The Jeivs and Gentiles were engaged, by way of visible represen- tation of the enmity which was come on all mankind, John iv. 9, Eph. ii. 14-17; and therefore he who was to undergo the whole curse of the law was to have the rage and fury of them all executed on him. As I said before, all their persecution of him concerned not his death as it was a sacrifice, as he made his soul an offering for sin ; but as it was a punishment, the utmost of their enmity was to be executed towards him.
The residue of the creatures concurred thus far to his sufferings as to manifest themselves at that time to be visibly under the curse and indignation that was upon him, and so withdrew themselves, as it were, from yielding him the least assistance. To instance in general, heaven and earth lost their glory, and that in them which is useful and comfortable to the children of men, without which all the other conveniencies and advantages are as a thing of nauo-ht. The glory of heaven is its light, Ps. xix. 1, 2; and the glory of the earth is its stability. He hath fixed the earth that it shall not be moved.
Now, both these were lost at once. The heavens were darkened when it might be expected, in an ordinary course, that the sun should have shone in its full beauty. Matt, xxvii. 45, Luke xxiii. 44, 45; and the earth lost its stability, and shook or trembled, and the rocks rent, and the graves opened. Matt, xxvii, 51, 52; — all evi-
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dences of tliat displeasure against sin which God was then putting in execution to the utmost, Rom. i. 18.
Thus, first, in his suffering there was universahty of efficient causes.
(2.) There was a universahty in respect of the subjects wherein he suffered. He suffered, — [1.] In his person ; [2.] In his name ; [S.] In his friends; [4.] In his goods; as the curse of the law extended to all, and that universally in all these : —
[1.] In \ns, person or his human nature. In his person he suffered, in the two essential, constituent parts of it, his body and his soul : — \st. His hody. In general, as to its integral parts, his body was " broken,'" 1 Cor. xi. 24, or crucified ; his blood was " shed," Matt. xxvi. 28, or poured out. ^dly. His soid. His " soul was made an offering for sin," Isa. liii. 10; and his "soul was heavy unto death," Matt. xxvi. 87, 38.
\st. In particular, his hody suffered in all its concernments, — namely, all his senses and all its pa7'ts or members.
In all its senses; as, to instance, —
(Isi.) In hxs feeling. He was full of pain, which made him, as he says, cry for disquietness ; and this is comprised in every one of those expressions which say he was broken, pierced, and lived so long on the cross in the midst of most exquisite torture, until, being full of pain^ he " cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost," Matt, xxvii. 50.
(2dly.) His tasting. When he fainted with loss of blood and grew thirsty, " they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall,'' Matt, xxvii. 34, John xix. 29, Matt, xxvii. 48, not to stupify his senses, but to increase his torment.
(Sdly.) His seeing, though not so much in the natural organ of it as in its use. He saw his mother and disciples standing by full of grief, sorrow, and confusion ; which exceedingly increased his anguish and perplexity, John xix. 25, 26. And he saw his enemies full of rage and horror standing round about him, Ps. xxii. 12, 16. He saw them passing by and wagging the head in scorn. Matt, xxvii. 89, Ps. xxii. 7, 8.
{Hhly) His ears were filled with the reproach and blasphemy of which he grievously complains, Ps. xxii. 7, 8 ; which also is expressed in its accomplishment. Matt, xxvii. 89-44, Luke xxiii. 36, 37. They reproached him with God, and his ministry, and his profession ; as did also one of the thieves that were crucified with him. And, —
(pthly.) They crucified him in a noisome place, a place of stink and loathsomeness, a place where they cast the dead bodies of men, from whose bones it got the name of " Golgotha," — a place of dead men's skulls, Matt, xxvii. 83.
He suffered in all the parts of his hody, especially those which are most tender and full of sense: —
(\st) For his head, they platted a crown of thorns, and put it on
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him; and, to increase bis pain, smote it on (that the thorns might pierce him the deeper) with tlieir staves, Matt, xxvii. 29, 80, as the Jews had stricken him before, chap. xxvi. 67, 68, John xix. 2, S.
(2dl>/.) His /ace they spat upon, buffeted, smote, and phicked off his hair, Isa. 1. 6, Matt. xxvi. 67, 68.
(pdly) His hack was torn with whips and scourges, Matt, xxvii. 26, John xix. 1, s/xaeriyugs' there " they made long their furrows."
(jithly.) His hands, smd/eet, wad side, were pierced with nails and spear, Ps. xxii. 16.