of John with the sword." Up to that time, the number of the holy Twelve, restored in St. Matthias after Judas's sad fall, had continued complete: but now it seemed good to our SAVIOUR to grant to this faithful Apostle the crown of all His favours, the honour of dying for HIM. And thus he tasted, according to his own prayer, of the cup which our LORD drank of, and was baptized with the baptism that He had been baptized withal.

It might seem almost sinful presumption, for such as we are, to take to ourselves, as if intended for our pattern, the example of so great and holy a Saint, one brought so very near the Person of our Divine SAVIOUR Himself. But we know that it is not presumption, since even CHRIST's own example, and that of the Eternal Father, are set before us for our study and imitation. We are bid to do to one another as CHRIST did to His disciples; and to "be perfect as our Father which is in Heaven is perfect." Much less then must we shrink from contemplating the pattern of any Saint or Apostle, how holy and glorious soever, as one which we ought to copy; since we shall surely be judged by all such patterns, once made known to us by God's Providence, in His Holy Scriptures or His Church. They will be reckoned among the talents, which will burthen and sink us into earth at the last day, if we be found to have neglected the due improvement of them now.

Does any man ask how he can imitate St. James, he, a private Christian, not called to be an Apostle, not summoned by the providence of God to any one great sacrifice, which might gather as it were into one the self-denials of a whole life? Let such an one think this within himself, that there may be, there probably are, occasions in which his worldly business, whatever it be, is apt to interfere more or less with his duty to our SAVIOUR. The memory and fancy of his shop, his plough, his garden, or his loom, mingles unseasonably with his prayers and holy readings, and tries to hinder him from attending to our SAVIOUR's voice, inwardly whispering," Follow ME." Well, on all such occasions, let us manfully put aside the intruding thought, saying as Felix did, but with a better meaning," Go thy way now, and come again when I shall have a convenient season."

It may be, that by such constant and resolute attendance on his

prayers, determined neither to miss them, nor to go through them with his mind elsewhere, a Christian may seem as if he should be more or less a loser in this present world. So much the more let him keep to his purpose. It will indeed be a blessing, should GoD give him some little share of the reward of those who suffer in earnest, be it little or much, in His Name.

But let us suppose his trial of another kind. Suppose it comes, not from worldly gain, but from worldly peace and quiet, and home satisfactions. Doubtless a quiet and affectionate home is one of the greatest blessings that a man can imagine in this world; yet

even this may sometimes prove a mischief. "A man's foes," as

our LORD said, may sometimes "be of his own household." As our LORD's Own Brethren came out to take hold on Hıм, and prevent His preaching, saying, "HE is beside Himself:" so it is very easy to imagine how, in ten thousand ways, affectionate, but worldly-minded fathers, and brethren, and friends, and husbands, and wives, may check one another in their duties, especially in the self-denying parts of Christian holiness: how with the kindest feelings, they may be always striving to put us wrong. Their example too often speaks aloud, and says, "Surely you need practise no kind of severity or strictness." Their instructions not seldom take us the same way. They cannot bear to see people denying themselves, and make a point of interrupting them, by every kind of earnest remonstrance, and expression of feeling: much as St. Peter did, when he took and rebuked our SAVIOUR, saying, "Be it far from Thee, LORD; this shall not be unto Thee."

Certainly I should imagine, that from one friend or another, most of us must have met before now with objections to holy obedience, not altogether unlike this: which is as if it had pleased Zebedee, when he heard CHRIST call his sons, to argue against the call, and say, He could not yet so well spare them: it was too much to ask of them quite entirely to give up their old employment for a time, and in some measure, they might come, but he could not willingly permit them to give up all."

Now we see what St. James and St. John would have done, had their father Zebedee made objections like these, as so many people do now, to their children's wholly following CHRIST and His Church. With all dutiful respect to their father on earth,

they would still have given him to understand, that they looked to their Father in Heaven above all: and when He called them, not even a father's wish could hinder them from saying, " Here am I." We read not that Zebedee made any opposition to his sons' joining CHRIST, but if he had, this we know must have been the tenor of their answer: according to their LORD's declaration afterwards, "If any man come after ME, and hate not his father and mother,"—if he be not prepared to give them up rather than CHRIST, and so to practise what the world will call, "hating them,"

" he cannot be Mr Disciple." And in a like spirit, no doubt, should every Christian make answer, when tempted by parent or near friend, directly or indirectly, to break any of CHRIST's plain commandments, or to live in contempt of the holy ordinances of His Church.

Persons who, in sincerity and truth, make sacrifices of this kind,-who really prefer, not their own fancy, but CHRIST's will, even to family comfort,-may find great encouragement in the favour which our LORD showed to His Holy Apostle, St. James. Their prayers for light and strength, they have every reason to hope, will be bountifully answered; CHRIST will make Himself peculiarly present to them, in all His works, both of mercy, of wonder, and of judgment: whether HE raise the dead, or show Himself in agony or in glory, or come to judge Jerusalem, those who have made great sacrifices for Him will be His favoured and honoured witnesses.

But let them beware of one thing, which also the after history of St. James points out, and that is, presuming on CHRIST's favour. Those too much beloved brethren, the sons of Thunder, rejoicing as they did in their special nearness to HIM, were anxious to have it continued for ever, and that in preference to all others. HE rebuked them so far, as that He would not suffer them to dream of obtaining a high place by any partiality of His. The humblest person, He said, would have it, whosoever that person might be: and He turned their ambition, rather, to the thought of trials to be endured for His sake. "Ye shall drink indeed, of My cup, and be baptized with My Baptism: but to sit on My right hand, and on My left, is not MINE to give."

God give us grace, my Christian Brethren, to practise such a

mind as this: not to value ourselves on any little sacrifices, which HE in His mercy may give us an opportunity of making for HIM : but still to look forward to the unknown hour, when we shall have to drink of His cup, to die as He hath died before us! With that hour full on our mind, may we cheerfully pass by whatever stands in our way, and being called by CHRIST, give ourselves up forthwith to fulfil His holy commandments!

SERMON CLXXXIV.

ANGELS WAITING ON THE CHURCH.

FOR ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S DAY.

ST. JOHN i. 51.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see Heaven open, and the angels of GOD ascending and descending upon the SON OF MAN."

Ir does not seem certain, whether or no St. Bartholomew, whose memory we honour this day with thanksgiving to God, was or was not the same with Nathanael, that Israelite without guile, whom our LORD so graciously received on his first approach to HIM. Whether they were two persons or one, is a matter on which those who know most of Christian antiquity hardly seem to have made up their minds.

However, it is clear that the promise, addressed by our LORD to Nathanael, is well suited to our consideration on any Apostle's day, and especially when the Church, as to-day by her Epistle, calls our attention more particularly to the marvellous tokens of GOD's Presence, which St. Bartholomew, in common with the other Apostles, received. By their hands were many signs and wonders wrought among the people :-insomuch that they brought the sick into the streets, and laid them upon beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them 1:" GOD giving such grace to those His first chosen witnesses, as He afterwards did to St. Paul: when "from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits 1 Acts v. 12, 15.

VOL. VI.

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