perfections of a Mediator revealed in Christ. Now we have one to resort to in every time of need. If we have sinned, we must go and confess to Him, reveal our transgressions before Him openly and fully; and if anything can give hope to the penitent heart, it is the knowledge that He who has promised to intercede has paid the penalty of the sin in his own body. If we are troubled and sorrowing, we have but to resort to Him who feels for every human grief endured by his people, and the face of the Almighty no more seems turned against us, but shines upon us and upon our prospects. All can be borne by the Mediator: we bring our loads and burdens to his feet, and they are removed from us. Every believing Christian should make much of this Mediator, and dwell constantly on this portion of his work. Nothing makes the name of Christ more attractive to the heathen, than to be told of Him as a Mediator. The most unlearned mind can comprehend the idea. is very suitable to the understanding of a child. It gives a first notion of Him which is altogether pleasing and supporting; there are no terrors in the name of a Mediator; it is surrounded with light and comfort. is recognised as the best of friends, and may be at once confided in. His fitness will gradually reveal itself; all his life and history reveals it, and the crucifixion is the crowning evidence that He undertakes this blessed office for us and for the chief of sinners.

He

Through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." When we have known the Mediator, and resorted to his intercession, we are brought to know the Father, and to approach Him with the feelings of a child. His love and goodness are made known to us, and we rejoice to come to Him as our Creator, and as the Father of our redemption. Thus we are re-united to God, and feel at length that He is not against us but for us, and that we have an Almighty and threefold friend, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

E.

REFLECTIONS ON MATTHEW XXVI. 40.

"What! could ye not watch with me one hour?"

Do we not feel inclined to wonder at the drowsiness and the insensibility of Peter and his two companions at such a moment? Sorrow had indeed filled their hearts with heaviness, and the flesh was overcome with fatigue and anxiety. Still, to know their Lord enduring such agony, and to be able to sleep themselves, does it not seem to us strange and worthy of reproach? But how is it with ourselves? are we never called upon to watch with our Lord one hour? Is it never our duty to spend an hour in watchfulness and prayer? At such times are we never drowsy and to be found sleeping at our post? Look back at the many holy Sabbaths and Festivals when our Church has summoned us by her deep-toned bell to come and watch with our Lord, to listen to the awful account of his last sufferings and death, to pour out our souls in humble supplication to Him, to beg Him to deliver our souls by means of that very agony and bloody sweat which the three disciples witnessed. How do we answer that summons of our Church?

We are, many of us at least, to be found within her holy walls and kneeling low at her bidding; but where are our hearts? Where are our thoughts? With our lips we utter these solemn words, "We, therefore, pray Thee, help thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood." But do our hearts go along with this prayer, or do our lips only move and utter the words mechanically? We pray God to grant that we might follow the example of our blessed Saviour's patience; and were we not at the moment feeling almost, if not quite, impatient at this short interruption to our toil or our pleasure? It is but little more than one hour that the Church detained us, yet did we watch and pray for the hour? Let each man examine his own heart; and if he find reason to reproach himself with negligence and drowsiness, let him not judge the disciples of our Lord severely, but take warning by the reproof given to them by their Master and our Master

when He said, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

We are too apt to consider our services at Church as something by which God is benefited rather than ourselves; as if, like an earthly master, He required us to stand before Him at certain periods and to repeat certain words: but, my neighbours, this is a very wrong view of the case. It is in mercy, in great mercy, that He bids us come into his more immediate presence, and kneel down before Him, and confess our sins and offer our supplications. We should be thankful to Him for the permission thus given to us. Is there any among us so bold and foolhardy that he would dare to pray to God without being commanded to do so? An all-wise, a perfectly pure and holy Being-how could we come before Him? How could we presume to address Him as our father and our Saviour? And yet, without prayer to God, how miserable, how utterly helpless should we feel! Even the most lawless have at some time felt the relief and comfort of praying to God for help; and there are many among those who cannot watch with their Saviour for one hour in self-examination, who yet would feel bitterly the being deprived of offering up any prayer to Him. Let us not, then, neglect what is given to us as a very great privilege, but endeavour to find out what it is that hinders us in our prayers and which makes them appear irksome to us. When our thoughts wander where do they run? to some worldly object that has possession of our hearts. Where our treasure is there will be our hearts also; and where our hearts are there will our thoughts be. No one will doubt the truth of this explanation of wandering thoughts. Let us then proceed a step further. Is it right that any worldly object should so engross our minds that we cannot lay it aside for one hour to engage in the service of our Maker. Which is our first duty, to serve God or to serve man? "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," says our blessed Lord, and yet this is exactly what we still strive to do. We serve Mammon six days and make a pretence of serving God on the seventh, but in truth the seventh belongs more to Mammon than to God. Up to the

moment we go into the Church our hearts are full of worldly thoughts and worldly schemes-and do they leave us while there? No; a miserable divided service follows, which can give us no peace or comfort, and cannot be accepted in the eyes of God, who has represented Himself to us as a jealous God, requiring the whole heart and the whole service. Now, suppose for a moment, that all the week our hearts were devoted to God's service. I do not mean that we are to spend the whole week on our knees in prayer or in religious meditations, for this is only a part of the service we owe to God, and a small part; but I will suppose that in all our occupations, whatever they may be, in our business, in our pleasure, in our daily common duties, we were to do all from a motive of duty to God; as St. Paul expresses it, "to the glory of God," and that our thoughts naturally turned to God instead of men in all our concerns, would then the service of prayer be so irksome? For instance, let us suppose a mother whose heart is bound up in her children. She toils for them all the week, she nurses them, she fondles them, and when on Sunday she manages to leave them for one short hour, her heart is still with them; she still thinks of them; and wishes the service to be over that she may again watch over them. Can we blame her for this? Yes, certainly. No object on earth should take the place of God in heaven. "Thou shalt not worship any other God but me" is the command given. No object should engross our thoughts and affections so much as this. Now, if this mother were, during the week, to do her duty to her children as part of her duty to God, then the whole matter would be changed. The children would only draw her nearer not farther from the service of her own heavenly Father. She would in training them to serve the Lord train herself also. She would find how necessary it is for a mother to be patient and good-tempered, yet firm and not over-indulgent. She would often need to ask help of God to guide her aright. Sunday she would look to as a day when she might more especially consider her ways, seek counsel of God, and commend her beloved children to his care.

If, then, the employment of the week, our worldly studies and occupations, were all conducted in this sober and religious spirit, would not in such case the events of the past week, instead of hindering us, urge us forward in our prayers, by making us feel the comfort and the necessity of obtaining such help from God, as we do by means of our prayers? Should we not be glad of the opportunity of a quiet hour or two to consider our ways, to watch and pray, and to reflect, undisturbed by outward circumstances, upon the mercies of God? The stillness and quiet of Church, the associations of the bidding bell— the voice of the minister-all these would be pleasant in our ears, and the prayers would be pleasant too, for they would express our wants and our feelings; they would seem as if formed for our individual case, and our hearts would go along with them without force or straining. Depend upon it, my friends, such will be the case, if our hearts be devoted to God in the week; the Sabbath of the Lord will be a delight to us and honourable. If we examine our own hearts we shall be convinced of the truth of this; we shall find that the two points depend one upon the other; and that in proportion as we attend to one, the other will follow. This view of the subject places our carelessness and drowsiness at Church in a more important light; it shows not only neglect of duty on Sunday but during the whole week. It may be that one of the very reasons for the appointment of a Sabbath was to test our weekly service. The one cannot stand separate from the other. Both will stand or fall together. It behoves us then to consider our ways, or we shall be found wanting altogether. Many console themselves by thinking on God's mercy. "He knows our weakness; and if we cannot attend on Sunday, after working hard all the week, He will excuse it." But will He excuse our neglect in the week also? Do we pray night and morn ing to Him, and follow out those prayers in the careful observance of his laws in the day? For instance, if we pray at all, we use the Lord's prayer, and say these words, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Now, is it not something worse than mockery to repeat those words in the morning, and through the day to take heed