of life. He broke the Covenant of his Maker, and mortality, with all its evils, became the portion of his cup and the inheritance of his blood. Sin entered into his soul; his mind imbibed its knowledge, and his disposition inclined to its fellowship. There was no longer any uprightness in his being, any purity in his heart, any integrity in his lips, any merit in his service. All power of Atonement was gone; all title to happiness was forfeited. But thanks be to God! though all is corrupted, all is not lost; though all have perished from the right way, all will not perish for ever. God denounced his wrath; Christ has appeased its fury. God shut the gates of Heaven on mankind; Christ has opened them again for their admission. God determined that he would show no mercy to human nature, till human nature should deserve his favour; Christ attached merit to human nature, and thereby claimed the blotting out of the decree that was against us. God pronounced, that his justice must be satisfied and his honour vindicated by punishment; Christ with his precious blood has paid the penalty, and given justice its due, and honour its demand. But in vain has God sent his Son from Heaven to save us, if we will not receive the New Covenant of truth and mercy, and strive with all our might to "live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world."* Surrender, then, I exhort you, the whole faith of your souls, the whole submission of your reason, the whole affection of your hearts, to "God manifest in the flesh," + to Jesus Christ, "the Mighty God" and "Captain of” your "salvation;" § and "give diligence to make your calling and election sure" || by a constant hostility to sin and Satan, by a solemn dedication of your lives and labours to God, and by that love and practice of "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." ¶ Act thus, and though you must always lament that Adam fell, you will ever rejoice that Christ triumphed. Act thus, and though * Titus, ii. 12. + Isaiah, ix. 6. || 2 Peter, i. 10. + 1 Timothy, iii. 16. you cannot but mourn over the ruins of the Paradise below, you will raise your eyes, your thoughts, your faith in pious hope, and will finally be exalted to the Paradise above, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, &c. ARTICLE IV. SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DEAD, and buried; he desceNDED INTO HELL. IN my two preceding discourses I showed, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, the very and eternal Son of God, the Only-begotten of his Father;-that he became our Lord both by conquest and by purchase, having destroyed "him that had the power of death," * and having bought us with the price of his precious blood;-that he assumed our nature in a mysterious manner, taking the Manhood into God;—and that he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary, by which supernatural conception and birth, he was made man without any the least pretence of Original corruption. * Hebrews, ii. 14. I am now, in the exposition of the fourth Article, to accompany him through the other acts of his humiliation, namely, his Crucifixion, Death, Burial, and Descent into Hell.: Although his Crucifixion was the last and most severe of his sufferings, it will be right to take a review of those which preceded it, that we may see the full measure of grief which our blessed Lord underwent for our sakes. It was predicted, that the Messiah should suffer many things. Christ, in whom prophecy was so remarkably fulfilled, suffered them all. From the commencement of his ministry to the hour of his death he was in a state of continual suffering; though his bitterest pains were felt in his latest trials. To instruct and improve mankind, to cure the diseases of the body, and to restore the health of the soul, was the business of his days, and the purpose of his love. But all the return he met with for so great goodness and compassion, except from a few faithful followers, was ingratitude and malice. The prejudices and misapprehensions of his Disciples were, |