living, for your help in hopeful death. And look also for that coming of his to judge the world, when "unto them that look for him, he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Heb. 9. 28.)

SERMON XVIII.

THE SENTENCE OF CHORAZIN.

MATT. 11. 21, 22.

Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

TYRE and Sidon were large and wealthy cities of the heathen, not far from the borders of Judæa. Chorazin and Bethsaida were two towns of Galilee which our Saviour frequently visited. In these towns many miracles were wrought, and the inhabitants were well acquainted with the works and words of Jesus. They were not however converted by what they witnessed. Instead of becoming disciples of Christ, they continued in sin. And there

fore at this time He began "to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum,

which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."

I have already stated that Tyre and Sidon were cities not far from the regions of Judæa. They were notorious for their wealth, luxury, and profligacy. And the Jews were accustomed to consider them as objects most certain of the Divine vengeance. The history of Sodom too is well

known, as it is related in the 19th chapter of the book of Genesis. There we learn that "the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." Now certainly the inhabitants of these cities, of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Tyre and Sidon, were eminent in wickedness. And the Jews who dwelt at Capernaum, Chorazin, or Bethsaida, might reasonably reckon that the visitations they had met with here, were but an earnest of what awaited them hereafter. How greatly must they then have been surprised to be told, that in the day of judgment it should most certainly be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon, for Sodom and Gomorrah, than for themselves!

Let us inquire into the reasons of this declaration. Let us consider what lessons it should inculcate on our minds. We may conceive then some inhabitant of these

ment, How can these things be? Shall we who are the children of Abraham be rejected, and the heathen be preferred in our stead? Shall it in the day of judgment be more tolerable for them, than for us who have received the law of Moses, and been esteemed the peculiar people of God? That such will be the case has been most plainly asserted in the text by Christ. And the reason is set down as follows: "For if the mighty works which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." The Almighty Judge, we may hence collect, in the apportioning of rewards and punishments, regards not the actual amount of profligacy or virtue, but takes into consideration also the means of improvement enjoyed, the kind of information and light vouchsafed. He could discern, in the abandoned inhabitants of Sodom, a temper that would have been softened to repentance, by those very signs and wonders, at which the men of Capernaum elosed their obdurate hearts. He could estimate, in Tyre and Sidon, debased as