what else is the ministration of GOD's Word and Sacraments, but a light and a lamp? "Thy Word," (says the Psalmist,) " is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my path".... What else are our many Services,-our many public Prayers, our many Psalms-our much reading of Holy Scripture in the congregation,—our Sermons in public, and our humble endeavours in private ;-what, I ask, are all these, but a sweeping of the House,-a series and succession of endeavours, to recover that which has been lost; but which the Woman, (the Church), cannot afford to lose? will have no peace until she find?

3. Only one point more, and I have done. It remains to notice that in the case both of the lost Sheep, and of the lost piece of Money,the endeavours are represented as successful. The Shepherd went after the one sheep, until he had found it; the Woman sought diligently, and at last she found . . . . My Brethren, it depends upon ourselves whether this be a true account of our own case or not. All are gone after all are sought for. The Shepherd's clear voice, and willing shoulders, and heart that longs to rejoice: the Woman's bright lamp, and incessant toil, and watchful eye;—these are for all.

...

But we know that all are not found: that some perish. Shall not this terrible conviction stir us up to keener self-inquiry ?-to greater selfsearching ?-to a more curious care concerning the state of our own souls? . . . The Lamp may be lighted, remember, but the silver may refuse to reflect its beams. The House may be swept, but the piece of money may not be stirred,not be touched. There may be diligent search, but the precious object may not be found after all. Alas, that we should have to add, that the heavenly Choir may also be longing to touch their golden harps,-and yet the theme for their, joy be wanting: namely, the Sinner that repenteth! The lost piece of money lies hid in a corner, unconscious of the search which is being made for it. The lost soul, alas, not so! Its very will is enlisted in opposition and in resistance to the efforts which are being made for its recovery.

S. Peter's Day.

S. PETER'S SHADOW.

ACTS v. 15.

They brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

TO-DAY, Simon Peter, the most famous of the Twelve Apostles, comes before us.

The Faith of the Church of Rome has hardly borne more bitter fruit than by having taught other parts of Christendom to be suspicious of Doctrines, true in themselves, but which she has either exaggerated, or perverted, or falsified. The idolatrous worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for example, so shamelessly taught by Divines of the Romish Communion, has induced our own people almost to view with suspicion the very mention of her sweet name. I call this most bitter fruit:' for I am not afraid to say that I know of no merely human name which seems to me so sacred, so precious, so

dear. In like manner, the preposterous pretensions to universal sovereignty put forth by the Bishop of Rome, and based on some fancied enjoyment of the like prerogative by S. Peter,this, I say, has made our own people reluctant to admit that Simon Peter enjoyed any primacy whatever in the Apostolic College. It would be easy to shew how an utterly uncatholic notion concerning the Blessed Sacrament of CHRIST'S Body and Blood has checked a due reverence for that great mystery. I do not say an exaggerated notion, you will observe. It is not exaggeration which we complain of here, but a perversion and corruption of the Truth.-I might remind you how the profane worship of Saints and Angels has thrown our very Saints' Days into disrepute; and cast suspicion on the Heavenly Hierarchy itself: how the doctrine of Purgatory has tended to put out of our sight the doctrine of the Intermediate State and, to be brief, how the abominations of the Confessional, of Indulgences, and the like, have induced men to suspect mischief if any one sees fit to discipline the flesh by abstinence, or to quiet the conscience by the Confession of Sin.

In the few remarks which follow, I confine myself to the case of Simon Peter,-the most

illustrious of the Apostles,-whose history is brought before us to-day. And, as already hinted, it is to be feared that we habitually shrink from his praises because of our honest loathing of the monstrous fictions of Rome. Let us of this place,—you and me, Brethren,— let us at least not suffer ourselves to be thus cheated of our birthright. S. Peter's S. Peter's prerogatives were undoubtedly extraordinary: and, on his 'Day,' I think we shall not be doing amiss. if we call to mind wherein he stands preeminent his fellows, those other eleven among names which are destined hereafter to occupy "thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel."

Now it is not to be denied that the heart gives the palm of praise, the headship and the highest place in the Apostolic College, to S. John. He was "the disciple whom JESUS loved." This alone seems decisive of the whole question. He never denied CHRIST. He may have 'forsaken and fled but it can have been only for a moment. S. John is at once seen pressing into the High Priest's palace. S. John stands beside the Cross. S. John receives the Virgin Mother to his house even from the hands of her dying SON, our LORD. S. John is henceforth to occupy the place in her affection which hitherto