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God to Abraham when he prepared to sacrifice to him his son. And shall not we, heavenly Father, acknowledge thy love when for our salvation thou givest thine eternal Son to such infinite tortures. "Behold how he loved him," was the exclamation of the Jews when they beheld Jesus weeping over the tomb of Lazarus ; in how much stronger a manner does he attest his charity in Gethsemane, where he sheds tears of blood. Courage then, christian soul! confident of the affection of thy Redeemer, what needest thou dread? By his agony he has taken from you all cause of sorrow; his griefs will fill you with joy, his fears with assurance-He has suffered for you, who shall condemn you? As he is able, so he proves himself to be willing to dispense to you every thing that shall conduce to your greatest happiness and final salvation. He will "make all things work together for your good:" his agony attests that his love to you is too great to deny you any real blessing. Courage, christian soul ! the recollection of the agony of Jesus will support you amidst all your distresses; though you are poor, sick, persecuted, surrounded by enemies, the remembrance of Jesus in the garden will cheer you, and you will rejoice that you are "counted worthy to suffer with him," that you may also be glorified together." Courage, christian soul! this is a source of joy which even the king of terrors cannot wrest from you. In the last struggle of dissolving nature, when the vanishing world shall be unable to afford

you support, you shall fix your closing eyes upon the. agonized Saviour expiating for your offences, the accusations of conscience shall be silenced; all your afflictions shall cease, and you shall pass from the contemplation of the tortured Jesus, to the arms of Jesus reigning and triumphing in glory.

3. Finally, what can more strongly illustrate at the same time the infinite odiousness of sin and the infinite justice of God, than this view of Jesus in Gethsemane? You know that of himself he is essential holiness; that clothed in his divine glories he was the object of adoration,, and the source of felicity to all the blest in heaven; that whilst he tabernacled upon earth he knew sin only to combat and destroy it; that to him that illustrious testimony was given, which re-echoed along the banks of Jordan and resounded on the top of Tabor, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;" yet no sooner did he undertake "to bear the sins of man in his own body," than the sword of almighty justice was drawn against even him and was dyed with his heart's blood. My brethren, if God spared not his own Son, what will be our condemnation if we continue impenitent. If we remain without an interest in the Saviour, what asylum, what city of refuge can we find to shelter us against that justice which is so powerful, that it crushes a God-man-so holy, that it punishes in him even imputed sins-so severe, that nothing but his blood and his death could appease

it-so inflexible, that it regarded not the dignity even of the Redeemer.-These are dreadful thoughts; stifle them not, I beseech you, by the cares and delights of the world; you may lead yourselves to forget them now; but they will return with awful force upon your bed of death. At this last hour when every thing will abandon you, when all human succours shall become useless to you, when those delusive blessings which you enjoyed upon earth shall be torn from you, then the sufferings of Christ which might have been your resource, your refuge, your strength, shall fill you with the most lively fears and dismay. You will shudder when you consider this Saviour sacrificed by the same justice which will then cite you to its tribunal; nothwithstanding all the efficacy of a divine blood, it will give no hope to you: and when your soul, torn at last from your body, shall fall defenceless and polluted before the throne of the holy God, what, ah! what will then be your destiny? what will be the inflictions of that justice which here manifested its power and severity by wounding the Saviour? of that justice which will consider the agonies of Christ as aggravating your guilt, and impressing more deeply on your soul the seal of eternal reprobation.

SERMON VII.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

A SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSE.

LUKE xxiii. 33.

“And when they were come to the place that is called Calvary, there they crucified him."

PAUL, the greatest of the apostles, determined to know nothing except Christ crucified; and even Moses and Elias, when they descended from the abodes of bliss and appeared on the mount of transfiguration, conversed of the decease which the Saviour was to accomplish at Jerusalem. Did each one of you then, my brethren, possess the wisdom and piety of the apostles, the extended capacities and the ardent zeal of glorified immortals, I could find no properer subject on which to address you, than the sufferings of Jesus; I could do nothing of more importance than to elevate the cross in your presence, and shew you the mighty Redeemer extended upon it.

The sacrifice of his Saviour, is an object which the christian should never suffer to escape from his

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remembrance; it should at all times be the theme of his meditations, for it is the source of all his comforts, the foundation of all his hopes, the most powerful incentive to the performance of his duties. His mind should therefore often be fixed upon Golgotha, and the doleful tragedy that was there exhibited. But especially on such an occasion as the present, when we have met together to commemorate the dying love of Jesus, nothing can be more proper, than to fix our thoughts and meditations on those final woes which at once most illustriously attested his love and consummated the sacrifice of our redemption. And this is the subject to which our attention is called, for the sole design and the whole division of this discourse, is

I. To review the final sufferings of the Saviour, and

II. To shew you some of the duties, and present you with some of the consolations which result from the contemplation of these sufferings.

1. Then, we are to review the final sufferings of the Saviour. We confine ourselves to these last scenes of woe, both because our time will not permit us to detail to you all the afflictions to which Jesus submitted during his continuance on earth, and also, because they of themselves are sufficient to awaken all our sympathies, and to kindle our holiest

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