“Centuries have rolled by, and the fulness of time is now accomplished; and see, an infant of days is born within the old burial ground of Eden. Behold a Son given to the dwellers of the tomb, and a spotless Lamb, the Lamb of God, is seen within that gloomy enclosure. When the hour came at which the ministers of the Divine Justice must seize upon the victim, I see them hurrying towards Gethsemane. There, in heaviness and sorrow of soul, praying more earnestly, the surety is seen bowed to the earth, and the heavy burden he had assumed is now weighing him down. Like a lamb, he is led towards Golgotha—the hill of skulls. There are mustered all the hosts of darkness, rejoicing in the hope of their speedy conquest over him. The monsters of the pit, huge, fierce, and relentless, are there. The lions, [116a] as in a great army, were grinding fearfully their teeth, ready to tear him in pieces. The unicorns, [116b] a countless host, were rushing onwards to thrust him through, and trample him beneath their feet. And there were the bulls of Bashan, [116c] roaring terribly; the dragons [116d] of the pit are unfolding themselves, and shooting out their stings, and dogs [116e] many are all around the mountain. ‘It is the hour and power of darkness.’ I see him passing along through this dense array of foes, an unresisting victim. He is nailed to the cross; and now Beelzebub and all the master-spirits in the hosts of hell have formed, though invisible to man, a ring around the cross. It was about the third hour of the day, or the hour of nine in the morning, that he was bound as a sacrifice, even to the horns of the altar. The fire of divine vengeance has fallen, and the flames of the curse have now caught upon him. The blood of the victim is fast dropping, and the hosts of hell are shouting impatiently: ‘The victory will soon be ours.’ And the fire went on burning until the ninth hour of the day, or the hour of three in the afternoon, when it touched his Deity,—and then it expired. For the ransom was now paid and the victory won. It was his. His hellish foes, crushed in his fall, the unicorns and the bulls of Bashan retreated from the encounter with shattered horns; the jaws of the lions had been broken and their claws torn off, and the old dragon, with bruised head, dragged himself slowly away from the scene, in deathlike feebleness. ‘He triumphed over them openly,’ and now is He for ever the Prince and Captain of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings. The graves of the old burial-ground have been thrown open; and from yonder hills gales of life have blown down upon this valley of dry bones, and an exceedingly great army have already been sealed to our God, as among the living in Zion.”
[116a] Allusion to the language in which Psalm xxii. predicts the Saviour’s sufferings. The Psalm which our Saviour himself quoted upon the Cross, when he cried, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me.”
[116b] Ditto.
[116c] Ditto.
[116d] Ditto.
[116e] Ditto.
[132] Was it the amount of suffering, or the dignity of the sufferer, that gave merit to the sacrifice sufficient for the world’s redemption? Ed.
[148] Dan. xii. 11, 12.
[185] This sentiment, in different forms, occurs very frequently in these sermons. It is questionable theology.—Ed.
[205] Acts iv. 4.