redeemed us, and that with his own blood. Is it not better to believe the Lord, and venture our souls upon it, than to go to God and say, 'this thou hast said, indeed; but it is an improper and metaphorical redemption, a deliverance that we have?' The truth is, it is so far from truth, that God hath delivered the work of his grace, and our benefit thereby, in the death of Christ, in words too big in their proper signification for the things themselves, that no words whatever are sufficient to express it and convey it to our understandings.

3. That Moses, who was a type of Christ in the work of redemption, and is called a redeemer, did redeem the people without the proper payment of a valuable ransom; therefore Christ did so also; to conclude thus, I say, is to say, that the type and things typified must in all things be alike; yea, that a similitude between them in that wherein their relation consists, is not enough to maintain their relation, but there must be such an identity as in truth overthrows it. Christ tells us, that the brazen serpent was a type of him; John iii. 14. 'As Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up;' now if a man should thence argue, that because the brazen serpent was only lifted up, not crucified, nor did shed his blood, therefore Christ was not crucified, nor shed his blood, would he be attended unto? The like may be said of Jonas, who was alive in the belly of the whale, when he was a type of Christ, being dead in the earth; in the general nature of deliverance from captivity, there was an agreement in the corporeal deliverance of Moses and the spiritual of Christ, and here was the one a type of the other; in the manner of their accomplishment, the one did not represent the other; the one being said expressly to be done. by power, the other by a ransom.

2. It is the delivery of one in captivity; all men considered in the state of sin, and alienation from God, are in captivity. Hence they are said to be captives, and to be bound in prison; Isa. Ixi. 1. and the work of Christ is to bring the prisoners out of prison, and them that sit in darkness (that is in the dungeon), out of the prison house; Isa. xlii. 7. he says to the prisoners 'go forth,' to them that are in darkness, shew yourselves;' chap. xlix. 9. as it is eminently

expressed; Zech. ix. 11. As for thee also by the blood of the covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein there is no water.' Here are prisoners, prisoners belonging to the daughter of Sion, for unto them, the church, he speaks, ver. 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion;' those other sheep of the fold of Christ not yet gathered when this promise was given, are spoken of. And they are in the pit wherein there is no water; a pit for security to detain them, that they may not escape: and without water, that they may in it find no refreshment. How are these prisoners delivered? By the blood of this covenant, of whom he speaks; see ver. 9. Behold thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.' description of Christ when he rode to Jerusalem, to seal and confirm the covenant for the deliverance of the prisoners with his own blood; which is therefore called the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified; Heb. x. 29.` Hence in the next verse, 'prisoners of hope' is a description of the elect; Zech. ix. 12.

It is a

So also are they called captives expressly, Isa. xlix. 25. Thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered;' those who were in their captivity a prey to Satan, that mighty and cruel one, shall be delivered; and who shall do this? The Lord thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob;' ver. 26. He proclaims liberty to the captives; Isa. lxvii. 1. Luke iv. 18. And this is given in as the great fruit of the death of Christ, that upon his conquest of it he led 'captivity captive;' Psal. lxviii. 18. Eph. iv. 8. that is, either captivity actively, Satan who held and detained his in captivity; or passively, those who were in captivity to him.

Thus being both prisoners and captives, they are said to be in bondage; Christ gives us liberty from that yoke of bondage; Gal. v. 1. and men are in bondage by reason of death all their days; Heb. ii. 14. There is, indeed, nothing that the Scripture more abounds in, than this, that men in the state of sin are in prison, captivity, and bondage; are captives, prisoners and slaves.

Concerning this two things are considerable.

1. The cause of men's bondage and captivity, deserving, or procuring it.

2. The efficient principal cause of it, to whom they are in captivity.

For the first (as it is known) it is sin. To all this bondage and captivity men are sold by sin. In this business sin is considered two ways.

1. As a debt, whereof God is the creditor. Our Saviour hath taught us to pray for the forgiveness of our sins under that notion, Matt. vi. 12. äpeç ǹμïv rà òpeiλýμara ǹμwv, ‘remit to us our debts;' and in the parable of the Lord and his servants, Matt. xviii. 27-29. he calls it, rò dávalov, ver. 27. and tò opeλóμtvov, ver. 30. due debt;' all which he expounds by πаρаπтúμата, ver. 35. 'offences or transgressions.' Debt makes men liable to prison for non-payment, and so doth sin (without satisfaction made) to the prison of hell. So our Saviour expresses it, Matt. v. 25, 26. Agree quickly with thine adversary, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the utmost farthing.' On this account, 1. Are men prisoners for sin: they are bound in the prison-house, because they have wasted the goods of their master, and contracted a debt that they are no way able to pay and if it be not paid for them, there they must lie to eternity. All mankind was cast into prison, for that great debt they contracted in Adam, in their trustee; being there instead of making any earnings to pay the debt already upon them by the law, they contract more, and increase thousands of talents. But this use of the word debt and prison, applied to sin and punishment, is metaphorical.

2. As a crime, rebellion, transgression against God, the great governor, and judge of all the world. The criminalness, rebellion, transgression, the disobedience that is in sin, is more or less expressed by all the words in the original, whereby any sins are signified and called: now for sin considered as rebellion, are men cast into prison, captivity and bondage, by way of judicial process and punishment.

2. For the principal cause of this captivity and imprisonment, it is God: For,

1. He is the creditor to whom these debts are due, Matt. vi. 12. Our Father which art in heaven, forgive us our debts;' it is to him that we stand indebted the ten thousand talents; 'against thee only have I sinned,' says David, Psal. li. 4. God hath intrusted us with all we have to sin by, or withal; he hath lent it us, to lay out for his glory, our spending of what we have received upon our lusts, is running into debt unto God; though he doth not reap where he did not sow, yet he requires his principal with advantage.

2. And properly, he is the great King, Judge, and Governor of the world, who hath given his law, the rule of our obedience; and every transgression thereof is a rebellion. against him. Hence, to sin, is to rebel, and to transgress, and to be perverse, to turn aside from the way, to cast off the yoke of the Lord, as it is every where expressed. God is the law-giver, James iv. 12. 'who is able to kill and to destroy' for the transgression of it; it is his law which is broken, and upon the breach whereof, he says, 'cursed be every one that hath so done;' Deut. xxix. 29. He is the judge of all the earth; Gen. xviii. 25, 26. yea, the Lord is judge himself,' Psal. 1. 6. and we shall be judged by his law; James ii.10—12. and his judgment is, 'that they that commit sin are worthy of death;' Rom. i. 32. and he is the 'king for ever and ever.' Psal. x. 16. He reigneth and executeth judgment. Now who should commit the rebel that offends? who should be the author of the captivity, and imprisonment of the delinquent, but he who is the king, judge, and law-maker?

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3. He doth actually do it; Rom. xi. 32. ZvvékλɛLOE Ó DEÒÇ τοὺς πάντας εἰς ἀπείθειαν· “God hath shut up all under disobedience' he hath laid them up close prisoners, for their disobedience: and they shall not go out, until satisfaction be made. In the parable, Matt. xviii. of the lord or master, and his servants, this is evident; and Matt. v. 25. it is the judge, that delivers the man to the officer, to be cast into prison. Look who it is that shall inflict the final punishment upon the captives, if a ransom be not paid for them; he it is, by whose power and authority they are committed, and to whom principally they are prisoners and captives. Now this is God only, he can cast both body and soul into hell fire;' Matt. x. 28. and wicked men shall be destroyed from the terror of his presence, andthe power of his glory;

2 Thess. i. 9. In brief, God is the judge, the law is the law of God, the sentence denounced is condemnation from God: the curse inflicted, is the curse of God; the wrath wherewith men are punished, is the wrath of God; he that finds a ransom is God, and therefore it is properly and strictly he, to whom sinners are prisoners and captives; 2. Pet. ii. 4.

And therefore, when in the Scripture at any time, men are said to be in bondage to Satan: it is but as to the officer of a judge, or the jailor: to their sin, it is but as to their fetters, as shall be afterward more fully discovered.

And this removes the first question and answer of the Racovians to this purpose. Socinus De Servatore,' expresses himself to the whole business of redemption, in three chapters, lib. 1. part. 2. cap. 1-3. the sum of which, the catechists have laboured to comprise in as many questions and answers. The first is,

'Q. What' dost thou answer to these testimonies which witness that we are redeemed of Christ?'

A. It is hence evident, that satisfaction cannot be confirmed from the word redeeming, because it is written of God himself, both in the Old and New Testament, that he redeemed his people out of Egypt, that he redeemed his people. 2. Because it is written that God redeemed Abraham and David, and that Moses was a redeemer, and that we are redeemed from our iniquities, and our vain conversation, and from the curse of the law; for it is certain, that God made satisfaction to none, nor can it be said, that satisfaction is made either to our iniquities, or our vain conversation, or to the law.'.

I say this whole plea is utterly removed by what hath been spoken: For 1. In what sense redemption is ascribed to God and Moses, without the least prejudice of that proper redemption that was made by the blood of Christ, hath been declared, and shall be farther manifested, when we

b Quid ad ea testimonia, quæ nos a Christo testantur redemptos, respondes?— R. E verbo redimendi non posse effici satisfactionem hanc, hinc est planum, quod de ipso Deo et in novo, et in prisco fœdere scribitur, eum redimisse populum suum ex Ægypto; eum fecisse redemptionem populo suo; deinde cum scriptum sit, quod Deus redemit Abrahamum et Davidem, et quod Moses fuerit redemptor, et quod simus redempti e nostris iniquitatibus, aut e vana conversatione nostra, et e maledictione legis certum autum est Deum nemini satisfecisse; nec vero aut iniquitatibus, aut conversationi vanæ, aut legi satisfactum esse dici posse.