SERMON I.

THE MIND THAT WAS IN CHRIST.

Good Friday.

PHILIP. ii. 5-8.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,`and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

THE provision of an atonement for the sins of the world, must be considered as the primary object of the sufferings and death of the Son of God: "He hath once suffered, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God." And this object will never be regarded without the deepest emotion,

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and liveliest gratitude and love, by any man sensible at once of the perils to which he has been exposed by sin, and the joys to which he is invited by his Redeemer.

For the accomplishment of this end, however, it is obvious that the protracted residence of our Lord upon earth was not essential. It was enough that he should present himself, either here, or possibly in some other sphere of existence, as a victim to the righteous indignation of God, and then pass back into the world of glory and joy, in which he originally dwelt. Instead of this, he condescended to abide among us; to share the various trials of human nature; and, in the successive stages of his earthly affliction, to exhibit to his creatures the brightest example of suffering patience, perseverance, and love. These circumstances, in themselves, and independent of the statements of Scripture, might serve to assure us, that the long-continued sufferings of our Lord upon earth had another object-namely, that of leaving an "example, that we should follow his steps."

It isin this last point of view that I am

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more especially desirous, on the present occasion, of contemplating the sufferings and death of the Son of God: and I beg for your attention while I proceed,

I. To consider the GENERAL COMMAND CONTAINED IN THE TEXT; II. To examine the ILLUSTRATION WHICH IS GIVEN of that command; and,

III. To make a PRACTICAL USE of the whole subject.

Unite with me, my Christian brethren, in praying that the compassionate Lord, to whose glory this text is so especially dedicated, may be with us through every part of our inquiry.

I. In the first place, we are to consider the GENERAL COMMAND which is coNTAINED IN THE TEXT. It is conveyed in these few words; "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

1. These words must be considered as enjoining upon us, in the first place, a deep and constant regard to the state of

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mind."-The common tendency of our nature is to place religion in something which is exterior, and which does not, in any degree, reach to the dispositions of the heart. Some, for example, place it in mere visible conformity to a particular church; some, in rude resistance to that church; some, in mere exemption from scandalous offences; some, in outrageous adherence to their own party; some, in vehement persecution of all who differ from that party. But, my brethren, religion properly consists in a certain frame of the mind, or of the dispositions and affections of the soul: "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness:" "My son, give me thy heart:" "This people draweth nigh to me with their mouth, but their heart is far from me." It is enough indeed, that the machine obeys the particular law of its construction; it is enough that the heavenly bodies roll on in mute submission to the hidden force to which they are subjected; it is enough that the animal complies with the instincts planted in its nature. It would be unjust to require of mere matter, or of inanimate

nature, the emotions, desires, hopes, tastes, and dispositions of which they are obviously incapable. But the mind of man is capable of exercising great and peculiar functions. It thinks and judges; it invents, and hopes, and fears, and believes, by laws and by faculties peculiar to itself; and therefore it is required that the

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mind," with all its apparatus of means and powers, should be rescued from the service of sin, and consecrated to God.— It is possible, my brethren, to be received, by the holy sacrament of Baptism, into the purest church of Christ; it is possible to be a constant participater in the ordinances of that church; it is possible to carry about with us many visible indications of piety; it is possible to present ourselves as the ardent and ostensible champions of the out-works of Christianity -and all this without the smallest devotion of the "mind," to God;-and, therefore, it is possible to be all this, without being accepted of God, and prepared for the trial of the Great Day.

2. But, in the next place, Christians are required in this commandment to cherish