29). This is one of the royal texts of Scripture. It declares one of
those great laws of the kingdom of God which may fulfil itself once and
again at many eras and by many methods; which fulfilled itself most
gloriously in the first century after Christ; again in the fifth century;
again at the time of the Crusades; and again at the great Reformation in
the sixteenth century,--and is fulfilling itself again at this very day.
_Westminster Sermons_. 1872.
Self-Respect the Voice of God. December 23.
Never hurt any one's self-respect. Never trample on any soul, though it
may be lying in the veriest mire; for that last spark of self-respect is
as its only hope, its only chance; the last seed of a new and better
life; the voice of God which still whispers to it, "You are not what you
ought to be, and you are not what you can be. You are still God's child,
still an immortal soul. You may rise yet, and fight a good fight yet,
and conquer yet, and be a man yet, after the likeness of God who made
you, and Christ who died for you." Oh! why crush that voice in any
heart? If you do the poor creature is lost, and lies where he or she
falls, and never tries to rise again.
_Good News of God Sermons_. 1859.
Christmas Eve. December 24.
We will have no sad forebodings on the eve of the blessed Christmas-tide.
He lives, He loves, He reigns; and all is well; for we are His and He is
ours.
_Two Years Ago_, Introduction. 1856.
The Miracle of Christmas Night. December 25.
After the crowning miracle of this most blessed night all miracles are
possible. The miracle of Christmas night was possible because God's love
was absolute, infinite, unconquerable, able to condescend to anything
that good might be done. . . . This Christmas night is the one of all
the year which sets a physicist on facing the fact of miracle, and which
delivers him from the bonds of sense and custom by reminding him of God
made Man.
_Letters and Memories_. 1858.
Redemption. December 26.
All things are blessed now, but sin; for all things, excepting sin, are
redeemed by the life and death of the Son of God. Blessed are wisdom and
courage, joy and health and beauty, love and marriage, childhood and
manhood, corn and wine, fruit and flowers, for Christ redeemed them by
His life. . . . Blessed is death, and blest the unknown realms where
souls await the Resurrection Day, for Christ redeemed them by His death.
Blessed are all days, dark as well as bright, for all are His, and He is
ours; and all are ours, and we are His for ever.
_National Sermons_. 1848.
Fellow-workers with Christ. December 27.
To abolish the superstition, the misrule, the vice, the misery of this
world. That is what Christ will do in the day when He has put all
enemies under His feet. That is what Christ has been doing, step by
step, ever since that day when first He came to do His Father's will on
earth in great humility. Therefore, that is what we must do, each in our
place and station, if we be indeed His subjects, fellow-workers with Him
in the improvement of the human race, fellow-soldiers with Him in the
battle against evil.
_All Saints' Day Sermons_. 1867.
The bright Pathway. December 28.
There is a healthy ferment of mind in which one struggles through chaos
and darkness, by means of a few clues and threads of light--and--of one
great bright pathway, which I find more and more to be _the_ only escape
from infinite confusion and aberration, _the_ only explanation of a
thousand human mysteries--I mean the Incarnation of our Lord--the fact
that there really is--a God-Man!
_MS. Letter_. 1844.
New Worship. December 29.
Blessed, thrice blessed, is it to find that hero-worship is not yet
passed away! that the heart of man still beats young and fresh; that the
old tales of David and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias, Socrates and
Alcibiades, Shakespeare and his nameless friend, of love "passing the
love of woman," ennobled by its own humility, deeper than death and
mightier than the grave, can still blossom out, if it be but in one heart
here and there, to show man still how, sooner or later, "he that loveth
knoweth God, for God is love."
_Miscellanies_. 1850.
Links in the Chain. December 30.
The heart will cry out at times, Oh! blissful future! Oh, dreary
present! But let us not repine. What is dreary need not be barren.
Nothing need be barren to those who view all things in their real light,
as links in the great chain of progression both for themselves and for
the Universe. To us all Time should seem so full of life: every moment
the grave and the father of unnumbered events and designs in heaven and
earth, and the mind of our God Himself--all things moving smoothly and
surely in spite of apparent checks and disappointments towards the
appointed end.
_Letters and Memories_. 1844.
Past, Present, Future. December 31.
Surely as the years pass on they ought to have made us better, more
useful, more worthy. We may have been disappointed in our lofty ideas of
what ought to be done, but we may have gained more clear and practical
notions of what can be done. We may have lost in enthusiasm, and yet
gained in earnestness. We may have lost in sensibility, yet gained in
charity, activity, and power. We may be able to do far less, and yet
what we do may be far better done. And our very griefs and
disappointments--have they been useless to us? Surely not. We shall
have gained instead of lost by them if the Spirit of God has been working
in us. Our sorrows will have wrought in us patience, our patience
experience, and that experience hope--hope that He who has led us thus
far will lead us farther still, that He who has taught us in former days
precious lessons--not only by sore temptations but most sacred joys--will
teach us in the days to come fresh lessons by temptations, which we shall
be more able to endure; and by joys which, though unlike those of old
times, are no less sacred, but sent as lessons to our souls by Him from
whom all good gifts come.
_Water of Life Sermons_.
Out of God's boundless bosom, the fount of life, we came; through
selfish, stormy youth, and contrite tears--just not too late; through
manhood, not altogether useless; through slow and chill old age, we
return whence we came, to the bosom of God once more--to go forth again,
it may be, with fresh knowledge and fresh powers, to nobler work. Amen.
_The Air Mothers_. 1869.
SAINTS' DAYS, FASTS, & FESTIVALS.
DECEMBER 21.
St. Thomas, Apostle and Martyr.
The spirits of just men made perfect, freed from the fetters of the gross
animal body, and now somewhere in that boundless universe in which this
earth is but a tiny speck, doing God's will as they longed to do it on
earth, with clearer light, fuller faith, deeper love, mightier powers of
usefulness! Ah, that we were like unto them!
_All Saints' Day and other Sermons_.
DECEMBER 25.
Christmas Day.
Thank God, that One was born, at this same time,
Who did our work for us: we'll talk of Him:
We shall go mad with thinking of ourselves--
We'll talk of Him, and of that new-made star,
Which, as He stooped into the Virgin's side,
From off His finger, like a signet-gem,
He dropped in the empyrean for a sign.
But the first tear He shed at this His birth-hour,
When He crept weeping forth to see our woe,
Fled up to Heaven in mist, and hid for ever
Our sins, our works, and that same new-made star.
_Saint's Tragedy_, Act iv. Scene iv.
DECEMBER 26.
St. Stephen, the Martyr.
These are the holy ones--the heroes of mankind, the elect, the
aristocracy of grace. They are those who carry the palm branch of
triumph, who have come out of great tribulation, who have dared and
fought and suffered for God and truth and right; who have resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. What should easy-going folk like you and me
do but place ourselves with all humility, if but for an hour, where we
can look afar off upon our betters, and see what they are like and what
they do.
_All Saints' Day and other Sermons_.
DECEMBER 27.
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist.
And what do they do, these blessed beings? They longed for, toiled for,
it may be died for, the true, the beautiful, and the good; they entered
while on earth into the mystery and glory of self-sacrifice, and now they
find their bliss in gazing on the one perfect and eternal sacrifice, and
rejoicing in the thought that it is the cause and ground of the whole
universe, even the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
_All Saints' Day and other Sermons_.
DECEMBER 28
Holy Innocents' Day.
Christ comes to us in many ways. But most surely does Christ come to us,
and often most happily, and most clearly does He speak to us--in the face
of a little child, fresh out of heaven. Ah, let us take heed that we
despise not one of these little ones, lest we despise our Lord Himself.
For as often as we enter into communion with little children, so often
does Christ come to us. So often, as in Judaea of old, does He take a
little child and set him in the midst of us, that from its simplicity,
docility, and trust--the restless, the mutinous, and the ambitious may
learn the things which belong to their peace--so often does He say to us,
"Except ye be changed and become as this little child, ye shall in no
wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. For I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto
your souls."
_MS. Last Sermon_,
_Westminster Abbey_, _Nov._ 30, 1874.
INDEX.
ABSENCE, 209
Acorn, 223
Action, 146, 167
Affections, 79, 179, 217, 279
Age, old, 63, 285
--reverence for, 81
Anarchy, 165
Angels, 175, 217, 218, 219, 269
Anger, God's loving, 195
Animals, dumb, 81, 181
Antinomies, 159
Anxiety, 211
Aristocracy, ideal, 167
Art, 31, 71, 119, 141, 151
Ascension, 93, 123, 211
Asceticism, 185, 189, 233, 263
Ascetic painters, 39
Atonement, the, 83
Attitude, language of, 155
Augustine, St., 155
Autumn, 51, 221
BARBARISM, 109
Beatific Vision, 73, 196, 295
Beauty, 15, 39, 73, 101, 175, 196, 213
--moral, 196, 213
--spiritual, 159
Bible, the, 103, 141, 167, 249, 259, 275, 285
Birds, 53, 77, 99, 101, 103, 125, 127, 137, 271
Blessedness, 218, 245
Body, sacredness of, 63, 67, 185, 229, 244, 285
--the spiritual, 159
Books, 57, 85, 169, 259
Book-learning, 151
Butler's Analogy, 237
CALMNESS, 55, 263
Character, 98, 175, 191
Charity, 37, 281
Cheerfulness, 149, 223, 227
Childhood and wonder, 179
Childlikeness, 31, 183, 187, 235
Children, 48, 109, 295
Chivalry, 139, 153, 179, 181
Christ-child, the, 48
Christ's life, 45, 97, 267
--Church, 121
--compassion, 251
--descent into hell, 98
--resurrection, 95, 98, 211
--the Word, 37, 127
Christianity, Divine, 273
Christmas, 271, 287, 289, 294
Chrysalis state, 171
Church, the, 75, 77, 121, 157
--Catechism, 47, 255
Civilisation, 105, 155, 261
Clergy, the, 215
Coming of Christ, 21, 23, 183, 283, 295
Communion of saints, 141, 193
--Holy, 193
Contemplation, 87, 146
Content, 59
Courage, 275
Cowardice, 207, 265
Creeds, the, 141, 151, 215, 273
Critical spirit, 165, 203
Cross, the, 83, 96, 97, 122, 185, 189, 237, 245
Crucifix, the, 123, 189
Custom, 31
Cynicism, 191
DARK days, 19, 201, 211, 233, 249, 289
Day of the Lord, 3, 195
Dead, the blessed, 21, 49, 95, 139, 193, 249, 253, 289
--prayers for, 24, 81
--work of, 95, 139, 249
Death, 17, 113, 135, 253
--sudden, 89
--and hell, 7, 195
Defeat, 279
Dignity, 137
Discontent, Divine, 165
Disease, 233, 244
Distrust, 165
Doctrines, 157
Doubt, poetry of, 233
Drifting away, 273
Duty, 5, 13, 65, 105, 129, 147, 165, 181, 201, 275
Dying, to live, 13, 55, 93, 97, 117, 217, 295
EARNESTNESS, 35, 139, 293
Earth, God's, 101, 149, 153, 247
Earthly and heavenly, 179
Easter, 93, 98
Eclecticism, 65
Education, 67
--of character, 85
--Divine, 91, 133, 135, 149, 209
--self, 215
--of boys, 283
--after death, 171, 249
Emotions, 5, 49, 79, 85, 179, 189, 203, 259, 279
Enthusiasm, 35
Epiphany, 24
Eternal life, 11, 43
Eternity, 43, 69, 167
Eucharist, the, 21, 65, 185
Excitement, 79, 163
FACTS of life, 103, 113, 207, 285
Failure, 143
Faith, 11, 59, 85, 127, 163, 191, 199, 227, 229
Fasting, 49
Fatherhood of God, 103, 107, 115, 133, 135, 149, 181, 223, 265, 273
Fear, 137, 265, 275
Fellowship of sorrow, 109, 111, 279
Fire of God, 195
--cleansing, 195, 225, 237
Flesh and spirit, 189
Flowers, 15, 99, 101, 105, 127, 151, 221
Fool's paradise, 111, 267
Forgiveness, 169
Forward, 3
Francis, St., 103
Friendship, 19, 61, 291
Future, the, 129, 195
--identity, 19, 253
--life, 57, 65, 71, 81, 113, 171, 237, 253, 293
GENIUS, 105, 175, 215
Gifts, 83, 111, 129
Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 203
God, the Living, 7, 101, 103, 111, 133, 193, 243, 285
--the Ideal, 73
--an indulgent, 15
--of Nature, 103, 131, 151, 183
God's character, 33, 87, 111, 181, 195, 253, 273, 283
--countenance, 131
Godliness, 91, 281
Good, the eternal, 35, 171, 253
Good in all, 9, 287
Good deeds, 187, 263
Good Friday, 93, 97
Goodness, 5, 105, 113, 199, 245
Gratitude, 89
Greeks, the old, 67, 107, 133, 155, 229
HAPPINESS, 29, 59, 245, 265
Harmony, 5, 67, 83, 127, 161, 277
Hearts and streams, 119, 197
Heaven, 109, 167
Hell, 96, 98, 109, 195, 265
--keys of, 7
--a present, 43
Hero worship, 291
Heroism, 41, 61, 71, 207, 239, 294
History, philosophy of, 63
Hope, 39, 111, 145, 149, 237, 247
Hospitals, 263
Humanity, 275
Humility, 13, 41, 169, 193
I AM I, 55, 89, 185, 199
Ideal, the, 63, 73, 117
Ideals, high, 77
Idleness, 91, 157, 207
Impunity, 217
Incarnation, the, 146, 253, 291
Influence, silent, 139, 259
Intermediate state, 98, 245, 289
JOHN the Baptist, 147
John, St., 45, 53, 63, 113
Justification, 43
KINDNESS, 181, 205
Kingdom, coming, 21, 179; of God, 45, 185
Knowledge, 53, 79, 131, 135, 163, 177, 183
LAMP race, 133
Laws of God, 98, 117, 163, 169, 229, 277, 287
Lesson of life, 61, 293
Liberty, 215
Life everlasting, 11, 113, 219, 277
--long, 133
--value of, 61
Light, 33, 177, 249, 291
Liturgies, 249
Love, 9, 37, 41, 53, 55, 79, 117, 201, 209, 235, 251, 289, 219
--Divine, 117
--and beauty, 201
MAN in God's image, 89, 127, 199, 229
March, 51, 53
Martyrs, 17, 98, 172, 218, 294, 295
Masses, the, 177
May, 99
Melancholy, 137, 183, 233, 253
Melody, 5, 127, 277
Men and women, 39, 91, 93, 153, 259, 283
Metre, 119
Midsummer, 125
Miracles, 31, 99, 289
Moderation, 69
Monotony, 163
Morality, 29, 147, 255
Morbid mind, 233
Morning, 19, 125, 201, 249
Mother earth, 247
Mothers, 61, 74, 213
Music, 23, 107, 127, 161, 277
Mystery of life, 117, 155, 185, 291
Mystics, 55, 185, 251
NATURALIST, 175
Nature, 141, 183, 187, 221, 241, 247, 253
--study of, 7, 105, 131, 141, 175, 183, 187
Nature's worship, 131
Night, 201, 211
Nineteenth century, 3, 151, 257
Noble life, 5, 9
Noble studies, 63
North-east wind, 1
Novel reading, 85, 169, 259
OCTOBER, 221
Old truths, 151
Opinions, 215
Originality, 239
Orthodox, 141
PAINTERS, 39, 71, 141, 159
Parables, Nature's, 5, 99, 101, 127, 173, 175, 196, 197, 249
Passion, 35, 197, 213
--Week, 95
Patience, 59, 143, 237, 277, 281
Paul, St., 25, 53, 207
Peace, 23, 59, 193
Penitence, 191
Penuriousness, 67
Peter, St., 45, 148
Philamon, 9, 45
Physician, 233, 244
Pictures, 39, 71, 141
Plato, 171
Poetry, 23, 41, 69, 215
Political economy, 115, 261
Practice, 143, 267
Prayer, 89, 119, 163, 167, 227, 229, 241, 267
--the Lord's, 31
--unselfish, 31
Prayers for dead, 81
Present time, 3, 5
Presentiments, 143
Pride and humility, 193, 215, 235, 267
Problem of life, 135, 291
Profession, empty, 157, 213
Progress, 101, 163, 257, 291
Proverbs, 235
Providence, 115, 169, 243
--special, 55, 159, 209, 251
Psalms, 17, 191
Public opinion, 77
Punishment, 41, 135, 159, 191, 261, 281
Purgatory, 171
RAILROADS, 257
Rank, 15, 161
Reason, 35, 111, 143, 237
Redemption of earth and man, 153
Refinement, false, 161
Reformers, 77
Religion, 103, 265, 281
Renewal, the, 71, 81, 127, 185
Repentance, 41, 49, 157
Resignation, 117, 211, 217
Rest, 21, 49, 229, 253, 263
Resurrection, 63, 81, 93, 95, 98, 141, 145, 171, 185, 207
Retribution, 47, 81, 113, 135, 177
Reverence, 81, 175, 243
Reveries, 39
Righteousness, 117, 255, 281
Rights and duties, 39
Rock of Ages, 169, 235
Romance, 127
Rules of life, 83, 107, 163
Ruth, 79
SACRAMENTALISM, 15, 39, 101, 119, 213
Sacraments, 21, 146
Safety, 17, 57
Saints' Days, 24
Saints, the, 24, 98, 122, 141, 193, 268, 269, 294, 295
Salvation, 135
Sanitary science, 29, 261
Science, 33, 59, 115, 151, 227, 233, 261
Secular, 59
Self, 31, 233
Selfishness, 159, 219, 231, 281
Self-conceit, 205
Self-control, 165, 223, 241, 259, 263
Self-improvement, 215
Self-indulgence, 91, 275
Self-respect, 287
Self-sacrifice, 13, 21, 55, 71, 79, 95, 117, 146, 148, 189, 213, 231, 295
Security, false, 115
Sensuality, 133
Sentiment, 5
Shakespeare, 179
Shame, 199
Shelley, 267
Silence, 41, 139, 257, 259
Sin, 41, 135, 159, 169, 213, 233, 281
Sisters of Mercy, 237
Sneering, 281
Sorrow, 145, 183, 185, 227, 273
Spirit, the Holy, 146
Spiritual world, 179
Spring, 27, 51, 99, 101
Starlings, 51
Stream and shower, 119, 197
Strength, 263
Substitutes, 225
Success, 139, 227, 279
Summer days, 125, 129, 131, 137, 149
Superstition, 3, 137, 169, 175
Suspicion, 281
Symbols, 99, 101, 105, 127, 131, 151, 173, 196
Sympathy, 103, 151, 153
TACT, 35, 53, 113
Temperament, 231
Temperance, true, 223, 263
Temptation, 57
Theology, 87
Thrift, 131, 183, 259
Toleration, 63, 141, 277
Training, God's, 115, 129, 215
Transfiguration, the, 205
Trinity, the, 146
Trust, 239, 265
UNITY, 185
Usefulness, 225
Utopia, 167
VAGUENESS, 11, 161
Vineyards, 121
Violence, 139
Virgin, Blessed, 74
Virtue, 29, 41, 225
Visitation of God, 61
Voyagers, early, 243
WAITING, 135, 277
--of God, 181
War tragedies, 107
Water, 29, 119, 197
Welfare, 145, 255
Winter, 1, 27, 99
Wisdom, 37, 83, 105, 107, 163
Woman, 45, 153, 87
Woman's work, 39, 45, 79, 93, 231, 259
Women, educated, 85, 169
Word Christ, the, 7, 37
--the indwelling, 259
Words, 37, 113
--hard, 53
--of God, 141
Work, 71, 83, 133, 143, 157, 165, 175, 203, 209, 223, 263
World, the, 167
Worm, the undying, 195
Worship, 131
YOUTH, 13, 129
Footnotes:
{3} The paper edition of this book has blank pages where the owner can
write diary notes, etc. This is why the page numbers in the eText often
miss out numbers.--DP.
{97} Lines written under a pen and ink drawing of a stormy shoreless
sea, with two human beings lashed to a cross floating on the crest of the
waves.