tempers, to behold him reviled, yet reviling not again; enduring injury and insult with the meekest, gentlest spirit; and in the agonies of expiring nature, yielding entirely to the emotions of pity and generosity, praying even for his enemies and murderers? How will it enlarge our hearts, and stimulate the exertions of benevolence, to behold Jesus going about doing good, visiting the house of mourning, binding up the brokenhearted, preaching the gospel of peace to the poor and to the contrite; continually engaged in some merciful, generous deed; and employing those supernatural powers which he possessed, solely for the benefit of the afflicted? And how should it inspire us with the feelings of true devotion and piety, to behold Jesus, in the season of repose, retiring from the world, and pouring forth his heart in prayer to his Father and his God? Can we behold him, after all the labours of the day, after all the fatigue and hardships which he endured, all the insults and injuries he had received, looking back with complacency on the good deeds he had done, and hastening to enjoy de

lightful fellowship with his Father ?— Can we accompany him to Mount Olivet, see him kneel down in secret, look up to heaven imploring the divine mercy on those who had insulted and persecuted him -can we, I say, behold the blessed Jesus in this posture, without the most affecting emotions without seeing and feeling how becoming the sentiments of piety are, and how dignified the character, and how happy the man who walks with God?

Comply, then, my Christian friends, with the advice of the Apostle to the Hebrews, viz. " to run with patience the race "set before you, looking unto Jesus," and to imitate him also in carrying forward your hopes to the joys which are yet to be revealed. Though he was in the form of a servant, though he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, yet for the joy set before him,of being highly exalted, and receiving a name above every name, for this joy, " he endured the cross, and despised the "shame." And has not the Christian also a joy set before him? Has not Jesus, the forerunner, assured is followers, that he

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is preparing " a place for them in his Fa"ther's house above, that where he is "there they may be also ?" Has he not said, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even "as I overcame, and am set down with 66 my Father on his throne?" Has he not "loved them, and washed them from their "sins in his blood, that they may be

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Kings and Priests unto God?" Is not this a joy sufficient to animate the Christian soldier in his spiritual warfare,-to encourage him to fight the good fight,to finish his course, and keep the faith? Should not this determine him to follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth, through good report and bad report; and even to rejoice in being partaker of his sufferings, that when his glory is revealed he also may appear with him in glory; knowing assuredly, that " if he suffer with Christ, "he shall also reign with him," and be recompensed a thousand fold?

In the fifth and last place, We must look to Christ as our intercessor.

How dreadful, how baneful the effects of sin? When once it took possession of

the heart, it rapidly spreads its power through the human frame. Every virtuous principle became corrupted; man was wholly debased and polluted with this deadly evil. In vain, then, is Christ exhibited on the cross;-in vain does he invite sinners to look to him that they may be saved, unless by his spirit he opens their eyes and directs them to himself. Though I have explained in what manner a believer must look to Jesus in order to be saved, I must now obserye, that divine grace alone can enable him to do this. He must look to Jesus with an eye of faith; and though" faith cometh by hear❝ing, and hearing by the word of God," yet it is only produced in the heart by the influence of the Spirit accompanying the word. 66 By grace are ye saved "through faith, and that not of your"selves; it is the gift of God." Again, we must look to Christ with eager desires of relief. But "no man can come to Christ "except the Father draw him." We must look unto Jesus with admiration, love, and joy; but these are all fruits of the Spirit. We must look to Christ and follow him as our forerunner; but this

we cannot do, unless by the Spirit of God we are strengthened with all might in the inner man; and being regenerated by grace, are "dead unto sin, and alive "unto righteousness." Hence the man who would look to Jesus and be saved, must "ask wisdom of God, who giveth "liberally unto all, and upbraideth not.'

But how shall guilty man approach the footstool of a thrice holy God? How shall he, who has abused the common bounties of Providence, apply to a just God for other and higher blessings ? Would not the spirit of man fail before him, and the souls whom he hath made? But he has a High Priest that is touched with a fellow feeling of his infirmities. To Jesus, therefore, he must look as his intercessor, by whom he is encouraged to come to the throne of mercy. He must consider himself as one, who "is 66 poor, blind, and naked;" who has forfeited his title to every blessing, temporal and spiritual, and whose hope and confidence must rest solely on the merits of a crucified Saviour. The believer asks nothing for his own sake: He looks to Jesus for every thing pertaining to