garden-the garden in which at length was to be laid that 'Root of David' out of which had miraculously to rise the flower whose blossoming should begin the restoration of Eden to this world.

It is not an accident, but a beautiful part of the Divine plan, that the body of the Sinless One is brought into the garden where spring loveliness blooms, and evening fragrance breathes round it. It is an arrangement full of meaning to mourners until lives cease to fade and tears to fall. It gently rebukes them, when they follow the ritual of grief which the world sets up, when they allow its fashions to rule even in the house of mourning; when, in obedience to etiquette, they hush down all cheerful tones, shut out the sunshine, and drape everything possible in artificial blackness. The first funeral in our dispensation-the funeral of Him who founded it—had its surroundings in Joseph's glowing garden. This looks like a precedent for the ministry of flowers in the place where we take our last farewells; at least, it invites us to remember at such times what infinite love teaches by the gift of flowers. Flowers charm and soothe us when weak and grief-worn; flowers hint at our resurrection, for every flower is a risen flower; and, seizing the simile of the dim, dead seed, and the tall, fair growth of the new life that springs from the ruins of the old, Paul,

speaking of the body, says to us, 'It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.'1

Crowning all the other services to the Church of Christ by the part they took in His burial, they were undesignedly instrumental in fulfilling this ancient prophecy: 'He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.'2 Stop, you may say,

2 They appointed Him His grave with the wicked.'Hengstenberg. The word , rendered 'He made,' is evidently used in the sense of His being given by design to the grave of the wicked, or appointed to that. By crucifying Him between two thieves, it was intended that He should be consigned to the ignominious grave allotted to such criminals. The particle rendered 'and' means, in this place, 'but,' or 'yet.' The meaning is, that His grave was appointed with the wicked, but—He was associated with a rich man in His death. The word 'ni, rendered 'death,' is plural,—it is the same word as in Job xxi. 32, 'Yet shall he be brought to the grave'-marg. 'graves.' Aben Ezra observes that the singular nb, means 'a structure over a grave, a sepulchral monument.’ In this passage, it is a minute point of accuracy that 'the wicked,' in Hebrew, is plural, pointing to the two thieves; and that 'the rich' is singular, pointing to Joseph of Arimathæa.

there was, to all appearance, not the fulfilment but the falsification of this prophecy: 'He made His grave with the wicked;' was Joseph of Arimathæa wicked? On the contrary, we are divinely assured that he was 'just.' 'And with the rich in His death;' was the dying thief rich Rich! no poor reaper in August, with sickle swathed in hay slung to his back while he is asking for work; no poor casual on tramp from parish to parish; no haggard convict broken out from jail-could be poorer than was that poor thief. According to the most careful reading the passage should be rendered thus: 'His grave was appointed with the wicked, but He was with a rich man.' That is, That is, His grave was appointed by men with the wicked-under usual circumstances, only such a grave was thought of for one who died on a cross; but He was with a rich man in His tomb after all. And why? Because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth.' This part of the prophecy was fulfilled as well as that foretelling an honourable grave,-these two men knew that He was pure and true, therefore it was that they paid Him these final honours. The passage was one of the many prophetic tokens that signalled the Hero of all prophecy; one of the many rays that were slowly inwoven into Christ's crown of light. If it had failed in fulfilment, then

would have been said-Isaiah had certified that, along with other things, this thing would take place, to mark out Jesus as the true Christ; this thing did not take place; then, Jesus is not the true Christ, or Isaiah is not a true prophet. As it is, we see the obscurity of an ancient oracle brighten the effulgence of a splendid fact, and in it we also have an abundant confirmation of our Saviour's claims.

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IV. The act of these men illustrates the function of wealth in the service of Christ, and this is another practical outcome of their profession. A Roman Catholic writer asks, 'Why are there any rich men at all? And what does God mean by them? They are not made rich,' he says, 'for their own good; that is quite plain. A man's good consists in the saving of his own soul; but it is plain that riches do not help him to save his soul, rather the contrary.' He settles the question by saying they were meant to be the prey of the poor. The poor are God's eagles, to beset, infest, and strip the rich.' If, by saving the soul, is meant securing the impunity and safety of the soul, we say, No, we are not born into the world for this alone; and the chief end of life is not simply to escape from death, but to glorify God. It is easy to see that the rich have ways of glorifying God

not open to the poor, as the poor have, not open to the rich. The rich can glorify God by education, by influence, and by money's worth, in many varieties of mode. When, from want of all worldly means, the stunned and trembling disciples left near the cross could do nothing; two influential members of the Hebrew Areopagus came suddenly and unexpectedly on the scene, and did everything; and for this help in time of need they were qualified by virtue of their wealth and station. The Gospel is full of words to comfort and dignify the holy poor; but the Gospel creates no class distinctions. When its banqueting hall is thrown open, 'the poor are as welcome as the rich;' yes, and the rich are as welcome as the poor. The Church is the poor man's Church;' yes, and it is also the rich man's Church; for there, 'the rich and the poor meet together, and the Lord is the Maker of them all.' 'You are not to despise the poor;' you are also not to despise the rich; and sometimes you have need to be reminded of this law as much as of the other; neither the one condition nor the other has anything essentially to do with discipleship; discipleship is difficult in either case, though possible in both. You are not to connect poverty with religion, and wealth with irreligion; there is no canonisation of wealth;' true, and there is no canonisation of poverty. Not many wise