his imperial mnster would cost him his government, if" not his life, they hnve the ruler whom they cnn rule. Two nppearnnccs (eh. x:xiii.) of our Lord before the governor are recorded, and between them srands the episode with which the name of Herod is asso- ciated. There is nothing more s.,d than the record of the expedieuts, the shufflings to and fro, the efforts to save One whom Pilate felt to be guiltless, whilst yet he dared not give effect to his convictions. A l'ecord most sad, but most instrnctive. Is it not a portrait, many of whose features suggest cowardly concessions, timidities, struggle3 between conscience and policy in which conscience is worsted, with which, in one form or another, too many of us are familiar? A character-sketch, like that of Pilate in the trial, gauges the directions and the possibilities of the human nature which is common to us all. In the afternoon of Friday the Saviour of sinners was crucified. .Au incident on _the way to Calvary is related by the evangelist, which is touching in itself, and wb:ch rernin~s us of the attitude of mind, the kind of feeling towards him, the Crucified, which he denies and accepts. We are told that he was" followed by a great company of women, who bewailed and lamented him" (vers. 2i-31). Observe his saying, most tenderly prefaced by the phrase," Daughters of Jerusalem." Virtually, lie declines tears and cries, which express only sorrow over his fate. He wishes those who bewail to estimate the significance of the spectacle, to realize what it foreboded for them and 1heirs; to weep notfor him, but with him in bis sadness concerning Jerusalem, in bis bafiled longing to gather its children together, in his thwarted purpose to save and bless. 'l'he events of that day were the prophecy of a doom not to be long delayed : in his thought and emotion as to this doom, and in this alone, he sought their sympathy. And so, remember, Christ desires not a. luxury of sentiment, which ends in lamenta- tions on account of hi:! suffering. He desires partnership in his suffering. His cross is to be our cross. ,ve are to hold ourselves identified with him in it, Th11 apostle's words are the interpretation of the genuine Christian sentiment: "I was crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me;" "God forbid that I should glory, save iu the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the wol'ld has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 2.-Piety, pedantry, and formalism. Of all those who in any nnd every way were re~ponsible for the death of Jesus Christ, the largest share of guilt lies at the door of the religious leaders of the time. 'fhe Roman soldiers were only the immediate instrumer,ts of it; the Jewish populace were only the blind agents of it; but these 5cribes and chief priests were the guilty instigators of it: they brought it a.bout. It was they who first conceived the idea.; it was they who suggested and urged it; it was they vrho ceased not to agitate and direct until the dar~ deed was done. How came they to go so far astray? How came it to pass that while "all the people ea.me early in tbe morning to him in the temple for to hear him" (eh. xxi. 38), thus bearing witness to the sincerity of their discipleship and their desire to know the truth ha tau"ht they the leaders of the land-scribes who were familiar with every letter of the La,~, i,riest; who were daily occupied in the services of th~ sanc~uary, learn1e~ doctor_s, nnd pi('W! ministrants-were actively and earnestly cumpas~mg his death? 1he tact 1s that- I. RELIGIOUS PEDANTRY :MAY BE VY.RV LF.ARNED, AND YET WJIOT.LY WRONG. These rneu knew their Scriptures with a fulnes8 and nicety of detail that sur~n~se_s the _know- ledae we have of our sacred writings; and they had also a perfect farmharity with the tea~hiugs of traditional lo~~- They despised the ignora~ce o~ the com~on people in 1h<,se reHpects (see John vn. 47). Yet t~ey wer_e not wise with the .w1sJo~ of G;~d; they entirely failed to understand the Dmae will a~d the way !o e.~rnal hfe. 1he relio'ion thev taught and lived was utterly heartless; 1t was a service without any soul in i~, a. mechanbm without any life i!l it; it was an elaborate error, a. grea.~ and sad misconception of the mind of God ; 1t was a. surrender of freedom that did man no good and ga•,e God no pleasure; it was a toilsome and torturing, impositio,n that neither 111,tisfied the intell,ct, nor cleansed the heart, nor elentcd the hfe • .And 1t so p,•i·verted Ott. Xlut. 1-71.) TIIE GosP:gL A.CCORDlNG TO S1'. LUKF!. 2E
the juclgment that, whon the 'l'ruth himself came to reveal the Father, these learned but unwise leaders, instead of being eagor to hear him like the people (eh. xxi. 38), were "seeking how they might kill him." II. RELIGIOUS FORMALISM WILL GO TO GREAT LENGTHS OF WRONG-DOING. If thCJ scribes were men of pedantry, the chief priests represented the evil and error of religious fotmalism; and the la.Ucr were in no way behind the former in either spiritual blindness or malevolence. 'l'hey, too, foiled to recognize their Messiah, and were actively engage<! in compassing his murder. In every age and land religious formalism has been bliml and cruel; it has failed to recognize the reformer when he has come to speak in God'~ name; and it has been forward to accuse and to slay him. Such has been its spirit and its course, that the home of love and mercy has been converted into the hotbed of hatred and of cruelty. It is another illustration of the truth that the corruption of the best becomes the worst of all; the piety that runs into ordinances, utterances, absti- nences, formalities, will in time degenerate into utter error and shameful wrong. This is a truth which applies to many more Churches than one; it is, indeed, more or less applicable to all religious circles. '!'here lies a deep-seated tendency in our naturn which accounts for the facts i.o. our Lord's time aud i.o. every age since then. Let u.,, therefore, learn tbat- III. TRUE PIBTY IB FOUND IN RECTITUDE OF HEART AND LIFE. Not in holding and professing certain correct formulai; not in going through certain ceremonies or observ- ing a number of rules and regulations. These have their place in the kingdom of Go,!, but they do not by any means assure us of our place in it. It is rightness of heart toward God our Father and our Saviour, and consequent integrity of life, which make us to "stilnd before God" as his loyal subjects now, and will make us " worthy to stand before the Son of man" when he shall call us to his nearer presence.-C.