that after all this, yea, and just after he had instituted a solemn memorial of his death, to be kept up in the church throughout all ages, and in the celebration of that ordinance, had represented his body as actually broken, &c. that, after this, he should go immediately and pray, in a manner to be excused from dying! who can believe it? I must confess that this would appear to me below the ordinary resolution, or even common prudence that is to be found among men."

The

The decree respecting the sufferings of Christ was no doubt divine; but the accomplishment of the decree was effected by the immediate agency of Satan and wicked men. We know that creatures cannot act independently of their Maker; it doth not however follow from this, that the "soldiers of the governor" did not spit upon Christ, and with a reed smite him upon the head. The soldiers therefore were the immediate agents in giving Christ vinegar to drink mingled with gall. "These things therefore the soldiers did." sufferings of Christ were according to a divine appointment, they were not, however, from the immediate hand of God. It was found necessary, for some reason or other, in the covenant of redemption, that the Captain of our salvation should be made perfect through sufferings. But when the Seed of the woman made his appearance in the worid, his sufferings were from the immediate hand of the serpent and his seed, agreeably to the ancient prediction, as expressed in the text.* Satan accordingly took advantage of every opportunity to inflict sufferings upon the Beloved of the Father, the sinner's Saviour. And in the garden of Gethsemane the power of darkness was exerted upon Christ in the highest degree. Satan never meant that Christ should die by crucifixion, therefore when he found him lifted up upon the cross, he departed from him; we see the reason, therefore, why his sufferings upon the cross were not equal to his agony in the gar

* Gen. iii, 14, 15,

den. If Satan could have taken the life of Christ in the garden; or, if he could have procured his death by stoning, according to a Jewish law, he would have prevented his death by crucifixion, and therefore, would have prevented the salvation of man. Therefore Dr. Scott, as quoted by Dr. Doddridge, "imagines that Christ now struggled with the spirits of darkness. He was now surrounded with a mighty host of devils, who exerted all their force and malice to persecute and distract his innocent soul." And Mr. Fleming says, according to Dr. Doddridge, "Satan hoped by overpowering him here, to have prevented the accomplishment of the prophecies relating to the manner and circumstances of his death."

And in his Lecture, on the 26th chapter of Matthew, the late Bishop of London observes: "Nor is it at all improbable, that his great enemy and ours, the prince of darkness, whom he came to overthrow, and with whom he maintained a constant conflict through life, and triumphed over by his death; it is not I say, at all improbable, that this malignant being should exert his utmost power, by presenting real and raising up imaginary terrors, to shake the constancy of his soul, and deter him from the great work he had undertaken. These, and a multitude of other agonizing distresses, unknown and inconceivable to us, which might necessarily spring from so vast, so momentous, so stupendous a work, as the salvation of a whole world, make a plain distinction between our Saviour's situation and that of any other martyr to the cause of truth, and must clearly prove that there never was a sorrow in every respect like unto his sorrow." The Bishop, however, remarks, that. for our consolation, in the sorrow of our Divine Redeemer there is no guilt, that it is no mark of God's displeasure."

The hand of God is, in some sense, concerned in the taking place of all events, and therefore of the sufferings of Christ in the garden, and. of all his sufferings, till he expired upon the cross: this is implied in the

saying of God to the serpent, "Thou shalt bruise his heel.' If it had not been the will of God, that events should have taken place concerning the woman's Seed as they have, he could not have consistently said; I will put enmity between thee and the woman; and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Besides, all things concerning Christ were fixed in the covenant of redemption. There is therefore propriety in representing the sufferings of Christ, as brought upon him by the active providence of God. Hence "it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief."

Accordingly in the New Testament, Christ is frequently spoken of, as being delivered up by an act of divine government. "Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, &c.-Against thy holy child Jesus-were the people of Israel gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all."

And all the sufferings laid upon Christ, from whatever quarter they came, were submitted to voluntarily. Hence the Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many. Christ laid down his life freely. There fore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again: no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father." These passages of Scripture are directly to the purpose "to obviate any such imagination that might arise from the manner of his dying, as if it were only according to the natural course of things from the malice of his enemies."

The sufferings and death of the Son of man were involved in the divine decree or covenant of redemption; still it is true, that the heel of the woman's seed. was bruised by the serpent and his seed, and not by

the immediate hand of God. Through divine permis sion Satan had the power of death;" so that all the wounds and bruises of the Son of God, were immed ately from the power of darkness. Christ was supported and comforted in all his sufferings, for he knew that through a bruise upon his heel, he should effect a mortal one upon the head of the serpent. It is a divine decree, that Christ, by his death, should destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. Hence "the prince of this world, who plotted the ruin of Christ, was completely defeated and confounded, and put to flight." Satan, through subtlety, craft and lying brought death upon the first man: but his subtlety and lying, and even his strength, failed him, when he undertook the destruction of the Second Man: For God "disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong."

In order to the redemption of man, not only the sufferings of Christ were necessary, but he must suffer by the power of darkness; and not only must his blood be shed, (for without the shedding of blood, there is no remission;) but his blood must be shed upon the cross. If therefore the blood of Christ had been shed before he reached the destined spot, so that it could not be sprinkled upon the symbolical horns of the altar; that is, although the blood of Christ was necessary in the work of atonement; nevertheless, it would have availed nothing, had it not been shed according to the divine prediction concerning him.

When Christ said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," it is thought by some, that his distress was primarily distress of body and not of mind. For say they, the term soul, ux, is in various places in the Scriptures, employed to designate the body, the animal part the human frame. It is evident that Crist meant to make a distinction between his soul,

Luxy. and spirit, weupe, for saith he, The spirit, indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Nothing however could weaken the confidence of Christ in the promise of the Father. His religion did . not begin to fail him. His mind was strong in the Lord. He had clear views of the end for which he came into the world. The communion between him his heavenly Father was not interrupted. He did not need an angel to strengthen his confidence in God, by preaching religion to him, by calling upon him to trust in God. Neither did he need an angel to strengthen him against the fire of divine wrath, which some say, was poured down upon him from the immediate hand of God. But an angel was sent to strengthen him against the strength of his strong enemy, and all the 1. fiery darts of the power of darkness.

The Son of God did not "espouse the cause of sinners in such a sense as to take the wrath and curse of his righteous Father upon himself, which was due to the wicked. Christ will however save his people from the wrath to come, "for he ever liveth to make intercession for them:" but not because he has borne, in their room and stead, that wrath and curse of God which they deserved to bear. Jesus will never cast out any who come unto him. Salvation is near to those who obey the Gospel. Nothing can separate them from the love of God. It is not, however, because the displeasure of God against sin, "has been exhibited to equal advantage as it would be in their eter nal damnation:" but because, Christ having completed the work of redemption by obedience unto death, even the death of the cross, a door of mercy is opened to fallen man; and whosoever will, may come and receive the water of life freely: this renders the flesh of the Son of man meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed.

If the blood of Christ had not been shed upon the cross, that is if Christ had not been obedient unto the death of the cross, it would not have opened a door of sivation; and, if his heel had not been bruised by