Bates - HP BX5200 B3 1700

in Contriving Man's Redemption. 155 fnillm of God, and ajjlUJed. And who is able to conceive the weight of God's Hand ~ when he puni!hes Sin according to its defert? Who can underf\and the degrees of thofe Chap. 9• Sulferings when God exacts Satisfaction from one that was obliged, and able to make~ it? How piercing .were thofe Sorrows whereby Divine Jufiice, infinitely incens'd, was to be appeas'd? Who knows theconfequence ofthofe words, My God, my God, why ha(i tho, jorfokgn me? 'Tis impollible to comprehend, or reprefent that great and terrible Myf\ery. Bllt thlls much We may underf\and, That Holinefs and Glory being elfential to the Deity; they are communicated to the;eafonable Nature _when. united to it: ~ut ":ith ~his differ.nce, that Holinefs necelfanly refults from Ulllon wtth Go~: For Srn bemg tnfimtely repugnant to his Nature, makes a Separatron between hrm and the Creature : But Glory and Joy are difpenfed in a free and arbitrary manner. This Dereliction of our Saviour muf\ be underfiood with refpect to the fecond, not the fir(\ Communication. In the extremity of his Torments all his Atfefrions were innocent and regular, being only raifed to that degree, which the vehemency of the Object required. He expreft no murmur again(\: .God,. nor ang~r again Cl: his Enemie~. His Faith, Love, Humility Patience were then m therr Exaltatron. But that 'glonous and unfpeakable Joy which, in the cour[e of his Life, the Deity conveyed to him, was then withdrawn. An impetuous torrent of pure unmixed Sorrows broke into his holy Soul: He felt no refrefiling Ema1141ions, fo that having lofi the fenfe of prefent Joy, there remained in his Soul only the hope of future Joy. And in that fad moment, his Mind was fo intent upon his Sulferings, that he fee.ms to have been diverted from the actual confideration of the Glory that atter.ded the lffue of them BriefiJ, All comforting I~fluences _were fufpended, but withoutyr£judice to the Perfonal Union, or the PerfeCbon of hts Grace, or to the Love of h1s Father toward him. His Soul was liable to Sorrows, as his B9dy .to D<;arp, For the Deity is the Principle of Life as well as ofJoy; and as the Bod,y of C)lri(!JVasohr"e days in the fiate of Death and the Hypoflatical Union remained .emi1e; fo ; qi~,Soul was left for a time under rh~ fearful imprellions of Wrath; •yet was not feparated from the Godhead. And although he endure(! whatever was necelfary for t~e Expiation of Sin; yet all vicious Evils, as Blafphemy, H•tred of God, and any other which are not inflicted by the Judge, but in firictnefs are accidental to the Puni!hment, and proceed from the Weaknefs or Wickednefs of the Patient, he was not in the leafi guilty of. Befides, when his Father appear'd an Enemy again(\ him, at that time he was infinitely pleafed in his Obedience. But with thefe exceptions bur Blelfed Lord futfered whatever w<rs due to us. The Sorrows of his forfaken State were inexprellibly great; for according to the degree and fenfe we have of Happinefs, fuch in proportion is our grief for the Jofs of it. Now Cbrif\ had the fullefi Enjoyment, and rhe higheft valuation of God 's Favour. ~~~u~~~~~;~~tp~:! ;~~·~i~~~~s~·~~v~~eb~~~e£10 ~\~~s s~t~~nn~~:~;~Y 0~~i~~ ~~ the Deity. How cutting then was it to his Soul, to be fufpended from the perfect Vifion of God? To be divorc'd as it were from himfelf, and to Jofe that Paradife healways had within him? If all the Angels of Light were at once depriv'd of their Glory, the Lofs were not equal to this dreadful Eclipfe of the Sun of Righteoufnefs: As . if all the Stars were extingui!h'd, .the Darknefs would not be [o terrible, as if the Sun the fountain of Light were put cut. Whatever his Sulferings were in kind, yet in degree they were anfwerable to the full and jufi defert of Sin, and furpafl the Power of the Hum11n or A11gelical Nature to endure. In fhort, his farrows were only equalled by that Love which procured them. And as the Sulferings inflicted by the Hand ofGod, fo the Evils he endured from Men declare the infinitenefs of our Redeemer's Love to us. For the further difcovery of it' 'tis necelfary to reflect upon his Death, which is fet down by the Apofi le as the Jowefi de~ ~ree. of his Humiliation, in which the ~uccellion of all his Bodily Sutferings is included, tt bemg the Comphment of all. And tf we confider the quality of it, the Good nefs of our Redeemer, will be more vifible in his voluntary fubmillion to it. Two Circumfiances make the kmd of Death which is to be futfer'd, ,·ery terrible te> us Ignominy and Torment; and they eminently concur in the Death of the Crofs. ' 1. The greatefi Ignominy attended it, and that in the account of God and Men. As Honour is in honor.nte, an~ depends upon thee(\eem of orhers; fo Infamy confifisin the Judgment of others. Now m the account of the World, every Death inflicted for a Crime is attended with _Difgrace: But that receives its degrees from the manner of it. To be executed privately IS a favour, bur to be made a Spectacle to the Multitude, encreafes the Difhonour of one that fulfers. When Death is fpeedily inflicted, the fenfe of Sha111e is prefently par\ ; bur to be expofed to publick view for many hours, as a Malefall:or, whilfl: X 2 the

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