own time, we need not treat it as symbolizing a permanent truth, that it is, in fact, a surviving fragment of Judaism, inconsistent with the higher Apostolic affirmation, " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty"? Do we plead, so to speak, that our Lord has promised us the truest freedom as the result of an effective knowledge of the truth; and that, on the last evening of His earthly ministry, He said to His faithful eleven, "Henceforth I call you not servants, but friends"? Well, my brethren, this was His gracious condescension, assuring them that their relation to Him was to be one of affectionate confidence. Blessed be His name, He does not keep us at arm's length: He does not treat us coldly, sternly, magisterially: we are to be 'willing," freewill offerings, "in the day of His power." We are to be made " sons in Him, the true and Only-begotten Son, and so to be "free indeed" His service is to be, in a most true sense, perfect freedom, or even a true royalty: but it must needs be service, if He is what He is, if we are what we are. Take just one noble and beautiful instance of the combination of obedience and love, of service and joyfulness, in him who had apparently been consecrated to the episcopate by St. John,1 and who,

1 Cp. Bp. Lightfoot, Apost. Fath. II. i. 425.

when invited to save his life by uttering some form of renunciation of Christ, answered, "Eighty-six years have I been His servant, and He has done me no wrong: how, then, can I revile my King who saved

me?"1

We took our text from a passage in which St. John in dwelling on the future blessedness of those who live and die in the obedience of that King, in reliance on that Saviour. He is looking "in the Spirit" at things too glorious for expression, which he depicts under the imagery of the Heavenly Jerusalem he sees the street of gold, the gates of pearl, the jewelled foundations, the glory which supersedes all sunlight, the crystal river of life, the tree of the healing leaves. There shall be no more curse," he breaks out triumphantly; "the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein; and His servants shall do Him service, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." As now, in the heavenly world, the angels that behold the face of the Father account it their highest glory to be "His ministers who do His will," who are perpetually active as instruments of His purposes,-in nature, we may reverently believe, as well as in grace, as they call themselves "fellow-servants of all who keep the

1 For St. Polycarp's martyrdom, see Euseb. iv. 15.

testimony of Jesus," 1-what else could we expect but that those who, being "counted worthy to attain that world, become equal to angels," " should retain for ever one special characteristic of the angels' life in its glory and its blessedness, by doing God service in ways at present inconceivable ?

Let us keep this prospect before us: it will brighten and elevate the homeliest forms of every-day duty, by bringing them under the obligation of personal service to a most equitable and divinely generous Lord. We can do anything that is good and innocent, and everything that is part of our daily work, as unto Him. Yes, and all helpful" service of men" will find fresh motive-force in the service of their and our Saviour. We shall be in a true, sense serving Him when we are serving our fellow men in Him and for His sake. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" is the question which, honestly put, will never fail of an intelligible answer; and to act upon that answer will be a step towards the majestic luminous height on which they stand who "serve Him" and who "reign with Him.” We were made to be His servants; it is our wisdom to accept the situation, to esteem the bond thus laid upon us as our highest privilege, as the condition of our attainment of the 2 Luke xx. 35, 36.

1 Rev. xix. 10; op. xxii. 9.

end and crown of our being. It will give meaning and dignity to all the details of life; it will keep all pessimism at a distance; it will preserve us from waste of time, waste of interest, waste of energy, waste of affection. It will answer, as no other view of life will ever answer, in the long run. A Queen of France once said to a great statesman-Cardinal, whom she regarded as having deeply injured her, "God does not pay at the end of each week, but when His time comes He does pay." If this is true of His righteous punishments, it is still more true of what He deigns to give as His rewards.

SERMON XII

HOPE.

"Be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you."-1 PET. i. 13.

Is there, in this first Epistle of St. Peter, any one characteristic feature, any dominant and pervading idea, such as we find in some of St. Paul's epistles,— the principle of justification, for instance, in two, and, in a third, the Second Advent? I think we may answer this question in the affirmative. As we read the Epistle and drink in its spirit, we become aware of something that lifts and enkindles; it is as if we were inhaling sea-air, were basking in the glow of a genial warmth. The pulse of Christian heartiness and confidence beats full and strong throughout the five short chapters: they breathe a spirit of glad energy; they flash with the brilliance of what their anthor, in one fervid outburst, describes as God's own "marvellous light;" in a word, they are instinct with a dominant hopefulness, which gives to the whole letter its peculiar force and charm.