ever can be seen, was the object for which I came into the world. "Father, glorify thy name!" To the truly Christian mind-the mind which is able to distinguish what true greatness is-it will at once be apparent, that such conduct could only proceed from the unbounded piety of a divine Being, who possessed a perfect knowledge of the wisdom and propriety of the sufferings he was about to encounter. II. The piety of our Lord was sustained by a constant sense of the presence and protection of the great Being to whom it was rendered. He seems to have been troubled by no doubts or misgivings as to the certainty of his Father's approbation and support, although we know that he was often placed in circumstances which would have shaken a less devoted faith, and although Satan employed every artifice to weaken his reliance on the divine assistance. Yet in all the observations made by the Saviour respecting his union with the Father, and the approbation with which he looked down on his conduct, we cannot trace the most remote indication of enthusiasm. This is a very observable feature in his amazing character, and may be scrutinized with the utmost accuracy by the most suspicious. On one occasion he exhibited this feeling in a manner the most sublime that can be conceived. It was on the night before his crucifixion, when taking leave of his best and only friends, and when his own mind was engaged in the anticipation of all that was to come. He looked round upon them-eleven in number-affectionate, devoted, but ignorant fishermen, his only friends, and he said, "All of you will be scattered, every one to his own, and will leave me alone." ALONE! oh what a word! The Saviour of mankind alone in a world which he had created, and for the salvation of which he was prepared to die! But he would not allow that word to remain on record without adding a sentence of the most exalted piety, "I am not alone, for the Father is with me." III. The piety of our Lord engrossed his whole soul. He saw nothing, desired nothing, sought nothing, but the glory of his Father. The infatuated multitude were at liberty to ridicule and buffet his sacred body, and all their violence and cruelty were insufficient to wring from him one expression of repining or indignation. But when the glory of his Father demanded that threatenings and denunciations should be proclaimed, he knew how to raise a voice more awful and impressive than ever the voice of prophets or messengers had been in the days old. He never thought of himself. Suffering, toil, sorrow, insult, ignominy, and death itself, were welcome if they contributed to the promotion of the cause he had undertaken; and as for personal ease or comfort, he never gave them a moment's consideration. Oh! when the mind is cleared of the prejudices and sins by which its vision is obscured, and can appreciate the dignity of the principle by which the Son of God was actuated, it will cease to wonder that for him apostles were willing to lay down their lives; for him Christians of every age and nation have entertained and expressed the most ardent attachment and veneration; for him the angels and principalities in heavenly places are raising their loudest notes of praise, and that for him creation is yet destined to wear its highest and most glorious ornaments in honour of his kingdom and his triumphs. It would not be difficult to discover many other particulars in regard to our Lord's piety, but the foregoing remarks will furnish an ample foundation for the two practical directions which I am anxious to impress on the minds of our readers. 1. Christians, like their divine Master, are called upon to undergo many sorrows, and if, like him, they would endure them with unshaken constancy, they must take the pains to acquaint themselves with the design which they are intended to accomplish. It is expressly stated in the word of God, that "he doth not afflict willingly"-that is to say, that he never requires any of his people to suffer a single pang which is not indispensably necessary for the promotion of their highest welfare. There is indeed an indisposition on the part of Christians to dispute or deny this doctrine in express terms, but it is lamentable to observe how low and unsatisfactory their views are as to its practical and immutable veracity. They seem to think that there is some mysterious and unintelligible necessity for them to groan beneath a certain weight of anxiety and pain, and that some spiritual benefit accrues from this appointment, but as to the precise end proposed to be accomplished, they are not so much as conscious that a knowledge of it can be attained. Yet let it not be thought that such is really the state of the case. Let me rather urge you to believe that long grief and sorrow is aimed at some specific habit or disposition, and is calculated to rectify and reform it. The wise and heavenly physician knows intimately the moral malady under which each one of his people is suffering, and adapts his remedial chastisement to the necessities of each case. Let, then, the tried and dejected servant of God shake off his gloom and despondency. Let him apply his mind to the serious investigation of his own character and habits, and he will soon discover that mercy and faithfulness are concerned in the infliction of the pang which he is too apt to regard as alike incurable and unintelligible. Ye trembling saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread In blessings on your head. MEDITATIONS FOR LENT, BY THE REV. J. H. A. WALSH, M.A.,' Of Baliol College, Oxford, and Minister of Christ No. III. THE TRIAL OF JESUS BEFORE THE ROMAN GOVERNOR. The well instructed reader of his bible will find, as he passes along its pages, many a collateral question starting up before his mind, and inviting him to fields of interesting and profitable enquiry. A question of this nature meets us at the very outset of the history we now enter upon. We have seen that the Jewish authorities had declared Jesus guilty of blasphemy, and by turning to the history of Shelomith's son in Leviticus (xxiv. 10-16), we find a general enactment; "he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him ;" and yet, when "the whole multitude of them arose, they led him away"-not to Golgotha, or any other place of summary punishment-but to "Pontius Pilate the governor," and from that time they strained every nerve to prevail on Pilate to pass sentence on him. Now, why was this? History replies, "because Judea was at this time subject to Roman sway." True, but had the Jews the power of inflicting capital punishment? if they had not, why did Jewish law take its course in the case of the protomartyr Stephen? if they had, why tell Pilate, "it is not lawful for us to put any man to death?" or, did paschal ceremonies? Here are questions which hav they mean that it was "not lawful" during the been discussed at considerable length, and might be so discussed again, though perhaps without arriving at any certain conclusion. I dwell on the inquiry less for its own sake than as a specimen of a large tribe of like inquiries which court the attention of the educated reader of his bible. The pursuit of many of them will richly compensate the time and labour they occupy, and make us feel it a privilege to live in reach; and when the essence of the rare, expensive, an age when scriptural elucidation lies within general and ponderous folio is presented to us in a shape more accessible and more inviting." 2. Christians are also entitled to the encouragement and consolation which arise from a constant sense of the presence and protection of their heavenly Father. It might seem almost presumptuous to affirm that the eternal Father did not watch the progress of his well-beloved Son through this wilderness of sorrow with more intense interest and anxiety than that with which he regards the course of the meanest of his servants, and yet we have the express declaration of the Saviour himself to assure us that this is not an exaggerated view of the case. "Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me!" Nor is this all; in addition to the consolation which arises from the assurance of our Father's tenderness, we have the still more endearing and delightful guardianship of that Man of sorrows who cannot fail to sympathise with every affliction through which his brethren are called to pass, and in whom the wisdom and power of the Godhead are joined to his personal experience of the trials of human nature. It is not because our sources of comfort are few, but because we do not avail ourselves of them, that life appears at times to be so very burdensome. Surely if affliction could justify repining and discontent, the Son of God had cause enough to be weary of his life, and yet we never find an expression of murmuring escape his lips. Let us follow his divine example. The cup of sorrow is bitter, but it is salutary; it is but there is another far more injurious-that of submixed by the wisest Being in the universe; stituting knowledge on religious subjects for religion administered by the gentlest and most affec-theology for piety. For believe me, theology and tionate of friends; its progress and efficacy is watched by the most skilful of physicians, and he is provided with a thousand unexpected comforts to beguile the bitterness of grief, and to turn our mourning into rejoicing. religion' is a substance, the gem itself, a gem "more Oh trust him! Murmur not at his appoint-precious than rubies." "Faith, hope, and charity," ment. Labour to render them effectual in the cure and correction of your moral maladies, and you will soon find that the sting of sorrow is gone, and nothing left behind but its advantages. Let us use, let us value this privilege of our age and nation; at the same time let us shun its abuses. Hasty, copious, and superficial reading is one abuse; help and handmaid to religion; it is a useful mean the three component parts of religion, are beyond all "Just knows, and knows no more, his bible true, Whether it was necessary or only expedient to obtain Pilate's direct sanction for the death of Jesus, they are resolved to procure it; "What accusation bring ye against this man?" was Pilate's first and obvious inquiry. "If he were not a malefactor" (they reply) we would not have delivered him unto thee." This, however, was too vague a charge upon which to issue the death-warrant; he therefore gave them leave to judge him themselves, and punish him according to their own law; they replied, "it is not lawful for us to put any man to death." St. John, whose comments are always worthy of consideration, adds by way of note, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying what death he should die." Had the Jews inflicted their sentence, he would have been stoned. His death being the consequence of Pilate's sentence, was the death of the cross; and so, by the beloved attractions of his cross, he "draws all men unto him." He has been "lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish." May we look and live! Since they are determined to prosecute at Pilate's tribunal, what accusation shall they bring? Pilate cared nothing about the crime which the Jews called blasphemy; they therefore change their accusation to suit circumstances. His crime had been blasphemy, now he is a "perverter of the nation, forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that he himself is Christ a king." How base, how false, how cunning! It is most evident that they could not plead Paul's excuse; "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth:" Paul ought to have known better, they did know better; his was blind and honest, though culpable bigotry; theirs was known and wilful sin! Add, to the consideration that they were varying their accusation to suit circumstances, the fact that their own accomplice, Judas, had, by this time, most forcibly attested the innocence of the prisoner, and you will perceive their guilt to have been known, wilful, and, therefore, deeply aggravated. Is the reader conscious of any known and wilful sin? is he persisting in any such course? If he is, let this very page prevail on him to renounce it! In vain he reads a religious book, unless either by the terrors or the mercies of the Lord he is induced to "cease to do evil." Think you that these wretched priests had no conventual religion of their own by which to keep their conscience quiet? Why then are they standing without the palace? why must Pilate condescend, when he wishes to confer with them, to cross the threshold of his judgment-hall? They will not enter "lest they should be defiled," and rendered ceremonially unfit for the celebration of their festival. While they thirst for the blood of the innocent, they plume themselves on their punctilious observance of the feast! Reader, beware! Remember these "whited sepulchres!" Beware of resembling them! The scene changes. A more quiet and calm interview succeeds. Pilate has entered the judgment-hall; and, after what we have witnessed, even Pilate's character appears in an amiable light. We see in him a man who is not wishing to do wrong, except as he is urged to it by the danger of perishing in the right. But oh with him is One whom neither fear nor favour ever swayed. The conference, rightly understood, cannot fail to interest you; for in it, the representative of Cæsar, the emperor of the world, is in audience with a prisoner, who, though mean, despised, and solitary, is in reality "the Word who was with God, and was God." You will hear the prisoner mildly yet firmly inquire whether Pilate knew anything to his discredit, or was only allowing himself to be swayed by an indefinite clamour. You will hear him explicitly assert his title to the name, and to the honour of king; not however, in terms that need to make Cæsar or Pilate jealous for their thrones. You will almost wish to pause and meditate upon the kingdom which is in the world, but not of the world;" that kingdom which owed neither its origin, nor its support, to worldly skill or power, but whose subjects are citizens of heaven. You will hear Jesus maintain that it was for him to speak, and Pilate to listen. Calm collectedness will dignify the prisoner; the judge will be the sport of conflicting feelings; asking a question, but not waiting for a reply. With this short introduction let me refer you to St. John's own narrative (xviii. 3438). St. Paul, alluding to this very conference, commends Jesus for having "before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession." The expression implies that he made a confession which called into exercise no little firmness. The words he himself uttered imply the same: "I am a king," replied the prisoner, "and whatever it may cost me I shall avow the truth; to this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." Wherein then consisted the firmness evinced by this avowal? Partly, perhaps, in a fearless disregard of consequences. His claiming the title of king might be misconstrued into an act of treason against Cæsar. But his explanation must have satisfied Pilate that Jesus was no rebel. His firmness, therefore, is not, I think, to be discovered chiefly here. His firmness lay in his superiority to contempt. It was with a feeling of pity that Pilate would ask his poor prisoner "art thou a king then?" It was with a forced superiority to the pity which Pilate would feel, that the reply was given; "thou sayest that I am a king." Now, here is a pattern for us. This example bids us never be ashamed, as circumstances require, to avow by word and by deed, our conviction of the truth, however it may be despised. For, in religious matters, much that man despises is truth, important truth; and our loyalty to our heavenly King will occasionally require us to state, to maintain, and to act upon, as sober truth, what to a neighbour will appear strange, extravagant, or even ridiculous. What could be more strange to Pilate's ear than his persecuted prisoner's avowal, "I am a king?" Yet, though despised, it was sober truth. Thus firm and staunch be our superiority to unjust contempt! Let it be our aim to act and speak as becomes consistent believers in redemption through Christ, and in the life everlasting. If, in consequence of this our aim, our course diverge from "the course of this world," let us not faulter. If the reason of our conduct be honestly inquired, let us honestly avow it. We owe it to our Lord not to dissemble our principles. When we come to reason on the point, we feel the folly of wishing to cloak and conceal our religious convictions. For, after all, who is this man whose contempt or pity we are so anxious to escape? Take the common-place despiser of religion; the every-day character that deems religion a weakness, if he does not employ some severer name. Is there any very great weight and dignity in his character? Possessed of a soul, whose nature, capacity, actual state, and prospects for eternity, are fit subjects for intense anxiety, perhaps he has little more consciousness of this, than have "the beasts that perish." Is this the man before whom our eye must quail? before whom we fear to avow the truth, because to him it is "foolishness?" Wise he may or may not be in things that pertain to this life, but what pretence has he to wisdom as respects those scenes which lie beyond the present? Has he weighed eternal things in the right balance? has he tested them with serious consideration? has he sought the truth with an earnest prayer and unfeigned desire to know and to practise it? How then is he qualified to pass a just sentence on religion, or any part of it? In what manner the writer and reader of these thoughts will conduct themselves when brought into contact with such characters I know not. But, how we ought to deport ourselves is sufficiently clear: namely, in the spirit of him who said, "for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth." Biography. E RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR ROBERT GRANT, HE vast responsibility upon Great Britain, as a pro- Sir Robert Grant was the second son of Charles Grant Esq., of whom a memoir has appeared in this magazine, and who was long distinguished for his thorough practical acquaintance with the affairs of India; and—what was of more consequence-his deep spirituality of religious feeling. After the usual course of preparatory study, Robert became a member of Magdalen College, Cambridge, with his brother Charles (Lord Glenelg). In 1799 he was appointed Craven scholar, and his name appears in the tripos of 1801, as third wrangler, his brother being the fourth. He was also second medallist, Charles being first; such honours-truly no paltry ones-testify that his acquirements could have been of no ordinary grade, and the circumstance that he took such honours added very considerably to his influence. It is very true that, of themselves, academical distinctions are, in reality, valueless, if not accompanied by sound religious principle; still they are not, on that account, to be regarded as unworthy the aim of the Christian student. Perhaps there has been no little error on this point. If a man's heart is really dedicated to God he will feel it an incumbent duty to bring to the service of God talent, study, and assiduity; and it may be well for those who despise academical pre-eminence, under the plea that it has a tendency to foster pride, to nourish vanity, and to withdraw the affections from things above, to consider whether, in many cases, it may not be the indulgence of idle habits and an unwillingness to undergo patient labour and unwearied toil, which has proved the stumbling block in the way of their aiming at distinction. Having graduated as M.A. in 1806, Mr. Grant was called to the bar by the Hon. Society of Lincoln's Inn, in 1807. He ultimately became King's sergeant in the Duchy Court of Lancaster, a Commissioner of Bankrupts, and a Member of the Privy Council in 1831. He was appointed Judge-Advocate in 1832; he was returned as member of the House of Commons, for the Inverness Burghs, in 1826, for Norwich in 1830, and for Finsbury in 1834. It would be entirely foreign from the design of this memoir to make any allusion to Mr. Grant's parliamentary conduct, or any comment on his political views; my object is to bring him under, the reader's notice in a still higher characterthat of a Christian, and the various institutions which he supported and zealously advocated, the object of which was the advancement of religion, are proofs that his mind was occupied with a deep concern for the best interests of his fellow creatures. Mr. Grant having been appointed governor of Bombay, in 1834, and received the honour of knighthood, proceeded to that presidency. He was not destined, however, to long retain the reins of government. In the summer of 1838, having left the presidency for the hills, he rode out in heavy rains, and in consequence was seized with fever. The disorder abated, and recovery was expected, but a relapse taking place, the brain became affected, and he sank in July, in his 58th year. The efficiency of Sir Robert's government-the immense load of business he was compelled to transact, are so fully set forth in the appendix to the last charge of the Bishop of Calcutta, that it may be well to extract the whole passage referring to them, as much more valuable than any that the writer of this memoir could give. "One instance has just taken place, and thrown all India, and especially the heart of my dear brother of Bombay, into the deepest dejection-the sudden death of his and my mutual friend, the late governor of that presidency. You must forgive me if 1 pause for a moment on the loss of so distinguished a person. I had hardly given utterance to those expressions which you will find in the commencement of the charge, on occasion of the death of two of the leading personages in my own diocese, when the tidings of the fall of Sir Robert Grant struck a coldness to my very heart. I had passed, as the Lord Bishop of Bombay will well remember, a fortnight under his hospitable roof, when on my primary visitation in the winter of 1835. There I had learned something of his devotion to India, his indefatigable application to business, his attention to moral and religious character in his promotions, his love to the native population, his high conception of the capabilities, in almost every respect, of that fine country, in the government of which he had been called to share, his zeal to raise its position amongst the nations of the world, his ceaseless activity in diffusing that information, and exciting that spirit of inquiry and enterprise in commercial pursuits, on which national greatness so materially depends. "I had witnessed also the transcendant importance which he attached to Christianity, as the most stupendous benefit ever vouchsafed by Almighty God to a lost world, and for the promotion of which, in every safe and discreet method, he fully believed India was intrusted, almost miraculously, to the sceptre of the greatest, and freest, and most enlightened of the Western nations. Nor had I omitted to notice his family happiness, his personal and domestic piety, his prayers daily with his household, his attendance twice on the Lord's Day on the public worship of God, and the honour he always put on religion in his most ordinary converse. "It is soothing to my feelings to dwell on such Christian excellencies-gratitude demands it of me. The ebullition of grief and sympathy which your Lordship witnessed at the public meeting (the most numerous ever recollected at Bombay) at which you presided after his death, did not so much surprise me; but I confess I read with no little emotion the simple but affecting testimony borne by different persons to the efforts he had made to serve India. A whole life seems to have been crowded into his very few years of government (only three and a half-March 1835 to July 1838). The enumeration of 'public measures, which he either originated or carried into effect,' to use the terms of one of the resolutions, for improving the agricultural resources of the country, facilitating communication with Europe, and also between the different towns and provinces of the presidency, and advancing its commercial and general prosperity,' had scarcely been made by one public functionary, when a similar series of proceedings was detailed by another distinguished person for his putting himself in communication with individuals of all classes, and eliciting information on the subject of education; for establishing schools and promoting the interests of science; for founding medical colleges and native dispensaries, and for encouraging, by public employment and private munificence, the rising native youth. | case, which carried him far beyond his strength though it inspired such unlimited love and confidence in those placed under his authority. The proceedings of the Bombay government, in only one or two de partments, occupied 24,000 folios in the year 1837 Embarrassing circumstances may possibly have concurred to harrass his mind. The arrangements of his government with the Supreme Council at Calcutta, in consequence of the Charter Act of 1833, are supposed to have created, from their novelty, continual im pediments to his exertions. If he incurred any unpo pularity on this score, either at home or with the government of India, it adds at least to the proof of his zeal for his own presidency. The secret of all this distinguished reputation and success was not so much hi fine talents, nor his diligent habits of public business nor his zeal and perseverance, as his thorough knowledge of India, and the high and elevated principles which directed his whole conduct. He had not to acquire as other governors; he brought to his chair an acquaintance with the most minute affairs of his Presidency. He inherited from his eminent father (the late Charles Grant, Esq., whose life and character are far too little known-what he accomplished for the religious interests of India during a period of fifty years will only be fully disclosed at the last great day), an inextinguishable love for the country which he left at the age of nine, to return to it as governor after a lapse of forty-seven years; having not wholly lost the language of Hindostan during the long interval, whilst he had been collecting the most copious and valuable stores of information. "Such a governor soon becomes known, especially in our Eastern empire. When it is once understood a zeal and promptitude in the head of that there the state equal to the most ardent wishes of every applicant-a passion for India—a determination to promote, not private objects, nor the aggrandizement of a family, nor the accumulation of wealth, nor even the ordinary ends of government only, but the good of the prostrate millions committed to its care-and especially when this is seen to be connected with a thorough understanding of what Christianity really is, and what it demands of man, it operates like a charm; it penetrates the remotest ramifi cations of the administration. It elicits and rewards individual enterprise of every kind. Sir Robert Grant's years in Bombay, few as they were, are the brightest spot in his life. The period of peace during which his government fell, afforded him the fairest field for his beneficent labours. Unlike some of his most eminent predecessors, his attention and resources were not diverted from the one "Nor was it the least affecting to me to read the declaration of the Archdeacon of Bombay (the Rev. H. Jeffrey,) towards the close of the meeting:- For my own part, I should be very ungrateful indeed if I did not bear testimony to his personal kindness and courtesy to myself; and not only to myself, but to the whole body of the clergy of our church establishment, in whose name I now speak, and whose unanimous feeling and opinion I am certain that I faithfully represent. But his praise stood on far higher ground than this-on the ground of genuine piety and love to God. The general interests of religion, and of our own church establishment in particular, occupied a large share of his attention; and when I consider the vast amount of correspondence which passed under his own eye, as stated by the secretary, all of which he examined for himself, I am quite astonished at the readiness with which all correspondence was answered which passed through my department; and I cannot but feel bound to acknowledge that, amidst his various and extensive en-grand object of his heart. gagements, the church occupied even more than its share of his attention.' "The allusion to which this statement refers, as made by one of the secretaries of government, to the sources of his premature disease and death, is indeed most touching. Yes, our noble-minded and lamented friend fell a sacrifice to his exertions, somewhat increased perhaps beyond the strictest necessity, by a scrupulous, an over-scrupulous anxiety we must say, to examine every thing for himself, to save the feelings of every individual with whom he had concern, and to wait till he had the time and materials for a rigid and impartial investigation into the merits of each be "For myself I can only say, that a friendship of nearly thirty years thus suddenly snapped asunder, leaves me desolate indeed. I feel as if I had lost a brother. His private tokens of affection I dare not, and ought not to particularize. It may, however, interest his friends to know that his able pen may traced in the large aid he afforded me in the two ser mons on Habit, in my first volume of sermons of 1817: in my Defence of the Church Missionary Society 1818; and in the Funeral discourse for his honoured father in 1823. It is known, however, that I owe to his honoured father's friendship, continued in the present generation, the appointment which Lord Glenelg |