t existing Gospels, as the words of the Lord
Jesus. And this is all but contemporaneous, and quite independent,
evidence of the existence in the Church, from the beginning, of a
traditional teaching which is now preserved for us in that fourfold
record of His life.

Take that remark for what it is worth; and now turn to the text itself
with which I have to deal in this sermon. The whole of the context may
be said to be a little dissertation upon the moral and religious uses of
the doctrine of our Lord's second coming. In my text these are summed
up in one central injunction which has preceding it a motive that
enforces it, and following it a method that ensures it. 'Let us be
sober'; that is the centre thought; and it is buttressed upon either
side by a motive and a means. 'Let us who are of the day,' or 'since we
are of the day,--be sober.' And let us _be_ it by 'putting on the
breastplate and helmet of faith, love, and hope.' These, then, are the
three points which we have to consider.

I. First, this central injunction, into which all the moral teaching
drawn from the second coming of Christ is gathered--'Let us be sober.'
Now, I do not suppose we are altogether to omit any reference to the
literal meaning of this word. The context seems to show that, by its
reference to night as the season for drunken orgies. Temperance is
moderation in regard not only to the evil and swinish sin of
drunkenness, which is so manifestly contrary to all Christian integrity
and nobility of character, but in regard to the far more subtle
temptation of another form of sensual indulgence--gluttony. The
Christian Church needed to be warned of that, and if these people in
Thessalonica needed the warning I am quite sure that we need it. There
is not a nation on earth which needs it more than Englishmen. I am no
ascetic, I do not want to glorify any outward observance, but any doctor
in England will tell you that the average Englishman eats and drinks a
great deal more than is good for him. It is melancholy to think how many
professing Christians have the edge and keenness of their intellectual
and spiritual life blunted by the luxurious and senseless
table-abundance in which they habitually indulge. I am quite sure that
water from the spring and barley-bread would be a great deal better for
their souls, and for their bodies too, in the case of many people who
call themselves Christians. Suffer a word of exhortation, and do not let
it be neg