The collects of the day : an exposition critical and devotional of the collects appointed at the communion
Goulburn, Edward Meyrick, 1818-1897
1 See Heb. xii. 22, 23. 2 See Josh. vii. 21. 3 See St. Matt, xiii. 4<L 4 St. Matt. vi. 20 8S The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. (2) II. And now, having gone through the petition of the Collect, let us observe the sequence of thought, by which it grows out of the doctrine laid down as a basis for it — this being, as we have seen, that " God declares His almighty power most chiefly in shewing mercy and pity." This connexion is to be found in the thought that the conversion and salvation of a sinner, the making him partaker of God's " heavenly treasure," while it is a work of mercy, is, at the same time, God's highest act of power. The forces required to effect His justifica- tion are nothing less than the blood-shedding and obedience unto death of the Son of God ; those required to effect his sanctification are nothing less than the opera- tion of God's Spirit. This mingled miracle of mercy and power is most strikingly seen in the palmary instance, which the Epistle brings before us, of St. Paul. God declared His almighty power most emphatically in reclaiming, subduing, pardoning, and turning into an instrument for the spread of the Gospel, the blaspheming, persecuting, and injurious Saul. But in every instance of conversion and salvation there is, in a lesser degree, the same exhibition of Divine power side by side with Divine mercy ; and the more aggravated the sin of the sinner, and the lower the depths to which he has sunk, the stronger is the emphasis given both to the mercy and power of God in his salvation. The more humili- ating had been the perverseness, the ingratitude, and the provocations of Israel previously recited by the Psalmist, so much the more forcible becomes the " nevertheless " in that conclusion of their deliverance ; " Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known." 1 1 Ps. cvi. 1, 8. Chapter LV. THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. JUmtgfjtp arm efterlasting ©oft, tobo art altoaps more teaBp to rjear than toe to pray, anli art toont to gifte more than either toe Desire or Deserbe ; Pour Boton upon us the abunnance of tfjp mercp, forgifting us those things tohereof our con* Science is afraio, anD gifting us those gooD things tohtch toe are not toortfjp to asfc, but through tTje merits anD meDiatton of 3!esus Christ, thy %on, our ILorft. Amen. SDmnipotens sempitcrne Deus, qui abunoantia pietatis tuae et merita supplicum ercetits et ftota, etfunne super nos misertcorniam tuam, ut ftimittas quae conscientia metuit, et aoucias quoo oratio non praesumit. Per IDominum.— Gel. Sac.1 — Miss. Sar. This Collect passed through several hands before it reached its present form. The first draught of it is found in the earliest of the Sacramentaries, that of Leo.2 Gelasius, without materially altering the sentiment, recast the lan- guage, and expanded it a little at the end. Cranmer 1 In Gel. Sac. [Mur. i. 690] it ends with " Per." In Greg. Sac. [ii. 170] with "Per, etc." 2 This draught is as follows [Mur. i. 413] : — Virtutum coelestium Deus, qui plura praestas quam petimus aut meremur ; tribue, quaesumus, ut tua nobis misericordia conferatur, quod nostrorum non habet fiducia meri- torum. Per, etc. 0 God of the heavenly powers, who bestowest more than we desire or deserve, grant, we beseech thee, that by thy mercy that may be con- ferred upon us, which we have not the confidence in our deserts to ask. Through, etc. 90 The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. inserted in the earlier part a clause which was not there before. Cosin finally threw the conclusion into a slightly different form, which, while it improved the rhythm, gave rather more prominence to the idea that it is only through our Lord's mediation that we can dare to hope for the outflow of God's goodness towards us. As Gelasius left the Collect, it opened thus : — " Al- mighty God, who in the abundance of thy fatherly com- passion dost surpass both the desires and deserts of those who pray to thee."1 Cranmer dropped the expression " in the abundance of thy fatherly compassion," and substituted for it this definite statement of the way in which God's fatherly compassion manifests itself, " who art always more ready to hear than we to pray." The two expressions together, neither of which can we well afford to lose, irre- sistibly call to mind the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The compassion of the father yearned over the prodigal son, while he was yet in the far country wasting his substance in riotous living. That son had not yet implored his father to restore him to the household ; he had only formed the resolution of doing so. He had not yet re- turned ; a long space still separated him from his father's house. " But when he was yet a great way of, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."2 The father's readiness to hear the petition he had to make exceeded his readiness to make it. The father saw, from the circumstance of his son's having 1 A writer in the " Literary Churchman " for October 15, 1880, sug- gests that there may be in these words a reference to " the reluctance of the deaf and dumb man in the Gospel to come to Christ, who was there- fore brought by his friends, though his physical ailment did not make him 3tand in need of such constraint." This is very possible ; and the refer- ence calls attention to a feature in the miracle which is not, I think, often commented upon. i St. Luke xv. 20. The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. 91 advanced thus far, what his intention was, and he welcomed the intention with an overflow of parental tenderness, dealing with him on the same principle as that on which the Heavenly Father announces His intention of dealing with those who are His children by adoption and grace ; " And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." 1 In which most gracious words God pledges Himself to promptitude in hearing His suppliants. And because things are best exhibited by contrast, and, if you wish to see the brilliancy of a colour, you cannot do so better than by setting it on a dark ground, our Blessed Lord in two Df His parables, that of the Unjust Judge2 and that of the Friend at Midnight,3 emphasizes this readiness of our Heavenly Father to hear prayer, the argument of those parables being that, if importunity wrings, even from a thoroughly unwilling and grudging heart, the boon it sues for, how much more will it be successful with Him, whose fatherly compassion induces Him to meet us halfway when He sees us struggling back towards Him, — to answer us before we call and to hear us while we are speaking. And if actual human experience is needed to confirm this truth of God's readiness to hear prayer, we have, among many other Scriptural instances, the case of Daniel. " At the beginning of thy supplications," says the angel to him, after he had presented his supplication before the Lord for Jerusalem, " the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved."4 And the circumstance is emphasized that, as soon as ever God saw Daniel's purpose of seeking insight into the future by prayer and humiliation, his petition was acceded to, though 1 Isaiah lxv. 24. 2 See St. Luke xviii 1-9. 8 See St. Luke xl 5-9. 4 Dan. ix. 23. 92 The TwclftJi Sunday after Trinity. not yet actually preferred, " Fear not, Daniel ; for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to under- stand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." And if, with the ingenuity of a self-condemning, and, therefore, a mistrustful heart, it should be alleged that to those who are " greatly beloved " God does indeed show Him- self more ready to hear than they to pray ; but that with those whose lives have been spent in alienation from Him, and with whom prayer is not their habitual practice, but merely a cry wrung out from them by the cravings of a heart which the world has failed to satisfy, He deals by another and sterner rule, — we then fall back upon the parable of the Prodigal, and ask whether God's promptitude in responding to a cry of forgiveness from one who has been long living at a distance from Him could possibly be represented in stronger or more vivid colours. Had the prodigal son been a Daniel, his cry could not have been responded to with greater alacrity. " And art wont " (accustomed) " to give more than either we desire or deserve." It should be observed that the word " desire " here means, as the Latin both of the Leonine and the Gelasian Collects evidently shows, not " to wish for," but " to ask for." God is accustomed to give to His petitioners more than either they request Him to give, or deserve that He should give. The well-known history of Solomon furnishes, perhaps, the best example of this. In diffidence of his own powers to fill the throne of David, he asked for " an understanding heart to judge " God's " people,"1 that is, for grace " to do " his " duty in that state of life unto which it " had pleased " God to call " him. God granted him a measure of wisdom, larger 1 See 1 Kings iii. 9. The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. 93 than that which his predecessors had, or his successors should exhibit, and, not content with this recognition of his prayer, added, " I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour : so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days."1 And, turning to the New Testament, we find the prodigal petitioning only for a place among the hired servants, but receiving a welcome even more than filial, an affectionate embrace, investiture with the best robe, with the ring, with the shoes, while his return is made the occasion of a domestic festivity, celebrated by a ban- quet and by music and song.2 And all this for one who had nothing but profligacy and indesert to show in his past life ; and the sole good point in whose conduct was that, under the pressure of sore distress, he threw himself humbly upon his father's compassion and generosity. The lesson is that no one ever thus threw himself upon our Heavenly Father without experiencing the truth of those gracious promises ; " Let him return to our God, for He will abundantly pardon ;"3 " Let Israel hope in the Lord : for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption."4 And let the word " wont " be weighed, and its full force given to it. This abundant response to prayer, this pouring out of a blessing upon the petitioner, so that he has not room to receive it,5 is not an exceptional favour granted to peculiarly qualified persons, — it is God's wont, his normal method of acting with all petitioners. We are indebted for that word to our Reformers ; for while the corresponding phrases in the old Latin Collects may imply what the word conveys, they do not express it. 1 1 Kings iii. 13. 2 See St Luke xv. 19, 20, 22, 23, 25. 8 Isaiah lv. 7. 4 Psalm cxxx. 7. 8 See Mai. iii. 10. 94 The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. " Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy " (as a copious shower saturating the soil of the heart). The passages of Scripture which illustrate the copiousness of God's mercy have been already referred to, so that we may pass on. " Forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid." What makes us hesitate in our approaches to God, what constitutes our unreadiness, is our sense of guilt. St. John, in a remarkable passage of his first Epistle, speaks of " assuring our hearts before God."1 This is just what an apprehensive conscience, a conscience bur- dened with reminiscences which it fears to face, cannot do. And he intimates that we must go to God with a trusting and assured conscience, not with a hesitating and appre- hensive one, if we desire to draw forth from His bounty those blessings which he is ever more ready to give than we are to seek them " Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatso- ever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his com- mandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."2 But " if our heart condemn us," if conscience bear an unfavourable testimony, when we are approaching the throne of grace — what then ? The Apostle says (for so his words should be rendered), " this is because God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things,"3 i.e., the verdict of our conscience derives all its force from God's omniscience ; in which words he represents to us the seri- ousness of the verdicts of conscience, not the remedy for them in case they are against us. What is the remedy ? First, of course the blood of Christ. " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge 1 1 John iii. 19. 2 1 John iii. 21, 22. 3 1 John iii. 20. The Tivelfth Sunday after Trinity. 95 your conscience from dead works to serve the living God ? 'n And, " Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith " (observe that both St. John and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews make this full assurance of the heart essential to the success of the application), " having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience " (bloodsprinkled with the blood of Christ), "and our bodies washed with pure water"2 (here is the Baptismal relationship adduced as a ground of confidence in prayer). And anything more ? Yes ; if the assurance is to be complete and unwavering, there must not only be the Spirit's testimony of the cleansing blood of Christ, and the Church's (or bride's) testimony of the baptismal rela- tionship, but the testimony of our own conscience that we are akin to Him who is Love, because we do deeds of love in the spirit of love. " My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed, and in truth. And. hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him."3 With this assurance, arising from three sources, which we may call summarily " the Spirit, and the water, and the blood " 4 — the Spirit in the conscience, the water of Baptism, the blood of the Cross — we shall touch easily the spring of God's bounty, and draw forth from Him " those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ," — nay, our minds being thus in perfect accordance with His, we shall draw forth whatever we will ; — " Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."5 1 Heb. ix. 1 i. 2 Heb. x. 22. '■' 1 John iii. 18, 19. * See 1 John v. 8. 6 1 John iii. 22. Chapter LVI. THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. aimigTjtp ann merciful ©on, of tobose onlp gift it comet!) tbat tbp faithful people tio unto tbee true anu launable serbice 5 ©rant, toe beseecb tbee, tbat toe mag so faithfully serbe tbee in rbts life, tbat toe fail not finally to attain tbj beabenlj promises ; tbrougb t'fje merits of Jesus Chrisr our 31 orb. Amen. 2Dmntpotens et miscricors IDeus, De cujus munere benit ut tibi a filielibus tuisnigne et lauuabtlitei serniatur ; tribue nobis, quae* SumuS, ut ao promissiones tuas Sine offensione curramus. Per jDomtnum. — Leo Sac.1— Miss. Sar. This Collect is derived from the Sacramentary of Leo. It underwent no material alteration at the hand of the original translators ; but in 1661 Bishop Cosin gave one of his happy touches to the petition of it, which made it cohere much better with the earlier and doctrinal part, and altered the usual ending, " through Jesus Christ our Lord," by inserting " the merits of," doubtless in order 1 Leo Sac. [JIur. i. 371] omits the words "nobis, quaesumus," and ends with " Per etc." Gel. Sac. [i. 691] has "quaesumus, nobis," instead of "nobis, quaesumus," and "a promissionibus tuis" instead of "ad promis- siones tuas." (The former is probably a mistake, unless indeed we suppose the promises of grace, which are the starting point of the Christian's obedience, to be meant. But it is clear that the translators understood the promises to be those of glory.) Greg. Sac. [Mux. ii. col. 170] has "quaesumus, nobis," restores "ad promissiones tuas," and ends with "Per Dominum, etc." The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 97 to remind us that the recompence of God's faithful serv- ants is of grace, due to Christ's merits, not their own. It will greatly help to the understanding of this prayer if, before considering particular words and phrases, we gain a clear notion of the general subject of it. This subject then is the service of God, — "of whose only gift it cometh that thy people do unto thee service, Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee." What then is God's service ? Our duty to Him ? Nay, not our whole duty, but only one third part of it. The explanation of the Lord's Prayer given in the Catechism is very helpful to us on this point. We are there taught that, in the three first petitions of the Prayer, we " desire our Heavenly Father to send His grace unto all people that they may worship Him, serve Him, and obey Him, as they ought to do." First ; " that they may worship Him." This is the petition, " Hallowed be thy name," in which are comprised all the devotional exercises of the Christian life. Thirdly ; " that they may obey Him," — allow Him to carry the day in all things, wherein, through the sinfulness of our nature, there is a conflict between our will and His. This is, " Thy will be done," and in it is comprised the whole antagonism of the Christian to temptation. — But what is the second branch of our duty towards God, that branch of duty which the mere contemplative, the man who in- sists, as many members of monastic orders have insisted, that the whole of life shall be given up to exercises of devotion, ignores, or at least throws into the background ? " That we should serve Him as we ought to do." The words must be regarded as throwing into another shape the petition, " Thy kingdom come." The seat of God's kingdom is in heaven, where there is nothing but purity VOL. IL H 98 The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. and zeal, and love, and harmony, and a blessedness and joy filling all hearts till they overflow. But like the sky which canopies us all, like the sun from the heat of whose quickening, cheering rays nothing is hid, this kingdom reaches to and enfolds the earth. On the earth we see at present sad evidences of a will contrary to God's, a will which sets itself in opposition to His supremacy, and to the happiness of His creatures. There is great room, therefore, on earth to pray, " Thy kingdom come." And not only so to pray, hut to contribute actively to that end. For there is no man, however low down in the social scale, who may not do something to make one little corner of human society the greener and brighter for his existence, who may not use his influence among his fellow- creatures in opposing that which is wrong, advancing that which is right, and relieving a little that sorrow and suffering, which are the dark shadows thrown by sin upon a fallen world. The Samaritan, in the Gospel associated with this Collect, was truly serving God when he had compassion on the poor wounded traveller, " and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."1 It is bringing God's kingdom very near indeed to men, when, from a pure overflow of kindliness and love, one man soothes the sorrows of another, and sets him on his feet again by sympathy or succour, or both. Still the Samaritan's work of love was a by-work ; it was not, as far as appears, the main business of his life. Perhaps he was journeying on some mercantile business to Jericho ; anyhow he came across the wounded man incidentally, as he was pursuing his own avocations. The system of human society, with all its distinctions of class, and with 1 St. Luke x. 33, Zi. The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 99 all the pursuits, businesses, professions, and trades which are bound up in it, is God's institution, and it is His in- tention that it should continue to the end, when in an- other and a higher state a better system will supersede it. Whatever business then may have fallen to us, we can do God service in it, by pursuing it in a devout and religious spirit, by regarding it as a task allotted to us by Him, and in the conscientious discharge of which it is open to us to please Him. And by way of impressing this upon us in the most forcible way, the duties of slaves are singled out by Holy Scripture as those in which a truly accept- able service maybe rendered to Almighty God. If slaves by obeying their masters in all things, " not with eyeservice as men-pleasers ; but in singleness of heart, fearing God," and by doing things "heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men," are really serving the Lord Christ, and " shall receive " from Him " the reward of the inheritance,"1 in what other bine of life shall we suppose the serving Him, and the receiving of a reward for service, to be im- practicable ? Briefly then the service of God consists in (1.) the employment of our talents for the good of our fellow-men, and thus for the furtherance of His cause and kingdom ; and (2.) in the doing our work in life, whatever it be, with conscientiousness and an aim to please Him. " Almighty and merciful God." The title " merciful" as well as " almighty " stands with great propriety in the forefront of a Collect, at the end of which the recompence awarded by God to faithful service is brought out in strong relief. " Grant that we may so faithfully serve. . . that we fail not finally to attain." But the attain- ment (if we make it), is all of grace, and not of debt ; and 1 Col. iii. 22, 23, 24. ioo The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. even those saints, for whom it is prepared that they shall sit on the right hand of Christ and on His left in His kingdom,1 were, in the first instance, forgiven sinners, and needed, through the whole of their pilgrimage, a constant fresh outflow of God's mercy to cleanse them from sins of infirmity. " Of whose only gift it cometh " (the Eeformers added the " only," showing how jealous and how rightfully jealous they were of the doctrine that every good thing in man is wrought in him by the Holy Ghost), — " of whose only gift it cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service." In the Latin it is " worthy and laudable service." Let us pause a moment on the word " laudable." It means praiseworthy. The whole Collect is full of moral stimulus. The mere thought that it is open to us to do God service, that by a right intention and honest effort we may do something for His cause, this of itself is stimulating. Again, the thought that what we so do He, though so great and magnificent a Being, will account worthy of Him, if done in the faith of Christ and from the love of His name, this is an additional stimulus. And what shall we say to the doctrine, than which none can have a stronger Scriptural warrant, that by a certain line of sentiment and conduct we may gain God's praise ? " Then," says St. Paul, — at the time of the Lord's Second Advent, — " shall every man have praise of God." 2 And in the Parable of the Talents, the lord of the servants, when he comes to reckon with them, passes a sentence of com- mendation upon those who had brought him the additional moneys which they had gained by trading; " Well done, good and faithful servant." 3 It is generally felt that the 1 See St Matt. xx. 21, 23. 2 1 Cor. iv. 5. 3 See St. Matt. xxv. 21, 23. The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 101 praise of those who are deservedly and universally esteemed is a great stimulus. And if of them, how much more shall the praise of God be felt as a stimulus by those faithful servants who entertain towards Him a boundless and adoring veneration ! — And now, when we ask sum- marily what is " true, and worthy, and laudable service," the only answer which can be given is that God will, in His infinite mercy, esteem all service as such, which is " faithful." If a man has made the most of his opportu- nities of serving God ; if he has been faithful to God's cause, even when it has been unpopular ; if he has fol- lowed God with a whole heart, and without any wavering between Him and the world (for " no man can serve two masters"1), if he has chosen for God resolutely, and been true to Him in the main, though amidst much weakness and shortcoming, such service laid upon the altar of atone- ment, and perfumed with the incense of Christ's interces- sion, will be esteemed by God's fatherly indulgence "worthy and laudable." " That we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises." The balanced clauses, " in this life," and " heavenly," are both of them due to the translators. " This life " is the period of " service," as the " heavenly " kingdom is of recompence ; " service " is the general characteristic of one, as recompence is of the other ; though it is also true that the Christian has a foretaste even now of " heavenly " joys, and that in all probability (judging from what we know of the condition and occupations of angels), there will be a ministry and a " service " for him in another world. But the general contrast between the life of service here below, and the life of enjoyment above, is 1 See St. Matt. vi. 24 ; St. Luke xvi. 13. 102 The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. warranted by our Lord's own teaching in St. Luke xvii. 7, 8. The servant, bidden to gird himself, and wait upon his master, in the first instance, before he can be allowed to " eat and drink " himself, is evidently a parable of the earthly and heavenly states, the one toil- some and laborious, the other restful and refreshing. The " heavenly promises " are the recompence bestowed for " faithful service in this life," and correspond to the cities in the Parable of the Pounds, over which the faithful servants were set as their dominion,1 and to "the joy of the lord" in the Parable of the Talents,2 into which they were bidden to enter. The cities denote, doubtless, an outward position of dignity and honour, in which God's faithful servants shall hereafter be set, in proportion to the fidelity and zeal which they have displayed. The joy of the Lord, on the other hand, is the spiritual recompence of a mind which beats in unison with God's, and thus has a perennial fountain of joy within itself. " Jesus, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame."3 He has now entered into this joy, and will bid His servants hereafter, when their warfare also is accomplished, enter into it with Him. And now comes the final stimulating thought, which this Collect brings before us, that there will be a propor- tion between the service and the recompence. " That we may so faithfully . . . that we fail not." The servant whose pound had gained ten pounds was set over ten cities, he whose pound had gained five pounds over five only. Apostles, who " have borne the burden and heat of the day," 4 will be set on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.5 But for lesser and lower services, lesser 1 See St. Luke xix. 17, 19. 2 See St. Matt. xxv. 21, 23. 3 Heb. xiL 2. 4 See St Matt xx. 12. 8 See St. Matt. xix. 28. The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 103 and lower recompences will be given. And yet, even in the case of the Apostles, the talent or the pound, which they put out to interest in the Master's service, " came of His only gift ; " they did but trade with money lent them. And so he among them, who was more abundant in labours than the rest, freely confesses ; " By the grace of God I am what I am : and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." 1 1 1 Cor. xv. 10. Chapter LVII. THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. aimigbtp anD ebetlaattno; ©on, gibe unto usi tTje increase of fait?), bope, ann cTjarttp ; ann, tbat toe map obtain tbat toTjicfj tbou Host promise, make ujs to lobe tbat tobicb tbouOostcommanii; tbrougfj 3Iesus CTjrigt out JLotD. Amen. SDmnipotens gempiteme Deus, Da nobis fioei, spei, et caritatis augmentum : et ut mereamut agge* qui quoD ptomittijS, fac nog amate quoD ptaecipig. Pet Dominum. Leo Sac.1 — Miss. Sar. This Collect is derived ultimately from the Sacramentary of Leo, whose pontificate lasted from a.d. 440 to 461. Like all Collects of the earliest type, it is characterized at once by great brevity and great comprehensiveness. Its connexion with the associated Epistle and Gospel is clearer, and more easily traced, than in many other in- stances. First, as regards the Epistle. The prayer of the Collect is for an increase of faith, and also of hope and love, which are the fruits of faith. The Epistle enume- rates these fruits, calling them the " fruit of the Spirit " (as being the results of His secret working in the hearts of the faithful), and names " love " (or charity) as the first of them.2 Hope is not named at all, the reason of which probably is that faith and hope are so very much of the same kindred, and so indissolubly bound up with one 1 Leo Sac. [Mur. L 374,] ends " Per, etc. ; " Gel. Sac. [i. 691], " Per ; " Greg. Sac. "Per Dominum, etc." s See Gal. v. 22. The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. 105 another, that it may be assumed that, where one is, the other exists also. " Faith is the evidence " (the conviction) of things not seen." 1 Hope adds to this conviction of faith the expectation and longing of the heart. — It should be remarked also that the property — the invariable pro- perty— of fruit is to grow. It grows by the secret silent working of that life in the tree, which gave birth to it. Faith and charity in true Christians are said to grow. " We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth." 2 And similarly hope. " Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."3 And the prayer of this Collect is for the growth of these graces, " Give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity," a petition which should lead us into the recesses of our own hearts before we presume to offer it, for it is evident that, unless a thing exists, it cannot grow, and that to ask God to increase our faith, hope, and charity, where we have not these graces even in embryo, must be an awful mockery. The connexion of the Collect with the Gospel, which is the narrative of the cleansing of the ten lepers, is not so apparent, yet comes to light on a very little reflexion and study of the context. Just before the incident of the cleansing of the lepers, the Apostles had made to the Lord that remarkable request, which the Collect puts into our Hps also, — " the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith." 4 The Lord, as His manner was, gives them an oblique answer. He dwells upon the immense virtue, even 1 Heb. xi. 1. 2 2 Thess. i. 3. 8 Rom. xv. 13. * St. Luke xvii. 5 io6 The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. of the tiniest grain of real faith, almost as much as to say ; " You ask for an increase of faith ; but know that a very- little goes a long way in that matter." 1 Then He speaks a parable about the servant ploughing or feeding cattle, who, though he has toiled all day in the field, yet has to wait upon his master at table when he comes in, before he can take his own meal.2 The purport of the parable, in connexion with what went before, is probably that we must wait upon God patiently for the increase of faith, which He will give in His own due time, and which, when He does give it, will be like the rest and refreshment of a banquet — not work, but enjoyment. Shortly after oc- curred an incident which illustrated our Lord's teaching. The " ten men that were lepers " must have had a good measure of faith, that is, they must have believed in Christ's power and willingness to heal them, or they would not have cried in accents so loud as to attract His notice at a distance, " Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." 3 But their faith needed to grow, and, in order to its growth, it must be submitted to a trial. The trial was a command to do that which they must have known it was useless to do, unless they were first cleansed. A leper, whom it had pleased God to recover from his leprosy, was directed by the Law, in order to his re-admission into society, to present himself before the priest, who, after examining his person, declared him clean by means of certain ritual ceremonies.4 By bidding these lepers go show themselves unto the priests, our Lord held out to them a lively hope of recovery (for where was the use of going to the priests, unless they were cleansed in the first instance ?), while at the same time He did not cure them immediately, but 1 See St. Luke xvii. 6. a lb. 7-10. 3 lb. xvii. 13. 4 See Lev. xiv. 1-33. The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. 107 called upon them to wait upon God first in the way of His commandments, to move their feet and undertake a journey, instead of sitting passive to receive the blessing. " And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed."1 It was exemplifying what He had just said to them in parable, that the servant who should gird himself after coming in from his work, and wait upon his master, should be allowed ere long to sit down and enjoy his own meal ; " Afterwards thou shalt eat and drink."2 The in- gratitude of the nine unthankful lepers after their recovery, brings in a separate lesson, with which we have no con- cern here. But it is very observable how the latter clause of the Collect, " that we may obtain that which thou dost pro- mise, make us to love that which thou dost command," glances at the order given to the lepers to go to the priests, just as its former clause, " Give unto us the increase," etc., glances back to the request which the disciples recently made to our Lord, " Increase our faith." In bidding the lepers show themselves to the priests, our Lord had led them to expect recovery, had virtually promised it to them. But in order to obtain that which He promised, they must first do, and do cheerfully, what He commanded.3 1 See St. Luke xvii. 14. 2 lb. 8. 3 Faith, hope, and love, are^called the theological, as distinct from the moral, virtues. By this is meant that Revealed Religion, — the revelation which the Holy Scriptures make to us of God as our Father, of Christ as our Saviour, of the Holy Ghost as our Sanctifier, of a world unseen around us, and of a world which lies beyond the grave, — (1) recognises them as virtues ; (2) elicits them in their higher actings ; (3) brings them into prominence, as in fact embracing every other virtue. (1) It recognises them as virtues. Heathen moralists before the appearing of Christ (Aristotle for instance) set forth several of the virtues of the natural man ; such as temperance, courage, fortitude, justice ; but even these were imperfectly enumerated by them. Humility, for example, did not appear among them ; could hardly have done so in the absence of any revealed knowledge as to io8 The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. They did so, and in the act of doing so the promise was fulfilled to them. It seems to me, then, that the whole Collect is built upon this Gospel, taken in connexion with its foregoing context, and that both its petitions have this common source. the fall of man and the divinely ordained method of his recovery. But faith, hope, and love were nowhere ; systems of heathen morality found no place for them ; heathen moralists dreamed not of them as virtues at all. (2.) Revelation first elicited these virtues in their higher actings. I say, their higher actings, for in their lower they were well known, and univer- sally operative, before the light of Revelation shone upon the world. 