soul-felt devotion. If, then, the voice of that Greater ONE than Jonah be disregarded by His own baptized disciples, what remains for them but a certain "fearful looking for of judgment to come. Of that judgment, our present visitation, if we repent not, may be the prelude and commencement. And, be assured, that a season of overwhelming trial may leave you no place for repentance though you shall seek it carefully with tears. The crash of falling institutions; the feverish excitement of social disorganisation; the perplexities of a panic-stricken nation; the cries of famine, or the ghastly terrors of pestilence; believe it, that these are not the scenes for the soul to commune with herself and to be still, to unlearn old habits, and acquire new principles of action. Such perilous times, be assured, render repentance, if not impracticable, yet doubly difficult. Defer not, then, repentance until such a season of alarm, which it may be ours to witness, but in which the righteous will scarce be saved. while still you pass your days in peace and quietness, compared with the threatenings of the future, let us turn from our evil ways. Let us learn righteousness while the judgment still impends, and the Divine fury has not yet descended to destroy. Now, while it is called to-day, let us "give glory to the LORD, before HE cause darkness, and before our feet stumble on the dark mountains.""

Now,

T. W.

'Jer. xiii. 16.

SERMON XXXII.

PRAYER, ALMSGIVING, AND SELF-DENIAL, NOTES OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN.

Preached on the General Fast Bay.

ST. MATT. VII. 13.

ENTER YE IN AT THE STRAIT GATE; FOR WIDE IS THE GATE AND BROAD IS THE WAY THAT LEADETH TO DESTRUCTION, AND MANY THERE BE WHICH GO IN THEREAT; BECAUSE STRAIT IS THE GATE AND NARROW IS THE WAY WHICH LEADETH UNTO LIFE, AND FEW THERE BE THAT FIND IT.

THERE are then, as the text declares, two different roads, on one or other of which all mankind are travelling; and these roads are opposite in their nature, their end, and the persons by whom they are trodden. The one is narrow, the other is broad,--the one is difficult of entrance, the other easy-the one is thinly covered, the other crowded,-the one ends in life, the other in destruction-the people that traverse the one, have to encounter varied and continual difficulties, to strive, to be watchful and earnest, and so their character must be essentially self-denying: those who tread the other, find the way before them smooth and easy, and therefore from beginning to end of their journey,

they may move on, comparatively doing what they like, without yielding their own stubborn will, or practising self-restraint in any important respect.

And throughout the Scriptures there are many other images which shadow forth the same great truth, that there exist two distinct systems, two divisions of mankind moving on at the same time, but contrariwise, on this earth always. Thus, through the course of prophecy we trace the fortunes of two cities: Babylon and Jerusalem, the symbols of two mystic communities— the one the stupendous representative of the world's wealth, splendour, luxury, power, glory, and crime :— the other the City of GOD, sacred, beautiful, the place of the Divine PRESENCE, yet persecuted and afflicted, trampled and despised: the one gaining empire by overwhelming force, and keeping it by iron oppression, sitting as a queen among the nations, clothed in gorgeous apparel and faring sumptuously;-the other seldom possessing these things, never using them for earthly purposes; plundered, yet uncomplaining; oppressed, yet unresisting: yielding herself into the hands of the GOD Who chastises her for her offences, and preserved and restored by His power against all earthly opposition, and contrary to all human probability.

And again we trace two kingdoms-the Church and the world the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness; the one, the mild representative of faith, prayer, love-of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; the other, the emblem of irreligion, infidelity, strife, falsehood, wrong, impurity-all that shuns the light of day or conscience, all that makes the earth miserable, and hastens for it the day of wrath: the one speaking ever of glory to GOD and good will to man; the other forgetting or

blaspheming the MOST HIGH, spreading abroad and maintaining among His creatures whatever can hold them in a state of alienation from HIм, and render them divided and unloving towards one another.

And further still, we read of two Masters, GoD and mammon-the Prince of this world, and the CREATOR of all worlds-the SAVIOUR, and the destroyer-the enemy of GOD and man, and the gracious BEING who HIMSELF came into this world to serve man and bring him back to GoD: the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, and the HOLY SPIRIT Who dwells in, and sanctifies all the elect people of GOD: the miserable being, who himself fell from GOD, and whose chief effort now appears to be that he may make men sharers in his guilt and ruin; and the glorious angels with Michael their chief, who came swiftly to do the will of the ever blessed TRINITY, CREATOR, REDEEMER, and SANCTIFIER of man.

And once more, we are taught how these two roads, and opposite services, and different communities, and contrasted kingdoms all end :-the one in endless felicity, the other in unutterable woe; the narrow road leadeth to life, the broad to destruction. Of the one city St. John says: I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from GoD out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;-of the other, Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come: and again, a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying,―Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Of the Church it is said, that CHRIST gave HIMSELF for it, that he might present it to HIMSELF a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any

:

such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish and of the rest, that He shall send His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

And there are many other representations, running through the Bible, of the same momentous truths; but these may suffice for the present to remind you that there are two great classes here on earth, mingled together to human eyes, but separate in spirit and action-that there is an invisible line running through the world, on one side of which is ruin, and on the other, safety-that we must in the main be doing good or evil, contending for GoD, or contending against HIM; and, however men may approach that line, it stands, an abiding limit: to pass it is either to enter into the regions of light and hope, or into the shades of death. These are fearful things, my brethren, to say or to think of, especially when one considers how little men do actually think of them, while, as the stream of mankind pours daily into the grave, each must take his place for ever in that state for which his life has been a preparation. How little they reflect that their real present position is on one or other of these sides! not that hitherto they have been, as it were, standing neutral, and have yet to choose their service, Master, and reward; but, though they may change, they are at the present hour on one side or other; and that each day, as it closes for ever over their heads, bears upon it a distinct record for or against them. For every day we are choosing to do, and therefore doing, upon the whole, right or wrong— performing our duty, or neglecting it-serving our