that that body which he hath assumed is not the body of any other person or individual but it is the proper body of the Son of God therefore is it called the Temple of his body Joh. 2.21 elsewhere it is said Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Act. 20.28 And we have that expression The body of his flesh Col. 1.22 That particle or parcel of our nature which the Son of God assumed and took up was so individually inseparably indissolubly united to him that it became his own proper flesh therefore is it said The bread I will give is my flesh Joh. 6.51 To sum up this particular what love is this that the Son of God so great a person as we have heard should take up a part of our nature joyn it to himself in the bond of near union and doth wear it and will wear it to all Eternity 5. The admirableness of the work of Christs Incarnation appears in this in that by means of the Incarnation all the Trinity are brought near to us and by the Son incarnate we come to have communion with all the Trinity Hence is that expression of the Apostle John 1 Joh. 2.24 If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father By continuing in the Son we come to continue in the Father This is the order we must continue in the Son if ever we mean to continue in the Father He had said before He that denies the Son the same hath not the Father now he saith By abiding in the doctrine of the Son we shall continue in the Son and in the Father What is the doctrine of the Son which if we continue in we shall continue in the Son and in the Father The doctrine of the Son is That the Word is made flesh Compare this with 1 Joh. 4.2 and 2 Joh. 7. and we shall see it clear that the doctrine concerning the Son is That the Son is come into the flesh or that the Word is made flesh Now by continuing in this doctrine we shall continue in the Father by continuing in the doctrine of the Son incarnate we shall continue in the Father How so He that hath the Son hath the Father The Divinity of the Father is brought down to us in the person of the Son incarnate It is a great speech of a Learned Divine Divinitas in una sui hypostaseâ—â—â— tota nobis communicavit The whole Divinity hath communicated it self to us in the Incarnation of one of the Persons To understand which we must know although the Son only be the person who is incarnate not the Father or the Spirit yet both the Father and the Spirit are to be found in that one person of the Son who is incarnate and the reason is because the Divine persons although they are distinct yet they have an inbeing in each other Joh. 14.10 The Father is in the Son and the Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son so that in the person of the Son who only is incarnate the other persons are to be found Hence is that speech of Luther and it is a great speech Vbi ille Deus Christus Jesus est ibi est totus Deus seu tota Divinitas ibi invenitur Pater Spiritus S. Luther Where that God Christ Jesus is there is whole God or the whole Divinity there the Father and the holy Spirit is found The Son hath assumed our nature now the Father is in the Son and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son therefore in the Son incarnate all the Trinity are represented to us We begin first of all at the flesh of Christ we conceive first of all of the humanity of Christ and from thence we ascend to the contemplation of the Divinity of the Son inhabiting and dwelling in the humane nature and by that means we come to communion with the whole Trinity This may be illustrated further to us by two Considerations 1. At the same time we apprehend the Divinity of the Son we do also apprehend the Divinity of the Father Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father There is one and the same undivided Divinity Trium personarum una eadem individua est Divinicas Essentia Omnipotentia Sapientia Essentia unius personae est essentia alterius Essence Omnipotency Wisdom of all the three persons therefore when we apprehend and conceive of the Divinity of the Son we do at the same time apprehend the Divinity of the Father and Spirit which is common to all the three persons The essence of one person is the essence of another We must not fancy or imagine because we speak of more persons than one in the Deity therefore there are more Deities as if there were as many Deities as persons no all the three persons are but one and the self same Deity or Godhead and when we apprehend the Divinity or Deity of one of the persons we apprehend the same Deity that is common to them all 2. By the apprehension of the person of the Son we are led into communion with the Father so that we may say with the Apostle 1 Joh. 1.3 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ The Divinity of the Father and the Son is the same so that when we apprehend the Divinity of the one we must necessarily apprehend the Divinity of the other Yet there is a distinction between the Father and the Son the distinction is not in point of Essence for there is one and the self same Essence or Divinity common to them both Therefore if there be a distinction between the Father and the Son and that distinction be not in point of Essence the distinction must necessarily be conceived to be as to the person of the one and of the other each person includes the whole Essence and when we conceive of one person we must conceive of the whole Essence Yet thus we ought to take it the same Essence is to be conceived after a distinct manner of subsisting in the Father and the self same Essence is to be conceived after a distinct manner of subsisting in the Son Or we may take it in other words thus One and the self same God after such a manner of subsisting is the Father one and the same God after such a manner of subsisting is the Son For that which we call a person in the Godhead is nothing else but the Divine Essence it self distinguished by some proper manner of subsisting as for instance When we conceive of the Father we conceive of him as the first person in the Deity who is of himself and from no other and gives being to the Son as the Son this is his manner of subsisting When we conceive of the Son we conceive of him as the second person in the
Christ our Saviour that is through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour It is God that sheds the Holy Ghost into our hearts but it is through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour It is through the Merits of Christs death that this Spirit is purchased for us Well! but what doth the Holy Ghost do when he is sent into our hearts as the purchase of Christs death He regenerates and renews us So the former verse tells us According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost The Spirit of God takes away the heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh The Spirit of God working grace in the heart takes away the enmity and opposition that naturally lies in our heart against God and inclines our hearts to love God and to fear him 4. The fourth Particular we would lay down for the clearing of the Point is this That our Saviour here in the Text is speaking of the greatest love amongst men Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends The greatest love amongst men will go no higher than this for one man to lay down his life for another Now saith our Saviour you cannot complain that my love is defective towards you in that I am ready to do as much for you as ever any man did for his friend The highest love that you can instance in is when one man doth lay down his life for another now I am ready to lay down my life for you therefore it is that our Saviour saith here Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends 5. Another Particular for the clearing of it is this The Disciples to whom Christ was here speaking Greater love than this hath no man that he lay down his life for his friends were already made friends but yet they and all others who were made friends before his incarnation were made friends to God by virtue of that Sacrifice which now he was about to offer up For Christ was a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world and the virtue of his death and sufferings was extended to all the Saints that were made so in all Ages therefore although they to whom Christ was now speaking were already made friends yet it was through the virtue of his death and sufferings that now he was to undergo that they were made so All men by nature are enemies alike and that now any were made friends was by virtue of the death of Christ that he was to suffer and undergo for them For it was the Decrce of God that Christ should dye and suffer before he did dye and suffer and it was in the virtue of his sufferings that all the Elect that lived before his Incarnation and those that lived in the time when he was here in the flesh were reconciled unto God 6. The sixth Particular is this Christ had in the former verse been exhorting his Disciples to love one another according to the Pattern himself had given to them This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you Now in this verse he shews wherein he did manifest his love to them he was ready to manifest his love to them by Laying down his life for them therefore if they intended to love one another in conformity to his Pattern they must be ready to shew the highest offices of love one to another He would have them love one another even as he hath loved them His love to them made him willing to lay down his life for them and therefore if they would love in conformity to him they should be ready to perform the highest offices of love one towards another Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 Joh. 3.16 7. Our Saviour was about to owne them as his friends and to acquaint them that he intended to deal with them as with friends Now it was not accommodate to his present design and scope in this place to say he would lay down his life for his enemies for immediately after he tells them that he owns them for his friends in the 14. verse Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you Henceforth I have not called you servants but I have called you friends And he tells them he deals with them as with friends The servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you Joh. 15.15 Christ tells them that he looked upon them as friends and that he intended to deal with them as friends therefore it was not accommodate with our Saviours present scope and design in this place to use the expression of enemies though we were all enemies when Christ dyed for us but he chuseth to express it thus Greater love than this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friends Upon these accounts I conceive it is in this place that Christ saith he laid down his life for his friends whereof elsewhere it is said we were enemies when Christ dyed for us Thus have I dispatched the third Particular to shew you how it is said Christ laid down his life for his friends It remains now that I should enter upon the fourth Head and that is to speak something concerning the Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction but because I chuse to reserve that intire to be spoken to by it self I shall make some Application of what hath been mentioned and indeed the Use that ariseth from hence is of great moment The first Use therefore shall be this Vse 1 Doth Christ lay down his life for his friends Let us be exhorted from hence to be sensible of the condition that we are in by nature we are not born friends but we are made so by the Death of Christ We are so far from being born friends as that we are born enemies unto God now we ought to be sensible of the natural enmity that is in us against God But here it may be said Wherein doth this enemity consist How doth it appear that we are enemies unto God I answer It appears in these three Particulars 1. It appears in this That our wills are most opposite to the Will of God That natural enmity that is in us against God appears in this Qui alterius voluntati adversatur saith a Learned man He that resists and sets himself to cross the will of another and doth this always so that his will can by no means consent or agree to anothers will he is said to be a mans enemy Now such is the will of every natural man the will of every natural man doth perpetually rise in opposition against Gods Will. Rom. 8.7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it
That Christ hath given himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 Observe that expression That he might purifie unto himself Christ did not give himself that he might purifie to the Father only a peculiar people but also that he might purifie to himself a peculiar people So Eph. 5.25 Christ gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church Here it is said That he might present it to himself a glorious Church As Christ by his death and sufferings reconciled us to God the Father so he reconciled us to himself also It is true the Scripture when it speaks of the work of reconciliation doth in a peculiar manner attribute it to the Father as the Person to whom we are reconciled and it speaks of our reconciliation to God by Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 All things are of Godâ— who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ Col. 1.20 By him to reconcile all things to himself By him that is by Christ To reconcile all things to himself that is to the Father by Christ then we are reconciled to the Father But we must understand this aright When it is said We are reconciled to the Father by Christ we must not suppose that the other Persons are excluded We are not only reconciled to the Father but we are reconciled to the whole Trinity and Christ considered as Mediator as God-man reconciles us to himself considered as God simply And here lies the Mystery of Divine wisdom and goodness that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself God is the person offended and yet in and by his Son it is he that offers reconciliation to the world 3. The greatness of Christs love in laying down his life for us appears in this That there was no merit in us to move Christ to lay down his life for us It is well observed by Austin It was our sins not our merits that drew Christ from Heaven to earth As we could not merit Christs Incarnation so neither could we merit his death and sufferings for us For what is it that we can suppose that should merit Christs death and sufferings for us Was it our fore-seen faith or our fore-seen obedience This is all that can be supposed Now these were the effects of Christs death and sufferings therefore they could not be the cause of them It is observed by Alvarez That Christs fore-seen Merits were the cause of all that grace that was bestowed upon man in the state of lapsed nature Joh. 1.17 Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ All the grace that we receive in lapsed nature is by Jesus Christ Eph. 1.4 God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Christs Merits are the foundation of our faith and obedience Whatever faith and obedience is found in us is wrought by the Spirit of Christ in us Now the Spirit it self that works all grace in us is the purchase and fruit of the death of Christ Tit. 3.4 After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour The Holy Ghost is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that is through the Merit of Jesus Christ our Saviour Now it is by this Spirit that faith it self and all other effects of grace are wrought in us therefore it is said By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 4. We were so far from having any merit to oblige Christ to suffer and dye for us that we were full of demerit full of evil merits We were sinners enemies rebels against God and herein God commended his love to us that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 The greatest love amongst men is when one friend will dye for another Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend But where was it known that ever any man laid down his life for his enemy Yet Christ hath commended his love to us in that while we were enemies he dyed for us Col. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death It is commonly said That sin is a kind of God-murther Peccatum est Deicidium the sinner would dethrone God and take away the life and Being of God if it lay in his power Now herein the admirable and transcendent love of God to man appeared That when man by sin would dethrone God and take away the life and Being of God if it were in his power that God would lay down his life for them that would take away his life and Being God redeemed the Church with his own blood and Hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us Learn to study much the greatness of Christs love in his sufferings Vse 1 and in the work of his Satisfaction Let us often have recourse to the Cross of Christ and by the eye of faith behold the Son of God in our nature giving himself a Sacrifice for our sins The more we study the love of Christ in his sufferings and in the work of his Satisfaction we shall find two notable effects of it 1. Hereby we shall be strengthened and confirmed in our belief of Christs love to us 2. This will be a means to beget greater measures of love in our hearts to Christ 1. The more we contemplate the love of Christ to us in his sufferings and satisfaction the more shall we be strengthened and confirmed in our belief of Christs love to us 1 Joh. 4.16 We have known and believed the love that God hath towards us for God is love How come we to know and believe the love that God hath towards us Compare this with the former verses and they will shew us vers 8 9 10. God is love In this was manifested the love of God to us that he sent his only begotten Son that we might live through him Herein was love not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins When by faith we can apprehend and believe that God hath sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins this will confirm us in the certain belief and perswasion of the love of God to us Who hath reason to doubt of Gods love when he is certainly perswaded and doth firmly believe that God hath sent his Son from Heaven to earth to take our nature and being in our
EMMANVEL OR THE LOVE of CHRIST Explicated and Applied in his INCARNATION Being made under the LAW AND HIS SATISFACTION IN XXX Sermons Preached by JOHN ROW Minister of God's Word AND Published by SAMUEL LEE LONDON Printed for Francis Tyton Book-seller at the Three Daggers near the Inner Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet 1680. TO THE PIOUS READER THIS Treatise here presented to thine eyes first sounded in the ears of a gracious Society by that Gospel-Trumpet Mr. John Row It was a Darling-child brought forth from a judicious head and a sanctified heart The Ancients compared John to the Eagle in the Vision of Cherubims because soaring high in the contemplation of our Lords Divinity Our John as if he had lain in the bosom of that John who lay in the bosom of our Saviour hath sweetly attempted to descant upon the Song of Angels about the Vnion of Heaven and Earth God and man together Luk. 2.10 The heavenly Host answered in a heavenly Anthem to that single Angel who brought the good Tydings of great joy for all people to the Shepherds of Bethlehem and behold here one of the Shepherds of Zion sings his Epiphonema to theirs Glory to God in the highest Indeed the union of two Natures in one Person and of three Persons in one Essence are Mysteries unaccountable by Angels but the joy of its influence shall never forsake the Harps of Angels or Saints to all Eternity None but who is assumed into that glorious Vnion can exhaust the Treasury of Divine Wisdom Rev. 5.5 John the beloved Disciple could not unloose the seven Seals of these Mysteries but must weep at the foot of the Lamb to do it Yet what is to be believed admired adored may and ought to be the subject of our most profound Meditations and delight What God hath revealed let none presume to count impertinent to dive into though they can feel no bottom they will find more amiable Gemms than Pearl and Coral adhering to the sides of the adamantine Rocks in this unfathomable Abyss True none can fully explain this Vnion but he that injoys it To delineate some glittering rays that stream from it requires deep communion with the person in union We are not able to conjecture what pleasures flow in upon the palates of Angels as they stand drinking of the beams of the Divine Essence neither can they transfuse or pour out those Paradise-rivers into our broken cisterns How far this holy man hath added to the point I rather leave to the Candidates of these Mysteries than determine Each may see deeper into their own Notions than others and it is far easier to conceive than express and yet there is infinitely more left for all Ages in the remainder of the Spirit than ever was uttered or can be thought of Yet I think with respect had to others he hath rendred some things more intelligible and many things more applicable and useful to common capacities The Cherubims that stood looking down upon the crowned Mercy-seat might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 25.11 1 Pet. 1.12 but could not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they might gaze upon it but not through it It was not transparent Gold like the streets of Jerusalem Rev. 21.21 but too thick a plate of Ophir for an Angels eye to pierce They may pry into the state of Saints in Glory but not the contrivance of Grace to bring Saints thither Much less can man and man fallen receive or sustain wings strong enough to fly into the depth of this amazing Firmament What God bath made on the back-side of the exteriour Heavens hath a terminating bound because a Creature though it pose Astronomy it self to measure and square the Circle of the Heavens so what God hath written is infinitely true though our finite and crooked thoughts can never unfold or draw a parallel what Scripture reveals though it do not fully unveil it is our duty both to study and embrace Divine love say the Platonists made the Vniverse and therefore more capacious and were it not more comprehensive than all created love it would never take a Saint He finds a bottom in all created joy and not like the Sea the fresher at the bottom but sometimes more salt and bitter but uncreated love hath no shoars nor centre but the bosom of God and the depth is upward still higher and sweeter These things are reserved for such as pass Kidron and Olivet let us a while step into the Sanctuary and study to grow in the Mystery of the Father and of Christ and pray that the Spirit would reveal in us what the Son hath revealed to us from the Father Joh. 1 1◠and then draw spiritual and sweet consequences from above Did the Son of God come down from Heaven to earth was it not to take the sons of men from earth to Heaven Did not the second Person partake of the humane Nature that we might partake of the Divine He took not the persons of Enoch or Abraham or Paul that they only might be happy but the nature of the first Adam that all who by faith are united to the second Adam in Grace may triumph in Glory Did not he lye in Davids Inn at Bethlehem that we might lye in the Son of Davids mansions that are above in that Zion of Zions Was not he made of a woman in Canaan to restore us to a better Paradise than what was lost by the woman of Eden Was not he made under the Law that we might be new born under Grace Was not he exalted on the Cross this Josephs Son to speak with reverence to erect a more firm and sublime Ladder into Heaven than Jacob's That Patriarch saw only a Vision of Angels by star-light but we by this Ladder ascend up to the Angels themselves that are singing in the Noon of Glory Was not his most precious Blood poured out as a Ransom for many to the remission of sins that ours might not be poured out like oyl to feed the perpetual Lamps in the flames of Hell Did not the Father make his love honourable as the Prophet speaks by his Son 's more honourable obedience and justifie his Justice by his Son's Righteousness and quench his anger in the Ocean of his Son's love Thus doth our blessed Author from the Son's Deity proceed to the great Doctrine of his most meritorious Sufferings and full Satisfaction for the sins of all the Elect. The Father by his Eternal love made way for his Temporal anger to his beloved Son that he might redeem his adopted sons from eternal wrath and made a way through the heart of his Son for them to pass into eternal love This point he no less sweetly than substantially clears against the Socinians venom who aim by darkning the Deity of Christ to extinguish the glory and honour of his Satisfaction Act. 20.28 For if it had not been the Blood of God it could never have purchased the Church But it is that
whom he found aliquid Christi something to the honour of Christ he would crown them with praises For Christ was the chief scope of his meditations and studies as it is of all faithful Ministers to turn Souls to him and enamour them with him delighting to dig in that Rock of Zion more than in a Rock of Diamonds These illustrious Truths about the Trinity and the Incarnation of our Lord he stiled Stars of the first magnitude and indeed it may be justly added they are the Sun of the Gospel heavens wherein he said he could meditate night and day and sometimes thought he was carried out too long insomuch that being in his Country-recess and upon the wing as bath been observed his nobler spirits towred up so high as to leave his animal spirits bird-limed in a maze below and having found sweeter food above the Firmament did soon forget the refreshment of his deserted body drawing nigh the flight of some of the Ancients of whom 't is storied they forsook the earth and found their Souls embalmed in the bosom of eternal Love The sweetness of these dainties nourished his conceptions that Aristotle hit right when he placed happiness in the contemplation of Truth Nevertheless he became through Grace the more humble verifying the excellency of sanctified knowledge that it grows most luxuriant in the sat vallies of humility It was said of one That he sailed so long upon the Ocean of Knowledge that at last he was tossed into the Haven of Ignorance and when arrived to the knowledge of more than most of Mortals determined to grave upon Minerva's Pillars Ne plus ultrà or Nihil scitur or to use Scripture-phrase That there is no finding out the Almighty to perfection in any of his ways or works But our Contemplator though he found new Regions of Light and Science above the Heavens was humbled by searches and exalted by humility and did much condemn such as dared to determine any thing of God without book not only when against but besides the sacred Oracles When any did irrationally and irreverently apply the term of Extension to an infinite Being or were so bold as to state peremptory Conclusions about the Decrees and Prescience of God undertaking to unlade the deep waters above the Heavens with their Brain-sick pan he used that of Bradwardin Si non possis minimum quomodo maximum If no Anatomist can unwinde the texture of the Brain of an Ant or discover the wisdom of that minute Insect how much less can any wade into or feel the bottom of those holy precious unfathomable depths of the Eternal God whom the Heaven of heavens cannot contain Or as that annexed at the bottom of Bernard Quomodo te si non meipsum The World is not yet come to an issue about the humane Soul and why will they burn their wings at the rays of the inaccessible Light He then put his experimental seal to that of the holy Burgundian Abbot Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloria He who charges the Seraphims of folly in comparison with his infinite Wisdom might upon their crying Holy Holy Holy cause his Sinai-voice to sound with imputations of grand Vnholiness and Vncircumcision to their lips and hearts This holy man found the eye of his Soul more dazled by prying into these radiant Mysteries than that of his body by gazing on the fiery Lamp of the material Heavens affirming that nothing did so effectually humble him no not his sharpest afflictions nor the bitterest cups make him so stagger into the dust as some glittering reflections of the Divine Majesty upon his Soul and cry out with Agur I am more brutish than any or with that other Saint I am like a Behemoth a great beast before thee But for points revealed in Scripture he took more peculiar pains and suckt more satisfying delight from the breasts of the Incarnation He endeavoured to open that Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the flesh in so plain and familiar a way as the truth might bear that weak capacities might gather strength and those of greater light might find greater afflux of spiritual oyl to their Lamps from this Olive-tree in the Courts of God And I hope the Lord will raise up some other that hath walked from the Passiongarden in Gethsemane along with our Thorn-crowned Lord through the dolorous way to the Passion-mount of Golgotha and have found the Sympathy Nails and Spear in their own hearts that will lament his sorrows with so bitter a cry as to pierce the souls of many to entertain a bleeding Saviour within the chambers of their hearts It was his saying whose Treatise follows He knew no other bottom whereon to lay the stress of his Salvation than the Son of God incarnate most certainly true of all who spend their joys on his Incarnation and breathe out their believing sighs upon his Passion So that this having been his great study he said a little before his departure That though most were apt to look upon these as speculative Subjects yet he esteemed them as the most practical and the very heart and kernel of our Salvation involved in them In the delivery of these and other great Doctrines of the Gospel that he gave in Precept to his Son he gave in President to others in imitation of Christ who taught his Disciples as they were able to bear both as to gradual matter and as to a pleasant form in apt similitudes in his occasional walkings and constant heavenly teachings Thus our Author esteemed that character of an Orator to be no less useful than ancient To teach perswade and delight to teach by cogent Arguments to perswade by insinuating Motives and to delight with elegant Metaphors As the Lord himself speaks Eccles 12.10 I have used similitudes by my Servants the Prophets and that the wise Preacher sought to find out acceptable words as well as words of truth such as might be like Apples of gold in Pictures of silver as well as goads and nails fastned by the Masters of Assemblies such as may not so much please the ears as prick the heart as Jerom glosses Non placentia sed pungentia adding further Lachrymae auditorum c. The tears of Auditors are the Pearls of Preachers Such did our grave Author use not jingling Bells but deep Peals of repentance not bald and slovenly but apt and significant terms that the Lamb might wade and the Elephant swim in the fluency of his expressions When near the time of taking his flight to Glory having been versed in the Divine Methods of the Holy Spirit in the communications of Grace and the sensible instillations of it into the souls of men he treated of the Deity of the Spirit his procession from the Father and the Son and his powerful operations on the heart and being ravished with the effusions of the Spirit here went up to injoy his more plentiful infusions in the celestial Mansions Being nearer his time of recess
Thess 5.9 These are the things that God bestows upon his people so then it is a special love in this respect God bestows common blessings upon others he bestows many temporal blessings upon all men but his special favours are reserved for the Elect therefore he is said to be the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 God preserves and saves all men by a common Providence but he is in a special peculiar manner the Saviour of Believers therefore he is called the Saviour of the body Eph. 5.23 Compare these Scriptures together in one place he is said to be the Saviour of all men and in another place he is said to be the Saviour of his body the Church Christ is the Saviour of all men in some respect but not so as he is the Saviour of his body the Church he saves all men with a common salvation but he doth not save all men with a spiritual eternal salvation it is the Church only he so saves 2. The love of Christ is a discriminating love because it is such a love as is bestowed upon some persons which is not bestowed upon others Whom he foreknew them he did predestinate Rom. 8.29 How did he foreknow them he foreknew them so as to love them He knows all his creatures from Eternity but he doth not so foreknow all as to love all alike but he foreknows some after a special manner he so foreknows some as he doth not foreknow others he so foreknows some from Eternity as to love them from Eternity he so foreknows some as to pass by others hence it is said he loved his own which were in the world Joh. 13.1 he hath chosen them out of the world Joh. 15.19 and he prays for them not for the world Joh. 17.9 Here we may cry out with the Apostle O the depths There was no reason on the part of the Elect why they should be chosen and not others Mal. 1.2 Was not Esau Jacobs brother saith the Lord yet I loved Jacob. As much as if it had been said What preheminence had Jacob more than Esau when I made my Election Was not Esau Jacobs brother Did not Esau and Jacob stand upon equal ground and might I not have taken one as well as another Nay Esau was the elder brother yet saith God Jacob have I loved There is no dignity or worth in the Elect why they should be chosen more than others the Elect themselves were involved in the same common condition of sin and misery with others but God who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he hath loved us Eph. 2.4 hath bestowed that love on some which he hath denied to others The reason of this love is not from any thing on the Elects part but from Gods own Soveraign will he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Those who are chosen are not better and more worthy than others but God out of his own love will make them to be vessels of mercy when as he will pass by others 1. Vse 1 A word to Sinners O labour from what hath been spoken to be sensible of your mifery while you lye out of Christ and continue in your sins you can challenge no part in this rich and glorious love Rom. 8.29 whom he predestinated them he also called therefore till you be called you have no evidence of your Election of God Think then of thy sad condition poor sinner poor unconverted soul O there is all this rich and glorious love in the heart of Christ but for any thing that yet appears thou art never like to have share in it why thou art yet uncalled and lyest wallowing in thy sins The first dawnings of Christs love appear and break forth in vocation Eph. 5.26 Christ loved the Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Christs love to the Church is seen in sanctifying the Church and cleansing it by the Word and Spirit O but thou wast never sanctified and cleansed by the Word and Spirit to this day Thou art a poor creature wallowing in thy blood thou continuest in thy ignorance unbelief prophaneness hardness to this day Whoever thou art whilst thou continuest such thou hast no evidence as yet of thy election of God that thou hast any share or part in this glorious love of Christ O pray that thou mayst feel the sanctifying and cleansing work of Christs Spirit that the Word may have a work on thy soul for conversion Christ loves the Church and sanctifies and cleanses it with the washing of water by the word The Word is the ordinary means by which the Elect are sartctified and therefore Christ prays Sanctifie them by thy truth thy word is truth Joh. 17.17 If thou wouldst have some evidence of Christs love pray that the Word of God may have some effect upon thee to bring thee from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God To the People of God Vse 2. Is there such a rich and glorious love in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ Oh then labour to admire and adore this glorious love labour to get your hearts affected with this love stand and wonder at it that the Lord Jesus should have such love for you such ancient free peculiar love for you that you should be made the objects of this ancient free peculiar love of his when so many are passed by Meditate much on this love think of it night and day never cease thinking of Christs love till you have thought your selves into love to him It is an excellent speech of Bernard When the love of Christ doth so swallow up our affections that we even forget our selves and can think of nothing else but Jesus Christ and the things of Jesus Christ then is love perfected in us The love of Christ is a great abyss that we should be swallowed up in and lose our selves in the contemplation of it and the more spirituality we grow unto the more shall we contemplate this love and the more we contemplate the love of Christ the more shall we find our selves drawn out in love to him The end of the first Sermon SERMON II. Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge WE have already heard three Properties of Christs love viz. that it is ancient free peculiar The fourth Property of Christs love is that it is an intense and a strong love He is said to have the greatest and strongest love to another that intends most good to another and is willing to be at the greatest cost and charges to procure that good for him If a father intend to settle such an inheritance upon his child and will lay out
same glory as the Father had from Eternity now he prays that that glory which he had as the Son and as God might be manifested in and by the humane nature therefore we must remember the Divine nature received nothing but only a new manifestation of the glory it had before in and by the humane nature assumed but the humane nature is that which hath properly Power and Authority given to it Hence is that speech of one of the Ancients Vthomo accepit quod ut Deus habebat Theodor. Christ received that as he was man which he had always as he was God As he was God he always had Power and Authority invested in him now he received that as man which he had always in him as God The Son as he was God did always reign with the Father before his Incarnation And hence that speech of Christ My Father worketh hitherto and I work Joh. 5.17 But although the Son did reign before his Incarnation yet it was then as God nakedly and simply considered as God not as yet cloathed with our flesh Vt Deus sine carne but since his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven he reigns as God manifested in the flesh Aâ—tè regnabat ut Deus nudus seu suâ tantùm gloriâ in latus at pòst ut Deus carne nostrâ etiam vestitus Before his Incarnation saith a Learned Divine he reigned with the Father as God nakedly and simply considered as cloathed with his essential glory but after his Incarnation he reigned as God cloathed with our nature That is says he God the Father did not account the Son unworthy of this Honour and Authority although covered with our vile flesh and admitted him as the Son incarnate into a Copartnership with him in his Kingdom casting this honour upon the humane nature because it was joyned to his own Son in personal Union Just as if a Kings Son had taken some old garments to himself and cloathed himself therewith far inferiour to the dignity of that Relation he bears unto his Father and his Father should admit him with those garments to sit down with him in his Throne so the Son of God though cloathed with our nature covered with our flesh is not divested of his Government but he together with the Father governs this World This was that which made one of the Ancients use this expression That he who is God should sit with God that he who is the Son should reign with the Father is no such wonderful thing for he that hath the sameness of nature may well have the same power and dominion but that a part of our nature should have the same honour with him that assumed it this is that which exceeds all wonder But when Divines say whole Christ that is Christ not only as God but as man hath power over all creatures or the humane nature in the person of the Son of God reigns over all creatures we must understand this aright We must not suppose that Christ considered as meer man without his Divinity or that the humanity separate and abstract from the Divinity hath this Soveraignty and supreme Dominion over all creatures for supreme Power Dominion and Soveraignty over all creatures is proper to God only it is such a Dignity as is proper to God only therefore is it said Isa 45.22 I am God and beside me there is no other and what follows To me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear He must needs be God to whom every knee must bow and every tongue must confess therefore it is not compatible to any creature simply and by it self considered to have dominion over all things But we ought thus to conceive of it The humanity of Christ is to be lookt upon as an Instrument that is conjoyned with the Deity the Son of God because he hath the humane nature united to him exercises all Rule Power and Authority by the humanity as by an instrument conjoyned with him The Power remains in the Divine nature primarily radically and fundamentally and this Power is exercised by the humane nature secondarily and ministerially that is to say whatsoever Christ wills by his Divine will the same doth he will by his humane will whatsoever he doth in the Church as God he doth it also as man Not that the humane nature is omnipotent but the person who subsists in the humane nature as well as in the Divine is omnipotent and there is a concourse of both natures in every action the person working by each nature what is proper to each nature We come now to make some use of what hath been opened there are several Uses will arise from the Doctrine that hath been delivered We may learn from what hath propounded Vse 1 that there is a vast difference between Christ and Believers Believers have Union with the Father and the Son yet the humane nature in Christ or Christ as he is man hath a preheminence above all Believers and that will appear by reflecting a little upon what hath been spoken 1. Consider this the humane nature in Christ hath that relation to the Trinity that no Believer in the world hath It is a Maxime with Divines The humanity of Christ belongs personally to the Trinity Humanitas Christi personaliter pertinet ad Trinitatem Now when Divines say That the Humanity of Christ belongs personally to the Trinity their meaning is not that the humanity of Christ brings in a new person for then there would be a Quaternity four persons instead of three but when they say the humanity of Christ belongs personally to the Trinity their meaning is the humanity of Christ belongs and hath relation unto the Word who is one of the persons in the Trinity and that it stands in personal Union with him so that the second person in Trinity subsists personally in the humane nature assumed which he doth not in any other creature whatsoever So that none of the Elect hath that kind of relation to the Trinity which the humane nature in Christ hath for the humane nature in Christ doth not subsist of it self out of the second person in Trinity but the second person in Trinity takes the humane nature into the subsistence of his own person so that the humane nature in Christ hath that relation to one of the persons in the Trinity to whom in person it is united and thereby to the whole Trinity that no other creature whether Angels or men ever had or shall have 2. The humane nature in Christ is the Temple of the Divinity God manifests himself to us in and by that humanity which the Son hath assumed This cannot be said of Believers For though it be said of Believers that they are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwells in them yet it is no where said of Believers Col. 2.9 that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in them bodily It is a
is that our Saviour prays for in that great and famous Prayer of his Joh. 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee c. And vers 23. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one That which our Saviour intends in this passage is not only that the Faithful should be united among themselves but that they should be united unto God This is the most firm binding and knitting together of things when God is in Christ Christ is in us and the Faithful united among themselves God the Father is the root Christ the stock the holy Spirit as the sap we the branches and the graces of the Saints are the fruits And that this union may be effected Christ took from us a part of our nature on the other hand he hath given to us his own flesh and blood and that we might be united to God he hath given to us the holy Spirit Is it so Vse 1 that by the Incarnation of the Son of God there is a foundation laid for our Adoption and being made the sons of God then learn what course we are to take if we desire to be the children of God Who is there that would not desire to be a child of God If we would be the children of God here we may see the ready way how to attain this priviledge If we desire to be the sons and daughters of God we must chuse and close with Christ the natural Son of God A great and choice Scripture 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty If we will be the sons and daughters of God we must first see that we close with Christ the natural Son of God God saith of Christ I will be unto him a Father Heb. 1.5 God is first a Father unto Christ before he is or will be a Father unto us Now we must close with the natural Son of God as ever we desire to be the adopted sons of God Joh. 1.12 To as many as received him he gave power to become the sons of God We are by nature children of wrath children of hell children of the curse and are we contented to abide so always Are we contented always to abide in that condition of distance and estrangement to God If you would have God a Father you must get into Christ God out of Christ is a sin revenging God Let us therefore look well to our faith Gal. 3.26 We are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus If our faith be not right if we have not closed with Christ in a right manner we have no evidence that we are the children of God There is a spurious a bastard faith a false faith that is not a true faith there is a meer historical faith which is a consenting that the Scripture is true there is a temporary faith when there are some flashes and pangs of affection towards Christ but then there is the faith of Gods Elect let us look after this You will ask What is this faith That faith takes a man wholly off himself takes him perfectly from his own bottom and makes him look to another for wisdom righteousness sanctification This is faith to go out perfectly out of our selves and to live perfectly upon another as to all the parts of our salvation and this is the faith that the just must live by If we be in Christ by faith then shall we be the sons of God If by means of the Incarnation God hath brought himself down to us Vse 2 and rendred himself more facile and easie to be apprehended by us this may inform us how we may best conceive of God The way for us to conceive of God is for us to conceive of God in Christ The Saints of God do find it a difficult thing to conceive of God to have right thoughts and conceptions of God Now would you know how to conceive of God O learn to conceive of God in Christ God is at so great a distance from us that if we set our selves to think or conceive of him in his naked absolute simple nature our thoughts would soon lose themselves or else be overwhelmed with the greatness of his Majesty So true is that saying Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloria He that thinks to dive into the Abyss of the Divinity will soon find himself overwhelmed with the Divine glory The Lord hath said No man can see his face and live We cannot behold the Sun in the Firmament in its noon-day glory we can much better behold the Sun in a cloud than behold it in its simple glory so God hath veiled his glory in the flesh of his Son and the way for us to behold God is to contemplate God in the face of Jesus Christ It is far more easie for us to conceive of the humane nature in the person of Christ than to conceive of the naked simple and absolute Divinity When we conceive of the humane nature in the person of Christ the mind hath something to rest and stay it self upon and by the humanity we climb up by degrees to the Divinity It is true faith ought not to terminate it self in the humanity but by the humanity we ought to climb and ascend up to the Divinity By him we believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 It is Calvins opinion Tunc remoto velo palà m cernemus Deum in sua Majestate regnantem neque ampliùs media erit Christi humanitas quae nos ab ulteriore Dei conspectu cohibeat Calv. in 1 Cor. 15. That in Heaven when God shall be all in all we shall then see God without the veil of Christs flesh then say she the veil being removed we shall behold God openly reigning in his Majesty neither shall the flesh of Christ oppose it self as a Medium to hinder us from the farther sight of God How far and with what limitation this opinion of his may take place I shall not now inquire but sure I am whilst we are here on earth we cannot behold God without this veil the veil of Christs flesh Whilst we are here on earth the new and living way into the holiest is consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh Heb. 10.19 20. Upon this Text Calvin himself hath this passage No man shall ever find God but he unto whom Christ-man is the door and the way The flesh of Christ is that veil which covers God and by this veil we must come into the holy of Holies and have admittance into the Divine presence It is dangerous for us to think of God or to approach to him any other way but in Christ He is the way the truth and the life and no man cometh to the Father but by him that is no man can come to the Father but by him They are weighty and memorable passages Luther hath
doubting Christians who are concerned about their Salvation other men are concerned about their temporal interests in this world but the great concernment of serious Souls is to secure their Salvation Now these considerations may be of great use unto such The end of the first Sermon SERMON II. Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends IN the former Discourse I dispatched the two first Particulars 1. I opened the import of the Phrase what this Phrase did import for a man to lay down his life for his friend 2. I shewed you how it was that Christ laid down his life for us It remains now that I proceed to speak something to the third thing and that is this How is it said that Christ laid down his life for his friends whereas elsewhere it is said that we were enemies when Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Here it is said that we were enemies when Christ dyed for us and yet in the Text it is said that Christ did lay down his life for his friends How are these two to be reconciled I shall lay down several Particulars for the clearing of this which also are necessary to be laid down for the understanding of the Text it self 1. It is certain that by Nature we are all enemies unto God and Christ when he dyed for us when he laid down his life for us found us in a state of enmity Although some of the Elect who then lived when Christ suffered were already reconciled to God yet consider them and us all by nature we are enemies unto God and Christ dyed for us when we were enemies so in the Text before If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 Also it appeareth from another Text Col. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death Sin is a plain rebellion against God sin is a fighting against him a perfect opposition to the will of God so opposite is the sinner to Gods will and so much bent upon his own will that he is angry with God and hates God because Gods will crosses his will Now when we were sinners and enemies when we stood in this direct opposition and desiance to God even then Christ dyed for us Rom. 5.8 God commended his love to us that whilst we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Those who are called Sinners in this verse are called Enemies in the 10. verse If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Every sinner is an enemy to God Christ therefore dyed for us when we were enemies that is the first thing 2. The second Particular to clear the Point in hand is this Though we were truly and properly enemies unto God yet in some sense God accounted us and looked upon us as friends how so not as being friends to him but as he being a friend to us not that we had any love or affection for God but that God had good will and kindness for us It is a great Text to clear this 1 Joh. 4.10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that God loved us and gave his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Hence is it that one of the Ancients hath this expression Etsi nondum quidem amantibus sed tamen jam amatis Christ saith he dyed for his friends although not for such friends as did already love him yet for such friends as were in some sort beloved by him For it was out of his love that he dyed for us 3. The third Particular to clear it is this Christs Death was the means to make us friends and to reconcile us to God Col. 1.22 You hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death It is a Speech of one of the Ancients Christus non aliter pro amicis mortuus est nisi pro acquirendis scil ut amicos faceret ex inimicis Christ did no otherwise dye for his friends than that he might make them friends that is that he might make them friends who were enemies before and Christs death was influential to make us the friends of God or to reconcile us to him these two ways 2. Christ by his death hath abolished and taken away the enmity that was between God and us Hence is it said expresly that Christ hath slain the enmity by his Cross Eph. 2.16 That he might reconcile both in one body by the Cross having slain the enmity thereby That he might reconcile both that is that he might reconcile both Jews and Gentiles in one body by the Cross that is by the Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross Having slain the enmity thereby that is having taken away the enemity that was between God and us by the Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross God was infinitely offended with us by reason of sin now Christ offering himself as a Sacrifice upon the Cross for our sins hereupon God is pacified and appeased the enmity that God had against us is now slain and taken quite away God hath now no more against us There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 Now the enmity that was between God and us being slain and removed there is a foundation laid for friendship between God and us whilst two persons remain unreconciled they cannot cordially love one another whilst the difference remains there are heats and animosities heart burnings one against another but when the difference is taken up then there is a foundation laid for love and friendship So in this case so long as we apprehend that God hath a controversie with us that he is angry with us for our sins that he is ready to condemn us for them this drives us farther from God we cannot love him whilst we are under such apprehensions but when we know that God is reconciled by the death of Christ that his Justice is satisfied that he will not condemn us for our sins this lays the foundation for friendship then are we ingaged to draw near to God and to give up our selves in ways of obedience to him Now Christ by his death hath satisfied Gods Justice and thereby slain the enmity that was between God and us and so laid the foundation of friendship between God and us 2. Christ by his death hath purchased the spirit of regeneration which doth renovate and change our hearts and take away the natural enmity that is in them against God and inclines our hearts unto God Tit. 3.5 According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour The Holy Ghost is shed on us through Jesus
lies all our comfort Homo qui debuit homo qui solvit Propter nostram justificationem sic dictum est per Christum nam nos peccatores in ipso infernales poenas quae justè merebamur exolvimus That Christ hath born what we should have born he hath suffered what we should have suffered It was man that owed the debt and man that paid the debt It is a memorable passage of a Learned man For our Justification it was that Christ was so dealt with for we sinners have suffered and undergone in Christ those very pains of Hell which we deserved 2. The Doctrine of Christs Satisfaction confutes the Papists who bring in other satisfactions besides that of Christ The Papists tell us That a man by some good act as they call it an act of charity or love to God may satisfie for sin also they tell us That we may make satisfaction by external works as by Fasting Prayers and Almsgiving and the like also some of them have affirmed That one man may make satisfaction to Divine Justice for another But all these assertions are impious and most derogatory to the honour of our Saviours Satisfaction For if it had been possible for us to have satisfied Divine Justice our selves what need our Saviour have suffered and undergone such things as we have heard Besides the Scripture teaches us That by one offering Christ hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 That one Sacrifice of his was sufficient to make satisfaction for sin therefore if Christs Satisfaction were sufficient whatever is done by us must needs be superfluous upon that account If that one offering of Christ were enough there is no need of other satisfactions of mens invention and bringing in Heb. 9.26 Christ hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath appeared to the abrogating of sin to the disannulling of sin so the word properly signifies Christ by his Sacrifice hath taken away the condemning power of sin wholly so that the power which sin had before to condemn us is perfectly abrogated and cancelled Therefore there is no need of humane satisfactions or if there were need of some satisfaction to be made by us what should we be able to bring to satisfie God Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousands of rivers of oyl shall we give the fruit of our body for the sin of our soul as the Prophet expresseth it Mic. 6.7 If we should attempt any of these things none of these would be able to satisfie God what then will become of all the Popish Satisfactions They tell us indeed That an act of love to God especially if it be intense and strong may satisfie for sin but how can that satisfie for a crime committed which is in it self due and a just debt Love to God yea the highest degree of love is a just debt that we owe to God The first and great Commandment of the Law is That we should love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our soul with all our strength with all our might Therefore it is not possible that by any good act as they call it we should satisfie God for any sin committed by us and the reason is because that good act was a thing due that which is a just debt in it self cannot satisfie for a former debt Besides there is no proportion between the act of a finite creature to make satisfaction and an infinite Majesty that is offended And whereas they suppose that some external works as Fasting Alms Penances and the like may pacifie God and make satisfaction for sin this proceeds from gross ignorance of the Nature of God and of the nature of sin For if God be infinitely holy and do infinitely hate sin and if God be infinitely just that he cannot but punish sin and that in the highest manner and if the demerit and desert of sin be such as that it deserves no less than the wrath of God and the torments of Hell it is very ridiculous to imagine that the Justice of God should be satisfied with such pitiful things as men may impose upon themselves And that one man who is but a meer man should be able to satisfie for another this is much more absurd For if a man be not able to satisfie for himself how is it possible that he should satisfie for another Si alio peccante alium poenitet non est ista prudens sed insana poenitentia August And we may well apply that speech of Austin If when one man sins another man thinks to repent and to make satisfaction for it that is not a prudent but a mad and frantick repentance And yet Bellarmine and other of the Papists tell us That one man may compensate and bear the punishment for another But we may oppose to them another speech of Austin Christus suscipiendo poenam non suscipiendo culpan culpam delevit poenam Aug. Christ by taking upon him the punishment of our sins and not taking upon him sin it self hath blotted and taken away both sin and punishment If Christ hath fully born the punishment that was due to our sins nothing need to be done by us by way of satisfaction for that is but a diminution to what our Lord Jesus Christ himself hath suffered and done for us The second Use is by way of Exhortation Vse 2 Let us be exhorted to make use of Christs Satisfaction and to have recourse to it upon all occasions in our approaches unto God this is in effect the use which the Author to the Hebrews makes of the Doctrine of Christs Priesthood Christs Satisfaction belongs to his Priestly Office and is a principal part of it Christs Satisfaction is that act of his Priestly Office whereby he offers himself as a Sacrifice to God to make atonement for our sins Now we ought by faith to have continual recourse to this great and eternal Sacrifice of the Son of God This is the Use which the Apostle teaches us to make of the great Doctrine of Christs Priesthood Heb. 10.19 20 c. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and having an High Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus it is the Blood of Christ that lays the foundation for out access to God and our acceptance with him This expression By the blood of Jesus is a Synecdoche a part being put for the whole the blood of Christ signifies his whole sufferings that Sacrifice of his and the work of his Satisfaction upon the Cross by that great and most perfect Sacrifice of his it is he offering
himself up by the eternal Spirit that we now have liberty of access to God Having therefore liberty by the blood of Jesus saith the Apostle let us draw near that is let us draw near unto God in confidence of this Sacrifice in the virtue of this Sacrifice Whenever we draw near to God we must have respect to the great and eternal Sacrifice of Christ and why so because sin separates between us and God and till sin be removed and taken out of the way there is no access for us to God Now it is by having recourse to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ that the guilt of sin is removed and so we have access to God therefore doth the Apostle add Having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience We must draw near to God having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience we must first dip our consciences in the blood of Christ as Luthers expression is that is get the blood of Christ upon our consciences look after the pardon of our sins by the blood of Christ before we can expect to have access to God or acceptance with him This is one great part of the life of faith to have a constant recourse to the Satisfaction of Christ and to make use of that great and eternal Sacrifice of the Son of God in order to the pardon of our sins and our acceptance with God The Scriptures teach us That the just must live by faith Rom. 1.16 Now our living by faith notes a continued course living by faith is more than a single act it notes a constant course Now wherein doth this life of faith consist Certainly one main part of the life of faith consists in this In having a constant recourse to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ and making use of that for the pardon of our sins and our acceptance with God This is very clear and evident from that of the Apostle Paul Gal. 2.20 I live by the faith of the Son of God Paul here speaks of his living by faith The just shall live by faith and Paul lived by faith and how was it that he lived by faith I live by the faith of the Son of God who hath loved me and given himself for me Pauls living by faith consisted in this In having respect to Christ as giving himself for him Now how was it that Christ gave himself for Paul Certainly it was in the virtue of that great and eternal Sacrifice of his compare this with Eph. 6.2 Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice unto God So that Christ giving himself for Paul was his giving himself an Offering and Sacrifice for him Now Paul lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him that is he lived by saith on the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ he had continual recourse to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ this was his living by faith Now here it may be said 1. Why ought we thus to live by faith on the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ And 2. How ought we to make use of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ so as to draw down the virtue and benefit of Christs Satisfaction to our selves 1. Why ought we to make use of the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ and live by faith upon it The first reason is Because the Satisfaction of Christ is the only means of our Reconciliation with God Hence is it said That Christ hath made peace through the blood of his cross Col. 1.20 And We are reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5.10 When-ever we would treat with God about terms of peace and reconciliation with him we must be sure to have recourse to the death sufferings and satisfaction of Christ all our peace with God is founded in the blood of Christ Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins c. Here are two means of our reconciliation with God set down the principal and the instrumental The principal means of our reconciliation with God is the blood of Christ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood The instrumental means of our reconciliation is our faith Faith in his blood That expression his blood comprehends the whole work of Christs Satisfaction Christs laying down his life was the compleating or consummating act of his sufferings and therefore all his sufferings in the whole work of his Satisfaction are comprehended under that expression of his blood Christs Satisfaction then is the principal means of our reconciliation with God Now that which must make this Satisfaction of Christ profitable and available unto us must be our faith Whom God hath ordained to be a propitiation through faith in his blood there must be the acting of our faith to make Christs Satisfaction profitable unto us I call it our faith not as if so be faith were a work of our own either wrought at first or exerted afterwards by any power and strength of our own but I call it our faith because it is such an act as is wrought in us and by us faith it self is the gift of God so the Apostle tells us Eph. 2.8 It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Yet it is an act in us and put forth by us though God works it yet it is such a work as God works in us not without us we make use of our faculties Faith I say is an act in us and put forth by us and there must be something done in us and by us in order to our receiving benefit by Christs Satisfaction Christs Satisfaction is a work wrought without us wrought by Christ himself in our nature for us without us yet there must be an act put forth in us by the help and assistance of the Spirit of God whereby we may reach forth unto and take hold of the Satisfaction of Christ that is wrought without us and without this acting of faith we cannot expect the benefit of Christs Satisfaction to our selves The Lord expects it at our hands that we should apply and betake our selves to the Satisfaction of his Son before ever we be admitted into favour and reconciliation with him This is confirmed to us by another Scripture Joh. 3.14 15. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life The lifting up of the Serpent in the Wilderness was a Type of Christs being lifted up upon the Cross Now saith our Saviour whoever will have benefit by me and would be delivered from perishing and condemnation he must direct the eye of his faith to me as crucified he must behold me in my Satisfaction there is no other means of reconciliation or peace with God but this he