1 H. W. Beecher.
REVELATION i. lo 41
balanced humanity, is to shake himself loose as frequently as possible from the domination of an exclusive current of thought. Nothing more dangerous or more hostile to moral health than what the Germans would call a pampered subjectivity.^
^ Among the counsels written by Mr. Gladstone in 1854-1857 for the use of his eldest son is the following : —
" Sunday, the day of the Eesurrection, is at once the emblem, the earnest, and the joy, of the renewed life : cherish it accord- ingly: grudge, and as it were resent, any intrusion of worldly thoughts or conversation: except upon real necessity, strive to shut out rigorously any worldly business: always view the devotion of the day to God, not as a yoke, but as a privilege ; and be assured that if and so far as this view of it shall seem over- strained, the soul is not in its health." 2
•[[ The Lord's Day was observed as a remembrance of the Eisen Lord. Its observance is a direct testimony to the greatest fact of the Gospel — the Eesurrection; and to one of the chief doctrines of our faith — Christ's Divinity. If it was not His day, the day He had for ever purchased and baptised to Himself by rising again from the dead, Christianity had no foundation, for- giveness no security, " men's faith was vain, they were yet in their sins." ... It was a point of personal loyalty to Christ to keep it. It was one great way of showing love and worship to their Eedeemer. It was not a command so much as a privilege. They did not ask, " What shall I lose by keeping it ? " but, " What may I not miss by neglecting it ? " Is this our attitude to the Lord's Day ? Is it a day of personal gratitude to One who gave Himself for me ? You keep your friend's birthday, you think of him, send messages and presents to him. Have you no thoughts, words, gifts for Christ on His birthday ? You ask for ways of showing Him love, of letting it be known that you are His. Here is one. Show Him your love by dedicating to Him this day.^
Still Sundays, rising o'er the world.
Have never failed to bring their calm. While from their tranquil wings unfurled,
On the tired heart distilling balm, A purer air bathes all the fields,
A purer gold the generous sky; The land a hallowed silence yields.
All things in mute, glad worship lie, —
* The Day Book of John Stuart Blackie, 52.
2 Letters on Church and Religion of W. E. Gladstone, ii. 414.
» E. W. Barbour, Thoughts, 56.
42 THE LORD'S DAY
All, save where careless innocence
In the great Presence sports and plays,
A wild bird whistles, or the wind
Tosses the light snow from the sprays.
For life renews itself each week,
Each Sunday seems to crown the year; The fair earth rounds as fresh a cheek
As though just made another sphere. The shadowy film that sometimes breathes
Between our thought and heaven disparts, The quiet hour so brightly wreathes
Its solemn peace about our hearts, And Nature, whether sun or shower
Caprices with her soaring days, Kests conscious, in a happy sense.
Of the wide smile that lights her ways.^ * Harriet P. Spofford, Poems,
Fear Not.
43
Literature.
Bernard (J. H.), From Faith to Faith, 91.
Brooks (P.), Sermons, 210.
Brown (J. B.), The Higher Life, 321.
Calthrop (G.), In Christ, 385.
Campbell (R. J.), Thursday Mornings at the City Temiyle, 298.
Corlett (J. S.), Christ and the Churches, 9. ^
Darlow (T. H.), in Great Texts of the New Testament, 141.
Davies (T.), Sermons and Expositions, ii. 239.
Greer (D. H.), From Things to God, 190.
Gurney (T. A.), The Living Lord and the Opened Grave, 112.
Hadden (R. H.), Sermons and Memoir, 94.
Hort (F. J. A.), Village Sermons, ii. 139.
Howe (J.), The Redeemer's Dominion (TVorJcs, iii. 10).
Illing worth (J. R.), Sermons Preached in a College Chapel, 1,
Inge (W. R.), Faith and Knowledge, 3.
Iverach (J.), The Other Side of Greatness, 136.
Jones (J. D.), The Gospel of Grace, 117.
Liddon (H. P.), Easter in St. Paul's, 323.
Maclaren (A.), Creed and Conduct, 108.
„ „ Expositions : Epistles of John to Revelation, 162.
Moule (H. C. G.), The Secret of the Presence, 127. Paget (F. E.), The Living and the Dead, 209. Raleigh (A.), Quiet Resting Places, 45. Sowter (G. A.), Trial and Triumph, 239. Tliomas (J.), The Mysteries of Grace, 103. Trench (R. C.), Sermons Preached in Westminster Ahhey, 181. Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xiii. (1876), No. 1000. Watkinson (W. L.), Studies in Christian Character, i. 87. Westcott (B. F.), The Revelation of the Risen Lord, 61. British Weekly Pulpit, iii. 49 (C. A. Berry). Christian World Pulpit, xxix. f 7 (A. M. Fairbairn) ; 1. 81 (W. B.
Carpenter) ; Ixvi. 8 (W. F. Adeney) ; Ixix. 200 (A. M. Fairbairn) ;
Ixxxiv. 155 (J. Waddell).
44
Fear Not.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not ; I am the first and the last, and the Living one ; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.— Rev. i. 17, 18.