fulfil all that was spoken of him in the law and the prophets, took his last journey to Jerusalem. And as he went along, the people unanimously ushered him into the city, with loud accla mations and rejoicings; some spread their garments in the way, and others cut down branches from the trees, and strewed them in the way; and the multitudes that went before, and that followed after, cried, saying, "Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosannah in the highest!" This day has the denomination of Palm Sunday, from the branches of palms that were strewed in our Saviour's way. It is still the custom in some Roman Catholic countries to carry palms on this day, in memory of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Thursday before Easter, or Maundy Thursday.

March 31 ---As upon this day our blessed Saviour, eating the passover with his disciples, instituted the blessed sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and gave his mandate to perpetuate the celebration of it; afterwards he washed their feet, prayed for them, and for the faithful generations; instructed them, warned them of what should come to pass, both concerning themselves and their own death and resurrection; promised to send them a Comforter, and expressed many other excellent things for the confirmation of their faith; then departing to a garden, he, praying, fell into the most bitter agony; which having overcome, he was that night betrayed, and forsaken of all his disciples. In commemoration of which exhortations and command, this day is called in Latin, dies mandati, the day of the command; or, as we commonly speak, Maundy Thursday. This day, as well as Palm Sunday, are moveable days, and this year they fall within the present month.

ON THE DEATH OF CHILDREN.

"WHILE the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can

I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." (2 Samuel xii. 22, 23.)

We have in this chapter, one of the most beautiful and affecting narratives which the sacred volume contains. A parent, even David, the good king of Israel, is introduced, fasting and weeping, and beseeching God for his child, grievously sick. Oppressed with unutterable woe, the distressed father lies all night upon the earth, and is unable to eat bread. His fears are realized---the child dies. Filled with compassion for their royal master, "the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead ?" But their sadness and stillness spoke more than words, to the anticipating eye of parental anxiety. "David perceived that the child was dead." What now is his conduct? He arises from the earth, and washes, and anoints himself, and changes his apparel, and comes into the house of the Lord and worships: returned to his own house, he takes the sustenance which nature requires, and exhibits a fine model of resignation to his wondering family, in the memorable words of my text--" While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." Here are two things worthy of our particular consideration-the reasons of David's resignation, and the manner in which it manifested itself.

We will first advert to the grounds of his resignation:-" Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." The good Psalmist had done as every pious parent will do in similar circumstances; he had bowed himself before the Most High God, and besought Him right humbly for his child. Death had signified it to be the Divine pleasure, that the child should be taken to another state of existence. To resist would be vain--to repine would be fruitless. Our grief may unman ourselves, it may distress our friends, it may unfit us for the discharge of the duties of life, it may offend our God; but it can never call back from the tomb the beloved

objects upon whom death hath once fixed his unrelenting hand. They hear not our sighs, they regard not our tears. Though rivers of waters should run down our cheeks, though we should give up all the pleasures and pursuits of life, and devote our days and nights to mourning, it would be of no avail. The spirit once fled, returns no more. We cannot bring it back again. It is the appointment of that Being, who will not condescend to dispute with us his right to the creatures of his hand. His will must be done. Reason, therefore, on this ground, combined her voice with religion's, in inducing the Psalmist to endure with manly submission what he was unable to amend.

It is true, it would be a melancholy fortitude which these reflections produce, if it were not strengthened and cheered by another consideration. Though fate forbade David to call back to his embraces his departed child, was he separated from him for ever? Was the spark of life, which had been kindled in his babe, extinguished eternally? Was the little offspring of his body struck out of all being, born only to die, doomed to a shorter and more joyless existence than the idle gossamer that floats upon the air? Verily, to the tender heart of the affectionate king the thought had been insupportable. But he was consoled with far other expectations. The spark of being which the Almighty had kindled in his child, was kindled to burn for ever. The Messiah had consecrated it to immortality. "I shall to him," though " he shall not return to me."

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A resignation, grounded on such considerations as these, must have blessed and exalted the Psalmist's character. Let us briefly notice the manner in which it manifested itself. Behold, he who, careless of attire, lay weeping on the earth, arises and washes himself, and changes his apparel. He, whom no consideration could draw from the place where his child lay sick, goes forth spontaneously "into the house of the Lord, and worships.” He, whom the elders of his house had intreated in vain to receive some sustenance, himself gives orders to set on bread. He, whom his servants "feared to tell that the child was dead," leaves their astonished minds below his fortitude, and discourses with them on the reasonableness and propriety of submission. How majestic in his affliction! What greatness and peace in resignation like this! There is nothing here of the coldness of the

stoic, or of the disgusting hardihood of the unbeliever. David's heart was tender. We have seen during the illness of his child, and we may learn from many incidents of his life, that he felt most sensibly what only parents feel. But his acquiescence sprang from a sense of duty. It was the effort of a great mind, greatly endowed with divine grace, and anxious in all things to honour God.

It is worthy of particular observation, that the first step of the Psalmist in the day of his sorrow, is to "the house of the Lord." As soon as he had attired himself in the garments of decency, he went into the temple. There, we may presume, he confessed his sins to his Maker, especially that flagrant departure from the law of God, which had been the occasion of the death of the child. There, we may suppose, he humbled himself in his prayer, and acknowledged the justice of the Almighty. There, we may believe, he sought the consolation and support of that grace, which descendeth from heaven upon the afflicted soul, as the dew upon the grass when it languisheth. His conduct, my brethren, is worthy of imitation. I know not where the children of sorrow should go, if not to the house of their heavenly Father. It is in the holiness of the sanctuary, that, that "beauty" is found, which the prophet was to give, instead of "ashes," to those "who mourned in Zion." It is in the sacred vessels of the temple, that the "oil of joy" is kept, which God's people are to have "for mourning." And here, we trust, when we are assembled "in his name," Immanuel is "in the midst of us," who furnishes from the wardrobe of heaven "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Are you then bereaved or afflicted? Fail not to seek your Maker in the house which He hath chosen "to place his name there." "Go into his tabernacle, and fall low on your knees before his footstool. Humble yourselves in his sight under his heavy hand. Pour out your griefs before Him, and beseech Him to speak peace to your perturbed bosoms. Trust me, "He is a refuge in distress," a very present help in the needful time of trouble. David went into his sanctuary, and was strengthened: and his God is your God, powerful as a comforter; at whose word the gloomy clouds of sorrow will vanish, and the impetuous tossings of your hearts be still.-Extracted from Bp. Dehm

A Prayer on the same.

ALMIGHTY God, the eternal Father of mankind, who didst give to the royal David grace calmly to bear the loss of his child, by the prospect of a joyful re-union in the regions above; and thus to set before his distressed family an example of pious resignation!-give thy servant strength to bear his affliction with the same holy feelings, and meekly to submit to thy heavenly will. Oh! may I find comfort in the reflection that my poor child is thus early snatched from a world of sin and sorrow; and by this lesson of mortality, so strive to live here below, that when my soul shall be summoned before Thee, I may with all that are dear to me here on earth, dwell for evermore in the happy realms above, through the merits of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ.-Amen.

H.

DEATH BED OF LUTHER.

LUTHER, who has been called the great apostle of the Reformation, was born at Eisleben, in Saxony, of poor parents;--he was, first called to serious reflection by seeing a companion killed by lightning, at his side, in a violent thunder-storm. His attention to the corruptions of the Romish church was first excited by the sale of what were called indulgencies, which arose from the Pope's claiming a power to sell to any particular person, for a sum of money, either a pardon for his own sins or the release of any of his friends from the pain of purgatory. His life was wonderfully preserved against all the efforts of his enemies. The following is an account of his last hours, drawn up by three of his friends and sent to the Elector of Saxony.

Thus matters proceeded till the seventeenth of February, Luther at all proper times applying himself to business, eating and sleeping well, and being very cheerful in his conversation. On that day his friends perceiving more repose to be desirable for him, persuaded him to keep quiet in his study, which he did, frequently walking up and down, in an undress, but conversing with animation. "From time to time," says Justus Jonas, "he would stop, and looking out of the window, in that attitude (as his