Scripture and especially with what is so often said of our Saviour's being a Sacrifice which I shall have occasion further to urge by and by I say the manner of the expression if well considered will appear to any man that is not contentious to signify our Saviour's suffering instead of the Sinner But not to argue from words and phrases I will produce two Texts which declare this matter 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 you 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 died 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 Goats or of
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 persuaded that Sin was not to be expiated but by Blood that is either by the Death of the Sinner or of the Sacrifice Now the Life of our B. Saviour as well as his Death was made up of Sufferings of one kind or other Continual Sufferings from his Cradle to his Cross from the time he drew his first breath to his giving up of the ghost And not only continual Sufferings but the greatest that ever were considering the Dignity of the Person that suffered and the nature of the Sufferings Considering likewise that these Sufferings were not only wholly undeserved on his part but unmerited also on ours for whose sake he submitted himself to them Nay on the contrary he had obliged to the utmost those for whom and by whom he suffered and continued still to oblige them by the greatest Blessings and Benefits purchased and procured for them by those very Sufferings which with so much Malice and Cruelty they inflicted on him Had our B. Saviour been a mere Man the perfect Innocency and unspotted Purity of his whole Life his Zeal to do the Will of God and his delight in doing it his infinite pains and unwearied diligence in going about doing good His constant Obedience to God in the most difficult Instances and his perseverance in well doing notwithstanding the ill usage and hard measure the bitter Reproaches and Persecutions he met withal for it from a wicked and ill natured World His perfect submission to the Will of God his invincible Patience under the greatest and bitterest Sufferings and his infinite Charity to his Enemies and Persecutors These must needs be highly acceptable to God and if Man could merit of God likely enough to be available for the Sins of others But our Saviour and our Sacrifice being the Son of God in our Nature and He voluntarily assuming it and submitting to the condition of Humanity in its lowest and most miserable state Sin only excepted and his being contented to live a Life of doing good and suffering evil and at last to be put to Death and slain a Sacrifice for us The Dignity of the Person who did and suffered all this for us and his dearness to God must needs add a mighty value to so perfect an Obedience and such patient Sufferings so as to render them a full perfect and sufficient Sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World And all this being willingly performed in our Nature and accepted by God as done upon our account may reasonably be presumed to redound to our benefit and advantage as much as if we our selves had performed it in our own persons Nothing being so proper and so available to make an honâ—urable amends and satisfaction to the Justice of God for the Sins of all Mankind as the voluntary Obedience and Sufferings of Human Nature in a Person of so great Dignity and dearness to God as his eternal and entirely beloved Son Now that Expiation of Sin was made by the Sufferings of Christ in our stead I shall endeavour to make good these three ways First From plain Testimonies of H. Scripture declaring this matter to us as clearly and fully as it is possible for words to do it Secondly 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 â—fficacy to take away Sin infinitely preferred to it Thirdly By vindicating this Method and Dispensation of the Divine Wisdom from the Objections which are brought against it and by shewing that there is nothing in it that is unreasonable or any wise unworthy of God I. I shall produce some plain Testimonies of H. Scripture which declare this matter as clearly and fully as it is possible for words to do it namely that the Son of God in order to the effectual Expiation of Sin suffered in our stead and bore the wrath of God for us and made a perfect Atonement for Sin and obtained eternal Redemption for us This the Scripture declares to us in great variety of expressions as that Christ died for us and for our Sins that he was a Sacrifice for us and a propitiation for the Sins of the whole World that is of all Mankind that be bare our Sins in his own body on the Tree and appeared to take away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself that we are justified in his blood and redeemed by the price of it and in very many other expressions to the same purpose And this is so evidently the scope and meaning of these Expressions that it cannot be denied without offering the greatest violence imaginable to the H. Scriptures For can any man think that God would have used so many expressions in Scripture the plain and most obvious sense of all which is that the Son of God suffered for our Sins and in our stead if this had not been his design and meaning Would not this be in effect to say that God hath written a great Book to puzzle and confound but not to instruct and teach Mankind I will at present single out some few of those many Texts of Scripture which might be produced to this purpose He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that is he hath made him who had no sin himself a Sacrifice for our sins Again and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God St. Peter to the same purpose tells us that Christ also hath once suffered for Sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh Here Christ is said to have suffered for Sin and to declare that the Apostle did not only mean that Christ suffered upon the occasion of our Sins but that he suffered in the place and stead of the Sinner he adds the just for the unjust that is the Son of God who was innocent and had no Sin suffered for us who were Sinners or as it is elsewhere express'd he bare our sins in his own body on the Tree It is true indeed that Christ suffered for our benefit and advantage which the Socinians would have to be all that is meant in the Texts which I have cited But then it ought to be considered that Christ's suffering for our benefit and advantage does by no means exclude nor is any wise inconsistent with his suffering in our stead For whoever suffers in another man's stead and to save him from suffering does undoubtedly suffer for his benefit and advantage and gives the best demonstration of it that can be But the manner of the expression if compared with other parallel Texts 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 without Suffering But yet so that men generally conceived good hopes that upon the Repentance of Sinners God would accept of a vicarious punishment that is of the Suffering of some other in their stead And very probably as I said before in compliance with this Apprehension of Mankind and in condescension to it as well as for other weighty Reasons best known to the Divine Wisdom God was pleased to find out such a Sacrifice as should really and effectually procure for them that great Blessing of the Forgiveness of Sins which they had so long hoped for from the multitude of their own Sacrifices And the Apostle to the Hebrews doth in a large Discourse shew the great vertue and efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ to the purpose of Remission of Sins above that of the Sacrifices under the Law And that the Death of Christ is really and effectually to our advantage all that which the Sacrifices under the Law were supposed to be to the Sinner But now once saith the Apostle here in the Text in the end of the World hath he appeared to take away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself This is the great vertue and efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ that what ever was expected from any other Sacrifices either by Jews or Heathens was really effected by this This was plainly signified by the Jewish Passover wherein the Lamb was slain and the Sinner did escape and was pass'dby In allusion whereto St. Paul makes no scruple to call Christ our Passover or Paschal Lamb who was slain that we might escape Christ our Passover says he is slain or offer'd for us that is He by the gracious appointment of God was substituted to suffer all that in our stead which the Paschal Lamb was supposed to suffer for the Sinner And this was likewise signified by the Sinners laying his hand upon the Sacrifice that was to be slain thereby as it were transferring the punishment which was due to himself upon the Sacrifice that was to be slain and offered up For so God tells Moses that the Sinner who came to offer an Expiatory Sacrifice should do He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering and it shall be accepted for him to make an Atonement for him And the Apostle tells us that it was an established Principle in the Jewish Religion that without shedding of blood there was no Remission of Sins Which plainly shews that they expected this Benefit of the Remission of Sins from the Blood of their Sacrifices And then he tells us that we are really made partakers of this Benefit by the Blood of Christ and by the vertue of his Sacrifice And again Christ says he was once offered to bear the Sins of many plainly alluding to the Sacrifices under the Law which did as it were bear the faults of the Sinner And that this expression of Christ's being offered to bear our Sins cannot be meant of his taking away our Sins by his holy Doctrine which was confirmed by his Death but of his bearing our Sins by way of imputation and by his suffering for them in our stead as the Sacrifice was supposed to do for the Sinner This I say is evident beyond all denial from the opposition which follows after the Text between his first Appearance and his second Christ says our Apostle was once offered to bear our Sins but unto them that look for him he shall appear a second time without Sin unto Salvation Why Did he not appear the first time without Sin Yes certainly as to any inherent guilt for the Scripture tells us he had no Sin What then is the meaning of the opposition That at his first Coming he bore our Sins but at his second Coming he shall appear without Sin unto Salvation These words can have no other imaginable sense but this that at his first Coming he sustain'd the Person of a Sinner and suffered instead of us but his second Coming shall be upon another account and he shall appear without Sin unto Salvation that is not as a Sacrifice but as a Judge to confer the Reward of Eternal Life upon those who are partakers of the benefit of that Sacrifice which he offered to God for us in the days of his Flesh I proceed to the III d. Thing I proposed and which yet remains to be spoken to namely to vindicate this Method and Dispensation of the Divine Wisdom from the Objections which are brought against it and to shew that there is nothing in it that is unreasonable or any wise unworthy of God I shall mention four Objections which are commonly urged in this matter and I think they are all that are considerable First That this Method of the Expiation of Sin by the Sufferings of Christ seems to argue some defect and want of Goodnes in God as if he needed some external Motive and were not of himself disposed to forgive Sinners To which I think the Answer is not difficult namely that God did not want Goodness to have forgiven Sin freely and without any Satisfaction but his Wisdom did not think it meet to give encouragement to Sin by too easy a forgiveness and without some remarkable testimony of his severe displeasure against it And therefore his greater Goodness and Compassion to Mankind devised this way to save the Sinner without giving the least countenance and encouragement to Sin For God to think of saving us any way was excessive Goodness and Mercy but to think of doing it in this way by substituting his dearly beloved Son to suffer in our stead is a Condescension so very amazing that if God had not been pleased of his own Goodness to stoop to it it had almost been Blasphemy in Man to have thought of it or desired it Secondly How can our Sins be said to have been forgiven freely if the Pardon of them was purchased at so dear a rate and so mighty a Price was paid for it In Answer to this I desire these two things may be considered 1st That it is a wonderful grace and favour of God to admit of this translation of the Punishment which was due to us and to accept of the Sufferings of another in our stead and for our benefit when he might justly have exacted it of us in our own Persons So that even in this respect we are as St. Paul says justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ And freely too in respect of any necessity that lay upon God to forgive us in this or any other way It
end of the World to take away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself and in vertue of that Sacrifice appearing now in Heaven in the presence of God for us he is become our perpetual Advocate and a most prevalent Intercessor with God in our behalf For instead of the various and endless Sacrifices of the Jews and Heathen the Son of God hath by one Sacrifice for Sins perfected for ever them that are sanctified And instead of the Mediation of Daemons and Hero's to offer up our Prayers to God which were the Intercessors made use of among the Heathen we have one Mediator between God and men appointed by God himself even the Son of God who is entred into Heaven it self there to appear in the presence of God for us And to assure us that he commiserates our Case and hath a true and tender sense of our infirmities and sufferings the very manner of his Intercession for us as the Scripture represents it to us is a plain Demonstration of the thing For he intercedes for us in Heaven by representing to God his Father his sufferings upon Earth and pleading them in our behalf So that the very Argument which he useth to God for us cannot but stir up compassion in Him towards us and whilst he represents his Own sufferings in our behalf we cannot think that he is unmindful and insensible of Ours You see then that in this Dispensation of God for our Salvation by sending his Son in our Nature things are not only suited in great condescension to our apprehensions but are likewise in great compassion to us every way fitted for our comfort and encouragement God hath made him our great Patron and Advocate who was our Sacrifice and Propitiation And surely we have all the reason in the World to believe that he who in the days of his flesh humbled himself and became obedient to the death for our sakes will be ready to do us all good offices now that he is advanced to the right hand of God that he who dyed for us upon Earth now that he lives again will make intercession for us in Heaven and perfect that Salvation which he purchased for us upon the Cross And therefore we find in Scripture that as the purchasing of our Salvation is ascribed to the Death and Sufferings of Christ so the perfecting of it is attributed to his Intercession for us at the right hand of his Father Wherefore says the Apostle to the Hebrews he is able to save to the uttermost all those that come to God by him seeing he liveth for ever to make intercession for us He dyed once to purchase these benefits but he lives for ever to procure them for us and to apply them to us And now that he is in Heaven he is as intent upon our Concernments and lays our Happiness as much to heart as when he dwelt here among us on Earth and poured out his Blood a Sacrifice for Sin upon the Cross And that when he lived here below he suffer'd and was tempted as we are this very consideration gives us the greatest assurance possible that he is still touched with the feeling of our infirmities and hath a lively sense of our Sufferings and consequently that he doth compassionate our Case and will use all his power and interest for our advantage for our seasonable support and succour in all our trials and sufferings But besides the wonderful Gondescension of this Dispensation there is likewise in the Fifth and last place a great Congruity and fitness in the thing it self and this Method of our Salvation which the Wisdom of God hath pitched upon is in many other respects very much for our real benefit and comfort For by this means we have a perfect and familiar Example of holiness and obedience in our own Nature by which we plainly see that God requires nothing of us but what he himself when he submitted to become Man did think fit to do For being made of a Woman he was of necessity made under the Law and by assuming human Nature he became naturally subject to the Laws and conditions of his Being And here likewise is a provision made for the Expiation and Forgiveness of our Sins in a way not only very honourable to the Justice of God and the Authority of his Laws but likewise very effectual to discountenance Sin and to deter men from it since God did not think fit to forgive the Sins of men without great Sufferings and that in our Nature For though God was willing to save the Sinner yet rather than encouragement should be given to Sin by letting it go unpunish'd he was contented to give up the dearly beloved of his Soul to be a Sarcifice and Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World By the same means also we have a most powerful Antidote against the fear of Suffering and particularly against the fear of Death one of the greatest slaveries of human Nature So also the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us that for this cause Christ himself also took part of flesh and blood that by Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and might deliver those who through fear of Death were all their life-time subject to bondage Again we have hereby full assurance of a blessed Immortality in another Life because in our Nature Death and all the Powers of Darkness were baffled and overcome The Death of Christ which could not have been without his Incarnation and so likewise his Resurrection from the dead and his Ascension into Heaven are sensible Demonstrations to all Mankind of a blessed Immortality after Death which is the most powerful motive in the world to Obedience and a holy Life And lastly we may upon this account promise to our selves a fair and equal Trial at the Judgment of the great Day because we shall then be judged by a Man like our selves Our Saviour and Judge himself hath told us that for this reason God hath committed all Judgment to the Son because he is the Son of man And this in human Judgments is accounted a great Privilege to be judged by those who are of the same Rank and condition with our selves and who are likely to understand best and most carefully to examine and consider all our circumstances and to render our Case as if it were their own So equitably doth God deal with us that we shall be acquitted or condemned by such a Judge as according to human measures we our selves should have chosen by One in our own Nature who was made in all things like unto us that only excepted which would have rendered him incapable of being our Judge because it would have made him a Criminal like our selves And therefore the Apostle offers this as a firm ground of assurance to us that God will judge the World in Righteousness because this Judgment shall be administred by a Man like our selves He hath saith he appointed a
was a free act of his Goodness to save us even by the Satisfaction and Sufferings of his own Son 2dly It was in effect freely too notwithstanding the mighty Price which was paid for our Redemption Because this Price was not of our own procuring but of God's providing He found out this Ransome for us And will any man say that a Prince who prevails with his 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 grateful 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 merciful 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 practiced 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 expresly 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 Malefactor 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 stifly 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 henefit 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 reality 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