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the spirits of darkness were suffered to prevail. The rage of malice was inflamed to the uttermost, and the infuriated crowds cry out with savage eagerness, Crucify him, crucify him, his blood be on us and our children.'

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And now the cruel mockery begins. Delivered to the brutal soldiery of Herod, the meek but majestic Sufferer is stripped of his own raiment, that he may be decked in a purple robe, crowned with thorns, and exhibited with a reed in his hand, as the false pretender to royalty. His persecutors blindfold him, and, growing wanton in barbarity, strike him with the palms of their hands, saying, ' Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is it that smote thee?' Tired at length of their demoniac sport, they return him to Pilate, who orders him to be scourged; and then-laceratedbruised-bleeding-they place the cross upon his shoulders, and commence their way to Calvary. Faint and exhausted with bitter anguish of body and of soul, he staggers and falls beneath the burden. But nothing moves the spirit of persecution to relent. They transfer the cross to Simon the Cyrenian, and continue their road to Golgotha, where two thieves are provided to be the companions of his last sufferings. Patient-silent- as a Lamb dumb before the shearers, he opens not his mouth.' Fixed to the accursed tree, nailed through his hands and feet, and hanging in agony between heaven and earth, while insults, and mockery, and scorn, from every side, are heaped upon him, he raises his dying eyes and utters the touching supplication, Father forgive them, they know not what they do.' The measure of suffering is full. The last drop has fallen into the cup of bitterness. IT IS FINISHED,' saith the Saviour; he bows his head and gives up the Ghost.'

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My brethren, there is nothing which proves so strongly the awful depravity of the human heart, as this melan

choly history; and nothing ought to humble us more deeply than the fact, that we can ever read or listen to it, without one tear of sympathy, one throb of emotion.

2. Thus closed the sufferings of our Lord under Pontius Pilate thus was he crucified and slain. It remains that we show how accurately, so far, the language of the Prophets was fulfilled; and this we shall endeavor to perform by considering, first, the types; and secondly, the express predictions.

The first remarkable type may be found in the sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham. And here several circumstances of the type and the antitype correspond most closely. Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,' saith the Lord, and offer him up as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah.' Abraham obeys. Isaac was the child of promise in whose seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. He carries the wood on which he was to be laid as a burnt offering, and willingly consents to be the lamb provided by the Lord. In all this, we see clearly prefigured the gracious act of God the Father, who withheld not his Son, his only Son,' but freely delivered him up for us all.' Christ was the well beloved Seed whom God sent to bless the world, by turning away every one of us from our iniquities,' and restoring us to the image and favor of the Lord. He willingly consented to be the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world. 'Lo,' saith he, 'I come to do thy will, O God.' He bore the cross, the wood on which he was to be sacrificed; and the Mount Moriah on which Isaac was offered by the obedient intention of his father Abraham, was the same Mount Calvary, as is well believed, on which the Son of God was actually slain.

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A second type of great significancy presented itself, when

the fiery serpents bit the Israelites in the wilderness, as a punishment for their disobedience, and much people died. Moses, having interceded for the unhappy sufferers, was commanded to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.' This type our Lord expressly applied to himself, when he said to Nicodemus, 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life.' The image which was thus erected, at the command of God, to destroy the deadly power of the fiery serpent, represented him who was ordained, as the seed of the woman, to bruise the serpent's head,' that is, to destroy the power of Satan. Its elevation on a pole, prefigured Christ's being lifted up on the cross. Its form being in the resemblance of that which it was intended to destroy, may signify our Saviour's appearing in the likeness' (as saith the Apostle) of sinful flesh, that he might condemn sin in the flesh,' and the cure being effected by the Israelites only looking upon it, represents the blessed healing of the soul performed by looking unto Jesus, with the eye of faith.

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A third type, of yet closer correspondence, is displayed to us in the paschal lamb. For this lamb was to be without blemish; it was to be slain by the congregation of Israel; it was to be roasted whole, in performing which, it was common amongst the Jews, as we are told, to employ the figure of a cross; its blood was to be sprinkled on the door-posts of their dwellings, to preserve them from the destroying angel; not a bone of it was to be broken; and it was to be eaten without delay, so that none of it should be left until the morning. Thus, as the lamb was without

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blemish, Christ, the Lamb of God, was without sin. As the paschal lamb was slain by the whole assembly of the congregation, so Christ, our Passover,' was slain by the whole multitude of the Jews. As the blood of the lamb was appointed to save them from the destroying angel, so is the blood of Christ to save us from eternal destruction. The roasting of the lamb by fire, and on the cross, points to the awful agonies of Christ, both in body and soul. The suffering none of the lamb to remain until the morning, may signify that the body of Christ was not suffered to remain on the cross until the next day; beside which, the flesh of the lamb was effectually secured, by this means, from any taint of corruption, thus typifying the flesh of Christ, which saw no corruption.' The bones of the lamb were not to be broken, and neither were those of the crucified Lamb of God; while the eating of the paschal lamb signified that spiritual nourishment of which the Saviour spake, when he said, 'I am the bread from heaven; if any man eateth this bread, he shall live for ever.'

But the time would fail us, if we were to notice the tenth part of those types of the death and the atonement of our blessed Sacrifice, which the Mosaic institutions contain in their ceremonial law. Suffice it to say, that the whole of this law pointed to Christ. The whole tabernacle service was designed as an impressive and majestic symbol of good things to come, and a lively and affecting annunciation of the great truth, that without shedding of blood, there could be no remission of sins,'-no forgiveness of the sinner. Hence every transgression against the law had its sacrifice of blood, its emblem of death, its atonement offering. Hence the transfer of sin to the victim, signified by the laying the hands of the priest upon its head, while the sins of the congregation were confessed over it. Hence the

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effect of an acceptable atonement, expressed by the victim's bearing away the sins of the people into a land not inhabited. And hence, in every page of this Divine system, we behold the guilt of man, the justice of God, the inviolable sanctity of his laws, and the precious expedient of his mercy. The sinner must die-the law must have its course; but infinite love appoints the death of Christ as the price of his restoration, and since earth could only furnish types and shadows, the promised Redeemer is sent down from heaven. Thus the Deity himself provides the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. Thus, and thus only, by the sufferings and death of Christ, 'mercy and truth have met together.' The righteousness of God and our peace have embraced each other. The justice of the Holy One is preserved inviolate, and the sinner is saved.

Proceeding, in the second place, to the express predictions of the sufferings and death of Christ, we may commence by observing the Prophecy of David in the twenty second Psalm, written one thousand years before the appearance of the Saviour: 'My God, my God,' saith the Psalmist, 'why hast thou forsaken me?' Here are the very words which our dying Lord uttered upon the cross. I am a reproach of men, and despised of the people,' saith the Psalmist; all they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.' Here are the very actions and the very words used towards the blessed Jesus by the infuriated Jews, for they that passed by,' saith St. Matthew, 'reviled him, wagging their heads,' and the chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, 'He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have

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