April 7

PART II.

THE SAVIOUR OF OTHERS NOT ABLE TO SAVE HIMSELF.

Matt. 27. xlii.

IF they meant that he had not physical power to deliver himself from the cross, and from the hands of his enemies, then was this the language of ignorance and unbelief. He, who on one occasion was surrounded by his enemies, when they designed to.

throw him headlong down the brow of a certain hill, and who passed through them unperceived, could have easily eluded their most vigilant search, and escaped out of their hands. He, who in the garden, by a simple interrogation, caused the officers to fall to the ground, by one word, could have overwhelmed all employed in putting him to death, or have descended from the cross. No man could take his life from him, unless he pleased, for he had power both to lay it down, and to take it up again. He could have called ten legions of angels, who would have avenged his sufferings, and slain all his adversaries. But although Jesus had all power, yet there was a sense, in which it was true, that "himself he could not save." The reason was a moral one. He had stipulated to save others through the offering of himself. To save others, consistently with all the illustrious demands of eternal justice, it behoved him to suffer, and also to rise from the dead. The life of the world, rested on his death. Had he saved himself, the world would have been unredeemed, and all the prophecies and promises of the scriptures falsified. His truth rendered it impossible to save himself. His concern for the glory of his Father: his intense love to a world of sinners; and his determination to destroy the works of the devil, all rendered it true, that himself he could not save. Happy for the Jewish nation, who rejected their Lord, and happy for those in particular who put him to death, that himself he did not save.

Happy for every sinful child of man, for every undying human spirit, that himself he could not save. Shall we not feel deeply interested in those reasons, that rendered it impossible for Christ to save himself. And while Jesus saved others, ought we not to be deeply solicitous, that he should say unto our souls, "I am your salvation."