164 CHAPTER XXIII. GOOD-FRIDAY. A FAST. Q. WHAT fast doth the Church this day celebrate? A. The Church celebrates on Good-Friday, the fast which commemorates the sufferings and death of Christ. Q. Why is this day called Good-Friday? A. This day is called Good-Friday, from the exalted good which we derive from the sufferings of Christ; who, "by. the shedding of his own blood, obtained eternal redemption for us." Q. Has not this day been observed as a day of fasting and humiliation, from the earliest ages of the Church? A. This day, sacred to the commemoration of our Saviour's sufferings, has been observed, from the very first age of Christianity," as a day of the strictest fasting and humiliation. The grief and affliction which Christians on this day express, arise from a sense of the evil and guilt of their sins, which drew upon their blessed Redeemer the painful and shameful death of the cross. Q. In what manner should we now observe this day? A. On this day, all the pursuits of business should be suspended, the service of the Church devoutly attended, and the intervals of public worship devoted to holy meditation on the sufferings of Christ, and to other pious exercises. By abstinence, self-denial, and humiliation, we should seek to testify our sympathy in the sufferings of our Lord, and our lively sorrow for our sins, which occasioned his sufferings. There can be no greater evidence of insensibility and ingra titude, than to spend the day sacred to the sufferings of Christ, in the usual pursuits of business or pleasure. Those who profess to observe the day, and yet refuse to suspend on it their usual business, display the greatest inconsistency of conduct, and are guilty of a flagrant contempt of the authority of the Church. Openly avowing that they will make no sacrifices or worldly interest to testify their gratitude to that divine Saviour who shed for them his blood, surely, when a Euseb. Hist. Eccle. lib. i. c. 17. they appear at his tribunal, they can lay no claim to the exercise of his mercy. Q. What have you to remark concerning the psalms and lessons for the day? A. The psalms for the day' were composed by David, in times of the greatest calamity and distress, and do all mystically refer to the sufferings and death of Christ; the 22d psalm, particularly, was, in several passages, literally fulfilled in the sufferings of Christ. The first lesson for the morning (Gen. xxii.) contains, in the history of the intended sacrifice of Isaac, a striking type of the perfect oblation made this day by the Son of God, and a lively illustration of the infinite love of God in the redemption. The second lesson for the morning (John xviii.) recounts some of the circumstances which attended the betraying of Christ by Judas, and his trial before the bar of Pilate. The first lesson for the evening (Isaiah lii. ver. 13, and chap. liii.) contains a striking and affecting prophecy of the passion of Christ, and of the benefits which the Church thereby receives; and the second lesson (Philip. ii.) contains an affecting exhortation to the virtues of humility and unity, from the example of Christ, in humbling himself for us to the death upon the cross. Q. What do you observe concerning the collects, epistle, and gospel for the day? A. The collects for the day, implore the mercy and blessing of God upon the Church which the Son of God redeemed, and humbly beseech him to bring all mankind into this spiritual fold. 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 cross, complete all the other sacrifices, which were only shadows of this, and make full satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. The gospel for this day is very properly taken out of St. John, because he was the only one who was present at the passion, and stood by the cross while others fled the passion is thus represented to us by one who saw it, and from whose example we may learn not to be ashamed or afraid of the cross of Christ. Q. Who was it that this day suffered? : A. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, begotten of his Father before all the worlds, as the promised Messiah, took Morning, Ps. 22, 40, 54. Evening Ps. 64 88. our nature upon him, and in that nature this day suffered for our salvation. Q. What are the predictions which lead us to believe that the promised Messiah was to suffer? A. The prophet Isaiah represents the Messiah who was to come, as "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, oppressed and afflicted, wounded and bruised, brought to the slaughter, and cut off from the land of the living." The prophet Zechariah foretels the price for which he was to be betrayed-" thirty pieces of silver," and declares, in reference to the Messiah, that " they should look on him whom they pierced." The holy psalmist, speaking of the Messiah, says, that "they should pierce his hands and his feet."f These predictions agree with the history of the sufferings of Christ, as recorded by the evangelists. The Saviour constantly instructed his apostles in this truth, both before his death, that they might expect it, and after his death, that they might be confirmed by it: and St. Paul makes it part of his preaching, that "Christ must needs have suffered." Q. How were the sufferings and sacrifice of Christ typified under the law? A. The paschal lamb, slain at the celebration of the passover, was a type of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The brazen serpent set up in the wilderness, was a type of the Son of man lifted up upon the cross. All the sacrifices for sin proclaimed, that, "without shedding of blood, there was no remission." But the most eminent type of the sacrifice of Christ, was the annual sin-offering made for the whole nation of the Jews, on the great day of atonement and expiation. The high priest, on this day, made a solemn atonement for the sins of the people. Two kids of the goats were presented before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle: one of these was offered, and with the blood the high priest entered by himself into the holy of holies, and sprinkled the mercy-seat; on the head of the other he laid both his hands, and confessing over him the sins of the people, sent him away into the wilderness. The apostle,' in allusion to this ceremony, represents Christ to have been our High Priest, and on his passion-day to have offered the sacrifice of himself, to have borne our sins in his own body, < Isa. liii. d Zech. xi. 12. f Psal. xxii. 16. e Zech. xii. 10. A Acts xvii. 3. and with his own blood to have entered into the holy place not made with hands, and to have appeared as before the mercy-seat in the presence of God for us. Q. What did our Saviour suffer? A. When the blessed Jesus took upon him human nature, he became subject to all the frailties, and infirmities, and sufferings of mortality. His whole life, from his birth in the stable to his death upon the cross, was a life of suffering; particularly in his last bitter passion, he suffered most exquisite pains and tortures in his body, and unutterable fears, and sorrows, and anguish in his soul. Q. Was not the death of Christ in the highest degree ignominious and painful? A. After the Saviour had been buffeted, scourged, spit upon, and mocked by the people and their rulers, he suffered the painful and ignominious death of the cross. Crucifixion was a Roman punishment, and considered as the most ignominious and painful: it was painful, because those parts of the body which are most sensible of pain were pierced with nails, and the death was lingering; and the punishment of crucifixion was ignominious, because it was inflicted only upon the vilest criminals. Q. How does it appear that our Saviour suffered in his mind? A. In the garden of Gethsemane his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; and he prayed thrice with vehemence, that the cup might pass from him. The agony of his soul forced a passage through the innumerable pores of his body, and he sweat drops of blood. Suffering on the cross the holy indignation of God against the sins of man which he sustained, he broke out in the bitter exclamation, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" Q. What was the cause of the anguish and agony which the Saviour. suffered? A. God laid on his Son Jesus Christ the iniquities of mankind. The Saviour, possessed of perfect knowledge, fully understood the infinite evil and guilt of the sins of men which he sustained: he was inflamed with the most ardent desire to maintain the authority of God, which he knew these sins violated: he considered that the fallen race of man, whom he tenderly loved, lay under the wrath of God, on account of these sins: the infinite purity of his nature must have inspired him with the deepest abhorrence of all iniquity. If we consider all these circumstances, we shall not wonder at his anguish and agony. For if the view of the guilt of his own sins alone, which he but imperfectly conceives, fills the sinner with bitter sorrow and remorse; no bounds can be set to the grief of the Saviour, no measures to his anguish, which proceeded from a full apprehension of the transgressions of so many millions of sinners. The Lord laid on him the iniquities of all mankind. Q. Why was it necessary that Christ should thus suffer? A. Christ suffered, that he might teach us to expect suffering, and to afford us an example of patience and resignation: he suffered, that he might assure us of his sympathy and compassion for us under all our afflictions: he suffered, that he might admit us to a share in those everlasting glories which were the reward of his sufferings. The principal object of his sufferings was to redeem us from sin and everlasting death, by making an atonement for our sins: for remission of sin being impossible, by the inscrutable decree of God, without effusion of blood, our redemption could not be wrought but by the blood of the Redeemer: the sufferings and death of Christ, being of infinite value and efficacy, expiated the guilt of our transgressions. The blood of Christ. is called the blood of the covenant because God, in consideration of the sufferings and death of Christ, was pleased to establish a covenant of grace and mercy, wherein he promises and engages to forgive the sins of all those who truly repent and believe. Q. How do you prove from Scripture, that Christ, by his sufferings and death, made an atonement for our sins? A. Christ himself declares, "that he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many; ;" that "his blood is shed for many, for the remission of sins."" He represents himself as the good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep."" St. Paul expressly declares, that "Christ died for the ungodly;' that "he died for our sins, according to the Scriptures;" that "he tasted death for every man. The ninth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews treats at large of the doctrine, that Christ" appeared to put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself." St. Peter says, "that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ;" and St. John declares, that Christ is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours קיי / Matt. xxvi. 28. • 1 Cor. xv. 3. |