character and conduct? Christianity is not a system out of us, wherever it saves, but a life within us.

We may judge of it by our conversation. What is your predominating conversation in your homes? Are you eloquent on all the cares and concerns of life, on the market, on politics, on money, on ecclesiastical quarrels, but always silent, hopelessly silent, on the soul and eternity? «Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Psal. cxlv. 4-7, "One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness." A Christian cannot be dumb, if he really be one. "Come, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for my soul," is an invitation as natural as it is scriptural.

Let me ask again, what are your chief cares and anxieties? Are these, "What shall I eat? what shall I drink? and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" or is it, "What must I do to be saved?" The whole gospel shows its eminently practical character in this, that it answers no curious and idle questions, but ever presses present, practical duties. "Are there few that be saved?" is a query it replies to by saying, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." Is your anxiety about your children, how they shall play their part in the world, or how they shall stand before God? Would you rather they were accomplished than Christian, that they enjoyed the admiration of mankind, than secured the approval of Him that made them? Would you rather that your country were rich, than holy; renowned in war, than beautiful by peace; the envy of nations, rather than the accepted and the favoured of God? Would you rather

that your church were dominant, and numerous, and rich in the face of rivals, than pure, and spiritual, and unworldly, and consecrated entirely to God?

Our actions, too, are no mean exponents of our feeling on this point. Are these just, beneficent, beautiful, true? Are they as fragrant fruits, the products of Scriptual principles? Do you ever make a sacrifice for Christ's sake, and for his sake alone, and without respect to what the right hand sees, or what your neighbour thinks? Do you study the Scriptures? Do you pray? When the profits or the honours of the world point one way, and the convictions of conscience and the prescriptions of the word of God point directly in the opposite, can you count all but loss for the excellency of Christ?

You may make light of the gospel, but nevertheless it is true. All the experience of man, all the attributes of Deity proclaim it. It never has been proved to be false, it never can be proved to be so. You make light, therefore, of that which is clear and more glorious than the sun. Your conduct pronounces it a fable, your resistance calls God a liar. You make light of the most important subject in the whole universe. It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. You may be insensible to this now, but you will feel it one day. Conscience will awaken from her stupor, and speak yet uncompromisingly. Cease therefore to slight now what alone can save you; lay aside the fears of the slave, the apathy of the infidel, and decide for God. Christianity is either an imposture, or it is infinitely momentous. It either enunciates direct untruths, or it is the most momentous topic to which man ever directed his anxious attention. You incur great guilt, whether you are conscious of it or not you not only

retain all the guilt of a violated law, but you incur the additional guilt of neglecting the only remedy. You pronounce your character, ruined and vitiated by sin, good enough for the acceptance of God; and the grand remedy provided by the cross of Christ you gratuitously despise, and proclaim to have been utterly uncalled for and unnecessary. You defy the judgments, you trample on the mercies of the Eternal. Sinai has no terrors for you, and Calvary has no attractions; and this, not from want of welcome on the part of God, or of deep need in your own condition, but pure unwillingness: you alone-the most interested in the matter of all creatures in the universestrangely and inconsistently make light of it. Satan does not; for he toils to arrest and neutralize its glorious progress. Angels do not; for they desire to look into these things, and rejoice ever as they hear that a sinner repents, and returns to God. Saints on earth do not; for they glory in the cross, and sympathize with all their fellowsoldiers in their career of glory. Saints in heaven do not; for they sing without ceasing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour and riches and glory, dominion and power." Jesus does not; for it is the travail of his soul; he longs to see its fruits, and be satisfied. God does not; for he keeps the earth in its orbit, and sends seedtime and harvest, and raises up and pulls down, and orders and regulates all, to give space, warning, motive to those who are now slighting the gospel. "How shall we escape," we may well ask, "if we neglect"—not reject—"so great salvation?" The freeness of the offer, the completeness of the provision, the earnestness of the invitation, all indicate what responsibility we incur. It is not feebleness, nor folly, to capitulate with God: it is duty, it is common sense, it is privilege, it is safety.

Open thou our eyes, O Lord, that we may see wondrous things out of thy law. Scatter our prejudices, solve our difficulties, penetrate all our hearts with a new and divine sympathy, with a deep sense of thine infinite mercies, and a determination, by thy grace, no longer to make light of that which is the weightiest, the most solemn, and the most instant obligation in the whole of thy created universe.

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LECTURE IV.

A CONTRAST.

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.-LUKE xvi. 19-31.

IT is doubtful if this be a parable or a literal history. Part is probably historical, part is figurative; but whether it be regarded in the one or in the other aspect, the whole statement is replete with lofty instruction and solemn warning for all times and persons and places. It gives us also a foreshadow-a dim sketch of the future. Let us prayerfully study it. The practical result plainly contemplated by our Lord, is a rebuke of that inordinate love. of wealth and self-indulgence and ease, which has no over