we may hug ourselves in the arts of hypocrisy, and escape the eye of our fellow-mortals, yet nothing is too deep for the piercing eye of God; the eye of Christ can separate between the precious and the vile, the clean and the unclean. 'Jesus knew who it was that should betray him."

Let us constantly watch against every thing that is defiling. We must cleanse our way by taking heed unto God's word. The priests, when they were consecrated, were washed with water: yet whenever they went in to minister, they must wash their hands and feet with water, on pain of death. Exod. xxx. 19, 20. The provision made for our cleansing should not make us presumptuous, but more cautious. How should we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Rom. vi. 2.

THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN.

And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.-MATT. xxvi. 39. [1807.]

We are now entering the season in which we contemplate the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. In reference to this solemn season, I have found a defect in my own mind, and perhaps some of my hearers may have been conscious of the same-namely, the considering it as a season for the mere recital of these astonishing transactions, instead of one for deeply meditating on the grand lessons brought before us for our instruction.

"Then cometh Jesus," says the Evangelist in the

verses preceding the text, "with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto. them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Let us, in considering these words, fix our attention on two things:

I. THE OBLATION, OR SACRIFICE, THAT CHRist made. II. THE EXEMPLARY MODE OF HIS PREPARING FOR IT.

I. THE OBLATION, OR SACRIFICE, THAT CHRIst made. The expression, "Let this cup pass from me," is idiomatic. The cup is, in this sense, an emblem of suffering; in allusion to the cup given to a malefactor, to enable him to sustain the agonies he must undergo. Thus the Lord addresses Jerusalem, by the Prophet Isaiah, "Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again; but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee." The dispensation of our Saviour's sufferings was called a cup, as it was a "cup of trembling," and a cup of bitterness, such as no mere man could be able to taste: a cup in which were united the deepest afflictions: in which there met all the woes which otherwise would have fallen on sinners. "Who his own self," says the Apostle, "bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Pet. ii. 24. There was a translation of sin and wrath from us to Christ.

"For

he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. v. 21. It was exacted, and he became answerable. Our Lord's death and sufferings were very different from those of the martyrs. They suf fered mainly in their bodies, but he in his soul. Any affection of the body is comparatively nothing to mental suffering. "The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?" An affection on the mind and heart will bow a man down. The martyrs had the presence of God with them, and were enabled to rejoice even in the flames; but Christ was to experience the hidings of his Father's face; he was to experience the displeasure of his Father, as standing in our place. The sufferings of his soul began as soon as he came upon earth. From the first he bore the contradiction of sinners, and his holy soul was grieved at sin. If holy men who were yet imperfect, like Lot, David, and others, were grieved at sin, how much more must Christ, the spotless Lamb, "holy and undefiled!" But now, in his last agony, he was to take the cup of wrath, and drink it to the dregs. The prophet asks, "Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me.", His disciples forsook him, and the Father hid his face from him. Therefore we need not wonder that our Saviour should say, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me."

But these things were absolutely necessary, both for the fulfilment of prophecy, and from the nature of things.

1st. For the fulfilment of Scripture. Christ's sufferings were predicted and shadowed forth by the whole Levitical economy, and the priesthood in connection with it; for the law was only "a shadow of good things to come." No blood but the blood of Christ could atone for sin: "It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared for me." The Prophet Isaiah particularly describes the passion of Christ, and the benefits which should result from it: "He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied." The fruit of the travail of Christ's soul was, that he should bear our sins and griefs; that through him we should have pardon and peace; that he might be to us "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption;" it was, that the mourners might be comforted; the weak strengthened; that we should have life for evermore; and that all should flow to us through the bleeding veins of Jesus Christ.

We consider of time as past, present, and to come. But when the counsel of peace was made between the Father, Son, and Spirit, it was as one eternal Now, When Christ's soul was made "an offering for sin," he knew every anxious thought, and saw every sore conflict, which his purchased people should pass through. He bore "our griefs and carried our sorrows." If you are pining under losses and trials, think of him who was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Think of the sympathy he still affords you, and the blessings he has purchased for you. The value of every thing is best known by the price of it. All the contentment which the world could afford would not be worth one drop of Christ's blood! Yet he did not

think it too much to lay down his life for immortal souls. It was for such that "it pleased God the Father to bruise him ;" and what it was thus to bruise the Lamb of God, we can have little conception of! The Lord did not spare him, but delivered him up for us all. Rom. viii. 32. It was the result of his eternal counsel: "He hath poured out his soul unto death" as the appointed means of our redemption and salvation. Thus David, speaking in the language of prophecy, in reference to the oblation of Christ, says, "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." Psalm xxii. 14. The Prophet Daniel had it revealed to him that after threescore and two weeks the Messiah should be cut off, but not for himself. The death of Christ was plainly intimated by Zechariah, chap. xiii. "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." Whenever we think of the sufferings of Christ, we must remember that they were as an oblation: we must see in them Christ bearing our sins, as foretold and appointed. So St. Paul speaks: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." 1 Cor. xv. 3.

2ndly. But Christ's sufferings were not only necessary as a fulfilment of Scripture, they were so from the nature of things. There can be no doubt, after what has been said, that the whole plan of redemption is laid open in these sufferings. They declare the righteousness of God; "that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. iii. 26. If any say, I do not understand how the innocent should suffer