334 THE DEATH OF DEATH. [BOOK IV.
that prayer of David, to be " hid under the shadow of God's wings," Ps. xxxvi. 7, ivii. 1, Ixi. 4, Lxiii. 7, xci. 4 (and perhaps that allusion of our Saviour, Matt, xxiii. 37), intimating the favourable protection of God in mercy, denoted by the wings of the cherubim covering the pro- pitiatory, embracing that which covered the bill of accusation ; which, typically, was that table, or golden plate or covering, before described; truly and really Jesus Christ, as is expressly affirmed, Rom. iii. 25.
Now, all this will give us some light into the meaning of the word, and so, consequently, into the sense of this place, with the mind of the Holy Ghost therein. 'YkaeiMc, and 'ikacSTrjpiov, both translated " a propitiation," with the verb of the same original (the bottom of them all being /Xaw, not used in the New Testament, which in Eustathius is from hiMai Xdnv, " intently and with care to look upon any thing," like the oracle on the mercy-seat), do signify that which was done or typically effected by the mercy-seat, — namely, to appease, pacify, and reconcile God in respect of aversation for sin. Hence that phrase, Heb. ii. 17, ' IXasXiddai rag aiMapriag tov Xaou, which the Latinists render " Expiare peccata populi," " To expiate the sins of the people." (" Expiare" is, in this business, to turn away anger by an atonement. So the historian, " Solere reges ostenta coelestia csede aliqua illustri expiare, atque a semet in capita procenmi depellere," Suet, in Neron. o G.) We render it, "To make reconciliation for the sins of the people." The word will bear both, the meaning being, to appease, or pacify, or satisfy God for sin, that it might not be imputed to them towards whom he was so appeased. 'IXaffKisDai rag a/u,apT/ag TOV Xaov is as much as 'ixdax-isdai rlv Qsov m'spi tSiv d/ji,apTiouv, "To pacify God con- cerning sin." Hence the word receiveth another signification, that wherein it is used by the publican, Luke xviii. 13, 'IXdaOriri imoi, "Be merciful to me;" that is, "Let me enjoy that mercy from whence flows the pardon of sin, by thy being appeased towards me, and re- conciled unto me." From all which it appeareth that the meaning of the word /Xatr/xoj, or " propitiation," which Christ is said to be, is that whereby the law is covered, God appeased and reconciled, sin expiated, and the sinner jDardoned; whence pardon, and remission of sin is so often placed as the product and fruit of his blood-shedding, whereby he was a " propitiation," Matt. xxvi. 28; Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14; Heb. ix. 22; Rom. iii. 25, v. 9; 1 John i. 7; 1 Pet. i. 2; Rev. i. 5.
From that which hath been said, the sense of the place is evident to be, that Christ hath so expiated sin, and reconciled to God, that the sinner is pardoned and received to mercy for his sake, and that the law shall never be produced or brought forth for his condemna- tion. Now, whether this can be tolerably applied to the loliole world (taking it for all and every man in the world), let all the men in the world that are able judge. Are the sins of every one expiated? Is God reconciled to every one ? Is every sinner pardoned ? Shall no one
OBJECTIONS AND TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE CONSIDERED. 835
have the transgression of the law charged on him? Why, then, is not every one saved? Doubtless, all these are true of every believer, and of no one else in the whole world. For them the apostle affirmed that Christ is a propitiation ; that he might show from whence ariseth, and wherein chiefly, if not only, that advocation for them, which he promiseth as the fountain of their consolation, did consist, — even in a presentation of the atonement made by his blood. He is also a pro- pitiation only by faith, Rom. iii. 25; and surely none have faith but believers: and, therefore, certainly it is they only throughout the world for whom alone Christ is a propitiation. Unto them alone God says, "iXmc, 'ieoiMai, " I will be propitious," — the great word of the ■ new covenant, Heb. viii. 12, they alone being covenanters.
Secondly, Let us consider the phrase oXoo roZ M<sm\j, — " of the whole world." I shall not declare how the word luorld is in the Scripture itdKixstilMv, of divers significations; partly because I have in some mea- sure already performed it; partly because it is not in itself so much here insisted on, but only with reference to its general adjunct, whole, " the whole world : " and, therefore, we must speak to the whole phrase together. Now, concerning this expression, I say, —
Fi7'st, That whereas, with that which is equivalent unto it, all the world, it is used seven or eight times in the New Testament, it cannot be made appear, clearly and undeniably, that in any place (save perhaps one, where it is used in re necessarid) it compriseth all and every man in the world ; so that unless some circumstance in this place enforce that sense (which it doth not), it will be a plain wresting of the words to force that interpretation upon them. Let us, then, briefly look upon the places, beginning with the last, and so ascending. Now, that is, Rev. iii. 10, "I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come Ivi rrn oiKovfihyig oXng," — "upon all the world," (the word world is other in the original here than in the place we have before us, there being divers words to express the same thing, considered under several notions); where that it cannot signify all and every one is evident, because some are promised to be preserved from that which is said to come upon it. Passino- the place of which we treat, the next is. Col. i. 6, "Which is come unto you Tia&djg %ai sv -xavri rui xoo;aw," — "as in all the world," Where, — 1. All and every man cannot be understood ; for they had not all then received the gospel. 2. Only believers are here signified, living abroad in the world ; because the gospel is said to " bring forth fruit" in them to whom it comes, and there is no true gospel fruit without faith and repentance. Another place is Rom. i. 8, " Your faith is spoken of h oXcjj ru) x&V/xw," — "throughout the whole world." Did every one in the world hear and speak of the Roman faith? You have it also Luke ii. 1, " There went out a decree from Csesar Augustus, aToypapsc^a/ itaodv rnv ohovfisvrjv" — "that all the world should be taxed;" which yet was