rious sufferings, but expresses nothing concerning the relation which his obedience sustains to our salvation, as
that meritorious condition upon which the divine favour
and the promised reward have by covenant been sus- pended. On the other hand, the word Satisfaction the term exactly and exhaustively expresses all that Christ has Be done as our substitute, in our stead, for our sakes, to Precise the end of satisfying in our behalf the federal demands of prehen- the law, and of securing for us the rewards conditioned *”” upon their fulfilment. His whole work was of the nature of a satisfaction. As far as it consisted of penal suffering, it satisfied the penalty of the law and the justice of the Law-giver; and as far as it consisted of obedience, it satisfied the conditions of the covenant
upon which the divine favour towards his people was suspended, .
The great defect of Symington’s otherwise orthodox pefect of and excellent work on the Atonement is, that while he S™* admits Christ's obedience to be vicarious, and to have beck. merited for us the rewards of the Covenant of Life, he yet insists that the work of expiation, under the title of “ Atonement,’ ought to be discussed separately, while his vicarious obedience, and its relation to the rewards of an impeccable moral character and eternal felicity, is left out of sight. On the contrary, I affirm—
1. In opposition to Symington—who, while admitting the obe- that Christ’s obedience and sufferings were alike vicari- (°c of ous and alike essential in order to our salvation, yet spars unnaturally separates them—that since they are in- suffering, separable parts of one perfect work of satisfaction, which °°" are never separated either in the mediatorial work of Christ or in their effect upon the covenant-standing of
239 THE NATURE OF THE ATONEMENT.
CHAPTER XVIII.
—
General object of this chap- ter.
Threefold relation mankind sustain
to the law.
his people, therefore they cannot be properly separated in any complete account of his work. The whole earthly life of Christ, including his birth itself; was one continued self-emptying, even unto death. His birth and every moment of his life, in the form of a servant, were of the nature of holy suffering. Every experience of pain during the whole course of his life, and eminently in his death on the cross, was, on his part, a voluntary and meritorious act of obedience. He lived his whole life, from his birth to his death, as our representative, obeying and suffering in our stead and for our sakes ; and during this whole course all his sufferimg was obedience and all his obedience was suffering. The righteousness which he wrought out for his people consisted precisely in this suffering obedience. The righteousness of Christ, which is imputed severally to each believer as the ground of his justification, consists precisely of this obedient suffering. His earthly life, as suffering, cancels the penalty, and, as obedience, fulfils the precept and secures the promised reward; but the suffering and the obedience were not separated in fact, and are inseparable in principle, and equally necessary to satisfy the law of the covenant and to secure the salvation of the elect.
2. In opposition to all those who deny that Christ’s obedience was vicarious, or, strictly speaking, any part of his work of redemption, I propose to show that his obedience is an inseparable element of that righteousness which he wrought in our stead, and which is imputed to us as the ground of our justification.
In the sixth chapter I distinguished the three distinct relations which men may sustain to the law—the natural, federal, and penal. The natural relation is that into which each moral agent is introduced by the very fact of his creation, and under which he continues necessarily
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE OBEDIENCE, 233
to exist as long as he has being. It is unchangeable cnarrzr and inalienable, incapable of relaxation, intermission, ay modification, or transfer; and under it the same law continues perpetually the standard of moral character and obligation, alike to angels and devils, to men under pro- bation, fallen and unregenerate, in perdition, regenerate
and confirmed in glory. The federal relation is that temporary and special relation under which it has pleased
God to introduce all of those orders of moral agents
with which we are acquainted immediately after their creation. They are brought under it in the character
of those created holy yet fallible, in a state of unstable moral equilibrium. ‘The relation is special, because it
has for its end the special design of affording those sub-
ject to it an opportunity of rendering obedience while
open to the full force of temptation and liable to seduc-
tion, as the condition of their being endowed by God with
the supernatural grace of a confirmed and impeccable moral character, and the blessedness thence resulting
for ever. This relation is temporary, because from its