he tries, if it may be, to awaken and to win over the heart of Judas! and then think how anxious he is this day to win and awaken you, though you are of sinners the chief, to bow that brazen neck, to break that heart of adamant, to wring a tear from those eyes that never wept for sin.

3. The third instance of Jesus' love to the traitor is, his faithful declaration of his danger to him: "The Son of Man goeth, as it is written of him; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had never been born." In the two former instances Jesus had shown his love, by showing how willing he was to save him to the very uttermost, that he would bear all things to save him; but now he uses another way, he shows him the terror of the Lord, that if he will persist, "it had been good for him that he had not been born." As a mother, when she wishes her child to take some wholesome medicine, first wins upon its love, and then, if that will not do, tries to win upon its fears; with the same more than mother's tenderness did Jesus first try to win. upon the affections, and now upon the fears of Judas. And he is the same Saviour this day in the upper chambers of the universe that he was that night in the upper chamber at Jerusalem; and he sends his messengers to you to carry the same messages of kindness and of love. It is only in love that he threatens you. And, oh! that in love we might speak the threatening to you, that if you have no part in Jesus, and yet, by sitting down at his table, are becoming guilty of the body and blood of our Lord, it were better for you that you had not been born. It is a happy thing to there is a blessedness which cannot be expressed in having The fly that lives but for a day, the veriest worm or insect

live;

life.

that crawls

upon the ground, has an amount of blessedness in the very fact that it lives, which it is far beyond the skill of man to calculate. To breathe, to move, to feel the morning sun and the evening breeze, to look out upon the green world and the blue sky; all this is happiness immense, immeasurable. It never can be said of a fly or worm, that it had better never been born; but, alas! it may be said of some of you: If you are living, but not living united to Christ, if you are sitting at the table of Christ and yet unconverted, it had been good for

you that

you had not been born. Ah! my friends, there was once a heathen man who always wept, and got the name of the Weeping Philosopher. One would almost think that he had known this truth which we preach unto you, that if that union which you make with the bread and wine at the holy table be not a picture and a seal of the union between your soul and the Saviour of sinners, you had far better never have been born. Better not to be, than to be only in hell. They shall wish to die, and to die, and death shall

flee from them."

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4. The fourth and last instance of Jesus' love to the traitor is the most touching of all. After the supper was over, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified and said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." It was but a few days before that he came riding down the declivity of Mount Olivet upon an ass's colt; and his disciples, behind and before, were all rejoicing and praising God, crying" Hosanna!" and Jesus -what was he doing? He was weeping: "When he came near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things that belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes." He wept over the very city which he doomed to destruction. And just so here; when his disciples on every hand were filled with a holy joy, and John most of all rejoicing, for he lay in the bosom of Immanuel, what was Christ doing the author of all their joy? He was heavy and troubled in spirit. He was always the man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, but now a ruffle of deeper sorrow came over the placid calm of his holy features: he was troubled in spirit, and said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, One of you shall betray me." He had tried all arguments to move his betrayer; he had unbosomed the tenderness of his love; he had shown the dreadfulness of his anger; but when he saw that all would not do to move his hard heart, when he saw the heartless unconcern with which Judas could swallow down the bread, and share in the blessed cup, the spirit of the Saviour sank within him; and the last effort of his love to awaken the impenitent murderer was, to unbosom the depth of his sorrows, and to breathe out, with many sighs, the words: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."

My friends, there may be some within these walls with a heart as hard as that of Judas. Like Judas, you are about to partake of the most moving ordinance the world ever saw; like Judas, you may eat of the bread and drink of the wine; and like Judas, your heart may grow harder, and your life more sinful than ever. And you think, then, that Jesus is your enemy? But what does the Bible say? Look here; he is troubled in spirit; he weeps, as he did over Jerusalem. Yes; he that once shed his blood for you, now sheds his tears for you. Immanuel grieves that you will not be saved. He grieved over Judas, and he grieves over you. He wept over Jerusalem, and he weeps over you. He has no pleasure that you should perish; he had far rather that you would turn and have life. There is not within these walls one of you so hard, so cruel, so base, so unmoved, so far from grace and godliness, so Judas-like, that Jesus does not grieve over your hardness; that you will still resist all his love; that you will still love death, and wrong your own souls. Oh! that the tears which the Saviour shed over your lost and perishing, souls might fall upon your hearts like drops of liquid fire; that you might no more

sit unmelted under that wondrous love which burns with so vehement a flame, which many waters cannot quench, which all your sins cannot smother, the love which passeth knowledge.

Amen.

Larbert, Aug., 1836.

SERMON XXXIII.

I THE LORD HAVE CALLED THEE IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.

"Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house. I am the Lord; that is my name : and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."— Isa. xlii., 5-8.

In this passage we have some of the most wonderful words that ever were uttered in the world. It is not a man speaking to a man, it is not even God speaking to a man, it is God speaking to his own Son. Oh! who would not listen? It is as if we were secretly admitted into the counsel of God-as if we stood behind the curtains of his dwelling-place, or were hidden in the clefts of the rock, and overheard the words of the Eternal Father to the Eternal Son. Now, sometimes when you overhear a conversaearth, between two poor, perishing worms, you think it is

tion on

worth

it over and over again. Oh! then, when you overhear a conversation in heaven when God the Father speaks, and God the Son stands to receive his words, will you not listen? will you not lay up these sayings in your heart?

work.

God tells the Son: 1. That he had called him to his servicehad passed over all his angels, and chosen him for this difficult 2. He tells him that he is not to shrink from the difficulties of it. There is an ocean of wrath to wade through, but fear not; I will hold thee by the hand-I will keep thee. 3. He tells him that he must be given as a covenant Saviour. However dear to his heart, still, says God, "I will give thee." 4. He encourages him by the great benefit to be gained-that he would be a light to whole nations of poor, blind, captive sinners. 5. That in all this he would have his glory: "My glory will I not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.

Doctrine.-God has provided the Saviour, and alone can reveal him; and he will keep this glory to himself.

I. God provided the Saviour.-He says here: "I have called thee in righteousnesss." The meaning is: I have called thee to do this work of righteousness-to work out this salvation, which shall show me to be a righteous God. God did, as it were, look round all the creatures, to see whom he would call to this great work, of being a Saviour of lost sinners. He looked upon the earth, through all its families; but there was none that understood, there was none that did seek God. Every man had his own curse to bear; no man could give a ransom for the soul of his brother, for the ransom of the soul was precious. He looked round all the blooming angels, as if to say, Who will go for me? Seraphim and Cherubim all stood, veiling their faces with their wings; but he saw that none of them could bear infinite wrath. They are only creatures; they would be crushed eternally under the weight of my wrath. These will not do. He looked into his own bosom. There was his eternal Son-his dear Son-his well-beloved Son. Oh! this will do. I have found a ransom; I have laid help on one who is mighty. My Son, I have called thee in righteousness.

Learn how complete a Saviour Christ is. God did not choose a man to this great work-he did not choose an angel; he passed by them all, and chose his Son. Why? Because he saw none other would be a sufficient Saviour. If Christ had not been enough, God never would have called him to it. God knew well the weight of his own wrath; and, therefore, he provided an almighty back to bear it. Trembling sinner, do not doubt the completeness of Christ. God knew all your sins and your wrath when he chose Christ-that they were both infinite; and therefore he chose an almighty, an infinite Saviour. Oh! hide in him, and you are complete in him.

II. God upheld the Saviour: "I will hold thine hand, and will keep thee." The figure here seems taken from a father and his little child. When a little child has to go over some very rough road, or to travel in the darkness, or to wade through some deep waters, he says to his father: I fear I shall be lost; I shall not be able to go through. Nay, do not fear, the father answers: "I will hold thine hand; I will keep thee." Such are the words of the Father to his dear Son. I would not have dared to have imagined them, if I had not found them in the Bible. When God called his Son to the work, it could not but be a fearful work in his eyes. Christ knew well the infinite number of men's sins; for he is the searcher of hearts and trier of reins. He knew also the infinite weight of God's anger against these sins; he saw the dark clouds of infinite vengeance that were ready to burst over the head of sinners; he saw the infinite deluge of eternal wrath that was to drown for ever the guilty world; and, oh! how dreadful his Father's anger was in his eyes; for he had known nothing but his infinite love from all eternity. Oh! how could he bear to lie

down under that wrath? How could he bear to exchange the smile of his Father's love for the dark power of his Father's anger? How could he bear, for the sake of vile sinners, to exchange the caresses of that God who is love, for the piercings and bruisings of his almighty hand? Surely the very thought would be agony. of wrath is deep-its waves are dreadful; but "I will hold thine hand; 1 will keep thee."

God here comforts his Son under the view: Yon sea

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Oh!

1. Learn from this how dreadful the sufferings of Christ were. He needed God to hold his hand; he was God himself; thought it no robbery to be equal with God; he had the Spirit given to him without measure: "I have put my Spirit upon him;" but all that would not do: God the Father must hold his hand too. think what a weight must have been crushing and bruising the Lamb of God, when Father, Son, and Holy Ghost combined their force to hold him up. Oh! think what a depth of agony must have been upon him, when he cried: "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Take away this cup from me"--and when the Father answered him: “I will hold thine hand-I will keep thee." Oh! my friends, this is a great deep. Cry, "O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"

2. Learn the greatness of

bore was ours.

sins. Remember Christ had no sins of his own; no wrath was due to himself; all that wrath he You that are believers, you have but a small sense of the greatness of your sins. Oh! look here; see God holding the hand of his Son, while he wades through that sea of Oh! surely a look at a suffering Christ should keep you dust for ever. You must never open your mouth any And, oh! will you not love him who so loved youwho lay down under these surges and billows of God's wrath for

wrath!

in the

more.

you?

You that are unconverted, see here the dreadful wrath that is over your souls. You think your sins are very few, and God will not be very angry. This is natural; all natural men think this; and yet see here how dreadful the wrath is that is over you. Even Christ trembled and started back when he came to bear it; and how will you do? You are not the Son of God; you have no divinity within you, as Christ had; how will you be able to bear the bruisings and lashings of God's infinite anger? have not the Spirit of God given to you, as Christ had, without measure; how will you be able to stand under the outpourings of his eternal indignation? You have not God to take you by the said that he will hold you by the hand; ah! how will you wade God is not your God, not your friend; he has nowhere through an eternal and bottomless sea of wrath? How will you

hand.

You