All Saints' Day and Other SermonsKingsley, Charles
Religion
All Saints' Day and Other Sermons
Kingsley, Charles
Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 19th century
Did the apostles, then, believe in these three goddesses? Heaven forbid.
They came to teach these heathens to turn from those very vanities, and
worship the living-God. And so they told them,--You are quite right in
thinking that grace comes from heaven, and is God's gift; that it is God
who makes people amiable, cheerful, lovely, and honourable; that it is
God who gives happiness and all the joys of life: but which god? Not
those three maidens; they are but a dream and fancy. All that is lovely
and pleasant in men and women--and our life here, and our everlasting
life after death, in this world and in all worlds to come--all comes from
Jesus Christ and from Him alone. God has gathered together all things in
Him, whether things in heaven or things on earth; and He bestows
blessings and graces on all who will ask Him, to each as much as is good
for him. He is full of grace--more full of it than all the human beings
in the world put together. All the goodness and sweetness, and all the
graciousness which you ever saw in all the men and women whom you ever
met; all the goodness and sweetness which you ever fancied for
yourselves, all put together is not to be compared to Him. For He is the
perfect brightness of God's glory, and the express image of God's person;
and in Him is gathered together all grace, all goodness, all which makes
men or angels good, and lovely, and loving. All is in Him, and He gives
it freely to all, said the apostles; we know that He speaks truth, we
have seen Him; our eyes saw Him, our hands touched Him, and there was a
glory about Him such as there never could be about any other person. A
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. A
person whom we could not help loving; could not help admiring; could not
help trusting; could not help giving ourselves up to--to live for Him,
and if need be, die for Him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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