Part 1

Produced by Al Haines

The Life of Duty

A YEAR'S PLAIN SERMONS

ON THE

GOSPELS OR EPISTLES.

VOL. II.

TRINITY TO ADVENT.

BY

H. J. WILMOT-BUXTON, M.A.,

VICAR OF S. GILES-IN-THE-WOOD, N. DEVON.

AUTHOR OF "SUNDAY SERMONETTES FOR A YEAR." "MISSION SERMONS." "THE LIFE WORTH LIVING AND OTHER PLAIN SERMONS." "THE CHILDREN'S BREAD A SERIES OF SHORT SERMONS FOR CHILDREN." "THE LORD'S SONG SERMONS ON HYMNS," ETC.

Sixth Edition.

London:

SKEFFINGTON & SON, PICCADILLY, W.,

PUBLISHERS TO H.M. THE QUEEN AND TO H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.

1898.

TO

MY DEAR MOTHER,

MY EARLIEST AND BEST TEACHER AND GUIDE, THESE SERMONS ARE DEDICATED.

Contents.

THE OPEN DOOR (_Trinity Sunday_) REV. iv. 1. "A door was opened in Heaven."

THE CONTRAST (_First Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20. "There was a certain rich man, . . . and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus."

THE WAY OF LIFE (_Second Sunday after Trinity_) 1 JOHN iii. 14. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."

MAN'S LIFE HIS MONUMENT (_Third Sunday after Trinity_) 1 S. PETER v. 10. "The God of all grace . . . make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."

THE BLESSING OF MERCY (_Fourth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE vi. 36. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful."

THE WORDS OF OUR LIPS (_Fifth Sunday after Trinity_) 1 S. PETER iii. 10. "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile."

ALIVE UNTO GOD (_Sixth Sunday after Trinity_) ROMANS vi. 11. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

SERVANTS OF SIN (_Seventh Sunday after Trinity_) ROMANS vi. 20. "The servants of sin."

KNOWN BY THEIR FRUITS (_Eighth Sunday after Trinity_) S. MATT. vii. 16. "Ye shall know them by their fruits."

RENDERING OUR ACCOUNT (_Ninth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE xvi. 2. "Give an account of thy stewardship."

THE TEARS OF CHRIST (_Tenth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE xix. 41. "He beheld the city, and wept over it."

THE GRACE OF GOD (_Eleventh Sunday after Trinity_) 1 Cor. xv. 10. "By the Grace of God I am what I am."

DEAF EARS AND STAMMERING TONGUES (_Twelfth Sunday after Trinity_) S. MARK vii. 37. "He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak."

THE GOOD SAMARITAN (_Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity_) S. LUKE x. 30. "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves."

WALKING WITH GOD (_Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity_) GALATIANS v. 16. "Walk in the Spirit."

THE PREACHING OF NATURE (_Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity_) S. MATT. vi. 28. "Consider the lilies of the field."

PAST KNOWLEDGE (_Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS iii. 19. "To know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."

THE PRISON-HOUSE (_Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS iv. 1. "The prisoner of the Lord."

FIRM TO THE END (_Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity_) 1 COR. i. 8. "Who also shall confirm you unto the end."

SCHOLARS OF CHRIST (_Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS iv. 20. "Ye have not so learned Christ."

WARY WALKING (_Twentieth Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS v. 15. "See then that ye walk circumspectly."

STRONG CHRISTIANS (_Twenty-first Sunday after Trinity_) EPHESIANS vi. 10. "My brethren, be strong in the Lord."

THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS (_Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity_) S. MATTHEW xviii. 28. "Pay me that thou owest."

THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY (_Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity_) PHIL. iii. 20. "Our conversation is in Heaven."

THANKFUL SERVICE (_Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity_) COL. i. 12. "Giving thanks."

GATHERING THE FRAGMENTS (_Twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity_) S. JOHN vi. 12. "Gather up the fragments that remain."

WHAT THE FLOWERS SAY (_Children's Flower Service_) PSALM ciii. 15. "As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth."

DAILY BREAD (_Harvest Thanksgiving_) PSALM lxv. 9. "Thou preparest them corn."

GOD'S JEWELS (_Schools_) MALACHI iii. 17. "They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels."

MUTUAL HELP (_Female Friendly Society)_ S. MARK iii. 35. "Whosoever shall do the Will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and My Mother."

SERMON XXXV.

THE OPEN DOOR.

(Trinity Sunday.)

REV. iv. 1.

"A door was opened in Heaven."

When Dante had written his immortal poems on Hell and Purgatory, the people of Italy used to shrink back from him with awe, and whisper, "see the man who has looked upon Hell." To-day we can in fancy look on the face of the beloved Apostle, who saw Heaven opened, and the things which shall be hereafter. We have summed up the great story of the Gospel, and have trodden the path of salvation from Bethlehem to Calvary. We have seen Jesus, the only Son of God, dying for our sins, and rising again for our justification, and ascending into Heaven to plead for us as our eternal great High Priest. We have heard of the coming of God the Holy Ghost, the gift of the Father, sent in the name of the Son. To-day, the Festival of the Blessed Trinity, Three Persons, yet one God, we are permitted to gaze for a moment through the open door, on the Home of God, yes, and the Home of God's people, who are redeemed with the Precious Blood of Christ.

Now, there are many people who never think of Heaven at all, and many who think of it in a wrong way. When we were baptised, the door was opened for us in Heaven, and Jesus said to us, "Behold, I set before you an open door." From that day we were permitted to look with the eye of faith upon those good things which pass man's understanding. But some of us would not look up. We were like travellers going along a muddy road on a starlight night, and who look down on the foul, dirty path, and never upwards to the bright sky above. My brother, turn your eyes from this world's dirty ways, look away from your selfish work, and your selfish pleasure, look up from the things which are seen and are temporal, from the fashion of this world which passeth away, and gaze through the open door of Revelation at the things which shall be hereafter. I said that many people never think of Heaven at all. These are they who love this world too well to think of the world to come, they are of the earth, earthy. "As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy, and as is the Heavenly, such also are they that are Heavenly."

I said, too, that many think of Heaven in a wrong way, as did the lady of fashion, who fancied Heaven would be like the London season, only better, as there would be no disagreeable people. Now, if we are to think rightly of Heaven, we must do as S. John did. He heard a voice saying, "Come up hither, and I will show the things which shall be hereafter. And immediately he was in the Spirit." We must ask for the Holy Spirit to lift our hearts and minds to Heaven; we must try to go up higher in our thoughts, words, and works; we must try to get above the world, above ourselves, so shall we be able to look, though with bowed head and shaded eyes, through the open door. Let us reverently do so now, and see what we can learn of the things which shall be hereafter. First, I think we learn that Heaven and earth are not, as some people fancy, two very different places, very far apart. The Church of Christ is one family, bound together by _one_ faith, _one_ Baptism, _one_ hope, acknowledging one God and Father of us all. This family has one Home; here in earth it dwells in a lower chamber, after death it passes into a higher room of God's great House. The Apostle, speaking of the Church, says, "Ye _are_ come, (not ye _will_ come,) unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

In a word, our Heavenly life should commence when we are baptised, day by day ought we to grow in grace, and when we have grown sufficiently, God takes us to the upper Room above. It is this mistake of separating Heaven and earth which makes people careless of their lives. If you want to dwell with God through all eternity, you must walk humbly with God all the days of your earthly life. Look again through the open door, and learn that in Heaven God is the central figure. So, if we are living here as Christ's people, God will be the central figure in _our_ life, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all our work, our wish, our plan. My brothers, if you feel that with you _self_ is the chief object in your existence, be sure that you are not living the Heavenly life. You have put yourself in the place of God.

Again, as we look through the open door, we see the intense _beauty_ of the Heavenly life. We see gates of pearl, and a throne on which sits one like a jasper and a sardine stone, and the rainbow round about the throne is in sight like unto an emerald. In all ages precious stones have been objects of the greatest value. We are told that Julius Caesar paid a hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns for one pearl, and monarchs have boasted of possessing a diamond of priceless value. You remember that God says of His redeemed ones, "they shall be Mine in that day that I make up My jewels." Well, I think we hear so much of precious stones in the description of Heaven, that we may learn that its great glory and beauty consists in the holiness of those who dwell there. _They_ are the pure and precious pearls which build up the foundation, and they get their brightness from God, who sits enthroned among them, and who is to look upon as a jasper and a sardine stone. And these precious stones are of different colours, as they reflect the light from a different point. So is it with the people of God, they reflect the light from the face of God in various ways, and so have various virtues. One shines with fiery zeal, like the red ruby. Another glitters with the soft beauty of a humble spirit, like the pearl, whilst yet another sparkles with many graces, like the parti-coloured flashes of the diamond. Some lives which here are obscure and neglected, like the precious gem at the bottom of the ocean, shall one day glitter in Heaven, and be among the jewels of the Master.

Ah! my brothers, are _our_ lives such that we can ever hope to adore God's jewel-house above? Can these poor dull characters of ours ever shine as the stars for ever and ever? Think, what makes a gem flash and sparkle? Light. Well, then, let us walk as the children of light, let us look up, and catch the radiance from the face of Jesus, and reflect it in our lives; then will our light shine here before men, and one day shine yet brighter as we draw nearer to the source of all light. And think again that often the brightest and fairest forms come from the least likely materials. Of the same mould are the black coal, and the glittering diamond. The unsightly slag which is thrown away from the iron furnace forms beautiful crystals, and the very mud under foot can, as men of science tell us, be turned into gleaming metal, and sparkling gem. The fair colours which dye our clothing can be formed from defiling pitch, and some of the most exquisite perfumes are distilled from the foulest substances. My brother, the same God who brings beauty out of ugliness, and fair purity from corruption, can so change our vile nature, and our vile body, that they may be made like unto Him. The work of the Blessed Trinity, of the Creator, the Saviour, the Sanctifier, is day by day operating on the children of God, and making all things new in them. And remember that work is gradual. A man can make a sham diamond in a very short time, a real gem must lie for ages buried in the earth. So, if we are really and truly God's people, we must grow gradually, and bear all the cutting and polishing which God sees right, before we are fit for the royal treasury.

The same Divine Hand which changed Mary Magdalene to a loving penitent, and the dying thief to a trusting disciple, and lifted Augustine from the foul grave of lust to be a pillar of the Church, can likewise change us, and make us to shine with the light of a stone most precious. Once again, as we gaze through the open door, we hear of music in Heaven. Those who have wrong ideas of the life to come seem to imagine that the Heavenly existence consists in minstrelsy and nothing else. Surely the song of the redeemed, and the music of the golden harps, are a type of the perfect _harmony_ of Heaven. This life is often full of discords, the life to come is perfectly in tune. Here on earth our lives are very like musical instruments. One plays nothing but dirges of sorrow and discontent. Another life is made up of frivolous dance music; another is hideous with the discord of "sweet bells jangled, out of tune, and harsh." The life to come is one of perfect harmony, for each servant will be in complete accord with the Master's will and pleasure. And I think the vision of those who play upon their harps, and sing their song before the throne, show us that the life to come is one of _occupation_. There will be, doubtless, growth, progress, experience, work in Heaven. But there we shall be able to do what we so seldom do here--all to the glory of God. Here we work so selfishly, there all work is worship. Here we struggle for the crown that we may wear it, there they cast down their crowns before the Throne of God. When we speak of resting from our labours after death, and being at peace, we cannot mean, we dare not hope, that we shall be idle. When a famous man of science died, his friends said one to another, "how busy he will be!" We are bidden to be workers together with God, and we may believe that He has new and higher tasks for us all, when we shall have passed through that door in Heaven which Jesus has opened for all believers.

SERMON XXXVI.

THE CONTRAST.

(First Sunday after Trinity.)

S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20.

"There was a certain rich man, . . . and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus."

What was the rich man's sin? We are not told that he had committed any crime. He is not described as an extortioner or unjust. There is no word about his having been an adulterer, or a thief, or an unbeliever, or a Sabbath breaker. Surely there was no sin in his being rich, or wearing costly clothes if he could afford it. Certainly not: it is not _money_, but the _love_ of money, which is the root of all evil. The sin of Dives is the sin of hundreds to-day. He lived for himself alone, and he lived only for this world. He had sunk all his capital in his gold and silver, and purple and fine linen. He had no treasure laid up in Heaven. So when the moth and rust had done their work, and death had broken through like a thief and stolen all his earthly goods, he had nothing left. This parable is full of sharp contrasts. First, there is the contrast in the life of these two men. The one rich, the other a beggar. The one clothed in purple and fine linen, the other almost naked, and covered with sores. The one fared sumptuously every day, the other lay at the gate starving, and longing for the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. The one had friends and acquaintances who ate of his meat and drank of his cup, the other was "a pauper whom nobody owns," and the dogs were his only earthly comforters. The rich man had great possessions, yet one thing he lacked, and that was the one thing needful. He had the good things of this life, yet he had not chosen the good part which could not be taken away from him. He had gold and silver, purple and fine linen, but he was without God in the world. Lazarus, the beggar, was after all the truly rich man, "as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." Next, there is a contrast in the death of these two men. One expired in a luxurious bed. No doubt there were learned physicians beside him, and perhaps friends and relatives, though, as a rule, selfish people have few true friends. The other died we know not where, perhaps in the hot dusty road at the rich man's gate. There were no doctors to minister to his wants, no kindly hands to sooth his burning brow, to moisten his parched lips, to close his glazing eyes. But the angels of God were about his bed, and about his path, and in their hands they bore him up, whom no man on earth had loved or cared for. And there is a contrast in the after time for these two men. The rich man was buried, doubtless, with great pomp. Some of us have seen such funerals. What extravagance and display take the place of reverent resignation and quiet grief! Of the beggar's burial place we know nothing. But the sharpest contrast of all is in the world beyond, from which for a moment Jesus draws back the veil. He who had pampered his body and neglected his soul is now in torment; he who never listened to the whisper of his conscience, is forced to hearken to its reproaches now; he who had great possessions is worse off than a beggar--he had gained the whole world and lost his own soul. And worst of all, he sees Paradise afar off, and Lazarus resting there, where he may never come. That beggar whom he had despised and neglected, to whose wants he had never ministered, is comforted now, and the rich man is tormented.

Oh! awful contrast! Dives in his misery of despair looks up, and for a moment sees--

"The Heavenly City, Built of bright and burnished gold, Lying in transcendent beauty, Stored with treasures all untold.

There he saw the meadows dewy Spread with lilies wondrous fair-- Thousand thousand were the colours Of the waving flowers there.

There were forests ever blooming, Like our orchards here in May; There were gardens never fading, Which eternally are gay."

Saddest of all fates indeed must it be to gaze on Heaven and to live in Hell. Then Dives remembers his brethren in the world, who are living the old life which he lived in the flesh, spending his money perhaps; and, still selfish after death as before, he asks that the beggar may be sent from his rest and peace to warn them. The answer comes that they, like Dives himself, have Moses and the Prophets to teach them, if they neglect them nothing can avail them. And so the curtain drops over this dreadful scene. Let us, brethren, hearken to some of the lessons which come to us with a solemn sound from the world beyond the grave. In the first place, let us learn that being respectable is not a passport to Heaven. No doubt the rich man of the parable was very respectable. If he had lived in these days, and there are many of his family with us now, he would have worn glossy broadcloth instead of purple, and have held a responsible position in his town and parish. He would have gone to church sometimes, and have been very severe with the outcasts of the gutter and the back slums. And yet we find that all this outward respectability, these salutations in the market place, were no passport to Heaven. The man lived for himself--he was a lover of himself. He had no love for his brother whom he had seen, ay, every day, lying at his gate; and so he could have no love for God whom he had not seen. The sin of Dives, remember, was not that he was rich, it was that he was utterly selfish and worldly. A poor man may be just as sinful. The man who makes a god of his body and its pleasures, the man who makes a god of his work or his science, or of anything save the Lord God Almighty, the man who lives for himself and does nothing for the good of others, be he rich or poor, is in the same class with Dives in the parable. Next, there comes a thought of comfort from the story of the beggar Lazarus. There was no virtue in his being poor--but he loved his God, and he bore his sorrows patiently, and verily he had his reward. Jesus tells us that blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted; that all who have borne hunger and thirst, and persecution, or loss of friends for His sake, shall hereafter have a great reward. You, my brethren, who are any ways afflicted or distressed, who have to bear sickness or poverty, who have few friends and few prospects in this world, and yet are patient, and trustful, and believing, look beyond the veil, and be sure that there, if not here, you shall have your good things--such good things as pass man's understanding.

Again, we learn that death does not deprive us of memory. One of old said wisely that they who cross the sea change their sky, but not their mind, and that no exile ever yet fled from himself; and even after we have exchanged this world for the unseen world to come, we do not escape ourselves, our thoughts and memories are with us. The rich man was bidden to remember his past life. It must have been a terrible picture as seen in the clear understanding of the spirit world. Once his life had appeared pleasant enough, harmless enough; now Dives saw it in its true colour, and understood the selfishness, the worldliness, the godlessness which had ruined his soul. He saw all the mistakes which he had made, and felt the terrible conviction that it was too late to repair them. "Four things," says the Eastern sage, "come not back again: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity."

My brothers, what fate can be more awful than that of having to look back upon a wasted life through all eternity? God has committed to you a precious trust in the life you have. Your position, your wealth, or poverty are nothing, whatever your life is it must be consecrated to God. You must live for Him, and by Him, and walk in the way of His commandments, if you are to be with Him through eternity. You can make your own choice: God or mammon, this world, or the world to come are before you, but both you cannot have. If you make your Heaven out of the world's materials, you cannot expect to find it again beyond the grave. Lastly, let us learn that the means of grace which we have are sufficient for our salvation. The brothers of the rich man had Moses and the Prophets, and further help was denied them. We have in God's Church, and Sacraments, in God's Word, and in Prayer, the means of drawing near to our Saviour, and saving our soul alive. We must not ask for some new revelation, some fresh Gospel, some sign or miracle. If we use not the means given us, neither shall we be persuaded though one rose from the dead. It is sometimes the fashion in these days to sneer at the preacher, or to listen with a polite contempt. God grant that those "who come to scoff, may remain to pray."

SERMON XXXVII.

THE WAY OF LIFE.

(Second Sunday after Trinity.)

1 JOHN iii. 14.

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."