piness or misery which you had just been witnessing in the other world; you would be to them a prophet, an evangelist, an apostle -"the voice of one crying in the wilderness;" you would summon all your powers to teach them the things that belong unto their peace; to unlock to them heaven and hell; to describe the horrors you had beheld in the one, and the glories you had seen in the other.

And then, with what new eyes would you look upon sin! How many things would then appcar awful sins, which you before overlooked and undervalued, when you recollected that "for every idle word that man spoke, God brought him into judgment;"— when you recollect that it was the secrets of men's hearts that you saw God judging-that you saw him untwisting a man's very heart-strings, and finding what was enclosed within; "for the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing assunder the joints and marrow, the soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Little would you then think of giving gentle names to sins which may appear light and pardonable in your own eyes, when you recollect how they stained and corrupted the soul in the eyes of Him" Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity."

How, then, would your conversation become purified, refined, and exalted: and if you found any corrupt communication proceeding out of your mouth, how would you check it like poison, when you would recollect the songs of blessed spirits that you had heard above! and you would think,- Can I hope with such lips as these to join the ranks of those whom I heard crying, "Holy, holy, holy?" And then how would the very innocent pleasures of life sink in your estimation, when you thought of those pleasures you had seen at the right hand of God! How would you fear lest they should become uppermost in your heart, and engage your best and choicest affections, and thus you should be tempted to choose your portion upon earth, and forfeit your treasure which is in heaven!" for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Not "the harp or the viol, tabret or the pipe, or the wine," would make you "forget the work of the Lord, or the operation of his hands;" "but your right hand would forget her cunning, yea, your tongue would cleave to the roof of your mouth ere you preferred not Jerusalem in your mirth!" You would feel

yourself a stranger and a pilgrim on the carth-a citizen of a far distant country, an exile from your native land; and you would often steal from the company of the foreigner, to think of the beautics of your home,-its loved and delightful inhabitants,to cast a longing, lingering look towards its shores, and meditate sweetly upon your return. Such would you be, if you had actually seen those things of which your faith is the substance and the evidence; and therefore such must you be if you really believe in these truths.

No

And now let each man compare what he is with what we have just found he would be, if he had seen what he professes to believe. And are you like it? Is there any striking resemblance? doubt the impressions would be much more lively and powerful if those things had been actually seen. It is scarcely to be expected that we should attain so great a degree of spiritual excellence, as if we had seen them face to face; but the simple question, that every man of plain common sense has to ask himself is this, -Whether there is to be so very great a difference between a man who had seen these things, and a man who from his heart and soul believed these things to be true, and that one day or other he shall see these things? Is your life (I will not say equal to, but is it) like that which we have been just describing? Does it fall short of it in degree, not in kind? or (what is the true and most important question) is it continually approaching it? Is it more and more like it, though you may not hope to attain it on this side of the grave? Remember, there were two different men that applied to our Saviour for relief; they were both fathers, and came to ask it for their children. As soon as Christ had said to one of them, "Thy son liveth," he went his way, believing the word that Jesus spake, and accordingly he found his son fully restored; now this man's faith in this instance, was the substance of what he hoped for, the perfect evidence of what he had not seen. But when Christ asked the other father, "Believest thou that I am able to do this thing?" the father answered with tears in his eyes, "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief!" He felt that his faith was not as it should be, that it was not the evidence of what he did not see; but he felt humbled under the sense of his weakness, cager to have it remidied and removed, and he prayed with all his heart that his faith might be confirmed and invigorated. And was he disappointed? The good and benevolent Be

ing who never yet rejected the prayer of humble earnestness, said to him even as unto the other, "Thy son liveth."

But there is an actual difference between the common faith of a man of the world and of a real and genuine Christian. The one is the business of a moment: it begins and ends with a repetition of his creed—it is despatched in the service of the day. But with the other it is a living principle, always growing and increasing; always approaching the state of one who had actually seen what he believes, and more and more controlling, directing and animating his whole conduct. He will always have those future things which God has assured him he shall one day behold, so fully before him, as to have the effect of reality upon his life and conversation. Just conceive what would be your manner of speaking and acting, if on every Sabbath, instead of coming to hear of these truths, you had them actually disclosed to your contemplation; would you spend the ensuing week as you now intend to spend it? And yet be assured, you do not virtually believe these truths, unless your faith in some degree performs the office of your sight, and discloses heaven and hell before you.

But do not mistake: as your faith improves and advances, it will loose more of the threats and the terrors of religion, and draw closer and closer to its hopes, its promises, its pleasures and enjoyments: for observe, faith is not described to be the substance of things feared, but the "substance of things hoped for." For after the soul of a sinner has been thoroughly awakened both to its guilt and its danger, and has fled from God's justice to the love of a Redeemer, it soon forgets the punishment from which it is escaping, in the glories to which it is approaching; and though faith represents before us both heaven and hell, yet as the spirit advances in its path of duty, and rises upwards towards its God, the mansions of misery are left farther and farther beneath; the flames grow fainter, and the groans die away; while, at the same time, the gates of heaven are more clearly discerned, and the voices of the redeemed more distinctly heard.

Thus fear gives way to hope; and the Christian who has taken up his cross, and followed his Redeemer, has seldom to look behind at the wrath that he is escaping, but onward and upward, at the Saviour who is his hope and his conductor. This is the grand practical principle of the Gospel, the moving-spring of the Christian's duty, and the rich foundation of his obedience; that faith

which displays his Redeemer as actually present, and the glorious blessings which he had purchased, full in view. This is no fable, no nice fanciful speculation; it is a principle that has been acted upon since the foundation of the world.

The chapter before us contains a splendid catalogue of those that were moved, inspired, and invigorated by its mighty energies; men that "forsook their country," went out, not knowing whither they went, and became strangers and pilgrims upon the earth-Abraham and all the patriarchs; men who, through the distance of a thousand years, saw the Redeemer afar off, before he had descended upon the earth, and followed the bare and distant promise of God, as if it were the full and living substance; they submitted to exile, suffering, and reproach; and what is the reason that is assigned? "As seeing him who is invisible." The Redeemer, to them, was a dim and twinkling star; and yet cheerfully and greatfully did they steer their lonely course by its mild and sacred influence. But upon us the Sun of Righteousness has risen.

The Apostle, (after closing his glorious list of those who saw Ilim that was invisible, long before he came,) turns round upon those who believe that he has come, and summons them to imitate their example: "Wherefore, seeing we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us; and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith;" unto Jesus-who was invisible!

And gloriously did he who tells you that your "faith must be the substance of things hoped for," and who summons you to look unto the invisible Redeemer-gloriously did he fulfill his own injunction; for, looking unto him, did he and the whole company of the apostles, and the glorious army of martyrs, precipitate themselves through peril, persecution, and death. The description of what they suffered makes the blood run cold; and yet how do they speak of it? "This light affliction! this light affliction, which endureth but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: while we look, not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." It was by looking at things invisible, as if actually present, that they proved more than conquerers in all their struggles.

Another of that glorious company, exhorting his converts to

give trial of their faith, points to Him that is invisible—" whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

May we, as we value the souls that he has purchased—as we value the blessings that he offers, so keep him living in our view, that we may run the race that is set before us; and whether it be our destiny to perish by the slow and icy hand of disease, or by the angry violence of man, may we be found looking unto the Author and Finisher of our faith, with our eye fixed on Him that is invisible!

SERMON XIII.

DILIGENT IMPROVEMENT OF TALENTS IN PREPARATION FOR HEAVEN.

By the Rev. THOMAS GRIFFITH, M. A.

Minister of Ram's Chapel, London.

MATTHEW XXv. 14, 15.

The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability: and straightway took his journey,

THE Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to set up the kingdom of God, is a subject, not of speculation but of faith; not of doubtful disputation, but of practical solemnity. It must be contemplated, therefore, not in a spirit of curiosity, but of personal solicitude; not to amuse the fancy, but to arouse the heart. For it reminds us of a strict and final discrimination, having reference to our fidelity to Christ, the coming King-and it presses on us, therefore, the diligent exercise of this fidelity in constant expectation of that ultimate inquiry.