Helps to meditation; sketches for every day in the year

Front matter

Helps to Meditation

SKETCHES FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR t

BY THE

Preface

FOR the unavoidable delay in the issue of this Volume I desire to express my sincere regret. I had hoped that it would have been ready for use for the Trinity season of last year; pressure of other work, however, rendered this impossible.

As to the plan of the work, — I have provided a Sketch for every day in the year following the Church's seasons, besides adding one for every Saint's Day, and a course on the Beatitudes. At least one Meditation, and generally more9 will be found on the Epistle or Gospel for the week, and, to give the book some sort of completeness, Meditations have been inserted on all our LORD'S Miracles and Parables,, and on the chief events of His life. This has given, especially in this Volume, a great preponderance to subjects from the Gospels. In addition to a table of contents, I have now drawn up a classified index of subjects treated in both Volumes, arranging them in courses, so that they may be used as series of Meditations or Sermons. Very many of these have been actually so used by myself ; for instance, those on the Parable of the Pearl were from notes of a Retreat I gave at Boston in 1879 to Associates of the Sisterhood of S. Margaret ; those on the Epistles to the Seven Churches from a Retreat at S. Gabriel's, Peekskill, in 1880, to Associates of the Sister hood of S. Mary ; while those on S. John Baptist were used for a Retreat for priests in New York, in 1882. Of course they only contain the outline of the thoughts developed in these Retreats, but to make them useful to others on similar occasions, an Introductory Meditation has been added (page 200), which may be used with any of them.

There is also at the end of each Volume an index of texts, for convenience of reference, the Psalms being quoted from the Prayer Book version as the more familiar.

The criticisms of Volume I. which have appeared in various Church papers, both in England and America, have all been very favourable, far more so than I could have expected, and those of the principal papers are appended to this Volume. As will be seen, the only exception taken is by a reviewer in the Church Times, to the wording of one sentence on page 92 : " The one busi ness of life is to save your soul, and, if this be neglected, all else is but idle ness." The remainder of that Meditation clearly shows that the words were not used in the sense he assumes ; however, as they certainly will bear that construction if taken apart from the context, I heartily thank him for pointing out the looseness of expression, and when that Volume reaches its third edition, as it promises before long to do, I shall take the opportunity to alter the wording of that sentence.

The sources from which I have drawn my material have been so diverse that it would be quite hopeless for me to attempt to enumerate them. Many of the Meditations are from notes of addresses given by me at different times, extending over some twelve years, and very often the sources from which they were obtained have long since been forgotten. In some instances, when I have supposed an idea was my own I have afterwards found it in a book which I had certainly never read before, and so I will only venture to say that I am not conscious of intentional plagiarism, and that I have often rejected thoughts which I was able to trace to the oral teachings of others. I have read most of the principal commentaries, both general and on particular Books of the Bible, and have sometimes drawn Meditations directly from such reading, but the only book I have used at all systematically in this way has been Archbishop Trench's Notes on the Parables and Miracles. I desire to record my great obligation to this work, which, I think, no one treating of the same subjects could venture to ignore • and I have in some places used the same words as the Archbishop, feeling it more honest to do so, than by altering the form of expression to disguise the origin of the thought.

In finishing my task I can only repeat what I said in the Preface to Vol ume I. , that I submit all I have written unreservedly to the Church, and that if through ignorance or inadvertence anything should be found contrary to her teachings, I withdraw it.

ALFRED G. MORTIMER.

S. MARY'S RECTORY, WEST NEW BRIGHTON, S. I., NEW YORK, Easter, 1883.

TKINITY SUNDAY.

THE HOLY TRINITY.

rt They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, -which -was, and is, and is to row*.''— Rev., iv., 8.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate the hosts of heaven singing the Ter-Sanctus.

PRELUDE II. — Pray that you may so pass through your probation here, that you may have your place with them hereafter, and join in the praises of GOD for ever.

I. Consider the three Epochs in the heavenly song in their relation to us : i. " Which was" The eternity before the Creation, when GOD alone ex isted, when there was neither earth nor heaven ; then I had my home in the bosom of GOD, quickening the thrills of His love, for He foreknew and pre destinated me from all eternity.

ii. " And is" The present, between two eternities, and I myself the object of GOD'S love, and care, the Will of GOD concerned for me every moment.

iii. " And is to come" The eternal future of my immortality ; beholding the Beatific Vision, and drinking in my own immortal life as I gaze into GOD — so that there has never been a moment in which there has not existed the most intimate relationship between the Holy Trinity and my own individual self.

II. Consider the relation of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity to us in prayer — the most common act of spiritual life :

i. Our prayers are addressed to GOD the Father Almighty, a Father's love assuring us of His Will to help ; His Omnipotence telling of His power.

ii. Each prayer derives its efficacy from the mediation of JESUS CHRIST, His only Son our LORD; He, as it were, taking our feeble prayers upon His lips, and uttering them with divine power before the throne of grace.

iii. GOD the HOLY GHOST, the Spirit of prayer, in our hearts teaches us to pray (Rom., viii., 26); so that in so elementary an action as prayer we bring into relation with us each Person of the Holy Trinity.

III. Consider the relation of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity to us in every good action of our lives :

i. It must be done in accordance with the Father's Will ; " Thy Will be done " is the true law of Christian action.

ii. It must be done in the Name, and for the glory of JESUS CHRIST (Col., iii., 17).

iii. It must be done through the aid of the HOLY GHOST.

So we see that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, instead of being an im practical dogma of theology (as some would say), invented rather to puzzle than to help us, is indeed of most practical and comforting import, closely related to our every-day existence, touching upon every prayer, and every good act of our life.

Affections. — Make an act of faith in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity ; pray that you may do GOD'S Will more perfectly ; resolve in your next work to do it for the glory of our LORD.

MONDAY AFTER TRINITY SUNDAY.

NlCODEMUS.

*" There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesm by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God." — S. John, iii., i-a.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate the rich and powerful ruler timidly speaking to our LORD by night,

PRELUDE II. — Pray for boldness to confess CHRIST before men.

I. Consider:

i. A rich man in a position of considerable worldly importance, a prominent member of the Sanhedrim, the representative of the ancient religion in which was bound up the political hopes of the nation; and his conscience has told him that CHRIST is a Teacher come from GOD.

ii. This new teaching is unpatriotic, impolitic, unpopular; its followers are only the poor and unlearned ; those who are looked upon by his sect with contempt, as its characteristic doctrine requires not mere asceticism, but self-sacrifice.

iii. The struggle with his Conscience, fie cannot ignore it, and yet to accept it will involve his position before men. He tries to compromise b) coming to JESUS secretly, hoping that for a man in his position some allow ance may be made, by which he may be able to retain his position, and yet have the benefit of this new teaching.

II. He comes to our L0RD. Consider:

i. He begins to patronize our LORD — "We know that Thou art a Teacher come from Goan — and this attitude is marked throughout. How does our LORD receive this? He wants not his patronage, but his soul; and so instead of adapting His teaching to his prejudices He begins by the dogmatic statement, You cannot be saved without Baptism (vv. 3-5). When Nicodemus hesitates and asks, How? Instead of explaining, our LORD repeats it even more forcibly (as on a similar occasion with regard *.o the Holy Eucharist, S John, vi., 52), and instead of denning the method, illustrates how Jar above human definition it is, /. e. , by the working of the HOLY GHOST (v. 8).

ii. He asks again, How? Our LORD does not tell how, but goes on to state the leading truths of Christianity — the Incarnation (v. 13); the Atonement (v. 14); and the personal claims of CHRIST, as the source of light, truth, and love.

III. Consider the result on Nicodemus:

i. In his heart he believes, but cowardice arising from a desire to keep his worldly position hold- him back, and he lives a double life, the grace of GOD striving with him.

ii. When JESUS is being judged (S. John, vii., 50) he tries to salve his conscience by a feeble attempt to protect Him, not on the ground of belief in Him, but on the ordinary plea of fair play. The others know his weakness, attack him, and silence him.

iii. He comes to the tomb of JESUS, but not until another of his own order, Joseph, has come b .Idly forth. We see here the attraction of the Cross, the law of the power of self-sacrifice : the Preacher's death has effected what His life did not accomplish.

IV. Consider how many in his position act like Nicodemus in every time of religious revival :

i. They come secretly to patronize, and expect a sort of compromise for themselves They object especially to definite dogmatic statements.

ii. Before the world they make a feeble remonstrance for fair play for men whom in theii hearts they believe to be in the right.

iii. Our LORD shews us how to deal with these men ; not by watering down the truth to their cowardice, but by telling them plainly that there is only one way for rich and poor, the way of CHRIST'S Church.

Affections. — Realize that GOD does not want your patronage, but your soul; pray for light to know the Truth ; and resolve never to compromise any truth that you believe.

TUESDAY AFTER TRINITY SUNDAY.

BAPTISM.

" Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of -water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom o/G0d."—S. John, iii , 5.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate our LORD with great solemnity speaking these words.

PRELUDE II. — Pray that you may value rightly, and use devoutly, eveijf means of grace.

I. Consider that Baptism is the foundation and starting-point of Christian life:

i. Our LORD, replying rather to the thoughts than to the words of Nicode mus, promulgates this law, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" — v. 3.

ii. This inability to see GOD'S Kingdom does not arise from an arbitrary condition imposed by GOD, but from the lack of capacity in the natural man j for the spiritual faculty by which man apprehends the things of GOD is the result of this Regeneration, and is as necessary, and as real, as the eyes by which he beholds the things of the world.

iii. Nicodemus recognized our LORD as a Teacher from GOD, and desired to learn from Him. But what man needed was not more learning, but more life ; anG this life, like the natural life, must have its birth. Regeneration i? not so much being born again, as being born anew, or from above (av&Osv), that is, into a new condition of life.

II. Consider what this Regeneration, or new-birth, is :

i. The being born into CHRIST, so that, by virtue of our membership in Him, we are made partakers of the privileges and faculties which belong to the Kingdom of GOD, Which is His Body.

ii. The gift of the HOLY GHOST, and so the introduction of a new cause, operating in a new sphere, and producing new results.

The fact of this Regeneration is accomplished by a definite act, Baptism (as shown by the Aorist yewr)6ri, w. 3, 4, 5, 7) ; the result which follows is a state which abides (TO y£ySWrj}Jl£YOV9 perfect — v. 6). The words flesh and spirit (v. 6) do not signify evil and good, but two spheres of existence with which man is connected — by the spirit with heaven, by the flesh with earth.

III. Consider further of this Regeneration j

i. The water referred to S. John's baptism, the Spirit to that inward power which S. John said should be the characteristic of CHRIST'S Baptism. Our LORD shows that in His Bap tism the two are inseparable — the birth of the Spirit is potentially united with the birth by water, and their inseparability is indicated by the very form of the expression ( £% vdatO* H(X\ TtVBV^iaTO?) — one preposition governing both nouns, and so distinguished from the double phrase, ' ' born of water and of Spirit. "

ii. " To see .to enter the Kingdom " — w. 3-5. One of the effects of this Regeneration

is that we not only see, as intelligent spectators, the constitution and character of this King dom, but we become its citizens. The two are inseparable. It cannot be seen in its inner Spiritual glory but by those who have entered it.

iii. Nicodemus (like the Jews, chap, vi., 52) asks, How can these things be ? Our LORD (as in that case) does not satisfy the curiosity, but most solemnly reaffirms the fact. We can see the effect, but not the cause ; but by the effect you recognize the presence of the cause— e. £•., " The wind bloweth," &c., v. 8. So we cannot tell how these things are, but we know that they are.

Affections. — Make an act of faith in our LORD'S teaching as to Holy Baptism ; realize the privileges to which it has admitted you ; and pray that you may fulfil the obligations attached to them.

WEDNESDAY AFTER TRINITY SUNDAY.

THE INCARNATION.

"No man hath ascended up tc Jteaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man -which is in heaver*.." — S. John, iii.. 13.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate our LORD on the Right Hand of the Father in all the Glory of His Kingdom.

PRELUDE II — Pray that in the battle of life we may so overcome, that we may, according to His promise, reign with Him. (Rev., iii., 21.)

I. " No man hath ascended up to heaven" Consider:

i. The condition of man before the Incarnation ; outside of GOD, and no more able by his natural powers to rise to GOD than with his feet tc mount to heaven.

ii. Man was unable to ascend into the region of absolute and eternal truth because he had no faculty by which to gaze on GOD.

iii. Man was still created for heaven, and possessed of an intense craving for truth, and life, and love.

II. "But He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man" Consider : i. The particle "but" (si ^rf) does not imply that CHRIST has ascended

into heaven as though He were one of a class, and contrasted with all the others; but simply that He in fact enjoyed that directness of knowledge by nature which another could only attain to by such an ascension.

ii. He came down out of heaven at the Incarnation, and became the Son of Man without ceasing to be what He was before, the Son of GOD; born of a human Mother, yet never separated from His Divine Father. There was a continuity of personality, but without any confusion of natures.

iii. It is impossible for man to have direct knowledge of GOD as GOD. He can come to know Him thus only through One, who shares both the human and divine natures, and who is in vital fellowship both with GOD and man. By the Incarnation this condition is satisfied, and the human soul of JESUS admitted to the intuitive vision of GOD, and to all the counsels of His wis dom.

III. " Which ism heaven" Consider:

i. That before His conception the Son of Man was not in heaven, but im mediately after it, by virtue of the hypostatic union, He was in heaven.

ii. That after His Ascension too He is present in the Holy Eucharist without interference with His Presence at the Right Hand of God. Any attempt to explain the fact of CHRIST'S local bodily presence in heaven at the same time that He is really corporally present on earth must necessarily fail, from want of knowledge \especting the properties of His Spiritual Body.

iii. That by virtue of our sacramental incorporation with Him we are made partakers of the benefits of the Incarnation — the crowning blessing of which is the Beatific Vision — to see in Him all the fulness of the GODHEAD bodily — to know even as we are known, to reign with Him for ever.

Affections. — Thanksgiving for the benefits of the Incarnation ; realize your share in those blessings, and make an act of faith in their application to you through the Sacraments ; pray that you may grow in Sacramental union with CHRIST.

CORPUS CHEISTI.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION.

" A nd when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to Hint that sat on the throne, Who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power : for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created'' — Rev., iv., 9-11.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate the company of heaven falling down in adoration before the King on His throne.

PRELUDE II. — Pray for grace rightly to adore our LORD JESUS CHRIST present in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

S. John in his vision saw the worship of heaven, the pattern of the Eucharistic worship of the Church.

I. Consider:

i. There was the throne, in the midst of which "stood a Lamb as it had been slain" (Rev., v.. 6), the Altar and the Victim.

ii. "Seven golden candlesticks" (Rev., i., 12) — the Altar Cross with its three lights on each side; " Crux est mea Lux"

iii. "In the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man clothed with a garment" &c. (Rev., i., 13); — showing that in each Eucharist our LORD is the Priest as well as the Victim.

II. Consider further :

i. "The door set open" (Rev., iv., i). The Eucharist is the door through tvhich we may gaze into heaven; Jacob said of its type, "This is the Gate of Heaven" (Gen., xxviii., 17).

ii, "Come up hither" (Rev., iv., i). This is the Eucharistic Invitation, for the Eucharist is the means by which we mount to the contemplation of heavenly things.

iii. By our Communions we are not so much taken up into heaven as heaven is taken into us, and we become external to these glories, and then in deed the Kingdom of GOD is within us. (S. Luke, xvii., 21.)

III. Consider the lesson of Eucharistic Adoration:

i. By our Communion we are made one with the whole Body of CHRIST, and "therefore with angels and archangels" &c.

ii. The elders fall before the throne in adoring worship, and we, while the Lamb is on the Altar, sing, in the Gloria in Excelsis, " We worship Thee" &c.

iii. When we contemplate the reverent worship of heaven, described by S. John, and then examine our own attitude of soul during the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, do we not feel the need to pray for more of the Spirit of Worship, and to strive to make our acts of adoration a little more like the heavenly pattern ?

Affections. — Realize at the Holy Eucharist the Presence of our LORD, attended by the whole company of Heaven; pray for the Spirit of Holy Fear; resolve to be more careful about your acts of adoration.

FRIDAY AFTEH TRINITY SUNDAY.

THE BRAZEN SERPENT.

- ' And as Moses lifted «/ the serpent in the -wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lij ted -up; thai whosoever believeth in Him shoidd not perish, but have eternal life.'' — S. John, iii., 14-15.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate the dying Israelite gazing with faith upon the uplifted serpent, and finding himself healed.

PRELUDE II. — Pray that you may ever seek strength and healing in the Passion of CHRIST.

I. Consider the circumstances under which the text was spoken :

i. Our Blessed LORD had announced to Nicodemus the law of the necessity of Baptism ; but the graces of Baptism flow, on the one hand from the In carnation, in that it makes us Members of Christ ; and on the other hand from the Passion, in that it is the remission of sin ; He therefore first teaches (v. 13) the Incarnation, and now proceeds to the Passion, or Atonement.

ii. Nicodemus is a teacher of the law, expecting a victorious and glorious Messiah, not a suffering and dying CHRIST; therefore to teach the Passion would be to arouse all the prejudices of his education, and of his hopes.

iii. Our LORD with loving wisdom therefore chooses from the law a type, which in its very use seemed to contradict the distinct letter of the law, for tne use of an image was prohibited by the Second Commandment, and much more the image of the serpent, which had been cursed ; now our LORD ex* plains, what was to the Jews an unsolved difficulty, by showing that this ap< parent anomaly was ordered as a type of His Passion.

II. Consider the meaning of the type:

i, The serpent represents the devil, because when the serpent bites, its poi son pervades the frame of the victim, that frame becomes poisoned, and death ensues ; so sin, the poison of the devil, being instilled into our nature, it be comes a poisoned nature, a flesh of sin.

ii. The brazen serpent was made in the likeness of the serpents that had bitten the Israelites, but in it there was no poison, only the likeness of it ; so our LORD was made " in the likeness of sinful flesh " (Rom., viii., 3), "yet without sin" (lieb., iv., 15.)

iii. The Brazen Serpent lifted up as a trophy signified to the Israelites that for the poison there was a remedy, that the plague had been overcome ; so our LORD transferred to His Body, not sin, but death, the penalty of sin with out its guilt ; and on His Cross made an open show of, and triumph over the Enemy, so that it was as if the Enemy himself had been nailed to the Cross, for Sin, and Death, and Satan were crucified, when He was crucified.

III. Consider some of the lessons we are here taught :

i. The fiery serpents symbolize to us the mortal sins by which we are poisoned, and which without a remedy must cause eternal death.

ii. The Passion tells of the remedy, the Atonement, by which GOD and Man are made as one, sin forgiven, and strength for fresh struggle bestowed.

iii. The lifting up of the serpent teaches that CHRIST'S humiliation on the Cross was really His Exaltation (Phil, ii., 8-9,) and shows us that humiliations rightly borne always lead to exaltation, i. e. " Crux scala cceli. "

Affections — Thanksgiving for the benefits of the death of CHRIST ; pray that you may at once look to the Cross for healing, when wounded by sin ; resolve to accept humiliations cheerfully, recognizing their true result.

SATURDAY AFTER TRINITY SUNDAY.

THE SISTER'S ERRAND.

" A nd when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and callethfor ihee. "— S. John, xi., 28.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate Martha bringing the message with joy to her sister.

PRELUDE II. — Pray that we may rejoice to alleviate sorrow, and really sym pathize with others.

A joyous message this to sorrowful Mary, as she sat weeping in the house.

I. Consider the individuality of GOD'S calls :

i. A time in the life of each of our LORD'S Apostles and followers when this message came ; and so in the life of every one, made GOD'S in Baptism, there is a time when the Master calls.

ii. " And callethfor thee" The individuality of our LORD'S call is a result of the individuality of His love. We feel it when, instead of being satisfied with serving Him in a general way in the congregation, we crave and experi ence that individual love, hear His call, and rise to follow.

II. Consider when GOD'S calls come :

i. Often in the hour of sorrow, when we mourn one we have loved and lost, like Mary, weeping over this life of change, where all earthly joys seem to die, and amid our tears the message comes, a voice speaks in our souls, " The Master is come, and callethfor thee" A new love is offered, and one that can not change, absorbing all else, and giving satisfaction through time and eternity.

ii. In the day of distress, perplexity, or strong temptation, when all seems dark, and we are ready to sink down in despair, the Master comes, and calls, and a path opens before our feet — a path, it may be, of toil, but leading to everlasting rest.

iii. Sometimes even in the time of sin, when we have light to see our misery, and a yearning for something better, the Master comes and calls.

III. Consider :

i. Mary had expected JESUS to save her brother, and now He comes and calls, not for her brother, but for herself. So, sometimes, when all our thoughts are for those we love, the prayer returns into our own bosom, the blessing descends on our own head.

ii. Martha bears the message — blessed privilege ! It cannot be till the Master has come to her ; but then she goes to work for Him to call her sister to Him also. Oh ! the joy of whispering this dear message to some sorrowstricken, or sin-laden soul — to tell of the sweet experience of His love, and then to add, " and calleth for thee"

iii. The contrast between the love of man and the love of GOD. The one we want to keep only for ourselves, the other we long to share with others.

Affections. — Make an act of thanksgiving for our LORD'S individual love for you ; pray that He will use you to lead others to Him ; resolve to pray for some one you know to be in sorrow.

FIKST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS, I.

"There was a certain rich man, ivhich -was clothed in piirple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously tvery day : A nd there -was a certain btggar named Lazarus, -which -was laid at his gate, full of sores." — S. Luke, xvi., 19-20.

PRELUDE I. — Contemplate the rich man passing the beggar at his gate. PRELUDE II. — Pray that you may realize the responsibilities of life.

This parable may be regarded as a drama of surpassing interest, divided into three scenes. Its key-note is the contrast between two lives, and in each scene the contrast is strikingly preserved.