They cannot now, however, be called "Thoughts for Lent." The number of chapters extends beyond the Forty Days; and the subjects are not all such as would be especially suited to the season; but they are the nearest approach which the writer could make to the work which she had been requested to undertake, and as such they are published.

Although the subjects chosen are unconnected, and may often appear far-fetched, when compared with the text, yet they have been left unaltered as they suggested themselves, and were noted down from the feelings and circumstances of the moment; for when we speak to ourselves, either in warning or self-reproach, we are more likely to be true and earnest than when we attempt with a deliberate purpose to give uncalled for advice to others.

BONCHURCH,

Jan. 12th, 1860.

PASSING THOUGHTS ON RELIGION.

THE CHIVALRY OF RELIGION.

ST. LUKE, Xxii. 1, 2.

"Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill Him; for they feared the people."

THE Concluding chapters of the Gospel touch upon subjects so awful, that it may at first sight appear almost irreverent to obtrude our own thoughts in connection with them. But, like the whole of the Bible, they are mines containing treasures of infinite wisdom, for which we must search if we hope to find; and miserably imperfect as this search must necessarily be, yet, if undertaken in dependence upon God's assisting grace, we may dare to hope that even the humblest and most unworthy will, in some degree, be rewarded for their efforts. For we may remember that it is not always the depth or the novelty of a thought which constitutes its value to ourselves, but the fitness of its application to our circumstances. And these circum

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stances vary continually, so that the thought which in the meditation of to-day has been vividly impressed upon us by outward events, may to-morrow, from the feebleness and versatility of our nature, be forgotten beyond recall. It cannot therefore be unprofitable to any of us to endeavour occasionally to perpetuate and put into definite words our passing thoughts. Our own ideas must, by such an exercise, become clearer, and our consciences may, perhaps, be more lastingly touched. The sermons which we preach to ourselves may be commonplace, but they can scarcely be ineffective; and if we would find texts for such sermons, we may search through the volume of God's word, and find none so impressive as those which describe the course of our Redeemer's Sufferings and Death.

One point especially brought forward in these opening verses of St. Luke, is the contrast between Our Blessed Lord's perfect innocence, and the exceeding malice of the Chief Priests and Scribes. The perception of cruelty and treachery in our fellow-creatures affects us very keenly. Fierce envy of goodness unable to defend itself-harshness to a woman or a child-these things awake some of our best feelings, and show us that there is an indignation which is lawful. Yet it is strange how constantly we overlook the fact, that this same helplessness which touches us so quickly in other cases, was part of the infinite condescension of the Incarnation. Jesus could not struggle with His enemies, as man might struggle