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SERM.
XXXIV.)
THE
ATONEMENT OF
CHRIST.
67
sufferings,
could make
complete 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 hereby
we
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, purge
your
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,
which
would 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 blessed
Mediator, the
man
Jesus
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
their
utmost
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
of
men
and
angels,
in
the
an-
guish
and
death
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