Town and Country Sermons | Page 2

Christ, to worship God as the heathen
do, in order to win him to do our will. It is according to the mind of

Christ to worship God, in order that we may do his will; to believe that
God's will is a good will, good in itself, and good for us, and for all
things and beings; and, therefore, to ask for strength to do God's will,
whatever it may cost us. That is the mind of Christ, who came not to do
his own will, but the will of him who sent him; who taught us to pray,
as the greatest blessing for which we can ask, 'Father, thy will be done
on earth, as it is in heaven;' who himself, in his utter agony, cried,
'Father, not my will, but thine, be done.'
Therefore, it is good to go to church; and good, for some at least, to go
as often as possible: but only if we remember why we go, and whom
we go to worship--a Father, who asks of us to worship him in spirit and
in truth. A Father who has told us what that worship is like.
'Is this (God asked the Jews of old) the fast which I have chosen? Is it a
day for a man to afflict his soul, and bow down his head like a bulrush,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him (playing at being sad,
while God has not made him sad)? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the Lord?'
'Is not this the fast which I have chosen? to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free,
and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry,
and to bring the poor that are cast out to thine house; when thou seest
the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from
thine own flesh.'
This is that pure worship and undefined before God and the Father, of
which St. James tells us; and says that it consists in this--'to visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction; and to keep ourselves
unspotted from the world.'
In a word, this worship in the spirit, and in truth, is nought else but the
mind of Christ. To believe in, to adore the Father's perfect goodness; to
long and try to copy that goodness here on earth. That is what Christ
did utterly and perfectly, that is what we have to do, each according to
our powers; and without it, without the spirit of obedience, all our
church-going is of little worth in the eyes of our heavenly Father.

Others, again, go into retirement for this week, and spend it in
examining themselves, and thinking over the sufferings of Christ. And
who, again, will blame them, provided they do not neglect their daily
duty meanwhile?
But they, too, need to keep in mind the mind of Christ, if they mean to
keep Passion Week aright.
They need it, indeed. And such a man, before he shuts himself up, and
begins to examine himself, would do well to examine himself as to why
he is going to examine himself, and to ask, Why am I going to do this?
Because it is my interest? Because I think I shall gain more safety for
my soul? Because I hope it will give me more chance of pleasure and
glory in the next world? But, if so; have I the mind of Christ? For he
did not think of his own interest, his own gain, his own pleasure, his
own glory. How is this, then? I confess that the root of all my faults is
selfishness. Shall I examine into my own selfishness for a selfish
end--to get safety and pleasure by it hereafter? I confess that the very
glory of Christ is, that there is no selfishness in him. Shall I think over
the sufferings of the unselfish Christ for a selfish end--to get something
by it after I die? I am too apt already to make myself the centre, round
which all the world must turn: to care for everything only as far as it
does me good or harm. Shall I make myself the centre round which
heaven is to turn? Shall I think of God and of Christ only as far as it
will profit _me_? And this week, too, of all weeks in the year? God
forgive me! Into what a contradiction I am running unawares!
No. If I do shut myself up from my fellowmen, it shall be only to think
how I may do my duty better to my fellowmen. If I do think over
Christ's sufferings, it shall be only that