Sermons at Rugby

at love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and plenteousness within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes I w

, there is sure to rise up in many minds the thought of what this life has done for them or failed to do

e may have no regrets, and no bitterness, and no shame in it, and the memories to be cherished may be such as add to the happiness and strength of later years. And if, as we trust, this is your case, your feeling for your school is almost certain to be in some degree like tha

r your school as that unknown Jewish pilgrim who first sung this 122nd Psalm felt for the city of his fathers and the house of God? "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they

d." On the other hand, if this feeling is weak in any school, or among the former members of it, or if it assumes debased forms, as sometimes happens, we see there a sure sign of degeneration. He who, having grown up in any society like ours, is possessed by no such love for it, and stirred by no enthusiasm for its good name, and no desire to do it good, and to see good growing in every part of it, such an one has somehow missed the chief blessing t

by no glow of patriotic feeling for it. Whatever their own experience of it may have been, they are no

purpose, as shall infect each soul amongst us with those higher aims, and tastes, and motives, with that hatred of things mean or impure, and that love of things that are manly, honest, and

ife, and himself a part of it, though possibly far away-"Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself: thither the tribes go up." Those were times when Israel suffered from division of tribe against tribe, times when the pulse of common life hardly beat

riotic love-"They shall prosper that love thee"-"For my brethren and companions' sakes

ncerity and the worth of any love you bear to person, place, institution, or society, you have only to turn to this Psalm, and see if these words fit your thoughts, desires, and endeavours-"They shall prosper that love thee-For my brethren and companions' sakes I will wish thee prosperity-Yea, because of the house of th

wrote a School-house boy to his friend fifty-three years ago-"I verily believe my whole being is soaked through with wishing and hoping and striving to do the school good,

sors as he sat here Sunday by

e or history; but alongside of it all, or rather through it all, underlying it all, giving earnestness and fervour, the true unselfish quality, to it all, there was burning in his heart a cons

where, that the name of Rugby School became honoured among schools, and this chapel came to be looked upon as a sacred home of inspiring influences; and it is only through an unfailing succession of s

nclude, from the Psalmist meditating on the city and temple of his heart's affections, to the Saviour, as He drew near to the Cross, praying for His disciples-"Father, the hour is come. . . . I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work Thou gavest

to the Saviour whom we worship, is that religious patriotism has expanded into the love o

s, so that we too, as we kneel before God each morning, each night, and think of our duty to those around us, may be able to say, in thes