rise up' in the congregation, and praise thee?' Must they not live again to do that? Shall thy loving kindness' to the sons of Adam, in me their Redeemer, 'be declared?' shall the gospel be preached in the grave?' or thy faithfulness,' in accomplishing the promises concerning this loving kindness, shall it be manifested in that destruction' wrought by death upon the bodies of men? Shall thy wonders,' the wonders of light, and life, and salvation, be known in the dark' tomb; and thy righteousness,' which characterizes all thy dispensations, shall it be remembered and proclaimed in the land of' silence and forgetfulness?' A Christian, upon the bed of sickness, may undoubtedly plead with God in this manner, for a longer continuance of life, to glorify him here upon earth. But every respite of that kind can be only temporary. All men, sooner or later, must die: and then they can never more experience the mercies, or sing the praises of God, unless they rise again. So that if the argument hold in one case, it certainly holdeth still stronger in the other.

13. But unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent me. 14. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

Since therefore the wonders, the loving kindness, the faithfulness, and the righteousness of God, cannot be manifested by man's redemption, if Messiah be left under the dominion of death, he redoubles his prayers for the promised deliverance; and speaks of his redemption in the hour of sorrow, as in Psalm xxii. 1: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' &c.

15. I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted; Heb. I am distressed, not knowing which way to turn myself. 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me, thy terrors have cut me off. 17. They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

We are not to imagine that the holy Jesus suffered for us only at Gethsemane and on mount Calvary. His whole life was one continued passion; a scene of labour and sorrow, of contradiction and persecution; 'he was afflicted,' as never man was, ' from his youth up,' from the hour of his birth; when, thrust out from the society of men, he made his bed in the stable at Bethlehem; he was ready to die,' a victim destined and prepared for that death which, by anticipation, he tasted of through life; he saw the flaming sword of God's fierce wrath' waiting to cut him off' from the land of the living; the 'terrors' of the Almighty set themselves in array against him, threatening, like the mountainous waves of a tempestuous sea, to overwhelm his amazed soul. Let not the church be offended or despond, but rather let her rejoice in her sufferings, by which, through every period of her existence, from youth to age, she 'filleth up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ,' who suffers and will be glorified in his people, as he hath already suffered and been glorified for them. See Col. i. 24.

1 Dominus ipse de se, Psal. lxxxviii. 16. Fero terrores tuos ; animi linquor. Loquitur de extremis suis angoribus et dolo ribus. Vitringa in Jesai. ii. 667.

18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

It is mentioned again, as a most affecting circumstance of Christ's passion, that he was entirely forsaken, and left all alone, in that dreadful day. The bitter cup was presented filled to the brim, and he drank it off to the dregs. No man could share in those sufferings by which all other men were to be redeemed. His lovers and friends,' his disciples and acquaintance, were put far from him; they all forsook him, and fled,' to hide themselves from the fury of the Jews, 'in darkness;' in dark, i. e. secret places. Thus it is written in the Psalms, and thus in the Gospels it is recorded to have happened. Oftentimes, O blessed Jesu, do we forsake thee; but do not thou forsake us, or take thy holy Spirit from us.