wrath that was coming rolling upon him, while the Fa ther was hiding his face from him. O how great was the anguish of Chrift's mind at this time, when he found himfelf preffed and bruised betwixt the millstone of God's juftice and our fins? Which preffure made him sweat without heat, and bleed without wound! Ah! the fire, the heat, the wounds were inward, even in his foul! communicants, behold and fee Chrift's forrows for you, nothing can be more acceptable to Chrift than often to meditate thereon with admiration and love. If any of you had loft a hand, or even a finger, in defending or refcuing your friend from an enemy, you would expect he would be ever mindful of the favour, and never forget you. But, O! what is that to the fufferings of the Son of God for you? He hath lost not a hand, but his heart's blood: yea, the favour and countenance of God for you for a time. He left his glorious throne in heaven, and stooped to become a man, a poor man, a man of forrows, a deferted man, and a dead man for you. Nay, he was willing to be made a curfe for you, and to take on a dreadful load of wrath upon his innocent foul; yea, infinitely more than any damned foul in hell can bear; and to fwim long in a fea of wrath, to fave you from perishing in it. Let the furprising love of Chrift fill your foul with wonder, and kindle a flame of love in your foul to him.

Again, meditate on Chrift's forrows, with deep forrow for fin the caufe thereof. Believe that amazing word, Ifa. liii. 6. He was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities. Let the found of it never go out of your ears; fay, Oh! my fins were the the thorns which pierced his head, the nails which pierced his hands, and the fpear which pierced his fide. My curfed fins put the Lord of Iffe to a cruel death, they wounded him more than all his other enemies. When my dear Lord was in the garden, no Judas, no Pilate, no Jew nor Gentile was there, to caufe his amazing horror of foul, and his fearful sweat of blood; but, Oh! my unbelief, my pride, my carnality, my hy

pocrify, and other fins were there, and with their weight preffed him to the ground, and brought that agony and fweat upon him. Oh, that my head were waters, that I might weep a flood of tears for my fins.

Laftly, abhor fin as the greatest evil, and never have flight thoughts of it any more; can you behold your agonizing Saviour under a burden of wrath, and hear him complaining of the burning heat and thirst which the fire of juftice created within him! Can you fee the great drops of blood standing above his garments! Can you hear his cries and roarings under the bruises and anguifh of his foul, and not be convinced of the evil and demerit of fin! Can that fit light upon your foul, which fat fo heavy upon Chrift's foul? O what defperate malignity muft there be in thar, which could not be expiated without fuch a coftly facrifice! Look on them as fools who make a fport of fin, which coft the Son of God fo much foul travail and inward horfor: Never yield any more to the temptations of fin, which coft fo dear before it could be forgiven.

ADVICE VIII.

From MATTH. XXVI. 22. every one to fay, Lord, is it I?

They were exceeding forrowful, and began

It was a commendable. exercife of Chrift's difciples before partaking of the holy fupper, to be fearching themselves, and looking inward with a holy fuspicion upon their own hearts, especially when Chrift had told them, there was a traitor among them, and at the fame time looking up to him that is omnifcient, to affift them in the fearch, faying, Lord, is it I? Am I the traitor? Will I betray my dear Lord and Saviour? Ah! every one of us have within us traiterous hearts to Jefus Chrift, and have reason to suspect ourselves as they did, and acknowledge we have many enemies of Chrift lodged in our bofoms, fuch as unbelief, hypocrify, pride,

malice, envy, ambition, worldlinefs, atheism, wanderings from God, backwardness to duty, &c. by which we have betrayed Jefus Chrift. And as the difciples when fearching themselves, were exceeding forrowful, fo ought we before we partake; and good reafon have we for it, when we reflect upon our former guilt and treacherous dealing with God, and when we confider the prefent deceitfulness and defperate wickedness of our hearts, and that they are as ready to betray Chrift as ever; yea, that there is hypocrify and treachery in our hearts againft Chrift, which we have not yet difcovered. Upon all which accounts, we have ground with the difciples to be exceeding forrowful.

; Now is the time, O communicants, to fearch and examine yourselves, and to be exceeding forrowful for the many traiterous wounds you have given Chrift by breaking both tables of the law, and every command thereof, by finning against light and confcience, against mercies and judgments, warnings and reproofs, confeffions and prayers. By unthankfulness for redeeming love, neglecting gospel offers, not loving and refting upon a crucified Jefus, not accounting all things lofs and dung for him; not delighting in attending his ordinances, and in remembering his love in the holy fupper. O how treacherous have your hearts been to Chrift! how bloodthirsty have your fins been against him, in preffing him down in the garden, in nailing him to the curfed tree! How are you able to look to Gethsemane or Golgotha, with unconcerned hearts or dry eyes! Were not your fins the principal actors in that horrid tragedy? These, to be fure, were the traitors, which, by the hands of Judas, delivered up Jefus to be crucified: What were Pilate, the Jews, or Romans, but the executioners of your fins? Who put the fword in Juftice's hands? Who raised the tempeft of wrath against your furety? Oh! it was your fins. Blame none fo much as them; they were the Judas that betrayed him, the Herod that mocked him, the Pilate that condemned him, and the foldier that pierced him; will you not then be exceed

ing forrowful for your traiterous heart, and bloody fins? Could they ever have been guilty of a more horrid crime than murdering the Lord of Glory? O fhall the rocks about Jerufalem rend afunder, the earth tremble and fhake, the fun veil its face, and the whole heavens put on a mourning habit, when Chrift fuffered for your fins? And fhall you the criminals, who deferved all this punishment, stand unaffected? O what stupid hearts must you have, if they do not mourn for your fins which brought on fuch agonies upon the Son of God, before they could be expiated. Had you in your paffion given a deadly wound to any poor innocent man, your heart would have bled for it all your days; and will not your hearts much more relent for flaughtering the innocent Lamb of God! One that never wronged you, but was always interpofing for you and doing you good!

Remember what David faid to the Lord, when he faw the people deftroyed for his fin, 2 Sam. xxiv. 17. Lo, I have finned and done wickedly, but as for thefe sheep what have they done? In like manner fay you, Lord, I have finned, I have done wickedly, but as for this fpotlefs Lamb what hath he done? I have eaten the four grapes, but his teeth were fet on edge. O when will your heart melt, and your eyes weep, if not now? Never was there fuch a moving fight fet before your eyes, as the Lord of Glory pierced and flain by your fins. Now it is, that deep calleth unto deep, deep fufferings in Chrift for deep forrow in thee.

O faith one, I defire to be grieved for my hypocrify and treacherous dealing with Chrift, and for fin that crucified him, but how fhall I know if my forrow be of the right fort? Anf. Examine it by fuch marks as thefe. 1. Godly forrow is accompanied with fome view of the mercy of God in Chrift, which fupports the foul, and keeps it from defpair. Judas's forrow, however deep it was, wanted this neceffary ingredient. 2. If true, it will be univerfal, both for your own fins, and the fins of others; for the fins of the place where

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you live, and for thofe of the whole land. 3. If it be right forrow, it will bring you to confider the aggravations and heinous circumftances of your fins, as being against light, against love, and against folemn engagements and profeflions of friendship, so as to mourn and cry how traiterous hath my heart been to fo kind a mafter ! 4. It will produce these seven happy effects mentioned, 2. Cor. vii. 11. There it is faid, godly forrow for fin works, 1. Carefulnefs, that is, a care to recover peace with God for what is past, and to please God for the time to come, by amending what is amifs, and avoiding all temptations and occafions that lead to fin. 2. Clearing of yourselves, by mourning over the fins of other men, diffenting from them, and fhewing your deteftation of them. 3. Indignation against fin, as the abominable thing which God hates. The heart of a true penitent rifes, fwells, and boils againft fin. Then it is you are angry and fin not, when you are angry at fin, and at yourfelves for fin. 4. Fear; the true penitent fears to offend God as he hath done; and that he may not do it, he nourisheth a holy fear and awful impreffion of the holinefs of God, and also a fear of holy jealoufy and watchfulnefs over himself, left fin furprise him at any time. 5. Vehement defire, to wit, after reconciliation with God through Chrift, and after reformation of every thing amifs, and to be entirely rid of all fin. 6. Godly forrow produceth zeal, which is an affection or grace compounded of love and anger, to wit, love to God and duty, and anger against fin, and every thing oppofite to God. 7. Revenge, by feeking the utter extirpation of fin, by fafting, mortifying the feth, and denying yourselves in fome things lawful for A good way to execute this revenge against fin, is for penitents to take frequent views of the deep and bloody wounds which fin hath given to your dear Redeemer. It is written of the Emperor Julius Cæfar, that after he was murdered in the fenate, they brought forth his robe all besmeared with his blood to the market place, and expofed it to open view, in order to

a time.