again presented that he might drink it to the very dregs. You may imagine, my dear children, that it was the fear of suffering the cruel malice of his enemies that so much distressed him in the garden, and that the torture which he felt in having his arms extended, and his hands and feet nailed to the cross, which produced such anguish; but his external sufferings formed only a part of his distress. It was not the apprehension of the cruelty of his enemies that overwhelmed his soul in agony; but the awful inconceivable feeling of the divine displeasure against sin. He was deprived of the light of that countenance which rejoiced his heart in all his troubles, "My God, my God,” he exclaimed, "why hast thou forsaken me?" Under the pressure of that wrath, there were none to comfort him: "lover and friend, thou hast put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness." "I looked for some to take pity, and there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." "I am a worm and no man, a reproach of man, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him."

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H. But, Mother, did you not inform us of some, even young people, rejoicing in the

flames is not burning as dreadful a death as the cross?

M. Had you, Henry, been attending to what your Father has now said, you would have been convinced that it was neither the prospect of suffering, nor yet the actual sufferings of his body on the cross, that were so distressing to the Lord Jesus. It was Jehovah that "bruised him and put him to grief, when he made his soul an offering for sin," that so overwhelmed his righteous soul.

F. Though the pressure of divine wrath was the most distressing part of Christ's sufferings, yet there were other circumstances connected with them that added to his grief. The intense ardent love which he bare to his righteous Father made it peculiarly overwhelming when deserted by him in the hour of his extremity; besides the pitiless and insulting conduct of his enemies, the desertion of his disciples, and the malignant conduct of the powers of darkness, all contributed to render his anguish and distress unparalleled. Happy for us and for mankind, the Son of God did endure the curse of the divine law, in suffering that sorrow, dejection, and consternation, that shame, and degradation which marked his career. He suffered under the frown of the lawgiver, and the judge of all; and that, in such circumstances, that as the Prince of Life he died of a wounded spi

rit. In his death, doubtless, he voluntarily yielded up his life; but this appeared in his voluntarily submitting to be cut off by means of the awful and deadly pressure of the curse upon his soul, and not merely by a direct act of his own, without the intervention of means. Thus sin was expiated—the divine law magnified and made honourable-the character of God vindicated and fully displayed, and the salvation of the guilty completely secured. "It is finished," said the wondrous sufferer. Resigning himself into the hands of his God, he exclaimed, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, and bowing his head, he gave up the ghost." Thus died he: at once as a sacrifice for sin, and as "the Prince of Life." C. But was the Lord Jesus obliged to suffer all these things?

M. No, Catharine, he was under no necessity to suffer for mankind; but his love constrained him to suffer for them, that they might be happy with him. "Christ," says the apostle, "loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish."

E. Has our blessed Lord received a reward equal to the greatness of his sufferings? F. The supreme desire of Christ was to

glorify his Father and receive his approbation; and you know that, while on earth, the Father repeatedly testified his delight in him, and entire approbation of his conduct; and this was most eminently displayed by raising him from the dead, and setting "him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." Our Lord, when on earth, anticipated this not only as the highest honour, but as the full consummation of happiness. "In thy presence there is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' "I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do; and now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Long since his desire has been gratified, and his prayer answered. "He is made exceeding glad with his countenance." The heart of the Redeemer was set upon the salvation of sinners; to accomplish this he bled and died; and the Lord the righteous lawgiver has said, "He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Our Lord anticipated the period when he would draw all men unto him, and that event is now at no great distance, when "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn

unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him, and men shall be blessed in him, and all nations shall call him blessed."

CONVERSATION VII.

HOW WE OBTAIN AN INTEREST IN THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST.

H. You said, Father, that all nations shall be blessed in Jesus Christ. be blessed in him?

How are they to

F. To be blessed, Henry, is to be happy; could you say how all nations could be made happy?

H. I cannot well say; I have read of different people being in a very wretched condition. The Indians in America, and the inhabitants of Africa, are often in very great distress for want of food and clothing; and some, like the Greenlanders and Esquimaux Indians, that have to catch seals and kill whales for food at the peril of their lives. Would not these people be happy if they were to live like the people in our favoured country?

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