take place, that the nature, which had been vanquished, should vanquish its enemy; that the most complete obedience God ever required of mankind should be performed, and that the punishment due to their sins should be inflicted. Owing to this necessity, it was evidently impossible for man, born in sin and prone to evil, to do or suffer any thing that would please or satisfy God. Let us, then, see, how our Redemption from sin and death was effected; and how the Atonement was made, and the Satisfaction offered, that have reconciled us to our Heavenly Father. *"God saw that there was no man, and wondered, (that is, particularly observed,) that there was no Intercessor." He, therefore, in his abundant mercy, provided One to "stand in the gap before us, that he might not consume us with the fire of his wrath, and recompense our ways upon our heads." He sent own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh," He sent "his * Isaiah, lix. 16. + Ezek. xxii. 30, 31. + Rom. viii. 3. to do for man, what man could not do for himself, that is, to perform the perfect obedience, and offer up the spotless sacrifice. This gracious Being became incarnate for our sakes. He *" being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." Owing to the mysterious manner of his Incarnation, he was born a man of like infirmities and passions with ourselves, but without the least corruption of original sin; for had this taint been upon him, he could never have wrought the perfect work which he came to accomplish, He was very God and very Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting." It was this miraculous birth, this extraordinary union of the two natures in his person, that enabled him to fulfil a sinless obedience to his Father's will; for †" he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." So far he merited for us the favour of God, and 66 66 * Phil. ii. 6, 7. +1 Pet. ii. 22. thus one part of our redemption was accomplished. But it was also necessary, that he should suffer all the punishment the transgressions of mankind deserved, in order to satisfy the Justice, and vindicate the Honour of God; and offer himself up a spotless sacrifice for sin, in order to appease the Divine Wrath against sinners. This part also of Redemption Christ performed for us. He endured, both in body and soul, such extremes of pain and agony, as it is impossible for us to conceive. He submitted to live a life of meanness and hardship, and to be looked down upon with disdain by the majority of those, among whom he exercised his ministry. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." They despised and rejected him. They refused to accept his gracious overtures of pardon and peace. They would not acknowledge his mission from Heaven, although he exhibited before their eyes his divine credentials in signs and wonders, such †“ as no man could do except God were with * John, i. 11. ↑ John, iii. 2. him." That he might feel the severest pain and sorrow, that human nature would admit of, his sensibility was rendered the most acute possible. The heaviest weight of God's indignation, which fell upon him innocent, as voluntarily suffering for the guilty, was reserved for the close of his life. In his Agony in the Garden his soul was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." So dreadful were the passionate conflicts of his mind, that, had his Father's will permitted it, he could have wished the cup to pass from him. And so keen was his sense of the punishment, which he was about to endure for all the sins of all mankind, and so heart-rending his reflections on the blindness of the Jews, on their folly, their perverseness, their ingratitude, and their cruelty, which would be so clearly manifested in their destroying him, and also on the numbers for whom, on account of their disbelief and wickedness, he should die in vain, that † "his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." After this, his * Matt. xxvi. 38. + Luke, xxii. 44. unparalleled sufferings followed in quickest succession. Satan was now permitted to assail him with the most violent temptations; for this was the hour of his enemies, and "the power of darkness." * "His own familiar friend, whom he trusted, and who did eat of his bread, lifted up his heel against him," and "betrayed him into the hands of sinners." One of his most faithful companions, who protested, that, "though all men should be offended because of him, he never would," thrice denied even that he knew him. All his dearest Associates, when they saw him dragged away to prison and to death, "forsook him and fled." His enemies now vented all their rage and malice against him. They mocked, they buffeted, they spit upon, they scourged him, and round his temples they fixed a crown of thorns. False witnesses were suborned against him, and || " laid to his charge things that he knew not." An un * Luke, xxii. 53. + Matt. xxvi. 33. + Psalm xli. 9. Mark, xiv 41. |