we did not receive? Not to ourselves do we owe our blessings;
hardly even to our wise forefathers: but to God Himself, and the
Spirit of God which was with them, and is with us still, in spite of
all our shortcomings. We owe it to our wise Constitution, to our
wise Church, the principle of which is that God is Judge and Christ
is King, in peace as well as in war, in times of quiet as well as in
times of change; I say, to our wise Constitution and to our wise
Church, which teach us that all power is of God; that all men who
have power, great or small, are His stewards; that all orders and
degrees of men in His Holy Church, from the queen on the throne to
the labourer in the harvest-field, are called by God to their
ministry and vocation, and are responsible to God for their conduct
therein. How then shall we show forth our thankfulness, not only in
our lips, but in our lives? How, but by believing that very
principle, that very truth which He has taught us, and by which
England stands, that we are God's people, and God's servants? He
has indeed showed us what is good, and our fathers before us; and
what does the Lord require of us in return, but to do the good which
He has showed us, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with our God?

Oh, my friends, come frankly and joyfully to the Lord's Table this
day. Confess your sins and shortcomings to Him, and entreat Him to
enable you to live more worthily of your many blessings. Offer to
Him the sacrifice of your praise and thankfulness, imperfect though
it is, and join with angels and archangels in blessing Him for what
He is, and what He has been to you: and then receive your share of
_His_ most perfect sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, the bread
and the wine which tell you that you are members of His Church; that
His body gives you whatsoever life and strength your souls have;
that His blood washes out all your sins and shortcomings; that His
Spirit shall be renewed in you day by day, to teach you to do the
good work which He has prepared already for you, and to walk in the
old paths which have led our forefathers, and will lead us too, I
trust, safe through the chances and changes of this mortal life, and
the fall of mighty kingdoms, towards that perfect City of God which
is eternal in the heavens.

SERMON XV. THE LIFE OF GOD

Ephesians iv. 17, 18. That ye walk not as other Gentiles walk, in
the vanity of their mind, being alienated fro