ral condition we are "children of wrath," Eph. ii. 3; that is, obnoxious to the wrath of God, that abides upon unbelievers,-that is, unreconciled persons.

4. This enmity on the part of God consists,

(1.) In the purity and holiness of his nature, whence he cannot admit a guilty, defiled creature to have any communion with him. He is a God of "purer eyes than to behold evil," Hab. i. 13. And sinners cannot serve him, because "he is a holy God, a jealous God, that will not forgive their transgressions nor their sins," Josh. xxiv. 19.

(2.) In his will of punishing for sin: Rom. i. 32, “It is the judgment of God, that they which commit sin are worthy of death," and this from the righteousness of the thing itself. 2 Thess. i. 6, “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation" to sinners. "He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness," etc., Ps. v. 4-6.

(3.) In the sentence of his law, in the establishing and execution whereof his truth and honour were engaged: "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," Gen. ii. 17. And, "Cursed is every one that continueth not," etc., Gal. iii. 13, Deut. xxvii. 26. And of this enmity of God against sin and sinners, as I have elsewhere at large declared, there is an indelible persuasion abiding on the hearts of all the sons of men, however, by the stirrings of lust and craft of Satan, it may be more or less blotted in them. Hence,

(4.) As a fruit and evidence of this enmity, God abominates their persons, Ps. i. 4-6; rejects and hates their duties and ways, Prov. xv. 8, 9; and prepares wrath and vengeance for them, to be inflicted in his appointed time, Rom. ii. 5;—all which make up perfect enmity on the part of God.

5. That man was at enmity with God as on his part, I shall not need to prove, because I am not treating of our reconciliation to God, but of his reconciliation to us.

Where there is such an enmity as this, begun by offence on the one part, and continued by anger and purpose to punish on the other, to make reconciliation is properly to propitiate and turn away the anger of the person offended, and thereby to bring the offender into favour with him again, and to an enjoyment of the same, or a friendship built on better conditions than the former. This description of reconciliation doth God himself give us, Job xlii. 7-9, "And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that

ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job," etc. The offenders are Eliphaz and his two friends; the of fence is their folly in not speaking aright of God; the issue of the breach is, that the wrath or anger of God was towards them. Reconciliation is the turning away of that wrath. The means whereby this was to be done, appointed of God, is the sacrifice of Job for atonement. This, then, is that which we ascribe to the death of Christ when we say that, as a sacrifice, we were reconciled to God by it, or that he made reconciliation for us. Having made God our enemy by sin (as before), Christ by his death turned away his anger, appeased his wrath, and brought us into favour again with God. Before the proof of this, I must needs give one caution as to some terms of this discourse, as also remove an objection that lies at the very entrance against the whole nature of that which is treated of.

For the first, When we speak of the anger of God, his wrath, and his being appeased towards us, we speak after the manner of men; but yet by the allowance of God himself. Not that God is properly angry, and properly altered from that state and appeased, whereby he should properly be mutable and be actually changed; -but by the anger of God, which sometimes in Scripture signifieth his justice, from whence punishment proceeds, sometimes the effects of anger, or punishment itself, the obstacles before mentioned on the part of God, from his nature, justice, law, and truth, are intended; and by his being appeased towards us, his being satisfied as to all the bars so laid in the way of receiving us to favour, without the least alteration in him, his nature, will, or justice. And according to the analogy hereof, I desire that whatever is spoken of the anger of God, and his being appeased or altered (which is the language wherein he converseth with us and instructs us to wisdom), may be measured and interpreted.

The objection I shall propose in the words of Crellius:

If this be the chiefest and highest love of God, that he sent Christ, his only Son, to be a propitiation for our sins, how then could Christ by his death appease the wrath of God that was incensed against us? for seeing that God's love was the cause of sending Christ, he must needs before that have laid aside his anger; for otherwise, should he not intensely love us and not love us at the same time? And if God could then be angry with us when he gave up his Son to bitter death for our everlasting happiness, what argument or evidence at any time can we have from the effect of it, whence we may know that God is not farther angry with us?1

1 "Si in eo sita est dilectio, quod Deus nos dilexerit et Filium suum miserit iλaoμóv pro peccatis nostris, quomodo Christus morte sua demum iram Dei adversus nos incensam placarit? nam cum dilectio illa Dei quæ plane fuit summa, causa fuit cur Deus Filium suum charissimum miserit, necesse est ut iram jam suam adversus nos deposuerit; nonne aliter eodem tempore et impense amabit et non amabit? Si Deus etiam tum potuit nobis irasci cum Filium suum charissimum suprema nostræ felicitatis causa morti acerbissimæ objiceret, quod satis magnum argumentum erit ex effectu ejus petitum, unde cognoscamus Deum nobis non irasci amplius."-Crell. Defen. Socin. con. Grot. part. vi.

To the same purpose Socinus himself: "Demonstravi non modo Christum Deo nos, non autem Deum nobis reconciliasse, verum etiam Deum ipsum fuisse qui hanc reconciliationem fecerit," Socin. de Servator. lib. i. part. i. cap. i.

To the same purpose is the plea of the catechist, cap. viii., “De Morte Christi," q. 31, 32.

Ans. 1. The love wherewith God loved us when he sent his Son to die for us was the most intense and supreme in its own kind, nor would admit of any hatred or enmity in God towards us that stood in opposition thereunto. It is everywhere set forth as the most intense love, John iii. 16; Rom. v. 7, 8; 1 John iv. 10. Now, this love of God is an eternal free act of his will; his "purpose," Rom. ix. 11; "his good pleasure," his purpose that he "purposed in himself," as it is called, Eph. i. 5, 9; it is his póleois, evdoxía, apóyvwors, 1 Pet. i. 2, as I have elsewhere distinctly declared; a love that was to have an efficacy by means appointed. But for a love of friendship, approbation, acceptation as to our persons and duties, God bears none unto us, but as considered in Christ and for his sake. It is contrary to the whole design of the Scripture and innumerable particular testimonies once to fancy a love of friendship and acceptation towards any in God, and not consequent to the death of Christ.

2. This love of God's purpose and good pleasure, this "charitas ordinativa," hath not the least inconsistency with those hinderances of peace and friendship on the part of God before mentioned; for though the holiness of God's nature, the justice of his government, the veracity of his word, will not allow that he take a sinner into friendship and communion with himself without satisfaction made to him, yet this hinders not but that, in his sovereign good-will and pleasure, he might purpose to recover us from that condition by the holy means which he appointed. God did not love us and not love us, or was angry with us, at the same time and in the same respect. He loved us in respect of the free purpose of his will to send Christ to redeem us and to satisfy for our sin; he was angry with us in respect of his violated law and provoked justice by sin.

3. God loves our persons as we are his creatures, is angry with us as we are sinners.

4. It is true that we can have no greater evidence and argument of the love of God's good-will and pleasure in general than in sending his Son to die for sinners, and that he is not angry with them with an anger of hatred opposite to that love,—that is, with an eternal purpose to destroy them; but for a love of friendship and acceptation, we have innumerable other pledges and evidences, as is known, and might be easily declared.

These things being premised, the confirmation of what was proposed ensues:

The use and sense of the words whereby this doctrine of our reconciliation is expressed evince the truth contended for. 'Iλáoxsolar, καταλάσσειν, and ἀποκαταλάσσειν, which are the words used in this business, are as much as "iram avertere," "to turn away anger:" so is reconciliare, propitiare," and "placare," in Latin. "Impius, ne audeto placare iram deorum," was a law of the Twelve Tables. 'Iλάoxoμaι, "propitior, placor," iλaouós, "placatio, exoratio," Gloss. vetus. And in this sense is the word used: "Οσα μέντοι πρὸς ἱλασ μοὺς θεῶν ἢ τεράτων ἀποτροπὰς συνηγόρευον οἱ μάντεις, Plut. in Fabio,to appease their gods, and turn away the things they feared." And the same author tells us of a way taken ἐξιλάσασθαι τὸ μήνιμα τῆς θεοῦ,—to appease the anger of the goddess." And Xenophon useth the word to the same purpose: Πολλὰ μὲν πέμπων ἀναθήματα χρυσᾶ, πολλὰ δὲ ἀργυρᾶ, πάμπολλα δὲ θύων, ἐξιλασάμην ποτὲ αὐτόν. And so also doth Livy use the word "reconcilio:" "Non movit modo talis oratio regem, sed etiam reconciliavit Annibali," Bell. Macedon. And many more instances might be given. God, then, being angry and averse from love of friendship with us, as hath been declared, and Christ being said thus to make reconciliation for us with God, he did fully turn away the wrath of God from us, as by the testimonies of it will appear.

Before I produce our witnesses in this cause, I must give this one caution: It is not said anywhere expressly that God is reconciled to us, but that we are reconciled to God; and the sole reason thereof is, because he is the party offended, and we are the parties offending. Now, the party offending is always said to be reconciled to the party offended, and not on the contrary. So Matt. v. 23, 24, "If thy brother have ought against thee, go and be reconciled to him." The brother being the party offended, he that had offended was to be reconciled to him by turning away his anger. And in common speech, when one hath justly provoked another, we bid him go and reconcile himself to him; that is, do that which may appease him and give an entrance into his favour again. So is it in the case under consideration. Being the parties offending, we are said to be reconciled to God when his anger is turned away and we are admitted into his favour. Let now the testimonies speak for themselves:

Rom. v. 10, "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Karnλλdynuev s Osũ, —“We were reconciled to God," or brought again into his favour." Amongst the many reasons that might be given to prove the intention of this expression to be," that we were reconciled to God" by the averting of his anger from us, and our accepting into favour, I shall insist on some few from the context:

1 It appears from the relation that this expression bears to that of verse 8, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," with which this upon the matter is the same, "We are reconciled to God.

by the death of his Son." Now, the intent of this expression, "Christ died for us sinners," is, he died to bring us sinners into the favour of God, nor will it admit of any other sense; so is our being "reconciled to God by the death of his Son." And that this is the meaning of the expression, "Christ died for us," is evident from the illustration given to it by the apostle, verses 6, 7. "Christ died for the ungodly;" how? As one man dieth for another, that is, to deliver him from death.

2. From the description of the same thing in other words: Verse 9, "Being justified by his blood." That it is the same thing upon the matter that is here intended appears from the contexture of the apostle's speech, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more then being justified by his blood;" and, "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God." The apostle repeats what he had said before, "If, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," and "we were justified by the blood of Christ;" that is, "If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God." Now, to be justified is God's reconciliation to us, his acceptation of us into favour, not our conversion to him, as is known and confessed.

3. The reconciliation we have with God is a thing tendered to us, and we do receive it: Verse 11, Karaλλayýv iλá Cousy, "We have received the reconciliation (or atonement)." Now, this cannot be spoken in reference to our reconciliation to God as on our side, but of his to us, and our acceptation with him. Our reconciliation to God is our conversion; but we are not said to receive our conversion, or to have our conversion tendered to us, but to convert ourselves or to be converted.

4. The state and condition from whence we are delivered by this reconciliation is described in this, that we are called enemies,-being enemies, we were reconciled." Now, enemies in this place are the same with sinners; and the reconciliation of sinners,—that is, of those who had rebelled against God, provoked him, were obnoxious to wrath, is certainly the procuring of the favour of God for them. When you say, "Such a poor, conquered rebel, that expected to be tortured and slain, is by means of such a one reconciled to his prince," what is it that you intend? Is it that he begins to like and love his prince only, or that his prince lays down his wrath and pardons him?

5. All the considerations before insisted on, declaring in what sense we are saved by the death of Christ, prove our reconciliation with God to be our acceptation with him, not our conversion to him.

2 Cor. v. 18-21 is a place of the same importance with that above mentioned, wherein the reconciliation pleaded for is asserted, and the nature of it explained: " And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, recon