grievous Agony, when hellish Spirits confpired together to affault thee with their utmost Force and Malice, to raise a violent Storm within thee, which forced a bloody Sweat to stream from thy facred Body, and caused thee, through Dolor and Anguish, to pray that this Agony might ceafe, this Cup pafs from thee, which thou foundest more hard to be endured than Death itself; and which might have forthwith put an End to thy Life, if an Angel had not been fent from Heaven to support thy finking Spirits. As foon as thy Apostles were roufed from Sleep, by the Approaches of them that came to apprehend thee, they all took the first Opportunity of deferting thee, (fave only thy beloved Difciple, who followed thee, though at a Distance ;) and they who were fo heavy with Sleep, while they remained with thee, were swift to fly from thee, when once: they faw thee in Cuftody; while the ruffianly Soldiers led thee from one Court of high Injuftice to another, and treated thee with all poffible Rudeness and Infolence. And the firft of thy Friends, who had before thewed fome Courage on thy Behalf, by cutting off the Ear of one of thy Aggreffors, was yet terrified into a Denial of thee, when charged by a Servant-Maid to be one of thy Followers.. (Lord, deliver me from thofe Temptations. which arife from Fear of Men.) Thou waft condemned to Death, both by the Jewish High-Priefts, and by the Roman Governor, who who yet contradicted his Sentence, by declaring thee innocent. Thy Body was adjudged to be whipped by the unmerciful Hands of the Roman Soldiers. Thou waft forced to bear the Burden of thine own Crofs, till it appeared thy Body was ready to fink under the Weight of it. Thy Hands and thy Feet were pierced with Iron Nails, by which thou waft faftened to the Crofs; where thou didft hang, with extended Arms, by the Hands, torn as upon Tenters, for fix long Hours together, in the Sight of thy tender Mother, whofe Griefs, and Pangs, and Throws, 3 (greater than thofe of Childbirth) added an Edge to all thy Pains. And all this Time the - Devil continued his furious Attacks against thee; and the Joy and Comfort, which thy 1 Divine Nature had formerly fhed upon thy human Soul, were intercepted. A frightful Darkness spread itself through the Air: The very Earth was fhaken, and the Rocks rent; that all Sorts of Men, both Jews and Gentiles, might be alarmed, and wonder, and be astonished at so fingular an Event, as the Death of the Son of God. And the Veil of the Temple was torn asunder, that they who ministered, and worshipped there, might have a ftrong Remembrance of the Moment when thou gavest up the Ghost, imprinted on their Mind. Nay, the Graves were opened, and fome Saints arose from the Dead, that the other World, as well as this, might not want a Tefti a Teftimony of fo prodigious a Fact. But most to be admired is the Stupidnefs of those Men, who were Witneffes and Inftruments of thy Sufferings, and yet remained hardened in their Unbelief, and unaffected with all which they heard, and faw, and felt. What would have fatisfied common Murderers, did but enrage and provoke thine, to contrive all poffible Means of heightening thy Sufferings, by adding all Circumftances of Contempt and Reproach. They thought it not fufficient that thou shouldft die as a Criminal, till thou hadft first been bought and fold at the stated Price of the vileft Slave, and then as a Slave, or even as a Dog, been put to Death by Crucifixion. They defiled thy Face with their own filthy Spittle. They called thee, Chrift with a Sneer, and fo turned thy own juft Title into a Name of Reproach. They blindfolded, and fmote thee, and then challenged thee to fay, who it was that poured this Contempt upon thee: And thus ludicrously treated thee as a Diviner, inftead of a Prophet. Though thou waft a real King, and hadft the Blood of David running in thy Veins; yet thou hadft all the Indignities of a Mock-Prince put upon thee. And Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee, did not difdain to perform his Part in this impious Buffoonry; and proftituted his own Greatness to render this Affront more folemn and injurious to thee. Thy Robe was indeed of Purple, but thy Scepter a Reed, thy Crown made made of Thorns. And thus thy Royal Dignity was expofed to the Derifion of the Mul3 titude. The Jewish Rabble preferred a bloody I Rebel before thee, moft holy Jefus, and voted 1 Life and Liberty to him, the Crofs to thee. Thou waft crucified between two notorious Malefactors, that to those who knew thee not, thou mighest seem the worst of the three. Thou waft vilified as one not able to fave thyfelf, whilft thou promised to fave others. And when, through Extremity of Pain, and inward Conflicts, thy Tongue cleaved to the Roof of thy Mouth, they gave thee Vinegar to drink. They fcoffed at, and mifconftrued thy dying Prayer, as if it had been offered to a dead Prophet, when it was, in Truth, addreffed to the living God. Nor did their Hatred and Envy die with thee, but followed thee beyond the Grave: For they fuborned Witneffes to prove thee a Deceiver, O most veracious and faithful Jefu. They commanded those that guarded thy Sepulchre, to say, that thy Disciples came by Night, and stole away thy Corps, when in Truth thou waft by the Divine Power raised from the Dead, and by that Means hadft wiped off all the Contempt and Scandal of the Crofs, and of thy other Sufferings, and rendered thy Death the Foundation of fpiritual Life. ་ All this thou didft fuffer, O bleffed Jefu, of thine own Free-Will and Choice, on Purpose to increase the Merits of thy Sacrifice: For O 2 thou A thou hadst Legions of Angels ready to refcue thee, if this had been thy Pleafure. B thou cameft into the World to bear Witnefs to the Truth, and didft therefore die a willing Martyr for the whole Gofpel, that we might not doubt of the Truth of any Part of it. By undergoing fo vile a Death, fo full of Pain and Shame, thou haft given us a Pattern of fubmitting to the fharpeft Sufferings, especially for the fake of divine Truth. By humbling thyfelf, when thou waft Lord of all, to a bafe and bitter Life, and Death, and permitting evil Men to inflict fo much Scorn and Pain upon thee, and bearing of it all with perfect Patience and Submiffion, without expreffing any Refentments either againft God or Man, thou haft taught us how to fuffer according to the Will of God, and the Method how we may truly exalt ourfelves. By forgiving, and praying for all that contributed to thy Sufferings, thou haft taught us how to behave ourselves toward our most malicious Enemies. Thy afflictive Life, and Death, O Son of God, in whom yet thy Divine Father was well pleased, hath given us a full Proof, that they who are most miferable here, may be most of all in his Favour, and that worldly Eafe, and Profperity, are no certain Token of his Love towards us. (May I, and all Fellow-Chriftians, learn to pray that we may not have our Portion in this Life.) As the principal End of thy Death was to be a Sa crifice |