and, above all, our miserable divisions which are of themselves sufficient cause why God should withdraw His face from us for ever.

The suggestions which I have now made, will, I trust, suffice to convince you that we have good reason to apply the admonition of the text to ourselves. We know that we are living in the last times. We know that Christ's coming cannot be long delayed. We do not know whether the Antichrist is yet among us, but we are sure that even now there are many Antichrists. We do not know whether Christ's final coming to judgment be very near, but we do know that there are some at least of those tokens to be seen, which, as heretofore they have ushered in events that have been former types of His coming, so they may be expected now to be signs of some approaching visitation.

Here, then, is the ground of our admonition to you: and the admonition itself is, that we be "sober, and watch, unto prayer." Plain and simple directions these, which all can understand, and which it is in the power of all, who seek for gifts of grace, to obey.

O that there were such an heart in us that we could learn to realize the unseen world, and live in a state of watchful expectancy, as men who are looking for the speedy coming of their Lord! that instead of entangling ourselves with passing interests and

objects, worldly success and temporal advantages, we would endeavour to grow indifferent to all that does not bear some close relation to our spiritual condition! that we would discipline ourselves into habits of self-control, that so we may view things calmly, and with eyes undimmed by the false glare of this world! that we would instil into our hearts something of that temper which enables men to become martyrs and confessors;-something of that hardness which despises luxury and comforts, and which is bold in act and careless of suffering;-something of that habitual communion with God, which can only be arrived at through a life of prayer; something of that watchfulness, that unceasing vigilance in what the world calls trifles, which is the only safeguard against our being taken by surprise, the only pledge that we shall not be slumbering, when all others are taken unawares! O that we would enter more fully upon the discharge of those duties required by Him Who will come to be our Judge, when He bade us stand with our loins girt about, and our lights burning, like unto men that wait for their Lord. "Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing."

What things may be coming upon the earth we cannot tell; what trials may yet await the Church we know not; how near at hand, how fierce, how

terrible they may be.-Only we may be sure that there is nothing bad which we have not deserved. Only we trust that there is yet space and grace for individual repentance. Only we have this comfort, that even when Antichrist himself is among us, his reign will be brief,-for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

May our good and merciful Lord,-He Who by His blood-shedding redeemed us, and Who is now our Intercessor,—may He aid us to acquire the spirit of soberness, and watchfulness, and prayer. May He give us strength according to our need, and enable us to rejoice in tribulation, and triumph in suffering for His Name's sake.

27*

SERMON XX.

THE PILGRIM'S ABIDING FRIEND.

LUKE XXIV. 29.

But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.

If there be something which is deeply affecting in the Evangelists' brief account of the several interviews which took place between our Lord and His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead, and before He ascended to the right hand of the Father, there is something no less humiliating in the want of faith, and slowness of heart, exhibited by those who for a long season had had such abundant proofs that He was indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Yet, amid all their weakness, the tokens were not doubtful of their loyalty, their honest sincerity, and true affection; and if the resurrection of their Lord was an event altogether beyond the reach of their most sanguine hopes, their deep sorrow at His loss, and the expression of their trust,-shaken, indeed,