A practical exposition of the Lord's-Prayer

1. Place comes under the Notion of a Surety. Because he took the Debt of Man upon himself, therefore, Heb. 7. 22. he is called, The Surety of a better Testament. When Christ undertook the Business of our Salvation, he did in effect say, as Paul to Philemon; Vers. 18. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine Account: So did Jesus Christ, in effect say to God; Let me be made a Sin, and made a Curse for them. He that was a Judg, was willing to become a Party, and to pay what we owed. David in the Type of Christ, saith, Psal. 69. 4. I restored that which I took not away. He did not take away any Honour from God: It was we that robbed God of the Glory of his Justice, Authority, and Truth; that trampled them under our Feet: but Christ made restitution and amends to God.

2. Having condescended to become our Surety, he made full Satisfaction, by suffering the Punishment which was due to us; Isa. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows. That which we should have born upon our own Backs, and would have crushed us for ever, that ⟨p. 351⟩he hath born, and he hath carried. Christ was to be the Sinner in Law, and was to suffer in our stead. Solomon hath a Passage concerning Suretyship; Prov. 11. 15. He that is Surety for a Stranger, shall smart for it: or, (as the Hebrew will bear it) sore-bruised, or, (as it is in the Margin) shall be bruised and sore-broken. And the same word is used concerning Christ, that was our Surety; Isa. 53. 10. It pleased the Father to bruise him. Christ is our Surety, therefore he was bruised and broken, he suffered what we should have suffered. It is true, there are some Circumstances of our Punishment, which Christ suffered not, (as a great part of our Punishment in Hell, there's the Worm of Conscience, and Despair, and the Eternity of Torments) but this was not essential to the Punishment, but did only arise from the Guilt, and from the Weakness of the Party that is punished, because we cannot work through it otherwise. Christ paid the full Price which Divine Justice demanded, and so made Satisfaction for us.