we wish to present ourselves at the Lord's table we may be fearful of adding to our offences by presenting ourselves in an unworthy state, we ought not to let these fears get the better of our sense of duty. It is, it must be confessed, to be our duty to be present often when we have an opportunity at the Lord's Supper. If we absent ourselves we disobey His commands: and ought we not be as fearful of doing this as of presenting ourselves unworthily. Let us throw ourselves, like David, on the mercy of God. If we are not so good as we could wish to be, let us come to this holy ordinance with the best preparation which for the present we can make; and let us hope that while we draw near in faith and trust in the all-sufficient merits of Christ, we shall grow in grace and daily receive fresh supplies of strength* till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

I have repeatedly had occasion to observe that some of you seem willing enough to come to the Sacrament of Baptism, whilst you appear to draw back from the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. You should bear in mind that before you bring your children to be baptized, you who are Sponsors, or Godfathers and Godmothers, ought to prepare yourselves by frequent prayer and a deep consideration of the duties which you are about to undertake. I would have you prepared for both Sacraments, for the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. I have repeatedly brought up the subject in this place-God grant that I may not bring it up in * Ephesians iv., 13.

vain. Whilst you are SO anxious to be properly prepared for the Lord's Supper, do not forget to be equally prepared both as Sponsors and as Christians, for the duties to which you pledge yourselves at the Baptismal Font.

As an inducement to incline your hearts to these considerations let me mention one or two more observations. The love of God ought to be a sufficient inducement with all of you to be sincere partakers of both Sacraments: the great things which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has done for us ought so to excite our gratitude that we should need no other motive to do His will. And O! my dear brethren, if you do not feel this now, surely when you come to die, if you have any adequate sense of His goodness, you will lament that you have not done your duty better. This was actually the case with a near neighbour of mine, who died a short time since. Yes, he could look back with satisfaction to a life spent well in many respects, and God had blessed his industry. But still it was painful to him to reflect how often he had neglected the Supper of our Lord, and how, to use his own expression, "he had slinked" out like a man ashamed of himself, ashamed of turning his back on his blessed Lord. Other instances of bitter regret too late I could easily enumerate, but, my brethren, in a word, be prepared. Remember the words of God Himself, "Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

† 1 Samuel, c. ii.. v. 30.

THE

SERMON XI.

CRUCIFIXION.

St. Matthew, Chap. xxvii. v. 54.

Truly this was the Son of God.

"HE

E came unto His own and His own received Him not" was never more strikingly and truly verified than when the Roman Centurion gave utterance to the words of the text. There hung the body of the blessed Saviour of mankind, abandoned by that human soul which had just quitted it for Paradise - there it hung, that body that had been scourged, wounded, pierced, nailed to the cross, the object of derision to His implacable enemies, His infatuated countrymen, whose hearts, swollen with rancour and steeled with insensibility, were not only proof against all compassion, but shut up the eyes of their understanding in the face of the most astounding facts. Whilst they wilfully, and with unparallelled obstinacy, closed their eyes against the most convincing evidence, that Roman officer and his soldiers, upon whom devolved the painful duty of superintending the execution of the innocent Jesus and the two malefactors, overwhelmed by the accumulation of portentous events, the earthquake, the supernatural darkness, the

* John i., 11.

meek, patient and forgiving temper of our blessed Lord under that cruel, that unjust and impious treatment,— he and "they that were with him feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God." It has been said that they made this exclamation not understanding what they said, and, probably, amidst such a scene of wonder and excitement, under such stupendous circumstances, they did not know what those words meant in their fullest sense. But have we not here evidence of the conviction that took possession of their minds? Have we not here the spontaneous expression of their own unbiassed judgment ? Doubtless they knew full well what the crime was with which our Lord was charged-the crime of blasphemy. Therefore, seeing that in the face of this assertion that He was the Son of God, the very elements bore testimony to the truth of it, while the whole frame of nature was quivering before the frown of its God, they yielded to their own unprejudiced convictions and exclaimed, "This was a righteous man, truly this was the Son of God."

To us living at a distance of 1800 years after that time when this exclamation was made, these solemn words are full of awful warning

First they warn us against the tremendous peril to which we expose ourselves by yielding to our passions and suffering our prejudices to get the better of our judgement. For here in the most astounding event that ever took place since the creation of the universe, we see the rulers of an enlightened people, a people so eminently blessed that they were called the peculiar people of God, yet the chief men of these people we see

rejecting their own prophecies, turning a deaf ear to reason, though addressed to them by one who spake as never man spake, and hurrying themselves and their devoted families headlong into eternal ruin. In vain did the unrighteous Judge remonstrate with them, and declare that he "*could find no fault" in the blessed Jesus. Their minds filled with envy, carried them so impetuously forward that in their desire to gratify their own malice they forgot what was due to the dignity of their own characters, and stooped to the basest means to accomplish their own ends. The charge against our Lord was that He said He was the Son of God, but finding that they were not likely to prevail on Pilate to put Him to death on that charge, they insinuated that He had set up a kingdom, and declared that they had no king but Cæsar. Thus working upon Pilate's fears and jealousy, they thought to drive him to commit that horrid wickedness and to consign the innocent to the most shameful death. And when even they thought, that he might be still released by the tardy mercy of the conscience-stricken judge, who had been accustomed to set at liberty one prisoner, they persuaded the people to ask for †Barabbas and preferred a robber and a murderer to the sinless Saviour. So strong, so violent and unreasonable had their passions become, that they would neither allow themselves nor others to form a correct judgment. Satan, the god of this world had taken full possession of their hearts. Through them he bruised the heel of the Messiah, and fulfilled the prophecies which they might find in their own Scriptures. And all this was done of * John's Gospel, xix., 6. † John xviii., 40.