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the sensible and supporting manifestations of his presence, when Christ himself was thus exercised and let them remember that faith never appears with greater glory than when in language like this it bursts through a thick cloud, and owns the God of Israel, and his Almighty Son, even while He is a God that hideth himself from us. (Isa. xlv. 15.) May we in our combat with the king of terrors find him enervated by the death of our dear Lord, who thus conquered even when He fell; may we thus breathe out our willing and composed spirits into our Saviour's hands,* with a language and faith like his, as knowing whom we believed, and being persuaded that He is able to keep what we commit to him until that day. (2 Tim. i. 12.)

"With pleasure may we survey the awful tokens by which God owned his dying Son, and wiped away the infamy of his cross. The veil is now rent by the death of Jesus: let us be encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace, and to draw near to the holiest of all, into which He has entered with his own blood. (Heb. iv. 16; ix. 12.) May God render the knowledge of the cross of Christ the blessed means of shaking the consciences of men with powerful convictions, and of raising them from the death of sin to a life of holiness! And may we be so planted together in the likeness of his death, that we may at length also be planted in the likeness of his resurrection. (Rom. vi. 5.)" And on the final consummation of that great

* Christ commended his spirit into his Father's hands; but the dying martyrs commended theirs into their Saviour's hands.

event, the general resurrection, when those who have died in the Lord will rise transformed into the glorious image of the Son of God, (1 Cor. xv. 49,) and be equal unto the angels; when those who have been sowed in corruption, have been raised in incorruption; those who have been sowed in dishonour, have been raised in glory; those who have been sown in weakness, have been raised in power; those who have been sown a natural body, have been raised a spiritual body: then will they be conducted by their adored and muchloving Lord into his glorious Father's presence, into those resplendent mansions which He has prepared within the veil, even within the holiest of holies, there to enjoy, throughout the boundless ages of a blessed eternity, the bright inheritance their blessed Lord has purchased with his most precious blood; and there to live with him in bliss and glory, for ever and for ever!

Towards the attainment of this glorious glory, let us examine our hearts, and see whether they harbour any of those malignant passions that crucified our Lord whether envy, cruelty, and selfishness have been rooted out of them; whether they contain a willingness to relieve the oppressed, and to suffer worldly loss, rather than, like Pilate, consign an innocent person into the hands of barbarous enemies; whether they could be capable of insulting or deriding an afflicted fellow-creature? For if such dispositions are not extirpated, we have not as yet crucified the old and natural man within us; we have not as yet been gifted by receiving the Holy Ghost. Let us then dili

gently examine ourselves on these points, particularly when preparing for the reception of the blessed sacrament of Christ's body and blood; fervently imploring our heavenly Father to send his Holy Spirit into our hearts, and cleanse them from such pollutions; and by a frequent attendance on this renovating ordinance, by applying to this sovereign means of grace, we shall be cleansed from all corruption; we shall receive the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER II.

HAVING now, we conceive, very fully and clearly illustrated the truth originally propounded and explained on rational grounds to the early Christian converts by the great apostle Paul, whose manner was to reason from the Scripture, and therefrom to open and allege that Christ must needs. have suffered; having contemplated in this wonderful survey the constellation of virtues He demonstrated during the trying scene of his exquisite sufferings; having beheld all that the malice of devils and men could possibly devise to defeat the triumph of the Son of God, gloriously defeated; and the savage and detestable means by them employed for the achievement of their purpose completely counteracted by effecting of their ruin ;—we now proceed to inquire why, and on what account the sufferings of Christ were so acceptable to God. And here we must acknowledge, that the principal stimulus to the inquiries contained in the foregoing pages, was a fervent desire to answer the following exclamation uttered by a Deist, when conversing with the author of these pages. "I am thankful to say, that

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I entertain far different ideas of the supreme Being, than to conceive that the sufferings of a just and innocent person could be acceptable to God." And far different ideas, blessed be God! does the rational believer cherish, than to suppose, that the sufferings of Christ could be acceptable to God on any account, but those at large deduced from the arguments we stated in our last research; the result of which were, that the great Captain of salvation was made perfect through sufferings; and Scripture subjoins, that being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him: thus supplying a clear, rational, and satisfactory reason why the sufferings of Christ were so acceptable to God, and why and on what account they obtained the remission of sin. In all humility, we do most fervently wish, that mankind would rest contented with this wise and rational explanation, and forbear to assign as a reason for the bitter cup drunk by our blessed Lord, that the tortures He endured were ordained for the purpose of satisfying the justice of God; and that on that account they expiated sin. The basis of religion, virtue, and morality, unquestionably consists in forming just ideas of the nature and attributes of God. Unassisted reason teaches us that the Deity is good. He has not left himself unwitnessed even to that faculty, in that He does good, giving us fruitful seasons, and filling our hearts with joy and gladness. (Acts xiv. 17.) But in his revealed word, He also abundantly confirms the conclusions reason dictates. When de

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