ESSAY II: 429 to impunity and life, or he is dealt with as a righteous person, or as though he had not transgressed. Or suppose a man has been guilty 6f treason, and his estate is taken away from him, and from his children for ever, then the sin of the father is not im- puted to the father only, but to the children also, that is, they bear the iniquity of their father, his punishment is laid upon them, they suffer for their father's sinor crime, and that in their followinggenerations even to late posterity, they are exposed to poverty and hardships for the treason of their ancestor, and his sin is imputed to them as well as to him. If the crime of which a man is guilty be murder of the innocent, and the criminal forfeits his life and estate by the sen- tence of the law, and his children become beggars and vaga- bonds, then the blood of the innocent man is said to be upon the murderer, and upon his children, because they also suffer for their father's crime. When the Jews imprecate the guilt of the blood of Christ which they shed, to be imputed to them, and punished on them and' their children, this is their language; Mat. xxvii. 25. His blood be on us and on our children. Or if we should suppose some criminal to have incurred the penalty of imprisonment, banishment, or scourging, and the laws of the state should permit a friend of his to become his surety, and to sufferthese penalties in his room, then the crime is said to be im- puted to the surety, or to be laid upon him; he bears the iniquity of the criminal, he stands liable to the penalty, and actually suffers for the sin of another man : And thus the crime is not imputed to the original offender, but upon his submission to his prince, and trusting in his mercy, he is entirely acquitted, and dealt with as an innocent or righteous man : then righteousness is imputed to him, though his crime was imputed to his kind surety, When he suffered for it; and the sufferings of the surety are imputed to the criminal, when he is absolved or acquitted on that account. And if we should suppose the prince, or the laws of the land, to permit this kind friend or surety to exert himself in some eminent act of obedience or service to which a reward is .promised; and all this to procure some further favour for the criminal, and to entitle him to the promised reward, then this act of eminent service may be said to be imputed to the original criminal, that is, he is rewarded on the account of it: so that upon the whole, the criminal copes to haienot only a freedom from guilt, and a right to impunity, but a right also to the re- ward, in virtue of what his kind friend and surety has suffered and'done for him. The criminal is both pardoned, justified and rewarded for the sake of what his friend has done or suffered, and his friend's doings as well as his sufferings may be said to be imputed to him. Or if any man practise obedience and . right-
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