continue in sin till we come to die, lest we provoke God to leave us to ourselves, for then we shall never repent, never be saved; while the other may preserve the greatest sinners from utter despair, for we do not know how far God's mercy may extend.-WILSON. Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.-If we would increase much in holiness, and be strong against the temptations to sin, let us view much and so seek to know much, of the death of Jesus Christ. Consider often at how high a rate we were redeemed from sin, and provide this answer for all the enticements of sin and of the world. Except you can offer my soul something beyond the price that was given for it on the cross, cannot hearken to you. Far be it from me, will a Christian say, who considers this redemption, that ever I should prefer a base lust, or anything in this world, or it all, to him who gave himself to death for me, and paid my ransom with his blood. His matchless love hath freed me from the miserable captivity of sin, and hath for ever fastened me to the sweet yoke of his obedience. Let him alone dwell and rule within me; and never let him go forth from my heart who for my sake refused to come down from the cross.LEIGHTON. sion of its greatness; whilst by silence and wonder we confess it great beyond our expression, or, which is all one, great as the burden and baseness of our sin.TAYLOR. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The last sufferings of Christ were either corporeal, as shame, mockings, buffets, trials, scourging, condemnation, and an ignominious and cursed death; or spiritual; and those were principally two: First: A punishment of dereliction; My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There was some kind of separation between God and Christ during the time of his sufferings for sin in that cursed. I manner. For understanding whereof we must note that he had a fourfold union unto God. 1. In his human nature, which was so fast united in his person unto the divine, that death itself did not separate it either from the person or from the deity. It was the Lord who lay in the grave. 2. In love and so there was never any separation either ; but when he hanged on the cross, he was still the beloved Son of the Father, in whom he was well pleased. 3. In the communion of his Spirit, and holiness; and in that regard likewise there was no disunion, for he was offered up as a lamb without spot or blemish. 4. In the fruition of the light of his countenance, and of his glory and favour; and in this respect there was, for the time of his sufferings, a dereliction, by the withdrawing of his countenance, not Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. The sun had a veil upon his face, and taught us to draw a curtain before the passion, which would be the most artificial expres by the dissolving of his union. He looked upon Christ, as a God armed against the sins of the world which were then upon him. Secondly: There was a punishment of malediction. Christ underwent the curse of the law, he grappled with the wrath of God, and the powers of darkness; he felt the scourges due unto our sins in his human nature, which forced and wrung from him those strong cries, those deep and woful complaints, that bloody and bitter sweat, which drew compassion from the very rocks. And surely it is no derogation to the dignity of Christ's person, but, on the other side, a great magnifying of the justice of God against sin, of the power of Christ against the law, and of the mercy of them both towards sinners, to affirm that the sufferings of Christ, whatever they were in the kind of them, were yet, in their weight and pressure, equally grievous with those we should have suffered; for being in all things, save sin, like unto us, and most of all in his liableness to the curse of the law (so far as it did not necessarily denote either sin inherent, or weakness to break through, in the person suffering), I see no reason why he should not be obnoxious to as great extremities of pain; for no degree of mere anguish and pain can be unbefitting the person of him who was to be known by that title, 'A man of sorrows.' And surely, it was far more indignity for him to suffer a violent death of body from the hands of base men, than to suffer with patience, obedience, and victory, far sorer stripes from the hand of God his Father, who was pleased to lay upon him the iniquity of us all.-REYNOLDS. Call to mind, O sinful creature, and set before thine eyes, Christ crucified: think thou seest his body stretched out at length upon the cross, his head crowned with sharp thorns, and his hands and feet pierced with nails, his heart opened with a long spear, his flesh rent and torn with whips, his brows sweating water and blood; think thou hearest him now crying in an intolerable agony to his Father, and saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Couldst thou behold this woful sight, or hear this mournful voice, without tears, considering that he suffered all this not for any desert of his own, but only for the grievousness of thy sins? O that mankind should put the everlasting Son of God to such pains! O that we should be the occasion of his death, and the only cause of his condemnation ! May we not justly cry, Woe worth the time that ever we sinned? O my brethren, let this image of Christ crucified be always printed in our hearts; let it stir us up to the hatred of sin, and provoke our minds to the earnest love of Almighty God.-HOMILY PASSION. HYMN. OF THE My Saviour, didst thou die for me? For me send forth that bitter cry? With bleeding heart thy wounds I see, Prepared at thy command to die. earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. 55 And many women were there beholding afar off, ' which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: 56 "Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children. Mark xv. 37. Luke xxiii. 46. r Ex. xxvi. 31. 2 Chron. iii. 14. Mark xv. 38. Luke xxiii. 45. s ver. 36 Mark xv. 39. Luke xxiii. 47. Luke viii. 2, 3. u Mark xv. 40. READER.-Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.-Let us suppose ourselves to be standing or passing by the cross, whilst our Saviour was hanging upon it, and apprehend him crying out, as he justly might, after this or the like manner: "Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow,' which is done unto me, "wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger?" Behold and see what your sins have done, what they have done to me, the eternal Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. See what scorn and contempt they have brought upon me, what spittle they have thrown in my face, what gashes they have made in my head, what wounds in my hands and feet, what bloody sweat over my whole body! And yet, alas, all that you can see is nothing in comparison of what I feel; I feel the wrath of God, the wrath of my beloved Father, and all that fury and vengeance which is due to your sins; it all now centres in me. Oh, the fire now kindled in my breast; enough to burn up ten thousand such as you to nothing! How doth it flame and spread itself over my whole man! "My throat is dry, my heart is faint, my soul is sorrowful unto death." What a load is now upon me! What a burden do I now bear! No less than the sin of the whole world! A burden so great, so heavy, so grievous to be borne, that I myself should sink under it, but that I am supported by my Almighty power and Godhead. Oh that you could but look into my breast, that you did but know what pain and anguish, what horror and confusion, I there suffer for your sins: so that either I must die now, or else you must die for ever. And therefore, behold my love; rather than you should die eternally. I myself, for your sakes, now give up the ghost and die! Can we possibly apprehend our Lord complaining thus, as he justly might, upon the cross, and not sympathise and condole with him? Blessed Lord, we cannot; we cannot but grieve with thee, having been the cause of all this grief unto thee. It cuts us to the heart, to see thy blessed body thus torn and mangled, and to consider how thy innocent soul is oppressed and tormented for our sins, for those sins which we have taken pleasure and delight in. But now thy death and passion bring them all into our minds; and make us possess our former iniquities, which are as a sore burden too heavy for us to bear." Wherefore, we humble ourselves before thee; we abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. "Oh that our heads were waters, and our eyes a fountain of tears, that we might weep day and night." That nothing may come so near our hearts, nothing lie so heavy upon our spirits, nothing be so grievous and painful to us, as the remembrance of our having lived so as to cause thee, in whom we live, to die. But shall we do so still? No: by thy assistance we will grieve our sins to death, and give up our lives to thee who hast given thine for us.-BEVERIDGE. Now the sacrifice is offered; and this death reconciles God to the sinful world! This death, which had been so often foretold, both by the prophets, and by Christ himself, is at last accomplished; and pardon of sin, and the possibility of men's arriving to eternal life, by a true repentance, is hereby purchased! This death puts an end to the curse of the law; and from this death we may date our happiness. Though wicked men, who had a hand in it, were the means whereby it was effected, yet the Son of God would die; and his voluntary death is the meritorious cause of our eternal life. Oh, look upon it with wonder and admiration. And while we stand amazed at it, let us see withal how we ourselves may end our days. St. Luke tells us, that "when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave up the ghost." If we live like children of God, our Father will not send us to hell; but, being a Father, he will stretch forth his almighty arms, and receive us to himself, like a faithful creator.HORNECK. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose.-God can, as he will, alter the courses of nature, and dispense with the rules which himself had secretly imposed upon the creatures to observe. This shews that they are not, in themselves, immutable. That constancy which in their motions they observe, is from the regular government of that most wise Providence which carries them to their end without any turning, Ezek. i. 17; but when his glory requires, and his will commands it, the mountains tremble, the sea cleaves asunder, the rivers run back, the earth opens, the laws of nature stand still for a while without any execution, as if they were suspended or repealed by him that made them. -REYNOLDS. If ever nature endured a convulsion, it did now. The sun disdained to look upon the barbarity of the murder, and hid his face, that he might not see his Creator die. The earth trembled, as if it were ashamed to see men stupid at the dreadful spectacle. The rocks broke, as 213. 3 c if they would testify against the sinners that could stand under the cross without broken hearts. The veil of the temple was rent, as if it would chide the wretches that could see the Messiah suffer without rending their clothes, and, what is more, tearing themselves for the crime they had been guilty of. The graves burst their bands, as if they were concerned to see men hardened against all impressions of compassion. The angels, we may believe, stopped in their Hallelujahs; and if ever there was sadness in heaven, we may suppose it was at this time. The upper and the lower world seemed to go into mourning, because their Lord and Master gave up the ghost. The death of Jesus Christ is surprising, beyond comparison.-HOR NECK. Now, when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. And St. Luke tells us, "Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man." To make a right construction of things is the way to spiritual wisdom. This man justly concluded that heaven could not possibly shew itself so much concerned about a person if he were not an extraordinary favourite. He judged rationally; and this brought him to a true knowledge of Christ, and to an open confession and declaration of the sufferer's innocence. in like manner, consider by what 385 2. 12. 12. 29. Let us, |