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to come more boldly to the throne of grace. He hath shewn them that he is their patron and their friend-that in all the afflictions wherewith they are afflicted, he bears towards them the bowels of a man, while his power to save them is that of a God. Instead then, of the blessed Jesus being rejected, because of his participation of our sufferings, he ought rather, on this very account, to be the "DESIRE OF ALL NA"TIONS." For his sufferings tend, in the most effectual manner, to allay our fears, and confirm our hopes. They administer abundant consolation to the Christian soul. They let open a fountain of unspeakable joy, into the valley of tears. And name,

O ye enemies of our faith! the situation of anxiety and distress, in which this joy and consolation may not be successfully applied. Are we, for example, dejected with a deep sense of the debility of our moral powers, and the languor of our pious affections? We justly hope, that the merciful Jesus will make all possible allowance for our infirmities, because he has an experimental knowledge of our frame, and remembers that we are dust. Or is it our

lot, to bend beneath a load of poverty and distress? We recollect, that our Redeemer himself was once a man of sorrows-that he was our brother in affliction, and that notwithstanding his high exaltation, he still retains for us a brother's sympathy. Are we, in fine, surrounded with numerous difficulties, and assailed with divers temptations? We are animated with the delightful thought-that he who had full experience of the weakness and dangers of humanity, is ready to assist, and to support

us.

From that height of glory, to which he is raised, he beholds our distress-hears our supplications, and is ever making intercession for us. These, saith he, are my faithful followers, labouring up that steep and rugged path, which I once trode, and contending with those formidable foes, whom I myself once encountered. Now I am no more in the world: but these are in the world. Holy Father! thine they were, and thou gavest them me. Keep them through thine own name. Sanctify them through thy truth. Keep them from the evil one;

that they may be where I am, and may behold the glory which thou hast given me*.

Such, then, you see is the edificationthe improvement-the comfort, which we derive from the humiliation and sufferings of Christ. And from what hath been said, may we not be allowed with confidence to affirm, in opposition to a carnal and unbelieving world, that they were most wise and expedient. The Almighty, intending both the promotion of his own glory, and also. the restoration of fallen man, appointed, from the beginning, a suffering Saviour, as the most proper mean for accomplishing these great and important ends. And to prepare the world for the reception of this Saviour, he inspired the prophets and righteous men of old, to predict him under this character. Accordingly, we find him by them described, as one who was to be despised and rejected of men; as a man oppressed with sorrows, and worn out with grief, and at last closing his unexampled life, like the sheep led forth, in patient and submissive silence, to the slaughter. But not only

John 17.

were these things simply predicted to befal him; they were also represented as indispensably requisite. From the beginning, the wisdom of the Eternal announced to men, that their redemption could be effected by no other means, nor satisfaction be made for their sins upon any other terms. Trusting, then, that you are now fully convinced, that the sufferings and death of Christ, instead of being incompatible with his character and office, were in truth most expedient, and perhaps inevitable. I shall now conclude, with briefly deducing a few inferences from the subject.

And, FIRST, from the doctrine which we have now illustrated, what reason have we to admire the wisdom of God? Surely, saith the Apostle to the Gentiles, (speaking of this very subject-our redemption by Christ,) "God hath therein abounded towards us in "all wisdom and prudence*." He hath devised a plan for our recovery, which human wisdom could never have thought of. It is a plan indeed, which some rash and inconsiderate mortals have censured as folly; but which more modest and patient inquirers

Eph. i. 8.

reverence and adore. Nay, the blessed angels in heaven, we are told, those purely intelligent, and discerning beings, look into it with astonishment. The spirits of just men made perfect, cease not day and night admiring it. And even we on earth, O God! amidst all our darkness, are able to discern, in some measure, its fitness and its wisdom. We see, that it is admirably adapted to confirm our faith, to improve our nature, to comfort our souls, and, in a consistency with the honour of thy perfections, to bring many returning sinners unto glory.

But this subject, while it leads us to admire the wisdom of God, demonstrates to us also, in a most striking manner, the deep malignity of sin. For if such a remedy as the sufferings and death of Christ, was, in the councils of heaven, deemed necessary to be employed against it, how evil and pernicious must its nature be !-how odious in the sight of God, and how destructive of the order and happiness of the whole creation! Let us then hate sin, with a perfect hatred. Let it no more appear in our lives; let its very existence be extinguished in our hearts.

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