saken. O consider this, and confess that it is truly said, "never was sorrow like my sorrow." Never, never the like person; and if as the person, so the passion be, then never the like passion to his.

It is truly affirmed, that any one, even the least drop of blood, even the least pain of the body only, of this so exalted a person, had been enough to raise it beyond all comparison. And that is enough; but that is not all: for now add the three other considerations; to this so exalted a person, add the torment of body, the agony of soul, and the cry betokening utter desolation, and contemplate the sum of all and it is beyond all question, that the like was not, shall not, cannot be it is far beyond what ever was or can be. It is in truth beyond all conceivable parallel; beyond all possible example: men indeed may drowsily hear it, and be coldly affected by it: they may pass by the way," and pretend that “it is nothing to them" but " angels desire" to behold and "to look into" it, and the principali

* 1 Pet. i. 12.

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ties and worship.

powers of heaven hear thereof and

But, my brethren, is it indeed nothing to us; is it, can it be, nothing to any child of Adam, that these sufferings were endured by Christ? Is it nothing to us, that our sins laid upon him this weight of affliction, tormented his body, agonized his soul, bereaved him of comfort, and provoked the fierceness of God's wrath against him? Is it nothing to us, that by his stripes we are healed, by his sweat we are refreshed, by his being forsaken we have received grace; that the day which to him was the day of God's fierce anger, is become the day of our salvation? Is it nothing to us, that as this was the day of God's fierce anger against him, only for his love to us, so there is another day coming, and it will soon be here, a day of the like fierce anger against us, if we do not return his love? To return his love indeed to the full extent, for his love like his sorrow exceeds all example, is what we cannot do. The more we love him, the better but we can all show, that we do not

slight him; by striving to withdraw ourselves from sinful pursuits; to free our minds from guilty thoughts; to set him before us; to think on him; to thank him; to worship and serve him in his ordinances; to purify our hearts and lives after his example; and to profit by the grace which he supplies us with. This is what we all can, and ought to do, at this and at every season and never should we forget what the Son of God suffered, in order that what he then felt for us, we might never feel; and that what he now enjoys in the bosom of his Father, we also might enjoy for ever!

SERMON VIII.

THE HUMILITY AND PATIENCE OF OUR SAVIOUR.

PHIL. ii. 5, 6, 7, 8.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;

Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ;

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

WHEN St. Paul desired to inculcate most forcibly upon his disciples that lowliness of mind, which is among the most amiable and the most appropriate qualities of the Christian character, he judged

that his purpose could be answered in no other way so effectually, as by setting clearly and strongly before them the example of their blessed Lord. This he accordingly did in the very impressive passage just recited; wherein we may contemplate a Being of the most exalted nature, under a variety of particulars, exhibiting proofs of the greatest condescension. For "the form of God" he takes upon him "the form of a servant;"—he divests himself of his "equality with God" to be "made in the likeness and to be found in the fashion of a man ;" the Lord of Glory, he "makes himself of no reputation;" the Head of all principality and power, he "clothes himself with humility;" the Author and Prince of life, he "becomes obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'

Look carefully at the picture; survey it in all its parts; analyze it, and examine the particulars, of which it is composed; and you will perceive, how well it is adapted to the end proposed by the Apostle:-God in the likeness of men; God in