far short of this scrutiny-this inward probing of the hidden man of the heart; and, contenting themselves with taking some account of their words and works and outward acts, and that degree of godliness which is but the varnish of the man, await their trial (such as we have seen it will be), and trust that it will not be to their confusion and surprise. Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, we may indeed have confidence towards God,—but what an if is this! Alas! who can claim deliverance under this condition? Bold is the man, I think, who can venture to advance it. Rather let it be with us and with our house, that having examined our hearts-having condemned ourselves after examination—we throw ourselves upon God's promise, to be fulfilled through Christ Jesus, that "if we confess our sins, He will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 274 SERMON XXXIII. THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD A MOTIVE TO ST. MATTHEW, xxiv. 48. "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming". In this whole chapter, as well as in that which follows it, our Blessed Lord is pressing his Disciples to watchfulness. The coming destruction of Jerusalem, in which so many lives were to be lost, is the subject which leads the way to His reflections. And the end of the world-that event which was to be the immediate forerunner of the Judgment, and of which the ruin of Jerusalem was a type-is the subject on which those reflections dwell yet more largely. And in a general way, we may all of us consider the whole discourse as an alarum to us, all and every one, to prepare ourselves to meet our God whenever death shall summon us before Him. Amongst other ways in which Jesus puts His instruction upon this head, is that of a parable or story, touching a householder who had left one of his servants in charge of his house and its inmates and concerns, whilst he himself went abroad to a distance. In one case he is supposed on his sudden and unexpected return to find that servant true to his trust, prepared for his master's coming sudden though it was, and in the discharge of his duty just as if his master's eye had been on him all the while. In another case, however, he is supposed to find the servant he had thus confided in, taking advantage of his master's absence to spend the interval in rioting and sin, beating his fellowservants and drinking with the drunken. This man is represented as surprised in the midst of his wickedness, turned off, and condemned to a dungeon, to live henceforward amidst weeping and gnashing of teeth. And the cause of this man's wild and wicked behaviour and his surprisal in the midst of it is ascribed to one single circumstance to his saying in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming. The man had evidently no reason whatever for saying that his Lord delayed his coming. He had received no message from him to that effect. All that he went on was the wish of his own mind that he would delay it—that wish was father to the thought. Nay, so entirely was he without reason for asserting this, that he would not even confess what his notion was openly, feeling that he could not maintain it on any good grounds; but he cherished the thought in his heart; he cheated himself by saying, not openly but in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming. Had he expressed himself thus, openly to others, they might have reminded him that his Lord when he left him did not promise to let him know beforehand of his return; but actually told him the time was uncertain, and that he should expect his house to be ready for him, swept and garnished, whenever it might be his pleasure to come. They might ⚫have reminded him, that in many others of his mansions, (for this same householder was Lord of many houses besides this one) which he had left in trust of servants under just the same circumstances, he actually had returned suddenly; and though some of those servants he had found ready, many he had found off their guard. They might have reminded him that his abuse of his Lord's trust, his riotous living in his house, his waste of his substance, his maltreatment of his fellow-servants, his drunken ways, might perhaps come to his Lord's ears though he was at a distance, and cause him, instead of delaying his coming, to come even earlier than he had meant, in order to put a stop to such proceedings and call him to his reckoning. They might have represented to him what gross folly it was in him to run such a risk as he was doing, of losing on the one hand so good a place, and receiving in exchange for it a lodging in a dark and noisome dungeon. They might have pictured to him in strong terms the scene of confusion and shame he would have to encounter if his Lord should come, and ask him whether he was prepared for such a stunning blow as it would undoubtedly prove to him. All this and more his friends or fellow-servants might have set before him, had he opened his mind to them, and discussed his hopes and the ground of them with them. He was aware of this and could not bring himself to the confession. He was content to stifle his thought in his own breast; to let it act on him and influence his conduct, without anybody but himself knowing it; and only to say in his heart, "my Lord delayeth his coming." He would not even startle himself by the sound of his own voice alleging aloud such a monstrous piece of folly; but still he ventured practically to proceed upon it, just as much as if he had proclaimed his .conclusion to all men, and really believed it a piece of sound wisdom. It is scarcely needful to explain a parable so clear and 'transparent as this, or to suppose that any one can mis understand its drift. The case of this thoughtless servant of the householder is the case of every thoughtless sinner against God; who, though believing that his Lord will come one day or other and reckon with him, still flatters himself secretly that it will not be just yet,-that He delayeth His coming. I appeal to the hearts of you all, whether this is not the main stumbling block in your Christian course, however you may not declare it aloud. I appeal to the hearts of you all, whether your delay from time to time to fulfil a good resolution you have made,—whether the reluctance you feel to begin now forthwith, to-day while it is called to-day, any wholesome reforms in yourselves or your families-be not owing to your secret hope that "the Lord delayeth His coming;" whether-in all the good enterprises you would fain take in hand and mean to take in hand some time, and in all the bad habits you would fain break in yourselves and which you mean to break some time, whilst you still actually set about neither the one thing nor the other in earnest the root of the mischief does not lie in this; in your hope that "the Lord delayeth His coming." It is impossible for us to examine our own hearts honestly, or to cast our eyes about and see how the world goes on, without acknowledging how active this principle is, all mankind through. But I simply bring forward these instances to substantiate the truth of the fact I have advanced. 4 "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." They can cast their eyes on the sky, and in the redness of it in the evening read the fair weather of the morrow, and in the lowering of it in the evening read the foul weather of the morrow; and yet, whilst they can discern the face of the sky, they cannot the signs of the times. They can make provision for the may fall out within a few years on earth, and events which |