105 / 674
BERM.
XXXV.1
THE ATONEMENT
OF
CHRIST,
85
pertaining
to the
kingdom
of God," Acts
i.
3.
and more
especially for the teachings
of
his
own Spirit,
which
he
poured
out
upon
them
after
he
went
to heaven.
By
these means they were more completely furnished
for
their
ministry,
and
learned
the doctrines
of
the
gospel,
in a
more perfect
manner than
ever
our Lord himself
taught
them
in his life
-time.
Thus
it
appears that
though
Christ
was
the
founder
of
a
new
religion among men,
yet there
is
good
reason to be
given, why
he did
not
teach plainly and publicly some
of
the
chief doctrines
of
this religion,
during
his own
life
on
earth,
viz.
because these
doctrines
were
built
on his
death,
his
rising again, and
ascending to
heaven, which
events were then
unaccomplished.*
Thence
we
may infer, as we pass
along,
that
if
we
would
learn
the
plainest and fullest
account
of
the
gos-
pel
of
Christ,
it
is
not
enough for
us
to consult merely
his
public sermons, or the histories
of
his life,
which
are
called the
four
gospels,
but
we
must read carefully
the
writings
of
the apostles
after
he
went to
heaven;
for,
during the
life
of
Christ,
neither
did he
preach,
nor did
the apostles themselves
learn this
gospel
in
the
complete
extent and
glory
of
it.
But
this
is
only
an inferenee
ty
the
way.
[This
is
a
proper
pause
in
the middle
of
this sermon,
when
it
is
read
in
families.]
Let
us
proceed
to
the next reason to prove
that Christ
was
a propitiation
for
our
sins in his
death.
VI. The terrors of
soul,
the consternation and
in
ward
agonies which
our
blessed
Lord sustained a little
before
his
death, were
a sufficient
proof that
he
endured
punishments in
his soul
which were
due to
sin.
These
were vastly
greater
than
the
persecutions
of
bloody
men,
and the mere fears
of
dying
:
Can
it
ever
be
imagined,
that
the
Son
of
God,
whose
virtues and graces, whose
patience and holy
fortitude sparkled
with
a
divine
lustre
in
the
various parts
of
his life,
should
have'shewn
so
much
natural
fear,
and innocent disquietude
of
spirit,
at
the
mere
thoughts
of
death
by
the
bands
of
men,
if
he
* I
grant there
are some ,other
ingenious and probable
reasons offered
by the author of Miscellanea Sacra, why Christ did
not
communicate
his
gospel
so
completely
to
his
disciples in
bis own
life-time. Essay
1.
p.
155-
159,
but what
1
have mentioned-is sufficient
for
my
purpose.
G3