may become partakers of the joy and glory of His resurrection. The Epistle, enlarging on the subject, proposes for our imitation the example of our blessed Redeemer, the pattern of all perfection: and the Gospel narrates at full the particulars of His death and passion.

The Proper Lessons, like those of the previous Sunday, direct us in the wonders exhibited for the redemption of the Israelites, to look to those superior wonders which were wrought for our own salvation from the tyranny of sin and Satan. In various instances Moses was an eminent type of our Lord, and in reading or hearing these chapters read we should be careful to bear this truth in remembrance; for though we must never strain Scripture for any purpose whatever, we should never allow a real point of resemblance to escape us, lest we should lose much that would serve to confirm our hopes and to strengthen our faith. Thus in the act of Moses going out of the city, and stretching forth his hands to allay the fury of the storm which was then desolating the land for the iniquity of its inhabitants, we are furnished with a type of Him who, suffering without the gate of the city, appeased, in the uplifting of those blessed hands stretched out on the cross, the dreadful storm of Almighty vengeance against a sinful world.

ST. MATTHEW xxvi. 56.

Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.

Он! life is e'er a weary scene,

And sharp and many are the ills that lie
Between our birth and hour in which we die ;

And rarely sky serene

Save for short space doth smile upon our head--Our fairest hopes but bloom soon to be withered.

Yet is there one sweet drop

Infused into the deadliest cup we drink ;
The tie of holy love, of friendship's link,
Regard that will not stop

At sharpest proof, and shares the cup we drain,
Making it oft so sweet, it shames us to complain.

But He, our Lord and Life,

He who was love itself, who ne'er appeared
But sickness was relieved, or misery cheered,
In his last awful strife

No hand of comfort found-he, he alone

Who every woe had shared, was left midst foes to groan.

From friend, from pity riven,

When most his suffering spirit needed stay,
By one denied, one who had vowed that day—
Spite of the warning given,-

That nought of danger should his love divide,
But if the need required, would perish by his side.

By one-the traitor fell

Through love of gain and base revenge, betrayed,
Leaguing himself with all the powers arrayed
Of malice and of hell;

That one alone affection's pledge bestowed,
And the false mark of love his holy victim shewed.

He looked for some in vain

Amidst the many who his love had shared

To pity him, to soothe the pangs prepared ;
Alas! that this sore pain

Must yet be added to that load of grief,

Each creature to have blessed-from none to have relief.

But where the hand so pure

That might have minister'd in that dread hour

To him, the holy Lamb of God? What power
Had they to soothe whose cure

Was cause of all that agony and woe?

To soothe-none there, alas! that privilege might know.

Look for some little proof, some passing sign

Of feeling, though suppressed;

And such his nature gentle, holy, kind,
Neglect and slight might well be torture to his mind.

Were they alone then weak?

Has one alone denied-betrayed his Lord?
Hide, hide thy face and cry-" mercy accord;"
For all have need to seek

Thy merciful forgiveness of the past,

For all have wounded thee, and shall wound till the last.

Nor their excuse our plea,

No terror frights our souls-we have no fear
Of scourge and cross, yet we our conscience sear;
With thy worst foes agree,

Or for earth's meanest lures thy side desert,
And in thy cause, oh shame! are lukewarm and inert.

Yet pity us we pray,

And grant us grace this awful week to spend,

That holy joy with penitence may blend;

That

purer grown each day,

Our sins may in thy grave for ever lie,

And we alive in thee, may henceforth never die.

143

MONDAY BEFORE EASTER.

Epistle, Isaiah lxiii. 1. Gospel, St. Mark xiv. 1.

It would argue great insensibility, to say the least, if we were to suffer any day of this holy week to pass without serious thought; and in neglect of those offices appointed for its due observance. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the nature or degree of fasting enjoined upon us by the Church, or by our own conscience, there can remain no doubt but that this week ought to be set apart from all vain and frivolous amusements; all worldly and sensual gratifications, and from whatever may tend to divert our mind from the solemnity of it. We may guard our heart, and the thoughts which proceed from it; and be serious without either pretence or ostentation, even amidst the most onerous occupations of life. We can abstain from evil in every situation, and we have abundant opportunities of doing good in all.

Whilst the Collect is the same for the four first days of this holy week, each has its separate Epistle and Gospel. By the term Epistle, indeed, strictly speaking, is meant a portion from one of the Epistles in the New Testament; but the object of its introduction being to prepare for the Gospel, any portion