for our sins being introduced. On this supposition also the declaration of the apostle in another place, "that Christ died for our sins," without any explanation being added, would be obscure and unsatisfactory; as it would convey no other idea than that Christ died in order to do something pertaining to our sins. But all these absurdities will be avoided if the declaration that Christ died for our sins be understood to import, that he died to atone for our sins.

XII. It remains for us to explain those phrases in which Christ is said to have died "for us, for all, "for the ungodly," and the like. It is evident indeed, and ought to be unreservedly admitted, that the expressions in themselves may signify the whole efficacy of the death of Christ, as well that by which our sins are destroyed, as that by which they are expiated. Hence, wherever they occur, they ought to be understood as the scope of each particular passage may require; and whenever the scope of a passage will admit, it should be considered as attributing to the death of Christ that twofold efficacy of which we have spoken. This is the case with that passage of the apostle in his epistle to the Romans :† "Destroy "not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died." For who can doubt that all the energy of the death of Christ which relates to his salvation is here intended? but that efficacy is displayed in destroying his sins as well as in atoning for them. But when the apostle Peter says, "Christ suffered for us, leaving says,‡ "us an example," he contemplates not so much the atoning efficacy, as that patient submission to grievous injuries which was so eminently conspicuous in

* I Corinth. xv. 3.

Rom. xiv. 15.

I Peter ii. 21.

the death of Christ, and which he proposes to our imitation. When St. Paul says,* that Christ " gave "himself a ransom for all," he attributes to the Saviour's death that efficacy which, as we have already shown, belonged to it as a piacular sacrifice. The same sentiment is conveyed also by Christ himself when he declares his blood to be " shed for many for "the remission of sins." He who fully understands these texts, will be at no loss to judge of others that are similar, on a due consideration of the scope of each particular passage.

XIII. After these observations it seems proper to remark, that it has been justly concluded by the Jews, that the piacular victims commanded by the law of Moses, were substituted in the place of transgressors, so that they suffered the same kind of punishment, namely death, from which the transgressors themselves were delivered. This indeed cannot be truly and properly affirmed concerning Jesus Christ, as he did not endure those eternal punishments and that despair of salvation, from which we are delivered: yet nevertheless, the sufferings sustained by our Lord on account of our sins were designed as a vicarious punishment, and obtained the pardon of our sins on condition of our being disposed to yield obedience to God. For in vicarious punishment, if the person who has a right to inflict punishment is satisfied, it is of no importance whether it be of the same kind as that from which the criminal is delivered, or of any other.

But how it is that the death of Christ does not deliver us from eternal death, unless we obey the gospel, may easily be understood from the remarks + Matt. xxvi. 28.

.* I Tim. ii, 6.

we have already made respecting vicarious punishment. For, as we have stated before, the law which pronounces every offender deserving of punishment, denounces death, not upon Christ, but upon us. Hence it is that his death cannot of itself supersede that sentence; can supersede it no further, or otherwise, than according to the will of God. Now the will of God is that the death of Christ shall avail for pardon of sins and eternal life only to him who possesses true faith and sincere piety. And here lies the difference between vicarious punishment and that which is inflicted upon a transgressor in his own person: the punishment of the transgressor, provided it be equal to his guilt, which is determined by the penalty of the law, does of itself satisfy that penalty and discharge from any further obligation to punishment: but this is not effected by vicarious punishment, except through the favour of him who has the right to punish. Hence also it may be concluded, that the death of Christ, notwithstanding it was designed as a vicarious punishment, was in no respect opposed to the grace of God. For it was owing to his grace, that Christ died for us, and that his death is available to procure for us remission of sins and eternal life. Nor, in this transaction, did Christ receive any injury from God, or God from Christ. For Christ laid down his life for us voluntarily, so that no injustice was done by the Father to the Son; and he had a right to lay it down, so that no injustice was com mitted by the Son against the Father.

Nor will those who shall finally bear the punishments of their sins, have any reason to think themselves unjustly treated, or to complain that their sins are punished twice, first in Christ, and again in their

own persons. For punishment is justly inflicted on every one who is not discharged from the obligation to punishment: and the obligation to punishment remains* on every adult person who does not comply with the conditions of the new covenant, which are faith and obedience. Nor is the vicarious punishment exhibited in the death of Christ of such a nature, as, either of itself, or by the design of the Father or the Son, to discharge from the penalty of the law without a compliance with those conditions. For, being vicarious, it has not altogether the same operation as the punishment of a transgressor in his own person; but its efficacy is suspended on this condition which God has chosen as satisfactory to himself, and demonstrative of his perfect holiness and abhorrence of our sins. Though the operation of such a punishment, therefore, is in some respects different from the personal punishment of a transgressor, it tends nevertheless to the same end,-the production and establishment of reverence for the divine laws.

• John iii. 18.

361

CHAPTER VII.

The Oblation by which Christ presented himself to God in Heaven, as a Piacular Victim preciously slain for our Sins. Arguments to show that Christ did this in order to commend to God both Us and our Services in general, and our Prayers in particular. The true

Nature of his Intercession.

HAVING treated of the death of Christ as that of a piacular victim, we must now proceed to the oblation which followed his death. For it is beyond all doubt that Jesus Christ, our immortal high priest, on his entrance into the celestial sanctuary, did in heaven itself, present himself to God as an expiatory victim previously slain for our sins. This proposition indeed must be sufficiently evident on its being stated, unless any one is determined to deny that our Lord either died for our sins as a piacular victim, or presented himself in that character before the throne of the Divine Majesty: neither of which can be denied without extreme violence to the scriptures. This truth is also evinced by the clearest types of Christ as an expiatory sacrifice: for the blood of those victims, which above all others typified Christ in that character, was offered in the most holy place, which was a figure of the highest heaven. The same is taught by the apostle, who mentions the oblation of Christ, and without adverting to his death, or resurrection, or ascension to heaven, as intermediate events, passes to his session at the right hand of God.* Hence it is concluded, that this session immediately followed that oblation of which he there speaks. But there is

* Heb. x. 12.