Parochial and Plain Sermons

'" TM« is the JDay zchich the _Lord bath ruade; zce wil.1 rejoice aad Ge glad i»

T is Mways very difiàcult fo reMize any great joy or gl-eat sorr,w. We CalmOL rea]ize iL by wishing to do so. Wlmt bl'ings joys and sorrows of this world home fo us, is their cireumstanees and aeeolnpaniments. When a fl'ieud dics, we emmot belicve hiln t:fl¢en ff'oin us af first;we caunot believc ourselves ¢o he in anv new place when we:ire just corne fo if. XVhen we are fold a thing', we asseut fo iL we do uot doub if, but we do hot fi, el if fo be truc, we do hot mldersfand if as a fhet which must. ¢ake up a. position or station in our fliougts, and must. be a(.fed frm and acfed towards, must be dealt with a« existing: that is, we do no reMize if. This seems 1)artly the reason why, when Ahnig4ty God reveals Itimself in Scripture fo this man or that, he, on the other hand, asks for some sign whereby he shall knoxv tha Goal bas spoken. Doubtless sinfifl infinnity sometimes mixed ielf up in sueh questions, as in the case of Z;charias, who being" a. Priest in thc Temple, the very dwelling.-place of the ]Aving G<,d, where, if any whcre, Ancls were prescnt., whcre, il" any where, God would spcak, ought fo have ceded whereby fo realize fo himself God's power, God's superintending" eye, God's faithfiallcSS towards the house Israel and ifs priests. Undcr the saine lelin, thouffh ]la.melcssly, (fideon asked fi)r the miracle Ul)«m the fleeee, lIe eould hot ]»ring himself t,) believe that he was fo 1)e what God's Angel had declarcd. What? he, the least f his tdhcr's bouse, and Iris thmilv poor in _[;masseh, how eouhl he understnnd tlmt, he was to be the g-reatest ehnmpi/m of Israel aainst the Midianites? Not tlmg he doubted if, for God had said i¢; but he eould hot tel, think, speak, aet as it" ig were truc. If he attempted fo do so, if was in nu um'eal way, and he spoke and aeted Ulmatuvallv nnd on t theory, on  view of thing's whieh he had mastered ene minute and which was gone the uext. The speeial t?vour of (lod towards him, aeeordinç fo the words, "he ord is with thee, thon mighty man of valour '' seemed like n dream, and eonfused him. So he said "If now so if be, certain eonsequenees flow from if; if God is with me, if is the God of miracles who is with me, who ean change the ereature as He will; mav I[e then vouehsafe in do so  that I may have the full impression on my soul, heart, and mind, of what my reason reeeives; that I may be çamilim'ized fo this st.rane and overpowering Providence, tlm I should be raised above my brethren, and ruade God's minister fo them for g'ood." And therefore he  Judges vl. 12.

9 6 Dicul O, of lcaliz, hz asked, first, that the fleeee migg be wet, then that it miffhç be dry; no as evidenee whereon fo build his lhith, but as a manitbsatiou impressing Iris imaffination aud hem't. In sonwwhag tire snme wny we ore told of 3acob also; "'when ho saw the waggons which.Joseph had sent t(. earrv him, the spirit of Jaeob their father revived." Jacob, fo he sure, did doubt what his sons reported, ff'oto distrust of them; yet the mere sight of the wag'- gons did hot serve to prove their veracity neadv so nm(.h, as fo quict his perplexed imagination, and ta reconcile if to the suddcn news. That news was morc startling, thau thc reporters were untrustworthy. And thus we Christians, though born in out verv inftmey into the king'dom of God, and chosen above ail othcr mon fo be heirs of hcavcn and witnesses fo the world, md though knowin and believing this truth entirely, yet havevery greaf, dicult.v and pass manyyears in learning" out privilege. Not any one, of course, fldlv understands it;—doubtless; but we bave hot even a fait, practical hold of if. And here we are, cven on this great Dy, this Day of dnys, on which Chrisç arose from thc dead,—here arc we, on this very Dy as infimts lying lv.lpless and senseless on thc ground, without eves fo sec or heart fo comprehend who ve are. Surcly so if is: and if cmmot be denied that we have much fo do, very much, belote we rise to the uuderstanding of out new nature and ifs privileges, and learn fo rejoice and be glad in the Day which the Lord hatl ruade; « lhe e'es of out mders{amling being enlightened, tha we may know what is lhe hope ot' Ilis «alling, and what the riches of lhe g'loD .t' llis inieritanee in the Saint.s, td what, is the cxceeding" gretness (,t" His lmwer fo us-ward who believe, aeeording fo the vorking of I[is mig'hty power, which lle wrought in Christ, when Ile raised l[im ri'oto the dead, and se llim a{ llis mvn righ hand in the heavenly places i.,, 8ueh hig4 Wol'ds n these are, alas ] seareelv lllm'e than lnere words when spoken fo us; Iii best, we but ]wlieve them, we do im in any g'ood measm'e realize them. Now this insensibilité" or wanl. of apprehelsiou l'iSes in grea measure, if is seareely neeessary fo say, ri'oto ont exeeeding th'ailness and sintilness. Out old at.ure is eontinually exerting itself against the ew; "the flesh lusteth agains t.he 8piri=2' Ils desire is towards this world, q'his world is ifs fo.»d; its eyes nlllx.hend this worhl. Beeause il is what i is, i allies itself fo this world. The world and t.he flesh tbrm a eompae wih eaeh other; he one asks, and the other supplies. 'Fheretbre, in proportiolx as if seduees ils int« the world's eompany, of course, in au equal degree, if bhmts out perception of tha world whieh we do no see; i prevens out realizing it. aknd thus one speeial cause of out diflleulty in realizing out eleetion into the kingdom of heaven is out evil nature, whieh i]miliarizes us wih this world, 8atan's kingdom, and weighs on us and pulls us down when we would lit up out hearts, lift them up unt.o the Lord. 'Fhis is certain: yet, besides this, here are eertainly other reasons too whieh make it a Eph. i. 1820. = Gai. v. 17.

diflieult, for us fo apl,rehend (,tir state, and cause ils tf, do so but radually; and whieh are hOt out fiullt, 1,ut whieh arises out. of out position and eireumstanees. We are born almost int the fulness ot' Christian blessing's, lonK belbre we have reason. We could apprehend them al ail, and tllat without oto" own thult, xvhen we were ])al,tized; t},r we were infimts..k, thcn, we aC(luire reason i(sc[f l,ut radu:flly, so we acquire the knowledge,)t" what we are ],u( 'ra(lually als(,; and as if is no thuIt in us, ])ut a ble«in, to us, that we were baptized so earl3-, so, ff'oto the nature the case, an(1 hot ff'oto anv finflt of ours, do we but slowly enter into (he l)rivileR'es t)f out baptism. iL is as reg'ards al] out kn,)wledge of ourselves and out position in the world; we bu gradually gain Af first ehi]dren do hot know that thev are responible beings; but bv degrees (hey hot only ibel flat fliev are, but refleet on the reat truth, an(1 on what it implies. 8orne persons reeolleet a rime as ehil3ren when if fell on them fo refleet what thev were, whenee fley came, whither they tendcd, whv they ]ived, what was required of them. The thought fbll upon them long" afler thev had heard and spoken of God; but af leng-th they began fo realize wha.t they had heard, and thev began fo muse abouL flemselves. 8% too, if is in matters of this wor]d. As out lninds open, we radually unders(and where we are in human soeiet, y. Ye have a notion of ranks and classes, of nations, of eountries. Ye bexin fo sec how we stand relatively fo oflIers. Thus a man differs from a boy; he has a eneral view of things; he secs their bearings on eaeh other; he secs his own

ç«crcd Privihcs. 99 position, secs what is beeoming, what is expeeted of him, what his duty is in the eOlmmmity, wha his ri'hts. ]Ie undel'stands his place in lhe w«,rld, mad, in a wm'd, he is a home in il. Alas, that while we thus g'row in knowledg'e in matters of tilue and sense, ver we renlain ehildren in knowledge of" out heavenly privilees St. 15ml says, that whereas Christ is l'isen, Ile "hath l'aiscd together, and ronde us sit together in heavenly pl:tees Christ Jesus'." This is wlmt. we have still fo learn; fo know out place, position, sitnation ns « ehihlrela ot" God, membel's of Christ,:md inheritors o[" the kingdont of heaven." We are risen ag'ain, and we know if hot. We begin out Caechism bv eonfessing I hat we are risen, lmt if takes a long" lire fo al>prehend what we eonfess. We are like people waking' from sleep, who eannot eolleet their thoughts at once, or understand where thev are. Bv little and little the truth breaks upon us. Sueh are we in the pl'esent world; soins of light, gradunlly waking" fo a knowledg'e of thelnselves. For this le us meditate, let us pray, let us work,—gradually fo nttain fo  real apprehelsion of what we are. Thus, as rime g'oes on, we shall gain first one thing, then another. Bv little and little we shall g'ive up shadows and find the substance. Waiting on God dav bv day, we shall nmke prog'ress day by day, and approaeh fo the true and elear view of what fie has lnade us fo be in Christ. Year by year we shall gain solnething., eaeh Easter, as if cornes, will enable us more fo rejoiee with heart and understandilg in that g'reat salvatior} whieh Christ then aeeomplished. This we shall find fo be one great providential benefit arising" ri'oto those duties whk.h lle exaets of us. Out duties to Goal and man are uot oldy duties doue to Him, but f, hey are menues of enlig'bteniug our e)'es aud making' «,ur faith apprebeusive. Every ae of obedienee has a tendeney to strelg'then our eonvietios about he:.veu. Every saerit«e makes us more zealous; every self-denial makes us more devoted. 'l'his is a use, too, of the observance «,f saered seasous; tht, y wean us ri'oto this world, hev inlpress upou us the reality of the world whieh we sec uot. We trust, ifwe thus proeeed, we shall undersgand more and more where we are. We humbly trust f,ha, as we eleanse ourselves from this world, out eyes will be enlig'htened to see the thing, s whieh are ouly spiritually diseerued. We hope thag to us will be fulfilled in due measnre the vords of the beatitude, "Blessed are t.he pure in heart, for they shall see God. '' Ve have good hope, whieh cannot deeeive us, f,ha if we wait upon God, as the Saints have ever waited, wit.h fast.ing's and prayers,if we seek Him as Anna sought ]Iim, or St. Peter af Joppa, or holy Daniel before them, Christ will be manilbsted f,o us; the da), will dawn, and the day-star arise in our bearts. We slml] sec the sign of f,he Son of man in heaven; ve shall eat of the hidden manna, and possess that secret of t,he Lord whieh is with those tha fear Him; and, like Sg. Paul, we shall "kuow whom we ha-ce believed, and be persuaded that He is able to keep that  lIatt, v. 8.

,.vhieh we have committed unto IIim agains that day. '' While then we feel keenly, as we ouffht, that we d, hot honour this Blessed 1)av with that lively and earnest joy which is ifs duc, yct let us hot 1,e discouraffed, let us hot despond at this. We do feel joy; we feel more joy than we know we d,». Ve see more of thc next worhl than we know we sec. It" we lmve duly imlwoved the saered season whieh is uov past; if we bave in ffood earnest, and witlmut tritliug with ourselves, denied ourselves in meat and drink, and other imlulffenees, aecordin to our srength; it" we lmve been fi'equent in prayers aecordinff to our opportunities; if eannot l»e but that a blessin has tome upon us, and is upon us now. We mav hot be sensible of it, but by and by we shall know if., when we look back upon it. What bas already happened in "out past experieuee surely is enouffh fo assure us of this. We know in what way we ha.ve been hitherto broug'ht fo reeoffnize so mueh as we do reeonize of our Christian blessedness; how very gradually, how silenth. We mav reeolleet, perhaps, one or other striking' occurrence. Perhaps, as [ have said, we eau put our hand, as if were, on a. rime in out ehildhood, when the thought first ealne on us that we had relations towards other beinffs, and they towards us, and we lnarvelled what we were, and why we existM. Perhaps, in after lift,, we reeolleet seasons when the foe of Divine truth came on us lnore sensibly and distinetly; but for the most part it is hOt so. For the most part we have gained truth, and lnade proffress t 2 Tim. i. 12.

ri'oto truth fo trutl, withou km, wiug" if. We eanno tell wheu we firs held flfis, or firs held tha doctrine, whieh is now out joy and tresm'e, lt, is "s it' a nmn should east. seed into the 'rouud, and should sleep and rise nicht and dny, and the seed shouhl swing" and 'row up he knoweth hot how.., flrst the blade, then the ear, açter ihat. the fill ewn in the er. "' One may see this,,n all sides; one mav sec it espeeiully af this rime. Goal Ahni'hy seems af this lime t, l»e mereifully leading numbers on t« the fidl fruth, as i is in Jesus (if i be no lwesumpfuous fhus fo spcak) He is lêading" thcm on, and thev do nog know it. flemselves. They are 'radually modit)'in aud ehang'in their opinions, whilc they think they remain stationary. Others, perhaps, ste how i is wit, h fhem: they do no; in due rime they will. Such is (h»d's wonderful way. Jacob was a Bethel l,e[bre he knew if. We, too, are in the kindom and i is manisfed in us belote we are sensible of he manifi, sfation. As infimts 'aze around f.hem, and yeg seem fo look a nohing', we foo sec our privileges, do no nmsfer fhem. Leg us pray ever, thaL we lnay know more and more wha we are, and tlag we mav duly apprehend out own knowledçe; in a word, that we may have righ fceling's, and a corresponding creed. And now, fo conelude, tbr if is hardly befit.ting on this Day o speak much, when God has done His. ffreasg work. Eet us think of if and of Him. Le us rejoiee in the Day which He has ruade, and le us be "willing in the Day of Iris Power." This is Easfer.  Mark iv. 2628.

1)y. Let us say this a'ain and ag.ain fo ourselves v,'ith fcar and g'l-eat joy..ks children say fo themsclves, " This is the spring," or " This is thc sc:b" trying" to.'t'asP thc thoug'ht, an(l hot let if ,,'[ ", as travcllcrs in a tbreign land say, " This is that reat cily," or "This is thaç fillllOlI8 bttildila," knowin" if has a lollff historv lhrou'h eenturies, and vexed with thelnselves tha¢ thev know so little al)ou if; so let us say, ïhis is the l)ay Days, the Royal Day, the Lord's l)ay. This is the l)ay on whieh Chris arose fl'.m lhe dead; the which ll'Oug'hL us s:flvati,,n. If is n. Day whieh lins ruade us g'reater than we kn.w. I is our Day of rest, lhe truc Sabbath. Christ entered ilflO llis test,:md so do we. it brings us, in fig'ure, throuh the g'rave and g'ate,,f deuth fo ollr seaSOl of l'efl'eshmelt in Abraham's bosom. We have had elOug'h ol" weariness, and dreariness, and listlessness, and sorrow, and remorse. We have had enoug'h ofthis troublesome world. We have lmd enoug'h of ifs noise:md din. Noise is ifs bes lnttsie. But now fhere is stillness;:md iL is  stillness that speaks. We l«aow how strang'e the feelin is of pel'feeç silence afler contilnted SOUlld. Sueh is ottr llessedness now. Cahn and serene davs have beg'un; and Christ is heard in theln, and IIis still small voiee, beeause the world spe;fl:s nof. Iet tts o111)" pu offthe world, and wc pu on Christ. The rccedin ff'oto one is an approach fo thc othcr. Yc bave now fi)r some wecks been trying, thl'ough I[is grnce, fo tmclothe ouf sclves of earthly wants and dcsires. May that uncloth;n be unto us a clothing upon of things invisible and iml)erislmble May we 'row in g'race, and in the knowledge of our I«,rd and Saviour, season after season, 3"ear ffter 3;eau,, till He tkes fo Ilimself, fi: one, then another, in the order lle thinks lit, fo l»e sel,arated from e:teh other fi»r a little whilc, fo be mited toget.her tbr eve; in the king'dom of t[is F'nther and our 1,'ather, His (lod and out God.