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the flesh,1 Pet. iii. 18. and the whole scripture ascribes our ransom to that death, from which Christ arose from by his resurrection; and in fine, Paul makes the sacrifice which Christ offered to consist in a death which is like to that which is appointed for all men once to undergo, Heb. ix. 27. and which, ver. 26. is a sacrifice, and was shadowed forth by the slaying of the legal sacrifices. And we have already mentioned several places which cannot without manifest violence be so explained, as to exclude the death of the body from being included in his death.

XLIII. If you object that Christ had before said, It is finished, I answer, it ought to be understood of his finishing all those things which he was to suffer and do in life, so that nothing remained but to conclude the whole by a pious death. Just as Paul said, 2 Tim. iv. 7. "I have finished my course." And Christ himself, John xvii. 4. "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Whence one would absurdly infer, that there remained for Christ on saying this, nothing further to be done or suffered; when he was still to be made perfect by his last sufferings. The meaning is evident; namely, that Christ in discharging his office, had perfectly performed all he was thus far to perform.

XLIV. If you insist upon it, that his death was calm and gentle, without the appearance of any pains of eternal death, having already undergone these. I answer, it was a gentle death indeed, in so far as the faith of Christ, now victorious over all temptations, was well apprized, that he had surmounted the greatest pains, and was secure about his resurrection and the promised reward; but yet he died a cursed death, inflicted by the wrath of God against sin, and the curse of it was typically figured by his hanging on the tree, which still continued in, and after death. For while he hung on the tree, so far he was doubtless under the curse, according to Gal. iii. 13. by which is signified, that his punishment ought to be taken as holding forth guilt, and the curse of God.

XLV. But say you believers are still to die; and therefore Christ did not satisfy for them by his death. I answer, the Catechumens have been taught to answer this objection from * quest. 42. of the Heidelberg Catechism. By the death of Christ, death hath ceased to be what it was before, the punishment inflicted by an offended judge, and the entrance into the second death, and is become the extermination

Q. But since Christ died for us, why must we also die? A. Our death is not a satisfaction for sin, but the abolishing of sin, and our passage into everlasting life.

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of sin, and the way to eternal life; and at the last day it shall be altogether abolished. And if you go on to argue in this manner, I shall easily make it appear from your own hypothesis, that even that very anguish of Christ when he complained of his being forsaken of God, was not satisfactory for us; for believers themselves often complain of spiritual desertion: "But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me," Isa. xlix. 14. Where we have the very same word, which the Lord Jesus uses, Psal. xxii. 2. And Zion says so truly, with respect to the sense of grace, and the influence of spiritual consolation. The difference between the desertion whereby Christ was forsaken of his Father and that of believers, consists in this, that in the former, there was the wrath and curse of God, and the formal nature of punishment, which are not in the latter; neither are these in their death.

XLVI. What is objected to our argument, taken from the agonies of Christ in Gethsemane, is very inconsistent. They say that these sufferings were not satisfactory, because then an angel appeared to comfort him; whereas a good angel could not have done this without a most grievous sin against God, if Christ was then actually making satisfaction; especially as he was to tread this wine-press alone, and it was foretold, that while making satisfaction, he should be deprived of all consolation, Psal. Ixix. 20. "there is none to take pity, comforters I found none;" for 1st, That angel did not tread the wine-press together with the Lord Jesus, nor bear any part of his sufferings, nor by any natural influence did he assist Christ in carrying that burden. He strengthened Christ only in a moral sense, by setting before him the glorious issue of the conflict he had undertaken, and by other arguments to the like purpose. 2dly, There is no reason why some small share of comfort should not be administered to Christ while in the act of making satisfaction; especially if with a view to preserve him for more, and not fewer sufferings. The words of Psal. lxix. are not to be taken in such a general sense as to exclude all manner of consolation and pity; for,

a great company of people and of women bewailed him," Luke xxiii. 27. as did also "all the people that came together to that sight, and smote upon their breasts," v. 48. and the beloved disciple John, and above all his pious mother, "whose soul then a sword pierced," Luke ii. 35. Nor is there any thing in the words of the Psalm which obliges us to confine these things to the three hours of darkness. It treats of that time in which "they gave him gall for his meat, and in his thirst gave him vinegar to drink," v. 21. which was

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not done during the darkness. 3dly, It cannot be inferred that God the Father, in sending that angel, had not then either begun to act, or that time ceased to act, as a strict and impartial judge; any more than it can be inferred, that the disposition of Christ's enemies was softened to pity, when they laid the cross on Simon of Cyrene, in order to carry it after him. For both was done with a view, least Christ sinking under his present pains, should escape those that were to ensue. 4thly, We shall by this be better able to form a judgment of the incredible load of anguish with which that mighty lion of the tribe of Judah was so pressed down, that he appeared almost ready to sink under it, unless he was, in some manner at least, encouraged. 5thly, Nor on any pretence can that angel be accused of any sin in strengthening Christ while satisfying for us; since by that consolation, he neither intended to rob Christ of his glory, to whom alone the praise of satisfying remains entire; nor to oppose the decree of God; for he animated Christ to execute that with resolution; nor to put any bar in the way of our salvation, for he encouraged our Lord to acquire the right to that by constancy in his sufferings.

XLVII. To pretend to infer from the beginning and end of the solar eclipse, during the passion of Christ, the beginning and end of his satisfaction, is a cabbalistical fancy, founded neither on Scripture nor solid reason. I do not deny, that in that darkness there was a kind of type of the very thick darkness with which the greatly distressed soul of the Lord Jesus was then overwhelmed, without a single ray of consolation breaking in upon him, but what his unshaken faith, grounded on the inviolable promises of his Father, and not staggering as to the certainty of the future reward, darted in at times upon his trembling soul. But the question is not, whether Christ was then actually satisfying? This we all allow the question is, whether then only?

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. XLVIII. But let us now conclude this debate; which has so much disquieted the mind of this very learned person, as his friends wanted the world should know from letters published after his death. But God and my conscience are my witnesses, that nothing but the love of truth, which is only to be derived from, and defended by the Scriptures, obliged me to enter upon this subject. I know not in what I can be blamed, unless in the liberty I have taken to dissent from the author. But if, by taking a wrong path, I have strayed from the truth, how acceptable will the kind admonition be! How readily shall I own and correct the error! I heartily wish VOL. I.

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we could generally endeavour to please ourselves less, in order to please God more. I ever had a veneration for this learned person, though after our dispute I found he was much disgusted. But I thought this should be no hindrance to my profiting by his learned commentaries, which I own I did, with a just commendation of the author, as my other writings abundantly testify.

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CHAP. VII.

Of the Efficacy of Christ's Satisfaction.

I. THE efficacy of Christ's satisfaction is twofold: The first regards Christ himself; the other, the elect. Christ, by his satisfaction, obtained for himself, as Mediator, a right to all the elect: which the Father willingly and deservedly bestows upon him, Psal. ii. 8. "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." This is Christ's work with his God, that he should not only be his servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; but that he should be given for a light to the Gentiles, that he might be God's salvation unto the end of the earth, Isa. xlix. 4. 6. It appears also from that promise, Isa. liii. 1o. " if his soul shall make itself an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." And thus we become his inheritance, Eph. i. II. "his peculiar treasure," Psal. cxxxv. 4. "his peculiar people," Tit. ii. 14. and I Pet. ii. 9.

II. Besides, it is not possible but Christ should exercise that right which he acquired at so dear a rate. For when, according to the determinate counsel of God, the time of the gracious visitation of every one of the elect is come, he actu ally delivers them, as his property, by an outstretched arm. And why should he not, seeing he can easily effect it by *the power of his spirit, turning and inclining their heart? Is it credible he should suffer those who are his lawful right to be, and to remain the slaves of Satan? Is it worthy of Christ that he should not be actually glorified in the sanctification and happiness of those for whom he underwent so much infamy? Or should suffer any of those to perish whom he purchased for his own possession by his precious blood? Christ himself hath taught us thus to reason, John x. 16. “ And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice." Because these sheep

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• I have rendered this efficacy, rather than effect, as that expresses all the effects of Christ's satisfaction treated of in this chapter.

sheep were of right his property, it therefore became him actually to lay hold of them as his own, and bring them into his fold. Nor can the right of Christ be made ineffectual, or remain without actual possession; especially as he was not promised by the Father a bare right, but also a possession by right, upon his making satisfaction; as the places above quoted evince.

III. The Lord Jesus obtained for the elect, by his satisfaction, an immunity from all misery, and a right to eternal life, to be applied unto them in effectual calling, regeneration, sanctification, conservation, and glorification, as the Scripture declares. Thus Matt. xxvi. 28. "this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Gal. i. 4. 66 he gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Tit. ii. 14. "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Eph. v. 25, 26, 27. "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify it, that he might present it to himself a glorious," &c. In a word, "this is that faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." I Tim. i. 15. By these and many other passages to the same purpose, which it would be needless to mention here, it evidently appears, that the effect of Christ's satisfaction was not a bare possibility of the remission of our sins, and of our reconciliation with God, but an actual remission and reconciliation, an abolition of the dominion of sin, and at length salvation itself: and it is not possible, the elect should have no share in this, unless Christ should be deemed to have satisfied for them to no purpose. It is certainly incumbent on us, never to weaken the force of the words of the Holy Ghost especially in those places and expressions of Scripture, where the subject of our salvation is treated of; nor to detract in any thing, from the value of the satisfaction of our Lord.

IV. This truth also appears from those places of scripture, in which the satisfaction of Christ is called arolùrporis a redemption, made by the payment of up a ransom, or riurps a price of redemption. For, the proximate effect of redempttion, and of the payment of a ransom, is the setting the captive at liberty, and not a bare possibility of liberty. It is neither customary, nor equitable, that after paying the price, it should still remain uncertain, whether the captive is to be set free or not. A true redeemer procures the restitution

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