poor, "I know their poverty, but they are rich."

Brethren, the manner in which we estimate poverty and riches, differs most widely from the manner in which that estimate is made, in the eternal mansions.

The only poor, in the sight of God, are they, whatever be their station here, whose poverty is a spiritual poverty; whose souls are empty of the grace of God; whose hearts are destitute, utterly destitute, of the love of Christ; whose lives are barren in those works of holiness, and self-denial, and charity, without which the richest professor of Christianity stands as poorer in the sight of the Eternal, than the most destitute object in creation. Tried by this rule, weighed in this balance, how many would be found wanting? How many upon whom at this very moment, while men are envying their wealth, and flattering them for their riches, the great God, who sees the heart, is pronouncing

precisely the reverse of the sentence of the text, I know thy wealth, but thou art really poor, poor in faith, poor in hope, poor in love, poor in holiness, poor in every thing, which the hand of death will not shortly wring from thy grasp, and scatter to the winds.

We all feel for the houseless and destitute; the poor, in this world's goods; and it is well we should so feel. But have we not still greater cause to pity those who are, far more emphatically, the really houseless and destitute, who have no mansion preparing for them in our Father's house; no clothing which on the great day shall avail to cover their unrighteousness; no interest in Him, who is our life, our all! Especially, shall we not commiserate the poor rich? Surely they ought to be among the first and chiefest objects of our compassion. The poor rich! the men whose treasury is overflowing, but whose hearts are empty! whose tables are

covered with every luxury, but whose souls are starving! The men who are daily saying to themselves, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, and yet, when the signal for departure comes, when the Bridegroom's cry is heard, who will be found more utterly impoverished, more entirely destitute, than ever were the foolish virgins when hopelessly appealing to their wiser sister, "Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." If we at this moment address any such, most earnestly would we urge them to look forward in imagination to imagination to the hour, which "will try every man's work," and even man's wealth, "of what sort it is." Have you reason to believe that yours will stand the test? that this world's wealth and this world's riches will profit you upon a dying bed? Then, indeed, we have nothing to say; you

Luke xii. 19.

cannot possibly do better than to live to both worlds, and enjoy both worlds; but if they will not-if an exclusive attachment to the things of time is destructive of our preparation for eternity-if "the friendship of the world is enmity with God"-if the devotion of the heart to its interests, its luxuries, and its pleasures, is treason and ingratitude to God-if the wealth on which your soul is chiefly fixed, is not the wealth that can outlive time, and profit you in eternity-and if the riches to which you look are not the unsearchable riches of Christ-then are you poor indeed; then are you taking, "in exchange for your soul," that of which a week, a day, an hour, may dispossess you. You may be conscious of no such bargain, you may, and probably will, revolt at the very idea of such an exchange, but it is our Lord's expression, and unquestionably "for what shall a man give in

own

true;

exchange for his soul?" And when the summons comes, "this night thy soul shall be required of thee," you will be convinced of it, in a manner and with an emphasis, which no living tongue, on this side eternity, can venture to pourtray.

The epistle before us thus continues : "I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer; behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days."

In these words there are two distinct declarations, that the great accuser of the brethren should be extremely active in his trials and persecutions of the followers of our Lord; and then, as a close to all their troubles, that they should suffer one great tribulation for "ten days," which, in prophetical language, signifies ten years.

f Matthew xvi. 26.

g Revelation ii. 9, 10.