THE EPISTLE. 2 Cor. 11. 19
YE suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak: howbeit, whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool,) I am more: in labours more abundant; in stripes above measure; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often; in perils of waters; in perils of robbers; in perils by mine own countrymen; in perils by the heathen; in perils in the city; in perils in the wilderness; in perils in the sea; in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness; in watchings often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness; besides those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
THE GOSPEL. S. Luke 8. 4
WHEN much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell by the way-side, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe, and be saved. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
The Sunday called Sexagesima.
HUMILITY.
by the Rev. Prebendary Melville Scott, D.D.
from The Harmony of the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels.
A Devotional Exposition of the Continuous Teaching of the Church Throughout the Year,
S.P.C.K., London, 1902.
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THIS Sunday, while repeating the exhortations of the Sunday previous as to the urgency of Christian effort, gives most emphatic warning against “trusting in anything that we do.” The intrusion of self in any form will spoil our Lenten discipline, whether it appears, as last Sunday, in the form of self-seeking, or as self-trust and self-righteousness. Such a spirit will taint our sacrifice and render it unacceptable, for the sacrifice of self must not be offered to self, but to God.
THE EPISTLE. (2 COR. xi. 19.)
S. Paul is brought before us as the great example of one who, while doing everything for Christ, trusted in nothing that he did, and as exhibiting the very spirit of the day’s Collect.
A. A Life of Deep Humility.
The boastfulness of partisan rivals forces S. Paul to turn his pen to self-defence. It is a fault he feels, but this fault is not his, but theirs who, regarding self praise as a confession of strength, have taken his humility as a sign of weakness. He speaks as a fool, and of his self-assertion as folly, but asks their pardon for it who have made it necessary, and who, indeed, have shown that they regard it as a virtue.
If any assertion of self was folly in S. Paul how much more so in us! We may only speak of ourselves when silence would do more harm than speech. But when gentleness is taken for weak. ness, self-control for indifference, humility for inferiority, it may become our duty, not merely to ourselves but to others, to assert not ourselves but our office, lest our work suffer loss.
B. A Life of Intense Effort.
(1) Varied danger.
Five Jewish scourgings; three Roman scourgings; three shipwrecks; the passage of bridgeless rivers; scenes among wild robbers; everywhere Jewish hate and heathen enmity; dangers in crowded towns and desolated wildernesses; sea perils short of absolute wreck; the time-serving of false brethren.
(2) Constant self-denial.
The willing endurance of weariness and pain; nightly wakefulness; starvation; voluntary fastings; cold and nakedness, his clothes worn out and torn.
(3) Crushing burdens.
In the midst of all, fearful inward burdens—” the care of all the Churches “—a burden made the heavier by his intense sympathy with the weak, i.e., those troubled with doubts, hesitations, and trembling consciences, and by his burning indignation against those who turned aside others from Christian duty—a burden made still heavier by personal infirmities which made all life a trial.
So truly was S. Paul one who combined the fullest activity with the deepest humility. He trusted in Christ to do all for Him, in Him, and by Him; and Christ did it. He did his best, yet not he, but Christ that lived in him. Thus he becomes a fitting example both of Lenten effort and of Lenten humility.
THE GOSPEL. (S. LUKE viii. 4.)
The parable of the sower brings before us the double lesson of the Sunday; this is seen in the following particulars
A. The Need of Effort.
The characteristic work of the present dispensation is sowing. Christ was the first sower, and without Him all others sow in vain; but He has His instruments, His under-sowers, and by these He works, and these must work. The whole Church of Christ is intended to be one great machine for sowing the heavenly seed, by every possible agency and every possible effort. This is the object of its existence and the purpose of its continuance. Our work is to sow, to sow continually, to go on sowing, remembering that in the seed itself lies the promise and potency of life.
B. The Manifold Dangers of the Christian Life.
This seems the point of connection with the teachings of the Sunday. Our position of danger must involve the deepest humility, and this to the very end of the Christian course. Each stage of the Christian life has its special dangers, as we may learn from the parable of the sower.
(1) The danger of careless hearing.
This lies at the threshold of the Christian life, and prevents even the entrance of the good seed. The word enters the ear, but never reaches the heart, and quickly passes away even from memory, being caught away by the spirit of evil or crushed by
fresh tramplings of worldliness.
(2) The danger of trial.
Trial and temptation mark a crisis in the Christian life, and like the fierce sunshine scorch the shallow-hearted, while they only ripen those deeply rooted. By these the principles of all are tested, but especially those of the young. Youth, the time of receptivity and of promise, is also the season of most deadly temptation.
(3) The dangers of prosperity.
These come with the cares, riches, and pleasures of later years, even when the seed has found lodgment and the blade has given promise. The plant of grace cannot grow in a thicket of worldliness which shuts out God’s light and air. These dangers are found as men “go on their way” (R.V.), and against them we pray in the Litany, “in all time of our wealth, Good Lord, deliver us.”
Our Saviour’s closing words seem to favour the interpretation above given of the various stages of life and their special dangers. We need not ask which state of ground is ours, for we may resemble all in turn. There are no hearts by nature good ground. Those that are such have been made such by the ploughshare of God’s grace, by His deepening of our shallow soil, by His cleansing processes. Even the good ground hearers should advance in fruitfulness, and will even, like the bending ear, become more humble as they ripen. Here is, therefore, reason both for earnest effort and constant humility that we may hear; hold fast what we have heard, and bring forth fruit with patience.
THE COLLECT.
This combines most harmoniously the two aspects of the Sunday, its exhortation to activity, and its warning against self-righteousness.
A. What the Christian may not trust In.
He may not trust “in anything that he does,” though, like S. Paul, he is to do everything. It is hard for us not to trust in ourselves, just in proportion as we are really doing something; but even the labours of a S. Paul were not to be trusted in.
B. What the Christian must trust In.
He must trust in the Divine power to defend him from the dangers which beset every portion of the Christian life, for spiritual progress, for Christian usefulness, and final victory. The Christian may not trust in himself lest he forget to trust in Christ.
The connection between collect and epistle was yet more emphatically marked in the Use of Sarum, where we pray: “Mercifully grant that by the protection of the teacher of the Gentiles, we may be defended,” etc.
EPIPHANY leads on to Lent, for if we have the Epiphany hope “we must purify ourselves even as He is pure.” The vision must be realised in daily life, and in spite of inward sin and outward conditions of trial and difficulty. We address ourselves, therefore, to the conquest of sin. In the three preparation Sundays before Lent our Church instructs us as to the necessity of self-discipline, its possible dangers, and its most fruitful motive.
THE EPISTLE. (I COR. ix. 24.) CHRISTIAN EFFORT. This Epistle brings before us the absolute necessity of sustained and concentrated effort in the Christian life, under two figures :—
A. The Christian Race.
The Christian life is a race—
(1) As it looks forward to a prize, compared with which all earthly prizes are fading and corruptible, a condition of glory which is fitly represented by the figure of a crown. The Christian runs with the crown ever before him; he runs to win, and as if one alone could receive the prize, and intending to be that one.
(2) As demanding continuous effort.
A very main idea of the race is its length, for it lasts as long as life. It needs, therefore, determination and fixity of purpose that we run “not uncertainly"—by fits and starts. This race is not to the swift, but to the enduring, and demands in the runner the same qualities possessed by the winners of all long races—a self-denial in every indulgence that might lessen the chance of victory, a wise and steady calmness, a shrinking from no exertion, but, above all, a steady perseverance to the end. No bodily race is like this for difficulty. Let the spiritual runner learn from the bodily to run wisely, not wildly, not as certain of victory, but making victory certain.B. The Christian Wrestling.
(1) Not only does S. Paul say, “I run,” but “I fight.”
The Christian is not only a racer, but a wrestler. As the Christian’s race is the pursuit of holiness, so his wrestling is the conquest of evil. Here we see not so much the length as the severity of the struggle. The Christian must not only run patiently, but fight desperately, with strong and stern determination, with straining effort, with concentrated exertion, with wakeful and vigilant watching for opportunity. Let the spiritual wrestler learn his lesson from the bodily wrestler, and not shrink from the stress of conflict, for no bodily wrestling with flesh and blood is like this wrestling for severity.(2) The ancient wrestler was also a fighter, and so the Christian must plant his blows where they will tell, and not “as one that beateth the air.” Not the show of fight, not much tossing of the limbs, not many formidable attitudes are wanted, but the reality of it—sin bruised, Satan beaten off, and the real Satans, not extinct Satans, but our besetting sin, vanquished. Hence the need of self-examination and taking ourselves in detail, and of confessing not only our sin, but our sins. Hence the need of self-discipline and self-bracing. We are to acquire mastery over the body—not, that is, of the depraved nature, for that is to be treated worse: it is to be “crucified,” and suffer the penalty of death this is to be enslaved only, lest it hinder the freedom of the soul.
THE GOSPEL. (S. MATT. xx. 1.) CHRISTIAN TOIL. As the Christian is to be a racer and a wrestler in his own spiritual history, as ever in pursuit of all good, and ever in constant conflict with all evil, so he is to be a toiler and labourer in regard to others. As the Epistle is directed against lives of ease, so the Gospel is against lives of selfishness.
A. The Necessity of Labour.
As Christians, we are called to labour. This is the very system of God’s Church on earth. We are called to enter a vineyard, and labour in a vineyard with others and for others. “To stand idle in the market-place” is bad, but how much worse to stand idle in the vineyard! There is no call to entrance that is not also a call to work; no admittance but on business. The salvation of the individual soul is to be wrought out not in isolation, but in com-munion with others. Personal religion can only unfold itself in the social sphere, in sympathy of mutual giving and receiving.
B. The Spirit of the Labourers.
The toil of the Christian is to be a labour of love, not of selfish. ness. He is to race, wrestle, and fight, but not for his own hand, imitating the earnestness of worldly men, but not their worldliness. He may not compare himself with others, lest he spoil his work, and thinking himself the first, become the last. The spirit of the market-place must not be found in the vineyard. Length of service is important; it is no less important to bear the burden and heat of the day; but more important than either length or amount of service is the spirit in which we serve. He who has worked one hour for God is better than he who has worked twelve for himself.
C. The Reward of Labour
Is, in fact, true resemblance to the mind and will of our Master. Just as the reward of learning is knowledge, and the reward of diligence in any art is ability, so the reward of virtue is to be virtuous, and of godliness to be like God. Other rewards there may and will be, but this is the very life eternal, the great reward to be given when even is come and the Master calls His labourers to give them wages (S. John iv. 36). Here is the danger of selfishness, that it makes the labourer unlike his Master, “his evil his Master’s good,” so that he cannot enter into the joy of his Lord. Thus does our Church give her first caution as to the spirit of Lenten discipline.
THE COLLECT. A prayer most suitable for the opening Sunday of the Lenten season, and marked by deep humiliation and desire.
It contains :—
A. A Confession of Sin.
We confess that we are under punishment, for, though a punishment of love and a discipline for future glory, it still is a punishment, and a just punishment, for our offences. The Christian must make his own the confession of the penitent thief—“We, indeed, justly.”
B. A Prayer for Absolution.
Though punished, and justly punished, we are still “Thy people,” and our merciful deliverance will more turn to the glory of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, than would our punishment.
THE COLLECT.
O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we, who are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
THE EPISTLE. 1 Cor 9. 24
KNOW ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things: now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.
THE GOSPEL. S. Matth. 20. 1
THE kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the good-man of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way; I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
