Gospel Reconciliation, Chapter 15 – Chapter 16
CHAp. 15. What Chriſt hath under taken and performed in Our Reconciliation 1 to fatisfy Gods Juſtice 2 To bring our hearts and ſubdue them to God.
You wil ſay; you have ſhewed us theſe two things; that it is not God alone, and us, but in Chriſt, and us, that is reconciled. And you have ſhewd us what a reconciler Chriſt is. And how fit. But for the third thing propounded in the 12. Chapter, hath Chriſt undertaken to reconcile us? Surely this is a great work to come and reconcile Sinful man unto God; Chriſt muſt needs undertake much in this? I wil declare to you what Chriſt hath undertaken.
1 This agrement there is between Chriſt and the Father, He hath undertaken that he wil Satisfie what ever his Fathers Juſtice ſhal requier. As for example. If one ſhould come to mak a peace between a couple, and the one party hath extreamly injured the other, and he that comes to make peace; he doth not only come and ſay, Sir I beceech you for my ſake, paſs by the wrong, and be reconciled unto him, though perhaps this may do much but this wil not do the deed; and this is not the way of reconcileing God and us, for Chriſt (though he be dear to the father) only to plead, and Say, O father theſe poor Creatures have offended the, I beſeech the O father, be reconciled to them; no this is not al. But ſaith the Party offended; wil you under take to ſatisfie the wrong that is done me? I ſaith he, who is the Peace-maker, I wil undertake it al; you ſhal ſet it al upon my ſcor. And certainly you wil al conclude, that if he that comes to be mediator, and is dear unto the Party offended, ſhal not only intreat, but undertake, that whatſoever he would have of him, requier what ſatisfaction ſoever he wil, he wil undertake to under goe it al, eſpecially if he be a man able to do what he promiſeth: You wil al conclude that this wil ſurly make up a peace. This is the tranſaction between God the Father, and the Son. God lookes upon man as being an enimy to him, and Chriſt he comes to mediate, yea, but ſaith the father; what wil you do to make peace, wil you undertake for mankind, wil you ingage to Satisfy that wrong that they have done me? Yes O Father ſaith Chriſt, I wil do it, I wil ſtand betwen the and them, and undertake for them to ſatisfie al whatſoever thy Juſtice can require. And in this regard Chriſt is not only called a mediator in that place Heb. 8.5. and ſo forward; but he is called a Suerty, becauſe he hath undertaken to Satisfie what God the father requred for the Sin of mankind; and as he hath undertaken it; ſo he hath done it now, and the fathers that lived in former times might looke upon God reconciling himſelfe to the world in Chriſt, as Chriſt had undertaken it, but not fully diſcharged it. But we may look upon Chriſt, not only as an undertaker, but as one that hath diſcharged, and paid al.
2 But that is not al; Chriſt hath not only undertaken this; but in the next place, as he hath undertaken to ſatisfie God on his part; but ſaith the Father; what ſhal become of theſe poor Creatures; they have hearts oppoſite to me, and they are enemies to me, and whatſoever you do, they wil ſtil go on in waies of emnity to me? No, ſaith Chriſt; I wil do more then this, I wil undertake to bring them in to you, and to ſubdue their hearts to you; and whereas they are now enemies to you; they ſhal come, and ſubmit themſelves; and that wicked Nature of theirs, I wil take away through my ſpirit, and I wil both bring them into a peaceable diſpoſition towards you; ſo that they ſhal love you as a friend, and love al that belong unto you; they ſhal love al your waies, and love your people, and love your holyneſs; I wil undertake to bring them in to you, as wel as to ſatisfie you for what they have done. This is appearent; for in the Scripture where ever there is any ſpeaking of Reconciliation, you have mention of our being reconciled to God, as wel as Gods being reconciled to us; and indeed the Scripture doth make more mention of our Reconciling being enemies to God, than of any thing of Gods working Reconciliation for us. And that place that I quoted before in the Colloſians, is exceedging cleer for this; namely, that Chriſt hath undertaken for our Reconciliation, for you heard before in, Collo. 1.20. That he had made peace through the blood of his Croſs; He hath undertaken to ſatisfie; and the undertaking of it coſt him his blood; our Reconciliation coſt Chriſts death. But then in verſe 21. He ſaith further; You that were ſomtimes alinated, and enemies in your minds by wicked works, ſo it is in your Books; but in the Original, it is; Enemies in your minds [in] wicked works; not that you came to be enemies by your works, for that is the advantage indeede that the adverſaries have, and ſay; it is not a ſinful Nature in us, but we come by action to act wicked habits; but it is, you are enemees in your minds in works; that is, you did lay out al the enmity of your minds againſt God; you have natural enmity in your minds againſt God: and in your minds you do lay out; and improve this ſtrength of your enmity in your wicked works againſt God; But ſaith he you that were thus allienated, and enemies in your minds in wicked works, he hath reconciled, to preſent you holy, and unblameable, and inreprovable in his ſight. Here are two waies by which Chriſt reconciles us unto God; he hath reconciled us by the blood of his Croſs; and then in the Body of his fleſh through death to preſent us holy, and unblamable, and unreprovable in his ſight; he hath undertaken this latter, as wel as that other; and he hath undertaken, that we ſhal not remain enemies unto God eternally, but that there ſhal be a time when we ſhal be brought in to God, and have gracious diſpoſitions put into us, ſo as we ſhal become frie…ds unto God, and friends unto al that are Gods. There are many that ſpeak much of Chriſt in regard of his ſatisfaction, and what the tranſaction was between God and him; and they think that becauſe Chriſt hath undertaken to ſatisfie Gods wrath, what need we care for any thing? what is it, though we live as we liſt? it is to no purpoſe what we do, whether we do il, or whether we do wel, for Chriſt hath done al in the work of Reconciliation. But my Brethren ſee the miſtake: Chriſt hath not only undertaken ſatisfaction, and to reconcile God unto us; but he hath undertaken with God the Father likewiſe to reconcile us unto him; not to ſatisfie God alone, but to bring us into a gracious fram, and diſpoſition of heart likewiſe; and therefore except Chriſt do both, the truth is he doth neither; It is true the one may be done from al eternity; Chriſt may undertake the one, and undertake that he wil do the other alſo; but until Chriſt hath actually done the other, thou canſt not conclude, that he hath done the former. That man that perſwades himſelf that Jeſus Chriſt hath done the former, when as he hath not done the latter deceivs himſelf; and therefore to beleeve in Chriſt as a Reconciler, is to beleeve in Chriſt as undertaking theſe two things. Firſt undertaking with God the Father to make ſatisfaction unto him. And then Secondly undertaking for us, to bring us in to the Father likewiſe: and as Chriſt muſt do the one, as well as the other; ſo he wil be as faithfull in the performing the Second, as he was in the undertaking, and diſchargeing the Firſt. Few people think of this, they think much of Chriſts undertaking to ſatisfie Gods Juſtice, and ſo to Reconcile them unto God; but they have ſeldome thoughts of this, that Chriſt hath alſo undertaken to chang their hearts, and to make them friends unto God. But you that go on in wicked works being enemies to God in your minds in wicked works, perhaps you think God wil be Reconciled unto you through Chriſt, and when you die you ſhal be ſaved through him. Remember this point. That Chriſt the Reconciler hath undertaken with God the Father both to ſatisfie his Juſtice, and to ſubdue your hearts, ſo that you ſhal no longer be enemies unto him; and therefore if Chriſt have not done the other, in your hearts, it is an evident argument, that for ought that yet appears he never undertook to ſatisfie the Juſtice of God for you. O! what an argument is here, for men to be reſtleſs, and unquiet in their natural condition; You that go on in a ſinful, and & ungodly way, you may certainly know, that there is for the preſent no evidence that Jeſus Chriſt hath undertaken with the Father to make any Reonciliation for you, for if he had, he hath alſo undertaken on your parts to bring in your hearts to the Father and to make you friends with him, as wel as him friends with you. On the other ſide, any of you that find the work of the Spirit in your hearts, that begin to find Chriſt ſubduing your hearts unto God; that whereas heretofore you did live in waies of enmity unto God, but now you begin to find the power of Chriſt in his word beating down thoſe proud hearts of yours, you find Chriſt changing of your minds, and ſo bringing of your hearts into ſubjection unto God; Bleſs God for this, and know that this is part of Chiſts undertaking with God the Father, and in that he doth this in your hearts, it is an Evidence that he hath undertaken to ſatisfie Gods Juſtice for all your ſins. Thus you ſee how Chriſt is a Rec…er, and Mediator.
CHAP. 16. How what Chriſt hath done for Our Re…oncilition, come to be made Ours. 1. Chriſt the head of the ſecond Covenant.
There is a fourth thing which I propounded in the twelfe Chapter; and that is, How we come to be reconciled to God in Chriſt; It is true, Chiſt hath done it you ſee: But how do we come to have what Chriſt hath done made ours, that ſo we may be reconciled unto God?
In a word thus. Chriſt is looked upon by God the Father as the Head of the Second Covenant, and ſo we are looked upon in him as Covenanters, and as joyned together in one body in him: this is the way of Chriſts Reconciling God & us, & the way of the Conveyance of al the fruits of that Reconciliation unto us. This is the Councel of God concerning the Children of men, that they may come to be reconciled, and ſaved. As his Son hath undertaken the thing; ſo it is not only, that he ſhould ſtand between the Father and us. Its remarkable there muſt be a Union between him, and us, and he muſt preſent us to God the the Father as one Body with himſelf, and the Father muſt look upon him as the Head of a Covenant to which we belong likwiſe: So that his obedience, and ſufferring is to be looked upon now; not as done by a private perſon; But looked upon as the obedience, and ſuffering of a publick Perſon, of one that Bears our Names before God the Father. And herein there is a further miſtery of godlines. The reconciliation between man, and man, is only when one that is a ſtranger, comes and ſtands between, and mediateth; there is not required ſuch a union between him that he mediateth for, and himſelfe. But Chriſt comes not in meerly as a third perſon between God and us, but he comes to take our very natures upon him, and we are made one in the covenant of grace he as the Head, and we as the members. That look as Adam ſtood before God as the Head of the firſt Covenant of works, and ſo we were al looked upon at firſt in him, and dyed in him: So Chriſt who is called the Second Adam ſtands before the Lord as the Head of the Second Covenant and al thoſe that he doth mediate for, and whom he doth ſeek to reconcile to the father, ſtand al before the father in him; ſo that his work is imputed to be theirs, and the Lord looketh upon them in their Head: fulfiling that Second Covenant of life, and peace that he hath made with poor creatures in him. So that you muſt not only look upon Chriſt to be a Saviour, as the Son of God in Heaven; but if you would look upon him with comfort, you muſt look upon him as the head of a ſecond Covenant, and upon your ſelves joyned with him as members of him and ſo preſented unto the father through him. Thus God was in Chriſt reconciling himſelf to the world, God looking upon Chriſt, and through Chriſt, as the head of the Covenant of grace; upon al thoſe that Chriſt did undertake for, as Covenanters Joyned together with him, comes to be reconciled to al thoſe which ſhal be everlaſtingly Saved. This is the miſtery of the Goſpel, God in Chriſt reconciling the world to himſelf. What Chriſt was hath been opened. And what Chriſt hath undertaken. and how God looks upon us through this mediator. Theſe things you muſt ſearch into, and cry unto God that by his Spirit he whuld open theſe miſteries of the Goſpel unto you, and then you ſhal ſee much of the miſtery of grace, and of the minde of god; and ſo come to have abundance of peace with God, notwithſtanding al the preſent remainders of uncleannes that are in your hearts.