so even his heavenly Father acted towards him, as if he had been the greatest of all criminals ; as we shall see by considering,
II. The conduct of his Father towards him —
We must acknowledge that there is something in- expressibly awful, and deeply mysterious, in the declaration before us : nevertheless it will be found literally true, that, notwithstanding the complacency and delight which the Father must of necessity have taken in the immaculate Jesus, " it pleased the Lord to bruise him."
That his heavenly Father did inflict punishment upon him, even these words indisputably prove ; as also do the words which immediately follow ; " he hath put him to grief." There is also in other parts of Scripture abundant evidence to confirm it : for, all that either men or devils did, was not only by his permission, but by his express commission. The Father " spared not his Son, but delivered him up ;" and though the Jews took him, and by wicked hands crucified and slew him, yet St. Peter says, he was delivered up " by the determinate counsel and fore- knowledge of God." And indeed, how otherwise shall we account for his agony in the garden ? If it was produced by devils, still they " could have had no power against him, except it had been given them from above." And what shall we say to that bitter lamentation which he uttered upon the cross 1 The complaint arose, not from any pains of body, but from the desertion and wrath which his soul expe- rienced from his heavenly Father : then the Father " bruised him." This expression alludes to the holy incense mentioned in Exodus : " The Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices with pure frank- incense, and thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee ; and it shall be unto you most holyV Before these spices could ascend up to God as incense, or be
" Chap. xxx. 34, 36.