But whilst I reiterate the commandment of your Saviour that you should "not depart from Jerusalem," let me exhort, beseech, and implore you to come at all times with an earnest desire to obtain a blessing to your souls, and thus to "wait for the promise of the Father." And be assured that you shall not wait in vain. "The vision is yet for an appointed time : but at the end it shall speak, and not lie : though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come,-it will not tarry."

58

LECTURE III.

ACTS i. 20-26.

For it is written in the book of psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and, His bishoprick let another take.

Wherefore of these men which have companied with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

It is difficult to conceive how painful were the feelings of the Apostles, and of

the brethren who assembled with them in the upper room, when they contemplated the treachery of Judas, and the horrible circumstances connected with his death, as related in the preceding verses. Among the many uneasy reflections to which those events would give rise, perhaps the following might be one: What a hindrance must all this prove to the progress of our Master's cause! How will the world taunt us with having had such a wretch for our companion! How will they deny that he who could be thus betrayed by one of his immediate followers was any thing but an impostor !'

If such, however, were their reflections, St. Peter's address to them in the passage before us must have served speedily to impart to them more cheering and encouraging thoughts. He tells them, in the first place, that, unexpected as these tragical events might seem, they had all been foretold and predicted in the ancient Scriptures-and secondly, that in accord

ance with the same Scriptures another should be divinely appointed to fill up the number of the twelve. "Men and brethren," he observes, "this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas."-Instead of being stumbled or surprised at what had occurred, their faith ought rather to be confirmed thereby. And instead of its giving to their adversaries an advantage in argument, it furnished fresh evidence to the truth of Christianity.

As to any misgivings which might have arisen in their own minds, it was sufficient for them to call to remembrance some of our Lord's intimations of what was about to happen whilst they partook with him of the Paschal feast. That he knew that he should be betrayed, and betrayed by one of them, was evident from that solemn and significant declaration, "Verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray

me." And that he well knew who of all

their number was the guilty individual, was equally manifest from the language which he employed in reply to the anxious and sorrowful inquiry which each of them put to him in turn, "Lord, is it I?" " And he answered and said, he that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." "The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born." "Then Judas which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said." And not only so, but when St. John asked hin privately at table, who it was of whom he spake, Jesus answered, "He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon."

But though all misgivings on the part of the disciples themselves would be silenced by such recollections, yet to