me."

Let us repair then, my brethren, to the table of our Lord, and in devout communion with him seek the consolations of divine grace. Let us rekindle at the altar of mercy and peace the sacred flame of piety to God and charity to man. Let us implore pardon for our past offences, consecrate ourselves again to the service of our God, and renew our solemn engagements to walk worthy of the gospel we profess. And may we all taste in this heavenly ordinance that the Lord is gracious, may the consecrated symbols of our crucified Redeemer be to our souls "meat indeed, and drink indeed," supplies of spiritual nourishment and strength, to prepare us for every trying scene of life and death, and to seal our reconciliation to God by the blood of the Lamb.

SERMON V.

PSALM CXviii. v. 24.

This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

IN the Psalm from which these words are taken, the Royal Psalmist seems to have first intended to celebrate the great things wrought for him by the hand of the Most High; but soon the Holy Spirit puts into his mouth expressions better adapted to the Messiah than to himself. The stone, he exclaims, which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This passage is so particularly quoted by the evangelists. and the apostles as a prophecy relative to the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are not authorised to consider it in any other sense. I shall therefore apply to the solemnity of this day* what the sacred author immediately subjoins;

Easter Day.

"this is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." And what language can more appropriately express the wonders and the blessings which this festival commemorates. What cause have christians to rejoice in the marvellous dispensation of Providence, in the foundation laid for their assurance of a resurrection to eternal life, through faith in him who became the first fruits of them that slept! As David, though despised, was chosen and anointed of God to be king, and afterwards exalted to the royal dignity, he was thus the type of our blessed Redeemer. The Jewish builders, the scribes and priests, who should have edified the church, rejected him, would not build upon him, or seek any union with him. Yet he was chosen of God; was a foundation laid by him; he is become the head stone of the corner, which supports and cements the whole building, the church of believing Jews and Gentiles; and he, as a living stone, gives spiritual life to all who are united to him; this is marvellous in our eyes. Of the day therefore on which Christ arose from the dead it may with more propriety than of any other day be affirmed, “this is the day which the Lord hath made." A morning then dawned which is to be followed by no evening, a brighter sun arose upon

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the world, which is to set no more; a day began, which will never end, and night and darkness departed, not to return again. For thus saith the Lord to his church by the prophet Isaiah, Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Easter-day is in a peculiar manner consecrated to him, who, by his resurrection, triumphed over death and hell. On that day, through faith, we triumph with him; we rejoice and are glad in his salvation.

The Apostle to the Romans represents the resurrection of our Lord as the event declaratory of his being the Son of God with power. It was with reference to this event that he said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;" it was by rising from the tomb that he showed himself to be the Lord of life and death. The prophets and messengers of the Lord had at sundry times exercised supernatural powers, they had even restored inanimate bodies to life; but the power with which they were invested was but limited, and the source of it was not in themselves: after having raised up their brethren, they went down themselves to the grave, there to remain until the day of general

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resurrection. The Son of God alone was able to say, "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again." "I am the resurrection and the life." In the Revelations of St. John, an angel is described as having the key of the bottomless pit, but he only executes the orders he received to open or to shut it. The Son of God alone could say, "I have the keys of hell and of death." "I open and no man shutteth, I shut and no man openeth." By these characters we recognize him whom the scripture calls "the first and the last," "who liveth and was dead, and who is alive for evermore." What exalts above all things the glory and the majesty of our adorable Lord and invests him with the true character of a divine personage, is the mercy which shines forth in all his wonderful achievements for the children of men. The victories of earthly heroes are highly exalted, whose glories are in truth but splendid homicide, whose trophies are dyed in the blood of their fellow-creatures, whose spoils are accumulated by the ravage of provinces, and by the tears of thousands of bereaved families. The compassionate Redeemer shed no blood but his own, and shed it for the salvation of his creatures. On this day, then, when after having borne our