life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ: but, before it could be thus freely given consistently with the divine perfections, it was necessary that an atonement should be made for sin: and, in order to the liberating of the debtor, the debt must be discharged by his surety. Hence, when our Lord undertook to save us, 'a condition was imposed upon him, and the promise of success in his undertaking was suspended on his performance of that condition. The words before us lead us to consider.

I, The condition imposed.

To understand the true nature of this condition, it is necessary that we should advert to the offerings that were made under the law. If any person had sinned, even through ignorance, he was bound to bring an of fering in order to make atonement for his sin. This offering was to be a bullock, or a male or female kid, or a lamb, according to the quality of the offender. He was to lay his hands upon the head of the offering, in token that he confessed himself to be deserving of death, and that he transferred his guilt to the creature that was to suffer in his stead. The creature was then killed; ' its blood was poured out at the foot of the altar, some of it having been previously put upon the horns of the altar; and then its fat was burnt upon the altar: and God smelling a sweet savour, from it, accepted it on behalf of the offerer.

Now this will shew what Christ was to do. He had undertaken to save man: he must therefore come and put himself in the place of man; and present himself before God to suffer all that was due to our transgressions. But whereas the animals could suffer only in body, he was to suffer both in body and soul, and to present his whole person, a sacrifice for sin. In consideration of this sacrifice every sinner in the universe was to have liberty to transfer his guilt to him, and, on so doing, to find acceptance with God through him. Thus he was to become the sinner's substitute, or as the apostle expresses it, "to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

But what necessity was there for any such condition? Why must God's only dear Son become a man, and offer

up himself a sacrifice for sin? To answer this important enquiry, we observe, first, that man, having once transgressed the law of God, could never afterwards be` justified by obedience to it. The law denounced a curse against transgressors, but made no provision for their restoration to the divine favour. It made no mention of repentance or amendment; it spake nothing-of pardoning mercy; it simply required obedience, and inflicted the penalty of death on the disobedient. From that time there could not be any law given whereby we might have life; for if there could, God tells us, that verily righteousness should have been by the law. If therefore man ever was to be saved at all, there was a necessity that some other plan should be devised, whereby the law should take its course and yet the transgressor be rescued from condemnation. This could not be done unless a proper substitute for man could be found, who should at once satisfy all the demands of law and justice, and bring in a righteousness that should be transferable to man for his justification before God. Hence, in the next place, arose a further necessity for the death of Christ, namely, that there was none other found in the whole creation, who was capable of undertaking so great a work. As for "the blood of bulls and of goats, it was not possible that that could take away sin:" "nor could any man redeem his brother," or even himself. If an angel, or all the angels of heaven had attempted it, they must have failed: for in the very first instance they must have suffered eternal death. This was the penalty due to sin; and if it had been inflicted on them, they must have been in the state of the fallen angels to all eternity, seeing that there never would come a time, when it could be said, that the law was fully satisfied. Besides, their obedience to the law, even supposing it to have been meritorious in the sight of God (which it could not be, because, after having done all that was commanded them, they would be only unprofitable servants,") they could merit only for themselves: the righteousness of a mere creature could never have been so excellent as to deserve eternal happiness and glory for a sinful world. We do not indeed presume to limit God, and to say what he might or might not have done, if he had pleased.

But according to the light given us in the scripture we are warranted to say, that, if any lesser sacrifice would have answered all the purposes of his glory and of man's salvation, he never would have sent "the man that was his fellow." He would not have given his Son out of his bosom to die for us, if the death of a mère creature would have sufficed. This leads us to notice a further ground of Christ's sacrifice, which was, that in it there was a sufficiency for the salvation of the whole world. Christ being God as well as man, there was an infinite value in his sufferings; his sufferings for a time were equivalent to the sufferings of the whole world to all eternity. There was also an infinite value in his obedi ence; so that it could merit, not for himself only, but for others, yea, for all the myriads of sinners who should trust in it. The penalty of the law being inflicted on him, divine justice was satisfied; and scope was opened for the exercise of mercy. The sinners debt being paid, the sinner could be discharged in perfect consistency with God's truth and holiness.

Hence then it was that "help was laid upon One so mighty;" and that such a condition was imposed upon

him.

As to what is said of the Father making his soul an offering, the words may be translated either in the second or the third person: if in the second, they relate to the Father's laying of our iniquities upon his Son; if in the third, (which we rather prefer) they relate to Christ's voluntarily making himself an offering.

The nature and grounds of this condition being thus explained, it remains only, for the further illustration of this point, that we state, in few words, what is implied in the condition itself. It implies, that there is no salvation but by the blood of Christ. It has before been observed that such a condition would never have been imposed, if man could have been saved by any other means: and this is confirmed by that express declaration of the apostle, "There is no other name given under heaven, whereby we can be saved, but by the name of Jesus Christ." It implies further, that every sinner must actually present, as it were, to God the blood of Christ, as his only plea for mercy and acceptance. He must

put his hand on the head of his offering, confessing his desert of death, renouncing every self-righteous hope, and trusting simply in the sacrifice once made upon the cross. Lastly it implies, that this one offering, thus presented, shall be available for the very chief of sinners. God's end in sending his Son was, not only to save man, but to glorify himself in man's salvation. It is true, that all his perfections are glorified in the salvation of the most righteous: but the efficacy of this atonement, together with God's love in providing, and his mercy in accepting it, are more conspicuous in proportion as those interested in it are redeemed from deeper condemnation. Το have imposed such a condition for the purpose of saving a few only of the more worthy characters, would have given us reason to apprehend, either that the mercy of God was very limited, or that there was not a sufficiency in the Redeemer's merits for the redemption of more atrocious sinners. But as these apprehensions are false and groundless, we may consider the very condition itself as importing, that the offering of Christ should be accepted for all that would trust in it.

We are not however left to conclude the efficacy of Christ's atonement from the mere circumstance of its being imposed as a condition, since, with the condition, the prophet specifies

II. The promises suspended on it.

For the purpose of arranging them in our minds, we may consider them as respecting the good of mankind, the advancement of Christ, and the glory of the Father.

The good of mankind entirely depended on Christ's performance of this condition: not one of all the human race could ever have been saved without it. Our Lord himself both confirms and illustrates this by a beautiful comparison. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone: but, if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." But by dying he was to obtain a people whom he was to possess for ever as his "purchased possession." It had

a John xii. 24.

see."

been foretold respecting him that "a seed should serve him; that all the ends of the earth should remember themselves and turn unto him; and that they should be counted to him for a generation." By conversion they were to stand related to him as his children, as being begotten by his word and Spirit, and as receiving through him an heavenly inheritance. These he was to And behold, while he was yet in the very act of offering himself, he did see the earnest and first-fruits of his future harvest: in the very hour of death he converted the dying thief, and took him that very day to dwell with him in paradise, as a monument of his victorious grace, and of his redeeming love. Nor had he long poured out his soul, when lo, another convert was born to God. No sooner did the Centurion, who had been ordered to superintend the execution, behold the manner of his death, and the signs and wonders that attended it, than he exclaimed, Truly this was a righteous man, this was the Son of God. In the space of a few days thousands confessed his power, and through the operation of his Spirit, became sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Soon the handful of corn cast on the top of the mountains sprang up like the piles of grass for number, and the cedars of Lebanon for strength. Even to the present hour his family is increasing in every quarter of the globe: and soon the time shall arrive, when "a nation shall be born in a day," and that word of his shall be literally fulfilled, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." And when all the number of his elect shall have been gathered to him in successive ages, he will come and summon them all into his presence, that he may rejoice in them, and they in him, for ever and ever.

His own advancement was to be another fruit of the accomplishment of his engagements. This cannot relate to him as God, seeing that his divine nature necessarily exists in one unsuccessive eternity. But as man and as Mediator, he was to "prolong his days" in a state of glorious advancement, as a reward for terminating his days on earth under such circumstances of

Ps. xxii. 27, 30.

Ps. lxxii. 16.