"iniquity." When we see that rather sin and the than sin should go unpunished,

punishment.

God dread of its spared not his own Son," but " was "pleased to bruise him and put him to grief" for our sakes; how vainly must impenitent sinners flatter themselves with the hope of escaping the vengeance of Heaven, and buoy themselves up with I know not what desperate dreams of the Divine benignity!

Here too we may anticipate the dreadful suffer. ings of that state, "where shall be weeping and "gnashing of teeth;" when rather than that we should undergo them, "the Son of God" himself; who "thought it no robbery to be equal with God," consented to take upon him our degraded nature with all its weaknesses and infirmities; to be "a man " of sorrows;" "to hide not his face from shame " and spitting," "to be wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities ;" and at length to endure the sharpness of death, "even "the death of the Cross;" that he might deliver us from the "wrath to come," and open the kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

"

LOOKING UNTO JESUS!

Here best ye may learn to grow in the love of God! The certainty of his pity and love towards repenting sinners, thus irrefragably de- In promotmonstrated, chases away the sense of tor- ing the love menting fear, and best lays the ground in of God. us of reciprocal affection. And while we steadily contemplate this wonderful transaction, and consider in its several relations the amazing truth, " that "God spared not his own Son, but delivered him "up for us all;" if our minds be not utterly dead' to every impulse of sensibility, the emotions of admiration, of preference, of hope, and trust, and joy, cannot but spring up within us, chastened with reverential fear, and softened and quickened by overflowing

overflowing gratitude (a): Here we shall become animated by an abiding disposition to endeavour to please our great Benefactor; and by a humble persuasion, that the weakest endeavours of this nature will not be despised by a Being, who has already proved himself so kindly affected towards . us *. Here we cannot fail to imbibe an earnest desire of possessing his favour, and a conviction, founded on his own declarations thus unquestionably confirmed, that the desire shall not be disappointed. Whenever we are conscious that we have offended this gracious Being, a single thought of the great work of Redemption will be enough to fill us with compunction. We shall feel a deep concern, grief mingled with indignant shame, for having conducted ourselves so unworthily towards one, who to us has been infinite in kindness : we shall not rest till we have reason to hope that he is reconciled to us ; and we shall watch over our hearts and conduct in future with a renewed jealousy, lest we should again offend him. To those who are ever so little acquainted with the nature of the human mind, it were superfluous to remark, that the affections and tempers which have been enumerated, are the infallible marks of the constituent properties of love. Let him then, who would abound and grow in this Christian principle, be much conversant with the great doctrines of the Gospel.

It is obvious, that the attentive and frequent consideration of these great doctrines, must have In promot

a still more direct tendency to produce ing the love and cherish in our minds the principle of of Christ. the love of Christ. But on this head so much was said in a former chapter, that any

farther observations upon it are unnecessary.

Much

creatures.

- Much also has been already observed concerning the love of our fellow-creatures; and it has been distinctly stated to be the indispensable, In promoting and indeed the characteristic duty of the love of Christians. It remains, however, to be our fellowhere farther remarked, that this

grace can no where be cultivated with more advantage than at the foot of the Cross. No where can our Saviour's dying injunction to the exercise of this virtue be recollected with more effect; “ This is my “ commandment, that ye love one another as I “ have loved you.” No where can the admonition of the Apostle more powerfully affect us ; “ Be ye “ kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving

one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath

forgiven you.” The view of mankind which is here presented to us, as being all involved in one common ruin; and the offer of deliverance held out to all, through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, are well calculated to produce that sympathy towards our fellow-creatures, which, by ihe constitution of our nature, seldom fails to result from the consciousness of an identity of interests and a similarity of fortunes. Pity for an unthinking world assists this impression. Our enmities soften and melt away: we are ashamed of thinking much of the petty injuries which we may have suffered, when we consider what the Son of God, “ who did “ no wrong, neither was guile found in his mouth," patiently endured. Our hearts become tender while we contemplate this signal act of loving-kindness. We grow desirous of imitating what we cannot but admire. A vigorous principle of enlarged and active charity springs up within us; and we go

; forth with alacrity desirous of treading in the steps of our blessed Master, and of manifesting our gratitude for his unmerited goodness by bearing each other's burthens, and abounding in the disinterested labours of benevolence.

LOOKING LOOKING UNTO. JESUS!

He was meek and lowly of heart, and from the study of his character we shall best learn the lessons

of humility. Contemplating the work of In promoting Redemption, we become more and more humility.

impressed with the sense of our natural darkness, and helplessness, and misery, from which it was requisite to ransom us at.such a price; more and more conscious, that we are utterly unworthy of all the amazing condescension and love which have been manifested towards us; ashamed of the callousness of our tenderest sensibility, and of the poor returns of our most active services. Considerations like these, abating our pride and reducing our opinions of ourselves, naturally moderate our pretensions towards others. We become less disposed to exact that respect for our persons, and that deference for our authority, which we naturally covet; we less sensibly. feel a slight, and less hotly resent it; we grow less irritable, less prone to be dissatisfied; more soft, and meek, and courteous, and placable, and condescending. We are not literally required to practise the same humiliating submissions, to which our blessed Saviour himself was not ashamed to stoop *; but the spirit of the remark applies to us, “ the servant is not greater than his Lord :” and we should especially bear this truth in mind, when the occasion calls upon us to discharge some duty, or patiently to suffer some ill treatment, whereby our pride will be wounded, and we are likely to be in some degree degraded from the rank we had possessed in the world's estimation. At the same time the Sacred Scriptures assuring us, that to the powerful operations of the Holy Spirit, purchased for us by the death of Christ, we must be indebted for the success of all our endeavours after improvement

in virtue; the conviction of this truth tends to render us diffident of our own powers, and to suppress the first risings of vanity. Thus, while we are conducted to heights of virtue no otherwise attainable, due care is taken to prevent our becoming giddy from our elevation (a). It is the Scripture characteristic of the Gospel system, that by it all disposition to exalt ourselves is excluded; and if we really grow in grace, we shall grow also in humility,

LOOKING UNTO JESUS!

a

“ He endured the cross, despising the shame.”While we steadily contemplate this solemn scene, that sober frame of spirit is produced within us, which best befits the Christian In promoting militant here on earth. We become im- a spirit of

moderation pressed with a sense of the shortness and in

hly uncertainty of time, and with the necessity pursuits, and of being diligent in making provision for cheerfulness

in . eternity. In such a temper of mind, the pomps and vanities of life are cast behind us as. the baubles of children. We lose our relish for the frolics of gaiety, the race of ambition, or the grosser gratifications of voluptuousness. In the case even of those objects, which may more justly claim the attention of reasonable and immortal beings; in our family arrangements, in our plans of life, in our schemes of business, we become, without relinquishing the path of duty, more moderate in pursuit, and

more indifferent about the issue. Here also we learn to correct the world's false estimate of things, and to “ look through the shallowness “ of earthly grandeur ;" to venerate what is truly excellent and noble, though under a despised and degraded form; and to cultivate within ourselves