hearts from the world. To be dead to the world, is of the utmost importance in the matter of our sanctification; for the love of the world is the principal source of our sins.— We shall never cease to make the world our portion, till we get something better in its stead. It is by the doctrine of Christ we learn its vanity. It is by the example of Christ we learn to despise it. His whole humiliation, from the manger to the cross, poured contempt on human greatness, and has sanctified to his followers a life of labour, poverty and reproach. A true follower of Christ will be ashamed to glory in those worldly objects which his Saviour trampled beneath his feet, while it will sweetly reconcile him to a humble lot, that his master endured the same; and thus will he learn "to deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus.”

APPLICATION.-When the people who came together to see the doleful spectacle of the crucifixion, beheld the things that were done, they smote their breasts and returned. And surely, when we return from this view of the cross, and consider what we have seen and heard, we have reason to smite our breasts, and be deeply affected with our sins and his sufferings. Nature itself seemed to sympathise with our suffering Lord. The sun was darkened. The earth quaked. The rocks were torn asunder. The veil of the temple was rent. The graves were opened; and the heathen guards were constrained to say, "Truly this was the Son of God!" And now, how are our hearts affected? Is all this "nothing to us?" Can we behold this awful scene with cold indifference? If we can, it may be feared our hearts are harder than the rocks, and that we have no part nor lot in the matter. Surely this awful spectacle will command our attention, and excite our serious thoughts. Come, you who have loved and lived in sin, who have rolled it as a sweet morsel under your tongues, who have laughed at, and often said, what harm is there in it? Come, and see the Saviour in his agony, sweating blood: see him buffeted and despised; see him bleeding, groaning and dying on the cross. And what was all this

for?

It was for sin. It was to make atonement for sin. He died, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." It was to save such sinners as you from eternal

sufferings. Such was his love. O sinner, let this love constrain thee to forsake thy sins, and come to him, that thou mayest have life.

When I am lifted up, said Jesus before his crucifixion, I will draw all men to me. O what blessed attraction is

there in the cross of Christ! Here is salvation. A salvation complete and free: just such as a guilty helpless sinner needs. When Christ crucified was first preached by Peter, three thousand souls, and among them perhaps many of his murderers, were drawn to him in one day.To-day, by this sermon, he is lifted up; "crucified before your eyes." O for the power of the Holy Spirit, to draw your hearts to him! Come, and he will receive you. Come, and he will pardon you. Come, and he will give His arms, once extended on the cross, are still open to receive the chief of sinners. His blood still cleanseth from all sin;

you rest.

"Each purple drop proclaims there's room,
"And bids the poor and needy come.'

And now, O that every professed disciple of Christ would consider the latter part of the text, and ask himself this question: "Is the world crucified to me, and I to the world?" Does the cross of my Saviour throw a salutary shade over the gaudy glories of the world. Is it crucified? Is it a dead, or at least, a dying thing in my esteem; and am I, because of my attachment to the truth, cause, and people of Christ, become like a dead man in the world's esteem? Such, brethren, in some happy degree, is the true influence of the cross of Christ. Such is the holy, practical tendency of Gospel truth; and whoever finds this in himself, has abundant cause to glory in the cross of Christ.

May divine grace teach us, more and more, to esteem the cross of Christ, and to glory in nothing but our knowledge of it, interest in it, expectations from it, and its practical influence on our hearts, Then may we hope, ere long, to see "the Lamb that was slain, seated in the midst of the throne;" and, with our feeble voices, to make some little addition to the grand chorus of the redeemed singing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and who hath redeemed us to God by his blood."

SERMON XLVI.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

Luke xxiv. 34. The Lord is risen indeed.

NEVER was there a day of greater gladness than that

on which our Lord arose; never was there greater

cause for joy: for were not Christ risen, our faith and hope would be in vain, and we should yet be in our sins.

When Jesus Christ was laid in the grave, great was the triumph of his enemies; great the dejection of his friends. The sorrowful disciples had fondly hoped, "it had been He who should have redeemed Israel;" but now their hopes are buried in his grave. How great then must have been their surprise, and their joy, when jesus actually arose, and appeared to several of them. Our text is an exclamation, expressive of these passions: it was made by the ten apostles to the two brethren, who had seen Christ at Emmaus, and who had just returned from thence to relate the joyful news. Before they could well speak, the apostles salute them with this pleasing sentence-" The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.”— The two disciples, in their turn, communicate what they had seen and heard, and how "Jesus was known to them in breaking of bread." Blessed and heavenly news! well might they all be eager to tell it. The primitive Christians, it is said, used to salute each other on the Lord's day morning with these words, The Lord is risen! And it is a pleasing custom, still continued in London, that the boys belonging to Christ's Hospital appear in Easter week, each with a printed label affixed to his coat, having the same inscription, "The Lord is risen." Happy, if those poor children, or the multitude beholding them walk in procession to Church, knew the sacred import of that charming sentence. It will be happy for us, if now we are taught "the power of his resurrection ;" and so contemplate these precious words, "that our faith and hope may be in God."

We may place the words of our text in three points of view, and consider them as the language of-WONDERCERTAINTY-and Joy.

I. Let us consider the words as expressive of their Wonder.

And yet, we wonder it should appear so wonderful to them. Had not our Lord often told them he should rise from the dead? Had not he said, "Destroy this temple," meaning his body, " and in three days I will raise it up?" Had not he said, "There shall no other sign be given to this generation than the sign of the prophet Jonas; for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth?" Could the disciples forget these sayings? The Jews certainly remembered them, and, therefore, sealed and guarded the sepulchre. There were many intimations of the resurrection in the writings of the prophets. It was evident from the Scriptures, that "thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.". Indeed, our Lord rested the whole weight of his mission on this event; to this he referred the whole credibility of all he asserted. It was, therefore, of infinite consequence to the disciples, that their ́ Master should revive and forsake the tomb.

But who can describe the state of their minds, when they saw the Lord in the hands of his foes; bound, tried, condemned, executed, and laid in the prison of the grave? There was much ignorance and unbelief remaining in them. They had not wholly got rid of their foolish notion of a temporal kingdom; but their hopes of this kind were now completely baffled. They might also have many distressing apprehensions about their own personal safety. In short, they were perplexed and distressed beyond measure, and they had either forgotten what Christ had said of rising again, or did not clearly understand it, or desponded as to the event..

Great, therefore, was their surprise and astonishment, when first informed of his resurrection. Mary Magdalene and some other pious women, were the first witnesses of the fact they ran to inform Peter and John, who immediately hastened to the spot; they found the tomb open, and the grave clothes left in it, but saw not Jesus. But Reter afterwards saw him.. He made himself known to the two disciples at Emmaus on the same day. The news

quickly spread among all, and though they were "slow of heart to believe," they were constrained to admit the fact; but they were overpowered with surprise and astonishment, and this they expressed in the text, "The Lord is risen indeed!" But

II. These words imply the CERTAINTY of this important fact, "The Lord is risen, indeed,"-strange as it is, it is true; it is absolutely certain; we are perfectly satisfied of it. And this certainty was immediately afterwards abundantly confirmed; for, while they were yet speaking, he appeared in the midst of them; and, to convince them he was not a mere spirit, not only shewed them his wounded hands and feet, but also ate and drank with them.

The certainty of this event is of the utmost consequence. This great pillar bears all the weight of the Christian system; and could the Samson of infidelity remove it, the whole fabric must fall to the ground. But, blessed be God, we have no fears on this head. We know that “we have not followed cunningly devised fables," but that this grand truth comes to us confirmed by many infallible proofs, on which our faith securely rests, Acts i. 3. Let us examine some of these:

1. The very fear of imposition tended to this certainty. The chief priests, having heard that Christ declared he should rise again, applied to Pilate, saying, "Sir, we remember that, that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command, therefore, that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: So the last error shall be worse than the first." Matt. xxvii. 62. Pilate complied with their wishes. The huge stone that secured the entrance of the sepulchre was sealed with the public seal, which none might break upon pain of death; and a strong guard of soldiers was placed to defend the whole. But how vain is it for man to fight with God!The stone, the seal, the guard, can never keep the Lord of life a prisoner to death; but they all tended exceedingly to confirm the truth of his resurrection. Had these malicious precautions been omitted, we had lost one of the strongest proofs of the event.

The ignorance or the forgetfulness of the disciples re