By the Late DAVID DICKSON, Irvine.
(Continued from p. 14)
And to clear this yet further, that extreme fear to be swallowed up of wrath, could well consist in Christ with strong faith to overcome and bear out that terrible wrath—let it be considered, that as it was needful Christ should be subject to the infirmity of natural strength, that He might suffer death; so it was needful, that He should have strong faith, to enable Him to bear out in a holy way, that which He behoved to suffer. For if, on the one hand, Christ had not been weakened, and emptied of all human strength in His flesh, He could not have been humbled enough for us; He could not have suffered so much as justice did exact for satisfaction for us; and on the other hand, if He had not stood firm in faith and love towards God’s glory and our salvation, He could not have satisfied justice, nor been still the innocent and spotless Lamb of God, nor have perfected the expiatory sacrifice for us. Objection. But was He not tempted to doubt by Satan? Answer. We grant that He was indeed tempted by Satan to doubt; yea, we shall not stand to grant that He was tempted to desperation; but we altogether deny that He was tainted with sin by temptation in the least degree: for the Scriptures say, He was tempted in all things like unto us, but yet without sin in Him, or yielding in any sort to any temptation. And seeing by the Evangelist (Matt. iv.), we understand, that He was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, unto the most horrible sins that Satan could devise, and yet was not stained or polluted in the least degree, with the least measure of yielding to the sinful temptations; we need not stand to grant that He might be tempted, or that He was tempted unto doubting and desperation; for this was among the most notable and prime temptations, whereby Satan in his impudent boldness, solicited the Son of God, very God and man in one person, even to doubt of that which Satan knew He was: “If thou be the Son of God,” says he. It is true indeed, that we who are sinners by nature, and corrupted in all the powers of our soul, cannot be tempted, tossed, and troubled; but therein our sinful nature in some measure may appear, and be polluted. But the matter was not so with our holy Lord, the God of glory, who was separate from sinners. For our impure nature is like to water in a puddle, which being stirred, does presently become muddy and foul: but the holy human nature of Christ, was altogether pure, like unto clear and pure fountain water in a glass, which, howsoever, it be troubled and tossed, remains most pure, and free of all muddiness.
Objection. But at least, was there not a conflict in our Lord between His faith, and the temptation to doubting? Answer. We grant not only a conflict of Christ’s human natural strength with the burden of affliction, but also a conflict and wrestling of His faith against the temptation to doubting. For wrestling does not always argue the infirmity of the wrestler; for the Angel who is called God (Hos. xii.) wrestles with Jacob, and in God was no infirmity. Again, wrestling does not argue always infirmity, but does only evidence the wrestler’s power, and the importunate obstinacy of an adversary, who being repulsed and cast down, does not at first leave the field, but rises up again, insists and presses on, so long as it pleases the most powerful party to suffer the adversary to make opposition. Objection. But you must grant, that in the conflict of Christ’s human natural strength, with the affliction and burden of the punishment laid upon Him by the Father, He was overcome, and succumbed, and died. Answer. Yes, indeed: but we must put a difference between the conflict of natural strength with the burden of affliction, and the conflict between faith and a temptation unto sin. In the conflict of holy human nature in Christ, with the punishment of our sins laid on Him, it was not a sin to have His natural strength overpowered, and to lie down under the burden, and to lay down His life and die; but it was a main part of His obedience; it was the performance of His promise and undertaking, to yield Himself to justice and to die for us, that we might be delivered from death eternal. But in the wrestling of His faith with the temptation unto doubting, it had been a sin to have yielded in the least degree, and that which could not consist with the perfect holiness of the Mediator, surely for sinners.
Objection. But did not the perplexity of His thoughts, and the anxiety of His mind, diminish something of the vigour and constancy of His faith? Answer. It did diminish nothing of the vigour and constancy of His faith; for there is a great difference between the troubling of the thoughts, and the hesitation or weakening of faith, as there is also a great difference between the perturbation of the mind, and the perturbation of the conscience. For as the mind may be troubled, when, in the consideration of some difficulty, it cannot at first perceive an outgate, meantime the conscience remaining sound and quiet; so may the work of the mind’s discoursing be interrupted, and at a stay for a time, faith meantime remaining untouched, wholly sound and quiet. For example, upon the sudden receiving of a wound, or upon an unexpected report of some great loss, such as befell Job, the wheels of the reasoning faculty may be at a stand for a time, and the conscience in the meantime be quiet; yea, and faith in the meantime remain strong, as we see in Job’s first exercise. Now, if this may be found in a holy imperfect man in any measure, why shall we not consider rightly of the exercise of the Holy One of Israel, suffering in His human nature the punishment of our sin?
(To be Continued)