S. MATT. xxii. 3.
"He sent His servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding.”
THAT is, God the Father, having united His Nature to ours for ever
by the wonderful mystery of the Incarnation of His Son, sent the Apostles,
and through them His ministers of all degrees, to invite all men to partake
of so great a blessing. This is that other great help to salvation, over
and above Holy Scripture, which our Church mentions in her third collect
for Advent; as in the second collect which we used last week, she had made
mention of Holy Scripture. There, we acknowledged God’s goodness in causing
the Bible to be written for our learning: here, in sending His living messengers,
the clergy: and both, to prepare His way against His second Coming. As
we cannot be ready for it without the Bible, so neither can we be ready
for it, in a general way, without the ministry. We want the written word;
we want also the living and spoken word, to bring us to heaven. Even as
in old times, before the first Coming of our Lord, His way was to be prepared,
partly by the written word of the Old Testament, partly by the Church,
the Priests and Levites, who were to offer the appointed sacrifices, and
fulfil the other services according to the law.
The collect indeed does not speak of the old Priests and Levites, generally.
It only speaks of one, S. John the Baptist, who came, as you know, immediately
before our Saviour. His father, Zacharias, was a priest of the family of
Aaron; therefore he too was a priest. For the priesthood among the Jews
did not depend, as among us, on the laying on of hands, but went on in
the line of Aaron from father to son. S. John the Baptist was also a Prophet;
the last of the long line of Prophets, whom God raised up from time to
time, to declare His will to His people Israel, as lights shining in a
dark place, until Christ, the perfect Day, should dawn. S. John was a prophet,
and more than a prophet, because he came nearer to our Lord than any of
the rest. He did not only foretell, that Christ would come, but he pointed
to Him as being already come. S. John is therefore in many ways a type
and pattern of the Christian Ministry in the Church. Our Lord sent S. John
as His messenger, to prepare His way before Him on His first Coming. So
He sends the Bishops and priests of the Church, to prepare the world for
His second Coming. When the Israelites of that time heard of S. John preaching
in the wilderness, and came out to see and listen to him, it moved them
much, to see and hear things so very unlike the ordinary way of persons
going on in the world, “a man clothed with camel’s hair and a leathern
girdle about his loins, and his meat locusts and wild honey ;“ all rude
and rough, such as one might find in the wilderness: to hear his earnest
calls to repentance; to behold the multitudes who came to him to be baptized
in the river of Jordan: and what an effect his preaching had on them, making
them confess even their most grievous sins. All this they saw with wonder,
and of course had a great deal to say and think about it. But S. John would
not let them waste their time in thinking of him; he told them, all their
thought should be of One mightier than he was, coming after him: and so
whatever thoughts people have about clergymen generally, or about this
or that clergyman, the only right way of thinking, as you all know if you
will but consider, is to regard us, one and all, as messengers sent by
our Lord before His Face to give warning of His coming to judgement. This
is a serious thought, my brethren; a very serious thought both for us and
for you. As the gospel of Christ’s kingdom being preached in all the world
is a token that the end will soon come, so the presence of a clergyman,
his doing duty, and going about his work in the parish, is a sure sign
and pledge from Him who will come to be our Judge; a sign that He will
soon be here, and that the inhabitants of that parish will have a strict
account to give. Of course, it requires some thought to get this properly
into our minds. When S. John began to preach, with his rough unusual garment,
it was something so much out of the common, that every one was in a manner
awakened by it; they could scarcely help attending to what he should say.
But we are used to see, in every place, persons whom we know at first sight
to be clergymen, and to take it for granted that there will he such in
every parish; it is nothing at all strange to us; therefore we are apt
to pass it over without any special thought. Yet when we do attend, to
it, we must surely perceive that the presence of a priest is the same kind
of warning to us, that the presence of the Baptist was to the Jews of that
time. The clerical dress, both in the Church and out of it, may well serve
us for the same purpose, that S. John’s raiment and girdle served the people
of Judea then. That is, it may put us in mind of God Almighty, of Jesus
Christ coming to be our Judge, of our own souls, and of the Last Day.
And this so much the more, as we, who minister in the Church of God,
whether worthily or unworthily, have a trust in some respects greater than
what S. John had; according to the word of Him Who is the Truth: “Among
them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater prophet than
John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he.” (S. Matt. xi. 11.) Because the Baptist could only baptize
with water unto repentance; but Jesus Christ, Who hath promised to be with
him that is least in the kingdom of heaven, He baptizeth with the Holy
Ghost. S. John’s baptism was only a sign; but Christ’s Baptism, as the
Catechism says, is a real “death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness.”
Again S. John could only point to our Lord, and say, “Behold the Lamb of
God:” but every priest in the Church hath power to give the Body and Blood
of Christ: which, as the Catechism says again, “are verily and indeed taken
and received by the faithful in the Lord’s Supper.” Now this is just what
our collect means, when it calls us, after S. Paul, ministers and stewards
of the mysteries of Christ. The mysteries are chiefly the two holy Sacraments,
and the clergy are stewards of them, because to the clergy they are committed.
So far we are more highly trusted than even our Lord’s first messenger,
S. John the Baptist. We have our Lord, not to point to at a distance, but
actually to give, in His two Sacraments. By these, and by the mysteries
of His Word also, we are to prepare and make ready His way; His way, to
come among our people, and take them to Himself. If they are disobedient,
(as all naturally are) they must be converted; their hearts must be turned;
“turned to the wisdom of the just;” turned and changed from their wicked
and worldly thoughts to have such thoughts as those have who are truly
good and just. In this respect S. John’s preaching was just what ours ought
to be. As he had to preach repentance, so have we. Only, whereas he said,
“Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” we say, “Repent; for the
kingdom of heaven is already come: you are already in it, and so much the
worse for you, if you are going on in any known sin, or wilfully neglecting
any known and plain duty.” Thus our work is the same as S. John’s; to prepare
our Lord’s way by preaching of repentance; by turning the hearts’ of the
disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
But now mark, how the collect concludes. It prays that Christ’s ministers
may so do their work on earth, that at His second coming we may be found
an acceptable people. See here, what is the true measure, the certain test
of things going on well in Christ’s Church. It is, our being found acceptable,
that is, pleasing in His sight, when He comes again to judge the world.
It is not anything which we can now see or judge of. For example, it will
not do for any one to pronounce positively that such and such a priest
is doing his duty well, that such and such a parish is going on well in
God’s sight. All we can properly say is, that so it appears to us; but
whether it be so in earnest, God only knows for certain. And He will not,
in a general way, let us know, until the general account is given. Now
this is an aweful and serious thought for us all, in many ways. A fearful
thing it is to consider. While we perhaps are pleasing others and flattering
ourselves, that surely we are doing well, that our souls are in the right
way, the all-seeing Eye, which is ever upon us, may discern in us some
secret sin, growing and growing, and eating out the heart of all our goodness:
that while a man is preaching to others and, it may be, doing them much
good, he may be giving way to some lurking corruption, which may cause
him in the end to be a cast-away. Well may this alarm each one of us for
himself, and make us very diligent in prayer and self-examination. And
S. Paul, in this week’s Epistle, makes mention of another effect which
it ought to have upon us. “Judge nothing,” he says, “before the time, until
the Lord come.” Do not be eager and hasty in passing sentence, in saying,
“This man is good, I wish I was like him, I should then certainly be saved:”
much less can it be right to pass unfavourable sentence upon any; to say,
“At any rate, I am not as he is :“ like that unhappy Pharisee, who thanked
God that he was so much better than the Publican. The only safe way is,
to judge nothing before the time, to look to our own souls very carefully,
and to the souls of others also, with whom we are charged, but not to be
busy in talking and judging about any. The moment we begin to amuse ourselves
with that, we give an advantage and triumph to the enemy. It is just what
he wants, that we should be talking instead of doing; minding other people,
to whom we can do no good, instead of watching, judging, correcting ourselves.
Therefore, my brethren, let us all beseech God, that He would turn the
eyes of our hearts inwardly upon our own consciences; that when our Lord
shall come in His glory, He may find us not comparing and judging, but
repenting and amending: the priests watching, the people obedient. Blessed
is that fold, that parish and congregation, which the Great Shepherd and
Bishop, when He cometh shall find so doing. O Lord, grant that it may be
so with us!
