Sermons

“And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.

Then Samuel answered, Speak, for Thy servant heareth.” 1 Samuel 3:10.

In the narrative of which these words form part, we have a remarkable instance of a Divine call, and the manner in which it is our duty to meet it. Samuel was from a child brought to the house of the Lord; and in due time he was called to a sacred office, and made a prophet. He was called, and he forthwith answered the call. God said, “Samuel, Samuel.” He did not understand at first who called, and what was meant; but on going to Eli he learned who spoke, and what his answer should be. So when God called again, he said, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” Here is prompt obedience.

“I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” John 10:11.

Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. “David My servant shall be king over them,” says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: “and they all shall have one Shepherd.” And in the book of Zechariah, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” And in like manner St. Peter speaks of our returning “to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls.” (Ezek. 37:24. Zech. 13:7. 1 Pet. 2:25.)

Sermon 17 (7th May 1837)

“He shall glorify Me.” John 14. 14.

When our Lord was leaving His Apostles, and they were sorrowful, He consoled them by the promise of another Guide and Teacher, on whom they might rely instead of Him, and who should be more to them even than He had been. He promised them the Third Person in the Ever-blessed Trinity, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Himself and of His Father, who should come invisibly,

6th May 1838

“A little while, and ye shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father.” John 16:16.

Very opposite lessons are drawn in different parts of Scripture from the doctrine of Christ’s leaving the world and returning to His Father; lessons so opposite the one to the other, that at first sight a reader might even find a difficulty in reconciling them together. In an earlier season of His ministry, our

“Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Heb. 2:11).

Our Saviour’s birth in the flesh is an earnest, and, as it were, beginning of our birth in the Spirit. It is a figure, promise, or pledge of our new birth, and it effects what it promises. As He was born, so are we born also; and since He was born, therefore we too are born.

We find two especial manifestations of divine grace in the human heart, whether we turn to Scripture for instances of it, or to the history of the Church; whether we trace it in the case of Saints, or in persons of holy and religious life; and the two are even found among our Lord’s Apostles, being

When man was created, he was endowed withal with gifts above his own nature, by means of which that nature was perfected. As some potent stimulant which is not nourishment, a scent or a draught, rouses, invigorates, concentrates our animal powers, gives keenness to our perceptions, and intensity to our efforts, so, or rather in some far higher sense, and in more diversified ways, did the supernatural grace of God give a meaning,

25th February 1838

“Though I have all Faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have no Charity, I am nothing.”

1 Cor. 13: 2.

I suppose that all thoughtful readers of the chapter from which these words are taken, have before now been struck with surprise at the varied characteristics which are there ascribed to the excellent grace called love, or charity. What is charity? St. Paul answers, by giving a great number of properties of it, all distinct and special. It is patient, it is kind, it has no envy,

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Heb. 12. 1.

The warning and consolation given by the Apostle to the Hebrews, amid their sufferings for the truth’s sake, were as follows: they were to guard against unbelief, that easily-besetting sin under temptation, chiefly, and above all, by “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith;” but, besides this, a secondary stay was added. So glorious and holy is our Lord, though viewed in His human nature, so perfect when He was tempted, so heavenly even upon earth, that sinners, such as we are, cannot endure the sight of Him at first.