Gospel Reconciliation, Chapter 13
CHAP. 13. The neceſſity of Chriſts coming in, for our Reconciliation.
FOr the firſt, The neceſſity of Chriſts coming in for our Reconciliation; and ſurely this is that which is to be in culcated, and beaten upon you again & again, for you neither know God nor Chriſt, nor your own eſtates, except you know the neceſſity of Chriſts coming in to undertake in the work of Reconciliation. I ſuppoſe if we ſhould ask any of you, how you hope to be ſaved; you wil preſently anſwer, by Jeſus Chriſt. But the underſtanding of the abſolute neceſſity that there was of Chriſts coming in to reconcile us, and God together, is not ſo ordinary; therefore I beſeech you ſeriouſly weigh it. The neceſſity of it in a word is this: There was ſuch a diſtance made between God, and his Creatures through ſin, as did put a neceſſity upon a Mediator to come between; the diſtance was ſo great; for God being the infinite firſt being, and we being his Creatures, the diſtance muſt needs be great; it is ſin that made the diſtance between God, and us; and that was ſo vaſt, and wide, that it did neceſſarily require a Mediator to come between, and eſpecially upon this ground; becauſe the Lord was reſolved to have that wrong that was done unto him by the ſin of man perfectly made up; ſin had wronged God, and God was reſolved upon it, he was ſet upon it to have this wrong compleatly made up, and that he himſelf would be perfectly righted; and this Gods Juſtice cals for; and thus ſtood the tearms between God, and Man; Man having wronged God, and God and He are now at varience, and God ſtands upon it, and is reſolved with himſelf thus; though I be willing to be at peace with them, yet I wil be at peace with them, ſo as I wil have the wrong that is done made up; my Juſtice ſhal be fully, and compleatly ſatisfied; I muſt be righted, for I am God; and there ſhal not be ſuch a flaw remayning in my Juſtice to eternity, as that ſuch and ſuch Creatures ſhould ſin againſt me, and I paſs it by without having any ſatisfaction; for ſaith God, this would be a flaw in my Juſtice for ever, and that I will not have, and therefore I will be righted in that wrong that is done me by the fal of Man. It is true, when one man comes to treat about peace, and Reconciliation with another, it is ſomtimes neceſſary for him to paſs by an offence without any ſatisfaction at al, eſpecially when that poor Creature that hath offended is not able to make ſatisfaction; but it is not ſo between God and Man; though one Man being at variance with another, when he ſees that he that hath done him the wrong cannot make ſatisfaction, he then is indeed to paſs it by; but Gods mercy did never work after that manner, though the mercy in a man may work him to ſuch a Reconciliation, and though God be a God of infinite mercy, infinitly more merciful than any Creature can be, yet the way of the working of Gods, mercy is a different way from the working of the Creatures mercy; neither doth it argue that there is not as much mercy in God as there is in the Creature; but that the way of the working of Gods mercy is different from that of the Creatures, and this is the way of the working of Gods mercy, not to paſs by the wrong done, but to provide ſome means or other himſelf to ſatisfie that wrong, to the end that he may have his Juſtice ſatisfied; and becauſe that this was neceſſary, hence it comes to paſs of our being reconciled unto God through Jeſus Chriſt. The neceſſity of Chriſts being a Mediator is not ſo much this, that we are grieveous ſinners, and ſo we have need of abundance of mercy from God; if there were nothing but theſe two only; that we are great ſinners, and ſo have need of great mercy, there would not come a neceſſity of Chriſt; But we are great ſinners, and we have need of the mercy of God, and the wrong that ſin hath done unto God muſt be made up, and his Juſtice fully ſatisfied, and here comes in the neceſſity of a Chriſt. And thus God was Reconciling himſelf to the world in this regard. And the truth is, though ſome of you have heard the ſound of this oftentimes; yet you muſt know, this is the great miſtery of the Goſpel, and by our preſenting this unto you again, and again, perhaps God wil give you a further inſight into this truth; It is this that the Angels deſire ſo much to pry into; they know this, that Gods Juſtice muſt be ſatisfied, but they know it not ſo, and ſo as the Church knows it, and as the Saints know it, and therefore they pry more, and more into it to ſee the further depths of it; as indeed there is greater and greater depths in this miſtery which we can never fathom, and which is only reſerved for the time of the Reſurrection. Moſt people think, that when they are to ſeek for Reconciliation with God, they have to do with God only as a merciful God; But you muſt know when you have to do with God about Reconciliation, you have to do with more than with the mercy of God; ye have to do with God reconciling himſelf to the world in his Son, and you can never ſeek Reconciliation with God in a right Evangelical way, unleſs you ſeek it in his Son. That briefly ſhal ſuffice for the firſt; The neceſſity of Chriſts coming in to the work of Reconciliation.