of a common malefactor. The head which deferved to wear a crown of glory, and which now wears it, as a mark of their contempt, they crown with thorns. Happy woman! thou, who pouredft a box of precious ointment on this facred head, fhalt ever be mentioned with honour, and this fhall ever be recorded as a memorial of thy name; while the crucifiers of the Lord of life fhall be confidered from generation to generation, as objects of the highest abhorrence. They renew their former infults. Having clothed him with the mock enfigns of royalty, they bend the knee before him, faying, Hail, King of the Jews. They fpit upon him, and take the reed which they had put in his hand, and fmite him on the head. Then be gave his back to the fmiters, and his cheek to them that pulled off the hair; he did not hide his face from Shame and Spitting',

At last, with relentless hearts, they bring him to Calvary. But who is able to relate what paffed at Calvary? A cross is erected, a punishment for the most atrocious criminals, and criminals of the lowest rank, remarkable

markable too for the exquifite pain it inflicted, and for its long continuance. Here they fix the innocent Jefus between two men who were to receive the due reward of their deeds. Now his lovers and his friends ftand aloof, his kinfmen ftand afar off, and there is none near to help. Is not the hatred of his enemies now fatiated? Sufpended between Heaven and earth, ready to die, and yet patient under the calamity, is he yet an object of derifion? When the golden bowl is breaking, and the filver cord is loofing, is this a feafon for infult? Cruelty, be thou ever my abhorrence, and with thy fons let my foul never partake! In this very extremity they mock and revile him. O all ye that pafs by! here humanity calls for your pity. Here ye may fhed the generous tear; and the world will applaud it. But paffengers join with his crucifiers and deride him. He is thirsty, and the foldiers present him with vinegar. His fide they pierce with a fpear the very parting of foul and body they endeavour to render more infupportable than it generally is. Yet what a benign

and

Pf. xxxviii. 17.

and merciful look was that, and what an earnest petition to his Father? Surely a prayer for his deliverance. No. O inimitable love! O divine charity! It is a prayer for his crucifiers. And now his foul is fo overcaft, his profpect of the end of impenitent finners so striking, his concern for them fo great, his love of mankind fo infinite, and his Father's wrath fo totally overwhelming, that it is impoffible to exprefs his condition. Can the Father of goodness withdraw his aid from his own immaculate Son? Can mercy fhut its ear against the cry of innocence? To proclaim to the world his abhorrence of man's tranfgreffions, he can; and the words of Jefus are, My God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me? This total defertion he could not fupport; and now one dying prayer, and one lait groan, and the fountain of life fails, and the Son of God expires. That expiring groan, hear it, O ye heavens! and be aftonished, O earth! Lo, all nature hears it, and bears teftimony to thy dignity. The fun withdraws his light, terrified at what unrelenting man performed.

n Matth. xxvii. 46.

performed. The vail of the temple is rent, the earth quakes, the rocks are rent. His very enemies now declare him innocent.Behold your Saviour now with his head dependent, his eyes clofed in darkness, and his body ftiff and cold. Could you fee your enemy, O Chriftian, endure fuch affliction as this man of forrows endured, and not weep for him? But confider that he was your firmeft friend, your moft bountiful benefactor, ever true to your interests, ever anxious for your falvation, and that, in order to promote it, even death was welcome to him. O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night! Here admiration, gratitude, love and fympathy, prompt our tears. Here the dauntless hero fhould weep and not be afhamed. This day Jefus looks from Heaven, and fees how we are affected. He approves of our forrow: but kind and beneficent as ever, he would alleviate our grief on his account, and defires us to turn it into a mean of our improvement. He seems to fay, Why mourn ye for the living as if he were dead? Behold I am alive and live for evermore. But as he addreffed the daughters

of

of Jerufalem of old, he adds, Weep not for me, Christians, but weep for yourselves, for I was wounded for your tranfgreffions, I was bruifed for your iniquities.

He

gave

O my brethren, confider then all your fins as the cause of your Saviour's fufferings. He was the propitiation for the fins of many. his life a ransom for finners. Efteem him not ftricken and fmitten of God for his own fake, but because he bore the griefs which we fhould have felt, and carried the forrows which we deferved.Confider the fins by which we deserved them, repent of them, and forsake them, that you may have redemption through the blood of Chrift, even the forgiveness of your fins.

SERMON