stories use to stir up a principle of humanity in men unto a compassionate love which Christ himselfe at his suffering found fault with as being not spirituall nor raised enough in those women who went weeping to see the Messiah so handled Weep not for me sayes he that is weep not so much for this thus to see me unworthily handled by those for whom I dye And therefore accordingly as these stirrings are but fruits of the flesh so humane inventions as Crucifixes and lively representations of the story of Christs Passion unto the sight of fancy doe exceedingly provoke men to such devotionall meditations and affections but they work a bare historicall faith only a historicall remembrance and an historicall love as I may so call them And no other then such doth the reading of the story of it in the Word work in many who yet are against such Crucifixes But saving justifying faith chiefly minds and is most taken up with the maine scope and drift of all Christs sufferings for it is that in them which answers to its owne aime and purpose which is to obtaine forgivenesse of sins in Christ crucified As God looks principally at the meaning of the Spirit in prayer Rom. 8. so doth faith look principally to the meaning of Christ in his sufferings As in all other Truths a Beleever is said to have the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. ult so especially he minds what was the mind and heart of Christ in all his sufferings And therefore you may observe that the drift of all the Apostles Epistles is to shew the intent of Christs sufferings how he was therein set forth to be a prepitiation for sinne to beare our sinnes upon the tree to make our peace c. He was made sinne that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him As in like manner the scope of the Euangelists is to set forth the story of them for that is necessary to be known also And thus did that Euangelicall Prophet Isaiah chiefly set forth the intent of Christs sufferings for justification Esay 53. throughout the Chap. as David before had done the story of his Passion Psal 22. And thus to shew the use and purpose of his sufferings was the scope of all the Apostles Sermons holding forth the intent of Christs passion to be the justification and salvation of sinners This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. and they still set forth what the plot was at which God by an ancient designment aimed at in the sufferings of Christ which was an end higher then men or Angels thought on when hee was put to death And thus faith takes it up and looks at it And upon this doth Peter in his Sermon Acts 2. pitch their faith where having first set forth the hainousnesse of their sin in murdering the Lord of life then to raise up their hearts againe that so seeing Gods end in it they might be drawne to beleeve he tellls them that All this was done by the determinate counsell of God ver 23. and that for a farther end then they imagined even for the remission of sins through his Name as in the closure of that Sermon he shews It was not the malice of the Jews the falsenesse of Iudas the fearfulnesse of Pilate or the iniquity of the times he fell into that wrought his death so much as God his Father complotting with Christ himselfe and aiming at a higher end then they did there was a farther matter in it it was the execution of an ancient contrivement and agreement whereby God made Christ Sinne and laid our sins upon him God was in Christ not imputing our sinnes to us but making him sinne 2 Cor. 5. 20. Which Covenant Christ came at his time into the world to fulfill Sacrifice and burnt offering thou wouldst not have Heb. 10. 5. Loe I come to doe thy will and that will was to take away sinnes ver 4 10 12 14 15 16. These words Christ spake when he took our nature and when he came into the world clothed with infirmities like unto us sinners Rom. 8. 3. God sent his Son in the likenes of sinfull flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Mark that phrase for sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there put for propter as Iohn 10. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not for a good work That is not because of a good work or for a good works sake So here For sinne that is because of sin sin was the occasion of his taking the likenesse of sinfull flesh what to encrease it no but to condemne it as it follows that is to cast and overthrow it in its power and plea against us that instead of sins condemning us he might condemne sin and that we might have the righteousnesse of the Law ver 5. This phrase for sinne is like unto that in Rom. 6. 10. He dyed unto sinne that is for sins cause for so the opposition that follows evinceth In that he liveth he liveth unto God that is for God and his glory So he dyed meerly for sin that sin might have its course in Justice and for its sake suffered death so putting to silence the clamour of it The death of Christ was the greatest and strangest design that ever God undertook and acted and therefore surely had an end proportionable unto it God that willeth not the death of a sinner would not for any inferiour end will the death of his Sonne whom he loved more then all creatures besides It must needs be some great matter for which God should contrive the death of his Sonne so holy so innocent and separate from sinners neither could it be any other matter then to destroy that which he most hated and that was Sin and to set forth that which he most delighted in and that was Mercy So Rom. 3. 25 26. And accordingly Christ demeaned himselfe in it not at all looking at the Jews or their malice but at his Fathers command and intent in it And therefore when he was to arise to goe unto that place where he should be taken As the Father gave me commandement sayes he so doe I Arise let us goe hence Iohn 14. 31. And when Iudas went out at Christs owne provocation of him What thou doest doe quickly sayes he the Sonne of man goeth as it was determined he lookt to his Fathers purpose in it When he went out to be taken it is said Iohn 18. 4. Iesus knowing all things that should befall him went forth And when he was in his Agony in the Garden whom doth he deale with but his Father Father sayes he if it be possible let this cup passe and God made his Passion of so great necessity that it was even impossible that that cup should passe Indeed had Christ stood in his owne stead it had been an easie request and justice to grant it yea so he tells
direct opposition to his having born our sins and appearing then with all our sins laid to his charge He appeared charged with them then but now he shall appeare as apparently and as manifestly to be without those sins for of our sins it must needs be meant and so to be discharged of them as fully as ever he appeared charged with them For it is said He shall appeare without sin and therefore to the judgements of all it shall be made manifest that that God that once charged him with them hath now fully discharged him of them The Apostle speaks of it as of a great alteration made in this respect betweene Christ as he was whilst on earth and Christ as he is to appeare the second time and is now in heaven And this alteration or discharge must necessarily be made by God for he is the Creditour vvho followed the Suit and therefore he alone can give the Acquitance Now secondly 2. There must be some season of time when this discharge from our sins was first made unto Christ from hence it will follow that there must be some time when this alteration was first made and discharge given when Christ from being sin as he was made should become without sinne through Gods acquiting of him and this say I was at his Resurrection It is not deferred as then to be first done when he is to appeare the second time though then it appeares indeed but it is really done before for hee comes then to judge others for sinne Now in reason when should this Acquitance or Justification from our sins be first given to Christ and legally pronounced on him but when he had paid the last farthing of the debt and made his satisfaction compleat which was then done when he began to rise for his lying in the grave was a part of his Humiliation and so of his Satisfaction as generally Orthodoxe Divines hold Now therefore when he began to rise then ended his Humiliation and that was the first moment of his Exaltation His Acquitance therefore bears Date from thence even from that very houre Hence thirdly 3. That this must needs be and was first made to him at his Resurrection we read as that Christ was condemned so that he was justified Thus 1 Tim. 3. 16. God is said to be manifest in the flesh and then that this God-man was justified in the spirit That is whereas God was manifest or appeared in flesh to condemne sinne in the flesh as Rom. 8. that same God-man was also justified in the spirit from all those sins and so received up to glory as it follows there And not to goe far the very words of this my Text It is God that justifies are taken out of Esay 50. 8 9. and as there they are first spoken by Christ of himselfe then when he gave his back to the smiters in his death as in the verses before and vvas put to death as a condemned man he comforts himselfe vvith this He is neere that justifies me who shall condemne And when was that done or to be done but at his Resurrection So the phrase in Timothy imports if you compare it with another in Peter 1 Pet. 3. 18. Being put to death in the flesh and quickned in or by the spirit Paul he sayes Iustified in the spirit Peter he sayes Quickned in the spirit both meane one and the same thing By Spirit is meant the power of his God-head and Divine nature whereby he was at once both raised from the grave and from under the guilt of sin together He was at once both quickned or raised and justified also And that by Spirit they mean his Divine nature the opposition in both places evidently implyes for it is opposed to his Flesh or humane nature Now because he was quickned or raised by the power of the God-head and at that raising him he was justifyed also by God and declared justifyed by that Resurrection as he had been declared condemned by his death Hence to be justified is put for his Resurrection for that was his justification or declaration to all the world that he was justified from all the sins laid to his charge And that other place I cited out of Isaiah hath the same meaning also for Christ there comforts himselfe against the Jews condemning him and putting him to death with the hopes of Gods justifying of him when he should have gone through that work And Christs meaning there is this God will raise me up and acquit me though you condemne and kill me In the other Prophets you shall find Christ still comforting himself against his condemnation at his death with the thoughts of his Resurrection which he fore-saw as shortly to follow after it as here in Esay he comforts himselfe with these hopes of his being justified after their condemnation of him For instance Psa 16. 9. My flesh shall rest in hope thou wilt not leave my soule in hell nor suffer thy holy One to see corruption Which words you know Peter in the Acts doth twice interpret of Christs Resurrection In like manner here in Esay against his death and condemnation he comforts himself with the hopes of Gods justification of him at his Resurrection He is neere who justifies me and he shall help me who shall condemne And further His Resurrection therefore called his first begetting to confirm strengthen this notion because his Resurrection was the first moment of this his justification from our sins therefore it is that God cals it his first begetting of Christ This day have I begotten thee speaking manifestly of his Resurrection Acts 13. 35. And the reason of his so calling it is because all the while before he was covered with sin and the likenesse of sinfull flesh But now having flung it off he appears like Gods Son indeed as if newly begotten And thus also there commeth to be the fuller conformity betweene Christ justification ours For as our justification is at our first being born again And therein a conformity between our Regeneration and his Resurrection so was Christ also at this his first glorious begetting He was under an Attainder before here was the Act of Restitution first passed And as at our Conversion which is to us a Resurrection wee passe from death to life that is from an estate of death and condemnation unto justification of life so did Christ also at his Resurrection which to him was are begetting passe from an estate of death and guilt laid on him to an estate of Life Glory and justification from guilt and so shall appear as the word is Heb. 9. ult as he doth now in heaven without sin for he became to be without sin frō that very moment Thus I have shewn how Christ was justified at his Resurrection Now then in the 2. §. 2. place 2. That Beleevers were all justified in Christ his justification as a Common person representing them I am to
we were dead with Christ even then when he dyed so in the 2. of Coloss 13. we are said to be risen with him in respect of our justification which is the thing in hand The words are And you being dead in your sins namely the guilt of your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh that is in respect of the power of corrupt nature hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all your trespasses See here the forgivenesse of our sins or our justification is called a quickning or a raising up of us as the 12. ver hath it together with him in a conformity and relation to that justification from our sins which at his Resurrection he received in our names His meaning is he was justified then in our names and so we are now justifyed through the vertue of that our communion with him therein For if you mark the connexion of the words with what follows ver 14. you will finde this forgiving of their trespasses ver 13. through their being quickned together with him not onely to have been done when they beleeved and so when they had that justification personally first applyed to them of which it is true the words in the 12. ver are to be understood but also then to have been done when he having as it follows in the 14. ver blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances which was against us nailing it to his Crosse and having spoiled Principalities and Powers and got the victory namely in his rising again had made a shew of them openly in his ascending to heaven triumphing over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in himselfe as the Margent hath it of which words I shall farther speak in the next Head So as then when Christ did this in himselfe then were our sins forgiven then were we acquited with him and triumphed with him he doing all this in our stead representing us CHAP. VII How all this both the support of our faith and our Justification by Christs Resurrrection is sealed up to us in Baptisme The Conclusion How faith may make use of Christs Resurrection in its pleas to God ANd all this our communion with Christ in his Resurrection both in respect of Sanctification which the 6. of the Rom. holds forth and of Justification which this place in the Coloss holds forth is lively as both places declare set out and sealed up to us in the Sacrament of Baptisme Rom. 6. 3 4. we are said to be buried with him in Baptisme c. and Col. 2. 12. Buryed with him in Baptisme wherein also you are risen with him The ominent thing signified and represented in Baptisme is not simply the bloud of Christ as it washeth us from sin but there is a farther representation therein of Christs Death Buriall and Resurrection in the Baptized's being first buryed under water and then rising out of it and this not in a bare conformity unto Christ but in a representation of a communion with Christ in that his Death and Resurrection Therefore it is said We are buryed with him in Baptisme and Wherein you are risen with him It is not simply said like as he was buryed and rose but With him So as our communion and one-nesse with him in his Resurrection is represented to us therein and not onely our conformity or likenesse unto him therein And so Baptisme representeth this to us that Christ having once in himselfe sustained the persons of all the Elect in his Buriall and Resurrection that now upon the party himselfe who is baptized is personally particularly and apparently re-acted the same Part againe in his Baptisme thereby shewing what his communion with Christ before was in what was then done to Christ that he then was buried with Christ and rose with him and upon that ground is now in this outward sign of Baptisme as in a shew or representation both buryed and also riseth againe And moreover hence it is that the Answer of a good conscience which is made the inward effect of this Ordinance of Baptisme 1 Pet. 3. 21. is there also attributed unto Christs Resurrection as the thing signified and represented in Baptisme and as the cause of that answer of a good conscience Even Baptisme saith he doth now also save us as being the Ordinance that seales up salvation not the putting away of the filth of the flesh or the washing of the outward man but the answer of a good conscience towards God By the Resurrection of Iesus Christ To open these words Our consciences are that principle in us which are the seat of the guilt of all the sinnes of the whole man unto whose Court they all come to accuse us as unto Gods Deputy which Conscience is called Good or Evill as the state of the man is If his sinne remain unpardoned then as his estate is damnable so his conscience is evill If his sins bee forgiven and his person justified his conscience is said to bee good Conscience having its denomination from the mans state even as the Urine is called good or bad as the state of the mans body is healthful or unsound whose Urine it is Now in Baptisme forvivenesse of sins and justification being sealed up to a believers faith conscience under that lively representation of his Communion with Christ in his Resurrection hence this is made the fruit of Baptisme that the good conscience of a believer sealed up in Baptisme hath where withall from thence to answer all accusations of sin that can or doe at any time come in upon him and all this as it is there added By vertue of the resurrection of Iesus Christ namely in this respect that his Communion with Christ in his Resurrection hath been represented in his Baptisme as a ground of his faith and of that Answer unto all accusations So that indeed the same thing that Paul sayes by way of triumph and defiance to all accusations Who shall condemne Christ is risen the very same thing Peter here mentions though not by way of Defiance yet of a Beleevers Answer and Apologie That if sinnes doe come to condemne or accuse a good conscience is ready to say Christ is risen and I was then justified in him There is my Answer which nothing in heaven nor hell is able to reply unto This is the answer of a good conscience by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ Now to crown this second Pillar of Faith with this Coronis or Conclusion Application by way of Application or Direction to a believers faith How saith is to make use of this in pleading our Justification How to make use of Christs Resurrection in point of non-condemnation You heard before out of Rom. 6. that in respect of Mortification as the Apostle there reasoneth we may be truly said to have been perfectly dead to all sinne in Christs dying unto sin once and through his representing us therein as dying unto sinne in and with him So as although we be for
his first step to his glory and therefore this a certaine Demonstration 25 1. From the first gracious message which Christ after his Resurrection sent his Disciples who yet had forsaken him 26 2. From his carriage and speech at his first meeting with them 25 §. III. Demonstrations from passages at and after Christs Ascension into heaven 1. At his Ascension his blessing his Disciples 32 2. After he was come to heaven 1. Pouring out his Spirit on them as in his last Sermon he had promised which Spirit is to this day in our Preaching and an Argument of the fulfilling of this 33 2. All those works of Miracles and conversions of soules that accompanied the first preaching of the Gospel doe argue this as also the New Testament written since 34 3. Christs owne words spoken to Paul since himselfe was in heaven doe confirme it 35 4. The last words uttered in Scripture in the Book of the Revelation which was more immediately given unto John by Christ 37 Part II. Demonstrations Intrinsecall §. I. The first sort of Intrinsecall Demonstrations drawn from the Influence which all the three Persons have into the Heart of the Humane nature of Christ in Heaven 48 1. From God the Father Which Demonstration is made forth by two things 1. God hath given Christ a perpetuall command to love his Elect on earth and hath written a Law of love in his heart 49 2. This Law of love remaines for ever in his heart which is proved by two things 1. That it is a Law and that of Love 52 2. That by observing that Law it is that Christ continues in his Fathers love 53 2. From God the Sonne unto whom the Humane nature is united This disposition of grace is naturall to him as he is Gods naturall Sonne 54 Accordingly the Humane nature framed on purpose with dispositions of mercy and meeknesse above all other 55 3. From God the Holy Ghost who on earth filled him with meekenesse and grace above all other dispositions and now resteth upon him in Heaven more abundantly then ever 60 §. II. A second sort of Demonstrations from severall engagements now lying upon Christ in Heaven 70 1. Engagement The continuance of all his Relations and Alliances to us which no glory of his doth any thing lessen or alter ibid. Which relations were made chiefely for the other world and so must needes continue there 72 The Ground of this Engagement 76 2. His love is engaged and encreased by what he did and suffered for us 77 What a great obligation this is 78 3. His office of Priesthood which continues in Heaven doth further require all mercifulnesse and graciousnesse in him towards us sinners This Demonstration hath two parts 83 The 1. Shewing that the office of Priesthood was erected on purpose for grace and mercie ibid. Which is argued 1. By the Ends of it 2. By the Qualifications required for it 85 The 2. Shewing that by reason of this office an eternall duty lyeth upon him to shew grace and mercy and Christ is a faithfull High-Priest to performe that duty 90 Christs advancement can make no alteration in his heart for his Priesthood is his highest advancement And Grace did both Found and now upholds his Throne of Grace 94 4. His own Interest puts him upon these Affections of heart towards us His own joy happinesse and glory are encreased by shewing mercie to and comforting his children upon earth and it is more for his glory then for our good 98 Christ hath a double fulnesse of joy 1. Personall in his Father 2. Mysticall in his Members 99 How Christ rejoiceth in Heaven at our well-doing here on earth 101 5. His having the nature of man the same for substance in Heaven that he had on earth obligeth him to be mercifull unto men 104 The end of his Assuming mans nature was to qualifie him for mercie 105 Though it adds not to the greatnesse of mercie in God yet it addes a new way of being mercifull even as a man 106 Part III. §. I. Some Generals to cleare 1. How this is to be understood That Christs Heart is touched with the feeling of our infirmities 2. The way how our Infirmities come to be feelingly let into his heart 109 1. How this affection in Christ is to be understood This explained by these degrees 1. This affection of compassion is not wholly to be understood in a Metaphoricall sense as when God is said to be afflicted c. that is not meerely after the similitude of men but in a true and reall sense 111 2. These affections in Christs humane nature are more like to ours then those which the Angells have who notwithstanding have affections analogicall to ours 113 3 Christ having taken fraile flesh ere he went to Heaven this fits him yet more for having affections of mercie like unto ours 115 3. For the way how our miseries are let into Christs heart so as to affect it This explained by two things 1 The Humane nature hath the knowledge and cognizance of all that can or doth befall us here 118 2 He remembers how himselfe was once affected when he was under the like 119 §. II. A more particular Disquisition what manner of affection this is The seat thereof whether in his spirit or soule onely or in the whole humane nature Some Cautious added 121 This affection for our better conceiving it set forth three wayes 1. Negatively it is not in all things such as it was in the dayes of his flesh 2 Positively It is yet for substance the very same affection and the seat of it is his bodily heart as well as his soule 124 Foure Cautions or Positions about this 1. In what sense or so far as his Body is made spirituall so far are these Affections spiritualized as they are in his body 125 2. Hence though they move his Bowels yet they doe not perturbe or hurt him in the least 126 3. All naturall humane affections may be still in him that are not unbecomming his state glory And how much the having such affections are suteable to that state and relation wherein he is 128 4. Though a passionate suffering be cut off yet these affections are now more large and strong for the substance of them then they were on earth 130 3. Privatively If his heart suffers not with us under our Infirmities yet he hath lesse joy then his heart shall have when we are freed from all 131 How the Scripture attributes some kinde of Imperfection to some affection in him and in what sense §. III. This Scruple satisfied How Christs heart can bee feelingly touched with our sins our greatest infirmities seeing he was tempted without sinne 133 Foure answers given thereunto for our comfort Vses of all 137 FINIS THE HEART OF Christ in Heaven TO Sinners on Earth I. PART HAving set forth our Lord and Saviour JESVS CHRIST in all those great and most solemne actions of his his Obedience unto
beats and his bowels yerne towards us even now he is in glory The very scope of these words being manifestly to encourage Beleevers against all that may discourage them from the consideration of Christs heart towards them now in heaven To open them so far as they serve to my present purpose First all that may any way discourage us he here calls by the name of Infirmities thereby meaning both 1. The evill of afflictions of what sort soever Persecutions c. from without 2. The evill of sins which doe most of all discourage us from within And that both these are menat 1. That under Infirmities he meanes persecutions and afflictions is manifest not only in that the word is often used in that sense as 2 Cor. 11. 30. and Chap. 12. 5. but also it is plain that the phrase is here so intended for his scope is to comfort them against what would pull from them their profession as that fore-going exhortation Let us hold fast our profession implyes Now that which attempted to pull it from them were their persecutions and oppositions from without It appears also because his argument here of comforting them against these infirmities is drawne from Christs example In that he was in all things tempted as we are Yet secondly by infirmities are meant sins also for so in the processe of this discourse hee useth the phrase and makes them the main object of our Highpriests pity for in the next words Chap. 5. 2. shewing vvhat the qualifications of the High-priest under the Law were who were types of our great High-priest he makes this one suitable to this here mentioned that he was to be one that could have compassion on the ignorant and those that were out of the way that is upon sinners for sins are those ignorances and goings astray from God and then adds in that himselfe was cloathed with infirmities that is with sins And although it is said here that Christ was without sin in all yet he was tempted by Satan unto all sorts of sins even as we are And that by infirmities sins are mainly here intended is yet more evident from the remedy propounded against them which they are here encouraged to seeke for at the throne of grace namely Grace and Mercie Therefore let us come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may finde Grace and mercie to helpe in time of need So it follows in the next words Grace to help against the power of sinne and Mercie against the guilt and punishment of it both which are the greatest discouragers to come boldly to that throne and therefore he must needs intend those kindes of infirmities chiefly in this his encouragement and comfortory given Now secondly for a support against both these he lets us understand how feelingly and sensibly affected the heart of Christ is to sinners under all these their infirmities now he is in Heaven for of him advanced into heaven he here speakes as appeareth by ver 14. And if the coherence with that verse be observed we shall see that he brings in this narration of it setly by way of preventing an objection which might otherwise arise in all mens thoughts from that high and glorious Description which he had given of him in that 14. ver We have a great High-Priest who is passed into the Heavens c. He knew wee would be apt from this presently to thinke he may be too great to be an High-Priest for us to transact our affaires and that this greatnesse of his might cause him to forget us or if he did remember us and take notice of our miseries yet being passed into the Heavens and so having cast off the frailties of his flesh which hee had here and having cloathed his humane nature with so great a glory that therefore hee cannot now pitie us as he did when he dwelt among us here below nor be so feelingly affected and touched with our miseries as to be tenderly moved to compassionate and commiserate us so he is not now capable of a feeling of griefe and so not of a fellow-feeling or sympathizing vvith us his state and condition now is above all such affections which affections notwithstanding are they that should put him upon helping us heartily and cordially And for him to bee exposed to such affections as these were a weakenesse an infirmity in himselfe which heaven hath cured him of His power and glory is so great that he cannot bee thus touched even as the Angels are not And he is advanced for above all Principalities and powers Ephes 1. 15. This the Apostle carefully pre-occupates and it is the very objection which he takes away Wee have not an High-Priest who cannot c. Duplex negatio aequipollet affirmationi nay two negatives doe not onely make an affirmative but affirme more strongly they make an affirmation contradictory to a contrary and opposite thought Now this speech of his is as much as if he should have said Well let heaven have made what alteration soever upon his condition in glorifying his humane nature which be it never so free from fleshly passions and in stead of flesh be made like Heaven let him be never so incapable of impressions from below yet he retaines one tender part and bare place in his heart still unarmed as it were even to suffer with you and to be touched if you be The word is a deepe one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He suffers with you hee is as tender in his bowels to you as ever he was that hee might be moved to pitie you he is willing to suffer as it were one place to be left naked and to be flesh still on which he may be vvounded vvith your miseries that so he might be your mercifull High-priest And whereas it may bee objected that this were a weakenesse The Apostle affirmes that this is his power and a perfection and strength of love surely in him as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth that is that makes him thus able and powerfull to take our miseries into his heart though glorified and so to be affected with them as if he suffered with us and so to relieve us out of that principle out of which he would relieve himselfe There are two things which this Text gives mee occasion to take notice of and apart to handle First more generally That Christs heart now in heaven is as graciously affected unto sinners as ever it was on earth And secondly more particularly the manner how Or thus 1. That he is touched with a feeling or sympathizeth with us as the word is 2. The way how this comes to passe even through his having been tempted in all things like unto us In handling the first I shall give those Intrinsecall Demonstrations of it that remaine and in handling the other further open the Text. To come therefore first to those Intrinsecall Demonstrations of this Doctrine which I engraft upon these words and shoots naturally from them namely
stirs up in him bowels of mercie infinitely larger towards you then you can have unto your selves §. II. A second sort of Demonstrations from severall engagements now lying upon Christ in heaven THere are a second sort of Demonstrations which may be drawn from many other severall engagements continuing and lying upon Christ now he is in heaven which must needs encline his heart towards us as much yea more then ever As 1. The continuance of all those neere and intimate Relations and allyances unto us of all sorts which no glory of his can make any alteration in and therefore not in his heart and love nor a declining any respects and offices of love which such relations do call for at his hands All relations that are naturall such as between father and child husband and wife brother and brother c. looke what world they are made for in that world they for ever hold and can never be dissolved These fleshly relations indeed do cease in that other world because they were made onely for this world as Rom. 7. 1. The wife is bound to her husband but so long as he lives But these relations of Christ unto us were made in order to the world to come as the Epistle to the Hebrews calls it and therefore are in their full vigour and strength and receive their compleatment therein Wherefore it is that Christ is said to be the same to day yesterday and for ever Heb. 13. 8. To illustrate this by the constant indissoluble tie of those relations of this world whereto no differēce of condition whether of advancement or debasement can give any discharge We see in Ioseph when advanced how as his relations continued so his affections remained the same to his poore brethren who yet had injured him and also to his father So Genes 45. where in the same speech he mentioneth both his owne greatest dignities and advancement God hath made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and a Ruler throughout all the Land of Egypt so ver 8. and yet withall he forgetteth not his relations I am Ioseph your brother ver 4. even the same man still And his affections appeared also to be the same for he wept over them and could not refraine himselfe as you have it ver 1 2. And the like he expresseth to his father ver 9. Goe to my father and say Thus saith thy sonne Ioseph God hath made me Lord over all Egypt and yet thy son Ioseph still Take another instance wherein there was but the relation of being of the same countrey and allyance in Esther when advanced to be Queene of an hundred twenty and seven Provinces who when she was in the armes of the greatest Monarch on earth and enjoyed highest favour with him yet then she cryes out How can I endure to see the evill that shall come unto my people or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred So Chap. 8. 6. She considered but her relation and how doth it work in her veyns by a sympathie of bloud Now much more doth this hold good of husband and wife for they are in a neerer relation yet Let the wife have beene one that was poore and meane fallen iuto sicknesse c. and let the husband be as great and glorious as Solomon in all his royaltie all man-kind would cry shame on such a man if he should not now owne his wife and be a husband in all love and respect to her still But beyond all these relations the relation of Head and Members as it is most naturall so it obligeth most No man ever yet hated his owne flesh sayes the Apostle though diseased and leprous but loveth and cherisheth it And it is the law of Nature that if one member be honoured all the members are to rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12. 26. and if one member suffer all the rest are to suffer with it Even so is Christ as ver 12. And these relations are they that doe move Christ to continue his love unto us Iesus knowing that he was to depart out of this world having loved his owne who were in the world he loved them unto the end Iohn 13. 1. And the reason thereof is put upon his relation to them they were his owne and his owne by vertue of all relations whatsoever his owne Brethren his owne Spouse his owne flesh and the very world will love its owne as himselfe speaks much more will he himselfe love his owne He that provides not for his owne family is worse then an Infidel sayes the Apostle Now though Christ be in heaven yet his people are his family still they are retainers to him though they be on earth and this as truly as those that stand about his person now he is in his glory So that speech evidently declares Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named they all together make up but one and the same family to him as their Lord. Christ is both the founder the subject and the most perfect exemplar and patterne to us of all the relations that are found on earth First he is the founder of all relations and affections that accompanie them both in nature and grace As therefore the Psalmist argues shall he not see who made the eye So doe I Shall not he who put all these affections into parents and brothers suitable to their relations shall not he have them much more in himselfe Though our Father Abraham being in heaven be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not yet O Lord thou art our Father our Redeemer c Isai 36. 16. the Prophet speakes it of Christ as appears by ver 1 and 2. and in a prophesie of the Jews Call he speaks it of Christ as supposed in Heaven for he adds Looke downe from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse and thy glory There are but two things that should make him to neglect sinners his holinesse as they are sinners and his glory as they are meane and low creatures Now he there mentions both to shew that notwithstanding either as they are sinners he rejects them not and as they are base and mean he despiseth them not 2. He is the Subject of all relations which no creature is If'a man be a husband yet not a father or a brother but Christ is all No one relation being sufficient to expresse his love where with he loveth and owneth us And therefore he calls his Church both Sister and Spouse Cantic 5. 1. 3. He is the patterne and exemplar of all these our relatious and they all are but the copies of his Thus in Ephes 5. Christ is made the pattern of the relation and love of husbands Husbands sayes the Apostle love your wives as Christ loved his Church so ver 25. Yea ver 31 32 33. the marriage of Adam the very words he then spake of cleaving to a wife are made but the
likewise is touched notwithstanding all his glory as also by his annexing the reason of it or shewing the way how it comes to passe in that in all points he was tempted like as we are Now in handling and opening these which is a matter full of difficulty I shall with all warinesse proceed to the discovery of what manner of affection in Christ this is and that by these steps and degrees 1. This affection of compassion or his being touched with the feeling of our infirmities is not wholly to be understood in a metaphoricall or a similitudinary sense as those speeches used of God in the Old Testament are to be understood when bowels of compassion are attributed unto him and his bowels are said to be rowled together or as when as it is said of God that he repented and was afflicted in all his peoples afflictions All which expressions were spoken of God as wee all know but meerely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men so to convey and represent to our apprehensions by what affections use to be in parents or friends in such and such cases what provoke them unto such and such actions which like effects proceede from God towards us when he sees us in distresse And so they are spoken rather per modum Effectus then Affectus rather by way of like Effect which God produceth then by way of such Affection in Gods heart which is not capable of any such passions as these are Now towards the right understanding of this the first thing which I affirme is that barely in such a sense as this that which is here spoken of Christ is not to be understood and my reason for it is grounded upon these two things put together First that this affection of his towards us here spoken of is manifestly meant of his humane nature and not of his God head only for it is spoken of that nature wherein he once was tempted as we now are So expresly in the next words which can be meant of no other then his humane nature And Secondly That those kind of expressions which were used of God before the Assumption of our nature onely in a way of metaphor and similitude after the manner of men should in no further or more reall and proper sense be spoken of Christ and his humane nature now assumed when he is a man as truly and properly as we are I cannot imagine when I consider and remember that which I last insisted on that one end of Christs taking an humane nature was that hee might be a mercifull High-Priest for ever in such a way as he being God alone could not have beene I confesse I have often wondred at that expression there used Heb. 2. He tooke the seede of Abraham that he might he made a mercifull high-Priest which at the first reading sounded as if God had beene made more mercifull by taking our nature But this solved the wonder that this assumption added a new way of Gods being mercifull By meanes of which it may now bee said for the comfort and reliefe of our faith that God is truly and really mercifull as a man And the consideration of this contributes this to the clearing of the thing in hand that whereas God of himselfe was so blessed and perfect that his blessednesse could not have beene touched with the least feeling of our infirmities neither was he in himselfe capable of any such affection of pitty or compassion He is not as a man that he should pittie or repent c. He can indeed doe that for us in our distresse which a man that pitties us useth to do but the affections and bowels themselves he is not capable of Hence therfore amongst other ends of assuming mans nature this fell in before God as one that God might thereby become loving and mercifull unto men as one man is to another And so that what before was but improperly spoken and by way of Metaphor and similitude in the Old Testament so to convey it to our apprehensions might now be truly attributed unto him in the reality that God might be for ever said to be compassionate as a man and to be touched with a feeling of our infirmities as a man And thus by this happy union of both Natures the language of the Old Testament uttered onely in a figure becomes verified and fulfilled in the truth of it as in all other things the shadows of it were in Christ fulfilled And this is the first step towards the understanding of what is here said of Christ taken from this comparison with the like attributed unto God himselfe A second and further step to let in our understanding to the apprehension of this is by the like further comparison to be made with the Angels and those affections of love and pity that are certainly found in them In comparison of which these affections in Christs humane nature though glorified must needs be far more like to ours even more tender and more humane For in that Heb. 2. it is expresly said He therefore took not the nature of the Angels that he might be a mercifull High-Priest Part of the intendment of those words is to shew and give the reason not onely why he took our nature under fraile flesh though that the Apostle mentions ver 14. but why an humane nature for the substance of it and not the nature of Angels Because in his affections of mercy he would for ever come neerer to us and have such affections and of the same kind with ours Whereas otherwise in other respects an Angel would have been an higher and more glorious High-Priest then a man Now the Angels being fellow-servants with us as the Angel called himself Rev. 22. 9. they have affections towards us more assimilated unto ours then God hath and so are more capable of such impressions from our miseries then God is Although they be Spirits yet they partake of something analogicall or resembling and answering to those affections of pity griefe c. which are in us And indeed so far as these affections are seated in our soules and not drencht in the passions of the body unto which our soules are united they are the very same kind of affections in us that are in them Hence the same lusts that are in men are said to be in devils John 8. 44. and therefore the devils also are said to feare and tremble c. And so oppositely the same affections that are in men so far as they are spirituall and the spirit or soule is the seat of them they must needs be found in the good Angels But Christ having an humane nature the same for substance that ours is consisting both of soule and body although through glory made spirituall yet not become a Spirit A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have sayes Christ of himselfe after his Resurrection Luke 24. 39. therefore he must need have affections towards us yet
more like to these of ours then those are which the Angels have So then by these two steps we have gained these two things That even in Christs humane nature though glorified affections of pity and compassion are true and reall and not metaphorically attributed to him as they are unto God and also more neere and like unto ours here then those in the Angels are even affections proper to mans nature and truly humane And these he should have had although this humane nature had from the very first assumption of it been as glorious as it is now in heaven But now thirdly adde this further that God so ordered it that before Christ should cloathe this his humane nature with that glory he hath in heaven and put this glory upon it he should first take it as cloathed with all our infirmities even the very same that doe cleave unto us and should live in this world as we doe for many yeeres And during that time God prepared for him all sorts of afflictions and miseries to run through which we our selves doe here meet withall and all that time he was acquainted with and inured unto all the like sorrowes that we are and God left him to that infirmity and tendernesse of spirit to take in all distresses as deeply as any of us without sin and to exercise the very same affections under all these distresses that we at any time doe find stirring in our hearts And this God thus ordered on purpose thereby to fit him and to frame his heart when he should be in glory unto such affections as these spoken of in the Text. And this both this Text suggests to be Gods end in it as also that fore-mentioned place Heb. 2. 13. For as much as we namely his members are partakers of flesh and bloud which phrase doth ever note out the frailties of mans nature as 1 Cor. 15. 50. c. he himselfe tooke part of the same that he might be a mercifull High-Priest c. ver 17. And then the Apostle gives this reason of it ver 18. For in that himselfe hath suffered being tempted he is able this Ability is as was before interpreted the having an heart fitted and enabled out of experience to pity and to succour them that are tempted The meaning of which is that it was not the bare taking of an humane nature if glorious from the first that would thus fully have fitted him to be affectionately pitifull out of experience though as was said the knowledge of our miseries taken in thereby would have made him truly and really affectionate towards us with affections humane and proper to a man and so much neerer and liker ours then what are in the Angels themselves or then are attributed to God when he is said to pity us but further his taking our nature at first cloathed with frailties and living in this world as we This hath for ever fitted his heart by experience to be in our very hearts and bosomes and not onely or barely to know the distresse and as a man to be affected with an humane affection to one of his kind but experimentally remembring the like in himselfe once And this likewise the Text suggests as the way whereby our distresses are let into his heart the more feelingly now he is in heaven We have not an High-Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sinne And the more to comfort us herein observe how fully and universally the Apostle speaks of Christs having beene tempted here below First for the matter of them or the severall sorts of temptations he sayes he was tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all points or things of any kind wherewith we are exereised Secondly for the manner he addes that too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like as we are His heart having been just so affected so wounded pierced and distressed in all such tryals as ours use to be onely without sinne God on purpose left all his affections to their full tendernesse and quicknesse of sense of evill So that Christ took to heart all that befell him as deeply as might be he slighted no crosse either from God or men but had and felt the utmost load of it Yea his heart was made more tender in all sorts of affections then any of ours even as it was in love and pity and this made him a man of sorrows and that more then anyother man was or shall be Now therefore to explicate the way how our miseries are let into his heart come to stir up such kindly affections of pity and compassion in him it is not hard to conceive from what hath now been said and from what the Text doth further hint unto us 1. The understanding and knowledge of that humane nature hath notice and cognisance of all the occurrences that befall his members here And for this the Text is cleare For the Apostle speaks this for our encouragement That Christ is toucht with the feeling of our infirmities Which could not be a reliefe unto us if it supposed not this that he particularly and distinctly knew them And if not all as well as some we should want reliefe in all as not knowing which he knew and which not And the Apostle affirmes this of his humane nature as was said for he speaks of that nature that was tempted here below And therefore the Lambe that was slaine and so the man Christ Jesus is Revel 5. 6. said to have seven eyes as well as seven hornes which seven eyes are the seven spirits sent forth into all the earth His eyes of Providence through his annointing with the Holy Ghost are in all corners of the world and view all the things that are done under the sunne in like manner hee is there said to have seven hornes for power as seven eyes for knowledge and both are defined to be seven to shew the perfection of both in their extent reaching unto all things So that as all power in heaven and earth is committed unto Him as Son of man as the Scripture speakes so all knowledge is given him of all things done in heaven and earth and this as Son of man too his knowledge and power being of equall extent He is the Sunne as well in respect of knowledge as of Righteousnesse and there is nothing hid from his light and beames which doe pierce the darkest corners of the hearts of the sons of men He knowes the sores as Solomon expresseth it and distresses of their hearts Like as a looking-glasse made into the forme of a round globe and hung in the midst of a roome takes in all the species of things done or that are therein at once so doth the enlarged understanding of Christs humane nature take in the affairs of this world which hee is appointed to governe especially the miseries of his members and this at once 2. His humane nature thus knowing
all I know thy workes thy labour and thy patience c. Rev. 22. He therewithall hath an act of memory and recalls how himself was once affected and how distressed whilst on earth under the same or the like miseries For the memory of things here below remaines still with him as with all spirits in either of those two other worlds heaven or hell Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill c. sayes Abraham to the soule of Dives in hell Luke 16. 25. Remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome said the good theefe to Christ And Revel 1. I am hee sayes Christ that was dead and am alive Hee remembers his death still and the sufferings of it and as he remembers it to put his Father in mind thereof so he remembers it also to affect his owne heart with what we feele And his memory presenting the impression of the like now afresh unto him how it was once with him hence he comes feelingly and experimentally to know how it is now with us and so affects himselfe therewith as Dido in Virgil Haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco Having experience of the like miseries though a Queene now I know how to succour those that are therein As God said to the Israelites when they should be possessed of Canaan their own land Exo. 23. 9. Ye know the hearts of strangers seeing ye were strangers c. and therefore doth command them to pitty strangers and to use them well upon that motive So may it be said of CHRIST that he doth know the hearts of his children in misery seeing himselfe was once under the like Or as the Apostle exhorts the Hebrews Heb. 13. 3. Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being your selves in the body and so ere you die may come to suffer the like So Christ the Head of the body which is the fountaine of all sense and feeling in the body doth remember them that are bound and in adversity having himselfe beene once in the body and so he experimentally compassionates them And this is a further thing then the former We have gained this further That Christ hath not onely such affections as are reall and proper to an humane nature but such affections as are stirred up in him from experience of the like by himselfe once tasted in a fraile nature like unto ours And thus much for the way of letting in all our miseries into Christs heart now so as to strike and affect it with them §. II. A more particular disquisition What manner of affection this is The Seat thereof whether in his spirit or soule onely or the whole humane nature Some Cautions added BUt concerning this Affection it selfe of pity and compassion fellow-feeling and sympathie or suffering with as the Text calls it which is the product result or thing produced in his heart by these there still remaines another thing more particularly to be inquired into namely What manner of affection this is For that such an affection is stirred up in him besides and beyond a bare act of knowledge or remembrance how once it was with himselfe is evident by what we find in the Text. The Apostle sayes not onely that he remembers how himselfe was tempted with the like infirmities that we are though that be necessarily supposed but that he is struck and toucht with the feeling of our infirmities to the producing of which this act of remembrance doth but subserve And he tels us Christ is able and his heart is capable of thus being toucht And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a deep word signifying to suffer with us untill we are relieved And this affection thus stirred up is it which moveth him so cordially to helpe us Now concerning this affection as here thus expressed how far it extends and how deep it may reach I think no man in this life can fathome If Cor Regis the heart of a King be inscrutable as Solomon speaks the heart of the King of Kings now in glory is much more I will not take upon me to intrude into things which I have not seen but shall endeavour to speak safely and therefore warily so far as the light of Scripture and right reason shall warrant my way I shall set it forth three wayes 1. Negatively 2. Positively 3. Privatively 1. Negatively It is certaine that this affection of sympathie or fellow-feeling in Christ is not in all things such a kind of affection as was in him in the dayes of his flesh Which is cleare by what the Apostle speaks of him and of his affections then Heb. 5. 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryings and teares was heard in that which he feared Where we see his converse and state of life here below to be called by way of difference and distinction from what it is now in heaven The dayes of his flesh By flesh meaning not the substance of the humane nature for he retaines that still but the fraile quality of subjection to mortality or passibility So Flesh is usually taken as when all flesh is said to be grasse It is spoken of mans nature in respect to its being subject to a fading wearing and decay by outward casualties or inward passions So in this Epistle Chap. 2. 14. For as much as the children we his brethren did partake of flesh and bloud that is the frailties of mans nature he himselfe also took part of the same And accordingly the Apostle instanceth in the following words of that 14. verse as in death which in the dayes of his flesh Christ was subject to so also in such fraile passions and affections as did work a suffering in him and a wearing and wasting of his spirits such as passionate sorrow joyned with strong cryes and teares both which he mentioneth and also feare in those words He was heard in that which he feared Now these dayes of his flesh being over and past for this was onely as sayes the Apostle in the dayes of his flesh hence therefore all such concomitant passionate overflowings of sorrow feare c. are ceased therewith and he is now no way capable of them or subjected to them Yet 2. Positively why may it not be affirmed that for substance the same kinde of affection of pittie and compassion that wrought in his whole man both body and soule when he was here workes still in him now he is in heaven If this Position be allayed with those due cautions and considerations which presently I shall annexe For if for substance the same flesh and blood and animall spirits remaine and have their use for though Christ in Luke 24. 29. mentioned only his having flesh and bones after his resurrection unto Thomas and the other Disciples because these two alone were to be the object of his Touch and Feeling yet Blood