6. It is the priesthood of Christ that the apostle treats of in this place, and that alone: wherefore he is a surety as he is a priest, and in the discharge of that office ; and therefore is so with God on our behalf. This Schlichtingius observes, and is aware what will ensue against his pretensions ; which he endeavours to obviate. " Mi- rum," saith he, " poiTO alicui videri posset, cur divinus author de Christi sacerdotio, in superioribus et in sequentibus agens, derepente eum sponsorem foederis non vero sacerdotem vocet? Cur non dixerit ' tanto pro3stantioris foederis factus est sacerdos Jesus?' Hoc enim plane requirere videtur totus orationis contextus. Credibile est in voce sponsionis sacerdotium quoque Christi intelligi. Sponsoris enim non est alieno nomine quippiam promittere, et fidem suam pro alio interponere; sed etiam, si ita res ferat, alterius nomine id quod spo- pondit prsestare. In rebus quidem humanis, si id non pra^stet is pro quo sponsor fidejussit; hie vero propter contraria,m causam (nam prior hie locum habere non potest), nempe quatenus ille pro quo spopondit Christus per ipsum Christum promissa sua nobis exhibet; qua in re prsecipue Christi sacerdotium continetur."
SURETISIIIP. 1S7
A71S. 1. It may, indeed, seem strange, unto any one who imagineth Christ to be such a surety as he doth, why the apostle should so call him, and so introduce him in the description of his priestly office, as that which belongeth thereunto ; but gTant what is the proper work and duty of a surety, and who the Lord Jesus was a surety for, and it is evident that nothing more proper or pertinent could be men- tioned by him, when he was m the declaration of that office.
Ans. 2. He confesseth that by his exposition of this suretiship of Christ, as making him a surety for God, he contradicteth the nature and only notion of a surety among men. For such a one, he acknow- ledgeth, doth nothing but in the defect and inability of them for whom he is engaged and doth undertake ; he is to pay that which they owe, and to do what is to be done by them, which they cannot perform. And if this be not the notion of a surety in this place, the apostle makes use of a word nowhere else used in the whole Scrip- ture, to teach us that which it doth never signify among men : which is improbable and absurd ; for the sole reason why he did make use of it was, that from the nature and notion of it amongst men in other cases, we may understand the signification of it, what he intends by it, and what under that name he ascribes unto the Lord Jesus.
Ans. 3. He hath no way to solve the apostle's mention of Christ being a surety, in the description of his priestly office, but by over- throwing the nature of that office also; for to confirm this absurd notion, that Christ as a priest was a surety for God, he would have us believe that the priesthood of Christ consists in his making effectual unto us the promises of God, or his effectual communicating of the good things promised unto us ; the falsehood of which notion, really destructive of the priesthood of Christ, I have elsewhere at large detected and confuted. Wherefore, seeing the Lord Christ is a surety of the covenant as a priest, and all the sacerdotal actings of Christ have God for their immediate object, and are performed with him on our behalf, he was a surety for us also.
A surety, "sponsor, vas, prses, fidejussor," for us, the Lord Clirist was, by his voluntary undertaking, out of his rich grace and love, to do, answer, and perform all that is required on our part, that we may enjoy the benefits of the covenant, the grace and glory prepared, proposed, and promised in it, in the way and manner detennined on by divine wisdom. And this may be reduced unto two heads: — First, His answering for our transgressions against the first covenant; Secondly, His purchase and procurement of the gxace of the new: " He was made a curse for us, .... that the blessing of Abraham might come on us," Gal. iii. 13-15.
(1.) He undertook, as the surety of the covenant, to answer for all the sins of those who are to be, and are, made partakers of the bene-
188 ON JUSTIFICATION.
fits of it; — that is, to undergo the punishneiit due unto their sins; to make atonement for them by offering himself a propitiatory sacri- fice for the expiation of their sins, redeeming them, by the price of his blood, from their state of misery and bondage under the law, and the curse of it, Isa. liii. 4-6, 10; Matt. xx. 28; 1 Tim. ii. 6; 1 Cor. vi. 20; Kom. iii. 25, 26; Heb. x. 5-8; Rom. viii. 2, 3; 2 Cor. v. 19-21 ; Gal. iii. 13 : and this was absolutely necessary, that the grace and glory prepared in the covenant might be communicated unto us. Without this undertaking of his, and performance of it, the righte- ousness and faithfulness of God would not permit that sinners, — sucli as had cqjostatized from him, despised his authority and rebelled against him, falling thereby under the sentence and curse of the law, — • should again be received into his favour, and made partakers of grace and glory ; this, therefore, the Lord Christ took upon himself, as the surety of the covenant.