begat a Son in his own likeness after his image Gen. 5.3 and must it not be so here in the Father's begetting of Christ If Man begets Man then God begets God this being taken in that sense which I laid down in my first entrance upon this Subject I know this will not hold as to all modes and circumstances with respect to which I grant there is a great disparity but as to the conveyance of the same Nature and Essence so far it will hold The Jews therefore Joh. 5.18 argued very well if God was Christ's Father and he God's Son then he was equal with God for such an equality must naturally and necessarily result from such a Relation Joh. 10.36 Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God why doth he say because I said I am the Son of God he should have said because I said I am God for that was the blasphemy charged upon him Vers 33. because that thou being a man makest thy self God but the answer is obvious Christ knew that these were equipollent terms to be God and to be the Son of God are all one if Christ be the one he must be the other too You find Nathaneel breaking forth into this witness concerning him * Joh. 1.49 Thou art the Son of God c. his meaning was thou art God for that which drew this Confession from him was that which was proper to him as God namely his Omnisciency See Joh. 1.48 God and the Son of God are so much one that he who speaks Christ to be the Son of God speaks him to be God also As soon as the Apostle had set down Chri'sts Sunship Heb. 1.5 presently he falls upon those testimonies which relate to his Godhead Vers 6 8 10 11 12. When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him Vnto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thy hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail You see how Christ's Sonship is link'd with the Godhead therefore the Argument is good to prove the latter by the former And indeed as his being the Son of Man doth most evidently evince him to be truly Man so his being the Son of God doth as evidently evince him to be truly God The Second Inference that Christ is a great a glorious Person 2. Is Christ God's own Son I infer surely then he is a very great and glorious Person such a relation cannot but be the foundation of great glory Though Christ's dignity and preheminence is not the gróund of his Sonship yet his Sonship is the ground of his dignity and preheminence He is stiled a great high Priest Heb. 4.14 not only because of the greatness of his Sacerdotal Office but also because of the greatness of his Person who doth manage that Office he being God's own Son therefore it follows seeing we have a great high Priest c. Jesus the Son of God 'T is no small honour amongst us to be the son of some great man O what an honour is it to Christ to be the own and only Son of the great God! It puts a marvailous glory and greatness upon the Saints that they are the adopted Sons of God upon the Angels that they are the created Sons of God but what is this to Christ's being the natural only begotten Son of God herein and hereby he hath obtained * Heb. 1.4 a more excellent name than either Angels or Men for †Col. 1.18 in all things or amongst all persons he must have the preheminence The higher and nearer the relation is to God the higher and greater is the glory which accrews to a person standing in that relation now what relation to God can be higher and nearer than this of Christ as he is his own Son therefore his glory must needs be exceeding great O let not any entertain low thoughts of him who is thus the Son of God The Lord Jesus is the Father's best Son for Gifts Grace Holiness c. and he 's the Father's greatest Son for Dignity Glory and Majesty I say he 's the Father's best Son how short do all Sons come of this Son we read of * Micipsa in Salust Ne ego meliores Liberos sumpsisse videar quam genuille One who fear'd he might seem to adopt better Sons than those whom he begat there 's no such thing to be imagin'd with respect to God to be sure his only begotten Son shall infinitely exceed all his adopted Sons for God hath anointed him with the oyl of gladness above his fellows Psal 45.7 And he 's the greatest Son too for God hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come Eph. 1.20 21. True indeed this great Son for a time * Phil. 2.7 emptied himself of his glory and for our sake submitted to great abasement but yet even then in himself he was very high and glorious he who cloathed himself with our raggs put on our flesh condescended to lie in the manger to die upon the cross he even under all this was the proper Son of God and therefore full of glory And 't is very notable to consider how in Christ even when he was under his lowest abasement when this Sun was hid under the thickest cloud I say how even * Infantia parvuli ostenditur humilitate cunarum magnitudo altissimi declaratur vocibus Angelorum similis est rudimentis Hominum quem Herodes impius molitur occidere sed Dominus est omnium quem Magi gaudentes veniunt supplicitèr adorare Leo Magn. Ep. ad Flavian Ep. Const Najanzen Orat. 35. tom 1. p. 375. instances in several particulars about this and very clegantly enlarges upon them then there were some beamings out and breakings forth of his glory suitable to this his relation he 's laid in the manger but there the Wise men come and worship him he 's tempted by Satan but then the Angels minister unto him he 's crucified but then the vail of the Temple was rent the earth quaked the rocks were rent the graves open'd the Sun stepp'd in and hid it self as being asham'd to be seen in its glory when the far brighter Sun was under such an Eclipse upon all which the Centurion might well cry out truly this was the Son of God But what a person is
full object for these things where think and think as long as you will yet fresh matter will offer it self that 's a Well out of which the more you draw the fuller you 'l find it to be Psal 104.34 My meditation of him saith David shall be sweet surely the believer may say My meditation of God who as he was made Man shall be sweet O that you would live in the daily exercise of this heavenly duty upon this excellent object What a blessed thing would it be if we could lie down rise up with a Christ and especially a Christ incarnate in our minds Me thinks that which was the product and matter of God's thoughts from everlasting should very much be the subject and matter of our thoughts in time 3d. Branch of the Exhortation To adore the mystery it self and also the Father and the Son in the mystery 3. Thirdly was Christ sent in Flesh yea in the likeness of sinful Flesh this should strike us all with amazement and astonishment how should we admire and wonder at this dispensation Was it so indeed that such a person did become man such a man O the wonder of wonders here 's nothing but Wonders a conflux and complication of Wonders in this one thing there are many Wonders and those too not of the lowest rank but the highest that ever were Who can duly think of weigh ponder upon what is here laid down without being transported and swallowed up in high and holy admiration The glorified ones in heaven are alwayes wondring and what is it which causeth them so to do 't is the beholding of Christ in our flesh they began betimes so to do even as soon as ever Christ had assumed our Nature and they continue still to do the same and so they will to all eternity The Angels were so full of joy and admiration upon the first breaking out of this that they must come from heaven and give some vent to themselves in singing * Luk. 2.14 Glory to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men Now when there is such admiring and wondring in heaven shall there be none in earth Things which are mysterious and strange affect us very much was there ever any thing so mysterious and strange as the incarnation of the Son of God this is a mystery indeed the first link in that chain of mysteries 1 Tim. 3.16 When little things make us wonder 't is an evidence of weakness when great things do not make us wonder 't is an evidence either of great inconsideracy or gross stupidity The proud Philosopher scorns to wonder at any thing in Nature but the humble Christian who hath things before him far more sublime and unsearchable than any mysteries in Nature may well stand and wonder at those things in Religion which 't is not possible for him to comprehend Amongst which what more incomprehensible take it in all respects than the incarnation of God's own Son he that doth not wonder at this pray what will he wonder at To be more particular and distinct in the urging of this duty of humble and thankful admiration two things I would say 1. Admire in reference to the thing it self The mystery of Christ's Incarnation to be admired 2. Admire God and Christ the Persons who had the hand in it 1. For the thing it self Christ in our flesh 'pray pause and ruminate a while upon it and then tell me what you think of it the more you look into it and consider it the more you will admire it A God to be made Man a God to take dust for flesh is but living or breathing dust into intimate conjunction with himself a God to submit for some time to lie in the womb of a Virgin O wonderful Here 's finite and infinite joyn'd in one eternity match'd with time the Creator and a Creature making but one Person here 's the Lord and Soveraign of the world marrying into a mean and broken Family the maker of the Universe made himself here 's two Natures which stood at an infinite distance each from the other hypostatically united here 's the verity of flesh and yet but the similitude of sinful flesh here 's a man begotten without man a * Filius Dei de Patre sine matre Filius hominis de matre sine Patre Aug. de temp Serm. 23. Vide Tertull de carne Christi p. 373. Vacabat viri semen c. Son without a Father for though Christ had more than a putative body yet as Man he had no more than a putative Father Luk. 3.23 Jesus began to be about thirty years of age being as was supposed the Son of Joseph c. here 's a Virgin conceiving and bringing forth a Son she remaining a Virgin still Jer. 31.22 The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth a woman shall compass a man are not all these stupendious amazing never enough to be admired things How do wonders here grow upon us no sooner doth one go off but presently another succeeds in its room Christ wrought many miracles in his Flesh but the greatest miracle of all was his assuming flesh let Jews and Infidels scoff and deride the sincere Christian must admire and adore 2. For the Persons who had the great hand in this they are to be admired too I 'le instance 1. in God the Father 2. in God the Son God the Father to be admired 't is shown how or wherein 1. God the Father hee 's to be admired For 't was he who sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh he ordain'd and order'd all about this he laid the foundation of it in his own purpose and will it was the * Psal 118.23 Lord's doing from first to last should it not be marvellous in our eyes I and as was said before 't was the highest thing that ever he did in this with reverence be it spoken he went to the utmost of all his Attributes In Christ's Incarnation saith a * Mr. Burroughs Gosp Conv. p. 89. Reverend Divine we may see God as it were resolving to do a work from himself to the uttermost to manifest the uttermost of his glory in a work out of himself The work of God within himself was his eternal Generation and the Procession of the Holy Ghost but now God would work out of himself and that to the utmost extent He had made a World but there he had not manifested the uttermost of his glory therefore God will c. what 's that to take the Nature of man into a personal union with his Son that 's the uttermost Now where God goes to the utmost of his Attributes it becomes us to go to the utmost of our thankfulness and admiration There are Four Attributes in God which upon the account of Christ's Incarnation can never be enough admired 1. His Wisdom in finding out such a glorious way for the Sinners recovery This was
be in it I tremble to think of that distress that you will be in at the Great day though now you are quiet and unconcerned * Undique erunt tibi angustiae hinc erunt accusantia peccata tremeda justitia subter patens horridum Chaos desuper iratus Judex intùs Vermis Conscientiae foris ardens mundus Beâ—n de Consc when your sins shall fly in your faces and accuse you when the tremendous justice of God shall affright you when if you look downwards there 's an Hell ready to receive you if upwards there 's an angry Judge if inwards there 's the Worm of Conscience if about you there 's a World all in flames O what a time will this be what would you then give to be in Christ take heed I beseech you of an after-wisdom VSE 2. To exhort all to make sure of exemption from Condemnation Secondly I would exhort you to make sure of this exemption from Condemnation to labour to be in the number of those to whom there is no Condemnation 'T is infinite mercy that such a thing is attainable surely he must be strangely besotted and utterly void of all sense of eternity who doth not with the greatest care and diligence put in for a share in this happiness No Condemnation Justification here and Salvation hererfter what can be so worthy of our utmost pains and endeavours as these what pitiful trifles and very Nothings are all other things in comparison of these 'T is no great matter how things go at present if the future everlasting state may be secured O that all your thoughts desires pursuits might be swallowed up in this You dread such and such Evils here alas what are these to the eternal Evils which have been set before you you are set upon the worlds good and what is that to an endless blessedness in the Vision and Fruition of God in Heaven think of Hell and nothing here will be very evil and of Heaven and nothing here will be very good Should you come to a condemned man and talk to him of the riches honours crowns and scepters of this world Ah! saith he what 's this to me I am a poor condemned man can you tell me how I may get out of the condemnation that I lye under then you 'l say something which will suit my condition Why Sirs you trouble your selves about the getting of wealth the greatning of your selves in the world but you do not consider you are condemned men such you were as you came into the world * Rom. 5.18 By the offenos of one judgment came upon all to Condemnation and there 's a worser Condemnation for you when you shall go out of the world O what have you to do but to get out of this Condemnation 'T is to be feared that the greatest part of men not out of any want of mercy in God or from any thing to be charged upon God but meerly through their own sin and folly will perish therein you read of the condemning of the world 1 Cor. 11.32 Now therefore what are you or what do you do that you may be exempted from the general misery Certainly if you lye in the common State and live in the common Course you must perish in the common Condemnation think of it and make some timely provision against it Your Judge deals very graciously with you he warns you before hand tells you how his terrible Sentence may be prevented nay he offers Life and Pardon to you if you will but accept of it and after all this will you force him to condemn you then 't will be Condemnation with a witness I would upon this Consideration be the more earnest with you in the present advice because though this Condemnation will be sad enough to all yet to you it will be superlatively sad you living under the Gospel where the way of Salvation is set before you where tenders of Grace are made to you if you be not wise and serious in securing the main this will not only make your Condemnation more unavoidable * Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation but also more intolerable 't will be Condemnation with an Accent or Emphasis to you * Joh. 3.19 This is the Condemnation that light is come into the world c. The Scripture speaks of * Matth. 23.14 greater damnation 't will be great damnation to Pagans and Infidels but greater damnation to Christians According to the different measures of that Gospel-light and Gospel-grace which men live under so will the different measures of their future misery be if they live and dye in impenitency and unbelief O how will these aggravate your Condemnation if there be one place in Hell hotter than another that very place shall be yours whilst others shall mitiùs ardere * Matth. 12.23 24. Thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven c. but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you What persons are to do that it may be No-Condemnation You will ask me What are we to do that it may be to us No-Condemnation For answer to this several Directions might be given and much enlarg'd upon but I will give you only five or six and be but short upon them First 1. Dir. Let sin be condemned in you and by you For thus the case stands sin must either be condemned by you or you for it a condemnatory Sentence must pass either upon the Sin or upon the Sinner and is it not better it should pass upon the Sin rather than upon the Sinner that it should dye rather than you should dye O let not Sin live in you nor do you live in it for if it be so it will be Condemnation This sin is the condemning thing had there been No Sin there had been No Condemnation 't is that and that only which makes the Creature liable to eternal Death * Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death Did not the Malefactor break the Law by stealing murdering c. he would not be obnoxious to the Laws penalties and so 't is here We violate Gods Law upon that violation there is guilt upon that guilt there is obnoxiousness to punishment and to a Sentence of Death O take heed of sin here lies the evil of it it exposes to and ends in eternal Condemnation it pleases the Sinner for a * Heb. 11.25 season and then entails everlasting wrath upon him Was it not for this a Life in sin would be a fine Life I must recall my self a Life in sin a fine Life no was there no Hell hereafter yet such a Life would be and is a base sordid cursed Life but Hell and Wrath and Condemnation and all follow upon it and this spoils the pleasures and delights of a sinful Life Who would not fear and shun Sin a Child of
wickedness O let such take heed lest God hear them in a dreadful manner I hope I speak to none of these you I trust have a dread of God and of the things of eternity upon your spirits let exempt on from Condemnation be the matter of your prayer and do but joyn the right manner with the right matter and this will secure your Souls forever God never yet condemned a praying man he that fears and prays shall never feel what he fears and prays against Fifthly 5 Dir. Make sure of Faith I mean true saving justifying Faith where that is yea but the least dram of it there shall be no Condemnation It secures from this both as 't is the Grace which unites to Christ and also as 't is the great condition of the Gospel upon which it promises life and salvation Unbelief is the damning Sin and Faith is the saving Grace If thou be'st a sincere Believer 't is not only thou shalt not be condemned but thou shalt most certainly be saved both are sure from the frequent often repeated declarations attestations promises of the word the whole Gospel-revelation centers in this God is as gracious to acquit justifie save the Believer as he is righteous to charge punish condemn the Unbeliever He * Gratia Dei speranda est acceptanda ad normam propositum miserentis Dei reque enim convenit or quiâ—condemnationis reusest formulas Gratiae praescribat ei à quo justè potest condemnari sed requiritur ut praescriptum Gratiae ab allo accipiat grato animo amplectatur Muscul in praefat ad Ep. ad Rom. may set down what condition or conditions he pleases in order to the giving out of his grace which when they are performed he is engaged to make good what he promises upon them O therefore get faith for this is the grand Gospel-condition if you believe not the Gospel it self cannot save you if you believe the Law it self cannot condemn you I do not enlarge upon these things 6 Dir. because that Direction which is proper to the Text is this As you desire No-condemnation get into Christ so as to be in Christ Jesus For they and they only are the persons who are out of the danger of Condemnation The Priviledge and the Subject are of the same extent and latitude just so many as are in Christ are safe and no more If thou beest one of these do not fear if otherwise do not flatter thy self with false presumptuous and ungrounded hopes All that were not in the Ark perished in the common Deluge all out of Christ are lost When 't is a Christ 't is no Condemnation when 't is no Christ 't is nothing but Condemnation When the guilty pursued Malefactor had got into the City of Refuge then he was secure O thou poor awakened Sinner fly to Christ 't is for the life of thy precious Soul and get into Christ the alone City of Refuge for the poor guilty Creature then Guilt many pursue thee but it shall never hurt thee And here I would admonish all to take up with nothing short of Vnion with Christ You are members of the Church but are you members of Christ you are joyned to the Church upon Baptism but are you joyned to Christ by a true and lively faith here lies your security from Condemnation The first Adam hath brought Guilt upon us and consequently Death how we being united to him So the second Adam frees us from this and makes over righteousness to us how in the same way and upon the same ground viz we being united to him without this all that Christ is hath done or suffered will avail us nothing But I shall more fully insist upon this in that which will follow VSE 3. Believers are to admire God for exemption from Condemnation Thirdly I would speak to those who are in Christ to excite them to be very thankful and highly to admire the Grace of God What No condemnation not one condemnation O the riches the heighths bredths depths lengths of the love of God! How should such be even astonished because of this inexpressible mercy They who deserve millions of condemnations that yet there is not one condemnation belonging to them they that have in them matter enough to condemn them over and over that yet they shall never be condemned how should God be admired by those to whom this blessedness belongs Such as are not in this state how should they be filled with self-awakening thoughts such as are in this state how should they be filled with God-admiring thoughts O you that are in Christ what will you think of this happiness when you shall see it accomplished the truth is as Sinners will never know nor ever be suitably affected with their misery till they feel it in Hell so the Saints will never know or be suitably affected with their happiness till that day shall come wherein they shall be put into the possession of it in Heaven When God shall pick and single you out of the common crowd and shall say I here acquit you before all the world from all your guilt I here pronounce you to be righteous persons and I will by no means pass a condemnatory sentence upon you though I know what I might have done to you and what I will do to others I say when it shall come to this how will your Souls be drawn out and if you had a thousand more Souls how would they all be drawn out in the adoring and magnifying of the Grace of God! But something should be done now whilst you are here though but in the hopes and expectation of this felicity Where there is no condemnation there should be much thankfulness How doth the Traitor admire the grace and clemency of his Prince who sends him a pardon when he expected his tryal and sentence to dye And as you must be thankful to God the Father so in special to Jesus Christ 't is he * 1 Thes 1.10 who hath saved you from wrath to come 't is he who was willing to be condemned himself that he might free you from condemnation judgment passed upon him * Is 53.8 he was taken from prison and from judgment that it might not pass upon you he was * Gal. 3.13 made a curse that he might deliver you from the curse when Adam had entail'd guilt and wrath upon you Christ came and cut off this sad entail and procur'd justification for you * Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all to justification of life 'T is upon Vnion with him that there is no condemnation to you O let your whole Soul go out in thankfulness to Christ He as your Surety paid your debt else you had been arrested and thrown into prison forever in him there was nothing to deserve condemnation and yet he
Holiness c. He that will undertake to redeem Sinners must have all these for they all were indispensably requisite to such an undertaking the Lord Jesus had them all and that too in an eminent and extraordinary measure as I might easily shew at large never did any meer Creature arrive at that pitch of Wisdom Power Holiness c. which he did therefore none so fit to be sent as he 3. 'T was grounded upon his Sonship and neer relation to God Who so fit to make others the adopted sons of God as he who was himself the Natural Son of God 4. Vpon the glory and dignity of his Person He was the image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 the express image of his Fathers Person Heb. 1.3 Now who so fit to restore Man to God's image as that Man who was the essential image of God 5. Christ's admirable and transcendent fitness was grounded upon his threefold Office as he was King Priest and Prophet For hereupon he was and is fit to deal both with God and Man he 's a Friest to deal with God a King and Prophet to deal with Man Doth God stand upon Satisfaction Christ is a Priest to die and to offer up himself an expiatory Sacrifice or will God keep his distance from the Creature and be known in his greatness Christ is a Priest to mediate and intercede Then is the Sinner under ignorance and darkness Christ is a Prophet to inlighten and teach or is he under the tyranny of sin and a rebel against God Christ is King to rescue subdue and conquer him to himself to bring and keep him under his own dominion and government To sum up all there are but two things to be done for the Sinner in order to his happiness viz. impetration and application now both of these are done by Christ's threefold Office By the first part of his Priestly Office his Oblation there wâ—s the impetration for by that he procured purchased merited all good by the second part of his Priestly Office his intercession there 's the application And because both God and the Creature are to be dealt withal in order to this application therefore Christ doth accordingly deal with both of them with God he deals in the way of prayer or intercession for God because of his Majesty and Soveraignty will be treated in this manner with the Creature he deals in the way of power partly by dispelling the darkness of the mind which he doth as Prophet and partly by taking off the rebellion of the Will and bringing the stubborn Sinner under a ready subjection to God which he doth as King Which things being done all that Christ hath purchased is now made over and actually applyed to the Creature Upon the Whole then it follows that Christ being invested with these Offices which are every way so full of so great virtue so suited to the Nature and demands of God and the condition of the Sinner he must needs be by many degrees the fittest-Person to be sent by God Before I go off from this Head I desire One thing may be taken notice of It must be granted that the sending of Christ was praevious and antecedent to several of the Things which have been mentioned as the demonstrations of his superlative fitness to be sent and the grounds of his being sent Yet nevertheless they may be alledged and made use of in that notion because though in our apprehension if not also in the Nature of the Thing they were after the sending yet in the eye and estimation of God they were before it For instance Christ just at his sending had not then assumed the Humane Nature we suppose that to antecede his incarnation yet God judged him a person fit to be sent because of that Nature And so he might very well for though the incarnation as considered in it self was future yet as to the knowledge consideration estimation of God it was present and done already I thought it necessary to put in this for the preventing of an Objection which might arise in the thoughts of Some upon the reading of what hath been laid down 4. Fourthly God therefore sent Christ not only because he was the fittest Person to be sent but because indeed he was the only Person that could be sent for none but he could effect or accomplish Man's Redemption If God will be so gracious as to send 't was not only convenient but necessary that he should send this very person his own Son for there was none Other in heaven or earth that could go through an undertaking of this nature There were Evils to be indured which were above the strength of any meer Creature to indure there were Evils to be removed the Wrath of God the Guilt of Sin the Curse of the Law which no meer Creature was able to remove there were also Blessings to be procured as Reconciliation with God Justification Adoption eternal Salvation which no such Creature possibly could procure O no! therefore Christ himself must come or nothing can be done Why did not God send an Angel rather than his Son why because he knew Redemption-work was no work for an Angel no not for the whole body of Angels If the whole Order of them had come from heaven and combined all their strength together they could not have redeemed so much as One Soul I dispute not how far God by his mighty power might have enabled an Angel to have bore up under the greatest sufferings Suppose he might have had such a strength as to have been able to undergo all that Christ did yet under the highest communications of the grace of God to him he being still a meer Creature could never satisfie for what was past not merit for what was to come he could neither expiate sin nor procure eternal Life No these are things which could only be accomplished by Him who was more than a meer finite or created being even by the Lord Jesus who was Man but God too wherefore he 's the Person whom the Father will send And he very well understood himself in what he did if the work had been possible to have been effected by any Creature God would have employd that Creature and spar'd his own Son nothing but absolute necessity made him to fix upon this course So much for the Reasons why God sent his Son which we poor dim-sighted creatures do but in a manner guess at but he himself understands them fully As * Acts 15.18 all his works are known to him so also the special reasons of all his works are known to him and eminently those which he went upon in this his highest and greatest work When we come to heaven we shall more fully know why Christ was sent but here our knowledge is very dark and imperfect about it I have done with the three Things which I propounded to open and so have dispatch'd the Doctrinal part I am now to make some practical
you not be fully convinced by all this that the Father's Love to you is very great and if so will you not admire him for it You must * Joh. 5.23 honour the Son even as you honour the Father and you must adore bless love the Father even as you do the Son God forbid that I should go about to lessen your most thankful sense of what the Son and Spirit have done for you but yet know that these the Father as the first Cause doth work by 't is He who by them doth do so great things for you 'pray think high of their love but then think high of his love too Further I would persuade you to entertain good thoughts of the Father 'T is a temptation though not so usual which some gracious Persons lie under they can with more comfort think of the Son than of the Father they do not so much question the Love of the Son as of the Father they cannot deny but that the Son is indeed a very gracious Person for he came from heaven * Luke 19.10 to seek and to save what was lost to * 1 Tim. 1.15 save Sinners yea the chiefest of them c. hereupon they can in some comfortable manner encourage themselves to hope in him But as to the Father they are not so confident they are more jealous and suspicious and have a greater dread of him than they have either of the Son or of the Spirit Doth Satan assault any of you in this manner or do such thoughts as these prevail over you O be convinced of your mistake You have as great encouragement for faith and hope from the Father as you have from the Son for you hear 't was He who sent Christ and whatever Christ was or did all was but in pursuance of his good pleasure therefore have you any reason to think otherwise than well of him Surely * 1 Joh. 4.16 God is Love this very thing his sending of his Son represents him as full of Mercy Goodness and Grace the Sinner hath not the least cause to be jealous or afraid of him O when unbelief and hard thoughts of God the Father begin to rise beat them down by arguing thus was not He the first spring from which redeeming Grace did flow the great contriver and willer of man's recovery who set Christ on work but he who sent him into the world to be a Saviour but he who imploy'd his own Son for the good of Sinners but he O that you would labour to get your Faith encourag'd and strengthened as to the first Person and that it might rise up to the first Cause of all and there fix and terminate that your faith and hope may be in God as the Apostle expresses it 1 Pet. 1.21 Christ sayes Joh. 14.1 Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe in me also and let me say he believe in Christ believe in God also as the fountain and original of all your happiness Christ to be loved for his ready submission to his Father in sending him 3. It calls upon us to love Christ greatly O how should the consideration of this endear Christ to every gracious heart God sent him but not against his will how willing was he to be sent upon the errand of your Salvation he freely consented to whatever the Father was pleased to put him upon for your good He very well knew before hand what would follow upon this sending what he was to undergo how he was to be abased if he do engage to redeem and save you yet notwithstanding this no sooner did the Father call him to it but he most readily and cheerfully obeyed O the infinite Love of Christ He came down from heaven that he might carry you up to heaven he that was a Son for your sake stooped to be a Servant that you of slaves might be made sons What had become of you if Christ had refused to come when the Father sent him O love the Lord Jesus let his Person be very dear and precious to you admit him into your hearts who was willing to take the whole business of your Salvation into his hands what Love can be enough for a Father sending and a Son coming 'T is true God sent him but his obedience to his Father was no diminution of his Love to you and 't is true in this Embassy he acted in a way of inferiority to his Father but 't was his pity to you which made him willing to put himself into such a state of subjection and inferiority for that did not proceed from his Nature before he had assumed yours but meerly from his dignation and gracious condescention and now after all this will you not love him how can you do otherwise than love him Suppose you had heard him as soon as ever God had signified his pleasure to him and said Son the fulness of time is come I must send thee down to earth to redeem man saying Father I am ready here I am send me whithersoever and about whatsoever thou pleasest to promote thy Glory and the good of Souls I am willing to go where-ever thou 'lt have me yea I le stick at nothing which thou shalt judge necessary for the preventing of the Sinners everlasting ruine Send me to be made Flesh I submit to lie in a Manger I submit to die upon a Cross I submit lay what Commands upon me thou pleasest to further the Salvation of Souls they shall all be obey'd Suppose I say you had heard Christ uttering such Words to his Father doubtless it would have wrought very much upon you your Hearts would have been all in flames of Love to him O wretched Creatures we know all this was spoken and done too by our Lord Jesus and yet how cold how weak is our Love to him Christ a Pattern herein for imitation 4. It calls upon you to imitate Christ in his carriage with respect o his being sent Thus never go till you be sent then go readily both of these were admirably done by our Lord Jesus He went not till he was sent before he would move one step he would have his Father 's Mission and Commission a great Mind he had to be at Redeeming Work his Heart was exceedingly set upon it yet he would stay till he was sent called authoriz'd thereunto by his Father But as soon as he was so called how readily and cheerfully did he engage * Heb. 10.7 Lo T come to do thy Will O God Now in this his deportment he hath set us an excellent copy to write after teaching us alwayes humbly to wait for a Call from God and when it comes let it be what it will faithfully to comply with it Whatever rank or station God hath set you in see that you therein * 1 Cor. 7.17.20 24. abide and that you meddle with no Work Employment Office Vndertaking further than as you are called thereunto
a literal speculative notional knowledge of him as such so as to know both him and his Sonship practically and savingly O then be much in Prayer Read and pray hear and pray meditate and pray study and pray he studies this mystery and all others best who study's it most upon his knees This special and supernatural Sonship of Christ is not savingly to be known without special and supernatural illumination from Christ through the Spirit 'T is observable that in Matth. 16.17 when Peter had made that * Matth. 16.16 good Confession Thou art Christ the Son of the living God see what Christ resolved it into †17. Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven You know that passage Matth. 11.27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son or makes others to know him but the Father neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him these two Persons do make known each the other the Father reveals the Son and the Son reveals the Father the Son is a fit Person to reveal the Father for he 's his only begotten Son and lies in his bosom therefore he saith * Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is the bosom of the Father he hath declared him and the Father is also a fit Person to reveal the Son for he having begotten him and having had him with himself from everlasting he knows him exactly O therefore go to him by Prayer beseech him to reveal his Son to you 'T is a great thing to know Christ in this relation so great that there must be an heavenly light a spiritual understanding given to a man before he can come up to it mark that of the Apostle 1 Joh. 5.20 And hath given us understanding that we may know him that is true he speaks of the knowing of Christ as the true Son of God 't is as if the Apostle had said if God had not illuminated our understandings and irradiated them with a divine light we had never known Christ savingly in this notion He who begat the Son of himself from all eternity to him it appertains by his Spirit in time savingly to reveal this Son to the Creature and therefore your work lyes with him in prayer to beg of him this revelation of the Son So much for the first thing 2. Branch of the Exhortation To believe Christ to be the Son of God and to believe on him as the Son of God 2. A second branch of the Exhortation shall be this Is Christ God's own Son then do you believe him to be such and believe on him as such The first we call dogmatical the second justifying and saving Faith the first is assent to the proposition that Christ is God's own Son the second is relyance upon the person who is and as he is God's own Son The first is more general and common for all who bear the name of Christians in some sense or other come up to it yet notwithstanding there is much worth and excellency in it though not so much as in the latter and that is absolutely necessary in order to the second for how can he believe on Christ as the Son of God who doth not first dogmatically believe him to be the Son and such a Son of God And this general Faith too as well as that which is more special admits of degrees for though all Christians believe it yet some are more confirmed rooted stablished in the belief of it than others are Now therefore this is that which I would press upon you to labour after a more steady unshaken fixed believing of this great Foundation-Truth I hope you do believe it but do you believe it in such a degree doth not your faith sometimes waver about it is not your assent weak and languid attended with doubtings and questionings are you rooted and * Col. 2.7 stablished in the faith as of other things so in special of this great Article of the Christian Religion are you come up unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.2 I could most heartily wish that it was thus with you and with all who do profess that they believe Christ to be the Son of God but I fear it is not so Now my Brethren that I may the better excite you to labour after a full and firm assent hereunto consider that one special-reason or end why a great part of the New Testament was written was this that you might believe and be confirmed in your belief of this very thing Joh. 20.31 But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his Name You may observe concerning this Evangelist St. John as of all the other Evangelists he was most inspir'd in the revealing of Christ's divine Sonship so he was also most inspir'd in the pressing of men to believe it and in the setting out of the weightiness of the belief of it 1 Joh. 2.23 Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also 1 Joh. 4.15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God 1 Joh. 5.5 Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God What a mighty stress did this great Apostle lay upon it O how doth it concern all upon the Considerations laid down by him to live under a steady belief of Christ's being the Son of God! Indeed this is the Foundation-Truth Christ himself is the personal foundation and this Truth not exclusively but eminently is the doctrinal foundation to both of which that famous and so much controverted Text is applicable Matth. 16.18 I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it upon this rock what rock doth Christ mean was it Peter personally considered or was it Peter and his Successors as Some would have it they meaning by these Successors the POPES of ROME whom I trust I shall never close with in this interpretation so long as 't is this rock and not this sand undoubtedly let but persons be unbyass'd and not wedded to Party's and Opinions calculated for worldly designs and Interests nothing is more clear than that by this rock we are to understand either the Person of Christ or that Doctrinal proposition which Peter had laid down concerning him Vers 16. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God after which it immediately follows Vpon this rock I will build my Church or else we
the Apostle opposes Christ's Sacrifice Vers 5 6 c. and of that he saith Vers 10. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Vers 11 12. And every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat down on the right hand of God Vers 14. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified The HEATHENS had their Sacrifices which they call'd * Succidaneae dictae si permis hostiis litatum non erat aliae post easdem ductae hostiae caedebantur quae quasi prioribus jam caesis luendi piaculi gratia subdebantur succedebant Gyrald Synt. 17. p. 465. Saubert de Sacrif c. 19. p. 477. Hostiae succedaneae which they offered up to their GODS in case those which they had offered before did not succeed the Lord Jesus by his one Sacrifice did so effectually do what he designed and the Sinner needed as that there is no room for or need of any hostia succedanea 4. The Apostle makes it out from the sanctity of Christ's Person and the perfection of his Sacrifice The Law-Priests offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people Heb. 7.27 they ought as for the people so also for themselves to offer for sins Heb. 5.3 the High Priest went once every year into the second Tabernacle not without blood which he offered for * Levit. 16.11 himself and for the errors of the people Heb. 9.7 But now as to Christ he was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 7.26 he had no sin of his own to expiate by his Sacrifice he was made sin but yet he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 Under the Law both Priest and Sacrifice were to be perfect i. e. without any open and external blemish as to the first reade Levit. 21.17 to the end as to the second God gave several precepts about it the Paschal Lamb was to be without blemish Exod. 12.5 the oblation for Vows and for Free-will-offerings the Sacrifice of Peace-offerings were to be without blemish perfect otherwise they should not be accepted Levit. 22.18 to 25. so the red Heifer was to be without spot and wherein there was no blemish Numb 19.2 so the Firstlings of the Cattle Deut. 15.21 and all Sacrifices whatsoever Deut 17.1 And this the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athen. Deipn l. 15. c. 5. c. quas cum immolabant nisi purae integraeque fuissent minus proficere putabant Gyrald p. 491. HEATHENS themselves made conscience of in their Sacrifices In correspondency to all this in a moral and spiritual sense our Lord's Sacrifice was perfect without the least blemish he offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 he was a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 5. The excellency of Christ's Sacrifice appears from the great effects of it he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Heb. 9.26 so that there is no more offering for sin Heb. 10.18 being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 by this Sacrifice sin was condemned abolished expiated God appeased the Law satisfied †Heb. 9.12 eternal redemption obtained O what an excellent Sacrifice was Christ's Sacrifice and consequently what an excellent Priesthood was Christ's Priesthood Of the Evil of Sin 7. Seventhly was Christ a Sacrifice for sin in order to the condemning of it and could it be condemn'd by nothing short of that hence we are informed that Sin is a very evil thing and of a very heinous nature Had it not been a notorious and capital Offender would God have condemn'd and thus condemn'd it would he so severely have punished it in the flesh of his own Son must even this Son be offered up upon the Cross as a Sacrifice for the expiation of it O what a cursed heinous thing is sin that had made such a breach between God and his Creatures that Christ must die or else no reconciliation that had so highly struck at the Honour of the great God that nothing below the sharpest sufferings of his dearest Son could make Satisfaction for it its poison and venom was such that there was no cure for the Sinner into whom that poyson had got but only the precious blood of Christ himself God had such an hatred and abhorring of it as that for the * Grot. de Sat. Christi p. 67. testifying thereof even he whom he lov'd from all eternity must be made a †Gal. 3.13 Curse what a demonstration was this of the transcendency of the evil of Sin Would you take a full view thereof pray look upon it in and through this glass a sacrific'd Christ gives the clearest the fullest representation of sins hainousness True we may see much of that in Sins own Nature as 't is the transgression of God's most holy and most excellent Law as also in the threatnings which are denounc'd against it and further in the dreadful Effects of it both here and hereafter the loss of God's image and favour and eternal damnation is it not a very evil thing What a mischievous thing hath this sin been it cast the falling Angels out of Heaven into Hell and turn'd them into Devils it thrust Adam out of Paradise made God to be an enemy to him who but now was his favourite cut off the entail of happiness and instead thereof entail'd misery and a curse upon all his posterity it made God at once to drown a whole world it laid Sodom in ashes levell'd Jerusalem it-self to the ground caused God to forsake his own people the Jews c. 't would be endless to enumerate all the sad mischiefs of Sin Now I say in these things we may see much of the evil of it but not so much as what we see in the Death and Sufferings of the Lord Christ there there is the highest discovery and fullest representation of it He to be * Isa 53.3 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he to be bruised and broken yea and his Father to be †Isa 53.10 pleased in the bruising of him he in his own person to undergo the Laws penalty to tread the ‖ Isa 63.3 winepress of the wrath of God he to be * Phil. 2.8 obedient to death even the death of the Cross he to cry out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me he to be kill'd and slain and †Acts 5.30 hang'd upon a tree and all this for sin O what an excess of evil doth this hold forth to be in it Indeed that the poor Creatures should be so destroy'd in the Law-Sacrifices that so many millions of them they in themselves being harmless and innocent should die and be sacrific'd for mans sin this represents very much of
the Gospel answers to the hyssop under the Law Well! after our Saviours being an offering for sin as we have nothing further to do but only through Grace enabling of us * Vid. Cameron Misc p. 529. to perform these Evangelical conditions so nothing less than that will serve our turn for a share and interest in the great effects and fruits thereof Frequent application to be made to this Sacrifice 6. Sixthly you are not to rest in some one single application of your selves or in the first application of your selves at your first believing to this great Sacrifice for expiation and remission but you are to repeat and renew it daily For though 't is true all the guilt of believers is removed thereby yet that is done in this method 't is removed as 't is contracted and as the benefit of it is accordingly drawn forth by the fresh applications of it O do not rest in what you did at your first Conversion but be you every day applying your selves to a sacrific'd Christ new guilt must have new pardons and daily sins call for daily expiations 'T is observable that Christ is set forth not only by the yearly expiatory Sacrifices or by those that were but seldom offered but also by the daily Sacrifices Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God c. We should not lie down in our beds at night before we have applyed our selves to a dying Christ for the cleansing of our persons from the guilt of the sins of the day past Yea we should never go to God in duty but we should revive upon our thoughts and make use of this Sacrifice Under the Law the blood was to be sprinkled even upon the Mercy-seat Levit. 16.14 God sits upon a Throne of Mercy but even that requires the blood of Christ no mercy from him no acceptance with him can be expected but upon the intervention of this Sacrifice God and Christ to be admired and adored upon this 7. Seventhly Upon this Sacrifice and what followed thereupon God and Christ are highly to be admired and adored by you This holy admiration hath been already again again press'd upon you under the foregoing gracious acts mention'd in the Text but surely that which is now before us doth as much deserve and call for it as they or any other whatsoever Is God to be admired because he sent his own Son because he sent this Son in flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh and is he not to be admired also for his making of him to be a Sacrifice for sin and for the condemning of sin in his flesh doubtless he is What Christ a Sacrifice a Sacrifice for such as we such great things brought about thereby O what matter is here to draw out admiration what so great so wonderful as this how much are the highest thoughts the most raised affections below the greatness of this mystery It hath my Brethren been largely set before you now I would ask How are your hearts affected with it 't is very sad if we can hear of such stupendious mercy and yet be but little wrought upon under the hearing of it Pray fancy to your selves what the Angels thought of this what frame they were in when they saw the Son of God hanging and dying upon the Cross as an expiatory Sacrifice Oh you may well suppose that it fill'd them with astonishment they were even amaz'd at this strange and wonderful spectacle never such wondring in Heaven as when the Lord Jesus was thus suffering on earth now shall that be little to you which was so great to them shall they thus admire and will you who were most concern'd in the thing and the greatest gainers by it be stupid and unaffected In Christ's being a Sacrifice God on his part hath display'd and advanc'd all his Attributes yea they by this have received their utmost advancement infinite Wisdom Justice Holiness Mercy could go no higher than a Christ crucifi'd and on your part by this your work is done your happiness being every way secur'd and your misery fully prevented by this you are reconcil'd to God and God to you condemning-sin is condemn'd it-self all its guilt expiated the righteousness of the Law fulfill'd c. by a strange and unthought-of method God hath fetch'd the greatest good out of the greatest evil by Christ's dying you live all which being considered is there not sufficient ground why you and all should admire and adore God And amongst other things pray in special admire his love his transcendent superlative matchless love what manner of love was this that God should give his Son to be a sacrifice for you 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Rom. 5.8 But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Had not Christ been a person infinitely dear to God the thing had not been so much but that he should devote him to be sacrific'd whom he so dearly lov'd there 's the incomprehensibleness of his love 'T is reported of the PHOENICIANS that in their Sacrifices they did not use to Sacrifice an enemy or a stranger but * Porphyr do Abstin l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some one that they had a special love for this I 'm sure was done by God in his giving of the Son of his love to be a Sacrifice for us therefore what admiration can be high enough for him When * Gen. 22.10 c. Abrahaham had the knife in his hand and was just going to offer his Son Isaac God stop'd his hand and provided a cheaper Sacrifice for him this was more than what he did for his own Son him he would have to be offered up and would admit of no other Sacrifice and when the hand of Justice was lifted up ready to destroy us then God to secure us interpos'd and found out a Sacrifice of propitiation not a Ram but his only begotten Son O the heights bredths lengths depths of his love And must not Christ be admired also surely yes was not his love too admirable as well as the Fathers Oh well might the Apostle say Gal. 2.20 Who loved me and gave himself for me Eph. 5.2 And walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Vers 25. as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it Rev. 1.5 Vnto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood this was loving indeed When the * Joh. 11.36 JEWS saw Jesus weeping over LAZARVS they said Behold how he loved him but alas what was Christs weeping over him to his dying for us what was the shedding of a few tears to the shedding of his blood how may we come with a more emphatical Behold behold how he
pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleas'd Heb. 13.16 And to summe up all holiness of heart and life that 's an excellent Sacrifice excelling all the old Law Sacrifices whatsoever 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams Micah 6.6 7 8. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the high God shall I come before him with burnt-offerings with calves of a year old Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of Rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God The * Vis Deos propitiare bonus esto Satis illos coluit quisquis imitatus est Senec. Ep. 9.5 Non immolationibus sanguine multo colendus est Deus sed mente purâ bono honestóque proposito Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. p. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. l. 3. with many more in Stuck de Sacrif p. 153. col 2. Saubert de Sac. c. 1. p. 4. HEATHENS themselves upon the light of Nature look'd upon moral goodness as the best and most acceptable Sacrifice I 'me sure Evangelical Holiness is so The wickedness of the Jews made God even to abhorre and slight the Sacrifices which were instituted by himself as we find Isa 1.11 c. Isa 66.3 Jer. 6.20 7.21 c. Amos 5.21 22. if we live in sin we may offer this and that to God but 't is all nothing nay that makes all our Sacrifices an abomination to him Prov. 15.8 Oh live the holy life keep the heart pure mortifie whatever is evil do good shun all excesses be heavenly in your affections in all things act in complyance with God's Nature and Will c. this will please him more than the most costly oblations which you can bring to him These are the Sacrifices which now under the Gospel we are to offer and surely we should offer them with all readiness and faithfulness our Lord having submitted to the bloody Sacrifice of himself on the Cross and left us none but these easie and delightful Sacrifices how reareadily should we close with them But so much for this Vse A third shall put an end to this Subject and that is of Comfort Was Christ a Sacrifice for sin Vse 3. For Comfort to Believers did he thereby condemn sin what doth this Truth drop but honey and sweetness to them who are in Christ I say to them who are in Christ for they are the persons only who can lay hold upon the grace contain'd in it as the non-condemnation of the person in the first verse so the condemnation of sin in this belongs only to such You that are in the number of these to you I bring glad tydings matter of great joy out of the bitter comes sweet for Christ to do die as a Sacrifice this was bitter to him but 't is sweet to you his death passion and whole humilation speak nothing to you but consolation Oh did Believers especially such as are under a troubled spirit but better understand and better improve this sin-condemning Sacrifice they would certainly have more of inward peace and comfort than now they have I must not in fist upon the particular and full drawing out of that consolatory matter which it affords therefore shall conclude with a brief review only of what the Text offers And so 1. here 's a Sacrifice for sin All men in ADAM having sinned wilfully after that they had receiv'd the knowledge of the truth there might have been no Sacrifice for their sin to allude to that Heb. 10.26 but the gracious God notwithstanding all this was pleas'd to admit of a Sacrifice yea himself to find out and ordain that Sacrifice here 's matter of comfort 2. Christ himself was this Sacrifice And if so how pleasing must it needs be to God! Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour I tell you there was infinitely more in this one Sacrifice to please God than there is in all your sins put them all together to displease God If Christ be the Sacrifice there must be an infinite efficacy and merit in it from the dignity of his person an infiniteness of merit must needs result if he will die and shed his blood what can be too high for you surely too there 's more in his Offering to save you than there is in Sin to damn you If he be the Sacrifice no question but the Father did accept of it and indeed of this he hath given sufficient evidence to the world not only by his carriage towards the Saints but also and chiefly by his carriage towards Christ himself for whereas of old he was wont to testifie his acceptation of the Sacrifices by consuming them by fire from heaven Gen. 15.17 Levit. 9.24 Judg. 6.21 2 Chron. 7.1 here with respect to Christ's Sacrifice he testify'd his acceptance in an higher way viz. by raising him from the dead taking him up to heaven re-admiting him into his presence and setting him at his Son had he not been well-pleased with his person and oblation Oh there 's a convincing evidence of this in his going to the Father Joh. 16.8 10. By this Sacrifice thus accepted you are made perfect as you have often heard out of Heb. 10.14 18. there 's nothing now to be done by Christ or by you but only to apply and improve what he hath already done is not this ground of strong consolation And know further for your comfort that the vertue of Christ's Offering is as great now as it was at the first his blood is as effectual with God for your good now as it was when it was just running warm from his veins and * Adeò magnum est hoc Sacrificium ut quamvis unum sit semel oblatum sufficiat ad aeternitatem Anselm so it shall be to the end of the world And that he may make the best of it he is entred into the holy place where 't is his business to present and plead the merit thereof he back 's his oblation on earth with his intercession in heaven and what can be spoken higher for your support comfort he that was the Sacrifice here is the Advocate there 3. By this Sacrifice Sin was condemn'd Sin condemn'd what a word is that that which would have condemned you and which only can condemn you that is by Christ condemn'd it-self condemning sin is condemn'd by a condemned Saviour And