(3.) 'Tis as clear, that the Consent of the Guilty is requisite, who obtains Impunity by the vicarious Sufferings of another. For if he resolves to bear his own Guilt, and wilfully refuses to be freed by the interposing of another between him and the Punishment, neither the Judg nor the Surety can constrain him to it. Now all these concur in this great Transaction. As the Creation of Man was a Work of solemn Counsel, Let us make Man, so his Redemption was the Product of the Divine Counsel. I may allude to what is represented to us in the Vision of the Divine Glory to the Prophet Isaiah: 1I heard the Lord saying, Who shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here I am, send me. Thus the Rise of our Salvation was from the Father. He makes the Inquiry, who ⟨p. 36⟩shall go for us, to recover fallen Man? The Son interposes, Here I am, send me. The Father from his Sovereignty and Mercy appointed and accepted the Mediator and Surety for us. It was no part of the Law given in Paradise, that if Man sinned, he should die, or his Surety; but it was an Act of God's free Power as superior to the Law, to appoint his Son to be our Surety, and to die in our stead. And the Aspect of the Law upon a Sinner being without Passion, it admits of Satisfaction by the Sufferings of another. 'Tis said in the Gospel, God so loved the World, so above all Comparison and Comprehension, that he gave and sent his only begotten Son into the World, that the World through him might be saved. The Son of God, with the freest Choice, did interpose between the righteous God and guilty Man for that end. He willingly left his Sovereign Seat in Heaven, eclipsed his Glory under a dark Cloud of Flesh, degraded himself into the Form of a Servant, and submitted to an ignominious and cruel Death for our Redemption. When he came into the World, he declared his full Content, with a Note of Eminency: Sacrifice and Offering thou ⟨p. 37⟩wouldst not, but a Body hast thou prepared me: Then said I, Lo I come to do thy Will, O God. Upon this Consent of the Father and the Son, the whole Fabric of our Redemption is built. 'Tis the Resultance from it, that the Execution of Justice on Christ is the Expiation of our Sins, and by his Sufferings the full Price is paid for our Redemption.
(3.) 'Tis as clear, that the Consent of the Guilty is requisite, who obtains Impunity by the vicarious Sufferings of another. For if he resolves to bear his own Guilt, and wilfully refuses to be freed by the interposing of another between him and the Punishment, neither the Judg nor the Surety can constrain him to it. Now all these concur in this great Transaction. As the Creation of Man was a Work of solemn Counsel, Let us make Man, so his Redemption was the Product of the Divine Counsel. I may allude to what is represented to us in the Vision of the Divine Glory to the Prophet Isaiah: 1I heard the Lord saying, Who shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here I am, send me. Thus the Rise of our Salvation was from the Father. He makes the Inquiry, who ⟨p. 36⟩shall go for us, to recover fallen Man? The Son interposes, Here I am, send me. The Father from his Sovereignty and Mercy appointed and accepted the Mediator and Surety for us. It was no part of the Law given in Paradise, that if Man sinned, he should die, or his Surety; but it was an Act of God's free Power as superiour to the Law, to appoint his Son to be our Surety, and to die in our stead. And the Aspect of the Law upon a Sinner being without Passion, it admits of Satisfaction by the Sufferings of another. 'Tis said in the Gospel, God so loved the World, so above all Comparison and Comprehension, that he gave and sent his only begotten Son into the World, that the World through him might be saved. The Son of God, with the freest Choice, did interpose between the righteous God and guilty Man for that end. He willingly left his Sovereign Seat in Heaven, eclips'd his Glory under a dark Cloud of Flesh, degraded himself into the Form of a Servant, and submitted to an ignominious and cruel Death for our Redemption. When he came into the World, he declared his full Content, with a Note of Eminency: Sacrifice and Offering thou ⟨p. 37⟩wouldst not, but a Body hast thou prepared me: Then said I, Lo I come to do thy Will, O God. Upon this Consent of the Father and the Son, the whole Fabrick of our Redemption is built. 'Tis the Resultance from it, that the Execution of Justice on Christ is the Expiation of our Sins, and by his Sufferings the full Price is paid for our Redemption.
- 1Isa. 6.
