and thus their own wicked rejection of the Lord of Life would be accomplished, and all the Scriptures would be fulfilled, which declared the manner of the death of Christ. You well know that it was one great object of the plans of Providence, that every prophecy should be fulfilled in the sufferings and death of Christ; and our Lord repeatedly tells his disciples, that He was able to escape from His sorrows altogether, but how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled? All this was done. We read in another place, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled 10. The consequence of this precaution on the part of our Lord has been, that the history of Christ may be now read in the prophecies of the Old Testament, as plainly as it is read in the narratives of the New Testament. In Him, and in Him alone, are they all accomplished; and the Old and New Testaments, therefore, both agree so entirely throughout, in their descriptions of Him whom we acknowledge to be the only Saviour, that we can look to no other but to Christ as the promised Redeemer of the world. All this our Lord well knew; and He prepared Himself, therefore, for a more terrible death, the death which was pointed out by the prophets, even the death of the cross-the death which the Romans only, and not the Jews, inflicted.

Another reason, on account of which our Lord did not go up to Jerusalem on this day, might have

9 Matt. xxvi. 54.

10 John xix. 36.

been, that His innocence and holiness might more evidently appear by the conduct of Judas Iscariot.

I have often told you that He who would make atonement for the sins of the world, must be perfect, and blameless, and free from sin. Christ came into the world, first to obey, and then to atone. His atonement was to begin on the morrow-and this day, therefore, was the last day, on which His fitness for the office of Redeemer was to be brought to the test; and it was, therefore, to undergo a further test, to which it had not yet been subjected. And no more impressive testimony in favour of the purity, the perfection, and the innocence of the character of Christ could possibly be adduced, than that which is afforded by the conduct of Judas Iscariot. This man was offended because he had been reproved by his divine Master. He therefore went to the chief priests to betray Him. He offers to sell Him for the paltry reward of thirty shekels of silver-the smallest price which the law of Moses demanded as a compensation for the life of the meanest slave. Do you not believe that when Judas went to the chief priests, they would eagerly demand of the apostate traitor, all the particulars which he could communicate respecting the thoughts, words, and actions of Christ? If there had been one erroneous sentiment, one imperfect action, one instance of apparent wrong, do you not believe that the traitor would have related it, to palliate his treason, and to form one apology, at least, for his treachery? Judas had long lived

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with Christ as His daily friend, and bosom companion. He had long been the witness of His public teaching, and the partner of His most unreserved conversation. He is angry with his divine Master-he betrays Him-he sells Him; but he cannot accuse Him-he can find no fault in Him. Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin, and from sinners, the Son of God had come down to obey the whole law, and every spectator of His conduct, however he might have hated Him, could find no fault in Him at all. See how all His actions, His friends, and His enemies united to bear this same testimony-When He began His ministry, He wrought miracles at Capernaum; but when He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, He refused to work any miracles, because they had seen His conduct from His earliest years, and His spotless innocence was a greater miracle than healing the sick, or restoring the blind; and therefore to that, and to that only, He appealed. When the Jews sought to kill Him, He demanded of them openly, and publicly, which of you convinceth Me of sin ?-The chief priests who accused Him, and the high priest who condemned Him, could declare nothing against Him, but that He made Himself the Son of GodI find no fault in this MAN ", said the Roman governor, who observed with astonishment, and surprise, His humble, yet majestic superiority-Truly

11 Luke xxiii. 4.

this was the Son of God 12, was the exclamation of the Centurion after he had beheld His expiring agonies, and heard His dying words, and marked the convulsions of the shaking earth, and the darkness of the mid-day sun, when all nature sympathized with its Lord. Prophecy had announced Him as the holy one of God; and Peter and John, who also, with Judas, were His bosom companions, and friends, assure us that He did no sin; and Judas, the traitor Judas, for of him we ought principally to speak, when he saw that He was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. When you shall hear then tomorrow, and the following day, that Jesus, the Son of God, is the atonement for the sins of the world, remember these testimonies to His innocence; and believe that He is qualified for the office He came from heaven to assume. He was fit to bear the punishment of our sins in His own body on the tree 13, because He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth 14; and having fulfilled all the law of God, even to the uttermost-freely and willingly He presented Himself to be the sacrifice to save us.

Having thus pointed out to you two reasons, on account of which it is probable that our Lord did not go up to Jerusalem on this day, let us now consider the remaining cause to which I have alluded, it was this that He might become more prepared

12 Matt. xxvii. 54.

13

1 Pet. ii. 24.

14 Ibid. ver. 24.

the pains of hell, and a broken spirit! Now He foresaw the pains of the body, the scourge and the thorns, the nails and the cross. He placed before His view that painful death which was made more painful by the shame, and the contempt, with which even the rabble regarded it. It was the death of a slave, and of a criminal, terrible, lingering, and ignominious. And was there no comfort, was there to be no reward? If He died for others

if His object in suffering was mercy, would He see the sorrow only, and not the salvation also which His dying love was to procure? Was the prophecy of Isaiah to be true in all other instances, and not true in this? Oh! no; He saw the spiritual seed which should be born of the preaching and ministry of the new dispensation-He beheld the removal of the curse, and the pardon of man, and the rending of the veil of the temple, to admit into the Holy of Holies all the Gentile nations to whom His Gospel should be preached in the whole world. The SALVATION of the soul of man is the REWARD OF THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST He seeks no other→→→→ He desires no otherHe entreats the immortal beings to whom the knowledge of His will is imparted, to confer this reward upon Him, to remember His sufferings-and to commit their spirits to Him as into the hands of a faithful Creator". The happiness of man is His happiness-and He shall delight to bring His sons and His daughters to the

17 1 Pet. iv. 19.