governors, nor the cruelly lacerating scourge, that Jesus dreaded in the garden, and deprecated in that mysterious agony. Nor was it the thorns, the nails, the tree, or the spear. It was the burden, O man! of thy guilt; the flaming curse of the law; the felt displeasure of the Father against sin. When the martyrs suffered death for Jesus’ sake, they rejoiced in the midst of the fire, for the Son of man was there to sustain them; but when Christ suffered, the Just for the unjust, he felt the hidings of his Father’s face, and cried after him through the blackening heavens—“My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me!” In the Bible we read of two very remarkable trees; “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden,” and the tree of redemption high planted on “the place of skulls.” Milton has made the former the theme of his majestic song, which he opens with the following strain:— “Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our wo, With loss of Eden, * * * * * * * * * * sing, Heavenly Muse!” But let me extol that mysterious tree of life on Golgotha, by which,— —“One Greater Man Restores us, and regains the blissful seat!” “Sing, Heavenly Muse,” of Jesus and his cross! Sing of the wormwood and the gall, of the strife and the triumph of Calvary! Let us compare these two trees. By the former, “the first Adam” transgressed, and entailed ruin upon his posterity; by the latter, “the second Adam” “became obedient unto death,” and “brought life and immortality to light.” By a forbidden approach to the one, the chain of the covenant was broken, Paradise forfeited, God’s image and favor lost, the league with hell signed, and sealed, and ratified, and the whole earth converted into a province of the Prince of Darkness, and delivered up to the despotism of Sin and Death; but four thousand years afterward, the Son of God took his stand on the other, wrestled gloriously with the tyrant usurpers, dethroned Satan, condemned and abolished Sin, swallowed up Death in victory, disannulled the league of earth with hell, restored to believers the favor and image of God, reopened the gates of the forfeited Eden to the exiles, and established a new and everlasting covenant of grace. The blood of Jesus cancelled the debt of man, and quenched the wrath of God; and from all them that obey him, it will ultimately wash away all the stains of sin, and all the dust of death. This is the newly consecrated way into the holy of holies; this is eternal life! “Sing, Heavenly Muse,” once more! “We too with him are dead, And shall with him arise: The cross on which he bows his head Shall lift us to the skies!”