the glad season of returning home, as if we were ashamed to quit the spot until we had paid this homage, alas! unconscious homage, to the pious spirit of a by-gone age. And why do I make mention of these things? Not idly to disparage this present generation in comparison with the past. By no means. This age, we trust, has too its own advantages-its own merits. If the Bible be less read publicly, it is studied, we trust, more in private. If the profession of thankfulness to the Giver of all good be less apparent, it is not, we would hope, the less truly felt. But I have mentioned these things to show that, when the influence of the Church and the power of her sacred ordinances were more felt and acknowledged than it is now, she was not content to leave her children to rejoice, as the world rejoices, without GOD,- any more than she suffered them to sorrow as the world sorrows, without hope. On the contrary, she was ever ready, and at hand to perform for them the offices of holy Job: "when the days of their feasting were gone about, she sent and sanctified them, and offered offerings according to the number of them all, for she said, it may be that my sons have sinned. Thus did she continually."" And blessed was the people, O LORD, who could thus rejoice in THEE. Blessed be their memory! Blessed be their joy! who refused to take pleasure in themselves alone, to exhaust their substance in their own gratification only, or even in that of their contemporaries, but feeling for the wants of those who should come after, have enabled us also to rejoice, through their moderation and munificence, and to be comforted out of the abundance of the comfort, wherewith they themselves were comforted of God.

And may we, my Brethren, still study to retain

1 Job i. 5.

something of their holy fear, something of their godly security in the occasions of our joy.

May you, my young friends, be able to rejoice always, to rejoice in the LORD. May the voice of joy and health be ever in your dwelling,' of joy such as the LORD will bless. And in order that HE may bless it, it must be free from sin, (which is the poison of joy,) free from excess, sober, temperate, holy—as the joy of one who is baptized and consecrated to the LORD, and who has offered to the LORD himself, his soul, and body. And to descend for a moment more closely to the particulars of your daily life: you will seek to sanctify, in all things, your time, your tongue, what you say, and what you read, your daily food, your silver and gold; of all that ministers to your enjoyment you will give the first-fruits unto God.

And how shall you sanctify your time? By keeping no time more punctually, more conscientiously, or more cheerfully, than that which is ordained to be spent directly in GoD's Service, and especially appropriated to His honour. The LORD's Day, and the other Festivals of the Church, you will remember to keep holy, you will call them a delight, and regard them as your truest and best holidays. "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD, even as the LORD HIMSELF hath spoken."

And how shall you sanctify your tongue, unruly member as it is, and daily and hourly the source of so much evil? Even as David teaches in the 104th Psalm: "I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will praise my GoD while I have my being. And so shall my words please HIM." When He shall give you

"the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,"

1 Psalm cxviii. 5.

2 Isaiah lviii. 14.

3 See also Psalm xxx. 13; cxxxii. 9, 17; cxlix. 2, 5. 'Isaiah lxi. 3.

then your wicked words shall be forgiven you, your idle words shall not rise up against you at the last day.

And how shall you sanctify what you read, the daily food, and entertainment of your mind? Even as the Psalmist did, by the daily reading and study of God's Word: "In God's Word will I rejoice, in the LORD'S Word will I comfort me." "Thy testimonies have I claimed as my heritage for ever: and why? they are the very joy of my heart."2

And how shall you sanctify the food and refreshment of your body—your daily meals? Even as St. Paul has taught, by thanksgiving, added to prayer and the reading of God's Word. "Every creature is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the Word of GOD and Prayer." And especially your food and your feasting will be sanctified, all you who are invited, by eating of the true food, by partaking of the great sacramental Eucharistic Feast; by coming unto the Altar of GOD, even unto the GoD of your joy and gladness, with true repentance, and faith, and charity in your hearts, so that you may know and feel what Communion is, how good and joyful a thing it is for BRETHREN to dwell together in UNITY.

And lastly, my Brethren, how shall you sanctify your purse? By offering at that feast, according to your ability, with all cheerfulness.

Thus, in all that you say and do, in all that ministers to your enjoyment, you will set God always before you; you will consecrate unto HIM the first-fruits of

1 Psalm lvi. 10.

31 Tim. iv. 4.

2 Psalm cxix. 111.

4 Psalm xliii. 4.

5 HE is not ashamed to call them Brethren.

Psalm cxxxiii. 1.

Heb. ii. 11;

your joy. And "if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy." And if the lump be holy, then may you rejoice always. Then, not even the approaching terrors of the Judgment Day will be able to disturb your joy; rather you will be "joyful before the Lord," in the hope of His coming, because "HE cometh to judge the earth." Then the Divine warrant of rejoicing, which is pledged to the righteous, and to the penitent, shall be, in a more especial manner, secured and fulfilled to you, the youthful righteous, and the youthful penitent, according to the saying of the Wise Man, of the lovers of wisdom, "They that seek to her early, shall be filled with joy."

1 Rom. xi. 16.

C. W.

Psalm xcviii. 9; see also xcvi. 2; lxvii. 4. 3 Eccles. iv. 12.

[This sermon, as will appear from various allusions in it, was preached in the Chapel of Winchester College, on the Sunday after Ascension, 1844.]

SERMON IX.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE UNITY

OF THE CHURCH.

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.

EPHESIANS 111. 20, 21.

Now TO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY

ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK,

POWER THAT WORKETH IN US,

ACCORDING TO THE

UNTO HIM BE GLORY IN THE CHURCH BY CHRIST JESUS,

THROUGHOUT ALL AGES, WORLD WITHOUT END.

Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπὲρ ἐκ περισσοῦ ὧν αιτούμεθα ἢ νοοῦμεν, κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν,

Αυτῷ ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ Εκκλησιᾳ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς τοῦ αἰῶνας τῶν αιώνων.

I KNOW not from what cause it is, that this Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians, seems, in these later times, to have been less studied and made the subject of Christian instruction, than other Epistles of the Apostle's writing.

We hear much of Martin Luther and John Calvin on the Epistle to the Galatians; and their Commentaries, like all the writings of such men, are worthy to be weighed and considered. We have many learned and skilful expositors of the Epistle to the Romans; we have much written on selected portions to aid our reflections on other Epistles: but this to the Ephesians appears to have been defrauded of its equal share.