Bound upon the accursed tree,
Sad and dying, who is he?

By the last and bitter cry,
The life breathed out in agony;
By the lifeless body laid

In the chamber of the dead;
Crucified! we know thee now!
Son of Man! 'tis thou! 'tis thou!

Bound upon the accursed tree,
Dread and awful, who is he?

By the prayer for them that slew,
"Lord, they know not what they do;"..

By the sealed and guarded cave;
By the spoiled and empty grave;
By that clear, immortal brow,

Son of God! 'tis thou! 'tis thou!

PRAYER.

BLESSED be Thy name! O! Thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in all spiritual blessings in him. When stricken by the upbraiding of our consciences, and afraid of Thy presence, we feel the inestimable privilege of possessing a Mediator, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities; and we cling, with heartfelt gratitude, to Thy offers of pardon, which he hath sealed to us on the cross. Herein indeed is love, not that we loved Thee, but that Thou didst love us, and didst send Thy Son to be the propitiation for our sins. O! may I be the friend of him who shewed such love in dying for

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me, by laying down my life daily for the welfare of my brethren. May I die to every sin and every vain desire, and henceforth devote myself wholly to Thy service and glory. And as Christ was raised from the dead by Thy mighty power, so may Thy Spirit raise me to newness of life, that I may henceforward run the heavenly race with full purpose of soul. Guide me, I entreat Thee; guard and protect me; strengthen and support me; enlighten and teach me; pardon and correct me; and lead me, daily, hourly, nearer unto the eternal kingdom of Thy Son. Amen.

EASTER SUNDAY.

Rom. vi., 4.-That like as Ehrist was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

PHEN the first Christians assembled together they welcomed each other with this salutation,"The Lord is risen, he is risen indeed!" He is become the first fruits of them that sleep; he, first of all the sons of Adam, has conquered death, and inherited the promised blessing of eternal life. Can it be any matter of astonishment that those who were the witnesses of this mighty event, who knew that it set the seal of certainty on their own glorious destiny, should make it the continual and earnest theme of their preaching and writing? Is it not more a subject for wonder that so momentous an occurrence, that a day which is the birthday of the Christian's hope, should be passed over, as it so often is, with but faint emotions of gratitude, with but feeble accents of praise?

But here the Apostle awakens in us, if possible, still higher thoughts; he kindles in our souls the imaginings of the glory of Him who hath been, is, and is to come, of Himself, alone,-of Him who filleth immensity with His

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presence, yet hath deigned to breathe into man the breath of life and then the Apostle tells us that this glory was exerted in raising to immortal life him who was the bright effulgence of eternal blessedness,-him who was called by the Father of all His well-beloved Son. These few words alone fill the soul with thoughts which strive to expand beyond the confines of this earthly tenement.

Yet even this is not all; the Apostle does not stop here. He has so often assured us, and proved by the clearest reasoning, that the resurrection of Christ, our elder brother, is a pledge and promise of our own,-that the mention of the one recalls, unbidden, the blessed hope of the other; now he adds another consideration. Our death unto sin and life unto holiness here below should be in strict conformity with that death and resurrection of our Saviour which is the pledge of our own. We are spiritually baptized unto his death, we must even be thus buried with him, "that like as he was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." And if our walking in newness of life can, in any manner, be compared to the resurrection of our Saviour, what an idea does it give us of the greatness, the surpassing importance of the change! His body had lost all consciousness; in the grave there is no remembrance. We are dead in trespasses and sin; we live not, for life is to be with God, and we have alienated ourselves from Him by wicked works. To these we must die before we can live. But the early morning ray shone upon him from his Father's glory, and he rose to inherit it:-the emanations from that glory, reflected from our Saviour, fall on our souls to awaken us to walk in that newness of life which is a foretaste of eternity.

Shall

Shall the

Shall such a summons be sent to us in vain? such light find no entrance into our souls? stone be rolled away, and we remain in the tomb?

CHRIST, the Lord, is risen to-day,
Sons of men and angels say!
Raise your songs and triumphs high:
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply!

Love's redeeming work is done;
Fought the fight, the battle won:
Lo! our sun's eclipse is o'er!
Lo! he sets in blood no more!

Vain the stone, the watch, the seal;
Christ hath burst the gates of hell:
Death in vain forbids his rise;
Christ hath opened Paradise.

Lives again our glorious king:
Where, O death, is now thy sting?
Made like him, like him we rise;
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies!

Glorious bond of earth and heaven!
Praise to thee by both be given!
Thee we greet triumphant now:
Hail! the Resurrection, thou!