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A Sermon

DELIVERED BY THE REV. R. ROBINSON, BA.

AT THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, WOLVERHAMPTON, SUNDAY, FEB. 13, 1831.

Luke, xvi. 2.—“ Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward."

I NEED not inform this congregation | riches of his goodness which call forth that the words which I have this day the warm returns and the acceptable selected for my text form a very in-service of love to God-those talents teresting portion of one of the beauti- of health and strength committed to ful and edifying parables of Jesus our trust, and for which we must ere Christ, which appear in the volume of long render an account. To us has God's holy word, as heavenly lumi- the glorious work and plan of redempnaries to guide mankind through the tion-the offering of the Son of God mazes of ignorance and of doubt to the for the salvation of souls-appeared in knowledge of Gospel truth, and the all the splendour of divine love, the glorious and soul-reviving prospects of embracing or not embracing of which eternity. Seasonable and salutary as will seal our everlasting destiny at the were these parables which our Lord approaching day of judgment. To us delivered sometimes to the proud and the word of God has shone—the invihaughty and high-minded Pharisee, tations of mercy been sent-the saand sometimes to the careless and craments and ordinances of grace mersceptical Sadducee, there is not one cifully vouchsafed, and time for makwhich conveys to us more useful, yet ing our peace with God, and for workawful, instruction than that of the un- ing out our eternal salvation granted, for just steward. In this parable it is the all of which the hour is speedily apmerciful and manifest design and in-proaching when we must render an tention of the great Redeemer of souls account. to excite and arouse a negligent and sleeping world to a sense of their alarming danger from the all-powerful motive and consideration of a judgment to come-to point out to mankind the responsibility of their situation, and their dependance upon God as accountable creatures, and to persuade them to "flee from the wrath to come," -from the ruin of their immortal souls.

We, my hearers, are all stewards. Man, in every situation of life, no matter how circumstanced-no matter where born-man is a responsible agent. We all have received, and are daily receiving, from the great author of our existence, those blessings which render that existence dear to us-those

Now, although all and each of us are in a great measure identified with the character of the steward described in the text, yet of some much more than of others will be the account required of the responsibility attached to them, and the appropriation of the talents committed to their care: "for of him to whom much is given, much will be required." When I think of the position in which the minister and ambassador of Christ is placed-he who stands mid-way between God and his people-he who enters the sanctuary and ministers by the altar of his God-he who is entrusted with the office of that priesthood of which Christ is the great High Priest, and

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who exhorts and pleads and intercedes | we give an 'account of our stewardfor immortal souls at the throne of ship," every wilful disregard of the divine grace-when I reflect on the mercies of God-every violation of his momentous importance of his god-like sabbaths and ordinances-the means charge, and think of the possibility of of grace despised-his promises and his endangering the salvation of his threatenings reviled shall then be own soul, I turn to the awful misgiv- brought to light. And if there be one ings of the Apostle Paul, and think in this assembly, who has treated "the with alarm, "that after he has preached blood of the covenant as an unholy to others he himself may be a cast thing, and trampled under foot the Son away." of God"-that Saviour will be no Saviour to him-that blood will sink him deeper in eternal condemnation.

There is a solemn and an affecting warning suggested to us all in the latter part of my text-"thou mayest be no longer steward." Whatever are the blessings and the privileges we now enjoy and however we may improve or despise the mercies of God, the time is coming when they must all have an end. In whatever situation we may be placed, whether as Ministers of the Gospel of Christ, or as hearers of the word of God, the Almighty will shortly say to us all individually, as the rich man in the parable said to his steward, "give an account of thy

Blessed, too, my hearers, as you all are this day, with the glorious privilege of drawing near to Christ;-blessed with a revelation that speaks of heaven and of heavenly things, and that points to the glories of immortality ;-assembled as you are this moment, within the walls of God's temple, and permitted, nay, solicited, to pour out your supplications to the great God of heaven and earth for divine aid and spiritual assistance, and, moreover, promised that aid and that assistance, if your petitions are directed to God through the all-prevailing atonement of Christ, is there one amongst you that can say that dare to say, that for all these things he is not account-stewardship, for thou mayest be no able to God? "When God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life;"-when the Son of God descended from his father's throne, and left the glory and splendour of heavenwhen his love for sinful man was so great, and when nothing but his own blood could atone for man's transgression, that he veiled himself in human form, and lived in the world miserable and afflicted, and died upon the cross, "the just for the unjust," and that "we might be reconciled unto God," is there one amongst you that can say he is deserving of such unbounded love? Oh! my hearers, the account betwixt God and man is immeasurably great! At that day, when our probation being ended, and

longer steward." When the exulting tyrant of the tomb, that has slain his thousands and tens of thousands, shall have dragged us in his iron grasp to the grave, the stewardship of every one of us will be over for ever. The grave cultivates no talent-improves no virtue-reforms no vice-yet how often, even in this world, do we see the talents committed to our fellowcreatures suddenly withdrawn from them. We have seen reason, the best of natural gifts from God to man, quitting in a moment its accustomed residence and consigning its victim to a life of idiotic simplicity and childish indifference, or leaving him a maniac dancing in his chains. We have seen that health, in which so many exultwhich has promised to its possessors many years of happiness and of plea

and sickly hue come there in its stead. But if these talents should still be continued to us, I repeat again, that our stewardship ends at death; "for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Death comes upon the soul often with the rapidity of lightning! and oh! it is a fearful thing to go down to the grave unprepared-to be arrested by the hand of death in the midst of worldly care and worldly enjoyment to be stricken down even at the moment of exulting in health and strength, and rejoicing in life in ts follies and its vices-to be smitten as with a thunderbolt, and to have every limb and every sinew paralized for ever—and thus unsuspecting and unprepared to appear at the bar of God to give in the dreadful final account! Once passed the barrier of the grave-once launched into the unseen and unknown world of spirits, no more the light of redemption shines upon the benighted soul-no more the voice of intercession is heard pleading for man. There no more time is allowed for redeeming a misspent life, and making peace with an offended God:

sure, suddenly removed, and the pale | solicited, earnestly solicited, to engage in the salvation of your souls, and exhorted to come to Christ that ye may have life. And how have you profited by this long-suffering forbearance of God? How, think you, stands the settlement betwixt God and you? If there be in the whole compass of the mind's conception one question which more than another requires our serious attention, it is what will be the account which each of us, as stewards of the covenanted mercies of God, shall present to the great judge of quick and dead? There cannot rest a doubt upon the mind of man, that not only the whole human race collectively, but that each person individually, must give an account of the works done in the body-the use or the abuse of God's important trust. The text plainly suggests, that such is the wise determination in the counsels of heaven, and St. Paul himself expressly states, in his epistle to the Romans, that such will be the case. "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Yet when we take an accurate survey of the world, and perceive thousands of our fellow-creatures, whose every act is stamped with responsibility, living as if there were no God in the world, can we for a moment imagine, that these persons really believe in a judgment to come? When we see God's sabbaths polluted-his name derided

there no means of grace remain-no sacraments—no ordinances—no ministering voice to sooth the anguish of an agonized and troubled mind :—" As the tree falls so it must lie." Locked in the jaws of the grave sleeps many a one, whose soul, alarmed and distracted at the unprofitable use of talents committed to its care, would give a world such as ours for this one hour which you are passing (perhaps in carelessness) in the house of God, in order to settle some awful account betwixt God and itself. And here we are all assembled―here many of you have from year to year, through the mercy of God, been allowed to come up to the temple of the Lord, invited to partake of his holy and refreshing ordinances

his ordinances reviled-the means of grace despised-the blood of the covenant treated with scorn, and everlasting salvation set at naught, can there be amongt these one serious, persuasive thought that they must render an account of their stewardship? It is most awfully true, that the all-important fact of a reckoning to come is, by nine-tenths of God's creatures, lightly regarded, and the provision necessary for such a scrutiny totally neglected. It is not only true, that "the whole world lieth in wicked

the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." To the faithful followers of Christ is there one declaration in holy writ imparting such consolation to the mind as the one I have just quoted? To find at the last great day when "the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed,"

that he in whom we have believed, that he "who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities," shall appear as our Lord and Judge, must raise the desponding soul and give it humble confidence in the day of judgment. Yes, my hearers, there is a time coming when Christ shall appear in celestial splendourwhen he shall be seated on that "throne which is for ever and ever,"

ness," but there seems to be a prevalent disposition, if not determination, that it shall remain so. Or else why is it that men are become so totally indifferent about heaven and heavenly things;-why is it that we, as a nation, are even in this world judged and scourged, and what mean those prayers that are offered up from every temple in the land to the throne of grace, if not to prove that we are a backsliding nation, and that God's judgments are hanging over us? But above all, why is it that in the counsels of a mighty empire, one day of penitence and of prayer cannot be exclusively appropriated to the services of an offended God, and why is the bare mention of such a religious ordinance treated with contempt? I know not, and I care not, what construction may be put on these observations, convinced as I am in my own mind, that any nation like the Jewish nation of old, (and the greater the privileges it possesses, and the more valuable the talents committed to its care the greater is its responsibility) if it trust in the help of man and disregard the eternal God-that nation must sink in the scale of National importance, and its glory must depart from it. Yet there was a time when our ancestors highly valued and fondly cherished that religion which is almost become a by-word in the present generation-when they pressed forward to the prize of their high calling in Christ Jesus, and are now reaping the reward of a glorious inheritance. Now since we are distinctly inform-nished sight, and Christ should appear ed by the book of God's revelation, that we must render an account of the things done in the body, whether they be good or whether they be evil, I turn to that book, and find in seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that that judgment will be committed to Christ" because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge

when he shall assume that "sceptre of his kingdom which is an everlasting sceptre ;"-when the myriad myriads of intellectual beings, that have passed the earth from the time of Adam to the coming resurrection morn, shall stand before him to receive their final sentence: when every soul in this assembly shall be raised to the glories of heaven, or consigned to the miseries of hell-when every soul before me shall rise from pinnacle to pinnacle of eminence, and of glory in the realms of eternal light, or sink into the unfathomable depths of darkness and despair. I put the question to each of you individually, and ask you seriously and affectionately, if the day of judgment should now break upon our asto

with his holy angels and all the glories of heaven, is the account betwixt God and you satisfactorily settled, and are you ready to meet his coming? This is a question in which we are all equally interested, because the account we must give, must be given each one for himself. In the silent midnight hour, when the shades of darkness fall heavily

around us-when the mind is abstracted from earth and earthly things, often does the warning voice of conscience tell us of a reckoning to come-often does it whisper to us the joys of heaven, and terrify the soul by the horrors

of hell.

If there be one in this congregation who has never seriously examined the state of his own soul-who is careless and indifferent as to his eternal salvation, and reckless of a world to come, I tell that individual that the day of the Lord is hastening, and that it is nigh at hand. I tell him that thousands of his fellow beings have been unexpectedly swept from the stage of human life, and have been torn from this world without one hope beyond the grave. I tell him to “ make haste | and escape, because of the stormy wind and tempest." I exhort him to go in faith and penitence to the Lord Jesus Christ-the great Redeemer of souls: | -to lay hold on the promises of the Gospel, and to allow neither sleep to his eyes, nor slumber to his eyelids," until he has made his peace with God.

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an advanced old age, but there is like-
wise an alarming certainty that many
will sink prematurely into the grave.
Oh! then, is it not a question of para-
mount importance to put to yourselves
frequently and seriously in the retire-
ment of the closet, "am I prepared
for such a change ;-
;-am I in the strait
and narrow way that leadeth unto life,
or am I in the broad way that leadeth
unto death?" To those who are in
the last stage of their mortal existence

to those who are tottering on the very brink of the tomb-to those whose talents have long been continued, yet must shortly be withdrawn, the certainty of a judgment to come must strike to the heart, and pierce the very soul. A few more days-a few more weeks, and, it may be, a few more months, and their day of grace sets for

ever.

Are you then ready? What account can you give of the talents committed to you? Oh! examine yourselves sincerely as those that must give an account-commune with your own hearts; and if in the solemn investigation you find your conscience alarmed, and your soul misgive you, turn, I beseech you, to the strong hold,-fly to Christ the great intercessor for a ruined world, the Mediator of the new covenant-the Saviour of souls.

To all of us here present the solemn realities of the last great day are fast approaching the stewardship of every one of us is drawing to a close. To the youngest amongst you the time is, And on the heart of every one here comparatively speaking, short betwixt present the words of my text “give an you and the grave; and even that life account of thy stewardship, for thou in which you pride yourself to-day mayest be no longer steward," should may be snatched from you to-morrow, be deeply engraven and firmly fixed. that health in which you delight- May we never forget that we are stewwhich sparkles on the countenance and ards, and that an awful responsibility brightens it with joy and gladness— is attached to us all, and above all, may blooms only to decay. Many a fair we always remember "the great and and promising sun that has arisen in solemn account which we must one majesty and splendour, even before the day give," and the awful importance noontide hour, has been overcast with of that account which will raise us to clouds and tempests. There is a pos- everlasting happiness, or sink us in sibility that many of you may reach | eternal misery and woe.

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