I PE T. iv. I. Forasmuch then as Chrift bath fuffered for us in the Flefb. Į. Hatfoever Chrift fuffered, was in the WH II. It was for us. III. What it was he thus fuffered, for us in the Flesh. 1. Whatsoever Christ suffered was in the Flefh. 1. Chrift as God, was, and is, incapable of fuffering; being Actus puriffimus. 2. But he was in Time made Flesh, John i. 14. that is, Took our Nature upon him. 3. In this Flesh it was that he fuffered, x Pet. iii. 18. 4. By reafon of the Union of our Nature to his Divine Perfon, what he suffered in our Nature is reckoned as fuffered by him that was truly God, the Attributes, and by confequence the Actions of the one Nature being attributed to the other. Per indiffolubilem unitatem verbi & carnis omnia This is the Communicatio idiomarum fpoke of by 2. What 2. Whatsoever Chrift fuffered was only for us: not only for our Good or our Example, as the Socinians would have it, but in our Stead, and to expiate and make Satisfaction to God's Juftice for our Sins. For, 1. He is faid exprefly to die in our Steads. ̓Αντίλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων, η Tim. ii. 6. Λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, Matt. Fr. 28. 2. To be a Sacrifice and Propitiation for our Sins, Eph. v. 2. Пegoed voia, Heb. ii. 17. Εἰς τὸ ἱλάσκοποι της αμαρτίας, 1 70b. ii. 2. c. iv. Io. ἱλασμός. 3. Our Sins were laid upon him, Ifa. liii. 4, 5, 6. He was made Sin for us, 2 Cor. ix. 21. And a Curfe for us, Gal iii. 13. 4. He had no Sin of his own to fuffer for, and therefore he could not have fuffered but for our Sins. And he being God as well as Man, his Sufferings could not but be of infinite Value and Merit for us. USE. 1. Hence fee how odious and offenfive Sin is to God. 2. When we read or hear of Chrift's Sufferings, how should we be affected with it, confidering that they were all for our Sakes, and Sins. 3. How much more when we fee him crucified before our Eyes in the Bleffed Sacrament? 3. What did our Lord fuffer for us? 1. The first kind of Sufferings he underwent, were in his Temptations foon after his Baptifm: Of which note, Matt iv. 1. 1. He was led by the Spirit, Luke iv. 1. that which even now defcended upon him. 2. Into the Wildernefs, a Place remote from Men, and filled only with Beafts. 1. To fulfill the Type of the Scape-Goat, Lev. xvi. 20, 21, 22. 2. To give the Devil all the Advantage he could defire in his Temptations, Matt. iv. 2. 3. There he fafted Forty Days and Forty Nights: So Mofes had fafted, Exod. xxxiv. 28. and Elias, 1 Reg. xix. 8. Our Saviour fafted this Time, 1. To fhew the Harmony between Law and Gofpel. 2. To teach us how to fit our Selves for the great Work of the Ministry. Acts xiii. 2. Hence our Ember-Weeks. This gave the Occafion of the Churches obferving Lent every Year, which the always did; and therefore it is no Piece of Popery. 4. After thefe Forty Days he was an hungry, to fhew he was truly Man. 5. The Devil obferving this, thinks he had got the Advantage over him, and therefore fets upon him, not doubting of conquering, having overcome the firft Adam in Paradife it felf. And fo firft tempts him to prove himself to be God,by turning Stones into Bread, Matt. iv. 3. Luke iv. 41. 2. All his Life afterwards he was subject to the Infirmities of the humane Nature: He was weary, John iv. 6. He was reviled, Matt. xii. 24. Stoned, John viii. 59. c. x. ·31, 32. 3. His greatest Suffering began in the Garden of Gethsemane. Where behold him, 1. Exceeding Sorrowful, Matt. xxvi. 37, 38. 2. So great were the Apprehenfions of what he was to undergo, that he prayed against it, ver. 39. , Whatfoever God had prepared for him, he 3. Behold him in his Agony! Luke xxii. 44: LUKE xxiii. 33. And when they were come to the Place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. OW was the Power of Darkness let loofe No upon our Lord, Luke xxii. 53. Gen. iii. 15. I. He was betrayed by one of his own Difciples, Pfal. xli. 9. John xiii. 18. Pfal. Iv. 12, 13. and that with a Kifs too, Matt. xxvi. 49. II. Apprehended. Where obferve, 1. They came upon him with Swords and Staves, as if he had been a Thief, Matt.xxvi 47, 55. 2. He confeffed himself the Perfon they fought for, John xviii. 5. which daunted them fo, that they fell to the Ground, John xviii. 6. 3. His Difciples making fome little Refiftance, and Peter cutting off Malchus's Ear, John xviii. 10. Jefus cured it, Luke xxii. 51. 4. Then they bound him, John xviii. 12. altho' he could have had Twelve Legions of Angels to affift him, Matt. xxvi. 53. III. Arraigned. Where observe, I. When they had firft carried him to Annas to take his Counsel, John xviii. 13. Then they led him to Caiphas the High-Prieft, Matt. xxvi. 57. where the Sanhedrim or Council was then held. Here |