SERMON XX.

MARK Xiii. 37.

What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.

SINCE the time of the second advent of our Lord to judgment is uncertain, so that "of the day and of the hour knoweth no man, no not even the angels in heaven;" since the event itself shall be sudden, and preceded by no sign nor prodigy, which can awaken the dead, nor give warning to those whose hour of probation is not past; since revelation assures us of the truth, since reason convinces us of the justice, of these things; most powerful is the admonition of our Lord which closes his final declaration on this subject, "What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch."

The precepts of our Lord were usually delivered in general terms; they were addressed first to his disciples, and through them to all succeeding generations, who might apply them with equal aptitude to their own times, and to their

own conditions, for the confirmation of their faith, the instruction of their minds, and the guidance of their life. The precept in the text seems to be thus generally inculcated. Though universal in its application, it is particular in its address. It is particular, as applied to the disciples themselves; it is particular, as applied to the remainder of the world. The repetition no less in language than in matter, seems peculiarly emphatic, and in the name of that Saviour who thus impressed it upon us, demands our earnest attention.

Let us consider then the duty so often generally inculcated, and now thus particularly enforced, in its double application, first, to the disciples themselves, and, secondly, to the remainder of the world.

To the Apostles was committed a high and a heavenly privilege; to them was entrusted no less an office than the promulgation of the glad tidings of salvation to the end of the world. They were the elect of Christ, the messengers of the new covenant, the ministers of life and immortality; upon them was poured out the Spirit of the Lord, in all its diversified gifts; by its immediate influence they were endowed with the power of working miracles, to convince the senses; of language, to persuade the reason; of eloquence, to overpower the affections. Still

their life was a perpetual warfare, though armed with the power from above, they were subject to the powers of the earth. They were the victims of all the opposition which prejudice could enforce, of all the contempt which pride could inflict, of all the tortures which cruelty could devise. All their heavenly prerogatives did not exempt them from the temptations of mortality. If the Lord of life, during his ministry upon earth, was subject to the wiles of the archenemy, if " he was tempted as we are, yet without sin," much more were these, his servants, exposed to the virulence of the prince of darkness, whose kingdom upon earth they were sent to subvert. Even to the chiefest among them was sent a thorn in the flesh, a minister of Satan, lest pride and presumption should inflate him, "lest, when he had preached to others, himself should be a cast-away." The Holy Spirit within them, though all-powerful, was not irresistible; and if a temptation could be conceived, to which their minds under such circumstances, would be peculiarly exposed, it would be that against which the charge of our Lord seems more immediately directed, a coldness in the conception of their duty, and a lukewarmness in its performance. If there were any pleasure in ease, if there were any afflictions in poverty, if there were any fears in martyrdom, these all

would conspire to alarm the disciple of the cross, to daunt the soldier of Jesus Christ. That such were the temptations to which the faith, even of an Apostolic Church, fell a victim, Scripture itself has testified. "Unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, I know thy works, that thou art neither hot nor cold;"-"be zealous, therefore, and repent." To the Apostles therefore in the execution of their high offices, were the words of our Lord a warning and a charge.

Again, not only with respect to the execution of their ministerial function, but with respect to their actual belief in the event, was this precept so forcibly inculcated. Our Lord foresaw all the false and erroneous opinions which would arise in the perverted imagination of man, from the declaration of his second coming. He knew the proneness of human nature to misinterpret even the plainest prediction, and to misconceive the clearest representation. Accordingly in the times even of the Apostles, we find the most dangerous and delusive opinions respecting the second appearance of our Lord to have existed. We find from the complaint of St. Paul himself, that those had already sprung up "who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some." Various misconceptions of the prophecies contained in the chapter from which my

text is taken, might have given rise to such opinions, however groundless and absurd they may appear in our age. To the Apostles, therefore, as a guard against such early and such fatal errors, was the precept given; as not only enforcing upon them a vigilant discharge of their high duties, but assuring them of the future existence of that event, which was to summon them into the presence of their Master, their Redeemer, and their Judge. "Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the time is." With how much fidelity and affection on their part, they both preserved and executed this last injunction of their great Master, the record of history both sacred and profane, will proudly testify. It is for us, on our part, to animate obedience by their example.

But this leads me to the consideration of the command as applicable to all; to every man who now lives, and to every man who shall hereafter exist. "What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch." As to the Apostles, so to ourselves, the precept inculcated in the text, seems to bear a double reference, to a vigilance in the conduct of our lives, and to a perpetual anticipation of that day, when we shall be called upon to answer for them.

Respecting the conduct of our lives, the injunction in question has the appearance of a