to follow his doctrine and holy life,
that we may truly repent after his preaching and after his example. May
the Lord forgive our exceeding cowardice, and help us constantly to speak
the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SERMON XXIX. THE PRESENT RECOMPENSE

Chester Cathedral, Nave Service, Evening. May 1872.

Proverbs xi. 31. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the
earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."

This is the key-note of the Book of Proverbs--that men are punished or
rewarded according to their deeds in this life; nay, it is the key-note
of the whole Old Testament. "The eyes of the Lord are over the
righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers; the countenance of
the Lord is against them that do evil, to root out the remembrance of
them from the earth."

But here, at the beginning of my sermon, I can fancy some one ready to
cry--Stay! you have spoken too strongly. That is not the key-note of the
whole Old Testament. There are words in it of quite a different note--
words which complain to God that the good are not rewarded, and the
wicked are not punished: as for instance, when the Psalmist says how the
ungodly men of this evil world are filled with God's hid treasure, and
how they have children at their desire, and leave the rest of their
substance for their babes. And again, "I was envious at the foolish,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their
death; but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men;
neither are they plagued like other men. . . . They set their mouth
against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
Therefore his people return hither; and waters of a full cup are wrung
out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in
the most High?" And though the Psalmist says that such persons will come
to a sudden and fearful end, yet he confesses that so long as they live
they have prospered, while he had been punished all day long, and
chastened every morning. And do we not know that so it is? Is it not
obvious now, and has it not been notorious in every country, and in all
times, that so it is? Do not good men often lead lives of poverty and
affliction? Do not men make large fortunes, or rise to fame and power,
by base and wicked means? and do not those same me