GOOD FRIDAY

The Friday in Pa ion week received this name from the ble ed effects of our Saviour’s sufferings, which are the ground of all our joy, and from those unspeakable good things he hath purchased for us by his death, whereby the ble ed Jesus made expiation for the sins of the whole world, and by the shedding of his own blood, obtained eternal redemption for us. Among the Saxons it was called Long Friday; but for what reason, except for the long fastings and offices they then used, does not appear. The commemoration of our Saviour’s sufferings hath been kept from the very first age of Christianity, and was always observed as a day of the strictest fasting and humiliation; not that the grief and affliction they then expre ed did arise from the lo they sustained, but from a sense of the guilt of the sins of the whole world, which drew upon our ble ed Redeemer that painful and shameful death of the cro . The Gospel for this day (besides its coming in course) is properly taken out of St. John rather than any other evangelist, because he was the only one that was present at the pa ion, and stood by the cro while others fled: and, therefore, the pa ion being as it were represented before our eyes, his testimony is read who saw it himself, and from whose example we may learn not to be ashamed or afraid of the cro of Christ . The Epistle proves, from the insufficiency of the Jewish sacrifices, that they only typified a more sufficient one, which the Son of God did, as on this day, offer up, and by one oblation of himself then made upon the cro , complete all the other sacrifices, (which were only shadows of this,) and made full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. In imitation of which Divine and infinite love, the Church endeavours to show her charity to be boundle and unlimited, by praying in one of the proper collects, that the effects of Christ’s death may be as universal as the design of it, namely, that it may tend to the salvation of all, Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics. How suitable the proper psalms are to the day, is obvious to any one that reads them with a due attention: they were all composed by David in times of the greatest calamity and distre , and do most of them belong mystically to the crucifixion of our Saviour ; especially the twenty-second, which is the first for the morning, which was in several pa ages literally fulfilled by his sufferings, and, either part of it, or all, recited by him upon the cro . And for that reason (as St. Austin tells us) was always used upon that day by the African Church. The first le on for the morning is Genesis xxii., containing an account of Abraham’s readine to offer up his son; thereby typifying that perfect oblation which was this day made by the Son of God ; which was thought so proper a le on for this occasion, that the Church used it upon this day in St. Austin’s time. The second le on is St. John xviii., which needs no explanation. The first le on for the evening contains a clear prophecy of the pa ion of Christ , and of the benefits which the Church thereby receives. The second le on exhorts us to patience under afflictions, from the example of Christ , who suffered so much for us.— Wheatly. The proper psalms and both the second le ons for Good Friday were added at the last review: and Genesis xxii., the first morning le on, which was formerly read all through, limited to ver. 20.