Christ Set Forth, Section 5 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI.
Secondly, the Prevalencie of Chriſts Interceſsion, demonſtrated from the righteouſneſſe of the cauſe he pleades even in Juſtice: How forcible the cry of his blood is, himſelfe appearing to intercede with it.
BEſides favour and grace in all theſe reſpects, he can & doth plead Iuſtice and righteouſneſſe, and is able ſo to carry it: ſo you have it, 1 Iohn 2. 1. and 2. ver. We have an Advocate with the Father, Ieſus Chriſt [the righteous.] And Advocate hath place onelyonly in a cauſe of Juſtice, and this Chriſts Advocateſhip is executed by pleading his own ſatisfaction: ſo it follows, Who is a propitiation for our ſins; and can plead his owne righteouſneſſe ſo farre, that Juſtice it ſelfe ſhall be faine to ſave the worſt of ſinners. He can turne Juſtice it ſelfe for them, and handle matters ſo, as Juſtice ſhall be as forward to ſave them as any other Attribute. So that if God be ſaid to be righteous in forgiving us our ſins, if we doe but confeſſe them, (as Chap. 1. of this 1. Epiſt. of Iohn, ver. 9.) then much more when Ieſus Chriſt the righteous ſhall intercede for the pardon of them, as he adds in the ſecond ver. of the enſuing Chap. and this if he will be juſt. The worſt Caſe he will make a good one; not with colouring it over, (as cunning Lawyers doe) or extenuating things; but with pleading that righteouſneſſe, which being put into the oppoſite ballance, ſhall caſt it for thee, be there never ſo many ſinnes weighed againſt it: Yea, and he will be juſt in it too, and carry all by meere righteouſneſſe and equity.
In the explication of this Branch,This explicated. my purpoſe is not to inſiſt upon the demonſtration of that all-ſufficient fulneſſe that is in Chriſts ſatisfaction, ſuch as may in juſtice procure our pardon and ſalvation, (becauſe it will more fitly belong to another Diſcourſe) but I ſhall abſolve this point in hand by two things which are proper to this head of Interceſsion.
Firſt,By two conſiderations. by ſhewing how that there is even in reſpect to Gods Juſtice a powerfull voice of Intercerſſion attributed unto Chriſts bloud; and how prevalent that muſt needs be in the eares of the righteous God.
Secondly, eſpecially when Chriſt himſelfe ſhall joyne with that cry and Interceſsion of his blood, himſelfe in Heaven appearing and interceding in the ſtrength of it.
For the firſt,1. How an Interceſſion and appeale to Gods juſtice is attributed to Chriſts bloud. the Apoſtle Heb. 12. 24. doth aſcribe a voice, an appeal, an Interceſsion unto the bloud of Chriſt in Heaven. The blood of ſprinkling (ſayes he) [ſpeakes] better things then the blood of Abel. He makes Chriſts very bloud an Advocate to ſpeak for us, though Chriſt himſelfe were ſilent; as he ſayes in another caſe, Abel, though dead, yet ſpeaketh, Heb. 11. 4. Many other things are ſaid to cry to Scripture, (and I might ſhew how the cry of all other things doe meet in this) but Bloud hath the loudeſt cry of all things elſe, in the eares of the Lord of Hoſts, the Iudge of all the world, as he is in the 23. ver. of that 12. Chap. ſtyled. Neither hath any cry the eare of Gods juſtice more then that of bloud; The voyce of thy brothers bloud (ſayes God to Cain) cryes unto me from the ground, Gen. 4. 10. Now in that ſpeech of the Apoſtle forecited, is the alluſion made unto the bloud of Abel, and the cry thereof: And he illuſtrates the cry of Chriſts bloud for us, by the cry of that bloud of Abel againſt Cain, it ſpeaks better things then the bloud of Abel: And his ſcope therein is by an Antitheſis or way of oppoſition, to ſhew, that Chriſts blood cals for greater good things to be beſtowed on us for whom it was ſhed, then Abels bloud did for evill things, and vengeance againſt Cain, by whom it was ſhed. For look how loud the bloud of one innocent cryes for juſtice againſt another that murdered him; ſo loud will the bloud of one righteous (who by the appointment and permiſſion of a ſupreame Judge, hath been condemned for another) cry for his releaſe and non-condemnation, for whom he dyed. And the more righteous he was, who laid downe his life for another, the louder ſtill is that cry, for it is made in the ſtrength of all that worth which was in him, whoſe bloud was ſhed. Now to ſet forth the power of this cry of Chriſts bloud with juſtice, let us compare it with that cry of Abels bloud in theſe two things, wherein it will be found infinitely to exceed it in force and loudneſſe.
Firſt,This cry of his bloud, illuſtrated by a twofold compariſon, with the cry of the bloud of Abel, in all which it exceeds it. even the bloud of the wickedeſt man on earth, if innocently ſhed, doth cry, and hath a power with Juſtice againſt him who murdered him. Had Abel murdered Cain, Cains bloud would have cryed, and called upon Gods Juſtice againſt Abel: but [Abels bloud] (there is an emphaſis in that) Abels, who was a Saint, and the firſt Martyr in Gods Kalender; and ſo his bloud cryes according to the worth that was in him. Now Precious in the ſight of the Lord is the death of his Saints; and the bloud of one of Them cryes louder then the bloud of all Man-kind beſides. Now from this I argue, If the bloud of a Saint cryes ſo, what muſt the bloud of the King of Saints (as Chriſt is called, Revel. 15.) then doe? If the blood of one member of Chriſts body, what will then the blood of the head, far more worth then that whole body? how doth it fill Heaven and Earth with out-cries, untill the promiſed intent of its ſhedding be accompliſht? And (as the Antitheſis carries it) looke how the blood of Abel cryed for the ruine and condemnation of his brother Cain, ſo does Chriſts blood on the contrary for our pardon and non-condemnation; and ſo much the lowder, by how much his blood was of more worth then Abels was. This was the blood of God; ſo Act. 20. Who therefore ſhall condemne?
But 2. Chriſts blood hath in its crie here a further advantage of Abels blood attributed to it: For that cryed but from earth, from the ground, where it lay ſhed, and that but for an anſwerable earthly puniſhment on Cain, as he was a man upon the earth; but Chriſts blood is carried up to Heaven: for as the High-prieſt carried the blood of the Sacrifices into the Holy of holies, ſo hath Chriſt virtually carried his blood into Heaven, Heb. 9. 12. And this is intimated in this place alſo, as by the coherence will appeare. For all the other particulars, (of which this is one) whereto he ſayes the Saints are come, they are all in Heaven: You are come (ſaies he ver. 22) to the City of the living God, the Heavenly Hieruſalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels, to the Church of the firſt borne who are written in Heaven, and to God the Iudge of all, and to the ſpirits of juſt men made perfect: All which things are in Heaven; neither names he any other then ſuch: And then adds [And to the blood of ſprinkling which ſpeakes, &c.] as a thing both ſpeaking in Heaven, and beſprinkled from Heaven, yea, wherewith Heaven is all beſprinkled, as the MercieMercy-ſeat in the Holy of holies was, becauſe ſinners are to come thither. This Blood therefore cries from Heaven, it is next unto God who ſits Judge there, it cries in his very eares; whereas the cry of blood from the ground is further off, and ſo though the cry thereof may come up to Heaven, yet the blood it ſelfe comes not up thither, as Chriſts already is. Abels blood cryed for vengeance to come down from heaven, but Chriſts blood cries us up into Heaven: like to that voice Revel. 11. 12. [Come up hither:] So Iohn 17. 24. Where I am, let them be, for whom this blood was ſhed.
But though this ſpeaking,An explication in what ſenſe Chriſts blood is ſaid to cry. this voice, and interceſſion, be attributed to his blood, yet it is but in a Metaphoricall and improper (though reall) ſenſe: as alſo that this blood is in Heaven, is ſpoken, though in a reall, yet not a proper ſenſe. Some Divines of all ſides, both Popiſh and Proteſtant, would make the whole work of Interceſſion, to be onelyonly Metaphoricall. It is true indeede, the voice and interceſſion of his blood apart conſidered, is but Metaphoricall, (I grant) and yet reall; ſuch a voice as thoſe groanes are that are attributed to the whole creation, Rom. 8. 22. But Interceſſion as an act of Chriſt himſelfe, joyned with this voice of his blood, is moſt properly and truly ſuch.
Therefore in the ſecond place,2. Conſideration: Chriſt himſelfe living & joyning with the cry of his bloud, how prevalent it muſt needs be. adde to this Chriſts own interceſſion alſo, which was the ſecond thing propounded, That Chriſt by his own Prayers ſeconds this cry of his blood: that not only the blood of Chriſt doth cry, but that Chriſt himſelfe being alive doth joyne with it: how forcible and prevalent muſt all this be ſuppoſed to be? The blood of a man ſlain doth cry, though the man remain dead; even as of Abel it is ſaid, (though to another purpoſe) that being dead he yet ſpeaketh, Heb. 11. but Chriſt liveth and appeareth: Vivit, & in coelum coelorum venit; He follows the ſuit, purſues the Hue and cry of his blood himſelfe. His being alive, puts a life into his death. It is not in this as it was in that other, the firſt Adams ſinne and diſobedience. Adam although he himſelfe had beene annihilated when he dyed, yet he having ſet the ſtock of our nature a going in propagation of Children, his ſin would have defiled and condemned them to the end of the world, and the force of it to condemne is neither furthered nor leſſened by his ſubſiſting & being, or his not being: it receives no aſſiſtance from his perſonall life, one way or other. And the reaſon is, becauſe his ſinne condemnes us in a naturall and neceſſary way: But the death of Chriſt and his blood ſhed, theſe ſaving us in a way of grace and favour unto Chriſt himſelfe and for his ſake, that very being alive of Chriſt, that ſhed this blood, adds an infinite acceptation to it with God, and moves him the more to hear the cry of it, and to regard it. In a matter of favour to be done for the ſake of another man, or in a ſuit or matter of juſtice that concerns another, who is intereſted in it, that mans being in vivis, his being alive, puts a life into the cauſe. If David would have reſpect to Ionathan (when dead) in his children, he would much more if himſelfe had been alive. God made a Covenant with Abraham, Iſaac, and Iacob, to remember their Seed after them; And why? They are alive, and were to live for ever; and though dead, ſhall riſe againe. So Chriſt reaſoneth from it, Mat. 22. 32. I am the God of Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob: God is the God of the living, (ſayes he) and not of the dead: and ſo, though Abraham be ignorant of his children (as the prophet ſpeakes) and ſhould not intercede for them, yet becauſe Abrahams ſoul lives, and is not extinct, (as the Sadduces thought) but ſhall live again at the Reſurrection; therefore God remembers, and reſpects his covenant with them; for he is a God of the living, and ſo his Covenant holds with them whilſt they live. The old covenant of the firſt Teſtament ran in the names of Abraham, Iſaac, and Iacob, [The God of Abraham, Iſaac, and Iacob] but this new covenant runs in the name of Chriſt, The God and Father of our Lord Ieſus Chriſt; ſo Eph. 1. 3. and ſo he becomes our God and our Father in him. And God being thus our Father, becauſe Chriſts Father, and Chriſt (in whoſe name the Covenant runs) being alive, and God by Covenant the God of a living, not of a dead Chriſt; This therefore works effectually with him to reſpect his blood and hear the cry of it; and this, though Chriſt were abſent, much more then when he is preſent alſo, and on purpoſe appeareth in the preſence of God for us; as it is Heb. 9. 24. He is alive, and ſo, able to follow his owne ſuit, and will be ſure to ſee to it, and to ſecond the cry of his blood, if it ſhould not be heard.
To illuſtrate this by the helpe of the former compariſon begun; If as Abels blood cries, ſo alſo it proves that Abels ſoul lives to cry; that both his cauſe cries and himſelfe lives to follow it: So that the cry of Abels blood is ſeconded with the cry of Abels ſoule that lives, how doubly forcible muſt this needs be? And thus indeede you have it, Revel. 6. 9. where it is ſaid that [the ſoules] of them which were ſlain for the teſtimony which they held, [cryed] with a loud voyce, ſaying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, doſt thou not avenge our blood? Yea, ſee that not onelyonly their bloud cryes, but their ſoules live, and live to cry. And it is not ſpoken Metaphorically of their ſoules, but what is truly done by them now in Heaven, it being mentioned to ſhew how and by what God was moved to bring vengeance on the Heatheniſh Empire of Rome that had ſhed their blood. Now not only Chriſts ſoule (as theirs) lives to cry, but his whole perſon; for he is riſen againe, and lives to intercede for ever. In the Revel. 1. ver. 18. Chriſt appearing to Iohn, when he would ſpeake but one ſpeech that ſhould move all in him, he ſayes but this, I am he that liveth, and was dead, and dyed for thee. And whoſe heart doth it not move, to reade it with faith? and doth it not move his Father (think you) who was the chiefe cauſe and motioner of his death) to think, My Sonne that was dead, and dyed at my requeſt for ſinners, is now alive again, and liveth to intercede, and liveth to ſee the travaile of his ſoule fulfilled and ſatisfied? God pronounceth this upon it in that 53. of Eſay, ver. 10. By his knowledge (or faith in him) ſhall he juſtify many; even as many as he dyed for. Who then ſhall condemne? Chriſt that was dead is alive, and liveth to intercede.