stone becomes a heart of flesh; the indif ferent become attentive; the thoughtless serious; the proud are humbled; the sleeping are awakened; the dead are quickened. May such at this time be the proofs of his presence with us! May some hearts among us feel this day, and own his power! In the humble hope, that He will now accompany his Gospel with his Spirit, it shall be the object of the remaining part of this discourse, to preach unto you Jesus. You are not to expect, as has been already observed, that any new truths respecting Him, will be disclosed. You can only be reminded of truths which you have often heard, and which it is probable you already know: truths, however, which it is not enough to hear and to know; but which, in order to profit us, must sink deep into our hearts.

J.

First, then, let us call to mind who Jesus was. Let us consider his essential greatness and majesty. He was not an angel: not one of the highest order of angels. He was the Lord of angels; the maker and upholder of all things, whom all the angels of God worship. He was the Only-Begotten of the Father; one with Him in Power and Glory : His dearly beloved Son, who "in the beginning was with God, and was God:" "the brightness of His Glory, and the ex

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press image of His Person." Let us attend to the language in which St. Paul speaks of Him in his Epistle to the Colossians. "By Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.*" And again, in the Epistle to the Hebrews; "Thou, Lord, in the beginning, hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment: and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.+" Such were the essential glory, and majesty, and dignity of Jesus. He was Lord of Lords, and King of Kings; God over all, blessed for evermore. Let us bear this truth in our minds; and then consider,

Secondly, The wonderful Humiliation to which He willingly submitted. For high as He was exalted above all power and might, glorious in all uncreated excellence, He yet submitted to lay aside this Glory, this "form of God," and to take on himself "the form *Col, i. 16, 17. Heb. i. 10, 11, 12.

of a servant." Astonishing to say, the Creator lowered himself to become a creature: the Almighty lawgiver condescended to become subject to his own law. Nor did he take on him the nature of Angels. This would have been an extraordinary humiliation. But he sunk lower far: for he submitted to be made man; to become partaker of flesh and blood; to clothe himself with human nature and not with human nature, as it first came out of its Maker's hands, pure and perfect; but in its fallen and degraded state, subject to infirmities, disease, and death. Here was humiliation indeed! The Word made flesh! The Son of God making himself of no reputation, and found in fashion as a man! Let us consider,

Thirdly, His sufferings as Man. Was ever any sorrow like unto his sorrow? Was ever any one a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief, as He was? From the manger to the Cross, he was despised and rejected of men. "His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.' Through the whole of his ministry, he was contradicted, reviled, hated, by those among whom He went about doing good. While He was seeking their happiness, they were plotting his destruction: and at length, with merciless hands, and mur

derous hearts, they seized Him; brought him to trial; falsely accused Him; clamorously demanded his blood, though the judge pronounced him to be innocent; got him to be unjustly condemned; mocked him; buffeted him; treated him with all possible indignity; and, in the end, barbarously and shamefully put him to death. Let us consider this holy, harmless, patient sufferer enduring all these things; "led as a sheep to the slaughter, as a lamb dumb before his shearers, not opening his mouth." Let us recollect who He was; what glory and majesty were veiled beneath this persecuted form; and then call to mind,

Fourthly, Why he thus endured these sufferings. It was not from want of power to have prevented, or to have escaped them. He needed not to have come into this world, and to have exposed himself to all this indignity. His coming was altogether voluntary. He needed not to have yielded up himself into the hands of his enemies; for, by a word, or a look, he might, in a moment, have destroyed them all. His sufferings were seen beforehand. They were willingly met by Him. And why? For what purpose? To what end? That by them He might save us from suffering: that by his obedience unto death, He might save us

from death eternal: that by his precious blood shedding, He might atone for our sins, reconcile us to God, and open to us the Kingdom of Heaven. This was the gracious purpose for which He humbled himself, suffered and died on the Cross; "that by his stripes we might be healed." Let us think, then,

Further, of the great, the surprising, the amazing love, which filled his heart: love to poor, lost, miserable, guilty sinners! to those who were enemies to Him by wicked works; to those, who without his merciful interposition in their favour, must have perished for ever. But why need we speak of others? We, We who are here present, were the objects of his compassionate love, in giving Himself to die for us. We are some of those unworthy sinners whom he came from heaven to save, and for whom he shed his precious blood. For our sakes he gave up Himself to Jews and Romans, to the High Priest and Pilate, that he might deliver our souls, and save us from going down into the pit. Have we ever seriously thought. of these things? Have we ever seriously thought of the debt of love which we owe to Jesus for this his love to us? Have we ever seriously thought of the ungrateful return which we have made to Him. for all