,transcribed from the #aije ,james      
,nisbet and ,co4 edition by ,david      
,price1  email ccx#jgd;coventry4ac4uk   
,,sermons ,,at ,,rugby      ,by the ,rt4
 ,rev4 ,,john ,,percival1 ,d4,d41 ,,lord
 ,,bishop ,,of ,,hereford  ,,sometime   
,,headmaster ,,of ,,rugby    ,,james    
,,nisbet ,,and ,,co4 ,,ltd4  #ba        
,,berners ,,street1 ,,london4  #aije    
,title page3 title4jpg    ,photograph of
 ,john ,percival3 john4jpg              
,,introductory ,,note      ,this little 
group of ,rugby ,sermons is to be taken 
and read as being  nothing more than a  
few stray chips from the workshop of a  
busy  schoolmaster1 brought together by 
a kindly publisher1 and arranged as he  
thought best4    ,they represent no body
 of continuous doctrine4  ,in one case  
the subject  may have been suggested by 
the season of the ,christian year2 in   
another  it was the meeting or the      
parting at the beginning or the end of a
 term  that suggested it2 or more       
frequently some incident in the school  

life of  the moment4    ,such1 indeed1  
almost inevitably is the teaching of a  
schoolmaster1  engrossed in the training
 of the boys committed to his charge and
 growing  under his hand towards the    
destiny of their endless life4    ,to   
those boys1 and to the masters1 my      
colleagues1 and to other fellow-        
labourers--some gone to their rest1 some
 still doing their appointed  work--,i  
dedicate this brief reminder of our     
common life in days of happy            
fellowship4    ,j4 ,,hereford4  ,july   
#aije4           ,i4  ,,religious       
,,patriotism4         ,jerusalem is     
built as a city that is at unity in     
itself4 4 4 4 ,o pray     for the peace 
of ,jerusalem3 they shall prosper that  
love thee4  ,peace     be within thy    
walls1 and plenteousness within thy     
palaces4  ,for my     brethren and      
companions' sakes ,i will wish thee     
prosperity4  ,yea1     because of the   
house of the ,lord our ,god ,i will seek
 to do thee     good4--,,psalm cxxii4   

#c1 #f-i4    ,as we draw near to the end
 of our summer term1 when so many are   
about to  take leave of their school    
life1 there is sure to rise up in many  
minds  the thought of what this life has
 done for them or failed to do1 and of  
what the memory of it is likely to be in
 all their future years as they  pass   
from youth to age4    ,and it should be 
our aim and desire1 as need hardly be   
said1 that from  the day when each one  
comes amongst us as a little boy to the 
day when he  offers his last prayer in  
this chapel before he goes out into the 
world1  his life here should be of such 
a sort that its after taste may have no 
regrets1 and no bitterness1 and no shame
 in it1 and the memories to be          
cherished may be such as add to the     
happiness and strength of later  years4 
,and if1 as we trust1 this is your case1
 your feeling for your  school is almost
 certain to be in some degree like that 
which is  expressed in this pilgrim     
psalm4  ,its language of intense        

patriotism1  steeped in religious       
feeling1 which is the peculiar          
inspiration of the  ,old ,testament     
,jew1 will seem somehow to express your 
own feelings for  that life in which you
 grew up from childhood to manhood4     
,indeed1 the best evidence that your    
school life has not failed of its       
higher objects is the growth of this    
same sort of earnest patriotic          
enthusiasm4  ,do you feel at all for    
your school as that unknown ,jewish     
pilgrim who first sung this #abbnd      
,psalm felt for the city of his fathers 
and the house of ,god8  ,pray for the   
peace of ,jerusalem3 they shall  prosper
 that love thee4  ,for my brethren and  
companions' sakes ,i will  wish thee    
prosperity4  ,yea1 because of the house 
of the ,lord our ,god ,i  will seek to  
do thee good4    ,experience shows us   
that those ,english schools have been   
the best in  which this feeling has been
 strongest and most widely diffused2 and
 that  those are the best times in any  

school which train up and send forth the
  largest proportion of men who continue
 to watch over its life1 and to  pray   
for it in this spirit3 ,for my brethren 
and companions' sakes ,i will  wish thee
 prosperity4  ,yea1 because of the house
 of the ,lord our ,god ,i  will seek to 
do thee good4  ,on the other hand1 if   
this feeling is weak  in any school1 or 
among the former members of it1 or if it
 assumes  debased forms1 as sometimes   
happens1 we see there a sure sign of    
degeneration4  ,he who1 having grown up 
in any society like ours1 is  possessed 
by no such love for it1 and stirred by  
no enthusiasm for its  good name1 and no
 desire to do it good1 and to see good  
growing in every  part of it1 such an   
one has somehow missed the chief        
blessing that his  membership of his    
school should have brought to him4  ,he 
may have been  unfortunate1 or he may   
have proved unworthy4  ,the atmosphere  
of his  school life1 and the            
associations amidst which he grew up1   

may have been  such that the best thing 
he can do is to shake himself clear of  
them and  forget them4  ,to such an one 
his school time has been a grave and    
lifelong misfortune2 and it is the      
condemnation of any society if there    
are many such cases in it4    ,it is1   
however1 exceptional in ,english life   
for men who have grown up in  a great   
school to be stirred by no glow of      
patriotic feeling for it4  ,whatever    
their own experience of it may have     
been1 they are not  altogether blind to 
the things that constitute its          
greatness1 and they  love to hear it    
well spoken of4    ,but the quality of  
their patriotism will depend very much  
on the quality  of their own life2 so   
that the task we have always before us  
is to be  infusing into our community   
such a spirit and purpose1 as shall     
infect  each soul amongst us with those 
higher aims1 and tastes1 and motives1   
with that hatred of things mean or      
impure1 and that love of things that    

are manly1 honest1 and of good report1  
which distinguish all nobler  characters
 from the baser1 and which are produced 
and fostered1 and made  to work strongly
 in every society that has any claim to 
good influence4    ,seeing1 then1 that a
 man's patriotism is to a great extent  
the expression  of his personal life1   
how instructive is this picture of the  
patriot  which the #abbnd ,psalm sets   
before us4  ,we see thus first of all   
how he  feels the unity of his          
people--their one pervading life1 and   
himself a  part of it1 though possibly  
far away--,jerusalem is built as a city 
that  is at unity in itself3 thither the
 tribes go up4  ,those were times when  
,israel suffered from division of tribe 
against tribe1 times when the  pulse of 
common life hardly beat at all1 times of
 isolation or of  jealousy2 but the true
 patriot in ,israel1 as everywhere1 was 
always  possessed by the intense feeling
 of the oneness of his people under one 
,lord2 and whenever this feeling fails1 

we look in vain for the higher  forms of
 common life4    ,but we note1 too1 this
 ,psalmist's passionate personal        
devotion to the  object of his patriotic
 love--,they shall prosper that love    
thee--,for  my brethren and companions' 
sakes ,i will wish thee prosperity4     
,who can  read unmoved these noble and  
generous outpourings8    ,we see1       
moreover1 how his feeling expresses     
itself1 as true love always  does       
express itself in the desire to do good 
to its object1 and1 above  all1 how it  
breathes the spirit of moral and        
religious earnestness4  ,yea1  because  
of the house of the ,lord our ,god ,i   
will seek to do thee good4  ,if  ever   
you desire to test the sincerity and the
 worth of any love you bear  to person1 
place1 institution1 or society1 you have
 only to turn to this  ,psalm1 and see  
if these words fit your thoughts1       
desires1 and  endeavours--,they shall   
prosper that love thee--,for my brethren
 and  companions' sakes ,i will wish    

thee prosperity--,yea1 because of the   
house  of the ,lord our ,god ,i will    
seek to do thee good4  ,here are the    
notes of  true patriotic                
feeling--personal love1 public spirit1  
sanctified by moral  and religious      
purpose1 desire to do good4  ,these are 
the qualities which  are the salt of all
 societies1 and it is by virtue of these
 that they win  their good name1 if they
 do win it4    ,in the history of our   
own school we can point to abundant     
illustrations  of this truth4  ,i will  
mention one only1 familiar to those who 
know our  history4  ,i verily believe1  
wrote a ,school-house boy to his friend 
fifty-three years ago--,i verily believe
 my whole being is soaked through  with 
wishing and hoping and striving to do   
the school good1 or1 rather1  to hinder 
it from falling in this critical time1  
so that all my cares1  and affections1  
and conversation1 thought1 words1 and   
deeds1 look to that  involuntarily4     
,such was one of your predecessors as he

 sat here ,sunday by ,sunday1 a boy     
like any of you4    ,he was eager to    
follow those friends who had preceded   
him to ,oxford as  scholars of ,balliol2
 he was keenly interested in all        
intellectual  pursuits2 he turned for   
his daily pleasure to literature or     
history2 but  alongside of it all1 or   
rather through it all1 underlying it    
all1 giving  earnestness and fervour1   
the true unselfish quality1 to it all1  
there was  burning in his heart a       
consuming zeal for the good of his house
 and  school4  ,for my brethren and     
companions' sakes ,i will wish thee     
prosperity4  ,yea1 because of the house 
of the ,lord our ,god ,i will seek to   
do thee good4    ,it was through the    
spirit and the lives of such as he1     
growing up here1  and leavening all the 
life around them1 and then going forth  
in the same  spirit1 to live the noble  
and earnest type of life elsewhere1 that
 the  name of ,rugby ,school became     
honoured among schools1 and this chapel 

came  to be looked upon as a sacred home
 of inspiring influences2 and it is     
only through an unfailing succession of 
such ,rugbeians--growing up here  in the
 same spirit1 and going forth endowed   
with the same character and  the same   
purpose--that this honourable name1 this
 tradition of good  influences1 can be  
perpetuated4    ,and1 if we desire to   
see how close this is to the spirit and 
the work of  our ,lord1 how it is1 in   
fact1 one manifestation of that spirit  
which is  the saving influence in human 
life2 we have only to turn from the text
  with which ,i started to that with    
which ,i may conclude1 from the         
,psalmist  meditating on the city and   
temple of his heart's affections1 to the
  ,saviour1 as ,he drew near to the     
,cross1 praying for ,his                
disciples--,father1  the hour is come4 4
 4 4 ,i have glorified ,thee on the     
earth3 ,i have  finished the work ,thou 
gavest ,me to do4  ,i have manifested   
,thy name unto  the men whom ,thou      

gavest me out of the world4 4 4 4 ,and  
for their sakes  ,i sanctify ,myself1   
that they also may be sanctified4       
,neither pray ,i for  these alone1 but  
for them also which shall believe on ,me
 through their  word4    ,the only      
change we see as we step from the       
,psalms to the ,gospel1 from the        
,jewish pilgrim to the ,saviour whom we 
worship1 is that religious  patriotism  
has expanded into the love of souls1 the
 love of ,him who laid  down ,his life  
to save us from the power of sin and    
death4    ,it was for you and me that   
,christ was praying2 and ,his prayer for
 us will  be answered so soon as it     
inspires us to follow in ,his footsteps1
 so that  we too1 as we kneel before    
,god each morning1 each night1 and think
 of our  duty to those around us1 may be
 able to say1 in these words of ,his1   
which  are at once a prayer and a       
consecrating vow--,for their sakes ,i   
sanctify  myself1 that they also may be 
sanctified4'           ,,ii4  ,,the     

,,child ,,in ,,the ,,midst4         ,and
 ,he took a child and set ,him in the   
midst of them3 and when ,he had         
taken him in ,his arms1 ,he said unto   
them1 ,whosoever shall receive one      
of such children in ,my name1 receiveth 
,me3 and whosoever shall receive        
,me1 receiveth not ,me1 but ,him that   
sent ,me4--,,st4 ,,mark ix4 #cf1 #cg4   
,it is one of the characteristics of our
 time1 one of its most hopeful and  most
 encouraging signs1 that men are awaking
 to higher and purer  conceptions of the
 ,christian life and what it is that    
constitutes such a  life4  ,we are      
beginning to feel1 as it was not felt by
 former  generations1 that the only true
 religion1 the only ,christianity worthy
 of  the name1 is that which aims at    
embodying and reproducing the spirit1   
the  thought1 the ideas of the ,saviour4
    ,through and underneath all         
ecclesiastical and mediaeval revivals1  
and all  vagaries of church tradition or
 of ritual1 this feeling seems to be    

growing with a steady growth1 that the  
real test of a man's religion is  the   
evidence which his life affords of the  
,christ-like spirit4  ,and this  growing
 feeling gives an ever-fresh interest to
 the words and the  judgment of the     
,lord on all matters of individual      
conduct and daily  intercourse2 so that 
if we are possessed at all by it1 the   
,saviour is  becoming more of a living  
person to us1 and we ask ourselves more 
frequently1 more earnestly1 with more of
 reality and more of practical  meaning 
in the question1 how ,he would judge    
this or that side of our  life1 whether 
our conduct is in harmony with ,his     
spirit1 and whether the  standards of   
our life fit at all with ,his teaching  
and injunctions4    ,and how full of new
 meaning every familiar chapter of the  
,gospel becomes  to you1 if you are once
 roused to this kind of feeling2 if you 
are  feeling all the time1 here is the  
spirit which should be dominating my    
own life and determining it1 here are   

the thoughts1 ideas1 and views of       
conduct which should be mine also4  ,how
 does my common life fit with all  this8
  ,and it is with something like this   
feeling in your minds that ,i  would ask
 you to consider the text ,i have just  
read to you4  ,jesus took  a child and  
set him in the midst of them4  ,he took 
him up in ,his arms and  said1          
,whosoever shall receive one of such    
children in ,my name1 receiveth  ,me4   
,and while we are considering it1 let us
 notice also that in ,st4  ,matthew's   
narrative there are two other very      
emphatic expressions4  ,except ye be    
converted1 and become as little         
children1 ye shall not  enter into the  
,kingdom of ,heaven2 and ,whoso shall   
offend one of these  little ones that   
believe in ,me1 it were better for him  
that a millstone  were hanged about his 
neck1 and he were drowned in the depth  
of the sea4  4 4 4 ,take heed that ye   
despise not one of these little ones2   
for ,i say  unto you1 ,that in heaven   

their angels do always behold the face  
of ,my  ,father which is in heaven4     
,here1 then1 is the child taken up by   
,jesus and set in the midst2 we know    
nothing more of him but this one thing1 
that he represents to us our  ,lord's   
,divine love of little children1 and    
,his high estimate of  childhood1 as the
 mysterious embodiment of that character
 and those  qualities which bring us    
close to the ,divine life4    ,but this 
is quite enough to make us listen to the
 lessons of thought and  warning and    
hope1 which ,jesus expounds to us as ,he
 stands with the child  in ,his arms4   
,his words may very well set every one  
of us thinking about  our own life and  
conduct4  ,we look at this scene--the   
disciples standing  round1 their hearts 
occupied1 as ours are apt to be1 with   
their own  ambitions1 rivalries1 and    
jealousies1 and ,jesus in the midst with
 the  little child2 and we cannot       
mistake or misinterpret the lessons ,he 
teaches us1 the lessons which welled up 

in ,his heart whenever ,he saw1 or  met1
 or took up in ,his arms1 and blessed a 
little child4    ,let every child you   
meet1 he clearly says to us1 remind you 
that if  you desire to be ,my disciple  
and to win a place in ,my kingdom1 you  
must  fling off selfishness1 and put in 
its place the spirit of service and     
tenderness4  ,he that would be first    
must be servant of all4  ,you must      
humble yourself as this little child4   
,and then ,he adds the blessing and the 
warning3--,whoso shall receive one  such
 child in ,my name receiveth ,me2 but   
whosoever shall offend one of  these    
little ones1 it were better for him that
 a millstone were hanged  about his     
neck1 and he were cast into the sea4    
,we may pause for a moment to consider  
what it is in childhood1 what are  the  
gifts1 qualities1 characteristics of the
 child1 that drew from our  ,lord this  
special love and care and these         
injunctions to ,his followers4  ,we do  
well to bear them in mind1 because ,he  

has declared with such  emphasis that we
 have no part in ,his kingdom unless we 
retain or recover  these gifts4  ,and we
 should bear them in mind1 because of   
the blessing  promised to those who help
 to preserve these qualities in others4 
,receive1 help1 cherish1 or protect a   
child1 make the way of goodness easy  to
 him1 and shield him from evil1 and     
,christ declares that inasmuch as  you  
have done it to the least of all ,his   
little ones1 you have done it  unto     
,him4    ,on the other hand1 offend any 
such child1 that is to say1 hinder1 or  
mislead1 spoil or degrade him in any    
way2 do anything to rob a child of  any 
of these ,divine gifts1 rob him of his  
innocence1 or trustfulness1 or  his     
guileless heart1 and sow the seeds of   
evil habits or tastes in their  place1  
and you know the denunciation or curse  
which the ,divine voice has  laid upon  
you for your evil deed4    ,a child1    
then1 is1 as it were1 a living symbol of
 that which draws to us  the love of    

,christ1 and we cannot doubt that he is 
so by virtue of his  innocence1 his     
obedient spirit1 his guilelessness1 or  
simplicity of  character1 his           
trustfulness1 and by all the untarnished
 and unspoilt  possibilities of goodness
 in him4    ,it is in the blessed       
endowment of such gifts as these that   
the little  child looks in the face of  
,christ1 and is embraced in the arms of 
,his  love4     ,and these are1 or they 
once were1 your gifts4  ,as you love the
 better  life1 and hope for good days1  
hold them fast and cherish them1 or if  
any  of them be unhappily lost1 let it  
be your endeavour to recover it4    ,as 
we contemplate such a scene as this in  
our ,lord's life with the little  child 
in the midst1 and listen to the         
,saviour's words1 all the commands  and 
injunctions to keep innocency1 to keep  
the spirit of obedience1 to  keep a     
guileless and trusting and loving heart1
 gain a new force4  ,they  seem to speak
 to us with new voices2 for if the true 

life1 the life that  has in it the hope 
of union with ,christ1 must be a life   
endowed with  these gifts1 whether in   
youth or age1 what a blessed thing it   
will be for  you if you have never lost 
or squandered them4  ,we cannot too soon
 learn  this lesson2 for if under the   
influence of any wrong motives1 or      
following any wrong ideals1 or misled by
 any bad example1 you go astray  and rob
 your young life of these divine gifts1 
no man knows how1 or when1  or where you
 will recover them1 and become again as 
a little child4    ,and if we turn our  
thoughts from our own separate personal 
life1 and look  for a moment at our duty
 as members of a society1 how this      
picture of  ,christ embracing the little
 child1 and blessing those who receive  
or help  one such1 should stir us to new
 and keener interest in social duty6    
,does  it not carry in it1 this example 
and teaching of the ,lord1 does it not  
carry in it the condemnation of a great 
many of our traditional notions  about  

our duty to the young8  ,we see the     
,lord's tenderness and love and  care   
for the little child2 we see how ,he    
values the childlike qualities2  and how
 ,he enjoins the nursing and the        
cherishing of these4  ,if1 then1 we     
have really learnt the lesson which ,he 
thus presses upon us1 we shall  feel    
something like reverence for every young
 life1 as it begins its  perilous and   
uncertain course on the sea of man's    
experiences2 and with  this feeling we  
shall be eager to help and protect such 
lives whenever we  have the chance of   
doing it1 and we shall be very careful  
to do them no  wrong4    ,but when we   
turn from the ,gospel and these thoughts
 which it stirs in us  to our common    
life of every day1 does it not rather   
seem sometimes as if  this teaching of  
the ,lord were all a dream and had no   
reality8  ,and yet  there is hardly one 
of us but would confess that1 having    
once seen this  revelation of the ,lord1
 we are put to shame if1 as happens     

sometimes1 a  young soul comes amongst  
us endowed with these very gifts of     
innocence1  and high purpose1 and trust1
 and promise of all goodness1 which so  
won  the ,saviour's heart1 and is met1  
when he comes1 in school or house1 not  
by care1 or sympathy1 or guidance1 or   
protection1 as of an elder  brother's   
love1 but by experiences of a very      
different sort4  ,you would  agree that 
it is a shame to us if such an one comes
 only to find the  misleading influence 
of some thoughtless or bad companion1 or
 to have  held up before him some bad   
tradition as the law which should rule  
his  life here4     ,i have known--which
 of us in the course of years has not   
known8--such  cases in our school       
experience4  ,a child has come from a   
refined and  loving home1 but only to   
meet with roughness or coarseness2 and  
instead  of retaining those gifts and   
qualities of childhood1 which are the   
godlike qualities of life and meant to  
be permanent1 he has been led to  grow  

up utterly unchildlike1 depraved1       
debased1 hardened2 and there is no      
sadder sight to see than a growth of    
this kind4  ,and if you have ever  seen 
it2 if you have ever noticed the falling
 away from childlike  innocence to sin1 
from purity to coarseness1 from the     
open1 ingenuous1  trusting spirit to    
sullen hardness1 from happiness to      
gloom1 you know how  terribly in earnest
 the ,saviour must have been when ,he   
denounced that woe  on any one who      
causes such debasement of a young       
soul--,whoso shall  offend one of these 
little ones1 it had been better for him 
that a  millstone were hanged about his 
neck1 and he were drowned in the depth  
of  the sea4           ,,iii4  ,,the    
,,brevity ,,of ,,life4         ,i must  
work the works of ,him that sent ,me1   
while it is day3 the night              
cometh4--,,st4 ,,john ix4 #d4    ,there 
are few things more commonly disregarded
 by us in our early years  than the     
brevity of our life through all its     

successive stages1 and the  fleeting    
nature of its opportunities4    ,in     
childhood we are almost entirely        
unconscious of both these               
characteristics of life4  ,indeed1 it   
would hardly be natural if it were      
otherwise4  ,that reflective habit which
 dwells upon them is the result of  our 
experience1 and comes later4  ,it is    
enough for a child if he follows  pure  
and safe instincts1 and lives without   
reflection a healthy1  unperverted life1
 under wise guidance and good teaching4 
,growing in this  way1 free from        
corrupting influences or the contagion  
of bad example1 and  poisoned by no bad 
atmosphere1 he develops naturally       
towards a manhood  which is rooted in   
healthy tastes1 affections unspoilt1 and
 in good  habits4  ,thus you see what   
the very young have a right to claim at 
the  hands of all their elders--that    
they should be careful not to mislead   
them1 and should see that they live in  
pure air1 and feed their growing        

instincts and activities in wholesome   
pastures4    ,during the stage of       
earliest growth it would be a sign of   
unhealthy  precocity if a child were    
much occupied with the continuity of    
things1 or  the close union of to-day   
with to-morrow1 or of all our thoughts1 
acts1  pleasures1 and tastes1 with the  
bent of character which is being        
silently  but surely formed in us2 and  
it would be equally unnatural if his    
thoughts were to dwell much on the      
essential shortness of our life1 and    
the flight of opportunity which does not
 come back to us4    ,it is part of the 
happiness1 or1 ,i fear1 it must be said 
sometimes1 part  of the pain of early   
life1 that the time before it seems so  
long4  ,the  day is long with its       
crowded novelty or intense enjoyment1 or
 possibly  with its dreary and          
intolerable task-work2 to-morrow1 with  
all its  anticipations of things desired
 or to be endured1 seems long2 and the  
vista of years1 as they stretch through 

boyhood and youth1 manhood and  age1    
seems to lose itself in the far distance
 of its length4  ,so1 viewed  from its  
beginnings1 life is long4    ,but with  
the approach of manhood all this begins 
to change4  ,as we grow  out of         
childhood our self-conscious and        
reflective life grows2 and thus  there  
rises in us the feeling of moral        
responsibility never to be shaken  off  
again4  ,not1 however1 that we should   
leave all our childhood behind  us4  ,it
 hardly needs to be said that there are 
some characteristics of  our earliest   
years which every man should pray that  
he may retain to the  end4  ,unless he  
retains them his life becomes a         
deteriorating life4    ,and first among 
these is the reverential or filial      
habit4  ,this deserves  our careful     
attention1 because we sometimes see an  
affectation of silly  and spurious      
manliness1 which thinks it a fine thing 
to cast it off4  ,this  reverential or  
filial feeling1 which is natural to the 

unspoilt and  truthful nature of the    
child1 is preserved in every unspoilt   
manhood2  only with a difference4    ,it
 is raised from the unreflective1       
instinctive trust in a father's         
guidance or a mother's love to that     
higher feeling which tells us that1  as 
is the child in a well and wisely       
ordered home1 so is each of us in  that 
great household of our heavenly ,father4
  ,this spirit of true piety1  which    
uplifts1 refines1 strengthens1 and gives
 courage to manhood1 as  nothing else   
can do1 is the natural outcome and      
successor of a child's  trustfulness1 as
 we rise through it to the feeling that 
we are  encompassed by a ,divine        
consciousness1 and that our life moves  
in a holy  presence4  ,or again1 we pray
 that we may not lose that simplicity   
and  freshness of nature which is at    
once a special charm of childhood1 and1 
wherever it is preserved1 the chief     
blessing of a man's later years4        
,these qualities and characteristics of 

our infancy--trust1 filial  reverence1  
freshness1 simplicity--are not qualities
 to be left behind1  but the natural    
forecast of that religious spirit which 
is the highest  growth of maturity1 and 
our own safeguard against the hardening 
and  debasing influences of the world   
and the flesh4  ,and this was the       
,saviour's meaning when ,he said1       
,whosoever shall not receive the kingdom
  of ,god as a little child shall in    
nowise enter therein4  ,and if there is 
one thing more than another that        
constitutes the special curse of any    
depraved influence acting on young      
lives1 it is that it robs the later     
life of these childlike qualities which 
are the gifts of ,god to bless us  in   
youth and age4    ,but assuming that we 
bear all this in mind1 and hold fast to 
these  fundamental gifts1 and so escape 
those lower and baser forms of life     
which we meet all about in the world1   
spoiling the manhood and  embittering   
the age of so many men1 we cannot forget

 the essential  difference between      
mature years and the years of early     
growth4    ,as we grow towards manhood  
our life necessarily loses its childlike
 and  unreflecting spontaneity in the   
ferment of thought1 desire1 and passion1
  and in the light of experience2 and   
therefore it becomes a matter of no     
slight importance to estimate the value 
of that which we hold in our  hands     
to-day1 the nature of the web which our 
conduct is weaving1 and the  fateful    
character of any mistake in the         
purposes1 notions1 ambitions1 or  tastes
 that are1 as a matter of fact1 fixing  
the drift and direction of  our life4   
,but to do this amidst all the daily    
temptations of life is not  always an   
easy matter2 and it is certain that we  
shall not do it if we do  not fully     
recognise1 while our life is still young
 and unhampered1 the  importance of     
these two very obvious reflections1     
which1 in fact1 resolve  themselves into
 one1 that our time is essentially      

short1 and that our  opportunities are  
very fugitive4     ,in one sense1 no    
doubt1 there is a long stretch of time  
before most of  you4  ,as yet hope has  
more to say to you than memory4  ,some  
of you will  look back on these early   
days from the distant years of another  
century4  ,your life's journey may      
extend far away over the unexplored     
future1 and  may in some cases be a very
 long one2 but1 although this is        
possible1 we  are not allowed to forget 
that it is always precarious--unexpected
 graves  are constantly reminding us how
 short may be the time of any one of    
us--how the night cometh4    ,but it is 
not merely of the literal shortness of  
our time1 or the  possible nearness of  
death1 that our ,lord's words should set
 us thinking1  when ,he warns us that   
the night cometh1 and we must work while
 it is day4    ,if we measure our life  
by the things we should accomplish in   
it1 by the  character it should attain  
to1 by the purposes that should be      

bearing  fruit in it1 and not by mere   
lapse of time1 we soon come to feel how 
very  short it is1 and the sense of     
present duty grows imperative4  ,it is  
thus  that the thoughtful man looks at  
his life2 and he feels that there is no 
such thing as length of days which he   
can without blame live carelessly1      
because in these careless days critical 
opportunities will have slipped  away   
irrecoverably2 he will have drifted in  
his carelessness past some              
turning-point which he will not see     
again1 and have missed the so-called    
chances that come no more4    ,but even 
this is only a part of the              
considerations that make our present    
life so precious2 for this is only the  
outer aspect of it4  ,what makes  our   
time so critically short1 whether we    
consider its intellectual or its  moral 
and spiritual uses1 is that our nature  
is so very sensitive1 so  easily marred 
by misuse1 and spoilt irretrievably4    
,the real brevity of  the time at your  

disposal1 whether for the training of   
your mind1 or for  your growth into the 
character of good men1 consists in this1
 that  deterioration is standing always 
at the back of any neglect or waste4    
,deterioration is the inseparable shadow
 of every form of ignoble life4         
,our acts our angels are1 for good or   
ill1     ,our fatal shadows that walk   
with us still4    ,leave your faculties 
unused and they become blunted and      
dulled2 leave  your higher tastes       
uncultivated and they die2 let your     
affections feed on  anything unworthy   
and they become debased4    ,to those   
who do this it may happen that whilst1  
so far as years go1 they  are still in  
all the freshness of youth1 they are    
already dying that  death to all higher 
capacity which is worse than any decay  
of our  physical organism4  ,such an    
early death of higher tastes and        
faculties1  and of hope for the future1 
is sometimes effected even before       
schooldays  are over4  ,and the mere    

possibility of such a fate overhanging  
any of us  should stir us like a        
trumpet-call to take care that we do not
 surrender  our life to any mean        
influence1 and that we are very zealous 
for all that  concerns the safety of the
 young4    ,i send out my child1 ,i can 
imagine the parent of any one of you    
having  said1 to be trained for manhood2
 ,i send him to his school that his     
intellect may be cultivated1 his moral  
purpose made strong1 and that all  good 
and pure tastes may be fostered in him2 
but it is dreadful to think  that       
instead of this he may1 by his life and 
companionship there1 be  hardened and   
debased1 or even brutalised2 he may     
become dead to the  higher life even    
before he becomes a man4  ,seeing1 then1
 that there is  this possibility of     
death even in the midst of life--a      
possibility1 we  would fain hope1 seldom
 realised in this school1 but still a   
possibility--shall we not be very       
careful1 men and boys alike1 so to do   

our part in this society1 so to shelter 
the young and strengthen the  weak1 and 
to keep the atmosphere of our life a    
pure atmosphere1 that  every sensitive  
soul which comes amongst us may grow up 
here through a  healthy and wholesome   
boyhood1 and go out to the duties and   
the calling  of his life1 strong1       
unselfish1 public-spirited1             
pure-hearted1 and  courageous--a        
,christian gentleman4           ,,iv4   
,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,tradition4     
,making the word of ,god of none effect 
through your traditions3 and     many   
such like things ye do4--,,st4 ,,mark   
vii4 #ac4    ,such was our ,lord's word 
to the ,pharisees2 and if we turn to our
 own life  it is difficult if not       
impossible for us fully to estimate the 
influence  which traditions exercise    
upon it4    ,they are so woven into the 
web of thought and opinion1 and daily   
habits  and practices1 that none of us  
can claim to escape them4  ,moreover1 as
  any institution or society grows      

older1 this influence of the part which 
is handed on from one generation to     
another tends to accumulate2 so that    
the weight of it lies heavier on us in  
an old place than in a new one1  and it 
is obvious that there is both loss and  
gain in this4    ,a good tradition is a 
great help and support1 giving a        
strength1 or  firmness1 or dignity to   
our life which it would not otherwise   
have had4    ,we often see or feel the  
value of such a tradition as it acts    
upon the  members of a family1 or of a  
college1 or of a regiment1 or of a      
school4    ,and this influence of a     
tradition1 inasmuch as it has become    
impersonal1  and rooted in the general  
life1 is apt to be very persistent1 so  
that the  man who establishes a good    
tradition anywhere begins a good work1  
which  may go on producing its good     
results long after he himself is in his 
grave4    ,many of you must have felt   
the power of such an influence1 handed  
on to  you as if it were a part of your 

inheritance1 when thinking of a brother1
  or father1 or other relative or       
ancestor1 who by some distinction of    
character1 or by some inspiring words or
 some brave or generous act1 has  left  
you a good example1 which seems somehow 
to belong to you1 and to  stir you as   
with an authoritative call to show      
yourself worthy of it4    ,similarly in 
a society like this school you can      
hardly grow up without  sometimes being 
stirred by the tradition of the noble   
lives that have  left their mark upon   
its history4    ,so a man's good deeds  
live after him1 and become woven as     
threads of gold  into the traditions of 
the world4    ,and we are equally       
familiar with traditions that are bad1  
and with their  pestilent influence2 for
 we are constantly made to feel how much
 of the  good that men endeavour to do  
is thwarted1 counteracted1 or destroyed 
by  influences of this sort1 and how    
weak and imitative souls are entangled  
in the network of traditional influence 

as in a spider's web4  ,tradition1  in  
fact1 represents to us the accumulated  
power of past lives as it acts  upon us 
from the outside1 just as what men call 
heredity represents this  same influence
 in our own blood4    ,and we have seen 
that this power may be1 and often is1 a 
real advantage  and support to our life4
  ,we feel also that as the ,divine     
light shines  stronger and steadier in  
human affairs the traditional influence 
of each  generation ought to become more
 and more helpful to those that follow4 
,and yet1 you observe1 the ,saviour     
gives us no encouragement to depend     
upon those helps that tradition might   
bring us4  ,on the contrary1 ,his       
language shows how dangerous ,he felt   
the influence of tradition to be4  ,how 
are we to account for this8  ,his       
strongest denunciations are reserved    
for the ,pharisaic party2 and yet a     
historian would describe them as in     
many respects the best elements of      
,jewish life4  ,they were earnest1      

patriotic1 religious1 many of them wise 
and holy men2 but their judgment  was   
held in bondage by the influence of     
tradition1 and in this lies the         
cardinal defect of their life4  ,they   
had set up between their souls and  the 
spirit of ,god a sort of graven image of
 ritualistic observances1 and           
traditional usages and interpretations4 
,they depended on externals1 or  what   
came to them from the past or from the  
outer world1 and their eyes  were       
blinded1 and their hearts hardened      
against every new revelation4    ,thus  
they stand before ,christ1 blocking ,his
 path1 the very embodiment of  that     
power which closes the soul against     
those inspiring and purifying           
influences that come from direct        
communion with ,god4  ,they block the   
,saviour's path1 because this personal  
communion is just what ,he  represents  
to us--the direct revelation of the     
,spirit of ,god in man4  ,he  comes to  
reveal the ,father to each of us1 and to

 make us feel the  presence of the      
,divine creative ,spirit in every       
separate human life2 and  till we feel  
this personal illumination we have not  
realised the  manifestation of the ,son 
of ,god4  ,but the ,pharisee with his   
continual  reference to tradition1 his  
multiplication of external observances1 
and  elaborate ritual1 his reliance upon
 usage and external authority1 knows    
little or nothing of the personal       
illumination by the direct influence of 
the ,spirit of ,god upon our spirit4    
,hence this absolute and fundamental    
contrast between ,jesus and the         
,pharisees4  ,they represent two        
opposing  principles in life4  ,and it  
is this that gives such intensity to the
  words ,he addressed to them3 ,ye have 
made the word of ,god of none effect    
through your traditions2 and it is a    
universal warning--never out of  date4  
,if the spirit of traditional usage and 
influence holds the citadel of a  man's 
life1 the spirit of ,christian progress 

cannot gain an entrance4    ,that is the
 lesson which the ,saviour presses upon 
our attention by ,his  denunciation of  
the ,pharisaic usage1 habit1 and        
attitude1 and it is  hardly possible to 
overestimate the importance of the      
lesson1 because  this same spirit of    
,pharisaic tradition is constantly      
laying its hand  upon every human       
institution1 and it has contributed to  
every abuse or  perversion that has     
taken possession of the ,christian      
,church4    ,our life is1 in fact1 a    
continuous struggle between the two     
principles  here represented4  ,which is
 to prevail in it1 and fix its          
character--  traditional custom1 or     
personal inspiration8  ,are we to follow
 the world  with its conventions and    
laws1 or to live in personal communion  
with ,god8  ,the tendency of our life   
will be determined in one direction or  
the other  according as we surrender our
 will to the rule of traditional notions
 and  usages1 the power of the external 

world1 or as we seek for direct         
illumination of mind1 conscience1 and   
spirit at the ,divine sources of  truth 
and light4    ,here1 then1 we have a    
principle to guide us in our relation to
 the  traditions amidst which we live4  
,we do not expect to get away from them2
 we never dream of escaping from  the   
influences of the external world1       
whether of the past or the present2  but
 to move safely among them1 we must have
 learnt and adopted this  primal lesson1
 that no tradition1 and no external     
practice or custom1 has  any            
authoritative claim upon us1 simply from
 being established as a  tradition or a 
custom4    ,and as we stand amidst all  
the conventions and practices that have 
come  down to us1 we should be able to  
say of every one of them--    ,every    
good tradition1 and every wholesome and 
beneficent usage1 ,i accept  thankfully 
as part of the inheritance which good1  
or wise1 or brave men  have left as     
their legacy for my use and assistance2 

but it is my bounden  duty to measure   
them all by the standard of ,god's      
unchanging law3 by it ,i  will prove    
them2 ,i will use them or reject them   
according as they fit or  fail in this  
measurement1 and ,i will not be brought 
under the power of  any of them4        
,whether1 then1 we think of our separate
 personal life or of our life in  its   
social relationships1 we must think of  
it in this way if we are to be  in any  
real sense followers of ,christ4  ,each 
of you1 as he steps into the  world1 is 
not merely an inheritor of certain      
accumulations of life and  tradition1   
which he should follow as a matter of   
course4  ,he is not born  to tread a    
certain track of conduct or behaviour   
because others have  trodden it before  
him1 following it without thought like  
the sheep on the  mountain1 or like the 
ants as they travel from one ant-hill to
 another4    ,your estimate of your life
 should be fundamentally different from 
this4  ,you are primarily a child of    

,god1 illumined by direct communion with
 the  ,spirit of ,god2 and your first   
duty1 therefore1 whenever and in        
whatever  place or circumstances you may
 chance to be1 is not to follow this or 
that tradition or usage which may meet  
you2 but to stand up and show that  you 
are ,god's child1 and therefore a judge 
of all traditions or customs1  and not  
their slave4    ,this is the revelation 
which ,christ declares to us as the one 
first  requisite of the ,christian life4
  ,so you see the ,christian man's      
attitude  towards all traditions or     
customs is that of independence2 his    
thought  and his judgment are as free in
 regard to them as if they were newly   
born4  ,he is1 in fact1 bound to judge  
them according to their deserts2  and no
 society can hope to prosper unless this
 is recognised1 so that  evil customs   
may not corrupt the common life4  ,it is
 the danger of such  corruption that    
makes the ,saviour denounce the         
traditional habit1 and  summon ,his     

followers to live by the rule of close  
personal communion with  ,god4  ,thus   
the life that goes forward and rises to 
higher and yet higher  levels is always 
a life of new revelations1 a life which 
is being  illumined and illumined afresh
 by those flashes of ,divine insight1   
and  strength1 and courage1 which come  
to men only as they came to the ,lord   
,himself in the secret communion of     
prayer and meditation1 and through  that
 independence of spirit which arises    
from the sense of ,god's presence  to   
guide us and to uphold4    ,take your   
own case4  ,if you are living here      
simply according to  traditional rules1 
doing this or that because1 as you may  
be told1  everybody does it2 accepting  
standards of conduct and rules of       
practice1  because1 as you understand1  
or1 as some one undertakes to persuade  
you1  they have always been so accepted1
 why1 then1 you are growing up to be    
one of that never-ending succession of  
men who are the ,pharisees1 the         

opponents of the ,christ1 in every      
generation1 who live with tame          
conscience in any sort of company1 and  
perpetuate the bad traditions of  the   
world4    ,but if you listen to the call
 of ,christ1 and have truly learned to  
feel  that the only real man's life is  
that which you live with the light of   
,god's law shining upon it1 then1 as a  
matter of course1 you will rise         
superior to the influence of any        
tradition or custom1 no matter what its 
authority may seem to be4    ,and it    
will indeed be a happy thing for you if 
you grow up with that ,god-  given      
strength of character and purpose which 
can treat all traditions1  and all      
usages1 or fashions1 or customs as      
things that should be  subordinated1 and
 should not rule us1 as things to be    
used by us if they  help us to a better 
life1 but to be flung aside and         
rejected1 if they  contradict the voice 
of ,god in our hearts4           ,v4    
,,vain ,,hopes4         ,and he said1   

,nay1 father ,abraham3 but if one went  
unto them from the     dead1 they will  
repent4  ,but he said1 ,if they hear not
 ,moses and the     prophets1 neither   
will they be persuaded1 though one rose 
from the     dead4--,,st4 ,,luke xvi4   
#cj1 #ca4    ,it is by no means uncommon
 for any one who is living a life which 
does  not satisfy his own conscience to 
console himself with the fancy that if  
only such and such things were different
 around him he would be a new  man1     
filled with a new spirit1 and exhibiting
 a new character4  ,but is it  so very  
certain that this would be the case8    
,such persons are apt to dream of some  
goodness or some virtue which under     
other circumstances they would make     
their own2 and there are1 in fact1  few 
conditions more dangerous than that of  
this class of dreamers1  whether among  
boys or men4  ,to all who may be tempted
 in this way1 our  ,lord's words in the 
parable come with a very significant    
warning3 ,nay1  father ,abraham3 but if 

one went unto them from the dead1 they  
will  repent4  ,but he said1 ,if they   
hear not ,moses and the prophets1       
neither  will they be persuaded1 though 
one rose from the dead4    ,when        
insidious and delusive hope would draw  
us on and beguile us in any  sinful way1
 whispering that ,god will some day send
 special gifts and  messengers of grace 
to inspire us with new life1 this is his
 plain  answer3 ,if they hear not ,moses
 and the prophets1 neither will they be 
persuaded1 though one rose from the     
dead4    ,and hardly any one can say    
that he is altogether free from this    
tendency  to lean upon the future with  
vain hopes1 and is in no need of the    
warning  which this text conveys to us4 
,in serious moments1 when the mind is   
calm1 and neither passion nor  appetite 
is stirring1 we feel how good a thing it
 is to have crucified  the flesh and to 
be living close to ,christ2 but when we 
are within the  fiery circle of trial or
 temptation1 when sinful desires arise1 

or  passions are strong1 or             
solicitations to evil are subtle and    
enticing1  then we are only too ready to
 catch at any hopes about the vague     
future4  ,to the unstable and           
incontinent1 to those whose nature is   
weak while  their conscience is not     
dead1 this hope is a dangerous          
temptation1  beguiling them with the    
suggestion that some day there will open
 before  them an easy path to that      
virtue or self-denial to which the way  
is too  rough at present4  ,nay1 father 
,abraham3 but if one went unto them from
  the dead1 they will repent4           
,by-and-by1 they say1 as they dream     
about  the future1 ,god will lay ,his   
hand upon them2 the ,holy ,spirit will  
touch  their souls with new life2 they  
will receive in some inscrutable way new
  power1 and in the exercise of this    
power they will cast off the bondage  of
 sin or weakness2 but how and by what   
means this great and necessary  change  
is to be brought about they do not stop 

to think1 and meanwhile  they yield to  
worldly or fleshly appetite1 trusting   
vaguely to an  uncertain future for some
 ,divine gift4    ,if you look into the 
thoughts and habits of your life1 some  
of you may be  compelled to acknowledge 
that this case is not unfamiliar to you4
  ,so men  sometimes dally with a       
temptation1 and linger beside it1       
courting its  company1 instead of       
flinging it away from them1 as the snare
 of the  devil1 because of some secret  
hope that by-and-by ,god will place them
 out  of the way of it1 or give them    
some new strength against it1 which as  
yet  has not been given4  ,how easy it  
is for us to entice ourselves in this   
way out of the narrow path of present   
duty into the tangled wilderness of  a  
weak and sinful life1 from which escape 
becomes every day more  difficult4      
,and this enticement along the ways of  
sin being so easy1 it may be  happening 
to some of you4  ,you may feel that1    
judged even by your own  standard1 which

 is more likely to be too low than too  
high1 your life is  somehow             
unsatisfactory2 your better instincts   
may be telling you that you  were born  
for something higher1 purer1 stronger   
than what you are or have  been2 and you
 are cherishing the hope that it will be
 different with you  some day2 your     
circumstances1 you think1 or your       
occupation1 or your  companionship will 
have changed1 and so you fondly imagine 
that you  yourself will be sure to      
change1 as if your soul were just a     
weathercock  that answers to every      
changing breeze4  ,so perhaps you hope  
that some  habit of self-indulgence or  
idleness will drop off1 or some evil    
temper  be eradicated2 and whilst all   
this vague and mischievous dreaming goes
 on  you yield very likely to some      
besetting sin1 making no serious effort 
to  get away from it now1 and you yield 
all the more because of this  misleading
 hope that some day you will be touched 
by a supernatural hand1  and will rise  

up to a regenerate life4  ,and yet our  
reason tells us that  all this is the   
very essence of self-deceit1 and that   
such dreams and  hopes are the devil's  
most subtle temptation4  ,this kind of  
vain hope is  based on a complete       
misconception of the nature of our      
conflict with sin1  and the way to      
escape from it4  ,to think thus of      
spiritual gifts and the  growth of the  
spiritual life1 is to follow a very     
dangerous delusion4  ,it  was just such 
a misunderstanding that is expressed in 
the hope of ,dives  about his brethren3 
,if one went unto them from the dead1   
they will  repent4  ,their ordinary     
daily teachings1 he seems to say1 the   
voice of  ,moses and of the prophets1   
the examples of good men around them1   
the  warnings1 the exhortations1 these1 
being so familiar1 may not have         
startled them out of their sin2 but if  
only one were to go to them from  the   
dead1 some messenger of strange voice   
and aspect1 who had seen hell1  and     

could paint its horrors1 then surely the
 course of their life would  be checked 
and changed1 and their spirit would wake
 up in them1 and they  would sin no     
more4  ,but to all this comes back the  
stern warning of the  ,divine answer3   
,if they hear not ,moses and the        
prophets1 neither will  they be         
persuaded1 though one rose from the     
dead4    ,and we may profitably consider
 what this means in its application to  
our  own life4  ,such a warning is      
evidently meant to remind us that the   
mystery of sin in human life is not to  
be got rid of by any such reliance  on  
vague hopes4  ,this mystery of sin in   
the heart and life1 misleading1         
weakening1 dragging us down1 means in   
fact the subtle1 poisonous1  creeping   
power which evil inclinations exercise  
over a weak and depraved  will4  ,are   
we1 then1 to trust to some sudden       
visitation from above1 for  which we    
make no preparation1 to break down or   
overthrow a power of this  kind8  ,on   

the contrary1 the words of this parable 
stand here to declare  to us that it is 
nothing less than perversity and folly  
in any man to go  on either defiling his
 nature1 or degrading it1 or even       
neglecting to  strengthen and support   
it1 under this delusion that some day   
the breath  of ,heaven will sweep it    
clean or give it new vigour4  ,and your 
own  experience is in exact accordance  
with these parabolic warnings of the    
,saviour4  ,you know that your moral and
 spiritual nature is now at this        
present time undergoing a process of    
continual and momentous change1 that    
every day1 or week1 or month leaves its 
mark upon it2 and that your  soul's life
 means not waiting for some angel of    
,god's providential grace  to visit you 
and carry you up into a new air2 but it 
means that you are  weaving the web of  
your unchangeable destiny by your use or
 abuse of the  gifts of ,god that are in
 your hands to-day4    ,born into the   
world with the taint of inherited       

corruption in us1 as also  with the     
germs of pure affection and high        
instinct and purpose1 we have  to take  
care for ourselves and for each other   
that the taint does not eat  out the    
good1 by growing into sins of boyhood or
 of youth1 or by  hardening into        
depraved habits in our manhood4  ,if we 
let our youth take  an unhappy downward 
course1 whether in taste or habit1 every
 day puts  salvation farther off from   
us1 because every day any fault which is
  indulged or nursed tends to grow      
deeper and more inveterate2 and yet1    
forgetting this1 how many1 while their  
early years are running to waste1  nurse
 the vain hope that some day they will  
receive the sudden baptism of  a new    
birth4    ,so1 then1 instead of vaguely 
trusting1 any of us1 to the hope of what
  some future call or help or happy     
visitation may do for us1 let us obey   
the ,divine injunction1 which1 when     
rightly understood1 is very pressing1   
urging us1 as we hope to see good days1 

to be very jealous of our present  life 
and its tendencies2 let us do this1     
standing always firm and  immovable in  
the things that are pure and of good    
report4     ,however it may be in some  
other matters1 in this matter of our    
moral and  spiritual life1 the greatest1
 the most important1 the most serious   
thing  of all1 it is almost invariably  
true that the child is father of the    
man1  and we feel that we have no right 
to expect it to be otherwise4  ,in our  
everyday consideration of life1 we      
recognise all this3 we speak of growth  
in character and formation of habit as  
facts which no one would ignore1  and   
which cannot be overestimated4  ,but to 
acknowledge these1 and at the  same time
 to trust that ,god will hereafter      
arrest any stream of sinful  tendency in
 us which we ourselves do not attempt to
 stop now1 is to add  presumption to    
sin4    ,when we speak of ,heaven and   
,hell1 we have in our thoughts the      
vision of  those ultimate points towards

 which the diverging courses of men's   
lives  are slowly tending day by day4   
,and the question rises3 ,on which of   
these lines is my life travelling at the
 present time1 and towards which  side  
of the impassable gulf8    ,at present  
we know that the way of ,christ is still
 open before us1 and  that ,he calls us 
with a voice which never grows weary2   
but we feel  equally that the future is 
dark1 if we waste or misuse the present1
 and  we do not know how long the       
heavenward path may be as open1 or as   
easy1  as it is to-day4  ,for the       
question is not a question of ,god's    
untiring  patience or the never-failing 
love of ,christ4  ,it is not how long   
will  ,his ,spirit continue to strive   
with us1 as it has striven hitherto1    
through the care and love of parent or  
friend1 through the exhortations  or    
efforts of a teacher1 or the example of 
a companion1 or in a thousand  other    
ways4  ,the question is rather whether  
it is not folly to expect  that ,god    

will send upon us some other more       
powerful regenerating and  strengthening
 influence1 if we are now neglecting all
 this care and love  and patient        
striving on our behalf4  ,if they hear  
not ,moses and the  prophets1 neither   
will they be persuaded1 though one rose 
from the dead4    ,consider these things
 while life is fresh1 and good          
influences are  present with you4       
,whatever our faults may be1 they all   
come under this  one rule1 that to-day  
is given us to win our freedom from     
their power--to-  day and not to-morrow4
  ,the question which is pressed home   
through the  warning of this parable is 
thus a very plain one3 ,what is my      
future hope  or prospect1 if ,i let this
 or that particular sin lurk and linger 
in my  heart1 feeding upon me every day1
 and growing stronger in consequence8   
,what if ,i do not resist any fault that
 has a hold upon me8  ,what if ,i do    
not pray to be delivered from it8  ,what
 if ,i do not flee from it8    ,if you  

hear not ,moses and the prophets1       
neither will you be persuaded1  though  
one rose from the dead4           ,,vi4 
,,what ,,doest ,,thou ,,here8           
,and1 behold1 the word of the ,lord came
 unto him1 and he said unto     him1    
,what doest thou here1 ,elijah8--#a     
,,kings xix4 #i4    ,there is a sound of
 rebuke in these words4  ,they seem to  
imply that the  lonely mountain of      
,horeb was not the place in which ,god  
expected to find  such a servant as     
,elijah1 and that there should be no    
indefinite  tarrying1 no lingering      
without an aim in such a solitude4      
,as you read the familiar history you   
see how the record of the prophet's     
retirement and his vision in ,horeb is a
 record1 first of all1 of reaction      
after fierce conflict2 it exhibits the  
picture of a strong man in a  moment of 
weakness ready to give up the hopeless  
struggle1 crying to ,god1  ,it is       
enough1 now1 ,o ,lord1 take away my     
life2 and then it shows us how  ,god    

dealt with him in that solitude2 we hear
 the ,divine voice pleading in  him     
again1 bearing its ,divine witness1     
putting its searching questions1        
teaching him the universal lesson that  
despondency1 weakness1 solitude1        
shrinking and retiring1 if they have any
 place in our life1 are only for  a     
time1 and must not be allowed to rule in
 it4    ,that ,divine vision which came 
to ,elijah in the recesses of the       
mountain  is1 in fact1 the voice of ,god
 summoning him back to the duties that  
were  waiting for him1 and the renewal  
of his strength for the new work he had 
to do4  ,and the interest of such a     
vision never fails1 because1 like       
,elijah1 all men come to times when they
 too lie under the juniper tree in  the 
wilderness longing to be set free from  
the burden which is too heavy  for them1
 be it the burden of some call1 or work1
 or duty1 or of  resistance to some     
temptation1 or the struggle against sin 
or vice4  ,it  comes to all of us1 and  

not once only1 but many times over1 this
 hour of  darkness2 and it will continue
 to come so long as the flesh is weak4  
,and  it is at such moments that a man  
is the better for going with the prophet
  into this ,horeb1 the mount of ,god1  
making ,elijah's vision his own vision1 
and renewing his strength1 at the same  
,divine source4  ,how often it  happens 
to men1 to boys1 to all alike1 that they
 flee into the desert1  away from the   
post of present duty1 away from the face
 of difficulties  which they cannot or  
will not stand up against1 away from the
 moments of  trial and discipline4      
,and1 seeing that our life is not and   
cannot be a  solitary thing1 seeing that
 the pulsations of each individual's    
life are  creating other pulsations     
which answer them back in other lives1  
we know  not where or how many1 whenever
 we thus shrink away from our duty1 when
  we turn our back upon it1 or despond  
about it1 when we become deaf to the    
higher calls1 we are1 in fact1 crying to

 ,god to be relieved of our  service to 
,him and to our fellows4  ,and it is a  
happy thing for our life  if ,he does   
not answer us according to our cry1 and 
let us go into the  wilderness1 and     
leave us alone there4    ,this voice1   
following us with the question1 ,what   
doest them here8 is  the evidence that  
,god has not abandoned us4    ,what     
doest thou here1 ,elijah8  ,how often   
must this voice have followed  the monk 
into his solitude1 refusing to be       
silenced1 piercing through all  the     
false notions about a man's relationship
 to his fellow-men1 warning  each soul  
that it cannot separate itself from the 
great tide of universal  life4    ,and  
the voice comes to us1 the same warning 
voice of ,god1 whenever we  stand aloof 
and let the tide around us run on       
anyhow1 as if we didn't  care how it    
ran1 or whenever in obedience to any    
impulse1 whether of  selfishness or of  
timidity1 we try to persuade ourselves  
that some duty  may be left alone4      

,what doest thou here1 ,elijah8  ,the   
quality of our life depends on the      
answer we give to such spiritual        
questioning day by day2 for the ,divine 
voices are never silent4    ,what doest 
thou here8  ,the voice cries to us when 
we linger in the  neighbourhood of any  
sin1 or when we waste our opportunities 
in some form  of idleness1 or when we   
stand by in cold or timid indifference1 
refusing  help or consolation to any    
soul which seems to need it4    ,what   
doest thou here8  ,it is possible that  
some of us hardly like to  shape our    
answer in plain words lest we might have
 to say3 ,i am here  lingering in my    
present way of life1 not because ,i feel
 it to be the  right way1 but because it
 is the easy way1 and ,i cannot bring   
myself to  face the harder and more     
manly course of duty4  ,i hear the      
voice2 ,i  cannot get away from it2 it  
haunts me with its inquiries1 when my   
heart  is hot within me1 as it is       
sometimes1 while yet ,i am burying the  

light  that is in my soul4  ,if it      
should be so with any of you1 consider1 
,i  pray you1 how by such hanging back  
you strengthen the force of evil in  the
 world and weaken the good4    ,as the  
hour of reaction1 weakness1 flight1 came
 to ,elijah1 so we must  expect it to   
come to any of us2 but the aim and      
purpose of our life  should be that in  
such an hour we may be able to answer   
our ,heavenly  ,father when ,he         
questions us1 as ,elijah was able to    
answer3 ,i have been  very jealous for  
the ,lord ,god of ,hosts4  ,if we live  
as those who are  jealous for ,god and  
,his law1 letting it be known and felt  
that we are  thus jealous for ,his      
honour1 not one of us could fail to make
 the life  around us in some degree     
better1 brighter1 happier4    ,it is in 
this way that he who is strong and true 
makes truth and honour  and uprightness 
stronger in those beside him2 it is in  
this way that he  who is industrious1 as
 a duty1 makes industry more prevalent2 

it is in  this way that he who shows his
 hatred of impurity makes the atmosphere
  pure in his society4    ,and in so far
 as any of you are acting in this way   
you are doing a  prophet's work1 and    
you1 too1 may claim to have been jealous
 for the ,lord  ,god of ,hosts4  ,so the
 youngest boy and the oldest man may    
become fellow-  labourers--,greek       
text--fellow-labourers in the           
harvest-field of ,god1  and it is a     
great privilege to claim4    ,but the   
blessing of it is greater still4  ,very 
often1 if you are known to  be thus     
jealous1 even your presence will banish 
sin1 silencing the evil  tongue1        
strengthening the weaker brother1 and   
making the sunshine of a  new life to   
shine all round you4    ,but what if    
sometimes you feel that you are not     
equal to all this8 if  when the voice   
cries1 ,what doest thou here8 you have  
no answer to give8  ,it is good for us  
in such a case to turn and see how ,god 
dealt with ,his  prophet1 how ,he made  

him come forth and stand on the mount   
before him4  ,the ,lord passed over him1
 revealing ,his presence in the wind1   
the  earthquake1 and the fire1 revealing
 it yet more intimately in the sound  of
 the still small voice4  ,so ,he sent   
,him out again with a new  commission2  
and so we1 too1 may learn our lesson1 if
 we care to learn it4  ,and the lesson  
is this1 that ,god renews our wavering  
strength1 that ,he  lifts up our        
drooping spirit1 and opens our dull eyes
 and gives us afresh  the hearing ear1  
by communion with ,himself4  ,in the    
solitude of the mount  of ,god1 through 
the symbols of ,his power1 and in the   
sound of the inner  voices1 in          
meditation1 in prayer1 we may find those
 refreshing influences  which give us   
new strength1 new thoughts1 new notions 
of ,god and duty1  and send us out      
afresh to do ,his work in new service to
 ,him4    ,we may follow ,his teaching  
to ,elijah a little further4  ,the new  
message  to him began1 ,return on thy   

way--do such and such things4  ,the new 
message is1 in fact1 just as always1 a  
new call to old duties--,return on  thy 
way4  ,and so it is for you and me4     
,after the vision of ,god comes  the    
plain and homely work to do1 as we walk 
in old ways1 and have to meet  all our  
old dangers and difficulties4  ,has any 
one of us ever shrunk from  any post of 
duty in life1 or strayed from any       
straight course8  ,then if  ,god has in 
,his mercy visited us with the warning  
call1 ,what doest thou  here8 or laid   
the call of a new message upon us1 it is
 almost sure to  have been a call to    
return and take the straight path1 or to
 take our  stand at the deserted post4  
,and if it should ever happen to us that
 the  duty which looks too hard is1 as  
indeed it happens very often1 some duty 
of our social life1 should we feel as if
 the world were against us1 and  we were
 standing alone1 let us not forget      
,god's word of final  encouragement to  
his prophet1 ,yet have ,i left me seven 

thousand in  ,israel who have not bowed 
to ,baal4    ,it is a word for all time4
  ,if ever you are fighting for the     
good1 and  growing weary in the fight1  
the thought may rise in you that you    
seem to  be fighting alone1 and that    
everything is against you1 just because 
you  cannot see the seven thousand who  
are in the same ranks1 and on your      
side4    ,in the darkest hour of        
,israel's history we are thus told of an
 indefinite  multitude who had stood    
firm in the faith of their fathers1     
untouched and  untainted by adverse     
influence1 and the recollection of it   
should serve  to strengthen and         
encourage every individual who is really
 jealous for  that which is good4       
,let us1 then1 take the warning1 and    
nurse it as a gift of ,god1 and go      
forward where duty calls us1 sometimes  
faint1 it may be1 and sometimes  weary1 
but still pursuing4           ,,vii4    
,,private ,,prayer1 ,,and ,,public      
,,worship4         ,and1 as ,his custom 

was1 ,he went into the synagogue on the 
,sabbath     day4--,,st4 ,,luke iv4 #af4
       ,he went out1 and departed into a
 solitary place1 and there ,he          
prayed4--,,st4 ,,mark i4 #ce4    ,these 
two texts set before us our ,saviour's  
habit in regard to public and  private  
spiritual exercise2 and they suggest to 
us the question1 ,what  have we1 on our 
part1 to say of these two elements in   
our own life8  ,these  texts1 we bear in
 mind1 represent not something casual or
 intermittent in  the life of our ,lord4
  ,they stand in the record of it as a  
typical1  essential1 inseparable part of
 ,his habitual practice4  ,what we have 
to  remember about them is that1 whereas
 all men recognise in the life of       
,jesus the one unique example in human  
history of a life which is morally      
perfect and immaculate1 if we were to   
take these out of it1 the customary     
share in all common worship1 and the    
private1 separate communing with  ,god1 
it would be an altogether different     

life--different in its attitude  towards
 the common life of ordinary men1 and   
different in its own quality  and       
influence4    ,we might still           
admire--nay1 we could not but           
admire--all the beauty of  moral        
qualities1 the purity1 the sympathy1 the
 love and self-devotion of  it2 but it  
would have lost its spiritual           
atmosphere4  ,it would no longer  be for
 us the life of the ,divine ,son1       
recognising and ready to share in  all  
our attempts at worshipping the ,father1
 however poor they may be1 and  living  
through the separate life in daily      
communion with ,him4    ,here then is   
,his practice1 written for our guidance1
 given that we may be  stirred by it to 
aim upwards1 inviting us to set our own 
practice side by  side with it1 and see 
how it looks in such a juxtaposition4   
,let us  glance for a moment at each of 
these texts separately4    ,as regards  
the one which ,i have taken from ,st4   
,mark--,he went out1 and  departed into 

a solitary place1 and there ,he         
prayed--we have only to  turn over the  
pages of this ,gospel and note1 as we   
go1 the similar  allusions1 and we feel 
that we have here what is in fact an    
incidental  glimpse into the habitual   
practice of ,his secret and separate    
life4    ,in this passage we read that  
,he departed into a solitary place1 and 
there  ,he prayed2 in another by-and-by 
that ,he departed into a mountain to    
pray2  and then again that ,he spent the
 whole night in prayer2 and we see all  
this not in some crisis of ,his life1   
but as a part of that which  corresponds
 to the common daily round in your life 
or mine4    ,and the inference to be    
drawn1 the lesson to be learnt from it1 
is1 ,i  think1 sufficiently obvious4    
,this secret separate devotional        
exercise of the soul was ,his habitual  
spiritual food4    ,it was thus that ,he
 recruited ,his moral and spiritual     
forces1 those  forces of the spiritual  
life which constitute at once the       

beauty1 the  attraction1 the power of   
,his character1 and ,his divine and     
awe-inspiring  separateness4     ,and as
 we read and consider1 the thought must 
surely be pressed upon us  that if ,he  
needed these exercises1 these secret and
 silent hours1 what  shall we say of our
 own lives8    ,and what do we expect to
 make of our moral and spiritual        
character unless  we too are careful to 
cherish under all circumstances some    
such recurring  moments in our round of 
life and occupation1 at which we retire 
into the  sanctuary of separate         
communion with ,god the ,father8    ,you
 may take it as a moral certainty1      
proved by all experience1 that  unless  
you hold to a fixed habit of thus       
bringing your life into the  secret and 
separate presence of ,god1 in private   
prayer and thought1 you  incur the risk 
of sinking to any levels that happen to 
be the ordinary  levels1 and of drifting
 with any currents that happen to       
prevail4    ,if we turn now from this to

 the other text--that which refers to   
,his  customary attendance on public    
prayer and at the common meeting--,he   
went1 as ,his custom was1 into the      
synagogue--the questions suggested are  
very pertinent and practical4    ,just  
consider the circumstances under which1 
as we are told here1 ,he  went1 as ,his 
custom was1 into the synagogue on the   
,sabbath day4  ,the  earlier part of the
 same chapter tells us of ,his fasting  
and temptation  in the wilderness1 of   
the commencement of ,his public mission1
 and his  return to ,nazareth4  ,and1 on
 ,his return1 this is what we are told  
of  him--,he went1 as his custom was1   
into the synagogue on the ,sabbath day4 
,thus we see ,him1 fresh from the great 
crisis of ,his early manhood2 the  long1
 protracted struggle of ,his soul in the
 lonely wilderness2 the  subtle voices  
of manifold temptation2 the hardly won  
victory and the  ministering angels2 all
 this we must suppose to be still       
flashing across  ,his vision1 as the    

scenes of any such crisis must always   
continue to  flash through the quivering
 and responsive organism of the soul4   
,if ever any man might have claimed to  
need no longer the customary  worship of
 common men1 it was surely ,jesus1 as we
 see ,him here on this  occasion1 with  
the breath of ,his own heart-searching  
worship still upon  ,him1 and the light 
of new revelation burning in ,his       
thoughts4    ,among all the significant 
and instructive parts of the ,saviour's 
example  this is not the least          
instructive2 that on this occasion1 as  
on all  others1 he went as a matter of  
regular custom into the synagogue on the
  ,sabbath day1 thus putting the seal   
and stamp of ,his own practice for all  
of us who believe in ,his name upon the 
duty of joining in habitual and  stated 
spiritual exercises4    ,had the ,lord's
 example been different in this respect1
 how easy it would  have seemed to set  
up a string of what we should have      
called sufficient  reasons4    ,the     

old-fashioned routine1 it might have    
been said1 of synagogue worship1  with  
its mechanical dulness and its mistaken 
interpretations of ,god's  word1 its    
shallow and superficial and tedious     
traditional commentaries1  its formalism
 and vain repetitions2 all this1        
whatever might have been  its value for 
the ordinary unenlightened ,jew1 how    
could it have been  necessary and what  
profit could there have been in it for  
the divinely  gifted ,son of man8    ,so
 it might have been argued2 so indeed it
 would seem men who consider  themselves
 enlightened sometimes argue in support 
of their own neglect of  the religious  
life4    ,but it may well make us more  
than doubtful as to the issue of any    
such  neglect1 when we see the mind of  
,christ thus exemplified in ,his        
habitual  observance4    ,we all        
recognise ,his moral and spiritual      
superiority4  ,whether ,his spirit  has 
taken possession of our spirit or not1  
,he stands out as our  undisputed guide 

to the practice of a good life4    ,in  
vision1 in insight1 in purity1 in       
stainlessness1 in all that we  reverence
 in human life and that good men strive 
to attain1 we have no  model to set     
beside ,his example4  ,all the more1    
then1 this fact deserves  our notice1   
and calls us to follow ,him1 that we    
find ,him1 as ,his custom  was1 in the  
synagogue on the ,sabbath day4  ,he was 
there ,sabbath after  ,sabbath listening
 to the provincial teacher1 worshipping 
with the village  labourer1 praying with
 the ignorant and the foolish1 there as 
a matter of  life custom and for ,his   
soul's benefit4    ,i have said that it 
deserves our notice2 but more than      
this--it should be  graven on the minds 
of the young1 so that they may never    
lose the  impression of it1 so that it  
go with them through all their years of 
manhood1 to preserve in them the        
devotional and reverent habit4    ,it is
 indeed good for all of us to think of  
,him there in that primitive  and       

unattractive house of ,god1 listening to
 the rude ,galilean accents1  and bowing
 ,his head in the habitual worship of   
that obscure community4    ,i do not    
think it is possible for us1 unless we  
are quite indifferent  about our moral  
and spiritual condition--unless1 that   
is1 we have low  notions about our life1
 a low aim and a low standard--to be    
unaffected in  our practice by this     
example of the ,lord4  ,we can hardly   
believe that  those exercises of the    
spirit which were so fruitful in ,his   
life will  fail to bear their fruit in  
ours also4    ,what have we to say as we
 picture ,him with all the great        
thoughts of ,his  new work swelling up  
in ,his soul1 the divinely appointed    
teacher of new  wisdom and new faith1   
the bringer of new light among men1 the 
voice of a  new world1 and yet1 being   
all this1 at the same time1 and as a    
means for  working out ,his mission more
 completely1 a regular and devout       
worshipper  in a village house of       

prayer8    ,if it should ever happen to 
any of us that we come to fancy we do   
not  need such common prayer1 or that   
because of defects in public worship we 
do not profit by it1 does not this      
example of the ,saviour rise up and     
rebuke us8  ,yes1 you may rest assured1 
if that day ever comes to you1  that you
 are in danger of drifting away from the
 great saving tides of  the human spirit
 into some shallow or artificial stream 
of your own time  and generation4  ,but1
 on the other hand1 it is a happy thing 
for our life  if1 growing up in the     
habitual use of time-honoured spiritual 
exercises1  we have truly learnt to know
 by our own experience1 as by the       
example of  the ,saviour set before us  
in the ,gospel1 that they are the       
support and  safeguard of all that is   
highest and purest and best in us1 if   
only we  are careful to use them with   
sincerity and reverence4                
,,viii4  ,,an ,,unanswerable ,,question4
         ,who can bring a clean thing   

out of an unclean8  ,not one4--,,job    
xiv4     #d4    ,this is one of those   
simple questions which1 by their very   
simplicity and  directness1 set us      
thinking about the importance of our    
personal life4    ,who can bring a clean
 thing out of an unclean8  ,but all our 
common life  is somehow the outcome of  
our separate individual lives--of your  
life and  mine4  ,therefore how         
important it is in the common interest  
that each of  us should look above all  
things to his own life and its          
character1 for  this will determine his 
contribution to the life of his society4
    ,nearly all men are keen about the  
reputation of their society1 about the  
name it bears1 about the way in which   
men think and speak of it4    ,thus you 
are no doubt sensitive1 almost every one
 of you1 about the good  reputation of  
your school or your house1 or any       
society with which you  may happen to be
 closely connected or identified4       
,and this is a healthy and praiseworthy 

feeling4  ,it would indeed be a bad     
sign if such a feeling were wanting or  
weak in any society4    ,but ,i am not  
sure that we keep it before us--all of  
us--as clearly as we  ought to do1 that 
this reputation of the society is simply
 the outcome of  our separate lives and 
habits4    ,the reputation is the reflex
 of the life2 hardly ever1 perhaps1 an  
exact  reflex1 very often a distorted   
reflex with this or that feature        
exaggerated2 but yet always a reflex4   
,the reputation you bear is the         
impression made by your common life on  
the  minds of those who see it from the 
outside1 or who hear men's talk about   
it4     ,and we do well to be sensitive 
on such a subject2 but we do still      
better  if we bear in mind that this    
common life is what comes out of our own
  life1 and is the result of its contact
 with that of our neighbour4    ,and    
with this thought in our minds we feel  
how searching and how directly  personal
 is this primitive and childlike        

question1 ,who can bring a clean  thing 
out of an unclean8    ,societies1       
especially young societies1 are very    
impressible1 and their  character--the  
quality1 that is1 of their life--is     
fixed by prevailing  influences1 which  
show themselves in fashions1 habits1 and
 tendencies1 in  the common types of    
thought1 or taste1 or behaviour1 or     
conduct4    ,this is obvious enough to  
every one2 but what we do not seem      
always to  consider is the extent to    
which these influences or fashions have 
their  origin1 so far as our own society
 is concerned1 in our own lives4  ,they 
are1 in fact1 in the main the general   
outcome of our separate lives4     ,do  
you1 then1 think of yourselves--this is 
the practical question to  which these  
considerations lead up--as sources or   
centres of such  influence1 contributing
 your personal share to this common     
life8    ,it may make an immense        
difference to all your thoughts about   
your common  habits1 and your standards 

of daily conduct and duty1 if you       
remember  this ancient saying1 that no  
man can bring a clean thing out of an   
unclean4  ,and so ,i have to ask you to 
consider a little how the common  life  
of this society is dependent upon your  
life4    ,every individual acts upon the
 life of the community around him as a  
power or influence in it4  ,this seems  
so obvious when mentioned as hardly  to 
deserve the mentioning1 and yet in      
practice we are very apt to  overlook   
it4    ,you and ,i1 all of us1 without  
any exception1 are endowed with some    
share  of this power4    ,in this       
respect1 as in other ways1 there is1 of 
course1 every possible  difference in   
degree between one and another1 between 
the strong and the  weak1 between those 
who are conspicuous and those who are   
obscure2 but  there is no other         
difference4    ,every one of you        
possesses some share of this mysterious1
 and undefined1  and immeasurable gift  
of influencing his neighbour's life4    

,every sin  that may have a root in your
 heart is acting1 though you may not    
think of  it or intend it1 as a         
pestilent influence outside your own    
life2 every  virtue you exercise may be 
causing similar virtues to take root and
 grow  in some one near to you4    ,the 
tone of the society or life around you  
is1 in fact1 just the sum and           
expression of such individual influences
 as these4    ,we may not be able to    
trace all the various and multitudinous 
germs or  seeds of such influence as    
they flow out from us in our daily round
 of  common life2 but we are conscious  
that each and every single soul1 all    
through its earthly course1 in the      
family and in the outer world1 from     
youth to age1 is1 in fact1 a sower      
scattering these germs of good or evil  
unceasingly4  ,we know1 also1 that when 
they are once scattered they  cannot be 
gathered up again4  ,they are yours to  
scatter--these seeds that  you are      
adding to the common life--and you are  

responsible for the fruit  they bear2   
but having sown them1 you are powerless 
afterwards to prevent  them from bearing
 fruit after their kind in other lives4 
,once launched  in the air around you1  
they spread their contagion of evil or  
their  stimulus to good1 their savour of
 life or death4    ,the mere suspicion  
of this undefined power over other lives
 which is  inherent in our own life     
should surely make us very careful about
 it4    ,it gives a new sense of        
personal responsibility2 it lays its    
hand upon us  to check us in any vice1  
or folly1 or sin2 and it is a stimulus  
to every  virtue and to all good        
purposes4    ,but the thing which of all
 others it is perhaps of most importance
 for us  to remember about it is that   
this stream of our personal influence   
which  flows out of our life is a double
 stream4  ,it is of two kinds4  ,one    
part  of it flows unconsciously1 whether
 we think of it or not2 it streams out  
from our personality as sunlight from   

the sun4    ,the other is that which we 
exercise by some conscious effort of the
 will1  and with some deliberate purpose
 or intention4    ,now1 in the case of  
most of us1 this tide of unconscious    
influence  flowing from us without any  
deliberate or set purpose on our part1  
our  involuntary contribution to the    
common life1 is far more powerful for   
good or for evil than anything which we 
ever do by way of active purpose  to    
influence another's life1 and this      
because our unconscious influence  is   
the reflex on the outer world of what we
 are in ourselves2 it is the            
projection1 or shall we say the         
radiation1 of our own life1 its tastes1 
tempers1 habits1 and character1 upon the
 lives around us4    ,what we do or     
intend to do1 what influence we         
endeavour to exercise1 is  very likely  
to be at the best intermittent1 but this
 door of involuntary  communication     
between every man's life and his        
neighbour's life is always  standing    

open2 and so it comes about that your   
life1 whether public or  private1 is of 
more importance to others than anything 
else about you4    ,at a time when so   
many things contribute to fix men's     
thoughts on  externals1 and we are all  
tempted to think more about our work    
than about  our life1 more about what we
 are doing or intending to do1 than of  
what  we are in ourselves1 these        
considerations assume an unusual        
importance4    ,moreover1 in a society  
like this1 where you live so close to   
one another1  and so much in public1    
there is a special reason for giving to 
such  considerations some special       
attention2 and the thought suggested by 
this  world-old inquiry--,who can bring 
a clean thing out of an                 
unclean8--becomes  a very direct warning
 to look well to our separate life1 and 
take care  what sort of unconscious     
influences it is spreading around it4   
,a moment's reflection will remind you  
how quick and strong such  influences   

may easily prove1 independent of all    
intention or desire on  our part1 or    
even in spite of our deliberate wishes  
or hopes4  ,one man is  careless or     
irreligious1 and his weaker neighbours  
catch the infection of  his example2    
another indulges in some bad habits of  
language or conduct1  or he is addicted 
to some low taste1 or he lives by some  
low standard1  and this or that         
companion is drawn down to his level2   
and so the evil of  his life takes fresh
 root in another life1 and it gets into 
the air1 and  it is impossible to       
predict the limit of its influence4     
,or1 on the other hand1 one man is      
intellectual or refined in his tastes1  
and by merely living in a society he    
creates an atmosphere of intellect  or  
of refinement around him2 or1 it may be1
 he is earnest and courageous1  and     
others are drawn to admire and imitate1 
and so he proves a centre of  courage   
and earnestness4  ,such is the          
solidarity of your life1 as men  call   

it1 and there is no escape from it1 or  
from the responsibilities  which it lays
 upon you4     ,as the tree is known by 
its fruits1 as men do not gather grapes 
of  thorns1 as the same fountain does   
not send forth sweet water and bitter1  
so we have to remember1 when we think of
 the tides of unconscious  influence    
that are continually streaming out from 
us1 that they are  wholesome1 or the    
reverse1 according to the character of  
our secret and  separate life4          
,through them any one of us may become  
to his neighbour or his friend a  savour
 of life unto life1 or of death unto    
death4    ,there are sure to be many in 
such a congregation as this who have    
visions  of the good they hope to do2   
and there is a spirit of native         
generosity  in almost all which makes   
them shrink from the thought of doing   
harm to  another soul4    ,well1 then1  
in this thought of your influence1      
conscious and unconscious1  your first  
and constant prayer will surely be3     

,create in me a clean  heart1 ,o ,god1  
and renew a right spirit within me4     
,the effective servant of ,god is always
 the man who has been prepared and      
purified by the vision of ,god in his   
own soul4    ,if1 then1 we desire to    
contribute some good to our society and 
no evil1  we must take care to keep our 
hearts open to the cleansing influences 
of  the spirit of holiness1 so that no  
habit of sin shall cast its dark  shadow
 around us1 or vitiate that atmosphere  
which is inseparable from  our personal 
life4           ,,ix4  ,,sowing ,,beside
 ,,all ,,waters4         ,blessed are ye
 that sow beside all waters4--,,isaiah  
xxxii4 #bj4    ,these words form part of
 a great prophetic vision4  ,the prophet
 is  standing among his countrymen like 
a watchman on the walls of ,jerusalem4  
,and far away1 as he looks1 the distant 
horizon of his stormy sky is  bright    
with ,messianic hopes1 but around him   
the shadows lie dark and  heavy4    ,it 
was his destiny to speak to a people    

whose ears were dull of hearing  and    
their hearts without understanding2 but 
he never lost the conviction  that the  
holy seed of ,god's spirit was alive in 
them4  ,amidst all present              
discouragement he lived in the hope of a
 brighter and better day1 when  the eyes
 of those around him would be opened1   
and their hearts changed1  and a new    
spirit would take hold of them1 and     
righteousness1 peace1  prosperity1 and  
gladness would prevail4  ,and no man's  
life is worth much  which is not        
inspired by some such hope4    ,what    
,isaiah saw immediately around him was  
sin and moral blindness4  ,what  he saw 
immediately in front of him was the     
consequence of these in woe  and        
desolation4  ,year upon year1 he cries1 
shall ye be troubled1 ye  careless ones3
 thorns and briers shall come upon the  
land of my people3  until the spirit be 
poured upon us from on high1 and the    
wilderness shall  become a planted      
field4  ,but in the day of that         

outpouring1 the heart of  the people    
would turn and be uplifted1 renewed1 and
 purified1 the  wilderness would become 
a planted field4  ,and this thought     
brings him to  the final outburst of the
 text ,i have just read to you1 which is
 a  blessing on those true ,israelites  
who realised the high calling of ,god's 
people1 and were inspired to fulfil it1 
sowing everywhere and always the  seeds 
of ,divine influence4  ,the whole vision
 is highly instructive1 for  it is the  
vision of what occurs again and again in
 all human history2 but  it is of this  
blessing with which it closes that ,i   
desire to say a word  or two to-day4    
,amidst all the threatening and         
discouraging symptoms of the national   
life1 ,isaiah turned to the bright      
vision of those servants of ,god whose  
faith should never fail1 and in whom    
there should be no variableness1 and  no
 wavering4  ,blessed are ye that sow    
beside all waters4  ,sow your seed  of  
good influence1 he seems to say to them1

 in good times1 in bad times2  sow it in
 this place1 and in every place1 sow it 
in the wastes of the  moral wilderness1 
sow it in the face of every enemy1 sow  
it in faith and  hope and without fear4 
,it is on them he depends to prepare for
 that  happier season when the          
wilderness of the spiritual life around 
him  should become as a planted field2  
and with prophetic insight he perceives 
that it is on such as these that the    
,divine blessing always rests4  ,blessed
 are they that sow beside all waters4   
,it is a text to be taken  with us      
whenever any change comes over the      
circumstances of our life4  ,if  we are 
changing from a life of rule or         
discipline to a life of free  choice1   
from school to home1 from boyhood to    
manhood1 this blessing  declares that   
there should be no change in the        
attitude and purpose and  aim of life4  
,it is another way of saying that the   
laws which should guide our conduct1    
and the principles which should inspire 

and direct us1 are of universal         
application2 that they know no          
difference of time or place1 and that if
  they bind you here they should bind   
you everywhere4  ,and simple and        
obvious as this may seem1 it is not     
altogether an easy truth to carry  into 
practice4  ,blessed are ye that sow     
beside all waters4  ,your seed  field is
 not here or there only2 it lies on     
every side of you1 and in all  places2  
it spreads into the future farther than 
your eye can travel1 and  it will extend
 itself before you as you go2 and the   
reality and vigour of  good purpose in  
you will be determined by your          
recognition of this truth4     ,let us  
consider it with reference to our own   
case at such a time as  this4    ,there 
are always growing up here in every     
generation those who feel a  pride in   
their school1 and in the spirit of it1  
who strive honestly and  earnestly to   
sow in their society the seeds of       
manliness1 and  truthfulness1 and good  

tone1 and purity4  ,it would soon go    
very ill with  this or any other society
 if it were not so4  ,and those who grow
 up in  this way are continually leaving
 us in their turn1 and they will        
remember  with affection the place of   
their high purposes and earnest and     
manly  efforts4  ,they go out into a new
 world1 and travel along other streams2 
and blessed are they1 if they continue  
faithful1 sowing still beside all       
waters4    ,but every change brings with
 it some element of risk4  ,there is    
nearly  always something of surprise to 
us in the new forces that confront us in
  any society which we enter as         
strangers2 and the first feeling that   
rises  is sometimes a feeling of our own
 weakness or insignificance4     ,in    
such a case it is well if we have       
realised beforehand that our laws  of   
conduct should not vary1 and that the   
call of ,god1 which we have  recognised 
once1 is a call which never ceases1 and 
which no circumstances  should make     

inaudible4    ,when we approach any     
change we all need this kind of warning2
 because  there are so many things in   
our life which we are apt to allow our  
circumstances to regulate for us4       
,experience tells us only too plainly   
how much we depend upon the influences  
that are around us1 and how often  we   
fail to carry with us the strength we   
have gained in one field when we  pass  
over to the next4  ,with the holy we    
learn in some degree to be  ourselves   
holy2 with a perfect man we too are able
 to walk perfectly2 but  on the other   
hand1 in our imitative way1 as the scene
 changes1 we  sometimes find ourselves  
learning frowardness with the froward1  
practising indifference with the        
indifferent1 if not actually slipping   
with the vicious into some vicious way4 
,there is always some risk of  such     
changes2 and it is always well for us to
 be taking care that our  better life   
has its root in our own heart and       
spirit1 and that we do not  wear it as a

 garment suited to the society in which 
we happen to be1 and  change it for the 
worse1 if there comes any corresponding 
change in  outward influences4    ,hence
 it is that at these times1 when we are 
about to separate1 these  words of      
,isaiah come to us with a very          
appropriate reminder3 ,blessed are  ye  
that sow beside all waters4    ,to those
 who are leaving our society to begin a 
new life elsewhere1 as to  those of us  
who go in the hope of returning         
by-and-by1 they are charged  with the   
same lesson4  ,they bid us all alike    
take care and see that what  is good in 
our present life has become our own     
personal and permanent  possession1     
independent of surroundings2 that it has
 sunk in some degree  into the fibre of 
our character2 that it is settled in us 
by conviction  and principle1 to guide  
and direct us everywhere1 and is not    
merely a  circumstantial garment1 a sort
 of livery of this or that particular   
place1 which will slip off us as we     

leave it4    ,many of you have learnt1  
,i feel sure of it1 to feel during these
 your  school days1 the satisfaction of 
living here a true and worthy life2 you 
have tasted of that pleasure which the  
careless1 the indifferent1 and the      
sinful hardly taste at all1 the pleasure
 that dwells with the  consciousness of 
earnest effort and sincere striving     
after the best  things within us4  ,the 
love of ,christ may have taken hold upon
 you2 the  associations of your school  
and its inheritance of great and good   
examples1 or the sense of honour may    
have stirred you2 the feeling of  your  
closeness in life to those around you1  
and of the strong currents of  mutual   
influence1 may have opened your eyes to 
what you owe to your  neighbour and to  
the claims of social duty4  ,some one of
 these causes1 or  it may be some other 
cause1 may have given you strength and  
power to walk  amongst us in the narrow 
way of good habit and good influence4   
,and  wherever this is so1 we thank     

,god4  ,but the question to-day is1     
,what  assurance do you feel that this  
will continue8  ,when we go elsewhere1  
what habits1 what tendencies1 what fixed
 bent of spirit and character  shall we 
exhibit8  ,knowing as we do how strongly
 the forces of the outer  world will act
 upon us1 it is never a useless warning 
which bids us take  care that in new    
spheres we do not forget our old        
principles1 or lay  aside any good      
habits4  ,blessed are ye that sow beside
 all waters4    ,we have learnt to look 
upon certain laws of conduct and        
feeling1 certain  duties1 certain       
standards of life1 as beyond dispute1   
and fundamental4  ,if  so1 they are also
 of universal application2 and we should
 hold them as  things which are         
altogether independent of the customs1  
traditions1 or  tone of any society into
 which we may go4    ,it is probable    
that some of you may find this doctrine 
not altogether  free from difficulties  
before many weeks are over4  ,you may   

find  yourselves young and apparently   
uninfluential members of some society in
  which the standards of life are low1  
and you may be tempted to think1  under 
the pressure of surrounding opinion1    
that you are not called upon  to set up 
or display any standard of your own2 and
 there is always a  chorus of voices    
ready enough to echo any such tempting  
suggestions4    ,but if ever you are    
tempted thus to let slip the things you 
have learnt  and accepted1 the voice of 
,isaiah should prove a help and a       
safeguard4  ,and its exhortation is     
supported by the respect and admiration 
you feel  for any one who has the       
courage to stand alone in such a case1  
true to  his rooted convictions4        
,another word may be added4  ,we met1 a 
great many of us1 this morning at  that 
table to which men do not come unless   
they entertain the purpose of  treading 
in the footsteps of ,christ1 and of     
nursing ,his ,holy ,spirit in  their    
hearts4  ,as we lifted up our hearts    

there1 as we ate of that bread  and     
drank of that cup1 as we prayed to be   
kept safe from the sins that  most      
easily beset us1 as we sealed in each   
other's presence the  resolutions which 
are to direct our steps in safe paths1  
it was not of  circumstances or places  
that we were thinking--it was the vision
 of  ,christ our ,saviour that was      
before our eyes1 and we pray that this  
vision  may remain with us4  ,when we   
think of all our diverging paths as we  
separate just now1 and of the           
uncertainty how many of us may meet     
again  in that far horizon1 and how many
 may have wandered out of the way in the
  wilderness1 we do not doubt that we   
shall often need the strengthening      
influence of this vision of ,christ1 if 
we1 too1 hope to inherit the  blessing  
which is reserved for those who are     
faithful under all  circumstances1 and  
who sow beside all waters4           ,x4
  ,,the ,,presence ,,of ,,god4          
,and ,jacob awakened out of his sleep   

and said1 ,surely the ,lord is in       
this place2 and ,i knew it              
not4--,,genesis xxviii4 #af4    ,these  
words indicate the beginning of a new   
life in the patriarch ,jacob4  ,they    
tell us of the moment when1 as it would 
appear1 his soul awoke in  him4  ,and   
they surprise us in some degree1 as such
 awakenings of  spiritual capacity often
 do2 for ,jacob's recorded antecedents  
were not  exactly such as to lead us to 
expect the dream and the vision1 and the
  awakening which are described in this 
passage4    ,he had cheated his brother 
out of his father's blessing2 he was    
leaving  his father's house in          
consequence1 to avoid this brother's    
threatened  vengeance2 and as he slept  
at ,bethel he dreamed his dream of the  
ladder  set up on earth and reaching to 
heaven2 and he saw the angels ascending 
and descending1 and the ,lord standing  
above it1 and he heard the ,divine      
voice charged with promise and with     
blessing3 ,i am with thee1 and will     

keep thee in all places whither thou    
goest4  ,this1 taking it in all its     
parts1 is a very surprising narrative2  
and the point in it on which ,i  desire 
to fix your attention for a moment is   
this1 that this vision  startled him    
into a new consciousness--,surely the   
,lord is in this place2  and ,i knew it 
not4  ,it was the beginning of a new    
life4    ,that vision1 we may be sure1  
never entirely faded4  ,he was never    
afterwards the same man he had been     
before it4  ,it had awakened the  divine
 capacity in him2 and it remained with  
him as a constant reminder  of the      
presence of ,god in his life1 to protect
 and to inspire him--,i am  with thee1  
and ,i will keep thee in all places     
whither thou goest4  ,such  a voice as  
this in a man's heart gives his life a  
new quality2 it puts  him in a new      
relation to all common things4     ,we  
may well believe that it was this more  
than anything else which drew  ,jacob   
apart from the common heathen life      

around him1 from that day  onwards4  ,it
 was this which1 in spite of all his    
weaknesses1 defects1 and  failures in   
life and character1 gradually raised him
 to a different  level4    ,it was this 
which finally culminated in transforming
 him from ,jacob the  supplanter to     
,israel the prince of ,god4    ,so far  
as appears1 he had gone out from his    
home1 as so many go forth in  all ages1 
a dull soul1 though with latent         
capacities1 his thoughts bent  on       
securing his personal safety and his    
worldly success4  ,but he woke in  the  
desert after that vision1 with the seeds
 of the new life rooted and  growing in 
him4    ,it is this moment of awakening 
on which ,i desire to fix your          
thoughts--this moment of his            
transfiguration2 when he saw and felt a 
heaven above him1 and yet very close1   
with its ladder of angelic              
communication1 which he had not so seen 
or felt before2 the moment when  a new  
consciousness flashed through his soul1 

and illumined unsuspected  chambers in  
it1 stirring new thoughts and new       
aspirations4  ,he woke up to  be a new  
man henceforth1 moving in a new         
presence1 and having always in  his ears
 the voice of a ,divine call4    ,do you
 ask why ,i dwell on this familiar      
history1 or desire that you  should     
contemplate and realise this change in  
the young man ,jacob8  ,it is  because  
there is just the same soul1 the same   
capacity of higher life in  every one of
 us3 in some it is awake already and    
transfiguring their  life2 in others    
still latent1 sleeping1 undiscovered4   
,i dwell on it because it makes and will
 make all the difference in the  world  
to your life whether in your case this  
capacity is awakened or not4  ,this1    
then1 is what ,i have to postulate as   
giving a value beyond the  power of     
words to describe to every soul amongst 
us4    ,it bids us recognise and keep   
always before us that in every common   
life1  of child or man1 even in the most

 worldly or the hardest1 the most       
frivolous1 the most cynical1 the most   
sensual1 or the most degraded1  there is
 latent1 it may be altogether unfelt and
 disregarded through long  years1 giving
 no sign of its presence1 it may be1 it 
often is1 overlaid1  trodden down1 even 
at the point of death1 but still there1 
this living  soul with all its          
possibilities4  ,it is within every one 
of us1 stamped  with the image of ,god1 
and charged with unimagined             
possibilities4    ,and it must be       
obvious that the whole difference       
between any two lives1  between your    
life and your neighbour's life1 may     
depend on this awakening  of the soul in
 one of you and its not awakening in the
 other4    ,of the two brothers1 ,esau  
and ,jacob1 ,i suppose we are all drawn 
at the  outset to ,esau2 our heart goes 
out to him1 as we read1 the impulsive1  
the  impetuous1 the affectionate1 and we
 feel a corresponding dislike of        
,jacob's craft and cunning1 and selfish 

calculations4  ,there can be no  doubt1 
we say1 which was the meaner character  
to begin with4     ,but neither is there
 any doubt why it was that it came to be
 written1  ,jacob ,i have loved1 but    
,esau have ,i hated4  ,the one was just 
the child  of the world around him1     
yielding to its temptations1 living by  
its  standards4  ,the soul in him never 
awoke1 so as to transfigure his         
thoughts and purposes4  ,the other is a 
man of ,divine visions1 inspired  with  
the sense of a ,divine presence and a   
,divine purpose directing him4          
,nowhere do we see more clearly than in 
this narrative how great a change  may  
come to any of us1 if the unawakened    
capacities of our soul are  touched by  
the breath of some uplifting            
inspiration4    ,as we read of this     
contrast between ,esau and ,jacob1 and  
their destinies1  we feel--and we feel  
it all the more because ,jacob to begin 
with seems to  be made of such common   
clay--we feel what a transforming power 

in a man's  life this awaking of the    
soul may be4    ,a life which is without
 the inspiration that takes possession  
of us in  the moments of this awakening1
 and is consequently without these      
visions  that flash before the soul as  
it awakens1 a life that is not deeply   
stirred by spiritual hopes or ,divine   
thought1 or the call to new duty1       
remains in one man a selfish and worldly
 life1 in another a frivolous1 in  a    
third a sensual life4  ,but the very    
same life--and here is the  practical   
value to us1 here is the hopefulness of 
such considerations--the  very same     
life1 when the breath of ,god's spirit  
or ,his penetrating voice  has stirred  
and roused the soul in it1 is felt to be
 transformed4  ,the  man is born anew4  
,there is nothing finer1 some one has   
said1 than to see a soul rise up  in    
men1 which amazes the very men in whom  
it rises4  ,they are surprised  to find 
that these new capacities were in them1 
unnoticed through their  careless days1 

yet in them all the time4  ,this birth  
of the new life1  with all its promise  
of new tastes1 new ambitions1 new       
thoughts1 new  purposes1 may indeed come
 to you without your feeling all at once
 how  great a thing it is4  ,at first it
 may be nothing more than some vision of
  the possibilities of your life1 or    
some electric flash of new              
consciousness that runs through you1 or 
the sharp pang of remorse for  some sin 
or some neglect1 or the flush of shame  
or repulsion as you think  of something 
or other in your life1 or the glow of   
some good resolution  to begin some new 
life or new duty1 or take some new turn1
 or pursue some  new aim4  ,you hardly  
think perhaps of this as the awakening  
of your soul4  ,it may never have       
occurred to you to think of it as being 
just as sacred  a thing as was ,jacob's 
vision at ,bethel1 as being indeed the  
work of the  same ,divine spirit4       
,but let us consider it a little        
further4  ,whatever it is that is thus  

stirring in your heart1 it comes and it 
comes again2 it lingers in your         
thoughts and feelings2 it haunts1 it    
impresses and awes you2 it rises  before
 you suddenly and stops you from some   
sin1 or1 if it fails to stop  you1 it   
turns the pleasure for which you craved 
into wretchedness2 or it  encourages and
 consoles you in some hour of weakness  
or sorrow4  ,i  suppose there is hardly 
one of you who has not had some such    
experience  as this4  ,and if you ask4  
,what is it8  ,it is1 ,i repeat1 the    
awakening of  the soul in you--nothing  
less than this--and happy is it for you1
 if you  recognise that it is the soul  
striving to win its proper place in the 
regulation of your life4    ,when ,moses
 saw the vision of the burning bush1 and
 suddenly felt himself  on holy ground2 
when ,elijah heard the still1 small     
voice calling1 ,what  doest thou here1  
,elijah8 when ,saul1 on his way to      
,damascus1 fell to the  ground          
conscience-smitten1 crushed1 blinded1   

rebuked2 when the child  ,samuel heard  
the ,divine voice calling to him in the 
darkness of the  night2--in each case it
 was the awakening or the reawakening of
 the  soul--the uprising of the         
spiritual capacities1 the vision of the 
higher  life--and so exactly with all of
 you4  ,are you not sometimes conscious 
of the uprisings in you of a spirit     
calling upon you to recognise the       
angels' ladder that connects your life  
also with the heaven above us8     ,if  
so1 there is this further thing to note 
about such moments of  experience4      
,this feeling of some spiritual capacity
 in you1 this call to some higher  view 
of life and duty1 this uprising of the  
moral sense and the repulsion  towards  
the lower forms of life which comes with
 it--this is ,god's  personal gift to   
us1 and we pray that you may possess it 
early2 for it is  not only a new        
consciousness1 it is itself a new power 
in your life4    ,you cannot have it1   
feeling its presence and hearing its    

suggestions1 and  debase your life in   
any way1 as you might have done1 but for
 its  presence4  ,it is so very true    
that1 in the life of the ,spirit1       
looking up  means lifting up4  ,as the  
plant turns to the sun1 it grows towards
 the  sun2 as it looks up to the light1 
it grows towards the light2 so it is    
with us4  ,we feel that we are sons of  
,god1 and we tend to become so4         
,through some influence or other1 we    
awake to a vivid consciousness that     
,god has created us in ,his image1      
endowed us with ,divine capacities1 and 
this consciousness becomes a purifying  
and inspiring force in our life1  and it
 is a new life in consequence4    ,pray 
that such influences may prevail around 
you here1 and that you may  hold them   
fast until they have blessed your life4 
,,xi4  ,,members ,,one ,,of ,,another4  
,so we1 being many1 are one body in     
,christ1 and every one members one      
of another4--,,romans xii4 #e4    ,there
 are some moral and spiritual truths    

which it seems to be almost  impossible 
to impress upon the practical life of   
the world1 although they  meet with a   
sort of universal acceptance4    ,men   
agree with them1 they re-echo them1 they
 applaud them2 they do  everything1 in  
fact1 but exhibit them as the moving1   
inspiring1 and  guiding truths of their 
daily practice4    ,and among these ,i  
fear we must still class that one which 
is expressed in  the text ,i have just  
read1 a text which sets forth the       
fundamental fact  that whatever else    
,christianity may teach1 it teaches as  
one of its first  and principal lessons 
that a ,christian man has to live in    
,christ for his  neighbours4     ,if    
such a text means anything1 it means    
that ,christianity is essentially  a    
religion of society1 that it sets before
 us social claims as standing  before   
all other claims2 that1 starting from   
the ,divine ,sacrifice as the  central  
fact of human life1 it was intended to  
root out of our hearts the  noxious weed

 of selfishness by the power of the     
,divine love1 and to build  up the      
organisation of men in their common     
relationships upon this new  basis4     
,it may sound somewhat strange to speak 
at this time of day of what             
,christianity is intended to do1 rather 
than what it has done already4    ,but  
it is even more strange to read the     
teaching of the ,sermon on the  ,mount1 
and all the other words of the ,lord2   
all the lessons of ,his life  and ,his  
sacrifice2 the history of the first     
generation of ,christians2 the  descent 
of the ,spirit upon them2 and the       
teaching of the apostolic               
brotherhood--to remember that all this  
is our accepted faith2 that it has  been
 the faith of one generation after      
another for eighteen hundred  years2    
that we grow up in this faith1 live in  
it1 and die in it2 and at  the same time
 to contemplate side by side with it all
 the elements of the  common life1 all  
the rules and customs of society1 all   

the standards of  conduct which ordinary
 men take as their measure of daily duty
 and  purpose4    ,thus1 whilst on the  
one hand ,christian influences1 and all 
the changes in  the world's life which  
are due to them1 fill us with wonder and
  gratitude1 the failures of            
,christianity are scarcely less         
impressive4    ,when we consider the    
ordinary run of men's lives1 so         
different for the  most part in spirit1 
and in aim and guiding rules1 from that 
type which  the ,new ,testament sets    
before us1 it would almost seem as if to
 the  majority their religion was not a 
ruling and dominating principle1        
pervading this present life1 but only an
 ideal1 shedding around us a  glow of   
indefinite hopes and possibilities1 an  
ideal hardly to be  realised1 laid up   
somewhere in the heavens--,greek text4  
,these  contrasts between the revelation
 of the ,gospel and the standards of the
  ,christian world have always troubled 
the most earnest spirits in every       

generation4  ,some of you remember1 no  
doubt1 how this contrast between        
,christian profession and the life of   
selfish sin and waste flashed into      
fierce poetry in one such spirit of the 
last generation1 who grew up in  this   
school4       ,through the great1 sinful
 streets of ,naples1 as ,i passed1      
,with fiercer heat than flamed above my 
head     ,my heart was hot within me1   
till at last     ,my brain was lightened
 when my tongue had said     ,christ is 
not risen4    ,and men who are truly in 
earnest about faith and life1 and who   
are  perplexed and distressed by the    
contradictions and insincerities that   
meet them1 must often be moved as he    
was4    ,and yet1 when we look closer1  
and consider that the battle of         
spiritual  progress has this peculiarity
 attached to it1 that it has to be      
fought  over again1 in every generation1
 and in every separate individual soul1 
the result is less surprising4          
,remembering this1 we do not expect the 

victory of the last generation to save  
us from defeat or failure4     ,and this
 has to be borne in mind equally in     
regard to the continuous  life of       
societies and to our own separate lives4
  ,thus in such a society  as this1 if  
our predecessors uplifted the standards 
of conduct1  inculcated high principles1
 and inspired their generation with a   
strong  pervading spirit1 this should   
make it easier for us to do likewise2   
but  it does not insure our doing it4   
,all this higher life will die in our   
hands if the same regenerating spirit is
 not alive and working in our  hearts   
also4  ,so1 again1 your individual      
victory over sin in the power of  the   
,spirit in you1 does not save my life   
from having to fight the battle  for    
itself and win its own victories4    ,so
 that1 however perplexing the phenomena 
of life may seem whilst we look  at them
 in the mass or from the outside1 if we 
read the ,gospel of ,christ  as a       
message to our own souls a great deal of

 the perplexity disappears4  ,and it was
 with this personal message that ,christ
 came1 and there is no  hope of our     
understanding ,his mission1 or of living
 in the light of ,his  transforming     
spirit1 if we think of it in any other  
way than this4    ,the purpose of ,his  
revelation is to crucify the selfish    
instinct in us1  and to rouse us to the 
life of self-devotion1 to the idea of   
consecrated  energies2 and this being   
so1 all ,christian life is of the nature
 of a  warfare2 and a warfare which     
begins afresh with each generation of   
men2  because selfishness1 with all its 
tribe of attendant appetites and        
passions1 springs afresh in every single
 soul1 and is nurtured1  strengthened1  
cultivated1 by so many of the conditions
 of life4    ,if1 then1 the ,spirit of  
,christ is really to prevail in our     
life1 it must  be by effecting our      
emancipation from selfish instincts1 and
 rousing in  us the spirit of devotion  
to the good of other lives4    ,in      

proportion as you diminish selfishness  
in your own life or in any  other1 by   
fostering generous affections and       
cultivating the spirit of  social duty  
and religious aspiration1 by walking in 
the footsteps of  ,christ and living in 
the light of ,his presence1 you are     
laying the only  possible foundation of 
any lasting progress1 you are following 
the one  true method by which the       
mystery of sin is to be overcome4    ,we
 may wonder that this should be so      
difficult2 for of selfishness we  should
 say that we all dislike it4  ,in its   
grosser forms we repudiate it4  ,the    
very word is one which we articulate    
with a certain accent of  contempt4     
,but when we come to its refined and    
subtle workings in our nature1 when  we 
think of its ,proteus-like              
changeableness1 its power of assuming   
the  various guises even of duty or     
religion2 when we reflect how it can    
clothe itself in the choicest garb of   
art1 or science1 or divine  philosophy1 

we find very likely that we are always  
in danger of being  enslaved by it4     
,and we do well to pray in all sincerity
 that grace may expel our  selfishness2 
for indeed the influence of true        
religion is to be gauged by  the extent 
to which this prayer is being fulfilled 
in us4  ,the fulfilment  of it is what  
we mean by the regenerate life4     ,i  
need not ask you how you feel in the    
presence of any character which  you    
recognise as cleansed from all taint of 
selfishness1 a character1  softened1    
refined1 purified1 inspired1            
consecrated4  ,i would rather ask       
whether you know of any personal        
influence to be compared with that of   
such a character4    ,and if1 as ,i     
anticipate1 you would answer that there 
is none like it1 ,i  would ask you to   
bear in mind that this influence may be 
yours4  ,you are  invited by all the    
highest calls within and around you to  
make it yours4  ,what is the aim and    
purpose of his life8 is a question which

 men are  justified in asking about us2 
and they are justified in passing their 
verdict upon us by the answer which our 
life gives4    ,does he live for        
himself1 they will ask1 for his own     
pleasures1 his own  delights1 be they   
coarse or refined1 his own indulgence1  
his own  particular interest8  ,is there
 anything of the spirit or enthusiasm of
  sacrifice visible in the ordinary     
tenor of his actions8     ,the world1   
this ,christian world1 is full of those 
concerning whom the  answer to such     
questions can only be a distinct        
negative2 and yet we know  that in all  
such characters1 whether in youth or    
age1 ,christianity is a  failure4       
,therefore we shall accept it as our    
primary duty1 the purpose of our        
existence as a ,christian school1 to    
train up men who shall be penetrated  by
 the spirit of unselfishness1 possessed 
by the feeling that their lives  are to 
be consecrated to the common good4      
,societies differ very widely in the    

type of character they impress4    ,here
 and there we see a society1 here and   
there a school1 which has  somehow      
acquired the power to stamp on those who
 go out from it a certain  impress of   
nobility4    ,they go forth like the    
knights of our famous ,english          
legend--imperfect no  doubt and erring1 
but each one of them inspired with the  
consciousness  that his life is a holy  
quest4    ,there are other societies and
 schools among them which seem to       
possess  everything but this one power4 
,what1 then1 are we to say of our hopes8
  ,what is to be the mission of our     
generation here8  ,shall we contribute  
anything to raise the common type8  ,or 
shall we drift on as the world drifts1 a
 little better1 or a little  worse8     
,shall we not rather pray and hope as we
 begin once more to weave the web  of   
mutual influence1 that you may grow up  
here not altogether like the  herd of   
common men1 but emancipated early from  
the life of selfish  desire1 feeling the

 spirit of ,christ within you1          
remembering your  baptismal vows1 with  
eyes open to heavenly visions1 and not  
disobedient  unto them8           ,,xii4
  ,,the ,,sower ,,and ,,the ,,seed4     
,a sower went out to sow his            
seed4--,,st4 ,,luke viii4 #e4    ,it is 
significant that the first of the       
,saviour's parables is the parable  of  
the sower1 that the first thing to which
 ,he likens ,his own work is  that of   
the sower of seed1 the first lesson ,he 
has to impress upon us by  any kind of  
comparison is that the word of ,god is a
 seed sown in our  hearts1 a something  
which contains in it the germ of a new  
life4    ,it is no less significant that
 ,he returns so often to this same kind 
of  comparison for the purpose of       
impressing us always with the primary   
fact1  that our relationship to ,god1   
the ,father of ,spirits1 in other words 
our  spiritual condition at the present 
moment1 our hope for the time to come1  
does not depend upon some body of       

doctrine1 but on our having received    
into the secret places of the heart the 
seeds of a new life4    ,this is        
suggestive of a great many              
considerations which touch our life     
very closely2 but ,i will not turn aside
 to them at this moment1 as my  desire  
is to fix your thoughts for the present 
on this one fundamental  thing1 that the
 principle of moral and spiritual life  
in you is a seed1  and as such it is    
endowed with a power of independent     
separate growth2 it  was intended to    
grow in you4    ,the sower casts his    
seed upon the earth and goes his way1   
and1 once sown1  it springs up and      
grows1 as ,jesus said in another        
parable1 he knoweth  not how4  ,this1   
then1 is the truth which ,he is         
impressing on our  attention1 when ,he  
speaks of ,his revelation as a seed1 a  
seed to be sown  by hands which have no 
control over it except to sow it4  ,the 
soul of  each and every one of us is a  
seed-field1 and the seeds of new life   

and  purpose should be growing in it4   
,as we recall the other parable of the  
seed growing secretly1 recorded in  ,st4
 ,mark's ,gospel1 we feel even more     
strongly how the essence of all our     
life is in seeds of influence4  ,so is  
the ,kingdom of ,heaven as if a man     
should cast seed upon the earth1 and the
 seed should spring up and grow1  he    
knoweth not how4  ,it grows in us       
mysteriously we know not how4    ,and ,i
 am not sure that we all1 indeed ,i     
think it likely that we do not  all1    
take it home to our thoughts with       
sufficient seriousness that this        
mysterious growth in the thing sown     
implies a mysterious vital power or     
force which is inherent in it4    ,i    
call it a mysterious vital power1       
because all life is a mystery to us4    
,the very thought of life lands us in   
mystery1 in mystery which defies        
analysis4  ,we know that all the life in
 us and around us follows certain  laws1
 as we call them1 the life of plants1   

the life of animals1 the life  of man1  
each following its own laws after its   
kind1 and that is all we  know about it4
  ,we can observe its action1 its       
uniformities1 its  sequences1 and       
variations1 but beyond this we cannot   
penetrate its  secret4  ,it grows       
mysteriously1 we know not how4    ,but  
this much we know1 that no life is      
spontaneously generated4  ,the  science 
of our day has demonstrated it1 as we   
believe1 beyond dispute1  that you      
cannot create life out of dead matter4  
,all life comes from some  antecedent   
life4  ,wherever you see life of any    
kind1 you know that there  must have    
been before it some form of life which  
was its parent4    ,yet again1 the      
scientific investigator points out      
another suggestive  fact1 that the lower
 creature does not of its own lower     
nature expand  into the higher1 but that
 life is lifted up and grows by the     
infusion of  something higher than      
itself4  ,so1 too1 we believe that the  

,spirit of ,god  touches with its       
mysterious power the dead souls of men2 
it transforms  them1 it uplifts them1   
they are born again4  ,they are roused  
and stirred  to new capacity by the     
touch and inspiration of this ,divine   
life4  ,this  is what is meant when it  
is said that if any man be in ,christ he
 is a new  creature4  ,he has received  
into his nature this mysterious gift1 or
  rather this seed of the new life4     
,such is the ,christian doctrine of the 
new birth1 or of the life-giving  breath
 of the ,spirit1 or of the sowing the   
seed of ,divine life in us4  ,you  may  
describe it how you please1 if only you 
take due note of this1 that  in         
proportion as you realise or accept this
 truth as in any way  intimately        
connected with your own personal life   
and conduct1 all the  common things     
around you acquire a new importance1 and
 ,i might even say  some touch of       
sacredness1 because they are felt to be 
strewn with these  seeds of influence   

which ,god is sowing around us1 with a  
hand that never  rests1 through all our 
years1 in uncounted ways4    ,this seed 
of new life which is to save you from   
the power of sin and the  flesh and give
 you new aspirations1 purer tastes1     
stronger purposes1 need  ,i remind you  
how it is sown1 in what manifold and    
various ways8  ,it must  be within the  
personal experience of some of you to   
testify how your  meetings in this      
chapel every morning may sow it4  ,one  
day it falls on  your heart in some word
 of some hymn or prayer1 or in some     
thought or  feeling which flashes       
through you1 or some pricking of        
conscience for no  other knows what sin 
or fault1 or in some new resolve4       
,sometimes it is found that a passing   
word of a preacher sows it 7it is  in   
this hope ,i preach to you71 or again it
 is sown in the common ways of  daily   
life1 by the reading of some book1 or by
 the word or example of a  friend1 or by
 some casual sight or experience4  ,we  

remember how the seed  of an unresting  
and beneficent life1 a life devoted to  
the good of the  poor and the suffering1
 was sown in ,lord ,shaftesbury by the  
shocking  sight of a pauper funeral when
 he was a boy at ,harrow4  ,so it may be
 sown  in your hearts you know not      
beforehand when or where1 to grow up and
 bear  fruit an hundred fold4    ,the   
wind bloweth where it listeth--so is    
every one that is born of the  ,spirit4 
,you never know what ,divine seed it may
 deposit in your heart at  any moment2  
but this you do know1 that if the word  
of ,christ be true1  whenever this gift 
of life comes to you it is a new birth4 
,and there is all the more mystery and  
sacredness about our common life  just  
because we never know how or when these 
seeds may fall upon our life  to bless  
it1 and because men are often altogether
 unconscious of the  beginnings of their
 growth in them4  ,some seed of good    
influence falls  into the soil of their 
heart1 and seems to lie there buried in 

the winter  of neglect or waste4        
,thus some men may carry the seeds long 
and far1 not knowing the power or  the  
potency of the life that is in them2 but
 some day they strike root  and grow and
 bear fruit in new convictions1 or in   
new desires and  purposes2 and this may 
be the case with any one amongst us1 and
 hence it  is natural that we should    
press the question on ourselves and on  
each  other--,what are you making of    
those seeds of higher life which have   
been  sown in you by your mother's love1
 by your father's words1 by all the     
lessons and influences of such a place  
as this1 seeds which are falling  around
 you continually1 and may possibly be   
trodden down or overlaid8    ,as we look
 at these parables of the ,lord telling 
of this sowing and this  growth of      
seeds1 they bring it home to us very    
forcibly that the only  true test of    
life in ,christ is growth in ,christian 
graces4  ,and this  brings us to a      
consideration of grave practical        

importance4  ,it bids us  be very       
careful to distinguish between seeds of 
life taking root in the  heart and      
springing up into new activities1 and   
mere waves of impression4  ,the seed    
springs up and grows in you1 the wave   
merely flows over you1  lifting and     
moving you for a moment1 and then       
leaving you as before4  ,thus1 and it is
 a warning which is not unneeded in our 
day1 a day of much  emotional religion1 
there is all the difference in the world
 between a  religion of moods and a     
religion of growth4  ,the one is the    
plaything of  the winds1 the other is   
rooted in ,christ4    ,thus ,i am       
brought to two reflections1 one on the  
function and aim of the  preacher1 the  
other the duty of the hearer of ,god's  
word4  ,the  preacher--and the same     
might be said of every master in such a 
society as  this--the preacher has to   
think of himself primarily and chiefly  
as a  servant of ,christ charged with   
the duty of sowing the seeds of         

spiritual  life in your hearts4  ,and   
the thought that the ,saviour has       
revealed to us  seeds of life which have
 this regenerating power in them1 and   
that in ,him  we see what possibilities 
of growth there are in these seeds--this
 is our  constant encouragement4    ,the
 sower's hand may be feeble1 and his    
sowing may be awkward1 or  halting1 or  
uncertain1 but there is a ,divine force 
or possibility in all  seeds of truth1  
or purity1 or right feeling which he    
scatters among you1  independent of his 
sowing1 and he never knows in what soul 
some seed may  lodge and germinate and  
grow up and bear fruit here and         
hereafter1 even  to the endless life4   
,so we believe that every work of good  
influence1 whether of man or boy1  will 
prosper1 because we remember it as a    
part of ,god's providential law1  that  
,his seed if sown grows of itself1      
mysteriously4  ,and we need not  wonder 
at the mystery1 for it is the ,spirit of
 ,god which is in the seed2  and it is  

ready to swell and grow and bear new    
fruits as it lodges in  your heart4     
,through and in that seed of good       
influence it is ,god ,himself who is    
working in you4    ,such1 as we learn   
from the word of ,christ1 such1 as we   
see it exemplified  in ,his person1 is  
the mystery of the ,divine life in the  
hearts of men--not  in some other lives1
 but in your life and mine4    ,but this
 only leads us to another vital         
question--a question which ,i  leave    
with you for the present1 and to which  
we may return another  day--,what is    
your share of active duty in regard to  
these seeds of good  influence and good 
purpose that are sown in you2 what are  
you doing1 and  what are you intending  
to do1 to secure that they shall be     
bearing some  fruit in your own daily   
life8           ,,xiii4  ,,the ,,lenten 
,,fast4         ,this kind can come     
forth by nothing1 but by prayer4--,,st4 
,,mark ix4     #bi4    ,you remember the
 narrative from which ,i have taken this

 verse4  ,jesus1 as  we read1 had just  
come down from the ,mount of            
,transfiguration1 and when  ,he was come
 to the multitude1 a certain man        
besought him saying1 ,have  mercy on my 
son1 for he is lunatic and sore vexed1  
and ,i brought him to  ,thy disciples1  
but they could not cure him4  ,then     
,jesus rebuked the  devil1 and the child
 was cured from that hour4  ,thereupon  
,his disciples  came to ,him with this  
inquiry--,why could not we cast him out8
  ,and ,he  said to them1 ,because of   
your little faith4  ,this kind can come 
forth by  nothing1 but by prayer2 or1 as
 our ,authorised ,version has it1 by    
prayer  and fasting4     ,here1 then1 we
 have set before us a very striking and 
significant  contrast3 the contrast     
between the spiritual power of ,jesus   
fresh from  the ,mount of               
,transfiguration1 and the want of such  
power in ,his  disciples1 who represent 
to us the common life of the multitude  
and the  plain4  ,his reply to their    

question was clearly intended to suggest
 to  them the cause of their spiritual  
feebleness4  ,do you wonder at your lack
  of power over the diseases of the     
soul8  ,this kind can come forth by     
nothing1 but by prayer4  ,now1 this     
suggestive answer is very appropriate   
for our consideration at the present    
time when we are approaching the  season
 of ,lent1 which has been observed      
century after century as a  special     
season of fasting1 prayer1 and penitence
 for sin1 through all the  ,christian   
,church4    ,when we think of these     
weeks1 it is reasonable to believe that 
such  observance1 so universal1 so long 
continued1 must have satisfied some     
deep need of the heart1 especially as it
 is not based on any particular  dogma4 
,and this incident in the ,saviour's    
life1 and these emphatic words  of ,his1
 may help us to a clearer understanding 
of the value of such  times4  ,they     
declare to us the principle of the      
spiritual harvest1 that1  in the        

spiritual life as in all else1 we reap  
as we sow4  ,they are  intended to      
convey to us this plain lesson1 that if 
any of us give little  thought1         
attention1 or effort to that side of our
 life which we speak of  as the         
spiritual1 if there is in our daily     
habit and practice little real  prayer  
or self-denial1 or devotion1 little     
communing with ,god1 little  endeavour  
to live in the spirit of ,christ1 and   
if1 this being so1 we find  ourselves   
weak or vacillating in our struggle     
against sin or evil1  whether in our own
 life or in society1 there is nothing   
surprising in  such a result4    ,it is 
in our religious life just as in        
everything else--spiritual  carelessness
 or neglect must mean spiritual         
weakness4  ,in all other  matters we    
look for results in some proportion to  
our efforts4  ,as we sow  we expect to  
reap4    ,here1 for instance1 in your   
daily life1 if you wish to excel in any 
particular game or pursuit1 you practise

 it with diligence4  ,you know  that1   
without such practice or concentration  
of effort upon it1 any  expectation of  
excellence is simply foolish4    ,in    
your school work you recognise the same 
conditions4  ,intellectual  growth may  
seem sometimes to come slowly1 in spite 
of all your efforts2  but it comes with 
certainty if you persevere1 and it is   
equally certain  that it hardly ever    
comes at all to those who use no effort4
    ,if1 then1 you look for progress or 
distinction1 you know that you must  fix
 your thoughts upon your work1 and      
practise industry1 and1 above all1  that
 you must cultivate a love of learning1 
so that your mind lingers  over it with 
some sense of enjoyment4    ,you do not 
expect a harvest where you have not     
sown4  ,and it is just this  same law   
which you recognise and accept in other 
matters that our ,lord is  here         
declaring to us as the law of spiritual 
power4    ,do we desire to cast any evil
 influence or any weakness out of our   

life8  ,do we ask despairingly how it is
 that we have not been able to cast it  
out8  ,our ,lord's answer comes to us in
 these emphatic words--,this kind  can  
come forth by nothing1 but by prayer4   
,in other words1 if we really desire    
that our soul shall be cleansed and     
strengthened1 we must surrender it to   
,him in prayer and self-denial1 in      
spiritual exercises and communion1 that 
,he may cure it of its sin or its       
weakness1 and inspire us with new life4 
,prayer and fasting are in this word of 
,his the symbol of all special          
exercises of the spirit1 as it strives  
to get free from the burden of the      
flesh and to come nearer to ,god2 and   
without such exercises1 ,he presses  it 
on us if we stand in need of such       
reminders1 we cannot hope for any       
harvest of spiritual strength4    ,and  
we can hardly have failed to notice how 
,his own practice corresponds  with ,his
 warnings and injunctions4    ,before   
,he began ,his ministry we read of ,his 

forty days' fast in the  wilderness2 and
 at every turn1 in the course of it1 we 
read again and  again incidentally of   
,his constant withdrawals into privacy  
with ,god4     ,his short life on earth 
was a life of spiritual ministry4  ,all 
the  common things of life were to ,him 
so many illustrations of some spiritual 
lesson of the ,father's love and care1  
or of man's dependence on ,him4  ,in    
every voice of the world there was the  
undertone of some spiritual  suggestion4
  ,so that we might say--,surely ,his   
days were one unbroken  course of       
spiritual work and communion1 and ,he   
could need no special  seasons or       
exercises2 but ,his example teaches us a
 different lesson4    ,as if to bring it
 home to us beyond all possibility of   
doubt or question1  that the most       
devoted1 the most active1 and most      
powerful spiritual  characters1 will    
always be those whose communion with    
,god in private  prayer and exercise is 
most constant and intense1 ,he ,himself 

was  continually withdrawing for such   
communion2 and there are no more        
suggestive passages in the ,gospels for 
our guidance than those incidental      
references which tell us1 as if by      
chance1 giving us passing glimpses  into
 the unrecorded portions of ,his life1  
how on one occasion ,he retired  into a 
mountain apart to pray1 or how on       
another he spent the whole night  apart 
in prayer1 or how he was in a desert    
place apart in prayer4    ,these        
withdrawals of ,jesus into the solitude 
of the desert or the  mountain1 these   
hours in which ,he was alone with the   
,father1 are but  another name for those
 exercises of prayer1 fasting1          
meditation1  communion with ,god1       
without which1 as ,he tells ,his        
followers in the text  ,i have read to  
you1 it is not possible to eradicate    
from the soul those  influences of sin  
which destroy its harmony and undermine 
its strength4    ,these withdrawals were
 ,his times of spiritual refreshment2   

and by ,his  practice ,he declares to us
 ,his need of them4  ,and if in ,his    
case they  were necessary1 much more are
 they necessary for you and me1         
entangled as  we are amidst all the     
varied influences of our common life1   
and with  natures prone to sin4         
,hence it is that the ,church has set   
apart this season of ,lent to come      
round to us year by year as a season of 
special thought and prayer and          
self-denial4  ,many other times and     
seasons come to us laden with the same  
spiritual influences1 and to be used by 
us as times of reflection1  inspiration1
 purification1 and strengthening4  ,this
 is the purpose which  the quiet of     
these recurring ,sundays should be      
fulfilling in our lives1  or our        
gatherings for ,holy ,communion4    ,and
 once and again there comes to us in the
 course of life some time or  season    
which is sure to make its impression    
upon our soul as having  brought us in a
 special sense into the presence of     

,god1 and within the  overshadowing     
influences of ,his ,spirit4    ,so it   
may happen to us that some family       
bereavement1 the death of father  or    
mother1 of brother or sister1 or child  
of our affections1 draws us  away from  
the world into a closer communion with  
our ,father in ,heaven1 a  communion    
which is never entirely lost again or   
forgotten4  ,so1 too1  comes the season 
of confirmation1 as to many of you just 
now1 with all  its thoughts1 feelings1  
prayers1 and resolutions4    ,and it is 
a happy thing for our life when any of  
these seasons leave an  indelible mark  
upon our memory and our spirit4    ,but 
as we think of these words of ,jesus1   
,this kind goeth not out but by  prayer 
and fasting--the question for each of us
 here to-day is1 what  practical daily  
meaning we hope to give to this season  
of ,lent which is  to begin on          
,wednesday4    ,let us not fancy that we
 can allow such seasons to come and go1 
year by  year1 giving them no thought or

 attention1 without some corresponding  
loss4    ,the voice of humanity1 and the
 experience of centuries1 the practice  
of  holy men1 and the example and the   
words of ,christ ,himself1 have all     
testified to the need there is for the  
spiritual observance of such  times1 if 
men are to keep their soul alive in     
them--and who are we that  we should    
venture to set ourselves against such   
overpowering testimony8    ,let us      
rather address ourselves seriously to   
making these weeks a time of  some      
special exercise or discipline such as  
our life may need4     ,there is hardly 
one of us but will confess1 if he thinks
 of the matter  at all1 that the world  
is too much with us2 that its influence 
is too  strong upon us2 that we are too 
ready to conform to its ways and follow 
its indulgences4  ,and such a confession
 is equivalent to an  acknowledgment    
that we need these ,lenten seasons4     
,and if with this  feeling in our hearts
 we use the coming weeks with any       

definite purpose1  praying to be rid of 
some temptation or weakness1 or to be   
endowed with  some strength1 or to be   
supported in some good purpose1 we are  
sure to  recognise with thankfulness1   
when the time is over1 that it has      
indeed  proved a time of some           
dislodgment1 that some temptation or    
habit has  fallen away from us and left 
us free1 so that some new spirit or     
purpose  has begun to grow in us4    ,we
 shall1 in fact1 be conscious1 as the   
weeks go on1 that a new life of  new    
tastes and new satisfactions has sprung 
up1 as the first fruits of  our prayer4 
,if we doubt the need of such           
exhortations as these1 let us  reflect  
for a moment--,does it not sometimes    
happen to us that our souls  are only   
too like the soul of that sick child in 
the ,gospel8    ,good instincts1 and    
intentions1 and tendencies1 are clearly 
felt and  recognised1 but they are      
fitful1 weak1 and intermittent4         
,another spirit  seems to lay hold of us

 and carry us whither it will4    ,if in
 any sense this can be said to be your  
case1 then remember1 that  just what the
 ,saviour's healing word was to that    
child1 sick and  possessed1 as ,he met  
it on ,his way from the ,hill of        
,transfiguration1 and  breathed over it 
the spirit of the higher life1 reducing 
the chaos of the  soul to harmony1 and  
bringing reason out of madness1 and     
freedom out of  demoniac possession1    
these holy seasons of time-honoured     
observance may  be to your soul1 if you 
use them reverently1 and as ,god's      
appointed means  for your growth in the 
,spirit4           ,,xiv4  ,,god',s     
,,curse ,,on ,,sin4         ,therefore  
,i will judge you1 ,o house of ,israel1 
every one according to     his ways1    
saith the ,lord ,god4  ,repent and turn 
yourselves from all     your            
transgressions2 so iniquity shall not be
 your ruin4--,,ezekiel     xviii4 #cj4  
,these words of ,ezekiel may be         
understood as expressing in the         

prophet's  language what the ,book of   
,deuteronomy expresses in such          
denunciations as  those which were read 
to us the other day in the ,commination 
,service4    ,they correspond also to   
the warning of ,st4 ,paul when he       
says--,be not  deceived2 ,god is not    
mocked2 whatsoever a man soweth1 that   
shall he also  reap4  ,he that soweth to
 the flesh shall reap corruption2 and he
 that  soweth to the spirit shall reap  
everlasting life4  ,or again they       
correspond to that question which is put
 to us in the ,epistle to the           
,hebrews--,if every transgression and   
disobedience received a just  recompense
 and reward1 how shall we escape8       
,thus we find in the ,pentateuch1 in    
,ezekiel1 and in the apostolic writings 
the representatives of three very       
different stages of religious           
enlightenment1 all teaching us in effect
 the same lesson1 to remember the       
recompense that sin never fails to bring
 upon him who commits it4  ,as we       

listen to the curses of ,deuteronomy on 
one sin and on another1 and then  read  
the language of ,ezekiel or ,st4 ,paul1 
we are conscious of a  difference in the
 modes of thought and expression4  ,the 
thought of the  apostle is separated    
from that of the lawgiver or the prophet
 of the ,old  ,testament by the new     
revelation and the sacrifice of ,jesus2 
but yet  underneath all differences     
their judgment on every sinful act or   
habit  remains spiritually the same4    
,they all alike bid us1 when we think of
  our sins1 to think also of the        
inevitable punishment which rises behind
  them like their shadow2 and to bear in
 mind that the root of the whole  matter
 is the one incontrovertible and        
never-changing fact of human life  that 
as you sow you must expect to reap--he  
that soweth to the flesh  shall of the  
flesh reap corruption4    ,now1 inasmuch
 as your early years are the seed-time  
of your life1 these  stern reminders    
that if you sow any sin in your soul you

 will some day  reap its curse1 that    
,god will judge you every one according 
to his ways1  all this is very          
appropriate for your consideration4     
,and you are likely  to be all the more 
serious about your present life and its 
habits1  tastes1 and purposes if this   
thought really takes possession of you1 
that  there is in fact a very close     
analogy between the life of the soul and
  life around us in the outer world1 and
 that every seed we sow in it grows     
after its own kind4    ,in the region of
 animal or vegetable life you see and   
recognise this law  on every side4  ,you
 trace it sometimes as the law of       
improvement by  culture1 sometimes as   
the law of degeneration4    ,you        
cultivate and tend a garden or a field1 
sowing1 planting1  eradicating1 and the 
growths of flower or fruit improve in   
proportion to  your care2 but leave it  
to itself and the weeds choke it1 and   
the very  fruit degenerates2 your rose  
becomes a dog-rose--it reverts1 as men  

say1  to a lower type4    ,so exactly is
 it with your own life2 so long as it is
 grafted into a life  higher than your  
own1 so long as good purposes are being 
sown in it and  good habits cultivated1 
and the bad weeded out and the ,spirit  
of ,god  breathes through it1 it is     
growing nearer to the ,divine type2 but 
neglect  it1 or follow sinful impulse or
 low taste1 and it becomes like the     
garden  of weeds2 degeneracy begins at  
once1 it is changing to something worse1
  it is reverting to a lower type4      
,this is a way of expressing it which is
 sufficiently familiar to you4  ,but    
this is only our modern way of looking  
at those facts of life which were       
eloquent to men of earlier times as the 
curse of ,god4    ,as1 then1 it is      
undoubtedly true that--       ,our acts 
our angels are1 for good or ill1        
,our fatal shadows that walk with us    
still1    these stern warnings which our
 ,lenten services hold up before us are 
of  the greatest value4    ,keeping     

before us this law that in every region 
of life it is the  tendency of          
everything to bear fruit after its kind1
 we shall feel that  we can hardly      
impress it too deeply upon our minds    
that there is no sin  which we commit   
but will assuredly return upon our own  
heads4  ,the  ,israelites in the ,old   
,testament saw the hand of ,god thus    
visiting their  sins upon them in many  
ways4  ,they thought of ,him as smiting 
them for  their sins with consumption or
 with fever1 with plague or mildew1 or  
the  sword of the oppressor4  ,these are
 not our expectations4  ,we have learnt 
that it is not with such visitations    
that ,god punishes us for our sinful    
indulgence or neglect1 but that ,he does
 it with a punishment which may be  less
 obvious but is often more ruinous than 
these4    ,neglect the opportunities of 
good with which ,he strews your path in 
early  life1 let some sin strike its    
roots in your heart and take possession 
of  it1 and the curse of ,god for that  

neglect or that sin will overtake you1  
no doubt of it2 coming not perhaps as   
the ,israelite on ,mount ,ebal  expected
 it to come for any sin of his1 but     
coming1 you hardly know how1  as the    
change for the worse1 the sinking to    
lower levels of thought1 and  taste1 and
 aim1 and practice1 the reversion to    
lower types1 which is the  end of       
neglect1 coming as the creeping and     
insidious growth of the power  of sin   
working ever stronger in us as the      
natural fruit of indulgence4  ,so  the  
curse of that ancient ,jewish law turns 
out to be a terrible and  unchanging    
truth1 written in a law which is never  
obsolete and grows not  old1 a law which
 calls on us for our ,amen6 as it cries 
to us equally in  the language of       
,divine revelation and of the latest    
scientific discovery3  ,sow neglect1 it 
says1 and you will reap deterioration2  
sow sin1 and  you will reap corruption4 
,this vision of the ultimate results of 
evil is a very ugly one1 put it in      

whatever shape you will1 and we are     
naturally somewhat loth to look it in   
the face4  ,we would rather not think of
 any sin of ours as entailing such      
consequences4  ,this conception of      
,divine justice or retribution embodied 
in the action of unbending laws and     
declaring that death is the fruit of    
sin1 and that death must come of it1    
this is no doubt a conception which     
inspires awe4  ,we shrink from it2 we   
hardly dare to say ,amen6 to its  dread 
utterances4  ,we should like1 it may be1
 to shut our eyes to the  fact and dwell
 rather on the thought that our ,god is 
long-suffering and  of great kindness   
and of tender mercy4  ,it is more       
soothing to think of  love than of      
retribution1 or of the arm that shelters
 or upholds us than  of the hand that   
smites2 but the real question should    
be--,is it true1  this declaration that 
as we sow we reap1 that the wages of sin
 is death1  death of faculty1 death of  
hope8  ,it is foolish to blink the      

sterner  aspects of life4  ,the fruit of
 such blinking and turning aside is very
  often the very thing we do not like to
 think of--indulgence and its           
retribution4  ,divine love and goodness 
and long-suffering cannot occupy  too   
much of our thoughts and prayers2 for it
 is through these that the  heart is    
touched1 and the spirit is fostered in  
us1 and we awake to the  new life in    
,christ4    ,but if we shrink from      
contemplating that law of ,divine       
retribution1 which  works in men's lives
 side by side with the law of mercy and 
love1 it is  time for us to ask         
ourselves--,how is it that ,i thus      
shrink from the  thought of these       
penalties8    ,there is indeed one sense
 in which we naturally shrink from the  
thought  that the wages of sin is death1
 even while we acknowledge that it is   
so4  ,it is inexpressibly sad to dwell  
on the infinite mass of sin which is    
daily bearing its bitter and deadly     
fruit in the world1 and propagating     

itself after its kind2 to think of the  
untold number of darkened or  misguided 
souls that have sown to the flesh1 and  
are going in consequence  down to       
failure and death1 blighted1 corrupted1 
ruined4  ,from this  thought we         
naturally turn to the thought of ,god's 
mercy1 and pray that ,he  may yet sow   
the seeds of new hope in the dismal     
waste of such lives4     ,but it happens
 to us1 ,i fear sometimes1 that this    
thought of ,god's curse  on sin sends a 
chill through the heart1 and we shrink  
away from it1  because of our own       
unregenerate life1 because of the       
fascination which  sinful impulse or    
habit exercises over us4    ,if the     
warning voice of our ,lenten            
,commination ,service has convicted any 
one of us of this motive for shrinking  
from its stern sentence1 it has  come to
 us as a true messenger of the ,god who 
has no pleasure in the  death of him    
that dieth4  ,we need the voice of these
 threatenings1  because the heart has   

such a great power of self-deception in 
it4  ,men  find it so easy to thrust    
away into the dim background of their   
thoughts  all the dark but sure         
consequences of present sins1 treating  
them as a  debt which will come up no   
doubt for payment some day1 but may be  
put  aside just now4    ,and one virtue 
of our stern plain-speaking ,lenten     
services is this1 that  they will not   
allow us to forget that fated reckoning 
day--they put us1  whether we like it or
 not1 face to face with the sure        
consequences of  sin2 and they compel us
 to listen to the question--,what is the
 choice of  thy life8    ,for you will  
bear in mind that we read all these     
decrees of ,divine law  with our eye    
fixed on our own life and not on our    
neighbour4  ,they are  meant to help us 
to judge ourselves1 and not some other  
person2 they lead  us to penitence and  
not to criticism1 so that our readiness 
or our  unwillingness to meet and to    
weigh them1 and to respond to them with 

definite prayer and penitence1 may be   
taken as an index of our religious      
sincerity1 and of our readiness to      
consecrate our lives to the service of  
our ,saviour ,christ4    ,and it is well
 for us that we should ask ourselves    
these questions2 for  if indeed it is   
true that every transgression and       
disobedience shall  receive its just    
recompense and reward1 how else shall we
 escape8           ,,xv4  ,,the         
,,conflict ,,with ,,evil4         ,and  
lead us not into temptation1 but deliver
 us from evil4--,,st4     ,,matthew vi4 
#ac4    ,it is good for us sometimes to 
stand still for a moment and consider   
our  use of very familiar words4  ,and  
this petition may appropriately         
illustrate our need of such an exercise4
    ,it is on your lips every day4      
,every ,sunday you offer it you hardly  
know  how many times1 in private and in 
public prayer3 ,lead us not into        
temptation1 but deliver us from evil4   
,and the moment you stop to think  about

 it you feel--who does not8--that it is 
a very solemn and moving  petition if   
you offer it before ,god in sincerity1  
and with an honest  desire to be kept   
out of the way of sin2 but it becomes a 
fearful mockery  if it is offered with  
unclean lips1 or by one who is living in
 any sort  of sinful practice1 either   
secret or open4    ,and yet1 as we all  
know1 it is possible to do this1 making 
the prayer  mere lip service1 under the 
influence of daily custom4  ,this1 then1
 is  the question it suggests to us     
whenever we stop to think about it3 ,how
  far are we endeavouring to keep our   
lives in accordance with the spirit  of 
such a petition8  ,lead us not into     
temptation1 but deliver us from  evil4  
,most of you1 ,i can well believe1 would
 not voluntarily or  deliberately step  
out of your way to meet a temptation1 or
 to seek any  evil course of life4  ,you
 would not do it of your own free       
choice1 or in  cold blood1 as we say4   
,this1 at any rate1 is your own feeling 

about sin1  whether the feeling is      
consistent with your life or not4  ,as  
you  contemplate any low form of life in
 another1 you recognise its ugliness    
and its degrading character1 and you    
call it very likely by the name it      
deserves4  ,if1 then1 you find yourself 
involved in any sin1 in spite of  these 
feelings1 and although you take this    
daily prayer upon your lips1  how comes 
it to be so8  ,how comes it that you    
remain in this pitiable  condition8     
,your answer is1 perhaps1 that          
temptation comes upon you unawares1 and 
that it takes you by surprise2 or it    
seems to watch for some moment of       
forgetfulness or weakness2 or you fight 
against a temptation1 but still  it     
clings to you as if it had a life of its
 own and were independent of  you2 or   
you are drawn into sin you scarcely know
 how2 or you are driven  into it by some
 one whom you fear although you despise 
him2 or it seems  to you to be in the   
very air you breathe4  ,and although    

such answers  explanatory of a life of  
sin or waste are no real excuse for it1 
they are  very often quite true4  ,if it
 were not so1 the devil would not be the
  dangerous enemy that he assuredly is  
to our spiritual life2 our risk of      
failure in our battle with sin would not
 be so great as experience shows  it to 
be4  ,we must therefore expect that     
temptations to sin will  sometimes come 
upon us quite by surprise and at        
unlocked for moments1 and  that some    
temptations will linger and cling to us 
with a hateful  persistence2 you must be
 prepared also to find that some        
companion may  draw you towards a sin1  
or a bully may endeavour to drive you   
into it4  ,your life is a happy one if  
it is free from all such risks1 but you 
cannot count upon such freedom4  ,so    
that1 if any one begins his life        
thinking that his conflict with evil and
 its manifold temptations is  going to  
be an easy one1 he begins under a       
dangerous delusion1 and he is  likely to

 end in some disastrous failure4    ,you
 desire1 let us hope1 to keep your soul 
unstained by evil ways4  ,if1  then1 you
 remember that to secure such a         
stainless and unpolluted life  you have 
not only to fight with some external    
enemy now and then1 but  against dark   
and insidious powers of evil which seem 
to start up around  you and in the very 
citadel of your heart unawares1 and that
 except  through a constant sense of    
,god's presence in your life you cannot 
hope  to keep free from their influence1
 this feeling should give reality and   
earnestness to our daily prayer to be   
delivered from the evil4    ,and1       
indeed1 this feeling that our life is   
set in the midst of many and  great     
dangers is one of the first requisites  
for its moral safety4  ,it  stands      
beside us with its warning1 whenever a  
temptation to some sin  besets us1      
reminding us that1 no matter how        
pleasant or attractive the  temptation  
may seem to be1 or how trifling the sin 

that it suggests1 it  is in fact an     
outpost of a great army1 whose name is  
legion1 and that we  should hold no     
parleyings and have no dealings with it1
 for it breathes  corruption1 and it    
brings degradation and death behind it4 
,obsta principiis may indeed be said to 
be a warning specially needed  by us in 
regard to every kind of temptation4     
,but we may go further than  this4  ,our
 safety from particular sins depends    
very often and very  largely1 at a      
critical moment1 upon our general       
attitude and feeling  towards sin in    
every shape4    ,it must be             
acknowledged1 ,i think1 that most sins  
which lay their hold  upon us and master
 us1 or struggle long and hard for the  
mastery1 make  their first entrance into
 the soul so easily1 because they find  
it swept  and garnished for their       
reception1 and its doors wide open4     
,with  reference to this you have only  
to reflect on some chapter of your own  
experience4  ,has it never happened     

that1 when some wrong or sinful act or  
thought or speech was first presented to
 you1 it stirred a feeling of           
shrinking1 or strong dislike1 or fear1  
or uneasiness1 or1 it may be1  disgust2 
but instead of listening to that warning
 voice1 and spurning the  temptation    
utterly1 as your feeling bade you do1   
you were attracted  somehow to turn and 
gaze upon it4  ,you knew it to be sin1  
but you felt no  repulsion4  ,your soul 
was not garrisoned and defended by any  
strong sense  of the hatefulness and    
deadly influence of all sin as such2 so 
if you  fled from it it was with a      
backward look2 and then you allowed     
yourself  to think of it in others1 or  
you lived on friendly and familiar terms
  with those who were stained by it2    
possibly you even jested about it2 you  
let your thoughts feed upon it2 you     
expressed no stern disapproval of it2   
you allowed the atmosphere of your life 
to be tainted by it2 and at last  your  
adversary the devil1 having rejoiced to 

see his wiles thus gathering  round you1
 saw you slip or plunge into the sin1   
and go one great step  nearer to        
becoming his bondslave--just as some    
foolish bird1 fluttering  this way and  
that instead of spreading its wings for 
a heavenward flight  into the pure and  
safe upper air1 might plunge into the   
snares of the  fowler4  ,and yet all the
 while1 although you were living this   
weak and  vacillating life1 which is the
 seed-field of sin1 you were praying to 
,god  every day--,lead us not into      
temptation4    ,if we remember any such 
experience we may at least gather from  
it some  lessons of safety and strength 
for the time to come4  ,it reminds us   
first  of all how vitally important is  
our general attitude towards every form 
of sin and its allurements4  ,on this   
attitude it very often depends  whether 
your life is to be comparatively free   
from pitfalls1 or whether  it is to be  
beset with dangers at every turning4    
,if by your attitude and  behaviour you 

cause it to be felt that sin is hateful 
to you1 and that  you are sincere when  
you pray that ,god may keep you from all
 evil1 a  great many of the temptations 
that would otherwise make your life     
difficult and dangerous will shrink away
 abashed2 or if the tempter  ventures to
 assail you1 he will do it              
half-heartedly when he sees that  you   
repel him with a whole-hearted          
repugnance4  ,it is this attitude even  
more than individual acts which fixes   
the tone of a society4     ,when there  
is no prevalent sense that there are    
those present who  maintain this        
attitude of hatred and contempt for sin 
and everything that  breeds or fosters  
it1 the tone1 as men say1 becomes low1  
or lax1 the air  becomes corrupt1 and   
life in such surroundings becomes full  
of peril4  ,if  the good are timid1     
shrinking1 showing no positive fervour1 
no zeal for  virtue1 and no moral       
indignation against evil influence1 then
 the bad in  their society will lift up 

their heads and walk boldly4  ,but when1
 on the  other hand1 they who are in    
their hearts convinced of the sinfulness
 of  sin1 and of the infinite mischief  
that may arise out of any form of it1   
are not ashamed to show it by their     
attitude1 they cause the base to hide   
itself in its proper darkness1 and they 
create an atmosphere around them  in    
which temptations lose a great deal of  
their force and strength4    ,let this1 
then1 be your feeling about your        
life--that when it is assailed  by any  
sin1 that sin is not something isolated 
or insignificant2 it is  not something  
which may be indulged or accepted1 as if
 it had no relation  with other sins2 it
 is a part of an infinite brood of evil2
 and that if  you admit it within the   
circle of your life1 or tolerate it in  
the air  you breathe1 you never know    
where its pestilent germs may fall1 and 
breed1 and multiply1 and what mischief  
may come of it4    ,it is this feeling  
of the mysterious vitality of sin1 and  

the subtle  kinship of one form of sin  
with other forms1 and its               
destructiveness when  it seizes on a    
life or poisons an atmosphere1 that     
helps us more than  anything else to    
feel the force and the intensity of the 
,saviour's prayer  for us3 ,holy        
,father1 keep through ,thine own name   
those whom ,thou hast  given ,me4  ,i   
pray not that ,thou shouldest take them 
out of the world1 but  that ,thou       
shouldest keep them from evil4  ,it is  
this same feeling of the  spreading1    
insidious1 infectious and destructive   
nature of sin that makes  us echo this  
as our first and most earnest prayer for
 all we love1 that  ,god may keep them  
from evil2 and it is this that makes us 
value so highly  and recognise with     
thankful hearts every example of a pure 
and strong  life1 which gives           
inspiration and strength to those around
 it4           ,,xvi4  ,,spiritual      
,,blindness4         ,as it is written1 
,god hath given them the spirit of      

slumber1 eyes     that they should not  
see1 and ears that they should not      
hear4--,,romans     xi4 #h4             
,blindness in part is happened to       
,israel4--,,romans xi4 #be4    ,it is a 
sad and painful reflection1 and one     
which is continually forced  upon us as 
we read the ,new ,testament1 that the   
long training and  preparation of the   
,jews brought them at the last not to   
the acceptance  but to the rejection of 
,jesus4    ,they had been taught1       
generation after generation1 that they  
were the  called and chosen people of   
,god4  ,psalmists and prophets had      
enriched  their life with the outpouring
 of their moral and spiritual           
revelations1  and fired their hopes with
 promises4  ,they lived in the          
expectation of  the ,messiah who was to 
complete these revelations of the ,god  
who had led  them and taught them ever  
since the days of their ,egyptian       
bondage4    ,yet1 when this crowning    
revelation came to them1 they could not 

even  recognise it4  ,the ,son of ,god  
came unto ,his own and ,his own received
 ,him  not4  ,as ,st4 ,paul expresses it
 in my text1 while grieving for them    
with  all the intensity of his fervid   
affection1 their life was overgrown with
  a sort of spiritual dulness4  ,they   
were suffering from a sort of           
ossification of the spirit1 so that the 
last and greatest revelation of  ,god   
could make no impression upon them4     
,but this picture of the ,jews rejecting
 and crucifying their ,saviour1 and     
unable to appreciate or to receive the  
gift of new life which was offered  to  
them1 blind to its beauty1 unattracted  
by its charm1 is not only one  of the   
saddest sights in history1 it is very   
instructive for every one of  us1       
because it is charged with warnings that
 are never out of date4  ,for  there is 
no individual life1 and no society1 that
 is not liable to drift  into a similar 
dulness of vision1 and so to reject or  
disregard what ,god  gives for its      

enlightenment4  ,the great critical     
events in the world's  history1 the     
events that make epochs in the          
consciousness of men1 are not  different
 in kind from those of our own obscure  
lives4  ,they are1 as it  were1 our own 
familiar experience1 written            
prophetically and written  large4    ,so
 the blindness that happened to ,israel1
 and arrested their spiritual  growth1  
may be happening no less to any of us4  
,as ,god gave them the  spirit of       
slumber1 so it may be with our lives4   
,and the very thought of our possible   
risks in this respect is valuable to    
us4    ,to be conscious that in regard  
to any of the higher and better things  
of  life our eyes may possibly be       
growing dim1 and our ears dull of       
hearing1  and that ,god may be pressing 
upon us gifts of great price which we   
are  too dull to see or to accept--if   
our soul is sufficiently awake to feel  
this1 then the very feeling may of      
itself be the germ of new life in us4   

,and it is very certain1 on the other   
hand1 that if we are altogether  without
 any such feelings there is a risk1     
which even amounts to a  probability1   
that the hardening or deadening         
influences of custom and  tradition will
 sooner or later degrade our life4  ,and
 if it should be  asked1--,how comes it 
that we are so liable to be affected by 
this dulness  of spirit and of general  
habit8--we have to reply that it is     
because of  the sensitiveness of the    
human soul to surrounding influences4   
,it is because our souls are so         
receptive1 so imitative1 and in         
consequence so easily perverted1        
darkened1 blinded1 or misled4  ,i       
suppose  we are all of us conscious of  
this sensitiveness of the moral and     
spiritual nature2 we should all say1 if 
questioned1 that we are quite  aware of 
it1 and that no one would dispute it4   
,the soul of every child  or man1 we    
should say1 is a fine and delicate and  
sensitive instrument1  with the         

possibilities in it of we know not what 
,divine harmonies1 but  easily spoilt4  
,and yet1 when we look at all the common
 and traditional ordering of  daily     
life1 whether in our educating of the   
young or in the influences  that we     
allow to prevail among young and old1 it
 would seem sometimes as  if this       
thought of the soul's sensitiveness had 
never dawned upon us4  ,when we once    
really grasp this thought1 or1 let us   
rather say1 when this  thought has once 
really fastened upon our mind1 and fixed
 itself there1  so that it remains with 
us1 and goes about with us2 and when1 in
  consequence1 we come to feel how      
easily any soul may be perverted1 or    
rendered hard or dull2 in one word1 how 
easily it may be degraded2 then  it     
follows that we look with new eyes on   
many things1 many customs1 many         
influences which the unthinking hardly  
notice1 or notice only to  misjudge4    
,in the light of this feeling of the    
soul's sensitiveness1 the thoughtful    

man is very often intolerant of things  
which to others seem of little  moment1 
because he sees how they are tending to 
dull or deaden the eye of  the soul1 or 
to pervert or to kill its finer         
instincts2 and how1 in  consequence1    
though tradition may have given them a  
sort of spurious  consecration1 or the  
world in its blindness may have come to 
honour them1  they are in fact laden    
with mischief to the general life4      
,it was the thought of this             
sensitiveness of the soul to external   
influences1 and of the ease with which  
any bad influence1 or bad custom  or    
practice or fashion1 perverts common    
lives1 and of the untold mischief  which
 is consequently latent in it1 that     
winged the words of a well-known  writer
 when she protested1 some years ago1    
against what she designated as  debasing
 the moral currency4    ,that writer was
 thinking primarily of vulgar jesting on
 great subjects1  which should stir us  
to admiration and reverence1 and so     

debasing men's  tastes4  ,she had in her
 mind the class of persons who have the 
art of  spoiling things that are noble  
or beautiful by their vulgar handling of
  them2 and of the mischief which is    
done by such persons to public taste    
and tone and character4     ,but we may 
widen the reference4  ,whosoever1 in    
anything that concerns  the conduct of  
life1 spreads low notions1 or drags down
 men's opinion or  taste1 thus helping  
to pervert ordinary minds from those    
higher aims and  motives and those      
reverent views of character and life    
which should be  cherished for our      
common use and service1 is debasing the 
moral currency4    ,here1 then1 we have 
a very practical question for our       
consideration and  answering4  ,is there
 anything in my life--so the question   
comes to us  in our                     
self-examination--which could be so     
described8 any influence1  spreading    
from my conduct1 of which men might     
truly say that it also is  helping to   

debase the moral currency8  ,is there to
 be seen in it anything  that tends     
towards the lowering of common          
standards8 any misuse of things  sacred 
or holy8 any foolish or vulgar estimate 
of the higher things of  life8  ,and if 
we are in any doubt how to put these    
questions in a  concrete and practical  
shape1 we have only to remember how any 
one who  helps to lower any standard of 
taste or conduct is debasing the moral  
currency of life2 how1 for instance1 all
 those are debasing it who  substitute  
any wrong notion of honour for right    
notions of honour1 or who  put roughness
 and coarseness in place of manliness1  
or who set the  fashion of cynical      
judgments on good and bad characters4   
,or we might take an illustration from  
what is1 unhappily1 a very common       
element in ,english life3 the habit of  
gambling sport4  ,wherever this  habit  
spreads1 in any class of society1 from  
the highest to the lowest1  its effect  
is invariable2 it undermines integrity1 

it hardens the heart  and debases taste1
 and is the willing handmaid of other   
vices4  ,moral  degradation is its      
inseparable companion4  ,therefore1 if  
you mix in it1  or share in it1 or give 
any adhesion or countenance to it1 which
 helps1  as men say1 to make it         
respectable1 and so to spread its       
influence1 you  are debasing the moral  
currency4    ,or take another common    
case4  ,you are familiar with the poet's
  description1 ,and thus he bore without
 abuse the grand old name of  gentleman4
  ,that is a noble thing for any man or 
boy to have said of  him2 and there is  
not one among you who does not desire   
always to be able  to claim that name as
 his own4    ,but1 wherever we go in the
 world1 how many men there are who claim
 it and  yet debase it by ignoble use6  
,they help to spread the notion that a  
man  may be a man of low morality and   
still a gentleman2 that his             
gentlemanliness may be a mere varnish of
 culture and manners1 a thin  veneering 

having underneath it only meanness1 or  
coarseness1 or  corruption2 and that1   
notwithstanding this1 he may still claim
 to be  called a gentleman4  ,those who 
spread such doctrines are debasing the  
moral currency of ,english life4  ,and  
it should be the mission of schools     
like this1 and of those who grow up in  
them1 to pour upon all such  persons the
 contempt which they deserve1 and to    
restore the currency of  common life to 
something of ,christian purity4         
,remembering1 then1 how sensitive the   
soul is1 and how easily by example1  or 
conduct1 or fashion it may be so        
perverted as to lose its clear vision   
and higher aims1 its pure tastes and    
ennobling emotions1 we have to make  it 
our ambition and endeavour that our life
 may be kept free from such  debasement4
    ,but1 if we are to succeed in this1 
we must make it our daily prayer that   
the ,god of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ    
will enlighten the eyes of our          
understanding1 and give unto us the     

spirit of wisdom and revelation in  the 
knowledge and love of ,him4             
,,xvii4  ,a ,,new ,,heart4         ,a   
new heart also will ,i give you1 and a  
new spirit will ,i put within           
you4--,,ezekiel xxxvi4 #bf4    ,in the  
beautiful and suggestive dream of       
,solomon1 which is recorded in  the     
third chapter of the ,first ,book of    
,kings1 ,god appears to him1 saying1    
,ask what ,i shall give thee2 and       
,solomon's answer is1 ,o ,lord1 ,i am   
but  a child set over this great people1
 give me1 ,i pray ,thee1 a hearing      
heart4  ,and ,god said to him1 ,because 
thou hast asked this thing1 and  hast   
not asked for thyself long life1 nor    
riches2 behold1 ,i have done  according 
to thy words4  ,i have given thee a wise
 and understanding  heart1 and ,i have  
also given thee that which thou hast not
 asked1 both  riches and honour4  ,and  
the record of this vision was clearly   
meant to  indicate that the supreme gift
 of the wisest of men was the hearing or

  understanding heart4  ,on the other   
hand1 there is nothing against which    
our ,lord in the ,gospels utters        
stronger warnings than that dulness or  
deadness of spirit which is described as
 having eyes that see not1 and  ears    
that are dull of hearing1 and hearts    
that do not understand4  ,and in        
illustration of this we read how1 while 
the crowds throng or press upon  ,jesus1
 it is the stricken woman who1 with soul
 sensitive to ,his  influence1 feels the
 virtue come out of ,him though she only
 touches the  hem of ,his garment4      
,thus we are warned to beware lest that 
should come upon us which was the  ruin 
of the ,jews1 dulness or deadness of    
spiritual faculty2 and we are  exhorted 
to pray for and to cherish the hearing  
heart1 the soul that sees  and feels    
spiritual influences1 and is sensitive  
to every high call4  ,and  if your soul 
is thus open and receptive1 it is       
marvellous how full the  world becomes  
to you of ,divine voices4  ,they come   

upon you unexpected1  unsought1 sending 
through your heart some illuminating    
flash of surprise1  so that you wonder  
at your previous dulness2 they strike   
you with the  sudden shock of some new  
knowledge or insight1 and make you feel1
 as  never before1 the true nature of   
your daily conduct or your duty and your
  relation to other men2 or they come as
 the unresting presence of some new     
thought1 which1 once roused1 haunts and 
troubles you with questions which  you  
cannot answer1 or feelings which you    
cannot get rid of4    ,when the soul is 
roused in this way we see and feel the  
hatefulness of  any sin that may have   
tempted or beset us2 or we contrast our 
own life  with that of those whose lot  
is so much harder than ours1 and we are 
struck with shame at our selfishness1 or
 waste1 or our indifference to  the     
privation1 and sin1 and suffering that  
are all around us in the  world4    ,or 
sometimes these ,divine voices in our   
ears bring it home to us how much  we   

are losing out of our life's higher     
possibilities1 if from sinful or        
selfish habit1 from dulness of spirit or
 lack of sympathy1 we cut  ourselves off
 in thought and feeling and interest    
from the great needs1  the great        
sorrows1 the great pulsations of the    
larger world4    ,but why1 you may ask1 
do ,i dwell on all this8  ,it is because
 these are  the true ,advent voices for 
us1 coming as they do to rouse us out of
  narrow preoccupation1 to open our eyes
 to the sinfulness of sin1 to make  us  
feel that the self-centred1 isolated1   
self-seeking life is a life of a  low   
type1 and to stir us with social and    
religious interests and  enthusiasms4   
,these calls that come to you1 whether  
invited or not1 and that stir your      
heart1 speaking to you out of the       
multitudinous life of the time you live 
in1 are like the watchmen on the walls  
of ,jerusalem1 which never hold  their  
peace day nor night4    ,this ferment of
 higher life within us and around us1   

these voices of the  ,spirit in us1 as  
it struggles to lift us out of the      
region of fleshly  influences1 is       
renewed in every generation and in every
 single life4  ,if  you hear no such    
voices1 if the phenomena of life make no
 such impression  upon you1 if you are  
deaf to all these calls1 and care for   
none of these  things1 then it is clear 
that your soul is not yet awake in you2 
you are  living with a dull or darkened 
heart4  ,it is a sort of cave life1 or  
subterranean life1 you lead in such a   
case1 a life of lower rank and  lesser  
hopes4    ,yet these voices from above1 
that come as the witness of the ,divine 
,spirit with our spirit that we are the 
children of ,god1 never fail us4  ,they 
do not belong only to times far off4    
,we are not to think of them  merely as 
enshrined in the ,bible and peculiar to 
it2 but as living voices  that are      
speaking to us to-day out of the depths 
of the ,divine life1 in  which our life 
is sustained4    ,but we have always to 

bear this in mind1 that the ,divine     
voices speak to  men with most stirring 
effect in every generation when they    
speak to them  through the pressing     
needs of their own day4  ,to the ,jews  
the voice of  ,god came in the inspired 
language of their deliverers and        
prophets--in  their unceasing warnings1 
and their impassioned appeals1 and their
  revelations of new truth4  ,to the    
first generation of ,christians these   
same voices came in the shape of strong 
,advent hopes4  ,many things            
contributed to lift the ,apostles and   
their followers nearer to ,god than  men
 of ordinary times4  ,they had seen the 
,lord2 they had lived in ,his  presence2
 they had gone through much tribulation2
 the tongue of fire had  rested on them2
 the ,spirit had taken full possession  
of them2 but we  cannot read the ,new   
,testament without feeling that the most
 stirring1 the  most regenerative       
influence in their society was the      
vividness and  intensity of their       

,advent hope4  ,their expectation of the
 ,lord's return  lifted them out of the 
temptations of the world and above the  
trials of  it4  ,it took hold of their  
active powers1 and made them new men4   
,their ,advent expectation was not the  
vague1 half mystic1 half sentimental    
movement of the heart1 which just       
touches the lives of so many ,christians
  during our ,advent seasons1 while it  
does not really alter any of their      
earthly concerns4    ,christ was very   
near to the ,apostolic ,christians4  ,as
 the eastern sky  brightened every      
morning they felt that it might be the  
light of ,his  coming2 they thought of  
,him as only hidden from them by the    
neighbouring  cloud4  ,they looked for  
,him to return at midnight1 or at the   
cock-crowing1 or in the noonday1 and    
none could say how soon4  ,and so it    
came to pass that this expectation made 
those first believers1 those  humble    
followers of ,christ1 those ,galilean   
fishermen1 those obscure  provincials1  

instinct with that great life which     
lifts men above the  world1 and         
constitutes them a new power in it4     
,our lives are largely influenced by the
 thought of slow development2 but  we   
miss a great deal of the secret of all  
higher life if we forget this  wonderful
 exaltation of the poor and ignorant and
 obscure by this gift of  the ,spirit   
and the inspiration of ,divine hope4    
,it was not by any method  which we     
could have forecast that those men found
 out this charm which  takes the heart  
captive and regenerates the life4  ,in  
their presence we  feel the force of the
 prophet's words1 ,not by might nor by  
power1 but by  ,my spirit1 saith the    
,lord4     ,but then there rises the    
question1 ,how are these ,divine        
influences to  become powerful in us    
also8    ,on the one hand1 we are       
conscious that as we live involved or   
entangled  in the worldly life1 or in   
any form of external life around us1 the
  spiritual part of us slumbers or is   

overlaid4  ,it loses its practical      
power over our thought1 our feeling1 and
 our conduct--our lamp goes out4        
,whilst on the other hand we are        
conscious that the special form of      
,advent  expectation which inspired and 
possessed the first generation of       
,christians is gone from us past        
recovery4  ,we see clearly enough as we 
read the ,new ,testament what that first
 generation expected1 and how the       
expectation transformed their lives2 but
 we see also that they were  mistaken in
 their hope1 and that ,god's            
providential plan proved to be far      
greater than their human conception of  
it4  ,what1 then1 are our ,advent       
hopes8    ,there are two things which we
 should keep clear in our minds         
concerning  them4  ,one1 that they must 
be based upon our feeling of the living 
influence of ,christ and the working of 
the ,holy ,spirit2 and the other is     
that the voices of the ,spirit must come
 to us out of the needs of our own  life

 and of the time we live in if they are 
to lead us to practical  issues4  ,when 
we look out upon the world and its life 
we feel that ,advent  hopes must take   
some new form if they are to preserve   
reality and to be  fulfilled4    ,we see
 decaying faith in some quarters1 and   
selfishness growing where  faith decays2
 we see ignorance and want and all their
 crop of sin and  misery deep-rooted in 
the life of every city2 and the prospect
 which  these things suggest1 the       
problems that meet us as we think of    
them1  might well fill us with          
misgiving4  ,and they would indeed do so
 were it  not for the fact that the     
revelation of such things brings with it
  another revelation also2 it seizes on 
men's souls and stirs them as with  a   
,divine summons4  ,and thus we have     
these hopeful signs for the future      
rising around us1 even where things look
 darkest1 that the great problems  of   
humanity are felt in our day to be above
 all things its social and  religious   

problems4  ,and seeing that the         
aspirations of the time--the  feelings1 
the purposes1 the aims1 and hopes that  
lift men--grow out of  the needs of the 
time and the problems of its life1 we   
look forward--we  have good ground for  
looking forward--to a generation of men 
who shall be  distinguished by religious
 earnestness and by social enthusiasm4  
,but if this be so1 what will your share
 be in this coming life8  ,the  ,spirit 
of ,god1 as we now understand it1 comes 
to us with calls of this  kind4    ,if  
you would hasten the ,advent of ,christ 
in your own soul and in the  souls of   
others1 you must discard selfishness1   
you must rise above self-  indulgence1  
you must prepare to merge yourself in   
the social life1 for  the social good2  
seeing that the growth of this good is  
the only sure and  certain sign of the  
coming of the ,lord4  ,so1 then1 the    
,angel of the  ,advent is thus calling  
us4  ,the future before you is big with 
social and  religious issues1 and the   

,spirit of ,christ is brooding over it1 
and you  and such as you are to be ,his 
chosen instruments in helping forward   
these  issues4           ,,xviii4       
,,spiritual ,,power4         ,and behold
 ,i send the promise of ,my ,father upon
 you2 but tarry ye     in the city of   
,jerusalem until ye be endued with power
 from on     high4--,,st4 ,,luke xxiv4  
#di4       ,ye shall receive power1     
after that the ,holy ,ghost is come upon
     you4--,,acts i4 #h4    ,to-day we  
are celebrating the last of the series  
of historical festivals  which mark the 
springtime of our ,christian year4  ,and
 without this one  the rest would leave 
us with a sense of incompleteness2 for  
we should be  without its gift of the   
abiding and indwelling ,spirit1 and the 
fulfilment  of the last promise4        
,what1 then1 are we learning of its     
practical lessons1 and gathering into   
our life8  ,we have read the            
,pentecostal narrative1 and others that 
illustrate it4  ,we have sung           

,pentecostal hymns4  ,we have joined in 
special prayer for the light of the     
,holy ,spirit to shine in our hearts1   
giving us a right judgment2 and if we   
are led to ask1 ,to what purpose is  all
 this8 the answer is to be seen in the  
texts ,i have just read to you1  the    
burden of which is the gift of power    
from on high4  ,do we not  recognise    
this as the end of the ,new ,testament  
revelation8  ,and do we not  acknowledge
 that this revelation fails1 so far as  
we are concerned1 if it  gives us no    
such power8  ,it is1 indeed1 in         
considering this power of  the ,spirit  
that we touch to the quick the real     
influence of religion in  the practical 
life of men2 for experience shows that  
it is possible for a  man to be endowed 
with almost every other gift and yet to 
lack this  one--this indwelling gift of 
the ,holy ,ghost the ,comforter4    ,our
 life is filled with almost everything  
we could ask or require to  enlighten us
 or to guide and direct1 and yet it     

fails sometimes4    ,it may be failing  
in some of us here to-day1 just from    
want of this  ,divine spark1 this       
influence of a ,spirit from above taking
 up ,his abode  in us1 burning and      
shining in our hearts so as to purge our
 affections  from sinful taint and      
purify our tastes1 lifting up and       
enlarging our  capacities1 and rousing  
our energies--in one word1 fusing all   
our life  into a new form with its      
refining power4    ,and the question of 
all questions for each of us to consider
 is1 ,how am  ,i to make my life the    
home and embodiment of this power from  
above8  ,if  we turn to our ,lord's own 
example1 or to the life of ,paul or any 
other of  ,his followers1 or to any life
 we have known and felt to breathe      
around it  this same power of the       
,spirit1 some things become at once very
 obvious  and clear to us4    ,that     
supreme example and those lives declare 
that whoever desires to have  his soul  
purified and invigorated1 to be charged 

with this ,divine  electric influence1  
must have something of separateness and 
independence  in his life2 he must feel 
himself as not merely one of a crowd    
moved by  the desires1 aims1 hopes1     
tastes1 and ambitions which may chance  
to  prevail around him1 but as a        
separate soul in direct communion with  
the  ,spirit of ,god4    ,but if we are 
to realise this in our own life1 it     
means that our times of  daily prayer1  
whether in private or in public1 are    
times at which we lay  open our secret  
life to the ,divine presence and        
influence2 it means that  we give some  
real thought and meditation to this     
presence of ,god in our  life1 and that 
we thus feed our souls continually on   
wholesome spiritual  food4  ,it is in   
this way that men's lives become in a   
real sense the  temples of the ,holy    
,spirit1 and the influences of sin fall 
away from  them4    ,but the hindrances 
that are always acting to undermine or  
destroy any  such spiritual power in us 

are manifold1 and seldom far away from  
our  life4    ,the world outside is     
always with us and acting in this way1  
distracting  thought1 setting up its own
 standards1 drawing us into its         
channels1 and  deadening the ,spirit in 
us4  ,this is one of the inevitable     
conditions of  life as you will have to 
live it1 and the man who is in earnest  
recognises it as a paramount reason why 
he should never drop out of his         
personal practice the habit of separate 
prayer and communion with ,god4  ,or    
again1 we may1 and often do1 let these  
hindrances grow up within us  through   
our own fault1 and quite apart from any 
active influences of the  outer world4  
,we contract a dulness of spirit1 so    
that spiritual things have no  interest 
and faith has no living power in the    
heart2 and all this very  often not     
because any person1 or anything outside 
of us1 can be said to  have led us away 
and entangled us1 but simply because we 
have taken no  pains to keep our life   

within the range of spiritual           
influences2 we have  let prayer slip out
 of it2 we have lived in no spiritual   
companionship2  we have done nothing to 
keep our soul alive in us4  ,this is how
 men  choose the lower life1 and        
surrender their birthright out of pure  
inertia1 so that they lose their        
spiritual capacity4    ,but worst of all
 hindrances to the indwelling of ,god's 
,holy ,spirit in any  life is the       
harbouring of sensual appetite or       
craving1 passion1 or  indulgence4  ,no  
man can expect the ,holy ,spirit of ,god
 to make its home in  such unclean      
company4  ,it is on this account that   
there is nothing which  so soon grows to
 depraved habit1 to ,god-abandoned      
state1 as sensual  appetite2 nothing    
which so rapidly dulls the higher       
affections in the  heart and saps all   
the finer elements of life4             
,therefore1 when we are thinking of     
,god's gift of the ,holy ,ghost1 and of 
spiritual power as the saving and       

uplifting influence in our soul1 we do  
well to reflect a little on those       
hindrances which will be fatal to all   
such power in us1 if they are allowed to
 take possession of our life and  to    
prevail in it4     ,we do well to       
reflect in this way1 because such       
reflection will make us  very careful   
against harbouring or encouraging any of
 these fatal  hindrances1 and careful   
also against any other form of spiritual
 waste4    ,there is no surer guide to a
 right use of all liberty than this     
reflection upon the power of the        
indwelling spirit in us1 and the things 
that add to it or destroy it4           
,recognising that this ,spirit1 which1  
in the language of your confirmation    
prayer1 is the ,spirit of wisdom and    
understanding1 the ,spirit of counsel   
and ghostly strength1 the ,spirit of    
knowledge and true godliness and of     
holy fear2 recognising that this        
,spirit1 with its sevenfold gifts1 is   
the  saving element in all free life1   

you begin to look with fresh feelings on
  all your leisure hours1 on all your   
hours of liberty1 when you are  released
 from task work or supervision1 when    
your life is what you  yourselves are   
making it1 and you begin to consider    
whether these times1  as you spend them1
 are indeed times of growth or1 it may  
be1 of waste1  times of genuine freedom 
or of slavery to some form of lower     
life4  ,when  you think of this ,holy   
,spirit of ,god as a power in every good
 life1 it  becomes a very real question 
what and of what sort is the power that 
is  holding sway over you in your       
leisure hours4    ,this is indeed a     
question which never sleeps1 and to-day 
we ask1 ,what is  your ,whitsuntide     
answer to it8    ,if there be any one to
 whom such a question is not yet a      
matter of living  concern1 it is the    
purpose of this ,pentecostal festival to
 rouse him to  new thoughts about it4   
,if there be any older person in this   
congregation who lets his years slip    

from him1 not caring or forgetting the  
importance of it1 and not striving  to  
leaven all his hours of work or leisure 
with the thought of this  indwelling    
,spirit from above2 or if there should  
be any young boy who1 in  utter         
thoughtlessness1 or from perversity or  
coarseness1 or any induced  depravity of
 taste1 allows any evil spirit to bear  
rule in his life1 our  prayer for such  
an one to-day is that the baptism of    
fire may descend  upon his soul1 and the
 power of a new spirit be felt in it4   
,and indeed there is not one of us but  
needs to come at such a time with  this 
same prayer for his own life2 for our   
own experience is too often  very like  
the vision of ,ezekiel4  ,under the     
influences that come between  us and the
 ,spirit of the living ,god1 our soul is
 in continual danger of  being like the 
prophet's valley of dry bones1 which lay
 lifeless1  unmoved1 till the breath of 
the ,lord breathed over them1 and the   
breath  came into them1 and they lived1 

and stood up upon their feet1 an        
exceeding great army4    ,so we pray    
that our life may prove responsive to   
these influences of the  ,pentecostal   
season4  ,and the first response it     
gives is when it rises up  in the       
consciousness of the ,spirit of ,god as 
a living power in the heart1  a power to
 drive out evil1 and to inspire and     
strengthen us for what is  good4    ,and
 if1 under the inspiring associations of
 this historic and holy day1  you feel  
your soul touched with a new spirit or  
consciousness rising up  in you from the
 grave of its own dead self to new      
desires and new  thoughts1 and a new    
sense of the living nearness of the     
,holy ,ghost the  ,comforter1 then you  
know--and you need no prophet to tell   
you--that the  ,pentecostal gift has not
 failed1 and there is good hope that you
 will not  spoil either your youth or   
your manhood with any form of ignoble   
life4           ,,xix4  ,,sanctified    
,,for ,,service4         ,we are        

labourers together with ,god2 ye are    
,god's husbandry2 ye are     ,god's     
building4--#a ,,cor4 iii4 #i4    ,in    
this passage ,st4 ,paul is rebuking the 
,corinthians for that spirit of  party  
which was dividing them into followers  
of this or that teacher and  so         
destroying their unity in ,christ4  ,you
 do not belong1 he says1 to ,paul  or to
 ,apollos2 we have no claim upon you2 ye
 are not to be called by  our name3 you 
are ,god's husbandry1 and ,god's        
building1 not ours2 we  are but         
labourers in ,his service and ministers 
for your good4  ,therefore1  see to it  
that you live as one society in ,christ 
,jesus1 discarding all  divisions1      
factions1 and party passions and        
watchwords1 imbued with one  spirit4    
,it is a noble exhortation to unity of  
life and purpose2 but we  may notice in 
it more than this4     ,as ,paul himself
 disclaims all personal merit--as he    
presses it on their  attention that     
neither is he that planteth anything nor

 he that watereth1  but ,god that giveth
 the increase1 he is unconsciously      
exhibiting to us an  example of that    
rare humility which is characteristic of
 all the greatest  and most effective   
workers2 whilst in the vivid and        
expressive metaphors  of my text--ye are
 ,god's husbandry1 ,god's building--he  
makes us to feel  the value and the     
dignity of each human soul4    ,it would
 be interesting to dwell on these calls 
to unity of life in  ,christ1 and the   
close connection between such unity and 
the spirit of  humility2 in fact1 we    
might say1 the absolute necessity of the
 spirit of  humility and                
self-forgetfulness in individuals if    
there is to be unity in  the society4   
,and we might apply the thoughts with   
much profit to our own  social          
relations1 for they are never out of    
date2 but ,i desire to turn to-  day to 
that which is suggested by these        
descriptive metaphors1 the value  and   
dignity of each human life4     ,st4    

,paul pressed it on these ,corinthians  
that their souls were nothing  less than
 the seed-field of which ,god ,himself  
was the ,husbandman1 or the  temple     
built by ,his hand2 and they could      
hardly have listened to such  language  
without being stirred to take care how  
they sowed in that field1  or without   
feeling the consequent value of their   
life in the sight of  ,god4    ,if they 
were thus the objects of the ,divine    
care they could not be  thought of as   
insignificant units in a crowded city2  
or as living an  obscure life which was 
of no particular importance1 as they    
might  otherwise have been tempted to   
fancy1 as we are still sometimes tempted
  to think about an individual life4    
,this picture of each life amongst us   
in its relation to ,god1 as ,his        
seed-field or ,his temple1 is a         
continual  reminder that where a human  
soul is concerned there is no such thing
 as  insignificance or obscurity4    ,as
 ,st4 ,paul thought of that little      

company--a company small and obscure  to
 the outward eye--what he saw in them   
was the temple of the ,holy ,ghost1  and
 the spiritual life that was breathing  
there was a ,divine life2 and  this     
intense conviction of the value of each 
soul and each society and  its          
consequent sanctity was a never-failing 
inspiration to him4    ,through it he   
saw in every one who listened to his    
words1 as he went from  city to city1 a 
man created and endowed with a ,divine  
mission and ,divine  capacity1 if they  
could only be roused4    ,it transformed
 every soul that crossed his path1 so   
that he looked on  life with new eyes4  
,the common crowd had a new interest for
 him1 the  suffering poor1 the          
downtrodden slave1 the heathen in his   
blindness1 the  degraded sinner4    ,and
 it has been so with all the great      
servants of ,god2 out of this  feeling  
the love of souls has grown in men4     
,but this feeling of the value of each  
individual life1 because of the  ,divine

 element and presence in it1 is a       
peculiar gift of the ,christian         
revelation4    ,in the ancient pagan    
world a man's life was of little        
account2 it is out  of the ,bible that  
this new thought has come that every    
soul has in it an  indefinite element of
 ,divine possibilities1 and is therefore
 of value in  the sight of ,god4  ,it is
 by virtue of this contribution to our  
thought  that the ,bible is truly       
described as the ,great ,charter of     
human rights1  and as the source of the 
great stream of charity and             
self-sacrifice1 of  that enthusiasm of  
humanity which more than all else       
separates and  distinguishes our life   
from that of heathen antiquity4    ,it  
would indeed be difficult to point to   
any one single thing which makes  so    
great a difference between the quality  
of one man's life and another's  as the 
presence or absence of this feeling     
about the value1 the  possibilities1 the
 sanctity of each individual soul4      

,let man estimate himself1 said ,pascal1
 let him estimate himself at his  true  
value1 honour himself in his capacities1
 and despise himself in his  neglect of 
those capacities4  ,yes1 if a man is    
once brought to this  condition that he 
feels the greatness of the ends for     
which ,god has made  him1 and that he   
estimates his life by the possibilities 
of growth that  are in it1 and by the   
thought of the ,divine influences that  
work in it2  and if he despises himself 
for neglect of these capacities or      
possibilities and of these influences1  
he has awoke to a sense of the  first   
word of ,christ and ,his ,apostles4     
,your soul is ,god's seed-field1 ,god's 
building2 we are labourers together     
with ,god4  ,such a description of each 
individual life is very significant     
everywhere1 and not least in such a     
society as ours4    ,to us who are here 
in this society as masters they are just
 a parable of  our own life2 setting    
forth to each of us what should be his  

estimate of  his own work and aim and   
purpose1 exhibiting to him his field of 
work  with the ,divine light on it1 and 
interpreting to him his own endeavours  
as a fellow-labourer with ,god1 hoping  
to contribute in some degree  towards   
the filling in and completing that      
,divine plan1 that ideal  picture of the
 life of every one of you which is in   
the heavens1 and  which in imagination  
he sees as a thing some day to be       
realised1 and the  realisation of which1
 or its failure1 may largely depend on  
his own share  in our life and work4    
,it is this feeling that every heart    
contains the  germ of some perfection   
that makes our life so profoundly       
interesting1  and1 it may be added1 our 
responsibilities for the cultivation or 
neglect  of any such germ or capacity so
 serious and engrossing4    ,but to you1
 too1 these apostolic suggestions about 
the ,divine influences  at work in each 
heart1 and the value of each life in    
,god's sight1 and the  ,divine voices   

claiming to be heard in it1 should be   
quite as stimulative  as they are to us4
    ,they have in them the germ of all  
striving after purity and goodness1 and 
of all hatred of sin1 and enthusiasm for
 the uplifting of social life4    ,the  
words of ,paul to his ,corinthian       
converts may furnish you with new       
interpretations of your own daily life  
and duty4     ,if they were ,god's      
husbandry1 or ,god's building1 are not  
you8  ,if the  ,spirit of ,god dwelt in 
them1 how does ,he not dwell likewise in
 you8  striving for your growth in      
holiness and good purpose1 and for your 
salvation from sin and its defilements1 
as he strove for theirs8    ,and if it  
was good for every man in that          
,corinthian community to be  warned how 
he built upon the foundation of life    
that had been laid in  ,christ2 if it   
was good for them to be reminded that   
every man's work  would be made         
manifest1 and that the fire would try   
it1 of what sort it  was2 it is good    

also for us1 masters and boys alike1 to 
remember that we  are living under the  
same law1 and that we should take care  
lest haply we  be found to be working   
against ,god4    ,that ,epistle of ,st4 
,paul's was written in pain and anguish 
of heart4  ,the  seeds of ,christian    
life which he had sown among them1 the  
purifying  influences of the ,holy      
,spirit which were working among them   
through him  and his fellow-labourers1  
all these ought to have produced fruits 
easily  described1 such as peace and    
love1 and purity1 and good works2 but   
instead of these1 and threatening their 
destruction1 there had sprung up        
dissension and strife1 party spirit1    
self-conceit1 and gross sins which ,i   
need not name4    ,in all this there was
 grief1 disappointment1 bitterness2 for 
did they not  prove that his work was   
threatened with failure8    ,yet in all 
that storm of feeling his chief         
exhortation is this reminder  of the    
dignity of their calling4  ,in the midst

 of all their sin and  failure1 though  
he does not spare rebuke and warning1 he
 always aims at  inspiring them by      
uplifting4  ,and we know that this is   
the true method1  because there is      
nothing which exercises an influence so 
strong to uplift  and purify as the     
feeling of our kinship with the life    
above us1 and that  we are degrading our
 life when we forget this or ignore it4 
,and herein  is the value of this word  
of his that ,god is dwelling and working
 in us4  ,know ye not that ye are the   
temple of ,god1 that the ,holy ,ghost   
dwelleth  in you1 and that ,god's temple
 is holy8 and if any man destroy the    
temple  of ,god1 him shall ,god destroy4
    ,let us then begin again our common 
life with a determination to bear in    
mind the possibilities and the sanctity 
of each separate soul that comes        
amongst us4    ,living in crowds1 we are
 apt to forget this2 and1 forgetting it1
 some  treat their own souls as if they 
were of no value1 and some the souls of 

others1 and so the work of sin and waste
 goes on from generation to  generation4
    ,but in our best moments1 in our    
times of serious thought1 if we have    
been  once enlightened1 we can never    
again cease to feel the dignity and the 
value of each human life4    ,when we   
think of ,god's care for us we feel it2 
when we think of the  possibilities ,he 
has ordained for us we feel it2 when we 
think of the  endless life that lies    
before us we feel it2 above all1 we     
never fail to  feel it when our thoughts
 revert to any life that has been       
snatched away  from us4  ,some of you   
are thinking to-day of the master whose 
home is  darkened by the presence of the
 angel of death4  ,you think of her whom
  ,god has taken1 who was moving among  
you not so long ago1 as your tender1    
considerate1 and helpful friend4  ,it   
may be that you were not  uninfluenced  
by her self-devotion and holiness4      
,when you think of such an one you feel 
no doubt about the value and the        

sanctity of each human life4    ,well1  
then1 transfer this feeling to your own 
life1 or to the life of the  boy who    
sits beside you1 or who lives as your   
companion4  ,in the purpose  of our     
common ,father1 your lives also are     
destined for holy uses4    ,to remember 
this may be a safeguard against         
temptation or sinful habit2  it may     
inspire you with a new feeling of the   
value of all the lives  around you1 and 
a new sense of the duty you owe to the  
good life of this  society in which ,god
 has placed you1 that you may prove a   
vessel of  honour sanctified for ,his   
service4           ,,xx4  ,,he ,,that   
,,overcometh4         ,he that          
overcometh shall inherit all things2 and
 ,i will be his ,god1     and he shall  
be ,my son4--,,revelation xxi4 #g4      
,year by year as at this time1 when the 
week of our ,saviour's ,passion and     
,death is just in front of us1 and the  
shadow of ,his ,cross is falling over   
us1 one generation after another of the 

boys of this school gather here1  and in
 the face of the congregation1 young and
 old1 they take upon them  the vows of a
 ,christian life4  ,so we met last      
,thursday1 and your vow is  still fresh 
upon a great many of you1 as indeed it  
can hardly fail to be  fresh in the     
memory of every one in this congregation
 who has ever taken  it4  ,let us pause 
for a moment and repeat its plain words4
  ,you have  declared your faith in ,god
 the ,father1 ,god the ,son1 and ,god   
the ,holy  ,ghost1 the ,father1 the     
,redeemer1 the ,sanctifier of your life4
  ,you have  vowed that you renounce the
 devil and his works1 that you renounce 
covetous desires1 that you renounce the 
carnal desires of the flesh1 so  that   
you will not follow nor be led by them4 
,and you have vowed that you  will keep 
,god's holy will and commandments1 and  
walk in them all the days  of your life4
  ,and you take this upon you1 let us   
hope1 in sincerity and  honesty of      
purpose4    ,and1 if so1 the text ,i    

have read to you declares ,god's        
promise1 if you  persevere1 just as     
another text in the same chapter        
declares that into  the ,city of ,god   
there shall not enter anything that     
defileth or worketh  abomination or     
maketh a lie4  ,this1 then1 is the      
promise--,he that  overcometh shall     
inherit all things2 and ,i will be his  
,god1 and he shall  be ,my son4  ,but as
 we think of this and look forward1 we  
have to  remember that this life to     
which you are dedicated is not an easy  
matter4  ,if you are to succeed in it1  
you have to think of it always as a life
  under a vow1 as in fact a consecrated 
life1 consecrated by your own  promise  
and profession4  ,and this is a great   
safeguard if you bear it  always in     
mind4    ,it is indeed the first        
condition of safety from the attacks and
 the  impulses of sin1 this             
consciousness which you will carry about
 with you1  that you are                
self-dedicated--that there was a day on 

which you said ,i  will--so that if you 
are to be true to your profession and   
declared  purpose1 you will strive to   
keep near to ,god in the spirit1 and you
 will  have no dealings with the devil  
and his works1 and you will resist all  
the degrading solicitations of the      
flesh1 and will live in the atmosphere  
of things that are pure and of good     
report4    ,to have conceived such a    
purpose as this1 to have opened your    
heart to  its influence1 to have lived  
in it even for a little while1 to have  
felt  its purifying and strengthening   
breath upon your soul even for a few    
weeks1 may be enough1 as some of you    
know very well1 to lift your life up  to
 a new level1 so that it becomes and is 
felt by you to be a quite  different    
life from what you lived before--a life 
of new thoughts1 of new  notions about  
what is good or what is evil1 about the 
degrading character  of sin and the     
misery and hatefulness of it1 as also   
about the happiness  of a life that is  

inspired by good aims and purposes1 and 
is free from a  sense of ,god's wrath   
upon you for some low standard of       
conduct1 or some  sinful appetite or    
passion4  ,if you have once felt the    
influence of this  change in your heart1
 you know the difference henceforth     
between the  higher life and the lower1 
the life that is clinging to ,god1      
however  feebly1 and is in the way of   
salvation1 and the life of sin which    
will  inevitably end in degradation and 
in death4    ,but this life in ,christ  
to which you are dedicated is not an    
easy one2  let us not suppose it4  ,it  
is a noble life1 and every one who      
strives to  live it is doing something  
to ennoble his society2 but it is not an
 easy  life4  ,it is never so           
represented to us in the ,bible4  ,there
 is a sense  no doubt in which our ,lord
 invites us to see how easy is ,his yoke
  compared with the yoke of sin--but ,he
 ,himself calls upon every believer  to 
take up his cross and follow ,him4      

,that call may bring to any of us  not  
peace but a sword4  ,st4 ,paul sets the 
,christian life before us as a  race to 
be run with patience2 as a conflict     
which will sometimes be very  hard4  ,in
 ,st4 ,james we see it as the discipline
 of sore temptation1 and  in ,st4 ,peter
 it is the fiery trial that is to try   
us4    ,and again1 in the ,revelation of
 ,st4 ,john1 we have this picture of    
blessing only to those that endure1 and 
to those who have not defiled  their    
garments1 and those who have come       
through great tribulation4    ,and all  
our personal experience confirms this   
language of ,holy ,scripture1  reminding
 us1 as it does1 how hard it is for an  
individual to keep in the  narrow way of
 the spotless ,christian life1 and how  
it is still harder to  stamp the mark of
 ,christian purpose upon a society4     
,yet these are the two things to which  
,god is calling us4  ,these you have  in
 fact vowed that you will strive after2 
and if you are unfaithful in  either    

respect1 if you give up your effort for 
an easy1 drifting life1  you are letting
 go your confirmation vows2 and whereas 
you were intended  to be the salt of    
your society1 your salt will lose its   
savour4  ,to  consider this just now may
 save some of you from discouragement   
and some  from waste and failure4       
,men are stronger to meet their         
difficulties if they know that they have
  to meet them or else to fail and sink4
  ,and so it will be with you4  ,you    
will be more likely to go forward strong
 in earnest purpose1 strong in  the     
strength which ,god supplies1 if you    
bear it in mind that1 as ,st4 ,paul     
would have expressed it1 we are         
appointed unto these trials2 and that a 
soldier of ,christ must expect to have  
to endure hardness2 and in fact  that it
 is a law of our spiritual life that one
 of the chief roots of all  growth in   
strength and goodness is suffering4  ,we
 grow through trial and  suffering to   
true manhood in ,christ4    ,so1 if you 

look at your own life and experience1   
you will find that some  suffer through 
a sore struggle with their own          
temptations1 or their own               
weaknesses--their desires1 their        
appetites1 their fears1 or the habits   
they have contracted1 and their struggle
 may be so hard that it needs all  the  
grace of ,god to keep them firm in their
 purpose4  ,some again suffer  not from 
internal but from external hindrances4  
,companions may be  against them1 or a  
low public opinion may be against them1 
and they may  feel as if they could     
hardly stand firm in isolation1 or under
 suspicion1  or mockery1 or enmity2 and 
some may suffer because the conscience  
around  them is depraved1 and they feel 
too weak to fight against it1 though    
they  know and acknowledge its          
depravity4  ,but however hard may be the
 fight  there should be no              
discouragement1 if only you are able    
still to say in  all honesty that you   
are holding fast to the good purpose    

which you  uttered in your confirmation 
vows4  ,two quite simple warnings may   
sometimes do us great service--one1 is  
that we are very apt to exaggerate  the 
forces against us4  ,they seem very     
strong when we are feeling weak2  but   
they sometimes break up and disappear if
 they are met with a little  courage4   
,and the other warning is this1 that we 
sometimes let ourselves  sink and drift 
into sinful ways or moral cowardice1 by 
neglecting the  helps which ,god gives  
us for the strengthening of a good life 
in us4    ,thus if we neglect real      
prayer1 or do not seek the support of   
good  companionship1 if we take no pains
 to live in a good atmosphere and       
amidst good surroundings1 if there is   
little of devout thought or  habitual   
worship in our life and still less of   
,holy ,communion1 if we thus  allow     
ourselves to drift out of the range of  
the higher moral and  spiritual         
influences1 our vows are forgotten and  
our good purposes fade  away1 our will  

becomes weak1 and the world with all its
 temptations is  very likely to overcome
 us4    ,feeling the infinite issues    
that hang on such considerations as     
these1  let us carry about with us the  
inspiring and invigorating call and the 
promise contained in the text with which
 ,i began this sermon--,he that         
overcometh shall inherit all things2 and
 ,i will be his ,god1 and he shall  be  
,my son4