tion are employed for this purpose. He, then, who is familiar with the figurative language of Scripture can scarcely go abroad at any season, without finding that which suggests to him most important spiritual instruction and admonition.

The season that is now past, one in which all have a temporal interest is of this sort. In the explanation that our Lord gave his disciples of the parable of the tares of the field, a parable that very deeply awakened their anxieties, he says, "The field is the world-the good seed are the children of the kingdom-the tares are the children of the wicked onethe harvest is the end of the world."

The gloom that often steals over our minds when the months of harvest are passed, when the fields are cleared of their produce, and when the shortening days, the falling leaves, and the chilling breezes remind us of the approach of winter, is favourable to serious reflection. "We all do fade as a leaf;" 66 our time is short;" our seasons will soon end; "the fashion of this world passeth away,' are thoughts which come as it were of themselves; and it is well to indulge in them, that we may be admonished to "work while it is day." But these reflections, important and useful as they doubtless are, shrink before the sublime idea that our Lord has fastened upon this season-"The harvest is the end of the world."

Will this world then come to an end? Will there come a period in its history when it will exist no more in its present form, and cease to be the abode of beings like ourselves? What evidence have we to the contrary? Are we not constantly, as it were, consuming its products, yea, changing the form, and in that sense destroying its very substance? Consider as to the article of fuel alone, what a system of exhaustion is in progress. What millions of tons are consuming every day, and though

our mines are abundant, can they last for ever? There is not, so far as we can tell, a thorough and perfect compensatory process going on which will repair the loss thus sustained. By their countless fires, their works of art, the operations needful for their sustenance or pleasure, mankind are consuming the very earth itself; and though this may yet continue for thousands of years, the period may come, for aught we can see, when all its mines will be exhausted, its forests consumed, its very soil become infertile, and itself incapable of sustaining the people upon it. Then, the very globe itself will sink, as it were, under the wear of time and the weight of years. In that case an end would come.

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The Divine word, however, does not leave us to these uncertain speculations. It teaches that there will come "the time of the end," the end of the world." Our Lord promised his disciples that he would be with them "even unto the end of the world." And his apostle Paul, not to refer to any other inspired testimony, tells us that when the entire work of Christ shall have been accomplished, "Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father."

The end of the world will present to all intelligences the most remarkable manifestations of the power, the justice, and the goodness of God. At that period our Lord "will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." When he thus comes, “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of

damnation." Marvellous will be the

display of his power. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (i.e., those that are alive and remain on the earth,) shall be changed." So also as to the earth itself, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burn.. ed up. All these things shall be dissolved." Then will be realized that sublime conception of the Psalmist, wherein he represents Jehovah as casting aside as a worn-out garment the visible creation. 66 "All of them shall wax old as a garment; as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed."

How awful this period! How sublime and impressive the manifestations then given of the power of the Lord, the terror of his frown, and the riches of his grace! But where is the resemblance to the harvest ? What is there in the end of the world analogous to this awful period? Let us consider.

The harvest is a period of consummation. The various fruits of the earth then attain to their maturity and perfection. The processes of vegetation are complete. There has been the germinating seed, "first the blade, then the ear; and now there is the full ripe corn in the ear. The seasons have made their circuit. Winter with its storms and cold has come and gone. Spring with its warmer suns and genial showers has passed away. Summer with its scorching heat and quickening power is now no more; and Autumn, bearing on its bosom the fruits of the year, yields them into our hands. The end is come. The various operations of husbandry have been gone

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through, and the work is ended. So as to the end of the world. God has prepared the earth for man, planted him upon it, led him through various dispensations, until the whole circuit of his purposes is completed. There has been the infancy or spring time of our race, its summer, or maturity; but there is now come the autumn, the period of the consummation or end. God has revealed himself to man, and through him doubtless to other intelligences. He did this when man was an upright creature, holy and happy in Eden. He did this when man became a fallen sinner. He did so by promises, providences, visitations, and mercies; by types and shadows of the future; by the prophets in the Old, and by his Son in the New Testament dispensations. He thus revealed his holiness, his justice, and his rich grace. The period will come, when in relation to the world, and to the church, God will have finished his work, completed his dispensations, and accomplished his purpose, and the consummation will arrive. This is the harvest, the end of the world.

The harvest is the season for collecting the fruits of the year. There is with the husbandman a constant regard to the harvest. His tilling, toil, and patience have relation to this period; and when it arrives, the cry is, "put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe." This is to him a joyous season. The reward of his labour is returned into his hand. Apply this thought to the end of the world. The whole fruits of time and of divine grace will then be yielded into the hands of God. The people of God of every clime, of every age, who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, sanctified by his Spirit, and thus brought into holy subjection to himself, will then be gathered unto God and heaven. These, with the joy they feel, and the glory their salvation brings to

Jesus Christ, the glorious Saviour, will then " see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied." "The joy which was set before him," for which he "endured the cross and despised the shame," will be realized, when he is "glorified in all them that believe." Their number will be immense- -"a multitude which no man can number,"—a proportion probably as great in relation to the lost as the yield of an ordinary harvest bears to the weeds and refuse. When, therefore, we consider the benevolence of God, the numerous expressions of his interest in his people, we are sensible that his joy will be like "the joy of harvest," when the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy."

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The harvest, moreover, is a season of separation. Side by side have grown the wheat and the tares. Noxious weeds will be found even among the choicest crops. To root them out at some seasons would be injurious. But when the harvest comes, there is a separation. The weeds are left as refuse on the soil, while the wheat is carefully collected. So in the end of the world there will be a separation. "The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." This separation will part those who have been very near neighbours in this life. Many who have lived in the same town, belonged to the same family, and lain in the same graves, will then be separated, and forever. This partition will be made by the sovereign authority of the Judge of all; it will be made under the direction of infallible wisdom, and it will be final. Solemn thought! For,

The harvest consigns each to its proper place and destination. Go through a harvest-field. See the ser

grain to the store-house of their master, but the refuse is left behind. Visit the field when the harvest is cleared and you see the stubble, the tares, the noxious weeds piled on heaps, and burning with fire. So it shall be in the end of the world. The righteous, penitent believers, those who have "feared God and wrought, righteousness" will enter into heaven. They will be gathered as the precious fruit. They will "shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father," they will enjoy eternal life and bliss; but "the destruction of the transgressors and the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed; and they shall burn together and none shall quench them."

The harvest is a period whence commences a new order of things. The course of nature is in a sense ended with the completion of the harvest; the seasons have gone through their circuit. The earth has yielded her increase. The fruits have been collected. The soil is cleared, and is therefore prepared and ready for another course of service. Analogous to this, in some sort, is the end of the world. The whole earth has completed its course; and now it will pass through a change which will prepare it for new service to its great Creator. What that change will be as to this ponderous globe we presume not to tell. Whether it will be the place of the lost, so that the theatre of their crimes shall be the place of their punishment, or whether, in a purified state, it shall be the abode of the blessed, or what may be the other mode in which it shall display its Creator's glory and show forth his praise, are all beyond our ken; of one thing however, we are sure, that the promise of "God, who cannot lie," is true; and we "who are his people," according to his promise, look for

new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

The harvest and the end of the world are events, then, to be associated in our thoughts. How strange, yet how solemn the association. Let us mark especially the interest which we have in it. At that period we shall be recognized either as wheat or tares, the precious fruit gathered into the garner of God, or the refuse to be cast into the fire. How inconceivably great is this distinction! How dreadful the alternative! Honoured of God, treated as his jewels; or cast out as the very refuse of creation! Lifted up to heaven or cast down into hell! Glowing with seraphs before the throne of God, or burning with lost spirits in the regions of despair! Who can describe the glories of that bright world where the redeemed dwell; 66 eye hath not seen, nor hear heard, nor heart conceived, what God hath prepared for them that love him :" and who can portray the horrors of the lost, their self-torture, remorse, and woe, "where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." The realities of each state far surpass all our present conceptions. But one or other will be

ours."

Shall we not, if we hope we are now "the children of the kingdom,"

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seek to have the mark, the character, the impress of his people! That our faith, our repentance, our love, our devotion, our consecration to God, shall be such as shall give a full evidence that we are "passed from death unto life." And shall we not too, if we have not these evidences, make haste to seek the Lord-to receive his offered grace, that we may "flee from the wrath to come,' and "lay hold on eternal life." God's mercy is abundant. "He is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.' Sinner! do not trifle. Now, while there is opportunity, seek this mercy and live. But if you will not do this; if mercy, freely offered through a Saviour's blood, and love, infinite love, will not draw and melt your heart, and if the revealed "terrors of the Lord" do not now alarm and terrify you, remember there will be no excuse for you at the last day, and no escape from the execution of eternal justice." For, behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven and all the proud; yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

L.