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
And, again, if we are a mobile army for the world, we ought to be
ready to go to any part of the world to which the SPIRIT of the LORD
directs us. It often happens that the SPIRIT catches away some young
curate, and he is found in some unpronounceable place in Japan or
China. He is there because the SPIRIT has taken him there. Therefore
we have to question ourselves very strictly to-day, it seems to me,
as to whether we are detached enough to be messengers, or whether
we have got clogged by mere custom and the comforts of life, so
that we do not move quickly enough. Or again, we may be hampered
in our movements by the demand for a full Catholic service for our
own solace and comfort. Those men at the front who are receiving
the Holy Communion before the battle have little barns for their
service, with flickering and guttering candles. When they come home
they will tell us they have never had such a Communion service
in their lives as those they had with their comrades. Honestly I
consider it is right to have, if we can, a beautiful service which
uplifts our souls, to give our people all the Catholic privileges
possible. But we ought not to be dependent upon it; we ought to
recognise that the heart of the thing is also in the poor barn and
the guttering candle. We all ought to be content to do without many
things that we have now, if only we may be allowed to carry our
message to the ends of the earth.
(5) And then, when he comes, he is to give the full message.
Pheidippides stood before his people and gave it all, the warning,
and the comfort and the inspiration. Do not leave anything out. One
part is as important as another. He gave the whole rounded message,
and we must be careful to do the same. We must be careful not to let
the Gospel consist of one doctrine only--for example, the Atonement.
The Atonement is a part of the Gospel--a glorious part of it--but
it is not the whole message by any means. There is the Gospel of
Grace. We are saved by the death of CHRIST, but we are saved by
Grace and the means of Grace--the power in the water of life to
refresh the soul that is pardoned, and the beautiful sacramental
teaching handed on to us. The prodigal comes back, and he receives
the robe and the ring, and the home, and the feast, and the shoes
for service--all these things. The prodigal of to-day wants them
too; the FATHER'S kiss--the outward and visible sign of the FATHER'S
love; the ring in Confirmation, the robe in Baptism, the home in the
Church, the feast--the Holy Communion--the shoes for service. You
have got to tell them about everything. You have no right to say of
one doctrine: "This is the whole Gospel." We must teach the Gospel
of the Resurrection and the Ascension as much as the Atonement, and
the Church's Sacraments as well. Therefore we have to ask--have
we not?--whether our teaching has degenerated into some little
shibboleth, which we keep repeating over and over again. We must be
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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