was only nine o'clock in the morning. They arrived at Calvary a little before nine. Then they took up the Son of God and they laid Him out upon that cross. I can imagine them binding His wrists to the arms of the cross. And after they had got Him bound, up came a soldier with hammer and nails and put one nail into the palm of His hand, and then came the hammer without mercy, driving it down through the bone and flesh and into the wood; and then into the other hand. And then they brought a long nail for His feet; and then the soldiers gathered round the cross and lifted it up, and the whole weight of the Son of God came upon those nails in His hands and feet. O, you young ladies, who say you see no beauty in Christ that you should desire to be like Him, come with me and take a look at those wounds, and remember that that crown of thorns was laid upon His brow by a mocking world. Look at Him as He hangs there, and at the people who pass by deriding Him. There are the two thieves that reviled Him, and the one that said, "Save us and save Thyself if Thou beest the Son of God." But hark! At last there comes a cry from the cross. What is it? Is it a cry to the Lord to take Him down from the cross? No! It is "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Was there ever such love as that? While they were crucifying Him He was lifting His heart to God in prayer. His heart seemed to be breaking for those sinners. How He wanted to take them in his arms! How He wanted to forgive them! At last He cried, "I thirst ;" and instead of giving Him a draught of water from the spring, they gave Him a draught of gall mixed with vinegar. There He hung! You can see those soldiers casting lots for His garments as they crowd around the foot of the cross. While they were casting lots the crowd would mock and deride Him and make all manner of sport of Him. He cried only, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Right in the midst of the darkness and gloom there came a voice from one of those thieves. It flashed into his soul as he hung there, “This must be more than man ; this must be the true Messiah!" He cried out, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom!" We are anxious to get the last word or act of our dying friends. Here was the last act of Jesus. He snatched the thief from the jaws of death, saying, "This day shalt Thou be with me in Paradise." And again He spoke. What was .it? "It is finished," was His cry. Salvation was wrought out, atonement was made. His blood had been shed; His life had been given. Undoubtedly, if we had been there, we would have seen legions of devils hovering around the cross. And so the dark clouds of death and hell came surging up against the bosom of the Son of God, and He drove them back, as you have seen the waves come gathering up and surging against the rock, and then receding and then returning. The billows were over Him. He was conquering death and Satan and the world in those last moments. He was treading the wine-press alone. At last He shouted from the cross, "It is finished." Perhaps no one who heard it knew what it meant. But the angels in Heaven knew; and I can imagine the bells of heaven (if they have bells there) ringing out and angels singing, "The God-man is dead, and full restitution has opened the way back into Paradise, and all man has to do is to look and live." After He cried, "It is finished," He bowed His head, commended His spirit to God, and gave up the ghost. Do you tell me you see no reason why you should love such a Saviour? Would you rather be His enemy than His friend? Have you no desire to receive Him and become His? May God soften all our hard hearts to-day.

DISOBEDIENCE.

I FIND in the 4th verse of the 8th chapter of 1st Samuel: "Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel"- —or you might say the voice of God, for God is speaking through Samuel-" and they said, We will have a king over us." I want to call your attention to this disobedience and the consequence. For between four and five hundred years God had been their king, and when they obeyed His voice and did what He told them to do, none of the nations were able to stand before them. They had never been degraded while they were walking in God's sight and obeying His voice, but now they got tired of God. They wanted to cast off His yoke. They wanted a king like the nations around them had, who might lead their armies and make them as imposing and splendid as the nations around them were. When God brought them into that land He told them they should not have chariots of iron, and should not be trusting in horsemen, and in great armies, but He would be their defence; He would be their shield; He would protect them, if they would only look to Him and trust Him. But no. They have their eyes on the nations around them, and they come to the old prophet Samuel, who has grown very old and is about to retire from office, and they said, “We want a king.” And Samuel was very much displeased, heart-broken, and he took his trouble to the Lord, as we all of us ought

always to do, and the Lord says: "Well, now, Samuel, it is not you that they have rejected, but Me. Don't take it so to heart, but protest solemnly against it. Tell them. the consequences, and then, if they insist upon it, I will give them a king." He said this very often, as mothers deal with their children. They let them have something that they know will bring them into sorrow, just to show them how much better it would have been for them if they had obeyed without a murmur; but then, there are very few of us that can learn by other men's experiences and we want to try our own way, and God permits us just to show how much better it is to take God's way than our

own.

Now, the Lord told Samuel He would send a man there whom he should anoint king; and it seems that a man in the tribe of Benjamin, by the name of Kish, lost his asses, and he sent one of his sons to hunt them up. Little did he know as he left home where he was going to. He hunted for the asses two or three days, but was unsuccessful; and as he came near Ramah his servant suggested that they should go up and see the seer or prophet, and he could tell them where to go. Now, the Lord had told Samuel the day before Saul came this was to be the man whom he should anoint to be Captain over Israel. What was Saul's surprise when the seer met him on the way, took him into his house, made him stay over night, and then took him up on the roof of his house and told him what the Lord was going to do with him. Saul seems to have been full of humility, for he told Samuel that he belonged to the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and did not think he was worthy; but God chose him, and the next morning when he left the town the prophet went with him to the outskirts of the town, and said to him: "Let your servant go on before you," and after he had passed on and gone out of sight, Samuel

anointed Saul king, and then told him what would take place on his way home, and where he would find his animals. And it all came to pass as he had prophesied. Saul went home and went about his work as usual, taking care of his father's sheep; but one day a messenger came into the town in great haste bringing the startling tidings that the enemy had besieged the city, and the people had offered to surrender and become servants to the enemy if they would only just spare their lives; and the commander of the besieging army said he would grant the request on condition that he might tear out their right eyes, and the elders of Jabesh said, “Give us seven days and we will decide." If the inhabitants of the city could not get help within seven days, they would have to have their right eyes dug out. And the people lifted up their voices and wept. And Saul came in from the field, and when they told him the tidings the Spirit of God came upon him and he was greatly angered. And he took a yoke of oxen and hewed them in pieces and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers saying, “Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen ;" and the fear of the Lord came upon the people, and inside of three days Saul had three hundred and thirty thousand people, and in the night, about daylight, he moved upon the enemy, and fought them until midday with such vigor that there were no two of them left together, and thus he, routed the whole army and saved the city, and won his way to the hearts of the people.

You know there is nothing like success. He had been successful, and had already been proclaimed at Mizpeh King, for Samuel had brought the people up to Mizpeh, and they had cast lots, and it had fallen upon the tribe of Benjamin and upon the house of Kish. And now he had had a successful battle and everything looked very bright