II. Christ pronounces him to be a foolish man who builds his house on sand, for what can be greater folly than to incur the expense of raising an edifice which the first storm may overthrow. By the sand are represented all earthly things, and he builds on sand who places all his thoughts and affections on the transitory things of this life. A man of this character is tossed to and fro by the winds of vanity, swallowed up by the floods of pleasure, and completely overthrown by the tempests of adversity. Hence, the Prophet compares the wicked to " the dust which the wind driveth from the face of the earth." (Ps. i. 4.)
III. All mankind scorn the name of "a foolish man," but there are few who do not act consistently with this character. Hence the wisest of men observes that " the number of fools is infinite" (Eccles. i. 15), because most men build upon sand. Examine if it be not your case; and remember that as both these houses were attacked by storms and tempests, so temptations equally attack the virtuous and the wicked; and if you ever yield to temptation, do not ascribe your fall to the temptation, but to the sandy foundation on which your spiritual edifice is built.
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.
Christ the Salvation of Your Soul.
"Attend to my life, O Lord, the God of my salvation." (Ps. xxxvii.23.)
I. Christ is recorded in the gospel of to-day to have restored to life the daughter of a ruler of the synagogue, and to have cured a woman of the bloody flux. (Matt, ix. 18; Mark v. 22; Luke viii. 41.) Lastly, He bestowed
