The Potter and the ClayWinnington Ingram, Arthur F. (Arthur Foley)
Religion
The Potter and the Clay
Winnington Ingram, Arthur F. (Arthur Foley)
Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 20th century; World War, 1914-1918 -- Sermons
Have we drunk the cup, and drunk it to its dregs? Only then will the
angels come and strengthen us for victory; we shall deserve victory
then, and we shall be ready for it, for the cup which we shall drink
will be the cup to which the SON of GOD Himself put His lips, and
the courage and fortitude of Gethsemane leads on to the overwhelming
victory of Easter Day.
It is then "Our Day" in an even deeper sense than those mean who so
rightly ask our alms to-day for those splendid sister societies of
St. John and the Red Cross. Of course we shall pour out into their
lap, for the sake of our wounded heroes at the Front, all that we
can; but it is "Our Day" because it is the day when the nation is
tested to the roots of its being. "If thou hadst known, even thou,
in the midst of this thy day, the things which belong unto thy
peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes." They are not hid from
our eyes yet; it is still Our Day; but let it pass, and it has gone
for ever.
VI
THE KNOCKING AT THE DOOR[11]
[11] Preached at St. Mary's, Bryanston Square, at a service for the
Church-workers of the Deanery.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice
and open the door, I will come and sup with him, and he with
Me."--REV. iii. 20.
I will come unto him and sup with him, and he with Me. I think
sometimes that we dwell in our Advent meditation too exclusively
on the thought of the coming Judgment. Of course we have to dwell
on it. "Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." A tremendous
truth that is. "Behold, the Judge standeth before the door." There
is going to come a time when the door will come down with a crash,
and we shall be face to face with the Judge. And this affects
every single period of our lives. We sometimes imagine that we are
going--dare I say the word?--to _dodge_ the Judgment. Not at all;
we are going to look into those Eyes like a Flame of Fire, and every
man will give an account of himself before GOD. And every day is
making up the Judgment. Every thought, every word, every act, every
service, every decision we make, it all goes into the judgment, it
all goes into the verdict. And when the Judge who stands before the
door comes inside, He registers the verdict and the sentence we have
been preparing all our lives. We go to our own place--the place that
we have prepared for ourselves.
Now that is a tremendous thought, and it is one that we cannot
possibly ignore. What is a person, what is a Church-worker, to do
who realises that the Judge standeth before the door? What am I to
do when I realise that He stands before the door of my heart? The
answer can only be: Ask Him in as the SAVIOUR, before He comes as
the Judge that is to be.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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