and most wisely and truly answered, in the account which is given us of the Fall of our first parents. We there see that the state of man was originally a state of unmingled happiness and exemption from death. The fairest possible experiment was made, not indeed, to satisfy the omniscient Creator, but to justify his ways to our minds. The man was placed in bowers of perfect bliss. The earth, unsolicited, brought forth her fairest and richest products, asking of him only to direct and prune her luxuriant abundance. Every gale wafted fragrance to him, every flower shed for him 'odorous sweets,' every tree bent with balmy and ambrosial fruits, inspiring him with health and joy. All was peace and universal love; and, if the nature of man could have been trusted with perfect happiness and immortal life on earth, they were now within his reach. But it was soon seen that this was too much for a being so limited and imperfect. Man, being in honour, did not abide. He could not bear unmingled ease and prosperity. His desires passed the bounds of moderation. He fell from his innocence. He violated the divine command.

"There, then, it was for ever demonstrated, that such a being as man, at his best estate on earth, is not capable of enduring unalloyed prosperity. He will infallibly abuse it. He needs adversity, 'the tamer of the human breast,' the 'stern and rugged' but faithful nurse of virtue. He needs toil and pain and sorrow. Nay, all this is not enough to restrain the torrent of human passion. He needs DEATH-that mysterious and terrible corrective of sin. He needs to know that his career on earth is bounded; that his days have their

limit and their number; that the desires of the wicked

shall all finally perish.

"This is the lesson which is taught us by the fall of our first parents. We here see, why the infinite Beneficence of heaven has ordained our present state. We see why disease and suffering are sent on us; why we are condemned to eat of the ground in sorrow; why it brings forth thorns and thistles to us; why we are doomed to eat bread by the sweat of our face, till we return to the earth, and that inevitable sentence receives its execution, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' Adam was a perfectly fair representative of our species. He was placed in the most favourable circumstances possible. If prosperity corrupted him, if he fell, what son of his can think that he should have succeeded better? Let him, who never knew sin, let him, who feels no frailty within his breast, demand back of his Maker the Paradise that Adam lost.

"You will observe that it is uniformly taken for granted in this account, that our primitive sire was exactly such a being as his children now are. He was no more than the most perfect specimen possible of a man. He was a creature of flesh and blood, as we are; of powers, capacities, affections, like our own; and with that same inherent liability to sin, of which we are conscious. Not one word is uttered in the sacred narrative of his possessing an 'original righteousness,' which belongs not to our common nature. This is purely a fiction of systematic theology. It is clear that his nature was open to temptation as ours is; else why did he fall? he must like us, have had a law in his members warring against the law of his mind; and he was

actually led captive by it. Not one word is uttered, in the original sentence on Adam, of any depravation of our constitution in consequence of his offence. No malediction was poured on the nature of his hapless. children by our most merciful and equitable Creator. Labour, suffering, and death were indeed allotted to him, and with him to all his sons. But we find nothing more than that. Not one word of that most terrific sentiment, that the frailty of one man is punished by perpetually and totally corrupting the souls of all his innocent descendants, and while thus born incapable of good, dooming them to eternal and remediless woe. "So far from this, the mercy of our God beams forth in all its brightness, even when he denounces the penalty of his violated law. Never does he appear more truly to be the tender and compassionate Father of our race. He inflicts indeed, upon man, the necessity of perpetual labour; but labour, though thus the child of sin, he means should be the mother of virtue and of happiness. Suffering too is denounced. But it is still designed as the minister of good to man. It is meant to soften the rigour of his heart, to melt it to penitence, and bring him back to God. And even the sentence of death, full of terrors, as it must always be, was mitigated to the first pair, at the moment it was uttered, by the promise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. And blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we now know that even then a ransom was providing from its power, and that a glorious plan of redemption was formed, which was to lead captivity captive, to reconcile the world to God, and unfold life and immortality to all the faithful followers of Jesus.

"In this view of the apostacy of our first parents— which is not essentially affected, whether you regard it as a literal narrative, an oriental allegory, or a philosophical fable—the consequences of the Fall on their posterity are represented to be toil, pain, and death. I beg you now to read over the sacred history, and convince yourselves, that not a hint, not a word is to be found, which implies that the nature of man was cursed for the sin of Adam, and his heart tainted and blackened to the very core. If we were not accustomed to such an idea in infancy, I am persuaded that every feeling of our souls would revolt from it, and that we should wonder that every christian does not regard it as a libel on the infinite benignity of our just and merciful Creator."

We believe that the above specimens will justify our high praise of Mr. Thacher's Sermons; and we are sure that the whole of the volume is equal in merit to the small portion of it which we have placed before our readers.

Was Judas Iscariot present when the Lord's Supper was instituted?

Ir considered merely as an abstract question, this inquiry may not be deemed of much importance; but, when viewed in reference to our Lord, it cannot be regarded with indifference; the interest excited in relation to the actual fact is heightened and preserved in consequence of the diversity of usages which have been adopted by the various sects of christian professors in

relation to the admission of persons to the Lord's table. On these accounts, an attempt will now be made to answer the question at the head of this article; and as the subject is involved in some degree of obscurity, the candour, as well as the attention of your readers, is respectfully solicited.

The institution of the Lord's supper has been recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but neither of these Evangelists has mentioned the departure of Judas Iscariot from the supper table; if therefore we had no other history of what then took place, the inevitable conclusion would be, that Judas Iscariot did partake of the Lord's supper, as well as of the Paschal supper. This, however, is not the case; for the Evangelist John has given a more circumstantial account of what passed at the supper table than either of the other Evangelists had done; it is from him we learn that Judas Iscariot abruptly left the company, but as John has neither mentioned the institution of the Lord's supper, nor made any reference to its institution, the time of the withdrawing of Judas Iscariot can only be ascertained by a comparison of John's account with the narratives of the other Evangelists. Had these writers been uniform in relating the order of events at the last passover which our Lord celebrated with his apostles, no difficulty could have arisen-but this is not so. It therefore becomes a question, which of the differently arranged narratives we are to adopt; and all seriously disposed persons will feel it to be their duty to form their opinion, with a due respect to the sacred historians.

John has sufficiently intimated the cause of the departure of Judas Iscariot. Previously to this, our Lord