together with the Gentiles, and people of Israel in this city, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed to do what thy hand and counsel decreed to be done.* The death of Christ was voluntary. It was by his voluntary obedience to his Father, in bearing testimony to the truth, in opposition to the prejudices of the Jews, that he subjected himself to their resentment, which occasioned their slaying him. He might have kept at a distance from Jerusalem, or have availed himself of his popularity with the multitude to have resisted their attempts on his life, to say nothing of his miraculous powers; but he never shunned danger when duty called him to face it, nor made the least resistance when treated with the greatest injustice and barbarity; when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously. He said, Thinkest thou that cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scripture be fulfilled? (Matt. xxvi. 53, 54.) This fully proves that his obedience to death was voluntary: and that God would not have exacted it had it been otherwise. Because he suffered voluntarily, in obedience to the will of his Father, he said, Therefore doth the Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take (receive) it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power (authority) to lay it down, and I * DR. DU VEIL'S Literal Explanation of the Acts. have power (authority) to take (to receive) it again. This commandment (to suffer without resistance, and expect the restoration of my life) received I of my Father. (John, x. 17, 18.) Thus it appears, that he valued truth more than his life; that he chose the most dreadful sufferings rather than disobey his Father, that he preferred the good of mankind to, not only his own reputation and ease, but even to life itself. : CHAPTER SECOND. The design of the death of Christ. GOD hath some wise end in view in every thing which he suffers to take place, it was doubtless to answer some grand and glorious purpose that he suffered his Son Jesus to fall into the hands of wicked men, and to be crucified by them: what this purpose was is the object of our present enquiry. It was not to effect any change in God, neither in his nature, character, any of his perfections, nor in his designs, that Christ submitted to death; for God is, under every view, an unchangeable being. It was not to excite him to love his creatures, for he had always loved them; nor to render him merciful, for he had always been merciful: nor to render it fit and proper for him to show mercy, and exercise forgiveness, for he had shown mercy and exercised forgiveness long before. It was no doubt to produce an important effect somewhere; but the effect to be 'produced must be entirely among creatures, relate wholly to them, and be in and upon them only. The design of the death of Christ may be briefly comprehended in this one point to confirm the truth of God; and all the effects produced by it result from that confirmation. Grace and truth came by Jesus ༔,་ Christ, he is the faithful and true witness. In the good confession which he witnessed before Pontius Pilate he testified, To this end was I 'born, und for this cause came l'into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. His death was the last act of his life, he died for the same purpose as he lived, it was the finishing of his testimony; he was a martyr, and the king of martyrs; by his death he bore the strongest testimony, and gave the highest confirmation, tỏ bus bo the truth of God: on due consideration this will ́ap· pear of the greatest importance to mankind. tin to It is objected by our opponents that if Christ merely died to confirm the truth, he hath done no Brigid i more for us than the martyrs who sealed the t truth with their blood. To this I reply that We associate other important objects with his death which cannot be associated, in the same sense with the death of the martyrs. Had not he revealed and confirmed the truth of the gospel there could have been no martyrs în its cause; consequently, what the martyr's seated with their blood, and the act of their doing it, their doing it, had a dependance on his first revealing and confirming it. Besides, though the martyrs might seal the truth with their blood, they have none of them risen from the dead as Jesus did, at once to complete the ratification, and illustrate the nature of what they died to defend: and the death of Christ is not to be separated from his resurrection, when considered as the highest confirmation of the truth. His death was a confirmation of the truth of God under various views. As it had been foretold by the Prophets, it was a confirmation of the general truth of the prophecies in the Old Testament, and of the certainty of their fulfilment. It ratified the ancient promises; for he was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers. (Rom. xy. 8.) It seems then that to establish the truth of God, and confirm his promises, was the great end of his ministry, which he closed by his death. The promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, i. e. affirmed, and confirmed. The truth of his character as the Messiah, of his divine mission, and of his doctrine, were confirmed by his death: in particular the doctrine of immortality, which he brought to light, was both ratified and illustrated by his dying and rising; for if he had not died he could not have risen from the dead, and this most impor tant subject would have been without its strongest evidence, and plainest illustration. As it is the truth of God which enlightens, saves, purifies and makes us happy, and is the ground of our immortal hopes, it must be an end worthy of God to give it the highest confirmation by the death of his Son. This stamps the highest value and importance on the voluntary surrender which Christ made of his life for our benefit. As he died to ratify the truth of God, he hereby confirmed the divine love, mercy and grace to men; he confirmed the promises made to the fathers, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. (Rom. xv. 9.) The Apostles never intimated that his death was intended to manifest the wrath of God, |