. ,) Spiritual PerfeCliOil. 1 , Repen tance is a Vital, Operative Grace, not only in monifying.~in, but. in ~ring .. ing forrh many excellent Fruits fi1itable to it. All the Tt::r~ors at Mounr .jmd 10 gi· ving chc La\v, cannot mak7 fuch an impreffion on the Confc1encc of the rig~teous and fearfu l Anger of God for Sm, as t he inflill:ionof Wrath upon our dying Savtour. He rcceiv d into his Breaft the Arrows of the Almighty, that drank up his Blood and Spirits, though in himfdf he was perfeCtly Holy. Sr1rdy he luu horn o::.r griefs, and car· ried our /orrows : he wa<:r wounded for our tranfgre/fions, trRd brut{ed for our iniquities; the chlfj!ijemem of o11r peace rvM t1pon him, and with hU jfrjpes n;e are hett!ed. We read rhat Nathan was tent from God to Oavid, when infenfible of hiS Guilt of Murder and Adul. tc ry, to awaken him to review his Sin : he for chat end us"d a very moving Parable, of a Rich Man that had many Flocks; yet to entertain a Stranger, robb"d a Poor Man of his only Lamb, and dreft it for him• . This David fo relented •. that he threarned the feveretl R<>ven;;e for fuch an unrighteous and unmerciful A£bon. And when Natha~ t urned the point of the Parable againfl: his Brealtt charging him, Tho'l art the m4n, in what Agot~ICS and ConfuCian was he furpriz,d . as his mournful Complaint declares. When we read in the Narrative of our Saviour's Sufferings, of the Treachery of JudM; the Malice of the Priefts, the Pury of the People, the Cowardifi: of Pi!.re, and the Cru-. city of the Soldier£, how apt are we to conceive Indignation :!gainlt his Murderers? But when Confcience, like the true Prophet, fi1all with a piercing Reproach c:targe us that our Sins Condemn'd and Cruci.fied him, how will thi• open the Springs of Godly Sorrow, and looking on him IVhom 111e b.1vt pierced, cauf(: us to Mo;Jrn, as theft:: th:.t mo11rn for a firfl bo·'n? How wil1 the Contemplation of him in his Sufferings, excite Indignation wirh z~al and Revc,;nge again!l our felves, for our chufing and committing thofe Sins that were the meritorious Caufe of his Sulterings? Since he bore our Sins, 'tis jull: we iliould fympathize in his Sorro\v·s. How inllruaivc. and exemplary was inftnfible Nature, as if capable of Knowledge and AffeCtion in the time of his Sufferings? It was diforder'd in the Heavens, amJ fympathiz'd ' in the Elements. The Sun was obfcur'd again IT all pollibility of Nature ; for the Moon was oppofite, and in the Full, and in the twin kling of an Eye paft half the Circle of the Heavens; and being empty of Li;;ht towards the Earth, by its interpofition, bid the body of the Sun behind it. The Air wa• as dark at mid.day, as at mid-night. The Earth trembled; the Rocks rent. Have the R ocks foftcr Bowt:ls t han obdura te Sinners? ,Tis a greater prodigy, that thofe whofe Sins made his Death neceffary, are unaffe8:ed with it, than that Nature,; fe~med to have changed its Principles and Properties to fignifie its refentment of it. God's Anger darkens the Sun, and fbakes the Earth ; and fhall finful Men be unrelenting? . If by Faith and Confideration we tranfport our feives to Mount Calvar7, and with the Bleffed Virgin, lhnd at the foot of the Crofs when our Saviour was dying, we fhall feel t he working of her AffeCt ions, zvhm a Sword pierc'd through her Sot~!. Now in the ~a .. cramem there is a reprefenrarion of Chrill Crucified before our Eyes, which is the moft powerful Motive of Godly Sorrow, and t he infeparable confequent of it, the dellrull:ivc hatred of Sin; and of holy Refolutions, that as he died for Sin, we will dye to it. 2. Faith, that is the Root from whence other Graces fpring and Aouriib, is increas'd and confirm'd by the ufe of this Ordinance. As by the lool<ing on t he myfterious Brazen . Serpent, there was an Antidote conveyed to beal the 1/rt~elites ftung by the Fiery Serpents; fo by the. looking on Jcfus in his Sufferi ngs, our wounded Spirits are healed. The dignity of h1s Perfon, the depth of his Sufferings, and his voluntary yielding of himfelf to them, are t he fupports of Faith. The Sin·Offnings under the La~v were entirely confumed in the tr Conff:cration to Divine Jull:ice, and no part was refcrved to be eaten by the Offerer : To fignific their Imperfeaion and Inefficacy to reconcile God ro Sinners, and to pacifie their accufing Confciences. The Beafts by fubftitution fufler'd Death for thofe who offcc'd them, bur could not purchafe Life for them. Our Saviour is as rruly given ro us to communicate Life, as he was given for us in his Death. \V hen he offer"d himfel f the moft folemn Sacrifice on the Crofs, he was not confum'd: His Bud1· an~ Blood ar_e the Feafl of Love upon his Sacrifice, the clearefl affuring fign of God's be tng reconctl'd to us. The Blood of the Lamb, the true Wine, hru rtjorc'd the Heart of' God and Man. Our High Prieft continually prefects his Father, in the Creleflial Sanll:ua_ry , his bloody 'acrifice, of which there is a Commemoration on the Holy Table. If God remember our Sins , we remember his anointed Prie(t to e>::piate thtm. If the timeroul Confciencc be in anxiety for the number and heinoufnefs of Sins, and the number of Sir,- ners who mull: perilli for ever without this Miracle of Mercy, as if one Sacrifice were not fufficien ~ to abolifh their Guilt _; let it be confider'd that his Death is of infinire v1lue; and wha t is Infinite cannot be divided i he was intirely offer'd for every penitent unfeigned Believer•
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