how joyfully would we this day behold this entertainment which his bounty has provided? How eagerly would we press forward to receive these memorials of his death, and pledges of his future appearing ? Owing to the contraction of our hearts we often measure “his ways by our own ways,” and “his thoughts by our own thoughts,” and therefore view this ordinance with a degree of anxiety and dread; we approach it rather with the terror of slaves, than with the confidence and affection of sons. But did we reflect that the Lord Jesus is both the author, and substance of this banquet; that it is a feast of love ; that he here unlocks for our enjoyment the treasures which he pure chased as our Surety, and which are now deposited with him as the Trustee of the covenant; that he has not only covered this: table with the richest blessings of salvation, but has provided every thing that is necessary for our comfortable approach to it ; that he presents his own righteousness to adorn, and recommend us to the acceptance: of the Father; that he promises his Spirit to enlighten, and enliven, and awake to suitable exercises all the graces which he has implanted; that he sends forth his ministers as stewards in his family to declare «s that all things are ready;" that he is really, although invisibly, present at his own table to see that every arrangement is made for their accommodation, did we realise these things how cheerfully would we go

forward to take our seats; how freely would we partake of that feast of fat things, those wines on the lees which his bounty has furnished ? When the table is removed at the conclusion of one entertainment, how would we long until it was spread on another occasion ? Sisters and brethren, improve these truths for your greater liberty this day in approaching the table of your Lord. Every step to it is paved with love; the arms of his mercy are over you and underneath you; on your right hand and on your left. No language can express the ardor of his love to you, and that delight with which he dispenses every necessary blessing: And reinember, the greater the expense at which the purchase was made, the more pleased he is in seeing them received for your establishment and consolation. When your faith is strengthened; when your peace is promoted; when your love rises up into a purer flame ; when your hopes are brightened; when your enemies are defeated, and driven before you ; when your vows are renewed, and your souls animated to greater vigor in the work of the Lord, then his design in dying for you; his design in spreading and furnishing this table for you swered: He recollects with new pleasure all that he underwent from the cradle to the cross for your salvation. May the celestial fire come down on the heart of every intended communicant, obliging us to exclaim, the love of Christ constrainath us. AMEN.

But he was wounded for our transgressions ,

he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

THE redemption of man, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, is the chiefest of the ways of God. We may trace the origin of this scheme back to the depths of eternity past; we behold the great out-lines drawn by the Co-Equal Three, when sitting “ in the counsel of peace," and deliberating on the recovery of our ruined world; we see it occupying the attention of holy men, inspired by the Holy Ghost in all the ages of time, and its effects both on the damned and the redeemed will be great beyond conception through eternity to come. Abel the second child that was born in our world offered up a sacrifice to typify Jesus Jehovah our propitiation : “Enoch, the seventh from Adam,” prophesied of his coming. Abraham, the fatherof the faithful, saw in prophetic vision his day afar off: Prophets, who arose in succession, during a period of nearly four thousand years, foretold his sufferings and glory: Still as the fulness of the time drew near, their anxiety was more a wakened, and they pointed out more min

utely the time, and place, and circumstances of his coming. Rays of light reflected from “the Sun of righteousness” ages before he arose, enabled them to discern more clearly the mystery of his birth, and sufferings, and salvation. But perhaps no part of antient prophecy exhibits more explicitly these interesting events than the chapter from which our text is chosen. Alluding to the meanness of his birth, this inspired harbinger asserts, “ he shall be like a root out of a dry ground, and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him," no external charms to captivate the carnal eye. Referring to that neglect, and those sufferings which the Saviour of the world so singularly experienced, he adds, “he is despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:” But in the verse which we have chosen as the subject of our present consideration, the prophet becomes still more pointed in his meaning, and declares, “ he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.”

The sufferings of the Son of God, the procuring cause of these sufferings, and their happy issue, are truths obviously contained in the text, and to these, in their order, your attention shall be directed.

1. The sufferings of the Son of God. These are expressed by the prophet under

a variety of language. He represents the Lord of glory as “wounded, and bruised,” as bearing “chastisement, and stripes.” These may be considered as comprehending all the miseries which he endured from the manger to the cross, from Bethlehem to Calvary. His whole life was a scene of humiliation, and suffering, and sorrow. In his birth he was denied a residence in the abodes of men, but was laid in a manger : Bethlehem the place of his nativity was an obscure village, and as a prophet expresses it“ was small among the thousands of Judah;” He was early persecuted, and banished from his kindred, and native country through the influence of an envious, capricious prince: Although constantly employed in offices of kindness to man "he was despised and rejected ;” and a stranger to those enjoyments which are requisite for the comfortable support of human nature: Although he was the Father's servant, appointed to destroy the works of the devil,” and erect a kingdom of righteousness in the world, and although he was ardently engaged in accomplishing this work, yet he was vilified as a “ blasphemer” and as “casting out devils by Belzebub the prince of devils :' In short he is distinguished in scripture as “a man of sorrow,” intimating that the sorrows of all other men were not to be compared to his, and “acquainted with grief,” as if he was really a stranger to every thing else. But the language used by the prophet

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