SECTION It 545 this more abundantly manifest that God will not spare wilful criminals, since even his own Son must be smitten when he be- comes a surety for the sinner, rather than sinshould go unpu- nished ? I would ask yet further, Why Agrippashould think this doctrine unreasonable ? Is not suretiship for debts a common thing among men ? Is it not practised daily ? And is not the surety seized, and the debt ex- acted from him, if the principal debtor be insolvent ? Is he not made to suffer imprisonment, and all the hardships of it on the account of the principal ? And is not the debtor discharged if the surety pays the debt ? In criminal cases indeed suretiship is not so frequent among men, for they have not such absolute power over the life or limbs of themselves or others, or have they so much love for their friends. But what good reason is there, or can there be, why the Son of God, who had power over his own life, and whose compassion to guilty man was ex- ceeding great, might not become his surety, and suffer death in his stead, that is, pay the debt of suffering which the sinful creature owed to a just God ? Is there not hereby a new and sensible honour done both to the mercyand justice of God the universal Governor arising from this contrivance of his wisdom, to punish sin on such a surety, and yet to save sinful creatures, both which could hardly have been glorified any other way ? For if the penalties had been fully executed on thesinner, mercy would have lost its honours; or if the sinner had been pardoned 'without an atonement, the justice and authority of God the Governor, would seem to have been too much neglected and dishonoured. Thus this doctrine of atonement is so far from diminishing the honour of the attributes of God, that it highly exalts them. As to the second doctrine, viz. the influences of the Spirit of God to sanctify our nature, what is there more agreeable to reason than this ? WhenGod saw the weakness of his creature man since the fall, to change his own nature into holiness, and to fulfil his duty, how agreeable is it to our best apprehensions of the mercy of God, to suppose that he would afford some divine aids to those who seek them ? That he would graciously assist the feeble endeavours of his creatures to repent of sin, and to apead their lives in obedience to their Maker, and that by the operations of his own Spirit; and that by this Spirit of his he would enable weak creatures to overcome their powerful tempta- tions ? But I am verybrief in these enquiries, because the ob- jections against these doctrines have been often and abundantly satisfied in answers that have been given to Socinian writers in former and later times. Since therefore there is no necessary reason that requires us to construe these tscriptural expressions into tropes and figures, why should we not understand the divine Vot. iv. Mat
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