righteousness cannot be here interpreted, "de fide in promissis præstandis, quia quæ sequuntur non ad Judæos solos pertinent, sed etiam ad Gentes quibus promissio nulla erat facta,"—" because Gentiles are spoken of, and not the Jews only, but to them there was no promise given." A reason worthy the Annotations; as though the promise was not made to Abraham that he should be heir of the world, and to all his seed, not according to the flesh only; and as though the learned man himself did not think the first promise to have been made, and always to have belonged, to all and every man in the world. But yet neither will the sense of Socinus stand, for the reasons before given.

But how are these ends brought about, that we should be dixarobμενοι δωρεάν, and yet there should be ἔνδειξις δικαιοσύνης ?

(3.) Ans. The means procuring all this is the blood of Christ; it is διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ,—" by the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." And how that redemption is wrought he expresseth when he shows how we are made partakers of it, dià sãs kiorews iv rỹ avroũ aïμarı,—" through faith in his blood." The redemption wrought and procured by the blood of Christ is the procuring cause of all this. The causa προηγουμένη is the grace of God, of which before; the causa pozarapurin is this blood of Christ. This redemption, as here, is called aroλúrpwors, Luke xxi. 28, Eph. i. 7, Col. i. 14; λúrpwors, Luke i. 68, ii. 38, Heb. ix. 12; λúrpov, Matt. xx. 28, Mark x. 45; ávríλurpov, 1 Tim. ii. 6; and in respect of the effect, púas, Rom. vii. 24, xi. 26, Col. i. 13, 1 Thess. i. 10. This is the procuring cause, as I said, of the whole effect of God's free grace here mentioned. We are justified freely, because we have redemption by the blood of Christ; he obtained it for us by the price of his blood.

I rather abide in the former sense of λurpov (from whence is ȧñoAúrpwors), to be "a price of redemption," than to interpret it by lustrum," and so to refer it to the sacrifices of purification, which belong to another consideration of the death of Christ. And yet the consideration of the blood of Christ as a sacrifice hath place here also, as shall be discovered. This is that which is here asserted, We have forgiveness of sins by the intervention of the blood of Christ, obtaining redemption for us; which is that we aim to prove from this place.

Grotius gives this exposition of the words :

:

Christ by his obedience (especially in his death), and the prayers accompanying it, obtained this of his Father, that he should not forsake and harden mankind, drenched in grievous sins, but should give them a way of coming to righteousness by Jesus Christ, and should deliver them from a necessity of dying in their sin, by revealing a way whereby they might escape it.1

1 "Christus per obedientiam suam (maxime in morte) et preces ei accedentes, hoc a Patre obtinuit, ne is humanum genus gravibus peccatis immersum desereret atque ob

[1] It is well it is granted that the death of Christ respected God in the first place, and the obtaining somewhat of him; which the annotator's friends deny.

[2] That the purchase of Christ was not for all mankind, that they might be delivered, but for the elect, that they should be delivered, has elsewhere been declared.

[3] Christ by his death did not obtain of his Father that he should reveal or appoint that way of obtaining deliverance and salvation which by him we have. This, as the giving of Christ himself, was of the free grace and love of God. Nor is the appointment of the way of salvation, according to the covenant of grace, anywhere assigned to the death of Christ, but to the love of God sending his Son and appointing him to be a mediator, though the good things of the covenant be purchased by him.

[4] This is all the effect here assigned to the blood-shedding of Jesus Christ, this is the redemption we have thereby: "He obtained of his Father that a better way of coming to righteousness than that of the law or that of philosophy might be declared to us"! The mystery of the whole is: "Christ, by his obedience to God, obtained this, that himself should be exalted to give a new law and teach a new doctrine, in obedience whereunto we might come to be righteous;" which must needs be an excellent explication of these words, "We have redemption by his blood," which plainly express the price he paid for us, and the effect that ensued thereon. Socinus goes another way. Says he:

The intervention of the blood of Christ, though it moved not God to grant us deliverance from the punishment of sin, yet it moved us to accept of it being offered, and to believe in Christ.1

That is, the blood of Christ, being paid as a price of our redemption, hath no effect in respect of him to whom it is paid, but only in respect of them for whom it is paid; than which imagination nothing can be more ridiculous.

(4.) The means of application of the redemption mentioned, or participation in respect of us, is faith. It is dià tíorews èv aïμarı avrou. Of this we have no occasion to speak.

(5.) The means of communication on the part of God is in these words, “Ον προέθετο ὁ Θεὸς ἱλαστήριον — Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation." God set him forth for this end and purpose. The word postero may design various acts of God; as,

[1.] His purpose and determination or decree of giving Christ; duraret, sed viam illis daret ad justitiam perveniendi per Christum, Esa. liii. 4, ita et åæoλurpoõv aut wouīv λúspwoiv, Luc. i. 68. aut, id est, liberare, nempe a necessitate moriendi in peccatis, viam patefaciendo per quam exire istâ liceret."

"Interventus sanguinis Christi, licet Deum ad liberationem hanc a peccatorum nostrorum pœna nobis concedendum movere non potuerit, movit tamen nos ad eam nobis oblatam accipiendam, et Christo fidem habendam."-Socin. ubi sup.

whence our translators have in the margin rendered it "foreordained," as the word is used Eph. i. 9, "Hv podsтO Év aur,-"Which he fore-purposed in himself." Or,

[2] God's proposal of him beforehand in types and sacrifices to the Jews, the preposition pó being often in composition used in that sense in this epistle, chap. iii. 9, xi. 35, xv. 4. Or,

[3.] For the actual exhibition of him in the flesh when God sent him into the world. Or,

[4.] It may refer to the open exposition and publication of him in the world by the gospel; for, as we shall afterward show, the ensuing words hold out an allusion to the ark, which now in Christ, the veil being rent, is exposed to the open view of believers. Hence John tells us, Rev. xi. 19, when the temple was opened, "there was seen in it the ark of the testament;" which, as it was not at all in the second temple, the true Ark being to be brought in, no more was it to be seen upon the opening of the first, where it was, being closed in the holiest of holies. But now in the ordinances of the gospel, the Ark is perspicuous, because ☺sòs πpoślsro,—God hath set it forth to believers.

ἱλαστήριον,

Now, he was set forth aorpiov, "a propitiation." There is none but has observed that this is the name of the covering of the ark or the mercy-seat that is applied to Christ, Heb. ix. 5; but the true reason and sense of it hath scarce been observed. Ours generally would prove from hence that Christ did propitiate God by the sacrifice of himself. That may have something from the general notice of the word referred to, the "sacrificia," iλaorind (whereof afterward), but not from the particular intimated. The mercy-seat did not atone God for the sins that were committed against the law that was in the ark, but declared him to be atoned and appeased. That this is the meaning of it, that as the mercy-seat declared God to be atoned so also is Christ set forth to declare that God was atoned, not to atone him, Socinus contends at large, but to the utter confusion of his cause; for,

[1.] If this declares God to be "pacatus" and "placatus,” then God was provoked, and some way was used for his atonement. And,-

[2] This is indeed the true import of that type and the application of it here by our apostle. The mercy-seat declared God to be appeased; but how? By the blood of the sacrifice that was offered without, and brought into the holy place. The high priest never went into that place about the worship of God but it was with the blood of that sacrifice, which was expressly appointed to make atonement, Lev. xvi. God would not have the mercy-seat once seen, nor any pledge of his being atoned, but by the blood of the propitiatory sacrifice. So it is here. God sets out Jesus Christ as a propitiation, 34

VOL. XII.

and declares himself to be appeased and reconciled; but how? By the blood of Christ, by the sacrifice of himself, by the price of redemption which he paid. This is the intendment of the apostle: Christ by his blood, and the price he paid thereby, with the sacrifice he made, having atoned God, or made atonement with him for us, God now sets him forth, the veil of the temple being rent, to the eye of all believers, as the Mercy-seat wherein we may see God fully reconciled to us.

And this may serve for the vindication of the testimony to the truth insisted on; and this is the same with 2 Cor. v. 18.

It would be too long for me to insist in particular on the full vindication of the other testimonies that are used for the confirmation of this truth; I shall give them, therefore, together in such a way as that their efficacy to the purpose in hand may be easily discerned.

We are bought by Christ, saith the apostle: 'Hyopáσlníɛ, “Ye are bought," 1 Cor. vi. 20. But this buying may be taken metaphorically for a mere deliverance, as certainly it is, 2 Pet. ii. 1, "Denying the Lord that bought them,”—that is, delivered them,—for it is spoken of God the Father. It may be so, the word may be so used, and therefore, to show the propriety of it here, the apostle adds us, "with a price:" "Ye are bought with a price." To be bought with a price doth nowhere signify to be barely delivered, but to be delivered with a valuable compensation for our deliverance. But what is this price wherewith we are bought? 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, "Not with silver and gold, but íy aïμarı Xpiotoũ,”"—" with the precious (honourable) blood of Christ." Why ripov aiua, "the precious blood?" That we may know that in this business it was valued at a sufficient rate for our redemption, and it did that which in temporal, civil redemption is done by silver and gold, which are given as a valuable consideration for the captive. But what kind of price is this blood of Christ? It is λurpov, Matt. xx. 28, that is, a "price of redemption;" whence it is said that "he gave himself for us, ïva λurpwontai ¿μãs,” Tit. ii. 14, "that he might fetch us off with a ransom." But it may be that it is called λúrpov, not that he put himself in our stead, and underwent what was due to us, but that his death was as it were a price, because thereon we were delivered. Nay, but his life was λúrpov properly; and therefore he calls it also ȧvríλurpov, 1 Tim. ii. 6. 'Avrí in composition signifies either opposition, as 1 Pet. iii. 9, or substitution and commutation, as Matt. ii. 22. In the first sense, here it cannot be taken; therefore it must be in the latter. He was avriλurpov, —that is, did so pay a ransom that he himself became that which we should have been; as it is expressed, Gal. iii. 13, "He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." To whom he paid this price was before declared, and the apostle expresseth it, Eph. v. 2. What now is the issue of all this? We have redemption thereby: Chap.

i. 7, “In whom we have ἀπολύτρωσιν διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ,-redemption by his blood;" as it is again asserted in the same words, Col. i. 14. But how came we by this redemption? He obtained it of God for us: "He entered into heaven, aiwvíav λurpwon supáμsvos, having found (or obtained) eternal redemption for us." By the price of his blood he procured this deliverance at the hand of God. And that we may know that this effect of the death of Christ is properly towards God, what is the immediate issue of this redemption is expressed. It is "forgiveness of sins," Eph. i. 7; Col. i. 14; Rom. iii. 24, 25.

And this is as much as is needful to the first notion of the death of Christ, as a price and ransom, with the issues of it, and the confirmation of our first argument from thence for the satisfaction. of Christ.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Of reconciliation by the death of Christ as it is a sacrifice.

II. THE next consideration of the death of Christ is of it as a sacrifice, and the proper effect thereof is RECONCILIATION by his death as a sacrifice.

Reconciliation in general is the renewal of lost friendship and peace between persons at variance. To apply this to the matter treated of, the ensuing positions are to be premised:

1. There was at first, in the state of innocency, friendship and peace between God and man. God had no enmity against his creature; he approved him to be good, and appointed him to walk in peace, communion, confidence, and boldness with him, Gen. ii. Nor had man, on whose heart the law and love of his Maker was written, any enmity against his Creator, God, and Rewarder.

2. That by sin there is division, separation, and breach of peace and friendship, introduced between God and the creature: Isa. lix. 2, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you." Chap. lxiii. 10, "They rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them." Chap. lvii. 21, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." And therefore it is that, upon a delivery from this condition, we are said (and not before) to have "peace with God," Rom. v. 1.

3. That by this breach of peace and friendship with God, God was alienated from the sinner, so as to be angry with him, and to renounce all peace and friendship with him, considered as such and in that condition. "He that believeth not, the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 36. And therefore by nature and in our natu