Give me, O Lord, so to know Christ and His life, that He may live in me, that the same mind may be in me, which was in Christ; and that I may be in the world, as He was in the world. Give me so to know Christ and His death, that I may be made conformable to it, and may feel the virtue and power of the cross of Christ within me, in being crucified to the world, and having the world crucified to me, and in crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts; that the body of sin may be destroyed, and that henceforth I may not serve sin, nor obey it in the lust thereof. Give me also so to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; so I also may walk in newness of life, and may mind and seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.

Lord, make me ever mindful that I am not my own; but am bought with a price, even with the precious blood of Thy beloved Son. And oh! that the consideration of this astonishing instance of the divine love and mercy may so powerfully affect my heart, that I may be persuaded thereby to glorify Thee in my body, and in my spirit, which are Thine; and to live henceforward not unto myself, but unto Him that died for me. While I live, O Lord,

I will praise Thy name: I will sing praises unto my God, while I have my being. O let me shew forth Thy praise, not only with my lips, but in my life: let me praise and glorify Thee by ordering my conversation aright, by devoting my heart to Thy fear, and by offering up myself a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto Thee, O God, which is my reasonable service.

Now the God of all grace, Who hath called me unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, stablish, strengthen, settle me: To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

FRIDAY NOON.

The practice of Christian holiness enforced from a consideration of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ; of His death upon the cross for us; and of the duty and reward of taking up our cross, and following Him.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made".

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth".

In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness; even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; That whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life".

But those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled";

For the Son of Man was betrayed unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes, and they condemned Him to death: And delivered Him to the Gentiles, to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him'.

And they took Jesus, and led Him away: And He bearing His cross, went forth into a place called the Place of a Scull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, Where they

c 1 John iv. 9, 10.
f Matt. xx. 18,

b John i. 14. d John iii. 14, 15.

e Acts iii. 18.

19.

crucified Him; and two other with Him; on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished; and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost".

Thus Christ Jesus, Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, But made Himself of no reputation; and took upon Him the form of a servant; and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross1.

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. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth: He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before John xix. 16-18. h Ibid. ver.28-30.

Phil. ii. 5-8.

her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison, and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed: He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great; and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors *.

k

Now God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. For He hath made Him to

Isai. liii. 5-12.