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From this passage we learn, I. That Christ was originally rich.

II. That he became poor; and III. The end for which he did so; namely, in order that we, by his poverty, might become rich.

I. He was originally rich.-He existed eternally in heaven with the Father, as God, endued with every excellence and perfection. He was that Word which was in the beginning with God, and was God. Before Abraham was, he was. In this state he was rich in glory, as we learn from his own prayer when on earth, in which he says, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me, with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." He was rich in dignity: "Being in the form of God, he thought it no robbery to be equal with God." He was rich in power, dominion, and majesty. He was, as St. Paul informs us, "the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. By Him were the worlds made; in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He was the bright ness of the Eternal Glory, and the express image of the Divine Per

son.

Being thus Lord over all, he might have commanded all the wealth of this lower world, could that have augmented the riches of the Divine nature; for those things which men account good and valuable, not only belonged to him, but were even created by him.

II. Let us then turn aside to consider and inquire into a fact the most astonishing. He in whom the richest glories of heaven and CHRIST, OBSERV. No. 191.

earth centered, whom the highest angel rejoiced to obey, and who, by a single word, could have spoken into existence a thousand worlds such as we inhabit-became poor, Poor indeed! The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, while the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. He was placed, at his birth, in a manger, because his parents could not obtain admission into the inn. His youth was without honour, and, very probably, employed in manual labour, Who could have believed that He was God over all, blessed for ever, of whom the Jews said, in contempt, "Is not this the carpenter's son ? Is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?" So poor was our Lord, even in the literal sense of the expression, that he subsisted on the alms of devout women who followed him, and was constrained to work a miracle to pay the customary tribute.

But his poverty consisted not merely in the absence of what men call riches, but in being stripped of all those things which before constituted his splendour and glory. He no longer occupied the Throne of Heaven, or was attended by the innumerable companies of the hea, venly host. Even in his last suf ferings, when he so much needed assistance, but one angel was ap pointed to attend to afford him relief.

He was also stripped of power, so that men, his weak and guilty creatures, were permitted to seize him and put him to death. Though the most exalted station on earth would have been a degradation, yet, as if to shew more evidently his humility, he submitted to a very low one. He suffered himself to be made not only a little lower than the angels, but one even of the lowest among men. His whole life was a scene of ignominy. He was persecuted from city to city, hav ing no abiding place. He consi

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dered himself a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people." The assembly of the wicked enclosed him; they pierced his hands and his feet; they parted his garments among them, and cast lots for his vesture. Entering the world poor, without a roof to cover him, and obliged even to lie in a manger, he continued poor, and associated through life with fishermen, aud publicans, and sinners, till at length he quitted the world poorer, if possible, than ever, and deprived of his very garments, for which the Roman soldiers cast lots.

He was poor, also, in spirit: he had no high looks. He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to those that plucked off the hair; he hid not his face from shame and spitting. Thus poor in body, and poorer in spirit, did the eternal Son of God consent to live for more than thirty years among men.

This poverty was voluntary. "Ye know," says the Apostle, in the words of the text, "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ;" that is, the voluntary, the unmerited favour. Had it been an unwilling sacrifice, it would have been no longer of grace. He himself has told us, that his sufferings were of his own free will: he had power to lay down his life, and to take it up, and no man could deprive him of it without his consent.

III. What, then, could be the mo ́tive that induced him to so wonderful a condescension? The Apostle gives the reply: It was for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.

The Prophets agree with the Apostles that the sufferings of Christ were not for himself, but

for us. Thus Daniel predicted that Messiah should be cut off, but not for himself. But Isaiah is the most full and explicit. "Surely," said he, speaking of the Messiah, that should be revealed, "he hath borne OUR griefs, and carried our sorrows." And again; "We have

turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. For the transgression of my people was he smitten. He bare the sins of many, and made atonement for the transgressors." Thus it was that we who were poor by nature, became rich by the Divine grace.

The true Christian is made rich in various respects:-He is rich in faith. God is said, by St. James, to have chosen "the poor of this world rich in faith." If we be thus enriched, what is outward poverty? Worldly distinctions will appear of very little comparative importance in our eyes. Faith will unveil the eternal treasures that are laid up for us, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; and seeing those things which are invisible, we shall learn to enjoy them in somewhat the same way, though not in the same degree, as if they were present. Let us pray, therefore, daily to the Author of every good and perfect gift to strengthen and confirm our faith.

The Christian is also made rich in righteousness. He is accepted through the righteousness of God. His own righteousness, or meritorious claim, being discarded, be is clothed in the robe of the righteousness of his Redeemer. Rich, indeed, may he be accounted, who is thus arrayed! When all earthly treasures fail, this will be a neverfading possession.

The Christian is also made rich in spiritual enjoyments. He has the highest sources of happiness within his own heart. The thought of the glory that awaits him is a possession which he would not exchange for the highest temporal hopes. He has a joy and peace in believing, which he would not resign for all the treasures of an unsatisfying world. They will last when every thing else fails; and without them all that we can possess on earth is but poverty.

Another, and a principal thing

therefore, being elected, as it shall be saved at last, so is it, or shall in time be, called and enabled to be lieve and walk as a child of light." I trust that a love of that justice, which entitles every man to be heard in his own defence, will procure the above extract a place in your pages, however much you may deprecate the system of the author.

אמונה

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. ALTHOUGH very sudden and unlooked-for changes sometimes take place in the conduct of men, yet ordinarily they are less abrupt than they appear to be. Secret trains, which elude observation, and even consciousness, usually precede the visible effects. An acquaintance heedlessly formed, a book carelessly read, or some other apparently trivial circumstance, may have created a bias, which, meeting with apposite circumstances, has often influenced, in a powerful manner, the conduct and the heart. Thus are we ever liable to impressions of the most opposite and discordant nature.

But though the versatility of the human mind, as wrought upon by conflicting interests and passions, is sufficiently proved in the experience of all ages; yet one supposed instance, which is frequently adduced from the Gospel-history, is, I apprehend, not sufficiently establish ed. I refer to the Hosannas of the multitude who met our Lord on his entrance into Jerusalem, contrasted with the cry of, "Crucify him!" which a few days afterwards was made in that city, and (as is generally supposed) by the same, or at least the greater part of the same, persons. This, I think, may be fairly questioned, for the following reasons:~~

The multitude who met our Saviour on the day we call Palm-Sunday were evidently composed of strangers come up to the feast; doubtless many from Galilee, where

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he was much known and followed. and also those from beyond Jordan, who had lately been favoured with his presence, and who, comparing the testimony of John the Baptist with the works of Jesus, are described by the Evangelist, (John x. 42), as believing on him. All these persons were prepared to receive, with delight and admiration, the account given by those who were present when Lazarus was raised from the grave; which miracle is assigned as the principal cause of the triumphant acclamations which accompanied our Lord's entrance into Jerusalem. Doubtless many also, in that throng, had themselves been, in different degrees, the subjects of his healing power, and perhaps few could be found among them. who did not owe to his merciful goodness the restoration of some friend, or relative, or acquaintance.

But the multitude who, on the ensuing Friday, surrounded the tribunal of Pilate, appear, I imagine, to have been chiefly the adherents and dependants of the Jewishi rulers, or the immediate citizens of Jerusalem. We know that the most inveterate enemies of our blessed Lord were among the heads of the nation, the members of the Sanhedrim, and the descendants of Aaron. Persons devoted to and dependant on these, must have been numerous; and we cannot but suppose, that on an occasion when their cause required popular clamour, they would procure a number sufficient at once to influence the Roman governor and to keep at a distance the real friends and followers of Jesus. The prodigious concourse of people at that time in Jerusalem, would furnish them with a pretext for collecting a force under their own immediate direction, And that they were aware of the necessity of such a precaution appears from their first resolution of not apprehending Jesus during "the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people;" that is, I conceive, chiefly among his followers

who were come up to the feast. This decision was, however, overruled by the exigency of the case, arising from our Lord's making known the treachery of Judas to the other disciples, which, render ing his future appearance among them impracticable, might induce him to fulfil his engagement of betraying his Master that very night; not to add, that he might have reason to suppose, from the precaution used by Jesus on former occasions, that he would on the morrow withdraw from Jerusalem.

. There is also another passage of the sacred history, which, I think, requires more discriminating attention than is ordinarily given to it; I mean that which relates to the character of the multitude converted to Christianity on the day of Pentecost. Numbers of these must have differed widely from the persons addressed by St. Peter as the abettors of the crucifixion of our Lord. Many were, in all probability, the very persons who, on the preceding Passover, had met him, on his entry to the city, with Hosannas, and who had returned home from that feast in grief and perplexity, on account of the tragical and unexpected scene they had witnessed, and the subsequent contradictory accounts

which they had heard. The effu sion of the Holy Spirit, in his mira! culous effects on the day of Pentécost, removing their doubts coucerning the character and mission of Jesus, they doubtless readily admitted the testimony concerning his resurrection, and cordially joined with the hellenistic, and other fo reign Jews, then sojourning in Je rusalem, (whom St. Luke styles "devout men") in admiring the wonderful works of God. Thus

gladly receiving the word," they publicly professed in baptism their faith in Jesus Christ as the Mes siah, and were truly converted to God, without, perhaps, feeling in its fullest degree that poignant rel morse, amounting almost to despair, which constrained the others to cry. out," Men and brethren, what shall we do?" It appears to me impor tant that we should learn this truth: That great sins plunge into great depths, and that, though the mercy of God may bring men out, their future path is not on that account either safer or firmer than the path of those who have been taught by the Holy Spirit early to bend the neck to the yoke of sacred disci pline. "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.”i

For the Christian Observer. HINTS ON THE NEW SYSTEM OF

EDUCATION IN IRELAND.

THE objects at which education aims are truly arduous and important. To inform the understanding by communicating useful knowledge, to induce habits of regularity and good order by the wholesome discipline of a well-regulated school, are objects which may well excite the exertions of a benevolent mind. But education, if judicious, cannot stop here; it must deal with

man according to his nature, as ac tuated not by knowledge only, but still more by those affections and feelings which form the leading traits of individual character. Education, if judicious, must deal with man as capable of moral as well as intel lectual attainment-must aim at qualifying him, not only for the resu spectable discharge of earthly du ties, but still more for those higher relations and purer affections to wards God and heavenly things which are at once most obligatory on us, and the source of the most t