Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n
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A39680
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Sacramental meditations upon divers select places of scripture wherein believers are assisted in preparing their hearts, and exciting their affections and graces, when they draw nigh to God in that most awful and solemn ordinance of the Lords Supper / by Jo. Flavel ...
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Flavel, John, 1630?-1691.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing F1183; ESTC R6003
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82,969
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246
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Divine Justice to Christ appeared And this will manifest it self in the consideration of the following particulars First Let us consider what Christ suffered and we shall see the severity of Justice in his sufferings for he suffered all kinds of miseries anâ—…â—…at in the most intense degrees of them His sufferings were from all hands from Heaven Earth and Hell From his EneEnemies who Condemned him Buffeted him Reviled Scourged and Crucified him From his own Disciples and followers one of whom perfidiously betray'd him another openly deny'd him and all in the hour of his greatest trouble forsook and abandoned him He suffered in his Body the most exquisite torments the Cross was a cruel Engine of torment and more so to him than any other by reason of the excellent Crasis and temperament of his Body and his most acute and delicate sense for as the School-men truly say He was optime complectionatus of the most exact and exquisite Complexion and his senses remained acute and vigorous no way blunted during the whole time of his sufferings but full of life and sense to the last gasp as may be gather'd from Mark 15. 39. When the Centurion which stood over against him saw that he so cried out and gave up the ghost he said Truly this was the Son of God He suffered in his soul yea the sufferings of his soul were the very soul of his sufferings he felt in his inner man the exquisite torments and inexpressible anguish of the wrath of God Hence was that preternatural bloody sweat in the Garden and hence that heart-rending out-cry upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me In all which sufferings from Heaven from Earth from Hell from Friends from Enemies there was no allay or abatement of the least degree of misery God spared not his own Son saith the Text but delivered him up Wherein the severity of Divine Justice to Jesus Christ is displayed in these five remarkable considerations following First God spared not If mercy pity and forbearance might be expected from any hand surely it might be expected from God He is the Fountain of mercy The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy saith the Apostle Jam. 5. 11. The most melting and tender compassions of a Mother to her Sucking Child are but cruelty in comparison with divine tenderness and mercy Isa. 49. 15. Can a Woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion upon the Son of her Womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Can a Woman the more affectionate Sex forget her sucking Child her own Child and not a Nursing child only her own Child whilst it hangs on her breast and with the Milk from her breast draws love from her heart Can such a thing as this be in Nature Possibly it may some such cruel Mothers may be found but yet I will not forget thee saith God Though humane corrupt Nature may be so vitiated yet from the Divine nature compassion and mercy are inseparable It flows as waters flow from their Fountain only here it restrained it self and let not out one drop to Jesus Christ in the day of his sufferings God the God of mercy spared not Secondly God spared not saith the Text i. e. he abated not any thing which Justice could inflict Christ was not spared one stroke one tear one groan one drop one sigh one shame one circumstance no not the least which Justice could demand as satisfaction for mans sin There be divers kinds of mercy in God there is in him preventing mercy delivering mercy and sparing mercy Now sparing mercy as one well observes is the lowest mercy of all the three 'T is less mercy to be spared or abated some degree or circumstance of misery than to have misery prevented by mercies stepping in betwixt us and it It 's less also than to be wholly delivered out of the hand of misery Either of these are greater acts of mercy than to abate a degree or shorten an hour of our trouble the least abatement of any one circumstance of misery had been sparing mercy though it had been but the least and lowest act of mercy and yet even this was denyed to Christ he was not abated one minute of time or the least degree of sorrow God spared not Thirdly He spared not his own Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So stiled Signanter his own or his proper Son in a special and peculiar manner nearer and dearer to him than the Angels who are his Sons by Creation Joâ—… 1. 6. or any of the Saints who are his Sons by grace in the way of Regeneration and Adoption Joh. 1. 12 13. This was his own Son by Nature a Son of an higher rank and order Psal. 2. 7. begotten in an ineffable manner from all Eternity in his own divine essence and so is his Son by Nature having the same Essence and Nature with the Father being co-equal co-essential and co-eternal with the Father No relation in nature is so intimate strict and dear as this our Children are not so much our own Children our bodies are not so much our own bodies as Christ was Gods own Son and yet though he were so dear to him his other Self his express Image his own dear Son he spared him not God spared not his own Son Fourthly And that which makes a farther discovery of Divine severity towards Jesus Christ is this that God spared not his own Son in the day of his greatest distress when he cryed to his Father in an Agony that if it were possible the cup might pass from him For of that day this Scripture is mainly to be understood the day when he fell to the ground and pray'd That if it were possible the hour might pass When he said Abba Father all things are possible to thee take away this Cup from me Mark 14. 35 36. He beheld his own dear Son sweltering under the heaviest pressure of his wrath sweating great drops of Blood crying If it be possible let this hour this cup pass and yet it could not be granted O the severity of God! He heard the cry of Ahab and spared him he heard the Ninevites cry and spared them He heard the cries of Hagar and Ishmael and spared them Yea he hears the young Ravens when they cry and feeds them But when his own Son cryed with the most vehement cry that the Cup might pass he cannot be excused he must drink it up even the very dregs of the Cup of trembling and that to the last drop O the Justice and Severity of God! Fifthly and lastly Consider what the Father of mercies did instead of sparing the Son of his love and the Text will inform you that he delivered him up for us all So 't is noted in Act. 2. 23. Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and fore-knowledge of God ye have taken and with wicked hands have Crucified and Slain There was
Predication is very Emphatical it is meat indeed and drink indeed which notes two things First Reality in opposition to all legal shaddows and types Secondly Transcendent excellency far surpassing all other food even Mannah it self which for its excellency is styled Angels food My Flesh is meat indeed i. e. true substantial and real food to souls and choice excellent and incomparable food Hence observe Doct. That what meat and drink is to our bodies that and much more than that the Flesh and Blood of Christ is to believing souls Two things require explication in this point First Wherein the resemblance or agreement lies betwixt the Flesh and Blood of Christ and Meat and Drink Secondly Wherein the former transcends and excels the latter 1. Query Wherein lies the resemblance and agreement betwixt the Flesh and Blood of Christ and material Meat and Drink Sol. The agreement is manifest in the following particulars First Meat and Drink is necessary to support Natural life we cannot live without it Upon this account Bread is call'd the Staff and Stay i. e. the support of the natural spirits which do as much lean and depend upon it as a feeble man doth upon his staff Isa. 3. 1. But yet how necessary soever it be the Flesh and Blood of Christ is more indispensibly necessary for the life of our souls Joh. 6. 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you Our souls have more absolude need of peace and pardon by Christ than our bodies have of meat and drink Better our bodies were starved and famished than our souls damned and lost for ever Secondly Meat and Drink are ever most sweet and desirable to those that are hungry and thirsty It is hunger and thirst that gives value and estimation to meat and drink Prov. 27. 7. To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet and so it is in our esteem of Christ Joh. 7. 37. If any man thirst let him come to me and drink When God by illumination and conviction makes men deeply sensible of their miserable lost and perishing condition then ten thousand worlds for a Christ. All is but dung and dross in comparison of the excellency of Christ Jesus Thirdly Meat and drink must undergoe an alteration and lose its own form before it actually nourishes the body The Corn is ground to pieces in the Mill before it be made Bread to nourish us And Christ must be ground betwixt the upper and neither Milstones of the wrath of God and malice of men to be made Bread for our souls The Prophet saith Isa. 52. 14. His Visage was marr'd more than any mans He did not look like himself the beauty and glory of Heaven but the reproach of Men and despised of the People Oh what an alteration did his Incarnation and Sufferings make upon him Phil. 2. 6 7. Quantum mutatus ab illo Fourthly Natural food must be received into our bodies and have a natural Union with them and Christ must be received into our souls and have a spiritual Union with them by faith or else we can have no nourishment or benefit by him An empty Profession a meer talkative Religion nourishes the inner man just as much as the sight of meat and our commending of it doth our outward man It 's Christ's dwelling in our hearts by faith Eph. 3. 17. our receiving of him Joh 1. 12. our eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood Joh. 6. 53. i. e. the effectual application of Christ to our souls by faith that makes us partakers of his benefits Fifthly Meat and drink must be taken every day or else natural life will languish and spiritual life will never be comfortably maintain'd in us without daily communion with Jesus Christ If a gracious soul neglect or be interrupted in its course of duties and stated times of prayer it will be quickly discernable by the Christian himself in the deadness of his own heart and by others also in the barrenness of his discourses And in these things stands the Analogy and agreement of the Flesh and Blood of Christ with meat and drink 2. Query The next thing is to open the transcendent excellency of Christs Flesh and Blood above all other food in the world and this appears in four particulars First This Flesh and Blood was assumed into the nearest Union with the second Person in the blessed Trinity and so is not only dignified above all other created Beings but becomes the first receptacle of all grace intended to be communicated through it to the Children of men Joh. 1. 14. Secondly This Flesh and Blood of Christ was offered up to God as the great Sacrifice for our sins and Purchase of our peace Col. 1. 20. Eph. 5. 2. and so it is of inestimable price and value to Believers The humane Nature of Christ was the Sacrifice the divine Nature was the Altar on which it was offered up and by which it was dignified and sanctified and made an Offering of a sweet smelling savour to God Eph. 5. 2. Thirdly This Flesh and Blood of Christ is the great medium of conveyance of all blessings and mercies to the souls and bodies of Believers It lies as a vast pipe at the Fountain-head of blessings receiving and conveying them from God to Men Col. 1. 14. 19. So then it being united to the second Person and so become the Flesh and Blood of God it being the Sacrifice offered up to God for Attonement and Remission of sins and the medium of conveying all grace and mercy from God the Fountain to the souls and bodies of Believers how sweet a rellish must it have upon the pallate of faith Here faith may tast the sweetness of a Pardon a full free and final pardon of sin than which nothing in this world can be sweeter to a Sin-burdened Conscience Here it tasts the incomparable sweetness of Peace with God a Peace which passeth Understanding the breach Sin made is by this Sacrifice made up for ever Col. 1. 20. Here it tasts the unexpressible sweetness of acceptation with God and an interest in his favour a mercy which a poor convinced soul would give ten thousand worlds for were it to be purchased Yea here it rellisheth all the sweet Promises in the Covenant of grace as confirmed and ratified by this Sacrifice Heb. 9. 5. So that well might he say my Flesh is meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed the most excellent New Testament-food for Believers 1. Use of Information First See here the love of a Saviour that Heavenly Pelliâ—…an who feeds us with his own Flesh and Blood You read Lam. 4. 10. of pitiful Women who eat the flesh of their own Children but where have you read of Men or Women that gave their own flesh and blood for meat and drink to their Children Think on this you that are so loth to cross and deny your flesh for Christ he suffered his