Also translated Articles from the most celebrated Preachers of France and Germany. The Editors think it right to state that the Sermon Outlines contained in this Volume are original, and have not appeared in print before. Ash Wednesday. EPISTLE. INWARD AND OUTWARD MORTIFICATION. "REND YOUR HEARTS, and NOT YOUR GARMENTS" (Joel ii. 13). EVEN in the Old Testament, in which the outward so prescribed, yet the outward refused unless the outcome of the inward. "Thou desirest not sacrifices;" yet these were strictly ordained. "Rend your hearts, and not your garments." Yet (see Ahab's, Nineveh's repentance) the outward expression of inward feeling was not unavailing with God. God is a spirit, but we are also flesh. The outward cannot, with us, be separated from the inward; prayer, e.g., compels, as it were, upturned eyes, bent knees, clasped hands. But the outward, valueless, rejected, unless the expression of, and, we may add, the assistance to, the inward. I. Consider the passage with this line of thought pervading your meditation. "Rend your hearts;" this the prime requirement. "And not your garments." This not prohibitory, be it noted only forcibly denoting the vanity of the outward unless prompted by the inward. For note vers. 15, 16, 17, as justifying the outward observance of a season of fasting and mortification, and this after the strong deprecation of a mere external exhibition of repentance. [See Wesley's sermon on "Fasting" and "Diaconia," with note that Henry Vane used to fast rigidly every Friday, so long as his health permitted, and until past noon, alone in his study. Regard our Lord's declaration that certain especially malignant evil spirits "go not forth except by prayer and fasting." Note His directions as to how to fast. Consider St. Paul's in fastings often," as well as "in hunger and thirst."] Bring forward, in its place, the duty of outward mortification; and, on VOL. III. A such a day as this, the Church's ordering fasting of the whole Church as a body. II. How to fast. 1. Admirably set forth in the Collect for first Sunday in Lent. It is not an end, but a means. Not an act meritorious, but an act disciplinary. It is the drill of the soldier, the exercise of the gymnast, the training of the athlete. Not a thing to rest on, but a useful and severe preparation. 2. It is to be accompanied with vigil and prayer, if it is to be profitable. It must keep the end in view-the heart; not the garments. Hence (1.) Must not be excessive; (2.) Must be adapted to each particular case, "such abstinence that, our flesh being subdued to the spirit," &c.; (3.) It must not be a mere farce,"one entrée less at dinner, or abundant fish-and-egg food cunningly dressed. Something real, if at all. III. Always the inward must be the thing regarded; without it, the outward rejected. "Rend your hearts, and not your garments." Our need of discipline not a thing to be proud of, but a thought to make us tremble. Contrition our aim: no means to that end to be despised. The first fast required from the newly awakened, the "fast from sin" (Isa. lviii. 6, 7). (See Kalendar Notes, third Sunday in Lent.) Be real; be spiritual. And then fear not, nor relegate to any one party in Christ's Church Catholic external aid and the expression and assistance of the outward to the inward. There is mysterious saying!—a spiritual body. But we have now and here the carnal body to deal with. "Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning." BLOW THE TRUMPET IN ZION, SANCTIFY A FAST, CALL A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY GATHER THE PEOPLE, SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION, ASSEMBLE the Elders, GATHER THE CHILDREN, AND THOSE THAT SUCK THE BREASTS : LET THE BRIDEGROOM GO FORTH OF HIS CHAMBER, AND THE BRIDE OUT OF HER CLOSET. LET THE PRIESTS, THE MINISTERS OF THE LORD, WEEP BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE ALTAR, AND LET THEM SAY, SPARE THY PEOPLE, O LORD, AND GIVE NOT THINE HERITAGE TO REPROACH, THAT THE HEATHEN SHOULD RULE OVER THEM WHEREFORE SHOULD THEY SAY AMONG THE PEOPLE, WHERE IS THEIR GOD?" (Joel ii. 15-17). |