The time is also at Christ's disposal. David said, "My times are in thy hands.” Time is not ours, but God's, and we shall have to give an account of it; therefore the apostle's injunction is to redeem the time." As God has appointed a time to be born, so also to die. The time of health and affliction, adversity or prosperity, light or darkness, joy and comfort, are all in his hands, and He is the Disposer thereof.

This also proves the immortality of the soul, and that the soul sleeps not with the body in the grave; but as soon as it leaves the body, is either in heaven or in hell. Oh happy change! glorious change! from a cross to a crown; from the very brink of hell to the highest heaven; from the depth of degradation, to the highest exaltation; from the depth of misery, to the greatest happiness; from sorrow to joy; from darkness to light; from a short night to an eternal day; from a state of grace to a state of glory. What a change of society! amongst angels and spirits of just men made perfect. "After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne and the Lamb; clothed with white robes and palms in their hands. These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in his temple. And He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." This will be the lot of every believing sinner, who is brought to feel sin a burden and a plague, that it is hateful in the sight of God; confessing with the whole heart, and crying for mercy to God through a bleeding Saviour. Do not think from this example of the thief, that there is time to repent at the last hour, for you know not which may be the last: the very time you are reading may prove your last. The case of the thief was an extraordinary one. God does not deal so in an ordinary way. As the tree falls so it lies; as a man lives so he dies. If he lives in sin, "the wages of sin is death."

"There is a fountain fill'd with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel's veins;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

"The dying thief rejoiced to see,
That fountain in his day;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Wash'd all my sins away.

"Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood,
Shall never lose its power;

Till all the ransomed church of God,
Be sav'd to sin no more.

"E'er since by faith I saw the stream,
Thy flowing wounds supply;
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die."

CHAPTER VII.

THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.

WE have considered the conversion of the thief, with the circumstances connected, from which we proved the triumph of Christ, we will now endeavour to do the same from the eclipse of the sun.

1st. The eclipse of the sun was miraculous; it was not after the course of nature, it being produced by a supernatural power; it took place at the full moon; it was about the time of the Passover, which was in always kept at the full moon. As generally an eclipse takes place at the new moon, this miracle was to show forth the dignity of Christ on the cross, and the greatness of his Almighty power. The extent of the darkness also exhibits the glory of Christ; it is considered to have been universal. What an awful and solemn sight was that to behold, that the brightest luminary of the creation, upon which the lower world depends for her existence, as a second cause, I mean the light of the sun, that she should hide her face from beholding the sufferings of her Creator on the cross. covered herself, as it were, in black mourning for the death of her Maker. The Son of God became the Son of man. The Lord of life and glory emptied Himself—it was the Lord of angels that took upon Him the nature of a servant. The Lord of life shed his blood. It was the Son of God who stooped down infinitely below Himself into our nature to become our Redeemer. He that was greater than heaven became meaner than a worm. O, what a heart-ravishing, soul-admiring sight it is to behold by faith, God humbling Himself to stoop so low as to die on the accursed tree. Christ as God

She

not only humbled Himself to behold things that are in heaven, and in the earth, but He condescended to stoop lower than this, in order "to raise up the poor out of the dust, and to lift up the needy out of the dunghill, that He might exalt them to sit among princes," Psalm cxiii. 6—8.

A view of this, by faith produces joy and grief, mourning and rejoicing. Moses admired the sight of the bush on fire, and not consumed; the reason it was not consumed, was, God was in it. Compare Exod. iii. 2, Dan. xxxiii. 16. As the bush was a type of the suffering church in Egypt, so of Christ's incarnation; Christ is spoken of as a root out of a dry ground, barrenness was a curse from God; Christ in his human nature became a curse for us, and suffered the fiery wrath of God, and was not consumed, because in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Here we behold Christ paying our debt. He restored that which He took not away. Pause my soul, at this holy scene, and tremble with an holy trembling, not as a slave, nor as a criminal before his judge, but as a sensible sinner before his Saviour, who is willing to save all that come to Him by his Father. This glorious creature, the sun, blushed at the action of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of life and glory; heaven frowned at their heinous crime, and they stood unmoved. Oh, cursed sin, how thou blindest the eyes of men, and hardenest their hearts. Oh, how deceitful thou art, promising many things and performing none. How many millions hast thou destroyed by thy deception. Thy power is destroyed (by Christ) from having dominion over the saints. By man thou wast brought into the world, by the God-man thou shalt be destroyed from off the earth. A creature was the cause of thy existence. Christ the Creator by his sufferings, shall be the cause of thy final destruction in his people, which will take place in the glorious resurrection of the saints. Reader, tremble at sin, fight against it, pray for a greater measure of Divine grace, and a double portion of the Holy Spirit.

This darkness may be considered as the awful judgment of God against my brethren Jews; it was a prelude of his wrath which was to come upon them to the uttermost; and this will be the case of all those who by their sin crucify afresh the Lord Jesus Christ, and all those that reject his Gospel, his truth, his ordinances, and his worship. Sinner, flee to Christ for shelter; there is no name under heaven by which you can be saved but by Jesus of Nazareth. Christ is a Hiding-place from the wrath of God, from the fiery law and its curses; in Christ is no fury, no wrath; He is full of love, grace, mercy, and compassion. He invites and calls you;

He is a match for you; if sin abounds in you, grace superabounds in Him; his mercy is a match for your misery; his blood for your sin, his power for your weakness, his all-sufficiency for your wants, his wisdom to make you wise, and his holiness to sanctify you.

The Jews enjoyed the favour of God; they were his chosen people, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. "He showed his word unto Jacob, his statutes, and his judgments unto Israel; He hath not dealt so with any nation.” They have enjoyed the favours of God in the ceremonial law, while the Gentile world was covered with darkness, without a God or hope in this world. But through their rejecting the Messiah, the light was withdrawn from them, and blindness in part is happened. to Israel according as it is written, "God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day," Rom. xi. 7-11. "I say, then have they stumbled that they should fall; God forbid, but rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles." This is the glorious light that was withdrawn from them, and sent among the Gentiles. This blessed light, which is the Gospel, went forth from conquering to conquer; it dispelled the darkness of Paganism, and dissipated the ignorance from their minds. The Sun of righteousness has risen in the hearts of thousands. The Lord has risen upon them, and his glory was seen amongst them. As the blessed Gospel was the means to scatter the darkness from the Gentiles, so in withholding it from the Jews was the cause of increasing their blindness, as a just reward for their sin. "Behold therefore, the goodness and severity of God, on them which fell severity, but toward thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." This also will be the case with this country, if the churches continue in their lukewarmness, that have a name to live, but are dead to the power of the Gospel. "Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen and repent, and do thy first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, unless thou repent. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot; so then because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." It is true we have the name of Protestants, but as touching the doctrines of the reformers, which is justification by faith, that is nearly sunk in oblivion. We have a body without a soul. Miserable England, we send the gospel to other nations, while we ourselves are covered with infidelity. Our holy martyrs shed their blood for the Gospel, and we tread it,

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beneath our feet. Oh, what an awful account will we have to give up at the day of judgment. To whom much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much of him shall they ask the more." Never has been a nation blessed with the Gospel so many years as we, yet we despise it. The Lord has a controversy with this nation ; except we repent, we shall likewise perish." The seventh chapter of Micah is applicable to our present state. Wickedness abounds among the high and low, rich and poor, the churches and the world. As darkness separates the sun from the earth, so sin separates God from the sinner. "Men walk in darkness, they grope for the wall as the blind, they stumble at the stumbling stone, and the way of peace they know not. Oh miserable state, unhappy condition. The way of sin leads to death. Christ is the Light of the world. Men love darkHe is the life of the world, and men love death.

ness.

This darkness was to convince the Jews that Christ whom they crucified was the the Son of God and the promised Messiah. This was the glorious time when Christ made satisfaction to God the Father, in our room and stead, paid the debt of an infinite sum by an infinite Being. This darkness also shows unto us the greatness of his sufferings, that the very course of nature, as it were, turned upside down.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SURETYSHIP OF CHRIST.

Now we will consider the work Christ had to perform as our Surety. It was all that the law and justice demanded of us. Perfect obedience, and punishment in case of disobedience. "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." But through the fall we are incapable of performing either ; we cannot fulfil the law, because that requires perfect obedience; and we by nature are born in sin, and shapen in iniquity. Nor can we as finite creatures, by our sufferings satisfy an infinite Being. And both of these, our Surety, who was God and man in our room and stead, performed, carried our sins, became a Man of sorrows, suffered and died, whereby He has satisfied Di vine justice, made peace with God, and brought life and immortality to light.