contrary to each other. They subsist and accord together, in the same divine nature; Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful, Psalm exvi. 5; merciful, though righteous; and righteous, though gracious and merciful; see Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7; and as they agree as perfections in the divine Being; so in the exercise of them they do not clash with one another, no, not in this affair of satisfaction; justice being satisfied, a way is opened for mercy to display her

stores.

2. It is objected, that pardon of sin, upon the foot of a full satisfaction for it, cannot be said to be free; but eclipses the glory of God's free grace in it: it is certain, that remission of sin is through the tender mercy of God, and is owing to the multitude of it; it is according to the riches of free grace, and yet through the blood of Christ : and both are expressed in one verse, as entirely agreeing together; In whom, Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, Eph. i. 7; the free grace of God is so far from being eclipsed, in the forgiveness of sin, through the satisfaction of Christ, that it shines the brighter for it; for consider, that it was the free grace of God which provided Christ to be a sacrifice for sin, to atone for it; as Abraham said to Isaac, when he asked, Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? My son, says he, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt-offering; so God of his rich grace and mercy has provided Christ to be an offering for sin; and his grace appears more, in that it is his own Son, his only begotten Son, he provided to be the atoning sacrifice; it was grace that set forth Christ in purpose, proposed him in council and covenant, and sent him forth in time to be the propitiation for sin; it was grace to us that he spared him not, but delivered him up for us all; and it was grace in God to accept of the satisfaction made by Christ; for though it was so full and complete, as nothing could be more so, yet it would have been a refusable one, had he not allowed Christ's name to be put in the obligation; had it not been for the compact and covenant agreed to between them, God might have marked in strict justice our iniquities, and insisted on a satisfaction at our own hands; he might have declared, and stood by it, that the soul that sinned that should die; it was therefore owing to the free grace and favour of God, to admit of a surety in our room, to make satisfaction for us, and to accept of that satisfaction, as if made by ourselves. Moreover, though it cost Christ much, his blood, his life, and the sufferings of death, to make the satisfaction for sin, and to procure forgiveness by it; it cost us nothing; it is all of free grace to us. Besides, grace in Scripture is only opposed to the works of men, and satisfaction by them; and not to the works of Christ, and to his satisfaction.

3. It is pretended that this scheme of pardon, upon the foot of satisfaction, makes the love of Christ to men to be greater than the love of the Father; it represents the one as tenderly affectionate, compassionate and kind to sinners; and the other as inexorable, not to be appeased, nor his wrath turned away without satisfaction to his justice; and so men are more beholden to the one than to the other:

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.

But the love of both is most strongly expressed in this business of Christ's satisfaction; and he must be a daring man that will take upon him to say, who of them showed the greatest love, the Father in giving his Son, or the Son in giving himself, to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin; for as it is said of Christ, that he loved the people, and gave himself for them, an offering and a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God, so it is said of the Father, that he so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son to suffer and die for men; and that herein his love was manifested, and that he commended it towards us in sending Christ to be the propitiation for sin, John iii. 16. Can there be a greater love than this expressed by both? and which is greatest is not for us to say.

4. It is said, that if Christ is a divine Person, he must be a party offended by sin; and if he has made satisfaction for it, he must have made satisfaction to himself, which is represented as an absurdity. All this will be allowed, that Christ is God, and, as such, equally offended as his Father; and that he made satisfaction to the offended, and that, in some sense, to himself too; and yet no absurdity in it. Indeed, in case of private satisfaction, for a private loss, it would be quite absurd for one to make satisfaction to himself; but in case of public satisfaction, for a public offence to a community, of which he is a part, he may be said, by making satisfaction to the whole body, to make satisfaction to himself, without any absurdity. A member of parliament, having violated the rules and laws of the house, when he makes satisfaction for the same to it, may be said to make satisfaction to himself, being a member of it. It is possible for a lawgiver to make satisfaction to his own law broken, and so to himself, as the lawgiver; thus Zaleucus, a famous legislator, made a law which punished adultery with the loss of both eyes; his own son first broke this law, and in order that the law might have full satisfaction, and yet mercy be shown to his son, he ordered one of his son's eyes and one of his own to be put out; and so he might be said to satisfy his own law, and to make satisfaction to himself, the lawgiver. But in the case before us, the satisfaction made by Christ is made to the justice of God, subsisting in the divine nature, common to all the three Persons; this perfection subsisting in the divine nature, as possessed by the first Person, is offended with sin, resents it, requires satisfaction for it; and it is given it by the second Person, in human nature, as God-man: the divine perfection subsisting in the divine nature, as possessed by the second Person, shows itself in like manner, loving righteousness, and hating iniquities; affronted by sin, and demanding satisfaction for it, it is given to it by him, as the God-man and Mediator; who, though a Person offended, can mediate for the offender, and make satisfaction for him. And the same may be observed concerning the justice of God, as a perfection of the divine nature, possessed by the third Person, the Spirit of God; the satisfaction is made to the justice of God, as subsisting in the divine nature, common to the three Persons, and is not made to one Person only, singly and separately, and personally; but to God, essentially considered in all his Persons; and to

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his justice, as equally possessed by them; and that as the Lord, Judge, and Governor of the whole world; who ought to maintain, and must and does maintain, the honour of his Majesty, and of his law.

5. Once more, it is said that this doctrine of Christ's satisfaction for sin, weakens men's obligation to duty, and opens a door to licentiousness. But this is so far from being true, that, on the contrary, it strengthens the obligation, and excites a greater regard to duty, in those who have reason to believe that Christ has made satisfaction for their sins; for the love of Christ in dying for them-in being made sin and a curse for them, to satisfy for their sins, constrains them, in the most pressing manner, to live to him, according to his will, and to his glory; being bought with the price of Christ's blood, and redeemed from a vain conversation by it; they are moved the more strongly to glorify God with their bodies and spirits, which are his, and to pass the time of their sojourning here in fear; the grace of God, which has appeared in God's gift of his Son, and in Christ's gift of himself to be their Redeemer and Saviour, to be their atoning sacrifice; teaches them most effectually to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this evil world.

E OF PROPITIATION, ATONEMENT, AND RECONCILIATION. HAVING observed, that though the word satisfaction is not syllabically used in Scripture, when the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction is spoken of; yet that there are words and terms equivalent to it, and synonymous with it; as propitiation, atonement, and reconciliation: it may be proper to explain these terms, and give the sense of them;

which may serve the more to clear and confirm the doctrine of satisfaction;

I. PROPITIATION. The first time we meet with this word, as applied to Christ, is in Rom. iii. 25, Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation ; either to be the author of propitiation; for whose sake, and on account of what he was to do and suffer, God would be propitious to men-his justice be appeased-and he be at peace with them; laying aside all marks of displeasure, anger, and resentment against them: for this was Christ's work as Mediator; he drew nigh to God, and treated with him about terms of peace, and entered into measures of peace with him; interposed between justice and them, became a Mediator between God and man, to bring them together; hence he has the names of Shiloh, the Prince of peace, the Man the Peace, and Jesus our peace, who has made both one or else to be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin; such hilastic, propitiatory, and expiatory sacrifices there were under the law; typical of the expiatory and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ; and as God in them smelled a sweet savour of rest, as types of Christ; so his sacrifice was an offering of a sweet-smelling savour to him; he was well pleased with it, it gave him content and satisfaction, because his justice was appeased by it, and the demands of his law were answered, yea, it was magnified and made honourable; the word used

OF ATONEMENT.

in the above text laorηplov, is the same which the Greek version of Exod. xxv. 21, and which the apostle, in Heb. ix. 5, uses of the mercyseat; which, with the cherubim upon it, and the ark, with the law therein under it, to which it was a lid or cover, formed a seat for the divine Majesty; and which was an emblem of his mercy and justice shining in the atonement made by Christ, which this exhibited to view; and gave encouragement to draw nigh to this mercy-seat, or throne of grace, in hope of finding grace and mercy, and enjoying communion with God: a glimpse of this the poor publican had, when he said, God be merciful, aoηri, propitious, to me a sinner! or be merciful to me, through the propitiation of the Messiah. Now Christ was set forth to be the propitiation in the purposes and decrees of God, πроe@eто, God foreordained him, as he was foreordained to be the Lamb slain, as the ransom-price and propitiatory sacrifice; whose sufferings and death, which were the sacrifice, were according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, 1 Pet. i. 19, Acts ii. 23 and iv. 28; and he was set forth in the promises and prophecies spoken of by all the holy prophets that were from the beginning of the world; as the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head, destroy him and his works, among which this is a principal one, making an end of sin, by a complete atonement for it; and he was set forth as such in the types and shadows of the law, the trespass-offerings, and sin-offerings, which are said to bear the sins of the congregation, and to make atonement for them; which were typical of Christ, who was made an offering for sin, bore the sins of many, and made atonement for them, Lev. x. 17; and he has been set forth, in the fulness of time, in the exhibition of him, in human nature, in which he was manifested to take away sin; and he has put it away, and even abolished it, by the propitiatory sacrifice of himself; and he is still set forth in the gospel, as the sinbearing, and sin-atoning Saviour, who has satisfied law and justice, and made peace by the blood of his cross; and therefore it is called the word of reconciliation, the gospel of peace, and the word preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

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There are two other places where Christ is spoken of as aσuos, the propitiation; and these are in the first epistle of the apostle John; in one of them, chap. iv. 10, it is said, God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins; that is, sent him in human nature, to offer and body as a sacrifice, and thereby make expiation of sin, and full atonement for it; and in the other it is said, chap. ii. 2, And he is the propitiation for our sins, the sins both of Jews and Gentiles; for which he is become a propitiatory sacrifice; upon which God is merciful, Aews, propitious to his people, notwithstanding all their unrighteousness, sins, and transgressions, or is pacified towards them for all that have been done, Heb. viii. 12, Ezek. xví. 63.

II. The word ATONEMENT, though often used in the Old Testament, of typical sacrifices, making expiation of sin, where the word is used, which signifies to cover; and Christ, by his sacrifice, the antitype of these, is a covering to his people, from the curses of the law they have broken-from the wrath of God they have deserved-and from avenging

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justice their sins exposed them to. Yet it is but once used in the New Testament, Rom. v. 11, By whom we have received the atonement, made for them by Christ their surety, head, and representative; that is, the benefit of it, the application of it by the Spirit of God, who takes the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, and applies to his people, and shows them their interest therein; the effect of which is joy, peace, and comfort. The word used properly signifies reconciliation; and so it is elsewhere translated; and the Hebrew word is sometimes rendered to reconcile, Lev. vi. 30; atonement and reconciliation for sin, design the same thing, and both satisfaction for it. Which leads to observe,

III. The word RECONCILIATION is frequently used with respect to this doctrine. Reconciliation began with God himself; all things are of God, originally, in nature, providence, and grace; particularly this, Who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. v. 18. It began in the thoughts of his heart, which were thoughts of peace; it was brought into council and settled in covenant, called the council and covenant of peace. It was carried into execution by Christ, who is frequently represented as the author of it, by his death, and the blood of his cross, Col. i. 20-22; and it was made unto God, against whom sin is committed, whose law is broken, and his justice offended; and who is the Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, and it is a reconciliation for sin, to make atonement for it, and of sinners and enemies in their minds to God, which may be further illustrated,

1. By observing the character of the persons reconciled; which will show the cause, reason, and necessity of a reconciliation to be made; they are enemies; and in one of the texts referred to, they are said to be enemies in their minds by wicked works: which is expressive,

1. Of the internal enmity there is in their minds and hearts; the carnal mind, as every man's mind is naturally carnal, is not only an enemy, but enmity itself, against God, Rom. viii. 7; to the Being of God, wishing there was no God-to the nature and perfections of God, denying some of them, misrepresenting others, and framing him in their minds, as altogether such an one as themselves-to the purposes and decrees of God, which they cannot bear, and to which they insolently reply; and to the providences of God, they charge with inequality and unrighteousness and they are inwardly and secretly enemies to Christ, to his person and offices; particularly his kingly office, being unwilling that he should reign over them; and to his gospel, and the special doctrines of it; and to his ordinances, they care not to be subject unto: and so they are to the Spirit, to his Person, whom they know not, nor can receive; to his operations, which they deride and ridicule; the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to them: and they are enemies to the people of God, there is an old and implacable enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent ; the saints are hated by the world, because chosen and called out of the world; God's elect themselves, whilst in a state of nature, are hateful, and hating one another; Paul, a chosen vessel of salvation, was, whilst unregenerate, exceeding mad against the saints.