Gospel Truth Stated and Vindicated, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Of the Time when our Sins were laid on Christ, and continued there.
Truth. THE Obligation of suffering for our Sins was upon Christ, from his undertaking the Office of a Mediator, to the Moment wherein he finished his satisfactory Atonement. The Punishment of our sins lay upon Christ, from the first moment, to the last of his State of Humiliation.
Errour. The Time when our sins were laid actually on Christ, was, when he was nailed to the Cross, and God actually forsook him; and they continued on him till his Resurrection.
Proved that this is the Dr's. Opinion.
He tells us, P. 356. Now there was a pitcht time wherein God did serve Execution actually upon him, and that was, when God did forsake this Son of his, when he called him forth, and charged sin upon him. And, P. 357. Look upon the Execution, or rather the serving of the Execution, that is, the actual laying of Iniquity upon Christ; this Inniquity was laid upon him at that instant, when he was upon the Cross, and God nailed the sins of Men to the Cross of Christ, and from that time there was not one sin to be reckon'd, &c. 360.
Wherein the Difference is not.
It is not whether God withdraws, and the Death of Christ were the very eminent compleating Parts of Christ's propitiatory Sufferings. This I affirm.
The Real Difference.
Whether our sins were not laid upon Christ (in a scripture Sence) before he was upon the Cross; and whether, what he suffered before his Crucifixion, were propitiatory Sufferings for our sins. This the Doctor's Assertion opposeth, and I affirm.
The Truth Confirmed.
Reader, Take with thee what hath been said Chap. 2. that the Filth of sin was not laid on Christ; and it remains, that what I am to prove, is either, 1. That Christ was under an Obligation to bear the Punishment of sin before his Crucifixion Or, 2. That he actually suffered some of the Punishment of sin before his Crucifixion. And can there be a Necessity of saying much of either? As to the First, Whatever proves a Covenant of Redemption, what ever Grant was made of saving Benefits to any fallen Sinner, before the Death of Christ, in trust of his executing what he had engaged; yea, all such Expressions, as I come to do thy Will, Heb. 10. 57. For this cause I came unto this Hour, and the like, do prove that he was bound to the bearing of Punishment as our Sponsor, before he was on the Cross. As to the Second, I would only note, 1. That the whole of his Humiliation was a degree of his suffering for sin, and so a part of his Satisfaction. His being made lower than the Angels by being incarnate, his Poverty, his Temptations, his Stoning, his Reproaches, his Whippings, his Agony in the Garden, his Arraignment, his Condemnation▪ Buffettings, Spitting on him, being crowned with Thorns, and many more; were they real Sufferings or no? if they were Punishments, what were they for? except for sin: How could he otherwise be subject to them any more than to Death it self? 2 The Effects and Fruits of satisfactory Sufferings, are ascribed to several of his Sufferings, besides his Crucifixion, 2 Cor. 8. 9. For your Sakes he became poor, that ye through his Poverty might be rich. Isa. 53. 5. With his Stripes we are healed; and sundry other places. Nay, to suppose any Degree of Suffering on Christ, and not our Sins laid on Christ, even though in the Doctor's Sence, would overturn the whole Christian Religion, and justifie the Socinians.
Testimonies.
The Assemblies Lesser Catechism, Q. Wherein did Christ's Humiliation consist? A. In his being Born, and that in a low Condition, made under the Law, undergoing the Miseries of this Life, the Wrath of God, and the cursed Death of the Cross; in being buried, and continuing under the Power of Death for a time. Thou seest Christ's Incarnation, or being Born, and several other things before Christ's Crucifixion, are parts of his Humiliation.
The Ground of the Doctor's Mistake.
Because the hidings of God's Face, and especially the dying Sacrifice of Christ, did so compleat and finish the Work of Satisfaction as the principal parts thereof, therefore he thinks our Sins were not laid on Christ till then.