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Third. When he was risen from the dead, God, to confirm his disciples in the faith of the redemption that Christ had obtained by his blood, brought him to the church, presented him to them alive, shows him openly, sometimes to two or three, sometimes to eleven or twelve, and once to above five hundred brethren at once (Acts 1:3, 10:40; Luke 24:13-16; John 20:19, 21:1-23; 1 Cor 15:3-8).

Fourth. At his resurrection, God gives him the keys of hell and of death (Rev 1:18). Hell and death are the effects and fruits of sin. 'The wicked shall be turned into hell,' and the wages of sin is death. But what, then, are sinners better for the death and blood of Christ? O! They that dare venture upon him are much the better, for they shall not perish unless the Saviour will damn them, for he hath the keys of hell and of death. 'Fear not,' saith he, 'I am the first and the last; I am he that lived and was dead, and, behold, I am alive always and have the keys of hell and death.' These were given to him at his resurrection as if God had said, My Son, thou hast spilled thy blood for sinners, I am pleased with it, I am delighted in thy merits, and in the redemption which thou hast wrought; in token hereof I give thee the keys of hell and of death; I give thee all power in heaven and earth; save who thou wilt, deliver who thou wilt, bring to heaven who thou wilt.

Fifth. At Christ's resurrection, God bids him to ask the heathen of him, with a promise to give him the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. This sentence is in the second Psalm and is expounded by Paul's interpretation of the words before, to be spoken to Christ at his resurrection—' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' I have begotten thee—that is, saith Paul, from the dead (Acts 13:33,34).

He hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm—'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' Now mark, at his raising him from the dead, he bids him ask, 'Ask of me,' and that 'the heathen'; as if God had said, My Son, thy blood hath pacified and appeased my justice; I can now in justice, for thy sake, forgive poor mortals their sin. Ask them of me; ask them, though they be heathens, and I will give them to thee, to the utmost ends of the earth. This is the first demonstration to prove that Jesus Christ, by what he has done, paid the total price to God for the souls of sinners and obtained eternal redemption for them—namely, his being raised again from the dead.

SECOND DEMONSTRATION. A second thing that demonstrated this truth is that he ascended and was received up into heaven. 'So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven' (Mark 16:19). This demonstration consisted of two parts: his ascending and his being received.

First, for his ascending,' He ascended up on high' (Eph 4:8). This act of ascending answered to the high priest under the law, who, after they had killed the sacrifice, was to bring the blood into the most holy place—to wit, the inner temple, the way to which was ascending or going up (2 Chron 9).

Now, consider the circumstances that attended his ascending, when he went to carry his blood to present it before the mercy seat, and you will find they all say amends are made to God for us.

1. At this, he is again attended and accompanied by angels (Acts 1:10,11).

2. He ascended with a shout and the trumpet sound, with 'Sing praises, sing praises, sing praises' (Psa 47:6).

3. The enemies of man's salvation are now tied to his chariot wheels—' When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive' (Eph 4:8). That is, he led death, devils, and hell, and the grave, and the curse, captive, for these things were our captivity. And thus did Deborah prophesy of him when she cried, 'Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam' (Judge 5:12). This David also foresaw when he said, 'Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive' (Psa 68:18).

4. The apostles must be the beholders of his going up and see the cloud receive him out of their sight (Acts 1:9-12).

The consideration of these things vigorously enforced this conclusion that he hath spoiled what would have spoiled us had he not, by his bloodshed, taken them away. And I say, for God to adorn him with all this glory in his ascension, thus to make him ride conqueror up into the clouds, therefore to go up with the sound of the trumpet, with a shout of angels, and with songs of praises, and, let me add, to be also accompanied with those that rose from the dead after his resurrection, who was the very price of his blood; this does extensively demonstrate that Jesus Christ, by what he hath done, hath paid total price to God for the souls of sinners, and obtained eternal redemption for them; he had not else rode thus in triumph to heaven.

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Second. I come now to his being received—' He was received up into heaven.' The high priest under the law, when he ascended into the holiest, was there to offer the blood, which most sacred was the type of heaven (Exo 19:10,11; Heb 9:24). But because the sacrifices under the law could not make them that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, therefore they were to stand, not to sit; to come out again, not tarry there. 'For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou would not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God (Heb 10:4-6).

Christ, therefore, in his entering into heaven, did it as high priest of the church of God; therefore, neither did he go in without blood. Wherefore, when he came to be a high-priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood; he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (Heb 9:12-14). He entered in, having obtained, or because he received, eternal redemption for us. But to pass that.

[Glorious circumstances attending his entrance into heaven.]

Consider now also those glorious circumstances accompanying his approach to the gates of the everlasting habitation.

First. The everlasting gates are set, yea, bid stands open—Be ye open, 'ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.' This King of Glory is Jesus Christ, and the words are a prophecy of his glorious ascending into the heavens when he went up as the church's high priest to carry the price of his blood into the holiest of all. 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in' (Psa 24:7,9).

Second. At his entrance, he was received, and the price accepted which he paid for our souls. Hence, it is said he entered in by his blood—that is, by its merit. 'To receive' is an act of complacency and delight and includes well-pleasedness in the person receiving, who is God the Father, and considering that this Jesus now received is to be received upon our account, or as undertaking the salvation of sinners—for he entered into the heavens for us—it is apparent that he entered thither by virtue of his infinite righteousness, which he accomplished for us upon the earth.

Third. At his reception, he received glory, and that also for our encouragement—' God raised him up and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God' (1 Peter 1:19-21). He gave him glory as a testimony that he accepted his undertaking of the work of our redemption.

1. He gave glory to his person in granting him to sit at his own right hand, and this he had, I say, for or upon the account of the work he accomplished for us in the world. When he had offered up one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God, and this by God's appointment—' Sit thou at my right hand' (Heb 10:12,13). This glory is the highest; it is above all kings, princes, and potentates in this world; it is above all angels, principalities, and powers in heaven. 'He is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being subject unto him' (1 Peter 3:32).

2. He gave glory to his name, to his name Jesus, that name is exalted above every name—' He hath given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the world; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11).

This name is said, in another place, to be a name above every name that is named, 'not only in this world but also in that which is to come' (Eph 1:21).

But should JESUS have been such a name since he undertook for sinners? Had this undertaker failed in his work if his work had not been accepted by God, even the work of our redemption by his blood? No, verily; it would have stunk in the nostrils both of God and man; it would have been the most abhorred name. But Jesus is the name; Jesus he was called, to his work—' His name shall be called JESUS, for he shall save'; he was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb; and he goes by that name now he is in heaven; by the name Jesus—' Jesus of Nazareth,' because he once dwelt there. This name, I say, is the highest, the everlasting name, the name that he is to go by, to be known by, to be worshipped by, and to be glorified by; yea, the name by which also most glory shall redound to God the Father. Now, what is the signification of this name but SAVIOUR? This name he hath, therefore, for his work's sake; and because God delighted in his undertaking, and was pleased with the price he had paid for us, thus the Divine Majesty hath given it to him, hath made it high, and hath commanded all angels to bow unto it; yea, it is the name in which he rested, and by which he hath magnified all his attributes.

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Lastly, this blood that was once spilled upon the cross will be the burden of our song in heaven itself forever and ever (Rev 5:9).

Now, if we are redeemed, washed, purged, made nigh to God, have peace with God; if we stand just before God, are saved, reconciled, sanctified, admitted into the holiest; if we have eternal redemption by his blood, and if his blood will be the burden of our song forever; then hath Christ paid the total price for us by his death, then hath he done more than made satisfaction for our sins.

SEVERAL DEMONSTRATIONS PROVE THE FORMER DOCTRINE.

But before I conclude this answer, I will give you nine or ten more undeniable demonstrations to satisfy you, if God will bless them, in the truth of this great doctrine—to wit, that Jesus Christ, by what he hath done, hath paid the total price to God for the souls of sinners and obtained eternal redemption for them.

THE FIRST DEMONSTRATION.

FIRST. And first, I begin with his resurrection. That God that delivered him up unto death, and that made him a curse for sin, that God raised him up from the dead—' But God raised him from the dead (Acts 3:15, 13:30). Now, considering that at his death he was charged with our sins, and accursed to death for our sins, that justice that delivered him up for them must have amends made to him before he acquits him from them; for there can be no change in justice. Had he found him in our sins in the grave, as he saw him in them upon the tree (for he had them in his body on the tree), he had left him there as he had left him upon the tree; yea, he had as surely rotted in the grave, as ever he died on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). But when he visited Christ in the grave, he found him a holy, harmless, undefiled, and spotless Christ, and therefore he raised him up from the dead—' He raised him up from the dead, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it (Acts 2:24).

Quest. But why is it not possible now to be holden of death?

Answ. Because the cause was removed. Sin was the cause—' He died for our sins.—He gave himself for our sins (1 Cor 15:1-3; Gal 1:4). These sins brought him to death, but when God that had made him a curse for us looked upon him in the grave, he found him there without sin, and therefore loosed the pains of death; for justice saith, this is not possible, because not lawful, that he who lieth sinless before God should be swallowed up of death; therefore he raised him up.

Quest. But what did he do with our sins, for he had them upon his back?

Answ. He said he took them away—'Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the world's sin.' It is said he put them away—' Now once at the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (John 1:29; Heb 9:26). That is, by the merit of his undertaking, he brought into the world, and set before the face of God, such righteousness that outweighed and goes far beyond that sin, and so did hide sin from the sight of God; hence, he that is justified is said to have his sins hid and covered—'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered' (Psa 32:1). Covered with the righteousness of Christ—' I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness,' thy sins (Eze 16:8). Christ Jesus, therefore, having by the infiniteness of his merit taken away, put away, or hidden our sins from the face of God; consequently he raised him up from the dead.

You find that the sixteenth of Leviticus mentions two goats, one was to be slain for a sin-offering, the other to be left alive; the goat that was killed was a type of Christ in his death, the goat that was not slain was a type of Christ in his merit. Now this living goat, he carried away the sins of the people into the land of forgetfulness—' And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hands of a fit man into the wilderness. The goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited' (Lev 16:21,22). Thus, Jesus Christ bore away by the merit of his death the sins and iniquities of those who believe; wherefore, when God came to him in the grave, he found him holy and undefiled and raised him up from the dead.

And observe it, as his death was for our sin, so his rising again was for our discharge; for both in his death and resurrection he immediately respected our benefits; he died for us, he rose from the dead for us—' He was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification' (Rom 4:25). By his death he carried away our sins, by his rising he brought to us justifying righteousness.

There are five circumstances also attending his resurrection that show us how well pleased God was with his death.

First. It must be solemnized with the company, attendance, and testimony of angels (Matt 28:1-8; Luke 24:3-7; John 20:11,12).

Second. At, or just upon, his resurrection, the graves where many of the saints for whom he died lay asleep did open. They followed their Lord in complete triumph over death—' The graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many' (Matt 27:52,53). These saints coming out of their graves after him, what a testimony is it that he for them had taken away sin, and destroyed him that had the power of death; yea, what a testimony was it that he had made amends to God the Father, who granted him at his resurrection to have presently out of the grave, of the price of his blood, even the bodies of many of the saints which slept! He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness, and the resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4). It saith not, by his resurrection, though that be true; but by the resurrection, meaning the resurrection of the bodies of the saints which slept, because they rose by his blood; and by that, he was with power declared to be the Son of God. They, I say, were part of his purchase, some of them for whom Christ died. Now for God to raise them, and that upon and by virtue of his resurrection, what is it but an open declaration from heaven that Christ by his death hath made amends for us, and obtained eternal redemption for us?

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Objection Fifth. But if indeed Christ paid the full price for us by his death, suffering the punishment that we should have done, why is Scripture so silent as not to declare that by his death he hath made satisfaction?

Answer. No man may teach God knowledge; he knows best how to deliver his mind in such words and terms as best agree with his eternal wisdom and the consciences of those genuinely desirous of salvation, being overburdened with the guilt of sin. Perhaps the word 'satisfaction' will hardly be found in the Bible, and where is it said in so many words, 'God is dissatisfied with our sins?' yet it is sufficiently manifest that there is nothing that God hated but sin, and sinners for the sake of sin. What did he mean by turning Adam out of paradise, by drowning the old world, by burning up Sodom with fire and brimstone from heaven? What did he mean by drowning Pharaoh, causing the ground to swallow up Korah and his company, and destroying Israel in the wilderness if not to show that he was dissatisfied with sin? That God is also satisfied, yea, more than satisfied, by Christ's sufferings for our sins, is apparent; for, granting that he died for them as these scriptures declare—Isaiah 49:4-6, 53; 1 Corinthians 5:8, 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4, 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18; 1 John 2:2, 3:16, 4:14; Revelation 1:5, 5:9.—

First, it is apparent because it is said that God smelled a sweet-smelling savor in the body of Christ's offering for our sins—' He gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savor' (Eph 5:2).

Second. It is apparent because it is expressly said that God for Christ's sake does now forgive: 'Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you' (Eph 4:32).

Third. It is apparent that God is satisfied with Christ's blood for our sins because he hath declared that he can justify those that believe in, or rely upon, that blood for life, in the way of justice and righteousness—' Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of past sins, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus' (Rom 3:24-26).

Now, I say, to object against such plain testimonies, what is it but to deny that Christ died for sin; or to conclude, that having so done, he is still in the grave; or that there is no such thing as sin; or, no such thing as revenging justice in God against it; or, that we must die ourselves for our sins; or, that sin may be pardoned without a satisfaction; or, that every man may merit his own salvation? But 'without shedding blood is no remission' (Heb 9:22).

Therefore, to avoid these cursed absurdities, it must be granted that Jesus Christ, by his death, made satisfaction for sin.

However, the Holy Ghost may not use the word 'satisfaction,' perhaps because it is too short and scanty to express the blessedness that comes to sinners through the blood of Christ.

1. To make satisfaction amounts to no more than completely to answer a legal demand for harms and injuries done. Now, when done to the full, this leaves the offender there where he was before committing the injury. If Christ had done no more than this, he would have only paid our debt but would not have obtained eternal redemption for us.

2. For complete satisfaction given by this man for harm done by another may neither obtain the love of the person offended nor the smallest gift the person offending hath not deserved. Suppose I owe this man ten thousand talents, and another should pay him every farthing there remained over and above by that complete satisfaction not one single halfpenny for me. Therefore, Christ has done more than to satisfy sin by his blood. He also 'made us kings and priests unto God and his Father,' and we 'shall reign with him forever and ever' (Rev 1:6, 22:5).

[Additional scriptures are proof of this doctrine.]

But take a few more scriptures to prove the doctrine before asserting.

First. 'We have redemption through his blood' (Col 1:14). 1. Redemption from sin (Eph 1:7). 2. Redemption from death (Heb 2:14,15; Hosea 13:14). 3. Redemption from Satan (Heb 2:14). 4. Redemption from the world (Gal 1:4). 5. Redemption to God (Rev 5:9). 6. Eternal redemption—' Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us' (Heb 9:12).

Second. We are said also to be washed in his blood. 1. Our persons are washed—He 'loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood' (Rev 1:5). 2. His blood also washed our performances—' Our robes are washed, and made white in the blood of the Lamb' (Rev 7:14).

Third. We are said to be purged by his blood. 1. Purged from sin before God—' When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of God' (Heb 1:3). 2. Purged from evil consciences—' How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?' (Heb 9:14).

Fourth. We are said to be made nigh to God by his blood—' But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ' (Eph 2:13).

Fifth. Peace is said to be made by his blood. 1. Peace with God (Col 1:20). 2. Peace of conscience (Heb 10:19-23). 3. Peace one with another (Eph 2:14).

Sixth. We are said to be justified by his blood. 'Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him' (Rom 5:9). Justified, that is, acquitted—1. Acquitted before God (Eph 5:26,27). 2. Acquitted before angels (Matt 28:5-8). 3. Acquitted by the law (Rom 3:21-23). 4. Acquitted in the court of conscience (Heb 9:14).

Seventh. We are said to be saved by his blood (Rom 5:8,9).

Eighth. We are said to be reconciled by his blood (Col 1:20-22).

Ninth. We are said to be sanctified by his blood (Heb 13:12).

Tenth. We are said to be admitted into the holiest by his blood
(Heb 10:19).

Eleventh. We are said to have eternal redemption by his blood (Heb 9:12).

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Seventh. If men will not believe that Christ hath removed the curse because he is risen again, they would much more strongly have doubted it had he been still in the grave. But, O incredible darkness! To make that an argument that his sufferings wanted merit, which to God is sufficient proof that he hath purged our sins forever—' For this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God (Heb 10:12).

Objection Fourth. But the Scripture saith, Christ is our example, and that in his very death (1 Peter 2:21).

Answer. Christ, in his sufferings and death, is both a sacrifice and an example.

First. A sacrifice—'Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.'
And again, 'He gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to
God, for a sweet-smelling savor.' And thus he made reconciliation
for iniquity and brought in everlasting righteousness (1 Cor 5:7;
Eph 5:1,2; Dan 9:24).

Second. He was also exemplary in his sufferings and several particulars—(1.) In his meek deportment while he was apprehended (Isa 53:7). (2.) In doing them good that sought his life (Luke 22:50,51). (3.) He prayed for his enemies when they were in their outrage (Luke 23:34). (4.) 'When he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judged righteously' (1 Peter 2:23).

In these respects, he was exemplary and brought honor to his profession by his good behavior; and O, how beautiful would Christianity be in the eyes of men if the disciples of our Lord had more imitated him therein!

But what? Because Christ is our pattern, is he not our Passover? Or because we should, in these things, follow his steps and die he not for our sins? Thus, to conclude would not only argue thee very erroneous, but such a conclusion would overthrow the gospel, it being none other but a great sleight of Satan to shut out the whole by a part and to make us blasphemers while we plead for holiness.

Look, then, upon the death of Christ under a double consideration—1. As he suffered from the hand of God. 2. As he suffered at the hands of men. Now, as he suffered by God's hand, he suffered for sin, but as he suffered from men, he suffered for righteousness' sake.

Observe, then, that as he suffered for sin, so no man took away his life; but as he suffered for righteousness, so they slew him by wicked hands. What is it then? Christ must needs have suffered, and the wisdom of God had so ordained that 'those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled' (Acts 3:18). Thus, therefore, we ought to distinguish of the causes and ends of the death of Christ.

Again, as Christ suffered for sin, so he would neither be taken at man's pleasure nor die at man's time. 1. Not at man's pleasure; and hence it was that they so often sought his life in vain, 'for his hour was not yet come'—to wit, the hour in which he was to be made a sacrifice for our sin (John 13, 17:1,2, 18:1,2). 2. Not at their time, but contrary to all expectation, when the due time came, 'he bowed his head and gave up the ghost' (John 19:30).

And for this last work, he had power given him of God—that is, power to die when he would. 'I have power,' said he, 'to lay down my life, and I have power to retake it.' This power never man had before. This made the centurion wonder and made Pontius Pilate marvel; indeed, they might, for it was as great a miracle as any he wrought in his life; it demonstrated him to be the Son of God (Mark 15:38,39). The centurion, knowing that he might have lived longer according to nature, concluded that his dying at that instant was not but miraculous. And when he 'saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.'

He had the power to die because he might have made his offering willingly and during the season. 1. Willingly—' If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord (Lev 1:3). 2. He must offer it at the season—' Thou shalt keep this ordinance,' the Passover, 'in his season' (Exo 13:10).

Now, both these offerings have immediate respect to the offering of the body of Christ for sin—for he came in the room of all burnt sacrifices—the Passover also was a type of him (Heb 10:3-6; 1 Cor 5:7,8). Therefore, he, being now the priest as well as sacrifice, must have power and will to offer his sacrifice with acceptation; and this the Scripture testified he did, where it saith, 'In due time Christ died for the ungodly' (Rom 5:6). In due time, that is, at the time appointed, at the acceptable time.

Thou must, therefore, unless thou art willing to be deceived, look upon the sufferings of Christ under a double consideration and distinguish between his sufferings as our example and his suffering for our sins. And know, that as he suffered as our example, so he suffered only for righteousness' sake from the hands of wicked men; but as he suffered for our sins, so he suffered, as being by God imputed wicked, the punishment that was due to sin, even the dreadful curse of God. Not that Christ died two deaths, one after another, but he died simultaneously upon a double account—for his righteousness' sake from men, for our sins from the hand of God. And, as I said before, had he only suffered for righteousness' sake, death had not so amazed him, nor had he been so exceeding heavy in the thoughts of it; that had never put him into an agony, nor made him sweat as it were significant drops of blood. Besides, when men suffer only for righteousness' sake, God doth not use to hide his face from them, to forsake them, and make them accursed; 'but Christ hath delivered us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.'

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[Objections to this doctrine.]

I come now to some objections.

Objection First. Christ never was a sinner, God never supposed him to be a sinner, neither did our sins become really his; God never reputed him so to have been; therefore, hate or punish him as a sinner he could not, for no false judgment can belong to the Lord.

Answer.—First. That Christ was not a sinner personally, by acts or doings of his own, is granted. In this sense, it is true that God did never suppose him to be a sinner, nor punished him as such a sinner, nor did he really, if by really you understand naturally, become our sin, nor did God ever repute him so. Second. But that Christ stood before God in our sins, and that God did not only suppose him so to stand, but set him in them, put them upon him, and counted them as his own, is so true that he cannot at present be a Christian that denies it—' The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all' (Isa 53:6; 1 Peter 2:22). Third. So, then, though God did not punish him for the sin of his own committing, he punished him for the sin of our committing—'The just suffered for the unjust' (1 Peter 3:18). Fourth. Therefore, it is true that though Christ did never really become sin of his own, he did really become our sin, did really become our curse for sin. If this be denied, it follows that he became our sin but feignedly, that he was made our curse, or a curse for us but in appearance, show, or in dissimulation; but no such action or work can proceed of the Lord. He did then really lay our sin and his curse upon him for our sin.

Objection Second. But if Christ indeed hath suffered for our sins, and endured for them that curse that of justice is due thereto, then hath he also endured for us the proper torments of hell, for they are the wages of our sins.

Answer. Many things might be said to answer this objection, but briefly—First. What God charged upon the soul for sin is one thing, and what followed upon that charge is another. Second. A difference in the person's suffering may make a difference in the consequences that follow upon the charge. Let us then consider both these things.

First, the charge is sin—God charges him with our sins. The person then stands guilty before God's judgment. The consequences are: 1. The person charged sustains or suffers God's wrath. 2. This wrath of God is expressed and inflicted on the body and soul.

The consequences are that God forsakes the person charged, and being left, if he cannot stand, he falls under the power of guilt and horror of the same.

Suppose the person utterly falls under this charge, as not being able to wrestle with and overcome this wrath of God. In that case, despair, horror of hell, rage, blasphemy, darkness, and damnable anguish immediately swallow him up, and he lieth forever and ever in the pains of hell, a monument of eternal vengeance.

Now that Christ underwent the wrath of God, it is evident because he bares our curse; that God forsook him, he did with strong crying and tears acknowledge; and therefore that he was under the soul-afflicting sense of the loss of God's favor, and under the sense of his displeasure, must needs flow from the premises.

[Second.] But now, because Christ Jesus the Lord was a person infinitely differing from all others that fall under the wrath of God, therefore those things that flow from damned sinners could not flow from him.

1. Despair would not rise in his heart, for his flesh did rest in hope; and said, even when he suffered, 'Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell' (Acts 2:27).

2. The everlastingness of the punishment, therefore, nor the terrors accompanying such, could not fasten upon him, for he knew at last that God would justify him or approve of his works that they were meritorious.

And mark everlasting punishment is not the proper wages of sin but under a supposition that the person suffering cannot pay the debt—'Thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite' (Luke 12:59).

The difference, then, of the person suffering may make a difference, though not like the punishment, yet in the duration and consequences of it.

Christ under the sentence was, as to his own personal acts only, altogether innocent; the damned only altogether sinners. Christ had in him even then the utmost perfection of all graces and virtues, but the damned, the perfection of sin and vileness. Christ's humanity had still union with his Godhead, the damned, union only with sin. An innocent person, perfect in all graces, as really God as man, can better wrestle with the curse for sin than sinful men or angels.

While they despair, Christ hopes. While they blaspheme, Christ submits. While they rage, Christ justifies God. While they sink under the burden of sin and wrath, Christ recovered by virtue of his worthiness—'Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.' He was God's Holy One, and his holiness prevailed.

So that it follows not that because Christ did undergo the curse due to our sins, he,, therefore,, must have those accidental consequences which are found to accompany damned souls.

Objection Third. But the Scripture saith that the wages of sin are everlasting punishment: 'Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels' (Matt 25:41).

Answer. This objection is partly answered already in the answer to the previous. But further,

First, consider that the wages of sin are death and punishment under the wrath of God—till those that die the death for sin have paid the utmost farthing (Matt 5:26; Luke 12:58,59).

Second. So, then, the everlastingness of the punishment lies here if the person suffering cannot make amends to justice for the sins for which he suffers; otherwise, justice neither would nor could, because it is just, keep such still under punishment.

Third. The reason, then, why fallen angels and damned souls have an everlastingness of punishment allotted to them is because, by what they suffer, they cannot satisfy the justice of God.

Fourth. The conclusion then is that though the rebukes of God for sin by death and punishment after are the rebukes of eternal vengeance, the eternity of that punishment is for want of merit. Could the damned merit their own deliverance, justice would let them go.

Fifth. It is one thing, therefore, to suffer for sin by the stroke of eternal justice and another thing to abide forever a sufferer there: Christ did the first, the damned do the second.

Sixth. Therefore, his rising from the dead on the third day did not invalidate his sufferings but showed his merit's power. And here I would ask, Had Christ Jesus been more the object of faith, if weakness and endless infirmity had kept him under the curse, than by rising again from the dead; want of merit causing the one, sufficiency thereof causing the other?

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FURTHER DEMONSTRATION OF THIS TRUTH.

Now, to feign that these sorrows and this bloody agony, was not real, but in show only, what greater condemnation can be passed upon Jesus Christ, who loved to do all things in the most unfeigned simplicity? It was, therefore, because of sin, the sin that was put into the death he died, and the curse of God that was due to sin, that made death so bitter to Jesus Christ—'It is Christ that died.' The apostle speaks as if never any died but Christ, nor indeed did there, so wonderful a death as he (Rom 8:34). Death, considered simply as it is a deprivation of natural life, could not have these effects in a person, personally more righteous than an angel. Yea, even carnal, wicked men, not awakened in their conscience, how securely can they die! It must, therefore, also be concluded that the sorrows and agony of Jesus Christ came from a higher cause, even from the guilt of sin and from the curse of God that was now approaching for that sin.

It cannot be attributed to the fear of men; their terror could not make him afraid; that was contrary to his doctrine, and did not become the dignity of his person; it was sin, sin, sin, and the curse due to sin.

Third. It is evident that Christ did bear and die the cursed death for sin, from the carriage and dispensations of God towards him.

1. From the carriage of God. God now becomes as an enemy to him. (1.) He forsakes him—'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Yea, the sense of the loss of God's comfortable presence abode with him even till he gave up the ghost. (2.) He dealt with him as with one that hath sinned, chastised, bruised, struck, and smitten, and was pleased—that is, his justice was satisfied—in so doing. 'It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief' (Isa 53:10).

These things could not be, had he only considered him in his own personal standing. Where was the righteous forsaken? Without the consideration of sin, he doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the children of men—that is, not out of pleasure, or without sufficient cause.

Jesus Christ, then, since he is under this withdrawing, chastising, bruising, and afflicting displeasure of God, he is all that time under sin, under our sins, and therefore thus accursed of God, his God.

2. Not only the carriage of God, but his dispensations, his visible dispensations, plainly declare that he stood before God in our sins. Vengeance suffered him not to live. Wherefore God delivered him up—'He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all' (Rom 8:32). (1.) He delivered him into the hands of men (Mark 9:31). (2.) He was delivered into the hands of sinners (Luke 24:7). (3.) He was delivered unto death (Rom 4:25). (4.) Yea, so delivered up as that they both had him to put him to death, and God left him for that purpose in their hands; yea, was so far off from delivering him, that he gave way to all things that had a tendency to take his life from the earth.

Now many men do what they will with him, he was delivered to their will—Judas may sell him; Peter may deny him; all his disciples forsake him; the enemy apprehends him, binds him, they gave him away like a thief to Caiaphas the high-priest, in whose house he is mocked, spit upon, his beard is twitched from his cheeks; now they buffet him and scornfully bow the knee before him; yea, 'his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men' (Isa 52:14).

Now he is sent to the governor, defaced with blows and blood, who delivered him into the hand of his soldiers; they whip him, crown him with thorns, and stick the points of the thorns fast in his temples by a blow with a staff in their hand; now he is made a spectacle to the people, and then sent away to Herod, who, with his men of war, set him at nought, no God appearing for his help.

In fine, they at last condemn him to death, even to the death of the cross, where they hang him up by wounds made through his hands and his feet, between the earth and the heavens, where he hanged for the space of six hours—to wit, from nine in the morning till three in the afternoon. No God yet appears for his help; while he hangs there some rail at him, others wag their heads, others tauntingly say, 'He saved others, himself he cannot save'; some divide his raiment, casting lots for his garments before his face; others mockingly bid him come down from the cross, and when he desires succor, they give him vinegar to drink. No God yet appears for his help.

Now, the earthquakes, the rocks are rent, the sun becomes black, and Jesus still cries out that he was forsaken of God and presently bows his head and dies (Matt 26, 27; Mark 14, 15; Luke 22, 23; John 18, 19).

And for all this there is no cause assigned from God but sin—'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed' (Isa 53:5).

The sum, then, is that Jesus Christ the Lord, by taking part of our flesh, became a public person, not doing or dying in a private capacity but in the room and stead of sinners whose sins deserved death and the curse of God; all which Jesus Christ bare in his own body upon the tree. I conclude, then, that my sin is already crucified and accursed in the death and curse Christ underwent.

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FURTHER DEMONSTRATION OF THIS TRUTH.

Before I pass this truth, I will present thee, courteous reader, with two or three demonstrations for further confirmation.

First, Christ did bear our sins and curses clearly because he died without a mediator.

He died—'The wages of sin is death' (Rom 6:23). Now if death is the wages of sin, and that be true that Christ did die and not sin, either the course of justice is perverted, or else he died for our sins; there was 'no cause of death in him,' yet he died (Acts 13:28). He did no evil, guile was not found in his mouth, yet he received the wages of sin (1 Peter 2:22). Sin, therefore, though not of his own, was found upon him, and laid to his charge, because 'he died.' 'Christ died for our sins,' Christ 'gave himself for our sins' (1 Cor 15:1-3; Gal 1:4).

The one who concludes that Christ did not bear our sins charges God foolishly for delivering him up to death, for laying on him the wages, when he deserved the same in no sense. He overthrew the gospel, for it hangs on this hinge—'Christ died for our sins.'

Object. But all that die do not bear the curse of God for sin.

Answ. But all that die without a mediator do. Angels died the cursed death because Christ took no hold of them, and they for whom Christ never prayed, they die the cursed death, for they perish everlastingly in the unutterable torments of hell. Christ, too, died that death which is the proper wages of sin, for he had none to stand for him. 'I looked,' saith he, 'and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me.—And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto him, and his righteousness it sustained him' (Isa 63:5, 54:16).

Christ then died, or endured the wages of sin, and that without an intercessor, without one between God and him; he grappled immediately with the eternal justice of God, who inflicted on him death, the wages of sin; there was no man to hold off the hand of God; justice had his full blow at him, and made him a curse for sin. He died for sin without a mediator. He died the cursed death.

Second. A second thing that demonstrated that Christ died the cursed death for sin is the frame of spirit that he was in at the time that he was to be taken.

Never was poor mortal so beset with the apprehensions of approaching death as was this Lord Jesus Christ; amazement beyond measure, sorrow that exceeded, seized upon his soul. 'My soul,' saith he, 'is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.' 'And he began,' saith Mark, 'to be sorely amazed, and to be very heavy' (Matt 26:38; Mark 14:33).

Add to this that Jesus Christ was better able to grapple with death, even better able to do it alone than the whole world joined all together. 1. He was anointed with the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). 2. He had all grace perfect in him (John 1:16). 3. Never none so soaked in the bosom of his Father's love as himself (Prov 8:23-30). 4. Never none so harmless and without sin as he was, and, consequently, never man had so good a conscience as he had (Heb 7:26). 5. Never none prepared such a stock of good works to bear him company at the hour of death as he. 6. Never none had greater assurance of being with the Father eternally in the heavens than he. And yet, behold, when he comes to die, how weak is he, how amazed at death, how heavy, how exceeding sorrowful! And, I say, no cause assigned but the approach of death.

Alas! How often is it seen that we poor sinners can laugh at destruction when it cometh; yea, and 'rejoice exceedingly when we find the grave,' looking upon death as a part of our portion; yea, as that which will be a means of our present relief and help (Job 3:22; 1 Cor 3:22). This Jesus Christ could not do, considered as dying for our sin, but the nearer death, the more heavy and oppressed with the thoughts of the revenging hand of God. Wherefore he falls into agony and sweats, not after the expected rate as we do when death is severing body and soul—' His sweat was as it were significant drops [clowders] of blood falling down to the ground' (Luke 22:44).

What, I say, should be the reason, but that death assaulted him with his sting? If Jesus Christ had been to die for his virtues only, doubtless, he would have borne it lightly. So he did as he died, bearing witness to the truth, 'He endured the cross, despising the shame' (Heb 12:2). How have the martyrs despised death, and, as it were, not been careful of that, having peace with God by Jesus Christ, scorning the most cruel torments that hell and men could devise and invent! But Jesus Christ could not do so, as he was a sacrifice for sin; he died for sin, and he was made a curse for us. O my brethren, Christ died many deaths at once; he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Look how many thousands shall be saved—so many deaths did Jesus die; yet it was but once he died. He died thy death, my death, and so many deaths as all our sins deserved who shall be saved from the wrath to come.

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HE WAS MADE A CURSE FOR US.

FOURTH. As he was made flesh under the law, and also sin, SO HE WAS MADE A CURSE FOR US—'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; as it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree.' This sentence is taken out of Moses, being passed there upon them that for sin is worthy of death—' And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death. Thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in anywise bury him that day, for he that is hanged is accursed of God (Deut 21:22,23). By this sentence, Paul concluded that Jesus Christ was justly hanged because sin worthy of death was upon him; sin, not of his own, but ours. Since, then, he took our sins, he must be cursed of God; for sin is sin wherever it lies, and justice is justice wherever it finds it; wherefore since Jesus Christ will bear our sin, he must be 'numbered with the transgressors,' and counted worthy to die the death.

He that committeth sin is worthy of death. Though Christ did not personally do this, his members, his body, which is his church, did, and since he would undertake for them with God and stand in their sins before the eyes of his justice, he must die the death by the law.

Sin and the curse cannot be severed. Sin must be followed by the curse of God. Therefore, sin, being removed from us to the back of Christ, also goes the curse; if sin be found upon him, he is the person worthy to die—worthy of our sins.

Therefore, Paul here set forth Christ clothed with our sins, taking from us the guilt and punishment. What punishment but the wrath and displeasure of God? 'Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.'

In this word, 'curse' are two things comprised,

1. The reality of sin; for there can be no curse where there is no sin, either of the person's own or made to be his by his own consent or the imputation of Divine justice. And since sins are made to be Christ's by imputation, they are his, though not naturally, yet really, and consequently the wages due. He hath made him sin; he was made a curse for us.

2. The word 'curse' is comprised, therefore, of the punishment of sin, that punishment properly due to sin from the hand of God's justice, which is a punishment that stands in three things: (1.) In charging sin upon the body and soul of the person concerned, we read that both the body and soul of Christ 'were made an offering for sin' (Isa 53:10; Heb 10:10). (2.) The punishment stands in God's inflicting of the just merits of sin upon him that stand charged in addition to that, and that is death in its own nature and strength; to wit, death with the sting thereof—'The sting of death is sin.' This Christ died because he died for our sins. (3.) The sorrows and pains of this death, therefore, must be undergone by Jesus Christ.

Now, there are divers sorrows in death—such sorrows as brutes are subject to; such sorrows as persons are subject to that stand in sin before God; such sorrows as those who are swallowed up of the curse and wrath of God forever.

Now, so much of all kinds of sorrow as the imputation of our sin could justly bring from the hand of Divine justice, so much of it he had. He had died. He had the sting of death, which is sin. He was forsaken of God but could not by any means have those sorrows they have that are everlastingly swallowed up of them. 'It was not possible that he should be holden of it' (Acts 2:24).

For where sin is charged and borne, there must, of necessity, follow the wrath and curse of God. Now where the wrath and curse of God is, there must of necessity follow the effects, the natural effects—I say, the natural effects—to wit, the sense, the sorrowful sense of the displeasure of an infinite Majesty, and his chastisements for the sin that hath provoked him. There are effects natural and effects accidental; those accidental are such as flow from our weakness while we wrestle with the judgment of God—to wit, hellish fear, despair, rage, blasphemy, and the like; these were not incident to Jesus Christ, he being in his own person every way perfect. Neither did he always endure the natural effects; his merits relieved and delivered him. God loosed the pains of death 'because it was not possible that he should be held of it.'

Christ then was made a curse for us, for he did bear our sin; the punishment, therefore, from the revenging hand of God must fall upon him.

By these four things, we see how Christ became our Saviour—he took hold of our nature, was born under the law, was made to be sin, and the accursed of God for us. And observe it—all this, as I said before, was the handiwork of God. God made him flesh, made him under the law, God made him to be sin, and also a curse for us. The Lord bruised him, the Lord put him to grief, the Lord made his soul an offering for sin (Isa 53:10). Not for that he hated him, considering him in his own harmless, innocent, and blessed person, for he was daily his delight; but by an act of grace to us-ward, were our iniquities laid upon him, and he in our stead was bruised and chastised for them. God loved us and made him a curse for us. He was made a curse for us, 'that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through [faith in] Jesus Christ' (Gal 3:14).

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Quest. But might Christ not die for our sins, but he must bear their guilt or burden?

Answ. He who can sever sin and guilt, sin and the burden, each from the other, laying sin and no shame, sin and no burden on the person who dies for sin must do it only in his imaginative head. No scripture, reason, sense, understanding, or feeling sin when charged without its guilt and burden.

Here, we must distinguish between sin charged and sin forgiven. Sin forgiven may be seen without guilt or burden, though I think not without shame in this world. Still, sin charged, and that by the justice of God—for so it was upon Christ—this cannot be but guilt and the burden, as inseparable companions, must unavoidably lie on that person. Poor sinner, be advised to take heed of such deluded preachers who, with their tongues smoother than oil, would rob thee of that excellent doctrine, 'God hath made him be sin for us'; for such, as I said, do not only present thee with a feigned deliverance and forgiveness, with feigned heaven and happiness but charge God and the Lord Jesus as mere impostors, who, while they tell us that Christ was made of God to be sin for us, affirm that it was not so really, suggesting this sophistical reason, 'No wrong judgment comes from the Lord.' I say again, this wicked doctrine is the following way to turn the gospel in thy thoughts to no more than a cunningly devised fable (2 Peter 1:16) and to make Jesus Christ, in his dying for our sins, as brutish as the paschal lamb in Moses' law.

Wherefore, distressed sinner, when thou find it recorded in the Word of truth that Christ died for our sins, and that God hath made him to be sin for us, then do thou consider of sin as it is a transgression against the law of God, and that as such it procure the judgment of God, torments and afflicts the mind with guilt, and bind over the soul to answer it. Sever not sin and guilt asunder, lest thou be a hypocrite like these wicked men and rob Christ of his true sufferings. Besides, to see sin upon Christ, but not its guilt; to see sin upon Christ, but not the legal punishment, what is this but to conclude that there is no guilt and punishment in sin, or that Christ bares our sin, but we the punishment? The punishment must be borne because the sentence has gone out from the mouth of God against sin.

Do thou therefore, as I have said, consider sin a transgression of the law (1 John 3:4) and a provoker of God's justice; which done, turn thine eye to the cross, and behold those sins, in their guilt and punishment, sticking in the flesh of Christ. 'God condemned sin in the flesh' of Christ (Rom 8:3). He 'bare our sins in his own body on the tree' (1 Peter 2:24).

I would only give thee this caution—Not sin like sin—sin was not so in the flesh of Christ, but sin in the natural punishment of it—to wit, guilt, and the chastising hand of justice. 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed' (Isa 53:5). Look, then, upon Christ crucified to be as the sin of the world, as if he only had broken the law; which done, behold him perfectly innocent in himself, and so conclude that for the transgression of God's people, he was stricken; that when the Lord made him be sin, he made him be sin for us.