Hearts all Grief, and revive us with his heavenly Comforts. He will not forfake us, till he has brought us to the Head-spring of eternal Joy and Comfort.

13. Our Lord and Saviour's Deliverance from Death, is in fome Refpect an Image and Affurance of our future Deliverance, which we are to expect from God's Mercy, and Almighty Power. For as when St. Paul faith, That this High Priest, in the Days of the Flesh, offered up Prayers and Supplications, with strong Crying and Tears to him that was able to fave him from Death, And was heard in that he feared; we are not to understand, that he was altogether freed from Death, but rather,that he had the Favour granted to him of swallowing up Death in Victory, and of triumphing over the Powers of Hell; and that thro the Shame and Bitterness of Death, he is entered into his Glory,and into the Joys of his heavenly Paradise : Likewife, when we pray to God in our greatest Diftreffes, and deepest Sorrow, when we pour into his Bofom the Tears of a fincere Repentance, he hears us from his Sanctuary, and delivers us from Death; not by hindering us from dying, but by conveying our Souls through Death into an immortal Life; from Sufferings, into Happiness.

14. To be fully perfuaded that God will not withhold from us the Joys andComforts of his Holy Spirit; and that he will make us more than Conquerors of Death, by admitting us into an eternal Felicity, we need but caft our Eyes upon this great God and Saviour: For as he who grants a great deal, will not refuse a little; fo God, who has not spar'd his only Son, but hath delivered him for us all, to an ignominious and cruel Death,how shall not he with him freely give us all Things? St. Paul hath taught us to argue in this manner, and to gather this neceffary Confequence from God's Proceedings, Rom. viii.

13. When Chrift our Lord gave up theGhost upon the Crofs, the Veil of the Temple was rent Top to the Bottom, Heaven was opened, T 2

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penting Thief was admitted. All this was to teach, That we may enter into the Holy of Holies, by the Blood of Jefus, by the new and living Way, which he hath confecrated; by the Veil, that is, his Flesh; that this merciful Lord hath always his Arms wide open to receive us,and that he will never refufe theGlory of Heaven, and the Delights of his Paradife, to the greatest Sinners, who repenting, have Recourse to him by his eternal Mercy and infinite Merits.

16. The Death of this great God and Saviour is the Payment of all our Debts,and the Expiation of all our Crimes: 'Tis the healing of all our Diseases,the Freedom from all our Miferies, for it hath overcome Satan and the Powers of Hell: 'Tis the Death of an eternal Death, the meritorious Death that hath purchased for us Heaven and all its Excellencies,and procured to us a Right to God's Paradife, and to its Delights and Pleafures. In fhort, 'tis this Death that introduces Paradife into our Souls before we enter into Paradife, and fills our Minds with an heavenly and divinePeace, and an unfpeakable and glorious Joy.

17. This Crofs of our Saviour may be compared to the Wood which Mofes caft into the Waters of Marab. For it takes away from the natural Death of God's Children, whatfoever is incommodious and bitter,and causeth us to relish Sweetnefs and Comforts that cannot be expreft. 'Tis like the Salt which the Prophet Elifba caft into the Waters of Jericho, to make them whol fome and fruitful: For it caufeth that Death itself proves our Salvation, and brings to us unfpeakable Comforts. I may alfo liken it to the Meal which the fame Prophet caft into the Pot, of which the Sons of the Prophets had made this Complaint, O thou Man of God, there is Death in the Pot !"Tis the Death of Death, because it removes from it all deadly Poifon, and caufeth us to relish Angelical Satisfactions. I may therefore fay of this glorious Crofs, That 'tis the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; because it makes known and understood the dreadful Evils from which

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we are delivered, and the infinite Advantages which are procured to us by Chrift's Death. I may call it alfo the Tree of Life; for every one that gathers of the Fruits of this Tree with the Hand of Faith and eats of it, fhall live for ever, John vi. Believing Souls, 'tis that myftical Ladder which Jacob faw in a Vifion, for it unites Heaven and Earth, finful Man whith his God, Gen. xxviii. It pleafed the Father to make Peace by the Blood of his Son crucified, and to reconcile all Things to himself, whether they be Things in Earth, or Things in Heaven, Coloff. i. 'Tis by the Means of this bleffed Crofs that the good Angels are fent to our Affiitance, and that all the Graces and Bleffings of God are procured to us. By this Crofs we fhall afcend up to God, and to his eternal Happinefs. Under the Shadow of this divine Crofs our Souls reft, and enjoy the Peace of God which paffeth all Understanding. 'Tis like the golden Sceptre which King Ahafuerus ftretched out unto Efther. For if we touch this precious Cross with the Hand of Faith, if we embrace it with a contrite Soul, we fhall obtain from the King of Kings, not only the half Part, but all his Kingdom, with all its Delights, Honours and Advantages.

18. Mofes's Rod was changed into a Serpent, and fo were the Rods of Pharaoh's Magicians; but his Serpent devoured all the reft. Thus the Death of the Lord and Saviour is accompanied withSorrow,Fear and Anguish; but these Fears fwallow up all other Fears, and caufe us to draw near withConfidence to the Throne of Grace. His Sorrows drive away all our Griefs, and fill us with Joy and eternal Comfort. His Anguish gives Ease and Satisfaction to our Souls. His troubled Mind is the Cause of the Settlement of ourConfciences. His Drops of Blood wash away our Tears. His Groans hinder us from Sighing, and his ftrong Crying caufes us to fing with Joy. The Fetters of this glorious Redeemer have purchased our Freedom; and his Condemnation our Abfolution. He hath been content to drink Vinegar mingled with Gall, and to fwallow the very Dregs of T 3

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the Cup of God's Wrath and Juftice, that he might caufe us to drink of the Rivers of his divine Pleasure. He cried out in the Violence of his Grief, My God, my God, why haft thou forsaken me? Math. xxvii. that God might never forfake us,and that in our greateft Troubles we might have always his fatherly and powerful Affiftance ready at Hand, he stooped down his Head to raise our Hopes. In fhort, He died, that he might deliver them, who through fear of Death, were all their Life-time fubject to a cruel and unfufferable Bondage, Heb. ii. So that all fuch as tremble and are afraid at the Approaches of Death, have not yet felt the Power and Efficacy of the Crofs of our Lord Jesus. They trample under Foot the Blood of the Son of God, and as much as in them lies, they render the Fruits and Efficacy of this Bleffed Death of no Effect.

19. Confider well, Chriftian Souls, and imprint into your Minds this Leffon; Remember that Death is never to be feared, but when 'tis attended with God's Wrath, and the Curfe of his Law; when our Sins and Offences have fupplied it with offenfive Weapons; when the Devil who feeks to devour us as a roaring Lion, follows Death at the Heels; and when, at the fame time, Hell opens its infernal Jaws to swallow us up. But those who have placed their Faith and Hope in the Death and Paffion of the Saviour of the World, and who embrace his Crofs, are exempted from all its Fears, and out of the Reach of all its poisonous Darts.

20. My beloved Souls, be not therefore frighted to see the Face of the great Judge of the World, 1 Tim. ii. because we have fuch an excellent Mediator between God and Man, namely, the Man Chrift Jefus, who hath given himself a Ransom for all, Rom. iii. He hath difarmed God's eternal Juftice, and stopped the Proceedings of his Vengeance. For God hath appointed him from all Eternity to be a Propitiation by Faith in his Blood, John v. The Father judges

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no Man, but hath given all Judgment to the Son, as he is the Son of Man. There is now no Condemna-tion to them that are in Christ Jefus : Whofoever believes in him, fhall never come into Condemnation, but is paffed from Death to Life, Rom. viii. Job.y.

21. Fear no more the Thunder-bolts and the Flashes of Fire of Mount Sinai; neither tremble when you hear its terrible Thunder, Curfed is every one who continues not in all things written in the Book of the Law to do them, Deut. xxviii. For though Chrift's Hands were nailed and fastened to the Wood, they pluck'd out of the Hands of God's Juftice, his terrible Thunder-bolts, and the Sword of his Vengeance. The precious Blood that runs down from the Wounds of this divine Redeemer, quenches the fcorching Heat of this confuming Fire and Flames. As at the time of our Saviour's Paffion, he had a care of his Difciples, and therefore he defir'd thofe that came to take him, If you feek me, let thefe go, John xviii. Likewife he hath now a Care of all fuch as believe in his Name, to fecure them under the Shadow of his Crofs. He takes their Place, and for them he ftands before God's Juftice, faying, Since you have taken me to be their Pledge, and have purfued me without Mercy; and fince I have fufficiently fatisfied for their Crimes, and have tafted for them the most bitter and cruel Death, fuffer them to enjoy the Freedom that hath been chased at such a dear Rate. Suffer them to pass thro' Death into the Enjoyment of a bleffed Life, which is the Price of my Blood, and the Fruit of my Victories. This merciful Redeemer hath put himself, of his own Accord, in our ftead, and hath endured in his own Perfon, all the Pains which were due to our Sins. He hath been ftruck with Mofes's Rod, and pierced thro' with the Darts of the Law; he hath been made a Curfe for us; for it is written, Curfed is every one that bangeth upon a Tree, Gal. v. But we are not only by this means redeemed from the Curfe of the Law, but we are alfo bleffed in him, with all man

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