should be left ruined for ever, he was satisfied to be their Saviour, and willingly and cheerfully entered the war, put on flesh, and endured as a righteous servant. "The sun burned him by day, and the frost consumed him by night." In body and soul, “he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," and endured the days of his servitude faithfully, and counted all but little for the wages he should have for his travail; namely, for the souls who should be his reward, world without end. For these he did not grudge what he went through; but to get these, he despised the shame, and laid down his life willingly; and even now one may venture to affirm, if there was a soul upon earth that could not possibly be saved, unless he would die again, he would rather a second time leave all his joy and glory, and act the tragic scene afresh over again. But we assist herein, in some measure, to satisfy our Saviour. He is not satisfied, while we are miserable. He is not well pleased, while we are without the happy enjoyment of his righteousness and pardon in our hearts; while we are slaves of his enemy, and slight his redemption; or, as St. Paul terms it, "trample under foot his blood;" he must be grieved; but that fulfils his joy, and makes his heart satisfied, when we flow to him: when we will not and cannot be happy without him: when a soul, once unhappy and restless, a vassal, a bond-servant of sin and the devil, has obtained salvation in him, and is delivered from the iron yoke, and sits down blessed and joyful at Jesu's feet, thanking him with unspeakable joy for his cross and sufferings; then can he be said properly to be satisfied, and can say to his angels, "Rejoice with me, for I have found that which I had lost." How far it will go before the Lord's heart shall be fully satisfied, he only knows; but he will certainly draw yet many millions

VOL. II.

H

lions to him, till his thirst is quite allayed, and his longing after souls is satisfied. Let us ask our hearts in his presence this question: Is he satisfied with me ? For all the travail of his soul, has he yet won me, and got me to be his happy reward and wages? Or has not all his labour and pains, and have the influences of the Holy Ghost allured me to him, or am I yet in my sins?

O my dear friends, my brethren, for whom Christ travailed and laboured, give him willingly your hearts. Let him be your Shepherd, and be you his willing sheep. May he lead you to his fold, and rejoice his heart over you, and no more for joy remember the grief he endured when he won you to himself, and paid your price. Do you want to be his? then plead the sufferings wherewith he merited you. Put him in mind of the travail of his soul, and urge before him his availing pangs and sorrows. Be in earnest with him, and cease not your importunity till he has laid his bleeding hands upon you and blessed you. Abide his poor needy and dependant suppliants at the foot of his cross, till his Spirit, which made his last moments joyful and gladsome, assures you he has sealed you among his jewels, and is satisfied with you and in you. Be ye also satisfied in him, and be his joy and he yours to all eternity. Amen.

O Thou blessed Lamb of God, who on my account hast humbled thyself, and been here in the world in the form of a servant, and bast laboured day and night, and at last poured out thy soul to death for me, take me into thy flock, and number me with thy people, the folk who shall be the reward of thy sufferings for ever; look upon me, and remember I am a soul for whom thou hast been slain, and for whom all thy sorrows have been borne.

O let

O let thy heart be satisfied with me, and rejoice over me as a bridegroom over the bride. Let thy bitter torments and horrors be weighty to me, and teach me rightly to esteem and value thy sufferings and death. Let me find all my happiness in thy wounds and blood as long as I live, and be sure I am thy beloved and redeemed child, and when I come to depart this life, let thy dying pains and agonies sweeten my last moments to me and comfort me: be the God of my life; and let my death be precious in thy sight. Let nothing hinder me to be thine here and for ever. As long as I am a pilgrim and stranger in the world, abide near to me, and let me live to thy praise; and when I must go hence, O go with me, lead me into the strong city, into the new Jerusalem, and present me for thyself before all the angels as one of thy elect souls, who has made his garments white in thy blood, and by means of thy meritorious travail and anguish, is arrived safe, out of much tribulation, to the kingdom of God. Hear me in this one thing, and make me thy sure possèssion, thy inheritance, and a part of thy wages; and be satisfied with me, and make me satisfied with thee for evermore. Amen.

AN HYMN.

1. Dearest Saviour, whose I am,
And whom I serve alone,

At thy pierc'd feet I blush for shame,
And sit, like Mary, down.

2. I raise my eyes and see what smart,
What grief I put thee to:

And yet ('tis strange) it heals my heart,
While I thy anguish view.

3. I know

3. I know my sins prepar'd the wood,
The nails, and whips, and spear,
Which tore and slew my Lord and God,
And drew forth every tear.

4. I know that ev'ry stripe he had,
And ev'ry pang he bore,
And ev'ry grief, 'till he was dead,
Was my desert, and more.

5. This makes me at his cross design
To sit, and see, and prize

That loving Lamb, that God of mine,
That wond'rous Sacrifice.

1

DISCOURSE XXIV.

THE BEATITUDES.

MARK V. 3, &c.

Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

THIS is the beginning of our Saviour's sermon

upon the mount, and is the more remarkable, because as the Old Testament, or the last of the prophets, ends with a threatening and curse, so our Saviour begins his New-Testament with a blessing, and opens his mouth in the gospel-dispensation with gracious promises. In this discourse he has taught his disciples many weighty lessons; the whole has been justly praised by all his people, and is a transcript of his mind, and the best ecclesiastical rule, ritual, and rubric of his universal church.

He delivered this discourse upon a mountain (for great multitudes followed him), that so all might see and hear him. The Scribes and Pharisees without doubt despised him for this manner of preaching, and especially those who were fond of the temple that they had hated the Samaritans, and such as worshipped out of it: but hence we learn, that to our Saviour all places are alike, and may be used for the publishing his gospel;

H 3

and