What have such as we are to do with enjoying life? Surely it were better to be ever "watchful, strengthening the things which remain and are ready to die1:" for too certainly the works of most of us are as yet most imperfect before GOD, most unworthy of the baptismal grace which He freely gave us.

1 Rev. iii. 2.

SERMON CLXX.

THE OUTCAST'S PLACE FILLED.

PREACHED ON ST. MATTHIAS' DAY.

PSALM cix. 7.

"Let his days be few, and let another take his office."

THIS Saint's Day is different from all the rest in one very striking and awful circumstance: that it commemorates in a manner the fall of Judas, as well as the consecration of holy St. Matthias in his room. The sad event, which made room for this new Apostle, is by no means left out of sight, or lightly touched upon, in the Scripture account of his Election and Ordination. St. Peter in his speech to the assembled Disciples, and they all afterwards in their prayer to our LORD, make particular mention of Judas, and of his end, so unspeakably dreadful.

Therefore, as often as we keep St. Matthias' Day, we keep the memorial of the sin and misery of the traitor Judas also: and our thoughts are carried back to that severe and awful Psalm, the 109th, which contains at large the sentence of the Everlasting Judge on such wickedness as his: that kind of wickedness, which is properly called Apostasy; when such as have been brought unusually near to God fall away from HIм, and their fall, by a most just judgment, brings a curse proportionate to their first blessing.

Such was the fall of our first Parents in Paradise; of Esau, the first-born of a holy Patriarch; of the Israelites in the wilderness, with the Cloud of Glory in sight; of Balaam, the Prophet, whose eyes were open, and who saw the vision of the ALMIGHTY; of Judas, Christ's Apostle; of the Jews, His ancient People and

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still more, of Christians, who are now so near HIM by special grace. Such also was that event, which was the root and the type of all these, the original fall of the Evil one himself, from his place as a bright Archangel in Heaven, to be chief of those who are bound in everlasting chains under darkness.

Now two circumstances of the punishment of such as Judas are expressed in the Text:-a verse which St. Peter also quoted in speaking to the Disciples of his fearful end :— Let his days be few, and his office," or Bishoprick, "let another take." The words in themselves sound simple enough; they might seem to speak of no more than all human beings must undergo, by the necessity of their mortal nature. All our days are few: they are but as grass, they are gone almost before we can count them. All our places, stations, and offices, whatever they may be, must soon pass away from us, and another take them in our place. But this, the common lot of all, is here turned into a fearful and peculiar curse, for those who slight high privileges, and betray sacred trusts: ALMIGHTY GOD thus instructing us, that as He can make blessings out of all to the good,—" is able even of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham," so out of all He can provide punishment for the wicked. And this too is seen throughout all His dispensations. The same pillar of the cloud, which was darkness to the Egyptians, gave light by night to the Israelites. The voice of CHRIST, which was healing to the faithful, caused the unclean spirits to cry out in torments. And for aught we know, the same divine Presence will be heavenly Light to one sort of souls, Hell-fire to another, to all Eternity,

No wonder then if such ordinary things as the shortness of life, and the dread of parting with our stations here, which are trifles, or even blessings, to the obedient, should be mentioned as real curses to the unfaithful and unruly.

At the same time it is to be observed, that these very circumstances are also means in GoD's hand, to lessen the quantity of mischief which is done by those who fall from HIM. Their days are few:" let them do their worst, they must come to an end in threescore or fourscore years; and it has been thought that this was a merciful dispensation, ordered by the ALMIGHTY about the time of the Flood; since, according to the rate at which man's wickedness was then increasing, the very world itself could

not have borne it, had men continued to live, as those before the flood, seven, eight, or nine hundred years each. It was merciful to the world, that their days were made in comparison few; and it may have been merciful even to themselves, for they had the less time to treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath.

Again, their having to part with their office, whereinsoever GOD may have trusted them, to another :-this also greatly diminishes the quantity of mischief they can do in it, and the quantity of scandal they bring upon their calling, especially if it be a high and holy one. Besides their having less time to do harm in, people live in hopes that they shall ere long see a change for the better, and their hope lessens their grief and offence.

The instance of Judas is a very plain one, for shewing forth the dealings of God's providence in this respect. His short life as an Apostle (for it had not been three years complete) would have been a blessing, had he been such as St. James, the first of the twelve who came to his great reward: he would have departed, and been with CHRIST SO much the sooner. But as it was, what judgment could be more fearful? He had purchased a field with the reward of iniquity, and within a very few hours after, seeing that our LORD was condemned, he came and cast down what he had gained by it, and departed, and went and hanged himself; and then, even in his hanging, he had to endure some violent fall, so that he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

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Thus his days were signally cut short; and as to another taking his office, St. Peter reminded the disciples that the Scriptures concerning him were of course to be fulfilled, especially two which he specified: "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein ;" and, "His bishopric let another take." No man dwelt in Judas's portion or habitation, for it was used only to bury strangers in, and was called the Field of Blood. Another took his Apostle's or Bishop's office, namely, the Apostle of to-day, St. Matthias.

Thus CHRIST SO ordered things, that the very downfall of one of His own Apostles, which beforehand one would expect to be well-nigh the ruin of the Church, was made consistent with its continuance and prosperity.

Had Judas been allowed more time to exercise the powers of an Apostle, who knows what incurable harm he might have done in the infant Church?

Had his place not been filled up, it might appear as though GOD were forsaking us; as if the whole Church might possibly one day fail, through the unworthiness of its pastors. This the ALMIGHTY has, we trust, effectually provided against, by what is called the Apostolic succession, the handing on of His grace from age to age through the Bishops; of His care for which, the ordination of St. Matthias is the first example in the Church. We know by it, that it is not His will to let His Church's being depend on the character of His ministers; since after the very worst, after Judas by transgression had fallen, another was elected to take his part of the ministry and Apostleship. And so, what is truly wonderful to think of, he whom CHRIST had ordained, fell away and was lost; but he whom the Apostles ordained in the absence of CHRIST, and before the coming of the HOLY GHOST, Stood firm, and kept his crown. Our LORD intended, as it may seem, in this as in many other ways to teach us, how entirely He would have us regard His Church's commission as all one with His own.

Further, the Scriptures appear to signify, that this His dispensation concerning Judas was a kind of type or pattern of His dealings with the whole Jewish people when they proved unfaithful. For the sixty-ninth Psalm, which St. Peter on this occasion interpreted of Judas, "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein," is explained by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans as concerning the unbelieving Israelites, and the punishment they would undergo for rejecting CHRIST1. Nor is it hard to understand wherein the two are alike, and how the one may stand for the other-the traitor Apostle for the rebellious Jewish nation.

They are alike in this, that they both came so very near CHRIST, by His special favour; and therefore, when they proved unworthy, their punishments might well prove to be alike. Thus, as Judas's days were few,—as he was cut off suddenly in the early time of his Apostleship,-so were the days of the Jewish

1 Rom. xi. 9, 10.