will enable them to walk worthy of him who hath called them to his eternal kingdom and glory.

And have you, brethren, moreover, servants, dependants, persons of whatever class or name through all the manifold ranks of subordination, committed to your charge, or coming under your inspection? These, recollect, are given you by God to be influenced for him, and made by you, so far as in you lies, disciples of his Son. It is not enough that they serve you. It is not enough if they perform the works which you assign them. Man was not made for man alone. Man was made for God, for Christ, for heaven. And the several relations of life, therefore, are ordained, not for us alone and our convenience, but for God, and for the transmission of his grace; as links in that mysterious chain along which is conveyed from heart to heart the Spirit of the Lord. Not for your sakes only, brethren, I repeat, are other men subordinated to you, but that you may stand to them in the place of Christ, as his priest and representative, as the distributor of his truth and the steward of his grace! O that these solemn tics should so have fallen asunder! O that these awful resposibilities should so have been forgotten, yea, become unknown! O that men should come to herd together merely as an aggregate of individuals, with no common feelings, and no common object; rather than cohere as elements and joints and bands of organized society, each dependent upon each, and feeling his dependence; each looking not on his own interests only but the interests of others, and "the whole body thus fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase to the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Brethren! what shall we say before the judgment seat of Christ, when he shall come and reckon with us concerning this particular of our trust? When, of all the opportunities which he has given us for promoting his interests as parents, family men, and centers of various clusters of society, we must confess with shame,-"I went and hid thy talent in the earth!"

But equally in the more extended relations of life, does the injunction still apply-"Occupy till I come." As relations, friends, neighbors, fellow-citizens, we are called upon to exhibit a Christian character, and to seize on every means that may be afforded us for advancing the interests of our Master. There is not one

who names the name of Christ, who shares not some responsibility for all the members of his Lord. There is not one inhabitant of any parish to whom the wellfare of the whole combined population of that parish is not of essential moment. We are not brought together in the same neighborhood by chance: God has assigned to us our lot; God has appointed the bounds of our habitation; and God has set the several members in the body that each may care for each, and all may minister to the spiritual good of all;— by winning men from vice, and helping them to virtue; by snatching children from ignorance to bring them under Christian instruction and discipline; by encouraging the good and discountenancing the bad; by communicating Christian truth and fostering Christian piety. The details of social duty are indeed endless. But the spirit of social duty is the simple feeling that we are the stewards of Christ, left by him in the world to carry on his work. And in proportion as this spirit lives and stirs within us, will it find or make for itself innumerable outlets on every side.

Nor will it stop within the limits of the Christian world. It will press outwards and expand till it embrace the universal earth. To every Christian is committed, not only the improvement, but also the extension of the church. To him applies, according to his opportunity, the spirit of the parting words of Christ. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." For he is part and portion of that sacred band of consecrated ones who are appointed to unfurl the banner of their Lord, and to lift it up in triumph before the eyes of all flesh-to be witnesses for his name, heralds of his grace, the source from whence all spiritual knowledge, life, and holiness, must issue forth to fertilize the world. The church is not only the depositary of Christian truth, but is to be the communicator of that truth; it is not only to maintain, but to carry forward and to spread around religion; and only as it darts its rays throughout the earth as a burning and a shining light, will the heavy clouds of popish superstition and of pagan ignorance be dispelled, and "the Gospel of the kingdom. be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Every Christian, therefore, as a Christian, is essentially a missionary! Every servant of Christ is to be a witness to his Master unto the uttermost part of the earth. The very tenure on which he holds his blessings is that he communicate them. For how else are disciples to be gained for Christ but

through the instrumentality of disciples? Through what other channels does the Spirit of the Lord flow out, but through those who are already consecrated by his presence? The living waters that Ezekiel saw, and that went forth into the desert and gave life to every thing they reached-those living waters issued from the sanctuary of God.

And Oh, how wonderfully gracious is this method by which God vouchsafes his blessings to mankind! He has knit man with man in kindest offices to make us feel our mutual dependence, and to teach us, while we love Him as the Author of all good, to love each other as the channels of all good. Love to God and love to man are thus inseparable as God and man are inseparable. And the very bonds which bind us closer to our heavenly Father bind us at the same time closer to each other, as the children of that Father! Every gift of God becomes twice blessed: It blesseth him that gives, as him that takes. The Christian thrives by nourishing his fellow man. His own light burns more brightly by kindling up a flame within the breast of others. Every benefit is mutual. Every blessing circulates throughout the whole. All is elastic as the breath of heaven. Every movement of the spirit propagates itself in all directions. The life of each is as the life of all. "The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you; but whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored all the members are honored with it."

Here, then, brethren, is our privilege-we are entrusted with our Master's interests. And here is our corresponding duty-we are to promote those interests to the utmost of our power. Why? Why is it so important to remember the trust vouchsafed us? why is it so needful to be diligent in our relative capacity as Christian men-to be training for eternity not our own hearts only but the hearts of all within our sphere? Because, ACCORDING TO OUR ZEAL AND DILIGENCE IN THIS PARTICULAR, SO WILL BE OUR ULTIMATE RECEPTION BY OUR LORD.

This is the Third and last point of the parable, and it shows most vividly how high a value Jesus sets upon our social character as Christians, how impossible it is for any man to be a good and faithful servant of Christ, unless he labors in his Master's interests even as in his own. Religion which is taken up and carried on just to secure to ourselves indemnity from punishment, is

no religion at all. It is a barter; it is a compounding and a stipulation with God; it is the offspring of servile fear, and its result is grudging obedience. All true piety, like every genuine virtue, rises up above mere self, dwells in a different sphere from self, looks out far beyond that narrow confine to contemplate and admire the fair and good, and darting far and wide its eagle glance amidst the grand ideas of God, connects the individual with the many; the personal with the relative, the part with the whole, the interests of each with the interests of all. Love to Christ is love to all that Christ has made and redeemed, and has brought home to God-And there is no real love for another which does not render us diligent for the advantage of that other, taking his wish up into our own mind, and making it our own pursuit. The slothful servant had no love for his Master, for he thought him a hard man -and therefore was he slothful. The Christian, on the contrary, loves his Saviour because his Saviour has so wonderously loved him, and therefore does he labor to improve his talents in his service. And according, therefore, to the test which their conduct affords of genuine love, according to that diligence which is but the exponent of their inward devotedness, so will the Master estimate his servants' characters and assign them their reward. "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." To him who has employed his opportunities and influence to advance his Master's interests, additional opportunities, increasing means of serving him, shall be vouchsafed. But he who idly, fearfully, and selfishly has trifled with them, he shall be no longer steward; no trust shall henceforth be reposed in him, no interests committed to his care; he shall cease forever to be honored as the servant of his Lord! Oh dreadful consummation! Oh, appalling ejection from favor and confidence into disgrace and ruin!

Brethren! Are there any of you who may not have recognized your proper character as stewards of your heavenly Master-who may have thought it quite enough to have been reputable and decent in your personal deportment, and to worship God in secret, and "to make no flaming pretensions to religious zeal,” and "to do your duty quietly and take the world as you find it, and to make your way through it as you can without disturbing others, and to do no harm"-Oh, that fatal oft-recurring thought!

"to do no harm"-suffer me, I pray you, to inquire Where is your talent? that which your Lord committed to your care? that which by his providence he has entrusted to you? Is it wrapped up in a knapkin? Is it hidden in the earth? Have you as you flatter yourself, secured it safe-no loss, no waste, no hazard of being diminished—that you may present it to your Lord at last and tell him, "Lo! there thou hast that which is thine?"—And how think you will he receive the hoarded treasure? How far will he thank your parsimonious fidelity? Alas, alas, his words are very different from what you look for! He estimates but lightly your penurious care! Hear his own words in the parable" His lord answered and said, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest to have put my money to the exchangers, that at my coming I might have received mine own with usury. Take therefore, the talent from him,—and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!"-And is it then enough to "do no harm?" Is it enough not to deny your Lord, or throw away his gifts, or smite him on the cheek? Is it enough to keep yourself from evil, and creep on through the world, without one deed, one word, one prayer, one passing sigh for Him WHO DIED FOR YOU and has given his honor to your keeping, and his interests to your care? Mark only the reception -the surprising reception, according to your principles,—which the slothful servant met with. He had done no harm! He had not obstructed his fellow servants in their duty; he had not wasted his lord's goods; he had not robbed him of his property;-there is no one positive evil mentioned of the man.—And yet how severe, how indignant, how overwhelming is the language used to him, the punishment assigned! "Thou WICKED and SLOTHFUL servant!" "Cast ye the unprofitable servant INTO OUTER DARKNESS! there shall be WEEPING and GNASHING OF TEETH!" Brethren, wake up, I entreat you, to your responsibilities! Consider what a service you are entered into. Recollect what an office is assigned you. Think not that religion can consist in negatives— that piety lies in simple abstinence from degrading vice,—that Christianity is no more than decency and respectability. Oh, they are more, much more! They stir the depths of the mind. They shake the very foundations of the soul. They are a fire, a flame, an energy, a LIFE. "To me," says Paul, "to LIVE is Christ;