laid on him the iniquities of us all." That which God lays on shall never be taken off, no man shall take it off: the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.

Yea, our iniquities are not only said to be laid on him, but (to use the same word that is used for the sacrifice) it is said, He bare our sins upon the cross; as the goat bare the sins of the people: so says the apostle, "He himself bare our sins upon the cross."

Moreover, he did not only bear our sins upon the cross, but, says the apostle, "He was made sin for us.” It is not said, He was made a sinner, or accounted a sinner only for us, but "He was made sin for us." All our iniquities were laid on him; he bare our sins, and he was made sin for us upon the cross. Thus briefly the second proposition is cleared, That when he did thus offer up himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, the sins of all believers were then laid on him.

Thirdly, When the sins of believers were laid on him, then he did make full satisfaction unto God the Father, and divine justice for all our sins. This is a bottom of much comfort. For if the Lord Jesus Christ our Surety had not satisfied to the utmost farthing, our great Creditor, God the Father, for all our debts, God the Father might come upon us the debtors. But our Surety, the Lord Christ, hath given full satisfaction unto God the Father, that no more demands can be be made upon us. And indeed else, how could our Surety ever have come out of prison: he was under arrest, he was in the jail, in the grave: the Father, the great Creditor lets him out; and did not only let him out, but the Lord Jesus Christ, he goes into heaven, and sits down there at the right hand of the Father; surely, if the Creditor had not been satisfied, the Surety should never have been released out of prison.

He was so fully satisfied, that "he looked for iniquity, and he found none" (says the text). He looked over all his books, to see if he could find any thing upon the score, but he found none: all our debts were paid. "Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world." He does not say, That takes away the sin of the Jews only; but takes away the sin of the whole world. He does not say, That takes away the sins (in the plural number), but takes away

the sin (in the singular number): sins go so together, as if they were but one: but let the sin be never so twisted together, as if it were but one sin, this Lamb of God, he takes away the sin of the world. And he does not say, That hath pardoned the sin of the world: for then a poor soul might say, Aye, but though he hath pardoned my sin, yet my sin is not mortified. Neither does he say, Behold the Lamb of God, that mortifies or destroys the sin of the world: but he gives you a word that takes in both pardon and mortification too. Behold the Lamb of God that takes them away: both in regard of pardon, and in regard of mortification: "Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world.”

There is nothing that does so satisfy God the Father, as obedience, and the more full the obedience is, the more God the Father is satisfied thereby: now it is said of our Lord and Saviour Christ, that in this great sacrifice upon the cross, he was obedient. "He was obedient even to the death of the cross." That he that did make the law, should come down from heaven, and be subject to the law, what obedience was here! "Obedient to the death." Yea, unto the deaths (in the plural number). And he made his grave with the sinners: and his deaths was with the rich. "He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich had his deaths," Isa. liii. 9. It is in the plural number in the Hebrew, though in our English translation it is in the singular. As if the Holy Ghost had called death, the second death that our Lord Christ had in some measure suffered. For, if you consider things truly and rightly, I believe you will find that our Lord and Saviour Christ when he died, and was in his agony, he did not only endure the first, but the torments of the second death. He overcame no more than he submitted to: he overcame death by submitting to death. Now he overcame the second death also, and therefore in some measure submitted to the torments of it, so far as he was capable. Look what the first Adam should have endured for his sin in the fall, that the second Adam now did endure in some measure for to take it off: "The day that thou eatest thou shalt die the death." It was not barely the corporal and outward death, but it was the second death. If our Lord and Saviour Christ did not endure the torments of the second death, the wrath of God upon his soul; why did he sweat drops of blood, and tremLibrary of tops of blood, and trem the

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ble, and shake so, when he came to die? saints and martyrs, when they come to die, they go skipping, and leaping, and rejoicing: and our Lord and Saviour, when he came to die, he sweats drops of blood; surely there was more than an outward death: Oh! the wrath of God, and the torments of the second death were upon his soul. Thus obedient he was, and this obedience of his, it was voluntary, for he needed not to have died; but he saw that God the Father was dishonoured by man's sin, and that poor man would be lost, and rather than that should be, he does voluntarily offer himself unto this obedience. "Lo I come, (says he,) in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, and thy law is within my heart," Psalm xl. 7, 8. Mark what an expression there is in that Psalm, it is spoken concerning Christ, as is plainly interpreted by the apostle in the xth of the Hebrews, at the 6th verse: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened" (or bored). The apostle when he translates these words, he translates them thus: "My body hast thou prepared." But read them as they are here in the Psalm: "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ear hast thou bored." That as when a servant was willing to stay with his master, and to do him yet more service, the servant's ear was to be bored: so says the Lord Christ, I am as willing to do this work, to be thus obedient, as a servant whose ear is bored is willing to stay with his master: "And mine ear hast thou bored," says he; ah, here is obedience, here is obedience this now did infinitely satisfy God the Father; in so much, that ye may see what is said, in that same vth of the Ephesians, and the 2nd verse. "Who hath loved us, and given himself for us, an offering, and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." The whole world was full of a stench before, and the Lord was displeased with man before: but now when Christ comes, and offers up his sacrifice, he did thereby give full satisfaction unto God the Father, for it was a sweet smelling savour unto God the Father. So that thus the Father he was fully satisfied.

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To this I shall add one word: When the Lord Jesus Christ offered up himself a sacrifice unto God the Father, and had our sins laid upon him, he did give more perfect satisfaction unto divine justice for our sins, than if you, and I, and all

of us had been damned in hell unto all eternity. For a creditor is more satisfied, if his debt be paid him all down at once, than if it be paid by the week: a poor man that cannot pay all down, will pay a groat a week, or sixpence a week; but it is more satisfaction to the creditor to have all paid at once. Should we have been all damned, we should have been but paying the debt a little, and a little, and a little: but when Christ paid it, he paid it all down to God the Father. Had we gone to hell, and been damned for ever, we had always been satisfying of God, aye but God had never been satisfied: but now when Christ makes satisfaction, God was satisfied. The creditor, if he be a merciful and a good man, is more truly satisfied where the debtor is spared; he does not desire that the debtor should be cast into prison, and there lie and rot; but he is better satisfied with the sparing of the debtor; let me have but my money, and so the debtor be spared I am willing, nay I desire it, says the good creditor. Now if all we had been cast into everlasting burnings, indeed the debt should have been a paying, but there the debtor had been lost but now when Christ comes, and makes satisfaction unto divine justice, Ah! poor man is redeemed; here is the debtor spared. And therefore, the Lord he is infinitely more satisfied, by the satisfaction that Christ made upon the cross for our sins, than if all we had gone to hell; and been damned to all eternity. Oh! what a glorious and blessed satisfaction did this our High Priest make unto God the Father!

But you will say then, If the Lord Christ made this full satisfaction unto God the Father, how is it that believers, many of them have their sins and debts standing upon the score still, in their consciences so perplexed in regard of sin, as if there were no satisfaction at all made?

Luther calls this aspect of sin, a sacrilegious aspect and beholding of sin. As now (says he) if a man take out of an holy place some goods, and bring them into his own house; this is sacrilege. So for me to go and take my sins from Christ, and lay them in mine own bosom, this is sacrilege, says Luther.

But the reason of it is this, because that men do not study this truth, but are ignorant of it. As, suppose that a man do owe three or four hundred pounds to a shopkeeper for

wares and commodities that he hath taken up there: a friend comes and pays the debt, crosses the book: but the debtor, when he comes and looks upon the book, he is able to read all the particulars; item for such a thing, and item for such a thing, and item for such a thing; but the man being not acquainted with the nature of crossing the book, he is able to read all the particulars, and he charges it still upon himself, because he does not understand the nature of this crossing the book, and he is as much troubled how he shall pay the debt, as if it were not paid at all. So now it is here the Lord Jesus Christ, he hath come and crossed our book with his own blood: the sins are to be read in your own consciences, but we being not acquainted with the nature of Christ's satisfaction, and the crossing of the book, we charge ourselves, as if no sin at all were satisfied for us: yet when the Lord Jesus Christ was made an offering for sin upon the cross, then he did give full satisfaction unto God the Father. And that is the third.

Fourthly, This now he hath done as our great High Priest, and in a more transcendent and eminent way, than ever any high priest did before. For, though the high priest did come and make an atonement for a poor sinner, yet he himself was never made a sacrifice; the priest offered up a sacrifice, but himself never was made a sacrifice. But our great High Priest does not only offer up a sacrifice, but himself is made a sacrifice. Yea, that sacrifice that was then in the times of the Old Testament, it could not purge the conscience; not only because, as the apostle speaks, it was the blood of bulls and goats, but because the sacrifice was performed successively as thus, a man sinned, then he brought a sacrifice; sins again, and then he brings another sacrifice: and once every year, the high priest goes into the holy of holiest to make an atonement. But in the meanwhile a poor soul might think thus, What if I die before the year come about, what will become of me? the high priest, he goes once a year into the holy of holiest, and sprinkles the mercy-seat, but what will become of me if I die before that time? But now, our great High Priest, he does not only offer up a sacrifice, and himself the sacrifice; but he offers up a sacrifice once for all: so says the apostle. So that now, when a christian hath sinned, he is not to think of a sacrifice that is