humane soul and body united to himself in the bond of personal Vnion The Divine person gives up the humane soul and body to be separated from each other at his death and yet holds them both to himself in the bond of personal Union Divines use an apt similitude to illustrate this by It is as if a man held a sword in his hand sheathed and should draw forth the sword out of the sheath the sword and sheath are separated one from the other yet the hand holds both Here then is the acting of the Divine will the Divine will in the person of the Son gives up the humane nature to suffer this is intimated in those expressions No man taketh away my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again Now the humane will knowing that it is the pleasure of the Divine will that the humanity should be given up to suffer submits unto and complies with the Divine will this is implied in that expression This commandment have I received of my Father Joh. 10.18 The Divine will of the Father and of the Son are all one Now the humane will knowing that it was the pleasure of the Divine will that the humane nature should be given up to suffering and death complies with the Divine will herein 3. The third consideration to set forth the love of Christ as he is Man or in his humane nature is this The love of Christ as he is Man may be seen in the Petitions he offered up to the Father for us whilst he was here on earth Much of that love which dwelt in his humane soul may be seen by the prayers and petitions he offered up to the Father for us It is true Christs Intercession is a work that belongs to him as Mediator now Christ is Mediator not according to one nature only but according to both natures and there is a communion of both natures in this action of his praying for us as well as in the rest of his Mediatory actions but yet although the person praying for us be God-man that very person who subsists in both natures yet that nature in which he is most properly said to pray is his humane nature as in his sufferings the person suffering is God-man yet the nature according to which he is said to suffer is the humane nature therefore he is said to be put to death in the flesh 1 Pet. 3.18 So in his praying for us the person praying is God-man but the nature in which he prays is the humane the whole action proceeds from the person but the proximate and immediate principle is the humane will Christs praying was the act or desire of his humane will though it be true that will was acted influenced and governed by the Divine will Hence is that saying of the Ancients Christus orat ut homo ut Deus adoratur ut homo orat Patrem Christ prays as he is man as he is God so he is prayed unto as he is man so he intercedes prays and supplicates to the Father for us Now we may consider the love of Christ in the desires that were in his humane will for us It is true it was the Godhead that directed and inclined his humane will to those desires and gave that virtue and efficacy to his prayers If they had been the prayers of a meer man they had not had such efficacy But yet we may consider the love that was in his humane soul when he prayed here on earth for us There was no small love in the Humane soul of Christ when he asked such great things for us a little before his going out of the world It is true his humane love is not all or the principal thing to be considered in the great things he asked for us If his love had not been more than the love of a man he could not have asked such great things for us as we read of in Joh. 17. yet certainly there was a great deal of love in his humane soul which was filled by the Divinity inhabiting in it His heart was brim-full of love when he came to make that last prayer of his to the Father for us Judge of his love by the things he asks for us Cujus Christiani cor non liquescit dum manifestè cognoscit Filium Dei aeternum pro se rogâsse Patrem ut unum sit cum ipsis What are the things Christ asks No less than Union with himself and the Father Joh. 17.21 23. It is a good speech of one of the Ancients What Christian heart is it that doth not melt when he doth clearly understand that the eternal Son of God did ask for him in particular that he might be one with him and the Father Can we desire a greater happiness than this to be one with the Father and the Son This is the happiness Christ asks for us that we might be one in the Father and the Son And as he prays for this Union the top of all so he prays for many other blessings as 1. That the Father would keep all that are his through his own Name vers 11. How would he have them kept He would have them kept unto this union So it follows That they may be one as we are one As the Father and the Son had intended the Elect unto this union so he prays that they may be preserved unto this union preserved unto eternal life preserved from miscarrying that they might come unto that union the Father and the Son had elected them unto What comfort is this that our Lord Jesus hath prayed we may be kept to our last happiness that God would be his own power keep us to Salvation The Salvation of the Elect must needs be secure when Christ hath prayed the Father that he would keep all his by his own power to Salvation 2. He prays that we might be kept from the evil of the world vers 15. You that fear to be overtaken with any scandalous sin you may know the worth of this prayer 3. He prays for our Sanctification vers 17. 4. He prays that we might be where he is vers 24. 5. He prays that we might have a share in his Glory not only that we might be with him but also behold the glory that the Father had given him What love must that heart needs be filled with that prays for such things It is true it was not the love of a meer man that could ask such things but it was the Divine love filling his humane soul and acting of it that carried him forth to ask such things And thus I have finished the consideration of the love that was in the humane nature of Christ 2. There is the love that is in Christs Divine nature The love which is in the humane nature is very great but the love of the Divine nature is infinitely greater The love
humane nature assumed so that the humane nature as it is well exprest by one is by means of this union rooted in the Divine stock To understand this we must know that the Son of God was a person before his Incarnation and subsisted in the Divine nature by the work of his Incarnation the humane nature having no subsistence of its own hath the Divine person of the Son communicated to it and so subsists in and by that person so that now here is one and the same person that subsists in two natures The same person who subsisted in the Divine nature only before his Incarnation after his Incarnation subsists in both natures the Divine and humane nature All this is implied in that great Scripture Joh. 1.14 The Word was made flesh The Evangelist speaks of Christ the Son of God the eternal Word The Word was made flesh that is the Son of God the second person in Trinity was made flesh or became man That Christ was a person and had his subsistence in the Divine nature before his Incarnation that the Evangelist had shewn us in the two first verses In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God Here the Evangelist shews us plainly that Christ had his subsistence before his Incarnation he subsisted in the Divine nature he subsisted with the Father in the same Divine Essence Now after he comes to acquaint us that this very person whom he calls the Word and who did first of all subsist in the nature of God only did afterwards become man and was made flesh and after his Incarnation subsists in both natures the nature of man as well as the nature of God who before his Incarnation subsisted in the nature of God only The Word was made flesh How is this to be understood made flesh Not by any conversion in the natures as if so be the Divinity was absorpt by or turned into the humanity or as if so be the humanity was swallowed up into the Divinity but the Word is made flesh thus we ought to conceive of it the Word that is the eternal Word the second person of the Trinity who was a person before draws the humane nature into the Vnity of his own person so that the natures remain distinct and unconfounded but the person is but one The Word who was a person before his Incarnation assumes and takes the humane nature destitute of any personal subsistence of its own into the unity of his own personal subsistence so that now by means of the Incarnation of the Word there is one and the same person of the Word and the humane nature assumed This is in short the sum of that Doctrine which we call the Hypostatical or personal Union which is therefore called the Hypostatical or personal Union because both the natures the Divine and the humane nature are united into that one Hypostasis or person of the Son of God Now consider the greatness of Christs love in this Union This union the union of the two natures in that one person of Christ is the greatest of all unions next to the union of the three persons of the Sacred Trinity which indeed may not so properly be called a Vnion as a Vnity Summa illa TrinÃtas nobis hanc exhibuit Trinitatem The highest Trinity hath exhibited to us this Trinity that these three the Word the flesh and humane soul of Christ should be one one not by any confusion of substance but one in person In the Sacred Trinity the persons remain distinct but the nature is one in the personal Vnion the natures remain distinct but the person is but one Now this is the highest of all unions next that of the three persons in the Trinity in one and the same Essence namely that a created nature as the humane nature in Christ is should be made one person with the Son of God who also himself is God By this union God communicates himself after the highest manner that was possible unto the creature and the nature of the creature is united to God in the most perfect manner as it was possible for the creature to be united to God In the Incarnation of the Son of God man who is the last creature in Creation is joyned with his first Cause and Principle in such a union as that there is none greater under God To illustrate yet farther the greatness of this union that is made in the two natures in the person of Christ consider There is a presence of God and an inhabitation of his Spirit in the Saints but this falls far short of the personal Vnion which we are now speaking of for notwithstanding the mystical Union notwithstanding the inhabitation of the Spirit in Believers yet a Believer remains a true person the person of a Believer and the person of Christ remain distinct persons though Christ and Believers be one mystically and spiritually The Scripture He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit There is a mystical spiritual Union between Christ and Believers yet Christ and Believers remain distinct in their persons but in this other union the personal union the union of the two natures in the person of Christ the humane nature of Christ hath no subsistence of its own but subsists wholly in and by the person of the Son of God who was a person from Eternity and gives his own person to the humane nature destitute of any personality of its own so that could we suppose it were possible for the humane nature to be deserted by the Divine person that supports it it would be reduced to nothing so that here is a vast difference between this union and all other unions Yet a little farther to illustrate this It is the observation of a Learned Divine this Union is so near individual inseparable indissoluble that the Divine nature of the Son will not cannot ought not to be thought on sought for apprehended out of this union which it hath with the humane nature but it ought to be thought of sought for apprehended in that most near union and conjunction it hath with the humanity and the humane nature which is assumed ought not not to be thought of conceived or apprehended out of but within the most intimate embracings of the second person in Trinity who assumed it And that God is not to be sought for any where but in Christ is clear from that passage 1 Joh. 5.20 The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we might know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his Son Jesus Christ this is the true God The sum of this Scripture saith Calvin is this When once we have Christ then we have the true and eternal God because God is to be sought for no where else The Son of God hath so assumed a part of our nature as that he hath made it his own proper flesh so
that that body which he hath assumed is not the body of any other person or individual but it is the proper body of the Son of God therefore is it called the Temple of his body Joh. 2.21 elsewhere it is said Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood Act. 20.28 And we have that expression The body of his flesh Col. 1.22 That particle or parcel of our nature which the Son of God assumed and took up was so individually inseparably indissolubly united to him that it became his own proper flesh therefore is it said The bread I will give is my flesh Joh. 6.51 To sum up this particular what love is this that the Son of God so great a person as we have heard should take up a part of our nature joyn it to himself in the bond of near union and doth wear it and will wear it to all Eternity 5. The admirableness of the work of Christs Incarnation appears in this in that by means of the Incarnation all the Trinity are brought near to us and by the Son incarnate we come to have communion with all the Trinity Hence is that expression of the Apostle John 1 Joh. 2.24 If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father By continuing in the Son we come to continue in the Father This is the order we must continue in the Son if ever we mean to continue in the Father He had said before He that denies the Son the same hath not the Father now he saith By abiding in the doctrine of the Son we shall continue in the Son and in the Father What is the doctrine of the Son which if we continue in we shall continue in the Son and in the Father The doctrine of the Son is That the Word is made flesh Compare this with 1 Joh. 4.2 and 2 Joh. 7. and we shall see it clear that the doctrine concerning the Son is That the Son is come into the flesh or that the Word is made flesh Now by continuing in this doctrine we shall continue in the Father by continuing in the doctrine of the Son incarnate we shall continue in the Father How so He that hath the Son hath the Father The Divinity of the Father is brought down to us in the person of the Son incarnate It is a great speech of a Learned Divine Divinitas in una sui hypostaseâ—â—â— tota nobis communicavit The whole Divinity hath communicated it self to us in the Incarnation of one of the Persons To understand which we must know although the Son only be the person who is incarnate not the Father or the Spirit yet both the Father and the Spirit are to be found in that one person of the Son who is incarnate and the reason is because the Divine persons although they are distinct yet they have an inbeing in each other Joh. 14.10 The Father is in the Son and the Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son so that in the person of the Son who only is incarnate the other persons are to be found Hence is that speech of Luther and it is a great speech Vbi ille Deus Christus Jesus est ibi est totus Deus seu tota Divinitas ibi invenitur Pater Spiritus S. Luther Where that God Christ Jesus is there is whole God or the whole Divinity there the Father and the holy Spirit is found The Son hath assumed our nature now the Father is in the Son and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son therefore in the Son incarnate all the Trinity are represented to us We begin first of all at the flesh of Christ we conceive first of all of the humanity of Christ and from thence we ascend to the contemplation of the Divinity of the Son inhabiting and dwelling in the humane nature and by that means we come to communion with the whole Trinity This may be illustrated further to us by two Considerations 1. At the same time we apprehend the Divinity of the Son we do also apprehend the Divinity of the Father Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father There is one and the same undivided Divinity Trium personarum una eadem individua est Divinicas Essentia Omnipotentia Sapientia Essentia unius personae est essentia alterius Essence Omnipotency Wisdom of all the three persons therefore when we apprehend and conceive of the Divinity of the Son we do at the same time apprehend the Divinity of the Father and Spirit which is common to all the three persons The essence of one person is the essence of another We must not fancy or imagine because we speak of more persons than one in the Deity therefore there are more Deities as if there were as many Deities as persons no all the three persons are but one and the self same Deity or Godhead and when we apprehend the Divinity or Deity of one of the persons we apprehend the same Deity that is common to them all 2. By the apprehension of the person of the Son we are led into communion with the Father so that we may say with the Apostle 1 Joh. 1.3 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ The Divinity of the Father and the Son is the same so that when we apprehend the Divinity of the one we must necessarily apprehend the Divinity of the other Yet there is a distinction between the Father and the Son the distinction is not in point of Essence for there is one and the self same Essence or Divinity common to them both Therefore if there be a distinction between the Father and the Son and that distinction be not in point of Essence the distinction must necessarily be conceived to be as to the person of the one and of the other each person includes the whole Essence and when we conceive of one person we must conceive of the whole Essence Yet thus we ought to take it the same Essence is to be conceived after a distinct manner of subsisting in the Father and the self same Essence is to be conceived after a distinct manner of subsisting in the Son Or we may take it in other words thus One and the self same God after such a manner of subsisting is the Father one and the same God after such a manner of subsisting is the Son For that which we call a person in the Godhead is nothing else but the Divine Essence it self distinguished by some proper manner of subsisting as for instance When we conceive of the Father we conceive of him as the first person in the Deity who is of himself and from no other and gives being to the Son as the Son this is his manner of subsisting When we conceive of the Son we conceive of him as the second person in the
Deity who hath the same whole and intire nature of God in him as the Father hath yet as he is the Son so we conceive of him as begotten by the Father and proceeding from the Father by eternal Generation this is his manner of subsisting Here is one and the self same Essence still the Father hath the whole Essence in him and is depending upon no other the Son hath the same Essence but as he is the Son so he is begotten by the Father and proceeding from him by eternal Generation Now by the person of the Son incarnate we are brought in to communion with the Father How so Whilst we apprehend and conceive of the person of the Son who is incarnate we may reflect upon the Father from whom the Son proceeds and between whom and the Father there is the most perfect communion of natures the nature of the Son being the nature of the Father also and thus by having fellowship with the Son we have fellowship and communion with the Father also It is a great Scripture to illustrate this Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me Fides in Christum non est praejudicio fidei in Deum Patrem c. Nihil vetat quò minùs sit fides in plures personas modò essentia sit una eadémque Roloc in Joh. 14. It is the observation of a Holy man and Learned Divine upon that Text Faith in Christ is no prejudice to faith in God the Father neither is faith in the Holy Ghost any prejudice to faith in the Father and in the Son for there is one and the same God although the persons are distinct in that one nature of God And he adds Nothing forbids us but that faith may be in more persons than one so we be sure to retain one and the self same Essence To understand which we must consider When we conceive of one person in the Trinity or direct an act of faith to one person we must take in the whole Deity or whole God in our apprehension or conception when we conceive of another person or direct an act of faith to another person of the Trinity we must take in the whole Deity or Essence in our apprehension we must take heed that we never part or divide the Essence in our conception of any of the persons When you conceive of each person be sure you take in the whole Essence in that conception as for instance When I conceive of God the Father I conceive of the first person in the Deity whole God subsisting in the Divine Essence after such a manner when I conceive of the Son I conceive of the second person in the Deity whole God subsisting in the Essence after such a manner The Essence is common to all the persons and the persons do subsist in the self same Essence therefore in the conception of each person we must be sure to take in the whole Essence Now by the Son incarnate we are brought to communion with the Father the humanity of Christ leads us to the Divinity we begin at the humanity and we ascend from thence to the consideration of that person who assumed the humane nature Now in this one person is whole God there is the Divinity of the Father and of the Spirit now when by the eye of faith we can contemplate the Divinity in the person of the Son we may be the same eye of faith reflect upon the person of the Father as subsisting in the same Divinity and who is no otherways distinguished from the Son but by his relative property Nihil absurdi est dum concipimus Deitatem Patri Filio Spiritui communem si intuitus Filii mentes nostras reflectit ad Patris personam Calvin It was a wise and great speech of Calvin to this purpose There is nothing of absurdity in this if when we do conceive of the Deity or Godhead which is common to the Father Son and Spirit the aspect and contemplation which faith hath of the Son do reflect and turn back our minds upon the person of the Father for the distinct respects which are between the Father and Son as such make no division or partition in the Essence although the Son be not the Father nor the Father the Son yet both the Father and the Son are one and the same God and there is one and the same Essence common to them both I and the Father am one Joh. 10.30 Therefore when by the eye of faith we cast an aspect upon the person of the Son and see him subsisting in the Divine Essence we may by the same eye of faith reflect upon the person of the Father and see him subsisting in the same Essence and thus our fellowship is both with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ as the Apostle speaks Learn from what hath been opened Vse 1 that they who leave out Christ in their Religion or do fancy or imagine to themselves any other Christ besides the Word incarnate can never attain to God or communion with him Marvel not at such an inference as this is this doth naturally arise from the doctrine I have delivered and this is no other conclusion than the Apostle lays down 2 Joh. vers 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God Whosoever he be who transgresseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whosoever he be that swerves or turns aside from Apostolical doctrine the doctrine delivered by Christ himself and the Apostles concerning Christ the same hath not God he that continues not in the doctrine of Christ What is the doctrine of Christ Christ is the name of that person who subsists in both natures Christus est nomen personae in duabus subsistentis naturis Christ is the name of the person of the Mediator which is constituted of both natures the Divine and humane nature neither is the Divine nature without the humane nature nor the humane nature without the Divine that Christ which the Scripture reveals but both natures united in the person of the Son of God Who is that Christ the Scripture reveals to us His name shall be Emmanuel God with us God manifested in the flesh declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness Rom. 2.3 The Scripture when it speaks of Christ as Meâ—iator when it speaks of that person who must bring us to God it speaks of him as that person that subsists in both natures in the nature of God and of man They therefore who deny the Divine nature to be in Christ as the Socinians do and they who deny the truth of his humanity by affirming Christ hath no longer any humane body these cannot be said to continue in the doctrine of Christ and all such have not God all that continue not in the doctrine of Christ have not God Whatsoever knowledge of God men may pretend unto unless they owne God in the person of the
same glory as the Father had from Eternity now he prays that that glory which he had as the Son and as God might be manifested in and by the humane nature therefore we must remember the Divine nature received nothing but only a new manifestation of the glory it had before in and by the humane nature assumed but the humane nature is that which hath properly Power and Authority given to it Hence is that speech of one of the Ancients Vthomo accepit quod ut Deus habebat Theodor. Christ received that as he was man which he had always as he was God As he was God he always had Power and Authority invested in him now he received that as man which he had always in him as God The Son as he was God did always reign with the Father before his Incarnation And hence that speech of Christ My Father worketh hitherto and I work Joh. 5.17 But although the Son did reign before his Incarnation yet it was then as God nakedly and simply considered as God not as yet cloathed with our flesh Vt Deus sine carne but since his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven he reigns as God manifested in the flesh Aâ—tè regnabat ut Deus nudus seu suâ tantùm gloriâ in latus at pòst ut Deus carne nostrâ etiam vestitus Before his Incarnation saith a Learned Divine he reigned with the Father as God nakedly and simply considered as cloathed with his essential glory but after his Incarnation he reigned as God cloathed with our nature That is says he God the Father did not account the Son unworthy of this Honour and Authority although covered with our vile flesh and admitted him as the Son incarnate into a Copartnership with him in his Kingdom casting this honour upon the humane nature because it was joyned to his own Son in personal Union Just as if a Kings Son had taken some old garments to himself and cloathed himself therewith far inferiour to the dignity of that Relation he bears unto his Father and his Father should admit him with those garments to sit down with him in his Throne so the Son of God though cloathed with our nature covered with our flesh is not divested of his Government but he together with the Father governs this World This was that which made one of the Ancients use this expression That he who is God should sit with God that he who is the Son should reign with the Father is no such wonderful thing for he that hath the sameness of nature may well have the same power and dominion but that a part of our nature should have the same honour with him that assumed it this is that which exceeds all wonder But when Divines say whole Christ that is Christ not only as God but as man hath power over all creatures or the humane nature in the person of the Son of God reigns over all creatures we must understand this aright We must not suppose that Christ considered as meer man without his Divinity or that the humanity separate and abstract from the Divinity hath this Soveraignty and supreme Dominion over all creatures for supreme Power Dominion and Soveraignty over all creatures is proper to God only it is such a Dignity as is proper to God only therefore is it said Isa 45.22 I am God and beside me there is no other and what follows To me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear He must needs be God to whom every knee must bow and every tongue must confess therefore it is not compatible to any creature simply and by it self considered to have dominion over all things But we ought thus to conceive of it The humanity of Christ is to be lookt upon as an Instrument that is conjoyned with the Deity the Son of God because he hath the humane nature united to him exercises all Rule Power and Authority by the humanity as by an instrument conjoyned with him The Power remains in the Divine nature primarily radically and fundamentally and this Power is exercised by the humane nature secondarily and ministerially that is to say whatsoever Christ wills by his Divine will the same doth he will by his humane will whatsoever he doth in the Church as God he doth it also as man Not that the humane nature is omnipotent but the person who subsists in the humane nature as well as in the Divine is omnipotent and there is a concourse of both natures in every action the person working by each nature what is proper to each nature We come now to make some use of what hath been opened there are several Uses will arise from the Doctrine that hath been delivered We may learn from what hath propounded Vse 1 that there is a vast difference between Christ and Believers Believers have Union with the Father and the Son yet the humane nature in Christ or Christ as he is man hath a preheminence above all Believers and that will appear by reflecting a little upon what hath been spoken 1. Consider this the humane nature in Christ hath that relation to the Trinity that no Believer in the world hath It is a Maxime with Divines The humanity of Christ belongs personally to the Trinity Humanitas Christi personaliter pertinet ad Trinitatem Now when Divines say That the Humanity of Christ belongs personally to the Trinity their meaning is not that the humanity of Christ brings in a new person for then there would be a Quaternity four persons instead of three but when they say the humanity of Christ belongs personally to the Trinity their meaning is the humanity of Christ belongs and hath relation unto the Word who is one of the persons in the Trinity and that it stands in personal Union with him so that the second person in Trinity subsists personally in the humane nature assumed which he doth not in any other creature whatsoever So that none of the Elect hath that kind of relation to the Trinity which the humane nature in Christ hath for the humane nature in Christ doth not subsist of it self out of the second person in Trinity but the second person in Trinity takes the humane nature into the subsistence of his own person so that the humane nature in Christ hath that relation to one of the persons in the Trinity to whom in person it is united and thereby to the whole Trinity that no other creature whether Angels or men ever had or shall have 2. The humane nature in Christ is the Temple of the Divinity God manifests himself to us in and by that humanity which the Son hath assumed This cannot be said of Believers For though it be said of Believers that they are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and that the Spirit of God dwells in them yet it is no where said of Believers Col. 2.9 that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in them bodily It is a
further we may consider that the humane nature by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God hath its standing as it were in the Divine Person yea I find how some of the Ancients go further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suae personae Damasc Pertinet ad integritatem Verbi incarnati Chemnit Damascene's expression is That the humane nature is a part as it were of his person And a modern Divine observes The humane nature belongs to the integrity and compleatness of the person of the Word incarnate Yet to prevent all mistakes we must understand this cautiously That person whom the Scripture calls the Word or the Son which is the second of those three the Scripture speaks of There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit was a Person from Eternity and the humane nature is not properly and strictly a part of his person neither doth it add any thing to the compleating of his person simply considered but on the contrary the humane nature having no personal subsistence of its own receives personality from the Word or the Son of God who was a person from Eternity Hence is it that Divines observe That the person of Christ in one respect may be called a Person that is simple and uncompounded look upon Christ simply as the second person in Trinity and so his person is most simple and uncompounded and his humanity adds nothing to it but in another respect look upon him as he is Mediator in a way of Dispensation and so they say Christs person is a person that may be said to be compounded that is to say in plain terms consider Christ under the notion of Mediator so the humane nature is not to be excluded from the person of the Mediator it is not to be excluded from the consideration of Christ as Mediator For Christ is not Mediator according to one nature meerly not according to his Divine nature meerly nor according to his humane nature meerly but Christ as Mediator is Mediator according to both natures and is to be considered as Mediator according to both natures Christus est ex duabus naturis in duabus naturis Christ as Mediator is to be considered as consisting of both natures and as subsisting in both natures It is a passage of one of the Ancients It is a thing of equal danger to believe Christ to be God only without believing him to be man or to believe him to be man only without believing him to be God for the Mediator is to be believed to be both God and man the Mediator is both God and man in one person Now to return to what was first proposed The Mediator being both God and man the love of the Father extends it self to the whole person of the Mediator who is man as well as God and all the complacency and delight of the Father is taken up in him so that a part of our nature being taken into unity of person with the Son of God there is a foundation laid for the Fathers delight and complacency in us Hence it is said He hath made us accepted in the beloved Eph. 1.6 Christ is first beloved and we are beloved in him The Father hath a part of our nature always before him which is ever in his eye which stands in personal union and communion with his own Son and Christ man hath no sin in him but is perfectly pure and righteous and being so is perfectly pleasing and delightful to the Father and he being Head of the Church all that are members of his body are looked upon in him and are accepted in him To understand this more clearly we must consider that our nature by sin is alienated and estranged from God lyes under wrath and the curse but now by the Incarnation of the Son of God our nature is again brought near to God The Son incarnate and made man is perfectly the object of the Fathers delight and our nature being represented pure and spotless before the Thone of God in the person of the Son of God the Father reflecting on our nature as it stands in personal union and conjunction with his Son accepts of us and delights in us through his Son so that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God there is a foundation laid for our acceptance with God 9. The love of Christ in his Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God Grace is brought down deposited and lodged as it were in our nature as in a fountain near at hand that we may know where to go and have recourse for all grace The Godhead it self is the original spring and fountain of all grace it is proper only to God to create grace therefore is it we have that expression The God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 But look upon the Divinity or Godhead simply or absolutely considered and so it is as a spring that is more remote and kept hidden and secret from us but in the Incarnation of the Son of God God is manifested in the flesh and so the Godhead which is the Original and head-spring of all grace is brought near unto us With thee is the fountain of life Psal 36.9 Now in Christ the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily therefore the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily by necessary consequence the fulness of life and grace must necessarily dwell in Christ The Divine nature empties it self as it were into the humanity of Christ and from God in Christ we receive all grace Hence is it said Joh. 1.14 The Word is made flesh and what follows upon that full of grace and truth Immediately upon the Words being made flesh the humane nature which the Word assumed comes to be replenished with grace and truth Observe the order or gradation that is here set down first the Word the second person in Trinity assumes our nature the Word is made flesh what follows upon this The Word being made flesh he having the Godhead in him fills the humane nature with all grace Hence is that expression The Word is made flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth What follows upon this Out of his fulness we receive grace for grace The Word incarnate the Word made flesh the Son of God becoming man he is now the proximate and next fountain of grace to us The Godhead of the Son which is one and the same with the Godhead of the Father is the original fountain of all grace and the Son in our nature is the proximate and next fountain of grace to us and hence is it that the Ancients call the humanity of Christ the Receptacle of grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The humanity of Christ is the first receptacle of all grace Of his fulness we receive and grace for grace The Evangelist doth not say Of him we receive grace for grace that is true but
us to him that he might be a fit Mediator takes upon him the nature of man that so being God and man in one person and having interest in both parties he might bring God and man together Hence is it that the Mediator hath this appellation of Christ given to him Luk. 2.17 Vnto you is born this day a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Christ you know signifies the anointed Under the Old Testament Kings Priests and Prophets were wont to be anointed Now Christ being to undertake the office of Mediator in general and those three Offices in particular of Prophet Priest and King he also is anointed Christs Vnction or Anointing properly belongs to his humane nature Act. 10.38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost For although it be true that Christ is the name of the person subsisting in both natures and the name of Christ doth not only agree to Christ as he is man but as he is God manifested in the flesh yet Christs anointing properly respects his humane nature As God he needed not any anointing for he had all fulness in himself therefore he was properly anointed as man If it be asked what this anointing of Christ was I answer It is that plenitude and fulness of the gifts of the Holy Ghost yea the fulness of the Godhead which dwells personally in the humane nature assumed whereby he is qualified to perform the office of Mediator Christ being to undertake the Office of Mediator hath his humanity filled with all habitual grace and also the presence of the Divinity inhabiting personally in his humane nature So that Christs assumption of our nature anointing it with the Spirit of all grace lays the foundation for the great work of his Mediatorship It is well observed by a Judicious Divine That we may more firmly believe Chemnitius that the benefit of Redemption doth belong to us therefore did the Son of God assume a nature that was of the same substance with ours and near akin with us by which in the virtue of the Divinity he might accomplish our Redemption that as by humane nature in Adam sin and death entred into the world so by the same nature in Christ righteousness and life might be restored to the world 2. As the Incarnation of Christ lays the foundation and prepares the way to the work of Mediatorship in general so by the Incarnation Christ is fitted and prepared as it were to enter upon the execution of those three great Offices of his the Office of a Prophet Priest and King 1. The Lord Jesus assuming mans nature performs the office of a Prophet to the Church in the humane nature assumed The great work of the Prophets of old was to be the Messengers of God to the people the Interpreters of Gods mind and will they were to reveal Gods mind and will to the people The Lord Jesus undertaking our nature is the great Messenger of the Covenant the Interpreter of the Fathers counsels he hath revealed the whole will and mind of the Father to us Heb. 1.2 God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son Joh. 15.15 All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you Should God speak to us immediately from Heaven we should be affrighted at his presence and terrified with his Majesty as they were when they heard God speaking to them from Mount Sinai and said Let not God speak to us but let Moses speak to us Exod. 20.19 Therefore hath the Son of God assumed our nature and appeared visibly in flesh and conversed among men like one of us that we might receive the Law at his mouth The humanity of Christ is the Organ of the Divinity And this is one great commendation of the office of the Ministry as Peter Martyr hath observed That the Son of God who was God over all blessed for ever was pleased to take up humane nature that he might perform the office of a Minister in it Therefore is Christ called Rom. 15.8 A Minister of the Circumcision that is to the Jewish Church There is some Controversie among Divines concerning the knowledge that was in the humane soul of Jesus Christ but this is certain Christ as man had all things made known to him that did concern our salvation now whatsoever the Lord Jesus as man received from the Father that as the great Prophet of the Church he hath faithfully revealed to his people Joh. 17.8 I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me Christ as man receives all from the Father and he gives out all to the Church Thus his Incarnation prepares him for the execution of his Prophetical Office 2. The Son of God by assuming mans nature is prepared for the execution of his Priestly Office Two great works were incumbent on the Priests under the Law 1. To offer Sacrifices and make atonement for the people 2. To intercede and pray for the people 1. One Office of the Priest was to offer Sacrifice and make atonement So Heb. 8.3 Every High-Priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices 2. Another office of the Priest was to pray for the people Therefore saith Samuel God forbid that I should cease to pray for you Now the Son of God by assuming our nature is qualified to perform both these works of a Priest 1. Christ by his Incarnation is fitted to offer Sacrifice God took no delight in the Sacrifices of beasts and cattle Sacrifices and burnt-offerings thou wouldst not therefore did the Son of God take a true humane body and offered himself for a Sacrifice Heb. 9.26 Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Christ is Priest Altar and Sacrifice Christ is the Sacrifice that is offered so vers 28. Christ was offered to bear the sin of many Christ is the name of the person subsisting in both natures so that there is a concourse of both natures the Divine and humane nature in the work of Satisfaction The humane nature was the nature suffering and the Divine nature that sanctified the sufferings of the humanity The Divinity was in the humanity in the time of its offering that body which hung upon the Cross which suffered and dyed was the body of him who was God it was filled and replenished with God the Godhead did personally inhabit in it in the time of its suffering Although the Godhead did not put forth its operation as it might have done but did rest and suspend its operations for a time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it might give liberty to the humane nature to suffer for if the Godhead should have put forth its operation as it might it could have hindred all passion and suffering in the humane nature yet the personal union always remained the Son of God did always retain and keep the humane nature in the bond of personal union in the height of his sufferings and he
my God why hast thou forsaken me He was deprived of the sense and comfort of his Fathers love Secondly Christ suffered natural death his humane soul was truly separated from his body Now Christ having satisfied that Law In the day that thou eatest thou shalt dye the death by suffering the penalty of that Law hath fully delivered his people from the curse Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us A Learned man observes Because according to the sentence of the Divine Judgment in that day Adam fell and sinned humane nature ought to have been punished with eternal perdition therefore the Son of God offered himself to assume humane nature and afterwards did assume it that so man might not dye the death And the same Learned man hath another expression to the same purpose Because humane nature was depraved and lost so that it became the body of sin and death therefore the Son of God in lieu thereof was pleased in the humane nature assumed to condemn sin and abolish death and in his own person restore humane nature to righteousness life and happiness Christ having dyed for sin once dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6.9 10. Our nature as it is in Christ it is above death and the fear of death O let us think of these things these things are the most solid grounds of comfort Our nature in Christ is above death and the fear of death it is possessed of life and immortality and brought to perfect happiness Hence is that expression 2 Tim. 1.10 Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel Christ hath already brought life and immortality into our nature Christ doth already stand possessed of immortality in his own person And this is the singular comfort of Believers that they may see a part of their own nature set above sorrow misery and death and brought to the greatest happiness they can wish or long for and that they may be assured they shall be possessed of the same happiness in their measure which Christ their Head is possessed of This Christ assures them of Joh. 17.22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given them Christ had glory with the Father from Eternity as he was his natural and coessential Son this he speaks of vers 5. Glorifie me with thy self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was Now besides this there is a glory which is given to him the glory which thou gavest me I have given them Christ had a glory given to him as man and Mediator Now the glory which was given to Christ as man and Head of the Church is given to the Elect so that all the Elect do participate and share in it in their measure The glory which thou hast given me I have given them Calvin observes upon that Text The Samplar or pattern of perfect happiness is so exprest and set forth in Christ that nothing is confined to Christ only but Christ was therefore inriched that he might inrich Believers the glory which thou hast given me I have given them Christ and his Members share in glory in common only reserving the difference between Head and Members Christ hath the glory of the Head Believers have glory as Members Christs glorification is the surest pledge of our glorification for how is it possible that he who is our Head and is now in glory with the Father should leave us to those miseries we are now obnoxious to whenas we are so nearly related to him we being members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 and he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit The Church being so nearly related to Christ and Christ being in glory how is it possible Christ should leave them under those miseries they are now subject unto 17. The greatness of Christs love in his Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation all the Elect shall have a standing Monument before their eyes wherein they may see and behold the infiniteness and transcendency of the love of God to all Eternity And the reason of this Proposition is this Because the Hypostatical or personal Union shall not be dissolved in Heaven the humane nature shall remain and abide united to the Divinity to all Eternity As in Heaven we shall be admitted to the sight of God we shall see the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity we shall see the Unity of the Essence and the three persons Father Son and Spirit subsisting in this one Essence of God so in Heaven we shall see the great Mystery of the personal Union the Mystery of the two Natures in the person of Christ more than now we can And this will be one part of the happiness of Heaven that we shall see our nature united to the Divinity in the person of the Son of God and by this means we shall come to understand the greatness of the love of God by seeing how near our nature is taken unto God in the person of our Head The Hypostatical or personal Union is the foundation of the mystical Union viz. of our union and communion with God God hath taken a part of our nature into personal union with himself and by means of this we have union and communion with him Now in Heaven we shall have a clear sight what that glory is which Christ our Head is advanced unto by the personal union And this I take to be carried in that great Text Joh. 17.24 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me The happiness of Heaven will be to gaze upon the glory of Christ as a Learned Divine expresseth it That they may behold my glory as if so be this would be Heaven enough for the Elect to see the glory their Head is possessed of And what glory is this That they may behold my glory certainly the glory of his Divinity Christ had glory with the Father before the foundation of the world Joh. 17.5 He was in the form of God saith the Apostle now all the Elect shall see and behold his glory that is they shall see the glory of his Divinity and how so They shall see and behold the glory of his Divinity shining forth through his humanity The humane nature is united to the Divinity in the person of the Son now the Elect in Heaven shall see that person who hath assumed their nature to be true God and to have all the glory of the Divinity in him As the second person in Trinity is true God and hath all the glory of the Divinity in him so the Elect in Heaven shall see the humane nature united to the Divinity in the person of the Son Therefore is it added in the close of the verse For
The only begotten Son after his Incarnation is still in the bosom of the Father Therefore our Saviour saith of himself even whilst he was here on earth Joh. 3.13 The Son of man who is in heaven He that was on earth at that time in respect of his humane nature was in Heaven at the same time in respect of his Divine nature Therefore whenas it is said here God sent forth his Son thus we ought to conceive of it God sent forth his Son not by any change of place but of condition He that was in the form of God before by his Incarnation took on him the form of a servant Christ therefore as God did not begin to be and exist when he was first incarnate no in the beginning he was with God but he began by his Incarnation to be true man who was God before from Eternity 5. The fifth Article of Faith contained in these words is this That the Son of God was incarnate and made man in the best time When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son Our curiosity is apt to inquire Why did not Christ come in the flesh sooner Had it not been more for our benefit and advantage if the Son of God had sooner taken our nature But the Spirit of God silenceth all these reasonings by telling us When the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son God lost no time he slipt no time when the compleat time was come that was predetermined in his holy Decree and before signified in his promises then he sent forth his Son God accomplisheth all his promises in the best time and season 6. The sixth Article of Faith is this That the manner of Christs Conception and Incarnation was wonderful and extraordinary God sent forth his Son made of a woman It is not said born of a woman but made of a woman Made of a woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is he did partake of the substance of the Virgin Because the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same Heb. 2.14 He was made of a woman that shews he was true man and had a true humane nature but in that it is said he was made not born or begotten that shews Christ had his Original as man not in the common way of generation Eve was made out of one of the ribs taken out of Adams side and Adam could say of her She is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone and Christ as man his humanity was formed out of the substance of the Virgin so that we may say This was flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone Made of a woman 7. The seventh Article of Faith comprehended in these words is this That although Christ hath two Natures in him yet he hath but one Person For here is but one Son that is spoken of in the Text. God sent forth his Son made of a woman He that was the Son of God from Eternity and made of a woman in time is still one and the same Son It is the Son that is sent forth the Son that is made of a woman the Son that is made under the Law so that still though Christ hath two Natures yet he hath but one Person Christ had not a new Person but a new Nature added to him by his Incarnation and therefore we commonly say the humane nature is without any personal subsistence of its own but it subsists in the Divine person who was a person from Eternity These seven great Articles of Faith are comprehended in these few words so that we may say with one of the Ancients I adore the fulness of the Scriptures See how many great weighty Articles of Faith are comprehended in a few words 8. The last Article contained in this verse is this That Christ was made under the Law God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law The end of his being made under the Law is set down in the next verse To redeem us who were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons This is the second great effect of Christs love I am now to speak of viz. Christs being made under the Law For this we must carry all along with us whatever Christ was whatever he did and suffered was for us Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given Isa 9.6 Hence is it that Christ is called the gift of God Joh. 4.10 Christ is the gift of God to us He is made of God to us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Whatsoever Christ was whatsoever he did it was not for himself or his own sake but for us and therefore his being made under the Law was for us and so it is expressed here in the Text He was made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons The end of Christs being made under the Law was to accomplish our Redemption Here there are two things to be spoken unto 1. What it is for Christ to be made under the Law 2. Wherein did the greatness of Christs love appear in being made under the Law 1. What is it for Christ to be made under the Law Before I come to enter upon the main subject I must necessarily lay down some preliminary or previous Propositions for the clearing of the whole 1. The first Proposition is this The Law of God is the Transcript or Copy of Gods Holiness The holy Nature of God and his pure Will is decypher'd and displayed to us in his Law The Law of God is nothing else but the declaration of his holy nature and of his holy will Hence is that expression Be ye holy for I the Lord your God am holy 1 Pet. 1.16 Holiness in us is our conformity to the Law when we are conformable to the Law which is the Rule of Holiness then are we in our measure holy as God is holy In the Law of God we see what things are consonant to Gods nature what are repugnant to his nature in the Law we see what is agreeing to the will of God what is dissonant and disagreeing to his will The Law of God is nothing else but the declaration of the eternal Will of God God that is most holy in himself cannot but will every thing in the most holy and perfect manner And the Law is nothing else but the declaration of Gods holy will concerning his creatures Now the will of God being most perfect and holy in it self the Law which is the declaration of Gods will must needs also be most perfect Therefore is there this Epithete given to the Law Psal 19.7 The law of God is perfect converting the soul Also that it is very pure Psal 119.140 The Law of God is the pure will of a pure God 2. The Law of God is immutable perpetual and everlasting Still we must remember
great difference between these two Propositions to say That the humane nature in Christ is a creature and to say that Christ is a creature for Christ is the name of the person that subsists in both natures Therefore though it be true Christus est nomen personae in duabus subsistentis naturis that one of the natures in Christ is a creature yet the person is Divine and no creature and therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 9.5 that Christ though he came of the fathers concerning the flesh yet he is over all God blessed for ever Although Christ as to the flesh and in respect of his humanity came of the Fathers and we say truly and properly his humanity is a creature yet his person is Divine and Christ is still God blessed for ever 2. We must know that the humane nature of Christ never in any moment of time subsisted of it self or by it self but always had its subsistence in the Divine person and the reason is this If we should suppose the humane nature at any time subsist in it self out of the Divine person that would necessarily infer there were two persons in Christ which is most contrary to the Doctrine of the Scriptures Therefore although we do suppose the humane nature simply in it self considered to be a creature and in a state of subjection yet considering that the humanity was always personally united to the Divinity and the humane nature never subsisted out of the Divine person we must conclude that Christ was no otherways in a state of subjection than what he brought himself into by his voluntary condescension Therefore the Apostle tells us He emptied himself and took upon him the form of a servant and became obedient As it was part of his condescension he would take upon him the form of a servant so this was another part of it he would become obedient for our sakes 3. We must consider it was a voluntary act in Christ to assume our nature Christ took our nature indeed but he was not bound to it it was his own free and voluntary act that he did assume it 4. We must also consider that Christ did not lose the Digniey of his person by his assumption of our nature He was the Son of God before his Incarnation and so he was after he was God before he took mans nature and so remained still It is true Christ in the state of his Humiliation was content to have the Glory of his Divinity hid and obscured for a time and this is that the Apostle calls his emptying himself But yet Christ did not neither could he divest himself of his Divinity neither did he lose the essential Dignity of his person He was the Son of God and God after as well as before his Incarnation 5. Christ might if he had pleased without running such a course of obedience here on earth have glorified the humane nature when first he assumed it For this is granted by Divines That Christ by virtue of the personal Union had a natural right unto Glory The Son of God incarnate and become man continues to be the Son of God yea the natural Son of God And hence is it the School-men do truly say That Christ-man is the natural Son of God Therefore the Apostle tells us That Christ is more excellent than the Angels because he hath obtained a more excellent name by inheritance than they Heb. 1.4 And what name is this to be the Son of God Consider vers 5. To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Now the Apostle tells us Christ had this name by inheritance that is he was naturally the Son of God and therefore naturally an Heir to all the Father was possessed of Now as he was the Son of God before his Incarnation so he did not cease to be the Son of God by his Incarnation Therefore Christ had a natural right to Glory and might if he had pleased have glorified the humane nature when he assumed it Now then as the result of all that hath been said follows That Christ would become and put himself into a state of subjection and obedience this was for our sakes and it was his voluntary condescension so to do Nay the Apostle tells us expresly in the Text He was made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law So that it was for our sakes Christ put himself into this state of subjection and it was his voluntary condescension so to do We may not suppose Christ was necessitated to be in this state of subjection True indeed it is said of Christ as man and Mediator That the Father is greater than he Joh. 14.28 and Christ as man is under God as his Head 1 Cor. 11.3 The head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God But then we must still remember 1. It was at Christs liberty whether he would have become man yea or no. He was not bound to take our nature till he did freely of his own accord ingage to do so 2. Remember inequality of Office makes no inequality of Person or Essence although Christ as Man and Mediator be inferiour to the Father in a state of subjection to the Father yet that makes him not to be inferiour to him as to his Person or Essence Consider Christ as the second Person in Trinity he accounts it no robbery to be equal with God that is with the Father Consider him as God so he and the Father are one Now that he who was equal with God and so above all Authority should take upon him the Office of Mediator and put himself into a state of subjection this was marvellous condescension O stand and admire this love How great was his love that would come to serve and obey who was Lord of all and had all obedience of right due to him from all creatures 2. The greatness of Christs love in being made under the Law appears in this That although Christ was free from the Law yet by his own voluntary condescension he made himself subject to the Law as much as any of us This the Apostle sets forth Heb. 2.11 12 13. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren Saying I will declare thy Name unto my brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing praise unto thee And again I will put my trust in him and again Behold I and the children which God hath given me Christ doth here put himself into the rank of his brethren and he performs the same duties in common with them To praise God in the Congregation to trust in God to obey God all these are moral duties now Christ having assumed our nature performs these duties in common with the rest of his brethren 3. The third Proposition is
flow from persons It was therefore the person of the Word that made satisfaction for our sins Now that a person of that infinite worth and excellency as the Son of God the second Person in Trinity should come to subsist in our nature and being in our nature should be the person satisfying for our sins this was great condescension and abasement Thus the Son who was yet equal with the Father in respect of his Divine nature by his Incarnation and sufferings doth not only make himself inferiour to the Father but to himself also The Son though he was one of the persons offended yet he comes to make the satisfaction and considered as Mediator as God-man doth not only make satisfaction to the Father but to himself considered as God simply The fourth Consideration is this That whole Christ or the whole person of the Mediator was the price of our Redemption 1 Joh. 2.1 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins It is Christ then that is the propitiation for our sins Now Christ is the name of the person subsisting in both natures When we speak of Christ Christus est nomen personae in duabus subsistentis naturis we understand that person who subsists in both natures in the nature of God and in the nature of man Christ doth not signifie one of the natures simply but Christ is the name of the person subsisting in both natures Now this is he who is the propitiation for our sins that person who is God and man he is the propitiation for our sins Persona Christi sive Christus satisfecit pro peccatis tanquamquod It was the person of Christ or Christ that did satisfie for our sins as the Principle making satisfaction To understand this we must consider that which was before hinted That Christ is our Mediator according to both natures he is not our Mediator as to one of his natures only but according to both natures and as he is Mediator according to both natures so he gives himself for us according to both his natures For though it were the humane nature only that suffered yet it was the Divine nature that sanctified the sufferings of the humane nature and gave virtue to them therefore is it said Himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree and that by himself he hath purged our sins Heb. 1.3 It is not said By his humane nature meerly though it is true it was the humane nature only that was capable of suffering but it is not so expressed but by himself Christ himself is the Sacrifice for our sins Gal. 2. He loved me and gave himself for me and Christ was once offered up Heb. 9. And that expression of the Apostle Peter is very emphatical 2 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ himself who was God-man made satisfaction for sins and laid down the price of our Redemption yea he himself was the price of our Redemption God hath redeemed the Church with his own blood To understand this two things are to be considered in the Satisfaction of Christ as Alvarez hath observed 1. One is that species or kind of humane actions by which Christ did satisfie and this proceeded from the humane nature as the formal principle of them Thus the Son of God obeyed suffered dyed in the humane nature 2. There is another thing to be considered in Christs Satisfaction and that is the infinite value and worth that was found in it Now the infinite value and worth that was in the Satisfaction of Christ proceeded from the person satisfying that is from the Divine Word or the person of the Son of God subsisting in the humane nature the actions and sufferings of the humane nature are the matter of his Satisfaction but that which gives the virtue and value to them is the Divinity Hence are those expressions of the Ancients If he had not been true God he had not brought a remedy for us Si non esset verus Deus non afferret remedium Quia ille qui moriebatur erat Deus Another observes That therefore did the death of Christ bring salvation to the world because the person who dyed was God And another hath a passage to this purpose Death saith he becoming as it were the death of God hath demolished death for the person that dyed was God and man both the sufferings of Christ being made the sufferings of that person who was God received their virtue from the Divinity As much as if he had said By virtue of the Divine person which suffered in the humane nature those sufferings received their virtue to save us and to make satisfaction for our sins This is another thing that discovers the humiliation of Christs person That he who was God and in his Divine nature simply considered was the person offended yet as God man was pleased to become a ransom for us 1 Tim. 2.6 He gave himself a ransom for all That person who gave himself a ransom for all is the Mediator and who is the Mediator but God-man 1 Joh. 1.7 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin There is a great Emphasis upon those words Jesus Christ his Son It is the blood of that person who was no other than the Son of God and God which cleanseth us from all sin It is a memorable speech of Luther He gave saith he not silver not gold neither was it a meer man that he gave neither did he give all the Angels but it was himself that he gave as the price of our Redemption than which nothing was greater neither had he any thing greater to give Consider this price aright and we shall find it infinitely greater than the whole Creation 5. In the sufferings of Christ we may see the humiliation of his person from hence namely that in the death of Christ the glory of his Divinity seemed to be most obscured and darkened and suffered the greatest Eclipse What more unworthy of God than suffering and death What more absurd and incongruous in the eye of carnal reason than a crucified God Now herein did Christ commend the greatness of his love to us That he permitted the glory of his Divinity by means of his death and suffering to be eclipsed for our sakes That he who was the immortal God should expose himself to suffering and death for our sakes as if he had been no more than a passible and mortal man for though he were really and indeed the Son of God and God the Lord of Glory yet by reason of his death and sufferings he was by the generality of men thought to be but as an ordinary man This is that which the Apostle intimates 1 Cor. 2.8 Whom none of the Princes of this world knew for had they known it they would not
EMMANVEL OR THE LOVE of CHRIST Explicated and Applied in his INCARNATION Being made under the LAW AND HIS SATISFACTION IN XXX Sermons Preached by JOHN ROW Minister of God's Word AND Published by SAMUEL LEE LONDON Printed for Francis Tyton Book-seller at the Three Daggers near the Inner Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet 1680. TO THE PIOUS READER THIS Treatise here presented to thine eyes first sounded in the ears of a gracious Society by that Gospel-Trumpet Mr. John Row It was a Darling-child brought forth from a judicious head and a sanctified heart The Ancients compared John to the Eagle in the Vision of Cherubims because soaring high in the contemplation of our Lords Divinity Our John as if he had lain in the bosom of that John who lay in the bosom of our Saviour hath sweetly attempted to descant upon the Song of Angels about the Vnion of Heaven and Earth God and man together Luk. 2.10 The heavenly Host answered in a heavenly Anthem to that single Angel who brought the good Tydings of great joy for all people to the Shepherds of Bethlehem and behold here one of the Shepherds of Zion sings his Epiphonema to theirs Glory to God in the highest Indeed the union of two Natures in one Person and of three Persons in one Essence are Mysteries unaccountable by Angels but the joy of its influence shall never forsake the Harps of Angels or Saints to all Eternity None but who is assumed into that glorious Vnion can exhaust the Treasury of Divine Wisdom Rev. 5.5 John the beloved Disciple could not unloose the seven Seals of these Mysteries but must weep at the foot of the Lamb to do it Yet what is to be believed admired adored may and ought to be the subject of our most profound Meditations and delight What God hath revealed let none presume to count impertinent to dive into though they can feel no bottom they will find more amiable Gemms than Pearl and Coral adhering to the sides of the adamantine Rocks in this unfathomable Abyss True none can fully explain this Vnion but he that injoys it To delineate some glittering rays that stream from it requires deep communion with the person in union We are not able to conjecture what pleasures flow in upon the palates of Angels as they stand drinking of the beams of the Divine Essence neither can they transfuse or pour out those Paradise-rivers into our broken cisterns How far this holy man hath added to the point I rather leave to the Candidates of these Mysteries than determine Each may see deeper into their own Notions than others and it is far easier to conceive than express and yet there is infinitely more left for all Ages in the remainder of the Spirit than ever was uttered or can be thought of Yet I think with respect had to others he hath rendred some things more intelligible and many things more applicable and useful to common capacities The Cherubims that stood looking down upon the crowned Mercy-seat might 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 25.11 1 Pet. 1.12 but could not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they might gaze upon it but not through it It was not transparent Gold like the streets of Jerusalem Rev. 21.21 but too thick a plate of Ophir for an Angels eye to pierce They may pry into the state of Saints in Glory but not the contrivance of Grace to bring Saints thither Much less can man and man fallen receive or sustain wings strong enough to fly into the depth of this amazing Firmament What God bath made on the back-side of the exteriour Heavens hath a terminating bound because a Creature though it pose Astronomy it self to measure and square the Circle of the Heavens so what God hath written is infinitely true though our finite and crooked thoughts can never unfold or draw a parallel what Scripture reveals though it do not fully unveil it is our duty both to study and embrace Divine love say the Platonists made the Vniverse and therefore more capacious and were it not more comprehensive than all created love it would never take a Saint He finds a bottom in all created joy and not like the Sea the fresher at the bottom but sometimes more salt and bitter but uncreated love hath no shoars nor centre but the bosom of God and the depth is upward still higher and sweeter These things are reserved for such as pass Kidron and Olivet let us a while step into the Sanctuary and study to grow in the Mystery of the Father and of Christ and pray that the Spirit would reveal in us what the Son hath revealed to us from the Father Joh. 1 1◠and then draw spiritual and sweet consequences from above Did the Son of God come down from Heaven to earth was it not to take the sons of men from earth to Heaven Did not the second Person partake of the humane Nature that we might partake of the Divine He took not the persons of Enoch or Abraham or Paul that they only might be happy but the nature of the first Adam that all who by faith are united to the second Adam in Grace may triumph in Glory Did not he lye in Davids Inn at Bethlehem that we might lye in the Son of Davids mansions that are above in that Zion of Zions Was not he made of a woman in Canaan to restore us to a better Paradise than what was lost by the woman of Eden Was not he made under the Law that we might be new born under Grace Was not he exalted on the Cross this Josephs Son to speak with reverence to erect a more firm and sublime Ladder into Heaven than Jacob's That Patriarch saw only a Vision of Angels by star-light but we by this Ladder ascend up to the Angels themselves that are singing in the Noon of Glory Was not his most precious Blood poured out as a Ransom for many to the remission of sins that ours might not be poured out like oyl to feed the perpetual Lamps in the flames of Hell Did not the Father make his love honourable as the Prophet speaks by his Son 's more honourable obedience and justifie his Justice by his Son's Righteousness and quench his anger in the Ocean of his Son's love Thus doth our blessed Author from the Son's Deity proceed to the great Doctrine of his most meritorious Sufferings and full Satisfaction for the sins of all the Elect. The Father by his Eternal love made way for his Temporal anger to his beloved Son that he might redeem his adopted sons from eternal wrath and made a way through the heart of his Son for them to pass into eternal love This point he no less sweetly than substantially clears against the Socinians venom who aim by darkning the Deity of Christ to extinguish the glory and honour of his Satisfaction Act. 20.28 For if it had not been the Blood of God it could never have purchased the Church But it is that
themselves cannot be supposed to be infinite for the habits cannot exceed the capacity of the subject if the humane soul of Christ be but a created thing then the habits of grace which are in it are not simply infinite yet notwithstanding this the love which is to be found in Christs humane nature is exceeding great and a love surpassing the love of men or Angels and the reason is the humane soul of Christ hath the Divinity inhabiting in it now as the Son receives all the Father hath in the eternal Generation the whole substance of the Father is communicated to the Son in the eternal Generation there is no perfection that is in the Father but it is to be found in the Son therefore by consequence it follows that the love of the Father must necessarily be communicated to the Son and doth reside in the Son and there is but one and the same Divine love both in the Father and in the Son Now the Son the second person in Trinity taking our nature both the love of the Father and the Son for as an Holy man observes Sweet is this contemplation doth in some sort abide and reside in our nature therefore the humane Soul of Christ being inflamed and set on fire with the fire of Divine love which is so near it which inhabits and dwells in it must needs be fuller of love than any creatures heart ever was The humane nature of Christ by means of its Union and Conjunction with the Divinity takes in the influence of the Divinity and the Divinity thus personally united to the Humanity must needs fill his soul with that love that no creature was ever filled with therefore we must necessarily suppose there was the greatest love imaginable in Christs humane soul the greatest as was possible there could be in any created nature The Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily that infinite love of God must be supposed in some sense to dwell in the heart of Christ Man How loving how tender how affectionate must that heart be that hath all the love of the Father and the Son poured out into it For consider it the Son receives all from the Father by eternal Generation the Son takes up our nature and dwells in it the humane nature united to the Son takes in the influence of the Fathers and the Sons love by means of its personal Union with the Son And thus the humane nature is not only warmed but wholly set on fire by the Divinity inhabiting in it Therefore it is well observed by one of the Ancients There is some warmth some heat that comes from Christ the eternal Word into all the Saints hearts In hac anima ipse ignis divinus substantialiter requievisse credendus est Orig. but in Christs humane Soul the very fire of Divine love dwells substantially there it rested substantially for in him the fulness of the Goahead dwells bodily Col. 2.9 Therefore there is the greatest love imaginable to be found even in the humane Soul of Christ More particularly the love that was in the humane Soul of Jesus Christ may be described and set forth under three considerations 1. The heart of Christ-Man was filled with the most sweet tender merciful compassionate dispositions that ever any heart was filled with Hence is it that we have those expressions that he is a merciful and a faithful High Priest Heb. 2.17 that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb. 3.15 We read also of the bowels of Christ the meekness the gentleness of Christ 2 Cor. 10.1 Never were there such words of love and sweetness spoken by any man as by him never was there such a loving and tender heart as the heart-of Jesus Christ Grace was poured into his lips Psal 45.3 Certainly never were there such words of love sweetness and tenderness spoken here upon this earth as those last words of his which were uttered a little before his Suffering and are recorded in the 13 14 15 16 17 Chapters of John Read over all the Books of love and friendship that were ever written by any of the sons of men they do all come far short of those melting strains of love that are there expressed So sweet and amiable was the conversation of Jesus Christ that it is reported of the Apostle Peter in the Ecclesiastical History that after Christs Ascension he wept so abundantly that he Quoties recordaretur illius suavissimae conversationis Christi was always seen wiping his face from the tears and being asked why he wept so he answered He could not chuse but weep as often as he thought of that most sweet conversation of Jesus Christ 2. The love of Christ as Man or which was in his humane nature may be seen in the compliance of his humane will with the Divine will in point of suffering It is true it was the Divine will that gave up the humane nature to suffer Joh. 6.51 The bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world It was the Divine will that gave up the humanity to suffer yet his humane will complied with the Divine will Father not as I will but as thou wilt There is a will and a will in Christ a Divine will and a humane will and the humane will complies with the Divine will Father save me from this hour nevertheless for this cause came I to this hour Joh. 12.27 Hence is it that the Apostle tells us he was obedient unto the death Phil. 2.8 The Lord Jesus knew right-well how great a burden the weight and pressure of his Fathers wrath was and yet he was content to undergo this burden for our sakes The cup which my Father hath given me to drink shall not I drink of it Joh. 18.11 I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Luk. 12.50 It is true had he not been God he could never have stood under such a burden as the burden of Divine wrath and had not his love been more than a created love had his love been the love of a meer creature he would never have undertaken such a work But being supported by the Godhead he was inabled to undergo his Sufferings and also his humane will influenced by the Deity was made willing to suffer therefore it is said For their sakes I sanctifie my self Joh. 17.19 There was a concurrence of his Divine and humane will in his suffering the Divine will in the person of the Son sanctifies and sets apart the humane nature to suffer the humane will concurs with the Divine and is made willing to suffer Joh. 10.17 18. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life The person that lays down his life is the Son of God incarnate the life which he lays down is the life of his Humanity for the life of his Divinity could never be laid down Now the Divine person had the
which is in the Divine nature is the fountain and spring of all the love that is in the humane nature and it was meet we should contemplate a little the love that was in Christs humane nature that by this consideration we might rise up to contemplate the love of the Divine nature which is the fountain and head-spring Now to help us a little to conceive of the love which is in the Divine nature of Christ I shall propound you three considerations to illustrate it 1. All the love of the Father resides and is to be found in the Divine nature of the Son The Scripture when it speaks of the love of God doth all along commend and set forth the love of God the Father Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed us 1 Joh. 3.1 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God c. 2 Cor. 16.14 The love of God that is the love of the Father for when Christ and God are set in distinction by God we are to understand the first person of the Trinity the Father So Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that is God the Father Still we see the Scripture describes the Father to us as the fountain of love As the Father is the Fountain of the Deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so he is the fountain of love Now then if all the love of the Father resides and is to be found in the Son then certainly the Divine nature of the Son must needs be full of love but so it is the whole intire love of the Father is to be found in the Divine nature of the Son and the reason is because there is but one and the same Divine nature in the Father and in the Son Non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father and the Son are not of alike Essence but they are of the same Essence and because of the sameness of the Essence in the Father and in the Son there is the same love in the Father and in the Son Love is an essential property belonging to the Essence of God there being the same Essence both in the Father and the Son there must needs be the same love in both The Father communicates all he is and hath to the Son in the eternal Generation Joh. 16.15 All that the Father hath is mine therefore the Son receiving all from the Father in the eternal Generation the whole intire love of the Father is communicated to him and resides in him Therefore he is called the express image of his person the brightness of his glory Heb. 1.3 The whole nature of the Father is to be seen and is made conspicuous in the person of the Son Therefore if we conclude that there is the highest and most immense love in the Father we must necessarily conclude there is the same love in the Son who is the express image of his person Hence is that expression of our Saviour Joh. 14.21 If any man love me he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him Observe it my Father will love him and I will love him We may not conceive there is a twofold love one of the Father and another of the Son but both Father and Son do love with the same love There is but one and the same Divine love in the Father and the Son It is true if we understand it as some do of the love that is in Christs humane nature then we may suppose a twofold love and so there is a Learned man that gives this sense My Father will love him and I will love him i. e. I will love him not as God only for so the Father and the Son love with one love but I will love him as man also Quomodo Pater sine Filio aut Filius sine Patre diligeret quomodo cùm inseparabiliter operentur separabiliter diligant Aug. But I incline rather to understand it as Austin of the Divine Love there is but one and the same Divine love in the Father and the Son It is Austins Exposition upon the Text How is it possible the Father should love without the Son or the Son without the Father How is it possible when the Father and the Son work inseparably their love should be divided and separated The Son having all the Fathers love in him and the Scripture describing the Father to be the fountain of all love the Divine nature of the Son must needs be full of love We come now to make a little Use of what hath been opened Vse We have heard a little of the sweetness of Christs love not only in the properties of it but as this love is to be found in both his natures Behold here matter for new wonder Well may we cry out with the Apostle O the heights and depths and breadths and lengths of the love of Christ Here is love the most glorious love in both the natures of the Lord Jesus in his humane and in his Divine nature 1. Great was his love in his humane nature his humane nature was filled with that love that no creature was filled with great are the affections that are seated in his humane heart never so much sweetness kindness tenderness compassionateness to be found in any heart as his Never any thing so sweet so lovely so amiable in the whole Creation of God as the Humanity of Jesus Christ Thou art fairer than the sons of men Psal 45.2 The humane soul of Christ was composed and made up all of love and sweetness yea the humane nature was the receptacle as it were into which the Divinity poured forth all its love In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2.9 It is not a particle or some small portion of the Divinity but the fulness of the Godhead and if all the fulness of the Godhead then all the fulness of Divine love dwells in the humane nature assumed Not that the love of the Humanity is formally and essentially the same with the Divine love or that the love which immediately flows from his humane will and affections is simply infinite as the Divine love is although it is a far greater love than ever was found in the heart of any creature but thus we may conceive of it The Humanity is as it were the seat of the Divine person in this humane nature that person who is love it self dwells Gods nature is love now in the humane nature assumed that very person who is love it self dwells and takes up his abode how sweet how full of love must the heart of Christ be that hath love it self dwelling and inhabiting in it 2. Here is the love of the Divine nature and how great that love is no heart can conceive no tongue can express A few words from hence to Sinners and to the Saints of God O that poor Sinners would be perswaded to look after a share in this love
Vse 1 Never will you find any love to match this love you may go from creature to creature but never find any love like the love of Christ Look upon the love of Christ-man it is the sweetest love that ever was never any created love like to his but then look to his Divine love and where will you find a parallel What are a few drops to the Ocean All the love that is scattered among the creatures is but as a drop the Godhead that is the Sea and Ocean of love Here are you drawn by a double cord of love by the love of his humanity and his Divinity When Christ would win upon souls how doth he do it He sets his love before them I love them that love me Prov. 8.17 If any man love me he shall be loved of my Father and I will love him Joh. 14.21 Love is the thing which is most naturally loved who can withstand the power of love Can you hear of all this love in the heart of this amiable person the Lord Jesus and not find it in your hearts to love him Never will you find so much love and sweetness any where else as in the Lord Jesus The things that have been set before you are the greatest realities and not meer notions of words or love We hear much of love in this world men speak much of love but the love that is spoken of in the world is for the most part nothing but words and air there is little reality in it but the love of Christ is the most real solid substantial love Here is the love of God himself the love of the Divinity here is love lodged in a part of your own nature lodged in that nature which is akin to you here is the love of your own flesh and blood should not the consideration of this sweet matchless love of Christ joyned with the consideration of your extreme misery and necessity make up the most powerful argument to draw souls to Christ Here you have the sweetest and most glorious love in the world to invite you on the one hand and on the other you have the necessity of your own misery Vnless you believe that I am he you shall dye in your sins Joh. 8.24 He that believes not on the Son the wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3. ult As many as are under the law are under the â—erse Gal. 3.10 If you despise and reject this Lord Jesus do you know where to find another Saviour If ever you be saved Divine Justice must be satisfied an angry God must be pacified your debts must be discharged otherwise your â—â—ns will be all charged upon you another day If you neglect such a Saviour whose love is most sweet and your need of him so great your condemnation will be most just If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be anathema maranatha You that are the Saints of God Vse 2 learn from hence to study and contemplate the love of Christ more and more Ye complain your hearts are cold and frozen ye cannot get them inflamed with love to Christ warm your cold and frozen hearts by the fire of Christs love Love is the Load-stone of love Consider well the love that â—s in both his natures consider the sweetness of his humane nature consider the sweet kind compassionate sympathizing heart of Christ as man consider that love is lodged in the heart of one that is your elder Brother that it is seatâ—d in that nature that is near akin to you and â—s in all things made like to you sin only exceptâ—d and then consider the fulness and perfection â—f his Divinity consider well the infinite treaâ—ures of love and kindness that are lodged in his Divine nature let us ponder and consider these things surely our hearts are hard frozen indeed if they will not melt under these considerations The end of the second Sermon SERMON III. Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge WE are yet under the consideration of the Love that is in Christs Divine Nature we have mentioned one consideration about it the second follows 2. The second Consideration about the love that is in Christs Divine nature To help us to conceive of the love that is in the Divine nature of Christ consider That love is most natural to God We have heard in the first consideration That the Divine nature of the Father is in the Son As the Father hath the whole nature of God in him so the Son hath the whole nature of God in him therefore doth John say of the Son This is the true God 1 Joh. 5.20 The Father and the Son are but one and the same true God Now love is most natural to God love is his very Essence hence it is said God is love 1 Joh. 4.7 I do not remember in all the Scripture that God is called anger wrath or hatred It is true anger wrath hatred are attributed to God but I do not remember that it is formally or categorically expressed thus that God is wrath anger hatred but God is love his very nature and essence is love In some sense we may say Had it not been for sin there had been no such thing as hatred in God Not that we do or can suppose that there are or can be any new immanent acts in God for then it could not be said that God was without variableness or shadow of change Jam. 1.17 God always was what now he is God was from Eternity that which now he is all the change is from the creatures part there is no change in God what God is once he is for ever there is no manner of change in him But thus we ought to conceive of it That property in God whereby he is inclined to hate sin which is natural and essential to him as the Psalmist tells us Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity had never had an object to work upon had not sin entred into the world But now God had himself and his own goodness to love had there been no such thing as sin for him to hate therefore love is most natural to God it is most natural to God to love yea it were a wonder he should not love Austin observes it is as natural for God to love as it is for him to be and live God is an intellectual Being and being so he must needs know understand and love himself and God being a pure Act he cannot sometimes love and sometimes not love but as he knows himself always so he loves himself always It is true Gods love to the creature is not necessary as it is to himself God loves himself necessarily but he loves the creatures freely and arbitrarily but
assumes but this he doth not do he is made in the similitude of man and found in fashion as a man that is as Austin expounds it Habitu inventus est ut simplex homo he was found in fashion habit and appearance as a meer man He did for a time keep in and hide the glory of his Divinity and did not display the brightness of it as he might have done Non potuit Christus abdicare se Divinitate sed eam occultam tenuit It was not possible for the Son of God to divest himself of his Divinity but he hid his Divinity and kept it secret The Son of God when incarnate and become man when he was in the form of a servant did not cease to be the Son of God and true God but for as much as the Divinity lying hid in that flesh of his did not manifest it self presently nor at all times nor in all things nor so clearly nor perfectly as afterwards therefore he is said to empty himself as Zanchy observes therefore our Translation renders it He made himself of no reputation He did not obtain that reputation of the generality of men as to be thought to be what he was he was in the form of God true God equal with the Father but taking upon him the form of a servant being found in fashion as a man he was called the Carpenters Son and owned by the generality of men as no other but the Son of Joseph and Mary Look as the light and glory of the Sun is hid and veiled by some dark cloud interposing so the humanity was as a cloud that veiled his Divinity the Divinity repressing and keeping in its own rays from breaking forth so illustriously In the time of his humiliation when the Lord Jesus did but let forth some beams of his Divinity in his Transfiguration the Evangelist tells us That his face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Mat. 17.20 Now he that appeared in that glory at one time might have appeared so always if he pleased This sight was so glorious that the Disciples who were with him could not behold it long but they fell upon their face and were sore afraid This is an argument that he contained and kept in the beams of his glory at other times It is true the Lord Jesus did upon occasion let forth the glory of his Divinity in his Miracles and otherwise and those who were spiritually illuminated and had familiar converse with him beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God Joh. 1.14 But they were but a few in comparison that had this knowledge in the days of his flesh here on earth The Son of God did so far contain and keep in his glory that it may be truly said he made himself of no reputation that is he was not seen and acknowledged to be what indeed he was by the generality of men Hence are these expressions of the Prophet Isa 53.2 He hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him Now this is a great Argument of the condescension of the Lord Jesus that when he might have let forth the glory of his Divinity in such a way that he might have convinced all men that he was true God yet he was pleased so far to repress and keep in his own glory that he might accomplish the work of his Mediatorship and thereby our Salvation If he had not hid and kept in as it were the glory of his Divinity he could not have suffered and dyed and if he had not suffered and dyed what had become of our Salvation The day is coming when the Lord Jesus shall appear in the glory of his Divinity in the humane nature he hath assumed so as that he shall be acknowledged to be God by all creatures Phil. 2.11 Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father How is this to the glory of God the Father Why thus we ought to conceive of it When Christ shall come to Judgment he shall come in the glory of his Father Mat. 16.27 The glory of the Son and the Father is but one and the same glory the Divinity of the Son and the Father is one and the same therefore when the Son comes in the glory of the Father he shall come in the glory of his own and his Fathers Divinity What is it to appear in the Divinity of himself and Father What is it for the Son to come in the glory of his own and the Fathers Divinity Certainly it is to manifest the glory of his Divinity in and by the humane nature assumed there shall be so clear a manifestation of God in the person of the Son when he comes to Judgment that all men shall know that Jesus Christ is true God as well as true Man Now that which Christ will certainly do when he comes to Judgment viz. he will manifest the glory of his Divinity to all men in and by the humane nature assumed he could have done if he had pleased whilst he was on earth but here lay the greatness of his condescension That he was pleased to hide and keep secret in a great measure the glory of his Divinity that he might accomplish the work of our Salvation And here we may cry out with the Apostle Oh the heights c. Behold stand and wonder at this love Man out of the pride of his heart will be as God Ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3.5 God out of the greatness of his love will become man and though he continues to be God still when he is become man too yet such is the humility of God incarnate that he is content to lay aside the glory of his Divinity that he might exalt man that laboured to dethrone and depress him Should not this love overcome us Oh what dull and stupid hearts have we that these wonders do not affect us The end of the third Sermon SERMON IV. Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge 4. THE greatness of the love of Christ in his Incarnation may be seen in the nearness of the Union that is made between the two Natures the humane and the Divine nature in the person of the Son of God The humanity of Christ by virtue of this union is become the Spouse as it were of the Divinity God hath married himself to our nature the Son of God hath given his own person to it the Divine nature hath drawn the humane nature into that most excellent unity of the Divine person so that now there is but one and the same person of the Divine nature and the
Médiator and Christ in the truth of both his natures the same have not God they have no such knowledge of him as to have any interest in him and at last to be brought to the injoyment of him 1 Joh. 4.15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God How must Jesus be confessed to be the Son of God He must be so confessed to be the Son of God as to be God the Son of God and God that is the meaning compare this with 1 Joh. 5.20 He that is the Son of God is the true God to confess Jesus to be the Son of God is to confess him so to be the Son of God as to be the true God Now if he only dwells in God and God in him that thus owns the Divinity of Christ what shall become of them that deny his Divinity Certainly God doth not dwell in them nor they in God they are never like to have any thing to do with God To owne Christ in words Vse 2 and yet in deed and in truth to deny him this is as dangerous Some tell us that the light within that is Christ but take heed of being deceived in so great a matter as salvation is Believe it your salvation lies at stake here the light within is not that that can save us that Christ who must save us is no other but the Word incarnate he who in the beginning was with God and who in the beginning was God he by whom all things were made and without whom nothing was made that was made and who afterward in the fulness of time was made flesh this is he by whom you must be saved if ever you be saved It was not by the light within that we were made no the light within is but a creature Christ the eternal Word is the light of men Joh. 1.4 All the light that is in men is but a created spark from Christ who was the first increated light it is by him you must be redeemed and saved by whom you were at first made and created The same eternal Word who was with God in the beginning and by whom all things were made at first is he who afterwards was made flesh and by whom we must be saved Was the light within from Eternity or will you call the creature of God God himself The light within is a thing of Gods creation where was that which some call the Light within before Adam was If it had a beginning then it was a creature If men will tell you there is something of God a measure of God that is let down into every man unless by something of God they understand some created thing they do apparently confound the Being of God and the being of the creature and so do make the creature it self to be God but it is God himself must be our salvation so the Church sings in that triumphant Song of hers Isa 12.2 Take heed how you go off from how you frame to your selves any other Saviour besides this great Saviour whose Name is the Lord our Righteousness who is God and man in one person Learn from what hath been said Vse 3 what the true way is of getting the nearest and sweetest communion with God and the whole Trinity and that is by studying much the Son incarnate The study of one Christ will bring us to the highest knowledge of God that we are capable of Joh. 14.6 I am the way the truth and the life He that injoys Christ hath all that can be desired and therefore it is a good observation Calvin hath upon that Text If Christ be the way the truth and the life he must needs soar beyond perfection aspire at something beyond the last perfection who is not content with one Christ Christ is the way the truth and the life he is the beginning middle and end in him we must begin in him we must go on and make progress and in him we must end Christ-man is the way and Christ as he is one and the same God with the Father so he is the life The humanity of Christ is the gate or portal that opens the way to the Divinity when by the sight of his humanity we are led to the sight of him as God then is he to be acknowledged to be wholly in the Father and the Father to be wholly in him He that hath seen him hath seen the Father 2 Joh. 9. Most sweet are those promises of the Lord Jesus Joh. 14.21 23. If any man love me he shall be beloved of my Father and I will love him and we will come and make our abode with him If we would have the Father and the Son make their abode with us we must first begin at the Son incarnate we must be fond of him if I may so speak make much of him have an high esteem of him If any man love me he shall be beloved of my Father and I will love him Christ speaks now as being present in our nature as cloathed with the humanity and saith He that loves me shall be beloved of my Father that is he that loves me who am the Son incarnate God hath brought down himself to us in the person of the Son who is incarnate All the Trinity is brought near to us in that one person the Divine persons though they are distinct in their relative properties yet they are inseparable where the one is the other is wherefore let us keep close to the Son love the Son adhere to the Son the Son incarnate will lead us to the Father By this Son we shall have the sweetest communion with God therefore make much of Christ it is a vain thing to think of getting God any other way The end of the fourth Sermon SERMON V. Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge WE have already mentioned five Propositions to discover the greatness of the love of Christ in the work of his Incarnation we now come to the sixth 6. The sixth Proposition is this The greatness of the love of Christ in the work of his Incarnation will appear in the great advancement that cometh to our nature by the Incarnation of the Son of God It is the greatest advancement of humane nature imaginable that God should take a part of our nature into unity of person with himself This I shall illustrate by four Considerations 1. By means of the Incarnation of the Son of God a part of our nature is advanced above the Angels Heb. 2.16 Verily he took not on him the nature of Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an Adverb of confirmation a word that is used to assert the
one of the persons of the Trinity the number of the persons was not increased but the same Trinity still remains But here we may observe the singular advancement of our nature which is all that I aim at in what hath been spoken By what we have heard we may see how by reason of the Incarnation a part of our nature stands in so near a relation to the Trinity The humane nature in Christ hath a nearer relation to the Trinity than any creature whatsoever Humanitas Christi licèt sit creatura tamen quia sola nulla alia ita adhaeret Deo ut una sit persona cum Divinitate oportet igitur tam altiorem supra extra omnes alias creaturas esse tamen sub solo Deo Luther whether Angels or men It is a speech of Ambrose Humane nature is not to be despised which is taken into so near society and fellowship with the holy Trinity And it is a great speech of Luther The humanity of Christ although it be a creature yet because this only and no other creature doth so adhere to God as that it is one person with the Divinity it is higher than all other creatures and above all other creatures yet under God alone 3. The third Consideration is this the advancement of our nature by the work of Christs Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation a part of our nature is become the Temple as it were of the Divinity Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up but he spake of the Temple of his body Joh. 2.21 Here we see the body of Christ or the humanity of Christ is plainly called a Temple and whose Temple was it the Temple of the Divinity Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up He that could raise up the Temple of his body when it was destroyed by death must needs be God therefore the person dwelling in this Temple was God so that Christ calls his own humanity the Temple of his Divinity Col. 2.9 In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily The fulness of the Godhead dwells in the humanity of Christ as in its proper seat or Temple It is a saying of one of the Ancients Totum ejus corpus implet tota Divinitas The whole Divinity fills his whole humanity Yet we must take this aright when we say that the humanity of Christ is the Temple of the Divinity we must not suppose that the God head is or can be circumscribed but thus we ought to conceive it that by means of the personal Union the Godhead dwells in the humane nature of Christ so as it dwells not in any other creature whatsoever Now what an advancement is this to our nature that a part of our nature should be as it were the proper seat and Temple of the Divinity That God should manifest himself in by and through our nature assumed that the Divinity should shine through our nature and shew it self to us by our nature A notable Scripture to illustrate this in Joh. 1.14 The word was made flesh and what follows We beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten Son of God The meaning is we beheld some rays and beams of the Divinity breaking forth through that flesh of his God was made visible to us in the person of his Son who had assumed a part of our nature Hence is it that the body of Christ or the humane nature of Christ is called a Tent or Tabernacle Heb. 8.2 9.11 Why is the body of Christ or the humane nature of Christ called a Tabernacle For this reason Look as the glory of God filled the Tabernacle of old so the glory of the Divinity hath filled his humane nature The body of Christ or his humane nature as Calvins expression is up on that place It is that Temple in which the whole Majesty of God dwells Templum in quo tota Dei Majestas habitavit Calvin 4. The fourth and last Consideration to shew how our nature is advanced by the Incarnation of the Son of God is this By means of the Incarnation Christ-man hath supreme Authority Jurisdiction and Dominion over all creatures and the Government of the World and the ordering of all the affairs of it are committed to him by the Father There are clear Texts of Scripture to prove this Joh. 5.22 27. The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son And hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man Matth. 28.28 All power and authority is given to me in heaven and in earth Psal 110.2 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand Hence is that speech of Austin Est haec fiducia gloriatio nostra quòd nostrûm singulorum portio caâ—o sanguis sedeat in coelo ad dextram Dei Patris aeterni August This is our confidence and the matter of our rejoycing that a part of our nature flesh of our flesh bone of our bone sits at the right hand of God the eternal Father Christs sitting at the right hand of God imports two things 1. His advancement and preheminence above all creatures God hath given him a Name above every name Phil. 2.9 2. It imports his supreme Power Authority Jurisdiction and Dominion over all creatures Eph. 1.22 Psal 8.6 He hath put all things under his feet The Radix or root of this Power which Christ is said to have over all creatures lyeth primarily and originally in the Divine nature of the Son The Son the second person in Trinity as he is one and the same God with the Father and the Spirit hath power and dominion over all creatures and as he is the Son incarnate as he is made man so he hath all power in a way of Dispensation all power is committed to him and he exerciseth that power ministerially as the Delegate of the Father which yet is in him originally and essentially as he is one God with the Father Hence is it that Divines observe If the question be asked According to which nature it is that Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God The answer must be That it is according to both his natures for as Christ is appointed to be Mediator according to both natures so he is King of the Church according to both natures only there is this difference to be observed The Divine nature in Christ receives nothing new which it had not before When all Power and Authority is said to be given to Christ the Divine nature in Christ receives nothing new which it had not before only there is a new manifestation of the Divine power and glory by the humane nature as Christ prays Joh. 17.8 Glorifie me with the glory which I had with thee before the foundation of the world As he was the eternal Son so he was possessed of the
memorable speech of one of the Ancients which may clear the matter in hand By that nature which is seen Per naturam quae cernitur adoretur quae non cernitur Divinitas the Divinity which cannot be seen may be worshipped We worship God in and by the humane nature of Jesus Christ but this cannot be said of any of the Saints we cannot worship God in and by any of the Saints as we do in and by the humane nature of Jesus Christ 3. Consider Christ-man hath Dominion and Soveraignty over all creatures as hath been shewed at large This cannot be said of Angels or men that they have this Soveraignty over all creatures So that we see Christ hath the preheminence in all things as the Apostles expression is Col. 1.18 These things are necessary to establish our judgments when many have been so injurious to the honour of the Lord Jesus as to level his person and dignity with the persons of the Saints Learn to admire the great Love of God in Christ Vse 2 We have heard how our nature is advanced in the Head of the Church now what God hath done for Christ he hath in some measure done for us therefore is it said Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Eph. 1.3 And in another place He hath made us to sit together in heavenly places with him Christs advancement in some sort is our advancement his exaltation is our exaltation God hath honoured our nature in advancing Christ-man so high the Divine nature in Christ needed nothing it was capable of receiving nothing as he was the Eternal Son so he was coequal and coessential with the Father all the glory that comes to him in time is cast upon the humane nature Now that God should advance our nature so much as he hath done in our Head this should affect our hearts greatly What is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou shouldst magnifie him Psal 8.4 That the Divinity should shew it self in and by a part of our nature that a part of our nature should stand and continue in personal union with the second person in Trinity that a part of our nature should be advanced above Angels set in authority above all creatures this should astonish us Chrysostome saith he was swallowed up by this consideration It is a great thing saith he a thing full of wonder and amazement that our flesh should sit at the right hand of God and be adored by Angels and Archangels When I think of this says he I find my self put into an ecstasie Learn from what hath been opened Vse 3 where to seek for God how we ought to come to God Would we know where to seek for God and where we may expect to find him We must seek for God in and by the humanity of Jesus Christ the humanity of Jesus Christ is the Temple of the Divinity here therefore it is we must seek for God and here may we hope to find him It is an expression that Luther hath Deus nec vult nec pocest inventri nisi in hac humanitate per hanc humanitatem Luther God neither will nor can be found but by the humanity of Jesus Christ which says he God hath lifted up as a Standard that by it he may gather to himself all his children out of the world Christ himself hath told us He is the way to the Father Joh. 14 6. How is he the way to the Father The Son incarnate the Son become man is the way to the Father Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath revealed him How doth the Son reveal him In and by the humane nature assumed He that hath seen me hath seen the Father Joh. 14.9 How is it that he that hath seen Christ hath seen the Father The meaning is the Divinity lay hid in that humanity of his and the Divinity was to be seen and apprehended by that humanity of his This is notably set forth by the Apostle Heb. 10.19 20. Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us thorough the veil that is to say his flesh It is an observation which Calvin hath upon this Text The flesh of Christ is not be despised because it is as a veil that doth cover the Majesty of God and yet directs us the way to injoy all that is in God Look as the veil in the Temple did cover all those things that lay hid and secret in the Sanctuary Nec quisquam Deum inveniet nisi cui via ostium erit Christus homo Calv. and yet withal was the way that opened unto all so the Divinity that lay hid in the flesh of Jesus Christ brings us to Heaven No man shall ever find God unto whom Christ-man is not the way and the door This is that our Saviour means when he says Ye believe in God believe also in me Joh. 14.1 The naked absolute Divinity is at too great a distance from us and we know not where to find God in his naked simple Essence therefore our Saviour directs us to look to God manifest in his flesh By the Son incarnate there is a fair way opened for us to the Father Vse 4 This may inform us whence the Church hath had all its preservations and what may be a ground to our faith that the Church shall still be preserved in all Ages Eph. 1.22 And hath put all things under his feet That is he hath put all things under Christs feet God the Father hath subjected all things to Christ-man the Head of the Church the government is upon his shoulders Now saith the Apostle No man ever hated his own flesh c. Eph 5.29 The Church is near akin to Christ flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone no wonder therefore that Christ takes care of the Church which is so nearly related to himself The Church is as it were a part of Christ the head and members make up Christ mystical so also is Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 The Apostle speaks there of Believers As the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ All Believers together with Christ their Head make up Christ mystical Christ may be considered personally and he may be considered mystically Christ personally considered is that person who was born of the Virgin dyed on the Cross rose again the third day ascended up into Heaven and sits on the right hand of God Christ mystical is Christ and all Believers the head and members in conjunction The Church is said to be the Body of Christ the fulness of him who filleth all in all Eph. 1.22 Now then the Church
standing in such near relation to Christ as to be his body a part of himself this is the reason that Christ hath preserved it and will preserve it to the end of the world Mat. 18. I will build my Church See here he calls it his Church he challengeth a peculiar interest in it Feed the Church of God which he hath redeemed with his own blood Act. 20.28 Therefore the Church standing so nearly related to Christ no wonder Christ takes such care of it Learn from hence to whom to attribute all the deliverances of the Church it is our faithful omnipotent sympathizing compassionate Head that hath been the Author of all the preservations and deliverances we have seen and upon him we must depend for the time to come Lastly Vse 5 This may serve as a ground to confirm our faith touching the certian glorification of the Saints A part of our nature is already in the Head of the Church Christ man who is the Head of the Church is exalted to the highest state of glory God hath highly exalted him c. Phil. 2.9 Now though it be true Christ must be allowed his preheminence the head hath a preheminence above the members yet the members shall follow the head they shall have their measure of glory though not the same degree of glory In Heb. 6. ult we read how Christ is entred into heaven as our fore-runner If Christ be in Heaven the Saints who are members of his body shall certainly follow after It is the last passage in that last prayer of our Saviour That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Joh. 17. ult It is the inestimable priviledge of the Saints saith Calvin upon this Text that Christ was beloved of the Father for our sakes that we might be partakers of the same love If the Father hath glorified Christ he will certainly glorifie us if we be his members Only we must consider what is spoken in the last clause of all and I in them As we expect to be comprehended in that love with which our Head is embraced we must be sure to be in him We must see that we be in Christ and Christ in us we must have true and real union with him and if we be thus united to him then the love wherewith the Father hath loved him shall be communicated to us therefore let us endeavour to make sure of our Union with Christ and in-being in him and then as the Father hath commended his love to him the Head of the Church in glorifying him he will also commend his love to us in glorifying us in like manner The end of the fifth Sermon SERMON VI. Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by saith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge 7. THE seventh Particular to demonstrate the greatness of the Love of Christ in the work of his Incarnation is this The love of Christ in his Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God our nature as it is in the Head of the Church is restored to its ancient purity integrity and perfection It is a good observation of one of the Ancients Filius Dei naturam nostram sibi conjunxit ut eam in se primò per seipsum ad pristinam pulchritudinem restitueret Cyril The Son of God hath joyned our nature to himself that first of all he might repair our nature in himself and by himself restore our nature to its ancient beauty To understand this we must know that Adam had lost original Righteousness infected and corrupted mans nature with the contagion and taint of Original sin Now the Son of God by his Incarnation hath repaired our nature and restored it to its primitive beauty and perfection The first Adam by his Fall left our nature under the contagion of Original sin the Son of God in his Incarnation took up our nature without sin and as the second Adam represents our nature in himself pure and spotless Such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners Heb. 9.26 So that this is the singular priviledge of Believers although they be poor sinful creatures in themselves groaning under the body of sin and death yet they have this to glory in that their Head the Lord Jesus is without sin and presents their nature pure and spotless before the Throne of God In him is no sin 1 Joh. 3.5 He doth not say In him was no sin that is true indeed for in him was no sin neither was there any guile found in his mouth But the Apostle saith here In him is no sin It is as much as if he should say As Christ was without sin here on Earth so he is without sin in Heaven he presents our nature pure and spotless before the Throne of God This is the singular priviledge of Believers that they may glory in Christ their Head when they have nothing to glory in of their own Hence is it that which the Apostle faith We glory in Christ Jesus or we boast in Christ Jesus c. Phil. 3.3 as much as to say We do not boast in our selves we do not glory in our own righteousness but we glory in the Righteousness of Christ we glory and boast in this that we have that righteousness and perfection in our Head which we have not in our selves 8. The love of Christ in his Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God there is a foundation laid for our acceptance with God This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Mat. 3. ult This is spoken of the Son incarnate after he was made man God the Father delights in the Son when incarnate To understand this we must know as he was the eternal Son the express image of the Fathers person proceeding from the Father by eternal Generation so he was eternally his delight This is clear from Prov. 8.30 I was daily his delight Now that which we are farther to consider is As the Father delights in the Son as his eternal Son so he delights in the Son when incarnate when made man he delights in the Son when cloathed with our nature the eternal Son being the object of his Fathers delight and complacency and the Son taking our nature into personal Union with himself the love delight and complacency of the Father redounds and overflows if I may so express it unto the humane nature assumed Joh. 3.35 The Father loveth the Son And how doth he love him Not only as the Son simply considered but he loves him as the Son incarnate he loves him as the Son come into our nature he loves him as he is Mediator To open this a little
he expresseth it thus Of his fulness we receive and grace for grace which expression intimateth thus much That the humanity of Christ is the first receptacle of all grace To understand this we must know that our nature had lost original righteousness our nature was deprived of the image of God was alienated from the life of God and the way was barred and shut up as to our reception of grace for our iniquities had separated between God and us as the Prophets expression is Isa 59.1 The Son of God therefore by his Incarnation hath so united the Divine nature to the humane that he hath brought down and deposited as it were the whole fulness of the Godhead in the humane nature assumed that so grace life salvation from which we were estranged and alienated by sin might be brought near to us again and grace being now deposited in a part of our nature from this part of our nature which is taken into personal union with the Son of God which is a nature consubstantial with ours and near akin to us grace life salvation might be derived to us from his fulness we might receive grace for grace Heb. 2.14 Because the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also took part of the same Now saith the Apostle elsewhere No man ever as yet hated his own flesh He that is a brother indeed it is no grief to him to part with some of his substance with some of the goods he is possessed of to his own brethren who are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone It is a great Scripture yet farther to illustrate this As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself and hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man Joh. 5.26 27. Calvin observes from that expression because he is the Son of man Christ was therefore ordained by the Father to be the Author of life that so we might not have life to seek afar off Christ received nothing for himself as if he needed any thing for himself but he received that wherewith he might inrich us and the sum of these two verses he makes to be this That is laid open to us in Christ man which did before lye hid in God because the Majesty of God as it is at a great distance from us is like to a spring that lyes hidden and latent Habemus promptum expositum fontem ex quo haurire licet Calvin therefore God hath displayed himself openly to us in Christ We have in Christ a fountain that is near and ready at hand and that which lyes open to us from whence we might receive all grace 10. The love of Christ in his Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God grace is not only brought near to us but it is made most firm and sure That which a meer man received might be taken away and lost as it was in Adam therefore grace was deposited in the hands of one who was God as well as man that so grace might be made most sure and firm The best of creatures are mutable things and subject to change hence is that expression Job 4.18 Behold he puts no trust in his servants and his Angels he chargeth with folly The Angels themselves which are the highest rank of creatures are subject to change the good Angels who never sinned yet might have sinned and fallen had they not been confirmed by Divine grace And that they might have done so it appears plainly by the instance of the evil Angels The evil Angels were created at first in the same state of dignity and glory as the good Angels were but they being left to the mutability of their own will fell from God whereas the good Angels were confirmed by grace It is a wise speech of Austin God Deum sic ordinâsse Angelorum hominum vitam ut in ea priùs ostenderet quid posset liberum arbitrium deinde quid posset gratiae suae beneficium Aug. saith he hath so ordered and disposed concerning the life of Angels and men that he hath shewn first of all what free-will could do and then what the benefit of his grace could do Free-will both in Angels and men discovered it self to be a mutable thing therefore that grace might be laid sure it was laid in the hands of one who was God as well as man Austin observes Christ was predestinated to be Head of the Church and we are predestinated to be his members Now grace in the Head of the Church is laid most sure The Godhead in Christ is an indeficient never failing Principle of grace So that the humane nature of Christ had not only created habits in it as Adams soul had but the Godhead was personally united to it so that unless we could suppose a dissolution of the Hypostatical or personal Union it is impossible that the humane nature in Christ should cease to be filled with Divine grace Hence is that expression of Christ Joh. 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father It is as much as if our Saviour had said The Godhead is a living spring a living fountain of grace It is usual with Christ when he speaks of those things which belong to the Divine nature which is common to him and the Father to attribute them to the Father therefore he saith I live by the Father The Father is the first person in the Deity and although the Son be possessed of the same Deity yet when Christ speaks of such things as belong to the Deity or the Divine nature he useth the name of the Father in which expression his own Divinity is comprehended So Joh. 14.10 The Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works his meaning is the Divine nature The Divine nature is common to him and the Father but he expresses it thus The Father in me doth the works Now saith he As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father his meaning is the Divinity which is united to my flesh is a living Spring and fountain of grace my humanity receives all grace life and virtue from the Divinity inhabiting in it The Divine nature in the person of the Son holds the humane nature in the nearest closest and most indissoluble union and being so nearly and strictly united to the humanity fills the humanity with all grace So that the firmness and sureness of grace to the Elect depends upon a treble Basis or foundation 1. It depends upon the firmness and indissolubility of the Union that is between the two Natures in Christ 2. It depends upon the Indeficiency of grace and the inexhaustible Fulness that is in the Godhead 3. It depends upon a Believers Union with Christ 1. If the personal Union can never be dissolved then the humane nature which always abides in the nearest union
with the Divine must always partake of the power virtue and efficacy of the Divine 2. If the spring of grace which is in the Divine nature do never fail or be dryed up then the grace in the humane nature which is always fed and maintained by this spring can never cease 3. Believers standing in union and conjunction with their Head as members of his body must needs partake of the virtue and influence of their Head 1 Cor. 6.17 Eph. 5.30 1.23 I shall conclude this particular with a passage of one of the Ancients Those things which a meer man received might be taken away from him as they were from Adam that therefore grace and the gifts of God may remain firm therefore Christ who is God and man received power as he was man which he had always as he was God that his humanity receiving all things those things might be delivered over to us out of his humanity to be firmly and surely possessed by us Learn from what hath been spoken Vse 1 what it is that must comfort us in reference to the ruines of the Fall Man was a glorious creature an excellent piece as first he came out of the hand of God but what ruine what deformity hath sin brought upon this glorious and excellent creature Who is there that turns his eyes in and upon himself and hath not cause to lament the sad and miserable ruines sin hath made there The understanding is full of darkness the will perverse and wholly carried off from God the chief good the affections wholly bent and set upon sensible objects the whole man depraved and out of order lying under the sad effects of original sin What is it that may comfort us in reference to these ruines and this sad deformity sin hath brought but only the consideration of the Incarnation of the Son of God By the Incarnation of the Son of God our nature is restored to its ancient beauty and perfection let us turn our eyes upon the Head of the Church and there we may see Holiness shining forth in its greatest beauty and perfection there we may see our nature without sin a mind full of Divine light and knowledge a will exactly conformed to the Divine will affections most pure and regular Now our nature being thus repaired and restored to its ancient purity in our Head we have this assurance it shall be repaired in us We have in Christ an instance what we may expect if we be his members for God hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son and he is the first-born among many brethren Rom. 8.29 Vse 2 By way of Exhortation to poor Sinners that are in a natural condition O labour to get into Christ You are by nature children of wrath unlovely unacceptable in the sight of God if ever you be taken from being children of wrath to be children of God if ever you be made sons and daughters of God you must first of all be implanted by faith into him who is the natural Son of God if ever your persons be made lovely and acceptable in the sight of God you must be accepted in him who is the beloved Son of God This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased There is not one drop of Gods love runs out of Christ all the love of the Father descends upon the Son incarnate and it is conveyed and let down by him upon the sons of men If you be found out of Christ you cannot expect to see or taste one drop of the love of God towards you O labour to get into Christ Is it not sad to lye under Divine wrath to be alienated and estranged from God to be able to lay no claim to God as your God and your Father to have no ground for the acceptation of your persons Till you get into Christ and be implanted into him this is your condition you are under Divine wrath you are alienated and estranged to God you are able to lay no claim to God as your God and Father you have no ground for the acceptation of your persons For this is the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased The Father looks upon none with a favourable eye but whom he looks upon in the beloved Son if you have nothing to do with the beloved Son you have nothing to do with the Fathers love Let this press such as are yet strangers to Christ to give themselves no rest day nor night till they get into Christ By way of Exhortation to Believers Vse 3 to exhort them to keep close to Christ It is the interest and concernment of Believers to labour to keep close to Christ and to see that Christ dwell in their hearts by faith yet more and more The Apostle prays for the Ephesians Eph. 3.17 that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith The more Christ dwells in our hearts by faith the greater sense we shall have of our Adoption and the acceptation of our persons The Son of God taking our nature lays the foundation for our Adoption and the acceptation of our persons therefore the more firmly we embrace the Son of God cloathed with our nature in the arms of our faith the greater sense we shall have of our sonship and acceptation Christ is the natural Son of God if we embrace him and adhere to him by faith the greater evidence shall we have that we are the adopted sons of God by faith in him Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus That which makes us sons at first will be the means to continue the sight and comfort of this sonship to us It is faith makes us the sons of God therefore if we would have the comfort of our sonship let us look to this that Christ dwell in our hearts by faith When Christ promises to manifest the Fathers love to us how is it that he will do it He saith I in them Joh. 17.26 Let us consider it well the way by which Christ manifests the Fathers love to the Elect is by his being in them If ever we expect the manifestation of the Fathers love Christ must be in us and we in him Let us take heed therefore how we let our eye go off from Christ we can expect no love from the Father but as he looks upon us through the Son and we cannot expect to have the sense of the Fathers love let in upon us through the Son but as we take hold of the Son The more possession we have of Christ in our hearts by faith the greater sense and manifestation of the Fathers love will be let in upon us Learn from what hath been opened Vse 4 where to go for all supplies of grace We have a fountain near at hand we have grace brought down into a part of our own nature grace is lodged in the Son of God incarnate as in its proper fountain there may we repair and
fetch as much grace as our souls need Joh. 7.38 If any man thirst let him come to me and drink There is a spring of grace opened to us in a part of our own nature here may we come and be supplied Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink If you thirst for grace it is but turning your eyes upon the Lord Jesus who is God in your nature and there is a fountain of grace set open Vse 5 See the ground of the perseverance of the Saints and why none who are true Believers and are implanted into Christ can fall from grace The reason is because grace is kept sure and safe in the Head of the Church the fountain of grace the Lord Jesus Adam indeed had a stock committed to him but he being a creature and therefore mutable did not keep that stock committed to him the Lord Jesus Christ the second Adam the Head of the Church is God as well as man and grace being deposited in him it is now lodged in a sure hand Joh. 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also As much as if our Saviour had said Your life depends upon my life when my life fails your life may fail but while my life continues your life shall continue And our Saviour tells us The salvation of the Elect depends upon his and his Fathers power A great Scripture Joh. 10.27 28 29. he is there speaking of his sheep and of them he says None shall pluck them out of my hand my Father is greater than all and none shall pluck them out of my Fathers hand The sum of our Saviours asseveration is this That if he and his Father be able to keep the sheep from perishing and bring them to eternal life then they shall never perish never fail of eternal life therefore are we said to be kept by the power of God to salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 So that if the Divine power can preserve the Saints they shall be preserved to eternal life Let us labour to be in the number of Christs sheep such as truly follow him and he hath undertaken to keep us from perishing and to bring us safe to eternal life The end of the sixth Sermon SERMON VII Eph. 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge WE now come yet to some other Propositions for the opening of this great Mystery to shew the greatness of the Love of Christ in the work of his Incarnation 11. The eleventh Proposition is this The love of Christ in his Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God there is a foundation laid for our Adoption and being made the sons of God It was a speech of Irenaeus The Son of God was made the Son of man Filius Dei factus est filius hominis ad hoc ut homo fieret filius Dei Irenaeus for this very end that man might be made the son of God Rom. 8.29 Christ is said to be the first-born among many brethren Peter Martyr observes from that expression So good is God that when as God had a Son and such a Son whom he took perfect delight and complacency in yet he was pleased to adopt more sons of the stock of mankind among whom Christ is the first born and whereas it is said He was the first-born among many brethren this must be understood in respect of his humane nature assumed for as to the Divine nature Christ is not so properly called Primogenitus as Vnigenitus the first born as the only begotten Son of the Father Christ is the Head of all the Elect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore he is said to be fore-ordained before the foundation of the world 1 Pet. 1.20 that is before the foundation of the world he was ordained to be the Head of the Church Sicut praedestinatus est ille unus ut caput nostrum esset ita multi sumus praedestinati ut essemus ejus membra Aug. Deus Christum ipsum quatenus homo est primum omnium praedestinavit in quo caeteros servaret It is Austins expression As Christ was that one only who was predestinated to be our Head so we being many are predestinated to be his members Hence is that expression we have Eph. 1.6 Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. The Original of our Adoption is Gods Predestination having predestinated us the foundation of our Adoption is in Jesus Christ having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ God did first of all predestinate Christ himself as he was man that in him he might save all the rest of the Elect. To understand this we must consider That Christ was the natural Son of God the only begotten Son of God from Eternity therefore is he said to be the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father Joh. 1.18 Now the natural and only begotten Son of God being pleased to assume a part of our nature he is and remains to be the natural Son of God in and with the humane nature assumed Christ did not cease to be the natural Son of God by his Incarnation and taking our nature upon him As he was the natural Son of God before his Incarnation so he is after his Incarnation Now the natural Son of God being come into our nature the humane nature assumed is one in person with the Son of God and Christ remaining to be the natural Son of God after his assumption of our nature makes way for us to be the adopted sons of God The Civil Lawyers observe that no one can obtain the Right and Priviledge of Adoption but by leave of him who is the natural son If there be a natural son none can be an adopted son without the leave of the natural son Christ is the natural Son and he being come into our nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave this Right or Power that we should become the sons of God even to as many as receive this natural Son by faith into their hearts Joh. 1.12 They who receive the natural Son by faith are made adopted Sons Hence is it said Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ It is an excellent expression Zanchy hath upon that Text Eph. 1.5 Having predestinated us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ. For this very end did Christ assume our nature being made our Brother according to the flesh that we having his Spirit given to us might be made the sons of God and the brethren of Christ and for this cause is he said to be the first-born among many brethren 12.
The twelfth Proposition for the clearing of this Mystery and shewing the greatness of Christs love in the work of his Incarnation is this That by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God God hath brought himself down to us rendred himself more facile and easie to be apprehended and conceived by us and also more sweet for us to approach to him We have shewed before how that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God grace is brought down to us lodged in our nature now we shall shew how that by the Incarnation of the Son of God God himself is brought down to us brought near to us so that we may the better apprehend and conceive of him and also he is made more sweet for us to approach to him 1. By means of the Incarnation of the Son of God God hath brought himself down to us and rendred himself more facile and easie to be apprehended and conceived of by us If we consider God in his simple and absolute nature God dwells in light inaccessible and of him it is said Whom no man saw nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 The naked simple absolute Divinity is too bright an object for our weak eyes to look upon therefore God who is invisible in himself hath made himself visible as it were in the person of his Son therefore is it said Christ is the image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 In the face of the Son incarnate we may see and behold all the glory of God Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath revealed him It is Calvins observation That as Christ is the Mediator of Reconciliation so he is the Medium of Revelation he reveals God to us and by him we come to the knowledge of God To understand this more clearly and distinctly we must know Eadem natura Divinitatis tota perfecta est in singulis personis this is a sure Maxime The same nature of the Divinity is whole and perfect in each of the persons The Godhead is not divided each person is whole God therefore doth our Saviour say Joh. 14.7 If ye had known me ye should have known my Father also When the Divinity of the Son is known Quaelibet persona est totus Deus the Divinity of the Father must needs be known there being but one and the same Divinity common between them both Now then when the Son of God the second person in Trinity assumes our nature the whole nature of God is brought down to us in Christ This is the true God 1 Joh. 5.20 And he that hath seen me hath seen the Father Joh. 14.9 There is but one and the same Divinity common between the Son and the Father therefore he that sees and apprehends the Divinity of the Son doth at the same instant apprehend and see the Divinity of the Father Now the humanity of the Son is the Medium by which we come to see and apprehend the Divinity of the Son and of the Father The humanity is not the Divinity yet the humanity is the Medium by which we are helped to conceive and apprehend the Divinity and that is the meaning of that expression He that hath seen me hath seen the Father That is as a Learned man expounds that passage As my Divinity is seen and apprehended by this assumed flesh of mine Sicut mea Divinitas per hanc carnem assumtam videtur ita etiam videtur Divinitas Patris quae eadem est so also is the Divinity of the Father apprehended by this assumed flesh of mine which is one and the same Divinity Hence is that expression of our Saviours Joh. 12.44 Jesus cryed and said He that believes on me believes not on me but on him that sent me Our Saviour lays much stress upon it he crys and saith as if he would proclaim it to all the world and would have all the world take notice of it And what is the truth he proclaims with so much solemnity He that believes on me believes not on me but on him that sent me What believe in Christ and not believe in Christ this is a seeming contradiction But the plain meaning is this he that believes in me believes not in me only but he believes on him that sent me Our Saviour would have all men take notice of this That his Divinity and the Divinity of the Father was one and the same therefore he saith He that believes on me believes not on me but on him that sent me As much as if he had said The Father is in me the Divinity Power Majesty Essence all the Divine perfections of the Father are found in me and ye need not seek for God any further than in me therefore he saith Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me Our Saviour doth not here intimate that there is a double object of faith as if the Father were one object of faith and he another for though the Father and the Son be distinct persons yet the Divinity common to them both is but one and the same and there is but one object of faith in both When therefore he says Ye believe in God believe also in me his meaning is that we should direct our faith to God inhabiting in him inhabiting in his humane nature It is a great help to faith that we may conceive of God in and by the humanity of Jesus Christ The humanity of Christ is the Temple of the Divinity as hath been shewn heretofore In this Temple it is we must seek for God and here we may find him In the days of the Old Testament the Ark of the Covenant was the Symbol of Gods presence and that external Symbol was some help to their faith The people of God in those days directed their prayers to God before the Ark and they worshipped him that dwelt between the Cherubins In the days of the New Testament Christ is our Ark God hath manifested himself to us in and by the flesh of his Son Col. 2.9 In him the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily It is the observation of a Learned man That one fruit of the Incarnation of the Son of God Bishop Vsher and of the conjunction of the two natures the Divine and humane nature in Christ is this That whereas God hath no shape comprehensible either to the eye of the body or the soul and the mind of man cannot rest but in a representation of something that his mind and understanding can in some sort reach unto man considering God in the second person of the Trinity who hath taken our nature whereby God is revealed in the flesh hath whereupon to stay his mind Faith begins at the humanity of Christ and then by degrees climbs up to the Divinity this
us to himself by Jesus Christ And that passage of our Saviour is most remarkable to this purpose Joh. 17.7 where he makes this to be the property of the Elect They have known that all things that thou hast given me are of thee The Saints do know that whatever Christ is that God himself is to them by Christ so that as God hath brought himself near to us in that way in the first place to make himself more facile and easie to be apprehended by us and to render himself more sweet and kind for us to approach to him so God in Christ doth actually communicate and give himself to us and God in Christ is the Author of our salvation and doth all that is done in the business of our salvation 13. The thirteenth Proposition for the clearing of this great Mystery is the love of Christ in his Incarnation is seen in this In that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God as God is brought near to us so we are brought near to him Christ is the bond of our union unto God Nexus unionis nostrae ad Deum Christus est Cyril Quod homo est Christus esse voluit ut homo posset esse quod Christus est Cyprian Christ is he that ties the knot between God and us Christ as man is united unto us Christ as God so he is naturally united to the Father It was a good speech of Cyprian Christ would be that which man is that man might be that which Christ is This will be illustrated by considering that great Scripture Joh. 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you These words are some of the most mysterious words in all the Book of God and I remember Cyril saith of this Text It is a difficult Text and prays for Divine grace to help him to understand it I shall modestly give as I am able the interpretation of this Text here are three great Vnions insinuated in this Text. 1. The essential Union 2. The Incarnation of the Son of God the Vnion of the two Natures in the person of Christ 3. The mystical Union All these three great Unions are held forth to us in this Text. 1. The essential Union the Union of the Son and Father in the self-same Essence In those words In that day you shall know I am in my Father that is you shall know that I am the natural Son of God and that the Father hath communicated all his perfections unto me by eternal Generation Joh. 16.15 All that the Father hath is mine You shall know that I am in the Father by the unity of the Divine Essence Inspecto Christo videtur illa unitas essentiae ac gloriae Patris ac Filii Or else as another Learned Divine expounds this Phrase You shall know that I am in the Father Christ being once looked upon and beheld by the eye of faith the unity of the Essence and the glory of the Father and the Son is seen both at once You shall know that I am in the Father that is you shall know me to be the Son of God true God of one and the same Substance Essence and Divinity with the Father 2. There is the Union of the two Natures in Christ implied in these words You shall know that you are in me Percipietis Divinae meae incarnationis mysterium that is as a Learned man expounds those words You shall perceive the Mystery of my Divine Incarnation by means of which the humane nature is united to my Divinity and taken into unity of person with the Son of God by means of which you also after a sort may be said to be in me To understand this we must know although it be true that the Son of God assumed humane nature not the whole mass or lump of it but in a certain part and particle of it and hereupon that part of humane nature which is taken into personal union with the Son of God hath a nearer relation to the Trinity than any creature whatsoever yet the Son of God assuming a part of our nature into personal union with himself all the Elect being united to Christ by faith are included in Christ as Members relating to the Head and so injoy the benefit of his Incarnation Heb. 2.14 For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same So that although the union be personally made in one part of humane nature viz. that part which was personally united to the Son of God yet all the seed have benefit by Christs Incarnation and being implanted into Christ by faith are made members of his body Sicut membra in capite sicut contentum in continente sicut palmes in vite sicut effectus in fontali principio of his flesh and of his bone and are comprehended in him as in their Head You shall know that you are in me that is as one explains this Phrase As the members are in the head as the thing contained in the thing containing as the branches in the Vine as the effect is in its fontal Principle This interpretation is further confirmed by that Scripture Eph. 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one in Christ The word in the Original is an emphatical word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Chrysostome interprets thus To reduce all things under one head All the Elect are reduced and brought under Christ as their common Head and thus we are said to be in him You in me We are in him as members in the head And it is observed further by a Learned man That the Elect are said to be in Christ in respect of both his natures 1. As Christ is man Per communionem naturae ut in causa servante conservante sicut in ultimo fine so we are said to be in him by communion of nature 2. As Christ is God so we are in him as in the saving and conserving cause and as in the last end Hence are those expressions Preserved in Jesus Christ Jude 1. Col. 1.16 All things were created by him and for him 3. Here is the Mystical or Spiritual Union set down and I in you As Christ is in the Father by Vnity of Essence we in Christ as being taken in to be members of his body and standing related to him as a Head so Christ is in us by his Spirit 1 Cor. 6.16 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit This is another part of the love of Christ in his Incarnation that by this means we are brought near to God as one of the Ancients expression is Consummati sumus reductique ad unionem Dei Patris mediatione Salvatoris Cyril We are consummated and brought back again into union with God the Father by the mediation of Christ our Saviour This
is that our Saviour prays for in that great and famous Prayer of his Joh. 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee c. And vers 23. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one That which our Saviour intends in this passage is not only that the Faithful should be united among themselves but that they should be united unto God This is the most firm binding and knitting together of things when God is in Christ Christ is in us and the Faithful united among themselves God the Father is the root Christ the stock the holy Spirit as the sap we the branches and the graces of the Saints are the fruits And that this union may be effected Christ took from us a part of our nature on the other hand he hath given to us his own flesh and blood and that we might be united to God he hath given to us the holy Spirit Is it so Vse 1 that by the Incarnation of the Son of God there is a foundation laid for our Adoption and being made the sons of God then learn what course we are to take if we desire to be the children of God Who is there that would not desire to be a child of God If we would be the children of God here we may see the ready way how to attain this priviledge If we desire to be the sons and daughters of God we must chuse and close with Christ the natural Son of God A great and choice Scripture 2 Cor. 6.18 I will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty If we will be the sons and daughters of God we must first see that we close with Christ the natural Son of God God saith of Christ I will be unto him a Father Heb. 1.5 God is first a Father unto Christ before he is or will be a Father unto us Now we must close with the natural Son of God as ever we desire to be the adopted sons of God Joh. 1.12 To as many as received him he gave power to become the sons of God We are by nature children of wrath children of hell children of the curse and are we contented to abide so always Are we contented always to abide in that condition of distance and estrangement to God If you would have God a Father you must get into Christ God out of Christ is a sin revenging God Let us therefore look well to our faith Gal. 3.26 We are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus If our faith be not right if we have not closed with Christ in a right manner we have no evidence that we are the children of God There is a spurious a bastard faith a false faith that is not a true faith there is a meer historical faith which is a consenting that the Scripture is true there is a temporary faith when there are some flashes and pangs of affection towards Christ but then there is the faith of Gods Elect let us look after this You will ask What is this faith That faith takes a man wholly off himself takes him perfectly from his own bottom and makes him look to another for wisdom righteousness sanctification This is faith to go out perfectly out of our selves and to live perfectly upon another as to all the parts of our salvation and this is the faith that the just must live by If we be in Christ by faith then shall we be the sons of God If by means of the Incarnation God hath brought himself down to us Vse 2 and rendred himself more facile and easie to be apprehended by us this may inform us how we may best conceive of God The way for us to conceive of God is for us to conceive of God in Christ The Saints of God do find it a difficult thing to conceive of God to have right thoughts and conceptions of God Now would you know how to conceive of God O learn to conceive of God in Christ God is at so great a distance from us that if we set our selves to think or conceive of him in his naked absolute simple nature our thoughts would soon lose themselves or else be overwhelmed with the greatness of his Majesty So true is that saying Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloria He that thinks to dive into the Abyss of the Divinity will soon find himself overwhelmed with the Divine glory The Lord hath said No man can see his face and live We cannot behold the Sun in the Firmament in its noon-day glory we can much better behold the Sun in a cloud than behold it in its simple glory so God hath veiled his glory in the flesh of his Son and the way for us to behold God is to contemplate God in the face of Jesus Christ It is far more easie for us to conceive of the humane nature in the person of Christ than to conceive of the naked simple and absolute Divinity When we conceive of the humane nature in the person of Christ the mind hath something to rest and stay it self upon and by the humanity we climb up by degrees to the Divinity It is true faith ought not to terminate it self in the humanity but by the humanity we ought to climb and ascend up to the Divinity By him we believe in God 1 Pet. 1.21 It is Calvins opinion Tunc remoto velo palà m cernemus Deum in sua Majestate regnantem neque ampliùs media erit Christi humanitas quae nos ab ulteriore Dei conspectu cohibeat Calv. in 1 Cor. 15. That in Heaven when God shall be all in all we shall then see God without the veil of Christs flesh then say she the veil being removed we shall behold God openly reigning in his Majesty neither shall the flesh of Christ oppose it self as a Medium to hinder us from the farther sight of God How far and with what limitation this opinion of his may take place I shall not now inquire but sure I am whilst we are here on earth we cannot behold God without this veil the veil of Christs flesh Whilst we are here on earth the new and living way into the holiest is consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh Heb. 10.19 20. Upon this Text Calvin himself hath this passage No man shall ever find God but he unto whom Christ-man is the door and the way The flesh of Christ is that veil which covers God and by this veil we must come into the holy of Holies and have admittance into the Divine presence It is dangerous for us to think of God or to approach to him any other way but in Christ He is the way the truth and the life and no man cometh to the Father but by him that is no man can come to the Father but by him They are weighty and memorable passages Luther hath
corroborated and strengthened the humane nature in suffering so that as the Apostle saith it was Christ that was offered There was a concourse of both natures in his Satisfaction If he were not man he could not have suffered and if he were not God he could not have satisfied Christ is a Priest in our nature and as the High-Priest under the Law bare all the names of the children of Israel upon his Breast-plate so Christ bears all the names of the Elect upon him Christ sustains the persons of all the Elect Because the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also took part of the same Christ assuming the nature of man sustains the persons of all the Elect and in their room and in their stead in a part of their nature presents himself to God and taking their guilt upon him is willing to bear the punishment due to them therefore he suffers and dyes in their nature and remains under the power of death for a time 2. Christ by his Incarnation is fitted for the work of his Intercession As it was the work of the Priest to offer Sacrifice and make atonement so to intercede and pray for the people Now Christ by taking our nature is fit for this work also Christ as to his Divine nature is equal with the Father and so is the object of prayer together with the Father but Christ according to his humane nature is inferiour to the Father and so fit to intercede And therefore it is a common saying among Divines Christ intercedes and prays as he is man and Mediator 3. Christ by assuming our nature performs the Office of a King to the Church Christ hath a natural Kingdom and he hath a dispensatory Kingdom As he is God so he hath a natural Kingdom over all creatures Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion is an everlasting dominion As he is God-man so he hath a Kingdom by way of donation and dispensation Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion Psal 2.6 The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son Joh. 5.22 that is to the Son incarnate Christ as Head and King of the Church dispenseth all grace to the Church rules and governs the Church in and by the humane nature assumed Eph. 1.21 22 23. Thus have we shewn how that Christ by the work of his Incarnation lays the foundation for the work of Mediatorship in general and for the executing of those three great Offices of Prophet Priest and King in particular 16. The love of Christ in his Incarnation is seen in this In that by means of Christs Incarnation our nature which was alienated from God deprived of communion with him lay under the curse was subject to all sorts of miseries and unto death it self is now restored to communion with God again delivered from the curse set above all misery and death cloathed with immortality and possessed of perfect happiness 1. The Son of God by his Incarnation hath restored our nature unto communion with God Adam by his Fall was turned out of Paradise banished from the presence of God lost his communion with God Now the Son of God taking a part of our nature into unity of person with himself hath brought our nature near to God again our nature in Christ is admitted to the sight of God and communion with him Christi humana natura semper usque à primordio incarnationis vidit Deum Divines observe That the humane nature in Christ had the sight of God from the beginning of his Conception and Incarnation and the reason of this assertion is this Christ was full of grace he had the Spirit of God given to him not by measure Aquinas observes That Christ from the beginning of his Incarnation had more grace given to him than the Saints in Heaven Now the Saints in Heaven are admitted to a clear sight and vision of God therefore if Christ had more grace given to him from the beginning than the Saints in Heaven we must suppose Christ had a clear sight and vision of God besides the great demonstration of Christs love in his sufferings was that he was content to be deprived of the sight and comfort of his Fathers love therefore he crys out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me This argues Christ had been used and accustomed to the sight of his Fathers face and countenance otherwise why did he cry out Why hast thou forsaken me But for our sakes he was content to have his Fathers face hid from him for a time that it might not be hid from us for ever Now then Christ in his humane nature being admitted to the sight of God all the Elect in their measure shall have a share in this priviledge Scientia visionis competit Christo ut capiti electis ut membris The knowledge of vision is first given to Christ as the Head to the Elect as Members and although all the Elect be not as yet admitted to the vision of God yet it is certain they shall be as Christ now is When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3.3 and in the mean time our life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 hid as in the fountain root Tanquam in fonte radice principio and principle of that life Christ in his humane nature being admitted unto the sight of God and communion with him is an argument all the Elect also shall be brought to the same happiness 2. The Son of God by his Incarnation hath delivered our nature from the Curse set it above misery sorrow and death and cloathed it with immortality The sentence pronounced concerning man was That in case he sinned he should dye the death Gen. 2.17 Christ by taking our nature and dying in it hath born the substance of that curse The curse comprehended two things in it First natural death the separation of the soul from the body Secondly spiritual death the separation of the soul from God Here lay the sting of the curse Thou shalt dye the death or In dying thou shalt dye thou shalt not dye once only but dye twice as it were thy soul shall not only be separated from thy body but both body and soul shall be separated from me Now Christ under-went both parts of the curse if rightly understood First Christ in a right sense endured that part of the curse which consisted in a separation from God for although the personal Vnion was never dissolved neither was Christs humane soul ever separated in love or affection from his Father his soul clave in love and affection to his Father in the midst of all his sufferings Christ did not undergo separation from God in either of those respects yet his humane soul was separated for a time from the light and comfort of his Fathers love as was hinted before when he cryed out My God
and eminent effects of his love 1. The first great effect of Christs love which hath been instanced in and already finished is this the work of his Incarnation That the Son of God who was God by Nature and had his subsistence as the second person in Trinity in the Divine Essence from Eternity should take to himself a created nature in time and become true man so that he that was a true person before his Incarnation should by means of his Incarnation become God and man in one person this is one great effect and demonstration of the love of Christ 2. I come now to speak of the second great effect of Christs love and that is his being made under the Law for us And for this end I have chosen this Scripture But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that are under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons This was another great demonstration of the love of Christ that he would not only take our nature and become true man but that he would be made under the Law for us To understand which we must know that the Son of God might have been incarnate and yet not have subjected himself to the Law in that manner as he did for he might have glorified the humane nature in the same moment that he assumed it but that Christ would become subject to the Law and pass under such a course of obedience before he entred into his glory this was the great love of Christ to us There are great Articles of Faith contained in these words Paueis verbis multa complexus est in a few words there are many things comprehended We shall find seven or eight great Articles of Faith comprehended in these few words 1. The first great Article of Faith is this That God had a Son one that was in a peculiar manner his Son and distinguished from all other sons God sent forth his Son There is a great Emphalis lyes in that expression his Son God sent a Son that was peculiarly his Son his Son in a way of eminency and peculiarity from all others sons Therefore is this Son elsewhere called his own Son his proper Son Rom. 8.32 and his only begotten Son Joh. 1.18 The Son of the living God Joh. 6.69 The Angels and Adam were the sons of God by creation but these were not such sons as this Son was This Son that the Text speaks of was not the Son of God by Creation but by eternal Generation Joh. 16.28 I came out from the Father and ar◠come into the world Christ came forth from the Father by eternal Generation he came into the world by his Incarnation There we see his coming forth from the Father and his coming into the world are distinguished one from the other He came forth from the Father by his eternal Generation and he came into the world by his Incarnation Heb. 1.5 To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Prov. 8.25 Before the mountains were setled was I begotten Hence is Christ said to be the first-begotten of every creature Col. 1.25 It is not said the first created of every creature but the first begotten of every creature The meaning is that before the creatures were made and created Christ was begotten by the Father He is not therefore to be placed in the rank of creatures he was begotten not created he was before the creature had any being and existence and therefore by consequence from Eternity 2. The second Article of Faith delivered in these words is this That the Son of God had a preexistence and was in being before he took our nature Mark how the Apostle expresseth it God sent forth his Son He sent him forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emisit it is not simply expressed he sent him but he sent him forth Now if God sent forth his Son it supposeth he was in being before he was so sent forth And if we would know where this Son was before he was sent forth the Evangelist tells us Joh. 1.2 The same was in the beginning with God That very Son who afterwards he saith was incarnate and made flesh vers 14. this very Son in the beginning was with God Therefore the Son was with the Father coexistent with him before he was sent forth into mans nature Some Hereticks have denied that Christ is the Son of God in respect of eternal Generation and that Christ had no existence before he took flesh from the Virgin but this Scripture cuts the throat of that Heresie for this Scripture plainly teacheth us That Christ was the Son of God before he was sent before he was made of a woman before he was made under the Law God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law He was first his Son before he was sent forth before he was made of a woman before he was made under the Law 3. The third Article of Faith contained in these words is this That God had decreed and promised to send forth his Son before he did actually send him into our nature God sent forth his Son This is implied God had a purpose to send him forth before and he had promised to send him forth and when the fulness of time was come then did he actually send him forth In the fulness of time God sent forth his Son as much as if it had been said What he he had purposed and promised before he did in due time accomplish If it be asked Where did God promise to send forth his Son The first great promise was in Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head The meaning of that promise was the Son of God should take flesh of the seed of the woman and so become a Redeemer to the Elect. This promise was renewed to Abraham when God told him In his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed This promise also was renewed to David when God told him Of the fruit of his loyns according to the flesh he would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne Act. 2.30 It was also made to the Prophets in those many promises that were made concerning the Messias 4. The fourth Article contained in these words is this That the Son of God who was promised long before was actually exhibited and manifested in the flesh God sent forth his Son that is he sent him into our nature to take flesh Joh. 1.14 The Word was made flesh He sent forth his Son We must conceive of this aright not that Christ as to his Divine person did cease to be where he was before no it is said of him Joh. 1.18 The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking in the present tense Who is in the bosom of the Father
infinite Justice and Righteousness then he must needs see himself worthy of condemnation and nothing can give ease and quiet to trembling consciences in this case but for a man to turn his eye upon the Satisfaction of Christ and see the Justice of God satisfied in Christ In Christ the Justice of God is satisfied to the utmost upon him was the wrath of God poured out to the full and the whole punishment that was due to us was inflicted upon him hither it is therefore that we must flye for refuge when-ever we are under the sense of guilt and under fears of condemnation by reason of sin there is no refuge but by flying to the Satisfaction of Christ The end of the fourth Sermon SERMON V. Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Proceed now to the seventh Proposition which is this It was the compact and agreement between the Father and the Son that the Son the second Person in Trinity should take our nature and in that nature become our Surety and undertake the payment and discharge of our debt for us I say this was the compact and agreement between the Father and the Son hence is it said The counsel of peace was between them both Zach. 6.13 Some Learned men render it Between those two Inter illos duos that is between the Father and the Son the counsel of peace was between them both Here it may be said Object How could there be such a compact or an agreement as this is between the Father and the Son concerning mans Redemption and Salvation God is but one the Divine Essence is but one and the Divine Will but one How then could there be this compact and agreement between the Father and the Son since they are both one and the same God and have one and the same essential Will To this the Answer is plain Answ that as the Essence of the Father and the Son is but one so the Will is but one But for as much as the Father and the Son are considered as distinct Persons so the counsel of peace is said to be between them both Here are two Persons spoken of from which also the third the Holy Ghost is not to be excluded but all the three Persons agree in one and the same will Now according to the counsel of the whole Trinity the Son the second Person of the three is to take our nature and in that nature to become our Surety hence is it said That Jesus is made a surety of a better Testament Heb. 7.22 And Christ being made a Surety by virtue of the compact that was between him and the Father he is to undertake the payment of our debt for that is the nature of a Surety A Surety is properly an Vndertaker 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that undertakes anothers cause and debt There are some Divines that call this compact between the Father and the Son the Covenant of Redemption and this Covenant of Redemption they describe after this fort namely The Covenant of Redemption say they it is the agreement between the Father and the Son who was designed to be Mediator concerning the Elect who are supposed to lye in sin and misery by their own demerit together with the rest of men I say concerning the Elect to be converted sanctified and saved by virtue of the obedience of the Son as Mediator which was to be performed to the Father this they call the Covenant of Redemption The Apostle doth plainly intimate this compact or agreement that was between the Father and the Son Heb. 10.5 6 7. Wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me In burnt-offering and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God When Christ saith here Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God he plainly refers to that ancient Decree and Compact that was between the Father and himself It was the Fathers will from Eternity that the Son should take a body and offer up that body to make satisfaction for the sins of the Elect and the Son consented to this will of the Father and what he did in time in assuming a body and in offering up that body was in pursuance of that ancient Decree and Compact that was between him and the Father therefore it is said In the volume of the book it is written I come to do thy will O God The eighth Proposition is this That Christ becoming our Surety stands responsible to the Law and is liable to pay all the debt we owe to God Hence are those expressions that he was made under the Law Gal. 4.4 That he was made a Curse for us Gal. 3.10 To understand this we must know that Christ is to be considered as a common Person as sustaining the persons of all the Elect. Look as the first Adam was a common person the obedience which he was bound to perform we were obliged unto and therefore when he sinned we sinned in him and when he became obnoxious to the curse and to death by reason of sin we also became obnoxious to the same Curse and death in him Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned So Christ is to be considered as a common Person Christ undertaking to be our Surety the obedience which we were bound to perform Christ is bound to perform and the punishment which we are obnoxious unto by reason of our violation of the Law Christ becoming our Surety is obnoxious to the same punishment Hence is it said of the first Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he is the figure of him that was to come Rom. 5.14 The figure of him that was to come that is the Type of Christ the first Adam is the Type of the second Adam How so As the first Adam was a common person and all his seed were comprehended in him and represented by him so the second Adam is to be looked upon as a common person and all his seed are comprehended in him and represented by him therefore Christ is called the second Adam 1 Cor. 15.45 The first Adam was made a living soul the second Adam was made a quickning Spirit Here it may be inquired How was it that the first Adam was made a common person And how was it that Christ the second Adam became a common person I answer briefly The first Adam was made a common person by Divine ordination and appointment and by the Law of his Creation he being the head and root of all mankind and Christ was made a common person partly by Divine ordination and appointment and
is it said Every one That so Christ himself saith he might not be excluded Christ who was blessed in his own Righteousness was yet accursed for our sins The curse prevailed so far as to take away Christs life to separate his soul from his body It is true the curse could not prevail so far as to separate either from his person to separate his soul or his body from his person the Person of the Son of God the second Person in Trinity remained united to the soul and body of Christ even when his body and soul were separated each from other and it is our greatest happiness that it was so viz. that the curse could not reach the Person of Christ if I may so express it that is reach his Person so as to dissolve the Union of the two Natures for if the curse could have reached the Person of Christ in the sense I am now speaking of that is if the curse could have extended it self to the Person of Christ so as to dissolve the Union of the two Natures this would have made the death of Christ ineffectual if death could have dissolved the personal Vnion Christs death would have been no more than the death of a meer man of a just man and so his death could not have been meritorious and have satisfied for the sins of the world But though the curse could not take hold of Christs Person so as to dissolve the union between his Person and our nature yet the curse took hold of our nature united to Christs Person The curse did prevail so far as to separate his humane soul from his body To understand this a little more clearly let us consider the Divine nature in Christ was above the Law and above the curse the curse could not reach his Divine nature it could not possibly hurt that but now Christ having assumed our nature and voluntarily made himself subject to the Law and to the curse in our nature the Law hath to do with our nature in Christ We being under sin and under the curse the curse had dominion over us therefore the Apostle tells us That sin reigned unto death Rom. 5.21 Now Christ being our Surety and the Law finding our nature in Christ and that Christ had transferred the guilt of our sins upon himself the Law armed with the curse deals with Christ as a sinner and it proceeds so far as to make the utmost breach upon our nature that it can it rends his holy soul from his pure body And thus for a time the curse seems to triumph over our nature as it stood in Christ Hence is that of the Apostle Rom. 6.9 Christ being dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him This plainly intimates that death and the curse had dominion over Christ for a time and the curse proceeded so far as to the extinction of his natural life his soul was separated from his body though the union between the two natures was not dissolved I come to the third and last Particular and that is this How it was possible for this to be Christ was most blessed in himself how then was it possible for him thus to be made a curse The curse implies anger wrath displeasure in him that pronounceth and inflicts it as hath been shewn how then was it possible for Christ to suffer the wrath of God that was always beloved of God To this several things are to be answered 1. Consider Christ in himself and so he was always beloved of God Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Isa 42.1 Behold mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth And Christ as he was man had more titles than one to his Fathers love 1. Christ had a title to his Fathers love as his Humanity is taken into so near a relation to the natural Son of God The humane nature in Christ is made one in person with the natural Son of God so that there is not another subsistence of the second Person in Trinity and the humane nature but there is one subsistence to the second Person in Trinity and to the humane nature therefore the humane nature being taken in as it were to have its subsistence in the person of the natural Son of God being taken into the unity of the same person must needs be beloved of the Father upon that account above all creatures 2. Christ is beloved of the Father as he is a just and an innocent person and he must needs be beloved of the Father upon that account Isa 46.8 The Lord loveth the righteous Christ being a just and a righteous pâ—â—son the Father could not but love him as considered in himself 3. The Father loved Christ upon the account of his obedience Joh. 10.17 Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life for my sheep and in the next verse This commandment have I received of my Father Christ obeying his Father in laying down his life for his sheep is one title he hath to his Fathers love therefore consider Christ in himself so he was always beloved of the Father 2. Christ suffered the wrath of God as he was our Surety and as he stood in our stead 1 Pet. 4.1 Christ hath suffered for us 1 Pet. 3.18 Christ hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust This is a clear Text Christ was a just person in himself and as he was a just person so he was always beloved of God and could not but be beloved of him But now as he that was a just person in himself gave himself to suffer for the unjust so it was that he bare the wrath of God The wrath of God was due to the unjust Tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath upon every soul of man that doth evil Rom 2. Therefore if the just will suffer for the unjust in their room and stead he must then suffer what they must have suffered It is a true speech of Austin Mors Christi fuit conditionis non criminis Aug. The death which Christ underwent was not in respect of any crime or offence that he himself had committed but it was in respect of the condition that he brought himself into that is Christ suffered the wrath of God not for any crime or offence of his own but in the condition of a Mediator because of our sins Hence is it said That he was delivered up for our offences Rom. 6. ult So in that of the Prophet Isa 53.5 He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him Christ took upon him the discharge and payment of our debt therefore though he was always beloved of God in himself yet as personating and representing us who were sinners so it was that he sustained the wrath of God All we like sheep have gone astray saith the Prophet and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53.6 We
nature to lay down his life and dye for our sins Certainly he that believes this will find no reason to doubt of the love of God If God sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins if he had no other end in sending of him and if the Son of God did freely lay down his life for us then there is no reason that we should retain suspicious and jealous thoughts of the Father or the Son We know and believe the love that God hath to us How so Because God hath sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins If we can realize the sufferings of Christ to our minds by the eye of faith this will confirm our souls in the love of God towards us 2. Another effect of our studying the love of Christ in his sufferings for us is This will be a means to beget much love in us to Christ What more powerful argument to inflame our love to Christ than to consider what Christ hath done and suffered for us Can we behold the Son of God the second Person in Trinity God equal with the Father Emmanuel God with us God come down into our nature can we behold this great and excellent Person giving himself to suffer and dye for us taking the whole curse and punishment upon himself that we deserve and not love this person who hath so loved us and hath done and suffered such things for us The Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constrains us The love of Christ that is Christs love to us the apprehension of Christs love to us constrains us why so Because saith the Apostle we thus judge That if one dyed for all then were all dead If Christ had not dyed we must all have dyed If Christ had not suffered the wrath of God we must have suffered it to Eternity If Christ had not been deserted we must have been deserted If he had not undergone dereliction and the hiding of Gods face the face of God must have been turned away from us for ever If Christ had not conflicted with the Divine displeasure we must have conflicted with the wrath of God for ever If Christ had not been cast into that Agony wherein he sweat drops of blood we must have been cast into those inexpressible horrours and torments of soul and body which would have pressed us down to all Eternity The deep and serious consideration of these things cannot but constrain us to love Christ The love of Christ constrains us saith the Apostle because we thus judge That if one dyed for all then were all dead The consideration of this That Christ hath freed us from that by his death which otherwise we must necessarily have undergone must needs be a strong ingagement upon us to love Christ We love him because he first loved us Learn how great the sin and ingratitude of the world is in slighting and abusing all this love Vse 2 and also how just that revenge is which God takes upon the world for slighting and abusing all this love If the love of Christ be so eminently seen in his suffering and dying for sinful men for the sinful world then how great is the sin and ingratitude of the world in slighting and abusing all this love God hath sent his Son from Heaven to save the world he hath sent his Son from Heaven to dye for the world but all this love is little thought of little regarded or esteemed by the generality of men this is the cause of the Lords great indignation against the world The world is guilty of many other sins it is guilty of great immoralities and many abominations in point of practice and these may have their influence and no doubt have as to the bringing down Gods displeasure upon the sinful world but that which is the fundamental sin the root sin of all it is the contempt of Christ and the Gospel the slighting and rejecting Gospel-love Gospel-grace This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light And we may say This is the condemnation that love is come into the world that the Son of God who is love it self the Son of God who hath all the love of the Father in him and God is love that he is come into the nature of man and hath dyed for men that they might be saved and this is not at all regarded by them When all this love of his hath been published and made known to men the generality of men have taken no notice of Christ and his love so they may have their honours pleasures and profits take Christ and his grace who will for them for this so great contempt of Christ and his grace when God hath offered his love and the grace of his Gospel to the world and men have slighted it taken no notice of it hath God come to revenge himself upon the ingrateful world and I speak it with a bleeding heart I fear will yet revenge it more sorely The end of the sixteenth Sermon SERMON XVII Job 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Come now to other Particulars that set forth the greatness of Christs suffering for us 5. The greatness of Christs love in laying down his life for us appears in this That there was no one else that could have satisfied for us If men or Angels had attempted this work their sufferings had been but the sufferings of finite creatures there would not have been infinite worth and value in them to have satisfied for the sins of the whole world The expiation of sin requires a price of infinite value and the reason is because every sin is committed against an infinite Majesty an infinite Majesty being offended there must be a price of infinite value to expiate the offence Now whoever had been but a meer man could not have offered a price of infinite value but Christs sufferings were of infinite value because he was God as well as man and this is that which enhanceth the price of Christs love that none else could have suffered for us but Christ so as to have satisfied Gods Justice this Christ himself sets before us Isa 63.3 I have trod the wine-press alone and of the people there was none with me So vers 5. I looked and there was none to help and I wondered there was none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation This commends the greatness of Christs love in his sufferings That when none was able to suffer for us so as to satisfie Gods Justice Christ undertook the work The sixth Consideration is The greatness of Christs love in his sufferings appears in this That so great and excellent a person should come to suffer for us 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us that is that he who was the Son of God and God that
he who was so excellent a person should lay down his life for us By this perceive we the love of God that is this was the most eminent expression and declaration of the love of God that that person who was no other than the Son of God and God should lay down his life for us As the dignity and excellency of Christs person gives virtue and value to his Sacrifice so the dignity and excellency of his person is that which doth enhance the price of his love that so great and excellent a person should come to suffer and to dye for us this commends the greatness of Christs love to us Act. 20.28 God redeemed the Church with his own blood The person that redeemed the Church was no other than God in our nature Without controversie great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 In him the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily Col. 2.9 The whole Divinity says one of the Ancients fills his whole humanity Totum corpus ejus implet tota Divinitas And Athanasius hath this expression When the Son of God suffered he was not out of his own body but the Word was intimately present was personally united to the flesh that suffered Non erat extra corpus The Word the second Person in Trinity was not absent from but was personally united to the flesh that suffered therefore he says This is my body that was broken for you The Son of God calls it his body when it was broken Now that so great a person should give himself to suffer and dye for us this is that which demonstrates the greatness of Christs love to us This is notably set forth by the Apostle Phil. 2.6 8. Who being in the form of God counted it no robbery to be equal with God and yet vers 8. saith the Apostle He humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the cross The Apostle sets forth the greatness of Christs condescension and humiliation by this That so great a person as Christ was should come to suffer and dye for us He was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God Now that this person who was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with him that he should come to suffer and dye for us this was the admirableness of his love And that we may see how excellent a person that was that came to suffer and dye for us there are several things to be considered in what the Apostle here speaks of him 1. The Apostle speaks of Christ as a person long before his Incarnation that is to be gathered from that expression when it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui existens Who existing in the form of God The Apostle saith of Christ That he existed in the form of God before he took upon him the form of a servant Christ then had his existence and subsistence before his Incarnation 1. He had his Existence Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word He speaks of Christ the essential Word the Son of God the second Person in Trinity Now saith the Evangelist In the beginning was the Word The Word the Son of God had his existence in the beginning that is in the beginning of the Creation The Word was that is when all other things had their being and beginning given them before that the Word was the Word had his Being and existence before that and therefore by consequence he was from Eternity for whatever was before all time that must needs be from Eternity Now the Word the Son of God the second Person in Trinity was in the beginning that is he was in the beginning of time and the Creation when all other things began to be he had his Being and Existence antecedent unto this 2. The Evangelist doth not only say In the beginning was the Word but he also saith The Word was with God there is his subsistence he had his subsistence with the Father in the Divine Essence The first Proposition In the beginning was the Word declares the Eternity of the Son of God that his Being was from Eternity The second Proposition And the Word was with God declares the manner of his Being namely that he had a distinct subsistence in the Divine Essence with the Father The Word the Son of God the second Person in Trinity had his subsistence with the Father in the Divine Essence This is that which is set forth by the Apostle in this expression Who being in the form of God or as it is most properly rendred Who existing in the form of God The Son of God then had his existence in the form of God before he took on him the form of a servant i. e. before he took up humane nature And this perfectly cuts the throat of that Heresie of some of the Ancients and of the Socinians their off-spring who deny that the Son of God had any existence before his being born of the Virgin The Apostle saith plainly he had his Being and existence in the form of God before he took on him the form of a servant 2. As the Apostle speaks of Christ as a person before his Incarnation so he shews what manner of person he was he shews him to be an excellent person yea the most excellent person He was saith he in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God We ought to consider both these expressions a little because this person of whom it is said He was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God this was the person that humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the cross 1. It is said He was in the form of God What doth that expression import The plain meaning I take to be this That he was truly and properly God he was God by nature he was not God by name only as some have been called Gods and have had that appellation given to them but were not so by nature so Magistrates are sometimes called Gods I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dye like men Psal 82 6. God said to Moses I have made thee a God to Pharaoh so that some have been called Gods by name and appellation but were not so by nature but Christ was so by nature truly and properly God he had the verity and truth of the Divine Essence in him In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God that is he was truly and properly God as the Father was whatever might be said of God might be said of him God is eternal infinite almighty omniscient now all this was Christ because he was in the form of God and whatever was proper to God was proper to him Essentia Dei suis coloribus depicta Essentia omnibus suis proprietatibus
personal subsistence in the Godhead his taking our nature the Vnion of the two Natures the Nature of God and the nature of man in that one person of Christ his Passion his Resurrection his Ascension into Heaven his sitting at the right hand of God in our nature all these are wonders Now his love is the root and foundation of all and runs through all whatsoever respects us whatsoever Christ is whatsoever Christ doth with relation to us his love is the root of all and runs through all his love runs through his Incarnation Passion Resurrection Ascension and sitting at the Fathers right hand It was out of love to us he took up our nature subjected himself to the Law dyed in our nature rose again in it carried our nature into Heaven and wears it there and will wear it to all Eternity I say his love is the root of all this My desire is to speak a little of this infinite Love of Christ The Apostle intimates in the Text that it is a great duty incumbent on us to take in as much as possibly we can of this infinite and incomprehensible love of Christ That ye may comprehend with all Saints what are the heights c. Here it may be inquired what is this expression added with all Saints I conceive it is to shew us two things First That Grace in the hearts of the Saints doth naturally put them upon this study It is the natural tendency of the Spirit of Saints as they are Saints to study and take in as much of the love of Christ as is possible That ye may comprehend with all Saints as much as if he should say This is that which all Saints are pressing after and aspiring unto they all desire to know more and more of the love of Christ Secondly This expression is added to shew that it is the great duty of all the Saints to make the Love of Christ their great study That ye may comprehend with all Saints as much as if he should say It is your duty and the duty of all the Saints to study the dimensions of Christs love What will Heaven be but a clear and perfect knowledge of the love of God in Christ Then shall we know and understand perfectly what the purpose of the Father was to communicate himself to the Elect by the Son and so shall we be filled with the fulness of God as the expression is here in this Text and elsewhere it is said God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 Not that we shall be able in Heaven it self to comprehend and take in the whole of this love for our understanding being finite cannot fully comprehend the infinite love of God but the souls of the Elect shall then be brim-full of it they shall take in as much of this love as they are able to contain Now there is something of this love may be understood and taken in here on earth for the Apostle is speaking of something that may be taken in here on earth when he saith that you may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the height and depth and breadth and length of the love of Christ as much as if he should say This is that knowledge that the Saints ought to be pressing after here on earth all Saints ought to aim and level at this mark The more we know and understand of this love of Christ the more will our hearts be ravished with it and the more shall we be over-powered and swallowed up in the admiration of it for we love him because he first loved us Amor est qui amatur It is love it self that is that which we love it is Gods love to us made known to us in and by his Son that must draw our hearts to love him The great end why God chuseth his people is that they should be holy and unblameable before him in love Eph. 1.4 Now this being the great end of God to bring us to love him the more we come to know and understand his infinite love to us the more will our love be perfected towards him There are two things that lye in the words of the Text. 1. Here is a Supposition The Supposition is that the love of Christ is exceeding great and carries all dimensions in it That ye may comprehend what is the height and the depth and the breadth and length of the love of Christ The Apostle supposeth this that there are heights and depths and breadths and lengths in the love of Christ 2. We have in the Text the Apostles prayer for the Saints upon this supposition and that is that the love of Christ being so great they may know understand and comprehend it more and more There are two Observations or Doctrines that do naturally arise from the words of the Text. Doct. 1 That the Love of Christ is infinite and surpassing great and such a love as carries all manner of dimensions in it there are heights and depths and breadths and lengths in Christs Love Doct. 2 That it ought to be the endeavour of all the Saints to know understand comprehend and take in more and more of this infinite and surpassing love of Christ I shall begin to speak to the first Observation which is That the Love of Christ is infinite and surpassing great Doct. 1 and such a love as carries all manner of dimensions in it there are heights and depths breadths and lengths in the Love of Christ Here there are two things I shall treat of 1. Shew what the Love of Christ is 2. Shew how the greatness infiniteness and surpassingness of this Love may be a little described and set forth to us 1. We must open the Nature of Christs Love in the general To understand this there is a threefold Love we may distinguish of 1. There is a love of Benevolence or good-will 2. There is the love of Beneficence 3. There is the love of Complacency 1. There is the love of Benevolence or good-will and this is nothing else but an intention purpose or decree of doing good to another 2. There is the love of Beneficence and this is that love whereby a man doth not only will good to another but doth actually confer and bestow some good upon him and this is not so properly love as the effect of love 3. There is the love of Complacency and that is when a man takes delight and pleasure in that good which is in another According to this threefold distinction we may a little conceive of the Love of Christ 1. There is the love of Benevolence or good-will in Christ This is such a love whereby a man wills good to another purposes and intends to bestow good upon him This love was in the Lord Jesus Christ Christ had a purpose and intention from Eternity to bestow grace and glory upon his people To understand which we must know that all the works of the Trinity which do respect
yet thus we ought to conceive of it God being love love being his very nature and essence God loves the creatures freely indeed but yet he loves according to the condecency or becomingness of his own goodness What so proper to Love as to love God is love Bonum est sui ipsius diffusivum and therefore he loveth us The more good any thing is the more diffusive it is of it self God is good by nature and essence there is no one good but God Mat. 19.17 Creatures are good by participation but they are not originally essentially good but the Essence of God is goodness therefore God being goodness it self it is most agreeable to his nature to impart and communicate good to the creature 3. The third Consideration The love that is in the Godhead or Divine nature in Christ is the cause of all the love that is to be found in his humane nature The humane nature indeed is the glass in which the perfections of the Divine nature do shine forth but the Godhead is the source and spring of all Gods love is most visible to us in the effects of it that God should be incarnate and become man that the Law should be fulfilled for us that the pains and torments of Hell should be suffered and undergone for us that our nature should be carried into Heaven and filled with glory there these are the effects of Divine love and these effects of love are made visible and conspicuous in the humane nature but the Divine nature is the principal Efficient in all these For mark it it is the Divine nature in the person of the Son which sanctifies the humanity and assumes it into unity of person that carries forth the humanity as to all actions and sufferings so that if these be demonstrations of the highest love for God to dwell in our nature to see the Law fulfilled for us to see the torments and pains of Hell undergone for us to see Divine Justice satisfied for us we ought to behold and contemplate the love of the Divine nature as the first root of these things for it is the Divine nature that is the principal efficient cause of all God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. 1 Joh. 3.16 There was the love of the humanity which did concur in Christs laying down his life for us That the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do Joh. 14.31 Christ as man loved the Father and having received a commandment from the Father he laid down his life for the sheep He was willing even as man out of love to the Father and to the sheep to lay down his life but notwithstanding this the love that was in his Divine nature was the principal therefore doth John say Hereby we perceive the love of God that he laid down his life for us 1 Joh. 3.16 Therefore we ought not to terminate our thoughts or to stick meerly in the consideration of the actions and sufferings of Christ-man but we ought to contemplate the love of the Divine nature in all these things for it was the Godhead was the primary and principal cause Habuit rationem causae minùs principalis ministrae and the humane nature is to be considered as the less principal cause and as the servant to the Divinity So that whatsoever is sweet or amiable in Christ as man consider all his actions and sufferings in the humane nature and whatsoever may make him amiable in that respect we ought to look to the Divine nature as the principal cause and to the humanity as acted by the Divinity the humanity is the Organ of the Divinity in all these things Thus have we passed over the second Consideration there are heights and lengths and depths and breadths in the love of Christ if we consider the love of Christ distinctly as it is to be found in both his natures in his Divine and humane nature 3. I proceed in the third place to speak something of the effects of Christs love As the love of Christ hath heights depths lengths and breadths and all manner of dimensions in it if we consider it in the properties of it and as it is to be found in both his natures so it hath the same dimensions in it if we consider the effects of his love The effects of Christs love are most admirable 1. The first effect of Christs love is his Incarnation O that God would give us an heart to listen to the great Mysteries of God that are contained herein as the weight of these things requires that the Word should be made flesh that God should assume a part of humane nature and become true man here are heights breadths lengths Opus mirabile opus singulare inter omnia super omnia opera sua and depths of love indeed Bernard calls the Incarnation of Christ a wonderful work a singular work among all the rest of Gods works yea above all the rest of his other works The work of Incarnation is the greatest of all the works of God it is a greater work than the creation of Heaven and Earth for God to make all creatures out of nothing this is a work suitable to the Majesty of God but for God to come into the nature of his own creature after he hath made it this is more wonderful Quid potentius quà m conjungere Creatorem creaturam Creator ac Dominus omnium unus voluit esse mortalium qui manens in forma Dei fecit hominem idem in formaservi factus est homo Leo. Non miror miracula mundi miror Deum in utero Virginis What greater Argument of power than to joyn the Creator and the creature in one Phil. 2.7 8. Made in the likeness of men and found in fashion as a man They are melting expressions to any one that weighs them and considers what the meaning of them is For the God of Heaven to be made in the likeness of men and to be found in fashion as a man this will overcome and swallow him up that understands a little what the meaning of that is Heb. 4.15 This work of Christs Incarnation is a stupendious work the greatest work that ever was done the greatest that ever shall be done The glorification of all the Saints in Heaven is not so much as this for the Godhead to dwell personally in our nature This was that made Cyprian to say I do not wonder at the other miracles that are in the world I wonder at this that God should be in the womb of a Virgin that God who is incorporeal should cover himself with the covering of our flesh that he who is invisible should after a sort make himself visible that he who is the immortal God should become a mortal man that he who is infinite and uncircumscribed should take to himself a finite nature these
truth of a thing more vehemently and strongly The Apostle lays much weight and stress upon this Verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels It is as much as if he had said Truly herein is our nature advanced above Angels in that the Son of God did take part of our nature and did not assume Angelical nature If we look upon Angelical nature in it self and consider the nature of Angels simply so Angelical nature is superiour a nature superiour to our nature therefore is it said that man is made a little lower than the Angels Humane nature simply considered in it self is inferiour to Angelical nature but then look upon our nature as it is advanced in Christ the Head of the Church and so it is preferred above Angels therefore is it said that Christ is exalted far above principalities and powers might and dominion and every name that is names not only in this world but in that which is to come Eph. 1.20 21. The Apostle in that place is speaking of Christ-man Now Christ-man is exalted above Principalities and Powers that is above the Angels yea and above every name that is named not only in this world but in that which is to come hence is it that the Angels are commanded to worship Christ Heb. 1.6 Now although it be true that the Divine nature in Christ is the proper and formal object of worship yet the Angels are commanded to worship the Son of God in our nature to worship the Son of God cloathed with our nature Therefore is it said When he brings in his first-begotten Son into the world he saith Let all the Angels of God worship him The Angels were not only to worship the Son of God before his Incarnation but after his Incarnation The Son of God when incarnate and cloathed with our flesh did not cease to be the natural coessential Son of God he was the Son of God and God before he took the nature of man upon him In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God Joh. 1.1 This is spoken of him before his Incarnation therefore as the Angels were to worship him before he was cloathed with our nature so they were to worship him after he was cloathed with our nature 2. The second Consideration is this The advancement of our nature by the work of Incarnation appears in this In that by means of the Incarnation a part of our nature is joyned to the second person in Trinity continueth in personal union with him so that the Son or that Person whom the Scripture calls the Word with the humane nature assumed is and continues to be the second person in Trinity We have already heard how that by means of the Incarnation of the Son of God we come to have communion with the whole Trinity That which I have to add in this Proposition is to shew what that near relation is which the humane nature assumed hath unto the Trinity and how that by means of the personal union the humane nature assumed hath a nearer relation unto the Trinity than any creature whatsoever It is a Position and a Maxime both of ancient and modern Divines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum proprià sua carne socunda persona Trinitatis Chemnit lib. de duabus in Christo Naturâ—s That that person of the Trinity whom the Scripture calls the Word with his proper flesh is the second person of the Trinity Now we must understand this aright when Divines say The Son or the Word with his proper flesh is the second person of the Trinity 1. we must not suppose that hereby is intended any conversion in the natures as if so be the humane nature assumed were taken into the substance or essence of the Trinity for that is impossible we must still remember how that the two natures the Divine and humane nature after this union is made in the person of the Son always remain essentially different and distinct that is the Divinity doth always remain to be the Divinity and the humanity to be the humanity that is it remains true humane nature after the personal Union 2. Neither must we suppose that the Son of God assumes a humane person but a humane nature for if the Son of God had assumed a humane person then there had been a Quaternity not a Trinity four persons not three any longer and this the doctrine of the Gospel is most abhorring from For the Gospel tells us That there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5.7 The Gospel speaks but of three and this the Gospel speaks of after the Incarnation of one of these persons namely after the Incarnation of the Word which is the second of these three for when John wrote this Epistle the Word was made flesh and had carried that nature assumed of his into Heaven and yet notwithstanding the Apostle saith there are but three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost so that the Word with his own proper flesh is but one and the same person There is a new person added to the Trinity by the Word 's being made flesh as he is said to be Joh. 1.14 But that person whom the Scripture calls the Word or the Son of God I say the Word assuming humane nature is and continues to be the second person of the Trinity therefore we ought to conceive of it thus The humane nature in Christ subsists not of it self or by it self neither doth the humane nature constitute any peculiar person by it self but the humane nature is taken into the unity of the person of the Word and subsists wholly in and by the person of the Word who is the second person in Trinity The Word who was a person from Eternity and subsisted in the Divine nature only before the Incarnation by reason of the Incarnation subsists in both natures the Divine and humane so that the Word which the humane nature assumed is and remains to be the second person in Trinity Mark the Word's assumption of humane nature doth not make him cease to be a person in the Trinity which he was before the Incarnation That he was a person in the Trinity before his Incarnation is clear from Joh. 1. Neither doth the Word's assuming of humane nature make an addition of any new person to the Trinity but thus we ought to conceive of it One and the same person who subsisted in the Divine nature only before his Incarnation by means of his Incarnation subsists in both natures so that we may truly say The Word with his proper flesh that is the Word with the humane nature assumed is and remains to be the second person in Trinity It is a speech which Austin hath Homine assumpto non auctus est numerus personarum Trinitatis sed eadem Trinitas mansit When the nature of man was assumed by
and help us True indeed God is love in himself his name is the Lord gracious merciful long-suffering pardoning iniquity transgression and sin but God being at such a distance from us and also a God of such infinite Purity and Majesty we are apt to doubt whether God will take any notice of such vile and sinful worms as we are therefore in a way of condescension God is come down into our nature that so faith may have the greater incouragement that since God dwells in the nature of man he will not shut up his own bowels against them who are his own brethren and kindred Christ is akin to us nearly allied to us in respect of his humanity one in nature with us in respect of his humanity as he is nearly allied to his Father and one in nature with him in respect of his Divinity Heb. 2.11 The Apostle here speaks of Christ and his Members He that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are of one that is they are one and the same nature of one and the same common nature We may well suppose that part of our nature which Christ wears will put him in mind to be kind to us if he were not otherwise inclined unto us There is a common Law of humanity which commands some compassion in all men even in those who are most degenerate by sin the Law of common humanity will force some bowels from the worst of men to them that are in great distress How powerful then is this Law where the force of it is not abated by any allay from sin but where this Law is heightned and elevated by the greatest measures of grace and the presence of the Divinity inhabiting in the humanity Thus it is in Christ Christ hath the greatest perfection of grace in him and the presence of the Divinity inhabiting in his humanity Hence it is our Saviour comforts the hearts of his Disciples upon this account Joh. 14.1 Ye believe in God believe also in me It is as much as if he should say You take this for granted this is a confessed Principle among you you ought to believe in God now you believe in God believe also in me Our Saviours meaning is this Look upon God come down into a part of your nature behold God in my humanity Ye believe in God believe also in me Faith in Christ is no prejudice to faith in God the Father at the same time we believe in Christ we believe in God the Father for the Divine Essence is one and the same in all the three persons at the same time we believe in the Son we believe in the Father Now our Saviour to incourage us to believe would have us to behold God in the glass of his humanity You believe in God believe also in me As much as if he should say I that am now speaking to you am God and man in one person you cannot think that I your Lord and Master who have been conversing with you so long and of whose tenderness and compassion you have had so much experience should want any bowels or tenderness in me to do you good now I am God as well as man if you think I am inclined to pity you as I amman I want no power to help and relieve you as I am God 15. The love of Christ in his Incarnation is seen in this In that by means of his Incarnation there is a foundation laid for the work of his Mediatorship in general and also for executing those three great Offices of Prophet Priest and King in particular My design is not at present to treat of Christs Mediatorship at large nor to speak largely of his Offices but only to shew how Christs Incarnation or his taking of our nature lays the foundation for his undertaking the work of Mediatorship in general and also of executing those three great Offices in particular of a Prophet Priest and King and also to shew how his love is demonstrated to us in this 1 Christs undertaking the Office of Mediatorship is the great demonstration of his love to us for Christ as Mediator brings us back to God we were at variance with God now we being at a distance from God and at enmity with him by reason of sin there was need of a Mediator to reconcile the difference and bring God and us together Now here was the great demonstration of the love of Christ that the Son of God would undertake the Office of Mediator and that he might do so he was willing to take up our nature in his Incarnation that he might perform the Office of Mediator in it Hence is that expression of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2.5 There is one Mediator between God and man the man Jesus Christ The Apostles intention in using this expression the Man Christ Jesus is not to exclude the Divine nature from the person of the Mediator for it is here observed by Calvin when the Apostle calls him Man he doth not hereby deny him to be God for this is a sure Rule in Divinity The person of the Mediator accomplisheth the work of Redemption according to both natures so that the work of Redemption is the work of the person working in both natures that which is proper to each nature Hence is it that a Judicious Divine observes By a wonderful temperament it is so ordered that the Hypostatical union of the two natures is made in the person of Christ Vt esset mediatrix humana Divinitas Divina humanitas August that he who is our Mediator should be Man-God and God-man therefore we ought thus to conceive of it Christ took up our nature that he might perform the Office of Mediator in it and this is expressed by the Apostle Heb. 10.5 When he cometh into the world he saith Sacrifices and burnt-offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me When he comes into the world Christ came into the world by his Incarnation by his Assumption and taking up of our nature and wherefore did he come into the world It was to perform the Office of a Mediator to reconcile us to God to offer up the great Sacrifice for sin Other Sacrifices would not serve the turn and therefore the Son of God would offer the great and true Sacrifice namely the Sacrifice of himself and by this means reconcile us to God Now what must Christ do that he may perform the Office of Mediator and reconcile us to God He must take a true humane body Sacrifices and burnt-offerings thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me The Son of God must assume mans nature if he will be a Mediator between God and man It is the office of a Mediator to conjoyn and unite those between whom he is a Mediator The extremes are united in some middle and he that is Mediator had need to have some interest in both parties to be reconciled Christ therefore being to reconcile us to God and to unite
not able to pay so that whatever the debt is the surety who is ingaged stands under an obligation to see it satisfied Christ then becoming our Surety all that obligation that lay upon us from the law is now derived upon him Now Christ brings himself under this obligation to the law two ways 1. By his own free consent and stipulation to the Father He that is otherwise free if he enter into Bonds and Covenants to discharge anothers debt become an engaged person Though he were free before he is now no longer free but becomes engaged by his own voluntary consent Thus Christ who was free and disingaged in himself did enter into a Covenant and agreement with the Father to undertake our cause and to do and suffer what was necessary to be done and suffered in order to our Salvation Heb. 10.7 Then I said Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me To do thy will O God When Christ saw the Fathers heart was set on the Salvation of man and that for that end the Father was willing Christ should undertake the cause and business of their Salvation Christ was as willing as the Father was and he saith Lo I come to do thy will Hence is it that the Counsel of Peace is said to be between them both Zac. 6.13 The Father to speak after the manner of men propounds and the Son consents so that the Son who was free and disingaged in himself brings himself under an obligation by his own free promise and stipulation Hence it is that Christ becomes the Head of the second Covenant the second Adam and all the Elect are his seed and Christ undertakes for them Isa 53.10 2. Christ brought himself under obligation to the Law by his own voluntary assumption of our nature for that end that he might become subject to the Law in it This the Apostle sets forth at large Phil. 2.6 He was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God but he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient Here are two things by which the Apostle sets forth the greatness of Christs Condescension 1. That he being in the form of God and who might have continued in the form of God only yet that he was pleased to take upon him the form of a servant and become true man this is one part of his condescension The other part of his condescension is that he would take upon him the form of a servant and become man for this very end that he might become obedient and that he might perform all the acts of obedience in the humane nature assumed Christ was not bound to take our nature at all but he might have continued always in the form of God only or if he will take our nature he was not bound to take it in that servile way so as to be bound to all acts of obedience but here was the greatness of Christs condescension as he will take our nature so he will take it for that end that in our nature he may obey and fulfil the Law for us And therefore it is emphatically expressed in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Factum seu redactum sub lege He was made obedient and so in the Text He was made under the Law Christ was made or reduced under the Law so some render it Christ was reduced to that state and condition as to be in a state of subjection to the Law whereas he was naturally above it Christ was made or reduced under this power and authority of the Law by his own free consent whereas naturally the Law had no such power or authority over him 3. The third and last Proposition is this For Christ to be under the Law is to be under the Judirisction of the Law and to be actually subject to it Christ having put himself under the obligation of the law the law hath full power and authority over him and the law requires perfect and exact obedience from him as it doth from any other man and Christ doth now stand bound and obliged to yield and perform that obedience which the law requires Hence Christ is called Isa 42.1 the Fathers servant he is said to love the Father to do and keep the Fathers commandments Joh. 14.31 15.10 Christ as man was under a law of love and obedience to his Father he was also subject to his Parents after the flesh he submitted to the Baptism of John and gives this reason for it Thus it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness Mat. 3.15 Christ being made man becoming our surety and being made under the law for us was bound to all the moral Duties which the law requires and so to fulfil all righteousness for us And the reason of it is If Christ had left any thing undone that the law requires of us then there had been so far a defect in that which was to become our righteousness for the obedience of Christ was to be the matter of our righteousness Rom. 5.19 By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous The law accepts of nothing but a perfect compleat righteousness therefore if Christ had left any thing to be done that the law requires to be done there had been so far a defect in that which must be our righteousness for Justification therefore Christ was obliged to all that obedience which the law required from us 2. I come now to the second thing to shew wherein the greatness of the love of Christ doth appear and discover it self in his being made under the Law I shall lay down several Propositions for the clearing of this 1. The love of Christ in being made under the law appears in this In that Christ in respect of his Original right was free from all subjection to the law Christ in respect of his person and his Divine nature was above the law Christ as he was God was Supreme and the Author of the law as he was the second person in the Trinity so he was equal to the Father and of equal authority with him It is true the humane nature in Christ was a creature and therefore in a state of subjection as every creature must necessarily be supposed to be But then we must consider that although the humane nature of Christ be a creature and considered simply so is in a state of subjection yet Christ in respect of his Original right is free from all subjection And this may be evidenced from these following Considerations 1. Although it be true that the humane nature in Christ be a creature yet the humane nature hath its subsistence in and by that person who is Divine and increated And hence is it that the Schoolmen do deny that Christ is to be called a Creature There is a
weigh and ponder these things you may well cry out O the depths O the depths of Christs love 3. The third Particular is this The Heart of Christ was much in this work As Christ was ready and prepared to dye and what he did was free and voluntary of his own accord without any necessity compelling him thereunto but what he voluntarily brought himself under so the heart of Christ was much set upon this work of laying down his life for us Lo I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Luk. 12.50 The Heart and Spirit of Christ as he was man was most intent upon this work yea there was the concourse of both his Wills his Divine and humane will in laying down his life for us Here I shall shew a little how there was the concourse of both Christs Wills his humane and Divine will in this work 1. Christ as man according to his humane will was willing to suffer and dye for us For though he prayed Father save me from this hour Joh. 12.27 and thereby shewed the verity and truth of our nature in him and the greatness of the sufferings he was to undergo yet presently he adds in the very next words Nevertheless for this end came I to this hour hereby plainly declaring that although the Verity of humane nature which was in him had a natural aversness in it from suffering yet such was his love to the Father and to our Salvation that that love overcame that inclination of nature if I may so call it or that natural aversness rather which was in humane nature from suffering Save me from this hour for this end came I to this hour Though Nature would have abhorred suffering and spared it self take it as to its natural inclination and tendency yet such was his love to his Father and us that it made him lay aside the inclinations of Nature and to break through that natural aversness that was in humane nature from suffering 2. Christ who was God as well as true man according to his Divine will was willing to dye and suffer even in that nature of ours which he had assumed The Divinity did not suffer could not suffer but the person who was God as well as man according to his Divine will as well as according to his humane will was willing to suffer and dye in that nature of ours which he assumed Joh. 17.19 For their sakes sanctifie I my self For what was it that Christ was sanctified he sanctified himself to be a Sacrifice for our sins he sanctified himself by his Death and Sufferings so is this Text generally expounded by Divines I sanctifie my self to suffer well but how did Christ sanctifie himself he sanctified himself in that nature in which he suffered and dyed he suffered in the humane name therefore it was in that nature that he sanctified himself O but who was the person sanctifying all this while It was I I sanctifie my self None but God can say I sanctifie my self no meer creature can say I sanctifie my self Christ therefore that was God could say I sanctifie my self Christ therefore as he was God or according to his Divine will sanctifies himself as man to be a Sacrifice for our sins Hence is it that we have that expression Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified even by the offering up the body of Jesus once for all By the which will we are sanctified The will here spoken of is the will of God the Father as is plain by the Context Now then this will of the Father and Christs will as he is God is one and the same for as the Father and the Son have but one Essence so they have but one Will. Now by the Divine will which is one and the same in the Father and the Son are we sanctified By the which will we are sanctified by the offering up of the body of Jesus once for all saith the Apostle It was the Divine will that the body of Jesus should be offered up and Christ according to his humane will was willing to offer himself up for the Son being in our nature speaks to the Father after this sort Lo I come to do thy will so that as I said there was the concourse of both wills in Christ the humane and Divine will in offering up himself in laying down his life for us And this I speak to shew how willing how infinitely willing Christ was in this work of offering himself and that his heart lay wholly in this work both his wills his will as God and his will as man was ingaged in this work of laying down his life for us 4. The fourth Particular is this As Christ was ready and willing to give up his life for us so he did actually lay down his life for us Eph. 5.24 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that is he gave himself actually for the Church It was not only in the purpose and intention of his heart to do it but he gave himself actually for the Church Christ did actually offer up his life a Sacrifice for us Eph. 5.2 Christ hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour In every Sacrifice there is the thing sacrificed the Altar the Priest and the Oblation or the offering up of the Sacrifice Now Christ did actually offer up himself a Sacrifice for us It was not enough that the beast to be sacrificed was brought to the Altar but he must be slain there and offered up upon the Altar Thus Christ gave his body to be crucified and he actually offered himself to Divine Justice for us hence is it said that He was delivered up for our offences 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 4.25 Who was delivered up that is delivered up to death delivered up to death and suffering by the Fathers will and pleasure and by his own voluntary offering up of himself Hence is it that we read of the offering up of the body of Jesus once for all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.10 By the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ made an offering or oblation of himself to the Father Heb. 9.26 Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself The meaning is Christ hath appeared in our nature to destroy and abolish sin by offering up himself a Sacrifice for sin 5. The fifth and last Particular is this That Christ in laying down his life for us intended it as a price and ransom to expiate and take away the guilt of our sins The Socinians the great Adversaries to Christian Religion cannot bear this They will not admit that Christ laid down his life as a price or ransom or by way of satisfaction to atone God for the sins we have committed They tell
Christ as one God with the Father and the Spirit so Satisfaction is made to him Consider Christ as Mediator and so he is that Person that makes the Satisfaction Every sin is an offence committed against the Divine Majesty Now for as much as all the Trinity have the same Essence of the Divinity in them therefore we must of necessity suppose that when Satisfaction is made to one of the Persons Satisfaction is made to the other also because they have all one and the same Essence and it is the Divine Majesty that is offended in all The Son therefore the second Person in Trinity considered as God so Satisfaction is made to him as well as to the Father and the Spirit but now consider him as God-man and Mediator so he is the Person that makes the satisfaction and Christ considered as Mediator makes satisfaction to himself considered as God Hence are those expressions Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people Here we see how Christ hath redeemed and purified to himself a peculiar people So Eph. 5.7 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church Neither is it incongruous or improper to say that Christ hath made satisfaction to himself because amongst men one man doth not satisfie himself but one man makes satisfaction to another I say this is not incongruous or improper in respect of Christ and the reason is because Christ may be considered two ways 1. Christ may be considered in respect of his Divine Nature as he is one with the Father Hence it is said I and my Father are one Joh. 10.30 In this respect Christ is the Person offended Consider Christ in respect of his Divine Nature meerly so he is the Person offended 2. Christ may be considered as to his Office which he voluntarily undertook and so though he were the Person offended yet was he willing to take our nature and in that nature to become a Mediator between God and us by his own voluntary condescension so that the same Person after a different respect or consideration receives the satisfaction and also gave it Christ received the Sacrifice of Atonement considered as God he also offered the Sacrifice as Mediator as God-man in a way of voluntary condescension 2. Another thing that is to be laid down is this We say that Christs Satisfaction is one of his Mediatorial actions because there was the concourse of both the Natures in Christ in this work of his Satisfaction Christ is Mediator according to both Natures and in all the Mediatorial actions of Christ the Person acts in both Natures influencing each nature to do that which is proper to it self It is a known Rule in Divinity Vtraque Natura agit cum communione alterius Each of the Natures in Christ acts with a communion of the other Nature The work of Satisfaction is neither accomplished by the Divinity without the Humanity neither is it performed by the Humanity without the influence and virtue of the Divinity The Divine Nature in Christ is the principal efficient cause and the humane Nature is to be considered as the ministring or subservient cause Joh. 6.63 our Saviour tells us That the flesh profits nothing it is the Spirit that quickens Although the actions and sufferings performed by him in his Humanity were the matter of his satisfaction yet it was the Divinity that gave virtue and efficacy unto all It is in the humane Nature that Christ obeyed suffered dyed but it is by virtue of the Divine Nature that his obedience becomes meritorious and his sufferings become satisfactory 2. We say in the description That the Satisfaction of Christ is one of his Mediatorial actions and particularly an act of his Priesthood To understand this we must consider that there were two things that did belong to the Office of the Priests under the Law 1. To offer Sacrifice 2. To pray and intercede for the People Christ therefore being made of God a High-Priest according to the order of Melchisedec Heb. 6.20 he also must have some Sacrifice to offer without a Sacrifice he could not be a Priest This the Apostle teacheth clearly Heb. 8.3 Every High-Priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices therefore it is of necessity that this man have something also to offer If Christ be a Priest he must have something to offer there must be some Sacrifice that he must offer 3. The third thing we have to inquire into is this What the matter of this satisfaction is for we say in the description Christ offers himself a Sacrifice for our sins I know it is commonly said That the humane Nature was the Sacrifice that was offered Now although this expression if rightly understood may be admitted because it is said Christ suffered in the flesh for us so we have the expression 1 Pet. 4.1 That for as much as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh that is in his Humanity it was by means of the humane Nature that Christ was capable of suffering and it was in that nature that he did suffer also we read that Christ had a body prepared for him and that body was offered up Heb. 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified by the offering up the body of Jesus once for all Yet notwithstanding this is evident that the Scripture when it speaks of the Sacrifice of Christ doth most commonly and frequently call it the Sacrifice of himself There are many Texts to this purpose Gal. 1.4 He gave himself for our sins Gal. 2.20 He gave himself for me Eph. 5.2 Christ hath loved us and given himself for us Eph. 5.25 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 7.27 This he did once when he offered up himself Heb. 9.14 By the eternal Spirit he offered himself without spot to God And he put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself And it is an emphatical Scripture 1 Pet. 2.24 Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ipsemet sui ipsius oblatione ut simul Sacerdos esset victima Beza in loc By all these expressions it appears that Christ himself was the Sacrifice we may not exclude either of the Natures in Christ in any of his Mediatorial actions Christ is our Mediator according to both Natures and he is Prophet Priest and King of the Church according to both Natures and in this work of his Satisfaction he gave himself according to both Natures For though it were the humane Nature only that was capable of suffering yet the Divine Nature was united to the humane nature in the time of Christs suffering The Word
these to the terrours of natural death and to the terrours of supernatural death O let us not think it an indifferent thing whether we get a part in Christ yea or no certainly God did not put his innocent Son to suffer all these things we have heard of in vain and certainly if the Gospel be true Christ hath suffered all these things and if Christ hath suffered all these things then all of us did stand in need of them and if we need them it concerns us deeply to make sure our part and interest in them The end of the sixth Sermon SERMON VII Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Come now to speak particularly of that which was formerly mentioned in the general and here we shall shew 1. How it was that our Saviour suffered fear and what the fear was that he underwent 2. I shall shew how it was that he suffered grief because these are the two things which the Evangelist insists upon in the Text formerly mentioned Mark 14.33 1. Our Saviour was afflicted with sore fear yea he was even overwhelmed and oppressed by fear yet without sin hence is that expression of the Apostle Heb. 5.7 He was heard in that he feared But here it may be said Object What was that fear that our Saviour was struck with when he is said to be amazed with fear or astonished with fear I answer Answ It was the fear or horror of Divine wrath due to us for our sins Certainly it was not a corporal death that our Saviour feared so much many of the Martyrs by the Grace they had received were much carried above the fear of a corporal death much more may we suppose that the perfect and consummate Grace that was in the heart of our Saviour would have carried him above the fear of a natural death but it was the fear of Divine wrath that he was struck with therefore is it that he crys out Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me What was this cup Certainly the cup of Divine wrath as I may shew you more hereafter this then was that which our Saviour feared the wrath of God Fear says a Learned man was cast into the humane nature of our Saviour which being a creature fear might possess it lest it should be swallowed up of an angry God who did exact as much as rigid justice ought or could require from so great a person who was the Surety or Vndertaker Our Saviour knew right-well that he was to bear not the guilt of one or two or a few sins not the guilt of some lesser sins only but the guilt of the greatest sins he knew that he was to bear the guilt not of the sins of some of the Elect only but the guilt of all the sins of all the Elect what a torrent then or sea rather of wrath must our Saviour needs see coming on his most holy Soul when the wrath of God which was due for the sins of all the Elect was like to come upon him at once Well therefore might he be afraid If it be possible for Satan to aggravate and blow up the guilt of a little sin as we would account it in the eye of a mans conscience so as it shall seem the greatest sin in all the world as certainly he can and those that have to do with troubled consciences know how often he doth it and such a sin is ready to make a soul to despair unless Divine Grace do step in and help it into what a consternation then may we well suppose the humane soul of our Saviour to be cast when the sins of all the Elect the most great horrid and hainous sins as well as the least were bound upon him by the omnipotent hand of God his Father and he knew he was to answer for them all well might our Saviour fear in this case Neither is it to be wondred at that our Saviour should be thus struck with fear and astonishment if we consider that Christ did not only take our nature but he took the infirmities of our nature namely such as were inculpable and without sin and he also assumed our natural affections as grief sorrow and the like It is natural to the creature to fear and tremble at the sight and presence of an angry God thus we read how the rocks clave in sunder and the mountains have trembled when God hath shewn forth the terribleness of his Majesty and it is natural to men when any terrible object presents it self and some evil approaches although it be not as yet inflicted especially when some such evil approches as is greater than a mans strength to fear and be astonished therefore our Saviour having the verity and truth of our nature in him and having the verity and truth of humane passions in him yet without sin having the most terrible object that ever was set before him and that which would have been too great for him to bear had he been but meer man and that is the wrath of the great God due to the sins of all the Elect well might he be astonished and fear 2. Our Saviour was oppressed with grief and sorrow as well as fear Fear is such a passion as ariseth from some imminent or impending evil grief is a passion that ariseth from some present or inflicted evil Fear is the expectation of some suture evil grief is that which ariseth from the sense of some present evil Now our Saviour had not only fear but grief he felt that in his most holy Soul which was cause of greatest grief and sorrow to him This is set forth by the Evangelist Matthew Mat. 26.37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He began to be sorrowful and very heavy He began to be grieved and very heavy The Greek word is a full and a significant word The Criticks in the Greek Tongue render it by other words which signifie to be in an agony to be very much grieved Our Saviour was in an agony of sorrow oppressed and overwhelmed with sorrow and therefore it follows in the next words He began to be grieved and very heavy and he said to them that is to his Disciples My soul is exceeding sorrowful So great was our Saviours sorrow that he could not contain himself he must needs vent his sorrow by telling it to his Disciples I say our Saviour seeks a vent for his sorrow by acquainting his Disciples how great his sorrow was he saith to them My soul is exceeding sorrowful There are many holy Souls that will bear great sorrows and undergo many burdens and temptations and yet declare them unto none Certainly had our Saviours sorrows been but common and ordinary he would not have complained of them to his Disciples but so great was his sorrow that he is fain to seek for a little ease by venting himself to his Disciples And what is it that he
things Now the Curse is a certain token of loathing and detestation in the person who is the Author of it the Curse speaks utmost displeasure in him that pronounceth it No man curseth another but he that hath the utmost displeasure against him Christ therefore being our Surety we must suppose that he did contest with the utmost displeasure of God so much as a finite nature supported by an infinite Person could undergo Hence is it that we read of our Saviours being in an agony Luk. 22.44 Being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground This is a great Text to set forth the sufferings of our Saviour and therefore we must a little speak to it and here we have two things to be considered 1. The Agony it self 2. The Effects of it it made him sweat great drops of blood falling down to the ground 1. We have the Agony it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being in an agony The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies that fear and terror that is apt to come upon such as are entring into battel and going to fight for their lives I say it properly signifies the fear that comes upon Combatants when they are going to fight for their lives Our Saviour was now about to conflict with Divine wrath and this put him into this agony for to suppose that Christ should be in such an agony meerly from the fear of natural death is a thought most unworthy of our Saviour and most derogatory to his honour whenas we read of some of the Martyrs that have gone rejoycing and triumphing to the very flames therefore it was not the fear of the pains of a natural death far be it from us so to think no it was the pains of supernatural death the wrath of God he was now conflicting withal that brought him to this agony and conflict Now in every conflict there is some person or thing that doth oppose where there is nothing to oppose or struggle with there can be no conflict therefore when our Saviour was in an agony we must suppose that there was something that did oppose it self something that he was to struggle with and what could that be but the wrath of his Father Certainly our Saviour did now see his Father averse and contrary to him contrary to him though not considered as in himself for so he was always most pleasing to him but he saw his Father averse and contrary to him as he was our Surety and as he had voluntarily taken upon him the guilt and punishment of our sins he saw that God as he was a just and a righteous God so he was now about to avenge the sins of all the Elect upon him who had undertaken to bear the punishment of them this was the agony our Saviour was in namely the fear of conflicting with the sense of Gods wrath God opposing his Justice and setting it in battel-aray against the sons of men in behalf of whom he was now to be a Surety and to take upon himself what they should have undergone this was the agony it self 2. We have the Effect of this Agony it made him sweat drops of blood His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His sweat was as it were clods of blood so the Greek word properly signifies 1. Consider his sweating blood this was certainly preternatural for when is it that we have heard of mens sweating of blood and if any such thing hath ever been heard of this is some rare accident and beyond the common course of Nature the common course of Nature acquaints us with no such thing 2. That it should be great clods of blood this certainly was most extraordinary and what doth this shew us but that all the powers of Nature were shaken and the utmost strength and vigor of the Humanity and that supported by the Divinity too for what was there that could have caused such a defluxion of clods of blood from our Saviour but the utmost concussion of the powers of Nature certainly all the created strength that was in the Humanity of our Saviour and that supported by the Divinity and increated power of the Deity was now put to it to bear the wrath of God and it was the sense of that great immense unconceivable and inexpressible wrath of his Father that put him into this agony and drew these clods of blood from him and shook all the powers of nature in him O who can think of these things as he ought to do and not be astonished with the consideration of the infinite evil that is in sin that cost our Saviour so dear Hence also it was that he needed the visible presence of an Angel to comfort him Luk. 22.43 There appeared an Angel strengthening him Certainly these sorrows must needs be the greatest sorrows that our Saviour himself should need the presence and help of an Angel to comfort him We read of many of the Martyrs who had far less grace than our Saviour that were carried through their sufferings with joy without any such extraordinary help and yet our Saviour notwithstanding all the assistance of Divine grace which he had in perfection yet he needed the presence of an Angel to comfort him therefore we must suppose that our Saviours sufferings were far other kind of sufferings than the sufferings of any of the Martyrs were it was the sense of Gods wrath in his soul that put him into this agony he conflicted with Divine wrath opposing it self against him Hence is that expression De torrente in via biâ—et Psal 110. ult He shall drink of the brook in the way He shall drink of the torrent in the way Christ drank of the torrent of Divine wrath he drank of the torrent of the Curse of the Law all the Curses of the Law did meet upon him at once He did not only drink of the Cup of Gods wrath but he drank of the torrent of Divine wrath the wrath of God flowed all over him yea it entred into his very soul Hence is that expression Isa 53.10 It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief It was not the Jews only that did buffer and bruise him but the Lord himself did bruise him he put him to grief it was something immediate from God himself The sense of Gods wrath was impressed on the humane Soul of our Saviour by God himself But it may be said How could this be Object Christ was an innocent and a just person and never offended God he was the Son of God and was always beloved of God how then was it possible that he should suffer any wrath from God How was it possible that the sense of Gods wrath should be impressed upon him I answer Consider Christ in himself Answ as he was an innocent and a just
that believes on me as crucified he that looks upon me as lifted up on the Cross to make satisfaction for the sins of men he it is that shall not perish but have eternal life Therefore it is that Paul said He determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 2.3 Paul knew that the foundation of our happiness lay in Christs crucifixion and sufferings and in the satisfaction that was made to God by them therefore this was the fundamental Doctrine that he insisted upon and in another place where he tells what the substance of the Gospel is he says That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing to them their trespasses but imputing to them the righteousness of his Son 2 Cor. 5.19 20 c. So that the substance of the Gospel consists in this That God offers reconciliation unto men by the death sufferings and satisfaction of his Son If therefore the death of Christ and his satisfaction be the only foundation of our peace with God and the alone means of our reconciliation with him it concerns us to make much of Christs satisfaction and to apply our selves by faith unto it 2. Christs sufferings and satisfaction are the food and nourishment of our souls Christs sufferings and satisfaction are the means to continue us in the love and favour of God as well as to bring us into the love and favour of God at first This is notably set forth by our Saviour in that mysterious Sermon of his in the sixth of John which many of his Hearers were not able to bear because it was so spiritual In that Sermon our Saviour calls himself the bread of life and he tells us The bread which he will give is his flesh which he will give for the life of the world vers 51. This Text doth plainly point out to us the work of Christs Satisfaction Christ gives his flesh for the life of the world that is to say he gives himself to suffer that in a part of our flesh which he assumed which we ought to have suffered and in this respect it is that he saith He gives his flesh for the life of the world this is a plain intimation of his satisfaction Now what is it that our Saviour saith of this work of his satisfaction vers 55. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed It is as much as if he had said My sufferings and my satisfaction are the true food and nourishment of souls Here it is that souls must repair for spiritual food and nourishment When-ever guilt lies upon the conscience when the load and burden of sin oppresseth the soul there is no remedy but by flying to the flesh of Christ who was crucified and to his blood which was shed to make atonement for sin My flesh is meat indeed Look as natural life is maintained by the constant use of our food and taking of it in omit the use of food but for a few days and the body is starved natural life ceaseth so the life of our souls is maintained by a daily living upon Christ crucified by living upon his sufferings and satisfaction and the reason is plainly this The life of the soul consists in the favour of God In thy favour there is life saith the Psalmist and thy loving-kindness is better than life Without the favour of God there is no life there can be no life to the soul for God to frown upon the soul to manifest himself as an enemy this is the death of the soul Now it is a constant recourse to the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ that is the only means to keep us in the favour of God for it is sin that separates between God and us Now the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ are the means to take away the guilt of sin The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 Therefore as we would have the life of our souls maintained which consists in the favour of God and in the sense of his love we must have a constant recourse to the Satisfaction of Christ for we cannot expect one smile from God out of Christ This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Sin doth in its own nature tend to alienate the heart of God from us Now it is the respect that God hath to the Satisfaction of his Son Christ having born that displeasure that punishment which we deserved that is the only means to turn away Gods displeasure from us Therefore is it said We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins 2 Joh. 1.1 It is as much as if the Apostle had said Sin doth in its own nature incline God to anger and displeasure towards us but God respects the satisfaction of his Son he respects what Christ hath done and suffered and so he turns away his anger and becomes propitious kind and savourable upon the account of what Christ hath done and suffered for us therefore it becomes us to keep the satisfaction of Christ much in our eye because this is the means of preserving us in the favour of God as well as of bringing us into it at first Hence are we said to be preserved in Christ Jesus Jude 1. The merit of Christs obedience and sufferings is a means to preserve us in the love of God We might soon fall from the love of God did not Christ preserve us and continue us in his love by the merit of his satisfaction Hence also are we said to be saved by his life Rom. 5.10 If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Saved by his life that is continued in the love and favour of God brought to the perfection of salvation The Apostle supposeth that we are brought into the love and favour of God when he tells us We were reconciled when we were enemies therefore this expression of being saved implies our being kept and continued in the favour of God and our being brought to the consummation and perfection of salvation We are saved by his life that is Christs living to make Intercession for us and pleading by his Intercession the virtue and merit of his sufferings this is the means to keep us in the favour of God till we be brought to salvation therefore we ought to have a constant recourse to the death sufferings and satisfaction of Christ because it is the means of continuing us in the love and favour of God all along as it was to bring us into the favour of God at first Hence is that expression in Jude 21. Keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life It is that grace and mercy which is given to us in Christ through his merit and satisfaction that carries us along
this great Person who is our High Priest sanctifies his Sacrifice by the dignity of his person he is the Son of God not a meer man as the Levitical Priests were and by the dignity of his own person puts the highest value upon the Sacrifice which he offered Hence is that expression in vers 27. Who needed not daily as those high Priests to offer sacrifices first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people for this he did once when he offered up himself Christs one Sacrifice was of more value than all the multitude of the Sacrifices offered by the Levitical Priests Why so He offered himself up saith the Apostle The reason why Christs Sacrifice was beyond all theirs was because he offered himself Christ was both the Priest and the Sacrifice He offered up himself so saith this Text and Heb. 1.3 it is said That by himself he hath purged away our sins It was the Son that was the Priest offering and it was the Son that was the Sacrifice that was offered For though it were the humane nature of the Son only that was capable of suffering and dying yet the person of the Son was conjunct with the Humanity in the sufferings of the humane nature Hence is that expression of Leo Verbo inviolabili non separato à carn◠passibili Leo. The inviolable Word that is the Son of God the second Person in Trinity who was inviolable and impassible was not separated from his passible flesh in the time of his suffering And another of the Ancients expresseth himself to this purpose and it is a memorable passage The Son of God that he might shew that he was not absent from the Temple of his body in the time of his Passion but that he was present with it in his suffering therefore it was that as he was God by the power of his Divinity at the same time when he suffered in his flesh he caused darkness to come over the Sun brake the rocks in pieces and raised the dead So that though it was the flesh that suffered yet God was personally united to that flesh that suffered Hence is that 1 Pet. 4.1 Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh Now we ought to turn the eye of our faith upon this great Person the Son of God transacting all in our nature It is true it was our nature in Christ that obeyed that suffered that dyed but still we ought to look upon it as influenced by the person of the Son of God who assumed it and did all in it and by it The humane will in Christ was governed by the Divine will yea the humane will in Christ was strengthened and corroborated by the Divine will In the work of Christs Satisfaction the Divine nature was the principal efficient cause the humane nature the less principal ministring or subservient cause as Divines speak Now this is a great relief unto faith that Christ in regard of the dignity of his Person is equal to him to whom the satisfaction is made For though in respect of his humane nature he be inferiour to the Father and the Father is said to be greater than he Joh. 14.28 yet in respect of his Divine nature he is equal with the Father Joh. 1.1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and this was the Word that took flesh and gave his flesh for the life of the world The same was with God in the beginning he was with God in the same equality of Power Glory and Majesty he was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God Phil. 2.6 Now this is a great relief to faith the person who tenders the satisfaction is of equal Power Majesty and Glory with him to whom the satisfaction is tendered This may greatly comfort such as are distressed in conscience Great indeed is the person offended by thy sins O but great is the person tendering the satisfaction the person offended is God and the person who makes the satisfaction is God as well as man Consider that Text Joh. 10.18 No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Divinitas filii est quae ponit rursus animam hominis quem serebat c. It is the Divinity of the Son that doth lay down and take again his life as he was man 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God that he laid down his life for us Christ as he was man had power over his own life as he was man no meer man hath power over his own life but his life is under the dispose of God but Christ being God as well as man had the dispose of his own life and therefore as he was God he laid down his life as he was man The end of the thirteenth Sermon SERMON XIV Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends I Come now to the sixth Direction which is this If we would make use of the Sufferings and Satisfaction of Christ so as to draw down the virtue and benefit of them to our own souls we must lay the stress of our faith upon Christ and rely entirely upon the virtue of that eternal Sacrifice of his This was shadowed forth under the Law in the day of atonement the Priest was to lay both his hands upon the head of the live-goat Lev. 16.21 This the Priest was to do in the name of the people by this sign discharging them as it were and laying all their sins upon the beast which was a figure of Christ Whoever brought his Sacrifice under the Law was to lay his hand on the head of the Sacrifice Lev. 1.4 Now this Rite of laying the hand on the head of the Sacrifice as it did carry in it a tacite confession of guilt as hath formerly been shewn so also there was in it a profession of faith an expectation of pardon and atonement in the virtue of the Sacrifice that was to be offered up The man that brought his offering was to lay or impose his hand upon it himself while it was yet alive thereby disburdening himself of sin as it were and laying it on the Sacrifice and thereby testifying his faith in Christ the true Sacrifice that was to be slain for him Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest Christ calls all such as are weary and heavy laden with the guilt of their sins to come to him and lay the burden of the guilt of their sins on him The Jewish Writers tell us That he that did impose or lay his hand on the head of the Sacrifice was to do it with all his might he was to lay both his hands upon the beasts head and what doth this teach us but that our
reliance upon Christ and the virtue of his eternal Sacrifice ought to be most firm and strong A weak and feeble hand of faith will bring but weak comfort a strong hand of faith will bring strong consolation Therefore we must as we mean to have the virtue of this Sacrifice of Christ do as an holy Man Mr. Marshal and an eminent Minister of Christ did when he came to dye he used these words I trust strongly strongly strongly repeating these words thrice I say we must rely strongly strongly strongly upon this eternal Sacrifice of Christ lay the whole stress of our Faith upon the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ for pardon of sin and reconciliation with God In the sixth of John our Saviour annexeth the promise of eternal life unto eating his flesh vers 54. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life All along in that discourse of his all the benefit that Christ promiseth to us from his flesh and blood is by eating of it He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him So in vers 56. He shall live by me There are several great things that are promised to our eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ And what is this to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ This is a metaphorical expression it is not possible for us to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ in a corporal manner therefore to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ imports this to lay the whole stress of our faith upon the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ for pardon of sin and acceptation with God The seventh Direction is If we would make use of the satisfaction of Christ we must present the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ to God and our selves unto God in the virtue of it In Exod. 29.10 we read that Aaron and his Sons were to put their hands on the head of the bullock By this Rite the Priest presented the bullock a figure of Christ unto God for them hereby intimating as Junius observes that they did present themselves to God not in themselves Quasi se ipsi sisterent sacrificarent Jehovae non in sese verùm in persona Christi Junius but in the person of Christ Our persons are full of sin our duties and services are mingled with a great deal of sin therefore we ought to present our selves to God in Christ who was without sin and his Sacrifice without the least blemish or defilement When ever we come to God let us think of this for there is a greater mystery lyes in it than most are aware of we ought to transfer our selves out of our selves put our selves as it were over into Christ and pray that we may not be looked upon in our selves but in Christ All true Believers are comprehended in Christ as in their Head and what Christ their Head hath done in a part of their nature which he hath assumed for them is looked upon by God as if so be they had done it In ipso non in nobis therefore are we said to be the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 In him not in our selves says Austin Believers are righteous but how in their Head they have a righteousness but what is it not a righteousness of their own but they have a righteousness in their Head his righteousness is accounted theirs Believers are looked upon as having fulfilled the Law in Christ as having born the Curse of it in Christ Believers are looked upon as having satisfied Divine Justice in Christ These things they could never have done in their own persons but for as much as Christ their Head hath fulfilled the righteousness of the Law in their nature it is accounted by God as if so be they had done it Now in the solemn exercise of faith it is our great concernment to present Christ our Head unto God and to lift up his righteousness before God that is to say to mind the Lord what Christ our Head hath done for us It is one of the promises which Christ hath made to Believers and it is a great promise that they shall know that they are in him Joh. 14.20 At that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you Believers are said here to be in Christ How are Believers in Christ Believers are in Christ as they are comprehended in him as their Head Believers are in Christ by communion of nature Christ our Head participates of our nature and we are in him by communion of nature we have the verity and truth of humane nature in us Christ hath the verity of humane nature in him he was true man as we are Now our nature being sound in Christ what Christ our Head acted for us if we be Members of Christ if we have an interest in him which we have if we be true Believers it is in Gods account as if we had acted it You in me It is as much as if our Saviour had said I do but personate you I do but represent you I do but act your part You in me Believers in Christ have obeyed the Law Believers in Christ have undergone the curse Believers in Christ have suffered the wrath of God satisfied Divine Justice for as much as Christ their Head hath done all these things Believers are comprehended in Christ because he carrying their nature what he hath done in their nature is accounted by God as if they had done it As God is said to be in Christ reconciling the world to himself so we in Christ have satisfied Gods Justice Now this is our concern to take hold of Christs Satisfaction by faith to present it unto God and to present our selves to God in it For although Christ hath taken up the nature of man as was said before and Believers are said to be in Christ by communion of nature yet all mankind have not saving benefit from Christ by virtue of this communion of nature that is between Christ and them it is only Believers who are the Members of Christ that have benefit by what Christ hath done therefore it is our great concernment by faith to elect and chuse Christ as our Head and having made such a choice of him as our Head then to come to God in the righteousness of our Head and to present the righteousness of Christ as our Head to God for acceptance with him If we have nothing to do with Christ as our Head we cannot plead his righteousness but if we have chosen Christ for our Head we may come to God in the virtue of his righteousness and present that to God for our acceptance with him The eighth Direction is After we have applied and betaken our selves to the Sacrifice and Satisfaction of Christ we ought in an humble manner to lay hold of pardon and with humble confidence to expect pardon and
vestita because he was in the form of God Zanchy observes that this expression the form of God it signifies the Essence of God set forth with all its Attributes the Essence of God cloathed with all its properties or perfections For although whatever is in God be God and his most simple Essence really and in it self yet in respect of us who cannot conceive of God according to the simplicity of his Essence there is a distinction in our understanding between the Essence and the Attributes of God so that the form of God according to our understanding notes the Essence of God with the Attributes belonging to it so that the meaning is Christ was in the form of God that is he had the verity and truth of the Divine Essence in him and he had all the Attributes belonging to that Essence He was in the form of God that is he was truly and properly God he was eternal omnipotent omnipresent and the like whatsoever might be said of God may be said of Christ the Son of God because he was in the form of God 2. That he accounted it no robbery to be equal with God This expression notes two things 1. That Christ knew himself to be equal with the Father he knew that he was possessed of the same Essence of the same Majesty of the same Glory that the Father was All things that the Father hath are mine Joh 16.15 The Son injoyed all things in common with the Father the same Essence the same Power the same Majesty the same Divinity I and the Father are one Joh. 10.30 that is one in Essence one in Power one in Will 2. This also is implied That the Son being in the form of God and equal with the Father knew he should do no wrong and injury if he retained and kept to himself the same honour that the Father did that is if he had always kept in the form of God only and never emptied himself by his Incarnation and suffering The Father abideth always in the form of God only and never took upon him the form of a servant it was the Son not the Father that was incarnate and that took on him the form of a servant Now if the Son had always kept in the form of God and never took upon him the form of a servant he had done no wrong or injury he was in the same honour and dignity of God with the Father and he might have retained the same honour and dignity that the Father did without abasing himself by his Incarnation and suffering He was in the form of God saith the Apostle that is he did subsist in the Divine Essence as the Father did he might have continued in the form of God only without taking on him the form of a servant without assuming or taking to himself the humane nature but herein his love discovered it self That though he was in the form of God and knew himself to be equal with God yet he was pleased in a way of voluntary condescension to take upon him the form of a servant and subject himself to the death even the death of the cross Now that so great a person as this that had his existence and subsistence from Eternity who was truly and properly God possessed of the Divine Essence and cloathed with all the Divine Attributes who was equal to the Father that this person should not only strip himself as it were of his own glory by his Incarnation but also expose himself to the lowest abasement by his sufferings and most ignominious death this is that which sets forth the greatness of the love of Christ Now there are several considerations that arise from the dignity of Christs person that serve to set forth the greatness of Christs love to us in giving himself to suffer and to dye for us and O that we could take in these Mysteries with that reverence and solemnity of spirit as the Majesty of them doth require 1. Consider it was the Word the Son of God the second Person in Trinity that did order and dispose the sufferings that were in his own flesh his own humanity Hence is that of one of the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 erat sibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dispensator arbiter humanarum actionum passionum Sophronius The Word the Son of God the second Person in Trinity was the dispenser and determiner of all the actions and sufferings that were in the humane nature It was he that ordered disposed and governed the Humanity to do and suffer those things that were proper to it self The humane nature in Christ was not moved of it self to any of its actions or sufferings but it was moved ad nutum Verbi at the beck and command of the Word that is according to the direction of that person who assumed the humane nature the Word the Son of God did will and permit the Humanity to do and suffer such things as were proper to it self it was he that governed the actions and passions of the humane nature Joh. 17.19 For their sakes sanctifie I my self To sanctifie is properly the work of God and none but God can sanctifie Christ therefore as God sanctified himself as man the Divine nature in Christ sanctified and set apart the humane nature for the work of the suffering it was the Divine nature in Christ which did primarily will the sufferings in the humane nature which did permit the humane nature to suffer and which did strengthen and uphold the humane nature in suffering and all these things do greatly set forth the love of Christ 1. It was the Divine nature in Christ which did primarily will the sufferings of the humane nature It is true Christ as man did will his own sufferings Christ as man was willing to suffer and dye for us but yet we must consider that his humane will was influenced and governed by his Divine will the humane will of Christ willed those things which the Divine will would have it to will therefore it being the pleasure of the Divine will that Christ should suffer Christ also as man wills his own sufferings by his humane will but still it is the Divine will in Christ that is first and the humane will in Christ is governed by the Divine will This is very clear and apparent from our Saviours own words Mat. 26.39 Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Here we see that Christ with his humane will wills his own sufferings not as I will but as thou wilt as if Christ had said If thou wilt have me suffer I will suffer I am content to suffer not as I will but as thou wilt his humane will was bowed to the Fathers will the Father willing his sufferings he wills it too It is true our Saviour discovered the verity and truth of humane nature in him in that aversness that was in him from
death and suffering in those words Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Though Christ did discover the verity and truth of humane nature in him by those expressions yet his will was not absolutely bent and set against suffering and that appears from hence That knowing it to be his Fathers will that he should suffer he did readily and presently comply with the will of his Father but when he saith Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me he shews that the verity and truth of our nature was in him that the inclination of nature was not to suffer he shewed this that humane nature as humane nature had no delight in suffering But now seeing it was his Fathers will that he should suffer he puts off nature as it were lays aside the inclinations of it and saith Not my will but thy will be done His Father willing suffering he wills it too not as I will but as thou wilt as much as if he should say If thou wilt have me suffer I am willing I am content to suffer Christ therefore as man willed his own sufferings but still as I said at first his humane will was governed by his Divine will so that it was the Divine will that willed his sufferings primarily and the humane will was carried out by the Divine will to will them in conformity thereunto 2. It was the Divine nature in Christ that did permit the humane nature to suffer If the Divinity had exerted it self and put forth its power and efficacy it could and would have prevented all suffering and death in the humane nature No man saith our Saviour takes my life from me I lay it down of my self Joh. 10.18 Had not Christ freely and voluntarily laid down his own life no man could have taken away his life from him And hence is it that the Ancients do often use this expression That in the Sufferings and Passion of Christ the Divinity in Christ aid rest that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it did not put forth its virtue for if the Divinity which was personally united to the humane nature had exerted its virtue it had certainly prevented all sufferings in the Humanity therefore the Divinity did suspend its influence that so the humane nature might be in a capacity to suffer The Divine nature did not put forth its strength and efficacy to restrain the sufferings of the humane nature And this shews the love of Christ that the Divine nature suspended its influence that so the humane nature might be in a capacity to suffer 3. It was the Divine nature that did strengthen and uphold the humane nature in suffering so great was the burden of our sins and Gods wrath that was due to us for them that it was enough to have sunk a meer creature if there had not been infinite and almighty power to support it Now the Humanity of Christ considered in it self being but a creature could not of it self have stood under the weight and burden of our sins and Divine wrath therefore was it supported by the infinite and almighty power of the Deity therefore is it said That Christ by the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God Heb. 9.14 By the eternal Spirit that is Christ was supported by the power of the Deity in offering himself as a Sacrifice for our sins The second Consideration is this The Word the second Person in Trinity was united to the flesh when the flesh suffered the union between the two natures in Christ was not dissolved but it continued firm and inviolable in the time of Christs suffering Verbo inviolabili non sepâ—rato à carne passibili Hence is that of Leo The inviolable Word was not separated from his passible flesh therefore is it that our Saviour calls it his flesh his body The bread which I will give you is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world Joh. 6.5 So in the words of the Sacrament This is my body which is broken for you the flesh that was given upon the Cross was his flesh the flesh of the Word his own proper flesh not another mans but the flesh of the Word the flesh of him that came down from Heaven I am the bread that came down from heaven and the bread which I will give is my flesh so likewise it is said This is my body Hence is that expression of Athanasius Caro illa trat corpus Dei. That flesh which suffered was the body of God not that God hath a body but thus we must understand it God was personally present with personally united to that body that suffered Another of the Ancients hath this passage Dominus gloriae erat in corpore quod crucifigebatur Epiphan The Lord of Glory was in that body which was crucified which was struck through which did suffer that body of his being no other but the Temple of the Word the Temple of the Son of God it was full of the Deity And hence was it saith he that the Sun beholding its Maker in the assumed body withdrew its rays and was covered with darkness So we read that in the time of our Saviours Passion there was a darkness over all the earth from the sixth hour to the ninth hour O what an astonishing Mystery is this How great a spectacle must this needs be to the holy Angels to see the Son of God and God that person whom they were wont to worship and adore in Heaven personally united to that flesh which was now hanging on the Cross and suffering in that flesh which he had assumed If this must needs be matter of wonder and astonishment to the Angels well may it be to us This is one of the things the Apostle speaks of when he speaks of the great Mystery of Godliness Without controversie saith he great is the mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conspectus ab Angelis seen or beheld of Angels He appeared to the Angels How did he appear to them He appeared to them in such a way he never appeared before God was seen of Angels in mans nature he appeared to the Angels in humane nature this was such a sight as the Angels never saw before they never saw God in mans nature before the Son of God was incarnate therefore the Angels were struck with admiration at the novelty and excellency of this sight to see God made visible in flesh And as this was matter of great admiration to the Angels to see God come down into our nature so it ought to be to us and certainly as it was matter of wonder to the Angels to see God incarnate so it was matter of greater wonder to them to see God suffering and dying in the nature of man for man Vse 1 Learn to admire the infinite love of the Father and of the Son 1. Admire the
who was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God Now this was the person that humbled himself as this person emptied himself in his Incarnation so the Apostle tells us He made himself of no reputation he took upon him the form of a servant so the very same person humbled himself in his sufferings he humbled himself and became obedient to the death Christs humiliation both in his Incarnation and in his sufferings redounds to the whole person of the Mediator who is God as well as man Zanchy observes from that He was in the form of God and took upon him the form of a servant That as Christ is Mediator according to both natures so the whole person by reason of his taking on him the form of a servant is become a servant Now as the whole person of the Mediator God manifested in the flesh is humbled in his Incarnation humbled in his assumption of our nature so the whole person of the Mediator is humbled in his sufferings in his being obedient to the death the death of the cross It is true this humiliation of the Son of God both in his Incarnation and in his sufferings properly agrees and belongs to the humane nature and the reason is because the Deity simply and in it self considered is not capable of humiliation or abasement but yet we must know by the communion of Idioms as they call it that being attributed to the whole person which is proper to either of the natures the whole person of the Mediator is said to be humbled both in his Incarnation and in his sufferings so that it was the person of the Son of God who humbled himself taking on him the form of a servant and it was the person of the Son of God who humbled himself being obedient to the death even the death of the cross Now it is a contemplation worthy of our most serious thoughts to consider how in the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ there was the humiliation of the whole person and this I shall endeavour to open in a few Particulars 1. This is evident That Christ as God willed his own sufferings as man If Christ had not willed his own sufferings no one could have brought sufferings upon him for no man takes away my life saith our Saviour Joh. 10.18 No man takes away my life that is no one hath power to take it away unless I first give it This therefore we may take for granted That Christ as God willed his own sufferings as man Now consider what a condescension was this that that person who was in the form of God and was equal with God and knew himself to be so should yet will the taking up of our nature and also will his own sufferings in that nature This was the greatest condescension that he that knew the dignity of his own person his equality with the Father should yet in a voluntary way will his own abasement that he who was equal with the Father in respect of his Divine nature should yet by taking on him the nature of man and office of Mediator make himself inferiour to the Father for as he was man and Mediator so the Father was greater than he Joh. 14.28 Compare these two Texts together Phil. 2. and that of Joh. 14. In Phil. 2. it is said He was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with God and in Joh. 14. it is said The Father is greater than I. How is this to be understood He that was equal with the Father in respect of his Divine nature the same person becoming man and Mediator so he made himself inferiour to the Father and so the Father was greater than he This was the condescension and love of this great person that he that was in an equality with the Father in respect of the Divine nature becoming man and Mediator makes himself inferiour to him this will appear yet farther in the next Particular 2. Christ by taking on him the office of Mediator became subject to the Father therefore doth the Apostle fay 1 Cor. 11.3 That the head of Christ is God Christ as he is made man hath God for his head is subject unto him is under God as his head Hence also is it said Phil. 2. That he became obedient to the death Christ taking on him the office of Mediator became obedient to his Father and he underwent suffering and death in a way of obedience to him Now this was the great condescension of this excellent person who when he knew himself to be in a state of equality with the Father would yet put himself into a state of subjection to him and in obedience to the Fathers will expose himself to suffering and death This is that which our Saviour himself intimates to us Joh. 14.30 31. Hereafter I will not talk much with you for the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me But that the world may know that I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment even so I do Satan or men had nothing to do with Christ they had no power over his life but Christ laid down his own life meerly in obedience to the Father and out of his love to us The Prince of this world comes and finds nothing in me Satan had no right or power to touch Christs life but Christ had the power to dispose of his own life as he pleased and having freely and of his own accord taken on him the office of Mediator he must be subject to the Father and dispose of his life as he pleased and his Father commanding him to dye he must give up his life in obedience to him Thus he that was the Author and Prince of life he that gives life to all others was content to give up his own life to be at the Fathers dispose and this speaks the humiliation of this great person that was in a state of equality with the Father that he would in a voluntary way of condescension make himself subject to him 3. To set forth the humiliation of the person how he humbled himself in the work of his Satisfaction let us consider that it is the person of the Divine Word or the second Person in Trinity subsisting in humane nature that tenders and offers the satisfaction by the operations of the humane nature To understand this we must consider that the operations and passions of the humane nature in Christ are not Non principium quod sed principium quo as the Schools call it the Principle that makes the satisfaction but they are the Principle by which satisfaction is made The Principle that as they call it which makes satisfaction is the person of the Word the second Person in Trinity which subsists in humane nature and the ground of it is founded upon this Logical Axiom That actions belong to persons Actiones sant suppose torum or actions
into the Country of Canaan above he dived into the meditation of that Text of Paul The time is short having prepared some heavenly Notions about the shortness of time and the uncertainty of life concluded thus We should not desire to continue longer in this world than to glorifie God and finish our given work and be ready to say Farewel Time welcome blest Eternity even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Thus this Evening-Star set in an Ocean of Joy to arise a Morning-Star in the Eastern Ocean of Glory But before his disappearance the frame of his Spirit being much agitated with sollicitude about the Church of God and particularly in this Land and Nation uttered a Swan-like Song testifying somewhat of a prophetick Spirit If God begin to deliver his Church in an October remember me which how far began to be fulfilled in October 1678. the Saints surviving may give in evidence and I humbly pray it may never end though it may mix with some overshadowings till we see Zions full deliverance past Thus much of that holy Soul I shall now conclude with a Direction and a Prayer A Direction as to the Faith and Holiness of former Saints and Ambassadours of Christ and as to such as survive To such as are gone up to Injoyment I might apply what 's said of Astraea that when ascending to Heaven left a train of light all the way like the Via lactea to illuminate the Followers of Justice in the same illustrious path to Happiness Lee's hear the Apostle Remember them which have the rule over you Heb. 13.7 who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever As to infirmities for who is without them imitate the Spirit of God in the New Testament who never relates or remembers the infirmities of Saints in the Old They are at rest in the bosom of Christ let them be at rest in your bosom as in a bed of Spices As 't is said of Josiah his name was like precious Oyntment composed by the Art of the Apothecary For such as survive learn of the same Apostle To obey them that have the rule over you Heb. 13.17 and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that 's unprofitable for you We beseech you brethren 1 Thess 5.12 to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and be at peace among your selves Forget not that when Moses and Aaron were gone to Heaven from two distinct Mountains God set apart Joshua and Eleazar in two distinct Vallies to lead their surviving children into the Land of Promise and withal told Joshua Josh 1.5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life as I was with Moses I will be with thee I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Nay what 's doubly remarkable Moses could only lead them through the Wilderness but Joshua must bring them into Canaan The Law can only school us to Christ Heb. 4. but 't is our heavenly Jesus or Joshua that can safely bring us to the Eternal rest and besides its observable we read of no murmurings under Joshua as formerly under Moses Thus God provides for his Church When Elijah was rid into Heaven Elisha must follow in the power and spirit of Elias When one stream is slid and shed into the Ocean another circulates from the same Ocean through the bowels of the earth into the springs under the mountains and refreshes the scorched Plains When one Star sets another rises to guide the wandring traveller and at length the bright Morning-lamp glitters in the East and then the glorious Sun of Righteousness While the Church sits fainting under a Juniper-tree in the Wilderness there shall fly Prophets to feed her till the blessed resurrection of the Witnesses It 's our high duty to study present work and prize present help and greatly rejoyce when the Lord sends forth as once both Boanerges and Barnabas together Pray for the mantle girdle and blessing of Elijah for the love of John and the zeal of Paul to twine hands together to draw Souls to Heaven till the Beloved comes like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of spices till the shadows flee away till the day dawn and the Day-star arise in your hearts My prayer shall end with the same Apostle Heb. 13.20 Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen From Bignal near Bisseter Sept. 13. 1679. SAMVEL LEE EMMANVEL OR THE Love of Christ explicated in his Incarnation being made under the Law and his Satisfaction BOOK I. SERMON I. Ephes 3. vers 17 18 19. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love May be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge THE work of a Christian lyes especially in two things First in the study of himself secondly in the study of Christ The study of a mans self will acquaint him with his own sin and misery and make him see the infinite need that he hath of Christ the study of Christ will cause him to admire the Plot of Divine Wisdom and Grace which hath provided all that in one Christ which is answerable to all that sin and misery that is in us The Mystery of Christ is the greatest Mystery that ever was There are breadths and lengths depths and heights in this Mystery It is Calvins Comment on the Text Continet una Christi dilectio omnes sapientiae numeros Calv. that one love of Christ contains in it all the dimensions and measures of wisdom When the Apostle speaks of breadths lengths depths and heights that which he intends is that in one Christ is the height breadth length and depth of all true wisdom in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Col. 2.3 and in him are ye compleat A Christian needs to study nothing but one Christ there is enough in Christ to take up his study and contemplation all his days and the more we study Christ the more we may study him There will be new wonders still appearing in Christ The Name of Christ is called wonderful Isa 9.6 and indeed well may it be called so every thing in Christ is a wonder most wonderful his eternal Generation from the Father his