of temporary evil. And you must be again reminded that the argument is irrespective of the question of the propriety of any particular revolution, or even of revolution in the abstract. We assert that the Almighty has been pleased so to govern society that he rescues it from the effect (it may be) of its own follies; that he evolves good where we have only a right to expect evil; that "he hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day

of evil."

In conclusion, we may bear away two valuable lessons:

1. The consideration of the benevolence of the Almighty ought to give us confidence in the contemplation of the future prospects of the nation or the world.

At all times, earnest men feel so bitterly the disappointment of their hopes that they are ready to despair of the prospects of mankind. Their experience teaches them that the strongholds of evil bid defiance to their attacks, that their efforts for social or political amelioration meet only with defeat.1

And if we look at the material and moral aspect of the world, there are many circumstances to suggest thoughts of deep sadness. Eighteen hundred years

A paragraph of the original Sermon is here omitted which referred to circumstances of war and recent disease, now happily past.

have passed since the glad tidings were proclaimed that a Saviour had come; and still three-fourths of the population of the world have never yet heard of His name. Or if we restrict our view to our own land, which seems in a special manner to be the home of civilisation and piety, what a terrible state of society is revealed to us by that single statistic1, that one-half of our people never enter a place of worship! What prospect is there of reclaiming, even for civilisation itself, the masses crowded by thousands in the hearts of our large towns, who have thrown away virtue, humanity, and religion? It is not surprising that earnest men should look with gloom on the future.

But the subject which we have been considering may afford some ground of consolation. Though the prospect be really dark,-though the shadows of night seem closing in upon us, yet at evening time it shall be light. There is One above, whose eye is not unmindful of this world's history, whose blessed Son "tasted death for every man,”—who "willeth that all men should be saved." And He so manages this world's course that He will evolve, by His general laws, good out of evil. He rules not in the world merely of blind unconscious matter, but in the actions of thinking responsible man. The past of the world declares that "He hath made all things for Himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." And if we could take our stand on some eminence, and trace

1 A fact of the census of 1851.

forward, in the depths of the future, the issue of this world's stream of time, we should see it swallowed up in the ocean of the divine attributes. We should take up the song of Seraphim, and proclaim, that not the heaven merely, but the earth also, is full of God's glory.

2. There is a second lesson, which is a very practical one, taught us by this subject, viz., to ask ourselves whether we are severally, by our conduct, co-operating in carrying out the plan of Providence, or helping to thwart it. The end of the divine government is goodness. If we are aiming at the same result we are filling our proper sphere in the world; if our hearts are full of selfishness toward man and disobedience toward God, we are doing our part to thwart the great end of the divine administration. How blessed a privilege it is to think that we have the opportunity, each one of us, of doing our share, —aye, though it be the very smallest,― to co-operate with God! How much might we do for the world by our efforts if we were to use our opportunities of battling with evil! Let us understand that the way to regenerate others is first to renovate ourselves. If we would be the means of doing something for God and for goodness, we must fix well in our minds that we are not to reflect the religious tone of the world, but to introduce into the world the elements of goodness which it does not possess. It is God the

Holy Ghost who alone can give them to us. It is He alone who can impart to us that religious earnestness which shall make us active for His honour and for man's welfare. The chief mode of obtaining this divine help is by cultivating a habit of communion with God by private prayer. This is the secret of any good man's life, whether it be one of action or of suffering. It was so with the royal prisoner. As his troubles thickened round him, and he could find no help from friends and no mercy from foes, he was wont to betake himself to God for consolation; and hence arose that placid, confessor-like spirit with which he bore the sorrows of his closing days, and that calm and heroic fortitude with which he met the terrors of the hour of death. And we may be certain that, whatever be our earthly lot, however humble or however great, whether spent in happiness or marked with sorrow, if we would secure our own usefulness in life, and our own safety in death and judgment, we must follow such an example of piety, and learn to find a friend in God. For then we shall be as polished shafts in the Almighty's quiver in the great battle of good against evil; we shall indeed find that evil will give way before us; and, in the blessed consciousness of a life not spent altogether in vain, we shall realise in their fulness the words of Solomon, "The Lord hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.”

NOTE,

On the Scene of the Execution of Charles I.

This seems not to be an unfit place to notice some facts in reference to the scene of the king's execution, which have been drawn from old engravings and maps, still preserved in the Chapel Royal at Whitehall. The king was executed in front of the middle window of the present Chapel Royal, on the side facing the present street, and not, as is often supposed, on the other side. At that time, instead of the streets and gardens which now lie around, an old brick palace existed, not unlike parts of the present one of St. James's. Its outlying quadrangles and buildings stretched as far north as the present Scotland-yard, while one large quadrangle, containing the royal garden, lay immediately to the back of the Chapel Royal; on the side of which quadrangle, next the river, stood the royal apartments. The street which now runs in front of the chapel was about half its present width; a guard-house stood in front of the present Horse-guards, while immediately in front of the chapel was a tilting-ground; and a few yards to the south of it, i.e. in the direction of Westminster Abbey, a brick archway spanned the street, similar to that which now forms the principal entrance to the palace of St. James. The banqueting-hall which forms the present Chapel Royal, is the only portion ever completed of a grand design of James I. for rebuilding the palace. The older portion of the palace was destroyed by fire in the time of William III., and the banqueting-hall was converted into a chapel by George I. On the day of the execution, Charles I. was brought (about ten o'clock in the morning) from the palace of St. James across St. James's Park, and was conducted over the archway, which has been above described: he then spent nearly three hours in worship, probably in a small chapel which then lay adjacent to the archway to the south-east of the present Chapel Royal; and after his devotions, was conducted through the interior of the present chapel to the scaffold. It is doubtful whether he passed through one of its windows on to the scaffold, or was led completely through it to a portion (now destroyed) of the palace which then stood a little to the north of the present chapel, and thence led to the scaffold; but that the position of the scaffold was in front of the present building there can be no doubt.

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