viour.

"For the love of Christ, (says the Apostle,) constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." Here he suggests the leading motive which ought to render the love of Christ so prevailing and strong a principle of constraint upon our hearts,—the motive of gratitude for the great deliverance which He, by his Death, wrought for us, from the slavery and death of a corrupt nature. In the text, he carries forward his principle, and shows the point to which that love ought to constrain us-the character of life which it ought to form in us—the species of conduct which it requires us to avoid, and that which it prompts us to follow." And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again."The last events of our Saviour's history which we have commemorated in the services of the Church, were those of his Death and his Resurrection; and we ought carefully to meditate upon them, and often to renew these meditations, because it is only when these great articles of our Faith become habitual to our thoughts and feelings, that they can produce their true effect

in elevating and purifying our souls. To what a noble strain of sentiment do they invariably lead in the writings of the Apostles! and part of the same effect would be produced upon us, if we were to employ our thoughts more upon those most interesting events with which their minds were so constantly filled. How grand is the view of human nature, as it stands in relation to its exalted Lord, even as it is represented to us in the few short words of the text; and to what an elevated pitch of character would that view conduct us, if we permitted it to sink into our hearts, and were we to model our lives upon its Spirit!

I. The first great object here presented to the eye of the Christian, is that of his Lord laying down his life for all, that all might feel the power of that love by which He is united to them, and rising again from the dead, that all might look to Him as the great Leader of their Salvation, and their forerunner into the immortality of his Father's kingdom. There cannot possibly be a subject of contemplation so great and animating as this, and we really are insensible to the high privileges to which, as Christ

tians, we are called, when we turn away from it, or regard it in any cold and indifferent manner.-There is no man whose imagination does not glow with the recollection of those illustrious Characters who have saved their Country in the hours of its slavery and oppression, especially when their lives have fallen a sacrifice to the noble effort;-theirs are the Names which stick out from the History of the World, and in whatever age they may have appeared, or however unconnected with ourselves, we bow before them with reverence and gratitude. How much more ought we to be affected by the recollection of that Sacrifice which was made, not for the temporal interests of any particular country, but for the general and everlasting interests of Mankind! And it can only be from inattention, and a familiarity with names, which scarcely awaken corresponding ideas, that our sentiments on this great subject are either so feeble and inadequate, or so much darkened and perverted.-What triumphs, too, are allotted to the Patriot Hero who returns victorious from the field of his glory? With what animation, in the most distant age, do we accompany the story of the gratulations which

met him on his return ;-and although all the splendid consequences of his prowess may long have been lost in the abyss of Time-with what delight do we sit down to muse upon them, and to bring them home to our hearts and our conceptions ?-And is there not here, too, a victory, my brethren, the consequences of which are never to perish, but which relate to every human soul, and to every moment of its eternal existence? And did not the conqueror, in this great conflict, return amid the gratulations of men and of Angels? And was there ever a wreath of victory so splendid as that immortal Crown which is placed upon his Brows? or can we imagine a seat of triumph so glorious as that Throne on which He sits for ever, by the right hand of the Majesty on High, from which He wields the sceptre of this lower world, and" hath put all enemies under his feet?"-What contemplation in all the history of man ought so much to pervade our thoughts and sentiments as this highest of contemplations? When we wander in thought among the great, the good, and the beneficent of mankind, upon whom ought we ever to repose at last, as the great Central Point of whatever is excellent,

illustrious, and triumphant in human nature? as the point which does not stand alone in existence, but upon which every soul of the race of man hangs? as the great point of attraction, which is constraining every other creature to itself?-under whose holy influence alone man can be truly good,-under whose protection and guidance alone he can rise to glory and immortality! Such is the first contemplation which the words of the text present to us.

II. A second is the contemplation of the Beings who are gathered around this Mighty Conqueror, for whom he died, and for whom he rose again—for whom, by his Death, he conquered death, and by his.Resurrection threw open the gates of the grave. These, the Apostle informs us, are " all;"-the whole race of created man, throughout all the extent of earth, and through all the ages of mortal existencewherever there breathes a human soul endowed with a rational and moral nature, and capable of an immortal progress in happiness and perfection. This is the sublime assemblage which surrounds the great and the victorious Saviour of the world; this is the vast host whom he