Short Sermon. the fact the Gospel-of there being one Man, Jesus, in whom God blesses and accepts mankind; One who is perfect-One, too, in whom the mind of God can be seen; in whom God appears full of mercy and forbearance: not angry with the perplexed, stumbling sinner, but loving and compassionate-giving him, if he really wishes it, strength to rise, and restoring peace to the conscience which has become distressed. The Christian also takes the Shield of Faith. The use of a shield is to stop or ward off blows. Faith, then, is intended to ward off blows aimed at our peace, life, and progress. A man who tries to do right, to be true and just in all his dealings, for the love of God, or because he feels a good spirit working within, has many things to hinder him. The devil says, Why do you do this? Why do you give yourself trouble about what you get no thanks for-about what brings you no more money or work? This is what the devil says to every one,-to the statesman, the lawyer, the merchant, the author, the artizan, the clergyman. Just please other people, and give up the wild notion of doing and saying right because it is right; do nothing but what will pay you back in something worth having-credit, money, power. Leave alone that notion of doing justly and speaking truly, as if the world heeded what you did or said. The world is clever enough to take care of itself, and if it does not, why you are the gainer, that is all!' This is what the devil says: aye, and says to some purpose, too; for many people are soft enough to believe him. Now faith is the shield to protect you from this-from these darts of the wicked. I cannot define faith. However, we can understand thus much about it. Faith is trust in some living person; not merely a power to believe certain truths, but trust in a Person-trust in a living God, who will justify those who strive to do and be right, though they may get no present gain by so doing. We can do nothing without faith. Sometimes it is concealed under the form of confidence in our cause, consciousness of an honest purpose, and the like. But the real thing to carry a man on, and make him hold his head up, and bear hard blows, and see, notwith- · standing, cheerful things in the world around him, above all, hope well for his companions and opponents, is, trust in a living God, who is near, into whose hands an honest heart may put every care and vexation; to whom he may refer the sophistries of bitter, witty, cynical men, who pour cold water upon the warmth of his life,loud, eager logicians, who know so little of mathematics, the nurse of reason, as to suppose that logic may be fearlessly applied to infinites; who puzzle the young mind with questions, and shake its natural sense of propriety by the free, contemptuous way in which they speak of what the Christian loves. Well now, faith will help a man to get the better of this-faith in a living God-such faith as any one might have who really, with his very soul, believed there were any such things as truth, right, justice, or love at all. He may say, I doubt this-I doubt that-I cannot understand. I cannot answer; but happily he may add, I am not the master or Short Sermon. manager of all these things. I can see what my own duties are, where my own path lies-there can be no mistake about that; and I will follow it, please God, and leave all the rest-all the rest-all the tangled knots at which some men fret and others sneer-all the riddles, dilemmas, and difficulties in His hands-I will leave them in my Father's hands. We act thus in the world. There is really nothing so common as faith without it we could neither live nor love. Fancy requiring a proof of every word or deed from a friend. He would not be a friend unless you trusted him. Even in dealing with strangers, you are constantly obliged to take their word, more or less. You cannot, for example-fortunately, I think-test beforehand the quality of every article you buy or use, or the accuracy of every answer and direction you receive and act on. No! you are exercising faith every hour you live. And if it be so in the world we see, it must be more so in the world we cannot see; in things we cannot taste, handle, or hold up to the light. Such as love, right, justice, truth, unselfishness, duty. There must be faith in these matters. We must trust when we yield to them; and to whom do we trust, but to the living Spirit of love, right, truth, justice, unselfishness, duty ?-i.e. to Our Father which is in Heaven, Who showed us all these things shining bright in the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord? So you see the Christian soldier is marked not only by truthfulness, and a sense of justice, but by a trusting heart. Once more. We must take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: that is, in one sense, the Bible. I cannot say what I should wish about this. Space will not let me. But without wor shipping texts, or making idols of printed letters, a man may feel that the voice of God speaks there, as it speaks in no other book. And the beauty of it is, You do not want to examine a mass of evidence before you know whether it be God's word or not. Read it itself, honestly, specially the four Gospels. Above all, the sayings of Christ. And if your heart does not tell you that they are deeply, mysteriously, and yet simply true, it is because you will not listen to your own heart's voice. The Bible reveals the secret of all power and security. It tells us of a kingdom of Heaven set up here. Of One who rules among and within us. Of a King who speaks in the voice of conscience, and is seen in the person of the living Jesus. Of laws which never die or miss their aim. Of a kingdom which offers possibilities of progress beyond the highest flight of the most daring political reformers-even perfection-as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect. A kingdom in which individual liberty is possible whatever the outward form of government may be. A kingdom in which freedom of thought, lightness of heart, strength of purpose, and power irresistible, may be found. The kingdom which Christ revealed. His Spirit alone can make England the seed-bed and refuge of true liberty in any distress of nations with perplexity. His Spirit alone, patient, fearless, fair, confident in truth and right-His Spirit alone can make you do honour to the Christian calling, and help you individually in the struggle of life. DURSLEY-continued. CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. April 2.-Alfred Kingston, son of William Robert and Margaret Palmer Emms. 11.-Sarah Ann Beatrice Perkins. 12.-Annie Louisa, daughter of John & Anna Maria Richards. 12.-Florence Amelia, daughter of George and Amelia Eliz. Smith. 27.-George, son of Henry and Harriet French. 28.-Elizabeth Agatha, daughter of William and Elizabeth Bastin. MARRIAGE. April 30.-William Henry Irwin to Ellen Isabella Searancke. April 4.-Minnie Daniels, aged 3 years. 5.-Frank Henry Small, aged 10 months. ·00 KING-STANLEY. The Lenten Services generally have been well attended; on Wednesday Evenings chiefly by the young who could encounter the discouraging weather. A good impression was produced on all by the Story of the Cross, sung in Passion and Holy Weeks. Another year, it may be, that more appropriate music may be found. Such works are so good and inspiring in themselves, that they increase in solemnity, as the congregation come to comprehend them after frequent use. The parish was well supplied with invitation to keep Good Friday, by distribution of leaflets procured from the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, and the good congregations, the general suspension of work, and the quiet behaviour in the village showed increased regard for the solemn Day of Atonement. Easter Eve had to be given up for the long and hard work of cleaning the church and preparation for the great festival of Easter. Notwithstanding destructive storms and cold, which have prevailed, more or less, for some time past, the church wore a cheerful and festive aspect on Easter Day; the primrose, anemone, and wild cherry afforded sufficient resource for flower decoration; their pale bloom, showing the Church's Easter colour of joy and peace, was set off by the fresh green foliage of a vigorous spring, into the midst of which the unusually late Easter has brought us, This welcome work so willingly undertaken, and done with so much freshness of thought by Mrs. W. H. Marling, we are all aware is no light one. Very welcome was the sight of the congregation assembled at the early celebration, larger considerably than on any previous Easter. The congregations, morning and evening, were large, that in the evening unusually so, and the day was manifestly felt to be a festival of holy joy. The measles epidemic, once begun, soon found its way into homes where there were young children, and the school has been very thin now for three weeks, but the empty places are again gradually filling up. Only in two cases as yet, it is a matter of thankfulness to say, have the after effects of the disease proved fatal, as our obituary shows. " At the Easter Monday vestry meeting the usual friendly harmony prevailed. The churchwardens' accounts for the year ending Easter, 1878, so well cared for by the senior churchwarden, were examined and passed. Mr. W. H. Marling again consented to be nominated Rector's warden, and Col. Collier accepted the office of parish warden, lately called into activity by the want of order among some of the boys and girls in church on Sunday evenings. This rough disposition is very much to be lamented; the parish will never allow its generous care for the complete freedom of the Church to be abused in this way; or the services, in which it delights, to suffer reproach of this kind. It concerns parents, as well as children, to know that any action taken by a magistrate in a case of this kind is most serious: the law visiting with very severe penalties the disturbers of a congregation engaged in divine service. The school managers call the attention of parents to the importance of the regular attendance of their children at school. The more regular the attendance the earlier will scholars become qualified for employment. The board of guardians pay children's school fees, if satisfied of the parents' inability to do so; parents by accepting this payment are not deprived of any right or privilege, or subject to any disqualification. This is made known to prevent parents forming incorrect ideas, as it is feared is the case, in some instances, in this parish. CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. April 14-Eliza Oliff Maud, daughter of Joseph and Mary Gregory, Broad Street, King-Stanley. -Lilian Kate, daughter of Edward William and Rosannah BURIALS. April 18-Catherine Florence Beard, aged 9 months. 99 -Frederick Walter Knee, aged 2 years. STINCHCOMBE. The inspection of the school, which was commenced by Mr. Endor, the assistant, on the 2nd of February, was completed by Mr. Woodd himself on the 26th of March. The report was received on the 17th day of April, and is satisfactory : "This little school, it is said, is in very nice order, and the instruction is fairly successful The infants, who are under Mrs. Woodward's care in a separate room are in a very satisfactory condition, and their attaiuments are above the average.' Mr. Endor does not report quite so favourably of the arithmetic, especially of the notation, or setting down of the figures, but we hope this may be amended against another year. Of the extra subjects the inspector reports favourably of the grammar and history, but speaks less satisfactorily of the geography. He says that "the needlework of the girls, though of an elementary character was satisfactory as far as it went." He recommends that the boys should only take one subject under the notice (19) c, which authorizes extra subjects, next year, and that the girls should continue to present needlework, and should not take any extra subject. The amount earned for attendance and papers was £61. 6s., but a deduction is made of £6. 13s. 4d. on account of our having only one monitress; the net grant thus becomes £55. 2s. 8d. The Vicar hopes to receive soon such assistance as may fully satisfy the requirements of the department. At the Friday evening service on March 29th the sermon was preached by the Vicar on the text 2 Cor. ii, 7. On the following Friday the Rev. H. P. King preached on the subject of Our Lord's Temptation; and at the last of these Lenten evening services, viz., on April 12, an address was given by the Vicar to the candidates for confirmation. At the confirmation at Dursley on Tuesday, April 16, fourteen persons were presented by the Clergy of this parish to the Bishop, viz., nine males and five females. The offertory at the Holy Communion on Good Friday was devoted to the funds of the House of Mercy at Bussage. It amounted to £12. 18. Od. |