When we think of God's care for us we feel it; when we think of the
possibilities He has ordained for us we feel it; when we think of the
endless life that lies before us we feel it; above all, we never fail to
feel it when our thoughts revert to any life that has been snatched away
from us. Some of you are thinking to-day of the master whose home is
darkened by the presence of the angel of death. You think of her whom
God has taken, who was moving among you not so long ago, as your tender,
considerate, and helpful friend. It may be that you were not
uninfluenced by her self-devotion and holiness.
When you think of such an one you feel no doubt about the value and the
sanctity of each human life.
Well, then, transfer this feeling to your own life, or to the life of the
boy who sits beside you, or who lives as your companion. In the purpose
of our common Father, your lives also are destined for holy uses.
To remember this may be a safeguard against temptation or sinful habit;
it may inspire you with a new feeling of the value of _all_ the lives
around you, and a new sense of the duty you owe to the good life of this
society in which God has placed you, that you may prove a vessel of
honour sanctified for His service.
XX. HE THAT OVERCOMETH.
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,
and he shall be My son."--REVELATION xxi. 7.
Year by year as at this time, when the week of our Saviour's Passion and
Death is just in front of us, and the shadow of His Cross is falling over
us, one generation after another of the boys of this school gather here,
and in the face of the congregation, young and old, they take upon them
the vows of a Christian life. So we met last Thursday, and your vow is
still fresh upon a great many of you, as indeed it can hardly fail to be
fresh in the memory of every one in this congregation who has ever taken
it. Let us pause for a moment and repeat its plain words. You have
declared your faith in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost, the Father, the Redeemer, the Sanctifier of your life. You have
vowed that you renounce the devil and his works, that you renounce
covetous desires, that you renounce the carnal desires of the flesh, so
that you will not follow nor be led by them. And you have vowed that you
will keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in them all the days
of your life. And you take this upon you, let us hope, in sincerity and
honesty of purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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