268 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our B1:ESSED LORD of the fun continued for three hours, to the great terror and aflonilhment of the people prefent at the execution of our dear Redeemer. And finely nothing could be more proper than this extraordinary a1= teration in the face of nature, while the Sun of Righteoufetefs was withdrawing his beams, not only from the promifed land, but from the whole world; for it was at once a miraculous teflimony given by the Almighty himfelf to the innocence of his Son, and á proper emblem of the depar- ture of him who was the Light of the world, at lealt till his luminous rays, like the beams ofthe morning, [hone out anew with additional fplendour, in the miniflry of his apobles, after his afcenfion. The darknefs which now covered Judea and the neighbouring countries, beginning about noon, and continuing till Jesus ex- pired, could not be the elea of an ordi- nary eclipfe of the fun. It is well known that theee phmnomena can only happen at the change of the moon, whereas the Jewi[h palfover, at which our dear Re- deemer fuffered, was always celebrated at the full; befides, the total darknefs of an eclipfe of the fun, never exceeds twelve or fifteen minutes, whereas this continued three full hours. Nothing, therefore, but the immediate hand of that AlmightyBeing which placed the fun in the centre of the planetary fyflem, could have produced this aflonilhing darknefs : nothing but Omni- potence, who fire lighted this glorious lu- minary of heaven, could have deprived it of it's cheering rays. Now ye fcoffers of Ifrael, whofe blood have ye fo earnefIy defired, and wifhed it might fall upon you and your children ! Behold all nature is dreg in the fable veil of forrow, and in a Tanguage that cannot be miflaken, mourns the departure of it's Lord and Mailer; weeps for your crimes, and deprecates the vengeance of heaven upon your guilty heads ! Happy for you that this fuffering Jesus is compalfion itfelf, and even in the agonies of death, prays to his heavenly Father to avert from you the Rroke of 2 his jaflice, thereby opening the gate of mercy even to you his murderers ! The Heathens themfelves confidered this preternatural eclipfe of the fun as a miracle, and one of them cried out, " Either the world is at an end, or the God of na- ture füflèrs !" And well might he ufe the expreffion ; for never fence this planetary fyflem was called, from it's primitive chaos, was known fuch a deprivation of light in the glorious luminary of day. Indeed, when the Almighty punilhed Pharaoh for refufing to let the children of Ifrael depart out of his land, the fable veil of darknefs was for three days drawn over Egypt: but this darknefs was confined to a part of that kingdom ; whereas this that happened at our Saviour's crucifixion, was univerfal, and not merely local. The difciples naturally confidered_the darknefs, when it began, as a prelude to the deliverance of their Matter : for though the chief prieRs, elders, and people, had farcaflicálly defired him to defcend from the accurfed tree, his friends could not but be perfuaded, that he who had delivered fo many from incurable difeafes, whohad created limbs for the maimed, and eyes for the blind, who had given fpeech to the dumb, and called the dead from the cham- bers of the dull, might eafily fave himfelf,' even fromthe crots. When, therefore, his mother, his mother's filler, Mary Magda- lene, and the beloved difciple obferved the veil of darknefs begin to extend over the face of nature, they drew near to the foot of the crois, probably in expeaation that the Son of God was going to [hake the frame of the univerfe, unloofe himfelf from the crois, and take ample vengeance on thofe cruel and perfidious enemies who had fo defpitefully treated him. At this awful period, the bleffed Jesus was in the midi of his fufferings; yet when he faw his mother and her compa- nións, their griefgreatly affeaed his tender breaR, efpecially the diftrefs of his mother. The agonies of death, under which he was now labouring, could not prevent his expreffing
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