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 ransom for us."]
What an instructive mystery is this ! We see in it,
1. The proper ground for faith —
[To what, or to whom, shall we look to reconcile us to God ? Can we " restore what we have taken way? " or will any one else undertake to restore it for us ? What compensation can we make for our violations of God's law ? What ofFerinsif can we make, that shall satisfy the claims of divine justice? or what can we do to compensate for the glory of which we have robbed our God? Alas! to make the attempt, or entertain the thought, were vain in the extreme. But Jesus has by his own obedience unto death made full satisfaction for all our sins. Have we poured contempt upon the law ? He " has magnified the law, and made it honourable \" Have we brought dishonour on our God ? He has glorified every one of the divine perfections more, infinitely more, by his obedience unto death, than they ever could have been glorified either by the perfect obedience, or the eternal condemnation, of the whole human race*^. He then is worthy to be confided in as a Saviour: he is a sure foundation whereon to build all our hopes for time and for eternity. Hence he says, (and may God give to every one of us grace to comply with the invitation !) " Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else^"]
2. The strongest motive for love —
[What shall induce us to love the Saviour, if the contem- plation of his vicarious sufferings will not ? Can we think of " the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich™;" can we think of this, I say, and not have our souls inflamed with love and gratitude to him? Surely such love must constrain us to admire him, to adore him, to magnify him, to serve him with all our faculties and all our powers. The very stones would cry out against us, if we did not break forth, as it were, in continual hosannas to our adorable Benefactor.]
3. The safest rule for obedience —
[We must expect to be, in a greater or less degree, con- formed to our Saviour in his sufferings, if ever we would be conformed to him in his glory. From men we must expect persecutions for his sake. From Satan we shall meet with the
i> Philem. ver. 18, 19. ' Isai. xlii. 21. ^ John xiii. 31.
1 Isai. xlv. 22. "> 2 Cor. viii. 9.