Chapter IV
The inability of the creature to redeem us, demonstrated from the nature of the
satisfaction. First, That which the law required, a creature could not answer for us, neither in obeying the precept, nor suffering the penalty.
This premised, we will now more distinctly consider whereunto satisfac
tion must be made, wherein it must consist, and according to what it is
to be proportioned.
There are two to be satisfied before ever a sinner can be justified, viz., God and the law. For as the evil of sin is expressed by its enmity unto both these (as Rom. viii. 7, where the flesh is said to be
* enmity against God and his law ), so answerably may the satisfaction that is to be made
for it be measured out by both. I confess that both come to one ; for
satisfy the law, and you satisfy God, and so e contra : yet we may take the
distinct consideration of each as a help in the search, and for the finding out wherein true satisfaction for sin is to consist.
First ; For the law. No mere creature could satisfy that for us, or make
compensation for sin, as it is the transgression of it.
1. In general ; let us measure satisfaction by the worth of the law, and
of every iota of it, which sin doth what in it lies to make void and of none
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 85
effect. In Ps. cxix. 126, They have willingly, says David, destroyed thy law : that is, what they did tended to destroy it ; though yet it doth it not : for not one iota of it shall pass. Now seeing satisfaction is redditio
(Equivalentis pro cBquivalenti ; that which is given in way of restitution must be of an equivalent worth to that which is endamaged ; what therefore can
any mere creature have to render to God, equivalent to this his law ? For
is not the least tittle of the law worth heaven and earth, and so all in it, even saints and all, because God s prerogative lies at stake in it ? Is it not the regula, the pattern, yea, the original copy of all the grace which the
saints have ? For all grace is but the copy of the law. And doth it not command all that is in them ? What have they then to be deprived of that
is worth it ?
2. Let us more particularly consider those special debts which the law
requires satisfaction in and for ; which, according to the two main parts of the law, are answerably two. As all laws, so this, hath,
First, A preceptive part, Do this and live ; and this requires exact obedience to every tittle of it.
Secondly, A penal part. If we trespass in the least, it exacts a punish ment ; and that is, eternal death. Now therefore when we transgress in the least, we hence first grow into a double debt, and become debtors to both parts of the law ; and the reason hereof is, because ill laws require both. So the laws of men do ofttimes
require not only restitution and satisfaction to be made to the party wronged ; but they enjoin a further punishment as a satisfaction to the law itself, which was contemned and broken. And therefore in many cases, though no hurt be done, the trespasser failing of his purpose, yet the law takes notice of the attempt, and punisheth him for it ; because therein the law
is contemned. For in such trespasses against men there is a double wrong
: the one to the party injured, whose goods or honour is impaired ; and the other to the law, which is scandalised by it. And so he is not only to
satisfy for the personal damage, but also for the public offence, and the
vitiosity of the act in breaking order ; and so a double satisfaction is to be made. Thus also it is in debts : for there is both the principal, and the
forfeiture also. So likewise in the Levitical law, when a man had wronged his neighbour in goods, he was to do two things ; not only to make resti tution due to the party wronged, and that double at least, as part of a punish ment also, but he was to satisfy the law besides, and to offer sacrifice. And in case of debt, before instanced, until a man hath paid it, he is to lie in
prison, to satisfy the law.
(2.) We having sinned, do owe satisfaction to God in respect of his law ; and that in a double relation and respect : first, on our parts ; secondly, on God s part.
First, On our own. As we are creatures, we owe him service ; and as we are sinners, we owe punishment.
And Secondly, On God s part. We owe satisfaction to him, both as he
is our lord, our creator, and owner, that hath right to us ; and also as he
is our lawgiver.
[1.] As he is our lord he hath a right to us, and as a creditor he gave us ourselves and graces
: and we are his goods, and so do owe him active obedience.
[2.] As he is our lawgiver, so he hath the right of a judge, to whom for our neglect we do therefore owe punishment. For God hath over us both
jus crediti or dominii, and jus rectoris ; he is lord of his law, and lord of
86 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
us ; and we are his subjects, and also his servants ; and there is in equity very good grounds for both debts. For we owe him subjection for his
benefits bestowed, although there were no law : but then in regard of his
virsgoXfl, his transcendent excellency, he is our lawgiver and judge ; and so he might give us these laws, though it could be supposed that we had no such benefit from him.
Obj. And [3.] Whereas it may be said that the bearing the punishment due to the offence against the law, may seem to stand for that debt of obe dience to the law ; Am. The answer is, that it is clean otherwise ; for we owe both punish ment for sin past, and obedience also. And the reason is evident, namely, in that punishment for sin is but an appendix to the law, and not that which the law chiefly intends ; for it principally aims at obedience, and does therefore indeed threaten punishment to keep the creature to obe dience ; and therefore to endure the punishment is no satisfaction to the
law. As though a debtor should live in prison all his lifetime, yet he should be in debt still ; and therefore could not be said to satisfy the law, because the principal intent of the law is to recover a man s goods. So that we are
for ever bound to God by a double debt, a debitum pcence, a debt of punish ment, and a debitum negligentice, a debt of neglect ; both which are to be
satisfied for.
Now for neither of both these debts can either we ourselves, or any crea
ture for us, ever satisfy God.
(1.) Not we ourselves ; for we can never discharge the debt of active
obedience, though God should exact no more ; for part of it is neglected already ; and you may as well call back time that is past, as satisfy for what is past, because we are bound to God for our whole time, even to
eternity. If an apprentice were bound to his master for ever, and he run
away at any time, he can never satisfy his master for his time lost. If he were bound indeed but for seven years, then he might afterwards serve out
his time, though he ran away for a while.
(2.) Nor can any mere creature be ever able to give satisfaction in our
stead, upon the same grounds. It is true indeed, that a mere creature
might perform and undergo this and all other kind of obedience that the law requires, both active and passive ; but not so, as that both, or either of these obediences so performed by it, should be satisfactory to the law for
us, or stand us in stead. We will prove this, of each severally, and of both
jointly. And first of either of them singly.
[l.J The active obedience performed by any mere creature for us could not discharge or satisfy that debt of active obedience which we owe to God, so as we should have any benefit by it. Such a creature may indeed perfrom it, so as to profit himself (as Job speaks, Job xxxv. 8), but not so as
to profit us and himself by way of satisfaction. The reasons of which are, First t Because his whole self, and all he can do, is in all respects wholly and altogether subject to the law already for himself, and he can plead no
privilege of exemption whereby he should be any way free from this total
subjection to the law. And therefore the law commanding him, and all the
relations and respects that are in him, all that he can do is little enough for himself to satisfy the law. This is the reason which the saints them
selves give to put others off with (for I would not give you school reasons
: Mat. xxv. 8, 9, the wise virgins said to the
herein, but scripture reasons)
foolish, when they came to them for oil, We have little enough for our
selves. All the money which any creature can make, will but serve to
CHAP. IV.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 87
satisfy what the law requires for himself, and he hath nothing over and
above what the law can challenge, to benefit another. Do this, and live,
says the law to all that are under the law, and altogether under it. And
it is as much as they can do to live by the law themselves. They have
little enough for themselves, and nothing over. And this reason holds as
fully in the best creature that can be supposed to have never so much grace
(set that of hypostatical union aside, which is Christ s sole prerogative), as
it doth in that creature that hath never so little. For all the grace that
any creature hath, be it of never so large a revenue, he holds by the same
tenure, namely, the tenure of the law, that one of never so low a degree of
grace doth hold his by. And the law doth as fully exact all he can do, as
being his own debt, as it doth the other s. Even as a man that hath never
so much land, if his tenure from the lord in chief be the same by the law
with that of another man who possesseth but a cottage ; and the conditions
of both are to pay the whole revenue (their own mere and bare subsistence
set aside), the former is as much disenabled to pay another s rent as the
latter, though he hath never so great revenues. In this case he that hath
the least hath no lack ; for God accepts what a man hath, and he that hath
never so much hath nothing over. There is an equality or proportion, as
the apostle speaks in another case.
If we consider the ground of the law s thus requiring the whole, it will
afford a further reason. The ground why the law requires this, lies in two
things
1. That whatever the creature hath, it hath received it from God : And,
2. So received it, and upon such terms as to give an account of it. So
as after it is given, God still challengeth a right in it, as being wholly his. Hence all that a mere creature hath, or can have, it owes to God.
1. Because it hath it wholly from God; and therefore God challengeth
all again, and obligeth the creature as a debtor to him for the benefit
received. And then withal there cannot any respect of propriety be found, which a mere creature can challenge, in what it hath received, as having a
title to it, distinct from that which God claims to himself ; but all is wholly and alone his. And therefore the creature can never lay out anything for
another, which it can call its own stock, and say, This is mine to dispose
of, and I have enough besides to account with God for myself another way ; for what hast thou, says the apostle,
* which thou hast not received ?
1 Cor. iv. 7. And, 2dly, it receives all from God so as to give an account, as a mere steward unto him. So the apostle Peter speaks, A steward of the mani
fold grace of God, 1 Peter iv. 10, and so accountable to him for all. Now
it is as impossible for a mere creature to satisfy God for another s debt, or he is as unable to do it, as the steward can undertake to pay his master for
his fellowservant s debt, out of the money his master hath betrusted him
with. For what can be in this case given is the master s own already, and
in having all resumed, the master hath no more than what he should have ; this being a certain rule and principle in equity, that it is impossible to
satisfy another man with what is wholly his own already. And upon this
ground doth the Lord refuse sacrifices for sin, even because they are all his
< All the beasts of the forest are mine : Ps. 1. 8-11, I will not
already ;
reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt -offerings, to have been con
tinually before me ; ver. 9, I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor
he-goats out of thy folds : ver. 10, for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. Ver. 11, I know all the fowls of
88 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BOOK III.
the mountains ; and the wild beasts of the field are mine. Therefore
David, 1 Chron. xxix. 14, acknowledged it mercy enough that God would but accept of their offerings for themselves : What are we that we should
offer thus freely even for ourselves ? He considers both God s transcen dent excellency in himself, and that total dependence which they had on him for all ; as it follows,
* Of thine own have I given thee, and how can
that satisfy the debt ? Sin indeed is our own, which we owe for ; but
obedience, that is not our own, but comes from the grace of God, and from
his enabling. Indeed, if God had given us grace, as friends give gifts each to other, to do what they please with them, without requiring any account of them, then we might have payed him with that which he hath
given us. But he gives grace to us as he does talents unto servants. And
therefore he requires answerable service and improvement of those talents, of which he takes account according to the number given ; and if they be not well used, he takes them away. And when we have done whatever we can, we are unprofitable servants too, Mat. xxv. 14 to 30. And it is
impossible for one who is wholly a servant, to satisfy his master for the debt of another. Inter servum et dominum nulla intercurrit jmtitia, says
Aristotle, speaking of mere servants as in those times, because such a
servant is pars domini, part of his master s goods. And herein let the sup
position made hold good, as, let the creature have never so much grace, so much the more is he disenabled to satisfy for another ; for the more grace he hath received, the more service is required from him ; Much is required from him to whom much is given, Luke xii. 48. Yea, the obligation upon himself is the greater, and binds him to do so much the more ; and there
fore he can as little, yea less, spare anything for another, as he that hath
less.
In the second place, for passive obedience, that cannot be satisfactory for another. For, 1. Even so much passive obedience as any creature can undergo, is in
itself in strict terms of justice due unto God from the creature, though not
as a punishment, yet as a trial of obedience, if he should be pleased to lay
it upon the creature. How else could Paul wish himself accursed from
Christ for his kinsmen and brethren the Jews ? Kom. ix. 3 ; and this as a duty surely. For he did not supererogate therein, nor do more than God
might require. It was no more than what was due unto him.
2dly. Both of these obediences must be jointly performed by him that undertakes to satisfy ; and it is impossible for him so to perform both.
(1.) Both must be performed jointly ; for passive obedience alone would never pay both debts. To cast a man into prison pays not the creditor, and punishment is required by God as he is the judge of the world ; it is
jus rectoris, and we owe obedience to him besides, as he is a creditor. And
though God be content witjh passive obedience from those in hell, because
it is all he can get of them, yet he is not satisfied with it, and therefore
they are for ever to abide there. It is true that he improves it to his
glory, in that it shews the various ways of his manifestation of his attributes
upon creatures ; but yet, simply in itself it would not satisfy it. Further
more, the threatening of punishment is (as was said) but the appendix of the law, not the primary intent of the lawgiver ; and therefore God doth not simply delight in it, nor is he satisfied with it.
(2.) There is an impossibility that any creature should perform both of them jointly and together, which it must do if it satisfy. For from that
creature, though never so excellent, an eternity both of active and passive
CHAP. IV.] OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. 89
obedience would be exacted ; and he could not dispatch or end either, nor
perform both together. If the obedience that is set him might be ended, or if both could be performed together, he might satisfy ; but the law exacts both for ever of us. And therefore the psalmist makes the redemption of the soul too precious for any creature to meddle with, Ps. xlix. 8, giving this reason why a man cannot redeem his brother ; so precious is the re
demption of a soul, and it ceaseth for ever ; that is, it shall never be ac
complished ; so the phrase is taken elsewhere. The work is so precious, as it requireth eternity to do it in. So that that which the best of creatures should do, or suffer for us in any finite term of time, would not satisfy for what was due from us to eternity, but it doth require yet a further and in
finite worth in the obedience to be added to supply that eternity, and it is an utter impossibility to perform both together for ever. Look, as it is im
possible to serve two masters, but that a man must lean to the one, and
neglect the other, Mat. vi. 24, so it is impossible for the creature to carry along both these obediences together. For when he were obeying the whole law, how could he at the same suffer ? And when he were suffering, how could he obey the whole law ? All the graces then exercised would have been only patience, and all little enough to afford him that ; there would have been no room for the exercise of other graces. And as God
calls us not to do and suffer at the same time, for both cannot stand to
gether, so neither could any creature do and suffer at the same time for
us. If indeed he could first despatch the active part, and then encounter the torments due unto us, and despatch them also, then there might be hope ; but this he cannot ; and to perform both to eternity is impossible. But yet by making as free and large concessions as are imaginable, fur ther to shew the impossibility of it, suppose that passive obedience and
suffering for us would stand for both debts ; and suppose also, that if their
lives went for ours, they then might satisfy as well as we can, seeing theirs are as good as ours ; and therefore, if eternal death in us be a satisfaction to God s justice (which if it be not so, God then loseth by sin, and then he would not have let it come into the world), then it might be so in them for
us, and we be freed, yet consider the inconveniences that will follow :
1. They must always be satisfying, and it could never be said, It is
finished. They must lie by it till they have paid the uttermost farthing, which they can never do, no more than we ourselves can ; and so they could not take away sins from us, for we could not have an acquittance till the debt were paid, we could not be justified till our surety were acquitted. Therefore, if Christ had not risen, says Paul, we had yet been in our
sins, 1 Cor. xv. 17. And therefore the psalmist says, of the redemption of the soul by any creature, Ps. xlix. 8, it ceaseth for ever, that is, shall never be accomplished, but shall always be adoing, and never ended, and
so, we never be the better, nor the nearer having our bonds cancelled. And this is the reason why sacrifices were rejected, even because every year they were still forced to offer them : Heb. x. 1-4, For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect
: ver. 2, For then would they not have ceased to be offered ? because that the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins ; ver. 3, But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year ; ver. 4, For it is not pos sible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. And, ver. 11, it is said, that they stood daily offering the same sacrifices.
90 OF CHEJST THE MEDIATOK. [BOOK III.
2dly. Suppose yet further, that God, to whom eternity is but as one in
stant, should give us in our bond, when the other had entered in his, because
though it be to eternity a-paying, yet to him it were as good as paid in hand presently. Suppose this, yet notwithstanding, one just man or angel could satisfy but for one of us. Life could go but for life, and a tooth
for a tooth, as the law runs ; and so he must sacrifice as many creatures as good as we are for ever, as he meant to save of us men. That one creature s obedience would not, as Adam s righteousness, have extended to
many, for that was a favour, but this a debt. And we cannot pay many bonds with one sum which is due for one ; for every one is a distinct debt and obligation.
3dly. If we grant all this, yet what creature would have had so much love in it towards us as willingly to sacrifice itself for us ? Which it must
fully do, or else it cannot be satisfaction ; for satisfactio est redditio volun-
taria, says the school. The apostle, Bom. v. 7, says, that * peradventure for a good man some would dare to die. Mark it, he makes a peradventure of it, and it must be for a good man ; that is, one profitable to him, as
they expound it ; and seeing death is poZsguv <posgurarov, he must be very hardy and daring that would do it. But to encounter God s wrath, who dares do it? Jer. xxx. 21, And their nobles shall be of themselves, and
their governor shall proceed from the midst of them ; and I will cause him
to draw near, and he shall approach unto me : for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me ? saith the Lord. The prophet there making a promise of Christ to be a mediator, and one that should be able to draw
nigh to God, he gives this reason, For who is there that engageth his heart to draw nigh to me ? As if he had said, none else durst have stepped
in, to encounter me for you ; especially, not for enemies both to God and themselves. There is need of a mediator to reconcile us and the angels, as that place in the Eph. i. 10 may seem to imply, where the apostle says, that God made known unto us the mystery of his will, that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, which are in heaven and earth:
making us, as friends to himself, so one to another ; and if so, then ante
cedently, they could not be the reconcilers. And further, the holier they were, the less must they needs love us ; and so not of themselves would they ever undertake such work for us.
4thly. Suppose yet further, that any had so much love, or would have been so hardy to venture, as with Paul to wish they may be accursed ; yet if they were in hell but half an hour, they would repent themselves, and wish themselves out again, and so it had been spoiled for ever being satis
faction, which must throughout be voluntary, as our disobedience was. And
therefore God would not trust to their help in so weighty a business, wherein
his own will was so engaged. It is said in Job iv. 18, Behold he puts no
trust in his servants. Which though he might in ordinary works of
obedience, yet he will never rely on them for so great a matter. He finds
folly even in the angels, they are mutable. He trusted one man once for
all, only in matter of obedience to his law, which was easy and sweet to him ; but see how he failed and left all, and that upon no great or strong
temptation. He therefore will never hazard the second Adam to be a mere
creature in a matter of punishment, which that he may be willing to undergo, he must be fed with some delight or hopes of ease. No ; he will make sure work now.
5thly and lastly. Suppose any creature had been so full of excellency, as
that the sufferings of it alone could have been satisfactory for all that God
CHAP. V.] OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. 91
meant to save, and according to the supposition formerly made, that he
having more grace than all mankind, and so, being made heir to more glory than all mankind besides, would have been content to lay all aside, and to
have subjected himself for ever to undergo all our punishments ; yet con
sidering all this must have been done by him, in obedience unto God, and
for his sake (for otherwise it could not have been accepted, in that satis
faction for another must be voluntary on both parts, both on his that under
takes it, and also by the consent and acceptation of him that is wronged),
if the case had thus stood, then this inconvenience would have followed,
that a creature should have been obedient unto God, yea, and performed the highest obedience unto God, whom yet God never should have had an
opportunity to reward, because he was to be in hell for ever. And God will
never be so behind-hand with any creature that shall do him service, much more so great a service as this would be.