Others say it was needful the Lord Christ should suffer, for the declaration of the righteousness of God, with his hatred of and severity against sin. So indeed the Scripture says, but it says so on the suppositions before laid down and proved. How they can say so, with any congruity unto or consistency with reason, by whom these are denied, I cannot understand; for if there be no such justice in God as necessarily requires that sin be punished, how can it be exalted or manifested in the punishment of it? If the punishment of sin
188 NECESSITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST, ETC. [EXERC. XXX.
be a mere free act of the will of God, which he may exert or the contrary, the pleasure of his will is manifested indeed therein, but how his justice is made known I see not. Suppose, as the men of this persuasion do, that it was easy with God to pardon the sins of men freely, without any satisfaction or compensation; that there was nothing in his nature which required of him to do otherwise; that had he done so, he had done it without the least disadvantage _ unto his own glory,—that is, he had acted therein as became his holiness and righteousness, as he is the supreme governor over all;— on these suppositions, I say, who can give a reasonable account why he should cast all our sins on his Son, and punish them all: in his person, according as if justice had required him so to do? To say that all this was done for the satisfaction of that justice which re- quired no such thing to be done, is not satisfactory.
8. From what hath been discoursed, both the original and neces- sity of the priesthood of Christ are evidently demonstrated. There was no respect in the designation of it unto the state of innocency. Upon the supposition and consideration of the fall, the entrance of sin, and the ruin of mankind thereby, there were personal transac- tions in the holy Trinity with respect unto their recovery, as there had been before in their creation. Herein the Son undertook to be our deliverer, in and by the assumption of our nature, wherein alone it could be wrought, into personal union with himself; because, for this end, the justice and holiness of God required that the penalty due and threatened unto sin should be undergone and suffered. This the Son willingly undertook to do in that nature which he assumed to himself. And because the things themselves to be suffered were not only or so much indeed considered as his will and obedience in suffering,—being an instance of obedience, in compliance with the will and law of God, outbalancing the disobedience of the first, and all our sins in opposition thereunto,—therefore was he, in all his sufferings, to offer himself up freely to the will of God; which offering up of himself was his sacrifice: to which end he was called, anointed, ordained of God a high priest; for this office consisteth in a power, right, and faculty, given him of God to offer up himself in sacrifice, in, by, and under his suffering of the penalty due to sin, so as thereby to make expiation of sin and reconciliation for sinners, as we shall prove in our next discourse.
SECT. 1.] TRUE NATURE OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST, ETC. 189
EXERCITATION XXXI. THE NATURE OF THE PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST.
1. The nature of the priesthood of Christ, why proposed to consideration—The opinions of the Socinians concerning the priesthood of Christ; consequents thereof. 2. Christ an high priest properly so called—Arguments in the con- firmation thereof proposed and vindicated—Heb. v. 1, vii. 11-16, explained to that purpose. 3. God the immediate object of the sacerdotal actings of Christ, proved from the typical priesthood and the use of sacrifices. 4, Further confirmed from the nature of all the offices of Christ; 5. From the nature of sacerdotal duties and acts. 6. Some particular testimonies pleaded to the same purpose—The conclusion. 7. The call of Christ unto his priestly office. 8. His mauguration and actual susception of it. 9. Things considerable in the priest’s offering sacrifices of old. 10. Their accomplishment in the Lord Christ discharging his priestly office. 11. The truth thereof further ex- plained and confirmed. 12. Testimonies of the Scripture to that purpose urged, explained, vindicated—Eph. v. 2; 13. Heb. v. 6,7; 14. Heb. i. 3, vindicated. 15. Heb. ix. 12, vindicated. 16. Christ once offered, and that when he bare our sins. 17. The necessity of suffering unto sacrifice, Heb.
Prix; 2b, 20, vil. 27,.x. 11, 12.
1. Tat our Lord Jesus Christ is the true and only high priest of the church hath been before declared, and it is in words acknow- ledged by all in some sense or other. The general nature also of that office hath been fully manifested, from what we have discoursed concerning its original, with the ends thereof, and his designation thereunto. Without the utter overthrow of those foundations in the first place, all the attempts of men against the true and proper nature of this office as vested in him are weak and impotent. The sacrifice that he offered as a priest, the nature, use, and end thereof, must be considered apart afterwards, in its proper place. The quali- fications of his person, with the love, care, and grace, which he exer- ciseth in the discharge of this office, must all be distinctly spoken