For the latter, it is true, indeed, that for the most part it falls out that every one that is to be punished is unwilling to undergo it, and ' Sallust. Bell. Catilin. cnp. xxxvi.
OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 435
there is an improj)er nolleity (if I may so speak) in nature unto the subtracting of any good from it, or the immission of any evil upon it ; yet as to the perfection of the nature of punishment, there is no more required than what was laid down in general before, that there be " malum passionis ol) malum actionis," — a suffering of evil for doing of evil, whether men will or no : yea, men may be willing to it, as the soldiers of Ctesar, after their defeat at Dyrrachium, came to him and desired that they might be punished " more antique," being ashamed of their flight/ But whatever really or personally is evil to a man for his evil, is punishment. Though chiefly among the Latins '•punishment" relates to things real, capital revenges had another name. Punishments were chiefly pecuniary, as Servius on that of Virgil, Mn. i. 140: " 'Post mihi non simili pcena commissa luetis/ Luetis, persolvetis, et hie sermo a pecunia descendit, antiquo- rum enim poenaa omnes pecuniari^ fuerunt." And " supplicium" is of the same importance. Punishments were called " suppllcia," be- cause with the mulcts of men they sacrificed and made their suppli- cations to God : whence the word is sometimes used for that -worship, as in Sallustius; describing the old Romans, he says they were "in suppliciis deorum magnifici," Bell. Cat. cap, ix.
(4.) There is the procuring cause of it, which is doing evil, con- trary to the law and rule whereby the offender ought to walk and regulate his actings and proceedings. "Omnis poena, si justa est, pec- cati poena est," says Augustine; indeed, not only "si justa est," but " si poena est." Taking it properly, offence must precede punishment. And whatever evil befalls any that is not procured by offence is not properly punishment, but hath some other name and nature. The name " poena" is used for any thing that is vexatious or trouble- some, any toil or labour; as in the tragedian, speaking of one who tired himself wdth travel in hunting, " Quid te ipse poenis gravibus infestus gravas:"^ but improperly is it thus used. This Abraham evinceth in his plea with God, Gen. xviii. 25, " That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked : and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" It is God as the judge of all the earth of whom he speaks; that is, of him that hath the supreme power of disposing of offenders; and of his justice inflicting, which, as I said, was the cause of punishment. It is that whereby God doth right. And he gives the procuring cause of all punishment, — the wickedness of men: "That be far from thee, to Blay the righteous with the wicked." And therefore that place of
» " Quanta fortitudine dimicaTerint, testimonio est, quod adverse scmcl apud Dyrra- chium prEclio, poenam iu se ultro dcpoposceruiit." — Sueton. in Jul. Cass. cap. Ixviii. " More pati'io decimari volucrunt." — Appianus.
2 Senec. Hippol. act. ii
436 VINDICIiE EVANGELIC^.
Job, cliap. ix. 22, " This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth tlie perfect and the wicked," is not to be understood absokitely, but according to the subject of the dispute in hand between him and Bildad. Bildad says, chap. viii. 20, that " God will not cast away a perfect man ;" that is, he will not afflict a godly man to death. He grants that a godly man may be afflicted, which Eliphaz' companion seemed to deny; yet, says he, he will not cast him away, — that is, leave him without relief from that affliction, even in this life. To this Job's answer is, " This is one thing," — that is, " One thing I am resolved on," — " and therefore I said it," and will abide by it, " He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked." Not only wicked men are destroyed and cut off in this life, but perfect men also; but yet in this very destruction, as there is a difference in the persons, one being perfect, the other wicked, so there is in God's dealing with them, one being afflicted to the door of heaven, the other cursed into hell. But for punishment, properly so called, the cause is sin, or the offence of the person punished ; and therefore in the Hebrew, the same words (many of them) signify both sin and punishment, — so near and indissoluble is their relation ! lipoSYjXit dyi-rov6sv ojg yjici KXripovofLiag hiab'syteSat tyu -Trovnplag rnv %6Xaaiv, Plut. de Sera Numin. Vindicta.
(5.) The measure of any penalty is the demerit of the offence ; it is a rendering to men, as for their works, so according to them : —
" Nee vincet ratio hoc, tantundcm ut peccet idemque, Qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti Et qui nocturnus Divum sacra legerit. Adsit Regula, peccatis quas poenas irroget sequas: Ne scutica dignum horribili sectei'e flagello."'