all be made alive But of these words for me the meaning is that Christ delivered himselfe to death and actually died for my sake for my good and for my great benefit which benefit is no lesse unto me then first my Right and afterward my Possession of eternall Blessednesse For by or through his death I collect from Scripture these five benefits 1. Hee Certified mee of blessednesse That the Will and Testament which he published to the World concerning the future blessednesse of heaven was the true whole and last Will and Testament of God seeing hee testified this truth and made faith thereof by his death for because hee witnessed it with his bloud therefore his bloud is sayd to beare witnesse on earth 1 John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the bloud 2. He justified me to blessednes For the Will and Testament of God wherein the Legacies or Promises of blessednes are devised unto me was confirmed and established by the bloud and death of Christ who dyed instead of the Testator that the Testament might bee in force and that being in force I am upon my actuall faith actually justified to my Legacies therein for hence wee are sayd to bee justified by the bloud of Christ Rom. 5.9 Being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him 3. He sanctified me for blessednesse For those acts of holinesse which consist in dying to sin and in newnesse of life and which are the conditions and Precepts of Gods Will and Testament whereto the possession of blessednes is limited and without which I shall never possesse it were figured and shaddowed out unto mee by the death and resurrection of Christ For hee that had no sin himselfe how could hee otherwise represent unto me this duty of my death unto sin and newnes of life And that Christ dyed to doe this good upon mee is expresly taught in many places of the Scripture as Gal. 1.4 Who gave himselfe for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evill world And Ephes 5.25 Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. And Tit. 2.14 who gave himselfe for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes And Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered himselfe without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.18 Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vaine conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious bloud of Christ. And 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his owne selfe bare our sins in his owne body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse 4. He exemplified unto me the way to blessednesse The way leading unto blessednesse is a hard rough and narrow lane beset with many troubles dangers and certaine death through all which hee commands mee to passe A way that unto flesh and bloud is exceeding fearfull and full of horrour for it seemes to lead mee unto utter destruction yet is indeed the right true and onely way to eternall blessednes Now seeing Christ by his death passing this way came thereby to his crowne of glory doth not hee by his example in taking the assay of death and in tasting it for mee encourage me to suffer death and assure unto mee the likenesse of his glory for may I not playnely see this in the death of my Saviour Jesus Christ Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angells for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour that hee by the grace of God should taste death for every man 5. Hee will glorifie mee with the crowne of blessednesse The Legacies or promises of my future blessednes are to be performed unto me by Christ because he is the sole Executor of that Will and Testament wherein they are devised unto mee and therefore also he is the Captaine of my salvation Unto which Office hee was enabled and perfected through the sufferings of death that after his death he might possesse his owne glory and might also bring me to glory after mine because this was a way beseeming and becomming the good pleasure of God whereby to bring all his sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Christ himselfe having been once dead and gained by his death the power over death doth the more commiserate my death and will be the readier first to succour me at it and hereafter to rayse me from it Heb. 2.18 for in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted be is able to succour them that are tempted In a word hee therefore dyed and revived that hee might bee my gratious Lord in what state soever I am whether dead or alive Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living Yet I am further to conceive that these words Christ gave himselfe or dyed for mee must bee understood of him by way of eminency or excellency in a speciall and singular manner For although some other persons may dye for mee yet they cannot bee sayd to doe it in that maner or in that sense that hee did it Because Christ was the first person who dyed for mee in this kinde and by the meanes of whose death principally and chiefely according to the grace and mercy of God my salvation is established And because Christ was the onely person who dyed for mee to these speciall ends of Justifying Sanctifying and Glorifying of mee as hee was my sole and onely Mediatour without the conjunction of any other person heerein And because this deede of Christ in dying for mee is sometime in Scripture attributed unto Christ as a speciall property peculiar to him for hence it is sayd Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ dyed viz. in an eminent and excellent manner And 1. Cor. 1.13 Was Paul crucified for you i. e. Neither Paul nor any other person was crucified for you principally and especially Otherwise besides Christ some other person may also dye for mee and may bee truely sayd to dye for the good of my salvation For touching himselfe Paul saith 2. Cor. 1.6 That hee was afflicted for the consolation and salvation of the Corinthians And 2. Cor. 12.15 That hee would very gladly spend and bee spent for their soules for so the Margin declares the Originall And Ephes 3.1 That hee was the Prisoner of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles and if consequently to his imprisonment hee had suffered
saith of himselfe John 3.11 Verily verily I say unto thee wee speake that wee know and testifie that wee have seene viz. the New Testament or last Will of God which God had therefore revealed unto him that hee should speake and testifie it And againe hee saith John 18.37 To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the World that I should beare witnesse unto the truth viz. unto the New Testament that it was the true and last Will of God Hence the Apostle saith of him 1. Tim. 6.13 that before Pontius Pilate hee witnessed a good confession now the confession which Christ witnessed before Pilate hee also witnessed with his death Hence hee is called the faithfull and true witnes Revel 3.14 These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witnesse viz. because hee was the first true Martyr of the New Testament to testifie it with his blood Hence his blood is tearmed a witnesse on earth 1. John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one And hence his Gospel which is the New Testament is called his Testimony Because it was testified and witnessed by his death 1. Cor. 1.6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you i. e. the Gospel or New Testament which Christ testified And 2. Tim. 1.8 bee not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. i. e. of the Gospel or New Testament which Christ testified by his death upon the Crosse for unto the Gospel that shamefull death was made the common reproach and there was no other cause why Timothy should bee ashamed thereof 2. To establish or confirme the force of the New Testament Every Testament doth necessarily require a solemne Confirmation of it that may cause it to be of strength and in force because the constitution or making of a Testament is in it selfe an imperfect and infirme act untill it be ratified and established by a further act of Confirmation whereby all power to revoke it is extinguished in the Testator and whereby the Testament comes to be of force And among men this Confirmation of a Testament is made or done by the death of the Testator because his death doth wholly and for ever extinguish in him all power to revoke it for the dead have no power to do any act at all much lesse to make or revoke a Testament made That Testament therefore which during the Testators life lay dormant and was of no force doth upon his death ipso facto come to be in force Because every Testament according to the definition and nature of it is a Decree touching things to be done after death For the Testator in the time of his life doth predestinate ordaine and devise in his Testament those things which he would have take effect after his death and which before his death are of no force Hence sayth the Apostle Heb. 9.16 Where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator for a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the Testator liveth The New Testament then was confirmed because God would have the world take notice that he had not onely no will to revoke it but also had left himselfe no power to revoke it And it was confirmed by death because God would further have all men to understand that upon the death of the Confirmer the Testament was ipso facto in force and began to take effect But God who is the Testator could not confirme his Testament by his owne death in his owne proper person because though he be a Person Testable who can make a Testament yet withall he is a person immortall who cannot dye and therefore the most High God hath this prerogative that he may confirme his Testament by the death of another For hereupon God confirmed his Old Testament by the death of Beasts whose bloud was sprinkled on the people to establish his Testament unto them Exod. 24.8 And Moses tooke the bloud of the Oxen slayne for sacrifice vers 5. and sprinkled on the People and sayd Behold the bloud of the covenant or Testament which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words But God confirmed his New Testament by the death of Christ a most Sacred person who was next himselfe and so neare unto him that he was in a maner himselfe even his onely and dearely beloved Son whom God made his substitute to dye in his stead for the confirmation of his last Will and Testament For as the New Testament is better then the Old and established upon better Promises so it had a most excellent confirmation For can I devise a greater assurance of blessednesse then to read the devise of it in Gods last Testament which cannot be revoked but is confirmed by the death of Christ to stand in force for ever and therefore actually justifieth upon the accesse of my fayth by giving me a present right to the future possession of that Inheritance which long before the confirmation of that Testament was therein predestinated pre-imputed and devised unto me Could God who could not dye devise a way to come nearer death then by the death of Christ who was next unto him Or could God devise a course more consequent and suitable to that love and grace which he shewed in framing of the New Testament then that his owne and onely Son should suffer death to confirme it Or could Christ devise a more precious meanes whereby to shew his love then to lay downe his life for a company of sinners who stood condemned to death that by Meanes of his death that Testament might come to be in force by which they might clayme not onely a pardon from eternall death but also an Inheritance to eternall life which is setled upon them at the price of his bloud For hence Christ instituted the Eucharist as a perpetuall commemoration of his death and called his bloud the bloud of the New Testament because the New Testament was thereby established and confirmed to be in force Mat. 26.28 For this is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of sinnes i. e. the Wine in this cup is a memoriall representing or betokening my bloud which is to be shed to confirme the New Testament wherein the Remission of sinnes is bequeathed unto many even unto all Believers And againe the like saying is expressed Marc. 14.24 This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many i. e. the bloud wherby the New Testament was confirmed Hence Christ is frequently in Scripture sayd to give himselfe for us and to dye for us because by his death hee confirmed the new Testament to be in force for our sakes that wee thereupon might actually have our present right to all the blessings therein conveyed unto us Hence also the bloud of Christ is opposed
to the bloud of Abel and is sayd to speake better things then that of Abel Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel viz. Because the sprinkling of Christs bloud confirmed the New Testament which gives rights and claymes to blessednesse whereas the bloud of Abel clamors and cryes for vengeance Hence the New Testament is highly magnified above the Old in respect of the confirmation for although the Old Testament was confirmed by bloud yet that confirmation was made but by the bloud of beasts as of Oxen Calves and Goats for that with such bloud onely the Old Testament was established or confirmed it appeares playnely Exod. 24.8 which place we recited before and is further manifested Heb. 9.18 Whereupon neither the first Testament was dedicated or confirmed to be in force without bloud for when Moses had spoken every Precept to all the people according to the Law he tooke the bloud of Calves and of Goates with water and scarlet wooll and hysop and sprinkled both the Booke and all the people saying this is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you And hence a contempt against the New Testament is farre more fearefull and dangerous then a despite against the Old because the New was sanctified confirmed or hallowed with holy bloud even with the bloud of the Son of God Heb. 10.28 Hee that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose yee shall hee bee thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the bloud of the covenant or New Testament wherewith hee it should be wherewith it viz. the New Testament was sanctified i. e. was ratified confirmed and established to be and to stand in force 3. To execute or performe the Decrees of the New Testament According to the rule of right reason and to the Law of naturall equity the will of the dead is to bee performed Because otherwise the will also is dead For it is a rule among the Civilians Voluntas Testatoris pro Lege habetâ—â— i. e. the Testators Will is a kinde of Law As therefore the Execution if the Law is the life of the Law So the Execution of a Will is the life of the Will and as the Law bindes the Magistrate to execute it So doth a Will binde the Executor But it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to bee a Will wherein an Executor is nominated that Will therefore wherein no Execution is nominated is no Testament or is not properly so called And to what purpose is an Executor nominated or nominated by the name of an Executor if hee execute not the Testament of the Testator And because it is definitive and naturall to a Testament to predestinate and pre-decree things to be executed after death that Testament therfore which after death is not executed is frustrated or frustrated to those particulars which are not executed And avested Executor who hath some benefit by the Testament wherin he is nominated may be compelled to accept the Executorship or else to lose his benefit by the Testament And although a nude or bare Executor who hath no benefit by the Testament bee not precisely bound to undertake the Executorship for if hee see cause hee may refuse it Yet when once hee hath accepted it he is then precisely bound to execute it Now of the New Testament the Executor was Christ For the New Testament was the last and best Will of God established upon better Promises better Inheritances and better Legacies then were ordained in the former Testament And therefore what better Executor could God nominate and depute for the performance of it then Christ Because Christ was the Son of God and by that relation above all persons in the World was nearest in alliance unto the Testator and fittest in ability to execute the Testament For who but Christ can execute the Office of that Priest who was to enter the Sanctuary of Heaven and there to sanctifie the people of God by expiating their sinnes and sending unto them the holy spirit of God to purifie and cleanse their conscience from sinne And who but Christ can execute the Office of that King who was to set on the Throne of Heaven there to governe the people of God to subdue all their enemies to raise them from death to invest them with heavenly bodies and to seate them in the possession of blessednesse For the Priestly and Kingly Office of Christ wherein else doth it chiefely consist but in the execution of the New Testament In a word who but Christ can discharge the Promises or Legacies of blessednesse which in the New Testament are made and devised unto Believers Hence Christ is called the Mediatour of the New Testament Heb. 9.15 And for this cause hee is the Mediatour of the New Testament And againe Heb. 12.24 And to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant or Testament for that word stands in the Margin and should have beene in the Text. Now the Mediatour of a Testament is hee whom in these times wee call the Executor of it for although every Mediatour bee not the Executor of a Testament yet every Mediatour of a Testament is the Executor of it Because the Executor thereof is a Mediatour or middle person betweene the Testator and the Legataries and by Means of him the finall effect of the Testament is procured and therein in consisteth the finall execution of it But although this be not the onely respect wherein Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament for he mediated it by testifying the truth of it and he mediated it by confirming the force of it yet he also mediated it this way and chiefly this way namely by executing the decrees of it For albeit the Testament were of force upon the confirmation of it yet till the Execution of it it was of no effect But here we shall not further prosecute this verity that Christ is the Executor of the new Testament because we certified it before upon verse 16. And Christ was a vested Executor Because he was to receive an infinite benefit by the new Testament For therein he was appointed the universall heire of God Heb. 1.2 God in these last dayes hath spoken unto us by his Sonne whom he hath appointed heire of all things Now in a testamentary construction an heire and a vested Executor are really all one and the same although some rationall difference may be betweene them Thereby he was to receive universall Power over all the world both in heaven and earth for such power was given him and after his Resurrection he received it Mat. 28.18 And Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Thereby he was to receive universall honour from all persons in Heaven in earth or under the earth for all were to