exposeth us to Divine wrathhence is it said That by nature we are children of wrath Eph. 2.3 And the sentence of the Law is Indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil Rom. 2.8 9. Wrath is due to us as we are sinners now Christ by the work of his Satisfaction turns away this wrath from us He it is that trod the wine-press of divine wrath Isa 63.3 And Christ bearing the wrath of God for us delivers us from that wrath Hence it is said We are saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 And that We are delivered from wrath to come by him 1 Thess 1. ult Jesus that delivereth us from the wrath to come 2. The second effect of Christs Satisfaction is the procuring of pardon of sin for us Thus in those known words of the Institution of the Lords Supper our Saviour tells us This is the new Testament in my blood that was shed for the remission of sins The blood of Christ was shed on purpose to procure the pardon of sin and it doth procure pardon of sin for us Eph. 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins One great fruit of Christs Satisfaction and our Redemption by Christ is that by means of that Satisfaction and Redemption of his we should have forgiveness of sins therefore in the Text mentioned before it is said Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins Rom. 3.25 The meaning I take to be this That God having received satisfaction through the death and sufferings of Christ thereupon he gives forth pardon and remission of sins to us 3. The third effect of Christs Satisfaction is eternal life Christ by his Satisfaction procures eternal life for us hence is it that we read of the promise of an eternal inheritance through the death of Christ Heb. 9.15 Christs sufferings are not only satisfactory but they are also meritorious Christs sufferings did not only turn away the evil of punishment from us but they procured the good of eternal life for us Hence it is said That grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5. ult The obedience of Christ active and passive is operative to bring us to eternal life 1. Vse 1 See what infinite reason there is that we should seek after a part and interest in Christs Satisfaction For 1. Without an interest in Christs Satisfaction we are liable to answer to Divine Justice in our own persons Divine Justice will be satisfied one way or other for God himself hath pronounced it That he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 God is just and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus Rom. 3.26 Therefore if we do not get an interest in Christ that he may fatisfie for us we are liable to be cast into prison by the hand of Divine Justice and we shall not come forth thence till we have paid the uttermost farthing 2. Without an interest in Christs Satisfaction Divine wrath still hangs over us It is Christ only that by his Satisfaction pacifies and turns away Gods wrath therefore unless we have a part in Christs Satisfaction infinite and unsupportable wrath hangs over our heads every moment and will assuredly fall upon us and we know not how soon it may do so He that believes not on the Son hath not life but the wrath of God abides upon him Joh. 3. ult 3. Without an interest in Christs Satisfaction we cannot have the pardon of sin for it is by the Satisfaction of Christ as we have heard that pardon of sin is procured We are liable to answer to Gods Justice for all our sins and all our sins will certainly come in against us to condemn us unless we have a part in Christs Satisfaction 4. Without an interest in Christs Satisfaction we can make out no title to eternal life Heaven is called the purchased inheritance Vntil the redemption of the purchased possession Eph. 1.14 Heaven is the purchase of the death and sufferings of Christ therefore unless we have an interest in the virtue of Christs sufferings we can have no title to the heavenly inheritance Here it may be said But what shall we do that we may have a part in Christs Satisfaction 1. Let us labour to see our infinite need of Christ and his Satisfaction we never see the worth of Christs Satisfaction till first we see our selves to be condemned persons O let us be more deeply sensible what the Law and Divine Justice have against us As we are sinners we are condemned persons in Law The wages of sin is death The soul that sins shall dye This is the sentence of the Law O let us labour to be deeply sensible of this and then we shall see the need of Christs Satisfaction 2. If we would have an interest in Christs Satisfaction let us labour to know Christ and him crucified Paul saith That he determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 You will say Why is the knowledge of a crucified Christ so necessary to Salvation The reason is because the death and sufferings of Christ is the only means of atonement and to bring us unto reconciliation with God Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation There is no pacifying of an angry God but by the Blood of Jesus Christ and it is Faith in his Blood that gives us an interest in the atonement Him hath God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood We must therefore close with a crucified Christ by faith cast an aspect of faith upon the Son of God in our nature offering himself up to God as a Sacrifice for our sins It is faith in this Sacrifice of Christ that must procure reconciliation for us Joh. 3.14 15. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life Christ is lifted up as the brazen Serpent was lifted up It was their looking on the brazen Serpent that brought healing to them that were stung by the fiery Serpents and it is our looking upon a crucified Christ by an eye of faith casting an aspect of faith upon Christ as crucified and the virtue of his sufferings that must bring Salvation to us who are sinners and who deserve to perish as we are such The end of the third Sermon SERMON IV. Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Now proceed to the second thing which is to lay down several distinct and particular Propositions for the clearing of this great Doctrine the Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction And here the Propositions that I shall lay down
EMMANVEL OR THE LOVE of CHRIST Explicated and Applied in his INCARNATION Being made under the LAW AND HIS SATISFACTION IN XXX Sermons Preached by JOHN ROW Minister of God's Word AND Published by SAMUEL LEE LONDON Printed for Francis Tyton Book-seller at the Three Daggers near the Inner Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet 1680. TO THE PIOUS READER THIS Treatise here presented to thine eyes first sounded in the ears of a gracious Society by that Gospel-Trumpet Mr. John Row It was a Darling-child brought forth from a judicious head and a sanctified heart The Ancients compared John to the Eagle in the Vision of Cherubims because soaring high in the contemplation of our Lords Divinity Our John as if he had lain in the bosom of that John who lay in the bosom of our Saviour hath sweetly attempted to descant upon the Song of Angels about the Vnion of Heaven and Earth God and man together Luk. 2.10 The heavenly Host answered in a heavenly Anthem to that single Angel who brought the good Tydings of great joy for all people to the Shepherds of Bethlehem and behold here one of the Shepherds of Zion sings his Epiphonema to theirs Glory to God in the highest Indeed the union of two Natures in one Person and of three Persons in one Essence are Mysteries unaccountable by Angels but the joy of its influence shall never forsake the Harps of Angels or Saints to all Eternity None but who is assumed into that glorious Vnion can exhaust the Treasury of Divine Wisdom Rev. 5.5 John the beloved Disciple could not unloose the seven Seals of these Mysteries but must weep at the foot of the Lamb to do it Yet what is to be believed admired adored may and ought to be the subject of our most profound Meditations and delight What God hath revealed let none presume to count impertinent to dive into though they can feel no bottom they will find more amiable Gemms than Pearl and Coral adhering to the sides of the adamantine Rocks in this unfathomable Abyss True none can fully explain this Vnion but he that injoys it To delineate some glittering rays that stream from it requires deep communion with the person in union We are not able to conjecture what pleasures flow in upon the palates of Angels as they stand drinking of the beams of the Divine Essence neither can they transfuse or pour out those Paradise-rivers into our broken cisterns How far this holy man hath added to the point I rather leave to the Candidates of these Mysteries than determine Each may see deeper into their own Notions than others and it is far easier to conceive than express and yet there is infinitely more left for all Ages in the remainder of the Spirit than ever was uttered or can be thought of Yet I think with respect had to others he hath rendred some things more intelligible and many things more applicable and useful to common capacities The Cherubims that stood looking down upon the crowned Mercy-seat might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 25.11 1 Pet. 1.12 but could not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they might gaze upon it but not through it It was not transparent Gold like the streets of Jerusalem Rev. 21.21 but too thick a plate of Ophir for an Angels eye to pierce They may pry into the state of Saints in Glory but not the contrivance of Grace to bring Saints thither Much less can man and man fallen receive or sustain wings strong enough to fly into the depth of this amazing Firmament What God bath made on the back-side of the exteriour Heavens hath a terminating bound because a Creature though it pose Astronomy it self to measure and square the Circle of the Heavens so what God hath written is infinitely true though our finite and crooked thoughts can never unfold or draw a parallel what Scripture reveals though it do not fully unveil it is our duty both to study and embrace Divine love say the Platonists made the Vniverse and therefore more capacious and were it not more comprehensive than all created love it would never take a Saint He finds a bottom in all created joy and not like the Sea the fresher at the bottom but sometimes more salt and bitter but uncreated love hath no shoars nor centre but the bosom of God and the depth is upward still higher and sweeter These things are reserved for such as pass Kidron and Olivet let us a while step into the Sanctuary and study to grow in the Mystery of the Father and of Christ and pray that the Spirit would reveal in us what the Son hath revealed to us from the Father Joh. 1 1◠and then draw spiritual and sweet consequences from above Did the Son of God come down from Heaven to earth was it not to take the sons of men from earth to Heaven Did not the second Person partake of the humane Nature that we might partake of the Divine He took not the persons of Enoch or Abraham or Paul that they only might be happy but the nature of the first Adam that all who by faith are united to the second Adam in Grace may triumph in Glory Did not he lye in Davids Inn at Bethlehem that we might lye in the Son of Davids mansions that are above in that Zion of Zions Was not he made of a woman in Canaan to restore us to a better Paradise than what was lost by the woman of Eden Was not he made under the Law that we might be new born under Grace Was not he exalted on the Cross this Josephs Son to speak with reverence to erect a more firm and sublime Ladder into Heaven than Jacob's That Patriarch saw only a Vision of Angels by star-light but we by this Ladder ascend up to the Angels themselves that are singing in the Noon of Glory Was not his most precious Blood poured out as a Ransom for many to the remission of sins that ours might not be poured out like oyl to feed the perpetual Lamps in the flames of Hell Did not the Father make his love honourable as the Prophet speaks by his Son 's more honourable obedience and justifie his Justice by his Son's Righteousness and quench his anger in the Ocean of his Son's love Thus doth our blessed Author from the Son's Deity proceed to the great Doctrine of his most meritorious Sufferings and full Satisfaction for the sins of all the Elect. The Father by his Eternal love made way for his Temporal anger to his beloved Son that he might redeem his adopted sons from eternal wrath and made a way through the heart of his Son for them to pass into eternal love This point he no less sweetly than substantially clears against the Socinians venom who aim by darkning the Deity of Christ to extinguish the glory and honour of his Satisfaction Act. 20.28 For if it had not been the Blood of God it could never have purchased the Church But it is that
justa As to the power of God all things are possible unto God but as to the justice of God nothing is possible but what is just Therefore God having decreed and that most justly to punish sin God could not but punish sin 6. The sixth Proposition is That God being merciful as well as just doth in his infinite Wisdom find out a way how his Justice may be salved and man not perish This is that which the Apostle declares to us Rom. 3.24 25 26. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus The scope of the Apostle is plainly this To shew that God hath a mind to forgive sin and yet he would be just too therefore that he might be merciful and just both at once God found out a way how he might forgive sin and yet his Justice not be prejudiced Hence was it that God appointed Christ to be a ransom for us that so Christ bearing the punishment that we deserved the Justice of God might be satisfied in what Christ suffered and yet his Mercy might be glorified in remitting the punishment to us Him hath God ordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood saith the Apostle God remits sin freely as to us and so his mercy is glorified as to us and yet he receives full satisfaction from Christ and so his Justice is glorified in him Thus mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other Psal 85.10 God having found full satisfaction to his Justice in the blood of Christ there is a sweet reconciliation between those two seeming contrary Attributes the Justice and Mercy of God This is elegantly set forth by one of the Ancients after this manner There is a controversie or a strife as it were between the Justice and the Mercy of God Altercatio est inter Dei justitiam misericordiam but this strife is ended in the death of Christ because in the death of our Saviour Divine Justice is satisfied in all that it did desire Divine Justice saith If Adam dye not I am lost and Mercy on the other hand saith If Adam doth not obtain mercy one way or other I am lost now Christ interposing by his death each of these Attributes have what they do desire Learn from what hath been said the Justice Vse 1 Equity and Righteousness of God in punishing of sin Psal 98.9 With righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equity Ezek. 18.29 Art not my ways equal are not your ways unequal The ways of God are full of equity when God punisheth sin there is the greatest equity that he should do so there is that demerit in sin and there is that Holiness and Justice in the Nature of God that calls upon him to punish sin Sin is after a sort infinitely evil not that it is simply and in it self so but sin may be said to be infinitely evil with respect to the object as it is contrary to the glory of God who is Bonum infinitum an infinite good God also who is the Governor of the World seeing how much the Sinner had violated the Law of Right and Equity judges it a just and righteous thing that Sinners should undergo punishment therefore no man hath cause to quarrel with God and to think hardly of him for inflicting punishment upon him because of sin for This is the judgment of God that they which do such things are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 This is the judgment of God as much as if it had been said God hath determined this in his infinite Understanding It is the upright and just determination of the most wise God that the Sinner is worthy of death God is not too rigorous in his judgment in this case he judges according to the equity of the cause Rom. 2.2 The judgment of God is according to truth Isa 3.11 Wo unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him The reward of his hands shall be given him O this is certain every mans condemnation will be found just at last and it will appear to him that it is most just God condemns no man but for sin and there is that desert in sin for which God may justly condemn men and I conceive that a great part of the torments of the Damned consists in this That they shall have their eyes opened and their understandings inlarged which are now shut and closed up to see that turpitude baseness unworthiness monstrousness unreasonableness that was in sin and that they are justly punished for committing that which was so contrary to the Law of their Creation and to the Principles of their own Beings as they are reasonable creatures For what is more just equal and reasonable than that the creature should honour obey and serve his Creator and take notice of his Laws and yield conformity to them And what more unjust unreasonable and unequal than the creature should cast off Gods Authority and live in contempt of his Maker and defiance of his Laws Now when men shall have their understandings opened to take in this more fully then they will see that God is just in punishing sin and that their condemnation is most just Learn from hence Vse 2 that there is no way for a guilty Soul to appear before God but by flying to the Satisfaction of Christ God is so holy that he cannot but hate sin so just that he cannot but punish sin How then can a poor guilty creature appear before the presence of the Divine Majesty laden with all his sins O it is an easie thing for a secure Sinner that knows neither what the nature of sin is nor what the nature of God is to slight sin But he that once comes to see a little of the turpitude and deformity that is in sin and will summon himself into Gods presence and consider what the Holiness Purity and Justice of Gods Nature is will soon have other thoughts of sin and of his own condition by reason of sin God is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity and he will by no means clear the guilty therefore he that hath but a little sight of Gods Holiness and of his infinite Justice and Righteousness will soon cry out with the Prophet I am undone Isa 6.5 And nothing can ease or quiet a poor trembling Soul in this case but flying to the Satisfaction of Christ When a man compares his impurity with Gods infinite Purity and Holiness when he compares his own sinfulness and unworthiness with Gods
more sweet and comfortable is that speech of Ambrose My mind or spirit is crucified in Christ Mens mea in Christo crucifixa est Ambr. the meaning of which I take to be That the punishment which was due to my mind or spirit is laid upon Christ and I having suffered that in my mind or spirit in Christ my Head which I deserved to suffer I hope hereby to be set free from that punishment Christ I say suffered in his Soul hence is it said that Christ was smitten of God Isa 53.4 We did esteem him stricken smitten of God and it pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief vers 10. Christ was stricken of God immediately stricken in his Soul Psal 69.26 They persecute him whom thou hast smitten Mat. 26.31 I will smite the shepherd If Christ was smitten of God how should that be but immediately in his Soul Hence is that of one of the Ancients God saith he was justly angry with us for our sins and Christ interposing himself as the middle person took off the stroke and bare the punishment that hung over us Neither may it seem strange to us that our Saviour should suffer in his Soul for as much as he was pleased to take upon him the guilt of all our sins It is a memorable passage of a late modern Divine The guilt Dickson Therapeut Sacr. saith he of all our sins wickednesses and most hainous offences which from the beginning of the world to the end of it have been committed by any of the Elect all these were imputed to one Christ altogether and all at once and although Christ by taking the guilt of all these sins upon him did not pollute or defile that holy Soul of his yet nevertheless he did burthen his Soul with them by obliging himself to suffer the punishment that was due to the sins of the Elect as if so be those very sins had in some sort been his own sins Now saith he whenas we see the most profligate and impure sinners lyars thieves adulterers and the like when we see these they cannot patiently hear themselves to be called lyars or thieves or adulterers though guilty of such enormous crimes although it is manifest that they are guilty of them neither can they bear the shame and disgrace of their own guilt that yet doth manifestly lye upon them with how great a grief and passion of mind with how great a darkening of that sanctity and glory that was in our Saviour must we suppose that Christ did take upon his shoulders this most noisom dunghil of all our sins than which nothing could be more abhorring from the purity and sanctity of nature 4. Christ suffered death it self for us hence is it said That he tasted death for everyman Heb. 2.9 Nothing less than death could satisfie the Law the sentence of the Law was That the soul that sins shall dye therefore he that will be our surety and bear the punishment due to us must undergo death it self for us Some of the Papists tell us That such was the dignity of Christs person that the least drop of his Blood the least tear the least sigh of his heart would have been sufficient to redeem us But our Divines do well answer To what purpose then were all the rest of Christs sufferings his temptations his grief his reproaches and all that which he underwent both in his life and death If one drop of Christs blood had been sufficient to redeem us then all the rest that Christ suffered must needs be supposed to be superfluous and unnecessary But we must know that notwithstanding the dignity of Christs person the Law requires death In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye the death therefore Divine Justice demanded the same punishment to be undergone which was threatned by the Law therefore death being threatned by the Law nothing less than death would satisfie Divine Justice The Apostle tells us in the Epistle to the Hebrews That under the Law without shedding of blood there was no remission the sacrifice must be killed and slain before there could be remission of sins Christ therefore being the true Sacrifice for our sins he was to be slain and put to death before remission of sins could be obtained for us It is true there were many advantages that did accrue by the dignity of Christs person some of which are such as these which Divines mention 1. That the death of one should be sufficient for the Redemption of so many If Christs person had not been of that dignity and worth it could not have been supposed that the death and suffering of one person would have sufficed for the Redemption of so many It is well observed by one of the Ancients If Christ had not been God how could he alone have been sufficient to have been a price for our Redemption Therefore there is that advantage which ariseth from the dignity of Christs person that the excellency of his person is such he being an infinite person that he is able to make satisfaction for all 2. The dignity of Christs person made the death of Christ to be meritorious for what may we not suppose that so great a Person who was of equal Majesty and Glory with the Father should not merit at the hand of his Father 3. The dignity of Christs person was available as to this That some circumstances of punishment which were not fit for him to undergo Christ undergoing that which was equivalent might be omitted as one circumstance which Divines mention is this namely That the torments of Hell which were to be suffered and undergone by us in the next life were suffered and undergone by Christ in this life These advantages did accrue from the dignity of Christs person yet notwithstanding this dignity of Christs person he that was to be our Surety was to undergo the substance of that punishment that we were to undergo Now death being the punishment that was to be suffered by the transgressors of the Law as being threatned by the Law Christ being our Surety was to undergo and suffer death for us 5. Christ did not only undergo natural death but he also tasted of supernatural death and so by consequence suffered the pains and torments of Hell for us Christ suffered the whole curse of the Law as to the substance of it Hence is that of the Apostle Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Now the Curse of the Law was In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye the death or as it may be rendred In dying thou shalt dye that is thou shalt dye doubly thou shalt dye a twofold death thou shalt dye naturally and thou shalt dye spiritually thou shalt dye a natural death in having thy soul separated from thy body and thou shalt dye a spiritual death in having thy soul separated from me Therefore it is well observed by one
had any influence as to the satisfying of Gods Justice Now the whole Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction that hath been opened doth oppugn this assertion of theirs for it hath been proved at large that Christ hath suffered the substance of what we ought to have suffered and that what Christ did suffer was with this intention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnus exolvit quod ab omnibus debebatur Ambros to make satisfaction for us Mat. 20.28 The Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many It is a speech of one of the Ancients One hath paid that which was due from all If the death of Christ were only a kind of Martyrdom and to confirm the truth which he had taught and were only for an example and for no other ends but these then the death of Christ would be very little different from the deaths of other of the Saints for other of the Saints have laid down their lives to confirm the truths they have professed and the sufferings of other of the Saints are given to us for an example We have an express Scripture for this Jam. 5.10 Take my brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience Here we see the Prophets sufferings are given for an example to us but certainly the sufferings of Christ are far of another nature than the sufferings of the Prophets or of any of the Saints whatsoever It is an excellent speech of one of the Ancients Although saith he the death of many of the Saints hath been precious in the sight of God yet notwithstanding the death of no innocent person besides Christ himself was the propitiation for the world It is the expression which the Apostle John useth 1 Joh. 2.2 where he tells us That Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world Though the deaths of the Martyrs were precious yet none of their deaths was the propitiation for the sins of the world and then our Author goes on Acceperunt justi non dederunt coronas exempla nata sunt patientiae non dona justitiae Those just persons who have been martyred for the truth have received not given Crowns and from the courage and fortitude of the Martyrs in their sufferings we have examples of patience afforded to us not any gifts of merit Theirs were but single deaths that were undergone by them neither doth one pay anothers debt there was only one Lord Jesus Christ found among the sons of men in whom all were crucified all have dyed all have risen again They who deny and take away the Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction endeavour to take from us a principal part of the Gospel and to remove from us the principal pillar of all our comfort and support for one of the great Truths which the Gospel reveals is the Righteousness of Christ for the justification of a sinner So the Apostle tells us Rom. 1.16 17. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith The Apostle here gives us an account of the Gospel what it is that the Gospel reveals it reveals to us the Righteousness of God the great and fundamental Truth revealed in the Gospel is that righteousness whereby men may be justified in the sight of God What this righteousness is the Apostle doth more fully make known to us in another place of this Epistle Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness So that the righteousness which the Gospel reveals is That God is willing to pardon sinners and to accept them as righteous upon the account of the death and sufferings of his Son and upon the account of the satisfaction which he hath made So that they who go about to subvert the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ do in effect undermine the whole Gospel and do as much as lyes in them disannul it For if the scope of the Gospel be to reveal the Righteousness of Christ which is the result of his death and sufferings the result of his obedience active and passive then they that would take away this would take away a main part of the Gospel from us So likewise as the denying of Christs Satisfaction is the overthrow of a principal part of the Gospel so it is that which takes away the main pillar of our comfort For if Christ hath not satisfied for us we are still liable to satisfie the Justice of God in our own persons for God is a just and righteous God He hath said That he will by no means clear the guilty and the sentence of the Law remains firm upon us That the soul that sins shall dye and Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them Therefore unless Christ hath made satisfaction for us all these things must of necessity stand firm against us unless there be a ransom found for us we are still liable to answer to Divine Justice It is a great Scripture to confirm this Job 33.23 24. If there be a messenger with him an interpreter one of a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness then is he gracious to him and saith Deliver him I have found a ransom for him To shew unto man his uprightness The uprightness here spoken of is conceived by Learned men not the uprightness of man himself but the uprightness of God To shew unto man his uprightness that is the uprightness of God What is this uprightness of God It is Gods uprightness in dealing with man according to the tenour of Gospel-grace Compare this with Rom. 3.22 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ Here we have a description of the tenour of Gospel grace the grace of the Gospel consists in this That we are justified freely by Gods grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ Now this is the uprightness of God Gods dealing with men according to the tenour of his grace promulgated in the Gospel God having discovered this to be his mind that he will pardon mens sins upon the account of the death and sufferings of his Son when this uprightness of God is thus discovered to men and they by faith lay hold of the grace of God thus promulgated and made known to them then God hath found a ransom Now when God hath found a ransom for men then he saith Deliver them then is he gracious and saith Deliver him from going down into the pit for I have found a ransom for him Had there not been a ransom found for us there had been no deliverance from the pit of destruction here
himself up by the eternal Spirit that we now have liberty of access to God Having therefore liberty by the blood of Jesus saith the Apostle let us draw near that is let us draw near unto God in confidence of this Sacrifice in the virtue of this Sacrifice Whenever we draw near to God we must have respect to the great and eternal Sacrifice of Christ and why so because sin separates between us and God and till sin be removed and taken out of the way there is no access for us to God Now it is by having recourse to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ that the guilt of sin is removed and so we have access to God therefore doth the Apostle add Having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience We must draw near to God having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience we must first dip our consciences in the blood of Christ as Luthers expression is that is get the blood of Christ upon our consciences look after the pardon of our sins by the blood of Christ before we can expect to have access to God or acceptance with him This is one great part of the life of faith to have a constant recourse to the Satisfaction of Christ and to make use of that great and eternal Sacrifice of the Son of God in order to the pardon of our sins and our acceptance with God The Scriptures teach us That the just must live by faith Rom. 1.16 Now our living by faith notes a continued course living by faith is more than a single act it notes a constant course Now wherein doth this life of faith consist Certainly one main part of the life of faith consists in this In having a constant recourse to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ and making use of that for the pardon of our sins and our acceptance with God This is very clear and evident from that of the Apostle Paul Gal. 2.20 I live by the faith of the Son of God Paul here speaks of his living by faith The just shall live by faith and Paul lived by faith and how was it that he lived by faith I live by the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and given himself for me Pauls living by faith consisted in this In having respect to Christ as giving himself for him Now how was it that Christ gave himself for Paul Certainly it was in the virtue of that great and eternal Sacrifice of his compare this with Eph. 6.2 Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God So that Christ giving himself for Paul was his giving himself an Offering and Sacrifice for him Now Paul lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him that is he lived by saith on the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ he had continual recourse to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ this was his living by faith Now here it may be said 1. Why ought we thus to live by faith on the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ And 2. How ought we to make use of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ so as to draw down the virtue and benefit of Christs Satisfaction to our selves 1. Why ought we to make use of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ and live by faith upon it The first reason is Because the Satisfaction of Christ is the only means of our Reconciliation with God Hence is it said That Christ hath made peace through the blood of his cross Col. 1.20 And We are reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 When-ever we would treat with God about terms of peace and reconciliation with him we must be sure to have recourse to the death sufferings and satisfaction of Christ all our peace with God is founded in the blood of Christ Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins c. Here are two means of our reconciliation with God set down the principal and the instrumental The principal means of our reconciliation with God is the blood of Christ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood The instrumental means of our reconciliation is our faith Faith in his blood That expression his blood comprehends the whole work of Christs Satisfaction Christs laying down his life was the compleating or consummating act of his sufferings and therefore all his sufferings in the whole work of his Satisfaction are comprehended under that expression of his blood Christs Satisfaction then is the principal means of our reconciliation with God Now that which must make this Satisfaction of Christ profitable and available unto us must be our faith Whom God hath ordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood there must be the acting of our faith to make Christs Satisfaction profitable unto us I call it our faith not as if so be faith were a work of our own either wrought at first or exerted afterwards by any power and strength of our own but I call it our faith because it is such an act as is wrought in us and by us faith it self is the gift of God so the Apostle tells us Eph. 2.8 It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Yet it is an act in us and put forth by us though God works it yet it is such a work as God works in us not without us we make use of our faculties Faith I say is an act in us and put forth by us and there must be something done in us and by us in order to our receiving benefit by Christs Satisfaction Christs Satisfaction is a work wrought without us wrought by Christ himself in our nature for us without us yet there must be an act put forth in us by the help and assistance of the Spirit of God whereby we may reach forth unto and take hold of the Satisfaction of Christ that is wrought without us and without this acting of faith we cannot expect the benefit of Christs Satisfaction to our selves The Lord expects it at our hands that we should apply and betake our selves to the Satisfaction of his Son before ever we be admitted into favour and reconciliation with him This is confirmed to us by another Scripture Joh. 3.14 15. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life The lifting up of the Serpent in the Wilderness was a Type of Christs being lifted up upon the Cross Now saith our Saviour whoever will have benefit by me and would be delivered from perishing and condemnation he must direct the eye of his faith to me as crucified he must behold me in my Satisfaction there is no other means of reconciliation or peace with God but this he
death of Christ is a certain Sacrament or pledge which certifies us that our death is nothing at all For if death hath executed all its power and strength upon Christ if death hath poured out all its venom and malignity upon Christ then there is nothing that remains in death to hurt us Death had nothing at all to do with Christ but only as he put himself under the power of death for our sakes Now the Son of God who was above death freely subjecting himself to death for our sakes and death having done all that it could against Christ it hath nothing more to do against a poor Believer It is true Believers dye still but yet their death is not part of the Curse the death of the Saints is only a passage unto life and it is that which prepares the way for a more blessed Resurrection Whatever was truly formidable or terrible in death is taken away by the death of Christ That which was most formidable in death was this that it was a part of the Curse that it was the effect of Divine wrath Now Christ having suffered the whole of Gods wrath for us death is not inflicted upon Believers as the effect of Gods wrath nay it is so far from being sent to a Believer in wrath that it is sent in mercy to him and death is an introduction unto a Believers happiness All things are yours things present things to come life is yours and death is yours 1 Cor. 3.21 22. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord Rev. 14. Death is an introduction to the Saints unto their perfect and compleat happiness the Saints happiness is inchoate and begun in this life when they are first brought into the Kingdom of Grace and their happiness is compleat and consummate in the next life when they are by death ushered into the Kingdom of Glory Consid 11 The love of Christ in his sufferings appears in this That he came into our nature and became man on purpose that he might suffer for us One of the principal ends of the Incarnation of the Son of God was that he might suffer and dye for men This is intimated by the Apostle Heb. 2.14 For as much as the children are made partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil It is as much as if he had said Had he not partaken of our nature he could not have suffered for us as he was the Son of God and possessed of the Divine nature so he was not capable of suffering but therefore did he take on him our nature and became the Son of man that he might be in a capacity to suffer for men O what overcoming love was this that the Son of God did therefore take upon him our nature that he might be in a capacity to suffer for men had he always abode in the form of God only it had not been possible for him to suffer but therefore would he take upon him part of our passible and mortal flesh that so he might be in a capacity to suffer and dye for us Consid 12 The love of Christ in his suffering may be seen in this Because so great benefits accrue and come to us by the sufferings of Christ Christ by the merit of his sufferings hath purchased and procured the greatest blessings for us To instance in a few briefly 1. Christ by his sufferings hath purchased for us the forgiveness of sins Eph. 1.14 In whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins 2. Christ by his sufferings hath purchased for us peace and reconciliation with God Eph. 2.16 That he might reconcile us to God by the cross Col. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death 3. Eternal life it self is the purchase of Christs sufferings Rom. 6. ult The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord that is through the merit of Jesus Christ our Lord so that eternal life is the merit of Christs death We have another clear Text to confirm this Heb. 9.15 For this cause he is the Mediator of the new Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance The eternal inheritance the inheritance which all the Elect are brought unto in Heaven is purchased by the death of Christ for so the Apostle expresseth it That by means of death those that are called might have the promise of eternal inheritance Hence is it that Heaven is called a purchased possession Eph. 1.14 Vntil the redemption of the purchased possession the Glory of Heaven is called a purchased possession Now in every purchase there must be a price there can be no purchase without a price the price therefore that was laid down for us that we might obtain eternal life was the price of Christs blood the death of Christ as appears from the former Scriptures 4. The Spirit of God and all that grace whereby we are inabled to believe and obey and in general whatever blessings are comprehended in the Covenant of Grace these are all the purchase of the death of Christ This is apparent from those words of our Saviour in the institution of the Supper This cup is the new Testament in my blood as much as if he should say All the mercies all the blessings of the new Covenant are the purchase of my blood and the Covenant it self is ratified and confirmed by my blood Now in the Covenant of Grace there are many great things promised in it the Lord promiseth to forgive the sins of his people he promiseth that he will put his Law in their minds and write it in their hearts he promiseth that he will give his Spirit to them and the like all these blessings are purchased and procured by the death of Christ great therefore must the love of Christ be in giving himself to suffer and dye for his people since by the death of Christ such great and admirable priviledges are purchased for them The Covenant of Grace is the greatest Charter of all our spiritual Priviledges whatever Priviledges belong to a Believer they are contained within the compass of the Covenant Now the Covenant it self is founded in the blood of the Mediator of the Covenant How precious then is that blood that purchased such great things for us And how great was the love of Christ that shed his blood to obtain such things for us Vse If the love of Christ be so great in his sufferings let us be exhorted from hence to meditate much on the sufferings of Christ O it were well for us if we could take many a turn at the Cross of Christ and
glorious Person Heb. 1.3 who having by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Rev. 1.5 He who is Alpha and Omega who is before Abraham was the first and the last who is was and is to come hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God even his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever I shall not proceed by Arguments to evince this great Scripture-truth which hath been so oppugned both by ancient and modern Hereticks and so nobly vindicated by Primitive Councils and Fathers and by nervous and learned Pens of latter days Polyaenus in his Roman Stratagems is but a wrigling slow-worm to this old Serpent in his direful Arts who like a Revelation-Scorpion carries death both in head and tail to bite with the teeth of fiery lyes and with his persecuting tail to slash the third part of the Stars out of the Heaven of the Church This Hydra hath not only hissed but mortally stung many a Soul in the Polonian Hungarian Transylvanian and Belgick Churches and I could hearily wish had never swum after Pelagius through the British Seas with whole folio's tyed about its neck to lay its poisonous eggs in our Seminaries The Lord speedily crush them in pieces that they may never hatch into fiery flying Serpents to provoke the Lord to vengeance What Country in Europe hath sweltred under more tearing scourges bitter State-confusions and convulsions and dreadful shakings than Poland where it had first principal vent and patronage And how far the Belgian Lion hath had his nails pared and his teeth knockt out by that hammer of Gods wrath in Europe since the publication of those blasphemous Treatises I wish both they and we did seriously lay to heart Blessed be God for the many Champions sent out of Israels Camp against Goliah of Gath in the Reformed Churches abroad and at home It may prove some mitigation of Divine displeasure and a prolonging of our tranquillity and I heartily pray that godly Magistrates would stir up their strength against it and put to their seal and sanction I am glad to find thâ—â— holy man bending his searches into this subject I hope to the preservative convinction of many and the establishment of others in that grand point of Christs Satisfaction The Lord of the everlasting Covenant I pray to sprinkle both this Book and all the People with the precious Blood of the Cross Heb. 9.12 By which he is entred into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us Vers 26. Who as he did appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself so unto them that look for him he will appear the second time without sin unto salvation Lev. 16.4 Like as the High-Priest of old being cloathed only in linen went into the holy of Holies with the expiation-blood in a golden Bason but came out in all his gorgeous attire to bless the people Vers 23. so did the glorious High-Priest of our profession enter into the Heavens not in so conspicuous a manner being seen but of few when he ascended from Mount Olivet but when he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified by the presentment of his Blood and Intercession to the Father will come again in all his Royalty and receive us to the mansions purchased and prepared for them Zech. 6.13 and will sit down as King and Priest upon his Throne for ever But not to prevent your progress from the threshold into the lovely Building of this Treatise composed by a Person of great worth and approbation in the Churches of Christ pray give me leave in the Porch to point at some material things respecting this holy Author I confess I am not so furnisht with sufficient and copious matter as to digest a full description of his life but what I had from his gracious Son Mr. Thomas Row I shall succinctly contract and add somewhat of my own Observation and then recommend you to God and the Word of his Grace Let me cast all under these four Heads his Personage Qualifications Studies and Sayings His stature inclined to tallness his visage affable and somewhat smiling his gestures grave and decent his behaviour meek and courteous and what is very observable and much to be imitated 1 Thess 4.11 he medled with his own business not interposing much less imposing on other Churches being averse to ostentation and publick appearance of a quiet spirit and replenisht with the desires of Heaven as 't is observed by Naturalists that the dew never falls in a stormy or cloudy night As to his Studies letting pass the usual Cursus in the Arts and Sciences which he followed in the injoyment of the Methods of both Vniversities his skill in the copious and elegant Greek with its curious Criticisms deserves a remarkable accent Among the various Sects of ancient Philosophers he was most addicted to Plato and the shades of the Academick walks From the Grecian Schools he stept into the Roman Cloisters to hear what they had to say before the Reformation sprang The Civilians having found the Justinian Laws as I remember at Pisa and considered the Theodosian Codex began to digest them into some Method The Divines took example and collected a Body of Sentences Among whose numerous Gladiators he most fancied the fencings of Aquinas Bradwardin Suarez and Alvarez being pleased with their reason but not their subtilties their substantial Arguments but not their Quiddities finding some little Pearls in great Dunghils was wont to say They had great heads but little hearts And indeed when the original Fountains of Scripture were stopt up by the Philistins and little but rage and fury filled most places with the blood of the slain Professors of the Truth who could expect but the Owl which once should often fly in the Lateran Wherefore from the Papal Schools he went beyond Sea and stood under the Fathers Pulpits and delighted in hearing the African Wits Athanasius Cyril and Austin Athanasius he highly honoured for his notable Writings against the Arians and his strenuous Vindication of the Deity of Christ and the Doctrine of the three Persons by the holy Scriptures and was wont to say That he wrote so like an Apostle that he was even ravished with him Cyril he also greatly esteemed for his Ephesine conflicts on the same account Austin of the Latin Communion he passed from Alexandria to Hippo on purpose to see and discourse with him because of his shining holiness and especially his irresistible Defence of irresistible Grace And indeed I may add there 's no hearty Enemy of free Grace but such as want it and those that feel its power in the heart are its greatest Lovers His Book of the Trinity though he judged somewhat obscure yet not without some light He had a value also for Basil and the two Grecian Gregories and indeed in
concerning this point Qui scrutando volet non errare nec à Majestatis gloria opprimi is fide tangat apprehendat Filium Dei in carne manifestatum Luther with which I shall close this Use He that in searching would not erre nor be overwhelmed by the glory of the Divine Majesty let him by faith touch and apprehend the Son of God incarnate the Son of God manifest in the flesh In another place he saith Let us not hear them who say the flesh profits nothing let us rather invert the words and say Without the flesh God profits nothing our eyes ought to be fastened upon the flesh of Christ and we ought to say We neither apprehend nor know any God out of that flesh Dei Filius incarnatus est illud involucrum in quo Divina Majestas cum omnibus suis-donis se nobis offert Luther out of that humanity The Son of God incarnate is that covering in which the Divine Majesty offers himself to us with all his gifts This is that only aspect of the Divinity which in this life is facile and possible for us here is no seeing God out of Christ If we would conceive of God aright let us direct our faith to God in Christ If by means of the Incarnation we are brought near to God Vse 3 learn from hence to labour that our faith may be deeply rooted in Christ Our happiness lies in this In being taken into Christ in being comprehended in him in being made members of his body Our nature by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God is brought near to God Now if we would be brought near to God we must be implanted into Christ by faith and made members of his body Par◠prays for himself Phil. 3.9 That I may be found in him An emphatical expression found in Christ Paul would not for a thousand worlds be left out of Christ no he would be found in him And for the Ephesians he prays That Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith Eph. 3.17 Our happiness lies in conjunction with our Head standing and abiding in relation to Christ as our Head in being comprehended in Christ as it were this is our happiness This is the misery of the fallen Angels and all Unbelievers they have nothing to do with Christ as their Head and this is the great happiness of all the Elect they are gathered under him as their Head Behold I and the children which God hath given me Heb. 2.13 Wherefore let us see that our faith take deep rooting in Christ and then we are on a safe bottom Christ is the Captain of the Salvation of the Elect and by him many sons are brought to glory Heb. 2.10 If our faith hath taken deep rooting in Christ then are we safe then are we comprehended in him and where the Head is there the members shall be also The end of the seventh Sermon SERMON VIII Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge SEveral Propositions have been mentioned already to illustrate the greatness of Christs love in the work of his Incarnation I shall add three or four more and so I shall finish this subject 14. The love of Christ in his Incarnation is seen in this In that Christ becoming true man and wearing a part of our nature the consideration of his humanity may be a great help and strengthening to our faith to assure us of his propension and readiness to supply us in all our wants and also to sympathize pity and compassionate us in all our afflictions Hence it is that one of the Ancients brings in Christ speaking thus Ego corpus illorum gesto I do wear their body and carry about with me a part of their flesh Christ wears as it were the flesh of the Elect Now no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it as the Lord the Church Eph. 5.29 That common humanity wherein Christ shares with us cannot but incline him to be most kind sweet benign to his own kindred who participate of the same nature with him Because the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also took part of the same Heb. 2.16 Christ was a man of sorrows therefore he knows how to pity us in our sorrows Christ was deserted therefore he knows how to pity us in our desertion Christ was tempted in all points like to us sin only excepted therefore he knows how to succour us in our temptations Christ in the humane nature assumed hath felt the same miseries and afflictions that we are subject unto and therefore he knows experimentally by what he himself hath felt and endured how to pity us The Apostle sets this down as one great fruit of the Incarnation Heb. 2.16 17. Because the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also took part of the same What is the fruit and advantage of this Why was it that Christ took a part of our nature The next verse tells us It was that he might be a merciful and a faithful High-Priest Calvin observes upon this Text When all sorts of miseries do oppress us we ought to remember there is nothing befals us which the Son of God hath not experienced in himself neither ought we to doubt but he is so present with us to help and pity us as if he himself were afflicted with us The experience of our miseries doth so bend and incline Christ to compassion that he is exceeding solicitous of obtaining help from God for us Hence is it said in the last verse For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Christ having been exercised with the same miseries and afflictions that we are is most propense and ready to afford help and relief to us Christ now he is in Heaven hath not forgotten his own sorrows and sufferings here on earth and the remembrance of his own sufferings cannot but incline him to pity and compassionate his people who are a part of his own nature in the like sufferings It is true Christ as he is God wants no love neither needed Christ to have known what sufferings and afflictions were experimentally to have inclined him to a merciful disposition for God is love God is so in his own nature and it was the love that was in the Divine nature that inclined him to assume our nature but because we could not be otherwise perswaded that there was so much kindness in his heart therefore in condescension to our infirmity and for the strengthening of our faith Christ would become man and taste of sufferings and affliction that having done so we might be the better assured he would be the more ready to pity
the second Person in Trinity was conjoyned with the flesh and it was his own flesh that he gave for the life of the world Hence is that speech of Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas That very flesh was not the flesh of any other person but it was the flesh of the Word himself And the same Athanasius hath another expression to the same purpose They do erre saith he who say that there was another Son which did suffer and another which did not suffer for there was not another besides the Son of God who underwent death and sufferings for us The Word the second Person in Trinity was conjoyned with the flesh Though the flesh only was capable of suffering yet the Word was in conjunction with the flesh therefore our Saviour saith It is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Joh. 6. It was his own flesh and not the flesh of any other To illustrate and confirm this yet farther we ought to consider that in the sufferings of Christ there was the voluntary humiliation of that great Person who was God as well as man He who was in the form of God emptied himself taking on him the form of a servant and he humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2.6 7. Here are two Acts spoken of 1. His emptying himself 2. His humbling himself His emptying himself was discovered in his Incarnation and taking on the form of a servant His humbling himself was seen in his sufferings and in the work of his Satisfaction in being obedient to death even the death of the Cross Not but that his Incarnation was also a part of his humbling of himself but the Apostle speaks of these two distinctly He tells us That he who was in the form of God emptied himself taking on him the form of a servant and he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Now both these Acts of his his humbling and his emptying himself they are the Acts of the Person they are the acts of that Person who was in the form of God It was he who being in the form of God who emptied himself by taking upon him the form of a servant and it was he that was in the form of God that humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross So that in the Satisfaction of Christ we ought to consider more than the bare oblation of the humane nature we ought to consider the conjunction of the Word the second Person in Trinity with the flesh and we ought to consider the voluntary humiliation of that glorious Person the Son of God who being in the form of God did not only stoop so low as to come into our nature but being in that nature humbled himself so far as to become a Sacrifice for us I say in the Sacrifice of Christ we ought to consider the will of the Person who being God as well as man there was the condescension of the Divine will as well as the concourse of his humane will The Son of God being in our nature voluntarily offers himself in that nature as a Sacrifice for our sins 4. The fourth Particular to be spoken to is this The form of Christs Satisfaction and that consists in this That Christ made a full compensation to the Justice of God for the sins of his people There are three things that concur to make up this 1. That Christ suffered the substance of what we ought to suffer Hence it is said That Christ suffered for us 1 Pet. 2.21 And The chastisement of our peace was upon him Isa 53. And By his stripes we are healed 1 Pet. 2.24 The stripes that should have been laid upon us were laid upon Christ so that Christ suffered the substance of what we ought to suffer The Law pronounced a Curse upon all the transgressors of it Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them Now Christ was made a curse for us Gal. 3.10 If Christ did not suffer the whole punishment due to us for our sins then that part of the punishment which he did not suffer remains still for us to be suffered for this is certain Not one iota or tittle of the Law shall pass away till all be fulfilled Mat. 5.18 The whole preceptive part of the Law must be fulfilled the minatory or threatning part of the Law must be fulfilled Therefore if there be any part of that punishment which the Law would inflict upon us not undergone it remains to be fulfilled by us But now Christ hath redeemed us from the whole Curse of the Law Gal. 3.10 Therefore Christ hath born the punishment that we ought to undergo but of this more hereafter 2. Christ hath suffered what Divine Justice could demand otherwise there was not a full compensation to Divine Justice But now this is the excellency of Christs Satisfaction that in the Satisfaction of Christ there is as much given as Divine Justice could demand Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood The scope of the Apostles argument tends to this That it is a righteous thing with God to forgive sins when he hath received satisfaction for them Now if the compensation had not been perfect that was given the Righteousness of God had not so much appeared in the forgiveness of sins but God having received a full compensation having received whatever Divine Justice could require at the hand of Christ now he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins It being therefore a part of Gods Justice to give remission of sins to as many as Christs Satisfaction is applied it is a certain sign Christ hath suffered as much as Divine Justice could demand or require 3. Lastly Christ having suffered the substance of what we were to suffer and Christ having suffered what Divine Justice could demand God is perfectly pleased and satisfied in what Christ hath suffered and hath nothing more to lay to the charge of his people Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed When the debt is fully paid the Creditor hath full satisfaction he desires no more Thus Christ having fully discharged our debt God expects no more from us to answer his Justice he is fully satisfied in what Christ hath done that is the fourth thing in the description 5. The fifth and last thing is this What the effects of Christs Satisfaction are and they are three 1. The averting and turning away of Gods wrath 2. The purchase of pardon of sin 3. The procuring of eternal life for us 1. One effect of Christs Satisfaction was the averting and turning away of Gods wrath God is highly offended and displeased with us as we are sinners Sin
things Now the Curse is a certain token of loathing and detestation in the person who is the Author of it the Curse speaks utmost displeasure in him that pronounceth it No man curseth another but he that hath the utmost displeasure against him Christ therefore being our Surety we must suppose that he did contest with the utmost displeasure of God so much as a finite nature supported by an infinite Person could undergo Hence is it that we read of our Saviours being in an agony Luk. 22.44 Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground This is a great Text to set forth the sufferings of our Saviour and therefore we must a little speak to it and here we have two things to be considered 1. The Agony it self 2. The Effects of it it made him sweat great drops of blood falling down to the ground 1. We have the Agony it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being in an agony The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies that fear and terror that is apt to come upon such as are entring into battel and going to fight for their lives I say it properly signifies the fear that comes upon Combatants when they are going to fight for their lives Our Saviour was now about to conflict with Divine wrath and this put him into this agony for to suppose that Christ should be in such an agony meerly from the fear of natural death is a thought most unworthy of our Saviour and most derogatory to his honour whenas we read of some of the Martyrs that have gone rejoycing and triumphing to the very flames therefore it was not the fear of the pains of a natural death far be it from us so to think no it was the pains of supernatural death the wrath of God he was now conflicting withal that brought him to this agony and conflict Now in every conflict there is some person or thing that doth oppose where there is nothing to oppose or struggle with there can be no conflict therefore when our Saviour was in an agony we must suppose that there was something that did oppose it self something that he was to struggle with and what could that be but the wrath of his Father Certainly our Saviour did now see his Father averse and contrary to him contrary to him though not considered as in himself for so he was always most pleasing to him but he saw his Father averse and contrary to him as he was our Surety and as he had voluntarily taken upon him the guilt and punishment of our sins he saw that God as he was a just and a righteous God so he was now about to avenge the sins of all the Elect upon him who had undertaken to bear the punishment of them this was the agony our Saviour was in namely the fear of conflicting with the sense of Gods wrath God opposing his Justice and setting it in battel-aray against the sons of men in behalf of whom he was now to be a Surety and to take upon himself what they should have undergone this was the agony it self 2. We have the Effect of this Agony it made him sweat drops of blood His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His sweat was as it were clods of blood so the Greek word properly signifies 1. Consider his sweating blood this was certainly preternatural for when is it that we have heard of mens sweating of blood and if any such thing hath ever been heard of this is some rare accident and beyond the common course of Nature the common course of Nature acquaints us with no such thing 2. That it should be great clods of blood this certainly was most extraordinary and what doth this shew us but that all the powers of Nature were shaken and the utmost strength and vigor of the Humanity and that supported by the Divinity too for what was there that could have caused such a defluxion of clods of blood from our Saviour but the utmost concussion of the powers of Nature certainly all the created strength that was in the Humanity of our Saviour and that supported by the Divinity and increated power of the Deity was now put to it to bear the wrath of God and it was the sense of that great immense unconceivable and inexpressible wrath of his Father that put him into this agony and drew these clods of blood from him and shook all the powers of nature in him O who can think of these things as he ought to do and not be astonished with the consideration of the infinite evil that is in sin that cost our Saviour so dear Hence also it was that he needed the visible presence of an Angel to comfort him Luk. 22.43 There appeared an Angel strengthening him Certainly these sorrows must needs be the greatest sorrows that our Saviour himself should need the presence and help of an Angel to comfort him We read of many of the Martyrs who had far less grace than our Saviour that were carried through their sufferings with joy without any such extraordinary help and yet our Saviour notwithstanding all the assistance of Divine grace which he had in perfection yet he needed the presence of an Angel to comfort him therefore we must suppose that our Saviours sufferings were far other kind of sufferings than the sufferings of any of the Martyrs were it was the sense of Gods wrath in his soul that put him into this agony he conflicted with Divine wrath opposing it self against him Hence is that expression De torrente in via biâ—et Psal 110. ult He shall drink of the brook in the way He shall drink of the torrent in the way Christ drank of the torrent of Divine wrath he drank of the torrent of the Curse of the Law all the Curses of the Law did meet upon him at once He did not only drink of the Cup of Gods wrath but he drank of the torrent of Divine wrath the wrath of God flowed all over him yea it entred into his very soul Hence is that expression Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief It was not the Jews only that did buffer and bruise him but the Lord himself did bruise him he put him to grief it was something immediate from God himself The sense of Gods wrath was impressed on the humane Soul of our Saviour by God himself But it may be said How could this be Object Christ was an innocent and a just person and never offended God he was the Son of God and was always beloved of God how then was it possible that he should suffer any wrath from God How was it possible that the sense of Gods wrath should be impressed upon him I answer Consider Christ in himself Answ as he was an innocent and a just
person consider him as he was the Son of God so he was always beloved of God and could not but be beloved of him But then consider him as a common Person as our Surety and Vndertaker as one that had voluntarily undertaken to bear the punishment that was due to us for our sins and so it was that he felt the sense and weight of Gods wrath If Christ will undertake to pay our debts and to suffer the punishment that did belong to us though he be never so innocent in himself if the wrath of God belong to us he must bear it Now the wrath of God did belong to us it was due to us and therefore Christ must of necessity undergo it Volenti non fit injuria No injury is done to a person that will voluntarily and of his own accord take such or such a thing upon him If a person that was free and disingaged before will take upon him to pay anothers debt his own ingagement makes him liable and responsible though he were never so free before It is true the Law the Justice and Wrath of God had nothing to do with Christ considered in himself because he was without sin but Christ did voluntarily and of his own accord undertake to bear the punishment due to us he undertook to be our Surety and to pay our debts and therefore he was to suffer that which we ought to have suffered and since he was to satisfie for us he must bear the sense of that wrath which we deserved to bear Learn from what hath been opened Vse 1 to fear and tremble at the thoughts of Gods wrath O if our Saviour that had no sin of his own but only bare the guilt of our sins did fear and tremble at Gods wrath if he were amazed and astonished at it if he complained That he was poured out like water That all his bones were out of joynt That his heart was melted within him as wax many such like expressions we have of him Psal 22.13 14. I say if our Saviour complains so bitterly in the apprehension of Divine wrath well may it become us to fear and tremble at it Psal 90.11 Who know the power of his anger according to his fear so is his wrath How wilt thou do poor sinner to bear that wrath which made Christ himself to tremble If Christ were astonished at the thoughts of this wrath if Christ was afraid of it well mayst thou be afraid of it O consider it what will it be for a poor guilty sinner to meet an angry God laden with the guilt of all his sins If Christ did labour so much under the burden of Divine wrath as that the apprehension of it made him sweat drops of blood although he had the power of the God head to support him under his sufferings how wilt thou a poor clod of earth be able to stand under it Learn Vse 2 That it is impossible for Sinners who live and dye in their sins and have no part in Christ to escape Gods wrath If Christ have suffered such things if he hath conflicted with Gods wrath then it is not possible for sinners who live and dye in their sins and have no part in Christ to escape Gods wrath If these things be done in the green tree what shall be done in the dry Christ was as the green tree he had no sin of his own he was only our Surety and bare the guilt of our sins Now if the wrath of God burnt so hotly upon him who was but as the green tree what will become of sinners that have so many sins of their own who are as the dry tree fit suel for the wrath of God to kindle upon The wrath of God had found nothing in Christ to fasten upon or take hold of had not Christ voluntarily taken upon him the guilt of our sins and yet notwithstanding we see how hotly the wrath of God burnt against him what then is like to become of sinners who have so much in their nature and lives which renders them fit fuel for Divine wrath to work upon Certainly if Christ himself that was only a Sinner by imputation that took upon him other mens sins but had no sins of his own if Christ that was a Surety only did not escape the dint of Divine wrath we who are the true offenders the true and proper offenders and transgressors of the Law are not like to escape this wrath unless we get a discharge from the guilt and punishment of our sins through the sufferings and Satisfaction of Christ In the sufferings of Christ we may see clearly and plainly as in a glass and miroir what it is that sin deserves and what it is that we must undergo unless we have a part in his sufferings If Christ suffered the wrath of God we must of necessity suffer it unless we be exempted from it by the Merit of Christs sufferings therefore it concerns us all to look after a part in Christ and union with him since it is only by the Merit of what he hath suffered that we can hope to escape what he himself hath suffered and we deserve to suffer The end of the seventh Sermon SERMON VIII Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Come now to a third Particular to shew how it was that Christ suffered the pains and torments of Hell for us The third Particular is this That our Saviour suffered spiritual dereliction and desertion in his Soul in point of comfort This is a sublime Argument and requires our most diligent attention Divines observe That Christ began to taste of the Cup of Gods wrath in the Garden where he conflicted with the sense of that wrath that was approaching to him but he drank this cup fully off in his sufferings upon the Cross in that which is commonly called his dereliction and being made a curse for us In these two things Christs dereliction or spiritual desertion and his being made a curse for us the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and top of his sufferings doth consist all the rest of his sufferings were as it were preparatory to these two his dereliction and his being made a curse That which I am first to speak of is his dereliction or being forsaken of God That our Saviour suffered this dereliction or spiritual desertion appears from those words of his upon the Cross where he crys out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27.46 This dereliction is part of the punishment that is due to us for our sins That which I am shewing is how Christ suffered the pains of Hell and by suffering them made satisfaction to Gods Justice for us now this dereliction or desertion is one part of the pains of Hell The pains of Hell or the miseries of the damned are commonly thus distinguished There is that which they call the pain of loss Carentia beatitudinis
the Law hath no more to demand When there is a full payment made there is no more debt can be exacted Christs obedience was full and compleat there remained nothing more for him to suffer Therefore is it said That he hath brought in everlasting righteousness Dan. 9.24 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 Who was delivered up for our offences and raised again for our justification Rom. 5. ult Christ was delivered up for our offences that is delivered up to death Christ in dying bare the guilt and punishment of our sins but he was raised again for our justification Now if Christ had not satisfied and discharged the debt to the utmost he could not have been raised for our justification for if there had been any part of the punishment not suffered the Law might have exacted part of us but saith the Text Christ was raised again for our justification Therefore it is plain and evident that Christ in dying bare the whole punishment that the Law would have inflicted upon us When the debt is paid the prisoner is let out of prison Christ being our Surety was under an arrest by the Law and by Divine Justice but now Christ our Surety having fully paid the debt Christ is released out of prison having paid the debt which he owed in his sufferings he is raised again for our justification Christs Resurrection was an evidence that our debt was fully paid and discharged by our Surety Hence also is that of our Saviour himself Joh. 16.8 9. The Spirit shall convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgment Why of righteousness Because I go to the Father Christs Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven was a certain evidence that Christ was a righteous person For if Christ had not fully answered the Law he had never been raised up from the dead and taken up into glory he had been detained and kept in prison still and the reason is plainly that which was intimated before that Christ was not born for himself nor dyed for himself but he was born a common person he was born for us and dyed for us therefore Christ being a common person and our Surety and so transacting our cause the Law would not have been satisfied neither would Divine Justice have been quieted till all that had been undergone that we deserved Therefore when it is said that Christ went to his Father after his suffering and when it is said He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification it is plain and evident that the Law and Justice had taken their fill of Christ and had nothing more to demand of him The fourteenth Proposition is That Divine Justice being satisfied in what Christ hath suffered God acquits and discharges Believers from the guilt and punishment of their sins Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemns it is Christ that dyed It is as much as if the Apostle should say A Believer is acquitted and discharged from the guilt of his sins no one can lay any thing to his charge because God hath justified him no one can condemn him because Christ hath born the punishment that he should have born who is he that condemns it is Christ that dyed A Believer is not liable to condemnation because Christ hath been condemned for him and the Law hath sate in Judgment upon Christ and hath arraigned and condemned him now the Law is not wont to punish the same crime twice The Justice of God having punished sin in Christ the Head and Surety of the Elect will not punish sin the second time in Believers themselves It is a good expression of one of the Ancients Caput corpus unus est Christus satisfecit ergo caput pro membris Christus pro visceribus suis Ambros The head and body are but one Christ Christ therefore being the head hath satisfied for his members Christ hath satisfied for Believers who are his own bowels The last Proposition is this That Christs Satisfaction hath merit in it though merit and satisfaction are near akin yet they are distinct notions Satisfaction doth properly signifie the turning away of some evil that is impending and Merit properly respects some good to be procured Now Christ by his Satisfaction doth not only turn away that evil from us that we deserve but he also merits and procures good for us 1. Christ by his Satisfaction turns away evil from us He turns away the wrath of God from us he turns away the curses of the Law and all the effects of Divine wrath Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us Hence also is that expression Rom. 11.26 The Redeemer shall come from Zion and turn away ungodliness from Jacob that is he shall turn away the guilt and punishment of sin from Believers he shall turn away all the evils and miseries that sin would bring upon us His name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Mat. 1. But this is not all Christ by his Satisfaction doth not only turn away evil but 2. He procures good for us he procures righteousness and the favour of God the Spirit the grace of the Spirit and eternal life for us The Sufferings of Christ have merit in them to purchase good things for us Hence is that expression of our Saviour in the Ordinance of the Supper This cup is the new Testament in my blood The meaning is that all the good things in the new Covenant all the blessings comprehended in the Covenant of Grace are purchased by the blood of Christ The Covenant of Grace is the Charter in which all good things are contained and all these things are the purchase of the blood of Christ The end of the eleventh Sermon SERMON XII Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends IT remains now that I should come to make some general Application of this great Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction Although there have been some particular Uses of this Doctrine all along in the several branches of it yet it may be meet in the close to annex some general Application as to the whole Doctrine about Christs Satisfaction The first Use shall be an Use of Confutation to confute the Adversaries of this Truth There are two great Adversaries to this Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction 1. The Socinians who deny the Satisfaction of Christ altogether 2. The Papists who bring in other Satisfactions besides that of Christ's 1. The Socinians they are the most professed Adversaries to the Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction they tell us that the sufferings of Christ were only a kind of Martyrdom that Christ dyed to confirm the truth that he had preached also that his sufferings were for an example but they wholly deny that what Christ suffered
lies all our comfort Homo qui debuit homo qui solvit Propter nostram justificationem sic dictum est per Christum nam nos peccatores in ipso infernales poenas quae justè merebamur exolvimus That Christ hath born what we should have born he hath suffered what we should have suffered It was man that owed the debt and man that paid the debt It is a memorable passage of a Learned man For our Justification it was that Christ was so dealt with for we sinners have suffered and undergone in Christ those very pains of Hell which we deserved 2. The Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction confutes the Papists who bring in other satisfactions besides that of Christ The Papists tell us That a man by some good act as they call it an act of charity or love to God may satisfie for sin also they tell us That we may make satisfaction by external works as by Fasting Prayers and Almsgiving and the like also some of them have affirmed That one man may make satisfaction to Divine Justice for another But all these assertions are impious and most derogatory to the honour of our Saviours Satisfaction For if it had been possible for us to have satisfied Divine Justice our selves what need our Saviour have suffered and undergone such things as we have heard Besides the Scripture teaches us That by one offering Christ hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 That one Sacrifice of his was sufficient to make satisfaction for sin therefore if Christs Satisfaction were sufficient whatever is done by us must needs be superfluous upon that account If that one offering of Christ were enough there is no need of other satisfactions of mens invention and bringing in Heb. 9.26 Christ hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath appeared to the abrogating of sin to the disannulling of sin so the word properly signifies Christ by his Sacrifice hath taken away the condemning power of sin wholly so that the power which sin had before to condemn us is perfectly abrogated and cancelled Therefore there is no need of humane satisfactions or if there were need of some satisfaction to be made by us what should we be able to bring to satisfie God Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall we give the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul as the Prophet expresseth it Mic. 6.7 If we should attempt any of these things none of these would be able to satisfie God what then will become of all the Popish Satisfactions They tell us indeed That an act of love to God especially if it be intense and strong may satisfie for sin but how can that satisfie for a crime committed which is in it self due and a just debt Love to God yea the highest degree of love is a just debt that we owe to God The first and great Commandment of the Law is That we should love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength with all our might Therefore it is not possible that by any good act as they call it we should satisfie God for any sin committed by us and the reason is because that good act was a thing due that which is a just debt in it self cannot satisfie for a former debt Besides there is no proportion between the act of a finite creature to make satisfaction and an infinite Majesty that is offended And whereas they suppose that some external works as Fasting Alms Penances and the like may pacifie God and make satisfaction for sin this proceeds from gross ignorance of the Nature of God and of the nature of sin For if God be infinitely holy and do infinitely hate sin and if God be infinitely just that he cannot but punish sin and that in the highest manner and if the demerit and desert of sin be such as that it deserves no less than the wrath of God and the torments of Hell it is very ridiculous to imagine that the Justice of God should be satisfied with such pitiful things as men may impose upon themselves And that one man who is but a meer man should be able to satisfie for another this is much more absurd For if a man be not able to satisfie for himself how is it possible that he should satisfie for another Si alio peccante alium poenitet non est ista prudens sed insana poenitentia August And we may well apply that speech of Austin If when one man sins another man thinks to repent and to make satisfaction for it that is not a prudent but a mad and frantick repentance And yet Bellarmine and other of the Papists tell us That one man may compensate and bear the punishment for another But we may oppose to them another speech of Austin Christus suscipiendo poenam non suscipiendo culpan culpam delevit poenam Aug. Christ by taking upon him the punishment of our sins and not taking upon him sin it self hath blotted and taken away both sin and punishment If Christ hath fully born the punishment that was due to our sins nothing need to be done by us by way of satisfaction for that is but a diminution to what our Lord Jesus Christ himself hath suffered and done for us The second Use is by way of Exhortation Vse 2 Let us be exhorted to make use of Christs Satisfaction and to have recourse to it upon all occasions in our approaches unto God this is in effect the use which the Author to the Hebrews makes of the Doctrine of Christs Priesthood Christs Satisfaction belongs to his Priestly Office and is a principal part of it Christs Satisfaction is that act of his Priestly Office whereby he offers himself as a Sacrifice to God to make atonement for our sins Now we ought by faith to have continual recourse to this great and eternal Sacrifice of the Son of God This is the Use which the Apostle teaches us to make of the great Doctrine of Christs Priesthood Heb. 10.19 20 c. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and having an High Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus it is the Blood of Christ that lays the foundation for out access to God and our acceptance with him This expression By the blood of Jesus is a Synecdoche a part being put for the whole the blood of Christ signifies his whole sufferings that Sacrifice of his and the work of his Satisfaction upon the Cross by that great and most perfect Sacrifice of his it is he offering
that believes on me as crucified he that looks upon me as lifted up on the Cross to make satisfaction for the sins of men he it is that shall not perish but have eternal life Therefore it is that Paul said He determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.3 Paul knew that the foundation of our happiness lay in Christs crucifixion and sufferings and in the satisfaction that was made to God by them therefore this was the fundamental Doctrine that he insisted upon and in another place where he tells what the substance of the Gospel is he says That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing to them their trespasses but imputing to them the righteousness of his Son 2 Cor. 5.19 20 c. So that the substance of the Gospel consists in this That God offers reconciliation unto men by the death sufferings and satisfaction of his Son If therefore the death of Christ and his satisfaction be the only foundation of our peace with God and the alone means of our reconciliation with him it concerns us to make much of Christs satisfaction and to apply our selves by faith unto it 2. Christs sufferings and satisfaction are the food and nourishment of our souls Christs sufferings and satisfaction are the means to continue us in the love and favour of God as well as to bring us into the love and favour of God at first This is notably set forth by our Saviour in that mysterious Sermon of his in the sixth of John which many of his Hearers were not able to bear because it was so spiritual In that Sermon our Saviour calls himself the bread of life and he tells us The bread which he will give is his flesh which he will give for the life of the world vers 51. This Text doth plainly point out to us the work of Christs Satisfaction Christ gives his flesh for the life of the world that is to say he gives himself to suffer that in a part of our flesh which he assumed which we ought to have suffered and in this respect it is that he saith He gives his flesh for the life of the world this is a plain intimation of his satisfaction Now what is it that our Saviour saith of this work of his satisfaction vers 55. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed It is as much as if he had said My sufferings and my satisfaction are the true food and nourishment of souls Here it is that souls must repair for spiritual food and nourishment When-ever guilt lies upon the conscience when the load and burden of sin oppresseth the soul there is no remedy but by flying to the flesh of Christ who was crucified and to his blood which was shed to make atonement for sin My flesh is meat indeed Look as natural life is maintained by the constant use of our food and taking of it in omit the use of food but for a few days and the body is starved natural life ceaseth so the life of our souls is maintained by a daily living upon Christ crucified by living upon his sufferings and satisfaction and the reason is plainly this The life of the soul consists in the favour of God In thy favour there is life saith the Psalmist and thy loving-kindness is better than life Without the favour of God there is no life there can be no life to the soul for God to frown upon the soul to manifest himself as an enemy this is the death of the soul Now it is a constant recourse to the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ that is the only means to keep us in the favour of God for it is sin that separates between God and us Now the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ are the means to take away the guilt of sin The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 Therefore as we would have the life of our souls maintained which consists in the favour of God and in the sense of his love we must have a constant recourse to the Satisfaction of Christ for we cannot expect one smile from God out of Christ This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Sin doth in its own nature tend to alienate the heart of God from us Now it is the respect that God hath to the Satisfaction of his Son Christ having born that displeasure that punishment which we deserved that is the only means to turn away Gods displeasure from us Therefore is it said We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 2 Joh. 1.1 It is as much as if the Apostle had said Sin doth in its own nature incline God to anger and displeasure towards us but God respects the satisfaction of his Son he respects what Christ hath done and suffered and so he turns away his anger and becomes propitious kind and savourable upon the account of what Christ hath done and suffered for us therefore it becomes us to keep the satisfaction of Christ much in our eye because this is the means of preserving us in the favour of God as well as of bringing us into it at first Hence are we said to be preserved in Christ Jesus Jude 1. The merit of Christs obedience and sufferings is a means to preserve us in the love of God We might soon fall from the love of God did not Christ preserve us and continue us in his love by the merit of his satisfaction Hence also are we said to be saved by his life Rom. 5.10 If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Saved by his life that is continued in the love and favour of God brought to the perfection of salvation The Apostle supposeth that we are brought into the love and favour of God when he tells us We were reconciled when we were enemies therefore this expression of being saved implies our being kept and continued in the favour of God and our being brought to the consummation and perfection of salvation We are saved by his life that is Christs living to make Intercession for us and pleading by his Intercession the virtue and merit of his sufferings this is the means to keep us in the favour of God till we be brought to salvation therefore we ought to have a constant recourse to the death sufferings and satisfaction of Christ because it is the means of continuing us in the love and favour of God all along as it was to bring us into the favour of God at first Hence is that expression in Jude 21. Keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life It is that grace and mercy which is given to us in Christ through his merit and satisfaction that carries us along
the desert of our own sins is in the sufferings of Christ Whatever Christ suffered was nothing but the desert of our sins it was that which we deserved should have been laid upon us Therefore when we come to make use of the sufferings of Christ his soul-sufferings or his bodily sufferings when we consider his soul-sufferings viz. his dereliction or his being forsaken of God the sense of Gods wrath that he underwent in his soul when we consider the pain grief torment and death that he suffered in his body we ought to consider with our selves that these were the very things we deserved we were the persons that deserved to be forsaken of God to have the face of God hid from us we were they that deserved to feel the wrath of God to be made the butt of Gods wrath and displeasure we deserved that pain anguish and death it self and all as part of the Curse for Christ suffered all these things for us and was made a Curse for us So that in the sufferings of Christ as in a glass or mirroir we may see what we deserved there was nothing Christ suffered but we deserved it and our hearts ought to be deeply soakt in these considerations as ever we desire to take in the benefit of Christs satisfaction He that doth not see himself worthy to be cast off nay I may say he that doth not see himself worthy to be cut off by the wrath of an angry God for his sins will never prize the satisfaction of Christ as he ought to do Christ in the work of his satisfaction trod the wine-press of Divine wrath therefore it becomes us to be sensible deeply sensible of our desert and worthiness of his wrath as ever we desire to have benefit by Christs satisfaction Our Saviour in the sixth of John doth at several times promise to us eternal life upon eating his flesh and drinking his blood vers 54. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall have eternal life Now it is a good observation of one If thou wouldst eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood so as to have eternal life by him do thou first taste death be sensible of what thou deservest by reason of sin be sensible of the spiritual death thou art subject to namely separation from God obnoxiousness to his wrath which is the death of the soul when once thou art sensible of spiritual death what it is to be separated from God what it is to lye under his wrath then thou wilt come with spiritual hunger and thirst to the sufferings of Christ to obtain life from him The second Direction is If we would make use of the Sufferings and Satisfaction of Christ so as to draw home the benefit of it to our selves let us direct the eye of our faith unto our natures suffering in Christ It was our nature that sinned and it is in our nature that satisfaction must be made and this is the great relief unto faith to see satisfaction made in the nature of man as sin was committed in the nature of man Consider what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 15.21 Since by man came death by man also came the resurrection from the dead The Apostle plainly intimates that this is the singular happiness and comfort of Believers that as happiness was lost at first in and by our nature so happiness is now recovered and restored in and by our nature It was the nature of man that sinned in the first Adam and it is the nature of man that hath obeyed and satisfied in Christ the second Adam It was the nature of man that was deprived of happiness and lost communion with God and was subject to death in the first Adam and it was the nature of man that was restored to happiness that was admitted unto communion with God that was raised from the dead in Christ the second Adam Therefore is it that in Rom. 5.19 we read of two men Adam and Christ As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners By one mans disobedience here is Adam the first man Now read the fifteenth verse of the same Chapter If through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many Here we have another man the second man from Heaven as he is called 1 Cor. 15.47 also The man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Now the scope of the Apostle is to shew that as disobedience was acted in the nature of man by Adam the first man so obedience was performed in the nature of man by Christ who was the second man from Heaven This is a great quiet and relief to faith to find that in our nature that is adequate and commensurate to the Law Christ having satisfied the Law in our nature for us it is in Gods account as if we had satisfied it Consider that expression Rom. 8.4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us Some Learned men interpret that phrase in us that is in our nature Christ having fulfilled the Law for us in a part of our nature it is in Gods account as if so be we had fulfilled it This is more fully explained to us by the Author to the Hebrews Heb 2.11 c. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren Christ is here spoken of as the Head of all the Elect. Now he is the person that sanctifieth He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified Christ is the person sanctifying all the Elect are sanctified in him Now to sanctifie another is to make him holy and to present him holy unto God Christ doth thus sanctifie the Elect he makes them holy and presents them holy to God first in his own person and that he may do this that he may be in a capacity to do it he must participate of one and the same common nature with them whom he doth so sanctifie therefore is it that the Apostle says He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are of one the meaning is they are of one and the same common nature the person sanctifying and the persons sanctified are of one and the same common nature the head is true man and the members are true men This the Apostle doth farther amplifie at vers 14. For as much then as the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same Christ being the Head of the Elect and it being his office to redeem them he must come into their nature and do and suffer that in their nature which they ought to have done and suffered they were made subject to death therefore Christ tasted death for them as we have it vers 9. Christ taking upon him the same nature with his brethren did punctually fulfil for them in their nature whatever was expected from
them Now in the serious exercises of faith we ought to attend this we ought to consider how that all the great things of our salvation were transacted by our Head in a part of our nature for us what Christ suffered our nature suffered in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas It is a good speech of Athanasius It was not our Lord himself so much as we that suffered in him The third Direction is We should behold our nature in Christ suffering and undergoing the same things which we deserved and do lye under the fear of As it is a great relief to faith to behold our nature suffering in Christ so that which makes this relief compleat is to see our nature in Christ suffering the very same things which we deserved and are under the fear of The Apostle tells us Rom. 4.5 The law worketh wrath The Law works the fear of wrath in the conscience the Law begets the sense of Gods wrath in the conscience How so The reason is Because by the law is the knowledge of sin sin is the transgression of the law by the Law I know my self to be a sinner because I see I have transgressed such a Law now the breach of this Law worketh wrath that is it works the fear of wrath as that which is due for sin Hence also is that expression of conscience of sin Heb. 10.2 The worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sin By conscience of sin here in this place I take it that we must understand a conscience burdened and laden with the guilt of sin The meaning is not certainly that those who are once purged by the virtue of Christs Sacrifice should make no more conscience of sin that would be an impious opinion nay the contrary thereunto is most true a conscience purged from the guilt of sin by the Blood and Sacrifice of Christ such a person makes more conscience of sin that is of committing sin Shall we sin because grace abounds God forbid The grace of God teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts But the meaning of the place is that those who have their consciences once purged and cleansed by the blood of Christ they ought to have no more conscience of sin as to guilt that is they ought to look upon their consciences exonerated and discharged from guilt by the Sacrifice of Christ But that which I quoted this Text for was to shew that sin brings a conscience of guilt When sin lyeth upon the conscience it fills the conscience with the fear and horrour of Gods wrath now the great relief to conscience in this case must be for a man to turn his eyes upon Christ and to see Christ in our nature suffer that which we deserve and that which we are afraid of We are afraid of Gods wrath and Christ that was true man our Head and Surety felt and suffered the wrath of God we fear lest God should forsake us lest God should cast us off for ever now we ought to turn our eyes upon Christ and see our nature forsaken and deserted in Christ My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Do you fear the torments of Hell Christ hath born these very pains and torments This is certain there is no such relief or remedy to an afflicted conscience as for a man to turn his eyes upon Christ and to see Christ who was most innocent in himself suffering all that for us which we deserve and fear Deseritur cum desertis pro natura quam assumpserat tributum solvit Christ was deserted with them who were deserted and paid the tribute for that nature which he assumed as we heard heretofore And another of the Ancients expresseth himself to the same purpose God saith he in his righteous judgment exacted all those things from us which are written in the Law which when we our selves were not able to pay our Lord hath paid them for us Christ hath assumed and volunt arily taken upon himself the curse and condemnation which we were obnoxious unto Quae pati debueramus illa ipse pertulit those things which we ought to have suffered he himself hath born for us This is a great support to faith to consider that the things we deserved and feared those are the things which Christ hath suffered and born for us The fourth Direction is this Let us behold our nature in Christ voluntarily suffering what we deserved to suffer this also is a great relief to faith As it is a relief to faith to behold our nature suffering and suffering the same things that we ought to have suffered so this is another great relief to faith to behold our nature in Christ voluntarily suffering what we deserved to suffer As we who are the sinful sons of men have sinned voluntarily so one of our kin one of our stock and linage one that was true man hath voluntarily offered himself to suffer for us poor sinful men So that satisfaction is voluntarily tendered up to God in our room and stead by one who was true man and in all points like unto us sin only excepted Our sin and disobedience was not more voluntary than Christs obedience and offering himself to suffer for us was free and voluntary Christ our Head and Surety when the Justice of God was coming forth armed against us hath most voluntarily run to meet it and to expose himself to those strokes which should have lighted on us Lo I come to do thy will thy law is in my heart Heb. 10. The Justice of God was not more desirous of satisfaction to be made to it than Christ our Head and Surety was willing to tender it Now if a Creditor hath never so great a sum of money owing to him and the Surety undertake the payment of the whole debt and be most free and ready as to the payment of it as free to pay the debt as the Creditor is to demand it what can he desire more Christ our Surety undertook the payment of our debt and was as ready to tender the satisfaction as God was to require it The fifth Direction is Let us direct the eye of our faith to the person of the Son of God acting in our nature and sanctifying all his sufferings by the dignity of his own person To illustrate this let us consider that Scripture Heb. 7.26 Such an High Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners made higher than the heavens and then it follows in vers 28. The Law maketh High Priests which have infirmity but the word of the oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is consecrated for evermore The scope of the Apostle in this place is to shew that he who is our High Priest is more than a man he is the Son of God The word of the oath makes the Son which is consecrated for evermore He opposeth the Son of God to the Priests under the Law Now
reliance upon Christ and the virtue of his eternal Sacrifice ought to be most firm and strong A weak and feeble hand of faith will bring but weak comfort a strong hand of faith will bring strong consolation Therefore we must as we mean to have the virtue of this Sacrifice of Christ do as an holy Man Mr. Marshal and an eminent Minister of Christ did when he came to dye he used these words I trust strongly strongly strongly repeating these words thrice I say we must rely strongly strongly strongly upon this eternal Sacrifice of Christ lay the whole stress of our Faith upon the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ for pardon of sin and reconciliation with God In the sixth of John our Saviour annexeth the promise of eternal life unto eating his flesh vers 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life All along in that discourse of his all the benefit that Christ promiseth to us from his flesh and blood is by eating of it He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him So in vers 56. He shall live by me There are several great things that are promised to our eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ And what is this to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ This is a metaphorical expression it is not possible for us to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ in a corporal manner therefore to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ imports this to lay the whole stress of our faith upon the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ for pardon of sin and acceptation with God The seventh Direction is If we would make use of the satisfaction of Christ we must present the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ to God and our selves unto God in the virtue of it In Exod. 29.10 we read that Aaron and his Sons were to put their hands on the head of the bullock By this Rite the Priest presented the bullock a figure of Christ unto God for them hereby intimating as Junius observes that they did present themselves to God not in themselves Quasi se ipsi sisterent sacrificarent Jehovae non in sese verùm in persona Christi Junius but in the person of Christ Our persons are full of sin our duties and services are mingled with a great deal of sin therefore we ought to present our selves to God in Christ who was without sin and his Sacrifice without the least blemish or defilement When ever we come to God let us think of this for there is a greater mystery lyes in it than most are aware of we ought to transfer our selves out of our selves put our selves as it were over into Christ and pray that we may not be looked upon in our selves but in Christ All true Believers are comprehended in Christ as in their Head and what Christ their Head hath done in a part of their nature which he hath assumed for them is looked upon by God as if so be they had done it In ipso non in nobis therefore are we said to be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 In him not in our selves says Austin Believers are righteous but how in their Head they have a righteousness but what is it not a righteousness of their own but they have a righteousness in their Head his righteousness is accounted theirs Believers are looked upon as having fulfilled the Law in Christ as having born the Curse of it in Christ Believers are looked upon as having satisfied Divine Justice in Christ These things they could never have done in their own persons but for as much as Christ their Head hath fulfilled the righteousness of the Law in their nature it is accounted by God as if so be they had done it Now in the solemn exercise of faith it is our great concernment to present Christ our Head unto God and to lift up his righteousness before God that is to say to mind the Lord what Christ our Head hath done for us It is one of the promises which Christ hath made to Believers and it is a great promise that they shall know that they are in him Joh. 14.20 At that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you Believers are said here to be in Christ How are Believers in Christ Believers are in Christ as they are comprehended in him as their Head Believers are in Christ by communion of nature Christ our Head participates of our nature and we are in him by communion of nature we have the verity and truth of humane nature in us Christ hath the verity of humane nature in him he was true man as we are Now our nature being sound in Christ what Christ our Head acted for us if we be Members of Christ if we have an interest in him which we have if we be true Believers it is in Gods account as if we had acted it You in me It is as much as if our Saviour had said I do but personate you I do but represent you I do but act your part You in me Believers in Christ have obeyed the Law Believers in Christ have undergone the curse Believers in Christ have suffered the wrath of God satisfied Divine Justice for as much as Christ their Head hath done all these things Believers are comprehended in Christ because he carrying their nature what he hath done in their nature is accounted by God as if they had done it As God is said to be in Christ reconciling the world to himself so we in Christ have satisfied Gods Justice Now this is our concern to take hold of Christs Satisfaction by faith to present it unto God and to present our selves to God in it For although Christ hath taken up the nature of man as was said before and Believers are said to be in Christ by communion of nature yet all mankind have not saving benefit from Christ by virtue of this communion of nature that is between Christ and them it is only Believers who are the Members of Christ that have benefit by what Christ hath done therefore it is our great concernment by faith to elect and chuse Christ as our Head and having made such a choice of him as our Head then to come to God in the righteousness of our Head and to present the righteousness of Christ as our Head to God for acceptance with him If we have nothing to do with Christ as our Head we cannot plead his righteousness but if we have chosen Christ for our Head we may come to God in the virtue of his righteousness and present that to God for our acceptance with him The eighth Direction is After we have applied and betaken our selves to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ we ought in an humble manner to lay hold of pardon and with humble confidence to expect pardon and
acceptance through the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ After we have betaken our selves to the Satisfaction of Christ and made use of it in a due manner we ought to hope for pardon and acceptance in the virtue of it To take hold of pardon before we have betaken our selves to the remedy and before we have made use of the means which God hath appointed for obtaining pardon this were presumption therefore for any person to run away with this doctrine Christ hath made full satisfaction to the Justice of God for the sins of men Christ hath suffered as much as we deserve therefore we need not trouble our selves our sins shall never condemn us this is but presumption for any man to reason after this manner until there be a serious application of the soul by faith to the Satisfaction of Christ for the pardon of sin For although there be an infinite treasure of merit and virtue in the death and sufferings of Christ to all that come to him yet this treasure and store house of merit that is in the death and satisfaction of Christ is opened unto none but unto such who by humble faith apply themselves to Christ for the virtue of his death Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled Mat. 5.6 There must be then hungering and thirsting after Christs righteousness before we shall be satisfied and there must be faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Him hath God ordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood therefore it is but presumption for any man to say Christ hath dyed and satisfied Gods Justice therefore my sins shall never condemn me without any more ado without troubling himself with any more than saying so for what is presumption Presumption is to expect the end without using the means Though there be an alsufficiency in the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ to save as many as come to him yet the satisfaction and sufferings of Christ are available and effectual to none but to such as by humble saith do apply themselves to him He is able to save to the utmost all that come to God by him Heb. 7.25 There must be a coming then otherwise there is no salvation to be expected We must first see the necessity of the Mediation and Satiffaction of Christ and in an humble manner address our selves to God by faith before we can expect benefit by his satisfaction therefore unless thou have seen thy perishing condition without Christ unless thou art sensible of the infinite need of his satisfaction to make thy peace with God and dost in an humble manner with holy desire apply thy self to Christ for the virtue and benefit of his satisfaction thou canst expect no benefit by him It is the hungring thirsting humble soul which seeth his perishing condition without the satisfaction of Christ and thereupon applies himself to it that only can expect benefit by it But now on the other hand after a person in due manner hath applied himself to the satisfaction of Christ and made use of it by faith as the remedy which God hath appointed it is so far from being presumption in such a person to lay hold of pardon as that it is his duty to take hold of pardon and acceptance and with humble confidence to expect it There is an express Text for this Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith The Apostle is here speaking of the Priesthood of Christ and of the use we should make of his eternal Sacrifice Now saith he having pitcht our faith upon Christ as our Priest and upon the merit and virtue of his Sacrifice Let us draw near in full assurance of faith or with full certainty of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaning is having made use of Christ as our Priest having pitcht our faith upon his Sacrifice let us not doubt of pardon and acceptance let us bear up our selves with a full confidence upon the merit of Christs Satisfaction This full assurance of faith is says a Judicious Divine a setled and full perswasion to be accepted through Jesus Christ When we have laid the stress of our faith upon the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ we ought to bear up our selves with an humble confidence that we shall be pardoned and accepted upon the account of the virtue and merit of Christs Satisfaction and not to do this not to have a humble confidence of pardon and acceptance after we have applied our selves to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ would be greatly derogatory to the honour of Christs Satisfaction and also derogatory to the honour of many of Gods Attributes 1. If we might not have an humble confidence of pardon and acceptance through the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ after we have applied our selves to it this would be greatly derogatory to the honour of Christs Satisfaction Heb. 9.13 14. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flosh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead work to serve the living God That which the Apostle asserts here is That the blood of Christ is able to purge tho conscience from dead works so as to serve the living God To perge the conscience from dead works is to purge the conscience from the guilt of sin to clear the conscience to absolve the guilt of sin in the eye of conscience so that the conscience shall have no more fear of guilt Now consider the Apostles argument If the blood of bulls and goats and the like were able to cleanse as to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God The force of the Apostles argument comes to this If the Levitical Rites if those Purifications that were used under the Law were sufficient to cleanse a person after a legal manner much more is the blood of Christ which is the blood of that person who is God as well as man be able to cleanse their conscience who do apply themselves by saith to him The Apostle argues thus They that lived under the Law had some purifying and cleansing yea some help as to their consciences by the Sacrifices that were then offered therefore much more they that apply themselves to the blood of Christ shall have benefit by virtue of his Sacrifice which was the true Sacrifice Under the Law when a person had committed a sin and brought his Offering to the Priest and had laid his hand on the head of the Sacrifice and when the beast that was brought to be sacrificed was slain and the blood was put upon the Altar there was atonement made for him and he might
know that his sin was forgiven him Lev. 4.31 The Priest shall make an atonement for him and it shall be forgiven him Now the Faithful having such an express promise in the time of the Law that if they came and brought their Sacrifice to the Priest after the due order and did exercise faith on Christ in that Sacrifice that their sins should be pardoned in this way they might conclude that when they had offered their Sacrifice according to the due order that their sins were pardoned and forgiven to them for they had the promise and the Word of God to shew for it All saith is grounded upon the World Now having a promise that when they had brought their Sacrifice according to Gods appointment they had the Word of God for it that their sins should be pardoned Now when Christ the true Sacrifice and the end of all the other Sacrifices hath come and offered himself a Sacrifice for sin if Believers applying themselves to the virtue of his Sacrifice should not have pardon and might not know that they are pardoned then it would follow that the priviledges of Believers under the Gospel were less than the priviledges of the Faithful under the Law for they might know when they had brought their Sacrifice that their sins were pardoned and if we may not know when we apply our selves to the Sacrifice of Christ that our sins are pardoned our priviledges would be less than theirs were If the blood of bulls and goats have such efficacy if the legal Sacrifices be able to cleanse the conscience how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse our consciences from dead works The Apostle doth here oppose the blood of Christ to the blood of bulls and goats The blood of bulls and goats and those Sacrifices that were offered under the Law had their effect as to cleansing persons in a typical way much more shall the blood of Christ who was the true Sacrifice and unto whom all the other Sacrifices were referred have this effect to cleanse mens consciences really the legal Sacrifices have their effect in a typical way therefore the blood of Christ shall purge our consciences really Christ was God as well as man therefore his Sacrifice doth excel all their Sacrifices therefore doth the Apostle add this How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse our consciences from dead works As much as if he should say Christ offered himself up to God in the virtue of his Deity in the virtue and power of his Divinity the Godhead was conjunct with his flesh in suffering not that the Godhead suffered but the Godhead was united to the humane nature when he suffered therefore he that had the virtue of his Divinity to sanctifie his Sacrifice his sufferings must needs be effectual to take away sin therefore not to expect pardon and atonement in the virtue of Christs Sacrifice and Satisfaction when we have in an humble manner applied our selves to it is to forget the dignity of the person who offered the Sacrifice who was God as well as man and did contribute the virtue of his Deity to make his Sacrifice meritorious The Apostle puts a mighty weight upon this If the Sacrifices under the Law were effectual to take away sin much more shall the blood of Christ who was God as well as man be able to purge away the guilt of sin from the consciences of those that apply themselves to him 2. Not to have an humble confidence of pardon and acceptance after we have applied our selves to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ is derogatory to many of the Attributes of God 1. It is derogatory to the Wisdom of God as if he had not appointed a sufficient Sacrifice 2. To the Goodness of God as if God had not mercy and goodness enough in him to receive and pardon sinners after he had received a sull satisfaction for their sins 3. It is derogatory to the Truth and Faithfulness of God as if God would not be true and faithful to his own word and to the provision which he hath made The Sacrifice of Christ is the provision which God hath made for the taking away of sin Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world Joh. 1.29 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 This also is his own word Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 There is a Divine sanction and appointment upon it that the blood of Jesus Christ should be the means of atonement therefore if we should not have atonement when we fly for refuge to the grace that is set before us the appointment and ordination of God would be in vain we should make God not to be true to his own word Therefore after we have applied our selves by humble faith to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ for pardon and acceptance it is our duty to expect in an humble manner pardon and acceptance by virtue of it I come now to another Use of the Doctrine Vse 4 Learn from what hath been opened concerning the Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction the dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction Christs Satisfaction is the most excellent satisfaction yea there is no other satisfaction besides it Many inventions have been in the hearts of men to make satisfaction to God man would fain make God some amends when he hath sinned if he knew how there is an impress upon every mans heart by nature when he hath sinned to make God amends it is natural to man to think of some such thing but all the projects and contrivances of men in this kind and to this end have been in vain and frustrate whatever men have invented thinking by it to pacifie God and make fatisfaction to him for the sins they have committed hath been to no purpose There are many ways which the sons of men have thought upon to make satisfaction to God by 1. Sometimes by afflicting the body exercising severities upon it the Papists think to make satisfaction to God this way by macerating the body punishing the flesh injoyning Penances Pilgrimages and Tortures upon themselves thinking to satisfie God hereby 2. Sometimes men think to satisfie God by costly Sacrifices thus the Heathens thought to satisfie their Gods by their Hecatombs the multitude of their Sacrifices and those most pompous costly rich magnificent Sacrifices 3. Men have thought to make satisfaction to God by some reformation of their conversations by living a more strict and austere life than they did formerly A strict life is good in it self and none can be saved without it but yet it is too short to satisfie God However this is the course some have taken when conscience hath been awakened and they see the hainousness of their sins they think to satisfie
God by a strict life they renounce the world spend their time in retirement abridge themselves of their delights and pleasures and live by such and such rules These and many more ways have men invented to satisfie God withal But it is a true speech of a moderate Papist Whatsoever was not God Quicquid Deus non est non potuerit sufficere was not sufficient to satisfie God All those ways that have been devised by men are too short to make satisfaction to the great God and if we summon our selves to God Tribunal and think with our selves how just and holy he is we shall soon apprehend his Justice will not be put off with such poor things as men bring to him to satisfie him withal nothing less than God can satisfie God The satisfaction of Christ is the satisfaction of that person who is God as well as man otherwise it had not been available and herein did the excellency of Christs Satisfaction appear that it was abundantly sufficient The dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction may yet farther appear from these considerations 1. That Christs Satisfaction was once made and but once the Sacrifice was but one and the Satisfaction made by it but one The Sacrifices under the Law were many The Sacrifices offered by the Heathen were many but Christs Sacrifice was but one and offered once for all Heb. 10.14 By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering up the body of Christ once for all once only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Greek word hath a great force in it as Learned men observe It signifies that what was once done was so perfect and compleat that it was not necessary it should be done again nay that it was impious to repeat it Christs one Sacrifice comprehended the virtue of all other Sacrifices in it All the Sacrifices that were offered by men in all Ages both by Jews and Gentiles were a plain intimation that there was some Sacrifice by which God must be pacified and that men had an apprehension that God could be pacified no other way Now Christs Sacrifice was the true Sacrifice that which the world aimed at but could never attain was attained only by the Sacrifice of Christ that which the world would fain have been at and attained was to pacifie God now this could never be accomplished any other way but by the Sacrifice of the Son of God Christs Sacrifice was but one and yet by that one Sacrifice he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified 2. The Satisfaction of Christ was perfect and compleat there was nothing wanting in it of what was necessary to make it compleat 1. The person who offers it was most holy and without sin Such an high Priest became us who was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 The Priests under the Law were to offer Sacrifices first for their own sins then for the sins of the people but Christ needed none of this for Christ had no sin therefore he that was without all sin in himself was most fit to make atonement for the sins of others 2. As the person himself that offered the Sacrifice was most perfect and compleat so the Sacrifice it self was most perfect and compleat and that appears by the effect of it Heb. 10.14 By one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified If the Offering and Sacrifice of Christ had not been most perfect in it self it could never have perfected others For this is a sure rule That the effect cannot rise higher than the cause therefore if Christs Offering had not been perfect in it self it could not have perfected others But now saith the Apostle he hath perfected and for ever perfected them that are sanctified that is Christ by his Sacrifice hath perfectly reconciled us to God There need be no more done to reconcile a person to God than what Christ hath done Now if the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ hath that virtue and efficacy in it as to bring us into perfect reconciliation with God so as that there is no danger of losing it nor falling from it then it is a perfect and compleat satisfaction This shews us the dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction therefore we ought to have an high esteem of it and be so much the more incouraged to make use of it The end of the fourteenth Sermon SERMON XV. Joh. 15 1◠Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends TO proceed a little farther to shew the dignity of Christs Satisfaction 3. Consid 3 The Satisfaction of Christ was adequate and commensurate to what the Law and Divine Justice did require All that the Law could require was the death of the sinner In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye the death thou shalt undergo a double death death natural and death supernatural Now Christ in the work of his Satisfaction hath undergone both these deaths he hath undergone natural death and supernatural death All that Divine Justice could require was that the sinner should undergo the utmost punishment that the nature of man was capable of now the sufferings of Christ were consummate sufferings in the highest measure and degree whatever the humane nature supported by the Deity could suffer that our Saviour did undergo therefore his satisfaction was adequate and commensurate to the Law and Divine Justice 4. We may see the dignity and excellency of Christs Satisfaction in this That the Satisfaction of Christ in some respect was more than sufficient Christ in respect of some circumstances attending his satisfaction hath paid and given more than the Law required for it is well observed by a Learned man The Law did not require that God should dye the Law required that man sinning man should dye but now the person dying and satisfying for us was God as well as man God hath redeemed the Church with his own blood Act. 20.28 Neither 1 did the Law require that any person should dye but for his own proper sin The language of the Law is The soul that sins shall dye Now every soul was to bear his own iniquity Neither 2 did the Law require such a death that should be of so great efficacy that it should not be only able to abolish death but also be able to introduce life and that a life far more excellent than that terrene and earthly life which Adam lost In these respects the Satisfaction of Christ was more than sufficient and therefore one of the Ancients hath this expression Christ hath paid for us much more than we owed and so much the more was that which Christ paid by how much the vast and immense Ocean excels the least drop Let us learn then to have high thoughts of the dignity and excellency
of Christs Satisfaction this will be of marvellous use to us when we are under troubles and conflicts of conscience for sin Though our sins are great exceeding great considered in themselves yet being compared with the infiniteness of Christs Satisfaction they are swallowed up in the vastness and insiniteness of the merit of the sufferings of that person who was God as well as man 5. The excellency of Christs Satisfaction appears in this In that the Sacrifice of Christ is an eternal Sacrifice that is the virtue and efficacy of Christs Sacrifice and Satisfaction is eternal Christs Sacrifice is but one and that once offered and yet the virtue of it is eternal The repetition of the Sacrifices under the Law did shew the imperfection of those Sacrifices for if one Sacrifice had been sufficient what need of such a multitude of Sacrifices and those so frequently repeated Now the Sacrifice of Christ is but one and it was not necessary that it should be repeated for though it was but once offered yet the virtue of it is eternal It is a great expression of the Apostle speaking of this Sacrifice Heb. 9.14 Christ by the eternal Spirit offered himself up without spot to God Christ offered himself up to God by the eternal Spirit that is he offered himself up to God in the virtue of his eternal Deity the Son of God who offered himself up as a Sacrifice to God in our nature being an eternal person hath put eternal virtue and efficacy into that Sacrifice of his Such was the dignity of Christs person that he being the eternal Son of God the virtue and efficacy of his Sacrifice which was once offered and that now in the end of the world doth yet extend it self to all ages of the world those that are past as well as those that are to come For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 The Sacrifice of Christ is eternal for as much as the virtue and efficacy of it is eternal and extends it self to all ages Hence also is Christ called the new and living way Heb. 10.20 That expression which we translate new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies that which was newly killed or newly slain the virtue of Christs blood is such in Gods account as if Christ were just now crucified his blood is always fresh the vigour and efficacy of it remains as if it were but newly shed What a mighty incouragement may this be to us to come and make use of the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ since the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ are as fresh in Gods account as if Christ had just now undergone them as if he were but newly come down from the Cross and God is as much pleased and satisfied in them as if Christ had but newly undergone them There is one Use more to be made of the Doctrine Vse 5 Let us learn from the Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction why the contempt of the Gospel is so great a sin and why it is that God punisheth the contempt of the Gospel so severely the reason why the contempt of the Gospel is so great a sin is because it is a contempt of the sufferings of Christ and the reason why God punisheth the contempt of the Gospel so severely is because it is a contempt of the great Sacrifice that was offered for sin There hath been a great impression on the hearts of men in all Ages That God was to be pacified by sacrifice hence it is that all Nations have offered sacrifices and hereby the common sense of mankind hath been exprest that God was to be pacified by some sacrifice Now when the true the great the only sacrifice hath been offered up which is the death of Christ and the virtue of this sacrifice which was to pacifie and atone God published and declared in the Gospel and men do yet contemn this sacrifice and him that hath offered it certainly this must needs make the sin of the world exceeding great and the reason is because that this is a plain evidence that men do not value reconciliation with God When God hath provided a sacrifice by which he will be atoned and reconciled to men and they despise this sacrifice and undervalue this way of reconciliation 't is a plain sign and evidence that men do not care for reconciliation with God it is all one to them if they continue in open hostility against him The slighting of Christ and neglect of grace offered by the Redeemer is a plain contempt of the Divine Majesty it is a clear sign that men do not regard Gods anger neither are they afraid of his wrath For if men were afraid of Gods anger and terrified at the apprehensions of his wrath they would seek after reconciliation with God Now nothing doth aggravate sin more than when there is a plain and manifest contempt of God and this there is in the refusing of reconciliation with him God offers reconciliation to men by a Redeemer they neglect it they reject it this is a manifest contempt of God and hence it is that God punisheth the contempt of the Gospel so severely I shall illustrate this by several Scriptures Mat. 22.1 c. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain King which made a marriage for his son and he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come Again he sent forth other servants saying Tell them which are bidden Behold I have prepared my dinner my oxen and my fatlings are killed and all things are ready come unto the marriage But they made light of it and went their ways one to his farm another to his merchandise and the remnant took his servants and intreated them spightfully and slew them But when the King heard thereof he was wroth and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murtherers and burnt up their city A certain King made a marriage for his son God hath married his Son to our nature God hath sent his Son into our nature and the Son of God hath married our nature to himself by joyning it to himself in the bond of personal union Upon this marriage the joyning of our nature to the Son of God God makes a Feast a Marriage-feast and in that Feast he prepares all good things for the sons of men he offers righteousness life salvation and all good things whatsoever in his Son and God by his Ambassadours the Gospel-Ministers invites them to partake of these good things He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding When God had prepared this Feast of all good things in his Son opened the Treasures of his Grace in Christ when he had set open the Treasure of Christs Righteousness for mens Justification and the alsufficiency of his Grace for Sanctification then he sends his Ambassadours and Ministers to invite men to come and partake of all this grace But
flow from persons It was therefore the person of the Word that made satisfaction for our sins Now that a person of that infinite worth and excellency as the Son of God the second Person in Trinity should come to subsist in our nature and being in our nature should be the person satisfying for our sins this was great condescension and abasement Thus the Son who was yet equal with the Father in respect of his Divine nature by his Incarnation and sufferings doth not only make himself inferiour to the Father but to himself also The Son though he was one of the persons offended yet he comes to make the satisfaction and considered as Mediator as God-man doth not only make satisfaction to the Father but to himself considered as God simply The fourth Consideration is this That whole Christ or the whole person of the Mediator was the price of our Redemption 1 Joh. 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins It is Christ then that is the propitiation for our sins Now Christ is the name of the person subsisting in both natures When we speak of Christ Christus est nomen personae in duabus subsistentis naturis we understand that person who subsists in both natures in the nature of God and in the nature of man Christ doth not signifie one of the natures simply but Christ is the name of the person subsisting in both natures Now this is he who is the propitiation for our sins that person who is God and man he is the propitiation for our sins Persona Christi sive Christus satisfecit pro peccatis tanquamquod It was the person of Christ or Christ that did satisfie for our sins as the Principle making satisfaction To understand this we must consider that which was before hinted That Christ is our Mediator according to both natures he is not our Mediator as to one of his natures only but according to both natures and as he is Mediator according to both natures so he gives himself for us according to both his natures For though it were the humane nature only that suffered yet it was the Divine nature that sanctified the sufferings of the humane nature and gave virtue to them therefore is it said Himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree and that by himself he hath purged our sins Heb. 1.3 It is not said By his humane nature meerly though it is true it was the humane nature only that was capable of suffering but it is not so expressed but by himself Christ himself is the Sacrifice for our sins Gal. 2. He loved me and gave himself for me and Christ was once offered up Heb. 9. And that expression of the Apostle Peter is very emphatical 2 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ himself who was God-man made satisfaction for sins and laid down the price of our Redemption yea he himself was the price of our Redemption God hath redeemed the Church with his own blood To understand this two things are to be considered in the Satisfaction of Christ as Alvarez hath observed 1. One is that species or kind of humane actions by which Christ did satisfie and this proceeded from the humane nature as the formal principle of them Thus the Son of God obeyed suffered dyed in the humane nature 2. There is another thing to be considered in Christs Satisfaction and that is the infinite value and worth that was found in it Now the infinite value and worth that was in the Satisfaction of Christ proceeded from the person satisfying that is from the Divine Word or the person of the Son of God subsisting in the humane nature the actions and sufferings of the humane nature are the matter of his Satisfaction but that which gives the virtue and value to them is the Divinity Hence are those expressions of the Ancients If he had not been true God he had not brought a remedy for us Si non esset verus Deus non afferret remedium Quia ille qui moriebatur erat Deus Another observes That therefore did the death of Christ bring salvation to the world because the person who dyed was God And another hath a passage to this purpose Death saith he becoming as it were the death of God hath demolished death for the person that dyed was God and man both the sufferings of Christ being made the sufferings of that person who was God received their virtue from the Divinity As much as if he had said By virtue of the Divine person which suffered in the humane nature those sufferings received their virtue to save us and to make satisfaction for our sins This is another thing that discovers the humiliation of Christs person That he who was God and in his Divine nature simply considered was the person offended yet as God man was pleased to become a ransom for us 1 Tim. 2.6 He gave himself a ransom for all That person who gave himself a ransom for all is the Mediator and who is the Mediator but God-man 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin There is a great Emphasis upon those words Jesus Christ his Son It is the blood of that person who was no other than the Son of God and God which cleanseth us from all sin It is a memorable speech of Luther He gave saith he not silver not gold neither was it a meer man that he gave neither did he give all the Angels but it was himself that he gave as the price of our Redemption than which nothing was greater neither had he any thing greater to give Consider this price aright and we shall find it infinitely greater than the whole Creation 5. In the sufferings of Christ we may see the humiliation of his person from hence namely that in the death of Christ the glory of his Divinity seemed to be most obscured and darkened and suffered the greatest Eclipse What more unworthy of God than suffering and death What more absurd and incongruous in the eye of carnal reason than a crucified God Now herein did Christ commend the greatness of his love to us That he permitted the glory of his Divinity by means of his death and suffering to be eclipsed for our sakes That he who was the immortal God should expose himself to suffering and death for our sakes as if he had been no more than a passible and mortal man for though he were really and indeed the Son of God and God the Lord of Glory yet by reason of his death and sufferings he was by the generality of men thought to be but as an ordinary man This is that which the Apostle intimates 1 Cor. 2.8 Whom none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not
have crucified the Lord of glory The Apostle here speaks of Christ crucified as the Wisdom of God this the Princes of the world knew not The Rabbies among the Jews the Philosophers among the Heathen knew not this Wisdom of God they were not acquainted with it they little knew the Lord of Glory was in that body that was crucified pierced and that hung upon the Cross they were ignorant of the Divinity of Christs person the Son of God containing and keeping in the rays of his Divinity and permitting his flesh his humane nature to suffer they thought him to be but as another man Hence was it that the spectators mockt him with those words If thou be the Son of God come down from the cross they took it for granted that he that was the Son of God and God would not have suffered in that manner Now this was the great the wonderful and stupendious humiliation of this great Person that the Divinity in Christ hid it self and withdrew its lustre as it were in the time of Christs suffering that so the Humanity might suffer It is true there were some rays of his Divinity let forth in the time of his suffering that the veil of the Temple was rent from the top to the bottom that the rocks clave in sunder that the Sun was darkened and the graves were opened and the bodies of the dead Saints arose Such prodigious things as these were manifest tokens that the person that suffered was more than an ordinary person therefore the Centurion and those that were with him said Truly this was the Son of God But yet these things had not such an influence upon the generality of men but that the Cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness the world hath not been able to bear the Doctrine of a crucified Saviour and as Luther hath observed There is no Doctrine of Faith that the world is so offended at as this That whereas the wisdom and love of God hath been laid out to the uttermost in this way namely to save men by the death of his Son this hath been the greatest offence to the world Such is the pride and ignorance of men that they cannot think of being saved by one that was crucified But what doth the Apostle say The foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1.20 24. Whatever the world thinks of it this is the way of God and the wisdom of God to save men by the death of his own Son And herein did the greatness of Christs love to us appear That he who was so great a Person would suffer the glory of his Divinity to be obscured and darkened by his death and sufferings whenas he knew what he did and suffered for man would expose him to the disesteem of men and minister an occasion to them to think the more contemptuously of him than ever they would have done had he not stooped so low to do and suffer such things as he did for their sakes Behold Vse how great the price of our Redemption was the Word the second Person in Trinity was united to the flesh that suffered as we have heard God incarnate is the price of mans Redemption God hath redeemed the Church with his own blood Act. 20. This is notably set forth by the Apostle Peter We were redeemed not with corruptible things as gold and silver from our vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 Precious blood indeed which was the blood of that person that was God as well as man It is well observed by Cyril It was not the blood of Peter or Paul or some other particular Saint that was but a meer man that we were redeemed by but it was by the blood of Christ God-man whose name is Emmanuel God with us Tanta medicina salus requiritur Divinitas incarnata sanguis ipse Filii Dei Luther This should teach us to have high thoughts of the work of our Redemption and of the price that was laid down for it O that the work of our Redemption should cost the death of so excellent a person as the Son of God! So great aremedy so great salvation says Luther was required that Divinity it self must be incarnate and the very blood of the Son of God must be shed for us O let us labour to get our hearts more deeply affected with these things The end of the eighteenth Sermon SERMON XIX Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends THE second Use is this Vse 2 Learn from what hath been opened how great a sin the contempt of Christs person and of his sufferings is If so excellent a person as the Son of God and God was the person that suffered for us and wrought out redemption for us how great a sin then must it be to contemn this person and his sufferings The Apostle joyns both these together Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant by which he was sanctified an unholy thing The Apostle here speaks 1. Of the contempt of Christs person Who hath trodden under foot the Son of God 2. Of the contempt of his sufferings And counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing So that to be guilty of the contempt of Christs person and of his sufferings must needs be the most hainous sin 1. As for the contempt of Christs person the Apostle calls it a treading under foot the Son of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Treading upon a thing is an argument of contempt and scorn we tread upon nothing but what is vile and of no esteem we tread upon a worm as upon a poor abject thing a thing of no account yea sometimes treading upon a thing is an argument of hatred thus we tread upon spiders and other venemous creatures Now that so excellent a person as the Son of God one and the same God with the Father that he should be contemned and looked upon as a vile person what an indignity is this which is offered to so excellent a person 2. The contempt of Christs sufferings is set forth in that other expression And hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he is sanctified an unholy thing We may render it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who hath counted the blood of the Covenant a common thing To count the blood of the Covenant the blood of Christ as common blood to count the sufferings of Christ but as the sufferings of a common ordinary man this is great contempt The blood of Christ is the blood of that person who is God as well as man and therefore to reckon his sufferings but as the sufferings
sufferings without this we have no life in us Let us therefore take heed how we have slight thoughts of the sufferings of Christ this is to slight them when we do not study the virtue of these sufferings when we do not see our need of them and do not apply our selves to them that we may be saved by them 4. Then are the sufferings of Christ contemned when we come unworthily to the Lords Table The Sacrament of the Supper it is the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ when therefore we rush upon the Sacrament in a rude manner we do in an eminent way contemn the sufferings of Christ The Supper of the Lord is called a shewing forth the Lords death 1 Cor. 11.26 As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do shew the Lords death till he come This phrase of shewing forth the Lords death implies three things in it 1. It implies the inward assent of the mind that we do indeed with our hearts and minds believe that Christ did dye and suffer such things for us as we read of in the Gospel 2. This phrase of shewing forth the Lords death implies the profession and confession of our faith before the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we owne it and profess it before the world that we believe such and such things concerning Christ 3. It implies our faith in our our reliance upon the death and sufferings of Christ for salvation that is our expectation of salvation by the death of Christ and by that means only All this I take to be implied in this phrase of shewing forth the death of Christ the Sacrament therefore being a shewing forth of Christs death when we come to the Sacrament we have to do with the death and sufferings of Christ in a peculiar manner if therefore we rush upon that Ordinance in a rude or unworthy manner we must of necessity contemn the sufferings of Christ because the Sacrament is the special and peculiar Ordinance that is appointed to represent to us the death and sufferings of the Lord Jesus and that this is one way of contemning Christs sufferings the Apostle is exceeding clear and plain 1 Cor. 11.27 Whosoever shall eat and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. As much as if he should say Every unworthy Communicant every unworthy receiver at the Lords Table is guilty of no small sin he is guilty of the very body and blood of Christ that is he is as one that hath imbrued his hands in Christs blood he is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The Ancients expound it to this sense Every unworthy receiver and Communicant that comes in a rude manner to the Lords Supper is like Judas that betrayed Christ like the Jews that buffeted and spit upon him like to Pilate that condemned him and like the Souldiers that crucified him these dealt unworthily with the body of Christ and so doth every unworthy Communicant deal unworthily with the body of Christ The others indeed abused and dealt unworthily with his natural body but every unworthy Communicant deals unworthily with his sacramental body and the sin of the one is so much the greater than the sin of the other because many of them that had a hand in the crucifixion of the body of our Saviour looked upon him as an ordinary man they did not look upon him as the Son of God Hence doth the Apostle say If they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory 1 Cor. 2.8 But now rude Christians who rush irreverently upon this Ordinance do profess they believe him to be the Son of God the Saviour of the world and yet offer indignity to him They therefore that come unworthily to the Lords Table do in an eminent manner contemn the sufferings of Christ But here it may be useful for us to inquire What is it to come unworthily Who are they that come unworthily Whosoever shall eat this bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily 1 Cor. 11.29 The Greek word as Peter Martyr observes Indecenter parùm congruè minùs apposité signifies in this place as much as indecently not congruously not in that fit manner as he ought to do he eats and drinks unworthily that comes in an indecent manner without due preparation to this Ordinance I shall more particularly shew what this unworthy receiving is in two or three things 1. Then do we come unworthily to the Sacrament when we have not a due reverence of those great and sublime Mysteries that are set before us in the Sacrament Whoever shall drink this cup of the Lord saith the Apostle this Cup of the Lord here is an accent that it is the Lords bread the Lords cup the bread that we partake of in the Sacrament is the Lords bread and the cup that we drink of in the Sacrament is the Lords cup. Some may say so is all our bread the bread that we live upon daily is the Lords bread and the cup we drink of daily is the Lords cup it is he that spreads our tables for us and causeth our cups to run over But we must consider that the bread here spoken of the sacramental Bread and the sacramental Cup are called the Lords bread and the Lords cup in a peculiar manner it is that bread that is instituted to signifie and represent the Lords body and it is that cup that is instituted to represent the Lords blood therefore when we look upon the sacramental bread as common ordinary bread when we drink of the sacramental wine as common ordinary wine this is a prophanation of this Ordinance We ought to be sensible of the Mystery that is in this Ordinance namely that the Lords body and his blood are represented to us by the outward signs The ancient Church were wont to call the Mysteries represented to us in the Sacrament tremendous Mysteries O here are tremendous Mysteries indeed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if we rightly consider what they are that are set before us in the Sacrament to see the incorporeal God assuming a humane body to see God personally inhabit in that flesh that suffered and offering that very body of his in which he was crucified dyed rose again and ascended into Heaven to be the food of our souls these are wonderful Mysteries indeed and yet these are the Mysteries that are represented to us in the Sacrament in the Sacrament we see the Son of God and God to have assumed a part of our flesh and then offering himself up in that flesh a Sacrifice for our sins and as we see the Son of God first giving himself for us upon the Cross so in the Sacrament we see him giving himself to us Here lyes the mystery of the Sacrament In the Sacrament we do not only see Christ giving himself for us but we also see
for you That very body of Christ in which he suffered dyed rose again is offered to us in the Sacrament to be looked upon by faith The Sacrament is as the Ancients call it Verbum visibile a visible Word The Sacrament declares by visible signs and representations that which the Word doth in another way Now as it is a great sin to contemn Christ when he is made known to us in the way of the Word so it is a great sin to contemn Christ when he is revealed to us by his own signs and symbols which are of his own institution instituted on purpose by himself to make himself known to us 2. The Sacrament is appointed to confirm our union and communion with Christ The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10. The ancient Church called the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Sacramentum unionis the Sacrament of Vnion because it is that special Ordinance by which our union and communion with Christ is strengthened and confirmed And our Saviour in effect tells us as much when he saith He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Job 6.56 When we eat Christs flesh and drink his blood Christ dwells in us and we in him Now when we profess the nearest union and communion with the person of Christ and with the death and sufferings of Christ and we slight both his person and his sufferings this must needs be a great sin Thus have we heard now how Christ and his sufferings may be contemned there is another thing that may be added and that is 5. That Apostates such as fall from deny and renounce the faith of Christ they once presessed they do in an eminent manner pour contempt upon the sufferings of Christ Of these the Apostle speaks in a peculiar manner Heb. 10. and of these he saith That they account the blood of the Covenant by which they are sanctified an unholy thing He that apostatizes from the Christian Profession what doth he do but make a mock of Christ and his sufferings as if all that he had formerly professed concerning Christ and his sufferings were but a meer sable Now it concerns us greatly to see that we be not found in the number of such who are contemners of Christs person or of his sufferings and the reason is because great punishment is denounced on such Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace There is a sorer punishment shall be inflicted upon such who despise the person of Christ and contemn his sufferings and I verily believe this is one main cause of the Judgments which God hath already executed and will yet further execute upon the unthankful world because his Son hath been revealed to the world in this last Century of years more than in former Ages by that clear and great light that hath broken forth and yet men make no reckoning of Christ and of his grace but are grown worse and worse more profane and atheistical under the light of the Gospel that hath shone upon them As Idolatry was the great sin that God did avenge under the Old Testament upon the Jews that were then his professing people so the contempt of the Gospel wherein there hath been a plain and manifest revelation of the Son of God and of that grace and salvation which is brought by his death and sufferings seems to be the great sin that God is avenging upon professing Christians The end of the nineteenth Sermon SERMON XX. Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Proceed now to another Consideration to shew the greatness of Christs Love in his Sufferings Consid 7 The love of Christ in his sufferings appears in this That the Son of God so great a person should suffer such things as he did suffer for us The love of Christ doth not only appear from the consideration of the excellency of the person suffering but also from the consideration of the things themselves that he suffered for us that so great a person should suffer so much shame such reproach such indignity as he did for us this is that which commends Christs love to us Heb. 12.2 He endured the cross and despised the shame Isa 50.6 I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair I hid not my face from shame and spitting That the Son of God should suffer such things for us poor men that he should suffer such pains and torments in soul and body for us this commends his love to us The sufferings of Christ did far exceed the sufferings of any other man yea if the sufferings of all men were put together they are not to be compared with the sufferings of Christ and the reason is because Christ did suffer the very pains of Hell for us as we have heard Christ did not only suffer from men but he suffered from the hands of his Father it pleased the Father to bruise him he put him to grief Isa 53. Christ did not only suffer in his body but he suffered in his soul yea his soul-sufferings were the greatest sufferings there it was that he suffered dereliction there it was that he suffered the sense of Gods wrath no sorrows were ever like to Christs sorrows and yet these sorrows Christ did voluntarily and electively undergo for our sakes Our Saviour knew before-hand what his sufferings were like to be and yet he freely underwent them Christ did not rush upon his sufferings unawares but he knew what his sufferings would be and yet he was content to undergo them for our sakes Luk. 12.50 I have a baptism to be baptized with he speaks of the Baptism of his sufferings The Lord Jesus knew that he was to undergo such sore and grievous sufferings and yet he voluntarily underwent them he did not rum ignorantly upon them but he knew before-hand what he was to suffer and yet he chose voluntarily to suffer that which he knew would be so bitter and grievous to him It is a great alleviation of a mans sufferings not to know what he hath to suffer the contemplation of a mans sufferings before-hand is sometimes almost as great a suffering as the suffering it self that he is to undergo but yet the Son of God had the contemplation and foresight in his mind of the sufferings that he was to undergo for us yet he was content notwithstanding to under go them Mat. 16.21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew to his Disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the