Practical Discourses Volume 2, Discourse 5
JOHN III.16.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting Life.
THE Three first Topicks from whence I undertook to prove the Goodness of God, I have already handled on another Text, and shewed 1st, from his Nature, 2ly, from his Creation, and 3dly, from his Providence, That he is infinitely good. I proceed now to the 4th, and last, viz. from Principles of Revelation, the main of which is comprehended in the Text, God so loved the World, &c.
It is indeed a most glorious Instance of the Goodness of God, that when he had imprinted his Laws upon our Nature in such legible Characters, and given them such apparent Sanctions in the Nature of Things; having made such a sensible Distinction between Moral Good and Evil, by those natural good and evil Consequents which he hath inseparably intailed on them: And when Mankind by their wilful Wickedness and Inadvertency had almost obliterated the Law of their Nature, and extinguished their natural Sense of Good and Evil, and immersed themselves in the most barbarous Impieties and Immoralities: Notwithstanding all this that he had done for us, and we against our selves, he should still be so kind and compassionate as to put forth a new Edition of his Laws, and reveal his Will anew to us in such an extraordinary manner; that when he had implanted a Light in our Natures that was sufficient to have directed us into the several Paths of our Duty, and we by our own Neglect and Abuse of it had almost extinguished this Candle of the Lord in us, and consequently involved our selves in Midnight Darkness and Ignorance; he should then be so compassionate as to hang out a Light from Heaven to us to rectify our Wanderings, and guid our Feet in the Paths we should walk in, was such a glorious Expression of his Goodness as for ever deserves our most thankful Acknowledgments. But then that he should not only reveal to us what he had before imprinted on our Nature, and we had most unworthily rased out and obliterated; but also discover so much more to us than ever we did or could have known by the Light of our Nature; that he should not only repeat his former Kindness to us, which we had so shamefully abused, but make such stupendous Additions to it as he hath done in the Revelation of his Gospel; that manger all those Impieties and Provocations by which for so many Ages we had excited his Patience, he should not only so love us as to restore to us the Light which we had almost extinguished, but to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, &c. is such an amazing Instance of Goodness as can hardly be reflected on without an Extasy of Admiration.
In which Words you have God's revealed Love and Goodness to the World measured by a two-fold Standard.
1. By the Greatness of the Gift which he hath bestowed upon the World; God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son:
2. The blessed End for which he did bestow him; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
I. I begin with the first of these viz. the Greatness of the Gift, by which the Greatness of his Love to us is measured; God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son: foreign, he gave him; that is, he delivered him up from out of his own Bosom and everlasting Embraces; for so Eph. v.2. it is foreign, he gave himself for us, or delivered up himself for us, for so we render the Word foreign, who was delivered for our offences, Rom. iv.25. Now what a stupendous Expression of God's Love this was, will appear by considering these six Things, which are all of them expressed or implied in the Text;
1. That he gave him up who was not only the greatest, but the dearest Person to him in the whole World.
2. That he gave him up for Sinners.
3. That he gave him up for a whole World of Sinners.
4. That he gave him up to become a Man for Sinners.
5. That he gave him up to be a miserable Man for Sinners.
6. That he gave him to be a Sacrifice for the Sins of Sinners, that so he might not only with more Effect but with more Security to us, interceed for our Pardon.
1. The Greatness of God's Love and Goodness towards us appears in this, that he gave up for our sakes not only the greatest but the dearest Person to him in the whole World; for as the Text tells you, it was his only begotten Son. Which Phrase doubtless imports a much higher signification than his being begotten in the Virgins Womb by the Overshadowing of the Holy Ghost. For though it cannot be denied but in Scripture he is called the Son of God, sometimes upon the Account of this his divine Generation in the Virgins Womb, and sometimes upon the Score of his being ordained by God to the Messiaship; sometimes because he was raised by God from the Dead, and sometimes because he was installed by him into his Mediatorial Kingdom: Yet upon neither of these Accounts can he be properly called the only begotten Son; for upon the three last Accounts sundry others have been as properly begotten by God as our Saviour; some having been installed by him into great and eminent Offices; others raised from the Dead; others truly ordained by him his Messiah's, or anointed Ones; so that upon neither of these Accounts can he be stiled the only begotten Son, others having been thus begotten as well as himself. And as for the first, his being conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Virgins Womb, this was not sufficient neither to intitle him the only begotten; because though it was indeed a miraculous Production, yet was it not so much above the Production of the first Man as to place him in that singular Eminence. For the forming of Adam out of the Substance of the Earth was altogether as miraculous a Production as the forming of Christ out of the substance of the Woman; and therefore since Adam is called the Son of God, Luk. 3.38. because God immediately formed him of the substance of the Earth; he had thereby as good a Right to the Title of God's only begotten Son as Christ himself had; because God immediately formed him of the substance of a Woman. Wherefore his peculiar Right above all others to this glorious Title of God's only begotten Son must necessarily be founded upon some higher Reason than this, that is, upon some such Reason as is wholly peculiar to himself. For if he be really and truly God's only begotten Son, all other Persons whatsoever must necessarily be excluded from that Claim; and consequently he must be so begotten of God as no other Person is, or ever was: And to be- so begotten of God, is to be begotten by him by a proper and natural Generation, which is nothing else but a vital Production of another in the same Nature with him, from whom it is produced; even as a Man begets a Man, and every Animal begets another of the same Kind and Nature with it self: And thus to be begotten of God, is to be begotten into the same divine Nature with himself; to derive or communicate from him the infinitely perfect Nature and Essence of a God. And in this Sense only our blessed Saviour is the only begotten Son of the Father, as being generated by him from all Eternity into the same Nature, and communicating from him his own infinite Essence and Perfections; in which sense he is truly the only begotten Son, because in this Sense, and in this only, none is or was, or ever shall be begotten of the Father but himself.
When therefore it is said that he gave his only begotten Son, the Meaning is this; he gave up that infinitely great and dear Son of his, that is, his natural Image and Resemblance; that only Son to whom from all Eternity he hath communicated his own most perfect Essence and Nature. If then it was so great an Instance of Abraham's Faith and ardent Love of God at his Command to offer up his only Son Isaac, a Son, who though how hopeful soever, yet who fell infinitely shorter of the Perfection of our Saviour than the Light of the Glow-worm doth of the Light of the Sun; what an astonishing Miracle of Love was it in the great Father of the World to give up his only begotten Son; a Son whom he had begotten in his own divine Nature, and to whom he had communicated all the infinite Perfections of his own Being; a Son who was the most perfect Image of himself, who was infinitely powerful and wise and good, and differed from him in nothing but only in being his Son; who had the Fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him, and whom, being infinitely perfect as himself, he loved as infinitely as his own Person, and consequently could as easily have given up himself for us, as he did, that dearly Beloved in whom his Soul was so well pleased? Who but a God of infinite Love and immeasurable Inclination to do good to his Creatures, would have given them such an inestimable Jewel out of his Bosom; a Jewel wherein all the Brightness of the Divinity did sparkle, and which upon that Account was as dear and precious to him as his own Life? And hence we find the Apostle valuing the Greatness of God's Love to us, by the Greatness and Dearness of the Person whom he gave up for our sakes; in this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through him, 1 Joh. iv.9. And indeed without this Consideration of his being the only begotten Son of God by eternal Generation and Communion of Nature with him, God's Love in giving him up for us would not be comparably so considerable as it is. For if, according to the Doctrin of the Socinians, he should only have caused a Man to be born for us after another manner than other Men are, and then have delivered him for our sake; there would have been no such great Expression of his Love in this Way of redeeming us, more than what must have appeared should he have chosen to redeem us any other Way. To have redeemed us indeed, by what Means soever, would have been a most glorious Expression of his Love and good Will to us; but since the Scripture hath raised the Consideration of God's Love higher from the Dignity of the Person whom he sent to redeem us, by how much higher the Dignity of this Person is, by so much greater is the Estimation of his Love. But if the Dignity of Christ's Person, as the only begotten Son of God, consisted meerly in being a Man born into the World in such an extraordinary Manner, this would have made such an inconsiderable Addition to his Love in redeeming us, that he would have much more agrandized his Kindness to us to have offered up an Angel of Heaven for us, though of the most inferior Order, than to have thus delivered up his only begotten Son. But to offer up his natural Son to whom he had communicated his Nature, his Son who was God co-eternal and co-essential with himself, was a more transcendent Expression of his Love to us, than if he had unpeopled Heaven for our sakes, and delivered up to us the whole Quire of Angels, Archangels and Seraphims.
2ly, The Greatness of God's Love and Goodness towards us appears in this also, that he gave up his only begotten Son for us when we were Sinners: And this is implied in that Expression, God so loved the World; that is, the World as it then was, a base, depraved, and degenerate World; for of this very World whom God thus loved, the Apostle gives this extream bad Character, the whole World lieth in Wickedness, 1 Joh. v.19. And St. Paul distributing the whole World into Jews and Gentiles, pronounces universally concerning them, that they were all under Sin, Rom. iii.9. So that in giving up his Son for such a World as this, he must necessarily give him for Sinners. And certainly should we measure God's Goodness by our own, this Consideration is enough to render his giving his only begotten Son for us a most incredible Expression of it; that when by our Sins we had provoked him beyond the Sufferance of any Patience but his own; when in Despight of all those innumerable Mercies wherewith from Time to Time he had sought to oblige us, and mauger all those Stupendous Judgments with which from one Generation to another he had endeavoured to curb and restrain us; when he had used so many effectual Arts to reclaim and amend us, and we by our own Obstinacy had bafled and defeated them all, and in stead of mending grew worse and worse under all his powerful Applications; one would have thought that now at last, in stead of trying any further Experiments on us, he might have been sufficiently provoked to give us up, as Physitians do their Patients when they are past all Hope of Recovery, and so let us alone to perish in our own Obstinacy. And doubtless if after all these Provocations we had known that he had intended to send his Son into the World, our own Guilt and Consciousness would have made us conclude that the Design of his sending him was only to ruin and destroy us, to extirpate the whole Race of us from the Face of the Earth, that so his Creation might be no longer scandalized with the Remembrance of such a Generation of Monsters. But now that after so many repeated Affronts and Rebellions, and in the midst of so many loud-crying Guilts that perpetually rang in his Ears, he should still persevere to love us in such a transcendent Degree, as to part with what is nearest and dearest to him for our sakes, even his only begotten Son out of his Bosom, is such an astonishing Expression of his Goodness to us, as we can never sufficiently magnify and admire. Had Mankind been as innocent as they are guilty before God, had their Virtues been as great and as numerous as their Crimes were; yet to send his great Son down from Heaven to visit them, had been such an Instance of condescending Goodness in him as would have justly merited our everlasting Praise and Remembrance; but to send him down to Sinners, to such a Race of obstinate and incorrigible Sinners, and that not to destroy but to save them; to obtain for, and tender to them a Kingdom of immortal Pleasures, and use all possible Means safely to conduct them thither; Lord, what a Miracle of Love is this! And hence the Apostle estimates this prodigious Instance of the Love of God, by the Vndeservingness of those upon whom it was exercised; but God, says he, commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us, Rom. v.8.
3dly, The Greatness of God's Love and Goodness towards us appears in this also, that he gave up his only begotten Son for the whole World of Sinners; he did not confine and limit this great Design of his Goodness by granting a monopoly of it to a few particular Favourites, but settled it as a publick Charter upon the whole Corporation of Mankind; for he so loved the World, says the Text, that he gave his only begotten Son; that is, for the benefit of the World. For how could his giving of his Son have been an Expression of his Love to the World, if he had not given him for the publick Benefit of the World? Had his Design been to restrain his Gift to a few particular Persons, whom he had designed to rescue from the general Shipwrack, the Text must have run thus, God so loved some particular Persons in the World, that he gave up his only begotten Son. For to make that an Instance of his Love to all which he designed only for the Benefit of a few, is to pretend a Love to the greatest Part of Men which he never intended them; for that by the World here he means the whole World, he himself assures us, 1 Joh. ii.2. And he is the Propitiation for our Sins: And not for ours only, but also for the Sins of the whole World. And what he means by the whole World, he tells us in the same Epistle, 1 Joh. v. The whole World lieth in Wickedness. So that this whole World that lies in Wickedness, is that whole World for whose Sins Christ is a Propitiation; and that whole World for whose Sins Christ is a Propitiation, is the World whom God so loved, as to give his only begotten Son for. But the Apostle yet more expresly tells us, that the head of every Man is Christ, 1 Cor. xi.3. And if so, then every Man is a Part of Christ's Body; and if so, then every Man hath a Communion in the Benefits of his Blood; for Ephes. v.23. he is said to be the Saviour of the Body; and more expresly yet, Heb. ii.9. it is said, that by the grace of God he tasted death for every Man. So that the Scripture hath as emphatically declared the universal Extent of this great Gift of God's Love, as it was possible for it to do in any human Words; and methinks 'tis strange that any Men should presume to restrain it, when they have no other Defence for so doing but only an odd Distinction that makes the whole World to signify the smallest Part of it, the Body of Christ to import a few particular Atoms of it, and every Man to denote one Man of Ten Thousand.
Behold then the immense Goodness of God, that hath not only given up his Son, for Sinners, but for a whole World of Sinners, and excluded none but those who exclude themselves from the Benefits of this mighty Donation! That hath planted this heavenly Tree of Life in the midst of a sick and sinful World, and hath not confined or inclosed it for the Use of a few selected Patients; but laid it open for all Comers, that whosoever would, might take of its Fruit, and eat and live for ever. O good God! How vast is thy Love, that hath thus impartially diffused it self over such a wide World of Sinners, that in this stupendous Gift of thy Son had so kind a Respect to every Individual, and made no Exception of any how sinful and unworthy soever, that will but comply with the merciful Terms and Conditions of it?
4thly, The Greatness of God's Love and Goodness towards us appears also in this, that he hath given up his only begotten Son to become a Man for Sinners. For whatsoever he was upon God's giving him up, he was what God gave him up to be; and therefore since upon God's giving him up he became a Man, it necessarily follows that he gave him up to become so. And indeed since God had such a merciful Design as to send his Son into the World to reform and save it, it was highly convenient for us, though not for him, that he should come to us in our own Natures, not only that he might consecrate human Nature that had been so miserably desecrated and prophaned; but also, that he might endear himself to us by the great Honour he did us in assuming our Natures; and that having our Passions, and being in our Circumstances he might by his own Practice give us an Example how to govern the one, and how to behave our selves in the other. Had he come down from the Heavens inrobed with Splendor and Light, and preached his Gospel to us in the midst of a Choir of Angels from some bright Throne in the Clouds, this indeed would have been more convenient for him, as being more suitable to the natural Dignity and Majesty of his Person. But the All-merciful Father in the Disposal of his Son consulted not so much his Convenience as ours; he knew well enough that should he have sent his Son to us in such an illustrious Equipage, his Appearance amongst us would have been more apt to astonish than to instruct us, and to have fixed our Thoughts in a profound Admiration of his Glory than to have directed our Steps in the Paths of Virtue and true Happiness; and that it would be much more for our Interest that he should conduct us by his Example than amaze us by his Appearance; and therefore that he might do so, he sent him to us in our own Natures, that so going before us as a Man he might shew us by his Example what became Men to do, and direct us by the Print of his own Footsteps. Since therefore he assumed our Nature purely for our sakes, what a stupendous Instance of God's Goodness was this; that for the sake of a World of miserable Sinners he should be content that his own most dear and most glorious Son should condescend to become a Man, and to empty himself into our Nature; that he who by the Divinity of his Nature was exalted more above that of the highest Angel than that is above the lowest Animal, should personally unite himself to a Handful of Dust, and marry his Divinity to the Infirmities of our Nature; that he whose Throne was in the Heavens, and before whose sacred Feet the whole Choir of heavenly Angels lie prostrate, should abase himself so low, as to come down among Mortals, and associate himself with Companions so unworthy of him? O good God! When thou hast condescended so low, what is there thou wilt not condescend to, to do good to thy Creatures? But this is not all, you shall see him stoop lower yet; For
5thly, The Greatness of God's Love and Goodness towards us appears also in this, that he gave up his only begotten Son to become a miserable Man for Sinners. It would have been some Abatement to his mighty Condescention, if when he sent him down among us in our Nature he had made him supream visible Monarch of the World; if he had crowned him with all the Splendors of an earthly Condition, if he had ushered him into the World in a triumphal Chariot with all the Kings of the Earth either prostrate before him or chained at his Chariot-Wheels: This though a vast Condescention in the eternal Son, yet would not have been so low as it was to be born of a poor Mother, to be educated as a Carpenters Son, to be exposed to Want and Penury, to the Contempt of every sordid Wretch, and the perpetual Persecutions of a borish and ill-natured Rable; and yet this was the wretched State to which God humbled his own dear Son for our sakes. For the Design of his Humiliation being to raise us, the most merciful Father consulted not so much what was for his Ease, as what was for our Benefit; for he knew well enough that should he have introduced him into the World in earthly Pomp and Magnificence, it would not have been so well for us; that we were too Ambitious already of the Vanities of this World, and that that had been the great Snare that had intangled and ruined us; and that therefore it was necessary when his Son came among us, he should take us off from our over-eager Pursuit of them, disgrace and expose them to us by his own voluntary Refusal of them; that by seeing him trample on them when they lay all at his Feet we might learn to despise them, and be at length convinced what foolish Bargains we make when we sell our Innocence and our Happiness for such insignificant Trifles. He thought it much more necessary for us, that his Son should exercise his Virtue than display his Greatness among us; and therefore he placed him in such Circumstances of human Life, wherein by his own Example he might copy out to us the noblest Pattern of holy living. For of all States, that of Affliction affords the largest Sphere to exercise human Virtue in; and therefore in this State out of his good Will to us he placed his own Son, that herein he might set us a Patten of Obedience to Superiors, and Contempt of the World; of Patience and Courage and Meekness and Resignation to the Will of God; that so by his Example we might be excited to the Exercise of all those passive Virtues, which are not only most glorious, but most difficult to human Nature; and that by beholding how mean and yet how good he was, we might all become more ambitious of being good than great in the World.
Now what an amazing Instance of God's Goodness is this, that meerly for our sakes, and to promote our Happiness; he should depress his own Son into such a miserable Condition, that he who was in the Form of God, who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God, should, by the Appointment of his own Father to whom he was so infinitely dear, make himself of no Reputation, take on him the Form of a Servant, become a Man of sorrows ▪ and acquaint himself with Griefs; and all this to put himself into a better Capacity of doing good to the World? Good God! When I consider with my self that once there was a Time when thou didst send thy blessed Son from Heaven to assume my Nature; that therein he dwelt upon this Earth and conversed with such poor Mortals as my self; that he suffered himself to be despised and persecuted, and by thy own Appointment wandred about like a poor Wretch naked and destitute of all those Comforts which I abundantly enjoy, and all this that he might the more effectually do good to a World of ill-natured Sinners, methinks this wonderous Prodigy of Love not only puzles my Conceit, but outreaches my Wonder and Admiration: And though it be a Love that exceeds my largest Thoughts, such as I have infinite Cause to rejoyce in, but could never have had the Impudence to expect; yet while I stand gazing on it, methinks I am like one that is looking down from a stupendous Precipice, whose Height fills me with a trembling Horror and even oversets my Reason.
6thly, And lastly, The Greatness of God's Love and Goodness towards us appears also in this, that he gave his only begotten Son to be a Sacrifice for the Sins of miserable Sinners; and this is plainly implied in that Expression, he gave his only begotten Son: For in the two Verses foregoing the Text, our Saviour foretells his own Death; for as Moses, saith he, lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have eternal Life; and then it immediately follows, for God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son, that is, he gave him to be lifted up upon the Cross, even as the Serpent was lifted up by Moses in the Wilderness; that so by his precious Death and Sacrifice he might make an Atonement for the Sins of the World: And accordingly he is said to be delivered up for our offences, Rom. iv.25. even as the Sacrifice was delivered up at the Door of the Tabernacle to propitiate God for the Sins of the Offerer. For to compleat the propitiatory Sacrifices under the Law three Things were requisite; first, the offering of it at the Door of the Tabernacle; the slaying of it, and the presenting of its Blood either within the Holy of Holies, or elsewhere, all which were found in the Sacrifice of our blessed Saviour. First, he offered himself to God as a willing Victim for the Sins of the World. Hence Joh. xvii.19. for this cause, saith he, do I sanctify my self, that is, offer up my self as a Sacrifice to thee; for so in Levit. xxii.2, 3. and sundry other places, to hallow or sanctify any Thing to the Lord denotes the offering it to him in Sacrifice. And accordingly we find that that Prayer by which Christ consecrated himself to the Lord, Joh. xvii. was much like that by which the High Priest did consecrate his Victims before the Altar on the great day of Expiation; for as he, before he slew the Sacrifice, did first commend himself and his own Family; then the Family of Aaron and the whole Congregation to the Lord; so our Saviour, in this excellent Prayer whereby he sanctified himself to his Father a Sacrifice for the Sins of the World, first commended himself to him, then his Apostles, then all those who should afterwards believe in his Name; which having done, he went forth presently to the Place where he was apprehended, and carried to Judgment and condemned to Death. Then as a propitiatory Sacrifice he was slain for our sins, for so St. Peter tells us, Ephes. ii.24. he bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree; that is, that natural Evil of a most shameful and painful Death was inflicted on him for our Sins, that so he might make an Expiation for them, and free us from the Guilt and Punishment that was due to them. Hence in that Prophecy of him, Isa. liii. we often meet with such Expressions as these, surely he hath born our Griefs, and carried our Sorrows; he was Wounded for our Transgressions, he was Bruised for our Iniquities: The chastisement of our Peace was upon him, and with his Stripes we are Healed. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all: For the transgression of my people was he stricken: Thou shalt make his Soul an offering for Sin, and he shall bear their Iniquities: He was numbered with the Transgressors, and he bare the sin of Many, and made intercession for the Transgressors: All which Expressions do plainly imply that what he suffered he suffered for our Sins as a Sacrifice substituted in the Room of us who were the Offenders, that so he might make Expiation for us, and obtain our Pardon from his Father. And accordingly in the New Testament he is said to be made a Curse for us, to be our Ransom and Propitiation, to redeem and reconcile us, and obtain the Remission of our Sins by his Blood; to die for us and for our Sins, and to be our Propitiation; all which Expressions being applyed to the Sacrifices of Atonement under the Law, and from them derived upon our Saviour do plainly denote him to be a Sacrifice of Atonement for the Sins of the World. And then lastly, there is the presenting of his Blood for us in Heaven, and in the Virtue thereof his interceeding for us with his Father. And hence the Blood of Christ, as it is now presented in Heaven, is called the blood of Sprinkling, which speaketh better things than that of Abel, Heb. xii.24. In which he plainly alludes to the High Priest's sprinkling of the Blood of the Sacrifice in the Holy of Holies, which was a Type of Christs presenting his Blood for us in Heaven, as you may see, Heb. ix.7. compared with the 11th and 12th Verses. Verse 7th he tells us that the High Priest entered not into the Holy of Holies without blood: But then Verse 12th it is said that Christ with his own blood entred in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal Redemption for us. And in Virtue of this Blood, which he poured out as a Sacrifice of our Sins upon the Cross, he now pleads our Cause at the right Hand of his Father, and ever lives to make Intercession for us. So that you see the Death of Christ had in it all the necessary Ingredients of a propitiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the World; and having so, what a prodigious Instance is it of the Love of God to us, that rather than destroy us, he would give up his own Son to be a Sacrifice for us? I do not deny, but if he had pleased he might have pardoned and saved us without any Sacrifice at all; but he knew very well that if he should do so, it would be much worse for us. He knew that if he should pardon our Sins without giving us some great Instance of his implacable Hatred of them, we should be too prone to presume upon his Lenity, and thereupon to return again to our old Vomit and Uncleanness; and therefore though it would have been more for the Ease and Interest of his blessed Son to have pardoned us without any Sacrifice at all, yet such was his Love to us, that because he foresaw that this Way of pardoning would prove fatal and dangerous to us, he was resolved that he would not do it without being moved thereunto by the greatest Sacrifice the World could afford him, and that no less a Propitiation should appease his Wrath against Offenders than the Blood of his own Son; that so by beholding his Severity against our Sins in this unvaluable Sacrifice of the Blood of his Son, we might be sufficiently terrified from returning again to them, by the very same Reason that moved him to pardon them; that we might not think light of that which God would not forgive without such a vast Consideration, but might tremble to think of repeating those Sins, the Price of whose Pardon was the dearest Blood of the Son of God. Hence is that of the Apostle, Rom. iii.25, 26. whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his Blood, to declare his Righteousness, that is, his righteous Severity against Sin, for the remission of Sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his Righteousness; that he might be just, that is, sufficiently severe against the Sins of Men so as to warn them from returning, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. So that now he hath reduced Things to an excellent Temper, having so provided, that neither himself nor we might be damnified; that we might not suffer by our doing again what we have done; and that he might not suffer by our doing still the same; that he might be what he is, a pure and a holy Saviour; and that we might be what we ought, dutiful and obedient Subjects. Now what an amazing Instance of God's Love is this, that he should so far consult the good of his Creatures as to Sacrifice his own Son to their Benefit and Safety? How inexpressibly must he needs love us, that for our sakes could behold his most dearly beloved Son hanging on the Cross, covered with Wounds and Blood, forsaken by his Friends, despised and spit on by his Barbarous Enemies; that could hear him complain in the Bitterness of his Soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And yet suffer him to continue under that unsufferable Agony till he had given up his white and innocent Soul an unspotted Sacrifice for the Sins of the World: Yea, that notwithstanding the infinite Love that he bore him, and the piteous Moans that his Torments forced from him, was so far from relieving him, that for our sakes he inflicted upon him the utmost Misery that human Nature could bear; that so having an experimental Sense of the most grievous Suffering that Mankind is liable to, and being touched with the utmost Feeling of our Infirmities, and in all Points tempted like unto us, he might carry a more tender Commiseration for us to Heaven, and know the better how to pity us in all our Griefs and Extremities. For in all things it behoved him, saith the Apostle, to be made like unto his Brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, Heb. ii.17. Hear O Heavens, and give Ear O Earth, and let all the Creation attend with Astonishment to this stupendous Story of Love, which so far exceeds all the heroick Kindnesses that ever any Romance of Friendship thought of, that no less Evidence than that of Miracles could have ever rendred it credible. Well then might the Apostle say, herein is love, not that we loved God, for after such vast Obligations this is no great Wonder, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our Sins, 1 Joh. iv.10. And thus you see what an unspeakable Instance of the Love of God, his giving his only begotten Son is. I shall now conclude this Argument with a few practical Inferences from the whole.
1. From hence I infer what monstrous Ingratitude it would be in us to deny any Thing to God that he demands at our Hands, who hath been so liberal to us as to give up his only begotten Son for our sakes. O blessed God! If it were possible for us to do or suffer for thee a thousand Times more than at present we are able, what a poor Return were this for the Gift of thy Son, that unspeakable Expression of thy Goodness? And can we deny thee any Thing after such an Instance of Love, especially when thy Demands are so gentle and reasonable? When he requires nothing of us but what is for our good, and the Requital he demands for all his Love to us, is only that we should love our selves, and express this Love in doing those Duties which he therefore enjoyns, because they tend to our Happiness; and avoiding those Sins which he therefore forbids, because he knows they will be our Bane and Poyson? Can any of my Lusts be as dear to me as the only begotten Son was to the Father of all things? And yet he parted with him out of Love to me; and shall not I part with these for the Love of him? How can we pretend to any Thing that is modest or ingenuous, tender or apprehensive in humane Nature, when nothing will oblige us, no not this astonishing Love of God in sending his Son from Heaven to live and die Miserably for our sakes? Lord! What do thy holy Angels think of us? How do thy blessed Saints resent our Unkindness towards thee? Yea, how justly do the Devils themselves reproach and upbraid our Baseness; who, bad as they are, were never so much Devils yet as to make an ungrateful Return of such a vast Obligation?
2ly, From hence I infer how desperate our Condition will be if we defeat the End of this Gift of the Son of God, and render it ineffectual to us. For God hath no more Sons to bestow upon us, he being the only begotten of his Father; Heaven and Earth are not able to furnish him with such another Gift to bestow upon us; and if he should lay a Tax upon all his Creation to raise one great Contribution to the Happiness of Mankind, and exact the utmost of every Creature that it is able to Contribute, it would all fall infinitely short of what he hath done for us in this inestimable Gift of his own Son. So that if this prove ineffectual, it is beyond the Power of an omnipotent Bounty to relieve us. For though God can do all Things that can be well and wisely done, and do not imply a Contradiction; yet this can be no Relief at all to us, who reject his Son, and refuse to be made happy in the gracious Method which he hath prescribed to us. For after this mighty Gift of his own Son to save us according to the Method of his Gospel, there remains nothing more to be done for us, but either to save us whether we will, or no; or else to make us happy in our Sins, and save us notwithstanding our Continuance in them; the former of which can neither be well nor wisely done, because by saving us against our Wills he must deal with us in such a Way as is repugnant to that Law of Liberty that is implanted in our Natures, and use us not as Free, but as Necessary Agents. And if considering all things, it was best and wisest that he should make us free Agents, then it can neither be well nor wise to govern us as necessary ones; since by so doing he must alter the Course of our Nature, and consequently swerve and decline from what is best and wisest, which would be to do Violence to the Perfection of his own Nature. And then as for the latter, he cannot do it; because it implies a Contradiction. For to make Men happy in their Sins, is to make them happy in their Miseries; Misery being as inseparable from Sin as Heat is from Fire, and as intimately related to it as the Son is to the Father; and consequently he may as possibly make a Father without a Son, as a Sinner without Misery. When therefore God hath done all for us that can possibly be done, and we by our own Obstinacy have rendred all ineffectual, we are beyond the Power of Remedy, and must necessarily perish in our Sins. And when we have no other Hope to depend on but this, that the All-wise God will undo his own Workmanship, and unravel our Nature by governing us contrary to the most wise Constitution of it; or that the All-powerful God will effect Impossibilities, and do that for us which is not an Object of Power, how deplorable and desperate must our Condition be? Wherefore, as you would not run your selves beyond the Reach of all Mercy, and excommunicate your own Souls from all Hope of Salvation, be now at last persuaded to comply with Christ's Coming, which was to reduce you from the Error of your Ways, and to bring you to a serious Repentance.