fui of A. dam to the coming o

+Heb.

Li

151

Meins ufed

be the coning of

Crut.

Theology have made them impatient under the yoke of ordinances from the to which they were fubjected; for after the Chriftian faith came into full fplendour, mankind could be no longer under of the tuition of fuch a schoolmafter as the law, which "had Chris only a fhadow of good things; and fo far from their reality, not even the very image of them †.” Through thefe fhadows, however, the Jews, aided by the clearer light of prophecy, though it too fhone in a dark place, might have feen enough of God's plan of redemption to make them ac knowledge Jefus of Nazareth, when he came among them working miracles of mercy, for the Meffiah to long promiled to their forefathers, and in whom it was repeatedly faid, that all the nations of the earth fhould be bleffed. While fuch care was taken to prepare the defcendants to prepare of Abraham for the coming of the Prince of Peace, we the world muft not fuppofe that God was a refpecter of perfons, and that the rest of the world was totally neglected. The difperfion of the ten tribes certainly contributed to fpread the knowledge of the true God among the eastern nations. The fubfequent captivity of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin muft have confirmed that knowledge in the great empires of Babylon and Perfia; and that particular providence of God which afterwards led Ptolemy Philadelphus to have the Jewish fcriptures tranflated into the Greck language, laid the divine oracles open to the ftudy of every accomplifhed fcholar. At laft, when the arms of Rome had con quered the civilized world, and rendered Judea a province of the empire; when Auguftus had given peace to that empire, and men were at leifure to cultivate the arts and fciences; when the different fects of philofophers had by their difputations whetted each others underftandings fo that none of them was difpofed to fubmit to an impofture; and when the police of the Roman government was fuch that intelligence of every thing important was quickly tranfmitted from the moft diftant provinces to the capital of the empire; "when that fulness of time was come, God fent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons," and be reftored to that inheritance of which the forfeiture introduced the feveral difpenfations of revealed religion into the world.

SECT. V. View of Theology, more peculiarly Chriftian.

MANKIND being trained by various difpenfations of providence for the reception of that feed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth were to be bleffed, and the time fixed by the Jewish prophets for his coming being arrived, "a meffenger was fent before his face to prepare his way before him by preaching the baptifm of repentance for the remiffion

tian.

162

of fins." This meffenger was John the Baptift, a very ex- The logy, traordinary man, and the greatest of all the prophets. His more pecubirth was miraculous, the fcene of his miniftry the wilder-liarly Chris nefs, his manners auftere, and his preaching upright, without refpect of perfons. He frankly told his audience that he was not the Meffiah, that the Meffiah would foon appear among them, that "he was mightier than himself, and that he would baptife them with the Holy Ghoit and with fire." Mightier indeed he was; for though born of a woman Christ the the Meffiah was not the fon of a human father; and though divine living for the first thirty years of his life in obfcurity and word in. poverty, he was the lincal defcendant of David, and heir to carnate. the throne of Ifrael. But the dignity of his human defcent, great as it was, vanishes from confideration when compared with the glory which he had with his Father before the world was. The Jewith difpenfation was given by the miniftry of Mofes, and illuftrated by fubfequent revelations vouchfafed to the prophets; the immediate author of the Chriftian religion is the eyes or fecond perfon of the bleffed Trinity, of whom St John declares, that "he was in the beginning with God, and was God; that all things were made by him; and that without him was not any thing made that was made." We have already proved that in the one Godhead there is a Trinity of perfons; and that the yo is one of the three, is apparent from these words of the apoftle, and from many other paffages of facred fcripture. Thus he is called the Lord of hofts himself; the firft and the laft, befides whom there is no God; the most high God; God blessed for ever; the mighty God, the everlofting Father, Jehovah our righteoufnefs; and the only wife God our Saviour (c). This great Being, as the fame apoftle affures us, was made fiefh, and dwelt among men; not that the divine nature was or could be changed into humanity, for God is immutable, the fame Almighty and incomprehenfible Spirit yesterday, to-day, and forever; but the word or fecond perion in the godhead, affuming a human foul and body into a perfonal union with himfelf, dwelt upon earth as a man, veiling his divinity under mortal flesh. Hence he is faid elfewhere to have been "manifefted in the flesh,” and "to have taken upon him the nature of man ;" phrafes of the fame import with that which afferts "the WORD to have been made flesh."

162

carnation

This incarnation of the Son of God is perhaps the greatest Objections mystery of the Chriftian faith, and that to which ancient to the inand modern heretics have urged the moft plaufible objec-Cathe tions. The doctrine of the Trinity is indeed equally in-word comprehenfible; but the nature of God and the mode of his fubfiftence, as revealed in feripture, no man, who thinks, can be furprised that he does not comprehend; for a revelation which fhould teach nothing myfterious on fuch a subject would be as incredible and as ufclefs as another which 3 N 2

contained

fian.

Theology, contained nothing but mytery. The difficulty refpecting more pecu the incarnation, which forces itfelf upon the mind, is not liarly Chri- how two natures fo different as the divine and human can be fo intimately united as to become one perion; for this union in itself is not more inconceivable than that of the foul and body in one man: but that which at firft is apt to flagger the faith of the reflecting Chriftian is the infinite diftance between the two natures in Chrift, and the comparatively fmall importance of the object, for the attainment of which the eternal Son of God is faid to have taken upon him our nature.

164 Obviated.

Eh i 10 Col. i.

19, 20,

Upon mature reflection, however, much of this difficulty will vanifh to him who confiders the ways of Providence, and attends to the meaning of the words in which this mytery is taught. The importance of the object for which the WORD Condefcended to be made fief, we cannot adequately know. The oracles of truth indeed inform us, that Chrift Jefus came into the world to fave finners; but there are pallages fcattered through the New Teftament which indicate, not obfcurely, that the influence of his fufferings extends to other worlds befides this: and if fo, who can take upon him to fay, that the quantity of good which they may have produced was not of fufficient importance to move even to this condefcenfion a Being who is emphatically ftyled LOVE?

But let us fuppofe that every thing which he did and taught and fuffered was intended only for the benefit of man, we fhall, in the daily adminiftration of providence, find other in ftances of the divine condefcenfion; which, though they cannot be compared with the incarnation of the second perfon in the blefled Trinity, are yet fufficient to reconcile our understandings to that mystery when revealed to us by the Spirit of God. That in Chrift there fhould have dwelt on Col. ii. earth" all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ||," is indeed a truth by which the devout mind is overwhelmed with aftonishment; but it is little lefs aftonishing that the omnipotent Creator fhould be intimately prefent at every inftant of time to the meaneft of his creatures, "upholding all things, the vileft reptile as well as the most glorious angel, by the word of his power t." Yet it is a truth felf-evident, that without this conftant prefence of the Creator, nothing which had a beginning could continue one moment in being; that the visible univerfe would not only crumble into chaos, but vanish into nothing; and that the fouls of men, and even the most exalted fpirits of creation, would inftantly lose that exiftence, which, as it was not of itself, and is not neceffary, muft depend wholly on the will of him from whom it was originally derived. See METAPHYSICS, n° 272–276, and PROVIDENCE, n° 3.

Heb. i. 3.

In what particular way God is prefent to his works, we cannot know. He is not diffufed through the universe like the anima mundi of the ancient Platonifts, or that modern idol termed the fubftratum of Space (METAPHYSICS, n° 309, 310.); but that he is in power as intimately prefent now to every atom of matter as when he firft brought it into exiftence, is equally the dictate of found philofophy and of divine revelation; for "in him we live and move and have our being;" and power without fubftance is inconceivable. If then the divine nature be not debafed, if it cannot be debafed by being conftantly prefent with the vileft reptile on which we tread, why fhould our minds recoil from the idea of a ftill clofer union between the fecond perfon of the ever bleffed Trinity and the body and foul of Jefus Chrift? The one union is indeed different from the other, but we are in truth equally ignorant of the nature of both. Reafon and revelation affure us that God must be present to his works to preserve them in existence; and revelation informs us farther, that one of the perfons in the Godhead

ftian.

affumed human nature into a perfonal union with himfelf, Theology, to redeem myriads of rational creatures from the miferable more pecu confequences of their own folly and wickedness. The im-ry Chri portance of this object is fuch, that, for the attainment of it, we may cafly conceive that he who condescends to be potentially prefent with the worms of the earth and the grafs of the field, would condefcend ftill farther to be perfonally prefent with the fpotlefs foul and body of a man. Jefus Chrift lived indeed a life of poverty and fuffering upon earth, but his divine nature was not affected by his fufferings. At the very time when, as a man, he had not a place where to lay his head; as God, he was in heaven as well as upon earth *, dwelling in light inacceffible; and while, John iii. as a man, he was increasing in wifdom and ftature, his di-3. vinity was the fulness of him who filleth all in all, and from whom nothing can be hid.

the incarnŠ

165

Perhaps the very improper appellation of mother of God, which at an early period of the church was given to the Virgin Mary, may have been one caufe of the reluctance with which the incarnation has been admitted; for as we have elfewhere obferved (fee NESTORIUS), fuch language, in the proper fenfe of the words, implies what thofe, by whom it is used, cannot poffibly believe to be true; but it is not the language of feripture. We are there taught, that "Chrift being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God; but made himfelt of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a fervant, and was made in the likenefs of mant;" that "God fent forth his Son made Philip. ii. of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that 6, 7were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of fons ;" and that "the woRD who was in the beginning || Gal. iv. with God, and was God, by whom all things were made, 4, 5was made flesh, and dwelt among men (who beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth :" but we are nowhere taught that, ‡ John i. as God, he had a mother! It was indeed the doctrine of the primitive church, that the very principle of perfonality Herley's and individual existence in Mary's fon, was union with the Sermone uncreated word; and this doctrine is thought to imply the tion miraculous conception, which is recorded in the plaineft terms by two of the evangelifts; for he was conceived by His divine the Holy Ghoft and born of a virgin §; but, as God, he nature be had been begotten from all eternity of the Father, and in gotten of order of nature was prior to the Holy Ghoft. This is evi-St dent from the appellation of yos given to him by St John; Matth. i. for the term being ufed in that age, both by the Jewish 18. &c. Luke i. 27, Rabbies and the heathen philofophers, to denote the fecond divine fubfiftence, which they confidered as an eternal and necessary emanation from the firft, fometimes called 'ayab and fometimes to iv; and the apoftle giving no intimation of his ufing the word in any uncommon fenfe, we must neceffarily conclude, that he meant to inform us that the divinity of Christ is of eternal generation. That the term Anyes was used in this fenfe by the later Platoniíts, and in all probability by Plato himself, we have fufficiently fhewn in another place (fee PLATONISM); and that a fimilar mode of expreffion prevailed among the Jews in the time of St John, is apparent from the Chaldee paraphrase; which, in the Icth palm, initead of the words "the Lord faid unto my Lord," has, "the Lord faid unto his wORD." Again, where we are told in the Hebrew that Jehovah faid to Abraham §, "I am thy fhield and thy exceeding great re- § Gen. xv. ward," we read in the Chaldee, "my WORD is thy fhield, 1. and thy exceeding great reward." Where it is faid, "your new moons and your appointed feafts my foul hateth *,"* Ifaiah i the paraphraft hath it, " my WORD hateth ;" and where it 14. is faid, that " Ifrael fhall be faved in the Lord with an everlasting falvation †," in the fame paraphrafe it is, + Ifaiah xlv.

the Father.

&c.

* If. 17.

ftian.

liarly Chri

Babylon, and the tranflation of the Hebrew fcriptures into Theology, the Greek language, much of the knowledge which had more pecu been revealed to the Ifraelites was gradually diffufed over ftian. the eastern world.

The logy, rael fhall be faved by the WORD of the Lord with everlaftm rescuing falvation." But there is a paffage in the Jerufalem liarly ChriTargum which puts it beyond a doubt, that by the oys the Jews understood a divine perfon begotten of his Father before all worlds; for commenting on Genefis iii. 22. the authors of that work thus exprefs themfelves: "The WORD of the Lord said, behold Adam, whom I created, is the only begotten upon earth, as I AM THE ONLY BEGOTTEN IN De Agri- HEAVEN" in conformity with which, Philo introduces cult. lib. ii. the Logos fpeaking thus of himlelf; Kai yap oule ayeruning ws deas wr, cult giveles as vuus, I am neither unbegotten, as God, nor legotten after the fame manner as you are.

166 Orthodoxy of the Ni cene creed

From thefe quotations we may juftly conclude, that the Nicene fathers exprefled themselves properly when they de clared that the only begotten Son of God was begotten of his Father before all worlds, and is God of God; for if St John had believed they or WORD to be unbegotten, contrary to the belief of all who made ufe of the phrafe at the time when he wrote, he would furely have expreffed his defcent from the generally received opinion. This how ever he is fo far from doing, that he gives the ampleft confirmation of that opinion, by declaring, that "he beheld the glory of the WORD incarnate as the glory of the only begotten of the Father;" for this declaration is true only of the divinity of Chrift, his human nature not being begotten of the Father, but conceived by the Holy Ghoft of the Virgin Mary. Hence our bleffed Lord affures us, that "as the Father HATH life in HIMSELF, fo hath he GIVEN the Son to have life in himfelf;" that "the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he feeth the Father St John do ;" and that "he knew the Father, because he was v. 26. 19. from him and fent by him." We must therefore agree John vii. with bishop Pearfon (D), that " though the Father and Son are both truly God, and therefore equal in refpect of nature, yet the one is greater than the other, as being the fountain of the Godhead. The Father is God, but not of God; Light, but not of Light. Chrift is God, but of God; Light, but of Light. There is no difference or inequality in the nature or effence, because the fame in both; but the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift hath that effence of himfelf, from none; Chrift hath the fame effence, not of himfelf, but from him."

29.

167 Purpofe

fent int

The great purpofe for which this divine perfon was fent for which into the world, and born of a woman, was to bruife the Chrift was head of the ferpent, and restore mankind to the inheritance the world, which had been forfeited by Adam's tranfgreffion. Every diipenfation of Providence from the fall had been preparatory to this refloration. Prophets had been raised from time to time to preferve in the early ages of the world the knowledge and worship of the true God: the children of Abraham, as we have feen, had been feparated from the furrounding nations for the fame purpose; and by the difperfion of the ten tribes, the captivity of the other two in

168

But while the Jews were thus rendered the inftruments of enlightening the heathen nations of antiquity, their intercourfe with thofe nations made them almoft unavoidably acquainted with the philofophy which was cultivated among the Chaldeans, the Perfians, and the Egyptian Grecks; and ingrafting many or the opinions derived from those fchools upon the doctrines of Mofes and the prophets, they corrupted their own religion while they improved that of their neighbours. Hence, by the time that Chrift came orruption among them, they had made the word of God of none of the Jews effect through a number of idle fancies which they inculca. at the time ted on the people as the traditions of the elders; and as they ming. had attached themfelves to different mafters in philofophy, their unauthorifed opinions were of courfe different according to the different iources whence they were drawn. The peculiar tenets of the ESSENES feem to have been a species of myftic Platonifm. The PHARISEES are thought to have derived their origin from a Jewish philofopher of the Pe ripatetic fchool; and the refemblance between the doctrines of the SADDUCEES and the philofophy of Epicurus has efcaped no man's obfervation.

Though thefe fects maintained mutual communion in public worship, they abhored each other's diftinguifhing tenets; and their eternal wranglings had well nigh banished from them every fentiment of true religion. They agreed, however, in the general expectation of the Meffiah promifed to their fathers; but, unhappily for themselves, expected him as a great and temporal prince. To this miftake feveral circumftances contributed: fome of their prophets had foretold his coming in lotty terms, borrowed from the ritual law, and the iplendour of earthly monarchs. The neceffity of cafting this veil over thofe living oracles we have fhewn in another place (fee PROPHECY, n° 17.). At the time when the predictions were made, the Mofaic system had not run out half its courfe, and was therefore not to be expofed to popular contempt by an information that it was only the harsh rudiment of one more eafy and perfect. To prevent, however, all mistakes in the candid and impartial, when the Meffiah fhould arrive with the credentials of miraculous powers, other prophets had defcribed him in the cleareft terms as having no form nor comelinefs, as a fheep dumb before his fhearers, and as a lamb brought to the flaughter; but the Jews had fuffered fo much from the Chaldeans, the Greeks, and other nations by whom they had been conquered, and were then fuffering fo much frem their masters the Romans, that their carnal minds could think of no deliverance greater than that which should rescue their nation from every foreign yoke.

What men earpody wish to be true, they very readily believe.

of his co

liarly Chri

169 The ob

preaching.

harly Chri

lofs of an eye or a tooth himfelf; but this mode of punith- Theology, ment, which inflicted blemish for blemish, though fuited to more pecuthe hardness of Jewish hearts, being inconfiftent with the ftian. mild fpirit of Chriftianity, was abolished by our bleffed Lord, who feverely prohibited the indulgence of revenge, and comranded his followers to love even their enemies. Perjury has in every civilized nation been juftly confidered. as a crime of the highest atroeity, and the Molaic law doomed the falle witnefs to bear the punishment, whatever it might be, which he intended by fwearing falfely to bring upon his brother; but the Author of the Chriftian religion forbade not only false swearing, but fwearing at all, except on folemn occafions, and when an oath should be required by legal authority. See OATH.

Theology, believe. Hence that people, lofing fight of the yoke under more pect which they and the whole human race were brought by ftian. the fall of Adam, mistaking the sense of the bleffing promifed to all nations through the feed of Abraham, and devoting their whole attention to the most magnificent defcriptions of the Meffiah's kingdom, expected in him a prince who fhould conquer the Romans, and eftablish on earth a univerfal monarchy, of which Jerufalem was to be the metropolis. As our Saviour came for a very different purpose, the jects of his first object of his miflion was to rectify the notions of his erring countrymen, in order to fit them for the deliverance which they were to obtain through him. Accordingly, when he entered upon his office as a preacher of righteouf nefs, he embraced every opportunity of inveighing with becoming firmness against the falfe doctrines taught as traditions of the elders; and by his knowledge of the fecrets of all hearts, he expofed the vile hypocrify of those who made a gain of godlinefs. The Jews had been led, by their feparation from the rest of the world, to confider themfelves as the peculiar favourites of Jehovah; and the confequence was, that, contrary to the fpirit of their own law, and the explicit doctrines of fome of their prophets, they looked upon all other nations with abhorrence, as upon people phyfically impure. These prejudices the bleffed Jefus laboured to eradicate. Having defired a lawyer, by whom he was tempted, to read that part of the law of Mofes which commanded the Ifraelites to love their neighbours as themfelves, he compelled him, by means of a parabolical account of a compaffionate Samaritan, to acknowledge, that under the denomination of neighbour the divine lawgiver had comSt Luke prebended all mankind as the objects of love . The im1.25-38. portance in which Mofes held the ritual law, and to which, as the means of preferving its votaries from the contagion of idolatry, it was juftly intitled, had led the Jews to confider every ceremony of it as of intrinfic value and perpepetual obligation: but Jefus brought to their recollection God's declared preference of mercy to facrifice; fhewed them that the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith, claimed their regard in the first place, and its ceremonial obfervances only in the second; and taught them, in conformity with the predictions of their own proJeremiah phets, that the hour was about to come when the worhip of God fhould not be confined to Jerufalem, but that "true worshippers should everywhere worship the Father in John iv. fpirit and in truth. "

xxxi. 31,

&c.

25-27.

It being the defign of Chrift's coming into the world to break down the middle wall of partition between the Jews and Gentiles, and to introduce a new dispensation of religion which fhould unite all mankind as brethren in the worship of the true God, and fit them for the enjoyment of heaven; he did not content himleif with merely restoring the moral part of the Mofaic law to its primitive purity, difencumber. ed of the corrupt gloffes of the Scribes and Pharifees, but added to it many refined and fpiritual precepts, which, till they were taught by him, had never occurred either to Jew or Gentile. The Hebrew lawgiver had prohibited murder under the penalty of death; but Chrift extended the prohibition to causeless anger, and to contemptuous treatment of our brethren, commanding his followers, as they valued their everlasting falvation, to forgive their enemies, and to love all mankind. Adultery was forbidden by the law of Mofes as a crime of the deepeft dye; but Jefus faid to his difciples, "that whofoever looketh on a woman to luft after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart," and is of course liable to the Divine vengeance. The lex talionis was in force among the Jews, fo that the man who had deprived his neighbour of an eye or a tooth, was to fuffer the

170

fice of a

171

to the law.

By thus reforing the law to its original purity, and in In which many cafes extending its fenfe, the bleffed Jefus executede executhe office of a PROPHET to the loft fheep of the house offed the of Ifrael; but had he not been more than an ordinary prophe, prophet. he could not have abrogated the moft trivial ceremony of it, nor even extended the fenfe of any of its moral precepts; for their great lawgiver had told them, that "the Lord their God would raise up unto them but one Prophet, like unto him, to whom they should hearken." That Prophet was ‡ Deut. by themselves understood to be the Meffiah, whom they ex-xvii 15. pected to tell them all things. It was neceffary therefore that Jelus, as he taught fome new doctrines, and plainly indicated that greater changes would foon be introduced, should vindicate his claim to that exalted character which alone could authorife him to propofe innovations. This he did in the ampleft manner, by fulfilling prophecies and working miracles (fee MIRACLE and PROPHECY); fo that the unprejudiced part of the people readily acknowledged him to be of a truth" that prophet which should come into the world— the Son of God, and the King of Ifrael." He did not, however, make any change in the national worship, or af fume to himself the fmalleft civil authority. He had fub-His frid mitted to the rite of circumcifion, and ftrictly performed obedience every duty, ceremonial as well as moral, which that covenant made incumbent upon other Jews; thus fulfilling all righteoufnefs. Though the religion which he came to propagate was in many refpects contrary to the ritual law, it could not be eftablished, or that law abrogated, but in confequence of his death, which the fyftem of facrifices was appointed to prefigure; and as his kingdom, which was not of this world, could not commence till after his refurrection, he yielded during the whole courfe of his life a cheerful obedience to the civil magiftrate, and wrought a miracle to obtain money to pay the tribute that was exacted of him. Being thus circumftanced, he chose from the lowest and least corrupted of the people certain followers, whom he treated with the most endearing familiarity for three years, and commiffioned at his departure to promulgate fuch doctrines as, confiftently with the order of the divine difpenfations, he could not perfonally preach himfelf. With thefe men, during the courfe of his miniftry on earth, he went about continually doing good, healing the fick, cafting out devils, raifiug the dead, reproving vice, preaching righteoufnefs, and inftructing his countrymen, by the moft perfect example which was ever exhibited in the world, of whatsoever things are true, or honeft, or juft, or pure, or lovely, or of good report. The Scribes and Pharitees, however, finding him not that conqueror whom they vainly expected, becoming envious of his reputation among the people, and being filled with rancour againft him for detecting their hypocritical arts, delivered him up to the Roman governor, who, though convinced of his innocence, yielded to the popular clamour, and crucified him between two thieves, as an enemy to Cæfar.

Da lv Christian.

28.

172

for us.

lii.

Chap.

Theology, Juft before he expired, he faid, It is finished, intimating more pecu that the purpofe was now fulfilled for which he had come into the world, and which, as he had formerly told his dif66 ciples, was not to be ministered unto but to miniiter, and #st to give his life a ranfom for many ||.” For his blood, as Afatth. x. he aured them at the inftitution of the Eucharift, "was to be shed for the remiffion of tins." That Chrift died vo. He volun- luntarily for us, the just for the unjust, and that "there tarily cied is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be faved;" is the uniform doctrine of the prophets who foretold his coming, of John the Baptift who was his immediate harbinger, and of the apostles and evangelifts who preached the gospel after his afcenfion into heaven. Thus Ifaiah fays of the Mefliah †, that "he was wounded for our tranfgreffions, and bruited for our iniqui ties; that the chaftifement of our peace was upon him, and that with his ftripes we are healed; that we had all like fheep gone aftray, turning every one to his own way, and that the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all; that he was cut off out of the land of the living, and ftricken for the tranfgreffion of God's people; that his foul or life was made an offering for fin; and that he bore the fin of many, and made interceffion for the tranfgreffors." The Baptift, "when he faw Jefus coming unto him, faid to the people, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the fin of the world" plainly intimating that his death was to be a facrifice, fince it it was only as a facrifice that the Jews could form any conception of a lamb taking away fin. The epiftles of St Paul are fo full of the doctrine of Chrift's fatisfaction, that it is needlefs from his writings to quote particular texts in proof of it. He tells the Romans, that Jefus Chrift was fet forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood; that he was delivered for our offences, and "raifed again for our justification; that he died for the ungodly; and that God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet finners Chrift died for us." He affures the Corinthians that Chrift died for all; that they who live fhould not henceforth live unto themselves, but to him who died for them and rofe again; and that God made him to be fin for us who knew no fin, that we might be made the righteoufness of God in him." He informs the Galatians, that Chrift "gave himfelf for our fins, that he might deliver us from this prefent evil world, according to the will of God and our Father; and that he redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curle for us." St Peter and St John talk the very fame language; the former teaching us, that "Chrift fuffered for us, and bare our fins in his own body on the tree +; the latter, that the blood of Jefus 21 and Chrift cleanseth us from all fin, and that he is the propitiation for our fins; and not for our's only, but alfo for 1 Jolni the fins of the whole world 1." That he came into the world for the purpofe of fuffering, appears from his own St John words: for "no man (faid he g) taketh my life from me, but I lay it down of my felf: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my lather." And that he volunta rily laid it down for mankind, is evident from his calling hirnfelf the Good Shepherd, and adding, that "the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the fheep *."

+1 Peter

24.

7

2. 18.

2.

*Ibid. ver. II.

173 Different pinions

That Chrift died for the benefit of the human race, is a truth fo apparent from these texts, and from many others which might be quoted, that no man profeffing Chriftianity respecting has hitherto called it in queftion. Very different opinions the nature have been formed indeed concerning the nature and extent and extent of that benefit, and the means by which it is applied; but of the that the paffion and death of the bleffed Jefus were effential parts of his miniftry on earth, has never been controverted, his death unless perhaps by thofe modern Unitarians who have cor.

n: fit reap

ed from

reted the errors of the apostles and evangelifts, and with Theology, whofe writings we acknowledge ourfelves to be very little more pealliarly Chri. acquainted. That on the crofs he made fatisfaction to his stian. Father for the fins of the world, is the general belief of Chriftians; but prefumptuous men, aiming at being wife beyond what is written, have started a thousand idle queftions concerning the neceffity of fuch fatisfaction, and the manner in which it was made. Some limiting the power and mercy of the Omnipotent, have dared to affirm that God could not have pardoned man without receiving full fatisfaction for his offences; that nothing but the fhedding of the blood of Chrift could make that fatisfaction; that his death was indeed fufficient to atone for a thousand worlds; that, however, he did not die for all mankind, but only for a chofen few, ordained to eternal life by a secret decree before the foundation of the world; and that the rest of the race are paffed by, and doomed to eternal perdition, for the glory of God's juftice. Others, convinced by every thing around them that the Creator and Governor of the univerie is a being of infinite benevolence, whose only end in giving life muft have been to communicate happinets, have contend. ed, that no atonement whatever could be neceffary to obtain from him the forgiveness of fin upon fincere repentance; that it is contrary to all our notions of juftice to punish the innocent for the guilty; and that therefore the death of Chrift, though an effential part of his miniftry, could not be neceffary, but at the most expedient.

We enter not into thefe impious debates. The Scriptures have nowhere faid what God could or could not do; and on this fubject we can know nothing but what they have taught us. That " we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son," is the principal doctrine of the New Teftament; and without prefuming to limit the power, the mercy, or the wisdom, of him who created and fuftains the univerfe, we fhall endeavour to thow that it is a doctrine worthy of all acceptation. In doing this, we fhall state impartially the opinions which men really pious have held refpecting the form or manner in which Chrift by his death made fatisfaction to God for the fins of the world; and we hope that our readers, difregarding what may be prejudices in us, will embrace that opinion which fall appear to them moft consuant to the general fenfe of facred Scripture.

174

of the Cal

book iii.

The ftricteft adherents to the theological fyftem of Cal. Opinions vin, interpreting literally fuch texts of Scripture as speak vinifts of his being made fin for us, of his bearing our fins in his own body on the tree, and of the Lord's laying on him the iniquity of us all, contend, that the fins of the elect were lifted off from them and laid upon Chrift by imputation, much in the fame way as they think the fin of Adam is imputed to his pofterity. "By bearing the fins of his people (fays Dr Gill), he took them off from them, and took them upon * Body of himfelf, bearing or carrying them as a man bears or carries Divinity, a burden on his fhoulders. There was no fin in him inhe- vol. ii. rently, for if there had, he would not have been a fit perfon chap. v. to make fatisfaction for it; but fin was put upon him by his § 4. Divine Father, as the fins of the Ifraelites were put upon the fcape-goat by Aaron. No creature (continues he) could have done this; but the LORD hath laid on him, or made to meet on him, the iniquity of us all, not a fingle ini quity, but a whole mafs and lump of fins collected together, and laid as a common burden upon him; even the fins of all the elect of God. This phrafe of laying fin on Chrift is expreffive of the imputation of it to him; for it was the will of God not to impute the tranfgreffions of his elect to them. felves, but to Chrift, which was done by an act of his own ;. for he hath made him to be fin for us; that is, by imputation, in which way we are made the righteoufnefs of God in him;

that.