Wesley Corpus

Otherwise, how was he O ov, He that is ; “God over all, blessed for ever?” If Christ died for no other ends than these, what need was there of his being more than a creature? As you seem never to have employed your thoughts on justification or redemption, in the Scripture sense, I beg leave to subjoin a plain account thereof, wrote by a woman of the last century:--* “(1.) Christ hath acquired for us a right to eternal life by his satisfaction and merits alone. Neither our repentance nor amendment can be any satisfaction for sin. It is only ‘through his blood that we have redemption.” (Ephesians i. 7.) This alone “cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John i. 7.) And herein “was the * Annae Mariac a Schurman EvkAmpua, Pars II, p. 118, &c. love of God manifested towards us, that he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John iv. 9, 10.) So was the Lord ‘our righteousness;’ (Jer. xxiii. 6;) without which we could not have been justified. As man owed his Creator the perfect obedience of his whole life, or a punishment propor tioned to his transgression, it was impossible he could satisfy him by a partial and imperfect obedience. Neither could he merit anything from Him to whom he owed all things. There was need therefore of a Mediator who could repair the immense wrong he had done to the Divine Majesty, satisfy the Supreme Judge, who had pronounced the sentence of death against the transgressors of his law, suffer in the place of his people, and merit for them pardon, holiness, and glory. Accordingly, he “gave himself a ransom for all, (1 Tim. ii. 6) and “by himself purged our sins.” (Heb. i. 3.) “He loved us, and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.” (Eph. v. 2.) So we read, God “raised him from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification: Because our Surety’s being discharged by the will and act of the Judge himself, is a full proof that he has paid our whole debt.