Once more. When we discourse from the pulpit, on a living and near Saviour, an indwelling Sanctifier, a surrounding spiritual tempter, on heaven or hell, on enduring as seeing Him who is invisible, on having our conversation in heaven, on the evidence of things unseen, on the feeling and grasping, so to speak, as though they were substantial and at hand, of things hoped for—oh! then, how many there are who hear us as though we were dreamers or narrators of fables, speakers who should be allowed some poetic license; who, to make their speech attractive, or perhaps from the spontaneous dictation of their enthusiasm, use figures of rhetoric and speak parables! I do not mean that these persons wilfully take up this position, that they are intentionally, or in desire, gainsayers of the truth, but merely that they do not enter into its conception, and cannot rise to its height. They lag behind, they are earthy, they see only the visible, feel only the tangible to bodily senses. The temporal to them is real; the spiritual, not through unbelief, nor obstinacy, nor moral blindness, but from infirmity, and earthly-mindedness, and unspirituality, is regarded too nearly as unreal; and, therefore, when it is discoursed upon, they seem to be listening to empty dreams, and the preacher to be displaying flights of fancy. Dear brethren—I speak to such—I know that many of you wish it were otherwise; you would that your mind could conceive, and that your heart could feel, these truths. In your best moments, you more than suspect that the preacher is right after all, and you are wrong; that _you_ are dreaming, and not he; that his words are a parable only to those who will not see and hear. It is not in man to afford you much help, in coming to a right state. If I refer you to the Bible, which we do but echo from the pulpit, you will still say, Ah! but does not this, too, speak parables? If I bid you go and exercise your reason, or consult others who have done so, it is more than possible that you will come away from the consultation—alas! many do—more convinced than before that we _do_ speak parables, that each one is a GOD to himself, that there is no other devil than a man’s own evil passions, that there is no hell but in a remorseful conscience, that eternity does not mean “for ever!” No; there is no help for you in man, in yourselves, or in others. You must, indeed, purify and elevate your affections, so that they may wish for better things; you must bring down your reason from the high seat where it sits, and speculates, and dictates; you must try to accept the truth that the natural man cannot receive nor judge of spiritual things; but, then, you must go to GOD Himself, and humbly, teachably, earnestly ask for that spiritual discernment which alone can see, and feel, and love the things of GOD. Do this, not once, but often; not negligently or hastily, but earnestly and perseveringly; and presently, if not all at