need of some of the Oxford poor, is a contrast not to be set aside; nay, to be thought over, dwelt upon, turned to its account, until we learn to ask ourselves the question that will be put to each in the great account, "What hast thou gained with thy treasure in its occu"pation ?"

And what is the answer? "What hast thou gained?" What sense have you had of your responsibilities in the sight of Almighty God in their behalf? Have you tried to live as one to whom, as to a steward, has been committed this mighty gift of money, the most powerful agent among natural gifts for good or for evil? What more utterly selfish in this earth really, than the careless recklessness which passes for goodnature, and a generous heart and a liberal hand? Miserable misnomers! darkness for light and light for darkness, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Grievous as is waste of God's gifts, we must deplore all around us in this place, far more deplorable the effect upon the unfortunate man's own being and character. As touching others, there is indeed loss, but as touching himself, he is preparing against the day of repentance that which will "eat his "flesh as it were with fire." When God gives him the grace of recollection, the bitterness of regret is indeed terrible. To such come home the words of the Hebrew prophets to the self-indulgent of their day: "Tremble, "ye women that are at ease" "Woe to them that are "at ease in Zion "

And all this brings us to the simple rules for our Lenten self-examination, for to such self-knowledge should all Lenten preaching lead. Under the head of the eighth commandment let us ask ourselves two questions: First, have we robbed God? Secondly, have

c Isa. xxxii. II.

d Amos vi. I.

we misused His gifts on ourselves? The two questions really become one. Under the eighth commandment they naturally come, according to the words of the Prophet: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed "Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In "tithes and offerings." Have we counted ourselves stewards? and what is our account of our stewardship? Thus, have we spent upon our pleasures, our indulgences, our softer sins, that which was not meet? Have we withheld from His poor that which was their due? My brethren, put not the question from you because your stewardship may be small, for it is the small stewardship, well husbanded, that yields the richest and most blessed increase.

To the thoughtful mind the various contrasts between the wealth and the poverty of our English land is a very portent. A popular writer of our day has not shrunk from saying that gold has polluted and corrupted every political community, every social influence, every family tie, wherever it has come. As Christians, we shall count such a statement not merely exaggerated, but heretical. Wealth is the gift of God; to replenish and subdue the earth is His command. And a gift rightly used is blessed to the possessor just in proportion to the difficulty of using it aright. For ourselves we may each in his own place and sphere learn to turn. this dross of earth into precious blessing; to minister of our temporal substance to the spiritual and bodily necessities of those who are our brethren; to anticipate the true riches of the kingdom by a faithful stewardship of the unrighteous mammon, so that when we "fail "they may receive us into everlasting habitations."

e Mal. iii. 8.

SERMON VIII.

Personal Responsibility of Man, as to his
Influence upon Others.

ST. JOHN i. 40, 41.

"One of the two that heard John speak, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ."

IT

T has been disputed whether each separate soul be a fresh creation of God, or derived through generation from the human parent. The former is generally accepted as the truer view; but the result as to the influence of the parents on their offspring would be in either case in effect the same, though varying in degree. For the soul is influenced by the body, receiving from it impressions and dispositions which impart a character. And thus through the medium of the body the mental peculiarities of the parent may be transmitted, and habits or tendencies perpetuated, of a powerful, though very subtle kind, such as are witnessed by family, and, on a larger scale, by national distinctions.

This mysterious fact in the history of our race, resting as it does on an universal law of life, exemplifies very strikingly the consequences of the intimate connexion of man with his fellow-man. What has been adduced is simply a law of physical influence, but it is

H

founded on moral causes.

For as the body influences the soul, so does the soul influence the body. There is a mutual action and re-action, as each impresses the seal of its vital energies on the other, so that in a progressive onward series from generation to generation, the influence of progenitors extends endlessly to their descendants. And thus a very solemn responsibility is established, types of character being reproduced as the consequence of moral states and actions in the forefathers of past ages; and what men are, or do, or make themselves to be, determine, at least in some measure, the natural dispositions of their successors to be created even in far-distant ages, according to laws altogether beyond their power to control. Such moral influences tell everywhere on society, through links which bind closely in one its manifold component members.

We may herein discern the causes of the keen interest which even men of advanced age take in the interests of this present life, and this often equally with their younger cotemporaries. Great social changes, fresh political combinations, the acts of public men,-are matters which excite eager discussion and anxious questioning, even when the immediate concerns of the present time are necessarily of little account in themselves. It is because of the immense influence upon character which such events produce, that such interest is felt. But for this it would be idle to expend upon politics all the energy and thought that they invariably excite. They are not mere questions of the day, nor do they merely affect outward and transient things. What is the secret motive which is now arousing to intensest eagerness many of the oldest, the most devout, the most truly philosophical and Christian-hearted men among yourselves in reference to the projected Uni