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the dignity of celestial spirits. But, behold, angels sinned, and man, in like manner, sinned. Yet God, whilst he leaves angels to suffer the punishment due to their transgression, and consigns them to eternal misery, has compassion upon men, and that he may show them his compassion, becomes a partaker of the same nature with them. For he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. How great the height of love in this humiliation of Christ! The ill-advised inhabitants of Lystra of old, indulged in a tumultuous joy, when they beheld the miracles of Paul and Barnabas. "The Gods," said they, 66 are "come down to us in the likeness of men."s What they rashly presumed, we may truly affirm,-that God has made a visit to us from heaven in the form of a man, praising him in these words, "What is man that "thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that "thou visitest him?" Is it not the most incredible of all miracles, that the eternal Son of God, the Lord of glory, veiling the rays of his majesty, became a creature; -and among creatures, not one of the seraphim or cherubim, but a man (and how little is man to be accounted of!) and among men, not a king or a monarch, but "a servant of rulers." Truly he was pleased to converse familiarly with us, and to live in a condition which might obtain for us the name of brethren. "In "all things" he was "made like unto us, that he might "be a merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins " of the people." w "For we have not an High-priest

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Acts xiv. 11.

" Is. xlix. 7.
" Verse 17.

VOL. II.

F

t Ps. viii. 4.

▾ Heb. ii. 11, 12.

21.

DISSERTATION XV.

ON CHRIST'S SUFFERING UNDER

PONTIUS PILATE.

1. NOTHING can be imagined more elegant, instructive, and impressive, than the emblems made use of in sacred writ; and that which occurs in Zech. iii. 9. has always appeared to me particularly beautiful. Our Saviour is there represented as a STONE laid by the hand of God before Joshua the High-priest, to which one Stone seven eyes are directed, and the engravings of which the Lord of hosts engraved, whilst by means of it he purposed to remove the iniquity of the earth in one day. The Stone signifies Christ, who is "the "rock of our salvation," and "the corner-stone, in "whom the whole building of the church fitly framed "together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord."b He is called "one Stone;"" for other foundation can "no man lay." God hath laid the Stone, namely, "God, who so loved the world that he gave his onlybegotten Son." He laid it, too, before Joshua, that he and the rest of the priests, and all the teachers

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a Deut. xxxii. 15.

c 1 Cor. iii. 11.

Ephes. ii. 20, 21.

d John iii. 16.

of the mysteries of Divine revelation, might attend to it, might point it out to the people as the foundation of the whole system of revealed truth,-and on it might build themselves, and the people committed to their charge. This was accordingly done with great diligence, in particular, by the Apostles Peter and Paul. Upon this Stone are seven eyes;-to wit, the eyes of God, who beholds it with complacency, and protects it with care; and also the eyes of the church, which regards it with cordial and entire confidence, agreeably to the following invitation; "Look unto me, and be

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ye saved, all the ends of the earth."s But that this Stone might be distinguished from all other stones, it was necessary that it should be divinely engraved with "the engravings thereof,"-its own peculiar engravings. By this we understand "the name of God" impressed upon him as with a seal,h—that is, the splendour of the Divine Majesty shining forth in him and his works; i and also those dreadful sufferings by which it became God to make perfect the Captain of our salvation. It was by means of those sufferings that the iniquity of the whole earth was taken away, and the world reconciled to God in one day, namely, the day on which his sacrifice was completed, and, so to speak, the last farthing of his satisfaction paid. Let us then take an accurate survey of this Stone with the engravings thereof, to wit, Christ and his sufferings. We shall speak, first, of the sufferings themselves, and then of the chief Judge in Judea, under whom the principal part of them befell him.

e 1 Pet. ii. 4—6. 1 Cor. iii. 10.
! Zech. iv. 10.

8 Is. xlv. 22.

h Exod. xxiii. 21. Heb. i. 3.
j Heb. ii. 10.

i John i. 14.

k Heb. x. 14.

temple and the ark-but "bodily," that is, really or personally; as the body is either opposed to the shadow, or designates a person. To the Divinity, in consequence, it was owing, that the suffering of one so great, namely, a Divine and infinite Person, could not fail to be regarded as possessing infinite worth; so that the sufferings of Christ, though of short duration, were equivalent to the eternal sufferings of the damned; and the sufferings of a single person sufficed for the redemption of the many myriads of the elect. Hence the Scripture so often recalls our attention to the Divine dignity of Him who suffered, that we may recognise the boundless value of the satisfaction of Christ. It affirms, that " God hath purchased the church with " his own blood" that "the Lord of glory was cruci"fied"s that "Christ through the eternal Spirit offer❝ed up himself unto God"t*—that "the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin."u

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VII. To impart this infinite worth to his sufferings, it was not necessary that the Divine nature itself, or that Christ as God should suffer. It was sufficient that he who is God, should suffer. All the actions and sufferings are the actions and sufferings of the person, and receive their value and denomination from the dignity of the person, as from the principium quod, although with respect to their condition, they are to be attributed to the nature from which they take their rise, as the principium quo.8

VIII. In vain, too, doth Socinus argue, that the dignity of the person contributes nothing towards the in

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finitude of the punishment, because "there is no respect " of persons with God ;" and that if this holds even when there is room for the exercise of his mercy, much more, when the infliction of punishment according to justice, or rather according to the dictates of the strictest severity, is in question. In reply to this cavil, we observe, 1st, That "the respect of persons" which God disclaims, is quite a different matter from the consideration of the worth of the person, in estimating his sufferings. The Greek term goσov does not signify a man himself, whom we call a person; but the outward condition or quality of a person or thing, which is unconnected with the cause, and has no concern in its merits. But here the dignity of the person suffering is not an outward quality unconnected with the matter, but more than any thing else contributes essentially to the weight and merits of the cause; for the worth of the person who takes something on himself, is a consideration of great moment. In short, it is one thing to accept the face,*—which is contrary to justice, and is with great propriety represented as impossible with God; and it is a widely different thing to respect the persont properly so called,-which is just, and is rightly attributed to God. 2dly, The condition of a Surety must be distinguished from that of a sinner. Personal dignity might perhaps be of no avail to the guilty individual himself, when suffering the punishment of his own sins; because he possessed when sinning the same dignity which he possesses when suffering; and if it might be pleaded as a reason for dimi

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