2. To meet, or to make to meet properly, which is the first, and most clear sense of the word. It is often used for to meet 'animo hostili,' to meet, to fall upon for hurt, 1 Sam. xxii. 17. the servants of the king would not put forth the hand ya to meet, that is, as we have translated it, to fall upon the priests and kill them; so 2 Sam. i. 15. David bid his young man arise, ya fall upon the Amalekite, that is, to kill him. Judg. xv. 12. Samson made the men of Judah swear that they would not yan meet with him, or fall on him themselves.

Nextly, it may be inquired in what sense the word is here used, whether in the first spoken of, to ask, entreat, intercede; or in the latter, to meet; or to meet with.

Grotius interpreteth it (to remove, so much of his interpretation by the way), 'permisit Deus, ut ille nostro gravi crimine indignissima pateretur;' that so he might suit what is spoken to Jeremiah, without pretence or colour of proof. For the word, it is forty-six times used in the Old Testament, and if in any one of them it may be truly rendered 'permisit,' as it is done by him, or to that sense, let it be here so applied also. And for that sense, which is, that God suffered the Jews by their wickedness to entreat him evilly, it is most remote from the intendment of the words, and the Holy Ghost in them.

1. First then, that the words cannot be interpreted to pray, or intercede, is evident from the contexture; wherein it is said (in this sense) 'he prayed him for the iniquity of us all; that is, the Lord prayed Christ for the iniquities of us all. This sense of the word yn in this place, Socinus himself grants not to be proper, nor consistent. Porro significatio illa, precari, in loco nostro locum habere non potest; alioqui sequeretur Isaiam voluisse dicere, Deum fecisse, ut omnium nostrum iniquitas per Christum, vel pro -Christo precata fuerit, quod longe absurdissimum esse nemo non videt.' cap. 21. p. 132. Prælec. Socin.

2. It is then 'to meet:' now the word here used being in hiphil, which makes a double action of that expressed by adding the cause, by whose power, virtue, and impress, the thing is done; thence it is here rendered occurrere fecit,' ' he made to meet,' and so the sense of it is, God made our sins, as it were, to set upon, or to fall upon Jesus Christ,

which is the most common use of the word, as hath been shewed.

It is objected, that the word signifies to meet, yet no more but this may be the meaning of them; God in Christ met with all our iniquities; that is, for their pardoning, and removal, and taking away.

Of the many things that may be given in for the eversion of this Gloss, I shall name only two, whereof the first is to the word, the latter to the matter. For the word; the conjugation according to the common rule, enforces the sense formerly mentioned: be made to meet, and not be met.

2. The prophet in these words renders a reason of the contemptible sad condition of the Messiah, at which so many were scandalized, and whereupon so few believed the report of the gospel concerning him; and this is, that God laid on him our iniquities;' now there is no reason why he should be represented in so deplorable a state and condition, if God only met with, and prevented our sin, in and by him, which he did (as they say) in his resurrection, wherein he was exceeding glorious; so that the meaning of the word is, that God made our sins to meet on him, by laying them on him; and this sense Socinus himself consents unto, Prælec. .cap. 21. p. 133. But this also will farther appear in the explication of the next word: and that is 'our iniquities.'

He hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.' ny How the iniquitiy of us, that is, the punishment of our iniquity? I shall offer three things, to make good this interpretation.

1. That the word is often found in that sense; so that it is no new, or uncouth thing, that here it should be so, Gen. iv. 13. › ' mine iniquity' is greater than I can bear, it is the same word here used; they are the words of Cain, upon the denunciation of God's judgment on him; and what iniquity it is, he gives you an account in the next words, behold thou hast cast me out,' ver. 14. that was only the punishment laid on him. It is used in like manner several times; Lev. xx. 17. 19. 1 Sam. xxviii. 10. Saul swear to the witch, that no iniquity should befall her; that is, no punishment for that which she did at his command, in raising up a spirit to consult withal, contrary to the law. And also in sundry other places: so that this is no new signification of the word, and is here most proper.

2. To meet, or to make to meet properly, which is the first, and most clear sense of the word. It is often used for to meet 'animo hostili,' to meet, to fall upon for hurt, 1 Sam. xxii. 17. the servants of the king would not put forth the hand yans to meet, that is, as we have translated it, to fall upon the priests and kill them; so 2 Sam. i. 15. David bid his young man arise, yap fall upon the Amalekite, that is, to kill him. Judg. xv. 12. Samson made the men of Judah swear that they would not yaon meet with him, or fall on him themselves.

Nextly, it may be inquired in what sense the word is here used, whether in the first spoken of, to ask, entreat, intercede; or in the latter, to meet; or to meet with.

Grotius interpreteth it (to remove, so much of his interpretation by the way), 'permisit Deus, ut ille nostro gravi crimine indignissima pateretur;' that so he might suit what is spoken to Jeremiah, without pretence or colour of proof. For the word, it is forty-six times used in the Old Testament, and if in any one of them it may be truly rendered 'permisit,' as it is done by him, or to that sense, let it be here so applied also. And for that sense, which is, that God suffered the Jews by their wickedness to entreat him evilly, it is most remote from the intendment of the words, and the Holy Ghost in them.

1. First then, that the words cannot be interpreted to pray, or intercede, is evident from the contexture; wherein it is said (in this sense) 'he prayed him for the iniquity of us all;' that is, the Lord prayed Christ for the iniquities of us all. This sense of the word yn in this place, Socinus himself grants not to be proper, nor consistent. Porro significatio illa, precari, in loco nostro locum habere non potest; alioqui sequeretur Isaiam voluisse dicere, Deum fecisse, ut omnium nostrum iniquitas per Christum, vel pro Christo precata fuerit, quod longe absurdissimum esse nemo non videt.' cap. 21. p. 132. Prælec. Socin.

2. It is then to meet:' now th word here use

hiphil, which makes a double a

adding the cause, by whose r

thing is done; thence it is

'he made to meet,' and s

sins, as it were, to s

1. How it was typically prefigured.

2. How it was done, or in what act of God the doing of it doth consist.

1. This was eminently represented in the great anniversary sacrifice, of which I have spoken formerly; especially in that part which concerns the goat, on which the lot fell to be sent away. That that goat was a sacrifice, is evident from ver. 5. where both the kids of the goats (afterward said to be two goats), are said to be a sin-offering; how this was dealt withal, see ver. 21. Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the live goat, and confess our sin, all the iniquities of all the people, all their transgressions in all their sins, and put them upon the head of the goat.' Now in what sense could the sins of the people, be put upon the head of the goat.

1. This was not merely a representation; as it were a show or pageant, to set forth the taking away of iniquity; but sins were really, as to that typical institution, laid on the head of the goat: whence he became a piaculum,' an ȧvánua, and he that touched him was defiled, so ver. 26. The man that carried out the goat was unclean until he was legally purified, and that because the sin of the people was on the head of the goat, which he so carried away.

2. The proper pravity, malice, and filth of sin, could not be laid on the goat. Neither the nature of the thing, nor the subject will bear it; for neither is sin, which is a privation, an irregularity, an obliquity, such a thing, as that it can be translated from one to another, although it hath an infectious, and a contagious quality to diffuse itself, that is, to beget something of the like nature in others: nor was the goat a subject wherein any such pernicious or depraved habit might reside, which belongs only to intelligent creatures, which have a moral rule to walk by.

3. It must be the punishment of sin, that is here intended, which was in the type laid on the head of the goat. And therefore it was sent away into a land not inhabited, a land of separation, a wilderness, there to perish, as all the Jewish doctors agree: that is, to undergo the punishment that was inflicted on him. That in such sacrifices for sin, there was a real imputation of sin unto punishment, shall afterward be farther cleared.

* Αποπομπαίος.

Unto this transaction doth the prophet allude in this expression, he laid on, or put on him. As the high-priest confessed all the sins, iniquities, and transgressions of the people and laid them on the head of the scape-goat, which he bare, undergoing the utmost punishment he was capable of, and that punishment, which in the general kind and nature is the punishment, due to sin, an evil and violent death. So did God lay all the sins, all the punishment due to them, really upon one that was fit, able, and appointed to bear it, which he suffered under to the utmost, that the justice of God required on that account. He then took a view of all our sins and iniquities. He knew what was past and what was to come, knowing all our thoughts afar off. Not the least error of our minds, darkness of our understandings, perverseness of our wills, carnality of our affections, sin of our nature, or lives, escaped him, All were yuμvà kaì TETρa Xaλioμéva before him. This is set out by the variety of exχαλισμένα pressions used in this matter in the type; all the iniquities, all the transgressions, and all the sins. And so by every word whereby we express sin, in this 53rd of Isaiah: going astray, turning aside, iniquity, transgression, sin, and the like. God, I say, made them all to meet on Christ in the punishment due to them.

2. What is the act of God, whereby he casts our sins on Christ.

I have elsewhere considered, how God in this business is to be looked on: I said now in the entrance of this discourse, that punishment is an effect of justice in him, who had power to dispose of the offender as such. To this two things are required.

1. That he have in his hand power to dispose of all the concernments of the offence and sinner, as the governor of him and them all. This is in God. He is by nature the King and Governor of all the world. Our Lawgiver; James iv. 12. Having made rational creatures, and required obedience at their hands, it is essentially belonging to him to be their Governor, and not only to have the sovereign disposal of them, as he hath the supreme dominion over them, with

b Vide of the death of Christ, the price he paid, and the purchase he made. Vid. Diatrib. de Justit. Divin.