faith or not, are right and in the right way, and truly partake of Christ, but I do mean to say, that if Christ rose from the dead, then all His words will be fulfilled, none will fall to the ground, and so His words respecting Holy Communion will not fall to the ground. If He said that the bread is His body, then, in some real, true, and effectual and heavenly way, it is His body. If He said that the cup is the new covenant in His blood, then they who in faith partake of it are there and then partakers of the new covenant in His blood. If He said that He is the bread of heaven, then they who do not come to feed upon Him cannot hope to eat the bread of Heaven. It is useless disputing about this. What is it to us if some Papists think of the Holy Communion wrongfully and superstitiously? Because transubstantiation is not true, or in accordance with Christ's words, is the Holy Communion only a sermon? Can Christ's words respecting eating His flesh merely mean that we should mentally dwell upon His atonement? Why should we, to avoid carnality and superstition, so interpret His blessed words as if when He said, "This is," He really meant "This is not My body?" Must the lowest and least mysterious meaning of the words of the Eternal Son just before His Passion be necessarily the safest and the nearest to the truth?

My dear brethren, these are Easter Sunday questions, for on this day our Lord was raised

up in that body which He said was to be the life of the world, and by this day's resurrection He gave the most solemn declaration that all His words are true, and amongst them, of course, His words respecting His body at His last Passover. Let us especially beware of treating His words respecting the Eucharist, or His flesh being the true bread, as if they were exaggerated and startling enunciations of the plain truth-that we must realize His atoning sacrifice.

By instituting such a feast on the very night of His betrayal, and calling the things of which He asks us to partake by the awful names of His "Body" and "Blood," the Eternal Son of God must have ordained something very great in itself, and very beneficial to us, if we prepare ourselves with faith and prayer. If, then, we do not come to it at all, we lose the benefit, which must be unspeakably great-if Christ as on this day rose again from the dead. And so with every word of Christ, none pass away if He rose from the dead.

will

If He rose from the dead, then those upon whom He pronounced a blessing are blessed, -the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hungerers and thirsters after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, these are blessed because He has said so, and He is now at the right hand of God for the very purpose of seeing that all things come to pass according to His word.

The

Nothing can reverse His blessing. world may pronounce the high-spiritedthose who have what is ludicrously called a proper pride-to be in the right, but what is all the world to us if Christ is now at the right hand of God-at least, what will it be to us after death? What will it be to us at the last day? Take any maxim of the irreligious world, any decision of the religious world, any opinion of our friends, neighbours, and acquaintances-i. e., our world-what is it worth if Christ has risen from the dead and if He thinks differently? For, if Christ has risen from the dead, then He will judge the world. He will have us all before Himnot one will escape not one will evade His judgment.

If, then, Christ has risen from the dead, are we preparing to stand before Him? Are we taking refuge under His cross and bearing His cross? Are our hearts renewed by His grace, and our footsteps guided by His word? If we believe in Christ's resurrection-if we know what we say when we confess that the "third day He rose again from the dead," this is our one business.

If Jesus Christ has not risen, then we may live as we like; if Jesus Christ has risen, then we must live as He likes. For if He died and rose again, then we are His; for the Scripture says, "To this end Christ both died and rose again, and revived, that He might be

the Lord of the dead and the living," and if Christ, as on this blessed day, rose again, then our Redeemer liveth-then, according to His word, He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and in our flesh we shall see God.

The following passages are additional instances of the way in which the sacred writers identify the Gospel with Christ's resurrection:

"Now it was not written for His sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it [righteousness] shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”—Rom. iv. 23—25.

"Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even," &c.-Rom. viii. 34.

"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."-Rom. x. 9.

"Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel."-2 Tim. ii. 8.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible, &c. God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God."-1 Peter i. 3, 4, 21.

When an apostle is to be chosen into the place of the traitor, it is that he may be a "witness of the resurrection.”—Acts i. 22; and in accordance with this the apostles are described as witnessing to this one thing, as if it included or implied every other truth of God. See Acts iv. 33, "With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." Compare with this Acts ii. 32; iii. 15; iv. 10; v. 29-23; x. 39, 32; xxvi. 22, 23.

If we are to receive the obvious teaching of the above texts, then an objective truth— an historical fact-AN ARTICLE OF THE CREED-is THE GOSPEL.

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SERMON XIX.

BALAAM.

NUMBERS Xxiv. 17.

"I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."

THE character of Balaam is one of those that can hardly be understood by the careless reader of Holy Scripture, for it requires us to put together many scattered passages to see his sin in its true light. If we were to confine ourselves to those chapters of the Old Testament, read for our Sunday lessons about this time, in which direct mention is made of him, we should be at a loss to understand why in the New Testament he is held up to us as a covetous reprobate. And yet, assuredly, such he was. He was the Judas Iscariot of the Old Testament, endeavouring, with his eyes open, to make merchandise of souls whom he knew to be dear to God.

Let us briefly consider his history, for by so doing we shall see the wickedness of his sin.

Balaam was an inspired prophet of God. As such he knew the truth respecting God,