116 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY How hard for the rich man to enter the spiritual kingdom! But we have often seen what appeared great impediments break up, and, as by transmuted force, become powers for righteousness; or by consecration they exalt the life they would otherwise weaken or degrade. This transmutation of force is a constant miracle in the lives of saints. THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Collect. O Lord, who never failest to help and govern those whom Thou dost bring up in Thy steadfast fear and love; keep us, we beseech Thee, under the protection of Thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear aud love of Thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. Epistle. 1 St. John iii. 13. Gospel. St. Luke xiv. 16. Twice in the central petition of the day we speak of the fear and love of God: once as surroundings in which we are "brought up," and again as an interior compulsion of the divine will. Scientists classify the shaping powers of life under two heads : environment and heredity. So in the Collect we seek to receive both these moulding forces from God. We are "brought up" in His fear and love, and, as children of the new birth, we have an inborn fear and love of our heavenly Father's holy Name. The adjectives "steadfast" and "perpetual" call us to a contemplation of what is real, of what endures. On such objects our love should be set, our hearts be surely fixed. It is this opening the doors of our spirit to eternal realities that gives sacramental value to life. As symbols the relationships of life give growth and happiness, but 118 SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY they should never be bartered for with the eternal verities as exchange. The Israelite's promises were for this life: Christ's were not. He elevated our desires into the religion of the Eternal Years. His beatitudes were for those who were persecuted and suffered in this world. There is no mistaking the difference between Judaism and Christianity here. Earthly blessings, and political permanence, desired by the Hebrews, were only symbols of the lasting and real, while Faith, "the substance of things hoped for," is the key-note of Christianity. We must "lose our life to gain it." This glory through loss, what is it but the world's ideal of heroism? from the beginning dimly shadowed, but fully manifested in Jesus. It is like the call to the Great Supper. I have bought a piece of land; my business is so exacting! How can I have leisure for divine or unseen things? I have a yoke of oxen; I go to try them. I must test my possessions, and look after my investments. I have married a wife. This passion of love, how engrossing it is! How can I turn away even for a moment? Yet we are all capable of feeling the supremacy of ideal claims. How base the man who refuses to go to his country's aid when called! How should we regard the man who would deny his faith because by so doing he could make more ample worldly provision for wife and children? We all feel this. We have enough of the divine image in us to recognize it when the picture is SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY 119 Have we the habit of putting held up before us. A sacrificial life is typified by the Cross; and when men reject such a life they must choose another religion, or remain wrapped in shams. Baptismal vows continually represent our whole profession. The life of self-indulgence cannot be the Christian Life. THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Collect. O Lord, we beseech Thee, mercifully to hear us and grant ; that we, to whom Thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may, by Thy mighty aid, be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. Epistle. 1 St. Peter v. 5. Gospel. St. Luke xv. 1. To-day is full of the sense of how worth while life is. The hearty desire to pray, like happy children in the household of God; the certain defense and comfort, and the glory to be revealed when we have been strengthened and settled by our trials here. Best of all, tenderest proof of the love that encompasses us-the story of the Shepherd who left the ninety and nine to search the wilderness through for the sheep that had wandered and was lost. We are told that this life which we lead now can add to the joy of angels; they and our beloved dead must know so much better than we what makes life worth living. But we understand life's worth better when we know that the least of us is of infinite value to God. As the sheep to the shepherd, as the piece of silver to the woman, as the repentant sinner to the King of men and angels: He careth for us. Jesus-Saviour; what comfort to the soul is in |