Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n
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A53708
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Meditations and discourses on the glory of Christ, in his person, office, and grace with the differences between faith and sight applied unto the use of them that believe / by the late Reverend John Owen, D.D.
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Owen, John, 1616-1683.
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1641
(1641)
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Wing O769A; ESTC R38162
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148,329
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290
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Church is the Effect of the Work of the Redemption that which rose out of it which was made and constituted by it and cannot be so the Object of it as that which was to be redeemed by vertue of an antecedent Conjunction with it I answer 1. ALTHOUGH this Mystical Conjunction is not actually consummate without an actual Participation of the Spirit of Christ yet the Church of the Elect was designed antecedently unto all his sufferings to be his Spouse and Wife so as that he might love her and suffer for her so it is said Hos. 12. 13. Israel served for a wife and for a wife he kept sheep Howbeit she was not his married wife until after he had served for her and thereby purchased her to be his Wife yet as he served for her she is called his Wife because of his Love unto her and because she was so designed to be upon his Service So was the Church designed to be the Spouse of Christ in the Counsel of God whereon he loved her and gave himself for her HENCE in the work of Redemption the Church was the Object of it as designed to be the Spouse of Christ and the Effect of it inasmuch as that thereby it was made meet for the full consummation of that Alliance as the Apostle expresly declares Eph. 5. 25 26 27. 2. ANTECEDENTLY unto all that the Lord Christ did and suffered for the Church there was a supreme act of the Will of God the Father giving all the Elect unto him entrusting them with him to be redeemed sanctified and saved as himself declares Joh. 17. 6 9. Chap. 10. 14 15 16. And on these Grounds this Mystical Conjunction between Christ and the Church hath its vertue and efficacy before it be actually consummate 3. THERE is a foederal Conjunction between distinct Persons And as this is various according unto the variety of the Interests and Ends of them that enter into it so that is most eminent where one by the common consent of all that are concerned undertakes to be a Sponsor or Surety for others to do and answer what on their part is required of them for attaining the ends of the Covenant So did the Lord Christ undertake to be Surety of the new Covenant in behalf of the Church Heb. 7. 22. and thereon tendred himself unto God to do and suffer for them in their stead and on their behalf whatever was required that they might be sanctified and saved These things I have treated of at large elsewhere as containing a great part of the Mystery of the Wisdom of God in the Salvation of the Church Here therefore I do only observe that this is that whereby the Mystical Conjunction that was between Christ and the Church whereon it was meet just and equal in the sight of God that what he did and suffered should be imputed unto us is compleated THESE are some of the Foundations of that Mystery of transmitting the sins of the Church as unto the guilt and punishment of them from the sinners themselves unto another every way innocent pure and righteous in himself which is the Life Soul and Center of all Scripture Revelations And herein is he exceedingly Glorious and precious unto them that believe No heart can conceive no Tongue can express the Glory of Christ herein Now because his Infinite Condescension and Love herein have been spoken to before I shall here only instance its Greatness in some of its Effects 1. IT shines forth in the Exaltation of the Righteousness of God in the forgiveness of sins There is no more adequate conception of the Divine Nature than that of Justice in Rule and Government Hereunto it belongs to punish sin according unto its desert And herein consisted the first actings of God as the Governour of the Rational Creation They did so in the Eternal punishment of the Angels that sinned and the casting of Adam out of Paradise an Emblem also of everlasting Ruin Now all the Church all the Elect of God are sinners They were so in Adam they have been and are so in themselves What doth become the Justice of God to do thereon Shall it dismiss them all unpunished Where then is that Justice which spared not the Angels who sinned nor Adam at the first Would this procedure have any consonancy thereunto be reconcilable unto it Wherefore the Establishment of the Righteousness of God on the one hand and the forgiveness of sin on the other seem so contradictory as that many stumble and fall at it eternally see Rom. 10. 3 4. BUT in this interposition of Christ in this Translation of punishment from the Church unto him by vertue of his Conjunction therewith there is a blessed harmony between the Righteousness of the God and the forgiveness of sins the exemplification whereof is his Eternal Glory O Blessed Change O Sweet permutation as Justine Martyr speaks BY Vertue of his Union with the Church which of his own accord he entred into and his undertaking therein to answer for it in the sight of God it was a righteous thing with God to lay the punishment of all our sins upon him so as that he might freely and graciously pardon them all to the Honour and Exaltation of his Justice as well as of his Grace and Mercy Rom. 3. 24 25 26. HEREIN is he Glorious in the sight of God Angels and Men. In him there is at the same time in the same Divine Actings a Glorious Resplendency of Justice and Mercy of the one in punishing of the other in pardoning The appearing inconsistency between the Righteousness of God and the Salvation of sinners wherewith the Consciences of convinced Persons are exercised and terrified and which is the Rock at which most of them split themselves into Eternal Ruin is herein removed and taken away In his Cross were Divine Holiness and Vindictive Justice exercised and manifested and through his Triumph Grace and Mercy are exerted to the utmost This is that Glory which ravisheth the Hearts and satiates the Souls of them that believe For what can they desire more what is farther needful unto the Rest and Composure of their Souls than at one view to behold God eternally well pleased in the declaration of his Righteousness and the exercise of his Mercy in order unto their Salvation In due apprehensions hereof let my Soul live in the faith hereof let me dye and let present Admiration of this Glory make way for the eternal enjoyment of it in its beauty and fulness HE is Glorious in that the Law of God in its Preceptive part or as unto the Obedience which it required was perfectly fulfilled and accomplished That it should be so was absolutely necessary from the Wisdom Holiness and Righteousness of him by whom it was given For what could be more remote from those Divine Perfections than to give a Law which never was to be fulfilled in them unto whom it was given and who were to have the advantages of it
in him Col. 1. 17 18 19. And this was the first Egress of divine Wisdom for the Manifestation of the Glory of God in these holy Properties of his Nature For 3. THIS Communication was made unto him as a Repository and Treasury of all that Goodness Grace Life Light Power and Mercy which were necessary for the Constitution and Preservation of the New Creation They were to be laid up in him to be hid in him to dwell in him and from him to be communicated unto the whole Mystical Body designed unto him that is the Church And this is the first Emanation of divine Power and Wisdom for the Manifestation of his Glory in the New Creation This Constitution of Christ as the Head of it and the Treasuring up in him all that was necessary for its Production and Preservation wherein the Church is chosen and preordained in him unto Grace and Glory is the Spring and Fountain of divine Glory in the Communications that ensue thereon 4. THIS Communication unto Christ is 1. Unto his Person and then 2. With respect unto this Office It is in the Person of Christ that all Fulness doth originally dwell On the Assumption of human Nature into personal Union with the Son of God all Fulness dwells in him bodily Col. 2. 9. And thereon receiving the Spirit in all Fulness and not by Measure all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge were hid in him Col. 2. 3. and he was filled with the unsearchable Riches of Divine Grace Ephes. 3. 8 9 10 11. And the Office of Christ is nothing but the way appointed in the Wisdom of God for the Communication of the Treasures of Grace which were communicated unto his Person This is the end of the whole Office of Christ in all the parts of it as he is a Priest a Prophet and a King They are I say nothing but the Ways appointed by infinite Wisdom for the Communication of the Grace laid up in his Person unto the Church The transcendent Glory hereof we have in some weak measure enquired into 5. THE Decree of Election prepared if I may so say the Mass of the New Creation In the old Creation God first prepared and created the Mass or Matter of the whole which afterwards by the Power of the holy Spirit was formed into all the distinct Beings whereof the whole Creation was to consist and animated according to their distinct Kinds AND in order unto the Production and Perfecting of the Work of the new Creation God did from Eternity in the holy purpose of his Will prepare and in design set apart unto himself that Portion of Mankind whereof it was to consist Hereby they were only the peculiar Matter that was to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost and the glorious Fabrick of the Church erected out of it What was said it may be of the Natural Body by the Psalmist is true of the Mystical Body of Christ which is principally intended Psal. 139. 15 16. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them The substance of the Church whereof it was to be formed was under the Eye of God as proposed in the Decree of Election yet was it as such imperfect It was not formed or shaped into Members of the Mystical Body But they were all written in the Book of Life And in pursuance of the Purpose of God there they are by the holy Spirit in the whole course and continuance of time in their several Generations fashioned into the Shape designed for them 6. THIS therefore is herein the glorious Order of divine Communications From the infinite eternal Spring of Wisdom Grace Goodness and Love in the Father all the Effects whereof unto his end were treasured up in the Person and Mediation of the Son the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed communicates Life Light Power Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Nature his infinite Wisdom Power Goodness and Grace as the only eternal Spring of all these things and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons by the Order of the Communication of these things unto the Church which are originally from his Nature And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity which by some is opposed by some neglected by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it doth not belong unto them made precious unto them that believe and becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communications we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father Son and Holy Ghost 7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation formed and animated with spiritual Life Light Grace and Power unto the Glory of God They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God but in every Age at his own Time and Season the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them in the Order declared unto the Glory of God 8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Creation preserved every Day every moment there is vital Power and Strength Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World There is a continual Influence from the Fountain from the Head into all the Members whereby they all consist in him are acted by him who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications unto all the Members of the Church it self Eph. 4. 13 14 15 16. THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven and shall be so unto Eternity For God is and ever will be all and in all But at present it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh yea the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised they see no Glory in it But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle that it may be otherwise with us Ephes. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creation is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of himself in the New HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications I shall proceed to declare in particular the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself and therewithal