ings were the sufferings of his soul, which was now beset with sor- rows, and lieavy as heart could hold : John xii. 27, ' Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ?' The Greek word signifies a vehe- ment commotion and perturbation ; as Herod's mind was troubled when he heard that a new king was born. Mat. ii. 3 ; or as the dis- ciples were troubled when they thought they saw a spirit walking on the sea, and cried out for fear. Mat. xiv. 26 ; or as Zacharias, Luke i. 12, was troubled at the sudden sight of the angel. The rise and cause of Christ's soul-trouble was this : the Godhead hiding itself from the humanity's sense ; and the Father letting out, not only an apprehension of his sufferings to come, but a present taste of the horror of his wrath, due to man for sin. He is amazed, overwhelmed, and perplexed with it in his humanity ; and no wonder, since he had the sins of all the elect, laid upon him by imputation, to suffer for. And so this wrath is not let out against his person, but against their sins which were laid on him. Now though Christ was here troubled, or jumbled and puzzled, as the word imports, yet we are not to con- ceive that there was any sin in this exercise of his, for he was like clean water in a clean vessel, which, being never so often stirred and shaken, yet still keeps clean and clear. Neither are we to think it strange that the Son of God should be put to such perplexities in this trouble as not to know what to say ; for considering him as man, encompassed with our sinless infirmities, and that this heavy weight of wi-ath did light upon him on a sudden, it is no wonder that it did confound all his thoughts as man. 0 sirs ! look, that as sin has in- fected both the souls and bodies of the elect, and chiefly their souls, where it hath its chief seat, so Christ, to expiate this sin, did suffer unspeakable sorrows and trouble in his soul, as well as torture in his body ; ' for my soul is troubled,' saith he. Though some sufferings of the body be very exquisite and painful, and Christ's in particular were such, yet sad trouble of mind is fai' more grievous than any bodily distress, as Christ also found, who silently bare all his outward troubles, but yet could not but cry out of his inward trouble, ' Now is my soul troubled.' Isa. liii. 10, ' Thou shalt make his soul an ottering for sin,' Isa. liii. 7 ; 1 Pet. ii. 24. When Christ suffered for us, our sins were laid upon him, ver. 5, 6, as by the law of sacri- ficing of old, the sinner was to lay his hands upon the head of the beast, confessing his sins, and then the beast was slain, and offered for expiation. Lev. viii. 14, 18, 22 ; thus having the man's sins as it were taken and put upon it, and hereby the sinner is made righteous. The sinner could never be pardoned, nor the guilt of sin removed, but by Christ's making his soul an offering for sin. What did Christ in special recommend to God, when he was breathing out his last gasp, but his soul ? Luke xxiii. 46, ' When Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit ; and hav- ing said thus, he gave up the ghost ;' that is. To thy safe custody and blessed tuition I commend my soul, as a special treasure or jewel, most charily and tenderly to be preserved and kept : Luke ii. 52, ' He in- creased in wisdom and stature ;' here is stature for his body, and wisdom for his soul. His growth in that speaks the truth of the former, and his growth in this the truth of the latter : liis body pro-
174 THE MANHOOD OF CHRIST PROVED,
perly could not grow in wisdom, nor his soul in stature, therefore he must have both. There are two essential parts which make up one of his natures, his manhood, viz., soul and body, but both of these two of old have been denied. Marcion divests Christ of a body, and Apollinaris of a soul; and the Arians held that Christ had no soul, but that the deity was to him instead of a soul, and supplied the office thereof, that what the soul is to us, and doth in our bodies, all that the divine nature was to Christ, and did in his body ; and are there not some among us, that make a great noise about a light in them, that dash upon the same rock ? But the choice scriptures last cited may serve sufficiently to confute all such brain-sick men. But,
[2.] Secondly, As Christ had a true human and reasonable soul, so Christ had a perfect, entire, complete hody, and everything ivliich is proper to a hody ; for instance, (1.) He had blood : Heb. ii. 14, ' He also took part of the same,' that is, of flesh and blood. Christ had in him the blood of a man. Shedding of blood there must be, for with- out it there is no remission of sin, Heb. ix. 22. The blood of brute creatures could not wash away the blots of reasonable creatures, Heb. X. 4, 5, 10 ; wherefore Christ took our nature, that he might have our blood to shed for our sins. There is an emphasis put upon Christ as man, in the great business of man's salvation, * The man Christ Jesus,' 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; the remedy carrying in it a suitableness to the malady, the sufferings of a man to expiate the sin of man. (2.) He had bones as well as flesh : Luke xxiv. 39, ' A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.' (3.) Christ had in him the bowels of a man, Phil. ii. 8, which bowels he fully expressed when he was on earth, Mat. xii. 18-20 ; nay, he retaineth those bowels now he is in heaven ; in glory he hath a fellow-feeling of his people's miseries : Acts ix. 4, * Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ? ' See Mat. xxv. 35, to the end of that chapter. Though Christ in his glorified state be freed from that state of frailty, passibility, mortality, yet he still retains his wonted pity. (4.) He had in him the familiarity of a man; how familiarly did Christ converse with all sorts of persons in this world, all the evangelists do sufiiciently testify. Man is a sociable and familiar creature ; Christ became man that he might be a merciful high priest, Heb. ii. 17 ; not that his becoming man made him more merciful, as though the mercies of a man were more than the mercies of God, but because by this means mercy is conveyed more suitably and familiarly to man. But,