hearts and guided all eyes towards the Traitor. But nothing of the kind took place. There was not even a hint given by the Holy One, as to which of the company should betray Him. For even when Judas was seen whispering with Him, -(and surely our LORD's deep earnestness must have struck them! surely the Traitor's hardened face must have exhibited some sign of guilt, if it were but a pale cheek or a quivering lip!)—even then they suspected nothing. The two dipped together into the same dish, but still the rest suspected nothing. At last, Judas rose; took his bag, and rose, and left the room; and they all saw that there had been a word of some kind breathed by the lips of Him who was about to be betrayed into the ears of the Traitor, at the very instant he so rose and departed: and still they suspected nothing. Nay, they did suspect something. They suspected that Judas was going -to give something to the poor!

From all this, we propose to derive one single lesson in the way of warning; and it is this,that the inner life of man may be flagrantly wicked, while the outward life seems to be entirely conformed to holiness. And this is so solemn, yet so very plain a truth, that instead of employing many words about it, we are con

tent to leave the remark for the private thoughts of each. The best of men will be sensible that their inner and their outer life do not correspond exactly; others will be reminded that, in their case, they correspond scarcely at all. How can we better celebrate the Festival of St. Matthias than by seeking to live more as if we were conscious of the continual presence of Him to whom the Eleven Apostles made their solemn appeal, when, with Barsabas and Matthias before them, they prayed and said, Thou, LORD, which knowest the hearts of all men,-shew whether of these two Thou hast chosen ?' We further read that 'they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias.' Here then was one who,--besides having companied with' the Twelve all the time that the LORD JESUS went in and out among them, beginning from the Baptism of John unto that same day that He was taken up,' -had laboured to cleanse his heart; and live inwardly, in a manner suitable to his outward profession. And thus, the character of Matthias stands in strong contrast to that of Judas; and proves our bright example, as remarkably as the other becomes our tremendous warning.

The Annunciation of the Blessed Wirgin

Mary.

[UNSUSPECTED SAINTS.

ST. LUKE xi. 27.

Blessed is the womb that bare Thee!

THESE words were but lately ringing in our ears, for they belong to the Gospel for the Third Sunday in Lent,-which has been made the subject of a separate sermon. Our LORD therein describes the method of the evil Spirit when forcibly expelled from the heart of a man. There must have been wondrous grace and beauty, marvellous persuasiveness and power, the very embodying of all holy thought, in the manner of the Divine Speaker: for we read that a woman of the company, (she was a Mother, doubtless!) broke out in a kind of ecstacy; and all her thought was, how very blessed the woman must be who had given birth to such a Son. Blessed is the womb that bare Thee!'

It may be observed in passing that our LORD did by no means say in reply, that those persons are more blessed who hear the Word of God,

H.D.

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and keep it.' He did not affirm rather, blessed are they.' The words in the original have really no such meaning. That the Mother of CHRist was more blessed than all womankind, is quite certain, simply because she was the Mother of CHRIST. The true sense of our LORD's actual words can hardly be shewn, except in the way of paraphrase. It is as if He had said,' Look away from her blessedness to the blessedness of those who hear and keep God's Word. Ye say that she was blessed,' and ye say truly: but I will rather say that he who heareth My Word and keepeth it, is blessed.'. . . It is but a setting of two true statements one against another: the one, the lowly homage of the creature; other, the encouraging assurance of the CREATOR. But, on a day like this, it will well become us to adopt the creature's lowly language. We bow down among the crowd; and with our hearts still fixed on Him, and Him only, we can but cry with the poor woman in the Gospel,Blessed is the womb that bare Thee!'

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Let none do us the injustice, the heavy wrong, suppose that we desire to speak undue things in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Scarcely has the corrupt system of the Romish Church borne more bitter fruit than the suspicion and

the dread with which it has caused any allusion to God's chiefest Saints, to be regarded. All men know that it is the sin and shame of that erring Communion that they bestow the honour due to GOD only, on her who was the very humblest of His handmaids. They worship her who may no more be worshipped than any other member of the great human family who has gone the way of all flesh, and awaits the judgment of the Last Day. But the corruptions of Popery shall not cheat us out of our birthright, as members of the Church Catholic. When the Festival of the Annunciation comes round, we will speak of the blessedness of the Holy Maiden whose history that Festival specially brings to our recollection: and we will believe of one another, when we so speak, that we mean exactly what we say, and no more. Her high praise shall be recounted, and yet it shall be believed that we love that branch of the Church Catholic to which, by GoD's infinite mercy, we belong, as we love her to whom we owe our natural being,—with the homage of our undivided heart with all our soul, and with all our strength.

Now, that our Blessed LORD did not mean to say that the Virgin was otherwise than 'Blessed'