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ALL the works of God are worthy of our admiration. But of all his works there is none in which his perfections are so fully displayed, as in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. The period of the year is now approaching, when we are more particularly called up on by our church to commemorate the death and passion of our Saviour, by which that redemption has been effected. It is, therefore, now intended to take a view of the glory of our Redeemer's character, and to point out in what respects it was manifested even in his sufferings, and shone through the dark cloud that covered him in his humiliation...

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The love of God to man in providing salvation for him was inconceivable. But still more astonishing were the means employed to accomplish it. That his well beloved Son should veil his Divine glory, clothe himself with mortal flesh, subject himself to a life of suffering, and at last die upon the cross, to save us from our sins, tends indeed to exalt the grace of God and abase the pride of man, but bears on it no marks of human wisdom. Indeed, it is with difficulty that men can be brought cordially to approve of these things. "The cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness," and still is so to many around us. It will be proper, therefore, that we should attend to those proofs of his Divine glory which appeared even in his lowest abasement.

1. Let us consider, first, how readily and cheerfully he under took the work of our redemption. There is little honour in submitting to what cannot be avoided, or do

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ing what we dare not refuse; but the humiliation of Christ was perfectly voluntary. Therefore, the greatness of his character is even heightened by his condescension. could have accomplished this work; It is certain, that no created being and it is probable that no created being would have been willing to undertake it. Indeed, it is clearly implied, in several passages of Scripture, not only that Christ voluntarily undertook this great work, but that he alone was capable of doing it. "Then said I, Lo, I come : in the volume of thy book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God." Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me. but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." I looked, and there was none to help : and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore, mine own arm brought salvation unto me." "And no man in heaven or in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." How glorious, then, was the compassion of our Redeemer, in subjecting himself to such abasement, not of necessity or with reluctance, but cheerfully and willingly!" I delight to do thy will, O my God."—And this is enhanced by another consideration. From men their future sufferings are concealed. The nature of them is unknown, and the event uncertain. But our Saviour had a perfect knowledge of every event that was to befall him. He knew the number and malice of his enemies, and the bit

terness of that cup, the dregs of which he was to drink: yet, firm to his purpose, he begins and carries on his work with undaunted resolution. Thus did there appear a glory even in his humiliation, a majesty even in his sufferings.

2. Let us consider next the greatness of those sufferings which he endured.-His whole life was a course of the heaviest sufferings of which human nature is capable. No sooner did he see the light than Herod sought to destroy him; and thenceforward bis afflictions were constant: He was indeed a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." And not only were his afflictions constant, but they were of the severest kind. He was so poor as to depend on the charity of others for subsistence. "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Reproach was thrown upon him without measure, and of the worst kind; and reproach and contempt are perhaps the hardest to bear of any sufferings to which we are exposed. He was likewise subjected to the most painful temptations: "He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He suffered, moreover, most acutely from his sympathy with others: His very appearance in the world being the effect of his infinite tenderness and compassion, we must, therefore, suppose him liable to the severest sufferings of this kind. To form some faint idea, let us imagine what must be the anguish of a pious and affectionate parent, on the death of a wicked child, of whom he has the utmost reason to fear, that he no sooner closed his eyes in death than he opened them in the torments of hell. And not only did the afflictions of our Lord continue, but they increased through his life, till at last they issued in an extraordinary conflict with the powers of darkness, and

in his sustaining the full measure of Divine vengeance due to the sins of the world. The cup of Divine wrath was early put into his hands: he had continued to drink of it daily; but at the close of life he had to drink its bitterest dregs. View him in the garden of

Gethsemane ! "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me! Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." "And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Behold him on the cross! What deep distress of soul must have extorted the lamentable exclamation; "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" In short, he suffered in his life, and at his death, what was accepted as an ample reparation of the dishonour sin had done to God, as a sufficient vindication of the Divine Justice in sparing penitent transgressors, and as the full purchase of their pardon, peace, sanctification, and eternal glory. "He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on HIM the iniquity of us all.” “It pleased the Lord to bruise him: he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

3. Let us, in the third place, contemplate the glory of our Redeemer, in the purity and patience he manifested under the extremity of suffering he was called to endure. Affliction is the touch-stone of virtue, tries its sincerity, and displays its beauty. Therefore "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." Nothing could give a greater value to the sacrifice he offered, than the meekness and patience with which he resigned that life which he voluntarily gave up. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.". Such was his unconquerable patience, that even reproach and calumny, contempt and abuse, from the very persons for whose benefit he laboured, and for whose salvation he died, excited not his anger but his pity. "And when he was come near Jerusalem, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." In that dreadful season, in the midst of his hardest conflict, when his soul was "troubled" and sorrowful even unto death, what is his language? "O, my Father! if this cup may not pass from me except I drink it, thy will be done." Here we behold the Divine glory shining through the dark cloud that surrounded him. This was the patience of a God. The view of it constrained even a heathen centurion to exclaim, "Certainly this was a righteous person! Truly this man was the Son of God!"

diator, he illustrated all the perfections of God, and, in particular, be glorified his justice and magnified his mercy. And closely connected with this object was that of effecting the salvation of perishing sinners, an end which ought deeply to impress our hearts. Had not our compassionate Redeemer interposed between us and the stroke of Divine Justice, we had lain for ever under the wrath of the Almighty. How glorious must he appear to every penitent sinner under this view; and with what heartfelt delight and gratitude will he pronounce, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!"

I come now to make some practical improvement of this important subject.

1. We are here called to admire and adore the unsearchable wisdom and unspeakable love of God. There is a boundless depth in all the ways and works of God, and especially in that of redemption. On a slight view, we are apt to take offence at the cross; to hide our faces from Him; to be disgusted at an incarnate God, the Lord of Glory, despised and trampled on by a proud Pharisee; the Creator of the universe, standing at the judgment-seat of one of his creatures; the Author of life giving up the ghost. But on a nearer view, we shall be led to admire the harmony of the Divine attributes in the plan of our redemption. Even those which seem to limit each other are by their union here more fully displayed. It is not merely God's goodness and mercy, but his holiness and hatred of sin, nay, his impartial justice, which are glorified by the pardon and salvation of sinners through Christ, By this plan a signal defeat was given to the enemy of our souls, ls, even when he seemed to exult in the success of his designs. Our Lord died indeed; but by his death destroyed

4. In the last place, the glory of Christ in his sufferings appears from? the end to which they were directed, and which was so effectually obtained; namely, the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. It was to do the will of his heavenly Father that he came into the world; and it was his delight, his meat and his drink, to do it. He not only held forth a bright image of the Divine character, full of grace and truth, but, in his work as Me

him that had the power of death; that is, the devil. He was lifted up from the earth as unworthy of a place in it; but it proved to be that he might draw all men unto him. Thus did he join the extremities of glory and meanness, of power and humiliation; and thus has he afforded matter for the adoring inquiry and admiring gratitude of glorified saints to eternal ages. Nor ought the saints on earth to be silent, but begin the song now to him who quitted the glory which he had with the Father, and for their sakes humbled himself to the dust of death.

2. How great is the guilt and the danger of those who, notwithstanding all that Christ has done for them, continue in unbelief and impenitence. It is, indeed, hard to convince men of this; but if they have any belief in the truths of the Gospel, and especially in this great truth, that the Son of God has died for sinners, with what alarm should they reflect on the holiness and justice of God, and his hatred of sin! Did he punish sin so severely in the person of his Son, and will he fail to punish it in the persons of the finally impenitent ? If a temporary suffering of the wrath of God was so terrible to our Saviour, who endured it in the greatness of his strength, what must it be to those mortals who lie under it to all eternity, without the least ray of hope or consolation; who will have nothing to support them in their unchanging abode but an accusing conscience, and an utter despair of mercy? And will not the thought of having rejected the Gospel aggravate their guilt and add to their misery?" He that despised Moses's law, died without mercy under two or three witnesses : of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite

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unto the Spirit of grace !” shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" The severity of the punishment for rejecting the Gospel will be proportioned to the love and mercy manifested in it. Every drop of that blood which was shed for sinners will be as oil to the flames that consume the impenitent. Christ will continue to administer the Covenant of Grace until the final judgment be pronounced. The same Person whose soul was made an offering for sin, and who groaned on Calvary, shall one day come in his own and his Father's glory. Then "every eye shall see him, and those also that pierced him." How shall bis enemies be then able to stand before him, when even in the days of his humiliation those who came to apprehend him fell to the ground at his word. Those who now refuse to be the trophies of his grace, shall then be the monuments of his vengeance. The Jews were favoured, above all other people, with the personal ministry of Christ; but they rejected him, and the judgments that fell upon them were the most terrible ever inflicted on any people. In this they are an example of the fate of a world of impenitent sinners, and show us what these may expect when the Lord Jesus shall be "revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now the Saviour stands at the door of our hearts, and knocks for admission: now he beseeches us by his own mercies to be reconciled to God. Then he will put on the terrors of a Judge and how shall we be able to lift up our eyes towards him, if we now trample on his love? Shall we not rather call to the mountains and rocks to fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb? Knowing, therefore, the terrors of the Lord, let us be persuaded to consider the things

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that belong to our peace to "seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near" to" kiss the Son lest he be angry, and we perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."

3. Let the view which has been given of this subject encourage sinners to return to God through Christ. It was for this very end that God laid help for us on One that is mighty. Let then the awakened sinner, who trembles at the prospect of Divine wrath, and who is crying out, "What shall I do to be saved?" contemplate the peace purchased for him with the blood of the Lamb of God. Let him behold, not only his ransom paid, but an Almighty Saviour able and willing to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him. Let none then despair, not merely of mercy, but of recovery from a state of sin, of deliverance from the bondage of corruption, of restoration to the holy image of God. There doubtless are many, who, though they see in some measure the happiness of a state of favour with God, and of holy conformity to his will, yet, finding how strongly their hearts are wedded to the world and its sinful enjoyments, and knowing by experience how unsuccessful their past efforts, made in their own strength, have been to effect their deliverance, sink into a state of hopeless inaction, and refuse to attempt what they cannot accomplish. But such ought to see, that though they can do nothing of themselves, yet through Christ strengthening them they can do all things. He is an Almighty Saviour: "he can save to the uttermost. Let them be entreated then, as they value their immortal souls, not to sit still and perish, but to flee to Christ that they may live. And let the real Christian also dread CHRIST, OBSERY. No. 183.

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the influence of a self-righteous, self-confident spirit. His grand work is to grow in grace and to subdue his corruptions. This he is still prone to attempt in his own strength; and his failure is apt to beget secret murmurings against God. But let him know and feel more and more this truth, that in us dwelleth no good thing, but that God is able to make all grace abound towards us, and to perfect strength in our weakness. Wherefore, let us confide in the almighty power of our Redeemer, who giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might increaseth strength.

Lastly, Let what has been said minister to the consolation of the mourning and dejected soul. The Gospel is addressed to weary and heavy laden sinners: it speaks peace to those that mourn. This world is not a state of rest for the children of God. If he afflict them, or even hide his face from them, let them consider that herein they are conformed to their Saviour; and let them imitate his holy submission to his Father's will. Affliction is a part of their portion. Let them receive it as that correction which is necessary and healthful, and let them improve it for the ends it is sent to answer. Let them look to the power and grace of their Redeemer to support them under it, and to work out their deliverance. Let them banish, every thought which would lower their sense of the Divine goodness, or weaken their faith in seeking relief. Let them make their unceasing and earnest request to God for his gracious aid and influence, and he, as the God of hope, will, in due time, fill them with all joy and peace in believing, and cause them to abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Now, unto him, &c.*

This sermon is abridged from one of Dr. Witherspoon. X200 of

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