justice in the extreme to punish with such severity the innocent in place of the guilty; that if he was pleased to pardon the sin of man, he might do it without such expense to his own, and only Son: he probably aimed at discouraging him in his undertaking, by suggesting that the mercies of Jehovah were clean gone for ever; that the cloud which blackened over his head was never to be dispelled, nor softened by one cheering ray; that the cup of trembling which he was appointed to drink, would never be exhausted, but his sufferings must be as endless as they were exquisite; he thus endeavoured to seduce the Surety to turn away his lips from that cup, or shrink back from that Jordan of wrath which would infallibly overflow and overwhelm him: he no doubt painted to his view, with every circumstance of aggravation, the horrors of that cross on which his body was to be stretched, and his course on earth to be finished; that it was a mode of dying painful to the flesh, reproachful in the extreme, fit for the off-scouring of society, and inflicted only on slaves: The deceiver would represent to our Lord that the offence of the cross could never be removed that it must entail perpetual infamy on his own character, and remain an insurmountable barrier to the progress of his gospel among the nations; that the very consideration of a Chief expiring ignominiously upon a tree must be disgusting to all who heard it, and discourage them from enlisting

under his standard, and therefore that he was "laboring in vain" that he must remain a Captain without soldiers, or a Prince without subjects. Sin to a pure being is always more offensive than suffering, and without doubt these foul, blasphemous suggestions added inconceivably to the anguish of the Son of God; they were more painful to his immaculate soul, a thousand fold, than either the nails or the thorns which tortured his flesh. It was to prepare him for this conflict, and animate him to persevere that Moses and Elias had appeared on mount Tabor, speaking of that "decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem;" representing to our Saviour that however painful his sufferings, and degrading the manner of his death, the issue would be everlastingly glorious: "An angel also appeared strengthening him in the garden," and legions of angels really, although invisibly, attended on that occasion; they waited to hail with new hallelujahs every conquest which our Captain obtained over the hosts of darkness.

As in the wilderness, so in the garden our adorable Lord instantly repelled each temptation of the arch-apostate: he would reply that all this humiliation was agreeable to his own voluntary undertaking from eternity; that as he had substituted himself in the room of a chosen world, it was proper that he should bear that wrath to which they were obnoxious; that it "became Jehovah, of whom are all things, and by whom

are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make him the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings:" "True it is," the Surety probably replied, "my blood must flow, but in flowing it quenches the flames of hell which were kindled by the crimes of my children, and must have consumed them forever; I must die, but in dying I will be a conqueror, and establish a kingdom to comprehend all nations, and last forever: My body must be stretched on the cross, and it is written "cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree," but the offence of the cross must cease: it ceases to me, it must cease to my followers, when we reflect on the infinitely important consequences: thereby the law is magnified, the injuries of the divine government are repaired, and millions of the human family redeemed." "With the sword of the spirit," as thus it is written, he repelled these principalities and powers; he drove them back to their native hell; bound them in heavier chains, and locked upon them the gates of the bottomless pit. "He spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them upon his cross. "Now," the captain of our salvation victorious over the hosts of darkness exclaims in holy exultation, "now is the judgment of this world; now is the prince of this world. cast out: I beheld satan as lightning falling from heaven."

But all the sufferings which the Saviour

underwent from earth and hell, were not to be compared to the infinitely greater wrath of his righteous Father." "It pleased the Lord to bruise him: He hath put him to grief;" he not only took off the restraint from Judas permitting him to betray him, and from Pilate permitting him to pass sentence against him, and from the multitude, permitting them to crucify him: He not only lengthened the chain of the great dragon, permitting him to assail and exhaust all his rage upon him, but with his own hand actually "oppressed and afflicted the Son of his love." With his own breath he kindled up that flame which would have melted the rocks, consumed the mountains, and dried up the waters of ocean: With his own arm he inflicted that stroke which would have ground to powder the creation of God. It is therefore worthy of notice, that it was the displeasure of his Father which our Saviour chiefly deprecated, and of this he exclusively complained in the hour of his agony: He says nothing of those nails which tortured his hands; of the sword which pierced his side, or of the thorns with which his head was mangled: He says nothing of the infamy of that cross on which his body hung, or of the fury of all the hosts of hell which he was called to encounter. So far "he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth" by way of complaint. But when Jehovah came forth to execute upon him the fierceness of his anger, he

then "became sorrowful, and sore amazed.” His sufferings in his soul, under the infinite pressure of divine wrath, were the very soul of his sufferings. These extorted from hist lips groan after groan. "My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? I have not language to express that horror of great darkness which has collected, and now envelopes me: All my bones are out of joint; my heart within me is melted like wax, consumed by the fervor of thy wrath: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me; why hast thou cast me off, and art thou so far from the words of my roaring?" Again, "being in an agony, he prayed more fervently, if it be possible let this cup pass from me." But the cup of vengeance was filled up for Jesus as the substitute of his chosen, and must be emptied to its dregs: The sword of justice was already roused from its slumbers, and must perform its office, in being bathed in his blood. "Without the shedding of his blood, there could be no remission of sins. He must be made perfect through sufferings, before he could become the author of eternal salvation."

The peculiar nature of that wrath which the Son of God endured in the garden, and upon the cross, we cannot comprehend in its full extent: As he appeared in the capacity of a Surety, sustaining our nature, substituted in our covenant-room, and bearing our iniquities, the vengeance which he suf fered must have been the same in substance