XXXII. But, besides being contemplated as grievous and distressing, the evils which were coming on Christ might be considered in another light; to wit, as the means which God had appointed for the promotion of his own glory in the salvation of the elect; and, in this view, they were not evil, but good and desirable. Hence arose another volition of Christ, different from the former, though not opposite to it; because the object now presented itself to his understanding and will under a different aspect. The same thing, which, viewed merely as an evil, he beheld with dread and aversion, when regarded as the means Divinely appointed for attaining the highest good, and thus agreeable to the will of God, was the object of his voluntary choice. Can it admit of a doubt, that in willing it in this view, he acted in a manner consonant to the dictates of wisdom and holiness? It is the part of wisdom, cheerfully to make use of means, how difficult soever, for the attainment of a great good; and particularly, if they be the only means, and singularly conducive to the end. It is the part of holiness, to bring all the affections of nature into subjection to the will, and service, of God.

XXXIII. It is not foreign to the point before us to take an example from the conduct of the afflicted. If one offer a sick person the bitter juice of wormwood, he can scarcely help trembling at the unpalatable cups of medical men, and is unwilling to drink them. When he reflects, however, that the potion will prove beneficial for restoring his health, he returns thanks to the physician, buys the nauseous draught at a great expense, and causes the appetites of nature to submit to the dictates of reason. In like manner, Christ, considering the cup presented to him as bitter, wishes it to pass from him. But regarding the same cup as con

ducive to the salvation of his people, he by no means desires to be excused from drinking it. He thus limits his conditionate will, namely, the will of nature, which shuns evil as grievous, by his absolute will, that is, the will of reason, which attends to all the circumstances of the case, that both may be consonant to the will of God.

XXXIV. It is truly a vain and quite puerile cavil, to allege, as an evidence that some mistake must have been committed, the terms of correction, but, nevertheless; which, according to the Evangelists, Christ employed. It is unfair to gather from a rhetorical, that which may be justly inferred from a logical or moral, correction. A logical correction substitutes what is true for what is false; a moral, what is good for what is bad. But a rhetorical correction is not the emendation of that which is improperly expressed; for the art of rhetoric prohibits every improper expression: it is only the addition of that which is more explicit, and forcible, and precise, to that which is less exact and less apposite. Of this we have an instance in the following words of Paul: “I laboured more abundantly "than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which "was with me." The correction here does not substitute what is true for what is false, but explains and limits that which had been truly, though less fully asserted; for Paul had himself in reality laboured, yet through the aids of divine grace. In like manner, in the place under consideration, the correction made by our Lord, is not the rectifying of a mistake, but the withdrawing of a condition formerly proposed; and an express declaration that the conditionate will, which,

1 Cor. xv. 10.

prompted by a just self-love, shrunk from the bitterness of sufferings, was subjected to the will of the Father -by that absolute will, which, having duly considered all circumstances, chose to suffer.

XXXV. The CAUSES of this dreadful agony of Christ appear to be chiefly the three following. The first is the weight of the Divine wrath and curse, already lying, and still farther to lie upon him, on account of our sins. He was burdened, not with the sins of one individual, but with all the sins of all the elect; for which, conformably to the office of suretiship which he had undertaken, he saw that he must now make satisfaction to the last farthing. He saw the awful tribunal of God, before which he was to be sisted, that he might" restore that which he took not away;"w— the Judge armed with inconceivable vengeance-the law brandishing the lightening of its curse-justice severe and inexorable to the last degree. The whole mind of Christ being at that time absorbed in these contemplations, he could not fail to be most grievously afflicted by them; for there is nothing more terrible than the object which was then presented to his view, and nothing stronger than the energy with which that terrible object was pressed upon his mind.

XXXVI. With respect to the object itself; that it comprized all that is horrible in the greatest degree, collected, so to speak, into one mighty sum, may be thus evinced. As sin is committed against a Being of infinite majesty, the curse denounced against every sin of every individual of mankind, necessarily includes an infinite punishment. Now, the curse due to all the elect was laid on Christ. If any thing, therefore, can

Gal. iii. 13. Is. liii. 6, 7.

* P8. lxix. 4.

be more infinite than what is infinite, the punishment which it was proposed to Christ to undergo, infinitely exceeded, so to speak, infinity itself: For who is able either to enumerate his own sins, or to calculate the number of all the elect? Accordingly, referring to this, he says: "Innumerable evils have compassed me "about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so "that I am not able to look up; therefore my heart "faileth me." He calls them mine iniquities, not because he had committed them, but because by his surety-engagement he had taken them on himself.

XXXVII. Besides, not only did the mind of Christ voluntarily apply itself to the contemplation of so dreadful an object; but God himself also exerted the energy of his power, to affect the innermost parts of his mind with its terrors. The relation of Judge required him to present so terrible an evil, in all its horrors, to the mind of Christ. The sufferings which affected the body, could be inflicted by men; but the conscience could be tormented with a sense of pain sufficient for the satisfaction of Divine justice, only by that same Divine justice revealing itself within him. God himself" spared "not his own Son;"y-" smote him ;"-" made him "to be sin for us ;"_" laid upon him," caused to rush upon him, like a mighty army," the iniquities of us "all."

XXXVIII. Another cause of the Redeemer's anguish was subjection to the powers of darkness-not indeed in such a manner as to be overcome, but certainly to suffer great vexation, and to sustain a most grievous

conflict. The Devil, "the prince of this world,” having obtained permission from God, marched against Jesus, with all his infernal forces,d-making use of men as his agents, to rend in pieces his body, and, as far as possible, his soul. But that wicked one himself chiefly attacked his soul, which he terrified by injecting the torments of hell. He made every effort to shake, by his temptations, the faith of Christ, and thus to prevent our salvation; or at least to harass, by the most malignant arts, him who was engaged in obtaining it. Owing to the entrance of sin, Satan had acquired a kind of dominion over the whole human race; in reference to which, sinners are called "lawful cap"tives." When, therefore, we were to be "redeemed "in righteousness," the just Judge of the universe determined that whatever dominion the Devil had obtained over elect sinners, he should exercise it on Christ, by fixing the sting of death deep into bis heart, according to the sentence pronounced in paradise, "Thou shalt "bruise his heel."f

XXXIX. But a third cause of Christ's agony was not wanting. Amidst all these distresses, he found himself forsaken by God his Father-deprived of those delightful manifestations of his favour, in which in time past he had so often and so greatly rejoiced, and that at a season when he stood in much greater need of them than formerly. Hence that mournful complaint; "My "God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me." To this we may refer the darkness which happened at the crucifixion of Christ-analogous to that "outer darkness," which is employed as an emblem of a condemnation al

d John xiv. 30.

f Gen. iii. 15.

* Ps. xxii. 1, 2. Mat. xxvii. 46.

e Is. xlix. 24.