suffered for sins ;" and though his punishment was not pre- cisely the same cither in quality or duration, as ours would have heen, yet was it equivalent to our demerit, and satisfactory to the justice of an oll'ended God.]
2. Vicarious —
[It was not for any sin of his own that Jesus was cut offc: he was " a Lamb without spot or blemish'1," as even his ene- mies, after the strictest scrutiny, were forced to confess0. He died, " the just for, and in the room of, the unjust f:" the iniquities of all the human race were laid upon himg: he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, and the chastisement he endured was to effect our peace11. He, who was innocent, became a sin-offering for us, that we, who are guilty, might be made righteous in him1.]
3. Propitiatory —
[The death of Christ, like all the sacrifices under the Jewish law, was an atonement for sin. It is continually com- pared with the Jewish sacrifices in this viewk. We say not, that the Father hated us, and needed to have his wrath ap- peased by the interposition of his Son (for the very gift of Christ was the fruit of the Father's love1); but we say, in con- currence with all the inspired writers, that when it was neces- sary for the honour of the Divine government that sin should be punished, either in the offender himself or in his surety, Christ became our surety, and by his own death made a true and proper atonement for our sins, and thus effected our recon- ciliation with Godm. On any other supposition than this, the whole Mosaic ritual was absurd, and the writings of the New Testament are altogether calculated to deceive us.]
From considering the nature of our Lord's suffer- ings, let us proceed to notice,
II. The end of them —
His one great design was to bring us to God :
1. To a state of acceptance with him —
% [We were "enemies to God in our minds by wicked works ;" nor could we by any means reconcile ourselves to God: we coidd not by obedience; because the law required perfect obedience : which, having once transgressed the law, we could never afterwards pay : nor could we by suffering, because the penalty denounced against sin was eternal, and
c Dan. ix. 26. d 1 Pet. i. 19. e John xviii. 38. and xix. G. £ 'Y7T£fj, this imports substitution. See Horn. v. 7. in the Greek, g Isai. liii. C. h Isai. liii. 4. ' 2 Cor. v. 21.
k Heb. passim. ' Jolin iii. 1G.
m Eph. v. 2. and 1 John ii. 2.