But we must be careful not so exclusively to preach Him crucified as though He were not glorified, or in dwelling on the darkness of Gethsemane to forget the light that illumined Mount Tabor-the exaltation of the Son of God in the lowliness of the Son of Man. And yet, Is not this the character of modern teaching with few exceptions? in which we seldom hear mention made of the Second Coming of the Saviour in its distinctive objects; but, in its stead, such views of His "kingdom" as, in disconnecting it from His " appearing," compromise the evidence to be afforded by it of His personal Dignity and Glory and with what peril to the faith of the Church remains to be seen in those "last days," (fast approaching, if we may judge from the signs of our times), when "there shall come scoffers walking after their "own lusts and saying, Where is the promise of His

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Coming?" "You give evidence (they may say) of the humiliation of Jesus of Nazareth; but where is the evidence of His glory and its promised "manifestation ?" If he be the Messiah where is the kingdom which should subject the world-of the Son of David, the true Solomon, Jehovah's King in Zion; and the signs to follow-the making his enemies his footstool, the restitution of all things, and ، a new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness?" Our answer is ready, the

answer of faith:-He came once to suffer and He comes again to reign, "this same Jesus;" and, with the favoured three, we also may say "We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the POWER and COMING of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His MAJESTY." "We," too, "beheld His

GLORY.

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2. But there is another lesson to them and to us from this scene, which they could not understand then but would soon after. For the time was at hand when, as the Lord had told two of them-the sons of Zebedee-they should drink of the cup which He then drank of and be baptized with His baptism -be called to "suffer with Him" and to "bear His cross:" a calling not peculiar to them but that of all who should be baptized in His Name from that time even until His coming again, when the now militant state of the Church shall be exchanged for the triumphant. And their deportment under these trials they were to learn from Him-the like submission to the "will" of their heavenly "Father,"His Father and theirs: for as He was so are all they -all who are His-in this world; and His very language also theirs, His very cry here uttered"Abba, Father!" as St. Paul teaches us, Gal. iv. 6, "And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the

'Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, "Father:" another allusion to this hour of Jesus' trial in Gethsemane when alone it is recorded of Him that He so cried; confirmed by the word " crying"-the utterance of distress and anguish.

And, What a consolation this! What the trial, what the affliction which would not be tolerable if we might regard it as suffering with Christ? or, Who would refuse so to suffer? In our case, indeed, the cup may pass from us which might not pass from Him; and at most we do but taste of that which He drank to the very dregs: but to taste it is our privilege not our loss; our blessing not our curse; as thereby we are conformed to Christ, and follow Him who, as "the Captain of our Salvation," was "made perfect through sufferings." May we in the hour of our need have the full consolation which is here provided for us; and in the spirit of sonship, which is the spirit of resignation as of obedience, be enabled under every trial to say, "Father, not my will but Thine be done!"

THE LIFE OF CHRIST.

XV. HIS DENIAL.

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ST. MATT. Xxvi. 69-75.

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"Now Peter sat without in the palace and a damsel came unto him, "saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied before "them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was 66 gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them "that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And after a "while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely "thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. Then began "he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, "which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me "thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly."

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It was remarked, in speaking of the betrayal of our Lord by Judas, that it was permitted and is recorded not for Jesus' sake only-not only as a circumstance of His humiliation and suffering-but for our sakes also; as conveying a lesson and warning to His Church, and especially to its Pastors and Rulers, to the end of time: and this is, perhaps, even more

evident with respect to that event which the present Section brings before us-that it is written for the admonition of all His disciples in every age, being intimated by the Lord Himself in the words by which he prefaced the prediction to Simon Peter of his fall, given in St. Luke's account; ch. xxii. 31, 32: "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold Satan "hath desired to have you that he may sift you as "wheat: but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail "not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy "brethren :" (where by "converted" we are to understand "restored" or "recovered: ") thus plainly shewing that the lesson was not for him alone.

But while there is this similarity, there is this great difference between the two events-that the one was the act of a false professor; of one who followed our Lord from worldly and carnal motives, and under the influence all-through of the ruling passion or propensity which ultimately made him betray Hin; while the other was a fall, great indeed and fearful, but, of a believer; of a true and sincere disciple of Christ; corresponding to which difference in the character of the transactions is, therefore, the difference of instruction afforded by them.

It will be important, first, to compare the accounts of this transaction as given by the several Evangelists, that we may be fully in possession of the circum