conduct of the Jews, in appearing to receive the Saviour at first with joyful acclamations of Hosannah and blessing, but afterwards rejecting and crucifying him afresh by our backsliding and apostasy. It is true, that they who thus apostatize from Christ thereby evidence the insincerity of their faith, and make it manifest that they never received him into their hearts; but we learn from our blessed Lord's own lips, that it is very possible to "receive his word with joy" at first, and "afterwards, in time of temptation, fall away" from him. And he himself assures us, that 66 many say unto him, Lord, Lord, to whom he will say on the day of judgment, I never knew you: depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity."

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if we wish to escape the dreadful doom of the apostate and stony-ground hearers of Christ's word, we must not only receive him with rejoicing, but also with unfeigned reverence, and prostration of soul and body. We must receive him, not merely as our Saviour, but also as our Legislator and King; to whose laws we are amenable, and to whose person and government we owe entire allegiance and unlimited submission. He comes to us, be it remembered, in the name of our God,-invested with supreme power and dominion in heaven and earth. If therefore we refuse to submit to him, we do so at our peril. Rebels against him as we are both by nature and practice, and consequently

under sentence of condemnation by his law, our only safety consists in instant and unreserved submission to his authority. For "if he who despised Moses' law died without mercy, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, will he be thought worthy who hath by his unbelief and disobedience trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace? For we know him who hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me: I will recompense, saith the Lord."

3. Let us then, finally, be warned to receive this Divine Saviour into our hearts with decision and

promptitude. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and so ye perish from the way, if his wrath be kindled, yea, but a little." "Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Behold," he saith, "I stand at the door and knock: if any man open unto me, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me."

66

}

Oh, let us open our hearts to this adorable Being, who condescends thus to knock at them for admission by his word and Spirit! Let us welcome him with eagerness as our Lord and Saviour: let us earnestly entreat of him that he would incline us to receive him; that he would "draw us unto himself with the cords of love; " that he would, as it were, enter our hearts by force and expel the

strong man armed from his seat therein.

Let

us beseech him to take possession of our whole souls, and reign as King within us, and bring into captivity every rebellious imagination, and write his laws upon our minds by his Spirit, and set up therein the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy.

Thus we shall be prepared for the awful season of his second advent, when he shall come again in the name and with the authority of his Father-not indeed as a Saviour; not as the meek and lowly and despised Jesus; not, as at the first, offering pardon and reconciliation to his rebellious creatures; but invested with the awful terrors of retributive justice, and as the all-righteous and omnipotent Judge of heaven and earth, descending with the sound of the archangel and the trump of God to pass sentence of everlasting blessedness upon his friends, and everlasting cursing upon his enemies. Behold," he saith, "I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give unto every man as his work shall be.' "Blessed are they who at his coming shall be found watching." Amen.

66

Now to God the Father, &c. &c.

SERMON XIV.

NEGATIVE PIETY.

MATT. XXV. 41-43.

Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; I was sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

THE Scene which is here partially disclosed to us is awful beyond the power of words to express or imagination conceive. Our Lord, in the context of which these words form a part, has given us the most minute description which in his wisdom he thought fit, of what is to take place on the last day, when he shall be revealed in tremendous majesty as Judge of the quick and dead: and the passage chosen for the text presents us with the substance of the charge which he will bring against those on whom he will then pass sentence of everlasting malediction.

Let us endeavour to realize this dreadful scene

to our minds;-a scene of which ourselves shall be no uninterested spectators. Let us imagine that the sound of the last trumpet has proclaimed to the affrighted world the advent of its Judge; that, the grave having yielded up its victims and the sea its dead, the unnumbered millions of Adam's apostate race, with himself at their head, are assembled at the tribunal of Eternal Justice, to hear their irrevocable destiny. Let us suppose that the final separation has been made between the godly and ungodly; that the Judge has divided his own faithful and obedient people from the unbelieving and disobedient," as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats;" that he has "placed the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left;" that he hath addressed those on his right hand with the joyful salutation, “Come, ye Come, ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" while to those on his left he hath said, with in

66

exorable and repulsive severity, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!"

Having permitted our thoughts to dwell for a few moments on these appalling images, let us call to recollection the remarkable fact, that the great matter of accusation which the Judge urges against those whom he thus banishes for ever from his presence, and consigns to the place of remediless woe, is not the positive but negative evil of which they have been