ly intereft the affections of the reft of mankind. The only object which affected him, was the advancement of the glory of his Father, by the holiness and happiness of men. He had no other project or attachment upon earth. This world he viewed only in the light of its being loft in ignorance and wickedness; and himself only in the light of his being fent into it by his Father, to conduct mankind to knowledge, holiness, and immortality. In every other refpect, as he expreffes it himself, 'He was not of this world,' This elevated ftate of mind appears not only from the great indifference with which he treated all the external comforts of this life, but from the fingular tranquillity and chearfulness of mind with which he bore all its oppofite afflictions; more especially the great afflictions which he fuffered at his death. Jefus had foreseen them, and had frequently foretold them to his friends. When he fpake of them, it was with expreffions of complacency, confidering them as the appointments of his heavenly Father, and the means of his accomplishing thofe great defigns of Providence for which he had come into this world; and which, in this view, he had voluntarily chofen to undergo. Two inftances in particular may deferve our attention.

ift, In a paffage of the gofpel formerly ad

duced, it is observed, that immediately after Judas had gone out to execute his traiterous defign, Jefus, as to what concerned himfelf, expreffed his approbation and complacency, in the following terms; Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified ́ in him:' that is; Judas is gone out to execute his wicked and infidious defign: by his means I am just going to be delivered into the hands of cruel men, and to fuffer a difhonourable and miferable death. I rejoice nevertheless, in the melancholy profpect; as I know that by this means my office as the Saviour of the world fhall be known, and in confequence of this, the glory of my Father, and the everlasting interests of men shall be fecured.

2dly, Another ftrong difcovery of the fame state of mind is recorded by St. Matthew +. When Jefus had acquainted his difciples with the ignominious and painful manner in which he was to die, Peter full of zeal for the honour of his mafter, (which however at that time he did not understand) thus expreffed his diffatisfaction and furprize; Be it far from thee, Lord: this fhall not come unto thee.' To which Jefus thus replied; Get thee be'hind me, Satan, or thou adversary, thou art

* John xiii. 31.

Mat. xvi. 21.

an offence to me; for thou favoureft not the things that be of God, but those that be of men :' i. e. thy judgment in this matter is directed by the wifdom of this world, but not by the wisdom that comes from God. It appears from this reply, that Jefus was regardlefs of himself, and determined in the ftrongeft manner, that his own intereft and honour fhould be entirely overlooked, if ever they interfered with the glory of his Father, or the happiness of men: nay, that he would regard his best friends as his greatest enemies, if they fhould endeavour to difcourage him from fuffering in this caufe. The judgment therefore of the apoftle Peter, though it proceeded from friendship to himfelf, was rejected by him with a generous difdain.

In the like circumftance, any other perfon would have commended the affection of his friend, and joined with him in expreffing his defire to avoid the fufferings of which he fpake; deeming it a fufficient expreffion of his virtue, that if this could not be done, he was refolved to fuffer with a patient fubmiffion to the will of God. But Jefus, in this reply, expreffed a height of zeal for the glory of his Father, and the happinefs of men which was altogether peculiar to himself.

Agreeable to this beginning, was the whole of his following behaviour. In the evening in

which he was betrayed, he went into the garden of Gethsemane, well knowing what was to befal him there; and determined voluntarily to put himself into the hands of those who had concerted his deftruction. When he knew that Judas, with his band of foldiers, were come into the garden to execute their treacherous defign, he faid to his difciples*,

Rife, let us be going; behold, he is at hand

that doth betray me.'-We are informed indeed, that foon after he had come into the garden, he fell into a ftrange aftonishment, and with an appearance of horror and reluctancy, prayed unto his Father, that if it was poffible, he might be delivered from the profpect that was now before him. He began, fays his hiftorian †, 'To be forrowful, and very heavy and faid to his difciples, My foul ' is exceeding forrowful, even unto death.— Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly:

and his fweet was as it were great drops of

blood, falling down to the ground.' This agony and forrow, with the earnest and repeated fupplications which he addreffed unto his Father, may feem at firft view inconfiftent with the fortitude and strength of mind, which he difcovered in the preceeding periods of his life, and had expreffed in fo

* Mat. xxvi. 46.

Mat. xxvi. 37.- Luke xxii. 44.~

ftrong a manner to his friends, but a very little while before: and it may be difficult for us fully to apprehend the nature, and the caufe of this diftrefs. It appears however

* Although it may be difficult to apprehend the nature of the agony which Jefus fuffered in the garden, or to explain the cause of it, yet one thing ought to be attended to; that Jefus had then the immediate profpect, not only of a painful and miferable death, but of fuffering it as 'a facrifice and a⚫ tenement for the fins of men: and that when he came into the garden to be betrayed into the hands of thofe who were waiting to inflict this miferable death, he began the painful facrifice, and was just arrived at what he calls, The hour, and the power of darknels.' Now what might be implied in the fuffering of death as a facrifice and propitiation for the fins ' of men,' what painful and amazing apprchenfions, the profpect of it in this light, might awaken in his mind, it is difficult for us to determine or conceive. This, however every one knows, that the fame degree, or kind of outward fufferings, raife very different emotions in the mind of man, according to the different caufes from whence they are fuppofed to fpring, and the different lights in which they are apprehended by the fufferer himself. An innocent and worthy man, fuffering in the cause of truth and virtue, fupported by the consciousness of his own integrity, and the merited efteem of God and man, fuffers death, in a manner, and with impreffions very different from those which accompany the fufferings of a guilty man, tormented with the confcioufnefs and remembrance of his guilt, and a fenfe of the merited contempt and hatred of the world.-Jefus was indeed an innocent and virtuous fufferer; and no part of his distress could be accompanied with the consciousness of guilt, or the reproach of his own heart. But as he now began to fuffer, as a facrifice and * propitiation for the fins of men,' it is not eafy for us to fay,