so plainly that the force of them is not to be avoided without the most shameful wresting and perverting of them This is my commandment says our Saviour that ye love one another as I have loved you How is that he declares in the next words Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friend that is that he be contented to die in his stead And to the same purpose St. Paul For when ye were yet Sinners in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly Now the question is whether by this expression of Christ's dying for the ungodly be meant only his dying for the benefit and advantage of Sinners but not his dying in their stead This let the words which immediately follow determine For scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man one would even dare to dye But God commendeth his love to us in that whilst we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us And now I appeal to any man of good sense whether it be not plain that the Apostle here speaks of Christ's dying for Sinners in the same sense as one man is said to dye for another that is to save another from death which what is it else but to dye in his stead He that can deny this is perverse to the highest degree and I fear almost beyond the possibility of being convinced And the Argument from these two Texts is so much the stronger because we do not here reason merely from the phrase and expression but from the main Scope of our Saviour's discourse in the one and of St. Paul's in the other For the design of both is to recommend the superlative love of Christ to us above the greatest love that ever any man express'd to another The highest pitch that human affection did ever rise to was for a man to lay down his life for his Friend but the Son of God laid down his life for his Enemies Scarcely says St. Paul would one lay down his life for a righteous man that is for one who is but strictly just and honest and does no body wrong but for a good man that is for-one that is kind and beneficial to all and hath obliged Mankind by great Benefits some one may be found that would lay down his life to save the life of such a Person But the love of Christ hath gone far beyond this He dyed for Sinners for those who were neither good men nor righteous But God commendeth his love to us in that whilst we were yet Sinners Christ dyed for us Now where doth the force of this Argument lye if not in this that Christ hath done that for us who were Enemies and Sinners which some very few persons in the World have done for their Friend or for some very eminently good man And what is that Why they have laid down their lives in their stead And so Christ hath done for us This seems to be so very plain that I do not see how the force of this Argument is possible to be avoided It is evident then from Scripture that Christ dyed not only for our advantage but in our stead as truly and really as any man ever did or can dye for another who lays down his own life to save another from death For if Christ had not dyed we had perished everlastingly and because he dyed we are saved from eternal Death and misery And though this be no where in Scripture spoken of by the name or term of Satisfaction yet it is said to be the price of our Redemption which surely is the same thing in effect with Satisfaction For as we are Sinners we are liable and as I may say indebted to the Justice of God And the Son of God by his Death and Sufferings in our Nature hath discharged this obligation and paid this debt for us Which discharge since it was obtained for us by the shedding of Christ's Blood and the Scripture tells us that without shedding of blood there is no remission of Sins And since God is graciously pleased to accept of it for the Debt which we owed to his Justice and to declare himself fully pleased and contented with it why it may not properly enough be called payment or satisfaction I confess I am not able to understand Men may eternally wrangle about any thing but what a frivolous contention what a trifling in serious matters what barretrie in Divinity is this Not that God was angry with his Son when he thus laid on him the iniquities of us all No he was always well pleased with him and never better than when he became obedient to the Death even the Death of the Cross and bore our Sins in his own body on the Tree Nor yet that our Saviour suffered the very same that the Sinner should have suffered namely the proper Pains and Torment of the Damned But that his Obedience and Sufferings were of that value and esteem with God and his voluntary Sacrifice of himself so well-pleasing to him that he thereupon entred into a Covenant of Grace and Mercy with Mankind wherein he hath engaged himself to forgive the Sins of those who believe and repent and to make them partakers of eternal life And hence the Blood of Christ which was shed for us upon the Cross is called the Blood of the Covenant as being the Sanction of that New Covenant into which God is entred with Mankind And not only the Sanction and confirmation of that Covenant but the very Foundation of it For which reason the Cup in the Lord's Supper is called the New Testament or as the word should rather be rendred the New Covenant in his Blood which was shed for many for the remission of Sins I proceed now to the II d. Thing propounded which was to shew that the Expiation of our Sins was made by the Sufferings of Christ from the nature and intention of Expiatory Sacrifices both among the Jews and Heathen to which the Death of Christ is in the New Testament so frequently compared and in point of vertue and efficacy to take away Sin infinitely preferr'd to it Now the nature and design of Expiatory Sacrifices was plainly this To substitute one Living Creature to suffer and die instead of another so that what the Sinner deserved to have suffered was supposed to be done to the Sacrifice that is it was slain to make an atonement for the Sinner And though there was no reason to hope for any such effect from the Blood of Bulls or of Goats or of any other Living Creatures that were wont to be offered up in Sacrifice yet that both Jews and Heathen did expect and hope for it is so very evident that it cannot without extreme Ignorance or Obstinacy be deny'd But this expectation how unreasonable soever plainly shews it to have been the common Apprehension of Mankind in all Ages that God would not be appeased nor should Sin be pardoned
The Archbishop of Canterbury's SERMON Concerning the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL APRIL the 9 th 1693. Concerning the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ. By JOHN Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Publish'd by Her Majesty's special Command LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill And W. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1693. A SERMON Concerning the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ c. HEB. IX 26. But now once hath he appeared in the end of the world to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself AMONG many other great ends and reasons for which God was pleased to send his Son into the World to dwell amongst us this was one of the chief that by a long course of the greatest innocency and the greatest sufferings in our Nature he might be capable to make a perfect Expiation of Sin But now once in the end of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the conclusion of the Ages that is in the last Age of the World which is the Gospel Age hath he appeared to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself The general design of God in sending his Son into the World was to save mankind from eternal death and misery and to purchase for us eternal life and happiness So the Author of our Salvation himself tells us That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now in order to the procuring of this Salvation for us the impediments and hindrances of it were to be removed these were the guilt and the dominion of Sin By the guilt of Sin we were become obnoxious to the wrath of God and to eternal condemnation and by the defilement and dominion of it we were incapable of the happiness of Heaven and the reward of eternal Life To remove these two great hindrances two things were necessary the Forgivenes of sins past in order to our deliverance from the wrath of God and the eternal torments of the next Life and the Reformation of our hearts and lives to make us capable of eternal Life and happiness in another World And both these if God had so pleased might have been effected by the abundant mercy and powerful grace of God without this wonderful method and dispensation of sending his Son in our Nature to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself But it seems the wisdom of God thought fit to pitch upon this way and method of our Salvation and no doubt for very good Reasons amongst which these three seem to be very obvious and very considerable First to vindicate the honour of his Laws which if Sin had gone altogether unpunish'd would have been in great danger of falling into contempt For if God had proclaimed a general Pardon of Sin to all mankind without any testimony of his wrath and displeasure against it who would have had any great veneration for his Laws or have believed in good earnest that the violation of them had been either so extremely offensive to Him or so very dangerous to the Sinner Therefore to maintain the honour of his Laws rather than Sin should pass unpunish'd God would lay the punishment of it upon his only begotten Son the dearest Person to him in the World Which is a greater testimony of his high displeasure against Sin and of his tender regard and concernment for the honour of his Laws than if the Sinner had suffered the punishment due to it in his own person Secondly another Reason of this Dispensation and that likewise very considerable was that God might forgive Sin in such a way as yet effectually to discountenance and discourage it and to create in us the greatest horror and hatred of it Which could not have been by an absolute Pardon without any punishment inflicted or satisfaction made to the honour of his Justice For had Sin been so easily forgiven who would have been sensible of the great evil of it or afraid to offend for the future But when God makes his own Son a Sacrifice and lays upon him the punishment due for the iniquities of us all this is a demonstration that God hates Sin as much if it be possible as he loved his own Son For this plainly shews what Sin deserves and what the Sinner may justly expect if after this severity of God against it he will venture to commit it And if this Sacrifice for Sin and the Pardon purchased by it be not effectual to reclaim us from Sin and to beget in us an eternal dread and detestation of it If we sin wilfully after so clear a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men there remains no more sacrifice for sin but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume the adversaries For what could God do more to testify his displeasure against sin and to discountenance the practice of it than to make his only Son an offering for Sin and to give him up to be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities In what clearer Glass can we at once behold the great evil and demerit of Sin and the infinite goodness and mercy of God to Sinners than in the sorrows and sufferings of the Son of God for our Sins and for our sakes Thirdly another Reason of this Dispensation seems to have been a gracious condescension and compliance of Almighty God with a certain apprehension and persuasion which had very early and universally obtained among Mankind concerning the expiation of Sin and appeasing the offended Deity by Sacrifices by the Sacrifices of living Creatures of Birds and Beasts and afterwards by Human Sacrifices and the blood of their sons and daughters by offering to God as the expression is in the Prophet their first-born for their transgression and the fruit of their body for the sin of their souls And this Notion of the expiation of Sin by Sacrifice whether it had its first Rise from Divine Revelation and was afterwards propagated from Age to Age by Tradition I say from whence soever this Notion came it hath of all other Notions concerning Religion excepting those of the Being of God and his Providence and of the Recompences of another Life found the most universal reception and the thing hath been the most generally practised in all Ages and Nations not only in the old but in the new discovered parts of the World And indeed a very great part of the Jewish Religion which was instituted by God himself seems to have been a plain condescension to the general Apprehension of Mankind concerning this way of appeasing the offended Deity by Sacrifices As it was also a Figure of that great and efficacious Sacrifice which should in due time be offer'd to God to make atonement once for all for the Sins of all Mankind And the
Son to intercede for the Pardon of a Rebel yea and to suffer some punishment or to pay a Fine for the obtaining of it does not in effect and in all equitable and gratefull construction forgive him freely Thirdly It is yet further objected That this seems to be more unreasonable than the sacrificing of Beasts among the Jews nay than the sacrificing of Men among the Heathen and even of their own Sons and Daughters Because this is the offering up of the Son of God the most innocent and the most excellent Person that ever was To which I answer that if we consider the manner and the design of it the thing will appear to be quite otherwise As to the manner of it God did not command his Son to be sacrificed but his Providence permitted the wickedness and violence of men to put him to death And then his Goodness and Wisdom did over-rule this worst of Actions to the best of Ends. And if we consider the matter aright how is this any more a reflection upon the Holy Providence of God than any Enormities and Cruelties which by his permission are daily committed in the World And then if we consider the End and Design of this permission of Christ's Death and the application of it to the purpose of a general Expiation we cannot but acknowledge and even adore the gracious and mercifull Design of it For by this means God did at once put an end to that unreasonable and bloody way of Worship which had been so long practised in the World And after this one Sacrifice which was so infinitely dear to God the benefit of Expiation was not to be expected in any other way all other Sacrifices being worthless and vain in comparison of this And it hath ever since obtained this effect of making all other Sacrifices to cease in all Parts of the World where Christianity hath prevailed Fourthly The last Objection is the Injustice and Cruelty of an innocent Person 's suffering instead of the Offender To this I answer That they who make so great a noise with this Objection do seem to me to give a full and clear Answer to it themselves by acknowledging as they constantly and expressly do that our Saviour suffered all this for our benefit and advantage though not in our place and stead For this to my apprehension is plainly to give up the Cause unless they can shew a good reason why there is not as much Injustice and Cruelty in an innocent Person 's suffering for the benefit and advantage of a Malefactour as in his suffering in his stead So little do Men in the heat of dispute and opposition who are resolved to hold fast an Opinion in despite of Reason and good sense consider that they do many times in effect and by necessary consequence grant the very thing which in express terms they do so stiffly and pertinaciously deny The truth of the matter is this there is nothing of Injustice or Cruelty in either Case neither in an Innocent Person 's suffering for the benefit of an Offender nor in his stead supposing the Suffering to be voluntary But they have equally the same appearance of Injustice and Cruelty Nor can I possibly discern any reason why Injustice and Cruelty should be objected in the one Case more than in the other there being every whit as little reason why an Innocent Person should suffer for the benefit of a Criminal as why he should suffer in his stead So that I hope this Objection which above all the rest hath been so loudly and so invidiously urged hath received a just Answer And I believe if the matter were searched to the bottom all this perverse contention about our Saviour's suffering for our benefit but not in our stead will signify just nothing For if Christ dyed for our benefit so as some way or other by vertue of his Death and Sufferings to save us from the wrath of God and to procure our escape from eternal Death this for ought I know is all that any body means by his dying in our stead For he that dies with an intention to do that benefit to another as to save him from Death doth certainly to all intents and purposes dye in his place and stead And if they will grant this to be their meaning the Controversie is at an end and both Sides are agreed in the thing and do only differ in the phrase and manner of expression Which is to seek a quarrel and an occasion of difference where there is no real ground for it a thing which ought to be very far from reasonable and peaceable Minds For the Socinians say that our Saviour's voluntary Obedience and Sufferings did procure his Exaltation at the right hand of God and Power and Authority to forgive Sins and to give eternal Life to as many as he pleased So that they grant that his Obedience and Sufferings in the meritorious consequence of them do redound to our Benefit and advantage as much as we pretend and say they do only they are loth in express terms to acknowledge that Christ dyed in our stead And this for no other reason that I can imagine but because they have denied it so often and so long But I appeal to the ingenuity of our Adversaries whether this do not in the last issue come all to one and be not on their part a mere Controversie about words For suppose a Malefactour condemned to some grievous punishment and the King's Son to save him from it is contented to submit to great disgrace and sufferings In reward of which Sufferings the King takes his Son into his Throne and sets him at his own right hand and gives him power to pardon this Malefactour and upon a fitting Submission and Repentance to advance him to honour Will not any man in this Case allow that the King's Son suffer'd instead of this Malefactour and smile at any man that shall be so nice as to grant that indeed he suffered for him but yet to deny that he was punish'd for him to allow that he bore the inconvenience of his faults but yet obstinately to stand it out that the faults of this Malefactour were not laid upon him or in any wise so imputed to him that he can be said to have suffered in his stead This is just the Case and the difference in reallity and in the last result of things is nothing but words Thus far have I tryed your patience in a contentious Argument in which I take no pleasure but yet shall be glad if I may be so happy as by any thing that hath been said to contribute towards the putting an end to so unhappy a Controversie which hath troubled the World so long and raised such a dust that very few have been able to see clearly through it However I cannot dismiss this Argument without making some usefull but very short reflection upon this great Doctrine of our Religion namely That the Son
Apostle to the Hebrews doth very particularly insist upon this condescension of God to them in the Dispensation of the Gospel and whereas they apprehended so great a necessity of an High-Priest and of Sacrifices to make expiation for the sins of the People that it was an established Principle among them that without shedding of blood there was no remission of Sins God was pleased to comply so far with these Notions and Apprehensions of theirs as to make his own Son both a Priest and a Sacrifice to do that once for all which their own High-Priest pretended to do year by year And from hence the same Apostle takes occasion to recommend to them the new Covenant and Dispensation of the Gospel as having a greater and more perfect High-Priest and a more excellent Sacrifice than were the High-Priests and the Sacrifices under the Law the Son of God having by one Sacrifice of himself obtained eternal Redemption for us and perfected for ever them that are sanctified And this Apprehension prevailed no less in the Heathen World and proceeded to the Sacrifices of Men even of their first-born And with this Apprehension not to countenance but to abolish it God was pleased to comply so far as to make a general Atonement for the Sins of Mankind by the Death of his Son appearing in our Nature to become a voluntary Sacrifice for us God permitting him to be unjustly put to death and his blood to be shed by the malice of men in appearance as a Malefactor but in truth as a Martyr and accepting of his Death as a meritorious Sacrifice and propitiation for the Sins of the whole World That by this wise counsel and permission of his Providence he might for ever put an end to that barbarous and inhuman way of serving God which had been so long in use and practice among them The Son of God by the voluntary Sacrifice of himself having effected all that at once and for ever which Mankind from the beginning of the World had in vain been endeavouring to accomplish by innumerable and continual Sacrifices namely the pardon of their Sins and perfect peace and reconciliation with God For these Ends and Reasons and perhaps for many more as great and considerable as these which our shallow understandings are not able to fathom the Wisdom of God hath pitched upon this way and method of delivering Mankind from the guilt and dominion of Sin by the Sacrifice of his Son And to this end it was requisite that he should appear in our Nature and dwell amongst us for some considerable time that by a long course of the greatest Innocency and of the greatest Sufferings in our Nature he might be capable of making a perfect expiation of Sin So that two things were requisite to qualify him for this purpose perfect Innocency and Obedience and great Sufferings in our Nature even to the suffering of Death Both these the Scripture declares to be necessary qualifications of a Person capable to make expiation of Sin and both these were found in the Person of our B. Saviour First unspotted Innocency and perfect Obedience This the Scripture testifies concerning Him and the whole course of his Life and actions He was in all points tempted like as we are yet without Sin saith the Apostle to the Hebrews He always did the things which pleased God as He testifies concerning himself and we are sure that his witness is true He did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth as St. Peter tells us of Him And this was necessary to qualify him for the perfect expiation of Sin whether we consider Him as a Priest or as a Sacrifice As a Priest he could not have been fit to make expiation for the Sins of others had he not been without sin himself And this the Apostle tells us is one great Advantage of our High-Priest under the Gospel above the High-Priest under the Law who being a Sinner himself as well as those for whom he offer'd had need to offer for himself before he could make so much as a Legal expiation for the Sins of others But a perfect and effectual expiation of Sin so as to purge the conscience from the guilt of it cannot be made but by an High Priest who is holy and innocent himself For such an High-Priest saith the Apostle became us that is now under the Dispensation of the Gospel when a perfect expiation of Sins is to be made such an High-Priest is necessary as is holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners who needs not as those High-Priests that is as the High-Priests under the Law to offer up sacrifice first for his own Sins and then for the People The plain force of which Argument is this that he who will be qualified to make atonement for the Sins of others must be without Sin himself And then if we consider Christ as a Sacrifice for Sin perfect holiness is necessary to make a Sacrifice acceptable and available for the expiation of Sin The necessity of this was typified by the quality of the expiatory Sacrifices under the Law the Beasts that were to be offered were to be without spot and blemish To which the Apostle alludes speaking of the quality and efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ How much more says he shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God And to the same purpose St. Peter Forasmuch as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot hereby intimating that nothing less than the perfect innocency and holiness of him who was to be a Sacrifice for us could have expiated the guilt of our sins and purchased eternal Redemption for us Secondly great Sufferings likewise in our Nature even to the suffering of Death were requisite to the perfect expiation of Sin I say even to the suffering of Death For the Sacrifices which were to make expiation were to be slain And it was a constant Maxime and Principle among the Jews and the Apostle more than once in this Epistle seems to allow and confirm it that without shedding of blood there was no remission of Sins Not that God could not have pardoned Sin without satisfaction made to his Justice either by the suffering of the Sinner himself or of a Sacrifice in his stead But according to the method and Dispensation which the Wisdom of God had pitched upon he was resolved not to dispense Forgiveness in any other way For which reason he seems either to have possess'd Mankind with this Principle or to have permitted them to be so perswaded that Sin was not to be expiated but by Blood that is either by Death of the Sinner or of the Sacrifice Now the Life of our B. Saviour as well as his Death was made up