I 54 'I he Harmony of the Vivine Attributes f'\.....I\J'1 ~fponfe our Nature, after it was depraved and diilionour'd whh Sin 1 He was ejjential Chap. 9· Innocence and Purity, yet He""" in tbe fmilitHdt of jri1fol Flefb, Rom. 8. 3· which to VV"\J outward view was not different from what was really finful. He was the Holy Lawgiver, yet He fubmitted to that Law, which made Him appear under the Character and Difreputation of a Sinner. He paid the bloody Tribute of the Children of Wrath, being cir~~m~~:dn~~~~~~f:t~!t~~dm;::J~J~ ~~~o~eof~~~af,'!~~~e'?s ~~1do~!sh~;:~~ Mankind, is in the Sufferings of our Redeemer to obtain our Pardon. He is called in Scripture, A Mall •f Sorrows, Jfa. 53· the Title fignifiestheirNumber and Quality. His whole Life was a continual Paffion: He fuffered the Contradi{/ion of Sinners, who by their malicious Calumnies obfcur'd the luflre of his Miracles and mo!l innocent Actions: He endured the Temptation• of Satan in the Defert: He was often in danger of his Life: But all tbefe were nothin~ in compJrifon of his la!\ Sufferings. 'Tis therefore faid, That at the bare apprehenfion of them, He .beg"' t• be forrowf•l, as if he had never felt any Grief till then. His former At!lifrions were like fcatter'd drops of Rain: But as in the Deluge aU the Fo11ntaim bmeath, and aU the Windows of He~tven above were opened; So in our Saviour's Ja(\ Sujjirings, the Anger of God, the Cruelty of Men; the fury of Devils broke out together again(\ him. And that the degrees of his Love may be meafured by thofe of his Suflerings, it will he fit to confider them with refpect to his Soul and his Body. The Gofpel delivers to us the Relation of Both. 1. Upon his entrance into the Garden, He complains, My So11l iJ. e;cceeding forrowfnl, even tmto Death. There were prefenc only Peter, Jamu and John hts happy Favourites, who affured him of their fidelity; there was no viGble Enemy to at!lict Him, yet his Soul was environ'd with Sorrows. 'Tis eafie to conceive the Injuries he fuffered from the Rage of Men, for they were terminated upon his Body; but how to under!land his inward Sufferings, the Wounds of his Spirit, the Crofs to which his Soul was nailed, is very difficult. Yet thefe wereinexpreffiblygreater, as the vifible Effetls declare. TheAngui{b of his Soul fa affected his Body, that his Sweat was it were great dropt ofBlood, the miraculous evidence of his Agony. The Terror was fo dreadful, that the affiflance of an Angel could not calm it. And if we confider the Caufes of his Grief, the DifpoGtions of Chri!l, and the DeGgn of God in afiliiling him, it will further appear that no Sorrow was ever like his. The Caufes were, 1. The Evi l of Sin, which inconceivably exceeds all other: For the ju!l: meafure of an Evil is taken from the Good to which it is oppoGte, and of which it deprives us. Now Sin is formally oppoGte to the holy Nature and Will of God, and meritorioufly deprives of his bleffed Prefence for ever. Therefore God being the fupreme Good, Sin is the fupreme Evil. And Grief being the Refentment of an Evil, that which is proportioned to the Evil of Sin mu!l: he infinite. Now the Lord Chri!l alone had perfect Light to difcover Si n in itS true Horror, and perfeCt Zeal to hate it according to its Nature : For, who can underfland the excellency of Good, and the malignity of Evil, but the Author of the one and the Judge of the other? Who can fully conceive the guilt of R.ehellion again!\ God, -but the Son of God, who is alone able to comprehend his own Maje!ly ? On this account the grief of our R.edeemer exceeded all the farrows of repenting Sinners, from the beginning of the World. I' or our Knowledge is fo imperfect, and our Zeal fo remifs, that our grieffor Sin is much beneath what 'tis worthy of: Bur Sin was as hateful to Chri!l as it is in it felf, and his Sorrow was equa l to its Evil. 2. The Death he was to fuffer, attended with all the Curfes of the Law, and the terrible marks of God's Indignation. .From hence 'tis faid, He began to be fore amazed and to be verJ beavJ, Mat. 14. 34· 'Tiswonderful that the Son of God, who had perfect Patience, and the Strength of the Deity to fupport him, who knew that his Paffion fhould foon pafs away, and that the Jffue fhould be his own glorious R.efurrection, and the recovery of Japfed Man, that he lliould he fhaken with Fear and oppreffeJ with Sorrow at the ~~~:f~r~~~~e~r~~~ig.~1:; ~~~~ ~te~\~:;d';'la;~:J ;'\~~e~~a~~,~;ras".';i~:;~~~~~~~~d it with all its formidable Pomp, with its Darts and Poifon. 3· The Wrath of God was inflamed again(\ him. I' or altho' he was perfectly innocent, and more dif\:ant from Sin than Heaven is from the Earth, yet by the Ordination of God, and his own Confent being made our Sponfor, the Iniquity of us aU was laid upo11 bim; Ifa. 53· He fuffered as deeply as if he had been guilty. Vindi{Jive Ju!lice was inexorable to his Prayers and Tears. Altho' he renewed his R.eque(\ with the greate!l Ardency, as 'tis faid by the Evangelifl. That being in an Agony, be prayed more earneflly, yet God would not fpMe him. Tho rather of Mercies faw his Son humbled in his Prefence pro!lrate on the Earth, yet deals with him in extream Severity. He war jlricftm, fmitlen
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=