The Christian Opportunity; Being Sermons and Speeches

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1904 Excerpt: ... SERMON PREACHED IN ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL, TORONTO, ON SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1904 Sermon Preached In St. James' Cathedral, Toronto, On Sunday, September 4, 1904 Our Citizenship is in Heaven.--Phil. iii. 20. Brothers and sisters in the Society and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, a week has passed to-day since I first set foot upon your--our--Canadian soil. The experience of such a week must of necessity be, to any thoughtful man, a stirring thing. To one who has been allowed the peculiar privileges and opportunities which have with lavish kindness been accorded to myself it is--in the most literal sense of the word--overwhelming. I am not going to try to talk directly about it now. I need time first, to meditate, to weigh, yes, and to pray over, the bigness of its suggestiveness--the range of its illimitable hope. It is upon a thought more indirect and yet closely associated--for me at least--with the stirring experiences of these seven voiceful days that I would dwell with you for a few minutes this morning. This question keeps recurring hourly to one's mind: Wherein consists the real underlying strength of the bonds which knit Us--in England and in Canada--so indissolubly, and make the oneness so absolute and unshaken a reality? We use great words and they are full of meaning, about the imperial idea, and the moving force of loyalty, and the like. But when we come to analyse it, the thought is a little more difficult to catch and formulate and define than we should at first suppose. We know its enormous strength, its power to flush the cheek and nerve the arm, and a thoughtful man can analyse it. But it is less easy to do so than we quite knew until we have tried the task. I am not going to attempt it now. I am here to-day as a minister of Christ, si...