Inheritance of the Saints
The sermon emphasizes the importance of patient strivings and daily acts in achieving the beatitudes of the saints and inheriting a heavenly reward.
Mary Wilder Tileston, through the words of John Campbell Shairp and Richard Chenevix Trench, reflects on the lives of the saints who have passed on, emphasizing their deep connection with God and the lasting impact of their pure and divine existence. The beatitude of the Saints is portrayed as the culmination of a lifetime of unnoticed but faithful daily acts, leading to the ultimate reward of beholding God and becoming one with His divine nature.
Text
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
COLOSSIANS 1:12
NOT their own, ah! not from earth was flowing
That high strain to which their souls were tuned;
Year by year we saw them inly growing
Liker Him with whom their hearts communed.
Then to Him they passed; but still unbroken,
Age to age, lasts on that goodly line,
Whose pure lives are, more than all words spoken,
Earth's best witness to the life divine.
JOHN CAMPBELL SHAIRP
ONLY to remember that such have been, that we walked for a season with them, is a chastening, a purifying, yea, and however much we may miss and mourn them, a gladdening thought.
RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH
The beatitude of the Saints is the matured result of the long course of patient strivings, which may have passed wholly unobserved because of their minuteness. One step has followed another in the mysterious progress of daily, hourly acts, each seeming to pass away, as footprints on the sand are obliterated by the advancing tide; but the end is the Vision of God, and the recompense is the perfection of a nature made one with the Mind of God.
T. T. CARTER
Sermon Outline
- The Inheritance of the Saints
- The Beatitudes of the Saints
- The Importance of Remembering the Saints
- A chastening and purifying thought
- A gladdening thought despite missing and mourning them
- A matured result of daily acts
Key Quotes
“The beatitude of the Saints is the matured result of the long course of patient strivings, which may have passed wholly unobserved because of their minuteness.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“One step has followed another in the mysterious progress of daily, hourly acts, each seeming to pass away, as footprints on the sand are obliterated by the advancing tide;” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“but the end is the Vision of God, and the recompense is the perfection of a nature made one with the Mind of God.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We can achieve the beatitudes of the saints by following a long course of patient strivings and daily acts.
- Remembering the saints can be a chastening, purifying, and gladdening thought that inspires us to follow in their footsteps.
- The result of patient strivings is the matured result of daily acts that lead to a Vision of God and the perfection of a nature made one with God's Mind.