it to have been meritorious in the sight of God (which it could not be, because, " after having done all that was commanded them, they would be only unprofit- able servants"), they could merit only for themselves : the righteousness of a mere creature could never have been so excellent as to deserve eternal happiness and glory for a sinful world. We do not indeed presume to limit God, and to say what he might or might not have done, if he had pleased. But according to the light given us in the Scripture we are warranted to say, that, if any lesser sacrifice would have answered all the purposes of his glory and of man's salvation, he never would have sent " the man that was his fellow." He would not have given his Son out of his bosom to die for us, if the death of a mere creature would have sufficed. This leads us to notice a further ground of Christ's sacrifice, which was, that in it there was a sufficiency for the salvation of the whole world. Christ being God as well as man, there was an infinite value in his sufferings ; his sufferings for a time were equivalent to the sufferings of the whole world to all eternity. There was also an infinite value in his obedience ; so that it could merit, not for himself only, but for others, yea, for all the myriads of sinners who should trust in it. The penalty of the law being inflicted on him, Divine justice was satisfied ; and scope was opened for the exercise of mercy. The sinner's debt being paid, the sinner could be discharged in perfect consistency with God's truth and holiness.
Hence then it was that "help was laid upon One so mighty ;" and that such a condition was imposed upon him.
As to what is said of the Father " making his soul an offering," the words may be translated either in the second or the third person : if in the second, they relate to the Father's laying of our iniquities upon his Son ; if in the third (as they are in the marginal trans- lation, which we rather prefer), they relate to Christ's voluntarily making himself an offering.
But in addition to what we have spoken concerning
973.] Christ's death a condition of salvation. 401
the nature and necessity of the condition imposed on Christ, it will be proper that we state, in few words, what the condition itself implied. It implied, that there is no salvation but by the blood of Christ. It has before been observed that such a condition would never have been imposed, if man could have been saved by any other means : and this is confirmed by that express declaration of the Apostle, " There is no other name given under heaven, whereby we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ." It implied further, that every sinner must actually present, as it were, to God the blood of Christ, as his only plea for mercy and acceptance. He must put his hand on the head of his offering, confessing his desert of death, renouncing every self-righteous hope, and trusting simply in the sacrifice once made upon the cross. Lastly, it implied, that this one offering, thus presented, shall be available for the very chief of sinners. God's end in sending his Son was, not only to save man, but to glorify himself in man's salvation. It is true, that all his perfections are glorified in the salvation of the most righteous : but the efficacy of this atonement, together with God's love in providing, and his mercy in accepting it, are more conspicuous, in proportion as those interested in it are redeemed from deeper condemnation. To have imposed such a condition for the purpose of saving a few only of the more worthy characters, would have given us reason to apprehend, either that the mercy of God was very limited, or that there was not a sufficiency in the Redeemer's merits for the redemption of more atrocious sinners. But as these apprehensions are false and groundless, we may consider the very condition itself as importing, that the offering of Christ should be accepted for all that would trust in it.