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the World, and I come unto thee: Holy Father, keep through thine own Name thofe whom thou haft given me, that they may one as we are. Whilft I was with them in the World, I kept them in thy Name. And now come I unto thee, and thefe Things I Speak in the World, that they might have my Joy fulfilled in themselves. John xvii. 11, 12, 13. I pray not that thou shouldeft take them out of the World, but that thou shouldeft keep them from the Evil. Ver. 15. Sanctify them through thy Truth; thy Word is Truth. Ver. 17. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe in me through their Word: That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us. Ver. 20, 21. Father, I will that they alfo whom thou haft given me be with me where I am, that they may bebold my Glory which thou haft given me. Ver. 24. And he concludes with faying, I have declared unto them thy Name, and will declare it, that the Love, wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them, and I in them. Ver. 26. After he had finifhed this bis Prayer, when the Jews came with an armed Force to apprehend him, his tender Care for his Difciples ftill fhewed itself in those distressful Circumftances: Having afked them that came to seize him, Whom Seek ye? When they faid, Jefus of Nazareth, he answered, I have told you that VOL. IV. Y

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I am be. If therefore ye feek me, let thefe go their Way. John xviii. 8.

Our Saviour's Conduct towards Peter deferves fpecial Notice: He knew that be would deny him, yet he did not, for that, refolve to caft him off, but kindly admonished him of his approaching Fall. What an inviolable Friendship to him, what Pity and Tenderness, breathes in thofe Expreffions, Simon, Simon, Satan hath defired to have you, that he may fift you as Wheat: But 1 have prayed for thee, that thy Faith fail not. Luke xxii. 31, 32. And, after Peter had actually denied him, and repeated the Denial with an Oath, what a Look did he caft towards him, not full of Wrath and Severity to drive him into Defpair, but a Look of Compaffion and gentle Reproof, accompanied with a Divine Power, which immediately melted his Soul into a penitential Sorrow! We are told that the Lord turned and looked upon Peter; and Peter remembered the Word of the Lord, how he said unto him, Before the Cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Luke xxii. 61, 62. And, to fhew that he still retained his friendly Difpofitions towards Peter, he condefcended to take a kind and particular Notice of him, after his Refurrection, when he no Doubt was mightily caft down under a Sense of his

bafe and unworthy Conduct. It was in Conformity to our Lord's Will that the Angel faid to the Women that came early to the Sepulchre, Go your Way, tell his Difciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there fhall ye fee him, as he faid unto you. Mark xvi. 7. And he himself appeared to Peter the first of any of the Apoftles: He was feen (faith St. Paul) of Cephas, i. e. of Peter, then of the Twelve. 1 Cor. xv. 5. See alfo Luke xxiv. 34. And we do not find that he upbraided him with his Conduct after his Refurrection, but in the most gentle Manner put him in Mind of his threefold Denial, without expreffly mentioning it to him, by afking him thrice, Simon, Son of Jonas, loveft thou me? And thrice repeating the Charge to him, Feed my Sheep. John xxi. 15, 16, 17.

The benevolent Temper of his Mind fhewed itself, even as he hung upon the Cross, when, amidst all his amazing Agonies and Dolours, he recommended his afflicted Mother, in the most fignificant and affecting Manner, to the tender Care of his beloved Difciple John. We are told that, when Jefus Jaw his Mother, and the Difciple standing by whom he loved, he faith unto his Mother, Woman, behold thy Son. Then faith be to the Difciple, Behold thy Mother! And from that

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that Hour that Difciple took her unto his own Houfe. John xix. 26, 27.

Nor did his Benevolence manifeft itself only to his Friends and Difciples, but even to his Enemies and Perfecutors. He, at the Time of his being apprehended, exerted his miraculous Power in healing one of the High Prieft's Servants, whofe Ear Peter had cut off, probably, because he saw him active in laying hold on Jefus: He faid unto Peter, Put up thy Sword into the Sheath, fuffer ye thus far, and he touched his Ear and healed him. Luke xxii. 50, 51. One of the last Requests he offered up to his heavenly Father was for those who were then imbruing their Hands in his facred Blood: They had paffed the most cruel and ignominious Sentence upon him; they had buffeted him, fpit upon him, and treated him with the utmoft Indignity; they had in a Manner conftrained the Roman Governor to crucify him, and had demanded a Robber, a Murderer, to be releafed in Preference to him; they had got him cruelly Scourged, and caufed him to carry his Cross, though he was fainting under the Load; and, when he was nailed to the Cross, and bung upon it, they wagged their Heads in Scorn, and infulted him in his Miferies: Yet, in these Circumstances, inftead of imprecating juft Vengeance upon them, as they had in Effect

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Effect done upon themselves, when they said, His Blood be upon us and upon our Children, he, with his dying Breath, pleaded for them with his heavenly Father: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke xxiii. 34. An Inftance of Goodnefs and Benevolence that cannot be equalled, when we confider the Dignity as well as Innocence of the fuffering Perfon, and the Greatness of the Injuries and Sufferings he endured.

But that which above all deferves to be confidered, and which is frequently infifted' upon in the facred Writings as the most wonderful Inftance of his Benevolence and Love to Mankind, as well as of his Obedience to bis heavenly Father, that can poffibly be conceived, is that he fubmitted to all thofe grievous Sufferings, and to a cruel and ignominious Death, for this End, that be might offer himself a Sacrifice for finful Men, and might obtain eternal Redemption for them. The Apostle Paul here lays a particular Stress upon this, when, after having faid, Walk in Love, as Chrift alfo hath loved us, he adds, and bath given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God of a Sweet-fmelling Savour. To this our Lord Jefus Chrift himself refers, when he faith, that he would give his Flesh for the Life of the World. John vi. 51. And that he came to give his Life a Ranfom, or Price of Redemption,

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