while he awelt among us, clothed with our mortal flesh, and subject to our infirmities. And if such was his life while here, what must be his readiness to help us, now that, exalted far above this empire of sin and death, "all power is given to him in heaven and in earth!" By his omniscience he knows all that concerns us; by his immensity he embraces it all; by his omnipotence he can deliver us from all; his love is commensurate to all our needs; and he can be touched with our sorrows, for he has experienced them.

Sufferers! go then fearlessly to him; take all your griefs and all your needs before him; go to him with unshaken trust. For say, is there a single fear that he can not dissipate? a single care from which he can not relieve? a single danger from which he can not deliver? a single loss which he can not repair? a single tear which he can not dry? a single wound which he can not heal? When on earth he wept for man; and can you suppose that now that he is glorified at the right hand of his Father, he is less ready to compassionate, to deliver, to console? Ah! when your faithless heart would turn from him, either to prey upon its own grief, or to seek in the world consolation-which the world can never give-then let the image of Jesus weeping be present to your eyes; and open your ears to the words, "We have not a high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

IV. The only true consolation which a Christian can taste, as he contemplates his separation from those whom death has taken from him, is, when he leads Jesus with him to the tomb. For what is a tomb without Jesus? It is an empty and a gloomy place, adapted but to afflict the heart with melancholy and despair. It contains a heap of dust, a few moldering bones, a mass of corruption; it is a place of bitter regrets, of ever-flowing tears, of painful recollections, of dismal perplexities. But view Jesus in connection with the tomb, and hope, and resurrection, and life, and immortality are present, to console and gladden the heart. Do you, my dear hearer, find yourself sometimes drawn to visit the spot where you have deposited the remains of a father, mother, husband, wife, a child, a friend, a brother, in regard to whom you cherish the sweet hope of meeting again in the abodes of immortality? Then, like Martha and Mary, pray your Saviour to go with you there. Then you will not go to render worship to the creature, you will not seek among the dead him who lives clothed now with glory and immortality, your soul will not be filled with gloom and sad thoughts, but will rather be drawn upward with hope. Over that tomb you will see the dawn of the eternal day; you will hear his voice, who "is the resurrection and the life," saying, "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live."

There have been Christians, my brethren, who have been in the habit of repairing, from time to time, to the grave of departed Christian friends, to weep, to pray, and to meditate there. But the tears shed have not been those of bitterness. These visits have not excited in them those gnawing regrets, those agonizing feelings, to which they are subject who' are strangers to gospel consolations, for among these very tombs it is that they can peculiarly call to mind, and rejoice in, their privileges as heirs of the heavenly kingdom. But it must be noted that the friends, in whose memory they have thus loved to dwell, have been, like Lazarus, the friends and the redeemed of the Lord.

V. The tears shed by Jesus teach us another lesson, namely, what are the occasions which call for grief; and also, by implication, what are those occasions where it is fitly bestowed? Only twice in the gospel history is it recorded that Jesus wept. And these were over the grave of Lazarus, when human nature paid her last forfeit, and over guilty Jeru salem, when he pictured to his mind the judgment which should fall upon it. He wept for others, not for himself. He wept for real woe, not for the imaginary sorrow which vanity creates. Let us draw hence our own instruction. It is usually supposed, that one of the most cutting subjects of remorse and confusion to the world, when overtaken with the judgments of God, and consigned to their final doom, will be the simple pleasure and vain joys for which they have sold their souls. And this ide is perfectly scriptural. But may we not add that their confusion will arise, not only from having rejoiced in that wherein they should not have rejoiced, having loved those things which should not have been objects of love, and having sacrificed God who is eternal, for the world which is transient, but also from the recollection that they wept when they should not have wept; that they shed tears of vanity, of pride, of lust, of ambition, of avarice, while their hearts were at ease, and their eyes were dry, on subjects which should have drawn from them the deepest emotion, such as their alienation from God, their ingratitude and disobedience to him, their present state of sin, and their prospect of eternal perdition? Their subjects of grief were not the same with those of Jesus.

Christians, let your sympathy and compassion flow from a right source. Weep for the sins of a perishing world. Weep for the miseries which sin has introduced. Weep for the sorrows of those who are its victims here, and who seem ready to incur its doom hereafter. If you weep for yourselves, still guard the subjects of your tears. Weep for the secret rebellion of your hearts; your unbelief; your lukewarmness; your selfishness. Here, indeed, are subjects on which you need not fear to indulge too much sensibility. If such be the subjects of your grief, the Lord will not condemn you, but will say of you, "Blessed are ye that mourn, for ye shall be comforted."

VI. The point of view in which we we here regard the Saviour, teaches us how we ought to look upon death. There is in death so little that is

in harmony with the course and plan of nature, that the eternal Son of the Father mourns over it. So little did it enter into the original plan of the Creator of the universe, that that very Creator, when incarnate, is weeping over it! The vain reasoning of a proud philosophy, wishing to avoid the shame and humiliation which attend the consideration of death, regarded as the fruit and punishment of sin, and anxious to quiet conscience when she whispers of retribution, seeks to regard it simply as an immutable law of nature. But though Scripture should not have pronounced with a tone of divine authority, "the wages of sin is death," Jesus before the tomb of Lazarus would have contradicted such a view.

False philosophy says that it is a natural phenomenon, a law of nature, part of the work of God: but the tears of Jesus say, that it is a disorder in creation, the execution of a terrible sentence, pronounced in the beginning, by the Divine Legislator, against sin: that it is a desolation, a destruction, introduced into the work of God. Look at the Saviour's emotion, and see in it the Creator himself, grieving over the depth of his creature's fall, where can now no longer be recognized the divine features which he bore, when created in the image of his God! See him viewing in that mass of moldering dust, an image yet more hideous. than that of a corpse, namely, that of sin! See him looking beyond the putrifying body which has met the sentence of eternal justice, to the second death, the undying worm, "the weeping, and wailing, and gnash ing of teeth," which will become the lot of all those who do not embrace the gospel!

Such of you, my dear hearers, as have not yet obtained peace of conscience, through faith in Christ, who are yet unregenerate, see him weeping here over your present sin and your future portion, and O! let the sight move you, tear you from your fatal security, and lead you to seek, without longer delay, safety in him who was crucified to atone for your sins; who descended into the grave to tear from death his sting; and who ascended into heaven to prepare a place for those who love him, and who hope in him!

Here I pause, my brethren. In considering the words which have been brought before us, I have endeavored rather to point out, and open to your view subjects for deep and fruitful meditation, than to follow them out, or exhaust them. I commend them to your private consid eration, and pray God to bless them to all our souls. We shall not have spent an hour in vain, if Christians depart comforted in heart, or strengthened in faith; and if unconverted souls shall have learned to tremble be fore the law which hangs in terror over them; to be subdued before a conscience which condemns them; to turn toward God who invites them; and to believe in Jesus who stands ready to save them-which may God grant! Amen.

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DISCOURSE XV.

ATHANASE COQUEREL.

ATHANASE COQUEREL was born at Paris, in 1795; studied theology at Montauban, and, in 1818, became pastor of the French church in Amsterdam, where he remained twelve years. In 1830 he was induced by Cuvier to come to Paris. In 1848 he was elected delegate to the Constituent Assembly from the Department of the Seine, and was subsequently a member of the Legislative Assembly, in neither of which, however, did he take any prominent part.

He has been known for many years as one of the most eloquent preachers in Paris, and belongs to the body of pastors of the Reformed Church; although his views are not accepted as wholly evangelical. Owing to this last fact, he has often found himself engaged in controversies with different theologians and laymen in France, which has led to his publication of many pamphlets, some of which are written with great force. Besides, he has written much in the departments of religious history and literature. Among his works are, "Biographie Sacrée” (second edition, 1837), "Esquisses Poétiques de l'Ancien Testament" (1829 and 1831), "Cours de la Religion Chrétienne" (1833 and 1839), "Histoire Sainte et Analyse de la Bible" (1839, third edition, 1850), "Résponse au Livre du Doctor Strauss, 'La Vie de Jésus'" (1841), which has been translated into German and English.

Of his sermons several collections have been made, the earliest in 1819, of which a third edition appeared in 1842; a second collection in 1828, reprinted in 1843; a third in 1838, and a fourth in 1842. They are not often controversial in their tone and bearing, and everywhere exhibit the strongly rhetorical aspect, so characteristic of the French school of eloquence. Along with his graces of language and style, there is also depth and strength of thought, and an evident aim to awaken a genial and active Christian life. His later sermons are less ornate, and bear the marks of more maturity than the earliest issues.

Some of Mr. Coquerel's finest qualities as a preacher are brought out in the following discourse. This is particularly true of his elaborate accuracy of painting, or description, by which he revivifies, almost with a poet's power, the incidents and narrations recorded in the Scriptures; and, withal, his nicety in the practical application of their lessons to daily life.

THE UNBELIEF OF THOMAS.

"But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples,therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days, again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God! Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”—JOHN, XX. 24-29.

MY BRETHREN-The extreme rapidity with which man passes from one sentiment to another, is, without contradiction, one of the most remarkable traits of his nature. He can, in an instant, change in conduct and opinion as in destiny, and one is still astonished to discover in him the same man.

The most opposite movements succeed each other instantaneously in his heart, and the vicissitudes of his life pass not so quickly as his emotions and thoughts. Consider Abraham and Jacob, at the moment when the one spares Isaac, and the other recovers Joseph; it is the same sentiment, it is paternal love, which fills the heart, but what a sudden rev. olution is operated in their feelings! Behold David condemning with justice the despoiler of the poor man's sheep, and hearing the terrible words, Thou art the man! Behold Saul advancing with a firm step toward the persecutions which he promises to himself, and beaten down under the weight of this overwhelming question: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is always David, it is always Saul, and nevertheless how is the heart changed! Their life is renewed, their soul subdued, by a power that they knew not the instant before, and a destiny entirely new is opened up before them. I could easily multiply these examples; everywhere you would see that in a day, in a moment, man may become in some sort different from himself; and to come without delay to the subject which is to occupy us, what a difference in the disciple of Christ, saying, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe; and the same disciple exclaiming before Jesus, My Lord and my God!

Brethren, it is good that man can thus change. Human life is so short, the propitious occasions pass so quickly, and their return is so uncertain, the advantage of profiting by them without delay is so great, that it is good that men can thus change, can pass in an instant from vengeance to pity, from iniquity to virtue, from incredulity to faith, and thus possess himself of the beginnings of his new life. I do no