[March 9th, 1856. Communion Sunday.]
Distance, absence and the past, form a dark region into which the eye cannot penetrate. Where are the Patriarchs, Adam, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and all the prophets? Not absolutely forgotten because they are historical, but thought of as shadows, shades only.
There are three classes of persons hidden in the past. 1. Those who have lived and died as the leaves of the forest, and left no trace. Such are the vast mass of men. 2. Those whose names are inseparably connected with the history, and who can never be forgotten as long as history is cultivated. 3. Those who not only have accomplished great things in their generation, but the effects of whose lives and acts continue and determine the condition of the present generation. To this class belong all men who are the authors of great revolutions and of permanent institutions, or of systems of doctrine or of philosophy which consciously determine the opinions or conditions of succeeding ages. Such were the men of our Revolution, Mohammed, Luther, Calvin.
Christ constitutes a class by himself. He is not only an historical personage, as Sesostris or Numa. He is not only the author of a system of doctrine embraced by one-third of the human family; not only the founder of the Church, which determines the form of modern civilization, and therefore, in that sense, cannot be forgotten, as his name is mentioned many millions of times every day, and in every part of the world. All this is true, but all this is too little.
To remember is not merely to recall the past, as the object of present knowledge. It is also to estimate, appreciate and duly consider. When we remember God, we remember our obligations, our privileges, and the promises which were made to us. There is recognition of the truth, and an appreciation of the effect which it ought to produce, which is implied and intended.
To remember Christ is therefore not merely to call to mind the facts of his life; nor to acknowledge our obligations to him as the teacher of the gospel and the founder of the Church, as Mussulmans may remember Mohammed; but besides all this, it is to consider and appreciate our present relation to him. It is to cherish the lively consciousness that he is our life. 1. Our deliverer from death, the judicial death to which we were exposed, and from which we are preserved only by him. We are to remember the hand which holds us up from Hell every moment. A man floating on the ocean might as well forget the plank which sustains him; or the man suspended over an abyss, forget the rope which holds him up, as we, to forget Christ.
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We are to remember, i.e., be always mindful of the fact that it is not we that live, but Christ that liveth in us; that all right thoughts, all just purposes, all holy affections, all good acts, are the product of his continued agency in our hearts. Shall the branch forget the vine? The earth the sun?
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We are to remember that he is the author of all happiness, of peace of conscience; the source of God’s favor, of our access to God, of communion with him, of all temporal and social blessings, of security from our spiritual enemies by whom we are surrounded, principalities and powers. Can a man forget the source of all his present joys? Can he forget his food, the air he breathes, the light of heaven, the all-sustaining power in which he lives and moves and has his being? Neither can the believer forget Christ.
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We live not only in the past and in the present, but also in the future. We have an eternity before us. Christ is our life, not only in having delivered us and in now sustaining us, but in being to us, a. The principle of eternal life. b. In being its object, i.e., to know him, to be with him, to be like him, to be engaged in his service, fills all our future with light and glory.
We cannot look back without seeing Christ. We cannot look beneath, above, or around us in the present, but he fills the whole horizon. We cannot look forward but he is the effulgence which sheds its glory on our eternal career. To remember Christ, therefore, is all our duty, for it is to live on him, to live for him, and to live with him.
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