he is the HOLY ONE, the JUST; he is our Brother, our Head, our King; he is the Only-begotten Son, in whom the Father is well pleased; before whom the hosts of heaven bow down in adoration! And wherefore does he thus suffer?-Ah! that recollection, like a sharp arrow, has pierced me to the soul! It is I,-it is my sins that have caused his death: the just sentence of my condemnation is executed upon my unoffending Saviour; and by his stripes and his agonies, I am healed. At length, O Jesus, I embrace Thee; with every faculty of my being I adore Him who dies for me. Too long I have been ungrateful; too long obdurate; now, at last, I feel my soul impressed with a just sense of 97 thy benefits "I am bought with a price, 1 therefore will I glorify God in my body and in my spirit, which are God's." Are these, dear Brethren, your sentiments May God inspire such, or may he strengthen them, and impress them upon our souls by his spirit everlastingly! Of that spirit, this faith, which at once justifies and regenerates, is a gift," and the most gracious of them all. Frail and unhappy creatures, how little can we do by our unassisted strength! Those very things the most calculated to affect us,—our own dangers, our own miseries, and the benevolence which frees us from them, are hardly sufficient to awaken our concern. Yet, if with all our heart we supplicate that Almighty God, who hath promised, that, "if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us," that God, who hath already provided help for us unasked, "who hath first loved us, and hath sent his Son, to be the propitiation for our sins;"-if we implore him, in the name and through the merits of that adorable Saviour, he will assuredly help us to fulfil the condition to which he has subjected us; he will endue our souls with the faith which he demands. O God of Mercies! perfect the work Thou hast begun "Grant us to be strengthened with might by thy spirit in the inner man, that : Christ may dwell in our hearts BY FAITH!" O Lord Jesus! grant us this day to hear that gracious language, which thou didst address to them that came unto thee for help: "Thy Faith hath saved thee; go in peace!" Enable us thus, "in our patience, to possess our souls," whilst encompassed by the tempests and the sorrows of this life, until that blessed period, when thou wilt bring us to the abodes of peace everlasting, there to be one with Thee for ever. Amen! Amen! |