of sin is in Scripture frequently attributed to the Father as well as to the Son So 1 Iohn 1.9 If we confess our sins he i. e. the Father is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and Eph. 4.32 Forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you From whence it is plain that forgiveness of sin appertains to God as well as Christ and that both have their appropriate shares in it and therefore since it is impossible that the same individual action should proceed from two distinct Agents in this Act of forgiveness the Father must do something which the Son doth not and the Son must do something which the Father doth not They must both of them act an appropriate part in it and each have a distinct agency from each other For the fuller explication therefore of this Article I shall endeavour to shew first what it is which the Father doth in forgiving sins and secondly what the Son doth I. What is it that the Father doth in this Act of forgiveness of sin To which in short I answer That the Fathers part herein is to make a general grant of pardon to offenders upon such a consideration as he shall think meet to accept and with such a limitation and restriction he shall think fit to make which general Grant is nothing else but those glad tidings of the Gospel which he proclaimed to the World by Jesus Christ viz. that in consideration of Christs Death and Sacrifice he would freely forgive all penitent and believing sinners their personal obligation to eternal punishment and receive them into grace and favour So that in forgiving our sins there are these three things peculiar to God the Father First His making a general Grant of Pardon to us Secondly His making it in consideration of Christs Death and Sacrifice Thirdly His making it with those restrictions and limitations of Faith and Repentance First One thing peculiar to God the Father in forgiving sins is his making a general Grant of pardon and forgiveness to sinners For the Law against which all men had sinned and by which they were obliged to eternal punishment was strictly and properly the Law of God the Father who being the first and supreme person in the Godhead was consequently always the first and supreme in the divine Dominion Now the divine Dominion consisting even as all other Dominions do of a Legislative and executive power the Father must be supreme in both and consequently the Laws of the divine Dominion must be more especially and peculiarly his And hence it is called The Will of the Father Mat. 7.21 so in the Lords Prayer the Divine Law is in a peculiar manner stiled the Will of God the Father Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven Matth. 12.50 our Saviour stiles it the Will of his Father which is in Heaven and elsewhere the Commandment of his Father vid. Ioh. 12.5 Mat. 15.3.6 Mar. 7.8 9. by all which it is evident that the Divine Law against which we have all offended and by which we are obliged to punishment is appropriately and peculiarly the Will and Commandment of God the Father and it being so the right of exacting or remitting the punishment of this Law must be peculiarly and appropriately inherent in him For the penalty of the Law is due to him whose Law it is and it is he alone can loose us from it who bound it upon us so that it was the Fathers peculiar as to give the Law so to indemnifie offenders from the Penalty of it and accordingly we find that publick Grant of pardon which through Jesus Christ is made to sinners is in Scripture every were attributed to the Father so we are told that it is God who for Christs sake hath forgiven us Eph. 4.32 and that it is God who hath set forth Christ to be a Propitiation though faith in his bloud to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past that he might be just and the justifier of them that believe in Iesus Rom. 2.25 26. that it was God who was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5.19 And in a word that it is God who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1.9 where his being faithful and just plainly refers to some publick Grant and Promise by which he hath obliged himself to penitent offenders And indeed the whole new Covenant in which this publick Grant of remission of sins is contained vid. Heb. 8.12 is the act and deed of God the Father It was he that in consideration of Christs Death and Sacrifice granted this grand Charter of mercy to the World for seeing it was to the Father that that Sacrifice was offered in consideration of which the new Covenant was granted vid. Eph. 4.2 compared with Col. 1.20 the grant of it must necessarily be from the Father And as it was the Father that made this publick grant of Remission to sinners so II. It was he that made it in consideration of Christs Death and Sacrifice for so Christ himself tells us that it was by commandment which he received from his Father that he laid down his life Iohn 10.17 18. and when he was going to offer up himself upon the Cross he tells his Disciples As the Father gave me Commandment even so do I arise let us go hence i. e. to execute that Command which the Father hath given me to lay down my life for the sheep Ioh. 10.15 from whence it is evident that it was the Father who exacted the Death and Sacrifice of Christ in consideration of that publick Grant of forgiveness which he made to the World for it was through his blood that we have redemption the forgiveness of sins according to the Riches of his i. e. the Fathers grace Eph. 1.7 and that blood of his was an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 So that it was God the Father that did both exact and accept the sacrifice of Christ which as I have shewed at large Sect. 4. was in consideration of his pardoning and forgiving Sinners III. And lastly It was God the Father also that made this Grant of forgiveness to us with these restrictions and limitations of our believing and repenting For as the promises of the Covenant were his in which remission of sin is proposed to us so must the conditions of it be also by which it is limited and restrained Because it can belong to none but the giver to limit and conditionate his own Gifts and Grants Now the Conditions of our forgiveness are faith and repentance oâ—â—ather the condition of it is such a Faith such a lively and active belief in Jesus Christ as doth beget in us sincere repentance and renovation of life for so S. Paul tells us again
so peculiar to the Priestly Office as to present the bloud of the Sacrifice before the Lord by way of Intercession the later of which was so appropriate to the Priesthood as that it was never allowed upon any occasion whatsoever for any but a Priest to perform it but as for killing the Sacrifice it seems that not only the Priests but sometimes the Levites vid. 2 Chron. 30.17 yea and sometimes the People themselves were allowed to perform it vid. Lev. 4.24 29 33. though it is probable that the Levites were allowed it only in cases of necessity and the People only in private and particular sacrifice but in the publick and general Expiation wherein Christ's dying for the sins of the World was more eminently expressed and represented not only the presenting the bloud of the Sacrifice but the killing it too was peculiarly appropriated to the Priesthood So that though in private and particular Expiations the People had a right to sacrifice or kill the Victim yet in all publick ones such as our Saviour's was that right was incommunicably inherent in the Priesthood Now the killing of those sacrifices which were designed for expiations of sin was a transferring of punishment from the People to the Victim for you must know the Iews had two sorts of Laws viz. Civil and Ritual their Civil Laws were enforced according to their strictest sanction with the Penalty of death which Penalty in many cases allowed by God admitted of this mitigation that the life of a Beast should be accepted in exchange for the forfeited life of the Offender Their Ritual Laws were inforced with the Penalty of legal uncleanness and being separated upon that account from the Congregation and Publick Worship which Penalty also was thus far relaxed that if they offered the life of a Beast in Sacrifice their uncleanness should be thereby purged and themselves restored to the benefit of the publick Worship In both which cases the Sacrifice was evidently substituted to suffer for the Offender and in the first case he was substituted to suffer that very punishment which the Offender had incurred And therefore you find that the greater Crimes were no otherwise to be expiated but by the bloud of the Offender himself whereas for lesser ones the bloud of a Beast was accepted which is a plain Argument that that punishment which in greater sins was exacted of the Criminal himself was in the case of smaller sins transferred from the Criminal to the Sacrifice and that the punishment of the Beast was instead of the punishment of the Man. And this is most evident in the case of the Scape-Goat who upon the High Priest's laying his hands upon his head had the sins of the People transferred on him and was thereby so polluted that he defiled the man that led him into the Wilderness who was therefore obliged before he returned to the Camp to lustrate himself by washing his Cloaths and bathing his flesh in water Lev. 16.26 And so also those expiatory Sacrifices whose bloud was carried into the Holy place and their bodies burnt without the Camp had the sins of the People so imputed to them and were so defiled by that Imputation that they were ordered to be carried without the Camp immediately lest they should defile the whole Congregation and those who carried them out and burnt them were so far actually defiled by them that it was unlawful for them to return to the Camp till they were legally purified which is a plain argument that in these Sacrificial Expiations the sin and guilt of the People was still transferred upon the Sacrifice and consequently that the death of these Sacrifices was instead of the death of those Criminals and accordingly Lev. 17.11 we are told that it is the bloud i. e. of the Sacrifice that maketh an atonement for the Soul. And indeed this was the sence which all Nations had of Expiatory Sacrifices viz. that their death was instead of the Punishment due to the Offenders that offered them For thus the Iews by making Expiation generally understand suffering Punishment for another in order to his being released from suffering it himself For thus whereever it is said by them Ecce me in Expiationem the meaning is En me in ejus locum ut portâ—m iniquitates ejus i. e. I stand in such a ones place that I may bear his Iniquities and so Ecce me in expiationem R. Chijae filiorum ejus i. e. castigationes quae obveniunt mihi sint in expiationem R. Chijae filiorum ejus Behold I am for an expiation of R. Chijah and his Sons i. e. Let the afflictions that happen to me be for an expiation of R. Chijah and his Sons So when all the People were to say to the High Priest Simus nos expiatio tua the meaning was In nobis fiat expiatio tua nosque subeamus tuo loco quicquid tibi evenire debet Let us be thy Expiation that is let thy Expiation be made upon us and let us undergo in thy stead whatsoever evil thou hast deserved of which see more Buxt Lexic Chald. p. 1078. And accordingly in the Form of Prayer they used at the killing the Sacrifice they plainly expressed the substitution of it in the room of their own forfeited lives Obsecro Domine peccavi rebellis fui c. O Lord I obsecrate I have sinned I have been rebellious I have acted perversly I have done this and that evil of which I now heartily repent let this be my Expiation and let those evils which might justly fall upon my head fall upon the head of my Sacrifice Outram de sacrif p. 273. And so also for the Gentiles Eusebius Demonst. l. 1. tells us that they looked upon their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or expiations as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. that their lives were a commutation for the lives of those that offered them as who should say a life for a life and accordingly Porphyry tells us that the first original of the sacrifice of Animals was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Certain occasions requiring that a life should be offered for a life Abstin l. 4. and hence they were wont to curse the Sacrifice and solemnly to imprâ—cate all those evils on it which themselves had deserved vid. Herod Euterp Serv. in Aeneid 3. From all which it is abundantly evident that this Priestly Act of sacrificing or killing the expiatory Sacrifice was nothing else but a translating the punishment that was due to the Offerer from his person to his Victim or Sacrifice But then Secondly Besides this another Sacerdotal Act was presâ—nting the bloud of the Sacrifice to God by way of Intercession for the People For when the Sacrifice was slain the Priest was to take the bloud and sprinkle some of it round about the Altar of burnt Offerings and the rest of it say the Jews was poured out by the Priest on the Southside Floor of the Altar where there were two
utmost force of Law that is by Law established on the most dreadful Penalty he hath so far as his Regal Authority extends compelled us to the performance of our part of this Covenant so that if we do not perform it it is not to be attributed to any neglect or omission of the Mediator who to oblige us to perform it hath most faithfully acted for God even to the utmost extent of that power wherewithal he invested him And so on the other hand in acting for us as our Intercessor he hath taken no less care to insure God's part of this Covenant to us than he did to insure our part of it to God. For this Covenant being granted to us by God in consideration of a valuable satisfaction for our sins Christ hath not only rendered this satisfaction to God by dying for us and thereby purchased for us a just right and claim to all the blessings which God hath promised on his part if we perform what he requires on ours but in the vertue of this satisfaction he also appears for us at the right hand of God there to plead our right and to prefer our claim by exhibiting that vocal Bloud and those importunate Wounds with the price of which he purchased and obtained it So that now we are intitled to all the blessings of this Covenant not only by God's Promise but by Christ's Purchace too and to secure both we have Christ himself advocating for us in Heaven with the price of that Purchace in his hands So effectually hath he transacted for us in his Mediation with God in our behalf that we have the highest security imaginable that if we perform our part of this Covenant God will not fail to perform his since in so doing he would not only violate his own truth which he hath engaged to us by promise but also injuriously defraud his own Son of what he hath duly purchased for us by his Death and claims upon that Purchace by his Intercession For he intercedes for no other blessings in our behalf but what he purchased for us upon a consideration that was not only infinitely valuable in it self but also freely accepted by his Father and he purchased no other blessings for us but what are specified in this gracious Covenant so that he asks nothing for us but what he hath a right to obtain nothing but what he purchased by his bloud and is in strict Justice due to his meritoriouâ— sacrifice and consequently nothing that his Father can deny him without doing him the most outragious wrong and injury and therefore this we may be as confident of as we can be of any thing in the World that whatsoever he hath purchased for us he will not fail to ask and that whatsoever he asks he will be sure to obtain Thus Christ by his Mediation between God and Men hath taken the most effectual care to insure the mutual performance of this everlasting Covenant to both Parties For to insure God of our performing our part he hath bound it upon us by a Law enforced with an everlasting Penalty which is the strongest obligation he could lay upon us And to insure us of God's performing his part he duly purchased it for us by his Death and in vertue of that just Right he ever lives to claim it by his Intercession which is the strongest obligation he could lay upon God so that now as God cannot fail in his part without violating his Truth and Justice which would be to destroy his own Being and un-god himself so neither we can in ours without exposing our everlasting well-being and plunging our selves body and soul together into everlasting wretchedness and calamity And hence I suppose it is that our Saviour is called the surety of a better Covenant Heb. 7.22 or as the Greek word may be rendered the Trustee between both Parties to see that they mutually perform their several parts of this Covenant to each other which Office our blessed Lord hath faithfully performed in that he hath taken the utmost care to oblige both God and us mutually to make good our several engagements to each other For though he hath not undertaken for us that we shall certainly perform our part yet he hath undertaken to oblige us to it by the highest and most urgent reason which was all that he could reasonably undertake for Beings that are free to good and evil and if notwithstanding he hath thus obliged us we will be so desperately obstinate as not to comply he hath undertaken to chastise our obstinacy with a most dire and exemplary vengeance And since he thus proceeds in his Mediation upon the certain and stated terms of a Covenant which he himself hath published and revealed to us we may hereby most certainly inform our selves what he expects from us and what we are to expect from him For now we are sure that all he can expect from us is that we should faithfully perform our part of this Covenant that is that we should implore the assistance of God's holy Spirit and diligently to co-operate with it so as to repent and return from our evil ways to the sincere practice of all Christian Piety and Vertue and that herein we should persevere to the end and less than this he cannot admit without being an unfaithful Trustee for God of that blessed Covenant upon which he Mediates And now we are also sure that all we can expect from him is that if we implore the assistance of his Spirit we shall have it that if with his assistance we repent we shall be pardoned and that if being pardoned we persevere in well-doing we shall be crowned with everlasting life and less than this he cannot obtain for us without being an unfaithful Trustee for us For if he should exact less for God of us or procure less for us of God than that Covenant upon which he Mediates obliges God and us to he would be wanting in his care one way or t'other to see this Covenant with which he is intrusted duly and impartially executed and either defraud God or us of some part of that right which it devolves upon us which we have all the assurance in the world he will never do So that now we proceed upon certain terms and do know infallibly what to trust to we know that our Mediator exacts of us the whole and intire condition of the Gospel-Covenant that this he will certainly accept but that this he expects without the least defalcation or abatement so that if we heartily implore the assistance of his holy Spirit and co-operate with it we have all the assurance in the world that we shall be effectually enabled to render him that sincere repentance and obedience he requires and that if we repent we shall be pardoned and if we persevere in our obedience be advanced to everlasting glory On the other side we know infallibly before hand that if we refuse to submit to this condition or
deserve he had been obliged in justice to discharge us without any farther condition yet since out of his own free grace he hath admitted another to suffer for us he may admit it with what limitations he pleases and if he shall think meet as he hath done to limit it to our repentance and amendment all that Christ hath suffered for us will be insignificant to our discharge from our obligation to punishment unless we repent and amend So that the Death of Christ you see doth not expiate mens sins as their personal punishments do by their own natural vertue but by vertue of God's accepting it upon his own terms and conditions And without God's accepting it it would not have been at all an expiation for the sins of the World and without the conditions upon which he accepteth it viz. our repentance and amendment it will not be at all an Expiation for ours Now God hath solemnly declared his acceptance of Christ's Death as an Expiation for our sins for it was God that laid upon him the iniquities of us all Isa. 53.6 that gave his only begotten Son John 3.16 and sent him to be a propitiation for us 1 Joh. 4.10 which plainly imply his free acceptance of him And therefore Christ is said to have given himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5.2 i. e. for an Expiation that was highly grateful and acceptable to him So that now the expiation of our sins by the bloud of Christ wholly depends on our performing the condition on which God hath accepted it and since it is upon condition that we repent and amend that God hath accepted the bloud of Christ in exchange for the eternal punishment we owe him unless we perform this condition the Bloud of Christ will not at all avail us but we shall still remain as much obliged to undergo that punishment as if he had never died for us at all God's acceptance indeed hath made the Death of Christ available for us under those conditions and limitations upon which he accepted it but if when he hath accepted it conditionally we expect that it should avail us absolutely and unconditionally we miserably deceive and abuse our own souls Thus far therefore God's acceptance of Christ's Death instead of the punishment we have deserved hath rendred it an effectual expiation and ransom for sinners that if they repent and amend they shall be released and acquitted from the obligation they lie under to suffer eternal punishment in their own persons and entitled to everlasting life and happiness And thus the Death of Christ you see had in it all the necessary qualifications of a real and compleat propitiatory Sacrifice I proceed therefore in the second place to shew what a wise and effectual method this of God's admitting Christ's Sacrifice for sinners is to reduce and reform Mankind which will evidently appear by considering these five things First That the Sacrifice of Christ's Death was a most sensible and affecting acknowledgment of the infinite guilt and demerit of our sin For thus under the Law the offering of Propitiatory Sacrifices implied a most solemn and sensible confession of the guilt of the Offerer For his laying his hand upon the head of his Sacrifice was a Symbolical action by which he solemnly acknowledged to God that he had justly deserved to suffer that death himself which his Sacrifice was suffering for him and accordingly the Jews have this Maxim Vbi non est peccatorum confessio ibi non est impositio manuum quia manuum impositio ad confessionem pertinet where there is no confession of sins there is no imposition of hands because the imposition of hands appertains to Confession For so Lev. 5.5 they are particularly directed to confess their sins upon their bringing their Trespass-Offering before the Lord and as hath been shewn before they had a set Form of Confession in all their expiatory Sacrifices and particularly in that solemn Propitiation viz. the dismission of the Scape-Goat the High Priest is directed to lay both his hands upon the Goat's Head and to confess over him all the iniquities of the Children of Israel Lev. 16.21 so that as Confession is a kind of audible Sacrifice so Sacrifice was a kind of visible Confession and the demerit of their sin being thus represented to their Eyes by the death of their Sacrifice was far more apt to move and affect them with horror and detestation of it than any audible Confession how severe or pungent soever And accordingly our Saviour in offering up himself as an expiation for our sin did as it were lay his hand upon his own head and as our Representative solemnly acknowledge to God that we had justly deserved to suffer for our sin a punishment equivalent to that which he was undergoing for us And what a dreadful one must that be which is equivalent to the Death of the Son of God What less punishment than our everlasting misery can countervail the temporary death of him who was so eminent and innocent who was God-man united in one person and the Lamb of God without spot or blemish If the Iews by sacrificing a Beast did make such a moving acknowledgment that they themselves deserved to die how much more did Christ by sacrificing himself for us acknowledge in our stead that we deserved to die eternally So that whatsoever vertue there is in the most bitter and pathetick confession to create in mens minds a horrour and detestation of their sins all that and much more there is in the Sacrifice of our Saviour whose Bloud cried louder against our sins and made a far more Tragical confession of their demerit than it 's possible for the most sorrowful Penitent to do with all the Eloquence of his grief and bitter strains of self-abhorrence And hence our Saviour is said to have condemned sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 i. e. to have solemnly acknowledged by his dying for it what a dreadful punishment it deserves Secondly It is to be considered also that the Sacrifice of Christ's Death was a most ample declaration of God's severity against our sins All wise Governours ought so to exercise their Mercy as that it may not be prejudicial to their Authority by giving Offenders encouragement to kick against it but whilst their mercy is easie and apt to be moved by slight Reasons and Motives it will infallibly expose their Authority and render it cheap and vile in the eyes of bold and insolent Offenders the Reasons therefore which move a Prince to pardon Criminals ought to be such if possible as give all manner of discouragement to them from presuming upon impunity for the future God therefore being inclined by the infinite benignity of his Nature to shew mercy to sinners was obliged in wisdom to shew it in such a way and upon such reasons as might sufficiently discourage them from presuming upon his Mercy to the prejudice of his Authority
and there is no reason could be so sufficient to this end as a valuable Sacrifice to suffer in our stead and bear the punishment of our sin which reason carries with it such an awful severity as must needs dishearten any considering sinner from presuming upon impunity if he go on in his sin For next to exacting the punishment of the Offender himself the most dreadful severity he could have expressed was not to remit it upon any consideration but this that some other should undergo it in his stead and by how much greater and more valuable the person is who undergoes it for us so much greater and more formidable God's severity appears in remitting it to us Since therefore in consideration of our Pardon God would admit no meaner Sacrifice than the precious Bloud of his own Eternal Son he hath hereby expressed the utmost indignation against our sin that he could possibly do unless he had absolutely resolved never to pardon it at all So that now we have all the reason that Heaven or Earth can afford us to tremble at his severity even while we are within the Arms of his mercy For what man in his Wits would take encouragement to sin on from a mercy that cost the Bloud of the Son of God He that can presume upon such a reason of mercy hath courage enough to out-face the flames of Hell and if Hell it self had stood open before us and we had seen the damned Ghosts weltering in the flames of it it would not have given us such a loud and horrible warning of God's severity against our sin as this tremendous Sacrifice of the Son of God doth If then a mercy that is so secured from being made an encouragement to sin by the terrible reason and consideration upon which it is founded cannot deter us from sinning on there is no wise mercy that we are capable of and consequently no mercy that the great God can indulge with safety to his Authority For what mercy can be safe from our abuse and presumption if this be not that is thus guarded with thunder and attended with the utmost severity that mercy could possibly admit of Wherefore if after I have seen my Saviour in his Agony deprecating with fruitless cries that fearful Cup which I deserved if after I have beheld him hanging on the Cross covered with Wounds and Bloud and in the bitter Agony of his Soul heard him crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And in a word if after I have seen that God to whom he was infinitely dear and precious turn a deaf ear to his mournful cries and utterly refuse to abate him so much as one degree or circumstance of a most shameful and tormenting death in consideration of my Pardon If I say after such a horrible spectacle I have heart enough to sin on I am a couragious sinner indeed or rather a desperate one not to be affected or restrained by all the terrors of Hell. Thirdly This Sacrifice of Christ is also to be considered as a most obliging expression of the love of God and our Saviour to us For if God had so pleased he might have exacted our punishment at our own hands and made us smart for ever in our own Persons and this notwithstanding we had heartily repented For though to repent is the best thing a sinner can do yet it doth not alter the nature of the sin he repenteth of so as to render it less evil or less deserving of punishment nor indeed is Repentance a sufficient reason to move the all-wise Governour of the World to grant a publick Act of pardon and indulgence to sinners it being inconsistent with the safety of any Government Divine or Humane so far to encourage Offenders as to indemnifie them by a publick Declaration meerly upon condition of their future repentance and amendment For all men are naturally apt to presume that God will be better to them than his word and therefore had he declared that he would pardon them upon their repentance without any other reason this would have encouraged them to hope that he might pardon them though they repented not at all or at least though they repented but by halves Wherefore since our repentance is not a sufficient reason to oblige God to grant a publick Pardon to sinners and since this was the best reason we could offer in our own behalf to move him thereunto it hence necessarily follows that he might have justly exacted the punishment of our sin of us and made us smart for it for ever notwithstanding the best reason we could have offered him to the contrary But such was his goodness towards us as to admit another to suffer in our stead that so neither we might be ruined nor our sins be unpunished And then that the punishment of our sin might be a sufficient reparation to his injured Authority he admitted his own Son upon his voluntary offering himself to undergo it for us who by the dignity and innocence of his Person rendered that temporary Death he underwent for us equiâ—alent to that eternal Death which we had deserved Now what a Prodigy of love was this that the God of Heaven whom we had so infinitely offended should part with his own Son for us and freely consent that he should undergo our punishment Which while I seriously consider it puzzles my conceit and out-reaches my wonder so that though I have infinite reason to rejoyce in it yet while I am contemplating it I seem to be looking down from some stupendious Precipice whose height fills me with a sacred horrour and almost oversets my Reason But Oh! the amazing love of the Son of God towards us that he should put himself in our stead and interpose his own Breast as a living Shield between ours and his Father's Vengeance which considering the greatness of his Person and of our unworthiness is such a stupendious expression of Love as no Romance of Friendship ever thought of And what is the proper influence of all this love but to oblige us for ever to God and our Saviour in the bands of a reciprocal affection to melt down our stubbornness and enmity against them and draw us on to our duty with the Cords of an invincible indearment For is it possible my sins should be as dear to me as the Son of God was to his own Father and yet the Father left him out of love to me and shall not I leave them out of love to him And when the Son of God hath been so kind to me as to lay down his life for me can I be so ingrateful to him as to doat upon those sins which he hated more than all the shame and torment which he endured on their account those sins that were the cause of all his sufferings the Thorns that gored his Temples and the Nails that pierced his hands and feet Sure if we are not utterly lost to all that is modest and
sacrificed Beasts as well as the Iews yet in great extremities when they conceived their Gods to be highly displeased with them even the most civilized of them sacrificed Men which shews that they thought the death of Beasts to be an insufficient expiation for the sins of men And indeed it cannot be denied but that the Sacrifice of a Man as such is much more proportionable to the punishment which the sins of men deserve than the Sacrifice of a Beast because a Man is a much nobler Creature as being far advanced above a Beast by the Prerogative of his Reason and consequently his death considered as a Man must be a much more valuable exchange for the punishment that is due to those he dies for But herein the Heathen were miserably mistaken that they did not consider that the men whom they sacrificed were sinners as well as themselves and that it is a much greater flaw in an Expiatory Sacrifice to be a Sinner than to be a Brute For whereas the latter only renders it less effectual and valuable the former as was shewn before renders it utterly void and insignificant and therefore though the death of a Man considered as such is of much more value than the death of a Beast yet to expiate for the sins of men there is more internal vertue and efficacy in the death of an innocent Beast than of a sinful Man because the latter can expiate only for his own sin whereas the former can have no sin but that of others to expiate Since therefore men were all spotted and blemished with Sin there was no life so fit for them to offer to God in commutation for their forfeited lives as that of innocent Brutes so that the best commutation they could make was infinitely short of their demerit And suppose that the men which the Heathen offered had been all pure and innocent yet their lives would have been only an equivalent commutation for the forfeited lives of an equal number of sinners unless therefore one half of Mankind had been innocent and they had been sacrificed for the other half that was guilty it had not been an equal Commutation so much as for the temporal punishment which was due to God from the guilty but then for their eternal punishment a Hecatomb of Angels had been short and insufficient For what proportion is there between a temporary death and an eternal misery Since therefore in great compassion to us God hath thought meet to accept of a Sacrifice in lieu of that punishment which was due to him from Mankind and since to secure his own Authority it was highly requisite that what this Sacrifice suffered for us should be in some measure equivalent to what we had deserved and since we had deserved to suffer for ever it necessarily follows that this Sacrifice must be something infinitely more precious and valuable than the bloud of Bulls and Goats yea than the lives of Men or Angels and what can that be but the bloud of the Eternal Son of God the infinite dignity of whose Person rendered his sufferings for us equivalent to the infinite demerit of our sins For it was the dignity of his Person that gave the value to his sufferings and inhanced his temporary Death to a full equivalence to those endless miseries which we had deserved For if the life of a King be as David's People told him worth ten thousand lives of what an infinite value must the life of the Lord of glory and of the Prince of life be who being the Son of God of the same Nature and Essence with his eternal Father must from thence necessarily derive upon his Sacrifice an immensity of worth and efficacy And hence we are said to be purchased with the bloud of God Acts 20.28 and to have the life of God laid down for us Iohn 3.16 and to be redeemed not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. and accordingly the Author to the Hebrews makes the vertue and efficacy of Christ's bloud to consist in the worth and value of it For if the bloud of Bulls and Goats c. sanctified to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9.13 14. By all which it is evident that it was the infinite dignity of Christ's Person which derived that infinite merit on his Sacrifice whereby it became an equivalent to the infinite demerit of our sins Nay of such an infinite value and worth was his Sacrifice that it not only countervailed for the punishment due for our sin but did abundantly preponderate it upon which account God ingaged himself not only to remit that Punishment in consideration of it but also to bestow his Spirit and eternal life on us both which as hath been shewn before are as well the purchace of Christ's bloud as the remission of our sins For God might have remitted our punishment without superadding the gift of his Spirit and eternal life to it and therefore since in consideration of Christ's bloud he hath superadded these Gifts to the remission of our punishment it is evident that his bloud was equivalent to both i. e. that it was not only a valuable consideration for the pardon of our sins but also for the assistance of his Spirit and our eternal happiness IV. His Death was on his part voluntary and unforced For since as a Sacrifice he was to be innocent and yet to undergo the punishment of our sin he could not be the one and do the other without his own free consent and approbation For no innocent person can be justly made obnoxious to punishment but by his own Act and Choice because punishment bears a necessary respect to sin and the desert of suffering evil doth originally spring out of doing evil So that an innocent person considered as such cannot deserve to be punished nor consequently be justly obliged thereunto but yet notwithstanding his innocency he may by his own Will and Consent oblige himself to undergo a punishment which otherwise he did not deserve and when he hath so obliged himself the punishment may be justly exacted of him For though he hath no sin of his own to be punished for yet he may by his own act oblige himself to undergo the punishment of another man's And therefore though merely as an innocent person he cannot deserve to be punished either upon his own account or any other man's because having no sin of his own he cannot be guilty of another man's yet so far as he hath the free disposal of himself he may substitute himself in the room of one that is guilty and thereby render himself obnoxious to his punishment As for instance suppose that by some criminal action of his own a man hath forfeited his liberty or life to the Law it
is certain that no innocent man as such can be thereupon obliged to suffer death or imprisonment but suppose that this innocent man having the free disposal of himself shall voluntarily offer his own life or liberty to the Magistrate in exchange for the forfeited life or liberty of the Criminal and the Magistrate shall think meet to accept it in this case he is justly liable notwithstanding his innocence to undergo the punishment that was due to the Offender For if he may justly offer this exchange as there is no doubt but he may supposing that he hath the free disposal of himself to be sure the Magistrate may justly accept of it because the life of the Offender is as much in his disposal as the life that is offered him in exchange for it is in the disposal of the Offerer so that he hath as much right to give the Offerer the Offender's life for his as the Offerer hath to give his own life for the Offenders and when both Parties have a right to the goods which they exchange with each other and the goods which they receive are on both sides equivalent to the goods which they give it is impossible the exchange should be injurious to either the Magistrate cannot be injured because for the life of the Offender which he gives he receives the life of the Offerer which is equivalent the Offerer cannot be injured because for his own life which he gives he receives the life of the Offender which is dearer to him and neither Party being injured the exchange must be just and equal on both sides Now that Christ had the free disposal of his own life he himself tells us Iohn 10.18 No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again this commandment have I received of my Father And that the lives of our Souls were in God's free disposal as being justly forfeited to him by our sins the Scripture assures us when it tells that all have sinned and that the wages of sin is death Christ's life therefore being in his own free disposal he had an undoubted right to exchange it with God for the lives of our Souls and the lives of our souls being in God's free disposal he had as undoubted a right to exchange them with Christ's for his life upon the free Tendry which he made of it And in this exchange neither Party could be injured because they both received an equivalent for what they gave Christ gave his own life to God for which God gave him the lives of our Souls in exchange which were far dearer to him God gave the lives of our Souls to Christ for which Christ gave him his own most precious life in exchange which considering the infinite dignity of his Person was at the least tant-amount It is true indeed both Parties having a right to the free disposal of the goods which they exchange with each other to render the exchange just and valid it was necessary that both should be freely consenting to it now that God was freely consenting I shall shew by and by and that Christ was so too the Scripture expresly testifies for so we are told that he gave himself for our sins Gal. 1.4 and that he gave his life a ransom for many and gave his flesh for the life of the World Matt. 21.28 and in a word that he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and that he laid down his life for us 1 John 3.16 all which plainly imply that by his own voluntary consent he substituted himself to suffer in our stead that we might escape and freely exchanged his own life with God for the lives of our Souls which were forfeited to him And if notwithstanding his innocence it were just in God to expose him without any respect to our sins to all those bitter sufferings he endured and that it was so the Socinians themselves must acknowledge or charge God with injustice how much more was it just when of his own accord he substituted himself to bear our punishment for us and freely exchanged his life for our Salvation V. And lastly His Death was admitted and accepted by God in lieu of the punishment which was due to him from Mankind and it is this that compleats it an Expiatory Sacrifice and without this it had been altogether insignificant to the expiation of sin notwithstanding all the above-named qualifications For it is the personal punishment of the Offender which sin gives God a right to and which the Obligation of his violated Law exacts since therefore all Mankind had sinned they all stood bound to God to suffer the desert of their sin in their own persons and therefore the suffering of another in our stead can signifie nothing towards the releasing us from this Obligation unless God in pure Grace and Favour to us shall please to admit and accept it because anothers suffering is not ours and it is ours that God hath a right to Indeed the punishment of the guilty person himself supposing it to be equal to his fault doth without any interposal of Grace extinguish the guilt of it and by its own force and vertue dissolve his Obligation to punishment because when a man hath suffered as much as he deserves he hath suffered as much as the Law can oblige him to and so consequently cannot be obliged to suffer any more but should another suffer for me even as much as I deserved to suffer my self it will be altogethâ—r insignificant to the expiation of my guilt unless God in meer grace will accept it for my suffering because it is not anothers suffering but my own that the obligation of his Law demands and exacts of me and although the others suffering for me may as effectually secure the Honour and Authority of God's Law as if I had suffered what I deserved in my own person yet it is evident that in admitting the others suffering instead of mine God remits and relaxes the Obligation of his Law which requires that I should suffer in my own person And therefore notwithstanding that Christ hath suffered for us and God hath admitted his suffering for ours yet this being out of meer grace and favour to us he is still truly said to pardon and forgive us for Christ's sake Eph. 4.32 because for the sake of Christ's suffering he graciously remits to us the Obligation of his Law which requires the punishment of our sin at our own hands and since his remitting to us the Obligation of his Law for the sake of Christ's suffering was pure grace and favour he was not at all obliged to remit it unconditionally but being absolute Master of his own graces and favours he might remit it upon what terms and conditions he pleased So that though if we had suffered in our own persons the utmost of what our sin doth