redemption, He undertook to endure. In this sense, as the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all, can we understand the bold, and, until it be rightly considered, the hyperbolical assertion of Luther, that the Lord Jesus was indeed the chief of sinners. And truly, if the guilt of sin be measured by its visitation, He was so, through God's imputation of sin to Him as man's representative. "Is it nothing then to you, all ye that pass by?" Hear the Lord Jesus, as it were, speaking in the person of deserted and forsaken Zion; “Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me, in the day of His fierce anger?" Come then with me: and may the Spirit of understanding and love be among us, while we consider,

I. THE AWFUL IMPORT OF THIS AMAZING CRY.

II. SOME PRACTICAL INFERENCES DEDUCIBLE FROM IT.

I. The words were assuredly spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ, in his human nature;-that body, wherewith the Father had provided Him, being united with the Deity, the essential Godhead of his own dear Son, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,- thus made capable of doing the will of God, as the righteousness of sinners; and of suffering the penalty of God's law, as their full and everlasting atonement for guilt ;anointed with the oil of gladness above all His fellows; supported and upheld by the indwelling divinity, raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of the throne of God, in order that He might continue his priestly office by the work of intercession; and from the abodes of his glory where He shall remain, until the restitution of all things, to see of the travail of his soul in the salvation of men, and in them, and with them to be abundantly and everlastingly satisfied. What was the nature of that dreadful desertion,

of which He so affectingly besought, as it were, a reason from his Father;-at which angels stood amazed, when they heard the cry, and which must have caused sadness, even in heaven itself, if the voice of sorrow can be heard there, when its glory was thus eclipsed, and its blessedness and joy thus sunk in sorrow, and gloom,

and darkness? We are not to understand the separation of the Godhead from this human nature; and the manhood of Christ to be thus widowed of all that gave it happiness and glory for that union is everlasting; and if it could cease, where would be the security that his people, one essentially with Him, would not also, in Him, be forsaken for ever of God, and left to the miseries of their own nature, without Him in the world; and consequently, without every thing, for which a believer's soul should pant and pray? Neither was our Lord deprived of his Father's affection. God had borne it towards Him from everlasting. He had declared it,

in his baptism and transfiguration, when the voice came from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' The Father must therefore have forgotten his own nature, before He could have withdrawn that love of complacency, with which He regarded this chosen and fitted mediator between Himself and sinners. But if He could have removed his love from the head of the believing and redeemed Church, why then from the members likewise: and if so, where were their hope, and what would be their prospect, as they stand in faith by the cross, and look upon this mysterious and dreadful separation? But the Father loveth the Son always; and in Him, is well pleased with his brethren. Bear this animating truth upon your hearts, in seasons of spiritual trial, ye who believe on Him, and cling to his salvation; and let it be your light and consolation until the cloud that darkens around you shall pass away, and the Father's face again shine upon you.

Neither was the desertion, under which our Lord cried, with an exceeding great and bitter cry, the withdrawing of a support which his humanity would especially need, in the trying hour of his soul's sorrow for He still appeals to Him-" Eli, Eli, my strong God, my strong God!" Even then, He could say, "I am not alone, for the Father is with me." And is it not a truth, bountifully ministering to your consolation, the desire of whose souls is to his name and to the remembrance of Him;-is it not a cause of joy unspeakable, and full of glory, in your day of temptation, to know, that the same Almightiness, which upheld the Saviour, is upholding you, as made one with Him: and that, not all the temptations, nor all the might of the powers of darkness, can effect a separation between you? Each of ? Each of you may say with the Lord, "I am not alone in this conflict; for the Father is with me.”

What circumstances then could force this loud and bitter cry from the dying