the showy and barren fig-tree. And thus again as to our stewardship of that which the world brings us, from victory over its trials we derive confidence, and have to beware of self-reliance and boastfulness; and from application of its opportunities, we have to promote the service of the honour and glory of God, and must beware of seeking our own selfish interests, and worldly ambition.

The heart then is the root. Let us look well to that. In His infinite mercy towards us God hath planted it in the ground of His Church, where it may draw upon all the fatness of its heavenly and spiritual soil. In our baptism we were planted here, that we may take root in the love of God and in our Lord Jesus Christ. And it becomes us well to consider whether we indeed be thus consciously rooted; whether we be indeed deriving continual spiritual nourishment, from having our hearts set upon the things which are above, preserving Christ's continual presence by serious meditation, securing His continual help by instant prayer. What does our conscience say to this matter? If fairly brought to the bar by daily examination, as it ever should be, and more than ever at such an awakening season as this, it will tell us the truth. And without hav

ing its answer we can do nothing. We are as a man in the dark, who knows neither where he is, neither where he may be in the next moment. In fact this examination does for us exactly what that power of discernment which God gives to the root, that it may refuse the evil and choose the good juices of the soil, does for the tree. If therefore we be not men of self-examination, of meditation, of prayer, through the access in Christ, our root is not doing its duty, it is leaving us to be supplied from the outward world around us in so improper a proportion, that all and the very best that we shall be able to shew for ourselves will be mere outward profession: and that inward confession, for which the Lord will look in the day of visitation, will be wanting, and we shall receive sentence accordingly.

It is not indeed possible that the outward profession should be any thing but unprofitable, however boastful, where the inward confession is lacking, and therefore it may be thought unnecessary to go on to any observations upon it. But we must remember that our inward feeling can never be depended upon, even by ourselves, unless tested by outward fact. It is vain to persuade ourselves of inward holiness without holy conversation, of inward love to Christ without out

ward love to our neighbour, of inward repentance without outward humility, of faith without works, and of being joined inwardly to Christ without the application of those outward ordinances which He has Himself instituted, and commanded us to use. Christ did not find fault with the leaves in themselves. The tree could not have borne fruit without them. What angered Him was that He found nothing but leaves. And our outward profession therefore is the very reason why Christ should assure us, on our very own shewing, to be His, and to look for fruit. By it we cry out to Him, as He goes by," Here are the meet fruits of repentance for Thee." And if He had this challenge from the fig-tree on the roadside, would He not have had it still more urgently from the fig-tree which grew in the vineyard? Its very position there would be a challenge of the most unqualified kind. O then what a direct, what a fearless challenge are we making to Him from our places in the Church of God, and how disgraceful to be found out in such an audacious lie as having nothing to offer Him after we have so pressingly invited Him to come up to us.

Thus mere outward profession is a continual lie unto the Lord, and provokes His curse upon Hear how He rebuked Israel for such false

us.

dealing with Him. (Isa. i.) "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hateth: they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean."

Here is the curse on the fig-tree given at large and in its application to man, only that it is not for ever. And this difference surely makes our position only the more awful. We find here the enumeration of the several particulars of the public worship of Israel. And the offering of these, as having been ordained by God's own especial order, should have been fruit most acceptable to Him. It proved however but barren leaves. And now remark, why? Because they brought not their hearts with them. They had been circumcised in the flesh: but they gave Him not the circumcision of the heart, and therefore as that fundamental ordinance was made barren, so were all the rest. In the same way therefore, if we make not good our baptismal profession, and

faithfully use our baptismal grace, we make barren all the other ordinances of the Church. If we be not striving to make real in us the death unto sin, the new birth unto righteousness, the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, of what avail to us can be the most scrupulous observance of all the rest of the ordinances of Christ and His Church? They surround us with a show of barren leaves only, and provoke our disappointed Master's indignation. Alas! alas! how numerous (it is awful to think) is the class of fruitless fig-trees. How many Christians are there living in the world as, if they had been dedicated to it, instead of having renounced it. And when reminded of the real nature of their profession, they will not be persuaded that they have bound themselves to a service of such high seeking and constant endeavour, of such watchful resistance to the world which they serve, to the flesh which they indulge, to the devil with whom they parley. And even when they stand as godfathers, and make in the child's name the same solemn vow which has been already made in theirs, how seldom are they affected by such an awakening position, how little does the heart seem to second what the mouth pronounces. The ceremony passes off