The herald., 1895-04-29
WILL OF GOD PARAMOUNT
Rev. McAuliife's Sermon at
the Cathedral
THINGS THAT ARE UNJUST
Christ the Absolute Revelation OF
God
d. Thomson's Discourse at Unity Church.
Yesterdays Y. w. c. A.
Meeting

Rev. Father McAuliffe' S sermon at the
cathedral yesterday was based upon the
text: Christ Has Suffered for Us, Leaving
You an Example That You Follow in
His Footsteps.
Avery comprehensive knowledge of the
world he said, is not required to con-
vince ourselves of the truth of the say
ing that the children of lis world APP
pear wiser in their generation than the
children OF light. For worldly ends and
worldly matters the children OF this
world often band themselves together,
making sacrifices of family ties and per-
sonal comfort to follow perhaps in the
footsteps of some one whose end is their
end. They do this with utter disregard
for dangers and trials, with supreme con-
tempt for the contrary opinion of others.
s. But we who are Christian followers OF
Carist how little are we willing to sacri-
flee and to work, because, in our estima-
ton, the social standing of our co-work-
ers is not on a level with our own. We
fear the gibes and the adverse criticisms
of the world, and slight difficulties prove
insurmountable barriers to our progress
on the road that leads to salvation.
The desire of Christ to do his Father S
will was the handspring in all his ac-
tiops He said: Il come not to do my
own will. but the will of Him that sent
me-" That we may be able to follow the
example He has lett us, let us see what
consists the duties of this conformity to
the will of God.
First, we must will what God wills;
man is so constituted that, from earliest
dawn of reason. his soul has always
sought happiness. 1t is in the end the
aim of all. But there are only two rules
which men employ to attain this end, the
dictates of the human will or the provl-
dental DEGREES OF the divine. OF these
only one is infallible, and that is the Will
OF Cod always right. always holy of that
divine Providence which orders every
thing that happens i'll the world. This is
the only rule upon which we can rely.
sure that it will safely conduct us through
all the dangers of life to our Journey S
end. By accepting such a rule and max
ing it the guiding principle in all our &C
tons, we will what God wills. So let
your prayer be. in prosperity and in adj
versity: Thy will be done on earth, as
it is in heaven"
In willing what God wills we must will
it as Heswills it. Such is the weakness
of our nature and so subject are We to
illusion that We often acquiesce tol the
substance of Gods DEGREES but put in our
own exceptions, as to the mode and cir
cumstances of their execution. When his
Father presented to Christ the chalice of
his passion his senses were alarmed and
his nature trembled. but presently the
virtue of conformity to his Fathers pleas
IRE made him willingly submit to the
whole series of his torments. May all be
accomplished. not as 1 will, but as thou
wilt. he said, and this should be our
model.
We must not only will what God wills,
and as he wills it, but because He wills it.
This is the perfection of the virtue of
conformity, the completion of the holo-
caust which is offered by its hands. Some
people perform the duties of the state of
life in which God has placed them rather
from caprice or other human reason, than
because it is Gods will.
= 1t is the presence or absence of this con-
formity which determines to great ex-
tent our eternal gain or loss. If we have
that purity of intention by which we do
and suffer all things because such is the
decree and pleasure of divine providence.
our acts will merit for us their full meas
ure OF reward, and even the most ordin-
airy and unimportant actions will add to
the store of treasure we are laying up for
ourselves in heaven. On the other hand
if it is wanting the most heroic and ap.
parently sanity work will be deprived of
the merit to which it would have been
aptitlad