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his own consent. As in these two- | ill end. They say, he was born to

faced pictures :-look upon the crucifying of Christ one way, as plotted by a treacherous disciple, and malicious priests and rulers, and nothing more deformed and hateful than the authors of it; but view it again, as determined by God's counsel for the restoring of lost mankind, and it is full of unspeakable beauty and sweetness, infinite wisdom and love, in every trait of it.-LEIGHTON.

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But woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Whenever men provoke God to withdraw his protection, that moment the devil takes them under his power, and, as the Scriptures say, leads them captive at his will. Judas was not now his own master; so that neither fear for himself, nor love for his Lord, nor the baseness of the crime, could prevail with him to repent of his evil project. You will perhaps say, that if he was not his own master, his crime was the less. By no means. He might have continued under the protection of God, if it had not been his own fault. It is true, the devil is still seeking whom he may devour; that is, whom he may be permitted to devour; but then, we are well assured that he is permitted to be master of none but such as, by a course of wilful, presumptuous, sins, have forced the Spirit of God to leave them to themselves.

It is a very unwarrantable way of speaking, which some people use, when they hear of any person falling into evil courses, or coming to some

it, it was his fortune, and the like. Pray hear what Christ said of Judas, "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed." Jesus Christ would not have said so, if Judas had not brought this evil upon his own head, by hardening his heart, and adding one sin to another, until God thought fit to permit the devil to enter into him; and then he filled up the measure of his iniquities.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, &c. The Lord's Supper was ordained, not for the repetition, but the continual remembrance, of the sacrifice of Christ. The outward signs in it, are bread and wine; both which the Lord hath commanded to be received by all Christians, and both which are accordingly received, and not changed and transubstantiated into the real and natural body and blood of Christ: which, however, the faithful and they only, do, under this representation of it, verily and indeed receive, into a most beneficial union with themselves, that is, do verily and indeed, by a spiritual connection with their incarnate Redeemer and Head through faith, partake, in this ordinance, of that heavenly favour and grace which, by offering up his body and blood, he hath procured for his true disciples and members.-SECKER.

As Christ broke the bread, so it is justly supposed that he did eat of it himself; for this was the custom among the Jews, for the master of the family, who broke the bread,

to eat of it himself.-But if Christ such traitors shall lodge in my

did eat of the consecrated bread himself, the doctrine of transubstantiation, that idol of the Church of Rome, falls to the ground; for from hence it would follow, that Christ did eat and devour himself, which as it is absurd, so it wants very little of being ridiculous.

When thou seest the holy bread broken before thine eyes in this Sacrament, thou must not look upon this as an empty ceremony; but thy soul must flee away to Gethsemane, walk about Golgatha, take a turn on the Mount of Olives, and stand still awhile on Moriah, and behold how the innocent Isaac is bound on the altar, how the Son of God hangs on the infamous tree, a spectacle to angels and to men. See here, my sins, what work ye have made, what injury ye have done. Ye pulled down the Son of God from the mansions of glory; ye afflicted, persecuted, broke him here on earth, and left him not till ye had killed and murdered him! How shall I be revenged upon you? How shall I testify my concern at the sufferings of the Lord Jesus? How shall I convince the holy angels that stand about me that I condole with him? Pride and desire of vain-glory, thou shalt die! Envy and malice thou shalt live no longer in my soul! Wrath and anger, thou shalt be dispatched! Hypocrisy and covetousness, thou shalt be broke to pieces! Intemperance and luxury, thou shalt breathe thy last! I will harbour no murderers in my bosom; no

house. O blessed Master! Shall I see thy head broken with thorns, and not cry out, O that my head were water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears? Shall I see thy face broken with grief, and not blush at my daring sins that broke it thus ? Break, stubborn heart! Break, my perverse and ungovernable will! Break, my headstrong passions! O Jesus break these cockatrice eggs, and let all the poison evaporate; then thy servant shall be whole.

Hear this, thou broken, thou contrite penitent. Hear this, thou distressed soul, that art broken with a sense of sin, who feelest the burden heavy, and bowest under it. Behold the rock that was broken for thee; and of the waters that flow from it, drink; yea, drink abundantly. Hide thyself in the holes, in the clefts of the rock; hither flee for refuge. When devils haunt thee, when temptations follow thee, when despair, like the avenger of blood, is at thy heels, run into this city of refuge, save thyself in this Zoar. Here fear no storm, no waves, no tempest; here all travailing and weary souls find rest; here devils have no power, for they are conquered, their dominion is taken away, their empire broken. Here is balm of Gilead; here is the physician, whose blood is for the healing of the nations; here fix, though the earth be moved; here shelter thyself from the wrath to come. Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Heb. xiii. 8.-HORNECK.

-WILSON.

I say unto you, I will not drink of from the second death. this fruit of the vine until that day O Jesus, who hast loved us, and when I drink it new with you in my washed us from our sins, and Father's kingdom. -Whenever the purchased us by thy own blood, and memorial of the death of Christ is didst ordain this sacrament, in celebrated in the Lord's Supper, let order to secure us to thyself, by a us be careful, by faith, to apply it to grateful remembrance of what thou ourselves, and to be qualified to do hast done and suffered for us, make so by a due preparation; each of us me truly sensible of thy love, and saying in his heart, This body and of our sad condition, which did blood were given and shed for me: require such a sacrifice.-May I the minister of God assures me of always receive this pledge of thy it, and I do faithfully trust in it. love, the offers of mercy, pardon, It was for this reason that Jesus and grace, tendered to us in this Christ ordained that holy Sacra- holy ordinance, with a thankful ment, that we might be often heart, and in remembrance of Thee, obliged to remember his love for our great and best benefactor; in us; his bitter sufferings; the occa- remembrance of thy holy example, sion of his death; the misery we of thy heavenly doctrine, of thy have thereby escaped, if it be not laborious life, of thy bitter passion our own fault; and the happiness and death, of thy glorious resurreche has obtained for us; that we tion, of thy ascension into heaven, may be obliged, by all the motives and of thy coming again to judge of interest and gratitude, to love the world! And may I never him with all our heart and soul, and forget the obligations thou hast laid to put our whole trust in his mercy. upon us, to live as becomes thy Then will our own death whenever disciples, and to forsake every course it shall happen, be a blessing to of life contrary to thy gospel! us, and better than the day of Cease not, O Lord, to love us; and our birth; when nothing in this by thy grace vouchsafed in this world can be a comfort to us, but a ordinance, cause us to love thee firm faith in Jesus Christ, and what with all our hearts. Amen.he has done and suffered for our WILSON.

salvation. We shall then see the importance of a true faith, and set a true value upon the blood of Christ, when every thing else will yield us no substantial comfort; when we can say with the Apostle, I know in whom I have believed, even in the Son of God, who came to seek and to save lost sinners, and who gave his life to redeem them

If you love God, and your neighbour though not so fervently as you could wish; if you have a real desire of being better than at present you find yourselves to be; if the fruits of the Holy Spirit, though in a very low degree, do appear in your lastly, if you do daily pray for God's graces, that you may in his good time be what he would have you to

life;

be, and do not live in any known sin; by no means forbear to go to this ordinance, as often as you have an opportunity; and depend upon God's blessing, and an increase of his grace.-WILSON.

Peter answered and said unto him, though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.Peter said unto him though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Preserve me, me, O Lord, from a presumptuous opinion, and dependence on my own strength, without the aids of thy grace. Let me see, in this sad instance, my weakness without thy assistance, and my ruin without thy help.-WILSON.

HYMN.

This do in remembrance of me. Luke xxii. 19.

According to thy gracious word,

In meek humility,

This will I do, my dying Lord,

I will remember Thee.

Thy body, broken for my sake,
My bread from heaven shall be ;
Thy testamental cup I take,

And thus remember Thee.

Gethsemane can I forget?

Or there thy conflict see, Thine agony and bloody sweat, And not remember Thee?

When to the cross I turn mine eyes,
And rest on Calvary,

O Lamb of God, my sacrifice,
I must remember Thee!

Remember Thee, and all thy pains,
And all thy love to me;

Yea, while a breath, a pulse, remains,
Will I remember Thee!

And when these failing lips grow dumb, And mind and mem'ry flee,

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41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

42 He went away again the

second time, and prayed, say- | namely, Peter and the two sons of ing, O my Father, if this cup Zebedee, i. e. Peter, and James, and

may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sin

ners.

46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

h Mark xiv. 32-35. Luke xxii. 39. John xviii. 1.i ch. iv. 21.-k John xii. 27.- Mark xiv. 36. Luke xxii. 42. Heb. v. 7.-m John xii. 27.-n ch. xx. 22.- John v.30; & vi. 38. Phil. ii. 8.-p Mark xiii. 33; & xiv. 38. Luke xxii. 40, 46. Ephes. vi. 18.

Reader. "The place called Gethsemane," mentioned in this most solemn and affecting portion of the sacred narrative, was a garden, or plantation of trees, for the most part, probably, olive trees. The name denotes an olive press, i. e. a press for extracting oil from the olive.

We observe that our blessed Lord

took with him on this occasion the three disciples who had been taken apart from the others to witness the raising of the ruler's daughter, and the transfiguration on the Mount;

John.

It is remarkable that our blessed Saviour, in his prayer, repeated the same words, or nearly so, three times successively;-a proof that "repetition" in prayer is not "vain" when it proceeds from earnestness of feeling, or exists together with truth and sincerity of devotion.

In ver. 45, the words "Sleep on now and take your rest may be translated interrogatively, as an expression of surprise or reproof. "Do ye still sleep and take your rest?" Luther's translation is to this effect.

READER. He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Hence we may learn how much we ought to hate sin, which arms the law, justice, and power of God against us. As hateful as it is unto God, so hateful it is itself; for he judgeth uprightly, he seeth things just as they are, without passion, prejudice, or partiality; and as hateful as it is itself, so hateful should it be unto us, as the only ground of our misery, of the creature's vanity, and of God's dishonour. We see it is so hateful unto God that he will most certainly be avenged of it. If he spare me, yet he will not spare my sins, though his own beloved Son must be punished for it. Oh then, why should that be light to

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