(5.) All other debts cease at death ; when a man dieth, we say his debts are paid : but here execution begins, then the law takes the sin- ner by the throat, and drags him to everlasting punishment, and doth
172 AN EXPOSITION OF [MaT. VI. 12.
in efifect say, Pay me what thou owest. Death is God's arrest. As soon as the soul steps out of the world, presently it is attached and seized, and forfeited into the hands of God's justice. How many are there that lie under this danger and never think of it ! Spiritual debts they are not so sensible of as literal. A man that is deeply in debt, and in danger of an arrest, cannot sleep, eat, walk abroad, but his fears are upon him. Augustus bought his quilt or bed, that could sleep soundly when he owed so many thousand sesterces. But poor senseless sinners never think of danger until they are plunged into it, and then there is no escape.
Secondly, The metaphor will also hold good as to our remedy and recovery, how we come out of this debt. A debtor that is insolvent is undone, unless there be some means found out to satisfy the creditor ; so we must altogether lie under the wrath of God, unless satisfaction be made. Therefore, Jesus Christ, in the
[1.] Place, comes under the notion of a surety. Because he took the debt of man upon himself, therefore, Heb. vii. 22, he is called, ' the surety of a better testament.' When Christ undertook the business of our salvation, he did in effect say, as Paul to Philemon, ver. 18, ' If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account : ' so did Jesus Christ in effect say to God, Let me be made a sin, and made a curse for them. He that was a judge, was willing to become a party, and to pay what he owed. David, in the type of Christ, saith, Ps. Ixix. 4, ' I restored that which I took not away.' He did not take away any honour from God : it was we that robbed God of the glcry of his jnstice, authority, and truth ; that trampled them under our feet : but Christ made restitution and amends to God.
[2 J Having condescended to become our surety, he made full satis- faction, by suffering the punishment which was due to us : Isa. liii. 4, ' Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.' That which we should have borne upon our own backs, and M'ould have crushed us for ever, that he hath borne, and he hath carried. Christ was to be the sinner in law, and was to suffer in our stead. Solomon hath a passage concerning suretyship : Prov. xi. 15, ' He that is surety for a stranger, shall smart for it ; ' or, as the Hebrew will bear it, ' sore bruised;' or, as it is in the margin, 'shall be bruised and sore broken.' And the same word is used concerning Christ, that was our surety : Isa. liii, 10, ' It pleased the Father to bruise him.' Christ is our surety, therefore he was bruised and broken, he suffered what we should have suffered. It is true, there are some circumstances of our punishment which Christ suffered not, as a great part of our punish- ment in hell ; there is the worm of conscience and despair, and the eternity of torments ; but this was not essential to the punishment, but did only arise from the guilt and from the weakness of the party that is punished, because we cannot work through it otherwise. Christ paid the full price which divine justice demanded, and so made satis- faction for us.
[3.] Christ satisfying as our surety, all those which had an interest in his death, they are set free from the wrath of God, they have a re- lease from this great debt owed. As when the ram was taken. Isaac was let go ; so when Christ was taken, the sinner is released and dis-
Mat. YI. 12.] the lord's prayer, 173
charged : Job xxxiii. 24, ' Deliver him from going down to the pit ; 1 have found a ransom.' Certainly God will not exact the debt twice, of the surety and of the principal person ; our surety having paid the debt for us, therefore we go free. And, therefore, if our consciences should pursue us at law, we may answer, Christ -was taken for us, 'He was bruised for our iniquities, and he bore the chastisement of our peace.'
[4.] Christ hath not only satisfied fur the punishment, but he hath procured favour for us ; wherein he diflfereth from an ordinary and common surety. Christ does not only free us from bonds, but also hath brought us into grace and favour with the creator, lawgiver, and judge. There is a double notion of Christ's death ; that of a ransom for the delivery of a captive, and as a merit and price which was given for eternal life. The death of Christ did not only dissolve the obligation which lay upon us to suffer the penalty for the breach of the law, and so deliver us from the wrath to come ; but it was a price that was given to purchase grace, favour, and heaven for us, which is called, Eph. i. 14, ' The purchased possession.' Now, why must our surety instate us thus into favour ? Because Christ was such a surety as did not only pay the forfeiture, but also the principal ; that is, he did not only make satisfaction for the trespass and offence (which is the payment of the forfeiture), but also he established a righteousness answerable to the law (which is the payment of the principal), and of that original debt which God first required of the creature ; for there is a debt of duty and service which Christ performeth and establisheth as a righteousness for us.