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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77163-0.txt b/77163-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..257c305 --- /dev/null +++ b/77163-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4011 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77163 *** +Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. + + + + A LENT IN EARNEST + + OR, + + SOBER THOUGHTS FOR SOLEMN DAYS. + + + BY + + LUCY ELLEN GUERNSEY. + + + + New York: + THOMAS WHITTAKER + 2 & 3 BIBLE HOUSE. + + 1889. + + + + Copyright, 1889, + + By THOMAS WHITTAKER. + + + + PRESS OF + Jenkins & McCowan. + 224-228 Centre St. + + + + _I dedicate these pages specially to those who, by reason of infirmity +or other reasons, are shut out from the services of the Church at this +season. I hope, however, that they may be found useful and acceptable +to others as well. They are the outcome of many days of seclusion. May +they be blessed by Him whose dews and rain cause the herbs to spring._ + + _L. E. G._ + + + + CONTENTS. + + ————— + + Ash Wednesday—Repentance + + First Thursday in Lent—Confession + + First Friday in Lent—Forgiveness + + First Saturday in Lent—Consecration + + First Sunday in Lent—Fasting + + First Monday in Lent—Fasting + + First Tuesday in Lent—How Shall We Keep Lent? + + Second Wednesday in Lent—Abstinence + + Second Thursday in Lent—In the Sick-Room + + Second Friday in Lent—The Use of Fasting + + Second Saturday in Lent—Dangers and Mistakes + + Second Sunday in Lent—Helplessness and Help + + Second Monday in Lent—Evil Thoughts and Their Remedy + + Second Tuesday in Lent—Meditation + + Third Wednesday in Lent—Meditation (Con.) + + Third Thursday in Lent—Prayer + + Third Friday in Lent—Prayer + + Third Saturday in Lent—Intercession + + Third Sunday in Lent—Our Enemies + + Third Monday in Lent—Our Enemies + + Third Tuesday in Lent—The World + + Fourth Wednesday in Lent—The Flesh + + Fourth Thursday in Lent—Our Ghostly Enemy + + Fourth Friday in Lent—The Great Tempter + + Fourth Saturday in Lent—Heartiness + + Fourth Sunday in Lent—Refreshment + + Fourth Monday in Lent—Refreshment Sunday (Con.) + + Fourth Tuesday in Lent—Refreshment Sunday (Con.) + + Fifth Wednesday in Lent—Comfort + + Fifth Thursday in Lent—The Sources of Comfort + + Fifth Friday in Lent—The Great Consoler + + Fifth Saturday in Lent—The Use of Comfort + + Fifth Sunday in Lent—The Government of God + + Fifth Monday in Lent—Cæsar's Household + + Fifth Tuesday in Lent—The Household of God + + Sixth Wednesday in Lent—The Household of God (Con.) + + Sixth Thursday in Lent—The Household of God (Con.) + + Sixth Friday in Lent—The Household of God (Con.) + + Saturday Before Palm Sunday—The Alabaster Box + + Palm Sunday—Children in the Temple + + Monday Before Easter—The Fig-Tree Having Leaves + + Tuesday Before Easter—The House Left Desolate + + Wednesday Before Easter—The Lost Opportunities + + Thursday Before Easter—The Traitor + + Good Friday—The Cross + + Easter Even—The Last Sabbath + + Easter—The Day of the Lord + + Conclusion—Looking Back + + + + A LENT IN EARNEST + +_ASH WEDNESDAY._ + +_REPENTANCE._ + +THE keynotes of the services for Ash Wednesday are repentance and +confession. Theirs is the spirit of the first collect, of the prayers +which, in the American service for the day, follow the Litany, of +the portion appointed for the Epistle, and of the Lessons, "That we, +worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness;" "Turn +Thine anger from us who meekly acknowledge our vileness." "Be favorable +to thy people who turn to Thee in weeping, fasting, and praying." + +We often use words, even very common words, without any clear or exact +idea of their meaning. "I know, but I cannot tell," is an expression +familiar to every teacher. Now the truth is, we cannot be quite sure +whether we know or not, unless we try to put our knowledge into words. +Let us, then, examine a little our ideas on this very important matter. + +We find these two duties of repentance and confession constantly +conjoined in both the Old and New Testaments. The Psalms are full of +them. "I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." +(Ps. li. 3:) "Heal my soul; for I have sinned against Thee." (Ps. xli. +4.) "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so +iniquity shall not be your ruin." (Ezek. xviii. 30.) + +Our Lord's own preaching began with repentance, as did that of His +forerunner, John the Baptist. (S. Matt. iii. 2; S. Mark i. 15.) It was +the first commission of the Apostles (S. Mark vi. 12), as it was the +burden of their preaching after the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 38.) + +So with confession. We read in Lev. xxvi. 40, after the most +terrible denunciations of woe against the chosen people in case of +unfaithfulness, these reassuring words: "If they will confess their +iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, ... if, then, their +uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they ... accept of the punishment +of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant with Jacob!" So in +Psalm xxxii. 5, Joel ii. 12, 1 John i. 9, and many other places. + +Our Church, too, in all her services, constantly presses these things +on our attention. Since, then, they are so important, is it not very +needful that our ideas about them should be clear and definite, free +from mistake or haziness? What, then, are repentance and confession? + +Repentance, as the word is used in the service for Ash Wednesday, and +generally in the Bible and the Prayer-book, means turning "from" sin, +and "to" God. It has another meaning in some places—that of sorrow or +regret, as in Gen. vi. 6. "And it repented the Lord that He had made +man." But in general, it means such sorrow for sin as leads to the +forsaking of it. A man may be sorry for some transgression because it +has led him into trouble; as when a drunkard has destroyed his health, +or a thief has brought himself into the grasp of the law; but such +sorrow cannot properly be called repentance. The sinner does not hate +the sin. On the contrary, he loves it, and is only sorry that he has +put it out of his power to commit it again. + +But true repentance means sorrow for sin, because that sin has +broken God's law, and grieved and offended Him. It means a steadfast +determination to give up everything which our own conscience or the law +of God shows us to be wrong. "Repent, and turn yourselves from 'all' +your transgressions." (Ezek. xviii. 30.) Observe the word ALL. It will +not do to keep anything back, to have any little secret shrine, in +which is hidden an idol. God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents +of the heart. (Rom. vi. 12.) The darkness of its most secret inner +chamber is no darkness to Him, and He will endure no willful deceit in +this matter. + +I say "willful" deceit, because we may unconsciously deceive ourselves, +especially in the beginning of our religious lives. As we advance in +holiness, we shall no doubt see many things to be wrong which did not +seem so at first. But true repentance does require that we give up +everything that we know, or even suspect, to be wrong. + +Nor can this work of repentance be finished up in one day, or one +Lenten season. It will have to be renewed again and again, so long +as we inhabit these mortal bodies; as often as we are made conscious +that we have offended by thought, word, or deed against the Divine +Majesty. We must remember that our Heavenly Father's precious promises +of remission and forgiveness are made only to penitent sinners. +"Repent, and be baptized," said St. Peter to the inquirers on the day +of Pentecost, and again, in his second sermon, "Repent ye, therefore, +and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of +refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts ii. 38, and +iii. 19.) + +The prodigal son, in the midst of his wandering and wickedness, was no +doubt an object of love and care to his father, but it was not till he +returned to his father's house, and submitted to his authority, that +he was restored to favor. Not that there is any merit in repentance, +as if we thereby earned a title to forgiveness: we must not entertain +for a moment any such idea as that. Salvation is, in its very nature, a +deliverance from sin. That is what it means. But unless we see the evil +of sin we shall not wish to be delivered from it. Therefore, in every +case, the first direction to the inquirer is "Repent." + +But of what are we to repent? + +Of all our wrong doing and thinking and feeling—of our neglect of God +and His service—of our carelessness in this most important concern of +life—of all our evil deeds and thoughts and tempers. The more closely +we examine ourselves by the light of God's Word, the more we shall +see to deplore, till we come at last to know practically what we have +perhaps always believed as a doctrine—that in us, that is, in our +flesh, dwelleth no good thing, and that not only man in general, but we +ourselves, are prone to evil as the sparks fly upward. + +Let us not, therefore, be discouraged, or faint in our minds! For all +this evil the remedy is provided. Hear what comfortable words the +Scripture hath for our encouragement. "Jesus Christ came into the world +to save sinners." (1 Tim. i. 15.) "I am not come to call the righteous, +but sinners to repentance." (S. Matt. ix. 13.) Take your reference +Bible and look up the passages relating to this subject, and you will +see that there is no room for discouragement, much less for despair. + + Ps. li. S. Luke xv. 1—10. + + + +_FIRST THURSDAY IN LENT._ + +_CONFESSION._ + +IN many places of Scripture, we find coupled with repentance another +condition of repentance—that is, confession. "I acknowledged my sin +unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess +my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." +(Ps. xxxii. 5.) "Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast +transgressed against the Lord." (Jer. iii. 13.) "If we confess our +sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse +us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) + +To whom are we to confess? + +First of all, to ourselves. We are frankly to acknowledge our iniquity, +and that not in general terms alone, but we are to come down to +particulars. It is easy to own ourselves sinners in a general way, +while all the time we are cherishing a very good opinion of ourselves. +"Oh, yes, we are all miserable sinners!" said a shrewd old lady. "But +we are just as good as the rest of the miserable sinners, and a good +deal better than some of them." I fancy we all have this feeling at +times, though we may not put it to ourselves quite so plainly. + +In order to make our confession to ourselves of any use, it must +be frank and open. It will not do to accompany every confession +with an excuse. "I spoke hastily and unkindly, but then I had great +provocation." "I ought not to have repeated that scandalous story, but +then I had it on good authority." "I ought perhaps to have abstained +from that amusement, but A and B went, and I do not pretend to be +better than they." Have we not all excused ourselves in this style +again and again? But what is this but saying that we should never do +wrong if we were never tempted? Let us consider whether we dare offer +these excuses to God before we venture to comfort and quiet our own +consciences with them! + +Secondly, we must confess our sins unto the LORD. "I said, I will +confess my sin unto the Lord." (Ps. xxxii. 5.) "Take with you words, +and turn to the Lord." (Hos. xiv. 2.) + +"But," you say, "does He not already know my sins? Why, then, should +I confess them?" In the first place, because He has seen fit to +command it. He also knows all our wants and wishes far better than we +ourselves; yet He has commanded us in everything to make known our +requests to Him. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer +and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto +God." (Phil. iv. 6.) Surely His will should be enough for us, since He +commands nothing without good cause. + +But, secondly, we should confess our sins to God, because in that way +alone can we be made thoroughly aware of their sinfulness. A fit of +causeless anger, or a bit of malicious gossip, looks very different +to us when we lay it bare before God in our closets. The excuse which +seemed very plausible when the act was committed, will not appear so +in the light of His presence before whom we stand, and who is of purer +eyes than to behold iniquity. If we are honest in our confession, the +Spirit, which searcheth all things, will show us aggravations of our +fault which we never suspected. + +Finally, we should confess our sin unto the Lord for the sake of the +peace which the action brings to our own hearts and minds. There is no +time when our conscience torments us so sorely as when we are trying to +persuade ourselves that it is not hurting us at all; when we are making +all sorts of excuses to ourselves for our faults. + +A wise and witty man once said that all the riches and pleasures which +life has to offer would be embittered and made useless to a man who was +compelled always to wear a sharp nail in his shoe. No doubt, he was +right. Now, an unconfessed, and, therefore, unforgiven, sin is just +such a nail. It is true that by a long course of neglect the conscience +may be silenced for a time. But it is only for a time, and how awful +will be the awaking! + +Let us, then, come boldly but humbly to the Throne of Grace—to the +Mercy seat, where our God is always to be found by those who honestly +seek Him! Let us confess all those sins which, by our frailty, we have +committed, and ask for forgiveness and cleansing for His sake by whose +stripes we are healed, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, +and who now sits at the right hand of the Father to make intercession +for us. Let us do so, not trusting in ourselves as if there were any +merit in the act, but trusting alone in His gracious promises, and we +shall find peace to our souls. + + Psalm xxxii. 1 John i. + + + +_FIRST FRIDAY IN LENT._ + +_FORGIVENESS._ + +HAVING, then, come to the Throne of Grace with true repentance and +humble confession, let us not fail to accept the promises of God in +all their fullness. Too many do this, and even value themselves on +what they term humility, but which is in reality faithlessness. "I +should never dare to believe that my sins were really forgiven," said +a certain person; "I should think it presumption." Now which is the +greater presumption, to believe what God says, or to disbelieve it? +See how full and explicit are His words of promise to all who turn to +Him! "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us +our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) +Observe the fullness and force of the promise: He is faithful and just. +Faithful, because He has promised; just, because our Lord has borne our +sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet. ii. 24), and has suffered, the +just for the unjust. (1 Pet. iii. 18.) + +Nor is this all. He not only forgives our sin, but he washes it away, +and makes it as if it had never been. "Though your sins be as scarlet, +they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they +shall be as wool." (Is. i. 18.) "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us +from all sin." (1 John i. 7.) + +We must never suffer ourselves to doubt, much less to despair of +God's mercy. Such doubts are amongst Satan's favorite weapons. "How +many times have you asked forgiveness for this very sin already," he +whispers. "How many times have you professed repentance, and promised +never to commit it more? Is it not presumption, yea, mockery, to ask +God to forgive you again?" Do not for a moment listen to him. What are +you going to do if you do not ask? You will certainly never be rid +of your sin in any other way than by God's help, and how are you to +obtain that help but by coming to Him? He who bade us forgive an erring +brother, not seven times, but seventy times seven, is not likely to be +less merciful Himself. + +"There is more grace in God than there is sin in all the sinners that +ever lived," said an aged saint of God when this matter was under +discussion; and he was right. But are we not in danger of presumption +in thus believing that God is ready to forgive, however many times we +sin against Him? Not if we are sincere and honest in our repentance, +and in our hatred of sin. It would, indeed, be the greatest of +presumption to go on willfully indulging in sin on such grounds. The +person who did so would be a hypocrite. His repentance would be no more +than a pretence, and his profession a mockery and a lie. + +But to the honest penitent, I believe nothing can be more calculated +to humble him in the very dust with a sense of his own unworthiness +than the conviction that, after all his vileness and ingratitude, his +Heavenly Father has pardoned him, and taken him again into favor. +"And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that +I am the Lord," says God to the rebellious and polluted daughter of +Jerusalem, after enumerating all her horrible offenses; and He adds +these significant words: "That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, +and never open thy mouth any more ... when I am pacified toward thee +for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xvi. 63.) + +Shall we, in the face of such gracious and glorious promises as these, +dare to doubt the goodness and mercy of our Father? Shall we bring +the burden of our sins to Him who has covenanted by His justice, as +well as by His mercy and love, to blot out our transgressions for His +own sake, and not remember our sins, and then take up that burden and +carry it away again? Shall our doubts make Him a liar? Surely, this is +presumption, and not the humble faith which trusts in Him, and takes +Him at His word. + +Let us then rejoice in the belief that our Heavenly Father has +pardoned and cleansed us according to His immutable word—that our +unrighteousness is forgiven and our sin is covered, and that to us the +Lord does not impute sin. (Ps. xxxii. 1, 2.) So shall we find that +peace which the world knows not, and can never know, and that joy in +which it has no part. So shall we have all our wounds healed, and find +strength to fight the good fight of faith in the time to come. "For the +joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh. viii. 10.) + + Psalm xxxii. 1 John. + + + +_FIRST SATURDAY IN LENT._ + +_CONSECRATION._ + +WHAT is consecration? + +It is setting apart. When a building, as a church, is consecrated to +the worship of God, we understand that it is set apart for His worship, +and is not to be put to any other use. When a bishop is consecrated, +he is set apart from worldly business for his sacred office, and he +is expected to give up all his time and talents to the duties of that +office. + +In the same way, a truly consecrated Christian is one who has given +himself up wholly to the service of God, his Creator, Redeemer, and +Sanctifier—who aims to please not himself, but God, in all he says, +does, and thinks. His time, his talents, his worldly goods, his +position and influence, his very amusements, are used for the service +of God, and he is ready to give up his most cherished pursuit as soon +as he is made aware that it is not pleasing to his Heavenly Master. + +We find in Holy Scripture abundant warrant for such consecration. +"What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which +is in you, which ye have of God? And ye are not, your own, for ye are +bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your bodies, and in your +spirits, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) "For no man liveth to +himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live +unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we +live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." (Rom. xiv. 7, 8.) In this +chapter, be it observed, the Apostle is speaking of so common a matter +as eating and drinking, and he says, again, "Whether ye eat, or drink, +or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. x. 31.) +Again, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that +ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, +which is your reasonable service." (Rom. xii. 1.) + +The Church teaches us the same lesson in her most solemn act of +worship. "And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, +our souls and bodies," is the language of the prayer of consecration in +the office of the Holy Communion. The same thought is found repeated +again and again in the Prayer-book, notably in the collects for the +fourth and fifth Sundays after Easter. Every Communion Sunday, if we +are worthy communicants, we make, or rather renew, this consecration of +ourselves to our Lord. + +But in order to make this consecration acceptable to God, or useful +to ourselves, it must be entire and perfect. We must not follow the +example of Ananias and Sapphira, in professing to give all, and then +keeping back a part. So long as we "keep back part of the price," +so long as we hold fast to anything we know we ought to give up, or +hold ourselves back from any duty we know we ought to perform, so +long is our offering imperfect—unpleasing to God, and unprofitable to +ourselves. "Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and +voweth, and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing," said the prophet +to the Jews after the captivity. (Mal. i. 14.) Their God had redeemed +them from captivity worse than death, had brought them to their own +land once more, and restored to them their old religious privileges, +yet they reckoned His service weariness, and grudged to give of their +best for His offering. Our Lord has redeemed us from a worse bondage +than theirs, and has bought us with a great price, even with the +suffering and death of His dear Son, and shall we grudge to give Him +that which is His own? + +The want of this perfect consecration is the reason why so many +Christian people have no comfort in their devotion. Old-fashioned +Methodist people used to employ a significant phrase in this +connection. They would ask,— + +"Do you enjoy religion?" + +Too many, it is to be feared, do not enjoy it at all. They seem to have +just enough to make them uncomfortable. + +"I feel as if it were of no use for me to pray," said one; "my prayers +never seem to get out of the room, and my heart is cold and heavy. I +have no sense of the Lord's presence at all." + +"Are you sure," asked her friend, "that you are indulging no sin, or +neglecting no known duty?" + +After a moment's pause came the question, "Do you think such a thing is +wrong?" + +"Whatever I think, I know what you think," was her friend's inward +answer. + +Our God is a jealous God! He will not share His temple with another. If +we would have Him dwelling in our hearts, we must banish thence every +idol, and every unclean and even doubtful thing. For we must remember +that if we think any act wrong, or even doubtful, that act becomes +a sin to us. This is true especially of amusements and pleasures +of all sorts. He who risks God's anger for the sake of a personal +gratification, is guilty of presumptuous sin. + +If, then, you find your religious state unsatisfactory, your prayers +lifeless, your sacramental seasons without comfort or enjoyment, your +heart heavy under a secret sense of condemnation, let me beg you to +examine yourself, and see if the trouble does not lie just here—that +you are keeping back something that your Lord requires of you. And if, +on an honest search, you find that He calls on you to give up some +indulgence to which you are holding fast, or to take up some duty which +you have hitherto neglected, let me beg of you to obey on the instant; +whatever be the cost, break the idol, banish the intruder, take up the +duty, and, so doing, find peace to your soul. + + Mal. i. Rom. xii. + + + +_FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT._ + +_FASTING._ + +THE special service for this day sets before us, as the subject of +our meditation, our Lord's fast in the wilderness. The collect is +founded on it. "O Lord, who for our sakes didst fast forty days!" The +Gospel for the day sets forth the story of the same fast, and of the +temptation which followed. + +It was for our sake that the Blessed Jesus fasted. His sinless nature +had no need of such discipline. But He was "in all points tempted like +as we are," that we might know that "we have not an High Priest which +cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." (Heb. iv. 15.) +"For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to +succor them that are tempted." (Heb. ii. 18.) Let us, with reverence +and godly fear, consider a few of the circumstances of His fasting and +temptation. + +It was immediately after our Lord's baptism, and the wonderful +manifestation of the Divine Glory in confirmation of His claims, that +He was "led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the +Devil." After the privilege came the temptation. If we consider our own +experience, we shall often find this to be the case with ourselves. +How often, after a season of more than usual earnestness and enjoyment +in devotion, does the heart seem to go back with a rebound, as it +were, to the vanities of the world! How often, after an act of honest +renunciation, does the thing we have given up paint itself to our fancy +in more attractive colors than ever, till we think ourselves little +better than hypocrites, and are ready to give up in despair! + +But we have no reason to despair. Nay, we may, if we use them aright, +make our very temptations means of grace, drawing from them both +encouragement and strength—encouragement, because Satan would not take +so much pains to draw us aside if he did not see that we were escaping +from his power; strength, if we let our trials make us more watchful +against sin, and more earnest in our prayers for help. + +Our Lord's first temptation came through the medium of His bodily +wants. He was exhausted from fasting; and Satan, as is usual with him, +attacked him on what he believed his weak point. "If thou be the Son +of God, command that these stones be made bread." (S. Matt. iv. 3.) He +often assaults us in the same way. "You are tired and hungry," he says; +"you have a right to be irritable." "You are an invalid; you have the +right to be exacting, and to make the comfort of others give way to +yours." "You are sleepless, and in pain; you have a right to take the +drug which will give you present ease and rest, whatever may be the +consequence." Let us answer as did our Lord: "Man shall not live by +bread alone." Let us remember that the body is to be the servant, not +the master, and treat it accordingly. There are no persons who need +to practice self-control more than invalids, and especially nervous +invalids. + +Again, our Lord did not make use of His divine power against the +tempter. He used weapons which are within the reach of every one of us. +He met Satan with the words of Holy Scripture. And in this very fact, +by the way, may be found an answer to those who decry and undervalue +the Old Testament. Every one of our Lord's quotations is taken from the +book of Deuteronomy. And we may furnish ourselves, if we will, with +weapons from the same celestial armory. Does Satan attack us through +our bodily weakness? "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength +is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. xii. 9.) + +Does he beset us with doubts as to the forgiveness of our sins, +or acceptance with God? Every disciple has, like Christian in the +"Pilgrim's Progress," "a key in his bosom, which will open any lock +in Doubting Castle." Hence the importance of making ourselves very +familiar with the weapons which St. Paul calls "the sword of the +Spirit," and of having it, as it were, always at our side. A man might +have the best weapon in the world in his possession, but it would stand +him in little stead when attacked, if he did not know how to use it, or +if he had left it hanging up in his closet at home. But if we store our +memories with the very words of the Bible, and meditate often thereon, +we shall have sword and shield always at hand. I shall have more to say +on this matter hereafter. + +Once more, temptation, valorously withstood, is followed by peace. +"Then the Devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered +unto Him." (S. Matt. iv. 11.) "Our Lord will not suffer us to be +tempted above that we are able." (1 Cor. x. 13.) Satan may rage, but +his rage is restrained by one stronger than he, and after the storm +comes a calm. Then come to us, as to the pilgrim, some of the leaves +of the tree of life, to heal our wounds, and if the white robe has +contracted any stain in the strife, there is opened the fountain for +sin and uncleanness, where we may wash and be clean. (Zech. xiii. 1.) +We must still be on our guard, and have our weapons at hand, but our +Captain allows us a breathing-time, and He will himself come and talk +with us as we rest by the way. + + Ps. xlvi. S. Matt. iii. + + + +_FIRST MONDAY IN LENT._ + +_FASTING._ + +WHAT is fasting? + +IN its broadest sense it is self-denial. As generally used by our +Church, it means abstinence in some shape—either from amusement, from +food, or from personal luxuries. The Romish Church makes it to consist +mostly in refraining from meat, especially during Lent; but that is +a narrow view of the matter, and one which admits of a great deal of +personal indulgence. The early Church made no distinction in quality +of food, and the most scrupulous did not hesitate to eat meat when +needful. Our own branch of the Church lays down no definite rules on +the subject of fasting, either in Lent or at any other time, but, with +her usual wisdom and liberality, leaves the matter to each person's +conscience. + +It has been remarked that there is no absolute command to fast in the +New Testament. Our Lord, however, implicitly sanctions and approves the +practice by His example, and by giving directions as to how the duty is +to be performed (S. Matt. vi. 16), and by His words to the Pharisees +(S. Mark ii. 19); and it is commended by the practice of the Apostles +(Acts iii. 2, 3, and xiv. 23.) Our Lord tells us that fasting, like +prayer, should be performed without ostentation, and this is the only +direction given on the subject. + +The law of Moses appoints only one fast that of the great day of +atonement (Lev. xxiii. 27), but we find in the Old Testament numerous +examples of fasts, usually on occasion of some great danger or calamity +(2 Chron. xx. 3; Joel ii), or of some dangerous enterprise. In the +writings of the prophets, also, we find many allusions to fasting as +a common practice, and also directions as to the spirit in which it +should be performed. + +Our Church observes all Fridays throughout the year as fast days, +and also the forty days before Easter. This last season, called Lent +(probably from the Saxon word for Spring), is that with which we are +specially concerned at present. How, then, shall we keep Lent? + +The Church answers this question, to some extent, by her multiplied +services and frequent Communions—by the opportunities which she gives +us of social worship. Let us avail ourselves of this privilege as far +as possible, by being frequently in the sanctuary, and by joining +heartily in the prayers and praises of God's people. Let us be early in +our places, that our spirits may be quieted, and our hearts attuned by +some minutes of prayer and meditation, before the service begins. The +quiet and the association of the place are specially favorable to such +exercises. + +Many people find an advantage in reading some devotional book at this +time, such as Thomas à Kempis, or the Sacra Privata, and this is a good +plan, provided always that the book be used as a guide to meditation, +and not as a substitute for it. As a rule, we read too much and think +too little. + +Our prayers should be not only for ourselves, but for our +fellow-worshippers, and for all the interests of our own Church and the +Church at large. Let us remember our families, the guild or society +to which we belong, our god-children and pupils in Sunday-school, the +missionary enterprises of our own parish and those of the Church. We +shall find that a few minutes spent in this way, on entering church, +will compose our minds, and add tenfold to the comfort and usefulness +of the service which follows. + +Many sincere Christians are troubled with wandering thoughts in time +of prayer, and especially of public service. I have always found great +assistance in keeping my eyes fixed on the book, following every word +of the service. Such wandering thoughts are dogs which run out and +bark at us in the street—the best way is to go straight on and take no +notice of them. But as an old author has said, the best way to govern +our thoughts in prayer is to be in the habit of governing them at all +other times. + +When service is over, let us not be in a hurry to rise from our knees, +but let us again spend a few moments in secret devotion. I much like +the custom of the congregation remaining in their seats or standing +till the minister leaves the chancel. And let us strive, above all, to +carry with us through the day the influence of the blessed services +in which we have been engaged. The Psalms or the Lessons will have +furnished us with some food for meditation, to which our minds may turn +in the intervals of business, and from which we may draw counsel and +comfort, and— + + "at evening we may say, + I have walked with God to-day." + + Is. lxiii. S. Mark vi. + + + +_FIRST TUESDAY IN LENT._ + +_HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT?_ + +YOU say, perhaps, "I am shut up—confined to the room or the house," +or, "I am away from the church and its worship. I cannot join in the +services, however much I should like to do so." + +This is a mistake, and a very unfortunate one, which is likely to +deprive the person making it of much spiritual growth as well as +comfort. No one needs the helps which the Church holds out to her +children more than those who are shut away from the more public means +of grace. We are too apt to think of the Church, not as the one Body +of Christ, but as a mass of disconnected parishes and individuals. You +are as much a member of the Church at large when you are a thousand +miles away from her services, or when you are kept helpless on your +bed, as though you were in the heart of a great cathedral city, with +opportunities of attending a grand service every day. + +It is one of the blessings of our inestimable book of Common Prayer +that it enables us to join in the prayers and praises of those who are +able to attend public worship. If from illness or any other cause you +are kept from going to church, let me ask you to take the Prayer-book, +and follow the service in your own room. Read the proper Psalms and +Lessons, and, that you may do so, keep yourself in mind of all the +Church days and seasons. This is easily done in these days of cheap +almanacs and wall calendars. Do not, if you can help it, let one day +pass without reading at least one of the proper Lessons for the day, +and one of the Psalms, and using some part of the appointed prayers. +You will never appreciate as you should the wonderful beauty of our +service, and its suitableness to your spiritual needs, till you learn +to use it in your private devotions. + +But in order to this appreciation, we must guard against formality, +and carelessness. Let us study the service, and commit it to memory; +especially the collects, those wonderful jewels of devotion, which +shine the more, the more they are looked at and used. I can testify, +from my own experience, to the value of this practice to the sick and +feeble. Many times, when oppressed by pain and weakness, or vexed and +distracted by nervous irritation, unable to frame a sentence, or to put +even into thought the desires and griefs of a burdened heart, have I +found unspeakable comfort and help in the dear, familiar words which +came almost without an effort, and expressed the longings of my soul +better than any words of my own. + +Let me beg of you, then, dear shut-in and shut-out brothers and +sisters, to make bosom friends and companions of your prayer-books. Let +them be always at hand, and never, if you can help it, omit using a +part at least of the service for the day. This will require some effort +and self-denial, but this very effort and self-denial will do you good, +and are exercises most suitable to the season. + +Believe me, if you will but follow the practice through one Lenten +season, you will never again willingly omit it. + + Ps. lxxxiv. Eph. iv. 1-17. + + + +_SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT._ + +_ABSTINENCE._ + +WE have already seen that fasting, in its broad sense, means +self-denial, and in the ordinary sense, abstinence. In this latter +sense it is used in the collect for the day. Now abstinence, we all +know, means "going without something," and the question to be settled +by each one of us is, "What shall we do without?" + +The Church, always discreet and liberal in her requirements, lays down +no rules in this matter, but leaves it to the judgment and conscience +of each individual of her children. We are to be, not without law, but +a law unto ourselves. One may abstain in matters of food, another of +some favorite occupation or amusement, such, for instance, as light +reading or fancy work, or a favorite game. Another will take time from +his business or pleasure for devotional reading, or for some work of +charity. + +We are to be a law unto ourselves, but let our rule "be" a law. Do not +let the matter be left to chance, or the impulse of the moment. "Let +every man be fully persuaded in his own mind," said St. Paul, speaking +of a somewhat similar matter (Rom. xiv. 5.). He is writing to the +Christians of Rome, many of whom had been Jews, and still found their +consciences burdened at times by the requirements of ceremonial law. +"One," he says, "believeth that he may eat all things; another, who +is weak, eateth only herbs...One man esteemeth one day above another: +another esteemeth every day alike." But however that might be, every +one was enjoined to be "fully persuaded in his own mind," and not to +act against that persuasion—that is, against the leading of his own +conscience. + +Having, then, laid down a rule—having decided on that measure of +abstinence which we deem best for ourselves—let us adhere to that +standard, however we may be tempted to depart from it. For instance, +if you decide to give some particular part of the day to devotional +reading or study—a very excellent practice—do not let every little +matter, especially of your own convenience, divert you from your +object. If you decide to abstain from light reading, hold fast to your +resolution in the face of the most fascinating and bepraised novel. +Unless you do thus adhere to them, your rules will be burdens and +temptations instead of helps. + +There is another and a very important point to be considered in this +matter of amusements. In the very chapter that we have been quoting, +St. Paul says: "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat +while the world stands." The church man or woman who is seen at the +opera or theatre during Lent must not be surprised if he hears his +religious profession lightly spoken of by worldly associates. The +Sunday-school teacher or Girls' Friendly Associate who so indulges must +not complain of the pupil or member who follows her example. + +A visitor in a certain house was amazed, on entering the parlor on Good +Friday evening, to find two whist tables in operation, both occupied by +church-members who had attended service in the morning. The visitor was +not surprised at the remark of a Roman Catholic servant: + +"Well, they don't think much of the day, whatever they may pretend." + +And certainly the spectacle was not an edifying one to those who made +no religious profession whatever. + +"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient," and +it is hard to see how anyone who desires to use this holy season as the +Church intended it to be used can spend time and money on expensive +amusements. Believe me, it is a bad symptom in the spiritual life when +a Christian is thinking, not how much he can give up for his Lord, but +how much he dares keep for himself. + + Is. lviii. 1 Cor. x. + + + +_SECOND THURSDAY IN LENT._ + +_IN THE SICK-ROOM._ + +"I AM an invalid," says someone; "I never go either to the theatre or +opera; I never attend a party, or partake of any public amusement; +hardly indeed, of any amusement at all. How shall I keep Lent?" + +In the first place, so far as possible, get out of your world into +God's world. I have been an invalid for months and years at a time, +and I have seen a great deal of illness, so I am not speaking at +random. The great temptation of a chronic invalid is to make the world +centre in himself. The great interests of mankind, and of the Church, +charitable, and mission work, and Christian work of every kind, are of +no importance compared to the position of a table or the serving of a +meal. We almost forget that these things have any existence, or that we +as individuals have anything to do with them. + +I do not mean to say that all chronic invalids are irritable or +selfish; I must say frankly that I have seen quite as much of these +qualities in nurses as in patients. But it is perfectly natural—nay, it +is unavoidable—when one is shut up in a small space, to make that space +and its arrangements of great importance. They "are" very important, +and a kind and faithful nurse will take care that no untidiness or +carelessness shall offend the eye; that the book or work or glass of +drink shall not be moved and set down just out of reach; that the +door shall not be left ajar to slam, or the window to rattle. Such +carelessness is often nothing less than cruelty. + +But making all allowances, I still say to the invalid, get out of your +little world into the great world as often as possible. Recollect that +you are still a member of Christ's living body, and as such there must +still be some work for you to do. Especially at this season, consider +if there is not some way whereby you may help the Church in her great +work of converting the world. + +I would earnestly advise you to turn your attention to the subject of +missions at home and abroad. If you are able to read, subscribe for +the "Spirit of Missions" and read it all through. An excellent old +Presbyterian lady once said that when she got her missionary paper +she "just sat down and prayed right through it." Do you likewise, and +at the same time consider how wonderful is this instrument of prayer, +by which, in your chamber, you can reach the overworked man or woman +toiling in China or Africa. You will soon find that your interest in +the work grows as you learn more about it. You will find yourself +looking out for news from particular stations and people, and thinking +of Miss Wong and her orphans, and Miss Somebody Else and her Indians or +Freedmen, as if they were personal friends. + +Do not be content, however, with reading and praying. Try to do +something. Many invalids are able to do more or less light work with +their fingers, and find great comfort in it. Now at this time let your +work be consecrated in a special manner. Lay aside the fancy work for +something practical and useful. Let the drawn work give way to the +hospital towel, and the knitted lace to the hospital sock. Even if you +can do but little, let that little be done faithfully and as regularly +as possible, and the Lord of the harvest will bless your gleanings as +much as the full sheaves of the stalwart reaper in the field. + +If you are earnest in watching for opportunities you may also practice +self-denial in other ways. Are there no little luxuries that you can +do without, and so add a few cents or dollars to your charity-purse? +Cannot the orange, or bunch of grapes, or bottle of cologne be sent to +some poor body who keeps Lent all the year round? Is there no service +which you have been in the habit of requiring from an attendant, and +which, by a little effort, you may perform for yourself? When a visitor +comes in, can you not turn the conversation from your own aches and +pains to something more pleasant and profitable? All these things +are self-denials, and, if used in the right spirit, will bring their +reward—a present reward in improved cheerfulness, and so, often, in +improved bodily health; a lasting reward in growth in grace, and in +that holiness which shall make you more fit for that world where there +is no more any pain, because the former things are passed away. + + Psalm lxxvii. Rev. vii. 9-17. + + + +_SECOND FRIDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE USE OF FASTING._ + +WHAT is the use of fasting? + +The answer to this question is given in the collect which has formed +the text of our meditations for the week. "That our flesh being subdued +to the spirit, we may obey Thy godly motions in righteousness and true +holiness." + +The flesh, as the term is usually employed in Scripture, means the +lower and earthly part of our nature. It is that part of us to which +almost all the pleasures of sense address themselves. St. Paul tells us +that they who are in the flesh—they who live for it alone—cannot please +God (Rom. viii. 8); and he gives the reason, because they that are +after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. + +The flesh, that is, as we have said, the lower part of our nature, has +neither belief nor interest in anything but what can be seen and heard, +and handled with hands. It cares for nothing but the things which +belong to time, and must therefore perish with time. The invisible +things which are eternal, and therefore the only real things, are as +nothing to the man of the flesh, or at best but the idle dreams of +enthusiasts. This being the case, it is easy to see why they who are in +the flesh cannot please God. + +Now this earthly and carnal nature, which is here called the flesh, +remains in every one of us. We are all more or less under its +influence. We are all prone to let the seen and temporal hide from our +thoughts the unseen and eternal. The wants of the body are imperative, +and must be provided for, and with these needs are apt to come lusts. +The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life are +all intimately connected with real needs, and take on their names and +faces. + +Our bodies are useful servants, but bad and hard masters, and they are +always striving to get the upper hand, and govern where they ought to +obey. Therefore it is needful to rule them with a strong hand. St. Paul +says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection"; that is, +literally, "I buffet it with blows, and treat it as a slave," and he +gives us the reason for this conduct, "lest that by any means, when I +have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (1 Cor. ix. +27.) The Scriptures, especially the Epistles, are full of warnings on +this subject. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye +through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." +(Rom. viii. 13.) + +The flesh is to be subdued to the spirit; to our own immortal spirit, +and to the Holy Spirit. To our own spirit, because that is the part +of us which is nearly related to God, capable of communion with Him, +and even of being partaker of the Divine Nature (2 Pet. i. 4); to the +Holy Spirit, because He is our Divine Guide and Comforter. The flesh +is to be made thus subject, that it may know its place and be silent +and quiet before its betters, that its voice may not hinder the voice +of God. It must be taught to obey, that it may be the servant and not +the master. And as soldiers are drilled in time of peace, when no enemy +is at hand, that they may be ready and skillful in time of war, so our +bodies may well be trained and brought under discipline, that in the +time of trial they may be helps and not hindrances in running the race +which is set before us. + + Is. xxxii. 1 Cor. ix. + + + +_SECOND SATURDAY IN LENT._ + +_DANGERS AND MISTAKES._ + +THERE are two or three dangers and mistakes connected with this +subject, which we shall do well to consider. + +The first is the danger of spiritual pride—of considering our +self-denials as good works, whereby we acquire merit, and, so to +speak, bring God in debt to us. One would think, at first sight, that +no well-instructed Christian was in any such peril, yet a very slight +acquaintance with history will show the painful absurdities which have +grown out of this idea, and the mischief and waste to which it has led. + +It is very hard for a man to take in the idea that he cannot deserve +anything of God by his good works; that all his righteousnesses are +as filthy rags, and that after his very best is done, he is but an +unprofitable servant, doing no more than his duty; that he must accept +salvation, if at all, as an absolutely free gift. His pride revolts at +the idea. He does not like to feel that he is only a beggar. Hence the +tendency, of which every faithful and experienced Christian is more or +less conscious, to magnify his own good works, if not in the eyes of +others, yet in his own secret soul. + +Pride is a subtle enemy, and never more to be dreaded than when it +takes the form of that spiritual pride which apes humility. From +this root have grown all sorts of noxious weeds; especially those +exhibitions of self-torture which so revolt common sense in the lives +of so-called saints—the pillar of Simon Stylites, the five orange seeds +a day of Rose of Lima, and the like. Neither by precept nor example do +the Scriptures countenance any such practices. On the contrary, our +Lord's injunctions seem directed expressly against them. (S. Matt. vi. +16-18.) + +Another danger to be guarded against is that of despising the body, as +if it were of no account. The body is to be subject to the spirit, no +doubt. It is a servant, and is to be kept to a servant's place, even +by severe discipline if need be, but it is to be kept in health and +strength, that it may serve well its master. It is the tool of the +spirit, and must be kept in good working order. He would be a foolish +master who should so treat his tools or his servants as to disable them +from work. + +Our bodies are to be treated with respect because they are God's +temples, in which it pleases Him to dwell. "Know ye not that your body +is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" says the Apostle (1 +Cor. vi. 19); and again, "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, +and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" and he adds, "If any man +defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." (1 Cor. iii. 16.) +From these considerations, it may be easily seen that those persons are +guilty of sin who are willfully careless of the body; who for the sake +of dress or amusement, or indulgence of any sort, injure their health +and lessen their powers of usefulness. + +Once more: The body is to be treated with respect because it has a +share in our redemption. True, it is subject to decay and death. True, +for a time it must molder in the dust, but it shall be raised again, +and united to its kindred spirit, freed from all taint of sin and +corruption. True, it is sown in dishonor and weakness, but it shall be +raised in glory and power, to inherit immortality. + + Job xiv. 1 Cor. iii. + + + +_SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT._ + +_HELPLESSNESS AND HELP._ + +THE collect for this day is especially a prayer for help; help for body +and soul. The suppliant's plea is his helplessness. We have no power of +ourselves to help ourselves, and so we turn to Him who is both able and +willing to help us. + +It is to be wished that Christians in general realized more fully their +dependence upon God. We all go to Him for help in great matters—in +deep afflictions, in strong temptations; but in the little things of +everyday life, we forget or neglect to call upon Him; and it is in +these very little things that we are defeated and overthrown by our +ever-watchful enemy. "He that despiseth little things shall fall by +little and little," said a wise man; and no truer word was ever spoken. +It is the small temptation which makes way for the great one. It is the +misstep which prepares for the fall. + +Take an example: Theodore wakes in the morning feeling rather unwell +and out of sorts. He has perhaps overslept when he wished to wake +early, and is hurried in consequence. Proceeding to dress, he finds +a button off, or a stud misplaced; a real vexation, though a small +one; but Theodore never thinks of asking for help in such a matter as +that. He would perhaps regard such a prayer as almost a mockery. The +bell rings before he is ready, and he has, or thinks he has, no time +for morning devotions. By the time he reaches his office, he is in a +thoroughly bad humor, and ready to vent his annoyance on the first +person who comes across him. + +When Theodore reviews the events of the day, he is obliged to confess +that he has made a sad failure. He sees, with shame, that he has been +unjust and unkind; that he has, perhaps, offended one of God's little +ones, or put a stone of stumbling in the way of someone whom he is +trying to influence for good. He confesses his sin with penitence +and shame, but it does not occur to him to trace the trouble to its +source—the failing to seek for help against the first temptation. + +Oh that all of us, who profess and call ourselves Christians, could +come to realize in our inmost souls, that in us, that is, in our flesh, +dwells no good thing; that in very deed we have no power of ourselves +to help ourselves in great things or small! It is a thought humbling +to human pride, no doubt, but it is true. Every good thing, every good +gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (James +i. 17), and thrives in the soil of this lower world only by careful +cultivation. Spiritual strength, and the power to resist temptation, +are no exception to this rule. They must come from above, in the first +place, and they must be continually watered from above if they are to +live. You might better set a willow-tree in the midst of the great +American Desert, and expect it to grow there without irrigation, as +to expect any Christian grace or virtue to live in your heart without +constant watering from the Divine Fountain, which gave it life in the +first place. + +This fact of our utter helplessness to do the least good thing of +ourselves would be very discouraging; would, indeed, lead us to utter +despair if it stood alone. But God is all-knowing, and He sees that we +have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. He is almighty. Nothing +is too hard for Him. All things are in His hand, from the whole visible +universe to the least grain which helps to make it; from the highest +archangel to the tiny baby which was christened yesterday, and whose +christening robe was also its burial dress. Nothing is too great for +His power, nothing too small for his care and love. He is our Father. +He loves each one of His children as much as if that child were the +only one, and He has laid up for each one such good things as pass +man's understanding. + +And this all-powerful, all-loving God knows all our needs and all our +weakness. "He knoweth whereof we are made; He remembereth that we are +but dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.) He sees that we have no power of ourselves +to help ourselves, and His help is always ready. Yea, the whole power +of Almighty God is enlisted on the side of the weakest child who is +trying to please Him. But He will not force His help on any one. + +His hand is always held out, but we are free to lay hold on it or not, +as we will. We may neglect or slight His offers if we choose, but we +must take the consequences. We may, if we please, kindle a fire for +ourselves, and try to walk in the light of it; but this shall we have +of His hand: we shall lie down in sorrow. (Isa. l. 11.) + + Isa. li. S. John x. 19. + + + +_SECOND MONDAY IN LENT._ + +_EVIL THOUGHTS AND THEIR REMEDY._ + +EVERY Christian knows what it is to be troubled with evil thoughts. +Bunyan, than whom no uninspired man was ever better acquainted with the +human heart, makes it one of his Pilgrim's trials that he bore away +with him from the City of Destruction some of those things that he was +conversant withal, especially his inward and carnal cogitations; and +he adds, sorrowfully, "If I had my way, I would never think of those +things more, but when I would do good, evil is present with me." + +How often is his experience ours! How many times we find ourselves +haunted with what we would fain forget! Some one offers us an affront. +We have no desire to cherish a grudge, and perhaps we make an act of +forgiveness on the spot; but all day long the scornful word or the +unkind act haunts our memory, and Satan conspires with the traitor +in our own hearts to magnify the offense, and to suggest thoughts of +malice and revenge. We are denied some pleasure or indulgence that +others enjoy, and to which we think, perhaps, that we have a better +right than they, and we dwell upon the matter, magnifying the forbidden +pleasure or advantage till it becomes a dark fog, blotting out every +pleasant prospect and shutting us up in measureless discontent. + +I believe that invalids are particularly subject to this kind of +temptation. The horizon of the sick person is narrow at the best, and +a small cloud suffices to obscure it. Moreover, there are certain +disorders which seem of themselves particularly favorable to evil +thoughts. The patient is, or fancies himself, neglected or forgotten. +He is tempted to envy those better off than himself. He thinks of all +the good work he has done, and of all he might do, and he is tempted +to think hardly of the Master, who seems to have rejected his service. +These and still darker thoughts beset the daily couch and nightly +pillow of the invalid, till he feels as if Satan in bodily presence +were standing at his bedside. + +Now what is the remedy for this unhappy state of things? The first +thing to be done is to recognize these thoughts as sins. We are too +apt to excuse them to ourselves as mere infirmities, consequent on our +state of health. They may be so to some extent. All our sins are the +consequence of some temptation. So long as we constantly make excuses +for our faults, so long they will stay by us, and consider themselves +as welcome guests. Let us call them by their right names to begin +with, and, like the malicious dwarf in the fairy tale, they are half +conquered already. + +The next thing to be done with our evil thoughts is to crowd them out. +It has been said that Nature abhors a vacuum, but Satan loves one +because it gives him a place wherein to bestow his wares. Let us try to +so occupy our mind with good things that there shall be no room for the +bad ones. Let us fill our memories with good and pleasant things, that +we may from time to time take out our treasures, and refresh ourselves +with the sight of them. Christian found his inward enemies were +vanquished when he looked upon his broidered coat—that robe of Christ's +righteousness given him instead of his own rags; when he read in his +roll—that evidence of his salvation given to every humble believer in +God's word; and above all, when his thoughts waxed warm about the place +to which he was going. Try his method. + +Then, too, we must use the weapon put into our hands for this very +purpose—the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; and to +the end that we may have the full benefit thereof, we must accustom +ourselves to its use. We must store our memory with its promises, its +counsels and instructions. + +I once asked a venerable minister what book I should read in Lent. + +His answer was, "The Bible"; and he added, "I could wish that +Christians would put aside all other books during Lent, and read the +Bible alone." + +Without going so far as this, I would earnestly warn every one not to +let the Bible be crowded out by any book, however edifying. Do not be +content with merely reading, but study it. Learn by heart such passages +as are likely to be most useful, and so familiarize yourself with the +book as to be able to turn at once to anything you want. A sick-bed or +chamber is not the best place to begin this practice, but it is better +begun there than never. + +Above all, let us, like Christian in the shadow of death, betake +ourselves to the weapon called "all prayer." Let us make haste to +escape to Him who is our strong tower and house of defense. Let the +language of our hearts be that of the Psalmist: "Into thine hands I +commit my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." (Ps. +xxxi. 5.) So shall He defend us under His wings and we shall be safe +under His feathers; His faithfulness and truth shall be our shield and +buckler. (Ps. xci. 4.) + + Ps. xxxv. St. John xiv. + + + +_SECOND TUESDAY IN LENT._ + +_MEDITATION._ + +THE best remedies for evil thoughts are good thoughts. + +It is, I fear, a sorrowful truth that in these days of activity +and bustle, in the Church and out of it, the duty and privilege of +Christian meditation is in danger of being pushed into the background, +or forgotten altogether. We read a few verses in the Bible, morning and +evening. Perhaps we keep some religious book on our table, and read a +little every day. All this is very well as far as it goes. But how many +Christians ever sit down to think out anything for themselves? We may +"hear and read" the Bible, but unless we "mark, learn, and inwardly +digest" as well, our souls may be half-starved in presence of a royal +banquet. + +Meditation, that is to say, serious and connected thought on a given +subject, is not an easy task. But, as an excellent writer aptly asks, +"Who ever said any Christian duty was easy?" Meditation is always hard +at first. It is often difficult to those who have practiced it for +years: there is so much to be done, and so little time; there are so +many trials of temper and feeling in our daily life, whether that life +be passed out of doors or in the confinement of a sick-room. + +This is all true. And every one of these statements is a plea for the +practice I am advocating. There are so many distractions, that we all +need the quiet of that "little sanctuary" which God has promised to be +to His people in all lands. (Ezek. xi. 16.) There are so many trials of +temper and feeling, that we all need to claim the promise, "Thou shalt +hide them privily by Thy presence from the provoking of all men." (Ps. +xxxi. 20.) There is so much to be done, and so little time to do it in, +that we cannot afford to miss any help which our Master has put in our +way. As well might the tree planted by the river (Jer. xvii. 8) spend +all its strength in putting forth branches and leaves, and forget to +stretch out its roots to the pure cold waters which run at its foot. +Unless it does so stretch out its roots, it might as well grow like the +heath in the desert. + +"But I do not know where to begin," says someone; "I do not know what +to think about." This is surely a needless difficulty. Is not the deep, +unfailing well at hand, yea, under your hand? Have you no Bible? Let +us look for a moment at that priceless model of meditation, the cxix. +Psalm. What is the key-note of that psalm but the consideration of +God's Word? "I will meditate in Thy statutes." "Open mine eyes, that I +may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." "Teach me, O Lord, the way +of Thy statutes." And so on from beginning to end. It is the Word of +God which must be the text of our meditations. + +"But how shall I set about it?" + +You are perhaps a Sunday-school teacher or pupil. (You should, if +possible, be one or the other.) If so, you have the subject of your +meditation cut out for you in your next Sunday's lesson. I advise you +to begin by memorizing it. In that way you can carry it about with you +wherever you go. Then turn it over in your mind, verse by verse, yea, +word by word. Sift it as if you were hunting for diamonds. + +Say to yourself, "Do I understand the exact meaning of this word, or +that allusion? How shall I explain that point? How shall I frame a +question which shall make the pupil bring out the meaning for himself?" +And finally, "What does the lesson teach me?" For, be assured, +unless it does say something to you, you will never make it speak to +any one else. If there were more of this kind of preparation, the +superintendent would not so often be grieved by the sorrowful spectacle +of a teacher sitting idly before an idle class, because he or she "has +finished the lesson, and does not know what to say." + +Permit me to give a short example to illustrate my meaning. Take the +first verse of the second chapter of St. Matthew—a simple passage, and +very familiar. "Jesus was born in Bethlehem." Where is Bethlehem? What +do I know about its situation, its distance from Jerusalem, its history +and present condition? Was it the home of Jesus' parents? How did He +happen to be born there? Then come the momentous questions: Who was +this babe of Bethlehem? Why was He born? What is He to me? And so you +see, this simple historical verse lifts for you the veil of the Holy of +Holies, where you can but wonder and adore. + +The prayer-book, also, will furnish abundant subjects for thought. +Take the collect for the day; say, for example, the ninth Sunday after +Trinity, which has a direct bearing on this subject. Why is it so +important to have right thoughts? What is the relation between thinking +and doing? What passages of Scripture bearing on this point can I +remember? And so on through the whole collect. There is, perhaps, not a +prayer in the Church service which will not afford matter for a week's +meditation; and no one knows the wealth concealed in the prayer-book +who has not treated it in this way. Try it, and see if at the end of +the Lenten season the Church service does not say more to you than ever +it did before. + + Ps. cxix. 1-24. 2 Peter 1. + + NOTE.—The substance of this and the next chapter was printed in "Church +Work," some time ago. + + + +_THIRD WEDNESDAY IN LENT._ + +_MEDITATION—Continued._ + +"MEDITATION is all very well for people of leisure," says some one, +"but I am busy from morning till night. I have no time." + +To this I answer: "Are you quite sure you have no time? Let me ask you +to look back upon your day, and tell yourself honestly how much time +has been spent in melancholy musing, in useless regret, or worse than +useless foreboding; perhaps, in brooding over some real or fancied +injury or affront. Surely these hours would have been more pleasantly +and profitably spent in the way I have suggested. Just because you have +so much to do, you need the refreshment of the hidden spring—of the +pure water which flows from the Fountain of Life." + +"I am engaged in a great deal of Church and charitable work," says +another; "has it not been said that labor is prayer? And may it not +take the place of meditation as well?" + +Just as well, and no better. You might as well say that labor is +eating. It is a pretty and plausible saying, but it is not true. +Labor is not prayer, any more than it is food or sleep. No one needs +more the refreshment of the hidden spring than the person who is +engaged in mission or charitable work. There is so much to discourage +and dishearten, there are so many failures and disappointments and +mistakes, that the worker needs all the aid and comfort procurable not +to grow morbid and discouraged. + +"Yes, it is all very well for healthy people," says another, "but I am +an invalid." + +Just because you are an invalid do you need to learn the art of +governing your thoughts. No one is tempted more than an invalid to +the indulgence of those useless and harmful musings of which I have +spoken. Sharp and severe illness is an occupation in itself. But to +the chronic patient; able to be about a little, perhaps to do a little +light work, how long are the hours of the day! How much longer those of +the night! How fancy pictures to us the pleasures of the world which we +cannot enjoy! How often do Satan and our own corrupt hearts conspire +to suggest hard and unkind thoughts of friends and attendants, yea, +even of God Himself. How are our uneasy pillows haunted with the ghosts +of dead joys and hopes and plans, and still more dread phantoms of +sins and failures and fears for the future! I have been a bad sleeper +all my life, and in many an hour of wakefulness have I blessed the +old-fashioned Sunday-school method of "seven verses and a hymn," which +stored my mind with whole chapters of the Bible, and with the best +devotional poetry. I wish this old fashion could become a new fashion +again. I have never seen a better. + +"But there is such an abundance of good books!" + +True, but all the books in the world are worth very little to the +person who is content with merely reading them. We can think, moreover, +when we cannot read, and half an hour's earnest and prayerful +consideration of a chapter or verse of God's word will be of more value +than a dozen commentaries without such consideration. + +It is good always to begin and end our meditations with prayer. It is +good, too, at times, to turn our meditation into contemplation; in +simply making real to ourselves His presence who has said, "Lo, I am +with you alway." (St. Matt. xxviii. 20.) "If any man ... open the door, +I will come in ... and ... sup with him, and he with Me." (Rev. iii. +20.) + +Let me beg of all who read this chapter and who have never done so, to +make trial of its recommendations through the Lenten season. Do not be +discouraged, though you fail many times, though again and again you +find your thoughts wandering to the ends of the earth. Drive them back +to their appointed work every time. By and by you will find them less +inclined to stray. The hard task will become a pleasure, and you will +be amply rewarded for your pains when you find Divine truth growing +more and more clear and precious, when you find yourself better and +better able to turn away from painful and unprofitable thoughts, to +take refuge in the Lord's presence from the provoking of all men, and +to rest under the shadow of the Great Rock in the weary land. Then your +heart shall not be "like the heath in the desert, and shall not see +when good cometh," but rather "as a tree planted by the waters, and +that spreadeth out her roots by the river; and shall not see when heat +cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the +year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." (Jer. xvii. +6, 8.) + + Jer. xvii. Rev. iii. + + + +_THIRD THURSDAY IN LENT._ + +_PRAYER._ + +THE Christian is to pray without ceasing; that is, he is always to +be in the spirit of prayer. He is, by God's help, to strive to keep +himself in such a state that he can at any moment lift up his heart and +mind to his Heavenly Father, and that as much in the round of his daily +business as in his closet. He is to strive to carry about with him an +habitual sense of the presence of God, and of dependence upon Him for +all things. + +"Use lessens marvel," says the old proverb, and the saying is true. The +most surprising discoveries in science, the most wonderful applications +of these discoveries to the arts, cease to astonish us in a very +short time. There is nothing in the Arabian Nights which sounds more +incredible than that the movement of a wheel turned by a waterfall +should light up a great city. Yet every child has become used to the +electric light, and thinks no more marvel of it than his grandfather +did of a candle. + +So it is with prayer. Every child of a Christian mother is taught +to pray as soon as it can speak, and accepts without question the +instruction that prayer is talking to his Father in Heaven. He prays +God to bless his father, who is sailing on the sea, and his brother in +a distant city, and it seems no more wonderful to him than that the +street light should make a pretty picture on the wall of his nursery. +And yet what a wonder is prayer, when we come to consider it! All the +marvels of man's discovery and invention shrink into nothing before it. +I was once telling some little girls about the telephone and saying how +strange it seemed to talk with a friend twenty miles away. "Yes," said +one, "but we can talk to God without a wire." + +The great God who upholds the Universe in His hand, and orders all +things by His omnipotent power and wisdom, has his ear always open to +the appeal of his feeblest child. Not a sigh from a sick-bed, not a +prayer lisped at the mother's knee, not a cry from the deepest dungeon, +but is heard and marked by Him. From every place on earth, the way is +open to His throne. The mother who has a son in China can send him help +by this road. The poor widow in the almshouse can lighten the trials of +her lot; yea, though she have not a penny to give to the cause, she can +help the missionary in the farthest distant field by her prayers. When +we can do no more for our friends, we can commend them to the prayers +of the Church. Alas! We too often wait till we can do no more. + +I close this chapter with an extract from Professor Phelps's admirable +book, "The Still Hour." + +"In the vestibule of St. Peter's at Rome is a doorway which is walled +up, and marked with a cross. It is opened but four times in a century. +On Christmas eve, once in twenty-five years, the Pope approaches it in +princely state, with a retinue of cardinals in attendance, and begins +the demolition of the door by striking it three times with a silver +hammer. When the passage is opened, the multitude pass into the nave of +the cathedral and up to the altar by an avenue which the majority of +them never entered before, and never will enter thus again. + +"Imagine that the way to the Throne of Grace were like the Porta Santa, +inaccessible save once in a quarter of a century, on the twenty-fifth +of December, and then only with august solemnities, conducted by great +dignitaries in a distant city. Conceive that it were now ten years +since you or I, or any other sinner, had been 'permitted' to pray; +and that fifteen long years must drag themselves away before we could +venture to approach God; and that, at the most, we could not hope to +pray more than two or three times in a lifetime—with what solicitude +should we wait for the coming of that holy day! + +"We should lay our plans of life, select our homes, build our houses, +choose our professions, with reference to a pilgrimage in that +twenty-fifth year. We should reckon time by the opening of that sacred +door as by epochs. No other one thought would engross so much of our +lives, or kindle our sensibilities so exquisitely, as the thought of +prayer. It would be of more significance to us than the thought of +death is now. Fear would grow to horror at the thought of dying before +that Jubilee. + +"Yet on that great day, amidst an innumerable throng, within sight and +hearing of stately rites, what would prayer be to us? Who would value +it in the comparison of those still moments, that— + + "'Sacred silence of the mind,' + +"in which we can now find God every day and everywhere? That day would +be more like the day of Judgment to us than like the sweet minutes of +converse with our Father, which we may now have every hour. We should +appreciate this privilege of hourly prayer if it were once taken from +us." + + Ps. lxxvii. St. Luke xi. 1-14. + + + +_THIRD FRIDAY IN LENT._ + +_PRAYER._ + +WHAT is prayer? + +Prayer, in its primary sense, means simply asking. We find the word +constantly used in this sense in Scripture and elsewhere; as when +Elijah says to the widow woman of Zarephath, "Fetch me, I pray thee, +a little water." But prayer, as the word has come to be used in the +whole Church, has a much higher signification. It means speaking to +God. It means pouring out our hearts to Him—telling Him all our wants, +our wishes, our hindrances and temptations, our trials from without and +from within. It means asking not only for ourselves, but for others; +our families, our fellow church-members, our pupils, our country and +its rulers, yea, even our enemies. (S. Matt. v. 44.) + +There is no matter too great for it, and none too small. There is no +man so holy as not to need it to keep him good, and none so wicked that +he may not use it to make him better. The way of prayer is open to +every one. It is the open door set before every child of God, which no +man can shut. The Christian may be a slave, or a prisoner watched by +soldiers, beset by spies, loaded with fetters in the deepest dungeon on +earth. In the prisons of the Inquisition, the captive was condemned to +a perpetual silence. Not a word, not a groan, must escape his lips, on +pain of the gag. But his cruel and relentless jailers could not prevent +him from speaking to his God, nor could they prevent the unspoken words +from entering the ear for which they were intended. That was beyond +their power. + +The courts of earthly kings are places of resort for great people, +for the noble, the rich and beautiful of their subjects. The poor and +lowly have no room there. But the courts of the King of kings are as +free to the poorest laboring man and woman as to those to whose luxury +they minister; nay, it may well be that the slave will find entrance +and kind entertainment when his master is shut out. Nor is ignorance +or weakness of intellect a bar to acceptance. The broken language of +the poor negro, the lisping accents of the little child, are as musical +to the great Father of all as the hymns of the poet, or the highest +flights of the philosopher. He sees the heart, and it is the heart +which prays. + +What is requisite to acceptable prayer? + +First of all, faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, +and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Heb. xi. +6.) A moment's consideration makes this perfectly plain. We shall not +ask of any person a boon, unless we believe that the person exists, and +that we shall gain something by the application. We must ask in faith; +that is, in the belief that we are speaking to a kind Father, whose +heart is warm toward us, and who loves to do us good. + +Some good people believe that God will give us just what we ask for. +They will even tell us that, if we do not so receive, it is because we +do not ask in faith. I believe this to be a mischievous mistake. God +knows our necessities before we ask, and He also knows our ignorance +in asking. We do not always know whether the thing we ask is the best +thing. Our Father sees our lives "in the whole of our duration, whether +now or ever so many ages hence," as a distinguished author has it, and— + + "The All-wise is the All-loving too!" + +All things are in his power, and it costs Him no more to give one than +another. Every prayer reaches His ear and heart, and every one is +answered, but not always in the way we expect. Sometimes He gives us +something else than the thing we desire, as a tender mother gives her +child wholesome food at the same time that she withholds the coveted +but unwholesome dainty. Sometimes, too, like the same wise mother, He +answers, gently but firmly, "No!" But even when He says No, He does not +leave His child uncomforted. + +"I have learned by experience," says an aged saint of God, "that when +He refuses me anything, by and by He comforts me in Himself without it." + +We must pray with faith, and with resignation to God's will, but we +must also ask with perseverance. Our Lord gives us the warrant for +this in the parables of the importunate friend (St. Luke xi), and of +the unjust judge (St. Luke xviii). We are to "pray always, and not to +faint." (St. Luke xviii. 1.) We are to: "praying always with all prayer +and supplication." (Eph. vi. 18.) We are to "pray without ceasing." (1 +Thess. v. 17.) We must not be content with asking once or twice, but we +must keep asking again and again. Some blessing will come in answer to +persevering prayer, though it may not always be the one we seek. + +There is one blessing, and that the greatest, which we may always ask +in full confidence of receiving, and that is the gift of the Holy +Spirit. Our Lord tells us that earthly parents are not so ready to +give good gifts to their children, as His father and ours is to give +the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. (St. Luke xi. 13.) And this +very gift helps us to pray acceptably, for "the Spirit also helpeth +our infirmities," interceding for us with "groanings which cannot be +uttered." "And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of +the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to +the will of God." (Rom. viii. 26, 27.) + + Ps. xxv. St. Luke xi. 1-14. + + + +_THIRD SATURDAY IN LENT._ + +_INTERCESSION._ + +WE are not to be selfish in our prayers. Our Lord teaches us this +lesson in the very first words of the form of prayer which He Himself +has given us: "When ye pray, say, Our Father." + +Of course, if God is "our" Father, He is "your" Father and "mine" as +well. Nay, we must lay hold of this truth of God's individual care and +love for His children, before we can pray as we ought. But our Lord +would bring home to our minds that, as we are members of Christ, so +we are members one of another. We are sons and daughters of the great +King, and so brothers and sisters; and thence it follows that, as +members of one family, we have duties to perform toward each other. +It is the very definition of a member that it is part of an organism +fitted to perform certain offices for the good of the whole. We see, in +the human body, that the hand has one office, the eye another, and so +on. So it is in the body of Christ, which is His Church—each member has +his place and his duties. One of these duties is intercessory prayer. + +We have the commands of God in Holy Scripture for this matter, which +should of itself be enough for us: "I exhort therefore, that, first of +all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be +made for all men;... for this is good and acceptable in the sight of +God our Saviour." (1 Tim. ii. 1, 3.) St. Paul again and again asks the +prayers of those to whom his letters are addressed. "Brethren, pray +for us." (1 Thess. v. 25.) "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same +with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us" (Col. iv. 2, 3); and so +in other places. Our Lord Himself, our perfect pattern, sets us the +highest example of this kind of prayer, concluding His last discourse +to the twelve with that most wonderful intercession contained in the +seventeenth chapter of St. John. + +Following the example of her Head, the Church teaches us the same +lesson. We are taught to pray for our rulers, for the clergy, for all +sorts and conditions of men. The Litany is in a great measure made up +of intercessions. Also in the most solemn service of all—that of the +Holy Communion—we are taught to pray for the whole estate of Christ's +church militant. + +These reasons ought to be enough, if there were no others, to move us +to the duty of intercession. It hardly seems, indeed, as if we ought +to need a "command," however glad we may be of the encouragement. Is +it not a privilege as well as a duty to carry our friends' dangers +and needs and trials to the Mercy Seat? Is it not much to commend to +our Father's care our nearest and dearest, and to join our prayers to +theirs, thus obtaining the benefit of the promise that when two are +agreed on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done +for them? (St. Matt. xviii. 19.) + +We may help those by our prayers whom we can help in no other way. The +most obstinate sinner, the most rampant infidel, the most careless and +indifferent person in the world, cannot keep his friends from praying +for him. The son may disregard his mother's tears and counsels, but +her prayers will follow him in spite of himself. Nay, more, the very +consciousness that such prayers were following him has kept more than +one such wanderer from an irretrievable fall, and brought him back +to his mother's arms. Prayer girdles the earth more quickly than the +electric spark, and no one upon that earth is out of its reach. + +Those who can help the good works of the Church in no other way can do +so by prayer. The invalid in her room or on her bed, who is too weak +perhaps to hold a pen or a needle, can help the toiler in China or the +far West; can call down blessing from the Divine Treasury, and strength +and grace from the Fountain of all good, for the man or woman she has +never seen. The poor old black woman in the gallery of the church, +without a penny to call her own, can strengthen the hands and cheer the +heart of the eloquent missionary bishop who enters the pulpit to make +known to the people what God has wrought in a distant land. Surely such +a privilege is worth a great deal to the true child of God, who desires +with the whole heart the coming of her Lord and His kingdom, but yet +can do nothing, humanly speaking, to hasten it on. + +It is certain that we cannot honestly pray for people without wishing +to help them in other ways. The man whose prayers are a mere decent +form, or a sheer pretence and hypocrisy, may pray in general for the +cause of Christ in the world without raising his hand or denying +himself one indulgence for it, but not the man who prays in earnest, +"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." To +him, "Thy kingdom come" means also, "Let me help to bring it," and "Thy +will be done" means also, "Let me do it." It is said of St. Chrysostom, +that he kept a box on the stool where he was wont to kneel in prayer, +and with every petition for the poor he deposited a coin in the +treasury. + +Finally, praying for others helps us to pray for ourselves. When our +hearts seem dull and cold, and so heavy that we cannot raise them up to +heaven, an intercession will often lend them wings. We shall go back to +our own needs with renewed faith and hope, and find the burden removed +that held us down. + +Let us, then, be instant in prayer and supplication, not only for +ourselves, but for our friends and relatives, our pupils or teachers, +for our own parish and all its interests, for the Church at large, for +our country, and for all sorts and conditions of men. And let us not +be weary in so doing, till "they shall teach no more every man his +neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all +shall know Him, from the least of them even unto the greatest of them." +(Jer. xxxi. 34.) Yea, "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth +as the waters cover the sea." (Hab. ii. 14.) + + Is. lxii. 1 Tim. ii. + + + +_THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT._ + +_OUR ENEMIES._ + +IN the collect for the day we ask for defense against our enemies. +"Stretch out Thy right hand to be our defense against our enemies." The +right hand is the symbol both of power and skill. It is especially so +among Orientals, with whom it is reserved for all the nobler offices, +the left hand performing those which are more humble or unclean. We +find in the Psalms and the prophets, that the right hand of God is +usually spoken of as the especial seat of His power, as in Ps. cxviii. +16. "The right hand of the Lord hath the pre-eminence; the right hand +of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass." + +To the Christian the right hand of the Lord means even more than it did +to the Jew, for it is there that his Saviour is enthroned, and ever +remains, to make intercession for him. Saint Stephen was vouchsafed the +vision of his risen Lord, thus placed, no doubt, to strengthen him for +his coming trial, and there shall we all see him who are counted worthy +to attain to the first resurrection. + +"To think," said an aged saint to whom I had just been reading the +Bible, "to think that I shall see Jesus at the right hand of God! Oh, +if I might but once touch His hand!" + +The very thought lighted up her plain face with a smile which made it +beautiful. + +God is our defense. All the Scriptures are full of the thought, but +especially the Psalms. God will help the poor and needy, and will set +him at rest. (Ps. lxii. 6.) "The Lord is my stony rock, and my defense, +my Saviour, my God and my might, in whom I will trust; my buckler, the +horn also of my salvation, and my refuge." (Ps. xviii. 2.) "Though I +walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; +for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me." (Ps. xxiii. 4.) + +And so again and again we have our Heavenly Father's promise to defend +His children against all their enemies, both spiritual and temporal. +True, we must walk through the wilderness of this world, but we need +not walk alone. True, we walk in the midst of enemies, yet "they that +be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings vi. 16), +and if our eyes were opened, like those of the prophet's servant, we +should, like him, see the angel hosts sent for defense. We may, nay we +must, hunger and thirst, but the Lord will cause waters to break out in +the wilderness, and streams in the desert. (Isa. xxxv. 6.) We need be +afraid of none of its terrors. The light will break forth and the sun +will rise, and show the ground covered with manna for our refreshment. + +The thought of our God as a defense and shield should be a help and +comfort to those Christians who are troubled with fears. There are +those, especially among invalids, whose lives are made a burden to +themselves and others by needless fears. They are afraid of lightning, +of fire, of robbers, of they know not what. They feel as if every +thunderbolt had a special commission for them; as if every blast of +wind were a destroying angel. These fears are often merely nervous +symptoms, but even then they are very much under the control of the +patient. Let me say to such an one, Do but think, do but try to realize +to yourself the fact that the Lord's right hand is stretched out to be +your defense in all dangers—that He will defend thee under His wings, +and thou shalt be safe under His feathers. Consider that the darkness +is no darkness to Him, but the night is as clear as the day. (Ps. +cxxxix. 11.) + + "When first before the mercy-seat + Thou didst thine all to Him commit, + He gave thee warrant from that hour + To trust His mercy, love, and power." + +Are not these terrors, then, an affront to Him, as implying a distrust +in His plighted word? Dismiss them, then! Send them back to the +darkness where they belong, and let your motto be, "I will lay me down +in peace, and take my rest: for it is Thou, Lord, that makest me dwell +in safety." (Ps. iv. 8.) + + Ps. xci. St. John xiv. + + + +_THIRD MONDAY IN LENT._ + +_OUR ENEMIES._ + +WE have seen that the collect we are considering has its foundation, +like all the prayers that we learn at the knee of our mother, the +Church, in the promises of God's word, and are therefore sure to be +answered in some way. Observe, however, that it is nowhere said in +the Bible that we are not to meet with adversities. Nay, we are told +the express contrary. All His life long our Master endured hardship +and trouble; and the servant is not above his Master. "In the world +ye shall have tribulation," says our Lord to His apostles, but He +graciously adds: "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (St. +John xvi. 33.) + +What are those enemies which the Christian has to dread, and against +which he has special need to pray for deliverance? + +Here, again, our Lord leaves us in no doubt. "Fear not them which kill +the body, and are not able to kill the soul" (St. Matt. x. 28); and +again, "Fear not them that kill the body, and, after that, have no more +that they can do." (St. Luke xii. 4.) This shuts out all that class of +terrors of which I spoke in the last chapter. The cruelest murderer, +the most destructive storm or earthquake, the most noisome pestilence, +can only kill that which must die at any rate—which brought its +death-warrant with it when it came into the world. They cannot destroy +the real man or woman; nay, all their forces combined cannot deprive +him of the very least of those things which God hath prepared for them +that love Him (1 Cor. ii. 9); nor of one moment of that eternal life +which God hath given us in His Son. (1 John v. 11.) + +Clearly, then, the enemies we have to fear are those which assault and +hurt the soul, and which, unless steadfastly resisted, are able to make +our way dark and perilous, if not to deprive us of that inheritance +which has been prepared for us. It is they whom we are to combat +with all our force, and against whom we must specially ask our great +Defender to stretch out His right hand. Yet even here we must not show +ourselves coward and craven. We are soldiers of Christ. Let us never +forget that. Every battle is fought for Him, every victory is a victory +over His enemies as well as our own. He will never leave us to struggle +alone, but is always with us, though we cannot always perceive Him. Let +us, then, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, knowing +that His Father, who gave us to Him, is greater than all, and none is +able to pluck us out of His hand. (St. John x. 29.) + +Our spiritual enemies may all be classed under three heads—the world, +the flesh, and the devil. Against these we are to fight manfully and to +the death, never laying down our arms, never relaxing our vigilance, +and, even though apparently beaten for the time, never giving up, +till our Great Commander shall see our warfare accomplished, and call +us home. It is the Christian's paradox that there is no peace except +in war. If we give up the contest, we become slaves; and though our +conquerors give us all the goods they have to bestow in this life, they +do but treat us as cannibals treat their prisoners—fattening them, that +they may devour them at last. + + Hab. ii. St. Luke xii. + + + +_THIRD TUESDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE WORLD._ + +EVERY general strives to know all that he can about his enemy, his +nature and position, his powers and resources, and tries to foresee the +plans of that enemy's attack, that he may be able to meet and frustrate +them. Let us, then, inquire a little into the nature of those foes +which beset our homeward path, and which would, if they could, hinder +us from reaching the rest prepared for us in our Father's house. First +of all, what is meant by the world? + +The world means all that outside of ourselves which is alienated from +and opposed to God, which is governed by and devoted to the things +which are temporal, and ignores, if it does not hate, the things which +are eternal. It is very wise in its own eyes; yea, according to its own +canons, and from its own standpoint, wiser than the children of light. +It is dreadfully in earnest in the things which it pursues, though +those things may be of the most frivolous description. It gets into all +sorts of places, alas even into the Church itself, running here and +there for meat, and grudging if it be not satisfied, which, indeed, it +never is. It is a severe master to its votaries, exacting the hardest +and the most exclusive services and the most cruel sacrifices, and +rewarding them at last with husks and rags. + +The world puts on many disguises. To one it comes under the name of +business, demanding of its slave that he shall give up everything else +for the pursuit of money. It does not make this demand of every man +at the beginning, and in so many words. No, it is more cunning than +that. It tells him that it is his duty to provide for his family, not +only needful food and clothes and the means of education, but a fine +house in a fashionable quarter, and as many luxuries as his neighbor +possesses. It makes him press hard on those who labor for him, and +exact much work for little pay. It makes him rent tenements to men and +women which are not fit for pigs to live in, and grudge the smallest +outlay for the health and comfort of his tenants. It makes him plan and +scheme to add a few thousands more to his useless millions, by raising +the price of fuel and food to the poor man. By and by, the world has +done with him. He speculates a little too rashly, and his wealth goes +as it came. Or God says to him, "Thou fool! This night thy soul shall +be required of thee!" and he goes forth from the visible and unreal to +the invisible and real, a shivering, hungry, naked soul, homeless to +all eternity. And that world for which he has toiled and sacrificed +misses him as much as he missed the consumptive girl who breathed the +foul air of his factory till her young life was poisoned, and she +dropped at her machine, and went home to die. + +The world comes to a woman with a family of little ones, and bids her +leave these immortal pledges of God's love to servants, to learn their +very prayers from alien lips, and spend her nights in amusements, +and her days in planning for the nights. It exacts of her that she +shall risk her health and blunt her sense of delicacy by immodest and +insufficient clothing. It tell her that these things are necessary, a +debt that she owes to society, and whispers that she can make up for +all that needs an atonement, by putting on a sober dress and going to +church regularly in Lent, or by giving about the fiftieth part of what +her dress costs in charity. + +To another woman, the world comes in sober attire, with a housewifely +apron and a bunch of keys. It has another bait for this one, who +would not attend a ballet for the world, and looks with horror on a +game of cards. This woman's world is her house-keeping, and she can +see nothing else. She would feel herself disgraced forever, if her +neighbor put up more cans of fruit or gave more kinds of cake to her +company than herself. Talk to her of the sewing-school or the district +visiting society, and she will tell you of her anxieties about the +doing up of her lace curtains. Tell her of the needs of the heathen, +at home or abroad, she may listen politely, but her duty, she says, +is to her own family, and she cannot do anything to help you because +her dining-room chairs are quite out of fashion, and she must have new +ones. Ask her to see that her little daughter has her catechism learned +for Sunday-school, and she will tell you, as she sews the elaborate and +costly trimming on the child's dress, that she has no time. + +We are in bondage to the world so soon as we let the seen and temporal, +no matter in what shape it comes, blind us to the unseen and eternal. +We are in cruel bondage when we let the fear of what the world may +say about us lead us to do what we know to be inconsistent with our +baptismal vows and our loyalty to our Lord. We are slaves to the world +when we allow any of the things which live in time and perish with time +to possess our hearts to the exclusion of those things which belong to +eternity. It is true, that as long as we are on the earth, the things +of earth must claim much of our attention. Thank God! all these things +may be made holy by an honest intention. But we cannot serve God and +mammon, and he who tries to do so will in the end find himself deserted +of both, and left to himself, that worst of all fates, from which may +God in His mercy keep us all! + + Psalm lxxiii. St. Luke xvi. + + + +_FOURTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE FLESH._ + +WHO and what are the enemies that come to us under this name? + +All those pleasures and pursuits which appeal only or chiefly to our +senses; to our earthly and mortal natures; to that carnal mind which +St. Paul tells us is not, and by its very nature cannot be, subject to +the law of God. The enemies of the flesh are all the more dangerous +because they appear under the disguise of friends—of things harmless, +and even necessary, in themselves. They are like slaves, serving their +masters in deed, but with secret enmity, always watching their chance +to rebel, and the cruelest of tyrants when they gain the mastery. Just +because we cannot do without them, we need to guard against their abuse. + +How much money is wasted every year upon table luxuries, which the +consumers would be as well or better without! How many become such +slaves to certain articles of food and drink that they find it almost +impossible to do without these things, though they know, on the best +authority, that health is being injured by their use! How many are +vexed and put out of temper if their bodily comfort is invaded in the +smallest degree! More than once have I seen the comfort of a whole +table-full destroyed, and the meal rendered distasteful, by some one +person, who persisted in finding fault with everything set upon the +board. + +It may seem at first sight a singular statement, that invalids need +especially to maintain a strict watch over themselves in the matter of +indulgence in eating and drinking, but I believe it is true. There is +perhaps more excuse to be made for them than for most others, because +they are, perforce, obliged to think a good deal of the matter; but for +this very reason they need to guard themselves against dwelling too +much on it, and against harmful self-indulgence. I have seen invalids +keep themselves in a chronic state of discomfort, and consequent +fretfulness, by eating too much. And it is an odd circumstance, though +one well-known to doctors and nurses, that these very people are often +fully convinced that they eat little or nothing. + +Invalids are often led to injure themselves by an inordinate use of the +drugs and stimulants prescribed by physicians. They find the use of +such remedies followed by pleasant sensations, and take them many times +when they are not really needful; and are so made the opium drunkard, +the chloral drunkard, and not infrequently the whisky drunkard as well. +I use the word advisedly. The man who lives upon laudanum, the woman +who indulges in morphine or chloral, is just as much a drunkard as the +man or woman who gets tipsy in the corner saloon, and usually an even +more hopeless case. The whisky drunkard will often admit that he is +such; the opium drunkard never. + +The remedy for all these evils is to be found in one word—temperance. +"Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." +(1 Cor. ix. 25.) The word "temperance" has come to be used in such +a confined sense, that we are in danger of forgetting its larger +application. We are to be temperate in all things; that is, we are to +use them in such moderation as that they shall do us good instead of +harm, and to have the mastery over our appetites, so we shall command +them, and not they us. + +I have been speaking of such things as are in themselves harmless, +and even useful, but there are other temptations which come under the +head of "the flesh," and to which the word "temperate" does not apply, +because the soldier of Christ has no right to touch them at all. Such +are all those indulgences which tend to blunt the moral sense, and to +arouse bad thoughts and passions. These things often come to us under +very pretty disguises of art, literature, and the like. + +I have known a Christian read a vile book, hardly fit for a decent +kitchen fire, excusing himself on the ground of the beautiful style—as +if one should take poison because it was presented in a finely carved +bowl. Christian women go to see other women—young girls, as precious in +God's sight as their own daughters—exhibit themselves on the stage in +shamelessly indecent dresses and dances. Yes, and they come away and +express a virtuous horror of the poor creatures, who are not half as +bad as themselves, inasmuch as they are working hard for a living, and +not for idle amusement. A shamelessly wicked woman comes among us, and +people who profess and call themselves Christians go to see and applaud +her on the stage, because, forsooth, it is "an education in art." + +In all such matters there is but one rule for the Christian—"touch not, +taste not, handle not." Give the enemy no admission under any pretense, +however specious. Nobody was ever hurt by letting a doubtful pleasure +alone. Our carnal nature will in itself make us trouble enough without +any help. By God's grace we can keep it in subjection, but how can we +expect that grace, how dare we ask for it, if we run willfully into +temptation? + + Ps. xvii. 1 Cor. x. + + + +_FOURTH THURSDAY IN LENT._ + +_OUR GHOSTLY ENEMY._ + +IT seems rather the fashion, just now, to deny the existence of Satan +as a person at all. I suppose nothing could please him more than to +be so denied. "I don't believe in a personal devil," said a lady in a +Bible class; "I believe in a principle of evil." When asked to define +what she meant by a principle of evil, it appeared that she had no very +clear idea of the matter herself. The simple truth is that there is +as much proof of the personality of Satan as of the Holy Spirit, and +a believer in the Bible may as reasonably deny one as the other. Our +Lord always speaks of him as a living, thinking, active being, as in +St. John viii. 44, St. Matt. xiii. 19 and 39, and many other places. +Try substituting the words "principle of evil" in these passages, and +see what sense it will make. Satan is perhaps the most active member +of that famous old firm "the world, the flesh, and the devil," in +which indeed there are no silent partners. He is always ready to back +the others, and, what is still worse, he has a secret ally in every +heart, who, though crushed and kept under, is always trying to open +correspondence with its old friend. He does not come to us in hideous +disguise of hoof and horn, as the old painters have depicted him. None +but a fool would do that; and he is no fool as concerns the ends he +would compass. "The devil knows many things," says the Arab proverb, +"because he is very old." He knows how to put on many disguises, and +can on occasions transform himself into an angel of light. + +Pride and anger, envy, hatred, and malice, are usually the sins +specially attributed to Satan; but there is one class of sins which +are particularly his own. I refer to lying in all its branches, to +evil-speaking, slander, detraction, and the like. "When he speaketh +of a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of +it," says our Lord. (St. John viii. 44.) Slander is his business and +delight. He is "the accuser of our brethren" (Rev. xii. 10), and the +patron of them that do the like. + +This matter of evil-speaking is one that deserves grave consideration. +It is a common and crying evil. There are probably few—I wish I dared +say no—professing Christians who will deliberately invent a slander, +but how many are there who will repeat one without a thought, and +that of a fellow church-member, with whom they have perhaps knelt at +the Lord's table only the day before. Mrs. A. hears a tale of shame +concerning a young girl, which, if true, would be enough to blight +the young thing's character forever. She does not know if it be true +or false; perhaps she does not know the person by sight; but it is a +piece of news, and for the dear delight of telling a story she repeats +it—never, be it observed, without some slight addition, for few people +can repeat a thing exactly as they hear it. Mrs. A. does not think that +in so repeating a slander she is making herself responsible for it, +but such is the case, and God will hold her so if man does not. She +may think herself a very good woman at the very time that she is doing +Satan's dirtiest work for him. It is not necessary that slander should +always be put into direct words. An insinuation, a lifting of the hands +and eyes, nay, silence itself, may and often does say more than words. + +"A lie has a thousand legs, while the truth has but two," says the +Eastern proverb. No matter how often a false statement is repeated, +there is always some one to believe it and repeat it. Here is a +notable instance. Some one once said that "every sixpence given to the +heathen cost a dollar to send it." It is an utterly false statement, +and has been proved so a dozen times; yet it is constantly repeated, +and meets the missionary worker at every turn. "I have never cared to +have anything to do with Mrs. N., since she was found out taking goods +from G.'s store," said a person of one who was a fellow church-member. +"But that was entirely disproved," said I, indignantly; "it was shown +plainly that Mrs. N. simply took another parcel for her own—a mistake +anyone might make." "Oh well, I never heard that!" was the reply. "It +was an odd mistake, anyhow!" I suppose this story will be repeated to +Mrs. N.'s discredit for years to come, and not one in twenty who hears +it will hear the refutation. + +It is a safe rule never to repeat anything to the disadvantage of +another, unless absolutely necessary. The golden rule applies here as +everywhere, "Think, if you are tempted to retail a bit of personal +slander, how you would like it if the case were your own—if it were +yourself or your wife or daughter that was attacked." Think that every +fellow-Christian is a member of the Lord's body, and that in wounding +the members you wound also the Head. Another good rule is never to +repeat conversation. We all need the prayer, "Set a watch, O Lord, +before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips." (Ps. cxli. 3.) Finally, +since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh, +let us strive to keep our hearts and minds as become the temples of the +Holy Ghost, pure and clean, and admit no visitors therein but such as +are worthy of that greatest and most honored of all guests. + + Ps. cxli. St. James iii. + + + +_FOURTH FRIDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE GREAT TEMPTER._ + +"ONE thing I would not let slip: I took notice that poor Christian was +so confounded that he did not know his own voice; and thus I perceived +it. Just when he was come over against the mouth of the burning pit, +one of the wicked ones got behind him, and stepped up softly to him, +and whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him, which he +verily thought had proceeded from his own mind. This put Christian more +to it than anything that he met with before, even to think that he now +blasphemed Him that he loved before. Yet if he could have helped it, he +would not have done it; but he had not the discretion either to stop +his ears, or to know whence these blasphemies came." + +Does not this passage of Bunyan's describe the occasional experience +of many a Christian? We find ourselves assailed by doubts and fears, +by hard thoughts of our Father in Heaven, by wicked suggestions of +all sorts, till we are ready to despair of ourselves, and to think +ourselves hypocrites or castaways. + +How it is that Satan contrives to inject these evil suggestions, or why +he should be permitted to do so, I cannot tell, any more than I can +tell why evil should exist at all. It is a part of that great mystery +which may perhaps be explained in a future life, but certainly not +here. The practical question is, How are we to meet these assaults, and +what is the best way to repel them? + +An old writer has said that the best way to meet temptations is +to deal with them as one does with dogs which run out to bark at +passengers—walk straight on, and take no notice of them. This is, in +many cases, a good rule. Ignore the tempter altogether. Hold no parley +with him, but go straight on with whatever you are doing. He will grow +tired after a while, and let you alone. But if you must needs fight +him—and one cannot always escape the contest—be sure to use the weapons +your great Captain has put into your hands, and no other. Take the +shield of faith. Repel every doubt with an "I believe" and an "I know." +Be sure you are familiar with your sword, which is the Word of God. +Above all, never for one moment give up the contest. The Seneca Indians +have the correct theory on this subject. They hold that no evil spirit +or demon can hurt a man while he fights it, and does not give way to +fear; but that if he does so give way, it is all over with him. All the +powers of darkness combined cannot drag the weakest disciple from his +Saviour's arms so long as the will holds fast to its Lord. Remember +this, and show yourselves men. + +Remember, too, that there is a sure refuge always at hand, always +open, always strong to save. In old times, he who fled for refuge +to the altar of the church or temple was safe from his foe. So now, +that persecuted saint who takes refuge in the presence of God is in +"a little sanctuary." "In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His +tabernacle; yea, in the secret place of His dwelling shall He hide me." +(Ps. xxvii. 5.) "He shall defend thee under His wings, and thou shalt +be safe under His feathers." (Ps. xci. 4.) Safe in that sanctuary, and +hidden under those wings, we may bid defiance to Satan and all his +crew. The Lord shall fight for us, and we shall hold our peace. (Ex. +xiv. 14.) + +Let us, then, go boldly forward in the race set before us; watchful +indeed and wary, but trusting in the power and love of our Captain, who +knows our temptations and trials far better than we ourselves. "In that +He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that +are tempted." (Heb. ii. 18.) Let us cultivate sense of God's Presence. +Believe me, it is a thing to be cultivated. "If God be for us, who can +be against us?" His power is on our side so soon as our will is united +to His will by faith and an honest intention. + +Let us always remember, for our comfort, that temptations are not +sins, else would our Lord not have been without sin. It is only when +our wills consent to them that they become so. "You cannot keep those +birds from flying over your head," said John Wesley to a young disciple +who asked for counsel on this subject, "but you can keep them from +making nests in your hair.", But never, "never" play or trifle with +temptation. Never willfully put yourself in its way. When you do, you +give Satan an advantage of which he is not slow to avail himself. It is +a story told by some author of antiquity that the devil once entered +into a young Christian woman who was present at a show of gladiators. +Being summoned to leave her, he refused, declaring that he had found +her on his ground, and she was therefore his lawful prey. We may face +all the hosts of hell when our Lord's business makes it needful, and +we may be sure that in doing so we have the Lord on our side; but if +we cross willfully the line between right and wrong in the pursuit of +pleasure or business, we have no right to think that God's presence +will go with us there. Nay, we should be careful not to approach that +line too closely. In time of war, the safe place is not near the front, +and above all not on the neutral ground between the armies. There we +shall probably be treated as the enemy of both sides. Let our abiding +be on the everlasting hills of God's truth and law, where His sun +always shines, and where no foe can ever come. + + Ps. xci. 1 Peter v. + + + +_FOURTH SATURDAY IN LENT._ + +_HEARTINESS._ + +IN the collect which we have been considering, we find an old-fashioned +word which means a great deal. We ask God to look upon our "hearty" +desires. A hearty desire is one into which we put our whole heart. +There may be many things which we would like well enough to have for +our own. There are many wishes which we should be pleased to have +gratified. But, after all, we do not care enough about them to make any +special effort in the matter. But when we heartily desire a thing, we +work for it. We take every means to bring about the gratification of +our wish, and we do not easily give up and sit down contented without +it. + +It is so in religious matters. A careless or worldly man may have at +times an uneasy feeling that all is not right with him. He hears a +rousing sermon perhaps. Some friend or acquaintance dies suddenly, +and he wonders how he would fare if the same fate should overtake +himself. He thinks he really will take time to consider the matter at +some future day when he shall not be so busy. He even tries to pray a +little, though he does not know well how to set about it. But his heart +is not in the matter, and the impression soon passes away, leaving the +man in a worse case than before; for, be it observed, nothing hardens +the heart like a stifled conviction. + +It is to be feared that this half-heartedness is the true reason why so +many prayers are unanswered, and why so many professed disciples of our +Lord have so little comfort in their religion, and do so little credit +to their profession. They are half-hearted. They have no earnestness +in the matter, and would even think such earnestness out of place, and +fanatical. They can show and feel enough of enthusiasm on the subject +of a business enterprise, a game of baseball, a new fashion, a new +opera-singer; but speak to such an one of enthusiasm in religious +matters, and he will look at you in amazement, and think you a little +cracked. He professes to believe all the articles of the Christian +faith, and bows his head in the creed with all propriety—in church; but +talk to him of Heaven and Hell, of the love of God, and the judgments +of God as present realities, and you make him uncomfortable. He becomes +conscious of his own deficiencies, and the feeling is not agreeable. He +will get away as soon he can, and probably call you a Methodist behind +your back, if he does not do so to your face. + +This half-heartedness is a fatal hindrance to growth in grace. I fear +many pray for holy hearts, who would, after all, be sorry to have +them. A man prays for grace to cast away the works of darkness, but +there are, perhaps, certain works of darkness which are profitable in +a business point of view, and he has no desire to cast them away. A +woman asks that she may perceive and know what things she ought to do, +but she is conscious of certain duties half hidden in the background of +her mind and conscience, on which she does not care to be enlightened, +because the fulfilling of them would be inconvenient. She prays for +grace to withstand the world, but she does not really wish to withstand +it, because she loves some of its gifts, and does not mean to throw +them away. So people go on, trying to serve two masters, to please God +and themselves, and getting no real satisfaction from either. They +wonder what those mean who talk of the blessedness of service, of +communion with God, of comfort in affliction, and the like, and are +tempted to regard all such utterances either as fanaticism or pretence, +because there is nothing in their own experience to correspond with +them. + +Is it any wonder that such prayers are not answered, and that such +service is not blessed? Would you like it yourself in a child or +servant? Surely not. + +Let me beg of you, dear fellow-servant of our blessed Master, to +examine yourself in this matter, and see if you do not find therein the +reason why you have no more comfort in your religion; no more peace and +joy and readiness to work for Him who has wrought such great things +for us. Is the sign of the cross still on your forehead, or have the +kisses of the world worn it away? Do you really and truly "love" God as +you love your husband or children, if you have them? Are you ready to +sacrifice anything for Him? Suppose that He should offer to release you +at this moment from every sin, would you be willing to have Him do it? + +This whole-hearted service no doubt has its trials. Our Lord Himself +has told us that. "All that would live godly in Jesus Christ shall +suffer persecution." (2 Tim. iii. 12.) "If they have called the master +of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His +household?" (St. Matt. x. 25.) You cannot be faithful to the great +King without offending His enemies. You cannot really renounce the +world without angering the world. You may not have to meet with such +persecutions as the early disciples did, but you will probably be +called peculiar, affected, Methodistical. But fear nothing. You may, +and probably will, meet with even more serious assaults. Satan will +rage when he sees you in earnest, and try his best to bar your path, +or win you away from it. But again I say, never fear. The Lord is on +your side, and will stretch out His right hand to be your defense. +He will feed you with the hidden manna, and give you to drink of the +water of Life freely. You shall receive the mystical gift; the white +stone wherein is a name written, which no man knoweth saving he that +receiveth it. (Rev. ii. 17.) Passing through the valley of misery, you +shall use it for a well. The wilderness of this world shall blossom as +the rose, and the thorny road lead you surely to the city of the great +King. + + Isa. xii. Rev. ii. + + + +_FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT._ + +_REFRESHMENT._ + +MID-LENT Sunday is also called Refreshment Sunday—a very old name, +probably given with reference to the subject of the Gospel for the +day, which is the feeding of the five thousand on the lake of Galilee. +Dr. Gouldburn, in his invaluable book on the collects, has shown the +connection between the collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day, all of +which are full of matter for reflection. Let us for the present confine +our attention to the Gospel, and try, by reverent consideration, to +make real to ourselves this wonderful miracle of our Lord's, and see +what lesson it has for us. + +It had been a time of special activity for our Lord and His more +immediate followers. The apostles had just returned from their first +preaching mission. Two by two, they had passed through the lands of +Judah and Galilee, preaching the glad tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven, +healing the sick, restoring the deaf and blind, and casting out evil +spirits in the name of Jesus. I think of two homely, travel-stained +men arriving at nightfall, perhaps, in some lonely little village, and +asking the hospitality which was not at such a time likely to be denied +them. There is nothing about them to distinguish them from any common +wayfarers, as they partake of the plain fare set before them. But there +is a cloud over the faces of the hosts. The elder son, the prop of +their age, lies on a bed of sickness, and the physician has said that +there is no release for him save by death. The guests rise and go to +the bedside of the sufferer, who is perhaps hardly conscious of their +presence, and one of them takes him by the hand. + +"In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I bid thee arise and walk." + +In a moment the dull eyes brighten, the pale cheek flushes, the +helpless limbs feel new life, and the young man rises, and throws aside +the useless covering, a well man. The amazing news spreads from house +to house, and soon the whole village is gathered to hear and see these +wonderful strangers. A woman, weeping over her dead babe, hears the +news, and thinks— + +"Oh, had they but come before my child died!" + +Then a strange ray of hope darts into her mind. The strangers have +cured one as good as dead. May they perhaps waken the dead also? At all +events, it will do no harm to ask them. She wraps herself in her veil, +and goes forth bearing the little waxen corpse, and returns with her +child safe and smiling in her arms. + +Many such stories must the apostles have had to relate to their Master +on their return; some tales, possibly, of rejection and scorn from +those they would have blest. + +But their meeting was destined to be interrupted by sad tidings. The +disciples of John the Baptist had heard of the death of their leader, +slain by the wiles of a vile woman. They had been permitted by Herod to +pay the last sad duties to his body, and that done there was one thing +more remaining to them. They "went and told Jesus." Where could they +go, save to that wonderful Being to whom their own revered leader had +borne witness, and whose forerunner he had always called himself? We +are not told in what words He comforted them. But we know how He showed +His consideration for their weariness. "Come ye apart into a desert +place, and rest awhile." (S. Mark vi. 31.) + +I have often thought, if I were to preach an Ash Wednesday sermon, I +would choose these words for my text. It is the call which the Church +addresses to her children on that day: "Come!" she says. "Come from +the hurry of business, and the worse and more distracting hurry of +pleasure. Leave your cares behind you for a time. Let the world take +care of itself. It will do well enough without you, as it did before +you were born, and will do after you are dead. Come into a desert place +as yet unspoiled by man, and rest awhile." + +We are apt to think of a desert as a barren and sandy waste, destitute +of verdure or beauty; but this is not its usual meaning in the Bible. +It simply denotes an uncultivated tract, often used as pasture, and +covered with grass and flowers in the season. It was to such a place +as this that Jesus now retired with the disciples; to the narrow green +plain of El Batihah, as it is now called. It was a spot about six miles +from Capernaum by sea, surrounded by high hills, and quite uninhabited. +Here the weary band might hope for a season of quiet and refreshment. + +But they were destined to be disappointed. The boat, retarded probably +by contrary winds, seems to have made but slow progress, and when they +did at last arrive, they found the ground occupied by an eager crowd, +waiting for the healer, of whose powers they had already made proof. + +Here was a disappointment indeed! But our Lord shewed no irritation at +the failure of His plan. He "was moved with compassion toward them, +because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; and He began to teach +them many things" (St. John vi. 34), and He also healed their sick. + +Here is at once a practical lesson to be learned from our Lord's +conduct—I mean that of patience under interruption and disappointment. +We make a plan, for some good enterprise probably, and straightway that +plan becomes, as it were, something sacred in our eyes, and we are not +only grieved, but vexed, if anything happens to hinder us. We feel in +our secret souls, if we do not venture to say so, that we are hardly +treated, and we are ready to say, nay, perhaps we do say, that we will +never undertake any such thing again. + +In truth, there are interruptions which it is hard to bear with +patience; for instance, the way in which idle people take up the time +of busy people with the veriest trifles. + +Yet all these things are part of our life's trials, and must be met +in the right spirit, and turned to some account. In respect to our +plans, the right way, it seems to me, is to sit loosely to them, with a +reference in all things to a Will higher than ours. "If the Lord will, +we shall do this or that." (St. James iv. 15.) If He takes us away from +one piece of work, it may be because He has something better or more +important for us to do; or that His wisdom sees that this particular +work is better left undone. If your plan has been made with due regard +to His glory, depend upon it He will not suffer it to fail utterly. + +With regard to those interruptions from idle people of which I have +spoken, we may be able to turn even them to account. We may try to give +the conversation a serious and profitable turn. We may have a chance of +defending the absent or the calumniated, or of recommending some good +work. At worst we can let patience have her perfect work, and thus grow +more like that Master whom it is at once our most important work and +our dearest wish to imitate. + + Ex. xvii. St. John vi. 1-21. + + + +_FOURTH MONDAY IN LENT._ + +_REFRESHMENT SUNDAY—Continued._ + +ALL day long our Lord was engaged in teaching the people, and in +healing their sick. The fact that he did so teach this great multitude +of common people, and that they heard Him gladly, as we know they did +(St. Mark xii. 37), is surely a sufficient answer to those who talk +about the danger of giving the Scriptures to the unlearned. Meantime +the disciples no doubt were reposing as they shared in their Lord's +instructions, and witnessed His miracles. But as the afternoon of +that long spring day drew on to its close they began to be uneasy. +They looked abroad over the vast multitude thronging the plain, and +wondered how they were to be fed and lodged, "for divers of them came +from afar," and there were women and children among them, some of +whom, no doubt, had just been cured of severe illness. We can see them +consulting together with anxious faces, and many a troubled glance at +the Master, and at last they venture to remind Him of the lateness of +the hour, and the loneliness of the place where they were. "This is a +desert place and the time is far spent; send them away, that they may +buy food." (St. Mark vi. 36.) But the Lord had his own purposes to +fulfill, and he answered them tranquilly, "They need not depart; give +ye them to eat;" and then, as if their astonishment were not enough at +such a proposition under such circumstances, He turns to Philip with +the question, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" + +Philip must have been indeed amazed at the question. Buy bread for +that great crowd of people! True, there was a market not so very far +away, in the little city of Bethsaida Julius, but it might be doubtful +whether so small a place could furnish the requisite quantity of bread, +even if they had the means to pay for it. "Two hundred pennyworth is +not sufficient for them, that every one of them might take a little;" +and one of the number asks, "Shall we go and buy bread?" + +Andrew, whose natural disposition seems to have been of that helpful +sort which always moves the owner thereof to do something practical, +here makes a suggestion. While others had been talking he had been +investigating the resources at hand, and he now comes forward leading +a little boy, and announces the result of his inquiries. "There is a +lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fishes." (St. John +vi. 9.) With what amazed looks his fellow-disciples must have regarded +him! Only five loaves and two fishes! He himself was conscious of the +seeming absurdity, for he added immediately, "What are they among so +many?" What, indeed! Hardly enough for two, and here were thousands. + +But as the disciples regarded our Lord's face they must have been in +some measure reassured. There was no embarrassment or uncertainty to be +read there. He Himself knew what He would do, as His next words showed +them: "Make the men sit down." Here, at least, was a plain, practical +command, and cheerfully they hastened to obey. + +In all our perplexities and puzzles we can usually find something to do +at once, and that something leads to something else, till by degrees +the way is made plain before us. The old Saxon motto, "Do the next +thing," is the guide out of many a difficulty. "How are we ever to fill +this box?" said one of the officers of a certain missionary auxiliary; +"we have only money enough to buy half a dozen towels." "Very well, let +us buy the towels," was the answer; "by the time they are hemmed we +shall have more." And so it proved; and a better box never gladdened a +hard-working woman than was sent to that faithful teacher. + +A poor woman in England once gave a few shillings, the result of long +saving, to purchase some Bibles for the poor; and out of that gift +grew one of the great Bible societies which supply the Scriptures to +hundreds of thousands. A few serious words, kindly spoken to a wild +young man in a diligence, gave to the Moravian Church one of the most +successful missionaries that ever lived. Let us use what we have. It +may be not so much as the little lad brought in his basket, but the +Master will accept it and use it; whether it be to the feeding of one +or ten thousand does not signify, so it is to His service. Let us take +the first step in obedience to His command, and the next step will +be made plain. It may be but a short one, but it will be so much in +advance. Like the pilgrim in the valley of the shadow of death, when we +lift up our foot to go forward, we may not know where, or upon what we +may set it next; but be sure the solid ground will be there to meet it, +so long as we are in the way of the Celestial City. + + 1 Kings xvii. Acts xvii. 16. + + + +_FOURTH TUESDAY IN LENT._ + +_REFRESHMENT SUNDAY—Continued._ + +"NOW there was much grass in the place." So the men sat down in orderly +ranks or companies—an arrangement made by our Lord's own command, that +they might be the more easily waited upon. The word used by St. Mark +signifies parterres, or the orderly arrangement of the plants in a +vineyard or garden, and the assembly, dressed in the gay colors which +Orientals affect, must have looked somewhat like a great flower-garden. +Doubtless, all faces were eagerly turned toward our Lord, as the people +wondered what was coming next. The disciples gathered round their +Master, amazed, no doubt, but ready to obey His order, whatever it +might be and near Him, perhaps, stood the little lad who had brought +the provision, his eyes fixed on that face which ever had an attraction +for children. Jesus took in His hands the cakes of barley bread, "and +when He had given thanks, He brake them, and began to distribute them +to the disciples, and they to the people, and likewise of the fishes, +as much as they would." (St. John vi. 11.) The original words seem to +show that the provisions were multiplied in our Lord's hands. Here was +a sudden end of all their perplexities. Here was enough and to spare, +of palatable and wholesome food. + +It must have been with glad hearts, that the twelve, aided, no doubt, +by the disciples of John, passed around among the people bearing the +unexpected refreshment. Doubtless the multitude shared in their joy for +many of them were far from their homes; and the prospect of returning +hungry, or possibly of spending the night supperless in the open air, +could not have been very agreeable. It is no great wonder, perhaps, +that as they partook of His bounty, the old idea of making the Lord +a temporal ruler should have recurred to their minds. Surely one who +could so wonderfully provide for his followers would have no difficulty +in defying the power even of the Romans. It was long before the Lord's +immediate and trusted disciples realized the fact that His kingdom was +not of this world. + +But the people had eaten all they needed. What next? The next command +must also have somewhat surprised both the disciples and the people. +"Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost." Why this exact economy +on the part of one who could, as they had just seen, produce food at +will? However, the disciples obeyed without a question, and soon they +had filled twelve of the satchels, which all strict Jews carried when +on a journey (to protect their food from ceremonial uncleanness), with +the fragments which remained of the loaves and fishes. And now their +work was for the present finished. Jesus would be alone for a time; and +he dismissed His immediate followers to go to the other side of the +lake, while He Himself sent the multitude away. The disciples seemed to +have been somewhat unwilling to leave their Lord alone, but His will +was law, and they betook themselves to the boat which had brought them +hither. + +When the multitude had at last departed, doubtless with many a +lingering look behind, He who had so cheerfully given up His own +plan of rest and retirement for the sake of teaching and feeding +them, departed into a mountain to pray. At last He was alone; and +how grateful to His weary senses must have been the solemn quiet and +dewy freshness of that mountain solitude! How dear to His heart the +opportunity of holding undisturbed communion with His Father! Dear +tired mother or teacher, or busy housekeeper, are your senses also +weary and your nerves unstrung with perpetual din? Do you, too, long +for solitude and silence? Remember that the Lord has been before you +in this trial also. The most of His active life was passed in a crowd, +almost always careless and unsympathizing, often captious and hostile; +and His hours of devotion must be stolen from needed sleep. + + "Each pang from irritation, turmoil, din,—" + +is known to Him, and He will give needed help and relief. + +Our Lord gave thanks before He distributed the bread to the disciples. +This was an universal custom among the Jews, and the Lord has approved +it by His example. "He who enjoys anything without a blessing, robs +God," says the Talmud. Yet how many Christian families are there in +which grace before meat is never heard. It looks a little, indeed, as +if family religion, of any sort, were to become a thing of the past. +The father hastens to his business, and the children to their school, +without one word of recognition for the mercies of the night; without +a single petition for help and guidance through the day. The father +is, or should be, the priest of his own household, to offer up their +spiritual sacrifices; but how many never think of doing so! He should +be their instructor in divine things; but how many never open the +Bible with their children! The boys see their father busy till the +last stroke of the church bell with his Sunday papers; they see the +same papers or a novel taken up on his return. Is it any wonder that +they come to think religion a matter of secondary importance? Is it +any wonder that they think it fit only for women, since they see its +outward observance left wholly to them? Oh, how many thorns are these +negligent, indifferent Christian fathers and mothers cultivating for +their own pillows! It is true that a boy or girl may turn out badly, +however much pains has been taken with the religious training, because +in this world all must make the choice between good and evil for +themselves; but at least the careful, conscientious parent has not the +added bitter pang of thinking "my neglect, my selfish indulgence, has +made the child what he is." + +"Gather up the fragments," said our Lord. He could create at will +enough to feed five thousand, yet He would not have the remainder lost. +With what displeasure must He not look on the lavish wastefulness of +His children. Some man takes a good religious paper, or more than one. +Perhaps he finds time to glance at them, perhaps not. The expenditure +of a cent a week, or the sending of a child or servant, would carry +that paper to some poor man or woman—perhaps to some one shut up with +illness—who would be only too glad to read it. But no one thinks +of that, and what might give aid and comfort to God's afflicted or +hard-worked child goes to the ragman. The partly worn hose or flannel +garment share the same fate, when a little of the time given to some +useless bit of fancy work would make them fit to bestow on some poor +body, or to help out a hospital box. I knew a lady with a family of +sons. When their socks or underwear were thrown aside, she had them +carefully mended and put away in a special place; and many a poor +hard-working woman was helped out of Mrs. Z.'s "give-away drawer." We +have no right to waste, because all that we have, whether of time or +goods or talent, is not ours, but our Lord's. We are but His stewards, +and it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful. + + Prov. xxxi. St. Luke xiv. + + + +_FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT._ + +_COMFORT._ + +A CERTAIN writer has said that there is no more beautiful word in +the language than the word "comfort." Certainly there is none which +carries with it more meanings, or one which it is harder to define. +Rest from weariness, freedom from pain, security from danger, all +these are comprised in the word "comfort." But these are, after all, +but negative, and there is a positive side. The word often means +consolation. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort +you," is God's promise to His people. (Isa. lxvi. 13.) Think of a +little child waking in the dark, from some dream of terror. The +darkness is all around him, with its possibilities of danger. Who knows +what it may hide in those dark corners, behind those dimly seen, waving +curtains? He can feel no one near him. To his excited fancy it seems as +if he were alone in the universe, and he cries out in fear and anguish. +But in a moment a tender arm is laid over him, a warm kiss reassures +him, a well-known voice speaks his name, and he sinks to sleep again, +sure that no evil thing can harm him, because his mother is there to be +his defense. + +So it often is with the Christian. He walks in the midst of trouble. +Darkness is around and within. His purposes are broken off; his +plans even for his Master's service are frustrated, and, what seems +to make his trouble worst of all, he is hampered by indifference, +if not by open hostility on the part of fellow-Christians and +fellow-church-members. He says to himself, with David, "It is not +an enemy that hath done me this dishonor; but it was even thou, my +companion, my guide, and mine own familiar friend." He feels almost as +if His Lord Himself had forgotten him, and he is ready to sit down in +despair. + +But by and by a ray of light falls athwart the darkness. It is the hour +for his regular devotion, and he will not neglect it. His heart feels +cold and dead, if not absolutely rebellious, but at least he can obey, +and he takes up his Bible or his prayer-book, opens perhaps to the +thirty-seventh Psalm, or some other like it. + +He reads precious promises of help and protection, and deliverance +from trouble, such as these. "Commit thy way unto the Lord, and put +thy trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall make thy +righteousness as clear as the light and thy just dealing as the +noon-day." (Ps. xxxvii. 5.) He is made to see that he is but tasting +the edge, as it were, of that cup which his Master drained to the dregs +for him. He feels that God has not forsaken him, and he is by and by +able to say, "In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, +Thy comforts have refreshed my soul." The assurance comes to him that +the Lord will use all to His own glory and the good of His servant, and +he is content to tarry the Lord's leisure. + +Or take another case. The Christian is made aware that he has fallen +into sin. He has spoken unadvisedly with his lips perhaps, and fears +that his words may do great harm. He has given way to unjust or +excessive anger, or he has been led into some worldly compliance which +he now sees to have been wrong. Or, worse still, he has suddenly +awakened to the fact that he has for a long time been declining in +godliness, that he has been living for the world and not for his +Master. He has gone out of the way into By-path meadow, and the road, +which at first seemed to run close to the highway, has turned aside +till he has come at least within sight of the dwelling of Giant +Despair. Satan is not slow to take advantage of his fall. He tells the +sinner that it is plain to be seen that he never was a true disciple. +Could one who had really tasted of the grace of God so dishonor his +profession? Or if he were once a child of God, is it not as plain as +day that he is so no longer? Has he not come too far out of the way +ever to find his path back? Will he be received even if he should +return? Is this the return he has made to God for all his benefits, and +can such black ingratitude ever be forgiven? Such suggestions as these +drive the sinner almost to desperation. Almost, but not quite. His +very agony and distress teach him how precious was that Lord from whom +he has turned away, and he will not give him up without a struggle at +least. + +But he is not left to struggle alone. God has not forgotten His child, +though that child may for a time have forgotten Him. He may leave him, +or seem to leave him, to suffer for a time the penalty of his sins; +for as many as the Lord loves, He rebukes and chastises. But let the +sinner once accept the punishment of his iniquity (Lev. xxvi. 41); +let him acknowledge that he is justly punished for his offenses, as +says the collect for the day, and light begins to dawn on the night of +despair. He, too, opens his Bible, and he reads such words as these, +"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Isa. +i. 18) "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us +our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) +"Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." (St. John vi. +37.) And so he casts himself at the feet of his crucified Lord, humbly +bewailing his sinfulness, and asking pardon for the sake of that very +love that he has outraged and grieved. Humbly he believes his prayer is +accepted, trusting in God's unchanging promise, though he has for the +present no evidence in his own feelings that his sins are pardoned. By +and by the light grows clearer. He hears within a sweet voice, sweeter +than any music of earth, whisper such precious words as these: "I, +even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, +and will not remember thy sins." (Isa. xliii. 25.) Then the Sun of +righteousness riseth on His soul with healing in His wings, and it is +day. + + Ps. xxxii. St. John xvii. + + + +_FIFTH THURSDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE SOURCES OF COMFORT._ + +THE first source of comfort to the disciple in distress is his general +confidence in the goodness of his Lord. "Comfort them with a sense of +Thy goodness!" asks the collect for the sick and the afflicted in the +prayer-book; and there is not in that whole wonderful volume a sentence +more full of meaning. "My Father is all-wise, therefore He cannot make +a mistake; He is perfectly holy, therefore He cannot do an unjust +thing; He is perfect love, therefore He will never do a cruel thing; +and He sees and cares for me as much as if I were the only child for +whom He had to care." Thoughts like these come to the pilgrim, bowed +down by the burden and heat of the day; and they give him courage to +take up his load and struggle on toward that rest which remains for the +people of God—that mansion prepared for him, and whose roofs and towers +his faith sees above the clouds, gleaming in Heaven's own sunshine. To +souls like this it does indeed come to pass that, going through the +valley of misery, they use it for a well, and the pools are filled +with water. "Their light affliction, which is for a moment, worketh +for them a far more exceeding weight of glory," because "they look not +at the things which are seen, but at those things which are unseen and +eternal." (2 Cor. iv. 17.) + +The second source of comfort to the Christian which we shall consider +is the written word of God. "In the Lord's word will I comfort me." +(Ps. lvi. 10.) Here is the sure holding-ground for the anchor of faith. +Our feelings are the sport of every wind that blows, but the written +word remains, and remains ever the same. The stricken woman whose prop +and stay has been taken away, perhaps in a moment, and who knows not +where to turn for help, may read in that Word that God is the God of +the fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the widow. (Ps. lxviii. 5.) +The invalid, wearied out with the life-long pain, which has become +such an old story that people no longer think of asking about it, who +feels faith ready to fail, and courage to give way under the load, to +such an one comes the message, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my +strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. xii. 9.) The aged saint +bowed beneath the burden of years, perhaps with no child or near friend +to support his weakness and bear with his infirmities, prays, "Forsake +me not when I am gray-headed" (Ps. lxxi. 16), and the Word which +supplies the prayer answers it with a corresponding promise, "Even +to your old age I am He; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you." +(Is. xlvi. 4.) The repentant, all but despairing sinner, is told by +that very righteous and holy God whom he hath so grievously offended, +"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own +sake, and will not remember thy sins." (Is. xliv. 22.) And again, "The +blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John i. 7.) The +backslider reads, "I will heal their backslidings; I will love them +freely." (Hosea xiv. 4.) And to the child of God, striving in meekness +and faithfulness to follow in the steps of his Lord and Master, and to +do his commonplace, every task for Him, the words of cheer and strength +are not to be counted. + +The worship and ordinances of the Church are perennial springs of help +and cheer to the Christian. I appeal to your experience, faithful +fellow-disciples. How many times, when it has perhaps been a great +effort to go to church, has not the very stillness of the place fallen +like balm on your tired nerves, so that your few minutes of mental +prayer have made you able to realize that you are indeed in the +presence of Him who has said, "When two or three are gathered together, +there am I in the midst of them"! (Matt. xviii. 20.) How often has the +Psalter or the lesson contained the very words you needed! How often +has the sermon or address been just what you wanted, and the whole +service sent you home strengthened and cheerful to take up the burden +of the week or the day! Then there is the crown of all our services—the +Holy Communion. We "do not feel like going," perhaps. We have had but +little time for preparation. There has been much in the week to harass +and perplex us. Perhaps some slip or fall has clouded our experience, +and burdened our conscience. But we know our duty, and at least we can +obey. We carry our burden, whatever it may be, into the presence of the +symbols of our Lord's dying love; perhaps to the very altar rail; but +when we rise from our knees, we find we have left it there. + + Isa. lxv. 2 Cor. 1. + + + +_FIFTH FRIDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE GREAT CONSOLER._ + +"THE Comforter which is the Holy Ghost." The third Person of the +ever-blessed Trinity does not disdain to take the title and office of +our consoler, as well as that of our teacher and guide. He does not +disdain to enter the lowest dwelling which is open to receive Him, nor +to hold communion with the youngest and feeblest who seek His aid. It +is He who opens our heart to understand the Scriptures, who directs +us to the very word we need, who shows us, in some passage we have +read a hundred times, a new meaning which we never saw before. It is +He who inspires our prayers, and He, when our hearts are too burdened +for words, makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be +uttered. (Rom. viii. 26.) How are we to obtain the help of this Divine +Comforter? First, by asking for it. That is one of the prayers certain +to be answered, whatever is refused. "If ye, then, being evil, know how +to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly +Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him"! (St. Luke xi. 18.) +The very greatest gift of all is never refused to the poorest suppliant. + +Then, when we have invited our guest, we must make our house ready to +receive Him. We must open the door and be on the watch for Him. We must +remember, too, that He will never share a divided throne. If we are +entertaining any impure or unworthy guests—if we have set up any idols +there—if there is within any chamber of imagery where we pay secret +worship, as did the elders of Israel whom Ezekiel saw in his vision +(Ezek. viii. 7), the guests must be turned out, the idols overthrown, +the secret chamber opened to the light of God's day, before the Spirit +of purity will make our heart His shrine. He Himself will purify His +own temple if we consent thereto, but we must be willing, and we must +have no reserves from Him. + +Again, we must be willing to obey His godly motions, as the collect +has it, and that with a prompt and willing obedience. This is not +always easy or agreeable. One of His offices is to convince of sin, of +righteousness, and of judgment to come. He does not always prophecy +smooth things, by any means, nor does he always apply sweet balms. On +the contrary, He is a kind but stern surgeon, who wounds to heal, and +gives bitter tonics instead of soothing syrups. It is not altogether +pleasant to be told that some favorite habit is a sinful indulgence; +that some yielding to the customs of society is conformity to the +world; some laxity of doctrine, on which we have perhaps prided +ourselves as showing our liberality, is a cowardly surrender of +God's truth. Nevertheless must the Heavenly monitor be obeyed, and +that promptly. Otherwise His voice will grow fainter and fainter and +fainter, till it ceases to be heard at all. Nay, it is possible to +drive away the Heavenly visitor altogether, and then woe unto us. We +had better lose every earthly friend than to be forsaken of the Holy +Spirit. + +It is to be feared that many Christians do not realize as they ought +the blessed fact of the real literal indwelling of the Holy Ghost. +They read in the Bible such words as these: "He dwelleth with you, and +shall be in you." (St. John xiv. 17.) "We have received not the spirit +of the world, but the Spirit which is of God." (1 Cor. ii. 12.) They +feel as if it were a kind of presumption to take these promises to +themselves—as if the real presumption did not lie in doubting, instead +of believing God's word. They read such words as these: "The spirit +itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of +God." (Rom. viii. 16.) Yet they feel no assurance of their adoption, +but go through life, as it were, with a rope round their necks instead +of walking freely as God's children should, for "where the Spirit of +the Lord is, there is liberty." (1 Cor. iii. 17.) + +But some one says: "I should be only too glad to obtain this blessed +assurance of salvation, but I do not know how. What is the way?" The +way is as plain as are all God's ways in things of practical importance +to us. You have but to put out your hand and take what is freely +offered you. + +A vessel sailing to Brazil once saw a barque flying a signal of +distress, and bearing down on her, asked what was the matter. "For +God's sake, give us water! we have not had a drop for three days," was +the cry from the distressed vessel. The answer was instant. "Let down +your bucket and draw it up, man! You are in the mouth of the Amazon." +These poor creatures had been dying of thirst for three days, though +they were sailing on the greatest stream of fresh water in the world, +because they had lost their reckoning and did not know where they +were. So it too often is with the disciple. He walks in the midst of +unnumbered blessings. The stream of living water flows at his side; +the tree of Life grows beside it; yet he is hungry and thirsty, just +because he will not take the things which are freely offered of God. +"If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." (Isa. +vii. 9.) + + Ps. lxiii. Gal. v. + + + +_FIFTH SATURDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE USE OF COMFORT._ + +"SURELY there can be no question about that!" I hear some one say. + +"The use of comfort is to make people comfortable." That is one +use, no doubt, but not the only nor the principal one. It is to be +feared, however, that many sincerely devout people take this view of +the matter. In spiritual as in worldly matters we are prone to think +far too much of our own enjoyment. Some good people, indeed, measure +their spiritual condition by their enjoyment. If they are happy, they +think all is well with them. This is not always a safe test. We may be +glorying in a very mistaken estimate of our own spiritual condition, as +did the Corinthian Church, when St. Paul wrote them. "Your glorying is +not good." They were mightily puffed up in their own esteem, while they +were tolerating among them the vilest sins, such as even the idolatrous +Gentiles were ashamed of. (1 Cor. v. 1-8.) + +The use of comfort is to strengthen us for the work which God gives us +to do. "The God of all comfort comforteth us in all our tribulation," +writes St. Paul; and why? "That we may be able to comfort them which +are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted +of God." (2 Cor. i. 3, 4.) We are comforted that we may be able to +console others, just as we are taught in order that we may teach others. + +Dear fellow-sufferer, if in your sick-room your Lord has sent you a +blessing, cannot you contrive to send that blessing on to some other +sufferer? He has sent you, let us say, a cheering message by a book +or paper. Can you not pass it on to some one else? He has given you a +cheering thought. Can you not give a friend or attendant the benefit +of it? Some one brings you a pattern for embroidery or knitting. It +will do you all the more good if you use it to make a Christmas gift +for some other invalid who does not enjoy as many pretty things as +yourself. A lady of my acquaintance once received from a wealthy and +generous friend a box of very fine forced strawberries. She sent a +part of them to an old lady in a charitable institution, whose failing +appetite could hardly be tempted to take food at all. The sight of a +dish of strawberries in March was such a wonder that it led her to +eat quite a good meal; and a year afterwards she spoke with delight +of "those beautiful berries your mother sent me." I mention this as a +specimen of the way a kindness may be passed on. I believe that act of +thoughtful kindness prolonged for several years a useful life. + +There are those who carry an atmosphere of comfort with them wherever +they go. They may not be very brilliant or very accomplished, but every +one is glad to see them. They have something pleasant to say. Such a +person does not tell a rheumatic patient of her grandmother who was +unable to feed herself for years, or suggest to one suffering from a +surgical operation that people in such circumstances almost always go +into a decline. (I have known of these very things being done more than +once.) I once suffered for several months from the effects of a cat's +bite, and I suppose that more than half the people to whom the story +was told said, "I should think you would be afraid of hydrophobia!" +With a nervous or apprehensive person the effect might have been +serious. Oh how many heartaches and tears would be saved to invalids, +if those who visit them would try to think of something pleasant and +cheering to say! + +God sends us comfort, not that we may sit down and selfishly, enjoy it, +but that we may be strengthened for the work which is still before us, +whether that work be active doing, or patient suffering, or quietly +waiting on His will. Comfort is not an end, but a means, and it is much +more likely to last if we use it in this way, than if we sit idly down +to enjoy it. The Lord gives to all his children blessed seasons of rest +and enjoyment. As the twenty-third Psalm says, He makes them to lie +down in green pastures, and feedeth them by still waters. But He does +not always keep us there. He sets before them many a hill to climb, +many a dark valley to pass through, before we reach the land of Beulah, +and the Celestial city. But the Holy Ghost, which is the comforter, +will always abide with us, and we can truly say "In the multitude of +sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul." +(Ps. xciv. 19.) + + Ps. xxxvii. Heb. xii. + + + +_FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD._ + +IT has been said, and I think truly, that almost any government is +better than none. A good government is an unspeakable blessing—not +always appreciated, I fear, by those who have never lived under any +other. Think for a moment what it is to dwell under a rule where every +one's rights are safe; where no one can be punished, except openly, +and by due process of law; where every poor man's house is his castle; +where, amid the excitement of a hotly contested election, women and +children walk the streets in absolute safety: and then contrast this +state of things with one in which no man, great or small, feels himself +secure; where any man or woman may be torn from home and friends and +thrown into prison or sent into life-long exile, with no chance of +redress, and knowing that the nearest and dearest friends are utterly +ignorant of the fate of husband or wife, father or mother. It seems to +me a pity that those who complain so bitterly of the few abuses of a +good and free government, should not for a little while try the tender +mercies of a bad one. + +The best government, however, being as it is the work of man, is liable +to imperfection in its constitution, or abuse in its administration. +How happy, then, is he who lives under a ruler who can and will do +no wrong. Such a ruler is the Lord our Governor. The best of earthly +governments can only legislate for classes, and even beneficent laws +often bear hardly on individuals; but God's rule is that of a father, +who sees in each person not only a subject, but a child; who knows the +needs of each one better than himself, and who grudges His children no +innocent pleasure. Is it any wonder that the Church teaches us to pray +for the rule of such a sovereign as a blessing? + +In translating this collect from the Latin original, the reformers +have substituted the words "Thy people" for "Thy family," thinking, +probably, that the word corresponded better with the idea of +government. But, after all, a family needs a stable and just government +as much as a state, and it is as a family that the Lord rules his +people. The state lays down an inflexible rule, to which every citizen +is expected to conform; but a wise parent does not act in this way. She +studies the disposition of each child, and has a different system for +each one, corresponding to its temperament and needs. So it is with +God's government. To Him there are no "masses." He does not drive His +flock like a mercenary drover, but "He calleth His own sheep by name +and leadeth them out." (St. John x. 3.) He is to each one what He is +to no other. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden +manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name +written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." (Rev. ii. +17.) + +The state punishes offenses against the laws with rigid severity, and +very rightly. The security of the honest citizen demands such action. +But it has no thanks and no praise for the obedient and loyal subject. +He has but done what was expected of him. The loyal subject of God's +government, on the contrary, has the satisfaction of knowing that his +ruler sees his obedience, and is gratified with it. Like Enoch, he has +this testimony, that he has pleased God. God notes the first effort +of a little child as well as the crowning sacrifice of an Abraham, +and rewards the poor negro Sunday-school teacher, trying in imperfect +English to tell the little he knows about God and the Bible to some +one more ignorant than himself, as He does a St. Paul preaching to the +polished Athenians on Mars Hill. Surely there must be, to the believer, +wonderful joy and strength in the thought that what he does gives +pleas—to his Heavenly Father. + +There is no escaping from the government of God. A man who is +dissatisfied with the rule of the United States, or who by crime +or misdemeanor has brought himself within reach of its penalties, +may go and live somewhere else; but there is no getting out of this +universe, which God rules in every corner. Neither can he escape by +denying God's authority, or making light of His claims. The earthly +commonwealth admits no such excuse; much less the Heavenly. The man +may rebel furiously. He may wish that it were possible even to pull +down the great Ruler from His throne. It makes no difference. He has no +choice but to submit at last, but he "has" the choice as to whether his +submission shall be that of the criminal on his way to the scaffold, or +the glad obedience of the loving child who has full confidence in his +father's justice and love. + + Ps. xcvii. Phil. i. + + + +_FIFTH MONDAY IN LENT._ + +_CÆSAR'S HOUSEHOLD._ + +THE Lord's government, as we have seen, is that of a parent, in that +He legislates, not for masses, but for individuals; and His object, +in all that He does and leaves undone, is to make His children better +and in the long run happier. The views and plans of the wisest parent +are necessarily bounded by a very limited horizon, but the Lord sees +the lives of His children from their first beginning—not indeed to the +end, for there is no end, but to the farthest reach of eternity—and +He legislates for them in "the whole of their duration," as President +Edwards has it. It is perhaps for this reason, speaking with reverence, +that Christians often find themselves in about the last places they +themselves would have chosen as likely to conduce to growth in grace. +We are apt to fret at this, and to think we could do somewhere else. +We think if we could only attend such and such a church, or live in +some other place, or attend such and such classes, we could do so much +better; and, very possibly, we neglect the work that God has given us +for something which is not our work at all. + +There is a passage in the Epistle to the Philippians which at first +sight may appear to mean very little, but which seems to me very +suggestive. St. Paul, writing from his prison at Rome to the church at +Philippi, says, "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of +Cæsar's household." (Phil. iv. 22.) + +Surely this was a very strange place in which to look for saints—about +the last place, humanly speaking, in which we should be likely to find +them. The Cæsar was Nero—a name which has become a synonym for lust, +cruelty, and rampant folly of every kind; and his court was just what +we should expect the court of such an emperor to be. It was the very +central resort of informers, men and women practiced in every namable +and un-namable wickedness of that vile age. One would as soon have +looked for the bliss of Paradise in the foulest Pool of Dante's hell, +as for saints in such a household, especially when the profession of +the Christian faith involved no little danger to liberty and life. The +persecution of Christians had not at that time reached the height to +which it attained afterwards; nevertheless, every Christian was looked +upon with suspicion and contempt. Their great teacher and apostle was a +prisoner, chained night and day to a soldier who watched him, and his +imprisonment was more than likely to end in an ignominious death. Yet, +in spite of these opposing circumstances, there were saints in Cæsar's +household, and, it would seem, not a few. + +It seems to me that we may all learn a good lesson from this short +passage. We are so apt to lay our shortcomings to the account +of circumstances, which is, in fact, laying them at the door of +Providence. "If I were not so much engrossed in business," says John. +"If I had not so many family cares," says Jane, "I might do some Church +work." "There is no pleasure in going to church and Bible class here," +says another. "If I only lived in the city! We cannot expect to do +much in a place like this," I heard a Christian man say. "If we had a +first-class preacher and a good quartette choir we might do something." +As if the gift of the Holy Spirit depended on a fine preacher and a +fine choir! But we do more than this: we lay upon circumstances the +blame of our own heart sins. We should not be irritable and fretful, +only that there is so much to annoy us. We should not make unkind +remarks and tell scandalous stories about our neighbors, only that +every one does so; and so on to the end of the chapter. + +No Christian will deny, if asked the question out and out, that +his Father in Heaven has ordered, or at the least permitted, the +circumstances of his life. Say that we are placed in a country parish, +where there is little or no enthusiasm for any good cause, and where +most of the parishioners think they have done their duty nobly +when they have helped to keep their pastor on the outside verge of +starvation, instead of the inside. Well, He places us there because He +has work for us there—some work which no one could do so well as you or +I. Let us try to find out what that work is, and to do it faithfully. +We shall grow in grace ourselves, and no one can do that without +benefiting others. + +Or He has put one of His chosen ones in a place where he has no +Christian sympathy—perhaps among unbelievers and scoffers. Take +courage. Bad as they may be, they are probably saints themselves, +compared to the men and women with whom they of Cæsar's household were +brought in daily contact. You may have good work to do among them. +A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. When the Rev. Mr. Lowder +entered the district of St. Peter's, in the east of London, there were +not a dozen Christian men in the parish. He was hooted and pelted in +the street, and on one occasion a ring of his friends had to fight for +his life against a howling mob of ruffians. Every other house was a +house of ill-fame; when he died, after twenty-three years' service, +there was not one such to be found in the parish; and by the streets +where he had been stoned and all but murdered, he was carried to his +burial through throngs of weeping men and women, hundreds of whom +walked miles to see him laid in the grave. + +A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. But, then, the leaven must +be living and warm. Frozen yeast is no good, as every housewife knows. +"I got my father and mother to come to church last Sunday," said a +dear little child with sparkling eyes. "It was so nice!" He had been +laboring for that result for months. He would have been one of the +saints in Cæsar's household. And I have no doubt that those saints +found there, were of a pretty robust and earnest description. "They" +would hardly have stayed away from the gathering in St. Paul's cabin on +the first day of the week because they had not the latest fashion in +gown or sandal, or even to hear the court poet recite his ode, or to +learn the last news from Gaul or Britain. (2 Kings v.; 1 Peter ii.) + + A part of this chapter was printed in the "Kalendar." + + + +_FIFTH TUESDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD._ + + +AS has been noticed before, the reformers, in translating this collect +from the original Latin, saw fit to render the word that is to say, +household or family, by "people," thinking probably that the word +corresponded better to the idea of government. It is perhaps difficult +to see the aptness of the change, since, as has been observed, a family +certainly needs governing quite as much as a state. + +In three other places is the Church of God spoken of as a family. +In the collect for Good Friday we beseech God to behold "this His +family." In that for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany, we ask Him "to +keep His Church and household in His true religion;" and again, on the +twenty-second Sunday after Trinity, we beg Him to keep His household, +the Church, in continual godliness. The great Church catholic, then, is +to be thought of, not only as God's kingdom, but as His family. It is +under this latter aspect that I wish now to consider it. + +A family is not "a fortuitous concourse of atoms." It consists of +a number of members, either related by blood or united by a common +purpose. Now the very idea of a member is that of a part of some +organization differentiated or set apart for some office for which +it is specially fitted by structure or position, or both. The very +simplest living creature—the very germ cell from which the lowest +seaweed is produced—has its parts so distinguished, and the higher we +rise in the scale, the more striking are the differences. The family is +an organism, and it follows that every member of the same has his own +"vocation and ministry," which nobody can fulfill as well as himself. +"The Lord has chosen him." (1 Chron. xxviii. 10.) He has appointed his +place and set his task before him. Surely this is a great honor. + +The great trouble is that the member thus appointed does not see his +work, and he does not see it, for the most part, because he will not. +Perhaps he thinks his appointed task too humble. He thinks it beneath +his capacity. He is too often like a certain little girl who was set by +her mother to watch that the bread did not run over, but who thought it +would be much finer to run the sewing machine. The result may easily be +imagined. A woman who wished to undertake some Church work was invited +to begin by taking a class from the infant room. She declined, saying +that she would feel herself to be throwing away her time teaching such +ignorant little ones. She was allowed to try a class of grown-up girls. +She soon found out her mistake. She complained that the girls were +always asking questions and making remarks, and at last she threw up +the work in disgust, and there was the end of her aspirations after +Church work. If she could only have had something congenial, she said, +it would have been different. + +Another church-member was fired with enthusiasm on hearing an eloquent +missionary sermon. She only wished that she could go out to Africa. +That would, indeed, be worth while. But when it was suggested that she +might give of an abundant wardrobe to help fill a missionary box, she +rejected the idea with some tartness. She did not take so much pains +with her things, to give them to a common negro preacher's wife! + +There are several inconveniences resulting from this unwillingness or +inability of the members of God's family to recognize and do their own +work. One of them, and that not the least, is the loss to the member +himself—a loss of opportunities of usefulness, and of growth in grace. +The member which is never used in its appropriate office loses its +vigor, and often becomes paralyzed beyond recovery. We have all heard +of the East Indian devotees, who hold their hands above their heads +till they grow into that position, and cannot be taken down; and I +have somewhere read of a nun who never used her hands, but kept them +clasped in the attitude of prayer till the joints became useless. We +think such conduct a horrible misuse of God's gifts, and rightly; but +we should do well to examine ourselves, lest we fall into the same +error with respect to our spiritual faculties. But as a limb which has +been partly paralyzed by misuse or disuse may often be restored by care +and exercise, so no one need despair of regaining a good measure of +usefulness, however faulty they may have been in the past. + +Another trouble is that the uselessness of some members of the body +throws additional work on the others. Everyone knows that when the skin +refuses its office, the lungs and other bodily organs are overworked, +and often become diseased in consequence. Think, for a moment, what +would be the effect if the work of any ordinary parish were fairly +divided among those who were able to do their share, though that share +were ever so little. Suppose, for instance, that every woman who is +able should lay by two cents a week for the women's auxiliary, and +should devote one hour a week to working for it! Suppose that every man +capable of teaching a class of boys should next Sunday offer to do so! +Suppose every church-member who has not a valid excuse should be ready +to undertake any piece of work pointed out by the rector! A venerable +saint of God once remarked that there were in almost every church two +classes of willing members—a small class who were willing to do all the +work, and a large class who were willing they should. How would the +labors of the first class be lightened if the second class would awake +to their duty! + +Dear friends, let us examine ourselves whether we are doing our duty as +members of the Church, which is the Lord's body. Let us see whether we +have been shrinking or standing idly aside, and in the way of others, +as idle folk almost always are. And if we find, after honest inquiry, +that such has been the case, let us resolve that it shall be so no +more. Let us ask forgiveness for all that is past, and with humility +and docility strive hereafter, in the words of the catechism, "to do +our duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call us." + + Neh. iv. Rom. xii. + + + +_SIXTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.—Continued._ + +ONE of the principal duties of the members of the household or family +is loyalty—faithfulness to their head and to each other. The word +covers a great deal. So far as our Great Head is concerned, it means +obedience first of all—constant, unquestioning, cheerful obedience. +That, and that alone, is the true test of our love; as He Himself tells +us: "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that +loveth Me." "He that loveth Me not, keepeth not my sayings." (S. John +xiv. 21-24.) We are to obey, not when we feel like it, not when it is +easy, not alone when we are in the society of fellow-disciples, but at +all times, and in all places. Without such loyalty, no protestations +of affection, no outbursts of enthusiasm, no efforts of church or +missionary zeal, are of any value in the sight of our Master. + +We are "to keep and 'seek for' all the commandments of the Lord our +God." (1 Chron. xxviii. 8) We are to study His written Word diligently, +and not only so, but we are to watch carefully for indications +of His will in our everyday lives for occasions of obedience and +service. There is not one of us but can see, on looking back, a +hundred occasions of doing God service, which we have allowed to pass +unimproved simply from the want of watchfulness. The little events of +our daily lives are so many angel messengers bringing words from our +dear Head, but too often we do not see their lovely faces, because we +never look at them till they have passed us by. + +The path of obedience is not always made smooth and easy for us, any +more than it was for our Leader. The gate is strait, the path is +narrow, the hills are high, the waters deep. It was when the disciples +were crossing the lake in obedience to the Lord's command that they met +with the storm. It was when they were laboring in His cause that they +were to be scourged and stoned and slandered by the very people they +were trying to benefit. Our very carefulness and zeal for Him may lead +us into collision, yes, even with our fellow-servants. But what then? +The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. +He has never promised us an easy journey. It is much that He has placed +in our way many a living spring and many a flower and shady tree, and +that He shows us, from time to time, from His Delectable Mountains, a +view of that Celestial City which is to be our journey's end. + +We are to be loyal not in deed only, but in word as well; and, strange +as it may sound, I believe this latter kind of loyalty to be rather +more rare than the former. There are many disciples who will obey +the Master, often at a great sacrifice, who will never open their +lips for Him. They will hear His name lightly spoken of, His claims +derided or denied, and never open their mouths in His defense or to +assert their own faith in Him. They will believe Him to be the only +way of salvation, and yet never make one effort to bring to Him their +servants, their work-people, even their own children. An officer who +should behave in this way where the honor of his flag was concerned +would have the straps torn from his shoulders. We need not sound a +trumpet before us, nor make any parade of our own goodness; but we can, +and we ought always, to own our allegiance to Him, and to speak for +Him. And to the end that we may do this, we must take care to walk so +that our lives shall not contradict our words, and that we may speak +from our own experience. "We have seen Him!" is the argument which no +infidel can answer. + + Is. lviii. S. John xiv. + + + +_SIXTH THURSDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.—Continued._ + +THE members of a family or household owe a duty, not only to their +head, but to each other. They are bound in honor to help one another +when help is needed, to sustain each other in trials, and to bear each +other's burdens; and the honor of one is the honor of all, and the +shame of one is the shame of all. + +So it is in the Church, which is the household of God. We are members +of one body, and so of each other. If one member suffers, others suffer +with it; and not one can grow in spiritual grace and strength without +directly or indirectly benefiting others. If one member is poor or +afflicted in mind, body, or estate, his fellows are bound to help him. +If he be assailed with slander or detraction, the others are bound to +defend him; and so on to the end of the chapter. + +I suppose that no one—certainly no church-member—will deny that these +words are true in theory; there are many, thank God, to whom they are +true in practice. Would to God they were so to all! But, alas! to how +many are those with whom they worship on Sunday, with whom they kneel +at the chancel rail even, of no more real interest than the horses +they pass in the street. How many will sit next to a person in church +for years, and never exchange a greeting. How many actually look +down on their fellows who work for a living, or who are not of their +particular set! A woman has been known to object to the formation of a +church guild because "it would bring in everybody on an equal footing. +We would rather confine the thing to our own set." It is to be hoped +such extreme instances are rare; but that rector or church worker is +exceptionally happy who has never found his efforts for the good of the +parish hampered by such feelings and prejudices. + +Again, a woman in poor or even moderate circumstances will not go to +church herself, or send her children to Sunday-school, because she +cannot dress herself or them as well as somebody with twice her means. +She is always looking out for affronts, and resents every kindness and +attention as an attempt at patronage. + +Nor is this the worst. Members of the same church will not be content +with neglect or mere passive envy. They will actually try to injure +one another. It is a shame to have to say it, but it is true. A man or +woman will kneel at the altar with another, and partake the emblems of +their dying Saviour's love. They will do this, and then, before they +are fairly out of sight of the church door, will repeat a scandalous +story to that person's disadvantage—a story which they do not know +to be true, and which there would be no use in telling if it were. +Two communicants will quarrel, and keep up a grudge for years. I have +known a person leave her parish church and go to another because, as +she said, she could not go to the communion with such an one; as if +the Lord's body were divided into parishes! So the Lord is shamed and +wounded in the house of His friends, and the world says, ironically, +"See how these Christians love one another!" + +Oh, dear friends, fellow members of Christ, saved by the same infinite +love and pity, washed in the same atoning blood, ought these things +so to be? Are we not fasting for strife and debate when we pretend to +keep Lent? Have we not all one Father? Has not God created us? "Why do +we deal treacherously, every man against his brother?" (Mal. ii. 10.) +Can the eye say to the hand, "I have no need of thee!" or, again, the +head to the feet, "I have no need of you!" (1 Cor. xii. 21.) Can we +wonder that the world does not care for the Church, while it sees the +members of the church so indifferent, to say the least, to one another? +Oh, let this holy season see every grudge renounced, every feeling of +envy or pride put away, every quarrel made up! Let the blessed feast of +Easter see us working and praying and loving as one in our risen Lord! +So shall we be meet partakers of that Holy Table. So shall the power of +the Church for good be increased a thousand-fold, and the Lord pour out +a blessing till there shall be no room to receive it. + + Mal. ii. 1 Cor. xii. + + + +_SIXTH FRIDAY IN LENT._ + +_THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.—Continued._ + +WE must never forget that we are members of our Lord's great family, +wherever we may be. The earthly family tie is not broken by absence, +by distance, or even by death. The brother in California, the father +on the distant frontier, are the brother and father still, followed +by faithful prayers, by fond wishes, and remembered with tender tears +at every family anniversary. Even though the wanderer be a prodigal +as well, though it come to this, that his name is never heard, yet he +is not forgotten. His place is empty, and must remain so, because it +can be filled by none but himself. He may have forgotten his duty and +renounced his family name, but the tie of blood is still there, and he +cannot break it if he would. + +It is so in the Household of God. Once a member, always a member. We +may wander away, we may ignore our duties and forget our birthright; +like the prodigal, we may journey into a far country and waste our +substance—which is not ours, but our Father's—with riotous living; +but though rebellious, we are His children still. But not to speak of +that case at present, let us look a little at one or two others. You, +my friend, have not been to church in months, perhaps years. You are +shut up by illness or infirmity, and cannot go into the house of the +Lord. It is a great misfortune, no doubt; and yet it is not as bad +as it might be. You are not cut off from the Lord's family, nor even +from the services of the sanctuary. With your Bible and prayer-book +you can follow the Church services throughout the Christian year. Some +kind friend will keep you informed of the work that is going on in the +parish, and you may perhaps be able now and then to give it a little +help. Your church paper or missionary magazine will tell you the news +of the Church at large, and you can at least follow with your prayers +the good enterprises of which the time is so full. And if you cannot +go to the Holy Communion, your pastor will gladly bring it to you. It +is a wonder to me that invalids do not oftener avail themselves of +this great privilege. Many persons seem to think it a service reserved +for dying hours. "Has your sister had the Holy Communion since she was +sick?" was the question asked of an intelligent English woman. "Oh, +no!" was the answer, in a tone of surprise, "we do not think her in any +danger." It is to be feared that too many look on this ordinance as +a kind of magic rite, by which they are somehow to be bewitched into +Heaven at last, however they may have neglected it in their lifetime. + +To those who are by absence deprived of the services of our Church I +would say the same. Never allow yourself to forget your church ties, +any more than you would forget your family relations on account of +absence, but cherish them all the more. I would not have you stay away +from the public worship of your fellow-Christians, or refuse to help +them in their good works. On the contrary, I would have you assist them +in every possible way, and maintain the most friendly relations with +them. But never, never forget your own household of faith. If possible +let no Sunday or holy day pass without joining in her worship. Work for +her, pray for her, speak for her, at all proper times. How often has it +happened that one such faithful member has been the seed from which has +grown a vine bearing fruit unto eternal life! You cannot be deprived +of all church privileges so long as you have your prayer-book, and if +you use faithfully what you have, the Lord will send you others. Above +all things, never allow yourself to forget that you are a member of the +Lord's body. + +It is possible that this book may fall into the hands of some one who +has forgotten his birthright, who, like the Scripture prodigal, has +gone into a far country, and is trying to satisfy the hunger of his +soul with the husks of this world—with money or land, or low, vile +pleasures fit only for swine. To such an one let me say, your place in +your Father's house and heart and table is still open to you. No one +has taken it. No one ever will take it. It stands waiting for you, and +unless you come home to occupy it, it must stand forever empty. Oh, my +brother, my sister, remember that you are still God's child! You must +be so, you cannot help yourself. Rebellious you may be, disobedient, +ungrateful, lost to love, even to shame; you are still the child of +God. Even though you have never been baptized in His name. He created +you, and He has cared for you all these years. Return, then, to His +House and His love while there is yet time, lest at last the door +should be shut, and you be left to yourself, an orphan in the universe. + + Dan. iv. St. Luke xv. + + + +_SATURDAY BEFORE PALM SUNDAY._ + +_THE ALABASTER BOX._ + +THE selections of Holy Scripture set forth for the days of Holy Week +are so abundant and so important that any one who studies them as they +deserve will have little time for any other reading. * I propose, +therefore, merely to glance at some one event of each particular day, +following the chronology adopted by Dean Farrar. + + * For the same reason I have named no selections from the Bible. + +After the excitement which followed the raising of Lazarus, our Lord +withdrew from Jerusalem to a little city called Ephraim, on the edge +of the desert, where He seems to have spent some weeks in quiet and +restful retirement with His disciples. Six days before the Passover +He returned to the neighborhood of Jerusalem. He did not, however, +enter the city immediately, but betook Himself to the little village +of Bethany, the home of His chosen friends Mary and Martha, and their +brother Lazarus. It was at a supper made for their honored guest that +Mary's full heart overflowed in that offering which has made her name +sweet through all the ages, and on which her Lord bestowed the emphatic +commendation, "She hath done what she could." + +She hath done what she could! She gave her Lord the very best of all +that she possessed—the alabaster vase of precious perfume, costly as +gold; an article of luxury, even with the rich. Are we doing the same? +Do we give Him the best of our time, our means, our labors? Or do we, +like the covetous Jews rebuked by the prophet, offer Him only that +which no one else will thank us for? "Cursed be the deceiver who hath +in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt +thing." (Mal. i. xiii.) + +She hath done what she could! If she had been able to offer no more +than a bunch of sweet herbs gathered in the fields, we cannot doubt +that the offering would have been as acceptable to the Lord of earth +and sky as the costly ointment. He to whom belong the cattle upon a +thousand hills was as well pleased with the turtle doves—the sacrifice +of the very poorest—as with the oxen and sheep of the prince in Israel. +Let us never hesitate to give what we can because the gift is small. + +She hath done what she could! It was her love which made the offering +acceptable. She first gave herself (2 Cor. viii. 5), and the rest +followed, as a matter of course. Let us honestly offer and present to +the Lord ourselves, our souls and bodies, our powers, our very weakness +and hindrances, and having done so, let us, as some old divine says, +"keep ourselves on the altar," taking back nothing of all that we have +given. The altar shall sanctify the gift, and make it as worthy of our +Lord's acceptance as was Mary's box of precious perfume. + + + +_PALM SUNDAY._ + +_CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE._ + +THE great event of the day was over. The Lord had come to Jerusalem, +fulfilling the words of the prophet. His had been a triumphal entry, +and for a little time it seemed, indeed, as if the world had gone +after Him. Only He Himself knew how evanescent would be the feeling in +his favor. Only He knew that some of the very tongues which had cried +"Hosanna!" would in no long time be as ready to cry, "Crucify Him!" + +But there were other voices—innocent voices—to which the Lord could +listen with delight. The little children in the temple, who had +followed Him thither with their parents—possibly also those employed in +the musical service—continued to repeat the shouts of the multitudes +on the Mount of Olives, and the spacious courts resounded with their +shrill hosannas. His enemies were all the more enraged, and would have +silenced them, but the Lord refused, and justified their action. "Yea, +have ye never heard, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast +perfected praise"? + +Nowadays the children's place in the temple is too often vacant. One +sees but seldom what was once the most common of Sunday sights—the +long, orderly rows of children, big and little, filling the pews on +Sunday. I cannot recollect when I first went to church, but I well +remember what a deprivation it was to be kept at home. If the morning +service was thought too long for the very little ones, they were taken +in the afternoon. But the afternoon service has been turned into the +evening, when the children cannot come out (it being considered by +careful mothers much more dangerous to take them to church than to +dancing-school); and at the morning service the clergyman may look over +twenty pews and not see half a dozen children. + +Surely this is not right. Surely the praises of the little ones are as +acceptable now as they were on the first Palm Sunday. Children soon +learn to understand and join in the service. I shall never forget +being, many years ago, in a church where the responses were made so +faintly that one might think the worshippers were afraid some one would +hear them. All at once, in the midst of that cold, dying murmur, arose +distinct and clear the voice of a little child saying in devoutest +accents, "Good Lord, deliver us." All through the Litany the sweet +little tones were heard, and it was curious to hear how others near him +found courage to open their mouths. + +Dear friends, let us take the children to church. Let us not deprive +them of their birthright. Their place is in the Sanctuary as well as +ours, and they will soon learn to consider worship a privilege. They +will learn to love God's house when they are young, and when they are +old they will not depart from it. + + + +_MONDAY BEFORE EASTER._ + +_THE FIG-TREE HAVING LEAVES._ + +THE Lord had, as usual, gone out of the city to spend the night. He +seems to have had no love for cities in general. He spent the dark +hours either at Bethany, or, as is very probable, He had slept with His +disciples in the open air, under the trees of the Mount of Olives. All +Orientals are rather fond of sleeping out of doors, and a night on the +grass, wrapped in their big mantles, is, to them, no hardship at all. +But returning to Jerusalem early in the morning, He was an-hungered; +and seeing a fig-tree having leaves, He came to it, if possibly He +might find fruit thereon. + +The time of figs—the general harvest—had not yet come. But this +particular tree had put on its summer dress of leaves; and therefore +it was reasonable to expect that it should also bear fruit, since the +fruit of the fig-tree always precedes the leaf. Our Lord might have +expected to find some of the small green figs which there often come +to perfection in April or May. * But the tree was barren. It had not +even remaining any of the large purple fruit which hangs on till the +next season. It was barren now; it had been barren the year before. And +so the Lord pronounced its condemnation. "Let no fruit grow on thee +henceforth forever." + + * NOTE.—Thomson, author of "The Land and the Book" (which ought to +be in every Sunday-school library as a book of reference), speaks of +eating the little sweet green figs as early as April. + +Is there a possibility that one of us who have followed the Church +services all through this holy season may be, after all, like this +fig-tree? It is possible that we may be like the empty vine described +by the prophet—empty because it brought forth fruit only to itself? +(Hos. x. 1.) Oh, let us look to it, lest our Lord, seeking for fruit +and finding none, may pronounce against us also the awful sentence, "No +fruit grow on thee henceforth forever." + + + +_TUESDAY BEFORE EASTER._ + +_THE HOUSE LEFT DESOLATE._ + +OUR Lord had visited the temple for the last time. He had silenced all +his enemies; He had frustrated all their deep-laid plans to entangle +Him in His own words. He had poured out on the Scribes and Pharisees +those terrible denunciations which filled up the cup of their spite +and fury to overflowing. Then looking about Him, doubtless, at the +magnificent building, and the still great and prosperous city with +its crowded inhabitants, His heart of love and pity overflowed once +more, as it had done at the time of His triumphal entry. "O Jerusalem, +Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are +sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, +as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." And +then came the saddest words of all. "Behold, your house is left unto +you, desolate." + +Our Lord never entered the temple again. It stood in its majesty +for many a year, untouched by any outward enemy, throwing back the +sunbeams, a "pile of gold and snow." Yet was it as surely a ruin as +when the fire that devoured it was quenched in the blood of priests and +worshippers. For the Lord had departed and all the splendor was but an +empty show. The house was left, but it was desolate. + +Probably none of those who crowded to hear the Lord's last words, +realized that they were the last. He had been going in and out among +them for three years. They had become, as it were, used to seeing +His miracles and hearing His teachings, and there seemed no special +reason why these miracles and teachings should not go on indefinitely. +Probably very few, except His bitterest enemies, had made up their +minds absolutely to reject Him. There was time enough, they thought. + +But they were awfully mistaken. There was no more time. The clock had +struck, though they had not heard it. The Lord, whom they had pretended +to seek, had come to His temple, but the rulers there would have none +of Him. And so they were left to themselves, to fill up the measure of +their iniquities, and to be filled in turn with their own devices in a +manner more awful than the world has ever seen. + +To every man and woman on earth there is coming a last time—a last +Lent, a last Easter, a last Sunday, a last chance. "God had appointed +a day." We know not what day, nor when it is to come, but being +appointed, it is constantly drawing nearer and nearer. And when once +the Master of the house has risen, and has shut to the door, it will +not be opened again. God grant that at that awful time, none of us who +have walked on together through this holy season, may be left outside +that door to knock in vain! + + + +_WEDNESDAY BEFORE EASTER._ + +_THE LOST OPPORTUNITIES._ + +WE may think of this day with tender interest as our Lord's last quiet +day upon earth. He seems to have spent it in retirement with His +disciples, probably among the groves of that Mount which He loved so +well; not yet invaded by the foot of treachery and violence, but lying +sweet and calm and beautiful with the tender tints of spring. Here He +told His friends of the terrible fate which was even then threatening +that temple, to whose beauty and strength they had so lately directed +His attention, and of that still more awful event, also inevitable, but +the date whereof was still hidden in the councils of God. At this time, +too, He spoke the parables of the wise and foolish virgins, and of the +talents, and gave the description of the last Judgment contained in the +same chapter. + +It is on one feature of the narration in this chapter that I would +dwell for a few minutes. The most startling and significant thing about +them all has always seemed to me this: that in every case the persons +condemned were so condemned not for what they did, but for what they +did not do. The foolish virgins made no bad use of their lamps. They +did not willfully waste their oil for their own pleasure. They simply +neglected to provide it when they might have done so. When the time +came that the lamps were needed they hastened to supply the deficiency, +but it was then too late. They that were ready had gone in to the +marriage, and the door was shut. + +So it was with the slothful servant with his one talent. He made +no ill use of it. We do not hear that he drank or gambled. He was +slothful—perhaps cowardly as well. So he hid his Lord's money, and +was judged accordingly. The man with one talent is perhaps specially +exposed to this temptation. He can do but little in comparison to +others, and so he will do nothing. But if his sentence was so severe, +what shall be that of him who, having ten talents given him to serve +his master withal, lets them lie unimproved, or uses them for his own +and others' destruction. + +Again, in the story of judgment, with which the chapter concludes, +those who were sent away to the place prepared, not for them, but +for the devil and his angels, were condemned, not because they had +ill-treated or robbed any one, but because having the opportunity to +succor the Lord in the persons of His poor, they had not done so. + +Do not these stories contain an awful warning? How many say, if not +openly, yet to themselves, "At least, if I do no good, I do no great +harm." But, let us not be deceived. The not doing good is of itself a +sin, and as a sin it will surely be visited. + + + +_THURSDAY BEFORE EASTER._ + +_THE TRAITOR._ + +"WHEN evening was come, He sat down with the twelve" to the meal +already prepared by the two disciples whom He had sent in the morning +for that purpose. We cannot tell what were the thoughts that then +occupied His mind, any further than the Holy Spirit had revealed them +to us, but, so far, we without presumption humbly try to enter into +them. He knew, though His disciples did not, that his enemies were +awake, and already planning His destruction, and that one of His chosen +companions, who was breaking bread with Him, would betray Him into +their hands. He saw all the weakness and folly of those companions, +even then disputing who should be greatest; He foresaw their cowardly +desertion and flight. His soul was sorrowful, even unto death; yet we +hear no words of impatience; only solemn warnings and tender counsels. + +There was one of the number to whom every look should have been a +reproach, every word a sting. He had sold his Lord already, and was +only biding his time to consummate the bargain; yet he could sit there +at the board, could take the bread from that Master's own hand, could +even ask with the others, "Is it I?" + +Did his conscience even then torment him? Probably not. He had hardened +it too long. Says a well-known writer: "Remorse may disturb the slumber +of a man who is dabbling with his first experiences of wrong; and when +the pleasure has been tasted and is gone, and nothing is left of the +crime but the ruin it has wrought, then, too, the furies take their +seats upon the midnight pillow. But the meridian of evil is for the +most part left unvexed, and when a man has chosen his road he is left +alone to follow it to the end." Judas had chosen his road. He had sold +his Master for a paltry sum of money, and probably pleased himself with +the thoughts of farther advantages which would be certain to follow +such a service to the rulers. The world had hidden all else from his +eyes, and if he now and then had a misgiving, he doubtless stifled it +with the thought that the Master who had so often escaped the hands of +his enemies would easily do so again. He would have the money and the +credit, and there would be no great harm done after all. + +Is there any danger now, that Judas may be found at the Lord's table? +Is there any danger that we may betray our Master for gold, for +fashion, or for worldly advantage? Do we ever, for the sake of being +thought liberal or intellectual, side with His open or covert enemies? + +Let us beware! It was an awful distinction which our merciful and +compassionate Lord gave to Judas. There was pardon for those who +forsook Him for fear, for Peter who denied, for Paul who persecuted. It +was only Judas who sold Him, of whom it was said, "It were better for +that man that he had never been born!" + + + +_GOOD FRIDAY._ + +_THE CROSS._ + +THERE seems to be no room on this day for human words. What we have to +do is to follow our suffering Lord step by step through the events of +the day; to see Him led from the high priest to Pilate, from Pilate to +Herod, and back to Pilate again; to see the cowardly Roman governor, +acting against his own sense of law and justice for fear of the mob, +seeking to save the innocent by a compromise, which failed, as such +compromises always do, and at last giving way and delivering the victim +into the hands of his enemies, to find, after all, that he had gained +nothing but infamy by the surrender of honor and conscience. Let us, +with the daughters of Jerusalem, follow the sad procession to Calvary. +Let us see the Saviour of the world fainting under His burden, yet +forgetting His own pain to address to the wailing women a word of +recognition and warning. Let us see Him refusing the narcotic provided +by merciful hands to deaden the agonies of the sufferers. + +Let us, with His mother and the other faithful women, watch by His +cross to the end. Surely we can do this for Him who has done so much +for us. + +And as we keep our sorrowful yet joyful watch, let us always remember +that we have our part in that awful sacrifice; that "our" sins made a +part of that crushing burden; that our sins sharpened the nails and +embittered the cup. Let us say again and again, as we watch the shadow +darkening on the Saviour's brow, that shadow which never anywhere falls +but once, "He died for me!" + +He died for you, oh timid, doubting, desponding soul. How, then, can +you distrust your Father's love, who suffered His well-beloved Son +to bear all this for your sake? He died for you, oh weak and weary +sufferer, and He who so bore His own cross will help you to bear yours. +Oh, thoughtless or careless sinner, or hardened man of the world; oh, +blasphemer or denier! He died for you that you might live for Him. Let +it not be in vain that He has so died! + + + +_EASTER EVEN._ + +_THE LAST SABBATH._ + +THE agony was over at last. Joseph and Nicodemus, openly taking sides +with the disciples of Jesus in this their darkest hour, had begged the +Lord's body, and with all the tenderness and reverence which the time +admitted, had laid it safely away in the garden tomb. The faithful +women who had watched by the cross saw where the body of their Lord +was laid, and sadly returned home. There was no more that they could +do. Yes, one thing more. They prepared spices and ointments, and then, +anxious as they were to complete the last service they could show, they +rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. If they could do +no more, they could obey that law which He Himself had said should not +pass away till all was fulfilled. + +They rested the Sabbath day. A sorrowful day, no doubt, yet not perhaps +without its gleams of comfort. He whom they trusted was to redeem +Israel was gone, dead by a shameful and cruel death. After all His +faithful teaching for three years among them, after all His miracles, +after that triumphal entry of only a week before, He was dead. And yet, +as they who had followed Him so faithfully, talked over the events of +their Lord's life, and recalled His words, it seems as if they must +have remembered those mysterious words of His about rising again. How +many had He not recalled from death? Had He not brought Lazarus back +after he had been dead four days? At all events, He was now out of +reach of His enemies. Their malice could not harm Him now, and they +should see Him again at that resurrection of the just which He had +taught them to expect. + +They rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. It was, +though they did not know it then, the last Sabbath under the old +law. Henceforth, as long as the world stood, the first instead of +the last day of the week was to be the "day of rest and gladness" +to all Christian hearts and homes. It was to be pre-eminently the +Lord's day—Sunday, we may well call it, since on that day the Sun of +Righteousness rose on His Church to set no more. The disciples and the +women did not know that it was the last, but they kept it in obedience. +That at least was in their power. + +It may be that some one who reads these pages is bowed down with +trouble from within or without; perplexed with doubt, burdened with +a sense of unworthiness, and hesitating whether or not to go to the +Easter feast. To such an one let me say, dear friend, you can always +obey. The King Himself invites you to the feast; and a royal invitation +is a command. Draw near with faith, and take what your King offers you +out of loyalty to His will. Believe me, He will himself give you the +wedding garment which shall render you fit for His presence. And as for +your burden, lay it at His feet and leave it there. Only obey, and the +blessing will as surely follow as light follows the sun. + + + +_EASTER._ + +_THE DAY OF THE LORD._ + +THIS is the day of the Lord; we will rejoice and be glad in it. It is +the great day of the Church, the crowning feast of the year. Even the +world rejoices on Christmas Day, though it scarcely knows why; but this +is the Christian's day. To him who does not believe, it means nothing; +to us, it means everything. + +Our Lord has risen from the dead. Henceforth the grave has for us +no terror. Our Lord has opened its fast-barred gates and let in the +sunshine to every corner; and as we look into it, we see nothing to +affright us. He has made it a safe resting-place; and we may commit +to it the bodies of our dear ones, with the tears that love demands +indeed, but in hope, because as our Lord rose they too shall rise to +die, no more. + +Our Lord is risen from the dead; and from henceforth the hope of a +future life is no more a dream, a theory, a fond hope. To us who +believe, it is a certainty beyond all doubt. Because He lives, we shall +live also. + +When the women and the other disciples had become assured that their +Lord had really risen; when He had spoken and eaten with them, and +their hands had touched and handled Him, the distress and grief of +the last few days must have seemed to them like a bad dream. So will +the longest, weariest life seem to the disciple who looks at it from +the rest of Paradise. It was long, but the end came at last. It was +hard to bear, but it is all over now. The poor, weak soul trembled +at the passage, but it was safely made, and the Home is gained, from +which there is no going out forevermore. It was a dark, restless night +perhaps, full of sad dreams and fears, but it is past and gone now. The +sun has risen, and it will never set. + +Our Lord is risen from the dead! He calls us, as He did His disciples, +to eat and drink with Him. Let us hasten to obey. And if we are so +shut-in that we cannot go with the multitude to His holy table, let us +prepare Him a place in our hearts, and rest assured that He will come +and sup with us and we with Him. + + +_CONCLUSION._ + +_LOOKING BACK._ + +EVERY wise merchant, at the close of a busy season, looks back over +his business, and reckons up his profits and losses. We, dear friends, +have been passing through a season of more than usual occupation and +privilege. Lent is now at an end. Let us look back and see if we have +gained or lost ground in our spiritual progress during the last busy +days. + +We have surely gained, if we have used them as we ought. If we have +laid out a plan of work or study or self-denial, and adhered to it +as far as possible, our wills have been strengthened by the process. +If we have taken unavoidable interruptions pleasantly, if we have +borne with criticism, kind or unkind, good-naturedly, if we have been +un-ostentatious in our devotions, while yielding not a jot of what +we believe to be right, we have surely grown in grace. If we have +laid aside light and amusing books, that we might have more time for +religious reading and for Bible study, we have increased in knowledge. +In short, if we have used the time as we ought, we have laid up +strength and formed good habits which will help us through the entire +year. + +But if, through idleness or self-indulgence, we have allowed the +precious hours and days to pass empty away; if our Bibles have been +neglected, and our time frittered away on trifles; if we have done and +given nothing for the spread of the Gospel, the advancement of the +Lord's cause—then has the Lenten season been lost. If we have formed no +good habits to carry us through the rest of the year, if we are ready +to plunge into new frivolities, or to take up the old ones with a new +zest after a few weeks of abstinence, then it is worse than lost. We +might better not have had it. For every privilege misused, every means +of grace unimproved, does but harden the heart and blunt the conscience. + +Without wishing to be censorious, it does seem to me that a good many +Christians do up their religion in Lent, so as to have little left +for the rest of the year. For six weeks they are to be seen in the +Sunday-school, at the missionary meeting, at the week-day service; but +look for them after Easter, and you will find their places vacant. +"Yes, I went to the meetings in Lent," said one; "but now that the +world is going on again, there are so many claims on my time!" One +could not help wondering a little what claims the world had on the time +of a Christian after Easter any more than before. + +But let us beware of judging our neighbors; we shall have quite +enough to do in examining our own consciences and bewailing our own +sinfulness, that we may come well prepared to the blessed feast of +Easter. We shall all see plenty to regret in the weeks that are +past. Let us see to it that the coming days—the days of our Lord's +humiliation and death—are so employed as that the feast of His joyful +and glorious resurrection may find us ready, in the marriage garment +prescribed by Holy Scripture, to be meet partakers of that Holy Table. + + Isa. liii. 1 Cor. xi. 17. + + + + THE END. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77163 *** diff --git a/77163-h/77163-h.htm b/77163-h/77163-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6db8f9c --- /dev/null +++ b/77163-h/77163-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4418 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + A Lent in Earnest or, Sober Thoughts for Solemn Days, by Lucy Ellen Guernsey │ Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/image001.jpg" type="image/cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size:12.0pt; + font-family:"Verdana"; +} + +p {text-indent: 2em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.w100 { + width: auto + } + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 125%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t2 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3b { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center + } + +p.t4 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center + } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.poem { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding: 20px 0; + text-align: left; + width: 555px; + } + +p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 90%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77163 ***</div> + +<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h1>A LENT IN EARNEST</h1> + +<p class="t3"> +OR,<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +SOBER THOUGHTS FOR SOLEMN DAYS.<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +BY<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +LUCY ELLEN GUERNSEY.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> +New York:<br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +THOMAS WHITTAKER<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +2 & 3 BIBLE HOUSE.<br> +<br> +1889.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> +Copyright, 1889,<br> +<br> +By THOMAS WHITTAKER.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> +PRESS OF<br> +Jenkins & McCowan.<br> +224-228 Centre St.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> + <em>I dedicate these pages specially to those who, by reason of infirmity +or other reasons, are shut out from the services of the Church at this +season. I hope, however, that they may be found useful and acceptable +to others as well. They are the outcome of many days of seclusion. May +they be blessed by Him whose dews and rain cause the herbs to spring.</em><br> + <br> +<span style="margin-left: 27em;"><em>L. E. G.</em></span><br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS.<br> +<br> +—————<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_1">Ash Wednesday—Repentance</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_2">First Thursday in Lent—Confession</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_3">First Friday in Lent—Forgiveness</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_4">First Saturday in Lent—Consecration</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_5">First Sunday in Lent—Fasting</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_6">First Monday in Lent—Fasting</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_7">First Tuesday in Lent—How Shall We Keep Lent?</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_8">Second Wednesday in Lent—Abstinence</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_9">Second Thursday in Lent—In the Sick-Room</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_10">Second Friday in Lent—The Use of Fasting</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_11">Second Saturday in Lent—Dangers and Mistakes</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_12">Second Sunday in Lent—Helplessness and Help</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_13">Second Monday in Lent—Evil Thoughts and Their Remedy</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_14">Second Tuesday in Lent—Meditation</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_15">Third Wednesday in Lent—Meditation (Con.)</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_16">Third Thursday in Lent—Prayer</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_17">Third Friday in Lent—Prayer</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_18">Third Saturday in Lent—Intercession</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_19">Third Sunday in Lent—Our Enemies</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_20">Third Monday in Lent—Our Enemies</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_21">Third Tuesday in Lent—The World</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_22">Fourth Wednesday in Lent—The Flesh</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_23">Fourth Thursday in Lent—Our Ghostly Enemy</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_24">Fourth Friday in Lent—The Great Tempter</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_25">Fourth Saturday in Lent—Heartiness</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_26">Fourth Sunday in Lent—Refreshment</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_27">Fourth Monday in Lent—Refreshment Sunday (Con.)</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_28">Fourth Tuesday in Lent—Refreshment Sunday (Con.)</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_29">Fifth Wednesday in Lent—Comfort</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_30">Fifth Thursday in Lent—The Sources of Comfort</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_31">Fifth Friday in Lent—The Great Consoler</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_32">Fifth Saturday in Lent—The Use of Comfort</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_33">Fifth Sunday in Lent—The Government of God</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_34">Fifth Monday in Lent—Cæsar's Household</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_35">Fifth Tuesday in Lent—The Household of God</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_36">Sixth Wednesday in Lent—The Household of God (Con.)</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_37">Sixth Thursday in Lent—The Household of God (Con.)</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_38">Sixth Friday in Lent—The Household of God (Con.)</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_39">Saturday Before Palm Sunday—The Alabaster Box</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_40">Palm Sunday—Children in the Temple</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_41">Monday Before Easter—The Fig-Tree Having Leaves</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_42">Tuesday Before Easter—The House Left Desolate</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_43">Wednesday Before Easter—The Lost Opportunities</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_44">Thursday Before Easter—The Traitor</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_45">Good Friday—The Cross</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_46">Easter Even—The Last Sabbath</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_47">Easter—The Day of the Lord</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Day_48">Conclusion—Looking Back</a></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>A LENT IN EARNEST</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_1"><em>ASH WEDNESDAY.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>REPENTANCE.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE keynotes of the services for Ash Wednesday are repentance and +confession. Theirs is the spirit of the first collect, of the prayers +which, in the American service for the day, follow the Litany, of +the portion appointed for the Epistle, and of the Lessons, "That we, +worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness;" "Turn +Thine anger from us who meekly acknowledge our vileness." "Be favorable +to thy people who turn to Thee in weeping, fasting, and praying."</p> + +<p>We often use words, even very common words, without any clear or exact +idea of their meaning. "I know, but I cannot tell," is an expression +familiar to every teacher. Now the truth is, we cannot be quite sure +whether we know or not, unless we try to put our knowledge into words. +Let us, then, examine a little our ideas on this very important matter.</p> + +<p>We find these two duties of repentance and confession constantly +conjoined in both the Old and New Testaments. The Psalms are full of +them. "I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." +(Ps. li. 3:) "Heal my soul; for I have sinned against Thee." (Ps. xli. +4.) "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so +iniquity shall not be your ruin." (Ezek. xviii. 30.)</p> + +<p>Our Lord's own preaching began with repentance, as did that of His +forerunner, John the Baptist. (S. Matt. iii. 2; S. Mark i. 15.) It was +the first commission of the Apostles (S. Mark vi. 12), as it was the +burden of their preaching after the day of Pentecost. (Acts ii. 38.)</p> + +<p>So with confession. We read in Lev. xxvi. 40, after the most +terrible denunciations of woe against the chosen people in case of +unfaithfulness, these reassuring words: "If they will confess their +iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, ... if, then, their +uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they ... accept of the punishment +of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant with Jacob!" So in +Psalm xxxii. 5, Joel ii. 12, 1 John i. 9, and many other places.</p> + +<p>Our Church, too, in all her services, constantly presses these things +on our attention. Since, then, they are so important, is it not very +needful that our ideas about them should be clear and definite, free +from mistake or haziness? What, then, are repentance and confession?</p> + +<p>Repentance, as the word is used in the service for Ash Wednesday, and +generally in the Bible and the Prayer-book, means turning "from" sin, +and "to" God. It has another meaning in some places—that of sorrow or +regret, as in Gen. vi. 6. "And it repented the Lord that He had made +man." But in general, it means such sorrow for sin as leads to the +forsaking of it. A man may be sorry for some transgression because it +has led him into trouble; as when a drunkard has destroyed his health, +or a thief has brought himself into the grasp of the law; but such +sorrow cannot properly be called repentance. The sinner does not hate +the sin. On the contrary, he loves it, and is only sorry that he has +put it out of his power to commit it again.</p> + +<p>But true repentance means sorrow for sin, because that sin has +broken God's law, and grieved and offended Him. It means a steadfast +determination to give up everything which our own conscience or the law +of God shows us to be wrong. "Repent, and turn yourselves from 'all' +your transgressions." (Ezek. xviii. 30.) Observe the word ALL. It will +not do to keep anything back, to have any little secret shrine, in +which is hidden an idol. God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents +of the heart. (Rom. vi. 12.) The darkness of its most secret inner +chamber is no darkness to Him, and He will endure no willful deceit in +this matter.</p> + +<p>I say "willful" deceit, because we may unconsciously deceive ourselves, +especially in the beginning of our religious lives. As we advance in +holiness, we shall no doubt see many things to be wrong which did not +seem so at first. But true repentance does require that we give up +everything that we know, or even suspect, to be wrong.</p> + +<p>Nor can this work of repentance be finished up in one day, or one +Lenten season. It will have to be renewed again and again, so long +as we inhabit these mortal bodies; as often as we are made conscious +that we have offended by thought, word, or deed against the Divine +Majesty. We must remember that our Heavenly Father's precious promises +of remission and forgiveness are made only to penitent sinners. +"Repent, and be baptized," said St. Peter to the inquirers on the day +of Pentecost, and again, in his second sermon, "Repent ye, therefore, +and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of +refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts ii. 38, and +iii. 19.)</p> + +<p>The prodigal son, in the midst of his wandering and wickedness, was no +doubt an object of love and care to his father, but it was not till he +returned to his father's house, and submitted to his authority, that +he was restored to favor. Not that there is any merit in repentance, +as if we thereby earned a title to forgiveness: we must not entertain +for a moment any such idea as that. Salvation is, in its very nature, a +deliverance from sin. That is what it means. But unless we see the evil +of sin we shall not wish to be delivered from it. Therefore, in every +case, the first direction to the inquirer is "Repent."</p> + +<p>But of what are we to repent?</p> + +<p>Of all our wrong doing and thinking and feeling—of our neglect of God +and His service—of our carelessness in this most important concern of +life—of all our evil deeds and thoughts and tempers. The more closely +we examine ourselves by the light of God's Word, the more we shall +see to deplore, till we come at last to know practically what we have +perhaps always believed as a doctrine—that in us, that is, in our +flesh, dwelleth no good thing, and that not only man in general, but we +ourselves, are prone to evil as the sparks fly upward.</p> + +<p>Let us not, therefore, be discouraged, or faint in our minds! For all +this evil the remedy is provided. Hear what comfortable words the +Scripture hath for our encouragement. "Jesus Christ came into the world +to save sinners." (1 Tim. i. 15.) "I am not come to call the righteous, +but sinners to repentance." (S. Matt. ix. 13.) Take your reference +Bible and look up the passages relating to this subject, and you will +see that there is no room for discouragement, much less for despair.</p> + +<p>      Ps. li.              +           S. Luke xv. 1—10.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_2"><em>FIRST THURSDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>CONFESSION.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IN many places of Scripture, we find coupled with repentance another +condition of repentance—that is, confession. "I acknowledged my sin +unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess +my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." +(Ps. xxxii. 5.) "Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast +transgressed against the Lord." (Jer. iii. 13.) "If we confess our +sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse +us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.)</p> + +<p>To whom are we to confess?</p> + +<p>First of all, to ourselves. We are frankly to acknowledge our iniquity, +and that not in general terms alone, but we are to come down to +particulars. It is easy to own ourselves sinners in a general way, +while all the time we are cherishing a very good opinion of ourselves. +"Oh, yes, we are all miserable sinners!" said a shrewd old lady. "But +we are just as good as the rest of the miserable sinners, and a good +deal better than some of them." I fancy we all have this feeling at +times, though we may not put it to ourselves quite so plainly.</p> + +<p>In order to make our confession to ourselves of any use, it must +be frank and open. It will not do to accompany every confession +with an excuse. "I spoke hastily and unkindly, but then I had great +provocation." "I ought not to have repeated that scandalous story, but +then I had it on good authority." "I ought perhaps to have abstained +from that amusement, but A and B went, and I do not pretend to be +better than they." Have we not all excused ourselves in this style +again and again? But what is this but saying that we should never do +wrong if we were never tempted? Let us consider whether we dare offer +these excuses to God before we venture to comfort and quiet our own +consciences with them!</p> + +<p>Secondly, we must confess our sins unto the LORD. "I said, I will +confess my sin unto the Lord." (Ps. xxxii. 5.) "Take with you words, +and turn to the Lord." (Hos. xiv. 2.)</p> + +<p>"But," you say, "does He not already know my sins? Why, then, should +I confess them?" In the first place, because He has seen fit to +command it. He also knows all our wants and wishes far better than we +ourselves; yet He has commanded us in everything to make known our +requests to Him. "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer +and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto +God." (Phil. iv. 6.) Surely His will should be enough for us, since He +commands nothing without good cause.</p> + +<p>But, secondly, we should confess our sins to God, because in that way +alone can we be made thoroughly aware of their sinfulness. A fit of +causeless anger, or a bit of malicious gossip, looks very different +to us when we lay it bare before God in our closets. The excuse which +seemed very plausible when the act was committed, will not appear so +in the light of His presence before whom we stand, and who is of purer +eyes than to behold iniquity. If we are honest in our confession, the +Spirit, which searcheth all things, will show us aggravations of our +fault which we never suspected.</p> + +<p>Finally, we should confess our sin unto the Lord for the sake of the +peace which the action brings to our own hearts and minds. There is no +time when our conscience torments us so sorely as when we are trying to +persuade ourselves that it is not hurting us at all; when we are making +all sorts of excuses to ourselves for our faults.</p> + +<p>A wise and witty man once said that all the riches and pleasures which +life has to offer would be embittered and made useless to a man who was +compelled always to wear a sharp nail in his shoe. No doubt, he was +right. Now, an unconfessed, and, therefore, unforgiven, sin is just +such a nail. It is true that by a long course of neglect the conscience +may be silenced for a time. But it is only for a time, and how awful +will be the awaking!</p> + +<p>Let us, then, come boldly but humbly to the Throne of Grace—to the +Mercy seat, where our God is always to be found by those who honestly +seek Him! Let us confess all those sins which, by our frailty, we have +committed, and ask for forgiveness and cleansing for His sake by whose +stripes we are healed, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, +and who now sits at the right hand of the Father to make intercession +for us. Let us do so, not trusting in ourselves as if there were any +merit in the act, but trusting alone in His gracious promises, and we +shall find peace to our souls.</p> + +<p>      Psalm xxxii.              +           1 John i.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_3"><em>FIRST FRIDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>FORGIVENESS.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>HAVING, then, come to the Throne of Grace with true repentance and +humble confession, let us not fail to accept the promises of God in +all their fullness. Too many do this, and even value themselves on +what they term humility, but which is in reality faithlessness. "I +should never dare to believe that my sins were really forgiven," said +a certain person; "I should think it presumption." Now which is the +greater presumption, to believe what God says, or to disbelieve it? +See how full and explicit are His words of promise to all who turn to +Him! "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us +our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) +Observe the fullness and force of the promise: He is faithful and just. +Faithful, because He has promised; just, because our Lord has borne our +sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet. ii. 24), and has suffered, the +just for the unjust. (1 Pet. iii. 18.)</p> + +<p>Nor is this all. He not only forgives our sin, but he washes it away, +and makes it as if it had never been. "Though your sins be as scarlet, +they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they +shall be as wool." (Is. i. 18.) "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us +from all sin." (1 John i. 7.)</p> + +<p>We must never suffer ourselves to doubt, much less to despair of +God's mercy. Such doubts are amongst Satan's favorite weapons. "How +many times have you asked forgiveness for this very sin already," he +whispers. "How many times have you professed repentance, and promised +never to commit it more? Is it not presumption, yea, mockery, to ask +God to forgive you again?" Do not for a moment listen to him. What are +you going to do if you do not ask? You will certainly never be rid +of your sin in any other way than by God's help, and how are you to +obtain that help but by coming to Him? He who bade us forgive an erring +brother, not seven times, but seventy times seven, is not likely to be +less merciful Himself.</p> + +<p>"There is more grace in God than there is sin in all the sinners that +ever lived," said an aged saint of God when this matter was under +discussion; and he was right. But are we not in danger of presumption +in thus believing that God is ready to forgive, however many times we +sin against Him? Not if we are sincere and honest in our repentance, +and in our hatred of sin. It would, indeed, be the greatest of +presumption to go on willfully indulging in sin on such grounds. The +person who did so would be a hypocrite. His repentance would be no more +than a pretence, and his profession a mockery and a lie.</p> + +<p>But to the honest penitent, I believe nothing can be more calculated +to humble him in the very dust with a sense of his own unworthiness +than the conviction that, after all his vileness and ingratitude, his +Heavenly Father has pardoned him, and taken him again into favor. +"And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that +I am the Lord," says God to the rebellious and polluted daughter of +Jerusalem, after enumerating all her horrible offenses; and He adds +these significant words: "That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, +and never open thy mouth any more ... when I am pacified toward thee +for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord." (Ezek. xvi. 63.)</p> + +<p>Shall we, in the face of such gracious and glorious promises as these, +dare to doubt the goodness and mercy of our Father? Shall we bring +the burden of our sins to Him who has covenanted by His justice, as +well as by His mercy and love, to blot out our transgressions for His +own sake, and not remember our sins, and then take up that burden and +carry it away again? Shall our doubts make Him a liar? Surely, this is +presumption, and not the humble faith which trusts in Him, and takes +Him at His word.</p> + +<p>Let us then rejoice in the belief that our Heavenly Father has +pardoned and cleansed us according to His immutable word—that our +unrighteousness is forgiven and our sin is covered, and that to us the +Lord does not impute sin. (Ps. xxxii. 1, 2.) So shall we find that +peace which the world knows not, and can never know, and that joy in +which it has no part. So shall we have all our wounds healed, and find +strength to fight the good fight of faith in the time to come. "For the +joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh. viii. 10.)</p> + +<p>      Psalm xxxii.              +           1 John.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_4"><em>FIRST SATURDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>CONSECRATION.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WHAT is consecration?</p> + +<p>It is setting apart. When a building, as a church, is consecrated to +the worship of God, we understand that it is set apart for His worship, +and is not to be put to any other use. When a bishop is consecrated, +he is set apart from worldly business for his sacred office, and he +is expected to give up all his time and talents to the duties of that +office.</p> + +<p>In the same way, a truly consecrated Christian is one who has given +himself up wholly to the service of God, his Creator, Redeemer, and +Sanctifier—who aims to please not himself, but God, in all he says, +does, and thinks. His time, his talents, his worldly goods, his +position and influence, his very amusements, are used for the service +of God, and he is ready to give up his most cherished pursuit as soon +as he is made aware that it is not pleasing to his Heavenly Master.</p> + +<p>We find in Holy Scripture abundant warrant for such consecration. +"What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which +is in you, which ye have of God? And ye are not, your own, for ye are +bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your bodies, and in your +spirits, which are God's." (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20.) "For no man liveth to +himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live +unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we +live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." (Rom. xiv. 7, 8.) In this +chapter, be it observed, the Apostle is speaking of so common a matter +as eating and drinking, and he says, again, "Whether ye eat, or drink, +or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. x. 31.) +Again, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that +ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, +which is your reasonable service." (Rom. xii. 1.)</p> + +<p>The Church teaches us the same lesson in her most solemn act of +worship. "And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, +our souls and bodies," is the language of the prayer of consecration in +the office of the Holy Communion. The same thought is found repeated +again and again in the Prayer-book, notably in the collects for the +fourth and fifth Sundays after Easter. Every Communion Sunday, if we +are worthy communicants, we make, or rather renew, this consecration of +ourselves to our Lord.</p> + +<p>But in order to make this consecration acceptable to God, or useful +to ourselves, it must be entire and perfect. We must not follow the +example of Ananias and Sapphira, in professing to give all, and then +keeping back a part. So long as we "keep back part of the price," +so long as we hold fast to anything we know we ought to give up, or +hold ourselves back from any duty we know we ought to perform, so +long is our offering imperfect—unpleasing to God, and unprofitable to +ourselves. "Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and +voweth, and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing," said the prophet +to the Jews after the captivity. (Mal. i. 14.) Their God had redeemed +them from captivity worse than death, had brought them to their own +land once more, and restored to them their old religious privileges, +yet they reckoned His service weariness, and grudged to give of their +best for His offering. Our Lord has redeemed us from a worse bondage +than theirs, and has bought us with a great price, even with the +suffering and death of His dear Son, and shall we grudge to give Him +that which is His own?</p> + +<p>The want of this perfect consecration is the reason why so many +Christian people have no comfort in their devotion. Old-fashioned +Methodist people used to employ a significant phrase in this +connection. They would ask,—</p> + +<p>"Do you enjoy religion?"</p> + +<p>Too many, it is to be feared, do not enjoy it at all. They seem to have +just enough to make them uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"I feel as if it were of no use for me to pray," said one; "my prayers +never seem to get out of the room, and my heart is cold and heavy. I +have no sense of the Lord's presence at all."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure," asked her friend, "that you are indulging no sin, or +neglecting no known duty?"</p> + +<p>After a moment's pause came the question, "Do you think such a thing is +wrong?"</p> + +<p>"Whatever I think, I know what you think," was her friend's inward +answer.</p> + +<p>Our God is a jealous God! He will not share His temple with another. If +we would have Him dwelling in our hearts, we must banish thence every +idol, and every unclean and even doubtful thing. For we must remember +that if we think any act wrong, or even doubtful, that act becomes +a sin to us. This is true especially of amusements and pleasures +of all sorts. He who risks God's anger for the sake of a personal +gratification, is guilty of presumptuous sin.</p> + +<p>If, then, you find your religious state unsatisfactory, your prayers +lifeless, your sacramental seasons without comfort or enjoyment, your +heart heavy under a secret sense of condemnation, let me beg you to +examine yourself, and see if the trouble does not lie just here—that +you are keeping back something that your Lord requires of you. And if, +on an honest search, you find that He calls on you to give up some +indulgence to which you are holding fast, or to take up some duty which +you have hitherto neglected, let me beg of you to obey on the instant; +whatever be the cost, break the idol, banish the intruder, take up the +duty, and, so doing, find peace to your soul.</p> + +<p>      Mal. i.              +           Rom. xii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_5"><em>FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>FASTING.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE special service for this day sets before us, as the subject of +our meditation, our Lord's fast in the wilderness. The collect is +founded on it. "O Lord, who for our sakes didst fast forty days!" The +Gospel for the day sets forth the story of the same fast, and of the +temptation which followed.</p> + +<p>It was for our sake that the Blessed Jesus fasted. His sinless nature +had no need of such discipline. But He was "in all points tempted like +as we are," that we might know that "we have not an High Priest which +cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." (Heb. iv. 15.) +"For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to +succor them that are tempted." (Heb. ii. 18.) Let us, with reverence +and godly fear, consider a few of the circumstances of His fasting and +temptation.</p> + +<p>It was immediately after our Lord's baptism, and the wonderful +manifestation of the Divine Glory in confirmation of His claims, that +He was "led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the +Devil." After the privilege came the temptation. If we consider our own +experience, we shall often find this to be the case with ourselves. +How often, after a season of more than usual earnestness and enjoyment +in devotion, does the heart seem to go back with a rebound, as it +were, to the vanities of the world! How often, after an act of honest +renunciation, does the thing we have given up paint itself to our fancy +in more attractive colors than ever, till we think ourselves little +better than hypocrites, and are ready to give up in despair!</p> + +<p>But we have no reason to despair. Nay, we may, if we use them aright, +make our very temptations means of grace, drawing from them both +encouragement and strength—encouragement, because Satan would not take +so much pains to draw us aside if he did not see that we were escaping +from his power; strength, if we let our trials make us more watchful +against sin, and more earnest in our prayers for help.</p> + +<p>Our Lord's first temptation came through the medium of His bodily +wants. He was exhausted from fasting; and Satan, as is usual with him, +attacked him on what he believed his weak point. "If thou be the Son +of God, command that these stones be made bread." (S. Matt. iv. 3.) He +often assaults us in the same way. "You are tired and hungry," he says; +"you have a right to be irritable." "You are an invalid; you have the +right to be exacting, and to make the comfort of others give way to +yours." "You are sleepless, and in pain; you have a right to take the +drug which will give you present ease and rest, whatever may be the +consequence." Let us answer as did our Lord: "Man shall not live by +bread alone." Let us remember that the body is to be the servant, not +the master, and treat it accordingly. There are no persons who need +to practice self-control more than invalids, and especially nervous +invalids.</p> + +<p>Again, our Lord did not make use of His divine power against the +tempter. He used weapons which are within the reach of every one of us. +He met Satan with the words of Holy Scripture. And in this very fact, +by the way, may be found an answer to those who decry and undervalue +the Old Testament. Every one of our Lord's quotations is taken from the +book of Deuteronomy. And we may furnish ourselves, if we will, with +weapons from the same celestial armory. Does Satan attack us through +our bodily weakness? "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength +is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. xii. 9.)</p> + +<p>Does he beset us with doubts as to the forgiveness of our sins, +or acceptance with God? Every disciple has, like Christian in the +"Pilgrim's Progress," "a key in his bosom, which will open any lock +in Doubting Castle." Hence the importance of making ourselves very +familiar with the weapons which St. Paul calls "the sword of the +Spirit," and of having it, as it were, always at our side. A man might +have the best weapon in the world in his possession, but it would stand +him in little stead when attacked, if he did not know how to use it, or +if he had left it hanging up in his closet at home. But if we store our +memories with the very words of the Bible, and meditate often thereon, +we shall have sword and shield always at hand. I shall have more to say +on this matter hereafter.</p> + +<p>Once more, temptation, valorously withstood, is followed by peace. +"Then the Devil leaveth Him, and, behold, angels came and ministered +unto Him." (S. Matt. iv. 11.) "Our Lord will not suffer us to be +tempted above that we are able." (1 Cor. x. 13.) Satan may rage, but +his rage is restrained by one stronger than he, and after the storm +comes a calm. Then come to us, as to the pilgrim, some of the leaves +of the tree of life, to heal our wounds, and if the white robe has +contracted any stain in the strife, there is opened the fountain for +sin and uncleanness, where we may wash and be clean. (Zech. xiii. 1.) +We must still be on our guard, and have our weapons at hand, but our +Captain allows us a breathing-time, and He will himself come and talk +with us as we rest by the way.</p> + +<p>      Ps. xlvi.              +           S. Matt. iii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_6"><em>FIRST MONDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>FASTING.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WHAT is fasting?</p> + +<p>IN its broadest sense it is self-denial. As generally used by our +Church, it means abstinence in some shape—either from amusement, from +food, or from personal luxuries. The Romish Church makes it to consist +mostly in refraining from meat, especially during Lent; but that is +a narrow view of the matter, and one which admits of a great deal of +personal indulgence. The early Church made no distinction in quality +of food, and the most scrupulous did not hesitate to eat meat when +needful. Our own branch of the Church lays down no definite rules on +the subject of fasting, either in Lent or at any other time, but, with +her usual wisdom and liberality, leaves the matter to each person's +conscience.</p> + +<p>It has been remarked that there is no absolute command to fast in the +New Testament. Our Lord, however, implicitly sanctions and approves the +practice by His example, and by giving directions as to how the duty is +to be performed (S. Matt. vi. 16), and by His words to the Pharisees +(S. Mark ii. 19); and it is commended by the practice of the Apostles +(Acts iii. 2, 3, and xiv. 23.) Our Lord tells us that fasting, like +prayer, should be performed without ostentation, and this is the only +direction given on the subject.</p> + +<p>The law of Moses appoints only one fast that of the great day of +atonement (Lev. xxiii. 27), but we find in the Old Testament numerous +examples of fasts, usually on occasion of some great danger or calamity +(2 Chron. xx. 3; Joel ii), or of some dangerous enterprise. In the +writings of the prophets, also, we find many allusions to fasting as +a common practice, and also directions as to the spirit in which it +should be performed.</p> + +<p>Our Church observes all Fridays throughout the year as fast days, +and also the forty days before Easter. This last season, called Lent +(probably from the Saxon word for Spring), is that with which we are +specially concerned at present. How, then, shall we keep Lent?</p> + +<p>The Church answers this question, to some extent, by her multiplied +services and frequent Communions—by the opportunities which she gives +us of social worship. Let us avail ourselves of this privilege as far +as possible, by being frequently in the sanctuary, and by joining +heartily in the prayers and praises of God's people. Let us be early in +our places, that our spirits may be quieted, and our hearts attuned by +some minutes of prayer and meditation, before the service begins. The +quiet and the association of the place are specially favorable to such +exercises.</p> + +<p>Many people find an advantage in reading some devotional book at this +time, such as Thomas à Kempis, or the Sacra Privata, and this is a good +plan, provided always that the book be used as a guide to meditation, +and not as a substitute for it. As a rule, we read too much and think +too little.</p> + +<p>Our prayers should be not only for ourselves, but for our +fellow-worshippers, and for all the interests of our own Church and the +Church at large. Let us remember our families, the guild or society +to which we belong, our god-children and pupils in Sunday-school, the +missionary enterprises of our own parish and those of the Church. We +shall find that a few minutes spent in this way, on entering church, +will compose our minds, and add tenfold to the comfort and usefulness +of the service which follows.</p> + +<p>Many sincere Christians are troubled with wandering thoughts in time +of prayer, and especially of public service. I have always found great +assistance in keeping my eyes fixed on the book, following every word +of the service. Such wandering thoughts are dogs which run out and +bark at us in the street—the best way is to go straight on and take no +notice of them. But as an old author has said, the best way to govern +our thoughts in prayer is to be in the habit of governing them at all +other times.</p> + +<p>When service is over, let us not be in a hurry to rise from our knees, +but let us again spend a few moments in secret devotion. I much like +the custom of the congregation remaining in their seats or standing +till the minister leaves the chancel. And let us strive, above all, to +carry with us through the day the influence of the blessed services +in which we have been engaged. The Psalms or the Lessons will have +furnished us with some food for meditation, to which our minds may turn +in the intervals of business, and from which we may draw counsel and +comfort, and—</p> + +<p class="poem"> + "at evening we may say,<br> +I have walked with God to-day."<br> +</p> + +<p>      Is. lxiii.              +           S. Mark vi.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_7"><em>FIRST TUESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>HOW SHALL WE KEEP LENT?</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>YOU say, perhaps, "I am shut up—confined to the room or the house," +or, "I am away from the church and its worship. I cannot join in the +services, however much I should like to do so."</p> + +<p>This is a mistake, and a very unfortunate one, which is likely to +deprive the person making it of much spiritual growth as well as +comfort. No one needs the helps which the Church holds out to her +children more than those who are shut away from the more public means +of grace. We are too apt to think of the Church, not as the one Body +of Christ, but as a mass of disconnected parishes and individuals. You +are as much a member of the Church at large when you are a thousand +miles away from her services, or when you are kept helpless on your +bed, as though you were in the heart of a great cathedral city, with +opportunities of attending a grand service every day.</p> + +<p>It is one of the blessings of our inestimable book of Common Prayer +that it enables us to join in the prayers and praises of those who are +able to attend public worship. If from illness or any other cause you +are kept from going to church, let me ask you to take the Prayer-book, +and follow the service in your own room. Read the proper Psalms and +Lessons, and, that you may do so, keep yourself in mind of all the +Church days and seasons. This is easily done in these days of cheap +almanacs and wall calendars. Do not, if you can help it, let one day +pass without reading at least one of the proper Lessons for the day, +and one of the Psalms, and using some part of the appointed prayers. +You will never appreciate as you should the wonderful beauty of our +service, and its suitableness to your spiritual needs, till you learn +to use it in your private devotions.</p> + +<p>But in order to this appreciation, we must guard against formality, +and carelessness. Let us study the service, and commit it to memory; +especially the collects, those wonderful jewels of devotion, which +shine the more, the more they are looked at and used. I can testify, +from my own experience, to the value of this practice to the sick and +feeble. Many times, when oppressed by pain and weakness, or vexed and +distracted by nervous irritation, unable to frame a sentence, or to put +even into thought the desires and griefs of a burdened heart, have I +found unspeakable comfort and help in the dear, familiar words which +came almost without an effort, and expressed the longings of my soul +better than any words of my own.</p> + +<p>Let me beg of you, then, dear shut-in and shut-out brothers and +sisters, to make bosom friends and companions of your prayer-books. Let +them be always at hand, and never, if you can help it, omit using a +part at least of the service for the day. This will require some effort +and self-denial, but this very effort and self-denial will do you good, +and are exercises most suitable to the season.</p> + +<p>Believe me, if you will but follow the practice through one Lenten +season, you will never again willingly omit it.</p> + +<p>      Ps. lxxxiv.              +           Eph. iv. 1-17.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_8"><em>SECOND WEDNESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>ABSTINENCE.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WE have already seen that fasting, in its broad sense, means +self-denial, and in the ordinary sense, abstinence. In this latter +sense it is used in the collect for the day. Now abstinence, we all +know, means "going without something," and the question to be settled +by each one of us is, "What shall we do without?"</p> + +<p>The Church, always discreet and liberal in her requirements, lays down +no rules in this matter, but leaves it to the judgment and conscience +of each individual of her children. We are to be, not without law, but +a law unto ourselves. One may abstain in matters of food, another of +some favorite occupation or amusement, such, for instance, as light +reading or fancy work, or a favorite game. Another will take time from +his business or pleasure for devotional reading, or for some work of +charity.</p> + +<p>We are to be a law unto ourselves, but let our rule "be" a law. Do not +let the matter be left to chance, or the impulse of the moment. "Let +every man be fully persuaded in his own mind," said St. Paul, speaking +of a somewhat similar matter (Rom. xiv. 5.). He is writing to the +Christians of Rome, many of whom had been Jews, and still found their +consciences burdened at times by the requirements of ceremonial law. +"One," he says, "believeth that he may eat all things; another, who +is weak, eateth only herbs...One man esteemeth one day above another: +another esteemeth every day alike." But however that might be, every +one was enjoined to be "fully persuaded in his own mind," and not to +act against that persuasion—that is, against the leading of his own +conscience.</p> + +<p>Having, then, laid down a rule—having decided on that measure of +abstinence which we deem best for ourselves—let us adhere to that +standard, however we may be tempted to depart from it. For instance, +if you decide to give some particular part of the day to devotional +reading or study—a very excellent practice—do not let every little +matter, especially of your own convenience, divert you from your +object. If you decide to abstain from light reading, hold fast to your +resolution in the face of the most fascinating and bepraised novel. +Unless you do thus adhere to them, your rules will be burdens and +temptations instead of helps.</p> + +<p>There is another and a very important point to be considered in this +matter of amusements. In the very chapter that we have been quoting, +St. Paul says: "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat +while the world stands." The church man or woman who is seen at the +opera or theatre during Lent must not be surprised if he hears his +religious profession lightly spoken of by worldly associates. The +Sunday-school teacher or Girls' Friendly Associate who so indulges must +not complain of the pupil or member who follows her example.</p> + +<p>A visitor in a certain house was amazed, on entering the parlor on Good +Friday evening, to find two whist tables in operation, both occupied by +church-members who had attended service in the morning. The visitor was +not surprised at the remark of a Roman Catholic servant:</p> + +<p>"Well, they don't think much of the day, whatever they may pretend."</p> + +<p>And certainly the spectacle was not an edifying one to those who made +no religious profession whatever.</p> + +<p>"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient," and +it is hard to see how anyone who desires to use this holy season as the +Church intended it to be used can spend time and money on expensive +amusements. Believe me, it is a bad symptom in the spiritual life when +a Christian is thinking, not how much he can give up for his Lord, but +how much he dares keep for himself.</p> + +<p>      Is. lviii.              +           1 Cor. x.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_9"><em>SECOND THURSDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>IN THE SICK-ROOM.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"I AM an invalid," says someone; "I never go either to the theatre or +opera; I never attend a party, or partake of any public amusement; +hardly indeed, of any amusement at all. How shall I keep Lent?"</p> + +<p>In the first place, so far as possible, get out of your world into +God's world. I have been an invalid for months and years at a time, +and I have seen a great deal of illness, so I am not speaking at +random. The great temptation of a chronic invalid is to make the world +centre in himself. The great interests of mankind, and of the Church, +charitable, and mission work, and Christian work of every kind, are of +no importance compared to the position of a table or the serving of a +meal. We almost forget that these things have any existence, or that we +as individuals have anything to do with them.</p> + +<p>I do not mean to say that all chronic invalids are irritable or +selfish; I must say frankly that I have seen quite as much of these +qualities in nurses as in patients. But it is perfectly natural—nay, it +is unavoidable—when one is shut up in a small space, to make that space +and its arrangements of great importance. They "are" very important, +and a kind and faithful nurse will take care that no untidiness or +carelessness shall offend the eye; that the book or work or glass of +drink shall not be moved and set down just out of reach; that the +door shall not be left ajar to slam, or the window to rattle. Such +carelessness is often nothing less than cruelty.</p> + +<p>But making all allowances, I still say to the invalid, get out of your +little world into the great world as often as possible. Recollect that +you are still a member of Christ's living body, and as such there must +still be some work for you to do. Especially at this season, consider +if there is not some way whereby you may help the Church in her great +work of converting the world.</p> + +<p>I would earnestly advise you to turn your attention to the subject of +missions at home and abroad. If you are able to read, subscribe for +the "Spirit of Missions" and read it all through. An excellent old +Presbyterian lady once said that when she got her missionary paper +she "just sat down and prayed right through it." Do you likewise, and +at the same time consider how wonderful is this instrument of prayer, +by which, in your chamber, you can reach the overworked man or woman +toiling in China or Africa. You will soon find that your interest in +the work grows as you learn more about it. You will find yourself +looking out for news from particular stations and people, and thinking +of Miss Wong and her orphans, and Miss Somebody Else and her Indians or +Freedmen, as if they were personal friends.</p> + +<p>Do not be content, however, with reading and praying. Try to do +something. Many invalids are able to do more or less light work with +their fingers, and find great comfort in it. Now at this time let your +work be consecrated in a special manner. Lay aside the fancy work for +something practical and useful. Let the drawn work give way to the +hospital towel, and the knitted lace to the hospital sock. Even if you +can do but little, let that little be done faithfully and as regularly +as possible, and the Lord of the harvest will bless your gleanings as +much as the full sheaves of the stalwart reaper in the field.</p> + +<p>If you are earnest in watching for opportunities you may also practice +self-denial in other ways. Are there no little luxuries that you can +do without, and so add a few cents or dollars to your charity-purse? +Cannot the orange, or bunch of grapes, or bottle of cologne be sent to +some poor body who keeps Lent all the year round? Is there no service +which you have been in the habit of requiring from an attendant, and +which, by a little effort, you may perform for yourself? When a visitor +comes in, can you not turn the conversation from your own aches and +pains to something more pleasant and profitable? All these things +are self-denials, and, if used in the right spirit, will bring their +reward—a present reward in improved cheerfulness, and so, often, in +improved bodily health; a lasting reward in growth in grace, and in +that holiness which shall make you more fit for that world where there +is no more any pain, because the former things are passed away.</p> + +<p>      Psalm lxxvii.              +           Rev. vii. 9-17.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_10"><em>SECOND FRIDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE USE OF FASTING.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WHAT is the use of fasting?</p> + +<p>The answer to this question is given in the collect which has formed +the text of our meditations for the week. "That our flesh being subdued +to the spirit, we may obey Thy godly motions in righteousness and true +holiness."</p> + +<p>The flesh, as the term is usually employed in Scripture, means the +lower and earthly part of our nature. It is that part of us to which +almost all the pleasures of sense address themselves. St. Paul tells us +that they who are in the flesh—they who live for it alone—cannot please +God (Rom. viii. 8); and he gives the reason, because they that are +after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.</p> + +<p>The flesh, that is, as we have said, the lower part of our nature, has +neither belief nor interest in anything but what can be seen and heard, +and handled with hands. It cares for nothing but the things which +belong to time, and must therefore perish with time. The invisible +things which are eternal, and therefore the only real things, are as +nothing to the man of the flesh, or at best but the idle dreams of +enthusiasts. This being the case, it is easy to see why they who are in +the flesh cannot please God.</p> + +<p>Now this earthly and carnal nature, which is here called the flesh, +remains in every one of us. We are all more or less under its +influence. We are all prone to let the seen and temporal hide from our +thoughts the unseen and eternal. The wants of the body are imperative, +and must be provided for, and with these needs are apt to come lusts. +The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life are +all intimately connected with real needs, and take on their names and +faces.</p> + +<p>Our bodies are useful servants, but bad and hard masters, and they are +always striving to get the upper hand, and govern where they ought to +obey. Therefore it is needful to rule them with a strong hand. St. Paul +says, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection"; that is, +literally, "I buffet it with blows, and treat it as a slave," and he +gives us the reason for this conduct, "lest that by any means, when I +have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (1 Cor. ix. +27.) The Scriptures, especially the Epistles, are full of warnings on +this subject. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye +through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." +(Rom. viii. 13.)</p> + +<p>The flesh is to be subdued to the spirit; to our own immortal spirit, +and to the Holy Spirit. To our own spirit, because that is the part +of us which is nearly related to God, capable of communion with Him, +and even of being partaker of the Divine Nature (2 Pet. i. 4); to the +Holy Spirit, because He is our Divine Guide and Comforter. The flesh +is to be made thus subject, that it may know its place and be silent +and quiet before its betters, that its voice may not hinder the voice +of God. It must be taught to obey, that it may be the servant and not +the master. And as soldiers are drilled in time of peace, when no enemy +is at hand, that they may be ready and skillful in time of war, so our +bodies may well be trained and brought under discipline, that in the +time of trial they may be helps and not hindrances in running the race +which is set before us.</p> + +<p>      Is. xxxii.              +           1 Cor. ix.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_11"><em>SECOND SATURDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>DANGERS AND MISTAKES.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THERE are two or three dangers and mistakes connected with this +subject, which we shall do well to consider.</p> + +<p>The first is the danger of spiritual pride—of considering our +self-denials as good works, whereby we acquire merit, and, so to +speak, bring God in debt to us. One would think, at first sight, that +no well-instructed Christian was in any such peril, yet a very slight +acquaintance with history will show the painful absurdities which have +grown out of this idea, and the mischief and waste to which it has led.</p> + +<p>It is very hard for a man to take in the idea that he cannot deserve +anything of God by his good works; that all his righteousnesses are +as filthy rags, and that after his very best is done, he is but an +unprofitable servant, doing no more than his duty; that he must accept +salvation, if at all, as an absolutely free gift. His pride revolts at +the idea. He does not like to feel that he is only a beggar. Hence the +tendency, of which every faithful and experienced Christian is more or +less conscious, to magnify his own good works, if not in the eyes of +others, yet in his own secret soul.</p> + +<p>Pride is a subtle enemy, and never more to be dreaded than when it +takes the form of that spiritual pride which apes humility. From +this root have grown all sorts of noxious weeds; especially those +exhibitions of self-torture which so revolt common sense in the lives +of so-called saints—the pillar of Simon Stylites, the five orange seeds +a day of Rose of Lima, and the like. Neither by precept nor example do +the Scriptures countenance any such practices. On the contrary, our +Lord's injunctions seem directed expressly against them. (S. Matt. vi. +16-18.)</p> + +<p>Another danger to be guarded against is that of despising the body, as +if it were of no account. The body is to be subject to the spirit, no +doubt. It is a servant, and is to be kept to a servant's place, even +by severe discipline if need be, but it is to be kept in health and +strength, that it may serve well its master. It is the tool of the +spirit, and must be kept in good working order. He would be a foolish +master who should so treat his tools or his servants as to disable them +from work.</p> + +<p>Our bodies are to be treated with respect because they are God's +temples, in which it pleases Him to dwell. "Know ye not that your body +is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" says the Apostle (1 +Cor. vi. 19); and again, "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, +and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" and he adds, "If any man +defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." (1 Cor. iii. 16.) +From these considerations, it may be easily seen that those persons are +guilty of sin who are willfully careless of the body; who for the sake +of dress or amusement, or indulgence of any sort, injure their health +and lessen their powers of usefulness.</p> + +<p>Once more: The body is to be treated with respect because it has a +share in our redemption. True, it is subject to decay and death. True, +for a time it must molder in the dust, but it shall be raised again, +and united to its kindred spirit, freed from all taint of sin and +corruption. True, it is sown in dishonor and weakness, but it shall be +raised in glory and power, to inherit immortality.</p> + +<p>      Job xiv.              +           1 Cor. iii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_12"><em>SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>HELPLESSNESS AND HELP.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE collect for this day is especially a prayer for help; help for body +and soul. The suppliant's plea is his helplessness. We have no power of +ourselves to help ourselves, and so we turn to Him who is both able and +willing to help us.</p> + +<p>It is to be wished that Christians in general realized more fully their +dependence upon God. We all go to Him for help in great matters—in +deep afflictions, in strong temptations; but in the little things of +everyday life, we forget or neglect to call upon Him; and it is in +these very little things that we are defeated and overthrown by our +ever-watchful enemy. "He that despiseth little things shall fall by +little and little," said a wise man; and no truer word was ever spoken. +It is the small temptation which makes way for the great one. It is the +misstep which prepares for the fall.</p> + +<p>Take an example: Theodore wakes in the morning feeling rather unwell +and out of sorts. He has perhaps overslept when he wished to wake +early, and is hurried in consequence. Proceeding to dress, he finds +a button off, or a stud misplaced; a real vexation, though a small +one; but Theodore never thinks of asking for help in such a matter as +that. He would perhaps regard such a prayer as almost a mockery. The +bell rings before he is ready, and he has, or thinks he has, no time +for morning devotions. By the time he reaches his office, he is in a +thoroughly bad humor, and ready to vent his annoyance on the first +person who comes across him.</p> + +<p>When Theodore reviews the events of the day, he is obliged to confess +that he has made a sad failure. He sees, with shame, that he has been +unjust and unkind; that he has, perhaps, offended one of God's little +ones, or put a stone of stumbling in the way of someone whom he is +trying to influence for good. He confesses his sin with penitence +and shame, but it does not occur to him to trace the trouble to its +source—the failing to seek for help against the first temptation.</p> + +<p>Oh that all of us, who profess and call ourselves Christians, could +come to realize in our inmost souls, that in us, that is, in our flesh, +dwells no good thing; that in very deed we have no power of ourselves +to help ourselves in great things or small! It is a thought humbling +to human pride, no doubt, but it is true. Every good thing, every good +gift, is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights (James +i. 17), and thrives in the soil of this lower world only by careful +cultivation. Spiritual strength, and the power to resist temptation, +are no exception to this rule. They must come from above, in the first +place, and they must be continually watered from above if they are to +live. You might better set a willow-tree in the midst of the great +American Desert, and expect it to grow there without irrigation, as +to expect any Christian grace or virtue to live in your heart without +constant watering from the Divine Fountain, which gave it life in the +first place.</p> + +<p>This fact of our utter helplessness to do the least good thing of +ourselves would be very discouraging; would, indeed, lead us to utter +despair if it stood alone. But God is all-knowing, and He sees that we +have no power of ourselves to help ourselves. He is almighty. Nothing +is too hard for Him. All things are in His hand, from the whole visible +universe to the least grain which helps to make it; from the highest +archangel to the tiny baby which was christened yesterday, and whose +christening robe was also its burial dress. Nothing is too great for +His power, nothing too small for his care and love. He is our Father. +He loves each one of His children as much as if that child were the +only one, and He has laid up for each one such good things as pass +man's understanding.</p> + +<p>And this all-powerful, all-loving God knows all our needs and all our +weakness. "He knoweth whereof we are made; He remembereth that we are +but dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.) He sees that we have no power of ourselves +to help ourselves, and His help is always ready. Yea, the whole power +of Almighty God is enlisted on the side of the weakest child who is +trying to please Him. But He will not force His help on any one.</p> + +<p>His hand is always held out, but we are free to lay hold on it or not, +as we will. We may neglect or slight His offers if we choose, but we +must take the consequences. We may, if we please, kindle a fire for +ourselves, and try to walk in the light of it; but this shall we have +of His hand: we shall lie down in sorrow. (Isa. l. 11.)</p> + +<p>      Isa. li.              +           S. John x. 19.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_13"><em>SECOND MONDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>EVIL THOUGHTS AND THEIR REMEDY.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>EVERY Christian knows what it is to be troubled with evil thoughts. +Bunyan, than whom no uninspired man was ever better acquainted with the +human heart, makes it one of his Pilgrim's trials that he bore away +with him from the City of Destruction some of those things that he was +conversant withal, especially his inward and carnal cogitations; and +he adds, sorrowfully, "If I had my way, I would never think of those +things more, but when I would do good, evil is present with me."</p> + +<p>How often is his experience ours! How many times we find ourselves +haunted with what we would fain forget! Some one offers us an affront. +We have no desire to cherish a grudge, and perhaps we make an act of +forgiveness on the spot; but all day long the scornful word or the +unkind act haunts our memory, and Satan conspires with the traitor +in our own hearts to magnify the offense, and to suggest thoughts of +malice and revenge. We are denied some pleasure or indulgence that +others enjoy, and to which we think, perhaps, that we have a better +right than they, and we dwell upon the matter, magnifying the forbidden +pleasure or advantage till it becomes a dark fog, blotting out every +pleasant prospect and shutting us up in measureless discontent.</p> + +<p>I believe that invalids are particularly subject to this kind of +temptation. The horizon of the sick person is narrow at the best, and +a small cloud suffices to obscure it. Moreover, there are certain +disorders which seem of themselves particularly favorable to evil +thoughts. The patient is, or fancies himself, neglected or forgotten. +He is tempted to envy those better off than himself. He thinks of all +the good work he has done, and of all he might do, and he is tempted +to think hardly of the Master, who seems to have rejected his service. +These and still darker thoughts beset the daily couch and nightly +pillow of the invalid, till he feels as if Satan in bodily presence +were standing at his bedside.</p> + +<p>Now what is the remedy for this unhappy state of things? The first +thing to be done is to recognize these thoughts as sins. We are too +apt to excuse them to ourselves as mere infirmities, consequent on our +state of health. They may be so to some extent. All our sins are the +consequence of some temptation. So long as we constantly make excuses +for our faults, so long they will stay by us, and consider themselves +as welcome guests. Let us call them by their right names to begin +with, and, like the malicious dwarf in the fairy tale, they are half +conquered already.</p> + +<p>The next thing to be done with our evil thoughts is to crowd them out. +It has been said that Nature abhors a vacuum, but Satan loves one +because it gives him a place wherein to bestow his wares. Let us try to +so occupy our mind with good things that there shall be no room for the +bad ones. Let us fill our memories with good and pleasant things, that +we may from time to time take out our treasures, and refresh ourselves +with the sight of them. Christian found his inward enemies were +vanquished when he looked upon his broidered coat—that robe of Christ's +righteousness given him instead of his own rags; when he read in his +roll—that evidence of his salvation given to every humble believer in +God's word; and above all, when his thoughts waxed warm about the place +to which he was going. Try his method.</p> + +<p>Then, too, we must use the weapon put into our hands for this very +purpose—the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; and to +the end that we may have the full benefit thereof, we must accustom +ourselves to its use. We must store our memory with its promises, its +counsels and instructions.</p> + +<p>I once asked a venerable minister what book I should read in Lent.</p> + +<p>His answer was, "The Bible"; and he added, "I could wish that +Christians would put aside all other books during Lent, and read the +Bible alone."</p> + +<p>Without going so far as this, I would earnestly warn every one not to +let the Bible be crowded out by any book, however edifying. Do not be +content with merely reading, but study it. Learn by heart such passages +as are likely to be most useful, and so familiarize yourself with the +book as to be able to turn at once to anything you want. A sick-bed or +chamber is not the best place to begin this practice, but it is better +begun there than never.</p> + +<p>Above all, let us, like Christian in the shadow of death, betake +ourselves to the weapon called "all prayer." Let us make haste to +escape to Him who is our strong tower and house of defense. Let the +language of our hearts be that of the Psalmist: "Into thine hands I +commit my spirit, for Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." (Ps. +xxxi. 5.) So shall He defend us under His wings and we shall be safe +under His feathers; His faithfulness and truth shall be our shield and +buckler. (Ps. xci. 4.)</p> + +<p>      Ps. xxxv.              +           St. John xiv.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_14"><em>SECOND TUESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>MEDITATION.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE best remedies for evil thoughts are good thoughts.</p> + +<p>It is, I fear, a sorrowful truth that in these days of activity +and bustle, in the Church and out of it, the duty and privilege of +Christian meditation is in danger of being pushed into the background, +or forgotten altogether. We read a few verses in the Bible, morning and +evening. Perhaps we keep some religious book on our table, and read a +little every day. All this is very well as far as it goes. But how many +Christians ever sit down to think out anything for themselves? We may +"hear and read" the Bible, but unless we "mark, learn, and inwardly +digest" as well, our souls may be half-starved in presence of a royal +banquet.</p> + +<p>Meditation, that is to say, serious and connected thought on a given +subject, is not an easy task. But, as an excellent writer aptly asks, +"Who ever said any Christian duty was easy?" Meditation is always hard +at first. It is often difficult to those who have practiced it for +years: there is so much to be done, and so little time; there are so +many trials of temper and feeling in our daily life, whether that life +be passed out of doors or in the confinement of a sick-room.</p> + +<p>This is all true. And every one of these statements is a plea for the +practice I am advocating. There are so many distractions, that we all +need the quiet of that "little sanctuary" which God has promised to be +to His people in all lands. (Ezek. xi. 16.) There are so many trials of +temper and feeling, that we all need to claim the promise, "Thou shalt +hide them privily by Thy presence from the provoking of all men." (Ps. +xxxi. 20.) There is so much to be done, and so little time to do it in, +that we cannot afford to miss any help which our Master has put in our +way. As well might the tree planted by the river (Jer. xvii. 8) spend +all its strength in putting forth branches and leaves, and forget to +stretch out its roots to the pure cold waters which run at its foot. +Unless it does so stretch out its roots, it might as well grow like the +heath in the desert.</p> + +<p>"But I do not know where to begin," says someone; "I do not know what +to think about." This is surely a needless difficulty. Is not the deep, +unfailing well at hand, yea, under your hand? Have you no Bible? Let +us look for a moment at that priceless model of meditation, the cxix. +Psalm. What is the key-note of that psalm but the consideration of +God's Word? "I will meditate in Thy statutes." "Open mine eyes, that I +may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." "Teach me, O Lord, the way +of Thy statutes." And so on from beginning to end. It is the Word of +God which must be the text of our meditations.</p> + +<p>"But how shall I set about it?"</p> + +<p>You are perhaps a Sunday-school teacher or pupil. (You should, if +possible, be one or the other.) If so, you have the subject of your +meditation cut out for you in your next Sunday's lesson. I advise you +to begin by memorizing it. In that way you can carry it about with you +wherever you go. Then turn it over in your mind, verse by verse, yea, +word by word. Sift it as if you were hunting for diamonds.</p> + +<p>Say to yourself, "Do I understand the exact meaning of this word, or +that allusion? How shall I explain that point? How shall I frame a +question which shall make the pupil bring out the meaning for himself?" +And finally, "What does the lesson teach me?" For, be assured, +unless it does say something to you, you will never make it speak to +any one else. If there were more of this kind of preparation, the +superintendent would not so often be grieved by the sorrowful spectacle +of a teacher sitting idly before an idle class, because he or she "has +finished the lesson, and does not know what to say."</p> + +<p>Permit me to give a short example to illustrate my meaning. Take the +first verse of the second chapter of St. Matthew—a simple passage, and +very familiar. "Jesus was born in Bethlehem." Where is Bethlehem? What +do I know about its situation, its distance from Jerusalem, its history +and present condition? Was it the home of Jesus' parents? How did He +happen to be born there? Then come the momentous questions: Who was +this babe of Bethlehem? Why was He born? What is He to me? And so you +see, this simple historical verse lifts for you the veil of the Holy of +Holies, where you can but wonder and adore.</p> + +<p>The prayer-book, also, will furnish abundant subjects for thought. +Take the collect for the day; say, for example, the ninth Sunday after +Trinity, which has a direct bearing on this subject. Why is it so +important to have right thoughts? What is the relation between thinking +and doing? What passages of Scripture bearing on this point can I +remember? And so on through the whole collect. There is, perhaps, not a +prayer in the Church service which will not afford matter for a week's +meditation; and no one knows the wealth concealed in the prayer-book +who has not treated it in this way. Try it, and see if at the end of +the Lenten season the Church service does not say more to you than ever +it did before.</p> + +<p>      Ps. cxix. 1-24.              +           2 Peter 1.<br></p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +NOTE.—The substance of this and the next chapter was printed in "Church +Work," some time ago.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_15"><em>THIRD WEDNESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>MEDITATION—Continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"MEDITATION is all very well for people of leisure," says some one, +"but I am busy from morning till night. I have no time."</p> + +<p>To this I answer: "Are you quite sure you have no time? Let me ask you +to look back upon your day, and tell yourself honestly how much time +has been spent in melancholy musing, in useless regret, or worse than +useless foreboding; perhaps, in brooding over some real or fancied +injury or affront. Surely these hours would have been more pleasantly +and profitably spent in the way I have suggested. Just because you have +so much to do, you need the refreshment of the hidden spring—of the +pure water which flows from the Fountain of Life."</p> + +<p>"I am engaged in a great deal of Church and charitable work," says +another; "has it not been said that labor is prayer? And may it not +take the place of meditation as well?"</p> + +<p>Just as well, and no better. You might as well say that labor is +eating. It is a pretty and plausible saying, but it is not true. +Labor is not prayer, any more than it is food or sleep. No one needs +more the refreshment of the hidden spring than the person who is +engaged in mission or charitable work. There is so much to discourage +and dishearten, there are so many failures and disappointments and +mistakes, that the worker needs all the aid and comfort procurable not +to grow morbid and discouraged.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is all very well for healthy people," says another, "but I am +an invalid."</p> + +<p>Just because you are an invalid do you need to learn the art of +governing your thoughts. No one is tempted more than an invalid to +the indulgence of those useless and harmful musings of which I have +spoken. Sharp and severe illness is an occupation in itself. But to +the chronic patient; able to be about a little, perhaps to do a little +light work, how long are the hours of the day! How much longer those of +the night! How fancy pictures to us the pleasures of the world which we +cannot enjoy! How often do Satan and our own corrupt hearts conspire +to suggest hard and unkind thoughts of friends and attendants, yea, +even of God Himself. How are our uneasy pillows haunted with the ghosts +of dead joys and hopes and plans, and still more dread phantoms of +sins and failures and fears for the future! I have been a bad sleeper +all my life, and in many an hour of wakefulness have I blessed the +old-fashioned Sunday-school method of "seven verses and a hymn," which +stored my mind with whole chapters of the Bible, and with the best +devotional poetry. I wish this old fashion could become a new fashion +again. I have never seen a better.</p> + +<p>"But there is such an abundance of good books!"</p> + +<p>True, but all the books in the world are worth very little to the +person who is content with merely reading them. We can think, moreover, +when we cannot read, and half an hour's earnest and prayerful +consideration of a chapter or verse of God's word will be of more value +than a dozen commentaries without such consideration.</p> + +<p>It is good always to begin and end our meditations with prayer. It is +good, too, at times, to turn our meditation into contemplation; in +simply making real to ourselves His presence who has said, "Lo, I am +with you alway." (St. Matt. xxviii. 20.) "If any man ... open the door, +I will come in ... and ... sup with him, and he with Me." (Rev. iii. +20.)</p> + +<p>Let me beg of all who read this chapter and who have never done so, to +make trial of its recommendations through the Lenten season. Do not be +discouraged, though you fail many times, though again and again you +find your thoughts wandering to the ends of the earth. Drive them back +to their appointed work every time. By and by you will find them less +inclined to stray. The hard task will become a pleasure, and you will +be amply rewarded for your pains when you find Divine truth growing +more and more clear and precious, when you find yourself better and +better able to turn away from painful and unprofitable thoughts, to +take refuge in the Lord's presence from the provoking of all men, and +to rest under the shadow of the Great Rock in the weary land. Then your +heart shall not be "like the heath in the desert, and shall not see +when good cometh," but rather "as a tree planted by the waters, and +that spreadeth out her roots by the river; and shall not see when heat +cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the +year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." (Jer. xvii. +6, 8.)</p> + +<p>      Jer. xvii.              +           Rev. iii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_16"><em>THIRD THURSDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>PRAYER.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE Christian is to pray without ceasing; that is, he is always to +be in the spirit of prayer. He is, by God's help, to strive to keep +himself in such a state that he can at any moment lift up his heart and +mind to his Heavenly Father, and that as much in the round of his daily +business as in his closet. He is to strive to carry about with him an +habitual sense of the presence of God, and of dependence upon Him for +all things.</p> + +<p>"Use lessens marvel," says the old proverb, and the saying is true. The +most surprising discoveries in science, the most wonderful applications +of these discoveries to the arts, cease to astonish us in a very +short time. There is nothing in the Arabian Nights which sounds more +incredible than that the movement of a wheel turned by a waterfall +should light up a great city. Yet every child has become used to the +electric light, and thinks no more marvel of it than his grandfather +did of a candle.</p> + +<p>So it is with prayer. Every child of a Christian mother is taught +to pray as soon as it can speak, and accepts without question the +instruction that prayer is talking to his Father in Heaven. He prays +God to bless his father, who is sailing on the sea, and his brother in +a distant city, and it seems no more wonderful to him than that the +street light should make a pretty picture on the wall of his nursery. +And yet what a wonder is prayer, when we come to consider it! All the +marvels of man's discovery and invention shrink into nothing before it. +I was once telling some little girls about the telephone and saying how +strange it seemed to talk with a friend twenty miles away. "Yes," said +one, "but we can talk to God without a wire."</p> + +<p>The great God who upholds the Universe in His hand, and orders all +things by His omnipotent power and wisdom, has his ear always open to +the appeal of his feeblest child. Not a sigh from a sick-bed, not a +prayer lisped at the mother's knee, not a cry from the deepest dungeon, +but is heard and marked by Him. From every place on earth, the way is +open to His throne. The mother who has a son in China can send him help +by this road. The poor widow in the almshouse can lighten the trials of +her lot; yea, though she have not a penny to give to the cause, she can +help the missionary in the farthest distant field by her prayers. When +we can do no more for our friends, we can commend them to the prayers +of the Church. Alas! We too often wait till we can do no more.</p> + +<p>I close this chapter with an extract from Professor Phelps's admirable +book, "The Still Hour."</p> + +<p>"In the vestibule of St. Peter's at Rome is a doorway which is walled +up, and marked with a cross. It is opened but four times in a century. +On Christmas eve, once in twenty-five years, the Pope approaches it in +princely state, with a retinue of cardinals in attendance, and begins +the demolition of the door by striking it three times with a silver +hammer. When the passage is opened, the multitude pass into the nave of +the cathedral and up to the altar by an avenue which the majority of +them never entered before, and never will enter thus again.</p> + +<p>"Imagine that the way to the Throne of Grace were like the Porta Santa, +inaccessible save once in a quarter of a century, on the twenty-fifth +of December, and then only with august solemnities, conducted by great +dignitaries in a distant city. Conceive that it were now ten years +since you or I, or any other sinner, had been 'permitted' to pray; +and that fifteen long years must drag themselves away before we could +venture to approach God; and that, at the most, we could not hope to +pray more than two or three times in a lifetime—with what solicitude +should we wait for the coming of that holy day!</p> + +<p>"We should lay our plans of life, select our homes, build our houses, +choose our professions, with reference to a pilgrimage in that +twenty-fifth year. We should reckon time by the opening of that sacred +door as by epochs. No other one thought would engross so much of our +lives, or kindle our sensibilities so exquisitely, as the thought of +prayer. It would be of more significance to us than the thought of +death is now. Fear would grow to horror at the thought of dying before +that Jubilee.</p> + +<p>"Yet on that great day, amidst an innumerable throng, within sight and +hearing of stately rites, what would prayer be to us? Who would value +it in the comparison of those still moments, that—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "'Sacred silence of the mind,'<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"in which we can now find God every day and everywhere? That day would +be more like the day of Judgment to us than like the sweet minutes of +converse with our Father, which we may now have every hour. We should +appreciate this privilege of hourly prayer if it were once taken from +us."</p> + +<p>      Ps. lxxvii.              +           St. Luke xi. 1-14.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_17"><em>THIRD FRIDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>PRAYER.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WHAT is prayer?</p> + +<p>Prayer, in its primary sense, means simply asking. We find the word +constantly used in this sense in Scripture and elsewhere; as when +Elijah says to the widow woman of Zarephath, "Fetch me, I pray thee, +a little water." But prayer, as the word has come to be used in the +whole Church, has a much higher signification. It means speaking to +God. It means pouring out our hearts to Him—telling Him all our wants, +our wishes, our hindrances and temptations, our trials from without and +from within. It means asking not only for ourselves, but for others; +our families, our fellow church-members, our pupils, our country and +its rulers, yea, even our enemies. (S. Matt. v. 44.)</p> + +<p>There is no matter too great for it, and none too small. There is no +man so holy as not to need it to keep him good, and none so wicked that +he may not use it to make him better. The way of prayer is open to +every one. It is the open door set before every child of God, which no +man can shut. The Christian may be a slave, or a prisoner watched by +soldiers, beset by spies, loaded with fetters in the deepest dungeon on +earth. In the prisons of the Inquisition, the captive was condemned to +a perpetual silence. Not a word, not a groan, must escape his lips, on +pain of the gag. But his cruel and relentless jailers could not prevent +him from speaking to his God, nor could they prevent the unspoken words +from entering the ear for which they were intended. That was beyond +their power.</p> + +<p>The courts of earthly kings are places of resort for great people, +for the noble, the rich and beautiful of their subjects. The poor and +lowly have no room there. But the courts of the King of kings are as +free to the poorest laboring man and woman as to those to whose luxury +they minister; nay, it may well be that the slave will find entrance +and kind entertainment when his master is shut out. Nor is ignorance +or weakness of intellect a bar to acceptance. The broken language of +the poor negro, the lisping accents of the little child, are as musical +to the great Father of all as the hymns of the poet, or the highest +flights of the philosopher. He sees the heart, and it is the heart +which prays.</p> + +<p>What is requisite to acceptable prayer?</p> + +<p>First of all, faith. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, +and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Heb. xi. +6.) A moment's consideration makes this perfectly plain. We shall not +ask of any person a boon, unless we believe that the person exists, and +that we shall gain something by the application. We must ask in faith; +that is, in the belief that we are speaking to a kind Father, whose +heart is warm toward us, and who loves to do us good.</p> + +<p>Some good people believe that God will give us just what we ask for. +They will even tell us that, if we do not so receive, it is because we +do not ask in faith. I believe this to be a mischievous mistake. God +knows our necessities before we ask, and He also knows our ignorance +in asking. We do not always know whether the thing we ask is the best +thing. Our Father sees our lives "in the whole of our duration, whether +now or ever so many ages hence," as a distinguished author has it, and—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"The All-wise is the All-loving too!"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>All things are in his power, and it costs Him no more to give one than +another. Every prayer reaches His ear and heart, and every one is +answered, but not always in the way we expect. Sometimes He gives us +something else than the thing we desire, as a tender mother gives her +child wholesome food at the same time that she withholds the coveted +but unwholesome dainty. Sometimes, too, like the same wise mother, He +answers, gently but firmly, "No!" But even when He says No, He does not +leave His child uncomforted.</p> + +<p>"I have learned by experience," says an aged saint of God, "that when +He refuses me anything, by and by He comforts me in Himself without it."</p> + +<p>We must pray with faith, and with resignation to God's will, but we +must also ask with perseverance. Our Lord gives us the warrant for +this in the parables of the importunate friend (St. Luke xi), and of +the unjust judge (St. Luke xviii). We are to "pray always, and not to +faint." (St. Luke xviii. 1.) We are to: "praying always with all prayer +and supplication." (Eph. vi. 18.) We are to "pray without ceasing." (1 +Thess. v. 17.) We must not be content with asking once or twice, but we +must keep asking again and again. Some blessing will come in answer to +persevering prayer, though it may not always be the one we seek.</p> + +<p>There is one blessing, and that the greatest, which we may always ask +in full confidence of receiving, and that is the gift of the Holy +Spirit. Our Lord tells us that earthly parents are not so ready to +give good gifts to their children, as His father and ours is to give +the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. (St. Luke xi. 13.) And this +very gift helps us to pray acceptably, for "the Spirit also helpeth +our infirmities," interceding for us with "groanings which cannot be +uttered." "And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of +the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to +the will of God." (Rom. viii. 26, 27.)</p> + +<p>      Ps. xxv.              +           St. Luke xi. 1-14.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_18"><em>THIRD SATURDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>INTERCESSION.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WE are not to be selfish in our prayers. Our Lord teaches us this +lesson in the very first words of the form of prayer which He Himself +has given us: "When ye pray, say, Our Father."</p> + +<p>Of course, if God is "our" Father, He is "your" Father and "mine" as +well. Nay, we must lay hold of this truth of God's individual care and +love for His children, before we can pray as we ought. But our Lord +would bring home to our minds that, as we are members of Christ, so +we are members one of another. We are sons and daughters of the great +King, and so brothers and sisters; and thence it follows that, as +members of one family, we have duties to perform toward each other. +It is the very definition of a member that it is part of an organism +fitted to perform certain offices for the good of the whole. We see, in +the human body, that the hand has one office, the eye another, and so +on. So it is in the body of Christ, which is His Church—each member has +his place and his duties. One of these duties is intercessory prayer.</p> + +<p>We have the commands of God in Holy Scripture for this matter, which +should of itself be enough for us: "I exhort therefore, that, first of +all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be +made for all men;... for this is good and acceptable in the sight of +God our Saviour." (1 Tim. ii. 1, 3.) St. Paul again and again asks the +prayers of those to whom his letters are addressed. "Brethren, pray +for us." (1 Thess. v. 25.) "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same +with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us" (Col. iv. 2, 3); and so +in other places. Our Lord Himself, our perfect pattern, sets us the +highest example of this kind of prayer, concluding His last discourse +to the twelve with that most wonderful intercession contained in the +seventeenth chapter of St. John.</p> + +<p>Following the example of her Head, the Church teaches us the same +lesson. We are taught to pray for our rulers, for the clergy, for all +sorts and conditions of men. The Litany is in a great measure made up +of intercessions. Also in the most solemn service of all—that of the +Holy Communion—we are taught to pray for the whole estate of Christ's +church militant.</p> + +<p>These reasons ought to be enough, if there were no others, to move us +to the duty of intercession. It hardly seems, indeed, as if we ought +to need a "command," however glad we may be of the encouragement. Is +it not a privilege as well as a duty to carry our friends' dangers +and needs and trials to the Mercy Seat? Is it not much to commend to +our Father's care our nearest and dearest, and to join our prayers to +theirs, thus obtaining the benefit of the promise that when two are +agreed on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done +for them? (St. Matt. xviii. 19.)</p> + +<p>We may help those by our prayers whom we can help in no other way. The +most obstinate sinner, the most rampant infidel, the most careless and +indifferent person in the world, cannot keep his friends from praying +for him. The son may disregard his mother's tears and counsels, but +her prayers will follow him in spite of himself. Nay, more, the very +consciousness that such prayers were following him has kept more than +one such wanderer from an irretrievable fall, and brought him back +to his mother's arms. Prayer girdles the earth more quickly than the +electric spark, and no one upon that earth is out of its reach.</p> + +<p>Those who can help the good works of the Church in no other way can do +so by prayer. The invalid in her room or on her bed, who is too weak +perhaps to hold a pen or a needle, can help the toiler in China or the +far West; can call down blessing from the Divine Treasury, and strength +and grace from the Fountain of all good, for the man or woman she has +never seen. The poor old black woman in the gallery of the church, +without a penny to call her own, can strengthen the hands and cheer the +heart of the eloquent missionary bishop who enters the pulpit to make +known to the people what God has wrought in a distant land. Surely such +a privilege is worth a great deal to the true child of God, who desires +with the whole heart the coming of her Lord and His kingdom, but yet +can do nothing, humanly speaking, to hasten it on.</p> + +<p>It is certain that we cannot honestly pray for people without wishing +to help them in other ways. The man whose prayers are a mere decent +form, or a sheer pretence and hypocrisy, may pray in general for the +cause of Christ in the world without raising his hand or denying +himself one indulgence for it, but not the man who prays in earnest, +"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." To +him, "Thy kingdom come" means also, "Let me help to bring it," and "Thy +will be done" means also, "Let me do it." It is said of St. Chrysostom, +that he kept a box on the stool where he was wont to kneel in prayer, +and with every petition for the poor he deposited a coin in the +treasury.</p> + +<p>Finally, praying for others helps us to pray for ourselves. When our +hearts seem dull and cold, and so heavy that we cannot raise them up to +heaven, an intercession will often lend them wings. We shall go back to +our own needs with renewed faith and hope, and find the burden removed +that held us down.</p> + +<p>Let us, then, be instant in prayer and supplication, not only for +ourselves, but for our friends and relatives, our pupils or teachers, +for our own parish and all its interests, for the Church at large, for +our country, and for all sorts and conditions of men. And let us not +be weary in so doing, till "they shall teach no more every man his +neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all +shall know Him, from the least of them even unto the greatest of them." +(Jer. xxxi. 34.) Yea, "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth +as the waters cover the sea." (Hab. ii. 14.)</p> + +<p>      Is. lxii.              +           1 Tim. ii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_19"><em>THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>OUR ENEMIES.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IN the collect for the day we ask for defense against our enemies. +"Stretch out Thy right hand to be our defense against our enemies." The +right hand is the symbol both of power and skill. It is especially so +among Orientals, with whom it is reserved for all the nobler offices, +the left hand performing those which are more humble or unclean. We +find in the Psalms and the prophets, that the right hand of God is +usually spoken of as the especial seat of His power, as in Ps. cxviii. +16. "The right hand of the Lord hath the pre-eminence; the right hand +of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass."</p> + +<p>To the Christian the right hand of the Lord means even more than it did +to the Jew, for it is there that his Saviour is enthroned, and ever +remains, to make intercession for him. Saint Stephen was vouchsafed the +vision of his risen Lord, thus placed, no doubt, to strengthen him for +his coming trial, and there shall we all see him who are counted worthy +to attain to the first resurrection.</p> + +<p>"To think," said an aged saint to whom I had just been reading the +Bible, "to think that I shall see Jesus at the right hand of God! Oh, +if I might but once touch His hand!"</p> + +<p>The very thought lighted up her plain face with a smile which made it +beautiful.</p> + +<p>God is our defense. All the Scriptures are full of the thought, but +especially the Psalms. God will help the poor and needy, and will set +him at rest. (Ps. lxii. 6.) "The Lord is my stony rock, and my defense, +my Saviour, my God and my might, in whom I will trust; my buckler, the +horn also of my salvation, and my refuge." (Ps. xviii. 2.) "Though I +walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; +for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me." (Ps. xxiii. 4.)</p> + +<p>And so again and again we have our Heavenly Father's promise to defend +His children against all their enemies, both spiritual and temporal. +True, we must walk through the wilderness of this world, but we need +not walk alone. True, we walk in the midst of enemies, yet "they that +be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings vi. 16), +and if our eyes were opened, like those of the prophet's servant, we +should, like him, see the angel hosts sent for defense. We may, nay we +must, hunger and thirst, but the Lord will cause waters to break out in +the wilderness, and streams in the desert. (Isa. xxxv. 6.) We need be +afraid of none of its terrors. The light will break forth and the sun +will rise, and show the ground covered with manna for our refreshment.</p> + +<p>The thought of our God as a defense and shield should be a help and +comfort to those Christians who are troubled with fears. There are +those, especially among invalids, whose lives are made a burden to +themselves and others by needless fears. They are afraid of lightning, +of fire, of robbers, of they know not what. They feel as if every +thunderbolt had a special commission for them; as if every blast of +wind were a destroying angel. These fears are often merely nervous +symptoms, but even then they are very much under the control of the +patient. Let me say to such an one, Do but think, do but try to realize +to yourself the fact that the Lord's right hand is stretched out to be +your defense in all dangers—that He will defend thee under His wings, +and thou shalt be safe under His feathers. Consider that the darkness +is no darkness to Him, but the night is as clear as the day. (Ps. +cxxxix. 11.)</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"When first before the mercy-seat<br> + Thou didst thine all to Him commit,<br> + He gave thee warrant from that hour<br> + To trust His mercy, love, and power."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Are not these terrors, then, an affront to Him, as implying a distrust +in His plighted word? Dismiss them, then! Send them back to the +darkness where they belong, and let your motto be, "I will lay me down +in peace, and take my rest: for it is Thou, Lord, that makest me dwell +in safety." (Ps. iv. 8.)</p> + +<p>      Ps. xci.              +           St. John xiv.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_20"><em>THIRD MONDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>OUR ENEMIES.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WE have seen that the collect we are considering has its foundation, +like all the prayers that we learn at the knee of our mother, the +Church, in the promises of God's word, and are therefore sure to be +answered in some way. Observe, however, that it is nowhere said in +the Bible that we are not to meet with adversities. Nay, we are told +the express contrary. All His life long our Master endured hardship +and trouble; and the servant is not above his Master. "In the world +ye shall have tribulation," says our Lord to His apostles, but He +graciously adds: "Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (St. +John xvi. 33.)</p> + +<p>What are those enemies which the Christian has to dread, and against +which he has special need to pray for deliverance?</p> + +<p>Here, again, our Lord leaves us in no doubt. "Fear not them which kill +the body, and are not able to kill the soul" (St. Matt. x. 28); and +again, "Fear not them that kill the body, and, after that, have no more +that they can do." (St. Luke xii. 4.) This shuts out all that class of +terrors of which I spoke in the last chapter. The cruelest murderer, +the most destructive storm or earthquake, the most noisome pestilence, +can only kill that which must die at any rate—which brought its +death-warrant with it when it came into the world. They cannot destroy +the real man or woman; nay, all their forces combined cannot deprive +him of the very least of those things which God hath prepared for them +that love Him (1 Cor. ii. 9); nor of one moment of that eternal life +which God hath given us in His Son. (1 John v. 11.)</p> + +<p>Clearly, then, the enemies we have to fear are those which assault and +hurt the soul, and which, unless steadfastly resisted, are able to make +our way dark and perilous, if not to deprive us of that inheritance +which has been prepared for us. It is they whom we are to combat +with all our force, and against whom we must specially ask our great +Defender to stretch out His right hand. Yet even here we must not show +ourselves coward and craven. We are soldiers of Christ. Let us never +forget that. Every battle is fought for Him, every victory is a victory +over His enemies as well as our own. He will never leave us to struggle +alone, but is always with us, though we cannot always perceive Him. Let +us, then, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, knowing +that His Father, who gave us to Him, is greater than all, and none is +able to pluck us out of His hand. (St. John x. 29.)</p> + +<p>Our spiritual enemies may all be classed under three heads—the world, +the flesh, and the devil. Against these we are to fight manfully and to +the death, never laying down our arms, never relaxing our vigilance, +and, even though apparently beaten for the time, never giving up, +till our Great Commander shall see our warfare accomplished, and call +us home. It is the Christian's paradox that there is no peace except +in war. If we give up the contest, we become slaves; and though our +conquerors give us all the goods they have to bestow in this life, they +do but treat us as cannibals treat their prisoners—fattening them, that +they may devour them at last.</p> + +<p>      Hab. ii.              +           St. Luke xii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_21"><em>THIRD TUESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE WORLD.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>EVERY general strives to know all that he can about his enemy, his +nature and position, his powers and resources, and tries to foresee the +plans of that enemy's attack, that he may be able to meet and frustrate +them. Let us, then, inquire a little into the nature of those foes +which beset our homeward path, and which would, if they could, hinder +us from reaching the rest prepared for us in our Father's house. First +of all, what is meant by the world?</p> + +<p>The world means all that outside of ourselves which is alienated from +and opposed to God, which is governed by and devoted to the things +which are temporal, and ignores, if it does not hate, the things which +are eternal. It is very wise in its own eyes; yea, according to its own +canons, and from its own standpoint, wiser than the children of light. +It is dreadfully in earnest in the things which it pursues, though +those things may be of the most frivolous description. It gets into all +sorts of places, alas even into the Church itself, running here and +there for meat, and grudging if it be not satisfied, which, indeed, it +never is. It is a severe master to its votaries, exacting the hardest +and the most exclusive services and the most cruel sacrifices, and +rewarding them at last with husks and rags.</p> + +<p>The world puts on many disguises. To one it comes under the name of +business, demanding of its slave that he shall give up everything else +for the pursuit of money. It does not make this demand of every man +at the beginning, and in so many words. No, it is more cunning than +that. It tells him that it is his duty to provide for his family, not +only needful food and clothes and the means of education, but a fine +house in a fashionable quarter, and as many luxuries as his neighbor +possesses. It makes him press hard on those who labor for him, and +exact much work for little pay. It makes him rent tenements to men and +women which are not fit for pigs to live in, and grudge the smallest +outlay for the health and comfort of his tenants. It makes him plan and +scheme to add a few thousands more to his useless millions, by raising +the price of fuel and food to the poor man. By and by, the world has +done with him. He speculates a little too rashly, and his wealth goes +as it came. Or God says to him, "Thou fool! This night thy soul shall +be required of thee!" and he goes forth from the visible and unreal to +the invisible and real, a shivering, hungry, naked soul, homeless to +all eternity. And that world for which he has toiled and sacrificed +misses him as much as he missed the consumptive girl who breathed the +foul air of his factory till her young life was poisoned, and she +dropped at her machine, and went home to die.</p> + +<p>The world comes to a woman with a family of little ones, and bids her +leave these immortal pledges of God's love to servants, to learn their +very prayers from alien lips, and spend her nights in amusements, +and her days in planning for the nights. It exacts of her that she +shall risk her health and blunt her sense of delicacy by immodest and +insufficient clothing. It tell her that these things are necessary, a +debt that she owes to society, and whispers that she can make up for +all that needs an atonement, by putting on a sober dress and going to +church regularly in Lent, or by giving about the fiftieth part of what +her dress costs in charity.</p> + +<p>To another woman, the world comes in sober attire, with a housewifely +apron and a bunch of keys. It has another bait for this one, who +would not attend a ballet for the world, and looks with horror on a +game of cards. This woman's world is her house-keeping, and she can +see nothing else. She would feel herself disgraced forever, if her +neighbor put up more cans of fruit or gave more kinds of cake to her +company than herself. Talk to her of the sewing-school or the district +visiting society, and she will tell you of her anxieties about the +doing up of her lace curtains. Tell her of the needs of the heathen, +at home or abroad, she may listen politely, but her duty, she says, +is to her own family, and she cannot do anything to help you because +her dining-room chairs are quite out of fashion, and she must have new +ones. Ask her to see that her little daughter has her catechism learned +for Sunday-school, and she will tell you, as she sews the elaborate and +costly trimming on the child's dress, that she has no time.</p> + +<p>We are in bondage to the world so soon as we let the seen and temporal, +no matter in what shape it comes, blind us to the unseen and eternal. +We are in cruel bondage when we let the fear of what the world may +say about us lead us to do what we know to be inconsistent with our +baptismal vows and our loyalty to our Lord. We are slaves to the world +when we allow any of the things which live in time and perish with time +to possess our hearts to the exclusion of those things which belong to +eternity. It is true, that as long as we are on the earth, the things +of earth must claim much of our attention. Thank God! all these things +may be made holy by an honest intention. But we cannot serve God and +mammon, and he who tries to do so will in the end find himself deserted +of both, and left to himself, that worst of all fates, from which may +God in His mercy keep us all!</p> + +<p>      Psalm lxxiii.              +           St. Luke xvi.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_22"><em>FOURTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE FLESH.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WHO and what are the enemies that come to us under this name?</p> + +<p>All those pleasures and pursuits which appeal only or chiefly to our +senses; to our earthly and mortal natures; to that carnal mind which +St. Paul tells us is not, and by its very nature cannot be, subject to +the law of God. The enemies of the flesh are all the more dangerous +because they appear under the disguise of friends—of things harmless, +and even necessary, in themselves. They are like slaves, serving their +masters in deed, but with secret enmity, always watching their chance +to rebel, and the cruelest of tyrants when they gain the mastery. Just +because we cannot do without them, we need to guard against their abuse.</p> + +<p>How much money is wasted every year upon table luxuries, which the +consumers would be as well or better without! How many become such +slaves to certain articles of food and drink that they find it almost +impossible to do without these things, though they know, on the best +authority, that health is being injured by their use! How many are +vexed and put out of temper if their bodily comfort is invaded in the +smallest degree! More than once have I seen the comfort of a whole +table-full destroyed, and the meal rendered distasteful, by some one +person, who persisted in finding fault with everything set upon the +board.</p> + +<p>It may seem at first sight a singular statement, that invalids need +especially to maintain a strict watch over themselves in the matter of +indulgence in eating and drinking, but I believe it is true. There is +perhaps more excuse to be made for them than for most others, because +they are, perforce, obliged to think a good deal of the matter; but for +this very reason they need to guard themselves against dwelling too +much on it, and against harmful self-indulgence. I have seen invalids +keep themselves in a chronic state of discomfort, and consequent +fretfulness, by eating too much. And it is an odd circumstance, though +one well-known to doctors and nurses, that these very people are often +fully convinced that they eat little or nothing.</p> + +<p>Invalids are often led to injure themselves by an inordinate use of the +drugs and stimulants prescribed by physicians. They find the use of +such remedies followed by pleasant sensations, and take them many times +when they are not really needful; and are so made the opium drunkard, +the chloral drunkard, and not infrequently the whisky drunkard as well. +I use the word advisedly. The man who lives upon laudanum, the woman +who indulges in morphine or chloral, is just as much a drunkard as the +man or woman who gets tipsy in the corner saloon, and usually an even +more hopeless case. The whisky drunkard will often admit that he is +such; the opium drunkard never.</p> + +<p>The remedy for all these evils is to be found in one word—temperance. +"Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things." +(1 Cor. ix. 25.) The word "temperance" has come to be used in such +a confined sense, that we are in danger of forgetting its larger +application. We are to be temperate in all things; that is, we are to +use them in such moderation as that they shall do us good instead of +harm, and to have the mastery over our appetites, so we shall command +them, and not they us.</p> + +<p>I have been speaking of such things as are in themselves harmless, +and even useful, but there are other temptations which come under the +head of "the flesh," and to which the word "temperate" does not apply, +because the soldier of Christ has no right to touch them at all. Such +are all those indulgences which tend to blunt the moral sense, and to +arouse bad thoughts and passions. These things often come to us under +very pretty disguises of art, literature, and the like.</p> + +<p>I have known a Christian read a vile book, hardly fit for a decent +kitchen fire, excusing himself on the ground of the beautiful style—as +if one should take poison because it was presented in a finely carved +bowl. Christian women go to see other women—young girls, as precious in +God's sight as their own daughters—exhibit themselves on the stage in +shamelessly indecent dresses and dances. Yes, and they come away and +express a virtuous horror of the poor creatures, who are not half as +bad as themselves, inasmuch as they are working hard for a living, and +not for idle amusement. A shamelessly wicked woman comes among us, and +people who profess and call themselves Christians go to see and applaud +her on the stage, because, forsooth, it is "an education in art."</p> + +<p>In all such matters there is but one rule for the Christian—"touch not, +taste not, handle not." Give the enemy no admission under any pretense, +however specious. Nobody was ever hurt by letting a doubtful pleasure +alone. Our carnal nature will in itself make us trouble enough without +any help. By God's grace we can keep it in subjection, but how can we +expect that grace, how dare we ask for it, if we run willfully into +temptation?</p> + +<p>      Ps. xvii.              +           1 Cor. x.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_23"><em>FOURTH THURSDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>OUR GHOSTLY ENEMY.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT seems rather the fashion, just now, to deny the existence of Satan +as a person at all. I suppose nothing could please him more than to +be so denied. "I don't believe in a personal devil," said a lady in a +Bible class; "I believe in a principle of evil." When asked to define +what she meant by a principle of evil, it appeared that she had no very +clear idea of the matter herself. The simple truth is that there is +as much proof of the personality of Satan as of the Holy Spirit, and +a believer in the Bible may as reasonably deny one as the other. Our +Lord always speaks of him as a living, thinking, active being, as in +St. John viii. 44, St. Matt. xiii. 19 and 39, and many other places. +Try substituting the words "principle of evil" in these passages, and +see what sense it will make. Satan is perhaps the most active member +of that famous old firm "the world, the flesh, and the devil," in +which indeed there are no silent partners. He is always ready to back +the others, and, what is still worse, he has a secret ally in every +heart, who, though crushed and kept under, is always trying to open +correspondence with its old friend. He does not come to us in hideous +disguise of hoof and horn, as the old painters have depicted him. None +but a fool would do that; and he is no fool as concerns the ends he +would compass. "The devil knows many things," says the Arab proverb, +"because he is very old." He knows how to put on many disguises, and +can on occasions transform himself into an angel of light.</p> + +<p>Pride and anger, envy, hatred, and malice, are usually the sins +specially attributed to Satan; but there is one class of sins which +are particularly his own. I refer to lying in all its branches, to +evil-speaking, slander, detraction, and the like. "When he speaketh +of a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of +it," says our Lord. (St. John viii. 44.) Slander is his business and +delight. He is "the accuser of our brethren" (Rev. xii. 10), and the +patron of them that do the like.</p> + +<p>This matter of evil-speaking is one that deserves grave consideration. +It is a common and crying evil. There are probably few—I wish I dared +say no—professing Christians who will deliberately invent a slander, +but how many are there who will repeat one without a thought, and +that of a fellow church-member, with whom they have perhaps knelt at +the Lord's table only the day before. Mrs. A. hears a tale of shame +concerning a young girl, which, if true, would be enough to blight +the young thing's character forever. She does not know if it be true +or false; perhaps she does not know the person by sight; but it is a +piece of news, and for the dear delight of telling a story she repeats +it—never, be it observed, without some slight addition, for few people +can repeat a thing exactly as they hear it. Mrs. A. does not think that +in so repeating a slander she is making herself responsible for it, +but such is the case, and God will hold her so if man does not. She +may think herself a very good woman at the very time that she is doing +Satan's dirtiest work for him. It is not necessary that slander should +always be put into direct words. An insinuation, a lifting of the hands +and eyes, nay, silence itself, may and often does say more than words.</p> + +<p>"A lie has a thousand legs, while the truth has but two," says the +Eastern proverb. No matter how often a false statement is repeated, +there is always some one to believe it and repeat it. Here is a +notable instance. Some one once said that "every sixpence given to the +heathen cost a dollar to send it." It is an utterly false statement, +and has been proved so a dozen times; yet it is constantly repeated, +and meets the missionary worker at every turn. "I have never cared to +have anything to do with Mrs. N., since she was found out taking goods +from G.'s store," said a person of one who was a fellow church-member. +"But that was entirely disproved," said I, indignantly; "it was shown +plainly that Mrs. N. simply took another parcel for her own—a mistake +anyone might make." "Oh well, I never heard that!" was the reply. "It +was an odd mistake, anyhow!" I suppose this story will be repeated to +Mrs. N.'s discredit for years to come, and not one in twenty who hears +it will hear the refutation.</p> + +<p>It is a safe rule never to repeat anything to the disadvantage of +another, unless absolutely necessary. The golden rule applies here as +everywhere, "Think, if you are tempted to retail a bit of personal +slander, how you would like it if the case were your own—if it were +yourself or your wife or daughter that was attacked." Think that every +fellow-Christian is a member of the Lord's body, and that in wounding +the members you wound also the Head. Another good rule is never to +repeat conversation. We all need the prayer, "Set a watch, O Lord, +before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips." (Ps. cxli. 3.) Finally, +since it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaketh, +let us strive to keep our hearts and minds as become the temples of the +Holy Ghost, pure and clean, and admit no visitors therein but such as +are worthy of that greatest and most honored of all guests.</p> + +<p>      Ps. cxli.              +           St. James iii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_24"><em>FOURTH FRIDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE GREAT TEMPTER.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"ONE thing I would not let slip: I took notice that poor Christian was +so confounded that he did not know his own voice; and thus I perceived +it. Just when he was come over against the mouth of the burning pit, +one of the wicked ones got behind him, and stepped up softly to him, +and whisperingly suggested many grievous blasphemies to him, which he +verily thought had proceeded from his own mind. This put Christian more +to it than anything that he met with before, even to think that he now +blasphemed Him that he loved before. Yet if he could have helped it, he +would not have done it; but he had not the discretion either to stop +his ears, or to know whence these blasphemies came."</p> + +<p>Does not this passage of Bunyan's describe the occasional experience +of many a Christian? We find ourselves assailed by doubts and fears, +by hard thoughts of our Father in Heaven, by wicked suggestions of +all sorts, till we are ready to despair of ourselves, and to think +ourselves hypocrites or castaways.</p> + +<p>How it is that Satan contrives to inject these evil suggestions, or why +he should be permitted to do so, I cannot tell, any more than I can +tell why evil should exist at all. It is a part of that great mystery +which may perhaps be explained in a future life, but certainly not +here. The practical question is, How are we to meet these assaults, and +what is the best way to repel them?</p> + +<p>An old writer has said that the best way to meet temptations is +to deal with them as one does with dogs which run out to bark at +passengers—walk straight on, and take no notice of them. This is, in +many cases, a good rule. Ignore the tempter altogether. Hold no parley +with him, but go straight on with whatever you are doing. He will grow +tired after a while, and let you alone. But if you must needs fight +him—and one cannot always escape the contest—be sure to use the weapons +your great Captain has put into your hands, and no other. Take the +shield of faith. Repel every doubt with an "I believe" and an "I know." +Be sure you are familiar with your sword, which is the Word of God. +Above all, never for one moment give up the contest. The Seneca Indians +have the correct theory on this subject. They hold that no evil spirit +or demon can hurt a man while he fights it, and does not give way to +fear; but that if he does so give way, it is all over with him. All the +powers of darkness combined cannot drag the weakest disciple from his +Saviour's arms so long as the will holds fast to its Lord. Remember +this, and show yourselves men.</p> + +<p>Remember, too, that there is a sure refuge always at hand, always +open, always strong to save. In old times, he who fled for refuge +to the altar of the church or temple was safe from his foe. So now, +that persecuted saint who takes refuge in the presence of God is in +"a little sanctuary." "In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His +tabernacle; yea, in the secret place of His dwelling shall He hide me." +(Ps. xxvii. 5.) "He shall defend thee under His wings, and thou shalt +be safe under His feathers." (Ps. xci. 4.) Safe in that sanctuary, and +hidden under those wings, we may bid defiance to Satan and all his +crew. The Lord shall fight for us, and we shall hold our peace. (Ex. +xiv. 14.)</p> + +<p>Let us, then, go boldly forward in the race set before us; watchful +indeed and wary, but trusting in the power and love of our Captain, who +knows our temptations and trials far better than we ourselves. "In that +He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that +are tempted." (Heb. ii. 18.) Let us cultivate sense of God's Presence. +Believe me, it is a thing to be cultivated. "If God be for us, who can +be against us?" His power is on our side so soon as our will is united +to His will by faith and an honest intention.</p> + +<p>Let us always remember, for our comfort, that temptations are not +sins, else would our Lord not have been without sin. It is only when +our wills consent to them that they become so. "You cannot keep those +birds from flying over your head," said John Wesley to a young disciple +who asked for counsel on this subject, "but you can keep them from +making nests in your hair.", But never, "never" play or trifle with +temptation. Never willfully put yourself in its way. When you do, you +give Satan an advantage of which he is not slow to avail himself. It is +a story told by some author of antiquity that the devil once entered +into a young Christian woman who was present at a show of gladiators. +Being summoned to leave her, he refused, declaring that he had found +her on his ground, and she was therefore his lawful prey. We may face +all the hosts of hell when our Lord's business makes it needful, and +we may be sure that in doing so we have the Lord on our side; but if +we cross willfully the line between right and wrong in the pursuit of +pleasure or business, we have no right to think that God's presence +will go with us there. Nay, we should be careful not to approach that +line too closely. In time of war, the safe place is not near the front, +and above all not on the neutral ground between the armies. There we +shall probably be treated as the enemy of both sides. Let our abiding +be on the everlasting hills of God's truth and law, where His sun +always shines, and where no foe can ever come.</p> + +<p>      Ps. xci.              +           1 Peter v.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_25"><em>FOURTH SATURDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>HEARTINESS.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IN the collect which we have been considering, we find an old-fashioned +word which means a great deal. We ask God to look upon our "hearty" +desires. A hearty desire is one into which we put our whole heart. +There may be many things which we would like well enough to have for +our own. There are many wishes which we should be pleased to have +gratified. But, after all, we do not care enough about them to make any +special effort in the matter. But when we heartily desire a thing, we +work for it. We take every means to bring about the gratification of +our wish, and we do not easily give up and sit down contented without +it.</p> + +<p>It is so in religious matters. A careless or worldly man may have at +times an uneasy feeling that all is not right with him. He hears a +rousing sermon perhaps. Some friend or acquaintance dies suddenly, +and he wonders how he would fare if the same fate should overtake +himself. He thinks he really will take time to consider the matter at +some future day when he shall not be so busy. He even tries to pray a +little, though he does not know well how to set about it. But his heart +is not in the matter, and the impression soon passes away, leaving the +man in a worse case than before; for, be it observed, nothing hardens +the heart like a stifled conviction.</p> + +<p>It is to be feared that this half-heartedness is the true reason why so +many prayers are unanswered, and why so many professed disciples of our +Lord have so little comfort in their religion, and do so little credit +to their profession. They are half-hearted. They have no earnestness +in the matter, and would even think such earnestness out of place, and +fanatical. They can show and feel enough of enthusiasm on the subject +of a business enterprise, a game of baseball, a new fashion, a new +opera-singer; but speak to such an one of enthusiasm in religious +matters, and he will look at you in amazement, and think you a little +cracked. He professes to believe all the articles of the Christian +faith, and bows his head in the creed with all propriety—in church; but +talk to him of Heaven and Hell, of the love of God, and the judgments +of God as present realities, and you make him uncomfortable. He becomes +conscious of his own deficiencies, and the feeling is not agreeable. He +will get away as soon he can, and probably call you a Methodist behind +your back, if he does not do so to your face.</p> + +<p>This half-heartedness is a fatal hindrance to growth in grace. I fear +many pray for holy hearts, who would, after all, be sorry to have +them. A man prays for grace to cast away the works of darkness, but +there are, perhaps, certain works of darkness which are profitable in +a business point of view, and he has no desire to cast them away. A +woman asks that she may perceive and know what things she ought to do, +but she is conscious of certain duties half hidden in the background of +her mind and conscience, on which she does not care to be enlightened, +because the fulfilling of them would be inconvenient. She prays for +grace to withstand the world, but she does not really wish to withstand +it, because she loves some of its gifts, and does not mean to throw +them away. So people go on, trying to serve two masters, to please God +and themselves, and getting no real satisfaction from either. They +wonder what those mean who talk of the blessedness of service, of +communion with God, of comfort in affliction, and the like, and are +tempted to regard all such utterances either as fanaticism or pretence, +because there is nothing in their own experience to correspond with +them.</p> + +<p>Is it any wonder that such prayers are not answered, and that such +service is not blessed? Would you like it yourself in a child or +servant? Surely not.</p> + +<p>Let me beg of you, dear fellow-servant of our blessed Master, to +examine yourself in this matter, and see if you do not find therein the +reason why you have no more comfort in your religion; no more peace and +joy and readiness to work for Him who has wrought such great things +for us. Is the sign of the cross still on your forehead, or have the +kisses of the world worn it away? Do you really and truly "love" God as +you love your husband or children, if you have them? Are you ready to +sacrifice anything for Him? Suppose that He should offer to release you +at this moment from every sin, would you be willing to have Him do it?</p> + +<p>This whole-hearted service no doubt has its trials. Our Lord Himself +has told us that. "All that would live godly in Jesus Christ shall +suffer persecution." (2 Tim. iii. 12.) "If they have called the master +of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His +household?" (St. Matt. x. 25.) You cannot be faithful to the great +King without offending His enemies. You cannot really renounce the +world without angering the world. You may not have to meet with such +persecutions as the early disciples did, but you will probably be +called peculiar, affected, Methodistical. But fear nothing. You may, +and probably will, meet with even more serious assaults. Satan will +rage when he sees you in earnest, and try his best to bar your path, +or win you away from it. But again I say, never fear. The Lord is on +your side, and will stretch out His right hand to be your defense. +He will feed you with the hidden manna, and give you to drink of the +water of Life freely. You shall receive the mystical gift; the white +stone wherein is a name written, which no man knoweth saving he that +receiveth it. (Rev. ii. 17.) Passing through the valley of misery, you +shall use it for a well. The wilderness of this world shall blossom as +the rose, and the thorny road lead you surely to the city of the great +King.</p> + +<p>      Isa. xii.              +           Rev. ii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_26"><em>FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>REFRESHMENT.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>MID-LENT Sunday is also called Refreshment Sunday—a very old name, +probably given with reference to the subject of the Gospel for the +day, which is the feeding of the five thousand on the lake of Galilee. +Dr. Gouldburn, in his invaluable book on the collects, has shown the +connection between the collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day, all of +which are full of matter for reflection. Let us for the present confine +our attention to the Gospel, and try, by reverent consideration, to +make real to ourselves this wonderful miracle of our Lord's, and see +what lesson it has for us.</p> + +<p>It had been a time of special activity for our Lord and His more +immediate followers. The apostles had just returned from their first +preaching mission. Two by two, they had passed through the lands of +Judah and Galilee, preaching the glad tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven, +healing the sick, restoring the deaf and blind, and casting out evil +spirits in the name of Jesus. I think of two homely, travel-stained +men arriving at nightfall, perhaps, in some lonely little village, and +asking the hospitality which was not at such a time likely to be denied +them. There is nothing about them to distinguish them from any common +wayfarers, as they partake of the plain fare set before them. But there +is a cloud over the faces of the hosts. The elder son, the prop of +their age, lies on a bed of sickness, and the physician has said that +there is no release for him save by death. The guests rise and go to +the bedside of the sufferer, who is perhaps hardly conscious of their +presence, and one of them takes him by the hand.</p> + +<p>"In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I bid thee arise and walk."</p> + +<p>In a moment the dull eyes brighten, the pale cheek flushes, the +helpless limbs feel new life, and the young man rises, and throws aside +the useless covering, a well man. The amazing news spreads from house +to house, and soon the whole village is gathered to hear and see these +wonderful strangers. A woman, weeping over her dead babe, hears the +news, and thinks—</p> + +<p>"Oh, had they but come before my child died!"</p> + +<p>Then a strange ray of hope darts into her mind. The strangers have +cured one as good as dead. May they perhaps waken the dead also? At all +events, it will do no harm to ask them. She wraps herself in her veil, +and goes forth bearing the little waxen corpse, and returns with her +child safe and smiling in her arms.</p> + +<p>Many such stories must the apostles have had to relate to their Master +on their return; some tales, possibly, of rejection and scorn from +those they would have blest.</p> + +<p>But their meeting was destined to be interrupted by sad tidings. The +disciples of John the Baptist had heard of the death of their leader, +slain by the wiles of a vile woman. They had been permitted by Herod to +pay the last sad duties to his body, and that done there was one thing +more remaining to them. They "went and told Jesus." Where could they +go, save to that wonderful Being to whom their own revered leader had +borne witness, and whose forerunner he had always called himself? We +are not told in what words He comforted them. But we know how He showed +His consideration for their weariness. "Come ye apart into a desert +place, and rest awhile." (S. Mark vi. 31.)</p> + +<p>I have often thought, if I were to preach an Ash Wednesday sermon, I +would choose these words for my text. It is the call which the Church +addresses to her children on that day: "Come!" she says. "Come from +the hurry of business, and the worse and more distracting hurry of +pleasure. Leave your cares behind you for a time. Let the world take +care of itself. It will do well enough without you, as it did before +you were born, and will do after you are dead. Come into a desert place +as yet unspoiled by man, and rest awhile."</p> + +<p>We are apt to think of a desert as a barren and sandy waste, destitute +of verdure or beauty; but this is not its usual meaning in the Bible. +It simply denotes an uncultivated tract, often used as pasture, and +covered with grass and flowers in the season. It was to such a place +as this that Jesus now retired with the disciples; to the narrow green +plain of El Batihah, as it is now called. It was a spot about six miles +from Capernaum by sea, surrounded by high hills, and quite uninhabited. +Here the weary band might hope for a season of quiet and refreshment.</p> + +<p>But they were destined to be disappointed. The boat, retarded probably +by contrary winds, seems to have made but slow progress, and when they +did at last arrive, they found the ground occupied by an eager crowd, +waiting for the healer, of whose powers they had already made proof.</p> + +<p>Here was a disappointment indeed! But our Lord shewed no irritation at +the failure of His plan. He "was moved with compassion toward them, +because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; and He began to teach +them many things" (St. John vi. 34), and He also healed their sick.</p> + +<p>Here is at once a practical lesson to be learned from our Lord's +conduct—I mean that of patience under interruption and disappointment. +We make a plan, for some good enterprise probably, and straightway that +plan becomes, as it were, something sacred in our eyes, and we are not +only grieved, but vexed, if anything happens to hinder us. We feel in +our secret souls, if we do not venture to say so, that we are hardly +treated, and we are ready to say, nay, perhaps we do say, that we will +never undertake any such thing again.</p> + +<p>In truth, there are interruptions which it is hard to bear with +patience; for instance, the way in which idle people take up the time +of busy people with the veriest trifles.</p> + +<p>Yet all these things are part of our life's trials, and must be met +in the right spirit, and turned to some account. In respect to our +plans, the right way, it seems to me, is to sit loosely to them, with a +reference in all things to a Will higher than ours. "If the Lord will, +we shall do this or that." (St. James iv. 15.) If He takes us away from +one piece of work, it may be because He has something better or more +important for us to do; or that His wisdom sees that this particular +work is better left undone. If your plan has been made with due regard +to His glory, depend upon it He will not suffer it to fail utterly.</p> + +<p>With regard to those interruptions from idle people of which I have +spoken, we may be able to turn even them to account. We may try to give +the conversation a serious and profitable turn. We may have a chance of +defending the absent or the calumniated, or of recommending some good +work. At worst we can let patience have her perfect work, and thus grow +more like that Master whom it is at once our most important work and +our dearest wish to imitate.</p> + +<p>      Ex. xvii.              +           St. John vi. 1-21.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_27"><em>FOURTH MONDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>REFRESHMENT SUNDAY—Continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>ALL day long our Lord was engaged in teaching the people, and in +healing their sick. The fact that he did so teach this great multitude +of common people, and that they heard Him gladly, as we know they did +(St. Mark xii. 37), is surely a sufficient answer to those who talk +about the danger of giving the Scriptures to the unlearned. Meantime +the disciples no doubt were reposing as they shared in their Lord's +instructions, and witnessed His miracles. But as the afternoon of +that long spring day drew on to its close they began to be uneasy. +They looked abroad over the vast multitude thronging the plain, and +wondered how they were to be fed and lodged, "for divers of them came +from afar," and there were women and children among them, some of +whom, no doubt, had just been cured of severe illness. We can see them +consulting together with anxious faces, and many a troubled glance at +the Master, and at last they venture to remind Him of the lateness of +the hour, and the loneliness of the place where they were. "This is a +desert place and the time is far spent; send them away, that they may +buy food." (St. Mark vi. 36.) But the Lord had his own purposes to +fulfill, and he answered them tranquilly, "They need not depart; give +ye them to eat;" and then, as if their astonishment were not enough at +such a proposition under such circumstances, He turns to Philip with +the question, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?"</p> + +<p>Philip must have been indeed amazed at the question. Buy bread for +that great crowd of people! True, there was a market not so very far +away, in the little city of Bethsaida Julius, but it might be doubtful +whether so small a place could furnish the requisite quantity of bread, +even if they had the means to pay for it. "Two hundred pennyworth is +not sufficient for them, that every one of them might take a little;" +and one of the number asks, "Shall we go and buy bread?"</p> + +<p>Andrew, whose natural disposition seems to have been of that helpful +sort which always moves the owner thereof to do something practical, +here makes a suggestion. While others had been talking he had been +investigating the resources at hand, and he now comes forward leading +a little boy, and announces the result of his inquiries. "There is a +lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fishes." (St. John +vi. 9.) With what amazed looks his fellow-disciples must have regarded +him! Only five loaves and two fishes! He himself was conscious of the +seeming absurdity, for he added immediately, "What are they among so +many?" What, indeed! Hardly enough for two, and here were thousands.</p> + +<p>But as the disciples regarded our Lord's face they must have been in +some measure reassured. There was no embarrassment or uncertainty to be +read there. He Himself knew what He would do, as His next words showed +them: "Make the men sit down." Here, at least, was a plain, practical +command, and cheerfully they hastened to obey.</p> + +<p>In all our perplexities and puzzles we can usually find something to do +at once, and that something leads to something else, till by degrees +the way is made plain before us. The old Saxon motto, "Do the next +thing," is the guide out of many a difficulty. "How are we ever to fill +this box?" said one of the officers of a certain missionary auxiliary; +"we have only money enough to buy half a dozen towels." "Very well, let +us buy the towels," was the answer; "by the time they are hemmed we +shall have more." And so it proved; and a better box never gladdened a +hard-working woman than was sent to that faithful teacher.</p> + +<p>A poor woman in England once gave a few shillings, the result of long +saving, to purchase some Bibles for the poor; and out of that gift +grew one of the great Bible societies which supply the Scriptures to +hundreds of thousands. A few serious words, kindly spoken to a wild +young man in a diligence, gave to the Moravian Church one of the most +successful missionaries that ever lived. Let us use what we have. It +may be not so much as the little lad brought in his basket, but the +Master will accept it and use it; whether it be to the feeding of one +or ten thousand does not signify, so it is to His service. Let us take +the first step in obedience to His command, and the next step will +be made plain. It may be but a short one, but it will be so much in +advance. Like the pilgrim in the valley of the shadow of death, when we +lift up our foot to go forward, we may not know where, or upon what we +may set it next; but be sure the solid ground will be there to meet it, +so long as we are in the way of the Celestial City.</p> + +<p>      1 Kings xvii.              +           Acts xvii. 16.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_28"><em>FOURTH TUESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>REFRESHMENT SUNDAY—Continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"NOW there was much grass in the place." So the men sat down in orderly +ranks or companies—an arrangement made by our Lord's own command, that +they might be the more easily waited upon. The word used by St. Mark +signifies parterres, or the orderly arrangement of the plants in a +vineyard or garden, and the assembly, dressed in the gay colors which +Orientals affect, must have looked somewhat like a great flower-garden. +Doubtless, all faces were eagerly turned toward our Lord, as the people +wondered what was coming next. The disciples gathered round their +Master, amazed, no doubt, but ready to obey His order, whatever it +might be and near Him, perhaps, stood the little lad who had brought +the provision, his eyes fixed on that face which ever had an attraction +for children. Jesus took in His hands the cakes of barley bread, "and +when He had given thanks, He brake them, and began to distribute them +to the disciples, and they to the people, and likewise of the fishes, +as much as they would." (St. John vi. 11.) The original words seem to +show that the provisions were multiplied in our Lord's hands. Here was +a sudden end of all their perplexities. Here was enough and to spare, +of palatable and wholesome food.</p> + +<p>It must have been with glad hearts, that the twelve, aided, no doubt, +by the disciples of John, passed around among the people bearing the +unexpected refreshment. Doubtless the multitude shared in their joy for +many of them were far from their homes; and the prospect of returning +hungry, or possibly of spending the night supperless in the open air, +could not have been very agreeable. It is no great wonder, perhaps, +that as they partook of His bounty, the old idea of making the Lord +a temporal ruler should have recurred to their minds. Surely one who +could so wonderfully provide for his followers would have no difficulty +in defying the power even of the Romans. It was long before the Lord's +immediate and trusted disciples realized the fact that His kingdom was +not of this world.</p> + +<p>But the people had eaten all they needed. What next? The next command +must also have somewhat surprised both the disciples and the people. +"Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost." Why this exact economy +on the part of one who could, as they had just seen, produce food at +will? However, the disciples obeyed without a question, and soon they +had filled twelve of the satchels, which all strict Jews carried when +on a journey (to protect their food from ceremonial uncleanness), with +the fragments which remained of the loaves and fishes. And now their +work was for the present finished. Jesus would be alone for a time; and +he dismissed His immediate followers to go to the other side of the +lake, while He Himself sent the multitude away. The disciples seemed to +have been somewhat unwilling to leave their Lord alone, but His will +was law, and they betook themselves to the boat which had brought them +hither.</p> + +<p>When the multitude had at last departed, doubtless with many a +lingering look behind, He who had so cheerfully given up His own +plan of rest and retirement for the sake of teaching and feeding +them, departed into a mountain to pray. At last He was alone; and +how grateful to His weary senses must have been the solemn quiet and +dewy freshness of that mountain solitude! How dear to His heart the +opportunity of holding undisturbed communion with His Father! Dear +tired mother or teacher, or busy housekeeper, are your senses also +weary and your nerves unstrung with perpetual din? Do you, too, long +for solitude and silence? Remember that the Lord has been before you +in this trial also. The most of His active life was passed in a crowd, +almost always careless and unsympathizing, often captious and hostile; +and His hours of devotion must be stolen from needed sleep.</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "Each pang from irritation, turmoil, din,—"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>is known to Him, and He will give needed help and relief.</p> + +<p>Our Lord gave thanks before He distributed the bread to the disciples. +This was an universal custom among the Jews, and the Lord has approved +it by His example. "He who enjoys anything without a blessing, robs +God," says the Talmud. Yet how many Christian families are there in +which grace before meat is never heard. It looks a little, indeed, as +if family religion, of any sort, were to become a thing of the past. +The father hastens to his business, and the children to their school, +without one word of recognition for the mercies of the night; without +a single petition for help and guidance through the day. The father +is, or should be, the priest of his own household, to offer up their +spiritual sacrifices; but how many never think of doing so! He should +be their instructor in divine things; but how many never open the +Bible with their children! The boys see their father busy till the +last stroke of the church bell with his Sunday papers; they see the +same papers or a novel taken up on his return. Is it any wonder that +they come to think religion a matter of secondary importance? Is it +any wonder that they think it fit only for women, since they see its +outward observance left wholly to them? Oh, how many thorns are these +negligent, indifferent Christian fathers and mothers cultivating for +their own pillows! It is true that a boy or girl may turn out badly, +however much pains has been taken with the religious training, because +in this world all must make the choice between good and evil for +themselves; but at least the careful, conscientious parent has not the +added bitter pang of thinking "my neglect, my selfish indulgence, has +made the child what he is."</p> + +<p>"Gather up the fragments," said our Lord. He could create at will +enough to feed five thousand, yet He would not have the remainder lost. +With what displeasure must He not look on the lavish wastefulness of +His children. Some man takes a good religious paper, or more than one. +Perhaps he finds time to glance at them, perhaps not. The expenditure +of a cent a week, or the sending of a child or servant, would carry +that paper to some poor man or woman—perhaps to some one shut up with +illness—who would be only too glad to read it. But no one thinks +of that, and what might give aid and comfort to God's afflicted or +hard-worked child goes to the ragman. The partly worn hose or flannel +garment share the same fate, when a little of the time given to some +useless bit of fancy work would make them fit to bestow on some poor +body, or to help out a hospital box. I knew a lady with a family of +sons. When their socks or underwear were thrown aside, she had them +carefully mended and put away in a special place; and many a poor +hard-working woman was helped out of Mrs. Z.'s "give-away drawer." We +have no right to waste, because all that we have, whether of time or +goods or talent, is not ours, but our Lord's. We are but His stewards, +and it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful.</p> + +<p>      Prov. xxxi.              +           St. Luke xiv.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_29"><em>FIFTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>COMFORT.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>A CERTAIN writer has said that there is no more beautiful word in +the language than the word "comfort." Certainly there is none which +carries with it more meanings, or one which it is harder to define. +Rest from weariness, freedom from pain, security from danger, all +these are comprised in the word "comfort." But these are, after all, +but negative, and there is a positive side. The word often means +consolation. "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort +you," is God's promise to His people. (Isa. lxvi. 13.) Think of a +little child waking in the dark, from some dream of terror. The +darkness is all around him, with its possibilities of danger. Who knows +what it may hide in those dark corners, behind those dimly seen, waving +curtains? He can feel no one near him. To his excited fancy it seems as +if he were alone in the universe, and he cries out in fear and anguish. +But in a moment a tender arm is laid over him, a warm kiss reassures +him, a well-known voice speaks his name, and he sinks to sleep again, +sure that no evil thing can harm him, because his mother is there to be +his defense.</p> + +<p>So it often is with the Christian. He walks in the midst of trouble. +Darkness is around and within. His purposes are broken off; his +plans even for his Master's service are frustrated, and, what seems +to make his trouble worst of all, he is hampered by indifference, +if not by open hostility on the part of fellow-Christians and +fellow-church-members. He says to himself, with David, "It is not +an enemy that hath done me this dishonor; but it was even thou, my +companion, my guide, and mine own familiar friend." He feels almost as +if His Lord Himself had forgotten him, and he is ready to sit down in +despair.</p> + +<p>But by and by a ray of light falls athwart the darkness. It is the hour +for his regular devotion, and he will not neglect it. His heart feels +cold and dead, if not absolutely rebellious, but at least he can obey, +and he takes up his Bible or his prayer-book, opens perhaps to the +thirty-seventh Psalm, or some other like it.</p> + +<p>He reads precious promises of help and protection, and deliverance +from trouble, such as these. "Commit thy way unto the Lord, and put +thy trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall make thy +righteousness as clear as the light and thy just dealing as the +noon-day." (Ps. xxxvii. 5.) He is made to see that he is but tasting +the edge, as it were, of that cup which his Master drained to the dregs +for him. He feels that God has not forsaken him, and he is by and by +able to say, "In the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, +Thy comforts have refreshed my soul." The assurance comes to him that +the Lord will use all to His own glory and the good of His servant, and +he is content to tarry the Lord's leisure.</p> + +<p>Or take another case. The Christian is made aware that he has fallen +into sin. He has spoken unadvisedly with his lips perhaps, and fears +that his words may do great harm. He has given way to unjust or +excessive anger, or he has been led into some worldly compliance which +he now sees to have been wrong. Or, worse still, he has suddenly +awakened to the fact that he has for a long time been declining in +godliness, that he has been living for the world and not for his +Master. He has gone out of the way into By-path meadow, and the road, +which at first seemed to run close to the highway, has turned aside +till he has come at least within sight of the dwelling of Giant +Despair. Satan is not slow to take advantage of his fall. He tells the +sinner that it is plain to be seen that he never was a true disciple. +Could one who had really tasted of the grace of God so dishonor his +profession? Or if he were once a child of God, is it not as plain as +day that he is so no longer? Has he not come too far out of the way +ever to find his path back? Will he be received even if he should +return? Is this the return he has made to God for all his benefits, and +can such black ingratitude ever be forgiven? Such suggestions as these +drive the sinner almost to desperation. Almost, but not quite. His +very agony and distress teach him how precious was that Lord from whom +he has turned away, and he will not give him up without a struggle at +least.</p> + +<p>But he is not left to struggle alone. God has not forgotten His child, +though that child may for a time have forgotten Him. He may leave him, +or seem to leave him, to suffer for a time the penalty of his sins; +for as many as the Lord loves, He rebukes and chastises. But let the +sinner once accept the punishment of his iniquity (Lev. xxvi. 41); +let him acknowledge that he is justly punished for his offenses, as +says the collect for the day, and light begins to dawn on the night of +despair. He, too, opens his Bible, and he reads such words as these, +"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." (Isa. +i. 18) "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us +our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.) +"Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." (St. John vi. +37.) And so he casts himself at the feet of his crucified Lord, humbly +bewailing his sinfulness, and asking pardon for the sake of that very +love that he has outraged and grieved. Humbly he believes his prayer is +accepted, trusting in God's unchanging promise, though he has for the +present no evidence in his own feelings that his sins are pardoned. By +and by the light grows clearer. He hears within a sweet voice, sweeter +than any music of earth, whisper such precious words as these: "I, +even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, +and will not remember thy sins." (Isa. xliii. 25.) Then the Sun of +righteousness riseth on His soul with healing in His wings, and it is +day.</p> + +<p>      Ps. xxxii.              +           St. John xvii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_30"><em>FIFTH THURSDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE SOURCES OF COMFORT.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE first source of comfort to the disciple in distress is his general +confidence in the goodness of his Lord. "Comfort them with a sense of +Thy goodness!" asks the collect for the sick and the afflicted in the +prayer-book; and there is not in that whole wonderful volume a sentence +more full of meaning. "My Father is all-wise, therefore He cannot make +a mistake; He is perfectly holy, therefore He cannot do an unjust +thing; He is perfect love, therefore He will never do a cruel thing; +and He sees and cares for me as much as if I were the only child for +whom He had to care." Thoughts like these come to the pilgrim, bowed +down by the burden and heat of the day; and they give him courage to +take up his load and struggle on toward that rest which remains for the +people of God—that mansion prepared for him, and whose roofs and towers +his faith sees above the clouds, gleaming in Heaven's own sunshine. To +souls like this it does indeed come to pass that, going through the +valley of misery, they use it for a well, and the pools are filled +with water. "Their light affliction, which is for a moment, worketh +for them a far more exceeding weight of glory," because "they look not +at the things which are seen, but at those things which are unseen and +eternal." (2 Cor. iv. 17.)</p> + +<p>The second source of comfort to the Christian which we shall consider +is the written word of God. "In the Lord's word will I comfort me." +(Ps. lvi. 10.) Here is the sure holding-ground for the anchor of faith. +Our feelings are the sport of every wind that blows, but the written +word remains, and remains ever the same. The stricken woman whose prop +and stay has been taken away, perhaps in a moment, and who knows not +where to turn for help, may read in that Word that God is the God of +the fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the widow. (Ps. lxviii. 5.) +The invalid, wearied out with the life-long pain, which has become +such an old story that people no longer think of asking about it, who +feels faith ready to fail, and courage to give way under the load, to +such an one comes the message, "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my +strength is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. xii. 9.) The aged saint +bowed beneath the burden of years, perhaps with no child or near friend +to support his weakness and bear with his infirmities, prays, "Forsake +me not when I am gray-headed" (Ps. lxxi. 16), and the Word which +supplies the prayer answers it with a corresponding promise, "Even +to your old age I am He; and even to hoary hairs will I carry you." +(Is. xlvi. 4.) The repentant, all but despairing sinner, is told by +that very righteous and holy God whom he hath so grievously offended, +"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own +sake, and will not remember thy sins." (Is. xliv. 22.) And again, "The +blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John i. 7.) The +backslider reads, "I will heal their backslidings; I will love them +freely." (Hosea xiv. 4.) And to the child of God, striving in meekness +and faithfulness to follow in the steps of his Lord and Master, and to +do his commonplace, every task for Him, the words of cheer and strength +are not to be counted.</p> + +<p>The worship and ordinances of the Church are perennial springs of help +and cheer to the Christian. I appeal to your experience, faithful +fellow-disciples. How many times, when it has perhaps been a great +effort to go to church, has not the very stillness of the place fallen +like balm on your tired nerves, so that your few minutes of mental +prayer have made you able to realize that you are indeed in the +presence of Him who has said, "When two or three are gathered together, +there am I in the midst of them"! (Matt. xviii. 20.) How often has the +Psalter or the lesson contained the very words you needed! How often +has the sermon or address been just what you wanted, and the whole +service sent you home strengthened and cheerful to take up the burden +of the week or the day! Then there is the crown of all our services—the +Holy Communion. We "do not feel like going," perhaps. We have had but +little time for preparation. There has been much in the week to harass +and perplex us. Perhaps some slip or fall has clouded our experience, +and burdened our conscience. But we know our duty, and at least we can +obey. We carry our burden, whatever it may be, into the presence of the +symbols of our Lord's dying love; perhaps to the very altar rail; but +when we rise from our knees, we find we have left it there.</p> + +<p>      Isa. lxv.              +           2 Cor. 1.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_31"><em>FIFTH FRIDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE GREAT CONSOLER.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"THE Comforter which is the Holy Ghost." The third Person of the +ever-blessed Trinity does not disdain to take the title and office of +our consoler, as well as that of our teacher and guide. He does not +disdain to enter the lowest dwelling which is open to receive Him, nor +to hold communion with the youngest and feeblest who seek His aid. It +is He who opens our heart to understand the Scriptures, who directs +us to the very word we need, who shows us, in some passage we have +read a hundred times, a new meaning which we never saw before. It is +He who inspires our prayers, and He, when our hearts are too burdened +for words, makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be +uttered. (Rom. viii. 26.) How are we to obtain the help of this Divine +Comforter? First, by asking for it. That is one of the prayers certain +to be answered, whatever is refused. "If ye, then, being evil, know how +to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly +Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him"! (St. Luke xi. 18.) +The very greatest gift of all is never refused to the poorest suppliant.</p> + +<p>Then, when we have invited our guest, we must make our house ready to +receive Him. We must open the door and be on the watch for Him. We must +remember, too, that He will never share a divided throne. If we are +entertaining any impure or unworthy guests—if we have set up any idols +there—if there is within any chamber of imagery where we pay secret +worship, as did the elders of Israel whom Ezekiel saw in his vision +(Ezek. viii. 7), the guests must be turned out, the idols overthrown, +the secret chamber opened to the light of God's day, before the Spirit +of purity will make our heart His shrine. He Himself will purify His +own temple if we consent thereto, but we must be willing, and we must +have no reserves from Him.</p> + +<p>Again, we must be willing to obey His godly motions, as the collect +has it, and that with a prompt and willing obedience. This is not +always easy or agreeable. One of His offices is to convince of sin, of +righteousness, and of judgment to come. He does not always prophecy +smooth things, by any means, nor does he always apply sweet balms. On +the contrary, He is a kind but stern surgeon, who wounds to heal, and +gives bitter tonics instead of soothing syrups. It is not altogether +pleasant to be told that some favorite habit is a sinful indulgence; +that some yielding to the customs of society is conformity to the +world; some laxity of doctrine, on which we have perhaps prided +ourselves as showing our liberality, is a cowardly surrender of +God's truth. Nevertheless must the Heavenly monitor be obeyed, and +that promptly. Otherwise His voice will grow fainter and fainter and +fainter, till it ceases to be heard at all. Nay, it is possible to +drive away the Heavenly visitor altogether, and then woe unto us. We +had better lose every earthly friend than to be forsaken of the Holy +Spirit.</p> + +<p>It is to be feared that many Christians do not realize as they ought +the blessed fact of the real literal indwelling of the Holy Ghost. +They read in the Bible such words as these: "He dwelleth with you, and +shall be in you." (St. John xiv. 17.) "We have received not the spirit +of the world, but the Spirit which is of God." (1 Cor. ii. 12.) They +feel as if it were a kind of presumption to take these promises to +themselves—as if the real presumption did not lie in doubting, instead +of believing God's word. They read such words as these: "The spirit +itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of +God." (Rom. viii. 16.) Yet they feel no assurance of their adoption, +but go through life, as it were, with a rope round their necks instead +of walking freely as God's children should, for "where the Spirit of +the Lord is, there is liberty." (1 Cor. iii. 17.)</p> + +<p>But some one says: "I should be only too glad to obtain this blessed +assurance of salvation, but I do not know how. What is the way?" The +way is as plain as are all God's ways in things of practical importance +to us. You have but to put out your hand and take what is freely +offered you.</p> + +<p>A vessel sailing to Brazil once saw a barque flying a signal of +distress, and bearing down on her, asked what was the matter. "For +God's sake, give us water! we have not had a drop for three days," was +the cry from the distressed vessel. The answer was instant. "Let down +your bucket and draw it up, man! You are in the mouth of the Amazon." +These poor creatures had been dying of thirst for three days, though +they were sailing on the greatest stream of fresh water in the world, +because they had lost their reckoning and did not know where they +were. So it too often is with the disciple. He walks in the midst of +unnumbered blessings. The stream of living water flows at his side; +the tree of Life grows beside it; yet he is hungry and thirsty, just +because he will not take the things which are freely offered of God. +"If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." (Isa. +vii. 9.)</p> + +<p>      Ps. lxiii.              +           Gal. v.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_32"><em>FIFTH SATURDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE USE OF COMFORT.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"SURELY there can be no question about that!" I hear some one say.</p> + +<p>"The use of comfort is to make people comfortable." That is one +use, no doubt, but not the only nor the principal one. It is to be +feared, however, that many sincerely devout people take this view of +the matter. In spiritual as in worldly matters we are prone to think +far too much of our own enjoyment. Some good people, indeed, measure +their spiritual condition by their enjoyment. If they are happy, they +think all is well with them. This is not always a safe test. We may be +glorying in a very mistaken estimate of our own spiritual condition, as +did the Corinthian Church, when St. Paul wrote them. "Your glorying is +not good." They were mightily puffed up in their own esteem, while they +were tolerating among them the vilest sins, such as even the idolatrous +Gentiles were ashamed of. (1 Cor. v. 1-8.)</p> + +<p>The use of comfort is to strengthen us for the work which God gives us +to do. "The God of all comfort comforteth us in all our tribulation," +writes St. Paul; and why? "That we may be able to comfort them which +are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted +of God." (2 Cor. i. 3, 4.) We are comforted that we may be able to +console others, just as we are taught in order that we may teach others.</p> + +<p>Dear fellow-sufferer, if in your sick-room your Lord has sent you a +blessing, cannot you contrive to send that blessing on to some other +sufferer? He has sent you, let us say, a cheering message by a book +or paper. Can you not pass it on to some one else? He has given you a +cheering thought. Can you not give a friend or attendant the benefit +of it? Some one brings you a pattern for embroidery or knitting. It +will do you all the more good if you use it to make a Christmas gift +for some other invalid who does not enjoy as many pretty things as +yourself. A lady of my acquaintance once received from a wealthy and +generous friend a box of very fine forced strawberries. She sent a +part of them to an old lady in a charitable institution, whose failing +appetite could hardly be tempted to take food at all. The sight of a +dish of strawberries in March was such a wonder that it led her to +eat quite a good meal; and a year afterwards she spoke with delight +of "those beautiful berries your mother sent me." I mention this as a +specimen of the way a kindness may be passed on. I believe that act of +thoughtful kindness prolonged for several years a useful life.</p> + +<p>There are those who carry an atmosphere of comfort with them wherever +they go. They may not be very brilliant or very accomplished, but every +one is glad to see them. They have something pleasant to say. Such a +person does not tell a rheumatic patient of her grandmother who was +unable to feed herself for years, or suggest to one suffering from a +surgical operation that people in such circumstances almost always go +into a decline. (I have known of these very things being done more than +once.) I once suffered for several months from the effects of a cat's +bite, and I suppose that more than half the people to whom the story +was told said, "I should think you would be afraid of hydrophobia!" +With a nervous or apprehensive person the effect might have been +serious. Oh how many heartaches and tears would be saved to invalids, +if those who visit them would try to think of something pleasant and +cheering to say!</p> + +<p>God sends us comfort, not that we may sit down and selfishly, enjoy it, +but that we may be strengthened for the work which is still before us, +whether that work be active doing, or patient suffering, or quietly +waiting on His will. Comfort is not an end, but a means, and it is much +more likely to last if we use it in this way, than if we sit idly down +to enjoy it. The Lord gives to all his children blessed seasons of rest +and enjoyment. As the twenty-third Psalm says, He makes them to lie +down in green pastures, and feedeth them by still waters. But He does +not always keep us there. He sets before them many a hill to climb, +many a dark valley to pass through, before we reach the land of Beulah, +and the Celestial city. But the Holy Ghost, which is the comforter, +will always abide with us, and we can truly say "In the multitude of +sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed my soul." +(Ps. xciv. 19.)</p> + +<p>      Ps. xxxvii.              +           Heb. xii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_33"><em>FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT has been said, and I think truly, that almost any government is +better than none. A good government is an unspeakable blessing—not +always appreciated, I fear, by those who have never lived under any +other. Think for a moment what it is to dwell under a rule where every +one's rights are safe; where no one can be punished, except openly, +and by due process of law; where every poor man's house is his castle; +where, amid the excitement of a hotly contested election, women and +children walk the streets in absolute safety: and then contrast this +state of things with one in which no man, great or small, feels himself +secure; where any man or woman may be torn from home and friends and +thrown into prison or sent into life-long exile, with no chance of +redress, and knowing that the nearest and dearest friends are utterly +ignorant of the fate of husband or wife, father or mother. It seems to +me a pity that those who complain so bitterly of the few abuses of a +good and free government, should not for a little while try the tender +mercies of a bad one.</p> + +<p>The best government, however, being as it is the work of man, is liable +to imperfection in its constitution, or abuse in its administration. +How happy, then, is he who lives under a ruler who can and will do +no wrong. Such a ruler is the Lord our Governor. The best of earthly +governments can only legislate for classes, and even beneficent laws +often bear hardly on individuals; but God's rule is that of a father, +who sees in each person not only a subject, but a child; who knows the +needs of each one better than himself, and who grudges His children no +innocent pleasure. Is it any wonder that the Church teaches us to pray +for the rule of such a sovereign as a blessing?</p> + +<p>In translating this collect from the Latin original, the reformers +have substituted the words "Thy people" for "Thy family," thinking, +probably, that the word corresponded better with the idea of +government. But, after all, a family needs a stable and just government +as much as a state, and it is as a family that the Lord rules his +people. The state lays down an inflexible rule, to which every citizen +is expected to conform; but a wise parent does not act in this way. She +studies the disposition of each child, and has a different system for +each one, corresponding to its temperament and needs. So it is with +God's government. To Him there are no "masses." He does not drive His +flock like a mercenary drover, but "He calleth His own sheep by name +and leadeth them out." (St. John x. 3.) He is to each one what He is +to no other. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden +manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name +written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." (Rev. ii. +17.)</p> + +<p>The state punishes offenses against the laws with rigid severity, and +very rightly. The security of the honest citizen demands such action. +But it has no thanks and no praise for the obedient and loyal subject. +He has but done what was expected of him. The loyal subject of God's +government, on the contrary, has the satisfaction of knowing that his +ruler sees his obedience, and is gratified with it. Like Enoch, he has +this testimony, that he has pleased God. God notes the first effort +of a little child as well as the crowning sacrifice of an Abraham, +and rewards the poor negro Sunday-school teacher, trying in imperfect +English to tell the little he knows about God and the Bible to some +one more ignorant than himself, as He does a St. Paul preaching to the +polished Athenians on Mars Hill. Surely there must be, to the believer, +wonderful joy and strength in the thought that what he does gives +pleas—to his Heavenly Father.</p> + +<p>There is no escaping from the government of God. A man who is +dissatisfied with the rule of the United States, or who by crime +or misdemeanor has brought himself within reach of its penalties, +may go and live somewhere else; but there is no getting out of this +universe, which God rules in every corner. Neither can he escape by +denying God's authority, or making light of His claims. The earthly +commonwealth admits no such excuse; much less the Heavenly. The man +may rebel furiously. He may wish that it were possible even to pull +down the great Ruler from His throne. It makes no difference. He has no +choice but to submit at last, but he "has" the choice as to whether his +submission shall be that of the criminal on his way to the scaffold, or +the glad obedience of the loving child who has full confidence in his +father's justice and love.</p> + +<p>      Ps. xcvii.              +           Phil. i.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_34"><em>FIFTH MONDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>CÆSAR'S HOUSEHOLD.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE Lord's government, as we have seen, is that of a parent, in that +He legislates, not for masses, but for individuals; and His object, +in all that He does and leaves undone, is to make His children better +and in the long run happier. The views and plans of the wisest parent +are necessarily bounded by a very limited horizon, but the Lord sees +the lives of His children from their first beginning—not indeed to the +end, for there is no end, but to the farthest reach of eternity—and +He legislates for them in "the whole of their duration," as President +Edwards has it. It is perhaps for this reason, speaking with reverence, +that Christians often find themselves in about the last places they +themselves would have chosen as likely to conduce to growth in grace. +We are apt to fret at this, and to think we could do somewhere else. +We think if we could only attend such and such a church, or live in +some other place, or attend such and such classes, we could do so much +better; and, very possibly, we neglect the work that God has given us +for something which is not our work at all.</p> + +<p>There is a passage in the Epistle to the Philippians which at first +sight may appear to mean very little, but which seems to me very +suggestive. St. Paul, writing from his prison at Rome to the church at +Philippi, says, "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of +Cæsar's household." (Phil. iv. 22.)</p> + +<p>Surely this was a very strange place in which to look for saints—about +the last place, humanly speaking, in which we should be likely to find +them. The Cæsar was Nero—a name which has become a synonym for lust, +cruelty, and rampant folly of every kind; and his court was just what +we should expect the court of such an emperor to be. It was the very +central resort of informers, men and women practiced in every namable +and un-namable wickedness of that vile age. One would as soon have +looked for the bliss of Paradise in the foulest Pool of Dante's hell, +as for saints in such a household, especially when the profession of +the Christian faith involved no little danger to liberty and life. The +persecution of Christians had not at that time reached the height to +which it attained afterwards; nevertheless, every Christian was looked +upon with suspicion and contempt. Their great teacher and apostle was a +prisoner, chained night and day to a soldier who watched him, and his +imprisonment was more than likely to end in an ignominious death. Yet, +in spite of these opposing circumstances, there were saints in Cæsar's +household, and, it would seem, not a few.</p> + +<p>It seems to me that we may all learn a good lesson from this short +passage. We are so apt to lay our shortcomings to the account +of circumstances, which is, in fact, laying them at the door of +Providence. "If I were not so much engrossed in business," says John. +"If I had not so many family cares," says Jane, "I might do some Church +work." "There is no pleasure in going to church and Bible class here," +says another. "If I only lived in the city! We cannot expect to do +much in a place like this," I heard a Christian man say. "If we had a +first-class preacher and a good quartette choir we might do something." +As if the gift of the Holy Spirit depended on a fine preacher and a +fine choir! But we do more than this: we lay upon circumstances the +blame of our own heart sins. We should not be irritable and fretful, +only that there is so much to annoy us. We should not make unkind +remarks and tell scandalous stories about our neighbors, only that +every one does so; and so on to the end of the chapter.</p> + +<p>No Christian will deny, if asked the question out and out, that +his Father in Heaven has ordered, or at the least permitted, the +circumstances of his life. Say that we are placed in a country parish, +where there is little or no enthusiasm for any good cause, and where +most of the parishioners think they have done their duty nobly +when they have helped to keep their pastor on the outside verge of +starvation, instead of the inside. Well, He places us there because He +has work for us there—some work which no one could do so well as you or +I. Let us try to find out what that work is, and to do it faithfully. +We shall grow in grace ourselves, and no one can do that without +benefiting others.</p> + +<p>Or He has put one of His chosen ones in a place where he has no +Christian sympathy—perhaps among unbelievers and scoffers. Take +courage. Bad as they may be, they are probably saints themselves, +compared to the men and women with whom they of Cæsar's household were +brought in daily contact. You may have good work to do among them. +A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. When the Rev. Mr. Lowder +entered the district of St. Peter's, in the east of London, there were +not a dozen Christian men in the parish. He was hooted and pelted in +the street, and on one occasion a ring of his friends had to fight for +his life against a howling mob of ruffians. Every other house was a +house of ill-fame; when he died, after twenty-three years' service, +there was not one such to be found in the parish; and by the streets +where he had been stoned and all but murdered, he was carried to his +burial through throngs of weeping men and women, hundreds of whom +walked miles to see him laid in the grave.</p> + +<p>A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. But, then, the leaven must +be living and warm. Frozen yeast is no good, as every housewife knows. +"I got my father and mother to come to church last Sunday," said a +dear little child with sparkling eyes. "It was so nice!" He had been +laboring for that result for months. He would have been one of the +saints in Cæsar's household. And I have no doubt that those saints +found there, were of a pretty robust and earnest description. "They" +would hardly have stayed away from the gathering in St. Paul's cabin on +the first day of the week because they had not the latest fashion in +gown or sandal, or even to hear the court poet recite his ode, or to +learn the last news from Gaul or Britain. (2 Kings v.; 1 Peter ii.)</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +A part of this chapter was printed in the "Kalendar."<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_35"><em>FIFTH TUESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>AS has been noticed before, the reformers, in translating this collect +from the original Latin, saw fit to render the word that is to say, +household or family, by "people," thinking probably that the word +corresponded better to the idea of government. It is perhaps difficult +to see the aptness of the change, since, as has been observed, a family +certainly needs governing quite as much as a state.</p> + +<p>In three other places is the Church of God spoken of as a family. +In the collect for Good Friday we beseech God to behold "this His +family." In that for the fifth Sunday after Epiphany, we ask Him "to +keep His Church and household in His true religion;" and again, on the +twenty-second Sunday after Trinity, we beg Him to keep His household, +the Church, in continual godliness. The great Church catholic, then, is +to be thought of, not only as God's kingdom, but as His family. It is +under this latter aspect that I wish now to consider it.</p> + +<p>A family is not "a fortuitous concourse of atoms." It consists of +a number of members, either related by blood or united by a common +purpose. Now the very idea of a member is that of a part of some +organization differentiated or set apart for some office for which +it is specially fitted by structure or position, or both. The very +simplest living creature—the very germ cell from which the lowest +seaweed is produced—has its parts so distinguished, and the higher we +rise in the scale, the more striking are the differences. The family is +an organism, and it follows that every member of the same has his own +"vocation and ministry," which nobody can fulfill as well as himself. +"The Lord has chosen him." (1 Chron. xxviii. 10.) He has appointed his +place and set his task before him. Surely this is a great honor.</p> + +<p>The great trouble is that the member thus appointed does not see his +work, and he does not see it, for the most part, because he will not. +Perhaps he thinks his appointed task too humble. He thinks it beneath +his capacity. He is too often like a certain little girl who was set by +her mother to watch that the bread did not run over, but who thought it +would be much finer to run the sewing machine. The result may easily be +imagined. A woman who wished to undertake some Church work was invited +to begin by taking a class from the infant room. She declined, saying +that she would feel herself to be throwing away her time teaching such +ignorant little ones. She was allowed to try a class of grown-up girls. +She soon found out her mistake. She complained that the girls were +always asking questions and making remarks, and at last she threw up +the work in disgust, and there was the end of her aspirations after +Church work. If she could only have had something congenial, she said, +it would have been different.</p> + +<p>Another church-member was fired with enthusiasm on hearing an eloquent +missionary sermon. She only wished that she could go out to Africa. +That would, indeed, be worth while. But when it was suggested that she +might give of an abundant wardrobe to help fill a missionary box, she +rejected the idea with some tartness. She did not take so much pains +with her things, to give them to a common negro preacher's wife!</p> + +<p>There are several inconveniences resulting from this unwillingness or +inability of the members of God's family to recognize and do their own +work. One of them, and that not the least, is the loss to the member +himself—a loss of opportunities of usefulness, and of growth in grace. +The member which is never used in its appropriate office loses its +vigor, and often becomes paralyzed beyond recovery. We have all heard +of the East Indian devotees, who hold their hands above their heads +till they grow into that position, and cannot be taken down; and I +have somewhere read of a nun who never used her hands, but kept them +clasped in the attitude of prayer till the joints became useless. We +think such conduct a horrible misuse of God's gifts, and rightly; but +we should do well to examine ourselves, lest we fall into the same +error with respect to our spiritual faculties. But as a limb which has +been partly paralyzed by misuse or disuse may often be restored by care +and exercise, so no one need despair of regaining a good measure of +usefulness, however faulty they may have been in the past.</p> + +<p>Another trouble is that the uselessness of some members of the body +throws additional work on the others. Everyone knows that when the skin +refuses its office, the lungs and other bodily organs are overworked, +and often become diseased in consequence. Think, for a moment, what +would be the effect if the work of any ordinary parish were fairly +divided among those who were able to do their share, though that share +were ever so little. Suppose, for instance, that every woman who is +able should lay by two cents a week for the women's auxiliary, and +should devote one hour a week to working for it! Suppose that every man +capable of teaching a class of boys should next Sunday offer to do so! +Suppose every church-member who has not a valid excuse should be ready +to undertake any piece of work pointed out by the rector! A venerable +saint of God once remarked that there were in almost every church two +classes of willing members—a small class who were willing to do all the +work, and a large class who were willing they should. How would the +labors of the first class be lightened if the second class would awake +to their duty!</p> + +<p>Dear friends, let us examine ourselves whether we are doing our duty as +members of the Church, which is the Lord's body. Let us see whether we +have been shrinking or standing idly aside, and in the way of others, +as idle folk almost always are. And if we find, after honest inquiry, +that such has been the case, let us resolve that it shall be so no +more. Let us ask forgiveness for all that is past, and with humility +and docility strive hereafter, in the words of the catechism, "to do +our duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call us."</p> + +<p>      Neh. iv.              +           Rom. xii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_36"><em>SIXTH WEDNESDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.—Continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>ONE of the principal duties of the members of the household or family +is loyalty—faithfulness to their head and to each other. The word +covers a great deal. So far as our Great Head is concerned, it means +obedience first of all—constant, unquestioning, cheerful obedience. +That, and that alone, is the true test of our love; as He Himself tells +us: "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that +loveth Me." "He that loveth Me not, keepeth not my sayings." (S. John +xiv. 21-24.) We are to obey, not when we feel like it, not when it is +easy, not alone when we are in the society of fellow-disciples, but at +all times, and in all places. Without such loyalty, no protestations +of affection, no outbursts of enthusiasm, no efforts of church or +missionary zeal, are of any value in the sight of our Master.</p> + +<p>We are "to keep and 'seek for' all the commandments of the Lord our +God." (1 Chron. xxviii. 8) We are to study His written Word diligently, +and not only so, but we are to watch carefully for indications +of His will in our everyday lives for occasions of obedience and +service. There is not one of us but can see, on looking back, a +hundred occasions of doing God service, which we have allowed to pass +unimproved simply from the want of watchfulness. The little events of +our daily lives are so many angel messengers bringing words from our +dear Head, but too often we do not see their lovely faces, because we +never look at them till they have passed us by.</p> + +<p>The path of obedience is not always made smooth and easy for us, any +more than it was for our Leader. The gate is strait, the path is +narrow, the hills are high, the waters deep. It was when the disciples +were crossing the lake in obedience to the Lord's command that they met +with the storm. It was when they were laboring in His cause that they +were to be scourged and stoned and slandered by the very people they +were trying to benefit. Our very carefulness and zeal for Him may lead +us into collision, yes, even with our fellow-servants. But what then? +The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. +He has never promised us an easy journey. It is much that He has placed +in our way many a living spring and many a flower and shady tree, and +that He shows us, from time to time, from His Delectable Mountains, a +view of that Celestial City which is to be our journey's end.</p> + +<p>We are to be loyal not in deed only, but in word as well; and, strange +as it may sound, I believe this latter kind of loyalty to be rather +more rare than the former. There are many disciples who will obey +the Master, often at a great sacrifice, who will never open their +lips for Him. They will hear His name lightly spoken of, His claims +derided or denied, and never open their mouths in His defense or to +assert their own faith in Him. They will believe Him to be the only +way of salvation, and yet never make one effort to bring to Him their +servants, their work-people, even their own children. An officer who +should behave in this way where the honor of his flag was concerned +would have the straps torn from his shoulders. We need not sound a +trumpet before us, nor make any parade of our own goodness; but we can, +and we ought always, to own our allegiance to Him, and to speak for +Him. And to the end that we may do this, we must take care to walk so +that our lives shall not contradict our words, and that we may speak +from our own experience. "We have seen Him!" is the argument which no +infidel can answer.</p> + +<p>      Is. lviii.              +           S. John xiv.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_37"><em>SIXTH THURSDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.—Continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE members of a family or household owe a duty, not only to their +head, but to each other. They are bound in honor to help one another +when help is needed, to sustain each other in trials, and to bear each +other's burdens; and the honor of one is the honor of all, and the +shame of one is the shame of all.</p> + +<p>So it is in the Church, which is the household of God. We are members +of one body, and so of each other. If one member suffers, others suffer +with it; and not one can grow in spiritual grace and strength without +directly or indirectly benefiting others. If one member is poor or +afflicted in mind, body, or estate, his fellows are bound to help him. +If he be assailed with slander or detraction, the others are bound to +defend him; and so on to the end of the chapter.</p> + +<p>I suppose that no one—certainly no church-member—will deny that these +words are true in theory; there are many, thank God, to whom they are +true in practice. Would to God they were so to all! But, alas! to how +many are those with whom they worship on Sunday, with whom they kneel +at the chancel rail even, of no more real interest than the horses +they pass in the street. How many will sit next to a person in church +for years, and never exchange a greeting. How many actually look +down on their fellows who work for a living, or who are not of their +particular set! A woman has been known to object to the formation of a +church guild because "it would bring in everybody on an equal footing. +We would rather confine the thing to our own set." It is to be hoped +such extreme instances are rare; but that rector or church worker is +exceptionally happy who has never found his efforts for the good of the +parish hampered by such feelings and prejudices.</p> + +<p>Again, a woman in poor or even moderate circumstances will not go to +church herself, or send her children to Sunday-school, because she +cannot dress herself or them as well as somebody with twice her means. +She is always looking out for affronts, and resents every kindness and +attention as an attempt at patronage.</p> + +<p>Nor is this the worst. Members of the same church will not be content +with neglect or mere passive envy. They will actually try to injure +one another. It is a shame to have to say it, but it is true. A man or +woman will kneel at the altar with another, and partake the emblems of +their dying Saviour's love. They will do this, and then, before they +are fairly out of sight of the church door, will repeat a scandalous +story to that person's disadvantage—a story which they do not know +to be true, and which there would be no use in telling if it were. +Two communicants will quarrel, and keep up a grudge for years. I have +known a person leave her parish church and go to another because, as +she said, she could not go to the communion with such an one; as if +the Lord's body were divided into parishes! So the Lord is shamed and +wounded in the house of His friends, and the world says, ironically, +"See how these Christians love one another!"</p> + +<p>Oh, dear friends, fellow members of Christ, saved by the same infinite +love and pity, washed in the same atoning blood, ought these things +so to be? Are we not fasting for strife and debate when we pretend to +keep Lent? Have we not all one Father? Has not God created us? "Why do +we deal treacherously, every man against his brother?" (Mal. ii. 10.) +Can the eye say to the hand, "I have no need of thee!" or, again, the +head to the feet, "I have no need of you!" (1 Cor. xii. 21.) Can we +wonder that the world does not care for the Church, while it sees the +members of the church so indifferent, to say the least, to one another? +Oh, let this holy season see every grudge renounced, every feeling of +envy or pride put away, every quarrel made up! Let the blessed feast of +Easter see us working and praying and loving as one in our risen Lord! +So shall we be meet partakers of that Holy Table. So shall the power of +the Church for good be increased a thousand-fold, and the Lord pour out +a blessing till there shall be no room to receive it.</p> + +<p>      Mal. ii.              +           1 Cor. xii.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_38"><em>SIXTH FRIDAY IN LENT.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.—Continued.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WE must never forget that we are members of our Lord's great family, +wherever we may be. The earthly family tie is not broken by absence, +by distance, or even by death. The brother in California, the father +on the distant frontier, are the brother and father still, followed +by faithful prayers, by fond wishes, and remembered with tender tears +at every family anniversary. Even though the wanderer be a prodigal +as well, though it come to this, that his name is never heard, yet he +is not forgotten. His place is empty, and must remain so, because it +can be filled by none but himself. He may have forgotten his duty and +renounced his family name, but the tie of blood is still there, and he +cannot break it if he would.</p> + +<p>It is so in the Household of God. Once a member, always a member. We +may wander away, we may ignore our duties and forget our birthright; +like the prodigal, we may journey into a far country and waste our +substance—which is not ours, but our Father's—with riotous living; +but though rebellious, we are His children still. But not to speak of +that case at present, let us look a little at one or two others. You, +my friend, have not been to church in months, perhaps years. You are +shut up by illness or infirmity, and cannot go into the house of the +Lord. It is a great misfortune, no doubt; and yet it is not as bad +as it might be. You are not cut off from the Lord's family, nor even +from the services of the sanctuary. With your Bible and prayer-book +you can follow the Church services throughout the Christian year. Some +kind friend will keep you informed of the work that is going on in the +parish, and you may perhaps be able now and then to give it a little +help. Your church paper or missionary magazine will tell you the news +of the Church at large, and you can at least follow with your prayers +the good enterprises of which the time is so full. And if you cannot +go to the Holy Communion, your pastor will gladly bring it to you. It +is a wonder to me that invalids do not oftener avail themselves of +this great privilege. Many persons seem to think it a service reserved +for dying hours. "Has your sister had the Holy Communion since she was +sick?" was the question asked of an intelligent English woman. "Oh, +no!" was the answer, in a tone of surprise, "we do not think her in any +danger." It is to be feared that too many look on this ordinance as +a kind of magic rite, by which they are somehow to be bewitched into +Heaven at last, however they may have neglected it in their lifetime.</p> + +<p>To those who are by absence deprived of the services of our Church I +would say the same. Never allow yourself to forget your church ties, +any more than you would forget your family relations on account of +absence, but cherish them all the more. I would not have you stay away +from the public worship of your fellow-Christians, or refuse to help +them in their good works. On the contrary, I would have you assist them +in every possible way, and maintain the most friendly relations with +them. But never, never forget your own household of faith. If possible +let no Sunday or holy day pass without joining in her worship. Work for +her, pray for her, speak for her, at all proper times. How often has it +happened that one such faithful member has been the seed from which has +grown a vine bearing fruit unto eternal life! You cannot be deprived +of all church privileges so long as you have your prayer-book, and if +you use faithfully what you have, the Lord will send you others. Above +all things, never allow yourself to forget that you are a member of the +Lord's body.</p> + +<p>It is possible that this book may fall into the hands of some one who +has forgotten his birthright, who, like the Scripture prodigal, has +gone into a far country, and is trying to satisfy the hunger of his +soul with the husks of this world—with money or land, or low, vile +pleasures fit only for swine. To such an one let me say, your place in +your Father's house and heart and table is still open to you. No one +has taken it. No one ever will take it. It stands waiting for you, and +unless you come home to occupy it, it must stand forever empty. Oh, my +brother, my sister, remember that you are still God's child! You must +be so, you cannot help yourself. Rebellious you may be, disobedient, +ungrateful, lost to love, even to shame; you are still the child of +God. Even though you have never been baptized in His name. He created +you, and He has cared for you all these years. Return, then, to His +House and His love while there is yet time, lest at last the door +should be shut, and you be left to yourself, an orphan in the universe.</p> + +<p>      Dan. iv.              +           St. Luke xv.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_39"><em>SATURDAY BEFORE PALM SUNDAY.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE ALABASTER BOX.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE selections of Holy Scripture set forth for the days of Holy Week +are so abundant and so important that any one who studies them as they +deserve will have little time for any other reading. * I propose, +therefore, merely to glance at some one event of each particular day, +following the chronology adopted by Dean Farrar.</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +* For the same reason I have named no selections from the Bible.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>After the excitement which followed the raising of Lazarus, our Lord +withdrew from Jerusalem to a little city called Ephraim, on the edge +of the desert, where He seems to have spent some weeks in quiet and +restful retirement with His disciples. Six days before the Passover +He returned to the neighborhood of Jerusalem. He did not, however, +enter the city immediately, but betook Himself to the little village +of Bethany, the home of His chosen friends Mary and Martha, and their +brother Lazarus. It was at a supper made for their honored guest that +Mary's full heart overflowed in that offering which has made her name +sweet through all the ages, and on which her Lord bestowed the emphatic +commendation, "She hath done what she could."</p> + +<p>She hath done what she could! She gave her Lord the very best of all +that she possessed—the alabaster vase of precious perfume, costly as +gold; an article of luxury, even with the rich. Are we doing the same? +Do we give Him the best of our time, our means, our labors? Or do we, +like the covetous Jews rebuked by the prophet, offer Him only that +which no one else will thank us for? "Cursed be the deceiver who hath +in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt +thing." (Mal. i. xiii.)</p> + +<p>She hath done what she could! If she had been able to offer no more +than a bunch of sweet herbs gathered in the fields, we cannot doubt +that the offering would have been as acceptable to the Lord of earth +and sky as the costly ointment. He to whom belong the cattle upon a +thousand hills was as well pleased with the turtle doves—the sacrifice +of the very poorest—as with the oxen and sheep of the prince in Israel. +Let us never hesitate to give what we can because the gift is small.</p> + +<p>She hath done what she could! It was her love which made the offering +acceptable. She first gave herself (2 Cor. viii. 5), and the rest +followed, as a matter of course. Let us honestly offer and present to +the Lord ourselves, our souls and bodies, our powers, our very weakness +and hindrances, and having done so, let us, as some old divine says, +"keep ourselves on the altar," taking back nothing of all that we have +given. The altar shall sanctify the gift, and make it as worthy of our +Lord's acceptance as was Mary's box of precious perfume.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_40"><em>PALM SUNDAY.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE great event of the day was over. The Lord had come to Jerusalem, +fulfilling the words of the prophet. His had been a triumphal entry, +and for a little time it seemed, indeed, as if the world had gone +after Him. Only He Himself knew how evanescent would be the feeling in +his favor. Only He knew that some of the very tongues which had cried +"Hosanna!" would in no long time be as ready to cry, "Crucify Him!"</p> + +<p>But there were other voices—innocent voices—to which the Lord could +listen with delight. The little children in the temple, who had +followed Him thither with their parents—possibly also those employed in +the musical service—continued to repeat the shouts of the multitudes +on the Mount of Olives, and the spacious courts resounded with their +shrill hosannas. His enemies were all the more enraged, and would have +silenced them, but the Lord refused, and justified their action. "Yea, +have ye never heard, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast +perfected praise"?</p> + +<p>Nowadays the children's place in the temple is too often vacant. One +sees but seldom what was once the most common of Sunday sights—the +long, orderly rows of children, big and little, filling the pews on +Sunday. I cannot recollect when I first went to church, but I well +remember what a deprivation it was to be kept at home. If the morning +service was thought too long for the very little ones, they were taken +in the afternoon. But the afternoon service has been turned into the +evening, when the children cannot come out (it being considered by +careful mothers much more dangerous to take them to church than to +dancing-school); and at the morning service the clergyman may look over +twenty pews and not see half a dozen children.</p> + +<p>Surely this is not right. Surely the praises of the little ones are as +acceptable now as they were on the first Palm Sunday. Children soon +learn to understand and join in the service. I shall never forget +being, many years ago, in a church where the responses were made so +faintly that one might think the worshippers were afraid some one would +hear them. All at once, in the midst of that cold, dying murmur, arose +distinct and clear the voice of a little child saying in devoutest +accents, "Good Lord, deliver us." All through the Litany the sweet +little tones were heard, and it was curious to hear how others near him +found courage to open their mouths.</p> + +<p>Dear friends, let us take the children to church. Let us not deprive +them of their birthright. Their place is in the Sanctuary as well as +ours, and they will soon learn to consider worship a privilege. They +will learn to love God's house when they are young, and when they are +old they will not depart from it.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_41"><em>MONDAY BEFORE EASTER.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE FIG-TREE HAVING LEAVES.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE Lord had, as usual, gone out of the city to spend the night. He +seems to have had no love for cities in general. He spent the dark +hours either at Bethany, or, as is very probable, He had slept with His +disciples in the open air, under the trees of the Mount of Olives. All +Orientals are rather fond of sleeping out of doors, and a night on the +grass, wrapped in their big mantles, is, to them, no hardship at all. +But returning to Jerusalem early in the morning, He was an-hungered; +and seeing a fig-tree having leaves, He came to it, if possibly He +might find fruit thereon.</p> + +<p>The time of figs—the general harvest—had not yet come. But this +particular tree had put on its summer dress of leaves; and therefore +it was reasonable to expect that it should also bear fruit, since the +fruit of the fig-tree always precedes the leaf. Our Lord might have +expected to find some of the small green figs which there often come +to perfection in April or May. * But the tree was barren. It had not +even remaining any of the large purple fruit which hangs on till the +next season. It was barren now; it had been barren the year before. And +so the Lord pronounced its condemnation. "Let no fruit grow on thee +henceforth forever."</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<br> +* NOTE.—Thomson, author of "The Land and the Book" (which ought to +be in every Sunday-school library as a book of reference), speaks of +eating the little sweet green figs as early as April.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>Is there a possibility that one of us who have followed the Church +services all through this holy season may be, after all, like this +fig-tree? It is possible that we may be like the empty vine described +by the prophet—empty because it brought forth fruit only to itself? +(Hos. x. 1.) Oh, let us look to it, lest our Lord, seeking for fruit +and finding none, may pronounce against us also the awful sentence, "No +fruit grow on thee henceforth forever."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_42"><em>TUESDAY BEFORE EASTER.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE HOUSE LEFT DESOLATE.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>OUR Lord had visited the temple for the last time. He had silenced all +his enemies; He had frustrated all their deep-laid plans to entangle +Him in His own words. He had poured out on the Scribes and Pharisees +those terrible denunciations which filled up the cup of their spite +and fury to overflowing. Then looking about Him, doubtless, at the +magnificent building, and the still great and prosperous city with +its crowded inhabitants, His heart of love and pity overflowed once +more, as it had done at the time of His triumphal entry. "O Jerusalem, +Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are +sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, +as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." And +then came the saddest words of all. "Behold, your house is left unto +you, desolate."</p> + +<p>Our Lord never entered the temple again. It stood in its majesty +for many a year, untouched by any outward enemy, throwing back the +sunbeams, a "pile of gold and snow." Yet was it as surely a ruin as +when the fire that devoured it was quenched in the blood of priests and +worshippers. For the Lord had departed and all the splendor was but an +empty show. The house was left, but it was desolate.</p> + +<p>Probably none of those who crowded to hear the Lord's last words, +realized that they were the last. He had been going in and out among +them for three years. They had become, as it were, used to seeing +His miracles and hearing His teachings, and there seemed no special +reason why these miracles and teachings should not go on indefinitely. +Probably very few, except His bitterest enemies, had made up their +minds absolutely to reject Him. There was time enough, they thought.</p> + +<p>But they were awfully mistaken. There was no more time. The clock had +struck, though they had not heard it. The Lord, whom they had pretended +to seek, had come to His temple, but the rulers there would have none +of Him. And so they were left to themselves, to fill up the measure of +their iniquities, and to be filled in turn with their own devices in a +manner more awful than the world has ever seen.</p> + +<p>To every man and woman on earth there is coming a last time—a last +Lent, a last Easter, a last Sunday, a last chance. "God had appointed +a day." We know not what day, nor when it is to come, but being +appointed, it is constantly drawing nearer and nearer. And when once +the Master of the house has risen, and has shut to the door, it will +not be opened again. God grant that at that awful time, none of us who +have walked on together through this holy season, may be left outside +that door to knock in vain!</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_43"><em>WEDNESDAY BEFORE EASTER.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE LOST OPPORTUNITIES.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WE may think of this day with tender interest as our Lord's last quiet +day upon earth. He seems to have spent it in retirement with His +disciples, probably among the groves of that Mount which He loved so +well; not yet invaded by the foot of treachery and violence, but lying +sweet and calm and beautiful with the tender tints of spring. Here He +told His friends of the terrible fate which was even then threatening +that temple, to whose beauty and strength they had so lately directed +His attention, and of that still more awful event, also inevitable, but +the date whereof was still hidden in the councils of God. At this time, +too, He spoke the parables of the wise and foolish virgins, and of the +talents, and gave the description of the last Judgment contained in the +same chapter.</p> + +<p>It is on one feature of the narration in this chapter that I would +dwell for a few minutes. The most startling and significant thing about +them all has always seemed to me this: that in every case the persons +condemned were so condemned not for what they did, but for what they +did not do. The foolish virgins made no bad use of their lamps. They +did not willfully waste their oil for their own pleasure. They simply +neglected to provide it when they might have done so. When the time +came that the lamps were needed they hastened to supply the deficiency, +but it was then too late. They that were ready had gone in to the +marriage, and the door was shut.</p> + +<p>So it was with the slothful servant with his one talent. He made +no ill use of it. We do not hear that he drank or gambled. He was +slothful—perhaps cowardly as well. So he hid his Lord's money, and +was judged accordingly. The man with one talent is perhaps specially +exposed to this temptation. He can do but little in comparison to +others, and so he will do nothing. But if his sentence was so severe, +what shall be that of him who, having ten talents given him to serve +his master withal, lets them lie unimproved, or uses them for his own +and others' destruction.</p> + +<p>Again, in the story of judgment, with which the chapter concludes, +those who were sent away to the place prepared, not for them, but +for the devil and his angels, were condemned, not because they had +ill-treated or robbed any one, but because having the opportunity to +succor the Lord in the persons of His poor, they had not done so.</p> + +<p>Do not these stories contain an awful warning? How many say, if not +openly, yet to themselves, "At least, if I do no good, I do no great +harm." But, let us not be deceived. The not doing good is of itself a +sin, and as a sin it will surely be visited.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_44"><em>THURSDAY BEFORE EASTER.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE TRAITOR.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"WHEN evening was come, He sat down with the twelve" to the meal +already prepared by the two disciples whom He had sent in the morning +for that purpose. We cannot tell what were the thoughts that then +occupied His mind, any further than the Holy Spirit had revealed them +to us, but, so far, we without presumption humbly try to enter into +them. He knew, though His disciples did not, that his enemies were +awake, and already planning His destruction, and that one of His chosen +companions, who was breaking bread with Him, would betray Him into +their hands. He saw all the weakness and folly of those companions, +even then disputing who should be greatest; He foresaw their cowardly +desertion and flight. His soul was sorrowful, even unto death; yet we +hear no words of impatience; only solemn warnings and tender counsels.</p> + +<p>There was one of the number to whom every look should have been a +reproach, every word a sting. He had sold his Lord already, and was +only biding his time to consummate the bargain; yet he could sit there +at the board, could take the bread from that Master's own hand, could +even ask with the others, "Is it I?"</p> + +<p>Did his conscience even then torment him? Probably not. He had hardened +it too long. Says a well-known writer: "Remorse may disturb the slumber +of a man who is dabbling with his first experiences of wrong; and when +the pleasure has been tasted and is gone, and nothing is left of the +crime but the ruin it has wrought, then, too, the furies take their +seats upon the midnight pillow. But the meridian of evil is for the +most part left unvexed, and when a man has chosen his road he is left +alone to follow it to the end." Judas had chosen his road. He had sold +his Master for a paltry sum of money, and probably pleased himself with +the thoughts of farther advantages which would be certain to follow +such a service to the rulers. The world had hidden all else from his +eyes, and if he now and then had a misgiving, he doubtless stifled it +with the thought that the Master who had so often escaped the hands of +his enemies would easily do so again. He would have the money and the +credit, and there would be no great harm done after all.</p> + +<p>Is there any danger now, that Judas may be found at the Lord's table? +Is there any danger that we may betray our Master for gold, for +fashion, or for worldly advantage? Do we ever, for the sake of being +thought liberal or intellectual, side with His open or covert enemies?</p> + +<p>Let us beware! It was an awful distinction which our merciful and +compassionate Lord gave to Judas. There was pardon for those who +forsook Him for fear, for Peter who denied, for Paul who persecuted. It +was only Judas who sold Him, of whom it was said, "It were better for +that man that he had never been born!"</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_45"><em>GOOD FRIDAY.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE CROSS.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THERE seems to be no room on this day for human words. What we have to +do is to follow our suffering Lord step by step through the events of +the day; to see Him led from the high priest to Pilate, from Pilate to +Herod, and back to Pilate again; to see the cowardly Roman governor, +acting against his own sense of law and justice for fear of the mob, +seeking to save the innocent by a compromise, which failed, as such +compromises always do, and at last giving way and delivering the victim +into the hands of his enemies, to find, after all, that he had gained +nothing but infamy by the surrender of honor and conscience. Let us, +with the daughters of Jerusalem, follow the sad procession to Calvary. +Let us see the Saviour of the world fainting under His burden, yet +forgetting His own pain to address to the wailing women a word of +recognition and warning. Let us see Him refusing the narcotic provided +by merciful hands to deaden the agonies of the sufferers.</p> + +<p>Let us, with His mother and the other faithful women, watch by His +cross to the end. Surely we can do this for Him who has done so much +for us.</p> + +<p>And as we keep our sorrowful yet joyful watch, let us always remember +that we have our part in that awful sacrifice; that "our" sins made a +part of that crushing burden; that our sins sharpened the nails and +embittered the cup. Let us say again and again, as we watch the shadow +darkening on the Saviour's brow, that shadow which never anywhere falls +but once, "He died for me!"</p> + +<p>He died for you, oh timid, doubting, desponding soul. How, then, can +you distrust your Father's love, who suffered His well-beloved Son +to bear all this for your sake? He died for you, oh weak and weary +sufferer, and He who so bore His own cross will help you to bear yours. +Oh, thoughtless or careless sinner, or hardened man of the world; oh, +blasphemer or denier! He died for you that you might live for Him. Let +it not be in vain that He has so died!</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_46"><em>EASTER EVEN.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE LAST SABBATH.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE agony was over at last. Joseph and Nicodemus, openly taking sides +with the disciples of Jesus in this their darkest hour, had begged the +Lord's body, and with all the tenderness and reverence which the time +admitted, had laid it safely away in the garden tomb. The faithful +women who had watched by the cross saw where the body of their Lord +was laid, and sadly returned home. There was no more that they could +do. Yes, one thing more. They prepared spices and ointments, and then, +anxious as they were to complete the last service they could show, they +rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. If they could do +no more, they could obey that law which He Himself had said should not +pass away till all was fulfilled.</p> + +<p>They rested the Sabbath day. A sorrowful day, no doubt, yet not perhaps +without its gleams of comfort. He whom they trusted was to redeem +Israel was gone, dead by a shameful and cruel death. After all His +faithful teaching for three years among them, after all His miracles, +after that triumphal entry of only a week before, He was dead. And yet, +as they who had followed Him so faithfully, talked over the events of +their Lord's life, and recalled His words, it seems as if they must +have remembered those mysterious words of His about rising again. How +many had He not recalled from death? Had He not brought Lazarus back +after he had been dead four days? At all events, He was now out of +reach of His enemies. Their malice could not harm Him now, and they +should see Him again at that resurrection of the just which He had +taught them to expect.</p> + +<p>They rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. It was, +though they did not know it then, the last Sabbath under the old +law. Henceforth, as long as the world stood, the first instead of +the last day of the week was to be the "day of rest and gladness" +to all Christian hearts and homes. It was to be pre-eminently the +Lord's day—Sunday, we may well call it, since on that day the Sun of +Righteousness rose on His Church to set no more. The disciples and the +women did not know that it was the last, but they kept it in obedience. +That at least was in their power.</p> + +<p>It may be that some one who reads these pages is bowed down with +trouble from within or without; perplexed with doubt, burdened with +a sense of unworthiness, and hesitating whether or not to go to the +Easter feast. To such an one let me say, dear friend, you can always +obey. The King Himself invites you to the feast; and a royal invitation +is a command. Draw near with faith, and take what your King offers you +out of loyalty to His will. Believe me, He will himself give you the +wedding garment which shall render you fit for His presence. And as for +your burden, lay it at His feet and leave it there. Only obey, and the +blessing will as surely follow as light follows the sun.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_47"><em>EASTER.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>THE DAY OF THE LORD.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THIS is the day of the Lord; we will rejoice and be glad in it. It is +the great day of the Church, the crowning feast of the year. Even the +world rejoices on Christmas Day, though it scarcely knows why; but this +is the Christian's day. To him who does not believe, it means nothing; +to us, it means everything.</p> + +<p>Our Lord has risen from the dead. Henceforth the grave has for us +no terror. Our Lord has opened its fast-barred gates and let in the +sunshine to every corner; and as we look into it, we see nothing to +affright us. He has made it a safe resting-place; and we may commit +to it the bodies of our dear ones, with the tears that love demands +indeed, but in hope, because as our Lord rose they too shall rise to +die, no more.</p> + +<p>Our Lord is risen from the dead; and from henceforth the hope of a +future life is no more a dream, a theory, a fond hope. To us who +believe, it is a certainty beyond all doubt. Because He lives, we shall +live also.</p> + +<p>When the women and the other disciples had become assured that their +Lord had really risen; when He had spoken and eaten with them, and +their hands had touched and handled Him, the distress and grief of +the last few days must have seemed to them like a bad dream. So will +the longest, weariest life seem to the disciple who looks at it from +the rest of Paradise. It was long, but the end came at last. It was +hard to bear, but it is all over now. The poor, weak soul trembled +at the passage, but it was safely made, and the Home is gained, from +which there is no going out forevermore. It was a dark, restless night +perhaps, full of sad dreams and fears, but it is past and gone now. The +sun has risen, and it will never set.</p> + +<p>Our Lord is risen from the dead! He calls us, as He did His disciples, +to eat and drink with Him. Let us hasten to obey. And if we are so +shut-in that we cannot go with the multitude to His holy table, let us +prepare Him a place in our hearts, and rest assured that He will come +and sup with us and we with Him.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Day_48"><em>CONCLUSION.</em></a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b><em>LOOKING BACK.</em></b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>EVERY wise merchant, at the close of a busy season, looks back over +his business, and reckons up his profits and losses. We, dear friends, +have been passing through a season of more than usual occupation and +privilege. Lent is now at an end. Let us look back and see if we have +gained or lost ground in our spiritual progress during the last busy +days.</p> + +<p>We have surely gained, if we have used them as we ought. If we have +laid out a plan of work or study or self-denial, and adhered to it +as far as possible, our wills have been strengthened by the process. +If we have taken unavoidable interruptions pleasantly, if we have +borne with criticism, kind or unkind, good-naturedly, if we have been +un-ostentatious in our devotions, while yielding not a jot of what +we believe to be right, we have surely grown in grace. If we have +laid aside light and amusing books, that we might have more time for +religious reading and for Bible study, we have increased in knowledge. +In short, if we have used the time as we ought, we have laid up +strength and formed good habits which will help us through the entire +year.</p> + +<p>But if, through idleness or self-indulgence, we have allowed the +precious hours and days to pass empty away; if our Bibles have been +neglected, and our time frittered away on trifles; if we have done and +given nothing for the spread of the Gospel, the advancement of the +Lord's cause—then has the Lenten season been lost. If we have formed no +good habits to carry us through the rest of the year, if we are ready +to plunge into new frivolities, or to take up the old ones with a new +zest after a few weeks of abstinence, then it is worse than lost. We +might better not have had it. For every privilege misused, every means +of grace unimproved, does but harden the heart and blunt the conscience.</p> + +<p>Without wishing to be censorious, it does seem to me that a good many +Christians do up their religion in Lent, so as to have little left +for the rest of the year. For six weeks they are to be seen in the +Sunday-school, at the missionary meeting, at the week-day service; but +look for them after Easter, and you will find their places vacant. +"Yes, I went to the meetings in Lent," said one; "but now that the +world is going on again, there are so many claims on my time!" One +could not help wondering a little what claims the world had on the time +of a Christian after Easter any more than before.</p> + +<p>But let us beware of judging our neighbors; we shall have quite +enough to do in examining our own consciences and bewailing our own +sinfulness, that we may come well prepared to the blessed feast of +Easter. We shall all see plenty to regret in the weeks that are +past. Let us see to it that the coming days—the days of our Lord's +humiliation and death—are so employed as that the feast of His joyful +and glorious resurrection may find us ready, in the marriage garment +prescribed by Holy Scripture, to be meet partakers of that Holy Table.</p> + +<p>      Isa. liii.              +           1 Cor. xi. 17.<br></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE END.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77163 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77163-h/images/image001.jpg b/77163-h/images/image001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d63ddfd --- /dev/null +++ b/77163-h/images/image001.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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