2. Though it were real, the desertion must be understood so as may stand with the dignity of his person and offices. Therefore —
[1.] There was no separation of the Father from the Son ; this wouUl make a change in the unity of the divine essence : Jolni x. 30, ' I and my Father are one ' — 'E^irepLx'^pwi-'i. This eternal union of the person of the Father with the person of the Son always remained ; for the divine nature, though it may be distinguished into Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, yet it cannot be divided.
[2.] There was no dissolution of the union of the two natures in the person of Christ, for the lumian nature wdiicli was once assumed was never alter dismissed or laid aside ; 'A-)(a)plarco<i, Christ ever remained Immanuel, God with us, or God in our nature. He was ' the Lord of glory,' even then when he was crucified, 1 Cor. ii. 8. It was the Son of God that was delivered up lor us all ; not a mere man suffered for our redemption, but God purchased the churcii ' with his blood,' Acts XX. 28. Death, that dissolved the bond and tie between soul and body, did not dissolve the union of the two natures. They resemble it by a man drawing a sword, and holding the sword in one hand and the scabbard in another ; the same person holds both, though separated the one from the other.
3. The love of God to him ceased not. We read, ' The Father loved the Son, and put all things into his hand,' John iii. 35. Now, he was his dear Son, or the Son of liis love, Col. i. 13 ; ' In whom his
lilAT. XXVII. 46.] THE NINTH SERMON. 2C7
soul delighted/ Isa. xlii. 1 ; Epli. i. 6, * He hath made us accepted in the beloved ' — primum amahile ; He was ' the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,' Heb. i. 3. Therefore he conld not but love him in every state ; yea, he never moi-e loved him as mediator then when on the cross, that being the most eminent act of his self-denial and obedience (Phil, ii 7), and so a new ground of love : John X. 17, ' Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life to take it up again.' The Father was well pleased with the reconciliation of lost sinners, he loveth Christ for undertaking and per- forming it ; therefore it is unreasonable to imagine that, now he was about the highest act of obedience, there was any decrease of his love to him. No ; his dispensation might be changed, but not his love. As the sun shining through a clear glass, or through a red glass, casts a different reflection, a bloody, or a bright, but the light is the same.
4. His personal holiness Avas not abated or lessened. The Lord Jesus was ' full of grace and truth,' John i. 14. He had the ' Spirit not by measure,' John iii. 34 ; he had in perfection all divine gifts and graces to accomphsh him for this office, Col. i. 19 ; John i. 16, he was anointed by the Holy Ghost, and the oil that was poured on him never failed. Therefore he was always most holy and pure, one that never knew nor did sin. Neither his nature nor his office could permit an abatement of holiness : Heb. vii. 26, ' Such an high priest became us as was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.' The Son of God might fall into misery, which is a natural evil, and so become the object of pity, not of blame ; but not into sin, which is a moral evil, a blot, and a blemish. When he died, ' He died, the just for the unjust,' 1 Peter iii. 18. The death of Christ had profited us nothing if he had been a sinner for a moment ; therefore this desertion was not a diminishing of his holiness, but a suspension of his comfort.
5. God's assistance and sustaining grace was not wholly withdrawn, for the Lord saith of him, Isa. xlii. 1, ' This is my elect servant, whom I uphold.' And everywhere the Lord is said to be with him in this work : Ps. cxxi. 5, ' The Lord is at thy right hand ; ' and Ps. xvi. 8. ' I have set the Lord always before me : he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' Which passage is by Peter applied to Christ : Acts ii. 25, ' For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.' The power, presence, and providence of God was ever with him, to sustain him in his difficult enterprise. When his agonies began he told his disciples, John xvi. 32, ' Ye shall leave me alone : yet I am not alone, but the Father is with me.' The Father was with him when his disciples forsook him, and fled every one to his own, to carry him through, and that his arm might work salvation for him, and that he might not sink under the burden.