Dear Madam,

         As the 53d chapter of Isaiah, was lately sweet to my own heart, I found a desire to communicate to you a little of that pleasure with which the Lord hath favoured me. And as I could not do it directly, I attempt it now, tho’ under the greatest sense of inability. I expect not an exposition of that part of divine revelation, but only a few strictures that may be given, by the weakest worm, that leans upon an omnipotent arm.

Isaiah liii. 1.

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

         In the three last verses of the preceding chapter, the Prophet had spoken of the humiliation and exaltation of Christ, under the character of the Lord’s servant; in the first verse of this he makes these enquiries; “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” The report here intended by the Prophet, is, doubtless, that of the sufferings and glory of Christ, of the Lord’s anointed, our Saviour Jesus. And he puts the first query, “Who hath believed it?” To foreshew the great infidelity of the Jews, in their not receiving but rejecting the greater Messiah, when he made his appearance in the flesh. And the second, “To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” To shew that nowithstanding their rejection of Him, He was for the salvation of all his own, Jehovah’s arm; and that of Him, in order to [have] faith in him, and salvation by him, there must be a divine, internal revelation. – And as the nature state of the Jews, was a state of unbelief; so is that also of the Gentiles. “God hath concluded all that shall be saved of both, in unbelief; that, according to his sovereign will, He might have mercy upon all.”

         Hence then, we may observe, 1. That the bare report of the sufferings and glory of Christ, is not sufficient to beget saving a faith in Jesus; for it is saving faith that is spoken of, “Who hath believed?” 2. That saving faith in Christ, is absolutely necessary, in order to our salvation by him, from all misery, and exaltation unto eternal glory. 3. That however meanly unbelievers think of Christ, in his sufferings and glory, He is the arm of the Lord, the power of God unto salvation, unto every one that believeth in him. All the other displays of his power, in the works of creation and providence, are but as it were his finger; but Christ is his glorious arm, for full redemption, and everlasting salvation. And 4. That saving faith in Christ, as Jehovah’s arm, is the happy effect of a divine, internal revelation of Him.

         And how wonderous is the grace, Madam, that “We have beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth:” While Christ, the glorious Master-piece of Jehovah’s wisdom and power, is hid from thousands and millions of our fellow-sinners, who are left in unbelief, to perish for ever!

Ver. 2.

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

         In this verse, the Prophet gives us the reasons, why so few of the Jews, or Gentiles, believe in Jesus. “For he shall grow up before Him,” before God, under his highest [74] approbation, and most complacent acceptation. “As a tender plant. “ A weak, inconsiderable plant, or twig; as to the meanness of his birth, and outward appearance, without that earthly pomp and pageantry, in which the Jews groundlessly expected the coming of the Messiah. “And as a root out of a dry ground:” which was unlikely to produce any great effects. Christ, the root of David, as his offspring, sprang from his loins, when the regal tribe of Judah was reduced so low, that the scepter was departed from it, and they under thraldom to the Romans; was born of a mean virgin, and at his birth, laid in no better place than that of a manger; as if he had been unworthy of common reception and accommodation by the human race. And what could be expected from such an appearance as this? A root indeed he was, but out of such a dry ground, that could, as to appearance, afford him but little juice, fit for his nourishment and growth, unto a kingly state. – And the Prophet further gives the reason of the Jews rejection of Him, when he appeared in his public ministry, and all-surpassing doctrine, in which he preached himself, as the Christ of God; “There is no form nor comeliness,” in his divine person, nor heavenly doctrine. “And when we shall see him (in the external revelation of him) there is no beauty that we should desire him.” The eyes of these batts found no pleasure in this glorious light. And this is the case with unbelieving Gentiles. “The preaching of Christ, is to them that perish, foolishness.” Any thing, and every thing, even black and horrid sin, hath in it to them, a more promising and beautiful appearance, than the promised seed, the promised Saviour, God’s Christ. Oh, astonishing blindess! Unparalled hatred, rendered for infinite love! Hence we may observe, 1. The faithfulness of God to his praise, in the unspeakable gift of his Son, at the appointed time. “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” 2. The admirable wisdom of God the Father, in his Son’s humiliation, for our salvation; whereby upon all our spiritual enemies, he hath cast the utmost confusion. 3. The astonishing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his wonderful condescension to such great meanness for us: “That through his poverty, who was the Lord of glory, we might be made rich.” 4. The wrong estimation which unbelievers have of Him, who is the wonder, joy, and glory of Heaven and Earth, in whom all beauties, and perfections, both created and uncreated, ever meet; that of Him they should say, “He hath no form nor comeliness.” And 5. That it is the characteristic of unbelievers to be such, that see no beauty or desirableness in Christ. And has the Lord of glory, thus humbled his great Self for us, for us, Madam, for such vile worms, that deserved everlasting destruction: What thanks and praise, in faith’s adherence, and love’s obedience, do we owe to Him! and have we seen him to be “altogether lovely, the chiefest among ten thousand:” and is he, in his person and performances, all desires unto us: from hence we may know certainly, that we are true believers in Jesus, and shall be saved by Him eternally. [75]

Ver. 3.

He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

         Here the Prophet gives us the consequences of his mean appearance. “He is despised and rejected of men:” of unbelieving Jews, of unbelieving Gentiles. And hence he was, “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” To be despised is a grieving thing to us, and especially when in mean and afflicting circumstances, and much more was it so unto Him, by reason of the infinite dignity of his person, and his voluntary condescension for us, to his state of humiliation. What! the Son of God, the second person in the adorable Godhead, in grace unknown, come down from Heaven to Earth to vail his glory in our humanity, take upon Him the form of a servant, and be made of no reputation; to redeem and save bond-slaves to sin and Satan, that were doom’d by God’s righteous law to everlasting destruction; and be despised of them! Oh, unparallelled ingratitude! Well might it pierce his tender heart with unknown grief! And not only despised, but rejected of men; He might well, in this resepct, be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; because of his glorious mission, and the kind errand on which he came! And not only despised and rejected of men, but, says the Prophet, “we hid, as it were, our faces from him.” We would not so much as cast a wishful, believing loving glance upon him, but hid our faces from him, in pride and disdain, as not worthy to be looked upon. “He was despised, and we esteemed him not.” He was despised of men in general, and we, his own favoured nation, his own professing people, even we, esteemed him not. And this treatment, our Lord still meets with, not only from unbelievers among the Gentiles in general, but also from his own peculiar people, while they abide in unbelief.

         Hence we may observe, 1. The infinite grace of God the Father, in giving his co-equal son, in our nature, to be thus despised and rejected in his humiliation-state, in order to the present and eternal advancement of such despicable, despising, rejecting worms as we; who for all our sins, and for these especially, of our despising and rejecting of Him, deserved everlasting destruction, and to be plunged into the deepest abyss of eternal misery. 2. The infinite grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is giving himself to meet with such treatment on earth, and from us that he came to save: that he willingly became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, even from our despising and rejecting of Him in unbelief. And, 3. The total blindness, the horrid ingratitude, and the abominable baseness of our unbelief, in that he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

         And is it so, Madam, that the Father’s only Son, would be thus despised and rejected of men, in the days of his humiliation, to make satisfaction for all our despising and rejecting of Him; would he become a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief to save us from the guilt and power of unbelief; let us adore his infinite grace, and in faith and love live to his praise. Let us be humbled before God, for this our great sin of unbelief, and for all the workings of it since we were believers, by which we partially hide our faces from our once suffering Saviour, and do not shew our esteem of a despised Jesus, in what he hath done and suffered for us, so highly as becomes those who are interested in this great Redeemer. [76]

Ver. 4.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.

         Here the Holy Ghost by the Prophet informs us, what was the cause of our Lord’s sufferings; that they were not for his own sins, they were “our griefs, our sorrows, that we had deserved for our sins that he bore.” He carried them as a porter doth his load; to take away the curse, to remove them from us, to give us peace, joy, and rest, and to bring us unto God. “Yet we, the unbelieving Jews, did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted:” That he endured all these sufferings as a just recompence of his own ill deserts. And we, the unbelieving Gentiles, notwithstanding our notion that he suffered for sinful men, are very far from thinking close upon his sufferings, as caused by our sin, by our disobedience. Thus we all, Jew and Gentile, while in unbelief, are far from fixing our eyes upon a suffering Jesus, as bearing, and carrying our sorrows and griefs.

         Hence we may observe, 1. The mighty love of our suffering Lord, in bearing and carrying our deserved load; which intolerable weight, that he bore would have sunk us for ever out of the reach of the favour of God, and plunged us into the bottomless gulph, of infinite and eternal wrath. And, 2. The great stupidity of unbelieving sinners, in their misinterpreting, or disregarding the great sufferings of the sent Saviour.

         And did our Lord, Madam, in his great love, which was stronger than death, for you, for me, bear all our sorrows and griefs; he has thereby took away the penal evil, of all our afflictions, and will make the greatest natural evil to work for our good, and turn to our salvation; and for ever hath he thereby secured us from the danger we were in of eternal damnation. O how light are our burthens, our heavist cross, if compared with those ponderous weights, which our Jesus bore for us! How worthy is our condescending, suffering Lord, of our highest love! and how greatly should we mourn, and be in bitterness for Him, for our stupidity in disregarding his mighty love and sufferings, in both of which, to, and for us, there was an infinity.

Ver. 5.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

         Here the Prophet explicitly declares the true cause of our Lord’s sufferings, which was our sins, which were implicitly comprized in the former verse; and he does it in opposition to the Jews’ mistaken apprehension, that he suffered for his own sins. They esteemed Him, thus stricken, smitten of God and afflicted; but, says the Prophet, “He was wounded for our transgressions.” Our sins were the procuring cause of his sufferings; He was wounded, tormented, as in the margin, pierced through and through, in name, in circumstance, in his ministry, in soul, in body. Wounded, by men, by friends, by enemies, by the sins of both; by enraged devils let loose upon him; by the law’s curse, which took hold on him; by the wrath of an incensed God, which like a sharp sword awaked against him, and smote him, in body, in soul, in life, in death, and in all this, by the [77] righteous hand of strict, avenging justice. But oh, why was this innocent Lamb of God thus wounded? It was for our transgressions. “He was bruised, pounded as spices in a mortar, for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace, the unmitigated punishment due to us was upon Him.” It must fall on him, or light on us; but He bearing it for us, He thereby procured our peace. No peace with God could have been had for us, but thro’ the wounds of a stricken, smitten, pierced Jesus. But peace being thus made, “with his stripes we are healed;” with his stripes, for our sins, infinitely strict, and avenging justice is fully satisfied, the righteous law fulfilled and magnified; and from the infinite virtue of his peace-making stripes, our sin-wounded souls are healed, and shall be fully and eternally saved. God’s chosen, all the Lord’s redeemed, among Jew and Gentile, even as many of both as were ordained unto eternal life, and bought with the Lamb’s blood, and as under the Holy Ghost’s work, have believed, do, or shall believe on this wounded, bruised, stricken Jesus; by his stripes are healed, and shall be everlastingly saved, by free, rich, sovereign grace.

         Hence then we may observe, 1. The infinite love of God to us, in thus wounding, bruising, and smiting his own Son, his sinless, holy Son, the darling of his heart, in our room, that we might go free from the soul-killing smart, although we were rebels against him. 2. The infinite love of our Lord Jesus Christ, in thus putting Himself in our place, to bear off the deadly blow from us. 3. The infinite wisdom of the great Jehovah, in finding out this way of salvation for us that were righteously doomed to destruction, and must otherwise have sunk inevitably into eternal misery. And, 4. The infinite virtue of Christ’s sufferings for our healing.

         And was it you, Madam, was it me, for whom our great Lord, was thus wounded, bruised and stricken? Oh! what a debt of love and praise, in heart, lip, and life, do we owe to our all-wise, all-gracious God, and to the worthy Lamb, who loved us and bought us with his blood! and by his stripes are we healed in our own persons initially: let us give him glory, and firmly believe, that we shall be healed perfectly and eternally. And when we are wounded by sin, and the fiery law pierces our conscience, let us apply by faith this healing remedy afresh; for we are healed in him, and shall be healed by him; and the infinite virtue of his Godlike blood, can never, never be exhausted nor wasted; there are immense treasures in that open fountain, for healing and cleansing from all sin.

Ver. 6.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

         In this verse, the Lord by the Prophet informs us, how it came to pass, that the great Messiah was wounded for our transgressions; and who they were for whom he suffered. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” The allusion here, is to sheep in nature, as that creature has a natural inclination to stray from the fold, and none to return. The straying sheep, doth as it were set up for relief, rejects the government and guidance of its shepherd, puts itself from under his care for sustenance, and chuses to seek pastures at large. And thus indeed did all mankind, in their Father Adam, [78] their federal head: they rejected the government of their God, did not chuse to be under his care for sustenance, but chose to have their pastures at large; and they thereby, rejecting the government of their God, set up for themselves. They cast a slight upon his munificent bounty, who had so well provided for their felicity, and set up for themselves as their own governors, and chose what they liked best to enhance their joy. And this they did, notwithstanding God’s strict prohibition, and severe threatening. And thereby, instead of gaining greater felicity, they were all plunged most righteously into all present infelicity, and the desert and sentence of eternal misery; and the sheep of Christ among the rest. But the design of the Holy Ghost, in this text, is not to set forth the state of all men by Adam’s sin, but of those sheep which were given to Christ in the everlasting covenant, to be redeemed by Him in the fulness of time, they being equally involved in the same guilt and misery with the rest of Adam’s posterity, and for whom Christ was to be the sacrificed Lamb. They are here called sheep, as being given from everlasting by the Father to Christ, as their great Shepherd. And his blood is hence called “the blood of the everlasting covenant:” That being the condition of their salvation. And for these his sheep, said the good Shepherd, “I lay down my life.” And being thus sheep in covenant, before their conversion to Christ, and their being gathered into the fold of the church, of these said our Lord, “Other sheep I have within are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd [?].” And of these sheep it is here said, “All we like sheep, have gone astray,” not one of these sheep but went astray in their first father Adam by his first sin, not one of these, but in their own persons, have “went astray from the womb, speaking lies.” And these lies, they all say, “that there is a greater good to be found in the creature, than in the creator. And that, it is better to break than to keep his commands.” And this they say both in heart and act, “we have turned every one to his own way.” As they went astray in Adam, from God and his law, so in their own persons, they continue to go astray from a depraved natural propensity, and turn every one to his own way; to the way of sin in general, which by their voluntary choice, is their own way, and to that way of sin in particular which every one likes best, and esteems his felicity. And oh, the innumerable sins of heart, lip, and life-sins, in every one of these, before and after they are called by grace! And every sin, of every one of them, being infinite in regard of the object, an infinite God against whom it is committed! oh what an intolerable weight of infinite wrath, was due to this innumerable multitude of mountainous sins! And yet, oh yet, “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” All the iniquities of every one of us, and the iniquities of us all, bundled up in one huge mass, or vast bulk of iniquity! the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious unto us, hath laid on Him entire! upon Him who was his only begotten Son, the son of his nature and love, when for us the great essential Word, was made flesh, when God the Son became incarnate to save us; upon Him, his holy child, Jesus! And this vast iniquity of us all, was laid upon Him by imputation; [79] the Lord the Father, placed it to the Lord the Son’s account, as his score and debt, and this was done by the free and voluntary consent of God the Son, when in the covenant capacity of Mediator. He engaged for us as our surety from everlasting; and when he took our nature in its constituent parts, of soul and body, in the womb of the virgin, to engage in the arduous work at the appointed time. In both respects, God the Son complied with God the Father’s call, to bear our sins, and voluntarily, immutably, obedientially [sic] and faithfully said, “lo I come to do thy will, O my God:[”] Tho’ it was to bear such a ponderous load! And hence, as God’s law and justice, found Him in the sinner’s place, as our surety engaged for us: It was a righteous thing with God, to inflict upon him, all that punishment which was due for our sins, which the Father, with his own free consent, had laid upon him. He was first made sin, and then a sacrifice for it in our room and stead. As the sacrifices under the law, had sin first laid upon them typically, and then were offered to make a typical satisfaction: and thus our Jesus, being made sin, really, by imputation, was offered up to make a real, a substantial, an infinite atonement, an everlasting peace, a never-t0-be-broken reconciliation for all his sheep, for whom he gave his life.— And as he bore sin, and a meet proportion of infinite wrath, to make full reconciliation, for the everlasting salvation of all his sheep, among the Jewish nation; so likewise, He hath done this, for all his sheep among the Gentile world, for all his own, in every nation under Heaven. “He dy’d, not only for his own in the Jewish nation, for those his people; but also that he might gather together in one the children of God, that were scattered abroad,” in every nation of the earth.

         Hence we may observe, 1. The wonderous grace of God, in giving his chosen among men, to Christ, as his sheep from everlasting to be his care and charge; to be raised by his redemption, out of all the ruins of the fall, and set before his face for ever, in their full number, to possess and enjoy, in immortal glory, a full and everlasting salvation. 2. The amazing grace of God the Son, that he should accept us at the Father’s hand, and engage as our surety, to be made sin and a curse, and to die the death of the cross for us, that He might raise us from the depth of present and endless misery, to inherit with Him eternal glory. 3. The infinite wisdom of God, in fixing upon such a fit person, as his own Son, his co-equal Son, in our nature, to be our Redeemer; as none in Heaven or Earth but He, nor all the creatures amassed together, were able to endure and conquer that sin and wrath with which He was to conflict, in order to set us all-triumphant before his Father’s face for ever. 4. The horrid nature of sin, in its infinite guilt, and great malignity, which none but a divine person could expiate, or destroy. And, 5. That by God’s laying of sin, our sin upon Christ, it is in its horrid guilt for ever removed from us, and shall, by virtue of that removal, be continually subdued, and shortly totally destroyed, and have no being in us.

         And it is so, Madam, that God the Father, hath laid your sin and mine upon his own son; and has demanded, and taken of Him for all our sins, a full satisfaction; what thanks and praise shall we render to Him for his infinite wisdom and grace, in our salvation by Christ! [80] And has our Lord Jesus, in his infinite grace, willingly put his own almighty shoulder under our ponderous load of sin and wrath, to deliver us from eternal death, and to bring us up to everlasting life, in and with Him: Oh, let us say, practically and continually, “To him be dominion and glory, for ever and ever! amen.”  Is sin of such a horrid nature, in its infinite guilt, of such great malignity, that none but a divine person could expiate or destroy? Let us confess it before the Lord freely, bewail it bitterly, and loath ourselves in our own sight, in that we are the subjects of this great, this vile iniquity! By God’s laying sin, our sin upon Christ, it is removed for ever in its mighty guilt from us, and by virtue of that removal, shall it be subdued continually, and shortly destroyed, totally, and have no being in us: This may comfort us, when guilt clamours loud in the conscience, and sin’s malignity threatens to destroy; for all then is peace between God and us in Christ, and our old man being crucified with Christ, it must and shall be destroyed in us.

         The doctrine, Madam, of the three distinct subsistences, or three divine persons, in the one, undivided infinite essence, of the eternal Jehovah, is of vast moment to faith. As each of these divine, co-equal persons, c0-equally possessing all the essential glories of the undivided Godhead, have distinctly and jointly, a co-equal hand in the whole, and in every part of our salvation; and so in this of Christ being made sin for us. It was necessary that God the Father, the first divine person in the adorable Trinity, as possessing all the essential glories of the Godhead, who was the Creator, Rector, and Governor of his creatures, who had given them a righteous law, which they broke, it was necessary that He, to whom the right belonged, should take vengeance on the sins of me, for the injuries thereby done, to the infinite glories of his great being. But oh, behold the grace of his heart towards us, in that He transferred our sins from us unto Christ, and on Him, for them took vengeance, that we might go free! It was necessary, likewise, that God the Son, the second divine person, possessing all the essential glories of the godhead, should take the human nature, into personal union with his divine, as the second person in God, that so the same nature that sinned, might suffer, and that satisfaction might be made to God, in the person of the Father, by God, in the person of the Son, as cloathed with the human nature that suffered in union to his divine person. And it was necessary, that God the Holy Ghost, the third divine person, possessing all the essential glories of the Godhead, should dwell in, and rest upon the man Jesus, in all his gifts and graces, to fit his human nature in union with the second person in God, for the Saviour’s work, to make the Mediator of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and to set the joy before him, for which he suffered. The Lord, the Father, laid sin, with a meet proportion of wrath, upon the Lord, the Son, personally untied to the human nature that sinned, and of Him took an infinite satisfaction. And the Lord the Son, was infinitely able to sustain these inconceivable weights, and to make quick work in the payment of all our fast debts, from the immense riches of his Godhead. And the Lord the Holy Ghost, strengthened the human nature of Christ to [81] endure, in all his sufferings, and so in this of his bearing our sin, while the Father laid the iniquity of us all upon Him.

Ver. 7.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet be opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

         Here the Lord by the prophet informs us, for the manner of Christ’s sufferings, with respect to that perfect resignation to his Father’s will, and that meekness and patience, which filled his holy soul under all. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.” He was oppressed by men, by devils, by our sins, by the law’s curse, and by his Father’s wrath; and from his quick sensation of all, distinctly and jointly, how greatly was his capacious soul afflicted! He was oppressed and afflicted with the unbelief of the Jews, with the blasphemies of the Pharisees, with the persecution of his enemies, Jews and Gentiles, who sought to take away his life, with the sins of his mystical members, when “The iniquity of his heels took hold upon him, and his heart failed him;” with the base carriage of his twelve Disciples, while one betrayed him, another denied him, and the rest forsook him, just as his great sufferings were coming on; with the law’s curse, which in all its anathemas fell upon him, as standing in the sinner’s room; with the wrath of a vindictive God, which was, and was to be, poured out upon him to the full. And yet under all this oppression and affliction, what a bright mirror was He of entire resignation, of meekness and patience, to an absolute perfection! For, “yet he opened not his mouth.” His heart and mouth, were all-submiss, all meekness and patience! When his father presented him with the vast bill of our sins and their great deserts, his soul was troubled, exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, yea, he was sore amazed at their innumerable multitude, their great aggravations, and horrid deserts; which made him cry, “Father, save me from this hour!” His human nature, which had in it a principle of self-preservation, in common with ours, and which was in Him, as a perfect man, shuddered at such astonishing sufferings, and made him cry to his Father, that if it was possible that God might be glorified, and his people saved, in any other way, He might be saved from that hour. But knowing, as God, that this was impossible, and reflecting upon his own suretyship-engagements, He resigns his human will to the divine; and as the Father’s servant, in the infinity of his love to God’s glory and our everlasting felicity, resolving to go through with the dreadful work, he says, “but for this cause, to suffer, came I unto this hour, Father glorify thy name!” And when law and justice seized him, as the sinner’s surety, and each said, “pay me that thou owest me;” when the Father put the full cup of wrath into his hand, and He did but sip of it in the garden, oh, what oppression and affliction did his holy soul feel! It threw him into an agony, so great, that it caused a bloody sweat! the oppression and affliction of his mind, forced from his body “great drops of blood, falling down to the ground:” and being in an agony, he prayed earnestly, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me;” but says instantly, “not my will, but thine be done.” How great was this his resignation, when for his Father’s glory and our [82] salvation, He gave himself up so freely and fully, to endure all our deserved destruction! which to us would have been an eternity of misery; though He, by reason of the divinity of his person, was able to drink up the cup of wrath to the bottom, and make full satisfaction for sin in a little time! Our sins were against an infinite and eternal God; but lo, God, in the person of the Son, suffering in his human nature in our stead; an infinite and eternal satisfaction was soon made by so great a person, that possessed, in Himself, infinity and eternity! whence his sufferings were plenary, and had in the man, an infinite and eternal dignity! the human nature suffered; the divine nature, in the same person, satisfied; for by reason of the union of these two natures, in his one person, the whole of his sufferings were the sufferings of a divine person, and had in them an infinite merit to make a compleat atonement, and to obtain for us eternal redemption from all misery, and unto all glory, in a full and everlasting salvation. “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” He is brought all meek and patient, when treacherous Judas, with the cruel band from the Chief Priests, Scribes, and Elders, came to apprehend him, he broke not out into a rage with Judas, but meekly said, “Friend, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” And though he could have prayed to his Father, and he should have given him more than twelve legions of angels for his defence, he meekly says, “but how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? He was so far from resisting the motion of that vile multitude which came with swords and slaves to take him, that he went forth from the dolorous garden to meet them; and viewing them as the messengers of divine justice, to apprehend him, He, all-resigned, meek and patient, says unto them, “Whom seek ye?” They reply, “Jesus of Nazareth.” And he instantly says, “I am He.” Upon which, darting upon them a ray of his divinity, “they went backward and fell to the ground.” He could as easily have struck their bodies into total death, and their souls into hell, and escaped all their force; but he knew that it was “their hour, and the power of darkness;” and therefore he permits them to rise, and again says, “Whom seek ye?” And notwithstanding the late striking ray of his infinite Majesty, upon his withdrawing it in order to give up himself, they reply, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He, if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.” Here our Lord resigned his great Self to these messengers of divine justice, to give his life a sacrifice for us. Resigned Himself to the rage of men and devils, and to the wrath of an incensed God, with matchless meekness and patience, and says, concerning us, “let these go their way. i. e. If I am taken, let these escape; if I am bound, let these go free.” Thus He went forth in his infinite strength, to be trodden in the wine press, of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, alone, and of the people, there was none with Him; and to tread thereby all his and our enemies. Poor Peter drew his sword, and would have defended his Lord. Then said Jesus unto him, “Put up thy sword into its sheath; the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” “Then the band, and [83] “the captain, and the officers of the Jews took Jesus and bound him.” Thus was He brought, first to Ananias, then to Caiaphas, last to Pilate; falsely accused, mocked and scourged, and cruelly condemned by unrighteous judges. But oh, what a bright mirror of meekness and patience was our Jesus in all this? He was indeed led as a lamb to the slaughter. He bare his cross, and made no resistance; parted with his garments, and was dumb before his shearers; was crucified, and made no outcry! Was mocked and reviled in all his amazing agonies, and made no reply to his cruel adversaries! But oh, the inconceivable dolours of his soul, when He for us, bore our Hell! When sin, its curse, the legions of devils, and the wrath of God, were all at once let loose upon him, and he, in unknown agony, cried out, “my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.” No finite mind is able to conceive a thousandth part of that extreme anguish, which the Lord of glory felt in those three hours of preternatural darkness, which was then upon the earth! without the light of the Sun, and without the light of his Father’s countenance, and under the severest jurisdiction, and deepest, most extensive sensation of his fiery vengeance! It was darkness that might be felt, that was by him inconceivably felt! Darkness within, and darkness without; a most black and horrid night! And all this, filled up with, and envenomed by the curse! all the law’s curses, cast as it were into one mass of Curse, fell on Him for our Sin; when “He was made a curse for us.” O horrid sin, what hast thou done, in bringing the complicated curse upon Him, who, by nature, is God blessed for ever! How should we, that are the Lord’s redeemed, abhor sin, that brought the curse upon our Lord Redeemer! and all this wrath and curse he endured, until he had drank it off, with respect to the sufferings of his soul, “It is finished.” And then “he bowed his head and died.” Oh, what deep submission to God’s law and justice, what boundless love to us, which all these many waters could not quench, were in this great bow of obedience, when in our stead he gave up his life a sacrifice.

         Hence we may observe, 1. The infinite condescension of the Father’s spotless Lamb, in submitting, for hell-deserving rebels, to such unparallelled sufferings. 2. The infinite strength of the great Redeemer, in that He was able to endure such great indignities, from the vilest of enemies, from sinners, that were his creatures; and especially in that he was able to stand immaculate, under the intolerable weight of all the sins, of all God’s chosen; to conflict with the law’s curse, and God’s wrath, and to conquer both; to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation among all the divine perfections in our salvation; and to reconcile us unto God, who were enemies in our minds by wicked works, mystically in himself, in the body of his flesh, through death. 2. The infinite strength of the great Redeemer, in that He was able to endure such great indignities, from the vilest of enemies, from sinners, that were his creatures; and especially in that he was able to stand immaculate, under the intolerable weight of all the sins, of all God’s chosen; to conflict with the Law’s curse, and God’s wrath, and to conquer both; to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation among all the divine perfections in our salvation; and to reconcile us unto God, who were enemies in our minds by wicked works, mystically in himself, in the body of his flesh, through death. 3. The infinite care, of this great shepherd, who as the Father’s provided, sacrificed Lamb, laid down his life for his sheep, that gave his flesh to be our meat. 4. The infinite love that was in our Jesus, both to God and us, to his Father’s glory and our felicity; which carried him through such unsearchable depths of misery. 5. The infinite faithfulness of Christ in his engagements to God, and for us; which was the girdle of his reins, in all these great sufferings. And 6. The Godlike meekness and [84] patience of this fore-ordained Lamb, under the greatest injuries from professed, and real friends; from irreconcileable enemies, and under those unknown agonies which were bro’t upon him, by the broken law’s righteous curse, and God’s just vengeance; in all of which, this perfect Lamb, was without one hard thought of God, or murmuring word against man.  And has the Father’s spotless Lamb, Madam, condescended for you, for vile me, to such unparallelled sufferings? Let us begin the work of praise and adoration on earth, which Heaven will compleat. Is our great Redeemer of infinite strength? did he appear to be the Lord Almighty, in his enduring and conquering such mighty sufferings? Let us give Him the glory of his saving arm, and trust in him or ever, for redemption by power, who was able to accomplish redemption by price. Was there such infinite love in our Jesus, both to God and us, to his Father’s glory and our felicity, that carried him through such unsearchable miseries? Let us believe his love, in its infinite, immutable nature, which engages his power, for our deliverance from every infelicity, and unto a perfection of joy and glory. Was the infinite faithfulness of Christ, in his engagements to God, and for us, the girdle of his reins, in all his great sufferings? Let us rejoice in this, that the same infinite faithfulness, still stands engaged, for our full redemption, unto eternal glorification. The bitter work is done in giving his life for us; it is now, comparatively, but a little thing, by a word of his mouth to save us, since our felicity and glory, is and will be His joy. And was there such Godlike meekness and patience, in this fore-ordained Lamb, under all his greatest sufferings; did not He, so great a person, by way of murmuring, open his mouth? Let us take him for our pattern, in all our light afflictions. What are little we, who have deserved personally the greatest misery, that we should repine at the afflicting hand of God, or speak evil or, in murmuring against, afflicting men? Oh, let us be still and silent, and put our mouths in the dust, since we have the promise of deliverance! And under all our murmurings, though great provocations, we may be comforted with our Lord’s infinite patience, which can sustain no waste. If He shewed such Godlike patience, towards his implacable enemies, much more will He bear with his beloved, his obedient children, under all their peevishness and disobedience; which, as dishonouring to Him, is the greatest grief unto them.

Ver. 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 transgressions of my people, was he stricken.

         In the former part of this verse, the Prophet, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, foretells the resurrection of the slain Lamb; and his justification, from his unjust condemnation by men, and that righteous judgment passed upon him by God, as standing in the sinner’s stead. “He was taken prison and from judgment:” that is from the prison of the grave, and thereby justified from that unjust judgment passed upon him by unjust men, and that just judgment which for our sins was passed upon him by God himself. Our Lord [85] had said in the sacred volume long before his incarnation and sufferings, “O death, I will be thy plagues: O grave, I will be thy destruction.” And in this immutable resolve of his heart, and in faithfulness to this his great engagement, when he became incarnate in his humiliation-state, he was the plagues of death, and the destruction of the grave. He became the death of death, by giving his own heart, to receive its keenest, its most envenomed dart: or the plagues of death by thus divesting of its sting, and destroying its being in himself, that his children may have no hurt by natural death, and that at last, its very being, for them, might be destroyed quite, and that the second death might not touch them. And He was the destruction of the grave, by his taking a lodging in the darksome tomb, as the law’s prison, to take away its curse from us and to make it for the bodies of the Saints a peaceable resting-place, a bed of perfume. And likewise to destroy its power, to break its iron bars, and rise from thence triumphant, with all His, mystically in Himself, and become the first fruits of them that sleep; who by virtue of his resurrection, shall be raised up in their own persons unto glory with him. The sufferings of our Lord’s soul were finished on the cross, the painful sufferings of his body, when he gave up the Ghost; but yet he was not out of his humiliation-state, his body was to lie part of three days in the grave under the dominion of death; and this, perhaps, to destroy the grave for all his Saints, who were, are, or shall be laid in the tomb, during the three successive days of the church state, before the law, under the law, and under the gospel. But however it might be, as to this conjecture, it is a most certain truth, that by Christ’s lying in the grave, he destroyed it for all his Saints: He gave his life to the power of death, to plague that to death, and his holy body to the destroying grave, to be the destruction of this destroyer. For it was impossible that the Lord of life should be holder of death or grave. “He had power to lay down his life, and to take it again; and this commandment he received of his father;” who received his separate soul instantly into glory, and his body, his holy flesh, saw no corruption in the grave. He having for our sins made full satisfaction; God the Father, in strict justice, gave him as the head of the church, a joyful resurrection, and a compleat justification; or he was thus taken from prison and from judgment. – The middle clause of this verse, foretells, by way of wonder, the glorious fruit of his sufferings. “And who shall declare his generation?” His numerous, his innumerable offspring! and the latter part of it acquaints us with the solid ground of his exaltation, as it was laid in his deep humiliation: “For he was cut off out of the land of the living.” “He was cut off” by a violent death, by the sharp sword of avenging justice, when the Prince of light and life was slain by the combined powers of darkness. He was cut off “out of the land of the living,” as the vilest person, and not worthy to have a life in common with the sons of men; but to clear his innocence, says God, “for the transgression of my people was He stricken.”

         Hence we may observe, 1. The infinite fulness of Christ’s satisfaction, of that vast price which he paid into the hands of divine justice, for all our offences; for had He not made a compleat atonement, the [86] righteous God who had laid our sins upon him, would never had taken him from prison and judgment. 2. The infinite faithfulness of God to his covenant with Christ, that if he laid down his life, it should not be in vain, He should have a numerous offspring, even all that the Father had given him, which when gathered together should be such a vast multitude that no man can number, “and who sall declare his generation?” And 3. That the death of Christ, his painful, shameful death, was the solid foundation of his glorious reign; for He shall have this vast offspring because he was cut off out of the land of the living, and for the transgression of God’s people was stricken.

         And has our Jesus, Madam, made full satisfaction to divine justice for our offences; is this evidenced by his resurrection from the dead, as the church’s head: here we may see the security of the resurrection of our souls, from under all the guilt, filth, and power of sin, curse and wrath, and the resurrection of our bodies from the dominion of death and grave to a glorious immortality! Is our God a God of infinite faithfulness to his covenant with Christ, that if he laid down his life he should have a numerous offspring? Hence let us bless God that we, that were once afar off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ, and put among the children; and being children in grace, we shall be children in glory, to a blest eternity! And was the death of Christ the solid foundation of his glorious reign? This may comfort us, under all our heart-griefs, from the world, sin and Satan; He must reign in, over and for all his children, and for the subduing and destroying of all his, and their enemies, until he has put them under his mighty feet, and raised the whole number of his depressed children unto glory with himself!

Ver. 9.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in this death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

         This verse is a continuation of our Lord’s humiliation and of the assertion of his perfect innocence under all his great sufferings. In the preceding verse, we had an account of his violent death, He was cut off: In this we are told, what before was implied, of another step that he took in his humiliation-state, after his body was dead, “and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.” And though in the first part of the former verse, our Lord’s resurrection was mentioned, and in the middle clause of that, and the beginning of this, our Lord’s sufferings in death and grave are mentioned: I conceive the reason is this to shew that those his sufferings were the ground of that his exaltation. And in this repetition of them, there is a further specification. “And he made his grave;” which is a full assertion, that He was voluntary in this step of his humiliation. It was Joseph of Arimathea, a good man and just, a Disciple of Jesus, that laid his sacred body in his own new tomb; but it was Jesus himself, that by his own voluntary consent, gave his body to be laid in that grave. He gave himself unto death for us, and gave his body, after he was dead, to have his side, his heart pierced, and to be laid in that grave. So that he was active for God and his people in every part of his passion or suffering. [87] And it is said, he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich, not that Joseph was wicked, though he was rich; for he was a good man, and just; but as the most of rich men are remarkably wicked, it is said of our Jesus, “He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich.” That is, He entered into that prison-house where the wicked are laid under the law’s curse. And not only into that prison-house, where the wicked in general are confined close, in order to be brought forth unto judgment, and fiery vengeance, for many of the poor abound in wickedness, but into the grave of the wicked, rich, in particular. And why this? I humbly think, it was because that a wicked rich man being laid in the tomb, let it be ever so magnificent, or separate from the common earth, as hewn out of a rock, is a far greater humiliation to him, than is the interment in the common earth, to a very poor man. The wicked rich man, suppose a monarch of the earth, let him have ever so pompous a burial, let him have ever so stately a cell, comes down thereby, from the heighth of his worldly glory, and it is buried with him in dark and deep obscurity! whereas a wicked poor man, sustains not so great a stroke by his interment in the common earth; as by reason of his poverty and misery; when in life, he was as it were but one remove from it. And therefore our great Lord, who was infinitely rich and glorious in his divine person, and the supreme monarch in heaen and earth to give an unparallelled proof of infinite condescension, would come down from the heights of his glory-throne, and make his grave with the wicked, even in the rich man’s tomb! thereby to signify that all his Godlike glory was with him, buried then, in the deepest, darkest obscurity! Oh, what a black, what an awful night was that, when the Son of God, in his sacred body, to which his Godhead was inseparably united, was laid in the wicked, in the rich man’s grave! It was a night that is much to be remembered! Thus He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich, “in his death,” our translators say, death, in the singular, but a judicious expositor renders the original word, deaths, in the plural. And so it denotes all those complicated deaths which the Lord of life for us endured, and those in particular, when his body for us was laid in the grave, under the dominion of death, in death’s dark den, and his divine glory thereby in the deepest obscurity. And thus He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in this deaths, “Because says our translators; Although, says the above learned writer, He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” And so the text runs smooth, and shews the amazing stoop of the great Redeemer’s infinite condescension, in thus debasing his glorious Self, as to lie for us in the wicked rich man’s grave; though he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth! no, not when he said, “He was the Son of God,” and “I and my Father are one.” For the divine person of the Son, personally united to the human nature, being one in essence with his Father, “He tho’t it not robbery to be equal with God,” and yet for us, did as it were, bury his divine glory in the wicked rich man’s grave.

         From hence we may observe, 1. The unparallellled grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that he made his grave with the wicked, and [88] with the rich, in his deaths for us! And 2. His spotless purity, which the Holy Ghost inculcates repeatedly, notwithstanding his great sufferings, for our great iniquity.

         And has our Jesus, Madam, lain in the grave for us for you, for me, and thereby veiled, yea, as it were, buried his infinite glory in the darkest, deepest obscurity: Let this boundless grace captivate our hearts, and excite us to live to his praise: oh, that in all holy obedience, this may be our constant ascription, “to the worthy Lamb that was slain, be salvation, and glory and blessing!” And was our Lord perfectly spotless under all our sins, which were laid upon him, and in all his unparallelled sufferings? This may comfort us under all our blemishes; for though we defile all our services, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; We have in him an immaculate, infinite righteousness! in him we have a compleat holiness for representation, and an immense fulness of all grace for communication. And, “if the root be holy, so are the branches;” our root is holy, and we, as branches in Him, shall partake of his purity, to our full joy, and his eternal glory.

Ver. 10.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief; when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

         The beginning of this verse refers to the innocence of Christ, which was asserted in the close of the last, “yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.” That it was a righteous thing with God to lay sin upon, and bruise his sinless son, I have hinted before, because of his suretyship-engagements, which God the Father accepted, and his own voluntary putting himself in the place of sinners. And though in his own person, in his heart, words or actions, there was no sin, but perfect innocence, holiness, and righteousness; so that he was the supreme object of his Father’s complacence, “yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.” Yet, it is wonderous yet! And bespeaks unfathomable love of infinite depth in God, to bruise for sinners, the darling of his heart! It pleased the Lord to bruise him, Him his co-equal son, in our nature, which he had assumed, into personal union with his divine: God-man, was the subject of his bruising. He bruised him, pounded him as it were to pieces; and not only bruised him, but it pleased him thus to bruise his son. It was his sovereign pleasure to bruise him, and he took an infinite pleasure in bruising him. He bruised him as the Lord, merciful and gracious unto us. As the Lord, just to the rights of his own infinite glories: the glory of his holy law, and strict justice of his eternal truth and infinite faithfulness to his threatening, in case of sin; the glory of his flaming holiness, and righteous vengeance, and just to the rights of all his infinite perfections, which were by sin affronted and injured. He bruised him as the Lord Almighty, for the just vindication of all his injured glories, that all might have a full reparation made, and strict justice a compleat satisfaction given; and thus to make way for all grace to us in its brightest displays, in raising us up from the unsearchable depths of present and endless misery, to the unknown heights of perfect purity, heavenly felicity, and [89] eternal glory! and his own joy and glory, in making us thus holy and happy, being the grand project of infinite wisdom, and the vast design of infinite love, from everlasting. He took pleasure in bruising his incarnate son for the accomplishment of this grand project, for the fulfilment of this vast design, “he hath put him to grief.” No creature, nor all the creatures combined, could give wounds deep enough, to answer the great ends of God’s glory, in the harmonious display of all his divine perfections, unto our felicity, in a full and everlasting salvation: and therefore He, the Lord Almighty, hath put him to grief. Hath put Him to grief, who was an infinite person, and infinitely able to bear the deepest wounds, the greatest grief, and by the infinite merit of his sufferings, to survive them, to triumph over them, yea, by virtue of them. – “when thou (God) shalt make his (Christ’s) soul, an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.” When the Lord made his Son, his only Son, his beloved son, the body, and especially the soul of his son, an offering for sin, in the sinners room; his promise was, “He shall see his seed;” enjoy the glorious fruit of his meritorious death; have all those given to Him both in grace and glory, for whom he died, in whom He should be for ever glorified. – “he shall prolong his days;” He that died shall rise to an endless life, have an authoritative right by virtue of his own merit, and the Father’s commandment, to take up all life for himself, and for all his seed-life of the highest perfection, and of endless duration! As He is the Lord of Life by nature, He shall as Mediator, be the possessor, the treasurer, the doner of it. He shall have, “the keys of hell and death:” shall say, Amen to his own life, to manage all his affairs of state in his court above, and in his courts beneath. He shall prolong his days, for the promulgation, and dispensation of his grace, until all his seed are gathered unto him, by regenerating, adopting, and sanctifying grace, and gathered unto him in glory. And then, for himself, and all his seed, He shall prolong his days to the endless ages of a boundless Eternity! “And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” The pleasure of the Lord was the bright display of the harmonious glory of all his divine perfections in our salvation by Jesus Christ, and the display of the glory of his providential goodness towards them that perish; of his long forbearance with those who despise and abuse his munificence, and of his eternal truth, strict justice, and almighty power, in the confusion and destruction of all his and our enemies, to his endless praise, by saved men and holy angels. And this pleasure of the Lord shall prosper, flourish, and be accomplished. It shall prosper in his hand; in Christ’s hand, unto whom the Father hath committed all judgment, for the salvation of his people, and the destruction of his and their enemies. In his all-wise, all-gracious, all-just, and almighty hand, the Lord’s pleasure shall prosper, and his counsel for ever stand.

         Hence we may observe, 1. The infinite strength of God’s love to us, in that it pleased him to bruise his only son for our sin, notwithstanding his personal and perfect innocence. 2. The vast demerit of our horrid guilt, in that the Lord [90] himself, in order to take satisfaction for it, must put Him, an infinite person, to such amazing grief. 3. The infinite greatness of the love of Christ, in giving his own son, an offering, in our stead, for our sin. And 4. The great security that there is, by Jehovah’s faithful promise, that he shall see his seed, that he shall prolong his days, and that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

         And has God the Father so loved us, Madam, even you, and vile me, as to take pleasure in bruising his only Son, for your, for my sin? Let our adoring, our raptured souls say, unto his endless praise, “God is love!” Was the demerit of our sin so great, that to remove it from us, the Lord himself was under a necessity to put our Jesus to such astonishing grief. Oh, let us hate sin, that abominable thing! Did our Jesus so love us, as to give his own soul, in our souls stead, an offering for our sin? Most surely, “The love of Christ passeth knowledge!” We are bought with a price, the invaluable price of the precious blood of Christ! let us glorify God in our bodies, and in our spirits, which are his. And is the security so great, by Jehovah’s promise, that our Jesus shall see his seed, prolong his days, and that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand: let this strengthen our faith, in our salvation by Him, from all misery and to eternal glory. God’s law and justice are satisfied, a compleat atonement is made, the world, sin, and Satan, are conquered, a compleat victory is obtained over death and grave; Christ shall see his seed and prolong his days, and all enemies, griefs, and miseries, must let us go free, to live and reign with him eternally!

Ver. 11.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: for he shall bear their iniquities.

         In this verse there is a further assertion of the happy fruit of our Lord’s sufferings, even our salvation; to his satisfaction and a declaration of our justification by him, as the certain consequent of his bearing our sin. “He shall see of the travail of his soul.” What are all the strong pains, the extreme anguish, which travailing people feel in their bodies, to bring forth their young, and cast out their sorrows; most surely they are a little inconsiderable thing, yea, a nameless nothing, if once compared with those inconceivable agonies, which our great Lord felt in his travailing soul! when He had all his children, the many thousands of Israel, of Jews and Gentiles, mystically in Himself; and laboured in pangs unknown, to bring us all forth at once! from under the law’s curse, avenging justice, the dominion of sin and Satan, death and grave, and from hell’s deserved prison, unto the glorious liberty of the sons of God, that we, with him, might be made heirs and possessors of the vast inheritance of the saints in light! and glory be to God! He shall see of the travail of his soul. If the Son of God travailed for children, he must have a numerous offspring, in which so great a person can take an infinite pleasure, as the joyful fruit of his unparallelled labour! He shall see all his children in the state of grace, under the regenerating and sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost, with an infinite complacence. For the Holy Ghost is given us, by virtue of the death of Christ, who [91] is a co-equal person, with God the Father and God the son, and being co-equal in love with both, he takes his own great part in salvation work. He it is that works grace in us, and ripens it for us, into glory; or makes us meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light. The Father does it by Christ; Christ does it from the Father, and the Holy Ghost from both. He is the immediate agent; it is under his work by the gospel, that our once-travailing Lord, sees of the travail of his soul, in the state of grace, and it is by the completion of the Holy Ghost’s work in sanctification, that he shall see us with him in the state of glory. – And then our Lord shall be fully satisfied; for so unsearchable is his infinite grace, that he will then see such worms as weak and our perfect and eternal felicity, to God’s glory, as a sufficient recompence, a full compensation, for all his dolorous sufferings, with an infinite complacence! And indeed, without having us all with him, in full and eternal bliss; his heart would never be at rest, so vast is his love and grace! And therefore, He that died, He shall be satisfied. “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.” By his knowledge, by what he hath known subjectively, in his obedience and sufferings; and by the knowledge of Him objectively, which is given to us unto faith and trust, in an obeying, suffering Jesus. Shall my righteous servant, that was prefectly righteous in his active and passive obedience, and hath thereby fulfilled all righteousness, or wrought out a perfect and everlasting righteousness, as my servant, to serve the great design of my infinite grace, justify many? As his righteousness, which is the meritorious cause, shall be imputed unto them, as the matter of their justification, even of all those many, which were given to him, that have believed, do, or shall believe in him, and be saved by him.—“For he shall bear their iniquities.” So bear them, as to bear them for ever away from all them that believe in Him; notwithstanding the greatness of all their heart, lip, and life iniquities. As the scape goat bore away all the iniquities of all Israel, which were laid upon him, at the great day of the yearly atonement, and carried them into the wilderness, the land of forgetfulness.

         Hence we may observe, 1. That the children of Christ cost him dear, they are the fruit of the travail of his soul. 2. That the love of Christ was so infinitely great, to those for whom he died, that without their salvation, though it was to cost him such deep and unknown sufferings, he never could have been satisfied; but when he sees them in grace, and all with him in glory, he will be satisfied to an infinite complacence! 3. That in order to this, the Holy Ghost is given us as a fruit of Christ’s sufferings, for his work upon us, to make us meet for the great inheritance, in which he likewise displays his infinite grace. 4. That by what Christ has done and suffered, as the Father’s righteous servant, he hath wrought out a perfect righteousness, for the justification of all that believe in him, which is or shall be imputed unto them of the Father’s boundless grace. And 5. That by Christ’s bearing away our iniquities, the all pardoning grace of the Father’s promise, descends upon us. “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities, I will remember no more.”

         And have the children of Christ cost him so dear? are we the travail [92] of his soul? Then, Madam, let us give up ourselves and our all entirely unto Him. He that has thus travailed for us, is worthy to enjoy us, were we and our services ten thousand times better than we, or they, are! Is the love of Christ so great to those for whom he died, that without our salvation, through his sufferings, he never could have been satisfied; and doth, and will, our present and future bliss, give him an infinite complacence? Should we not spend our present days, shall we not employ eternal ages in admiration and praise of his stupendous grace! Is the Holy Ghost given us, by virtue of Christ’s sufferings, to meeten us for our great inheritance? O let us adore the infinite grace of God the Holy Ghost, who hath begun, and will compleat our personal meetness, for our suffering Lord’s sight of us in perfect bliss, to his heart’s complacence! Has our obeying, suffering Jesus, wrought out for us a justifying righteousness, which is imputed to us of the Father’s grace? Here we may see ourselves well-drest, glory in Him, as the Lord our Righteousness, and give all the praise to Jehovahs grace! And through Christ’s bearing away all our iniquities, does the Father’s promised grace descend upon us, “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins, and their iniquities I will remember no more.” Let us open the eye of faith, and see ourselves in Christ, asd clear from guilt, as if sin had never entered.

Ver. 12.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong: because he hath poured his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

         The first part of this verse, appears to me to be a general conclusion drawn from former particulars; the second to be a summary of our Lord’s sufferings, and the close of it is a specification of several particulars, not mentioned before. “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Therefore because of what had been said of his sufferings before “will the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong.” Here is first, I will, and then, he shall. As “the Son doth nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do, and whatsoever the Father doth, that the Son doth likewise.” Which sets forth to us, the order of working in the divine persons; and likewise that the Son, as Mediator, in all his triumphs, receives the grants, fulfils the ends of his great Father. By the portion and spoil, which the Father divides to him, and which he divides as given him, we are doubtless to understand, his people, his portion, which are taken by him as a spoil, out of the hands of all his, and their enemies. He, like David, his type, shall recover all, and it shall be said to his endless praise, “This is David’s spoil!” By the great and strong, with whom this portion and spoil is divided and taken, may be intended. 1. The great monarchs and mighty potentates of the earth, who in their wars against their enemies, being victorious, divide themselves a portion, and take the spoil. And if thus taken, the words are an allusion to them, and signify to us, that our suffering, warring [93] Jesus shall, at the close of the battle, be completely victorious. But 2. I rather think the words respect particularly, that great and strong enemy the Devil; who by his wiles beguiled our first parents, and by Adam’s first sin, took the whole human race, as his portion and spoil, whose power over us was exceedingly strengthened by the law’s curse, which doomed us, for our sin in Adam, to everlasting destruction, and was further made strong by our own personal reellion against the God of Heaven. And if thus understood, we have in these words the joy to see, that though we are the devil’s conquest, yet nevertheless Christ shall have his own portion amongst men, divided unto him, and take them as a spoil out of the hands of Satan, while all the rest are left under his power, to sink by the law’s curse, and avenging justice, into eternal perdition. And our suffering Lord, who conquered when he died, and then “spoiled the principalities and powers of darkness triumphing over them in himself on the cross,” was raised from the dead by his Father, is ascended up on high, hath led captivity captive, and is exalted to his high throne in Heaven, to rescue by his power, in the virtue of his ransome price, all His out of the hands of all their enemies, and he shall have his portion divided unto him, take them as a spoil out of the hands of the devil, and bring them up in triumph, from all evil, unto all glory with him. “And he poured out his soul unto death.” This I take to be a summary of our Lord’s sufferings, as in all he poured out his soul; which may denote the greatness of his sufferings in every part. And the close of the verse is a specification of several particulars not mentioned before, “and he was numbered with the transgressors,” when crucified between two thieves, as if he was a malafactor, and of sinners the greatest. “And he bare the sins of many.” The Father had before said, “He shall bear their iniquities.” Here we are told, that Christ actually did what the Father had said, that he bare our sin; “He his own self, bare our sins, in his own body on the tree.” The bearing of sin was no forced thing upon him, he freely put his own almighty shoulder under our ponderous load, to redeem us from sin, curse, and wrath, and to bring us unto God, “and he made intercession for the transgressors.[”] He said when crucified, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do;” And he said this not only for his actual crucifiers, who had their hands embrued in the blood of the Son of God, but also for all those transgressors, whose sins he bare, as we all, most cruelly, by our iniquity, nailed our Jesus fast to his painful, dolorous cross; and in saying this, he made intercession for all our forgiveness. And what an amazing stoop of humility, what a bright display of boundless mercy was this in the great Son of God, thus to pray for his murdering enemies! And all these particulars of his unparallelled sufferings jointly conspire with the rest, to procure our full and eternal redemption. And as our dear Lord Jesus, thus made intercession for us, as our great High Priest, in his humiliation-state, when he offered up himself a sacrifice in our room and stead; so likewise, as this his intercession is mentioed last, I humbly think it doth also comprize in it that intercession of his which he makes for us, and by which he saves us, in his exalted [94] state, as a priest upon the throne, upon which the Father actually divides him a portion with the great, and he divides the spoil with the strong.

         Hence we may observe, 1. The infinite wisdom and grace of God, in his provided given, and sacrificed son; for our full and eternal redemption, which shall be to the endless shame of all his, and our enemies, and the everlasting confusion of the Devil and all his legions. He envied God’s glory and our paradisaical felicity; made war upon us in Adam, and by his first sin took us for a prey. But lo, the spoiler is spoiled, by that very means by which he thought to destroy Christ’s kingdom, and our salvation, in getting him crucified! for lo the whole world shan’t be Satans own; Christ shall have his portion and take the spoil from him, even by Christ’s death in our stead, to his tormenting shame and endless confusion! And God shall have higher glory in all his divine persons and perfections, and we greater felicity; than either could have had without sin’s entrance, 2. That our Lord’s soul was poured out in all his sufferings, such was their intenseness in his infinite person, for the satisfaction of God’s law and justice, that he might save in a way of righteousness, and leave no room for objection from any of the powers of darkness. And 3. That from Christ’s being numbered with the transgressors, bearing the sin of many, and making intercession for the transgressors when he offered himself a sacrifice for us; we are accounted righteous, and shall be dealt with as such, through the intercession of our great High Priest, who ever lives to save us on the throne, unto present and eternal bliss.

         And has the great Jehovah employed his wisdom and grace for us, Madam, in his provided, given and sacrificed Son, for our redemption, and the enemy’s confusion; and must Christ have us as a part of his portion, and we, as a spoil, be taken from Satan? With what joyful wonder, with what high praises, should we here, and shall we hereafter, for ever adore the unsearchable depths, the infinite heights of his wisdom and grace in our salvation? Did our Jesus, for us, pour out his soul unto death, in all his sufferings? Here let us see, as that soul of his, was in union to his divine person, and all its actings, the actions of his person, an infinite satisfaction, made for all our sins. And was he for us numbered with transgressors? Did he bear our sins, and make intercession for us as transgressors? Let us adore his infinite grace, in putting his great Self, in our vile place, in his yielding his holy self to bear the intolerable load of all our guilt, and in his intercession for us, with his great Father, in point of everlasting favour, even when he viewed us as transgressors, that deserved nothing less than his wrathful vengeance for ever! and let us hence believe, that we shall be given him as his portion, and fully delivered from all evil as his spoil.

         Upon the whole, Madam, what a glorious part is this chapter of divine revelation! here Christ, in his divine person, as David’s Lord, his root; and in his human nature, as his offsping, a tender plant, twig or branch, is clearly set forth, and that he was the very person upon whom the Lord the Father laid sin, in order to take satisfaction for our guilt, that we might be justified and saved. And thus “Christ is the wisdom of God and the [95] power of God, unto every one that is or shall be saved.” The wisdom of God in the constitution of his person, as God-man, Mediator, and the power of God for salvation to every one that believeth, that discerns the glory of this person and performances, and rests for life, alone upon these. And indeed without such a distinct person in the Godhead, as God the Son, who was personally united to the human nature that sinned, and that suffered in the sinner’s stead; there could have been no satisfaction made to God, in the person of the Father, and so no salvation for us, but we must have perished for ever; for if there was but one person in the Godhead, and that person called the Father, with respect to Christ’s human nature, and the choice of our persons in him, and this person took the human nature into personal union with himself; there could have been no divine person to demand satisfaction for sin, nor any to whom it shall be given, and God the Father is never said to take our nature, but it was the Word, the second person in God, that was made flesh, the only begotten of the Father, that assumed into personal union with himself our nature, and thus became a fit mediator between God and sinners; and whoever gives into that notion, “of their being but one person in the divine essence, and that this person was made flesh,” destroys doctrinally the only foundation which God hath laid in Sion, and upon which he builds his church. And he that hath not the Son, as a distinct divine person from the Father which sent him, hath not the Father;” and living and dying in such a mistaken notion, awful is, and will be his condition. “There is one God, i.e. in the person of the Father, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” Christ, as Mediator, is here said to be the man; there is his human nature, Christ; there is his divine person, as God, hypostatically united to the human nature in the womb of the virgin, which had no personal subsistence of its own, but subsisted in the divine person of the Son, as being assumed by him into personal union. And though the human nature was anointed distinctly, yet not separately from his divine person, but it was God man, that was the subject of the unction, or he, as such, in this complex character, was anointed as the Mediator by God the Father, with the Holy Ghost above measure; and this Mediator, is said to be Jesus, a Saviour to save his people from their sins, and who this Jesus is we are told, “Immauel, God with us.” And as Christ in the sacred word, is spoken of every where, as a distinct person, from God the Father, if we would know who Christ is, the Holy Ghost by the Apostle tells us, where speaking of the privileges of the Jews, he says, of whom concerning the flesh, or human nature, Christ came, who is, over all, God blessed for ever. Here is his Godhead, and his manhood, both mentioned as one person, one Christ; this is God’s Christ, and that very person, that glorious person, of whose humilation, and exaltation, the Prophet Isaiah, in this chapter, speaks. Well may Isaiah be called, the evangelical Prophet, how full of the gospel is this part of his prophecy! He speaks rather like an Evangelist, than a Prophet, and of things to come as if they then were actually done, and he had seen them with his eyes. And this not barely to suit the prophetic style, wherein the past is [96] frequently put for the future, to denote the certainty of that futurity; but also because there was a sense, in which these great things were already done, viz. in the everlasting covenant between the Father and the Son, which secured their being actually done before men in the fulness of time. That the God of all grace, may abundantly pardon the weakness and darkness of his feeble, short-sighted worm, and get himself glory by what is written, unto your rising bliss, and increasing consolation, so prays,

                     Dear Madam,

                                 Your most humble Servant,

A.    D.

Text: Divine and Moral, Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse. Containing many Valuable Originals, Communicated by various Correspondents, and other Pieces extracted from different Authors, and antient Manuscripts. The Whole being such a Collection of Miscellaneous Thoughts, as will tend not only to please, but enlighten and profit the Reader, Vol. 3 (London: Printed for J. Fuller, in Newgate-Street, London; and T. Luckman, in Coventry. 1763), pp.73-96.