ces and consolations descend upon those who are studying to acquire the graces which belong to it ;-a kingdom in which the humble and "poor in spirit" shall "be blessed,"-in which they "that "mourn shall be comforted,"-in which "the meek" shall obtain that inheritance which is too often on earth the portion of the violent,-in which they "that

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hunger and thirst after righteousness "shall be filled," in which "the mer"ciful shall obtain mercy,"-in which "the pure in heart shall see God!" Such was the new kingdom, the reality of which this Divine Instructor came to announce to the wandering race of men,to those who were losing themselves in the false principles and deceiving seductions of the world, and who could not steadily pursue a better path till they were well assured of the happiness to which it led. To effect this conviction

was to be his great and arduous aim, for which he was to spare no exertion of toil, and no suffering of body or of mind. This was the Gospel which, by all means, he was to call upon men to believe, “in "all things approving himself the mi"nister of God, in much patience, in af"flictions, in necessities, in distresses, in

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stripes, in labours, in watchings, in "fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned !"

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Nothing, indeed, can be more striking, than the self-devotion with which Jesus immediately applied himself to the great object of his mission upon earth, and his seeming forgetfulness and abandonment of his true and inherent dignity. There appears not in any part of his demeanour the slightest trace of the weakness of human vanity; that weakness, of which even the greatest minds are seldom en

tirely divested, but which, whenever it is found in them, is but too evident a proof of their real littleness. It was, perhaps, the hope of finding this infirmity Jurking in the human character of Jesus, which actuated the tempter, in that remarkable transaction already alluded to. The circumstance which he laid hold of was the stupendous declaration of the text, made by a voice from heaven"Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I "am well pleased." Such a declaration, he seemed to think, that human nature was incapable of bearing with a calm and equal spirit-his temptations, accordingly, constantly turn upon this theme," If "thou be the Son of God,"-and one of the chief advantages which our Saviour, as a man, acquired from his forty days retirement, and temptation in the wilderness, may have been the attainment of that balance and composure of mind,

which qualified him, although conscious of the Divinity stirring within him, to enter, with the utmost simplicity and alacrity, into the humblest situations which it was his destiny to fill.

In this unostentatious spirit we immediately find him selecting the companions of his labours. "As he walked by the

"sea of Galilee," says the Evangelist, " he saw Simon, and Andrew his brother,

casting a net into the sea, (for they "were fishers); and Jesus said unto them, "Come ye after me, and I will make you "fishers of men: and straightway they "forsook their nets and followed him. "And when he had gone a little further

thence, he saw James the son of Zebe"dee, and John his brother, who also "were in the ship mending their nets, "and straightway he called them; and "they left their father Zebedee in the

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ship, with the hired servants, and went

"after him."-Such were the companions of the Son of God, men, upon whose poor and homely occupations, the pride of the world would have disdained to cast an eye, and whose ignorant and untutored minds, the vanity of science would have rejected with scorn-yet these were the men, who, under the guidance of him who chose them, were destined to bring mankind to wisdom and salvation; to build up a Faith which has stood firm amidst all the corruptions of worldly principles, and against all the attacks of misguided philosophy, which, day after day, is ever advancing, "by the word of truth,

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by the power of God, by the armour of "righteousness on the right hand and on "the left, by honour and dishonour, by "evil report and good report, as deceiv

ing and yet true, as unknown and yet "well-known, as dying, and behold it "lives, as chastened and not killed, as