But some man will say, it is very absurd and slanderous to call the Son of God a cursed sinner. I answer, if thou wilt deny him to be a sinner and to be accursed, deny also that he was crucified and dead. For it is no less absurd to say, that the Son of God (as our faith confesseth and believeth) was crucified and suffered the pains of sin and death, than to say that he is a sinner and accursed. But if it be not absurd to confess and believe that Christ was crucified between two thieves, then it is not absurd to say also that he was accursed, and of all sinners the greatest. These words of Paul are not spoken in vain: “Christ was made a curse for us: God made Christ which knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we in him might be made the righteousness of God." (2 Cor. v. 21.)

After the same manner John the Baptist calleth him, "The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world," (John i. 29.) He verily is innocent, because he is the unspotted and undefiled Lamb of God. But because he beareth the sins of the world, his innocency is burdened with the sins and guilt of the whole world. Whatsoever sins I, thou, and we all have done, or shall do hereafter, they are Christ's own sins, as verily as if he himself had done them. To be brief, our sin must needs become Christ's own sin, or else we shall perish for ever. This true knowledge of Christ, which Paul and the prophets have most plainly delivered unto us, the wicked sophisters have darkened and defaced.

Isaiah speaketh thus of Christ: "God," saith he, "laid the iniquity of us all upon him." (Isa. liii.) We must not make these words less than they are, but leave them in their own proper signification. For God dallieth not in the words of the prophet, but speaketh earnestly, and of great love; to wit, that Christ this Lamb of God should bear the sins of us all. But what is it to bear? The sophisters answer, to be punished. Very well: But wherefore is Christ punished? Is it not because he hath sin and beareth sin? Now that Christ hath sin, the Holy Ghost witnesseth in the fortieth psalm, "My sins have taken such hold of me, that I am not able to look up, yea, they are more in number than the hairs of my head." In this psalm, and certain others, the Holy Ghost speaketh in the person of Christ, and in plain words witnesseth that he had sins. For this testimony is not the voice of an innocent, but of a suffering Christ, which took upon him to bear the person of all sinners, and therefore was made guilty of the sins of the whole world.

Wherefore Christ was not only crucified and died, but sin also, (through the love of the divine Majesty) was laid upon him. When sin was laid upon him, then cometh the law and saith: "Every sinner must die." Therefore, O Christ, if thou wilt answer, become guilty, and suffer punishment for sinners, thou must also bear sin and malediction. Paul therefore doth very

well allege this general sentence out of Moses as concerning Christ: "Every one that hangeth upon the tree is the accursed of God:" but Christ hath hanged upon the tree, therefore Christ is the accursed of God.

And this is a singular consolation for all Christians, so to clothe Christ with our sins, and to wrap him in my sins, thy sins, and the sins of the whole world, and so to behold him bearing all our iniquities. For the beholding of him after this manner, shall easily vanquish all the fantastical opinions of the Papists, concerning the justification of works. For they do imagine (as I have said) a certain faith formed and adorned with charity. By this (they say) sins are taken away, and men are justified before God. And what is this else (I pray you) but to unwrap Christ, and to strip him quite out of our sins, to make him innocent, and to charge and overwhelm ourselves with our own sins, and to look upon them, not in Christ, but in ourselves? yea, what is this else but to take Christ clean away, and to make him utterly unprofitable unto us? For if it be so that we put away sin by the works of the law and charity, then Christ taketh them not away. For if he be the Lamb of God ordained from everlasting to take away the sins of the world; and moreover, if he be so wrapped in our sins that he became accursed for us, it must needs follow that we cannot be justified by works. For God hath laid our sins, not upon us, but upon his Son Christ, that he, bearing the punishment thereof, might be our peace: and that, by his stripes, we might be healed, (Isa. liii. 5.) Therefore they cannot be taken away by us. To this all the scripture beareth witness; and we also do confess the same in the articles of the Christian belief, when we say: "I believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God, which suffered, was crucified and died for us."

Hereby it appeareth that the doctrine of the gospel (which of all other is most sweet and full of singular consolation) speaketh nothing of our works, or of the works of the law, but of the inestimable mercy and love of God towards most wretched and miserable sinners: to wit, that our most merciful Father, seeing us to be oppressed and overwhelmed with the curse of the law, and so to be holden under the same, that we could never be delivered from it by our own power, sent his only Son into the world, and laid upon him all the sins of all men, saying, be thou Peter that denier; Paul, that persecutor, blasphemer, and cruel oppressor; David, that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in paradise; that thief which hanged upon the cross, and briefly, be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men: see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now cometh the law and saith: I find him a sinner, and that such a one as hath taken upon him the sins of all men, and I see no sins else but in him: therefore let him die upon the cross; and so he setteth upon him, and killeth him. By this means

the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins, and so delivered from death and all evils. Now sin being vanquished and death abolished by this one man, God would see nothing else in the whole world, if it did believe, but a mere cleansing and righteousness. And if any remnants of sin should remain, yet for the great glory that is in Christ, God would wink at them, and would not see them.

Thus we must magnify the article of Christian righteousness against the righteousness of the law and works, albeit no eloquence is able sufficiently to set forth the inestimable greatness thereof. Wherefore the argument that Paul handleth in this place, of all other is most mighty against all the righteousness of the law. For it containeth this invincible opposition: that is, if the sins of the whole world be in that one man Jesus Christ, then are they not in the world; but if they be not in him, then are they yet in the world. Also, if Christ be made guilty of all the sins which we all have committed, then are we delivered from all sins, but not by ourselves, nor by our own works or merits, but by him. But if he be innocent and bear not our sins, then do we bear them, and in them we shall die and be damned. "But thanks be to God who hath given us the victory by our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." (1 Cor. xv. 57.)

But now let us see by what means these two things, so contrary and so repugnant, may be reconciled in this one person Christ. Not only my sins and thine, but also the sins of the whole world, either past, present, or to come, take hold upon him, go about to condemn him, and do indeed condemn him. But because in the self-same person, which is the highest, the greatest, and the only sinner, there is also an everlasting and invincible righteousness: therefore these two do encounter together, the highest, the greatest, and the only sin, and the highest, the greatest, and the only righteousness. Here one of them must needs be overcome and give place to the other, seeing they fight together with so great force and power. The sin therefore of the whole world cometh upon righteousness with all might and main. In this combat, what is done? Righteousness is everlasting, immortal and invincible. Sin also is a most mighty and cruel tyrant, ruling and reigning over the whole world, subduing and bringing all men into bondage. To conclude, sin is a mighty and a strong god, which devoureth all mankind, learned, unlearned, holy, mighty, and wise men. This tyrant, I say, flieth upon Christ, and will needs swallow him up, he doth all other. But he seeth not that he is a person of invincible and everlasting righteousness. Therefore, in this combat, sin must needs be vanquished and killed, and righteousness must overcome, live, and reign. So in Christ all sin is vanquished, killed, and buried, and righteousness remaineth a conqueror and reigneth for ever.

as

In like manner death, which is an omnipotent queen and em

press of the whole world, killing kings, princes, and generally all men, doth mightily encounter with life, thinking utterly to overcome it and to swallow it up: and that which it goeth about, it bringeth to pass indeed. indeed. But because life was immortal, therefore when it was overcome, yet did it overcome and get the victory, vanquishing and killing death. Death therefore through Christ is vanquished and abolished throughout the whole world, so that now it is but a painted death, which, losing his sting, can no more hurt those that believe in Christ, who is become the death of death, as Hosea the prophet saith: "O death, I will be thy death." (Hos. xiii. 14.)

So the curse, which is the wrath of God upon the whole world, hath the like conflict with the blessing: that is to say, with grace and the eternal mercy of God in Christ. The curse therefore fighteth against the blessing, and would condemn it and bring it to nought: but it cannot do so. For the blessing is divine and everlasting, and therefore the curse must needs give place. For if the blessing in Christ could be overcome, then should God himself also be overcome. But this is impossible: therefore Christ the power of God, righteousness, blessing, grace, and life, overcometh and destroyeth these monsters, sin, death, and the curse, without war or weapons, in his own body, and in himself, as Paul delighteth to speak: "Spoiling," said he, "all principalities and powers, and triumphing over them in himself," (Col. ii. 15.) so that they cannot any more hurt those that do believe.

And this circumstance, "in himself," maketh that combat much more wonderful and glorious. For it sheweth that it was necessary that these inestimable things should be accomplished in that one only person, (to wit, that the curse, sin and death should be destroyed, and the blessing, righteousness and life, should succeed in their place,) and that so the whole creature through this one person should be renewed. Therefore, if thou look upon this person Christ, thou shalt see sin, death, the wrath of God, hell, the devil, and all evils vanquished and mortified in him. Forasmuch then as Christ reigneth by his grace in the hearts of the faithful, there is no sin, no death, no curse: but where Christ is not known, there all these things do still remain. Therefore all they which believe not, do lack this inestimable benefit and glorious victory. "For this (as St. John saith) is our victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John v. 4.)

This is the principal article of all Christian doctrine, which the popish schoolmen have altogether darkened. And here ye see how necessary a thing it is to believe and to confess the article of the divinity of Christ, which, when Arius denied, he must needs also deny the article of our redemption. For to overcome the sin of the world, death, the curse, and the wrath of God in himself, is not the work of any creature, but of the

divine power. Therefore he which in himself should overcome these, must needs be truly and naturally God. For against this mighty power of sin, death, and the curse, (which of itself reigneth throughout the world, and in the whole creature) it was necessary to set a more high and mighty power. But besides the sovereign and divine power, no such power can be found. Wherefore, to abolish sin, to destroy death, to take away the curse in himself; and again, to give righteousness, to bring life to light, and to give the blessing, are the works of the divine power only and alone. Now, because the scripture doth attribute all these to Christ, therefore he in himself is life, righteousness, and blessing, which is naturally and substantially God. Wherefore they that deny the divinity of Christ, do lose all Christianity, and become altogether Gentiles and Turks. We must learn therefore diligently the article of justification (as I often admonish you.) For all the other articles of our faith are comprehended in it: and if that remain sound, then are all the rest sound. Wherefore, when we teach that men are justified by Christ, that Christ is the conqueror of sin, death, and the everlasting curse, we witness therewithal that he is naturally and substantially God.

Hereby we may plainly see how horrible the wickedness and blindness of the Papists was, which taught that these cruel and mighty tyrants, sin, death, and the curse (which swallow up all mankind) must be vanquished, not by the righteousness of the law of God (which, although it be just, good and holy, can do nothing but bring men under the curse:) but by the righteousness of man's own works, as by fasting, pilgrimages, masses, vows, and such other like paltry. But, I pray you, was there ever any found, that, being furnished with this armour, overcame sin, death, and the devil? Paul, in the sixth chapter to the Ephesians, 13, 14, &c. describeth a far other manner of armour, which we must use against these most cruel and raging beasts. Therefore, in that these blind buzzards, and leaders of the blind, have set us naked and without armour before these invincible and most mighty tyrants, they have not only delivered us unto them to be devoured, but also have made us ten times greater and more wicked sinners than either thieves, whores, or murderers. For it belongeth only to the divine power to destroy sin and to abolish death, to create righteousness and to give life. They have attributed this divine power to our own works, saying, if thou do this work or that, thou shalt overcome sin, death, and the wrath of God: and by this means they set us in God's place, making us in very deed naturally, if I may so say, God himself. And herein the Papists, under the name of Christ, have shewed themselves to be seven-fold more wicked idolaters than ever were the Gentiles. (2 Pet. ii. 22.) For it happeneth to them, as it doth to the sow, which, after she is washed, walloweth herself again in the mire. And as Christ saith, "after they are