Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

The wickedness of man in that age of the world, was so great. that the holy God would not endure them. "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth." It will be of no weight to object and say that the blood of Christ for the redemption of sinners was not then shed: for, though the blood of Christ, at that time, was not literally shed, yet, in the view of God, atonement was then made; for Christ is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. And all that are saved in any age of the world, are saved through Christ. And it was as true in that age of the world as in the present, that "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And notwithstanding this foundation was laid in blood, no less expensive than the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the character of man is not altered; their enmity to God and the Son of God remains the same. If sinners conceive, that, by means of mere atonement they are made bet ter, it is owing to ignorance of their own hearts, and of the word of God.

All nations, in every age, are represented in divine revelation, as being depraved. The moral character or heart of every man is totally depraved. "For," says Paul, "we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed

* Gen. vi, 6, 7.

blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes."* Here the character and situation of man is drawn by the pen of inspiration. This is the picture of all men in a state of nature. This representation of the character and condition of mankind was given by the apostle, after the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour.

Perhaps some may think that if they had been personally acquainted with the suffering Redeemer, and had seen him in his agony in the Gethsemanean garden, when he sweat as it were great drops of blood, they should be so affected, as to melt into tears of genuine repentance. Or if they had seen him treated as he was by the Jewish court, or as he was treated by the Roman soldiers, who smote him and spit upon him, that they should then be constrained to love him! Or, especially, had they seen him as a condemned malefactor, led away to be crucified-nailed to the cross-bleeding, expiring, dying; that then they must have loved him with their whole heart.

But, not having beheld the scene of Christ's sufferings, not having heard his dying groans; is there therefore any excuse for remaining his enemies? Such may be as criminal in the sight of God as the Jews were, to whom Christ said, "Ye have both seen and hated both me and my Father."

Although Christ died for his enemies, yet this doth not convert them into friends. "Peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We are as cer

And if, know

tain of this as if we had seen him die. ing what Christ has done for us, will not move us, neither should we be persuaded, had we seen him die, and rise triumphantly from the grave on the third day.

Rom. iii, 9-19.

Sinners do not consider how depraved they are, how hard their hearts are: they do not consider that they are Christ's enemies, notwithstanding all he hath done for them: they do not consider that the love of God is not in them; and, that, therefore, they will not come to Christ that they might have life. Paul therefore addressed the stupid Galatians in such language as this; "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you."*

Man has lost the moral likeness of God in which he was at first created, and is now "dead in trespasses and sins." And it was never the design of Deity, that the atonement of Christ should operate upon the minds of sinners, without any other cause, so as to raise them from death to life. The covenant of redemption laidthe Messiah under obligation to come into the world, and lay a foundation for the restoration of the divine image to man, or that God might consistently raise him from moral death to spiritual life But the work

of converting sinners, or of creating them in Christ Jesus, belongs to the third Person of the Godhead. As if the Holy Ghost had said to the Word, If thou wilt make an atonement, and so lay a foundation for the redemption of lost man, I will make application of it; and, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, will raise the sinner from spiritual death, and, finally crown him with life eternal. This being done, Christ will "see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied." And we, having the "love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." shall "also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."

When Christ came into the world and took his stand upon the stage of public life, to act his part as the great High Priest of our profession, he did not say to

* Gal. iii, 1.

men or to the people to whom he was sent, I have laid a foundation for your redemption, and you, therefore, need fear no evil. He did not say to the people, I shall suffer and die for you, in your room and stead; I will bear the fruit of God's anger towards you,all that evil which you deserve to bear in an eternal hell; and being once borne by me, a Person of infinite dignity and excellency, it cannot be inflicted a second time upon you, therefore be not afraid. We no where find Christ addressing the lost sheep of the house of Israel to whom he was sent, in language like this.

[ocr errors]

Men, instead of being made better by the atonement, by rejecting it, are made worse. Hence, the punishment of those who "account the blood of the covenant an unholy thing," will be greatly aggravated. Christ never attempted to sooth the minds of sinners, by telling them that in their room and stead he had borne, or would bear, all the evil which they deserve for all their transgressions. Very far, indeed, from this was the preaching of Jesus Christ. Yea, we hear him saying to sinners, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hel?". And in another place, he says to the children of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, "O generation of vipers! how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

In the method of instruction pursued by the Jewish doctors before and after the coming of Christ in the flesh, the doctrine of atonement was entirely excluded. They did not so much as mention the blood of Christ as the foundation of redemption. And not only so. but they came very short in teaching all that which was absolutely necessary on the part of the sinner in order to salvation. They passed over the weightier matters of the law, such as faith, mercy, and the love of God. But Christ taught the people, that except their righteousness should exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, they could in no case enter

into the kingdom of heaven. Their religion being merely external, the new birth was not insisted on as being necessary. When Christ came upon the stage, and commenced a public teacher, we find his doctrine essentially different from that of the Jewish doctors. Christ taught that he himself was the only foundation of salvation; and that redemption could come to Is. rael only through him.

As the only Redeemer of man, we find Christ exhibiting himself in the following passages of Scripture: "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suf fer-And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me-I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.The bread of God is he that cometh down from heaven. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst I am come a light into the world. I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."

Before the advent of Messiah, Moses and the prophets wrote concerning Christ, and preached him as the only foundation of man's redemption. "Behold," saith the Lord God by the Prophet Isaiah, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner Stone, a Sure Foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."* This Foundation is Christ: he was indeed a Tried Stone: he is the precious Corner-Stone of the building of God. And Paul taught the same doctrine: "Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way"-The same apostle reminds the Corinthians, that, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ "

All the inspired writers not only exhibit the Messiah as the only Redeemer of man; but they all unitedly

*sa. xxvii, 16.

« ForrigeFortsæt »