as threatening to punish all eternally, who refuse to accept the offers of pardon in Christ's name. This looks perfectly inconsistent with the retributive justice of God, unless the atonement be universal. What can be more unjust than to punish sinners for not accepting a salvation which was never provided for them? And it never was provided for them, if Christ did not, by his sufferings and death, make atonement for them. But Christ commands his ministers to say to all, without exception, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned." This, as well as many other passages of scripture, clearly proves that the atonement of Christ is not limited, but extends to all the children of men. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." And the apostle John says, "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

Its whole

2. If the atonement of Christ was necessary entirely on God's account, to satisfy his justice towards himself in exercising pardoning mercy to the guilty, then it did not satisfy justice towards sinners themselves. Justice, as it respects them, stands in full force against them. Nothing which Christ did or suffered, altered their characters, obligations, or deserts. His obedience did not free them from their obligation to obey the divine law, nor did his sufferings free them from their desert of suffering the penalty of the divine law. Both the precept and penalty of the divine law are founded in the nature of things; and Christ did not come to destroy these, nor could he destroy them, by obedience or sufferings. The atonement which Christ has made, has left sinners in the same state that they were in before. efficacy respects God's character. It has completely satisfied his justice in exercising mercy to all penitent, believing sinners. This is what the assembly of divines evidently mean in reply to the question," How does Christ execute the office of a priest?" They answer, "By his once offering up himself a sacrifice, to satisfy divine justice." This was all that he meant to do, or could do, or that needed to be done, in order to make a complete atonement for sin. But many suppose that Christ, by his obedience and death, did a great deal more for sinners, than for God. They suppose that he suffered in the room of the elect, and bore the penalty of the law in their stead, so that he paid the full debt of suffering which they owed to God. And on this account, they suppose that God cannot in justice punish them for any of their past, present, or future sins. They likewise suppose that Christ obeyed the law perfectly in their room, and by his perfect obedience paid the full debt of obedience which they owed to God; so that they are no longer bound to obey the precepts, nor

exposed to suffer the penalty of the law. Hence they suppose that there are no terms or conditions of salvation to be performed, in order to pardon and justification. Christ has done all in their stead, and they have nothing to do but to believe that he has done all, and that they are completely safe. This is true Antinomianism, which is believed and propagated at this day by various sectarians. But all these notions are groundless and absurd, if the atonement was necessary entirely on God's account, and not on the account of sinners; and if all that Christ did and suffered, he did and suffered to render it consistent with the justice of God to forgive and save penitent believers.

3. If the atonement of Christ was necessary entirely on God's account, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth, then he did not merit any thing at the hand of God for himself, or for mankind. There is no phrase more common and familiar than that of the merits of Christ; but it is generally misunderstood and misapplied. Though Christ suffered the just for the unjust, though he made his soul an offering for sin, and though he suffered most excruciating pains in the garden and on the cross, yet he did not lay God under the least obligation, in point of justice, to pardon and save a single sinner. His sufferings could not lay God under any obligations to do any thing for him, and much less for any of the human race. God is above being bound by any being in the universe; and he cannot bind himself, otherwise than by a free, voluntary, gratuitous promise. Though God promises to pardon every true believer, yet he promises to do it as an act of grace, and not as an act of justice. For the atonement of Christ did not lay him. under the least obligation, in point of justice, to pardon even true penitents. Accordingly, the apostle says that believers are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." And as Christ did not merit pardon for believers by his sufferings, so he did not merit a reward for them by his obedience. It is true, God has promised to reward him for his obedience unto death, but his promise is a promise of grace, and not of justice. So he has promised to reward every man for the least good he does, even for giving a cup of cold water in sincerity. But though he promises to reward all good men according to their works, or for their works, yet his promise to them is a promise of grace, not of justice, and without the least regard to Christ's obedience as the ground of it. The truth is, Christ never merited any thing at the hand of God, for himself, or for sinners, by his obedience and sufferings. By obeying and suffering in the room of sinners, he only rendered it consistent for God to renew or not to renew, to pardon or not to pardon, to reward or not to reward, sinners; but did not lay him under

the least obligation, in point of justice, to do either of these things for them. There was no merit in Christ's obedience and sufferings; and there is no propriety in using the term, merits of Christ. The use of this phraseology has led multitudes into gross and dangerous errors, in respect to faith in Christ, justification through his atonement, and the future rewards of the righteous. It is of great importance, therefore, to form clear and just ideas of Christ's atonement, in order to avoid those errors.

4. If the sole design of Christ's atonement was to satisfy the justice of God towards himself, then he exercises the same free grace in pardoning sinners through the atonement, as if no atonement had been made. It has been considered as a great difficulty to reconcile free pardon with full satisfaction to divine justice. The difficulty has arisen from a supposition that the atonement of Christ was designed to pay the debt of sufferings which sinners owed to God. If this were the design of the atonement, it would be difficult to see the grace of God in pardoning sinners on that account. For there is no grace in forgiving a debtor after his debt is paid, whether by himself or by another. But sin is not a debt, and cannot be paid by suffering. Christ's suffering in the room of sinners did not alter the nature of their sin, nor take away their just deserts of punishment. There is the same grace of God in forgiving them through the atonement, as if no atonement had been made. This the apostle asserts. He says, God justifies, that is, pardons believers freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. The atonement of Christ rendered it just for God to exercise his grace in pardoning believers, though it did not remove their guilt and ill desert in the least degree. None will deny that it was grace in God to send Christ into the world to make atonement for sin, or that it was grace in Christ to come into the world and suffer and die to make atonement for sin; and it is certain that the atonement he made did not lay God under obligation, in point of justice, to pardon sinners on account of his atonement; it therefore plainly follows, that God exercises as real grace in pardoning sinners through the atonement of Christ, as in sending him to make atonement. Free pardon, therefore, is perfectly consistent with free grace.

5. If the atonement of Christ was necessary entirely on God's account, then it is absurd to suppose that it was merely expedient. The Socinians deny that Christ died as a vicarious sacrifice, to make any atonement for sin. They say that God is bound to forgive sinners upon the ground of repentance only, and that he does actually forgive them on that ground. But there are many Trinitarians, who believe that Christ did make

atonement for sin, who yet suppose that his atonement was not absolutely necessary, but only expedient. They suppose that God might have pardoned and saved sinners without any atonement, if he had pleased; and that he pleased to pardon and save sinners through an atonement, merely because it was the most expedient or best way of saving them, but not because it was the only possible way. It is granted that there was no more necessity of God's saving sinners at all, than there was of giving them existence; and certainly there was no necessity of giving them existence. For his own pleasure they are and were created. But after he had given them existence, and they had become sinners, it was morally impossible that he should pardon and save them without an atonement. It did not depend upon his mere pleasure, whether he should save them with or without an atonement. On the supposition that he determined to save them, an atonement was as necessary as his own immutable justice. There was no other possible way of saving them. And so Christ himself supposed: for he said to God in the prospect of his sufferings, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." There is no reason to think that God would have subjected the Son of his love to all the pains and reproaches of the cross, to make atonement for sin, if he could have forgiven it without such an infinitely costly atonement. It is easy to see that if the atonement of Christ was founded on the immutable justice of God, it was as necessary as his immutable justice.

6. If the atonement of Christ was necessary entirely on God's account, then we may safely conclude that it consisted in his sufferings, and not in his obedience. His obedience had no tendency to display divine justice, which was the only end to be answered by his atonement. His obedience was necessary on his account, to qualify him for making atonement for the disobedient; but his sufferings were necessary on God's account, to display his justice. Accordingly we find all the predictions and types of Christ, under the Old Testament, represent him as a suffering Saviour. And in the New Testament he is represented as making atonement by his blood, by his sufferings, and by his death. It was by his once offering up himself a sacrifice to divine justice, that he made a complete atonement for sin.

7. It appears from the nature of Christ's atonement, that God can consistently pardon any penitent, believing sinners on that account. By putting Christ to death on the cross, by his own hand, he has declared his righteousness to the whole universe in the remission of sins. He can now be just, and be the justifier of every one that believeth. He can now as consistently pardon one penitent sinner as another; and he is

as willing to pardon one penitent as another. He now commands all men every where to repent, and assures them that if they do repent and believe, they shall be saved, through the redemption that is in Christ. When the eyes of sinners are opened to see the native corruption of their hearts and the sinfulness of their lives, they are ready to think and say that they are too guilty and ill deserving to find mercy in the sight of God. But such views and feelings are totally groundless and sinful. God invites and requires all sinners, without distinction, to accept of pardoning mercy. He is as ready to show mercy to the Gentile, as to the Jew; to the greatest as to the smallest sinner; to the oldest as to the youngest sinner; upon the terms of the gospel. Paul, though the chief of sinners, found mercy. Christ says, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And again he says, "All that the Father hath given me, shall come to me; and whosoever cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." But,

8. None can come to Christ and accept of pardoning mercy on account of his atonement, without accepting the punishment of their iniquities. The great design of the atonement is to show that God would be just in inflicting eternal punishment upon the transgressors of his holy and righteous law. Sinners can see no beauty nor excellence in the character and conduct of Christ, in condemning sin in the flesh by his sufferings and death on the cross, until they have learned of the Father their just desert of the penalty of the law, and cordially approve of it. Then they will see that there is no other possible way of obtaining pardoning mercy, than through the atonement of Christ. They will see that they must completely renounce all self dependence, and self righteousness, and rely alone upon the atonement of Christ as the ground of pardon and acceptance in the sight of God. Though Paul once thought, in respect to obedience to the law, that he was blameless, and stood high in the divine favor; yet as soon as he became acquainted with the justice, spirituality, and extent of its precepts and penalty, all the hopes he had built upon the law, died, and left him in despair. So that he was constrained to say, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." Christ told sinners that "the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." No other foundation of pardon can any man lay, than that which God has laid in the atonement of Christ. Sinners must trust in him alone for forgiveness; for it is only for the sake of Christ, that God can forgive iniquity, transgressions, and sin, and save the guilty from the wrath to come. But God is now ready to forgive all who feel the spirit, and speak the language of the publican: "God be merciful to me a sinner."