Eighteen Sermons, Sermon 9
PHIL. 2.5, 6, 7, 8.
Let this mind be in you, which also was in Jesus Christ, who being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion of a man, he humbled himself unto the death, even the death of the Cross.
YOU have heretofore heard that point of Christian Doctrine which concerns the knowledge of our misery, and wretched estate by nature. The substance of all is, That we are the Children of wrath and disobedience as well as others. You see then in what state every man stands, before he hath made his peace with God: as long as he stands on terms of Rebellion. You see what the Holy Ghost saith, They are the sons of disobedience, and Children of wrath as well as others. This I tell you (as hath often been declared) not to discourage a sinner, or to drive him to desperation, but because it's fit he should know his estate in which he is. If they will try conclusions with God, if they oppose him, the Lord cometh with a Bar of Iron, and will break them in pieces like a Potters vessel. Those mine enemies that will not have me to raign over them, bring them, and slay them before me. It is fit every man should know this; This part is only for this end, that it may awaken us, otherwise to what purpose do we preach unto you? Till the Law awaken us, we sleep securely in our sins, till the dreadfull Trumpet of mount Sinai comes with thundring and lightning; as Eph. 4. Awake thou that sleepest, &c. Unless this awaken us, in what case are we? Men as sleepers, that are a dreaming, as the Apostle speakes, Jude 8. A sleeping sinner will be a dreaming sinner: he never sees things as they are in their proper shape: but he thinks with the Church of Laodicea, That he is rich, and wants nothing, when as he is poor, miserable, blind and naked. He thinks he shall be admitted into heaven as soon as the proudest: but this is a dream: Isa. 29.8. As the hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth, but when he awakes, behold he is empty; or as a thirsty man that dreams he drinketh, but awake, and behold he is faint. Thus it is with us, we think we are entring upon the suburbs of heaven, and yet we are but in a dream, and in a sleep.
Now being thus awaken, consider with thy self what thou hast to do, when the dreadfull trumpet of the Law hath aw…kened thee: consider thy state; if thou sleepest this night, Hell-fire will be thy portion. It were better for thee therefore to awake before the flames of hell-fire awake thee. Consider likewise that thou must not be led by thy self: thou must renounce thine own will. Our Estates may be pleasing unto us, to enjoy in a dream our hearts lusts here on earth; but consider, unless thou cross thy Will here, it shall be crossed hereafter: yea it shall be the main cross a man shall have in hell, (besides the eternal weight of Gods wrath) that he can will or desire nothing, but he shall be crossed in it: not the least thing he desires, but he shall have the contrary world without end: Learn then what a wofull thing it is to be our own lords, to follow our own lusts and pleasures, see what we shall gain by it:No…e Well. never shalt thou enjoy the least portion of thy will in the world to come; if thou wouldst have but a drop of cold water, thou shalt be crossed in it. Nothing thou desirest, but thou shalt have the opposite to it.
Thus having truly and plainly shewed our Sinfulness, Wretchedness, and Cursedness by nature, I come unto the second part which I proposed; to wit, Our Remedy, or our Redemption by Christ. Our Remedy, or, our Redemp…ion by Christ.And God forbid that he should create man the best of his Creature for destruction. What gain and profit is there in our blood? Psalm 30.9. God is full of Grace and Compassion, and he considers that we are but dust. And happy are we that we are but dust. Had we been more glorious Creatures, as Angels, we had not had the benefit of a Saviour. When they rebelled, God considered their mettal: And as with an high hand they rebelled, So the Lord reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness unto the Judgement of the great day, Jude 3. 1 Thes. 1.10. They fell without a Redeemer; It is well for us that God considereth that we are but dust; For by Jesus Christ he saveth us from the wrath to come. It had been better for us never to have been born, then to be born fire-brands of hell. But now the point is, that we are Brands pluckt out of the fire, Zach. 3.2. It is fit therefore we should know who is our Redeemer.
Now as I have shewed you the last day it is Jesus Christ: And here consider,
1. Christ Jesus offered for us for the satisfaction of Gods Justice, and this is his priestly office.
2. As there was no Remission without shedding of blood, therefore after the blood is shed, and the Priest offered himself, there comes a second thing, else we are never the better: and that is Christ offered to us: This makes up our comfort. Many talk of the extent of Christs Death and Passion, saying, he dyed sufficiently for us, which is an improper speech: For what comfort were this, that Christ was offered for us, if there were no more? A bare sufficiency in Christ serves not the turn: this were a cold comfort: As if a man that were in debt, & afraid of every Serjeant, & every Sheriffe should be told: Sir, there is money enough in the Kings Exchequer to discharge all your debts. This is very true, but what is that to him? what comfort hath he by it, unless the King make him an offer to come, & take freely for his discharge? And a cold comfort were it to us to know Christ to be sufficient for us, unless he invite us to take freely of the waters of life. Ho, every one of you that thirsteth, come you to the waters, &c. Isa. 55.1. Thus unless Christ be offered to us, as well as for us, we are never the near.
Now to make this appear: Observe that in every Sacrament there are two acts of the Minister. The one hath Relation to God, a Commemoration of the Sacrifice, in which respects the ancient Fathers called it a Sacrifice: the other, the breaking of the Bread, and pouring out of the Wine: wherein there is a Commemoration of the body broken, and the blood shed, not as they are concomitants, the Wine in the bread, as the foolish Papists dream, for that were rather a commemoration of his life then of his death, when the blood runs in the veins. The commemoration of Christs death is made by separation of the blood from the body, and as there is one Act of the Minister in cons…crating by breaking the body, and pouring out the blood, so there is a second Act which is ministerial. When the Minister saith, Take, eat, This is my body; as if Christ were present, and said, Come, Take my body, thou hast as free an interest to it, as when thou art invited to thy friends table thou hast right to the meat before thee. So that as Christ is offered for thee, so he is offered to thee: And what now should hinder thee, unless thou art one that will obstinately oppose thy own salvation, and say, I will not have this man to rule over me, thou canst not miscarry. But if thou wilt be thine own lord, perish in thine infidelity. Here be the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven given unto Gods Ministers, unless thou wilfully oppose thine own salvation, and shut that door of salvation which Christ hath opened so wide for thee. See the ways of God are plain. Christ hath paid a great price for thee, and then, as great as it is, he offers it to thee.
Now for the former of these, which is Christs satisfaction made unto the Father for us, I made choice of this place of Scripture, which sets it out particularly. Herein two things are to be observed.
1. The person who it is that will thus humble himself: the Apostle grounds his Exhortation on the fourth verse, where he tels us, We ought not to look every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus. If Christ had looked only on his own things, he might have saved himself a great deal of labor and pains. He being the Son of God, might as soon as he was born have chalenged a seat with God in Glory: He need not go per viam, He might be Comprehensor in meta: but he would pass on to his journeyes end in a thorny and troublesome way: Let then the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who minded not his own things, but the good of others.
2. What it was wherein he humbled himself, he took upon him the form of a servant, and was obedient unto the death of the Cross. The highest humiliation that can be, that he who is above all praise, whom Angels adored, that he should be brought from heaven to earth; and not only be a pilgrim there, but have a sorrowfull and pittifull pilgrimage; and at last to be cut off by a shamefull death from the land of the living: this humiliation hath no parallel.
The depth of the humiliation consists in the height of the person thus humbled; and were not he so high, it could have done us no good. It's no small satisfaction that can appease Gods wrath, therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews speaking of Melchisedeck, the type of Christ, concludes, how great this man was.
Consider the invaluable price, how great he was, who being in the form of God, he who was fellow, and fellow-like with God, as good as himself, as great as himself, was thus humbled: It was the second person in the Trinity, he, and no other that was thus humbled for thee; He was weary for thee, and reviled for thee, sweated and fainted for thee; hungred for thee, and was buffeted for thee. It was he, the second person of the Trinity, in proper speech, without either Trope or Figure, shed his blood for thee, died for thee, and suffered all these things in his assumed nature, taking on him the form of a servant, though not in his divine. He remaining God alone, could not die, but yet die fain he would for thee, therefore he took thy nature on him, that he might die for thee in the assumed nature. He took not on him the nature of Angels, but the seed of Abraham. He being the fountain of life, and the Prince of our life, (and without sheding of blood no Redemption could be wrought) having not blood to shed as God, therefore took our nature on him, as it is; Heb. 10.5. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast prepared me, then said I, Io, I come, in the volumn of thy book it is written of me, to do thy Will O God. As if he should have said, Lord, I am not able to accomplish thy Will, or to be subject to thee in thy nature, therefore thou hast made me a man, that in the form of a servant, I might shew obedience, which I could not while I was in nature equal unto thee. Now consider how great this person is that hath suffered all for thee. Rev. 1.5. Jesus Christ who is the faithfull witness, the first begotten of the Dead, and the Prince of the Kings of the earth: to have a great Prince bound like a thief, araigned, and executed, the consideration of this state of the person, would move a stony heart. Rev. 17.14. He is the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.
Amongst men the Father is more honourable then the Son, and the Son is but a servant, untill he be emancipated, but it is not so in the Divinity; but the Father and the Son are both alike honourable.
Among men the Son hath the same specifical nature with the Father, but not the same individual: but it is not so in the Divinity: the Father and the Son there have the self same individual nature. I and my Father are one, therefore there must be an equality. The Pharisees themselves could draw this conclusion, that if he were the Son of God, he was equal with God. John 5.18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he said, God was his Father, making himself equal with God: A man would think how could that follow? He was but Gods Son: but Gods Son must be equal to the Father. In making himself Gods Son, he made himself equal with God: and therefore know upon this, and by this stands the point of our Redemption. If a pure and holy Angel had suffered never so much, it would not have availed for our Redemption. It is a price no man, nor Angel must meddle with all: It will require a greater Price. It was God himself that suffered in his assumed nature: He, and no other person: (for we must understand, though Christ took on him the nature of a man, yet not the person of a man) here stands the point, the second person in the Trinity is the Suppositum of all this humiliation: and therefore observe when the point of suffering comes, there's a remarkable speech. Zach. 13.7. Saith the Son to the Father, it was against his heart to smite him: the expression is a lively one, it went to his heart to smite one that was his equal, that did him no wrong, Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow. You know of whom it is spoken by M…thew, Mat. 26.31. I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. The Lord is ready to break him, Isa. 53. The sword was as it were unwilling to smite. The man that is my fellow? A blow lighting on Gods fellow, equal with God, of what value is it? Consider the difference betwixt a man and a man; The State of a Prince makes great odds between that is done to him, and that is done to another man. When David would adventure himself into the battel: Thou shalt, say they, go no more with us, least they quench the light of Israel, 2 Sam. 21.17. and more fully, 2 Sam. 18.3. Thou art worth ten thousand of us: they would not hazzard the person of the King in the battel, Why? because thou art worth ten thousand of us. The dignity of a Prince is so great, that ten thousand will not countervail the loss of him. If this be the esteem and worth of David, what is the worth of Davids Prince? If thus with a King▪ what with the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords? This is a great ground of the sufficiency of Christs suffering. Heb. 9.13. If the blood of Buls and Goates sanctifie to the purifying of the flesh; how much more, verse 14. shall the blood of Christ, who through his eternal Spirit, offered himself to purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God? It is not the offering of the body only, but he did it through his eternal Spirit. When the Martyrs and Saints offered themselves a sacrifice, they offered it through the flames of their love, and therefore embraced the stake; and love is described as strong as death: but Christ did not offer his sacrifice with the flames of his love, though love was in him the greatest that ever was, but with the everlasting flames of his God-head and Deity, with that fire from heaven which is a consuming fire? He did the deed that will purge our Consciences from dead works. Act. 20.28. Take heed unto your selves, and to the flock, over which the holy Ghost hath made you oversee…s, to feed the Church of G…d which he hath purchased with his precious blood: God hath purchased the Church with his own blood: Who's blood? Gods blood. The blood of God must be shed. He who thought it no robbery to be equal with God, must shed his own blood: As Zippora saith to Moses, A bloody husband hast thou been to me, Exod. 4.25. So may Christ say to his Church, a bloody Spouse hast thou been to me, that my blood must be shed for thee: 1 Cor. 2.8. Had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory, that is, they would not have crucified God. He that was crucified, was the glorious Lord God. Acts 3.15. You denyed the holy one, and killed the Prince of life. Here's the matter, unless the Prince of life had been killed, thou couldst not have life. This the Apostle sets down as the ground of all before; he comes to the particularities of his humiliation: and sets down, who it was who was thus humbled: He whom the Heaven of Heavens could not contain, he must descend unto the lower-most parts of the earth: that's a descent indeed: His Humiliation appears in this, that he who was thus high, became a man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. In this humiliation consider, I say, these two Points.
1. The person who was humbled.
2. The point of his humiliation.Christs humiliation in life and death. Some things hath regard to the whole course of his life, others to the conclusion or period of his life. All his life from his incarnation to his passion, was a continual thred of humiliation from his Cradle to his Cross, from his womb to his Tomb: so here is set down the humbled life of our blessed Saviour. For I would not have you think his humiliation consisted only in coming to the Cross, when they so mercilesly handled him: it cost him more then so: as sinners have the curse of God on them in their life, as well as in their death, so Christ must have a miserable life as well as an accursed death. Though the heat came at the end of the Tragedy, yet his whole life was a continual suffering. Consider the degrees of it.
1. He made himself of no Reputation, foreign, he emptied himself: It was the second person in the Trinity that thus humbled and emptied himself, (not in his divine nature, but his assumed,) of all his transcendent endowments.
Consider the particulars of it, he took on him the form of a servant; Was not this a great humiliation? That the second person in the Trinity should stoop so low as to take on him the nature of one who is not worth the looking on? that he should take dust and ashes upon him. Psalm 113.5, 6. Gods greatness is thus expressed, Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things in heaven, and in the earth: What Humiliation is that? compare these two humiliations together. It is but an humiliation to cast but his eye upon the heavens, to look upon the most glorious of all his works, to look upon the Angels but what is man that thou so regardest him? that thou shouldst not only look upon him, but take him up, & make him an inmate under thine own roof? this is a greater abasement, but here's a further degree, Christ during the time of his pilgrimage was content to deprive himself of his Glory, that he now enjoyes, by reason of his Hypostatical Union with the God-head, he deserves all honor and glory, When he brought his first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the Angels worship him. Heb. 1.6. Every knee bows to him that is thus highly exalted. We see Christ crowned with glory and honor, all Dominion and Power being made subject unto him, yet he for thirty three years and an half was content to be exiled from his Fathers court. John 17.5. Glorifie thou me with the glory I had with thee before the world was; which is expounded in the Proverbs, where the Wisdome of God was shewn before the world was framed. Prov. 8.30. Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was dayly his delight, rejoycing always before him; this was the work before the foundation of the world which God was doing, the Father was glorifying the Son, and the Son was glorifying the Father. The Father took infinite delight in the Son, and the Son took infinite delight in the Father, and the Holy Ghost in them both. To be deprived of such a sight, and such a glory as this, and for thy sake to be banisht from that high Court; where not to enjoy that fulness of joy, was an emptying of himself: yet all this he did for thee.
2. He minded not his own things, if he had,The second degree of his humiliation, that he might become a servant. he might have presently sat at Gods right hand, where is fulness of joy for evermore: but his bowels yearned on us, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was found in shape of a man, that is, as an ordinary man: We know what the nature of servitude is. Every man naturally desires liberty, but Christ that he might make thee free, was content to be bound as an Apprentice, and endure a servile estate. Christ both in respect of God and man took on him the form of a servant.
1. For him to be Gods servant was an Humiliation, though for us it be the greatest honour to be Gods servants. Saint Paul makes it his prime Epithite, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ. And David calls himself the servant of the Lord, O Lord I am thy servant, truly I am thy servant. But it was an Humiliation for Christ to become Gods servant. For him who thought it no robbery to be equal with God to become Gods servant, and to take a nature on him, that he might say, My Father is greater then I; behold my Father and I were one, but now taking on me a humane nature, I am made inferior to my Father, I am become his servant: Behold my servant in whom I am well pleased; Isa. 53. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many: there is much difference in servants. A free servant & a bond servant. A very bond-man doth Christ make himself, being man, and accounts it as great honour as may be, not only to be his Fathers servant, but his bond-man. Can I shew that there is any such humiliation as this? Look on Heb. 10.5. Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me, these words have relation to that of the Psalmist, Psalm 40.6. Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou didst not desire, but mine ears hast thou opened; it is in the margent, mine-ears hast thou digged, or hast thou bored. The boring of the ear was an expression of everlasting servitude. Another servant that had not yet his ear bor'd, might be free at the year of Redemption, at the seventh year: but if not, his ear was bored that he might be a servant for ever according to that, Exod.. 21.4. He that loved his service so well as to have his ear bored, is a servant for evermore. Mine ear Lord hast thou bored, I will be thy servant for ever. Christ took on him the form of such a servant; nay, Christ was more then an ordinary slave: he was one b…und to an everlasting slavery, for he was the Son of an hand-maid: Now the Children of an hand-maid w…re not to go forth at the year of Jubilee. Exod. 21. The wife and her Children shall be her Masters, and he shall go out by himself: meaning thus, he that was the son of an hand-maid, must be bound. Partus sequiter ventrem. Now that Christ was the son of an hand-maid, we have Maries own confession, Behold th… hand-maid of the Lord, and he hath looked upon the low estate of his hand-maid, Luke 1. Hence David saith, Psal. 116.16. O Lord I am thy servant, and the son of thine hand-maid: I am not only thy servant, but thy bond-servant: I am he who was born in thy house: and out of thy house I will never go. Thus is Christ a servant in respect of God.
But it is not only thus, he is not only a servant in regard of God, but he took on him the form of a servant in respect of men too. Look what relations are between men that have superiority, and Subjects, Christ, who was born a free child, yet made himself a servant unto man: he had a reputed father, but a true, and a natural mother: from the twelft year of his age till the thirtieth, he went with them, and was subject unto them, Luke 2.51. No Apprentice was more subject to his Master in his Trade, then he was to his reputed father; he kept him close unto his Trade. Look on him out of the family, in the Common-wealth: He paid Tribute. He might stand upon his priviledge: Of whom do the Kings of the earth exact Tribute? &c. they answer, Of strangers: Then are the Children free. If the son of a temporary Prince be free, how much more shall the Son of God be free? But yet it behoves us to fulfill all righteousness. He would be a subject unto Caesar, and in recognition of his subjection he would pay Tribute, though he fetched it out of the fishes belly. Hence the Apostle tells us, Rom. 13. For this cause you pay Tribute to testifie your subjection. Neither was Christ only a servant to them who were in some Authority, but generally among men he was in the state of a servant. Mat. 20.28. The son of man came not to be ministred unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Not to be a Master to command, and have others to attend him; but he came to be a servant; see in what esteem he was had. We account a servant in the next degree unto a beast; for liberty is that whereby a man bre…hs, and a man were better be dead, then have his liberty took from him; and so Christ was not only a bond-man in regard of h…s Father,Christ accounted as a b…ndman. but in regard of men. In the estimation of men he was vilified for a bond-man: and that will appear by the price for which he was sold. It was thirty pieces of silver. To consider what the price was, is a considerable part of his passion. There is a Prophesie cited out of Jeremy in your books, but it is Zachary, though I have seen some copies which mentioned neither, but only, according to the words of the Prophet, it is Zach. 11.13. Cast it unto the potter, a goodly price that I was prized at of them. He speaks it with disdain, And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Exod. 21.32. There is a place parallel to it, which will expound it clearly, If an Ox shall push a man-servant, or a maid-servant that he die, the Owner of the Ox shall give to the Master of the servant thirty shekels, and the Ox shall be stoned. It was the very price that was paid for a slave: Thirty shekels, which is 3 l. 15 s. in our money. A base estimation they had of Christ, as if he were a bond-man; the same price that was given for a slave that was killed by an Ox, for this same price was he sold. In the second book of Josephus, cap. 12.Exam. Joseph for the calcu. 14400000. drachms. When Ptolomaeus Philadelphus would redeem all the Jews which were bond-men: Its set down what he paid for a slave. There is set down a great summ of money, and the number of the (x)Which were, 120000.slaves: Here stands the valuation, divide the number of Drachms by the number of slaves, and you shall (z)Have the quotient 120 Drachms. Four Drachms went to a Shekel: so divide 120. by 4. your quotient is 30. shekels for each man, which was the ordinary rate, &c.find the quotient for every man 120 drachms; four Drachms make a shekel, thirty shekels was the ordinary rate cryed in the Market for the price of a bond-man. Thus Christ took on him the form of a bond-man, not only Gods bond-man, but in the estimation of men so despicable, that they valued him at no higher rate then thirty pieces of silver. This is but the beginning and entrance on Christs humiliation, to be made in the similitude of sinfull flesh, and in the verity of true flesh. Christ had all infirmities, as weariness, hunger, thirst, which follow a sinfull man, which were not sinfull: such a nature he took upon him, and then he became obedient both by active and passive obedience. That which remains of the pains of his life to the passage of his dolefull death, we will speak of the next time.
FINIS.