mention of a price or ransom, and when it was impossible but that a ransom must be paid, is a loose consequence, not deserving any notice.

2. That all the places of Scripture where mention is made of God being a redeemer and redeeming his people may be referred unto these heads:

(1.) Such as call God the redeemer of his church in general, as the places before mentioned; and these are all to be referred immediately to the Son of God (the manner of his redemption being described in the New Testament); and so proper redemption is intended in them, compare Isa. liv. 5, with Eph. v. 25, 26.

(2.) Such as mention some temporal deliverance that was typical of the spiritual redemption which we have by Jesus Christ; and it is called redemption, not so much from the general nature of deliverance, as from its pointing out to us that real and proper redemption that was typified by it. Such was God's redeeming his people out of Egypt.

So there is no mention of redemption in the Scripture, but either it is proper, or receives that appellation from its relation to that which is so.

3. This is indeed a very wretched and cursed way of interpreting Scripture, especially those passages of it which set out the grace of God and the love of Christ to us,-namely, to do it by way of diminution and lessening. God takes and uses this word that is of use amongst men, namely, "redemption;" saith he, "Christ hath redeemed you with his own blood, he hath laid down a price for you." For men to come and interpret this, and say "He did it not properly, it was not a complete redemption, but metaphorical, a bare deliverance," is to blaspheme God and the work of his love and grace. It is a safe rule of interpreting Scripture, that in places mentioning the love and grace of God to us, the words are to be taken in their utmost significancy. It is a thing most unworthy a good and wise man to set out his kindness and benefits with great swelling words of mighty weight and importance, which, when the things signified by them come to be considered, must be interpreted by way of minoration; nor will any worthy man do so. Much less can it be once imagined that God has expressed his love and kindness and the fruits of it to us in great and weighty words, that, in their ordinary use and significancy, contain a great deal more than really he hath done. For any one so to interpret what he hath spoken, is an abomination into which I desire my soul may never enter.

What the redemption of a captive is, and how it is brought about, we know. God tells us that Christ hath redeemed us, and that with his own blood. Is it not better to believe the Lord, and venture our souls upon it, than to go to God and say, "This thou hast said, indeed, but it is an improper and metaphorical redemption, a de

liverance, that we have?" The truth is, it is so far from truth that God hath delivered the work of his grace, and our benefit thereby, in the death of Christ, in words too big in their proper signification for the things themselves, that no words whatever are sufficient to express it and convey it to our understandings.

That Moses, who was a type of Christ in the work of redemption, and is called a redeemer, did redeem the people without the proper payment of a valuable ransom, therefore Christ did so also;-to conclude thus, I say, is to say that the type and thing typified must in all things be alike; yea, that a similitude between them in that wherein their relation consists is not enough to maintain their relation, but there must be such an identity as in truth overthrows it. Christ tells us that the brazen serpent was a type of him: John iii. 14, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." Now, if a man should thence argue, that because the brazen serpent was only lifted up, not crucified nor did shed his blood, therefore Christ was not crucified nor did shed his blood, would he be attended unto? The like may be said of Jonah, who was alive in the belly of the whale, when he was a type of Christ being dead in the earth. In the general nature of deliverance from captivity, there was an agreement in the corporeal deliverance of Moses and the spiritual of Christ, and here was the one a type of the other; in the manner of their accomplishment, the one did not represent the other, the one being said expressly to be done by power, the other by a ransom.

SECONDLY. It is the delivery of one in captivity. All men, considered in the state of sin and alienation from God, are in captivity. Hence they are said to be "captives," and to be "bound in prison," Isa. lxi. 1. And the work of Christ is to "bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness" (that is, in the dungeon) "out of the prison-house," Isa. xlii. 7. He says "to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves," chap. xlix. 9: as it is eminently expressed, Zech. ix. 11, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." Here are prisoners, prisoners belonging to the daughter of Zion; for unto her, the church, he speaks, verse 9, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion." Those other sheep of the fold of Christ, not yet gathered when this promise was given, are spoken of; and they are "in the pit wherein is no water;"-a pit for security to detain them, that they may not escape; and without water, that they may in it find no refreshment. How are these prisoners delivered? By the blood of his covenant of whom he speaks: see verse 9, "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." It is a description of Christ when he rode to Jerusalem, to

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seal and confirm the covenant for the deliverance of the prisoners with his own blood; which is therefore called "The blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified," Heb. x. 29. Hence in the next verse, "Prisoners of hope" is a description of the elect, Zech. ix. 12.

So also are they called captives expressly: Isa. xlix. 25, “Thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered." Those who were in their captivity a prey to Satan, that mighty and cruel one, shall be delivered. And who shall do this? "The LORD thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob," verse 26. He proclaims "liberty to the captives," Isa. lxi. 1, Luke iv. 18. And this is given in as the great fruit of the death of Christ, that upon his conquest of it he "led captivity captive," Ps. lxviii. 18, Eph. iv. 8,—that is, either captivity actively, Satan who held and detained his in captivity, or passively, those who were in captivity to him.

Thus being both prisoners and captives, they are said to be in bondage. Christ gives us liberty from that yoke of bondage, Gal. v. 1; and men are in bondage by reason of death all their days, Heb. ii. 15. There is, indeed, nothing that the Scripture more abounds in than this, that men in the state of sin are in prison, captivity, and bondage,―are prisoners, captives, and slaves.

Concerning this two things are considerable:-1. The cause of men's bondage and captivity, deserving or procuring it. 2. The efficient, principal cause of it, to whom they are in captivity.

1. As for the first, as it is known, it is sin. To all this bondage and captivity men are sold by sin. In this business sin is considered two ways:

(1.) As a debt, whereof God is the creditor. Our Saviour hath taught us to pray for the forgiveness of our sins under that notion, Matt. vi. 12, "Apes nμñ τà ¿peλźμara nu," Remit to us our debts." And in the parable of the lord and his servants, Matt. xviii. 23–35, he calls it rò dávrov, verse 27, and rò opsiλóμsvov, verse 30, "due debt;" all which he expounds by Tаpаятúμаrα, verse 35,-" offences" or "transgressions." Debt makes men liable to prison for non-payment; and so doth sin (without satisfaction made) to the prison of hell. So our Saviour expresses it, Matt. v. 25, 26, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." On this account are men prisoners for sin: They are bound in the prison-house because they have wasted the goods of their Master, and contracted a debt that they are no way able to pay; and if it be not paid for them, there they must lie to eternity. All mankind were cast into prison for that great debt

they contracted in Adam, in their trustee. Being there, instead of making any earnings to pay the debt already upon them by the law, they contract more, and increase thousands of talents. But this use of the words "debt" and "prison," applied to sin and punishment, is metaphorical.

(2.) As a crime, rebellion, transgression against God, the great governor and judge of all the world. The criminalness, rebellion, transgression, the disobedience that is in sin, is more or less expressed by all the words in the original whereby any sins are signified and called. Now, for sin considered as rebellion are men cast into prison, captivity, and bondage, by way of judicial process and punishment. 2. As for the principal cause of this captivity and imprisonment, it is God; for,

(1.) He is the creditor to whom these debts are due: Matt. vi. 9, 12, "Our Father which art in heaven,..... forgive us our debts." It is to him that we stand indebted the ten thousand talents. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," says David, Ps. li. 4. God hath intrusted us with all we have to sin by or withal; he hath lent it us, to lay out for his glory. Our spending of what we have received upon our lusts, is running into debt unto God. Though he doth not reap where he did not sow, yet he requires his principal with advantage.

(2.) And properly he is the great king, judge, and governor of the world, who hath given his law for the rule of our obedience; and every transgression thereof is a rebellion against him. Hence, to sin is to rebel, and to transgress, and to be perverse, to turn aside from the way, to cast off the yoke of the Lord, as it is everywhere expressed. God is "the one lawgiver," James iv. 12, who is able to kill and to destroy for the transgression of it. It is his law which is broken, and upon the breach whereof he says, "Cursed be every one that hath so done," Deut. xxvii. 26. He is "the judge of all the earth," Gen. xviii. 25, yea, "God is judge himself," Ps. 1. 6; and we shall be judged by his law, James ii. 10-12; and his judgment is, "That they which commit sin are worthy of death," Rom. i. 32. And he is the "king for ever and ever," Ps. x. 16. He reigneth and executeth judgment. Now, who should commit the rebel that offends, who should be the author of the captivity and imprisonment of the delinquent, but he who is the king, judge, and lawmaker?

(3.) He doth actually do it: Rom. xi. 32, Zuvéxλeros Ó DεÖS TOÙS TÚVras sis átríðsıav—" God hath shut up all under disobedience." He hath laid them up close prisoners for their disobedience; and they shall not go out until satisfaction be made. In the parable, Matt. xviii., of the lord or master and his servants, this is evident; and chap. v. 25, it is the judge that delivers the man to the officer to be cast into prison. Look who it is that shall inflict the final punish

ment upon the captives, if a ransom be not paid for them, he it is by whose power and authority they are committed, and to whom principally they are prisoners and captives. Now, this is God only. He can cast both body and soul into hell fire, Matt. x. 28; and wicked men shall be destroyed "from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power," 2 Thess. i. 9. In brief, God is the judge; the law is the law of God; the sentence denounced is condemnation from God; the curse inflicted is the curse of God; the wrath wherewith men are punished is the wrath of God; he that finds a ransom is God: and therefore it is properly and strictly he to whom sinners are prisoners and captives, 2 Pet. ii. 4. And therefore, when in the Scripture at any time men are said to be in bondage to Satan, it is but as to the officer of a judge, or the jailer; to their sin, it is but as to their fetters, as shall be afterward more fully discovered.

And this removes the first question and answer of the Racovians to this purpose. Socinus, "De Servatore," expresses himself to the whole business of redemption in three chapters, lib. i. part. ii. cap. i.-iii.; the sum of which the catechists have laboured to comprise in as many questions and answers. The first is,

Q. What dost thou answer to those testimonies which witness that we are redeemed of Christ?

A. It is hence evident that satisfaction cannot be confirmed from the word "redeeming,"-1. Because it is written of God himself, both in the Old and New Testament, that he redeemed his people out of Egypt, that he redeemed his people; 2. Because it is written that God redeemed Abraham and David, and that Moses was a redeemer, and that we are redeemed from our iniquities and our vain conversation, and from the curse of the law; for it is certain that God made satisfaction to none, nor can it be said that satisfaction is made either to our iniquities, or to our vain conversation, or to the law.1

I say this whole plea is utterly removed by what hath been spoken; for,-1. In what sense redemption is ascribed to God and Moses, without the least prejudice of that proper redemption that was made by the blood of Christ, hath been declared, and shall be farther manifested when we come to demonstrate the price that was paid in this redemption.

2. It is true, there is no satisfaction made to our sin and vain conversation when we are redeemed; but satisfaction being made to Him to whom it is due, we are delivered from them. But of this afterwards.

3. Satisfaction is properly made to the law when the penalty

"Quid ad ea testimonia quæ nos a Christo testantur redemptos respondes ?-Resp. E verbo redimendi non posse effici satisfactionem hanc, hinc est planum, quod de ipso Deo et in novo et in prisco foedere scribitur, eum redemisse populum suum ex Ægypto, eum fecisse redemptionem populo suo. Deinde cum scriptum sit quod Deus redemit Abrahamum et Davidem, et quod Moses fuerit redemptor, et quod simus redempti e nostris iniquitatibus, aut e vana conversatione nostra, et e maledictione legis; certum autem est Deum nemini satisfecisse, nec vero aut iniquitatibus, aut conversationi vanæ, aut legi satisfactum esse dici posse."