Again, in that Christ was forsaken ; and not only so, but endured the displeasure and immediate wrath of God, seizing upon his soul, and filling his heart with anguish at this time, we may learn hence.
How to discern the ugliness of sin. 1. In tchat glass to look upon the ugly thing, sin, to make it more ugly unto us. Beloved, if we would conceive aright of sin, let us see it in the angels tumbled out of heaven, and reserved in chains of darkness for offending God, Jude 6 ; see it in the casting of Adam out of paradise, Gen. iii. 23, 24, and all us in him ; see it in the destruction of the old world, and the Jews carried to captivity, in the gene- ral destruction of Jerusalem, &c. But if you would indeed see the most ugly colours of sin, then see it in Christ upon the cross, see how many sighs and groans it cost him, how bitter a thing it was to his righteous soul, forcing him to weep tears of blood, and send forth strong cries to his Father, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' If sin but imputed to Christ our surety, so afiected him that was God-man, and lay so heavy upon his soul, what will it do to those that are not in Christ ? Certainly, the wrath of God must needs burn to hell ; he will be a ' consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, to all such. See sin therefore chiefly in the death of Christ. How odious it is to God, that it could be no otherwise purged away than by the death of his beloved Son. All the angels in heaven, and all the creatures in the world could not satisfy divine justice for the least sin. If all the agonies of all creatures were put into one, it were nothing to Christ's agony ; if all their sufferings were put into one, they could not make satis- faction to di%ane justice for the least sin. Sin is another manner of matter than we take it to be. See the attributes of God, his anger against it, his justice and holiness, &c. Beloved, men forget this. They think God is angry against sin indeed, but yet his justice is soon satisfied in Christ. Oh, we must think of the Almighty as a holy God, separated from all stain and pollution of sin whatsoever, and so holy that he enforced a separation of his favour from Christ, for becoming our surety, and Christ imderwent a separation from his Father, because he undertook for us. So odious is sin to the holy nature of God, that he left his Son while he struggled with his wrath for it ; and so odious was sin to the holy nature of Christ, that he became thus a sacrifice for the same. And so odious are the remainders of sin in the hearts of the saints, that all that belong to God have the Spirit of Christ, which is as fire to consume and waste the old Adam by little and little out of them. ' No unclean thing must enter into heaven,' Rev. xxi. 27. Those that are not in Christ by faith, that have not a shelter in him, must
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suffer for their transgressions eternally, ' Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,' Mat. xxv. 41 ; so holy is God that he can have no society and fellow- ship with sinners.
Do you wonder why God so much hates sin, that men so little regard, not only the lewd sort of the world, but common dead-hearted persons, that set so little by it, that they regard not spiritual sins at all, especially hatred, malice, pride, &c., clothing themselves with these things as a comely gar- ment ? Certainly you would not wonder that God hates sin, if you did but consider how sin hates God? What is sin but a setting of itself in God's room, a setting the devil in God's place? for when we sin we leave God, and set up the creature, and by consequence Satan, that brings the temptation to us ; setting him in our hearts before God. Beloved, God is very jealous, and cannot endm-e that filthy thing sin, to be in his room. Sin is such a thing as desires to take away God himself. Ask a sinner when he is about to sin. Could you not wish that there were no God at all, that there were no eye of heaven to take vengeance on you? Oh aye, with all my heart. And can you then wonder that God hates sin so, when it hates him so, as to wish the not being of God ? Oh marvel not at it, but have such conceits of sin as God had when he gave his Son to die for it, and such as Christ had, when in the sense of his Father's anger he cried thus, ' My God, my God,' &c.
The deeper our thoughts are of the odiousness of sin, the deeper our comfort and joy in Christ will be after ; therefore I beseech you work your hearts to a serious consideration what that sin is that we cherish so much, and will not be reproved for, and which we leave God and heaven, and all to embrace ; conceive of it as God doth, that must be a Judge, and will one day call us to a strict account for the same.