Matt. xx. 28.

Even as the Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many, δούναι την ψυχην αυτου λυτρον αντι πολλων.

also Mark x. 45.

So

Jesus came to bring pardon and everlasting life, by gospel promises and declarations to redeem men from iniquity: to assure and extend the blessings which he brought, he gave up his life; he could not otherwise have completed the grand scheme of spiritual redemption or deliverance, of which he was appointed the Mediator. He procured for us, then, the possession of those blessings by means of his death; and it was therefore our ransom or means of deliverance. I do not know how to express my own sense of the importance and value, and, to us, the merit of his death, than by this, his own representation of it. It was, as we have already seen, the necessary means of our deliverance, yet was voluntary on his part; it was our ransom. If any imagine that the expression means more,-that it was literally speaking, the price paid to some one for our deliverance, I have only to say, that they must consistently maintain that the price was paid to God but the Scriptures declare, that we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, from our vain conversation (or conduct),* and by his death reconciled to God.t-The import of this expression of our Lord appears to me so simple and clear, and so obviously accordant with Unitarianism, that I cannot see why it should ever have been cited against it.

# * 1 Pet. i. 18.

† Rom. v. 10.

1 Cor. xi. 24, 25.

'This is my body which is broken for you.'— This cup is the new covenant in my blood.'

The first clause of our Lord's words at the institution of the Supper,- This is my body which is given for you,'*-implies no more than it says, that his death was on our account, or for our benefit; and the second,† though more particular, in no degree authorizes the doctrine of vicarious punishment or satisfaction, nor do I perceive how it can in any way imply them. St. Matthew has these words, 'This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.' St. Mark has the same words, except the last clause, for the remission of sins.' St. Luke has, 'This cup is the new covenant by my blood, which is poured out for you.' And St. Paul, 'This cup is the new covenant by my blood.'§ As Paul expressly declares, that he received his account of the institution from the Lord himself, and states it in order to correct certain abuses which had been connected with the Lord's-supper, I cannot but suppose that the preference should be given to his account. If so, our Lord made the cup the symbol of the new covenant, which was confirmed or ratified by the blood or death of Jesus; and this is fully accordant with the views held out

• Luke xxii. 19. ὑπερ. + See Matt. xxvi. 28. xi. 25.

Mark xiv. 24. Luke xxii. 20. 1 Cor.

* Τουτο γαρ εστι το αίμα μου, το της καινης διαθήκης, το περι πολλών εκχυνομενον εις αφεσιν ἁμαρτιων.

§ Τουτο το ποτηριον ἡ καινη διαθηκη εστιν εν τῳ εμῳ αίματι.

in the preceding pages. If we follow the account of St. Matthew, our Lord made the cup the symbol of the blood itself; but, since the import of Matthew's words cannot radically differ from that of St. Paul's 'the blood of the new covenant' must mean, the blood shed to ratify the new covenant; and as the grand purpose of the new covenant was to redeem men from their iniquities, to turn them from the power of satan to God, in order that they might receive forgiveness of sins,' it is said, that the blood of Jesus was shed, εις αφεσιν ἁμαρτιων, with a view to the remission or forgiveness of sins.

Luke xxiv. 46. 'Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.' See also v. 26.

Here our Lord intimates (as Paul does, Acts xvii. 3,) that his sufferings and death were necessary, in order to complete the prophecies respecting the Messiah; and these and the foregoing passages are, I believe, all in which he himself gives any intimation as to the purposes of his death.

I

Following then our Lord's own declarations, say that his death answered the purpose of extending the blessings which he brought; that he submitted to it with a view to his resurrection, and, of course, to its consequent benefit to mankind; that he gave up his life as an attestation

The allusion to a Jew must have been peculiarly interesting; see Exod. xxiv. 8.

+ Comp. Jer. xxxi. 31-34.

R

to those doctrines which he brought from God; and that, as the object of the whole was the spiritual deliverance of mankind, his death was a ransom for many. All this fully accords with, and in part necessarily followed from, the purpose for which he most expressly declares he was born and came into the world,-to bear witness to the truth. And that what I have stated as to the efficacy of our Saviour's death (p. 8 and 342), is of the same import with his own declarations I am fully convinced; and I am therefore satisfied, that I possess all fundamental truth on this subject. However, as the Apostles are supposed to declare, or to intimate different doctrines, it is necessary to consider their expressions.

Expressions of the Apostle PAUL.

Acts xx. 28. 'To feed the church of the Lord, which he hath purchased with his own blood.' See p. 152.

The death of Jesus was a necessary, yet voluntary, means of furnishing those aids by which men were purified from their sins. Those who received the blessings of the Gospel constituted the church; they owned the authority of Jesus, and were his subjects. These he acquired by his blood. The word TEPIETONGαro, translated purchased, occurs only once more in the New Testament; vis. 1 Tim. iii. 13, where (and perhaps in this passage) it would better have been translated acquired or gained.

Rom. iii. 25. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation

through faith in his blood, to declare His righteousness for the

remission of sins that are passed, through the forbearance of God."

This is the common rendering of the passage, but it loses sight of the meaning of the original. The Apostle, employing a most beautiful allusion to the Mosaic ritual, represents Jesus as a Mercyseat, harrypiov, (to all who complied with the terms of Christian redemption,) sprinkled with his own blood. Being justified,' treated and accounted as just, and made to share in gospel blessings, FREELY, BY HIS GRACE, by means of the redemption which is by Christ Jesus; whom GOD hath set forth as a MERCY-SEAT, (by means of faith,) in his own blood, for the manifestation of his clemency (dixaloσuvns) respecting the remission of past sins, by the forbearance of God; -with a view to the manifestation of his clemency at the present time, so that he may be just,' or merciful, and the justifier of him who hath faith in Jesus.'*-It appears extremely difficult to ascertain the precise force of dixatory, but Dr. Taylor, in his Key to the Apostolical Writings, ch. xvi. has clearly established, that the one here employed, is fully authorized by the usages both of the Old and of the New Testament. If we adopt Archbishop Newcome's rendering, ' method of justification,' the general sense is very little affected.

6

What has principally contributed to obscure

I have endeavoured in the above translation to show the appropriate force of the prepositions, which occur with peculiar frequency.