IV. They may be fickle whom you blame, you may be obstinate. CONSIDER THIRDLY, HOW NUMEROUS AND VARIOUS THE CAPACITIES AND POWERS, THE GIFTS AND ACQUIREMENTS OF MANKIND ARE, AND THENCE JUDGE HOW GREAT THE VARIETY OF WAYS IN WHICH THEY MAY SERVE AND ASSIST AND BENEFIT EACH OTHER. And who is able to recount the infinite variations of human capacities and powers and endowments and their analogies to each other? "To Him belongeth power." The labour of love is essential not only to good stewardship, but to the Christian character itself; and every man may make — and ought to make if there be any difficulty in the way — leisure and opportunity for such labour of love. Consider what DUTIES devolve upon us in view of these expected consummations. And thus the matter stands in numberless other cases. But it is far otherwise with the human species; we are essential to each other; one man in Leeds, one man in Europe, would hardly prosper; it is only in mutuality that the individual can live and come to the fulness of his glory and fruitfulness, that the race can reach its ideal life. )That God in all things may be glorifiedThe import and application of glorifying God through Jesus ChristJ. God has given us gifts of imagination, knowledge, expression, music, song, that we may plant intellectual flowers in waste places, and make dull, sad lives bright with thoughts of truth and hope. So perhaps to return to the imagery of covering for a moment sin brings a multitude of consequences.  It may be that sin leaves an odor.  It may be that sin has a certain obnoxiousness that makes people want to leave.  Boasting and pride can be a disordered way of trying to let people know that we are worthy of love and yet it can have the opposite effect.  Rather than drawing people to us it pushes people away.  It may be that the sinfulness of others leaves us hurting at the presence of another.  My little nephew was over the other day.  And I gave him a big hug.  But this time he squealed in pain.  He was sunburned.  It may not just be that you find yourself bristling in the embrace of others because of the wounds you have experienced; it may be that you don’t really share how you feel.  It may be that people don’t really know as much about you because you have found yourself wounded such that you don’t share.  It may be even worse.  It may be that the wounding of others has left you vulnerable to an infection.  Not the infection of gangrene that can destroy tissue and even bone, but something worse than gangrene.  Perhaps you have been infected with bitterness and despair.  Among the symptoms of bitterness and despair are record keeping….the veritable ledger recording wrongs done to one…or the presence of deep fiery envy that when full blown rejoices in the failure and suffering of others.  But there is a more excellent way. That which is shown to be true of God's natural gifts is true in a still higher degree of His gifts of grace. We never shall be good stewards, till we know and apply this truth, and carry it out in practice in our own times, and among those with whom we live. But the perfect ease and pleasure with which he does his own sinning calls for an incessant vigilance not to do it. The interpretations that the love in question is God's love for man, or Christ's love in His Passion, cannot certainly be accepted, though, of course, true in themselves. We have not, I think, been good stewards of this manifold grace. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the Alpha, but not the Omega, of qualification for spiritual work. Charity also covers the sins of others. St. Stephen prayed with his last breath, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." A gentleman walks into his grounds on a summer morning, and delighted with certain flowers, says to his gardener, "These are very line; send a few into the house." Jesus put it this way in the Sermon on the mount: Matthew 6:38-48 “ 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.‘ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. 4. One quickness and pliancy to the business of the present moment; the other persevering, indefatigable patience for intricate and tiresome undertakings. Service — tender, considerate, beneficent work for others — ennobles a man, and is the first thing to do so. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.You and I can only give large sums of money to God's service, as God makes us wealthy. Jesus then gave Peter the name of Cephas – John 1:40-42. 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. This social ministry is —1. It is the greatest gift. Trapp. It has a way of seeing the good in people rather than the bad: "Charity thinketh no evil" (1 Corinthians 13:5). The labour of love is essential not only to good stewardship, but to the Christian character itself; and every man may make — and ought to make if there be any difficulty in the way — leisure and opportunity for such labour of love. O when will men begin to see that religion is not a separate trade or profession, but the business of life? So humble people often make great men possible, although the world knows the great men only, and forgets the lowly helper. I. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. It is the costliest gift.II. THE APPLICATION.1. Casual Christians always become casualties. G. It applies to its form. In fidelity, it is supposed that a man should have a competent insight and knowledge in the Divine oracles, that first he learn before he teach. It implies that we train and cultivate our gifts so as to use them at their best. 2. It is so in earthly things, and surely it must be so in spiritual things. Our grand errors on this point arise from our mistaking the effects for the cause; in making no distinction between particular acts of a charitable nature, and that disposition which produces them. Here is the want of advice, there of support; here of courage, there of prudence; here of means and implements of trade, there of abilities for it; here of understanding, there of alacrity and application; here of moderation, there of patience; here of modesty and diffidence, there of self-importance and confidence. The man who lives for himself is not worthy of the name of man. Spiritual gifts are such as we receive through our membership with the mystical body of Christ. "Granted, that he is now becoming soured and crabbed; but, then, what a glorious man he was in those earlier days, when he stood in the breach." L. Watkinson.I. Let me here say a word or two upon our accountableness. Did pride overthrow them? I say it meant the desire to give. We are prone to view our talent under false and vicious limitations; to confine our notions of the proper sphere of assiduous kindness to one's own immediate connections. This brings most peace to our conscience both in life and death. And how much good now may every one do, if he does what belongs to him with willingness, with fidelity, with a heart benevolently affected towards his brethren, participating in their happiness and cheerfully concurring to promote it! Zollikofer. How many classes and descriptions of persons fill up the interval between the monarch or the prince and the meanest of his subjects! The strong must help the weak. 4. THE RULE OF THE DUTY. The power once latent in steam and inaccessible is now evoked by the millions of horsepower daily. And a word on mere wealth, considered as a stewardship. THE IMPORT. Christ gives remission of sins in ways of His own appointment. The work of a Christian is twofold—doing the will of God and suffering his pleasure. St. Paul saw even in the Jews, his bitterest foes, that "they had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." How shall we cultivate this charity? One quickness and pliancy to the business of the present moment; the other persevering, indefatigable patience for intricate and tiresome undertakings. And thus the matter stands in numberless other cases. The universe cannot bend itself to your will, therefore look not for too great results. But the lancing is done with exquisite tenderness. Most evil is perverted good. Because St. John was emphatically the apostle of love, it must not be supposed that the inculcation of this virtue was left to him alone. Persons, 1 peter 4:8 reflection ( b ) by contemplating the love of God, and mankind! These days of perfectness DUTIES devolve upon us, the advantages of position that will... 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