sent a messenger to tell us he would forgive us? Now this is exactly what our heavenly Father has done for us by Jesus Christ. He has sent him to offer us the pardon of our sins, if we will comply with certain conditions. In the Old Testament we are told that God is ' merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy;' (Ps. ciii, 8.) but his readiness to forgive, and the terms on which he will do it, had never been so clearly explained before, as they were by Jesus Christ. We have great reason, therefore, to rejoice in the message of pardon and reconciliation which he brought us.

But there was still another piece of good news which was brought us by Christ, and that was, that there will be another and better world, when this shall have passed away. He spoke of eternal life as the reward of those who do well: (Mark x. 30, &c;) he said that the Sadducees do greatly err in saying there will be no resurrection from the dead; and besides this, he himself rose from the grave, and went up into heaven, to show us that we shall rise again and never die any more. And is not this good news? To those who have done well, and whose heart is right in the sight of God, it must be very good news. All of us, too, have to endure sorrow and suffering at some time or other. Poor people, especially, are

often distressed by the troubles and difficulties of this life; they find it a hard thing to gain enough to live upon,and to keep their families; and when they are ill, and cannot work, they are worse off than before. What a comfort, then, must it be to them to know that their troubles will at length be over; and that, if they have lived good lives here on earth, when they go to the other world there will be no more 'death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain,’ (Rev. xxi, 4,) but that 'all tears will be wiped away from their eyes.' Our Lord might well say that the poor had the gospel, or good news preached to them; for to them, more than to any others, it must be good news to be told that there is another world, where, if they have done well, all their troubles will be at an end.

The good news, then, which Christ brought us is this-first, that we may look up to God as the kind Father of us and of all men; secondly, that God will forgive us our sins, if we truly repent and forgive others; and thirdly, that after we die we shall go to another world, where, to the righteous, there will be no more trouble nor pain.

But this, you will observe, is good news only to those who listen to it. Suppose that anumber of men were loaded with heavy chains, so that they could not stir, and a messenger were

use to

can be of no

It is of no

use to

to come and tell them that,if they tried to break them, their chains would snap asunder and fall off. This good news would be of no use to them, unless they tried to break their chains. In like manner, the good news which Christ has brought us from God us unless we act upon it. know that God is our kind Father in heaven, unless we pray to him, and trust in him. It is of no use to know that he will forgive us our sins, unless we repent of them, and ask him to forgive us. And it is of no use to know that all troubles will, to the righteous, be at an end in the other world, unless we think of that heavenly rest which is promised us, and endeavor so to live that we may deserve it.

Strive, then, my dear children, to remember these things, and to act as if you knew them. Think how happy you are in being brought to know them. Bear always in mind the gracious messages of peace and mercy, which God has sent you through Jesus Christ, and let them excite and encourage you to be just and good, as your beloved Saviour was.

ADDRESS X.

EXPLANATION OF MATTHEW v, 1-12.

My dear Children,

I am going this afternoon to explain to you part of the fifth chapter of St Matthew's Gospel. It is the beginning of what is usually called our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. It is so called because it was spoken from a mountain or rising ground; for we are told in the first and second verses of the chapter, that, 'seeing the multitudes, Jesus went up into a mountain, and when he was set,' or rather, 'sat down, his disciples came unto him; and he opened his mouth, and taught them.' You will here observe, that our Lord did not stand up to deliver his sermon, as our preachers do, but he sat down. If you will turn to the fourth chapter of Luke, verses 16 to 21, you will there find it written that when Christ went into the synagogue of Nazareth, after he had stood up and read the scriptures he closed the book, and gave it to the minister and sat down,' and then he began to explain to the people what he had just read. From all which it appears, that it was the custom among the Jews for their preachers to sit down when they delivered their sermons, and not to stand up in a pulpit, as ours do.

We now come to what our Lord said to his disciples. 'Blessed,' or happy, said he, 'are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' Christ here pronounces a blessing on the poor;-he says that they are blessed or happy in spirit; that is, they are happy in their minds and tempers; they have good reason to put away their cares, and to set their minds at rest; for theirs,' continues he, 'is the kingdom of heaven.' It was as if he had said, 'However destitute the poor may be of the wealth of this world, they have better riches laid up for them in the next. However much they may be despised by men, they shall be honored by me on earth, and still more honored by my Father in heaven.'*

Our Lord does not, however, mean to say that there is any merit in being poor, or that all poor people will go to heaven. They who have led bad lives, will certainly suffer for it hereafter, whether they have been poor, or

·

The author is well aware that the words in spirit are generally understood to qualify poor, and not blessed; Blessed are the poor in spirit,' i. e. the humble. But in the parallel passage in the gospel of Luke (vi, 20.) the words are, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven;' and with this appears to be contrasted the 24th verse, which is, 'But woe unto you who are rich, for ye have received. your consolation.'