{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_52421/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_52421","id":"gutenberg_52421","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52421","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Acts I, 8 -- Sermons","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- Sermons","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the [1877] Hatchards edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\n\n                                 A Sermon\n                        PREACHED IN YORK MINSTER,\n                                    ON\n          _St. Bartholomew\u2019s Day_, _Friday_, _August_ 24, 1877,\n\n\n                  ON THE OCCASION OF THE CONSECRATION OF\n                       THE RIGHT REV. ROWLEY HILL,\n                      LORD BISHOP OF SODOR AND MAN.\n\n                                    BY\n                          THE REV. CANON HOARE,\n                    VICAR OF TRINITY, TUNBRIDGE WELLS.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                         _PUBLISHED BY REQUEST_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                      LONDON: HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.\n               TUNBRIDGE WELLS: H. COLBRAN, CALVERLEY ROAD.\n                        SHEFFIELD: P. D. HOPKINS.\n\n                          _Price One Shilling_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nTHE Consecration of the Bishop of Sodor and Man will long be remembered,\nboth at York and Sheffield; for no one can have been present on that\noccasion without having been profoundly impressed by the sight of the\noverwhelming congregation, and the many tokens of deep interest\nmanifestly taken in the service.  So many of the Sheffield people desired\nto be present that two special trains were prepared for their\naccommodation, by which there arrived no less than seven hundred persons.\nThe Dean having heard that they were coming did all in his power to give\nthem a welcome.  The whole space in front of the Communion-rail was\nfilled with seats, and in the admission of the crowds who were pressing\ninto the Cathedral precedence was given to the visitors from Sheffield.\nBut, notwithstanding all the efforts of the Cathedral authorities, I am\nsorry to say that a great many failed to get in.  Before the Sermon I sat\nin the stalls, and to avoid the crowd in the choir I was conducted into\nthe nave, and so outside the choir to the pulpit.  In the course of that\nwalk I saw hundreds who were unable to obtain admission.  Some were\nstanding in the nave, and others straining to see and hear through the\nglass screen by the side of the choir.  When the door was opened to let\nme in I cannot say how I longed to take them all in with me.  But that\nwas impossible.  The whole place was packed, and every available\nstanding-ground in the neighbourhood of the pulpit was full.\n\nNor was it a mere sight-seeing crowd.  I found myself surrounded by\npeople who were manifestly there for higher ends, and who listened with\nas fixed an attention as any preacher could desire.  But the most\nremarkable part of the service was the Holy Communion, with which it\nclosed.  At the end of the Prayer for the Church Militant there was a\npause, in order that those who did not intend to remain for the Lord\u2019s\nSupper might retire; but of the great crowd near the rail very few went\naway.  At first it seemed a doubtful question whether they understood\nthat the time was come for them to go; but it soon became evident that\nthey perfectly understood what they were doing, and that they were\nremaining to partake of the Lord\u2019s Supper.  The bread and wine originally\nprepared was quite insufficient for such a number of communicants, and it\nwas necessary to send out for an additional supply.  When once the\nservice began everything was done that could be done for the comfort of\nall that were present; but as the whole space in front of the rail was\nfilled with seats, all of which were occupied, and there was only one\nnarrow passage by which the communicants could both approach and retire,\nand as there were eight persons administering, it was impossible to\nsecure that solemn stillness which we sometimes enjoy in our parochial\nchurches.  But nothing could possibly be more interesting.  There I saw\nnot only ladies and gentlemen, but many who appeared to me to be\nmechanics, and, scattered through the crowd, numbers of young men.\n\nWhen I looked on that mixed body of communicants, and observed the\nearnestness, the seriousness, and the apparently deep devotion with which\nthey gathered round the Table of their Lord; and when after the service\nwas over I saw them pressing round their beloved Vicar, and many of them\nreaching out their rough hands once more to grasp his with a true,\nhearty, loving grasp, and heard them wishing him a blessing, I could not\nhelp giving thanks to the God of all grace who gave that day such a\ntestimony to the faithful reaching of His Gospel.  For what were the\nmeans employed for the attainment of such a result?  Not music, not form,\nnot the claim to priestly power, but the plain, simple, loving ministry\nof the Gospel of the grace of God.  Between three and four years my dear\nfriend had been preaching the great doctrines of Scripture\u2014such as\nconversion to God, justification by faith, free forgiveness through the\nfinished atonement, and, new life by the power of the Holy Ghost\u2014and God\nhad blessed that ministry to the ingathering of a people to His name.\nThis was the work of which we that day witnessed the fruit, and I trust\nthe effects on all of us who witnessed it may be that we may work on in\nour various spheres of labour more than ever resolved, by God\u2019s help, to\nstick fast to great principles, and more than ever encouraged to trust\nHis promises, and look out for great results.\n\n                                                                     E. H.\n\nTUNBRIDGE WELLS,\n            _August_ 29_th_, 1877.\n\n\n\n\nA SERMON.\n\n\n    \u2018Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you;\n    and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.\u2019\u2014_Acts_, i. 8.\n\nIT is said of the saints of God in the Old Testament, that \u2018out of\nweakness they were made strong,\u2019 and none of us who are called to God\u2019s\nministry can think for one moment of our work and our weakness without\nthe deepest sense of our own need of that same gift.  We have a work of\ninfinite importance.  We are called to be God\u2019s instruments in making\nknown that which God has wrought at no less a price than the most\nprecious blood of His well-beloved Son.  We have to encounter the\nthreefold antagonism of the world, the flesh, and the devil; and we\nourselves are poor weak creatures, so weak that we are quite unable to\nstand alone, and so utterly fallen that we cannot preserve ourselves even\nfor an hour.  It follows, therefore, that we all stand in need of power\nfrom God.  And whatever be our position, whether in the ministry or out\nof it, whether laymen, deacons, presbyters, or bishops, we all require to\nbe strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.  If ever the\nneed of this strength was felt it must be felt now, now that we are\npassing through the perilous times of the latter days; and if there be\nany office in the whole world which appears to require it more than\nanother, it is the sacred office to which my dear friend is this day\nadmitted, the holy office of a Bishop in the Church of God.\n\nBut, thanks to God! there is provision made in the Gospel for weakness as\nwell as for sin; and the result is, that the promise of power was almost\nthe last promise made by our blessed Lord before He left us, so that just\nbefore His ascension He said, \u2018Ye shall receive power, after that the\nHoly Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.\u2019  Now the\nHoly Ghost came on the Church at Pentecost, and as there has never been\nsaid one word about His being withdrawn, we are warranted in looking for\nthat power now, and in spreading out our weakness before His throne, in\nfull assurance that according to His promise He Himself will give power\nfor His work.  Let us study, then, two points\u20141st, the purpose, and\n2ndly, the source of the power; and while we study, may we by God\u2019s great\ngrace be permitted to experience the gift!\n\nI.  The purpose: \u2018Ye shall be witnesses unto Me.\u2019  It in clear,\ntherefore, that the power is a power of testimony, and that its great\nobject is to enable us to be witnesses unto the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nWe are not, therefore, _judges_.  The witness is never the judge.  His\nbusiness is to bear testimony as to what he has seen and heard.  But he\nhas nothing to do with the sentence.  That rests with the judge alone.\nSo the witness for Christ is not the judge over his follow-men.  He\ncannot sit in the Confessional and pronounce the sentence of life and\ndeath.  That rests with the Lord Himself, and there must be no usurpation\nof His sovereign right.\n\nThen, again, the witness is not a _medium_, or connecting link, between\nthe soul and the Saviour.  He is not like a telegraph wire through which\nthe electric current is conveyed from one point to another, for in God\u2019s\nsalvation there is nothing intermediate between the Saviour and the\nsinner.  There is no such thing in Scripture as the idea that the grace\nof God passes from the Lord Jesus through any men or body of men to the\nsinner.  All that is human imagination, pure and simple.  The witness is\nnot a conductor or communicator, not a channel or a medium.  His business\nis to bear such a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ as shall bring the\nsoul face to face with Him, and introduce the sinner into direct\ncommunication with God Himself.\n\nThus it is that he is a witness unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more\nplainly that he sets Him before the people the more effective is his\ntestimony.  If we wish to know the leading subject of the witness we\nshall find it in Luke, xxiv.  In the forty-eighth verse of that chapter\nHe told His little Church, as He did in this chapter of the Acts, that\ntheir office was to be witnesses: \u2018Ye are witnesses of these things.\u2019\nBut we may ask, What things?  What were those things to which the Church\nwere to be witnesses?  The previous verse answers the question: \u2018That\nrepentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all\nnations.\u2019  Mark, it says \u2018preached,\u2019 not communicated; but in His name it\nis to be preached fully and freely.  Forgiveness through the finished\natonement is the leading subject of the testimony.  It is the office of\nthe witness to proclaim the great work which the Lord Jesus Christ has\ncompleted for the propitiation of sin, and to invite men to the free and\nfull reconciliation which He has promised as the result of that\npropitiation.  We are to proclaim from His own word what He is, what He\nhas done, what He has promised, and what He is doing.  We are to set Him\nso clearly, so vividly, before the people, that they may see nothing of\nus, but look fixedly on Him.  We are to bear such a testimony to His\nwork, His word, His mercy, His grace, His all-sufficiency, that those who\nknow Him not may have their hearts burn to know Him; that those who are\nlonging after Him may find Him, and have their souls satisfied in His\nlove; and that those who know Him may be led to such a personal\nexperience of the unspeakable richness of His abounding mercies that they\nmay be able to say to us, as her friends did to the woman of Samaria,\n\u2018Now we believe; not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him\nourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the\nworld.\u2019  The best possible result of the testimony of the Christian\nwitness is, that those who receive it should be brought into such an\nindependent relationship with the Lord Himself that the witness who has\nbrought them to it disappears before the fulness of His grace.  And the\nvery last thing that such a witness would ever desire is, that people\nshould come to him as an intermediate mediator between them and their\nSaviour.  The one object of his life and testimony is that all eyes, and\nall thoughts, and all hearts, should be directed exclusively to the Lord\nJesus; and if that blessed end can be accomplished, the true witness is\nonly too happy and thankful to be himself quite out of sight.\n\nII.  But in order to this testimony there is power required.  There are\ncases in which the testimony involves nothing short of martyrdom, as it\ndid in the case of the first martyr, or witness, Stephen; as it did when\nthe Huguenots were martyred for the faith on St. Bartholomew\u2019s Day, three\ncenturies ago; and as lately done in our mission stations in West Africa\nand in China.  But in all cases the strongest amongst us must remember\nSt. Paul\u2019s words, descriptive of his ministry at Corinth: \u2018I was with you\nin weakness and in fear, and in much trembling.\u2019  We all want a power far\nbeyond anything that we can discover in our own hearts.  This, then,\nleads me to our second subject, the source of the power.\n\nOne thing is perfectly plain, viz. that the power does not come from\narbitrary assumption, and high sacerdotal claims to something amounting\nto superhuman authority; to such claims as those put forward when the\nBishop\u2019s authority is contrasted with that which is \u2018merely human,\u2019 and\nthe Bishop\u2019s voice is declared to be to the clergyman \u2018the voice of God.\u2019\nSuch assumptions being without the slightest shadow of scriptural\nauthority are sure, in the long run, only to weaken power.\n\nNor does the power here promised arise from even the legitimate exercise\nof well-established law.  In the Church of England, I am thankful to say,\nwe are both protected and restrained by law; and the Bishop in the Church\nof England is armed with certain legal powers, which are of the utmost\npossible importance to the discipline and well-being of our Body.  The\nonly people who complain of the power of law are those who wish to break\nit.  But this is not the power described in the text.  The power here\npromised is something which no law can either give or take away.  It is\nthe direct gift of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself; it is nothing less than\nthe power of the Holy Ghost.\n\nIn this gift there is accompanying power, a power which it is difficult\nto describe, but impossible to doubt.  It is not the power of intellect\nor eloquence, for it is bestowed sometimes on persons that have neither\none nor the other: but it is a power that cannot be mistaken; for it\nsoftens hard hearts, breaks down the most stubborn wills, and subdues\nthose who have been previously opponents to truth.  It was such a power\nthat accompanied the preaching St. Paul at Thessalonica, of which he\nsaid, \u2018Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and\nin the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance\u2019 (1 Thess. i. 5).  But if there\nbe such a power, both promised and bestowed, shall any of us be satisfied\nwithout the enjoyment of it?  Shall we be content with powerless work?\nShall we think it enough if our ministry is respectable and orthodox, our\nchurches well attended, and our parochial arrangements complete, while\nthere is no deep impression on the souls of men, no conviction of sin, no\nearnest inquiry, no conversions to God, no evidence of a new life, and no\nsign of the mighty power of the Spirit?  Shall we be satisfied to live\non, and to work on, just as we should be living and working if the Lord\nhad never said, \u2018Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come\nupon you?\u2019\n\nThere is also indwelling power.  We must not look merely at that which\naccompanies, for the secret of power is in most cases to be found within.\nWe have a remarkable illustration of this in the case of Stephen.  He was\naccompanied with power, for \u2018they were not able to resist the wisdom and\nthe spirit by which he spake.\u2019  But the mystery was explained in the\nsecret of his own soul, for in v. 8 of that same chapter we read that he\nwas a man \u2018full of faith and power.\u2019  There was, therefore, a fulness of\npower within as well as the accompanying power without, and the secret of\nthis fulness is explained in v. 5, where it is said he was a man \u2018full of\nfaith and of the Holy Ghost.\u2019  Here, then, was the key to that marvellous\nand irresistible power which accompanied his work.  He himself was full\nof faith, and being full of faith, he was full of the Holy Ghost.  He was\nfull of faith, so that he could, as it were, see his Lord at his right\nhand, and \u2018endure as seeing Him who is invisible.\u2019  And he was full of\nthe Holy Ghost, so that he was lifted up above mere human nature.  He was\ntaught by the Holy Ghost; he was led by the Holy Ghost; his thoughts were\nprompted by the Holy Ghost; his wisdom was the wisdom of the Holy Ghost;\nhis words were the words of the Holy Ghost; his mind was governed by the\nmind of the Holy Ghost; and so he was full of power, for the simple\nreason that he was \u2018full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.\u2019  Thus the\noutward and the inward were at one.  In his outward activity he was\naccompanied by the Holy Ghost; in his inward life he was full of the Holy\nGhost; and in both one and the other he experienced the truth of the\npromise, \u2018Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon\nyou; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.\u2019\n\nAnd why should not we be enjoying the same?  Why should not the same\npower be given to our brother, this day raised to the episcopate, as was\ngiven to Stephen when he laboured 1800 years ago in the diaconate?  Of\none thing I am perfectly sure, and that is, that it is the one desire of\nhis heart to be the faithful witness to the Lord Jesus; to bear the same\ntestimony as a Bishop which he has been enabled to bear as a Presbyter;\nto speak from his episcopal chair with the same clear ring of Scriptural\ntruth as he has hitherto done from his parochial pulpit, and which has so\ngreatly endeared him to all of you who are come this day from Sheffield.\nAnd our prayer for him this day must be that he may be, in his new\noffice, like Stephen, \u2018full of faith and power,\u2019 that so his ministry may\nbe accompanied by the power of the Holy Ghost, and his own soul filled by\nthe Spirit.\n\nBut while we pray for him in the high and conspicuous office of a Bishop,\nlet us not be unmindful of all those faithful men who, hidden from the\neye of the world, and without any prospects of the honours of the world,\nare toiling on, some in quiet country parishes, some in the\ndensely-peopled districts of our large towns, and some in far-distant\nmissions, in patient perseverance witnessing for Christ.  When our\nthoughts are directed to those who by the providence of God are brought\nto the top, let us not forget those who are patiently toiling at the\nbottom.  Do not they equally need the power?  Or, rather, Do not they\nespecially need the presence of the indwelling Spirit in their own souls,\nand of the accompanying Spirit to give the power of patient perseverance\nin their work?  O that God may grant that power to every branch of the\nChurch of England!  Power to her bishops, power to her presbyters, power\nto her deacons, power to her laity!  May He grant such a measure of His\nSpirit to fill all our hearts, and accompany all our work, that our dear\nold Church may remain, true to her Reformation principles,\u2014a faithful\nwitness for Christ; that her testimony may never be corrupted, and her\nwork never be powerless; that so when the Lord appears He may find her\nwith her lamp burning, without reserve, and without compromise,\nmaintaining His truth and giving glory to His name!\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n        London; Printed by JOHN STRANGEWAYS, Castle St. Leicester\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nBy the same Author.\n\n\n                       ROME, TURKEY, AND JERUSALEM.\n       Fifteenth Thousand.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper, 1_s._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                          PALESTINE AND RUSSIA.\n\n Third Thousand.  16mo. cloth, bevelled, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper cover, 1_s._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                               INSPIRATION:\n                          ITS NATURE AND EXTENT.\n\n   2nd Edition, revised and enlarged.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper,\n                                  1_s._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                         CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD.\n   2nd Edition, revised and enlarged.  16mo. cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._; paper,\n                                  1_s._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                           SERMONS FOR THE DAY.\n                         Fcap. 8vo. sewed, 6_d._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                    THE COMMUNION AND THE COMMUNICANT.\n       4th Edition, revised and enlarged.  Fcap. 8vo. sewed, 6_d._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 BAPTISM.\n                 AS TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE AND PRAYER-BOOK.\n                  6th Edition.  Fcap. 8vo. sewed, 4_d._\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                HATCHARDS, PUBLISHERS, PICCADILLY, LONDON.","title":"A Sermon Preached in York Minister, on St. Bartholomew's Day, Friday, August 24, 1877: on the Occasion of the Consecration of the Right Rev. Rowley Hill, Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3557}