Now thus you have seen, (1.) That the sufferings of Christ have been free and voluntary, and not constrained or forced. (2.) That they have been very great and heinous. (3.) That the punishments which Christ did suffer for our sins, were, in their parts, and kinds, and degrees, and proportion, all those punishments which were due unto us by reason of our sins ; and which we ourselves would otherwise have suffered. (4.) That Jesus Christ did feel and suffer the very tor- ments of hell, though not after a hellish manner. (5.) That he that did feel and suffer the torments of hell, though not aftera hellish manner, was God-man. (6.) That the punishments that Christ did sustain for us, must be referred only to the substance, and not to the circumstances of punishment. (7.) That the meritorious cause of all the sufferings of Christ, were the sins of his people.
IV. Now to that great question of giving up your account at last, according to the import of those ten scriptures in the margin, i you may, in the fourth place, make this safe, noble, and happy plea. ' 0
^ Eccles. xi. 12, 14; Mat. xii. 14, and xviii. 23; Luke xvi. 3 ; Eom. xiv. 10 ; 2 Cor. V. 10 ; Heb. ix. 27, and xiii. 17; 1 Pet. iv. 7.
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blessed God, Jesus Christ liath suffered all those things that were due unto me for my sin; he hath suffered even to the worst and uttermost; for all that the law threatened wa^ a curse, and Christ was m/xde a curse for me. Gal. iii. 13 ; he hieio no sin, hut ivas made sin for me, 2 Cor. V. 21 ; and what Christ suffered he siffey'ed as my surety, and in my stead; and therefore, what he suffeixd for me, is as if Ilmd suffered all that myself ; and his sufferings hath appeased thy ivrath, and satisfied thy justice, and reconciled thee to myself For, 2 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.' ' And he hath reconciled both Jeius and Gentiles unto God, in one body, on the cross ; having slain enmity thereby.' Jesus Christ took upon him all my sins, they were all of them laid upon him, and he bare or suffered all the wrath and punishment due for them, and he suffered all as my surety, in my stead, and for my good; and thou didst design him for all this, and accepted of it as suffi- cient and effectual on my behalf Oh, with what comfort, courage, and confidence, may a believer, upon these considerations, hold up his head in the great day of his account. Let me now make a few inferences from the consideration of all the great and grievous sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ : and therefore,
1. First, Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to poor siniiers; that Christ should rather die for us, than the angels. They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all probability might have brought greater revenues of glory to God : yet that Christ should pass by those golden vessels, and make us vessels of glory, — oh, what amazing and astonishing love is this ! ^ The angels were more honourable and excellent creatures than we. They were celestial spirits ; we earthly bodies, dust and ashes : they were immediate attendants upon God, they were, as I may say, of his privy chamber ; we servants of his in the lower house of this world, farther remote from his glorious presence: their office was to sing hallelujahs, songs of praise to God in the heavenly paradise ; ours to dress the garden of Eden, which was but an earthly paradise : they sinned but once, and but in thought, as is commonly thought; but Adam sinned in thought by lusting, in deed by tasting, and in word by excusing. Why did not Christ suffer for their sins, as well as for ours ? or if for any, why not for theirs rather than ours ? ' Even so, O Father, for so it pleased thee,' Mat. xi. 26. We move this ques- tion, not as being curious to search thy secret counsels, 0 Lord, but that we may be the more swallowed up in the admiration of the ' breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.' The apostle, being in a holy admiration of Christ's love, affirms it to pass knowledge, Eph. iii. 18, 19 ; that God, who is the eternal Being, should love man when he had scarce a being. Pro v. viii. 30, 31, that he should be enamoured with deformity, that he should love us when in our blood, Ezek. xvi., that he should pity us when no eye pitied us, no, not our own. Oh, such was Christ's transcendent love, that man's extreme misery could not abate it. The deploredness of man's condition did but heighten the holy flame of Christ's love. It is as high as heaven, who can reach it ? It is as
^ This is the envy of devils, and the admiration of angels and saints.
202 SEVEN INFERENCES FROM THE CONSIDERATION