Lawgiver and Judge of all, matchless love made him yield to be judged, and unjustly condemned at Pilate's bar, that we might be honourably acquitted, and gloriously rewarded, before his awful tribunal. Though archangels laid their crowns at his feet, and seraphims vailed their faces before him, unable to stand the dazzling effulgence of his glory, he suffered himself to be derided, scoffed, spit upon, scourged, and crowned with thorns; that we might be acknowledged, applauded, embraced, and presented with never-fading crowns of righteousness and glory. The Lord of Hosts is his name; he is deservedly called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the mighty God, the Prince of peace. Cherubic legions fly at his nod: and yet, astonishing humiliation! his shoulders, on which is laid the government of the world, felt the infamous load of a malefactor's cross; and barbarous soldiers, followed by an enraged mob, led him as a lamb to the slaughter, that we might be delivered from the heavy curse of the law, and gently conveyed by celestial powers into Abraham's bosom. Let all the angels of God worship him, is the great decree, to which the heavenly hierarchy submits with incessant transports of the most ardent devotion; and yet he was crucified as an execrable wretch, guilty of treason and blasphemy, that we, daring rebels and abominable sinners, might be made kings and priests unto God, partaking of his highest glory, as he partook of our deepest shame: and, to crown his loving-kindness, he expired in the midst of rending rocks, and a supernatural darkness; that we might feel his tender mercies, and be indulged with the light of heaven, when we go through the dreary valley of the shadow of death, to reap the joys of eternal life.

Survey this wondrous cure:

And at each step let higher wonder rise!
Pardon for infinite offence! and pardon
Through means that speak its value infinite!
A pardon bought with blood! with blood divine
With blood divine of him we made our foe!
Persisted to provoke though woo'd and aw'd.

Bless'd and chastis'd, bold, flagrant rebels still!
Bold rebels 'midst the thunders of his throne!
Nor we alone! a rebel Universe!

Yet for the foulest of the foul he dies.

But this is not all: having through the grace of God tasted death for every man, and perfumed the grave for believers,

He rose! He rose! He broke the bars of death!
Oh the burst gates, crush'd sting, demolish'd throne,
Last gasp of vanquish'd death! Shout, earth and heav'n,
This sum of good to man; whose nature, then,
Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb :
Then, then, we rose; then first humanity,
Triumphant, pass'd the chrystal gates of light.—

YOUNG.

O the depth of the mystery of faith! O the breadth, the length, the height, of the love of Christ! All his stupendous humiliation, from his Father's bosom, through the virgin's womb, to the accursed tree: all his astonishing exaltation, from the dust of the grave, and the sorrows of hell, to the joys of heaven, and the highest throne of glory: all this immense progress of incarnate love all, all is ours! His mysterious incarnation re-unites and endears us to God; his natural birth procures our spiritual regeneration; his unspotted life restores us to a blissful immortality; his bitter agony gives us calm repose; his bloody sweat washes away our manifold pollutions; his deep wounds distil the balm that heals our envenomed sores; his perfect obedience is our first title to endless felicity; his full atonement purchases our free justification; his cruel death is the spring of immortal life; his grave, the gate of heaven; his resurrection, the pledge of glory; his ascension, the triumph of our souls; his sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high, the earnest of our future coronation and exalted felicity; and his prevailing intercession, the inexhaustible fountain of all blessings.

Come then, conscious sinner, come to the feast of pardoning love; taste with us, that the Lord is gra

cious. Let not a false humanity detain thee, under pretence, that "thou art not yet humbled and broken enough for sin." Alas! who can humble thee, but Jesus, that says, "Without me ye can do nothing?" And how canst thou be broken, but by falling upon the chief corner stone? If humiliation and contrition are parts of the salvation which he merited for thee, is it not the quintessence of self-righteousness, to attempt to attain them without him? Away then, for ever away with such a dangerous excuse.

Nor let the remembrance of thy sins keep thee from the speediest application to Jesus for grace and pardon. What! though thy crimes are of the deepest dye, and most enormous magnitude; though they are innumerable as the sand on the sea-shore, and aggravated by the most uncommon and horrid circumstances, yet thou needest not despair: he has opened a fountain for sin of every kind, and uncleanness of every degree: his blood cleanses from all sin.

He is a Redeemer most eminently fitted, a Saviour most completely qualified to restore corrupt, guilty, apostate, undone mankind; the vilest of the vile, the foulest of the foul, not excepted. He is almighty, and therefore perfectly able to restore lapsed powers, root up inveterate habits, and implant heavenly tempers. He is love itself: compassionate, merciful, pardoning Love, became incarnate for thee. And shall he, that spared not his own life, but delivered himself up for us all-shall he not, with his own blood, also freely give us all things?

Behold, O behold him with the eye of thy faith: cruelly torn with various instruments of torture, he hangs aloft on the accursed tree, between two of the most execrable malefactors; and there, insulted more than they, he bears our infamous load of guilt. He knows no sin, and yet he is made sin for us: he becomes a curse, to redeem us from the curse of the law: his own self bears our sins in his own body on the tree he is wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our

peace is upon him. God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, and with his stripes we are healed.

See, PARDON FOR LOST SINNERS, is written with pointed steel and streaming blood on his pierced hands and feet: the double flood issuing from his wounded side, more than seals the dear-bought blessing: the hand-writing against us is nailed to his cross, and blotted out with his precious blood: his open arms invite, draw, and welcome, returning prodigals: and there encircled, the worst of sinners may find a safe and delightful retreat, a real and present heaven.

O sinner, let thy heart fly thither on the wings of eager expectation, and impetuous desire-By all that is near, dear, and sacred to thee, fly-Fly from eternal death-Fly for eternal life. The law, violated by ten thousand transgressions, pursues thee with ten thousand curses: the sword of divine vengeance flames over thy devoted head: sin, the sting of death, has been a thousand times shot into thy wretched breast; its subtle and dire poison continually works in thy hardened, or distressed heart: guilt, the sting of sinthe never-dying worm, perpetually benumbs thy stupid soul, or gnaws thy restless conscience: raging lust, those sparks of the fire of hell, which nothing but the blood of the cross can quench; or fierce passions, those flashes of infernal lightning, that portend an impending storm, frequently break out in thy benighted soul; a heart-felt pledge of tormenting flames: Satan, whom thou hast perhaps invoked by horrid imprecations, goes about as a roaring lion, seeking to ensnare his careless votary, or devour his desperate worshipper: death levels his pointed spear at thy thoughtless or throbbing heart: hell itself is moved from beneath, to meet thee at thy coming: and the grave gapes at thy feet, ready to close her hideous mouth upon her accursed prey.

Fly then, miserable sinner-If thy flesh is not brass, and thou canst not dwell with everlasting burnings, fly for shelter to the bloody cross of Jesus. There thou wilt meet him, who was and is, and is to come:

Emanuel, God with us, who appeared as the son of man, to make his soul an offering for sin, for thy sin; and saved thy life from destruction, by losing his own in pangs, which made the sun turn pale, shook the earth, and caused the shattered graves to give up their dead.

He is even now near to thy heart; he stands at the door, and gently knocks by the word of his grace. If thou hearest his voice, and openest by believing, he will come in; the word of reconciliation shall be powerfully ingrafted in thy heart; thou shalt know, experimentally know, the truth, and the truth shall make thee free. Assured that he hath by himself purged thy sins, abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, thou shalt sup with him and he with thee; thou shalt eat the bread of God, which came down from heaven, to give life to a perishing world. Evangelical truth, received by faith, will heal, nourish, comfort, and sanctify the soul.

But perhaps thy guilty heart receives no consolation from these lines. Thou still considerest Christ only as a severe Lawgiver, or as an inflexible Judge; and not as the propitiation for thy sins, and thy gracious all-prevailing Advocate with the Father. O! how dost thou wrong both him and thyself, by such false conceptions! And how soon would thy gloomy fears give place to triumphant joy, if thy thoughts of him corresponded with his gracious designs concerning thee!

Wouldest thou know him better? behold him through the glass of his word, and not through the mist of thy fears; and thou wilt see that, far from watching over thee for evil, he fixes upon thee the piercing eye of his redeeming love; waits that he may be gracious to thy soul, and calls, continually calls, for thee. O! if thou hast an ear, listen; and as thou listenest, wonder at the kind reviving words, which proceed out of his mouth.

VI. "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, says the