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Mediatorial character. I need not prove to this au dience, that all his gracious offices and all his redeem. ing work originated in the love and the election of his Father. Obedient to that will, which fully accord ed with his own, he came down from heaven; tabernacled in our clay; was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs;" submitted to the "contra dictions of sinners;" the temptations of the old Serpent, and the wrath of an avenging God.

In the merit of his obedience which threw a lustre round the divine law; and in the atonement of his death by which he offered "himself a sacrifice without spot unto God," repairing the injuries of man's rebellion, expatiating sin through the blood of his cross; and conciliating its pardon with infinite purity, and unal terable truth; summarily, in his performing those conditions on which was suspended all God's mercy to man, and all man's enjoyment of God, in these stupendous "works of righteousness" are we to look for the cause of his present glory. "He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." "Exalted" thus "to be a Prince and a Saviour," he fills heaven with his beau ty, and obtains from its blest inhabitants the purest and most reverential praise. "Worthy," cry the mingled voices of his angels and the redeemed, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." "Worthy" again cry his redeemed in a song which belongs not to the angels, but in which with holy ecstacy, we will join, "worthy art thou, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood."

Section X.

REMARKS ON THE SUFFERINGS OF OUR

SAVIOUR.

The sufferings of the Saviour may be exemplified in numberless instances, but in none so easily and so fully, as in the redemption of the world by the means of a Mediator, "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The sun never beheld such a scene. History records no such a transaction. The scheme would never have entered the mind of any finite intelligence" It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." "The thing proceedeth forth from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." "It is the wisdom of God in a mystery ;" and the more we are enlightened from above to examine its sublime contents, the more of their perfection shall we discover, the more worthy of God will they appear. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

The sufferings of the Saviour are described in the gospels with simplicity and grandeur combined. Nothing can add to the solemnity and force of the exhibition; and if we are not affected with the relation, it shews that our hearts are harder than the rocks, which could not retain their insensibiliy when "the Lord of life and glory" expired. The subject has often come under your review. Sometimes we have called upon you to consider his sufferings as peculiar and unparalleled; and you have heard a plaintive Saviour saying, "is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." We have sometimes considered his sufferings as foreknown, and led you to imagine what were his

feelings while reading the prophecies, or foretelling himself the circumstances of his passion. From your eye futurity is kindly concealed. Could some of you be immediately informed of the troubles through which perhaps one year only will require you to wade, you would be overwhelmed in the prospect. But he saw the end from the beginning, and advanced with Judas, and the high-priest, and the nails, and the cross, full in view. You have seen that his sufferings were not the sufferings of an hour or a day; they were perpetual: from Bethlehem to Calvary "he was a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief." You have seen him suffering in his condition, in his character, in his body, in his soul. This morning you have been led to another view of the same interesting subject, the accomplishment which our Saviour derived from them; he was "made perfect through sufferings."

In perusing history, what characters principally engage and improve us? Those who have struggled through trying and awful scenes. Read the Scriptures; fix your eyes on Job, and Joseph, on David and Daniel, and Paul: were they not all "made perfect through sufferings?" The picture would have no beauty or effect without shades. It is on the rainy cloud, the heavenly bow spreads its variegated tints. 'The character of the hero is formed, and his laurels are gathered only in the hostile field, among "the confused noise of warriors, and garments rolled in blood." Never was the glory of a prince, however illustrious, rendered complete, without some sudden reverse of fortune which tried him; some heavy calamity, under which he had an opportunity to discover his internal resources. That nobility is the truest, which a man derives, not from his pedigree, but from himself; that excellency is the greatest, which is personal; that glory is the most estimable, which is fixed in our intellectual and moral attributes; not that which a man locks up with his cash, or puts by with his ribbon; all these are extrinsical, they are no parts

of the man; they are appendages; additions suppose deficiences he is the most perfect who needs them

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Suppose our Saviour had passed through the world smoothly, attended with all the littleness of riches, and all the insignificance of pomp; how limited would have been his example! how insipid the narrative of his life! how uninteresting his character! If there had been any thing of the beautiful, there would have been nothing of the sublime. How does he ap pear "Christ, the wisdom of God, and the power of God?" "As crucified." Where did he spoil " principalities and powers, making a shew of them openly, and triumphing over them ?" On the "cross." To what period does he refer, when he says, now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out?" The hour of his death. This he viewed as the season, in which he was to be magnified and adored: "the hour is come, that the son of man should be glorified." This was the consummation of his unexampled career of excellence: "I must do wonders to day and to-morrow, and the third day I must be perfected." Here is the finish; and the wonders and miracles which attended his sufferings, were not to be compared with the principles and virtues, which he displayed in enduring them.

Of what in his history did Moses and Elias speak, when they appeared in the transfiguration? "They spake of the decease, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem." In what does every Christian rejoice? "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." What is the theme of every minister? "I determined to know nothing, save Je. sus Christ, and him crucified." What is the language of the glorified above?" Worthy is the lamb that was slain." Thus the sufferings of the Saviour were the means of displaying the glories of his character, and of procuring for him unbounded and everlasting hon

ours.

Section XI.

PURE RELIGION AND GENUINE
DEVOTION.

The great sentiment which, upon this subject, I wish to impress upon your mind, and which I seize every opportunity to inculcate, is this, that in whatever point of light you place religion, whether you consider it as an act, or an affection; morality, from a pure and proper principle, comprises the whole of it. The spirit of religion is the love of rectitude, rectitude living and realized in the divine nature; the exercise of religion is the practice of that rectitude. Justice and mercy are not the adjuncts of ligion, but religion itself.

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In giving this account of it, I repeat the definition which one of the apostles has left us. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father” “ pure religion"-not only calls for, as its appendage, but "is this," this is its constituent substance, "to visit the widows and the fatherless in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."This, the exercise of humanity to the whole circle of its objects, from among whom the particular situations of distress, which are set before us in this passage, are selected by the scriptures, as being prominent figures in the group of human miseries, to express, in one word, the various objects of mercy, and to represent the sons and daughters of affliction ;— this discharge of the duties of humanity, this active service of God, this worship of the life is all that, in itself considered, communicates any pleasure to the Almighty.

The great sacrifice which is alone immediately, and directly acceptable to the Infinite Spirit is neither any thing that cometh out of the ground, or that goeth forth from the mouth of man: it is the sacrifice of our faculties upon the broad, immortal alter of society. The substance of divine service is social

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