fers! The Creator suffers for the creature The Master for the servant He suffers, by whom the elements, the heavens, men and angels were created, "of whom, by whom, and in whom, are all things." [1]
It cannot, therefore, be matter of surprise that, whilst he agonized under such an accumulation of torments, the whole frame of the universe was convulsed, and, as the Scriptures inform us, "the earth trembled, and the rocks were rent, and the sun was darkened, and there was darkness all over the earth." [2] If, then, even mute and inanimate nature sympathized with the sufferings of her dying Lord, let the faithful conceive, if they can, with what torrents of tears they, " the living stones of the edifice," [3] should evince their sorrow.
The reasons why the Saviour suffered are also to be explained, that thus the greatness and intensity of the divine love towards us, may the more fully appear. Should it then be asked why the Son of God underwent the torments of his most bitter passion, we shall find the principal causes in the hereditary contagion of primeval guilt; in the vices and crimes which have been perpetrated from the beginning of the world to the present day; and in those which shall be perpetrated to the consummation of time. In his death and passion the Son of God contemplated the atonement of all the sins of all ages, with a view to efface them for ever, by offering for them to his Eternal Father, a superabundant satisfaction; and thus the principal cause of his passion will be found in his love of us.
Besides, to increase the dignity of this mystery, Christ not only suffered for sinners; but the very authors and ministers of all the torments he endured were sinners. Of this the apostle reminds us in these words addressed to the Hebrews: " Think, diligently, on him who endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds." [4] In this guilt are involved all those who fall frequently into sin; for, as our sins consigned Christ our Lord to the death of the cross, most certainly, those who wallow in sin and iniquity, as far as depends on them, " crucify to themselves again the Son of God, and make a mockery of him." [5] This our guilt takes a deeper die of enormity when contrasted with that of the Jews: according to the testimony of the apostle, "if they had known it, they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory:" [6] whilst we, on the contrary, professing to know him, yet denying him by our actions, seem, in some sort, to lay violent hands on him. [7]
But that Christ the Lord was also delivered over to death by the Father and by himself, we learn from these words of Isaias: "For the wickedness of my people have I struck him;" [8] and a little before, when, filled with the Spirit of God, he sees the
