First Sermon for the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.’’—Ps. xlvii. 10.

To-day, dearest brethren, the Virgin Mother brought the Lord of the temple into the temple of the Lord. Joseph also presented to the Lord, not his own, but his Lord’s own beloved Son, in Whom He was well pleased (Matt. iii. 17). Simeon recognised the Just One Whom he had been expecting, and the widow Anna likewise made her profession of faith. By these four persons was thus instituted the procession of this day’s festivity, which is now celebrated in every land and by every people “ with the exultation of the whole earth ” (Ps. xlvii. 3). Nor should we be surprised at the smallness of this first procession, because He in Whose honour it was held was as yet but a little One. Note, however, that it included no sinner: all who took part in it were just, all were holy and perfect. But, O Lord, is it only such Thou hast come to save ? Let Thy compassion grow with the growth of Thy Body. ‘‘ Men and beasts Thou wilt save, O Lord, when Thou hast multiplied Thy mercy, O God!” (Ps. xxxv. 7, 8). In the second procession, accordingly, we see multitudes going before and multitudes following after, and the Lord borne no longer by a Virgin but by an ass’s colt (Matt. xxi. 7, 8). Therefore He now disdains no one, not even those who like beasts “ have rotted in their filth ”? (Joel i. 17). He disdains not even such,

I say ; and if they are found to be covered with the - apostolic garments (Matt. xxi. 7) and imbued with the apostolic teaching, if they have purity of morals and obedience and that charity which “ covereth a multitude of sins ” (1 Peter iv. 8), He will not now consider them unworthy to participate in the glory of His procession. What is yet more: we can even see that for ourselves also He has reserved a share in the same glory, which to-day seems to have. been conferred on so very few. And what wonder that a participation in this glory should have been reserved for us who follow Him, since it was granted in anticipation to them that went before ?

Thus, holy David, king and prophet, “ rejoiced that he might see this day ; he saw it and was glad ” (John viii. 56). For had he not seen it, how could he have sung of it, “ We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple”’ (Ps. xlvii. 10)? This mercy of the Lord was received, therefore, by David, it was received by Simeon, we also have received it, “and as many as are ordained to life everlasting ”’ (Acts xiii. 48): for “ Jesus Christ (as) yesterday (so) to-day, and the same for ever” (Heb. xiii. 8). But notice that it is in the midst of the temple we receive mercy, not in the angles and corners thereof, because “ there is no respect of persons with God ” (Col. iii. 25). The mercy of the Lord is made common to all, it is offered to all, no man is excluded from it but such as deliberately reject it. “ Thy fountains (of mercy) are conveyed abroad”’ (Prov. v. 16), O Lord God. Nevertheless, they still belong to Thee, and strangers shall not partake thereof (ibid. 17). He that is Thine “shall not see death before he has seen the Christ of the Lord ”? (Luke ii. 26), so that he may be securely dismissed in peace (ibid. 29). What matter for wonder is it that he should be dismissed in peace who bears on his breast the Christ of the Lord? For Christ is ‘our peace ” (Ephes. ii. 14) and He “ dwelleth by faith in our hearts” (Ephes: iii. 17). But as for thee, O miserable soul, that knowest not Jesus the Guide of the way, how wilt thou set out on the road to eternity ? “ For some have not the knowledge of God ” (x Cor. xv. 34). How is this, brethren? “Because the Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light (John iii. 19). ‘“‘ And the Light shineth in darkness,” says the same Evangelist in another place, “ and the darkness did not comprehend it’ (John i. 5). As much as to say: The waters of the fountain are conveyed into the streets, but the stranger does not partake of them ; mercy is found in the midst of the temple, yet is approached by none of those who are destined for everlasting misery. O ye wretched ones, “there is standing in the midst of you One Whom you know not” (John i. 26); so that dying before you have seen the Christ of the Lord, you shall not be dismissed in peace, but rather shall be snatched away by “the roaring lions, ready to devour” (Ecclus. li. 4).

“ We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.” Very different, my brethren, is this shout of joyous thanksgiving from that mournful cry of a soul in sorrow, “ O Lord, Thy mercy is in heaven, and Thy truth reacheth down even to the clouds” (Ps. xxxv. 6). And good cause for grief had the Psalmist when he uttered that cry. For surely you do not imagine that the mercy of God was then in the midst of the temple and open to all whilst it remained the exclusive possession of the heaven-sprung spirits ? But when the Word was made “a little less than the angels ” (Ps. viii. 6), when He was made the “ one Mediator of God and men” (xr Tim. ii. 5), and, as “ the chief corner-stone ” (Ephes. ii. 20), “‘ made peace through the Blood of His cross both as to the things on earth and the things that are in heaven ” (Col. i. 20): then and thereafter we might sing, “ We have received Thy mercy, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.” For we also “were by nature children of wrath ” (Ephes. ii. 3), “ but now have obtained mercy ” (Rom. xi. 30). Of what wrath were we the children, and what is the mercy we have obtained ? We were the children of ignorance, of languor, and of captivity, and we have obtained wisdom, strength, and redemption. The ignorance of the first woman, seduced by the old serpent, had blinded us, the weakness of the first man, “ drawn away and allured by his own concupiscence ”’ (James i. 14), had enfeebled us, the malice of the devil, finding us deservedly abandoned by God, had reduced us to servitude. Consequently, we were born, all of us, in the first place, absolutely ignorant of “ the way of the city of our habitation ” (Ps. cvi. 4) ; in the second place, weak and languid, so that even if the way of life were known to us, we should still have been impeded and held back by our want of vigour ; and in the third place, in bondage to the most wicked and cruel of tyrants, by whose heavy yoke we should still have been miserably oppressed, though neither knowledge nor strength had been wanting to us. Undoubtedly, a misery so great needed great mercy and great compassion, And if “we are now saved from

(this threefold) wrath through Him” (Rom. v. 9). “Who of God is made unto us wisdom and justice and sanctification and redemption” (x Cor. i. 30), how vigilant ought we not to be, most dearly beloved, lest if (which God forbid!) we again incurred the divine anger, our last state should be found worse than our first (Matt. xii. 45), as being “ children of wrath,” not now “ by nature,” but by our own free will. Therefore, dearest brethren, let us lovingly embrace the mercy which “ we have received in the midst of the temple,” and after the example of the blessed Anna, let us never depart from the temple of God (Luke ii. 37): “for the temple of God is holy, which you are,’ as says the Apostle (x Cor. iii. 17). This mercy “‘is nigh to you, even in your mouths and in your hearts ” (Rom. x. 8), since “ Christ dwelleth by faith in your hearts.” Yes, there is His temple and there is His throne, as you do not need to be informed, unless perhaps you have forgotten what is written, “The soul of the just man is the seat of wisdom.’’* Therefore I now exhort you with all earnestness, and I should like to exhort my dearest children again and again, yea, without ever ceasing, not to walk according to the flesh, even though living in the flesh, lest you displease God. Let us not make ourselves the friends of this world unless we desire to forfeit the friendship of God (James iv. 4). Let us “ resist the devil and he will fly from us ” (ibid. 7), so that we may henceforth freely “ walk in the spirit ”? (Gal. v. 16) and live within our own hearts. “ For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul,” enervating and enfeebling her, “and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things ’’ (Wisdom ix. 15), so that it cannot mount up to the things of heaven. Hence the Apostle tells us that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God” (r Cor. iii. 19); and whosoever suffers himself to be overcome by the wicked one is condemned to be his slave (John viii. 34). But it is in our hearts we receive the mercy of the Lord, it is in our hearts Christ dwelleth by faith, and it is in our hearts also He “ speaketh peace unto His people, and unto His saints, and unto them that are converted to the heart (Ps. Ixxxiv. 9).