Page images
PDF
EPUB

XVI.

SERMON with great difficulty, we force our way back across` the barrier which has been interposed: but it is to remember with shame and sorrow how often we have fallen; how much we have walked by sight, how little by faith; how slight a trial has been too great for temper, for humility, for kindness, for charity ; how little has been said or done for God's glory, how much for vain glory, for self-indulgence, for menpleasing!

My brethren, well might this and every Sermon end with the three words, Let us pray! Yes, let us: all pray. How little do we know, till we heartily try it, not only the benefit, but the happiness, of prayer. God is very near us: we are not straitened in Him. God would have us pray, in order that He may answer. He needs not words: He knows what is in us, our sins, our weaknesses, our desires, our wants, even before we ask: yet He would have us ask, He would have us open our hearts to Him, He would have us confide in Him, that He may comfort,

that He may soothe, that He may strengthen, that Ps. lv. 17. He may bless. In the evening, and morning, and at noon-day, will I pray, and that instantly: and He Ps. lxv. 2. shall hear my voice. O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come:

SERMON XVII.

THE WANDERING AND THE RETURN.

EPISTLE FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.

19

1 PETER II. 19-25.

THIS is acceptable, if through consciousness of God any 20 one supports griefs, suffering unjustly. For what sort of glory is it if, sinning and being buffeted, ye shall endure? but (the glory is) if, doing good and suffering, ye shall 21 endure for this is acceptable with God. For unto this

were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving behind for you an example, that ye might follow His foot22 steps: who did not commit sin, nor was deceit found in His 23 mouth; who, being reviled, reviled not again; suffering,

threatened not; but committed it to Him who judgeth 24 righteously: who carried up our sins Himself in His body to the tree, that, having died to sins, we might live to 25 righteousness; by whose stripe-wound ye were healed. For ye were, as sheep,1 wandering; but are now turned back to the Shepherd and Guardian 2 of your souls.

1 Matt. ix. 36. Mark vi. 34. They were as sheep not having a shepherd.

2 Acts xx. 28. Take heed... to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers (or guardians).

SERMON XVII.

THE WANDERING AND THE RETURN.

1 PETER II. 25.

For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

XVII.

THE first Epistle of St. Peter has ever been deeply SERMON valued by Christian men. Nowhere have we a more emphatic statement of the work of Christ in redeeming, or of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying us. Nowhere have we a more animating description of the Christian life in this world, or a brighter and more attractive anticipation of the glory that shall be revealed.

It is, throughout, in the truest sense of the word, practical in its character. Not only does it contain many details of duty, but it also never leaves those details separated from the one availing motive.

The Epistle for this second Sunday after Easter is an example of this remark. It is taken from a passage referring to the duties of servants. It states in a very strong form the Christian duty of obedience.

SERMON This duty was not affected by the character of the XVII. master. In those days, you remember, service was

Much

servitude. A servant was a slave; the property of his master; with no choice therefore either as to the person whom he would serve or the terms or duration of that service. In all these respects times have changed, with us at all events, greatly for the better. But the injunctions laid upon servants, or slaves, in the New Testament are not therefore obsolete. more rather than less justly may it be said to servants now, as it was said to slaves then, Be obedient to your masters, with good will doing service. If your serving at all is a matter of choice, a choice guided by considerations of interest, and followed by results of mutual benefit, surely this is but an added reason why it should be faithfully fulfilled, with strict inte-, grity, with self-denying diligence, with ready obediVerse 18. ence. Servants-and the term here employed denotes a particular kind of service, that of the house or family, domestic service-Servants, be obedient to your masters in all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, the unreasonable, ill-tempered, or

perverse.

Such is the connection in which the passage before, us stands. But we shall see that, important as is its present bearing upon the case of servants, it is by no means restricted to that one use. Which of us does not stand in a relation of inferiority to some one?

« PreviousContinue »