indicate a great multitude. Thus God says, If ye walk contrary to me, I also will walk contrary to you, and will punish you seven times for your iniquities: that is, often and severely. Shall I forgive my brother, says Peter, until seven times?

Let us look at a little of the accomplishment.The eye of God was upon him. No finite understanding can conceive the complacency He had in contemplating him, while achieving the redemption of his people, and finishing the work that was given him to do" In whom," says He, "my soul delighteth." We read of an innumerable company of angels -The eyes of these were upon him. He was seen of angels. They announced, and carolled his birth. They ministered to him in the Wilderness.

The eye of Satan was upon him. He watched him through life, hoping to make a prey of him, as he had done of the first Adam-But here was the Lord from Heaven. And he found nothing in him.

The eyes of men were upon him. Simeon saw him, and wished to see nothing else. Blind Bartimæus saw him, and followed him in the way. Judas saw him closely, for three years, and confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood. Pilate saw him judicially, and said, I am pure from the blood of that just man. The Centurion watched him in death, and said, This man was the Son of God. And all the people that came together to that sight,

beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. Mary, his mother, was standing by the cross-She saw him; and what were her emotions when she viewed the head, that had oft reposed upon her bosom, fall upon his shoulder, and yielding up the ghost! After his resurrection, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Have not I seen Christ? says Paul: yes, and even at mid-day he shone above the brightness of the sun.

And, how many thousands and millions have seen him since!-not with the eye of the body, but of the mind; not with the eye of sense, but of faith. Indeed, this-this is the grand essential: "He that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, hath everlasting life." The one single design of the Gospel, and all the ordinances of religion, is to bring the eyes of men to fix upon him; for there is salvation in no other. He, therefore, cries, "Behold me! behold me!" Every minister endeavours only to awaken attention to him; saying, with John, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!"

Ah! Christians, it is your grief, not that you are so little known and regarded, but that so few eyes are upon him. But more are viewing him than you are aware of. And, soon, Jews shall look upon him whom they have pierced; and Gentiles shall come to his light, and kings to the brightness of his rising. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, and all nations shall serve him.

And, in another world, he is all in all. There he draws every eye, and employs every tongue. There his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his Name shall be on their forehead. O glorious hope! It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but this we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall SEE HIM

AS HE IS.

APRIL 14." The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen." Lam. iv. 20.

THE words are spoken of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. And two things are to be noticed and improved. First, How his people regarded him -they called him "The breath of their nostrils." That is, he seemed as dear and necessary, as the air they respired. How prone are we to make too much of creatures! To love them properly, is a duty; to over-value them, is folly and sin. Yet even Christians are in danger of this, according to the Apostle John-"Little children, keep yourselves from idols." And who can cast stones at Zedekiah's subjects? Is there no being who is the breath of our nostrils? Have we never made flesh our arm? Never said of a child, "This same shall comfort us ?" Never called gold our hope?-What is all sin, but a departure from God; a transferring of that fear, and confidence, and dependence, and homage, to the creature, which are due to the Creator, God over all, blessed for evermore? Religion is nothing but a compliance with the demand-"My son, give me thine heart."

Secondly; observe how he disappointed them. They reposed their trust in him, and expected that under his empire they should enjoy security and hap piness among the surrounding nations: "We said of him, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen-but he was taken in their pits." Alluding to his unsuccessful effort to escape, when Jerusalem was broken up-"all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king's garden: but the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah, in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him." Thus painfully were their hopes deceived: and their idol, instead of defending and blessing them, was himself bereaved, and blinded, and imprisoned for life: "And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he slew, also, all the princes of Judah in Riblah. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death." Thus liable are we to disappointment, when we confide in creatures. "The inhabitant of Maroth looked carefully for good; but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem." "Behold," says Hezekiah, "for peace I had great bitterness."

The young are peculiarly exposed here, owing to their ignorance, and inexperience. Yet the older are not always wise. And we are the authors of our own disappointments. We disregard the notices of history, and observation, and the word of truth; and look for that from creatures which they are neither designed nor able to afford. There is no assurance of the continuance of any of our earthly possessions or enjoyments: they are liable to outward violence; they are corruptible in their qualities; they perish in the using. And there is not only a physical, but a moral uncertainty in their duration: for when we look to them rather than God, God will either take them away that we may make him the only strength of our heart, and our portion for ever; or if he leaves them, he will take away the comfort from them, and render them our rebukes. For whatever we make the means of our forsaking or forgetting God, God will make the instrument of chastising us. We may therefore often read our sin in our sufferings; and it will be well if the remnant of Israel no more shall stay upon him

that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

Many have had reason to say, It is good for me that I have been afflicted. The dispensation that removed a creature introduced them to the God of all grace: and the Valley of Achor became the door of hope. And so it has been, not only in the commencement, but in the progress of the divine life. The Lord's people have been enriched by their worldly losses; and in the failures of human dependence, they have taken a fresh hold of his arm, and said, "I will trust, and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation." When a good man was observed to be as cheerful in adversity as he had been in prosperity, he assigned as the reason-when I had every thing about me, I enjoyed God in all; and now I have nothing, I enjoy all in God. And happy he, who, when he abounds, can say, with the Poet,

"To thee we owe our wealth, and friends,

"Our health, and safe abode :

"Thanks to thy Name for meaner things;

"But they are not my God."

And who, when he is abased, can say, with the Prophet: "Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."

APRIL 15.-" Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." Matt. xxvi. 56.

LET us look at this lamentable fact, in connexion with the disciples, the Saviour, and ourselves.