perfect kindness; from most with sincere regret. And for those who have done their duty here and been blessed-those over whose happy years at school the blessing of God has fallen like a line of light-those who have learnt by glad experience the dignity of duty, the holiness of innocence, the happiness of work—we know that by God's grace we shall hear of them again with pride and pleasure. And if there be any who have not yet fully, bravely, wholly, learnt to refuse the evil and to choose the good, to them we say that there, at the Holy Table of the Lord-there, where side by side we shall kneel, all of us sinners, yet all of us redeemed― there, more than at any other spot on earth, is to be found for all who faithfully and humbly seek it, the pledge of past forgiveness, of present consolation, of future hope. For all of us alike, with the end of this term, will be shut and ended another volume, wherein is written by Time, the great transcriber, the history of ourselves. In two more days the last page will have been turned, the solemn finis written. "Whose hands shall dare to open and explore I hear a voice that cries Alas! Alas!' SERMON XXXII. BLAMELESS AND HARMLESS. PHIL. ii. 15. "Blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke." I. THESE beautiful words are suggested to me by the conclusion of to-day's Epistle: they are an amplification of that word "blameless," which is there the most prominent conception. They seem no unfit subject for our morning thoughts. I do not desire to treat of them elaborately, or theologically. It is better that the passing thoughts, by which, week after week, we would lead you heavenwards, should be spontaneous and simple; and very often I should rejoice if the text could be the only sermon; if there were any means of engraving the text alone upon your hearts and consciences-more than content if so all else that is said, and he who says it, were alike forgotten. II. And I think you all will feel that these words— "blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke "-are very exquisite words-words worthy to linger in our memory as with the music of a lyric song. They describe the most consummate of attainments— the loftiest of ideals. They are the brightest commentary on the exhortation, "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect;" they are the finest description of what Jesus was, and of what the followers of Jesus ought to be. III. The word "blameless means free from every form of wilful wrong or intentional misdoing against our fellow-men; the word "harmless" means sincere, simple, without admixture of sin and vileness in the sight of God. To be the first is far, far the easier. It would not be so if the word "blameless " meant "unblained;" for no man, however blameless, can escape being blamed. The experience of ages has shown that the shield of innocence, which a good man carries with him through the world, cannot be so white that none will throw dust at it. Some of the holiest and noblest men that ever lived have been-and sometimes all through their lives-very targets for the arrows of abuse. So long as Envy has restless eyes, and Calumny a fertile imagination, and Malice a myriad of voices which bellow in the shade-so long will there be enemies, persecutors, and slanderers of the very saints of God. The stainless purity of Joseph saved him not from infamous accusations; nor the noble meekness of Moses from bitter criticisms; nor the splendid services of Samuel from open ingratitude. Of the stern self denial of John the Baptist they could say only, He hath a devil; of the boundless sympathy of the Saviour of mankind, they dared to mutter, “Behold a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." If ever we feel discouraged at the thought that there are natures which guilelessness fails to disarm, or unselfishness to win, let the Cross reveal to us the high lesson that we may still be utterly blameless, though it may be that we live no day unblamed. And if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, they have done the same to them of His household, and some of them have even "Stood pilloried on Infamy's high stage, And borne the pelting scorn of half an age." IV. Yet blamelessness is often recognised. In those school-reports which, term by term, pass in hundreds through my hands, and which we send home to your parents as our estimate of your conduct and character, I always observe with deep pleasure that the very large majority are favourable and good reports. Not a few of them are the warm expression of hearty praise. It is quite exceptional if any boy is singled out for censure as idle or unruly, as untrustworthy or corrupt. And now and then in these reports one comes across the word "blameless;" and it is a deep pleasure to be able to endorse it; for of all characters it is the very highest that can be given, and the one which must most delight a parent's heart. If any of you have ever received that report-if any of you ever earn it hereafter-as I hope many of you will strive to do-be well assured that, since it is never lightly given, it shows you to have won the love and the confidence of those who are set over you. It means no mere negative character-no mere absence of overt misdoings. It would never be given to a conceited, or saturnine, or ill-conditioned boy, or to one who is content with the superficial standard and the vulgar average. It would imply diligence, and purity, and faithfulness, and good influence over others; and that modest humility, that courteous sweetness, that happy geniality, that natural appreciation of all kindness, which are only found in the fairest dispositions, and which are to the nature of a boy like the very dew of God upon the opening flowers of life. And yet, though rare indeed are such gifts and graces, how far more easy is it to be thus blameless to men, than to be harmless-ȧképatos-unmixed with any taint of evil, before God. For this is innocence-this is holiness. It is to be an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile-it is to know the beatitude of the pure in heart, who see God's face, and His name is in their foreheads-it is to have that "state of mind for which all alike sigh, and the want of which makes life a failure for most: it is to enjoy that heaven, which is everywhere if we could but enter it, and yet almost nowhere, because so few of us can." It is not, alas! from want of knowledge that we do not enter this heaven. I do not doubt that the youngest of you knows well what is meant by being harmless in the sight of God; and that, if you were asked to write down your notion of what a boy should be if he were striving to walk as a true disciple of Christ, you could do it perfectly well. I once tried the experiment. set to a form of boys, not older than most of you, the task of sketching for me their notion of a right noble and perfect youthful character. The answers were remarkable. In details they all differed; in substance they were all the same. Few boys omitted any essential point in the fair unity of virtues; all gave outlines of character which, were they realised, would cause this earth to blossom once more like the garden of the Lord. What could one say on reading these ideals? What but "They have well spoken all that they have spoken: oh! that there were such a heart in them!" What but "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." For indeed, and alas! I do not suppose that even the youngest boy ever becomes a bad boy for want of knowing better. The Ten Commandments are plain enough; the directions of duty unmistakably I |