the Spirit of God; and therefore he knew best what to say, and what not
to say. Why should we try and say anything more for him? Scripture is
perfect. Let us be content with it. The apostles, too, in their
Epistles, never dwell on Christ's sufferings. I entreat you to remark
this. They never mention His death except in words of cheerfulness and
triumph. They seem so full of the glorious fruits of His death, that
they have, as it were, no time to speak of the death itself. "Who, for
the joy which was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." That is the
apostles' key-note. For God's sake let it be ours too, unless we fancy
that we can improve on Scripture, or that we can feel more for our Lord
than St. Paul did. In the Lessons, the Psalms, the Epistle, and Gospel
for this day, you find just the same spirit. All except one Psalm are
songs of hope, joy, deliverance, triumph. The Collects for this day,
which are particularly remarkable, being three in number, and evidently
meant to teach us the key-note of Good Friday, make no mention of our
Lord's sufferings, save to say that He was CONTENTED, "contented to be
betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death
upon the cross," but are full of prayers that the glorious fruits of His
death may be fulfilled, not only in us and all Christians, but in the
very heathen who have not known Him; drawing us away, as it were, from
looking too closely upon the cross itself, lest we should forget what the
cross meant, what the cross conquered, what the cross gained, for us and
mankind.

Surely, this was not done without a reason. And I cannot but think the
reason was to keep us from seeking the living among the dead; to keep us
from knowing Christ any longer after the flesh, and spending tears and
emotions over His bodily sufferings; to keep us from thinking and
sorrowing too much over the dead Christ, lest we should forget, as some