Page:Cross of Christ, the Christian's glory (2).pdf/10

10  You have the Croſs of Chriſt, for your ſtudy, as men; for your hope, as Chriſtians; for your preaching, as miniſters.

For your ſtudy, as men. Here the reaſoning faculties may exert themſelves with everlaſting improvement, and everlaſting delight.—Here we contemplate the wonders, the unparalleled wonders, of a God made man; dying as a pattern of patience, as a martyr for truth as an all-perfect ſacrifice for ſin———Here the Lord Jehovah hath fully granted what his ſervant Moſes ſo earneſtly requeſted; he hath made all his glory to paſs before the aſtoniſhed eyes of angels and of men.—Here juſtice has let her moſt awful terrors in array; even while goodneſs appears, with inexpreſſible lovelineſs, and the moſt attractive beauty.—Here truth, more unſhaken than a rock, takes her immoveable ſtand: and mercy tenderer than the mother’s tear, yearns with bowels of everlaſting pity.———In a word the Croſs of Chriſt is a conſpicuous theatre, on which all the divine perfections unite, and harmonize, and ſhine forth with tranſcendent luſtre.

As Chriſtians, we have, in the Croſs of Chriſt, the richeſt proviſion for our own ſpiritual wants. This is a foundation of the ſublimeſt hope, and a fountain of the moſt exuberant joy: this affords matter for the deepeſt humility, and yields fuel for the moſt flaming love. Faith in our crucified Jeſus is an ever-active principle of the moſt chearful and exact obedience: is an ample and inexhauſtable magazine, from which we may fetch arms to conquer, abſolutely conquer the allurements of the world, the ſollicitations of the fleſh, and the temptations of the devil.———By this a way is opened for us into the Holy of Holies: and what may we not venture to aſk, what may we not expect to receive, who