 
 
 152
 
 228 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 labour as ever in the great Taskmaster's eye. If 
 God has not endowed me with faculties which 
 enable me to be first in the race, let me not be 
 discouraged or grudge to others their success. God 
 above does not measure success by these external 
 standards." If we could count upon Christian con- 
 victions like these in all who have been baptized 
 into the name of Christ, we might throw to the 
 winds the machinery of competitive rewards, and 
 be well rid of it. Let us not be beguiled into any 
 forgetfulness of the need, the blessedness, the 
 practical value, of this faith. 
 
 Once more, it is the pride of the Christian to 
 love and desire knowledge for its own sake, and 
 not for the honours and prizes it will bring. Know- 
 ledge, as the Christian understands it, brings him 
 nearer to God himself. The things that we know 
 are the ways and works of God. It is true that all 
 things are not equally good to know. It is impor- 
 tant that a wise selection of studies be made, so 
 that what is learnt may be best calculated to en- 
 rich, expand, and elevate the mind. But know- 
 ledge, I repeat, is sacred to the Christian. He 
 looks upon it as a treasure compared with which 
 gold is valueless. To lay out all the energy of 
 our Divinely given faculties in acquiring know-
 
 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 22$ 
 
 ledge, and to do this only or mainly for the sake 
 of gaining a prize or of being declared before the 
 world to have earned so many more marks than 
 some other candidate, must seem to one who re- 
 .verences his calling an unworthy act. I know that 
 there are motives far higher than covetousness or 
 vanity which create an eager desire for success. 
 The thought of the joy that others will feel in his 
 triumph, of the pride he may put into the hearts 
 of those who have taught him and of those who 
 love him, is often the chief stimulus to the efforts 
 of the aspiring student. There is nothing unworthy 
 in working for such a reward. But even in such a 
 case knowledge has missed its due honour. It is 
 an unhappy sign when youths care for no know- 
 ledge but that which will bring success. And it is 
 to be regretted, I venture to say, when they are so 
 urged by whatever pressure to competitive efforts 
 as to have no time or energy left to push forward 
 their reading or inquiry in channels of their own 
 choice. 
 
 I have endeavoured thus briefly to indicate 
 how the ancient teaching of the Gospel of Christ 
 may nourish in the members of a community like 
 this habits of mind that will control and correct 
 the inferior influences which act upon them. Let
 
 230 COMPETITION AND SELF-SURRENDER. 
 
 us be thankful that we who call ourselves after the 
 name of Christ are not ultimately subject to the 
 traditions of a past age or to the opinion of the 
 present. We have reason indeed to confess our 
 deep obligations to the noble institutions and. 
 customs handed down to us, and to rejoice in the 
 progress and achievements by which our own age 
 is illustrated. But we have an eternal standard 
 by which to measure ourselves, an unseen Teacher 
 from whom to learnj a heavenly Father to honour 
 and please. May God grant to this noble school, 
 not only a continuance of its intellectual vigour 
 and prosperity, but also the dignity and the hap- 
 piness and the power of doing good beyond our 
 estimate, which are the rewards of loyalty to 
 Christ !
 
 XVI. 
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL 1 . 
 
 ST JOHN xx. 11. "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto 
 you : as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." 
 
 As the Lord Jesus had come from the Father to 
 bring peace, so his envoys, the disciples whom he 
 had trained for their office, were similarly to be 
 messengers of peace to mankind. The whole Apo- 
 stolic ministry was summed up in this word 4 
 There was enmity on the earth. Men were alien- 
 ated from God, and made enemies to him by their 
 wickedness. There was a separation, which bore 
 the marks of God's own hand, between the chosen 
 people and the nations whom God had not called. 
 There was unnatural ill-feeling of every degree 
 between neighbour and neighbour. Christ came 
 to be the peace of the world, peace between the 
 Father and men, peace between Jew and Gentile, 
 peace between man and man. His Apostles or 
 envoys, in being heralds of their crucified and risen 
 
 1 Preached at Banbury Church, Oct. 7th, 1874,
 
 232 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 Master, were heralds of peace. It was their com- 
 mission to proclaim the Divine forgiveness, and to 
 beseech men to receive it. 
 
 I take this Divinely-ordained ministry of peace, 
 my Christian brethren, as a starting-point for our 
 reflections this evening. It is a subject which har- 
 monizes well with the circumstances under which I 
 am permitted to address you. Coming at the kind 
 request of my valued friend your Vicar to bear a 
 part in a ceremony so interesting to him and to you 
 as this opening of your new Chancel, what can my 
 first feeling be but to wish and pray that his minis- 
 try may be true and faithful, may be honoured and 
 rewarded, amongst you? And I am sure that the 
 work of a minister of Christ has the promise of 
 being successful in the sight of God, whether in the 
 sight of men or not, in proportion as priest and 
 people realize together that Christ through his 
 servants is still speaking peace to mankind. 
 
 There is something elementary in this original 
 word of reconciliation as spoken by the Apostles 
 of Jesus Christ, which may suggest questions like 
 these. "Is it enough? Does it not require that a 
 good deal should be added to it ? Or, have we not 
 outgrown it ? Do we not want, in this advanced 
 age, something more modern ?" My answer to any
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 233 
 
 such questions would be, that the original commis- 
 sion of the Christian ministry can never become 
 obsolete, that it must always be the kernel, the 
 heart, the life-power, of a Church; but that, the 
 more simply and purely the message of peace is 
 carried on from age to age, the more freely and 
 actively will it take up whatever is new, so as to 
 organize modern life in harmony with itself. I say 
 that the strength of the ministry of the Church of 
 England would be found at the present day in a 
 kind of severe loyalty to the commission which 
 Christ first gave to his Galilean disciples. 
 
 There are two tendencies manifestly active in 
 our religious life, one drawing towards comprehen- 
 sion, the other towards separation. 
 
 Those who are the most affected by the former 
 are generally averse to dogma, and make much of 
 Christian sentiment. They point out that all Chris- 
 tian communions agree in commending the great 
 practical matters of Christian life, such as truth, 
 goodwill, purity. They see, on the other hand, 
 doctrines which one communion pronounces to be 
 essential rejected as false and hurtful by another. 
 They know that the history of the Christian Church 
 has been deformed by the mutual contradictions of 
 Catholics and Arians, of Romanists and Protestants,
 
 234 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 of Calvinists and Arminians, of Churchmen and 
 Dissenters. The only deliverance, they say, from 
 these barren and discreditable controversies is in 
 preferring sentiment to dogma. Let it be under- 
 stood that the important point is not what a man 
 thinks, but how he feels. "He can't be wrong, 
 whose life is in the right." Each denomination, each 
 party in the Church, might learn to insist less and 
 less on its distinctive dogmas, and then there would 
 be a hope of all gradually drawing together. 
 
 Comprehension by the discouragement of dog- 
 ma is a watch-word of considerable power amongst 
 us. It appeals to very common experiences, to 
 the discoveries which the young soon make, that 
 those of their own traditional way of thinking are 
 not practically better than some upon whose opin- 
 ions they have been taught to look with aversion 
 and fear; to the veneration which noble lives excite 
 in all generous minds; to the perplexities about 
 belief by which many in days of inquiry are likely 
 to be distressed. The more excellent way of charity 
 has high sanctions, and offers itself persuasively to 
 Christian hearts. 
 
 But on the other hand there is a strong instinc- 
 tive conviction that sentiment cannot be healthy 
 and vigorous unless it has a root in faith. Those
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 235 
 
 who are called upon to be loving want to know 
 whom or what they are to love, and why they are 
 to love. Sentiment nourished for the sentiment's 
 sake does not gain that powerful hold with which 
 the conscience must be seized if a new life is to be 
 led. Then, what are these statements which are to 
 be discouraged under the name of dogmas? Are 
 they not concerned with sin, with guilt, with forgive- 
 ness, with the motive powers of a new life, that is, 
 with the very things about which an awakened soul 
 is most in earnest ? Could it be expected that a reli- 
 gio'us union, in which there should be an agreement 
 of silence on such points as the offence of sin and 
 the removal of the barrier which obstructs the 
 approach of the sin-laden conscience to the holy 
 presence of God, should be vital and durable? 
 Can it possibly be a matter of indifference whether 
 God has spoken to men or not, and if he has 
 spoken, what the things are that he has said ? 
 There is an evident likelihood that a union in 
 Christian sentiment without dogma would prove a 
 lifeless and vapid fellowship, from which those 
 who are stirred to the lower spiritual depths 
 would turn away in disappointment. Look, it is 
 urged, at the energy developed in those who hold 
 together the same strictly denned faith concerning
 
 236 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 the ways and purposes of God. Who have been 
 the people who have shewn religious zeal? Who 
 have made sacrifices proving them to be heartily 
 in earnest? History answers that it has been they 
 who have believed that God has made known some 
 way by which men may reach to him, and who have 
 agreed one with another in their conceptions as to 
 the manner and purport of that revelation. These 
 have felt their religion to be a serious thing; these 
 have sought to bring others over to what they have 
 held to be saving truth. To ask men to subordi- 
 nate doctrine to sentiment is in fact to ask them to 
 admit that they know of nothing which they can 
 firmly believe as to the ways of God; it is to ask 
 them to give up the hope by which human life has 
 been sustained at its best, and from time to time 
 recovered and raised from its lowest. 
 
 So there is a disposition not uncommon amongst 
 us to conclude that the best course is that persons 
 who take the same views on religious subjects 
 should form themselves through mutual attraction 
 into separate religious communions. The Dis- 
 senting bodies in this country have attained con- 
 siderable results by following this policy. An 
 association of persons holding identical opinions 
 works freely when compared with an association
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 237 
 
 the members of which differ much amongst them- 
 selves. The rivalry of religious bodies, each con- 
 cerned to demonstrate that its own truth is the 
 real and absolute truth, often stirs them to great 
 it may be to beneficial activity. The National 
 Church of this country moves slowly. Earnest 
 members of it naturally fret and are impatient 
 under the obstructions which are caused principally 
 by the differences of opinion which it embraces 
 within its hospitable shelter. Some outside the 
 Church of England, some within it, are begin- 
 ning to say, " How much freedom and force would 
 be gained, if this unwieldly State-system were 
 broken up, and the different schools in the Church 
 were made each a denomination by itself! Evan- 
 gelicals could then mould the Prayer-book more 
 exactly to their way of thinking, and could get rid 
 of the offence of acknowledging as fellow-members 
 of the same Church those High-Churchmen and 
 liberal Churchmen whose views they consider so 
 dangerous. High-Churchmen could advance with 
 no restraints from unwilling parishioners or dis- 
 approving bishops, with no fear of prosecutions 
 before their eyes. Liberal Churchmen might free 
 themselves from every superstition which the pro- 
 gress of knowledge appears to them to have made
 
 238 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 untenable." The introduction of perfect freedom of 
 voluntary association would lead, it is urged, to a 
 sudden and remarkable development of religious 
 energy. 
 
 Yes; I have little doubt that it would. But 
 at what a cost ! Do we want, can we patiently 
 contemplate, an ever-increasing multiplication and 
 subdivision of religious bodies ? Do we not already 
 see and deplore a tendency to make much of 
 particular opinions for the very sake of having a 
 distinction and a difference ? Does not this put the 
 great mass of simple Christians at the mercy of 
 those who are opinionated and pertinacious ? Con- 
 sidering what a Gospel we all profess to have 
 received, is it not lamentable that we who read 
 the same Bible should find it necessary to separate 
 ourselves into so many folds ? 
 
 But I must not dwell on the practical argu- 
 ments against religious division, nor upon the 
 loss which would seem to me as an Englishman 
 an almost intolerable one, the loss of a national 
 Church representing in an organic form the na- 
 tional Christianity. I must return to my point, 
 namely, the strength which the Church of England 
 may find in the simplest loyalty to the ministry of 
 reconciliation.
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 239 
 
 If there is to be no confident declaration to 
 mankind of forgiveness and redemption, then the 
 Church of Christ ought to be expressly abolished, 
 to make place for an institution of a different kind. 
 Those who believe that in Christ God was re- 
 conciling the world to himself cannot possibly be 
 willing to put this light under a bushel as a matter 
 of mere personal opinion, or as an obsolete dogma. 
 But this very declaration, dogmatic as it would be 
 called, is a proclamation of unity and comprehen- 
 sion, a call to peace. It may indeed be met with 
 enmity ; the bringer of peace may in effect be 
 sometimes the bringer of a sword. But the preacher 
 of reconciliation assures men that there is a peace 
 with God and with one another into which they 
 may enter if they will. The Church which duly 
 cherishes this testimony is pledged by its principal 
 dogma to promote peace, to remove stumbling- 
 blocks out of the way, to offer a welcome to all 
 who are willing to be reconciled to God. The 
 Church of England, as charged with the ministry 
 of peace, ought to lay aside all exclusiveness, to 
 cast out the spirit of self-complacence and scorn, 
 to be considerate of prejudices and weaknesses, to 
 count it a shame and reproach that its practical 
 witness for comprehension has not been more
 
 240 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 earnest and effectual. If the entreaty, "We pray 
 you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God," 
 were to become more genuinely the characteristic 
 voice of the Church, can we doubt that a wider 
 influence over the consciences of men would re- 
 ward such faithfulness? Judge, my brethren, by 
 what you know of yourselves, how the offer of 
 forgiveness, if it only reach the conscience of any 
 man, must work upon him. Think how the grace 
 of God will soften the hard heart, and humble the 
 pride which is the root of so much evil ; how it 
 engages a man to enter upon a lifelong struggle 
 against the dominion of that sinfulness which is 
 enmity against God and enmity amongst men ; 
 what a vital spring of endurance and effort there 
 is in the consciousness of being brought near to 
 God and having hope in him; how the man is 
 practically saved from those impulses which hinder 
 godly union and concord. Here surely, in the 
 thankful acceptance of God's grace, is the seed 
 of all spiritual life, the guarantee of all true fellow- 
 ship. 
 
 If this ministry of reconciliation, ordained in 
 the primary commission given by our Lord to his 
 Apostles, is entitled to have the central and ruling 
 place in our Christianity which the New Testament
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 241 
 
 seems to assign to it, other doctrines and all the 
 observances of religion will be best understood 
 when they are referred to it and interpreted by it. 
 We shall shew our faith in the great message of 
 the Gospel by allowing it to work its own effects 
 both upon our mental apprehensions and upon 
 our practice. The peace into which it is our privi- 
 lege to enter must have its fruit in a continued 
 spiritual fellowship. We are not to stand still as 
 Christians, however Divine be the foundation on 
 which we are placed. It is appointed to us to go 
 forward, to grow in knowledge, to be more ener- 
 getic and efficient in action. There is a partner- 
 ship in the Gospel, a fellowship in good works, a 
 serving of the eternal purposes of God, to which 
 we Christians are called. The design and hope 
 of the Saviour will not be fulfilled without the 
 most earnest cooperation of his disciples in the 
 work which he finds for their hands to do. 
 
 It is sufficiently obvious that in our Church, as 
 in any Church, Christian fellowship can only be 
 carried out into Christian work by a close and 
 hearty sympathy between the clergy and the laity. 
 The clergy cannot do the work of the Church with- 
 out the laity ; the laity cannot do it without the 
 clergy. In the Church of England, one of the 
 D. S. S. 16
 
 242 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 faults we have to acknowledge, I do not know on 
 whom the blame should be laid, is that we have 
 had too little of this general partnership of all in 
 Christian work. We may rejoice to confess this 
 error, because in so doing we are putting the finger 
 on a discovered cause of weakness. We have 
 found one of the leaks in our noble vessel, and we 
 can hasten to stop it. We are awakening, I trust, 
 clergy and laity together, to a sense of our common 
 responsibility. Clergymen are longing to call in 
 more and more the help of the people, and are 
 willing, if they are wise, that those who give their 
 help should share the power and practical govern- 
 ment of the Church. Laymen, feeling that they 
 have their part in the Church, are not by this con- 
 viction drawn away from the clergy, but on the 
 contrary, I believe, are drawn more closely to 
 them, entering more heartily into their cares and 
 responsibilities, sometimes, no doubt, restraining 
 and checking them as well as urging them forward 
 with their support, but in the one action as well as 
 the other proving that all are members of one body, 
 and that each organ has the liveliest interest in the 
 healthy working of the rest. 
 
 Let us pray that these tendencies, by the grace 
 of God, may go on and prosper. It may well fill
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 243 
 
 us with anxious hope to think what a future is 
 before us, if the members of our English Church 
 were to be fully roused by the great ideas em- 
 bodied in the constitution of our national Church. 
 It is inspiring, surely, to think of England as a 
 Christian country, built as a city that is at unity in 
 itself, embracing all the various elements of na- 
 tional life, all the traditions of the past, all the 
 knowledge and activity of the present, all the aims 
 of the future, within the bonds of a worship which 
 is grounded on the original ministry of Christ and 
 his Apostles, and which has come down to us 
 safely through all the vicissitudes and the sins of 
 our history. May it be given to us to bear our 
 humble part in working out such an ideal. Here, 
 in this place, there are happy indications that there 
 is no lack of Christian zeal and true Churchlike 
 cooperation. You have been doing much ; may it 
 be the earnest of more yet to be done. It is the 
 instinct of every awakened Christian body to take 
 an interest and a pride even in the outward acces- 
 sories of worship. It would be unnatural in Chris- 
 tian Englishmen at the present time to be satisfied 
 with an inadequate house of God. The life within 
 organizes and moulds that which is on the surface. 
 But it should be steadily borne in mind by both 
 
 162
 
 244 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 priests and people that the outward is outward, and 
 that the life of faith and love is what our Master 
 desires and looks for. 
 
 On this point there ought to be no mistake. 
 The Lord of the universe, whom we worship, is 
 indeed the author of all beauty, physical as well as 
 moral ; it is he who has given us the faculties by 
 which we choose and delight in beautiful things ; 
 and we cannot think of Divine or heavenly perfec- 
 tion without borrowing aid from some of the 
 images of beauty which the outward world presents 
 to us. But, if we had to compare together two 
 assemblies, the one consisting of rude uncultivated 
 persons, content with the unadorned necessities of 
 existence, not sensitive to the grossest violations of 
 artistic taste, but burning with love and devotion 
 within and making it their supreme object to be in 
 harmony, through faith and penitence, with the 
 Divine will ; the other worshipping in a sublime 
 Gothic cathedral, trained to move in perfect har- 
 mony under the sway of the laws of reverence, 
 singing exquisite music without a false note, but 
 caring for Art more than for God, thinking more 
 of a satisfactory " service " than of bearing the 
 burdens of humanity, and wanting in those deepest 
 affections which found their Divine utterance in a
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 245 
 
 Life the life of the Son of God totally un- 
 adorned by Art ; it would be folly and impiety 
 to doubt on which of the two scenes God would 
 look down with the most satisfaction. Whenever 
 people, beginning with the honest intention of 
 making the outward offering of their faith as 
 worthy and perfect as they can, have gone on to 
 fix their minds on the outward forms so as to neg- 
 lect the inner reality, then he who rebuked the 
 Pharisees for their bondage to tradition has found 
 it necessary to rebuke the lovers of beauty also, 
 and to complain, " Thus have ye made the word of 
 God of none effect by your aesthetics." 
 
 That there is such a danger in the present day, 
 it would be well for us to bear in mind. It is a 
 time of reaction against a strange condition of the 
 general mind, when through some unintended 
 alliance between Puritan feeling and cold indiffer- 
 ence the nation turned its back upon its noble 
 inheritance of ecclesiastical form and beauty, and 
 dulness and vulgarity became the accepted charac- 
 teristics of our Anglican worship. We are now in 
 the flush of a reaction against that state of mind ; 
 and quiet people are in many places fretted by the 
 eagerness with which improvements in style and 
 manner are being introduced into our Churches
 
 246 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 
 
 and services, not to speak of decorations and 
 symbols of doubtful taste or alien to the spirit 
 of our English Christianity. They do right who 
 refuse to be dragged into excesses of decorative 
 and symbolical worship. 
 
 But we do not effectually avoid this danger, by 
 simply resolving to cling to what is old-fashioned 
 and dull and bare. Our religious worship ought to 
 participate, in a fit and proportionate manner, in 
 any tendency which characterizes the general mind. 
 It was a true instinct expressed in those words of 
 David, " I will not offer to the Lord my God of 
 that which costs me nothing." Religion is the 
 more real when people clothe it in the forms which 
 seem to them the worthiest. A rude community 
 may worship rudely ; a wealthy community, inter- 
 esting itself in form and colour, studying the laws 
 of Art, and seeking to possess beautiful things, 
 would be less sincere towards God, if it made a rule 
 of excluding Art from its worship. And on the 
 other hand, it will be good for our secular life that 
 Religion should not be divorced from Art. Art 
 may be either high or low, either morally useful, or 
 morally degraded. If people insist on regarding 
 the delights of form and colour and sound as only 
 proper to be associated with a kind of pleasure of
 
 DOGMA, SENTIMENT, AND RITUAL. 247 
 
 which they are almost ashamed, a large part of 
 their life becomes emptied of purpose and aspira- 
 tion. When Art is thought worthy of being asso- 
 ciated with the deepest convictions and with the 
 most serious aims, then a healthier and purer 
 breath is inspired into common pursuits and plea- 
 sures. 
 
 I would conclude then, Leave not the outward 
 beauty of service uncared for, leave not these 
 other things undone ; but the things you ought to 
 do, with all your heart and soul and strength, are 
 the great moral and spiritual acts of the inner life. 
 These are acceptable to God ; these are also useful 
 to men. May our worship be truly spiritual, in 
 order that our daily lives may be spiritual. Let us 
 cherish the awe which the recollection of God's 
 presence must inspire. Let us think of ourselves 
 as gathered together before him who is holy, just, 
 and good, before our Father and the Father of our 
 wandering and neglected brethren. May God in 
 his goodness make us thoughtful, earnest, spiritual 
 Christians ! Then he will teach us to rejoice in all 
 his good gifts ; then he will make us desire to 
 shew forth our delight in his service.
 
 XVIL 
 
 CHURCH-GOING: ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS 1 . 
 
 ST LUKE xvm. 10. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, 
 the one a Pharisee, the other a publican." 
 
 I AM to speak to you to-night, dear brethren, both 
 to those who are Church-goers and to those who 
 are not, about going to Church. 
 
 It must seem to you very natural that I should 
 wish every one to come to Church. It is to be 
 expected that I should feel inclined to remonstrate 
 urgently with those who stay away, to tell them of 
 what they lose by their absence, to warn them of 
 the danger into which they run by neglecting what 
 God has ordained for their good. Generally, it is 
 only in conversation or through print that there is 
 a chance of addressing such remonstrances to those 
 who are not in the habit of going to Church. To- 
 night there may be some here, who have not been 
 in Church for a long time before this Mission week, 
 
 1 Preached at Christ Church, St Marylebone, in the week of 
 the "London Mission," 1874.
 
 CHURCH-GOING: ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 249 
 
 and who have come now out of kindly feeling be- 
 cause they have been specially invited and perhaps 
 entreated to come ; so that I have an opportunity 
 for once of saying something in Church to those 
 who have hitherto neglected Church-going. 
 
 But two considerations constantly occur to me 
 when I think of urging people to come to Church, 
 which always have the effect of putting a bridle on 
 the energy with which I might otherwise appeal to 
 them. 
 
 I. Is it so certain, I cannot help asking, that 
 every one is the better for coming to Church? I 
 assure you that I do not wait to have that question 
 put to me by some one who does not care about 
 Church-going. We clergymen who have so much 
 to do with services are reminded oftener than other 
 people of the possibility of attending Divine Service 
 Sunday after Sunday, and yet of remaining hard 
 and worldly and frivolous. We cannot shut our 
 eyes to this possibility. We feel the danger of it 
 in our own hearts ; w r e are saddened by the proofs 
 of it that we see in the mass of the Church-going 
 population. 
 
 When we look into our Bibles, we see the most 
 vehement rebukes addressed not to the carelessly 
 irreligious, but to the formally religious. The pro-
 
 250 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 phets of the Lord thundered against those who 
 came with their sacrifices and prayers, but brought 
 at the same time covetous, cruel, and deceitful 
 hearts into the sanctuary. They declared that the 
 worship of such men was hateful in God's sight, so 
 that the more there was of it, the more was God 
 displeased. And when the Son of man was upon 
 the earth, who were they that moved him to in- 
 dignant invective ? Not the irreligious, but the 
 religious. The Pharisees, who prayed and fasted 
 and offered sacrifices and paid tithe of mint and 
 anise and cummin, accused Jesus of irreligion, and 
 were accused by him in turn of neglecting the 
 weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and 
 faith. You cannot imagine the Lord Jesus exhort- 
 ing the careless multitudes to do as the Pharisees 
 did and become as like them as they could. 
 
 It often seems to me, therefore, that if we are 
 to follow in the steps of the prophets and of our 
 blessed Lord and of his apostles, our duty with 
 regard to Church-going is much more to point out 
 to regular worshippers the danger of being hollow 
 and formal, than to prescribe attendance at Church 
 as a specific for spiritual maladies, and to urge all 
 sinners to use it 
 
 2. The other consideration to which I referred
 
 ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 251 
 
 was this, that Church-going is so much a matter 
 of course for those who have any genuine Chris- 
 tian convictions, that one would fancy it might be 
 left to take care of itself. I do not mean to pass 
 any judgment upon exceptional cases ; but I think 
 every one here would admit that if you suppose a 
 man earnest in Christian belief and sentiment, he 
 will not want urging to come to Church. He will 
 not necessarily come to one of our Churches, but 
 he will do something corresponding to Church- 
 going ; he will not go on living in careless neglect 
 of public worship. 
 
 Is not that so? But then, if it is, the thing 
 needed appears to be, not that people should be 
 induced to come to Church whatever they are, but 
 that they should be filled with the desires and in- 
 stincts which would naturally bring them to Church. 
 I do not wish that these two considerations 
 should have less weight with me or any one else 
 to-night than they have had hitherto. With regard 
 to the former, nothing ought to deter or dissuade 
 us from declaring that the outside worship offered 
 by godless hearts is hateful in the sight of God, 
 and that all worshippers are in so great danger of 
 a dead formalism that they need to be most care- 
 fully on their guard against it The other, that
 
 252 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 if people are Christians in heart they will want no 
 pressing to go to Church, is a thought to which I 
 will ask you to give some further attention. 
 
 Mark the importance of such an admission. 
 Those who are earnestly Christian, we say, are 
 sure to come to Church. In the first place, they 
 know that as Christians they ought to do so. 
 When the Christian Church was brought into 
 existence by the power of the Holy Ghost on the 
 Day of Pentecost, the life led by the first believers 
 is described as follows: "All that believed were 
 together, and had all things common ; and sold their 
 possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, 
 as every man had need. And they, continuing 
 daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking 
 bread from house to house, did eat their meat with 
 gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and 
 having favour with all the people." You see what 
 a completely social life, and what a life of worship, 
 it was ! And these two features have always re- 
 mained characteristic of Christian life. Members 
 of Christ have never felt it right to be shut up in 
 themselves. Nor have they felt it possible to live 
 without worship, as if they belonged to this world 
 only. When faith and love began to grow cold, 
 the believers were exhorted not to fall into the
 
 ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 253 
 
 habit of forsaking the assembling of themselves 
 together. The modes of assembling, and of offer- 
 ing worship, have varied considerably amongst 
 Christians. It is quite possible that good Christians 
 may not altogether like the ways of worship which 
 they find offered to them. Some like more music, 
 some less ; some like a longer, some a shorter 
 service ; some prefer one kind of preaching, others 
 another kind. But sincere Christians do not easily 
 allow themselves to be so repelled by things which 
 they do not like in a service as to give up Church- 
 going altogether. They do, as a matter of fact, 
 find comfort, support, and encouragement, in their 
 ordinances of worship. Their minds are solemnized 
 by the ancient and venerable forms of Divine 
 service; their spirits ascend upwards in the com- 
 mon praise and prayer ; they listen with advantage 
 to the assurances of pardon, to the warnings, and 
 to the instructions, which they hear given with 
 authority from the Word of God. Those who are 
 Church-goers in this congregation, I know that I 
 might confidently appeal to them, would bear 
 witness to those who are not, that they would shrink 
 from the abandonment of public worship as from a 
 spiritual loss and danger ; that it would seem to 
 them like renouncing their Christian profession
 
 254 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 and rejecting Divine grace itself together with its 
 appointed means. 
 
 I say this, without at all forgetting the pos- 
 sibility of a dead and hypocritical worship which 
 would be an offence to God. I say it notwithstand- 
 ing all that I know of the imperfections for which 
 the clergy are responsible, and of the coldness 
 which may partly be laid to the account of the 
 people. It is because worship is in itself so good, 
 that when it is spoilt and counterfeited it becomes 
 so bad. The perfection of Christian life compre- 
 hends common employments and worship in one. 
 There ought to be no separation, but the closest 
 union, between what we do in the world and our 
 joint communion in the Spirit with the Saviour 
 and the Father. We have our lots appointed us, 
 our tasks set us, our trials prepared for us, by the 
 same Father to whom in Church we pray and give 
 thanks. Without his grace we fail in our common 
 duties, and bring misery upon ourselves and others 
 through our sin. Our worship ought to be the 
 living bond between the visible world in which we 
 are v and the invisible world to which we belong, 
 connecting what we do with what we believe, and 
 arming us with Divine strength for our work and 
 our temptations.
 
 ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 255 
 
 I shall not speak expressly to-night of the 
 Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, 
 because I can speak of that on any Sunday ; but I 
 desire that it should be borne in mind that this is 
 the great Christian act of worship. In the first 
 days, all Christians joined in it, and not a minority 
 only; and it is from this act of fellowship with 
 Christ and with one another, from this act of 
 thanksgiving for the redemption given to sinners, 
 that we learn the truest idea of Christian worship 
 and of that Divine grace of which God would make 
 us partakers. 
 
 Being so sure, then, that our common worship 
 is a necessary part of Christian life, and that it has 
 in it inexhaustible promises of Divine blessing for 
 struggling sinners, how can we help longing that 
 those multitudes of our people whom we miss in 
 the houses of God should claim their rights of 
 presence and fellowship there ? It seems so 
 strange, it is almost enough to make us suspicious 
 of the genuine quality of our Christianity, that 
 those who especially want the tenderness of com- 
 fort and the guidance of instruction, those who can 
 least make up on week-days for what they deny to 
 themselves on Sundays, should be indifferent to 
 the ordinances which we find blessed and helpful.
 
 256 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 It certainly is not that they are raised, in spirit or 
 in circumstances, above the need of the means of 
 grace which their Church-going fellow-countrymen 
 value. They are not peculiarly strong against 
 temptation, peculiarly free from sin, peculiarly 
 happy and at their ease, peculiarly spiritual in 
 mind. Nor do they themselves deliberately believe 
 that they have chosen a better way. They never 
 seem to think of saying to us who come to Church, 
 " If you wish to be better and happier than you 
 are, do as we do, give up going to Church." 
 
 We, on the contrary, do not doubt that it 
 would be a great blessing to the whole land if those 
 negligent multitudes of the common people were to 
 come crowding once more into our Churches, with 
 no preparation but that of humble and teachable 
 hearts. 
 
 If I could speak to those absent multitudes, 
 and I may be speaking to a few representatives of 
 them present here, I would say, We want you, 
 not for your own sake only, but also for ours. Do 
 you know that, in leaving the comparatively well-to- 
 do to worship by themselves, you are injuring our 
 Christianity? Depend upon it that it is so. Why, 
 the New Testament is a volume which could not 
 possibly have been written as it is, which must have
 
 ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 257 
 
 been something essentially different, had not Christ 
 lived amongst the suffering multitudes, and had not 
 the Apostles drawn poor and despised men into 
 the equality of the Christian fold. No Christianity 
 can be living and heavenly in its operation, which 
 is that of upper classes exclusively. The motto of 
 our churches ought to be, "The rich and the poor 
 meet together, the Lord is the maker of all." It is 
 a spiritual advantage to the rich man that his 
 poorest neighbours should stand by his side claim- 
 ing equality with him before God. Just as the 
 Jewish belief in Christ could not have the largeness 
 and depth and knowledge which it was intended to 
 have, until the Gentiles claimed to be in the Church 
 with as good right as the Jews, so we shall not 
 inherit such a national or personal Christianity as 
 God reserves for us, until we are constrained to 
 think more reverently of the humanity which we 
 share with every man, than of the distinctions which 
 place some above others. It would come like a 
 steady tide of inspiration to the clergy, in par- 
 ticular, stirring their hearts and opening their lips, 
 if the common people were to demand their pro- 
 portion of places in our Churches places which God 
 gives them, and which, thank God, the country and 
 the Church guarantee to them. Then they would 
 D. s. S. 17
 
 258 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 exert their natural influence. They could practi- 
 cally insist that the service and the teaching should 
 be in part accommodated to their needs. But I 
 rejoice to believe that the influence of the lower 
 classes, when it has really made itself felt in our 
 religious habits, will not stop there. It will go on 
 to deal with social life, and will tend in many ways 
 to accomplish the blessed work of lifting up all 
 those that are down. 
 
 But I would add with confidence, It will be 
 directly good for you also. Yes, brethren, we are 
 sure it will. You are in little danger, probably, of 
 unrighteous formalism, at all events for some time 
 to come. What will you hear, in what will you be 
 expected to join, when you come to Church? It 
 will be taken for granted that you are sinners, sin- 
 ners like the best of us And does this fact never 
 force itself upon you and trouble you ? Does con- 
 science never make you ashamed? You are not so 
 blind as to deceive yourselves with the notion that 
 you are blameless. Well then, being invited to 
 confess yourselves the sinners that you are, you 
 hear in the Church of God's wonderful forgiveness 
 of sins, of the reconciliation he wrought through 
 his Son who gave himself up on the Cross, of his 
 constant readiness to receive as forgiven every
 
 ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 259 
 
 sinner who repents. It is the property of God, so 
 the Church testifies, it is his essential nature, 
 always to have mercy and to forgive. And this is 
 the substance of all our communion with God in 
 worship, that he meets us as our reconciling Father, 
 and we come to him as his offending but penitent 
 children. But, as he has taught and continually 
 inspires us to do, we offer him praises and thanks- 
 givings and prayers, casting all our care upon him> 
 committing the keeping of our souls to him as to 
 a faithful Creator. And further, if you come to 
 Church, you will hear chosen passages of Holy 
 Scripture, now the thrilling words of an ancient 
 prophet, now the story of some beneficent work of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, now the profound exhortation 
 of an Apostle* Could you be the worse for this ? 
 And if the preacher is not all that you might wish 
 and could imagine him to be> if he does not always 
 speak so that his words go home with force to 
 heart and mind and conscience alike, yet if you 
 listen sympathizingly, you will hear him say some- 
 thing, at least, upon which your minds may dwell 
 with profit, something in which the voice of God 
 himself, encouraging, warning, or consoling, may be 
 recognized. 
 
 Then you will go home again, to take up once 
 
 172
 
 260 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 more the daily burden of cares and duties, to be 
 husbands and wives, parents, sons and daughters, 
 workpeople, and so on. Now will you tell me that 
 any other way of spending the time, say two 
 hours and a half on Sunday, would have done 
 more to strengthen and animate you for the bearing 
 of that burden, to lift your souls into a pure atmo- 
 sphere, to give you gentleness and courage, to brace 
 your energies together, to turn your affections 
 from what is foul or mean? Hardly anyone now 
 wishes to make the Sunday a day of gloom, or to 
 put a ban upon the enjoyment of the open air or of 
 society on that day. But there are many hours in 
 a day, and a portion given to the united worship of 
 God will make the rest of the day and of the week 
 the happier. I never like to assume that Sunday 
 is the only day of common worship; it would be 
 pleasant to imagine a daily consecration of our 
 daily toil. But our modern customs present a very 
 strong resistance to daily worship. And I have 
 those now in my mind, who have to begin with 
 regular Church-going on Sundays. 
 
 I hope I may venture to appeal to your 
 experience of these Mission Services, of this 
 service to-night. Will you not say, with the 
 Apostles who saw the glory on the mount, " It is
 
 77 S DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 261 
 
 good for us to be here"? Have not some precious 
 recollections been awakened, have not some secret 
 places of emotion been unlocked in your hearts, 
 as the touching words of the hymns have gone up 
 in sweet music to heaven ? My brethren, I will 
 believe that by God's grace it has been so. There 
 has been much in the response given to the Mission 
 call, to justify us in entertaining good hopes. 
 
 Don't let the heavenly impulse, the sincere 
 purpose, be swept away from your hearts by 
 unworthy causes. I know of several reasons com- 
 monly given for not coming to Church which ought 
 to be as gossamer in the way of a strong spiritual 
 conviction. If God enables you to think steadily 
 of himself, and of heaven> and of the future, and 
 of your duties to your families, and of the grand 
 traditions of the Church,, and of the well-being of 
 the country, then all excuses will be silenced. 
 You can come to Church, if you are convinced that 
 you ought. I am unwilling to think of want of 
 courage as preventing any one from saying in 
 simplicity, " I am going to Church to-day." But 
 there is no harm in mutual support. Rather it is 
 a good thing that neighbour should encourage 
 neighbour. I remember once desiring to do an 
 act which it was natural to shrink a little from
 
 262 CHURCH-GOING: 
 
 doing ; and after some talk with a friend who also 
 desired to do the same thing, I bound myself to 
 him, and he bound himself to me, that we would 
 break the ice at the same time. In that way the 
 stronger may help the weaker, and the weak may 
 help one another. Why should not many agree 
 together to say, "We know it would be a good 
 thing to go to Church ; let us promise each other 
 that we will not fail without reasonable cause to be 
 at Christ Church, or at St Barnabas, once at least 
 on a Sunday." 
 
 But there is one reason for not coming to 
 Church which deserves the most considerate re- 
 spect. Not a few feel, " It would be inconsistent 
 in me to go to Church, it would be no better than 
 humbug, if I were to go on doing just as I do now, 
 taking a little too much to drink sometimes, or 
 using bad language which has become a habit to 
 me, or buying or selling on Sundays. I will at 
 least not be a hypocrite, as some poor wretches 
 are." How am I to answer that? I will say, 
 Remember the publican, who went up into the 
 Temple to pray. He had many things on his 
 conscience, more than one bad habit to break ; 
 but God's grace took hold of him, and he went up 
 into the Temple to pray. Not as a hypocrite. No,
 
 ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 263 
 
 that character belonged more truly to the respect- 
 able Pharisee who thanked God he was not as that 
 publican. No : he went, in simplicity and sincerity, 
 and what he said was, " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner." He asked for pardon for the past, for 
 help for the future. And because he thus threw 
 himself on the mercy of God, he went down to his 
 house justified rather than the Pharisee. Brethren, 
 what God judges is the heart. If our heart 
 condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and 
 knows all things. You may be sure, I venture to 
 say it, that God's eye sees many things in the 
 hearts of the completely respectable, which offend 
 him more than the outward irregularities which 
 catch the world's eye. Only, let it be true to us 
 all alike, that we come to Church, not to cover our 
 sins, but to get rid of them. If we come with even 
 a faint desire of pleasing God, he will help us to 
 do whatever is right for us to do. Remember, you 
 do not make an evil thing good by abstaining from 
 a religious profession. If a habit is evil, it is 
 hurting you, hurting your children, hurting your 
 neighbours. You who are doing what you your- 
 self think wrong, if you make no pretence of 
 religion, will be beaten with fewer stripes than if 
 you were a hypocritical professor. But you will
 
 2 64 CHURCH-GOING: ITS DANGERS AND BENEFITS. 
 
 be beaten. Safety, duty, credit, happiness, all lie 
 in the path of confession and amendment. You 
 should welcome therefore anything that engages 
 that excellent principle, your hatred of hypocrisy, 
 on the side of a change which is for your good. 
 
 If I have been speaking to but few of those who 
 have yet to be drawn into the communion of our 
 worship, I trust that the same thoughts are not 
 without their lesson to us whose habit it already is 
 to come to Church. These thoughts constrain us 
 at all events to say within ourselves, If we are 
 persuaded that others might derive so much benefit 
 from Church-going, are we taking care that by teach- 
 ableness and devotion and sincerity we are making 
 the most of what we would commend to them ?
 
 XVIII. 
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 ST JOHN iv. 48. "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs 
 and wonders, ye will not believe." 
 
 No one can fail to see that something of a reproach 
 is intended in these words. Our Lord means to 
 say that it would have been better if the Jews had 
 been willing to believe without seeing signs and 
 wonders. And this is a very important statement. 
 The spirit of it, you will observe, is entirely in 
 accordance with what is described to us as having 
 been the general practice of the Lord Jesus. He 
 never welcomed or desired the adhesion of those 
 who believed in him because they saw the miracles 
 which he did. He wrought mighty works, not to 
 overpower disbelief, but to encourage and reward 
 faith. In places where the people shewed no dis- 
 position to believe in him, he could not, we are 
 told, do mighty works. 
 
 Now this way of regarding faith and miracles is
 
 266 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 in very definite opposition to a certain mode of 
 describing Christianity, which has prevailed amongst 
 its defenders, but which is found to suit the pur- 
 poses of its assailants, and which they therefore 
 gladly employ. I will endeavour to put it into a 
 few words. 
 
 Christianity, it is assumed, is a supernatural 
 Revelation, the contents of which are exceedingly 
 strange, but which we are required to believe be- 
 cause those who brought this revelation performed 
 miracles in attestation of its truth. It is taken for 
 granted that we should pay no x attention to the 
 professed Revelation, except for the miracles. It 
 follows then, that in examining into our religion, 
 our first business is with the miracles. These 
 must be shewn to be so manifestly supernatural as 
 to defy all attempts at explanation. But they are 
 external occurrences, depending upon historical tes- 
 timony. The evidence for things so extremely 
 improbable in themselves, and which are to be the 
 basis of a supernatural revelation still more extra- 
 ordinary, ought in all reason to be irresistible. 
 You can scarcely imagine, indeed, any evidence 
 which would be sufficient to enforce conviction. 
 At all events, it ought to be more conclusive than 
 the proofs you would require of an apparently
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 267 
 
 miraculous occurrence at the present day. This 
 being the position held by Christianity, let us see 
 say the doubters and disbelievers what the evi- 
 dence is by which the Christian miracles are proved. 
 It is very well, they observe, to allege that the 
 miracles are astonishing enough to attest the Reve- 
 lation ; but first of all, what is the testimony which 
 attests the miracles ? And then they set to work, 
 as lawyers would, to cross-examine the witnesses, 
 and to strip and shake the evidence. 
 
 But if you have been impressed at all by that 
 language of Scripture to which I have referred, you 
 will be little inclined to acquiesce in the primary 
 account of Christianity from which this method 
 starts. Christianity, it is said, is a supernatural 
 Revelation, the contents of which could only be 
 received on the strength of undeniable miracles. 
 I have admitted that this sort of account has been 
 given by defenders of Christianity and may be 
 found in Christian books. But I am appealing 
 now to Scripture, to the habitual language of 
 Christ and of his Apostles. What did Christ 
 mean, I ask, when he said, " Except ye see signs 
 and wonders, ye will not believe " ? You cannot 
 imagine him who so spoke describing his mission 
 in any terms such as these, "I am going to tell
 
 268 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 you something which you would of course not re- 
 ceive on my word by itself, and therefore I shall 
 first perform wonders among you which you will 
 be compelled to regard as entirely beyond human 
 power, and these will prove to you that what I tell 
 you, however incredible, must be accepted as true." 
 I am sure you will feel that our Lord's method of 
 approaching men was something quite different 
 from this. 
 
 i. The word "supernatural" is unknown in 
 the New Testament. And not only so, but the 
 attempted distinctiori between natural and super- 
 natural is alien to the New Testament mind. You 
 may fancy, perhaps, that the distinction is a broad 
 and simple one ; but you will find, if you try to 
 explain it, that it is not so. Well, only those who 
 make or use the distinction are bound to justify it. 
 So far as I am able to judge, it introduces confusion 
 into any subject to which it is applied. I do not 
 go so far as to say that either word, natural or 
 supernatural, may not be used reasonably. But I 
 do contend that you cannot divide life or creation 
 or history into two parts, distinguished from one 
 another by the condition that the one is natural 
 and the other supernatural. 
 
 The Lord Jesus was accustomed to insist very
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 269 
 
 strongly that he came from God, that he was sent 
 by the Father; and if that is what is meant by 
 calling Christianity a supernatural religion or reve- 
 lation, every one must admit that he did make 
 that claim, but we may prefer his own way of 
 stating it. Most assuredly, the whole virtue of 
 what he taught depended on its coming from God 
 and being true. " If any one desires to do the 
 will of God," said Jesus, "he will know of my 
 teaching whether I speak from myself." Not, " if 
 any one scrutinizes the miraculous character of my 
 works, he will be forced to believe that I have 
 Divine attestation to my teaching;" but, "if any 
 wills or is minded to do God's will, he will recog- 
 nize my teaching as not coming out of my own 
 head, but as proceeding from God." Assuredly, I 
 repeat, our Lord presented himself to his country- 
 men as having come from heaven, as being com- 
 missioned and sealed by the Father, as doing acts 
 and speaking words which were not his but the 
 Father's. It is not his glory in the New Testament 
 to have been the wisest of men, but to have spoken 
 to men with authority from and concerning the 
 heavenly Father. Rob Christianity of this its 
 claim, and it becomes not somewhat less sacred 
 and authoritative, but an imposture. Strike out
 
 270 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 from the New Testament all that implies this 
 claim, and how much will be left ? 
 
 2. Revelation is a word which occurs in the 
 New Testament ; but it is never used in such a 
 way that you could join the word "contents" with 
 it. People who now speak about Christianity as a 
 supernatural Revelation will generally go on to 
 allude to its contents; as if it were something 
 which might be compared to a box, or at least as 
 if it were a book. But revelation, which means 
 unveiling, is always used by New Testament writers 
 in the sense of unveiling ; and we should not speak 
 of the contents of an unveiling. Do not suppose 
 that this is a mere verbal or grammatical criticism. 
 The Scriptural theory of revelation is not that a 
 book or a document has been communicated to 
 mankind, containing certain propositions which we 
 are bound to believe because they are in the 
 Divine communication; but that the Divine nature 
 and will have been manifested, as if by the re- 
 moval of veils or coverings which hid them from 
 the knowledge of men. Jesus Christ came to re- 
 veal his Father ; no one, he said, knows the Father, 
 but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will 
 reveal him. Now mark the difference between one 
 who says, "I am enabling you to see and know the
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 271 
 
 Father, in his justice and his goodness and his 
 glorious purposes for mankind," and another who 
 should say, "I have here in a document certain 
 statements which I could not expect you to believe 
 in themselves, but when you have seen the mighty 
 works I can perform, you will feel that you have 
 no alternative but to receive them." The latter 
 method is not what Scripture calls revelation. The 
 glory of God, which Christ reveals, commends itself 
 without the compulsion of miracles to open eyes 
 and willing hearts. 
 
 3. So that our faith as Christians, if we take 
 the New Testament view of it, cannot properly be 
 described as an assent, grounded upon miracles, 
 to certain supernatural doctrines. It would seem 
 that the highest and best faith was that which was 
 rendered to the Lord Jesus without the evidence of 
 mighty works at all. Let us endeavour to see 
 clearly how this was, in the hope that we may be 
 the better able to understand the true ground of 
 our own faith. 
 
 We frequently read in the Gospels of persons 
 believing and not believing. What kind of belief 
 is it that is meant ? Or, in other words, how did 
 the Lord Jesus present himself to his countrymen ? 
 What was the teaching he offered them ?
 
 272 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION: 
 
 He proclaimed the kingdom of heaven as brought 
 near to them ; he spoke of the heavenly Father as 
 offering them forgiveness, and calling them to re- 
 pentance, through him. He spoke with authority 
 not as an expositor or commentator, but as one 
 who knew the truth of what he was announcing. 
 His word was variously received ; he himself has 
 described, in the parable of the sower, its various 
 fortunes as it fell on the ears of its many hearers. 
 By some it was welcomed ; these were they who 
 received it into an honest and good heart. They 
 were persons who fek the burden of sin and rejoiced 
 to be set free from it through forgiveness ; who 
 were troubled by the miseries of their fellow- 
 countrymen and the distractions of their country, 
 and rejoiced to be assured that God was manifest- 
 ing himself for deliverance. These believers did 
 not ask for miracles to attest a supernatural revela- 
 tion ; their hearts leapt up in answer to the gracious 
 words which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus. 
 This was the kind of faith which he approved. It 
 is true that the Lord Jesus, whilst he proclaimed 
 the kingdom of God, wrought mighty works ; but 
 he wrought them, one would say, rather as illustra- 
 tions than as evidences. They were almost exclu- 
 sively works of healing ; acts of grace, accompany-
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 273 
 
 ing and illustrating words of grace. To the sufferer 
 whose mind was burdened by sin and whose body 
 was fettered by disease, Jesus spoke with authority, 
 " Thy sins are forgiven thee ; arise and walk!" No 
 doubt the cures which Jesus wrought made a great 
 impression both on individual minds and on the 
 general opinion of the multitude. Those who had 
 welcomed for its own sake the word of the kingdom 
 and of reconciliation became more thoroughly con- 
 vinced of the reality and authenticity of it when 
 they saw the Prophet of Nazareth acting as the 
 Son of the Father, and wielding the powers of the 
 Kingdom. Many, without caring for the word, 
 were quite willing to make much of Jesus as a 
 Divinely sent prophet on account of his miracles. 
 But from supporters like these Jesus was accus- 
 tomed to withdraw himself. He counted himself 
 successful, if one may say so, when his word 
 touched the heart of a hearer, commending itself 
 by its own heavenly quality and drawing out the 
 faith to which it appealed. 
 
 After a very short time, it was no longer Jesus 
 himself in the flesh who was preaching, but his 
 Apostles or .envoys. It was their mission to 
 proclaim through him the forgiveness of sins. 
 They bore witness that the Father had raised him 
 D. S. S. l8
 
 274 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 from the dead, and called on men to believe in him 
 that they might have life. Mighty works were not 
 wanting to the preaching of the Apostles ; their 
 word was confirmed by signs following. But there 
 was no logical presentation of miracles as the 
 ground for accepting a supernatural revelation. 
 In this sense, on the contrary, miracles were 
 slighted and refused. What can be plainer than 
 St Paul's account of the method of his work as a 
 preacher of the Gospel ? He was perfectly familiar 
 with that craving for miracles of which our Lord 
 speaks with disapproval. "The Jews," he says, 
 " require signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom : 
 but we proclaim Christ crucified> to the Jews a 
 stumblingblock, and to the Greeks foolishness, but 
 unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, 
 Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 
 And again, " I determined not to know anything 
 among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 
 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and 
 in much trembling. And my speech and my 
 preaching was not with enticing words of man's 
 wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of 
 power: that your faith should not stand in the. 
 wisdom of men, but in the power of God." The 
 power of God is not here wonder-working power ;
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 275 
 
 it is spiritual power. It is the power with which 
 the proclamation of a Son of God, who gave 
 himself up to die and was raised again, is carried 
 home to simple unworldly hearts. I do not know 
 whether this action of the Gospel upon the heart 
 should be called natural or supernatural. It 
 belongs to the higher world, the world of God and 
 of the soul ; it does not grow out of competition 
 and survival of the fittest and social evolution. 
 So it may be called supernatural. But on the 
 other hand, it ought to be normal and universal ; 
 it appeals to the common human affections ; it is 
 of a piece with all the higher and more precious 
 influences of human life ; so that any one who 
 was inclined to call it natural might find much 
 justification for doing so. 
 
 If you carry your thoughts onwards along the 
 course of the Church's history, you will see this 
 same method illustrated over and over again. When- 
 ever the Gospel has won substantial victories, they 
 have been due, not to the exhibition of signs and 
 wonders, nor to the presentation of irresistible 
 evidence of former signs and wonders, but to the 
 power of the Gospel itself upon the souls of men. 
 Miracles and their evidence belong much more to 
 the makers of systems than to the living growth of 
 
 18 2
 
 276 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 Christianity or of the Church of Christ. \Vherever 
 Christianity spreads, or deepens, or revives, there 
 you will be able to trace the operation of the 
 Word and of the Spirit ; of the Word of forgive- 
 ness and adoption commending itself to the needs 
 and hopes and aspirations of sinful humanity ; of 
 the Spirit moving with its contagious warmth and 
 vitality in the affections through which man is 
 akin to God. From the day when John the 
 Baptist stood forth, crying "Repent, for the 
 Kingdom of heaven is at hand," to the present 
 moment, the real force of the kingdom of God has 
 always been spiritual, never relying upon signs 
 and wonders, always seeking to awaken, to win, 
 to carry captive, the souls of men in demonstration 
 of the Spirit and of power. 
 
 How will these considerations tell on us, 
 brethren, when we are visited by doubts or are 
 desiring to strengthen ourselves in reasonable 
 faith ? Clearly, they will not send us to signs and 
 wonders, or to demonstrative historical evidence of 
 signs and wonders. They will keep us in mind of 
 that poor craving of the Jews for signs; of the 
 sorrowful complaint of our Lord, " Except ye see 
 signs and wonders, ye will not believe.'* Our chief 
 concern is with Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 2^^ 
 
 Can we recognize in him a Divine wonder of love 
 and goodness ? When the soul is quickened by 
 hope, and crushed into remorseful hatred of sin, 
 and exalted by unselfish love, are we content to 
 put all that aside as delusion and infectious fancy ? 
 Are we satisfied to turn a deaf ear to every voice 
 that seems to speak to us from heaven, and to 
 know nothing but that which grows and pushes 
 from the earth ? These are the sort of questions 
 which real Christianity addresses to us. It does 
 not, and it never did, profess to offer a system 
 which argument cannot assail. The Christianity 
 which has gloried for more than eighteen centuries 
 in the demonstration of the Spirit, is not now going 
 to change its nature, and to build itself upon signs 
 and wonders. It is even idle to meet the appeals 
 of the Gospel with a demand for signs or with a 
 critical pursuit of wisdom. The Gospel will cer- 
 tainly not say, "Here then are the supernatural 
 wonders which you ask for ; here is the natural 
 wisdom which will satisfy you" Its business is 
 to proclaim Christ, the Divine power, the Divine 
 wisdom, to all them that believe. If Christ fails, 
 it is time for Christianity to fail too, and to 
 disappear before the wisdom of this world. 
 
 But Christ will not fail, dear brethren, in this
 
 278 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 
 
 age more than in any former. He may find our 
 hearts dull, and blinded by the god of this world, 
 and hard to the soft touches of the Spirit, and so 
 there may be great condemnation and loss both for 
 ourselves and for the world. But he will have the 
 old prevailing arguments and influences for all 
 that are susceptible to them. Let us hope and 
 pray that we and our age may not be so immersed 
 in the things of this visible world as to be dead to 
 the things of heaven. Let us beware of dictating 
 to God how he should speak to us and call us. 
 The question for us is whether God is not calling 
 us, whether that which professes to be his voice is 
 not indeed worthy of the God of heaven and earth. 
 Let us ask in all humility and teachableness that 
 our ears may be purged, and the vail may be 
 taken from our hearts, and that we may know 
 what the true heavenly glory is. It is a part of 
 the mystery of that work which Christ is carrying 
 on through the ages, that each Christian serves as 
 evidence to his brethren. It is now as it was of 
 old. Nothing is so practically convincing as the 
 fruit of the Spirit in Christian lives. The princes 
 of this world tried to crush out Christianity in 
 its infancy by persecuting Christians; but their 
 attempt was turned against themselves, because
 
 SUPERNATURAL RELIGION. 279 
 
 every sufferer whose patience and love were proved 
 like gold in the fire, became a new argument of the 
 Spirit to confirm the waverers and to win over the 
 unbelieving. It is not necessarily a weak or a 
 base thing to believe because others believe. It is 
 so when the motive is simply to save trouble and 
 avoid inconvenience by following the fashion of 
 the world and doing as others do. But human 
 lives visibly purified and raised and softened 
 through spiritual loyalty to Christ are arguments 
 which the Spirit uses, and by which men do right 
 in allowing themselves to be persuaded.
 
 XIX. 
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 ST LUKE xiv. 26. "If any man come to me, and hate not his 
 father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
 and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my 
 disciple." 
 
 THIS is surely" one of the " hard sayings " of our 
 Lord's teaching. 
 
 He it was who said, " A new commandment I 
 give unto you, that ye love one another ; as I have 
 loved you, that ye also love one another. By this 
 shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
 have love one to another." Is the same Lord so 
 jealous, so exacting, so indifferent to the mutual 
 affections of human beings, as to demand that men 
 must hate all, for the more perfect following of 
 himself? There is no one, you might have thought, 
 less likely to have made such a demand than 
 Jesus Christ, whose glory it was to humble and 
 empty himself on behalf of his brethren, to give up 
 his life for his sheep.
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 281 
 
 Yet, with a little more reflection, you might see 
 in the boldness of this saying what is peculiarly 
 characteristic of the Lord Jesus. This is, in truth, 
 just what no other teacher, or master of disciples, 
 could be imagined to say. There is more here 
 than the ordinary exactingness of human egotism. 
 The masters of schools and founders of religions 
 have been tempted to set their pretensions very 
 high, and have found it profitable to do so : such 
 self-exaltation pleases, rather than repels, those 
 who are inclined to become their followers. But 
 one would not expect to find amongst the sayings 
 reported and recorded by their disciples anything 
 that would put their claims in so invidious and 
 disturbing a light. But our Lord, we know, was 
 not unwilling to surprise and perplex his hearers, 
 by saying what would at the moment offend them 
 and repel them from him, instead of attracting 
 them to him. 
 
 We should remember that many sayings are 
 best to be understood by the tone in which they 
 are uttered. When we are reading written words, 
 it is of course not easy to recover with certainty 
 the speaker's tone. There must always be some 
 doubt whether we interpret rightly the mood in 
 which our Lord spoke any words of his which we
 
 282 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 may be studying. But it is beyond all doubt, I 
 believe, that some of his sayings are misappre- 
 hended by us, and others are greatly weakened to 
 our minds, through a common habit of taking for 
 granted that Christ always spoke in a uniformly 
 passionless mood, and of reading his utterances, 
 therefore, as if delivered in a calm didactic tone. 
 There are indications enough of deep and varied 
 feeling, giving special significance to particular 
 portions of our Lord's teaching. What the feeling 
 was, is in part to be gathered from the circum- 
 stances of the history. 
 
 We can see that our Lord was not always able 
 to be as gracious as he would have desired to be. 
 In his own spirit, indeed, he was without intermis- 
 sion full of grace as of truth. But his manner was 
 sometimes of necessity stern, rather than soft ; 
 repellent, rather than winning. And this was not 
 only the case in his well-known dealings with 
 the Pharisees, when his rebukes were full of fiery 
 invectives and threatenings. At times he had to 
 push back the common multitudes who thronged 
 round him in cheap admiration. As he proclaimed 
 the glad tidings of the Kingdom of heaven, and 
 wrought the beneficent signs of it in acts of heal- 
 ing, the people, captivated by what they heard
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 283 
 
 and saw, pressed as it were with violence into the 
 Kingdom of heaven. But Jesus did not welcome 
 this superficial enthusiasm. We have accounts like 
 the following of his attitude towards it. " Many 
 believed on his name, when they saw the miracles 
 which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself 
 unto them, because he knew all men, and needed 
 not that any should testify of men." "When 
 Jesus therefore perceived that they would come 
 and take him by force, to make him a king, he 
 departed again unto a mountain himself alone." 
 When an eager multitude had taken great trouble 
 to find him, Jesus said to them, "Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw 
 signs, but because ye did eat of the loaves and 
 were filled." He would not let them suppose that 
 the deliverance he proclaimed was to be found in 
 laxity of conduct. " Think not that I am come to 
 destroy the law or the prophets ; I am not come to 
 destroy, but to fulfil... I say unto you, That except 
 your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness 
 of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven." The pattern 
 parable, that of the Sower, describes the various 
 kinds of reception given to the word of the King- 
 dom, and warns two classes of the worthlessness of
 
 284 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 the receiving of it into a shallow heart, or into one 
 occupied with the cares and pleasures of this world. 
 And in the same mind Jesus told his hearers that 
 they must strive make efforts to enter in at the 
 narrow gate, for many would seek to enter in, and 
 would not be able. 
 
 These are examples of the discouragement 
 which our Lord was accustomed to offer to the con- 
 tagious enthusiasm which the sight of his wonderful 
 works and the expression of his sympathy with the 
 humbler classes inspired amongst the common 
 people. He was full of grace; but he was also 
 full of truth : and he must tell his hearers the 
 truth, at the cost of appearing to neutralize the 
 grace. The sympathies, the hopes, the promises, 
 which touched the people and made them wonder 
 at the gracious words which proceeded out of his 
 mouth, were perfectly sincere and real ; but our 
 Lord knew that he was not opening a Paradise of 
 easy delights to men. Not such was the Kingdom 
 of heaven ; nor was it to be entered and possessed 
 by pleasure-seekers. The true bliss of it was to be 
 attained through self-renunciation and sacrifice, 
 through the testing fire of tribulation. The Lord 
 Jesus must make this thoroughly understood ; but 
 it was impossible that he should bear this testi-
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 285 
 
 mony to those who thronged about him without 
 pain and sadness. 
 
 And we ought to see a feeling of most earnest 
 sadness in that warning which we are specially 
 considering to-day. We have examples in the pre- 
 ceding part of the chapter of the way in which our 
 Lord made the cause of the suffering classes his 
 own. The Kingdom of heaven, he had plainly 
 taught, was for the poor rather than for the rich, 
 for the despised rather than for the highly esteemed. 
 In ver. 25 we read, "There went great multitudes 
 with him." The champion and benefactor of the 
 poor, he had the popularity which he might seem 
 to have courted. But the sight of this following 
 caused him sorrow rather than joy. He knew what 
 was in man: and this sort of discipleship he per- 
 ceived to be fallacious. There was not the stuff of 
 the true disciple of the Son of man in these multi- 
 tudes. They would have to be tried and exposed. 
 His followers would have to endure all losses, all 
 distresses. He was looking forward to a terrible 
 baptism for himself, and those who would cling to 
 him must be prepared for their share in it. 
 
 Expressing this knowledge, he turned to the 
 multitudes, and said, "If any man come to me, and 
 hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
 
 286 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP, 
 
 children, and brothers, and sisters, yea, and his own 
 life also, he cannot be my disciple." Such words 
 were not a direction given in a mood of calm con- 
 tentment; they were a prophetic warning, wrung 
 out of one of the agonies of the Son of man. There 
 is a tone if one must not say of bitterness, at least 
 of protest and horror, in this forecast of the contra- 
 dictions which the following of him would evoke. 
 You may trace it in the slow iteration of relation- 
 ships. He will not spare himself or his hearers one 
 painful detail. "Think not," he said, "that I am 
 come to send peace on the earth." Surely this was 
 what believers in him were taught to expect ! No, he 
 says : "think not I am come to send peace on the 
 earth, I am not come to send peace, but a sword. I 
 am not come," [think of the intensity of all but 
 despair with which such a profession must have 
 been uttered by the Son of man], "to make 
 families of one mind, to replace domestic jars 
 and jealousies by the sweet harmony of mutual 
 affection. Don't expect this. Any man who would 
 follow me will have to hate his father, and his 
 mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and 
 sisters, yea and his own life also, or he cannot be 
 my disciple. This is the result of my coming and 
 of my Gospel in such a world as this is. I cannot
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 287 
 
 proclaim the goodness of my Father, and call men 
 to be at peace with him as his reconciled children 
 without introducing these terrible dissensions into 
 societies and families. My disciples must be pre- 
 pared for these consequences,. They must look for 
 not merely bodily privations, but moral tortures, 
 stripes and wounds of the affections, conflicts which 
 will make them sometimes wonder whether the 
 following of me can be right, if they intend to be 
 constant as my disciples and to walk in my steps." 
 It is, then, as a warning of misery that would 
 have to be endured, and of the kind of misery 
 which was most shocking and intolerable to the 
 Son of man, and not as the recommendation of a 
 course to be pursued, that we are to understand 
 our Lord's saying. If you suppose him to be 
 teaching, in the calmly didactic tone, that his fol- 
 lowers must withdraw their warmest affections from 
 their human relatives to give them more absolutely 
 to him, you are attributing to him, I am persuaded, 
 not only a different feeling from that which was in 
 his mind, but the very opposite feeling. He uses the 
 most painful expression, to hate, just because the 
 thing he foresees, the apparent rending of closest 
 ties, is so painful to him. His supreme desire is 
 to promote love; and it is laid upon him and his
 
 288 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 followers to be apparently the causes of bitter and 
 deadly strife. 
 
 Undoubtedly our Lord might have used more 
 guarded and explanatory language. In what he 
 did say, we shall be ready to believe, as reverent 
 Christians, that he spoke from his own unerring 
 sense of what was fittest. Very often, the best 
 language is not that which is coldly calculated, but 
 that which is suddenly fashioned by the heat of a 
 worthy emotion. How are we to be aware of un- 
 common feeling in the heart of a speaker, unless it 
 shews its mark in some unexpected form of speech? 
 Part of the value of speech is in its revealing emo- 
 tion and character; and if we read our Lord's his- 
 tory rightly, we shall see plainly enough that his 
 nature did not differ from the natures of other men 
 in being more even and placid, but that it was 
 agitated more than others by joy and by grief, by 
 indignation and by horror. 
 
 When he was thus moved by the prospect of 
 the moral distresses which would attend the follow- 
 ing of him, our Lord had in view primarily the 
 circumstances of his own age, and the future of 
 those whom he was immediately addressing. He 
 was leading a " little flock" into the fire of perse- 
 cution. The followers of the Nazarene were to be
 
 TH COST OF DISCIPLESHlP. 289 
 
 hated of all men. "The brother," as Jesus said on 
 another occasion, "shall deliver up the brother to 
 death, and the father the child: and the children 
 shall rise up against their parents, and cause them 
 to be put to death." The first days of the Kingdom 
 of heaven were days of peculiar tribulation. What 
 was said with reference to the trials of those days 
 would not be exactly applicable to other times. 
 
 But although the saying we are considering is 
 to be regarded as a warning of impending trials 
 rather than as an exhortation, and those trials be- 
 long to a particular age, yet we may undoubtedly 
 see in it a moral call or demand. The Lord Jesus, 
 whilst he plainly warned his hearers what the fol- 
 lowing of him would cost, implied that to follow 
 him was worth the cost. Though he apparently 
 made no efforts to proselytize, and repelled many 
 who offered themselves as adherents, he yet took 
 the responsibility of forming a small band of fol- 
 lowers, and he committed to them the charge of 
 drawing others into the Kingdom, and spoke con- 
 tinually of the rewards of the Kingdom for those 
 who could enter it through tribulation, and de- 
 clared that as it was Divine so it must grow and 
 triumph. Painful as was the prospect of inevitable 
 strifes arid hatreds, our Lord by no means exhorted 
 D. S. S. 19
 
 290 THE COST OF DISCIPLE SHIP. 
 
 his disciples to shrink from becoming the occasions 
 of them. He does therefore in these words exalt 
 the following of himself into the highest of duties. 
 Whatever might be the consequences, moral as 
 well as bodily, of following him, those who saw 
 things in the true light would without hesitation 
 cleave to him. The disciple such as Jesus. desired 
 must be ready to give up all, possessions, friends, 
 his life, when the discipleship should require it. 
 
 So this warning as to the trials of a particular 
 age hardly needs any translation to become an 
 extremely exacting call addressed to all Christians. 
 If it was right for the first followers of Christ to 
 encounter even the rending of his family affections 
 for his name's sake, what is there that we in this 
 day could plead as having a title to qualify the 
 same discipleship, and to turn it into a compro- 
 mise? When Christ calls, neither father nor mother, 
 neither wife nor child, neither brothers nor sisters, 
 can rightly stand in the way of obedience to the 
 summons. 
 
 What is it that can reconcile our consciences to 
 the exactingness of a claim which thus overrides all 
 that nature makes most binding upon us ? Only 
 the true apprehension of what Christ is. For him 
 it was perfectly safe to use such dangerous Ian-
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 291 
 
 guage. If men were utterly careless about his 
 nature and mission and general teaching, they were 
 not likely to turn that saying into a plea for 
 neglecting natural duties ; they would rather scoff 
 at it as monstrous. If on the other hand they 
 were attracted by him, they could not so abuse it. 
 
 Remember that the Lord Jesus declared him- 
 self to be sent by the Father ; that he bore witness 
 of the Father as infinitely gracious ; that he affirmed 
 the true enemy of mankind to be the spirit of 
 hatred and deceit, from whom he was come to 
 deliver men. He was himself the manifestation 
 of the mind which he declared to be in the Father, 
 seeking to bind men together by mutual love, 
 setting forth love and unity as the glory to which 
 the soul of man owes natural allegiance and for 
 which it must endlessly crave. He had spent a 
 blameless childhood and youth as one of a family, 
 subject to his parents, growing in favour both with 
 God and man. He protested against the love of 
 riches and of honour, against oppression and hard- 
 ness, against every form of selfishness, and bade 
 men come to and love the God of love and truth. 
 
 This Son of the Father was put to death, and 
 held up to odium as one who was disloyal to the 
 Jewish religion. Christ crucified became to the 
 
 192
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 Jews a stumblingblock. When therefore a member 
 of a Jewish household was drawn by the Father to 
 him, and by him to the Father, and determined to 
 profess himself a disciple of the Crucified, you can 
 imagine that his determination would offend his 
 relatives, that all sorts of reproaches would be cast 
 upon him, that efforts would be made to induce 
 him to give up the cause to which he was attaching 
 himself; and that when he proved constant, he 
 would be accused of breaking the family harmony, 
 of disobeying and dishonouring his parents, of 
 violating those natural obligations to which the 
 God of his fathers had given his express sanction. 
 Why then should he thus "hate" father and mother, 
 wife and child? The reply of his conscience, no 
 doubt, would be, that God himself was calling 
 him. But then this God, whom he had learned to 
 know and confess, was one who led him in the 
 ways of truth and love. Allegiance to the Crucified 
 implied a triumph over worldliness and self-seek- 
 ing; it constrained him to care, not for his own 
 interests, but for his brethren and for mankind. 
 
 Now what are the natural enemies of the family 
 affections? Are they conscientiousness, devotion to 
 truth, faith in God's love, self-conquest, desire of 
 the universal well-being, zeal for the will of the
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 293 
 
 just and gracious God ? Impossible ! Surely they 
 are vanity, self-esteem, jealousy ; indulgence of 
 appetite and passion ; the desire of shielding what 
 is discreditable by deception ; distrust and miscon- 
 struction. If only these could be conquered, how 
 happy the life of households would be ! how spon- 
 taneously would mutual affection thrive! how close- 
 ly the ties of mutual dependence would be knit ! 
 Nothing is more certain than that the following of 
 the Crucified wars against the lusts which impair 
 the natural affections, and supplies the atmosphere 
 and the soil in which they are made to thrive. 
 
 Therefore that early follower of the Crucified 
 would be involved in a most distressing conflict. 
 He could not escape from pain and perplexity. 
 He could not be happy in displeasing his nearest 
 friends. He would probably love father and mother, 
 wife and child, all the more for seeming to hate 
 them. He would feel mastered by that greater 
 vocation of the cause of God and of mankind, 
 which bade him sacrifice his own present happiness 
 to the greater gain of the world ; and he would be 
 sustained, no doubt, by faith and hope in him to 
 whom he knew his kinsfolk to be as dear as to 
 himself. So whatever he might suffer, and what- 
 ever might be said as to his hating those of his
 
 294 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 own house, he. would cleave to his crucified 
 master. 
 
 We may be unfeignedly thankful that the 
 following of Jesus Christ does not for us involve 
 such bitter trials. The lesson I would ask you to 
 learn from the remembrance of them is, that we 
 are called, at whatever cost of physical or mental 
 or moral pain, to give ourselves up absolutely to 
 the cause of goodness and truth, which is the 
 cause of the Kingdom of heaven. There is a 
 Master whose claim over us transcends all inferior 
 obligations, and he is Truth and Love. 
 
 We are tempted, partly by reverence, to name 
 Religion instead of God or Christ ; but it is really 
 unsafe to speak of the claims of Religion as being 
 thus paramount. The Jews who persecuted our 
 Lord and his followers were devotees of Religion, 
 and it was in the name of Religion that they 
 persecuted. The claims of Religion have often 
 come into competition with domestic duty. But 
 then Religion is not identical with the Son of man. 
 We read, God is Love, God is Truth ; but not, 
 God is Religion. It would be most dangerous to 
 say, that if any one would follow Religion, he 
 must hate father and mother, wife and child. 
 By such a doctrine a man may really be seduced
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 295 
 
 into the neglect or disparagement of family 
 affections. But let a man be a follower of the 
 Son of man, or of tJie heavenly Father, and then I 
 say he may try, if he pleases, to hate father and 
 mother, wife and child ; he will not be able. 
 
 I admit that there may be perplexities about 
 the degree and manner in which it is right for any 
 one to devote himself to his family when wider 
 claims seem to be made upon him. Ought such a 
 one to become a missionary and go out to preach 
 the Gospel in heathen lands ? Ought such another 
 to allow the business of his profession to take him 
 away for long or indefinite periods from his home ? 
 Ought fathers in general to resist the absorbing 
 demands which their business is apt to make upon 
 them ? Such questions cause genuine anxiety to 
 very many. We can hardly hope to solve them 
 in particular cases to our perfect satisfaction ; and 
 the circumstances so vary in particular cases that 
 it is not very helpful to lay down general rules 
 about them. But I think I may venture to say, 
 that such direct following of the Son of man as 
 takes effect in the shape of voluntary endeavours 
 to bring in and extend his Kingdom, hardly has 
 its due consideration amongst us. The soldier or 
 the sailor, the merchant, the engineer, the scientific
 
 296 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 explorer, take it for granted that domestic claims 
 must be overuled. But domestic claims are much 
 more easily allowed to dispute the obligation to do 
 some voluntary work in promoting God's glory 
 and bettering the future of the world. The 
 difficulty no doubt is, that when a man has a 
 secular occupation, he sees his work and knows 
 that he can do it ; he is not tormented by uncer- 
 tainty whether he has a genuine call and is able to 
 do the good he wishes to do ; he is not giving up 
 more definite duties for the more indefinite. Of 
 course, if any one of us were able to be a St Paul, 
 we should not doubt that home ought to be given 
 up for such a career as much as for that of a 
 soldier. But who knows that he could be a 
 St Paul even according to his smaller measure ? 
 So, a man will ask whether he can persuade him- 
 self that if he were to give up time for such work 
 as that of a Sunday School teacher or District 
 Visitor, or for that of promoting any philanthropic 
 movement, he would be sure to make the most 
 valuable investment of the time. I admit the 
 weight of such uncertainties. It is simpler and 
 safer to do the nearest and plainest things than to 
 give them up for more ambitious but more distant 
 and difficult attempts. But I can hardly doubt
 
 THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP. 297 
 
 that we should see our way more distinct, and the 
 call more imperative, to voluntary efforts in the 
 cause of the Son of man, if we were in the habit of 
 contemplating that cause more steadily as the one 
 comprehensive object for which we should live. 
 
 Of this however I am sure, that no devotion 
 to the Son of man or his cause would on the 
 whole weaken the natural ties of human life. If 
 we give up our cares, our interests, our affections, 
 to God who makes and who places us, he does not 
 throw them away as worthless things ; he returns 
 them to us purified and consecrated. The earthly 
 selfish temper which mingles with our best feel- 
 ings and with the discharge of our most sacred 
 duties is dross and alloy to be got rid of. It is 
 well that it should be purged away in the fire of 
 love to God and Christ. God will teach us to love 
 more unselfishly, not less earnestly, all whom we 
 learn to love in him.
 
 XX. 
 
 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 ST JOHN xiv. 18. "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come 
 to you." 
 
 ACCORDING to our Christian belief, and according 
 to the nearly universal belief of mankind, we are in 
 two worlds. 
 
 The one is that which we seem to know best, 
 this visible world. We see the sky over our heads, 
 the ground -under our feet. We are amongst ob- 
 jects which we see and feel and smell and taste. 
 We perceive one another and hold communication 
 with one another. We have our own bodies, sensi- 
 tive to pleasure and pain, nourished by what we 
 eat and drink, growing and decaying. We appear 
 in this visible world at our birth, we disappear 
 from it at our death. We are all supposed to be 
 pretty well acquainted with this world ; it takes 
 care that we shall not disregard it ; we can none of 
 us treat it as if it did not exist, or as if we had 
 nothing to do with it.
 
 HE A YEN AND THE WORLD. 299 
 
 It is true, at the same time, and it is a very 
 curious fact, that when thinking persons gaze 
 steadily at this visible world, it seems to them 
 less and less real. Our sense of its reality is some- 
 what disturbed, when we see the most solid sub- 
 stances volatilized into invisible gases. But thought 
 dissolves the outward world more effectually than 
 chemistry. We know things about us by sensa- 
 tion : how do we know that it is not all sensation, 
 and nothing else ? If I become blind, the outward 
 world, as a visible scene, does not exist for me ; if 
 all my senses perish, how do I know that anything 
 external remains? A man dies, and the world is dead 
 to him ; when all die, may not the world, which had 
 existed in their sensations, become non-existent ? 
 
 So inquiry speculates, and these speculations 
 are by no means frivolous. Nevertheless, for us, 
 as we are now, this visible world is real enough, 
 and no one, as I said, can ignore it, or practically 
 treat it as non-existent. 
 
 The other world in which we believe is the 
 invisible world. This is confessedly mysterious. 
 It is difficult to describe and explain it, partly be- 
 cause the very language we use is taken from the 
 operations of our senses. And men do not agree 
 about its nature, so much as they do about that of
 
 3 o HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 the visible world. They cannot investigate it by 
 the same process. Altogether there is much that 
 is baffling about it. Men cannot get it out of their 
 heads ; their imaginations, their hopes, and their 
 fears, insist upon penetrating into it. By all that 
 is highest and best in us, by all that is enduring, 
 we seem to be related to an unseen world, as we 
 are by what is lower and more transitory and 
 mutable to the world of the senses. Our nature is 
 haunted even 'in childhood by vague and shadowy 
 apprehensions in which the poet has recognized 
 intimations of another world to which we really 
 belong. 
 
 "Not in entire forgetfulness, 
 And not in utter nakedness, 
 But trailing clouds of glory do we come 
 From God, who is our home." 
 
 And if this is true of childhood, it is more certainly 
 true that the developed experiences of adult life, 
 the witness of the conscience, and the workings of 
 the affections, urge upon us in our more thoughtful 
 moments the reality of the unseen world and of 
 pur relations to it. 
 
 There are some philosophers who would per- 
 suade us that this is a mere delusive enchantment. 
 We are beguiled, they say, by a too active fancy, 
 and we project images of our earthly life upon the
 
 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 301 
 
 curtain which effectually closes us in. They would 
 have us shut our eyes resolutely to this imaginary 
 unseen world, in which we suppose God and other 
 invisible beings to dwell. We can know nothing 
 about it, they assure us; our faculties are incom- 
 petent to apprehend it ; our only wise course is to 
 acquiesce in its being an absolute blank, and to 
 turn our thoughts from it to the world which we 
 can know and work in. 
 
 Against this conclusion, the irrepressible work- 
 ings of human instinct will continue to rebel, and 
 the Gospel utters its protesting witness. 
 
 We certainly have reason to be on our guard 
 against the activity of the imagination, when it is 
 stimulated by the darkness of the unseen world. 
 Where the religious imagination has had free play, 
 as in the heathen religions, with what various shapes, 
 of power, of fear, of attraction, has it peopled that 
 world ! Sometimes it has aimed at creating grace- 
 ful and pleasing forms and scenes ; at other times 
 it has revelled in horrors. And if we see this most 
 glaringly displayed in heathen mythologies, we 
 know very well that Christianity, in its course of 
 eighteen centuries, has not been kept free from 
 this source of corruption. We shall fare ill, if we 
 are left at the mercy of the religious instinct, work-
 
 302 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 ing in accordance with what the fears of guilt and 
 the dreams of pleasure may suggest. 
 
 But our privilege, dear brethren, as Christians, 
 is to hear the Gospel and be guided by the teach- 
 ings of Christ. Our Master took pains to put his 
 followers in the way of thinking rightly about the 
 unseen world. Let us listen this morning to the 
 lesson which he gave to his Apostles in the pro- 
 spect of his approaching departure from this visible 
 world. 
 
 The departure began with his death, and was 
 completed by his ascension. Before his death the 
 Lord Jesus had been living with his followers under 
 the conditions of this world of the senses. As St 
 John says, they heard him, they saw him with 
 their eyes, they looked upon him, their hands 
 touched and grasped him. He died upon the 
 Cross the death of all men. Then the disciples, 
 forgetting what he had taught them and the pro- 
 mises he had given them, were plunged in disap- 
 pointment and grief. He was gone from them, 
 and they had sorrow. Soon he shewed himself to 
 them alive, not continuously, but in mysterious 
 interviews, enough to assure them that he had 
 triumphed over death. He was seen by them at 
 intervals during forty days, and spoke to them of
 
 HE A YEN AND THE WORLD. 303 
 
 things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Their 
 grief gave way to awe and hope. Having thus 
 trained them, as it were, to think of him as alive, 
 he brought this intermediate period to an end, and 
 went up into heaven. So his departure from this 
 visible world was consummated. 
 
 But the disciples were not again cast down. 
 The force of that first terrible shock had spent 
 itself. They now fed on the promises of their Master, 
 and especially on one great promise which he had 
 repeated to them over and over again. The pro- 
 mise was to be very quickly fulfilled. They had 
 not long to wait; and they waited in patience and 
 even joyfully. 
 
 This promise took two forms. 
 One of them we see in our text: "I will not 
 leave you comfortless : / will come to you'.' You 
 are probably aware that the word rendered by 
 "comfortless" might more accurately be translated 
 "bereaved." Jesus had made himself more than 
 parent or husband to the chosen few to whom he 
 was speaking. He was their support and stay. 
 His death was the greatest bereavement they could 
 suffer. Jesus felt keenly, in his more than human 
 sympathy, how his disciples would be affected by 
 losing him. They would be like orphan children,
 
 HE A VEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 like the widowed wife. But, he assured them, " I 
 will not leave you thus bereaved." My absence 
 will be but for a short time. "I will come to you." 
 "/ will come to you;" this was one form of the pro- 
 mise. "Yet a little while," he continues, "and the 
 world seeth me no more ; but ye see me, because I 
 live, and ye shall live." (This is probably a truer 
 rendering than that of our received version, "be- 
 cause I live, ye shall live also.") "Ye see me, 
 because I live and you shall then live. At that 
 day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye 
 in me, and I in you." The disciples did not under- 
 stand how it was to be that Jesus should be visible 
 to the disciples and invisible to the world. One of 
 them asked him, "Lord, how is it that thou wilt 
 manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" 
 The explanation which Jesus gave was this: "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." These words are 
 enough to make us cautious in understanding the 
 promise "I will come to you." It is evident that 
 the coming was not to be a bodily one. It was 
 not to be one which could be seen by the observa- 
 tion of the senses. It was to be what we call a 
 spiritual coming.
 
 HE A VEN AND THE WORLD. 305 
 
 And this promise was evidently identical with 
 that of the sending of the Spirit. "I will pray the 
 Father, and he will give you another Comforter, 
 that he may abide with you for ever; even the 
 Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, 
 because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him." I 
 say the two promises are substantially the same. 
 It is true that Jesus speaks as if the Comforter 
 were to be a substitute for him. "I tell you the 
 truth ; it is expedient for you that I go away ; for 
 if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
 you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." 
 Is this, "I am going away, and I will send the 
 Spirit to be with you," is this the same, it may 
 be asked, as the other saying, "I am going away 
 for a little while, and then I will come to you 
 again"? Yes, brethren, it is. The two different 
 statements do not really contradict each other ; 
 the one makes the other more likely to be under- 
 stood in its true sense. The Spirit of truth would 
 come to them, and unite them in a spiritual fellow- 
 ship with their ^ord ; Jesus himself would come 
 to them in the Spirit, and make the disciples feel 
 and know that he was with them. 
 
 Now here was heaven, here was the unseen 
 world, as the Son of God revealed it to his disciples. 
 D. S. S. 20
 
 306 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 They would be really and consciously in it, when 
 they should know the Father to be near them and 
 with them. " This is life eternal," said Jesus in his 
 prayer to his Father, " that they might know thee, 
 the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou 
 hast sent." They who should be quickened with 
 that life, would perceive Christ and the Father 
 loving them and abiding with them. They would 
 themselves have abiding-places in the home of the 
 Father. And all this would depend on their keep- 
 ing, in a loyal spirit, the words or commandments 
 of Christ. 
 
 Other things may be said about the unseen 
 world. It may be pictured with the aid of the ima- 
 gery of the Revelation, with a great white throne, 
 with a sea of glass, with myriads of angels, with 
 elders and living creatures round about the throne. 
 There may be some subordinate value in the sug- 
 gestions of these images. But incomparably the 
 highest, truest, and most precious teaching con- 
 cerning the unseen world is that which our Lord 
 gave in these promises. It makes no attempt to 
 reduce within our conceptions what is beyond their 
 capacity. But it raises us to the highest thought 
 of which we are capable, when it says to us, " Hea- 
 ven is, to be visited by the unseen God, to behold
 
 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 307 
 
 and love and know the Son and the Father in the 
 Spirit." And if it seem to you for a moment that 
 such a heaven is uninviting, beside a heaven of 
 spacious courts above the sky, the heaven of harps 
 and jewels and shining raiment, remember first 
 whose words they are that we are studying ; and 
 then let your consciences tell you that the dazzling 
 of the senses by dreams of oriental splendour is but 
 a poor thing compared with the awakening of 
 Divine life in the soul. What shall it profit a man, 
 if he shall gain the whole world, and lose himself ? 
 Royal palaces and gorgeous entertainments, and 
 the supreme achievements of art and wealth, make 
 fine spectacles, and even descriptions of them find 
 eager readers; and it may be natural that the 
 many should idealize these in their endeavours to 
 conceive of perfect happiness : but if you want to 
 make Christ's idea of heaven your own, think 
 rather of a childlike disciple, in poverty perhaps 
 and suffering, lifting up the aspirations of a peni- 
 tent and humble but grateful and trusting heart to 
 One felt to be infinitely gracious and closely near. 
 TJiere Jesus has come ; there the Father and the 
 Son are loving the obedient disciple, and making 
 their abode with him ; there the disciple is occu-
 
 38 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 pying the place prepared for him in the great home 
 of the Father. 
 
 Whatever else you may think about heaven, let 
 these Divine ideas be dominant in your minds. 
 We speak of Christ as having ascended into hea- 
 ven ; we pray, in full conformity with the words of 
 the Lord himself and his Apostles, that we also 
 may in heart and mind thither ascend, and with 
 him continually dwell. What do we mean by this 
 prayer ? That we, when we die, may rise through 
 the air into an abode of perfect enjoyment ? Cer- 
 tainly not ; we are not referring to the time of 
 death at all. We are praying that now, we, living 
 in this visible world, may ascend and dwell with 
 Christ. And how is that to be done ? By loving 
 him and keeping his words ; because, in accordance 
 with his promise, he has given his Spirit to men, 
 and to them who receive the Spirit humbly Christ 
 comes and the Father, and they manifest them- 
 selves to them and dwell with them. 
 
 In those truly heavenly conversations with his 
 disciples on the night before his Passion, our Lord 
 makes no allusion to the change wrought by death. 
 He is referring indeed to his own approaching 
 death and departure from the visible world ; but in 
 what he promises and bids his disciples look for-
 
 HEA VEN AND THE WORLD. 309 
 
 ward to, he speaks wholly of what was to come to 
 them in their lifetime. It is not easy for us to 
 believe this ; but it is so, certainly and demon- 
 strably. His return to them, that they might 
 dwell with him, was to be within a few days. 
 What the Spirit was to do for them was to be done 
 on the Day of Pentecost and from that day for- 
 wards. The more you can fix this in your minds, 
 the better. But we cannot forget Death. It is 
 constantly forcing itself upon us. We know that 
 we ourselves must die, and it is good that we should 
 bear it in mind. But before that time, it may be 
 we shall know, perhaps more than once or twice, 
 the bereaving power of Death. It is not possible 
 to make light of this. The Lord Jesus referred to 
 it solemnly and tenderly. But was he not doing 
 something by his promises to assuage that power, 
 not only on the minds that were to be grieved by 
 his departure, but on minds which should after- 
 wards be overwhelmed by other sad separations ? 
 Suppose one of that company of disciples to have 
 thoroughly learnt the lesson, to have received the 
 Spirit, and to have lived with Christ and the 
 Father in faith and love. Suppose that Death 
 came, and took from him a parent or other loved 
 one. Do you not feel sure that the habitual sense
 
 HEAVEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 of living in the unseen world, even whilst active 
 amongst things seen, must have greatly altered the 
 feeling of that disciple towards death, and there- 
 fore greatly softened the pain and the shock of 
 separation ? Death is the passage from the visible 
 world into the invisible : well, but what we most 
 surely know of the invisible world is that Christ is 
 there and the Father, and that spiritual communion 
 may link those who are yet in the flesh with in- 
 visible beings. No progress of civilization or of 
 scientific knowledge can avail in the slightest de- 
 gree to make bereavement more tolerable. The 
 happier our lot is in this world, and the more 
 closely we are drawn to others, the more grievous 
 must it be, that the loved companion should be- 
 come the prey of the enemy. And where in this 
 world is consolation to be found ? But there is real 
 consolation for those who have come to feel natu- 
 ralized in the heavenly commonwealth. They may 
 reasonably cherish thoughts of reunion with those 
 who have gone before them ; or, if at times they 
 cannot help admitting how vain it is to speculate 
 with any precision about the conditions of so dif- 
 ferent a life, they can at least cast themselves con- 
 fidingly on the grace of him who visits and is mind- 
 ful of such unworthy creatures as the sons of men.
 
 HE A VEN AND THE WORLD. 3 1 1 
 
 On Sunday next, dear brethren, we commemo- 
 rate the primary historical fulfilment of the Saviour's 
 promise, that is to say, a remarkable linking 
 together of the seen and unseen worlds. The 
 Church that came into organized being on the Day 
 of Pentecost was a permanent witness of that union. 
 Then began that feeding together on the Body and 
 Blood of Christ which was appointed as a ladder 
 from earth to heaven, an outward and visible sign of 
 an inward and spiritual grace. A vast multitude 
 of Christians in all parts of the world will on Whit- 
 sunday observe this sacred tradition, and come 
 together to feed by faith on him whom, if they see 
 him at all, they can only see with the spiritual eye. 
 O that for many this inward vision may be made 
 more real and clear! O that the world, to which 
 nothing heavenly is visible, may have less occupation 
 of the hearts of Christians ! Let it be our distinct 
 endeavour, with the help of God's grace, so to open 
 our hearts to the Spirit of faith and love that 
 worldly and carnal affections may be mortified in 
 us, and that we may know what it is to dwell with 
 God through Christ ! We greatly need to become 
 as little children, in simplicity, and teachableness, 
 and indifference to the world, that we may see the 
 kingdom of God. May the Spirit of truth make us
 
 3 1 2 HE A VEN AND THE WORLD. 
 
 sincere, honest, and courageous in our following of 
 Christ. We have no right to hope to be clear-sight- 
 ed, if we are not single-minded. If, professing to 
 be Christians, we harden ourselves against Christian 
 affections, and make the things of the world our 
 genuine interests, how can we expect Christ to 
 manifest himself to us? The pure in heart, they 
 shall see God. It is by being patient, loving, high- 
 minded, in the common intercourse and affairs of 
 this life, that we shall strengthen our hold upon the 
 things that are not seen; it is by walking in the 
 steps of Jesus Christ that we shall come nearer to 
 him; it is only in loving God that we can really 
 know\\\m. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BV c. j. CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY mass.
 
 By the same AutJior. 
 
 THE GOSPEL AND MODERN LIFE, AND 
 MORALITY ACCORDING TO THE SACRAMENT 
 OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. A Second Edition, in one 
 volume. In the Press. 
 
 WARNINGS AGAINST SUPERSTITION, IN 
 
 FOUR SERMONS FOR THE DAY. ts. 6ct. 
 
 ESSAYS IN THEOLOGY AND MORALITY. 
 
 7-r. 6d. 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST PAUL TO THE EPHE- 
 
 SIANS, COLOSSIANS, AND PHILEMON, 7*. 6d. 
 
 SERMONS ON THE MANIFESTATION OF THE 
 SON OF GOD. 6s. 6d. 
 
 THE WORK OF CHRIST; OR, THE WORLD 
 RECONCILED TO GOD. 6s. 
 
 BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, AND THE LORD'S 
 
 SUPPER, is. 6d. 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ROME. is. 6d. 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.
 
 June 1874. 
 
 A CATALOGUE of THEOLOGICAL BOOKS, 
 with a Short Account of their 
 Character and Aim, 
 
 Published by 
 MACMILLAl^ AKD CO. 
 
 Bedford Street, Strand, London, W.C. 
 
 Abbott (Rev. E. A.) Works by the Rev. E. A. ABBOTT, 
 
 D.D., Head Master of the City of London School. 
 BIBLE LESSONS. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ^s.6d. 
 
 " Wise, suggestive, and really profound initiation into religious thought," 
 -Guardian. The Bishop of St. David's, in his speech at the Education 
 Conference at Abergwilly, says he thinks " nobody could read them without 
 being the better for them himself, and being also able to see how this difficult 
 duty of imparting a sound religious education may be effected. " 
 
 THE GOOD VOICES : A Child's Guide to the Bible. 
 
 With upwards of 50 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. cloth gilt. $s. 
 ' ' It would not be easy to combine simplicity with fulness and depth of 
 meaning more successfully than Mr. Abbott has done." Spectator. Thf 
 Times says "Mr. Abbott writes with clearness, simplicity, and the deepest 
 religious feeling. " 
 
 PARABLES FOR CHILDREN. Crown 8vo. cloth gilt. 
 
 $s.6d. 
 
 " They are simple and direct in meaning and told in plain language, 
 and are therefore well adapted to their purpose." Guardian.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Ainger (Rev. Alfred). SERMONS PREACHED IN 
 THE TEMPLE CHURCH. By the Rev. ALFRED AINGER, 
 M. A. of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Reader at the Temple Church. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 This volume contains twenty-four Sermons preached at various times 
 during the last few years in the 7*emple Church. " It is," the British 
 Quarterly says, ' ' the fresh unconventional talk of a clear independent 
 thinker, addressed to a congregation of thinkers .... Thoughtful men will 
 be greatly charmed by this little volume.' 1 '' 
 
 Alexander. THE LEADING IDEAS of the GOSPELS. 
 
 Five Sermons preached before the University of Oxford in 1870 
 
 71. By WILLIAM ALEXANDER, D.D., Brasenose College ; Lord 
 
 Bishop of Derry and Raphao ; Select Preacher. Cr, 8vo. qs. 6d. 
 
 "Eloquence and force of language, clearness of statement, and a hearty 
 
 appreciation of the grandeur and importance of the topics upon which he 
 
 writes characterize his sermons. " Record. 
 
 Arnold. A BIBLE READING BOOK FOR SCHOOLS. 
 THE GREAT PROPHECY OF ISRAEL'S RESTORATION (Isaiah, 
 Chapters 40 66). Arranged and Edited for Young Learners. By 
 MATTHEW ARNOLD, D.C.L., formerly Professor of Poetry in the 
 University of Oxford, and Fellow of Oriel. Third Edition. i8mo. 
 cloth, is. 
 
 The Times says ''Whatever may be the fate of this little book in 
 Government Schools, there can be no doubt that it will be found excellently 
 calculated to further instniction in Biblical literature in any school into 
 which it may be introduced. . . . We can safely say that whatever school uses 
 this book, it will enable its pupils to understand Isaiah, a great advantage 
 compared with other establishments which do not avail themselves of it." 
 
 Baring-Gould. LEGENDS OF OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 CHARACTERS, from the Talmud and other sources. By the 
 
 Rev. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A., Author of "Curious Myths of 
 
 the Middle Ages," "The Origin and Development of Religious 
 
 Belief," "In Exitu Israel," etc. In two vols. crown 8vo. i6.r. 
 
 Vol. I. Adam to Abraham. Vol. II. Melchizidek to Zechariah. 
 
 He has collected from the Talmud and other sources, Jevuish and Mahom- 
 
 medan, a large number of curious and interesting legends concerning the 
 
 principal characters of the Old Testament, comparing these frequently with 
 
 similar legends current among many of the peoples, savage and civilised, 
 
 all over the world. "'These volumes contain much that is strange, and to 
 
 the ordinary English reader, very novel. " Daily News. 
 
 Barry, Alfred, D.D. The ATONEMENT of CHRIST. 
 Six Lectures delivered in Hereford' Cathedral during Holy Week, 
 1871. By ALFRED BARRY, D.D., D.C.L., Canon of Worcester, 
 Principal of King's College, London. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 In writing these Sermons, it has been the object of Canon Barry to set 
 forth the deep practical importance of the doctrinal truths of the Atone- 
 ment. " The one truth" says the Preface, "which, beyond all others, 
 I desire that these may suggest, is the inseparable unity -which must exist 
 between Christian doctrine, even in its more mysterious forms, and Christ- 
 ian morality or devotion. They are a slight contribution to the plea of 
 that connection of Religion and Theology, -which in our own time is so 
 frequently and, as it seems to me, so unreasonably denied. " The Guardian 
 calls them " striking and eloquent lectures." 
 
 Benham. A COMPANION TO THE LECTIONARY, 
 
 being a Commentary on the Proper Lessons for Sundays and 
 Holydays. By the Rev. W. BENHAM, B.D., Vicar of Margate. 
 Crown Svo. Is. 6d. 
 
 The Author's object is to give the reader a clear understanding of the 
 Lessons of the Church, which he does by means of general and special in- 
 troductions, and critical and explanatory notes on all words and passages 
 presenting the least difficulty. ' ' A very useful book. Air. Benham has 
 produced a good and welcome companion to our revised Lectionary. Its 
 contents will, if not very original or profound, prove to be sensible and 
 practical, and often suggestive to the preacher and the Sunday School 
 teacher. They will also furnish some excellent Sunday reading for private 
 hours." Guardian. 
 
 Bernard. THE PROGRESS OF DOCTRINE IN THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT, considered in Eight Lectures before the 
 University of Oxford in 1864. By THOMAS D. BERNARD, M.A., 
 Rector of Walcot and Canon of Wells. Third and Cheaper Edit- 
 ion. Crown 8vo. 5-r. (Bampton Lectures for 1864.) 
 " We lay down these lectures with a sense not only of being edified by 
 sound teaching and careful thought, but also of being gratified by con- 
 ciseness and clearness of expression and elegance of style" Churchman. 
 
 Binney. SERMONS PREACHED IN THE KING'S 
 WEIGH HOUSE CHAPEL, 182969. By THOMAS BINNKV, 
 D.D. New and Cheaper Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4*. 6d. 
 "Full of robust intelligence, of reverent but independent thinking on the 
 most profound and holy themes, and of earnest practical purpose." 
 London Quarterly Review. 
 Bradby. SERMONS PREACHED AT HAILEYBURY. 
 
 By E. H. BRADBY, M.A., Master. 8vo. los. 6d. 
 "He "who claims a public hearing now, speaks to an audience accustomed 
 
 to Cotton, Temple, Vaughan, Bradley, Butler, Farrar, and others 
 
 Each has given us good work, several work of rare beauty, force, or 
 'originality ' but we doubt whether any one of them has touched deeper 
 chords or brought more freshness and strength into his sermons, than the 
 last of their number, the present Head Master of llaileybury: Spectator.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Burgon. A TREATISE on the PASTORAL OFFICE. 
 
 Addressed chiefly to Candidates for Holy Orders, or to those who 
 have recently undertaken the cure of souls. By the Rev. JOHN 
 W. BURGON, M.A., Oxford. 8vo. i2s. 
 
 The object of this work is to expound the great ends to be accomplished by 
 the Pastoral office, and to investigate the various means by -which these ends 
 may best be gained, pull directions are given as to preaching and sermon- 
 writing, pastoral visitation, village education and catechising, .and con- 
 firmation. Spectator. 
 
 Butler (G.) Works by the Rev. GEORGE BUTLER, M.A., 
 Principal of Liverpool College : 
 
 FAMILY PRAYERS. Crown 8vo. $s. 
 
 The prayers in this volume are all based on passages of Scripture the 
 morning prayers on Select Psalms, those for the evening on portions of the 
 New Testament. 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED in CHELTENHAM COLLEGE 
 CHAPEL. Crown 8vo. 7*. 6d. 
 
 Butler (Rev. H. M.) SERMONS PREACHED in the 
 CHAPEL OF HARROW SCHOOL. By H. MONTAGU 
 BUTLER, Head Master. Crown 8vo. 7-r. 6d. 
 " These sermons are adapted for every household. There is nothing 
 
 more striking than the excellent good sense with whith they are imbued. " 
 
 Spectator. 
 
 A SECOND SERIES. Crown 8vo. js.6d. 
 
 "Excellent specimens of what sermons should be, plain, direct, prac- 
 tical, pervaded by the true spirit of the Gospel, and holding up lofty aims 
 before the minds of the young." Athenaeum. 
 
 Butler (Rev. W. Archer). Works by the Rev. WILLIAM 
 ARCHER BUTLER, M.A., late Professor of Moral Philosophy in 
 the University of Dublin : 
 
 SERMONS, DOCTRINAL AND PRACTICAL. Edited, 
 with a Memoir of the Author's Life, by THOMAS WOODWARD, 
 Dean of Down. With Portrait. Ninth Edition. 8vo. 8*. 
 The Introductory Memoir narrates in considerable detail and with much 
 interest, the events of Butler's brief life; and contains a few specimens of 
 his poetry, and a few extracts from his addresses and essays, including a 
 long and eloquent passage on the Province and Duty of the Preacher. 
 
 A SECOND SERIES OF SERMONS. Edited by J. A. 
 JEREMIE, D.D., Dean of Lincoln. Seventh Edition. 8vo. 7-r. 
 
 The North British Review says, " Few sermons in our language exhibit 
 the same rare combination of excellencies ; imagery almost as rich as 
 Taylor 's ; oratory as vigorous often as South' s ; judgment as sound as
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS, 5 
 
 Butler (Rev. W. Archer.) continued. 
 
 Barrow's; a style as attractive but more copious, original, and forcible 
 than Atterbury's; piety as elevated as H<nv<?s, and a fervour as intense at 
 times as Baxter's. Mr. Butler's are the sermons of a true poet. " 
 
 LETTERS ON ROMANISM, in reply to Dr. Newman's 
 
 Essay on Development. Edited by the Dean of Down. Second 
 
 Edition, revised by Archdeacon HARDWICK. 8vo. lew. 6</. 
 
 These Letters contain an exhaustive criticism of Dr. Newman 's famous 
 
 "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine" "A work which 
 
 ought to be in the Library of every student of Divinity. " BP. ST. DAVID'S. 
 
 LECTURES ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY. See SCIEN- 
 TIFIC CATALOGUE. 
 
 Cambridge Lent Sermons. SERMONS preached 
 
 during Lent, 1864, in Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge. By 
 the BISHOP OF OXFORD, Revs. H. P. LIDDON, T. L. CLAUGHTON, 
 
 J. R. WOODFORD, Dr. GOULBURN, J. W. BURGON, T. T. 
 
 CARTER, Dr. PUSEY, Dean HOOK, W. J. BUTLER, Dean GOOD- 
 WIN. Crown 8vo. fs. 6d. 
 
 Campbell. Works by JOHN M'LEOD CAMPBELL : 
 THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT AND ITS 
 RELATION TO REMISSION OF SINS AND ETERNAL 
 LIFE. Fourth and Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo. 6s. 
 " Among the first theological treatises of this generation." Guardian. 
 " One of the most remarkable theological books ever written." Times. 
 
 CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE. An Attempt to give 
 
 a profitable direction to the present occupation of Thought with 
 
 Romanism. Second Edition, greatly enlarged. Crown 8vo. 4?. 6d. 
 
 ' ' Deserves the most attentive study by all who interest themselves in the 
 
 predominant religious controversy of the day." Spectator. 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE GIFT OF ETERNAL 
 LIFE. Compiled by permission of the late J. M'LEOD CAMPBELL, 
 D.D., from Sermons preached chiefly at Row in 1829 31. 
 Crown 8vo. $s. 
 
 " There is a healthy tone as well as a deep pathos not often seen in 
 sermons. His words are weighty and the ideas they express tend to per- 
 fection of life." Westminster Review. 
 
 REMINISCENCES AND REFLECTIONS, referring to 
 
 his Early Ministry in the Parish of Row, 1825 31. Edited with 
 
 an Introductory Narrative by his Son, DONALD CAMPBF.LL, M.A., 
 
 Chaplain of King's College, London. Crown 8vo. "js. 6d. 
 
 These 'Reminiscences and Reflections,' 1 written during the last year of 
 
 his life, were mainly intended to place on record thoughts which might
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 prove helpful to others. " We recommend this book cordially to all who 
 are interested in the great cause of religious reformation." Times. 
 " There is a thoroughness and depth, as well as a practical earnestness, 
 in his grasp of each truth on -which he dilates, which make his reflections 
 very valuable." Literary Churchman. 
 
 Canterbury. THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE 
 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Seven Addresses delivered to the 
 
 Clergy and Churchwardens of his Diocese, as his Charge, at his 
 
 Primary Visitation, 1872. By ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, Archbishop 
 
 of Canterbury. Third Edition. 8vo. cloth. 3^. 6d. 
 
 The subjects of these Addresses are, I. Lay Co-operation. II. Cathedral 
 
 Reform. III. and IV. Ecclesiastical Judicature. V. Ecclesiastical 
 
 Legislation. ^ VI. Missionary Work of the Church. VII. The Church 
 
 of England in its relation to the Rest of Christendom. There are besides, 
 
 a number of statistical and illustrative appendices. 
 
 Cheyne. Works by T. K. CHEYNE, M.A., Fellow of Balliol 
 College, Oxford : 
 
 THE BOOK OF ISAIAH CHRONOLOGICALLY AR- 
 RANGED. An Amended Version, with Historical and Critical 
 Introductions and Explanatory Notes. Crown Svo. "js. 6d. 
 
 The object of this edition is to restore the probable meaning of Isaiah, so 
 far as can be expressed in appropriate English. 77ie basis of the version 
 is the revised translation of 1611, but alterations have been introduced 
 wherever the true sense of the prophecies appeared to require it. The West- 
 minster Review speaks of it as "a piece of scholarly work, very carefully 
 and considerately done. " The Academy calls it "'a successful attempt to 
 extend a right understanding of this important Old Testament writing." 
 
 NOTES AND CRITICISMS on the HEBREW TEXT 
 OF ISAIAH. Crown Svo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 This work is offered as a slight contribution to a more scientific study of 
 the Old Testament Scriptures. The author aims at completeness, inde- 
 pendence, and originality, and constantly endeavours to keep philology 
 distinct from exegesis, to explain the form without pronouncing on the 
 matter. 
 
 Choice Notes on the Four Gospels, drawn from 
 
 Old and New Sources. Crown Svo. 4?. 6d. each Vol. (St. 
 
 Matthew and St. Mark in one Vol. price gs.). 
 
 These Notes are selected from the Rev. Prebendary Ford's Illustrations 
 of the Four Gospels, the choice being chiefly conflned to those of a more 
 simple and practical character.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Church. Works by the Very Rev. R. W. CHURCH, M.A., 
 
 Dean of St. Paul's. 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE the UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF OXFORD. By the Very Rev. R. W. CHURCH, M.A., Dean 
 
 of St. Paul's. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. $s. 6</. 
 
 Sermons on the relations between Christianity and the ideas and facts of 
 
 modern civilized society. The subjects of the various discourses are: 
 
 " The Gifts of Civilization," "Christ's Words and Christian Society" 
 
 " Chrisfs Example," and " Civilization and Religion." " Thoughtjul 
 
 and masterly . . . We regard these sermons as a landmark in religious 
 
 thought. They help us to understand the latent strength of a Christianity 
 
 that is assailed on all sides." Spectator. 
 
 ON SOME INFLUENCES OF CHRISTIANITY UPON 
 NATIONAL CHARACTER. Three Lectures delivered in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, Feb. 1873. Crown '8vo. 4*. 6d. 
 "Few books that -we have met with have given us keener pleasure than 
 
 this It would be a real pleasure to quote extensively, so wise and so 
 
 true, so tender and so discriminating are Dean Church's judgments, but 
 the limits of our space are inexorable. We hope the book will be bought." 
 Literary Churchman. 
 
 THE SACRED POETRY OF EARLY RELIGIONS. 
 Two Lectures in St. Paul's Cathedral. l8mo. u. I. The Vedas. 
 II. The Psalms. 
 
 Clay. THE POWER OF THE KEYS. Sermons preached 
 
 in Coventry. By the Rev. W. L. CLAY, M. A. Fcap. 8vo. 3*. 6d. 
 
 In this work an attempt is made to shew in what sense, and to what 
 
 extent, the power of the Keys can be exercised by the layman, the Church, 
 
 and the priest respectively. The Church Review says the sermons are 
 
 " in many respects of unusual merit." 
 
 Clergyman's Self-Examination concerning the 
 APOSTLES' CREED. Extra fcap. 8vo. is. (>d. 
 
 Collects of the Church of England. With a beauti- 
 fully Coloured Floral Design to each Collect, and Illuminated 
 Cover. Crown Svo. 12s. Also kept in various styles of morocco. 
 The distinctive characteristic of this edition is the coloured floral design 
 which accompanies each Collect, and which is generally emblematical of 
 the character of the day or saint to which U is assigned; the flmvers 
 which have been selected are such as are likely to be in bloom on the day to 
 which the Collect belongs. The Guardian thinks it "a successful attempt 
 to associate in a natural and unforced manner the flowers of our fields 
 and gardens with the course of the Christian year "
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Cotton. Works by the late GEORGE EDWARD LYNCH 
 COTTON, D.D., Bishop of Calcutta: 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED TO ENGLISH CONGREGA- 
 TIONS IN INDIA. Crown 8vo. is. (>d. 
 
 " The sermons are models of what sermons should be, not only on ac- 
 count of their practical teachings, but also "with regard to the singular 
 felicity with which they are adapted to times, places, and circumstances." 
 Spectator. 
 
 EXPOSITORY SERMONS ON THE EPISTLES FOR 
 THE SUNDAYS OF THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. Two 
 Vols. Crown 8vo. 15^. 
 
 These two volumes contain in all fifty-seven Sermons. They were all 
 preached at various stations throughout India. 
 
 Cure. THE SEVEN WORDS OF CHRIST ON THE 
 CROSS. Sermons preached at St. George's, Bloomsbury. By 
 the Rev. E. CAPEL CURE, M.A. Fcap. 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Of these Sermons the John Bull says, " They are earnest and practical ;" 
 the Nonconformist, " The Sermons are beautiful, tender, and instruc- 
 tive;" and the Spectator calls them "A set of really good Sermons." 
 
 Curteis. DISSENT in its RELATION to the CHURCH 
 OF ENGLAND. Eight Lectures preached before the University 
 of Oxford, in the year 1871, on the foundation of the late Rev. 
 John Bampton, M. A., Canon of Salisbury. By GEORGE HERBERT 
 CURTEIS, M.A., late Fellow and Sub-Rector of Exeter College; 
 Principal of the Lichfield Theological College, and Prebendary of 
 Lichfield Cathedral; Rector of Turweston, Bucks. Third and 
 Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo. 7-r. 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Curteis has done good service by maintaining in an eloquent, 
 temperate, and practical manner, that discussion among Christians is 
 really an evil, and that an intelligent basis can be found for at least a 
 proximate union." Saturday Review "A well timed, learned, and 
 thoughtful book. " 
 
 Davies. Works by the Rev. J. LLEWELYN DAVIES, M.A., 
 
 Rector of Christ Church, St. Marylebone, etc. : 
 THE WORK OF CHRIST ; or, the World Reconciled to 
 God. With a Preface on the Atonement Controversy. Fcap. 
 8vo. 6.r. 
 
 SERMONS on the MANIFESTATION OF THE SON 
 OF GOD. With a Preface addressed to Laymen on the present 
 Position of the Clergy of the Church of England ; and an Ap-
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Davies (Rev. J. Llewelyn) continued. 
 
 pendix on the Testimony of Scripture and the Church as to the 
 possibility of Pardon in the Future State. Fcap. 8vo. 6.?. 6d. 
 ' ' This volume, both in its substance, prefix, and suffix, represents the 
 
 noblest type of theology now preached in the English Church." Spectator. 
 
 BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION, AND THE LORD'S 
 
 SUPPER, as Interpreted by their Outward Signs. Three Ex- 
 pository Addresses for Parochial use. Fcap. 8vo., limp cloth. 
 is. 6d. 
 
 TTie method adopted in these addresses is to set forth the natural and 
 historical meaning of the signs of the two Sacraments and of Confirma- 
 tion, and thus to arrive at the spiritual realities -which they symbolize. 
 The work touches on all the principal elements of a Christian man's faith. 
 
 THE EPISTLES of ST. PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS, 
 THE COLOSSIANS, and PHILEMON. With Introductions 
 and Notes, and an Essay on the Traces of Foreign Elements in 
 the Theology of these Epistles. 8vo. -]s. (>d. 
 
 MORALITY ACCORDING TO THE SACRAMENT 
 OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. Crown 8vo. 3*. 6d. 
 
 These discourses were preached before the University of Cambridge. 
 They form a continuous exposition, and are directed mainly against the 
 two-fold danger which at present threatens the Church the tendency, on 
 the one hand, to regard Morality as independent of Religion, and, on the 
 other, to ignore the fact that Religion finds its proper sphere and criterion 
 in the moral life. 
 
 THE GOSPEL and MODERN LIFE. Sermons on some 
 of the Difficulties of the Present Day, with a Preface on a Recent 
 Phase of Deism. Extra fcap. 8vo. dr. 
 
 The " recent phase of Deism" examined in l the preface to this volume is 
 that professed by the "Pall Mall Gazette" that in the sphere of Religion 
 there are one or two "probable suppositions" but nothing more. Amongst 
 other subjects examined are " Christ and Modern Knowledge," "Hu- 
 manity and the Trinity" "Nature," "Religion" "Conscience" 
 "Human Corruption," and "Human Holiness." 
 
 WARNINGS AGAINST SUPERSTITION IN FOUR 
 SERMONS FOR THE DAY. Extra fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d 
 
 " We have seldom read a wiser little book. The Sermons are short, 
 terse, and full of true spiritual wisdom, expressed ivith a lucidity and a 
 moderation that must give them weight even with those who agree least 
 
 with their author. Of the volume as a -whole it is hardly possible to 
 
 speak with too cordial an appreciation. " Spectator.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 De Teissier. Works by G. F. DE TEISSIER, B.D.: 
 VILLAGE SERMONS, FIRST SERIES. Crown Svo. 9^. 
 
 Tills volume contains fifty-four short Sermons, embracing many subjects 
 of practical importance to all Christians. The Guardian says they are 
 "a little too scholarlike in style for a country village, but sound and 
 practical. " 
 
 VILLAGE SERMONS, SECOND SERIES. Crown 8vo. &.&/. 
 
 " TTiis second volume of Parochial Sermons is gh-en to the public in 
 the humble hope that it may afford many seasonable thoughts for such as 
 are Alourners in Zion." TJiere are in all fifty -tiuo Sermons embracing a 
 wide variety of subjects connected -with Christian faith and practice. 
 
 Donaldson THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS: a Critical 
 Account of their Genuine Writings and of their Doctrines. By 
 JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D. Crown Svo. ^s.f>d. 
 This book -was published in 1864 as the first volume of a 'Critical 
 History of Christian Literature and Doctrine from the death of the 
 Apostles to the Nicene Council.' 1 The intention -was to carry doum the 
 history continuously to the time of Eusebius, and this intention has not 
 been abandoned. But as the writers can be sometimes grouped more easily 
 according to subject or locality than according to time, it is deemed ad- 
 visable to publish the history of eaeh group separately. The Introduction 
 to the present volume serves as an introduction to the -whole period. 
 
 Ecce Homo. A SURVEY OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF 
 
 JESUS CHRIST. Eleventh Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 "A very original and remarkable book, full of striking thought and 
 delicate perception ; a book -which has realised with -wonderful vigour and 
 freshness the historical magnitude of Christ's work, and -which here and 
 there gives us readings of the finest kind of the probable motive of His indi- 
 vidual words and actions." Spectator. " The best and most established 
 believer will find it adding some fresh buttresses to his faith." Literary 
 Churchman. "If -ice have not misunderstood him, -we have before us a 
 writer who has a right to claim deference from those who think deepest 
 and know most." Guardian. 
 
 Faber. SERMONS AT A NEW SCHOOL. By the Rev. 
 
 ARTHUR FABER, M.A., Head Master of Malvern College. Cr. 
 
 Svo. 6s. 
 
 " These are high-toned, earnest Sermons, orthodox and scholarlike, and 
 laden -with encouragement and warning, "wisely adapted to the needs of 
 school-life." Literary Churchman. ''Admirably realizing that com- 
 bination of fresh vigorous thought and simple expression of wise parental 
 counsel, with brotherly sympathy and respect, which are essential to the 
 success of such sermons, and to which so few attain." British Quarterly 
 Review.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Farrar. Works by the Rev. F. W. FARRAR, M.A., F.R.S., 
 Head Master of Marlborough College, and Hon. Chaplain to the 
 Queen : 
 
 THE FALL OF MAX, AND OTHER SERMONS. 
 Second and Cheaper Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 45. 6d. 
 
 This volume contains twenty Sermons. No attempt is made in these 
 Sermons to dei'elope a system of doctrine. In each discourse some one 
 aspect of truth is taken up, the chief object being to point out Us bearings on 
 practical religious life. The Nonconformist says of these Sermons, 
 " Mr. Farrar's Sermons are almost perfect specimens of one type of Ser- 
 mons, which we may concisely call beautiful. Tlie style of expression is 
 beautiful tftere is beauty in the thoughts, the illustrations, the allusions 
 tliey are expressive of genuinely beautiful perceptions and feelings :" The 
 British Quarterly says, "Ability, eloquence, sc/wlarship, and practical 
 usefulness, are in these Sermons combined in a very unusual degree. " 
 
 THE WITNESS OF HISTORY TO CHRIST. Being 
 
 the Hulsean Lectures for 1870. New Edition. Crown 8vo. $s. 
 The following are the subjects of the Fh-e Lectures : /. " The Ante- 
 cedent Credibility of the Miraculous." II. " The Adequacy of the Gospel 
 Records." III. " The Victories of Christianity ." IV. "Christianity and 
 the Individual." V. "Christianity and tlie Race." The subjects of the 
 four Appendices are: A. " The Diversity of Christian Ezidentes." 
 B. "Confucius." C. "Buddha." D. " Comte" 
 
 SEEKERS AFTER GOD. The Lives of Seneca, Epictetus, 
 and Marcus Aurelius. See SUNDAY LIBRARY at end of Catalogue. 
 
 THE SILENCE AND VOICES OF GOD : University 
 and other Sermons. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 "We can most cordially recommend Dr. Farrar's singularly beautiful 
 
 volume of Sermons For beauty of diction, felicity of style , aptness of 
 
 illustration and earnest loving exhortation, the volume is without its 
 parallel. "John Bull. " They are marked by great ability, by an honesty 
 which does not hesitate to acknowledge difficulties and by an earnestness 
 which commands respect." Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Fellowship : LETTERS ADDRESSED TO MY SISTER 
 
 MOURNERS. Fcap. 8vo. cloth gilt. 3-r. 6d. 
 
 "A beautiful little volume, written with genuine feeling, good taste, and 
 a right appreciation of the teaching of Scripture relative to sorrow and 
 suffering. " N onconformist. ' 'A very touching, and at the same time a 
 very sensible book. It breathes throughout the truest Christian spirit. " 
 Contemporary Renew. 
 
 Forbes. THE VOICE OF GOD IN THE PSALMS. 
 By G~RANVILLE FORBES, Rector of Broughton. Cr. 8vo. 6s. 6d.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Giffbrd. THE GLORY OF GOD IN MAN. By E. H. 
 GIFFORD, D.D. Fcap. 8vo., cloth. 3_v. 6d. 
 
 Golden Treasury Psalter. Seep. 27. 
 
 Hardwick. Works by the Ven. ARCHDEACON HARDWICK : 
 CHRIST AND OTHER MASTERS. A Historical Inquiry 
 into some of the Chief Parallelisms and Contrasts between Christ- 
 ianity and the Religious Systems of the Ancient World. New 
 Edition, revised, and a Prefatory Memoir by the Rev. FRANCIS 
 PROCTER, M. A. Two vols. crown 8vo. 15-c. 
 
 After several introductory chapters dealing with the religious tendencies 
 of the present age, the unity of the human race, and the characteristics of 
 Religion under the Old Testament, the Author proceeds to consider the 
 Religions of India, China, America, Oceanica, Egypt, and Medo-Persia. 
 The history and characteristics of these Religions are examined, and an 
 effort is made to bring out the points of difference and affinity between them 
 and Christianity. The object is to establish the perfect adaptation of the 
 latter faith to human nature in all its phases and at all times. ' ' The 
 plan of the work is boldly and almost nobly conceived. .... We commend 
 the work to the perusal of 'all those who take interest in the study of ancient 
 mythology, without losing their reverence for the supreme authority of the 
 oracles of the living God. " Christian Observer. 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Middle 
 Age. From Gregory the Great to the Excommunication of Luther, 
 Edited by WILLIAM STUBBS, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern 
 History in the University of Oxford. With Four Maps constructed 
 for this work by A. KEITH JOHNSTON. Third Edition. Crown 
 8vo. los. 6d. 
 
 For this edition Professor Stubbs has carefully revised both text and 
 notes, making such corrections of facts, dates, and the like as the results of 
 recent research warrant. The doctrinal, historical, and generally specula- 
 tive views of the late author have been preserved intact. - ''As a Manual 
 for the student of ecclesiastical history in the Middle Ages, we know no Eng- 
 lish work which can be compared to Mr. HardwicKs book. " Guardian. 
 
 A HISTORY of the CHRISTIAN CHURCH DURING 
 THE REFORMATION. New Edition, revised by Professor 
 STUBBS. Crown 8vo. ioj. 6d. 
 
 This volume is intended as a sequel and companion to the '''History 
 of the Christian Church during the Middle Age." The author's earnest 
 wish has been to give the reader a trustworthy version of those stirring 
 incidents which mark the Reformation period, without relinquishing his 
 former claim to characterise peculiar systems, persons, and events according 
 to the shades and colours they assume, when contemplated from an English 
 point of view, and by a member of the Church of England.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Hervey. THE GENEALOGIES OF OUR LORD AND 
 SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, as contained in the Gospels of 
 St. Matthew and St. Luke, reconciled with each other, and shown 
 to be in harmony with the true Chronology of the Times. By Lord 
 ARTHUR HERVEY, Bishop of Bath and Wells. 8vo. ioj. 6d. 
 
 Hymni Ecclesise. Fcap. 8vo. -js.dd. 
 
 A selection of Latin Hymns of the Mediaeval Church, containing select- 
 ions from the Paris Breviary, and the Breviaries of Rome, Salisbury, and 
 York. 77ie selection is confined to such holy days and seasons as are 
 recognised by the Church of England, and to special events or things 
 recorded in Scripture. This collection was edited by Dr. Newman while 
 he lived at Oxford. 
 
 Kempis, Thos. A. DE IMITATIONS CHRISTI. 
 LlBRl IV. Borders in the Ancient Style, after Holbein, Durer, 
 and other Old Masters, containing Dances of Death, Acts of 
 Mercy, Emblems, and a variety of curious ornamentations. In 
 white cloth, extra gilt. "js. 6d. 
 The original Latin text has been here faithfully reproduced. The 
 
 Spectator says of this edition, it "-has many solid merits, and is perfect 
 
 in its way. " While the Athenaeum says, " The whole work is admirable; 
 
 some of the figure compositions have extraordinary merit." 
 
 Kingsley. Works by the Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY, M.A., 
 Rector of Eversley, and Canon of Westminster. (For other Works 
 
 Sthe same author, see HISTORICAL and BELLES LETTRES 
 LTALOGUES). 
 
 THE WATER OF LIFE, AND OTHER SERMONS. 
 Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. y. 6d. 
 
 This volume contains twenty-one Sermons preached at various places 
 Westminster Abbey, Chapel Royal, before the Queen at Windsor, etc. 
 
 VILLAGE SERMONS. Seventh Edition. Fcap.Svo. y.6d. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH. Second 
 Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3J. dd. 
 
 This volume consists of eighteen Sermons on passages taken from the 
 Pentateuch. They are dedicated to Dean Stanley out of gratitude for /its 
 Lectures on the Jewish Church, under the influence and in the spirit of 
 which they were written. 
 
 GOOD NEWS OF GOD. Fourth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 
 3-r. 6d. 
 
 This volume contains thirty-nine short Sermons, preached in the 
 .ordinary course of the author 's parochial ministrations.
 
 14 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Kingsley (Rev. C.) continued. 
 
 SERMONS FOR THE TIMES. Third. Edition. Fcap. 
 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 Here are twenty-tvvo Sermons, all bearing more or less on the every-day 
 life of the present day, including such subjects as these: "Fathers and 
 Children;" "A Good Conscience;" "Names;" "Sponsorship;" il Duty 
 and Superstition;" " 'England 's Strength;" "The Lord's Prayer;" 
 "Shame;" "Forgiveness;" " The True Gentleman:" tl Public Spirit." 
 
 TOWN AND COUNTRY SERMONS. Second Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 3-r. 6d. 
 
 Some of these Sermons were preached before the Queen, and some in the 
 performance of the "writer 1 s ordinary parochial duty. Of these Sermons 
 the Nonconformist says, ' ' They are warm with the fervour of the preacher 1 s 
 own heart, and strong from the force of his own convictions. There is 
 nowhere an attempt at display, and the clearness and simplicity of the 
 style make them suitable for the youngest or most unintelligent of his 
 hearers." 
 
 SERMONS on NATIONAL SUBJECTS. Second Edition. 
 Fcap. 8vo. 2 s - *> d - 
 
 THE KING OF THE EARTH, and other Sermons, 
 a Second Series of Sermons on National Subjects. Second 
 Edition. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 
 The following extract from the Preface to the 2nd Series will explain 
 
 the preacher's aim in these Sermons: " / have tried to proclaim the 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ, as the Scriptures, both in their strictest letter and in 
 their general method, from Genesis to Revelation, seem to me to proclaim 
 Him; not merely as the Saviour of a few elect souls, but as the light and 
 life of every hu?nan being who enters into the world ; as the source of 
 all reason, strength, and virtue in heathen or in Christian; as the King 
 and Ruler of the whole universe, and of every nation, family, and man on 
 earth ; as the Redeemer of the whole earth and the whole /uiman race. . . 
 His death, as a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satis- 
 faction for the sins of the whole luorld, by which God is reconciled to the 
 whole human race." 
 
 DISCIPLINE, AND OTHER SERMONS. Fcp. 8vo. y.6d. 
 
 Twenty-four Sermons preached on various occasions, some of them of 
 a public nature at the Volunteer Camp, Wimbledon, before the Prince of 
 Wales at Sandringham, at Wellington College, etc. The Guardian says, 
 "There is much thought, tenderness, and devoutness of spirit in these 
 Sermons, and some of them are models both in matter and expression" 
 
 DAVID. FOUR SERMONS : David's Weakness David's 
 
 Strength David's Anger David's Deserts. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 These four Sermons were preached before the University of Cambridge,
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Kingsley (Rev. C.) continued. 
 
 and are specially addressed to yozmg men. Their titles are, "David's 
 Weakness;" "David's Strength;" "David's Anger ;" "David's Deserts." 
 
 WESTMINSTER SERMONS. 8vo. \os.6d. 
 
 These Sermons were preached at Westminster Abbey or at one of the 
 Chapels Royal. Their subjects are : The Mystery of the Cross : The Per- 
 fect Love : The Spirit of Whitsuntide : Prayer : The Deaf and Dumb : 
 The Fruits of the Spirit : Confusion : The Shaking of the Heavens and 
 the Earth: The Kingdom of God: The Law of the Lord: God the 
 Teacher: The Reasonable Prayer : The One Escape : The Word of God : 
 I: The Cedars of Lebanon : Life: Death: Signs and Wonders : The 
 Judgments of God : The War in Heaven: Noble Company : De Pro- 
 fund is : The Blessing and the Curse: The Silence of Faith: God and 
 Mammon : The Beatific Vision. 
 
 Lightfoot. Works by J. B. LlGHTFOOT, D.D., Hulsean 
 Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge ; Canon of 
 St. Paul's. 
 
 ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. A Re- 
 vised Text, with Introduction, Notes, and Dissertations. Fourth 
 Edition, revised. 8vo. cloth. I2s. 
 
 While the Author's object has been to make this commentary generally 
 complete, he has paid special attention to everything relating to St. Paul's 
 personal history and his intercourse -with the Apostles and Church of the 
 Circumcision, as it is this feature in the Epistle to the Galatians which 
 has given it an overwhelming interest in recent theological controversy. 
 The Spectator says " there is no commentator at once of sounder judg- 
 ment and more liberal than Dr. Lightfoot" 
 
 ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. A 
 Revised Text, with Introduction, Notes, and Dissertations. Third 
 Edition. 8vo. 12s. 
 
 The plan of this volume is the same as that of ' ' The Epistle to the 
 Galatians. " ' 'No commentary in the English language can be compared 
 with it in regard to fulness of information, exact scholarship, and 
 laboured attempts to settle everything about the epistle on a solid founda- 
 tion. " Athenseum. 
 
 ST. CLEMENT OF ROME, THE TWO EPISTLES TO 
 THE CORINTHIANS. A Revised Text, with Introduction 
 
 and Notes. 8vo. 8s. 6d. 
 
 Tliis volume is the first part of a complete edition of the Apostolic 
 Fathers. The Introductions deal with the questions of the gennineiu ss and 
 authenticity of the Epistles, discuss their date and character, and analyse 
 their contents. An account is also given of all the different epistles which 
 bear the name of Clement of Rome. ' 'By far the most copiously a n not at,. -J
 
 16 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Lightfoot (Dr. J. B.) continued. 
 
 edition of St. Clement which we yet possess, and the most convenient in 
 every way for the English reader. " Guardian. 
 
 ON A FRESH REVISION OF THE ENGLISH NEW 
 TESTAMENT. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 The Author shews in detail the necessity for a fresh revision of the 
 authorized version on the following grounds: I. False Readings. 2. 
 Artificial distinctions created. 3. Real distinctions obliterated. 4. Faults 
 of Grammar. 5- Faults of Lexicography. 6. Treatment of Proper 
 Names, official titles, etc. J. Archaisms, defects in the English, errors 
 of the press, etc. " The book is marked by careful scholarship, familiarity 
 with the subject, sobriety, and circumspection. " Athena;um. 
 
 Luckock. THE TABLES OF STONE. A Course of 
 Sermons preached in All Saints' Church, Cambridge, by H. M. 
 LUCKOCK, M.A., Vicar. Fcap. 8vo. 3^. (>d. 
 
 Maclaren SERMONS PREACHED at MANCHESTER. 
 By ALEXANDER MACLAREN. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. qs. 6d. 
 These Sermons represent no special school, but deal with the broad prin- 
 ciples of Christian truth, especially in their bearing on practical, every day 
 life. A few of the titles are: "The Stone of Stumbling ," "Love and 
 Forgiveness," "The Living Dead" "Memory in Another World," 
 Faith in Christ," " Love and Fear ," "The Choice of Wisdom," "The 
 Food of the World." 
 
 A SECOND SERIES OF SERMONS. Second Edition. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. 4J. 6d. 
 
 The Spectator characterises them as ''''vigorous in style, full of thought, 
 rich in illustration, and in an unusual degree interesting. " 
 
 A THIRD SERIES OF SERMONS. Second Edition. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo. 4f. 6d. 
 
 Sermons more sober andyet more forcible, and with a certain wise and 
 practical spirituality about them it would not be easy to find. " Spectator. 
 
 Maclear. Works by G. F. MACLEAR, D.D., Head Master of 
 King's College School : 
 
 A CLASS-BOOK OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 
 With Four Maps. Eighth Edition. i8mo. 4f. 6d. 
 
 " The present volume," says the Preface, "forms a Class- Book of Old 
 Testament History from the Earliest Times to those of Ezra and Nehe- 
 miah. In its preparation the most recent authorities have been consulted, 
 aud wherever it has appeared useful, Notes have been subjoined illustra- 
 tive of the Text, and, for the sake of more advanced students, references 
 added to larger works. The Index has been so arranged as to form a 
 concise Dictionary of the Persons and Places mentioned in the course of the
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 17 
 
 Maclear (G. F '.) continued. 
 
 A'nrnitive." The Maps, prepared by Stanford, materially add to the 
 value and usefulness of the book. The British Quarterly Review calls it 
 "A careful and elaborate, though brief compendium of all that modern 
 research has done for the illustration of the Old Testament. We know of 
 no work which contains so much important information in so small a 
 compass." 
 
 A CLASS-BOOK OF NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. 
 
 Including the Connexion of the Old and New Testament. Sixth 
 
 Edition. iSmo. 5-r. 6d. 
 
 The present volume forms a sequel to the Author's Class-Book of Old 
 Testament History, and continues the narrative to the close of St. PauVs 
 second imprisonment at Rome. The work is divided into three Books 
 /. The Connection between the Old and New Testaments. II. The 
 Gospel History. III. The Apostolic History. In the Appendix are grven 
 Chronological Tables The Clerical Journal says, " It is not often that 
 such an amount of useful and interesting matter on biblical subjects, is 
 found in so convenient and small a compass, as in this well-arranged 
 volume. " 
 
 A CLASS-BOOK OF THE CATECHISM OF THE 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Third and Cheaper Edition. 
 i8mo. is. 6d. 
 
 The present work is intended as a sequel to the two preceding books. 
 ' ' Like them, it is furnished with notes and references to larger works, 
 and it is hoped that it may be found, especially in the higher forms of out- 
 Public Schools, to supply a suitable manual of instruction in the chief 
 doctrines of our Church, and a useful lielp in the preparation of Can- 
 didates for Confirmation." The Literary Churchman says, " It is indeed 
 the work of a scholar and divine, and as such, though extremely simple, it 
 is also extremely instructive. There are few clergy who would not find 
 it n '.ft fnl in preparing candidates for Confirmation ; and there are not a 
 few who would find it useful to themselves as well. " 
 
 A FIRST CLASS-BOOK OF THE CATECHISM OF 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, with Scripture Proofs for 
 Junior Classes and Schools. New Edition. i8mo. 6d. 
 This is an epitome of the larger Class-book, meant for junior students 
 and elementary classes. The book has been carefully condensed, so as to 
 contain clearly and fully, the most important part of the contents of the 
 larger book. 
 
 A SHILLING-BOOK of OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 
 
 New Edition. i8mo. cloth limp. is. 
 
 This Manual bears the same relation to the larger Old Testament Ifist- 
 orv, that the book just mentioned does to the larger work on the Catechism. 
 It consists of Ten Books, divided into short chapters, and subdivided into 
 
 2
 
 1 8 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Maclear (G. F '.) -continued. 
 
 sections, each section treating of a single episode in the history, the title of 
 
 which is given in bold type. 
 
 A SHILLING-BOOK of NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. 
 New Edition. i8mo. cloth limp. is. 
 
 This bears the same relation to the larger New Testament History that 
 the work just mentioned has to the large Old Testament History, and is 
 marked by similar characteristics. 
 
 A MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION FOR CONFIRMA- 
 TION AND FIRST COMMUNION, with Prayers and Devo- 
 tions. 321110. cloth extra, red edges. 2s. 
 
 This is an enlarged and improved edition of ' The Order of Confirma- 
 tion.' 1 To it have been added the Communion Office, with Notes and 
 Explanations, together with a brief form of Self Examination and De- 
 votions selected from the works of Cosin, Ien, Wilson, and others. 
 
 Macmillan. Works by the Rev. HUGH MACMILLAN, LL.D., 
 F. R. S. E. (For other Works by the same Author, see CATALOGUE 
 OF TRAVELS and SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUE). 
 
 THE TRUE VINE; or, the Analogies of our Lord's 
 Allegory. Second Edition. Globe 8vo. 6^. 
 
 This work is not merely an exposition of the fifteenth chapter of St. 
 John's Gospel, but also a general parable of spiritual truth from the world 
 of plants. It describes a few of the points in which the varied realm of 
 vegetable life comes into contact with the higher spiritual realm, and shews 
 how rich a field of promise lies before the analogical mind in this direction. 
 The Nonconformist says, " It abounds in exquisite bits of description, and 
 in striking facts clearly stated." The British Quarterly says, "Readers 
 and preachers -who are unscientific will find many of his illustrations as 
 valuable as they are beautiful. " 
 
 BIBLE TEACHINGS IN NATURE. Eighth Edition. 
 Globe Svo. 6s. 
 
 In this volume the author has endeavoured to shew that the teaching of 
 nature and the teaching of the Bible are directed to the same great end ; 
 that the Bible contains the spiritual truths which are necessary to make us 
 wise unto salvation, and the objects and scenes of nature are the pictures 
 by which these truths are illustrated. ' ' He has made the world more 
 beautiful to us, and unsealed our ears to voices of praise and messages of 
 love that might otherwise have been unheard," British Quarterly Review. 
 "Mr. Macmillan has produced a book which may be fitly described as one 
 of the happiest efforts for enlisting physical science in the direct service of 
 religion. " Guardian.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 19 
 
 Macmillan (H.) continued. 
 
 THE MINISTRY OF NATURE. Second Edition. Globe 
 
 8vo. 6s. 
 
 In this -volume the Author attempts to interpret Nature on her religious 
 side in accordance with the most recent discoveries of physical science, and 
 to shew how much greater significance is imparted to many passages of 
 Scripture and many doctrines of Christianity when looked at in the light 
 of these discoveries. Instead of regarding Physical Science as antagonistic 
 to Christianity, the Author believes and seeks to shew that every new dis- 
 covery tends more strongly to prove that Nature and the Bible hare One 
 Author. " Whether the reader agree or not with his conclusions, he will 
 acknowledge he is in the presence of an original and thoughtful writer." 
 Pall Mall Gazette. " There is no class of educated men and women that 
 will not profit by these essays." Standard. 
 
 M'Cosh. For Works by JAMES McCosn, LL.D., President 
 of Princeton College, New Jersey, U.S., see PHILOSOPHICAL 
 CATALOGUE. 
 
 Maurice. Works by the late Rev. F. DENISON MAURICE, 
 M.A., Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 Professor Maurice's Works are recognized as having made a deep im- 
 pression on modern theology. With whatever subject he dealt he tried to 
 look at it in its bearing on living men and their every-day surroundings, 
 and faced unshrinkingly the difficulties which occur to ordinary earnest 
 thinkers in a manner that shmved he had intense sympathy with all that 
 concerns humanity. By all who wish to understand the various drifts of 
 thought during the present century, Mr. Maurice's works must be studied. 
 An intimate friend of Mr. Maurice's, one who has carefully studied all 
 his works, and had besides many opportunities of knowing the Author's 
 opinions, in speaking of his so-called "obscurity," ascribes it to "the 
 never-failing assumption that God is really moving, teaching and acting : 
 and that the writer's business is not so much to state something for the 
 reader's benefit, as to apprehend what God is saying or doing. The 
 Spectator says "Few of those of our own generation whose names will 
 live in English history or literatztre have exerted so profound and so per- 
 manent an influence as Mr. Maurice." 
 
 THE PATRIARCHS AND LAWGIVERS OF THE 
 OLD TESTAMENT. Third and Cheaper Edition. Crown 
 8vo. 5-r. 
 
 The Nineteen Discourses contained in this volume were preached in the 
 chapel of Lincoln's Inn during the year 1851. The texts are taken from 
 the books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 
 and Samuel, and involve some of the most interesting biblical topics dis- 
 cussed in recent times.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Maurice (F. D.) continued. 
 
 THE PROPHETS AND KINGS OF THE OLD TES- 
 TAMENT. Third Edition, with new Preface. Crown 8vo. 
 los. 6d. 
 
 Mr. Maurice, in the spirit which animated the compilers of the Church 
 Lessons, has in these Sermons regarded the Prophets more as preachers of 
 righteousness than as mere predictors an aspect of their lives which, he 
 thinks, has been greatly overlooked in our day, and than which, there is 
 none we have more need to contemplate. He has found that the Old 
 Testament Prophets, taken in their simple natural sense, clear up many 
 of the difficulties which beset us in the daily work of life ; make the past 
 intelligible, the present endurable, and the future real and hopeful. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 
 A Series of Lectures on the Gospel of St. Luke. Crown 8vo. gs. 
 
 Mr. Maurice, in his Preface to these Tiventy-eight Lectures, says, 
 ' ' In these Lectures I have endeavoured to ascertain what is told us respect- 
 ing the life of Jesus by one of those Evangelists who proclaim Him to be 
 the Christ, who says that He did come from a Father, that He did baptize 
 with the Holy Spirit, that He did rise from the dead, I have chosen the 
 one who is most directly connected with the later history of the Church, 
 who was not an Apostle, who professedly wrote for the use of a man 
 already instructed in the faith of the Apostles. I have followed the course 
 of the writer's narrative, not changing it under any pretext. I have 
 adhered to his phraseology, striving to avoid the substitution of any other 
 for his." 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. A Series of Discourses. 
 Third and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6.?. 
 
 These Discourses, twenty-eight in. number, are of a nature similar to 
 those on the Gospel of St. Luke, and will be found to render valuable 
 assistance to any one anxious to understand the Gospel of the beloved dis- 
 ciple, so different in many respects from those of the other three Evangelists. 
 Appended are eleven notes illustrating various points which occur through- 
 out the discourses. The Literary Churchman thus speaks of this volume : 
 " Thorough honesty, reverence, and deep thought pervade the work, 
 which is every way solid and philosophical, as well as theological, and 
 abounding with suggestions which the patient student may draw out more 
 at length for himself." 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST. JOHN. A Series of Lectures 
 
 on Christian Ethics. Second and Cheaper Edition. Cr. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 These Lectures on Christian Ethics were delivered to the students of the 
 
 Working Merfs College, Great Ormond Street, London, on a series of 
 
 Sunday mornings. Mr. Maurice believes that the question in which we 
 
 are most interested, the question which most affects our studies and our daily 
 
 lives, is the question, whether there is a foundation for httman morality,
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 21 
 
 Maurice (F. D.) continued. 
 
 or whether it is dependent upon the opinions and fashions of different ages 
 and countries. This important question will be found amply and fairly 
 discussed in this volume, -which the National Review calls "Mr. 
 Maurice's most effective and instructive -work. He is peculiarly fitted 
 by the constitution of his mind, to throw light on St. John's writings.'" 
 Appended is a note on "Positivism and its Teacher." 
 
 EXPOSITORY SERMONS ON THE PRAYER-BOOK. 
 The Prayer-book considered especially in reference to the Romish 
 System. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 After an Introductory Sermon, Mr. Maurice goes over the various parts 
 of the Church Service, expounds in eighteen Sermons, their intention and 
 significance, and shews how appropriate they are as expressions of the 
 deepest longings and wants of all classes of men. 
 
 LECTURES ON THE APOCALYPSE, or Book of the 
 
 Revelation of St. John the Divine. Crown 8vo. las. 6d. 
 Mr. Maurice, instead of trying to find far-fetched allusions to great 
 historical events in the distant future, endeavours to discover the plain, 
 literal, obvious meaning of the words of the write}-, and shews that as 
 a rule these refer to events contemporaneous with or immediately succeeding 
 the time when the book was written. At the same time he sheivs the 
 applicability of the contents of the book to the circumstances of the present 
 day and of all times. "Never," says the Nonconformist, " has Mr. 
 Maurice been more reverent, more careful for the letter of the Scripture, 
 more discerning of the purpose of the Spirit, or more sober and practical 
 in his teaching, than in this volume on the Apocalypse. " 
 
 WHAT IS REVELATION? A Series of Sermons on the 
 Epiphany; to which are added, Letters to a Theological Student 
 on the Bampton Lectures of Mr. Mansel. Crown 8vo. lOs. 6d. 
 Both Sermons and Letters were called forth by the doctrine maintained 
 by Mr. Mansel in his Bampton Lectures, that Revelation cannot be a direct 
 Manifestation of the Infinite Nature of God. Mr. Maurice maintains 
 the opposite doctrine, and in his Sermons explains why, in spite of the high 
 authorities on the other side, he must still assert the principle which he 
 discovers in the Services of the Church and throughout the Bible. 
 .SEQUEL TO THE INQUIRY, "WHAT IS REVELA- 
 TION?" Letters in Reply to Mr. Mansel's Examination of 
 "Strictures on the Bampton Lectures." Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 This, as the title indicates, was called forth by Mr. Mansel's Examina- 
 tion of Mr. Maurice's Strictures on his doctrine of the Infinite. 
 
 THEOLOGICAL ESSAYS. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 
 
 105. 6d. 
 " The book," says Mr. Maurice, "expresses thoughts which hm't been
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Maurice (F. D.) continued. 
 
 working in my mind for years ; the method of it has not been adopted 
 carelessly; even the composition has undergone frequent revision." There 
 are seventeen Essays in all, and although meant primarily for Unitarians, 
 to quote the words of the Clerical Journal, "?'/ leaves untouched scarcely 
 any topic which is in agitation in the religious world ; scarcely a moot 
 point between our various sects ; scarcely a plot of debateable ground be- 
 tween Christians and Infidels, between Romanists and Protestants, between 
 Socinians and other Christians, between English Churchmen and Dis- 
 senters on both sides. Scarce is there a misgiving, a difficulty, an aspira- 
 tion stirring amongst us now, now, when men seem in earnest as hardly 
 ever before about religion, and ask and demand satisfaction with a fear- 
 lessness which seems almost awful when one thinks what is at stake which 
 is not recognised and grappled with by Mr. Maurice." 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF SACRIFICE DEDUCED FROM 
 THE SCRIPTURES. Crown 8vo. ^. 6d. 
 
 Throughout the Nineteen Sermons contained in this volume, Mr. 
 Maurice expounds the ideas which he has formed of the Doctrine of 
 Sacrifice, as it is set forth in various parts of the Bible. 
 
 THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD, AND THEIR 
 RELATIONS TO CHRISTIANITY. Fourth Edition. Fcap. 
 8vo. 5j. 
 
 These Eight Boyle Lectures are divided into two parts, of four Lectures 
 each. In the first part Mr. Maurice examines the great Religious systems 
 which present themselves in the history of the world, with the purpose of 
 inquiring what is their main characteristic principle. The second four 
 Lectures are occupied with a discussion of (he questions, "In what relation 
 does Christianity stand to these different faiths ? If there be a faith which 
 is meant for mankind, is this the one, or must we look for another?" 
 
 ON THE LORD'S PRAYER. Fourth Edition. Fcap. 
 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 In these Nine Sermons the successive petitions of the Lord's Prayer are 
 taken up by Mr. Maurice, their significance expounded, and, as was usual 
 with him, connected with the every-day lives, feelings, and aspirations of 
 the men of the present time. 
 
 ON THE SABBATH DAY ; the Character of the Warrior, 
 
 and on the Interpretation of History. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 THE GROUND AND OBJECT OF HOPE FOR 
 MANKIND. Four Sermons preached before the University of 
 Cambridge. Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 In these four Sermons Mr. Maurice views the subject in four aspects : 
 I. The Hope of the Missionary. II. The Hope of the Patriot. III. 
 The Hope of the Churchman. IV. The Hope of Man. The Spectator
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Maurice (F. D.) continued. 
 
 says, "It is impossible to find anywhere deeper teaching than this ;" and 
 the Nonconformist, " We thank him for the manly, noble, stirring words 
 in these Sermons words fitted to quicken thoughts, to awaken high aspira- 
 tion, to stimulate to lives of goodness.' 1 '' 
 
 THE LORD'S PRAYER, THE CREED, AND THE 
 COMMANDMENTS. A Manual for Parents and Schoolmasters. 
 To which is added the Order of the Scriptures. i8mo. cloth 
 limp. is. 
 
 This book is not written for clergymen, as such, but for parents and 
 teachers, -who are often either prejudiced against the contents of the Cate- 
 chism, or regard it peculiarly as the clergyman's book, but, at the same 
 time, have a general notion that a habit of prayer ought to be cultivated, 
 that there are some things which ought to be believed, and some things 
 which ought to be done. It will be found to be peculiarly valuable at the 
 present time, when the question of religious education is occupying so much 
 attention. 
 
 THE CLAIMS OF THE BIBLE AND OF SCIENCE. 
 
 A Correspondence on some Questions respecting the Pentateuch. 
 
 Crown 8vo. <\s. 6d. 
 
 This volume consists of a series of Fifteen Letters, the first and last 
 addressed by a ' Layman ' to Mr. Maurice, the intervening thirteen written 
 by Air. Maurice himself. 
 
 DIALOGUES ON FAMILY WORSHIP. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 " The parties in these Dialogues ;" says the Preface, "are a Clergyman 
 who accepts the doctrines of the Church, and a Layman whose faith in 
 them is nearly gone. The object of the Dialogues is not confutation, but 
 the discovery of a ground on which two Englishmen and two fathers may 
 stand, and on which their country and their children may stand when 
 their places know them no more." 
 
 THE COMMANDMENTS CONSIDERED AS IN- 
 STRUMENTS OF NATIONAL REFORMATION. Crown 
 
 8vo. 45-. 6d. 
 
 The author endeavours to shew that the Commandments are nine, and 
 ever have been, the great protesters against Presbyteral and Prelatical 
 assumptions, and that if we do not receive them as Commandments of the 
 Lord God spoken to Israel, and spoken to mery people under heaven now, 
 we lose the greatest witnesses we possess for national morality and ciril 
 freedom. 
 
 MORAL AND METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY. Vol. 
 
 I. Ancient Philosophy from the First to the Thirteenth Centuries. 
 
 Vol. II. Fourteenth Century and the French Revolution, with a 
 
 Glimpse into the Nineteenth Century. Two Vols. 8vo. 25*. 
 
 This is an edition in two volumes of Professor Maurice's History of
 
 24 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Maurice (F. D.) continued. 
 
 Philosophy from the earliest period to the present time. It was formerlv 
 issued in a number of separate volumes, and it is believed that all admirers 
 of the author and all students of philosophy will welcome this compact 
 edition. In a long introduction to this edition, in the form of a dialogue, 
 Professor Maurice justifies his own views, and touches npon some of the 
 most important topics of the time. 
 
 SOCIAL MORALITY. Twenty-one Lectures delivered in 
 
 the University of Cambridge. New and Cheaper Edition. Cr. 
 
 8vo. IOJ. 6d. 
 
 " Whilst reading it me are charmed by the freedom from exclusiveness 
 and prejudice, the large charity, the loftiness of thought, the eagerness to 
 recognise and appreciate whatever there is of real worth extant in the 
 world, which animates it from one end to the other. We gain new 
 thoughts and n&v ways of viewing things, even more, perhaps, from being 
 brought for a time under the influence of so noble and spiritual a mind. " 
 AtheiiEeum. 
 
 THE CONSCIENCE: Lectures on Casuistry, delivered in 
 the University of Cambridge. Second and Cheaper Edition. 
 Crown 8vo. 5.?. 
 
 In this series of nine Lectures, Professor Maurice, endeavours to settle 
 what is meant by the word ' ' Conscience, " and discusses the most important 
 questions immediately connected with the subject. Taking "Casuistry''' 
 in its old sense as being the " study of cases of Conscience," he endeavours 
 to show in what way it may be brought to bear at the present day ttpon 
 the acts and thoughts of our ordinary existence. He shcnus that Con- 
 science asks for laws, not rules ; for freedom, not chains ; for education, 
 not suppression. He has abstained from the use of philosophical terms, 
 and has touched on philosophical systems* only when he fancied ' ' they 
 were interfering with the rights and duties of wayfarers. " The Saturday 
 Review says: " We rise from the perusal of these lectures with a detesta- 
 tion of all that is selfish and mean, and with a living impression that there 
 is such a thing as goodness after all. " 
 
 LECTURES ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 
 OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES. 8vo. \os.6d. 
 
 In the first chapter on "The Jewish Calling" besides expounding his 
 idea of the true nature of a " Church," the author gives a brief sketch of 
 the position and economy of the Jews ; while in the second he points out 
 their relation to ' ' the other Nations. " Chapter Third contains a succint 
 account of the various Jewish Sects, while in Chapter Fourth are briefly 
 set forth Mr. Maurice's ideas of the character of Christ and the nature of 
 His mission, and a sketch of events is given up to the Day of Pentecost. 
 The remaining Chapters, extending from the Apostles' personal Ministry 
 to the end of the Second Century, contain sketches of the character and
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Maurice (F. D.) continued. 
 
 work of all the prominent men in any way connected with the Early 
 Church, accounts of the origin and nature of the various doctrines ortho- 
 dox and heretical which had their birth during the period, as well as of 
 the planting and early history of the Chief Churches in Asia, Africa and 
 Europe. 
 
 LEARNING AND WORKING. Six Lectures delivered 
 in Willis's Rooms, London, in June and July, iS<54. THE 
 RELIGION OF ROME, and its Influence on Modern Civilisa- 
 tion. Four Lectures delivered in the Philosophical Institution of 
 Edinburgh, in December, 1854. Crown 8vo. $s. 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED IN COUNTRY CHURCHES. 
 
 Crown 8vo. IDS. 6d. 
 
 "Earnest, practical, and extremely simple." Literary Churchman. 
 ''''Good spechnens of his simple and earnest eloquence. The Gospel inci- 
 dents are realized with a vividness which we can well believe made the 
 common people hear him gladly. Moreover they are sermons which must 
 have done the hearers good. " John Bull. 
 
 Moorhouse. Works by JAMES MOORHOUSE, M.A., Vicar 
 
 of Paddington : 
 
 SOME MODERN DIFFICULTIES RESPECTING the 
 FACTS OF NATURE AND REVELATION. Fcap. Svo. 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 The first of these Four Discourses is a systematic reply to the Essay of 
 the Rev. Baden Powell on Christian Evidences in i< ' Essays and Reviews. " 
 The fourth Sermon, on " The Resurrection," is in some measure com- 
 plementary to this, and the two together are intended to furnish a tolerably 
 complete view of modern objections to Revelation. In the second and third 
 Sermons, on the " Temptation" and " Passion," the author has en- 
 deavoured ' ' to exhibit the power and wonder of those great facts within 
 the spiritual sphere, which modern theorists have especially sought to dis- 
 credit." 
 
 JACOB. Three Sermons preached before the University of 
 Cambridge in Lent 1870. Extra fcap. Svo. 3^. (xi. 
 
 THE HULSEAN LECTURES FOR 1865. Cr. Svo. 5*. 
 tl Few more valuable works have come into our hands for many yean. . . 
 a most fruitful and welcome volume." Church Review. 
 
 O'Brien. AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN and ESTAB- 
 LISH THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION by FAITH 
 ONLY. By JAMES THOMAS O'BRIEN, D.D., Bishop of Ossory. 
 Third Edition. Svo. 12s. 
 This work consists of Ten Sermons. The first four treat of the nature
 
 26 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 and mutual relations of Faith and Justification ; the fifth and sixth 
 examine the corruptions of the doctrine of Justification by Faith only, and 
 the objections which have been urged against it. The four concluding ser- 
 mons deal with the moral effects of Faith. Various Notes are added 
 explanatory of the Author's reasoning. 
 
 Palgrave. HYMNS. By FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE. 
 
 Third Edition, enlarged. i8mo. is. 6d. 
 
 This is a collection of twenty original Hymns, which the Literary 
 Churchman speaks of as "so choice, so perfect, and so refined, so tender 
 in feeling, and so scholarly in expression." 
 
 Paul of Tarsus. An Inquiry into the Times and the 
 Gospel of the Apostle of the Gentiles. By a GRADUATE. 8vo. 
 ioj. 6d. 
 
 The Author of this work has attempted, out of the materials which 
 were at his disposal, to construct for himself a sketch of the time in which 
 St. Paul lived, of the religious systems with which he was brought in 
 contact, of the doctrine which he taught, and of the work which he ulti- 
 mately achieved. " Turn where we will throughout the volume, we find 
 the best fruit of patient inquiry, sound. scholar ship, logical argument, and 
 fairness of conclusion. No thoughtful reader will rise from its perusal 
 without a real and lasting profit to himself, and a sense of permanent 
 addition to the cause of truth.' 1 '' Standard. 
 
 Picton. THE MYSTERY OF MATTER; and other 
 Essays. By J. ALLANSON PICTON, Author of "New Theories 
 and the Old Faith." Crown 8vo'. IDS. 6d. 
 Contents The Mystery of Matter : The Philosophy of Ignorance : The 
 
 Antithesis of Faith and Sight: The Essential Nature of Religion: 
 
 Christian Pantheism. 
 
 Prescott THE THREEFOLD CORD. Sermons preached 
 before the University of Cambridge. By J. E. PRESCOTT, B.D. 
 Fcap. 8vo. 3-r. 6d. 
 
 Procter. A HISTORY OF THE BOOK OF COMMON 
 PRAYER: With a Rationale of its Offices. By FRANCIS 
 PROCTER, M. A. Eleventh Edition, revised and enlarged. Crown 
 8vo. IO.T. 6d. 
 
 The Athenaeum says : ' ' The origin of every part of the Prayer-book 
 has been diligently investigated, and there are few questions or facts con- 
 nected with it ^vhich are not either sufficiently explained, or so^ referred to, 
 that persons interested may work out the truth for themselves.'''' 
 
 Procter and Maclear. AN ELEMENTARY INTRO- 
 DUCTION TO THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
 Re-arranged and Supplemented by an Explanation of the Morning
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 27 
 
 and Evening Prayer and the Litany. By F. PROCTER, M. A. and 
 G. F. MACLEAR, D.D. New Edition. i8mo. 2s. 6d. 
 This book has the same object and follows the same plan as the Manuals 
 already noticed under Mr. Macleans name. Each book is subdivided 
 into chapters and sections. In Book I. is given a detailed History of the 
 Book of Common Prayer dmvn to the Attempted Revision in the Reign of 
 William III. Book If., consisting of four Parts, treats in order the 
 various parts of the Prayer Book. Notes, etymological, historical, and 
 critical, are given throughout the book, while the Appendix contains sevei-al 
 articles of much interest and importance. Appended is a General Index 
 and an Index of Words explained in the Notes. The Literary Church- 
 man characterizes it as " by far the completest and most satisfactory book 
 of its kind -we know. We wish it were in the hands of every schoolboy 
 and every schoolmaster in the kingdom." 
 
 Psalms of David CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED. 
 An Amended Version, with Historical Introductions and Ex- 
 planatory Notes. By FOUR FRIENDS. Second and Cheaper 
 Edition, much enlarged. Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. 
 
 One of the chief designs of the Editors, in preparing this volume, was 
 to restore the Psalter as far as possible to the order in which the Psalms 
 were written. They give the division of each Psalm into strophes, and 
 of each strophe into the lines which composed it, and amend the errors of 
 translation. The Spectator calls it "One of the most instructive and 
 valuable books that have been published for many years. " 
 
 Golden Treasury Psalter. THE STUDENT'S EDITION. 
 
 Being an Edition with briefer Notes of the above. i8mo. 3^. 6d. 
 This volume will be found to meet the requirements of those who wish 
 for a smaller edition of the larger work, at a lower p rice for family use, 
 and for the use of younger pupils in Public Schools. The short notes 
 which are appended to the volume will, it is hoped, suffice to make the 
 meaning intelligible throughout. The aim of this edition is simply to put 
 the reader as far as possible in possession of the plain meaning of the 
 writer. " It is a gem, " the Nonconformist says. 
 
 Ramsay. THE CATECHISER'S MANUAL; or, the 
 Church Catechism Illustrated and Explained, for the Use of 
 Clergymen, Schoolmasters, and Teachers. By ARTHUR RAMSAY, 
 M.A. Second Edition. iSmo. \s. 6d. 
 
 Rays of Sunlight for Dark Days. A Book of Selec- 
 tions for the Suffering. With a Preface by C. J. VAUGHAN, D.D. 
 l8mo. New Edition. 3^. 6d. Also in morocco, old style. 
 Dr. Vaughan says in the Preface, after speaking of the general run of 
 Books of Comfort for Mourners, "It is because I think that the little 
 volume now offered to the Christian sufferer is one of greater wisdom and 
 of deeper experience, that I have readily consented to the request that I
 
 28 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 would introduce it by a few words of Preface." The book consists of a 
 series of very brief extracts from a great variety of authors, in prose and 
 poetry, suited to the many moods of a mourning or suffering mind. 
 "Mostly gems of the first water." Clerical Journal. 
 
 Reynolds. NOTES OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. A 
 Selection of Sermons by HENRY ROBERT REYNOLDS, B.A., 
 President of Cheshunt College, and Fellow of University College, 
 London. Crown 8vo. 7-f. 6d. 
 
 This work may be taken as representative of the mode of thought and 
 feeling which is most popular amongst the freer and more cultivated Non- 
 conformists. "It is long," says the Nonconformist, "since we have 
 met with any published sermons better calculated than these to stimulate 
 devout thought, and to bring home to the soul the reality of a spiritual life." 
 Roberts. DISCUSSIONS ON THE GOSPELS. By the 
 Rev. ALEXANDER ROBERTS, D.D. Second Edition, revised and. 
 enlarged. 8vo. i6.r. 
 
 This volume is divided into two parts. Part I. "On the Language 
 employed by our Lord and His Disciples," in which the author endeavours 
 to prove that Greek was the language usually employed by Christ Himself, 
 in opposition to the common belief that Our Lord spoke Aramaan. Part 
 II. is occupied with a discussion ' ' On the Original Language of St. 
 Matthew's Gospel," and on ''''The Origin and Authenticity of the Gos- 
 pels. " " The author brings the valuable qualifications of learning, temper, 
 and an independent judgment. " Daily News. 
 
 Robertson. PASTORAL COUNSELS. Being Chapters 
 on Practical and Devotional Subjects. By the late JOHN ROBERT- 
 SON, D.D. Third Edition, with a Preface by the Author of 
 " The Recreations of a Country Parson." Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 These Sermons are the free utterances of a strong and independent 
 thinker. He does not depart from the essential doctrines of his Church, 
 but he expounds them in a spirit of the widest charity, and always having 
 most prominently in view the requirements of practical life. ' ' The sermons 
 are admirable specimens of a practical, earnest, and instructive style of 
 pulpit teaching. " Nonconformist. 
 
 Rowsell. MAN'S LABOUR AND GOD'S HARVEST. 
 
 Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge in Lent, 
 
 1 86 1. Fcap. 8vo. 3.?. 
 
 ' ' We strongly recommend this little volume to young men, and especially 
 to those who are contemplating working for Christ in Holy Orders." 
 Literary Churchman. 
 
 Salmon. THE REIGN OF LAW, and other Sermons, 
 preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Dublin. By the Rev. 
 GEORGE SALMON, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the 
 University of Dublin. Crown 8vo. - 6s. 
 "IVell considered, learned, and powerful discourses. " Spectator.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 29 
 
 Sanday. THE AUTHORSHIP AND HISTORICAL 
 CHARACTER OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL, considered in 
 reference to the Contents of the Gospel itself. A Critical Essay. 
 By WILLIAM SANDAY, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. 
 Crown 8vo. &. (>d. 
 
 The object of this Essay is critical and nothing more. The Author 
 attempts to apply faithfully and persistently to the contents of the much 
 disputed fonrth Gospel that scientific method which has been so successful 
 in other directions. " The facts of religion," the Author believes, "(i. e. 
 the documents, the history of religious bodies, &c. ) are as much facts as 
 the lie of a coal-bed or the formation of a coral-reef." " The Essay is 
 not only most valuable in itself, but full of promise for the future." 
 Canon Westcott in the Academy. 
 
 Selborne. THE BOOK OF PRAISE : From the Best 
 English Hymn Writers. Selected and arranged by Lord SELBORNE. 
 With Vignette by WOOLNER. i8mo. 4?. 6d. 
 
 The present is an attempt to present, under a convenient arrangement, a 
 collection of such examples of a copious and interesting branch of popular 
 literature, as, after several years' study of the subject, have seemed to the 
 Editor most worthy of being separated from the mass to which they belong. 
 It has been the Editor's desire and aim to adhere strictly, in all cases in 
 which it could be ascertained, to the genuine uncorrupted text of the authors 
 themselves. The names of the authors and date of composition of the 
 hymns, -when known, are affixed, while notes are added to the volume, 
 giving further details. The Hymns are arranged according to subjects. 
 ' ' There is not room for two opinions as to the value of the 'Book of Praise. ' " 
 Guardian. " 'Approaches as nearly as one can conceive to perfection." 
 Nonconformist. 
 
 BOOK OF PRAISE HYMNAL. See end of this Catalogue. 
 
 Sergeant. SERMONS. By the Rev. E. W. SERGEANT, 
 
 M.A., Balliol College, Oxford; Assistant Master at Westminster 
 College. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Smith. PROPHECY A PREPARATION FOR CHRIST. 
 
 Ei"lit Lectures preached before the University of Oxford, being the 
 Bampton Lectures for 1869. By R. PAYXK SMITH, D.D., Dean 
 of Canterbury. Second and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. dr. 
 The author's object in these Lectures is to sheiv that there exists in the 
 Old Testament an element, which no criticism on naturalistic principles 
 can either account for or explain away: that element is Prophecy. The 
 author endeavours to prove that its force does not consist ^merely in Us 
 predictions. "These Lectures overflow with solid learning. Record.
 
 30 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Smith. CHRISTIAN FAITH. Sermons preached before 
 
 the University of Cambridge. By W. SAUMAREZ SMITH, M.A., 
 
 Principal of St. Aidan's College, Birkenhead. Fcap. 8vo. 3^-. 6d. 
 
 "Appropriate and earnest sermons, suited to the practical exhortation of 
 
 an educated congregation. " Guardian. 
 
 Stanley. Works by the Very Rev. A. P. STANLEY, D.D., 
 Dean of Westminster. 
 
 THE ATHANASIAN CREED, with a Preface on the 
 General Recommendations of the RITUAL COMMISSION. Cr. 
 8vo. 2s. 
 
 The object of the work is not so much to urge the omission or change of 
 the Athanasian Creed, as to shew that such a relaxation ought to give 
 offence to no reasonable or religious mind. With this view, the Dean of 
 Westminster discusses in succession ( I ) the Authorship of the Creed, 
 (2) its Internal Characteristics, (3) the Peculiarities of its Use in the 
 Church of England, (4) its Advantages and Disadvantages, (5) its 
 various Interpretations, and (6) the Judgment passed upon it by the Ritual 
 Commission. In conclusion, Dr. Stanley maintains that the use of the 
 Athanasian Creed should no longer be made compulsory. "Dr. Stanley 
 puts with admirable force the objections which may be made to the Creed ; 
 equally admirable, we think, in his statement of its advantages. " Spectator. 
 
 THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING. Sermons preached 
 in Westminster Abbey. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 These Sermons are (l) "Death and Life," preached December 10, 
 1871 ; (2) " The Trumpet of Patmos," December 17, 1871 ; (3) " The 
 Day of Thanksgiving," March 3, 1872. "/ point of fervour and 
 polish by far the best specimens in print of Dean Stanley 's eloquent style." 
 Standard. 
 
 Sunday Library. See end of this Catalogue. 
 
 Swainson. Works by C. A. SWAINSON, D.D., Canon of 
 Chichester : 
 
 THE CREEDS OF THE CHURCH IN THEIR RE- 
 LATIONS TO HOLY SCRIPTURE and the CONSCIENCE 
 OF THE CHRISTIAN. 8vo. cloth. gs. 
 
 The Lectures which compose this volume discuss, amongst others, the 
 following subjects : '''Faith in God" " Exercise of 'our Reason," " 'Origin 
 and Authority of Creeds " and "Private Judgment, its use and exercise." 
 ' ' Treating of abstruse points of Scripture, he applies them so forcibly to 
 Christian duty and practice as to prove eminently serviceable to the 
 Church." John Bull.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Swainson (C. A.) continued. 
 
 THE AUTHORITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 
 and other LECTURES, delivered before the University of Cam- 
 bridge. 8vo. cloth. 12s. 
 
 The first series of Lectures in this -work is on " The Words spoken by 
 the Apostles of Jesus" " The Inspiration of God's Servants," " The 
 Human Character of the Inspired Writers" and " The Divine Character 
 of the Word -written." The second embraces Lectures on "Sin as Im- 
 perfection" "Sin as Self-will" " IVhatsower is not of Faith is Sin," 
 " Christ the Saviour" and " The Blood of the New Coi'enant." The 
 third is on " 'Christians One Body in Christ," " The One Body the Spouse 
 of Christ," " Christ's Prayer for Unity," " Our Reconciliation should be 
 manifested in common Worship" and " Ambassadors for Christ." 
 
 Taylor. THE RESTORATION OF BELIEF. New and 
 Revised Edition. By ISAAC TAYLOR, Esq. Crown 8vo. 8s. (xf. 
 The earlier chapters are occupied with an examination of the primith'e 
 history of the Christian Religion, and its relation to the Roman govern- 
 ment ; and here, as well as in the remainder of the work, the author shews 
 the bearing of that history on some of the difficult and interesting questions 
 which have recently been claiming the attention of all earnest men. The 
 last chapter of this New Edition treats of ' ' The Present Position of the 
 Argument concerning Christianity" with special reference to M. Renan's 
 Vie de Jesus. 
 
 Temple. SERMONS PREACHED IN THE CHAPEL 
 of RUGBY SCHOOL. ByF. TEMPLE, D.D., Bishop of Exeter. 
 New and Cheaper Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4^. (>d. 
 This volume contains Thirty-five Sermons on topics more or less inti- 
 mately connected with every-day life. The following are a few of the 
 subjects discoursed upon: "Love and Duty:" "Coming to Christ;" 
 "Great Men;" "Faith;" "Doubts;" "Scruples;" "Original Sin;" 
 "Friendship;" "Helping Others;" "The Discipline of Temptation;" 
 "Strength a Duty;" " Worldliness ;" "III Tetnper;" "The Burial of 
 tlie Past." 
 
 A SECOND SERIES OF SERMONS PREACHED IN 
 THE CHAPEL OF RUGBY SCHOOL. Second Edition. 
 Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 This Second Series of Forty-two brief, pointed, practical Sermons, on 
 topics intimately connected with the every-day life of young and old, -<i'i!l be 
 
 of Observances ," "Martha and Mary," "John the Baptist" "Severity
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Temple (F., D.D.) continued. 
 
 before Mercy " "ven Mistakes Punished" " Morality and Religion" 
 " Children" "Action the Test of Spiritual Life," "Self-Respect" "Too 
 Late" " The Tercentenary." 
 
 A THIRD SERIES OF SERMONS PREACHED IN 
 RUGBY. SCHOOL CHAPEL IN 1867-1869. Extra fcap. 
 8vo. 6s. 
 
 This third series of Bishop Temple's Rugby Sermons, contains thirty-six 
 brief discourses, including the " Good-bye" sermon preached on his leaving 
 Rugby to enter on the office he now holds. 
 
 Thring. Works by Rev. EDWARD THRING, M.A. 
 
 SERMONS DELIVERED AT UPPINGHAM SCHOOL. 
 Crown 8vo. 5 J - 
 
 In this volume are contained Forty -seven brief Sermons, all on subjects 
 more or less intimately connected with Public-school life. ' ' We desire very 
 highly to commend these capital Sermons which treat of a boy's life and 
 trials in a thoroughly practical way and with great simplicity and im- 
 pressiveness. They deserve to be classed with the best of their kind. " 
 Literary Churchman. 
 
 THOUGHTS ON LIFE-SCIENCE. New Edition, en- 
 larged and revised. Crown 8vo. 7^. 6d. 
 
 In this volume are discussed in a familiar manner some of the most 
 interesting problems between Science and Religion, Reason and peeling. 
 
 Tracts for Priests and People. By VARIOUS 
 WRITERS. 
 
 THE FIRST SERIES. Crown 8vo. 8s. 
 THE SECOND SERIES. Crown 8vo. 8s. 
 
 The whole Series of Fifteen Tracts may be had separately, price 
 One Shilling each. 
 
 Trench. Works by R. CHENEVIX TRENCH, D.D., Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin. (For other Works by the same author, see 
 BIOGRAPHICAL, BELLES LETTRES, and LINGUISTIC CATA- 
 LOGUES). 
 NOTES ON THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Twelfth Edition. 8vo. I2j. 
 
 This work has takm its place as a standard exposition and interpreta- 
 tion of Christ's Parables. The book is prefaced by an Introductory Essay 
 in four chapters : I. On the definition of the Parable. II. On Teach- 
 ing by Parables. III. On the Interpretation of the Parables. IV. On 
 other Parables besides those in the Scriptures. The author then proceeds 
 to take up the Parables one by one, and by the aid of philology, history,
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 33 
 
 Tre n ch continued. 
 
 antiquities, and the researches of travellers, shews forth tJie significance, 
 beauty, and applicability of each, concluding -with what he deems its true 
 moral interpretation. In the numerous Notes are many valuable references, 
 illustrative quotations, critical and philological annotations, etc., and ap- 
 pended to the volume is a classified list of fifty-six works on the Parables. 
 
 NOTES ON THE MIRACLES OF OUR LORD. 
 
 Ninth Edition. 8vo. 12s. 
 
 In the 'Preliminary Essay'' to this work, all the momentous and in- 
 teresting questions that have been raised in connection with Miracles, are 
 
 discussed with considerable fulness. The Essay consists of six chapters : 
 
 /. On the Names of Miracles, \. e. the Greek words by which they are 
 designated in the New Testament. II. The Miracles and Nature What 
 is the difference between a Miracle and any event in the ordinary course 
 of Nature ? III. The Authority of Miracles Is the Miracle to command 
 absolute obedience ? IV. The Evangelical, compared with the other cycles 
 of Miracles. V. The Assaults on the Miracles i. The Jewish, z. The 
 Heathen ( Celsus etc.). 3. The Pantheistic (Spinosa etc.). 4. The 
 Sceptical (Hume). 5. The Miracles only relatively miraculous ( Schleier- 
 macher). 6. The Rationalistic (Paulus). 7. The Historico- Critical 
 (Woolston, Strauss). VI. The Apologetic Worth of the Miracles. The 
 author then treats the separate Miracles as he does the Parables. 
 
 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. New 
 Edition, enlarged. 8vo. cloth. 12s. 
 
 The study <?/" synonyms in any language is valuable as a discipline for 
 training the mind to close and accurate habits of thought ; more especially 
 is this the case in Greek " a language spoken by a people of the finest and 
 subtlest intellect ; who saw distinctions where others saw none ; who di- 
 vided out to different words what others often were content to huddle con- 
 fusedly under a common term. . . . Where is it so desirable that we should 
 miss nothing, that we should lose no finer intention of the writer, as in 
 those words which are the vehicles of the very mind of God Himself?" 
 This Edition has been carefully revised, and a considerable number of new 
 synonyms added. Appended is an Inde.x to the Synonyms, and an 
 Index to many other words alluded to or explained throughout the work. 
 "He is," the Athenaeum says, " a guide in this department of knmoledge 
 to whom his readers may intrust themselves with confidence. His sober 
 judgment and sound sense are barriers against the misleading influence of 
 arbitrary hypotheses. " 
 
 ON THE AUTHORIZED VERSION OF THE NEW 
 
 TESTAMENT. Second Edition. 8vo. 7J-. 
 
 After some Introductory Remarks, in which the propriety of a revision 
 is briefly discussed, the whole question of the merits of the present version 
 is gone into in detail, in eleven chapters. Appended is a chronological list 
 
 3
 
 34 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Tren ch continued. 
 
 of ^vorks bearing on the subject, an Index of the principal Texts con- 
 sidered, an Index of Greek Words, and an Index of other Words re- 
 ferred to throughout the book. 
 
 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS. Third Edition. 8vo. 
 I or. 6d. 
 
 This book is published under the conviction that the assertion often 
 made is untrue, viz. that the Gospels are in the main plain and easy, 
 and that all the chief difficulties of the New Testament are to be found 
 in the Epistles. These " 'Studies," sixteen in number, are the fruit of a 
 much larger scheme, and each Study deals ^vith some important episode 
 mentioned in the Gospels, in a critical, philosophical, and practical man- 
 ner. Many references and quotations are added to the Notes. Among 
 the subjects treated are: The Temptation- Christ and the Samaritan 
 Woman; The Three Aspirants; The Transfiguration; Zacchaus ; The 
 True Vine; The Penitent Malefactor ; Christ and the Two Disciples on 
 the way to Emmaus. 
 
 COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES to the SEVEN 
 CHURCHES IN ASIA. Third Edition, revised. 8vo. Ss. 6d. 
 
 The present work consists of an Introduction, being a commentary on 
 Rev. i. 4 2O, a detailed examination oj each of the Seven Epistles, in all 
 its bearings, and an Excursus on the Historico- Prophetical Interpreta- 
 tion of the Epistles. 
 
 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. An Exposition 
 drawn from the writings of St. Augustine, with an Essay on his 
 merits as an Interpreter of Holy Scripture. Third Edition, en- 
 larged. 8vo. ioj. 6d. 
 
 The first half of the present work consists of a dissertation in eight 
 chapters on "Augustine as an Interpreter of Scripture," the titles of the 
 several chapters being as follow: /. Augustine's General Views of Scrip- 
 ture and its Interpretation. II. The External Helps for the Interpreta- 
 tion of Scripture possessed by Augustine. III. Augustine's Principles 
 and Canons of Interpretation. IV. Augustine 's Allegorical Interpretation 
 of Scripture. V. Illustrations of Augustine's Skill as an Interpreter of 
 Scripture. VI. Augustine on John the Baptist and on St. Stephen. 
 VII. Augustine on the Epistle ta the Romans. VIII. Miscellaneous 
 Examples of Augustine' s Interpretation of Scripture. The latter half of 
 the work consists of Augustine's Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, 
 not however a mere series of quotations from Augustine, but a connected 
 account of his sentiments on the various passages of that Sermon, inter- 
 spersed with criticisms by Archbishop Trench. 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED in WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 
 
 Second Edition. 8vo. IGJ. 6d. 
 These Sermons embrace a wide variety of topics, and are thoroughly
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 35 
 
 Tre n ch continued. 
 
 practical, earnest, and evangelical, and simple in style. The following 
 are a few of ^ the subjects: "Tercentenary Celebration of Queen Eliza- 
 beth's Accession;' 1 '' "Conviction and Conversion;" "The Incredulity of 
 Thomas;' 1 '' " The Angels' Hymn;" "Counting the Cost;" "The Holy 
 Trinity in Relation to our Prayers;" "On the Death of General Have- 
 lock;" "Christ Weeping over Jerusalem;" "Walking -with Christ in 
 White." 
 
 SHIPWRECKS OF FAITH. Three Sermons preached 
 before the University of Cambridge in May, 1867. Fcap. 8vo. 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 These Sermons are especially addressed to young men. The subjects 
 are ll Balaam," "Saul," and "Judas Iscariot," These lives are set 
 forth as beacon-lights, ' ' to warn us off from perilous reefs and quick- 
 sands, which have been the destruction of many, and -which might only too 
 easily be ours." T/ieJohn Bull says, " they are, like all he writes, af- 
 fectionate and earnest discourses. " 
 
 SERMONS Preached for the most part in Ireland. 8vo. 
 los. 6d. 
 
 This volume consists of Thirty-two Sermons, the greater part of which 
 were preached in Ireland; the subjects are as follows : Jacob, a Prince 
 with God and with MenAgrippa The Woman that was a Sinner 
 Secret Faults The Seven Worse Spirits Freedom in the Truth Joseph 
 and his Brethren Bearing one another's Burdens Christ's Challenge to 
 the World The Love of Money The Salt of the Earth The Armour of 
 God Light in theLord The Jailer of Philippi The Thorn in the Flesh 
 Isaiah's Vision Selfishness Abraham interceding for Sodom Vain 
 Thoughts Pontius Pilate The Brazen Serpent The Death and Burial 
 of Moses A Word from the Cross The Church's Worship in the 
 Beauty of Holiness Every Good Gift from Above On the Hearing of 
 Prayer The Kingdom which cometh not with Observation Pressing 
 towards the Mark Saul The Good Shepherd The Valley of Dry Bones 
 All Saints. 
 
 Tudor. The DECALOGUE VIEWED as the CHRIST- 
 IAN'S LAW. With Special Reference to the Questions and 
 Wants of the Times. By the Rev. RICH. TUDOR, B.A. Crown 
 8vo. io.f. 6d. 
 
 The author's aim is to bring out the Christian sense of the Decalogue 
 in its application to existing needs and questions. The work will be found 
 to occupy ground which no other single work has hitherto filled. It is di- 
 vided into Two Parts, the First Part consisting of three lectures on 
 "Duty," and the Second Part of twelve lectures on the Ten Command- 
 ments. The Guardian says of it, ' 'His volume throughout is an outspoken 
 and sound exposition of Christian morality, based deeply upon true founda- 
 tions, set forth systematically, and forcibly and plainly expressed as good 
 la specimen of what pulpit lectures ought to be as is often to be found."
 
 36 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Tulloch. THE CHRIST OF THE GOSPELS AND 
 THE CHRIST OF MODERN CRITICISM. Lectures on 
 M. RENAN'S "Vie de Jesus." By JOHN TULLOCH, D.D., 
 Principal of the College of St. Mary, in the University of St. 
 Andrew's. Extra fcap. 8vo. 4J. 6d. 
 
 Vaughan. Works by CHARLES J. VAUGHAN, D.D., Master 
 
 of the Temple : 
 
 CHRIST SATISFYING THE INSTINCTS OF HU- 
 MANITY. Eight Lectures delivered in the Temple Church. 
 New Edition. Extra fcp. 8vo. 3*. &/. 
 
 The object of these Sermons is to exhibit the spiritual -wants of human 
 nature, and to prove that all of them receive full satisfaction in Christ. 
 The various instincts which He is shewn to meet are those of Truth, 
 Reverence, Perfection, Liberty, Courage, Sympathy, Sacrifice, and Unity. 
 " We are convinced that there are congregations, in number unmistakeably 
 increasing, to whom such Essays as these, full of thought and learning, 
 are infinitely more beneficial, for they are more acceptable, than the recog- 
 nised type of sermons." John BulL 
 
 MEMORIALS OF HARROW SUNDAYS. A Selection 
 of Sermons preached in Harrow School Chapel. With a View 
 of the Chapel. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. los. 6d. 
 " 'Discussing," says the John Bull, " those forms of evil and impediments 
 to duty which peculiarly beset the young, Dr. Vaughan has, with singular 
 tact, blended deep thought and analytical investigation of principles with 
 interesting earnestness and eloquent simplicity." The Nonconformist 
 says "the volume is a precious one for family reading, and for the hand 
 of the thoughtful boy or young man entering life." 
 
 THE BOOK AND THE LIFE, and other Sermons, 
 cached before the University of Cambridge. New Edition. 
 ?cap. 8vo. 4f. &/. 
 These Sermons are all of a thoroughly practical nature, and some of 
 them are especially adapted to those who are in a state of anxious doubt. 
 
 TWELVE DISCOURSES on SUBJECTS CONNECTED 
 WITH THE LITURGY and WORSHIP of the CHURCH 
 OF ENGLAND. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Four of these discourses were published in 1860, in a work entitled 
 Revision of the Liturgy ; four others have appeared in the form of separate 
 sermons, delivered on various occasions, and published at the time by re- 
 quest; and four are new. The Appendix contains two articles, one on 
 "Subscription and Scruples" the other on the ''Rubric and the Burial 
 Service." The Press characterises the volume as " eminently wise and 
 temperate." 
 
 prea 
 Fca
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 37 
 
 Vaughan (Dr. C. J.) continued. 
 
 LESSONS OF LIFE AND GODLINESS. A Selection 
 of Sermons preached in the Parish Church of Doncaster. Fourth 
 and Cheaper Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 31. 6W. 
 
 This volume consists of Nineteen Sermons, mostly on subjects connected 
 with the every-day walk and conversation of Christians. They bear such 
 titles as " The Talebearer," "Features of Charity" " The Danger of Re- 
 lapse," " The Secret Life and the Outward," "Family Prayer" "Zeal 
 without Consistency," " The Gospel an Incentive to Industry in Business," 
 "Use and Abuse of the World." The Spectator styles them "earnest 
 and human. They are adapted to every class and order in the social 
 system, and will be read with wakeful interest by all -who seek to amend 
 whatever may be amiss in their natural disposition or in their acquired 
 habits. " 
 
 WORDS FROM THE GOSPELS. A Second Selection 
 of Sermons preached in the Parish Church of Doncaster. Second 
 Edition. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 
 The Nonconformist characterises these Sermons as ' ' of practical earnest- 
 ness, of a thoughtfulness that penetrates the common conditions and ex- 
 periences of life, and brings the truths and examples of Scripture to bear 
 on them with singular force, and of a style that owes its real elegance to 
 the simplicity and directness which have fine culture for their roots. 
 
 LESSONS OF THE CROSS AND PASSION. Six 
 Lectures delivered in Hereford Cathedral during the Week before 
 Easter, 1869. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 The titles of 'the Sermons are : I. "Too Late" ( Matt. xxvi. 4$). II. 
 ' ' The Divine Sacrifice and the Human Priesthood. " ///. ' l Loi>e not the 
 World." IV. "The Moral Glory of Christ." V. "Christ made perfect 
 through Suffering." VI. "Death the Remedy of Christ's Loneliness." 
 " This little volume" the Nonconformist says, "exhibits all his best cha- 
 racteristics. Rlevated, calm, and clear, the Sermons owe much to their 
 force, and yet they seem literally to owe nothing Jo it. They are studied, 
 but their grace is the grace of perfect simplicity. " 
 
 LIFE'S WORK AND GOD'S DISCIPLINE. Three 
 
 Sermons. New Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 The Three Sermons are on the following subjects: /. " The Work 
 burned and the Workmen saved" II. "The Individual Hiring." III. 
 ' ' The Remedial Discipline of Disease and Death. " 
 THE WHOLESOME WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 Four Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge in 
 November 1866. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. cloth, ^r. &/. 
 Dr. Vaughan uses the word "Wholesome" here in its literal and 
 original sense, the sense in which St. Paul uses it, as meaning healthy,
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Vaughan (Dr. C. J.) continued. 
 
 sound, conducing to right living ; and in these Sermons he points out 
 and illustrates several of the ' ' wholesome" characteristics of the Gospel, 
 the Words of Christ. The John Bull says this volume is " replete with 
 all the author's well-known vigour of thought and richness of expression." 
 
 FOES OF FAITH. Sermons preached before the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge in November 1868. Fcap. 8vo. 35. 6d. 
 
 The "foes of faith" preached against in these four Sermons are: 
 /. "Unreality." II. "Indolence." III. "Irreverence." IV. " Incon- 
 sistency." " They are written" the London Review says, "with culture 
 and elegance, and exhibit the thoughtful earnestness, piety, and good sense 
 of their author." 
 
 LECTURES ON THE EPISTLE to the PHILIPPIANS. 
 Third and Cheaper Edition. Extra fcap. 8vo. $s. 
 
 Each Lecture is prefaced by a literal translation from the Greek of 
 the paragraph which forms its subject, contains first a minute explanation 
 of the passage on which it is based, and then a practical application of 
 the verse or clause selected as its text. 
 
 LECTURES ON THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. 
 Third and Cheaper Edition. Two Vols. Extra fcap. 8vo. 9^. 
 
 In this Edition of these Lectures, the literal translations of the passages 
 expounded will be found interwoven in the body of the Lectures themselves. 
 In attempting to expound this most-hard-to-understand Book, Dr. Vau-ghan, 
 while taking from others what assistance he required, has not adhered to 
 any particular school of interpretation, but has endeavoured to shew forth 
 the significance of this Revelation by the help of his strong common sense, 
 critical acumen, scholarship, and reverent spirit. "Dr. Vaughan' 's Ser- 
 mons" the Spectator says, tl are the most practical discourses on the 
 Apocalypse with which we are acquainted." Prefixed is a Synopsis of the 
 Book of Revelation, and appended is an Index of passages illustrating 
 the language of the Book. 
 
 EPIPHANY, LENT, AND EASTER. A Selection of 
 Expository Sermons. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. los. 6d. 
 
 The first eighteen of these Sermons were preached during the seasons of 
 1 860, indicated in the title, and are practical expositions of passages taketi 
 from the lessons of the days on which they were delivered. Each Lecture is 
 prefaced with a careful and literal rendering of the original of the passage 
 of which the Lecture is an exposition. The Nonconformist says that 
 "in simplicity, dignity, close adherence to the words of Scripture, insight 
 into ' the mind of the Spirit,' and practical thought fulness, they are models 
 of that species of pulpit instruction to which they belong." 
 
 THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL. For English Readers. 
 PART I., containing the FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 
 Second Edition. 8vo. is. 6d.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 39 
 
 Vaughan (Dr. C. J.) continued. 
 
 It is the object of this work to enable English readers, unacquainted 
 -with Greek, to enter with intelligence into the meaning, connection, and 
 phraseology of the writings of the great Apostle. 
 
 ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. The Greek 
 Text, with English Notes. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. js. 6i/. 
 
 This volume contains the Greek Text of the Epistle to the Romans as 
 settled by the Rev. B. F. Westcott, D.D., for his complete recension of the 
 Text of the New Testament. Appended to the text are copious critical and 
 exegetical Notes, the result of almost eighteen years' study on the part of 
 the author. The "Index of Words illustrated or explained in the A'atcs" 1 
 will be found, in some considerable degree, an Index to the Epistles as a 
 whole. Prefixed to the volume is a discourse on "St. Paul's Conversion 
 and Doctrine," suggested by some recent publications on St. Paul's theo- 
 logical standing. The Guardian says of the work, "For educated voung 
 men his commentary seems to fill a gap hitherto unfilled. ... As a 'whole, 
 Dr. Vaughan appears to us to have given to the world a valuable book of 
 original and careful and earnest thought bestcnved on the accomplishment 
 of a work which will be of much service and which is much needed. " 
 
 THE CHURCH OF THE FIRST DAYS. 
 
 Series I. The Church of Jerusalem. Third .Edition. 
 " II. The Church of the Gentiles. Second Edition. 
 "III. The Church of the World. Second Edition. 
 Fcap. 8vo. cloth. 4^. 6d. each. 
 
 Where necessary, the Authorized Version has been departed from, and 
 a new literal translation taken as the basis of exposition. All possible 
 topographical and historical light has been brought to bear on the subject ; 
 and while thoroughly practical in their aim, these Lectures will be found 
 to afford a fair notion of tht history and condition of the Primitive 
 Church. The British Quarterly says, " These Sermons are worthy of 
 all praise, and are models of pulpit teaching. " 
 
 COUNSELS for YOUNG STUDENTS. Three Sermons 
 preached before the University of Cambridge at the Opening of 
 the Academical Year 1870-71. Fcap. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 The titles of the Three Sermons contained in this volume are : /. 
 " 77*6> Great Decision." II. " The House and the Builder :" III. "The 
 Prayer and the Counter- Prayer." They all bear pointedly, earnestly, and 
 sympathisingly upon the conduct and pursuits of young students and 
 young men generally. 
 
 NOTES FOR LECTURES ON CONFIRMATION, 
 
 with suitable Prayers. Eighth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. is. 6d. 
 In preparation for the Confirmation held in Harrow School Chaff I, 
 Dr. Vaughan was in the habit of printing week by week, and distributing 
 among the Candidates, somewhat full notes of the Lecture he purposed to
 
 40 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Vaughan (Dr. C. J.) continued. 
 
 deliver to them, together with a form of Prayer adapted to the particular 
 subject. He has collected these weekly Notes and Prayers into this little 
 volume, in the hope that it may assist the labours of those who are engaged 
 in preparing Candidates for Confirmation, and -who find it difficult to lay 
 their hand upon any one book of sicitable instruction. 
 
 THE TWO GREAT TEMPTATIONS. The Tempta- 
 tion of Man, and the Temptation of Christ. Lectures delivered in 
 the Temple Church, Lent 1872. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3J-. 6J. 
 
 Vaughan. Works by DAVID J. VAUGHAN, M.A., Vicar of 
 
 St. Martin's, Leicester': 
 
 SERMONS PREACHED IN ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, 
 LEICESTER, during the Years 1855 and 1856. Cr. 8vo. 5*. (>d. 
 
 CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES AND THE BIBLE. New 
 
 Edition, revised and enlarged. Fcap. 8vo. cloth. $s. (xi. 
 " This little volume" the Spectator says, "is a model of that honest 
 and reverent criticism of the Bible which is not only right, but the duty of 
 English clergymen in such times as these to put forth from the pulpit." 
 
 Venn. ON SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF 
 BELIEF, Scientific and Religious. Being the Hulsean Lectures 
 for 1869. By the Rev. J. VENN, M.A. 8vo. 6s. 6d. 
 These discourses are intended to illustrate, explain, and work out into 
 
 some of their consequences, certain characteristics by which the attainment of 
 
 religious belief is prominently distinguished from the attainment of belief 
 
 upon most other subjects. 
 
 Warington. THE WEEK OF CREATION ; OR, THE 
 COSMOGONY OF GENESIS CONSIDERED IN ITS 
 RELATION TO MODERN SCIENCE. By GEORGE WAR- 
 INGTON, Author of "The Historic Character of the Pentateuch 
 Vindicated." Crown 8 vo. 4^. 6d. 
 
 The greater part of this work is taken up with the teaching of the 
 Cosmogony. Its purpose is also investigated, and a chapter is devoted to 
 the consideration of the passage in which the difficulties occur. "A very 
 able vindication of the Mosaic Cosmogony by a writer who unites the ad- 
 vantages of a critical kno~ivledge of the Hebrew Jext and of distinguished 
 scientific attainments." Spectator. 
 
 Westcott. Works by BROOKE Foss WESTCOTT, D.D., 
 
 Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge ; 
 
 Canon of Peterborough : 
 
 The London Quarterly, speaking of Mr. Westcott, says, " To a learn- 
 ing and accuracy which command respect and confidence, he unites what 
 are not always to be found in union with these qualities, the no less valuable 
 faculties of lucid arrangement and graceful and facile expression."
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 41 
 
 Westcott (Dr. B. F.) continued. 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE 
 GOSPELS. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. icxr. 6d. 
 
 The author's chief object in this work has been to shew that there is 
 a true mean between the idea of a formal harmonization of the Gospels 
 and the abandonment of their absolute truth. After an Introduction on 
 the General Effects^ of the course of Modern Philosophy on the popular 
 views of Christianity, he proceeds to determine in what way the principles 
 therein indicated may be applied to the study of the Gospels. The treatise 
 is divided into eight Chapters : /. The Preparation for the Gospel. II. 
 The Jewish Doctrine of the Messiah. III. The Origin of the Gospels. 
 IV. The Characteristics of the Gospels. V. The Gospel of St. John. 
 VI. and VII. The Differences in detail and of arrangement in the 
 Synoptic Evangelists. VIII. The Difficulties of the Gospels. The Ap- 
 pendices contain much valuable subsidiary matter. 
 
 A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HISTORY OF THE 
 CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT DURING THE 
 FIRST FOUR CENTURIES. Third Edition, revised. Crown 
 
 8vo. ioj. 6d. 
 
 The object of this treatise is to deal with the New Testament as a whole, 
 and that on purely historical grounds. The separate books of which it is 
 composed are considered not individually, but as claiming to be parts of the 
 apostolic heritage of Christians. The Author has thus endecn<oured to con- 
 nect the history of the New Testament Canon with the grou<th and con- 
 solidation of the Catholic Church, and to point out the relation existing 
 between the amount of evidence for the authenticity of its component parts 
 and the whole mass of Christian literature. ''The treatise" says the 
 British Quarterly, "is a scholarly performance, learned, dispassionate, 
 discriminating, worthy of his subject and of the present state of Christian 
 literature in relation to it. " 
 
 THE BIBLE IN THE CHURCH. A Popular Account 
 of the Collection and Reception of the Holy Scriptures in the 
 Christian Churches. New Edition. i8mo. $s. 6d. 
 
 The present volume has been written under the impression that a 
 
 was first made and then enlarged and finally closed by the Church. 
 Though the work is intended to be simple and popular in its method, the 
 author, for this very reason, has aimed at the strictest accuracy. 
 
 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE 
 ENGLISH BIBLE. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. ior. &/. 
 
 In the Introduction the author notices briefly the earliest vernacular 
 versions of the Bible, especially those in Anglo-Saxon. Chapter I. is oc-
 
 42 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 Westcott (Dr. B. F '.) -continued. 
 
 cupied -with an account of the Manuscript English Bible from the \afh 
 century downwards; and in Chapter II. is narrated, with many interest- 
 ing personal and other details, the External History of the Printed Bible. 
 In Chapter III. is set forth the Internal History of the English Bible, 
 shewing to what extent the various English Translations were independent, 
 and to what extent the translators were indebted to earlier English and 
 foreign versions. In the Appendices, among other interesting and valuable 
 matter, will be found "Specimens of the Earlier and Later Wycliffite 
 Versions;" " Chronological List of Bibles ;" "An Examination of Mr. 
 Fronde's History of the English Bible.'''' The Pall Mall Gazette calls 
 the work "A brief, scholarly, and, to a great extent, an original contribu- 
 tion to theological literature. " 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, MANIFOLD AND ONE. 
 Six Sermons preached in Peterborough Cathedral. Crown 8vo. 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 The Six Sermons contained in this volume are the first preached by 
 the author as a Canon of Peterborough Cathedral. The subjects are : 
 /. "Life consecrated by the Ascension." II. "Many Gifts, One Spirit." 
 III. " The Gospel of the Resurrection." IV. "Sufficiency of God." V. 
 "Action the Test of Faith." VI. ''''Progress from the Confession of God." 
 The Nonconformist calls them ''''Beautiful discourses, singularly devout 
 and tender. " 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF THE RESURRECTION. Thoughts 
 on its Relation to Reason and History. Third Edition. Fcap. 
 8vo. 45-. 6d. 
 
 The present Essay is an endeavour to consider some of the elementary 
 truths of Christianity, as a miraculous Revelation, from the side of History 
 and Reason. The author endeavours to sheiv that a devout belief in the 
 Life of Christ is quite compatible with a broad view of the course of human 
 progress and a frank trust in the laws of our own minds. In the third 
 edition the author has carefully reconsidered the whole argument, and by 
 the help of several kind critics has been enabled to correct some faults and 
 to remove some ambiguities, which had been overlooked before. He has 
 not however made any attempt to alter the general character of the book. 
 
 ON THE RELIGIOUS OFFICE OF THE UNIVER- 
 SITIES. Crown 8vo. 4*. 6d. 
 
 " There is certainly, no man of our time no man at least who has ob- 
 tained the command of the public ear whose utterances can compare with 
 those of Professor IVestcott for largeness of views and comprehensiveness of 
 
 grasp There is wisdom, and ti~uth, and thought enough, and a 
 
 harmony and mutual connection running through them all, which makes 
 the collection of more real value than many an ambitious treatise." 
 Literary Churchman.
 
 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 43 
 
 Wilkins. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. An Essay, 
 
 by A.S. WILKINS, M.A., Professor of Latin in Owens College, 
 Manchester. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. y. 6d. 
 This is the Hulsean Prize Essay for 1869. The subject proposed by 
 the Trustees was, '''The Distinctive Features of Christian as compared 
 with Pagan Ethics." The author has tried to show that the Christian 
 ethics so far transcend the ethics of any or all of the Pagan systems in 
 method, in purity and in power, as to compel us to assume for them an 
 origin, differing in kind from the origin of any purely human system. 
 " It would be difficult to praise too highly the spirit, the burden, the con- 
 clusions, or the scholarly finish of this beautiful Essay." British Quarterly 
 Review. 
 
 Wilson. RELIGIO CHEMICI. With a Vignette beauti- 
 fully engraved after a Design by Sir NOEL PATON. By GEORGE 
 WILSON, M.D. Crown 8vo. %s.6d. 
 
 "George Wilson" says the Preface to. this volume, "had it in his heart 
 for many years to write a book corresponding to the Religio Medici of Sir 
 Thomas Browne, with the title Religio Chemici. Several of the Essays in 
 this vohtme were intended to form chapters of it, but the health and leisure 
 necessary to carry out his plans were never attainable, and thus fragments 
 only of the designed ivork exist. These fragments, hnvever, being in most 
 cases like finished gems waiting to be set, some of them are now given in 
 a collected form to his friends and the public." "A more fascinating 
 volume," the Spectator says, "has seldom fallen into our hands." 
 
 Wilson. THE BIBLE STUDENT'S GUIDE TO THE 
 MORE CORRECT UNDERSTANDING of the ENGLISH 
 TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, BY RE- 
 FERENCE TO THE ORIGINAL HEBREW. By WILLIAM 
 WILSON, D.D., Canon of Winchester. Second Edition, carefully 
 revised. 4to. 25^. 
 
 " The author believes that the present work is the nearest approach to 
 a complete Concordance of every word in the original that has yd been 
 made: and as a Concordance, it may be found of great usttothtBMt 
 student, while at the same time it serves the important object of furnishing 
 the means of comparing synonymous words, and of eliciting thar precise 
 and distinctive meaning. The knowledge of the Hebrew language is not 
 absolutely necessary to the profitable use of the work. The plan of the 
 work is simple: every word occurring in the English Version is arrmupt 
 alphabetically, and under it is given the Hebrew) word or words, with a 
 full explanation of their meaning, of which it is meant to be a translation, 
 and a complete list of the passages where it occurs. Following the general 
 work is a complete Hebrew and English Index, which is, in effect, a 
 Hebrew- English Dictionary.
 
 44 THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. 
 
 "Worship (The) of God and Fellowship among 
 
 Men. Sermons on Public Worship. By Professor MAURICE, 
 
 and others. Fcap. 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 
 This volume consists of Six Sermons preached by various clergymen, 
 and although not addressed specially to any class, were suggested by recent 
 efforts to bring the members of the Working Class to our Churches. The 
 preachers "were Professor Maurice, Rev. T. J. Rowsell, Rev. J. LI. 
 Davies, Rev. D. J. Vaughan. 
 
 Yonge (Charlotte M.) SCRIPTURE READINGS for 
 
 SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE, 
 
 Author of " The Heir of Redclyffe." Globe 8vo. is. 6d. With 
 
 Comments. 3.?. f)d. 
 
 SECOND SERIES. From Joshua to Solomon. Extra fcap. 8vo. 
 
 is. 6d. With Comments. 3^. (>d. 
 
 THIRD SERIES. The Kings and Prophets. Extra fcap. 8vo., 
 
 is.f>J., with Comments, 3-r. 6d. 
 
 . Actual need has led the author to endeavour to prepare a reading book 
 convenient for study with children, containing the very words of the 
 Bible, with only a few expedient omissions, and arranged in Lessons of 
 such length as by experience she has found to suit with children's ordinary 
 power of accurate attentive interest. The verse form has been retained be- 
 cause of its convenience for children reading in 'class, and as more re- 
 sembling their Bibles ; but the poetical portions have been given in their 
 lines. Professor Huxley at a meeting of the London School-board, par- 
 ticularly mentioned the Selection made by Miss Yonge, as an example of 
 how selections might be made for School reading. " Her Comments are 
 models of their kind.'" Literary Churchman. 
 
 In crown 8vo. cloth extra, Illustrated, price 4^. 6d. each Volume ; also 
 
 kept in morocco and calf bindings at moderate prices, and in 
 
 Ornamental Boxes containing Four Vols., 2is. each. 
 
 MACMILLAN'S SUNDAY LIBRARY. 
 
 A SERIES OF ORIGINAL WORKS BY EMINENT AUTHORS. 
 
 The Guardian says "All Christian households owe a debt of gratitude 
 to Mr. Macmillanfor that useful ' Sttnday Library.'" 
 
 THE FOLLOWING VOLUMES ARE NOW READY: 
 
 The Pupils of St. John the Divine. By CHARLOTTE 
 
 M. YONGE, Author of "The Heir of Redclyffe. " 
 The author first gives a full sketch of the life and work of the Apostle 
 himself, drawing the material from all the most trustworthy authorities, 
 sacred and profane ; then follow the lives of his immediate disciples, Igtiatius,
 
 MACMILLAN'S SUNDAY LIBRARY. 45 
 
 Qiiadratus, Polycarp, and others ; which are succeeded by the lives of many 
 of t/iL'ir pupils. She then proceeds to sketch from their foundation the 
 history of the many churches planted or superintended by St. John and 
 his pupils, both in the East and West. In the last chapter is given an 
 account of the present aspect of the Churches of St. John, the Seven 
 Churches of Asia mentioned in Revelations ; also those of Athens, of 
 Nimes, of Lyons, and others in the West. " Young and old will be 
 equally refreshed and taught by these pages, in -which nothing is dull, and 
 nothing is far-fetched. " Churchman. 
 
 The Hermits. By CANON KINGSLEY. 
 
 The volume contains the lives of some of the most remarkable early 
 
 tly 
 
 memorable for good in the lives of the Hermits, and with a wise forbear 
 ance towards legends -which may be due to the ignorance, and, no doubt, 
 also to the strong faith of the early chroniclers." London Review. 
 
 Seekers after God. LIVES OF SENECA, EPICTETUS, AND 
 MARCUS AURELIUS. By the Rev. F. W. FARRAR, M.A., F.R.S., 
 Head Master of Marlborough College. 
 
 In this volume the author seeks to record the lives, and gives copious 
 samples of the almost Christ-like utterances of, with perhaps the exception 
 of Socrates, ' ' the best and holiest characters presented to us in the records 
 of antiquity '." The volume contains portraits of Aurelius, Seneca, and 
 Antoninus Pius. "We can heartily recommend it as healthy in tone, 
 instructive, interesting, mentally and spiritually stimulating and nu- 
 tritious. " Nonconformist. 
 
 England's Antiphon. By GEORGE MACDONALD. 
 
 This volume deals chiefly with the lyric or song-form of English re- 
 ligious poetry, other kinds, hozvever, being not infrequently introduced. 
 The author has sought to trace the course of our religious poetry from the 
 \$th to the \gth centuries, from before Chaucer to Tennyson. He en- 
 deavours to accomplish his object by selecting the men who have produced 
 the finest religious poetry, setting forth the circumstances in which tiny 
 were placed, characterising the men themselves, critically estimating their 
 productions, and giving ample specimens of their best religious lyrics, and 
 quotations from larger poems, illustrating the religious feeling of the poets 
 or their times. "Dr. Macdonald has very successfully endeavoured to 
 brin" together in his little book a -whole series of the sweet singers of Eng- 
 land, and makes them raise, one after the other, their voices in praise of 
 God. " Guardian. 
 
 Great Christians of France : ST. Louis and CALVIN. 
 
 By M. GUIZOT. 
 From among French Catholics, M. Guizot has, in this volume, selected
 
 46 MACMILLAN'S SUNDAY LIBRARY. 
 
 Louis, King of France in the \T,th century, and among Protestants, Calvin 
 the Reformer in the \6th century, "as two earnest and illustrious repre- 
 sentatives of the Christian faith and life, as well as of the loftiest thought 
 and purest morality of their country and generation. " In setting forth 
 with considerable fulness the lives of these prominent and representative 
 Christian men, M. Guizot necessarily introduces much of the political and 
 religious history of the periods during which they lived. "A very interest- 
 ing book" says the Guardian. 
 
 Christian Singers of Germany. By CATHERINE 
 
 WlNKWORTH. 
 
 In this volume the authoress gives an account of the principal hymn- 
 writers of Germany from the ()th to the ityh century, introducing ample 
 specimens from their best productions. In the translations, while the 
 English is perfectly idiomatic and harmonious, the characteristic differ- 
 ences of the poems have been carefully imitated, and the general style and 
 metre retained. ' 'Miss WinkwortKs volume of this series is, according to 
 our view, the choicest production of her pen." British Quarterly Review. 
 
 Apostles of Mediaeval Europe. By the Rev. G. F. 
 MACLEAR, D.D., Head Master of King's College School, London. 
 In two Introductory Chapters the author notices some of the chief cha- 
 racteristics of the mediazval period itself ; gives a graphic sketch of the de- 
 vastated state of Europe at the beginning of that period, and an interesting 
 account of the religions of the three great groups of vigorous barbarians 
 the Celts, the Teutons, and the Sclaves who had, wave after wave, over- 
 flowed its surface. He then proceeds to sketch the lives and work of the 
 chief of the courageous men who devoted themselves to the stupendous task 
 of their conversion and civilization, during a period extending from the 
 $th to the iT,th century; such as St. Patrick, St. Colutnba, St. Colum- 
 banus, St. Augustine of Canterbury, St. Boniface, St. Olaf, St. Cyril, 
 'Raymond Sull, and others. " Mr. Maclear will have done a great work 
 if his admirable little volume shall help to break up the dense ignorance 
 which is still prevailing among people at large." Literary Churchman. 
 
 Alfred the Great. By THOMAS HUGHES, Author of "Tom 
 
 Brown's School Days." Third Edition. 
 
 " The time is come when we English can no longer stand by as in- 
 terested spectators only, but in which every one of our institutions will be 
 sifted with rigour, and will have to shew cause for its existence. .... 
 As a help in this search, this life of the typical English King is here 
 offered. " Besides other illustrations in the volume, a Map of England is 
 prefixed, shewing its divisions about 1000 A.D., as well as at the present 
 time. "Mr, Hughes has indeed ^vritten a good book, bright and readable 
 we need hardly say, and of a very considerable historical value." 
 Spectator. 
 
 Nations Around. By Miss A. KEARY. 
 
 This volume contains many details concerning the social and political
 
 MACMILLAN'S SUNDAY LIBRARY. 47 
 
 life, the religion, the superstitions, the literature, the architecture, the com- 
 merce, the industry, of the Nations around Palestine, an acquaintance -with 
 which is necessary in order to a clear and full understanding of the history 
 of the Hebrew people. The authoress has brought to her aid all the mast 
 recent investigations into the early history of these nations, referring fre- 
 quently to the fruitful excavations which have brought to light the ruins 
 and hieroglyphic writings of many of their buried cities. "Miss Keary 
 has skilfully availed herself of the opportunity to write a pleasing and in- 
 structive book." Guardian. "A valuable and interesting volume." 
 Illustrated Times. 
 
 St. Anselm. By the Very Rev. R. W. CHURCH, M.A., Dean 
 of St. Paul's. Second Edition. 
 
 In this biography of St. Anselm, while the story of his life as a man, a 
 Christian, a clergyman, and a politician, is told impartially and fully, 
 much light is shed on the ecclesiastical and political history of the time 
 during which he lived, and on the internal economy of the monastic estab- 
 lishments of the period. The author has drawn his materials from con- 
 temporary biographers and chroniclers, while at the same time he has 
 consulted the best recent atithors who have treated of the man and his 
 time, "ft is a sketch by the hand of a master, with every line marked 
 taste, learning, and real apprehension of the subject" Pall Mall 
 
 azette. 
 
 Francis of Assisi. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. 
 
 The life of this saint, the founder of the Franciscan order, and one of 
 the most remarkable men of his time, illustrates some of the chief cha- 
 racteristics of the religious life of the Middle Ages. Much information is 
 given concerning the missionary labours of the saint and his companions, 
 as well as concerning the religious and monastic life of the time. Many 
 graphic details are introduced from the saint's contemporary biographers, 
 which shew forth the prevalent belief s of the period ; and abundant samples 
 are given of St. Francis's own sayings, as well as a few specimens of his 
 simple tender hymns. "We are grateful to Mrs. Oliphant for a book of 
 much interest and pathetic beauty, a book which none can read without 
 being the better for it. " John Bull. 
 
 Pioneers and Founders ; or, Recent Workers in the 
 Mission Field. By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE, Author of "The 
 Heir of Redclyffe." With Frontispiece, and Vignette Portrait of 
 BISHOP HEBER. 
 
 The missionaries whose biographies are here given, are John Eliot, 
 the Apostle of the Red Indians ; David Brainerd, the Enthusiast ; Christ- 
 ian F. Schwartz, the Councillor of Tanjore; Henry Marty 11, the Scholar- 
 Missionary ; William Carey and Joshua Marshman, the Scram pi>rc .]//.- 
 sionaries; the Judson Family: the Hishops of Calcutta, Thomas 
 Middleton, Reginald Heber, Daniel Wilson; Samuel Marsdcn, the Aus- 
 tralian Chaplain and Friend of the Maori; John Willuims, the Martyr 
 
 by 
 G
 
 48 MACMILLAN'S SUNDAY LIBRARY. 
 
 of Erromango; Allen Gardener, the Sailor Martyr; Charles Frederick 
 Mackenzie, the Martyr of Zambesi. "Likely to be one of the most popular 
 of the ' Sunday Library' volumes." Literary Churchman. 
 
 Angelique Arnauld, Abbess of Port Royal. By 
 
 FRANCES MARTIN. Crown 8vo. 4^. 6d. 
 
 This new volume of the ''Sunday Library 1 contains the life of a very 
 remarkable -woman founded on the best authorities. She was a Roman 
 Catholic Abbess who lived more than 200 years ago, whose life contained 
 much struggle and suffering. But if we look beneath the surface, we find 
 that sublime virtues are associated with her errors, there is something 
 admirable in everything she does, and the study of her history leads to a 
 continual enlargement of our own range of thought and sympathy. 
 
 THE "BOOK OF PRAISE" HYMNAL, 
 
 COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY 
 
 LORD SELBORNE. 
 
 In the following four forms : 
 
 A. Beautifully printed in Royal 32mo., limp cloth., price 6d. 
 
 B. ,, ,, Small 18mo., larger type, cloth limp, Is. 
 
 C. Same edition on fine paper, cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Also an edition with Music, selected, harmonized, and composed 
 by JOHN HULLAH, in square 18mo., cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 The large acceptance which has been given to " The Book of Praise" 
 by all classes of Christian people encourages the Publishers in entertaining 
 the hope that this Hymnal, which is mainly selected from it, may be ex- 
 tensively used in Congregations, and in some degree at least meet the 
 desires of those who seek uniformity in common worship as a means 
 towards that unity which pious souls yearn after, and which our Lord 
 prayed for in behalf of his Church. " The office of a hymn is not to 
 teach controversial Theology, but to give the voice of song to practical 
 religion. No doubt, to do this, it must embody sound doctrine ; but it 
 ought to do so, not after the manner of the schools, but with the breadth, 
 freedom, and simplicity of the Fountain-head." On this principle has 
 Sir R. Palmer proceeded in the preparation of this book. 
 
 The arrangement adopted is the following : 
 
 PART I. consists of Hymns arranged according to the subjects of the 
 Creed "God the Creator," "Christ Incarnate," "Christ Crucified," 
 "Christ Risen," "Christ Ascended," "Christ's Kingdom and Judg- 
 ment," etc. 
 
 PART II. comprises Hymns arranged according to the subjects of the 
 Lord's Prayer. 
 
 PART III. Hymns for natural and sacred seasons. 
 There are 320 Hymns in all. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY j. PALMER.