ferings, no irregular motion disturbed his soul, but he always expressed the highest reverence to God, and unspeakable charity He was compared to a lamb, (for his passion and his patience) that quietly dies at the foot of the altar. to men. Besides, we may consider in our Mediator not only a perfect freedom from sin, but an impossibility that he should be touched by it. The angelical nature was liable to folly; but the human nature by its intimate and unchangeable union with the divine is established above all possibility of falling. The Deity is holiness itself, and by its personal presence, is a greater preservative from sin, than either the vision of God in heaven, or the most permanent habit of grace. Our Saviour tells us, John 5. 19. " the Son can do nothing of himself," but according to "the pattern the Father sets him." Now the perfect holiness of our Redeemer hath a special efficacy in making his death to be the expiation of sin, as the scripture frequently declares, Heb. 7. 26, 27. “For such an High-Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And he that knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5. 21. "We are redeemed not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish, and without spot." 1 Pet. 1. 18. "And by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.” Isa. 53. 11. 4. It was requisite the Mediator should be God and man. He must assume the nature of man, that he might be put in his stead in order to make satisfaction for him. He was to be our representative, therefore such a conjunction between us must be, that God might esteem all his people to suffer in him. By the law of Israel the right of redemption belonged to him that was next in blood now Christ took the seed of Abraham, the original element of our nature, that having a right of propriety in us as God, he might have a right of propinquity as man. He was allied to all men, as men; that his sufferings might be univer sally beneficial. And he must be God: it is not his innocency only, or deputation, but the dignity of his person that qualifies him to be an all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, so that God may dispense pardon, in a way that is honourable to justice. For justice requires a proportion between the punishment and the crime and that receives its quality from the dignity of the per son offended. Now since the majesty of God is infinite against whom sin is committed, the guilt of it can never be expiated but by an infinite satisfaction. There is no "name under heaven, (Acts 4. 12.) nor in heaven" that could save us, but the Son of God who being equal to him in greatness, became man. If there had been such compassion in the angels as to have inclined them to interpose between justice and us, they had not been qualified for that work: not only upon the account of their different nature, so that by substitution they could not satisfy for us; nor that being immaterial substances, they are exempted from the dominion of death, which was the punishment denounced against the sinner, and to which his surety must be subjected: but principally that being finite creatures, they are incapable to atone an incensed God. Who among all their glorious orders durst appear before so consuming a fire? Who could have been an altar whereon to sanctify a sacrifice to divinę justice? No mere creature how worthy soever could propitiate the supreme majesty when justly provoked. Our Redeemer was to be the Lord of angels. The apostle tells us that it "pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell." This respects not his original nature, but his office, and the reason of it is, "to reconcile by the blood of the cross, things in heaven and in the earth." From the greatness of the work we may infer the quality of the means, and from the quality of the means, the nature of the person that is to perform it. Peace with God who was provoked by our rebellion, could only be made by an infinite sacrifice. Now in Christ the Deity itself, not its influences and the fulness of it, not any particular perfection only, dwelt really and substantially. God was present in the ark in a shadow, and representation; he is present in nature by his sustaining power, and in his saints by special favour, and the eminent effects, the graces and comforts that proceed from it; but he is present in Christ in a singular and transcendent manner. The humanity is related to the word, not only as a creature to the author of its being, for in this regard it hath an equal respect to all the persons, but by a peculiar conjunction: for it is actuated by the same subsistence as the divine essence is in the Son, but with this difference, the one is voluntary, the other necessary; the one is espoused by love, the other received by nature. Now from this intimate union, there is a communication of the special qualities of both natures to the person of Christ: man is exalted to be the Son of God, and the Word abased to be the son of man. As by reason of the vital union between the soul and body, the essential parts of man, it is truly said that he is rational in respect of his soul, and mortal in respect of his body. This union derives an infinite merit to the obedience of Christ. For the human nature having its complement from the divine person, it is not the nature simply considered, but the person that is the fountain of actions. To illustrate this by an instance the civil law determines that a tree transplanted from one soil to another, and taking root there, belongs to the owner of that ground; in regard that receiving nourishment from a new earth, it becomes as it were another tree, though there be the same individual root, the same body, and the same soul of vegetation as before. * Thus the human nature taken from the common mass of mankind, and transplanted by personal union into the divine, is to be reckoned as entirely belonging to the divine, and the actions proceeding from it are not merely human, but are raised above their natural worth, and become meritorious. One hour of Christ's life glorified God more, than an everlasting duration spent by angels and men in the praises of him. For the most perfect creatures are limited, and finite, and their services cannot fully correspond with the majesty of God; but when the Word was made flesh, and entered into a new state of subjection, he glorified God in a divine manner and most worthy of him. He that " comes from above, is above all." John 3. 31. The all-sufficiency of his satisfaction arises from hence," he that was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to be equal with God," Phil. 2. 6. that is, in the truth of the divine nature was equal with the Father, and without sacrilege, or usurpation possessed divine honour, he became "obedient to the death of the cross." 1 Cor 2. 8. The Lord "of glory was crucified. We are purchased by the blood of God. And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." Acts 20. 28. The divine nature gives it an infinite and everlasting efficacy. And it is observable, that the Socinians, the declared enemies * Plantata & consita ut solo cedant est juris constituti, cujus ratio est quod ista solo alantur. Grot. de jur. Bell. & Par. of his eternity, consentaneously to their first impious error, deny his satisfaction. For if Jesus Christ were but a titular God, his sufferings how deep soever, had been insufficient to expiate our offence: in his death he had been only a martyr, not a Mediator. For no satisfaction can be made to divine justice, but by suffering that which is equivalent to the guilt of sin, which as it is inconceivably great, such must the satisfaction be. CHAP. XIII. Divine justice is declared and glorified in the death of Christ. The threefold account the scripture gives of it: as a punishment inflicted for sin, as a price to redeem us from hell, as a sacrifice to reconcile us to God. Man was capitally guilty. Christ with the allowance of God interposes as his surety. His death was inflicted on him by the supreme Judge. The impulsive cause of it was sin. His sufferings were equivalent to the sentence of the law. The effect of them is our freedom. An answer to the objec tion, that it is a violation of justice to transfer the punishment from the guilty to the innocent. The death of Christ is the price that redeems from hell. This singular effect of his death distinguishes it from the death of the martyrs. An answer to the objections. How could God receive this price, since he gave his Son to that death which redeems us? And how our Redeemer, supposing him God, can make satisfaction to himself? The death of Christ represented as a sacrifice. The expiatory sacrifices under the law were substituted in the place of guilty men. The effects of them answerable to their threefold respect to God, sin and men: the atonement of anger, the expiation of sin, and freedom from punishment, All sorts of placatory sacrifices are referred to Christ, and the effects of them in a sublime and perfect manner. No prejudice to the freeness and greatness of God's love, that Christ by his death reconciled him to men. III. HAVING premised these things, I shall now prove that the divine justice is really declared and glorified in the obedient sufferings of Christ. For the opening this point, it is necessary to consider the account the scripture gives of his death; which is threefold. 1. It is represented under the relation of punishment inflicted on him for sin, and the effect of it is satisfaction to the law. 2. As a price to redeem us from hell. 3. Under the notion of a sacrifice to reconcile God to sinners. First, as a punishment inflicted on him for sin. This will appear by considering, 1. That man by his rebellion against God was capitally guilty: he stood sentenced by the law to death. 2. Christ with the allowance of the supreme Judge interposed as our surety, and in that relation was made liable to punishment. Sins are by resemblance called debts. As a debt obliges the debtor to payment, so sin doth the sinner to punishment. And as the creditor hath a right to exact the payment from the debtor, so God hath a right to inflict punishment on the guilty. But with this difference, the creditor by the mere signification of his will may discharge the debtor, for he hath an absolute power over his estate: whereas public justice is concerned in the punishment of the guilty. * This is evident by many instances. For it is not sufficient that a criminal satisfy his adversary, unless the prince, who is the guardian of the laws, give him pardon. The interest of a private person, who hath received an injury, is so distinct from that of the state, that sometimes the injured party solicits the pardon of the offender without success. Which shows, that principally it is not to satisfy the particular person, that the crime is punished, but to satisfy the law, and prevent future disorders. Now our debt was not pecuniary but penal: and as in civil cases, where one becomes surety for another, he is obliged to pay the debt, for in the estimate of the law, they are but one person. Heb. 7. 22. So the Lord Jesus Christ entering into this relation, he sustained the persons of sinners, and became judicially one with them, and according to the order of justice, was liable to their punishment. The displeasure of God was primarily and directly against the sinner, but the effects of it fell upon Christ, who undertook for him. The apostle tells us, Gal. 4. 4, 5. that * Vid. Dr. Stillingfleet, who with admirable clearness hath vindicated the doctrine of satisfaction, from the objections of Crellius. |