S. "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

T. (It was customary among the Romans to write the crime for which he suffered, over the head of the criminal.) What is remarkable in the title which Pilate wrote ?

S. Christ thereby received from His enemies the title which the wise men gave Him at His birth; and for taking which the Jews declared they crucified Him.

T. What were our Lord's words on the Cross?

S. 1st. His prayer for His murderers; 2dly. His forgiveness and acceptance of the penitent thief; 3dly. His giving His mother to the care of the beloved disciple; 4thly. His prayer to God when forsaken; 5thly, His complaint, "I thirst;" 6thly. His declaration that His work was finished; and 7thly, His yielding His spirit to His Father.

T. What do we notice in the conduct of the thief?

S. His sincere repentance, confessing his unworthiness; his acknowledgment of Christ's goodness and truth; his faith in Him, and prayer not for present relief from deserved punishment, but for mercy hereafter.

T. What were the wonderful signs when "He bowed his head and gave up the ghost?"

S. There was darkness over all the land before His death, then "The veil of the temple was rent in twain; the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose." Matt. xxvii. 51, 52.

T. At what hour did these events take place?

S. He was nailed to the Cross at the third hour (nine o'clock in the morning); darkness began at the sixth hour (twelve o'clock), and lasted till the ninth hour (three o'clock in the afternoon), when Christ died.

T. Who stood by the Cross?

S. His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene, and the beloved disciple.

T. What may we observe from this company?

S. That the pure, the penitent, the loving, are nearest to the Cross of Christ.

T. Why was our Lord pierced?

S. "That the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken " (Ex. xii. 46; Numb. ix. 12); and, "They shall look on him whom they pierced." Zech. xii. 10.

T. What might the blood and water foreshow?

S. The two sacraments, which streams flow for the healing of all nations.

T. What was the effect on those who beheld these things?

S. "The centurion said, Truly, this man was the Son of God" (Mark, xv. 39); and the people who came together, smote their breasts and returned. Luke, xxiii. 48. T. How must we strive to keep this day?

S. Remembering our sins which indeed crucified our Lord, applying His death and sufferings as the only sacrifice we may offer for them, and resolving to love Him better for His unspeakable mercies.

EASTER EVEN.

The Collect.

GRANT, O Lord, that as we are baptized into the death of Thy blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with Him; and that through the

grave, and gate of death, we may pass to our joyful resurrection; for His merits, who died, and was buried, and rose again for us, Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

T. What do we plead with God in this Collect?
S. Our baptism into the death of Christ.

T. What do we mean by this?

S. Our being baptized into a share of the promises His death has won.

T. How does St. Paul explain our duties, who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ? Rom. vi. 4.

S. "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

T. What do we pray in the baptismal service?

S. "O merciful God, grant that the old Adam in this child may be so buried, that the new man may be raised up in him. Amen."

T. How must we try to be thus buried with Christ? S. By continually mortifying our corrupt affections. T. How does His death teach us to do this?

S. In it He conquered every inclination and weakness of the flesh.

T. What is our comfort as we draw near to the grave? S. Christ has lain there, and all His saints have passed through the gate of death.

T. How may we profit by the thought of His death and quiet grave?

S. If it lead us to cast aside all our cares and worldly thoughts, and strive after peace, and rest in Him. "We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." 1 Tim. vi. 7.

T. What is our comfort in daily dying unto Jesus? 2 Cor. iv. 16.

S. "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."

T. What is the blessing of those who "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?" Rev. xiv. 13.

S. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

T. Can we obtain this joyful resurrection by our own exertions alone?

S. No; but for His merits who died, and was buried, and rose again for us.

The Epistle. 1 St. Peter, iii. 17.

It is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing; wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like figure whereunto, even baptism, doth also now save us, (not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God), by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

T. (This Epistle was written when the Hebrew Christians were suffering great persecutions.) How does the Epistle begin?

S. With an exhortation to patience in affliction and persecution.

T. Our afflictions are light compared to those suffered by Christians in those days; but, however severe, where is our best comfort?

S. In the remembrance of Christ's sufferings for us, and His example of patience.

T. What does St. Peter declare?

S. "Christ was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."

T. Need we fear the malice of our enemies after death? S. No; Christ hath said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul." Matt. x. 28. T. How does Job describe his belief in the resurrection? xix. 25, 26.

S. "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."

T. What is the article in our Creed after the death of Christ?

S. "He descended into hell:" not the place of punishment, but of departed spirits.

T. What do we read of the spirits of those that were slain for the word of God? Rev. vi. 10, 11.

S. "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and

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