devout and attentive contemplation. In them we may discover a part of that perfect example of all righteousness which our Lord has displayed for the imitation of his followers. "Christ also suffered for us," says the apostle, "leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." And surely it cannot be too much to claim an especial reverence for what Jesus said and did while he was pouring out his soul unto death. Faith, while she frequents the hill of Calvary as her most appropriate dwelling-place, rejoices to take Obedience by the hand, and to lead her to the favourite spot; and the Christian sits at the feet of the expiring Jesus, not only looking to his blood as the propitiation for sin, but likewise copying his example as the pattern of a holy life.

Let us then, at this time, in humble dependence on the divine blessing, consider Christ on the cross as our example. Let us inquire what are the duties of which he set us a pattern when they crucified him."

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I. Jesus, having been seized in the garden, was led to the house of Annas, and afterwards to that of Caiaphas, where he underwent his first examination, if such it may be called, before the Sanhedrim. Having been cruelly mocked by the soldiers, he was then sent to Pilate. Pilate, re

fusing to pronounce sentence of condemnation, sent him to Herod. Herod remanded him to Pilate; and the governor, having a second time declared his innocence, yielded at length to the fury of the people, gave up Jesus to be scourged, and pronounced against him sentence of death. The innocent victim was accordingly sent to the place of execution, followed by the reviling multitude; like the scape-goat that was driven, with curses and execrations, to the wilderness. After these things, he was fastened to the cross; his body began to be racked with pain; and the insults of the by-standers redoubled. Then the impious pagan mocked at him; the hypocritical Pharisee and the licentious multitude derided him; and his friends had abandoned him and fled. The very benefits he had conferred upon others were recounted with expressions of insolence and scorn. The chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others, himself he cannot save.” He cured the lame and the impotent; he fed the hungry; he cleansed the leper; he opened the eyes of the blind; he stopped the mourners at Nain, and touched the bier, and gave back an only son to a poor disconsolate widow; he journeyed to the tomb of Lazarus, and cried with a loud voice, Come forth,' and dried up the tears of two sor

rowing sisters;-He saved others;-himself he cannot save. "If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him." This was indeed the language of mockery and reviling; but it was even worse than this, it was loaded with base ingratitude. And what is there that can irritate and sting the soul so severely as ingratitude?

Can we then venture, at a moment like this, to look to the cross of Jesus for a pattern for our conduct? Must we not rather turn from it, lest we should witness some impatience of spirit, or hear some words of bitterness and malediction ?-But, Christian brethren, I am not about to relate any unknown event, or to allude to any unheard-of transaction. Jesus had once said to his followers, "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." And it must readily have occurred to your recollection how strikingly that precept was fulfilled, on this memorable occasion, by him who had delivered it. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke xxiii. 34.)

There are several particulars in this portion of our Saviour's conduct which demand our diligent attention.

Observe, in the first place, the absence of imprecation or reproach. The innocent sufferer did not upbraid the ungrateful Jews with benefits conferred upon them; he did not reproach them with the blindness of their understandings, or with the hardness of their hearts. On former occasions he had boldly reproved their sins, and exposed their ingratitude; but now, at a time when such language might appear to be the effusion of an angry spirit, As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth :" Being reviled, he reviled not again."

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Consider further, that our blessed Lord on this occasion refrained even from good words. He knew that to reason or to expostulate with his persecutors in their excited state of feeling would be useless; and that it would be like casting pearls before swine. And accordingly, instead of addressing them with words which would at least have been unheeded, he prayed for those who were thus despitefully using him and persecuting him, saying, "Father, forgive them."

Once more. To prove the reality and extent of his forgiveness, he framed the best apology for their conduct which it would admit. He pleaded, in excuse for their cruel treatment of himself, the only palliation of the crime which love itself could

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imagine or devise,—“ They know not what they

do." It was thus that the patriarch Joseph, when he forgave his brethren their evil conduct towards himself, showed how cordial and real his forgiveness was, by saying, saying, "So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." (Gen. xlv. 8.) And it is thus that whenever true charity excites us to a sincere forgiveness of injuries, it prompts us to excuse, as much as possible, the conduct of the offender.

What a noble pattern of forgiveness does the cross of the Redeemer thus hold up to our view! The example cannot be mistaken. Jesus is suffering innocently; and he is surrounded by his persecutors in the height of their malice. What then? He does not reproach them; he does not even speak to them, knowing that his words would be to no purpose; but he prays for them, and seeks to extenuate their guilt. The pattern, we say, is plain. Let us be careful to exhibit the likeness of it in our own conversation and temper. It were well if every professed disciple of the Saviour would learn to imitate his Master in the practice of the admirable virtue which is here displayed. Let us not content ourselves with gazing at, or even with admiring, the conduct of Jesus towards his enemies; but, let us follow his holy example, whenever we may be called to encounter ingratitude, injustice, or affront.