I mete, Thou wilt measure to me again, and wilt give Thyself to me, Who art my Hope, my Refuge, and my Salvation. Amen. Our FATHER, &c.

PSALM XCIV. 12.

Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O LORD: and teachest him in Thy Law. That Thou mayest give him patience in time of adversity.

For the LORD will not fail His people : neither will He forsake His inheritance; Until righteousness turn again unto judgment all such as are true in heart shall follow it.

Glory be to the FATHER, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.

SEXAGESIMA.

"We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."-Heb. iv. 15.

One great and blessed truth contained in the mystery of the Incarnation is the sym

pathy of CHRIST: that as He is truly Man, so He truly and really partakes of our infirmities, and has a fellow-feeling of them with us. His being "tempted" includes all trials of soul and body, such as sorrow, pain, anguish, as well as what we commonly call temptation. His sympathy with penitents is perfect, because He is sinless: its perfection is the consequence of His perfect holiness. "Such an High Priest becomes us," that is, was required by our spiritual necessities, "Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners." Because we are sinners, we need One Who is without sin to sympathise with us. None hate sin but those who are holy, and that in the measure of their holiness; and therefore in the Person of our Blessed LORD there must exist the two great conditions of perfect sympathy: first, He has suffered all the sorrows and miseries which are consequent upon sin, and distinct from it; next, He has, because of His perfect holiness, a perfect hatred of evil. And these properties of His human nature unite themselves to the pity, omniscience, and love, which are the perfections of His Divine Nature.

Thus our LORD, by the experience of humiliation in our flesh, has learned to sympathise with us. Not in any motion of evil in

the affections and thoughts of the heart, or in any inclination of the will. Upon all such as are destroying themselves by wilful sin, He looks down with a divine pity; but they have withdrawn themselves from the range of His sympathy. This can only be with those who are in sorrow under sin; that is, with penitents. It is in the suffering of those that would be cleansed and made holy that He partakes.

O Holy and Gracious High Priest, give me so deep a penitence, so hearty a sorrow for sin, that I may indeed have a claim upon Thy sympathy, and, resting in it, may be forgiven and comforted. None can know as Thou knowest my feebleness and frailty, remember Thou that I am but dust; Thou Who hast said that the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak, give more energy and firmness to my will, more strength and resolution to the flesh. Look upon my inward struggles and temptations, and have pity on me.

With all His awful Holiness, there is something that greatly draws us to CHRIST in His tender Love. Though His Eyes “be as a flame of fire,” yet is He “meek ́and lowly of heart,” knowing and feeling for all our miseries, and of a truth in Him we shall find rest for our souls.

In this sympathy is true peace, deep con

solation, calm unspeakable. This will keep our hearts waking, recall us when we wander, refresh us when we are weak. Whatsoever be our outward lot,-whether we be high or low, esteemed or outcast, held in honour or in scorn, this one thing is enough. What more can they desire who have the sympathy of CHRIST? Let us so live as not to forfeit that sympathy. It is ours only so long as we strive and pray to be made like Him. If we turn again to evil, or to the world, we sever ourselves from Him-the dominion of any sinful habit will fearfully estrange us from His Presence. And besides positive sins, love of the world will shut us out from His sympathy altogether. Love of the world casts out the Love of CHRIST. If, in spite of His word and warning, His Life and Cross, we will live on in this fallen world without fear or self-denial, as if it were not fallen; if we will love it, live in it and for it, accept its flatteries and favours, then we must die with it. The follies, excitements, false happiness of the world, bring bitter looking back, burning consciousness of inconsistency and falling away; and all these hide His Presence from our souls. With them He has no sympathy: but only with the humble, bruised, and contrite; with them that forsake all, that they may find Him, and follow

Him whithersoever He goeth; in darkness and in light, in life and in death, counting all things loss, that they may "win CHRIST, and be found of Him," in the morning of the Resurrection.

O Merciful High Priest, Thou art ever touched with the feeling of our infirmities, Look upon mine, many and grievous, and heal me.

O suffering JESUS, Who didst cry aloud to Thy FATHER," My GOD, My GOD, look upon Me,"

Look upon me, and turn all my pains to peace and healing.

O JESUS, Who madest Thyself as a worm and no man, a very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people,

Look upon me, and turn all my trials and humiliations to my good, and heal me. O Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, visit and relieve me.

O SAVIOUR, Who hast borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,

Bear mine, even mine, O LORD.

O SAVIOUR, full of heaviness,

Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death.

O LORD MY GOD, Thou art to me whatsoever is good,-who am I that I should dare speak to Thee? I am Thy poorest,