he laid down his life of himself as the lord of it, and gave himself freely to be an offering and sacrifice in the room of his people, which is a proof of his great love and amazing grace unto them."-Dr. Doddridge also contends that the phrase " àрñке тò пνεõμа,”-in Matt., chap. 27, v. 50, should be rendered,-"he dismissed his spirit; "--and observes," Now this expression seems admirably to suit our Lord's words, John, chap. 10, v. 18.—'No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself,' etc.-showing, as the strong cry which so much impressed the centurion did, that he died by the voluntary act of his own mind, according to the power received from the Father, and in a way peculiar to himself, by which he alone of all men that ever existed could have continued alive, even in the greatest tortures, as long as he pleased, or have retired from the body whenever he thought fit. Which view of the case, by the way, suggests an illustration of the love of Christ manifested in his death beyond what is commonly observed; inasmuch as he did not use this power to quit his body as soon as ever it was fastened to the cross, leaving only an insensible corpse to the cruelty of his murderers, but continued his abode in it with a steady resolution as long as it was proper, and then retired from it with a majesty and dignity never known, or to be known in any other death; dying, if I may so express it, like the prince of life." ""*

Lastly, Dr. Adam Clarke, taking the same view of the phrase, remarks,—" He himself willingly gave up that life which it was impossible for man to take away. It is not said that he hung on the cross till he died through pain and agony, nor is it said that his bones were broken the sooner to put him out of pain, and to hasten his death, but

* Dr. Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; Comment on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50.-Dr. Doddridge, Family Expositor of the New Testament; Comment on Luke, chap. 23, v. 46.

that himself dismissed the soul, that he might thus become not a forced sacrifice, but a free-will offering for sin.”*

The quotations above collected plainly show that from an early period of Christianity down to the present day many learned and pious men have agreed in ascribing the death of Christ to supernatural agency. Had not the later writers of this class been guided by an undue deference to the opinions of their predecessors rather than by independent inquiry, it is difficult to understand how so many able divines should have concurred in a view decidedly contradicted by several passages of the New Testament, which positively declare that Christ was slain by his enemies, and died the death of the cross. Thus, when anticipating his crucifixion a few days before its occurrence, the Saviour himself predicted,-"If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me:"-on which the apostle John remarks,-"In thus speaking, he signified the kind of death which he was about to die."-Paul, in like manner, affirms that Christ-"assumed the form of a slave, and was made in the likeness of men, and, having been found in aspect as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."-In his defence before the Sanhedrim, Stephen indignantly asked, —“Which of the prophets did your fathers forbear to persecute? Yea, they slew those who foretold the coming of that righteous person, of whom ye have now been the betrayers and murderers."-Similar statements were on various occasions made by Peter; as, for example, when replying to the Sanhedrim,-"The God of our fathers raised from the dead Jesus, whom ye slew by crucifixion; "-when addressing the vast multitude assembled at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost,-"Him, having been delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye took, and by the hands of wicked men * Dr. Adam Clarke, Comment on Matt., chap. 27, v. 50.

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crucified and slew;"-and in a second address to the same multitude shortly afterward,-"The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and rejected before Pilate, when he had decided on releasing him; but ye rejected that holy and righteous person, and [in his stead] begged for the release of a murderer, and slew the prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. . . . And now, brethren, I know that ye did [this] through ignorance, as likewise did your rulers; but those sufferings of Christ which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, he hath thus accomplished." *—In his Exposition of the Creed," Bishop Pearson discusses the subject with much ability; and, although his own explanation is equally objectionable, deserves credit for the soundness of his judgment, in rejecting that which is now under consideration. Christ, he observes,-" died not by, but with a miracle. Should we imagine Christ to anticipate the time of death, and to subtract his soul from future torments necessary to cause an expiration, we might rationally say the Jews and Gentiles were guilty of his death, but we could not properly say they slew him. Guilty they must be, because they inflicted those torments which in time death must necessarily follow; but slay him actually they did not, if his death proceeded from any other cause, and not from the wounds which they inflicted." —After a careful perusal of the passages above cited, it does not require any long or elaborate reasoning to prove that, if the Saviour humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross, if the Father accomplished his designs in this respect through the instrumentality of Christ's enemies, and

* John, chap. 12, v. 30-34; chap. 18, v. 31, 32;—Acts, chap. 2, v. 22, 23; chap. 3, v. 12–18; chap. 5, v. 29, 30; chap. 7, v. 51, 52; chap. 10, v. 38, 39;-Philipp., chap. 2, v. 5–8;—Heb., chap. 12, v. 1–3.

Bishop Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, pp. 212, 213.

if in the midst of their fancied triumph over him they were in reality blindly executing the divine purposes, whatever may be the true explanation of his death, it cannot be attributed to supernatural agency. The opposite opinion has been chiefly deduced from the declaration of Jesus that no man took his life from him, but that he laid it down of himself, and from the expressions of some of the evangelists, that at his death he resigned or dismissed his spirit; but the foregoing passages, in conjunction with several others which might be added, prove the meaning of these expressions to be simply this; that, in fulfilment of the divine plan of human redemption, Christ voluntarily submitted to a violent death which he had it in his power to avoid. That he actually suffered such a death is indeed repeatedly stated, both before and after the event. Thus, in his last journey to Jerusalem,-"he took the twelve aside, and began to apprize them of what was about to befall him, [saying]-Behold! we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests, and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles, who will mock him, and scourge him, and spit on him, and kill him, but on the third day he will rise from the dead.”—That it was in the power of Christ to avoid such a death, had he chosen to renounce the object of his mission, is evident, among other reasons, from his miraculous overthrow of the hostile band in the garden of Gethsemane; from his question to Peter,-"Thinkest thou that I cannot even now request my Father, and he would send to my aid more than twelve legions of angels? [but] how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, [which declare] that thus it must be?"—and from his remark to Pilate,-"Thou wouldst not have had any authority at all against me, had it not been given thee from above."*-In all the scriptural allusions to this sub

*Matt., chap. 16, v. 21; chap. 17, v. 22, 23; chap. 20, v. 17-19;

ject, the death intimated, although voluntary, is moreover represented not as self-inflicted, but as penal and vicarious. In the very passage which has been thus misinterpreted, the death encountered by the good shepherd for the safety of his flock is ascribed to the wolf from whom the hireling flees. So, when Peter promised to lay down his life for Christ's sake, his meaning is explained to be, that he would follow him both to prison and to death. The true interpretation of this passage is, however, ascertained beyond all doubt by the same apostle who records it; for he declares that, as-" Christ laid down his life for us, we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren;' -not of course by suicide, but by cheerfully submitting to death from persecution, whenever it may appear necessary for the welfare of the church; an act of self-devotion which the apostle Paul repeatedly professed himself ready to perform, and at last actually accomplished. On such occasions it was usual for Christian martyrs to resign, or commend their spirits to God, in token of their perfect acquiescence in his will, and confidence in his fidelity; and, with the exception of his having been a victim of an infinitely higher order, this was all that was done by Christ himself when he died on the cross. Accordingly, while Matthew and John state that he dismissed or resigned his spirit, Mark and Luke say simply, that he expired.*

From the concurrence of so many pious and learned authors in ascribing the death of Jesus to supernatural

chap. 26, v. 51-54;-Mark, chap. 8, v. 31; chap. 9, v. 30, 31; chap. 10, y. 32-34;-Luke, chap. 9, v. 21, 22; chap. 18, v. 31-33;—John, chap. 10, v. 17, 18; chap. 18, v. 1-6; chap. 19, v. 8-11;-1 Thess. chap. 2, v. 14, 15;-Revel. chap. 5, v. 9, 12, etc.

*Luke, chap. 22, v. 33;-John, chap. 10, v. 11-15; chap. 13, v. 36, 37;-Acts, chap. 7, v. 59, 60 ;-Rom. chap. 5, v. 6-8 ;-Philipp. chap. 2, v. 17, 18;-Coloss. chap. 1, v. 23, 24 ;-2 Tim. chap. 1, v. 12; chap, 4, v. 6-8;-1 Peter, chap. 4, v. 12-19;-1 John, chap. 3, v. 16.