be Christians. And yet of this single talent they make no use. Are they not then like the unprofitable servant in the parable? May God's mercy save them, through Jesus Christ, from the dreadful sentence!

And now to God, &c.

LECTURE LXXIV.

ST. MATTHEW XXV. 31.

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.

IN a former Lecture I observed to you, that our blessed Lord, after he had told his disciples to prepare for his second coming, shewed them in what manner to prepare themselves. By the parable of the ten virgins, he taught them to be always ready. By the parable of the talents he taught them in what manner to be ready for him, namely by doing their different duties in life. And lastly, he

shewed that diligence, industry and faithfulness were not all that were required of Christians; that kindness, and love to each other, and a desire of doing good to each other, were also parts of Christian duty; that we were not only to be industrious and faithful in our several stations, and obedient to him, but were also to look upon others, and especially other Christians, to be so nearly united with him, that doing to them a kindness would be a doing of a kindness to him. Having spoken to you on the two first subjects, I now go on to preach to you on the great duty of being kind and friendly to one another.

The account which our Saviour gives of the manner of his coming down from heaven to judge the world is enough to make us all tremble. He tells his disciples, and in telling them he tells us also, that he shall come in his glory. What this glory will be, we can scarcely bring ourselves to think? Can you bear to look

on the sun, when he is shining in all his strength? How shall we be able to bear the light, the brightness, the glory which will be round our blessed Lord, when he comes on such an errand-when he comes to rouse from the sleep of death the thousands and tens of thousands and thousands of thousands who are sleeping in their graves-to call them up from the long night of death-to place them all before him-to tell them of all that they have done in this life-to judge the wicked to hell, and the good to heaven! What a scene will this be! How will the guilty tremble! How will all feel! Nothing but faith and trust in him will make us able to go through that tremendous day! He will not only come in his glory, shining above the brightness of the sun, but he will come with all his holy angels. Were you to be called before a king with all his guards and officers and great men around his throne, and be tried for your lives, you would be ready to sink into the earth.

How will you feel before Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, with angels and archangels around him, those bright and holy spirits, who themselves shine above the brightness of the stars? And then not to be tried for your lives only, but to be sent either to heaven or to hell, to live for ever either in happiness or in misery. He now tells us that he will sit on the throne of his glory, and before him all nations shall be gathered. And now comes the account of the different treatment, which they shall meet with. He will separate the wicked from the good-he will place the good on his right hand and the wicked on his left. And with what words will he speak to the good? Has he told us these words? Yes! my friends, he has. He will say, Come ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. He had before told us, that they, who make a good use of their time, their strength, their riches and their understandings