that the Meffiah fhould be wounded for our tranfgreffions, and bruised for our iniquities, that by his ftripes we might be healed; that he should bear the fin of many, and that the Lord fhould lay on him the iniquity of us all. I believe it is impoffible for any one to think fo while he reads the 53d chapter of Isaiah: and it is evident, that our author himself thinks otherwise, because he speaks of this paffage as a prediction' of our Lord's own fufferings. Theological Repofitory, vol. I. p. 129. But the difficulty arifing from the application of the prophet's words by the evangelift will vanish, when we confider, that fometimes in the New Teftament a prophetic declaration is faid to be fulfilled in an event, to which it may with great propriety be applied, though it was not originally, or primarily at least, fpoken of that event. Such an application proves that the prediction was true in that fenfe, but not that it is to be reftrained to that fenfe. We have two instances of this kind of application in the gofpel written by St. Matthew. See chap. ii. 15. compared with Hofea xi. 1. And ver. 17, 18, of the fame chap. compared with Jer. xxxi. 15. Some Socinian writers give a different turn to that clear defcription of our Saviour's vicarious fufferings in the 53d chap. of Ifaiah: They look upon this paffage as containing only" a beautiful description of fuffering innocence," and fuppofe the prophet

meant

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meant no more than to intimate that Chrift "was fo free from the fufpicion of guilt, "that his calamity must be charged to the of"fence of others; and fo extraordinary were "his fufferings for their number and great"ness, that whereas the rest of the nation "had been very corrupt, it seemed as if God "had laid on him the iniquity of them all. "The phrase of suffering for the fins of men," fay they," as it neceffarily implies innocence "in the fufferer, fo it does not neceffarily imply any thing farther."* This is a very eafy method of putting an end to this, or any other controverfy. There needs no more than to paraphrase the clearest declarations of holy writ as this author has paraphrafed those of Isaiah, which are almost as clear as any in the bible, and the matter is fettled at once. It SEEMS, may any one fay, AS IF the wicked should be turned into bell, and all the people that forget God; Pfal. ix. 17. but this is only a beautiful way of frightening men to their duty. And, indeed, if the phrafe of fuffering for the fins of men neceffarily implies no more than innocence in the fufferer, I cannot fee how the infpired writers could by any expreffions whatever convey the doctrine of atonement, even fuppofing it to be their defign; for the fame liberty of interpretation would fet afide any declaration of this kind, and render the moft pofitive evidence of no effect.

* Mr. Graham's Letters on the Atonement, p. 60, 61. 23. "Chrift

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23. "Chrift is said to die a curfe for us,

"because the manner of his death was fimilar "to that by which those who were deemed "curfed under the law were put to death. Chrift bath redeemed us from the curse of the "law, being made a curfe for us; for it is written, Curfed is every one that bangeth on a tree." Illuft. p. 51, 52.

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.•

In whatever fenfe we understand the expreffion being made a curfe for us, thus much is plain from the words of the text, that we, i. e. all true believers, are delivered from that penalty to which our breach of the law of God exposes us, which is here called the curfe of the law, by the fufferings of our Redeemer: and this proves the truth of the doctrine of atonement. It is not supposed, that Christ was "under the displeasure of God," if by dif pleafure is understood diflike or difapprobation; but that his fufferings, being inflicted by God as a righteous judge, were truly penal, and deliver the penitent offender from the curfe of the moral law, as the propitiatory facrifices delivered the Jews from the curfe of the ceremonial.

24.

The death of Chrift is called a paffover, because it may be confidered as a fign of our deliverance from the power of "fin, as the paffover among the Jews was a fign of their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage." Ib. p. 47.

The

The paffover, at its first institution, afforded the Ifraelites an affurance, and a very fignificant token, of their prefervation from the judgment of God, and of their deliverance from bondage: But what token did the death of Chrift afford of our deliverance from the power of fin, according to the account which the Socinians give of it? God permitted an innocent man to be cruelly put to death by a licentious. people, therefore we fhall be delivered from the power of fin :—I think it requires uncommon penetration to discover here the agreement between the fign, and the thing fignified. Whereas, the death of Chrift affords a most ftriking token of our deliverance from fin, if we confider him as giving himself for us, that he might free us from the deserved punishment of our fins, and procure those divine communications of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are delivered from the power of fin, and enabled to serve God in righteousness and true holiness. If to the apostle's declaration in 1 Cor. v. 7. Chrift our paffover is facrificed for us, we add the confideration of that special injunction given to the Jews, not to break a bone of the pafchal lamb, compared with the reason given for the preservation of our Lord's bones, These things were done, that the Scripture fhould be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. John xix. 36. we fhall fee reafon to conclude, that the Jewish inftitution had a

typical

typical respect to the facrifice of our Redeemer: And it is probable, that this type was defigned to exhibit the benefits included in our redemption by Christ, as the facrifices for fin did the means of that redemption.

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25. Many divines, finding themselves obliged to give up the notion of Christ's fuffering in our ftead,-alledge, however, "that God forgives the fins of mankind on ac"count of the merit of Chrift, and his intercef

fion for us; this opinion, like the former, is "favoured by the literal sense of a few paffages "of fcripture; but is contrary to the general

and plain tenor of it, which represents all "acts of mercy as proceeding from the effen"tial placability and goodness of God the Fa"ther only." Ib. p. 52.

It is true, that in the Old Teftament the mercy of God is generally mentioned alone when our forgiveness is fpoken of, though many intimations are there given of the refpect which our Lord's fufferings have to this event. It must be acknowledged likewise, that the doctrine of atonement, and fome other important truths, were not fo clearly taught even by our Lord during his perfonal ministry, as they were after his afcenfion by his infpired meffengers, agreeably to his own defign and declaration: John xvi. 12, 13. But in the epiftolary part of the New Testament, the neceffity and efficacy of a mediator is conftantly inculcated in all the variety of expreffion.

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