Daily Thoughts Part 13

Pa.s.sion--Easter--Ascension. April 27.

Good Friday, Easter Day, and Ascension, are set as great lights in the firmament of the spiritual year;--to remind us that we are not animals born to do what we like, and fulfil the simple l.u.s.ts of the flesh--but that we are rational moral beings, members of Christ, children of G.o.d, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, and that, therefore, like Christ, we must die in order to live, stoop in order to conquer. They remind us that honour must grow out of humility; that freedom must grow out of discipline; that sure conquest must be born of heavy struggles; righteous joy out of righteous sorrow; pure laughter out of pure tears; true strength out of the true knowledge of our own weakness; sound peace of mind out of sound contrition.

_All Saints' Day Sermons_. 1871.

How to keep Pa.s.sion-Week. April 28.

Can we go wrong if we keep our Pa.s.sion-week as Christ kept His? And how did He keep it? Not by shutting Himself up apart, not by the mere thinking over the glory of self-sacrifice. He taught daily in the temple; instead of giving up His work, He worked more earnestly than ever as the terrible end drew near. Why should not we keep Pa.s.sion-week, not by merely hiding in our closets to meditate even about Him, but by going about our work each in his place, dutifully, bravely, as Christ went?

_Town and Country Sermons_. 1859.

Self-Sacrifice. April 29.

Without self-sacrifice there can be no blessedness either in earth or in heaven. He that loveth his life will lose it. He that hateth his life in this paltry, selfish, luxurious world shall keep it to life eternal.

_All Saints' Day Sermons_. 1870.

Help from our Blessed Dead. April 30.

And so with those who are Christ's whom we love. Partakers of His death, they are partakers of His resurrection. Let us believe the blessed news in all its fulness, and be at peace. A little while and we see them, and again a little while and we do not see them. But why? Because they are gone to the Father, to the Source and Fount of all life and power, all light and love, that they may gain life from His life, power from His power, light from His light, love from His love; and surely not for nought. Surely not for nought. For if they were like Christ on earth, and did not use their powers for themselves alone; if they are to be like Christ when they see Him as He is, then, more surely, will they not use their powers for themselves, but as Christ uses His, for those they love.

_MS. Sermon_. 1866.

SAINTS' DAYS, FASTS, & FESTIVALS.

Pa.s.sion-tide.

From the earliest times the Cross has been the special sign of Christians. St. Paul tells us his great hope, his great business, what G.o.d had sent him into the world to do, was this--to make people know the love of Christ; to look at Christ's Cross, and take in its breadth and length and depth and height.

And what is the _breadth_ of Christ's Cross? My friends, it is as broad as the whole world, for He died for the whole world; as it is written, "He is a propitiation not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world." And that is the _breadth_ of Christ's Cross.

And what is the _length_ of Christ's Cross? Long enough to last through all time. As long as there is a sinner to be saved; as long as there is ignorance, sorrow, pain, death, or anything else which is contrary to G.o.d and hurtful to man in the universe of G.o.d, so long will Christ's Cross last. And that is the _length_ of the Cross of Christ.

And how _high_ is Christ's Cross? As high as the highest heaven, and the throne of G.o.d and the bosom of the Father--that bosom out of which for ever proceed all created things. Ay, as high as the highest heaven; for, if you will receive it, when Christ hung upon the Cross heaven came down on earth, and earth ascended into heaven. And that is the _height_ of the Cross of Christ.

And how _deep_ is the Cross of Christ? This is a great mystery which people are afraid to look into, and darken it of their own will. But if the Cross of Christ be as high as heaven, then it must be as deep as h.e.l.l, deep enough to reach the deepest sinner in the deepest pit to which he may fall, for Christ descended into h.e.l.l, and preached to the spirits in prison. Let us hope, then, that is the _depth_ of the Cross of Christ.

"_The Measure of the Cross_,"

_Sermons_ (_Good News of G.o.d_).

Good Friday.

Listen! and our G.o.d shall whisper, as we hang upon the cross, {97} "Children! love! and loving, faint not! great your glory, light your loss!

_Ye_ are bound--ye may be loosed--_I_ was nailed upon the tree, Of the pangs I suffered for you--bear awhile a few for me!

Fear not, though the waters whelm you; fear not, though ye see no land!

Know ye not your G.o.d is with you, guiding with a Father's hand?

Cords may wring, and winds may freeze you, s.h.i.+vering on the sullen sea, Yet the life that burns within you liveth ever hid with Me!"

_MS._ 1842.

Christ must suffer before He entered into His glory. He must die before He could rise. He must descend into h.e.l.l before He could ascend into heaven. For this is the law of G.o.d's kingdom. Without a Good Friday there can be no Easter Day. Without self-sacrifice there can be no blessedness.

My Saviour! My King! Infinite, Eternal Love--alone of all beings devoid of self-love! Glory be to Thee for Thy humiliation, for Thy Cross and Pa.s.sion!

_MS._

Easter Even.

Christ went down into h.e.l.l and preached to the spirits in prison. It is written that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" and again, "When the wicked man turns from his wickedness he shall save his soul alive." And we know that in the same chapter G.o.d tells us that His ways are not unequal. It is possible, therefore, that He has not one law for this life and another for the life to come. Let us hope, then, that David's words may be true after all, when, speaking by the Spirit of G.o.d, he says not only "if I ascend up to heaven, thou art there," but "if I go down to h.e.l.l, thou art there also."

_MS. Sermon_.

Easter Day.

The Creed says, "I believe in the Resurrection of the flesh." I believe that we, each of us, as human beings, men and women, shall have a share in that glorious day; not merely as ghosts and disembodied spirits, but as real live human beings, with new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new heaven. "Therefore," David says, "my flesh shall rest in hope;" not merely my soul, my ghost, but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died but rose again with His body, shall raise our bodies according to His mighty working, and then the whole manhood of us--body, soul, and spirit--shall have our perfect consummation and bliss in His eternal and everlasting glory.

_National Sermons_.

APRIL 25.

St. Mark, Evangelist and Martyr.

G.o.d's apostles, saints, and martyrs are our spiritual ancestors. They spread the Gospel into all lands, and they spread it, remember always, not only by preaching what they knew, but by being what they were. Their characters, their personal histories, are as important to us as their writings.

_Sermons_.