The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1880-12-21 00:00:00

BISHOP MOULCS FAREWELL SERMON.

On Sunday last Yordington Church 'WM crowded to
exam to hear probably the last sermon which Or.
George Mottle will preach in the parish in which his
venerated father laboured so long and so well. The
church was so full that many persons had great
difficulty in procuring seats. The service and lemons
were reed by the Rev. A. A.Leonard, the vicar.
The Bishop took for his text the words " For wears
strangers before Thee and sojourners, as were all our
fathers" (29th chapter L Chronicle, 15th v.), on which
he founded an affectionate and impressive sermon. It
has been no easy molter, he said, for me to make up
my mind to accept your pastor's invitation to speak to
you from this place, or after I had done so to determine
on what particular topic I should speak to you. I
may begin by saying I had only to-day intended to
speak to you on another subject, and even had had
written down s hit I had Many ; but then I thought of
the congregation I was likely to see before me, oon•
slating solely, a. believe, of old and dear neighbours
and friends, and I felt that the formal words written
upon the page (more or leas (ulna' owing to the hurry
In which I wax obliged to write them), were cold and
unsuitable. and I was constrained to put the manu-
script aside awl 1,, t dte ibis subject, which is not new
to me dnring the last few week., as I have spoken
npou it in •pite of myself again and again, and say a
few words upon it to-night. God grant, in His infinite
mercy and by His Holy Spirit we may together get
some profit by its consideration, and that we may
together strengthen or hearte if we are the L ,M's; or,
if there are those, as I fear we most o .ncliple there are,
who do not know the Lord. God in His infinite
grant to-night that He may mend some words tola:1
hearts which may save them, bring them to His feet,
and bring them into that blessed *tote of salvation in
which, whore-sever believeth. is awaiting the final bliss
of heaven. The words seem to me, as I spoke upon
them first three or four years ago, specially suitable at
this particular sewn, even if it were not the end of
the year. It is now the close of the year, and it was
the close of the year when I first introduced the
text, and introduced it as a subject for a Sunday
sermon. The year was dying, awl thuoacred year had
spent itself: Advent had come round again; and the
natural year had almost died; the leaves were all
dying and Christmas was close upon us, and it seemed
a suitable time to speak of this characteristic of our
life upon •rth —as to our being strangers and
sojourner.; and especially for me and those who
belong to me.
" Change and decay in all around I see"

With regard to the old home here, it has passed away
from us, and with regard to the sojourn that followed
It almost under the shadow of the old home, that, too,
Is closing, and soon wide seas and thousands of miles
will part us from many of those we love host, and the
dear shores and skies of my native land. One cannot
help feeling, though nor, I hope, reluctantly, that One
I. not so young as one used to be, and going orioe more
to China brings to my mind my former goings oat— ,
the one 23 years ago and the ocher It—and one calm .t
but think seriously of the years that have been left
behind and of those that remain. Then I might speak
of the changes and the shalows that have come over
the dear home, all of which has led me to determine to
make the words of the text • theme .41 which to speak '
during the last few weeks of my stay. We talk about
ances,ral home., and come of our cottages are very I
dear to us, becaus they have been for en lor our
homes; some homes become so dear • hat one feels as
if the light of life had gone out when they are called I
upon to give it up, and when some homes have been
in the family for centuries, generations after genera-
tions have lived and died there, and yet, after all,
what are they? They are not really homes, but are
only tabernacles, for we are strangers and sojourners
before God and MIA God. What • comfort that
ought to be to us; what a comfort it ought to be to
these who feel II vw uncertain our habitation on this
earth. After all, it is not the mere bricks and mortar,
it is not the house or the turroundinge—Home is the
pereons who are there, and when they are mattered,
home is dead. He may stand on the same spot and
everything may be the same, lint if the persona are
gone home is dead. Let us cheer our hearts with
this thought. though we may indeed change the
place, wearied not after all change the true Aoasetiatu.
row Whlllt Ii it that makes the home —is it not
the Master and the Father, and when lie says 'You
are strangers and sojourners before Me," let um cheer
our hearts with this thought that, no matter where we
are born, where we have what is called home on earth
whether the cover over our heads be only the
ship's deck or the curtains of a tent, under
the skies of England or the skies of Aria,
whether you keep the coming feast of Emmanuel in
dear old Fordingtou. or who her under God's provi-
dence we shall keep it at sea, it will be the imam feed,
and the same Emmanuel will be with us and the same
God will be amongst you. Emmanuel God with us,
or, II it is spoken of in Ezekiel, "The Lord is their
Jehovah Shammah." The final departure of some
who were very dear to us has cast a aharlow over our
lives ; teenmrary eeparstiom may be repaired another
day, but that have taken pleas can never, never
be bridged over. You know well them are
some gone from amongst as duce this time
twelvemoothe, and looking back a few year*, some
very very precious to na. have gone away. We have
loMusd foe tlllOOl in vain, and I do not know how it haa
been with you, but I confess to a breaking heart in
mud to them ; but neverthelem we believe the land
they are gone to is • world of life and joy. It seems
all clouds and darkness this side, we cannot bear them
any longer, we sarcaot see them, and they are out of
our reach and out of our call. Even when we
were far away upon earth, bates' could reach them
and letters could reach us, but now no lettere will ever
reach them. But we can take these words to our con
soiatfon—" Father, I know that they also, whom
Thou bait etyma me. may be with Me where I am,
that they may behold Thy glory." This is His wish,
and we know what an authoritative prayer He pr
showing what • strong claim He had upon the Father,
" I will that they whom Thou hest given Me, shall be
with Me where I am." We mince see them now, it
would may break our hearts if we could, but the as
will come when we shall be re-united, the change will
pass over those who remain on the earth, the chosen
of the Lord, we gall be caught up to meet the Lord
In the air, and then we shall have the perfect consum-
mation of bliss, both in body and soul. Then we shall
be Howe, we shall be with God, and we shall not be
strangers and sojourners any more, for Jesus has said,
"In my Father's house are many mansions, I go to
prepare a place for you." There will be no more
soi nod no Amman there, for all God's children
Al be ogee. God /Font that this may be the
portion oi every sold ia deer Irnsdington and of the
neighbourbood.—The Bishop spite In an able manner
on the characteristics al the different lieges of the
Christian's lib.

The memo created s marked Impreesion co tbe
crowded eoagregetioe.