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all, he was spotless and undefiled. He repelled the temptations of Satan, he appealed to his most watchful enemies for his integrity, he rendered universal unceasing obedience to the will of God, and completely fulfilled the whole law. In him the perfection of wisdom and goodness shined forth. He burned with love to God, with compassion to men; a compassion which he freely extended to the most necessitous and the most unworthy. He returned good for evil, wept for his enemies, prayed for his murderers. Such was his character, a divine person in the human nature, God manifest in the flesh. And from this union, all he did, and all he said, derived a dignity, authority, and efficacy which rendered him every way worthy to be the Teacher, Exemplar, Lord, and Saviour of mankind.

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3. In the person and sufferings of Christ there is at once a discovery of the misery of fallen man, and the means of his complete recovery. It has already been observed, that the full explication of these truths was deferred till after his resurrection; and the subsequent writings of his apostles are useful, to give us a complete view of the cause, design, and benefits of his passion. At present we confine ourselves to his own words. He frequently taught the necessity and certainty of his sufferings; he spoke of them as the great design of his incarnation, that it was by this means he should draw all unto himself, that he was on this account, especially, the object of his Father's complacency, because he voluntarily substituted himself to die for his people. He enforced the necessity of believing on him in

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Matt. iv. 1. 10.; John, viii. y Luke, xix. 41.; xxiii. 34. a Matt. xvi. 21.; xx. 28. © John, iii. 14-18.

46.; xiv. 30.; xvii. 4.
z 1 Tim. iii. 16.
b John, xii. 32. ; x. 17.

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this view; and applied to himself the prophecies of the Old Testament, which speak to the same purpose. Isaiah had foretold, that the Lord would lay upon him the iniquities of us all; that he was to be wounded for our transgressions, and by his stripes we should be healed. Here then we see the manifold wisdom of God. His inexpressible love to us commended; his mercy exalted in the salvation of sinners; his truth and justice vindicated, in the full satisfaction for sin exacted from the surety; his glorious holiness and opposition to all evil, and his invariable faithfulness to his threatenings and his promises. Considered in this light, our Saviour's passion is the most momentous, instructive, and comfortable theme that can affect the heart of man; but, if his substitution and proper atonement are denied, the whole is unintelligible. We can assign no sufficient reason why a person of his excellence was abandoned to such miseries and indignities; nor can we account for that agony and distress which seized him at the prospect of what was coming upon him. It would be highly injurious to his character, to suppose he was thus terrified by the apprehension of death or bodily pain, when so many frail and sinful men have encountered death, armed with the severest tortures, with far less emotion.

Here, as in a glass, we see the evil of sin, and the misery of man. The greatness of the disorder may be rationally inferred from the greatness of the means necessary to remove it. Would we learn the depth of the fall of man, let us consider the depth of the humiliation of Jesus to restore him. Behold the Beloved of God, perfectly spotless and holy, yet made an example of the severest

d Luke, xxiv. 25-27.; Isa. liii.

vengeance; prostrate and agonizing in the garden; enduring the vilest insults from wicked men; torn with whips, and nails, and thorns; suspended, naked, wounded, and bleeding upon the cross, and there heavily complaining, that God had for a season forsaken him. Sin was the cause of all his anguish. He stood in the place of sinners, and therefore was not spared. Not any, or all, the evils which the world has known, afford such proof of the dreadful effects and detestable nature of sin, as the knowledge of Christ crucified. Sin had rendered the case of mankind so utterly desperate, that nothing less than the blood and death of Jesus could retrieve it. If any other expedient could have sufficed, his prayer, that the bitter cup might pass from him, would have been answered. But what his enemies intended as the keenest reproach, his redeemed people will for ever repeat as the expression of his highest praise," He saved others, himself " he cannot save." Justice would admit no inferior atonement, love would not give up the cause of failen, ruined man. Being therefore determined to save others, he could not, consistently with this gracious design and undertaking, deliver himself.

Again, the means and certainty of a salvation proportioned to the guilt and misery of sinners, and a happiness answerable to the utmost capacity of the soul of man, are revealed in the same astonishing dispensation of divine love. When Jesus was baptized he was pointed out by a voice from heaven; "This is my beloved Son, "in whom (or for whose sake) I am well pleased." He afterwards proclaimed his own authority and

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e Luke, xxiii. 35.
8 Matt. xi. 27, 28.

f Matt. iii. 17.

sufficiency, that all things were delivered into his hands, and invited every weary, heavy laden soul to seek to him for refreshment and peace. He gave the most express assurances," that whoever applied to him should in no case be rejected. He mentioned his death and sufferings as the principal circumstance that should engage the hearts and confirm the hopes of sinners. He gave repeated promises that those who believe in him shall neverk perish, that neither force nor fraud should frustrate his intentions in their favour; that after his ascension he would send the Holy Spirit' to supply his bodily presence; that his power, grace, and providence should be with his people to the end of the world; and, finally, that he would manage their concerns in heaven, and at length return to take them to himself, that they might be with him for ever, to behold and to share his glory.

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4. In this revelation God has illustriously displayed the glory of his free grace. The miserable and guilty, who find themselves without either plea or hope, but what the Gospel proclaims by Christ, are invited without exception, and received without condition. Though they have been the vilest offenders, they are freely accepted in the beloved, and none of their iniquities shall be remembered any more. On the contrary, the most respectable characters amongst men are declared to be of no avail in point of acceptance with God; but in this respect all the race of Adam are upon equal terms, and must be involved in the same ruin, without an absolute dependence on the great Mediator. This is an illustrious pe

↳ John, vi. 37.

i John, xii. 32. 33. * John, x. 28. 1 John, xvi. 7. 13, 14.; Matt. xxviii. 20. John, xiv. 3, 13, 14.

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culiarity of the Gospel, which the proud, fallen nature of man, cannot but resist and find fault with, till the conscience is truly affected with the guilt and demerit of sin. The whole tenour of our Saviour's ministry was suited to depreciate the most specious attainments of those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and to encourage all who felt and confessed themselves to be miserable sinners.

Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos.

This was a chief cause of the opposition he met with in his own person, and has awakened the hatred and dislike of the bulk of mankind against his doctrine ever since. It is necessary, therefore, to confirm it by proofs which cannot be evaded by any who profess to acknowledge him to be a teacher sent from God.

He was daily conversant with many who were wise and righteous in their own eyes, and we find he omits no opportunity to expose and condemn their pretensions. He spake one parable purposely to persons of this stamp," and describes a Pharisee boasting of his observance of the law. He paid tithes, he fasted, he prayed, he was not chargeable with adultery or extortion. He could say more for himself than many can who affect to be thought religious. But the poor publican (though despicable in his sight) who, conscious of his unworthiness, durst not lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, and cried for mercy, was in a happier and safer condition than the other with all his boasted obedience.

Another remarkable instance is that of the ruler, who accosted our Lord in a respectful manner, asking him what he should do to inherit eternal life. His address was becoming, his in

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Luke, xviii. 9—14. • Matt. xix. 16.; Luke, xviii. 18.

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