2. The second is of laying upon him the punishment of sins, everywhere ascribed unto the Father: "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of
THE DEATH OF DEATH. [HOjIv I.
/ smite the shepherd, and the slieep shall be scattered," Zsch. ,^. What here is set down imperatively, by way of command, is che gospel indicatively expounded : " I will smite the shephei'd, aiid the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad," Matt. xxvi. 81, " He was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted;" yea, " the Lord laid iijDon him the iniquity of us all;" j^ea, "it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and to put him to grief," Isa. liii. 4, 6, 10. " He made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of G6d in him," 2 Cor. v. 21. The adjunct in both places is put for the subject, as the opposition between his being made sin and our being made righteousness declareth. " Him who knew no sin," — that is, who deserved no punishment, — " him hath he made to be sin," or laid the punishment due to sin upon him. Or perhaps, in the latter place, sin may be taken for an offering or sacrifice for the expiation of sin, aiMapria answering in this place to the word. n><^n in the Old Testament, which signifieth both sin and the sacrifice for it. And this the Lord did ; for as for Herod, Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, when they were gathered to- gether, they did nothing but " what his hand and counsel had deter- mined before to be done," Acts iv. 27, 28. Whence the great shak- ings of our Saviour were in his close conflict with his Father's wrath, and that burden which by himself he immediately imposed on him. When there was no hand or instrument outwardly appearing to put him to any suffering or ciTiciating torment, then he " began to be sorrowfid, even unto death," Matt. xxvi. 87, 88; to wit, when he was in the garden with his three choice apostles, before tlie traitor or any of his accomplices appeared, then Avas he "sore amazed, and very licavy," Mark xiv. 38. That was the time, " in the days of his flesh, when he offered up prayers and supitlications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him Irom death," Heb. v. 7 ; which how he performed the evangelist describeth, Luke xxii. 48, 44: " Tliere appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. But being in an agony he prayed more earnestly : and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Surely it was a close and strong trial, and that immediately from his Father, he now underwent; for how meekly and cheerfully doth he submit, without any regret or trouble of s})irit, to all the cruelty of men and violence offered to his body, until this conflict being re- newed again, he cries, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And this, by the way, will be Avorth our observation, that Ave may know Avith whom oiu" Saviour chiefly had to do, and Avhat Avas tljat which he underwent for sinners; which also Avill give some light to the grand query concerning the persons of them for Avhom he undertook all thi.s. His sufferings Avere far from consisting in mere corporal perpessions and afihctions, Avith such impressions U2)ou his
END OF Christ's death as eternally intended. 173
soul and spirit as were the effects and issues only of tliem. It was no more nor less than the curse of the law of God which he under- went for as: for he freed us from the curse " by being made a curse," Gal. iii. 18; which contained all the punishment that was due to sin, either in the severity of God's justice, or according to the exigence of tliat law which required obedience. That the execration of the law should be only temjwral death, as the law was considered to be the instrument of the Jewish polity, and serving that economy or dispensation, is true; but that it should be no more, as it is the uni- versal rule of obedience, and the bond of the covenant between God and man, is a foolish dream. Nay, but in dying for us Christ did not only aim at our good, but also directly died in our stead. The punishment due to our sin and the chastisement of our peace was upon him; which that it was the pains of hell, in their nature and being, in their weight and pressure, though not in tendence and con- tinuance (it being impossible that he should be detained by death), who can deny and not be injurious to the justice of God, which will inevitably inflict those pains to eternity upon sinners? It is true, indeed, there is a relaxation of the law in respect of the persons suffer- ing, God admitting of commutation ; as in the old law, when in their sacrifices the life of the beast was accepted (in respect to the carnal part of the ordinances) for the life of the man. This is fully revealed, and we believe it; but for any change of the punishment, in respect of the nature of it, where is the least intimation of any alteration ? We conclude, then, this second act of God, in laying the punishment on him for us, with that of the prophet, " All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all," Isa. liii. 6 : and add thereunto this observation, that it seems strange to me that Christ should undergo the pains of hell in their stead who lay in the pains of hell before he underwent those pains, and shall continue in them to eternity ; for " their worm dieth not, neither is their fire quenched." To which I may add this dilemma to our Universalists: — God im- posed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell for, either all the sins of all men, or all the sins of some men, or some sins of all men. If the last, some sins of all men, then have all men some sins to answer for, and so shall no man be saved; for if God enter into judgment with us, though it were with all mankind for one sin, no flesh should be justified in his sight: " If the Lord should mark iniquities, who should stand?" Ps. cxxx. 3. We might all go to cast all that we have " to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the gloiy of his majesty," Isa. ii. 20, 21. If the second, that is it which we affirm, that Christ in their stead and room suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the world. If the first,