take Christian privileges, without fear? St. James feared, who was to be the first martyr among the Apostles: we must not, therefore, trust to our own past sufferings, or seeming readiness to endure more for CHRIST; we must still fear as well as hope, while we draw near the cross; amazed still, and confounded, to think how utterly unworthy all we have borne or done is a return for that infinite love. St. John, too, the disciple whom JESUS loved, he also feared as he entered into the cloud: surely, then, we ought to be very jealous of any whisper within our hearts, as though we were especially dear to HIM, and might venture to be at our ease before HIM. Surely the temper in which we should strive to say our prayers, to keep Lent, to prepare for the Communion, is a temper of serious, thoughtful, anxious dutifulness. Let us look well to that; and the joy and comfort, the peace and hope, will come of itself in God's good time. I say again, if the great Apostles feared, how should not we fear, as we enter into the cloud which is the sign of GOD'S Presence?

Remember that former time, and that other mountain, which the cloud at the Transfiguration must have reminded them of. The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai in darkness, clouds, and thick darkness, and Moses, by special command, drew nigh to the thick darkness where God was. "The glory of the LORD abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day HE called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights."

He abode in the mount forty days and forty nights:" "he did neither eat bread nor drink water." That was his Lent: and in what mind did he enter on it, he who was especially favoured by the ALMIGHTY, who had found grace in His sight, and whom he knew by name; with whom God talked face to face, as a man talketh with his friend? He said, "I exceedingly fear and quake." Indeed, his own words show how full he was of awful dread; how the overpowering terror of that time filled his heart, and was never forgotten.

In after-times, whenever the LORD appeared especially in that cloud, we read of His servants, His chosen ones, falling on their faces; so did Moses and Aaron over and over, when the glory showed itself over the tabernacle door; so did Joshua, when the captain of the LORD's host stood before him; so did David, at sight of the Angel standing over Jerusalem, with his sword drawn in his hand; so did Daniel, at the great vision, there remained no strength in him, he fainted away, and was in a deep sleep on his face, and his face toward the ground; and this, too, was after Daniel's Lent, after he had been fasting three full weeks.

Remember especially what the New Testament teaches of the fear and trembling of the saints, when even the Man CHRIST JESUS, the holy and merciful SAVIOUR, appeared to them bodily. St. Paul was struck down, and could not see for the glory of that light, and in that condition, blind, humbled, helpless, fasting, he remained three days. St. John, the beloved one, who had leaned on our LORD's breast at supper, what was his feeling when he had revealed to him the vision of the same gracious LORD in His glory? "I saw seven golden candlesticks," i. e. the Holy Catholic Church; "in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle," i. e. our LORD in His Priest's office; "His head and His hair were white like wool; as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of many waters. And HE had in His right hand seven stars,"—the bishops and pastors of His Church; " and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength." Such was the vision: mark now how that favoured disciple received it; When I saw HIM, I fell at His feet as

dead."

In this respect, you see, the saints, one and all, were just alike; that they fell down before CHRIST's glory with the very deepest dread and reverence. Whether HE was coming in judgment or in mercy, whether they were penitents or no, whether they had seen CHRIST crucified or no, made no difference in that

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respect. All alike received HIм with the deepest humiliation and reverence; all alike feared as they entered into the cloud.

Now the same cloud overshadows and covers us. As sure as ever we belong to CHRIST's Church, and as this time which we are keeping is the holy time of Lent, so surely is that same cloud now over us and around us, whether we choose to believe it, and think of it, or no. It hovers above us, it surrounds us on every side, full charged with the dew of Heaven, with GOD'S pardoning and strengthening grace; but it gives out that dew only to the dutiful, considerate, reverential heart. The blessing of the holy season will come only on those who try to pass it in the true fear of God; to mingle that fear in all their works, especially in all their religious exercises; not to say or do any thing, if they can help it, merely as a matter of course, but to remember all along Whose they are, and Whom they serve. The cloud of this penitential season will be a gracious rain to CHRIST'S inheritance, and refresh it now in its fallen and weary times, if we strive, for our part, to think more and more of His Presence; to chasten ourselves more effectually, even in thought, not giving the reins to any pleasure, be it never so innocent; to understand more and more of our own deep unworthiness, and of His unspeakable love; and thankfully to accept his chastisements, bodily and spiritual, as the corrections of a loving Father.

SERMON CCXLV.

CHRIST'S OWN PREPARATION FOR HIS PASSION.

PALM SUNDAY.

ST. LUKE xxi. 37.

"In the day-time HE was teaching in the Temple; and at night He went out, and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives."

THIS is the account set down by the HOLY GHOST of the manner in which our Blessed LORD spent what may be called His Passion Week, the days during which He stayed in Jerusalem after He had come up to His last Passover, waiting for His hour to come; preparing, in a manner, for His Death and Resurrection. He came into the city, as we read in St. John, six days before the Passover, that is, on the Sunday in that last week. On this very day, as it were, He rode into the Holy City, as the Prophets had foretold, on a colt the foal of an ass. That day He spent teaching in the Temple, looking into the condition of all things there, and working miracles; and when it was now even-tide, "HE went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there :" most likely near the house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Now Bethany I was on the Mount of Olives. When, therefore, St. Luke tells us that our SAVIOUR went out on those evenings to the Mount of Olives, he tells us the same as St. Matthew, where he writes, that on the first of those evenings our LORD went out to pass the night in Bethany.

As He did on the Sunday of that week, so He did on all the following days, until the Friday: the morning and daylight hours He spent in the temple, teaching, instructing the multitude and His Disciples, and warning His malicious enemies, who

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were all the while watching HIM; and the nights He spent on the Mount of Olives: in what sort of employment, we may guess, both from what we read of HIM before, and from what followed near the end of the week.

We read of HIM in the early part of the Gospel, when HE first began to preach, that after a very hard day's work of healing men's bodies, and instructing their souls, rising up "a great while before day, He departed and went into a solitary place," and was there praying when His Disciples came to look for HIM. Again, after the Miracle of the Loaves, He departed into a mountain HIMSELF alone, and was there until the fourth watch of the night, that is, three in the morning. Another time, after much disputing with His enemies, and long teaching in the temple, the Pharisees went " every man to his own house :" they had houses to go to with plenty of ease, and all sorts of comforts awaiting them. "But JESUS went unto the Mount of Olives." He chose not to have any home where He might lay His head. After His days had been days of charity, HE would have His nights nights of devotion.

So it was during His ministry, and so it was, still more, when that ministry was drawing to an end. The very day before His Passion, having first eaten the Passover with His Disciples, and given them those blessed instructions which we read in St. John, He went out into a garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, on the slope of the Mount of Olives, whither ofttimes He had been used to resort with His Disciples; and there HE was praying when the Jews and Judas came upon HIM.

Our LORD's preparation then for His sufferings lay in these two things: active practical duties by day, and earnest devotion and meditation by night. Now that whereby He prepared HIMSELF for the Cross itself, and the grave, and all His mysterious sufferings, the same must be the best preparation for His people also, when they are celebrating the memory and likeness of those sufferings. For what is the purpose of the holy Church Universal in appointing this particular time of year, during which for so many days we are to follow HIM step by step, through all the stages of His bitter passion first, and then of His triumphant victory over death? Of course, what is meant is, that we, by the help of GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT, should make