likewise is touched notwithstanding all his glory as also by his annexing the reason of it or shewing the way how it comes to passe in that in all points he was tempted like as we are Now in handling and opening these which is a matter full of difficulty I shall with all warinesse proceed to the discovery of what manner of affection in Christ this is and that by these steps and degrees 1. This affection of compassion or his being touched with the feeling of our infirmities is not wholly to be understood in a metaphoricall or a similitudinary sense as those speeches used of God in the Old Testament are to be understood when bowels of compassion are attributed unto him and his bowels are said to be rowled together or as when as it is said of God that he repented and was afflicted in all his peoples afflictions All which expressions were spoken of God as wee all know but meerely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men so to convey and represent to our apprehensions by what affections use to be in parents or friends in such and such cases what provoke them unto such and such actions which like effects proceede from God towards us when he sees us in distresse And so they are spoken rather per modum Effectus then Affectus rather by way of like Effect which God produceth then by way of such Affection in Gods heart which is not capable of any such passions as these are Now towards the right understanding of this the first thing which I affirme is that barely in such a sense as this that which is here spoken of Christ is not to be understood and my reason for it is grounded upon these two things put together First that this affection of his towards us here spoken of is manifestly meant of his humane nature and not of his God head only for it is spoken of that nature wherein he once was tempted as we now are So expresly in the next words which can be meant of no other then his humane nature And Secondly That those kind of expressions which were used of God before the Assumption of our nature onely in a way of metaphor and similitude after the manner of men should in no further or more reall and proper sense be spoken of Christ and his humane nature now assumed when he is a man as truly and properly as we are I cannot imagine when I consider and remember that which I last insisted on that one end of Christs taking an humane nature was that hee might be a mercifull High-Priest for ever in such a way as he being God alone could not have beene I confesse I have often wondred at that expression there used Heb. 2. He tooke the seede of Abraham that he might he made a mercifull high-Priest which at the first reading sounded as if God had beene made more mercifull by taking our nature But this solved the wonder that this assumption added a new way of Gods being mercifull By meanes of which it may now bee said for the comfort and reliefe of our faith that God is truly and really mercifull as a man And the consideration of this contributes this to the clearing of the thing in hand that whereas God of himselfe was so blessed and perfect that his blessednesse could not have beene touched with the least feeling of our infirmities neither was he in himselfe capable of any such affection of pitty or compassion He is not as a man that he should pittie or repent c. He can indeed doe that for us in our distresse which a man that pitties us useth to do but the affections and bowels themselves he is not capable of Hence therfore amongst other ends of assuming mans nature this fell in before God as one that God might thereby become loving and mercifull unto men as one man is to another And so that what before was but improperly spoken and by way of Metaphor and similitude in the Old Testament so to convey it to our apprehensions might now be truly attributed unto him in the reality that God might be for ever said to be compassionate as a man and to be touched with a feeling of our infirmities as a man And thus by this happy union of both Natures the language of the Old Testament uttered onely in a figure becomes verified and fulfilled in the truth of it as in all other things the shadows of it were in Christ fulfilled And this is the first step towards the understanding of what is here said of Christ taken from this comparison with the like attributed unto God himselfe A second and further step to let in our understanding to the apprehension of this is by the like further comparison to be made with the Angels and those affections of love and pity that are certainly found in them In comparison of which these affections in Christs humane nature though glorified must needs be far more like to ours even more tender and more humane For in that Heb. 2. it is expresly said He therefore took not the nature of the Angels that he might be a mercifull High-Priest Part of the intendment of those words is to shew and give the reason not onely why he took our nature under fraile flesh though that the Apostle mentions ver 14. but why an humane nature for the substance of it and not the nature of Angels Because in his affections of mercy he would for ever come neerer to us and have such affections and of the same kind with ours Whereas otherwise in other respects an Angel would have been an higher and more glorious High-Priest then a man Now the Angels being fellow-servants with us as the Angel called himself Rev. 22. 9. they have affections towards us more assimilated unto ours then God hath and so are more capable of such impressions from our miseries then God is Although they be Spirits yet they partake of something analogicall or resembling and answering to those affections of pity griefe c. which are in us And indeed so far as these affections are seated in our soules and not drencht in the passions of the body unto which our soules are united they are the very same kind of affections in us that are in them Hence the same lusts that are in men are said to be in devils John 8. 44. and therefore the devils also are said to feare and tremble c. And so oppositely the same affections that are in men so far as they are spirituall and the spirit or soule is the seat of them they must needs be found in the good Angels But Christ having an humane nature the same for substance that ours is consisting both of soule and body although through glory made spirituall yet not become a Spirit A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have sayes Christ of himselfe after his Resurrection Luke 24. 39. therefore he must need have affections towards us yet
and Spirits are included in that flesh for it is caro vitalis living flesh and therefore hath Blood and Spirits that flow and move in it then why not the same affections also and those not stirring only and meerely in the soule but working in the body also unto which that soule is joyned and so remaining really humane affections The use of bloud and spirits is as to nourish which end is now ceased so to affect the heart and bowels by their motion to and fro when the soule is affected And why this use of them should not remaine and if not this we can conceive no other I know not Neither why this affection should be onely restrained to his spirit or soule and his corporeall powers not be supposed to communicate and partake in them That so as he is a true man and the same man that he was both in body as well as in soule for else it had not been a true Resurrection so he hath still the very same true humane affections in them both and such as whereof the body is the seat and instrument as well as the soule And seeing this whole man both body and soule was tempted and that as the Text sayes he is touched with a feeling in that nature which is tempted it must therefore be in the whole man both body and soule Therefore when as we reade of the wrath of the Lambe as Revel 6. 16. namely against his enemies as here of his pity and compassion towards his friends and members why should this be attributed onely to his Deity which is not capable of wrath or to his soule and spirit onely And why may it not be thought he is truly angry as a man in his whole man and so with such a wrath as his body is affected with as well as that he is wrathfull in his soule onely seeing he hath taken up our whole nature on purpose to subserve his Divine nature in all the executions of it But now how far in our apprehensions of this we are to cut off the weaknesse and frailty of such affections as in the dayes of his flesh was in them and how exactly to difference those which Christ had here and those which he hath in heaven therein lyes the difficulty and I can speak but little unto it Yet first this we may lay downe as an undoubted Maxime That so far or in what sense his Body it self is made spirituall as it is called 1 Cor. 15. 44. so far and in that sense all such affections as thus working in his Body are made spirituall and that in an opposition to that fleshly and fraile way of their working here But then as his Body is made spirituall not Spirit spirituall in respect of power and likenesse to a Spirit not in respect of substance or nature so these affections of pity and compassion doe work not onely in his Spirit or Soule but in his Body too as their seat and instrument though in a more spirituall way of working and more like to that of Spirits then those in a fleshly fraile body are They are not wholly spirituall in this sense that the soule is the sole subject of them and that it drawes up all such workings into it selfe so that that should be the difference between his affections now and in the dayes of his flesh Men are not to conceive as if his body were turned into such a substance as the Sun is of for the soule as through a case of glasse to shine gloriously in onely but further it is united to the soule to be acted by it though immediately for the soul to produce operations in it And it is called spirituall not that it remains not a body but because it remains not such a body but is so framed to the soule that both it selfe and all the operations of all the powers in it are immediately and entirely at the arbitrary imperium dominion of the soule that as the soule is pleased to use it and to sway it and move it even as immediately and as nimbly and without any clog or impediment as an Angel moves it selfe or as the soule acteth it selfe So that this may perhaps be one difference that these affections so far as in the body of Christ doe not affect his soule as here they did though as then under the command of Grace and Reason to keep their motions from being inordinate or sinfull but further the soule being now too strong for them doth as its owne arbitrement raise them and as entirely and immediately stir them as it doth it selfe Hence 2. these affections of pity and sympathie so stirred up by himselfe though they move his bowels and affect his bodily heart as they did here yet they doe not afflict and perturbe him in the least nor become they a burthen a load unto his spirit so as to make him sorrowfull or heavy as in this life here his pity unto Lazarus made him and as his distresses at last that made him sorrowfull unto death So that as in their rise so in their effect they utterly differ from what they were here below And the reason of this is because his Body and the blood and spirits thereof the instruments of affecting him are now altogether impassible namely in this sense that they are not capable of the least alteration tending to any hurt what ever And so his body is not subject to any griefe nor his spirits to any wast decay or expence They may and doe subserve the soule in its affections as they did whilst he was here but this meerly by a locall motion moving to and fro in the veynes and arteries to affect the heart and bowels without the least diminution or impaire to themselves or detriment to him And thus it comes to passe that though this Blood and spirits doe stir up the same affections in his heart and bowels which here they did yet not as then with the least perturbation in himselfe or inconvenience unto himselfe But as in this life he was troubled and grieved without sinne or inordinancie so now when he is in heaven he pitties and compassionates without the least mixture or tang of disquietement and perturbation which yet necessarily accompanied his affections whilst he was here because of the frailty in which his body and spirits were framed His perfection destroyes not his affections but onely corrects and amends the imperfection of them Passiones perfectivas to bee now in him the best of Schoolemen doe acknowledge Thirdly All naturall affections that have not in them Indecentiam status something unbefitting that state and condition of glory wherein Christ now is both Schoole-men and other Divines doe acknowledge to be in him Humanae affectiones quae naturales sunt neque cum probro vel peccato conjunctae sed omni ex parte rationi subduntur denique ab iis conditionibus liberantur quae vel animo vel corpori aliquo modo officiunt
shew that this his justification and pronouncing him without sin thus done at his Resurrection was done to him as the First-fruits and as to a Common person bearing our persons so in our names From whence wil necessarily follow as the Conclusion of all That the persons of all the elect Beleevers have beene justified before God in Christ as their Head at or from the time of his Resurrection and so that Act of Justification to have beene so firmly past as it cannot be revoked for ever Now this is proved Proved 1. 〈◊〉 the common analogie of the former instances first by the very same reason or respect that he was said to be the first-fruits of them that sleep as representing the rest in his Resurrection which I shewed at large in the former Chap. upon the same ground he is to be so lookt at also in this his Justification pronounced upon him at his Resurrection even as the first-fruits also of them that are justified And so in the same sense by the same reason that we are said to be risen with Christ in his Resurrection we must also be said to be justified with him in this his justification at his Resurrection And indeed In all things which God doth unto us Christ is the first-fruits and God doth them first upon him to enlarge this a little as there is the same reason ground for the one that there is for the other he being a publike person in both so the rule will hold in all other things which God ever doth to us or for us which are common with Christ and were done to him that in them all Christ was the first-fruits and they may be said to have beene done in us or to us yea by us in him and with him Yea what ever God meant to doe for us and in us what ever priviledge or benefit he meant to bestow upon us he did that thing first to Christ and some way bestowed the like on him as a Common person that so it might be by a solemne formall Act ratified and be made sure to be done to us in our persons in due time having first been done to him representing our persons and that by this course taken it might when done to us be effected by vertue of what was first done to him Thus God meaning to sanctifie us Thus in Sanctification Christ first sanctified then we in him he sanctifies Christ first in him as a Common person sanctifying us all For their sakes I sanctifie my selfe that they also may be sanctified through thy truth Iohn 17. 19. He sanctifies the humane nature of Christ personall that he may sanctifie Christ mysticall that is his body and him first as a Common person representing us that so we being virtually and representatively sanctified in him may be sure to be sanctified afterwards in our own persons by means of his sanctification And so in like manner for our sakes he was justified in the Spirit because we were to be justified and so to be justified first in him So in all blessings else and with him as a Common person Now this rule holds in all blessings else bestowed for Paul pronounceth of them all that God hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in Christ Iesus Ephes 1. 3. which God did so order that as he speaks of ordaining salvation to be by faith Rom. 4. 16. that all those blessings might be sure to all the seed For this formall investiture of estating us into all blessings by such solemne acts done to Christ as our Head and Representer of us makes what he intends to bestow sure before-hand by an irrepealable act and sentence which hath its warrant in all Laws of men as I have shewne and shall anon again urge And secondly 2. Proved by the equity of that in Adams condemnation we were all condemned by the equity of the same Law that in Adam we were all condemned Adam being a Type of him in this by the same Law I say we were all justified in Christ when he was justified else the Type were not therein fulfilled Now the sentence of condemnation was first passed upon Adam alone yet considered as a Common person for us therefore also this Acquitance and Justification was then passed towards Christ alone as a publique person for us Yea in this his being justified Christ much rather a Common person in his being justified then Adam was in his condemnation Christ must much rather be considered as a Common person representing us then Adam was in his condemnation For Christ in his owne person as he had no sinne so he had no need of any justification from sinne nor should ever have been condemned And therefore this must be onely in a respect unto our sins imputed to him and if so then in our stead And so herein he was more purely to be considered as a Common person for us then ever Adam was in his being condemned For Adam besides his standing as a Common person for us was furthermore condemned in his own person but Christ in being justified from sinne could onely be considered as standing for others Thus Rom. 5. 18. Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so or in like manner by the righteousnesse of that one man Christ the free gift came upon all men namely in Christ unto justification of life He parallels both with a So only with this difference betweene Adams being a Common person for us and so betweene the ground of our being condemned in him and Christ his being a Common person for us and our Acquitance in him that the condemnation came upon all by a necessary naturall covenant for by such a covenant was Adam appointed a Common person for us but Christ his being appointed thus a Common person for us it was by a free gift of grace and therefore in like manner by a free gift of grace it is that the imputation of that which he did or was done to him is reckoned ours As then in Adam all dyed when he sinned as the Apostle speaks so in Christ were all justified when he was justified For as in his death Christ was a publique person for us and in all that befell him so in his Resurrection and in all that was then done to him and so in this his being then justified And as when he dyed the Iust was put to death for the unjust as Peter speaks so when he rose and was justified the Just that needed no justification was justified for the unjust who else had been condemned and so we were then justified with him CAP. VI. How our faith may raise from hence just matter of Triumph about our Justification An explication how we are justified by faith although justified in Christ at his Resurrection ANd hereupon is grounded this Triumph of Faith here from Christs Resurrection Who shall condemne It is Christ that is risen The
worshipped him so his Father welcommed him with the highest grace that ever yet was shewne The words which he then spake The welcome God gave Christ when he came to Heaven The words he first spake to him we have recorded Psal 110. Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footestoole You may by the way observe for the illustration of this how upon all the severall parts of performance of his office either God is brought in speaking to Christ or Christ to his Father Thus when he chose him first to be our Mediator he takes an oath Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec Againe when Christ came to take upon him our nature the words he spake are recorded Loe I come to doe thy will a body hast thou fitted me so Heb. 10. out of the 40. Psal Likewise when he hung upon the Crosse his words unto God are recorded Psal 22. 1. My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee In like manner when he rose againe Gods words used then to him are recorded Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee Psal 2. which place is expounded of the Resurrection Acts 13. 33. which is as much as if he had said Thou never appearedst like my Sonne till now for whereas I chose a Son to be glorified with power and Majesty hitherto thou hast appeared onely as a Son of man Enosh sorry man hitherto thou hast been made sin a curse not like my Son but hast appeared in the likenes of sinfull flesh and of a servant all besmeared with bloud therefore this is the first day wherein I make acount I have begotten thee even now when thou first beginnest to appeare out of that sinfull hue and likenesse of sinfull flesh now I owne thee for my Sonne indeed And in him he owned us all thus at his Resurrection And then last of all when he comes into Heaven the first word God speakes to him is Sonne sit thou at my right hand thou hast done all my worke and now I will do thine he gives him a Quietus est rest here sit here till I make all thy enemies thy foote-stoole And now what say you are ye satisfied yet that God is satisfied for your sins What superabundant evidence must this Christs sitting at Gods right hand His sitting downe at Gods right hand afford a double evidence give to a doubting heart It argues First that Christ for his part hath perfectly done his worke and that there is no more left for him to do by way of satisfaction This the word sitting implies Secondly It argues that God is as fully satisfied on his part this his sitting at Gods right hand implyes For the first 1. That he had perfectly and compleatly performed all his work that was to be done by him for our justification The phrase of Sitting doth betoken rest when work is fulfilled and finished Christ was not to returne till he had accomplisht his worke Heb. 10. The Apostle comparing the force and excellencie of Christs Sacrifice with those of the Priests of the old Law sayes that Those Priests stood daily offering of Sacrifices which can never take sins away Their standing implyed that they could never make satisfaction so as to say We have finished it But Christ sayes he ver 12. after he had offered up one sacrifice for ever sate downe c. Mark how he opposeth their standing to his sitting downe He sate as one who had done his work Thus Heb. 4. 10. He that is entred into his rest speaking of Christ as I have elsewhere shewne hath ceased from his work as God from his Secondly 2. That God also accepted it and was infinitely well pleased with it this his being at Gods right hand as strongly argues that God is satisfied for if God had not been infinitely well pleased with him he would never have let him come so neere him much lesse have advanced him so high as his right hand And therefore in that place even now cited Heb. 10. ver 10 11 12. compared with the former verses this is alledged as an evidence that Christ had for ever taken sinnes away which those Priests of the Law could not doe who therefore often offered the same Sacrifice as ver 11. That this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sinnes for ever sate downe on the right hand of God as thereby shewing and that most manifestly that he had at that once offered up such a satisfactory Sacrifice as had pleased God for ever and thereupon took up his place at Gods right hand as an evidence of it so possessing the highest place in Court This setting him at Gods right hand is a token of speciall and highest favour So Kings whom they were most pleased with they did set at their right hands as Solomon did his Mother 1 Kings 2. 19. and so Christ the Church his Queen Psal 45. 9. and it was a favour which God never after vouchsafed to any Heb. 1. To which of all the Angels did he say Sit thou on my right hand Therefore Phil. 2. it is not onely said that he exalted him but superexaltavit he highly exalted him so as never any was exalted for he was made thereby higher then the heavens Thus much for the first Head CHAP. IV. Demonstrates in the second place what influence Christs Ascension hath in a beleevers non-condemnation upon that second premised consideration of Christs being a Common person for us The security that Faith may have from thence WE have thus seen what triumphing evidence and demonstration both Christs Ascension and sitting at Gods right hand doe afford us for this that Christ being considered as our Surety hath therefore undoubtedly subdued our enemies and sins and satisfied God Let us now consider further what force efficacie and influence these two both his Ascending and fitting at Gods right hand as an Head and Common person for us have in them towards the assured working and accomplishment of the salvation of believers his Elect And from the consideration of this which is a second Head our faith may be yet further confirmed and strengthened in its confidence Who shall condemne it is Christ that is at Gods right hand I shall take in as in the former both his Ascension and sitting at Gods right hand 1. By considering And first for his Ascending consider these two things in it which may uphold our confidence 1. That the great end and purpose of that his Ascending the errand 1. That the great end of his Ascending and entring Heaven was to prepare a place for us and bring us thither the businesse he Ascended for was to prepare and provide a place for us and to make way for our comming thither This he assures his Disciples of Iohn 14. 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you as Ioseph was secretly sent before by Gods intendment to prepare
that because of his Fathers command It is evidenced thus For it being a Law vvritten in the midst of his bowels by his Father it becomes naturall to him and so indelible and as other Morall Laws of God written in the heart are perpetuall And as in us when we shall be in heaven though Faith shall faile and Hope vanish yet Love shall continue as the Apostle speaks so doth this love in Christs heart continue also and suffers no decay and is shewne as much now in receiving sinners and interceding for them and being pitifull unto them as then in dying for them And this love to sinners being so commanded pressed upon him as was said that as he would have his Father love him he should love them and so being urged upon all that great love that is betweene him and his Father this as it must needs worke and boile up a strong love in him unto sinners so likewise the most constant and never-decaying love that could be And this is argued from the analogie of that principle upon which Christ urgeth us to love himself Iohn 15. 10. He moveth his Disciples to keep the Commandments he gave them and useth this argument For so shall you abide in my love and backs it with his owne instance even as I have kept my Fathers commandments and abide in his love Now therefore this being the great Commandment that God layeth on him to love and die for and to continue to love and receive sinners that come to him and raise them up at the latter day certainly hee continues to keep it most exactly as being one of the great tyes betweene him and his Father so to continue in his love to him Therefore so long as hee continues in his Fathers love and now he is in heaven and at his right hand he must needs continue in highest favour with him so long wee may be sure he continues to observe this And thus that he should continue still to love us both love to his Father and love to himselfe obligeth him we may therefore be sure of him that he both doth it and will doe it for ever O what a comfort is it that as children are mutuall pledges and tyes of love betweene man and wife so that wee should be made such betweene God the Father and the Sonne And this demonstration is taken from the influence of the first Person of the Trinity namely from God the Father Then secondly this his love is not a forced love which he strives onely to beare towards us because his Father hath commanded him to marry us but it is his nature his disposition Which added to the former affords a second demonstration of the point in hand and is drawn from God the Sonne This disposition is free and naturall to him he should not be Gods Son else nor take after his heavenly Father unto whom it is naturall to shew mercie but not so to punish which is his strange worke but mercie pleaseth him he is the Father of mercie hee begets them naturally Now Christ is his own Sonne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as by way of distinction hee is called and his naturall Sonne yea his humane nature being united to the second Person is thereby become the naturall Son of God not adopted as we are And if he be his naturall Son in priviledges then also his Fathers properties are naturall to him more naturall then to us who are but his adopted sons And if we as the elect of God who are but the adopted sons are exhorted to put on Bowels of mercie kindnesse humblenesse of minde meekenesse c. as Col. 3. 12. then much more must these dispositions needs be found in Christ the Naturall Son and these not put on by him but be as naturall to him as his Son-ship is God is love as Iohn sayes and Christ is love covered over with slesh yea our flesh And besides it is certain that as God hath fashioned the hearts of all men and some of the sonnes of men unto more mercie and pitie naturally then others and then the holy Spirit comming on them to sanctifie their natural dispositions useth to work according to their tempers even so it is certain that he tempered the heart of Christ and made it of a softer mold and temper then the tendernes of all mens hearts put together into one to soften it would have been of When he was to assume an humane nature he is brought in saying Heb. 10. A body hast thou fitted me That is an humane nature fitted as in other things so in the temper of it for the God-head to work and shew his perfections in best And as he tooke an humane nature on purpose to be a mercifull High Priest as Heb. 2. 14. so such an humane nature and of so speciall a temper and frame as might be more mercifull then all Men or Angles His humane nature was made without hands that is was not of the ordinary make that other mens hearts are of though for the matter the same yet not for the frame of his spirit It was an heart bespoke for on purpose to be made a vessel or rather fountain of mercie wide and capable enough to be so extended as to take in and give forth to us again all Gods Manifestative mercies that is all the mercies God intended to manifest to his elect therefore Christs heart had naturally in the temper of it more pity then all men or Angles have as through which the mercies of the great God were to be dispensed unto us and this heart of his to be the instrument of them And then this man and the heart of this man so framed being united to God and being made the naturall Son of God now naturall must mercie needs be unto him And therefore continue in him now hee is in Heaven For though he laid down all infirmities of our nature when he rose again yet no graces that were in him whilst he was below they are in him now as much as ever and being his nature for nature we know is constant therefore still remains You may observe that when he was upon earth minding to perswade sinners to have good thoughts of him as he used that argument of his Fathers command given him so hee also layes open his own disposition Mat. 11. 28. Come to me you that are weary and heavy laden for I am meek and lowly of heart Men are apt to have contrary conceits of Christ but he tells them his disposition there by preventing such hard thoughts of him to allure them unto him the more We are apt to thinke that hee being so holy is therefore of a severe and sowre disposition against sinners and not able to beare them no sayes he I am meek gentlenesse is my nature and temper as it was of Moses who was as in other things so in that grace his Type he was not revenged on Miriam and Aaron but interceded for them So
Beatis nequaquam repugnare censendae sunt Those affections which are naturall to man and have no adhaesion of sinne or shame unto them but are wholly governed by reason and lastly are exempt from such effects as may any way hurt either the soule or the body there is no ground to thinke that such affections may not wel stand with the state of souls in blisse sayes Justinian upon this place Now if we consider it Christ his very state in glory is such as it becomes him to have such humane affections of pity and compassion in his whole man so far as to quicken and provoke him to our helpe and succour not such as to make him a man of sorrowes in himselfe again that were uncomely nay incompatible to him but such as should make him a man of succours unto us which is his office To this end it is to bee remembred that Christ in heaven is to be considered not personally only as in himselfe made happy in his Father but withall in his relations and in his offices as an Head unto us and in that relation hee now sits there as 1 Ephes 21. 22. and the head is the seat of all the senses for the good of the body and therefore most sensible of any other part Wherefore because his members unto whom he beares this relation are still under sinne and miserie therefore it is no way uncomely for him in that estate to have affections suitable to this his relation If his state of glory had been wholly ordained for his owne personall happinesse then indeede there had beene no use of such affections to remaine in him but his relation to us being one part and ingredient of his glory therfore they are most proper for him yea it were uncomely if he had them not Neither are they a weaknesse in him as so considered but rather part of his strength as the Apostle calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And although such affections might in one respect be thought an imperfection yet in another respect namely his relation to us and office for us they are his perfection As he is our Head which he is as he is a man it is his glory to be truly and really even as a man sensible of all our miseries Yea it were his imperfection if he were not And 4. let me adde this for our comfort that though all such affections as are any way a burthen to his spirit or noxious to his body be not now compatible to him and though that passionate frailty and infirmity which did help him here to pity and relieve men in misery out of a suffering hurtfull to himselfe though these be cut off yet in those workings of affections and bowels which he hath now which for substance are the same there is instead of that passionate frailty a greater capaciousnesse vastnesse and also quicknesse in his affections now in heaven so to make up a compensation so no lesse effectually to stir and quicken him to relieve us then those former affections did For it is certaine that as his knowledge was enlarged upon his entring into glory so his humane affections of love pity are enlarged in solidity strength and reality as true conjugall love useth to be though more passionate haply at first They are not lesse now but are onely made more spirituall And as Solomons heart was as large in bounty and royalty as in knowledge so Christs affections of Love are as large as his Knowledge or his Power They are all of a like extent and measure So far as Gods intention to shew mercy doth reach and who knowes the end of those riches so farre doth Christs disposition to bestow it Ephes 3. 19. The Love of Christ God-man passeth knowledge It hath not lost or beene diminished by his going to heaven Though God in his nature be more mercifull then Christs humane nature yet the act and exercise of Christs affections is as large as Gods purposes and decrees of mercy are And all those large affections and mercies are become humane mercies the mercies of a Man unto men 3. Privatively If these affections of Christs heart be not suffering and afflicting affections yet we may be way of Privation expresse this of them that there is a lesse fulnesse of joy and comfort in Chriss heart wstilst he sees us in misery and under infirmities comparatively to what will be when we are presented to him free of them all To cleare this I must recall and I shall but recall that Distinction I made in the 4. Demonstration Sect. 2. Part 2. of a double capacity of Glory or a double fulnesse of Joy which Christ is ordained to have The one Naturall and so due unto his person as in himselfe alone considered The other Additionall and arising from the compleated happinesse and glory of his whole Church wherewith mystically he is one So in Ephes 1. ult although he by reason of his personall fulnesse is there said to fill all in all yet as he is an Head in relation to his Church as his body as in the verses before he is spoken of thus the perfection of this his bodies beatitude it is reciprocally called his fulnesse and therefore untill he hath filled them with all happinesse and delivered them from all miserie himselfe remaines under some kinde of imperfection and answerably his affections also which are suited to this his relation have some want of imperfection in them whilst theylie under miserie in comparison of what his heart shall have when they receive this fulnesse Wee may warrantably say Christ shall bee more gladde then and is now as his children are growne up from under their infirmities and as they doe become more obedient and comfortable in their spirits so John 15. 10 11. I shall adde some illustration to this by this similitude which though it hold not in all things yet it will hold forth some shadowe of it The spirits of just men departed are said to be perfect Heb. 12. yet because they have bodies unto which they have a relation and unto which they are ordained to bee united they in this respect may be said to be imperfect till these bodies be re-united and glorified with them which will adde a further fulnesse to them Thus in some analogie it stands between Christ Personall and Christ Mysticall considered Although Christ in his owne Person be compleat in happinesse yet in relation to his members he is imperfect and so accordingly hath affections suited unto this his relation which is no derogation from him at all The Scripture therefore attributes some affections to him which have an imperfection joyned with them and those to be in him untill the day of judgement Thus Expectation and Desire which are but imperfect affections in comparison to that joy which is in the full fruition of what was expected or desired are attributed to him as he is man untill the day of Judgement Thus Heb. 10. 12 13. He
is said to sit in heaven expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole The destruction of which enemies will adde to the manifestative glory of his kingdome Now as that will adde to the fulnesse of his greatnesse so the compleat salvation of his members will add to the compleatnesse of his glory And as the expectation of his enemies ruine maybe said to be an imperfect affection in comparison of the triumph that one day he shall have over them so his joy which he now hath in his Spouse is but imperfect in comparison of that which shall fill his heart at the great day of Marriage And acordingly the Scripture calls the accomplishment of these his desires a satisfaction so Isai 63. 11. He shall see of the travaile of his soule and be satisfied which argues desires to be in him lying under a want of something in the end to bee obtained Onely we must take in this withall that Jesus Christ indeede knowes and sees the very time when this his fulnesse through the exaltation of his members up to himselfe shall bee compleated and when he shall trample upon the necks of all his and their enemies Hee sees their day a comming as the Psalmist hath it which alleviates and detracts something from this imperfection that hee should thus expect or tarrie §. III. This Scruple satisfied How his heart can be feelingly touched wtth our Sinnes our greatest infirmities seeing he was tempted without sinne THere remaines one great unsatisfaction to be removed which cannot but of it selfe arise in every good heart You told us may they say that by infirmities sinnes were meant and that the Apostles scope was to encourage us against them also and they are indeede the greatest discomforts and discouragements of all other Now against them this which the Apostle here speakes affordeth us but little seeing Christ knowes not how experimentally to pitie us therein for he knew no sinne Yea the Apostle himselfe doth here except it Hee was tempted in all things yet without sinne It may comfort us indeede that Christ doth and will pittie us in all other infirmities because hee himselfe was subject to the like but hee never knew what it was to bee under sinne and vexed with a lust as I am and how shall I releeve my selfe against that by what the Apostle here speakes of him I shall endeavour to give some satisfaction and reliefe in this by these following considerations First The Apostle puts in indeede that hee was tempted yet without sinne and it was well for us that he was thus without sinne for he had not beene a fit Priest to have saved us else so Heb. 7. 25. Such an High-Priest became us as was separate from sinners innocent c. Yet for your reliefe withall consider that hee came as neer in that point as might be he was tempted in all things so sayes the Text though without sinne on his part yet tempted to all sinne so far as to bee afflicted in those temptations and to see the miserie of those that are tempted and to know how to pittie them in all such temptations Even as in taking our nature in his birth he came as neere as could be without being tainted with originall sin as namely by taking the very same matter to have his body made of that all ours are made of c. So in the point of actuall sinne also he suffered himselfe to bee tempted as far as might be so as to keepe himselfe pure He suffered all experiments to be tryed upon him by Satan even as a man who hath taken a strong antidote suffers conclusions to be tryed on him by a Mountibanke And indeede because hee was thus tempted by Satan unto sinne therefore it is on purpose added yet without sinne And it is as if he had said sinne never stained him though hee was outwardly tempted to it Hee was tempted to all sorts of sins by Satan for those three temptations in the wildernesse were the heads of all sorts of temptations as Interpreters upon the Gospels do shew Then Secondly To fit him to pittie us in case of sinne he was vext with the filth and power of sinne in others whom he conversed with more then any of us with sinne in our selves His righteous soule was vexed with it as Lots righteous soule is said to have been with the impure conversation of the Sodomites He endured the contradictions of sinners against himselfe Heb. 12. 3. the reproaches of them that reproached thee that is upon his God fell upon me Rom. 15. 3. It was spoken by the Psalmist of Christ and so is quoted of him by the Apostle that is every sinne went to his heart So as in this there is but this difference betwixt him and us that the regenerate part in us is vexed with sin in our selves and that as our own sin but his heart with sin in others onely yet so as his vexation was the greater by how much his soule was more righteous then ours which makes it up yea in that he sustained the persons of the elect the sinnes which he saw them commit troubled him as if they had beene his owne The word here translated Tempted is read by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is vexed Yea and Thirdly to helpe this also it may be said of Christ whilst he was here below that in the same sense or manner wherein hee bore our sicknesses Mat. 8. 17. who yet was never personally tainted with any disease in the same sense or manner he may be said to have borne our sins namely thus Christ when hee came to an elect child of his that was sick whom he healed his manner was first by a sympathie pittie to afflict himselfe with their sicknesse as if it had beene his owne Thus at his raising of Lazarus it is said that he groaned in spirit c. and so by the merit of taking the disease upon himselfe through a fellow-feeling of it he tooke it off from them being for them afflicted as if he himselfe had beene sick And this seemes to be the best interpretation that I have met with of that difficult place in Mat. 8. 16. 17. where it is said He healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet saying Himselfe tooke our infirmities and bare our sicknesses Now in the like way or manner unto this of bearing our sicknesses hee might beare our sinnes too for hee being one with us and to answer for all our sinnes therefore when he saw any of his owne to sinne hee was affected with it as if it had beene his own And thus is that about the power of sin made up and satisfied And fourthly as for the guilt of sinne and the temptations from it he knowes more of that then any one of us He tasted the bitternesse of that in the imputation of it more deeply then wee can and of the cup of his Fathers wrath for it