Skip to main content

Full text of "The true strength and mission of the church : a sermon, preached in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, at the consecration of the Right Reverend Archibald Campbell Tait, D.C.L., Bishop of London, and the Right Rev. Henry Cotterill, D.D., Bishop of Grahamstown, on Sunday, November 23, 1856"

See other formats


c 


^ 


* 


<  C  *..  "^ 


M^Mi&m 


THE 
TEUE  STRENGTH  AND  MISSION  OF  THE  CHUECH. 


A    SERMON, 

PREACHED  IN  THE  CHAPEL  ROYAL,  WHITEHALL, 

2lt  tfje  ©onsfcrattott 

OF    THE 

RIGHT  REVEREND  ARCHIBALD  CAMPBELL  TAIT,  D.C.L. 

BISHOP  OF  LONDON, 

AND    THE 

RIGHT  REV.  HENRY  COTTERILL,  D.D. 

BISHOP  OF  GRAHAMSTOWN, 

ON  SUNDAY,  NOVEMBER  23,  1856. 


GEOEGE  EDWAED  LYNCH  COTTON,  M.A, 

MASTER    OF    MAPLBOROUGH    COLLEGE, 
AND    LATE    FELLOW    OF    TRINITY    COLLEGE,    CAMBRIDGE. 


"  If"  men  were  quiet  and  charitable  in  all  disagreeings,  where  lawfully  they  ni'ght, 
(and  they  may  in  most,)  Christendom  should  no  longer  be  rent  in  pieces,  but  would 
be  redintegrated  in  a  new  Pentecost." — Jeremy  Taylor.     Liberty  of  Prophesying. 


LONDON: 
EIVINGTONS,  WATEELOO  PLACE; 

A\'D    SOLD    BY 

W.  W.  LUCY,  MARLBOROUGH. 
1856. 


LONDON  : 
filLnr.RT    ANT*    RTVINGTON,    PRINTERS, 

ST.  John's  square. 


PREFACE. 


The  great  importance  and  interest  of  the  occasion 
on  which  this  Sermon  was  preached  might  have 
heen  pleaded  in  excuse  for  its  pubHcation,  even  if 
this  had  not  been  rendered  imperative  by  the  desire 
of  the  Bishop  of  London,  sanctioned  and  confirmed 
by  that  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In  these 
days,  the  Author  cannot  regret  the  opportunity  of 
expressing,  under  such  auspices,  his  behef  that  the 
true  mission  of  the  Church  of  England  can  only  be 
fulfilled  by  a  large  increase  in  charity  and  mutual 
forbearance,  and  a  resolution  to  turn  away  from 
unpro^table  disputations,  to  the  great  work  of 
rousing  the  mass  of  the  people  to  a  practical  faith 
in  Christian  truth  and  Christian  morality.  For, 
as  .was  said  long  ago  by  one  of  the  greatest  of 
Englishmen,  "  AVhat  wants  there  to  such  a  towardly 
and  pregnant  soil,  but  wise  and  faithful  labourers, 
to  make  a  knowing  people,  a  nation  of  prophets,  of 
sages,  and  of  worthies?     We   reckon   more  than 

a2 


4  PREFACE. 

four  months  yet  to  harvest ;  there  need  not  be  four 
weeks;  had  we  but  eyes  to  lift  up,  the  fields  are 
white  already.  Where  there  is  much  desire  to 
learn,  there  will  of  necessity  be  much  arguing, 
much  writing,  many  opinions,  for  opinion  in  good 
men  is  but  knowledge  in  the  makinfj.  ...  A  little 
generous  prudence,  a  little  forbearance  of  one  another, 
and  some  grain  of  charity  might  win  all  these  dili- 
gences to  join,  and  unite  in  one  general  and  bro- 
therly search  after  truth.  .  .  .  When  every  stone  is 
laid  artfully  together  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  it 
cannot  be  united  into  a  continuity,  it  can  but  be 
contiguous  in  this  world;  neither  can  every  piece 
of  the  building  be  of  one  form;  nay,  rather  the 
perfection  consists  in  this,  that  out  of  many  mode- 
rate varieties  and  brotherly  dissimilitudes  that  are 
not  vastlv  disproportional,  arises  the  goodly  and  the 
graceful  symmetry  that  commends  the  whole  pile 
and  structure'."  May  the  Episcopate  of  him  by 
whose  appointment  this  Sermon  was  preached,  and 
for  whose  welfare  in  his  new  office  many  earnest 
prayers  have  been  offered  up,  be  made  a  blessing 
to  England  through  the  growth  of  such  convic- 
tions among  her  children ! 

The  College,  Marlborough,  ^ 

Nov.  25,  1856. 

'  Milton,  AreopagiUca. 


SERMON, 


John  xvii.  20,  21 . 

"  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall 
believe  ou  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  all  may  be  one  ; 
as  thou,  Pather,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may 
be  one  in  us :  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me," 

These  words  form  part  of  that  great  intercessory 
prayer,  in  which  Jesus  Christ,  as  our  eternal  High 
Priest,  consecrated  Himself  to  be  also  the  sacrifice 
by  which  our  sins  should  be  blotted  out,  and  pre- 
sented to  His  Father,  in  His  last  solemn  supplica- 
tion, all  those  in  every  age  for  whom  He  was  to  die. 
There  are  no  words  in  the  whole  Bible  more  deeply 
touching,  none  which  seem  to  bring  us  of  these 
latter  days  into  so  close  and  personal  a  connexion 
with  our  Redeemer.  For  in  them  He  appears  to 
cast   forward   a  glance    of   Omniscience    from  the 


6  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

scene  around  Him,  from  that  upper  chamber  and 
those  eleven  followers,  over  the  long  series  of  ages 
which  were  to  roll  away  between  that  night  of 
agony  and  His  return  to  judgment,  to  survey  the 
countless  generations  who  should  call  themselves 
by  His  name,  to  behold  the  boundless  expanse  of 
distant  lands  in  which  that  name  should  be  honoured, 
to  penetrate  in  thought  even  to  us  who  are  here 
assembled  this  day,  and  to  include  us  in  His  most 
merciful  and  all-embracing  prayer.  He  prayed 
that  all  Christians  might  be  one,  that  however 
separated  by  time,  by  place,  by  rank  and  position, 
by  intellectual  gifts,  by  natural  or  even  moral  ad- 
vantages, all  might  retain  an  essential  unity,  which 
should  bind  them  together  in  spite  of  any  casual 
separation.  And  this  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond 
of  peace  was  to  be  the  great  instrument  for  the 
conversion  of  the  world.  He  desired  that  His 
people  might  be  one,  that  the  world  might  believe 
that  God  had  sent  Him.  Our  subject  therefore  at 
once  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  ( 1 )  the  nature  of 
the  unity  for  which  Christ  prayed;  and  (2)  the 
result  which  He  designed  it  to  produce.  I  trust 
that  by  God's  blessing  both  these  heads  may 
suggest  to  us  thoughts  suitable  to  the  solemn 
service  in  which  we  are  about  to  join. 

1.  First,  then,  as  to  the  nature  of  this  unity,  we 
see  that  it  is  a  oneness  of  spirit,  having  its  pattern 
in  the  eternal  unity  of  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
that  unity  which  existed  before  the  world  was,  and 


AND    MISSION   OF   THE    CHURCH.  7 

which  has  manifested  itself  in  its  creation,  its  re- 
demption, and  its  providential  government.  Into 
this  unity  we  are  to  enter  by  the  communion  of 
our  spirits  with  God.  The  unity  therefore  is 
spiritual  and  moral,  a  union  in  faith,  in  hope,  in 
love,  in  Christian  holiness  and  devotion.  Those 
are  partakers  in  this  unity  who  having  put  on  the 
mind  of  Christ,  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ. 
His  prayer  was  fulfilled,  and  the  true  unity  of  His 
people  displayed  to  the  world,  when  in  the  early 
Church  of  Jerusalem  all  that  believed  were  together 
and  had  all  thino^s  common.  It  was  fulfilled  when 
the  heathen  were  unable  to  refuse  to  those  whom 
they  persecuted  the  unwilling  tribute  of  respect  and 
admiration.  Behold  how  these  Christians  love  one 
another^  and  are  ready  to  die  for  one  another. 
And  as  time  went  on,  it  was  fulfilled  in  many  holy 
practices,  in  the  gatherings  every  Lord's  day  for 
the  poor,  in  the  ransom  of  captives  from  barbarians, 
in  the  foundation  of  hospitals,  colleges,  brother- 
hoods, in  the  abolition  of  gladiators'  shows  in  early 
ages,  of  the  slave-trade  and  slavery  in  our  own,  in 
the  labours  of  all  who  have  denied  themselves,  and 
taken  up  their  cross,  and  followed  the  Lord  Jesus, 
in  loving  and  doing  good  to  those  around  them. 

2.  Thus,  then,  has  Christ's  prayer  been  fulfilled 
partially  and  in  isolated  cases ;  thus  have  men 
striven  to  imitate  that  universal  spirit  of  loving 
self-devotion  of  which  He  set  the  eternal  example 
on  the  very  morning  when  He  prayed.     And  now, 


8  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

brethren,  it  seems  fitting  for  us  to-day,  when  we 
are  assembled  to  take  part  in  the  most  solemn  rite 
of  the  English  Church,  to  consider  whether  we, 
the  ministers  and  other  members  of  that  Church, 
remember  Christ's  prayer  as  we  should  do,  and 
really  labour  to  fulfil  it,  and  by  it  to  accomplish 
the  conversion  of  the  world.  We  may  limit  the 
question  to  our  own  Church,  because  any  regrets 
for  the  loss  of  a  wider  unity  would,  now  at  least, 
be  unpractical.  We  may  lament  that  the  Holy 
Catholic  Church  throughout  all  the  world  is 
broken  up  into  a  thousand  fragments,  that  the 
Christians  of  our  own  land  are  separated  from  each 
other  by  differences  which  for  the  present  (though 
not  we  trust  for  ever)  appear  to  be  irreconcilable. 
We  may  mourn  over  periods  in  our  history  when 
precious  opportunities  of  peace  were  heedlessly 
flung  away,  we  may  pray  God  to  build  once  more 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  we  may  in  our  own  practice 
seek  to  promote  peace  with  all  who  love  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity,  but  under  the  present 
circumstances  of  our  country,  we  can  scarcely  do 
more.  But  if  such  difficulties  press  upon  us  as 
members  of  the  English  commonwealth,  they  have 
not  yet,  I  trust,  reduced  us  to  utter  helplessness  as 
members  of  the  English  Church.  If  the  nation  of 
England  is  split  up  into  hostile  sects,  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  Church  of  England  should  be  for 
ever  split  up  into  hostile  parties.  Nor^ould  it  be 
so,  if  we  would  remember   that  while   a  unity  of 


AND    MISSION   OF    THE    CHURCH.  9 

principle  is  an  essential  part  of  the  idea  of  Chris- 
tianity, a  variety  of  detail  is  characteristic  of  man's 
nature,  and  therefore  sanctioned  by  the  religion 
which  does  not  contradict  that  nature,  but  only 
seeks  to  restore  and  elevate  and  redeem  it.  As 
God  displays  his  glory  in  creation  by  the  multi- 
plicity of  His  works,  so  does  He  show  it  forth  in 
grace  by  the  sanctification  of  a  thousand  individual 
peculiarities.  It  has  been  said  that  in  matters  of 
thought  and  speculation  all  men  may  be  ranged 
as  followers  of  one  or  other  of  the  two  greatest 
philosophers  of  Greece.  So  too  in  politics,  we 
generally  find  in  every  free  commonwealth,  a 
party  inclined  to  change,  and  a  party  inclined  to 
preserve  things  as  they  are.  It  is  no  less  true 
that  in  theology  Christians  have  been  ranged 
from  the  first  mainly  under  two  divisions,  those 
who  incline  to  a  system  of  authority,  discipline,  and 
subordination,  and  therefore  to  a  worship  more  or 
less  formal  and  ceremonial,  and  those  who  in  a  freer 
spirit  prefer  a  simpler  outward  service,  a  religion 
more  personal,  independent,  and  unfettered.  In  a 
healthy  state  of  things,  these  should  exist  side  by 
side,  each  modifying  and  correcting  any  tendencies 
to  extravagance  in  the  other.  We  see  traces  of 
both  in  the  New  Testament ;  and  if  St.  Paul 
preaches  above  all  things  the  paramount  necessity 
of  a  personal  faith,  the  sanctity  of  the  individual 
conscience,  and  the  spiritual  communion  of  each 
soul  with  God,  he  does    not   neglect  to  inculcate 


10  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

order  and  discipline,  and  strongly  enjoins  us  to  be 
tolerant  towards  those  whose  view  of  outward 
observances  differs  from  our  own.  No  doubt  he 
severely  condemns  any  attempt  to  force  such  observ- 
ances upon  Christians;  yet,  while  he  tells  a  Gentile 
Church,  that  if  they  are  circumcised  Christ  shall 
"profit  them  7iothing^  he  does  not  refuse  to  conciliate 
the  Jews,  by  permitting  the  rite  to  a  convert  sprung 
from  their  nation.  And  this  twofold  view  of  Chris- 
tianity, from  which  have  arisen  half  the  contro- 
versies of  Church  history,  is  properly  recognized 
and  allowed  in  a  national  Church  like  ours,  which 
seeks  to  unite  in  its  fold  the  different  feelings  and 
influences  which  separate  the  various  classes  of  a 
whole  people.  For  of  two  things,  one :  either  we 
must  stifle  all  dissension  by  the  fiction  of  an  in- 
fallible living  earthly  authority,  whose  voice  is  as 
the  voice  of  God  Himself,  or  we  must  cling  fast  to 
that  unity  which  consists  in  a  true  faith  in  Christ 
crucified,  and  tolerate  diversity  in  non-essentials. 
It  is  in  this  spirit  that  Hooker '  declares  the  unity 
of  the  Church  to  consist  only  in  One  Lord^  one 
faith^  one  baptism;  adding  that  in  whomsoever 
these  tilings  are^  the  Church  doth  acknowledge 
them  as  her  children  ;  them  only  she  counteth  for 
alie7is  and  strangers  in  whom  these  things  are 
not  found.     The  traces  of  compromise  and  a  desire 

'  Hooker,  Eccl.  Polity,  iii.  1.  §  7.  The  whole  passage  is 
most  important,  as  are  the  comments  upon  it  in  Hare's  Mission 
of  the  Comforter,  notes  a,  d. 


AND    MISSION   OF   THE    CHURCH.  11 

of  comprehension  are  visible  in  the  foundation,  the 
constitution,  and  the  services  of  the  Church. 
While  we  praise  God  in  the  words  which  Ambrose 
and  Augustine  chanted  in  the  Basilica  of  Milan  -, 
and  can  trace  our  collects  to  the  prayers  and 
liturgies  of  the  great  Popes  Gregory  and  Leo,  we 
yet  can  refer  other  parts  of  our  services  to  the  in- 
fluence not  only  of  English  but  even  of  foreign 
Protestants.  Yet  in  spite  of  these  undeniable  facts, 
our  present  practice  bears  few  signs  of  ioleration 
and  forbearance;  the  harmonious  action  of  the 
Church,  its  warfare  against  wickedness  and  un- 
belief, is  interrupted  by  unseemly  disputes  on  forms 
and  decorations  and  doctrinal  subtleties  ;  and 
doubtful  points  of  disputation  are  recklessly  mooted 
and  acrimoniously  contested.  No  doubt  it  is  said  that 
this  is  but  a  sign  of  the  earnest  activity,  to  which  God 
in  His  mercy  has  roused  the  Church  from  the  torpor 
of  the  last  century;  and  that  because  men  care 
more  for  faith  and  duty,  therefore  they  are  so  much 
at  variance  amonff  themselves  as  to  the  manner  of 
fulfilling  them.  But  must  we  then  acquiesce  in  the 
conclusion  that  Christian  earnestness  is  incom- 
patible with    Christian    charity,  that    our    Lord's 

^  The  Te  Deum  is  called  the  Canticwn  S.  Amhrosii  et  Augustini 
iu  the  Sarum  Breviary.  While  we  reject  the  common  legend 
of  the  manner  of  its  composition,  there  seems  no  reason  against 
the  belief  that  they  were  its  authors,  though  it  has  been  at- 
tributed to  others,  such  as  Hilary  of  Poictiers  (a.d.  3o5)  or  of 
Aries  (a.d.  440).     See  Procter  on  the  Common  Prayer,  p.  201. 


12  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

prayer  for  His  followers  can  never  be  accomplislied, 
that  their  unity  is  a  fantastic  dream  ?  It  is  melan- 
choly and  disheartening  if  in  curing  one  evil  we 
must  rush  into  its  opposite,  and  can  never  combine 
tolerant  forbearance  with  true  piety  and  devoted 
enthusiasm.  There  are,  indeed,  extreme  cases,  in 
which  separation  is  unavoidable,  for  it  would  be 
mere  formalism  to  insist  on  outward  union  as  a 
cloak  for  inward  disunion  and  hatred.  But  surely 
there  are  many  points  of  opinion,  and  practice,  and 
ritual  observance,  on  which  a  divergence  may  well 
be  tolerated,  if  only  men  will  duly  estimate  the 
w^orth  of  that  Christian  wisdom  and  humility  which 
.leads  them  to  observe  the  positive  laws  and  institu- 
tions of  the  Church,  to  obey  the  godly  monitions  of 
those  who  are  set  over  them,  to  consult  the  wishes, 
the  feelings,  even  the  prejudices  of  their  brethren, 
and  above  all,  which  feels  and  knows,  that  by  show- 
ing forth  the  faith  of  Christ  crucified  in  their 
teaching  and  their  practice,  they  are  using  the 
means  divinely  ordained  to  regenerate  the  world. 
While,  therefore,  we  thank  God  for  every  new 
symptom  of  increased  activity  in  the  Church,  we 
cannot  but  lament  that  less  interest  and  excite- 
ment is  shown  in  the  struggle  against  positive 
wickedness,  than  in  some  dispute  about  a  cross,  a 
vestment,  or  a  candlestick.  And  such  regret  is 
most  consistent  with  the  principles  of  a  Church 
which  has  numbered  among  its  ministers  on  the  one 
hand  Andrewes,  and  Herbert,  and  Law,  and  Wilson, 


AND    MISSION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  13 

on  the  other,  Latimer,  and  Leighton,  and  Newton, 
and  Cecil;  while  by  the  side  of  both  have  been 
ranijed  men  who  have  united  Christian  faith  with 
eminence  in  speculation  and  philosophy.  Hooker, 
and  Cudworth,  and  Berkeley,  and  Butler.  It  is  no 
fault  in  its  constitution,  but  rather  its  great  glory, 
that  Ken  found  in  it  so  much  apostolical  order,  that 
he  only  left  it  at  last  with  hesitation  and  reluctance, 
from  a  political,  not  a  theological  scruple;  that 
Wesley  so  far  acknowledged  its  evangelical  truth 
that  he  never  deserted  its  communion,  though  he 
struggled  against  its  discipline ;  that  on  the  revival 
of  its  life  and  energy  in  these  latter  days,  it  has  still 
asserted  its  old  character,  still  winning  to  a  living 
faith  in  Christ  men  of  diverse  habits  and  tastes 
and  feelings,  and  reckoning  among  those  who  have 
lived  and  died  in  its  service,  Heber,  and  Simeon, 
and  Henry  Martyn,  and  Arnold,  and  Hare. 

3.  The  sense  of  this  difference  between  the  out- 
ward unity  into  which  we  vainly  endeavour  to  force 
all  men,  and  the  oneness  of  spirit  for  which  Christ 
prayed,  is  pressed  upon  us  when  we  pass,  in  the 
second  place,  to  the  intended  result  of  that  unity, 
the  conversion  of  the  world,  connected  as  it  is  with 
the  great  solemnity  for  which  we  are  assembled 
here.  For  we  reflect  with  sorrow  on  the  hindrances 
which  those  "unhappy  divisions"  which  we  annually' 
lament,  but  take  little  pains  to  heal,  will  raise  up 

•^  In  the  Service  for  the  Queen's  Accession. 


14  THE    TKUE    STRENGTH 

in  the  path  of  those  who  are  called  to  the  highest 
office  in  the  Christian  ministry,  and  who  ought  to 
be  left  free  to  devote  their  whole  time  and  thought 
to  the  mighty  work  of  changing  the  kingdoms  of 
this  world  into  the  kingdoms  of  the  Lord.  With 
regard  indeed  to  a  colonial  diocese,  it  may  be 
hoped  that  the  danger  is  less  urgent  than  it  is  in 
England.  In  a  country  where  the  Church  has 
almost  to  be  built  up  from  the  foundation,  a  country 
filled  with  adventurous  colonists  casually  brought 
together,  indifferent  in  many  cases  to  Christ's 
Gospel,  and  bordered  by  savage  tribes  to  whom  His 
very  name  is  unknowTi,  we  may  hope  that  His 
ministers  have  sufficient  occupation,  in  the  simple 
preaching  of  Christ  crucified,  and  do  not  weary 
themselves,  or  distract  their  hearers,  by  profitless 
subtleties  of  theology.  We  may  trust  that  the 
pastor  of  such  a  fold,  as  he  is  leaving  friends  and 
home  and  country  for  Christ's  sake  and  the 
Gospel's,  will  be  permitted  to  devote  his  whole 
mind  and  strength  to  that  object  which  we  know  to 
be  nearest  to  his  heart,  the  declaration  of  Christian 
redemption  to  those  who,  whether  wilfully  or  igno- 
rantly,  are  living  apart  from  God.  But  at  home  it  is 
vain  to  indulge  in  any  such  expectation,  unless  by 
God's  mercy  we  are  brought  to  feel  how  deep,  how  real, 
how  infinitely  and  eternally  important  are  the  wants 
directly  before  us,  how  vain,  and  transitory  are  the 
trifles  on  which  we  waste  the  strength  of  the 
Church.     Think  for  one  moment  of  the  various 


AND    MISSION    OF   THE    CHURCH.  15 

characteristics  of  this  mighty  city  in  which  we  arc 
met  together  this  day.     Here  in  this  vast  wilder- 
ness, teeming  with  life  and  activity,  in  this  greatest 
of  cities,  this  chosen  seat  of  commerce  and  govern- 
ment, this  home  of  misery  and  splendour,  of  wisdom 
and  folly,  of  heroic  Christian  goodness,  and  desperate 
wickedness,  we  should  at  least  devote  all  our  ener- 
gies to  fulfil  our  Saviour's  prayer,  labouring  with  one 
heart  and  one  spirit,  to  persuade  the  world  that  the 
Father  sent  the  Son  to  save  it.     For  let  us  con- 
sider the  condition  of  different  classes   among  its 
inhabitants,  and  we  shall  see  how  fully  their  moral 
needs  are  met  by  the  Gospel  and  Church  of  Christ, 
the  Gospel  with  its  revealed  truths,  its  warnings,  its 
threatenings,  its  consolations,  its  hopes,  its  divine 
morality  and  perfect  wisdom ;  the  Church  with  its 
Sacraments  and  public  ministrations,  its  visits  from 
house  to  house,  its  prayers,  and  stern  rebukes,  and 
loving  benedictions.     First,  we  will  take  the  lowest 
class  of  all,  those  of  whom  it  has  been  said  that 
iliey  perish  in  the  open  streets^  beneath  the  pitiless 
pelting  of  the  storm^  of  cold^  of  hunger^  and  of 
broken  hearts  ^.     It  is  needless  to  harrow  up  your 
feelings   by   the    often   repeated   tale   of   children 
trained  to  crime  from  their  very  cradles,  of  outcast 
wanderers  and  abandoned  profligates,  of  streets  and 
alleys  where  the  name  of  God  is  never  heard  except 
in  blasphemy.     But  it  is  well  for  us  to  be  mindful 

*  Bishop  Ilorsley.     It  is  the  motto  to  Guthrie's  Second  Plea 
for  Bagged  Schools. 


IC  THE    TKUE    STRENGTH 

of  the  utter  infidelity  which  is  gradually  spreading 
among  the  working  classes  in  our  cities,  of  the  specu- 
lations of  secularists  as  they  are  called,  who  deny  to 
man  any  hope  beyond  the  grave,  any  duty  except  that 
of  providing  for  the  wants  of  this  life,  and  against 
whom  Christ's  servants  are  bound  to  contend,  not 
only  in  argument,  but  with  the  yet  more  efficacious 
weapons  of  Christian  faith  and  love.  Or  if  we 
ascend  higher  in  the  scale  of  society,  to  that  com- 
mercial class  which  forms  the  pride  and  support  of 
London,  and  fulfils  the  presage  contained  in  the 
name  the  City  of  Ships ^  there  also  we  must  often 
lament  the  absence  of  any  practical  faith  that 
Christ  has  redeemed  the  world  from  sin.  As  a 
commercial  nation  we  have  been  startled  and  have 
felt  degraded  by  the  revelation  of  dishonesty  among 
them,  of  reckless  speculation  often  with  the  pro- 
perty of  others,  of  ruin  and  misery  widely  spread 
throuofh  careless  or  dishonourable  selfishness, 
sometimes  even  veiled  under  religious  or  charitable 
professions,  while  the  frauds  of  the  princely  mer- 
chant are  only  too  faithfully  imitated  by  the  petty 
cheating  and  adulterated  goods  of  the  tradesman. 
Advancing  yet  farther,  we  come  to  that  class  which 
seems  to  pride  itself  in  contradicting  the  very  words 
of  our  Lord,  by  boastfully  claiming  the  title  of  the 
World,  and  thus  openly  disregarding  His  warning 
not  to  love  the  world  nor  the  things  of  the  world, 
and  his  repeated  declaration  that  this  love  is  in- 
compatible with  the  love  of  the  Father.      Surely 


AND   MISSION    OP    THE    CHURCH.  17 

cannot  bo  denied  that  the  Gospel  in  its  simple 
fulness  is  the  true  remedy  for  the  evils  of  this  class 
also.  For  if  we  believe  the  plain  words  of  the 
New  Testament,  we  can  only  regard  it  as  a  great 
sin,  and  absolute  contradiction  of  Christianity,  that 
a  large  number  of  persons  spend  their  lives  in 
frivolity  and  selfish  gratification,  or  in  vehement 
struggles  after  their  own  advancement;  that  many 
ai'e  separated  from  their  brethren  by  the  artificial 
distinctions  of  vanity  and  pride,  and  are  living  and 
dying  in  forgetfulness  of  Christ's  command  to  work 
for  their  good.  If  there  is  truth  in  the  Parable  of 
the  Talents,  and  in  the  condemnation  of  him  who 
said  unto  his  soul.  Take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and 
be  merry;  if  the  indifference  of  the  rich  man  to  the 
sufferings  of  Lazarus  was  a  sin  which  God  would 
not  pardon ;  if  luxury  and  extravagance,  and  flattery 
and  self-seeking  are  displeasing  in  His  sight,  then 
we  must  believe  that  in  the  higher,  no  less  than 
the  lower  walks  of  London  society,  there  is  much  to 
deplore,  to  rebuke,  and  to  reform.  Now  our  text 
tells  us  that  Christ's  people  were  united  into  one 
body,  and  entrusted  with  ordinances.  Sacraments, 
and  the  keeping  of  God's  Word,  in  order  that  they 
might  lift  up  their  voice  in  their  Master's  Name, 
against  the  vices  of  all  classes  and  all  professions, 
and  work  in  one  earnest  spirit  of  devotion  till 
Christ's  Gospel  is  accepted,  and  its  pure  and  holy 
precepts  obeyed  by  all  God's  children.  It  is  then  a 
grievous  waste  of  power  and  energy,  if  with  such  a 


18  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

task  before  us,  we  are  disputing  about  minute 
points  wbicb  need  not  break  asunder  the  unity  for 
which  Christ  prayed,  while  the  swelling  tide  of 
human  sin  and  misery  rolls  unheeded  by  us,  bearing 
to  other  ears  than  ours  the  defiance  of  the  ungodly, 
the  cries  and  prayers  of  them  that  have  none  to 
help.  For  while  we  are  thus  turning  away  from  the 
straight  path  of  duty,  the  newspaper  writer,  the 
satirist,  the  popular  novelist  are  labouring  to  cor- 
rect those  evils  which  the  Church  was  designed  to 
cure%  and  some  colour  is  given  for  the  startling  as- 
sertion of  a  modern  writer,  that  the  press  is  the  chief 
spiritual  power  in  England.  Nor  would  we  for  a 
moment  disparage  its  efforts,  only  we  must  believe 
that  the  voice  of  Christian  kindness  or  grave  re- 
buke, the  sight  of  self-denying  charity,  the  declara- 
tion of  Christ's  love  for  man,  will  do  more  to  rege- 
nerate society  than  the  sting  of  sarcasm,  or  the 
denunciation  of  eloquent  invective.  Above  all, 
Christian  morality  is  the  true  corrective  to  that 
false  sentimentalism,  which  confines  all  virtue  to 
mere  benevolence.  And  if  it  be  true,  as  has  been 
lately  said,  that  London  is  less  moral  now  than  it 
was  half  a  century  ago,  and  that  the  hold  of  the 
Church  on  the  mass  of  the  people  is  not  strengthen- 
ing, it  is  time  for  us  to  enquire  whether  the  sight 

'  This  point  has  been  lately  noticed  by  Mr.  Gumey,  in  his 
admirable  sermon  at  the  consecration  of  the  Bishop  of  Glou- 
cester and  Bristol,  a  sermon  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  not  be 
without  fruit. 


AND    MISSION    OF    THE    CHURCH.  19 

of  its  dissensions  may  not  be  the  chief  cause  of  this 
alienation,  and  to  turn  from  the  fruitless  questions 
which  tear  it  asunder,  to  the  duty  of  labouring 
with  one  heart  and  one  mind,  as  servants  of  Jesus 
Christ,  to  stay  the  plague  of  guilt  and  wretch- 
edness. 

4.  Nor  can  we  fail  to  be  encouraged  in  this  holy 
work,    when  we  turn   to  the  brighter  side  of  the 
picture,  and  remember  the  enormous  facilities  af- 
forded for  it  in  a  great  commercial  city.     If  the 
close  contact  of  human  beings  in  its  densely -packed 
streets  involves  peculiar  dangers,  and  fosters  pecu- 
liar vices,  it  is  no  less  certain  that  these  are  coun- 
teracted by  peculiar  helps  and  blessings.     For  that 
man  should  found  and  inhabit  great  cities  is  plainly 
the  intention  of  God's  providence.     When  He  esta- 
blished the  Hebrew  tribes  in  the  cities  of  Canaan, 
He  declared  that  man  as  a  citizen  is  superior  to 
man  as  a  dweller  in  tents.     He  accepted  the  mag- 
nificent buildings  and  costly  ofi^erings  of  Solomon. 
It  is  proved  by  experience  and  observation  that  the 
life  of  the    agricultural  poor  in    England   is    not 
more  conducive  to  morality  than  that  of  the  same 
class    in    our   great  towns.      And    in    a   city   like 
London,  what  opportunities  are  there  for  the  deve- 
lopment of  intelligence,  and  for  that  mental  culture 
which  God  designs  to  promote  moral  culture,  what 
a  field   for  energy,  activity,  and  self-reliance!     A 
clergyman  from  the  country,  who  has  too  often  to 

B  2 


20  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

lament  the  obstacles  opposed  to  the  education  of 
the  labouring  class,  by  the  jealousy  and  obstinacy 
of  those  immediately  above  them,  must  envy  the 
condition  of  London  in  this  respect,  where  the  in- 
tellect is  quickened,  and  the  appetite  for  knowledge 
excited  by  the  very  circumstances  of  society.  Only 
let  us  hope  that  the  ministrations  of  the  Church 
may  be  enabled  in  some  way  or  other  to  overtake 
this  enormous  population,  so  that  in  London,  no 
less  than  in  the  country  towns,  they  may  penetrate 
into  every  court  and  alley,  and  none  of  those  for 
whom  Christ  died  may  be  abandoned  to  heathenism 
or  starvation.  Nor  need  we  despair  of  witnessing, 
by  God's  mercy,  the  gradual  accomplishment  even 
of  so  great  a  work  as  this,  if  we  remember  what 
has  been  done  already,  and  call  to  mind  what 
stores  of  wealth  are  readily  expended  here  on  Chris- 
tian objects,  and  what  willing  labour  is  bestowed 
upon  them  by  many  whose  hearts  respond  to  the 
greatness  of  the  need,  by  earnest  and  devoted 
women,  by  young  students  in  various  professions, 
by  the  good  and  thoughtful  in  every  class,  all  ready 
to  assist,  to  encourage,  and  to  cheer  Christ's  minis- 
ters in  their  glorious  mission.  So  let  us  strive  and 
pray  that  God's  Spirit  may  enable  us  to  employ  all 
this  strenc^th  in  convincinsf  the  world  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  its  Saviour,  and  persuade  us  that  our  work 
is  not  to  propagate  our  peculiar  tastes  and  opinions, 
nor  to  agitate  the  Church  by  internal  quarrels,  but 


AND    MISSION   OF   THE    CHURCH.  21 

to  leaven  our  country  with  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel,  to  show  to  the  frivolous  and  careless  a 
pattern  of  self-sacrificing  devotion,  to  teach  all  men 
to  love  one  another,  and  trust  one  another,  and  to 
tell  the  despairing  outcast  of  that  godliness^  which 
has  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that 
which  is  to  come. 

5.  Such  then,  brethren,  is  pre-eminently  the 
work  of  him,  who  is  now  to  be  dedicated  to  God 
as  the  spiritual  head  and  father  of  this  Diocese, 
the  ruler  and  guide  of  those  who  in  such  a  city 
preach  the  faith  of  Christ  crucified.  But  how  can 
so  great  a  task  be  performed?  What  character, 
what  combination  of  qualities  will  enable  any  one 
rightly  to  discharge  an  oflfice,  which  may  well  be 
called  sublime,  considering  how  it  is  fraught  with 
opportunities  for  good  to  our  own  and  future  gene- 
rations ?  Surely  no  natural  gifts  are  sufficient  for 
it,  not  the  calmest  judgment,  not  the  most  con- 
ciliating patience,  not  the  keenest  sense  of  duty. 
To  be  proved  by  affliction  and  prosperity,  to  be 
familiar  by  long  experience  with  the  education 
both  of  rich  and  poor,  with  preaching  and  visiting 
from  house  to  house,  with  the  government  of  others 
and  the  ministration  of  Christian  ordinances, 
all  these  things  may  prepare  a  man  for  his  work, 
they  cannot  enable  him  so  to  perform  it  as  to  save 
his  brethren's  souls.  Yet  he  will  be  made  equal 
to  the  task  by  the  help  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  who 


22  THE    TRUE    STRENGTH 

will  hold  him  up  lest  he  faint  under  the  bur- 
den, and  is  always  ready  to  come  when  He  is 
diligently  and  faithfully  sought.  Let  us  pray  then 
that  He  may  be  amongst  us  by  His  Spirit  at  this 
solemn  time.  As  we  began,  so  let  us  end  by  seek- 
ing encouragement  from  His  own  blessed  words, 
His  own  last  prayer  for  His  disciples,  in  which  He 
condescends  to  compare  His  mission  with  theirs. 
Sanctify  them  through  thy  truths  thy  word  is 
truth.  As  thou  hast  sent  me  into  the  world.,  even 
so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the  icorld.  And  for 
their  sakes  also  I  sanctify  myself  that  they  also 
may  be  sanctified  through  the  truth.  "  Consecrate® 
them,"  for  such  is  the  meaning  of  His  words,  "  con- 
secrate them  for  the  ministi*}'  to  which  I  have  called 
them,  by  putting  into  their  hearts  the  saving  know- 
ledge of  the  Gospel.  As  thou  hast  sent  me,  so  am 
I  sendinff  them.  For  their  sakes  also  I  consecrate 
myself  as  an  offering  for  sin,  that  in  me  they  may 
be  consecrated  to  labour  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world."  Strengthened  bv  the  recollection  of  such 
a  prayer,  the  servants  of  Christ  will  go  forth  to 

'  John  xvii.  17 — 19.  The  word  translated  sanctify  is  ayta^w. 
This  cannot  mean  sanctify  in  the  ordinary  sense,  when  applied 
in  V.  19  to  Him  who  is  holy  and  undefiled,  and  therefore  it 
must  mean  consecrate  throughout  the  passage.  Cf.  Matt,  xxiii. 
17,  6  vaoc  6  aytu^wi'  ruv  yjpvaov.  Also  Rom.  XV.  17  ;  1  Tim. 
iv.  5 ;  and  particularly  John  x.  36,  ov  o  ira-tip  iiyiaae  Kal  an- 
iartiXey  ti'c  rvr  Koafior. 


AND    MISSION    OF    THE    CHUKCH.  23 

their  great  and  solemn  ministry,  sure  of  their 
Master's  help  and  blessing  in  fulfilling  that  holy 
office,  of  which  His  own  work  is  the  type  and  pat- 
tern, and  therefore  faithfully  following  in  the  steps 
of  Him,  who  is  the  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  our 
souls. 


THE    END. 


.11. Mill    AMJ   Ul  VIMi  1  O  >. ,  l"i 'Ni'lil.b,  ST.  JO  ..\  S  »tJU.»     £,  LtliNUON.