Parochial and Plain Sermons

2 Coin iv. 18. " W]dlc we look hot al the tlings which are seen, but at the lhings which are hot seen; for tire tlrDgs vMch are seen are temlgoral, but lhe thigs c] ich are,iot seen are eternal."

IIERE are two worlds, "the visil,le and the invisible," as the Creed speaks,the world we see, and the world we do hot see; and the world which we do not see as real]y exists as the world we do see. It really exists, though we see it hot. The world that we see we know to exist, bccausc we see it. We have but to lift up our eyes and look around us, and we have proof of it: our eyes tel] us. We see the sun, moon and stars, earth and sky, hil]s and val]eys, woods and plains, seas and Hvers. And again, we see men, and the works of men. We see cities, and stately bufldings, and their inhabitants; men rmming to and fro, and busying themselves to provide for themselves and their fa.milies, or to accomplish g=weat designs, or for the very business' sake. Ail that meets out eyes forms one world. It is an immense world; it reaches to the stars. Thousands on thousands of years might we speed up the sky, and though we were swifter than the light itself, we shofld hot reach them all. They are,t distances from us gl-eater than any that is assignable. So high, so wide, so deep is the world; and yet if also cornes nea.r and close to us. It is every where; and it seems to leave no room for any other world. And yet in spite of this universal world xvhich we see, there is another world, quite as far-spreading, quite as close to us, and more wonderful; another world all al'ound us, though we see it not, and more wonderful tban tle worhl we see, for this reason if for no other, that we do not see it. _Ail around us are lmmbefless objects, COlning and going, watching, working or waiting, which we see no.: this is that ofler world, xvhich the eyes reach hOt unto, but faith Olfly. Let us dwell npon this thought. We are bon into a wofld of sense; that is, of the real things which lie round about us, one great department cornes to us, accosts us, through our bodily organs, our eyes, ears, and fingers. We feel, hear, and see flem; and 'e know they exist., because we do thus perceive tlem. Thhgs inhmnerable lie about us, anilnate and inanimate; but one particular class of t.hese innmnerable things is thus brought hoirie to us through our senses. And moreover, xvhfle they act upon us, they make their presence known. We are sertsible of theln at the rime, we are conscious that we perceive theln. We hot only see, but know that we see them; we hot only hold intercourse, but know h,t we do. We are among men, and we know t.hat we are. We feel cold and hunger; we know what sensible flfing remove t.hem. We eat, drink, clothe om'selves, dwell in bouses, converse and act wit.h others, and perform the duties of social lire; and we feel vividly that we are doing so, while we do so. Such is our relution towurds one part of the immmeruble beings which lie around us. They uct upon us, und we know it; und we uct upon them in turn,,nd know we do. But all this does hot interfere with the existence of that other world which I speak of, acting upon us, yet hot ilnpressing us with the consciousness that if does so. It may as really be present and exert an influence as that which reveals itself to us. And that such u world there is,,cripture tells us. ]o you ask what itis, and what it cmtains? I will hot suy that all thut belongs to itis vastly more important than what we see, for among things visil,lc are our fellow-men, and nothing creuted is more precious and noble than u son of lnun. But still, taking the things which we see alt.oget.her, and the things we do hot see altogether, the world we do hot see is ou the whole a much higher world tlmn that which we do see. For, first of all, He is there who is above all beings, who has creuted ull, before whom they all are us nothing, and with whom nothing cun be compared. Ahnighty God, we know, exists more really and absolutely tlmn may of those fellow-men whose existence is conveyed to us through the senses; yet we see Him not, heur Him hot, we do but "feel after Him," yet without finding Hiln. If apt,ears, then, that the things whieh ure seen are but a part, and but a seeondary part of the beings about us, were if only on this ground, thut Ahnighty God, the 13ehg of beings, is hot in their number, but umong "the tkings whieh ure hOt seen." Once, und once only, for thh'ty-three yeurs, has He eondeseended to become one of the beings wlfieh ure seen, when He, the second Person of the Ever-blessed Trinity, was, by an unspeakable mercy, born of the Virgin Mary into this sensible world. And then I[e was seen, heard, handled; tIe ate, Ite drank, tIe slept, tIe conversed, He went about, He acted as other men; but excepting this brief period, His presence has never been perceptible; He has never ruade us conscious of His existence by neans of our senses. He came, and He retired beyond the veil: and to us individually, it is as if I[e had never shown IIimself; we have as little sensible experience of His presence. Yet "t[e liveth evermore." And in that other world are the souls also of the dead. They too, when they depart hence, do hot cease to exist, but they retire frvlu this visible scene of things; or, in other words, they cease fo act towards us and before us throt9h otr scnses. They lire as they lived befvre; but that outward frame, through which they were al»le to hold communion with other men, is in solne way, we know hot how, separated from theln, and dries away and shrivels up as leaves may drop off a tree. They remain, but without the usual means of approach towards us, and c.orrespondence with us. As when a man loses his voice or hand, he still exists as before, but cannot any longer talk or write, or otherwise hold intercourse with us; so when he loses hot voice and hand only, but his whole frame, or is said to die, there is nothing fo show that he is gone, but we have lost our means of apprehending him. Again: Angels also are inhabitants of file world invisible, and concerning them much more is told us than concerning the souls of the faithfnl departed, because the latter "test from theil" laboms;" but the Angels are actively employed among us in the Church. They are said tobe "ministering spirits, sent forth to mhister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." :No Christian is so humble but he has Angels to attend on him, if he lives by faith and love. Though they are so great, so glorious, so pure, so wonderfifl, that the very sight of them (if we were allowed to see them) would strike us to the em'th, s it did the prophet Ianiel, h,-ly and righteous as he was; yet they m our "fellow-servants" and our fellow-workers, and they carefiflly watch over and defend even the humblest of us, if we be Christ's. That they form a part of our nnseen wofld, appears from the vision seen by the patriarch Jacob. We are told that when he fled from his brother Esau, "he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun had set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep."  How little did he think that there was any thing very wonderful in this spot! If looked like any other spot. If was a lone, uucomfiwtable place: there was no house there: night was coming on; and he had fo sleep upon the bare rock. Yet how different was the truth! He saw but the wofld that is seen; he saw hot the world flat is hot seen; yet the wofld that is hot seen was there. It was there, flougq it did hot at once make known its presence, but needed to be supernaturally displayed fo him. He suw it in his sleep. " He dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of if reached up to heaven; and behold, the Angels of Goal ascending,nd descending on it. And behold, the Lord  Heb. i. 14.  Gen. xxviii. 11.

stood al»ove if." This was the other world. Now, let this be observed. Persons commonly speak as if the other world did hot exist now, but would after death. No: if exists now, though ve see if hot. If is among us and around us. Ja(:ob was shown this in his dream. Angels were all about him, though he knew ithot. Aud what Jacob saw in his sleep, that Elisha's servantsaw as if with his eyes; aud the shepherds, af the rime of the Nativity, hotonly saw, but heard. They heard the voices of those ldessed spirits who praise God day aud uight, aud whom we, in our lower state of being, are allowed fo cçpy and assist. We are then in a world of spirits, as well as in a world of sense, and we hold communion with if, and take part in if, though we are uot conscious of doing so. If this seems stra.ng, e fo any one, let him reflect that we are undeniably tking part in a third world, which we do indeed see, but aboutwhich we do hot know more than about the Angelic hosts,—the world of brute anilnals. Can any thing be more marvellous or startliug, mfless we were used to if, than that we shotfld bave a race of beings aboutus whom we do butsee, and as little know theh" state, or can describe their interests, or their destiny, as we can tell of the inhabitants of the sun and moon? If is indeed a very overpowering thought, when we get to fix our minds on if, that we familiarly use, I may say hold intercourse with creatures who are as much strangers fo us, as mysterious, as if they were te fabulous, unearthly beings, more powerful than man, and yet his slaves, which Eastern superstitions have invented. We have more real knowledge aboutthe Angels than about the brutes. They have apparently passions, habits, and a certain accountableless, but all is mystery al}out them. We do hot know whether they ean sin or hot, whether they are under pnnishllent, whether they are to lire after this lire. We infliet very great sufferings -n a portion of theln, and they in turn, ex'ery now and then, seeln to retaliate upon us, a.s if by a wonderful law. We depend upm theln in rations impm'tant ways; we use their lfl}our, we eat their ttesh. This however relates to such of them as corne hem- us: cast your thonghts abroad on the whole lmmber of theln, large and Snhqll, in vast t\}rests, or in the water, or in the air; and then say whether the presenee of sueh eonntless nmltitudes, so various in their natures, so strange and wild in their shapes, living on the earth withont aseertainable ol,ject, is not as mysterious as any t.hilg whieh Seripture says about the Angels? Is it hot plain to out senses that there is a world inferior to us in the seale of beings, with whieh we are eonneeted without mMerstanding what it is? and is it diftieult to Nith to adroit the word of Scripture concerning out connection with a world superior fo us? When, indeed, persons feel it so diNcult to conceive the existence among us of the world of spirits, beeause they are hot aware of it, they should reeolleet how many worlds all af once are in Net contained in human society itself. We speak of the political world, the scientific, the learned, the litermay, the religions world; and snitably: for men are so closely unit.ed with some men, and so divided from others, they have such distinct objects of pursuit one from another, and such distinct principles

and engagements in consequence, that in one and the saine place there exist together a number of circles or (as they may be called) worlds, lnade up of visible men, but thelnselves invisible, unknown, nay, unintelligil,le to each other, bien lnove about in the COlnmon paths of life, and look the SalUe; but there is little COlnnmnity of feeling between theln; each knows little about what goes on in any other sphere than his own; and a stranger COlning into any neighbourhood wouhl, accoMing to his own pursuits or acquaintances, go away with an utterly distinct or a reverse iml)ressioll of it, viewed as a Or again, leave for a whfle the political and COlmnercial excitement of SOlne large city, and take refuge iu a secluded village; and there, in the absence of news of the day, considerthe mode of life and habits of mind, the employments and views of its inhabitalts; and say whether the world, when rega.rded in its separate portions, is not more unlike itself than it is uIflike the world Angels which Scripture places in the midst of it? The world of spirits then, though unseen, is present; present, hot future, hot distant. If is hot above the sky, it is hot beyond the -ave; it is now and here; the kingdom of God is among us. Of this the text speaks " We look," says St. Paul, "hot af the things which are seen, but at the things which are hot seen; fi-,r the thilgs which are seen are temporal, but the things vhich are hot seen are eternal." You see he regarded it as a practical truth, which was to influence our conduct. Not only does he speak of the world invisible, but of the duty of "looking at" it; not only does he contrast the things of time with it, but says that their belonging to rime is a rea,son, no for looking a, but for looldng off them. Eternity was nog disgang beeause iV reaehed to ghe future; nor the unseen state withoug ifs influence on us, beeause it, was ilnpalpable. In like ruminer, he says in another Epist.le, " Our eonversat.ion is in heaven." And again, "(lod ha.th raised us up toget.her, and lnade us si oget.her in leavenly places in Chris Jesus." And again, "Ymr life is hid wit.h Christ in (lod." And to t.he saine purpor are St. Peter's words, "Whom having no seen, ye love; in wht,m, though llOX}" 3"e see l Iim hot, yet 1,elieving, ye rejoice with joy unsl,eakal_,le and fltH of t. Paul speaking of t.he Apostles, glory. And again,  "We are lnade a spectacle unto the world, and to Angels, and to lnen." And again in words already luoted, he spcaks of the Angels as "lninistering spirits sent forth fo minister for them who shaH be heirs of salYation." 3 Sueh is t.he lfidden kingdom of (lod; and, as it is now hidden, so in due season if shall be revealed. Men think that they are lords of tle world, and may do as they will. They think this earth their property, and ifs morements in their power; wlwreas iV has other lords besides them, and is the seene of a higher eonfliet than they are cal,able of eoneeiving. It, eontains Christ's little ones u-hom they despise, and His Angels whom they sbelieve; and t.hese af length shaH t.ake possession of it and be manifested. Af present, "ail things," to appearmme, "continue as they were from the beginning of the ereation;" and seoflbrs ask, "Where is the promise of His eoming " but af the appointed rime tlwre w be a a Phil. iii. 20. El,h. . 6. Coi. ni. 3. 1 Pet. i. 8. 1 Cor. iv. 9. Heb. i. 14.

"manifestation of the sons of God," nd the hidden saints " shall shine out as file sun in the kingdom of their Father." qaen the Angels appea.red to the shepherds it was a sudden appea.ra.nce,—",S't«ddcnhj there was with the Angel a nmltitude of the heavenly host." wonderful a sight! The night had belote that seemed just like any other night; as the evening oia which Jacob saw the vision seemed like any other evening. They were keeping wa.tch over their sheep; they were watching the night as if passed. The stu's lnoved ou,—it wts midnight. They had no idea of such a thing when the Angel appeared. Such are the power and vioEue hidden in things which are seen, and at God's will they are manifested. They were manifested for a moment to Jacob, for a moment to Elish's se'ant, for a moment to the shepherds. They will be manifested for ever when Christ cornes at the Last Day "in the glory of I [is Father with the holy Angels." Then this wofld will fade awa.y and the other world will shine forth. Let these be your thoughts my brethren, especially in tle spring season, when the whole face of nature is so rich and bea.utiful. Once only in the year, yet once, does the world which we see show forth its hidden. powers, and in a manner manifest itself. Then the leaves corne out, and the blossoms on the fruit trees and flowers; and the ga-ass and corn spring up. There is a sudden rush and burst outwardly of that hiddeu lire which God has lodged in the material world. Well, that shows york, as by a sample, what if can do at God's comanand, when He gives the word. This earth, which now buds forth in leaves and blossoms, will one day ] o burst fi)rth into a new world of light and glory, in which, we shall see Saints and Angels dwellilg. ho wotfld think, except from his experience of former springs all through his life, who could conceive two or three months bei'ore, that if was possible that the face of nature, which thèn seemed so lifeless, should become so splendid and varied? I[ow different is a tree, how different is a prospect, when leaves are on it and off if! IIow mflikely it wouhl seem, before the event, that the drv and naked branches should suddènly be clothed with what is so bright and so refl'eshing! Yet in God's good tilne leaves corne on thè trees. The season may delay, but corne it will at last. So it is with the coming of that Eternal Spring, for which all Christians are waiting. Corne it will, though it dèlay; yet though it tarry, let us wait for it, "because it will surely corne, it will hot ta.rry." Therefore we say day by day, "Thy kingdom corne;" which means,O Lord, show Thyself; manifest Thyself; Thon that sittest between the Chernbim, show Thyseif; stir u l) Thy strength and corne and hel 1) us. The earth that we see does hot satisfy us; it is but a beginning; it is bttt a promise of something beyond if; even when it is gayest, with all its blossoms on, and shows most touchingly what lies hid in it, yet if is hot enough. We know much more lies hid in it than we see. A world of Saints and Angels, a glorious world, the palace of God, the mountain of the Lord of ttosts, the heavenly JerusMem, the throne of God and Christ, all these wonders, everlasting, all-precious, mysterious, and incomprehensible, lie hid in what we see. What we see is the outward shell of an eternal kingdom; and on that kingdom we fix the eyes of our faith. Shine forth, 0 Lord, as when on Thy Nativity Thine Angels visited the shepherds; let Thy glory blossom forth as lloom and foliage on the trees; change with Thy nfighty power this "«isible world into that di'«iner world, which as yet we see not; destroy what we see, that it nmy pass and be transformed into what we believe. Bright as is the sun, and the sky, and the clouds; green as are the leaves nd the fields; sweet as is the singing f the birds; we know that they are hot all, and we will ot take up with a part f,r the whole. They proceed from a centre of love and goodness, which is God himself; but they are hot His fulness; they speak of heaven, but they are not hea'«en; they are but s stray be,ms nnd dira reflections of His Image; they are but crumbs from the table. We are looking for the coming of the da.y of God, when all this outward world, fair though it be, shall perish; when the heavens shall be burnt, and the earth melt away. We can bear the loss, for we know it wfll be but the removing of a "«efl. We know that to remove the world which is seen, wfll be the manifestation of the world whieh is hot seen. We know that what we see is as a screen hiding from us God and Christ, and His Saints and Angels. And we earnestly desire and pray for the dissolution of all that we see, from out longing after that which we do hOt see. O blessed they indeed, who are destined for the sight of those wonders in which they now stand, at which they now look, but which they do not recognize! ]31essed they who shall at len.h behold what as yet mortal eye bath hot seen and faith only enjoys! Those wonderful things of the new world are even now as they shall be then. They are innnortal and eternal; and the souls who shall the be marie conscious of them, will see them in their ca]nmess and their majesty where they ever bave been. But who can express the surprise and rapture which will corne npon those, who then at last apprehend t.hem for the first tme, and to whose perceptions they are new! Who can imagine by a stretch of fancy the fecligs of those who havig died in faith, wake up to enjoymet! Tl,e life then begm, we know, will last for ever; yet surely if memory be to us then what it is now, that will be a day much to be observed nnto the Lord through all the ages of eternity. We nay increase indeed for ever in knowledge and in love, still that first waking from the dead, the day at once of out birth and «)ur espousals, will ever be endeared and hallowed in out thoughts. When we find ourselves after long test gifted with fresh powers, vigorous with the seed of eternal life within us, able to love God as we wish, conscious that all trouhle, sorrow, pain, anxiety, bereavement, is over for ever, blessed in the fnll affection of those earthly friends whom we loved so poorly, and could protect so feebly, while they were with us in the flesh, and above all, visited by the inmediate visible ineffable Presence of Goal Ahnighty, with his Only-begotten Son out Lord Jesus Christ, and His Co-equal Co-eternal Spirit, that eat sight in which is the fulness of joy and pleasure for evermore,—what deep, incommm}icable, unimaJnable thonghts will be then upon us! what depths will be stirred xp within us! what secret harmonies awakened, of vhich human nature seemed incapable! EaoEhly words are indeed all worthless to minister to such high anticipations. Let us close out eyes and keep silence. "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the fiel& The grass withereth, the tlower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: sm'ely the peol)le is grass. The gr,ss withereth, the flower fadeth; but the Word of out God shall stand for ever."