taken anxiety for their advancement in the world,— (one of those artless traits of human nature with which the Gospels so eminently abound,)—solicited to be admitted to "sit, the one on their Lord's right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom." "Ye know not what ye ask,” was the mild reply, and then the prediction follows which was so soon to be fulfilled in the instance of James, "that they were indeed to drink of his cup, and to be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with!"-The other incident in which James is mentioned is still less to his commendation. "It came to pass," says St Luke, "when the time was come that Jesus should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his face: and they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from Heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village."hear nothing farther of this apostle till the few words of the text which relate his martyrdom. "Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword." No character of him is given,—not a saying of his is recorded,—he left not a word behind him in writing; for the epistle, as you know, which bears the name of James, was written by the other apostle of the same name. So that here one of our Lord's chief apostles is presented to us, of whom scarcely an incident is recorded which can at all excite our admiration. What is told of him, except that it sets before us the natural simplicity of his character, exhibits him chiefly in that unenlightened state in which the Spirit of his Master had not fully fallen upon him. In the short period of his apostolical career we are left merely to conclude that he faithfully fulfilled the high office assigned him,-and the words of the text finally instruct us, that as he had before been permitted to behold the glory of his Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, so he was the first of the apostles to whom it was given to "enter" for ever" into that glory." Such, my brethren, are the kind of meditations to which our Church summons us, on those days which She sets apart for the commemoration of the holy apostles; and if, amidst the multiplicity of worldly distractions, we could bring ourselves to obey these affectionate calls, and to follow out these meditations in the spirit which belongs to them, sure I am, that they would contribute much to wean us from the cares and the turmoils of an unsatisfactory world,— to fortify our souls amid its trials,—to inspire us with that high principle of faith which alone can "overcome the world,”—and to diffuse over all the frame of our minds that humble and Christian disposition which would keep us exactly to our own place, which is unambitious of human distinction in any of its forms, and which seeks simply for the approbation of Him with whom indeed "we have to do." There is thus much wisdom even in those parts of the services of our Church which we are the most apt to disregard,—and it were greatly to be wished that we should attend to the spirit of them at least, if it should not always be in our power to fulfil them in the letter,―that, studying the characters, and "remembering the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ," - we may not be among those "who separate themselves, sensual, not having the Spirit," but that, 66 building up ourselves on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost," we may "keep our selves," like those genuine servants of a Heavenly Master, "in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." DISCOURSE IX. ON NATIONAL SUFFERINGS,-AND THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT TO WHICH THEY LEAD.* LAMENTATIONS iv. 9.-They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. AMIDST the evils, my brethren, to which nations are subject, those of war are generally conceived to be the most terrible, and when peace returns we almost imagine that all national calamities are at an end. They are, no doubt, the most furious and violent, and the causes in which they originate are so distinct that they make a forcible impression upon * Preached June 18th, 1826, on occasion of a collection for the relief of the manufacturing classes. |