THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 41

of things temporal, may this true joy be ours. Then all noble feelings will be worth while, all unselfish actions true; all good works a delight.

We thank Thee for to-day; may the coming week be bright with its light, filled with its power.

THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE

EPIPHANY

Collect. O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptation through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Epistle. Rom. xiii. 1.

Gospel. St. Matt. viii. 23.

Yes, we are "set in the midst of many and great dangers," and so we pray for strength and protection: strength ardently to desire guidance, fervently to seek it, even as the disciples sought their Lord when the winds and the waves were raging about them. Enter into that peace which the disciples felt, when in awe they whispered "even the winds and the sea obey Him." As Pythagoras heard the music of the spheres, let us recognize the harmony in God's creation. The sons of God shout together for joy over a governed world, a world protected from its own possibilities of chaotic confusion and disorder, by the divine appointments; as the sun is made to rule the earth, drawing it into its orbit by restraining power.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY 43

What a picture of anarchy we see in the country of the Gergesenes! Souls given over to the powers of evil, powers that are ever ready to whirl us away into misrule. Shall we not ask ourselves, are we also "pig-headed," as we watch the swine running violently down a steep place into the sea?

The man who feels sufficient unto himself, in the sense of being without rule and law, is in chaos. When perturbations arise in us, such as the course of this world's affairs, or our own diseased conditions often bring, then let us not seek to guide ourselves; but in childlike simplicity own that we cannot stand upright, and seek the Hand that lays the storm, and bids the waves be still. Let us not try to get put into wider cycles of thought, struggling to understand all things; but instead, submit ourselves, in our deepest, inmost consciousness, to our Protector; so passing out from that "secret place of the Most High" we can turn to the nearest duty, study the given lesson, and walk in peace the appointed way.

Blessed Jesus, Great Shepherd of the sheep, Thou dost call each one of us by name into Thy fold. May we hear Thy voice and be led by Thee into the green pastures, and by the still waters; so may our souls be continually refreshed. We are weak and wandering, teach us to abide in the quiet resting-places of Thy love,

44 FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

where we may hide us from the strife of tongues and the pride of man. So abiding, may earthliness grow less, frivolity be rebuked, ignoble ease disappear, low aims be forsaken, selfishness be overcome, and the life hid with Christ in God be known to us. We thank Thee for Thy great gifts, treasures we may not lose, though all earthly things grow dim and dark and uncertain. Give to us the great gift of perseverance, to continue in the ways of Thy laws and in the works of Thy commandments. May we know as an ever present delight-prayer, praise and thanksgiving, and learn to wait and watch, until Thou shalt come to call us to the many Mansions prepared for those who love Thee.

THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE

Collect.

EPIPHANY

O Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy Church and household continually in Thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of Thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by Thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Epistle. Col. iii. 12.

Gospel. St. Matt. xiii. 24.

The Sunday of true religion; in which the household is taught to lean upon God's heavenly grace. Notice the beauty of the investiture St. Paul enumerates in the Epistle. The clothing of the spirit is "mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forgiveness,' and for a girdle, "the bond of love." Truly the robes of righteousness foreseen by Isaiah in the first lesson for to-day. So, clothed in the "garments of salvation" we sit at the banquet of the Most High, in that glad, full and free life which true religion gives. How fit that we should "sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord." As the prophet said, "we eat the riches of the Gentiles." For us Plato taught and Phidias wrought, and Homer sung; for us Epaminondas swept the streets of Thebes, and Leonidas fell at Thermopylæ. We inherit it all-"upon whom the ends of the world have come.'