23 December 1841 A.D. B.F. Wescott’s Predecessor at Durham, H.G.C. Moule, Born—Anglican Bishop (Durham) & Scholar

23 December 1841 A.D.  B.F. Wescott’s Predecessor at Durham, H.G.C. Moule, Born—Anglican Bishop (Durham) & Scholar

Wiki-offerings.

Handley Carr Glyn Moule, DD (born Fordington, Dorchester, 23 December 1841; died 8 May 1920, Cambridge) was an evangelical Anglican theologian, writer, poet, and Bishop of Durham from 1901-1920.

Contents 

1 Biography

2 Family

3 Publications

4 References

5 External links

Biography

Moule was schooled at home before entering Trinity College, Cambridge in 1860, where he graduated BA in 1864.^[1] He was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1865, and became an assistant master at Marlborough College before he was ordained deacon in 1867 and priest in 1868. From 1867 he was his father's curate at Fordington, Dorset, with a stint of five years as Dean of Trinity College 1873-1877.^[2] In 1880 he became the first principal of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and then in 1899 became Norrisian Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, until his appointment as Bishop of Durham in September 1901. He was consecrated as Bishop in York Minister 18 October 1901.^[3]

Moule was active in the Higher Life movement and was one of the speakers at the inaugural Keswick Convention. He is buried in St Cuthbert's Cemetery, Durham.

Moule was an Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria from December 1898^[4] until her death in January 1901, then an Honorary Chaplain to King Edward VII for a couple of months until he was appointed bishop. In November 1901 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Oxford, where he had been a Professorial Fellow previously,^[5] and in December 1901 he received the degree Doctor of Divinity (DD) by diploma from the University of Durham.^[6]

Family

Handley Moule was the eighth and final son of Henry Moule (1801–1880), an inventor and the vicar of Fordington for over 50 years. Handley was named after his godfathers Augustus Handley, a minister at Fordington, and Rev. Carr John Glyn (father of General John P. C. Glyn). His brothers George Evans Moule and Arthur Evans Moule were missionaries in China, and another brother, Charles Walter Moule, was president of Corpus Christi. Two more brothers, Horatio Mosley Moule and artist Henry Joseph Moule are chiefly remembered as friends of novelist Thomas Hardy, who was well known to the Moule family. Moule's grand-nephew C. F. D. Moule was a notable theologian.

Handley Moule married Harriet Mary Elliott (1844-1914)^[7] (called "Mary") in 1881; they had two children, Mary "Tesie" Moule (1882–1905) and Isabel Catherine Moule (1884–1959). In 1907 Moule published a memoir on Mary's short life entitled The School of Suffering.^[8]

Publications

Moule was a New Testament scholar who wrote over 60 books and pamphlets. He also wrote poems on religious subjects; he won the Seatonian Prize at Cambridge for sacred poetry 1869-1873 and again in 1876. He published at least two volumes of poetry in his lifetime, in addition to the prizewinning pieces.^[9] He wrote a number of hymns, of which "Lord and Savior, True and Kind" is probably the best known.^[10][11]

This is an incomplete list of Handley Moule's published works. Some of these have been reprinted in recent years; some are available as e-books for the Kindle and other readers.

Christian Self-Denial: A Poem Which Obtained the Seatonian Prize, MDCCCLXIX, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1869

Poems on Subjects Selected From the Acts of the Apostles, with Other Miscellaneous Pieces, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1869

The Beloved Disciple: A Poem Which Obtained the Seatonian Prize, MDCCCLXX, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1870

Tyre: A Poem Which Obtained the Seatonian Prize, MDCCCLXXI, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1871

The Gospel in Polynesia: A Poem Which Obtained the Seatonian Prize, MDCCCLXXII, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1872

The Brazen Serpent: A Poem Which Obtained the Seatonian Prize, MDCCCLXXIII, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1873

The Victory Which Overcometh the World: A Poem Which Obtained the Seatonian Prize, MDCCCLXXVI, Deighton, Bell, & Co., Cambridge, 1876

Dorchester Poems, W. Poole, London, 1878

Christianus, A Story of Antioch: And Other Poems, Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, and Co., 1883

Thoughts on Union with Christ, Seeley & Co., London, 1885

Thoughts on Christian Sanctity, Seeley & Co., London, 1886

Thoughts on the Spiritual Life, Seeley & Co., London, 1887

The Epistle to the Ephesians, with Introduction and Notes, University Press, Cambridge, 1888

Outlines of Christian Doctrine, Thomas Whittaker, New York, probably 1889

Veni Creator: Thoughts on the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit of Promise, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1890

To My Younger Brethren: Chapters on Pastoral Life and Work, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1892

Charles Simeon, Methuen & Co., London, 1892

Christ is All: Sermons from New Testament Texts on Various Aspects of the Glory and Work of Christ; With Some Other Sermons, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1892

Jesus and the Resurrection. Expository Studies on St. John xx, xxi, London, 1893

The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1894

Secret Prayer, Thomas Whittaker, New York, 1895

Colossian Studies: Lessons in Faith and Holiness from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon, A. C. Armstrong and Son, New York, 1898

Ephesian Studies: Expository Readings on the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, A. C. Armstrong and Son, New York, 1900

Phillipian Studies: Lessons in Faith and Love from St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, A. C. Armstrong, New York, 1900

The Old Gospel for the New Age, And Other Sermons, Fleming H. Revell Company, Chicago, New York, & Toronto, 1901

The Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans, A. C. Armstrong, New York, 1902

From Sunday to Sunday: Short Bible Readings for the Sundays of the Year, A. C. Armstrong and Son, New York, 1904

Short Devotional Studies on the Dying Letter of St. Paul, Religious Tract Society, London, 1905

The School of Suffering: A Brief Memorial of Mary E. E. Moule, By Her Father Handley, Bishop of Durham, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1907

Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews, Elliot Stock, London, 1909

Memories of a Vicarage, Religious Tract Society, London, 1913

Christus Consolator: Words for Hearts in Trouble, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, 1917

Letters and poems of Bishop Moule: Selections from the Spiritual Letters and Poems of Handley Carr Glyn Moule, Bishop of Durham (1901-1920), Marshall Bros., 1921

References

Jump up ^ "Moule, Handley Carr Glyn (ML860HC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. 

Jump up ^ "Ecclesiastical intelligence - new Bishops" The Times (London). Wednesday, 21 August 1901. (36539), p. 8.

Jump up ^ "Ecclesiastical intelligence - Consecration of Bishops" The Times (London). Saturday, 19 October 1901. (36590), p. 11.

Jump up ^ The London Gazette: no. 27032. p. 8045. 13 December 1898.

Jump up ^ "University intelligence" The Times (London). Thursday, 7 November 1901. (36606), p. 6.

Jump up ^ "University intelligence" The Times (London). Wednesday, 11 December 1901. (36635), p. 6.

Jump up ^ "Bright Messenger of God: Bishop Handley Moule", David B. Calhoun, from Knowing & Doing, Spring 2012

Jump up ^ Barton family history page on Tesie Moule, with image of book

Jump up ^ Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860-1879: An Annotated Biobibliography, Catherine W. Reilly, Mansell Publishing, New York, 2000, p. 327

Jump up ^ a short article on "Lord and Savior"

Jump up ^ Hymnary.org list of hymn books which include "Lord and Savior"

Munden, A. F. (September 2004; online edn, May 2006). "Moule, Handley Carr Glyn (1841 - 1920)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2010-03-15.  Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Bibliographic directory from Project Canterbury

Handley Moule at the AGES Library

Church of England titles
Preceded by Brooke Westcott	Bishop of Durham 1901–1920	Succeeded by Hensley Henson

Mr. (Rev.Dr. Prof.) Packer's Notes on Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) Thomas' "Prinicipals of Theology"

A few notes on Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) James I. Packer’s "Prefatory" notes (1977) on Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) W. H. Griffith Thomas’ Principles of Religion: An Introduction to the Thirty-nine Articles.

Mr. Thomas’ manuscript was developed but unpublished at Mr. Thomas’ death in 1924. It was published posthumously by Mr. (Rev. Canon) Dyson Hague of Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.

Thomas, W. H. Griffith Thomas. The Principles of Theology: An Introduction to the Thirty-nine Articles (7th Ed.) Philadelphia, PA: PTS Series of The Reformed Episcopal Church, 1996. We’re quite delighted to point you to “another publisher” other than PTS-REC group so that the profits might go to them, to wit, to Wifp and Stock. That, rather than them, is available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Principles-Theology-Introduction-Thirty-Nine/dp/159752073X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377128631&sr=8-1&keywords=principles+of+theology+w.h.+griffith+thomas

Mr. Packer notes that Mr. Thomas served parishes at St. Aldgate’s, Oxford and St. Paul’s, Portman Square, London. He served as a Professor of Systematic Theology and as a Principal at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served as a Principal of Wycliffe College, University of Toronto.

Mr. Dyson Hague says of Mr. Thomas:

“The late Dr. Griffith Thomas was remarkable as a teacher and leader. His outstanding characteristic was clearness and forcefulness…singular conciseness of order and method. From his early days at King’s College, London and Christ Church, Oxford, he lived a life of the most strenuous industry and was ever the prodigious toiler….” His volume was “almost an Anglican encyclopedia.”

We now cull a “few gems” directly from Mr. Packer’s "Prefatory" comments in 1977 along with our musings:

• Mr. Thomas’ volume was a “regular textbook on the Articles in evangelical Anglican theological colleges; and it holds its place as the most thorough historical exposition of the Anglican confessional basis that has ever been produced. As such, it stands by merit alongside Hardwick’s History of the Articles, itself more than a century old.”

Based on the above, we ask Mr. Packer, who still uses Mr. Thomas? And, while watching all the Anglican “hand-wringing" over the words “confessional” and denials of the word "confessional," do Anglicans really “confess” these Articles? Or, Mr. Hardwick, where’s he been? Or, what American seminary uses this volume? Sewanee? General? Nashotah House? This much: Mr. Packer is high and approving of Mr. Thomas’ volume. Ever seen any articles or references to Mr. Thomas over at Virtue's hothouse?

• Mr. Packer notes this comparison: “Hardwick, goaded by Newman’s sleight-of-hand with the Articles, offers specialist research; Thomas’s 250,000 terse words…exact thought at maximum comprehension…displays `the essential Anglican doctrine’…he excludes any request for originality.”

We ask Mr. Packer, who, pray tell, believes that the Articles express “essential Anglican doctrine?” Did Misters Duncan, Iker, Ackerman and Sutton get this memo?

If Packer believes this, he must be out of sorts with the American leaders? And what ACNAer will talk “openly” of “Newman’s sleight-of-hand?” This much, the historians do.

We would add that Mr. Hardwick is available at: Hardwick, Charles. A History of the Articles of Religion: To which is Added a Series of Documents from A.D. 1536 to A.D. 1615. No location: BiblioBizarre, 2009. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/History-Articles-Religion-Documents-D/dp/1103949896/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377145782&sr=1-7

• Mr. Packer then goes on glowingly: “The Principles of Theology may be said to have rounded off a four-hundred year era of Protestant Anglicanism…it addressed Rome’s Trojan horse in the Church of England…to vindicate historic Protestantism as authentically Anglicanism.”

We engage Mr. Packer again. Sir, did you say “Protestant Anglicanism?”   Mr. Packer, is that not an oxymoron according to 20th-21st century Western Anglicans? What will the Nashotah House denizens, graduates, and men like Mister Iker and Ackerman say to this issue of “Protestant Anglicanism?” And your use of the term “Roman Trojan horse?”   Will Mr. (ABP) Duncan say this to Misters (Bps.) Iker and Ackerman?  Agents of the "Roman virus?"  "Roman Trojan horses?"  Did you really write this? Or, did some crypto-Protestant assistant furtively slip this into your manuscript? Do you still stand by this?

• Mr. Packer then speaks of a cadre of men in Mr. Thomas’ league and of similar sentiments and skills: William Goode (worth reading). George Cornelius Gorham (whom Bp. Philpott of Exeter tried to “gore”), T.P. Boultbee, T.S.L. Vogan, Nathaniel Dimock, E.A. Litton, Henry Wace, Handy C.G. Moule, J.T. Tomlinson, W. Prescott Upton, and Charles Sydney Carter. Litton’s Introduction to Dogmatics (1882, 1892, 1912) and Boultbee’s Commentary on the Thirty-nine Articles: Forming an Introduction to the Theology of the Church of England (1871, 5th edition of 1880) was replaced by Mr. Thomas’ volume.

We would add: Boultbee is available at: Boultbee, T.P. A Commentary on the Thirty-Nine Articles: Forming an Introduction to the Theology of the Church of England. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publication, 2005. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Commentary-Thirty-Nine-Articles-Introduction-Theology/dp/1597523569/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377143821&sr=8-1&keywords=Boultbee+Commentary+on+the+Thirty-nine+Articles


For Litton, see below.

• And now for this “gem:” “The whole corpus of anti-Tractarian writing stands behind the Principles of Theology…”

And, Mr. Packer, have you buried the hatchet with the Tractarians? What say you, Sir?  Word on the street says you've buried that hatchet?

• Or, “…the Protestant Evangelical tradition…”

Mr. Packer, and what the heck is this? There you go again with those swear words.

• “Thomas wrote his Protestant exposition of basic Christianity, Prayer Book style, and he called it The Catholic Faith.”

Mr. Packer, there you go again, using that swear word “Protestant.” Tell the Continuers this, would you. Or, Mr. Duncan.

Mr. Packer, are you saying that Protestant Anglicans are Catholics? No, it cannot be!

Thomas, W. H. Griffith Thomas. The Catholic Faith: A Manual of Instruction for Members of the Church of England. No location: Forgotten Books, 2012. http://www.amazon.com/The-Catholic-Faith-Instruction-Members/dp/B008FH3JNU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377136851&sr=8-1&keywords=W.H.+Griffith+Thomas+Catholic+Faith

• Mr. Thomas’ Principals is the “theological Rock of Gibraltar.”

• Mr. Thomas displaced Litton’s and H.C.G. Moule’s Outlines of Christian Doctrine (1889, 1919). We would add availability at: http://www.amazon.com/Outlines-Christian-Doctrine-Classic-Reprint/dp/B008NC30PY/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377284145&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=litton+moule+outlines+of+Christian+doctrine

• Mr. Packer says, “The Articles retain their place as the Anglican Confession…”

Mr. Packer, in what Western Anglican body is this claimed? Perhaps, in Kenya or Nigeria, but the UK, US, or Canada? Perhaps in Sydney, in pockets, but where else? Or, is this a “wish” only? Nonetheless, Sir, you have made your point and it is noted.

To provide a round-up and summary, we would say that Mr. Packer’s recent volume on the Thirty-nine Articles expresses his general lamentation that no one really takes them seriously or confessionally anymore.

Mr. Packer's jeremiad and lamentation is available.

Packer, James I. and Beckwith, R.T. The Thirty-nine Articles: Their Place and Use Today. Vancouver, BC, Canada:  Regent College Publishing, 2007.  Available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Thirty-nine-Articles-Their-Place/dp/1573834130/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377144118&sr=8-1&keywords=Thirty-nine+Articles

 

Glad to Be Anglican

http://gladtobeanglican.blogspot.com/2008/08/his-cross-and-ours.html

His Cross and Ours

The following is the bulk of my sermon today from Galatians 5:24. The stuff about Bishop Moule will be no surprise for readers of this blog!

One my heroes for the last 30 years has been Bishop Handley Carr Glynn Moule, born in Dorsetshire, in 1841, and died in Cambridge, in May of 1920. The son of an Anglican priest - who, by the way, was of French extraction; his mother was Welsh - he became the dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, the first president of Ridley Hall, Cambridge - which is where I would have liked to have studied if I had done my schooling in England. A friend of mine is currently studying there, and I'm a bit envious of that. Eventually Moule was consecrated the Bishop of Durham, following on the heals of two other great Bishops of Durham, J. B. Lightfoot, and B. F. Westcott, both of whom remain still today, like Moule, giants in New Testament studies. Though raised a Christian, it was not until September the 18th, of 1884, that Moule seems to have gone through a spiritual crisis which was a defining point in his commitment to Christ. The rest of his life as a Christian could be considered as a progressive growth from that particular time. Now, Moule was a poet and author, and has given us some beautiful pieces - sadly, none of his hymns are in the 1940 hymnal. One of his pieces is connected to that moment of commitment to Christ to which I have referred, and it is called the Morning Act of Faith. Let me read it to you:

I believe on the Name of the Son of God.
Therefore I am in Him, having Redemption through His Blood, and Life by His Spirit.
And He is in me, and all fulness is in Him.
To Him I belong, by purchase, conquest, and self-surrender.
To me He belongs, for all my hourly need.
There is no cloud between my Lord and me.
There is no difficulty, inward or outward, which He is not ready to meet in me to-day.
The Lord is my Keeper. Amen.

 

Now it is that line, where he says, To Him I belong, that I want us to note. Every Christian belongs to Christ.

Why do we belong to him? Bishop Moule tells us, summarising what the Bible says. First, we are his by purchase. Paul says in I Corinthians: 19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20: For ye are bought with a price.... Peter tells us what that price was in his first epistle: 18: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, ... 19: But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. We belong to Christ by purchase. And when did He purchase us? When died on the Cross, and shed His blood for our payment.

But Moule also says we belong to Christ by conquest. We don't talk like this much in our day of disdain for empires and our talk of international laws - which don't work, by the way - but it used to be that a conqueror was considered to have right over those he had conquered; right by conquest, we say. Well, Christ has conquered us, has he not? We lived in rebellion against him; we were part of that humanity, under bondage to the devil, that raises its fist to God and cries "We will not have the LORD to reign over us," and seeks to build its own kingdom for its own glory. But Christ came, born of Mary, riding on a donkey, suffering under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead, and buried, that he might on the third day rise from the dead as Christus Victor - Christ the Victor - as He himself had said, "Be not afraid, I have overcome the world!" How? Through the cross, as we are told in Hebrews 2: 14: Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15: And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

And now all authority is given to him in heaven and earth, and the words of God, spoken through King David in the second psalm, are fulfilled in these last days: "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion - ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces, like a potter's vessel." And then David tells the kings and rulers of this rebellious globe - admit your defeat! Reverence and submit to this new king, the Son of the God of the Universe, lest you be destroyed should he get riled with you, even just a little bit. And when this great King, who is also a Lamb, called us ever so kindly to come to him and turn from living in our rebellion against him, and to bow our knees to him and acknowledge him as king and Lord over our lives, we were conquered - not by His sword, but by His love and grace - that love and grace so wonderfully displayed and powerfully effectual on the Cross of Calvary. We now love our Conqueror, because He first loved us.

We belong to Jesus. We belong to Him because He has bought us, because he has conquered us, and because we have gladly surrendered ourselves to him. This surrendering of ourselves to Him is depicted, here in Galatians 5, by Paul, with the imagery of crucifixion. 24: And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

We belong to Christ because we have given ourselves to Him. And this giving of ourselves to him is a kind of dying. We cease to live our life for ourselves and begin to live for him. Hear what Paul says earlier in Galatians, in ch. 2:20: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Note this idea of replacement through crucifixion: my life is given up for His. Christians are disciples who follow Christ. Christ went to the cross so that he might remove all that would hinder us from joining with him in his new resurrected life. But in order to share in his new life, we must share in his death. In order to rise with him in the Spirit, we must die with him on the Cross.

Do you remember, in the gospel of Mark, when Peter tried to talk Jesus out of going to Jerusalem and being crucified there? It's in chapter 8. It says that Peter actually rebuked Jesus for having such an idea. Right after that happened, Jesus called all the people around him together and then he said these words: Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35: For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 36: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Having just talked about dying in Jerusalem, Jesus now talks about losing one's life. He would lose His life in Jerusalem on the cross. He's talking about losing your life by dying on a cross. He kept using this imagery of the cross in his call to people to follow him at other times. When he met the man who said he had kept all God's commands, Jesus told him, "Sell what you have, take up the cross, and follow Me"(Mark 10:21). And after Peter confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, Jesus said to all his disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24: For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."

So you see what is happening here. A Christian is someone who follows Jesus; who "comes after Jesus." Where was Jesus going? To the cross. Where does he say we must go if we are going to follow him? To the cross. Why? To die on it, like he did. Becoming a Christian is the equivalent of taking in hand our natural selves, dominated by the desires and affections of our evil hearts, which we inherited from Adam, and which are stirred up by the rebellious world around us. And having taken ourselves in hand, we nail ourselves on a cross to die to our old selves. We determine that we will not be that kind of person any more. We will put away from our lives the things that characterise our fallen condition, such as the things which Paul listed earlier in the Epistle reading. We will stop living for ourselves - give up our life - so that we may follow Jesus - to death - to the end of all we have known in this world up to this point.

Now if we consider the horrible damage that our sins do to us - the sins we naturally love so much - it should sound wonderful that we can die to all that garbage! What a wonderful thing! I can stop being the person I have always been - messing my life up all the time and hurting all the people around me. I can be free from sin - by dying to it. But, at the same time, that sounds rather threatening. Death? Crucify myself? Die? How can I lose myself? The idea of going on, dead to myself, does not sound very inviting. Ah! But the death is not all there is! Remember the principle of replacement. Jesus said, we must lose our life to save it! Just as Jesus' own cross was the way to His own day of resurrection, so our own cross is the way to a new life in Him: He dwells in us and we dwell in Him. Death to living for self is not the end, but the means to an end. It is the way to follow Jesus - through death, past the cross, unto resurrection and newness of life. Taking up our cross - turning from living for ourselves - surrendering ourselves to our King - ceasing to try to own ourselves and beginning to live, owned by someone else - by Christ, is the path to the glory and joy that Jesus already knows in heaven and wants to give to us today. And in place of a life dominated by the works of the flesh, having left that life behind, we now can know a life filled with the fruits of His own Spirit. Instead of a life of hatred, we can have a life of love. Instead of a life of anger, we can have a life of joy. Instead of a life of strife, we can have a life of peace. And we have all these because those who belong to Him are those to whom He gives His Spirit, that right now, we might know the power of the saving and redeeming work of Jesus' Cross in our lives. He died, that we might live - in the power of His Spirit - freely by His grace. And, having taken up our own cross and died on our own cross by self-surrender, we now live a new life, raised with Christ - not for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose again for us, our Loving King and Saviour.

Friends, this life of love and joy and peace is yours - if you will have it. It is free - completely paid for by your Saviour. It is yours every day. As Bishop Moule said: To Him I belong, by purchase, conquest, and self-surrender. "To me He belongs, for all my hourly need." Yes! The path of the cross - of losing your own life - is the path of gaining the life of Christ Himself. He gives himself to you, with all his glory and grace, for everything you need, until the day when he brings you home to himself, perfectly.