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forsaken him, (2 Cor. xii. 5.) Now the blessed Jesus had never forsaken his heavenly Father: but, on the contrary, had always done those things that pleased him, (John viii. 29.) Consequently the cause of this desertion is to be sought, not in him, but in us. Alas! we indeed have forsaken our Creator, we had forfeited his precious favour, his inestimable affection; and parted with it as a thing of no worth, in order to satisfy a base passion. God may daily complain of us, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.' For we may daily observe multitudes, who, for worthless trifles, for a little money, some fleeting sensual gratification, some empty honour, forsake the fountain of all blessings, and transfer their love and confidence to the creatures. Now for the expiation of such a heinous sin, for the roparation of the honour which the Divine Majesty is thereby robbed of; the only begotten Son of the Fa ther here laments, that he is forsaken of God; and this not in mere idea, but in reality. For as Christ had taken our sins upon him, and become a curse for us; so was he forsaken by God not only outwardly, by withdrawing his protection from him and giving him up to his enemies, (Psalm iii. 2.) but likewise inwardly; the Deity suspending his blissful operations on his understanding, will, conscience, and defections, and permitting all the power of the devil, and the agonies of death, jointly to assault him. As, in quality of our surety, he was to feel our pains, to bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows, (Isaiah liii. 4.) so was his soul to be deprived, for a while, of the brightness of God's countenance, and the enjoyment of the supreme good, by which the inward sensation of the pain would have been very much abated, if not totally extinguished. On the other hand, he was to sufferall the floods of the Divine wrath to pass over him; which would have overwhelmed our Saviour's human nature, had not the Divinity within him supported it in this terrible trial. Thus, under this

grievous depression of body and soul, God remained the strength and portion of his heart, (Psalm lxxiii. 26.) so that in this extreme mental agony, he adhered to the Almighty God with undismayed confidence, wrestled with him all the time of this darkness, and did not leave him till he had obtained for us the assurance of a blessing. As our blessed Saviour produced the merit of his innocence, and his perfect filial obedience, to fill up the horrid gulf that was between God and man; he has thereby opened to us a way to gain the friendship of God, reconciled heaven and earth, and again acquired for us a right to a fellowship with God, which we had unhappily forfeited.

O my Saviour! I am astonished to see in this mirror of wrath, the effects and consequences of sin. Forgive me, who have drawn upon thee such a terrible privation of all comfort, such a dreadful feeling of the Divine wrath! May I hence learn, how terrible a thing sin is in the sight of God, and what a dreadful separation it has made between God and man. Grant that I may highly value that fellowship with God, to which thou hast obtained for me a right; and that I may highly value and rejoice in that comfortable promise of thy Father, who hath said, "I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.' Stand by me, O blessed Redeemer, in the hour of desertion! That gloomy path thou hast sanctified, by patiently bearing to be deserted by every comfort, and hast changed into a way of benediction. Now, thou knowest what it is to be thus deserted, and, as a merciful High Priest, canst have compassion on those who are in such a state. Nay, thou wast deserted for that very purpose, that I might not be eternally forsaken. If, with distressed Sion, I must some time cry out, The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten me,' (Isaiah xlix, 14.) yet assure thyself, O my soul, that thou shalt no longer be called the forsaken and hated, (Isaiah lx. 15.) but that, with St. Paul, thou wilt be able to say, ' I am persecuted, but not forsaken,' (2 Cor. iv. 9.) In such

circumstances, may thy meritorious sufferings benefit me. May thy affectionate exclamation, My God, my God, be of a strong preservative against despondency; so that my heart, even in darkness, may wait the dawn of thy heavenly light. And as, for my sake, thou hast descended so low, and wast plunged so deep in misery that thy soul was forsaken, and stripped of all consolatory influences; make me willing to be deprived of every thing for thy sake, that I may be found in thee. With these and the like good thoughts, a faithful Christian considers this last part of our Saviour's sufferings.

II. We come, in the next place, to consider the mockery of the spectators, at the words which the extreme anguish of the blessed Jesus extorted from him. Some of them who stood there, said, He calleth for Elias.' Here one may be justly astonished at the power of darkness, which displays itself in this deriding speech. These scoffers must certainly have been Jews; since the heathens knew nothing of Elias. But the Jews, at that time, had a great many false notions concerning that prophet; for they imagined that before the coming of the Messiah, he would be sent from heaven, whither he had been taken up alive; and that he would come again upon the earth, and perform several remarkable actions. Now when they heard the crucified Jesus crying out in such plaintive accents, Eli, Eli, though they well knew that in these words of the Psalmist, (Psalm xxii. 1.) he addressed himself to the mighty God of heaven, they immediately perverted his words, and of Eli, made Elias. Thus they scoffingly charge him with imploring the assistance of that prophet, so eminent for his miracles; nay they pretend, that in his distress he departed from the living God, and placed his confidence in the creature. Consequently they insinuate, that he died as an idolator, and therefore went down to the grave with the curse of God upon him; it being said by the prophet, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,

and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord,' (Jer. xvii. 5.)

Alas! there must be in the human heart an unfathomable abyss of wickedness. These impious scoffers were, for three hours successively, shackled with the bands of darkness; and had seen and felt the Divine displeasure in the extraordinary miracle, whereby the light of the sun was extinguished: Yet, no sooner did the light begin to return; scarce were they recovered from their fear and consternation, but they renew their former insolence, and make a mock of our blessed Saviour's doleful cries. I tremble to think that the seed of such impiety lurks in the human heart. I see many who have no sooner risen from the bed of death, and are scarce recovered from a dangerous fit of sickness, or narrowly escaped with their lives from some imminent danger, but they immediately return to their drunkenness, voluptuousness, and sensuality; to their pride, deceit, lying, mocking, and profane jesting. Be merciful, O my Saviour, to such unhappy men, concerning whom thou canst not but complain, 'I chastise them, but they feel it not;? and grant that thy judgments, whether seen, heard, or felt, may make a deep and lasting impression on my soul!

But O my Redeemer, if I should be treated as thou wast on the cross; if insolent men should mock and deride me, and pervert the words of the mournful lamentations which grief and pain may extort from me; grant that I may think on thy patience and resignation under such sufferings. Ever preserve me from the impiety of adding to the pains of the afflicted, by mockery and derision; on the contrary, give me a tender and compassionate heart, that I may weep with. those that weep, and sympathise with the distresses of others.

III. In the third place, we are to consider the painful thirst which our blessed Lord endured. How must the arrows of the Almighty have, as it were,

drank up our Saviour's blood, when he thus complained of thirst! How must his soul have laboured, during the three hours of darkness, and his body, already exhausted by the loss of so much blood, have been totally deprived of its strength, so that his tongue claved to the roof of his mouth!

Thanks be to thee, O blessed Jesus, who wast so earnest in the work of my redemption, as to forget to eat or drink; labouring in that arduous task, till thou wast quite spent, and all thy vital juices were in a manner exhausted. By this thy painful thirst, thou hast atoned for my relinquishing the fountain of living waters, and delivered me from eternal thirst and want. Thou hast by thy suffering opened a way for penitent sinners into paradise, to the water of life which issues from the throne of God, and to the rivers of heavenly pleasures.

But here a pious soul may say, could my Saviour, who was now taken up in accomplishing the arduous work of my redemption, feel any other thirst besides that of his body? Yes certainly, his soul, like a hunted stag, thirsted after the springs of God's comforts. It passionately longed to see his enlivening countenance, which now, for a while, had been as it were hid from him. Nay, his benevolent soul also thirsted after my soul, and its eternal salvation. Hast thou, O my Redeemer, thus desired my happiness? How desirous should I be, in return, of thy grace! Therefore, as the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God, (Psalm xlii. 1.) Kindle in me an ardent thirst after thy righteousness; and, on the other hand, quench and deaden in me all thirst after the pleasures of the world, after its honours and riches. For amidst all these, one is like a thirsty man, who dreameth, and, as the prophet says, 'behold he drinketh; but he awaketh, and behold he is faint,' (Isaiah xxix. 8.) Give me to drink of the water which thou freely givest to the thirsty; and at last, O my Saviour, lead me to those