not as events to come, but as transactions which the historian has recorded.

The Gospel so entirely harmonizes with the Epistle, or rather is so clearly a continuation of it, that he who compares the one with the other, must have obstinately hardened himself in unbelief, if he can resist the evidence contained in them to the truth of Christianity, and the unadulterated purity of the Scriptures. In the one we behold the commencement of our Redeemer's sufferings, in the latter we are led to the consummation of them, as in a continued relation we follow him from the hall of Caiaphas to the judgment seat of Pilate, and from thence to crucifixion and to death. The plan of man's redemption therefore was long preconcerted in the counsels of the Most High, and violent and wicked men in slaying the Lord's anointed but fulfilled that which eternal wisdom had decreed. Let us take heed, however, lest while professing ourselves firm in the faith, we fail in the proof of our obedience; and forbearing to walk in the light of our own fire the devices of our own hearts- let us truly trust, "in grateful and holy confidence," in the name of the Lord, and "stay us upon our God."

ST. MARK Xv. 21.

And they compel one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

"SEE, see! he faints !-too heavy is the load;
Stand back awhile-he'll die upon the road:
Press not so close !-give air!

He will survive-lo! there

The blood is mounting to his livid cheek—
Again he moves-he was but tired and weak.

"Ye raise him up too soon-he reels beneath
The burthen yet: death dews below that wreath
Mix with the trickling blood:

Let some one bear the wood,

Lest even now he 'scape the torture due
To guilt like his, nor we his sufferings view."

O! happy Simon! fear not the disgrace,
The taunts, the sneers; a blessing on thy race
Shall recompense the deed:

Thyself, thy holy seed

Shall in remembrance stand beside thy Lord's,

'Graved in the page which his own acts records.

Thrice happy thou, whose lot it was to share,
And ease the load thy Saviour's shoulders bare:
The load thy sins that day

Helped on that Lamb to lay,

While we with guilt more multiplied and deep
Perhaps than thine, may but at distance weep.

How envied mayst thou be for that bless'd task!
No cause hast thou thy blushing face to mask;
'Tis the accursed tree,

And worse than murderer he,

For whom thou bear'st it is esteemed;

But on that cross a world shall be redeemed.

Follow, my soul, that sad and dolorous way ;
Go, join the train !-go, smite thy breast and say,
"For me my God must die,"

Nor turn thy conscious eye,

Distressed and shocked, from that most awful sight!— What plea hast thou to spare thyself such sight?

Yes! dwell upon the scene. Thy heart is hard
And should be moved: thy sins that visage marred;
And yet thou dwellest at ease,

Seeking thyself to please,

Nor pressing on thy still reluctant sense

He bled for thee-for wretched man's offence.

Go with him to the cross-thy stand there take;

Behold his pangs-see earth beneath thee quake: Look on that dismal sky,

Hear that loud, piercing cry,

And learn how God detests the taint of sin

What agonies it cost thy peace to win.

Humble thyself; but not alone with tears
Lament thy Lord; graceful such woe appears,
And just; but oh! beware

Lest it should prove a snare;

We mourn him only as our God approves,

When, shunning sin, we walk in ways he loves.

A rigid fast, a fast from evil deeds,

From evil thoughts observe: there is that feeds The very pride that brought

The Lord to death, and wrought

Each guilty act that calls us to lament,-
Shun this mistake wouldst thou be innocent.

In silence and alone lay bare thy breast;
Before thy God display the mourner's part:
Weep not for him, but weep

Sore for thyself, and keep

Not vigils only that debars from rest,

But unremitting watchings o'er thy breast.

153

WEDNESDAY BEFORE EASTER.

Morning Lesson, Hosea xiii. Evening Lesson, Hosea xiv. St. John xi. 45.

Epistle, Heb. ix. 16.

Gospel, St. Luke xxii. 1.

A SUFFERING Messiah was a stumbling-block to the Jews, as it has since been to more modern unbelievers; yet it absolutely behoved Christ thus to suffer, for without shedding of blood there could be no remission of sins. He Himself had told His disciples it was expedient even for them that He should leave them, and the Epistle for the day sets forth this necessity or expediency. As in a temporal sense we are unable to profit by the liberality of a benefactor, expressed towards us in his will, till his death; so neither could our claim, as inheritors of heaven, be substantiated till He from whom we derive it, had tasted of death for our sakes. The superior advantages of the New Testament of Jesus Christ, as a covenant, over that of the Mosaic dispensation, by which the former was typified, are also clearly and emphatically set forth in the portion of Scripture selected for this day's service. As in the previous covenant, the solemn contract between God and man