These Sections teach us of the effects of Christ's mediatorial work on earth :

1st. That Christ made satisfaction in behalf of those whom he represented (a) by his obedience, (6) by his sacrifice of himself.

2d. That Christ has in strict rigour /ttZ/y satisfied all the demands of divine justice upon those whom he represents.

3d. That thus he has, according to the terms of the eternal covenant, not only secured, in behalf of those whom he represented, remission of sins and propitiation of divine wrath, but also an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven.

4th. That although this perfect satisfaction was rendered in his obedience and suffering only subsequently to his incarnation, yet the full benefits thereof had been applied to each of the elect severally in their successive generations by the Holy Ghost, through the varying forms of truth to them made known.

1st. That Christ made satisfaction for those whom he represented, both by his obedience and by his sacrifice of himself, has been shown above, Chapter vii., § 3, and viii., § 4. This truth is taught in the Confessions of all the churches, Lutheran and Reformed. The Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most generally adopted of all the Reformed Confessions, says, Question 60 : " God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ, ... as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ hath accomplished for me."

The Formula of Concord, a Lutheran Confession, says : " Since Christ was not only man, but God and man in one undivided person, so he was not subject to the law, nor obnoxious lo suffering and death, because he was Lord of the law. On which account his obedience is imputed to us ; so that God on account of that whole obedience (which Christ by his acting and by his suffering, in his life and in his death, for our sake rendered to his Father who is in heaven) remits our sins,

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reputes us as good and just and gives us eternal salva* tion."

2d. Christ thus has, in strict rigour, fully satisfied all the demands of divine justice upon those whom he represents. As we saw (Chapter ii., §§ 1, 2) the essential justice of the divine nature demands the punishment of sin. It demands also that the condition of the original covenant of works should be fulfilled before the reward is granted. The latter, Christ does by his obedience. The former, he suffers in the sorrows of his life and death. Christ suffered as the representative of sinners. Our sins were laid upon him. He redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. He died the just for the unjust. He is the propitiation (expiation) for our sins. He gave his life a ransom for many. We are bought with a price. Gal. iii. 13; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John ii. 2; Matt. xx. 28; 1 Tim. ii. 6. Christ suffered only in his single human soul and body, and only for a time. Nevertheless, his person was the infinite and transcendently glorious person of the eternal Son of God. Consequently his sufferings were precisely both in kind and degree what the infinite righteous wisdom of God saw to be in strict rigour a full equivalent in respect to the demands of legal justice, for the eternal sufferings of all for whom he suffered. This is the doctrine of the whole Christian Church. The "Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England," say. Art. 31 : " The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption, propitiation and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual."

The Catechism of the Council of Trent, 2. 5-63:

" Whatever is due by us to God on account of* our sins has been paid aliundantlj, although he should deal with

us according to the strictest rigour of his justice

For it we are indebted to Christ alone, who having paid the price of our sins on the cross, most fully satisfied God."

3d. That thus he has, according to the terms of the everlasting covenant, not only secured in behalf of those whom he represented remission of sins and propitiation of divine wrath, but also an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of glory. The sufferings of Christ secure the remission of the penalty, and by his active obedience, according to the terms of the covenant made with Adam and assumed by Christ, he purchases a right to life and eternal blessedness. That he has so purchased eternal life for all those in whose stead he rendered obedience, is proved from the fact that the Scriptures habitually set forth the truth that "the adoption of sons" and "eternal life" are given to the believer freely for Christ's sake, as elements of that pu7'chased possession of which the Holy Spirit is the earnest. Eph. i. 11-13; Rom. viii. 15, 17 ; Gal. i. 4 ; iii. 13, 14; iv. 4, 5; Eph. V. 25-27 ; Tit. iii. 5, 6 ; Eev. i. 5, 6 ; v. 9, 10.

This proves therefore (1) that Christ did not die simply to make the salvation of those for whom he died possible — i. e., to remove legal obstructions to their salvation— but he died with the design and effect of actually securing their salvation and of endowing them gratuitously with an inalienable title to heaven. (2.) It proves in the second place that the vicarious sufferings of Christ must have been in design And effect, personal and defii ite as to their object. Salvation must be applied to all those for whom it was purchased. Since not the possibility or opportunity for reconciliation, but actual reconciliation itself was purchased ; since not only reconciliation, but a title to an eternal inheritance was purchased, it follows (a) that "to all those for whom Christ hath purchased redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same." Conf. Faith, ch. viii. § 8. And (6) that he who never receives the inheritance, and to whom the purchased grace is never applied, is not one of the persons for whom it was purchased.

4th. That although this satisfaction was rendered by Christ only after his incarnation, yet the full benefits thereof had been applied to each of the elect severally in their successive generations from the beginning, by the Holy Ghost, through the various forms of truth to them made known. This has been at length proved and illustrated. Chapter vii. §§ 5, 6.

This section relates to the ends gained, or the eifects accomplished, by the obedience and sacrifice of Christ. It is affirmed —

1. That he hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father. Retributive justice is essential to God, as a moral governor ; and the exercise of it, upon the entrance of sin, was indispensably necessary. Christ, as the surety of those whom the Father had given unto him, made a true and proper satisfaction to divine justice, by enduring in their stead the very punishment which their sins deserved. " He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" " He finished transgression, made an end of sins, and made reconciliation for iniquity." " He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." — Heb. ix. 26; Dan. ix. 24; Gal. iii. 13.

" Our Lord's sufferings, as our surety, possessed everything requisite to a true and proper satisfaction for sin; he suffered by the appointment of God, who alone had a right to admit of the death of a surety in the room of transgressors; he suffered in the same nature that had sinned; his sufi'erings were voluntary and obediential, and therefore possessed a moral fitness for making reparation to the injured honours of the divine law; he was Lord of his own life, and had a right to lay it dow^u in the room of others; and his sufi'erings were, from the dignity of his person, of infinite value for the expiation of our sins."

That the sacrifice of Christ was fully satisfactory to divine justice, cannot be questioned. An apostle testifies, that the sacrifice which he offered up was "for a sweet-smelling savour unto God." — Eph. v. 2. Christ himself announced that the satisfaction was complete, when, on the cross, he proclaimed, "It is finished." And we have a most decisive proof of the satisfactory nature of his sacrifice, in his resurrection from the dead, and his glorious exaltation in heaven.

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2. He purchased reconciliation for his people. This necessarily flows from the former; for if justice is fully satisfied, God's judicial displeasure must be turned away. It is sin which separates between God and sinners; and, therefore, Christ made reconciliation by satisfying divine justice for sin — the cause of the separation. God was not merely rendered reconcileable, but fully reconciled, by the death of Christ. If God were only reconcileable, then some acts of our own must be the proper ground of our reconciliation. But such a sentiment is subversive of the gosijel, which everywhere declares, that Christ made reconciliation by his death. — Rom. v. 10. From this, however, it Avill by no means follow, that the elect are in a state of actual reconciliation, either from the time of Christ's death, or from the first moment of their own existence. The Scripture represents them as being "by nature children of wrath, even as others." A sure foundation for their reconciliation was laid by the death of Christ; but they are only actually reconciled to God when, by that faith which is of divine operation, they accept of pardon and peace as obtained by Christ, and freely exhibited to them in the gospel. " We joy in God," says an apostle, " through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement," or rather the reconciliation — Rom. v. 11.

3. He purchased for his elect an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. Christ not only sustained the full infliction of the penalty of the law, to obtain for his people deliverance from condemnation, but also perfectly fulfilled its precept, to procure for them a title to the eternal inheritance. Indeed, his endurance of the penalty, and his obedience to the precept of the law, though they may be distinguished, cannot be separated, and constitute that one ligJiteousness which is meritorious of their complete salvation. " Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." — Rom. v. 21. " By Christ's satisfaction," says the accurate Witsius, " deliverance from sin, and all the happy effects of that immunity, were purchased at once for all the elect in general."*