A SERMON Preached before the KING AT WHITE-HALL ON Christmas-Day 1682. By N. STRATFORD D. D. and Dean of St. ASAPH Published by His MAJESTIES special Command LONDON Printed by I. R. for Joseph Lawson Bookseller in Lincoln and sold by Richard Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-yard and Tho. Guy at the Oxford-Arms on the West side of the Royal Exchange 1683. A SERMON ON ROMANS viii 3. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh SInce the Design of this Solemn Assembly is with all Thankfulness to commemorate the Incarnation of our Blessed Lord What can be more proper to entertain our Devotion than the contemplation of the great end for which he was Incarnate Which however grosly mistaken by those who are resolved not to understand it is plainly enough expressed in the words now read To be the setting us free from the Bondage of Sin and the making us partakers of his Holiness A matter of such Grand Importance in the Judgment of the only wise God that he thought it worth the sending his own Son into the world after he had attempted it by other means without success For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh When mens fleshly Lusts were so strong and impetuous that the Law of it self was unable to subdue them and to advance Mankind to that real inward Purity of which all the outward Purifications prescribed by the Law were but shadows as a more powerful efficacious means in order to this great end God out of his infinite Compassion to lost man sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh c. As preparatory to the ensuing Discourse 't is needful only to acquaint you That by the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated for sin is meant a Sacrifice for sin That being the Notion most agreeable to the Scope of the Text and that in which they are frequently used both by the Septuagint and our Apostle That to condemn sin is not barely to pass Sentence against it but to punish and to destroy it That God is said to condemn sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sacrifice for it Because he most dreadfully punished it in the flesh of his Son and hath thereby taken the most effectual course to destroy it in our flesh as he is said in Holy Scripture to do those things for the effecting of which he contributes sufficient means so that nothing is wanting on his part for the doing of them Which being Premised the words are naturally resolved into these five Propositions I. That God sent his own Son into the world II. That God sent his own Son into the world in flesh III. That he sent him into the World in the likeness of sinful flesh IV. That he sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sacrifice for Sin V. That God by sending his own Son into the World in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a Sacrifice for Sin hath taken the most effectual course for the Destroying of Sin in us I. God sent his Son Not his Son by Creation as Adam nor by Adoption as all good men are Not his Son only as invested with some art of his Authority and commissionated by him to some eminent Office as all Princes are But his Own Son as he is here emphatically call'd the Son of his own Nature begotten by him before all Worlds who is very God of very God of one substance with the Father himself And therefore his only begotten Son too such as no other person in the World is ever was or shall be And in proportion to the peculiar and transcendent Excellency of his Sonship was his Father's Love towards him for being his only begotten he was above all others his beloved Son as he himself testified by an express voice from Heaven saying this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matt. iii. 17. And the greater God's Love was to Him so much the more was it expressed to Us to whom alone he sent him For he sent him not to the Apostate Angels to expiate their sins and to avert the stroak of his vengeance from them but leaving them under an irreversible Doom to be reserv'd to Chains of Darkness at the judgment of Jude v. 6. the Great Day He sent him to us Men who are by Nature inferiour to the Angels and were become confederate with them in their Rebellion against him who were not only without Strength to resist his Justice but too obstinate to implore his Mercy This is intimated in the Text For in that God sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh 't is also implyed that he sent him to sinful flesh To the Sons of Men who had all sinned Rom. iii. 23. and were fallen short of the Glory of God And is plainly expressed in other Scriptures in which we are told That God sent his 1 John iii. 9. 10. Son to be a propitiation for our sins That in this was manifest the Love of God toward Us that God sent his only begotten Son that We might live through him His Love was indeed manifest toward Us his Severity toward the Angels in that while he left them to fall a Sacrifice to his Justice he sent his beloved Son to be Himself a Sacrifice in Our room II. But because the only Son of God as he is born of God is infinitely exalted above the reach of Suffering and by consequence of Dying That therefore he might be qualified to become a Sacrifice for us God sent him into the World in flesh which is the second Proposition Not in the Likeness as some ancient Hereticks phancied but in the Truth and Reality of flesh The Word was made flesh says St. John John 1. 14. Tho' begotten of the Father and not made that he might become Sin for us he was made flesh He that from the Beginning was in the World in the Form of God in the Fulness of time was sent into the World in the Nature of Man that as the Son of Man he might suffer and die as the Son of God might conquer Death and give that Value to his sufferings which might make them a Compleat satisfaction to Divine Justice And that he took upon him the Humane Nature and in the Nature he assumed remaining still the same Person came into the World a True Man which is the common Notion of the Word flesh in the Language of the Hebrews and that in which it is alwaies used when applyed to the Son of God we need no other proof than his Own words to the Jews Now saith he Ye seek to kill me a man that hath told you the John viii 40. Truth Nor doth he only entitle Himself Man but more frequently the Son of Man which shews him to have been of Humane Extraction
and by necessary consequence of the same Nature If we desire to know his Pedigree we need look no further than the Gospel of St. Luke who hath deriv'd it as far backward as from the common Father of Mankind And because God had promised to Abraham that in his seed all the Gen. xxii 18. Nations of the Earth should be blessed in correspondence to this Promise among all the Sons of Adam he might have made choice of he took the seed of Abraham And as Heb. ii 16. God afterward sware with an Oath unto David Act. ii 30. that of the fruit of his loins he would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne so we are assured that he was made of the seed of David according Rom. 1. 3. to the flesh and the Evangelists tell us in particular what Daughter of the House of David it was who was so highly favoured by God as to be made his Mother But had he as Melchisedech been represented in Holy Scripture as without Father Heb. vii 3. and without Mother too yet who can call in question the Truth of his Humanity who considers that he had a Body of the same substance with our Own For because the Children were partakers of flesh and Heb. ii 14. blood he also himself took part of the same as the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us the Reality of which his Adversaries were sufficiently confident of who made long Furrows upon his back and pierced his hands and his feet And that his Body was animated by a Soul that demonstrated it self to be truly Humane by all those Acts and Faculties that are the inseparable Properties of such a Soul In brief so wonderful was the Father's Love and the Sons condescension that he became not only a Man but in the common account of the World a man of the meanest Birth and Quality for the Family Philip. ii 7. of David was then obscure He made himself of no Reputation lessened himself into the form of a Servant and therefore might truly call himself the Son of Man as that expression among the Hebrews peculiarly signifyed a Man of low Degree that hath nothing in outward appearance that may command esteem but is barely a Man and no more He was made flesh in the more humble sense of the word as it is put for weakness and Frailty for that which is vile and contemptible being made subject to those abasing sinless Infirmities to which the most despicable of the Sons of men are As will be manifest in speaking to the next Proposition III. That God sent his Son into the World in the likeness of sinful flesh in the Shew and Appearance of a Sinner And that upon these three Accounts especially 1. Because he sent him Subject to all the same Natural Infirmities that Sinners are I say Natural on purpose to distinguish them from such as are Personal for though he did not take upon himself those Infirmities by which one man differs from another yet he became obnoxious to all those that adhere to the Humane Nature and so are common to the whole Race of Mankind Whether they be such as follow the Nature of a frail mortal Body as Hunger Thirst Weariness Pain yea Death it self or such as attend the Souls of other Men as Sorrow Fear Amazement So great so many so continual were his sorrows that the Prophet calls him a man of sorrows Isa liii 3. and acquainted with griefs Now although these Infirmities are not in themselves sins and therefore the Son of God took upon him a Humane Nature subject to them yet because most of those before mentioned are in all other Men the Fruits and Punishments of sin therefore by submitting to them he took upon himself the Livery of a Sinner 2. Because God sent him into the World under the Law When the fulness of time was Galat. iv 4. come saith the Apostle God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law That he was under the Law as to its Curse and suffered the Penalty due to a Sinner will afterward appear That which I now intend is that he was made subject to the Commands not of the Moral only but of the Ceremonial Law which supposed sin in those who were obliged to the Observation of them He was Circumcised the Eighth day which was the reputed Badge of a Sinner as supposing some Impurities of the flesh that were to be cut off Tho' he was the Lamb of God that took away the sins John i. 29. of the World Yet he eat the Paschal Lamb together with his Disciples as if he himself had stood in need of an Expiatory Sacrifice Thus by submitting to such Rites as imply'd sin in the Observers of them he seem'd to be of the same sinful mould and Constitution with other Men. But 3. And especially God sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh because he sent him to be Treated as a Sinner He made him to be 2 Cor. v. 21. sin for us to be reckoned and dealt with as one guilty of the blackest Enormities He was accused of the Highest Impieties towards God of the Grossest Injustice toward Men of the foulest Intemperance in respect of Himself So Monstrous a sinner was he deem'd by those who were the Legal Judges in such Cases that a Robber and a Murderer when compared with Him were reputed Innocent He was accordingly condemned to Death by the sentence of the Sâ—pream Magistrate and to such a Death as none but the very scum and Reproach of Mankind were ever put to And yet as if that Opprobrious Death had been too little to represent to the World how vile a Malefactor they thought him to aggravate the shame and Torment of it they added all manner of Indignities by which they were able to express their utmost Scorn and Detestation of him Thus the Son of God as was long before prophesied was numbred with the Transgressors Isa liii 12. was treated as an infamous Person while he lived and as such was cut off from the Land of the Living And all this was done by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge Act. 2. 23. of God as St. Peter tells us And we cannot easily imagine how God could contrive more Effectually to set forth his Son in the ugly Dress of a sinner than by exposing him to all the most abhorr'd and Reproachful usages that the worst of sinners are ever expos'd to But tho' in these Respects he was like to sinful flesh yet he was only Like and not indeed such but perfectly Innocent and perfectly Righteous As is evident by Scripture and by Reason too 1. By Scripture which testifies that in 1 John iii. 5. him was no sin but that he was holy harmless Heb. vii 26. undefiled and separate from sinners And therefore when it speaks of his Universal likeness to us 't is with this Limitation He Heb.
iv 1◠was in all points tempted like unto us yet without Sin He could derive no stain from Adam because he was Miraculously conceived of a Virgin by the overshadowing of the Holy Luk. 1. 〈◊〉 Ghost And therefore the Angel Gabriel to signifie the immaculate Purity of his Humane Nature calls him That Holy thing by way of eminency Nor was he only exempt from that Pollution which necessarily descends to all other men by Natural Generation but he never contracted any himself Whereas there is nothing in which Persons are more apt to sin than in speech and therefore St. James tells us That if any man offend not Jam. iii. ◠in Word the same is a perfect Man he never offended this way for there was no guile found in his Mouth Which the Apostle mentions 1 Pet. ii 22. in particular to vindicate his Innocency from the malicious Calumnies of the Jews who accused and condemned him as a false Prophet and a Blasphemer And no wonder that no sin ever proceeded out of his Mouth since none ever enter'd into his Heart For when the Prince Joh. xiv 30. of this World came to him he found nothing in him Not so much as an evil Thought to take part with any of his Temptations This his unspotted Purity was foretold by the Prophets long before and represented by those Sacrifices that were Types of him And great Reason there was in the second place That he should be absolutely free from sin For had he not been a Lamb without Blemish he had not been fit for a Sacrifice Had he had sin Himself he had not been in a capacity of making satisfaction for the sins of others And therefore the Apostle tells us that it became us 't was not only meet but necessary that we should have Heb. vii 26 27. an High Priest who needed not to offer Sacrifices first for his own sins for had he needed that he could not have offered a meritorious Sacrifice for Ours That therefore he might be qualified to make such a Sacrifice for us that might be a sweet smelling savour 't was needful that he Himself should be Holy and without Blemish And yet there was great Reason why though perfectly pure from sin he should be sent into the World in the Likeness of a Sinner And that 1. That he might by his own Example more powerfully teach us to deny our Credit when it stands in Competition with our Duty to be content to be reputed vile persons rather than make our selves really such This is a piece of self-denyal in which Good men do commonly meet with the greatest Difficulty For the more ingenuous any Persons are at so much the higher rate do they value their good Name and therefore are never in greater danger of being drawn to the Commission of sin than when they shall be looked upon as Sinners for not committing it That therefore we might be the better fortified against this dangerous Temptation God was pleased to send his own Son into the World to be treated as a sinner that looking to Him the Captain of our Salvation we may follow him with an Undaunted Courage and Resolution through Honour and Dishonour through Evil Report and good Report That we may be willing to Sacrifice not only our Lives but which is more our Reputation too rather than do any thing misbecoming our Holy Profession This is that to which St. Peter tells us we are called by God and that upon this very Account because Christ also hath suffered for us 1 Pet. ii 19 20 21 22. leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps And this is no more than what the Primitive Christians had daily Trials of and which animated by so great an Example they most cheerfully endur'd 2. That he might the more Effectually recommend to our Affection and Practise all other the most excellent Christian Graces such as Charity Humility Meekness Obedience to our Governours intire submission to the Divine Will in suffering as well as doing All which were most lively expressed and most powerfully recommended to our Imitation by his coming into the World and Living and Dying in the likeness of sinful flesh And what can be of greater force for the begetting and promoting the same in our selves How can he be Proud who sets before his Eyes the Unparallel Humility of the Lord of Glory How can he fret and fume at every little neglect who considers his immoveable Patience under the most Contumelious and Despightful usage How can he despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities who remembers that he was Dumb and opened not his Mouth when the most unjust sentence was pronounced against him But 3. And especially God sent him into the World in the likeness of sinful flesh because he sent him to be put into the place and room of sinners to make full satisfaction for their Offences by suffering the shame as well as the Pain that was due to them which leads to the fourth Proposition IV. That God sent his own Son into the World in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a Sacrifice for Sin Tho' this was not the only yet it was one prime end for which he sent him and therefore it was is no more than what was expedient that he should be represented to the World in the quality of a Sinner That his Father gave it him in charge to lay down his Life for us we learn from his own Mouth for therefore saith he doth my John x. 17 18. Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again this Commandment have I received from my Father So much was this in the Fathers design that long before he sent him he plainly signified by his Holy Prophets that he should not only suffer and die but that in his Death his Soul should be made an Offering for sin Yea no sooner was Isa liii 10. man become a Sinner but he gave intimation of it in the Promise to Adam and in those bloody Sacrifices which by his own Institution were offered by Sinners and accepted by Himself in their room In humble Obedience to this Command which his Father gave him and in correspondence to these Predictions he voluntarily offered himself to a violent and cruel death For knowing all things that should come John xviii 4. upon him he went to the place whither a band of Souldiers and Officers were sent to apprehend him and after he had given them to understand how easily he could baffle all their attempts in case he had a mind to resist them by striking them down to the ground with a word of his mouth he gave himself up into their hands who forthwith led him away bound to those whose Malice he knew was so implacable that it would be satisfyed with nothing less than his Blood and by their instigation he was condemn'd to Death after the Judge had again and again acquitted him