Produced by Colin Bell, Chris Pinfield and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net _THE CONTEMPORARY PULPIT LIBRARY_ SERMONS BY THE LATE RIGHT REV. J. B. LIGHTFOOT, D.D., D.C.L., LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. [Illustration] NEW YORK: THOMAS WHITTAKER, 2 AND 3, BIBLE HOUSE. 1890. CONTENTS.[1] PAGE BETHEL 1 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN HEAVEN'S PATHWAY 17 THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL AN ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF CHRISTIANITY 29 THE VISION OF GOD 43 THE HEAVENLY TEACHER 55 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM. I. 65 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM. II. 83 CHRISTIANITY AND PAGANISM. III. 100 WOMAN AND THE GOSPEL 116 PILATE 129 THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN 145 OUR CITIZENSHIP 157 AMBITION 170 _Sermons_ BY THE LATE RIGHT REV. J. B. LIGHTFOOT, D.D., D.C.L., LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. * * * * * BETHEL.[2] "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not."--GEN. xxviii. 16. An unobtrusive, unimpressive scene, almost indistinguishable, even to the curious eye of the archæologist, "in the maze of undistinguished hills which encompass it"--with nothing to attract the eye, and nothing to fire the imagination; large slabs of bare rock traversed by a well-worn thoroughfare; "no religio loci, no awful shades, no lofty hills." So is the site of Bethel described by the modern traveller. Yet this was none other than the House of God; this was the very gate of heaven. An unimpressive scene in itself, but appearing still more commonplace, when contrasted with the famous shrines of heathendom--the rock fortress of the Athene, or the pleasant groves of Daphne, or the cloven peak of Parnassus, or the sea-girt sanctuary of Delos. No beauty, no grandeur, nothing of loveliness and nothing of awe, nothing exceptional of any kind which can explain or justify its selection. Was there not ground for the wanderer's surprise on that memorable night? Why should this one spot be chosen to plant the foot of the ladder which connected heaven and earth? Why in this bleak wilderness? Why amidst these bare rocks? Why here of all places in the world? Yes, why here? The paradox of Bethel is the paradox of the Gospel--is the paradox of God's spiritual dispensations at all times. The Incarnation itself was the supreme manifestation of this paradox. The building up of the Church was the proper sequel to the Incarnation.