is a more momentous element of the social system than we are often disposed to admit. The children of to-day are the adults of to-morrow, and our bequests to the next generation. What the bequests are in moral character, the next generation will be in happiness or misery, in holiness or sin. May the Lord teaeh us, may the Lord bless our nurseries, our schools, and our churches, and help us to teach them what we feel ourselves, that Christianity is good news; that to be a Christian is to be happy; that God is the Father of all that believe, and we his children; and in this bright and beautiful thought we shall have the augury, the earnest, and the foretaste of heaven.

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LECTURE XVIII.

THE BARREN FIG-TREE.

He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years, I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.-LUKE XIII. 6-9.

By a reference to the commencement of the chapter, we shall see the historical facts which suggested the parable. "There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye, that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Then spake he to them this parable, which was meant to convey to them the great truth which they seem to have overlooked in their speculations upon the destruction of these Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. It is important and instructive to notice, that the inference they drew was just this, that those who were slain, and whose destruction was so sudden, were signally guilty, and they themselves, whose lives

were spared, were signally virtuous. They drew the convenient conclusion, that those who suffered were signally guilty, and added the inference which seemed to be natural, that they who were spared were signally virtuous. Now this has all the plausibility of truth, but it is not correct; the observation seems so far perfectly right, but the premises on which it leans had been altogether misapprehended; and this teaches us that our reasoning needs to be sanctified, as well as our recollection, and our reading, and our thinking, and our feeling. Do we not see, for instance, how, from the very same premises, three different parties may draw three different conclusions. Thus, for instance, "All things are transitory; the world and all that are in it is passing away." From this are deduced three conclusions: the Epicurean says, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;" the ascetic says, "Therefore let us mortify," not the lusts of the body, "but the body itself; retire from the world, live out of it, and even against it;" and the Christian says, "The time is short, therefore let us buy as though we possessed not; let us use the world as not abusing it; for the fashion of it passeth away." Thus we learn that we need to be taught by the Spirit of God, not only to put right interpretations on his holy word; but even when these interpretations are perfectly correct, to draw right, logical conclusions from them. We have in these opening words, to which I have very briefly referred, an instance of man's constant tendency in every age to ascertain what he is, not by an examination of himself, and a comparison of his conduct with the right standard, but by looking at what happens to him, and so judging what he is; in other words, the command of the apostle is, Examine yourselves; the practice of mankind is, Examine God's providence. If we examine ourselves, we may, if guided by the Spirit of God, come

to a right conclusion. If we examine God's providence only, we may come to a wrong one. What befalls us is not the evidence of what we are, but what God shows us to be is the true picture of what we truly and really are. Hence therefore the conclusion, that those who are suddenly destroyed are signally guilty, is altogether a wrong conclusion; the greatest sinner is often spared to a most protracted age; the greatest saint is often cut down in the meridian of his days, like a flower of the field. The spared one who lives to ninety may be the guiltiest; the one cut down at thirty or forty may be the greatest and most devoted saint. And we also learn from this, that the place where one dies ought not to lead us to pronounce upon the character of him that dies. One dies at one place, another at another; one under one range of circumstances, another under another range. Yet one may pronounce upon some places, that it is not the place where a Christian should be found. To the living we are to preach repentance and acceptance; about the dead, we are to be silent; it is not ours to mount the judgmentthrone, and pronounce sentence. Ever as we thus try to steal a ray from the glory of God, it will be found that we take a curse into our own bosom. Again, I may notice, just in glancing at the passage, that we are apt to think, when we see a great judgment happen, that punishment is always in proportion to crime. The Jews said, these Galileans must have been terribly guilty, seeing that so terrible a calamity overtook them. It is not so; this is not a dispensation of judgment; if it were so, then the punishment and the crime would be exactly proportioned to each other; but this is the dispensation of election, the dispensation of God's mingled and mysterious providence. There is confusion enough in God's providential dealings with us to make us long for the judgment-day; and yet there

is connection enough between crime and punishment to show that God reigns over all the earth. Were the punishment always proportioned to the crime, there would be no need of a judgment-day; were there no evidence of punishment following crime, there would be no proof that God reigns. Therefore there is just confusion enough, and yet order enough, darkness enough, and yet light enough, to lead us to see that God reigns, and to convince us that there is to be a judgment-day. There is also in this misapprehension made by the Jews respecting the Galileans, another fault which I may correct: their seeing God in judgment only. This is more or less the tendency of us all: if any thing good happen to us, we attribute it to secondary causes: It was my good fortune, my energy, such circumstances, such arrangements; but if any thing calamitous, disastrous, and terrible happen to us, we are ready to say immediately, "It is the Lord's doing, it is the Lord's pleasure." We ought to see God in light things as well as in dark things, in blessing as well as calamity; we ought to ascribe the one and the other equally to him, who reigns over all, who gives and who takes away, and of whom we are called upon still to pronounce "Blessed be the name of the Lord." In order to teach these Jews the necessity of instant repentance, our Lord says, "Unless ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” But this parable is fitted to show them the necessity of instant, immediate, and present repentance. The fig-tree was to be cut down in consequence of its not bearing fruit. No doubt this parable was primarily meant for the Jews as a nation; but it is not meant for them only, but has reference to individuals in every age, and in every country: it has a personal application, which we have only to examine in order to perceive. It speaks in the first place of man as compared to a tree. This is a very favourite