Heaven as well as on Earth for the compleating our Redemption His work on Earth was compleat as to the meritorious work of Teaching and Suffering But for the effectual Application of it the Will of the Father was to be done in Heaven his Will on Earth was done as it were in an hour but his Will in Heaven is a work of Ages so long as the Church is in Gathering so long is the Church in Redeeming until all be compleat in the Resurrection of the Body and therefore our Saviour enters upon this part of Redemption at his Resurrection and ascends to the right hand of the Father to receive the promised Ministerial Spirit to give forth for the proclaiming this glad Tidings and perswading Men to receive it and then to be a Priest for ever at the Fathers right Hand after the order of Melchisadech whose Throne is Justice and Judgment and Mercy and Truth go before his Face He is made a Throne of Grace a Mercy-seat for sinners to address unto to obtain Remission of Sin by and through Faith in his Blood and all good things promised And he is entred into Glory not only to Judge his people in perfecting the Work of their Redemption according to the Law of his Grace but also to succour them in all Dangers and Temptations for which end he is beyond the reach of all his Adversaries and made the Monarch of the World tho not a worldly Monarch the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The Fourth Enquiry For what great Ends or Effects it was necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into Glory This is an unsearchable depth it is safe for us to keep to what is revealed and to bring our notions to the Text and not the Text to our conceptions There are Four Principal Ends or Effects mentioned in the Scriptures As 1. To Manifest the Grace of God in its Freedom Riches and Extent 2. To Manifest the Marvellous and Manifold Wisdom of God 3. To Manifest and Vindicate the Severity of God's Judgments against the Neglectors and Contemners of his Mercy 4. To Manifest the sympathetical Power of Christ in succouring his Church in her Suffering for his Name sake Of the First End And First Of the Freedom of the Grace of God This Freedom of the Grace of God in the work of Man's Redemption seems to exclude any Consideration of a penal satisfaction to the wrath and vindictive Justice of God by the Mediatour as Antecedent to the Remission of Adams Sin but implys that God was pleased to remit Adams Sin upon the Account of the Mediators obedience to the Justice of his free promise without a penal Satisfaction so that the face of Man's Redemption from the beginning was Mercy and Truth and not vindictive Justice This doth abundantly appear in Holy Scripture As First In the Old Testament in Exod. 34. when God proclaims His Name it is Mercy in the first place forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin and Judgment in the Second place In the description of the Throne of God The Prophet David describes God sitting on his Throne to have Mercy and Truth go before his Face Ps 89.14 And David describes his own Throne as King of Israel who was to be like unto God in his Government in this manner Ps 101.1 I will sing of Mercy and Judgment unto thee O Lord will I sing And the Evangelical Prophet Isa 55.8 after he had promised abundance of Pardon without any penal satisfaction he Answers the Objections which unbelieving Men are ready to make against this Free Mercy of God as if it were against his just proceedings he Answers all Mens thoughts about it with this saying from the Lord My ways are not as your ways nor my thoughts as your thoughts In the New Testament our blessed Saviour Himself declares this glorious Truth in a Parable Matth. 18.23 c. he saith the Kingdom of Heaven which is the Kingdom of Grace is not like the Man that took him that owed him 500 Pence by the Throat and said pay me that thou owest me before he would shew him any kindness But the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a King that took Account of his Servant who owed him a Thousand Talents and when he had nothing to pay upon his Intreaty forgave him all And our Apostle the Teacher of the Gentiles declares the Doctrine of Christs Redemption in this manner Rom. 3.24 25. he saith the Redemption that is by Jesus Christ is freely by Grace and this freedom he explains by two remarkable Expressions in the Context the first expression is that he saith the Redemption of Christ declares the Righteousness of God for the Remission of Sins which Righteousness of God cannot be understood of his vindictive Justice but of his Mercy and Truth in Performance of the Grace of the New Covenant according to St. John's Expression if we confess our sin God is righteous and just to forgive sin 1 John 1.9 The Second Expression is in vers 28. where he saith we are justified by Faith without the law of Works Where without the Law of Works must necessarily exclude all Penal Satisfaction for breaking the Law The Notion of Christs being Adams surety for debt as bound in the same Bond with him is Defective for these Reasons As 1. It supposeth Christs satisfaction to penal vindictive Justice to be the first Act of Christs Mediation which is against the absolute freedom of the Law of Grace 2. It supposeth Christ to be guilty of Adams Sin which is against the Reward of the Law of Grace 3. It infers that Christ should restore Adam to the state wherein he was before he sinned which is against the Nature of the Law of Grace Secondly Christ suffering these things and entring into Glory doth also manifest the Riches and full measure of Grace not only for the pardon of transgressors against the Law of Works but also for obtaining a new Heart and Adoption to Eternal Life And Thirdly The Extent also of Divine Grace is hereby manifested because Christ did not only suffer and enter into Glory as the Son of David of the seed of Abraham but also as the Son of Adam in the common nature of Mankind Luk. 3. Of the Second End viz. Christ suffered these things and entred into Glory to manifest the manifold Wisdom of God in the Work of Man's Redemption Ephes 3.10 The Wisdom of God in this Glorious Work is neither comprehensible nor expressible by us it may suffice to observe what the Scripture saith touching the marvellous Constitution of the Person of the Redeemer and the Order of the Work in us and upon us The Person of Christ is sometimes set forth by a description of the Divine Nature as he is called the Son of God sometimes by a description of the Human Nature as he is called the Son of Man sometimes by Expressions that signifie the admirable Union of both Expressions referring to the Divine Nature are
such as these John 1.1 2 3 4. Col. 1.15 16. Heb. 1.2 3. the Word the Light the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his Glory and the engraven Form of his Person for whom are all things and by whom are all things Expressions referring to his Human Nature are such as these The Son of Man conceived by the Holy Ghost made of a Woman born of a Virgin he grew in Wisdom and Stature and favour with GOD and Men he received the Spirit without measure was subject to his Parents was made under a Law not only under the Moral and Ceremonial but also the Judicial as exercised by the Jews and not only the Judicials of the Jews but also the Judicials of the Romans who then ruled over the Jews he submitted himself to their Judgment though false and injurious and executed by wicked Hands by whom he suffered many grievous things bearing their Injuries victoriously in the power of Faith and Patience so that by the wise and holy Providence of the Father being made perfect and consecrate by Sufferings he became a Surety of the Promises of Remission and Adoption to Eternal Life making them his Testament or Last Will which he confirmed by his Death and Bloodshedding And having done the Will of the Father upon Earth and being perfected by his Sufferings he became the First-begotten of the Dead the First-fruits of them that sleep and is made an eternal Priest at the Right Hand of the Father after the Order of Melchisedeck King of Righteousness and King of Peace whose Throne is a Throne of Grace for poor Sinners to seek for the Mercy of the Father by him and so is made the Head of all things to the Church the Saviour of his Body the Heir of all things Thus Christ was another Adam a suffering and a conquering Man and a glorified Man which the first Adam was not Expressions signifying the Union of both Natures in Christ's Person are such as these The Only-begotten of the Father the Word made Flesh God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached in the World received up to Glory in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily or in whose Body or Human Nature the Fulness of the Godhead dwells as in his Temple Emanuel God with us and God with him The manifold Wisdom of God appears not only in the Constitution of the Person of a Mediator for us but also in his Work in us and upon us We speak saith the Apostle the wisdom of God meaning his operation in us in a mystery Some of which Work may appear in this Observation The Apostle declares the Work of Redemption by one word of Reconciliation or Atonement which he sets forth in reference to a general notion common to all Mankind and a particular notion referring to the Persons of Men. The general notion of Reconciliation or Redemption is God's reconciling the World of Mankind consisting of Jew and Gentile to himself into one state of Churchhood by Jesus Christ doing the Will of the Father in our common Nature which Reconciliation or Redemption appears in three things 1. The taking away the Partition-wall which consisted in dividing Ordinances 2. The not imputing their Sins to them when they both were ripe for Destruction and giving them a farther day of his Patience 3. The sending forth a Ministry of Reconciliation both to Jew and Gentile This is asserted in 2 Cor. 5.18 19. which may be thus paraphrased All things in the Church state are new and are of a reconciled God who hath in the first place accepted an Atonement for the Jews by Jesus Christ and hath given us the Apostles of Christ Authority to minister this Reconciliation not only to the Jews but to tell all the World That God hath put both Jews and Gentiles into one state of Churchhood in relation to himself by the Atonement which Christ hath made and is pleased for his sake to give them a farther day of his Patience and a Word of Command to us the Apostles to settle and exercise one reconciling Ministry without difference of Nations in all the World The Personal Notion of Reconciliation is the reconciling our Souls and Spirits to God from our natural Enmity to a supernatural Love in yielding our selves to be perswaded to be the Righteousness or Workmanship of God by the power of Christ's Ministerial Spirit given forth since his Resurrection and to be perswaded hereunto from the consideration of the great Love of Christ in suffering of himself to be made in reputation of a Sinner by wicked Sinners that he might as a perfectly-tryed righteous man obtain the Spirit of Regeneration Gal. 3.12 13. to be given to us Gentiles to make us really and acceptably righteous and not only so but also considering that he hath procured a Day of Grace wherein our accepting of Christ's perswasive Operations will be accepted of the Father and also considering that the present time is that our Day This concerning our Personal Reconciliation is asserted also in 2 Cor. 5.20 21. Cap. 6.1 2. The general notion of Reconciliation and Redemption is asserted in John 1.29 Christ is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world Here the World is the World of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews the Sin of the World is the Judgment which lay upon the Nations for their Apostacy at the Tower of Babel from the Faith of Noah which Judgment was by Confusion of Tongues to separate them from the House of Sem who kept the Faith and so they were without God without Christ dead in Sins under the Government of the Prince of Darkness This Sin was taken away by Christ and a Reconciliation made by his Sacrifice in Man's Nature whereby he merited a Ministry of Reconciliation with the Gifts of Tongues to bring them again to God Reconciliation implys a preceding Judgment a Judgment supposes a Sin of Apostacy Apostacy supposes a precedent good Condition Adam was in a good Condition then followed his Apostacy then a Judgment then a Reconciliation out of meer Mercy by a Promise of a Redeemer Gen. 3.15 which put Man into a good condition again to come to God by an atoning Sacrifice Then came an Apostacy from the right way of sacrificing in Cain and his Posterity If thou doest well saith the Lord to him that is in sacrificing aright shalt thou not be accepted This Apostacy of the Cainites spread over the face of the whole World then came the Judgment of the Flood then followed a Reconciliation Gen. 8.21 it 's said That God smelt a savour of Rest in Noah's Sacrifice and Mankind was put into a good condition again then came the Apostacy at the Tower of Babel for which the Judgment of Dischurching came upon them till the Lamb of God offered himself in the common Nature of Man and made Peace for them by the Blood of his Cross and brought them into a salvable
not admit to be justified by the Law of Works in any sense if it be of works in any sense then grace is no more grace Besides Christ is not a Second Adam because he is in the room of the First as the head of his Covenant as one King succeeds another in the same Government But he is a Second Adam on a new foundation the head of a new Covenant that should bring in a new and a living way not by legal satisfaction but by meritorious intercession Christ is represented in Scripture to be like and unlike the First Adam he is like in the humane Nature cloathed with humane Infirmities that are not in themselves sinful but he is unlike the First in any thing that is sinful and in the excellencies of gracious and spiritual Communications he is the Lord from Heaven and a Life-giving Spirit which the first was not R. 2. This Assertion doth not agree with the method of Divine Grace expressed in Rom. 8.3 4. Rom. 5.19 and 2 John 22. The method in Rom. 8 is Christ condemned sin in the Flesh that is obeyed God fully in Mans nature against all tentations by the power of the Spirit by which he was conceived to the end that one that is born of the same Spirit and walks by the same Spirit might be able to perform the righteousness not the rigour of the Law which he cannot perform by the power of Nature But this Assertion says in effect That Christ was condemned by our sin that his condemnation might be imputed to us for our fulfilling the righteousness and rigour of the Law tho we walk after the Spirit In like manner it doth as it were make Rom. 5.19 say as by the disobedience of one many are made Sinners so by the punishment of the disobedience of one many shall be imputed not made Righteous and 1 Pet. 3.18 must sound thus Christ suffered for Sin the Unjust for the Unjust And 1 John 2.2 We have an Advocate Jesus Christ the sinner such ill Interpretations seems to follow and our rejoycing must be that God accounts Christ a Sinner in our stead and punisheth him in our stead tho he was most Righteous R. 3. Christ is an Example to us in his Sufferings to follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 But if he suffered as punisht as a guilty Sinner in our stead his Sufferings are unimitable by us we can imitate them only as Tryals R. 4. In suffering punishments for sin Man is meerly passive Christ in his Sufferings was very Active and not meerly Passive Ergo his Sufferings were not Punishments The Activity of Christ in his Sufferings 1. His Sufferings were Voluntary John 10.17 18. He yielded himself to his Enemies when he might have avoided them He gave up his Spirit before they could take it away by compulsion 2. His Sufferings were Acts of Obedience Phil. 2.7 8. Heb. 10.7 I come to do thy Will thy Law is in my Heart 3. His Sufferings were Victorious he conflicted with and conquered in all Tentations he resisted unto Blood striving against Sin for the Joy that was set before him he endured the Cross and despised the shame His Agonies and the Travail of his Soul were not his Punishments but his Fightings the good Fight of Faith and Patience and Love conquering distrust impatience and revenge by Prayer Watchfulness and Praying for the Transgressors wherein tho as the natural Adam he was weak and subject to fear yet as the Spiritual Adam he was ready undaunted and fearless and by Death overcame him who had power to put him to Death Heb. 2.12 4. His Sufferings were Sacrificing Sufferings in Obeying he Conquered in Conquering he offered himself a Sacrifice or Acceptable Gift to God he loved us and gave Himself for us Eph. 5.2 which Sacrifice or Holy Gift was adumbrated by the Legal Sacrifices in respect to our Nature he was a whole Burnt-offering and an Offering of a Sweet Smelling Savour in respect of our persons he was a Sin-offering and a Peace-offering He was an Holocaust or whole Burnt-offering presenting Himself in Soul and Body blameless in Flames of Faith and Love to his Father He was a Sacrifice of a sweet smell by reason of the Bloud and the Fat both which were reserved to God of every Sacrifice as most Holy Numb 18.17 Eph. 5.2 He was a Sin-offering in respect of remembrance of personal and particular Sin with profession of Faith and Repentance in the person that brought the Sacrifice Heb. 10.17 18. He was a Peace-offering because by him our Gifts and Sacrifices of Thanksgiving are acceptable to God Heb. 13.15 5. His Sufferings were a Meretorious price for Mans Redemption 1 Pet. 11.8 19. To put all together the Sufferings of Christ were all acts of voluntary obedience to the command of the Father to break the head of the Serpent in all his injurious Tentations and present the nature of Man as an acceptable Gift to God and a valuable price of Mans Redemption from the Guilt Power and Condemnation of the Law of Works into the enjoyment of a full Remission a new Heart and Adoption to Eternal Life by the Law of Grace But if the Sufferings of Christ were punishments of him as a Guilty Sinner in our stead they were not these acts of Obedience but mere Passions Ergo his Sufferings were not punishments R. 5. In Heb. 5.8 9. there are three Expressions against this Assertion 1. Christ learned Obedience by his Sufferings 2. He was perfected by his Sufferings 3. Christ being Consecrate by his Sufferings became after that the Author of Salvation to them that obey him in his ministerial call for if this Assertion be true we are in Christ before his Sufferings and perfect by his Sufferings as by our surety for debt but by this Text we are not accounted saved by Christ until we obey his call R. 6. David was a Type of Christ in his Sufferings and Glory as appears in Ps 2. and Ps 22. He suffered many injuries and Tentations but none of them Punishments for Sin And God is represented in Ps 2. as Judge betwixt Christ and the Rulers deriding their false Judgment but not Condemning Christ with them I have set my King c. R. 7. This Assertion describes our Salvation by a penal satisfaction by a Surety to make good the Debt by a Covenant of Works But the Scripture describes our Salvation by the obedient satisfaction of the Captain of our Salvation as a surety to confirm the promises to forgive the debt on seeking Mercy The Third Inquiry Why it was necessary Christ should enter into Glory as well as suffer these things Our Blessed Saviour explains this he says John 17. That the hour is come wherein he finished the work God gave him to glorifie him on Earth and says on the Cross it is finished and prays that God would now glorifie him with himself by which it appears that Christ was to do the Will of the Father in