under the curse till their iniquity was expiated by his sacrifice; (c) that they were separated from God, till they were restored to union with him by the body of Christ. (d) Such modes of expression are accommodated to our capacity, that we may better understand, how miserable and calamitous our condition is, out of Christ. For if it were not clearly expressed, that we are obnoxious to the wrath and vengeance of God and to eternal death, we should not so fully discover how miserable we must be without the Divine mercy, nor should we so highly estimate the blessing of deliveranse. For example: let any man be addressed in the following manner: "If while you remained a sinner, God had hated you and rejected you according to your demerits, horrible destruction would have befallen you; but because he hath voluntarily, and of his own gratuitous kindness, retained you in his favour, and not permitted you to be alienated from him, he has thus delivered. you from that danger:" he will be afflicted, and will in some measure perceive how much he is indebted to the Divine mercy. But if on the contrary he be told, what the Scripture teaches, "that he was alienated from God by sin, an heir of wrath, obnoxious to the punishment of eternal death, excluded from all hope of salvation, a total stranger to the Divine blessing, a slave to Satan, a captive under the yoke of sin, and, in a word, condemned to, and already involved in, a horrible destruction: that in this situation, Christ interposed as an intercessor; that he has received and suffered in his own person the punishment, which by the righteous judgment of God impended over all sinners; that by his blood he has expiated those crimes which rendered them odious to God; that by this expiation God the Father has been satisfied and duly atoned; that by this intercessor his wrath has been appeased; that this is the foundation of peace between God and men; that this is the bond of his benevolence towards them:" will he not be the more affected by these things in proportion to the more correct and lively representation of the depth of calamity from which he has been delivered? In short, since it is impossible for the life which is presented by the mercy of God, to be (d) Col. i. 21, 22.

(c) Gal. iii. 10-13.

embraced by our hearts with sufficient ardour, or received with becoming gratitude, unless we have been previously terrified and distressed with the fear of the Divine wrath, and the horror of eternal death; we are instructed by the sacred doctrine, that irrespective of Christ we may contemplate God as incensed against us, and his hand armed for our destruction, and that we may embrace his benevolence and paternal love only in Christ.

III. Now though this is expressed according to the weakness of our capacity, yet it is strictly true. For God, who is the perfection of righteousness, cannot love iniquity, which he beholds in us all. We all therefore have in us that which deserves God's hatred. Wherefore in respect of our corrupt nature and the succeeding depravity of our lives, we are all really offensive to God, guilty in his sight, and born to the damnation of hell. But because the Lord will not lose in us that which is his own, he yet discovers something that his goodness may love. For notwithstanding we are sinners through our own fault, yet we are still his creatures; notwithstanding we have brought death upon ourselves, yet he had created us for life. Thus by a pure and gratuitous love towards us, he is excited to receive us into favour. But if there is a perpetual and irreconcileable opposition between righteousness and iniquity, he cannot receive us entirely, as long as we remain sinners. Therefore, to remove all occasion of enmity, and to reconcile us completely to himself, he abolishes all our guilt, by the expiation exhibited in the death of Christ, that we, who before were polluted and impure, may appear righteous and holy in his sight. The love of God the Father therefore precedes our reconciliation in Christ; or rather it is because he first loves, that he afterwards reconciles us to himself. (e) But because, till Christ relieves us by his death, we are not freed from that iniquity which deserves the indignation of God, and is accursed and condemned in his sight; we have not a complete and solid union with God, before we are united to him by Christ. And therefore, if we would assure ourselves that God is pacified and propitious

(e) 1 John iv. 19.

to us, we must fix our eyes and hearts on Christ alone, since it is by him only that we really obtain the non-imputation of sins, the imputation of which is connected with the Divine wrath.

IV. For this reason Paul says, that the love which God had for us before the creation of the world, was founded on Christ. (f) This doctrine, is clear and consistent with the Scripture, and admirably reconciles the different passages, where it is said, that God manifested his love to us by the gift of his only-begotten Son, (g) and yet that he was our enemy till he was reconciled by the death of Christ. (h) But for a further confirmation of it, to such as require the testimony of the ancient Church, I will cite a passage from Augustine, which expressly maintains the same: "The love of God," says he, "is incomprehensible and immutable. For he did not begin to love us when we were reconciled to him by the blood of his Son, but he loved us before the creation of the world, that we might be his children, together with his only-begotten Son, even before we had any existence. Therefore our reconciliation by the death of Christ must not be understood as if he reconciled us to God, that God might begin to love those whom he had before hated: but we are reconciled to him who already loved us, but with whom we were at enmity on account of sins. And whether my assertion be true, let the apostle attest. 'God,' says he, 'commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'(i) He loved us therefore, even when we were in the exercise of enmity against him, and engaged in the practice of iniquity. Wherefore, in a wonderful and divine manner, he both hated and loved us at the same time. He hated us, as being different from what he had made us; but as our iniquity had not entirely destroyed his work in us, he could at the same time in every one of us hate what we had done, and love what proceeded from himself." This is the language of Augustine.

V. Now in answer to the inquiry, how Christ by the abolition of our sins has destroyed the enmity between God and us, and procured a righteousness to render him favourable.

(ƒ) Eph. i. 4, 5.
(A) Rom. v. 10.

(g) John iii. 16.
(i) Rom. v. 8.

and propitious to us, it may be replied in general, that he accomplished it by the whole course of his obedience. This is proved by the testimony of Paul. "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (k) And indeed in another place he extends the cause of the pardon, which exempts us from the malediction of the law, to the whole life of Christ. "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." (/) Thus he himself affirmed even his baptism to be a branch of his righteousness, because he acted in obedience to the command of the Father. (m) In short, from the time of his assuming the character of a servant, he began to pay the price of our deliverance in order to redeem us. Yet more precisely to define the means of our salvation, the Scripture ascribes this in a peculiar manner to the death of Christ. He himself announces, that he "gives his life a ransom for many." (n) Paul teaches that "he died for our sins." () John the Baptist exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (p) Paul in another place declares, that we are "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." (q) Also, that we are "justified by his blood," and "reconciled by his death." (r) Again: "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (s) I shall not proceed with all the proofs, because the catalogue would be immense, and many of them must hereafter be cited in their proper order. Wherefore, in what is called the Apostles' Creed, there is very properly an immediate transition from the birth of Christ to his death and resurrection, in which the sum of perfect salvation consists. Yet there is no exclusion of the rest of the obedience which he performed in his life: as Paul comprehends the whole of it, from the beginning to the end, when he says, that "he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and

(1) Gal. iv. 4, 5.
(0) 1 Cor. xv. 3.

(*) Rom. v. 19.
(n) Matt. xx. 28.
(9) Rom. iii. 24, 25.

(r) Rom. v. 9, 10.

(m) Matt. iii. 15.
(p) John i. 29.
(s) 2 Cor. v. 21.

became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (t) And indeed his voluntary submission is the principal circumstance even in his death; because the sacrifice, unless freely offered, would have been unavailable to the acquisition of righteousness. Therefore our Lord, after having declared, "I lay down my life for the sheep," expressly adds, "No man taketh it from me." (v) In which sense Isaiah says, "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth." (w) And the evangelical history relates, that he went forth to meet the soldiers,(x) and that before Pilate he neglected making any defence, and waited to submit to the sentence. (y) Nor was this without inward conflict; but because he had taken our infirmities, and it was necessary to give this proof of his obedience to his Father. And it was no mean specimen of his incomparable love to us, to contend with horrible fear, and amid those dreadful torments to neglect all care of himself, that he might promote our benefit. Indeed we must admit, that it was impossible for God to be truly appeased in any other way, than by Christ renouncing all concern for himself, and submitting and devoting himself entirely to his will. On this subject the apostle appositely cites the testimony of the Psalmist: "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." (z) But since terrified consciences find no rest but in a sacrifice and ablution to expiate their sins; we are properly directed thither, and the death of Christ is exhibited to us as the source of life. Now because our guilt rendered us liable to a curse at the heavenly tribunal of God, the condemnation of Christ before Pontius Pilate the governor of Judea is stated in the first place, that we may know that on this righteous person was inflicted the punishment which belonged to us. We could not escape the terrible judgment of God; to deliver us from it, Christ submitted to be condemned even before a wicked and profane mortal. For the name of the governor is mentioned, not only to establish the credit of the history, but that we may learn, what is taught by Isaiah, that "the chastisement of our peace was upon him;