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the dispersion what Moses did for the Israelites enslaved in Egypt: he shall march at their head, and conduct them into Canaan. These are all expressions of the Rabbins, whose names I suppress, as also the lists of the works from which we extract the passages just now quoted. Here we conclude our proposed commentary on the words, and now proceed,

II. To direct your attention to the great object exhibited in the text, Jesus Christ expiring on the cross. We shall derive from the words read, six ideas of the death of Jesus Christ. 1. The death of Christ is an expiatory sacrifice, in which the victim was charged with the sins of a whole world. 2. It is the body of all the shadows, the truth of all the types, the accomplishment of all the predictions of the ancient dispensation, respecting the Messiah.

3. It is, on the part of the Jewish nation, a crime, which the blackest colors are incapable of depicting, which has kindled the wrath of heaven, and armed universal nature against them. 4. It presents a system of morality in which every virtue is retraced, and every motive that can animate us to the practice of it is displayed. 5. It presents a mystery which reason cannot unfold, but whose truth and importance all the difficulties which reason may urge are unable to repair. 6. Finally, it is the triumph of the Redeemer over the tomb.

1. The death of Jesus Christ is an expiatory sacrifice, offered up to the divine justice. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani: my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is the only proof which we shall at present produce in support of the doctrine of the atonement. It is, undoubtedly, difficult to determine, with precision, what were, at that

moment, the dispositions of the Saviour of the world. In general, we must carefully separate from them every idea of distrust, of murmuring, of despair. We must carefully separate every thing injurious to the immaculate purity from which Jesus Christ never deviated, and to that complete submission which he constantly expressed to the will of his heavenly Father. We here have a victim not dragged reluctantly to the altar, but voluntarily advancing to it; and the same love which carried him thither, supported him during the whole sacrifice. These complainings, therefore of Jesus Christ, afford us convincing reasons to conclude, that his death was of a nature altogether extraordinary.

Of this you will become perfectly sensible, if you attend to the two following reflections; (1) that no one ever appeared so deeply overwhelmed, at the thought of death, as Jesus Christ: (2) that no person ought to have met death with so much constancy as he, if he underwent a mere ordinary death.

(1) No one ever appeared so deeply overwhelmed, at the thought of death, as Jesus Christ. Recollect in what strong terms the sacred authors represent the awful conflict which he endured in the garden of Gethsemane. They tell us of his mortal sorrow my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, Matt. xxvi. 38. They speak of his agony; being in an agony, says St. Luke, xxii. 44. They speak of his fears: he was heard in that he feared: they speak of his cries and tears; he offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, Heb. v. 7. They speak of the prodigious effect which the fear of death produced upon his body; his sweat was as it were drops of blood falling down to the ground. They even

speak of the desire which he felt to draw back: O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, Matt. xxvi. 39. And in our text, they represent him as reduced to the lowest ebb of resolution: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Is it possible to be more depressed at the thoughts of death?

(2) But we said, secondly, that no person ought to have met death with so much constancy as Jesus Christ, if he underwent a mere ordinary death. For,

(i) Jesus Christ died with perfect submission to the will of his heavenly Father, and with the most fervent love to the human race. Now, when a man serves a master whom he honors, when he suffers for the sake of persons whom he loved, he suffered with patience and composure.

(ii) Jesus Christ died with the most complete assurance of the justice of his cause, and of the innocence of his life. When, at the hour of death, conscience is roused as an armed man: when the recollection of a thousand crimes awakes; when a life of unrepented guilt stares the sinner in the face, the most obdurate heart is then stretched on the rack. But when, at a dying hour, the eye can look back to a life of innocence, what consolation does not the retrospect inspire? This was the case with Jesus Christ. Who ever carried so far charity, holy fervor, the practice of every virtue? Who ever was more blameless in conduct, more ardent in devotion, more pure in secret retirement?

(iii) Jesus Chirst died, thoroughly persuaded of the immortality of the soul. When a man has passed his life in atheism, and is dying in a state of uncertainty: haunted with the apprehension of falling into a state of annihilation: reduced to exclaim with Adam, O my soul, whither art thou

going? Nature shudders! Our attachment to existence inspires horror at the thought of existing no longer. But when we have a distinct knowledge of what man is; when we are under a complete conviction that he consists of two substances, of spirit, and of matter; when we become thoroughly persuaded, that the destruction of the one does not imply the destruction of the other; that if the dust return to the earth as it was, the spirit shall return unto God who gave it, Eccl. xii. 7. when we know that the soul is the seat of all perception: that the body is merely a medium of intelligence; that the soul, when disengaged from matter, may retain the same ideas, the same sentiments, as when united to the body; that it may be capable of perceiving the sun, the stars, the firmament, death is no longer formidable. This, too, was the case with Jesus Christ. If ever any one enjoyed a persuasion of the immortality of the soul, and of the resurrection, it undoubtedly was this divine Saviour. He it was who had derived all the stores of knowledge from the bosom of the Father, who had brought life and immortality to light, 2 Tim. i. 10.

(iv) Finally, Jesus Christ died in the perfect assurance of that felicity which he was going to take possession of. When the dying person beholds hell opening under his feet, and begins to feel the gnawings of the worm which dieth not, and the torment of the fire that is never to be quenched, Mark ix. 44. it is not astonishing that he should die in terror. But when he can say, as he looks death in the face, "There is the termination of all my woes, and the reward of all my labors: I am going to restore my soul into the hands of my Creator; I behold heaven opened to receive it:" What transports of delight must not such a pros

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pect impart! Such, too, was the case with Jesus Christ. If ever any one could have enjoyed a foretaste of the paradise of God; if ever any one could conceive sublime ideas of that glory and blessedness, still it was Jesus Christ. He knew all these things by experience; he knew all the apartments of the kingdom of his Father: from God he had come, and to God he was returning. Nay, there must have been something peculiar in his triumph, transcendantly superior to that of the Because he humbled aithful in general. himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; God was about highly to exalt him, and to give him a name that is above every name, Phil. ii. 8, 9. A cloud was going to serve him as a triumphal car, and the church triumphant was preparing to receive their King in these rapturous strains: Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in, Ps. xxiv. 7.

What, then, shall Jesus Christ do? Shall he meet death with joy? Shall he say with St. Paul, I have a desire to depart? Shall he exclaim with the female celebrated in ecclesiastical history, This is the day that crowns are distributed, and I go to receive my share? No, Jesus Christ trembles; he grows pale; his sweat becomes as great drops of blood, Luke xxii. 44. he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Add to these reflections, the promises of divine assistance, which all the faithful have a right to claim, in the midst of tribulation, and which Jesus Christ must have had a far superior right to plead, had he died a mere ordinary death; but of the consolation flowing from these he seems entirely deprived.

Add, in a particular manner, the example of the

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