"" Dust

lie equally under the irreversible decree, thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return ;" and in the judgment that follows that inevitable event, reference will be made to rank, and honour, and dignity, only as bringing with them increased responsibility, and as demanding from their possessors the gain of ten talents instead of five, where ten instead of five were given.

men.

Neither is it solely with a reference to individual welfare, that I would impress upon the great and noble the necessity of a due consideration of eternity, the importance of the cultivation of righteousness. It is to be feared that religion enters too little into the calculations of public It is to be feared that a single eye to the honour of God, is not invariably an influential principle amongst them. But if it be true that in the case of individuals, God honours them that honour him, and lightly esteems them that disregard him; assuredly it is equally true, that when a nation, considered in a national capacity, begins to disregard or despise the honour of God, be that nation rich in her resources, eminent for her prowess, renowned for her science, commanding in her situation, extensive in her possessions, unrivalled in her commerce, the worm is at the root of all these advantages, the ruin is begun, the downfal is at hand. Tyre,Babylon,-Egypt,-Greece, Rome ;-what is left of them, but the page of history, the shadow

of their glory, the record of their destruction? I say nothing of that standing monument of God's infliction of national punishment, that Jerusalem whose awful history is written in characters of flame and blood. And if these

If we neglect

have perished, why may not we? God and his ordinances, if we despise God and his word, if we deny God and his truth, what shall prevent us from suffering the punishment of our sins?

May God in his mercy turn the hearts of this people towards himself; as by him kings reign, and princes execute judgment, may he establish the throne in righteousness, and continuing to us those eminent advantages which we have long enjoyed, give us grace to use them to his glory, and to the everlasting salvation of our souls!

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SERMON XXIII.

THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS.

MATT. XXV. 13.

Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

IT is impossible to contemplate the condition of man as a rational and accountable creature, without being convinced that the most important of all subjects which can engage the attention, and interest the faculties of our mind, is the future judgment; the account to be hereafter rendered by every one of us to God the judge of all. This conviction, which reason so fully admits, revelation endeavours most forcibly to impress; and in all the statements of God's word, it is plain that a reference is invariably made to that final result of our probation, which, as it is most clearly announced in the scriptures of truth, so likewise can only be duly and safely anticipated by our careful attention to the things that are therein contained. He who has brought life

and immortality to light through the gospel, and has thus cast the radiance of divine truth around the conjectures of human wisdom, and the convictions of human conscience; he it is who teaches us how to prepare for that event, the certainty of which he has fully declared; and how that responsibility will be measured, and that retribution apportioned, which shall influence the eternal destiny of all men. No one can complain that the certainty, the rule, and the results of that judgment are indistinctly stated; no one can complain that he cannot, from a careful and conscientious examination of his own heart, ascertain with sufficient precision, whether he has his lamp burning, whether he is rightly improving the talent committed to him, and whether he is so fully impressed with the love of Him who died for him and rose again, that his love is the prevailing feeling of his heart, and the guiding principle of his actions. Jesus Christ has left us no shadowy or speculative system of morals, no indefinite rules of duty, no perplexing code of ceremonial observances, whereby we may try our own souls, or whereby he will judge us hereafter; but he has shown that he will judge the heart, and that all our actions will be estimated by that inward principle, which alone can give to holiness its real excellence, and originate, promote, and complete the meetness of our souls for heaven.

The parables of the chapter before us, together

with the delineation of the final scene of judgment and retribution, at the close of it, are exactly calculated to enforce these thoughts. And, considered, as they ought to be, in connexion with the previous discourse, and as forming, in fact, the conclusion of it, they present us with valuable lessons of wisdom upon that very topic, the vast importance of which we have already stated, and the vast importance of which we are, alas! but too unwilling to recognise, at least, in that practical application of it to our own hearts and consciences, which can alone lead us, in seriousness and in soberness, to prepare to meet our God.

We have found that our blessed Saviour, in his parables relating to the kingdom of heaven, has given us delineations of the state of his visible church, and its progress in grace and holiness at different periods of its existence. Some of them may well be considered as bearing something of a prophetic character; and as pointing with sufficient accuracy to the establishment, the increase, and the final triumph of his religion, when the kingdom of heaven should be the literal, and no longer only the symbolical, description of his church. And it would be eminently useful to trace these descriptions of the church of Christ, as contained in these his parables, inasmuch as they invariably contain some great practical lesson of godliness, some enforce