command comes to go forth, and bear witness of the things which you have seen.

Yes, forget your weakness, whatever that weakness may be. It is egotism, it is selfishness after all, for it is a dwelling on self. Forget your weakness; and remember your strength.

It is a great privilege, that you are called to be ministers of a national church. The Church in England is the Church of England. Your duties as ministers of Christ thus coincide with your duties as citizens. You have a recognised territory marked out for you, in which your ministry is to be exercised. It is a great advantage to you to have the direct support of the laws and institutions of your country.

But this is not your true strength. This is only an adventitious circumstance of your position. If you are apostles at all, you are apostles, not of men, nor by man. Your sufficiency is of God. And so your strength is threefold.

I. You will bear a commission from God, for you have received a call from God. Yes, to you the voice has gone forth, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' And you, despite all shrinking, despite all indolence, despite all reluctance of self, you have answered promptly, 'Here am I; send me.' Is it not so? If not, then even at this eleventh hour withdraw. Would you meet with a mocking answer that solemn

question, 'Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and ministration?' Nay, do not enter the holy precincts with a lie upon your lips.

And so you will receive His commission. Through His appointed minister, He will meet you with it. You will go forth as His ambassadors. It is this assurance which will make you strong. You are the representatives, the vicegerents, of the Great King. Your feebleness is backed by His power.

2. And secondly, you will remember not only the source of your commission, but the potency of your message. The power of Christ's Cross can never fail. The power of Christ's Resurrection is ever living. This is the lesson of all history. The weapon which you wield is a weapon of the keenest temper. 'The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.' The hand that wields it may be feeble, but the sword itself cannot lose its edge.

3. Thirdly and lastly; remember that you have the promise of the indwelling, the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Here is a perennial inspiration, a neverfailing supply of force, which shall enable you to wield your weapon effectively. Very solemn words will be addressed to you to-morrow-to the priests especially. Whatever else they mean, they must mean this much at least, that we—that you and I—believe

in a very special gift of God's Holy Spirit, vouchsafed in and through Ordination to those who are truly called and duly commissioned as ministers of His Church. Were it not so, it would be mockery for me to say, or for you to hear, these words. Forget not that from that moment forward you will be in a very special sense the temples of the Holy Ghost.

This then is the threefold cord of your assurancethe authority of your commission, the potency of your message, the reality of your inspiration. Here is the triple breastplate, with which you will gird yourself for the fight, the call of God the Father, the message of God the Son, the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.

Remember these things. Meditate upon these things. Pray over these things. Much, very much, may be done still in the time which remains before the solemn vows are made and the high investiture is received. Wrestle with the Angel this night and compel him to bless you. God grant that you all may come forth from the conflict Princes of God; and that the dawning of day may bring to you the dawning of a truer, higher, holier life—a life in God, and for God.

II.

Replenish them with the truth of Thy doctrine, and endue them with innocency of life.

EMBER COLLECT.

[September, 1880, 1884, and 1888.]

DEACONS ONLY.

You are standing on the brink of a new career. An unknown sea lies before you, a boundless expanse to which you will commit yourselves with no other guidance than the stars of heaven. In a few hours the choice will be made, the crisis will be past. A wide gulf will separate the new life from the old. A wide and impassable gulf; for though the law now allows a return, you will feel that for you no such return is possible. Fidelity to your most solemn vows, the honour of God, even the sense of self-respect, all will combine to exclude the thought of such a renunciation. You resolve, God helping you, to serve in the

O. A.

2

sacred ministry of His Church to the end-through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report, in life and in death. You will not dare to look back, lest the longing backward gaze should stiffen and petrify your spiritual being, and the history of your life become fixed as a pillar of warning to all passers by. To you at this turning point of your lives the words will come home with a double force, 'No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.'

At such a time it will be a consolation and support to you to remember that day after day during the week past the prayers of the whole Church have risen and gathered round the throne of God, calling down His grace and heavenly benediction upon you. In every language, under every sky, in every climate and season, under all external conditions of human life, this one prayer has gone forth, the chorus of the Universal Church. Lay this thought to your hearts this evening in the silent hours of prayer and selfexamination, when you are preparing yourselves for the pledges and the benediction of to-morrow. What strength, what sense of companionship, what inspiration may you not draw from it! For me, for my weakness, for my inexperience, for my ignorance, for my inability, all these voices have ascended as one voice to the mercy-seat of God.'