terrible and searching trial our souls may be, as

the Poet

says

Heated hot with burning fears,

And bathed in baths of hissing tears;
And battered by the strokes of doom,
To shape and use.

Yes. He will make short work at times with men's spirits. He grinds hearts to powder, that they may be broken and contrite before him: but only that he may heal them; that out of the broken fragments of the hard, proud, self-deceiving heart of stone, he may create a new and harder heart of flesh, human and gentle, humble and simple. And then he will return and have mercy. He will show that he will not contend for ever. He will show that he does not wish our spirits to fail before him, but to grow and flourish before him to everlasting life. He will create the fruit of the lips, and give us cause to thank him in spirit and in truth. He will show us that he was nearest when he seemed furthest off; and that just because he is the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, who dwelleth in the high and holy place, for that very reason he dwells also with the humble and the contrite heart; because that heart alone can confess his height and its own lowliness, confess its own sin and his holiness; and so can cling to

by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit

God grant that we may all so hur under his mighty hand, whenever t heavy upon us, that he may raise time, changed into his divine likeness, glory; till we come to the measure of the stature of perfect men, renewed of the Son of Man, Jesus Chris Amen.

SERMON XVIII.

ST. PETER.

MATT. XVI. 18.

Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.

THIS is St. Peter's day. It will be well worth

our while to think a little over St. Peter, and what kind of man he was. For St. Peter was certainly one of the most important and most famous men who ever lived in the whole world. You just heard what our Lord said to him in the text. And certainly, from those words, and from many other things which are told of St. Peter, he was the chief of the apostles-at least till St. Paul

arose.

St. Paul says himself, that he had as much authority as St. Peter, and that he was not a whit behind the very chiefest of the apostles: but St. Peter, for some time after our Lord's death, seems to have been looked up to, by the rest of the apostles and the disciples, as their leader, the man of most weight and authority

our Lord looked to strengthen the after he had been converted himse St. Peter that our Lord first reveal gospel, that the Gentiles were fell the Jews in all God's promises. T was afterwards revealed to St. Pau more fully but it was St. Peter great honour of baptizing the first of using, as our Lord had bid him d the kingdom of heaven, to open it the nations upon earth.

Now, what sort of a man was this, Lord Jesus Christ put so great an ho say that St. Peter was nothing in him the goodness and worth in him was Jesus Christ, then we must ask, what ness, what sort of worth, did the Lord to make him fit for so great an office did he use Christ's gifts? For, mir have used them wrongly, as well as the greater gifts he had, the more ha have done if he had used them ill. presently, how he did use them ill once; and how our Lord had to repr say very stern and terrible words to h him to his senses.

But this we may see, that St. Peter

a frank, brave, honest, high-spirited man; who, if he thought that a thing ought to be done, would do it at once.

And

The first thing we hear of him is, how Jesus, walking by the Lake of Galilee, saw Peter with his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 'they straightway left their nets, and followed 'him.' This was most likely not the first time that St. Peter had seen our Lord, or heard him speak. Living in the same part of the country, he must have known all his miracles: but still it was a great struggle, no doubt, for him (and doubly so because he was a married man), to throw up his employment, and go wandering after one who had not where to lay his head: yet he did it, and did it at once. And you may see that he did it for a much higher and nobler reason than if he had only gone to wonder at our Lord's miracles, as the multitude did, or even to be able to work miracles himself. Jesus did not say to him, Follow me, and I will give you the power of working miracles, and being admired, and wondered at; all he says is, I will make you fishers of men; I will make you able to get a hold on men's hearts, and teach them, and make them happier and better. And for that St. Peter followed