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fible fears and forrows, and unknown anguish in his foul, he fweat drops of blood.

Was be

trayed.

Abufed.

One of his difciples betrayed him, and he was denied by another. He was apprehended, and bound by the rude foldiers as a malefactor; accufed by falfe witneffes; arraigned and condemned by that judge who declared he could find no fault in him. He was buffeted, and fcourged, and fpit upon; derided and mocked by the people, the foldiers, and at last by the high priest himself: Was made the scorn, and contempt, and fport of his infolent and infulting enemies; and was hurried to death by the clamours of the rabble, that cried out, Crucify him, crucify him.

Scourged.

Condemned.

Was cruci

fied.

XI. Accordingly he was nailed to the crofs, on which, after having hung feveral hours, he gave up the ghoft. This way of putting to death was called crucifixion, a Roman punishment, remarkable for the exquifite pains and ignominy of it. The torment of it appeared from the piercing thofe parts of the body with nails, which are most nervous, and yet did not quickly procure death; and the shame of it was evident from thofe upon whom it was inflicted, being only flaves, and fuch as had run away from their masters.

Tormented

in mind.

And that our Saviour alfo fuffered in his mind, appears from those grievous agonies he felt; firft, in the garden just before his apprehenfion, when his foul was exceeding forrowful, even unto death; when he sweat as it were drops of blood, and prayed thrice with great vehemence to his Father, that if it were poffible, that bitter cup might pafs from him: and from that unconceivable anguish, which he expreffed upon the crofs, when he broke out into that paffionate exclamation, my God, my God, why haft thou forfaken me? Thus evil to come tormented his foul with fear, and evil prefent with fadnefs, anguifh, and forrow. Not that he fuffered the torments of the damned, for as he knew no guile, confequently he deserved and could suffer no punishment.

But when we reflect how perfectly the bleffed Jefus understood the evil and guilt of fin; how G 2

Why.

zealous

zealous he was of God's glory; how defirous of the falvation of mankind; and yet withal, that he knew how fmall a number would be saved; how an ungrateful and rebellious world would fruftrate the end of his death, and the designs of his mercy; we may in fome measure guess at that anguish that funk and depreffed him in fuch a wonderful manner, as made him fay, my foul is forrowful unto death. For, we may imagine how much he, who loved us fo well, as to die to redeem us, might be grieved and afflicted, when he forefaw that even by his dying he should not fave us all from the damnation of hell.

But here let it be remarked, that our bleffed Only as man. Saviour suffered only in his human nature, that nature of man, which he took upon him; yet fince it was united to the divine nature, and that there was a most intimate conjunction of both natures in the person of the Son, there did from thence refult a true proper communication of names, characters, and properties; fo that the very eternal Son of God may rightly be faid to have suffered whatsoever the man Chrift Jefus endured in the flesh for finners, because the properties of each nature separate, may reasonably be affirmed of that perfon in whom the two natures are united by the power of God. And

crofs.

Our Saviour fuffered the painful and shameful Why on the death of the crofs, to deliver us from the wrath to come, and to purchase eternal redemption for us: And to give us a perfect pattern of patience and refignation to the will of God, and of all thofe christian virtues, which are neceffary to qualify us to receive the benefit of his fatisfaction;

It's benefit to man.

leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. For, when by our fins we had justly incurred the displeasure of almighty God, and were liable to eternal mifery, our bleffed Saviour discharged the obligation; and by fhedding his moft precious blood, as the price of our redemption, made fatisfaction to God for us: he was contented to be offered a facrifice for us, to bear our fins in his own body on the tree, and to atone for the guilt of our offences by the one oblation of himself once offered for us all. And he died not only for our benefit and advantage, but in

our

our place and stead; fo that if he had not died, we had eternally perished, without being able to escape the justice of an angry God. Wherefore,

The blood of Chrift which was shed for us upon the cross, is called the blood of the covenant; because, thereupon God was pleased to enter into a covenant of grace and mercy with mankind, wherein he hath promised and engaged for the fake of Chrift's fufferings, voluntarily undergone upon our account, and in our ftead, to forgive the fins of all those that truly repent and believe, and to make them partakers of eternal life in the world to come.

What it

teacheth.

Whence we learn the great evil of fin, which we are apt to make fo flight of; for God incarnate was made a facrifice to deliver us from it's guilt; and the infinite love of our dear Redeemer, who fuffered fuch bitter torments and inexpreffible anguish, to purchase our eternal falvation: that the good things of this life are not so valuable, nor the evils of it, fo confiderable, as we are apt to imagine; when the best man that ever lived, was fo deftitute of the common comforts and conveniences of human nature, and shared so much in the afflictions and fufferings thereof: that the favour of God is not to be measured by outward profperity in this world, nor his wrath and indignation to be concluded from temporal afflictions; fince the greateft fufferer that ever lived, was the dearly beloved Son of God; to testify the power of Chrift's death, by crucifying the old man, and destroying the whole body of fin; not glorying, fave in the crofs of Chrift, by which the world is crucified unto us, and we unto the world: to fuffer the calamities of this life with patience and refignation to the will of God, and not to murmur and repine, that we bear what we have so highly deferved, when our Saviour, who was perfectly innocent, endured much greater for our fake: not to defpond under the fharpeft trials, from a fenfe of our own weakness, because our Saviour hath purchased for us the gift of his holy Spirit, a moft powerful principle of refolution; who is himself touched with a feeling of our infirmities, having been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without fin and corruption: to make all the returns we are able of love and gratitude: to

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facrifice

facrifice all that is dear to us for the defence of his truth, and the increase of his glory and honour in this life: to extend our charity to all mankind, our enemies as well as friends ; for while we were enemies to God, Chrift died to obtain peace and reconciliation for us at the bar of divine juftice. To which, if we confider that God laid on him the iniquities of us all, we must confefs that his grief was greater than could either be expreffed or conceived by any mere man: befides, what anguish muft arise from the fenfe of the guilt of fo many millions of finners, in a mind poffeffed with fuch deteftation of all fin, fuch a love to God, fuch zeal for his glory; in one of fuch perfect knowledge, that he knew every fin of every man, and all the aggravations thereof?

this faith.

The reafon and neceffity for our belief that The ufe and Chrift fuffered, appears from the affurance we neceflity of thence receive that he was truly man, which if he were not, man could not be redeemed by him. We are alfo hereby affured, that fatisfaction is made to the will of God for our fins; whereof in his decree, no remiffion could be but by fhedding of blood. We likewife learn from this faith, that he is truly affected with the utmost compaffion of our afflictions, and is a most faithful and merciful high priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and therefore ready to fuccour them that are tempted. And finally, fuch a belief as this prepares us to receive with patience the fufferings of this life for if God fpared not his own Son, how fhall he fpare his adopted ones, whofe beft evidence of their being his children, is their being under his fatherly correction; otherwife, as the apoftle obferves, we should be baftards and not fons? but if when we fuffer with him we alfo fuffer like him, and follow the admirable pattern he has left us of humility and patience, and abfolute fubmiffion to the will of God, we then fhall be made partakers of his divine holiness. As by his crucifixion, our Saviour cancelled the obligation we were under to perform the whole law, and blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances, which was against us, How to be which was contrary unto us, and took it out of the applied to our way, nailing it to his crofs: fo we ought to learn advantage. that if we will be Chrift's, we must crucify the

flesh,

flesh, with the affections and lufts, and glory in nothing save in the cross of Jesus Christ crucified.

The death

of Chrift

was real.

Violent.

Voluntary.

XII. And although Jefus was both God and man, yet he did truly and properly die, by an actual departure of his foul from his body, in whofe union his life, as man, confifted; as appears not only from the many plain texts of fcripture, which fay that he died, but farther from those texts, Father, into thy hands I commend my fpirit, and having thus faid, he gave up the ghoft by the means of a violent death, caused by the pains and tortures inflicted on him, which could not, without a miracle, but diffolve that natural dispofition of the body, which is neceffary to continue it's union with the foul. He voluntarily indeed fubmitted himself to that violence, which could not have been forced upon him without fuch a fubmiffion; and therefore he faith, no man takes away my life from me, but I lay it down of myself, &c. And after he had fo fubmitted himself, he could not by the course of nature, avoid that death. XIII. Chrift being taken down from the cross was buried, as had been typified by Jonas lying three days and three nights in the whale's belly; and intimated in that of the Pfalmift, my flesh shall reft in hope, &c. which. plainly teacheth, that the body was to be buried, but not lie in the grave to fee corruption. But Ifaiah is more express, faying, he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death. Whence

His burial.

By this burial of Chrift's body, we are affured of the reality of his death and refurrection. Men cannot be truly faid to rife from the dead, who never died. Of what But that Chrift was truly dead, we have the high

ufe.

eft affurance in this, that his body was delivered by his enemies from the crofs, and laid by his difciples in a new fepulchre.

This part of our chriftian faith should work within us fomething correfpondent to it; for we are buried with

Influence.

him in baptifm unto death, that like, as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even fo we also should walk in newness of life, being raised from the

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death

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