VeK. 14.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. ISl
thosetwo men were all maukiud in representation. Well then, we see Christ, sustained our persons, and stood in our place and room as mediator. We must look upon him as a father carrying all his children on his back, or lapped up in his garment, through a deep river, through which they must needs pass, and, as it were, saying to them, Fear not, I will set you safe on land. So are you to look upon Christ with all his children wading through the floods of death and hell, and saying, Fear not, worm Jacob ; fear not, poor souls, I will set you safe.
[2.] As he took our persons, so he took our burden upon himself ; for we read that he was made sin. and made a curse for us.
(1.) Made sin : 2 Cor. v. 21, ' He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' To be made is to be ordained or appointed, as Christ made twelve disciples, Mark iii. 14, eVoir^o-e, appointed, and Jesus Christ is said to be made Lord and Christ, Acts ii. 38 ; so Christ was made sin — that is, ordered and appointed to bear the punishment of sin, or to be a sacrifice for sin. Sometimes the punishment of sin is called sin ; as Gen. iv. 13, ' My sin is greater than can be borne,' that is, the punishment ; so ver. 7, ' Sin lieth at the door.' that is, the punishment is at hand ; so Christ cometh without sin : Heb. ix. 28, ' To bear the sins of many ; and to them that look for him he shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation ; ' not liable any more to bear the punishment of it. Sometimes it is put for a sacrifice for sin ; so the priests are said to eat the sins of the people, Hos. iv. 8, that is, the sacrifices ; and Paul saith, Rom. viii. 3, ' That by sin, he con- demned sin in the flesh ; ' that is, by a sin-ofFeriug. Well then Christ, who knew no sin, had no inherent guilt, was made sin, that is, liable and responsible to God's justice for our sakes. As we are made the righteousness of God in him, so was he made sin for us ; not by inhesion, which ariseth from inherent guilt, but by imputation or voluntary susception ; that is, took upon himself an obligation to satisfy the demands of justice for our sakes, as if he had said, What they owe, I will pay.
(2.) Made a curse for us. Gal. iii. 13. Christ as a surety did suffer our punishment, and endured what we have deserved : Isa. liii. 4, 'Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.' The sorrows of the sinner were the sorrows of Christ. The law had said, * Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them,' Gal. iii. 10. Now the sentence or -curse of the law must not fall to the ground, for then the end of God's governing of the world could not be secured ; his law would seem to be given in jest, and his threatenings would be interpreted to be a vain scare-crow, and the sin of the creature would not seem so odious a thinof, if the law mioht be transirressed and broken, and there were no more ado about it ; therefore Christ must come and bear this curse. But you will say then, that Christ should have suffered eternal death and the pains of hell, which were due to us.
Ans. 1. He suffered what was equivalent to the pains of hell ; so much of the pains of hell as his holy person was capable of. In the curse of the law we must distinguish the essentials from the accidentals. The essentials consist in two things, joos/ia damni and poena sensus;
182 SEKMONS UPON 2 COKINTHIANS V. [SeR. XXVII.
the pcena damni is the loss of God's presence, and the comfortable and happy fruition of him ; the pcena sensus lieth in falling into the hands of the living God, or being tormented with his wrath. Now both these Christ endured in some measure. He was deserted, Mat. xxvii. 26 ; there was a suspension of all sensible and actual comforts flowing from the Godhead, and his soul was filled with a bitter sense of wrath ; and there he was made heavy unto death, Mat. xxvi. 39, and Isa. liii. 10, ' It pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief,' which occasioned great agonies. Now for the accidentals — the place — we should for ever have suffered in hell, the prison of the damned ; but that circumstance was abated to Christ ; he suffered upon earth. One that is bound as a surety for another needeth not go to prison, provided that he pay the debt ; all that law and justice requireth is, that the surety pay the debt, which, if he doth not or cannot do, then lie must go to prison ; so here the justice and holiness of God must be satisfied ; but Christ needed not to go into the place of torment.