Nor could any thing ever divert him from accomplishing that will. When an arbitrary social law forbade his associating with publicans and sinners, he firmly kept on his own way, saying only, "I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." And when civil law conflicted with the Divine will, by pronouncing the gospel he taught an illicit system, still did he not pause. He would preach, and his apology was declared in the comprehensive doctrine, "Render unto Cæsar the things which are Casar's, and unto God the things which are God's." Here, then, we get our first lesson. Divine will is to be paramount law with us. We must obey God always, and human law, social and civil, when we can.

Pursuing our study, we observe,

II. That the Divine will was well expounded in the life of Christ. It teaches us what that will is-that it is not an abstraction, but a living principle, looking to most practical results. Describe the life in one word, and that word is love "He went about doing good - such is the Evangelist's own summary of the career of Jesus. Visiting the poor, healing the sick, cheering the disconsolate, such were his occupations. So it was that Christ set forth his idea of the Divine will.

And we may well note here that it was from his understanding of his Father's will that Jesus took the gauge of his relations to men. Ordinary ties - those of consanguinity, for instance -did not bind him as they did other men. The need of men, was what inclined him to them. As they were poor, or despised, or sorrowing, so did he stand close to them, and the greater their want the closer was his relationship to them.

This, then, for we pause here for another lesson, is always the Divine will-that we love and do good to others, and that we fix our relationships and distribute our endeavors according not to inclination, but to the need of those for whose well-being we are called to

act.

Passing on, we notice,

III. That the spirit with which Christ carried out his Father's will, illustrates our duty.

His was never a grudging nor a self-seeking service. He gave up himself to his work. He assumed that he could not accomplish the will, which was his law, without inconvenience and loss to himself. So he went his way, expecting sorrow and pain. And when sorrow overtook him, he cheerfully bore it. The indignities with which the ungrateful compensated his love, did not disturb him. The buffetings and mockings with which his persecutors assailed him, as they crowned him with thorns, clothed him with purple, and put a sceptre of reed in his hand, did not move him. Serenely did he bear that keenest grief which he suffered, when, looking from the judgment-hall, he saw his most beloved disciple hiding in the distance, and his boldest one openly giving himself up to treachery. And the last words which trembled upon his dying lips were, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."

It will be well for us to note here that it was the spirit which Christ exhibited which barred the mischief which had otherwise come of his refusal to obey human law, when that law contradicted the Divine will. His disobedience of Cæsar was not divisive. The State did not suffer from it. A spirit which is obviously benevolent and generous never divides. Selfishness divides society. The good-will, which Christ so well exhibited, unites men. It is when one follows Christ in this respect, that kindred and neighbors are gathered most closely to him, and that society about him becomes most compact. It is the God-obeying, loving spirit which Christ has communicated to those who follow him, which has given life to the social and political institutions under which we live, and are glad.

Let that spirit be ours. Let us be cheerful in doing our work. Let us, when we are wronged, give no place to vindictiveness, none to any desire but that of good will to all.

We find a fourth item of instruction with respect to our duty, in the manner of Christ, in looking for a reward for his labors and pains, not to any personal recompense, but to the good to others which was to follow that labor and pains. He never paused to ask whether his merit was recognized; whether the honor due him was rendered; whether he was to enjoy either present or posthumous fame. It was enough for him to know that the gospel he was preaching was in all time to be life to many souls; that his beneficence, maintained through all the ages, by those who should follow him, would minister good to the needy; that the poor and forlorn would be blessed by it; that those "sick and in prison" would be cheered by it, and that it would strike the iron from countless wretches unjustly bound. This was sufficient recompense for him. And such should be the only reward for well doing, which we should seek. Is toil appointed to us; are we called "to suffer for righteousness' sake?" it is enough

for us to know that what we do and bear will p bless some child of want; that some poor wretch, who may never know our name or realize his obligation to us, will be cheered by the beneficent influence which we set on foot; that the ministry of love which we discharge, will, after we are gone hence, be to parched tongues a cooling drop.

We need pursue our subject no farther. It will surely leave with us these practical thoughts: 1. We are in all things to follow Christ. There is no position in which we shall need any other rule of life, than the example of the Lord who has gone before us. When duty is demanded, we need not look up an abstract law for our guidance; we have but to ask, "What would Christ do?" And when we can answer ourselves that Christ would do this thing or that, we need not hesitate to do it ourselves, even though human law or the customs of men should forbid. ·

2. We learn how and where we are to find Christ. It is not in the temple of worship only, or in the closet, that we are to seek our Lord. Do we go where the needy are, do we seek out, to bless, the wretch who is crunching his last crust, there shall we find Christ. Do we visit the sick-bed, from which fear of contagion has driven others, and there render needed offices, behold there will Christ present Himself. Do we take the panting fugitive from slavery by the hand, and help him on his weary way, pointing him to the Northern Star, so we shall presently find that "the Man of Sorrows" is also by his side. So let us seek our Lord, going as He always did, when He was here, where the neediest are.

And, finally, let us learn from our subject to be satisfied, in all our trials and labors, to be as our Master was. Must we submit to toil- did not He labor to utmost weariness? Are we paid for our self-sacrifices by the ingratitude of those we bless was not He repulsed even by those He healed? Are we persecuted for righteousness' sake, and taunted and buffeted by those who are in power- has not He been in the judgment hall before us, and was not He crowned with thorns, and did not deriding persecutors mockingly rail at Him as the King of the Jews?

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And when we have done all and suffered all, let us rejoice to know that we shall have our reward in the healing which shall come through us to some wounded spirit, and let us go cheerfully and joyously on our way, keeping in view Him who has trod the same weary way before us, assured that as His works followed Him so our works will follow us, and that the sons of sorrow will be gladdened by us even when our hands have long mouldered to dust.

At the conclusion of the sermon a prayer was offered, the doxology sung, and the congregation dispersed, very many previously passing through the jail and shaking hands with the prisoners.

The remark was general in the crowd, that were the prisoners in the custody of the U. S. officers and Southern slave catchers, instead of the friendly care of the County Sheriff, the jail walls would present but a frail barrier between a liberating crowd and the incarcerated prisoners. The numbers and the spirit for such an undertaking were both present, but under the circumstances it was well known such a measure was not necessary.

THE INCARCERATED.-The twenty Oberlin citizens who are incarcerated in the County Jail appear to enjoy life as well as they could be expected to do under the circumstances. On Saturday they had an almost ceaseless round of callers and friends, and President Buchanan hardly holds greater levees than did these men on Saturday afternoon. A large number of ladies made the "reception room (12 feet by 18) cheerful and happy with their bright smiles and lively conversation. There was no lack of merriment and laughter, for even the "stern can enliven the routine of life Oberlin saints" with a hearty laugh when occasion calls for it. The spirits of the prisoners can be seen by the following correspondence which was written for the Plaindealer, but, being accidentally left out, was solicited by us :

A VOICE FROM THE JUG.- My good friend Gray asked me to write this, and said he was going to head it

"Hark! from the tombs,"

so I shall save him the trouble, and add for his benefit the remainder of this solemn stanza; here is the whole :—

"Hark! from the tombs a doleful sound;
My ears attend the cry;

Ye living men come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie."

Apropos to this sacred quotation, scme one in the farther part of the room is just now saying that Mr. Anderson Jennings, to whom we rascals are especially indebted for our comforta ble quarters actually is, as Attorney Belden intimated, a distinguished member of a Hard Shell. Baptist Church in the chivalrous State of Kentucky! Comments upon such a statement are quite unnecessary. Every man to his own inferences. But you are aching for items - -sensation items. How came we in jail, and how do we feel here? Came we the defendants here by order of the Honorable U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, on motion of the U. S. District-Attorney. The immediate provocation of the imprisonment seemed to be the extraordinary position taken by the defendants in declining to accept as competent to decide upon their liberty the jury which had just rendered a verdict of guilty against one of their number. This Mr. Belden thought so impertinent as to destroy all his previous confidence in us. Hitherto we have come

TY acted.

Thirty-Seven Free Citizens of Ohio consigned to a Jail because they Refused to be Tried by a Jury that had Prejudged their Cases.

The glass is passing freely around, backed by a huge pitcher. The contents are as good as the Cleveland Reservoir can furnish, but still a little behind Oberlin wells. The Deacon brought an armful of exchanges just after tea, and the genial Junior of the Leader came with as many more an hour later. Mr. Benedict had already supplied us the Evening Herald. The literarily inclined are therefore buried in news, and the rest chatter quietly between. A steady current of callers eddies through our room, leaving a cheerful sediment of anecdote, witticism, discussion, argument, querying, and comfort. Very respectable callers these are, too, without exception. Barristers, Editors, Legislators, Merchants, and Clergymen. And now comes our courteous Marshal Johnson to unite counsels with the Sheriff, the Jailer and the ladies, for the lodging of so unexpected and serious an addition to the number of the public guests. Next comes a friend with an armful of books. Then a gentleman and some ladies. Really, this is a lively evening. But, alas! every echo of our laughter rings with the hollow premonition of a sundering Union, a disaffected South, and an excited community. What shall be did? Something to quiet the distracted narves, something to throw another hoop about the parting Union, something to make still more secure the slippery two-legged property of our unfortunate southern neighbors.

But they are laughing at me for writing for the Plain-Pealer, and your readers will laugh so much more yet to see such an abolitionist, incendiary, Freedom-shrieking, Kansas-humbug, Republican, Oberlin article in your columns, that I may as well stop off. If you feel infected, fumigate yourself with sulphur, dear reader, and be in Court on Monday.

The Wellington-Oberlin rescue case assumed a new phase on Friday, and we must occupy a brief space, although our columns have of late been filled with the details of the trial of Bushnell, in reviewing the history of this matter, and in calling attention to the unprecedented and unpardonable course of District-Attorney BELDEN. We do not know how to characterize the vindictiveness, the malice, the venom, with which the Prosecution calls for the vengeance of the law upon these men.

Let us go back to the finding of these indictments, merely to remind our readers that one of the men allowed by the Prosecution to sit on the Grand Jury, was Mr. Boynton, the father of the boy, who, for twenty pieces of silver, was hired to deceive and decoy a miserable, ignorant black man into the hands of his captors. Here was the first unblushing outrage upon propriety,—yes, upon decency.

The next step in this mockery of fair and honorable dealing, was the empanelling of a Petit Jury, every man of whom was an adherent of the Democratic party, and one of them a Deputy United States Marshal. We do not say law was violated by this, but we do say - and every right-minded person will agree with usthat this was ungenerous, unfair, and an utter violation of the dignity and magnanimity becoming the professional character and position of a high public prosecutor. It was fit only for a four-corner Justice's trial on a horse warranty question.

The trial was had on the case against Bushnell, and the jury, very summarily, found him guilty. We are not disposed to impugn the integrity of these jurors: they acted under the solemnity of an oath each had the intelligence to comprehend, and the responsibility of which they ought fully to feel. How those men could say for by their verdict they have so said — that those two Kentucky slave-catchers told the truth about that power of attorney, while some half dozen of as good citizens as Lorain County contains were guilty of flat, deliberate, downright perjury, is a matter for them to settle with their own consciences. We do not arraign them for their opinion upon that subject, but proceed to the scene which ensued upon the rendition of their verdict.

The question came up as to the trial of the other cases, and the District-Attorney, in his vindictiveness, his malignity towards the reshould be tried by that same jury — a jury that maining defendants, insisted that each of them under the solemnity of their oaths, had prejudged all these cases.