1. It is an instance of Christ's love and bowels to sinners ; he loved mankind so well that he prayed for them that crucified him. Look on the Lord Jesus as praying and dying for enemies, and improve it as a ground of confidence. Upon the cross he would give us an instance of his efficacy in converting the thief, and of his affection in praying for his persecutors. We were as great enemies to Christ, and as deep in the guilt of his passion, as they : Rom. v. 10, ' Wlien we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.' The enemies of his kingdom are every way as bad as the enemies of his person. If Christ did not say, ' Father, forgive,' what would become of us ? You will say. We are christians ; but scandak)us sinners renew his sufferings, and ' put him to an open shame,' Heb. vi. 6. Oh, let us adore God for these experiences ! It is a mighty ground of hope that Christ hath put in for a pardon ; he would not die till he had expressed his recon- ciliation with his enemies.
2. See what is the voice and merit of his sufferings, * Father, forgive them.' This is the speech that Christ uttered when he was laid on the cross. The apostle compareth Christ's blood and the blood of Abel : Heb. xii. 24, ' And to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.' Abel's blood was clam- orous in the ears of God : Gen. iv. 10, ' The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground ; ' and so in the conscience of Cain it crieth, Avenge ! avenge me ! Christ's blood hath another voice, it speaketh to God to pacify his wrath, and to pardon us, if penitent and believing siimers ; it speaketh to conscience to be quiet, God hath found out a ransom. The blood of Christ may speak against us as well as against the Jews, for by our sins we made Christ to die. Oh, be not quiet till it speak peace in your consciences. Christ's blood was spilt in malice, as Abel's was, and might have cried for vengeance on the actors, who were not only the Jews, but we, and it yet speaketh as Abel's did : Heb. xi. 4, ' By it he, being dead, yet speaketh.' It is a speaking blood, and is yet speaking. The speaking of the blood is interpreted according to the words in their mouth wherewith they died : Mat. xxiii. 35, ' That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zecharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the porch and the altar.' Our Lord gathers it from Zecharias' saying, ' The Lord look upon it and require it,' 2 Chron. xxiv. 22. So the words of Christ interpret his death.
3. In the mediatory consideration it hinteth the coupling of his intercession with his satisfaction On the cross, there he dieth and there he prayeth ; he was both priest and sacrifice. The high priest under the law was not only to slay the sacrifice, but to intercede for the
SERMON UPON LUKE XXIII. 34. 25
people ; first tlie beast was slain without the camp, and then the blood was carried into the holy of holies, and there prayer was made with incense ; but before that, Aaron, when he was goinf? into the holy place before the Lord, was to cause the sound of his golden bells to be heard under pain of death, Exod. xxviii. 35. To this I parallel this action of Christ upon the cross. This prayer was as the sound of the golden bells ; he would make his voice to be heard by prayer, and then he goes into the holy of holies ; the Lord Jesus Christ, when he shed his blood before the tribunal of God, he sendeth forth a prayer. God would have our salvation carried on in a way of mercy and justice, and Christ was to mingle entreaty with satisfaction ; as, Lev. xvi. 14, the high priest was to bring the blood within the veil, and to sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat. He must satisfy justice and make an address to mercy, that we that have sinned with both hands may take hold of God with both hands : Rom. iii. 24, ' Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Clirist ;' it is ' freely,' and yet ' through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ; ' these two sweetly accord.
4. This is a pledge of his constant intercession in heaven. The ceremonies of the old law were not only types of Christ, but his visible actions were a kind of types and pledges of his spiritual actions, 1 John ii. 1, ' If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' He that could pray for enemies will pray for friends, and he that got our pardon by his intercession will promote our salvation. Certainly Christ's glorified soul loseth no affection ; he is as earnest with the Father for his friends as ever he was upon the cross for his persecutors : Heb. ix. 24, ' For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' Christ doth appear as our advocate in court, not only in our name, but in our stead.