even to their redemption, and he rose from the dead to testify unto them; thereby granting much more than those impious men asked, when they required him to descend from the cross, that they might see and believe. Alas, it was not evidence which they wanted in any stage of their progress; but a determination so to fashion their faith in futurity, as that it might cease to interrupt that practice, on which they were resolved in time.

In considering the singularly interesting and important lessons, which are taught in this remarkable parable, let us, my brethren, faithfully apply it to ourselves. The time for such application, in whatever respect it may apply to us, is still, blessed be God, in our power. In giving force to our considerations, however, let us reflect that the time which now is, alone is ours; that which is past can never be recalled; that which is to come may never be granted. Even this present portion of it we cannot stop; whilst we are deliberating about it, it is running with unabated rapidity, to mix with the past in the immeasurable stream of that eternity,

which had no beginning; while on our choice and conduct, during the fleeting moments which thus connect the past and the future, depends our fate in that stream of eternity, equally immeasurable, which we anticipate, and which shall have no end.

Our blessed Lord has declared that no man can serve two masters, that we cannot possibly serve God and mammon; and in the parable which has been the subject of our present consideration, he has afforded us a practical proof, that we cannot remain with impunity, even in a state of neutrality or indifference; that our first care must be to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and that we cannot possibly hope to enjoy the happiness of heaven hereafter, without having first acquired those heavenly dispositions and those Christian graces, to which alone heaven is promised, and without which heaven could not be enjoyed.

SERMON VII.

ON THE SAME SUBJECT.

LUKE xvi. 31.

If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

THESE words, you know, form the conclusion of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which I considered at some length last Sunday. It is, indeed, in all its parts a very important and interesting apologue; and the assertion in my text especially is calculated to convey to the hearts of all men a very affecting truth and a very awful warning. A certain system of revealed truth has in every age testified to mankind the will of God and the duty of his creatures. It is a fundamental point of all revealed religion, subsequent to the Fall at least, that

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human merit forms no part of the price by which the Divine favour was originally obtained, and is now promised, to the servants of his covenant. Every thing in the high sense of every sound system of revealed religion depends on the gratuitous mercy of God, imparted to man through the inestimable merits and the all-powerful mediation of his Son and our Saviour. Such is the fact, and so essential is it in the practice of sound religion, that we can never lose sight of it with impunity, if we are thence induced in any respect to rely on our own strength, to trust in our own powers, or to plead our own merit.

There is still an important sense in which we can do something, and in which something is indispensably required of us; which they, however, who obtain it most effectually, will never presume to plead as meritorious at the bar of Divine judgment; inasmuch as all the merit is, in fact, imputed by the Christian system, which they are enabled happily to fulfil. This principle being always understood as the essential ground of all Christian practice, we may proceed to