itself with human affairs, that all human improvements perish for ever at death, that the weak have no guardian and the injured no avenger, that there is no recompence for sacrifices to uprightness and the public good, that an oath is unheard in heaven, that secret crimes have no witness but the perpetrator, that human existence has no purpose, and human virtue no unfailing friend, that this brief life is everything to us, and death is total, everlasting extinction, once let men thoroughly abandon religion, and who can conceive or describe the extent of the social desolation that would follow? We hope perhaps," he adds, "that human laws and natural sympathy would hold society together. As reasonably might we believe that were the sun quenched in the heavens our torches could illuminate and our fires quicken and fertilise the earth." a

The faith which St. Paul preached, the faith in Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God manifest in our flesh and crucified for the sins of man, does, when sincerely received, protect society against those dangers which are inseparable from human progress at certain stages of its development. For this faith in Christ Crucified addresses itself to each of those poles of society, which, when left to the ordinary selfish impulses of human nature, tend to become separate and antagonistic. To the wealthy, to the noble, to the fastidious, the figure of the Crucified Saviour is a perpetual preacher of self-sacrifice for the sake of the poor and needy; He enjoins the surrender of income, and prejudices, and time, and tastes, for a cause which is His Own. And to the poor, the desolate, the unbefriended, the figure of the Crucified is no less a perpetual lesson of patience under wrong, specially under undeserved wrong; on the Cross Christ teaches men more persuasively than any Channing, Theol. Works, p. 332.

a

other the beauty, the majesty of entire resignation. Thus does the truth which is at the very heart of the Christian Creed contribute most powerfully to the coherence and wellbeing of society; and we live in days when society is not able to dispense with its assistance. Not that the preservation of society will be a Christian's strongest motive for helping forward a work like this. For us Eternity is of more account than time; and the Day of Judgment than any possible event that can precede it; and the endless existence of souls, in this or that condition, beyond the grave, than any established order of society here and now.

As we walk down the new streets which are being raised in every suburb of London, without any spiritual provision to meet their needs, let us ask ourselves, what will be the condition of their present inhabitants fifty or a hundred years hence? If we have any true Christian feeling, the answer to that question must bid us assist, as we may, this effort to spread the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ in this diocese. And there are three ways in which, in whatever degree, every one here present can lend a hand to this great work. The first is to give of what God has given us, such a portion as we can dare to offer before Him, towards a work for the promotion of which all London Christians are surely responsible; since God has appointed them, more than other men, to do it. Give something that you will really miss; give it for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, if you would have your gift accepted on high. The second is to take and show an interest in the work, and to get others to do so; to give the help of prayer and sympathy when you can do no more: to welcome any opportunity of making it known to those who can effectively promote it. And the third is to remember that all efforts to advance Christ's

kingdom impose a serious responsibility upon those who make them; the responsibility of being consistent. Our first labour for any religious truth, as we know, should be within ourselves. When this has been carried out quietly, unostentatiously, thoroughly, as at the foot of the Cross of Jesus our Lord, we shall be more than ever anxious to do what we may, in our day and generation, to enable others to share the blessings which we here enjoy, that they may partake in these joys, to which, as we trust, the Eternal Mercy will admit us, hereafter.

SERMON XXXIV.

THE APOSTOLIC COMMISSION.

ST. MATT. XXVIII. 18-20.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

TH

HESE sublime words, with which St. Matthew closes his Gospel, have for us to-day a twofold attraction. On the one hand, they are among the most significant of those sayings, which, uttered by our Lord in the course of the forty days after His rising from the dead, invite particular consideration during the Easter season. On the other hand, as the Collect which was used in this evening service will have reminded us, to-morrow is the festival of the Apostles St. Philip and St. James: and these are the words in which our Lord completed the endowments with which He invested His Apostles before He left the earth. As, when instituting the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood, before He suffered, He bade them "Do this as a Memorial of Me;"a as after His rising from a St. Luke xxii. 19.

the dead, in the Upper Chamber, He breathed on them, saying, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them;"a so now, before He leaves the world, He gives them a world-wide commission, to make disciples and to baptize: 'Go, make Christians of all the nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you : and lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the world.'

And before giving this last commission, our Lord makes an announcement: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on the earth." To His Human Nature this authority was a gift. It had been given at His Incarnation; and at His Resurrection He had as Man entered fully upon its practical possession. But the point of what He is saying lies not in the source or transfer of this authority, but in its character and range. As Man, so we Christians believe, He has authority in heaven; authority to place Himself at the right hand of the Father; to send down the Holy Spirit upon the earth; and to draw upwards to Himself His living members, and bid them reign with Him. Henceforth no principalities or powers in the world of spirits may defy or disown His allpervading sway. And as Man He has authority on the earth, to complete the foundation of His Church as a kingdom of souls; to protect, to cleanse, to extend, to perpetuate it; to bring the nations, one by one, into its fold; to convert sinners, to sanctify souls, to prepare men for that solemn moment when He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and to render to every man according to his works. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on the earth."

VOL. II.

a St. John xx. 22, 23.

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