from ourselves. What is man, with all his sincerity, without the blood of Christ?

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Ver. 19. His wife sent unto him, &c.-Judas, the betrayer, and Pilate, the judge of Christ, bore witness to his innocence. Here is another testimony added by a dream from heaven.

Ver. 20. But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude, &c. And God suffered them to prevail; so that the multitude, which just before was for Christ, now clamoured as vehemently for his crucifixion.

Ver. 23. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? Jesus was silent in his own defence. Observe, I beseech you, how God supplied this defect, by making Pilate repeatedly speak up for his innocence; which was a more convincing testimony of it to all ages, than his own protestation would have been.

Ver. 24. I am innocent of the blood of this just person Not by washing his hands, when he acted against clear knowledge and conviction.

·Ver. 25. His blood be on us, and on our children. It was, terribly, soon after. It will be, in the saving virtue of it, at their conversion. It is now upon us for good, through mercy, by their rejection of it. O! let us fly to it! If we do not seek for healing in the blood of Christ, we join with the Jews in this curse.

Ver. 28. And they put on him a scarlet robe.-Cruel mockery! patient Jesus! proud man that will bear nothing!

Ver. 29. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head. This would cause exquisite pain in so tender a part, especially as the thorns were struck into his temples. Still we do not hear a word of complaint from him.

Ver. 32. Him they compelled to bear his cross.-He bore it himself at the first, but now probably was so faint

and weary that he could bear it no longer. But though the flesh was weak, the spirit was willing to the last.

Ver. 34. He would not drink. It was a stupefying potion, and he would not lose the use of his reason, nor diminish the sense of his sufferings.

LECTURE.

THE chapter of Christ's death leads me to speak of the benefit and necessity of it, and to declare to you the great point of Christian belief. It is that "Christ died for our sins;" it is that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;" it is that " by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified," made us clean in God's sight, purged our sin, paid the price of our redemption with his blood, blotted out the hand-writing that was against us, and bound us over to death, removed our curse by taking it upon himself, satisfied the justice of God, and made it our friend; so that we need not have any more distressing fears, or trouble of conscience, on account of sin, than if it had never been committed; and when we put our souls to answer the question, What must we do to be saved? we may boldly plead the death of Christ as our atonement, offer it to God as a full discharge from the guilt and punishment of our sin, and assure ourselves on the warrant of his word, a thousand times repeated for our comfort and joy of faith, that we shall never be called to account for the debt which has been paid, and which God has accepted at the hands of Christ for our justification. Oh! what a glorious, safe condition are we brought into by the free grace and mercy of God, and how happy should we be, if we were established in the belief of it! rejoicing only in Christ, fixing our eyes

steadily upon him as our ransom, and, through him, looking on God as a reconciled Father. Remember that out of Christ he is a consuming fire; and that if you presume to approach him without an interest in Christ, though you make ever so many resolutions of amendment, and weary yourselves to death with a law work, all your endeavours, works, and services, will be rejected. Think what you mean when you say in the creed, "I believe in Jesus;" and if you would be believers indeed, let it be your firm persuasion, that as God laid on him the iniquity of us all, so he made our peace by the blood of his cross, and that, if we trust to any thing else for our reconciliation with God, we deny the necessity, and can have no share in the merit of his death. You will say, Must we not then repent, and live to God in obedience? Yes, we must repent or perish;" but take notice withal, that we can have no right knowledge of sin, nor true repentance for it, till we see so much evil in it, and such a curse cleaving to us with it, as no endeavours of ours can remove. So long as we are insensible of the desert of it, and of our own inability to make satisfaction to the justice of God for it, our repentance will, of course, be as short as the false measure we take of it. See it in the sufferings of Christ; see it making his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death; see it forcing a bloody sweat from him; see it nailing him to the cross; hear him crying out, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me," and you will know better what it is, and what repentance it calls for.

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And as for obedience, if it is serving God without fear, with freedom of spirit, and the affection of dutiful children, we can never attain to any thing like it but in the way of believing that "we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." The foundation of all we do must be laid in this faith, and it is the excellence of it to turn our hearts and wills to God in the truth of a pure obedi

ence. It sets us free in all respects, both from the condemnation and slavery of sin; and if you were once well grounded in the sense of God's love in Christ, and prized it as your dearest treasure, I can tell you with great certainty what you would, and what you would not do. You would not live in known sin; you would not wilfully break any of the commandments; you would not be strangers to your own hearts; you would read the Scripture to know what God would have you to do; you would pray daily for a blessing upon your souls; you would worship God in your families; you would attend regularly upon the church service on Sundays, and many of you, who can, at other times; and all come constantly to the sacrament, to see Christ, as it were, in the very act of dying for you. Alas! my friends, you have no such appearance; you know this is not your state'; in the main you are fearless of sin, remiss in the duties of your religion, and have cold hearts for God. And I now tell you the reason of all this; it is because you have no faith, or, which is all one, no heartfelt sense of the great blessing of a Saviour, nor thankfulness to God for redemption by him.

My brethren, the truth of God for the life of our souls is this Christ has wrought a great salvation for us, and if ever we are made partakers of it, we must know that it is altogether his work, and receive it by faith as a mercy and gift. He suffered what we should have suffered, and did what we should do; he died to save us from the everlasting death of our souls and bodies, because nothing else could; he paid a perfect obedience to the law that it might be imputed to us, for "he is the head of the church, and the Saviour of the body," so that in union with him, and as his members, we are in the sight of God what he is. This, I say, is the glorious mystery, and great leading point of

our religion, and in this belief we have confidence towards God, and the Spirit witnessing with our spirit, that we are his children. But know also, that faith has a work to do under Christ, and that work is obedience. He says to every heart where he comes, Keep my commandments;" and when his love is there, it sweetly constrains us to live unto him that died for us, and to walk worthy of God, who hath called us unto his kingdom and glory. So walk, and let this faith perfect your repentance, keep you stedfast in obedience, and be working at the root of all you do, that you may be his disciples indeed; for as Christ has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, even so he is theirs in all the power of his love, with all the merits of his life and death.

PRAYER.

Blessed God, who hast delivered us from the curse of sin and everlasting death, by the precious death of thy dear Son; grant, we beseech thee, that we may thankfully receive this thy inestimable benefit, and evermore rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, as our only Saviour and Redeemer. Let thy word, "that by grace we are saved, through faith," be assuredly believed by all that hear it, and let thy peace take possession of every heart. Convince us of sin, convince us of our misery and helplessness in sin, and make the blood of atonement our only refuge in the day of our trouble for sin. And, O Lord, when we are refreshed with the sense of thy mercy, let faith have its perfect work. Renew us by thy grace, purge us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, keep the holy fire of love burning in our souls, and bring us in the way of obedience to thy kingdom of glory, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.