be so, I will reckon the reproach of Christ greater treasures than the riches, the favour, or esteem of the world; nor can I think of forsaking him, whatever it cost me, while I think of what it cost him to redeem my soul. Can I look upon the cross of Christ, and so fear the reproach of men, and be afraid of their revilings, as to crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame? Can I look upon the cross, and act over again the part of Judas, to serve the purposes of my interest and ambition? or, like Peter, deny that I know him, lest I should share in his sufferings? No, I have sworn and am steadfastly purposed that I will not be ashamed of Christ crucified; and that, as a faithful soldier of his, I will manfully fight under his banner, though the world and the devil should be never so furiously in arms against me; and that I will continue so doing unto the end of my days, as I have any hope of meeting him with comfort when he shall appear on the clouds of heaven. And, besides this,

Thirdly. It is not less my desire and purpose to be always conformed to the likeness of his death in the daily crucifixion and mortification of all my corrupt affections. Shall I say, as the truth is, these would have brought me to the bottomless pit, unless Jesus had died for me; these are they which caused all his sufferings, and all his shame! these, more properly than any others, were his betrayers and murderers! and, when I have seen and said all this, shall I spare them, shall I give them entertainment, or deal gently with them? "They that are Christ's crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts." His I profess myself; and I trust I shall give him this convincing proof of the sincerity wherewith I make this profession, that I am always at war with his worst enemies within my heart. I am not rash and unadvised in this determination. I have considered the cross of Christ, and have seen what brought him thither; and therefore steadfastly protest against all those his murderers. without reserve. I will yield to the pleadings of none of them. When I see I will deny them. Nay, and I will use every means of weakening their power, without sparing any manner of pains in doing so. And, since I know them to be exceedingly subtle and deceiving, I will use every help which either the word of God, or self-inquiry, or the observations of others, can

afford me to bring them to light, that they may be crucified and slain, though they be as dear to me as an only son, or as useful as a right hand. Thus living to Jesus, and suffering for him, and crucifying my sins, I desire to make that profession good in my life, which I make with my mouth, when I say, I believe that he was crucified and dead.

And now, brethren, I think we can hardly have failed of making some reflections upon the whole of this declaration as it has been going forward. I would ask, Is it scriptural or no? Are these things really contained in confessing the faith of Christ crucified? If they be not, or as far as they are not, pay no regard to them, and impute it to my weakness. But, if they be the words of truth and soberness, can we adopt and make them our own? If we cannot, where is our faith in a crucified Jesus? Shall we judge that we believe in him as saving us by his blood, if we are indulging those very sensual, earthly, and devilish affections, which were the real causes of that blood-shedding; if we would live to Christ were it not for the reproach or violence of men, but are, as it is, refusing to go forth bearing his reproach; if we are living to ourselves, and, far from considering what his honour and interests demand, are only considering and consulting our own; if we set no such value upon the blessings purchased by the death of Christ as we do on the vain riches, pleasures, and praise of the world; and, instead of rejoicing in the deliverance which Christ obtained upon the cross from all our enemies, are quietly subjecting ourselves to them, to the world, to sin; and, if so, to the devil, and then surely to the curse of the law, which is hell, and in the mean time to the fear of death? If this be our case, can we persuade ourselves that we believe in Christ crucified, or that we make any rcal account of his propitiation and atonement as poor, guilty, condemned criminals, who, but for an interest therein, must perish for ever? We cannot suppose it. We see plainly the contrary. But, alas! it is only while I am speaking that we think of it at all. You have seen your faces, I fear many of you, my dear friends. O forget not, I beseech you, what manner of men you are! See your deformity, see your misery, and betake you seriously to that blood to which, though you consider it not, you are daily indebted for God's

pncence and forbearance. I may well say, why will you die? siur it is every way so evident that God hath no pleasure in yo death. Happy they who can make the profession before us, and whose hearts and lives prove the truth of it! Happy they, every hour they live! Their sins are pardoned, their persons are accepted, the Lord Almighty is their Father, all things are theirs, Satan cannot hurt them, Death is their friend, the Spirit their Comforter, Heaven their home, and they are hastening daily to it. Ah! who would not be able to say, "I believe in Christ crucified."

SERMON XXI.

ACTS xvi. 30, 31.

What must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

FROM Our Lord's crucifixion and death we pass on to his burial and descent into hell. The history of the former, in all its circumstances, is plainly set forth in the Evangelists, to whom I shall refer you for the truth and particulars of it. And as to the latter, without troubling you with the various opinions relative thereto, I shall be content to declare only what appears to be the true one, that the soul of Jesus being separated from his body by death, was conveyed, during the time of the separation, into such receptacles as the souls of other persons used to be, so that he underwent the whole law of death, as it became him to do who was made sin for us, his body lying in the grave, and his soul going to the place where the souls of men who die for their own sins are kept till the day of resurrection. In a word, that as he died, so he was in death just what other people are.

But the believer has other things in view than the bare acknowledgment of the fact, when he says, "I believe that he was buried and descended into hell."

First.-He professes that Christ was both buried and did descend into hell, as well to declare his belief of the absolute certainty of his death, as thereby to prepare the way for his assent to the reality of his resurrection, which must be strictly and truly such, if his body was thus laid in the grave, and his separated soul departed to the place provided for the spirits of men when disunited from the body. The believer, therefore, means to declare his steadfast persuasion that Jesus was in every respect dead; not only crucified, but actually and perfectly

dead, so that if afterwards he was alive again it was a proper resurrection. But this is not all his meaning. He intends to say further and principally,

Secondly. That he condescended to this state of the dead in discharge of his office. This, as it was the lowest condition of his abasement, so was it not less necessary than any other of his actions. He was the representative of sinners; and, as they were not only partakers of flesh and blood, but also, because of sin, under sentence of death, their soul and body to be torn asunder, this to return to the dust, and that to exist in a state separate from its old companion till the day of re-union; therefore it behoved him not only to make atonement for sin, and thereby to take away the eternal curse of the law, but also to submit to the further humiliation of being for a season in the state of the dead both in body and soul. For a season, I say; for there was not only an impossibility that he should be holden of Death, and detained his prisoner as others are, because of the power of that divine nature, in union with which both his body and soul did subsist, while the one was lying in the grave, and the other was descended into hell; but also there was no necessity for it, because, Justice being now satisfied, Death had no right in him or claim upon him. And therefore, when he had lain in the state of death long enough to be in all things like unto us, after a short season he was loosed from the pains or rather bands thereof, to convince us that Death was a vanquished enemy, which had no force nor right to detain him, who, being the Son of God, had taken away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Wherefore,

Thirdly. I am persuaded that he lay in the state of death in a peculiar way, not as one conquered by Death, but as he, who, having overcome upon the cross him that had the power of Death, went into the state of the dead to take possession as it were of the first-fruits of his victory. He lay in the state of the dead indeed, that in everything he might be like unto us; and, while I see him in this estate, I acknowledge the horrid vileness of sin, which brought the Lord of glory to such an abasement: I confess myself to be sinful dust and ashes; I own my utter insufficiency to maintain myself against the approach. of Death, or to deliver myself out of his power, when he shall