May they not rise up
against some of us in the day of judgment, and condemn us, and say,--
'Are you our children? Do you boast of knowing God better than we
did, while you did things which we dared not do? We knew that God
hated such sins, and therefore we kept from them. You should know
that better than we; for you had seen God's horror of sin in the
death of his own Son Jesus Christ; and yet you went on committing
the very sins which crucified the Lord of Glory.'
My friends, I speak sober earnest. God grant that our old heathen
forefathers may not rise up against us in the day of judgment, and
condemn us. Let us turn to the Lord this day with all our hearts,
and come to this holy table, confessing all our sins and
unfaithfulness, and backslidings, that we may get there cleansing
from his most precious blood, strength from his most precious body,
life from his life, and spirit from his spirit; that so we may go
away to lead new lives, following the commandments of God, and
living up to our great light and knowledge, at least as well as our
forefathers lived up to their little light. And so we shall really
keep the feast of Epiphany in spirit and in truth: for Epiphany
means the shewing of Jesus Christ to us Gentiles; and the way to
prove that Jesus Christ has been shewn to us, and that we have seen
his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth, is to keep his commandments, and live lives like
his.
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