that they make up but one mystical person; Christ being the Head, and we the Members; Christ the Husband, and his Church the Spouse. There is a kind of mystical union between a king and his subjects, which yet is not so near and close, as between Christ and believers: and, therefore, if it were just with God to punish the Israelites for the sin of David, their king, because of the union and relation that was between them, what shew or pretence of injustice can there be, for God to punish Christ for the sins of believers, between whom this union is infinitely more intimate and embodying?

But, farther,

[2] As Christ is thus conjoined to us, both naturally and mystically; so he hath likewise given his full Consent, to stand in our stead, and to bear our punishment.

And, upon this account, God might justly lay upon him, not only the punishment due to the sins of those who are mystically united to him by faith; but, likewise, what was due to the sins of all the world. For, in the Covenant of Redemption, which Christ from all eternity entered into with the Father, it was agreed, that, if he would die for all, he should be the Lord of all. And, therefore, to this end, Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living: Rom. xiv. 9. So that, certainly, it could in no wise be unjust with God to require payment for so great a purchase: which payment was to be made by his death and sufferings. And to these he voluntarily offered himself: No man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of myself: John x. 18. And, Heb. x. 5, 6, 7. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest 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) I delight to do thy will, O God; yea, thy Law is within my heart: that is, the law and constitution of the Mediatorship, which our Lord Christ willingly and heartily submitted unto; and therefore it is said to be within his heart, that is, it was in his will and desire to effect it. And, therefore, since Christ hath been pleased to engage himself for us, and to undertake the arduous work of our redemption; and that also, when he fully knew both what his payment must be, and what his purchase; it is no injustice in God to exact the whole debt from him, since he was both sufficient and willing to discharge

it.

And this is briefly in answer to the First Question, Whether it was consistent with divine justice to punish an innocent person for the sins of the guilty.

2. A Second Question is, Whether, as Christ suffered in our stead, so he suffered the same wrath and the same curse, that was due unto us, or some other in the stead of it.

It may seem, that the punishments which he underwent were not the same, that are threatened against us.

For,

(1) The curse due to us is eternal death, and an everlasting separation from the presence of God: but Christ, as he died, so he rose again; and is now infinitely glorious in the highest heavens.

(2) The punishments due to us are hellish torments; the worm of conscience that never dies, and the fire that never shall be quenched: but our Saviour Christ suffered none of these. And those, who, of old, held, that he descended into the hell of the damned, that his soul might be there tormented with infernal pains, consider not how directly contrary this their absurd, if I may not call it impious, opinion is to our Saviour's own testimony; when, being just expiring and giving up the ghost, with infinite joy that all the sufferings of his mediatory office were now come to their full period, he breathes out his soul with this acclamation, It is finished: John xix. 30. And,

(3) One part of the punishment due to sinners, is hellish and utter despair, which yet never seized upon Jesus Christ: for, in his greatest dereliction, when his soul was most gloomy and overcast, when he most sadly complains of God's forsaking him; yet, even then, he fiducially appropriates God unto himself: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And, therefore, upon all these accounts, it may seem, that Christ suffered not the same punishment, which is the due desert of our sins; and that, therefore, consequently, the same curse was not inflicted on him, which was threatened against the transgressors of the Law.

For answer to this, we must carefully distinguish, between the Substance of the curse, and the Adjuncts and Circumstances of it. For want of rightly distinguishing between these, too many have been woefully staggered and perverted in their faith; and have been induced to believe, that Christ died not in the stead of any, but only for the good of all, as the Socinians blaspheme. Now, certain it is, that Christ underwent the very same

punishment, for the Matter and Substance of it, which was due to us by the curse and threatening of the Law; though it may, be different in very many Circumstances and Modifications, according to the divers natures of the subjects on whom it was to be inflicted. For, the substance of the curse and punishment, threatened against sinners, is death: In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now, death is a copious and comprehensive word; and contains in it all manner of woes and miseries, that may be grievous unto sinners, and satisfactory to divine justice. But the justice of God being infinite, no sufferings can be satisfactory to it, but what are infinite too: for our offences are infinite in their guilt; because the object, against which we offend, is infinite in majesty and glory. The Law, therefore, threatens infinite woe and infinite wrath, to the transgressors of it. Now wrath and punishment may be infinite, either in degree, or in duration. Whichsoever it be, it is fully satisfactory to divine justice, and it drains out the full curse of the Law. Whosoever, therefore, undergoes infinite punishment, fully answers the demands of vindictive and punitive justice. But, now, Christ being himself an infinite person, underwent a punishment infinite in degrees, though not in duration and continuance but we, being finite, yet our souls immortal, cannot bear a punishment that is infinite in degrees; and therefore it must be infinite in duration, that is, eternal. That punishment, which, if we were to suffer it, would have been drawn out unto all eternity, was all folded up together, and laid upon Christ at once, who, through the infiniteness of his person, was able to support it. And could sinners, as He did, bear and eluctate the whole punishment at once, they would thereby fully satisfy the Law, and be pronounced just and righteous. Or, if this answer of Christ's suffering infinite degrees of punishments at once, seem hard to be conceived, (although, I must confess, I cannot see but that it is perfectly consentaneous to the analogy of faith) we may yet give a second and that is, that the infinite dignity of Christ's person, being God as well as Man, made all his sufferings likewise infinite; if not in degree, yet at least in valuation and acceptance for an Infinite Person to suffer less, may be more satis factory to divine justice, than for a finite person to suffer more : every part of that humiliation, which Christ, the Infinite God anderwent, was an infinite abasement; and, consequently, an

infinite punishment; and, therefore, satisfactory to an infinite justice.

So that you see, for the Matter and Substance, the punishment Christ suffered was the very same, which the Law threatened against us, viz. infinite; such as the justice of God might acquiesce in, and account itself fully recompensed by.

But, for other things, they are but differences in Circumstances, according to the different condition of Christ and us, who were both liable to the same curse. For, to be eternal, to be inflicted by material fire, and accompanied with total despair, are not essential to the punishment, nor simply necessary to make it infinite: and, therefore, though these circumstances and adjuncts were not found in Christ's suffering the curse for us; yet, notwithstanding, he might and did undergo the same curse, for matter and substance, which the Law threatened against us.

And this is in answer to the Second Question.

v. Having thus shewn you, that Christ was made a curse, I shall now proceed to shew FOR WHOSE SAKE, HE WAS THUS ACCURSED AND PUNISHED. And that the text saith was ύπερ ήμων, for us: being made a curse for us,

Now, that Christ suffered for us, may admit a twofold interpretation.

That he suffered for our Good and Benefit.

That he suffered in our Place and Stead.

Each of these is true. But the former, without the latter, reacheth not the full scope of the Apostle in these words.

For the death of Christ may be considered under a threefold respect; as it was a Martyrdom: an Example: a Ransom.

Under the two former respects, it was only for our good; but, under the last, it must be in our stead, or else it could not be available.

1. I shall therefore begin with the last, as being the chief consideration of the death and sufferings of Christ, viz. that he died in our Place and Stead, as a Ransom for us.

Now, because this is one of the vitals of Christian Religion, a fundamental and necessary point of faith; and because also the very Deity of Jesus Christ doth usually stand or fall together with this, (both which the Socinians, whom charity itself can hardly call Christians, do most eagerly and blasphemously op

pose) I shall, therefore, be the more large and particular in the confirmation of it.

(1) The first testimony which I shall alledge, is this very text, being made a curse for us: that is, he was accursed for us; as I have already interpreted it.

Now, to be accursed, is, as you have heard, to undergo the punishment of sin. But because Christ had no sin of his own, being infinitely holy and innocent, if he undergo the punishment of sin, one of these two things must necessarily follow. Either,

[1] That the justice of God cannot be acquitted, in inflicting punishment on Christ, who was guiltless, and therefore did not deserve them: which is blasphemy. Or,

[2] That our sins were imputed unto Christ; and so, by a voluntary susception and his own free consent, he became legally guilty, and therefore suffered the punishment which was due unto them: which is the great truth we contend for,

(2) And of the very same import is that other place, 2 Cor. v. 21. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.

When Christ is said to be made Sin for us, nothing else can be understood by that expression, but that he was dealt with and punished as a sinner. And now, being personally righteous, (for he knew, i. e. he committed no sin) and yet being made sin, i. e. being punished for sin, it must necessarily follow, that he stood in the place and sustained the person of sinners; bearing those sins by imputation, from the real taint of which he was altogether free: or, else, we must impiously cast some imputation upon the justice of God.

The word is

(3) A third place is that of St. Peter: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree: 1 Pet. ii. 24. eveynɛ: tulit sursum: He lifted up our sins on himself, as a load and burden which he was to undergo: a load indeed so weighty, as would have crushed and sunk any into the lowest hell; but him, who was of infinite power, and almighty to save. And, that this bearing or our sins by Christ was so as to free us from the burden and punishment of them, appears by what the Apostle presently adds, By his stripes ye are healed. And what can be more plain and express, to prove that Christ suffered in our stead? For, first, he takes our sins upon himself: i. e. he suffers the punishment due unto them: and, then, by his suffering, frees us from suffering: which is properly to suffer for us, in