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"BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD!"

VERY one is, to a greater or lesser extent, an observer of

human nature; and however superficial our observations of it may have been, however shallow the view we may take, or the appreciation we may have of the various laws by which it is governed, or the points of contrast or of correspondence which subsist between its different specimens, we cannot fail to have remarked that there is amongst mankind, universally, a strong and quenchless disposition to treat with a respect akin to veneration, and sometimes almost amounting to idolatry, those who have been mainly conspicuous or instrumental in securing for them any great political advantage, or delivering them from any heavy social mischief. For example, if the community at large have been for a long time afflicted by any pestilential scourge which has invaded its ranks and, with its deadly havoc, thinned their number, with what a grateful homage, as it were, do they reward that skilled physician, whose keen and well-trained mind discerns the lurking source of the destructive malady, and checks its further ravages amongst its stricken victims. Or, if a nation, finding its liberties coerced, its commerce impeded, or its rights restricted, from the prevalence of some obnoxious law which blots the statutebook, after seeking for a long time in vain for emancipation from these evils, all at once obtains release through the eloquence, courage, or sagacity of some well-gifted legislator who, throwing the weight of his influence and energy into the scale of liberty and right, strikes down the barrier which restricts his country's freedom; how freely all the honours which such a patriot deserves are heaped upon him by a thankful people. Or, once more, when a monarch unclasps the chains of slavery from free-born necks, or a general conducts an army through a long and perilous fight, and leads it on, at length, to victory and renown,

how do the free-will offerings of an applauding country welcome back the brave deliverer; how do they take him to their hearts, as it were, and rear up monuments to embalm his memory in the affections of posterity. Men acquire even a personal and private interest, so to speak, in such men as these; they not only treat them with peculiar honour on account of the services they have rendered, but they attach an absorbing interest to all the incidents they can glean of their private character. Any graceful or ordinary concession to the amenities of life, any little act of humanity, or indication of tender or amiable feeling on the part of a great public benefactor, is regarded with peculiar interest by mankind in general; and those virtuous traits which, in others, would be overlooked, in them are used to swell their popularity in the world's esteem. But while men are ever ready (and rightly so) to appreciate and reward those who have secured for them great temporal advantages, they have, from time immemorial, been sadly backward in recognising the claims of those who have aimed at, and achieved their spiritual benefit. Instances of this are afforded in dark abundance by the Word of God. Think of the protracted murmurings of the ancient people against Moses, who had been their deliverer, under God, from the bondage of their tyrant, the weapons of their foes, the terrors of the wilderness, and the perils of the Red Sea; who had been their pilot and their guide through dangers and perplexities, had helped them in seasons of hunger and of thirst, and directed them to the very threshold of the promised land. Think of their thankless repinings against Caleb and Joshua, because they refused to surrender their spiritual for their carnal pleasures; think of the persecution and derision to which good and holy men of all ages have been subjected; and of the opposition and hate through which they have had to struggle for the faith once delivered to the saints; and think, above all, of the deadly malignity and rabid scorn that followed the Great Redeemer through His life; the royal conspiracy to quench the earliest corruscations of His dawning glory; the sage and venerable contempt of the learned men and doctors in the Temple; the haughty effrontery and Satanic aversion of the Pharisees and Sadducees; the taunting insolence of the ignorant, and the vapouring derision of the learned; the cruel mockings and

scourgings; the stonings and the stripes; the betrayals and the buffetings; the demon yell of "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" the thorns, the spear, the nails, the cross! Think of all this, and then contrast the treatment with that which monarchs, patriots, and benefactors receive from men, and try to solve the secret. Is it because Christ was no deliverer? that He came to rescue us from dangers by which we were not threatened? because we could do for ourselves all that He professed to perform for us? Is this the reason why the Jews rejected Christ, and why we reject Him still? We can pay homage to a skilful physician who has counteracted some wide-spread scourge, yet Christ, who brings to us the panacea for the worst of all diseases, and who offers us the prescription which shall secure for us eternal life, He knocks at the door in vain! We can magnify a senator who has procured the abolition of some heavy law, and praise him to the skies; yet Christ, who has abolished death, and fulfilled for us ALL the law, is expelled from our hearts! We can serve a king, or glorify a general who has humbled some rival, or set us free from a tyrant; yet Christ, who has vanquished our fiercest and most implacable foe, and disenthralled us from the most slavish of all yokes, we neglect and despise! Why is this? It is because we do not feel our need of Him; because the enemy, from whom He comes to free us, throws golden chains around us and deceives us into thoughts of liberty; because the disease, of which He waits to cure us, has thrown us into a trance wherein we dream that we are in health and vigour. Surely, it needs but little invitation to slaves to be free; but small persuasion to the sick to be made whole. But we are slaves who hug and embrace our chains; we fall asleep in the midst of o ur disease, and, therefore it is that we are so earnestly called by God's own herald to "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

May God grant that some amongst ourselves this afternoon may be persuaded to accept this invitation, whilst we attempt to urge a few plain reasons wherefore we should attend to it.

We ought then, to behold the Lamb of God-Because of what He is. He is the divine and glorious messenger sent from God to erase from the creatures He has made, in His own image, the

ance.

mark of the beast. He is the milder nature of eternal justice, the perennial well-spring of ineffable long-suffering and forbear He is not only the brightness of His Father's glory, but He is the concentration of the Father's mercy, and His love towards man. He is the sinner's advocate before Jehovah's Throne; the equal sharer of the Father's power; the worthy object of the Father's tenderness; the counterpoise of the Father's righteous anger; the weight of mercy which sustains and keeps at rest the balance of eternal rectitude and truth. He is full of yearning sympathy for the infirmities of men, yet perfect in His participation in the attributes of God. He is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."

Because too of what He became. Though from everlasting to everlasting He is God, the attribute most calculated to endear Him to sinners is that He is "God manifest in the flesh." He became a little child. He became the companion of the poor and destitute. He became not only a man, but a man of sorrows. He became the object of the world's contempt; and worse than all, the object of His Father's wrath. He became acquainted with grief, and He became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Behold Him then, for He taketh away the sin of the world.

Because of what He did and suffered. He communed with our nature. He met the tempter and defied his hellish arts. He studied all the rudiments of human woes and trials. He cast in His lot with the poor and despised. He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself. He healed, in return for their insults, the infirmities with which they were afflicted. When He was reviled He reviled not again. He bore all human troubles on His heart, and wept over the consequences which their sins induced. He took the cup of trembling from His Father's hand, which our sins had mingled, and drained it to the dregs and wrang them out. He endured the cross, despising the shame; and whilst gloating eyes leered upon His agony, while the barbed spear was

rankling in His side, the nails were fastened in His flesh, and thorns were lacerating His majestic brow, through hyæna laughter and demon shrieks of scorn, His pleading voice was heard ere He gave up the ghost, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!" O, what a spectacle for angels and for men! Sinai!

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