SERM. XXXIV.) THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. 67 sufferings, could makecomplete and equal satisfaction for sin: But when`the Son of God, who is one with the Fa- ther, takes flesh and blood upon hire, and becomes God manifest in the flesh, here God and man are united in one complex person, and herebywe enjoy an all-suffici- ent Saviour, a Reconciler beyond all exception, a sa- crifice of atonement, equal to the guilt of our trans- gressions. And so far as I can judge, it is on this account one apostle says, Acts xx. 28. " God redeemed the church with his own blood ;" and another asserts, " Hereby per- ceive we the love of God, that he laid down his life for us," 1 John iii. 16. And I do nòt yet see sufficient reason why that expres- sion of St. Paul, Hefi. ix. 14. may not be referred to the same sense, " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purgeyour conscience," &c. If the eter- nal spirit signify the divine nature or godhead, which dwelt bodily in the man Jesus, then the dignity of his complete person is made the foundation of the value of his blood. This dignity of the godhead which was per- sonally united to the man who suffered, spreads an infi- nite value over his sufferings and merit: And this ren- ders them equal to that infinite guilt and demerit of sin, whichwould have extended the punishment of man to everlasting ages. The infinite dignity of the person suf- fering, answers to the infinite dignity of the person of- fended, and so takes away the necessity of the everlast- ing duration of it. Thus our blessedMediator, themanJesus Christ, "in. whom dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily," ful- filled the righteous demands of the law, and suffered the penalties due to our sins. He magnified his Father's law in this manner, and made it honourable, beyond what all the sons of Adam could do by theirutmost sufferings. Thus the justice of God shines most gloriously in the sufferings of his Son Jesus Christ : Thus the great God vindicated his own' character, as a wise_ and righteous law- giver, before the face ofmen and angels, in the an- guish anddeath of his own Son : He gave a most awful and formidable assurance, that he was not a God to be trifled with, and that the sin of his creatures should not
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