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disordered affections. Omnipotence alone can reclaim and secure the heart. And unless the heart go along with the head, all that the head has got will but aggravate our misery as well as our guilt and condemnation. We shall only be where the heathen poet was when he confessed, "I see and approve what is good, but I follow what is bad."

Then the Collect is supported by the voice of Scripture. We are reminded in the Epistle from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: and in the Gospel we find what was the express design of Christ's going away; namely, that he might send the Holy Spirit to guide into all truth.

Do we next look at the Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Easter? The same influence from above is recognized. There must be an holy inspiration on the soul. Without this, we cannot think those things that be good. Without this, we cannot perform the same. From God all good things do come. And to do good, and to bring forth fruit, is what the Christian has to aim at. Christ had an end in view in his sufferings on the cross. "He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." He died to save us from sin here, as well as from hell hereafter. The Epistle reminds us that we must be doers of the word, and not hearers only. And then the Gospel admirably follows, with encouragement to pray for that holy inspiration whereby alone we can be enabled to render to our God true and laudable service. 'Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

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We next come to the Collect for Ascension Day. And here is no naked speculative truth proposed for our faith, but one that is designed to have an invigorating and practical influence. There must be something more than the idle gaze at the Saviour ascending on the cloud; something more than the orthodox recognition of the doctrine of the Ascension. We are called upon to ascend with our ascended Saviour; and in heart and mind with him continually to dwell: thus having our conversation in heaven, (Phil. iii. 1.) our citizenship, our business, our

traffic. Christ is our chiefest treasure, and our heart is where our treasure is. And our faith dwells with him now, not only as the object of our future and never ending bliss hereafter, but as the fountain of all our supplies while we live here below. All our fresh springs are in him, and out of his fulness we daily receive grace for grace.

The Epistle and Gospel set before us the history of the Ascension.

Then in the Collect for the Sunday after the Ascension, we have the same expectation held out to us of a divine and happy influence. We wretched sinners might well think it strange to look for comfort. Oh! if we can only be saved at last; saved, so as by fire, it is infinitely more than we deserve: and yet (oh! the overflowings of divine love to us miserable sinners) we are authorized to enter heartily into the prayer for comfort which our Church puts into our mouth; for the Third Person in the ever blessed Trinity is emphatically styled, with reference to his influences in the world, "The Comforter;" and in the Gospel for the day, Christ expressly promises to send him on his ascension.

The Epistle recognizes the condition of real Christians as having received the gift of an ascended Saviour's grace: and calls upon them, as stewards, to dispense the gift faithfully to others. And thus grace is communicative and expansive. It is the leaven put into the meal. It is the light on a candlestick. The salt of the earth. If we have got an ascended Saviour's promised comfort, it is that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort wherewith we have been comforted of God. Whatever comes to us from Christ, it is for the good of others as well as ourselves. What a fruitful hint for teachers in

schools, as well as ministers!

There is one expression in the Epistle to guard against abuse. "Charity shall cover the multitude of sins." Not that acts of charity and benevolence can blot out sin that we have committed: such a thought would run counter to the current of God's word. But the meaning is this: have fervent love among yourselves, for love will lead you to throw a covering over the faults of your

spirit--the teacher may well spare his labours, and keep for himself the rest and the blessing of the Sabbath.

But who is sufficient for these things? Unruly wills will tire the teacher's patience; hard hearts will repel his counsel; and the seed may seem, from Sabbath to Sabbath, to be sown in vain. Yet if there is a sowing to the Spirit, the harvest shall not be wanting. The sufficiency will come from Him on whom we depend; and if the divine declaration is fully recognized and acted upon -"not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord"'—we shall find that what is impossible with man is possible with God; that mountains of difficulties move out of the way at his bidding, and that we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us.

"Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."

LOOSING THE SANDAL.

"BUT he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear" (Mat. iii. 11). To loose the sandals from off the feet of an eastern worshipper, was an ancient and indispensable custom. It also was, and is commonly, observed in visits to great men. The sandals or slippers are pulled off at the door, and either left there or given to a servant to bear. The slipper-bearers means an inferior domestic, or attendant upon a man of high rank, who takes care of them, and returns them to him again. In speaking of Morocco, Lempriere tells us, that the emperor received foreigners, and transacted all public business, either in his carriage or on horseback, in some of the open spaces within the palace; but that, in former times, it was sometimes customary, on such occasions, to admit strangers into one of the rooms; who were, however, obliged to conform to the custom of the country, by pulling off their shoes when in presence of the emperor. The Spanish friars at Morocco were the only exception to this rule; for, upon their informing him that they never pulled off their shoes to any power under God, he always permitted them to

I can truly say, that the longer I live, the more I am struck with the wonderful comprehensiveness of our Church Prayers, and their admirable adaptation to our

wants.

If there be a ground of regret, it is not in any discovered deficiency there, but in the lack of a truly devotional spirit in ourselves. As that spirit grows, I am persuaded there will grow also a thankful conviction of sufficiency in our Church's provision.

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With respect to the pious Framers of our Liturgy, we may well say, They have well said all that they have spoken;" and for ourselves we shall do well to pray, "Oh! that there were such an heart in them."

How important, then, it is to improve our Sunday school opportunities for the purpose of opening out the Scriptural and spiritual character of our Liturgy, and thus leading the rising generation to see in their Prayer Books every possible advantage for worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

And, in the second place, I am specially thankful to commence at this season, because it affords the best possible opportunity for avowing the grand principle which should characterize all our teaching: and that is of entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit to make our teaching effectual: and also of the high and elevated aim to bring the young entrusted to our care into the experience of such vital and spiritual religion as the Spirit of God can alone communicate.

We must aim at something more with our Sunday. scholars than to bring them into the profession of an attached churchmanship; something more than to make them conversant with forms and ceremonies, or sound and orthodox in their creed.

They have to be fashioned out of the rude and unshapely materials of disordered nature into the temples of the Holy Ghost, and He alone can effect the work.

They have to be brought to the exercises and experience of the life of God in the soul, and the Spirit of life can alone effect this. But if this be wanting-if nothing be accomplished but the empty lamp of an external name and profession-if there is only the body, without the

ful perfumes (Plin. Hist. Nat. xiii. 2; xxxvi. 8, 24). The woman is said to have "broken" the vessel; which is explained by supposing that it was one of those shaped somewhat like a Florence oil-flask, with a long and narrow neck; and the mouth being curiously and firmly sealed up, the usual and easiest way of getting at the contents was to break off the upper part of the neck.

RETIREMENT AND REFLECTION.

The art of doing much, consists in giving to every duty its proper place, time, and quantity. Here much wisdom is required; yet by prayer, watchfulness, and self-denial, much practical knowledge may be attained.

When we seldom retire for holy converse with God, is there not great reason to suspect some latent, though perhaps unconscious repugnance to the more silent, unobtrusive offices of secret devotion?

Some persons grow almost melancholy if much alone. This surely betrays a defect either in the constitution or the heart. Absolute solitude is decidedly injurious; since He who made us hath declared, that "it is not good that man should be alone." But occasional retirement, for the delightful purpose of holding converse with the Saviour, greatly refreshes the spiritual faculties, just as rest from bodily labour recruits the wasted powers of our animal frame.

Some good men are so wedded to their studies, that they can scarcely force themselves from their beloved retreat; while others are so fond of active pursuits, that their minds seem averse to the sedentary employments of the closet. Like birds of passage, they live upon the wing.

Both these extremes are faulty, and consequently hurtful to each party. Every man has his circle of duty to fill up. This is larger or smaller, according to the station in which God has placed him. Let no one think that he may live for himself alone. Each individual has a sphere of usefulness to occupy; and his happiness is closely connected with the performance of his duty. Our divine

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