his creature to blessedness and the vision of his Creator 2. That he so ordered the means of man's Redemption that a greater glory came even by that Redemption that if man had never faln and a greater benefit to mankind For the latter it is apparent that if there had been no Mediator sent the least sin that any of the sons of men had committed had been inexorably fatal to them without any means of pardon And as Adam though in his full liberty and power was misled by temptation so might have he been or any of his posterity though he had stood that shock which now is admirably provided against by the satisfaction of Christ Jesus And as thus it is better with the children of men so the glory of God is wonderfully advanced by it for if man had stood in his innocence God had had only the glory of his justice in rewarding him or if he had faln the glory of his justice in punishing him but there had been no room for that glorious attribute of his Mercy in forgiving without violation to his Purity Truth and Justice that glorious attribute by which he so often proclaimeth himself Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God Merciful Gracious Long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and yet that will by no means clear the guilty 3. That he so wonderfully ordered the Redemption of Man that all his Attributes were preserved inviolable His Truth The day thou eatest thou shalt dye his Justice yet his Mercy his Love to his creature yet his Hatred to Sin his Son shall dye to satisfie his Truth and Justice yet the sinner shall live to satisfie his Mercy the sin shall be punished to justifie his Purity yet his creature shall be saved to manifest his Love and Goodness And thus his Wisdom over-ruled Sin the worst of evils to the improvement of his glory and the good of his creature 4. His wisdom is manifested in this that by the redemption of man all those ways of his administration before the coming of Christ do now appear to be excellently ordered to the redemption of man and the making of it the more effectual The giving of a severe and yet most just Law which was impossible for us to fulfil shews us the wretchedness of our condition our inability to fulfil what was just in God to require shews us the necessity of a Saviour drives us to him and makes this City of refuge grateful and acceptable and makes us set a value upon that mercy which so opportunely and mercifully provided a Sacrifice for us in the Blood of Christ and a Righteousness for us in the Merits of Christ and a Mediator for us in the Intercession of Christ And by this means also all those Sacrifices and Ceremonies and Observations enjoyned in the Levitical Law which carried not in themselves a clear reason of their institution are now by the sending of Christ rendred significant 5. The wisdom of God is magnified and advanced in this in fulfilling the Prophecies of the sending the Messias to satisfie for the sins of Mankind against all the oppositions and casualties and contingencies that without an over-ruling wisdom and guidance might have disappointed it And this done in that Perfection that not one circumstance of Time Place Person Concomitants should nor did fail in it and so bearing witness to the infinite Truth Power and Wisdom of God in bringing about his Counsels in their perfection touching this great business of the Redemption of Man which was the very end why he was created and placed upon the earth and managing the villany of men and the craft and malice of Satan to bring about that greatest blessing that was or could be provided for mankind besides and above and against the intention of the Instrument Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain 6. The unsearchable Wisdom of God is manifested in that he provided such a Mediator that was fit for so great a work had all the world consulted that God must suffer it had been impossible and had all the world contrived that any man or all the men in the world should have been a satisfactory Sacrifice for any one Sin it had been deficient Here is then the wonderful Counsel of the most high God the Sacrifice that is appointed shall be so ordered that God and Man shall be conjoyned in one Person that so as Man he might become a Sacrifice for Sin and as God he might give a value to the Sacrifice And this is that great Mystery of Godliness God manifested in the flesh 2. The wonderful Love of God to Mankind I. In thinking upon poor sinful creatures to contrive a way for a Pardon for us and rescuing us from that Curse which we had justly deserved 2. Thinking of us for our good when we sought it not thought not of it 3. When we were enemies against God and against his very being 4. Thinking of us not only for a Pardon but to provide for us a state of Glory and Blessedness 5. When that was not to be obtained saving his Truth and Justice without a miraculous Mediator consisting of the divine and humane nature united in one person in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ here was Love and Goodness of the greatest magnitude that ever was or ever shall be heard of and sufficient to conquer our Hearts into admiration and astonishment But yet it rests not here As God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 so the only begotten Son of God was not behind in this wonderful Love No sooner as we may with reverence say was the Counsel of the Father propounded for the sending of his Son but presently the Son saith Lo I come Psal 40.7 Heb. 10.7 And now we will consider upon what terms he must come or else the redemption of mankind must dye for ever I. He must come and empty himself of his Glory of his personal Majesty and take our nature yet without sin he must go through the natural infirmities of infancy and childhood 2. And not only must he undergo this abasement but he must undergo the condition of a mean a low birth born of a poor Virgin in a Stable laid in a Manger under the reputation of a Carpenter's Son 3. And not only thus but as soon as he is born must use the care of his Mother to shift for his life away to Egypt to prevent the jealousie and fury of Herod 4. And when grown up to youth he must undergo the form of a Servant become a poor Carpenter to work for his living without any patrimony or so much as a house to cover him 5. He comes abroad into the World to exercise the Ministry and the Prologue to
flesh earthly sensual and devilish Jam 3.15 So that there was not only in our nature an absence of any good that might move God to do any thing for us and an absence of that life that might be sollicitous for it self but there was a positive malignity in our nature against that God that should pardon against that Christ that should satisfie against that Grace and Spirit that should apply We were actuated with those vile affections and lusts that looked upon a Saviour with no less aversion and spite than those devils did that cryed out of the possessed man Art thou come to torment us before our time And yet for these and such as these our Saviour dyed nay some of these who had actually their hands in his blood found the efficacy of that very blood which they shed not crying for revenge against them but for merey for them and healing those who had cruelly spilt it the efficacy of that blessed prayer of his Father forgive them they know not what they do within some few months after his death did first wound their hearts with a sense of their guilt and then healed them with the infusion of his blood Act. 2.23 37. 6. From the consideration of the former particulars it will easily appear what was the Motive of this great work We have seen in the creature nothing but sin and enmity against God and consequently a just obligation to Everlasting wrath and misery so there we can find nothing that might upon any account of merit or desert draw out such merey as this We must seek for the motive in the Author of it and in him there was no necessity at all to bind him to it It was his own free will that at first gave man a being and a blessed being and when he had sinned against the law and condition of his Creation there was a necessity of justice for his eternal punishment but no necessity at all for his Restitution God made all things for his glory not because he stood in need of it for he had in himself an infinite self-sufficiency and happiness that stood not in need of the glory of his creation nor was capable of an accession by it And if it had yet the great God could have enjoyed the glory of his justice in the everlasting punishment of unthankful man and yet had glorious creatures enough the blessed Angels to have been the everlasting partakers and admirers of his goodness And if there had been yet an absolute necessity of visible intellectual creatures to be the participants of his goodness and the active instruments of his glory the same power that created man at first could have created a new generation of men that might have supplied the defection of our first parents and their descendants What then is the original of all this goodness to poor sinful man to purchase such a worthless creature at such an invaluable price as the blood of the Son of God Nothing but Love free undeserved love love that loved before it was sought that loved when it was rejected Deut. 7.7 The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because ye were more but because the Lord loved you he loved you because he loved you As Almighty could not define himself by any thing but himself I am that I am Exod. 3.14 so he can resolve his love into no other motive than his love he loved you because he loved you And here is the spring the fountain of all this strange and unheard of goodness of God in Christ nothing but the free love of God Joh. 3.16 So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. 1 Joh. 4.10 Here is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins and that very same individual love that was in the Father to send was in the Son to come and to dye for us It was he that loved and washed us with his own blood washed us because he loved us When we lay like Ezekiel's wretched infant Ezek. 16.5 6. polluted in our blood when no eye pitied us then this love of God passed by us and said unto us live yea said unto us when we were in our blood live And when that life was not acquirable for us but by the death of the Eternal Son of God then to purchase that life for us he sold his own and to wash us from the pollutions of our blood freely spent and shed his own This was The love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.19 7. Now let us consider the End and Scope of this admirable Love of Christ and as it looks upward towards God so it looks downward towards us as he was the Mediator between both so the end of his Mediatorship had a respect to both 1. In reference to God and so the Ends of our Lord's suffering were principally these 1. To Restore unto Almighty God the active service and glory of his creature Almighty God did at the first create man in such a constitution that he might not only passively and objectively bring unto him the glory of his Power and Wisdom in the framing of such a creature as the Heavens the Stars and other creatures below an intellectual nature do but to be a beholder of himself and his works to be an observer of his will and to glorifie his Maker in the admiration of his Power Wisdom and Goodness and in the Obedience and Observance of his Law and will and to his own glory had by an eternal bond annexed his creature's perfection and blessedness Man rebelled and thereby as he became unserviceable to the end of his creation so he lost the blessedness of his condition Christ came and by his own blood purchased as unto Man his blessedness so unto God the glory and service of his creature This was old Zachary's collection Luk. 2. 74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness Tit. 2. 14. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purâ—sie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works And this was the chief part of that account that our Lord giveth unto his Father in that blessed prayer that he made a little before his Passion Joh. 17.4 I have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do As if he should have said Thou hast sent me into the world about a great and weighty business the restitution of thy fallen creature and that therein as thy creature may partake of thy goodness so thou mayst reap the glory of thy creature's service And now behold according to that command of thine I here return unto thee thy creature healed and restored that it may be as well a monument as a proclaimer of thy goodness and glory unto all Eternity
Priests and Scribes the then external visible Church the Husbandmen of the Vineyard Matth. 21.33 But this is not all as the visible Church of the Jews is the Conclave where this Council is formed so Judas a member of the visible Church of Christ one of the Twelve is the Instrument to effect it Matth. 26.14 he contracts with them for Thirty pieces of Silver to betray his Master unto them And surely this could not choose but be a great grief to our Saviour that one of his select Apostles should turn Apostate and thereby brought a blemish upon the rest Upon the day of Eating of the Passover called the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread our Saviour and his Disciples keep the Passover together in Jerusalem and there the two memorials of our Saviour's Passion meet that of the Passover instituted by God and the Israelites going out of Egypt and the Bread and Wine after Supper instituted by our Saviour to succeed in the place of the former and each did questionless make a deep impression upon our Saviour in which he anticipated his Passion and lively represented to him that breaking and pouring out of his Blood and Soul which he was suddenly to suffer And doubtless here began a great measure of our Saviour's Passion in the apprehension which he had of that imminent Storm that he must speedily undergo From the Supper they go together to the Mount of Olives and there he acquaints his Disciples of a speedy and sorrowful parting they must have the Shepherd is to be smitten that night and the Sheep to be scattered and as he foresaw Judas treachery so he foresees Peter's infirmity the storm should be so violent that Peter himself the resolutest Apostle shall deny his Master that night and deny him thrice And surely the foresight of the distraction that should befall his poor Disciples could not choose but add much to their tender Master's affliction Matth. 26.31 All ye shall be offended because of me this night And now let us follow our Blessed Lord from the Mount of Olives into the Garden called by the Apostles Gethsemane with the affections of love and wonder in some measure becoming such an entertainment of our thoughts The Time that he chose for this retirement was the dead time of the night a season that might the more contribute to the strength of that sadness which the pre-apprehension of his imminent Passion must needs occasion The Place that he chose a solitary retired Garden where nothing might nor could interrupt or divert the intensiveness of his sorrow and fear And to make both the time and place the more opportune for his Agony he leaves the rest of his Disciples and takes with him only Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee Matth. 26.37 and to these he imparts the beginning of his sorrow that they might be witnesses of it Matth. 26. 37 38. My sould is exceeding sorrowful even unto death but yet commands their distance vers 38. Tarry ye here and watch with me and he went a little further Watch with me The confusion of his Soul was so great that the only Son of God distrusts his own humane ability to bear it and yet his submission to this terrible conflict was so willing that he leaves them that he had appointed to watch with him He went a little farther The three Disciples had doubtless a sympathy with their Master's sorrow and yet the will of God so orders it that their excess of love and grief must not keep their Eyes waking notwithstanding it was the last request of their sorrowful Master The disciples slept Matth. 26. 40. And thus every circumstance of Time Place and Persons contribute to a sad and solitary opportunity for this most terrible and black conflict And now in this Garden the mighty God puts his Son to grief lades him with our sorrows Isa 53.4 withdraws and hides from him the light of his favour and countenance interposeth a thick and black cloud between the Divinity and the humane nature darts into his Soul the sad and sharp manifestations of his wrath overwhelms his Soul with one wave after another sends into him the most exquisite pre-apprehensions of those sad and severe sufferings he was the next day to undergo begins to make his Soul and Offering for Sin and heightens his sorrow confusion and astonishment unto the uttermost In sum the mighty God the God of the spirits of all flesh who knows the way into the Soul and how to fill it with the most sad and black astonishment and sorrow was pleased at this time to estrange and eclipse the manifestation of his light and love to his only Son as far as was possibly consistent with his secret and eternal love unto him to throw into him as sad and amazing apprehensions of his wrath as was possible to be consistent with the humane nature to bear to fortifie and strengthen his sense of it and sorrow for and under it unto the uttermost that so his grief and sorrow and confusion of soul might be brim-full and as much as the exactest constitution of a humane nature could possibly bear And thus now at this time the Arm of the mighty God was bruising the Soul of his only Son Isa 53.16 And certainly the extremity of this agony within must needs be very great if we consider the strange effects it had without 1. That pathetical description thereof that our Saviour himself makes of it My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death Matth. 26.37 so sorrowful exceeding sorrowful sorrowful unto death and the expressions of the Evangelists Matth. 26.37 He began to be sorrowful and very heavy Mark 14.33 He began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy It was such a sorrow as brought with it an amazement an astonishment 2. Again that strange request to his three Disciples Tarry ye and watch with me as if he feared the sorrow would overwhelm him 3. Again his Prayer and the manner of it evidence a most wonderful perturbation within Matth. 26.39 He fell on his face and prayed and what was the thing he prayed Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Or as Mark 14.36 Abba Father all things are possible unto thee take away this cup from me c. although that this was the very end for which he came into the World the Cup which in former times he reached after and was straitned till it were fulfilled yet such a representation there is thereof to his Soul that though in the will of his obedience he submits Not my will but thine be done Yet his nature shrinks and starts at it and he engageth Almighty God as much as upon as great arguments as was possible to decline the severity of that wrath which he was now to grapple with 1. Upon the account of his Omnipotency All things are possible to thee 2. Upon the account of his Relation Abba Father It is not a stranger that importunes
Vain-glory are not sins the Law of God and the Law of Nature tells us they are sins But an Humble man sensible of his own sins and failings will not presently be over-censorious of persons or pronounce them reprobates or men wholly destitute of the hope of salvation but will pity their failings and backslidings but yet not exterminate them from heaven And herein there must be duly considered the difference between a private person and a publick person whether Minister or Magistrate the former namely a private person humility must teach him compassion charitableness gentleness but the latter being intrusted in a publick ministration or office doth alternis vicibus agere his personal humility as a private person must teach him to be charitable but yet not to be remiss or unfaithful in the exercise of his office The farther consideration of the principles and companions of humility will appear in the consideration of the Fruits and Advantages and Benefits of true Humility And these I shall reduce to these three Relations I. in relation to Almighty God 3. in relation to the humble person himself 3. in relation to others It is true that all Virtues if they be true and real have a connexion one with another they are never single for the same principle that begetteth one begetteth all the rest and habituates and influenceth the soul in all its motions but especially this Virtue of Humility when it is genuine and true is ever accompanied with all those excellent Habits and Graces that perfect the soul as the Fear and Love of God Obedience to him Dependence on him Benificence and Charity to mankind and the like But yet in pursuit of the fruits and advantages of Humility I shall apply my self to such as do most naturally and with a kind of special reason and appropriation belong to or flow from this virtue as such and as do belong to its nature in a kind of abstract consideration First therefore in relation to Almighty God the Humble Man hath in a special manner these two great Advantages 1. He receives Grace or Favour or Honour from God 2. He receives Direction Guidance and Counsel from God Both which are singularly promised and by a kind of suitableness and congruity conferred by Almighty God upon his humble soul First Favour Honour and Grace from God is a special portion of the Humble Man The Wise man tells us here He gives Grace to the Humble And although Grace is a comprehensive word and includes in it self not only Favour and Acceptance with God but also those other accessions of the gifts of his Bounty and Goodness which come from this Great Giver of every perfect gift as Wisdom Peace Righteousness Purity of heart and the like which are all also the portion of a truly humble man yet I think the former is that which is specially intended here namely Favour Honour and Acceptance with God so often expressed in the Old and New Testament by the phrase of finding Grace in the sight of God Gen. 19. 18. Behold now I have found grace in thy sight Luk. 14. 9 10 11. He that bid thee shall say unto thee Friend come thou up hither then thou shalt have worship or grace in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee for he that exalteth himself shall be abased and be that abaseth himself shall be exalted So that by Grace is intended principally Favour Acceptance Honour and Esteem with the Great and Glorious God of Heaven and Earth And certainly were there no other reward of Humility than Acceptance and Favour with the Great Sovereign of the World it were reward enough We see daily what pains and charge and expence and servitude men undergo to attain the favour of a Prince or great man though he be but a poor mortal worm and how men please themselves when they have attained some little unprofitable respect from a great man But what is that in comparison of being in Grace and Favour with the King of kings the Lord of Heaven Especially when we consider that the Favour or Acceptance of the Glorious God is not a bare unprofitable Esteem or Grace such as many times the great Favourites of Princes obtain from them But the favour and acceptance of God is always accompanied with Bounty and Benificence As he is the Sovereign Ocean of all good so we may be sure he will be communicative and liberal of it to such as he favours He whose benignity is hourly extended to the meanest of his Creatures nay to the very worst of men cannot be parsimonious or strait-handed to those whom he accepts and esteems and honours So that the humble man finds Grace in the sight of the Glorious God and as an Effect of that grace the bountiful communication of all necessaries good from the Munificence Bounty and Liberality of him that thus favours him and this is reward enough for the most profound Humility The Reason why Almighty God accepts thus an Humble person is the very same that makes him resist the Proud which is this The Great God made all things in the world for two Ends viz. 1. Thereby to communicate his own diffusive Goodness and Benificence and principally for the Glory of his own Greatness Wisdom Power and Majesty and although he receives no addition of Happiness by the return of Glory from his Creatures yet it is a thing he values his Glory he will not give to another and it is unbecoming the Excellency of his Majesty to be disappointed in his End Glory is out of its place when it is not returned to the God of Glory or in order to him It is the natural as well as the reasonable Tribute of all his Creatures and a kind of proper Refiection of the Bounty and Splendor of all his works unto the God that made them Now the Proud man usurps that Glory which is due to his Maker and takes it to himself intercepts that due and natural return and reflection due unto the Creator of all things takes that tribute that is due to God and applies it to himself puts glory out of its place and natural course which it should hold towards the glorious God as the Rivers do to the Sea And this usurpation as it is a kind of rebellion against God so it inverts and disorders the true and just natural course of things and therefore as the proud man herein walks contrary to God so God walks contrary to him They that honour me I will honour they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2.30 And as this is a most reasonable act of Divine Justice so they seem two things that even upon an account of natural congruity must needs make the condition of a Proud man uneasie and unhappy in relation to Almighty God 1. Every thing is beautiful and useful and convenient in its proper place but when it is out of its place it becomes troublesom and disorderly like a Bone out of