Parochial and Plain Sermons

" I embtre all thigsfor the clect's sakes; that they may also obtai the saleatiot whi« is i»t Christ Jesus with eternal glory."

F we were asked what was the object of Christian l»reaehing, teaching, and instruction, what the office of the Church, eonsidered as the dispenser of the word of God, I SUl,p,Jse we should hot ai1 retum the saine answer, l'erhaps we might say that the objeet of Pevelation was to enlighten and enlarge the mind, to make us aet by reason, and to expand and strengthen out powers;—or to impart knowledge about religious truth, knowledge 1,eing power direetly it is gin'en, and enalding us f)rthwith to think, judge, and aet for ourselves;—or to make us good members of the ctmmmnity, loyal subjeets, orderly and use%l in out station, whatever if be;—or to seeure, wha otherwise would be hopeless, out leading a religious lire; the reason why persons go wrong, throw themselves away, follow bad courses and lose their eharacter being, that they have had no edueation, and that they are ignorant. These and

 5 2 The Uisiblc Chztrch bave g'ladly endured ai1 t, hings, knowing that the more he suffered the more he did. And to a certain deg'ree this effect certailfly fi,llowed; the jai]or after his scourging at l'hilippi, was converted, and washed his stripes; md his " bonds in Christ" were " manifest" at Pome, " in ail the palace, and in all other places. '' In spire, howcver,,,f such gracious compensations vouchsafed to the Apostle from rime fo rime, still great visible effects, adequate fo the extent «f his suffering, were neither its rcsult nt,r its motive. He sowed in al,mdance that he might reap in mèasure; he sptke to the many that he night gain the few; he mixed with the world that he might build up the Clmreh; he " endured all things," hot for the sake of ail men, but "for the elect's sake," that he might be the mems of bringing them to glory. This is instanced of him and the other Apostles in the book of Aets. Thus when St. Peter first preaehed the Gospel, on the day of Penteeost, "they were ail amazed," some " moeked," but " they that gladly reeeived the word were baptized." And when St. Paul and St. Barnabas preaehed at Antioch fo the Gentiles, "As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. ''a When St. Paul preaehed at Athens, "some moeked," others said, "We will hear thee again," but "eertain men clave unto him." And when he addressed the Jews at onle, "some believed the things whieh were spoken, and some believed hot." Sueh was the view, whieh animated, first Christ Himself, then all His Apostles, and St. Paul in partieular, to preaeh to ail, in order to sueeeed with some. Out Lord "saw of the travail of  Phil. i. 13.  Acts. il. 12, 13; xiii. 48; xvii. 32-31.

for the SaAe of tbe Flcct.  5 3 His soul, and was satisfied." St,. Paul, as His servan and instrument, was satisfied in like ruminer to endure all things fir the eleefs sake; or, as he says in another place, " I ara ruade all things o all men, thaL I mighL by all means save some. ''* And sueh is the otfiee of the Chureh in every nation where she sojourns; she attempts nmeh, she expeets and promises little. This is a great Seripture truth, whieh in this busy and sanguine day needs insisting upon. There are in every age a certain mtmber of souls in the world, known to God, nnknown to us, who will obey the Truth when offered fo theln, whatever be the mysterious reason that they do and others do not. These we must eontemplate, for these we must labour, these are God's speeial care, for these are all things; of these and among these we nmst pray to be, and our friends with us, at the Last Day. They are the true Church, ever inereasing in nulnber, ever gathering in, as time goes on; with them lies the Communion of Saints; they have power with God; they are His annies who fo]low the Lamb, who overeome princes of the earth, and who shall hereafter judge Angels. These are that multitude which took its beginning in St. Paal's day, for whieh he laboured, having his portion in it himself; for whieh we in out day must labour too, that, if so be, we too may bave a place in it: aeeording to the t.ext, "He that reeeiveth a prophet in the naine of a prophet shall reeeive a prophet's reward; and he that reeeiveth a righteous man in the naine of a righteous man shall reeeive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give fo drink unto  1 Cor. ix. 22.

x 54 The Visible Churc/z one of flese lile ones a eup of eold waer only in the ntme of  disciple, verfly I say uno you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. ''5 (lod is neither "wihou winess" nor withou fruit, even in a heahèn country:" In every ntion," says t.. Pet.er, "he tha feareth Go,l and worketh righeousness is accepted with I[im. '' In every ntion, among many ld, there are some good; and,  nati,ms are 1,efiwe the Gospel is oflred fo them, such they seem fo romain on the whole at.er the oflhr; "many are called, lw are che,sert." And to spend and be spent Ul)On the many called for the sake of the chosen few, is tlle office ot't'hristian teache and wituesses. Th;tt their office is such seems to be evident from the existing state of ç'hristian courir _es from the first. Unlcss if le maintained that the Church has never done her duty towards the nations where slle has s@mrned, it must be granted that success in the hearts of the many is m,t promised hèç Christianity bas raised the tone of morals, has restrained the passions, and enforced external decency and good conduct in the world at large; it llas advanced certain persons in virtuous or religious habits, who othevise mig4t have bèen imhued with the mere rudiments of truth and holiness; if has givèn a firnmess and consisteucy to religious profession in numbers, and perhaps has extended the range of really religious practice. Still on the whole the great multitude of men llave to all @pearance remained, in a spiritual point of view, no betr than belote. The st.ate of great cities now  hot so very different ri'oto what it  Matt. x. 41, 42.  Acts x. 35.

was of old; or af least hot so different as fo lnake if appea.r that the lnain work of Christianity has lain with the face of societ.y, or what is called the world. Again, the highest class in the eOmlnunilay and the h,west., are nola so different froln what they would be respectively without the knowledge of the Gospel, as fo allow if fo be said that Christianity has succeeded with the world, es the world, in its several ranks and classes. And so of ifs pursuits and professi, ms; they are in character what they were, softened or restra.ined in their worst consetuences, but still with the smne substantial fruits. Trade is still avaricious, hot in t.endelmy only but in fact, though if has heard the Gospel; physical science is still sceptical as if was when heathen. Lawyers, soldiers, farmers, 1)oliticians, courtiers, nay, shame to say, the priesthood, still savom" of the old Adam. Christian states move forward Ul.-on the saine laws as bef,l'e, and fise and fall as tilne goes on, upon the saine internal principles. Human nature remains what it was, though if has been bal)tized; the proverbs, the satires, the 1)ictures, of which it was the sulject in heathen times, bave theh- point still. In a word, taking religion to mean as if welI may, the being lound by God's law, the acting ulder God's wilI instead of our own, how few are there in a count.ry called Christian who even profess religion in this sense! how few there are who live by any other rule than that of their own ease, habit, inclination, as the case lnay be, on the one hand, and of external circumstances on the other! with how few is the will of God an habitual object of thought, or search, or love, or obedience! Ail this is so notorious that unbelievers taunt us with it. They see, and scoff at seeing, tbat Christians, whcther the many or the educated or the old, nay, or the sa.cred nfinistry, are open to the notives, and uneçlual to the temptations, which prevafl witb ]mlnal natm'e generally. The knowledge of the Gospel then has hot materially cha.nged more than tbe surfitce of things; it has ruade clean the outside;, but as 1:ar as we haYe the means of judgig, it has hot acted o a large scale upon tbe nind xvithin, p(,n that "heart" out of which proceed the evil things "which defile a man." Nor did it ex'er promise it would d so. Our Sx¥iour's words, spoken of the,postlcs in the first instance, relate fo the Church at large," I pray hot for the world, but for them qfich Thou hast giYen Me, fir they are Thine." In like manner St. Paul says that Christ came, hot fo conYert the world, but "to pm'ify unto Himself t pecMiar 2)eo2»le, zealous of good works;" hot to sanctify this e¥il wofld, but to "deliver us ot of this present ex-il world according to the will of God and our Father; not fo turn the whole earth into  hetven, but to bring down a heaYen upon earth. This bas been the real triumph of the Gospel, to raise those beyond themselves and beyond human nature, in whateYer rank and condition of life, xvhose wills mysteriously co-operate with God's gmce, who, while God visits them, really fear and really obey God, whatever be the unknown reason why one man obeys Him and a.nother hot. It has ruade men saints, and brought into existence spechnens of faith and holiness, which without it are unknown and impossible.? John xvii. 9. Tit. ii. 14. Gal. i. 4.

It has laboured for the elect, and it has succeeded with them. This is, as it were, its token. An ordina W kind of religion, praiseworthy ald respectable in its way, may exist under many systems; but saints are creations of the Gospel and the Church. I%t that suç:h aone need in his lifetime seem to be more than other well-living men, for his graces lie deep, and are hot known and understol)d till after his death, even if then. But then, it may be, he "shines forth as the sun in the kingdo of his Father," figuring in his memory on earth what will be fulfilled in soul and body il heaven. And hence we are hot accstomed to give to living mên the titlc of saints, since.wc cannot well know, while they are among us, who have lived up to their calling and who have hot. ]3ut i, process of time, after death, their excellence perhaps gets abroad; and then they become a witness, a specimen of what the Gospel can do, and a sample and a pledge of all those other high creations of Goal, His saints in full number, who die and are never kno Wll. There are many reasous why God's saints cannot be known all at once;first, as I hve said, their good deeds are done in secret. Ixext, good men are often slandered, ridiculed, ill-treated in their lifetime; they are mistaken by those, whom they off'end by t.heir holiness and strictness, and perhaps they are obliged to withstand sin in their dy, and this raises about them a cloud of prejudice and dislike, which in thue indeed, but not till af ter a rime, goes off. Then again their intentions aud aires are misunderstood; and some of their excellent deeds or noble traits of character are

This is the case in t, heir lifeime; l,u fter their death, when envy and auget have died away, and men talk together about t, heln, and COml,are what each knows, t, heir good and h.ly deeds are added up; and whfle they eridence their fruiffulness, also clear up or vindicate their m,tives, and strike the mind of survivors vith ast.onishment and fear; and t.he Church lonours theln, hanks (h,d fi,r them, and "glorifies God il ''s them. This is why the saints ,f (h)d are commç,nly honoured, hot while t.hey live, 1,ut in their death; and if I ara asked fa state 1,1ainly how sueh a one dirs from an _,rdinm T religit,us lnan, [ say in this,that he sers beri)re him as the one ol,jeet of lire, to please and obey {hd; that he ever aires to submit his will to God's will that he earnestly follows aer h,fliness; and that he is hal,itually striving to have a closer resemblance to Christ iii all things. He exereises hhnself, not Olfly social duties, l,ut in Christian graces; he is hot only kind, but meek; hot only generous, but hmnble; hot only persevering, but patient; hot only upright, but forgiving; hot only bountifil, but self-denying; hot only contented, but lneditative and devotional. ordilmry man thinks it enoug to do as he is doue he will think it fait to resent instflts, to repay injuries, t.o sh,_,w a becoming pride, to insist on his rights, to be jealous )f his honour, when in the wrong fo refuse to confess it, to seek to be rieh, to desh'e to 1)e weH with t, he worhl, to fear what his neiglbours seldom t.hinks of the Day of Judglnent, seldom tnks s Gai. i.

of sins past, says few prayers, eares lit.tle fçr the Church, has no zeal for God's truth, spends his money on himself. Snch is an ordina.ry Christian, and such is hot one of God's elect. For the latter is lnçre than just, telnperate, and kind; he has a devoted love of God, high fitit.h, holy hope, over-flowing eharity, a noble seltz eomnmnd, a strict eonscientionsness, humility never absent, gentleness in speech, simplici/y, lmdesty, and unaflhctedness, an unconsci«msness of what his onde)wments are, and what they make him in (lod's signet. This is what ç'hristianity bas de, ne in the worhl; sueh is the result uf Christial teaching; riz., te) elieit, fi:,ster, lnature the seeds of heaven which lie hid in the earth, to lnultiply (if it may be said) images of Christ, whieh, though they be few, are worth all else that is among men, and are al alnple recomlense and "a crown of rejoicing" for Apostles and Evangelists " in the presence of our Lord Jesus Crist af Itis coming."" If is no trimnph then for unbelievers that the Gospel has hot dme what if never attempted. From the first if almouneed what was to be the condition of the lllallV who heard and professed it. "Many are caHed, few are ehosen." "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many here be which go N thereat. Strait is the gate and narrow is t.he way which leadeth unto fe, and few t.here be that find if." Though we laboured ever so much, with the hope of satisfying the objector, we cotfld not reverse out Saviour's witness, and make the lnany regious and the bad few. We ean but do what is fo be done. With out utmost tofl we do but reach those for whom crowns are prepared in heaven. "Whola He did fi»reknow, them did He predestinate." "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be tilthy still; and he that is rightêous, let him be righteous still; md he that is holy, et him be holy still. '' We cmmot destroy the personal diflçtnces which sepatate man and nmn; and to lay it as a fault to baptism, teaehing, and ot.hêr lninistratim, that they cannot pass the bounds predieted in God's word, is as little reasonable as attempting to make one mind the saine as an-ther. And if this be the case, how mistaken is the notion of thê day, that the main undertaking of a Christian Church is to make men good members of soeiety, honest, upright, industrious, and well-eonductêd; and that it thils of its duty, and has cause of shalne unless it sueeeeds in doing so; and that of two rêligious eommunities, that must he the more scriptural in its tenets, of which the members are more dêeent and orderly  whereas it may êasily happen that a corruption of the Gospel, which sacrifices the better fruit, may produeê the more abundant, men being hot unwing to eom- 1.ound for negleet of a strict rtfle by submittg to an easy one. I[ow emnmon is it, at this rime, fo debate the question, whether the plans of edueation pursued for the last fifty years hure diminished crime or hot; whether those who are eonvieted of oflneês against the law hure for the most part been at sehool or hot! Sneh inquMes surely are out of place, if Christian êducation is in question. If the Chm'eh set out by  Rom. viii. 29. ev. xMi. 11.

engaging fo make men good members of the stte, they woul,1 be very mach in plce; but if the great object of ber Sacraments, pre,ching, Scriptures, and instructions, is to save tbe elect of God, to foster into life and rear up into perfection wh,nt is really good, hOt in the sight of man merely, but in the sight of God; not what is useful merely, but \vhat is true and holy; and if to influence those who act on second;try motives require a lowerilg of t.le Christian standard, and if an exhibition of the truth m,nkes a man worse mfless if mtkes him better, tben she bas fulfilled her calling if she bas saved the few; and she bas done more than ber calling, so far as by God's gra.ce sbe has, consistently with the higher object, restrained, softened, or sobered the mauy. Mach doubtless she will do in this way, but what she does must hot be by compromise or unfaithflflness. The Church and the world cannot meet without either the world rising or the Church falling; and the world forsootb pleads necessity, and says if cannot fise to the Church, and deems the Church unreasonable when she will hOt descend instead. The Gospel then has corne to us, not merely to make us good subjects, good citizens, good members of society, but to make us members of the New Jerusalem, and "fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God." Certainly no one is a true Christian who is hOt a good subject and member of society; but neither is he a true Christian if be is notlfing more than this. If he is hOt ailning af something beyond the power of the na.tural man, he is not really a Christian, or one of the elect. The Gospel offers to us things supernatural. IV] L

" Ca]] unto Me," says Almighty God by His l»rophet, "and I wil] answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest hot. '':But, altos t the multitude of men do hot enter into the force of such an invitation, or feel ifs graciousness or desirableness. They are satisfied fo remain where they final themselves by nature, tobe what the wofld nmkes theln, to bound their conceptions of things by sight md touch, and to conceive of the Gospel according to the thoughts, motives, and feelings which spring up spontaneously within them. They form their religion for themselves from what they are, and lire and die in the ordinary and common-place rmnd of hopes and fears, pleasures and pains. In the ordinary colnmon-place round of dutics indeed, they ought tobe engaged, and are bound to find satisfaction. To be out of conceit with out lot in life, is no high feeling,—it is discontent or ambition; but tobe out of conceit with the ordinary way of viewing our lot, with the ordinary thoughts and feelings of mankind, is nothing but to be a Christian. This is the difference between wofldly ambition and heaverly. It is a heavenly ambition which prompts us to soar above the vulgar and ordinary motives and fastes of the wofld, the while we abide in out cal]ig; like out Saviour who, though the Son of God and partaking of His Father's fulness, yet a]] His youth long was obedient to His eaoEhly parents, and learned a humble trade.:But itis a sordid, narrow, miserable ambition to attempt to lcave out earthly lot; tobe wearied or ashamed of what we are, to hanker after greatness of station, or novelty  Jer. xxxiii. 3.

for t/ze Sa/b« of t/ze Ecct.  6 3 of life. ttowever, the multitude of men go neiher in he one wa.y nor he oher; they neither bave he high mbifion nor he low mbifion. I is we hey bave no he low, eerainly; i is well hey do no aire a being gxea. men, or heroes; but they ha.ve no temptation to do so. XXqmt they are tempted to, is fo settle do'n in a safisfied wa.y in the world as they find if, fo sit clown in the "mime and dir" of their natural state, fo immerse themselves md be absorbed in tire unhcalthy marsh which is under them. They tend fo become pa't of the world, and be sucked in by it, and (as it were) changed into i; und so fo lose ull aspirations and thoughts, whether good or bad, a.fter any thing hgher tlmn what they are. I do no know whether rich or poor are in ater temptation this way. Poor people, lmving daily wants, hvhg the bread fo earn, and raiment and shelter fo prode, being keenly and earnestly and day by day pressed with the realities of pain and anxiety, seem cut off from a. high thoughts. To ca on a poor nmn fo ve a Seraph's lire, fo We above the world, and fo be ambitious of perfection, seems at fim sight, as thhgs go, all one xth bidding him be a man of refinement of mhxd or terary faste, a man of science, or a philosopher. Yet is if so? Were not the Apostles in great necessities? had hot St. Pmfl to work for hN livehood? d they eat and kink af the w? did they know one da.y where they shod get their meal or lay thek head tire next? Surely hot; yet they were as expressly told as others, "Seek ye first the kfigdom of God and His righteousness. '' And then if  Iatt. vi. 33.

is ttromised with an express reference fo those anxieties about food and clothing, "_And all these things shstll be added unto you." This passage in out Saviour's Sermon on the Mourir shows us most undeniably, that lqoverty must hot be allowed fo make us,—is no excuse for our being,—what poor people so often are,,nxious, fretful, ch tse, deceitfifl, dull-minded, suspicions, envions, or ungratefifl. No; much as we ought to feel for the poor, yet, if our Savi«tur's words be true, flere is nothing to hinder the poorest man from living the life of an Angel, living in all the unearthly contemplative blessedness of a Sa.lut in gl)ry, except so far as sin interferes with if. I mean, if is sin, and hot poverty which is the hindrance. Such is the case with the poor; now stgain take the case of those who bave a competency. They too are swallowed up in the cstres or interests of life as nmch as the poor are. While want keeps the one from God nnsettling his mind, a competency keeps the other the seduct.ions of ease and plenty. The poor man says, " I ca.nnot go fo Church or fo the Sacrstment of the Lord's Supper, till 1 ara more af ease in my mind; I troubled, and my thoughts are hot my own." The rich man &tes hot make any excuses,—he cornes; but his " heart goeth after his covetousness." Itis hot larged by being rid of care; but is as little loosened from what is seen, as little expatiates in the free and radimt light of Gospel day, as if that day had hot been poured upon if. o; such aone ma.y be far otho" than a mere man of the world,—he may be a religions man, in the common sense of the word; he may be exemplary in his conduct, as far as the social duties of life go; he may be really and truly, and not in pretence, kind, benevolent, sincere, and in a manner serious: but soit is, his mind has never been unchained to soar aloft, he does hot look out with longing into the infinite spaces in which, as a Christian, he has free range. Out Lord praises those who " hun(jcr and thi»st after righteousness." 'his is what men in gcneral are without. They are more or less "full, and have necd )f nothing," in religious matters; they do hot fecl how great a thing if is tobe a Christian, and how far they tifll short of it. They are contented with themselves on the whole; they are quite conscious indeed that they do act up fo their standard, but itis their standard that is low. A sort of ordinary obedience suffices theln as well as the poor. A person in straitened circulnstances will say, "I bave enough fo do fo take tare of my wife and children;" another says, " I have lost my husband and friends, and have enough fo do fo take care of myself;" bystanders say, "Vhat a mockery to call on a starving population, to watch, fast, and pray, and aire at perfection." Well, let me turn, I say, to the rich men, and speak to them; what say the rich? They put aside all such hungering and thirsting after righteousness as visionary, high-flown, and what they call romantic. They have a certain definite and clear view of their duties; they think that the smnlnit of perfection is to be decent and respectable in their calling, to enjoy moderately the pleasures of life, fo eat and drhk, and marry and give in marriage, and buy and sell, and plant and bufld, and to take care that religion does hOt e.gross them. Alas! and is if so?

is the SUl»erlmman lire enjoined on us in the Gospel but a dremn? is there no meaning in out own case, of the texts about the strait gare and the narrow way, and Mary's good part, and the rule of perfection, and the sying which "all cmmot receive save they to whom it is given?" t[oly men, certainly, do not throw themselves out of their stations. They are hot gloomy, or morose, or overbearing, or restless; but still they are lmrsuing in their daily walk, and by their secret thoughts and actions, a conduct al)ovc the wofld. Whether rich or poor, high-born or low-1)orn, married or single, they have never wedded themselves to the world; they bave noyer surrendered themselves to be ifs captives; never looked out for station, fashion, coinfro% credit, as the end of lire. They have kept up the ïeeling which young people often have, who at first ridicule the art.ificial forms and usages of society, and find it difftcult fo conform themselves toits pomp and pretence. Of course it is hot wise to ridicule and run counter to any thing that is in ifs nature indifferent; and as they have grown older they have learned this; but the feeling remains of want of sympathy with what surrounds them; whereas these are the very things which lnen of the world are lnost proud of, their appointments, and their dress, and their bêarillg, and their gentility, and their aequaintanee with great men, and their eonnexions, and their power of managing, and their persolml ilnportanee. God grant to us a simple, reverent, affeetionate, temper, that we may truly be the Chureh's ehildren, and fit subjeets of ber inst.ruetions! This gained, the rest through His grace will fi»llow. This is the temper of those "little ones," whose Angcls " do always behold le face" of our heavenly Fher; of those for whom Apostles endured all things, fo whom the Ordinances «f grace minister, a.nd whom Christ " nourisheth and cherisheth" eveat as His own tlesh.