nefs, till the dreadful Work was accomplished; till He was baptifed with the Baptifm of bis Sufferings, bathed in Blood, and plunged in Death..

By this moft meritorious Obedience and Death, what did He not deferve? What did He not procure? He procured those inestimable Bleffings, the Pardon of Sin, and Reconciliation with GOD. Procured them (O! Love unmerited and unmeafurable!) for Prodigals, for Traitors, for Rebels.

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To this it is owing, that We, who were Enemies against GOD, may call the KING of Heaven our Father; may have free Accefs to Him in all our Difficulties; and may hope to reign with Him in everlasting Glory.

A

Was ever Goodness like this Goodnefs? Were ever Bleffings comparable to thefe Bleffings? or purchafed

Limbs in Blood, but cleanse our Souls from Sin.-O οχλοι, fays the fame Hiftorian, συνεχεσι σε και αποθλίβεσι, Luke viii. 45.

Codrus, it is true, devoted Himfelf to Death for the Athenians; and Curtius threw Himself into the yawning Gulf, for the Prefervation of the Romans.But thefe died, being mere Creatures, and guilty Creatures: whereas, the dying JESUS was perfectly innocent, and fu̟premely glorious; "was very GOD, of very GOD."

Thefe died, only a little before their Time; they paid a Debt, for which the inevitable Law of Mortality would foon have diftrained. But CHRIST died, though He had Life in Himfelf; He furrendred, what was wholly his own; and what None could have taken from Him, had He not voluntarily refigned it.-Thefe died for their valuable Friends, for their affectionate Relations, for their native Country: but CHRIST died for Slaves, for Enemies, for the Ungodly.-They died an honourable Death: but CHRIST fubmitted to the most ignominious Execution; CHRIST expired under the Imputation of borrid Crimes; CHRIST bled and died in the Form of an

execrable

chafed with fuch a Price?-Hide, hide your diminifhed Heads, ye little tranfitory Donations of Silver and Gold The Riches of a thoufand Mines, bestowed to feed the Hungry and clothe the Naked, are the most contemptible Trifles, if mentioned with the Charity of the teaching, the healing, the bleeding JESUS. Kingdoms given away in Alms, if viewed with this infinitely noble Beneficence, would make juft the fame Figure, as a Spark from the Summer hearth, under the potent and boundless. Blaze of Noon. This is indeed Love that paffeth Knowledge *974

Amidst all thefe Miracles of Magnificence and of Love (any one of which would have intitled Him to univerfal Admiration, and everlasting Honour) how humble was our SAVIOUR! He afcribes nothing to Himself. His FATHER has the Glory of all his marvelous Acts. O Humility. Virtue dear to the moft High GOD, and pe

culiarly

execrable Malefactor. In all these Inftances, as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, fo is CHRIST's Love greater than their Love; his Philanthropy fuperior to their Patriotifm.c

Epb. iii. 19. This Expreffion, as alfo the principal Circumftance of Superiority hinted in the preceding Note, are founded on the Divinity of our LORD. And indeed the Expreffion is fcarce juftifiable, the Affertion is hardly true, upon any other Suppofition. A Creature dying for a Creature, is, though great, yet not incomprebenfible Goodnefs. But, when We view the Sufferings of CHRIST, and the Bleffings of Redemption furrounded with all the Splendor of the DEITY; they dazzle our Understanding, and fill Us with holy Afto-. nishment. They appear to be the Effects of a Love, never to be spoke of but in the Language of Wonder, never to be thought of but with an Extasy of Delight.

culiarly amiable in Men-never didft Thou appear in fo charming à Drefs, or so striking a Light,

At his Birth, not accommodated with an imperial Palace, or a Bed of State; but lodged in à Stable, and laid in a Manger.-As He advanced in Years, not attended with a royal Equipage, or fupplied from a royal Revenue; but labouring with his own Hands, and earning his Bread by the Sweat of his Brow. When He entered upon his minifterial Öffice, not the leaft oftentatious Parade appeared, in the Performance of all his wonderful Works. His Manner was as modeft, as his Power was miraculous. So far, fo very far from affecting the Acclamations of the Populace, that He often impofed Silence on those unspeakably indebted Lips, which were eager to overflow with Praise, and would fain have been the Trumpets of his Fame.

Though a Voice from Heaven proclaimed Him, The BELOVED of his Almighty FATHER; He difdained not to own the ignoble Character of the Carpenter's Son *. Though PRINCE of the Kings of the Earth, He condefcended to wash the. Feet of mean Fishermen, and to be in this World, as One that ferveth +. Though PROPRIETOR of the Univerfe, and LORD of all, He was content to be more deftitute than the Fowls of the Air, or the Foxes of the Defart ‡: more deftitute (astonishing Abafement!) than the most infignificant and most hated Animals.

Grandeur, We find, is apt to beget Expectations. of fuperior Regard. Confequently, gives a keener Edge to every Affront, and renders the Mind more tenderly fenfible of every Difrespect. But our LORD's

* Matt. xiii. 55. † Luke xxii. 27. Matt. viii. 20.

LORD's Meekness was as great as his Dignity; and that, through a Series of fuch unfufferable Provocations, as were equaled by nothing, but the tranfcendent Perfections of his Perfon, and the Sweetness of his forgiving Grace.

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When ridiculed and affronted, He calmly bore, and kindly overlooked the Infult.-When contradicted by petulant and prefumptuous Sinners, He endured, with the utmoft Serenity of Temper, their unreafonable Cavils, and their obftinate Perverseness. When his Invitations, his most endearing Invitations, were ungratefully and stubbornly rejected; instead of remitting, He renewed them; and, with ftill warmer Affection, importuned his Hearers, not to forego their own Felicity.-When all the winning Arts of Perfuafion were ineffectual, He added his Tears to his flighted Intreaties; and lamented as a Brother, when scornfully repulfed as a Teacher.

When his bloody Sweat tinged the Stones; when his bitter Cries pierced the Clouds, and were enough to awaken the very Rocks into Compaffion; his Difciples flept; stupidly and repeatedly flept. Did their divine but flighted MASTER refent the Unkindness? Did he refufe to admit an Excufe for their Difobedience and Neglect? Yea, He made their Excufe; and that the most tender and gracious imaginable; The Spirit is willing, but the Flesh is weak. Admirable, matchlefs Candour! When his Enemies had nailed Him to the Crofs, as the bafeft Slave, and moft flagitious Malefactor; when they were glutting their Malice, with his Sorrows, his Torments, and his Blood; nay, when they

Matt. xxvi. 41.

they spared not to infult and revile Him, evenin his laft expiring Agonies; far, very far from being exafperated, this HERO of Heaven repaid all their Contempt and Barbarity, with the moft fervent Supplications in their Behalf. FATHER, forgive them, was his Prayer: for, they know not what they do, was his Plea. Divine, adorable Compaffion!

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Nor was his Refignation less exemplary than his Meeknefs. He went out to meet Afflictions, when they came in his FATHER's Name, and commiffioned from his FATHER's Hand. He gave, without the leaft Reluctance, his Back to the Smiters t, and hid not his Face from Shame and Spitting. Though his Soul, his very Soul was penetrated with the keenest Senfations of Anguish'; yet, no impatient Thought difcompofed his Mind, no murmuring Word forced its Way from his Lips. FATHER, not my Will, but thine be done ‡, was his Language; when the Sorrows of Death compaffed Him, and Pains, inexpreffibly feverer than the Pangs of Diffolution, came upon Him. When they gaped upon Him with their Mouth, and smote Him upon the Cheek reproachfully. When his Face was foul with Spitting, and on his Eye-lids was the Shadow of Death. When GOD delivered Him to the Ungodly, and turned Him over into the Hands of the Wicked. Yea, when the

Luke xxiii. 34.

+ The Punishment of the Scourge, was fo dreadful a Part of our LORD's Sufferings, that it is once and again foretold, by the Prophet Isaiah. I gave my Back to the Smters, 1.6. With his Stripes We are healed, liii. 5. Horace, who knew it perfectly well, and by whose Countrymen it was inflicted, ftyles it The horrible Scourge; Horribili fecere Flagello. Luke xxii. 42.