SERMON XIV. THE BIRTH-DAY INTERCESSION. PSALM lxxii., 1. "Give the King Thy judgments, O God, and Thy The welfare and happiness of the different classes of society depend largely upon a mutual sympathy and reciprocal influences. Rulers and ruled-rich and poor-employers and employed-aged and young-all of us, either intimately or remotely, affect the well-being of each other. And the light of many a blessing, and the shadow of many a judgment, may be traced on the page of history, verifying the great fact that, as in our physical frame, so in the social system, "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." The interests of all classes are interwoven closely. The good or the evil that befalls 66 one individual, or class of individuals, extends its influence to others. So that we cannot be, if we would, unconcerned beholders of the joys or the sorrows-the welfare or the reverses the piety or the irreligion of our fellow-creatures. "They are many members, but one body; and the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you." All have their appointed functions; and in the right discharge of those functions by each of the members the rest are deeply interested. Morally, politically, and religiously considered, a nation presents the spectacle of a mass of population, whose highest and lowest and intermediate grades are all perpetually engaged in influencing one another for good or for evil. And above the din of their occupations and labours we hear the voice of Almighty God revealing the only true source of happiness in His Gospel, and bidding those whose faith rests on its life-yielding doctrines, to turn to good account the influence of man upon man, and of class upon class, which His Providence has ordained. "Look not," says the Divine Word, "every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others!" in other words, strive to benefit others by your prayers, and by your spontaneous sympathy with them in their joys-their afflictions-their perils-their prosperity! "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep Well does the worship of the Church of England illustrate these Christian sympathies -this mutual interest of all classes in one another's well-being. In her Liturgy all sorts and conditions of men find themselves remembered. For Queen, Council, Parliament, Magistracy and Commonalty we are bidden by her rules to pray, and find in the prescribed forms of prayer appropriate entreaties that they may so be guided from above in their vocation and ministry, that "peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and piety may be established among us for all generations.". For the suffering and afflicted in mind, body, or estate, suitable intercessions are worded for our utterance. And, in a General Thanksgiving, all the warm emotions of our hearts, under their varied circumstances of temporal and spiritual endowments, find vent and happy expression. Thus the lesson of responsibility, the claims of charity, the exhortation to faithfulness and zeal towards God and towards man are borne home to the con sciences of the highest as well as the lowest among us, reaching the ears of royalty at the very instant when the same words are kindling the sense of duty and feeding the flame of a mutual charity in the hearts of all classes of the people. Happy would it be for us all, if the spirit of those prayers inspired the motives and actions of all who utter them and if the spirit of those prayers animated also the lives and sentiments of all persons among us, who, not belonging to the communion of the Church of England, profess the like devotion to the will and precepts of our common Lord and Saviour! Society would, in that case, present the amiable and happy aspect which so astonished the Pagan world in the persons of the early Christians, who were "of one heart and of one soul." The strifes, enmities, party rancour, personal animosities, grasping covetousness, unscrupulous ambition, envyings, reckless competitions, lawless hatred of control, and other workings of a misguided heart, would cease to make a man's daily life the continuous scene of conflict, trouble, anxiety and suffering, which we all find it to be. Men would cheerfully "render to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour; and they would delight to "honour all men, fear God, honour the Queen." There would be a transformation of society from what it is into a very brotherhood, wherein the love of God, would be reflected in the love and dutiful regard extended by each Christian to his fellow-creature. "for all men Our would find a ready prayers echo in our discharge of the relative duties we owe to each other in our several positions of life. Men would "owe no man anything, but love one another." And the claims of loyalty, charity, and Christian sympathy would be received as a privilege and fulfilled as a pleasure! Alas! This happy disposition does not prevail. Mankind are not, as yet, imbued sufficiently with these unselfish peace-yielding principles of the Gospel of Christ Jesus. But it is, nevertheless, our duty, individually, to strive for their propagation. And we cannot strive without hope; for, "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump;" and each humble individual among us can influence, to a certain extent, those around him by his example. And we know, moreover, that the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man "availeth much." Believ |