grown up, grown old, perhaps, without Confirmation. What is their
excuse? They say--I have neglected Confirmation so long, it is not
worth while now. I have gone on so far without it, and I am all right.
My brothers, how do you know that you are all right? You cannot see
into your own heart, God can, and does. You may think you are alive,
and behold, you are dead. You cannot be _all right_ whilst you are
disobeying God. Remember Samson. He knew not that the Spirit of the
Lord had departed from him. What if the Holy Ghost has left you, and
you know it not? What if the Holy Spirit no longer dwells in you, what
must the end of such a life be? Eternal death. Do you tell me that
you have delayed so long that it is too late now? I answer, it is
_not_ too late to mend. Suppose a man to have neglected prayer for
years, is that any reason why he should not begin to pray now?

If any of you have neglected a plain duty, and shrunk from receiving
the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit, make up for the past now; do not
offer excuses, but never rest till you can say with truth, "By the
grace of God I am what I am."

SERMON XLVII.

DEAF EARS AND STAMMERING TONGUES.

(Twelfth Sunday after Trinity.)

S. MARK vii. 37.

"He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf to hear, and
the dumb to speak."

Such was the verdict of the people who saw one of our Lord's miracles.
How far more strongly may we say the same, having seen the work of
Christ in the life of the Church at large, and in each of our
individual souls! We cannot look on the world of nature without
echoing the words of the text. No thoughtful man can mark the
spring-time coming to the woods and hedgerows, and waking the sleeping
plants as with the wand of an enchanter, or see the orchards white into
the harvest of fruit, or look into the gold mine of the ripe corn, or
gaze at the slumbering earth in winter, wrapped in its white sleeping
dress of snow, without acknowledging the truth that God hath done all
things well in the _creation_ of the world. No Christian man can look
at the earthly life of Jesus, without feeling that He hath done all
things well in the _redemption_ of the world. Whether we look on Jesus
as the lowly Child, setting an example of obedience, increasing in
favour with God and man; or as the humble worker, showing the dignity
of labour in the workshop of Joseph the carpenter; or as the Friend of
Sinners, teaching the