Sixthly, and lastly, It was not a mutual desertion, or a desertion on both parts ; the Father forsook him, but he forsook not his Father. When God withdrew, he followed him, crying, " My " God, my God."
Yet to speak positively of it ; though he did not dissolve the per- sonal union, nor cut off divine supports, nor remove his inherent grace, nor turn his Father's love into hatred, nor continue for ever, nor yet was it on both parts, Christ's forsaking God, as well as God's forsaking Christ : yet I say it was,
First, A very sad desertion, the like unto which in all respects never was experienced by any, nor can be to the end of the world. All his other sufferings were but small to this ; they bore upon his body, this upon his soul ; they came from the hands of vile men, this from the hands of a dear Father. He suffered both in body and soul ; but the sufferings of his soul were the very soul of his sufferings. Under all his other sufferings he opened not his mouth ; but this touched the quick, that he could not but cry out, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?"
Secondly, As it was sad, so it was a penal desertion, inflicted on him for satisfaction for those sins of ours, which deserved that God should forsake us for ever, as the damned are forsaken by him. So that this cry (as one observes) was like the perpetual shriek of them that are cast away for ever : this was that hell* and the torments
410 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXIII.
of it which Christ, our surety, suffered for us. For look, as there lies a twofold misery upon the damned in hell, viz. pain of sense, and pain of loss ; so upon Christ answerably, there was not only an impression of wrath, but also a subtraction or withdrawment of all sensible favour and love. Hence it is said by himself, John xii. 27. And now my soul, rfia^xroci, is troubled. The word signifies, troubled as they that are in hell are troubled. Though God did not leave his soul in hell, as others are, he having enough to pay the debt which they have not, yet in the torments thereof, at this time, he was ; yea, his sufferings at this time in his soul were equivalent to all that which our souls should have suffered there to all eternity.
Thirdly, It was a desertion that was real, and not fictitious *. He doth not personate a deserted soul, and speak as if God had with- drawn the comfortable sense and influence of his love from him ; but the thing was so indeed. The Godhead restrained and kept back, for this time, all its joys, comforts and sense of love from the manhood, yielding it nothing but support. This bitter dole- ful outcry of Christ gives evidence enough of the reality of it : he did not feign, hut jeel the burdensomeness of it.
Fourthly, This desertion fell out in the time of Christ"s greatest 'need of comfort that ever he had in all the time of his life on earth. His Father forsook him at that time, when all earthly comforts had forsaken him, and all outward evils had broken in together upon him ; when men, yea, the best of men stood afar off, and none but barbarous enemies were about him. When pains and shame, and all miseries even weighed him down ; then, even then, to complete and fill up his suffering, God stands afar off too.
Fifthly, and lastly, It was such a desertion as left him only to the supports of his faith. He had nothing else now but his Father's covenant and promise to hang upon. And indeed, as a judicious author f pertinently observes, the faith of Christ did several ways act and manifest itself, in these very words of complaint in the text.
For though all comfortable sights of God and sense of love were obstructed, yet you see his soul cleaves fiducially to God for all that : My God, &c. Though sense and feeling speak as well as faith, yet faith speaks first, My God, before sense speaks a word of his forsak- ing. His faith prevented the complaint of sense ; and though sense comes in afterwards with a word of complaint, yet here are two words of faith to one of sense : it is, " My God, my God," and
* It. is not in a fictitious and theatrical manner, that he laments his being deserted of the Father; and what some maintain, that he spoke thus, according to the opinion of the vulgar, is a foolish cavil. Calvin.
| Mr. Case's Correction, instruction, p. 51, 52.
SE11M. XXXIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, 411
but one word of forsaking. As his faith spake first, so it spake twice, when sense and feeling spake but once : yea, and as faith spake first, and twice as much as sense, so it spake more confidently than sense did. He lays a confident claim to God as his God ; " My God, my God," and only queries about his forsaking of him, " Why hast thou forsaken me?" This is spoken more dubiously, the former more confidently.
To be short, his faith laid hold on God, under a most suitable title, or attribute, Eli, Eli, " my strong One, my strong One," q. d. O thou, with whom is infinite and everlasting strength ; thou that hast hitherto supported my manhood, and according to thy promise upheld thy servant; what ! wilt thou now forsake me ? My strong One, I lean upon thee. To these supports and refuges of faith this desertion shut up Christ : by these things he stood, when all other visible and sensible comforts shrunk away, both from his soul and body. This is the true, though brief account of the nature and quality of Christ's desertion.
Secondly, In the next place, let us consider the designs and ends of it ; which were principally satisfaction and sanctification : Satis- faction for those sins of ours which deserved that we should be to- tally and everlastingly forsaken of God. This is the desert of every sin, and the damned do feel it, and shall to all eternity : God is gone from them for ever, not essentially ; the just God is with them still, the God of power is still with them, the avenging God is ever with them ; but the merciful God is gone, and gone for ever. And thus would he have withdrawn himself from every soul that sinned, had not Christ borne that punishment for us in his own soul : If he had not cried, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" we must have howled out this hideous complaint in the lowest hell for ever, O righteous God ! O dreadful ! O terrible God ! thou hast for ever forsaken me !