Life to the public Good?—Then, whatHonours, what immortal Honours, are due to the great Captain of our Salvation? Who, though Lord of the Angelic Legions; and fupreme Commander of all the heavenly Hofts; willingly offered himself a bleeding Propitiation for Sinners!

THE One died, being a Mortal; and only yielded up aLife, which was long before forfeited to Divine Juftice; which must soon have been furrendered as a Debt to Nature, if it had not fallen as a Prey to War.-But CHRIST took Flesh, and gave up the Ghost, though he was the great, I AM; the Fountain of Existence; who calls Happiness and Immortality all his own. He, who thought it no Robbery to be Equal with God; He, whofe Outgoings were from Everlafting; even He, was made in the Likeness of Man, and cut off out of the Land of the Living. Wonder, O Heavens! Be aftonished, O Earth! HE died the Death, of whom it is witnessed that, He is "the true Go D, and "eternal Life"."

THE One expofed Himself to Peril, in the Service of his Sovereign and his Country; which, though it was glorious to do, yet would have been ignominious, in fuch Circumstances, to have declined.-But CHRIST took the Field, though he was the blessed and only Potentate; the KING of Kings, and LORD of Lords. CHRIST

* 1 John v. 20.

CHRIST took the Field, though He was fure. to drop in the Engagement; and put on the Harness, though He knew beforehand, that it muft reek with his Blood. That Prince of Heaven refigned his Royal Perfon, not barely to the Hazard, but to the inevitable Stroke; to Death, certain in its Approach, and armed with all its Horrors.—And for whom? Not for thofe who were in any Degree deferving; but for his own difobedient Creatures; for the Pardon of condemned Malefactors; for a Band of Rebels, a Race of Traitors, the most obnoxious and inexcufable of all Criminals. Whom he might have left to perish in their Iniquities, without the least Impeachment of his Goodness, and to the Difplay of his avenging Juftice.

THE One, 'tis probable; died expeditiously; was fuddenly wounded, and foon flain. A Bullet, lodged in his Heart; a Sword, fheathed in his Breaft; or a Battle-ax, cleaving the Brain; might put a speedy End to his Misery; dispatch him "as in a Moment."-Whereas, the divine Redeemer expired in tedious and protractedTorments. His Pangs were as lingering, as they were exquifite. Even in the Prelude to his laft Suffering, what a Load of Sorrows overwhelmed his facred Humanity! Till the intolerable Preffure wrung Blood, inftead of Sweat, from every Pore: till the crimson Flood ftained all his Raiment, and tinged the very Stones.

But,

But, when the laft Scene of the Tragedy commencet; when the Executioner's Hammer, had nailed him to the Crofs; O! how many difmal Hours, did that illuftrious Sufferer hang; a Spectacle of Woe to GoD, to Angels, and to Men! His Temples mangled with the thorny Crown! his Hands and Feet cleft with the rugged Irons! his whole Body covered with Wounds and Bruifes! and his Soul, his very Soul, pierced with Pangs of unutterable Difftrefs!

So long he hung, that Nature, through all her Dominions, was thrown into fympathizing Commotions. The Earth could no longer fuftain fuch barbarous Indignities, without Trembling; nor the Sun behold them, without Horror. Nay, so long did he hang in this Extremity of Agony and Torture, that the Alarm reached even the remote Regions of the Dead.Never, O my Soul, never forget the amazing Truth. The Lamb of GoD was feized; was bound; was flaughtered with the utmoft Inhumanity; and endured Death, in all its Bitterness, for thee. His Murderers, ftudiously cruel, fo guided the fatal Cup; that he tasted every Drop of its Gall, before he drank it off to the very Dregs.

ONCE again; The Warrior died like a Hero, and fell gallantly in the Field of Battle.--But, VOL. I.

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died not CHRIST as a Fool dieth? Not on the Bed of Honour, with Scars of Glory in his Breast; but, like some execrable Miscreant, on a Gibbet; with Lashes of the vile Scourge on his Back. Yes, the bleffed JESUS bowed his expiring Head on the accurfed Tree; fufpended between Heaven and Earth, as an Outcaft from Both, and unworthy of Either.

WHAT fuitable Returns of inflamed and adoring Devotion, can we make to the Holy One of GOD; thus dying, that we might live? Dying in Ignominy and Anguish; that we might live for ever in the Heights of Joy, and fit for ever on Thrones of Glory.-Alafs! it is not in us, impotent, infenfible Mortals, to be duly thankful. He only, who confers fuch inconceivably rich Favours, can enkindle a proper Warmth of grateful Affection. Then build thyfelf a Monument, moft gracious IMMANUEL, build thyfelf an everlasting Monument of Gratitude in our Souls. Infcribe the Memory of thy matchlefs Benificence, not with Ink and Pen; but with that precious Blood, which gufhed from thy wounded Veins. Engrave it, not with the Hammer and Chifel; but with the fharpened Spear, which pierced thy facred Side. Let it ftand confpicuous and indelible, not

on

* 2 Lam. iii. 33. Of this Indignity our LORD complains; Are ye come out as against a Thief? Matt, xxvi.

on outward Tables of Stone; but on the very inmoft Tables of our Hearts.

ONE Thing more let me obferve, before I bid Adieu to this intombed Warrior, and his garnished Sepulchre. How mean are these oftentatious Methods, of bribing the Vote of Fame, and purchasing a little pofthumous Renown! What a poor Subftitute for a Set of memorable Actions, is polifhed Alabafter, or the Mimicry of fculptured Marble! The real Excellency of this* bleeding Patriot, is written on the Minds of his Countrymen. It would be remembered with Applause, so long as the Nation fubfifts, without this artificial Expedient to perpetuate it. And fuch, fuch is the Monu

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*Sir Bevil Granville, flain in the Civil Wars, at an Engagement with the Rebels.--It may poffibly be fome Entertainment to the Reader, if I fubjoin Sir Bevil's Character ; as it is drawn by that celebrated Pen, which wrote the Hiftory of those calamitous Times.- That "which would have clouded any Victory, fays the noble Hiftorian, and made the Lofs of others lefs fpoken of, was the Death of Sir Bevil Granville. He was indeed an excellent Perfon, whofe Activity, Intereft, and Reputation, were the Foundation of what had been "done in Cornwall: His Temper and Affections fo . public, that no Accident which happened, could "make any Impreffion upon him: And his Example kept others from taking any thing ill, or at leaft feeming to do fo. In a Word, a brighter Courage, and a gentler Difpofition, were never married together, to make the most chearful and innocent Converfa"' tion." Clar. Hift. Reb. Vol. II.

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