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"shall appear with him in glory* ;" and therefore they are comforted in all their tribulation, and can say, "None of these things move me, neither count I my "life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course "with joyt."

SERMON XXIV.

MESSIAH'S INNOCENCE VINDICATED.

ISAIAH liii. 8.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

LET not plain Christians be stumbled, because there are difficulties in the prophetical parts of the Scripture, and because translators and expositors sometimes explain them with some difference as to the sense. Whatever directly relates to our faith, practice, and comfort, may be plainly collected from innumerable passages, in which all the versions, and all sober expositors, are agreed. That there are some differences, will not appear strange, if we consider the antiquity of the Hebrew language, and that the Old Testament is the only book extant, which was written during the time that it was the common language of the people. For this reason we meet with many words which occur but once; and others, which do not occur frequently, are evidently used in more than one sense. If we suppose, that a

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time should come, when the English language should be no longer spoken, and no more than a single volume in it be preserved, we may well conceive, that posterity might differ as to the sense of many expressions, notwithstanding the assistances they might obtain, by comparing the English with the French, Dutch, and other languages, which were in use at the same period. Such assistance we derive from the Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, and other ancient versions of the Old Testament, sufficient to confirm us in the true sense of the whole, and to throw light upon many passages otherwise dark and dubious; and yet there will remain a number of places, the sense of which the best critics have not been able to fix with certainty. Further, the prophecies are usually expressed in the style of poetry, which, in all languages, is remote from the common forms of speaking. The grand evidence to a humble mind, that the Holy Scripture was originally given by inspiration of God, and that the version of it which, by his good providence, we are favoured with is authentic, is the effect it has upon the heart and conscience when enlightened by the Holy Spirit. And without this internal, experimental evidence, the learned are no less at a loss than the vulgar.

An accquaintance with the Hebrew will, perhaps, suggest a meaning in this verse, (the latter part only of which is taken into the Messiah,) which may not readily occur to an English reader. But the purport of it is plainly expressed in many other passages. The text is not merely a repetition of what was spoken before concerning the Redeemer's sufferings; rather the declaration of what was to follow them begins here.. It is the opening of a bright and glorious subject. He was taken, he was taken up, like Enoch and Elijah,

from prison, and from judgment, and who can declare his generation? or, (as the word properly signifies,) his age? Who can declare his state, the establishment and duration of his dignity, influence, and government? For though he was cut off, made an excision and a curse, from amongst men, it was not upon his own account, but for the transgression of my people, that he was smitten.

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"God was manifested in the flesh," and in the flesh he suffered as a malefactor. Undoubtedly the divine nature is incapable of suffering; but the human nature, which did suffer, was assumed by him "who is over all, "God, blessed for evert." But he was justified in the Spirit; and sufficient care was taken, that in his lowest humiliation, though he was condemned and reviled, his character should be vindicated. I shall, therefore, consider at present the testimonies given to his innocence. Though he was cut off out of the land of the living, it was only as a substitute for others. stricken for the transgression of his people.

He was

1. The first attestation, and which, of itself, is fully sufficient to establish this point, is that of Judas. He was one of the twelve apostles who attended our Lord's person, and who were admitted to a nearer and more frequent intercourse with him than the rest of his disciples. Though our Lord knew that his heart was corrupt, and that he would prove a traitor, he does not appear to have treated him with peculiar reserve; or to have kept him more at a distance than the other "One of apostles; for when he told them, you shall "betray me," they had no particular suspicion of Judas. He, therefore, was well acquainted with the more re

* 1 Tim. iii. 16.

↑ Rom. ix. 5.

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He had been often

tired hours of his Master's life. with him in Gethsemane, before he went thither to betray him to his enemies. When he had acted this treacherous part, if he, who had been frequently present when Jesus conversed most freely in private with his select followers, had known any thing amiss in his conduct, we may be sure he would gladly have disclosed it for his own justification. Christian societies have usually been reviled and slandered by those who have apostatized from them; their mistakes, if they were justly chargeable with any, have been eagerly published and exaggerated; and many things often laid to their charge which they knew not. But Judas, on the contrary, was compelled by his conscience to return his ill-gotten gain to the chief priests and elders, and to confess, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the "innocent blood*." Considering the time of making this declaration, when he saw that he was already condemned, and the persons to whom he made it, even to those who had condemned him, it cannot be denied that he was an unsuspected and competent witness to his innocence. And the answer of the chief priests implied, that, though their malice could be satisfied with nothing less than the death of this innocent person, they were unable to contradict the traitor's testimony.

2. Though Pilate likewise condemned MESSIAH to death, to gratify the importunity of the Jews, he repeatedly declared his firm persuasion of his innocence; and he did it with great solemnity. "He took water, and

"washed his hands," publicly, "before the multitude,

saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just per"sont." He laboured for his release; though the fear of man prevailed upon him at last, as it has upon many, to

* Matth. xxvii. 4. VOL. IV.

2 N

+ Matth. xxvii. 24.

act in defiance to the light and conviction of his conscience. And from him we learn, that Herod*, notwithstanding he mocked him and set him at nought, considered the accusations of his enemies to be entirely groundless. And further, when the Jews proposed such an alteration of the title affixed to his cross as might imply that the claims our Lord had made were unjust and criminal, Pilate utterly refused to comply with their demand.

3. The thief upon the cross, with his dying breath, said, "This man hath done nothing amiss." If his competency as a witness should be disputed, because it is probable he had known but little of him, I admit the objection. Be it so, that this malefactor had little personal knowledge of our Lord. Then, his opinion of his innocence must have been founded upon public report; and therefore, it seems, he spoke not for himself only; but his words may be taken as a proof, that the people at large, though they suffered themselves to be influenced by the chief priests, to demand his death, and to prefer Barabbas, a robber and a murderer, to him, were generally conscious that he had done nothing amiss. Many of those who now said, "Cru

cify him, crucify him," had, not long before, welcomed him with acclamations of praise, saying, "Ho"sannah to the Son of David." This inconsistence and inconstancy is not altogether surprising to those who are well acquainted with the weakness and wickedness of human nature in its present state; and who consider the effects which the misrepresentations and artifice of persons of great name, and in high office, have often produced in the minds of the ignorant and

* Luke xxiii. 15.

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