be the great end of our lives to promote to the utmost of our ability the knowledge of that blessed subject among others. For this is life eternal, to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. Amen. SERMON X. THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST. BY J. E. BEAUMONT, M. D. "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.”—ACTS 11. 22, 23. If there be joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, what must be the joy of that minister who on good grounds has reason to conclude, that by the instrumentality of his ministrations the kingdom of heaven has been opened to a multitude of perishing sinners? That joy of all joys is the highest, the deepest, the richest, and the strongest. Such was Peter's joy upon the day of Pentecost. He who enters on the work of the ministry, enters into tribulation. When Peter was appointed to the ministry, to the apostleship, he was appointed to martyrdom. He that said to Peter, "Feed my sheep, feed my lambs," said also unto him, "When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." tion was a scene of glory, but it was a scene of tribulation; it was contested all along its course with the fiercest and the most virulent opposition; but God gave him to taste at its outset the sweetest joy that a minister can taste, and so prepared him for the bitternesses that were to come. Peter's ministra The first sermon, the very first sermon, that Peter preached, was with the Holy Ghost and with power. My text is a part of it. You know the simplicity of his manner, the order and power of his argument, the force and majesty of his eloquence, and oh, how successful was that first sermon ! Peter brought home to his hearers the guilt which they had contracted; he set before them Jesus Christ cru cified by them-ah! and for them as well as by them; and that sermon at once captivated three thousand hearts three thousand were pricked to the heart, believed, and were added unto the Lord. Our God is in the heavens, and still our Jesus reigns. We that preach in this day, are sometimes tempted to inquire, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" but our God is in the heavens, and still our Jesus reigns, and "with him is the residue of the Spirit." May he pour it out on this congregation! May the arm of the Lord our God be made bare amongst us to-night! I bring you no new gospel; I rejoice that I preach to those, mainly so at least, this evening, who have been accustomed to the burden of my ministry, and who know that I have nothing else to preach but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. "Hear these words, then, ye men of Israel," and be thankful that ye have to hear them, not in hell, but on earth where the gospel is preached. "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs," said Peter unto the people to whom he preached, "which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Now, there are FOUR inquiries to which I shall endeavor to direct your attention from these words. First, Who was delivered? "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God." Secondly, To what was he delivered? Crucifixion; "Ye crucified him." Thirdly, By whom was he thus delivered? "By the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and by your wicked hands and hearts." Fourthly and lastly, The design on 'account of, and the end for which, Jesus of Nazareth was delivered: "for us men, and for our salvation." God the Holy Spirit assist me to preach, and you to hear! I. WHO WAS DELIVERED? Jesus of Nazareth. May Jesus of Nazareth had at once a name of ignominy and a name of renown; a name of scandal and a name of glory. Jesus of Nazareth, or as it is in the original, Jesus the Nazarene called a Nazarene in Scripture because he was devoted unto God-called a Nazarene by the Jews because he was brought up at Nazareth; and they availed themselves of that fact in his earliest history, to fasten upon him what they thought would be an indelible stigma. "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus is a name of glory. It was, indeed, a human name, a common name: it was borne by many, as we read in history, before it was applied to him who was born of a virgin; but when it was once put on him who was born of the virgin in Bethlehem, it never was put on any other. You do not hesitate to call your children by the names of the apostles, always excepting the name of Judas-for what father could bear to have a son called by the name of Judas? The name that had been an honorable name, was by the fact of the conduct of him that betrayed the Son of man with a kiss, blighted, blasted, and withered away. But the name of Jesus, which had been a human name, a common name, before it was put upon him born of a virgin, when once it was put upon him became a divine name, a superhuman name, and no father dares to call his son Jesus, because God has called his Son Jesus. "This is the name to sinners dear, This is a name above every name, Jesus of Nazareth; he saves us by the power of his cross, by the glory of his throne. We observe, that the particular feature of his character here developed in the text, is, the power of working miracles. "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs." Now these three words, "miracles, wonders, and signs," are synonymous, the import of them is the same, substantially the same. He wrought miracles. What is a miracle? A miracle has been defined" a suspension of the power of the laws of nature; a suspension or counteraction of the laws of nature." And what are the laws of nature? The laws of nature are the association and agencies of God, by which he employs certain causes to the production of certain effects, and not others - a certain association between definite causes and definite effects - what our philosophers call "the laws of nature;" what the Bible calls "the ordinances of heaven." What philosophers signify by the terms, the essential, the inflexible, eternal laws of nature, is nothing at all but the will of God acting in a definite way; and these laws of nature, these ordinances of heaven, this fixed association between cause and effect Jesus of Nazareth broke in upon them, disturbed them when he pleased, set them aside as often as he listed. He showed that he was the Author of nature, and that all these laws which philosophers call the laws of nature, were of his own making, his own ordination; and, therefore, as he produced the effects without their appropriate causes, as he produced results apart from the usual associated causes, therefore he was the God of nature; and, by his power of working miracles, proved that he was God over all. His miracles are called wonders, because they filled the spectators with wonder; and they are called signs, because they were indexes of the properties, and prerogatives, and character of him that wrought them. "Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." Yes, he might very well say that he was preaching to a people who had seen Jesus raise the deadwho had seen him walk upon the lake of Gennesareth- who had seen him multiply a handful of bread, so that thousands were fed they had seen him give sight to a man born blind. How did he effect it? Why, he spat upon the ground, made clay with the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the man born blind! Was that likely to make a blind man see? Was that the way to open the eyes of a man born blind, to besmear the eye-balls over in that way? Why did our Savior do it in that manner? It was done to teach those who witnessed the miracle, that the thing itself did not follow from the physical means employed; for there was no connection whatever between besmearing the blind man's eyes over in that way and his reception of sight. It was to show that the thing wrought was solely the effect of him that wrought it, and not in any wise connected with the physicial means employed at the time of the production. The miracle excited their attention, as well it might. It was examined; it was tested; the scribes, and pharisees, and priests, tossed it from crucible to crucible; they endeavored to find some flaw in it; but after all their long attempts to detect some fallacy, in effect they said, "We will give it up; we cannot deny it; it is unquestionable that a notable miracle has been wrought by the man." His power of working miracles was farther displayed in the resurrection of the dead-as we have already noticed. He raised the son of the widow at Nain, he raised the daughter of Jairus, he raised Lazarus. Had he only raised up the daughter of Jairus, our infidels would have said, it was not a resurrection, it was merely a case of suspended animation. Well, but, besides that, he raised the son of the widow of Nain, who had been dead some days. And that is not all: he raised Lazarus, who was dead and buried, and not only dead and buried, but the process of putrefaction had commenced on the solids and fluids of the body. In that hot country putrefaction took place in three days; and, as I stated when I preached to you last, one proof of the truth of Scripture is the resurrection of Christ. It was prophesied of Christ, that God should not leave his soul in hell, and Christ was not more than three days in the grave, because if he had been he would have seen corruption. But Lazarus was more than three days in the grave; for, when he opened up the wondrous scene about to be exhibited, the sister of Lazarus said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days." But what was that to the Son of God? He came to the mouth of the grave and said: "Lazarus, come forth;" and Lazarus started into life. of Nazareth that spake the word, and he was mighty in deeds. It was Jesus signs and in See his power in feeding the hungry out of a single handful of bread, which he multiplied; see him walking on the waters as if a pavement of adamant were under his feet; these are some of the miracles, and signs, and wonders, done by Jesus of Nazareth, in the midst of the people; and these attested his own character as the Messiah. The prophecies that went before him intimated that he should perform miracles; and, performing such miracles, they also attested his own character, his infinite beneficence and benevolence. notice, I pass on to II. TO WHAT THIS JESUS OF NAZARETH, A MAN APPROVED OF GOD, BY THESE MIRACLES, AND SIGNS, AND WONDERS, WAS DELIVERED; for the apostle says, "Him being delivered." Here we may ask, why is it that Peter, who is in general so bold and perspicuous, does not mention to what circumstances, or to what condition, Jesus of Nazareth was delivered? But we shall find an answer to this by a reference to the idiom of Peter's mother tongue. Peter was a Jew, and spoke the Hebrew language; and, according to the idiom of that language, the words rendered to be delivered, mean to be delivered to death, to be delivered up for God, to be delivered to martyrdom. It was a common proverb among the Jews, that such an one was delivered — that is, delivered to death, delivered to martyrdom for the truth. Jesus of Nazareth was delivered to death, to a death the most extraordinary in its nature, and the most dolorous in its circumstances, if you consider the place where he died, the persons amongst whom he died, or the death itself which he endured. Consider the place where he died. We all hope to die in our own homes, in our own beds; the people of God generally are allowed to die thus. But where did your Lord and Master die? One of the historians says, with inimitable and overwhelming emphasis, "They led him away to Calvary, and there they crucified him." A place putrid with blood and bones-a place, the atmosphere of which was impregnated with a blasphemous breath. Consider, too, among whom he died. He was crucified between two thieves, two malefactors; he had the middle place assigned him, as though he was worse than either of them. And, as to the death itself which he endured, you know what it was. Crucifixion was the most lingering and painful mode of death, and it was the most infamous one; and in the estimation of the |