Thoughts

Ordinal

stcott

Digitized by	the Internet Archive
		in 2015

https://archive.org/details/somethoughtsfromOOwest

SOME THOUGHTS

THE ORDINAL

DEC 13 1954

SOME THOUGHT§^G/WLS^

THE ORDINAL

BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, D.D., D.C.L.

Honfcon anb <&ambntrge:

MACMILLAN AND CO.

1884

[The Right of Translation is reserved.']

Cambridge :

NTKD BV C. J. CLAY, M A. * SOW, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRES<V

PREFACE.

The substance of these addresses was given to the Candidates for Ordination at Addington last Christmas, and the addresses are printed by their request. They may, I hope, be of some use to those who are encouraged by them to study the characteristic teachings of our Ordinal more carefully than perhaps is commonly done.

The addresses make no claim to complete- ness either in subject or in treatment ; but I have endeavoured to keep faithfully to the lessons of our own Office in touching on the topics which have been chosen for considera- tion. In these services, as elsewhere, the patient student will often find more than he expects ;

PREFACE.

and I do not think that anything is more likely to deepen the spirit of self-sacrificing and sober devotion, of vigorous and sustained study, of unwearied and effective ministrations among us, than habitual and systematic meditation on the promises which we made and received, on the charges which were addressed to us, on the charges with which we were entrusted, at the most solemn moments of our lives. We can see in those unchanging words the fulness and meaning of life, the fulness and meaning of the Gospel of the grace of God which we have to bring home to men. Where they condemn us they offer us still the hope and the power of truer service.

B. F. W.

Ilam, Dovedai.e, Jan. 26t/i, 1884.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Outline , x

The Call g

The Rule tj

The Work 25

The Witness 33

The Spirit 4i

The End 4p

The Strength 57

Growth 65

£N 17ANTI TH npULtYX^ KAI T^ A6HL6I TA AITHMATA

Ymcon rN(opi2£cBoi npdc TON Oco'n.

Gedc ecnN 6 eNepru>N en y^in km to 6eAeiN km to eNepreiN Y^ep thc cyAokiac.

Phil. iv. 6; it. 13.

THE OUTLINE.

TAYTHN THN TTApAlTeAlAN TTApATlGeMAl' COI, T6KN0N

Tiiwoeee, kata tac npoAroy'cAc erri ce npoc()HTeiAc,

FnA CTpATeyH €N ALTAIC THN KAAHN CTpATeiAN, i){(X>H niCTIN KAI AfAGHN cyneiAhcin.

i Tim. i. 1 8.

TAYTA M6A6TA, 6N TOYTOIC ICQl, INA coy h npoKoriH 4)ANepA H TTACIN.

i Tim. iv. 1 5.

It is my wish to offer in these short addresses some suggestions for the guidance of our thoughts on the subject which fills our minds now, the confessions and exhortations and promises of the Ordination Service, our promises and the promises of God, which it includes. It may be that we shall be enabled in this way to give more directness to our self-questionings and to our prayers, to apprehend a little more clearly what we mean and what we need in offering ourselves for Christ's Ministry ; to gain definite points round which the lessons of the Divine Spirit may be gathered ; so that in after time we may be better able to recal the resolves and aspirations and assurances which are given to us at this time for our abiding encouragement.

And before going into any detail let me endeavour to mark the line of reflection which I desire to follow. Our Ordinal then, as it seems to me, so far as we consider it now, sets before

I — 2

4

THE OUTLINE.

us in words whose meaning grows with our growth, our Call, our Rule, our Work, our Witness, our Spirit, our End, our Strength. We shall

therefore touch upon these points severally, but first let us bring the whole picture before our eyes that we may see in a general view what it is to which God calls us, what it is which He requires of us, what it is which He gives us.

Let us, I say, think what it is to which GOD calls us. Yes : what it is to which God calls us: He and no other. This is the first thing which we must consider, our Call. We trust and

think that we hear within us and without us a divine voice. The Holy Spirit, so we trust, moves us to take that which God has placed within our reach. We think in our hearts,

and by careful recollection we shall strive to give vividness to the thought, that the whole order of things which has led to this issue is according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we

stand in this act of self-surrender, in this act of choice, in direct personal relation with God, our Creator, Redeemer, Sanctificr.

GOD calls us : and He gives us our Rule. We accept as the central subject of our study, as the supreme standard of our teaching, all the

THE OUTLINE. 5

Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- tament. These we undertake to read di- ligently ourselves and to read diligently to o- thers. We require nothing as of necessity to eternal salvation but what they sufficiently con- tain. We exclude no variety in the apprehension of infinite Truth which they hallow. And let us reflect at once what this means. We make our own, God helping us, the manifold experience of the long ages in which He trained the world for the Coming of His Son, and the many points in which He enabled the apostles to interpret the Work and the Person of the In- carnate Word. We welcome all : we use that which God gives us the power of using.

We acknowledge our Call and our Rule. We have next to consider our Work. This we are taught to consider as an office and as a ministration : as endowed with powers and privi- leges, as charged with grave duties. At present we regard it chiefly in the light of a ministration. In this aspect it is set before us as triply threefold. It is of the body, and

of the soul and of the spirit. It is of outward help, to seek poor and impotent people : of thoughtful study and teaching for young and

6

THE OUTLINE.

old, public and private, as well to the whole as to the sick: of prayer and praise and ministra- tion of the Sacraments. It is directed to ourselves, that we may be better furnished for our office : to men that they may be built up in the faith : to God, that His glory may be spread.

Our Witness — the witness which we give — answers to our Work. We must regard it both in respect of that which we should avoid and in re- spect of that which we should seek. We are seen and marked of others. Our faults become their excuses. Our endeavour to frame and fashion our lives according to the doctrine of Christ is an evidence of the Truth beyond words. And in all self-humiliation let us re- member this. We cannot at our will limit our influence and the influence of those whom we help to mould. We shrink instinc- tively from the thought that we are to be examples to Christ's flock. Yet for good or for evil this is what we must be. Men look to us for the testimony of life ; and this testi- mony— most overwhelming confession — we pro- mise to give, the Lord being our helper.

This being so, we welcome what is set before us as our true Spirit. We are servants,

THE OUTLINE.

7

servants of God and of man, charged to do the will of Him that sent us. We know the terms of our service, and we bind ourselves to fulfil them with a glad mind and will. This gladness

will, I think, be real if we strive to reckon up what we receive from our fellowship with others. For if our powers soon fail us in this effort, we shall measure less grudgingly what we have to surrender in turn of our own fancies or judg- ments or convictions. Reverent obedi- ence is a spring of strength which we cannot leave unused without grievous loss. If we can give up what is dear to us, submitting ourselves to the godly admonitions of those set over us, and perhaps so only, we shall receive the fulness of that very blessing which we have feared to lose.

That blessing lies in realising our End, which is simply this, to serve GOD for the promoting of His glory and the edifying of His people. To serve Him just as He wills and not as we think best, following the path which He opens before us, listening to His word interpreted in our hearts, drawing all our cares and studies this way, that we may offer every gift with which He has enriched us as a better sacrifice to His praise.

8

THE OUTLINE.

Of ourselves we cannot do this : but that we have a mind thereto is a sign of God's working in us ; and our Strength is that we continually pray to God the Father by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Spirit which He hath promised to those who love Him : the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord : even as the One and the self- same Spirit worketh, dividing to every man severally as He will.

Brethren, as this sevenfold order rises before us, our Call, our Rule, our Work, our Witness, our Spirit, our End, our Strength, thoughts must crowd upon us which turn to prayers. So let the prayers find silent expression in a brief space before we go on to consider our Call a little more fully.

I.

THE CALL.

AKoAcfGei moi.

St John i. 43.

ttictoc d k&Aoon.

1 Thess. v. 23.

Psalm cxxiL St Luke ix. 57—62.

CANDIDATES for the Diaconate express their trust that they are 'inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them' that office, and their conviction that they are 'truly called according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ and the due order of this realm/

Whether it be in looking forward to the office with thoughtful preparation, or in looking back upon the hour when it was given to us, you and I, brethren, make this trust, this convic- tion our own to-day.

We are inclined perhaps to think that when the Lord called His immediate disciples, when, for example, He found Philip and first said those decisive words Follow me, the call was far more direct and more easy to obey, more autho- ritative and more assuring, than any which we can receive. I do not stop now to enter

into the comparison which is thus suggested. I do not indeed admit the conclusion ; but it will

12

THE CALL.

be enough for our encouragement if I offer some points for meditation whereby we may know with a sense of practical power that Christ has indeed found us and called us.

And I will ask you to observe that in these answers which our Ordinal requires us to make, we recognise an outward call and an inward call. Christ finds us and calls us through

the circumstances of our life, which represent for each one of us the expression of the Divine Will. Christ finds us and calls us, touch-

ing our souls with desires and encouragements which are not of the earth.

We recognise an outward call. The fact is of deep importance and yet it is often disregarded. We may, I mean, when we look without find occasions for personal thanksgiving which we do not commonly realise; and to find an occa- sion for thanksgiving is to find fresh confi- dence. There is indeed a depth of thought in that phrase ' the due order of the realm' which we shall do well to consider. It brings the whole fabric of society into imme- diate relation with the will of GOD. As we ponder the words we see how it is that He speaks to us through the institutions, the

THE CALL.

IS

opportunities, the trials, the gifts, the discipline, of civil life. He speaks to us through these, and as soon as we feel that it is so, the past becomes a school for gratitude, and therefore a school of strength.

There are both general and special circum- stances in which we may each severally give distinctness to this outward call and acknow- ledge the good hand of God upon us. Let us ask ourselves, for example, how far the special bent of character which we have received, as Englishmen or as members of a particular School or College or University, has tended to define or deepen our desire to serve God in the ministry of His Church ? how far the great questions of the time, the problems of society or the problems of thought, have made our hearts long to bring to bear upon them the message of the Word ?

Or again let us recal the peculiar experiences of our individual lives, the manifold influences of home and school : of studies and friendships : of what we call chance meetings and casual words : and trace in the long retrospect how they have contributed to shape and settle our resolve. Here also it will not be difficult

14 THE CALL.

for us to acknowledge now when we look upon the fulfilment of our life's purpose, signs of a divine guidance, and, seeing them, to gain strength by acknowledging their meaning.

There is need for us, far more need than we allow, to recognise with devout thankfulness this outward calling through the facts of life. But the inward calling first interprets and quick- ens it. Such an inward calling also we think that we have received. We first take it to ourselves in faith, and as it is welcomed it grows clearer and more decisive. It comes to us in many ways, awakening the answer of service, of sacrifice, of love, revealing the urgency of an overwhelming work and receiving the offer of complete devotion.

For instance it may be that at times in look- ing forward to the ministry of Christ we have felt doubts, discouragements, disappointments : we have taken a sad measure of our faith, of our resources, of our achievements : and just then God has allowed us to feel with a sense of personal consolation that His strength is perfected in weakness. That is His voice calling us.

Or again : we may have known the joy of

THE CALL.

15

something borne or done for Christ's sake ; we may have felt how the fulness of life comes through what seemed to be loss, and through that we may have been led to understand a little better than before what is the secret power of His service, what are its victories and rewards ; and we may have taken heart for fresh effort. That again is the voice of God calling us.

Yes : I repeat these swift revelations in the soul of the nature and power of the Divine service are voices of God. If we think that they need an interpreter, let us remember that it was so too with that command to Philip of which we spoke before. He could not feel at first all that it meant or even what it meant. He had not learnt Christ's all-sufficiency long after when he asked, W licit are tliese among so many? He had not learnt Christ's nature on the eve of the Passion, when he said, Lord shew us the Father and it snfficeth us. But he had heard the voice, and he followed still.

Even so, brethren, let us cling to the con- viction which we have gained and which brings us together here: let us cherish the trust which we have known : let us summon now before us in thanksgiving the many leadings by which

i6

THE CALL.

God has been pleased to bring us to our present choice; the many silent whisperings by which He has made us feel His will : the many signs by which we know that He has found us. Face to face with Him in the Person of Jesus Christ let us confess His constraining call and in absolute faith let us follow as He guides. Where I am, He said Himself, there shall also my servant be.

He called us and He calls us still, and He will call us to the end of our days : call us in 'all the changes and chances of our mortal life,' so that we may hear if we listen in stillness : call us in the word read and in the work done : call us in the great questions of social life : call us in the experience of our own souls.

Faithful is He that calleth. So may we trust Him, ever ready to offer the prayer, as certain of an answer : Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth.

II.

THE RULE.

w. o.

2

OCA TTpOerpA<t>H, 6IC THN HMCTtpAN Al&ACKAAlAN erpA(J)H.

Rom. xv. 4.

noAywepojc kai noAyTpdnooc ttaAai 6 Oedc AaAh-

CAC TOIC TTATpACIN 6N TOIC TTpO(}>HTAIC, tfl' 6C)(AT0Y TOJN HMeptON TOyTtoN cAaAhCCN HMIN €N

Hep. i. i.

Psalm cxix.

2 Tim. iii. 14—17.

No one can study our Ordinal without being struck by the place which it assigns to Holy Scripture in the life of the Minister. Here, I think, we find that which is specially charac- teristic of our particular Commission: that in which we may recognise our peculiar difference whereby God in His Providence would have us contribute to the fulness of the whole work of His Church.

Let me ask you, brethren, to collect for your- selves, to write out and to weigh, the promises which we are called to make, the charges which we receive in this respect. Let me ask

you to consider with what solemn emphasis the Scriptures are set before us as the central object of our personal study, the treasury of our public teaching, the final standard of all necessary doctrine.

These three points you will find clear beyond controversy; and I do not wish to dwell upon them now, for they will strike you more forcibly

20

THE RULE.

if you work out the facts for yourselves. I wish rather therefore to invite you to join with me in recognising some of the blessings which the loyal, thankful, reverent, acceptance of our Rule brings with it.

First then let us observe how our unfeigned acceptance of ' all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments' deepens and strengthens our sympathy. Every human

expression of truth must more or less bear upon it the impress of time and place. This is true also of the several Books of the Bible. But then with what a majestic sweep the ' Bibliothcca Divina] which is one Book, embraces the great sum of human experiences : how these records of a spiritual life of more than two thousand years include in many parts and in many fashions the largest variety of circumstances, thoughts, duties, brought within the Divine influence and conse- crated to the Divine service : how we can each find there something which corresponds with our own nature and our own needs and yet so find it that we must acknowledge that this is but a fragment, one ray of a glory fitted to enlighten the world.

This reflection at once suggests a second. If

THE RULE.

21

the frank, faithful, study of the breadth of Scrip- ture quickens us with sympathy, it quickens us with hope too. Without sympathy hope is selfishness. And we are all tempted by the limits of our individual powers, to narrow our hope. But let us once look at the vast

range of the Bible : let us realise in the sacred history of the discipline of the world the large- ness of the mode of God's action : let us ponder the manifestations of His love, of His patience, of His long-suffering, sometimes even startling to our eyes : let us trace, if with aching sight, how He makes man minister to man, and race to race, and generation to generation : let us notice how He accepts in compassion varieties of service according to the state and means of those who render it : how He turns to a source of blessing what appears to our eyes simple misery and ruin: and a hope will rise upon us which we often sorely want : a hope which will not cover with a dull, colourless cloud of indifference the religious positions of men, but on the contrary make us feel, since we have received a priceless heritage, what is perilled in our energy, what we owe and what we can render to others who are heirs with us of a common salvation.

22

THE RULE.

And there is yet a third thought which our Rule offers to us. Our Rule is of life, through life, for life. Every command, every les-

son, every motive, comes to us with the strength of true human experience, and brings to us the conviction of present spiritual fellowship with men and God. The Bible teaches us by

shewing how God dealt with men one by one, and how he dealt with nations. It lifts the veil, so to speak, from His hidden movements; and at the same time we hear the voice of in- numerable witnesses telling of victories of faith. In the Bible our Creed is trans-

lated into action ; or rather we see there in the intercourse of God and Man, broken and restored, the Truth which our Creed expresses. We carry there the definitions of Councils and divines and find that isolated intellectual propositions are quickened into a moral force: that what appeared to be abstract dogmas are revelations of God whereby we maybe enabled to grow after His like- ness. The Book itself forces us to go beyond the Book to a Person. It constrains us to find the only rest of the soul in Him Whom it reveals.

T u fecisti nos ad Te, Domine, et inqnietum est cor nostrum donee rcqniescat in Te.

THE RULE.

23

As we think of these things, our souls must be filled with joy and gratitude that we have been called to serve God under such conditions; that the object of our study, the source of our teaching, the test of our opinions, is that which must, if we keep open tlic eyes of our hearts, bring us a wider sympathy, a fuller hope, a closer fellowship with Saints and with God in Christ.

No criticism can rob the Scripture of this power. We do not think that we have life in them but in Him of Whom they witness. In each

act we catch some vision of the Divine Worker. In each word wc listen for some accent of the Divine Speaker. As He wrought in old times He works still: as He spoke in old times He speaks still. The Bible is not merely the

Charter of our Faith written in a language obso- lete and only half-intelligible, but a message of the Living God to struggling men. Through this — through this illuminated by every ray of truth which can be gathered from every source — He shews Himself to us. We lose our highest pri- vilege, we leave undone our proper work, unless we fix our eyes upon the glorious image that we may ourselves reflect it, and shew it to those who are committed to our care.

24 THE RULE.

We fix our thoughts upon the records of the past, and forthwith old tilings are passed away 1 behold they are become new. Through these the Spirit sent in Christ 's Name takes of His and shews it unto us.

III.

THE WORK.

ofTOi>c hmac Aonzeceoa ANGpoonoc obc YTTHpeTAC XpicTof kai oikonomoyc MycTHpi'ooN Oeof.

i Cor. iv. i.

ynep XpicTof npecBeyoweN <i>c toy Oeof napA-

K&AofNTOC Al' HMOON.

2 Tim. iv. i— 6.

We have thought of our Call and of our Rule : we have next to consider our Work. And here I wish to confine myself to the human side of the work as a personal ministration. It is in this respect a work for God and for men : for God through men, for men through God.

It is a work for God in two senses. It is for Him, inasmuch as His glory is the one end which we propose to ourselves. It is also for Him, inasmuch as we plead in His name, on His behalf.

The first of these thoughts will come before us at a later time. The second we must endeavour to take to ourselves now. We must endea- vour to do so, for we naturally shrink from it. What are we that we should claim

for ourselves such a dignity ; that we should be

2S

THE WORK.

ambassadors for Christ? What are wc?

Simply nothing, save so far as He is pleased to use us. It is this commission, given to us in the eyes of men, after Christ's ordinance, which inspires us with courage. If our hearts

fail us, we call back the words: 'Take thou authority to execute the office of a Deacon in the Church of God....'

' Take thou authority to read the Gospel in the Church of God and to preach the same....'

' Take thou authority to preach the Word of God, and to minister the Holy Sacraments to the Congregation....'

And yet again in correspondence with the fulness of this authority we remember that there is the gift which quickens it :

' Receive'— more closely ' Take,' — 'the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God....'

So the charge, the authority, is laid upon us. So the endowment is conveyed. We come for- ward therefore not because of our own merits, or of our own qualifications, or of our own will, but because we are sent, as though God were intreat- ing by us. Just as we have in Baptism

the grace and seal of our Sonship, we have in

THE WORK.

29

Ordination the grace and seal of our ministerial office. The thought of self passes away except as self is that which we offer for God's use.

Conscious then of our debt, of our duty, of our commission, of our right, which is of God, as stewards of His mysteries, who have to bring out things new and old, while we present in due proportion the revelation of His love and truth, we work for men : we work through ourselves and for others. We work through our-

selves ; for though our unworthiness does not hinder God's grace through the Sacraments, He is pleased to accept and to use whatever we have or are for the furtherance of His will. We work for others ; since our aim

in every effort of self-culture is social and not personal; and by this we 'fan into flame' the gift which is in us, by the laying on of apostolic hands.

We work, I repeat, through ourselves. We offer ourselves at our best to God. And indeed the Christian minister has the strongest motive which man can have for cultivating according to his opportunity every power which he possesses, because he has the noblest object. We more than any owe our

So

THE WORK.

uttermost to God, inasmuch as we have offered ourselves to Him. Let us think well of this. We are tempted to measure our-

selves by others, to acquiesce in an average standard and an average attainment. We for- get that while we are not required to judge our neighbours, we are required to judge our- selves. We alone can do this ; and in full view of all that has been entrusted to us, let us ask ourselves whether we strive at least, God helping us, to put all — our one talent, it may be — to good account. A traditional saying very generally attributed to the Lord in early times speaks to us a lesson of daily application : ^ivecrOe Tpcnre&Tai BoKtfioi. We must, that is, use our heritage and not guard it only. Every faculty of body soul and spirit is to be disciplined and strengthened for minis- try, for thought, for devotion.

So we work through ourselves ; and we work through ourselves for others. Our Ordinal speaks of the Ministers of Christ as Messengers, Watchmen, Stewards. As Messengers

we have a gospel to proclaim, always the same and always new. As Watchmen we have foes to keep off. As Stewards we have treasures to

THE WORK.

31

increase by wise forethought, and to dispense with just counsel. And in doing this

threefold work we must not be satisfied with that which first meets the eye. We must look below the surface. Our business is to search for such as need help : to seek Christ's sheep scat- tered abroad. Let us reflect then what it means, that He Himself came to seek and to save that which was lost — to seek, not to save with- out seeking.

Christ sought that which was His own ; and this is our confidence, that they are His children for whom we look and labour. They are His ; and our part is to call out in them the sense of their privilege. They are His : and in them we serve Him.

Multum facit qui multiim diligit.

Bene facit qui comniunitati viagis quam sucb voluntati servit.

Such ministry knows no limit and no relaxa- tion. That others may ' wax riper and stronger' through our service, we must wax riper and stronger ourselves. And far beyond every suc- cess which can crown our labours, is the issue towards which we are bidden to strive when ' no place shall be left among us, either for error in

32 THE WORK.

religion or viciousness in life' That is the aim which is proposed to us : looking to it may we cling to the Apostle's faith : 6 ivapgafievo? [ev r/fiiv] epyov dyadbv i-TrtTeXecrei «'%/?£? rjnepas 'Itjgov ~Kpi<7T0V.

IV.

THE WITNESS.

w. o.

3

nepi ttanta ceayt6n nApe^MCNOC Ty'noN k&Ao>n Tit. ii. 5.

Psalm xlviii. 1 Tim. iv. 10— 1G.

Under one aspect our Work is our Witness; and under another aspect our Witness is our Work. What we are seen to be is in many- ways the measure of what we can do. We are, we must be, regarded by men as tests and types of our teaching. They will judge our words by our acts. So far (I do not say as we fall

short, but) as we appear to acquiesce in falling short of our precepts they will hold that we speak for form's sake, and the suspicion of in- sincerity will take away the influence which lies in the single heart. We must evidently ' venture our own souls' where we ask others to place theirs. This is the thought which occupies us now.

When the Lord said to the disciples gathered round Him : Ye are the salt of the earth. . . Ye are the light of the world...: He declared for ever the position which His ambassadors must occupy. No consciousness of weakness, of sin, of igno-

3—2

36

THE WITNESS.

ranee, of dulness, can change it. By His

call, by His charge, this is given to us, that we should shew, that at least we should strive to shew, before men, that the Gospel is a power to preserve from corruption that which is in itself hastening to decay, a power to enlighten the whole area of life.

We are guided by our Ordinal to regard this duty both negatively and positively. We are solemnly cautioned against occasioning offence to others : we are stirred again and again to make our lives and the lives of our families wholesome examples to the flock of Christ.

The shortest retrospect of a few days or weeks will suggest to us points in which we have lowered, points in which perhaps we habitually lower, the opinion which others hold as to what our Faith is fitted to do. We can recal,

for example, occasions in which we have been impatient, inconsiderate, self-willed, self-assert- ing. We have sharply resented some want of good taste : we have made light of a scruple or of a difficulty which weighed heavily on another : we have yielded ungraciously a service which may have been claimed inopportunely : we have been exact in requiring conventional deference

THE WITNESS. 37

to our judgment : we have not checked the keen word or the smile which might be interpreted to assert a proud superiority.

In all this we may have been justifiable according to common rules of conduct ; but we have given offence. We have not, that is, shewn when we might have shewn, that Christian sym- pathy, devotion, fellowship, come down to little things ; that the generosity of love looks tender- ly if by any means it may find the soul which has not revealed itself. Here also it is

true, true with an efficacy which we cannot measure, that it is more blessed to give than to receive ; that the recognition of duty is the surest protection of rights.

We may give offence by our manner of deal- ing with persons, and we may give offence by our manner of dealing with opinions. We can indeed never for one moment lower our reverence for that which we hold to be truth, or pay respect to that which we hold to be error ; but we can patiently keep within the present limits of our actual experience, hastening neither to affirm nor to condemn, waiting till a fuller knowledge shall enlighten our dark- ness. We shall not indeed by such for-

3«

THE WITNESS.

bearance escape enmity and we shall not win over our adversaries. This (most mysterious of all mysteries of sin) the Lord Himself did not do on earth. But we shall be seen to love the Truth : and we shall not offend by seeming to care only for victory or for favour.

We shall be seen, I say, to love the Truth for which men were made. Yes : ' for which men were made:' and here we come to our positive duty. We are led to ask ourselves how far we do ourselves in any way directly help those about us to rise to a higher conception of life. Have we, for example, an ideal

towards which we are striving ? Do we

confess, secretly at once and openly, the motive by which we are impelled and the force in which we trust ? Do we move about our work

as those who are mindful of a charge spiritual and eternal ? Would strangers watching

us soon see that we believe that we have received a power not of this world ?

There is a perilous facility of putting on the outward signs of a consecrated life ; but what we are looking for is not that which either in essence or in appearance distinguishes Christian ministers from others; but that in which they

THE WITNESS.

39

may, we must not shrink from saying it, offer a pattern to others. We, who have the

office of ministers or who look for the office, owe it to our neighbours that they should feel that, as believers, we differ in virtue of our Faith from those who have not the Faith. The light shines because it is light.

We cannot dare to say with the Gospels before us that a witness however wise and bold, a life however pure and loving, will prevail at once : but we can say that it kindles a flame which will not be extinguished. The witness of the martyr is the witness of the believer. The witness of Christian life and the witness of Christian death are one in their scope and in their persuasiveness, the witness to the powers of an unseen world about us and in us.

This witness we pledge ourselves to give 'the Lord being our helper' even that we will be 'diligent to frame and fashion our own selves and our families according to the doctrine of Christ.' We recognise our duty towards

those over whom we have authority or in- fluence. We strive towards the fulness of a larger life. We seek, if it may be, to make plain the presence of a Father's love

4Q

THE WITNESS.

binding us together in spite of our repulsions. We appeal from man's self-will and man's self- ishness to ' the soul naturally Christian.' We pray for wisdom and courage that we may give the testimony of Faith in deed and in truth. We may see no immediate fruit,

but the very effort will bring to us a new con- viction of the blessings which lie within our grasp.

0 si adver teres quantam tibi pacem et ah is Icetitiam faceres te ipsum bene habendo, puto quod solicitior esses ad spiritualem profcctuin.

V.

THE SPIRIT.

TOyTO OpONeiTe 6N YM?N 6 KAI £N XpiCTO) 'iHCOf.

Phil. ii. 5.

Psalms cxxx. cxxxi. 1 Pet. v. 1— 11.

SOME traits in the character of the Christian minister, as it is drawn for us in the Ordinal, are so obvious that we need not dwell upon them : his devotion, whereby he ' gives himself wholly' to the work to which he has been called : his singleness of purpose, whereby he ' draws all his cares and studies ' to one end : his sense of dependence whereby he is constrained to ' continually pray for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Spirit.' We naturally take

for granted that this mind is in him, not indeed in its full power, but in beginning and in promise.

There are however two features in this por- traiture which are perhaps less present to our minds though they are even more character- istic than devotion, single-heartedness, humility. These are the spirit of reverence, and the spirit of obedience. Perhaps we shall all feel if we examine honestly our habitual methods of judg-

44

THE SPIRIT.

ment and action that we need both. We are tempted — let me extend to you, brethren, what I know of myself — by the current modes of thought to refuse, in a sense different from that of Christ, to call any man master. We yield when the command at last approves it- self to our minds or is pressed upon us by irresistible force. The temper of the time

is equally indisposed to recognise authority and to incur responsibility.

In saying this I do not wish to disparage the blessings which have come to us and (as I hope) will yet come through the working of a courageous independence. I wish only

that we should consider with ourselves whether we have not now to cultivate another mind: whether we may not do well to cherish with a more watchful solicitude the reverence which honours a presence not more than dimly appre- hended : the obedience which does not measure its service by the power of distinct personal ap- proval of the command. It is a trial, I believe, second to none which we have to bear that being what we are we cannot naturally see the grandeur of life or the ' fearfulness and wonder- fulness ' of men. The infinite details, the

THE SPIRIT.

45

infinite disguises, by which our attention is diverted, make us for the most part incapable of taking a fair estimate of the spiritual forces and of the spiritual issues in the midst of which we move. The Christian minister is placed

at once in a position to gain a truer view. 'The Lord's poor,' the poor in material resources, the poor in intellectual endowments, the poor, I will add, in moral capacities and attainments, are committed to his charge. For him men, this man and this, are beings 'for whom Christ shed His blood,' whom 'He has bought with His death.' The Church is 'His Body.' Life, our one life, is the occasion for doing His will.

Viewed under this aspect earthly differences vanish. The meanest thing is seen to open infinite depths of thought. The power of awe is reawakened in us and with it a new avenue is made into the spiritual world. Rever- ence becomes necessary : reverence for the great and reverence for the weak : reverence in each case alike for Christ, present under those con- ditions, Who allows Himself to be seen through thickest veils. But each form of reverence

brings a separate reward. The reverence for the great brings that trustful confidence which leads

46

THE SPIRIT.

to calm peace : the reverence for the weak brings that tender considerateness which is pure joy.

Reverence in feeling corresponds in part with obedience in action. The foundation of rever- ence is the conviction that beneath that which we see there is something concealed or only half-revealed to which we are bound to do homage. Obedience springs out of the

same conviction. To obey is to bow to a power which we acknowledge as having authority with- out passing judgment upon its separate orders. Obedience implies some sacrifice, some faith. To do at another's bidding that which falls in with our pleasure or with our judgment is not to obey. He who obeys enters by faith

on the unseen : he recognises more than man in the ordinance of society.

Every act of faith is difficult, and obedience is no exception to the rule. But it is propor- tionately fruitful. He who obeys has gained fellowship with the authority which he recognises. He has practically come to under- stand the greatness of the body of which he is a part. We cannot each of us arrange every- thing, test everything. Our strength is to feel

THE SPIRIT.

47

that there is a life, a divine life, working in due measure through every part, and to yield our- selves gladly to its influence.

Such a reverent spirit of obedience more- over seems to me to be the truest safeguard of freedom. It challenges watchful care on the part of those who have the responsibility of rule. It must temper in every noble nature the strictness of command. He who

obeys when he plainly yields his own opinion, sets his opinion in the most favourable light. It is not by claiming the fullest measure of our rights but by respecting the least presumption of duty that we win spiritual victories. The burden of government must be hard to bear. Do not we whose happier work is to obey often make it heavier? But we still believe that government represents a divine purpose; and we desire that it should mould men after a divine pattern. The belief, the desire

carry obligations with them. Let us then ask whether we cannot on our part frame ourselves better according to our promise to 'observe with a ready will all spiritual discipline': whether, without any dissembling of our convictions, we cannot strive in thought and in deed to live as

4S

THE SPIRIT.

feeling more that there are powers to which we are bound to render cheerful submission without waiting for a personal conviction as to the wisdom of every detail of requirement, and without endeavouring to reduce to the utter- most the force and the range of our obligation.

For whatever may be the case with other men our duty is clearly marked out for us. The spirit of reverence, and the spirit of obedience, one spirit in two shapes, is the true spirit of the Christian ministry. It is the spirit of the

vision of God : the spirit whereby we appre- hend His Presence and His will everywhere about us : the spirit which is able to bring hope in the face of human misery and rest in the face of human conflicts.

VI. THE END.

ei" tic AaAcT, (Lc Aopa Oeof' er tic AiakongT, ojc icxyoc hc xopHre? d Oedc* Tna cn ttacin AoSazhtai Oedc Aia'Ihcoy XpicTof.

i Pet. iv. ix.

Psalm xcvi.

Apoc v. 8—14.

The first question which is addressed to Can- didates for the diaconate defines the end of ministerial work, even ' to serve God for the promoting of His glory and the edifying of His people.' For these two are indeed one. It is only by promoting God's glory that we can edify His people: it is only by edifying His people that we can promote His glory.

The glory of God is the manifestation of His perfection: of His wisdom, His righteousness, His love. He who makes this perfection clearer or better seen in himself or in others promotes God's glory: and again he who does this at the same time helps to transfigure those upon whom the glory falls by opening a fuller prospect of the divine beauty. We promote God's

glory not by adding to it, which is impossible, but by acknowledging it, by displaying it, by reflecting it.

4—2

52 THE END.

Gloria Dei, Irenasus said, vivens homo. So Christ, the absolute revelation of the Father to men is absolutely the glory of God ; and every man who partially reflects Christ's likeness shews the divine glory.

It is important to dwell on this truth for we are naturally apt to think of God as of some human king whose glory is swelled by the homage, the presents, the triumph-songs of His subjects, who bring of their own to him. So it is that we are tempted to suppose that our end can be gained by outward means. Yet it may be that multiplied services, forms and the like, really tend to hide God's glory from us, to keep us from seeking it by occupying and satis- fying our thoughts. In this respect we have great need to prove ourselves.

In saying this I gladly acknowledge that outward observances may help us, and help us to help others. We cannot dispense with them. They kindle imagination and feeling. But they must be used as means by which we may reach something beyond. The danger is lest we rest in them: lest we fall into the fatal error of sup- posing that when we are occupied with thoughts of God, or in the external worship of God, we

THE END.

53

are necessarily promoting His glory. But for the promotion of God's glory far more is required than any outward act. To promote

God's glory is to lift the veil in some degree from His creatures, from our own hearts and eyes, and from the hearts and eyes of others: to use every means which He has provided whereby the world which he Has created and redeemed may be made to appear in its true character: to spare no pains that men may be led to strive visibly after His likeness, and study nature reve- rently as the thought of His goodness and righteousness and wisdom brought within the reach of our intelligence.

It has been finely said that 'wicked men bury their souls in their bodies.' Something of the same kind, I fear, happens also as to things without us. Our want of sensibility, our dead- ness, turns creation into the tomb of God's glory, when it is truly the living shrine through which His glory is brought near to us. Here again we must try ourselves. Let this divine pre-

sence be revealed to us, and the dreary wilder- ness will be changed into a garden of the Lord. We too shall say of that which seemed most barren and desolate: This is none other but the

54 THE END.

Jionse of God; and this is tlie gate of heaven. And the power of this transformation is within our reach as we believe in the purpose of God to reconcile all things to Himself in Christ.

Yes: if we are to fulfil our office we must undertake it with the surest conviction that man and the world are made to be temples of God in which He will shew Himself. These temples may be defaced and dishonoured: they may seem to be deserted and desolate: but the capacity with which they were created is the sufficient assurance of our effort, and of our hope. We can, in virtue of our faith, in

virtue of Christ's coming, 'see all things in God and see God in all things.' We can first rise to some faint idea of His counsel of love in which all the phantoms of succession are gathered into one : and then we can turn again to the trivial details of duty and find that through them He is fulfilling His will. In this way as we

see His glory we can build up His people. They can be led to feel that we have seen God and that He is visible.

The work is not done at once, and we are poor judges of what is done even to the last. Nothing is more eloquent to us in this respect than the

THE END.

55

long silence of the Lord's Life. Looking back upon that long silence followed by a short ministry of active service He said: Father... I glorified Thee upon earth, having perfected the work which Thou hast given me to do. The flight of the disciples, and the Cross, might have seemed to shew failure: the unbelief of Israel, and the corruption of the Church might have seemed to seal it. But the work was done: the glory was shewn. Without haste and

without rest Christ first won for men, and now brings home to them, the fulness of divine son- ship. That is the message which we on our part have to bear and to shew in ourselves, glorifying God.

Ad major em Dei gloriam: the great watch- word of the Jesuits is, in a far different sense from that which they have associated with it, the watchword of all Christian teachers. It speaks of efforts not for the extension of our own influence, not for the spread of our own fancies, not for the aggrandizement of a party, not for the triumph of a system: but that the light of the Divine Presence may shine within us and about us with fewer obstacles and purer radiance : this is our end. We seek so to regard men

56

THE END.

and our office as objects and instruments for reflecting the truth. We rest in nothing

short of issues which pass out of time. So we fulfil our promise to 'forsake all worldly care and studies' while our zeal to understand all that lies before us knows no respite, for we accept no final aim here.

Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The call is to us a guard and a guide. It sounds in our ears in moments of temptation: it leads us forward in moments of doubt. Other purposes may-

fall short of the measure of our powers: other objects maybe withdrawn from the possibility of our attainment: but this calls for all we have and consecrates the least which we are able to offer.

Ad majorem Dei gloriam: the weariness of effort belongs to time. That glory, so we trust, when it shall be unveiled, as it is being unveiled, will reconcile, and even now begins to reconcile, perfect energy with perfect rest.

VII.

THE STRENGTH.

o eN<\p2<\MeN0c cn ym?n IproN apj.96n enueAecei

AXRIC HMepAc'lHCOf XpiCTof.

Phil. i. 6.

TTANTA ICVJW €N TCp 6N AyNAMOfNTl' M£.

Phil. iv. 13.

Psalm xlvi. Phil. iv. 8—13.

Udvra l<ryia> ev tw ivSvva/iovvTL fie. I can do all things in Him tliat strcngtJie)ictli me. These words contain the secret of prevailing power. They speak of a victorious might rather than of mere ability: iravra lo-yyw. They speak of a communion of life and not of simple assistance: iv tw evhwafiovvri fie.

They speak, I say, of a communion of life: of a communion of divine life. Man is born for fellowship. He is strong only so far as he can go out of himself. The experience of everyone shews that isolation of thought and spirit brings weakness and pain. Work is dissatisfying

when we think of it only in relation to ourselves. Life itself is a sad mystery if our own pleasure or gain forms the measure of its worth. But if the end of life is, as we have seen, the reflec- tion of the glory of God: if the strength of life is a living union with Him, a life in Him, then

6o

THE STRENGTH.

our estimate of things is wholly changed. We have each one of us a divine object which we can trust: we have each one of us all that is re- quired for attaining it. The Christian minister in particular is 'sent;' and his mission is the unchanging pledge to him that he is duly furnished for his services.

What we need therefore in order that we may realise the strength which is offered to us is to strive to regard the world and men, and to re- gard our office, as they are in the sight of God : to give a present meaning to the fact of the In- carnation which is too apt to pass away into the region of speculation : to bring down to this trial, this conflict, this problem, the revelation of the righteousness and love of God which it conveys: to ask ourselves what indeed Christ would have us to understand now by His 'little ones,' and by the 'childly mind.' Such efforts, such

questionings are not soon satisfied : but the effort to satisfy them by placing us silently face to face with things unseen and eternal strength- ens us. We feel more justly what we can do; what God requires of us, and what He Himself does through us in ways which we can dimly trace.

So, brethren, I say that if we would be strong

THE STRENGTH.

61

we must endeavour to connect our weakness no less than our power, the thought of what has been denied us no less than the thought of what has been given us, our position, our opportunities — yes even our failures and our defects — with the thoughts of God. Through these He disciplines us: through these He strengthens us. The review of a short space of life will shew how strangely we miscalculate in our estimates of great and small, what unimagined force there is in a word, a touch of faith: how the powers of the age to come — the age which has already come — move about us, powers which we are required to use and to administer.

Let us therefore consider as the years go on what we have been called to do, what we have sought to do, what we have failed to do. Let us consider how far we have tried to make the simplicity and breadth of the Scriptures the standard of our faith and sym- pathy: how far we have studied the endowments and the duties of that which is both an office and a ministry: how far we have shewn in common things that our faith is a new force in life: how far we have acknowledged cheerfully that the in- stitutions of society claim loyal obedience: how

62

THE STRENGTH.

far we have realised that the glory of God is that which we are sent to lay open, the grace of God that on which we can trust. Let us

consider, in a word, our Call, our Rule, our Work, our Witness, our Spirit, our End, our Strength, as they are laid before us in the Ordinal.

One result of such communing with ourselves and with GOD, of such seeking after the true nature and proportion of the ways and aims of life, will be to lead us to forget ourselves that we may find ourselves. Such forgetfulness is not the loss of our special faculties but the consecra- tion of them. Of all men St Paul per- haps has left the impress of his natural character most deeply on the Western world, and this is the account which he gives of himself: I have been crucified with Christ — I have endured death in its most terrible form, a death which is pre- sent still — -yet I live, no longer 'I' indeed, but Christ livcth in me. That passage through death to life shews us yet again what strength is. The personal inspiration follows the personal devotion. First we bring ourselves 'body soul and spirit' to God: we are in Him; and then the fire of His love kindles the offering in a new energy: He is in us.

THE STRENGTH.

63

The promise of this fellowship, doubly ful- filled, is the promise of strength proportional to our nature, proportional to our growth. We all feel, I believe, when we are conscious of our true selves, that we were made for it and that we can rest in it only. At such moments the purpose of the will answers to the promptings of the heart. So may He who gives us the

will, grant us also strength and power to fulfil it: that He may accomplish His work which He hath begun in us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

TTICTOC O KAAOJN

d eNApSAiweNOc eniTeAecei.

VIII. GROWTH.

w. o.

5

AlOOKCO 61 KAI KATAA<\B(jO, €<}> tp KAI KAT6AhM({)6HN

yno XpicTof 'Ihcoy.

IT has been seen that the Christian minister can gain only little by little the spiritual force which God is pleased to use through him for the fulfilment of His divine work. This consideration leads me to add in this last address some words on the subject of Christian growth. It is

clear that we must, unless we fail utterly, ' wax riper and stronger in our ministry.' ' He who is a Christian,' Luther said, ' is no Christian.' And the truth is doubly true of a Christian minister. He who thinks, that is, that he has at any moment gained a position where he may remain in indolent quiet has abandoned the service to which he was pledged. Faith, inasmuch as it is living, must be in movement. That which is stationary is dead. If we rest in what we have already gained, our treasure perishes in our hands. Each victory which we win must

be so used that it may furnish the vantage ground for further conquests. Each new vision

5—2

68

GROWTH.

of the truth which we gain must be so regarded that it may prepare us for a wider survey of the infinite expanse of truth, and for a further in- sight into its immeasurable depths. The principle is true universally: it is true of men and of churches : it is true of thought and of action : it is true of teachers and of learners ; true beyond all controversy and still at every moment it is imperilled by the veiled assaults of restless occupation and of spiritual indolence.

No one can escape these temptations, but they are, I think, specially formidable to those whose ordinary life keeps them in familiar con- tact with great thoughts and great duties : who are shielded from manyobvious dangers : who are necessarily engaged in serious work. We are busy and we are inclined to think that all is well with us. We are led to discuss and to commend noble truths, and we take it for granted that they are influencing our- selves. We come to forget that intellec- tual and spiritual privileges are talents lent to us for use, and not fruits of our own husbandry on which we can pride ourselves. They in- crease our obligations : they do not compensate for our failures.

GROWTH. 69

How then can we best meet and overcome this outward distraction, this inward sloth? By prayer, you will say, by meditation, by the untiring use of the ordinary means of grace. And you will say so truly ; and yet there is quite another thing which should go before to give intensity to our prayers and religious exer- cises, and to interpret sacraments. Wc should strive to rise in thought to an adequate con- ception of what Christianity claims to be ; for if we do so we shall not rest till we have set dis- tinctly before ourselves some method by which we may little by little, through pain and error and disappointment, fashion the ideal which we shall see ever rising above us in more unap- proachable glory as we climb higher and come nearer to it.

It may seem strange that I should say that we must strive to gain an adequate conception of what our Christian Faith claims to be. Too commonly we take for granted that this is quite obvious. We know indeed many most

precious applications of it. We know something of its personal power in meeting the sins and sorrows of daily life. But in this way we do not know all. And I venture to think that eighteen

70

GROWTH.

Christian centuries have not yet exhausted the teaching of St Paul and St John. As Christians we may rejoice — it is our duty to learn to rejoice — when we see how men move victoriously forward from age to age and add new domains to the empire of order and know- ledge. We may rejoice to see how each extension of the idea of Law enables us to apprehend something more of the Gospel of Christ Incarnate and Ascended. And above all we may rejoice to see, if we trust the simple teaching of God's Word, that our faith is infinitely vaster than we are apt to believe, reaching far beyond the utmost limit of human progress with promises and pledges of Unity and Truth yet unrealised.

We do not, I think, for the most part take account as we should do of these wider relations of the Gospel.

Let us look at man himself, and ask whether we habitually reflect what is the full meaning of the apostle's prayer that our whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless at the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we, my friends, do you and I, keep before our minds as a fact that every endowment of sense and reason

GROWTH, 71

and intuition belongs to the undying fulness of our nature, and that we shall carry all these with their fruits of use and misuse before the judg- ment seat of God ? Is it not true that the heathen guess of the soul's immortality practi- cally usurps the place in our common thoughts and even in popular teaching of the Christian verity of the Resurrection?

Or again, let us look at the Church, and ask whether we attach any definite sense to that revelation wherein it is described as the Body of Christ, living by His life and completing His manifestation to the world. We separate

unit from unit, and congregation from congrega- tion, with jealous anxiety. In action we must do so; but do we ever rise or strive to rise in the thoughts of our secret chamber, before the face of God, to the vision of that vital union in Christ of all believers, deeper than we can see, which can alone bring peace to souls worn and wearied with sorrowful controversies and divisions?

Or yet again, let us look at the world, and ask whether we draw any inspiration of comfort from those marvellous words which tell us of the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together until now in the agonies not of dissolu-

72

GROWTH.

tion but of birth ? which tell us of that last triumph when God shall be all in all ? We may not be able as yet, and I do not suppose that we ever shall be able in our earthly state, to enter far into this mystery of light. Yet it is good for us to feel that the light shineth in the dark- ness and that it cannot suffer eclipse ; it is good for us to feel that it streams even from the clouds upon our blinded sight.

No doubt such thoughts as these as to the universality of our faith in relation to our own nature, to the Catholic Church, to the entire sum of finite being, thoughts which are characteristic of our Christian Scriptures, thoughts which be- long to the essence of our Faith, may seem to lie out of the way of our beaten track of duty j but none the less they illuminate it. And we to whom large opportunities of study are given, we to whom the office of teachers is given, are bound to strive to gain the widest prospects of the Truth. We dishonour no less than en-

danger our deposit when we limit its application to the narrow wants which we can see or feel. We cannot perhaps determine from

our own limited experience why this is written or that, why we must believe this or that. The

GROWTH.

73

whole experience of humanity will be required before that can be clear. But of this we can be sure that as long as we guard scrupulously the unproved wealth of the Gospel, we shall find ourselves prepared for any revolution of science or history. It needs but little reflection

to find that this is so in the crisis of our own age.

Physicists tell us, with an air of triumph, that man's highest powers are dependent upon his material frame : that he cannot truly exist apart from it. Christ told us so long ago, and

guarded the truth from exaggeration, though we may not before have felt the full significance of His Message, when He raised His Body from the grave to the right hand of God in token of His victory over Death.

Physicists tell us that the dead rule the living, that man is bound to man, by an inexora- ble law. Christ told us so long ago, when He presented the relation of Himself to His disciples as that of the Vine and Branches, of which each part is energetic and fruitful by the ministry of all according to the operation of one life.

Physicists tell us that we are but fragments

74

GROWTH.

of a vast whole which, though we may seek to isolate ourselves from it with a vain pride, yet can- not be separated from our destiny. Christ told us so long ago, when by the mouth of His apostle he spoke of the summing up, the reconciliation of all things in Himself as the Divine purpose before the foundation of the world and, as it seems to me, essentially in- dependently of the Fall.

Yes, my friends, let us look if we would grow in faith, in grace, in knowledge, to the Gospel, not only as we in our little ways can easily realise and use it, but also as it is seen in its absolute glory, in the Person of Christ, perfect God and perfect man, and even if we thus gain only rare glimpses we shall find in them that which will raise us above our routine anxieties to loftier efforts and a more far-seeing trust. In the vision of that most awful and most loving Presence, the temptations of distraction and sloth will lose their power. If we understand in any measure what our faith is we cannot ever think that the busiest occupation can dispense with silent, solemn meditation on the mys- teries which we are commissioned to dis- pense. We cannot ever think that we have

GROWTH. 75

attained in our own lives even that standard which we feel to be within our reach. We shall in obedience to a divine necessity strive to go forwards — to grow in faith. In the midst

of our engagements, when we are cumbered with much serving, and in times of rest, when we are lost in our own thoughts, a voice will sound in our ears from the heights of heaven, Follow thou Me, and we shall know the voice ; and we shall find no peace till we can answer in our hearts : ' Yea Lord we will follow Thee, follow Thee, if it be Thy will, through the thirty years of obscurity, follow Thee through the three years of mixed welcome and reproach, follow Thee through the dark valley, follow Thee to Thy throne above, follow Thee, as those who have not attained and cannot attain, but who strain forward with a zeal which cannot tire towards an ideal which cannot disappoint'

Luther's paradox, as I said before, expresses very tersely the lesson which I wish to learn and to convey, but that one word of St Paul eVe/tret- vo/J.evo<;, which I have just paraphrased, expresses it yet more vividly. Take then that simple word as one of your mottoes. Carry it with you for your daily use. As often as Christ's call

76

GROWTH.

comes to you, and the call will come in the press of business and in the still languor of disap- pointment, may you, may I, be able to reply, gathering at the moment the force of a heaven- ward impulse : 'EireKTelvofiai, I see Thee O Lord in Thy glory, I stretch forward towards Thee, unhasting, unresting.

^E-n-eKreivofiai. I do by God's help strain the manifold energies of my nature in continuous exertion for the better service of Him to Whom I am dedicated body, soul and spirit.

'E-n-eKTelvo/xaL. I do in all my efforts grate- fully acknowledge that I have been borne year by year and day by day nearer to the one true goal of all Christian desire, by forces not my own, strengthening my weakness.

'E-n-eKTelvofiat,. I do keep my eyes fixed in the concentration of devout hope upon Him Who is the Light of men and the Light of the world.

Now we see by a glass in a riddle, but then face to face. Yes, feeble and imperfect as our vision may be, we see not fleeting shadows but unchangeable realities. We see in part what hereafter we shall see perfectly, and in that

GROWTH.

77

supreme moment we shall be like Him, for zve shall see Him as He is.

This is the end: the vision of God in Christ shall transform us into His image : and mean- while this is the rule of our progress here: He that hath this hope set on Him, purifietli Himself even as He is pare.

CKINTUD BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SON, AT THE UNIVERSITY PKESS.

WORKS BY

BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, D.D.,

Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge, Canon of Westminster.

A GENERAL SURVEY OF THE HIS- TORY OF THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTA- MENT DURING THE FIRST FOUR CENTURIES. Fifth Edition, revised, with Preface on "Supernatural Religion." Crown 8vo. jos. 6J.

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF

THE FOUR GOSPELS. Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d.

THE GOSPEL OF THE RESURRECTION.

Thoughts on its Relation to Reason and History. Fifth Edition, revised. Crown 8vo. 6s.

THE BIBLE IN THE CHURCH. A Popu-

lar Account of the Collection and Reception of the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Churches. Eighth Edition. i8mo. 4J. 6d.

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY

OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. las. 6d.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, MANIFOLD AND

ONE. Six Sermons preached in Peterborough Crthedral. Crown 8vo. 2.?. 6d.

WORKS BY BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, D.D.

continued.

ON THE RELIGIOUS OFFICE OF THE

UNIVERSITIES. Sermons. Crown 8vo. 4*. 6d.

THE REVELATION OF THE RISEN

LORD. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6*.

THE HISTORIC FAITH. Short Lectures

on the Apostles' Creed. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 6.T.

THE EPISTLES OF ST JOHN. The Greek

Text, with Notes and Essays. 8vo. 12J. 6d.

THE REVELATION OF THE FATHER.

Short Lectures on the Titles of the Lord in the Gospel of St John. Crown Svo. 6s.

THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE ORI- GINAL GREEK. The Text Revised by B. F. "West- <:ott, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity, Canon of West- minster, and F. J. A. Hort, D.D., Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge; late Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge. 2 vols. Crown Svo. 1 or. 6d. each.

Vol. t. Text.

II. The Introduction and Appendix.

A COMPANION TO THE GREEK TESTA- MENT AND THE ENGLISH VERSION. By Philip SCHAKF, D.D., President of the American Committee of Revision. With Facsimile Illustrations of MSS., and Standard Editions of the New Testament. Crown Svo.

LONDON : MACMILLAN AND CO.

DATE DUE
	1