press upon your minds. Meditate with attention on that twofold declaration so solemnly pronounced by Christ himself, "that the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just into life everlasting." Revolve and weigh it habitually in your minds, till it shall have obtained in them that predominant ascendancy which its transcendent importance imperiously demands. But be sure, at the same time, that you do not forget to unite to your meditations your most fervent petitions to that Almighty Being who has the minds and hearts of men at his disposal, soliciting him in the name, and for the sake, of his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased, and who is your great High Priest, mediator and advocate, to implant, mature, and perfect, within you, that prolific germ of universal holiness, a strong, lively, and energetic faith. Thus animated on the one hand, under its divine influence, with the prospect of a glorious immortality, and contemplating on the other, that inexpressible wretchedness endured by the reprobate in the regions of woe, you will pursue steadily your undeviating course in the path of righteousness, till you reach, at length, that blissful abode, to which your views and affections will have been constantly directed.

SERMON XVI.

PALM SUNDAY.

ON COMMUNIONS.

GOSPEL. St. Matthew, xxi. v. 1-9. At that time, when Jesus drew nigh to Jerusalem, and was come to Bethphage, unto Mount Olivet, he sent two disciples, saying to them, Go ye into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied and a colt with her; loose them and bring them to me. And if any man shall say any thing to you, say ye, that the Lord hath need of them; and forthwith he will let them go. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy king cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of her that is used to the yoke. And the disciples going, did as Jesus commanded them; and they brought the ass and the colt, and laid their garments upon them, and made him sit thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way; and the multitudes that went before and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

THE spectacle exhibited in the Gospel of this Sunday, is not, it must be confessed, by any means conformable to the notions usually entertained by men of worldly grandeur. The reputed son of a mechanic of Nazareth, mounted on an ass's foal, accompanied by its dam, and thus mounted, proceeding to Jerusalem amidst the acclamations of a promiscuous multitude, proclaiming him a de

scendant from the royal stock of their legitimate monarchs, and as such, shewing him the most significant marks of their veneration and attachment, presents us with a scene little calculated to excite the admiration of the incredulous and profane. To them it must have more the appearance of a lawless mob, wishing to raise a favorite of their own order to the government of the realm, than of any thing else. "And they (the disciples) brought," says the Gospel, "the ass and the colt, and laid their garments thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way. And the multitude that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest." But if the whole of this extraordinary transaction be viewed, as it should be, through the perspective of faith, it will be found to wear a very different aspect. For that reputed son of the mechanic of Nazareth, will then be seen, not only to be in reality, as he was hailed by the multitude, the royal son of David, but the incarnate Son of the Most High God. The people who, by their acclamations, recognized him for their king, and who were eager to pay him the respect due to his royal dignity, will be perceived to have been instruments in the hand of the Almighty to bear testimony to the character with which he was invested, though their ideas of his kingdom, which was not of this world, were erroneous and worldly. And even the animal on which he rode,

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mean, vulgar, and contemptible as it may appear, will be discovered, when viewed with the eyes of faith, to have performed an important office in this extraordinary procession, in the testimony which it bore, by its presence, to the divine foreknowledge of the august personage whom it carried, who, by the mere dint of human sagacity, could never have known that it would be found in the place pointed out by him to his disciples, and still less that it would be immediately surrendered to them by its owner, when demanded. Yet these particulars are explicitly related by the Evangelist,

when he says, "And when they drew nigh to

Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto Mount Olivet, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: Go ye into the village that is over against you, and immediately you shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her, loose them, and bring them to me. And if any man shall say any thing to you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them: and forthwith he will let them go.

And the Apostles them, and they Besides bearing

going, did as Jesus commanded brought the ass and the colt." testimony to the divine foreknowledge of the illustrious personage whom it carried, this same usually reputed ignoble animal, may be thought, perhaps, to have been itself individually ennobled, by the prediction of an inspired herald, who, four hundred years before, had announced its appearance, as well as the particular office it was destined to perform on the present occasion. "Now all this was

done," says the sacred text, "that the word might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold thy king cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of her that is used to the yoke." But that the real grandeur of this memorable procession of our blessed Saviour to the city of Jerusalem, may appear in a still more striking point of view, let it be compared with the ceremony of a Roman triumph, which was the most splendid and honorable mark of distinction with which Rome rewarded her victorious chieftains. There is a particular description given by Plutarch of one of those triumphs, in that of the celebrated Paulus Æmilius, after his conquest of Macedon. Let this remarkable triumph, with all its circumstances of splendour and magnificence, be compared with that of Christ, in his advance to Jerusalem; and I will venture to say, that it will be found to be infinitely inferior to it. Æmilius, it is true, is described by his Theban biographer, as exalted on high, in a magnificent chariot, and clad in a purple robe, interwoven with gold; whilst Christ is represented, by the inspired Evangelist, as seated on an animal usually held in little estimation, without any thing particular in his external apparel.. Yet the virtues which embellished the person of the humble Jesus, were far more honorable badges of distinction than the gorgeous trappings of the Roman hero. And the mean equipage of the former, for reasons which