(18) 4. Another remarkable period is their meeting together at the banks of Jordan, when Christ was baptized, Mat. iii. 13, 16, 17, &c. 5. Another remarkable period is their meeting together in the garden of Gethsemane, when Christ being in agony, did sweet great drops of blood under the pressure of avenging justice, every drop of blood was an ocean of mercy, and while he was prest in the wine-press of God s wrath, Mercy was expressed No mercy to Christ, for God spared not his own Son, even when he cried, mercy, mercy, God's mercy, saying Father, if it be thy will, remove this cup from me. No, no mercy was shown to him, otherways no mercy had been shown to us, justice must have its due from him, that mercy might vent towards us: and so here Mercy and Truth meet together. 6 Another remarkable period is their meeting on mount Calvary where Christ was crucified It was upon the cross of Christ that mercy and truth met together, that righteousness and peace killed each other; for there it was that he paid all the elect’s debt to the last farthing that Truth and Righteousness could demand, until he cried with a loud voice, and said, it is finished Having done all that the law could enjoin, he suffered all that the law could threaten; so as it cannot crave a farthing more. It is finished all that was stipulated for with the Father in that federal transaction, all that was promised in that eternal compact is finished, every article agreed to In the council of Peace was finifhed. The bargain that he had signed was with his hand, he now sealed with his blood ; and in this appearance upon the cross, or in obedience to the death did all the Attributes of God meet, as in a centre; and on this account was mount Calvary more glorious than mount Sinai; for in mount Sinai God appeared in his terrible majesty, making the mountain to tremble and the earth to shake: but here in mount Calvary, he appeared not only in his terrible majesty, but in his tender mercy ; in his terrible fury against sin, and in his tender favour towards the sinner: and now, the controversy betwixt justice and mercy seems at a crisis ; here was the critical juncture, wherein their different demands behoved to be decided ; and it was done with
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