as by his doctrine he had shewed us the way to it. By this all the high commendations of his death amount only to this, that he by dying has given a vast credit and authority to his Gospel, which was the powerfullest mean possible to redeem us from sin, and to reconcile us to God: but this is so contrary to the whole design of the New Testament, and to the true import of that great variety of phrases in which this matter is set out, that at this rate of expounding Scripture we can never know what we may build upon, especially when the great importance of this thing, and of our having right notions concerning it, is well considered. St. Paul does, in his Epistle to the Romans, state an opposition between the death of Christ and the sin of Adam, the ill effects of the one being removed by the other; but he plainly carries the death of Christ much farther, than that it had only healed the wound that was given by Adam's sin; for as the judgment was by one to condemnation, the free gift is of many offences to justification (m).' But in the other places of the New Testament Christ's death is set forth so fully as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, that it is a very false way of arguing to infer, that because in one place (m) Rom. c. 5. v. 16. that is set in opposition opposition to Adam's sin, that therefore the virtue of it was to go no farther than to take away that sin; it has, indeed, removed that, but it has done a great deal more besides. "Thus it is plain that Christ's death was our sacrifice; the meaning of which is this, that God intending to reconcile the world to himself, and to encourage sinners to repent and turn to him, thought fit to offer the pardon of sin, together with the other blessings of his Gospel, in such a way as should demonstrate both the guilt of sin and his hatred of it; and yet with that, his love of sinners, and his compassion towards them. A free pardon, without a sacrifice, had not been so agreeable either to the majesty of the Great Governor of the world, nor the authority of his laws, nor so proper a method to oblige men to that strictness and holiness of life that he designed to bring them to; and therefore he thought fit to offer his pardon, and those other blessings, through a Mediator, who was to deliver to the world this new and holy rule of life, and to confirm it by his own unblemished life: and in conclusion, when the rage of wicked men, who hated him for the holiness both of his life and of his doctrine, did work them up into such a fury as to pursue him to a most violent and ignominious death, he, in compliance with the matter they could exceed so much as to represent that to be our sacrifice which is not truly so this is a point which will not bear figures and amplifications; it must be treated of strictly, and with a just exactness of expression. Christ is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world (s);' he is said to have 'borne our sins in his own body (t);' to have been 'made sin for us (u);' it is said that 'he gave his life a ransom for many (a);' that 'he was the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (y);' and that we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins (2); it is said, that he has reconciled us to his Father in his cross, and in the body of his flesh through death (a);' that 'he, by his own blood, entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us (b);' that ' once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin, by the sacrifice of himself (c);' that he was once offered to bear the sins of many (d);' that we are sanctified by the of fering of the body of Christ, once for all (e);' and and that after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, he sat down for ever on the right hand of blood of the we are re God (f).' It is said, that we enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, that is, the blood of the new covenant, by which we are sanctified (g);' that he hath sanctified the people with his own blood (h);' and was 'the great shepherd of the sheep through the everlasting covenant (i);' that deemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (k) and that Christ suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God (1).' In these, and in a great many more passages that lie spread in all the parts of the New Testament, it is as plain as words can make any thing, that the death of Christ is proposed to us as our sacrifice and reconciliation, our atonement and redemption. So it is not possible for any man, who considers all this, to imagine that Christ's death was only a confirmation of his Gospel, a pattern of a holy and patient suffering of death, and a necessary preparation to his resurrection, by which he gave us a clear proof of a resurrection, and by consequence of eternal life, (f) Heb. c. 10. v. 12. as (g) Heb. c. 10. v. 19. (i) Heb. c. 13. v. 20. (1) 1 Pet. c. 3. v. 18. as by his doctrine he had shewed us the way to it. By this all the high commendations of his death amount only to this, that he by dying has given a vast credit and authority to his Gospel, which was the powerfullest mean possible to redeem us from sin, and to reconcile us to God: but this is so contrary to the whole design of the New Testament, and to the true import of that great variety of phrases in which this matter is set out, that at this rate of expounding Scripture we can never know what we may build upon, especially when the great importance of this thing, and of our having right notions concerning it, is well considered. St. Paul does, in his Epistle to the Romans, state an opposition between the death of Christ and the sin of Adam, the ill effects of the one being removed by the other; but he plainly carries the death of Christ much farther, than that it had only healed the wound that was given by Adam's sin; for as the judgment was by one to condemnation, the free gift is of many offences to justification (m).' But in the other places of the New Testament Christ's death is set forth so fully as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, that it is a very false way of arguing to infer, that because in one place (m) Rom. c. 5. v. 16. that is set in opposition |