nd to die on the cross, even while He was telling men
that not a sparrow fell to the ground without the knowledge of their
heavenly Father, and bidding them see how God fed the birds and clothed
the lilies of the field. Ah, my friends, in this case, as in all cases,
rest and comfort for our doubts and fears is to be found in one and the
same place--at the foot of the Cross of Christ. If we believe that He
who hung upon that Cross is--as He is--the maker and ruler of the
universe, the same from day to day and for ever: then we can trust Him in
darkness as well as in light; in doubt as well as in certainty; in the
face of pain, disease, and death, as well as in the face of joy, health,
and life; and say--Lord, we know not, but Thou knowest. Lord, we
believe, help Thou our unbelief. Make us sure that Thou, Lord, shalt
save both man and beast. For great are Thy mercies, O Lord; and the
children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.

Yes, my friends, this is, after all, a strange world, a solemn world, a
world full of sad mysteries, past our understanding. As was said once by
the holiest of modern Englishmen, now gone home to his rest--whose bust
stands worthily in yonder chapel--This is a world in which men must be
sometimes sad who love God, and care for their fellow-men.

But it is not over the dumb animals that we must mourn. For they fulfil
the laws of their being; and whatever meat they seek, they seek their
meat from God.

Rather must we mourn over those human beings who, being made in the
likeness of God, and redeemed again into that likeness by our Lord Jesus
Christ, and baptized into that likeness by the Holy Spirit, put on again
of their own will the likeness of the beasts which perish; and find too
often, alas! too late, that the wages of sin are death.

Rather must we mourn for those human beings who do not fulfil the laws of
their being: but break those laws by sin; till they are ground by them to
powder.

Rather must we mourn for those who seek their meat, not from God, but
from the world and the flesh; and neglect the bread which cometh down
from heaven, and the meat which endureth to eternal life, whereof the
Lord who gives it said--Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.

Rather must we pray for ourselves, and for all we love, that God's Spirit
of eternal life would raise us up, more and more day by day, out of