be increased, and not that He might be refreshed. 3. He longed with His whole soul for the complete redemption of all mankind, for whom He was dying. Endeavor to experience the same zeal for virtue and the salvation of your neighbor. " Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled." (Matt. v. 6.)
WEDNESDAY.
Christ's Last Words, and Death.
I. "When Jesus therefore had taken the vinegar, He said, It is consummated." (John xix. 30.) He congratulates Himself for having now fully accomplished the will of His divine Father, " becoming obedient unto death, •even the death of the cross." (Phil. ii. 8.) He has now fulfilled the prophecies and figures which regarded His life, and of which He said: "Do not think that I come to destroy the law or the prophets: I come not to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matt. v. 17.) He has now terminated His labors and His sufferings, which He endured with patience to the very last, and has drunk the chalice to the very dregs. Well, therefore, might He say to His eternal Father, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do; and I come to Thee." (John xvii. 4, 11.)
II. His last words were, " Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." (Luke xxiii. 46.) He uttered these words " with a loud voice," to show that He had triumphed over death, sin, and the devil. He teaches us also how to recommend ourselves to God in our last moments, and to forget at that awful hour all earthly cares and ideas. Beseech your dying Saviour that death may not attack you unprovided against it, or prevent you from entertaining at the moment of your dissolution such holy sentiments.
