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HOLY
FORTITVDE.
f
sERM.
xxxh.
sellers
out of
his
Father's house
of
prayer
!
Ye
know
what
a
noble testimony
he
bare
to
the truth,
when he
was
called before the
great
men,
the rulers
of
the
church and
state. You
know again,
what instances
of
passive
coil-.
rage our Lord Jesus
manifested, when
he was
hatefully
reproached, and
suffered shameful indignities from
a
rude
multitude
:
When
he was
persecuted,
when
he was
buf-
feted, when he wrestled with many and mighty sorrows,
when
his
friends left
him
alone
in
the hands
of
his
cruel
enemies.
It
must be
confessed,
his
spirit
trembled within
him,
and
he was
sore amazed,
when
it
-
pleased
his
Father
" to
bruise
him,
and
put
him to grief,
and
to
make
his
soul an
offering for
sin,' Is.
liii.
10.
These
were
unknown and
inexpressible burdens,
that
made
him
groan indeed, and
offer
strong
cries
and tears
to heaven,
that
the cup
of
terror
might
pass from him.
If
ever
his
courage
seemed
to
fail him,
it
was
in
that
agony
in
the garden,
when
he
endured
more than
any mere man could bear. A
formi-
dable and
a
dismal
hour,
when
the
Father
hid his
face
from him,
and
the powers
of
darkness
fell
upon
him with
angelic might
and
fury
!
But these are
sorrows
of atone-
ment,
which
the saints are never
called to
suffer.
And
yet
by
secret
divine
supports,
Jesus endured
all these
agonies,
and upon
the cross he
triumphed
-not-
only over
the malice
of
men,
but
"
over principalities and
powers
of
hell,
and made an open
shew
of
them,"
Col. ii.
15.
perhaps, before armies
of
the invisible world,
and
mil-
lions
of
applauding
angels.
Read
the sacred
advice,
Ileb.
xii.
1,
2,
s.
Not
only
look
ye, says
the apostle, to the
great
cloud
of
witnesses
that
are
gone before,
but
above
all
look to
Jesus,
the
author
and
finisher
of
your
faith,
who,
for the
joy
that
was
set
before
him,
endured the
cross,
and
despised
the
shame, and
is
set down
at
the
right hand of the throne
of
God. .Consider
him
that
endured
such
contradiction
of
sinners against
himself,"
that
opposed a multitude, a
le-
gion,
a
world
of
sinners, lest you
be
weary
and
faint
in
your
minds,
nor let your
spirits
sink while you
behold
his
divine
fortitude
:
Let
such
an illustrious
scene
-animate
your
souls,
and inspire the fainting believer with
new
courage. Consider,
Thirdly,
What
you are
;
if
you
are
christians,
ye are
i