October 20
Daily Gleanings of the Saintly LifeFourteenth Sunday after Trinity
Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
It is an awful lesson which God would impress on us to-day, speaking to us as it were from the two horns of His holy altar. For the Gospel is of ten lepers being healed, and one only being thankful; and the Epistle bringing before us that test, viz. whether we walk in the Spirit or after the flesh. Religion, in its full proportion, is the source of all virtue. It possesses and animates the entire man. In the understanding it is knowledge; in the life it is obedience; in the affections it is charity; in our conversation it is modesty, calmness, gentleness, quietness, candour; in our secular concerns it is uprightness, integrity, generosity. It is the regulation of our desires, the government of our passions, the harmonious union of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy. A partaking of the Divine nature, a conforming to the image of God's Son; a putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ, or, in the expressive language of the Apostle, it is Christ formed within us and our abiding in the Spirit. The best mode of avoiding sins of the flesh is by being actively engaged in the life of the Spirit. "This," S. Chrysostom says, "makes duty easy, produces love, and by love is fenced in."
Art thou faithful? wake and watch, Love with all thy heart Christ's ways, Seek not transient ease to snatch, Look not for reward or praise.
Art thou faithful? stand apart From all worldly hope and pleasure; Yonder fix thy hopes and heart, On the heaven where lies our treasure.