away unrefreshed: He will Himself be with you, and in you; He will impart to you of His fulness -grace to each, according to his need!

In the third place, look at the Holy Communion as a link or tie of union among Christians. No fellowship is like fellowship in religion; and no religious fellowship is so close as that which is entered into at the Lord's Table. It is good to walk together as friends to the house of God-it is good, and comforting, and edifying to join in prayer and praise, and with one mind and one mouth to worship the Lord; but more good, more cheering, more of an assistance in every way it is, to be guests together at His Table. Nothing so draws heart to heart-nothing so does away with class distinctions-nothing so unites all orders and degrees of men together-nothing so makes us feel as a family in God-nothing so realizes the great idea of the Christian Church-that One is our Master, even Christ, and we are all brethren-as the kneeling side by side at the reception of the Holy Supper. We being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one Bread!

Come, then, my brethren, and make proof of my words. Come, as you have been invited, to your Lord's Table. Come, not only because He has commanded it-not only because it is the

best way of remembering Him, and His death upon the cross for our redemption-not only for the strength and support and new vigour you will thereby gain for your souls-but come for this further reason, because no religious service is such a real bond of brotherhood among Christians— come to realize true fellowship with your Lord, and with one another!

Ay, and let me add this one word more, this further inducement to partake of the Holy Sacrament-come, that you may already, on this side of the grave, know something of the happiness of heaven-come, that you may enter for a little moment within the veil, and learn how they are occupied who are always there—come, and join your voices in that high strain which is raised in our Communion Service, and which, when we are silent, is still heard sounding in the courts above—come, and "with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, laud and magnify God's glorious Name; evermore praising Him, and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory : Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High!"

SERMON XXXV.

SUNDAY BEFORE EASTER.

THE PATIENCE OF CHRIST.

PHILIP. ii. 5.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

WE enter to-day upon Passion-week, the week of our Blessed Lord's suffering-or Passion, as it is called in our Litany; and already in this morning's service, in the second lesson and in the Gospel, we have heard the recital of that suffering.

The conspiracy against Christ—the sale of Christ by His false Apostle-the agony in the garden, when His righteous soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death-when, by reason of the sharpness of His agony, blood oozed from His sacred body instead of sweat-when, for a little moment, His fortitude gave way, and He besought the Father that the cup might be removed

Q

the actual betrayal and apprehension of our Lord

His hearing before Caiaphas, and the foul and insolent usage that He met with in the High Priest's palace, when they did spit in His face and buffeted Him, and others smote Him with the palms of their hands-the denial of Him, three times repeated within his hearing, by His most courageous Apostle-the trial before Pontius Pilate-His unjust condemnation in the very teeth of the judge's own words, who called Him This Just Person, and said, I find no fault in this man the scourging of Jesus-the outrage inflicted by the Roman soldiers-the crown of thorns and the purple robe-the mocks and flouts -the blows upon His defenceless head-the crucifixion itself, and its horrible and prolonged torment-all this, my brethren, has been unfolded unto us, just as it occurred, in the Scriptures appointed for this Sunday. So that it must be, that at this moment we have our minds sensibly impressed by the greatness and reality of our Lord's grief.

We see it to be a grief quite unequalled. There was no sorrow like His sorrow which was done unto Him. We shall search in vain in all history for its parallel; for an example of one so good, so innocent, subjected to such a punishment. Surely, the end to be attained must

have been very great, or else the Almighty would not have let the people rage so fiercely against His Anointed. Surely we think good, great good, was meant to come out of His affliction, or else it had never been laid upon Him.

sorrows

And we have the answer to our thoughts, and inward questionings in the well-known words of Isaiah,-He hath borne our griefs, and carried our He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed! That, I humbly believe, is the only sufficient explanation of Christ's most bitter sufferings. They were part of the work that He had given Him to do. Only by undergoing them, only by suffering all He did, could He have effected our redemption, wrought out man's salvation. He, the Captain of our Salvation, was made perfect through sufferings !

It is, remember (as it is so well put, in our Communion Service), "His meritorious cross and passion, whereby alone we obtain remission of our sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven!"

But I do not dwell further on this to-day. The effect of our Blessed Lord's Passion, what has been obtained by it, belongs more especially to Good Friday-that great day on which the