r; and, consequently, by
offering him up as a substitute for guilty mortals, in order that he might
save them without doing violence to his administrative justice, he
manifested the infinite energy of his determination to destroy sin. No
account of the indescribable odiousness and deformity of evil, nor of the
inconceivable holiness of God, could have made so deep an impression of
his implacable abhorrence of sin, as is made by the cross upon which his
Son was permitted to expire amid the scorn and contempt of his enemies.
The human imagination has no power to conceive of a more impressive and
appalling enforcement of the great lesson, "Stand in awe, and sin not,"
than that which is presented to an astonished universe in the cross and
passion of the Son of God.

And besides, it possesses this other unspeakable advantage, that while it
manifests an infinite abhorrence of sin, it displays the most
heart-subduing love of the sinner. If Zaleucus had exhausted the penalty
of the law upon his son, this would have had little or no tendency to
reform his heart, or to induce him to acquiesce in the justness of the
law. It would have been more apt to lead him to regard the king as an
unfeeling father. But when he was made to see, by the manner in which the
king had dispensed the law, that he cherished the warmest feelings of
affection for him, there was no cause left for a murmur on the part of
any, but for the highest admiration on the part of all.

Just so in relation to the sufferings and death of Christ. If God had
exhausted the fearful penalty of the law upon poor, suffering, and
degraded humanity, this would have been well calculated to inspire his
creatures with a servile and trembling awe of him. From their limited and
imperfect views of the evil of sin, and of the reasons why it should be
punished, they would not have been prepared to acquiesce in such
tremendous severity. Thus, one of the great ends of God's moral government
would have been subverted: the affections of his creatures would have been
estranged from him, through a distrust of his goodness and a dread of his
power, instead of having been drawn to him by the sweet and sacred ties of
confidence and love. But how different is the case now! Having given for
us his beloved Son, who is greater than all things, while we were yet
_enemies_, now that we are _reconciled_ to him, we are most firmly
persuaded that he will freely give us all things that can possibly con