two-edged sword driven nearly to the backbone, so as to destroy the animal's life by the sudden effusion of the greater part of its blood, which was afterward solemnly sprinkled or poured out, as the symbol of atonement and propitiation. The process is well described by Outram in his treatise on sacrifices, who further remarks "The most sacred of all rites was the sprinkling of blood, whereby the life or soul of the victim was supposed to be offered to God, as the supreme lord of life and death; for, as in these religious acts whatsoever was laid on the altar of God was thought to be offered to him, so with the blood, as the vehicle of the life and soul, and sometimes even termed the life itself, the life and soul were supposed to be thus offered. Hence may be understood the passage in the Revelation of St. John,-'I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain on account of the word of God, and of the testimony which they had given ; '— for the souls of whom he here speaks were, as the words themselves show, the souls of those who, like so many sacred victims, had shed their blood." *-That the blood of inferior victims represented that of Christ is declared in many parts of the New Testament, more especially by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews, who observes," According to the law almost all things are purified by blood, and without effusion of blood there is no discharge [of sins. It was] therefore necessary that the types of heavenly things should be thus purified, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these." This view of the subject is well expressed by Rambach, who remarks that, under the Mosaic law,-"the atonement for sin was not made till all the blood of the animal was drained off and poured at the foot of the altar.

* Outram, De Sacrificiis, pp. 164-169;-Rambach, On the Sufferings of Christ, vol. iii. pp. 281, 282, 289-292;-Heb. chap. 4, v. 12;-Revel. chap. i. v. 16; chap. 6, v. 9-11.

Hence St. Paul says, that- without shedding of blood there is no remission.'-The pouring forth the blood of the sacrifice at the foot of the altar represents with regard to Christ the abundant shedding of his blood on the cross, till the absolute separation of his body and soul. For it is said of Christ,-He hath poured out his soul unto death;'-and consequently he poured out his blood with the utmost willingness and overflowing zeal for the honor of God, and the unspeakable good of mankind." *-But here a formidable difficulty presents itself. The ordinary death of the cross did not furnish the requisite condition. Instead of occurring suddenly by the effusion of the life'sblood, it was effected by slow exhaustion, and protracted torture. The scanty drainings of blood from the transfixed extremities could not satisfy the demands of the Levitical law; and if under that dispensation one of the inferior animals had been thus slain, it could not have been accepted as a victim at the altar. The stab with the soldier's spear might, in appearance at least, have answered the purpose, had it been given during life, but Jesus was already dead when it took place. The fatal hæmorrhage foretold in Scripture is moreover represented as the result, not of external violence but of inward grief, and in a certain sense as his own act ;-"He poured out his life's-blood unto death."-During a long succession of ages the types and prophecies of Scripture announced that Christ would suffer the death of malediction, and of the cross; not, however, in the usual manner, nor yet by the fracture of his limbs, but by some extraordinary process connected with-"the travail of his soul," and terminating on the very day of his crucifixion in the effusion of his life's-blood, the indispensable medium of atonement. The key to this enigma has already been supplied. By voluntary suffering the divine malediction, of which the

* Rambach, as above cited;-Heb. chap. 9, v. 11-15, 19-23.

cross was the appointed emblem, Christ endured a degree of mental agony which, after previously forcing from him a bloody sweat, at length occasioned sudden rupture of the heart, attended with an internal discharge of blood proving instantly fatal. In order that there might be a public demonstration of this event, which otherwise would not have been perceived, it was further predicted,"They shall look on him whom they pierced."-This actually happened some time after his death, and the immediate flow of blood and water, which followed the wound made in his side by the soldier's spear, proved that it had been preceded by rupture of the heart, which was likewise predicted in express terms:-" My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels."-Thus, as was intimated at the beginning, the peculiar cause of the death of Christ, which by a regular induction from the evangelical narrative has been ascertained as a fact, remarkably illustrates the entire series of types and prophecies relating to that solemn event, which could not indeed in any other manner have been completely fulfilled. These in turn, by their minute and perfect correspondence with the circumstances, afford, if that were necessary, an additional confirmation of the fact itself, and the whole transaction demonstrates with irresistible evidence the special interposition and superintendence of the Deity.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE NARRATIVES

AND SYMBOLS OF THE NEW TESTA

MENT IN RELATION TO THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

In the Scriptures of the New Testament, composed directly or indirectly by the apostles under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the death of Christ occupies a prominent place, as the common centre or foundation of the entire system of evangelical truth therein delivered. Hence, if the explanation of the event which has now been offered is correct, it may be expected to elucidate and confirm all the representations given of it in that portion of the sacred volume, whether in the form of narratives and symbols by which the fact is described, or in that of doctrines and precepts by which it is applied to important purposes.

The four gospels are brief but graphic memoirs of the life of Christ on earth. Those of Matthew and John were composed by the apostles whose names they bear, those of Mark and Luke by eminent disciples under the superintendence of apostles, particularly Peter and Paul. They are all, however, similar in their origin, and equal in their authority, consisting of reports furnished by eyewitnesses and attendants of Christ, selected by himself as his ambassadors to the world, qualified for their office by the extraordinary influence of the Holy Spirit, and accredited by their personal character, their successful ministry, and their miraculous powers. All the gospels were

published within a few years after the ascension of Christ, while the events which they commemorate were still recent, and the greater part of them well known to the inhabitants of the country where they occurred. The genuineness of these narratives was attested by the contemporary churches to whose care they were committed; and, with the exception of slight and immaterial variations, unavoidable when manuscripts are repeatedly copied, they have been transmitted unaltered to the present day. The earliest gospel was probably that of Luke, addressed to converted Greeks; the second that of Matthew, addressed to converted Jews. The third, that of Mark, is chiefly a harmonized epitome of the two preceding ones, omitting the preliminary transactions, and most of the longer discourses; and the last, that of John, is a supplemental gospel, furnishing many interesting particulars concerning the opposition made to Christ by the Jewish rulers and people, which could not have been conveniently related at an earlier period, and which this apostle was peculiarly qualified to describe.

In the narratives of the four evangelists, more especially when harmonized and combined, the outward circumstances connected with the sufferings of Christ are so admirably depicted, that by their aid the attentive reader is, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, rendered almost a spectator of the scene. While, however, the inspired writers faithfully record all that was seen and heard on the occasion, it is not probable that they understood, and it is certain that they do not explain the immediate cause of the Saviour's death. On the contrary, their accounts of it, although bearing all the marks of fidelity, appear at first sight so strange and mysterious, that some persons have deemed them incredible. Yet, when carefully examined, they are found to be perfectly natural and consistent, and while excluding every other interpretation,