it to his disciples, saying, "Take ye, eat ye; this is my body broken for you: this do in remembrance of me."

-ME! what for a ME, is this? Who was it that was smitten by the sword of justice? Why, it is even the shepherd, the man that is God's fellow, his own Son: we have sinned, and he is smitten for it; the sword awaked against him, and we go free: O sinner, sinner! O guilty sinner, filthy sinner, wretched sinner! who in all the world would have done that for you that Christ has done? Who in all the world could have suffered that for you, that Christ has suffered! O communicant, apply, apply his doing and dying to yourself in particular, and say, O marvellous and matchless love! O boundless and bottomless love! "He loved me, and gave himself for me!" Or, if you cannot attain to the particular application, that he did it for you; yet, O wonder, wonder, that he ever did and suffered so much for any; for he suffered the hell of all the elect; God made a gap or wound in the breast of Christ, with the sword of his justice, and then poured in a whole hell of wrath upon him. O! is it not good your part, to remember him, who remembered you when the sword of justice was ready to be sheathed in your bowels, and to drink in the blood of your soul? No sooner did the Son of God behold the sword at your breast, and the hand of justice fetching the bloody stroke, but he cries out, O Father, hold thy hand; let all that vengeance that is due to those poor guilty creatures, fall upon me; behold I open my breast to receive the stroke of justice in their room. They have broken thy law, but here I am to fulfill it for them; they have enraged thy justice, but here I am ready to satisfy justice for them; they have drunk up iniquity like water; but lo! I will drink up the gall and vinegar of thy vengeance for them: "Lo! I come;" let the sword light upon me with all its vengeance. Come, come then, my beloved Son, says God, the Lord of hosts, you know what this work will cost you, will you stand your hazard? Yes, yes, says Christ: what will I not do for thy glory, and for those miserable sinners? What will I not suffer for thy glory, and for those miserable sinners? What will I not suffer for

them? Let it be infinite vengeance, I bear it for them. -Content, content, then says the Father; and therefore, "Awake, O sword against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow: smite the shepherd." Well, the shepherd, the man, the wonderful man, is smitten, and the bloody stroke opens a wide gap in his heart, from hence streams a river of blood; «A river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God" and of this river you are called to drink this day. Christ having sacrificed himself a peace-offering to the Lord of hosts, He, as the antitype of Moses, did sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the people; and therefore, "In the same manner, after supper, also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood; this do, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me; for, as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death till he come again. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission:" but there is blood shed; take it, and remission of your sins with it; it is worthy blood, the blood of the man that is God's fellow; the sword of justice has got such a full draught of this blood, that it craves no more. As long as God's justice is demanding vengeance, no man can stand before God: but here justice has no more to crave; for the satisfaction Christ gave was full measure, heaped up, and running over: he offered himself to God, for a sweet-smelling savour; justice was pacified and satisfied, and love got a vent towards man: and hence, instead of a cup of wrath, you have a cup of love to drink. What was justice seeking from Christ, when the sword was running through his heart? Why justice was even pursuing him for your debt, and exacting all of the surety that was due by you. May it not affect the heart of any debtor, that has the least spark or remains of ingenuity, to see his cautioner dragged to prison for his debt? But here you see more, the sword of justice not only arresting your surety, but running him through, and killing him. O may not this fill you with hatred of your sins, and love to your surety, that was so well pleased to be thus dealt with for you! Let not unbelief say, that you

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cannot think that this blood was shed for such a hellish sinner, such a wonderful sinner as you; for it would not be such wonderful blood, if it was not for the cleansing of such wonderful sinners: be your sins what they will, lay them under the covert of this blood, the blood of the man that is God's fellow; as sure as he was smitten you shall escape; for, He was wounded for our sins." True, when he was wounded by the awakened sword, he might have cried, O father, these sins are not mine; these transgressions are not mine; these faults and miscarriages, these black crimes are not mine; why should I be smitten for them? No, no: there was never such a word in his mouth. Love breathed out some other language; I was content, as a surety, to ⚫ take all that sin and guilt upon me; and now I am as <content to bear the weight of all that wrath and vengeance that their sins deserved.' O mighty love!

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Now, my dear friends, the time of a communion action should be a busy time. When you see the sword of justice awakened against Christ, O lay all the enemies of God especially his enemies within you, under the stroke of his sword of justice: bring all your lusts and idols to the justice of God, saying, Awake, O sword of justice against these my sins and smite them. What think you of this love, believers? What think you of this love, communicants? What think you of this love, spectators? If it had not been for this, instead of weeping at a communion-table, you had been weeping in hell. Awake, O sword, against my lusts, and give this lust a stroke, and that lust a stroke; Awake, O sword, against this pride and passion of mine, and give it a stroke; awake, O sword, against that enmity, unbelief, and legality of mine, and give them a stroke; awake, O sword, against my atheism, carnality, and worldly-mindedness, and give these a stroke; awake, O sword, against my filthiness and frowardness, my uncleanness and vileness of heart and way, my Delilah sins, and O give them a stroke.-Bring forth all your sins, and particularly the sins that easily beset you, bring them forth to the sword, the sword of justice, to be hewed in pieces, like Agag, before the Lord; say

ing, Lord, let the sword that awaked against my Lord, awake against my lusts that they may be crucified with him. O take vengeance on thy enemies within me! O it will be a blessed communion-day if it were but a day of vengeance upon your sins and lusts. O! cry down the vengeance of the sword of justice upon them.

And as you should bring forth all your sins, so bring forth all your wants: whatever you want to your own souls to your friends; to your family; to your children; to your neighbours, and Christian acquaintances, that desire you to mind them: lay all your wants before the man that is God's fellow; who as he is the sacrifice for your sins, so he is the store-house for your supply; "My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus," Philip. iv. 19. Want you any thing for the Church of Scotland? Our great want at this day is a spirit of zeal, a spirit of love, and a sound mind; the want of God's holy spirit makes much division and disorder; O cry down the spirit! And do not wonder if the shepherd be smitten, that the sheep may be scattered; this was fulfilled when all the disciples were offended because of him, in the night wherein he was betrayed; and all forsook him and fled: they were scattered, every one to his own, like so many timorous sheep, and left him alone, John xvi. 32--But "I will turn my hand on the little ones:" some make that word a threatening, that, as Christ suffered, so shall his disciples; they shall be baptised with the bloody baptism he was baptised with. Think not strange, if a scaffold of blood should be your trial; if you be a believer indeed, you shall notwithstanding overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the blood of the shepherd, the man that is God's fellow. "I will turn my hand on the little ones:" some make it a promise, that God will gather together the scattered sheep; the little ones among Christ's scholars, may be divided and dispersed, but they shall rally again. O look for a time when he will return; and, in mercy, turn his hand on the little ones.

Now, let all the little ones, the poor, weak, feeble sheep of the flock, follow and lean upon the great shep

herd that was smitten for them, and he will supply all your wants, subdue all your iniquities, pardon all your sins, and bear all your burdens, and sanctify all your crosses, and do all your work in you and for you. If you have not now gotten what you would have, cry to him, and wait upon him, and let it be the top of your desires and endeavours, to have more and more fellowship, with the man that is God's fellow, especially in his being the only sacrifice to the sword of justice in your room. Upon this sacrifice wherewith God is so infinitely well pleased, let all your hope of grace and glory depend.

Now, go in peace, and may the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect, in every good work, to do his will; working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON II.*

The RENT VAIL of the TEMPLE; or, Access to the Holy of Holies by the DEATH of CHRIST..

MATTH. XXVII. 51.—And behold the vail of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom.

SOME here may think, what will the minister make

of that text, and what relation hath it to the work of this day? Indeed I cannot promise to make any thing of it, unless the Lord himself make something of it to you. But, with his help, we may find a feast in it to our souls; and a suitable feast on the back of a feast, such as many of you have been celebrating. Christ hath

* This Sermon was preached on the Sabbath-evening, immediately after the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's supper at Carnock, July 12th, 1729.