Discipline and Other Sermons, 12 - PAUL AND FELIX
ACTS xxiv. 25.
And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
This is a well-known text, on which many a sermon has been preached, and with good reason, for it is an important text. It tells us of a man who, l ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 13 - THE GOOD SAMARITAN
LUKE x. 33, 34.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
No words, perhaps, ever spoken on earth, have had more effect than those o ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 14 - CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD
(Preached on Easter Day, 1867.)
MATTHEW vi. 26, 28, 29.
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? . . . And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 15 - THE JEWISH REBELLIONS
1 PETER ii. 11.
Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.
I think that you will understand the text, and indeed the whole of St. Peter's first Epistle, better, if I explain to you somewhat the state of the Eastern countries of the world in St. Peter's time. The Romans, a s ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 16 - TERROR BY NIGHT
(Preached in Lent.)
PSALM xci. 5.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night.
You may see, if you will read your Bible, that the night is spoken of in the Old Testament much as we speak of it now, as a beautiful and holy thing. The old Jews were not afraid of any terror by night. They rejoiced to consider the heavens, the work of God ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 17 - THE SON OF THUNDER
ST. JOHN i. 1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
We read this morning the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John.
Some of you, I am sure, must have felt, as you heard it, how grand was the very sound of the words. Some one once compared the sound of St. John's Gospel to a great churc ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 18 - HUMILITY
LUKE v. 8.
Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Few stories in the New Testament are as well known as this. Few go home more deeply to the heart of man. Most simple, most graceful is the story, and yet it has in it depths unfathomable.
Great painters have loved to draw, great poets have loved to sing, that scene on the lake of Ge ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 19 - A WHITSUN SERMON
PSALM civ. 24, 27-30.
O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. . . . These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou tak ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 20 - SELF-HELP
ST. JOHN xvi. 7.
It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
This is a deep and strange saying. How can it be expedient, useful, or profitable, for any human being that Christ should go away from them? To be in Christ's presence; to see his face ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 21 - ENDURANCE
I PETER ii. 19.
This is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
This is a great epistle, this epistle for the day, and full of deep lessons. Let us try to learn some of them.
'What glory is it,' St. Peter says, 'if, when ye be beaten for your faults, ye take it patiently?' What credit is it to a ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 22 - TOLERATION
(Preached at Christ Church, Marylebone, 1867, for the Bishop of London's Fund.)
MATTHEW xiii. 24-30.
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 23 - THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST
LUKE xix. 41.
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it.
Let us think awhile what was meant by our Lord's weeping over Jerusalem. We ought to learn thereby somewhat more of our Lord's character, and of our Lord's government.
Why did he weep over that city whose people would, in a few days, mock him, scourge him, cruci ...read
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Discipline and Other Sermons, 24 - THE LIKENESS OF GOD
EPHESIANS iv. 23, 24.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Be renewed, says St. Paul, in the spirit of your mind--in the tone, character, and habit of your mind. And put on the new man, the new pattern of man, who was created after God, in rig ...read
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Good News of God, 1 - THE BEATIFIC VISION
MATTHEW xxii. 27.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
These words often puzzle and pain really good people, because they seem to put the hardest duty first. It seems, at times, so much more easy to love one's neighbour than to love God. And strange as it may seem, that is partly t ...read
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Good News of God, 2 - THE GLORY OF THE CROSS
JOHN xvii. 1.
Father, the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. I spoke to you lately of the beatific vision of God. I will speak of it again to-day; and say this.
If any man wishes to see God, truly and fully, with the eyes of his soul: if any man wishes for that beatific vision of God; that perfect sight of God' ...read
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Good News of God, 3 - THE LIFE OF GOD
1 JOHN i. 2.
For the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us!
What do we mean, when we speak of the Life everlasting?
Do we mean that men's souls are immortal, and will live for ever after death, either in happiness or misery?
W ...read
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Good News of God, 4 - THE SONG OF THE THREE CHILDREN
DANIEL iii. 16, 17, 18.
O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou ...read
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Good News of God, 5 - THE ETERNAL GOODNESS
MATTHEW xxii. 39.
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Why are wrong things wrong? Why, for instance, is it wrong to steal?
Because God has forbidden it, you may answer. But is it so? Whatsoever God forbids must be wrong. But, is it wrong because God forbids it, or does God forbid it because it is wrong?
For instance, suppose that ...read
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Good News of God, 6 - WORSHIP
ISAIAH i. 12, 13.
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
This is a very awful text; one of those which terrify ...read
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Good News of God, 7 - GOD'S INHERITANCE
GAL. iv. 6, 7.
Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
This is the second good news of Christmas-day.
The first is, that the Son of God became man.
The second is, why he became ...read
Charles Kingsley