jesus of Nazareth,
1 WHO WENT ABOUT DOING GOOD,
THE MODEL FOR THE CHURCH AND FOR THE MINISTRY:

THE SERMON

AT THE ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT

THE GENERAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE TJ. S. OP AMERICA}

THE RIGHT REV. GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, D.D., LL.D.,
BISHOP OF MEW JTEHSET.

SSuclfngton:
r.IIMUNII MORRIS, PIIIKTEH.
M D CCC XLV.

To
JOHN POTTER, Eaa-,
of prospect, near princeton,
a trustee for many tears :
* noble benefactor of the church;
hi kind and faithful friend.
Riverside, St. Peter's Day, m d ccc xlv.

SERMON.

ACTS X, xxxviii.
JESUS OF NAZARETH  WHO WENT ABOUT DOIN6 SOOD.
It is but incidentally, that the Apostle says this of
<©ur blessed Saviour, and, as it were, in passing; but
what volume could do justice to its pure and perfect
beauty ! It had been much, if, here and there, a sick
man had been healed, a mourner comforted, a sinner
softened and forgiven. It had been very much, if,
whosoever came to Him had had his sorrows soothed,
his children blessed, his dead restored to life. How
perfect, in the overflowing fulness of its unreserving
self-devotion, that speaking picture of the text, He
"went about doing good!" He sought, that He
might save, the lost ! — He had not " where to lay His
head." He was "despised and rejected of men."
The very heel of him that ate his bread was lifted
up against Him. And yet, He "went about, doing
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the
devil." Indefatigable, inexhaustible, unconquerable
in love ! Was it for a few sick folk, in Galilee, or in.
Judea, that this was done? The widow's son, and
Ja>ir us' daughter, and Mary's brother^ Lazarus? A
publican or harlot, now and then; a dozen, or a score,
of fishermen; "the hundred and twenty,"1 or "five
« ¦« Acli, i. 15.

hundred,"1 at the most, who owned Him in the flesh!
No : but for every age, and all the world ; long as the
Church shall last, far as the Church shall spread:
"leaving us an example," the same Apostle writes,
" that ye should follow His steps." That blessed One
has gone, long since, to Heaven. His bare and bleed
ing feet traverse the earth no more, to do men good.
"When He had spoken these things, while they be
held, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him
out of their sight."2 Not, however, till He had made
provision, to re-produce Himself, in offices of love, to
all the ages of our sinning, suffering, dying race, in
that blood-purchased Church, to which He said, " Lo,
I am with you always even unto the end of the
vfc>rld,"3"the Church which is His body;"4 giving
commandment to the Apostles, whom He had cho
sen, to " preach the gospel to every creature,"5 and
to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them,"8
in the eternal tri-une Name. And now, the law of
love, living forever in that sacred line of self-per
petuating life, which He ordains, to Save and bless
the world; and binding upon every living soul that
has been gathered in, -in its electric chain, is simply
this : the Church is only, then, Christ's living Body,
the souls of men are only, then, Its living members,
when they reflect His living image, as St. Peter
sketched it, "who went about doing good." "Love
is life's only jiign."7 " Jesus of Nazareth," " who
went about doing good, and healing all that were op-

1 1 Corinthians, xv. 6. 3 Acts, i. 9, 3 St. Matthew, xxviii. 20.
* Bphesians, i. 22, 23. 5 St. Mark, xvi. 15. « St. Malthuw, xxviii. 19. i Keble.

pressed of the devil, for God was with Him." The
Church, to be indeed Christ's Church, must go about
doing good. She must apply herself, with unreserv-
ing and untiring love, to healing all that are oppres
sed of the devil. So shall she know, and prove, that
God is with her, of a truth.
The Apostle sets before us in few, graphic words,
the cause, the curse, and the cure of sin : "healing all
them that were oppressed with the devil."' Through
his seduction, sin came into the world. Bondage to
him is its sore curse ; the iron entering into the soul,
till it is sick, even unto death. The only healer that
can cure and set usfree, Jesus of Nazareth; and that,
as He is crucified and killed. " It shall bruise thy
head," whilst "thou," in thy death-struggle, "shalt"
but " bruise His heel."1 " The whole creation groan-
eth and travaileth in pain together until;now."2 Not
without sure and certain hope, however, in the re
demption of the Cross, of its deliverance, " from the
bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of
the children of God."2 In the midst of this yearning,
groaning, agonizing, world, the travail-pains of death
grinding the very soul from out its life, the Church,
as Jesus Christ, when in the flesh, is mercifully set;
with power from God, to heal, redeem, and save.
In her, He says, who is, in her^ Healer, Redeemer,
Saviour, " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the
ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none
else."3 The suffering soul, that looks to Him, as He
is lifted up in her, in supplicating faith, in her re-
1 Genesis, iii. 15. 2 Romans, viii. 22, 21 3 Isaiah, xlv. 22.

vives, and lives. The name of Jesus is as ointment
shed on all his wounds. . His word, sweeter than
angels' music, soothes and stills the storms and sor
rows of his soul. His sins are washed away in the
pure stream of living water, that flows out forever.
from His side. And, with the blood that -mingles
with it, he receives immortal nurture and eternal
life. ' And, what is realized in one, is fully meant for
all. Jesus of Nazareth, went about, healing "all that
were oppressed of the devil." The Church, that is
His, must belike Him, or He owns her not. "Veri
ly I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these my brethren, ye did it not to me."1
And then, those fearful wdrds, "these shall go away
into everlasting punishment."1
Beloved brethren, have these fearful words of Je
sus Chrisj; no fitness, and no claim, for us 1 Are we,
as a Church — is each of us, as we are members of the
Church — going about doing good? Is there, in our
administration of the sacred trust, which Jesus Christ
reposes in us, healing for " all them that are oppressed
of the devil ?" Alas, what bitter words ! What biting
sarcasm, in the thought! The holy Jesus "went
about doing good." On foot, He traversed every.
acre of that blessed land ; or found the only respite of
His weariness in some rude fisher's boat, upon the
passionate Gennesaret. See Him, atone time, tossed
with all the fury of its wildest storms.2 Behold Him,
at another, on the dreary mountain side, alone.3
What hearth of poverty does He not share ? What
1 St. Matthew, mv. 46 ; 46, '- St. Luke, viii. 23, » St. Matthew, xiv. 23.

house of mourning does He not cheer? What bed
Of sickness, and of death, does He not soothe ? Is
there a poor, frail woman, in Samaria, that, with all
her frailty, has yearnings for" a better hope within
her heart ? He is sitting with her, in the hot and'
weary noon, by Jacob's well;1 to speak to her of liv
ing water, that shall satisfy the soul. Has Pharisaic
malice wreaked itself ;. on one whose only crime was
being with Jesus, and receiving sight from Himj
and cast him out of its communion ? Already He
has heard it, and has found him,2 and has given him
" peace " and comfort " in believing." A widow wails
her only son. Jesus is there, to stop the bier, and
give him back to her bereaved, broken heart.3 Two
sisters bear a brother to the tomb, which hides, with
him, the light that cheered their life. In four days,
Jesus comes, and Lazarus has risen." No leper lifts
to Him an unavailing cry. No father speaks in vain
to Him, for a demoniac child. The hungry multi
tudes are fed. The ignorant multitudes are taught.
The sinful multitudes are warned. A woman comes
to Him, that was a sinner, and breaks a box of oint
ment on His feet, and wipes them with her flowing
hair. "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for
she loved much."5 Maternal fondness thrusts itself
upon Him, to desire a blessing for its offspring, and
is turned coldly off; only to be made surer of His
gentleness, and richer in His love : "suffer the little
children to come unto me and forbid them not ; for
'St. John, iv. 6. »ix. 35, 3St. Luke, vii. 15, * St. John, si. 44.
sSt. Luke, Tii. 47.

10
of such is the kingdom of God/" It was so, that
Jesus of Nazareth went about doing good, until He
poured His life out upon the Cross. So literally was
He, present, " to heal all them that, were oppressed
of the devil.'.' So manifest was God in Him.
But, now, His Church, His living and life-giving
Body, Himself, put in trust, of Him, with the.salvation
of the world — how does site manifest His glory? What
are her triumphs, through the power of His amazing
Cross ? Where are her trophies of His love and trust,
in her?, Does, she feed the hungry? Does she_ clothe
the naked ? Is she eyes to the, blind, and feet to, the
lame? Are the children gathered all, about her
knees, and nurtured at her breast ? Does she, make
smooth the pillow of the sick ? Is every death-bed
soothed and cheered by her ? Does she go down, to
bear the light of hope into the cell of every felon? Does-
she go out, to be the chart and compass of the stoEm-
tossed mariner? Are the words of her celestial wisdom
heard in all the, schools? Is she invoked and owned as
the support and consecration of all human laws and
earthly governments ? Is she acknowledged in the,
pulses of the city's ceaseless heart, and not unfelt in
scattered hamlet, or by rustic hearth ? Are the leaves,
which she has charge of, for the healing of the nations,,
wafted, like maple seeds, on every breeze? Are the feet
of her messengers prompt as the. impulse of adven
ture, fleet as the flight of pleasure, present wherever
men are found, for duty, or pf choice ? Does she erect
her house of prayer wherever human hearths are
¦St. Mark, x. 14.

11
lighted ? Are her gates open, day and night, for all
who will, to enter in, and be with God ? Is there no
hungry soul, that looks to her for bread, and does not
find it ? Are there no widows, that she comforts not ?
No orphans, that she takes not to her bosom? Is
there no sinner, that her voice has never warned?
Is there no mourner, that her "oil of joy" has never
comforted ? Are there no perishing souls, whose
blood is on her skirts? No lost, who will stand up,
and witness, at the awful day, of her neglect of men,
and disregard of Him who died for them ? Brethren,
the answers to these searching questions frown upon
our sight at every turn, and their intolerable glare
will blind us in the day of judgment. The Church
is hot like " Jesus of Nazareth, who went about do
ing good," and "healing all them that were oppressed
of the devil;" and therefore, God is not with her, in.
light,. and peace, and power. She sits and waits for
men to come to her. She treats them coldly when
they come. She stints them in the blessings which
her Saviour left with her. She hides her talent in
a napkin in the earth. She starves her children, and
she dwarfs herself. When she might be the joy of
the whole earth, she is scarcely counted of, among
the nations. When she should be the light of the
world, the flame upon her altars seems glimmering,
to go out. Men are forced from her scant fountain,
to the broken cisterns of the world. She fails to en
force her godly discipline, and they resort to Tem
perance Societies. She disregards the law of mu
tual love, and they associate in Masonic Lodges and
Odd Fellowships. She casts away from her the

12
strength and comfort of sacred communities, and re
ligious brotherhoods, and they are tempted to the
parallelograms of Owen, or the phalanxes of Fourier.
What are love feasts, and class meetings, but cold,
faint shadows of the ancient intercourse of Christian
piety and love ? What are anxious seats, and ex
perience meetings, but the clumsy counterfeits of
primitive practice, in the meekness, and humility, and
unreserve of an encouraged, but uncorapelled, con
fession; seeking of them whom Christ has authorized
to bind and loose for Him, "such godly counsel and
advice, as may tend to the quieting of his conscience,
and the removing of all scruple and doubtfulness?"1
Why should a Church, that is corrupt in doctrine
and idolatrous in worship, appropriate the heir-looms
of the elder days, in sisters of charity, and brother
hoods of mercy? Why should a Church, which
makes her constant and her confident appeal to an
intelligent examination of her standards and her for
mularies,, in the clear .light of the most ancient times,
proverbially neglect the thorough training of her
children, in religious knowledge? Why should a
Church, whose members are abundant in the riches
of this world, jand who go before their neighbours in
the things which gratify the sense and taste, grudge of
the crumbs that fall from her full table,, and leave
the ministry to starve, the altar to decay? There
are no worthy answers to these questions, short of
penitent confession, and positive assurance of amend
ment. For want of this, God turns His face away.
1 Invitation to the Holy Communion, in the Book of Common P,rayer,

13
There may be outward seeming, and numerical in
crease. But love is wanting, and so life. We have
not peace at home. We have not strength abroad.
We see not "eye to eye." We clasp not hand to
hand. We beat not heart to heart. We are not
"with one accord," as they of old time, "in prayer
and supplication."1 We stand not fast, like that
Philippian phalanx, "in one spirit, with one mind,
striving together for the faith of the Gospel."2 Our
onward march loiters and lags. The ground we oc
cupy is occupied with doubt and insecurity. The
glow of confidence is wanting to our hearts. Our
faces beam not with the light of hope. The Lord *
goes not with us to battle. And so Victpry sits not on
our banner.
My brethren, with the beautiful example, which
the text presents, before us, while abounding grace,
to make it real, and to make it ours, waits our ac
ceptance, we are without excuse if we continue long
er as we are. Let us betake ourselves to fervent
prayer, that God will mercifully raise up His power,
" and come among us, and with great might succour
us."3 Especially, let us beseech Him, to send His
Holy Ghost, and " pour into our hearts, that most
excellent gift of charity, which is the bond of peace,
and of all virtues."4 We have from God the doc
trines of His Gospel, in their purity; the order of His
Church, in its perfection. We need more faith.
We need more love. We need the "faith which

1 Acts, i. 14. 2 Philippians, i, 27. 3 Collect for fourth Sunday in
Advent. 4 Collect for Quinquagesima Sunday.

14
works by love." Faith, to deny ourselves, and bear
the Cross. Faith, to take all God's word, and to wait
all God's time. Faith, to look off from flesh and
sense, and to cast all our confidence on Christ.
Faith, to encounter opposition. Faith, to endure af
fliction. Faith, to make light of tribulation. Faith,
to sell all we have, and give to the poor, and find
treasure in heaven. Faith, to cast down all earthly
thoughts, and human things, before the Cross's foot;
bringing all "into captivity to the obedience of
Christ." "Looking unto Jesus," as "the Author
and Finisher of our faith,"1 we shall reflect His pu
rity, and catch the fervour of His love. It will con
sume in us all selfish and all sensual thoughts. It
will inflame us with the ardours of an all-embracing
and an all-enduring charity. We shall crucify our
selves, with Him, upon His Cross ; and so be raised,
and reign with Him, upon His throne;
My dear young brethren, who are to go forth from
these sacred Walls, to-day, to mingle with the world,
and, as the servants of the Cross — if God shall please,
its ministering servants — to help us in our holy work,
of winning souls for Jesus Christ; to you, in this be
half, I most especially appeal. Your entrance on
the crowded stage of human life is at a most event
ful period, for the trial of your spirits. It is an age
of steam, and stir, and strife. An age, whose rapid
progress in all physical developments threatens to
sensualize the soul. An age, in which the work of
generations is atchieved in single days. An age of
1 Hebrews, xii. 2.

is
rapid gains, and rapid losses; of change, and chance,
unsettled, and unsettling; contemptuous of prece
dents, and greedy only for the new. In such an
age, the Church.must be severely tried. The Church
is old. The Church is calm. The Church is steady.
The Church is heavenly, and for heaven. Let no
thing tempt you from her peaceful, heaven-protected
precincts. Be not seduced by any show of new ex
periments. . Be not elated by any flattering thought
of individual effort, or of individual influence-. Man
was not made to be alone. Man has a social nature.
The Church was made for man, as he is social in his
nature, that so his social nature may be one with
God. . In her, God sets His word. In her, God stores
His grace. She is established on the Rock of ever
lasting Ages. She is compacted by the trials of near
twenty centuries. She is the living Body of the
ever-living Lord ; and the true life is in her, for all
that live by faith in Him. Admitted, in His infinite
mercy, to be partakers of such grace, and heirs of
such a hope, give yourselves frankly up to Him, to
wait, and do His will. In humbleness, in holiness,
in self-denial, in willingness to bear, in readiness to
do, in cheerfulness to suffer, be followers of Him,
whose meat and drink it was to do His Father's will ;
who went about to do men good. The Church's
glorious and tremendous trust, for Jesus Christ, is in
the souls for which He died. The Church's work. is,
therefore, spirit- work. Not to be done amid the heat
and noise of controversy; not to be done through the
polemic rage of pamphlets and of newspapers; not to
be done in the Conventions and Councils of the

16
Church. It must be done in private. It must b&
done in the closet. It must be done in the sanctu
ary. It must be done in schools. It must be done
in families. It must be done in parishes. It must
be done, in the room of sickness. It must be done in
the death-chamber. It must be done, with soul to
soul: teaching with the wisdom which is from God;
drawing with the cords of a man. The qualifica
tions for it are not such as shine in courts, or camps;
or fit for commerce, or diplomacy, or legislation. The
men that do it, must be men of thoughtfulness and
prayer. They must be humble^minded men, that
count themselves as less than nothing, but as Christ
supplies their strength. They must be men, whom
nothing human, nothing earthly, can remove from
their allegiance to the Cross. In a word, they must
be as Barnabas, good men, and "full of faith and of
the Holy Ghost," if they would add much people to
the Lord. To go about, to do men, good, must be
their mark and aim. To deny themselves in per
sonal indulgence : to deny themselves in the domes
tic eharities : to forego, if need require, the cheerful
joy of wife and children, that they may please Him
who hath chosen them to be His soldiers; and, in
any case, to make it secondary to the holy warfare,
which they war : to make no account of station or
emolument: to make no account of climate or socie
ty: to make no account of effort or of self-denial : to
make no account of health, or life : to work, if so
alone the gospel can be preached, with their own
hands, like holy Paul, that no man be at charges for
them; and to know nothing, in all their service for

17
the Church, but Jesus Christ, and Him as crucified,
must be their strength, their glory, and their joy. '
The Church's work, my dear young brethren, accu
mulates upon her hands. She is now ages in arrears.
The world outruns her, and so runs to ruin. To ar
rest the headlong hurry of this fearful race is the
great problem of our age. Men take no time to
think. Men take no time to study. Men take no
time to pray. They hasten, for they know not what,
they know not whither; and, in their heat andhurry,
rush into the grave. To win them, through the
grace of Christ, to better thoughts and better things,
you, if it please God to receive you to His ministry,
will now go forth. To be successful with them, you
must win their confidence. Not by concessions to
their errors. Not by any compromise with their
worldliness. Not by partaking in their sins. But
by convincing them that you seek them, not theirs.
By proving to them that your only effort is to save
their souls. To do so, you must watch for every op
portunity of good. You must be instant in season,
and out of season. You must win them by consid
eration for their personal comfort. You must win
them by being interested in their personal interests.
You must win them by sympathy with their domes-?
tic joys and^sorrows. You must win them through
their children ; as the shepherd leads the flock, by
carrying, in his arms, the new-dropped lamb. Think
of the blessedness of your immortal work. - Think of
its present comfort. Think of its everlasting glory.
Think that you are fellow- workers in it, with all
the sacramental host of God's elect; with the innu-
3

1-8
fn erable company of angels ; with the Holy Ghost,
the Comforter. Think, that, to do so, is to be as
"Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who went about doing
good." And think, how He will smile upon you,
from His throne, and that dear smile beam, heaven
upon your soul, if only one, and that the least ac
counted of, of men, shall so be won to Him: "verily,
I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done
it unto me."

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