AN APPENDIX. 4i5
satisfied or fulfilled by the suffering of Christ, if, antecedently there- unto, its obligation, or power of obliging unto the penalty constituted in its sanction unto sin, was relaxed, dissolved, or dispensed withal. Nor was it agreeable to justice, nor would the nature of the things themselves admit of it, that another punishment should be inflicted on Christ than what we had deserved; nor could our sin be the impulsive cause of his death; nor could we have had any benefit thereby. And this may suffice to be added unto what was spoken before as to the nature of satisfaction, so far as the brevity of the discourse whereunto we are confined will bear, or the use whereunto it is designed doth require.
Secondly. The nature of the doctrine contended for being declared and cleared, we may, in one or two instances, manifest how evidently it is revealed, and how fully it may be confirmed or vindicated. It is, then, in the Scripture declared, that " Christ died for us," — that he "died for our sins;" and that tue are thereby delivered. This is the foundation of Christian religion as such. Without the faith and acknowledgment of it, we are not Christians. Neither is it, in these general terms, at all denied by the Socinians. It remains, therefore, that we consider, — 1. How this is revealed and affirmed in the Scripture; and, 2. What is the true meaning of the expressions and propositions wherein it is revealed and affirmed; — for in them, as in sundry others, Ave affirm that the satisfaction pleaded for is con- tained.
1. Christ is said to die, to give himself, to he delivered, vTsp jj/xwv, etc., for us, for his sheep, for the life of the world, for sinners, Jolm vi. 51, X. ]5; Kom. v. 6; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15; Gal. ii. 20; Heb. ii. 9. Moreover, he is said to die -jTip afj^apriZv, for sins, 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; Gal. i. 4. The end whereof, everywhere expressed in the gospel, is, that we might he freed, delivered, and saved. These things, as was said, are aoxeed unto and acknowledo-ed.
2. The meaning and importance, we say, of these expressions is, that Christ died in our room, place, or stead, imdergoing the death or punishment which we should have undergone in the way and manner before declared. And this is the satisfaction we plead for. It remains, therefore, that from the Scripture, the nature of the things treated of, the proper signification and constant use of the expressions mentioned, the exemplification of them in the customs and usages of the nations of the world, we do evince and manifest that what we have laid down is the tnie and proper sense of the words wherein this revelation of Christ's dying for us is expressed ; so that they who deny Christ to have died for us in this sense do indeed deny that he properly died for us at all, — whatever benefits they grant that by his death we may obtain.
A4C) AN APPENDIX.
First. We may consider the use of this expression in the Scripture either indefinitely or in particular instances.
Only we must take this along with us, that dying for sins and transgressions, being added unto dying'for sinners or persons, maketh the substitution of one in the room and stead of another more evi- dent than when the dying of one for another only is mentioned. For whereas all j)redicates are regulated by their subjects, and it is ridiculous to say that one dieth in the stead of sins, tiie meaning can be no other but the bearing or answering of the sins of the sinner in whose stead any one dieth. And this is, in the Scripture, declared to be the sense of that expression, as we shall see afterward. Let us, therefore, consider some instances : —
John xi. 50, The Avords of Caiaphas' counsel are, Su/xpl^s/ riiLn/^ hu iJg avSpwTrog dToCdv/j v<7rsp rov Xaov, xai /X'/j oXov to shog aToXi^Tai' — " It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not:" which is expressed again, chap, xviii. 14, ccrroXsd&ai ii'Trsp rov Xaov, " perish for the j^eople." Caiaphas feared that if Christ were spared, the people w^ould be destroyed by the Romans. The way to free them, he thought, was by the destruction of Christ; him, therefore, he devoted to death, in lieu of the people. As he, —
" Unum pro multis daLitur caput;" — " One head sliall be given for many."
Not unlike the speech of Otho the emperor in Xiphilin,^ when he slew himself to preserve his ai-my; for when they w^ould have per- suaded him to renew the war after the defeat of some of his forces, and offered to lay doAvn their lives to secure him, he replied, that he would not, adding this reason, UoXv yap 'Xom zai xpeTTrov, xai bi-Kaionpov Istiv, ha b^ip irdvruv jj voXXovc vvsp svhg d'rroXsffdar — " It is far better, and more just, that one should perish or die for all, than that many should perish for one;" that is, one in the stead of many, that they may go free; or as another sjDeaks, —
'F.'^oii Tfo vavTuv fiiav iiTTlfioZvai fuvuv. — (•"uiip. Flag. El'Cch.