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may be conformed to him in his cross, before we are conformed to him in his glory.*

It is one thing for a person to atone for his sins, by a real satisfaction, another to break off his sins by works of repentance and charity. It is in the latter sense that Daniel† advises Nebuchadnezzar to break off his sins. The Hebrew

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word p, used by the prophet here, does not primarily signify to redeem, nor even to deliver; its primary sense is to tear away, or break off; and hence, as a collateral signification, it imports, to deliver. The prophet exhorts the Syrian king to repentance, and a change of life, in order to make reparation to men and not to God, for the injuries which he had done, and the oppressions which he had practised; and that by thus breaking off his course of sinning, he might be more prosperous, escape from the ruin which was hanging over him, and obtain a longer continuance of peace in his empire. To the same purpose are all those places of scripture, in which pardon of sin is promised to repentance. The repentance is not a meritorious cause, but a condition annexed, the medium through which pardon is obtained. As our prayers are not a price, which we pay to God in advance for the blessings which we seek, but a mean which God has appointed for obtaining those favours which he bestows freely.

Sufferings are of two kinds. One is that in which they are exacted by a judge to make satisfaction to justice; the other, that in which they are inflicted for the correction of the offender. We admit, that the latter species of suffering is often appointed to believers, not for vengeance, but for healing; not for destruction, but for correction. God lays it upon them, not as a judge, but as a father; not out of hatred, but out of love. Cyprian says, "The Lord chastises the saints that he may advance their holiness, and he advances their holiness, that he may save them." To the same purpose Thomas speaks. "Before pardon, the sufferings of the

*Rom. viii. 28.
$ 3. Q. 96.

+ Dan. iv. 27.

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elect are punishments for sin; after pardon, they are exercises.” Augustin happily explains the difference between the punishments of the wicked, and the chastisements of the saints. He speaks thus:-" All, both good and evil, suffer the same afflictions; nor by their afflictions can we distinguish between the righteous and the wicked; for all things happen alike to all, there is one lot to the righteous and to the wicked. There is, however, a distinction between the persons who suffer punishment. All who are subjected to the same pains, are not alike vicious or virtuous. In the same fire, gold shines and stubble smokes; by the same fan the chaff is blown away, and the wheat purged. Dregs must not be confounded with oil, because both are pressed in the same press. The very same afflictions which prove, purify, and refine the righteous, are a curse, and destruction to the wicked. Hence, under the pressure of the same calamities, the wicked detest and blaspheme God, while the righteous pray to him, and praise him. Thus the difference is not in the nature of the punishments, but in the character of those who suffer them.”

The chastisements which the saints experience, sometimes indeed, retain the name punishments, but not in a strict sense. 1. Because punishments, in a strict sense, are inflicted by the supreme Judge upon transgressing men, on account of their violation of his law. Hence, even after the state of a man is changed, and he becomes a saint, the pains and griefs which he suffers are called by the same name, because, though not formally, they are materially the same. 2. Because there are many points of resemblance between them and punishments properly so called. They are not joyous but grievous to the flesh, which they are designed, no less than proper punishments, to subdue. They are dispensed to the saints, by the will of a gracious God, with as much care and attention, as he, in the character of an avenging judge, dispenses punishments. Sin gives occasion both to chastisements and punishments.-They agree some

* De Civ. Dei. lib. i. cap. 8.

times in the apprehension which they produce in the mind, that God is an angry judge, and they both serve as an example salutary to offenders. But this grand difference still remains, that is, in the punishments of the wicked, God, as a judge, has in view satisfaction to his justice; while in the chastisements of his people, he, as a father, designs the correction and amendment of his disobedient children.

The death of David's child, which affliction happened to him after the pardon of his sin,* was not a satisfactory and judicial punishment, but a fatherly chastisement; for his sin having been once pardoned, no punishment could remain to be borne. The reason which God assigns for thus afflicting the king of Israel, gives no countenance to the idea, that the affliction was judicial and expiatory. By his sin, he had given occasion to the enemy to blaspheme the name of God, and thus the discipline of the house of God had been most basely violated. This breach of discipline must be healed by a salutary example. Nor can we infer that it was judicial, from David's deprecating it. It is the part of human nature to avoid, and endeavour to free itself of whatever is painful, like a sick man who deprecates the caustic powders, the pain of the amputating knife, and the bitterness of medicine, though nothing can be further from the nature of pu

nishment than these.

Though death cannot be inflicted upon us to guard us against future transgression, nor for our amendment, yet it by no means follows, that it is designed as an atonement for sin. There are many other weighty reasons, rendering it necessary that all should die; such as, that the remains of sin may be destroyed-that we may pass from an animal and terrestrial state, to one spiritual and heavenly-that piety may be exercised-that Christian virtues may be displayed in the most brilliant manner-and finally, that it may be a most powerful excitement to amend our life, look out for a better inheritance, and be prepared for entering upon its enjoyment.

2 Sam. xii. 14.

The judgment, which the apostle Peter tells us, must begin at the house of God,* is not the legal judgment of avenging justice, which proceeds from God as a wrathful judge, but a fatherly and evangelical chastisement; not to punish and destroy, but to hold out a useful example, and to correct us, that thus we may not be condemned with the world. It is similar to that which Paul speaks of, 1 Cor. xi. 32. The punishment mentioned 2 Cor. vii. 11. is not properly a punishment inflicted by God in the character of judge, but either an ecclesiastical censure, such as excommunication, which is adjudged by the church for the removal of scandal; or it rather denotes repentance and contrition, in which a sinner is offended with himself, and for some crime which he has committed, afflicts his soul.

Though those under the Old Testament dispensation whose sins were pardoned, had still to offer sacrifices for sin, yet a warrant for attempting to make human atonements is not thence to be inferred. The sacrifices then offered were not, properly speaking, propitiatory offerings. They were types of a future atonement to be made by Christ, through the efficacy of which they received pardon.

When Solomon says,† that "by mercy and truth iniquity is purged," no countenance is given to the human satisfaction for which the church of Rome contends, for he does not deny, but rather supposes the atonement made by Christ. There are two opinions maintained respecting this passage; one is, that by "mercy and truth" are meant, the mercy and truth of God: then the wise man would directly allude to, and assert the atonement of Christ. The other opinion is, that the mercy and truth of man are intended; then the doctrine which the text teaches would be, that mercy and truth are a condition always required when sin is pardoned, but not the cause for which the sentence of pardon is pronounced, because, against the unmerciful, judgment without mercy will be exercised. On the other hand,‡ “ the merciful shall obtain mercy."

1 Pet. iv. 17.

+ Prov. xvi. 6.

Matt. v. 6.

The Hebrew word which is here translated "purged," does not properly signify expiatory purging, but either covering and remission only, which God bestows on the believing -on the merciful; or it signifies the removal of a sense of sin. In this sense it is used by the prophet Isaiah.* Then the passage would intimate that the exercise of mercy and sincere piety removes the contrary vices. The following clause of the verse confirms this interpretation of the word; by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”

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Though nothing defiled can enter into the New Jeruɛalem, yet there is no need of any satisfaction in this life, beside that of Christ, nor of a purgatory in another, to purge away the pollutions of sin; for in the moment of death, when the soul is separated from the body, all the remains of sin are entirely removed by the spirit of Christ.

* Isa. xxviii. 18.

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