ed, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not." Patient and holy Lamb of God! bitter anguish and misery penetrated thy innocent bosom; and shall we, whose aggravated sins and guilt loudly demand suffering and punishment, expect to pass along the path of pleasure and indulgence? Scorn and persecution, pouring their fires on thy holy head, awakened only thy blessings and thy prayers; and shall we, whom the consciousness of imperfection and guilt should cover with deep humility, cherish a resentful and implacable temper? Sustaining the accumulated sins of a guilty world, thy innocent spirit was pressed down by the arm of divine justice-thou wast stretched on the rack of divine wrath until the agony of thy soul burst forth in great drops of blood. Ah! when thou didst thus exhaust the dregs of that cup of trembling which the indignation of heaven had prepared as the punishment of our guilt, shall we murmur at those slight but salutary afflictions which are mercifully designed to promote our eternal health and perfection?

O my soul, thy patient, meek, and humble Redeemer left thee an example that thou shouldest follow his steps. The virtues of humility, patierce, and universal love, he powerfully enforced by his own humble, suffering, and benevolent life. Worthy of thy liveliest grati

tude is the infinite condescension of thy blessed Lord, who, to animate thy obedience, has performed every precept which he enjoins, has sustained sacrifices and sufferings infinitely greater than those to which thou art called. Behold then exhibited in his life the most glorious model of duty, and the most animating incentives to cherish those lowly, patient, and benevolent virtues which adorned the Saviour's character. Distinguished is the privilege of the disciples of Christ, that they are called to walk in that path of suffering which their divine Redeemer trod before them. Honourable those sorrows which conform the believer to the image of his Lord, and prepare him for the fruition of those glories to which, as the reward of his patience, the Saviour is exalted. Murmur not, O my soul, under that cross with which thy Redeemer did patiently ascend the steep of Calvary. The path of suffering which thy Saviour tracked out thou must patiently follow, if thou wilt attain the celestial glories on which he has entered. It is the declaration which his own lips proclaimed, and which his suffering life has sealed: "If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. Through much tribulation ye must enter into the kingdom of heaven." Animated by his glorious example, and cheered by the heavenly voice which, from the throne of eternal power, he directs to thee, "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"-resolve

to preserve thy allegiance to him amidst the most furious assaults of temptation-resolve to glorify his mercy and power in the most bitter agonies of suffering and death. At the altar, where the affecting representation of the sorrows of thy Lord forcibly reminds thee that those who would resemble him in the glories of his resurrection, must be conformed to him in the likeness of his sufferings and death, thankfully commemorate the animating incentives to patience and resignation which his blessed life affords-and draw from the fountains of his grace the succours which will exalt thee triumphant over the assaults of temptation and sorrow.

The suffering life of the Redeemer is calculated to impress on thee, O my soul, the lowly, the patient, and benevolent virtues which constitute the perfection of thy nature, which are productive of the highest joys and consolations, and which are indispensable qualifications for future blessedness. With

the liveliest gratitude, therefore, should those sufferings be remembered, which are fraught with instruction so beneficial and exalted.

There is no virtue, however, which the contemplation of the sufferings and death of Christ more strongly inculcated than charity or universal love. Love is the soul of his religion; it is the animating spring of every other grace; the eternal centre to which they all tend, and in which they will all finally become absorbed. This virtue, the badge of the true

disciples of Christ, attaches the soul to God, the source of every excellence, the infinite Author of every mercy-in Christ Jesus, the God of everlasting compassion and grace. It inspires the soul with the most lively affection for man, who bears the image of that Divine Being whom she adores-who shares in the common wants and sorrows that oppress her -who is redeemed by the blood of the same Saviour, and sanctified by the same Almighty Spirit-and who looks forward to the same immortal destiny. Christians, animated by the divine principle of love, will uniformly endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"-to preserve the harmony and order of that holy Church, through which the streams of mercy and grace from the divine Redeemer are conveyed to them, and by which they are to be trained for the immortal celebration of the praises of their God in the Church Triumphant. Regarding one another as partakers of these divine and celestial privileges, as destined for the same transcendent state of perfection and bliss, they will feel themselves united by the most affecting and powerful ties. Yes-resting for pardon on the same precious blood; quickened and sanctified by the same Almighty Spirit; prepared for the inheritance of glory by the same course of suffering and trial; fellow pilgrims through the same vale of tears to a blissful and eternal rest-united thus in the participation of the same wants and sorrows, in the possession of

the same divine privileges, in the fruition of the same glorious promises, Christians should also be united by the holy sentiments of tenderness and kindness. The spirit of divine love, shedding through their hearts its quickening power, should excite them to endeavour to remove or alleviate, by every act of sympathy and affection, the obstacles and afflictions that assail them in their progress-to enliven their wearisome pilgrimage, by celebrating, in holy concord, the glories of that heavenly city towards which they are advancing. Destined to unite in strains of everlasting love before the throne of the Eternal, their spirits should be attuned on earth to the harmonious celebration of the praises of their God. Oh! what an exalted exhibition of joy and peace would the world present, did this spirit of divine love pervade the souls of Christians! This vale of tears and misery, where discord, suspicion, envy, and revenge, blast the few joys which lie scattered along the path of life, would be converted into a paradise of love and peace, fair and exalted as that in which man enjoyed the presence of his Maker.

This spirit of universal charity, so sublime and noble in its origin and nature, so beneficial and exalted in its effects, is enjoined on thee, O my soul, by the most powerful and affecting considerations; and it is an indispensable qualification for that holy supper, where Christians profess themselves to be