God and with their convictions: they will regard their self-interest and the good-will of men, as Felix did. more than the truth and the fear of God.

You may behold in these two men, a kind of abstract of the whole world.

Here is a great man,-a governor; who seems to say, "How shall I manage things at this time? How shall I extract a little money from this prisoner ?" Mean and contemptible spirit!

And here stands a man in chains before him; who seems to see nothing but the things of eternity, and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, for whom he has suffered the loss of all things, and determines to suffer the loss of even life itself, that he may win the prize of his high calling!

These are not new characters. In the thirty-third chapter of Ezekiel, God says to his prophet, ‘Lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song, of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not -their heart goeth after their covetousness.' And, for St. Paul, he was only one of the same stamp, and stock, and cast, that Moses had long before exhibited: 'he counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.'

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You see, then, whence it is, that the Gospel comes to be so slighted: it is this deceitfulness of sin: it is this love of present things: it is this apostasy from God. The God of this world,' says the Apostle, 'has blinded the eyes of them that believe not:' the love of the world has overwhelmed them: the fear of man keeps them prisoners: and Satan forwards the delusion: You cannot deny the truth," as if he had said: "You cannot suspect the truth of what Paul says; but you can put off the matter: you can hear him at a more convenient season: you can go on enjoying yourself; and, when your conscience is more hardened, you can hear him again."

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Ye, who talk of a more convenient season-ye, who think of putting off religion to a death-bedthis is one of the grand devices of Satan to keep you as he would wish you to be. The strong man armed keepeth his goods in peace,' while he can; but it is my duty to come, in the name of the stronger than he, and show you the necessity of this armour being spoiled, before you can enter into the happiness prepared for the children of God.

4. I shall only add, that we are here taught THE

NATURE AND NECESSITY OF DIVINE GRACE.

Even St. Paul may preach, and his character cannot be suspected: the truth he preaches cannot be denied he reasons plainly and convincingly: Felix can only reply, with trembling, "I will hear thee again:" now the necessity of divine grace appears from this, that, till the man is under its influence, he will continue to say, 'When I have a convenient season, I will send for thee.' Without the grace of God, and the work of the Holy Ghost, the utmost that a preacher can hope to do, is, to rouse the sinner, as Paul did Felix-to make him tremble to think of what is before him, as Felix trembled; and a time may, perhaps, come, when he will say, as Agrippa did, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Abraham did not reply to the rich man, that, if one arose from the dead, his brethren would not tremble: but he said they would not believe, or be persuaded : they would not be persuaded to tread in the narrow path, and lay hold on eternal life.

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You see, then, the nature and necessity of divine grace. Without this, man's religion would be merely external: it would be but the form of godliness, without the power.' You see its efficacy, also: for this man,—a man consequence and looked up to,—was so determined on the wrong side, that he persecuted to death every Christian on whom he could lay his hands: but, when divine grace opens his heart, he stands in

VOL. II.

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chains, and, at the peril of his own life, preaches the Gospel to Drusilla the adulteress, and Felix the adulterer; and, having fought manfully, surrendered himself to all consequences, ' esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.' As if St. Paul had said, "I expected this issue. If God does not impress this truth on the heart of the adulterer, he will hate me the more: he will probably put me to death: but I must speak the truth, and then I can say, 'I have fought a good fight: I have finished my course: I have kept the faith: and, whatever Felix may do, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.""

SERMON XXII.

THE FASHION OF THE WORLD.

1 COR. vii, 31.

For the fashion of this world passeth away.

THE Apostle had been discussing one of the Cases of Conscience, presented to him by the Corinthian Church. He brings it, at length, to a general reflection on the subject: This I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away.'

I shall consider the general proposition in the text, without any particular reference to the specific case to which it may be applied, whether marriage, or politics, or commerce. It is a general truth of vast importance. 'The fashion of this world passeth

away.'

I shall,

1. Illustrate the SENSE of the passage:

2. Draw some PRACTICAL INFERENCES from the position.

I. I have to state and illustrate the SENSE.

Grotius says on this passage, that the expression has an allusion to a theatre, where the Scheme, as the word means literally which we translate Fashion, the

Scheme, the Image, the Form, the Representation is wholly changed.

Another writer will read it, 'The Scene of this world passeth away.' The actors in a drama sustain various characters: the scenes are continually changing: some actors stand forward as the heroes of the drama; and some lurk behind the scenes, as obscure characters; and all these masked, in the ancient theatres at length the curtain drops, and the scenes are over. This presents to us a very striking picture of life; a continually changing scene, that passeth away.

But I prefer the manner in which Archbishop Leighton considers the passage. He treats it as if it were thus written: The pageant of this world passeth away:' it is a mere procession; at best, but a pageant. As a pageant or show, in the street, soon gets afar off, and is quickly out of sight, thus is it with respect to the present world. For, says he, what is become "of all the marriage solemnities of kings and princes of former ages, which they were so taken up with in their time? When we read of them described in history, they are as a night-dream, or as a day-fancy, which passeth through the mind, and vanisheth!"

Who has not looked into history, and felt this strike him, as one of the first facts: "It is all gone by! a mere pageant!" An old man has seen most of the pageants of his time pass by: he remembers the mighty actors of his youth; but they are gone! those, who made the most splendid appearance in the procession, are passed by long ago: he is ready to say, "All is show! All is pageant! It is but the shifting of a scene."

And what is this more than what the Scripture taught us before? In the xxxixth Psalm, we find David saying, 'Surely every man walketh in a vain show : surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.' If he makes a show, it is a vain show. If he is disquieted, agitated exceedingly in his schemes and projects,