rance of victory, and final triumph. After the first emotions of nature have subsided, when he had glanced at the objects around him, he rose superior to the things of this world, he knew that death puts a period to all sublunary connexions; that the titles of parent, friend, and son, are only vain names, when we come to the last hour. He no longer recognised his Again, let us admire the firmness and self- relations according to the flesh, he was going possession of our Lord: while beholding those to form a new relationship in heaven, to merge objects that were most likely to shake it, all earthly ties in the countless families of gloChrist was possessed of a tender heart. We rified saints, of whom he is the head. He aphave already noticed this, and will now consi-peared to know no longer that Mary who had der the principal circumstances in his life, that borne him, giving her no more the title of mowill justify this assertion. To this end, view ther, but said, Woman, behold thy son. him going from town to town, from province to province, doing good; see him discoursing familiarily with his disciples when he showed them a heart full of loving-kindness. Behold him shedding tears over Jerusalem, and pronouncing these affecting words, an everlasting memorial of his compassion, "If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes," Luke xix. 42. Behold him again, a short time before his death, occupied with care for his beloved disciples, who were to remain on the earth, and addressing to his Heavenly Father that affecting prayer for them recorded in John xvii. with the feelings of a soul full of the tenderest emotions. Jesus was exemplary in the several relations of a friend, of a master, and of a son. While he beheld around his cross only those whose malice delighted to witness his agony and aggravate his sufferings, he turned his thoughts from earth, to that eternal world into which he was about to enter. But what was the effect produced on his mind, by the sight of Mary, of whom it is expressly said in Scripture, that he loved her. What did he feel when he beheld the disciple whom he had distinguished by his peculiar friendship; and that other Mary in whose favour he had wrought such great miracles, "Ah, remove these beloved objects far from me, take away every tie that binds my departing soul to earth, your presence inflicts a sharper pain than the nails which pierce my hands; the sight of you is more insupportable than that of my murderers." Is this the language of our Lord? No: far otherwise; Christ remains firm, his courage is unabated. He was armed with almighty power, and he entered this dreadful conflict with the full assu
O, why cannot I communicate a portion of this intrepid firmness of soul to those who compose this congregation; O that we may every one on the bed of death feel some of its influence, and be enabled to exclaim, Come ye spectators of my agonies, draw near ye to whom nature has bound me by the closest ties, by the cords of love and friendship. Approach my friends, my children, that I may bid you a final farewell: come receive the last pledges of my affection, let me, for the last time, fold you in my paternal embrace, and cover you with my tears of affection; but do not suppose, that I would now draw tighter the cords which are so soon to be broken; think not that I would unite myself to you still closer at the time when God warns me that I must leave you for ever. I know you no longer; I know not father, mother, or children, but those who exist in the realms of glory, with whom I am about to form eternal relationship, which will absorb all my temporal connexions.
they would never be reduced to want. "When my father and my mother forsake me," said the psalmist," the Lord taketh me up," Ps. xxvii. 10. Let us also say, if I leave my father and mother in their old age, or my children in their infancy, the Lord will protect them. They will find a shelter under the wings of the Lord, and he will be their defence.
Thus the opposite extremities of virtue seemed to meet in the death of our Saviour as in a common centre, the perfections of the Godhead, holiness, compassion, constancy, pierced through the thick veil which shrouded his grandeur, his glory, his power, and his majesty. O, ye witnesses of his death, if his humiliation caused you to doubt his Godhead, his greatness of soul must have fully proved it. Behold the tombs open, the dead arise, all nature convulsed, bears witness to the dying Saviour; the graces that shone forth in his death are proofs of his noble origin, and his divine nature; such was the death of Jesus Christ; may such be our end. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." Amen. Numb. xxiii. 10.
A
ABEL, in what sense he yet speaketh, ii 280 | Antinomian, his notion of the divine mercy
Abraham, his intercession for Sodom should
ii 255
he is faithfully warned and refut-
ed
encourage us to pray for wicked
nations
i 379
his great faith in the oblation of
Isaac
ii 188
i 397
Achan, where are the Achans?
|
Actions, innocent, are often made criminal ii 4
Admonition among Christian brethren i 187
Adultery, the woman caught in the act of
i 266
the case of Drusilla
the character of an adultress
Adversities of life
they are the best means of
some men wise
Adversity is occasioned by crime in
spects
Emilius Paulus, a saying of his,
Aged men, the difficulties of their conversion
ii 242. 244
fear and to
250
ii 8
ii 44
ii 212
making
ii 347
two re-
ii 350
ii 95
they are exhorted to
hope
Ahaz, his preservation and wickedness
Alcoran, origin of that book
i 150
ii 355
a specimen of its absurdities
356
Alexander despised by the Scythians
i 124
Allegories, improper, censured i 42-ii 83
Alms, Christ's love the great motive to them
i 415
Alms of benevolence considered with regard to
society, to religion, to death, to judg-
ment, to heaven, to God 417
nine arguments in favour of alms 419
ii 7
Amorites, the nation and generation of them
considered as one person i 106
the whole inhabitants of Canaan
were so called
ib.
their iniquities
107
Amusements, men who have the love of God
shed abroad in their hearts
have little taste for them i 92
i 193
i 222
apostrophe to angels on the Godhead
of Christ
241
their number and employment
their happiness consists in glorifying
God
ib.
they bend over the ark to look into the
mystery of redemption ii 163
of the angel who sware standing on
the earth and on the sea
David prostrated before the destroying
angel
Anger attributed to God, but it varies in six
points from the anger and ven-
geance of man
i 100
Animals, compassion for
i 367
Anise, mint, cummin, improvements on the
terms
Antinomian, an, censured
354
i 369
i 300
1
Anathema Maranatha
Angels, a defence to the church
men
nation
402
Anointing of the Holy Spirit
ii 399
Ants, an emblem of the busy multitudes of
ii 34
Apathy, or a spirit of slumber, dangerous to a
ii 348
Apostasy, among the French Protestants to
the Roman Catholic religion i 167
seven ways of apostasy
i 239
the dreadful sin of an enlightened
apostasy
ii 328, 329
the apostasy through weakness and
enmity distinguished
ib.
four degrees of apostasy 331, 332
an address to sinners who have not
attained the highest degree of this
sin
ib.
Apostolical constitutions confessedly spurious,
absurd, and the forgery of the
Arians
i 279
Apostrophe to the ecclesiastics who surround-
ed the person of Louis XIV.,
ii 294
i 197
on pretended miracles
to heathen philosophers
i 217
xvii. 3
Application to different classes of sinners i 96
Arians refuted in their false gloss on John
ii 157
the Arians also refuted in their whim-
sical gloss on John xvi. 13 ii 309
Aristocracy, its corruption described i 391
Arminius, (Van Harmine,) three replies to his
system
ii 103
in the Bible practical duties are
placed clear, and abstruse points
involved in depths, that Chris-
tians may have patience with
one another
God is no wise accessary to the de-
struction of sinners
116
Arnobius, his avowal of the Godhead of Christ
i 279
106
Assurance, St. Paul persuaded of it i 313
eight cautions concerning it ib.
assurance of justification may be
attended with a mixture of
doubts as to final salvation ib.
it is incompatible with a state of
sin
314
assurance is demonstrated by the
experience of holy men ib.
by the nature of regeneration 315
by the prerogatives of a Christian
316
by the inward testimony of the
spirit of God
317
four cautions concerning it ib.
means of attaining assurance 350
degrees of grace and assurance ii
182
Assurance consists in foretastes of heaven ii
182
those foretastes are often connect-
ed with trials
188
they are often felt on sacramental
occasions and on the approaches
of death
189
eight causes why the generality of
the Christian world do not at-
tain assurance
388, &c.
389, &c.
Athanasius, the superiority of his arguments
over the Arians
i 279
Atheism, men embrace it to sin quietly i 210
its absurdity joined with superstition
ii 359
ib.
seven sources of evil
its difficulties
Atonement, the mystery of it arising from the
innocence of Christ i 191
it is illustrated under the notice
of a vicarious sacrifice i 249
its efficacy arises from the excel-
lence of the victim in five ar-
guments
i 287
its extent liberally explained 292
the support of Christ's death
against all our fears of futurity
295
Christ's death is an expiation or
atonement for sin
ii 167
four arguments in favour of the
satisfaction made by Christ 229
five classes of arguments from the
Holy Scriptures demonstrative
of the atonement, and compris-
ing a refutation of those who
say that Christ's death was only
a demonstration of the truth of
his doctrine
230
Augsburgh, Confession or Lutheran and that
of Arminius, strictures on ii 103
Augustine proves that the texts which speak
of Christ as subordinate to the
Father ought to be understood of
his humanity and offices, because
the expressions are never used of
the Holy Ghost
i 277
he is accused of inconsistency, viz.
of favouring the cause of the Ma-
nichæans when he wrote against
the Pelagians
Avarice is always classed among the worst of
sins
i 354
it is sometimes bluntly rebuked ii 38
the sin of avarice defined
it impels men to the worst of crimes ib.
it requires confession and restitution
ii 395
112
portrait of an avaricious man
B
ii 347
i 158
Balaam, his temporising character
Baptist, (John,) an opinion of his
Barzillai apparently anticipating death i 402
Bayle, an error of his refuted,
i 388
Begnon, (Rev. Mr.) comforted against the
fears of death by Christ's valedic-
tory address
in 147
Believers often receive the greatest good from
the severest affliction
i 75
the believer superior to the infidel at
the bar of authority, at the bar of
interest, of history, of reason, of
conscience, and of scepticism it-
self
225
Benediction on the different classes of hearers
at the close of a sermon, ii 91
Benevolence described
i 372
the want of it a horrible crime 414
it is the brightest ornament of re-
ligion
417
Birth, (new,) the ideas of the Rabbins con-
cerning it
ii 392
Bodies of the glorified saints probably not visible
to the grossity of our sight i 328
Born again, meaning of the expression ii 401
Brothels, the duty of magistrates concerning
them
ii 44
Bull,
(Bp.) proves from the fathers of the
primitive church, their belief that Jesus
Christ subsisted before his birth-
that he was of the same essence with
the Father-and that he subsisted
with him from all eternity i 277
с
Cesar, his maxims and conquests
ii 9
Cæsarea, two towns of that name
i 157
Calamites, (national,) often the forerunners
of greater plagues in four respects
ii 352
Caleb and Joshua, the only two that entered
Canaan, are urged as an argument to
rouse sinners
ii 358
Canticles, an apology for the figurative style
of that book
ii 3
Cato of Utica persuaded of the immortality
of the soul by reading Plato i 141
Ceremonial law superseded by Christ i 288
whatever morality was contain-
ed in the Jewish ritual law, &c.
is still retained
Characters described, the Jews
ii 374
i 171
the infidel
ib.
the miser
ib.
the temporiser
ib.
a man in public life, his danger ii
285
Charity must be followed
ii 312
Chastisements designated to excite mourning
and repentance
i 385
Christ the Word, a proof of his Godhead i 51
Christ would still weep over sinners
Christ a counsellor
155
117
154
he is our reconciliation by the advo-
cacy of his blood
he is the mighty God and affords pro-
tection to his people
he affords protection against the fears
of death, being the everlasting Fa-
ther
ib.
157
ib.
various opinions of Christ
inquiries of this kind may be put
through pride, through curiosity,
revenge, and benevolence
ib.
Christ the brightness of ce Dieu, dont il est la
marque engravee et le caractere 173
Christ accused of sedition, not by the Romans,
not by the populace, but by divines
and ecclesiastics
Christ the author and finisher of faith
Christ's supremacy asserted and vindicated
against the objection of its being
acquired
i 246. 274
Christ a supreme lawgiver
he is supremely adorable and adored
266
273
reply to those who say he acquired the
right to be adored
246
his whole design is to make us resemble
God
332
he is the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever, how much soever he may
vary the situation of his church
he subsisted with the Father from all
348
eternity
he is called the consolation of Israel
274
ii 141
he is present with his disciples
Christ's threefold relation to God
to the apostles
to the believers
162
he is of the same nature with the Fa-
ther
157
his not knowing the whole truth and
the time of the day of judgment as
mediator, accounted for on the
growth of his knowledge
his kingdom and exaltation
158
159
he prayed for the apostles and their
161
successors
union of believers with Christ
the duty of confessing Christ before
162
men
Christ's death and atonement for sin
20
167
six reasons assigned for the slight im-
pression which the exaltation of
Christ produces
denied and acknowledged by his friends
183
Christian religion, the majesty of it, and the
consequent respect we should che-
rish for the scripture characters
417
i 62
the amiableness of it in regard to par-
don and grace
163
its pacific character in a political
view
175
its tendency to disturb the vices of
society
177
346
its superiority to Judaism
Christianity contrasted with Mahometanism
genius of
ii 355
401
The Christian has a grandeur of
character superior to all other
characters
i 148
he is obliged to contend with the
world in order to preserve peace
of conscience
he is indulgent to a tender con-
179
science
245
his life is dependant on Christ 247
he lives to Christ
247
248
and dies to Christ
he
277
he finds difficulties in attaining
crucifixion with Christ ii 221
supported in his course by
six sources of consolation
he has a cloud of witnesses for
models
278
the difference between a Chris-
tian who enjoys heartfelt reli-
iii
385
gion and one who does not en-
joy it
the primitive Christians were mo-
dels of charity
i 420
contentious Christians are only
novices in religion
ii 88
forbearance recommended in opi-
nions
107
ries
Christians should be distinguished by love 151
Chrysostom, his zeal in sending out missiona-
they are not of the world 164
i 420
his exposition of the blasphemy
Church, the, often established by the means
against the Holy Ghost ii 328
which tyrants employ to destroy it
i 76
the church has often varied her situa-
tion in regard of worldly glory, of
poverty and of persecution
the church is a family
348
ii 316
her children should love one another
Cicero, the powers of his eloquence in soften-
with a superior attachment 313
ing the heart of Caesar and saving
Ligarius
i 200
ii 95
his gloomy notion of life
Clovis I. conversion of that king
Cleophas, who he was
his immoral life
ii 419
i5
ib.
Commandments, charges to keep them ii 150
the importance of the com-
mand to love one another
151
Conduct of God to men, and of men to God
411
Conscience, Edipus, a Theban king
Conflict and triumph of Christian believers 418
i 199
in hell
ii 8
he is a fool who denies its power
322
it founds its decisions on three
principles
i 323
it is to the soul what the senses
Consolation, six sources of it in Christ's vale-
are to the body
366
Conversation must be with grace, seasoned
dictory address
ii 152
with salt
i 410
it must be adorned with chastity
407
exempt from slander in seven re-
spects
409
from unfounded complaisance ib.
and from idle words
five vices of conversation
three maxims of conversation
410
411
412
i 48
it consists in illumination and
sanctification
ii 242
natural difficulties of conversion
in old age
the habits of old age obstinately
ib.
oppose conversion
ib.
it is greatly obstructed by the re-
currence of former ideas
the habit of loving God, an essen-
tial fruit of conversion, is diffi-
cult to acquire in old age 243
old habits must be counteracted,
and new ones formed
243
244
Conversion, exhortations to it
Conversion, a powerful exhortation to conver-
sion
248
arguments from the holy scrip-
tures against the delay of con-
version
251
conversion by irresistible grace in
our last moments, as stated by
the Supralapsarians, refuted in
five arguments
the instantaneous conversions of
scripture characters, guarded
against abuse
261, &c.
those conversions had five marks
of reality which leave negli-
gent christians without excuse
bend the knee, Psal. xcv. 6.
2 Chron. vi. 13. Gen. xxiv. 11.
2. To solicit or to confer good,
Gen. xxiv. 35.-3. To imprecate
evil, Job i. 5, 11.—ii. 5.
ib.
on Matt. xxiii. 23.
i 358
ii 70
115
on Gen. vi. 3.
on Hosea xiii. 9.
252 Cross, five bucklers against the offence of the
cross the miserable condition of a
lost world
ii 148
ib.
the downfall of Satan
the sovereign command of God to save
mankind
149
the storm ready to burst on the perse-
ib.
cutors
the grand display of Christ's love to his
disciples
ib.
glorying in the cross of Christ 218
the cross of Christ relatively consider-
ed, assorts with all the difficulties
and trials of this life
222
we must either be crucified by the cross,
or immolated to the divine justice
224
263
Corinthians puffed up above the divine laws,
as appears from their neglect
to expel the incestuous man
i 305
divisions, or a party spirit in the
church of Corinth
ii 92
Council of Trent maintained the merit of
works
i 300
Counsel and wisdom of God
i 72
A courtier, his life may be innocent
i 398
courts
a wise man will consider a court as
dangerous to his salvation ib.
he will enter on his high duties with
a fixed resolution to surmount
temptations
399
the arduous duties of good men at
ib.
the dangers should not induce men to
desist from duty
400
reasons for retiring from a court 402
Covenant of grace, the, is guarded by condi-
tions
ii 256. 305
the Christian and the Jewish co-
venant differ in circumstances
only, being the same in substance
302
this covenant had five character-
istics the sanctity of the place
303
the universality of the contract ib.
its mutual engagements
its extent of obligation
its oath
304
305
ib.
the ancient mode of contracting a
covenant
306
method of covenanting with God in
the holy sacrament
301
Covetousness, persons habitually guilty of this
sin, and yet professing to be
Christ's disciples, strikingly
resemble Judas (see Avarice)
ii 112
Croesus, his celebrated question, What is God?
which embarrassed Thales, as rela-
ted by Tertullian
i 211
Criticism on Psal. xl. 12. "mine iniquities,"
&c. as applied to Christ i 283
on Hebrews x. 5. " a body hast thou
prepared me,"
284
on Luke xi. 41. "Ye give alms," &c.
414
ii 130
ii 334
i 192
on 1 Sam. xxi.
on 1 Thess. iv. 13, 18.
on the word barac
It has three significations:-1. To
the atrocious guilt of those who nailed
the Lord to the cross
ib.
the cross considered, relatively to the
proofs of his love
ib.
ib.
to the truth of his doctrine
to the similarity of sentiment, and the
glory that shall follow
225
D
Darkness at our Saviour's death
ii 166
David, his preference of God's affliction ra-
ther than of man's
ii 42
i 115
403
God's long suffering to him
his gratitude to Barzillai
his affected epilepsy before Achish was
an innocent stratagem to save his
life, and imitated by many illustri-
ous heathens
ii 129
John Ortlob supposes it a case of real
affliction
130
he was too indulgent to his children 25
his piety
Day of the Lord
ii 283
ii 94
ii 211
i 186
295
416
ii 41
126
41
Days, the numbering of them
Death, the reflections of a dying man
terrors at the aspect of death
death considered as a shipwreck
the death of wicked men
the terrors of dying
the death of good men
death is a preacher of incomparable
eloquence
86
Jacob and Simeon both wished to die
through excess of joy
140
the words of dying men are usually
very impressive
ii 156
the death of Christ is to the Jews an
atrocious crime
170
the death of Christ an expiation of
sin, and a model of confidence 167
death vanquished by Christ 171
he has removed the terrors of dying by
unveiling futurity
172
by giving us remission of sins 234
the complete assurance of immortality
and life, removes the terrors of death
232
|