the world. All this he foresaw ; and the foresight of it enabled him to sustain the accumulated load of all his sufferings. He foresaw that his enemies would all " wax old as a garment, and that the very moth should eat them up ;" whilst he and his cause should live for ever. And what now is become of the chief priests and elders, or of Pilate his judge ? Yea, what is become of the Jewish nation itself, and of the whole Roman empire ? They are all vanished : but " Christ liveth, and is alive for evermore ;" and his kingdom is established in the world, and shall shortly be extended over the face of the whole earth. The prospect of this, I say, supported our adorable Emmanuel through all his sufferings ; as an inspired Apostle also has informed us : it was " for the joy that was set before him," of ransoming and saving a ruined world, " he endured the cross, and despised the shame ;" and " he is now set down on the right hand of the throne of Godq."]
Let us now pause, and contemplate this holy sufferer,
1. As the predicted Saviour of the world — [What was there in the whole book of prophecy which he
did not fulfil ? However contradictory in appearance the pre- dictions were, every, the minutest of them, has been accom- plished in him. He did not give up the ghost till he could say, in reference to them all, " It is finished." The particulars mentioned in our text wre see recorded in the Gospels : we see also the steadfastness with which he pursued his course, and the complete triumph of his cause in the world. Let us look to him then as the appointed Saviour : let us assure our- selves that he is able to save us to the uttermost. Let our con- fidence be in him, as his was in his Father : " let us live by him, as he lived by his Father:" and let us not doubt, but that, through the merit of his blood and the efficacy of his grace, we shall triumph even as he has triumphed, and be partakers of his kingdom and glory for evermore.]
2. As the great pattern of all holy obedience —
[In the whole of his life, and especially in his sufferings, he was intended to be a pattern and example to usr. What if we be not treated precisely as he was, in scourging, and smiting, and spitting, we may be assured that we shall in some respect or other have both shame and suffering to endure for him. All his followers are, and must be, cross-bearers : "if men called the Master Beelzebub, much more will they those of his household." Let us therefore " arm ourselves with the mind that was in him s :" and especially let us maintain the
i Heb. xii. 2. r 1 Pet. ii. 21. Heb. xii. 3. s 1 Pet. iv. 1.