ESSAY VI. I8I friend and benefactor, he paid so sublime a price by his death and sufferings, as in a strict sense to satisfy or make full recom- pence for all our violationsof the law ofGod, and to merit par- don and eternal life at the hand of God for us ; But when we considerhim merely as our representative, or our surety, and to answer what the law demanded of us, he cannot be so properly said to merit our pardon, or to make full and abundant recom- pence to the justice of God for our offences ; for this might lead or encourage persons to infer, that we ourselves have satisfied God, or made recompenceto him in the person of Christ, or that we have merited our pardon and our salvation, because what he did entirely as our representative, wemay in some sort be esteem- ed to have clone in and by him. Again, the death of Christ as a suretyand the second Adam was his suffering of the curse of the law, and the penalty thereof in our stead, which we have incurred ; and in this viewhis death and his dereliction, or being forsaken of the Father, was the idem, or same, which sinners should have suffered ; though in other respects, andwhen we consider him as a gloriousMediator, or super-eminent benefactor, then he appears with all the dignity of his indwelling godhead, and in this sensehe paid a price of superior value, his death is the tantundem ; and more, he makes an abundant compensation for sin, and a satisfaction to the de- stands of the law, and honours the justice of God more than our everlastingpunishment could do, and hereby he merits for its those blessings which are above all our reach, or pretences, or obligations toprocure or merit for ourselves. Again, as he was a Redeemer, his death is a price paid for our souls to divine jus- tice, in order to release us from the bonds of condemnation : But his death as a benefactor, maybe rather considered as a price for the blessings which he purchased for us, and ofwhich we are made partakers through him. III. There are other difficulties which are started among the severalcontroversies ofchristians withregard to ourfaith, and the wayand manner whereby this faith interests us in Christ and his salvation : And since Christ has sustained so many characters and offices, and stands in so many relations to us, our faith is exercised towards him in a correspondency to each of these rela. tions and characters ; and therefore when weread or assers that our faith saves us in this way, or under this logical relation, we dare not therefore assert, that it cannot save us in any other way, or under another logical relation. I would endeavour to make this thinga little more clear, because there have been many con- troversies arisen upon this head. Let us then briefly recollect or take a short survey of the several representations which aregiven us of faith in Christ, according to these different characters of our blessed Saviour. m 3
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