"all nature is diffolving; or the GOD of nature is fuffering." Second, The vail of the temple was rent in twain, at the SAVIOUR's death, which undoubtedly pointed forth the rending of the mofaic vail, &c. Yet I believe it was an emblem of the vail of CHRIST's flesh being rent by the ftroke of divine juftice; his foul was rent with wrath, and his mind with the indignation of Heaven; his peace, his comfort, and poffeffion of divine favour were rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and it is through this rent vail, that we have accefs into the holy of holies; therefore it is called, a new and living way, confecrated for us through the vail; that is to Jay, his flesh,

Heb.
X. 20.

Thirdly, The earth quaking, denotes its being convulfed, and not able to bear its fuffering Maker; it reels from its foundation, when a suffering GOD hangs as a facrifice for fin, with the weight of wrath thereon. It might likewife denote, by its quaking, the extreme anguifh of CHRIST'S foul, when he was ftretched upon the crois, and nailed to the accursed tree, burnt with a fever, that flowed from his exquifite pain, fcorched with thirft until he cries out, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels My strength is dried up like a potherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death, Pfal. xxii. 14. 15. Is not this, my dear Friendly, a moft moving and melting elucidation of the SAVIOUR'S fufferings? Could we frequently but take a faith's trip to Mount Calvary, and fee there the Son of GOD, poured out like water as a facrifice for fin; fee his bones all diflocated with the exquifite pain thereof; his heart melting within his bowels, by the fire of JEHOVAH'S Wrath; his ftrength exhaufted and dried up thereby; his tongue cleaving to his jaws, and his pofition in the duft of death, and all for our fins; fure fuch faith views of CHRIST would imbitter fin to us, and render the fuffering SAVIOUR more precious to our fouls. From fuch a view of CHRIST as this, we might fafely conclude, that the earth's quaking, when he suffered, was emblematical of the anguifh of CHRIST's foul, and the inexpreffible forrows of his mind, especially when we hear him fay, in the midst of his dolorous iufferings, reproach bath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for fome to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none, Pfal. Ixix. 20,

Fourthly, The rending of the rocks at the SAVIOUR'S death, was emblematical of the infinite greatness of his fuffer.

ings for fin. As a rock is the most permanent and durable thing in nature, and able to bear the ftro: geft fhock, fo the human foul of CHRIST, as it flood in union to the divine nature, one would have thought it an impregnable fort against all the efforts of fin. But alas! we find that when all our fins came upon him, in their curfe, condemnation, and wrath, that fuch was their ponderous weight that they rent his foul, and made him to cry out, now is my foul troubled, what shall I fay? My foul is exceeding forrowful, even unto death. Though his foul was in union with the divine nature, thereby comparable to a rock for ftrength, on which account the pfalmift calls him the man whom God had made ftrong for himself; yet we find that when the maffy weight of all our guilt lay upon him, it not only funk his foul, but rent it from its union with the body, Luke xxiii. 46. and when "Jefus had cried with a loud voice, he faid, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having faid thus, he gave up the ghost.

Laftly, What added greatly to the weight of CHRIST'S fufferings, was, the Father impreffing the human mind with a deep fenfe of his vindictive difpleasure against fin, as it was a tranfgreffion of his holy law, and fo diametrically oppofite to the perfections of his nature, that he fhewed his implacable hatred of it, in the punishment of his Son, by inflicting all his wrath upon him, Rom. viii. 32. He fpared not his own fon, but delivered him up for us all; or according to the original, he dealt not tenderly with him; for when CHRIST ftood as the finner's furety, he was dealt with as a victim for our guilt, therefore the Father commanded the fword of divine juftice to awake against him, Zech. xiii. 7. Awake, O fword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow: Smite the hepherd; which makes it apparent, that the LORD JESUS CHRIST did bear the whole of the Father's indignation and wrath against fin: He being a voluntary facrifice to make an atonement for tranfgreffion, it was neceflary that the Father, as a fovereign judge, fhould impute and charge upon him all our guilt, that he might execute upon him all the terrors of his wrath, both in body and mind; or as Mr. Brine expreffeth it, "Juftice armed with all its flaming terrors rises and falls upon the willing facrifice, and his foul is abforbed of grief "and anguish in confequence thereof."

Friendly. But did not CHRIST fuffer from man as well as from GOD?

Truth. Yes, Friendly, but they may be all included in his fufferings from GOD, as the enmity of man was

the rod

and fword of divine juftice against him, and therefore whatever CHRIST endured from man, was but a foretaste of what he was to fuffer from his Father, when he made his foul an offering for fin. The fufferings of CHRIST from man (if we confider the dignity of his perfon) were extremely great. O what indignity and reproach did they caft upon him! how cruelly and inhumanly did mankind ufe him! at his trial they falfly accufed him, fpit upon him, buffeted him, blindfolded him, ftruck bim in the face, and then calumnioufly bid him prophesy who fmote bim! the foldiers mocked and derided him, platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his facred head, and fmote him with a red; then fcornfully bowed the knee before him, crying, Hail King of the fews! Then burthening him with the weight of his crofs, they led him to the place of execution, where they crucified him, ftretching his facred bo ly to an exquifite degree of pain, then nailing his hands and feet to the accurfed tree,. reviled him with infult and blafphemy, faying, he faved others, himself he cannot fave: let him come down from the cross, and we will believe on him. This made CHRIST fay, Pfal. xxii. 6, 7, 8, 13, 17, 18. I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and defpifed of the people. All that fee me, laugh me to fcorn; they foot out the lip, they shake the head, faying, he trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, feeing he delighted in him. They opened their mouths against me as a ravening and a roaring lion; they pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones; they look and flare upon me. They part my garments among them, and caft lots upon my vesture.

Thus the LORD JESUS CHRIST fuffered from man, as well as from GOD, when it pleafed the LORD to bruise him, and to put him to grief, and all this was done according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of GOD, Arts ii. 23. Friendly. Was it poffible that CHRIST thould thus fuifer for our fins, both from GoD and man? Was there no crime of his own?

Truth. No, he did no fin, neither was guile found in his mouth. To this give all the Prophets and Apoities witness, Ifa. liii. 9. He hath done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth: The Prophet Micah faith, ii. 6. the law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: And Paul faith, he was made fin for us, who knew no fin, 2 Cor. v. 21. and Peter fays, i Epift. ii. 22. Who did no fin, &c. Remarkable to the purpose are the words of our LORD when his fufferings drew nigh, John xiv. 30. For the Prince of this

world cometh, and hath nothing in me: and to his enemies, the Jews, he faith, which of you convinceth me of fin? For had there been but one fin, even the fin of a fingle thought in CHRIST, it would have rendered his facrifice ineffectual. The law of

his GOD was in his heart, therefore none of his steps did flide, as he faith, Pfal. xl. 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.

Friendly. What evidences are there from fcripture, that CHRIST fuffered for our fins?

Truth. The evidences are ftrong and fatisfactory, Ifa. liii. 5. but he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, and bruised for our iniquities. Rom. iv. 25. who was delivered for our offences; and ftriking is the proof in 1 Cor xv. 3. how that Chrift died for our fins, according to the fcriptures: 1 Theff. v. 9. 10. For God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain falvation by our Lord Jefus Chrift, who died for us: and JEHOVAH faith, Ifa. liii. 8. for the tranfgreffions of my people was he ftricken: or as it is in the margin, was the ftroke upon him.

Friendly. Was it poffible that CHRIST could have all our fins transferred to him, charged upon him, and fuffer body and foul as a facrifice for them, and his nature not defiled?

Truth. It was poffible, though impoffible that his holy nature fhould be polluted. For confider that imputation is not transfufion; transfufion is a communication of the fame nature from one to another, and makes an internal change in the object; when imputation is only accounting or reckoning another's act, as though it was our own. In this light the Apostle explains it, Rom. v. 19. For by one man's disobedience many were made finners, fo by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Friendly. How is it evident that Adam's tranfgreffion doth make me a finner?

Truth. I answer, not by transfufion only, but by impu tation, that is, his difobedience, or the depravity of his nature being imputed from the relation he stood in unto you; fo by the obedience of one fhall many be made righteous. Now CHRIST'S obedience can never become my perfonal obedience, but his obedience being imputed to me, and thereby reckoned mine, I am by his obedience made righteous. Thus the matter feems to be levigated, and the text rendered fmooth and plain, for as by one man's difobedience many were made (viz. by the imputation of his difobedience) Sinners; fo by the obedience of one ball many be made (by the imputation of CHRIST's obedience) righteous.

But leaft I fhould err in this weighty and momentuous affair, give me leave here to introduce the judgment of three able divines. The firft is not with his brethren in the camp, but gone to his Father's houfe, the manfion prepared for him, where his capacious foul takes in, at one view, all the dif feminated branches of knowledge he communicated below, which, doubtless, adds new joys to his mind, and fresh praifes before the throne; Mr. Ifaac Chaucy, in his comprehenfive and inftructive book, entitled, Doctrine according to godliness, anfwers this question, page 168.

Quest. "Doth not tranfacting fin thus on CHRIST make "him a finner by transfufion ?"

Anf. "The tranfaction of another's fin fpeaks the contrary; "he is laid to bear our fins, and not his own, which tranfac "tion is common in all acts of furetyfhip, where the furety is "not looked upon by the law, or any other as the contractor "of the debt, but one that becomes debtor for, and instead of "the principal, 2 Cor. v, 21" To which I add, his answer "to the 32d queftion. "He taking the debt upon him, and "fet down paymafter, is called a furety; and fuch is CHRIST "a mediator by way of furety fhip on this account, Heb. "vii. 22. Likewife his anfwer to the 35th question, is to the purpose, "in that he obeyed and fuffered as a publick per"fon, a Prince of peace, a fecond Adam, in our room and "stead, and there became law, change of perfons and condi"tions, between him and us, upon this very account, Matt. "xx. 28. Eph. v. 2. Heb. ix. 13, 14, 15..

The fecond is the learned and judicious Dr. Gill, in his expofition, 1 Pet. ii. 24 first part," who his ownfelf bare our fins "in his own body on the tree. What, CHRIST bore were fins, "even all forts of fin, original and actual; and every act of "fin, of his people, and all that is in fin, all that belongs to "it arifeth from, and is the demerit of it, as both filth, guilt, "and punishment, and a multitude of fins did he bear, even "all the iniquities of the elect, and a prodigious load and "weight it was, and then nothing could be more difagreeable "and nauseous to him, who loves righteousness and hates iniquity; "and these fins he bore were not his own, nor the fins of "Angels, but of men; and not of all men, but of many, even as many as were ordained to eternal life; for whom CHRIST "gave his life a ranfom, whom he juftifies and brings to glory. "His bearing them was in this manner, he becoming the "furety and fubftitute of his people, their fins were laid on