a substitute take his place, if one be provided, the terms on which the benefits of his substitution sliall accrue to the principal, are matters of ao-reement, or covenant between the substitute and the niao-istrate who represents justice. The deliverance of the offen- der may be immediate, unconditional, and complete ; or, it may be deferred, suspended on certain conditions, and its benefits gradu- ally bestowed.
As the satisfaction of Christ was not pecuniary, but penal or forensic ; a satisfaction for sinners, and not for those who owed a certain amount of money, it follows, —
1. That it does not consist in an exact quid pro quo^ so much for so much. This, as just remarked, is not the case even among men. The penalty for theft is not the restitution of the thing stolen, or its exact pecuniary value. It is generally something of an entirely different nature. It may be stripes or imprisonment. The pun- ishment for an assault is not the infliction of the same degree of injury on the person of the offender. So of slander, breach of trust, treason, and all other criminal offences. The punishment for the offence is something different from the evil which the offender himself inflicted. All that justice demands in penal satis- faction is that it should be a real satisfaction, and not merely something graciously accepted as such. It must bear an adequate proportion to the crime committed. It may be different in kind, but it must have inherent value. To fine a man a few pence for wanton homicide would be a mockery ; but death or imprisonment for life would be a real satisfaction to justice. All, therefore, that the Church teaches when it says that Christ satisfied divine justice for the sins of men, is that what He did and suffered was a real adequate compensation for the penalty remitted and the benefits conferred. His sufferings and death were adequate to accomplish all the ends designed by the punishment of the sins of men. He satisfied justice. He rendered it consistent with the justice of God that the sinner should be justified. But He did not suffer either m kind or degree what sinners would have suffered. In value, his sufferings infinitely transcended theirs. The death of an eminently good man would outweigh the annihilation of a universe of insects. So the humiliation, sufferings, and death of the eternal Son of God immeasurably transcended in worth and power the penalty which a world of sinners would have endured.
2. The satisfaction of Christ was a matter of grace. The Father was not bound to provide a substitute for fallen men, nor was the Son bound to assume that office. It was an act of pure grace that
472 PART ni. Ch. VI.— priestly office.
God arrested the execution of the penalty of the law, and consented to accept the vicarious sufferings and death of his only begotten Son. And it was an act of unparalleled love that the Son con- sented to assume our nature, bear our sins, and die, the just for the unjust, to bring us near to God. All the benefits, therefore, which accrue to sinners in consequence of the satisfaction of Christ are to them pure gratuities ; blessings to which in themselves they have no claim. They call for gratitude, and exclude boasting.
3. Nevertheless, it is a matter of justice that the blessings whicli Christ intended to secure for his people should be actually bestowed upon them. This follows, for two reasons : first, they were prom- ised to Him as the reward of his obedience and sufferings. God covenanted with Christ that if He fulfilled the conditions imposed, if He made satisfaction for the sins of his people, they should be saved. It follows, secondly, from the nature of a satisfaction. If the claims of justice are satisfied they cannot be again enforced. This is the analogy between the work of Christ and the payment of a debt. The point of agreement between the two cases is not the nature of the satisfaction rendei-ed, but one aspect of the effect produced. In both cases the persons for whom the satisfaction is made are certainly freed. Their exemption or deliverance is in both cases, and equally in both, a matter of justice. This is what the Scriptures teach when they say that Christ gave Himself for a ran- som. When a I'ansom is paid and accepted, the deliverance of the captive is a matter of justice. It does not, however, tliereby cease to be to the captives a matter of grace. They owe a debt of grati- tude to him who paid the ransom, and that debt is the greater when the ransom is the life of their deliverer. So in the case of the sat- isfaction of Christ. Justice demands the salvation of liis peo])le. That is his reward. It is He who has acquired this claim on the justice of God; his people have no such claim except tlirougli Him. Besides, it is of the nature of a satisfaction that it answers all the ends of punishment. What reason can there be for the infliction of the penalty for which satisfaction has been rendered ?
4. The satisfaction of Chi'ist being a matter of covenant between the Father and the Son, the distribution of its benefits is determined by the terms of that covenant. It does not ipso facto liberate. The people of God are not justified from eternity. They do not come into the world in a justified state. They remain (if adults) in a state of condemnation until they believe. And even the ben- efits of redemption are granted gradually. The believer receives more and more of them in this life, but the full plenitude of bless