Herein, then—in the Cross of Christ—resides this power of God which is offered to you as the true aim of your ambition, inexhaustible, omnipotent, infinite. Will you close with the offer? Then reverence yourselves; believe in yourselves; consecrate yourselves.
Reverence yourselves. Begin with reverencing this your body. Reverence it as God's handiwork fearfully and wonderfully made. Contemplate it; yes, contemplate it with awe, if only for its marvellously subtle mechanism. But reverence it still more as the consecrated temple of God's Spirit. Do not neglect it; do not misuse it; before all things do not defile and desecrate it. Young men, the problem of social purity is thrown down for your generation to solve. Will you accept this challenge? The conscience of England is awakening to the terrible curse. To redress the crying social wrong, to raise womanhood from degradation and shame, to hold up to reverence the idea of a pure, chivalrous, manly manhood,—this is the crusade in which you are invited to enlist. Will you, as consecrated soldiers of the Cross, claim your part in the glory of this campaign? If so, the work must begin now, must begin in yourselves. There can be no success against the foe where there is disaffection and mutiny in the citadel.
Believe in yourselves; yet, not in yourselves as yourselves. Believe not in your strength, but in your weakness. Believe in God who dwells in you. Give full rein to your ambition. Trust this power of God. It will not stunt or mar, will not crush, will not annihilate your natural gifts—your social endowments, your political instincts, your intellectual capacities. It will only elevate, harmonize, inspire, purify them. Trust this power. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, which you may not do, if you will only trust it. Πάντα ἰσχύω, "I have strength for everything," everything in heaven and earth. You have youth, health, vigour, enthusiasm, hopefulness, everything on your side now. Seize the great opportunity which can never return.
Consecrate yourselves. Empty yourselves of yourselves, that you may be filled with God. Yield yourselves to Him, not with a passive acquiescence, a sentimental quietism, but with the earnest, energetic direction of all your faculties to this one end. A period must still intervene for most of you before the active independent work of life begins,—a period of discipline and waiting. Only by patience will you win your souls. But the self-dedication must be made at once, and it must be complete. Half-heartedness spoils the sacrifice. Postponement is perilous. The opportunity despised turns its back on you for ever. Consecrate, consecrate yourselves, body and soul and spirit, to God now, this night.
FOOTNOTES
[1] These sermons are printed from reporter's notes.
[2] Preached at Cambridge, Oct. 23rd, 1881.
[3] Preached in St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday Afternoon, September 6th, 1874.
[4] Mr. Foley, R.A., sculptor.
[5] Sermon preached in St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday, May 21st, 1876.
[6] Sermon preached in Durham Cathedral on the Occasion of his Enthronement, on Thursday, May 15th, 1879.
[7] Preached in St. Peter's Church, Bishop Auckland.
[8] Delivered at St. Paul's Cathedral, Tuesday evening, November 4th, 1873.
[9] Delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral, Tuesday evening, November 11th, 1873.
[10] Delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral, Tuesday evening, November 18th, 1873.
[11] Preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, Thursday, June 19th, 1884, on the anniversary of the Girls' Friendly Society.
[12] Preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, on Sunday Afternoon, May 30th, 1875, before some of Her Majesty's Judges, the Lord Mayor, and members of the Corporation of the City of London.
[13] Preached in St. Paul's Cathedral, February 1st, 1884.
[14] Preached at Manchester Cathedral, at annual meeting of Additional Curates Society, on Tuesday, November 1st, 1887.
Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.
Transcriber's Note:
In Table of Contents, ditto marks replaced by text they refer to ("Christianity and Paganism"). "Gallas" changed to "Gallus" on page 79, "Constantine" to "Constantius" on page 93, and "god" to "gods" on page 112 (c.f. BCP Psalter xcvii. 7). Punctuation errors corrected on pages 39 and 128. Spelling errors corrected on page 80 ("fanactism") page 104 ("consciousnes") page 148 ("evey") and page 170 ("ἐυ"). Different spellings of apostasy/apostacy, and inconsistent hyphenation elsewhere, have been retained.