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suffered for sins;" and though his punishment was not precisely the same either in quality or duration, as ours would have been, yet was it equivalent to our demerit, and satisfactory to the justice of an offended God.]

2. Vicarious—

[It was not for any sin of his own that Jesus was cut offc: he was 66 a Lamb without spot or blemish," as even his enemies, after the strictest scrutiny, were forced to confess". He died, "the just for, and in the room of, the unjust:" the iniquities of all the human race were laid upon him he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement he endured was to effect our peace. He, who was innocent, became a sin-offering for us, that we, who are guilty, might be made righteous in him.]

3. Propitiatory—

[The death of Christ, like all the sacrifices under the Jewish law, was an atonement for sin. It is continually compared with the Jewish sacrifices in this view k. We say not, that the Father hated us, and needed to have his wrath appeased by the interposition of his Son (for the very gift of Christ was the fruit of the Father's love'); but we say, in concurrence with all the inspired writers, that when it was necessary for the honour of the Divine government that sin should be punished, either in the offender himself or in his surety, Christ became our surety, and by his own death made a true and proper atonement for our sins, and thus effected our reconciliation with God". On any other supposition than this, the whole Mosaic ritual was absurd, and the writings of the New Testament are altogether calculated to deceive us.]

From considering the nature of our Lord's sufferings, let us proceed to notice,

II. The end of them

His one great design was to bring us to God: 1. To a state of acceptance with him—

[We were "enemies to God in our minds by wicked works;" nor could we by any means reconcile ourselves to God: we could not by obedience; because the law required. perfect obedience: which, having once transgressed the law, we could never afterwards pay: nor could we by suffering, because the penalty denounced against sin was eternal, and c Dan. ix. 26. d 1 Pet. i. 19. e John xviii. 38. and xix. 6. f 'Yep, this imports substitution. See Rom. v. 7. in the Greek. g Isai. liii. 6.

k Heb. passim.

h Isai. liii. 4.

1 John iii. 16.

i 2 Cor. v. 21.

m

Eph. v. 2. and 1 John ii. 2.

consequently, if once endured by us, could never be remitted. But, when it was impossible for us to restore ourselves to God's favour, we were reconciled to him by Christ's obedience unto death"; and to effect this reconciliation was the very end for which he laid down his life.]

2. To the enjoyment of his presence in this

world

[The holy of holies was inaccessible to all except the high-priest; nor could even he enter into it except on the great day of annual expiation P. But at the very instant of our Lord's death, while the Jews were worshipping in the temple, the vail was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the most holy place was opened to the view of all. This was intended to declare, that from henceforth all might have the freest and most intimate access to God. All are now made priests unto Gods; and, in this new and living way, may come to his mercy-seat to behold his glory, and to enjoy his love1.]

3. To the possession of his glory in the world to

come

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[It was not only to save us from condemnation, but to exalt us to everlasting happiness, that Jesus died. The salvation which he procured for us, is a salvation with eternal glory "." The robes in which the celestial spirits are arrayed, were washed in his blood; and all the ransomed hosts unite in ascribing to him the felicity they enjoy. Nothing short of this could answer the purposes of his love; and the accomplishment of this was the ultimate end of all he suffered.] Before we conclude this subject, let us CONTEMPLATE— 1. How great is the love of Christ to our fallen raceb!

2. How cheerfully should we endure sufferings for his sake!

3. How inexcusable will they be who continue still at a distance from their God"!

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b Who would do any thing like this for a fellow-creature? Rom. v. 7, 8. Neither Moses, Exod. xxxii. 32; nor St. Paul, Rom. ix. 3. thought of any thing like this. See the Discourse on Rom. ix. 1—5. e Compare ver. 14. with the text, and Heb. xiii. 12, 13. and Acts v. 41. d John xv. 22. à fortiori, and Heb. ii. 3.

MMCCCCIV.

NOAH'S ARK A TYPE OF Christ.

1 Pet. iii. 21. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us.

GOD has marked the necessity of holiness no less by the dispensations of his providence than by the declarations of his grace. His destroying of the whole world for their iniquity, evinced as strongly as any thing could, that sin should never go unpunished, and that the righteous only should be saved. In this view St. Peter introduces the mention of that well-attested fact, and declares, that the salvation experienced by Noah in the ark, was typical of that which we experience by Christ, and into which we are brought by our baptism. The text is by no means free from difficulties: to render it as intelligible as we can, we shall consider,

I. The typical salvation here referred to—

God had determined to overwhelm the world with a deluge―

[Though there had been so few generations upon earth, that Noah's own father (Lamech) had been contemporary with Adam for sixty years, and lived till within five years of the flood, so that Noah, and the people of that generation, had, for no less than six hundred years together, received instruction only at second hand from Adam himself, yet had "all flesh corrupted their way," insomuch that "God repented that he had made man," and resolved to destroy him from off the face of the earth.]

But for the preservation of the righteous he instructed Noah to make an ark

[This vessel was not constructed according to man's device, but by the special direction of God himself. To the eyes of man it doubtless seemed an absurd attempt: but "the foolishness of God is wiser than man;" and the event justified the hopes and expectations of Noah.]

In the mean time he called the people to repentance by the ministry of Noah

[God exercised forbearance towards them one hundred and twenty years. But they "received his grace in vain." And the means used for their salvation only ripened them for destruction.]

When the appointed time was come, he ordered Noah and his family to go into the ark

[The symptoms of the flood did not yet appear; but these favourites of heaven were to condemn the world, not in word only, but in deed. By manifesting their faith, their fear, and their obedience, they were practically to condemn the world's unbelief, security, and disobedience. And, upon their entrance into the ark, "God shut them in" with his own hand, that the door might be secure against the violence of the wind and waves.]

Then the waters, that destroyed all the world besides, bore up them in perfect safety

[Every other refuge now proved vain. The unbelievers found to their cost the truth of God's threatenings. Their numbers did not screen them from his judgments. Nor was the fewness of the elect any bar to their acceptance and salvation. They rose, while others sank in the mighty waters. Nor, if any cleaved to the ark, did that avail them. The very builders of the ark perished. They, and they only, who were in the ark, were made the monuments of saving mercy.]

This history being altogether typical, we shall consider,

II. The correspondent salvation which we enjoy—

Baptism is spoken of in the text as the antitype", of which Noah's flood was the type. But we apprehend the Apostle's meaning to be, that Noah's salvation in the ark was typical of our salvation under the Christian dispensation. This subject will be best understood, not by drawing the parallel between the flood and baptism, or between the ark and Christ, but by exhibiting the fact of our salvation as corresponding with that of Noah.

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• The relative & cannot agree with Kßwroй, which is feminine, but must agree with vĉaroc, or rather perhaps with the whole sentence; this last construction renders the sense of the passage incomparably more clear; on which account it is here preferred.

God has determined to punish the world with an everlasting destruction

[His word bears frequent and most undeniable testimony to this solemn truth"---]

But he has prepared a Saviour for those who repent and turn unto him

[Human sagacity never could have devised a way of saving sinners consistently with the honour of God's perfections. But God has sent and qualified his only-begotten Son, that, through him, all who believe might be justified from all things. And though salvation through the death of Christ be " to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness," yet to them that are called to partake of it, it has invariably proved the power of God and the wisdom of God.]

Ever since the method of salvation has been announced to the world, God has been inviting sinners to embrace it

[The first plank of this ark was laid, if we may so speak, when God promised to Adam a "Seed, who should bruise the serpent's head." From that day, it has been erecting visibly in the world, in order that, while men were warned of their danger, they might see their remedy: and now, for nearly six thousand years, has God exercised forbearance towards an impenitent and unbelieving world.]

By "baptism" we embark, as it were, on board this divinely-constructed vessel

[When we are baptized into the faith of Christ, we profess our persuasion that "there is salvation in no other," and our desire" to be found in him," not having our own righteousness, but that which is of God by faith in him. Thus we come to be in him, as a branch in the vine, as a man-slayer in a city of refuge, as Noah in the ark. Not that this benefit is annexed to the mere outward form of baptism, but to that baptism which is accompanied with "the answer of a good conscience towards Gods."]

Being then in Christ, we are saved" by his resurrection h"

[It should seem, that Noah's enclosure in the ark for so long a period was a kind of sepulture; and his elevation on the

d Matt. xxiv. 37-39. 2 Pet. ii. 5, 9. Ps. xi. 6. and ix. 17.

• 1 Cor. i. 23, 24.

f Acts iv. 12. Phil. iii. 9

g See the words following the text.

h

ver. 21.

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