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Sermons on the Blessed Sacrament
Preached in the Oratory of S. Margaret's, East Grinstead

by John Mason Neale, D.D.

London: H. R. Allenson, n.d.


Contents

Sermon I. Who is sufficient?

"Who is sufficient for these things?''--2 Cor. ii. 16.

Sermon II. In the Presence of God

"What nation is there so great, who hath GOD so nigh unto them as the LORD our GOD is."--Deut. iv. 7.

Sermon III. The True Joseph

"Neither was there a man born like unto Joseph, a governor of his brethren, a stay of the people, whose bones were regarded of the LORD."--Ecclus. xlix. 15.

Sermon IV. The Shadow of Good Things

"And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another. It is manna; for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat."--Exod. xvi. 15.

Sermon V. The Corn of the Mighty

"For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty I corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids."--Zech. ix. 17

Sermon VI. Satisfaction

"He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him."--S. John vi. 56.

Sermon VII. The Petition for Loaves

"And He said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer, and say. Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."--S. Luke xi. 5-8.

Sermon VIII. The Word of a king

"Where the word of a king is, there is power."--Eccles. viii. 4.

Sermon IX. Why hath the Lord smitten us?

"And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of HOSTS, which dwelleth between the cherubims : and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of GOD. And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again."--I Sam. iv. 3-5.

Sermon X. Strange Fire

"And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD."--Lev. x. i, 2.

Sermon XI. Esther's Banquet

"And the King said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the Queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O King, and if it please the King, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request."--Esther vii. 2, 3.

Sermon XII. What do ye more than others?

"When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee."--Prov. xxiii. i.

Sermon XIII. The Sacrifice of Calvary

"Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."--S. Mark xiv. 41.

Sermon XIV. The Mystery of the Passion

"Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."--S. Mark xiv. 41.

Sermon XV. The Ransom of Sinners

"Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."--S. Mark xiv. 41.

Sermon XVI. Do This in Remembrance of Me.

"It is enough; the hour is come: behold the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."--S. Mark xiv. 41.

Sermon XVII. The Great Sacrifice

"Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners."--S. Mark xiv. 41.

Sermon XVIII. The Heavenly Manna.

"And the manna ceased on the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land.--Joshua v. it.

Sermon XIX. Approaching God

"Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God?"--Micah vi. 6.

Sermon XX. Ruth, the Prototype

"Boaz begat Obed of Ruth."--S. Matt. i. 5.

Sermon XXI. The Inner Meaning of Sacrifice.

"Thus were the things that belonged unto the sacrifices of the LORD accomplished in that day, that they might hold the Passover.--I Esdras i. 17

Sermon XXII. The Christian Sacrifice.

"As they were eating, JESUS took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat: this is My Body."--S. Matt. xxvi. 26.


Preface

IN the teaching and practice of Dr Neale, as founder of S. Margaret's Sisterhood, the Blessed Sacrament occupied from the first a place of paramount dignity; and while as yet daily Celebrations and Offices in honour of the Holy Eucharist were almost unknown among English Catholics, he taught his Sisters to worship with fervent, vigorous love and reverence, and gave them the fullest opportunities of Sacramental worship and Communion.

They consider, therefore, that the Sermons he has left on this subject bear a peculiar interest; and having gathered them together, they offer them for the use of others. They do not pretend to set forth this scanty collection as a full course of instruction, which indeed it is not; but they do hope that it may prove an assistance to devotion, and to a deepened insight into the depths of Scriptural and Liturgical mysteries concerning this great subject.

The Sermon last in order was published in the first edition, only, of the First Series of "Readings for the Aged."

S. MARGARET'S CONVENT,
EAST GRINSTEAD


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