This subject naturally divides itself into two branches, which require a distinct consideration.

I. Let us consider, that God exhibits Christ before the minds of men, in order to try their hearts.

1. The truth of this observation appears from what the prophets foretold concerning the feelings and conduct of men towards the Messiah, when he should make his appearance in the flesh, and perform his mediatorial work among them. David predicted that he would alarm the fears, and awaken the enmity and opposition of the world against him. "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” After this, he foretold the language and feelings of Christ under the cruel hands of his implacable enemies. In the name of the suffering Saviour, he said, "Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." "The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet." "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." This was a plain prediction of the feelings and conduct of the crucifiers of Christ, who were highly incensed against him, on account of the doctrines which he taught, and the claims which he made to equality with the Father. Isaiah also foretold the contempt and cruelty with which Christ would be treated, in the days of his humanity. "He shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." The prophets were inspired to foretell these effects of Christ's appearance in the flesh, because God intended, by bringing him into the world, to try the hearts of men, and draw forth those feelings which they really possessed, but were unwilling to acknowledge.

2. It appears from the history of Christ, that he fulfilled the predictions which went before concerning him, and tried the hearts of all, who either heard him preach, or saw his miracles,

or were any way acquainted with him. He was a sign universally spoken against. Herod and all Jerusalem were alarmed at the news of his birth, and began to speak and act against him, even before they saw him. When he appeared as a preacher, he tried the hearts of all who attended his public or private discourses. Some said, he spake as never man spake; but others said he deceived the people. Some heard him gladly; but others heard him with disgust and indignation. Some admired his miracles; but others despised and blasphemed them. Some said God was with him; but others said he was assisted by Satan. He tried multitudes by his crucifixion, as well as by his miracles and preaching. Then, like a sword, he pierced the heart of his mother, and of his peculiar friends and followers. Then he tried the hearts of the two malefactors, who suffered and died by his side. Then he tried the hearts of his murderers, and made it appear that they were more cruel than the savage beasts of prey. Then he tried the hearts of all the spectators of that solemn scene, who were very differently affected by the awful spectacle of his death. He constrained them all to express their real feelings, on that extraordinary occasion. While some railed and some mocked, the centurion glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things that were done, smote their breasts, and returned. Christ was like a fuller's soap, and a refiner's fire. He tried the hearts of thousands, both while he lived and when he died. He was always saying, or doing something, which had a direct tendency to try the hearts of all his friends and foes.

3. The exhibition of Christ after his death, through the medium of the gospel, tried the hearts of the whole Jewish nation. When the day of Pentecost was fully come, and the apostles were properly prepared to exhibit a crucified Saviour, his character impressed the minds and tried the hearts of all who heard them preach. The inhabitants of Jerusalem were universally affected. While thousands believed and rejoiced, fear came upon every soul who despised and rejected the offers of mercy in the name of Christ. While some rose and some fell, while some were enlightened and some blinded, while some praised and some blasphemed the divine Redeemer, every heart in Jerusalem was tried. After this, the gospel was carried to Samaria, and to all parts of Judea, where it produced the same different effects which it had produced in Jerusalem. It tried the hearts of believers and unbelievers, and completely prepared the nation in general to be cut off and dispersed through the world. The exhibition of Christ, by the gospel, disclosed the secrets of their hearts, demonstrated their blindness, stupidity,

and unbelief; which justified God in taking the gospel from them, and sending it to other nations who would give it a better reception. And when the apostles carried the gospel to other nations, and exhibited the character of Christ before them, he was precious to those who believed; but to those who disbelieved, he was a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. So that he was for the falling and rising of many among the Gentiles, as well as among the Jews.

4. Ever since the days of the apostles, the character of Christ displayed in the gospel, has tried the hearts of the whole Christian world. Though many nations and kingdoms have been gospelized, yet only a few individuals have sincerely embraced the Saviour. Myriads and myriads of mankind, in the course of near two thousand years, have been invited to believe in Christ, but yet have despised him, and practically judged themselves unworthy of eternal life. The hearts of all these have been tried, and proved to be totally corrupt, by exhibiting Christ crucified before their eyes. How many have risen by looking to Christ? and how many have fallen by looking from him? But none have believed nor disbelieved, and none have risen nor fallen, differently from what God intended, by the exhibition of Christ through the gospel.

5. It appears from the very character of Christ, that he cannot be exhibited to the minds of men without trying their hearts. His character, above all others, is adapted to draw forth the feelings of the human heart. It is not only supremely excellent, but infinitely interesting to all intelligent beings, and especially to mankind. None of the human race can view it with indifference. The child that was born in Bethlehem, that was consecrated to God in the temple, that came to manhood in Nazareth, that preached in Judea, that died without the gates of Jerusalem, that arose from the dead, and ascended up to heaven, that very same person was the mighty God, the Prince of peace, the Lord of glory, the Governor of the universe, and the supreme Judge of all intelligent and accountable creatures. Every human heart must be for, or against this great and illustrious personage. Wherever he is exhibited in all his excellences, offices, and designs, he must necessarily try the hearts of men in some very important respects.

And, first, in regard to God. In Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. Though united with humanity, he necessarily possesses and displays all the perfections of his Father. This justified him in saying to his disciples, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." Wherever Christ is exhibited, he reveals the

character and counsels of God. "The Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, hath déclared him." God, therefore, by exhibiting Christ in the gospel, tries the hearts of men in respect to himself. He certainly made it appear that the Jews were his enemies, by the instrumentality of Christ. They had long professed to be the friends of God, and to desire the coming of the promised Messiah; but when he came, and displayed his Father's character, they fully manifested the enmity of their hearts towards both him and his Father. When he preached at Nazareth, and taught the sovereignty of God in the dispensation of his favors, they were extremely exasperated. And whenever he brought the divine character into view, whether in his public or private discourses, it never failed to excite their bitter reproach and resentment. Hence he plainly told them, "If God were your Father, ye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." "And because I tell you the truth ye believe me not." "He that is of God, heareth God's words; ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil." Upon their saying this, our Saviour turned to his apostles, and forewarned them of the treatment which they should receive from those to whom they should preach the gospel of God. "But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin: He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." If God had never set up his Son as a sign to be spoken against and opposed, it never would have appeared, in fact, that all men have by nature, a mortal enmity against God, and would, if possible, actually destroy his existence. But by the crucifixion of the holy child Jesus, who was the Lord of glory, men's mortal enmity to God has been clearly revealed, and will continue to be revealed, wherever the gospel is preached and the character of Christ is exhibited. His character will always display the character of God, and of consequence, draw forth the native malignity of mankind towards the supreme Sovereign of the universe.

In the second place, the exhibition of Christ necessarily discovers the secrets of men's hearts towards themselves, as well as towards God. Christ, in the course of his life, and more es

pecially at his death, laid open the guilt and ill desert of sinners. He told them in plain terms, that they were serpents, and a generation of vipers, who deserved the damnation of hell; and he confirmed these declarations, by his sufferings and death on the cross. Before he appeared on earth, the false prophets and blind guides had daubed with untempered mortar, and led sinners to entertain a high opinion of the purity of their hearts. But he exposed their inward turpitude, selfishness, and hypocrisy; which, in words, they denied and resented, but in conduct, clearly expressed. The life of Christ condemned the lives of sinners, the preaching of Christ condemned the hearts of sinners, and the death of Christ demonstrated that they deserved the wrath of God both in this life and in that which is to come. And the gospel, which contains the history of the character, conduct, and sufferings of Christ for this rebellious world, is a mirror in which all may discover their moral depravity and just desert of eternal destruction. God means, by exhibiting Christ through the gospel, to undeceive men with respect to themselves, and make them sensible of their guilty and wretched condition.

Besides, thirdly, the exhibition of Christ as a mediator, discovers men's feelings in regard to the terms of salvation. God has made love to the person and character of Christ, an indispensable condition of granting pardon to sinners. He declares wherever he sends the gospel, that whosoever believeth shall be saved; but whosoever believeth not shall be damned. And he says, "If any man love not the 'Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maran-atha." By thus exhibiting Christ as the sole foundation of forgiveness, he tries the hearts of sinners respecting their willingness to be saved. They naturally imagine that they are very willing to accept of salvation; but when the true character of Christ is displayed, and love to his character is proposed as the term of divine acceptance, then the secrets of their hearts are disclosed, and they find that they would rather die eternally, than submit to that condition. Our Lord told sinners in his day, that they would not come unto him that they might have life. And he illustrated this by several striking parables, especially by the parable of the marriage feast, in which he represented those that were invited, as refusing to attend; and by the parable of the vineyard, in which he represented the husbandmen, as defrauding the owner, abusing his servants, and slaying his Son. The same spirit of op. position to the terms of the gospel still reigns in the hearts of sinners. So that God still tries, and will continue to try their hearts, by exhibiting Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, and the only name given under heaven through which they can find favor in his sight.