means, would find him and be refreshed by his presence. They had come seeking a dead hope, but they went away believing in a living joy; and immediately they hastened to declare to others that Jesus lived; the gracious Saviour of seeking souls. Blush, my soul, at thy tardiness to spread the glad tidings! What! is there no Galilee where he has appointed to meet his disciples in these days? Does Jesus now slumber in the tomb? If this were oftener our employment, we might perhaps "meet Jesus as we went," and hear him say to us, "All hail! be not afraid." Let us who profess ourselves the friends of Jesus, never be ashamed to own our dear and near relation to him, but boldly tell his disciples, that they shall see him here with the eye of faith, and above with the eye of glory. August, 1818. And every man went unto his own house. Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.-John vii. 53, and viii. 1. 66 66 "Heir of all things! King of kings, and Lord of lords!" hadst thou not where to lay thy head? The enemies of Jesus, after devising means to take away his life, retired every man unto his own house,' but the Lord of heaven and earth, in whose hands was their breath, had no place of rest. "Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives;" yet it was solely owing to this despised, rejected one, this "man of sorrows," that his adversaries could be numbered with the living; he, who, by his all-powerful voice bade the dead arise, could, by a similar exertion, have caused the living to be reckoned among the dead. But why was the Holy One and the Just, who was so holy, harmless, and undefiled," that even his enemies could find no accusation against him, placed in so degraded a condition? 66 66 Why had he, who administered to the wants of others, soothed their griefs, and healed their diseases, none to offer him an asylum? The everlasting rest and refuge of his people, had himself no place of rest, because he appeared on earth as their surety. "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many." When man had sinned, he forfeited all things; he had no claim to any thing; no right to call any thing his own but everlasting perdition. Not only the blessings of redemption, therefore, but all that man enjoys, flows through a Mediator, who is called the "Saviour (or preserver) of all men, especially of those that believe." "For him were all things made, and by him all things consist; that is, are held fast together. Again, we find him spoken of as upholding all things," the government being upon his shoulders. "Heaven and earth," says he, 66 are dissolved; I bear up the pillars of it." When the Lord Jesus, leaving the "glory which he had with the Father, before the world was," "came in the likeness of man," he placed himself in a cursed condition, and subjected himself to endure all that we deserved, as the consequence of sin. He was "made a curse for us," "made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them who were under the law;" redeem them from its curse and bondage, and make them partakers of the glorious liberty of being the sons of God. The moment our blessed Lord first breathed the air of this sinful world, the law demanded of him, as surety for his people, a full payment, even to the "uttermost farthing," ⚫it withdrew not the slightest requirement, and he was "not rebellious, neither turned away back," but delivered himself up to fulfil every iota of it. Like the willing servant in the Jewish law, "he would not go free," but for the love he bare his wife and master, consented to serve with a free service. "Mine ears hast thou opened (or bored); then I said, Lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, Oh! God." The whole life of Jesus was a continual payment of the debt we owed the law, and his death a complete satisfaction to justice. It was to "loose the captives," and "set the prisoners free," that Jesus "would not go free." He placed himself beyond the reach of mercy, in the rigorous hands of justice, that everlasing blessings might be the portion of his people. It was that, folded in the everlasting arms of Jehovah, and peacefully reclining on the bosom of his love, we might never be moved; that Jesus became a wanderer, without a fixed dwelling place. He beheld her whom he loved; his beloved, his "fair one," fast bound in chains and fetters, and he came down to deliver her. "Jacob served for a wife seven years, and for a wife he kept sheep;" but the wife of the Lord Jesus was not so cheaply obtained; for her sake, for above thirty years, he took on himself the form of a servant, and became her lawfulfiller, that by his obedience she might be made righteous. For her he was nailed to a cross, bearing her sins in his own body on the tree;" for her he died, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring her to God;" for her he was buried, "delivered for her offences; " for her, having spoiled principalities and powers, he ascended on high," carrying her with him to glory, being "raised for her justification;" for her, he is now before the throne, where "he ever liveth, making intercession for her." Most characters, if aware that in a particular spot they would undergo extreme agony, whether of body or mind, would carefully avoid that place, lest it should suggest to their thoughts the unpleasant but inevitable scene which they foresaw would there take place. Not so the Lord Jesus. By this Mount Olives was the garden of Gethsemane, in which the contemplation of the sin he was about to take upon him, caused such an agony in the Holy Jesus, that "his sweat was as it were great 66 "Father, Now, drops of blood;" and he earnestly prayed, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” though Jesus was perfectly acquainted with every thing that would befal him, and "his sorrow was continually before him," we read "that he entered into a garden with his disciples, and Judas, which betrayed him, knew the place, for Jesus oftentimes resorted thither with his disciples." The disciples frequently accompanied Jesus to this hallowed spot, yet they were ignorant why he chose this place as a resort in his retired moments. Such was the love of our blessed Lord towards those whom he came to seek and to save," by giving himself a ransom for them, that he delighted to be in this solemn place, and by anticipation, to load himself with those chains, which, being put on him, everlastingly freed his people from bondage, for "he was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," having put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." 66 Hast thou not, Oh! sinful worm, whilst reflecting on thy Lord's situation, spending his nights on a mountain, without a place whereon to lay his head, wished that thou hadst a place to which thou couldst invite him? I would bid him a welcome to my heart, but, would this be a change for the better? Mount Olives, though a mountain, afforded retirement from the noise and bustle of the city; could I ask Jesus to come from this scene of quiet, into a den of wild beasts? Mount Olives was a mountain on which grew trees bearing goodly fruit; who would leave the pleasing sight of richly loaded boughs for a barren rock, yielding no pasturage even for a goat? By Mount Olives was a garden; this always affords a happy variety, but I offer no variety, except in in every different shape and form. Yet, Lord, I ask thee not to come, not because of the wretchedness of the situation, but because I know and believe that thou hast come and taken possession of it. Yea, "against hope I believe in hope," that thou hast given me that faith by which thou dwellest in us. My heart, Though a cold and hard one, Lord, take me to Gethsemane and Mount Olives, and in there meditating on thy love, may I enjoy sweet communion with thee whom my soul loveth. And may some of those prayers thou didst offer for thy church, in those places made sacred by thy presence, the benefits of which will flow down to remote ages, descend in blessings even on me.-November, 1818. The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 1 Cor. xv. 56. The apostle had been treating in this chapter of death and a resurrection; he was therefore naturally led to inquire what made death so terrible to men. It is, says he, undoubtedly sin which imparts such bitterness to death; the consciousness of having sinned, or having done something to offend a holy, pure, and just Being, and therefore causing ourselves to be subject to his wrath and just displeasure. But here, we naturally inquire, What is it that gives sin this condemning power? What gives it such strength and force, that it comes clothed with this commanding authority, and says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die?" It is the law which puts the staff of arrest into its hand-" The strength of sin is the law." It is not sin considered merely in itself, which makes us liable to condemnation, if we practise it, but because "sin is a transgression of the law." Hence we find God addressing Adam in these words: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I |