will do to my vineyard-I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up: and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down, and I will lay it waste. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression: for righteousness, but behold a cry."

Suffer, brethren, in conclusion, a word of exhortation. Amongst the evils of our times is the neglect of, or indifference to, the public ordinances of religion; and where this is an increasing evil, it is a fearful sign that we are fast going astray from the good old ways in which our fathers walked. As the minister of this parish I own, with thankfulness to Him who alone directs your paths, the general regularity of your attendance, at least once every Sabbath, to the duties of the sanctuary. Would that you could be persuaded, as I trust you one day may, to join all of you in both our services! If the sermon be the sole attraction, and the prayers be little thought of, I cannot but fear that what should be the first object of coming to church is by you considered the secondthat you had rather hear the word enlarged upon by the preacher, than that precious word itself read to you out of the Bible,—rather hear than pray, rather hear from us the value of prayer and the promises GOD has made to it, than feel by your own experience how faithfully and entirely these promises are fulfilled. I do not forget the many causes, all of them occasionally sufficient, which may hinder even the best of us from coming up in this respect to the full measure of our duty; but I also know how much management and contrivance will effect, even when contending with the greatest difficulties.

But should any now chance to hear me who but seldom frequent the courts of the LORD's house, to them

I would say, O that they would bethink themselves how unseemly a thing it is to be daily loaded with benefits, and never to return thanks! and if that saying of the Psalmist be true that, "praise is comely," how uncomely in the sight of GOD must be their sullen refusal to join in it! It is scarcely to be hoped, but still it is just possible, that he who is habitually absent from public worship may yet so far retain a sense of what used to be, in his better days, his employment on the Sabbath, as not grievously, in other respects, to misuse or profane it. But I ask, whether even this can be hoped of those who are to come after him? Religion, like all other things, if never before the eyes, will soon be out of the heart; and if you treat it with indifference, your children will learn to treat it with levity and contempt; and it will be well, if once entered on, the easy, the enticing, the downward path of moral degradation, their progress is stayed ere they plunge into the dark gulf of hardened infidelity. This is a consideration that generally has weight even with the worst of parents, for such is the natural self-distrust of error, that, however careless a man may be as regards himself, there are but few who would not wish their children to be religious.

All I add is my earnest prayer, that He who only can "turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just," may so grant an entrance for these reflections into the minds of all to whom they apply, as to lead them in time to the practice of this plainest duty-the duly valuing the abundant means of grace vouchsafed to them -a duty which they owe to Him, to their country, to their families, and to themselves.

THE NIGHT COMETH.

BY

THE REV. J. H. TIMINS, M.A.,

VICAR OF WEST MALLing, kent,

ST. JOHN IX. 4.

I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day;

A

the night cometh when no man can work.

MONG the evils which resulted from the fall of man

from the state of purity in which he was originally created, the darkness which overspread his mental faculties, and his consequent ignorance respecting spiritual things, were not the least. Hence mankind stood in need, not only of a Saviour who might make satisfaction to GOD for the breach of His law, but also of a prophet who could remove those errors and delusions with regard to religion and morality, with which the minds of men had become possessed, and afford them such instruction as might enable them to understand how they ought to walk and to please GOD. When, therefore, JESUS came to destroy the works of the devil, He took upon Himself the office of a teacher of mankind, and proved his authority for the doctrines which He delivered, by works far exceeding the reach of human power.

The words of the text form part of the conversation which our Lord held with his disciples, respecting the miracle of mercy He was about to perform, in giving the blessing of sight to one who had been blind from his birth. In these words He gives the reason of his increasing diligence in the fulfilment of those gracious

purposes which He was to accomplish during his abode upon earth, in language strongly expressive of the deep humiliation to which He submitted for the sake of sinful

man.

GOD by nature, and surrounded from everlasting with all the glories of divinity, He yet condescended to take upon Him the form of a servant, and to submit Himself with the most perfect meekness and resignation to the will of his Heavenly Father,—“ I must work the works of Him that sent me." Having undertaken to become the Redeemer of mankind, He laid aside all that majesty and power which of right belonged to Him, and acknowledged Himself bound to undergo all the toil and labour which it was necessary for Him to encounter, before He should have completed the work that had been given Him to do.

To administer comfort to the afflicted, to give rest to the heavy laden, to succour the diseased, to instruct the poor, to guide the steps of the humble sinner into the way of peace, -these and other similar works of power and of goodness might seem to be his own works, and might reasonably be attributed to his merciful disposition and his divine perfections; but He chose rather to describe them as "the works of Him that sent Him;" and what He here says of his works, He elsewhere says of the doctrines which He preached;-" My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me." And this He spoke of Himself, not in regard of his divine nature, but with respect to the prophetical office which He had assumed, and which required that He should not seek his own glory, or advance doctrines of his own invention, but that He should speak and act as one having a commission from GOD, to make known his will to mankind. The time allotted for the fulfilment of his office as a teacher sent from on high was of no great length, and a considerable portion of it had already elapsed; and He accordingly intimates the neces

sity of entirely devoting the remainder of his residence. upon earth to the prosecution of those works which were to be completed before He was to become a sacrifice for sin, and to give his life a ransom for many; "I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work."

The night of which JESUS here speaks has come and gone; the work which his Father had given Him to do is finished; the atonement has been made, and the kingdom of heaven has been opened to all believers, in whose behalf He now appears at the right hand of GOD as their Redeemer and Intercessor. But although his earthly labours in the promotion of the work of our salvation are no longer necessary, there is still much to be done before we can become possessed of the inheritance which He has so dearly purchased for us; we have a great and important work to do in this world, for the conditions of faith and repentance remain to be fulfilled before any benefit can be derived from the satisfaction made by CHRIST to GOD on behalf of sinners. We have a severe contest to carry on with the whole body of sin and corruption, and many evil passions and appetites to mortify and subdue; nor is it only by our own corrupt natures that we are opposed in our Christian warfare; "We wrestle not against flesh and blood alone, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We have machinations to guard against, and assaults to overcome, from enemies who are described to us as deceitful and malicious by nature, and formidable from their numbers and power; who are represented as holding their empire in those places of the world where the darkness has not yet been dispelled by the Sun of Righteousness: and who are fur