Matt. xxvi. Matt, xxvii. phet Ifaiah, that he should be numbered among the tranf- Ifa. liii. 12. greffors: and St. Paul tells us, that God made him fin for 2 Cor. v. 21. us, (that is, ordered that he fhould be dealt with as a finful or criminous perfon,) who knew no fin, (was perfectly innocent, and free from the leaft tendency to any fault:) and we fee in the hiftory that he was impeached of high John v. 18. crimes; as a blafphemer against God, (affuming to himself 30. the title, power, and properties and prerogatives of God ;) 61, 65. as a feditious and rebellious perfon, (perverting, or stirring Luke xxiii. up, the nation, and hindering to give tribute to Cæfar, and 2. pretending that he was Chrift, a King;) as a deluder and 63. feducer of the people; in general, as a xaxoжоiòs, a crimi- John vii.12. nal perfon and malefactor: and that he was condemned, (though by a sentence extorted against the conscience of the judge, by malicious importunity of the accusers,) and fuffered in pretence as fuch, is clear, and confeffed on all hands. And that we may the better admire the wisdom and goodness of God in this difpenfation, let us meditate upon the reasons why it was fo ordered. To which purpose we may confider, 1. That as our Saviour did choofe to live a life of greatest meanness and hardship, fo for the fame reasons he would die a death of all moft bitter and uncomfortable : fuch is to our nature the death of a malefactor; there is nothing to man's nature (and efpecially to honest, ingenuous, and well-difpofed nature, wherein natural modefty is not extinguished or decayed) more abominable. God hath put into us, for good purposes, a lively sense of all difgrace; and of all difgraces, that which proceeds. from imputation of odious crimes is most disgustful and pungent; and being confcious of innocence doth increase the smart; and to perceive ourselves to die under it (to leave this world with fuch an irreparable ftain upon our reputation and memory) is ftill more grievous: to languish by degrees, and endure the torments of a long and sharp disease, all ingenuous perfons would much rather choose, than in this manner, being efteemed and dealt with as a villain, to find a prefent and eafy dispatch: we fee somewhat of this refentment breaking forth in our Sa xviii. 30. viour, and how man's nature discovered itself in that quefLuke xxii. tion, Be ye come out as against a thief, with fwords and Matt. xxvi. Staves? Yes; he loathed to be fo treated, yet chofe it 52. 55. viii. 37, 40, 25. as he did other the worst inconveniences incident to our nature and to that low condition which he put himself John v. 18. into; to endure want and fare hardly; to be contemned, x. 32, 38. envied, hated, fcorned, and reproached in all the course of 59. vii. 19, his life: he had not been fo complete and extreme a sufferer, if he had died any other way. He was oftentimes in danger of death, both from the fecret machinations and open violences of those which envied and hated him; but he industriously declined a death fo easy, so honourable, (if I may fo fay: for it is not fo great a difgrace to perish by private malice, or by fudden rage, as by the folemn and deliberate proceeding of men in public place, credit, and authority:) he fhewed his disciples, fay the Gospels, that it was incumbent upon him (őri dei avròv) to suffer Matt. xx. many things, to be rejected, or reprobated, (áπodoxiμadñvai, 18. xvi. 21. oudevovoda, to be vilified and made nothing of,) by the Markix.12. chief priests, and elders, and fcribes; to be condemned to Luke ix. 22. death, and delivered to the Gentiles, siç rò unaîtα, to be 2. Again; death by public judgment, as a malefactor, 1 deceived and feduced ourselves and others, (by our negligent mistakes and our wilful mifcarriages, our evil practices and examples,) that was imputed to him; All we If. liii. 6. like sheep have gone aftray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all: he not only bore an equivalent punishment, but in a manner an equal blame with us. 3. Add hereto, that fince it was determined he fhould die for us, and that not in a natural but a violent manner, and that to fatisfy divine justice; it was fit he should do it in that way wherein God's right is most nearly concerned, and his providence moft difcernible; wherein it might most plainly appear, that God did exact and take, Chrift did yield unto and undergo punishment: All judgment is Deut. i. 17. God's, (as Mofes tells us,) performed by authority derived from him; all magiftrates are his officers; by them he orders and governs the world: what therefore is done in a way of formal judgment by persons of authority, God himself may be faid in an especial manner to do, (as being done by his commiffion, in his stead, in his behalf.) It was therefore an act of fubmiffion to God's juftice, becoming the perfon he sustained, (of our Surety and our Saviour,) to undergo fuch a judgment and fuch a punishment. Seafonably therefore did our Saviour anfwer Pilate, vouching his authority, Thou hadst no power at all John xix. over (or againft) me, except it were given thee from above: 11. it was in regard to that fupreme and original authority of God, that our Saviour subjected himself to these inferior and fubordinate powers, as the proper inftruments of God's juftice. Had he suffered in any other way, (by any private malice or paffion of men,) God's providence had been lefs vifible, Chrift's obedience not fo remarkable; and if he must die by public hands, it must be as a criminal, upon pretence of guilt; there must be teftimonies produced, however false; there must be a sentence pronounced, though partial and unjuft: no man is profecuted or perfecuted by authority, without fome colour of defert. 4. Farther, in no other way perhaps could our Saviour display (with fuch advantage) all manner of virtue and goodness, to the honour of God, and our benefit; whether we confider the occafions to exercise his virtue, or the means of fhewing it. The judgment hall, with all the ftreets that lead him thither, and thence to execution, attended by guards of foldiers, and accompanied by clamours of the people, were fo many theatres, whereupon he had opportunity (convenience and leisure) publicly to act the parts of the highest and hardest virtues; to declare his courage and conftancy in defence of truth and maintenance of a good confcience; his meeknefs and patience in bearing the greatest affronts and reproaches, injuries and calumnies the worst imaginable; his entire refignation to God's will; his fubmiffion and obedience to man's law and authority; his admirable charity in pitying, in excufing, in praying for, yea in fuffering all this for the good of thofe, who in a manner fo despiteful, injurious, and cruel, did perfecute him: all these graces and virtues, by the matter being thus ordered, were, in a degree most high, in a manner most conspicuous, demonftrated to the praise of God's name, and the advancement of his truth; for the confirmation of our faith; an inftruction, encouragement, and inducement of good practice to us. Neither must we omit to confider the farther emphafis that lies in the word fuffer, which implies our Saviour not only to have been dealt with as a malefactor, but to have really endured what a man in that cafe might or should do that he was fenfible and affected (according to the frame of human nature) with the pain, difgrace, and fhame, and all evils whatever did appear to attend his pasfion as his complexion was most pure and delicate, his spirit most vivid and apprehenfive, accordingly were the pains that he felt, both in body and foul, moft sharp and afflictive. Some men may fondly pretend to, or falfely glory in, a ftupid apathy, or a stubborn contempt of all thofe evils to which our nature is fubject: our Saviour did not fo, but with a quiet fubmiffion and sweet compofedness of mind refented them; as God intended we should do when he implanted sense and paffion in our na tural conftitution, and ordered objects to affect and afflict them, for our use and advantage. Thus, and for fuch reafons and to fuch purposes, (as I conceive,) did our Saviour fuffer, or undergo judgment and punishment: it is added, under Pontius Pilate, inì Ποντίου Πιλάτου ; where the prepofition ἐπὶ may either denote the circumftance of time, when our Saviour's paffion did happen, (in the time of Pontius Pilate's government or prefidency over Judæa; so ènì is frequently used,) or it may farther imply a respect to that perfon, as an inftrument of our Saviour's paffion, (by or under Pontius Pilate, as prefident and judge; fo the word is fometimes used.) Neither of these fenfes, I fuppofe, were diftinctly, but both conjunctly intended here, in relation to the Gospelhiftory; the which here (as to the main paffages) we are fuppofed to know, and profefs to believe: neither do I think any more of mystery designed, beyond the full and clear determination of our Saviour's perfon, the declaration of whom we believe in, by circumstances most apt and fuitable to that purpose; the time when, the person under whom, and confequently the place where, and fomewhat of the manner how he fuffered. However, all these circumstances are in themfelves confiderable, and afford fome matter of edification to our faith and practice. The time (in itself moft fit, and agreeable to divine predictions) doth illuftrate the wisdom of God in his providence, and confirm his veracity, conftancy, and fidelity: when the fulness of time was come, he grieved at present evils, even to a degree of exceffive anguish, trouble, and agony, (περίλυπος, ἀδημονεῖν γενόμενος ἐν ἀγωνία, ή ψυχή με τετάρακται, are words used to exprefs his forrowful refentment;) he feared future evils, to a degree of horror and an amazement, (to an exaubeioda; that is, to be affrighted and astonished :) such height of paffion did the sense of present pangs, the forefight of impending evils, the apprehenfion of his own, the confideration of our state, raise him to: fuch a burden, all the fins of mankind to lie upon his shoulders, no wonder if he groaned under it: God's difpleasure flaming out against fin, no wonder it did ter |