still and if you doe not this you shall dye It was written long since that time Deut. 27. ver 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to doe them And all the people must say Amen to it now as well as they did then But herein is the Covenant of Grace more favourable The Covenant of Works sayes thou shalt personally doe them or dye The Covenant of Grace sayes thou shalt doe it or get Christ to doe it for thee the Covenant of Workes sayes I will take no baile no surety doe it or dye Durus est hic sermo an hard saying who can heare it The Covenant of Grace saith Get me Christs Baile and I will acquit thee if thou beleevest in him Therefore saith the Apostle Gal. 3.10 11. As many as are of the workes of the Law that look to be justified by their owne workes by their owne righteousnesse in fulfilling the Law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the Law to doe them Look to it saith the Apostle if you look to be justified by obeying the Law in your owne persons take my word for it you have an hard taske But verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law But how was that it followes in the next words Being made a curse for us ver 14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ Hee was to fulfill the Law Actively that he might fulfill what we through the weaknes of the flesh could not and in regard that he was to fulfill it for us it was requisite he should have our nature and as hee was to fulfill the Law Actively so in regard that his Elect by their past Transgressions had broken the Law of God Adam for himselfe and all his posterity and the body of death which he knew was to remaine after sanctification in his Elect ones would lay them open to hell He also was to fulfill the Law Passively for us therefore saith the Apostle He hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law Now he tells you how that was verse 13. by being made a curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangs upon a tree Now hee could not have been in capacity of being subject to the curse of the Law by hanging upon the tree for us unlesse he had taken upon him our flesh Nay yet a Fourth Reason may be given why it was necessary that Jesus Christ should raise up his redeemed ones by the assuming their flesh viz. That he might be a mercifull High-Priest It is the Reason that the Apostle gives Hebr. 2. verse 17. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to bee made like unto his brethren that hee might bee a mercifull and faithfull High-Priest in all things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sinnes of the people for in that hee himselfe suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted I shall adde nothing to it Thus he raised us by Assuming of our flesh which in order to our raising it was necessary for him to doe 3. He raised us Passione by his precious death upon the Crosse his falling was our rising his life our death The chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes wee are healed His owne bloud was the balme from Gilead as well as himselfe the Physitian there Now in order to the raising of his Elect ones it was requisite that he should dye 1. That he might satisfie 2. That he might conquer 1. That he might satisfie and purchase Remission He that will redeem any slave out of Captivity must pay the summe of Redemption-money required Now Death was that which could alone satisfie for the redeemed ones It was the Lords first Law In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die temporally and eternally Now a death must be paid or justice is not satisfied therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 9.22 Without blood there is no remission he therefore dyed for our sinnes saith the Apostle he was our sacrifice 1 Cor. 4.7 And he is no sacrifice till slaine This was typified by the slaying of beasts for sacrifices in the old Law which God required of all those that would obtain pardon And in regard that man had deserved hell as well as death Christ by dying that he might raise us and and make the face of God againe to shine upon us was content to suffer the withdrawings of his Fathers love and to feele as it were the paines of hell to raise us to the joyes of heaven Secondly as it was necessary in order to our raising that Christ should dye to the intent that he should satisfie for us so it was also necessary that he should dye that he might conquer for us This the Apostle fully expresseth Heb. 2.14 15. Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe tooke part of the same that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death even the Devill and deliver them who through feare of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Christ was to lead Captivity captive to take away deaths sting and hels victory which he could not have done without wrastling with death himselfe had he not been deaths captive he had never been deaths conquerour Hee raised us by dying for us 4. He hath raised us Resurrectione by rising againe from the dead therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 4.25 He was delivered to death for our offences and rose againe for our justification Now his Resurrection had and hath an influence upon raising his Elect ones 1. By witnessing to them Christs conquest for them and therefore the Apostle makes the worke of satisfaction for us to be proper to his death and the worke of our justification he appropriates to his Resurrection Rom. 4.25 When he dyed he went downe that he might conquer but it was his comming up out of the grave that witnessed his conquest over death and hell It was in that day that this Song was sung O death where is thy sting O hell where is thy victory When the Prisoner is freed it is a signe the debt is paid or the Gaoler beaten It was a signe of both in Christ as that the debt was paid due to his Fathers justice so also that death and hell were beaten 2. Christs Resurrection had an influence upon our raising by quickning us Col. 2.12 Buried with him in Baptisme wherein you are also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead And being dead in your sinnes hath he quickned together with him c. Col. 3 1. If then ye be risen with Christ seeke those things which are above and ver 2. Set your affections on things which are above c. We are risen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with him
were Gods people and which he loved but would Moses have done it for a Philistine yet this hath Christ done O love ye the Lord all his Saints 4. Thee that never askt it He was found of them that sought it not Alas mankind lay as well without a tongue to aske as an hand to help themselves and behold Christ pitied them and amongst them thee his love declared from Eternity towards thee had not so much cause in thee as a poore prayer would have amounted to he was not moved by thy sighs and teares but by his owne infinite love 5. Lastly thee that hast still Rebellion in thee Christ said within himselfe when he dyed upon the Crosse Now is my heart-bloud powred out for as vile wretches as any are and for those that I know will requite my bleeding wounds my dying love with new speares and thornes thus he knew that thou wouldst doe in the time of thy unregeneracie yea and after thou shouldst be called too Who lives and sinnes not Now Christian lay these things to thy heart meditate of study out this love and see if thou hast not cause to say My soule and all that is within me my tongue and all that is without me praise the Lord. But O remember I Christian Remember Burnt offering and sacrifice he doth not require but this he requires that thou shouldst doe his will O say Loe I come I am ready to do it But more particularly let me point thee out some particular duties that the Lord requires of thee in a poor answer to his rich Acts of eternall love First hath not he thought his glory too deare to lay aside for a while for thee nor his Word and Truth too dear to pawne for thee not his bloud too deare to spill for thee hath he valued nothing in comparison of thee O doe thou value nothing in an equall ballance with him be willing to deny thy selfe for him who in every thing hath denyed himselfe for thee Thy Lusts cannot be so pleasing to thee as Christs glory was to him Be content to leave them Thy Honour cannot be so great as his was which he left for thee and became ignoble in our eyes Surely when wee saw him we esteemed him despised smitten of God and afflicted Isa 53.4 But it was when hee was wounded for our Transgressions and bruised for our Iniquities when the chastisement of our peace was upon him and that by his stripes we might be healed Thy Riches cannot be greater than his yet remember him O remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who though he was rich yet for your sake became poore that you through his Povertie might be made rich 2 Cor. 7. Thy life cannot be more deare than his yet he valued not his life for thee but powred out his bloud his precious bloud upon the Crosse that through his bloud thou mightest have remission purchased Learne hence Christian a lesson of self-deniall Be content to suffer for him who was content to suffer that he might raise thee value nothing in comparison of him This Lesson had Saint Paul learned Phil. 3. v. 7 8. What things were gaine to me I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may win Christ c. ver 10. That I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death Looke upon nothing in an equall ballance with him 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined not to know any thing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified Secondly hath Christ entred into a Covenant and given his word to his Father and kept his word with his Father for you O then learne of him Vow your selves to him and keep the vowes of your lips Say with David Psal 116. ver 16. Ah Lord truly we are thy servants we are thy servants and the sons of thy handmaids for thou hast loosed our bonds Say with David Psal 40. Mine eares hast thou opened and bored them Say Ah Lord we come to doe thy will Christ kept his word with his Father for you Ah keep your word with him pay him the vowes which you have made Thirdly Hath Christ to raise you taken upon him your flesh O then Take ye upon your selves his spirit He hath become for you the childe of man doe you become for him the children of God Be made partakers of the divine Nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1.4 Your Nature was full of imperfection and weaknesse the divine Nature is full of perfection and glory He hath raised you be raised put off your filthy rags and put on change of Raiment Fourthly Hath Christ died that he might raise you from the death of Sinne and from the power of the Second death O then dye to sinne Col. 3.5 Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleannesse inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry for which things c. The Apostle Saint Paul presseth the great duty of mortification from this very principle Likewise reckon yee also your selves to be dead to sinne but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.11 and so on ver 12 13. Let not sinne therefore reigne in your mortall bodies c. Ah throw away the nailes that pierced your Christ Fifthly Did Christ rise from the dead that he might raise you from the death of sinne O then rise to newnesse of life The Apostle Saint Paul presseth this worke of Vivification also from Christs Resurrection Rom. 6. ver 4. We are buried with him by Baptisme into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father euen so we also should walke in newnesse of life and so all along that Chapter Sixthly Hath he ascended that he might raise us O then let us likewise ascend after him setting our affections upon things which are above not upon things which are below Christ who is our treasure is ascended Let our hearts also be where our treasure is Col. 3. ver 1. If then ye be risen with Christ secke those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God 7. Lastly Will he yet once againe come and raise you by glorification O then Let Christ in you be the hopes of glory Looke for him he is making ready his chariot He is bowing the Heavens and comming downe He hath prepared a place for his redeemed ones and he is comming Loe he is comming to take them up into the chambers of glory that where he is there they may be also But to summe up all let me only adde 5. A fifth and last use of Consolation To all the Saints and servants of God both touching themselves
regards his old Debtor more This is our case Adam had runne us in debt an infinite debt which neither he nor we are able to pay A Writ of Vengeance was out mankinde ready to bee arrested and bound in Chaines and throwne into an everlasting prison from whence hee should have been sure never to come out till hee had paid the utermost farthing which he could never have done with all the friends and estate he could have made Jesus Christ seeing some of his elected friends that his Father had given him having their names in the Writ steps in and sayes Father these are my friends Isa 63.8 Surely they are my people children that will not lye so he was their Saviour I will undertake their debt upon me charge it upon my score I will pay every farthing if thou pleasest to accept it it shall be paid at such a time Gal. 4.4 When the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman made under the Law to redeeme them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of sonnes The Father accepts this tender therefore he is stiled Gods beloved Sonne in whom he is well pleased The word is in whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An emphaticall word which generally signifies to love but more specially and properly it signifies to love something by adhering to it with the minde and heart and so to be content and fully satisfied with it that one desires nothing else Me thinks I cannot but observe three things in it 1. God signifies by it that he is pleased with him and with his tender As if wee should say I like that well 2. God signifies by it that he is fully content with him so that hee desires nothing else As if we should say I desire no better security than his 3. God doth signifie by it that he will trust to it As it we should say in such a case to a surety Well then I will no more look after my Debtor now I will trust to you onely So upon Christs offer saith God I like thy tender as sufficient and am so fully content with it that I desire no more but now I shall wholly trust to thee for all Now God repeateth these words in the Gospell at Christs Baptisme and at Christs Transfiguration Matth 3. Mat. 17. And to what purpose but to witnesse to the world as that hee was well pleased with Christ as his Sonne that in heaven his worke was to delight in his Sonne and he did so delight in him that he desireth no other pleasure than the company and beholding of his Sonne which puts me in minde of a sweet notion of Master Rutherfords that God spent all his time from Eternity till the Creation of the World in delighting himselfe in Christ But I say as it doth signifie that and so set out the infinite love of the Father that he would be pleased to part with such a darling of glory for us as also in this it sets out the Fathers love that he should send to looke after inglorious wretches when hee needed not our companies for hee had pleasure and delight enough in the company of his Eternall Sonne whose company did so content him that he desired nothing else for himselfe So I also thinke that God by his twice repeating of it after Christ came would have us understand that God was well pleased with him as our Surety Heb. 7.22 Christ is called our Surety with what payment hee should make c. But now in regard it was in time that Christ came in the fulnesse time saith the Apostle Gal. 4.4 How did the Lord Jesus make our paiment sure I answer By engaging his word God the Father had nothing but the Lord Jesus Christs word for the paiment of all the Elects debts not from eternity till Christ came and made payment according to his engagement Now thus hath the Lord Jesus Christ raised us out of our lost condition by engaging his word and entring into a Covenant 2. He did it Assumptione carnis By assuming of our flesh He made a Covenant with his Father for us from all Eternity But hee tooke out this Bond in time canceling it with his owne bloud Therefore saith the Apostle Galatians Chapt. 4. Verse 4. God in the fulnesse of time sent forth his Son made of a Woman born under the Law to Redeem those that were under the Law that they might receive the adoption of sons He could Covenant for us as God but he must dye for us as man In the fulnesse therfore of time he bowed the heavens and came downe and tooke upon him our flesh not changing the Godhead into flesh neither confounding the substances nor the Natures but personally uniting of them that the two Natures became one Person and so he became a Saviour fit to raise us Now to him that raised this was necessary 1. That justice might be done It had been no justice in God to have charged the guilt of one Nature upon another Gods wayes appeare equall in charging the guilt upon the guilty Ez. 18.3 Forasmuch then as the children whom he came to redeeme were partakers of flesh and bloud he also tooke part with them that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death even the Devill Heb. 2.14 and ver 17. In all things it behoved him to be made like to his brethren and why ver 16. He had taken upon him the seed of Abraham that is the guilt of the seed of Abraham to satisfie for them 2. It was requisite That he might be a faithfull High-priest faithfull to his word You shall observe it that Christ gives it as a great reason of his condescentions and actions of Grace That all righteousnesse may be fulfilled and that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet c. Christ is tender of his Fathers Truth Now God had said that the womans seed should bruise the serpents head Gen. 13 ver 15. And though by Abrahams seed was spiritually meant Christ Gal. 3.15 16. to whom the Promises were made yet the Promises had not been fulfilled if that Christ had not also been Abrahams seed and therefore Heb. 3.17 one reason is given why the Lord Jesus became man and tooke part of flesh and bloud with us that he might be a faithfull High-priest 3. It was requisite that he should thus raise us that he might fulfill the Law for us Now the Law was to be fulfilled two wayes 1. Actively 2. Passively Neither could have been done without the Assumption of our flesh There is not such a contradiction between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works as some ignorant Libertines would this day make God gave a Law and his Covenant was doe this and live this is that which we call the Covenant of Works man could not doe it What is Gods mind altered now no such matter God sayes Doe this and live