some of which were most painful and distressing, exhibited in the strongest light the absolute submission and deep abasement which Christ Jesus had imposed upon himself, as necessary to the performance of the mighty work he had undertaken. The terms which infinite wisdom and consummate justice required at the hands of the Captain of our Salvation, were no less than that he should be made perfect through suffering; and it appears that from the Manger to the Cross every incident of his eventful life concurred either directly or indirectly to fill up the measure of his afflictions.

§ 2. As the Ministry of our Lord drew towards its close ;-after he had gone about for more than three years doing good to the souls and bodies of those who came within his sphere,-working the most splendid miracles,-preaching to great multitudes the saving doctrines and sanctifying precepts of the Gospel, and exemplifying their efficacy and application by his own simplicity and holiness of life ;-when the period had nearly arrived which he had predicted for the completion of his arduous labours, he went up for the last time to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, according to the custom of the Jews. At his entry into the Holy City, upon this occasion, he allowed himself to be greeted as a Sovereign; and received the homage of his numerous followers, who had at length been convinced by long observation of his character and miracles, that he was indeed the Messias, the regal Son of David. Still, the humble style and unostentatious retinue of the meek and lowly Jesus were sufficient evidence, that his kingdom was not of this world; that, however triumphant

might be the confession of his power and glory by the people, still it was the triumph of a spiritual, not of a temporal, potentate. The first and immediate act of authority which he exercised after the acknowledgement of his title, was to drive from the Court of the Temple those who dared to dishonour and defile the consecrated building by making it a public mart.

§ 3. The first Stage of the Humiliation of Jesus Christ may here be supposed to end; and the second, that of more intolerable suffering and far deeper degradation, to begin. Having celebrated the Passover with his Disciples; and having, at that last Supper, instituted the sacramental receiving of bread and wine, as emblems of his body and blood, in perpetual remembrance of his death, he went out into the Garden of Gethsemane, situated at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where the first scene of his Passion was completed. The three Apostles, Peter, James, and John, who had before witnessed the glory of his transfiguration, were now selected to attend him in the prelude to his greatest suffering. His agony of soul was such as to produce the most violent effect upon his corporeal frame, even so that the blood forcing itself through the distended veins mingled with the sweat which fell in large drops from his throbbing brow. The anguish of his soul, which caused such excessive agitation, was thrice poured forth in earnest prayer to his heavenly Father, that, if it were possible and consistent with the Divine Will, he might be spared the dreadful trial which awaited him. It is not to be believed that the mere

horror in His mind, who knew no sin, and therefore deserved no punishment. But at that critical moment which was to destroy or to establish for ever the Dominion of Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the Powers of Darkness were leagued against him, in order to render the trial of his obedience and fortitude, as man, more difficult and harassing by the suggestions of terror and despair. The sense, which he may be supposed to have experienced at that awful moment, of the Divine Wrath denounced against iniquity, and of the overwhelming weight of the sins of the whole world, then laid upon him as the Representative of Sinners, was more acute and more intolerable than the human nature of Christ, deprived perhaps for a season of the consolation of the Divinity, could endure without expressing his need of comfort and support. Terrible indeed must have been the conflict, tremendous the apprehensions which could so disturb the mind of Jesus, as to render the ministry of a created Angel necessary to allay and stem them; yet such was the Passion of the Saviour, occasioned by his actual distress, and the prescience which he possessed of his approaching sufferings.

The Passion of Christ, our Redeemer, proved that he was really a partaker of human nature, subject to corporeal infirmities and pains, and to mental anguish, grief, and apprehensions; it affords us assurance, that, having experienced them himself, he is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities:" and it instructs us to submit with patience and humility to whatever afflictions the Almighty may think fit to lay upon us, in conformity with His example, who by his sufferings made atonement for our sins.

§ 4. When he had calmed the violent emotions of his troubled spirit, and overcome the desire of life inherent in his humanity, Jesus voluntarily delivered himself up to the persons to whom the Traitor Judas, one of his Disciples, had at the instigation of Satan and his own covetous disposition, betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver. He suffered himself to be led away without resistance, though legions of Angels were at his command to destroy his enemies; because he himself had determined to lay down his life. He was conducted to the Palace of the High Priest; and, having been, in the way thither, examined before Annas, a man of eminence amongst the Jews, and formerly High Priest, he was brought before Caiaphas, at that time holding the Pontifical Office, who declared our Lord to be guilty of blasphemy, in saying that he was the Son of God. While undergoing the mere outward formalities of a judicial process, he was still more insulted by being thrice denied by his own Apostle, Peter.

The Jews were not permitted, in consequence of their subjection to the Romans, to pass sentence of death upon any man: Jesus was therefore sent, the next morning, to Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator; and was falsely accused before him of such crimes as were likely to excite the Governor to fulfil the wishes of his enemies by condemning him to death. Pilate finding that Jesus was a Galilean, transmitted him to Herod, the Tetrarch of Galilee, who having wantonly exposed him to scorn, and illtreated him, sent him back to Pilate. This unjust judge, convinced of the innocence of his prisoner,

people, after several fruitless attempts to release Jesus, ordered him to be scourged; suffered him to be arrayed in the ensigns of mock majesty:-and delivered him to be crucified.

Having patiently yielded to every violence and insult which envy and malice could suggest, during his apprehension, trial, and condemnation, he was, at length, led forth bearing his Cross, so long as his tender frame could sustain it, to the Hill of Calvary, to a place called Golgotha. There, between two thieves, was he nailed to the accursed tree, to which his accusation also was affixed, and underwent the most painful and ignominious punishment which even the Roman law permitted. So lingering and cruel was the death by crucifixion, that the Romans inflicted it only on the vilest malefactors: the Jews were not allowed to use this mode of execution; but as the greatest possible disgrace and shame they hung bodies already dead upon a tree. Having actually endured for six hours, from nine o'clock in the morning till three o'clock in the afternoon, according to our computation, the ineffable torments both of body and mind which he had anticipated during his Passion in the Garden; to so great an extreme was he depressed by submission to the penal wrath of his Heavenly Father, as to exclaim: "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" At length he declared that all the objects of his painful sacrifice were accomplished; and having prayed for his enemies, and commended his Spirit to his Heavenly Father's care, “he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost." His precious Death was announced by supernatural phenomena, by the restoration to life of certain " bodies