LECTURE VII.

FOR THE SEVENTH WEEK.

THE MEANS OF GRACE.

MY FRIENDS,-I endeavoured, last week, to set before you a short general outline of the Christian life. You will have seen how much such a life involves. You will have found that it is nothing less than the entire dedication of ourselves to God; that it requires us to be regulated by the law, and actuated by the love of God, in all our thoughts, and words, and acts, in reference to God, to our neighbour, and our own secret soul. You will have seen, too, how hard it is for us to maintain such a life; nay, that it is in fact impossible, without the aid of the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost. This week I would endeavour to lead you to the consideration of the means by which that power is to be obtained. God mercifully vouchsafes the gift of that power to all that seek it from Him for the sake of Christ. Why some never seek this grace, or why, having once received the grace, they fail to use it, or resist its influences,―these are mysteries which we cannot fathom. It is enough for us to know that we obtain that inestimable gift from God, and that we may, if we yield ourselves to the influences of the Holy Spirit, and work with Him, fulfil more or less the requirements of the Christian life, and be made meet for the life of heaven.

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Let us consider now more distinctly by what means this power of the Holy Spirit is to be obtained.

Now we trust that every earnest effort to live to God, every holy aspiration and resolve and endeavour, does draw down for us from on high increase of grace. But there are some special means which God has appointed by which the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is obtained, and which are therefore specially regarded as "means of grace."

To one of these Confirmation has just afforded you admission for the first time. Indeed, admission to the Holy Communion is the only external change a' of condition resulting from that sacred rite. The nature and various aspects of the Holy Communion, the plan of the Communion Service, and the preparation which should be made before coming to it, are subjects on which I have dwelt with you all privately, and on which, therefore, I will not enlarge now. Only let me remind you that the Holy Communion is one great means of grace. In it, as often as we partake of it worthily, we spiritually feed on Christ, and are again and again confirmed in our living union with Him, as branches with the vine, and receive anew those blessings which flow forth from Him, especially a cleansing from past sin, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to purify and strengthen us for the time to come. Value, then, highly that solemn ordinance. Think of it as the second Sacrament, i.e. as the visible means appointed by our Lord for maintaining that spiritual life which Baptism, the first Sacrament, was the visible means of communicating first. You have knelt together-you who have just been confirmed, a Dr. Vaughan.

come to each one of

and those of your friends who desired to be present with you at your first Communion-you have knelt together to-day at the table of the Lord, and been united to one another and to our blessed Saviour for the first time in this solemn rite. And the Holy Spirit has, we trust, you, confirming and strengthening you by His power. And now let me urge you most strongly to resolve, every one of you, never to miss the opportunities offered to you of coming to the Lord's Supper. Some are kept from coming to the Holy Communion by simple thoughtlessness and indifference; some by a low estimate of its value; some by the thought of their own unworthiness, and a mistaken idea of the Holy Communion, as if it were only suited to seasons of special seriousness and retirement, and to those who are comparatively free from sin, and not (as it is) one great means of obtaining support for our daily spiritual life, a channel through which pardon and strength flows forth from Christ to every sin-laden but struggling and contrite soul. Do not, then, let any of these errors keep you from drawing near, at least month by month, to the Table of the Lord. Remember that in it you may obtain that strength which you need amid the dangers and temptations of daily life. And, therefore, come to it as often as you can, to seek earnestly in it that strength of the Holy Spirit, full of sorrow for your many sins, full of the sense of your own need and weakness, full of love to Christ who has obtained for us pardon and strength, full of reliance on the power and goodness of God in Christ.

b On the first Sunday after Confirmation, when the Holy Communion had been administered to those who had just been confirmed.

The Holy Communion is thus one great means of grace. And another one, all important, applicable to all times and circumstances, is prayer. Prayer is the converse of man with God. It is the act of the Spirit as it breathes up to God in heaven its incense of confession, and petition, and thanksgiving, and praise. It is the heart's outpouring of its joys and sorrows, its hopes and fears, its adoration and love, into the ear of the Most High. And that ear of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps is ever open to the sound of His children's prayer. It is, we believe, to Him the most acceptable tribute of homage and love; the unfailing means of obtaining increase of grace from Him. "They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength" are the words of the Prophet Isaiah. And our Lord Himself assures us, "Ask and it shall be given you." And again, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me" are the words of the Psalmist, declaring God's acceptance of the tribute of prayer. Commune, then, with Him in prayer, I would most earnestly beseech you, more frequently and more earnestly than you have ever done before. In the silence of your own chamber morning and evening; in the retirement of your own inner spirit constantly; in the worship of the Household; in the services of the House of God; commune with Him. Go to Him in troubles that they may not overwhelm you; in joys that they may not fall into excess. Ask of Him counsel in your difficulties, guidance in your doubts, strength in your weakness. Pray to Him for others, specially for those near and dear to you, as well as for yourselves. His power can penetrate to those who may be beyond

c Isa. xl. 31.

d St. Matt. vii. 7.

e Ps. 1. 23.

the reach, or the influence, of your own. Pray to Him, above all, for the gift of the Holy Spirit to keep you amid life's dangers, and prepare you for the life of heaven. Prepare yourselves (if it be by but a few moments given to collecting your thoughts) before you draw near, and be earnest while you are addressing Him. And thus make your service of prayer not a heartless form, nor even a necessary task, but the exercise of a blessed privilege, the acceptable act of loving homage, the use of a great means of obtaining spiritual strength for others and for yourselves.

There is one other means of grace which I must briefly touch on, namely, membership in the Church of Christ. This seems to me the one of which we think least. We do not consider how much help we may contribute to, or derive from, the Church to which we belong. We shall, indeed, each of us have to give in our own separate individual account at the last day. But still, during life, we do not stand alone. We are members of a great community; and we enjoy, or may enjoy, in a special degree, the blessing of the Holy Spirit's influence, as members of it. It may be we shall know hereafter how much we have been kept from danger, or preserved from error, or strengthened in weakness, or enabled to overcome evil within, through the power of the Holy Spirit resting with us as members, though unworthy members, of the Church of Christ. For that Church is represented to us as the body of Christ, as His bride, and His kingdom, composed of Christians as the subjects over whom He is the Head and King. And that body He quickens with