name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. To Whom be all glory and praise, by all men and Angels, for ever and ever. Amen. The Sundays after Trinity. THE Church has now finished the celebration of the High Festivals, and thereby run, as it were, through a great part of the Creed, by setting before us in an orderly manner the highest mysteries of our redemption by Christ on earth, till the day He was taken up into heaven, with the sending down of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Now after she has, in looking back upon these mysteries, broken out into a more solemn and special adoration of the Blessed Trinity, she goes on to use such Epistles, Gospels, and Collects, as suit with her holy affections and aims at this season; such, namely, as tend to our edifying, and being the living temples of the Holy Ghost our Comforter, with His gifts and graces; that, having oil in our lamps, we may be in better readiness to meet the Bridegroom at His second Advent, or coming to judgment. And this is done in the remaining Sundays till Advent, which in their services are, as it were, so many echoes and reflections upon the mystery of Pentecost (the life of the Spirit), or as trumpets for preparation to meet our Lord at His second coming. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."-Rom. vi. 18. IN the passage of which these words form a part, St. Paul insists again and again on the great truth which they declare, that Christians are not their own, but bought with a price, and, as being so, are become the servants, or rather the slaves, of God and His righteousness. The great Apostle is not content with speaking half the truth; he does not merely say that we are set free from guilt and misery; but he adds, that we have become the servants of Christ; nay, he uses a word which properly means slaves. Slaves are bought and sold; we were by nature slaves to sin and Satan; we are bought by the blood of Christ; we do not cease to be slaves. We are still slaves, but to a new Master, and that Master is Christ. He has not bought us and then set us loose upon the world; but He has done for us what alone could complete His first benefit, bought us to be His servants or slaves. He has given us that only liberty which is really such, bond-service to Himself; lest if left to ourselves, we should fall back again, as we certainly should, to the cruel bondage from which He redeemed us. We are indeed free as far as this, that if we do not choose to be Christ's servants, we can go back to that old bondage from which He rescued us, and be slaves again to the powers of evil. But though we are free to make our situation worse, we are not free to be without service or post of any kind. We may choose our master, but God or Mammon we must serve. If we will not be Christ's servants, we are forthwith Satan's; and Christ set us free from Satan only by making us His servants. Religion, then, is a necessary service; of course it is a privilege too, but it becomes more and more of a privilege, the more we exercise ourselves in it. The perfect Christian state is that in which our duty and our pleasure are the same, when what is right and true is natural to us, and in which God's "service is perfect freedom." And this is the state towards which all true Christians are tending; it is the state in which the Angels stand; entire subjection to God in thought and deed is their happiness; an utter and absolute captivity of their will to His will is their fulness of joy and everlasting life. But it is not so with the best of us, except in part. We indeed upon our regeneration have a seed of truth and holiness planted within us, a new law introduced into our nature; but still we have that old nature to subdue, "the old man which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts" (Eph. iv. 22). We Christians are cast into a certain mould. So far as we keep within it, we are not sensible that it is a mould, or has an outline. It is when our hearts would overflow in some evil direction, then we discover that we are confined, and consider ourselves in prison. It is the law in our members warring against the law of the Spirit which brings us into a distressing bondage. Let us, then, see where we stand, and what we must do. Heaven cannot change; God is "without variableness or shadow of turning." His "word endureth for ever in heaven." His law is from everlasting to everlasting. We must change. We must go over to the side of heaven. Never had a soul true happiness but in conformity to God, in obedience to His will. We must have the law of the Spirit of life written and set up in our hearts, that the righteousness of God may be fulfilled in us, and that we may learn to please and to love God. Doubtless this life was meant to be enjoyment; but why not a rejoicing in the Lord? We Christians are indeed under the law as other men, but it is the new law, the law of the Spirit of Christ. We are under grace. That law, which to nature is a grievous bondage, is to those who live under the power of God's Presence, what it was meant to be, a rejoicing. Let us go to Him for grace. Let us seek His face. Let us come where He gives grace. Let us come to the ordinances of grace, in which Christ gives His Holy Spirit to enable us to do that which by nature we cannot do, and to be "servants of righteousness." They who pray for His saving help to change their likings and dislikings, their tastes, their views, their wills, their hearts, do not indeed all at once gain what they seek; they do not gain it at once asking; they do not perceive they gain it while they gain it; but if they come continually day by day to Him-if they come humbly-if they come in faith-if they come, not as a trial how they shall like God's service, but throwing (as far as may be) their whole hearts and souls into their duty as a sacrifice to Him- if they D D come, not seeking a sign, but determined to go on seeking Him, honouring Him, serving Him, trusting Him, whether they see light, or feel comfort, or discern their growth, or no; such men will gain, though they know it not; they will find, even while they are still seeking; before they call, He will answer them; and they will in the end find themselves saved wondrously, to their surprise, how they know not, and when their crown seemed at a distance. They that wait on the Lord," says the prophet, "shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint" (Is. xl. 31). 66 Such is the bliss of souls serene, O could we learn that sacrifice, The trivial round, the common task, Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love, |