was in deep affliction, and had some very hard thoughts of God, too, at the time, could burst forth into such an exclamation as this: “What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him, and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him?" If I understand the passage aright, I understand it thus: he considered, when he was in his right mind, that the very afflictions he had, were a sort of remem brance message from God. And the afflictions, with which we are visited, are so many notes, in which God says--' I have not forgotten you.' Is not that love? They are that by which He would endear Christ to us more. Is not that love? They are that by which He would call us nearer to Himself. Is not that love? They are that, with which He would wean us more from earth, and the creature. Is not that love? They are that, by which He would train and educate us more for heaven. Is not that love?

So that Job might well say "What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify Him," by dealing with him thus-by chastening him, by afflicting him—for these are among the most tender exhibitions of His tender love. I dare say some of you can say Amen to this- I know it to be true, as I know God to be true.' Then bless God for it, for it is one of the greatest of your mercies.

Finally although the Lord shows us our littleness, yet we ought not to forget, that He has magnified us. It were well for us to remember: What! I, an elect, chosen saint of God, live as the world lives! What! I, redeemed by the blood of the incarnate God, I walk as the world walks! What! I careful and anxious, with wrinkled brow; when the Lord has given His Son to die for my sins! What! I walking as others walk, when He has, by the power of His Spirit, separated me from "the world that lieth in the wicked one!" Oh! beloved, let us look more to our high calling, that we may walk worthy of it.

I called upon an aged saint of God yesterday, in her eighty-sixth year. I was talking about spirituality, the happiness and necessity of devotedness of heart, and the goodness of God, in requiring it. She said "What an essential feature it is, to see His people endeavouring to do good." I was much struck, to see an aged saint, with all the infirmities of old age about her, thus manifesting her love to Christ, by sending garments to Ireland-sending them to those in necessity-remembering that the religion of the Gospel is not selfish,

but large and diffusive. And her activity in doing good has been one of the greatest and most peculiar marks of her religion. I would it were as much so with some of God's contemplative ones. Do I speak against contemplation? No; but contemplation ought to lead to

action.

God grant it may do so, in you and in me, remembering that the Lord has magnified those who were in dust and ashes, and chosen them, for His great name's sake, that we might show forth His praises, who has called us "out of darkness, into His marvellous light."

CHRIST, OUR SIN-BEARER.

A SERMON,

BY THE REV. J. H. EVANS, M.A.

PREACHED IN JOHN STREET CHAPEL, KING'S ROAD, BEDFORD ROW, ON TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 8, 1846.

"And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy: and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death.”—Mark xiv. 33, 34.

THESE are very touching, and deeply affecting words; they present to us, in themselves, a most solemn picture. How much more, when we consider them as the awful prelude to a more awful scene that scene, which involved our salvation, and all our hopes, for time and for eternity!

They are touching words. "He began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." Does our Lord repent? Does His heart misgive Him? Is this He, who said-" My meat and drink is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work;" and who had only a little while before said-" I have a baptism to be baptized with, and bow am I straitened till it be accomplished ?" Is there something so appalling in the circumstances, when they come near, that He is terrified, alarmed, affrighted? No; far from it. Observe, brethren when our Lord was on the point of crucifixion, and the daughters of Jerusalem were weepiug, He said—“ Weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves."

I are, with Do not start,

Here we have a most touching picture; it is the picture of a man. One rejoices to see that our Lord was man, as you and infirmities and weaknesses, and all things the same. beloved, if I remind you, that the human nature of our Lord was a finite thing; and the knowledge of our Lord, as man, was finite. There is but one Omniscient; there is but one God; if there were VOL XIII.-No. 467.--December 10, 1846.

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two omniscients, there would be two Gods. But Jesus, as man, was not omniscient: "He grew in wisdom and in stature." As God, He knew all things; but as man, there were such depths in the scene just before Him, that it brought out these expressions: "I am sore amazed, and very heavy, and My soul is exceeding sorrowful," and that "unto death."

I trust the consideration of His humanity is sweet to you; on your dying bed, it may be one of the sweetest truths the Holy Ghost may convey to your souls.

I love to see our Lord not only taking Peter, and James, and John, as we here find, but if you turn to the Gospel of St. Matthew, you will find one particular more. We find, in the twentysixth chapter, that He takes His disciples with Him; and He says, in the thirty-eighth verse" Tarry ye here, and watch with Me." He needed human sympathy; and I love to see it. He took His disciples to the place, but He took up with Him Peter, and James, and John, and told them to "tarry there, and watch with Him."

Here are two points, beloved, to which I would desire to call your attention. May the eternal Spirit direct your minds, and consciences, and affections, with especial guidance, into the very sum and substance of them! First, consider the position of our blessed Lord the burden of which He speaks; and, secondly, the weight of that burden it was a heavy burden.

and

I. With regard to the position our Lord was in, He stood there as the great Sin-bearer. Turn to the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, you will see how the prophet speaks, upon this point. Would that all Gospel preachers spoke as plainly! Would that I spoke as plainly! Observe, in the sixth verse: "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Look at the eighth verse: "He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people was He stricken." Look at the eleventh verse: "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied; by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many for He shall bear their iniquities." He justifies those whose iniquities He bears. And in the twelfth verse observe;

"Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shal divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

We have here a clear declaration of this truth, beloved, that Christ stands here, as our Sin-bearer. It is not said, He bare the punishment, but He bare the sin. The apostle Peter, when writing "to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bythinia," (but they were not strangers to God, for he describes them as (6 elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,") says to them-" who His own self bare our sins, in His own body, on the tree."

I was led to this subject, by the remarks I made on Sunday. How very delicately, in these our days, the subject of imputation of sin is touched! And yet it appears to my soul the very marrow of the Gospel. If Christ had borne nothing but the punishment of sin, why is it not said so? And yet it is not said, that He bare the punishment, but that He bore the sin. A stranger can bear punishment for another, without standing in any relation to him; but no stranger could bear the sin of another; it is quite impossible. There must be a previous relationship; and if there had been no previous relationship, our sins would not have been borne by Christ.

Who is it stands here, as the sin-bearer? It is the great betrothed Husband of His Church, it is the great Shepherd of His sheep, it is the great Head of His body, it is the great covenant Surety of His seed. And He bears all their sins; He bears the sins of His whole elect Church-the sins of all those, who are given to Him of the Father.

These are palatable truths, sweet to me as honey and the honeycomb,-those on which I live, and on which I wish to die; and 1 could die on any of them. But take away Christ, as the great sinbearer, and you take away everything.

Here, beloved, we see what the burden was, which our Lord bore: it was our sins. And it was infinite justice that He should do it; for in point of law, he who becomes a surety is one with him, for whom he becomes a surety. If, therefore, Christ, was the Surety of His