Pilate's soldiers; the lingering tortures of the cross, the ingratitude of the insulting multitude, and the revilings even of the malefactors. We should recollect likewise, that this was the hour and power of darkness and what gloomy imaginations, and detested thoughts might be presented to the mind of Christ, by the subtle and energetick influence of evil spirits, may be best conceived by those who " are "not ignorant of their devices." "He suffered, "being tempted, that he might be able to succour "them that are tempted:" and the assaults of Satan in the desert may convince us, that he would do his utmost, when permitted, to bruise the heel of Him, who came to crush his head and destroy his works.

But we are also taught, that "it pleased the LORD "to bruise him, and to put him to grief: and to "make his soul an offering for sin." Awake, O "sword, against my Shepherd, and against the Man "that is my Fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite "the Shepherd.*" "He spared not his own Son, "but delivered him up for us all." And when we compare our Lord's agony in the garden, and his exclamation on the cross, with the conduct of his own disciples under the severest tortures: we must be convinced that his cup was embittered inconceivably more than theirs, and that consolations and supports were vouchsafed them, of which he was wholly left destitute. We cannot explain this subject.

* Zech. xiii. 7.

We may be certain, that remorse of conscience, despair, and the prevalence of hateful passions, which will eternally increase the misery of condemned signers, could have no place in the mind of the holy Jesus: but whatever pain, shame, wrath, curse, agony, or misery, he could possibly endure; whatever the justice of God, the honour of the law, and the instruction of the universe in the evil and desert of sin, required; all this the Redeemer suffered, till he could say with his expiring breath, "It is "finished."

It should likewise be remembered, that our Lord most willingly submitted to all these sufferings, from love to our souls and regard to the glory of God. No man had power to take away his life: the prince of this world had no part in him; no personal transgression exposed him to the sentence of death; but "love, that passeth knowledge," moved him to give himself a propitiatory Sacrifice for our sins! The meekness, patience, and persevering fortitude, with which our Lord suffered, should not pass unnoticed. "He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened "not his mouth." "Christ also suffered for us,

leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again: "when he suffered he threatened not.*"'

The circumstances attending his crucifixion also form a proper subject of meditation. The sun was

miraculously darkened, as a token of the divine displeasure, and an emblem of the gloom which overspread the Sun of righteousness. Yet, in this deep humiliation of the Lord of glory, he rescued one perishing sinner from the jaws of destruction, and took him with him to paradise. When he expired, "the veil of the temple was rent;" the rocks were torn by an earthquake, the graves were opened, and the preparation made for the resurrection of those saints, who were appointed to grace the triumph of the rising and ascending Saviour. For the event of his sufferings in his personal exaltation; and the complete salvation, in body and soul, of all the unnumbered myriads, which ever did or ever shall believe in him, is the last particular, to which our present meditations should be directed.-But it is time for us to proceed,

IV. To consider the peculiar instructions, to be derived from these contemplations.

The worth of our immortal souls is most emphatically taught us by the cross of Christ. "What " is a man profited if he gain the whole world and "lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in ex

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change for his soul?" Could any one literally gain the whole universe, as the price of iniquity, and keep it with every imaginable advantage during the term of human life; it could neither preserve his body from the grave, nor his soul from eternal misery! "It costs more to redeem the soul: that must be let "alone for ever." View the Saviour agonizing in Gethsemane, and expiring on the cross! Did he endure these unknown sufferings to preserve men

from temporal poverty, pain, or death? By no means: but to deliver them from the wrath to come; where "their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Who can doubt then, that an immortal soul is man's principal treasure? It is possessed by the meanest, and it infinitely exceeds in value all the distinctions of the mightiest. He who made the soul knows its worth; and he deemed it so valuable, that he ransomed our souls from ruin, at the price of his own blood. Shall we not then deem the salvation of them our grand concern, and regard all interfering objects as unworthy our notice in the comparison? If we should never succeed in any one thing all our lives, except in this chief concern; our felicity will be congratulated by angels to eternity: if we should prosper in all other respects, and fail here; our folly and misery will be lamented and execrated for ever.

Our children also have immortal souls. Does then our love of them induce us to use every means of providing for their comfort in this world; and shall it not influence us to proportionable earnestness in seeking their salvation? O cruel and infatuated parents, who take excessive care about the bodies of your children, and leave their precious souls to perish everlastingly for want of diligent instruction; or perhaps even help to murder them, by indulging their sinful dispositions, and setting them a bad example! -Nay, let us further learn to consider, that our relatives, neighours, and enemies, have immortal souls. Because they are so valuable, "He that winneth souls is wise:" let us then think nothing too much to ex

pend or attempt, in promoting that grand object, for which the Son of God shed his precious blood.

But, viewed in this glass, how vain does the world and all things in it appear! "God forbid that I should "glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ;

by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto "the world." What are empires, or the loss of them? What renown, or infamy? What affluence or poverty? What the most exquisite pleasure or torturing pain, when put in competition with eternal happiness, or misery? or when viewed in connexion with the cross of Christ? Had he not so loved us, all possible prosperity could not have prevented our everlasting misery: if we believe in him, all possible adversity cannot prevent our everlasting happiness. Let us not then envy the wealthy and successful, but pity and pray for them : let us not covet worldly things, repine for want of them, or lament the loss of them: let us not join in the vain mirth of condemned sinners, or be satisfied with any thing short of the joy of God's salvation.

By contemplating the cross of Christ, we may learn the perfect justice and holiness of God, the excellency of his law, and the desert of sinners. In the condemnation of fallen angels and wicked men, and in many other awful ways, the Lord hath proclaimed his abhorrence of iniquity, and his determination to magnify his holy law: yet his mercy not being visible in those events, it might have been thought, either that he was incapable of shewing mercy, or that in exercising mercy he would abate from the demands of justice, and connive at transgression. But the subject before us, well understood, confutes all such vain imagina