ture; but the glory of the righteous Judge manifested in the good of the guilty criminal, is the peculiar mysterious wisdom of the cross. It is easy to conceive God's righteousness declared in the punishment of sins; the Cross alone declares his righteousness in the remission of sins, Rom. iii. 25. It magnifies justice in the way of pardoning sin, and mercy in the way of punishing it. It shews justice more awful than if mercy had been excluded, and mercy more amiable than if justice had been dispensed with. It magnifies the law, and makes it honourable, Isa. xlii. 21. It magnifies the criminal who broke the law; and the respect put upon the law makes him honourable likewise, 1 Cor. ii. 7. Yea, this is so contrived, that every honour done to the criminal is an honour done to the law, and all the respect put upon the law puts respect also on the criminal; for every blessing the sinner receives, is for the sake of obedience and satisfaction made to the law, not by himself, but by another, who could put infinitely greater dignity on the law; and the satisfaction of that other for the sinner, puts the greatest dignity on him that he is capable of. Both the law and the sinner may glory in the cross of Christ. Both of them receive eternal honour and glory by it.

The glories that are found separately in the other works of God, are found united here. The joys of heaven glorify God's goodness. the pains of hell glorify his justice; the cross of Christ glorifies both of them in a more remarkable manner than heaven or hell glorifies any of them. There is more remarkable honour done to the justice of God by the sufferings of Christ, than by the torments of devils: and there is a more remarkable display of the goodness of God, in the redemption of sinners, than in the joy of angels so that we can conceive no object, in which we can discover such manifold wisdom, or so deep contrivance for advancing the glory of God.

The like may be said of its contrivance for the good of man. It heals all his diseases, it pardons all

his sins, Psal. ciii. It is the sacrifice that removes the guilt of sin; it is the motive that removes the love of sin; it mortifies sin and expiates it. It atones for disobedience, it excites to obedience; it purchases strength for obedience, it makes obedience practicable, it makes it delightful, it makes it acceptable, it makes it in a manner unavoidable, it constrains to it, 2 Cor. v. 14. It is not only the motive to obedience, but the pattern of it. It satisfies the curse of the law, and fulfils the commands of it. Love is the fulfilling of the law, the sum of which is the love of God and of our neighbour. The cross of Christ is the highest instance of both. Christ's sufferings are to be considered as actions. Never action gave such glory to God, never action did such good to man:

And it is the way to shew our love to God and man, by promoting the glory of the one, and the good of the other.

Thus, the sufferings of Christ teach us our duty, by that love whence they flowed, and that good for which they were designed. But they teach us, not only by the design of them, but also by the manner of his undergoing them. Submission to God, and forgiveness of our enemies, are two of the most difficult duties. The former is one of the chief expres sions of love to God, and the latter of love to man. But the highest submission is, when a person submits to suffering though free of guilt; and the highest forgiveness is, to forgive our murderers; especially if the murderers were persons who were obliged to us; as if a person not only should forgive them who took away his life, even though they owed him their own life, but also desire others to forgive them, pray for them, and as much as possible excuse them. This was the manner of Christ's bearing his sufferings; Father, thy will be done; and, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Thus we see how fit a mean the Cross is for promoting the best ends, for justification and sanctification. It would be too long to insist here in shewing

its manifold fitness, for promoting also joy and peace here, and everlasting happiness hereafter: for no doubt, it will be a great part of the future happiness, to remember the way it was purchased, and to see the Lamb that was slain, at the right hand of him that gave him for that end. The things already adduced shew that the incomprehensible wisdom of God is gloriously displayed in the cross of Christ, because it hath such amazing contrivance in it for advancing the good of man, as well as the glory of God: for that is the design of it, to shew the glory of God, and good-will towards man.

But it is not only the glory of Divine wisdom that shines in this blessed object, but also the glory of Divine power. This to them who know not Christ is no small paradox: but to them who believe, Christ crucified, is the wisdom of God and the power of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. The Jews thought Christ's crucifixion a demonstration of his want of power; hence they upbraided him, that he who wrought so many miracles, suffered himself to hang on the cross. But this itself was the greatest miracle of all. They asked, Why he who saved others, saved not himself? They named the reason without taking heed to it. That was the very reason why at that time he saved not himself, because he saved others; because he was willing and able to save others. The motive of his enduring the cross was powerful, divine love, stronger than death; the fruits of it powerful, divine grace, the power of God to salvation, Rom. i. 16. making new creatures, raising souls from the dead; these are acts of Omnipotence. We are ready to admire chiefly the power of God in the visible world, but the soul of man is a far nobler creature than it. We justly admire the power of the Creator in the motion of the heavenly bodies, but the motion of souls towards God as their centre, is far more glorious; the effects of the same power far more eminent, and far more lasting.

The wounds of Christ seemed effects of weakness;

but it is easy to observe incomparable strength appearing in them. We should consider what it was that bruised him-he was bruised for our iniquities. The Scripture represents them, (Isa. liii.) as a great burden; and describes us all lying helpless under it, as a people laden with iniquity. Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows; not those we feel here only, but those we deserved to feel hereafter. We should consider who laid this burden on him; the Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all, Isa. liii. 6. We might well say with Cain, our punishment was more than we were able to bear. This might be said to every one of us apart. But it was not the sins of one that he bore; he bore the sins of many, of multitudes as the sand on the sea-shore, and the sins of every one of them, as numerous. This was the heaviest, and most terrible weight in the world.

The curse of the law was a weight sufficient to crush a world. They who first brought it on themselves found it so. It sunk legions of angels, who excel in strength, when they had abused that strength against the law, from the heaven of heavens, to the bottomless pit. The same weight that had crushed rebel angels, threatened man for joining with them. Before man could bear it; before any person could have his own proportion of it, it behoved, as it were, to be divided into numberless parcels. Man, after numberless ages, would have born but a small part of it. The wrath to come, would have been always wrath to come, to all eternity; there would have been still infinitely more to bear. Christ only had strength to bear it all; to bear it all, in a manner at once, to bear it all, alone. None of the people were with him; our burden, and our help was laid on One who was mighty. And his bearing it, was a glorious manifestation of his might, of the noblest kind of might, that he was mighty to save.

It is true, that load bruised him; but we would not be surprised at that, if we considered the dread

fulness of the shock. Could we conceive the weight of eternal justice, ready to fall down, like lightning, with violence upon a world of malefactors, and view that sacred body interposed betwixt the load of wrath from above, and the heirs of wrath below, we would not wonder at these bruises, we would not despise them. We should consider the event, had that wrath fallen lower. Had it met with no obstacle, it would have made havock of another kind; this world would have been worse than a chaos, and been covered with the dismal effects of vindictive justice and Divine righteous vengeance.

Although his sacred flesh was both mangled and marred with that dismal load, yet we should consider that it sustained it. Here was incomparable strength, that it sustained that shock which would have grinded mankind into powder; and he sustained it, as was said before, alone. He let no part of it fall lower. They who take sanctuary under this blessed covert, are so safe, that they have no more to do with that load of wrath but to look to it, John iii. 14. To allude to the Psalmist's expressions, Psal. xci. 7, 8. It shall not come nigh them, only with their eyes they shall behold, and see the reward of their wickedness; but they shall see it given to that righteous One; and all that in effect is left to them in this matter, is by faith to look and behold what a load of vengeance was hovering over their guilty heads, and how that guiltless and spotless body interposed; they'll see it crushed at a sad rate. But it is the end of the conflict, that shews on what side the victory is in that dreadful struggle, Christ's body was brought as low as the grave. But though the righteous fall, he rises again. Death was undermost in the struggle, 1 Cor. xv. 27. It was Christ that conquered in falling, and completed the conquest in rising. The cause, design and effects of these wounds, shew incomparable power and strength appearing in them. The same strength appeared in his behaviour under them; and the manner in which he bore them, we see in the history of