the salvation of millions, whose everlasting all was suspended, so to speak, upon the full performance of every engagement, which He had made with God on behalf of man. The Father's will, agreeably to the Son's resigned and obedient prayer-that will, which had for its mighty object the glory and harmony of God's dishonoured attributes, and the reconcilement of a lost world to Him, was now accomplished to the very letter. which had been sheathed in the blood of Christ, was now to be returned to its place; and never to strike a believer in Jesus, because that believer was a member of the body of Jesus, when the sword of God pierced Him, and he died in Jesus. The deep waters that had gone over his head were now retiring; the ark of God's purpose, in which He had been tossed, was just now resting upon a mountain of glory for Himself and for his people. His sufferings had been many, but they had been now brought to a close.

The sword of justice,

And

what must have been his joy, what his delight, what the blessedness of his soul, in seeing the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand; in looking backwards, through the ages of faith, in the ancient church, upon all her believers in Himself; and forwards, through all the ages of faith, in that later church, which should be called by his name, until its dispensation of mercy should close; and in witnessing the long, and happy, and glorified train of brethren, "washed, sanctified, and justified, in his name, and by the Spirit of our God!"

The greater the conflict, the more happy the victory. He now knows that God will not chide always, nor keep his anger for ever. The strife hath been fearful; but then it hath been short. The storm, wherewith all the powers of the world were shaken, is now ceasing; and the sky over the Saviour's head is clear and bright, with a sunshine, which must be undimmed by a cloud for ever. The scribes, elders, pharisees, Judas,

the soldiers, priests, witnesses, judges, thieves, executioners, and Satan, who urged them on, in their tremendous warfare against the Son of God, have wearied themselves in the very fire, with their own malice. The cross has been the battle-field of man's salvation, on which every enemy has been vanquished; and the soul of Christ departs into rest and glory, as the words, "It is finished," pass from his lips. My dear friends, even on this day of commemorating the sufferings of your dying Lord, (after in the past week's ordinances, Jesus hath been set forth, openly crucified among you, and in that sacred ordinance of his passion, which a few minutes hence, many of us, I hope, will partake to our soul's strength and comfort)-even on this day, which especially calls to a holy mourning for sin, I would say to you, Lift up your hearts with joy, that Christ hath suffered; that all his pangs have for ever ceased, and are remembered by Him no more, except as the painful process, through which He

triumphantly passed, and by which He sees

man redeemed to God.

hath suffered in the flesh,

and I also, cease from sin?

And, if Christ

should not you Should not we

view what iniquity cost Him? Yes: God forbid, that any who name his all-prevailing and glorious name, as their soul's hope for mercy, should crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to open shame.

II. I might have observed at this stage of the subject, that all the prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ, on an errand of love to sinners, in the volume of the book, put by God into the hands of the elder Church, were finished, and not one, not a jot, not a tittle of that record of the Holy Ghost had fallen to the ground. But I have heretofore said something on this point, and must therefore next observe, that THE LAW WAS ABROGATED-the ceremonial law, as the shadow of good things to come, of which the

body was Himself-and the moral law, under which man lay in helpless bondage, and which he was no more able to obey than to create his own soul, was utterly taken away from all believers, as it respects the relation in which they stood to God, for life, under a covenant of works,-a covenant broken by man; but by no other man to be repaired, except the man Christ Jesus, the man who was the fellow of the Lord of Hosts. The ordinance of the pascal Lamb was then abolished. Christ our passover is sacrificed for us; and his blood, sprinkled by faith upon the sinner's soul, satisfies divine justice, and opens a way for the honourable exercise of divine mercy. O come, my dear friends, who love Him, and glory in his name, come and partake Him by faith this day; come and feast upon the sacrifice, with praise and thanksgiving. The brazen serpent, which Moses lifted up in the wilderness, hath now its blessed explanation, as it then had its healing office; for as Moses