II. Phil. ii. 3. SERMON esteeming each other before yourselves; as it is elsewhere written, in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. That is the extent of the charge here: not only prefer one another, as by an act of voluntary self-denial, when anything is to be enjoyed by one which cannot be enjoyed by both; but really and honestly think others better than yourselves, more deserving, more worthy of honour or advancement: begin there, with the thought, and then your humility will be, not assumed for sometimes what is called humility is only masked pridebut ready, consistent, and as it were natural. Verse 11. In earnestness not slothful; in spirit fervent; to the Lord doing service. I pass over unwillingly the many remarks which suggest themselves upon this combination of weighty maxims, this threefold cord of Verse 12. Christian duty. In hope rejoicing; in affliction endurVerse 13. ing; in prayer persevering; to the wants of the saints (that is, of Christians) communicating; hospitality Verse 14. pursuing. Bless them that persecute you; bless, and Verse 15. curse not. If any rejoice, rejoice with them; if any weep, weep with them: being of the same mind towards each other: not minding high things, but condescending to those that are humble. Verse 16. It is to two of these latest directions that I desire now for a few moments to turn your thoughts. 1. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. II. The words are very familiar to us; but is the thing SERMON which they signify? It is a call, you observe, to sympathy. That lies on the surface. But notice what St. Paul meant by sympathy; how he describes it. Was any definition of sympathy ever equally perfect? Take it in its two parts. Rejoice with them that do rejoice. It is an old remark, that this is more difficult than to weep with them that weep. Human nature, fallen and unrenewed, is said to find even in the misfortunes of friends something not wholly unpleasing. And, without dwelling upon that worst development of the feeling, at least we may say that the prosperity of others is sometimes difficult to rejoice in; that, though congratulation, more or less formal, more or less hearty, is generally ready, it does not always imply fellow-joy, community of rejoicing; and that there is a point beyond which the happiness of others becomes actually provoking to us; there is a joy, the sight of which wearies and at last irritates; a fulness of success, and honour, and wealth, which we either compare invidiously with our own lot, or else grudge to its possessor. My brethren, let us practise ourselves in this rule, that we rejoice with them that do rejoice. It is as much a Christian duty as the maxim which follows it. Let us endeavour, in little matters, within our own doors first of all-for there the grace is best learned— SERMON to be glad when another is glad, to feel another's joy II. as our joy, to be not willing only, but thankful, that another should have, even though that other's gain may be outwardly our own loss. Try this, and, I do not say we shall find it easy-no Christian grace, as distinguished from natural disposition, is easy-yet, on the other hand, to them that believe in Christ and in the Holy Spirit every Christian grace is possible, and it is their happiness, no less than their duty, to strive after each. This particular attainment is, in a marked manner, its own reward. Once let another's happiness, another's honour, another's enjoyment, become really ours by a sincere and hearty sympathy, and it is quite evident that the happiness of our own life must be, not doubled, but multiplied a thousand-fold. The chances of marked joy, if I might so express it, are perhaps, for any one given person, less than one to a million; but the chances of some one whom we know thus rejoicing are infinitely greater; and, if it once matters not to us whether the cause of rejoicing be in another's lot or in our own, then, from some source or other, we are quite sure of joy: he who can rejoice with them that rejoice must be a happy man: the waves of personal accident beat upon the rocks far below him he himself dwells in the region above, John iii.29. where eternal sunshine settles and gladdens. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the : II. bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth SERMON greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. And weep with them that weep. Said we that this was an easier rule? Look into it, and we shall find that it also has its difficulties. 40. Many persons in this generation—and we may well thank God for it-exert themselves in ministering to human suffering. It is a first Christian duty. It is made the very test of Christian discipleship. In- Matt. xxv. asmuch as ye have done it-ministered, that is, to the sick, the hungry, the prisoner-unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And, amongst equals in social position, we count any one heartless who does not in some way, by word or act, show sympathy with sorrow. But again, even here, I would say that it is far easier to do these things than really to know anything of fellow-sorrow, of community in sorrowing, of weeping with them that weep. Much of what passes for ministration to the poor fails in this point, on this account. A Christian minister, or a Christian visitor, sits by the bedside of the sick, or enters the home of poverty or bereavement. It is well. He discharges a duty in so doing. But how? in what spirit? Has he left self behind him in that visit? Does he forget himself as he sits there? Does he throw his whole mind into the mind II. SERMON of him to whom he is ministering? Or does he utter the commonplaces of Christian consolation with a mere official propriety, with a self-centred, unsympathizing, unsorrowing heart? You will wonder at the question: the act itself, you say, shows sympathy with sorrow: why is he there if he does not feel for the sufferer? Yes, he may feel for him, but does he-for that is the question-does he feel with him? Some persons visit the afflicted as if for the purpose of inverting the Apostle's direction, and rejoicing with them that weep; as if the duty of the comforter were to ignore the suffering which he is to console; as if he were sent to disparage the woe which summoned him, and to deny the wounds which he came to heal. The first requisite in all human consolation-might I not say, the Scriptures being my guide, in all Divine consolation also-is sympathy, fellow-feeling, the appreciation of the calamity, whatever it be, in its breadth and in its depth. not obtrude upon me, exclaims the stricken spirit, considerations of which you yourself feel not the appropriateness. You say that God's chastisements all work for good: I hope it, I know it, He has said so: but do not you repeat such assurances to me unless you understand first what the chastisement is. Show me, by voice or sign, that you measure my woe, and then I can listen to you: then I can take you to my heart, and let your words in. Do |