were likewise judicially Dead Dead in Law being Condemned by the just Sentence of it So soon as ever we sinned Eternal Death was by the Sentence of God's Law become our due Portion and Reward and this being our Case God in tender Commiseration and Pity to Mankind was pleased to send his Son into the World to inter pose between the Justice of God and the Demerits of Men and by reversing the Sentence that was gone out against us and procuring a Pardon for us to rescue us from the Misery of Eternal Death and not only so but upon the condition of Faith and Repentance of Obedience and a Holy Life to bestow Eternal Life upon us and by this means to restore us to a better Condition than that from which we were fallen and to advance us to a Happiness greater than that of Innocency And was not this great Love to design and provide so great a Benefit and Blessing for us to send his Son Jesus to bless us in turning away every one of us from our Iniquities Our Blessed Saviour who came from the bosom of his Father and knew his tender Affection and Compassion to Mankind speaks of this as a most wonderful and unparallell'd expression of his Love to us John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son God so loved the world so greatly so strangely so beyond our biggest hopes nay so contrary to all reasonable expectation as to send his only-begotten Son to seek and to save the sinful Sons of Men. If it had only in general been declared to us that God was about to send his Son into the World upon some great design and been left to us to conjecture what his Errand and Business should be how would this have alarmed the guilty Consciences of sinful Men and fill'd them with infinite Jealousies and Suspicion with fearful expectations of Wrath and fiery Indignation to consume them For considering the great Wickedness and Degeneracy of Mankind what could we have thought but that surely God was sending his Son upon a design of vengeance to Chastise a Sinful World to Vindicate the Honour of his despised Laws and to revenge the multiplyed Affronts which had been offered to the highest Majesty of Heaven by his Pitiful and Ungrateful Creatures Our own Guilt would have been very apt to have fill'd us with such Imaginations as these that in all likelihood the Son of God was coming to Judgment to call the Wicked World to an Account to proceed against his Father's Rebels to pass Sentence upon them and to Execute the Vengeance which they had deserved This we might justly have dreaded and indeed considering our Case how ill we have deserved at God's Hands and how highly we have provoked him what other weighty Matter could we hope for But the Goodness of God hath strangely out-done our Hopes and deceived our Expectation so it follows in the next Words God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world intimating that this we might justly have imagin'd and feared but upon a quite contrary Design that through him the world might be saved What a surprize of Kindness is here that instead of sending his Son to condemn us he should send him into the world to save us to rescue us from the Jaws of Death and of Hell from that Eternal and Intolerable Misery which we had incurred and deserved And if he had proceeded no farther this had been wonderful Mercy and Kindness But his Love stopt not here it was not contented to spare us and free us from Misery but was restless till it had found out a way to bring us to Happiness for God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son not only that whosoever believes in him might not perish but might have everlasting life This is the Second Evidence of God's great Love to us the greatness of the Blessing and Benefit which he had designed and provided for us that we might live through him not only be delivered from Spiritual and Eternal Death but be made partakers of Eternal Life III. The last Evidence of God's great Love to us which I mentioned was this that God was pleased to use such a Means for the obtaining and procuring of this great Blessing and Benefit he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him And this will appear to be great Love indeed if we consider these Four things 1. The Person whom he was pleased to employ upon this Design he sent his only-begotten Son 2. How much he abased him in Order to the effecting and accomplishing of this Design implyed in these words he sent him into the World 3. If we consider to whom he was sent to the World And 4. That he did all this voluntarily and freely out of his meer Pity and Goodness not constrain'd hereto by any Necessity not prevail'd upon by any Application or Importunity of ours nor oblig'd by any Benefit or Kindness from us 1. Let us consider the Person whom God was pleased to employ in this Design he sent his only-begotten Son no less Person than his own Son and no less dear to him than his only-begotten Son 1. No less Person than his own Son and the Dignity of the Person that was employed in our behalf doth strangely heighten and set off the Kindness What an Endearment is it of the Mercy of our Redemption that God was pleased to employ upon this Design no meaner Person than his own Son his begotten Son so he is called in the Text his Son in so peculiar a Manner as no Creature is or can be the Creatures below Man are call'd the Works of God but never his Children the Angels are in Scripture call'd the Sons of God and Adam likewise is call'd the Son of God because God made him after his own Image and Likeness in Holiness and Righteousness and in his Dominion and Sovereignty over the Creatures below him But this Title of begotten Son of God was never given to any of the Creatures Man or Angel for unto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee as the Apostle Reasons Heb. 1.5 He must be a great Person indeed to whom this Title belongs of the begotten Son of God and it must be a mighty Love indeed which moved God to employ so great a Person on the behalf of so pitiful and wretched Creatures as we are It had been a mighty Condescension for God to treat with us at all but that no less Person than his own Son should be the Embassadour is an astonishing Regard of Heaven to poor sinful Dust and Ashes 2 This Person was as dear to God as he was great he was his only-begotten Son It had been a great Instance of Abraham's Love and Obedience to God to have sacrificed a Son at his Command but this Circumstance makes it much greater that it was his only Son hereby
now remains but to apply this to our selves 1. Let us propound to our selves the Love of God for our Pattern and Example This is the Inference which the Apostle makes in the next Verse but one after the Text Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another One would have thought the Inference should have been if God so loved us then we ought also to love him But the Apostle doth not speak so much of the Affection as the Effect of Love and his meaning is if God hath bestowed such Benefits upon us we ought in imitation of him to be kind and beneficial one to another Not but that we ought to love God with all our hearts and souls and strength but in this Sense we are not capable of it We cannot be beneficial to him because he is self-sufficient and stands in need of nothing and therefore the Apostle adds this as a Reason why he does not Exhort Men to love God but one another no man hath seen God at any time he is not sensible to us and therefore none of these sensible things can signifie any thing to him But he hath Friends and Relations here in the World who are capable of the sensible Effects of our Love and to whom we may shew kindness for his sake we cannot be beneficial to God but we may testifie our Love to him by our Kindness and Charity to Men who are made after the Image of God and if we see any one Miserable that is Consideration enough to move our Charity There was nothing but this in us to move him to Pity us when we were in our blood and no eye pitied us God is a Pattern of the most generous Kindness and Charity Tho' he be infinitely above us yet he thought it not below him to confider our Case and to employ his only Son to Save us he had no Obligation to us no Expectation of Advantage from us and can never be in a possibility to stand in need of us and yet he loved us and hath conferred the greatest Benefits upon us So that no Man can have deserved so ill at our hands but that if he be in want and we in a Condition to help him he ought to come within the Compass and Consideration of our Charity And this is the proper Season for it when we Commemorate the greatest Blessing and Benefit that was ever conferred on Mankind The Son of God sent into the world on purpose to redeem and save us And therefore I cannot but very much commend the Custom of Feeding and Relieving the Poor more especially at this time when the Poor do usually stand most in need of it and when we Commemorate the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who being rich became poor for our sakes that we through his poverty might be made rich 2. Let us readily comply with the great Design of this great Love of God to Mankind He hath sent his Son that we might live through him But tho' he had done all this for us tho' he hath purchased so great Blessings for us as the Pardon of our Sins and Power against them and Eternal Life and Happiness yet there is something to be done on our parts to make us Partakers of these Benefits God hath not so loved us as to send his Son into the World to carry Men to Heaven whether they will or no and to rescue those from the slavery of the Devil and the Damnation of Hell who are fond of their Fetters and wilfully run themselves upon Ruin and Destruction But the Son of God came to offer Happiness to us upon certain Terms and Conditions such as are fit for God to propound and necessary for us to perform to make us capable of the blessedness which he offers as namely repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ a sincere and constant Endeavour of Obedience to the Laws and Precepts of our Holy Religion These are the Terms of the Gospel and the Grace of God which brings Salvation offers it only upon these Terms that we deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present world then we may expect the blessed hope But if we will not submit to these Conditions the Son of God will be no Saviour to us for he is the Author of Eternal Salvation only to them that obey him If Men will continue in their Sins the Redemption wrought by Christ will be of no Advantage to them such as obstinately persist in an impenitent Course Ipsa si velit salus servare non potest Salvation it self cannot save them These are the Conditions of our Happiness and if we submit to them we are Heirs of Eternal Life if we refuse we are Sons of Perdition eternally lost and undone for we may assure our selves that these are the best and easiest Terms that can ever be offered to us because God sent them by his Son This is the last Effort of the Divine Love and Goodness towards the Recovery and Salvation of Men so the Apostle tells us Heb. 1.1 2. that God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake to the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son and if we refuse to hear him he will speak no more After this it is not to be expected that God should make any farther Attempts for our Recovery for he can send no greater nor dearer Person to us than his own Son and if we refuse him whom will we reverence If after this we still wilfully go on in our Sins there remains no more sacrifice for Sin but a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation to consume us 3. With what Joy and Thankfulness should we Commemorate this great Love of God to Mankind in sending his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him This is the proper End of the Blessed Sacrament which we are now going to receive to represent to our Minds the Incarnation and Passion of our dear Lord by the Symbols of his Body broken and his blood shed for us With what acknowledgments should we Celebrate the Memory of this wonderful Love which the Son of God hath shewn to the Sons of Men endeavouring to make all the World in love with him who hath so loved all Mankind When ever we see his Blood poured forth and his Body broken for us so moving a Sight should raise strange Passions in us of love to our Saviour and hatred to our Sins and should inspire us with mighty Resolutions of Service and Obedience to him and when ever the Pledges and Seals of these Benefits are delivered into our Hands the sight of them should at once wound and revive our Hearts and make us to cry out Lord how unworthy am I for whom thou shouldest do and suffer all this I am overcome by thy love and can no longer hold out against the mighty force of such kindness I render my self to thee and will serve thee for ever who hast redeemed me at so dear a rate Now to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb that was slain to God even our Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ the first begotten from the Dead and the Prince of the Kings of the Earth unto him that hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood and hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen FINIS
Sixteen Sermons Preached on Several Subjects and Occasions VIZ. The Presence of the Messias the Glory of the Second Temple Christ Jesus the Only Mediator betwixt God and Men. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels The Reputation of Good Men after Death The Duty of Imitating Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity The Encouragement to suffer for Christ and the Danger of Denying him The Blessedness of Good Men after Death The Vanities and Wickedness of honouring dead Saints and Persecuting the Living The Danger of Zeal without Knowledge The Best Men liable to the Worst Temptations from mistaken Zealots The Duty and Reason of Praying for Governors The Love of God to Men in the Incarnation of Christ By the Most Reverend Dr. JOHN TILLOTSON Late Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Being The SECOND VOLUME Published from the Originals By Ralph Barker D.D. Chaplain to his Grace The Second Edition Corrected LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCC The CONTENTS SERMON I. The Presence of the Messias the Glory of the Second Temple Preached on Christmas-Day Haggai II. 6 7 8 9. FOR thus saith the Lord of hosts yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts pag. 1. SERMON II. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. Preached on the Feast of the Annuntiation 1691. 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all p. 37. SERMON III IV. Christ Jesus the only Mediator between God and Men. 1 Tim. II. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all p. 63 87. SERMON V. The General and Effectual Publication of the Gospel by the Apostles Preached on Ascension-Day 1688. Mark XVI 19 20. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right Hand of God And they went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following p. 117. SERMON VI. The Nature Office and Employment of Good Angels Preached on the Feast of St. Michael Heb. I. 14. Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation p. 153. SERMON VII The Reputation of Good Men after Death Preached on St. Luke's-Day Psal CXII 6. The latter part of the Verse The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance p. 193 SERMON VIII The Duty of imitating the Primitive Teachers and Patterns of Christianity Preached on All-Saints Day 1684. Heb. XIII 7. The latter Part of the Verse Whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation The whole Verse runs thus Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation p. 221 SERMON IX The Encouragement to suffer for Christ and the Danger of denying him Preached on All-Saints Day 2 Tim. II. 11 12. It is a faithful saying For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him If we suffer we shall also reign with him If we deny him he also will deny us p. 249 Two SERMONS X XI The Blessedness of Good Men after Death Both Preached on All-Saints Day Rev. XIV 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them p. 305 SERMON XII The Vanities and Wickedness of honouring dead Saints and Persecuting the Living Preached on All-Saints Day Luke XI 49 50 51. Therefore also said the Wisdom of God I will send them Prophets and Apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute That the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the Altar and the Temple Verily I say unto you it shall be required of this generation p. 331. SERMON XIII The Danger of Zeal without Knowledge Preached on November 5. 1682. Rom. X. 2. I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge p. 353 SERMON XIV The best Men liable to the worst Treatment from mistaken Zealots Preached November 5. 1686. John XVI 2. They shall put you out of the Synagogues Yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service p. 383 SERMON XV. The Duty and Reason of Praying for Governors Preached on the 29th of May 1693. 1 Tim. II 1 2. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty p. 413 SERMON XVI The Love of God to Men in the Incarnation of Christ Preached in the Chapel at Lambeth-House on Christmas-Day 1691. 1 John XIV 9. In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him p. 445 Serm. I SERMON I. The Presence of the Messias the Glory of the Second Temple Preached on Christmas Day Haggai II. 6 7 8 9. For thus saith the Lord of hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts The silver is mine and the gold is mine saith the Lord of hosts The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts THE Author of this Prophecy was the first of the three Prophets which God sent to the People of Israel after the Captivity VOL. II. and this Prophecy contains several Messages from God to the Princes and Elders and People of Israel in which he reproves their slackness and negligence in the building of the Temple and encourageth them thereto by the promise of his assistance and tells them that however in respect of the magnificence of the Building and the rich Ornaments of it it should be incomparably short of
his Will which he denied to many Prophets and righteous men who desired to see the things which we see but could not see them and to hear the things which we hear but could not hear them There were good Men in the World under those imperfect Revelations which God made to them but we have far greater Advantages and more powerful Arguments to be Good than ever they had And as we ought thankfully to acknowledge these blessed Advantages so ought we likewise with the greatest Care and Diligence to improve them And now how does the serious Consideration of this Condemn all Impenitent Sinners under the Gospel who will not be reclaimed from their Sins and perswaded to Goodness by all that God can do by the most plain Declaration of his Will to the World by the most perfect Precepts and Directions for a good Life by the most encouraging Promises to Obedience and by the most severe Threatnings of an Eternal and Unutterable Ruin in case of disobedience by the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men by the Terrors of the great day and the Vengeance of Eternal Fire by the wonderful and amazing Condescension of the Son of God appearing in our Nature by his merciful undertaking for the Redemption of lost and sinful Man by his cruel Sufferings for our Sins and by the kindest Offers of Pardon and Reconciliation in his Blood and by the glorious hopes of Eternal Life What could God have done more for us than he hath done What greater concernment could he shew for our Salvation than to send his own son his only son to seek and save us And what greater demonstration could he give of his Love to us than to give the Son of his Love to die for us This is the last Effort that the Divine Mercy and Goodness will make upon Mankind So the Apostle tells us in the beginning of this Epistle chap. 1.1 that God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son And if we will not hear him he will speak no more after this it is not to be expected that he should make any farther Attempts for our recovery he can send no greater and dearer Person to us than his own Son If we despise him whom will we Reverence If we reject him and the great Salvation which he brings and offers to us we have all the reason in the World to believe that our case is desperate and that we shall die in our sins This was the Condemnation of the Jews that they did not receive and believe on him whom God had sent And if we who profess to believe on him and to receive his Doctrine be found disobedient to it in our Lives we have reason to fear that our Condemnation shall be far heavier than theirs For since the appearance of the Son of God for the Salvation of men the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men especially against those who detain the truth of God in unrighteousness that is against those who entertain the Light of God's Truth in their Minds but do not suffer it to have its proper Effect and Influence upon their Hearts and Lives and make that a Prisoner which would make them free So our Lord tells us that the truth shall make us free but if after we have received the knowledge of the truth we are still the servants of sin our Condemnation is much worse than if the Son of God had never come For the Christian Religion hath done nothing if it do not take men off from their Sins and teach them to live well Especially at this time when we are celebrating the coming of the Son of God to destroy the works of the Devil we should take great heed that we be not found guilty of any Impiety and Wickedness because this is directly contrary to the main Design of the grace of God which brings Salvation and hath appeared to all men and the appearance whereof we do at this time commemorate for That teacheth men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godlily in this present world And we cannot gratifie the Devil more than by shewing our selves more diligent than ordinary to uphold his Works at this very time when the Son of God was manifested on purpose to dissolve them We cannot possibly choose a worse a more improper Season to sin in than when we are Celebrating the Birth of the Blessed Jesus who came to save us from our sins This is as if a sick Man for joy that a Famous Physician is come to his House should run into all manner of Excess and so do all he can to enflame his Disease and make his case desperate Not but that our inward Joy may lawfully be accompanied with all outward innocent Expressions of it but we cannot be truly thankful if we allow our selves at this time in any thing contrary to the Purity and Sobriety of the Gospel It is matter of just and sad complaint being of great scandal to our Saviour and his holy Religion that such irregular and extravagant things are at this time commonly cone by many who call themselves Christians and done under a pretence of doing Honour to the Memory of Christ's Birth as if because the Son of God was at this time made Man it were fit for Men to make themselves Beasts If we would honour him indeed we must take care that our Joy do not degenerate into Sin and Sensuality and that we do not express it by Lewdness and Luxury by Intemperance and Excess by prodigal Gaming and profuse wasting of our Estates as the manner of some is as if we intended literally to requite our Saviour who being rich for our sakes became poor This is a way of parting with houses and land and becoming poor for his sake for which he will never thank nor reward us This is not to commemorate the Coming of our Saviour but to contradict it and openly to declare that we will uphold the Works of the Devil in despight of the Son of God who came to destroy them It is for all the World like that lewd and sensless piece of Loyalty too much in fashion some Years ago of being Drunk for the King Good God! that ever it should pass for a piece of Religion among Christians to run into all manner of excess for Twelve days together in honour of our Saviour A greater Aggravation of Sin cannot easily be imagined than to abuse the Memory of the greatest Blessing that ever was Christ coming into the World to take away sin into an opportunity of committing it this is to represent the Son of God as a Patron of Sin and Licentiousness and to treat him more contumeliously than the Jews did who bowed the Knee to him and mocked him and called
his Mercies sake in Jesus Christ who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory Dominion and Power now and for ever Amen SERMON XVI The Love of God to Men in the Incarnation of Christ Preached in the Chapel of Lambeth-House ON Christmas-Day 1691. 1 JOHN IV. 9. In this was manifested the love of Go towards us because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him THESE Words contain a clear and evident Demonstration of the Love of God to us In this was manifested the Love of God towards us VOL. II. that is by this it plainly appears that God had a mighty Love for us That he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him In which we may consider this Three-fold Evidence of God's Love to Mankind I. That he should be pleased to take our Case into Consideration and to concern himself for our Happiness II. That he should design so great a Benefit to us which is here exprest by Life that we might live through him III. That he was pleased to use such a Means for the obtaining and procuring of this Benefit for us he sent his only-begotten Son into the World that we might live through him Each of these singly is a great Evidence of God's Love to us much more all of them together I. It is a great Evidence of the Love of God to Mankind that he was pleased to take our Case into Consideration Serm. XVI and to concern himself for our Happiness Nothing does more commend an Act of Kindness than if there be great Condescension in it We use to value a small Favour if it be done to us by one that is far above us more than a far greater done to us by a mean and inconsiderable Person This made David to break out into such Admiration when he considered the ordinary Providence of God towards Mankind Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou shouldst consider him This is a wonderful Condescension indeed for God to be mindful of Man At the best we are but his Creatures and upon that very Account at an infinite Distance from him so that were not he infinitely Good he would not be concerned for us who are so infinitely beneath the Consideration of his Love and Pity Neither are we of the highest Rank of Creatures we are much below the Angels as to the Excellency and Perfection of our Beings so that if God had not had a peculiar Pity and Regard to the Sons of Men he might have placed his Affection and Care upon a much nobler Order of Creatures than we are and so much the more miserable because they fell from a higher Step of Happiness I mean the lost Angels but yet for Reasons best known to his Infinite Wisdom God past by them and was pleased to consider us This the Apostle to the Hebrews takes notice of as an Argument of God's peculiar and extraordinary Love to Mankind that he sent his Son not to take upon him the Nature of Angels but of the Seed of Abraham Now that he who is so far above us and after that we by wilful Transgression had lost our selves had no Obligation to take Care of us but what his own Godness laid upon him that he should concern himself so much for us and be so solicitous for our Recovery this is a great Evidence of his Kindness and Good-will to us and cannot be imagined to proceed from any other Cause II. Another Evidence of God's great Love to us is that he was pleased to design so great a Benefit for us This the Scripture expresseth to us by Life and it is usual in Scripture to express the best and most desirable things by Life because as it is one of the greatest Blessings so it is the Foundation of all other Enjoyments And therefore the Apostle useth but this one word to express to us all the Blessings and Benefits of Christ's coming into the World God sent his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him And this Expression is very proper to our Case because Life signifies the reparation of all that which was lost by the Fall of Man For Man by his willful Degeneracy and Apostacy from God is sunk into a State of Sin and Misery both which the Scripture is wont to express by Death In respect of our Sinful State we are Spiritually Dead and in respect of the Punishment and Misery due to us for our Sins we are Judicially Dead Dead in Law for the wages of Sin is Death Now God hath sent his Son into the World that in both these respects we might live through him 1. We were Spiritually Dead Dead in Trespasses and Sins as the Apostle speaks Eph. 2.1 2. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world Every Wicked Man tho' in a Natural Sense he be Alive yet in a Moral Sense he is Dead So the Apostle speaking of those who live in sinful Lusts and Pleasures says of them that they are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5.6 What Corrupt Humours are to the Body that Sin is to the Soul their Disease and their Death Now God sent his Son to deliver us from this Death by renewing our Nature and mortifying our Lusts by restoring us to the Life of Grace and Holiness and destroying the Body of Sin in us that henceforth we should not serve Sin And that this is a great Argument of the mighty Love of God to us the Apostle tells us Eph. 2.4 5. God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ It is an Argument of the Riches of God's Mercy and of his great Love to us to recover us out of this sad and deplorable Case It is a kindness infinitely greater than to redeem us from the most wretched Slavery or to rescue us from the most dreadful and cruel Temporal Death and yet we should value this as a Favour and Benefit that could never be sufficiently acknowledg'd But God hath sent his Son to deliver us from a worse Bondage and a more dreadful kind of Death so that well might the Apostle ascribe this great Deliverance of Mankind from the slavery of our Lusts and the Death of Sin to the boundless Mercy and Love of God to us God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us hath quickned us together with Christ even when we were dead in Sins when our Case was as desperate as could well be imagined then was God pleased to undertake this great Cure and to provide such a Remedy as cannot fail to be effectual for our Recovery if we will but make use of it 2. We
I know that thou fearest God says the Angel since thou hast not with-held thy Son thine only Son from me This is a demonstration that God loved us at a stupendous rate when he would send his only-begotten Son into the World for us Before this God had tryed several Ways with Mankind and employed several Messengers to us sometimes he sent his Angels and many times his Servants the Prophets But in these last Days he hath sent his Son He had many more Servants to have employed upon this Message but he had but one Son and rather than Mankind should be ruined and lost he would send him Such was the Love of God towards us that rather than our Recovery should not be effected he would employ in this Work the greatest and dearest Person to him both in Heaven and Earth his only begotten Son in this was the Love of God manifested that he sent his only-begotten Son that we might live through him 2. Let us consider how much this Clorious and Excellent Person was abased in order to the effecting and accomplishing of this Design which is here exprest by sending him into the World and this comprehends his Incarnation with all the mean and abasing Circumstances of it This the Apostle declares fully to us Phil. 2.6 7. tho' he was in the Form of God that is truly and really God yet he made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he empty'd himself was contented to be strangely lessen'd and diminish'd and took upon him the Form of a Servant or Slave and was made in the likeness of Men that is did really assume Humane Nature Here was an Abasement indeed for God to become Man for the only-begotten Son of God to take upon him the Form of a Servant and to become obedient to Death even the Death of the Cross which was the Death of Slaves and famous Malefactors Here was Love indeed that God was willing that his own dear Son should be thus obscured and diminished and become so mean and so miserable for our sakes that he should not only stoop to be made Man and to dwell among us but that he should likewise submit to the Infirmities of our Nature and to be made in all things like unto us Sin only excepted that he should be contented to bear so many Affronts and Indignities from perverse and unthankful Men and to endure such Contradiction of Sinners against himself that he who was the Brightness of his Father's Glory should be despised and rejected of Men a Man of sorrows und acquainted with griefs and rather than we should perish should put himself into our Place and be contented to suffer and die for us and that God should be willing that all this should be done to his only Son to save Sinners What greater Testimony could he give of his Love to us 3. Let us consider farther to whom he was sent which is also implyed in these Words he sent his Son into the World into a wicked World that was altogether unworthy of him and to an Ungrateful World that did most unworthily use him First Into a Wicked World that was altogether unworthy of him that had deserved no such Kindness at his Hands For what were we that God should send such a Person amongst us that he should make his Son stoop so low as to dwell in our Nature and to become one of us We were Rebels and Enemies Enemies to God by evil Works up in Arms against Heaven and at open Defiance with God our Maker When the World was in this Posture of Enmity and Hostility against God then he sent his Son to Treat with us and to offer us Peace What can more commend the Love of God than this that he should shew such Kindness to us when we were Sinners and Enemies Herein God hath commended his Love towards us says the Apostle Rom. 5.8 in that whilst we were yet Sinners Christ died for us Secondly Into an Ungrateful World that did most unworthily use him that gave no becoming Entertainment to him the Foxes had Holes and the Birds of the Air had Nests but the Son of Man had not where to lay his Head that heaped all manner of Contumelies and Indignities upon him that Persecuted him all his Life and at last put him to a most painful and shameful Death in a word that was so far from receiving him as the Son of God that they did not treat him with common Humanity and like one of the Sons of men 4. He did all this voluntarily and freely God sent his Son into the World mero motu of his own meer Grace and Goodness moved by nothing but his own Bowels and the Consideration of our Misery not overpowered by any Force for what could offer Violence to him to whom all Power belongs not constrain'd by any Necessity for he had been Happy tho' we had remained for ever Miserable he might have chosen other Objects of his Love and Pity and have left us involved in that Misery which we had wilfully brought upon our selves Nor was he prevail'd upon by any Application from us or importunity of ours to do this for us Had we been left to have contrived the way of our Recovery this which God hath done for us could never have entred into the Heart of Man to have imagin'd much less to have defir'd it at his Hands If the way of our Salvation had been put into the Hands of our own Counsel and Choice how could we have been so impudent as to have begg'd of God that his only Son might descend from Heaven and become Man be poor despised and miserable for our sakes God may stoop as low as he pleaseth being secure of his own Majesty and Greatness but it had been a Boldness in us not far from Blasphemy to have desired of him to condescend to such a a submission Nor Lastly was he pre-oblig'd by any Kindness or Benefit from us so far from that that we had given him all possible Provocation to the contrary and had Reason to expect the Effect of his heaviest Displeasure And yet though he was the pars laesa the party that had been disoblig'd and injured tho' we were first in the Offence and Provocation he was pleased to make the first Overtures of Peace and Reconciliation and tho' it was wholly our Concernment and not his yet he was pleased to condescend so far to our Perverseness and Obstinacy as to send his Son to us and to beseech us to be reconciled Now herein says the Apostle immediately after the Text herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins Herein is the Love of God manifested that the kindness began on his part and not on ours that being neither obliged nor desired by us he did freely and of his own accord send his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him What