ADVENT. MATTHEW xxv. 6. "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out NOTHER sacred wave of time has rolled by, and rried us so much nearer to the shores of eternity. We are but in the near offing, and a few more tides ill bear us to the strand; the voyage of human life ll be over, and Time will be no more. Are you ppy in your voyage, and are you well freighted with e merchandize of heaven, that when you set foot on ore you may hasten at once to the Glorious City, d lay hold on eternal life? Advent is come again, and Christian truths must be me over afresh. With a mother's heart the Church ches her children the lessons of wisdom. Alas! for em, who are bent on ignorance, selfishness, and sin. as! for them, who are not affected by the anxious arnings of a mother's love. If she moves not souls, how can a poor preacher hope to stir them? I am sadly troubled at times because I know not how to affect my hearers; the Christian seasons speed them so silently; the Christian lessons are said over so often; that the very riches of salvation are (so to speak) made the cause of our poverty. The common commodities of our every-day traffic are the unsearchable riches of Christ; and, far away in the land of wisdom, beings, so bright, that their shadows would dazzle the sun, are entranced with study at the mysteries of man's redemption. Here 'tis common-place; there 'tis uncommonplace. Shall I be able to stir you to-day? No! not all. No! none, without heavenly agency. There is a great stone, a very great stone, at the mouth of the sepulchre, where the soul of him who is dead in sins, lies buried. Who shall roll us away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre? Heaven's ministry!"O God, let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight." Be pleased to give Thine angels special charge concerning us, and bless what I say. Brethren! "Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." This is the burden of my sermon this morning. If this theme stirs you not, nothing will, I fear; it will stir the universe one day. A scene, often beheld in the East-often beheld at Jerusalem in the time of our Saviour, is made use of by Him to teach a most important lesson. In the dead of the night there was seen, wending its way through he streets, a gladsome procession, lit up by torches, and lamps of various kinds; and accompanied with music and other signs of joy. It was a wedding! The pridegroom, attended by the nuptial guests, was conlucting his bride to his house, with her virgin train of riends bearing her company. To some peculiar circumtances our Lord is pleased to allude in this parable of His, in order to teach the peculiar lesson He would ave us learn. Ten virgins are said to be in expectaion of the bridegroom; five of them had made proper provision for the exigencies of the occasion, and five ad not so prepared themselves. Oppressed by weariess, and the weakness of their nature, they all fell nto a slumber, when, lo at midnight, a cry was ade-" Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to neet him;" this shook them from their slumberings, nd anon they busy themselves in making the needful reparations. The five wise virgins had no difficulty in utting themselves into the lightsome procession, and n, and on they went, entering even into the brideroom's joyous presence. But the five foolish virgins, oing hither and thither, in sad perplexity, to repair, possible, their previous neglect, found themselves ut out from the festive scene. Oh! what a meaning this has ! I must try and ring it home to you. There is no relation on earth so near and dear, so inding and holy, as that between man and wife. It as instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, |