trifles; yet they are acceptable if done with a willing mind. If, on the other hand, we yield in all little trials to inclination, the effect upon our souls will be ruinous; all firmness of purpose and strength of character will be gone, and to yield to inclination will become so habitual, that it will be found impossible to brace the mind to resist a great temptation when it comes. In little things our trial consists. If we bear little trials well, we shall, ordinarily, bear great ones well: if we give up our will in matters of slight importance frequently, we shall be prepared to submit to greater hardships. As we follow the guidance of the Cross in daily little trials, so our souls prosper.

There are times when the Cross will, as it were, lead us to itself in solemn meditations: when our whole heart and mind will be drawn away from all brighter, pleasanter, and more joyous associations, to be fixed intently upon the bitter sufferings which Christ endured for us. Then our sins will rise up vividly before us, and by the grace of God we shall learn to hate them with a perfect hatred, when we see how awful a penalty was paid for them upon the cross, and how certainly they will bring us to misery unless we repent of them truly, and do works meet for repentance. Of course the great season for such meditations as these will be in Passion-week, when the services of the Church will guide our thoughts in that direction.

But it would be well for us, my brethren, if we were to set apart some time (more or less according to our circumstances) for meditation on the Cross of

Christ, His love and pity, our misery and sin, every Friday. All persons need, and religious persons feel their need of some regular, stated time for a stricter humiliation, self-examination, and confession. Friday has ever been looked upon by the Church as consecrated, by the memory of Christ's Passion, for such exercises; and there is great fear that, if we neglect the special work to which a weekly recollection of His Crucifixion invites us, we shall lose the enjoyment of a happy Sunday. For if in all the week past we have neglected to humble ourselves in some marked way, reviewing our sins, throwing ourselves afresh at the foot of Christ's Cross, and seeking mercy there, I do not see how we can fail to be downcast and low-spirited on the Lord's day. It will then become to us, as I fear it is to too many, rather a gloomy and melancholy, than a bright and happy day: a day of great joy, holy and heavenly, yet cheerful. Thus we shall lose the refreshment of a happy Sunday, and Satan gain an advantage over us, because we shall be dull and heavy all the week afterwards.

It is most important for those of you, my brethren, who are labouring people, or much engaged in business, that you should have a cheerful, unclouded Sunday; that it should be to you a day of rest from anxious and desponding thoughts, as well as from labour. See, then, that you do not put off your special self-examination and self-humiliation for the sins of the week, and of your life past, until that day. Find time, even if it be only a quarter of an hour, on Friday, the day on which Jesus died for

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you, to come, in some more marked than usual, to Him upon the Cross, confessing your sins, crucifying your corrupt inclinations by a hearty renunciation of all indulgences on which you cannot ask His blessing, and renewing your resolution of devoting yourselves with all your hearts to His service. Then you may enjoy Sunday with a clear conscience: you may rejoice in Christ, forgetting yourselves: you may glory in His Cross, as having used it to crucify the world unto yourself, and yourself unto the world.

Would we then, dear brethren, be enabled to glory in the Cross of Christ, glory in His goodness, love Him for His love, and find a continual peace in believing? Let us deny ourselves daily in some of our innocent wishes even, take up our Cross daily and follow Christ, in humiliating services to our brethren, in giving up our own will, and sacrificing our own dignity, for His honour, or for the benefit or pleasure of others. Would we enjoy the prayers and praises of the Church Service, let us take care that we perform earnestly the more irksome part of devotion, self-examination, confession of sin, acts of sorrow and self-condemnation; let us diligently watch our daily conduct, that we neither offend against the love of God, nor wound the feelings of those around us, nor lead them into sin. Would we rejoice in our Risen Saviour, let us see Him Crucified. Would we rise with Him unto newness of life, let us, drawing continually near His Cross, die unto sin. Would we keep in joy His Resurrection Day, let us not forget to our sins on the day of His Crucifixion. Would we rejoice in the glories of the great Easter

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festival, let us keep Passion-week with a reverent humility and sorrow.

Let us take care, my brethren, that we do not lose the enjoyment of our highest privileges, and endanger the salvation of our souls, by choosing only what is easy and agreeable in religion, and turning away from its severer and more painful duties. I know this doctrine of the Cross is not pleasant to our natural taste: but then the Cross itself was not pleasant to our Saviour: it was full of terror, agony, and shame. Why then should we expect it to be pleasant as realized in us?

But, then, it may be said, St. Paul gloried in the Cross; surely we must do the same! Just so: but then, men do not rightly glory in that which costs them nothing; they glory in that which they have made their own by doing or suffering; so must it be with us, and the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The real question is not, Is this doctrine pleasant? but, Is it true? A true doctrine of the Cross, truly practised, can alone lead to a glorying which shall not be made void.

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SERMON XXIV.

THE SAINTS AFTER TRIAL, AND UNDER TRIAL.*

REVELATION, vii. 9.

"I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the Throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands."

WHO are these, my brethren, "which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?" These are they whom we this day commemorate; these are the saints of God. Let us turn, with St. John, to the elder who explained to him the vision, and let us hear his description of this great multitude. "What are these?" he asked, " and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

Here, then, dear brethren, we have the heavens opened, and see therein a glorious vision: we see the * Preached on All Saints' Day.