the gospel are gathered from this world? Where shall we be, if not included in those walls whose foundations are sealed with the names of the apostles of the Lamb? VI. THE NAME OF JUDAS STANDS IN AFFECTING CONTRAST TO THE NAMES OF THE APOSTLES. Good were it for that man, the Saviour said, if he had never been born. Of course he will not, even after the lapse of ages, be received to heaven; for then an eternity of happiness would compensate for all that he had suffered. He has gone to his own place. His name is covered with eternal infamy. So long as redemption is remembered, so long as Jesus reigns in glory, and the Lamb is the light of heaven, so long the name and history of Judas will be remembered for shame and everlasting contempt. The names of the other apostles grace the foundations of heaven; those precious stones are a shrine to their names, themselves more precious than rubies. His name is on the walls of hell, and his deeds are covered with the blackness of darkness forever. How true it is that whoever has any thing to do with Christ, whoever is distinguished at all by the Saviour's favor, whoever has his name coupled, for good or ill, with the cause of Christ, is raised by it to a proud distinction or to a bad eminence, according to his deeds. To be a friend of Christ is glory and honor; and this in proportion to the ardor and constancy of your love. To be an enemy to Christ, or, in other words, not to be his friend, is to have our portion with the lost, in sufferings and sorrows proportionate to our opportunities of knowing, loving, and serving Christ. Those days, when Jesus walked and talked with him, ate with him, and even kneeled to wash his feet, occur to the unhappy Judas, as the day of grace with him, when he, too, might have had his name written with the rest of the apostles in the foundations of heaven. There is no vacant place in those walls marked with outlines of sable stone, no mourning tablet, where the name of Judas should have been, and testifying sorrow at his loss. The place of his name is filled with that of another. So, " If thou art wise, thou art wise for thyself, and > if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." Christ offers you a place in glory, and, what is, surely, an additional honor and privilege, if you can believe it, a place in his church here, and an apostleship to your fellow-men, and then a place in heaven, where you shall see and enjoy the fruit of your labor. But, if you refuse, there are others that will take that which you reject. And you will be left to think, What did I gain by rejecting Christ and religion? Perhaps as much, and perhaps not so much, as Judas gained in exchange for his apostleship, his Christian character, his interest in Christ, his inheritance in heaven. Thus it may be with you. Some bawble, some idolatrous desire for show or pleasure, some lust, some secret shame, or sloth, is the price for which many are parting with Christ, and their eternal all; and some of them are members of Christ's church. You will lose even the price of your iniquity, which will perish with the using, or be taken from you at death. Those thirty pieces of silver were flung down, and flung away, upon the stone floor of the temple. O sinner, you are bartering heaven, selling Christ, putting your soul into the hands of Satan, in exchange for that which will soon seem to be nothing. False professors, you are preparing for an eternity with Judas, going from the company of Christ's disciples to your own place. Ye friends of Christ, not in name only, but in deed and truth his friends, hear his promise: "He that confesseth me before men, him will I also confess before my Father, and before his angels." " Ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat and drink at my table, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Are Andrew, and Peter, and Matthew, and Philip, raised from obscurity, by being each a devoted friend to Jesus? So shall it be with you, if you live for Christ. "And behold, there are 1 last that shall be first." Consecrate yourselves to him. Do it with a promptness, with a confidence in him, with an entireness, which shall testify for you in the day of his appearing. Simon Peter appeals to us, with the true motive, and the great reward: "THAT, WHEN HIS GLORY SHALL BE REVEALED, YE MAY BE GLAD ALSO, WITH EXCEEDING JOY." SERMON VI. THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE. MATTHEW XXI. 15. HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID. THE obligations of children to the Saviour of the world are peculiar, and deeply interesting. We should expect to find some demonstration from them to their infinite Friend, among the testimonials of love and worship given to him during his earthly life. Their hosanna, in the temple, is a part of a most interesting passage in the Saviour's history, which we must attentively consider, to understand the children's worship. One of the most affecting things connected with the Saviour's sufferings and death, is, the zeal with which he hastened to suffer, at the time appointed. " And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem ; and Jesus went before them, and they were amazed." The disciples knew that this was his last journey to Jerusalem, where he was to be crucified; and yet |