may have been, yet, if he be a chosen vessel, the unction of the Spirit will be abundantly shed abroad in his heart, though in his very last moments, and his soul made meet for the inheritance of the saints." The power of GOD none will dispute ;-He may, if He please, work this, as He may every other miracle; but what ground have we to expect that He will? He works no miracles now, to propagate his Word, to convince the infidel, or reform the profligate : He leaves them to the appointed methods of his grace, to the ordinary courses of his providence. His call is daily and hourly repeated-by blessings, by chastisements, by sickness, by sorrow, by dangers, by deliverances. He cries aloud by his Prophets and Apostles; He reasons and entreats by the Stewards of his mysteries. In the person of his Son, He bids us ask, that we may receive, seek that we may find; but He no where engages that the wretch who, through life, only promised and resolved, shall, on the eve of dissolution, receive unmerited illumination, obtain unconditional remission, and at once, by a miraculous translation, be placed within that shrine of salvation, which, during all the days of his vanity, had been in vain open to receive him.

I confess I have no confidence in these instantaneous conversions. At any rate, is it not presumption, is it not madness, to build our tower of strength on the treacherous sand of enthusiasm, when the eternal rock of Truth is immediately before us, offering us a secure and immovable basis?

Will you, then, leave the expiring sinner to his fate, without one effort to save? Mercy forbid! The sickness, apparently mortal, 66 may not be unto death;" possibly, the Lord may raise him up, and grant him yet another hour of trial: at least, the surrounding spectators may be moved and awakened. Let us, then, "do the work of an Evangelist" to the last,-be instant " in season, out of season,"-instruct, comfort, and support, as we may. And here I publicly pledge myself, or those who, in my stead, may supply the deficiencies of age, to be always ready at the call of contrition. This point, however, need not be pursued here;-I am not now in the chamber of the dying-I stand in the house of the Lord;-surrounded by those who are yet sound and alert in mind and body: such it is my duty to warn that "now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." Before that time

expires, before that day shall close, let this irrevocable decision of holy writ "sink down into your ears," and be graven on your hearts"Because I have called, and ye refused—have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof,-I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind,-when distress and anguish come upon you,-then shall ye call upon me, but I will not answer; ye shall seek me early, but shall not find me.”

DISCOURSE XV.

THE JEWISH AND THE CHRISTIAN DIVES.

Luke, chap. xvi. ver. 25.

"Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things."

I HAVE more than once had occasion to observe, that parables in general are not to be considered as narratives of facts, but figurative representations. In this chapter, our blessed Saviour relates, to those that followed him, the history of a rich man, and of a beggar whom he calls Lazarus; a name which signifies "the help of God." The whole of this narrative, for many reasons, I regard as allegorical, as a very exact and striking delineation, not of any particular individual who lived in those days, but of the general character of the rich in all times; and a lively description of the consequences that must

follow a life so selfish and useless.

Dives, as he

is often called, (adopting the Latin word for the name of the rich man,) Dives, the wealthy Jew, appears to have been neither daringly irreligious, nor grossly immoral; neither an infidel, nor a profligate. No great crime is laid to his charge. In the common phrase of the world, he enjoyed life, as most persons do who have the means; his person was gaily and richly attired; his table plentifully and luxuriously supplied; but there was no culpable ostentation of vanity, or wantonness of excess: nor was the beggar roughly driven from his gate, but suffered to lie there, in expectation of the refuse of his meal ;a degree of charity which, however slender, is not always to be found at the door of a palace.— This man of rank, I conceive, knew that he was sensual; but he regarded sensuality as the privilege of his station; or perhaps disguised it by a softer name, and called his luxurious, a liberal table. He did not, probably, implore the divine blessing before he partook of the bounty of Providence, or express any gratitude when he had eaten, and was full ;—but it was a custom, then, perhaps, as now, growing obsolete and unfashionable, and left to those who had less to be thankful for.