when properly considered as such, they have a very apt and powerful tendency to lead us to the abhorrence of all moral evil, and to the practice of virtue and piety.

4

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But to go on : 'That the preposition

UTεg, when applied to Christ's dying for

us, doth not signify in the place, or stead

of, I have shewn (you tell us) in my

Paraphrase upon the Romans, in the note upon chap. v. 7.' v. 7.' I have carefully perused that note, and must readily own, that in some of the places there quoted, UTEо does not signify in the place, or stead of: but that it never signifies so much, when applied to Christ's dying for us, or that it does not, in any of those places, is not so clear. That it sometimes signifies in the stead of, when applied to other persons, is, I presume, what will not be denied see 2 Cor. v. 20. Philem. 13. I might therefore take the liberty to say, that I know no reason, why we may not as well infer from its signifying sometimes in the stead of, that it signifies so much when applied to Christ's dying for us ; as you infer, from its signifying sometimes upon the account of, as you seem to do, that it must signify no more when applied to the

death of Christ. But not to insist upon this: there are some places at least, where VTеe, though used in relation to our Lord's dying for us, seems to me to signify no less than in the stead of: of this number, though quoted by you to a different purpose, I reckon John xv. 13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. It will be allowed, I presume, by every one that considers the context, that our Lord intended, by these words, to intimate to his disciples; as, that he who lays down his life for his friends, gives them thereby the strongest proof of his affection; so, that he himself should lay down his life for them, in such a manner, and to such an end, as a man may ordinarily be supposed to lay down his life for his friends. The question then is, in what manner, and to what end, a man may be supposed ordinarily to die for his friends? As to the end, it may be said, that he must be supposed to die for their benefit: very well. But, in what manner may he be supposed to benefit them by his death? May he be supposed to do it, by setting before them an example of patience and fortitude in suffering, or of a

steady adherence to true religion, in the midst of the greatest discouragements? Surely this cannot be for who ever heard of a man's laying down his life merely for this end, that he might thereby set his friends an example? In what manner then may he be supposed to benefit his friends, by dying for them? For my own part, I cannot so readily think of his doing it in any way, as by dying in their stead, i. e. dying for them in such a way, as by his death to save them from death.* And if

* If it should be observed here, that a person may be said to lay down his life for his friends; though he suffers death, or, perhaps, only hazards his life, to save them, not from death, but only from some lesser evil with which they are threatened; as may be gathered (see your note on Rom. v. 7,) from what St. John tells us, 1 Epist. iii. 16, that Christians ought, when circumstances so require, to lay down their lives for their brethren; and from what St. Paul tells us of some at Rome, chap. xvi. 4, who for his life laid down their own necks: I would beg leave to observe with regard to the former words, that it does not appear, but that St. John might intend by them, that Christians should be ready, when circumstances so required, to lay down their lives in their brethren's stead, i.e. that they should be willing to part with their lives, when they had a prospect of saving thereby those of their brethren. And with regard to the other passage: though we cannot certainly say, what the apostle means, when he there tells us, that Aquila and Priscilla laid down their necks for his life; yet we

it is most natural to consider our Lord here as speaking of a person, who lays down his life for his friends, in such a manner, as by his so doing to save them from death, i. e. who lays down his life in

do not know, but that his meaning is, that they had shewn themselves ready to lay down their lives in his stead, or in other words, to part with their own, if they might but be accepted as a ransom for his. However, I do not deny, but that a person may be said to lay down his life for others, when he exposes his life to great danger (and especially, if in consequence of it, he actually suffers death) in order to preserve them from some evil which threateneth them (whatever that evil may be) or to procure for them some good: neither, of consequence, do I deny, but that St. John might partly intend by the words just mentioned, that Christians, when called to do it, ought to be ready, in such a sense, to lay down their lives for their brethren. But then, allowing this; we cannot, methinks, consistently consider our Lord, John xv. 13, as leading our thoughts to a person, who only exposes his life, or even suffers death, not to preserve his friends from death, which they would otherwise undergo, but to preserve them from some lesser evil: because this would be to consider him, as directing our thoughts to a person, who dies for his friends, in a different manner from that, in which our Lord has died for his (for he died for them, not that he might preserve them from any lesser evil, to which they were exposed; but that he might thereby save them from death, which they would otherwise have undergone ;) which is evidently contrary to what the words plainly suggest, viz. that we are to consider our Lord and the person referred to, as dying for their respective friends, in the same manner, and to the same end.

their stead; then it is equally so to suppose, that he intended, by the words under consideration, to intimate to his disciples, that he should give them such a proof of his affection to them, as to lay down his life in their stead.

In like manner, it may be shewed from Rom. v. 7, 8, that when it is said, that Christ died for us (væεç nμwv); the apostle's meaning is, that he died in our stead. For in the comparison there drawn, between the case of some one's being possibly willing to die for a good man, and that of our Lord's dying for us, while we were yet sinners; ⚫ though the apostle doth not ' (as you observe, note on ver. 7.) lead our 'thoughts to the payment of an equivalent,

or to the notion of a vicarious punishment,' strictly speaking; yet he evidently leads us to consider our Lord, as dying for sinners, ' in a sense like that in which one 'man might die for another of great virtue and value :' and therefore, as 'it is clear in the latter case, that if one man dies for

another, he does not die' (at least he cannot be supposed, in the present case, to die) merely for an example to the righteous or good man,' or for his benefit