We might look on him in his agony and bloody sweat, in his strong cries and supplications, when he was sorrowful unto the death, and began to be amazed, in apprehensions of the things that were coming on him, - of that dreadful trial which he was entering into. But these things I shall not insist on in particular, but leave them under such a veil as may give us a prospect into them, so far as to fill our souls with holy admiration. When Adam had sinned, and thereby eternally, according unto the sanction of the law, ruined himself and all his posterity, he stood ashamed, afraid, trembling, as one ready to perish for ever, under the displeasure of God. Death was that which he had deserved, and immediate death was that which he looked for. And yet thy present misery, thy entrance into dust and darkness, is no way to be compared with what is to ensue.
Eternal distress lies at the door.
But yet look up once more, and behold me, that thou mayest have some glimpse of what is in the designs of infinite wisdom, love, and grace. Come forth from thy vain shelter, thy hiding-place I will put myself into thy condition. I will undergo and bear that burden of guilt and punishment which would sink thee eternally into the bottom of hell. To the same purpose he speaks unto convinced sinners, in the invitation he gives them to come unto him. Let us, then, behold him as poor, despised, persecuted, reproached, reviled, hanged on a tree, - in all, labouring under a sense of the wrath of God due unto our sins.