place, and stead; for he did lay down his life for us as a ransom. Now when one dies for another in way of ransom he does not only die for the benefit and profit of the ransomed but m the place, and room, and stead of the ransomed; and thus Christ died for us, as himself testifies : ' The son of man came to givehmaself a ransom for many,' Mark x. 45. Xvrpov avrc 'rroXKcbv. Christ rose as a com- mon person, representing all his elect ; and Christ was sanctified as a common person, representing all his elect ; and Christ was justified as a common person, representing all his elect. Look, as we were con- demned in Adam, as he was a common person, so we are justified by Christ, as in a common person also ; so that every beUever may well look upon himself as acquitted, in his justification, from the guilt ot his sins, they being laid upon the head of his surety, Heb.ix 28. It is a very great part of a Christian's wisdom to be often looking upon Christ as a representative-head, as one m whom he died in whom he rose, in whom he is sanctified, and in whom he is justified, Eph. ii 6. How would such a daily eyeing of Christ scatter a C^is- tian's fears, arm him against temptations, support him under afllic- tions, weaken his sins, strengthen his graces, cheer his soul, and mend
^\t^8 verv observable, that in the Levitical expiatory sacrifices there was the substitution of them in the place and stead of the offenders themselves. The people's sin, and the punishment due to them thei^- upon was laid upon the poor beasts that died for them. 1 might multiply scriptures to evidence this, but I shall only hint at one or two plain, pregnant texts to clear it. Take that. Lev. xvii. 11, lor the life of the flesh is in the blood ; and I have given it to JOii "pon the altar to make an atonement for your souls : for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.'i Mark here, the blood is to make atonement for the souls of the people of Israel— that is, m the room and stead of their souls, and accordingly it did make atonement tor their souls ; so that in the blood sacrificed, which was a type ot the blood of Christ, there was soul for soul, life for life ; the soul and liie of the sacrifice for the precious soul and life of the sinner. Now here you see substitution of the one in the room of the other. The trans- ferring of the guilt and punishment of the people's sins over to their sacrifices in those days, was the reason why the sacrifices were said to bear the iniquities of the people, Lev. xvi. 22, and x. 17, &c. And it is observable that at the great expiation Aaron was to lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and to confess over him all the sins of the children of Israel, &c.. Lev. xvi. 21. By this ceremony of imposition of hands, is signified the transferring of their sms upon the ffoat herein to type out Christ, upon whom God ' did lay the imquity of us all,' Isa. liii. 6. Certainly the main thing that is held forth by this rite— viz., Aaron's laying both his hands upon the head of the live goat is the translation of the sinner's guilt to the sacrifice, and the substitution of it in his stead. Typically, the very sms of the people were imposed upon the goat, who herein was a type ot Christ which did himself bear our sins. Yea, the Hebrews [MaimomdesJ
1 Justin Martyr observes the great mercy of God to mankind in that, loco hominis, instead of man, he caused beasts to be sacrificed.
264' CHRIST CONSIDERED AS A COMMON HEAD.
themselves hold that the scapegoat made atonement for all their sins, lighter and greater, presumptuously and ignorantly committed. Cer- tainly the scapegoat was a most lively type of our blessed Saviour — (1.) In that ' the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all,' as the sins of Israel were laid upon the head of the goat. (2.) As the goat was carried away, so Christ was ' cut off from the land of the living, his life was taken from off the earth,' Isa. iv. 3, and liii. 8. (3.) As this goat was not killed, so ' Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself,' whereby he was made alive after death, Acts ix. 33 ; Heb. ix. 14; 1 Pet. iii. 18. Though Christ Jesus died for our sins accord- ing to his humanity, yet death could not detain him nor overcome him, nor keep him prisoner, Hosea xiii. 14, but, by virtue of his impassible deity, he rises again and triumphs over death and the grave, and over principalities and powers. Col. ii. 15. (4.) As this goat went into an inhabitable place,^ so Christ went into heaven — ' whither I go ye can- not come,' tfohn xiii. 33. Christ speaks this not to exclude his dis- ciples out of heaven, but only to shew that their entrance was put off for a time, ver. 36. Saints must not expect to go to heaven and rest with Christ till they have ' fought the good fight of faith, finished their course, run their race,' and ' served their generation.' 2 Christ's own children, by all their studies, prayers, tears, and endeavours, can- not get to heaven unless Christ come and fetches them thither. Christ's own servants cannot get to heaven presently nor of themselves, no more than the Jews could do. Now if you please to cast your eye upon the Lord Jesus, you will find an exact correspondency between the type and the antitype, the one fully answering to the other. Did they carry substitution in them ? that eminently was in Christ. He indeed substituted himself in the sinner's room ; he took our guilt upon him, and put himself in our place, and died in our stead ; he died that we might not die. Whatever we should have undergone, that he underwent in his body and soul ; he did bear as our avrl -\|rL»^09 aU the punishments and torments that were due to us. Christ's suffering, dying, satisfying in our stead, is the great article of a Christian's faith, and the main prop and foundation of the believer's hope. It is bottomed, as an eternal and unmovable truth, upon the sure basis of the blessed word. Substitution, in the case of the old sacrifices, is not so evidently held forth in the law, but substitution with respect to Christ and his sacrifice is more evidently set forth in the gospel. Ponder seriously upon these texts : Eom. v. 6, ' For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly ; ' ver. 8, ' For God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.' Herein God lays naked to us the tenderest bowels of his Fatherly compassions, as in an anatomy.^ There was an absolute necessity of Christ's dying for sinners, for, (1.) God's justice had decreed it ; (2.) His word had foretold it ;
^ The Elizabethan writers used inhahitaUe as the opposite of habitable.— d.
«2 Tim. iv. 7, 8; Heb. x\\. 1 ; 1 Cor. ix. 24; Acts xiii. 36; John xiv. 1-3.