be put before you too strongly or too often. At the coming of
Jesus, during a mission or a jubilee, many call out to him to
cleanse them; they go to confession and Communion, and for a time
are healed of their leprosy. But because they so quickly go their
way; because in the bustle of the world they neglect to come back
to thank Jesus, their Master and Healer; because they do not
separate themselves from and avoid infected persons and places,
their old companions, their old haunt of drinking, the occasions
of sin whatever they may be, therefore it is that the old malady
returns. And as Jesus looks out on the few who come to his feet,
to the Holy Communion, he is forced to exclaim in sorrow: "Were
not ten made clean? where are the nine?" Alas! that we should so
often wound that sensitive, loving Heart, that we should be so
remiss in giving a return of thanks, that we should check the
divine goodness and turn its very favors into a cause of our own
condemnation at the great day of reckoning!
{392}
Ingratitude has always been considered, and deservedly, the worst
of vices; it touches us more keenly than any other wrong or
injury, it moves us with a sense of anger, sorrow, and aversion
peculiar to itself, because it is an abuse or a forgetfulness of
that which is highest and best in us--our love, and the effects
of our love, our kindness. Yet God's benefits are innumerable,
his love is infinite, his honor unspeakable, his power almighty.
Many who call themselves Christians can find no time to thank him
for the blessings of each day; many, whom he has healed from sin,
go their way in forgetfulness; even those who do try to make some
return, who do keep themselves in his grace and frequent the
church and the sacraments, are often niggardly and ungenerous in
their efforts. Does his grace move them to some sacrifice of
their pride, their convenience, or their means? The kind word,
the charitable act come, but oh! so slowly; the poor are
dismissed with a trifling alms, the church-collector is an
unwelcome visitor. Yet it is by these things we show our
gratitude. Let us remember, brethren, that as God is infinitely
bountiful himself, so he in turn loves a generous giver, and that
his benefits bear a proportion to our return of thanks in words
and in actions.
--------------------
{393}
_Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost._
Epistle.
_Galatians v._ 16-24.
Brethren:
I say then, walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the
lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit:
and the spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary one to
another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if
you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the
works of the flesh are manifest, which are, fornication,
uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities,
contentions, emulations, wrath, quarrels, dissensions, sects,
envy, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the
which I foretell you, as I have foretold to you, that they who
do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. But the
fruit of the spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience,
benignity, goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty,
continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they
that are Christ's, have crucified their flesh with the vices
and concupiscences.
Gospel.
_St. Matthew vi._ 24-33.
At that time:
Jesus said to his disciples: No man can serve two masters. For
either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God
and Mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your
life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put
on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body more than
the raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns: and your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they?
{394}
And which of you by thinking can add to his stature one cubit?
And for raiment why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of
the field how they grow: they labor not, neither do they spin.
And yet I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory
was arrayed as one of these. Now if God so clothe the grass of
the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the
oven: how much more you, ye of little faith? Be not solicitous
therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the heathen seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of
all these things. Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God
and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.
---------------------
Sermon CXVIII.
_No man can serve two masters._
--St. Matthew vi. 24.
Who is your master? Perhaps you think you are your own master.
You may say, "I am a free man in a free country." But think a
moment. Is your soul really free? Surely not; for you cannot
hinder your thoughts from running backward and forward. Sometimes
you think of the past in spite of yourself; you enjoy its sinful
pleasures over again in your memory, or you again suffer pain at
the bare recollection of past sorrows and trials. Nor can you
hinder your soul from rushing into the future. You dream of
success; you enjoy in anticipation the pleasures of gratified
ambition. Now, why does your soul thus cling to the dead past;
why does it strive to fly to the unborn future? Because your soul
is a servant. And who is its master? Pleasure. Yes, and pleasure
is so powerful a master that we obey and serve even its
remembrance, its shadow. Indeed, I might say that we are slaves
of pleasure rather than servants.
{395}
But this master takes different shapes. Sometimes he calls
himself Fashion. Very many otherwise intelligent persons are
servants of Fashion. Did you ever spend an hour looking at the
drives in Central Park on a pleasant afternoon? There you can see
men and women whirled along in carriages fit for kings to ride
in, drawn by horses worth thousands of dollars--beasts whose
trappings are fastened with gold-plated buckles--and coachmen and
footmen dressed in showy livery. And why is all this parade?
Because those who ride out in that style are servants. The name
of their master and lord is Fashion; he demands all this
extravagance of them, and they obey him. Follow them home, and
you will see them again at his service, spending many thousand
dollars in adorning their houses with the costliest furniture and
decking their bodies, for Fashion's sake, with rich silks and
gold: everything offered up on the altar of Fashion, though the
poor of Christ are starving all around them.
And many of the poor are servants. Who is the master of the poor?
He is a devil, and his name is Drink. This devil of Drink must
have a good share of a poor man's wages of a Saturday night. And
as soon as a poor man loses work and loses courage this devil of
Drink comes and whispers in his ear: "Be my servant and I will
make you happy." And by this lie he entices the poor fellow into
one of his dens, and there he makes him drunk, and from the
bar-room he sends him home to be a scandal to his little
children, and may be to beat his wretched wife.
{396}
Others this master sends from that liquor-store to steal, and so
to prison and hopeless ruin; others he sends to brothels; many a
one he afflicts with frightful diseases and sudden accidents, and
so brings them to hell. Sometimes, too, this demon of Drink
gathers his slaves together into a mob to murder and plunder, and
then to be shot down by soldiers. O brethren! is it not strange
that any one should be a servant of this devil. Drink? Yet he has
countless slaves, and not only among the poor but in every
station in life.
But the strangest thing of all is that the foolish servants of
sin and Satan fancy that they can at the same time be servants of
Almighty God. They call themselves by Christ's name--Christians.
They go to his church now and then: and although they have served
Mammon all their days, they yet hope to enjoy God and his
happiness for all eternity. Hence Jesus Christ in to-day's Gospel
cries out in warning: "_You cannot serve two masters_."
Hence in another place he says: "_Amen, amen I say unto you,
that whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin_." So we
have got to choose. We must be either servants of God or servants
of Mammon; we cannot be both at once.
Therefore, brethren, instead of giving our time, and money, and
health, and heart, and soul to sinful pleasures, to lust and
intemperance, and fashion and avarice--all cruel tyrants--let us
have the good sense to enter the service of our blessed Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord and Master who made us, and who redeemed
us, and who will judge us; whose yoke is sweet and whose burden
is light; whose servants are innocent and happy in this life, and
who shall enter with him into everlasting dwellings in the
kingdom of heaven.
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
-------------------------
{397}
Sermon CXIX.
_The works of the flesh are manifest...
Of the which I foretell you,
as I have foretold to you,
that they who do such things
shall not obtain the kingdom of God._
--Galatians v. 19, 21.
The works of the flesh--that is, the various ways in which the
desires of the flesh can be gratified--have always been the chief
obstacles presented by the world to our salvation. This was
specially the case in St. Paul's day, when a corrupt and sensual
civilization had been attained which placed the happiness of man
in bodily pleasure. And it is also specially the case now more
than at any other time since then; for a similar so-called
civilization is the boast of the present age, in which the
desires and appetites of the body are exalted above those of the
soul.
But the temptations of this modern age are more concealed than
those of the former one; and on that account they are more
dangerous to Christians than those of the time of St. Paul were.
Satan has, we may say, learned wisdom by experience. At the
present day, instead of shocking us by sins like these of the
pagans, which could only repel and disgust those who had even the
weakest love of God, he has learned to seduce the faithful by the
gradual introduction of amusements and pleasures having the name
of being innocent, making them worse and worse as the moral sense
of those who engage in them, or who witness them, becomes more
and more blunted.
{398}
A prominent example of such amusements is to be found in the
dances which have become fashionable in the last few years. There
can be no question at all that, had they been suddenly presented
to our eyes not very long ago, every one, without hesitation,
would have pronounced them sinful, and no one would have engaged
in them who professed to have a delicate conscience; whereas now
it is equally certain that very many people who are careful, and
even scrupulous, profess to see no harm in these dangerous
recreations.
Let me not be understood to mean that dancing is in itself
condemned by the law of God. There is no other harm in it, if it
be done in a proper way, than the danger of excess and waste of
time to which any amusement is liable. Nor is there any more harm
in two people dancing together than in eight standing up in a
set; and the particular measure of the music is a matter of no
consequence. The harm is in the improper positions assumed in
what are called round dances, and which have been lately brought
into almost all others. These mutual positions of the parties,
these embraces--for that they simply are--are in themselves
evidently contrary to modesty and decency. It seems as if no one
would have to stop, even a moment, to see and acknowledge this. A
very plain proof of it, however, should it be needed, is that
every person pretending to be respectable would blush to be
detected in such positions on any other occasion, unless united
to the other party by very near relationship or marriage.
And let no one say that fashion justifies them. If it did it
could justify every other indecency or impropriety. Neither
fashion nor anything else can justify what is in itself wrong.
{399}
Nor is it true that they are not noticed or cared for by those
who indulge in them; that they are indulged in only because the
dance happens to be so arranged. That may be true for some
persons; but there is, unfortunately, very little doubt that many
only dance on account of these positions, and would not care
about learning or practising this amusement were it not for the
opportunity offered by it for them. This is a good enough straw
to show which way the wind blows.
The plain state of the case is this: To many these dances are, as
one would expect, a remote, or even a proximate, occasion of sin,
at least in thought, and sometimes in word and action. To many
more they are a sensual excitement bordering on impurity. To
many, it is true, they are simply an amusement; but this is due
to the force of habit, aided by the grace of God, not to the
natural state of the case. But for all they are paving the
way--in fact, they have already done so--to things which are more
plainly wrong; in fact, they themselves are becoming worse and
worse all the time.
One of the works of the flesh of which St. Paul speaks in this
Epistle is immodesty. Take away the veil of concealment which the
gradual introduction of this sensuous practice has put over your
eyes, and see if it does not deserve that name. Do not defend
yourselves by saying that some confessors allow it. They only
allow it because they are afraid of keeping you altogether away
from the sacraments; and they do not wish to do that, if in any
way they can satisfy themselves that you have even the most
imperfect dispositions with which you can be allowed to receive
them. But it is better to be on the safe side.
{400}
There is no confessor who would not far rather that you should
abandon this dangerous pastime, that you should cease to set this
bad example. There is not one who would not be much consoled
should you do so. I beg you, then, to give them that consolation.
Give up these dances for God's sake, and for the sake of the
salvation of your own soul and those of others. Give them up, and
you will receive an abundant reward of grace in this world, and
of glory in that which is to come.
-----------------------
Sermon CXX.
_No man can serve two masters._
--St. Matthew vi. 24.
It is perhaps a little strange, my dear brethren, and not much of
a compliment on the part of Christians to the wisdom of Him whose
disciples they profess to be, that so great a part of them should
spend their lives in trying to do what he so solemnly declares to
be impossible. It is curious that so many, so very many, of them
should never have made up their minds which shall be their
master. Almighty God or the devil, but should be hopefully trying
to serve both.
Some there are--nay, many, if you take their absolute number--who
have truly gone over, once for all and in real dead earnest, to
God's side. They keep up a constant battle with temptation; if by
weakness and surprise they fall for a moment, they pick
themselves up again instantly by a sincere repentance and
confession, and begin the fight again. They live in the grace and
friendship of their Creator, and they are willing not only to be
his friends but to be known as such; they are not ashamed to be
pious, but would be very much ashamed to be anything else.
{401}
On the other hand, there are not a few who were put on God's side
by baptism, but have gone over entirely to the camp of his enemy;
who have sold themselves body and soul to the devil. These
wretched traitors have denied their faith, and now perhaps even
blaspheme or ridicule it; they give free rein to their favorite
vices, whatever they may be; they have abandoned prayer, and have
openly and even boastingly taken the road which leads to hell.
You all know of such. In these days of apostasy many of you have
such among your acquaintance. They have got Satan's mark on their
foreheads, and they do not care to conceal it.
But there is a very common kind of Christian who does not answer
to either of these descriptions or belong to either of these
parties, but is trying to get the advantages of both--to serve
both masters, God and the devil, and get paid by both. He fulfils
part of the divine law; he goes to Mass, sometimes at least;
perhaps he does not eat meat on Friday; and now and then, it may
be once a year, or on the occasion of a mission or jubilee, he
puts in an appearance at a confessional and tells about the sins
he has committed. He goes to Holy Communion, and seems to come
over really and entirely to God's side. Well, perhaps he does
come over, for a little while at least, a few days or weeks; but
the chances are very great that he never really means to quit the
other side for ever; or, it may be, at all. In his mind impure
thoughts, words, and actions, drunkenness, and the pleasures of
the devil generally, are a kind of necessity of life; he has no
idea of really quitting them at once and for ever. His idea is to
make a sort of a compromise with God; to do his "duty," as he
calls it--that is, to keep in what he imagines to be the state of
grace for a few hours or days now and then, and afterward go on
as before.
{402}
He wants to serve the devil during life, and yet be acknowledged
as God's servant at the end; in short, he tries to be the servant
of two masters.
Are there not many of you here, my friends, who have lived in
this way all your lives, and mean to all the rest of the time
that God spares you in this world? There are even many who have
this intention on whose tongues the traces of his Body and Blood
are yet fresh. How do I know? Because they are not resisting
temptation; because they have not left the occasions of sin;
because, instead of calling on God continually in prayer, they go
on wantonly blaspheming his holy name; because the immodest jest
is ready to come at any moment to their lips; because, instead of
showing dislike to impiety in others, they acquiesce in it and
applaud it; because, in short, they have not even begun the
battle by which alone they can be saved.
Brethren, this is not the way to live; this is not the way to
prepare to die. If you will not be God's servants during life,
the devil will claim you at the hour of your death, and get you,
too, in spite of the last sacraments which you may receive. "Ha!"
he will say to you, "you tried to serve two masters, did you?
What a fool you were! You were mine all along. You tried to give
God a share of your heart; know now, since you would not know it
before, that he will not take less than the whole."
-----------------------
{403}
_Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost_.
Epistle.
_Galatians v._ 25; _vi._ 10.
Brethren:
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let
us not become desirous of vainglory, provoking one another,
envying one another. And if a man can be overtaken in any
fault, you, who are spiritual, instruct such a one in the
spirit of mildness, considering thyself, lest thou also be
tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so shall you fulfil
the law of Christ. For if any man think himself to be
something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let
every one prove his own work, and so he shall have glory in
himself only, and not in another. For every one shall bear his
own burden. And let him who is instructed in the word
communicate to him that instructeth him, in all good things. Be
not deceived, God is not mocked. For what things a man shall
sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in the flesh,
of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in
the Spirit, of the Spirit shall reap life everlasting. And in
doing good, let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not
failing. Therefore, whilst we have time, let us do good to all
men, but especially to those who are of the household of the
faith.
Gospel.
_St. Luke vii._ 11-16.
At that time:
Jesus went into a city called Nain: and there went with him his
disciples, and a great multitude. And when he came nigh to the
gate of the city, behold a dead man was carried out, the only
son of his mother; and she was a widow: and much people of the
city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion
on her, and said to her: Weep not.
{404}
And he came near and touched the bier. (And they that carried
it stood still.) And he said: Young man, I say to thee, Arise.
And he that was dead sat up and began to speak. And he
delivered him to his mother. And there came a fear on them all:
and they glorified God, saying: That a great prophet is risen
up among us: and God hath visited his people.
-------------------
Sermon CXXI.
_Behold a dead man was carried out._
--St. Luke vii. 12.
The sight which our Lord saw, and which is recorded in to-day's
Gospel, we have often seen. We can scarcely walk a mile or two in
a great city without seeing a dead man carried out. The hearse,
the funeral procession, the pall, the coffin, the sabled
mourners, are all familiar and every-day objects. Again, we read
of death every day. We find in the newspapers, the hospital
reports, and so forth, death in a thousand shapes. We see that
death waits for us at every corner of the street, that it lurks
in the river, hovers in the atmosphere, hides in our very bodies,
is concealed even in our pleasures. Again and again we have heard
the beating of its heavy wings and seen the clutch of its clammy
fingers--sometimes in our own houses, sometimes in our
neighbors', sometimes on the sea, sometimes on land, sometimes in
the busy street, sometimes in the silent chamber.
Strange to say, however, although nothing is better known than
death, nothing is more forgotten. We hear people saying every
day, "How shall we live?" but seldom do they ever think of
adding, "and how shall we die?"
{405}
My brethren, every one of you here this morning _must_ die.
There will come an hour when your heart will cease to beat, when
you will close your eyes and fold your hands in death, and when,
like the dead man in the Gospel, you will "be carried out."
O brethren! how are you preparing for that supreme moment?
Are you ready _now_, at this moment, to die? If you are not
you ought to be. Let us, then, see how we should prepare
ourselves.
Above all things you should never forget death. When you see
other men die, when you read of death, when you see the priest in
black vestments, and hear the sweet tones of the choristers
chanting the solemn requiem, then you should say to yourselves,
"It may be my turn next."
Keep death always before your eyes; then when it comes you will
not shrink from its touch. Again, keep your conscience clear, and
make every confession and Communion as if it were to be your
last. How many have come to their duties on Saturday and Sunday,
and on Monday have departed for ever from this world!
The earth, dearly beloved, is a vast field, and Death with his
sharp scythe toils in it every day. Blade after blade, flower
after flower, tender plant and fragrant herb, fall beneath his
sweeping blows every hour, every second. You may now be as the
grass that is the most distant from the steel: there may be acres
upon acres between you and the severing blade, but the strong,
patient mower is nearing you slowly but surely. Listen! listen!
and you will catch the sharp hiss of his scythe and hear the
murmur of the falling grass. Oh! then be ready, with girded loins
and burning lamp. Be ready, for you know not when death shall
come. Be ready, with clear conscience and well-cared for soul,
for the last great hour.
{406}
Lastly, pray to St. Joseph that you may obtain the grace of a
happy death. Go to his altar; kneel at his feet and say, "dear
spouse of our Lady and foster-father of Jesus Christ! obtain for
me to die, as thou didst, in the arms of Jesus and Mary, and to
remain with them and thee in the paradise of God."
Beloved, death is nearing, death is coming. Oh! then, I beseech
you, neglect not these words of warning and advice. "Here we have
not an abiding city, but seek one to come," even the heavenly
Jerusalem, the City of God, which shines above. The gate of that
city is a good and Christian death. God grant, then, that through
that blessed portal we all may pass, lest we be left cold and
shivering in the black night of the outer darkness!
Rev. Algernon A. Brown.
------------------------
Sermon CXXII.
_If we live in the spirit,
let us also walk in the spirit._
--Galatians v. 25.
There is a saying which, in Latin, runs as follows: "_Dum
vivimus, vivamus._" Put into English, it is: "While we live
let us live"; or, to bring out the idea more clearly: "While we
live let us make the most of life."
It is a saying which has always been very popular with infidels.
We have this life, they say--it is our own; but we do not know
what is coming after it, or, indeed, if anything at all is; so,
while we have it, let us use it; there is not much of it, and it
will soon be gone, but it is ours now. A bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush; so, then, "_Dum vivimus,
vivamus_"--while we live let us make the most of life.
{407}