Wesley Corpus

His sufferings were the penal effects of our sins. ‘The chastisement of our peace, the punishment necessary to procure it, “was laid “on him, freely submitting thereto: “And by his stripes” (a part of his sufferings again put for the whole) “we are healed;’ pardon, sanctification, and final salvation, are all purchased and bestowed upon us. Every chastisement is for some fault. That laid on Christ was not for his own, but ours; and was needful to reconcile an offended Lawgiver, and offending guilty creatures, to each other. So ‘the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all; that is, the punishment due to our iniquity.” (Pages 16-20.) “It is true, as Dr. Taylor says, “sin and iniquity often sig nify affliction or suffering. But why? Because it is usual for a cause to give denomination to its effect. And so the conse quences of sin are called by the same name. But this rather hurts Dr. Taylor's cause than helps it. For sufferings could with no propriety be called sin, if they were not the proper effects of it. Man, in innocence, was liable to no suffering or sorrow ; he was indeed tried, but not by suffering. All sorrow was introduced by sin; and if man is ‘born to trouble, it is because he is born ‘in sin.” God indeed does afflict his children for their good; and turns even death into a blessing. Yet as it is the effect of sin, so is it in itself an enemy to all mankind; nor would any man have been either tried or cor rected by affliction, had it not been for sin.” (Pages 21, 22.) “The Lord’s laying on Christ ‘the iniquity of us all,’ was eminently typified by the High Priest putting all the iniqui ties of Israel on the scape-goat, who then carried them away. “But the goat, says Dr. Taylor, “was to suffer nothing. This is a gross mistake. It was a ‘sin-offering,’ (verse 5) and, as such, was to ‘bear upon him all the iniquities’ of the people into the wilderness; and there (as the Jewish Doctors una nimously hold) to suffer a violent death, by way of punish ment, instead of the people, for their sins “put upon him.’ Yet Dr. Taylor says, “Here was no imputation of sin. No! What is the difference between imputing sins, and putting them upon him?