his counfel, Heb. vi. 17. And if Jefus Chrift is furety for God to us, it is no doubt for the fame end.

But I doubt if the holy Scripture calls Chrift a furety in that fenfe at all. In the forecited paffage, Heb. vii. 22. the only text wherein Chrift is expreffly called a Surety, it is evident, that his furetiship therein mentioned, refpects his prieftly office, where in he deals with God for us: Verfe 20. And in as much as not without an oath he was made prieft. Verfe 21. (by him that faid unto him, The Lord fware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchifedec) Verfe 22. By fo much was Jefus made a furety of a better teftament. But his furetifhip for God to us, cannot relate to his priestly office, but to his kingly office, in refpect of which all power is given to him in heaven and in earth and confequently a power to fee that all the promises be performed to his people. And therefore his furetifhip mentioned in that text, is for us to God, and not for God to us. It is but in other two texts only, as far as I have obferved, that we read of furetifhip relative to the cafe between God and a finner: and in both of them, the furetifhip is not to the finner, but for him. They are Pfalm cxix. 122. Be furety for thy fervant for good; and Job xvii. 3. Put me in a furety with thee. The original phrafeology or expreffion, is the fame in the latter text as in the former; and the fame in them both, as in the cafe of Judah's furetifhip, for Benjamin, to his father, Gen. xliii. 9. and xliv. 32. Now, unless the facred oracles go before us, in propofing Chrift as a furety for God to us, I fee no reafon, why the being of fuch a thing at all fhould be yielded to the adverfaries, who make fuch a pernicious ufe of it. As for the comfort that might arife from it to us, the fame is fully fecured, in that the whole adminiftration of the covenant is committed into the hand of our Lord Jefus Chrift; and he is the Truftee and Tef

tator

tator of the covenant or covenant-benefits; as shall be shown in the due place.

But, without all peradventure, Chrift the Mediator and fecond Adam, became Surety, in the covenant, for finners to God; as the Scriptures do abundantly declare: Pfalm lxxxix. 19. I have laid help upon one that is mighty. 1 Tim. ii. 5. One Mediator between God and men, the Man Chrift Jefus. Verse 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all. 2 Cor. v. 21. He hath made him to be fin for us, who knew no sin. Isa. liii. 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Gal. iii. 13. Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us. Ifa. liii. 5. He was wounded for our tranfgreffions, he was bruifed for our iniquities. The covenant of grace was made with the fpiritual feed in Chrift the fecond Adam, taking burden for them upon himself as their Surety. And without a furety it could not have been made with them. For they were a company of broken men, owing a thousand times more than they were all worth; and their word in a new bargain for life and falvation was worth nothing; there could be no regard had to it in heaven. There was neither truth nor ability left them, after the first covenant was broken. Behold their character in point of truth or veracity, Rom. iii. 4. Let God be true, but every man a lyar: and in point of ability. chap. v. 6. When we were yet without strength, in due time Chrift died for the ungodly. The demands in this covenant were high, and quité above their ability to anfwer; and, befides, they themselves were falfe and fickle. They brake their word in the first covenant, when able to have kept it; how could they be trusted in this new bargain, when their ability was gone? fo there was an abfolute neceffity of a furety for them in it. And Jefus Chrift became furety for them: fo the new covenant, on which depends all their falvation, was made, and made fure.

Solomon

Solomon tells us, That he that is furety for a ftranger fhall fmart for it; and he that hateth furetiship, is fure, Prov. xi. 15. Our Lord Jefus knew very well the burden he took on himself in his furetifhip for finners; the character of those whom he became furety for; and that he could have no relief from them: but his love to his Father's glory, and the falvation of finners, engaged him in it, being perfectly fure to smart for it, as will appear from confidering,

Secondly, For what he became furety in the cove. nant, Suretifhip, in refpect of the fubject-matter of it, is of two forts. 1. There is a fureti hip for payfuretiship ing one's debt: Prov. xxii. 26. Be not thou one of them that ftrike hands, or of them that are fureties for debts. 2. A furetifhip for one's performing of a deed: Chap. xx. 16. Take his garment that is furety for a ftranger; and take a pledge of him for a strange woman: that is, of him who is furety for her good behaviour; for she will leave him in the lurch.

Now, our Lord's furetifhip for finners was of the firft fort. Chrift as the fecond Adam, confenting to the covenant, fifted himself furety for the debt of the feed reprefented by him. Their debt was, by God's eternal foreknowledge, ftated from the broken covenant of works, in the whole latitude of the demands it had on them; and he became furety for it, ftriking hands with his Father to pay it compleatly. And,

1. He became furety for their debt of punishment, which they as finners were liable in payment of, as the original phraseth it, 2 Thef. i. 9. That was the debt owing to the divine juftice, for all and every one of their fins, original or actual. The demerit of their fins, as offences against an infinite God, was an infinite punishment. They were liable to bear the pains of death, in the full latitude thereof; to fuffer the force of revenging wrath, to the compleat fatisfaction of infinite juftice, and full reparation of God's injured honour. This was their debt of punish:

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punishment: a debt which they themselves could never have cleared, though paying to the utmost of their power, through ages of eternity. But this their debt Chrift became furety for, obliging himself to lay down his life for theirs which was lost in law : Pfalm xl. 6, 7. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not defire, mine ears haft thou opened- -Then faid I Lo, I come, John x. 15. I lay down my life for the fheep. Verse 18. I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. Here is a furetifhip that never had a match! David, in a tranfport of grief for the death of his fon Abfalom, wishes he had died for him, 2 Sam. xviii. 33.; Reuben will venture the life of his two fons for Benjamin, Gen. xlii. 37.; and Judah will venture his own for him, chap. xliii. 9. while yet there was hope that all would be fafe: But our Lord Jefus deliberately pledgeth his own life for finners, when it was beyond all peradventure, the precious pledge would be loft in the caufe, and that the death he would fuffer, would be a thousand deaths in one. Some have offered themselves fureties in capital cafes, and embraced death for their country or friends; and peradventure for a good man fome would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet finners, (and enemies), Christ died for us, Rom. v. 7, 8, 10.

Now, in the fecond Adam's furetiship for the criminal debt of his fpiritual feed, there was not an enfuring of the payment thereof one way or other, only; as in fimple cautionry: but there was an exchange of perfons in law; Christ substituting himself in their room, and taking the whole obligation on himfelf. This the free grace of God the creditor did admit, when he might have infifted, that the foul that finned fhould die: and, a delay being withal granted as to the time of the payment, God thus manifested

manifested his forbearance, celebrated by the apostle, Rom. iii. 25. And, in virtue of that fubftitution, Chrift became debtor in law, bound to pay that debt which he contracted not; to restore that which he took not away, Pfalm lxix. 4. For, becoming furety for them, to the end there might be laid a foundation, in law and juftice, for exacting their debt of punishment from him, their guilt was transferred on him, Isa. liii. 6. The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. This was pointed at, in the laying of the hand on the head of the facrifices under the law, especially on the head of the fcape-goat, Lev. xvi. 21. And Aaron fhall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confefs over him all the iniquities of the children of Ifrael, and all their tranfgreffion in all their fins, putting them upon the head of the goat. All the fins of all the elect were at once imputed to the furety, and fo became his, as his righteousness becomes ours, namely, in law-reckoning, 2 Cor. v. 21. For he hath made him to be fin for us, who knew no fin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And he himself fpeaks fo of them, Pfalm xl. 12. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me; as several valuable interpreters do understand it, according as the apoftle gives us direction, determining Chrift himself to be the fpeaker in this pfalm, Heb. x. 5, 6, 7. He was indeed without fin inherent in him; but not without fin imputed to him, till in his refurrection he got up his difcharge, having cleared the debt by his death and fuffering. Then was he juftified in the Spirit, 1 Tim. iii. 16. and fo Shall appear the fecond time, without fin, Heb. ix. 28.; the fin which was upon him, by imputation, the first time he appeared, being done away at his refurrection. This relation of our fin to Chrift, is neceffary from the nature of furetiship for debt; in which cafe, nobody doubts but the debt becomes the furety's, when once he hath ftricken hands for E 2

it.