The Water of Life, and Other SermonsKingsley, Charles
Religion
The Water of Life, and Other Sermons
Kingsley, Charles
Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 19th century
Then let him awake, and cry to Christ for light: and Christ will give him
light—enough, at least, to see his way through the darkness of this life,
to that eternal life of which it is written, ‘They need no candle there,
nor light of the sun: for the Lord God and the Lamb are the light
thereof.’ And he will find that the armour of light is an armour indeed.
A defence against all enemies, a helmet for his head, and breastplate for
his heart, against all that can really harm his mind our soul.
If a man, in the struggle of life, sees God, and Christ, and Duty, all
around him, that thought will be a helmet for his head. It will keep his
brain and mind clear, quiet, prudent to perceive and know what things he
ought to do. It will give him that Divine wisdom, of which Solomon says,
in his Proverbs, that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
The light will give him, I say, judgment and wisdom to perceive what he
ought to do; and it will give him, too, grace and power faithfully to
fulfil the same. For it will be a breastplate to his heart. It will
keep his heart sound, as well as his head. It will save him from
breaking his good resolutions, and from deserting his duty out of
cowardice, or out of passion. The light of Christ will keep his heart
pure, unselfish, forgiving; ready to hope all things, believe all things,
endure all things, by that Divine charity which God will pour into his
soul.
For when he looks at things in the light of Christ, what does he see?
Christ hanging on the cross, praying for His murderers, dying for the
sins of the whole world. And what does the light which streams from that
cross show him of Christ? That the likeness of Christ is summed up in
one word—self-sacrificing love. What does the light which streams from
that cross show him of the world and mankind, in spite of all their sins?
That they belong to Him who died for them, and bought them with His own
most precious blood.
‘Beloved, herein is love indeed. Not that we loved God, but that He
loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins.’
‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.’
After that sight a man cannot hate; cannot revenge. He must forgive; he
must love. From hence he is in the light, and sees his duty and his path
through life. ‘For he that hateth his brother walketh in darkness, and
knoweth not whither he goeth: because darkness has blinded his eyes. But
he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion
of stumbling in him. For he who dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and
God in him.’
Therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put you on the armour of
light, and be good men and true.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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