and nothing remained, but to surrender up that life, which had answered all the ends for which it had been given.]
Immediately upon this followed,
II. The dissolution of our Lord —
Two things are here particularly to be noticed;
1. The voluntariness of his death —
[He had before expressly declared, that " no man could take away his life, but that he should lay it down of himself0." And here the correspondence between the prediction and the event is clearly marked. Had the separation of his soul and body been occasioned altogether by his sufferings in a natural way, his strength would have gradually decayed, till he had sunk under them : but behold, immediately before his depar- ture he cried out repeatedly with a loud voice; shewing thereby, that his nature was not exhausted, but that he resigned his soul voluntarily into his Father's hands'1. The Centurion, who su- perintended his execution, was particularly struck with this, and was convinced by it that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the Saviour of the world e. The very terms used by St. Matthew to express his death confirm this idea. What we translate, " ?.e yielded UP tne ghost," is literally, " He dismissed his spirit f:" so clearly did he manifest, even in death itself, that he was truly " the Lord and Prince of life C]
2. His confidence and composure —
[Though he had just complained of the hidings of his Father's face, yet he did not lose the consciousness that God was his Father : on the contrary, with dignified composure he committed his soul into his Father's hands h. Often had he spoken of going to his Father, just as a man would have spoken of going to a distant land1: and now that his time was come, he meekly " bowed his head," and surrendered up his soul, having discharged his appointed office, and filled up his destined measure, both of active and passive obedience. How beautiful does death appear, when thus disarmed of its stino- C O that ive may be enabled thus to meet this king of terrors, and to welcome his arrival as the best of friends !]
Let this affecting subject be improved by us, 1. For the confirmation of our faith —
c John x. 17, 18. <i Matt, xxvii. 50. « Mark xv. 37, 39.
f ufyfjice to Trvev/xa. s Acts iii. 15. >> Luke xxiii. 46.
1 John xvi. 1G, 28. and xvii. 11, 13.