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which they are pardoned and made everlastingly happy;" by showing, that "if any thing short of plenary satisfaction to divine justice could be consistently allowed as a ground of pardon; surely it must be obvious that the same power which could righteously dispense with an adequate recompense for crime, might, if such had been the divine pleasure, have fixed on any other medium for the same purpose;" and, consequently, that the mediation of the Redeemer was not absolutely indispensable; that less suffering than he endured would have been sufficient; and that either in whole or in part he was " bruised" needlessly.

In the second Letter, he clearly proves it to be an erroneous opinion, "That though our blessed Lord died intentionally for the elect only, there is nevertheless a redundancy of merit in his death sufficient for the redemption of all men." p. 57. He admits, as any one but a Socinian, or one who denies every kind of atonement by Christ, will, "That our divine Jesus could have redeemed ten thousand worlds, if, in the everlasting covenant, he had been constituted the federal head, and had become the surety of these worlds;" not, however, without assuming more guilt, even the obnoxiousness of ten thousand worlds to punishment; and not without suffering in exact proportion to the criminality of the offenders to be pardoned through his expiatory pangs. His reasoning on this subject cannot be refuted, by the united force of all who teach the doctrine of universal atonement.

"But if our blessed Lord, (says he) would not have suffered more, had the number to be saved been much greater than it eventually will be, why should he have suffered so much as he actually did suffer? For if the mere consideration of the dignity of his person, and not the weight of his sufferings, be thought a sufficient reason for extending the benefit of his death to an indefinite number; the least possible degree of suffering would, according to this notion, have answered the same end. But surely He who is infinitely wise and infinitely good: and who doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men,' would not without necessity have inflicted on his own Son such bitter and unparalleled sufferings as he evidently underwent. For, as M'Laurin remarks, infinite justice will never inflict the least degrees of undeserved punishment.' Yet though he

had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, 'it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.' Allow, with the inspired writers, that he was made sin for us -that the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all-that he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities that he redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us; and there will appear ample ground for all he suffered; nor shall we wonder at the dread commission, Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.'

With respect to the degree of intensity in the sufferings of Jesus,' says Dr. Pye Smith, it could not have been less than it actually was, or assuredly it would have been. When the righteous Father was pleased to crush him with that dreadful and fatal stroke, he still ceased not to delight in the Son of his love. One shade of grief would not have passed over his soul, which infinite holiness and wisdom did not perceive to be necessary.'

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"Our blessed Lord himself hath told us, That he came into the world to do the will of his Father;' one branch of which was, 'That he should give eternal life to as many as he had given him.' These were the sheep for whom he laid down his life, and concerning whom he said, They shall never perish.' But that numbers of our apostate race do perish, is evident beyond contradiction; we are therefore compelled from his own testimony to believe that he never laid down his life for them: and if he never laid down his life for them, how could he suffer for them? The righteous God, as Mr. Hurrion expresses it, did not lay upon his own Son more than was right; he did not spare him, or abate him any thing, nor did he inflict more punishment upon him than sin deserved.'

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"That the death of Christ was a death of unexampled sufferings cannot be doubted; but they were sufferings to which he became liable as a surety, and to which, in virtue of his own voluntary engagement, he was righteously adjudged by the law and justice of God. The persons for whom he died, were redeemed from the curse of the law by his being made a curse for them. The punitory sanction, with reference to them, had its full accomplishment, in his expiatory sufferings and death; but surely this cannot be said concerning those who suffer that curse in their own persons." p. 30-33.

In this and the former letter, the author adduces in favour of his own opinions, very lucid quotations from Bishop Reynolds, Mr. M'Laurin, Dr. Pye Smith, Mr. Hurrion, Bishop Brown, Mr. Lawrence Butterworth,

Dr. Bates, Bishop Hopkins, Mr. Eyre, Professor Durham, Dr. Goodwin, Dr. John Edwards, Mr. Rawlin, Mr. Hervey, Mr. Archibald Hall, "the learned Witsius,' "the famous Zanchius," Dr. Owen, Mr. Boston, Archbishop Leighton, Mr. Dorney, Mr. M'Lean, Mr. M'Ewen, Mr. Coles, Bishop Beveridge, Mr. Toplady, Mr. Gillespie, Mr. Twisse, Mr. Romaine, Dr. Isaac Chauncey, Bishop Watson, Du Moulin, Dr. Manton, and others of no inconsiderable fame in their respective churches. It is, however, of unspeakably greater imporportance, that he proves his system to be supported by the word of God. Even the good sense of Dr. Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln, sometimes prevails over his antipathy to evangelical religion, when he attempts to frame an objection. He "observes, when speaking on this subject, If the redemption purchased by the death of Christ be confined to the elect, the design of Christ's coming into the world was to save the elect, and the elect only, and not to save sinners in general.' This conclusion, (says the author of Gethsemane,) appears to me correct and scriptural."

"His Lordship however thinks otherwise; and so did Mr. Baxter, when, in his zeal for a favourite hypothesis, he charged Dr. Owen with asserting, 'That Christ was given to the elect more than others.' This charge, however was not founded in fact: for, remarks the Doctor, I say, 'That he was not given as a Mediator, price, and ransom for any other at all!'

"But though the conclusion drawn by the learned Prelate does not harmonize with his own views of redemption, it is nevertheless in perfect unison with the strains sung by those who were much better qualified to comprehend the full import of redemption, than any of their militant brethren upon earth. And the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints: and they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.'

"The happy spirits, engaged in this delightful song, were far from considering redemption as general. For if those from among whom they had been taken, had been likewise redeem

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ed, which, if redemption be general, they must; their discriminating language is not appropriate; it is not intelligible.

"The redemption here spoken of, says Dr. Guyse, is that which Christ made by his blood, and is said to be out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; which language carries the strongest intimation, that Christ paid the price of redemption not for every individual of them, but for some from among them all." p. 119-121.

In the third Letter, the author states more explicitly his reasons for thinking that our Lord was really punished for the sins of those who shall eventually be saved; and proves, that by covenant he became legally guilty, while he was in his own nature undefiled with moral pollution. He quotes the language of an ancient divine of Boston in New England, (the Rev. Mr. Norton,) on this subject, who says,

"Either Christ suffered the wrath of God, i. e. the punishment due to the sins of the elect, or else God is untrue in that commination, He that sins shall die; because the elect them, selves do not suffer it. But God is true: the Strength of Israel will not lie, 1 Sam. xv. 29. God cannot lie, Titus i. 1. Either Christ suffered the penal death of the curse due to the elect for sin, or the elect suffer it themselves, or the curse is not executed; but the elect suffer it not themselves, neither is the curse not executed; for then the truth of the commination and divine justice fail: therefore Christ suffered the penal death of the curse due to the elect for sin. As the eternal virtue of Christ's sufferings redeemed us from the eternity of suffering formally, so Christ in suffering the wrath of God formally, suffered virtually whatsoever was due to the elect for their sin, and so by suffering redeemed us from all the properly penal curses of the law whatsoever." p. 144.

In the fourth Letter, the author treats of election, and particularly of its relation to imputation, and the vicarious sufferings of the Son of God. He quotes the Rev. Mr. Cooper of Boston in New England, who observes, that "the satisfaction of Christ is rendered a very loose, uncertain, and unsafe thing, if there are not a certain number for whom it was made and accepted; and the value of it lessened exceedingly, if it did not purchase faith, repentance, and holiness, for them on whom they are bestowed." Of an election to the enjoyment of a definite atonement, the same learned divine says, "It would

be very dishonourable to suppose that Christ undertook the great and difficult work of man's redemption, that he came into the world, suffered and died upon an uncertainty what the effect of his redemption would be; for this is plainly to make him act below a wise intelligent agent. Therefore a special number were chosen, and given to Christ, with respect to whom the Father engaged that they should be brought to believe on him, and be a seed to serve him in this world, and through his merits obtain everlasting blessedness in the world to come."

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"To the same purpose speaks that great man, Archbishop Usher: It is of grace that Christ is given to us, and also that his righteousness, apprehended by faith, is accounted ours. It is true that the justification of a sinner, considering the case as it is between the Father and Christ, no man dare call it Free; no, the price of our redemption was the deepest purchase that the world ever heard of; but whatever it cost Christ, it cost us nothing: and so to us it is freely of grace from Christ, yea and to us it is freely of grace from God the Father too; not because he acquits us without a full satisfaction to his justice, or accepts that for perfect righteousness which is not perfect righteousness; but because he receives full satisfaction from the hands of a surety, and that surety being his own Son; when as he might have challenged the uttermost farthing at our hands who were the principals; and then there had been no possibility for us to have been delivered." p. 177.

In the fifth and last Letter of this volume, the author considers some objections which are offered against preaching, what he conceives to be the doctrines of the gospel; and against the propriety of offering Christ as a Saviour indiscriminately; if all, to whom perfect righteousness is proffered, have not been elected and redeemed. Objections of this nature arise from a misconception of the gospel itself; and from an apprehension that many preach the gospel, pre-eminently well, who utter what God has never commissioned them to declare.

Should any one preach to a common audience, that Jesus actually obeyed and suffered, with the intention of saving every one of them, he would transcend his instruction from Him who made him an ambassador. Should he tell them, that Jesus so obeyed and suffered,

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