For

very seriously, whether you have, indeed, prayed for us at the throne of grace, from time to time. whether you treat us with indifference and contempt, or idolize us superstitiously; either way, you affront God. You are not looking to him for that increase, which he only can give, and you do wrong to your own souls. Suffer, I beseech you, brethren, the word of exhortation, and may he " that giveth seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, endue his Ministers with righteousness, and make his chosen people joyful!"

What new topic of argument, or entreaty, or exhortation, or rebuke, can I, in the last place, take up to you, who hear as though you heard not; who are unaffected with what you hear from Sabbath to Sabbath; who wish every sermon, either to be very short, or, if longer, to be entertaining to your vicious inclinations. Your own consciences tell you, that you look for no such quickening influence from above, to attend the Word, as the text speaks of. Your hear a sermon like a story, or a political essay; with easy minds, and worldly affections; and neither see any thing of God in it, nor desire to see it. It is the will of God that men should look to him, even all the ends of the earth, that they may be saved. The Lord is very earnest in calling on men to take counsel together; to come near, and examine the evidences of divine truth, in the word of God; to take notice of the proofs of Christian doctrine ; and to understand their own concernment in the subject; to listen to the divine message of reconciliation by Jesus Christ, proposed to their souls; and to remember that when we pray you in Christ's stead

to be reconciled to beseech you by us. The proofs of divine truth are not hard to be found. The very fulfilment of Scripture prophecies is so striking, so powerful, and so demonstrative, that it seems scarcely possible for a serious mind to stand against any one of them; much less against them all in conjunction. That one in the 45th chapter of Isaiah, on which I have had my eye, in what I have just been saying; namely, the calling of Cyrus by his name, a long time before he was born; and distinctly describing what he should do to the Jews, in delivering them from captivity, surely none but God could deliver. The same may be said of innumerable other prophecies. Well may the Lord say, "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth." The frauds and tricks of heathen oracles are very different from this plain dealing. But men like you, who will not examine, and read, and search, and inquire, cannot understand such things. With you a sneer, or sophism, of some infidel, stands for Gospel, and because you love not the holiness of divine truth, and because it condemns your way of life, you fly from God, and will not learn any thing that is good. however, the danger is all your own. wrong—and the whole course of things are wrong-you perish everlastingly. What do I exhort you to? Not to take things merely on our words; but to search the Scriptures, and their proofs; to commune with your own hearts; and seriously to consider, what will bring a man peace at the last.

God, it is as though God did

Remember, If you be shows you

SERMON XXIV.

PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN, WHOSE GROUND BROUGHT FORTH PLENTIFULLY, CONSIDERED.

Luke xii, 16-22.

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

THAT men should learn to set their affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, is the evident and obvious use of this plain parable. May the Spirit of Christ who spoke it, be with you and me in considering it: may he enliven and quicken our souls with true views of the heavenly riches, and take off that deceitful glare of beauty and pleasure, which sin has cast upon earthly riches, that we may choose our portion with our Maker and Saviour in heaven, and walk with him here by faith, in the strong hope of eternal glory, with the world and its

vanities under our feet! May it please God so to bless his own word, that those who are now contriving for happiness, with the fool of this parable, may be deterred by the awful view of his fate, and be persuaded indeed to seek for the true riches!-We will consider the parable in an orderly manner, and then deduce, as God shall help us, a general application.

"The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully."-Nothing can, with certainty, be concluded of a man's real state, before God, from the dispensations of Providence. Wicked men may have abundant success and prosperity, while the righteous are very much afflicted. But how often is the prosperity of the former a curse to their souls, by filling them with pride and self-conceit! How often also are the afflictions of the latter made a blessing to them, by humbling their hearts, and spiritualizing their affections! The man in the parable before us had no regard for God, no spirit of thankfulness to him for favours already received; yet does the Lord heap more upon him. He causes his ground to bring forth plentifully. Sometimes there is reason to believe that the Lord gives success to wicked men, as a reward for some actions useful to society, and good in a lower worldly sense, which they perform. Instances of this we have in the Old Testament. That of Jehu is remarkable. "Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in mine heart, thy children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel."-Yet it is said he took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart:

for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, that is, from the idolatry of the two calves*. Thus God gave this worldly man a worldly reward for the good actions which he did with a worldly spirit. So also our Lord speaks of those who give alms with an ostentatious view, to be seen of men: "they have," says he, "their reward." They sought to be esteemed generous men, and they were so esteemed by the world.

Those who expect, besides this, the salvation of their souls in another world, as the reward of their deeds, will find themselves disappointed. The works of good men have in them the view of glorifying God; and while they obtain salvation only on account of their Saviour, their good works shall be proportionably rewarded also in another life, because they are spiritual works, and grow from a heavenly spirit. But it is fitting that the materially good actions of wicked men should meet with an earthly reward, which you may suppose to be the case of the man in the parable. For there is nothing in the whole course of the parable that should make it necessary for us to charge him with want of generosity to the needy, or with any injustice in the manner of acquiring his wealth. He might be both honest and generous in the common sense of those words, and yet be an earthly-minded fool in God's account, as too many are.

"And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?" Here he lays open the true springs of his character. He makes his very heaven to consist

* 2 Kings X.