that he was moved by the HOLY GHOST to set those words down, as he has in the text, for the good of all Christian people; especially of such as are tempted to deny CHRIST, such as are in any kind of trial or distress; such as have reason to believe that GOD's Eye is especially turned towards them.

The heavenly Beings, whom God employs to guard and assist us, gather around, no doubt, with more than usual anxiety in such solemn moments and turning points of our life; and the evil spirits on their part wait for the chance of doing us more than usual harm. Our Communion Days were meant in GOD'S mercy to be so many steps towards Heaven: if neglected or wrongly employed, who would not tremble to think which way they take us? We may be quite sure that God's all-seeing Eye, which is ever over the righteous, is so most particularly when they bring their most solemn sacrifice into His nearest Presence; the Memorial of the Crucified SoN before the Throne of the Eternal FATHER. And His Ear, which is open to all good prayers, is more especially open to the Intercession of His whole Church, offered up with His Body and Blood, for all believers and in the name of all.

Then, the oftener this is repeated, the greater surely the blessing if we be worthy; the nearer are we lifted up to God, the more constantly is His gracious Eye (if one may so speak) drawn towards us; the more abundant is the treasure of our prayers and alms, going up, like those of good Cornelius, for a memorial before HIM.

On the other hand, think how God is affronted, when men bring before HIM continually in prayer, sometimes we may fear even in Holy Communion, that which He most hates, a defiled soul in an impure body. Judge of it by whatever is most loathsome to yourself; imagine whatever is most foul and abominable to you, whatever you can least endure to have in your sight and at all near you; consider how you would feel if it were put in your way on every occasion, and when you had least right to expect it make as much of this thought as you can, yet is it nothing compared with the loathsomeness of wilful Sin before our God, and His wasting indignation at having it brought near unto HIM. And then to think that it is our own case! that such have we ourselves been in His sight, as often as we have ap

proached HIM in prayer, or (still worse) in the Holy Communion, with hearts still wilfully set upon any kind of wickedness!

GOD forbid, my brethren, that it should ever be so again with us! And that we may be safe, and have entirely blotted out the record of past sin and profaneness, let us be very diligent, very watchful, very skilful to take all opportunities of coming near HIM. Let us come, not as we have done, but with clean and prepared, with obedient and thankful hearts. He has promised concerning such, "All that My FATHER giveth ME shall come unto ME, and him that cometh unto ME, I will in no wise cast out." The FATHER is graciously pleased with all those who by true repentance and holy obedience bring His SON CHRIST JESUS before HIM, morning by morning, and evening by evening; day by day in His holy Church, and week by week at His holy Altar. He receives them for the sake of CHRIST, Who mercifully vouchsafes to abide in them. He listens not to the voice of our old sins crying for punishment, but to the yearnings and intercessions of His SPIRIT in penitent and humble and dutiful hearts. If a father is never tired of blessing his children; if day by day, as often as they ask him, he grudges not to repeat his affectionate prayers and good wishes; how shall not God, the fountain of all parents' love, rejoice from morning until night to answer our prayers? Depend upon it, not one devout supplication, not one sincere act of self-denial and loving obedience, will HE ever allow to pass away altogether without fruit. Each and all will tend, we know not how, to the more perfect enjoyment of CHRIST'S final, eternal absolution: "Come, ye blessed of My FATHER, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World.”

SERMON CCLVII.

THE TRUE RICHES.

FOR THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.

ST. LUKE xvi. 11, 12.

"If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?"

SUPPOSING any great rich man in any neighbourhood were to give out publicly, what he intended to do with his property, how eagerly would all persons, who thought themselves at all concerned, come to hear about it! If they had but a chance of receiving something of it,-themselves, their friends, or relations, -no doubt their minds would run very much upon it beforehand; they would listen as earnestly as possible when he began to make his will known: they would be very diligent in fulfilling all the conditions which he required of them in order to the receiving of his bounty. I suppose we should, of course, most of us behave in this way, to make the most of any kind purpose, which a wealthy neighbour might have towards us.

Now here, in the parable of the unjust Steward, and in the remarks of our SAVIOUR upon it, HE, the Great LORD of Heaven and Earth, gives us to know what He will do with His own. The Owner, not only of all gold and silver, but of all the treasures of the eternal and glorious Kingdom, HE plainly tells us by what rule HE intends one day to dispose of those treasures. If a man desire to be rich and great, now let him listen; now let him learn how to be rich and great for ever.

VOL. VIII.

"If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?” Here are two lessons which we must thoroughly learn and practise, if we would have our part of that glorious inheritance. First, we must understand that the riches and good things here are but shadows, or tokens, or types of the true: and next, we must make up our minds to consider none of them as being properly our own. What we seem to have here, is neither real in itself, nor are we the real owners of it. the shadow of something better, with it for a time, for a little while. We are God's Stewards, and shall soon be called to give an account to the great MASTER of the Family.

So far as it is good, it is but and we are only entrusted

Whoever will always remember these two things, 1. That what seems desirable to him in this life, is but a figure or token of a real blessing in the next; and, 2. That he has but the charge of it for a year or two, during the owner's pleasure: such a person will be on his guard against every wrong use of worldly goods. He will neither depend upon them, nor think he may please himself with them.

But let us repeat the first of these rules, as it stands in our Blessed LORD's own words. "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches ?" The unrighteous mammon simply means, money, possessions, property; which is called unrighteous, because it too generally tempts men to dishonesty and wickedness. The word "unrighteous," is a kind of bad mark, set by the ALMIGHTY on the very wealth itself, to hinder persons from desiring it, or taking any pleasure in it for its own sake. Because we are apt to be so fond of money, HE plainly tells us that it is unrighteous-it has the stain of wickedness and dishonesty upon it— and as the Apostle tells us, it is the root of all evil. It is good for nothing but to be well spent and got rid of.

And when is it well spent and got rid of? friends of it in Heaven.

When we make When we so spend it, that the holy Beings there may pray for us, and wait for us, and be ready to receive us into their blessed company. This is being faithful

in that base and unrighteous thing, money,-when we lay it out as He who trusted us with it will approve. The happy and glorious consequence will be, that CHRIST will commit to our trust the true riches.

What are the true riches, which our LORD teaches us thus to set against the dishonest riches of this world? We know not yet what they are, we have only some faint notion, but we know that the Scripture every where speaks of them, and leads us to think very much of them. Thus in the Revelations, the Holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem, is thus described: "The City was pure gold, like unto clear glass: and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones and the twelve gates were twelve pearls, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." So St. Paul speaks again and again of "the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the Saints:" and we are given to understand that the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, and Solomon's Temple, which were all inlaid with gold, were but images, shadows, patterns of things in Heaven, shown to Moses in the Mount, and to David by the SPIRIT of GOD. The gold, and silver, and jewels, and other like things on earth, are but pictures and tokens of the real treasures,-they abide in Heaven, far out of sight and beyond thought, they are the true riches, the others are but riches of unrighteousness: that is, to the corrupt, carnal, unrighteous mind they seem to be riches, but not to the mind that is opened to the truth of God.

And it is the same with other earthly things: with praise and honour, with pleasure and delight, such as men give their hearts to here. The love and the honour, which we so earnestly seek from one another, what is it but a pattern and shadow of the love and honour which God promises good Christians, from His Saints and Angels in the Church made perfect? A happy family here is a type of Heaven, where God our FATHER, the Church our Mother, and our holy and loving brethren and sisters who have gone before, or are to come after, shall one day make up one blessed and glorious company with us, accounting nothing too good, too honourable for us, if we have but kept the blessing which CHRIST gave us, when He made us members of HIMSELF.