left in darkness; yet every one knows, from his own experience, that it is but a moment that the sun stands right over head, without casting a shadow either before or behind us. A continued struggle with the innumerable and ever-varying trials of life, requires as much patience, and presents as fruitful a field of moral experience, as the most severe tribulation. And he who, amidst a thousand petty vexations, succeeds in possessing his soul in patience, is cheered by that hope which maketh not ashamed, even the hope of the Christian martyr, of being glorified together with him, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.

SERMON XXXI.

MATTHEW XXVI. 28.

"This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins."

THE remission or forgiveness of sins is a part of the corrective discipline, designed by the Creator for the moral education of man. Remission of sins means remission or removal of the two natural consequences of sin, which are remorse and punishment.

In order to understand the manner in which Jesus redeems men from the consequences of sin, it is necessary to consider how far the character of man, as a moral agent, can be influenced by the act of another being, whether human or divine. It is plain, that man can be responsible for his actions, only so far as these actions are free, that is, truly his own; that he can be deserving of reward or punishment, only so far as his choice between right and wrong is unimpaired. He cannot be made good or bad, virtuous or vicious, against or without his will. As long as he remains a moral and responsible being, all that any other power, human or divine, can do for him, to lead him to repentance and virtue, may be reduced

to these two things; to make his duty clear to him, and to present to him sufficient motives for its performance. This is the great moral good (the greatest that can be conferred upon a moral agent) which Jesus has brought to man. By his doctrine and by his example, he has set before us the intrinsic excellence and attendant blessedness of virtue; showing, at the same time, by way of contrast, the intrinsic worthlessness and attendant wretchedness of sin. This is the great lesson, which Jesus taught and exemplified, in his life and by his death, so as to interest and engage every power of the soul, convincing the reason, moving the heart, and quickening the will of man.

We have remission of sin, that is, we are prompted to repentance and to virtue, not only by the death, but by the whole life, and the saving doctrine, of Jesus. He himself says, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." And when the Apostle says, that in him we have remission of sin, he indicates, that what Jesus taught, and did, and suffered, is able and sufficient to save all those who are willing to accept the terms of salvation; those who will do for themselves what no other human being can do for them; those who not only receive the doctrine of Jesus, but, according to the Apostle's advice, as they "have received Christ Jesus, walk in him, rooted and grounded in him."

The blood of Jesus, his death on the cross, is

more peculiarly and emphatically designed as the great means of salvation, because it is in truth the most important act in the moral life of Jesus. I consider it the most important act, because it required the highest moral effort in Jesus, and, for the same reason, is fitted, as an example, to call forth the greatest moral effort in his disciples.

With a view to secure all the blessings, which the death of Jesus was intended to bestow, let us endeavour to understand the true ground of its moral importance. Jesus says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The voluntary sacrifice of life is here represented as the greatest act of love. In another passage, Jesus makes this the test of his being the good Shepherd, that "the good Shepherd giveth his life for his sheep."

The institution of the Lord's Supper was intended to show forth the Lord's death; and thus, in every part of the New Testament, this event is spoken of, sometimes in direct, and sometimes in figurative, language, as the most important part of the history of Jesus. The ignorance of interpreters, and the predisposition of many to see in the death of the Saviour a mysterious something, that excites and carries away the imagination, rather than a glorious example, that requires a like moral effort in his followers, has clothed this event with a factitious and superstitious importance, which must vanish of itself as soon as the true glory of the cross is perceived and appreciated.

The last moments of life are of themselves not more valuable than any that precede them; and our joys are as important a part of our discipline as our sufferings. Even the fact, that death is voluntary, an act of self-sacrifice, does not, of itself, exalt it in a moral point of view; otherwise, the death of a suicide would at once transform him into a hero and a martyr. The death of the suicide, when it is not the effect of mental derangement, or a false view of duty, is not an act of courage, but of cowardice, a disgraceful acknowledgment of his inability to bear the trials and hardships of life. Nor does the circumstance, that a man does not himself put an end to his life, but gives himself up to be killed by others, make any material difference in the moral character of the

act.

The true worth of the voluntary abandonment of life depends on the value of the life that is sacrificed, and the object for which it is given up.

These are the considerations, which constitute the preeminent worth and glory of the death of Jesus, and make it the object of our grateful veneration. For, whether you consider the value of his life, or the greatness of the object for which he sacrificed it, what is there, in the whole range of human experience and history, which does not in comparison sink into insignificance? For, if the worth of life must be determined by its usefulness, what name is there, that deserves to be mentioned in comparison with that of him, who made his brief existence on earth the means of revealing the being and the character of God, and the nature and destiny of man; of