1 Cor. 1.29 and so the word is frequently used there to represent the whole manhood of Christ so Joh. 1.14 1 Tim. 3.16 Heb. 10.20 1 Pet. 3.18 passim When therefore 't is said God sent his Son in Flesh you are thus to conceive of it that Christ did not only take Flesh but that with it he took the whole Nature of Man that he was as truly so compleatly Man consisting of Flesh and Spirit Body and Soul yea that he assumed the entire Humane Nature with what-ever is proper to it two things only being excepted of which by and by In this extent and latitude you are here to take the word Flesh a part being put for the whole 3. Although it be said God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful Flesh yet we must distinguish between the Mission the Incarnation They differ in their Order Christ being first sent and then incarnate as also in the place where each was done for the mission was above but the incarnation was here below This I take notice of that I may the better clear up that ambiguity which seems to be in the expression which some among the Antients not understanding aright runn'd themselves upon very erroneous Opinions For it being said that God sent his own Son in the likenss of sinful Flesh they from hence inferr'd that Christ came from Heaven actually clothed with Flesh that his Body was immediately created there and that from thence he brought it down with him hither and to take in another of their * The first broachers of which were Apollinaris Valentinus c. Of and against whom see Najanz ad Nectarium Athan. de Incarn Christi tom 1. p. 619. 1083. Haeresy's that it was of such a nature as that it only pass'd through the Virgins womb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as water through a pipe or as light through a glass But you are not to give way to these apprehensions the true meaning of the Words being this Christ was sent in the likeness of Flesh not that he had it before he was on earth but it was his Father's Will for the fulfilling of which he sent him that he should descend and here below assume Flesh so that though the Apostle expresses it by being sent in the likeness c. yet his meaning is rather to or for or in order to the likeness of sinful flesh this was not done before-hand just at his sending but this was to be subsequent upon it in its proper time and place And Earth was that place where this stupendious mystery of a Christ incarnate did commence there was the attiring House where he put on his mean and mourning dress 't was in the Virgin where his Body was so curiously and so wonderfully wrought When he ascended he carried up his Body from Earth to Heaven but when he descended he did not bring down his Body from Heaven to Earth the foundation of his being incarnate was laid above in the purpose and command of the Father with respect to which he 's said to be sent in the likeness c. but his actual assumption of Flesh was done here below True he saith Joh. 3.13 No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven and Joh. 6.62 What if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before but this you are to understand as spoken only upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communication of Properties that being here attributed to Christ in one Nature as the Son of man which was only proper to him in the other as the Son of God 'T is also said of him that the second man is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 but that you are to take not as referring to the matter and substance of his body as if he brought that from heaven but only as pointing to his descent from heaven and the miraculous formation of his body here on earth And whereas Some speak as you heard of Christ's Body being immediately created and but passing through the Virgin as water through a pipe the falsity of that Opinion is very notorious for the Scripture plainly tells us that it was produc'd in another way that he was conceiv'd and born of the Virgin that the production of his substance was of Hers though in an extraordinary manner therefore 't is said Mat. 1.18 she was found with child of the holy Ghost and Vers 20. that which is conceiv'd in her is of the Holy Ghost and Luke 1.35 that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God and Elizabeth speaks of Christ as the fruit of her womb Luk. 1.42 and Paul sayes he was made of a woman Gal. 4.4 not made in a woman but of a woman From all which Texts two things are evident Of these things reade Tertull. in his excellent Treatise de Carne Christi p. 374. 1. that though the formation of Christ's Flesh was extraordinary and miraculous yet it was not immediately created especially not in heaven 2. that the Virgin Mary had a proper causality in the production of Christ's Body and therefore was not a meer pipe through which it did only pass 4. This sending of Christ in the likeness c. was not his assuming of a meer humane shape or his apparition only in the shape and form of a man but it was the real assumption of the humane Nature consisting of Soul and Body There 's a vast difference betwixt Christ's incarnation such apparitions as those which we have instances of in the Old Testament and that too not only with respect to the appanitions of Angels but also of Christ himself for it might easily be proved that 't was he who appear'd to Abraham Gen. 18.13 14 17. to Jacob Gen. 32.24 to Moses Exod. 3.2 compar'd with Acts 7.30 c. 35. But now his incarnation was a quite other thing for in that there was not the taking of man's shape but of man's nature not the taking of it so as to lay it down again after a short time as was in apparitions but so as to keep it and continue in it for ever The Apostle cry's out 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God manifested in the Flesh c. but had there been in that nothing more than a meer apparition of Christ in Flesh or in humane shape the thing had not been so strange that he should make such a mystery of it for he knew this was very common therefore there must be more in it than so To convince us of the truth and reality of Christ's Flesh in opposition to all phantasms and meer apparitions the Scripture speaks of him not only as appearing Mal. 3.2 Who shall stand when he appeareth 2 Tim. 1.10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ c. Heb. 9.26 Once in the end of
his own Son in the likeness c. O the infinite Love Mercy Compassion of God! The weaker was Gods Law the stronger and higher was Gods love O that he should not let us all perish under the Laws impotency that he should imploy One for our recovery who was every way able to do what the Law could not how should we adore his mercy in this But this leads me to the following words in the Text God sent c. where I shall have occasion more fully to press this duty upon you So much therefore for this First Branch of the Words What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh ROM 8.3 God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh c. CHAP. X. Of Christ's Mission and of God's sending him Man being utterly lost upon the terms of the Law it pleased God to find out and to pitch upon another Way which he knew would be effectual That was the sending of his own Son c. Four things observed in the Words All reduced to three Observations Of Christs Mission How be was sent and sent by God It notes his Praeexistence before his Mission and Incarnation his Personality his being distinct from the Father 'T is opened First Negatively 1. 'T was not Christ's ineffable and eternal Generation 2. 'T was not any local Secession from his Father Secondly Affirmatively 'T was 1. Gods preordaining of him to the Office and Work of a Mediator 2. His qualifying and fitting of him for that Office and Work 3. His authorizing and commissionating of him to engage therein 4. His authoritative willing of him to assume mans Nature and therein so to do and so to suffer 5. His trusting of him with his great designs How was this Sending of Christ consistent with his equality with the Father this answered Two wayes Why was Christ sent answered first more Generally then more Particularly in Four things Use 1. To stir up persons 1. To admire God 2. To admire in special the Love of the Father 3. To love Christ 4. To imitate Christ with respect to his Sending 5. Not to rest in the external Sending of Christ 6. To believe on him whom God hath sent Use 2. This is improved for the Comfort of Believers The Law being weak God pitch'd upon another Course He Sent his Son THe Laws impotency and weakness nay utter inability to recover justifie and save the lost Sinner hath been spoken to I go on to that which thereupon the Wise and Gracious God was pleas'd to do And what was that why to the praise of his glorious grace he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh The Great God is never at a loss if one Means fails he hath another if all Means fail which fall within the view of the Creature yet God hath his secret reserves and that under the deck which shall no the work Upon Adams Sin all Mankind was lost plung'd into a woful abysse of misery obnoxious to eternal wrath and accordingly God might have dealt with them in the utmost severity of his Justice What is there now to prevent this to give any relief to man in this deplorable State Alas the Sinner cannot help himself the Law stands with a withered arm and can do nothing there 's no Creature in heaven or earth to interpose as to all of these the case was desperate Therefore God * Deus Solus in hâc intricatâ causâ poterat prospicere remedium Streso himself engages to let the world see what He could do * Isa 63.3 He looked and there was none to help therefore his own arm brought Salvation Here indeed was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a God helping at a dead lift in the greatest streights and in the most admirable manner If ever with reverence be it spoken infinite Wisdom was put to it now was the time yet even in this intricate and perplexed State of things That found out a Way which would do the business a Way which none could have thought of but God alone he sent his own Son c None could cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this but God himself this was his alone invention and contrivance The restoring of fal'n man was impossible to the Law yet it shall be done God will take * Noluit proptereà quod Lex imbecillis erat per praritatem humanae naturae opus salutis humanae abjicere quasi non posset per aliam quod ista Legis via non succedebat efficere Musc another strange and wonderful Course which shall do it effectually what his own Law cannot do his own Son can therefore him hee 'll send A very high and costly Way yet rather than all mankind shall perish God will make use of it here 's the very mirror of the Wisdom Love Grace Pity of the blessed God God sending his own Son c. Of the Reading of the words To make the Sense run more smoothly Some turn the Participle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reading the Words thus God sent his c if the following Conjunctive particle And be kept in this Reading is not much amiss Some render it in the * Dictio interpretata Mittens Participium est c. et propterea ad servandum Participium Tempus aliqui Interpretes verterunt rectè Activum in Passivum legendo sic Deus filio suo misso in Carne Cajet Passive form Deus misso Filio suo c. * Duplex est Hebraismus unus est óportet supplere Latine Ideò Alter quia Participium Mittens ponitur loco Verbi Misit Tolet. Some would put in the word Ideò therefore Since the Law was weak through the flesh therefore God sent his own Son and for sin c. but as to these things there 's no great difficulty In the whole Paragraph you have Their Division into Four Parts 1. The Act or the Thing done namely the Sending of Christ 2. The Person whose Act this was or the Person sending viz. God the Father God sent c. 'T is a known Rule when the Name or Title of God is set in contradistinction to the Son 't is then taken not Essentially but Personally for the First Person God the Father instances of which are very common 'T is here said God sent his own Son therefore it must be understood of God the Father Christ being his Son and upon that consideration he being stiled the Father And * Mr. Perkins on Galat. 4.4 p. 271. this Person is called God not because he partakes more of the Godhead than the Other Persons Son and holy Ghost do but because he is the first in the Order of the Three Divine Persons and because he is the beginning of the Son and of the Holy Ghost but hath no beginning of his own Person for he doth not receive the Godhead in the Personal consideration of it
his mercy to Sinners he had gracious purposes in himself towards Man and whereas all mankind lay before him in an undone and ruin'd condition he would not leave them to perish eternally in that condition Then supposing this which cannot be deny'd God must send something must be done or else these gracious purposes of God will be lost and all men must inevitably perish for ever For as to all Other Wayes the Sinners Case was desperate with respect to them there was no hope or help some new and strange course must be taken or else as things stand on the Creatures part there 's nothing to be look'd for but hell and damnation Now things being brought to this pass therefore God will send yea he will send his own Son for hee 'l be sure to pitch upon a Way which shall infallibly and effectually do the work Observe it in the Text when or because it was impossible for the Law to do then or therefore God sent his Son since neither the Law nor any thing else could operate to any purpose towards the advancing of God's Honour and the promoting of the Sinners good it was necessary in order to these great Ends that God himself should interpose in some extraordinary way which thereupon he accordingly did in the sending of Christ But more particularly let us take it for granted that there was a necessity of Sending yet why did God pitch upon his Son and send him might not some Other Person have been sent as well as he or might not some Other Way have been found out as good as this I answer No Christ the Son must be the very Person whom God will send And him he pitch'd upon so far as we poor shallow mortals are able to judge of his deep and unsearchable actings or to assign the reasons of them for these Reasons 1. First because he was the Person with whom the Father had covenanted about this very thing There was a Covenant commonly called the Covenant of Redemption which had passed betwixt these two Persons in which the Father engaged so and so to Christ and Christ reciprocally engaged so and so to the Father a considerable part of the terms and matter of which Covenant is set down Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his Soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed c. The Father Covenants to do thus and thus for Fallen Man but first in order thereunto the Son must Covenant to take man's Nature therein to satisfie offended Justice to repair and vindicate his Father's Honour c well he submits assents to these demands indents and covenants to make all good and this was the Covenant of Redemption Now upon this Covenant God sends his Son that being done in pursuance of and agreeable to that admirable compact or stipulation that had passed betwixt them both So that this Sending was not founded meerly upon the Father's absolute Will or Sovereignty over Christ but upon the foederal agreement made betwixt them as to this very matter Of which I 'le say no more here having formerly had an opportunity to publish some thoughts about it 2. Secondly God sent Christ because he saw that was the very best way which could be taken and therefore in wisdom he pitch'd upon it O there was no Way like to that The Father had great desigus now to carry on as for example to let the world see what an evil thing Sin was what a dreadful breach it had made betwixt himself and the Creature how terrible and impartial his Justice was what an Ocean of Love he had in his heart to promote the Sinners happiness yet so as in the first place to secure and advance his own glory in the magnifying of all his Attributes to indear himself his Son and all his mercies to his people to lay a sure foundation for the Righteousness and Salvation of believers were not these great and glorious designs Now there was no Way for the accomplishing and effecting of these comparable to this of God's sending his Son What God might have done some other way by his absolute Power and Will abstracting from his decree I dare not enquire into much less determine any thing about it or wherther this was the Onely Way I leave to others to discuss but certainly this was the best the fittest Way and therefore the Wise God pitch'd upon it Eos itaque qui dicunt itane defuit Deo modus alius quo liberaret homines à miseriâ mortalitatis hujus ut unigenitum Filium c. parum est sic refellere ut istum modum quo nos per Mediatorem Dei Hominum hominem Jesum Christum Deus liberare dignatur asseramus bonum divinae congruum dignitati verum etiam ut oftendamus non alium modum possibilem Deo defuisse cujus potestati aequalitèr cuncta subjacent sed sanandae nostrae miseriae convenientiorem alium non fuisse Aug. de Trin. lib. 13. cap. 10. Austine went no higher than thus 3. Christ was sent because as this was the best and the fittest Way so he was the best and the fittest Person to be imploy'd in such an Embassy God always sends the fittest messengers upon his errands 't was a great errand for Christ to come from heaven to earth about man's Redemption but God saw that He was the fittest messenger to be imploy'd therein and therefore he sent him For as he imploys none in his work especially when 't is high and of great importance whom he doth not either find or make fit for it so the more fit any are for his work the rather he doth imploy them and therefore this was that which induced him to send Christ none being so fit for the managing and transacting the Work of Redemption as he was which I shall endeavour to make out in a few Particulars Christ's superlative fitness for it appears from and was grounded upon Christ's Fitness for the Work of Redemption set forth 1. His two Natures the Hypostatical union of Both in his Person He was God Joh. 1.1 Phil. 2.6 1 Joh. 5.20 Rom. 9.5 Isa 9.6 Tit. 2.13 He was also Man 1 Tim. 2.5 then too he â—as God-man in one Person Col. 2.19 Now who could be so fit to bring God and Man together as he who was himself both God and Man who so fit to negotiate with both as he who was a middle Person betwixt both who so fit to treat with an offended God as he who was God who so fit to suffer as he who was Man and to merit by suffering as he who was God-man Had he been only God he could not have suffered had he been only Man he could not have merited but being both he was eminently fit for both viz. for suffering and meriting for obeying and satisfying Thus his not to be parallell'd Fitness was grounded upon his Personal consideration 2. 'T was grounded upon his glorious Attributes his Power Wisdom Mercy Goodness Faithfulness
greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building c. by this Tabernacle of the Lord 's pitching and not made with hands he means the body or flesh of Christ which was the true Tabernacle and of which the common Tabernacle was but a type and indeed there was so great a resemblance betwixt these two as that the one might very well prefigure and typify the other For 1. the Outside of that Tabernacle was but mean it was made without of very ordinary and common things within 't was rich and glorious it being beautified with Gold Silver Precious Stones c. but without all was plain it being covered only with Ram-skins and Goat-skins and such materials Exod. 25.1 c. and 26.14 c. So here Christ's outside was especially to some but very mean Isa 53.2 He hath no form nor comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him but yet he was exceeding glorious within as 't is said of the Church Psal 45.13 such as had a discerning eye they could see the inward glory of his Godhead shining through the cloud of his Manhood And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Joh. 1.14 2. God's special presence was in the Tabernacle there was the Shechinah or habitation of God wherein at first by an extraordinary Cloud he signified his glorious presence to be as afterwards he did in the Temple too By which therefore Christ sets forth his Body Joh. 2.19 21. Jesus answered and said unto them Destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it up but he spake of the Temple of his Body Both Tabernacle and Temple were * Dr. Cudworth true Notion of the Lord's Supper p. 62. types and apt resemblances of his Flesh or Manhood in respect of the special presence and inhabitation of the Divine Nature in it Hence †Dr. Jackson on the Creed 7th Book sect 3. ch 20. Some make all those great Promises made to the people of Israel concerning God's presence with them in special in the Tabernacle and Temple to point to Christ's Incarnation and in that to receive their accomplishment you may read them Exod. 25.8 Exod. 29.44 45 46. Levit. 26.11 12 13. Ezek. 37.26 27 28. 3. The Tabernacle was a * Josephus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 templum portatile Antiq. Jud. lib. 3. cap. 5. And Austine Templum deambulatorium moveable thing whilst Israel was in the Wilderness in an itinerary posture as they moved the Tabernacle moved with them it was not fixed all that time as afterwards it was So it was with Christ he was here on earth with his Body for some time but neither he nor it were here long to abide he ascended up to heaven and thither he carried his Body with him and there t is fixed this the Evangelist alludes unto Joh. 1.14 The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tented or tabernacled it for a time amongst us in respect of his short abode here in reference to which our Bodies too are set forth by Tabernacles 2 Cor. 5.1 4. 2 Pet. 1.13 14. I might also instance in Melchisedech as a personal Type of Christ he was without Father and Mother c. Heb. 7.3 which is very applicable to Christ for he as the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Najanz P. 375. tom 1. Son of God was without Mother and as the Son of man without Father Well then that all these Prophesies Promises Types might be fulfill'd it was necessary that Christ should assume Flesh there 's the first Ground of it The 2d Reason why Christ was incarnate and sent in Flesh that he might be the better qualify'd for his Office and Work 2. This was necessary in regard of Christ's Office and Work 1. As to his Office He was to be the Mediatour betwixt God and Man and that was to be his great and standing Office now in order to his administration thereof it was requisite that he should be Man and take our Nature for he who will be a Mediator 'twixt God and Man must himself be both God and Man He must be God that he may be fit to transact treat negotiate with God and he must be Man that he may be fit to do the same with Man God alone was too high to deal with Man and Man alone was too low to deal with God and therefore Christ was a middle Person 'twixt both that he might deal with both He could not have been fit to be the Mediator in respect of Office if he had not first been a middle Person in respect of his Natures for saith the Apostle Gal. 3.20 A Mediator is not of one but God is one Not of one that is 1. not of one Person for mediation supposes more persons than one was there none besides God himself Christ's mediatory work would be at end that necessarily implying different parties betwixt whom he doth mediate 2. Not of one Nature the Mediator must necessarily have more Natures than one Observe it God saith the Text is one viz. as he is essentially considered and therefore as so he cannot be the Mediator but Christ as personally considered he is not of one that is not of one Nature for he is God and Man too whereupon hee 's the Person who is qualify'd to be the Mediator And therefore when he is spoken of as Mediator his Manhood is brought in that Nature being so necessary to that Office 1 Tim. 2.5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 2. Christ's Incarnation and Manhood was necessary in respect of that Work which he was willing to undertake I mean the Work of Redemption If he will engage to redeem and save lost Sinners he must be so qualify'd as that he may first make * Vide Anselm cur Deus Homo Lib. 1. Cap. 11 12 19 20. satisfaction to an injur'd and offended God for that God stood upon and would not recede from he had decreed as appears by the event to save man that way and what he decrees must accordingly be accomplished he had threatned death to the Sinner which threatning therefore must be inflicted either upon the Offender himself or his Surety and God as Rector mundi will vindicate the honour of his Government and therefore will punish the transgression of his Laws upon such Considerations as these there must be Satisfaction Now in order to that there must be suffering yea Christ himself must suffer partly because he was pleas'd to substitute himself in the Sinners stead and partly because his sufferings only could be satisfactory but unless he be Man how can he suffer So that the chain or link lies thus without satisfaction no redemption without suffering
to the utmost of its capacity having nothing in its several faculties but truth in the Vnderstanding holy conformity in the Will heavenliness in the affections I say represent to your selves in your thoughts such a Soul and then think what an excellent Soul would that be just such a Soul is in Christ Indeed if we consider these constitutive parts of Christ's Manhood as they stand apart and by themselves they are excellent to a very high degree but if we go further and consider them in the Hypostatick Vnion then we are at a mighty loss and cannot conceive what a glory is by that conferr'd upon them As suppose a Pearl was put into a glass of Chrystal that would put a great radiancy upon it but what if the Sun it self could be put into this glass how radiant then would it be So here the Lord Christ having so precious a Soul dwelling in his Flesh even that if there was nothing more must make it very glorious but when the Godhead it self dwells in it how unspeakable must its glory and splendor needs be Leaving the parts let me speak to the whole the whole humane nature in Christ is transcendently excellent If the essential and eternal Son of God will so far condescend as to assume Man's Nature certainly in him the Manhood must have all that dignity glory perfection that ever it was capable of and surely never was the Humane Nature so advanc'd as in Christ If you consider it as 't is in us so it hath its worth and excellency for man is yet a glorious creature though 't is too true by the loss of God's image he hath lost very much of his glory As he was at first created in the state of innocency he was high indeed by the Fall the case is sadly altered the Humane Nature now is exceedingly debas'd and depress'd but yet even in its ruins as 't was with old Carthage it may be seen what once it was much is lost and the best is lost but all is not lost the glory of the Saint is gone but the glory of the Man in a great measure yet remains He is yet as to his natural composition and indowments very excellent the top of the whole creation God's * Vid. Nyssen de Hom. opif. c. 3. p. 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euryphamus in Stobae Ser. c1 p. 556. Theophrastus calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as though God in him would vye with and out-vye all that he had done besides in the whole visible creation See Weems's Portrait p. 60 61. master-piece and highest workmanship endowed with a body curiously wrought with a Soul of divine original excellent in its being and operations And besides this which is general it pleases God in some to restore the Humane Nature in part to what it lost in Adam's fall to advance it again by Grace and Regeneration yea to take it up to heaven to the vision and fruition of himself And now 't is at its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here 's its non-ultra its highest advancement 't is not capable as in us of higher exaltation that what it hath by Grace and Glory This dignity and glory the Humane Nature hath in us but yet as 't is so subjected take it even at its highest elevation it comes infinitely short of the dignity and excellency of the Humane Nature of Christ the reason is because in it there 's all that hath been spoken in an eminent manner and besides which is higher than all the former it is taken into a near conjunction with the Divine Nature How glorious must that Manhood be which subsists in the Godhead and hath no subsistence but in that The nearer the Vnion is with that the greater is the perfection and glory of that which is admitted into that union And hence it is that there is such a fulness of Grace in Christ as Man over and above what is in the best of men that he is * Psal 45.7 anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that his Manhood bears a part in the mediatory Office that 't is to be worshipped with Divine Worship as hath been proved before I say all this belongs to it by vertue of the Hypostatical Vnion from which in all things it derives super-excellent Glory And yet I must tell you this Humane Nature as high as 't is is the lowest thing in Christ that which is the highest in us is but the lowest in him Supremum infimi infimum supremi as Man he 's glorious but what is he then as God! What a Person is Christ take him altogether O let him be adored and reverenced by you as Man but especially as he is God-man So much for Information Use 2. Exhortation to several Dutys 2. Secondly was Christ sent in flesh hence ariseth matter of Exhortation to several Duties 1. I would exhort you to give a full and firm assent to the truth of Christ's incarnation To give a full and firm assent to the truth of Christ's Incarnation as also firmly to adhere to Christ as sent in flesh Here are two things which Iâ—le speak to apart First see that you give a full and firm assent to the truth of Christ's Incarnation 'T is a thing which the Scripture layes a great stress upon 1 Joh. 4.3 Every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and even now is it in the world 2 Joh. 7. Many deceivers are entred into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh this is a deceiver and an Antichrist It seems the Incarnation of Christ met with early opposition his flesh was no sooner translated to Heaven but 't was deny'd on Earth this Apostle therefore who in his Gospel had been a great asserter of it in his Epistles will be also a zealous defender of it and see how warm he was upon it the denyal of Christ's coming and of his coming in the flesh for there lies the main emphasis he carries as high as Antichristianism and sets no lower a brand upon it Antichristianism doth not only lie in the opposing of Christ in his Offices which is the latter and modern Antichristianism but also in the opposing of him in his Natures as God and Man which was the first and ancient Antichristianism to deny Christ's Manhood and assuming flesh this is down-right Antichristian the very spirit of Antichrist if the Apostle here may be believed Now there 's a twofold denial of this one open express direct the other * Non attendamus ad linguam sed ad facta si enim omnes interrogantur omnes uno ore confitentur Jesum esse Christum quiescat paululum lingua vitam interroga Aug. in Ep. Joh. Tract 3. implicit virtual interpretative the former I hope is very rare the latter I fear is too common he
nobis est umbraculum Sacrificio suo apud Deum nos reconciliavit Zarnov de Sat. Christi p. 38. accomplishment of them 2. That he is also a true and real Sacrifice for was there reality in the Type and shall there not be the same with advantage in the Anti-type or shall they be shadows of a shadow shall there be such a shell and no kernel such a bone and no marrow in it But to go on In the old Sacrifices there were these Six things Six things in the Old Sacrifices all of which are to be found in Christs Sacrifice 1. The Person who did institute ordain and appoint the use of them who was God himself whose institution of them though it be not express'd in the Scriptures yet it may very strongly be inferr'd from them 2. The Person unto whom they were offered and he also was God himself 3. The Persons offering viz. the Priests to whom by divine appointment this work was committed and it was a great part of their work and one great end of their Office For every high Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things partaining to God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifices for sins Heb. 5.1 4. The Matter of the Sacrifice or the thing offered which was very various according to what God was pleas'd to specifie and appoint Oxen Bulls Heifers Sheep Rams Goats c. 5. The Oblation it self when the Beast was slain it was to be offered up and then part of the blood thereof was to be carried into the Holy of Holy's there to be presented before the Lord and the main stress of the * See Dr. Stillingfl against Crellius ch 5. p. 451. expiation lay not upon the representation which followed after but upon the mactation and solemn oblation of the Sacrifice 6. The Altar upon which all was to be offer'd Now answerably and in correspondency to all these 1. God instituted appointed ordained Christ to be the Sacrifice it was his will and ordination that his Son should offer up himself a propitiatory or expiatory Sacrifice Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself c. 1 Pet. 1.20 Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world c. It was as much the appointment of God that Christ the true Sacrifice should die be slain offered up as that under the Law any of those Sacrifices should be so used and as from all eternity he decreed and appointed Christ to be the Sacrifice so in time he fitted and prepared him for his being so therefore saith Christ * Heb. 10.5 But a body hast thou prepared me without which he could not have been a Sacrifice 2. Christ offered up himself to God He had to do * Grot. de Sat. Christi c. 10. p. 121. with God as he stood in the quality and respect of a Sacrifice for this was a part of his Priestly Office which primarily refers to God as King and Prophet he hath to do with us but as Priest he had to do with God that he might propitiate and atone him So 't was with the Aaronical Priests they were ordained for men in things pertaining to God Heb. 5.1 and surely so it must be too with the great Priest whom they did typifie Heb. 2.17 that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God The Apostle speaks it expresly and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour 3. Here was the Person offering and that was Christ himself he as Mediator as God-Man was the Priest to offer up himself They under the Law had variety of Sacrifices and variety of Priests we under the Gospel have but one Sacrifice and one Priest who first offered up himself and now continues in another way to offer up our duties and services to God 4. As Christ was the Priest offering so he was the Sacrifice offered for he was both which was unusual and extraordinary The Levitical Priests and the Sacrifices which they offered were distinct they were not bound to offer themselves but our Lord Jesus was * Ut quoniam quatuor considerantur in omni Sacrificio cui offeratur à quo offeratur quid offeratur pro quibus offeratur idem ipse unus verúsque Mediator per Sacrificium pacis reconcilians nos unum cum illo maneret cui offerebatur unum in se faceret pro quibus offerebatur unus ipse esset qui offerebat quod offerebat August de Trinit Utrum Christus simul fâ—erit Sacerdos Hostia Aquin. in 3. p. Qu. 22. Art 2. Priest and Sacrifice too in his Person he was the Offerer in his humane Nature he was the thing offered 'T was necessary that he should offer something For every high Priest is ordained to offer gifts and Sacrifices wherefore it is of necessity that this man have also somewhat to offer Heb. 8.3 what then did he offer such things as had been offered before the blood of bulls and goats no he offered his own blood Heb. 9.12 his own body Heb. 10. 4 5 6 7 10. through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all that very body which was so miraculously framed with which he liv'd here on earth which he carried up with him afterwards to heaven that very body I say he freely offered up upon the Cross as a Sacrifice to God His Soul comes in too but that 's himself Isa 53.10 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin His whole self in his whole Humane Nature was the matter of this Sacrifice Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an offering c. Heb. 1.3 when he had by himself purged our sins Heb. 9.14 who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God So Heb. 7.27 The Text saith for sin God condemned sin in the flesh by which flesh the Apostle understands the whole Manhood of Christ and that was the Sacrifice for sin by which Sin was condemned 5. There was Christ's formal and proper oblation performed upon the Cross by and upon which the sins of Believers were to be expiated That there was in Christ an oblation none deny but that this was done at his Death or here on earth and was expiatory in that sense which we put upon it both of these are vehemently deny'd by the SOCINIANS but I shall have occasion to vindicate both by and by 6. In Christ's Sacrifice there was an Altar too namely his Godhead The Altar sanctify'd the gift Matth. 23.19 so 't was here the Deity of Christ did not only sustain and strengthen his Humane Nature in his being a Sacrifice therein but it also gave merit and efficacy to his Sacrifice for how did that come to be so meritorious and effectual for the good of Sinners but from this
that died yea rather that is risen again He is said to be delivered for our offences and to be raised again for our justification Rom. 4.25 the Sinners justification was merited by his death but it was manifested by his resurrection thence therefore Faith in its being assured of that priviledge must fetch its main encouragement so that this cannot be the only thing aimed at in his death since it more properly belongs to another Head 3. The old-Testament Saints were high in their assurance and yet they liv'd before the death of Christ 4. His death simply considered gives no such encouragement to faith or ground of assurance consider it indeed as we state it that is as he dy'd in our stead to satisfie God's Justice appease his Father's wrath expiate our sin c. and so 't is highly strengthning to Faith but if you take it in it-self and as our Adversaries state it so there 's but little in it for Faith's advantage What inducement or encouragement would this be to Sinners to believe to set before them the death of Christ unless those Ends and Considerations about it be taken in which our Antagonists oppose without which it would rather draw out mens fear than their faith rather drive them from God than to God for so more of his justice and severity would therein appear to deterre them than of his Mercy to allure and encourage them O did God deal so with his own Son who too was innocent and blameless what then will he do to such vile wretched guilty creatures as we are must Christ so die would not God spare him in the least what then will become of such as we Upon the whole matter the Soc. say Christ's death was not at all intended to be satisfactory to God I 'me sure according to their stating of it 't is not at all consolatory to Sinners 4. They say Christ dy'd for this end that he might have a right and power after his death when he should be in heaven to forgive sin Answ Whilst he was here on earth before his death he had that right or power therefore that could not be any end thereof Matth. 9.2 Son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee and when some murmured at this see how he stood upon the asserting of it Vers 6. That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins c. 5. 'T is said Christ dy'd for this end that he might procure for himself such and such power dignity and glory But to this we say it was so far from being the main end that it was indeed no end at all it being but the Coâ—â—â—â—â—ent not the End of his death see Phil. 2.8 9. These defective Causes and Ends being remov'd it remains that I set down those which were the chief and principal And they were such as these Christ dy'd to be a Sacrifice for Sin Heb. 9.26 10.12 a Ransom 1 Tim. 2.6 Matth. 20.28 a Propitiation 1 Joh. 2.2 to reconcile God to us and us to God Rom. 5.10 2 Cor. 5.19 Eph. 2.13 14. Col. 1.20 c. to deliver us from the curse of the Law by his being made a curse for us Gal. 3 13. to save from wrath to come 2 Thes 1.10 to justifie and make righteous 2 Cor. 5.21 Rom. 5.9 to procure remission of sin by his blood 1 Joh. 1.7 Eph. 1.7 Matth. 26.28 to overcome death by death Heb. 2.14 to purchase eternal life Joh. 6.51 Heb. 9.12 As he dy'd in our place and stead taking our guilt and bearing our punishment so he died for these ends that he might restore us to God's love and favour and expiate all our sins by his making satisfaction for them these were not only Ends but the supream and primary ends of his Death I do not exclude the former provided that 1. they be taken in conjunction with these nay 2. in subordination to them Christ in his dying might intend this and that as his bearing witness c. but his main and principal intendments were satisfaction reconciliation forgiveness of sin c. in the revealing of which the Holy Scriptures are so express and plain that to me 't is very strange that any opposition much more that so vehement opposition should be made against it Good Lord how are Opposers faine to strain their wit to summon in all their invention subtilty for the finding out of some forc'd and pitiful interpretations of the Texts alledged thereby to evade the true sense and meaning of them how do they set these Scriptures and themselves too upon the rack that they may seem to reconcile them with their hypotheses's but all in vain as is abundantly prov'd The vanity falshood of humane Satisfactions 3. Thirdly from hence I infer the vanity and falshood of all humane Satisfactions Was the Lord Jesus himself a Sacrifice for sin and did he thereby condemn abolish expiate all sin for his members then what needs to be done or can be done further by any Creatures in the way of Satisfactions * Eccles 2.12 What can the man do that cometh after the King I cannot but take notice how whoever will engage in these weighty Points he must tread upon thorns and bryars every step he takes no sooner shall he have got off from one Enemy but there will be some other at hand with whom he must encounter also I find it I 'me sure to be so for no sooner have I quit my self of the SOCINIANS but the PAPISTS in a full body make head against me The former would wholly take away Christ's Satisfaction the latter would add Mans to it the One denies the verity the Other the perfection of it For they tell us 't is very true that Christ did fully satisfie the Justice of God by his being a Sacrifice for sin and fully expiate the sins of Believers in respect of their guilt and of the eternal punishment due thereupon but not in respect of temporal punishments these they say they are yet lyable unto notwithstanding all that Christ hath done and suffered and that too not only in the present but for some time in the future state for the preventing or removing of which satisfaction must be made to God either by themselves or by others this is the ROMISH-Doctrine In which so far as I have gone we have falsities enough but should we go farther to their particular explication and stating of the latter branch mens satisfying by themselves or by others what a mass and heap of ungrounded unscriptural absur'd Opinions should we there meet with for there come in their penances fastings pilgrimages corporal punishments voluntary poverty masses and prayers for them who are in Purgatory Indulgences c. O what a big-bellied Error is this of humane Satisfactions what a numerous train of falsities is it attended with Contrary to this we hold that * See the 31 Article of our Church Christ by the once
life nay should God leave him to his liberty to make his own choice and fully assure him of his future blessedness let his choice be what it would yet he would chuse to live the spiritual rather than the carnal life was there no Heaven nor no Hell yet the sincere Christian would be for holy walking because of that excellency and intrinsick goodness which he sees in it 2. Walking after the Spirit is pleasant delightful comfortable walking that which begets true peace solid joy unspeakable comfort in the Soul The more spiritual a man is in his walking the greater is his rejoycing O * Psal 119.165 what peace have they who thus walk The Flesh must not vye with the Spirit about true comfort men exceedingly mistake themselves when they look for pleasure delight and satisfaction in a fleshly course alas 't is not there to be had It s very sweet is bitter there 's gall and wormwood even in its hony * Prov. 14.13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness It promises indeed great things but it falls exceedingly short in its performances eminently it doth so in its promises of joy and comfort True peace is onely to be found in a holy course Rom. 8.6 To be spiritually minded is life and peace life hereafter peace here 2 Cor. 6.10 As sorrowful yet always rejoycing 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimoâ—â— of our Conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God we have had our conversation in the world There 's no comfort like to that which attends * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Eth. l. 1. c. 9. holy walking the true Christian would not for a world exchange that joy which he hath in his Soul in and from Meditation Prayer the Word Sacraments Promises mortification of sin holiness communion with God the hope of glory for all that joy which the Sinner hath in the way of sin and in his sensual delights Would you have the * 1 Pâ—t 1 8. joy which is unspeakable the * Phil. 4.7 peace which passeth all understanding the * Job 15.11 consolations of God which are not small O walk after the Spirit Men have false notions of Religion which experience must confute the Devil belies and misreports the ways of God as if a godly life was a sad pensive melancholly life pray try and then judge be perswaded to fall upon this heavenly course and then tell me whether * Prov. 3.17 wisdomes ways be not ways of pleasantness and all her paths peace Psal 119.14 I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches The Flesh is outdone by the Spirit if it gives some outward flashy joy the Spirit with advantage gives inward solid abiding joy should not this allure you to walk after it We always love to walk where our walking may be most pleasant and delightful surely to walk with God to live in communion with Father Son and Spirit to be taken up in the contemplation and fruition of heavenly things to be always sucking at the breasts of the Promises to act in the daily exercisâ— of Grace I say surely this must needs be pleasant and delightful Walking indeed And the Spiritual Walker hath not onely this peace and satisfaction whilst he lives but in a dying hour too he is full of comfort O the Soul-chearing reflexions which he then can make upon an holy life O that heart-exhilerating prospect which he hath of the World to come whether he looks backward or forward all administers ground of rejoycing to him Is it thus with the Sinner the Sensualist alas 't is quite otherwise when Death comes and lays his cold hands upon him what bitter pangs of Conscience doth he feel what dreadful terrours do sill his Soul how doth the sense of Judgment and Aeternity strike him with astonishment All his sensual Comforts do now fail him and he did not live so full of joy but he dyes as full of sorrow This shall ye have of mine hand ye shall lye down in sâ—rrow Isa 50.11 but Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 3. This is blessed Walking for it evermore ends in salvation It doâ—â— not onely at present evidence Non-condemnation and Vnion with Christ but it assures of Heaven and certainly brings to Heaven at last Holiness and Happiness never were never shall be parted Every motion hath its terminus or end the End of this motion or walking is eternal rest Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Gal. 6.18 He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Prov. 12.28 In the way of righteousness is life and in the path-way thereof there is no death so that if you will be perswaded to enter into and to hold on in the way of the â—pirit it will infallibly lead you to eternal life and what can be spoken higher The sum of all is this I here set * Jer. 21.8 life and death before you if the One will not allure you to an holy heavenly conversation nor the Other deter you from a sinful carnal conversation I have then no more to say but surely such as have any sense of God of the worth of the Soul and of the things of the world to come they will resolve for the spiritual life * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Athenag Leg pro Christian p. 35. Athenagoras in his Apology for the primitive Christians states their practice thus If saith he we did believe that we should onely live the present life there might then be some room for suspicion that we might be as wicked as others indulging flesh and blood and drawn aside by covetuousness and concupiscence but we know that God is privy not onely to all our actions but to all our thoughts and words that he is all light and sees what is most hid in us and we are fully perswaded that after this life we shall live a much better life with God in Heaven and therefore we do not live as others do whose life will end in Hell fire O that we could as easily draw men to the heavenly life as we can apologize for those who live it or set down the grounds and reasons why they live it And now you who are Flesh-followers will nothing prevail with you shall all these Considerations be ineffectual will you yet persist in your fleshly course though an Angel with a drawn sword stands before you to stop you in your evil way yet * Numb 22.22 Balaam-like will you go on will you set your selves in a way that is not good as the wicked are described Psal 36.4 are you at that language * Jer. 18.2 We will every one walk after our own devices and we will every
take Sometimes you are in the way of the Spirit then presently in the way of the Flesh you do not make straight-paths as the Apostle advises Heb. 12.13 how do your partial closures and compliances with the carnal part too often intercept the light of God's countenance interrupt your communion with him and cause a damp in all your inward peace as you know by reason of this it sometimes was with David himself when will you walk in the path of Holiness so as not to turn to the right hand or to the left as the Word enjoins see Prov. 4.27 Deut. 5.32 Again is your Spiritual walking so visible as it should be so as to convince the world that there is such a life such a course as hath been described Truly men question whether there be such a thing because you who pretend to it come so short of it when you speak act just as others are as wordly vain passionate selfish revengeful as others who will believe that there is in reality any such walking after the Spirit or that there is more in it than meer fancy and pretence How did Pauls Spirit rise in him upon the surmises and censures of some who * 2 Cor. 10.2 thought of him as though he walked according to the Flesh and can you as to your selves noâ— onely bear such censures but which is much worse give too just occasion for them Further let me ask you doth this Holy walking intermingle it self with your whole conversation even in your natural and civil actions do you walk after the Spirit when you * 1 Cor. 10.31 eat and drink is your eye upon the glory of God in common actions have you special and peculiar aimes and principles the very animal life which you live in the Flesh do you live by the Faith of the Son of God as Paul did Gal. 2.20 'T is a great mistake to limit this walking after the Spirit to actions materially spiritual or to the positive duties of Religion No at all times in all actions you are so to walk doing all from a spiritual Principle by a spiritual Rule to a spiritual End 'T is one thing to be employ'd in some acts that are spiritual and another thing to be spiritual in all acts the fleshly Walker may do the First but Saints must endeavour after the Last At your Tables in your Shops in your civil Converses you may and ought to live the heavenly life as well as in hearing the Word Prayer and such religious Duties A carnal man sometimes engages in spiritual things and yet even then he doth not walk after the Spirit and a Child of God sometimes is engaged in common things Civil and Natural and yet even then he walks after the Spirit viz. as he intermingles grace with all he doth Now is it thus with you are you holy spiritual in all manner of conversation in every winding and turn of the life as the Apostle exhorts 1 Pet. 1.15 And once more let me ask you and 'pray call your own Souls to account about it is there not some one or other secret by-path of the Flesh which you walk in this holy David prayed against Psal 139.24 See if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Upon the whole I fear there is need to press this upon you to walk yet more and more after the Spirit and we beseech and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more 1 Thes 4.1 3. Thirdly are you such who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit O rejoice in this and take the comfort of it Here 's sufficient ground of assurance that there is no condemnation to you that you are in Christ Jesus and is not that matter of rejoicing You are within the Character here given of such who are in Christ therefore you are in him and being in him must it not needs be well with you And if you look into the following Verses there is yet more comfort for you they tell you that God sent his Son to condemn Sin to fulfil the Law and all for such spiritual Walkers as you are for upon them the Character is repeated again Ah you 'l say if it was thus with us we would desire no higher comfort in the world but we fear 't is otherwise we cannot find that we come up to this description and therefore cannot apply the happiness annexed to it And why so why because there is so much of Flesh in us O there is a very sinful carnal and sensual part in us yea this often prevails and breaks forth in our conversation upon which we cannot but judge that we walk after the Flesh rather than after the Spirit Now to this I answer Nothing more certain than that Flesh is in you and will be so whilst you are in the Flesh you must carry it with you to your very grave the Body of sin and the other Body must both be buried together you 'le never be wholly rid of a sinning Nature and a carnal part till you be in heaven And 't is true too this Flesh doth and will sometimes prevail over you though the seldomer the better yet this doth not amount to walking after the Flesh or to the nullifying of the walking after the Spirit Paul himself complained of the Flesh yea of the strength and power of it yet for all that he says here v. 4. we walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit though it was so with him yet his state was good and his course good too we must thus speak for the comfort of burd'ned Souls though Enemies without take occasion from hence to revile and Sinners amongst our selves to presume It would be (a) Desiderium tuum tale debet esse ad Deum ut omnino non fit ipsa concupiscentia cui resistâ—â—e oporteat Resistis enim non consentiendo vincis sed mâ—lius est hostem non habere quam vincere Aug. Serm. de Tem. 45. happy if you might wholly be freed from a corrupt Nature but that is rather to be desired than hoped for in this life Yet here is this to support you though that may carry the day as to some particular acts yet the bent of the heart is for God and as to the general course the renewed part is uppermost The Flesh sometimes is too hard for you but you do not (b) Nulla condemnatio iis qui sunt in Chisto Jeâ—u nonenim damnatur nisi qui concupiscentiaâ— carnis consentit ad malum Aug. contra duas Ep. Pelag. lâ—b 1. c. 10. Vide plura in Aug. in Psal â— 18. coâ—c 3. consent to it it hath not the full allowance and approbation of the Will you do not give up your selves in a willing subjection to it what it doth 't is from meer force and strength you cry our
tell us that some of our Kings who had the worst Titles made the best Laws and indeed they had need use their power well who get it ill But now Sin doth not only usurp that power which of right belongs not to it but it also manages its power very wickedly particularly with respect to the Laws which it makes and imposes upon its Subjects ô 't is sad living under its government The Philosopher tells us that the intention of the Legislator is to make his Subjects good certainly 't is either so or it should be so but when Sin gets upon the throne and assumes a legislative Authority to it self its intention is only to make its Subjects bad for the worse they are the better they suit with it 'T is a blessed thing to live under the Rule of Christ because of the holiness purity goodness of his Laws but 't is a woful thing to live under the Rule of Sin because its Laws are quite contrary hellish and wicked for here it holds true like Lord like Law Nay the Laws of Men I do not say all have real goodness in them so far as they are founded upon * Lex est nihil aliud nisi recta à Numine Deorum Ratio imperans honesta prohi◠ens contraria profectò ita se res habet ut quoniain vitiorum emendatricem Legem esse oportet commendatricemque virtutum ab eâ vivendi doctrina petatur Cicero de Legib. l. 1. Reason and designed for good Ends viz. to excite persons to what is good and to restrain them from what is evil and so far 't is the happiness of any to live under them and their duty readily and cheerfully to comply with them But 't is not thus with the Laws of Sin inasmuch as they are always contrary to right and sound Reason and always tend to what is evil which therefore so far as any man is subject to he must needs be miserable 'T is commonly said Ex malis moribus bonae Leges bad manners sometimes produce good Laws but bad Laws especially when they are written in the heart and are the principle of action as the Laws of Sin are can never produce good manners if Sin make the Law I know what will be the Life Further this Sin is not onely out of measure sinful in the exercise of its power where it is uppermost but 't is also out of measure tyrannical There have been too many Tyrants in the World but never was there such an one as Sin all the Nero's Caligula's Domitians c. that ever lived were nothing to it this first acted the part of a Tyrant in them before they acted the part of Tyrants over others The tyranny of Sin appears in many things I 'le instance in a Few 1. Its Commands are innumerable there 's no end of its Laws and * In corruptissimâ Republicâ plurimae Leges Tacit. multiplicity of Laws always speaks either a bad people or a bad Prince 2. Its Commands are contrary one Law thwarts another the poor Sinner under its dominion is haled contrary ways that he scarce knows whether to go or what to do Lust clashes with Lust one draws one way and another another so that the poor inslaved Soul is at a loss and knows not how to please all Tit. 3.3 serving divers Lusts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divers for their Number and divers for their Nature and Kind also O quam multos habet Dominos qui unum non habet how many Lords and Masters hath he who hath not Christ onely for his Lord 3. 'T is very rigorous in its demands it must have full Obedience or none at all Eph. 2.3 fulfilling the Lusts of the flesh partial and half-Obedience will neither satisfie an holy God nor an unholy Nature and as God for whom the All is too little so Sin too for which the least is too much is for the doing of all it requires 4. Its Commands are never at an end Let the poor bondman sin to day he must sin again to morrow and so on in infinitum yea the more he doth in obedience to it the more it grows upon him in its Commands just as Tyrants and hard Masters use to do 5. When Sin once gets upon the throne 't is so imperious and cruel that its Vassals must stick at nothing Be the thing never so base the costs and hazards never so great yet if Sin calls for the doing of it it must be done Sinners you must waste you Estates blast your Credit impair your Health destroy your Bodies damn your Souls you must part with God peace of Conscience Heaven it self you must quit all that is good and venture all that is bad in its service and in compliance with its Edicts ô what an imperious insolent insatiable thing is Sin here 's the Tyrant indeed both in Titulo and also in Exercitio And now is not the poor unregenerate Sinner very miserable who lives under such a Tyrant is not his bondage exceeding great who that is not highly besotted would be willing to continue under Sins power that may be brought under the holy gracious excellent government of the Lord Jesus 3. Thirdly the Evil of this bondage arising from the Law of sin appears from its principal Subject 't is a Soul-bondage Of all Evils Soul evils are the worst Soul-famin is the worst famin Soul-death the worst death Soul-plagues the worst plagues and so here Soul-bondage is the worst bondage The bondage of Israel in Egypt was very evil yet not comparable to this which I am upon because that was but corporal and external but this is spiritual and internal when the best part is inslav'd that must needs be the worst slavery There may be a servile condition without and yet a free and generous Soul within as * Errat siquis existimat servitutem in totum hominem descendere pars melior ejus excepta est corpora obnoxia sunt adscripta Dominis mens sui juris est c. Sen. de Benef. l. 3. c. 20. Seneca observes of Servants but if the Soul it self be under servitude then the whole man the very top of man all is in servitude Sin is of so proud and aspiring a nature that no place will serve it for its pallace or principal Seat but the very Soul ô there it delights to have its residence and to exercise its dominion And this is its subtilty as well as its pride for it knows if it can but rule the Soul that then the Soul will easily rule the Body as the main Fort within the Town being gained that will with ease command all the outward Forts And 't is the whole Soul too that Sin must have God who made it will have the whole Heart and Sin which designs to enslave it will have the whole Heart too 't is not satisfied with this or that Faculty but all must be subject to it it must reign in the Vnderstanding
say yet lies upon the Law Be you who you will Believers or unbelievers regenerate or unregenerate the Law is of marvellous use to you 'T is a rule to all whether they be good or bad and as so none are exempted from it as is by several Divines sufficiently proved against the Antinomists and it hath too very good and useful effects upon all whether called or uncalled Saints or Sinners Our Apostle who here doth so much depress the Law in respect of Justification doth elsewhere in other respects speak much of its usefulness Rom. 3.19 Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Rom. 7.7 What shall we say then is the Law sin God forbid Nay I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Gal. 3.19 24. Wherefore then serveth the Law it was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the Promise was made and it was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith I must not launch out into this vast Ocean you have variety of * Taytor's Reg. Vitae Burg. Vind. Legis Boltons Bounds c. Baxter in several Treat with divers Others Facessat longè ex animis nostris profana ista Opinio Legem non este regulam Est enim inflexibilis vivendi regula Calvin Treatises upon this Argument namely to prove that the Law is still a Rule and still very useful in those great effects which have been mentioned I refer you to them for further satisfaction This I only touch upon as it lies in my way both that I may prevent dangerous mistakes and also shew you how you are to carry it towards the Law O let it be highly esteemed reverenced honoured by you yea bless God for it for though indeed 't is weak and unprofitable as the Covenant of Works yet as 't is a Rule and as it produces such effects upon the Conscience so 't is of great use and highly beneficial So much for the 2d Vse Thirdly Use 3. Was the Law thus unable to do for the Sinner what was necessary to be done then never look for Righteousness and Life from and by the Law For as to these it cannot do your work unless you could do its work it cannot justifie or save you unless you could perfectly obey and fulfil it O pray expect little from it nay nothing at all in this way you cannot answer its expectations and it cannot answer yours It highly concerns every man in the world to make sure of righteousness and life but where are these to be had only in Christ in the way of believing not in the Law in the way of doing We would fain make the Law stronger than indeed it is and 't is natural to us to look for a righteousness from it because there was our righteousness at first and that suits best with the pride of our hearts Man is not so averse to the Law in point of obedience but he is as apt to rest upon the Law for Heaven and Happiness if he can but do something which the Law requires O this he looks upon as a sufficient Righteousness and as a good Plea for Heaven Especially when Conscience is a little awakened then the poor Creature betakes himself to his doing to his obedience to the Law and this he thinks will do his work till God lets him see his great mistake As 't is * Hos 5.13 said When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judab saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Jareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound just so 't is with the convinced Sinner in reference to the Law both as to his practise and also as to his success I would not be mistaken in what I have said or shall further say as if I did design to take off any from Obedience to the Law God forbid all that I aim at is only to take men off from trusting in that obedience and from leaning upon that as their Righteousness We should be doers of the Law for * Rom. 2.13 not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified yea we should go as far as ever we can in our endeavours after a Law-righteousness for though that be not sufficient to justifie us before God yet that must make us righteous in his eye * Vide Burg. of Justif 2d p. Serm. 22. p. 215. as to qualitative and inherent righteousness and so we are to understand that Text with many others of the same import * Deut. 6.25 It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as he hath commanded us But yet when we have gone the furthest the Righteousness which we are to rely upon is only the Gospel Righteousness or the imputed Righteousness of the Lord Jesus if we take up with any thing short of that we are * O nos miseros si vel tantillum nostra salus basi tam infirmá nitatur Beza in 1 Joh. 1.8 miserable and lost for ever As to the Law is it thus weak or rather are you thus weak and yet will you bottom your expectation and confidence there can you fulfil or satisfie it in its demands of perfect personal universal constant Obedience If you cannot then which nothing more certain it can never then do your business nay upon the least failure it will be your enemy to plead against you for the non-performance of its Conditions and so though it cannot as a Friend do you much good yet as an Enemy it can and will do you much hurt What a sad case is the legalist in the Law condemns him because he doth no more obey and the Gospel condemns him because he doth no more believe he 's lost on every hand O this is woful And yet how many precious Souls split themselves upon this rock millions of men look no higher than the Law that is the foundation upon which they build their confidence for Life and Salvation Could we but get into them and be privy to the Grounds of their Hope we should find that 't is not Christ and Faith in him but the Law and some imperfect Obedience thereunto upon which they bottom they deal honestly wrong no body live unblameably make some external Profession perform such duties are thus and thus charitable to the poor c. and hereupon they are confident of their Salvation Now I deny not but that these are very good things I wish there was more of them yet when any rest in them or upon them for Righteousness and Life they set them
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
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
and in the following words was to set forth the excellency of the Gospel which he calls Godliness because its main sâ—ope and tendency is to that and how doth he do it why by the glorious mysteries held forth therein of some of which he there gives a particular enumeration As to the height and verity of which mysteries he saith Without controversie c. confessedly beyond all dispute or denial these are mysteries indeed 't is as if he had said I know the poor Heathens pretend to great and high mysteries but indeed they are so far from being high mysteries that they are no mysteries at all they being but the fancies of deluded men but saith he I 'le tell you of mysteries that are both real and sublime which are so beyond all contradiction Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness c. But how doth he make that appear he makes it out in some instances and his first instance is in the Incarnation of the Son of God Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh c. O there 's a mystery indeed a transcendent mystery one which all the Gentiles cannot parallel A very Learned * Jac. Gothofredus in 1 Tim. 3.15 16. in Critic vol. 7. p. 3770. c. Author in a very learned Discourse upon this whole Verse proves that Paul therein throughout had his eye upon the Gentile-Rites Customs pretentions to mysteries c. especially upon those amongst the Greeks and amongst them especially upon those in their Eleusinia sacra which above all others were in highest repute at that time when the Apostle wrote this Epistle Now therefore against them he sets down the great mysteries of the Gospel and Christianity which certainly were infinitely to be preferred before the other The making out of this was our Apostles design according to the Opinion of the forenamed Author in every branch of the Words but I 'le go no farther than the first that only suiting with the thing I am upon And there are in it four things to prove the thing in hand 1 As to Gospel-mysteries the true God was the object of them and concern'd in them but the Gentiles in their mysteries had to do with those which by nature were no Gods which were but called Gods as they are described Gal. 4.8 1 Cor. 8.5 2. In Gospel mysteries one God only was the object of them and Christians had to do with this one and only true God but the Gentiles in their mysteries had to do with variety and multiplicity of Gods and so indeed with no God for many Gods are no God 1 Cor. 8.5 6. Though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth as there be Gods many and Lords many But to us there is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 't is God one God manifested c. 3. In Gospel mysteries there 's a God as incarnate commemorated and remembred in them in the Gentile-mysteries it was not so In them they had some notions and made some commemorations of their Gods but how only as common benefactors as giving them bread and wine and corn c but they went no higher but now Christians under the Gospel they commemorate God as taking flesh and suffering in that flesh for their good O there 's mercy indeed a mystery indeed 4. Whereas the Gentiles in their mysteries pretended such and such apparitions of their Gods in opposition to these the Apostle sets down the great and glorious appearance and manifestation of Christ He was indeed manifested in the flesh for he was so manifested in the flesh as to be made flesh his was not an appearance only but a real assumption there 's a mystery indeed In these respects the Apostle advances the mysteries of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion above those which the blind Gentiles were such admirers of in their idolatrous way Well! we who know and believe these things what high thoughts should we have of the Gospel and of the Christian Religion how should we adore and magnifie God for his infinite mercy to us in bringing of us under that revelation and that Faith wherein this unparallel'd mystery of a Christ incarnate is made known and embrac'd Of the excellency of the Flesh and Manhood of Christ 2. Secondly this further informs us of the excellency and glory of Christ's Flesh and Manhood from the premises it clearly appears that that is and needs must be superlatively great Was Christ himself sent in flesh did God's own Son assume and so assume flesh O what a lustre and glory must there be upon that flesh or body which such a person doth so assume 'T is call'd after its being glorified in him a glorious body Phil. 3.21 but 't was a glorious body long before even from the first moment of its formation and assumption 'T is true its glory whilst 't was here on earth did not shine forth in its full brightness there was a vail and covering upon it during the state of Christ's Humiliation but yet even then 't was full of glory though the fulness of its glory did not appear as the Sun is very glorious even when 't is hid under a cloud And indeed 't was requisite not only from the state of his abasement but also from the weakness of those with whom he was to converse that here he should very much keep in its glory for we see when at his transfiguration he let it break forth in a more than ordinary manner the beholders thereof could not well bear it it fill'd them with consternation read Matth. 17.1 c. But yet upon its miraculous framing its unstain'd and unspotted sanctity its neer union with the Godhead even here I say its glory was exceeding great O what a sight will it be in heaven to see this body of Christ in all its splendor and to see him in this Flesh sitting at the right hand of God! As he was at first sent in it 't was but mean in external appearance and to meer sense but now he is ascended and hath carried it up with him and 't is plac'd at the right hand of God so 't is an Object so glorious that 't is fit only for a glorify'd eye to behold And doth the Body of Christ engross all this glory hath his Soul no part or share therein yes surely it may rather be ask'd hath not that the greatest share it being the better and nobler part and capable of that of which the Body is not If God prepare so excellent a body hee 'l be sure answerably to prepare as excellent a soul to dwell in that body as they that build stately houses will put in inhabitants that shall be answerable to them Imagine a Soul untouch'd and unblemish'd with sin fully and perfectly sanctify'd fill'd with grace
occur in Scripture 2 King 3.27 2 King 17.31 2 King 23.10 2 Chron. 28.3 Jer. 7.31 Jer. 19.5 Jer. 32.35 Psal 106.37 38. Levit. 18.21 Levit. 20.2 In other things the Heathens borrowed from the Jews in this the Jews from the Heathens Upon the whole then it appears that Scripture and Nature do both concur in that notion of expiatory Sacrifices which I have insisted upon and surely in the applying of it to Christ the grand expiatory Sacrifice the Gospel is exceeding clear So that when we assert his substitution in the stead of Sinners his dying for them his atoning God and expiating Sin by his death and blood we say nothing but what Jews and Heathens in their expiatory Sacrifices apprehended believed and acted upon They then who differ in these things as to the general nature use and end of such Sacrifices they differ not only from us but from all mankind of whom it might be expected they would better agree with Heathens since they do so ill agree with Christians Of the Second Enquiry when and where Christ was this expiatory Sacrifice I have dispatch'd the First Enquiry What a kind of Sacrifice Christ was the Second follows when and where he was such a Sacrifice To which I answer when he was here on earth and especially when he died upon the Cross then and there he was this expiatory Sacrifice All are not of my mind herein the Enemy who way-lays me in every step I take in these great Truths is upon me again and forces me to defend my self or rather the Truth I have laid down * Socin de Serv. p. 2. c. 12 15. Smale de Divin Christi c. 23. Gatech Racov. de Mun. Christi Sacerd. Quaest 2. He saith Christ's being thus a Sacrifice points to his being in Heaven and to what he there doth that his death here was but a preparation to his Sacrifice as there to be made or but an antecedent Condition to his having of power there to expiate sin with much more to that purpose Here then lies the difference between us and S we say Christ's being the expiatory Sacrifice belongs to that part of his Priestly-Office which he executed here upon earth they make it to refer to that part of his Priestly-Office which he now executes in Heaven we time it in Christ's dying upon the Cross they in his sitting upon the Throne Now that I may at once prove what is true and also confute what is false I argue thus 1. It appears that here Christ's Sacrifice was exhibited or that here he made his expiatory Offering because the Scripture speaks of it as a thing that is past and antecedent to his exaltation and glory and therefore it must be done here on earth and not in Heaven Eph. 5.2 and hath given himself for us an Offering a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Heb. 1.3 when he had by himself purged our sins he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high mark it the Sacrifice-purgation or expiation of sin was over and done and then Christ's exaltation in Heaven followed after Heb. 9.12 Neither by the blood of Goats and Calves but by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained not to obtain eternal redemption for us Heb. 10.12 But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God he did not first sit down on the right hand of God and then offer up his Sacrifice for sins but he first offered and then he sat down on the right hand of God 2. When the Scripture speaks of Christ's expiation of sin by the Sacrifice of himself it speaks of it as a thing done but once therefore it must refer to his death which was but once not to his intercession or any other act in Heaven which is a * Heb. 7.25 continued repeated and reiterated act Heb. 9.26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Vers 28. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 7.27 this he did once when he offered up himself Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all Doth this once agree with any thing that he now doth in Heaven 3. If Christ had not dispatch'd his expiatory work at his death why did he then say * Joh. 19.30 It is finished if his expiating of sin was yet to come and to be done in Heaven how could he with truth have spoken these words that all was finished when the great thing was yet undone 4. That of the Apostle is pertinent to our purpose Heb. 10.5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me c. wherefore did Christ come into the world why to be a Sacrifice and to do that which the old Sacrifices could not God was e'ene weary of them could no longer * Heb. 10.8 take pleasure in them he will have Christ the better Sacrifice to come into the world which accordingly he did I but what was the world into which he came surely it must be this lower world for it must be understood of that world into which he came to do the Will of God as appears Vers 7.9 now that was this World below rather than that above for where do we reade that Christ ascended into the upper World to do the Will of God especially this Will of God referring to his assuming a body and offering up that body Vers 5.10 these were things to be done only on this lower stage of earth whence then it follows that here his Sacrifice was made 5. There was as hath been observ'd to be an analogie and resemblance 'twixt Christ's Sacrifice and the Levitical Sacrifices and he was to expiate in that way wherein they did expiate but if you do not place his Sacrifice in his death where will that analogie be or how will he expiate in that way wherein they did What is there in Christ as in Heaven that carries any resemblance to the killing slaying shedding the blood offering of the Levitical Sacrifices There he sits in great glory puts forth his Regal power is Head of Church c. but what 's all this to suffering dying pouring out his blood wherein he was to answer to those Sacrifices Doth the Scripture lay so much upon his death and blood for expiation and yet shall that be done where there is none of these 'T will be said there 's this in Christ in Heaven to carry resemblance to the old Sacrifices their blood was carried by the High-Priest into the Holy of Holy's and there sprinkled by him towards the Mercy-seat upon which expiation and atonement followed now parallel to this Christ
hope and faith but whoever thou art if thou beest a sincere Christian thou mayst believe it and be sure of it For Christ took thy flesh purchased heaven for thee in thy flesh ascended up to heaven in thy flesh and is there glorify'd in thy flesh and therefore may'st not thou assuredly hope that thou also thy self in thine own flesh shalt go to God and have it glorify'd in its measure as well as the Flesh of Christ is what encouragement is here for faith By Christ incarnate we do not only see that the Humane Nature is capable of the future blessedness but we have thereby ground of full assurance of it for what could he aim at in his being so short of Heaven In our Nature he both purchas'd it and also took possession of it and all for us Heb. 6.20 Whether the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec He being glorified * Est in ipso Jesu Christo unius cujusque nostrum portio Caro sanguis Ubi ergo portio mea regnat ibi me regnare credo ubi caro mea glorificatur ibi gloriosum me esse cognosco c. Aug. Medit. c. 15. in him we are glorify'd as he rose as a publick Head so he was glorified as a publick Head too He who hath so advanc'd our Nature will in time advance our persons his Incarnation which is past secures our Glorification which is to come 'T was more for Christ to come down to earth than 't is for him to carry us up to heaven if he will condescend to be like to us in his humiliation he will have us to be like to him in his exaltation * Quid futurus est Homo propter quem Deus factus est Homo Prosper What can be too high for man when for him God was made Man Well Believers Christ being sent in flesh what can now be too great for your faith you have great and glorious things in your eye but do not in the least question the accomplishment of them all is made easie credible nay certain upon Christ's Incarnation that being done all shall be done this is the third thing for the Comfort of God's people Vpon Christ's Incarnation God is knowable and accessible 4. Fourthly was Christ sent in Flesh there 's this in it for the strengthning of Faith and the heightning of Joy that God is now knowable accessible 'T is beyond all contradiction some may say a blessed thing to know God I but who can know him can any see God and live can a finite eye take a view of such an infinite Majesty the least ray of which out-shines the Sun in its greatest brightness what Man to know God alas poor creature his weak faculties will not bear the beholding of so glorious an Object To which I answer all this in such a sense is very true yet let not humble Souls be discouraged for this notwithstanding they may yet know God savingly and comfortably though not perfectly In and by a Jesus in flesh the great God is knowable partly as he by Christ so considered is most clearly manifested in Christ God-Man we have the brightest objective manifestation of God The whole Creation though thereby much may be known of God as you reade Rom. 1.20 makes no such discoveries of him as Christ doth therefore he 's said for this is one explication which the words will very well bear to be the brightness of his Father's Glory Heb. 1.3 and hence some stile him Speculum Patris the glass wherein the Father in the most cleer and lively manner is represented He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Joh. 14.9 and the Apostle speaks of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face i.e. in and by the Manhood of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 Partly too as Christ in our flesh is a fit medium to transmit God as knowable to us Indeed God as consider'd absolutely and in himself is so infinitely above us that we cannot here immediately behold him so his Glory his immense and infinite perfections should they be let out upon us would soon reduce us to our first nothing But he being consider'd in Christ so mediately through Christ we can look upon him see him and live in this way the Majesty of God is as it were so refracted temper'd and qualified that the poor dimme eye of the creature may behold it As we cannot immediately look upon the body of the Sun so its splendor and intense light presently dazzles us yet we can look upon it in a pail of water so here we cannot immediately behold God in the brightness of his Glory a finite faculty must needs be dazzled by an infinite Majesty yet take him in the Flesh and Manhood of Christ there his Glory is so brought down to us that we can see him and know him to our comfort Christ Man interposes not only between us and God's Anger to skreen us from it that we be not thereby consum'd but also between us and God's Majesty that we may not be overwhelm'd by the infiniteness of it he lets it out as our capacity will bear and so by him God becomes knowable he both carry's us up to God and also brings down God to us O study God much but then be sure you study him in Christ incarnate in that way you may come to the knowledge of him * Per illam Unionem Hypostaticam assumptionem Humanae Naturae factum collyrium per quod oculis penè ipsis Divinitas cerneretur Aug. Tract 3. in Joh. Augustine saith by the Hypostatical Vnion of the Humane Nature with the Divine there is such a collyrium or eye-salve made for us that we may with these very eyes almost see the Deity how should we rejoyce in the Manhood of Christ By that flesh in which the Godhead was sometimes hid 't is now reveal'd that which was once a vail to cover it is now a glass to represent it do but know Christ and you will know God I add God is now accessible Christians Christ having taken your flesh carried it up with him to heaven sitting in it at the right hand of God and therein interceding for you through him you may now go to God and that too with all holy boldness and confidence You have not to do with a Deus absolutus which Luther so much dreaded but with God through a Mediator and which may be a great encouragement to your Faith that Mediator is the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 You go to God and you go by God as clothed with your Nature 't is Deus quà itur Deus quo itur the God to whom you go commands your reverence the God-man by whom you go incourages your confidence O that you would more explicitly in Duty revive upon your thoughts Christ's Mediation and Intercession in heaven in your Nature surely that
would much embolden you in your addresses to God Eph. 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him Heb. 4.14 16. Seeing we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 10.19 20 21 22. Having therefore 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 vail that is to say his flesh and having an High Priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Had Joseph's Brethren known that their own brother had been so near to Pharaoh with what confidence would they have addressed themselves to him Believers Christ your Brother who is flesh of your flesh is at God's right hand as the great Master of Requests the great Dispenser of Mercies why do you not more improve this for the emboldening of your Spirits when in Prayer you go to God 'T is a great thing for the Saints Comfort to consider how things were formerly under the Law and how they are now under the Gospel Then God carried it in a way of greater state and majesty then he kept a greater distance and was more hardly accessible see how the Apostle sets it forth Heb. 9.1 c. Then verily the first Covenant had also Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary For there was a Tabernacle made the first wherein was the Candlestick c. and after the second vail the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all Which had the golden Censer c. Now when these things were thus ordained the Priests went alwayes into the first Tabernacle accomplishing the Service of God But into the second went the high Priest alone once every year not without blood which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people The Apostle here takes notice of the partition or division of the Tabernacle for the * Of this and of the whole Tabernacle see Joseph Antiq. Jud. l. 3. c. 5. Atrium or outer Court where the people used to be that he speaks not of only he meddles with the first and second Tabernacle where the ordinary Priests and the high Priest did officiate Now he saith the first of these were to go no further than the first Tabernacle the People might not go so far the high Priest might go into the second Tabernacle the Sanctum Sanctorum but how with great restrictions he must go alone but * Austine whom Sigonius follows differs in his interpretation of this Quod autem scriptum est Pontificem sèmel in Anno solum Sancta esse ingressum S. Augustinus interpretatur eum quotidie quidem ingressum esse propter incensum ac semel in Anno propter expiationem cum sanguine purificationis Verùm possumus etiam dicere eum quotidiè quidem Sanctuarium esse ingressum sed Sacerdotum comitatu stipatum semel autem in Anno solum i.e. sine Sacerdotibus in die expiationum Sigon de Rep. Hebrae l. 5. c. 2. For this Opinion he is severely taken up by P. Cunaeus de Rep. Heb. l. 1. c. 4. once a year and that too not without blood see Exod. 30.10 Levit. 16. and God was so strict about this that it was as much as his life was worth even for him at any other time to venture into the Holy of Holy's Levit. 16.2 The Lord said unto Moses speak unto Aaron thy brother that he come not at all times into the Holy place within the vail before the Mercy-seat which is upon the Ark that he die not for I will appear in the cloud upon the Mercy-seat Well! not to instance in the restraints laid upon the Priests Levites c. which the Word also mentions what might God's meaning be in this see Vers 8. The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while that the way into the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first Tabernacle was yet standing as if the Apostle had said let not any wonder that God then would keep men at such a distance here was the reason of it or the mystery which was at the bottom of it Christ was not yet come the true Tabernacle was not as yet erected the first Tabernacle was only then standing Christ had not assum'd the Nature of Man thereby to make way for man freely to go to God therefore the way to the Holiest of all was not yet made manifest But now under the Gospel Christ being incarnate and gone to heaven in our flesh now all may go to God freely the way to him is open every believer in the world may now enter into the Holy of Holy's all former restraints and distances are now taken away Mark the Scripture cited already Heb. 10.19 20. 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 vail that is to say his flesh By this flesh Christ's Humane Nature or Christ in the Humane Nature is unquestionably meant which he calls the vail in allusion to that in the Tabernacle wherein there was a twofold vail one that covered the Ark Exod. 40.3 And cover the Ark with the vail the other which separated betwixt the Atrium and the first Tabernacle as also betwixt the first Tabernacle and the second Exod. 26.33 And the vail shall divide unto you between the Holy place and the most Holy so Heb. 9.3 And after the second vail the Tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all to which he also alludes Heb. 6.19 which entreth into that which is within the vail Now with respect to these vails Christ's Flesh or Manhood is set forth by the vail 1. as his Godhead for a time was hid and covered under it 2. as believers through this do go to God as it is the way into the Holiest And so 't is here brought in for he saith by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh You see what these Texts drive at and what the Apostle draws from them viz. that Saints now upon the Manhood of Christ should with boldness enter into the Holiest and draw neer to God with full assurance of Faith this is their unspeakable priviledge under the Gospel which they should improve and rejoyce in This is the fourth thing for Comfort God is now knowable and accessible The Humane Nature is by Christ's Incarnation highly dignify'd and advanc'd 5. Fifthly This cannot but be exceedingly delightful to us to consider the advancement and dignity