people should suffer for evil people; which is frequently the case. Suppose that a son should step forward to save a father from death, and submit to it in his stead, would such an incident be any impeachment of God's justice? But what God permits in one instance, he may ordain in any, with such variety of circumstances as the case requires; and if in one instance he permits the innocent to suffer for the guilty, we cannot say that it is unjust for him to do so in any.

The other objection is, that this feature in the scheme of divine mercy, the reasons of which are confessedly incomprehensible to us, is derogatory to the divine power; that the intervention of a third party in the work of redemption is wholly unnecessary; that God might as well have forgiven men without any mediator to make atonement. Certainly God might have conferred his mercy on mankind in any way which seemed good to him. But our inquiry is, not what he might have done, but what he has done; and on that head we have, we can have no authentic source of information but the Scriptures. God might have bestowed all his benefits upon mankind without employing intermediate means. But this has

not been the method of his Providence, in any of his dealings with man; and we know not why it should be, in the plan of redemption. He does not bestow the good fruits of the earth upon man, without labour; he does not vouchsafe his spiritual gifts, without the intervention of prayer; and why should he be called upon to confer on mankind the greatest blessing of all, without employing such means as he himself might judge most fit? Certainly it must be acknowledged, that if we admit the doctrine of the atonement to be true, nothing can more forcibly impress us with the real nature and danger of sin, than that God should have employed such wonderful means to remedy its pernicious effects. And for that reason, if for no other, we might well be satisfied with his wisdom and goodness, in adopting the method which he did, to work out our salvation, and in revealing to us the certainty of that great mystery of godliness.

If

any argument can be imagined, powerful enough to bring us to a just sense of our own sinfulness, and of God's exceeding mercy, it is surely this; that a Being, far superior to all created beings, men or angels, united with God, as no other being is united, came down from

heaven; was found in fashion as a man; and suffered a painful and ignominious death; in obedience, as he declared, to the will of God; and for the purpose of rescuing mankind from the otherwise inevitable consequences of their sins. To a heart, convinced of the fact, sensible of its own defects and wants, this surely was a theme for wonder, for gratitude, for obedience. So overpowering is the consideration of it to the soul which can disengage itself for a time from all worldly selfishness and low desires, and which feels the infinite superiority of things eternal to things temporal, that we need not wonder, if it should form the chief object of a Christian's contemplation, as it is the sole basis of his hopes; I determined to know nothing amongst you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

From the deceits and cruelties of a world which knows not God; from its sickening vanities, its short-sighted wisdom, its deceitful confidence, the Christian turns, in imagination, his eyes towards Calvary, to contemplate the spectacle of Christ crucified. To the Jew, or the Greek, it is the last struggle of an unfortunate pretender to divine authority: he saved others, himself he cannot save. To the Christian it is

the glorious combat of Christ with sin. The agonies of that patient and merciful Redeemer are a fearful spectacle to the prince of darkness. He knows that they are part of that payment, which is to be made for the redemption of mankind from his dark dominion. The strokes of pitiless executioners, which drive the nails through the hands and feet of the suffering Jesus, are death-blows to the power of sin. The seeming conqueror is vanquished in the moment of victory. When Jesus gives up the Ghost, the reign of sin expires; and the life of man revives; his eternal life; his capacity of everlasting happiness. The Son of God is himself the trophy of his own conquest; the emblem and the pledge of salvation achieved.

Does this description seem too strong? Hear the words of an Apostle: And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened, together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross: and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.25

23 Col. ii. 13-15.

How striking an image of the glorious effects of the crucifixion! The sentence of condemnation against a race of fallen sinners stands recorded in the register of eternal justice. The written letter of God's violated law is witness against them. How shall they escape from the wrath to come? Where find an intercessor or avenger? Principalities and powers of darkness exult in the anticipated desolation of the reasonable world: this is their hour. And is there none to help? Lo, where the Son of God ascends the chariot of the cross; grasps with the right-hand of supreme authority the record of man's condemnation, nails it in triumph to his bed of death; and while the enemies of our salvation sicken at the sound, he exclaims, Father, it is finished. The work is done; Christ expires, and man lives for ever. It is finished: the good fight is fought, the conquest is achieved: its certainty will ere long be attested by the glories of the resurrection. Its greatness is even now declared by the concurrent and awful testimony of heaven and earth. The sun, the sky, the solid rocks, the sacred veil of the temple, and the voice of the awe-stricken centurion, proclaim the crucified Jesus to be conqueror over all the adverse powers of death and hell.

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