Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	goodness_n	lord_n	psal_n	4,045	5	7.5057	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46354	Several sermons preach'd on the whole eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans eighteen of which preach'd on the first, second, third, fourth verses are here published : wherein the saints exemption from condemnation, the mystical union, the spiritual life, the dominion of sin and the spirits agency in freeing from it, the law's inability to justifie and save, Christ's mission, eternal sonship, incarnation, his being an expiatory sacrifice, fulfilling the laws righteousness (which is imputed to believers) are opened, confirmed, vindicated, and applied / by Tho. Jacomb.	Jacombe, Thomas, 1622-1687.	1672 (1672)	Wing J119; ESTC R26816	712,556	668

and save undone Sinners if send he will why did he not send an Angel or a body of Angels to try their skill and see what they could do nay why did he not send an Angel as he once did with a * Gen. 3.24 flaming Sword in his hand to keep off Sinners from the tree of life O this did not comport with his gracious designs though it did too well with the Creatures merit therefore he would not do it no his own Son shall be pitch'd upon he 's the Person whom God will send And his End in sending this Son was as gracious as the Person whom he sent was glorious surely here was Love great Love great even to the degree of infiniteness Millions of Angels were nothing to one Son to one such Son the nearer the relation was 'twixt God and Christ the greater was the affection shown to us Christ God's own Son his first born his only begotten Son the Son of his Love who lay in his bosome had been his delight from everlasting for him to be sent to recover and save Man vile sinful wicked undone man the Son to be imploy'd for the Servant the Slave the Enemy O astonishing mercy O admirable goodness and condescension How may we here cry out Lord * Psal 8.4 Psal 144.3 what is man that thou art thus mindful of him and the † Joh. 3.16 Son of man that thou makest this account of him Here was God's so loving of the world so as can never be express'd he so loved the world as that he gave his only begotten Son c. So loved the world what is there in this so why so inexpressibly so unconceivably Joh. 4.9 10. 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 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins God own'd it as a great discovery of Abraham's Love to him when upon his command he was willing to offer up his only begotten Son but alas how infinitely short did that come of his own Love in his sending and parting with his only begotten Son for the good of Sinners here he intended to give out the highest manifestation of his Grace and he hath done it to purpose The * Isa 1.2 heavens and the earth were once called upon to be filled with astonishment because of the ingratitude of a sinful people may not now Heaven and Earth Angels and Men all Creatures whatsoever be called upon to be filled with astonishment because of the stupendious Love of God O Christians what influence hath this upon your dull and sluggish hearts what are you made of that you are no more in the sense of it drawn out in the blessing loving admiring of God Pray if there be any holy ingenuity in you take some pains with your selves that you may be much more affected with it and give not over till you have such thoughts and affections upon God's sending his own Son raised in you as may in some measure answer to those thoughts and affections which you shall have about it when you shall be in Heaven Use 3. For Comfort from Christ's Sonship So much for Exhortation the third and last Vse shall be for Comfort and surely here is ground of strong Consolation to Believers that which may highly conduce to the furthering of their joy and the strengthning of their faith You who are such study this Sonship of Christ dwell upon it often in your most serious thoughts make the best of it and then tell me whether you do not find that solid Support and Comfort from it which you desire and need Shall I broach this full Vessel and draw out a little of that heart-chearing liquour which is in it then know that 1. As Christ is the Son of God so are you When I say SO are you you must understand me of the Verity not of the Kind or Manner of the Sonship you are not Sons as Christ is viz. by eternal Generation yet Sons you are in another way viz. by regeneration and adoption and though herein you come short of Christ you being but adopted Sons and he the natural Son yet as you are but such there is greater glory put upon you than if you were descended from or adopted by the greatest Monarch of the World May not this be matter of great comfort to you to consider that whatever Christ is that you are according to your capacity and necessary subordination to him that all that Grace which fell upon him falls upon you likewise and yet so it is is he the anointed of God so are you is he a Son so are you is he the beloved of God so are you is he the Heir of God so are you in these respects also 't is * Joh. 1.16 Grace for Grace I am upon your Sonship in conformity to Christ's Sonship the truth of which you have no reason to question since the procuring of this for you was one thing that God in special aimed at in the sending of his Great Son into the world Gal. 4.4 5. When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son c. that we might receive the adoption of Sons and therefore in this relation Christ takes you in with himself Joh. 20.17 Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God 2. You may now upon this confidently expect the bestowing of all good For Christ being God's own Son and he having given him to you what can come after that can be too great or too good for him to give to you what will God now deny after the gift of such a Son He * Rom. 8.32 that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Saints let this be thought of as all blessings come to you from God as he is the God and Father of Christ for 't is * Eph. 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ so all blessings are assur'd to you from this relative consideration of God viz. as he is first the God and Father of Christ and then in him your God and Father too 3. You may he sure that there is an infinite value worth and efficacy in Christ's Obedience and that he was a person able to accomplish your Redemption Christ being such a Son this speaks him to be a Person of great dignity that dignity of his Person gives the highest assurance to Faith both that he was every way able to go through what he undertook and also that there must be an infinite Virtue and Merit in what ever he did or suffered What can be so

heart such as thus * Math. 5.4 mourn shall be comforted these * Joh. 2.9 waters Christ will turn into wine As joy in sin will end in sorrow so sorrow for sin will end in joy But to return to our Apostle He had as to his outward state his abasements and his advancements too and he knew how to carry himself under both * Philip. 4.12 I know how to be abased and I know how to abound So as to his inward state he also had his abasements and his advancements Sometimes t is O wretched man that I am c. there 't was abasement then presently 't is There is no Condemnation c. there 't was advancement And let me add that Pauls comfort in this Chapter had never been so high so full as to himself so encouraging as to others if he had not in the former Chapter first smarted under the cutting and piercing Conviction of Sin O to have one who but even now was almost pressed down under Soul-burdens now saying yet there is no Condemnation to them c. how may this animate and strengthen the Faith of a poor Christian when ever troubles of Conscience by reason of sin shall be upon him The Prop. considered in its parts This being the Proposition I will consider it in its Parts And so you have in it First The Praedicate or the Priviledge asserted viz. exemption from Condemnation There is therefore now no Condemnation c. Secondly The Subject or the Persons described to whom and to whom onely the Priviledge belongs And to take the most easie division of the words at present they are described 1. By their Vnion with Christ in reference to their State they are such who are in Christ Jesus 2. By their Qualification or Property in reference to their Course they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit I conceive this Clause doth more immediately refer to the persons who are in Christ and is properly descriptive of them yet mediately they may refer to and be descriptive of the persons to whom there is no Condemnation as I shall hereafter show Of the different readings of the words If you take the words in the body of them there is some yet no very great difference in the reading of them The latter branch but after the Spirit is wholly left out by the Vulgar Translation and by those Expositors who follow it I know not why unless it be because the Syriac Version did the same which * Proinde nulla est Condemnatio iis qui non ambulant secundum carnem in Jesu Christo Vers Syr. Version in the reading of the Words is not only defective as to this but very harsh in the misplacing of them There is therefore no Condemnation to those who walk not after the flesh in Christ Jesus Some other such Variations might be taken notice of but I 'le pass them by The General Proposition being taken in pieces will afford us these two Observations 1. That there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus The Obs raised 2. That such who are in Christ Jesus and so secured from Condemnation this is their Property or Course they walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The discussing of these two Points will take me up some time Of the first Observation I begin with the First in the handling of which I will 1. chiefly speak to the Priviledge and only in a general way joyn the description of the Subject with it 2. I will then more particularly speak to that and show what it is to be in Christ Jesus or how persons may be said to be in Christ Jesus Of the First at this time For the better opening of which I must premise these seven things Seven things premised for explications 1. First the Apostle doth not say There is now no Affliction or no Correction to them who are in Christ but there is no Condemnation to them who are in Christ 'T is one thing to be afflicted another thing to be condemned God may and will afflict his Children but he 'le never condemn them it may be much affliction yet 't is no Condemnation Indeed God afflicts here that he may not condemn hereafter 1 Cor. 31.32 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World God is so gracious that he will not condemn yet withall so wise so just so holy that he will afflict Grace in the Heart secures from eternal not from temporal Evils God cannot condemn and yet love but he can chasten and yet love nay therefore he chastens because he loves As many as I love I rebuke and chasten whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth And it may be even to them who are in Christ not only bare Affliction but there may be something of the nature of * Quamvis Deus abso●vit verè poenitentes ab omni poenâ satisfactoriâ propter Christi mortem non tamen illos liberat abomni poenâ medicinali castigatoriâ Davenant in Col 1.24 See of this Burg. of Justif Lect. 4.5.10 Eaxt. Aphor. p. 68. c. Boltons Bounds c. p. 163. c. Rutherf● Survay pa●●● ch 31. Punnishment in that affliction though not in a vindictive way or upon the account of satisfaction The nearer a person is to Christ and the dearer he is to God the surer he is to be punished if he sin Tou only have I know of all the Families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities Amos 3.2 God may pardon and yet punish temporal punishment is very consistent with pardoning Mercy Psal 99.8 Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thoù tookest vengeance of them for their iniquities God had put away Davids sin yet he shall smart for it his own Soul shall live but his Child shall dye as a punishment for his sin See 2 Sam. 12.13 14. The Malefactor may not be condemn'd to dye as to his Life he may be acquitted yet he may be judged to be whipp'd or burnt in the hand for his offence so 't is here You must distinguish therefore betwixt no Condemnation and no Affliction or no Correction Saints are exempted from the former but not from the latter 2. Secondly The Apostle doth not say there is no Matter of Condemnation in them who are in Christ only as to Fact he saith there is no actual Condemnation to such There is a vast difference betwixt what is deserved and what is actually inflicted betwixt what is de Jure and ex Merito and what is de Facto Take the very best of Saints there is enough and enough in them which deserves eternal Condemnation and if God should proceed according to their merit it would be Condemnation over and over again for even they have sin and commit sin and wherever

God dreads it for the Hell that is in it me thinks all should dread it for the Hell that is procured by it Now therefore what 's your Course every mans Sentence shall be according to his Course where 't is an holy course it shall be the Sentence of Life where 't is the opposite course it shall be the Sentence of Death Bring it down to your selves do not you live in sin may be you are not Drunkards Swearers c. but is there not some other some secret way of wickedness in which you walk some bosom Lust hid and cherished do you endeavour after Vniversal Holiness these things must be enquired into for the No-Condemnation depends upon them Mistake me not I do not say if No Sin then No Condemnation as if to be Sinless was the condition of or way to the future blessedness God forbid I should go so high for then I should condemn every man in the World but this I say no allowed sin no reigning sin no presumptuous sin no course in sin and then 't is No-Condemnation That God who is just to punish for known and presumptuous sins is gracious also to pardon sins of infirmity So that upon the whole as ever you desire to see the Face of God with comfort to lift up your heads before your Judge at the Great day with joy to be freed from the Sentence of Condemnation I say as ever you desire these blessed things be holy live a godly life keep sin at a great distance do not allow your selves in it but rather condemn it that it may not condemn you If any think that the present good of sin preponderates the future evil of Condemnation or that they may live in sin and yet relye upon Gods mercy as if he would not condemn them for it I heartily beg of God that he will convince them of these soul-destroying mistakes that they may not persist in them till Condemnation it self will be a sad confutation to them Secondly 2. Dir. Condemn your selves and God will not condemn you Self-condemnation prevents Gods Condemnation There is a Self-condemnation which is judicial and penal which pains and torments but yet doth no good such was that of Cain and Judas O there is in some that condemnation from their own Consciences which is but a Prolepsis to the condemnation of God at the great day But then there is gracious and penitential self-condemnation such as that of David upon his numbring of the people and also upon his commission of other sins now this is that which I would urge upon you Where the Sinner upon the sense of the hainousness of sin condemns himself God will not condemn him too * 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord and so here as to Condemnation The penitent self judger is safe the * Luk. 18.14 self condemning Publican went away justified when the Sinner justifies God condemns but when he condemns then God justifies This signifies but little in the Courts of Men let the criminal person repent and judge himself never so much that 's nothing for all this the Law must be executed upon him but this always carries it in the Court of God O saith God there 's a Sinner but he is a penitent Sinner he hath sinned but he is angry with himself for it he arraigns and condemns himself for it well upon this I 'le acquit him he condemns below and therefore I 'le absolve above Thirdly 3 Dir. As you desire No-Condemnation speedily get your peace made with God through Christ Jesus A pacified God is never a condemning God First our Apostle saith * Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God and then he infers There is now no Condemnation c. Your first work is to look after the atoning of God through the blood of Christ if it be not reconciliation it will be Condemnation Are God and you reconcil'd is your peace made with him you have a reprieve for some time but have you sued out your pardon is the breach which sin hath made healed and made up betwixt God and you O as Christ speaks * Math. 5.25 26. Agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him lest at any time thy adversary deliver thee to the Judge c. this is a thing which admits of no procrastination Fourthly 4 Dir. Pray that it may be to you exemption from Condemnation You would have Others your Selves delivered from it but are you often with God and earnest with God about this matter Of all evils deprecate this as the greatest evil tell God you are willing he should do any thing with you burn cut lance modò in aeternum parcat if he will but save you from eternal misery This is the thing you should every day with the greatest ardency be begging of God Ah Lord do with us what thou pleasest but for thy mercy sake do not condemn us You are to pray daily that you may not * Luk. 22.40 enter into temptation surely much more that you may not enter into condemnation O be often upon your knees pleading with God and saying Lord Psal 30.9 what profit will there be in our blood why should such souls be lost forever what will follow upon our Condemnation but cursing and blaspheming of thy sacred name whereas if thou wilt pardon and save we shall bless adore and magnifie thy name forever If God give you an heart thus to pray for this mercy the mercy of mercies 't is to be hop'd he will not with-hold if from your 'T is good to pray now whilst prayer will do you good when the Sentence is once pass'd it will then do you no good at all Is it not much to be lamented that there are so few who go to God to plead with him about the everlasting concerns of their immortal souls many go from day to day from week to week nay from year to year without prayer let it be Salvation or Damnation 't is all one to them O this dreadful How seldom are the most of men at the throne of Grace beseeching the Lord for Christ Jesus his sake to deliver them from wrath will be very sad the end of the prayerless cannot be good Nay I have too just occasion to go higher there is a sort of persons amongst us who instead of humble serious calling upon God to free them from condemnation in their hellish imprecations they dare to call God to damn them O prodigious amazing astonishing profaneness I tremble to speak of it but O that it was not too common in our ears What do men defie God and even bid him do his worst is damnation a thing to be desired or wished for do they know what they say what if God should take them at their word and do that in his greatest wrath which they seem to wish for with the greatest

Duty as the Soul is quickned so proportionably 't is comforted In order therefore to this how doth it concern you to improve the Spirit of God as the Spirit of Life who can thus animate and enliven you but he he who freed you from the Law of Sin and Death must also free you from all that dulness and deadness of Spirit which sometimes possesses you therefore when David was desiring this mercy he puts the Spirit before it Thy Spirit is good c. Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake Psal 143.10 11. Indeed as none can cleanse the filthy heart but the purifying Spirit nor soften the hard heart but the mollifying Spirit so none can enliven the dead heart but the quicking Spirit When the Child was dead the Prophet sent his staff but that would not do the work the Child did not revive till the Prophet came himself so you may have quickning Means and quickning Ordinances and quickning Providences but if this quickning Spirit doth not come himself you will be dead still O therefore whenever you find the Heart under inward deadness presently carry it to this quickning Spirit for quickning Grace I would not have any here mistake me to put a wrong interpretation or make bad inferences from what hath been spoken so as to slight neglect cast off External Means Ordinances Duties because they are but dead things of themselves and 't is the Spirit onely which gives life Some infer such a practise from the premises but they do it very unwarrantably For 't is true that the Spirit of Life onely quickens but then he doth this for men when they are in the use of and in attendance upon the Means he first quickens to duty and then in duty and by duty his way and method is to give out his enlivening influences when the Soul is waiting in holy Ordinances And therefore these must be highly valued and duely attended upon though it be the Spirit onely which works in them effectually upon the heart 'T was the the Angel moving the Waters that did the Cure yet the poor Cripples were to lie by the Pool side so 't is here 'T is a good Caveat therefore that of Musculus upon the Words Ista Spiritus Dei efficacia c. that efficacy of the Spirit saith he is always to be pray'd for yet we must take heed that we have a due respect for those outward Means which the Spirit will have us to make use of But no more of this ROM 8.2 For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of sin and death CHAP. V. Of the Law or Power of Sin under which all Men are by Nature The whole Matter in the Words drawn into several Observations The main Observation broken into Three The First of which is spoken to viz. That every unregenerate person is under the Law of Sin That Law of Sin is opened in the twofold notion of it Two Questions stated 1. How doth Sin act as a Law in the Unregenerate 2. How it may be known when 't is the Law of Sin or wherein doth the difference lie betwixt the Power of Sin in the Regenerate and in the Unregenerate The Point applied by way of Information to inform us 1. of the bondage of the Natural State The Evil and Misery of that set forth in some Particulars 2. To inform us of the necessity power and efficacy of restraining and renewing Grace Both spoken to HHaving opened the Words and fixed upon that Interpretation of them which I judge most proper and genuine The Observations raised from the Words which was my work the last time I come now to fall upon those Observations which are grounded upon and do best therewith It hath been already observed First that the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of Life this I have given some short account of and will add nothing further upon it I might Secondly observe That this Spirit of Life is in Christ Jesus the regenerating Spirit is in Christ though not as the regenerating Spirit according to our common notion of Regeneration This was also cleared up in some Particulars when I was upon the Explication of the Words and in the following Verses I shall have occasion to handle it fully therefore here I 'le pass it over There 's a Third Observation which takes in the principal matter in the Text that therefore I shall onely insist upon namely That all regenerate persons by the Law of the Spirit of Life are made free from the Law of Sin and Death For this is that which Paul here affirms concerning himself and he speaking here not as an Apostle but as One regenerate quatenus regenerate that which he saith of himself is applicable to all such they all are made free from c. The General Observation broken into Three This being more generally laid down just as it lies in the Words of the Text and it being very comprehensive I will therefore more particularly branch it out into three Observations 1. That every man in the world as he is in the natural and unconverted state 1. Obs before the Spirit of Life or the regenerating Spirit takes hold of him is under the Law of Sin and Death 2. That such who are truly regenerate are made free from the Law of Sin and Death 2. Obs 3. That 't is by the Law of the Spirit of Life that these are made free from the Law of Sin and Death 3. Obs Each of these Points are of great weight and importance therefore I shall distinctly and largely speak to them First Observ handled I begin with the First which you may shorten thus Every unregenerate man is under the Law of Sin and Death In the handling both of this and also of the two other I shall mainly direct my Discourse to the Law of Sin as to the Law of Death that I shall onely speak to in the close of all This first Doctrinal Proposition is not so express in the letter of the Words as the two following but 't is strongly implied and very naturally deducible from them Paul himself that * Acts 9.15 chosen vessel who was so eminent in the Love of God the Graces of the Spirit the work and priviledges of the Gospel till it pleas'd the Lord savingly to work upon him was under the Law of Sin for he says here he was made free from it implying there was a time when he was enslaved under it As to the civil freedom of a Roman he tells us he was born to that Acts 22.28 but as to Evangelical freedom from the command and bondage of Sin he doth not say he was born free but made free this was not the result of Nature Birth or any such thing but the meer effect of divine grace Further he saith the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free whence it follows that till

We read Mark 11.9 They that went before and they that followed cryed saying Hosanna blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord Believers who liv'd before Christ's incarnation and they who follow since both are equally obliged to magnifie God for him both receiving the same benefit by him 2. It may be enquired Why Christ was incarnate just when he was why at this very Epocha or period of time rather than at any other was Christ incarnate why not either before or after but just then Answ why because it was that very time which God had set therefore called the fulness of time Gal. 4.4 He that is pleas'd to set the time for other things as for the Churches deliverances Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come Psal 102.13 and so in several Other cases surely he was pleas'd to set the time for so great a thing as the coming of his own Son in Flesh he in his eternal decree had determin'd the precise time for this which therefore when it was come then Christ came now I say all must be resolv'd into this True there were some more immediate Reasons why he came just when he did he was to come before the Scepter was wholly departed from Judah Gen. 49.10 whilst the Second Temple was standing Hag. 2.6 7 8 9. during the Fourth Monarchy Dan. 2.44 Daniel's 70 weeks were almost expired Dan. 9.24 there was a general expectation raised in the world of the coming of the Messias as might easily be made out Now with respect to these things the Lord Jesus came at that very period of time whereat he did but they all falling out but in compliance with and subordination to the Decree of God therefore the determination of the time of Christ's Coming and Incarnation must ultimately be resolv'd into that O he came just when he did neither sooner nor later because the Father had appointed that very time Prop. 'T was not the Divine Essence absolutely considered which assumed Flesh but that Essence considered as subsisting in the Second Person 4. 'T was not the Divine Nature or Essence simply and absolutely considered which assumed Flesh but it was that * Tota igitur Natura Divina fuit incarnata sed non quatenus absolutè in se consideratur ut omnibus Personis communis sed quatenus personalibus proprietatibus seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Personâ Filii determinata co●sideratur Davenant in Col. 2.9 p. 240. Solus Filius suscepit humanitatem in singularitatem Personae non in unitatem Naturae Divinae Concil Tolet. Neque enim Divina Natura si propriè accuratè loqui velimus sed Persona Divina assumsit Naturam Humanam Divina quidem Natura unitur Humanae sed eam nòn assumsit assumere enim non est Naturae sed Suppositi Bisterf contra Crell p. 565. Vide Alting Theol. Problem p. 562. 577. Nature considered as subsisting in the Second Person If this restriction and stating of the Point be not admitted we cannot avoid our holding the Incarnation was common to all the Persons contrary to what the Church hath ever held and to what was asserted but even now therefore when 't is said † 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the Flesh you are to understand God in the Personal not in the Essential notion Prop. The Nature assuming was the Divine Nature 5. The Nature assuming was the Divine Nature that being considered as was laid down in the forgoing Proposition The Manhood did not assume the Godhead but the Godhead it * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damasc de Orthod Fide lib. 3. cap. 2. p. 167. Man did not become God but God became Man 't is not said that † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. de Inc. Christi t. 1. p. 612. the Flesh was made the Word but the Word was made Flesh this is a thing so unquestionable that the very naming of it is enough Prop. That the Humane Nature was so assum'd as to subsist in the Divine that both Natures make but● one Person 6. The Lord Jesus the eternal Son of God God blessed for ever did so assume the Humane Nature as in a most mysterious and unconceivable manner to unite it upon the first framing or forming of it to his Divine Nature and to give that a subsistence in this so as that both do make but one Person the Essence Properties Operations of both Natures yet remaining the same without either conversion or confusion Here the Hypostatical Vnion is both asserted and and also described for wherein doth the nature of that Vnion consist but in that which is here laid down Of the Hypostatical Vnion Of it you read Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily i. e. Personally and Hypostatically Rom. 9.5 Whose are the Fathers and of whom as concerning the Flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever here 's both the Natures of Christ and both in him making but one Person upon the personal conjunction of which he 's call'd Emmanuel God with us Matth. 1.23 But not to insist upon the Proof of this Vnion which all but INFIDELS and SOCINIANS do believe The mysteriousness thereof I will endeavour as well as I can rather to explain and open it an undertaking which I enter upon the Lord knows with great fear and dread because of the loftiness and mysteriousness of the thing to be opened O 't is a thing so sublime and mysterious as that it transcends the capacity of Angels and Men how then shall I be able to speak of it or to it Take whom you will single out a Person of the sharpest wit the profoundest judgment the most elevated reason let all the most raised abilities concur in him and then set the Hypostatical Vnion before this person alas poor man how will he be puzzl'd nonplus'd unable to fathom so great a depth as this is And well he may since 't is the mystery of mysteries one of the first magnitude than which by a narrow intellect none more hard to be conceiv'd of or understood 'T is indeed sure and certain to Faith which believes it because God reveals it which readily answers all Objections and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr solves all difficulties about it by resting on divine revelation but if Reason beyond its proper bounds will be prying into and judging of a thing so abstruse its blindness as well as its boldness will soon appear its bucket will not go to the bottom of a Well so deep its line is too short to measure such heights breadths lengths depths as are here to be found I do not in the least wonder that they who make Reason to be the supream Judge of matters of Faith do throw off the belief of this mystery for though it be not at all contrary to reason

his invention and contrivance and his only the wisest Creatures in the world had they united all their wisdom could never have thought of such a way for the redeeming of lost man In so desperate a case God himself to speak after the manner of men was fain to set his own wisdom on work to find out a remedy and this was that which he found out and pitched upon O the infinite unsearchable incomprehensible Wisdom of God! The Apostle speaks of the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 of the manifold wisdom of God Eph. 3.10 of his abounding in all wisdom and prudence Eph. 1.8 what may these expressions refer to but to God's deep and most wise designs and methods display'd in the work of man's redemption by a Christ incarnate And which was a great demonstration of his Wisdom see how the remedy was suited to the malady Man at first would be as God and that ruin'd him therefore now God shall be as Man and that shall restore him Man gave the wound and Man shall heal that wound O the wisdom of God! 2. His Power for Christ as he was the Wisdom of God so also the Power of God 1 Cor. 1.24 and as he was so in other respects so eminently in that which I am upon 'T was an act of mighty power for God so nearly to unite the Godhead and the Manhood the bringing of two Natures so distant together in one Person must needs be the product of infinite power For God to make something out of nothing that speaks the greatness of his Power but for God to be made Man there being in some respects a greater distance betwixt the Godhead and the Manhood than 'twixt Something and Nothing this speaks a greater power 'T is much that Soul and Body two such different Beings should be so conjoyn'd as to make a Man that such disagreeing Elements should be reconcil'd in corpore mixto but what are these to the joyning of the Godhead and Manhood in one hypostasis 3. His Justice Is sin committed the holy Law broken doth the Creature lye under guilt God stands upon the vindication of his Honour the making good of his threatnings the satisfaction of his Justice Satisfaction he will have and in that Nature too in which the offence had been committed and because the Creature was altogether unable to make it in order thereunto God will have his own Son to take flesh that he may be in a capacity to obey do suffer what Justice required and when this Son had so assum'd flesh God fell upon him charg'd him with the guilt of all Believers exacted of him that punishment which was due to them would not spare him in the least or ' bate him any thing O the severity and impartiality of God's Justice 4. His Mercy Goodness and Love And doth not this Attribute shine forth as brightly in our Saviour's being made flesh as any of the former Here was the tender mercy of our God Luk. 1.78 God's so loving of the world Joh. 3.16 the great manifestation of his Love 1 Joh. 4.9 his glorious grace and the riches of his grace Eph. 1.6 7. Did ever God give the world such a demonstration of his Love and Grace as in the Incarnation of his Son O matchless infinite unlimited Love and Grace He had done exceeding well for Man as he made him at first for he put him into a very good state stamp'd his own Image upon him made him above all other Creatures to be his favourite but he foolishly sin'd and fell from God and thereby lost all his happiness Well! what did God now do did he let Man alone shut up his bowels against him fall upon him with his utmost wrath did he say Nay since 't is thus let him even rise as he hath fallen since he would be so foolish as for a trifle to break with me let him rot and die and perish for ever I 'le do no more for him O no! not such a word or thought did pass from the gracious God towards his miserable Creature He pitied undone man found out help for him yea sent his own Son to restore him and how did he send this Son why in Flesh but in what Flesh surely it shall be altogether glorious flesh such as shall be of a quite other Nature than that is which we poor mortals have I so it was in some respects but in others but just like to sinful flesh put all this together and was not here Love God will have sin to be punished but then the punishment shall be laid upon his own Son and the sinner himself shall be acquitted O the heighth of Justice and yet O the heighth of Mercy too There 's more of Mercy in God's sending Christ and sending him in this way than there would have been in his absolute pardoning of sin without any sending or any satisfaction because alwayes the more costly a mercy is the more there is of Mercy in that mercy And meer pardon nay Salvation it self have not so much of Mercy and Love in them as what was in Christ's assuming our Nature for as to the first 't is more for a King to put himself into the Traytor 's stead and himself to make satisfaction for his Offence than just to pardon him and as to the second in Salvation there is our advancement but in Christ's Incarnation there was his abasement now 't is more for such a Person as Christ to be abased than 't is for such a Creature as Man to be advanced All which being consider'd what an obligation doth there lie upon us to get our hearts rais'd up unto and drawn out in the highest admiration of God's Mercy God the Son to be admired 't is shewn here also how or wherein Secondly God the Son or Christ himself the Person who was incarnate he too is greatly to be admired with respect 1. to his Love 2. to his Holiness 3. to his Power 1. For his Love which indeed was superlative and admirable transcending the reach of the highest finite capacity Christ knew what our flesh was how much it was below him to take it * Te propter vitamque tuam sum Virginis alvum Ingressus sum factus Homo c. Lactant. de Benefic Christi yet for our good he readily condescended to it and was willing to debase and depress himself if he might but advance and exalt us here was the mirror of Love The greatness of his Person speaks the greatness of his Love * Phil. 2.6 7 8. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation c. what a Person was Christ before his Incarnation what a fall was here thereby for such a Person * Jacet in pannis qui regnat in coelis Mundum implens in praecepi jacens Sidera regens ubera lambens c. Conditor Mariae natus ex Mariâ Filius David

that he who offered up himself was God as well as Man therefore the Apostle speaking of the efficacy of this Sacrifice above the Levitical Sacrifices lays it upon Christ's Godhead Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit his Deity offered himself c. The chiefest difficultys not lying in these things I do not you see make any long stay upon them but there being a twofold Enquiry which will carry us into the very bowels of the main Truth and take in what is most struck at by our Adversaries that I would rather to spend my time upon The Lord Jesus being a Sacrifice it will be asked 1. What a kind of a Sacrifice he was 2. When and where he was that Sacrifice What a kind of Sacrifice Jesus Christ was Ans An expiatory Sacrifice To the First I answer he was a propitiatory or expiatory Sacrifice answering unto yet infinitely exceeding the Jewish expiatory Sacrifices by which he was shadowed out and typify'd The proof and illustration of this very thing is the design and business of the Apostle in that Epistle I mean that written to the Hebrews which gives us more light into it than all the Books that ever were written before or besides Pray reade again and again the 5 7 8 9 10 Chapters thereof and you 'l find the Apostle there doing these three things 1. He proves that Christ was not only a Sacrifice but that he was truly and really an expiatory Sacrifice for he instances in all the proper constitutive ingredients into and effects of the Law-expiatory Sacrifices all of which he applys and brings down to Christ 2. He shows the analogy and resemblance 'twixt those expiatory Sacrifices and this of Christ and what respect they all carried to this 3. He shows wherein and how far the latter exceeded the former The discussing of these three Heads takes up the greatest part of that most excellent Commentary upon the Law-Sacrifices the particular Texts in it I will not at present cite as they are proper to what I have now laid down but that will be done in what will follow A short account of the difference and distinction of the Jewish Sacrifices Of which in particular see Philo. Jud. de Victimis Joseph Antiq. Jud. l. 3. c. 10. Sigon de Repub Hebr. l. 3. c. 2. with very many Others Dr. Owen on the Hebr. in Proleg Exercit. 24. Dr. Stillingfl Answer to Crellius p. 473. For our better procedure in speaking to this important Truth before I can well fall upon the close handling of it it will not be amiss for us a little to cast our eye upon and to take a short view of the Jewish Sacrifices With the general Nature whereof I intend not at all to meddle only give me leave that being proper to the business in hand and indeed necessary for the better understanding of it to shew how these were diversify'd and distinguished Concerning which several Divisions and Distinctions are given of them but the best and shortest is this viz. Some were gratulatory and some Propitiatory or some Eucharistical and some Expiatory Eucharistical were those that were design'd for the expressing of gratitude for the giving of thanks and praise to the Lord upon the receiving of mercy of which you reade Lev. 7.15 22.29 Psal 50.14 Hos 14.2 but these I am not concerned about Expiatory were those that were design'd for the atoning and pacifying of God the averting of his anger the doing away the guilt of Sin and the preventing or removing of the punishment of it these were the Sacrifices which took up the greatest room in the body of Mosaical Sacrifices and which did in special point to the grand Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus and to that too as expiatory Now these expiatory Sacrifices were many and various all of them carrying something in them whereby they differ'd and were distinguished each from the other which differences with the grounds and reasons of them if we could exactly hit upon 't would be of marvellous great use to us in many things but alas excepting where the Gospel it self opens this for us we are much in the dark about it the Jewish Writers that should help therein contribute but very little help as they tell us who are most conversant in them If we take a brief and general Scheme of them this is clear the old expiatory Sacrifices differ'd in the matter of them for in some 't was living Creatures in others 't was what grew from the earth and often these two were joyn'd the Zebach and the Mincah going together in the same Sacrifice as in the daily Sacrifice Exod. 29.39 40. and in diverse others They differ'd in the Rites us'd about them all of which were prescrib'd by God himself some were to be poured out some burnt some to be slain and offered by the ordinary Priests some by the High Priest himself the blood of some to be carried into the Holy of Holy's of others not so some to be wholly consum'd and God to have all as in the Holocausts some but in part consum'd in which of what was left one part was to go to the Priests as in the Sin and Trespas-offering and the other to the Persons who brought the Sacrifice as in the Peace-offering provided that that which was offered was for private persons for if it was offered for the whole Congregation then no private person might share in the residue Levit. 23.19 20. They differ'd in the Time which was appointed for them for some were to be offer'd every day morning and evening call'd the daily Sacrifice Exod. 29.38 39 40. Numb 28.3 4 5. 2 Chron. 8.13 1 Chron. 16.40 Ezek. 46.13 14. Dan. 8.11 9.21 11.31 12.11 Nehem. 10.33 Ezra 9.4 5. Some to be offered but every Sabbath day Numb 28.9 10. Some at the New Moons Numb 28.11 Some at the revolution of the Sabbatical year Levit. 25.2 c. Some at the great Jubile Levit. 25.8 c. Some at the Solemn Feasts as that of the Passeover Exod. 12. Numb 28.26 of Pentecost Lev. 23.17 c. of Tabernacles Numb 29.12 Some but once a year at the great aniversary Expiation Levit. 16. per tot They differ'd in the Rise of them some being purely from the will of the Offerer the * Vide L'Empereur de Leg. Hebr. p. 264. Free-will Offerings Levit. 7.16 Levit. 22.21 others occasioned by some special emergency of Providence when some eminent mercy was received or some great judgment to be removed c. 2 Sam. 6.13 17. 1 Chron. 15.26 2 Chron. 29.21 c. 2 Sam. 24. ult Others were constant being set and stated by God himself as those that have been already mentioned They differ'd according to the Persons for whom they were appointed some for the Prince some for the Priests some for private men some for the whole Community for each of which directions are given Lev. 4. And then as to the