and every body else. Love him, as St. Peter did. And though you cannot shew your love, as he did his, shew it in every way you can. Try to make others love him. Let other people see you, who pretend to so much, living as good Christians. Let them see you putting away the wicked thing. Let them not say-such a person calls himself a Christian, goes to the sacrament table, is constantly at church, pro-fesses a great deal, and yet is not better than we. Let not this be said of any of you, my brethren! Ye call Jesus your Lord, do what he says. Pray, and pray constantly: but let your conduct be as good as your prayers. Love Jesus Christ your Lord: but shew your love by keeping his commandments.

Lastly. Our Saviour was compassionate, merciful, forgiving. He received Peter into favour after his base denial, and I have no doubt, Peter is happy with him in heaven. The religion, into which you are

baptized, has the same character as Jesus Christ had. It is compassionate, merciful, forgiving. Let this be your comfort. We are all liable to sins. In the sight of God we are all sinners. But if we repent and shake off our sins, we shall meet with mercy. Let this be your sheet anchor. But how can you obtain mercy, if you live and die in sin. You must shew that you mean what you say, when you say that you repent. To be sorry for what has past, and to be doing the same thing again, is not repentance. It is only "when the wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth what is lawful and right," it is then only, "that he will save his soul alive" through the of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

mercy

And now to God, &c.

LECTURE LXXX.

ST. MATTHEW Xxvii. 1, 2.

When the morning was come, all the Chief Priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death; and when they had bound him, they led him away to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

I HAVE already informed you of the manner in which Jesus Christ was tried and condemned by the High Priest of the Jews, and by the Jewish council. I have given you an account of the false witness, which they procured, and of the trifling

pretext on which they proceeded against him. But after going so far, they could, of themselves, go no farther. They and their country were at this time subject to a great nation, called the Romans, who would not allow them, in their courts of justice, to put any man to death. Although therefore they had condemned the blessed Jesus, yet they could not order him to be crucified That depended on the Roman Governor. Accordingly, these men, determined to complete the ruin of Jesus, took him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. They had condemned him on the night of Thursday, and on the Friday morning they led him away a prisoner, and in chains. It was then, my friends, that the conscience of Judas Iscariot stared him in the face, and smote him severely for his share in the unjust and cruel deed. This man had been, you know, a disciple of Jesus, had seen all his good acts, had heard all his discourses, had seen him in his most private hours, and had seen him to be all

Yet, for

that was holy, just, and good. sake of a paltry bribe, he had proved a traitor. When, however, he saw how matters were going, and that Jesus would certainly be put to death, he went, in an agony of despair, to the chief priests, and told them, that he had betrayed the innocent blood. And he And he gave them back the money. Their answer was as unfeeling as their hearts. What is that to us, said they? See thou to that. And the poor creature could not bear his guilty conscience, but threw the money before them, and went and hanged himself. Attend to this uesful story. You see that even Judas speaks of our Lord as an innocent man; and he knew Jesus well. This is therefore the confession of an enemy. It proves a great deal. We know now that Jesus was the Son of God, and was a pattern of all that is excellent. And they who saw what Judas saw, and heard what he heard, ought to have known the same.-Mark too their behaviour to Judas: how