immaculate Lamb of God condemned to suffer the most efuei arid ignominious of all deaths, even the accursed death of the cross*]
3. Those which were consummated in his death — [From Pilate's bar he was dragged away to execution. Laden with the cross to which he was to be affixed, he saiik under the load, whiph therefore another was compelled to bear to the place of execution. To this he was fastened with nails through his hands and feet ', and then was he raised a naked bloody spec- tacle to all his enemies. Ah ! with what taunts was he then assailed, assailed even by the thieves, who on either side of him were suffering the same punishment ! One would have thought that in such a situation at least he might become an object of pity : but no pity was found in the hearts of his blood-thirsty enemies : and their professed readiness to assuage his anguish, was only an impious mockery, and a cruel insult : they gave him " gall and vinegar to drink ^." But the heaviest load which he had to sustain wa? laid upon him by other hands than those of iftan, even by the hands of his heavenly Father. Man could only touch his body : the wounds inflicted on his soul, proceeded immediately from God, who then " was pleased to bruise him," and to pumish in him the iniquities of a ruined world. All his other sufferings he endured with lamb-like silence: but this forced from him that heart-rending complaint, " My God, my God 1 why hast thou forsaken me ?" The darkness which at mid-day, for the space of three hours, veiled the whole land, was a sad emblem of his state, under the agonies of expiring nature, and the wrath of a sin-avenging God. At last, having drunk the very last dregs of that cup which had been put into his hands, he bows his head, and gives up the ghost. " Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow"?"]
After this slight sketch of our Redeemer's suffer- ings, let us proceed to consider,
II. Their vicarious use —
It might be said of David under many of his per- secutions, that " he restored tJiat which he took not away :" for certainly he exercised forbearance, and forgiveness, and a returning of good to a very extra- ordinary extent. But a greater than David is here. That glorious person whose sufferings we have been contemplating, suffered not for himself, but for us : " He was cut off, but not for himself^ i'
1. It was not for his own sins — [He was pure and perfect. His very examinations proved
that * ver. 21. * Lam. i. J2. ^ Dan. ix. 26.
382.] sorrows' AND SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST. 239
that in this respect he was fit to be an offering for the r,in» of others, " a lamb without blemish, and without spot." As h« had before challenged his enemies, " Which of you convinceth me of sin ?" so the more they laboured to load him with guilt, the more clear and manifest his innocence appeared. His Judge, his fellow sufferer, his executioner, all proclaimed him innocent. The reason of his death, and his fitness for it, are stated in few words by his beloved Disciple, " He was manifested to take away our sins ; and in him was no sin."]
2. It was for the sins of others —
[In all that he endured, he was our substitute and surety. We had contracted the debt, which he paid : we had sold our inheritance, which he shed his blood to redeem. This is the account given us throughout the whole Scriptures. His sacrifice was prefigured by all the sacrifices under the Levitical law, which in expiating the sin« of those who offered them, and in restoring sinners to the favour of their God, might be said to '^ restore that which they took uot away." But this use of his sufferings^ is not left to be gathered from types and shadows : it was de- clared by the Prophets in the most express terms. " He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows":" yes; " He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon him ; and by his stripes we are healed. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us alH." To the same effect speak his Apostles also. St. Paul says, that " He who knew no sin was made sin, that is, a sin- offering for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him ^." And St. Peter tells us, that " He bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and " suffered for sins, the just for (in the room of) the unjust^" This glorious mystery may be not unfitly illustrated by St. Paul's conduct towards the peni- tent Onesimus. Onesimus had robbed his master Philemon. After his conversion by the ministry of Paul, the Apostle sought to restore him to the love and confidence of his Master ; and engaged for that end to replace from his own funds the money that Onesimus had stolen : " If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account : I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it'." Thus did the Lord Jesus Christ, while yet he was in the bosom of his Father, undertake for us ; and thus in due time he " laid down his own life a ran- som for us."]