death. There we shall see perfect wisdom and perfect goodness presented to us in a form which the humblest can understand and love. Where is the child, however unable to comprehend all that Christ has done for him, who cannot be moved by that simple scene of Christ calling young children to him, and taking them up in his arms, and laying his hands upon them, and blessing them? Where is the grown man, craving for some assured staff to lean on amidst the valley of the shadow of death, who may not find it in the story of the raising of Lazarus? Let him read it through, piece by piece, and bless God for the goodness which has left all those minute particulars recorded for us. There we may dwell deliberately on the full manifestation of divine power and love. We see, as it were, the whole process before our eyes; death suffered to take his full course; corruption to lay hold upon his prey: every well-known accompaniment of our own end is here: the mourning of our relations, the sorrow of our friends, our sickness, our death, our burial. And in that calm power which, in his own good time, made the grave to give up its dead, in that voice which called into the darkness of the tomb, "Lazarus, come forth;" have we

not a most comforting warrant of what will also happen to us, when the same power shall destroy death for ever, and the same voice shall reach to the lowest depths of our grave also, and bid us come forth like Lazarus ?

But this picture is not presented to us alone. He who had power over death and hell is shown to us as having no rest from daily labour; as so surrounded by persons craving to be taught or healed, that he had no leisure so much as to eat; yet still doing, unwearied, his Father's work, and withdrawing at night into a place apart, where he could commune with God more fully. He is shown to us, ever kind, ever patient, ever watchful for others, ever regardless of himself. May we not hope, if we learn, as we must do, thoroughly to love one so good,-may we not hope that we shall grow ourselves to be more like him? May we not hope that when we are selfish, proud, unkind, indolent, heedless of God, the recollection of Christ may come upon our minds, and that we may fancy him saying to us, as he did to his sleeping disciples, "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation: the spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak?" May we not hope that, when we are unforgiving, those words may sound in

our ears, in which he stayed the anger of his disciples, when they would have called down fire on the Samaritan village; or, in which he prayed for those who had reviled him and crucified him? May we not hope that when worldly cares are troubling us, or worldly prosperity encouraging us, our hearts may recall his soothing and warning voice; that the very hairs of our head are all numbered; that he who seeketh his life shall lose it; that most wretched was his condemnation who laid up treasure for himself, and was not rich toward God?

So making his words, on every occasion, familiar to us; so bringing before our minds his actions; so imaging,-for surely we may and should try to do so,-his very voice and look; may we bring our souls into constant communion with Him. And then faith will grow with our love; and in our confidence in Him whom we have learned to know so well and to love so dearly, shall we not cast out the evil spirit from our hearts, that we may be a fit habitation for him, and may be in him and he in us for ever?

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NOTE ON SERMON III.

(Page 39.)

So imaging,-for surely we may and should try to do so, his very voice and look, &c.-I have ventured in another place (Essay on the right Interpretation of the Scriptures, p. 445 and note), to regret the disuse of the crucifix in protestant countries; and as the subject seems to me by no means unimportant in a practical point of view, I shall take this opportunity of recurring to it.

1. It is manifest to every thinking person that the fact of the incarnation was a virtual repeal of the letter of the second commandment. For in the person of Jesus Christ, there was given us an image of God which we might and should represent to ourselves in our own minds; and what our thoughts and minds may lawfully and profitably dwell upon, may clearly be no less lawfully and profitably presented to our bodily senses: if it be right and useful to think of Christ,—and by that very name we mean not the abstract notion of deity, but God made man,—the most effectual means of bringing him vividly present to our minds must be the best; and this is best effected, as is proved by the common feeling of mankind with regard to portraits, by enabling ourselves in some sort actually to see him. At the same time all anthropomorphism, in the bad sense of the term, is barred by the constant language of the Scripture concerning God the Father. The man, Christ Jesus, represents to us not the Godhead as it is in itself, but all that we can profitably conceive of it: the Godhead in itself, we are told, is utterly invisible and incomprehensible; and to attempt to conceive of it, or to image it to ourselves, were indeed a real violation of the second commandment.

2. The supposed evils of using the crucifix do not follow from the evils which have resulted from the image worship of the Roman Catholics. By far the greater part

of their image worship is superstitious and blamable, not from its offering a visible object to our devotions, but an object altogether false and unlawful. Destroy every image of the virgin and the saints, and the feelings entertained towards them are no less blamable: it is the notion formed of them in the mind which is injurious; and it makes no sort of difference whether this notion be embodied in a visible shape or no. And, again, all the superstition connected with the wood of the true cross, or with the sacredness of any particular image of our Lord, is perfectly distinct from the Christian use of the crucifix, and has arisen merely from a general ignorance of the Gospel. If our Lord himself were to return to earth, no Christian, I suppose, would refuse to worship him; yet it would be a gross superstition to believe that his actual presence would of itself save us, or that to touch his garments would at once secure us from the judgment of God. Now what it were superstition to believe of himself, it is of course superstition to believe of his image; but if his living presence impressed his words more deeply on our hearts, would it be superstition then to seek his company? and if his image, though in a less degree, produce the same effect, if it keep him in our remembrance, and recall our wandering thoughts to him, is it superstition to use such an aid?

3. The world is ever present to us while Christ is absent. We need therefore all possible means to remind us of him whom visible things so tempt us to forget. Every one has felt the effect of a church in the most crowded parts of a large city; there, much more than in a peaceful country landscape, we feel thankful for the sight of the spire or tower "whose silent finger points to heaven." But when the church is out of sight, what is there either in town or country to remind us of our heavenly calling? Is this consistent with Christian wisdom, knowing how prompt our senses are to lead us to evil, to be so careless in making them minister to good? The Bible Society, and other