SERMON XIX'.

BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD.

JAMES i. 22.

"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."

In the primitive Church, the period of the year which intervenes between Easter-day and Whitsunday, was considered to be one of great solemnity. Baptism, instead of being administered indifferently at all times of the year, as at present, was in great measure confined to those two feasts; whence it happened that the number of persons to be baptized being very great, the feasts were prolonged beyond the Sunday, to the Monday and Tuesday of the respective weeks. This accounts for the celebration of Easter Monday and Tuesday, and Whit-Monday and Tuesday in the Church of England. These

This and the following Sermons were preached in the chapel of Winchester College.

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weeks were therefore mainly devoted to the instruction of Catechumens: those who were on WhitSunday to appear at the font and receive spiritual regeneration in the sacrament of baptism. And so, may be observed, the collects appointed to be used during this period all bear intelligible reference to the commencement of a Christian life. We pray in them that we may put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, and serve God in pureness of living and truth; that we who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion may eschew those things that are contrary to our profession and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; that God who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men may grant that we may love the thing which He commandeth, and desire that which He doth promise; that He will grant to us that by His holy inspiration we may think and do those things that be good, and by His merciful guiding may perform the same: and so, always thankfully receiving the inestimable benefit of Christ's death, may daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of His most holy life.

It is useful to trace these proprieties, which are to be found in every part of our Liturgy by those who examine it with any closeness, because they tend to throw great interest into the service, and to make us remark with greater attention the exceeding skill and judgment with which it is adapted to its purposes. In the present instance it is par

ticularly interesting to observe upon the peculiarity of the services of this time, as they bear so strongly upon our own circumstances; since so many of us, newly entered upon our Christian manhood, are in the festival of Whit-Sunday to be received for the first, or alHost for the first time, to the communion of the Lord's Supper. I shall therefore desire, especially, to address my observations to those who are about to become communicants, whilst all will remember, that whether older or younger, whether already accustomed to partake in that holy ordinance, or looking forward to partake in it at some future time, such exhortations are by no means inappropriate or unsuitable to their own case.

They who come to the Lord's Supper, to commu→ nicate in the consecrated and sacramental bread and wine, do in the most solemn and distinct manner profess their belief in Christian doctrine. In desiring to be fed with the spiritual body and blood of Christ, they declare most expressly that they put their faith and trust in the great sacrifice wherein the body of Christ was given, and His blood shed for sinners; they declare by implication that they believe in His divine and adorable nature : for if He were a man, or if He were anything less than God, He could not have redeemed His brethren, nor made atonement unto God for them. They further declare that while they desire to commemorate that precious death to which they owe their hope of future acceptance, they also intend to assist

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in keeping up the memory of it till His coming again: and thereby they profess themselves believers, and deeply interested believers, in the judgment to come, when He who hath once appeared to be the atonement for sin, who visited us in great humility and abasement, shall return in His glorious Majesty, to be the judge of quick and dead.

Again, in desiring that their souls may be strengthened and refreshed by the body and blood of Christ, as their bodies are naturally strengthened by the use of bread and wine, they make declaration that unless Christ give them strength, they have no power to bring their hopes to accomplishment; and therefore that although they are now redeemed, accepted, and beloved of God, yet their weakness and frailty would still shut them out of heaven, and renew God's wrath against them, but for His gracious help and aid which they trust to receive in this sacrament. And whereas the strength which Christ promiseth to his faithful people is the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, who shall give them the power to will and to do according to His good pleasure, they also do declare that in this sacrament they propose to seek and desire to obtain the grace of the Holy Ghost. Thus it is readily seen that the coming to the holy communion table containeth in its meaning an acknowledgment of all the main Christian doctrines that the atonement of Christ, His Divine nature, His future coming in judgment, the present redemption of man, his remaining weak

ness, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to sanctify his heart, are all necessarily expressed in the very significant and important act of approaching the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

And from this consideration I wish to impress upon your hearts, that you must be earnest believers, if you wish to be good communicants; that unless these doctrines are really and sincerely accepted by your faith, and cherished in your hearts, your coming to the Sacrament is an unmeaning or worse than an unmeaning ceremony.

On this point it is necessary to speak quite distinctly. I do not imagine or suspect that any of you disbelieve Christian doctrine. It would indeed be a strange and horrible thing if any mind so young, so carefully trained, as I have no doubt yours have been, should start into express and literal apostasy. No, this is not to be thought or feared. But it must be remembered that it does not follow that because a person is not apostate, therefore he is faithful. It is unfortunately very easy and very common to be indifferent; to hold, and profess to believe Christian truth,-yes, and to believe it in an inert and careless way, to be Christian in name,-to think one's self Christian in deed, and yet to know nothing of that vital, ardent, earnest, soul-supporting faith which is as the breath and life of the true and real Christian. It is this indifference against which I wish to guard you: for it is far more dangerous and more common