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of the Apocalypse. In the Apocalypse God is tabernacling among the just made perfect. All that was needed for this has been accomplished, by sufferings on earth, perhaps by long waiting and discipline, or by the sifting fire of the judgment. And thus the All-holy dwells, not merely in the Body Which He took of Mary, but also, in another sense, in the glorified Church of His living members, without spot and blameless.

That is the goal for which we are working; that is the perfect realization of the saying which sounded in St. John's ears from beneath the Throne. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." a

Such words as these it is surely well to keep constantly in mind, when we are again about to pass one of those sign-posts which mark the close of a division of this our fleeting life. Within forty-eight hours the year 1883 will have gone for ever, leaving its records of good or evil in the books of the Eternal Justice; and we shall have entered upon its successor. There have been more eventful years than this which is passing; more eventful in the history of our country and of the Church of Christ. Dangers which looked threatening twelve months ago are less threatening now; and blessings which then seemed of doubtful value are better appreciated, as we have had time to examine and to test them. Churchmen must think of the year which is closing, as presenting a contrast to its predecessor in the small number of those

a Rev. xxi. 3, 4.

who have been taken from us by death. Two names there are which deserve especial and reverent mention; the late Archdeacon of Dublin, venerable alike for his high personal character, his wide theological accomplishments, and his loyalty to the faith of the Church amid widespread defection; and a prebendary of this Cathedral," whose learning and thoughtfulness made him in many ways a blessing to his generation. For the rest, some hopes which seemed faint have grown stronger, and some fears which were anxious have grown happily less; and if there are some darker touches in the picture, they do not overpower its brighter hues.

But whatever be the aspect of public affairs, each of us knows how it is with his own life, now that we have drawn one year nearer to our last account. Nor can we well be insensible to the fact that there are forces at work in the world of thought and in the world of action which no thinking man can contemplate without misgiving. At the base of the social edifice, and in its most cultivated circles, the faith of Christ, or even the existence of God, is denied with a deliberation, with a publicity, with a persistency, unknown before since England has been Christian. Let those who will persuade themselves that destructive speculation like this can be encouraged without grave results on human life; that wild and blasphemous theories will never be translated into a practical policy; that codes of conduct which lack the elementary basis and sanction of any serious morality will always be treated as waste paper. Such is not the verdict of experience. Behind these forms of thought, or intimately allied with them

a The Venerable William Lee, D.D., Archdeacon of Dublin, died May 13, 1883.

b The Rev. W. J. Irons, D.D., Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, died June 18, 1883.

there hover, already, projects of change, in which good and evil elements are strangely mingled. Generous efforts to improve the material condition of the people go hand in hand with wild dreams of redistributing property, in obedience to economical theories which are at issue with the plainest facts of nature and life, as also to instincts and passions which will always be powerful while man bears within him the impress of the Fall. Let us never forget that, by tabernacling in our nature, Jesus Christ has ennobled every human being; that the debt which we His servants owe to our fellow-men is never paid off; but let us also be sure that no theory which tampers with a truth of the Eternal Moral Law can be other than dishonourable to Him, and injurious to all who seriously entertain it.

Indeed, as to this and other matters, the best hope that can be formed for the future lies in the propagation and strengthening among men of a living faith in the Incarnate Christ. No other faith enables us to do such justice to the rights of man; no other faith teaches us so clearly how man's true nobility is bound up with his loyalty to moral truth. No faith like this links us to the past, since in Him the dead and the living are one; no faith so enables us to look forward hopefully to the future, since we know Who is guiding us, and what, at His bidding, we hope and mean. For nations as for Churches, for individuals no less than for societies, faith in our Incarnate Lord is the warrant alike of stability and of improvement. Whatever else may change in this changeful world, Christians are well assured that He Who took our nature upon Him is "the same yesterday, today, and for ever."a For us He bridges over the chasm between earth and Heaven which to others seems ima Heb. xiii 8

passable; for us He affords a warrant of hope and confidence where others see only the deepening gloom of an advancing night. Only may we have heart and grace to remember that union with the Son of Mary is the one thing needful; and that it is better to be "a doorkeeper in the House of God, than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.""

a Ps. lxxxiv. 10.

SERMON X.

THE FIRST MARTYR.

(SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS: FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN.)

THIS

ACTS VII. 60.

And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

THIS was the close of the last scene in a brief but great career. Stephen, the first of Christian Deacons, the first of Christian Martyrs, had said his last word, had heaved his last sigh, and, as far as this world was concerned, all was over. "He fell asleep." Death, which can never for any human being be meaningless, was in his case marked by the highest significance; for, as he breathed his last outside the walls of Jerusalem, he, first among the worshippers of Christ, completed the new ideal of life which our Lord had given to the world. "He fell asleep." It was, I say, a solemn and triumphant moment, not for himself only, but for his associates and his country; for the future of the Church of God.

I.

Let us recall what the author of the Acts of the Apostles tells us about him. Stephen was originally a

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