his own church, asked a friend to undertake that duty for him; for that he was engaged to attend to the distribution of money in some benefit club, of which he was a principal manager; and he excused himself by saying, that "God loved mercy rather than sacrifice.” Now in this particular case, it might, perhaps, have been necessary for him to act so from some circumstances which he could not disregard: but certainly this is the sort of way in which a going backward in holiness would be likely to show itself: and although it is very true, that mercy is more than sacrifice, yet with regard to our Christian services of prayer and communion, I should expect that he who loved them best, would also best love mercy; and that he whose love to God was less fervent, would soon find his love to man grow cold also. But, if whilst busily engaged in the duties of our station, while casting out devils, as I may say, in Christ's name, we take some portion of time in every day, not for formal prayers, but for a real pouring out of our hearts before God, for searching into the faults of our souls, for refreshing our sense of our own weakness, and our love and gratitude to Christ our Saviour; for throwing ourselves wholly upon Him for aid to keep us in perfect peace and holiness; for fixing our minds, in short, on those things which most concern us, God, and our own souls, and death, and that which comes after death; then we may have that higher joy to which Christ bids us rather look, that our names are written in Heaven; and we shall pursue our daily duties besides with a more active and lively, as well as with a humbler spirit; working with fear and trembling, because of our own infinite frailty; yet with a hope stronger than our fear, because of Him who worketh in us, our Saviour and our God. Let us treat them as one of the Devil's worst snares, the temptation which we may feel to trust in our own useful lives and virtuous feelings, and therefore to neglect coming to God; that is, to neglect the only means of knowing ourselves thoroughly, and thus of obtaining a cure for every weakness of our souls, and a guard to save us from falling away, through the Spirit of Christ our Saviour. We know how little our bodies could do their work, if we were to deny them time to take their sufficient food: and it is a yet more foolish economy to deny our souls time for their's, and yet to require or expect that they should work still as healthfully and actively. Christ himself, whose day was spent in active usefulness, was accustomed to rise long before it was day, that he might commence with his heavenly Father. In this, as in all the rest of his life, he was our example that we should follow his steps; and if He, to whom the Spirit was given without measure, did not neglect the means of gaining fresh spiritual strength by prayer and devout meditation; how can we neglect it, without being certain that we shall suffer for our presumption? THE END. GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, St. John's Square, London. |