SERMON XV.

ON THE GENERAL FAST, FEBRUARY 9,

1809.

ST MATTHEW, xvi. 3.

"Can ye not discern the signs of the times?"

IN these words, our Saviour replied to the national prejudices, and to the national arrogance of the Jewish people. It was with them (even under their peculiar dispensation) as it is with mankind in general. They valued themselves as being the favourite people of Heaven: they conceived that no errors or vices of their own could ever forfeit the covenant made

with their fathers: and they forgot, amid the pursuits of temporary power, all the promises which their peculiar records gave of a spiritual kingdom, and of a moral dominion.

The occasion on which these memorable words were spoken, was the following:

"The Pharisees also, with the Saddu“cees, came, and tempting, desired him "that he would show them a sign from

Heaven. He answered, and said unto "them, when it is evening ye say it will "be fair weather, for the sky is red, and "in the morning it will be foul weather "to-day, for the sky is red and lowering. "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the "face of the sky, but can ye not discern "the signs of the times?"

In these words, there are two things remarkable:

1. The first is the assertion that there are signs of the times: that, as in the

natural world, there are signs established by the beneficence of Heaven, from the observation of which the business of life may be carried on; so, in the moral world, in the conduct of individuals and of nations, there are also signs, established by the same beneficence, from which the thoughtful mind may foretel the consequences that must follow, and from the observation of which it may regulate its future conduct. It is upon this foresight, upon this interpretation of the signs that individuals or nations exhibit, that the wise and the virtuous of every age can act; by which they are enabled to profit by the experience of others by which they are taught what to avoid, and what to pursue; and by which they are perpetually reminded, that there is in nature a greater administration than that of men, to which they ought to be subject, and that their loftiest wisdom

consists in obeying the signs which that administration displays.

2. The words of the text seem to convey another meaning, a meaning of reproach,-of reproach to the people of that, and of every succeeding generation, for their inattention to the indications of Heaven. It was not that the Pharisees and the Sadducees of that unhappy age were incapable of discerning the signs which the times afforded them; it was that they would not discern them. They were the parties of that devoted country; they were rivals in power, in influence, in consequence; and while Heaven threatened, and prophecy foretold, and Rome in consequence was in arms, they closed their eyes to all the signs of Heaven and of earth; and, under the hypocrisy of religion, were ardent only for the low and momentary ends of vulgar ambition.

Whenever, my brethren, a nation is as

sembled before the Throne of God ;whenever, in the midst of public danger or calamity, the command of a sovereign unites the voices of his people in supplication for the assistance of Heaven, I know not that there is any subject of meditation more fit for so solemn an occasion, than that which is suggested by the words of the text.

It is not in obeying the ritual of a prescribed devotion,-it is not in merely following the multitude into the house of God, and joining in words which the heart neither weighs nor feels,-that the solemn duty of days like the present can be performed. It is in raising our thoughts to the administration of the universe;-in contemplating the laws which the Almighty has given to the social world ;in marking, amid the calamities of nations, the operations of His justice, and His wisdom; and, by thus observing the signs