The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees and Holy Execution, Chapter 8 (1 of 3)

The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees and Holy Execution · Chapter 8 (1 of 3)

p. 168CHAP. VIII. Of the Work of Redemption.

I Have now passed over the Work of Creation, with its Appendices of Conservation and Gubernation; but behold! a greater than Creation is here, stupendious Redemption, the wonder of Angels and envy of Devils; at which Creation starts back and gives up its Sabbath. I am come to the Tree of Life growing in Paradise, hanging full of Pardons and Graces, and spreading forth a broad and indefective shadow of Merits over sinful Worms. I am now at the pure Well of Salvation springing out of the Deity of the Son of God, issuing through the bleeding Wounds of his Humanity, and filling every Vessel of Faith. I am now to open my eyes upon the most tremendous Mystery that ever was; God in the Flesh, the brightness of Glory under a Veil, the Fulness of the Godhead tabernacling in Dust, and a Sun of infinite light and lustre cloathed in Sack-cloth in his Incarnation, and turned into Blood in his Passion. Oh! for some illapses of that p. 169holy Spirit which takes the things of Christ and shews them in their spiritual Glory.

Redemption may be thus described; It is the procuring of Freedom for a Captive by a Price paid by him who is to redeem, and accepted by him who is the Supreme Detainer in that behalf, that the Captive may be delivered out of a state of Captivity into a state of Liberty according to the Wills of the Payer and Receiver of that price. I say, it is the procuring Freedom: Actual Freedom is the Crowning Issue of Redemption; but the procuring of Freedom is an essential ingredient in it. Hence Christ is said to obtain eternal Redemption for us, Heb. 9. 12. 'Tis the procuring of Freedom for a Captive, Free-men are not capable of it, but Captives only; and such are all men become by sin. They owed ten thousand Talents to God as the great Creditor, and Traitor-like they rebelled against God as the great Law-giver; and for those Debts and Rebellions God as a righteous Judge foreign, shut them up in the prison of wrath, Rom. 11. 32. 'Tis the procuring of Freedom for a Captive by a Price, not by mere Power, but by a Price: when it is p. 170procured by mere Power, 'tis but a naked Deliverance; but when it is procured by a Price, then 'tis a true proper Redemption. Hence in the Evangelical Charter we find foreign, a Price, and that which issues from it is foreign, true proper Redemption. Again, 'tis the procuring of Freedom for a Captive by a Price paid by him who is to redeem, and accepted by him who is the supreme Detainer in that behalf; for if it be not paid, 'tis no Price; if it be not paid by him who is to redeem, he cannot be a Redeemer; the Detainer must accept of it in that behalf, or else no Freedom can be justly procured; and the supreme Detainer must accept of it, for not the Jailor or Fetters, which are but Under-detainers, but the Creditor & Lawgiver, who is the supreme Detainer, must receive satisfaction, or else the Captive cannot be justly released. And all these are couched together by the Apostle; Christ gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour, Eph. 5. 2. Christ, there's he who was to redeem; gave himself an Offering and a Sacrifice, there's the Price paid down by him; to God, there's the supreme Detainer: the Jailor Satan, and the Fetters p. 171of guilt are but under-detainers, but God is the supreme and must have satisfaction; and for a sweet-smelling savour, there's the Price accepted by God in that behalf. Lastly, the end of all is, that the Captive may be delivered out of a state of Captivity into a state of Liberty, according to the Wills of the Payer and Receiver; Redemption moves towards the actual deliverance of the Captive, as its proper Centre; and that actual deliverance comes forth according to the Wills of the Payer and Receiver, as its rule and measure. If their Wills be, that upon the very payment and acceptance of the Price the Captive should be ipso facto delivered, then he is delivered without any more adoe; but if their Wills be, that the Captive should be delivered but upon certain conditions to be by him first performed, then he is not delivered till after the performance thereof. Thus the Redemption wrought by Christ moves towards the actual deliverance of sinful Captives, and that actual deliverance, according to the Will of the Father and the Son, comes forth not immediately upon the payment and acceptance of the Price, but upon Faith and Repentance, which are the Terms of the p. 172Gospel. Hence the Apostles testified Repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, Acts 20. 21. Hence also those expressions of Propitiation through faith in his blood, Rom. 3. 25. and of Receiving the atonement, Rom. 5. 11. which with many more shew us the Terms, upon which actual deliverance comes forth into being. Now in this discourse of Redemption I shall gather up all under four Heads.

1. The Captive.

2. The Captivity.

3. The Redeemer.

4. The Price.

1. The Captive is fallen Man; and here two things are considerable.

1. Man fallen in opposition to Man standing.

2. Man fallen in opposition to fallen Angels.

1. Man fallen in opposition to Man standing; Man as he came out of his Makers hands was a spotless Creature, his Mind a pure Lamp of knowledge, his Will a Throne for the holy One, his Heart a Sanctuary of all Graces, his Affections all in harmony with the Rational Faculties, the Image of God sparkling within him, and the Favour of God sunning him round p. 173about. Here all was Freedom, no Chain but that of Graces, no Bands but Cords of Love, no Prison but a Paradise, no Captive but the Lord's Free-man; the least drop of wrath could not fall on him here. But alas! how soon was this Star shot! Man turned from God, and God departed from Man, and instantly the Captive appeared all in Chains of Sin and Wrath; his Lamp went out in obscure darkness, Satan ascended up into the Throne, the fire of Lust rose up in the Sanctuary, the Affections were all in a mutiny against the upper Powers, and the whole Man became a Prisoner under Sin and Wrath; and all this because he left foreign, his original State of rectitude and holiness.

2. Man fallen in opposition to fallen Angels: When Man (though but an earthen Pitcher) fell from God, the whole Trinity seemed to be moved at it; the bowels of the Father yearned over him, and as not content with inward compassions, Grace breaks out at the Lips of the Son, Unto you, O men, do I call, saith the eternal Word, Prov. 8. 4. and (because words, such as made a World, could not do it) foreign, Heb. 2. 16. He catches hold of the Humane Nature, and rather p. 174than fail, he would live and bleed and die in it for our Redemption: And lest after all this Man should not catch hold of his own Salvation, out comes the holy Spirit to make sure work of it in an application of it unto us. foreign, saith St. Chrysostome. When Mankind fled, and fled far from Christ, he pursued and caught hold of it: But when those Vessels of Gold, the Angels, dropt out of Heaven, there was no such matter; the Father's bowels (though of immense largeness) were shut up, not a thought of mercy rose in his heart towards them; the Son's Lips, which drop sweet smelling Myrrh unto men, let fall never a syllable of comfort unto them, he saw them tumbling down from Heaven, yet caught not hold of them: the holy Spirit would not stir a foot to recover foreign, their original Rectitude for them again, that so they might be capable of staying in the holy Heavens, but down they must into Chains of darkness, such as for ever shut out every glimpse of Mercy. But why a Philanthropy rather than a Philangely? Why a Redemption for Men and not for Devils? Here men give their conjectures. p. 175Man (say some) sinned by seduction, but Devils by self-motion: In the Fall of Men (say others) all the Humane Nature fell, but in the Fall of Angels all the Angelical Nature fell not. Others alledge that the Sin of Angels was more damnable than Man's, because their Nature was more sublime than his. Others yet affirm, that Men are capable of Repentance, but Devils not, because whatever they once choose, they do immobiliter velle; the Devil sinneth from the beginning, 1 Joh. 3. 8. 'tis not said, he sinned, but he sinneth; because from his first Apostasie he sinneth on uncessantly. But alas! Who can limit the holy One? Might not his boundless Mercy have saved the selftempted Devils? What if his devouring Justice had broke out against devil-seduced Men, nay, against all the Race of Men? Who should accuse him for the Nations that perish, which he hath made and Sin hath marred, Wisd. 12. 12? Could not the Blood of God have washed out the blackest spots of fallen Angels? Was not the Almighty Spirit of Grace able to melt a Devil into Repentance? Had we poor Worms been to dispute with the Devil about the Body of Christ, as Michael did p. 176with him about the Body of Moses, O how easily would he have reasoned us out of our Redeemer! What (would he have said) shall the tender bowels of God be let down to you on Earth and restrained to us in Heaven? Will the All-wise God repair his Clay-images in the Dunghil of the lower World, and neglect his fairer Pictures once hung up in his own Palace of Glory? May not the Son of God be a Redeemer at an easier rate, without stepping a foot out of his Fathers house, and will he travel down so far as an Incarnation? How much better were it for him to spot himself with an assumed Cherubin, than to take Flesh into his glorious Person? But the great God hath neither given Angels a day to plead for a Redeemer, nor Man a licence to pry into his Ark. Wonder then, O Man, at this astonishing difference made by the divine Will alone. Angels must be damned and men may be saved; golden Vessels are irreparably broken, and earthen Pots are set together again; Inmates of Glory drop to Hell, and Dust and Ashes fly up to Heaven. When I consider thy Heavens and the Stars glistering there, Lord, what is man that thou mindest him, Psal. 8. 4? but when I consider p. 177thy Heaven of Heavens, and thy Angels dropping from thence into utter darkness, Lord! what is man that thou savest him? Misericordiâ Domini plena est terra; quare non dictum est, plenum est coelum? quia sunt spirituales nequitiae in coelestibus, sed non illae ad commune jus indulgentiae Dei, remissionémque peccatorum pertinent, as holy Ambrose expresses it. Even so gracious Father, because so it seemeth good in thy sight. Thus having found the right Captive I pass on

2. To the Captivity; and this I shall set out in three things.

1. The Chains.

2. The Prison.

3. The Jailor.

As for the first, I shall first touch upon the Chains themselves, and then upon the distinct links thereof.

1. The Chains themselves are no other than Original and Actual Sin.

1. Original Sin is a very heavy Chain; and here I shall view

1. The upper end of this Chain, I mean, that first Sin of eating the forbidden fruit, called in the Schools Peccatum originale originans: here there was truly magnum in parvo, a vast World of Sin in a small Act. p. 178There was an Idol of self-excellency a framing, and to adorn it, a concupiscential stealth of the forbidden fruit; and in this stealth a bloody Homicide, a slaying of all Humane Nature at one blow; and which is more, a kind of Deicide too, a slaying (as much as in Man lay) even of God himself; the Pride of this primordial Sin snatching at God's excellency, the Unbelief stabbing at his Truth, the Rebellion fighting against his Sovereignty, the Ingratitude trampling his Goodness under foot, and the Presumption as it were daring out his Justice into warlike Arms; and all this contra praeceptum tam breve ad retinendum, tam leve ad observandum. This is the upper end of this Chain, and it reaches down to us all; for in him we all sinned, Rom. 5. 12. The sweetest Bonaventure cannot say, In Adamo non peccavi: For Adam was not here considered as a private person, but as the Root and Head of Mankind; Adam's person was the fountain of ours, and his Will the representative of ours; we were all in him naturally as latent in his Loins, and legally too as comprized within the Covenant made with him; therefore we all sinned in his Sin. Omnes nos unus ille Adam, p. 179saith one Father; Genus humanum in primo parente velut in radice computruit, saith another. But that of Nazianzen is fullest of spiritual sence, who cries out, O infirmitatem meam! meā enim duco primi parentis infirmitatem. If any reply, But how could we sin in Adam? I answer, that our humane Nature was in him, and why might it not sin there? You'l say, It could not for want of a Will; I answer, that our Wills were put into Adam's by that Covenant which was made with him for himself and all his posterity. If one Man may put his Will into another Man's Will in a Comprimise, why may not God (who is more Lord of our Wills than our selves) put all our Wills into Adam's by a Covenant? and here God did it with abundant Equity, because our Wills were put into Adam's as well for the obteining blessedness upon his Obedience, as for the incurring punishment upon his Disobedience.

2. The lower end of this Chain, the universal depravation of Nature, called Peccatum originale originatum; this hangs upon the former, all habitual Sin hath an essential relation to some actual Sin precedent. 'Tis impossible that one should be p. 180a Sinner habitually, who in no kind sinned actually. If Adam had not sinned actually, he had never been habitually vitiated; nay, if we had not sinned in his Sin, we had never been so. This original Depravation is the sinning Sin, the Body of Sin, a Body in our Souls, Flesh in our Spirits, a Nail on our Eyes, a Plague in our Hearts, and a Root of bitterness in our whole Nature; this turns our Minds into Dungeons of darkness, our Wills into Gulfs of Sin, our Memories into leaking Vessels, our Fancies into Forges of Vanity, our Affections into Chambers of Imagery, our Members into Weapons of Unrighteousness, and our whole Man into a Man of Sin; insomuch that to be carnal is to walk foreign, 1 Cor. 3. 3. When we are formed in the Womb, this Chain lies upon us, even in primo ardore, in the first warmth of natural Conception, Psal. 51. 5. And when Christ is formed in our Hearts, this Chain presses so hard upon the spiritual Embryo, that as soon as ever it begins to live, it falls a sighing and groaning with tears, Oh! my hard heart! Oh! my unbelieving heart! Oh! my carnal sensual heart! Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of p. 181death? Rom. 7. 24. Nay, the very Philosophers themselves (who never kenned so far as the top of this Chain, I mean Adam's Sin) yet seem to feel the weight of it: Wherefore sometimes they complain of a Sepulchrum Corporis, as if foreign were become foreign, a Grave to the Soul; and sometimes they cry out of a Defluvium Pennarum, as if the Soul had lost her Wings. Whither also may be referred the Trismegists Indumentum Inscitiae, Pravitatis Fundamentum, Corruptionis Vinculum, Velamen opacum; with many such like expressions touching the weight and pressure of this Chain, involving Men in a horrid slavery and captivity.

2. Besides the Chain of Original Sin, there is that of Actual; the whole World foreign, 1 Joh. 5. 19. lies in wickedness, as a Slave in his Chains. Oh! the open Profaneness, secret Hypocrisies, spiritual Wickednesses, carnal Pollutions, daring Presumptions, faultring Infirmities; Impieties against God, Unrighteousness against Men, vast Armies and Hosts of Sin which cover the World. As Original Sin turns Man into a Man of Sin; so Actual Sin turn the World into a World of Sin. This is a long Chain reaching from Adam's Fall to the p. 182Worlds Period, and from first to last enwrapping Captives all along.

2. The Links of the Chains are considerable, and those are three great ones.

1. The first Link is Macula peccati, the Stain of Sin; this is the filth of the Chain, a brand of deformity on the naked Captive God is the beauty of Holiness, and there is no turning from him without a Blot: God is a Sun of infinite light, and there is no holding up our hands against him without casting a dark shadow on our faces. Every Sin is a filthiness; If it be a brutish lust, 'tis foreign, filthiness of flesh; if a spiritual wickedness, 'tis foreign, filthiness of spirit, as the Apostle distinguisheth, 2 Cor. 7. 1. Nay, that which is filthiness of flesh in the external commission of the Act, is yet filthiness of spirit in the internal commaculation of the Soul. The wicked cast out mire and dirt, and the more they cast out in the transient Acts of Sin, the more there is within in the abiding spot of it. When the Act of Sin is passed and gone, the Spot and Stain thereof stays behind, and denominates us foreign, children of disobedience.

2. The second Link is Reatus peccati, p. 183the Guilt of Sin, a dreadful Link chaining the naked Captive to divine Wrath, fastened within him by the desert of Sin, and bound upon him by the Justice of God; and hence he becomes foreign, a child of wrath. No sooner doth he turn from God as his Law-giver, but he meets him as his Judge, and that in the face; The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Whilest he flies extra ordinem praecepti, hee falls intra ordinem justitiae, the wages of sin is death.

3. The third Link is Regnum peccati, the Reign of Sin, Sin is an absolute Tyrant over us; his Laws are all writ in Letters of blood, his strong Holds are in our very Reasons, 2 Cor. 10. 4, 5. His Throne is in our Wills, his winged Chariot in our Affections, his Weapons in our earthly Members; and our whole man is foreign, the slave of sin, Joh. 8. 34.

2. The next thing in the Captivity is the Prison, and that is the Wrath of God: But here we must distinguish the Walls from the Dungeon, the Walls are very strong and dreadful, infinite Justice and Holiness are the flaming Cherubims that guard them; and the Hand-writing upon them is, A curse to the sinner and woe to p. 184the worker of iniquity. The poor Captive (as long as his Chains are unbroken) lies within these Walls foreign, under the judgment of God, Rom. 3. 19. Wrath abides upon him, Joh. 3. 36. a sad State. Nevertheless, whilest but here, he is a Prisoner of Hope, a Captive capable of Redemption. The Dungeon is Hell it self, a place of Darkness, a gulf of unquenchable Fire, a bottomless Pit of Perdition, into which impenitent Sinners are still a sinking deeper and deeper, without any hope of ascending out of it; when the Captive is once here, the utmost farthing will be exacted of him.

3. The last thing in the Captivity is the Jaylor, even Satan, and he doth three things.

1. He takes the Captive into his custody, the Natural Man's Heart becomes his Palace, and every room in it is full of hellish furniture; not the Turret of Reason, nay, not the reliques of the divine Image left free, but have (as a learned Bishop speaks) habitatorem Rob. Sar. De Ver. Grat. 66.Diabolum; and it appears that a proud Devil dwells under the same roof, because men seek to be justified thereby.

p. 1852. He keeps on the Captive's Chains, he sooths up the Old Man, as if there were no such thing as a New-creature, and flatters the earthly Members as if there were no such place as Heaven; he blows up the miserable Captive into proud reflexes, as if he had Reason enough to span all Mysteries, and Will enough to teem all Graces out of the dead Womb of Nature. He stands at the right hand of Original Corruption, brooding and fly-blowing corrupt Nature into Concupiscences, Concupiscences into Acts, Acts by iteration into Habits and Customs, which are a second corrupt Nature; and all this while he keeps the House in peace, that the Captive may sleep on in his Chains. And if the Chains rattle too much in crying Scandals, he lines them with some Moralities; If legal Convictions make them too hot, he sprinkles and cools them with some presumptions of Mercy; if they be weighty and pressing upon Conscience, he lightens them with some forms of Godliness; if after all this the Captive will yet awake, he shall (if Satan can do it) Dives-like open his Eyes in Torments, and Desperation shall swallow him up for ever. He works all manner of ways in Men, that he may keep on p. 186their Chains, and add one link of filth and guilt to another.

3. He keeps the Captive (as much as in him lies) within the Walls of the Prison. Oh! what serpentine Windings! what circumventing Methods! what untraceable Depths! What lying Promises! what shews of Happiness doth he use to keep them there! He is well content to allow the Ambitious one his Pinacles of Honour, the Covetous his Bags of Mammon, the Voluptuous his Paradise of carnal pleasures, the Curious his fine-spun Cobwebs of School-notions, every Captive his peceatum in deliciis, his beloved Corruption, so as they will but stay where they are, in a state of Wrath.

3. Having seen the Captive and Captivity, let us pass on to consider the Redeemer; and here I would first premise that no Creature could redeem us out of this Captivity. Sin is an infinite evil, objectively infinite; 'tis a fighting against an infinite Majesty, a striving against infinite Sovereignty, an enmity to infinite Holiness, a provocation to infinite Justice, a Deicidium, a striking at the very Life and Being of God; God hath no other Opposite but Sin, and were p. 187it possible that the least drop of it could get into him, he would instantly cease to be God; and now where shall God have satisfaction for such an evil as this? Shall the Brutal World be a Sacrifice for the Rational? Alas! the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. Can the Captive do ought in it? Can he wear off his Chains with repentant Tears, or work them off with after-holiness? Alas! the Captive is in love with his Chains, and therefore at a vast distance from Repentance and Holiness. But if he had both, doubtless those repentant Tears would be black or salt in some measure, and therefore want a Laver; that Holiness in comparison of spotless Perfection would be but as a filthy Rag, and therefore want a Cover. But suppose he had such tears as are the pure Blood of a filial heart without any blackness or saltness in them, and such Holiness as is pure Linnen, fine and white without any spot in it; yet all this must be of free Grace and nothing of his own, and then how can he who sins ex proprio, satisfie ex alieno? But admit that these Graces were his own too; yet how can finite Graces satisfie for an infinite Evil? There is no proportion at all between finite p. 188and infinite. But you'l say, Sin is infinite objectively, and so are Repentance and Holiness too; therefore they may satisfie for Sin. I answer; The difference is vast, for Sin is measured by the Object, and therefore being against an infinite God is in a sort infinite; but Satisfaction is measured by the Subject, and therefore Repentance and Holiness being subjectively finite cannot satisfie for Sin. But you'l yet reply, These Graces flow from an infinite Spirit, and therefore may satisfie for Sin. I answer; This is the grand disproportion between those works which Christ works for us as a Surety, and those works which the Spirit works in us as a Sanctifier: In the first there is God and Man in one Person, and therefore they are of an infinite Dignity; but not so in the second, and therefore they are but of a finite Value. The forlorn Captive can by no means help himself, and what shall he do? Shall he pray in aid of the holy Angels? But O! what trembling fits would there be in them? What paleness in the Cherubims at such a task? But suppose they could all be induced to become a Sacrifice for us, would the holy One open his Eyes upon such a Satisfaction? But if he did, p. 189what would become of them? How soon would our Debts empty all their Coffers, and God's Wrath break all their backs, and who should redeem these Redeemers? Therefore every Creature must say, 'tis not in me to redeem. This premised, the Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Immanuel, the Word made Flesh, the Man God's Fellow, the great Trismegist, a Royal Priest, Priestly Prophet, and Prophetical King all in one; a Priest upon his Throne, a Couquerour on his Cross, a Healer by his Wounds. Oh! could we see his Glory, his Head is a Fountain of holy Oil, his Hairs woolly with Eternity, his Eyes flaming with Omniscience, his Feet brassed with invincible Power, his Robe of Righteousness as long and broad as the Law, his Girdle of Truth all of pure Gold, his Heart graven with the Names of Saints, and his tender Bowels shewing themselves through his bleeding Wounds. This is the Saviour of the World, and Redeemer of Man, this is he; and he hath a threefold Right to be so.

1. Jus Proprietatis, as God.

2. Jus Idoneitatis, as the Son of God.

3. Jus Conjunctionis, as Man, as a Surety for Men, and as a Head to his Church.

p. 1901. Jus Proprietatis, as God, who should redeem a Creature but the true Owner? And who is he but God the Creator? Ovem perditam quis requirit, (says Tertullian) nonne qui perdidit? Adv. Merc. Li. 4.Quis autem perdidit, nonne qui habuit? Quis autem habuit, nonne cujus fuit? Homo non alterius res est quàm Creatoris. He that is foreign, truly a Saviour (as the Expression is, Joh. 4. 42.) must be God indeed. Should one mere Creature redeem another, he should ipso facto pluck away a Creature from his Creator, inasmuch as Redemption is a greater Tie than Creation. Now Jesus Christ, who came to redeem us, is very God, not a Metaphorical but the true God, 1 Joh. 5. 20. not a petty, but the great God, Tit. 2. 13. not an under subordinate God, but over all God blessed for ever, Rom. 9. 5. not a God by office, but a Jehovah, Jer. 23. 6. a God by nature; though not foreign, as to his Subsistence, yet foreign, as to his Essence. Gods name is in him, Exod. 23. 21. One great Letter of that Name is Eternity, and his going forth was from everlasting, Mic. 5. 2. another is Immutability, and he is yesterday, to day and for ever the same, Heb. 13. 8. another is Omniscience, and he knoweth p. 191all things, Joh. 21. 17. another is Omnipotence, and he hath all the power in heaven and earth, Matth. 28. 18. another is Immortality, and he hath life in himself, Joh. 5. 26. another is Immensity, and he whilest on earth was in heaven, Joh. 3. 13. and though long since ascended to heaven, is still on earth, Matth. 28. 20. All these golden Letters are graven on the Godhead, and foreign, all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him, Col. 2. 9. all these shed forth a divine Glory and Majesty, & he is foreign, the brightness of divine glory, Heb. 1. 3. and what need we any more witnesses of his Deity? His Name is wonderful, Isai. 9. 6. far above all Creatures; his Generation is unutterable, being foreign, the proper Son of the Father, Rom. 8. 32. not as Creatures made ex nihilo, but as a proper Son begotten out of his very Substance; his standing is foreign, in the essential form of God, the very divine nature, Phil. 2. 6. and his special Ubi there is the Fathers bosom, Joh. 1. 18. and from thence together with him he breathes forth the holy Ghost. His Works are divine and all one with the Fathers, Joh. 5. 19. He sat in counsel with him in framing his Eternal Decrees, and since wrought with him in p. 192making first a World of Creatures and then a Church of Saints; and still he works with him in the preservation and gubernation of both. Lastly, his two Testaments (which face each other as the Cherubims upon the Ark) by their sweet glances and respective aspects upon each other do disclose his Deity. For in the Old Testament 'tis said, that Jehovah brought Israel out of Egypt, Exod. 20. 2. in the New Testament 'tis said, that Christ did it, Jude 4. and 5. Ver. in the Old Jehovah circumcises the heart, Deut. 30. 6. in the New Christ doth it, Col. 2. 11. in the Old Jehovah poured out the Spirit, Joel 2. 28. in the New Christ, Acts 2. 33. in the Old every knee bowes to Jehovah, Isai. 45. 23. in the New to Christ, Rom. 14. 11. in the Old miracles were done in Jehovah's Name, 2 Kings 2. 21. in the New in Christ's, Acts 9. 34. in the Old Jehovah is the first and the last, Isai. 44. 6. in the New Christ is Alpha and Omega, Revel. 1. 11. in the Old there is Deus absconditus, Isai. 45. 15. in the New Deus manifestatus in carne, 1 Tim. 3. 16. All which do most pregnantly prove the Deity of Christ unto us. Nevertheless proud Reason will be babling, How can the Father beget the Son ex propriâ Substantiâ? Can p. 193any part of the Divine Essence be discinded in such a Generation? Or if not, can the whole be given to the Son? And if so, how is it retained to the Father? I answer; The Father gave unto the Son the whole Essence, non alienatione sed communicatione, non generatione emanante, sed immanente; the Father so begets the Son, as that he still possesses him, Prov. 8. 22. the Son so goes forth from the Father as that he still abides in him; his eternal egress, Micah 5. 2. is foreign, not by defluxion, but immansion, I am in the Father and the Father in me, saith Christ, Joh. 14. 10. Indeed if we speak accurately, the Father begets the Son out of himself rather in Essentiâ divinâ, than ex essentiâ divinâ. Hence the entire Essence is in the Father; and the entire Essence is in the Son too; and what if it could not be thus in a finite Essence? yet why may it not be so in an infinite? What if Reason cannot fathom it? must therefore Faith reject it? I conclude then, that Christ is very God, and as God hath a right to redeem us his Creatures.

2. Jus Idoneitatis, as the Son of God, he was most fit to be our Redeemer; what can be more perfectly congruous than Reconciliation p. 194by God's beloved one, Adoption by his Natural Son, Reparation of his gracious Image by his substantial, a shine of Favour by the brightness of his Glory, beams of Light by his Wisdom, Restitution of Life by the Prince of Life, and Mediation between God and Man by the middle Person in the sacred Trinity? There be three great goings forth of God, into which all others may be resolved; the first is that fundamental one of Creation, and upon Sins Entry, which is but an Apostasie from Creation, in comes the second, viz. Redemption, and out of this as out of a Fountain flows the third, and that is Sanctification; these hang in order one upon another. Unless there had been a Creature, and that Apostate, there had been no place for Redemption; and unless there had been a Redemption, there had been no room for Sanctification; for God would never have reimplanted his Image of Holiness in a Creature left under the eternal stroke of his Justice, nor have plucked away the spot of Sin there, where the guilt of Sin is left behind. Now albeit it is a most sure Rule, that Opera Trinitatis ad extrà sunt indivisa, yet among Divines Creation is in a sort peculiarized p. 195to the Father as the first, Redemption to the Son as the second, and Sanctification to the Spirit as the third Person in the Glorious Trinity. Thus in these three goings forth of God, each person in the Trinity hath his special Shine, and that in the very Order of his Subsistence; wherefore it was very congruous that the Son, of all the Persons in the Trinity, should be out Redeemer.

3. Jus Conjunctionis; he that redeems a Captive must be Persona conjunct a with him, and so was Christ with us in a threefold respect.

1. Conjunctione naturali, he was our Goel, Isai. 59. 20. that is, our next kinsman by his Incarnation, and our Redeemer by his Passion; he assumed our Nature into himself that he might redeem us; foreign was made foreign, the great God a sucking Child; regens Sydera, yet sugens Ubera, he that ruled the Stars sucked the Breasts. The word was made flesh, Joh. 1. 14. and a strange making it was; all other Creations are (as it were) extra Deum, but here was a Creation in the very person of God. The glorious Trinity in the very instant of drawing the Humane Nature exnihilo interweaved it with the Person of p. 196the Son, so that it never was any where but there; all other Creations stand under the Roof of Providence and Preservation, but here the Humane Nature is an Inmate in the very same Person with the Divine: all other Creatures have their proper sutable seats and Ubi's in the Sphere of Nature, but here's the Sackcloth of an Humane Body cast upon, and the Rushcandle of a Reasonable soul lighted up in the Sun it self. The glorious Son of God espoused Flesh and Blood, and the Bridechamber (where the knot was tied) was the Virgins Womb; there was he made of a Woman, consubstantial with us as to his Humanity, who was consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity. O how great is this Mystery, God manifest in the flesh! O Domine! quàm admirabile nomen tuum! non Cypr. de Nativ. Christi.modò mundi hujus staturam admiror, non stabilitatem Terrae, non Lunae defectum & incrementum, non Solem semper integrum & laborem ejus perpetuum: Miror Deum in utero Virginis, miror Omnipotentem in cunabulis, miror quomodo Verbo Dei caro adhaeserit, quomodo incorporeus Deus corporis nostri tegumentum induerit; in caeteris aliquae satisfaciant rationes, hîc solus p. 197me complectitur stupor. God never came so near to us as in this wonderful Conjunction. In the Creatures we see God above us, in the Law we see God against us; but here we see Immanuel, God with us: he is one with us by a natural Conjunction, but that's not all; for being in our Nature he became one with us

2. Conjunctione Legali, he was our Sponsor or Surety, and so in Law one person with us; his Stile is foreign, Surety of the covenant, Heb. 7. 22. and the Covenant being mutual on both parts, from God to Man and from Man to God, he is in both respects a Surety of it; a Surety on God's part that his Promises should be performed to us, and a Surety on our parts that our Debts should be paid to God. We were double Debtors to God; as Rational Creatures we owed perfect Obedience, and as Sinful Creatures we owed eternal Sufferings; the first is a debt to God's Holiness, and the second to his Justice. Now Jesus Christ was our Surety for both, a Surety to fulfil all Righteousness for us, and the Fidejussorial Bond which he gave for this was his Circumcision; for he had no sinful flesh to be cut off, but would become a debtor to the whole Law for us; and p. 198in Circumcision he signed security for it with his own Blood: and also a Surety to take our Sins on him. Hence the Righteous God (who cannot but judge according to truth) charged our iniquities upon him, Isai. 53. 6. and he as our Surety accepted the charge, and those words, my sins are not hid from thee, Psal. 69. 5. are (as St. Jorom thinks) spoken ex personâ Christi, for he was though not commissor, yet susceptor delictorum; our Flesh and Blood was taken into his Divine Person, and our Sins (which could by no means enter in there) were yet cast upon him, and being cast upon him, God exacted satisfaction of him, foreign it was exacted and he answered, Isai. 53. 7. Satisfaction was exacted from him as our Surety, and he answered for us; and what was his Answer? Why, I'le lay down my Life, I'le pour out my Soul, saith he; let all the Wrath due to those Sins be squeezed into one Cup and I'le drink it up to the bottom; let the Fire of God's Anger drop down from Heaven, and I'le be the Paschal Lamb roasted in it. Thus Jesus Christ was a Surety, nay, foreign, the noblest of Sureties, putting his Soul in our Souls stead, to bear our Sins and God's Wrath; and p. 199for this very purpose was he one with us in Nature that he might be one with us in Law too. But neither is this all, for both these Conjunctions are crowned with a third, and so he is one with us

3. Conjunctione Mysticâ, Christ is the Head, and the Church is the Body, and both together make up one mystical Christ, 1 Cor. 12. 12. the Head in Heaven, and the Body on Earth; and the spiritual Continuity between both is one and the same holy Spirit, which is on the Head without measure, and on the Members according to measure. If the Jew ask us where is Christ? we can truly answer, He is at the right hand of God in Heaven; and on Earth, loc here is Christ and there is Christ living and breathing in his Saints; every Saint is a piece of him, and all together are his fulness, Eph. 1. 23. so that he doth not count himself complete without them. This Conjunction is so near and full of spiritual Sense, that a poor Member cannot suffer on Earth, but instantly the Head in Heaven cries out of Persecution, Acts 9. 4. and even the suffering Member reckons himself sitting in Heaven, as long as his Head is there, Eph. 2. 6.

Thus our Redeemer comes very near p. 200unto us in a threefold Conjunction, and in each Conjunction there is a rare Condescention. In the first he came down into our Natures by a stupendious Incarnation, in the second he came down into our Hell by a Fidejussorial Passion, in the third he comes down into our Hearts by the Spirits Inhabitation; the first opens a way to the second, the second is the purchase of the third, and the third, as in design, was a Motive to, and, as in existence, is a Crown upon the Work of Redemption.

4. Having considered the Redeemer, I pass on to the Price; and here I shall reduce all to three Questions.

1. What this Price is?

2. What manner of Price it is?

3. For whom it was paid?

1. What this Price is? and this is the Humane Nature of Christ, as subjected to the Law. When the Son of God came forth to redeem us, he was made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem us that were under the Law, Gal. 4. 4, 5. Made of a Woman, there's his humane Nature; made under the Law, there's his subjection to the Law, and the End of all is our Redemption: Christ through the eternal Spirit offered up himself to God, Heb. 9. 14. and that p. 201in a way fully answering the demands of the Law. The Law demanded of the Captives two things; perfect Obedience from them as rational Creatures, and penal Suffering from them as sinful Creatures; and Christ gave up his Humane Nature a price both ways, in doing and in suffering; he gave himself, that is, his humane Nature for us an offering and a sacrifice, Eph. 5. 2. an Offering in his Active Obedience, and a Sacrifice in his Passive, and both these together were the entire Price of our Redemption.

1. Christ gave up himself in his Active Obedience. That holy thing, his humane Nature, as soon as it came out into the World, fell a breathing forth of Holiness, burning with zeal for God, melting in compassions over Men, bowing it self down in miraculous humility, and in a rape of love doing all the Will of God, even to the last gasp upon the Cross. His thoughts were all births of Holiness, his words oracles of Truth, his works a fulfilling all Righteousness, and his meat and drink was to do his Father's Will: He ascended up to the top or pinacle of the Moral Law in the sweetest strains of Love, and fetched about the breadth or vast compass of it in p. 202the largeness of his Obedience, and passed down to the very hemm or border of it in the lowness of his Humility. Rather than fail, he would be subject to his own Creature, Luk. 2. 51. pay tribute to his own Subject, Matth. 17. 27. and wash his Disciples feet with those very hands which had all the power in Heaven and Earth in them, Joh. 13. 3, 4, 5. Nay, he stooped down as low as the fringe of the Ceremonial Law; his sinless flesh was circumcised, Luke 2. 21. his holy Mother purified, Luk. 2. 22. the true Passeover kept the typical one, Matth. 26. 20, 21. and so obedientially stood under his own shadow. In every respect he was obedient unto death: His Obedience was a fair Commentary on the whole Law, written in glorious Characters of Holiness and Righteousness all his life long, and at his death clasped and sealed up with his precious Blood. Thus the Mandatory part of the Law was answered; now for the Minatory.

2. He gave up himself in his passive obedience, he was in some sence crucifyed in the womb, in that he was made of his creature; and coming forth into the world, all his life was a perpetual passion. The Gospel shews us the immense God in p. 203swadling clouts, the builder of all things working as a Carpenter, the holy one hurried up and down by a tempting Devil, the filler of all things hungry, the fountain of living water thirsty, the power of God weary, the eternal joy of the Father weeping, the owner of all things extreme poor; and not knowing where to lay his head in his own world. Thus as a man of sorrows he passes on towards his Cross; one of his own Apostles betraying him, another denying him, the rest forsaking him, the chief Priests bloodily conspiring against him, false witnesses unjustly accusing him, the tumultuous rabble crying out, crucify, crucify, and Pilate first confessing his innocency, and then condemning his person. And now arriving at his Cross, sorrows break in upon every part, his head raked with thorns, his face besmeared with spittle, his eyes afflicted with the tears of friends, his ears filled with the blasphemies of enemies, his lips of grace wet with vinegar and gall, his hands and feet nailed to the Cross, and his sacred body hanging between thieves, racked and tortured to death in a Golgotha of stench and rottenness. But all this is but the outside of his p. 204passion; at the same time hell was let loose, and from thence the Devils as so many roaring Lyons came with open mouth to devour him, and (which is much more) Heaven thundred over his head, and the righteous God, as angry as our sins could make him, fell a smiting of him, Isai. 53. 4. and smote him in his Soul too, verse 10. and with smiting wounded and bruised him, verse 5. the smart and anguish whereof was so great that he was afraid, Hebr: 5. 7. and his fear was so high, that he began foreign to faint away, and foreign, to be sore amazed, Mark 14. 33. and in this amazement, the Eclipse was so dark, that he was foreign surrounded with sorrows even unto death, verse 34. and in this spiritual Siege, he falls a praying, Father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt, Matth. 26. 39. and in prayer he sinks into an agnony. His soul became like that poor ship, that fell into a place where two seas met, the fore-part sticking fast, and remaining unmoveable, and the hinderpart broken with the violence of the waves, Acts 27. 41. Even so here were two seas met, a sea of wrath storming against him as our Surety, and a sea of love p. 205breathing in him after our Redemption: His humane will as nature shrunk at the sense of Gods wrath, but as reason it stedfastly pointed at the work of our Salvation. Redemption stood fast and unmoveable in his heart, yet the same heart (though without the least spot of sinful contrariety) was broken with the waves of amazing horrors, and so dreadful was this agony, that it cast this grand Heroe (the strength of all the Martyrs) into a bloody sweat, there fell from him great drops of blood, Luke 22. 44. The sins of the world ascending up as a vast cloud before Gods Tribunal, now came dashing down upon him in an horrible tempest of incomprehensible wrath, and this makes him cry, nay (as the Psalmist hath it Psal. 22. 1.) roar out upon the Cross, My God! my God! Why hast thou forsaken me? Mat. 27. 46. One would have thought at the first blush, that the humane nature had been dropt out of his divine person; but though that were not, yet the sense of Gods favour was for a time suspended from his humane nature. Never was sorrow like to his sorrow. In all the legal sacrifices there was destructio rei oblatae, and all those destructions were summed p. 206up in his sufferings. As the corn he was bruised, as the wine and oil poured out, as the Lamb slain and rosted in the fire of Gods wrath, and as the scape-goat driven into the dismal wilderness of desertion. He did as it were sport in Creation▪ but in Redemption he sweats, suffers, bleeds and dyes.

Now his humane nature thus made under the Law, both in his active and passive obedience, is the complete and integral price of our Redemption; I say, both in his active and passive obedience, for these were not sundred either in existence or merit.

1. Not in existence; for there was passion in his actions, and action in his passions: from first to last, his obedience was with suffering, and his suffering with obedience. There was passion in his actions; 'twas a great suffering for the great Law-giver to be under the Law, for the Lord of the Sabbath to observe it. The noblest and purest piece of the Law is the knowing and loving of God, and yet even in that there was a great suffering; for he who eternally knew the Father in an infinity of light, now knew him as it were by candle-light in a finite reason; p. 207he who eternally embraced the Father in an infinity of love, now loved him in the narrow compass of a finite will; and therefore even in these foreign he emptied himself as the Apostle speaks, Phil. 2. 7. And on the other side, there was action in his passion; his passions were with knowledge, he shut not his eyes when he drunk off the cup of wrath; his passions were free-will offerings, Loe I come, saith he, to do thy will O God, Hebr. 10. 7. Gods will was, that he should suffer, and his will runs before, and as it it were anticipates his sufferings, Loe, I come: nay, in his passage he breaks out foreign, How am I straitned till it be accomplished? Luke 12. 50. He was as it were in pangs of forward obedience to be baptized in his own blood, and posted on towards an agony of wrath in an agony of love; and when he arrived at his extremest sufferings, his signal willingness turned his suffering into doing, and his Cross into a triumphant Chariot, he triumphed in it, saith the Apostle, Col. 2. 15. even there his obedience and love rode in triumph; triumphant obedience spread out his hands upon the Cross, and triumphant love opened his naked heart to the p. 208wrath of God. His Soul was not snatched away but poured out, Isai. 53. 12. his life was not meerly taken away, but laid down, Joh. 10. 18. He was willing to be forsaken of God himself for a time, that thereby he might fulfil the will of God; and before the fire of Gods wrath could fall on him, he was all in a flame with his own love. Thus the active and passive obedience of Christ were not severed in their existence; but like his seamless coat were interwoven from the top throughout even to his last gasp upon the Cross.

2. Neither were these severed in merit; Christ is not so to be divided as if his sufferings apart by themselves were the price of Remission, and his righteousness apart by it self the price of Glory. If the active obedience of Christ apart make us perfectly righteous, where is the glory of the passive? if the passive obedience of Christ apart purchase all for us, where is the glory of the active? But if both together make up the total sum, the glory of both is preserved. Our Redeemer was made under the Law that he might redeem us; now as he was under the whole Law as to the command, and as to the curse of it, so his active and passive obedience p. 209adequately answering both, is the entire price of our Redemption.

But here I am obviated by 2 Objections.

1. Saith the Socinian, there is no price at all.

2. Say some of our Divines, the passive obedience of Christ is all the price▪ and the active no part at all of it.

As to the first, I shall not need spend many words about it, because the Scripture is so pregnant in it, foreign, ye are bought with a price saith S. Paul, 1 Cor. 6. 20. and this price (as S. Peter tells us) is not corruptible things as Silver and Gold, but the precious blood of Christ, 1 Pet. 1. 18, 19. a transcendent price able to purchase as much, nay far more in the spiritual world, than silver and gold can in the material; and 'tis not meerly a price of emption, but of Redemption: Christ gave his life, foreign, a price of Redemption, Matth. 20. 28. and which is more emphatical, he gave himself foreign, a counterprice of Redemption, 1 Tim. 2. 6. doing and suffering in the room of poor captives; and this price was paid into the right hand, viz. into Gods, Eph. 5. 2. and hence issues out, foreign proper Redemption, the prison doors are opened▪ p. 210and the poor captives may go out foreign free indeed, John 8. 36. That then there is a price is as clear in Scripture, as if it were written with a Sun-beam; But yet the Socinian shuts his eyes, and cryes out, all is but a Metaphor. God redeemed (saith he) Israel Racov. Catech. de mort… Christ.out of Egypt, and Moses is called foreign, Acts 7. 35. and yet there was no price at all paid. But alas! that ever such vain consequences should drop from the masters of Reason; Redemption in some Scriptures is metaphorical, therefore 'tis so in all; Moses was but a naked deliverer, therefore Christ is not a proper Redeemer; Moses's Redemption was a Redemption by power only, therefore Chists Redemption is no Redemption by price; Redemption out of the hands of an unjust Pharaoh was without price, therefore Redemption out of the hands of a righteous God was so too. But on the other side how cogent is the argument? If Moses paying down no price was but a naked deliverer, then Christ paying down one was a proper Redeemer. If I believe that to be but a Metaphorical Redemption, because the Scriptures speak of no Price paid for the same; pari ratione I must believe this to be a p. 211proper Redemption, because the Scriptures tell us of a Price. If there must be Power to redeem a Captive from humane Oppression, surely theremust be a Price to redeem him from divine Justice. We were all as Captives locked up under the Curse of the Law and Wrath of God, and Christ was foreign and foreign, both a Redeemer and a Ransom for us: Wherefore concluding that there was a Price, I pass on.

2. As to the second Objection, I conceive that the Active and Passive Obedience of Christ do both together make up the perfect Price of our Redemption; I say, both together. The Active is part of the Sum: And this I shall demonstrate

1. In general by those Scriptures which set out the Managery of Redemption. Long before our Saviour Christ came about it, the Father calls him his servant, Isai. 42. 1. and one part of his service was his Active Obedience; and just at his entrance into the World he expresses himself, Loe I come to do thy will, O God, Heb. 10. 7. He came in his Incarnation, his errand was Redemption, and the way to compass it was by doing God's Will, and that he did partly in his Active Obedience; being come, his state was subjection, he was made under the Law p. 212to redeem us, Gal. 4. 4, 5. His humane Nature was so far a Price as 'twas made under the Law in part as to his Active Obedience; this being his state, his ear was bored, Psal. 40. 6. which the Apostle renders, a body was prepared, Heb. 10. 5. His humane Nature was (as I may so say) all Ear to the Commands of God, among which one was that he should fulfil Active Obedience; this Obedience he fulfilled all along even unto Death, nay, and in Death: and by this entire Obedience accomplished in doing and suffering we are made righteous, Rom. 5. 19. and so righteous, that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us, Rom. 8. 4. and so fulfilled, that the Law hath its end, Rom. 10. 4. and this so accurately, that one jot or tittle doth not pass from the Law but all is fulfilled, Matth. 5. 18. In all which series of Scriptures his Active Obedience concurrs as part of the Price.

2. In particular, I evince this Truth by three Reasons.

1. Because he fulfilled his Active Obedience not merely for himself, but mainly for us; he was our Surety, and so received the Obligation of Obedience on himself. Hence he would be baptized, because it was foreign, it became him to fulfil p. 213all righteousness, Mat. 3. 15. it became him, not as for himself, for he was the spotless Lamb, and needed no Baptism at all, he could baptize with the holy Ghost, and needed no Water-baptism; but it became him as our Surety, to be subject to Gods command even in this. And so in all other his Active Obedience: For the impletion of the Law was by God translated upon him: What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, Rom. 8. 3, 4. Here all the Obligations of the Law are cast upon Christ as our Surety; we could not satisfie for our sins, Christ did it; we could not fulfil Righteousness, Christ did it. But you'l say, this place only concerns his Passive Obedience; for it speaks of condemning Sin, and that was done in his Passive only. I answer, that this place extends to all Christs Obedience, Active as well as Passive, and this seems clear by the first and last part of the words compared together: the first are, What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh; and what was that? Could it not curse the Sinner? p. 214Yes undoubtedly; And here the flesh, that is, Sin was the strength of the Law; but for want of perfect Obedience, it could not give life, Gal. 3. 21. and here the flesh, that is, Sin was the weakness of the Law. Now Christ (the Power of God) came to supply this weakness: but how doth he do it? The latter words tell us, Sin was condemned in his flesh, that is, his humane Nature; and it was condemned there not only by his Passive Obedience, but by his Active too. Every Act thereof did as it were sit in judgment on Sin; even as every knock of Noah on the Ark condemned the old World: Sin was so condemned, that foreign, the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us, the Law hath its rightful demands, one whereof is perfect Obedience; the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us, that is, for us, in our stead and room: Wherefore Christ's Active Obedience being fidejussorial and on our behalf, must needs be part of the Price. But you'l say, Christ's Active Obedience was not fidejussorial, for it was the debt of his humane Nature, as a rational Creature; and therefore being due as for himself, it could not be paid down as for us. I answer, that Christ's humane Nature was but a p. 215Creature, and so its Will could not possibly be supreme, but indispensably subject to the Will of God; yet nevertheless his Active Obedience was paid down for us, and was part of the Price; and this will appear if we view it in these four particulars.

1. As to the Spring of it, 'twas freedom, his humane Nature was necessarily subject to the Will of God, but it was freely assumed into the Person of God; Christ as Man was bound to the Law, but as God was not bound to become Man. As he freely took a Body with its circumscriptive dimensions, so he freely took a Soul with those legal Obligations, which are as it were the moral Circumscriptions of it; he freely assumed the Humanity, and with it all incident Duty.

2. As to the Circumstances of it, 'twas unobliged. Christ was bound by the Law as Man; but he was not bound to perform it in such a debased manner, for such a space of Time, in such a place as Earth, unless as our Surety; for he might have carried up the humane Nature into Heaven in the first instant of its Assumption.

3. As to the end of it, 'twas for us, it points at the same end with the humane p. 216Nature to which it was incident: As he was made Man for us; to us a Son is born, Isai. 1. 9. 6. so his Active Obedience was for us. Hence the Apostle joins both these together; he was made of a woman, made under the Law, and then superadds as the end common to both, that he might redeem us, Gal. 4. 4, 5.

4. As to the Value of it 'twas infinite; a finite Righteousness may serve for its single performer, but Christ's Righteousness stamped with his Deity amounts to an infinite Sum, enough for himself and a World besides. Hence the very same Righteousness is Christ's, Rom. 5. 18. and ours too, 1 Cor. 1. 30. St. Bernard sweetly expresses it. Domine, memorabor Justitiae tuae solius ipsa Super Cant. Serm. 61.est enim & mea, nempe factus es mihi tu justitia à Deo; nunquid mihi verendum, nè non una ambobus sufficiat? Non est pallium breve, quod non possit operire duos; Justitia tua in aeternum, me & te pariter operiet, quia largiter larga & aeterna Justitia. To sum up all in one word; though Christ as Man were under the Law, yet his active Obedience performed in an humane Nature freely assumed, and in a way as to that Nature unobliged perioding p. 217in our Redemption, and elevated into a kind of Infinity by his Deity, was paid down for us, and was part of the Price.

2. Because Christ's whole Obedience, Active as well as Passive, being fulfilled for us makes us righteous before God: famous is that place, Rom. 5. 19. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. But you'l say, the Passive Obedience is only meant there; but if so, why doth the Apostle oppose it to Adam's Actual Disobedience? and why doth he say Obedience in general? and when he says so, who may pare off ought, and say, it was not all but some? Why doth he call it Christ's righteousness, Ver. 18? and where are his Sufferings alone so stiled in Scripture? or what is so properly such as his Active Obedience? Nay further, he speaks of such a Righteousness as brings justification of life, Ver. 18. The Promise of life was, Do this and live, and Christ's Active Obedience fully answered the terms of it; wherefore Christ's Active Obedience is within this Text, and jointly with the Passive makes us righteous, and consequently is part of the Price. But here it will be objected, p. 218That if Christ obeyed the Law for us, so as to make us righteous, then we need not obey it in our own Persons: To which I answer two things.

1. This Argument presses as much upon those that are for his Passive Obedience only, as upon those that are for his Active also; for they assert that the Passive alone purges away all sin, as well of Omission as Commission, and consequently makes us as Righteous before God, as if we had done all and omitted nothing; and then by their Principles, what need we obey in our own persons? But

2. That Christ obeyed for us, and therefore we need not obey, is as vain a Consequence as to say, Christ died for us, and therefore we should not die. But the different Ends reconcile all: Christ died that there might be Satisfaction for Sin as to the Guilt of it, and we die that there may be a Destruction of Sin as to the Being of it: Also Christ obeyed that our Justification might be effected, and we obey that our Sanctification may be promoted; Christ obeyed that we might reign in life, and we obey that we may be more and more meet for it. Nay, Christ obeyed that we might obey; for one fruit p. 219of Redemption was, that we might be a peculiar people zealous of good works, Tit. 2. 14. and we obey that his Obedience may not be in vain as to us; for he is the author of eternal redemption to them that obey him, Heb. 5. 9. Hence it appears that Christ's Obedience and ours may as well consist together as Justification and Sanctification, Life and the way to it, Redemption and the fruit thereof.

3. Because the Price of our Redemption is a thing of superexcellent fulness and superimaginable glory, redeeming Captives in a way completive and perfective of the Law broken by them. Do we make void the Law by Faith, or by its Object our Redeemer and Redemption? Nay, we establish the Law, Rom. 3. 31. When Man was in Innocency, the Royal Law sate in Glory commanding upon its Throne, holding forth in its right hand a Crown of Life in the Promise, and in its left a Sword of Vengeance in the Threatning: But when Monstrous Sin entred into the World, the very Throne of the Law seemed to shake, and the Crown in its right hand to wither, only the Sword was glittering and fiery in the left, the Minatory part of the Law stood fast captivating and cursing the p. 220Sinner; but the Mandatory and Promissory parts thereof fell a trembling and staggering, as if their natural and primary End, viz. perfect Obedience and all the ensuing Bliss were utterly lost. Now Jesus Christ our wonderful Redeemer redeemed us in such a way as that he established the Law in every respect; by his Active Obedience he fastened and newpinned the very Throne of the Law, and made the old Promise to bud again with Life; and in his Passive Obedience the fiery Sword of God's wrath did awake against him, Zach. 13. 7. and smote and wounded him for our iniquities; he paid down his humane Nature in doing and suffering, and what could the Law desire of him more? Thus Jesus Christ became the end, the fulness, the perfection of the Law, Rom. 10. 4. But if the Passive Obedience of Christ be only the Price, then indeed the Curse or Wrath, which is in the left hand of the Law, and which comes accidentally by sin, is satisfied: But where is the primary and natural end of the Law? Where is that perfect Obedience which is in the right hand and right eye of the Law? You'l say, 'tis in the Person of Christ our Redeemer: But how is it there? the Apostle p. 221says, that Christ is the end of the Law to the believer; now if it be there only personally as for himself, then as to that he is the end of the Law only for himself; but if it be there also fide jussorially as for us, then 'tis part of the Price, and so he is the end of the Law to us also. But you'l reply, that though Christ's Active Obedience be no part of the Price, yet his Passive suffices; for that takes away Sin and Death from us, and Sin being removed, Righteousness follows, and Death being removed, Life follows; and so the Law hath its end. I answer; I might deny these consequences, for Adam in Innocency was free from Sin and Death, yet in that state had neither all the Righteousness performable, nor all the Life attainable by him. But if I admit, that upon the remotion of Sin and Death Righteousness and Life do follow, yet these may follow from Christ's whole Obedience as their total Principle, and not only from the Passive. If they follow from the Passive only, the Glory of Redemption is much darkned; for who sees not that the Law is not, nor cannot be so completely accomplished by the mere Sufferings of Christ, as if over and besides those p. 222he also performed perfect Obedience for us? Who sees not more Glory shining out when perfect Righteousness is a part of the Price, than if it be only an effect thereof issuing by consequential resultance from the remotion of Sin? Wherefore the Messiah is set out to us in the Prophet not only as making an end of sin, but as bringing in everlasting righteousness, Dan. 9. 24. and in the Evangelist, not only as giving his life, but as fulfilling all righteousness, Matth. 3. 15. and in the Apostle, not only as made sin, but as made righteousness too, 1 Cor. 1. 30. and thus the Law hath its perfect accomplishment by our Redeemer. Wherefore concluding that the humane Nature of Christ paid down in his Active and Passive Obedience is the entire and integral price of our Redemption, I pass on to the second Quaere,

2. What manner of Price this is? and this I shall open in three things.

1. 'Tis a Price Redemptive from Evil.

2. 'Tis a Price Procurative of Good.

3. 'Tis a Price Sufficient for both.

1. 'Tis a Price Redemptive from Evil, even from all the evils of our Captivity, viz. the Chains of Sin, the bloody Jaylor Satan, and the Prison of Wrath; our p. 223great Redeemer by laying down this price hath hroke off our Chains, vanquished the Jaylor, and opened the Prison-doors for us; only here is an observable difference: for

1. As to the Guilt of Sin and the Wrath of God this Price is redemptive in a more immediate way by it self.

2. As to the stain of Sin, the power of Sin, and the tyranny of Satan, this Price is redemptive in a consequential way by procuring the holy Spirit for us.

1. This Price is Redemptive from the Guilt of Sin and Wrath of God; and this in a more immediate way by it self. Now albeit the entire Price concurr herein, yet because as to this there is a special relucency in some parts thereof, I shall only insist on five things, viz.

1. Our Sins were laid upon Christ.

2. He suffered the same punishment (for the main) that was due for these Sins.

3. He suffered it in our stead.

4. Suffering in our stead, he satisfied God's Vindictive Justice and Minatory Law.

5. These satisfied, God is reconciled.

1. Our sins were laid upon Christ. Whilest the Chains are upon the Captive, Captivity is unavoidable; whilest Sin is p. 224on the Sinner, Redemption is impossible; God therefore gave Sin a remove from its proper Ubi, I will remove iniquity in one day, saith he, Zech. 3. 9. that is, in the day of the Messiah, Ver. 8. But how far will he remove it? The Psalmist tells us, as far as the East is from the West, Psal. 103. 12. and so he did, he removed it from us, who were in occasu Adami, as far as Christ, who is oriens Sol Justitiae; by this remove all our sins met upon him, as the Prophet speaks, Isai. 53. 6. Never such a concourse of Sins as here, Sins of all weights, Pence and Talents; Sins of all magnitudes, Gnats and Camels; Sins of various degrees, Frailties and Presumptions; Sins of vast distances as far remote in place as the parts and quarters of the Earth, and in time as the Morning and Evening of the World met all together upon him; he is the Lamb of God that takes or bears away the sin of the world, Joh. 1. 29. he saith not Sins, but Sin; because all the Sins of the World were as it were made up into one burthen, and so laid upon him. Sins past were present to him; for there was a foreign, a Transmission of them unto him, Rom. 3. 25. there was indeed an foreign, a Remission, as to the faithful, but a foreign, a Transmission as to p. 225the Surety; Sins future were all one to him as if already existent, all our Sins met upon him. Hence he cries out, My iniquities have taken hold upon me, Psal. 40. 12. My iniquities, a strange word to drop from the holy one of God; but the Apostle clears it, God made him for us to be sin, 2 Cor. 5. 21. there was no Sin in him by Inhesion, but God made him Sin by Imputation; not only a Sacrifice for Sin (which yet includes that imputation) but Sin it self: the double Antithesis in the Text carries it this way; he was made that Sin he knew not, and that was Sin it self; he was made that Sin which is opsite to Righteousness, and that was Sin it self. Hence Luther brings in the Father casting all our Sins on him with these words; Tu sis Petrus ille negator, Paulus ille persecutor, David Com. in Galat. cap. 3.Gal 3ille adulter, peccator ille in paradiso, latro ille in cruce, person a illa quae fecerit omnium hominum peccata, all our sins were imputed unto him. But you'l say, How can these things be? Can the righteous God, who judges according to truth, impute Sin to his holy one? I answer; As there are in the Apostle two distinct Comings of Christ; in the first he p. 226bore our sins, in the second he appears foreign, without sin, Heb. 9. 28. So in his first coming he susteined two distinct persons, his own and ours: as he was in his own person, he was without sin; but as he was our Surety and susteined our persons, so our Sins were imputed to him, and imputed to him according to truth, because he was such. The holy One was righteously made sin, because first he was a Surety for sinners; a World of Sins was justly cast on the innocent Lamb, because he stood in the room of a World of sinners. In eadem persona Christi (saith Luther) congrediuntur illa duo, summum & maximum peccatum, & summa & maxima justitia; this is one of the wonders in Theology. Reason and Philosophy can shew Sin in the sinner, but the sublimer Gospel shews Sin on a spotless Lamb; here darkness seized upon the Sun; here the abomination of iniquity stood where it ought not; I say, where it ought not, because upon the holy place; yet withal where it ought, because of an holy Imputation. God can by no means clear the guilty, Exod. 34. 7. that is, the guilty remaining such, therefore he first translated the guilt upon Christ, and then he justifies the ungodly through him, Rom. 4. 5. Oh the glory p. 227of the divine Will! Its Purity cannot but hate Sin, yet its Power removes it; its Justice cannot but punish Sin, yet its Mercy translates it from the Sinner to the Surety, that it may be condemned there where it was never committed, even in the flesh of Christ, Rom. 8. 3.

2. Our Sins being laid on him, he suffered the same punishment (for the main) that was due to us for them; for how doth the Scripture express the punishment of Sin? 'Tis death, Gen. 2. 17. and he died for us; 'tis the second death, Rev. 20. 14. or death unto death, 2 Cor. 2. 16. and he suffered deaths, Isai. 53. 9. not the death of the Body only, but all the deaths in moriendo morieris, as far as his holy Humanity was capable thereof; 'tis wrath, Rom. 1. 18. and he was foreign, a man set in the stroke of Gods wrath, as the Septuagint hath it, Isai. 53. 3. 'tis a curse, Deut. 27. 26. and he was made a curse, Gal. 3. 13. not only a ceremonial but a real Curse, even that which he redeems us from. Tu Christe (saith Luther) es peccatum meum & maledictum meum, seu potius ego sum peccatum tuum & maledictum tuum; 'tis hell, Psal. 9. 17. and he descended thither; though not by a local Motion, yet by an p. 228immense Passion, his Soul travelling under the wrath of God. He began to descend into Hell, when he sweat drops of Blood, and he descended yet further into it when he cried out, My God, my God! why hast thou forsaken me? There are two Essentials of punishment in Hell, poena sensûs & poena damni, and he suffered both: when the fire of God's Wrath melted him into a bloody sweat, there was poena sensùs; and when the great Eclipse of God's Favour made him cry out of forsaking, there was poenadamni. Christ suffered the same punishment (for the main) which we should have suffered; the chief change was in the Person, the just suffering for the unjust, the Surety for the Sinner. But you'l say, Christ did not suffer the same punishment, for he neither suffered eternal Death, nor yet the Worm of Conscience.