It may be supposed, that no supernatural sagacity was necessary to predict the sufferings and death of Jesus. A man in humble circumstances,-attacking directly the strongest prejudices of the learned and powerful, teaching doctrines which had a tendency to overthrow existing establishments, and introduce a new order of things,-could scarcely, it may be said, rationally expect to escape severe sufferings, and a violent death. It would be easy to shew, that these reasonings go on a very partial view of the subject, and that from the remarkable popularity of Jesus at one period, with a variety of other circumstances, arising out of the peculiar character and situation of the Jews, his sufferings and death were by no means so certain, or even so probable, as they have been represented; but I content myself with remarking, that Christ Jesus not only predicted in general that he should suffer and die, but foretold a variety of particulars about his sufferings and death, which no human sagacity could have foreknown. Who, unless illuminated from above, even on the supposition that his sufferings and death were in themselves obvious, could have foretold whether he was to fall by assassination, popular tumult, or the forms of legal procedure? Yet this was most explicitly predicted by our Lord: 66 'Behold," said he, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the high priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify." Could mere human sagacity have foreseen that he was not to be put to death by stoning, the punishment appointed by the Jewish law for his supposed crimes, but by a Roman mode of inflicting capital punishment, - crucifixion? Yet, at a very early period of his ministry, he said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder

Surely

ness, so shall the Son of man be liftted up." no unprejudiced person can contemplate these proofs of Jesus' knowledge of futurity, without feeling inclined to exclaim, with Nathaniel, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel!"

That foresight of our Lord's sufferings, which, when viewed in connection with the event, so clearly establishes the divinity of his mission, may be viewed also as greatly aggravating the severity of these sufferings. Every person knows, by experience, that the expectation of evil is itself a severe evil. The apprehension of an affliction as probable, though we have no certainty of its befalling us, is painful, and the degree of pain is proportioned to the degree of probability. The prospect of unavoidable evil is peculiarly dreadful. Happily the Author of our nature, by "putting the times and the seasons in his own power," has but seldom inflicted this severe chastisement on his human children. It was otherwise with our Lord. He was perfectly acquainted with all the unparalleled sufferings which lay before him. He lived in daily expectation of Judas' treason,-the disciples' desertion,-the high priest's condemnation,— the Roman governor's sentence, the torture of the scourge, the shame of the cross, the hiding of his Father's countenance, and the pressure of his indignation. Now, though we know all this could not induce the Son of God to abandon his undertaking, we should be reasoning on the supposition, that "he was" not "in all things made like unto his brethren," were we to draw the conclusion, that all this gave him no pain. When these events happened, he felt pain; and, no doubt, he felt pain, too, in the anticipation of them. When traversing the streets of Jerusalem, the sad thought must often have occurred, "Through these streets I am soon to be dragged-an execrated

prisoner." When resorting to Gethsemane, as he was wont, "here," must he have thought, "am I to lie stretched in speechless agony and sore amazement.” Lifting up his eyes to Calvary, he must, in imagination, have beheld his cross. With this scene of certain suffering constantly before him, need we wonder if the tradition of the ancients should prove true, that, during the whole of his life, Jesus of Nazareth was never known to laugh, though he often sighed and wept?

In our Lord's foresight of his sufferings, we have also a striking illustration of the greatness of his love. The Redeemer was a voluntary sufferer. Had he not so willed it, he needed not to have suffered at all;had he not so willed it, he needed not to have suffered in this particular form. What a wondrous proof of the Saviour's love to us, that, in order to obtain our salvation, he was not only willing to endure sufferings so severe and varied, but to have, during the whole of his humbled life, the prospect of all these severe and varied sufferings! It was wonderful that he should suffer for us at all; but the wonder increases when we reflect, that he suffered that often by anticipation which he suffered once in reality. As the Saviour's voluntarily submitting to endure this anticipated view of his sufferings illustrates his love, surely his persisting in the great work of our redemption, notwithstanding the full comprehension he had of its difficulties, places the same amazing truth in a very striking point of view. In giving himself for us, he was perfectly aware of the extent of the sacrifice he was making; yet he cheerfully made it. He set his face as a flint, and refused to be dismayed. He stedfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem," though well aware of all the agonies which awaited him there.

2d, The text leads us to consider Christ's sufferings

under the figure of a baptism with which he was to be baptized: "I have a BAPTISM to be baptized with." Baptism is a Greek word with an English termination. In ordinary language it is expressive of the Christian rite of initiation, which is performed by the application of water"in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." As the ordinance of Christian baptism, properly so called, was not instituted when our Lord uttered these words, the allusion cannot be to it; and as there does not appear satisfactory evidence to the existence of proselyte baptism among the Jews in the days of our Lord, the reference must either be to the ceremonial washings or baptisms * of vessels destined to the divine service, or rather perhaps to the baptism which John, the forerunner of our Lord, and the disciples of our Lord, (" for Jesus baptized not, but his disciples,") administered to their followers.

It matters not much to which of these we consider our Lord as alluding, as the ideas in reference to his sufferings suggested by both, are the same. These seem to be chiefly the three following the two first suggested by the origin and design of the rite, and the last by the mode in which it was sometimes, if not usually, administered. The figurative expression

teaches us, that our Saviour's sufferings were the result of a divine appointment,-that they marked the sacredness of his character, and, as it were, consecrated him to an important office,-and that they were to be peculiarly severe, he being, as it were, to be immersed or overwhelmed in suffering.

Our Saviour's sufferings may be termed a baptism, as they are the result of a divine appointment. Under the law, by divine appointment, almost every thing

* Mark vii. 4. βαπλισμούς.

used in the service of God was baptized, either by affusion or immersion, by water or by blood. John's baptism is expressly asserted to be of God; and there can be no doubt the baptism of our Lord's disciples had the same high origin. To whatever baptism then the reference is made, it suggests the idea of divine appointment.

The doctrine of divine predestination, is not merely clearly revealed in the Holy Scriptures, but necessarily results from the first principles of religious truth. It is a doctrine confessedly mysterious, yet demonstrably true. Though liable to abuse, it is, when properly explained, calculated to serve many important practical purposes; and while its admission is attended with considerable difficulties, it cannot be consistently denied, without, at the same time, renouncing our belief in the infinite knowledge and wisdom of God. All is ordered. "God worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will."

That the sufferings of Christ, in particular, are the result of a divine appointment, is most evident. They were intimated in the first promise, shadowed forth in a great variety of types, and predicted most circumstantially in a great variety of prophecies. The language of Scripture on this subject is most express. Truly," said the Saviour himself, "truly the Son of Man goeth, as it was determined." The Apostle Peter, speaking of the sufferings of Christ, as the ransom for the forfeited souls of men, says, "he was fore-ordained ed before the foundation of the world." I shall add

only one other testimony to this doctrine: "Of a truth,” exclaimed the primitive believers, on hearing the account of Peter and John's appearance before the Jewish Sanhedrim, " of a truth, O Lord, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel,