WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163, PICCADILLY
1860.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR—FIRST SERIES.
Plain Sermons, preached at Archbishop Tenison’s Chapel, Regent Street. Fcap. cloth, price 3s. 6d.
CONTENTS.
SERMON I.
DEPENDENCE UPON GOD.
Philippians, iv., 5, 6.
The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
“The Lord is at hand.” It is doubtful whether this admonition is designed to recommend the foregoing precept, “Let your moderation be known unto all men,” or whether it introduces and enforces the injunction, “Be careful for nothing.” It may well do both: on the one hand, exhorting the disciples to lead (and that manifestly) an unworldly life, seeing they were so shortly to be taken out of the world; and, on the other hand, cheering them in their sorrows, suppressing their anxieties and quickening their faith, by the remembrance, that comfort, and peace, and perfect bliss would soon be theirs—“The Lord is at hand.”
The second advent of our Lord was always in the mind of the apostles. It is thought that they even counted upon its literal occurrence in their lifetime, as though the prophecies of it were among the things to be fulfilled before that generation passed away. Without subscribing to this view, against which many objections may be taken, it may be readily admitted that, as they were uncertain how soon it might happen, as they had no ground for concluding that it would not be in their time, so they rightly laboured to impress upon the disciples its possible, if you will its probable nearness. Besides, they knew that, virtually, it would be soon: for if Christ came not speedily in the flesh, speedily they would be called out of the flesh to Him, and then would cease the pleasures and cares of this world, and then would begin the possession and enjoyment of things eternal. How necessary then, that they who were but pilgrims and strangers here, living a life that was soon to be ended and accounted for, should be warned against excess of worldliness, against building houses where they were but permitted to pitch tents, against turning aside out of the path of pilgrimage, and wasting or abusing the time for journeying! How cheering, too, for those who were perplexed, or burthened, or afflicted, to be reminded that perplexity, and toil, and grief were only passing clouds, and mere inconveniences by the way—that soon they should be rid of them altogether, and should only be allowed to remember them to magnify their appreciation of attained rest and glory! And here let me observe, that the admonition “Be careful for nothing,” is not in this place a reproof of the worldling, coming across him in the path of mammon worship, of earthly aggrandisement, of forgetfulness of eternity, of God, of heaven, but is rather a consolation, an encouragement, for those, who while walking, or endeavouring to walk, in the right way, are depressed and hindered by trials, and perplexities, and afflictions. There are cares which man makes for himself, for which he is to be blamed, whereof he deserves to eat the bitter fruit. There are other cares which he suffers involuntarily, which God imposes upon him as discipline, which Satan thrusts upon him as temptations. With regard to the last, the Christian’s cares, St. Paul offers advice and consolation, saying in effect—Sink not beneath them, poor pilgrim; groan not on account of them; let them not distract your aims and desires from the right object of solicitude and hope. Weigh them in the right scales against the glories that are coming, and they will surely be found light. Measure them beside the joys of eternity, and they will be seen to be brief and transitory. “The Lord is at hand” to relieve you of them all, at His second advent, by the unclothing of death, by carrying you to Paradise. Be comforted, rejoice, rouse ye, and, without distraction, pursue your hopeful course. “Be careful for nothing.”