the events which you are to commemorate in the sacrament of our Lord's
Supper.

I. This was the hour in which Christ was glorified by His sufferings.
The whole of His life had discovered much real greatness under a mean
appearance. Through the cloud of His humiliation, His native luster
often broke forth; but never did it shine so bright as in this last,
this trying hour. It was indeed the hour of distress and of blood. He
knew it to be such; and when He uttered the words of the text, He had
before His eyes the executioner and the cross, the scourge, the nails,
and the spear. But by prospects of this nature His soul was not to be
overcome. It is distress which ennobles every great character; and
distress was to glorify the Son of God. He was now to teach all
mankind by His example, how to suffer and to die. He was to stand
forth before His enemies as the faithful witness of the truth,
justifying by His behavior the character which He assumed, and sealing
by His blood the doctrines which He taught.

What magnanimity in all His words and actions on this great occasion!
The court of Herod, the judgment-hall of Pilate, the hill of Calvary,
were so many theaters prepared for His displaying all the virtues of a
constant and patient mind. When led forth to suffer, the first voice
which we hear from Him is a generous lamentation over the fate of His
unfortunate tho guilty country; and to the last moment of His life we
behold Him in possession of the same gentle and benevolent spirit. No
upbraiding, no complaining expression escaped from His lips during the
long and painful approaches of a cruel death. He betrayed no symptom
of a weak or a vulgar, of a discomposed or impatient mind. With the
utmost attention of filial tenderness He committed His aged mother to
the care of His beloved disciple. With all the dignity of a sovereign