BX 9315 .G66 1861 v. 5
Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.
The works of Thomas Goodwin
NICHOL'S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES.
PUEITAN PEEIOD.
THE
WOEKS OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
VOL. V
COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational
Union, Edinburgh.
JAMES BEGG, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgii.
THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University,
Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas's Episcopal Church,
Edinburgh.
WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church
History, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presby-
terian Church, Edinburgh.
(Sentral ©bftor.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, M.A., Edinburgh.
THE WORKS
OF
THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.,
SOMETIME PRESIDENT OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE. OXFORD.
By JOHN C. MILLEE, D.D.,
UMCOLN COLLEGE ; HONOBABT CANON OF WOECESTER ; EECTOE OF ST MARTIN'S, BIBUINGHAM.
%ixii 'Sjimait
BY EGBERT HALLEY, D.D.,
PEINCIPAL OP THE INDEPENDENT NEW COLLEUB, LONDON.
VOL. V.
CONTAINING :
CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
THE SUPEREMINENCE OF CHRIST ABOVE MOSES
THE RECONCILIATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD BY CHRIST' S DEATH-
THE ONE SACRIFICE RECONCILIATION BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
THREE SERMONS ON HEB. I. 1. 2.
EDINBURGH : JAMES NICHOL.
LONDON : JAIIES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : W. EOBEETSON.
MONTPuEAL: B. DAWSON & SON.
M.DCCC.LXIII,
F.DINBCrEGH
PEIHTED BT JOHN GKEIQ ANB BON,
OLD PHYSIO GAKDENS.
CONTENTS.
OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOE.
BOOK I.
Pag I
God the Father's eternal counsel and transaction with Christ, to
undertake the work of redemption for man, considered as
fallen, ....... 3
Chaptee I. ...... , 3
Exposition of the words of the text. Design of the gospel.
Excellency of the knowledge of it. The highest attain-
ment to see the gospel in its original.
Chaptee II. ...... , 7
Some observations premised. To the Father the reconcilia-
tion is made, and to him the affair is chiefly attributed.
Chaptee III. ....... 11
What as to our salvation was done by God the Father from
all eternity. Meaning of that phrase, ' God was reconcil-
ing us in Christ.' God's resolution and purpose to recon-
cile some of the fallen sons of men to himself. His
motives. His love in thus designing salvation to us
magnified by several considerations.
Chaptee IV. ....... 14
God, in pursuance of his design to save sinners, exercised
his wisdom to contrive the fittest means of accomplish-
ing it. Though God might have pardoned sin without
satisfaction, yet he would not ; and the reasons of it.
Chaptee V. . . . . . . . 17
Necessary that a full and complete satisfaction should be
made, which we being unable to pay, divine wisdom
thought of another person to undertake, and to do it for
us. God's justice contented with this commutation of
the person.
VI CONTENTS.
Page
Chapter VI. ...... 18
Difficulty to find out a person of strength egual to so high an
undertaking. Neither angels nor men could have found
out a fib person. God manifest in the flesh for redemption
of man, a mystery above all the thoughts of angels or men,
and worthy only of God's wisdom to find out.
Chapter VII. ...... 20
A greater difficulty to overcome, how to give him for us.
The depths of God's love here seen, as of his wisdom be-
fore. Free choice that he made thus of his Son to be a
redeemer. Appointed his Son to death for us.
Chapter VIII. . . . . . . 24
Christ's acceptance of the terms which God the Father pro-
pounded to him. His wilhngness in the undertaking,
whence it proceeded. The elect redeemed by Christ first
God the Father's, and by him given to Christ to save
them.
Chapter IX. ...... 27
Upon Christ's accepting this agi-eement, God the Father en-
gages to bestow all the blessings which he should purchase
to those redeemed by him. AH these blessings promised
to us in Christ fi"om all eternity.
Chapter X. . . . . . . . 30
Reason that all these blessings are said to be given to us of
pure gi'ace.;^
Chapter XI. ...... 31
Upon the conclusion of this covenant of redemption, the
greatest joy in heaven.
BOOK II.
The sole and peculiar fitness of Christ's person for the work of
redemption, ...... 34
Chapter I. ....... 34
The fitness of Christ's person for the work of a Mediator, its
influence to make it successful.
Chapter II. . ....,, 37
Was necessary for our Mediator to be God.
Chapter III. ....... 41
Of the three persons in the Godhead, the Son fittest to bo
Mediator.
Chapter IV. ...... 44
Necessary our Mediator should be man ; the angelical nature
not proper for this work.
Chapter V. . . . . . . . 48
That our Mediator should be both God and man in one
person.
CONTENTS. Vn
Paoi;
Chapter VI. ...... 61
The two natures, the di^ano and human, how united into one
person, Christ, God- man. The Son of God took oui- whole
nature, both soul and body.
Chapter VII. . . . . . . 50
Fit that Christ should be such a man as to be like us in
the matter and substance of his body, and hke us in his
production and birth. Reasons. Christ, though born of
a woman, yet without sin. Why man, and of the Jewish
nation.
Chapter VIII. ...... 62
Uses.
BOOK III.
The falness of abilities which ai-e in Christ to accomplish the
work of our redemption, which are impossible to be found in
any other person, ..... 68
Chapter I. . . . . . . . 68
The all-sufficient abilities to accomplish our redemption, de-
monstrated from God the Father's calling him to it.
From God's engaging also to furnish him with abilities.
From Christ's undertaking it. From the greatness and
excellency of his person. Reasons which induced God to
fix on this way of salvation. Objection answered.
Chapter II. . . . . . . . 75
In Christ alone sufficient ability to take away sin. Weak-
ness and insufficiency of any creature for this work proved
by an enumeration of particulars. Blood of all sacrifices
could not have such an efficacy. We were unable to
satisfy God by any thing which we could sufier or do.
All the saints as unable to help us in this case. Beyond
the power of angels themselves.
Chapter III. .....*. 81
The most perfect creature could not be our redeemer.
Utmost extent to which the power of any creature can
reach.
Chapter IV. ....... 84
Inability of the creature to redeem us demonstrated from the
nature of the satisfaction.
Chapter V. . . . . . . . 91
No creatures could make that satisfaction which an injured
God required.
Chapter VI. ....... 101
Christ hath made full reparation of all which was lost by
sin. Glory of the law by him recovered. God's image
restored.
Vlll CONTENTS.
Paob
Chapter VII. ...... 103
Christ hath repaired the loss of honour which God sustained
by sin. Satisfaction in point of honour, how to be mea-
sured.
Chapter VIII. ...... 108
"What Christ did for satisfaction brings more honour to God
than ever sin had done dishonour. Glory which redounds
to God from his assuming human nature, and in such a
low condition, and meanest circumstances.
Chapter IX. ....... 112
Christ's satisfaction not only a diminishing of his glory, but
despoiling him of it. He did this willingly. His person
the subject of this debasement.
Chapter X. . . . . . . . 117
Greatness and supereminent worth of this satisfaction as per-
formed by such a person.
Chapter XI. ....... 125
There is all in the satisfaction made by Christ which justice
can require. Pleas which may be framed against the sin-
ner, all answered in what our Eedeemer hath performed.
Chapter XH. ...... 131
Pleas which the law can make against a sinner fully answered.
BOOK IV.
Christ's willingness to the w(^'k of redemption from everlasting
tiU he accomplish it. . . . . .137
Chapter I. . . . . . . . 137
Two things to be considered in the obedience which Christ
performed, the wiU and the deed. From all eternity he
expressed his willingness to undertake the work.
Chapter II. . . . . . • . 141
Renewed his consent as soon as he came into the world.
His human nature from his first conception agreed to it.
This apparent from Ps. xxii.
Chapter III. . . .... 147
That appellation, Jesus the Nazartte, explained.
Chapter IV. . . . . . . .149
Nazarites of the law types of Christ.
Chapter V. . . . . • • • 152
Christ how presignified as a Nazarite by these types. The
parallel between him and Sampson.
Chapter VI. . . . • • _ • • 158
Christ called a Nazarite though not born in that city.
Chapter VII. . . • • • ... * ^^^
Prophecy of Christ, Isa. xi. 1, Jer. xxiii. 5, and Zech. iii. 8,
fulfilled in Christ a Nazarite or inhabitant of that city.
contents. ix
Page
Chapter VIII. .... • . 164
As Christ expressed his will and consent in the dedication of
himself to the work, so shewed his wilHugness in all the
parts of the performance.
Chapter IX. . . . . . . .166
Did not shrink at the approach of his greatest sufferings, his
death.
BOOK V.
Christ's actual performance of our redemption. In the general
he gave himself for us. The particular parts of our redemp-
tion are, That he was made sin and a curse ; and by his
death obtained a victory over Satan, whereby he delivers us
fi'om his slavery ; and hath performed all righteousness
which might answer the law for us. And that Christ, as
our gi-eat Shepherd, takes care to preserve and secure us
safe thus redeemed and freed by him, . . . 172
Chapter I. . . . • . . . .172
God presently, on man's fall, making the discovery to him
of a Redeemer, Adam transmitted the knowledge of him
to his posterity, and he was accordingly proposed to the
faith of the patriarchs.
Chapter II. . . . . . . .174
Christ gave himself for us to redeem us. What is implied
in that expression. Greatness and value of such a gift.
Christ giving himself a high testimony of his own pecu-
Uar love to us.
Chapter III. ...... 180
Christ made sin and a curse for us. In what respect Christ
was made sin for us. Uses.
Chapter IV. ...... 188
How Christ made a curse for us. Suffered the curse of the
moral law.
Chapter V. ...... 192
Particulars of the curse which Christ endured. Infirmities
which sin hath brought upon us. A painful, wretched
life.
Chapter VI. .... . . 196
The sufferings of Christ immediately foregoing his cruci-
fixion, described in an exposition of John xviii. 1-21.
Chapter VII. ...... 215
Exposition of John xviii. 1-21 continued.
Chapter VIII. ...... 223
Christ taken and bound as the victims used to be to the
altar. Influence of this his binding on our being loosened
from these chains of sin.
Chapter IX. ..... 240
Peter's denial of Christ. An addition to his sufferings.
X CONTENTS.
Page
Chapter X. ...... 250
Account of Christ's examination before Caiaphas.
Chapter XL ...... 262
The last suflferings of Christ coming to his death. Both
the shame and torments to be considered.
Chapter XII. ...... 269
The extremity of pain which Christ endured in his body.
Harassed day and night, without a moment's rest. Crowned
with thorns, torn with rods, and crucified.
Ch.u>ter XIII. ...... 271
The greatest of all Christ's sufierings, those of his soul.
Causes of those sorrows. Greatness of those suiierings.
Wherein they did consist. How it could consist with his
being the Son of God, to be forsaken of God, and to
bear such extremity of his Father's wrath.
Chapter XIV. ...... 286
Uses of Christ's being made sin and a curse for us.
Chapter XV. ...... 295
Victory which Christ gained over Satan by his death.
Chapter XVI. ...... 299
Christ's ^reat concern and interest to destroy the power of
Satan. Conquest which he had over him by his death,
and his open and glorious triumph after the victory, ex-
pressed in Col. ii. 15.
Chapter XVII. .....
The victory which Christ obtains over the devil, in us,
and by us. First promise in Gen. iii. Believers, by the
virtue and strength of Christ, conquerors over the devil.
The several ages of Christians considered from 1 John ii.
13, 14. By Christ believers prevail against Satan as to
the accusations of them, which he brings before God.
Christ and the saints at last defeat Satan's designs, as he
is prince of this world.
Chapter XVIII. ...... 831
Victory of Christ and his saints over the devil before and at
the day of judgment.
Chapter XIX. . . . . . . 337
Christ's fulness for our justification. Wherein justification
consists. The whole righteousness which is in Christ
imputed to us.
Chapter XX. . . . . . . 349
The perfect hoUness of Christ's nature imputed to a believer.
Chapter XXI. . . . • . .352
Not only legal but evangelical righteousness excluded from
bearing any part in justification. Phil. iii. 9 explained.
Chapter XXII. ...... 366
God appointed Christ to be the Great Shepherd. Care and
diligence of Christ in discharge of this ofiice.
3'>7
CONTENTS.
BOOK VI.
Paqb
Of Christ our high priest as entered into the holy of holies in the
heavens. How wo are to treat and converse with God, and
Christ Jesus under the notion of his being our high priest,
and being entered into the holy of holies. And of our having
libortj' to enter thither to him, and to converse with him
there through faith in prayer, .... 378
Chapter I. ...... 878
Chi-ist om* great high priest, the greatness and excellency
of his priesthood.
Chapter II. ...... 388
The words of the text, Heb. s. 19-22, explained.
Chapter III. ...... 394
Privilege of believers under the New Testament to enter
into the highest heavens by faith, and with the appre-
hension of faith. Invitation so to do. Dispositions re-
quired to make them meet for such a heavenly converse.
Chapter IV. ...... 397
Privilege of behevers under the New Testament compared
with those of believers under the Old Testament.
Chapter V. ...... 403
A fair and open invitation to enter into heaven when we
pray. In such a manner as those that are thither entered.
Chapter VI. ...... 405
Particular invitements unto communion with God and Christ.
Chapter VII. ...... 413
Exercise of faith in prayer.
Chapter VIII. ...... 418
Another exercise of faith in prayer. The scapegoat.
Chapter IX. ...... 423
Occasional sacrifices for particular sins.
Chapter X. ...... 427
The general atonement made for all sins once a year.
SUPEKEMNENCE OF CHEIST ABOVE MOSES.
Hec. XII. 25-29, Haggai II. 5-9, . . ,439
EECONCILIATION OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD BY
CHEIST'S DEATH.
Eph. n. 14-16. ...... 465
CONTENTS.
THE ONE SACEIFICE.
Page
Heb. X. 4-7, 481
EECONCILIATION BY THE BLOOD OF CHEISL
Col. I. 20, .601
THEEE SEEMONS ON HEB. 1. 1, 2.
Sermon I. ...... 521
Sermon II. >•.••• 533
Sebmon in. ..«.•. 540
OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR.
[OEIGINAL TITLE.]
A
DISCOURSE
OF
CHRIST
THE
MEDIATOR.
By Tho. Goodwin, D. D.
LONDON,
Printed in the YEAR, M. DC. XCIL
-^JJ-fjV^ ■ 'v-^
^&s
Qio
.«^-. ""^io^.
S.Y. ^
OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.
BOOK I.
(rocJ </ie Father's eternal counsel and transactions with Christ, to undertake the
ivork of redemption for man, considered as fallen.
CHAPTEE I.
The exposition of the words of the text. — What is the great design of the gospel.
— The excellency of the knowledge of it. — The highest attainment is to see
the gospel in its original, those eternal transactions between God the Father
and God the Son for the salvation of man.
And all things are of God, ivho hath reconciled us to himself bg Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to ivit, that God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not vrqutting their trespasses unto
them ; and hath committed to us the ivord of reconciliation. — 2 Cor. V.
18, 19.
These words do summarily tell us what is the argument of that great mys-
tery of the gospel, as it concerneth sinners, viz., reconciliation. There-
fore he styles it the ' ministry of reconciliation : ' that is the title he gives
the doctrine of it ; and withal further explains this, ' To Avit,' says he, ' that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world ; ' and so the foot of the angels'
evangelical song, wherein they sung forth the main end of Christ's nativity,
was reconcihation : Lukeii. 14, ' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will towards men.' This reconciliation consists of two parts,
peace and good will.
The full scope of the words you may conceive, as I have cast them into
this frame ; and withal, what also is the sum of all the discourse upon them.
First, The word reconcile imports the whole of mankind to have been
once created in an estate of amity and friendship with God. For to recon-
cile, is to make friends again, and argues former friendship. And this sets
and hmits the subject of these eternal transactions between God the Father
and the Son, to have been man considered as fallen.
And secondly, the whole lump of man being fallen off from God into a deep
4 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
rebellion, and become of the clevil's side and faction, God, \vho is infinite in
love and rich in mercy, bearing everlasting and secret good will to some of
these now become rebels, in all ages hath maintained certain lieger ambas-
sadors in the world, to treat with this rebellious rout, and to conclude a
peace betwixt them and him : 2 Cor. v. 20, ' Kow then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God ; ' and hath furnished them (as all other am-
bassadors use to be) with a large and gracious commission, the title of
which is, ' The ministry of reconciliation ; ' ' And hath given to us the
ministi-y of reconciliation,' ver. 18. The sum of which commission hath
these two principal parts.
1. On the part of him, to publish and proclaim his royal and gracious
intentions towards them. For when two are at variance, there can be no
hope of peace and reconciliation, unless the party wronged and injured
shew an inclination (at least) to listen to an agreement. Now as to that,
he hath empowered and commanded them with all confidence and credence
to declare ;
First, That whereas they might conceive him most unjustly to be averse
to the very motion of it, that yet he, for his part, is not only contented
and inclined to listen to an agreement, but is and hath been ever so fully
willing and desirous of it, that he hath made it as it were his chief business,
and as that which he hath plotted to bring about ; and that he for his
part hath been reconciling the world to himself by Christ. ' God was in
Christ reconciling,' yea, and from everlasting hath been. And though all
things else are of him, as ver. 18 he prefaceth unto this, yet this mainly
above all other things. Take the whole of them, ' All things are of God,
who hath reconciled us.' He hath been (as it were) totus in illo, wholly
bent upon this of all things else. And whereas it might yet be thought,
that he being so just, and having declared himself so jealous a God, sensible
of the least injury, so tender of his glory, and jealous of the least violation
or wTong done thereto, that he therefore would require and propound to have
full satisfaction from them first, as the condition of his and their accord
and agreement ; which that they, or any other creatm*e for them, either
were able or wiUing to perform, was utterly out of all hope. Therefore,
Secondly, He bids his ambassadors declare, that as to that point men
need not trouble themselves, nor take care about it ; .for he himself hath
further been so zealously afi"ected in this business, that he himself hath
made full provision, and took order for that aforehand, and done it to their
hand ; ' He hath been in Christ, reconciling the world ; ' that is, in hun
and by him, as a mediator, and umpire, and surety between them and
him, this great matter hath been taken up and accorded. For he
and Jesus Christ his only Son have from all eternity laid their counsels
together (as I may so speak w^ith reverence), to end this great difierence ;
and they both contrived and agreed, that Christ should undertake to satisfy
his father, for all the wrong was done to him, all which he should take
upon himself, as if he were guilty of it ; ' he was made sin,' 2 Cor. v. 21,
that is, a surety and a satisfaction for it. And God the Father, upon it, is
60 fully satisfied, as he is ready not only not to impute their sins to them,
ver. 19, but to impute all Christ's righteousness to them, and to receive
them into favour more fully than ever they were. ' He was made sin, that
they might be made the righteousness of God in him.'
2. The second part of our commission is what conceras men, the parties
to be reconciled ; and God hath given us, his ambassadors, full power and
Ca\.P. I.J OF CHRIST THE MKDIATOIi. 6
authority to deal witli men about it, and to strike up the compact and per-
fect this agreement into a fall and iinal issue and end, with charge to tell
this message indefinitely to all and every man in the world ; and that
founded upon this ground, that reconciliation is to bo obtained from God
for some in the world : and thereupon to exhort all and every one that hears
it to be reconciled. And men accordingly are to seek it as thus revealed
to them by us ; and these exhortations are to be entertained by them, as
if God had exhorted and persuaded them thereunto. So ver. 20, ' Now
then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us :
we pray _you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.'
And this, my brethren, is the gospel, which is the best news that ever
ear heard, or tongue was employed to utter, which took up God's thoughts
from all eternity, and lay hid in his breast, and which none knew but his
Son and Spirit ; a news so blessed and worthy of all acceptation, which
as soon as it brake out, heaven and earth rang with joy again : the angels
could not hold, but, as ambitious to be the first relaters of it, posted down
to earth to bring the news of it: Luke ii. 13, 14, ' And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and say-
ing. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards
men.'
And this being committed unto us to be the dispensers of it, this makes
our very feet beautiful in the eyes of broken-hearted sinners : Rom. x. 15,
' And how shall they preach, except they be sent ? as it is written. How
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things !' This makes our caUing envied (if possible it
were envy should befall those blessed spirits), envied of the angels them-
selves, to whom God hath not betrusted this glorious embassy, the most
honourable employment that ever creature dealt in: Heb. ii., ' The law was
given by angels,' ver. 2 ; ' but God hath not put into subjection to the
angels the world to come, whereof we speak' (speaking of the gospel, ver. 5),
for which Paul brings in that long and famous thanksgiving, 1 Tim. i.
11, 12, ' According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was
committed to my trust. And I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath
enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.'
He accounted that the greatest mercy which Jesus Christ (next his own
salvation) had shewn him, and wherein he made him a pattern of his super-
excelling grace, that he committed the gospel to his trust, which of all other
doctrines tend the most to the good of men : 1 Tim. i. 15, ' This is a faith-
ful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
■world to save sinners ; of whom I am chief.' Tit. iii. 7, 8, ' That, being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou
afiirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to
maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.'
What things ? See ver. 4, even this doctrine of salvation ; ' and these
things,' saith he, ' I would that thou affirm constantly,' ver. 8. For this
is the power of God unto salvation ; as Rom. i. 16, ' For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every
one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,' i. e., it is the
most powerful and prevailing means to subdue the rebellious hearts of
men, and overcome them ; and whereas the preaching of the law makes
men often sturdy, this proclamation of pardon and reconciliation brings
men in as voluntaries, and that by troops; Luke xvi. 16, ' The law and
6 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK I.
the propliets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is
preached,' (that is, the gospel), ' and every man presseth into it.' Inti-
mating that before, when the law was most preached, and the gospel but
sparingly (and but as a parenthesis, as it were), there were few brought
in ; but the gospel brought them in by heaps and multitudes (for so the
opposition there stands), with which men were so taken and aflfected, that
glad was he that could get in with pressure and crowding.
And therefore we likewise freely profess to you, that these things we
would affirm constantly (were men fitted, broken, and humbled), and preach
in a manner nothing else, for it is the sum and upshot of our ministry, as
the title is given it in the text, ' the ministry of reconciliation.' And we
would desire to know nothing among you but Christ ; as Paul speaks to
the Corinthians, 1 Cor. ii. 2, ' For I determined not to know any thing
among 5-ou, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified :' and this chiefly, Christ
as crucified to reconcile you, crucified before j'our eyes in the gospel.
Gal. iii. 5, ' He therefore that miuistereth to you the Spirit, and worketh
miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith ?' And as for you, your work, rh hyov, is to believe ; ' This is the
w^ork of God' (says Christ, John vi. 29), ' to believe in him whom God
hath sent.' So our to s^yov, our work, is to preach him to you whom God
hath sent, that you may believe in him ; and therefore we account it our
misery that we are fain to spend the most of our time in making ourselves
work, as in preaching the law we do ; and are fain to come with the great
hammer of the law, and break all your bones in pieces, that we may then,
as it is in Isa. Ixi. 1, ' preach the gospel, and bind up the broken-hearted.'
It is tiresome to us that we must take men by the throats, and arrest them
by the law (as we do), in the name of the great God, and haul them to
prison, and there shut them up ' under the law,' as the apostle's phrase is,
Gal. iii. 23, that then we may bring them Christ's bail, and by preaching
the gospel, proclaim ' liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound;' as the allusion is, Isa. Ixi. 1, ' The Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings uuto the meek : he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that
are bound.'
And we do withal protest before God and men this day, that when we
come to preach it, we yet tremble to do it more than any doctrine else ;
for we are afraid that men should lie still in their sins : those that are
di-unkards should be drunkards still, and unclean still, and lest those
who withhold the truth in unrighteousness (their consciences telling them
that they live and lie in known sins), lest they should go on to do so still
after the delivery of it ; which if they shall do, they had better have been
in hell than in the assembly of saints to hear the gospel. We tremble
therefore at it, as knowing that men cannot hear it and disobey it, but
under an extraordinary curse, oftentimes a final one, and such a one as
Christ cursed the fig-tree with when he said, ' Never fruit grow on thee
more.'
But to come unto that which is my main and principal intendment, and
scope of this text, and which is the first and original part of the gospel,
viz., the everlasting transaction which the Father had with his Son, in call-
iuT him to the work of redemption of us men, considered as sinners. Other
pieces of the gospel, as those on Christ's part, his fitness for the work, his
ability and perfonnance, in being made sin and a curse, do in their due
Chap. II. j of christ the mediator. 7
place follow upon other texts. Cut attend at present unto the fountain and
original of tlieui all, unto that which sets all the wheels going from eter-
nity ; the story of which, were it hut for the antiquity thereof, is well worth
the hearing, heing withal the greatest intei'course and treaty, about the great-
est afl'air, between persons of the highest sovereignty and majesty, that ever
was transacted either in heaven or earth, or ever will be. And accordingly,
the highest form or rank of Christians, termed ' fathers,' have for their
attainments this mark and character set upon them, ' to know him that
was from the beginning,' as the highest pitch of all : 1 John ii. 14, ' I have
written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the
beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong,
and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.'
The apostle speaks with some allusion to what is the glory of old men, and
so suitably of old men in Christ. They use to boast of knowing things
that are of antiquity and of elder years, as having fallen under their obser-
vation, as it is the property of young men to boast of their strength and
vigour : Prov. xx. 29, ' The glory of young men is their strength, and the
beauty of old men is the grey head,' i. e., their wisdom ; which lies in their
grey heads, and which ariseth from their having the prospect of former
times. John, therefore, coirespondently commends strong men, grown up
in Christianity, for their strength, as the peculiar excellency of that age in
Christ. ' You are strong' (says he), ' and have overcome the wicked one.'
But he commends fathers in Christ for their knowledge in things most
ancient ; and because the story of him that was from the beginning is the
ancientest of all other that ever was, it is therefore made their excellency
to know it, and is commended to their stud_y ; and the knowledge of the
eternal transactions of God the Father for man's salvation is the highest of
their attainments.
CHAPTER II.
Some observations premised. — That it is to the Father the reconciliation is
made, and to hi)n the affair is chiefly attributed.
Ere I come to the particulars of these transactions between God the
Father and the Son for our salvation, I will premise some general observa-
tions out of the text, which shall make way for what follows.
The great business of reconciliation (as I said) is both the subject of the
gospel and of this text, which tells us of those two great persons by whom
this great business was transacted, and brought to such a pass, as men may
come to be reconciled, and fiiends with God again ; and what they are,
that is, God the Father, the party wronged and injured, and Christ the
means of reconciliation, the umpire and mediator between both : ' God was
in Christ reconciling the world.'
By God is therefore meant a distinct person from Christ ; for in the for-
mer w^ords it is said, that ' he hath reconciled all things to himself by Christ.'
And that person is the Father, as other scriptures tell us.
Obs. 1. That the Father is the person to whom reconciliation is made.
Not but that it is made to the rest also. But,
First, Because he being the first person, the suit against us runs in his
name especially, though it be the quarrel of all the rest of the persons, and
the injury done against all the rest. Thus in colleges, and such common
8 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
societies, their suits against others are commenced in some one's name, as
the master's or the hke, whose name is used for the whole ; and so this
common quarrel and suit of trespass, which the whole Trinity hath against
us, is commenced in God the Father's name for all the rest ; and therefore
Christ is said to be an ' advocate with the Father,' 1 John ii. 1, as the party
betrusted to take the atonement, and make an end of the quarrel in the
name of all the rest. And,
Secondhj, Because as creation is attributed to the Father especially, so
the covenant of works, the law, the covenant we were created under, being
a covenant made especially with the Father in the name of the rest, there-
fore sin, which was the transgression of that covenant, is said to be, as it
were, especially against him ; for in the dispensation of that covenant he
ruled immediately. And as the sins against the second covenant are said
to be in a more especial manner against Christ and the Holy Ghost, so those
against the first, which occasioned the performance of reconciliation, are
said to be against the Father. Because therefore the transgressions of the
first testament, as they are called, Heb. ix. 15, are especially said to be
committed against him, therefore he takes upon him as the person especially
aggrieved, and so the reconciliation is said to be made to him.
Thirdhj, And further, because the other two persons have other distinct
offices in the work of reconciliation. I he Son he is to transact the part of
a mediator, as the person by whom reecnciliation is to be performed; and
the Holy Ghost, he is to make report of that peace and atonement made,
and shed abroad the love of both. Kom. v. 5, ' And hope maketh not
ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost, which is given unto us.' He speaks of God's love in reconciling us :
ver. 8, 9, 10, * But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son : much
more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.' Therefore, the Father
he bears (if any such part) the part of him that receives into favom-, and to
whom we are to be reconciled.
To illustrate this, we are in the same sense and respect said to be recon-
ciled to the Father, in which we are taught especially to pray to the Father,
' Our Father,' &c. For the Son and the Spirit do bear other parts in our
prayers : the Son, he is the master of requests, the intercessor, in whose
name therefore our prayers are to be made. The Holy Ghost, he is the
inditer of our prayers, and helper of our infirmities ; Rom. viii. 26, 27,
' Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh interces-
sion for the saints according to the will of God.' Therefore the Father, he
is expressed as the party we pray unto ; and thus it is in like manner in the
business of reconciliation. It is the Father to whom it is and was to be
made, and therefore by him to be first promoted and set on work.
Obs. 2. Observe in the second place, that as he is made the special per-
son to whom the reconciliation is made, so the whole business is in an
especial manner attributed to him.
Though it be done and performed wholly by Christ as the mediator, yet
the Father is he who sets all on work, and is said to reconcile by Christ to
himself. It is not only that Christ hath been about reconciling us to him,
ClIAl'. II. I OF CIirvIST THE ilKDIATOR. 9
but that be hath been a-vcconciling na to himself, and that in Christ, as
having the first, and chief, and main hand in the work, as well as being the
person to whom reconciliation is made.
God the Father was not as other parties injured, that use to carry them-
selves as mere passives in an agreement when it is to be wrought ; who,
though they are at length brought to it, yet they will not seem to conde-
scend to have any hand in it, or to be the first movers or the seekers of it.
But God the Father carried himself otherwise in the reconciling of us ; he
is active in it, he moves it and sets it on foot, and useth his interest in his
Son for the eli'ecting of it. In general he is said especially to do two things.
First, He it is that draws the platform of all the works that the other
two persons do put their hand to effect. Christ says, that he himself doth
nothing but what he sees the Father first do ; John v. 19, ' Then answered
Jesus, and said unto them, Veril}^ verily, I say unto you. The Son can do
nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do : for what things soever
he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.' So that he, the Father, is
the great plotter and contriver, that draws the draught ; for it is added, he
shews all to the Son : ver. 20, ' For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth
him all things that himself doeth : and he will shew him greater works
than these, that ye may marvel.' As David the father drew, and gave
Solomon the son, the pattern of the temple which he was to build, so God
gave Christ the platform of reconciliation, of the temple his church, when
he would have it built. The platform is especially attributed to him, the
effecting of it to the Son ; and therefore Christ calls them the works which
the Father hath given him to finish : John v. 86, ' But I have greater
witness than that of John : for the works which the Father hath given me
to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father
hath sent me.'
And, secoudlif, he not only draws the platform of them, how he would
have them done, but the first purpose and resolution to have them done,
that is attributed to him also. Therefore Christ resolves all into his Father's
will; ' Even so. Father: it seemed good in thy sight,' Mat. xi. 26. And
so this mystery and draft of reconciliation is called ^the ' mystery of his will ;'
Eph. i. 9, ' Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.' The mjjstenj,
because he draws the plat ; and of his uill, because he resolves thus and
thus to have it done ; who is said, ver. 11, 'to work all things according
to the counsel of his will.' His counsel draws the draught, and his will
resolves thus to have it done ; and all this is there especially attributed to
the Father.
Obs. 3. That he is not only made to have the first hand in it, but a uni-
versal hand in it also. ' All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself.' And all things in the business of salvation and reconciliation are
from him ; that, as it is said of Christ in the matter of creation, that ' all
things were made by him ; and without him nothing was made,' &c., John
i. 3, so Christ says, that he ' can do nothing, but what the Father fii'st
doeth,' John v. 19.
So as we find, that all in the matter of reconciliation is attributed both
to Christ, and also to God the Father, which makes it indeed a great
mystery, that all should be attributed to both ; so that we are beholden to
both for all.
Christ is said to be ' all in all' unto us, Col. iii. 11 ; and yet all that he
is to us, he is to us of the Father. 1 Cor. i. 30, ' But of him are ye in
10 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
Chi-ist Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, aad
sanctification, and redemption.'
As, first, all blessings and benefits we have by Christ are of the Fatlier,
as the first donor and giver, though by Christ ; as Paul blesseth him for
blessing us with all spu-itual blessings in Christ : Eph. i. 3, * Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us witli all
sj)iritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,' Chiist is indeed wisdom
and righteousness, which contains all that our needs require. But who
made him all these ? He is not any of these, not the least of these, but
as the Father hath made him unto us wisdom, &c. 1 Cor. 1. 80, 'Who
is made to us of God,' kc. So as all is to be attributed as much to him
as to Chi-ist.
Yea, all we have, and all we are in Christ, is said to be of him ; ' Of him
ye are in Christ Jesus,' in the same place. We are indeed in Christ, but
yet of God in Christ. He gives all the being we have in Christ, all our
subsistence in him, to which those blessings belong, that we are first in
Chi'ist, and then have all blessings in him. He attributes all this to be of
the Father.
Now how all this is to be attributed to both, St Paul hath elsewhere taught
us, using this veiy distinction, 1 Cor. viii. 6, ' The Father, of whom are all
things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ,' as mediator, ' by whom
are all things, and we by him.' By and of puts the distinction, which we
have observed.
Yea, and thirdly, Jesus Christ as mediator, is all and wholly of him the
Father, and by his appointment. Whatsoever he is or hath as mediator,
is ordained to him by the Father. Therefore Christ is said to be his king :
Ps. ii. 6, ' Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.' And Christ
is called his servant too : Isa. xlii. 1, ' Behold my servau* whom I uphold ;
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth : I have put my Spirit upon him ;
he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.' And it is said also, that
God the Father appointed him a priest : Heb. iii. 1, 2, ' ^\^lerefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High
Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus : who was faithful to him that ap-
pointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.' And it was God
the Father who raised him up as a prophet : Deut. xviii. 15, ' The Lord
thy God will raise up rmto thee a prophet fi'om the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken.' And therefore, too,
Christ is styled an heir of his appointment : Heb. i. 2, ' Hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds.'
Yea, fourthly, whatever Chi-ist did for us, in doing or sufiering, it was
what his Father appointed him. All that he was to do, Luke ii. 49, and
all he was to sufier. Acts ii. 23, it was his Father's cup, and he mingled it.
Yea, fifthly, all the gloiy he hath as mediator, the Father is said to give
him, John xvii. 22. And though it be no robbery for him to be equal with
God, yet that gi"eat name he hath, God is said to have given him. Philip,
ii. 6-11, ' "^Tio, being in the foiTQ of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of a sei-vant, and was made in the likeness of men : and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name : that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things La
Chap. III.j of curist tue mkuiator. 11
earth, and things under the earth : and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Clirist is Lord, to the gk)ry of God the Father.'
And the reason of all this is that which is given there, even ' the glory
of the Father.' The end of Christ's great name, and all that honour we
are to attribute to him is, * to the glory of God the Father,' vcr. 11.
Though Christ hath a name above every name, which we are to magnify
and adore, yet all this his .lame is to the glory of the Father, who hath
the revenue of all. And therefore when the Lord Jesus Christ gives up
his dispensatory kingdom to his Father, as mediator, God shall be * all in
all : ' 1 Cor. xv. 28, * And when all things shall be subdued unto him,
then shall the Son also himself be subdued unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all.' Why? Because all was originally
from him, therefore all shall end in him, and he shall be all in all.
CHAPTER III.
What as to our salvation was done by God the Father from all eternity. — The
mea)u)ig of that phrase, ' God was reconciling us in Christ.' — That God
took tip a strong resolution and purpose to reconcile some of the fallen sons
of men to himself. — His motives were not any thing in us, but purely his
love, and his delight in mercy. — His love in thus designing salvation to us
magnified by several considerations.
These things being premised, we come now to shew what God the Father
hath done towards this business of recouciUation, how far he hath advanced
it and set it forwards.
Now the main of his work was transacted secretly from everlasting, as
we have it here also expressed to us, 1 Cor. v. 19, ' God was in Christ.'
He had said in the former verse, He hath actually reconciled us, believers,
by Jesus Christ ; but yet lest they should think that this was a business
begun of late to be done by him, then when Christ died, and they w^ere
converted, he further says, that he hath made it his main business from
all etei-nity, ' God was in Christ reconciling the world.'
And to this purpose the alteration of the phrase is observable, that speak-
ing of actual reconciliation, as performed by Christ, and applied to them
who were now believers, he saith, ' He hath reconciled us by Jesus Christ,'
Bia Ii^aou XoiOTc-j ; but, speaking of this transaction from everlasting, he says
iv Xpiijm, ' God was in Christ reconciling the world.'
And it is the observation of a great divine,- though not upon this text,
yet putting the difference between these two phrases, of what God is said
to do in Christ and by Christ, as in many places they are used ; that when
God is said to reconcile in Christ, or the like, it implies and notes out
those immanent acts of God in Christ ; the preparation of all mercies and
benefits we have by Christ, from him, and laying them up in him really
for us in Christ, as in our head, in whom God looked upon us when we
had no subsistence but in him ; when God and he were alone plotting of
all, framing of all that was after to be done by Christ for us, and applied
unto us. But the particle by whom imports the actual performance of all
this by Christ, and application of it to us, Eph. i. 3, 4, ' Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spii'itual blessings in heavenly places in Christ :' ver. 4, ' According as he
* Zanchy.
12 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love.' We are said to be blesced
with all spu-itual blessings in Christ, so that God was then a-justifj'ir^ us
in him, a-reconciling us in him.
And further to enlarge this notion, we may observe these three phrases
severally used — in Christ, fur Christ, and ihrourjh Christ.
1. In Christ, as here and elsewhere.
2. For Christ, as to you it is given to suffer for Christ : Philip, i. 29,
' For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
him, but also to suffer for his sake.'
3. Through Christ, as I am able to do all things through Christ : Phihp.
iv. 13, 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'
1. When he says in Chiist, he speaks of Christ as of a common head,
whom God looked at as such, when he endowed us with all blessings in
him, by way of a covenant with him for us.
2. For Christ notes out Christ as the meritorious. cause, for whose sake
we obtain those blessings, for he was to purchase them.
3. And the third notes out Chiist as the efficient cause, that dispenseth
that grace, as a king, to us.
Let us thei-efore first begin with what God the Father hath done, who
was the chiefest in that secret transaction between him and Christ from
everlasting, which is the groundwork of all in the gospel, which is therefore
said to have lain hid in God : Eph. iii. 9, ' And to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mj'steiy, which from the beginning of the world
hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.'
And we will begin at that which was the spring and fii*st moving cause of
aU in him, and that is, his will and good pleasure.
First, He took up a strong purpose and resolution to reconcile some of
the sons of men to him, though they would or should turn rebels against
him ; and this purpose began from him, and in him first. Hence the
gathering together of all in one, that is, the uniting and knitting his church
to himself in one head, who were scattered from him. The gaining and
winning them in again is said to be the mystery of his will, and attributed
to his good pleasure, whereof he gives no reason, but a purpose taken up
in himself, even according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in
himself: Eph. i. 9, 10, ' Having made known unto us the mystery of his
will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purjiosed in himself:'
ver. 10, ' That, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which
are on earth, even in him.' Which he hath purposed in himself, that is,
whereof there is no other motive nor first mover or occasioner, but him-
self, and this is there attributed chiefly to the Father.
To say no more ; this he resolved upon, and would have effected, and
this with infinite delight in the project of it, so as he should be gladder to
see this business effected and brought about, than any that ever he should
set his baud unto ; his heart was more in it than in all things else. ' All
things are of God,' but this above all.
Aid it was a great matter that he should pitch so peremptorily and re-
solutely on this course rather than any other, for he might have took up
other purposes enough suitable and advantageous to his ends, but this
pleased him above all other. Col. i. 19, 20, ' For it pleased the Father, that
in him should aU fulness dwell,' ver. 20 ; ' And (having made peace through
the blood of his cross) b}' him to reconcile all things unto himself ; by him,
ClIAP. III.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 13
I sav, •whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.' For these
enemies he could have clestroj^d, and have been ghjrified in their just de-
struction. He was able enough to bear the loss of souls. AVhat is it to
him that the nations perish ? He should not have weakened himself a whit
by cutting olf all the rebels, as kings do, whose glory consists io the multi-
tude of their subjects. Neither had he any need of friends ; he was happy
enough afore they were, and could be as happy still without them. And if
he would have friends, had he not the angels ? tliat were constant friends
to him, to delight in. One would think he should have prized their friend-
ship more for the faithfulness of it ; and if he had a mind to others, he
could have created new ones. But out of these very stones he would have
a new generation raised up, a seed of well-willers, or a generation of chil-
dren to Abraham. And yet as God offered to Moses, he might have done
in this our case. Num. xiv. 12, ' I will smite them with the pestilence, and
disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation, and mightier than
they.' God might have made tlie offer of all greatness and glory to Christ,
and as for us, might have destroyed us one and all, and have packed us all
to hell for rebels. He had prisons enough to have held us, which kings
often want in a general rebellion ; yea, and he would have been glorified
in that our just destruction also. There was therefore no necessity put
him upon this resolution, but his good pleasure, which was in himself,
which made him say within himself of the sons of men, as in allusion to
what is in Jer. viii. 4, ' Shall they fall, and not arise ? shall he turn away,
and not return ? ' His mind lingered after them, and he is glorified more
in the services than the sufferings of men ; and he had angels enough
already, thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousands, and
he would have some men that should see his glory, bless him, and be
blessed of him. He loves variety ; to have two witnesses at least, he
creates two worlds, heaven and earth, in them two several sorts of reason-
able creatures as inhabitants ; upon them he would shew two several ways
of salvation, and all to shew his manifold wisdom : Eph. iii. 8-10, ' Unto
me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ; '
ver. 9, ' And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery,
which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created
all things by Jesus Christ : ' ver. 10, ' To the intent that now to the prin-
cipalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the
manifold wisdom of God.' And if you would further know. What should
be the reason of this strange aff'ection in our God, why ? The Scripture
gives it.
Our God being love, even love itself, 1 John iv. 16, ' And we have
known and believed the love God hath to us. God is love ; and he that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.' Our God loving,
where he sets his love, with an infinite love as himself is, which love of
all things else in him he loves to shew the utmost of, and of all works,
works of love have the most delight in them, therefore mercy is called his
delight, his darling : Micah vii. 18, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his
heritage ? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he dehghteth in
mercy.' Our God being thus love, and mercy his dehght, he would gladly
shew how well he could love creatures, he was most glad of the greatest
opportunity to shew it; therefore he resolves upon this course, to reconcile
enemies, whatsoever it should cost. And the more they should cost
14 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
him, the gladder should they* be. The making of a thousand new friends
could not have expressed so much love as the reconciling one enemy. To
love and delight in friends, who had never wronged him, was too narrow,
shallow, and slight a way. He had heights, depths, breadth of love : Eph.
iii. 18, ' May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height.' Which heights and depth of love he
would make known, and which nothing but the depths of our miseiy could
have drawn out.
And that this is the reason, see Rom. v. 8, 10, ' But God commendeth
his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'
Ver. 10, ' For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his
life.' God commends his love towards us, that whilst we were yet enemies,
he gave his Son for us, not to be born only, but to die. Both our being
sinners, and his giving his Son, commends or sets out his love ; and that he
might commend it, he pitcheth on this course. And that this love should
be pitched upon men, not the angels that fell, it yet further commends
his love. There were but two sorts of sinners whose sins could be taken
away ; and of the twain, who would not have thought but the fallen angels
should have been propounded first, and have passed more easily ? They
were fairer and better creatures than we ; and if he regarded service, one
of them was able to do him more than a thousand of us. When he had
bought us, he must be at a great deal of more ti'ouble to preserve and tend
us, than we were able ever to requite in service and attendance upon him.
He must allow us much of our time to sleep, and eat, and to be idle in ;
to refresh our bodies, and tend us as you would tend a child ; rock us
asleep eveiy night, and make our beds in sickness ; Ps. xli. 3, ' The Lord
will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing : thou wilt make all his bed
in his sickness;' and feed us himself in due season. Whereas the angels,
they could stand in his presence day and night, and not be weary. And,
besides, the nature of the angels had been a fitter match a great deal for
his Son. They are spirits, and so in a nearer assimilation to him. "Who
ever thought he should close to match so low as with us ? All this makes
for us still the more love, for it was the more free. And the more unlikely
it is that he could love such as we, the more his love is commended. The
less we could- do for him or for ourselves, the more it would appear he did
for us. He is honoured more in our dependence than our service. He
hath regard to the lo\\Tiess of his spouse and handmaids, and lets the
mighty go, principalities and powers ; he loves still to prefer the younger,
and make the elder serve them. Bom. ix. The angels are ministering
spirits for their good. Among men he culls out still the poor, the foolish,
not many wise or noble ; and he makes as unlikely a choice amongst his
creatures.
CHAPTER IV.
That God, in jytirsnance of his gracious design to save sinners, exercised his
ivisdom to contrive the fittest means of accomplishing it. — Though God
might have j^ardoned sin without satisfaction, yet he icould not; and the
reasons of it.
As God's purpose was thus strongly bent upon the salvation of men, so
his wisdom and counsel were exercised about the means whereby it might
» Qu. 'he"?— Ed
CUAP. IV.} OP CHRIST^THE MEDIATOR. 15
bo effected ; and it is a business tbat requires tbe depths of bis wisdom.
We silly men set upon many projects, wbicli at first view delight and ailect
us ; and we are hot upon them, which yet upon consultation we find not
feasible, and so leave them, meeting with such difficulties in them as we
know not how to compass them ; though when the heart is fully set upon
any business, it will set wit and invention a- work to find out all means that
wit can reach to.
Now, as God's strong purpose and delights wei-e in this great work, so
also his depths of wisdom were in it also. Therefore God's will is said to
have counsel joined with it, to work all by counsel, Eph i. 11. He works
all by counsel, to efiect and bring to pass what his will hath pitched upon,
and the stronger his will is in a thing, the deeper are his counsels about
it ; and this business, as he resolves to have it carried, will prove such as
will draw out his depths of wisdom.
And therefore as you have seen his will thus strongly pitched upon it,
as his highest and deepest project, to manifest the dearest affection in him
to the utmost, so you shall now see his wisdom soar as high (indeed in-
finitely) out of our sight, thoughts, and imaginations, to find out a corre-
spondent means, not only to effect it, but in eflecting it to shew both love
and wisdom, and give full satisfaction to bis justice, which was infinitely
beyond the reach of any created understanding to have found out.
There was one way indeed which was more obvious, and that was, to
pardon the rebels, and make no more ado of it ; for he might if he had
pleased have ran a way and course of mere mercy, not tempered with justice
at all. He might have pardoned without satisfaction. I will not now dis-
pute it ; only this I will say for the confij-mation of it, to punish sin being
an act of his will, as well as other works of his ad extra, may therefore be
suspended as he himself pleaseth. To hate sin is his nature ; and that sin
deserves death is also the natural and inseparable property, consequent,
and demerit of it ; but the expression of this hatred, and of what sin
deserves by actual punishment, is an act of his will, and so might be
suspended.
But besides that this way would not manifest such depths of love, though
thus to have pardoned one man had shewn more love than was shewn to
all the angels who never sinned ; it also was not adequate and answerable
to all those his glorious ends, and pui-poses, and other resolutions in this
plot, which he will be constant unto, and make to meet in it (and it is
the proper use of wisdom to make all ends meet) ; and God will not break
one rule or purpose he takes up ; and he hath other projects afoot besides.
For,
First, He meant to give a law, whereof he will not have the least iota to
perish or be in vain ; Mat. v. 18, ' For verily I say unto you. Till heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled.' Which law might both discover what was sin, and what a
heinous thing it was, and shew by a threatening the punishment which it
natm'ally doth deserve, and what the sinner might expect in justice from
him ; this was necessary, for where there is no law there is no sin ; Rom.
V. 13, ' Sin is not imputed where there is no law.' And otherwise there
should have been no sinner actually capable of punishment.
Secondhi, Giving this law he takes upon him to be a judge, and the
judge of all the world ; for in the very making of the law he declares him-
self to be so.
Thirdly, If so, then he is engaged upon many strong motives to shew
16 OF CHRIST TH* MEDL\TOE. [BoOK. I.
his justice against sin in that punishment he thi-eatened ; though still in
that he is judge of all the world, and maker of the law, he could if he
pleased forbear to execute those threatenings (seeing a note of irrevocation
was not added to them) ; for he that made the law may repeal that part of
it, yet most strong motives these are to execute them.
For is he not the judge of all the world ? And is it not a righteous thing
with God to render vengeance ? 2 Thess. i. 5, 6, ' "Which is a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of
the kingdom of God, for which ye also sutler : ' ver. 6, ' Seeing it is a
righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you.' ' And shall not the Judge of all the world do right ? ' Gen. xviii. And
is he not therefore to set a copy to all judges else, being judge of all the
world ? Primum in quolihet genere , est mensura reliquorum. And is not he
an abomination to him, that justifies the unrighteous and condemns the
innocent '? Prov. xvii. 15, These may not dispense with the laws, because
they are but his justices ; and though he might dispense, being the supreme
judge, yet if all the world be his circuit, and he means to condemn the
angels by the law, and shew his justice on them, how will he clearly over-
come when he judgeth them ? as it is in Rom. iii. 4. Stop their mouths,
as it is at the 19th verse, if he shews not his justice against those sins he
pardons. And though he might say to them, Pay what you owe ; what is
that to you? yet even the men he pardons, and pardons to that end to shew
his mercy, would esteem sin less, and pardon less, if it were procured and
obtained lightly ; and should sin, which is the greatest inordinacy, and would
not be brought in compass in his government, which doth order all things, be
left to its extravagant com-se, and passed um-egarded, and escaped as fi:ee
as hoUness ?
And again, are not all his attributes his nature, his justice as well as
mercy ? his hatred o: sin, as well as the love of his creature ? And is
not that nature of his pure act, and therefore active, and therefore provokes
all his will to manifest these his attributes upon all occasions ? Doth not
justice boil within him against sin, as well as his bowels of mercy yearn
towards the sinner ? Is not the plot of reconciliation his mastei-piece,
wherein he means to bring all his attributes upon the stage ? And should
his justice, and this expressed by a law, keep in and sit down contented,
without shewing itsslf? No; and therefore he resolves to be just, and
have his justice and law satisfied, as well as to justify the sinner ; Rom.
iii. 26, ' To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness : that he might
be just, and the justifier of him that beUeveth in Jesus.' And as to run a
course of mere rigorous justice pleased him not, so likewise nor to stretch
the pure absolute prerogative of mercy. Wherefore some of the fathers
have, after the manner of men, brought in mercy and justice here pleading;
the project of mercy was his delight, as mercy is, Micah vii. 18. And he
had resolved above all to shew it. But then justice also is his sceptre,
whereby he is to i-ule, and govern, and judge the world. Wherefore his
wisdom, as a middle attribute, steps in, and interposeth as a means of
mediation between them both, and undertakes to compound the business,
and to accommodate all, so as both shall have theii" desire and aims, their
full demonstration and accomplishment.
ClUP. V.J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR, 17
CHAPTER V.
To the effecting of oil the drsirpis, both of justice and mercy, it teas necessari/
that a full and complete saliiifaclion should be made, u/iich ne being unable
to pay, divine ivisdoin thought of another person to undeitalce and to do it
for us. — That God's justice is contented uith tJiis commutation of the
person, since hereby that attribute is more glorified, and all the ends of the
law answered, than if we the offeiulers had in our own jjersoas suffered the
due punishment of sin.
This accomplishment of all the designs, hoth of justice and mercy, must
be by satisfaction, by full and adequate ransom, d\riXvT^oi> ; 1 Tim. ii. 6,
* Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time ; ' which is
reddiiio aquivalenlis pro aquivalenti, which the sinner of himself would never
have been able to perform. There is no thinking of it ; Rom. v. G-8,
' For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly.' Ver. 7, ' For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.' Ver. 8, ' But
God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.' We are said to be without strength, and it is there
brought in, as the great demonstration of Christ's love in dying for us,
when we were yet without strength. And if nothing we are, much less
anything we have or can offer ; the blood of bulls and goats is not able ;
it is not possible to take away sin by it : Heb. x. 4, ' For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.' Add to them
all the creatures that are the appurtenances of man, which man hath to
give, as gold, silver, precious stones, not the whole world of them would
do. For nothing less noble than man can be a sufficient surety for man's
life, which sin deprives us of. All such things are not worth a soul, which
is to be lost for sin, said he that paid for one ; Mat. xvi. 26, ' For what is
a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? or
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? ' And as it is in Micah
vi. 7, ' Will the Lord be pleased with rivers of oil? nay, with thy firstborn
of thy body for the sin of thy soul ? ' There is no proportion ; God would
never have turned away so fair a chapman, if his justice could afford so
cheap a commutation. And as not rivers of oil, so nor rivers of tears, which
(as all other actions that come from us) are defiled, and become but as
puddle-water.
His wisdom therefore thought of a commutation, so as that that satis-
faction should be performed by a surety in our stead, who might be a me-
diator and umpire, and who might take our sins upon himself, and upon
whom God might lay the iniquity of us all, Isa. liii. 6, and exact the punish-
ment, as Junius reads it; that might become a surety : Heb. vii. 21, 22,
' For those priests were made without an oath ; but this with an oath, by
him that said unto him, The Lord sware, and will not repent. Thou art
a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec ;' ver. 22, ' By so much was
Jesus made a surety of a better testament;' that might make satisfaction,
being made sin ; 2 Cor. v. 21, ' For he hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin ; that we might be mude the righteousness of God in him.'
That being ' made of a woman, might be under the law,' Gal. iv. 4. ' But
when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law,' and who so might give and expose himself as a ransom
and dvriXur^ov, a sufficient adequate satisfaction.
And his justice will be content to admit of such a commutation, and that
VOIi. V. B
18 OF CHEI3T THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
such a satisfaction should be performed by a surety in our stead. For
when all parties are satisfied, and no wrong is done to any, justice may
well be satisfied. For if the parties undertaking it be willing, volenti -non
Jit injuria, and the great undertaker having power over that thing which he
ofiers to lay down for satisfaction, being lord of it, no other one is wi'onged.
Neither is the party to be satisfied wronged, if he that undertakes it be
of ability fully to satisfy and to fufil what he desires, and if, being the law-
giver, he be wiUing to assent to this act of his, and to accept it. For, being
Lord of his own law, he may dispense with the letter of it, if so be those
holy ends, which his counsel had in making it, be accomplished and attained;
and if the reason of the law and lawgiver be satisfied, then is the law. Now
the ends and gi'ounds of gi'V'ing God's law were to declare and shew forth
his justice, and hatred against sin wherever he found it. Now his justice
and hatred of sin is as fully manifested when punishment is executed upon a
party assuming our sins on himself, and undertaking to be a surety, as if
the sinner himself were punished ; if not more, in that ]te doth but un-
dertake it for another, and yet is not spared. As God is said to hear our
prayers, and fulfil his promise, when he answers to the groimd of our
prayers, though not in the thing ; so are the cries of sin, or* justice against
the sinner, answered, and God's threatenings fulfilled, when anot'ier is
punished, becausj all the ends of the lawgiver are fully accomplished.
It is true, the tenor and litter of the law is dispensed with, but not the
debt ; that is as fully exacted as ever. It is but a dispensation of the party
obliged, not of the obligation itself, or of the debt, or of the reason why the
debt is exacted. It is not wholly secundum lef/em, nor yet contra, bvBi Kara
vofjbov b-odi Kara vo/xou, dX'/M ii-so v6/j,ov y.al i/-£g \/ofj.ov,f it is a saying no less
solid than elegant, and therefore the more elegant, because it was anciently
used in another case. And although the law doth not mention or name a
surety, and the malefactor's single bond be only mentioned therein, and the
threatening dhected against him, and his name is only in the project, be-
cause the law in itself supposeth as yet none else guilty, and can challenge
none else, yet if some other, that is lord of his own action, subject himself
to the law willingly, which will of his is a law to him, and the lawgiver
himself, that is lord of the law, accepts this, as seeing the same ends shall
be satisfied for which he made the law ; in this case the law takes hold of
the surety or undertaker, and he may let the malefactor go free.
And now that his wisdom hath found a course and way of mediation
between his justice and his mercy, j-et who is there in heaven and earth
should be a fit mediator, both able and wilhng to undertake it, and faithful
to perform it ?
CHAPTER VI.
The great difficulty ivas, to find out a person of strength equal to so high an
undertaking. — Neither angeh nor men could have found out or presented a
fit person. — God manifest in the flesh, for redemjit ion of man, teas a mxjstery
above all the thoughts of angels or men, and was worthy only of God's wisdom
to find out.
The difficulty is still behind, a mysteiy so gi'eat as would have nonplussed
heaven and earth, angels and men, Nodus Deo vindice dignus. So as if
* Qu. ' for ' ?— Ed.
t That is, ' Neither against the law nor according to the law ; but above the law
and for the sake of the law.' — Ed.
Chap. VI. J of christ the mediator. 10
God had referred it to a consultation of men and angels, and empanncllcd all
intelligible natures upon tbis grand jury for to save men, and ofiered but thus
ftiirly ; though none of you can do it, yet find you but out the way and person,
and I will set my power to the eli'ecting of it ; they would have returned in
a verdict and bill of L/norMtius. After millions of years' consultation, their
thoughts would not have presumed to have waded into this depth, so far as
to think that justice might dispense in the least measure with so holy a law,
and admit a commutation.
But impossible it was they should have thought of the person that should
give full satisfaction to his justice, it passed all created powers to perform
it (as I shall shew when I shall shew Christ's ability to this work), and
as it passed their power to eflect it, so their skill and reach. We who
could never have found out a remedy for a cut finger, had not God pre-
scribed and appointed one, could much less for this, it being a case of such
difficulty. The devils they could not imagine any way, no more for us than
for themselves, and therefore tempted man, thinking him when he had
sinned sure enough, and hell gates so strongly locked, that no art could find
or make a key to open them, or power to break them open. Adam, poor
man, he trembled, and knew not which way to turn him, and thought God
would have flown upon him presently. The good angels, they know it but
by the church : Eph. iii. 10, ' To the intent that now unto the principalities
and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold
wisdom of God.' In this strait God himself aforehand set his depths of
wisdom a-work to find out one, in and by whom all things might be accom-
modated, and out of those infinite depths found out and invented a way and
means of eii'ecting our reconciliation, even in the incarnation and dealu of
his own Son. Before the wound given, he provided a plaster ; and to aiiude
.0 Abraham's speech, provided a sacrifice unknown to us, and a sufficient
remedy to salve all again, which otherwise had been past finding out.
For the assumption of our nature into one person with the Son of God,
was a thing thought credible when revealed, because possible, yet hardly so
conceived, even by Mary, when it was told her by the angel : Luke i. 31,
* How can this thing be '?' says she. There is nothing in all the works of
nature to make a correspondent example for it; yea, nature denies such a
composition, to confound heaven and earth. All other religions abhor it.
It was the great stumbling-block of the Jews, as they object it to him : John
X. 33, ' The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone tliee
not ; but for blasphemy, and because that' thou, being a man, makest thy-
self God.'
But suppose that mystery had been made known, as some say it was, to
the angels, that Christ in our nature should be a head, a mediator of union,
the stomaching of which, say some, was their fall ; yet to have imaginid
him a mediator of reconciliation, and that he should satisfy God for us,
and be made sin and a curse, they would have trembled to have thought it,
if God had not first said it. Nay, when Christ told his apostles what he
-was to sufier, their thoughts seemed to abhor it ; ' Master, spare thyself,'
says Peter: Mat. xvi. 21, 22, 'From that time forth began Jesus to shew
unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jei'usalem, and suffer many
things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be
raised again the third day ;' ver. 22, ' Then Peter took him, and began to
rebuke him, saying. Be it far from thee, Lord : this shall not be unto
thee.'
This invention therefore God's wisdom alone is to have the glory, of and
20 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
therefore it is called, ' the hidden wisdom of God, as in a mystery :' 1 Cor.
ii. 7, ' But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.' The chief
piece of which mystery is God manifest in the flesh : 1 Tim. iii. 16, * And,
without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness ; God was manifest
in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory ;' which, had God not re-
vealed, none could ever have reached, for it ' lay hid in God :' Eph. iii. 9,
' And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from
the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by Jesus Christ.'
And which when revealed is, without controversy, so great a mystery,
1 Tim. iii. 16, that the very revelation of it is the greatest argument that
can be brought to prove the truth of our religion ; for all men that under-
stand it, must and will with amazement acknowledge and confess, that so
great a plot could not have been hatched in the womb of any created under-
standing. As sin was our invention, Eccl. vii. 29, so Christ alone was God's;
and therefore Christ is called, ' The Wisdom of God,' which is not spoken of
him essentially as second person, but mcwifesiative as mediator, because in
him his wisdom to the utmost is made manifest.
CHAPTER VII.
When God's idsdomJiacl found outa Jit person, yet since this must he his only
Son, here was a greater difficulty fur him to overcome ; how to give him for
us. — The depths of God's love here, as of his tvisdom before, seen in not
spxiring his own Son, but exposing him to all the rigours of justice, which
would not make the least abatements. — It ivas of free choice that he made
thus of his Son to be a Redeemer, to which he was not obliged or necessitated.
— He appointed his Son to death for us, and laid his injunction and charge
on him to perform this his ivill.
Now the person is found out, and the way clear how it should be done,
which difliculty his wisdom hath expedited ; yet the finding out the person
hath brought a greater with it ; for if none but he that was his Son could
do it, and though a Son, yet if he become a surety, justice will not have
him spared. ' He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things ? ' Justice
would abate nothing ; ' Without blood there is no remission,' and not the
best blood of his body would serve, but of his soul too. He must bear our
sins : Isa. liii. 5, ' But 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.' He must pay God in the same coin
we should, and tlierefore must ' make his soul an oflering for sin : ' Isa. liii.
10, 11, ' Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief:
when thou shalt make his soul an oflering for sin, he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied : by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many ; for he shall bear their
iniquities.' And if he be made sin, he must be made a curse ; and which
is more than all this, God himself must be the executioner, and his own
Son the person who suflers, and no creature could strike stroke hard enough
CUAP. VII.] OF CIIKIST TUE MEDIATOR. 2t
to make it satisfactory. JTany a tender mother hath not the heart to soo
her child whipped, much less to whip it herself, although she knows it to
he for its own profit and good, when it is in fault ; hut God hero in this
case must put his Son to grief, Isa. liii. 10.
To find out the way to accomplish it, and the person hy whom, drew out
hut the depths of his wisdom ; hut now, if the business go forward, it will
draw out the depths of his love. It cost him but his thoughts afore, now
it must cost him his Son, the Son of his love. If it were to sacrifice worlds
for us, he could have easily created millions, and destroyed them again for
us ; as he gave nations for their sakcs, Isa. xliii. 4. But what ? To sacri-
fice his only Son, here was the ditliculty.
And if this be the only way (God might have said), bury the invention of
it in eternal silence ; let it never be made mention of or come to light, that
ever there were such a thing ; let it here die, rather than Christ die ; and
therefore though his heart was much set upon this project, yet this might
likely have dashed all, that nothing should serve but the death of his Son ;
his will might be more set upon this business of reconciling us, than ever
on any, but yet not upon such terms as these. He might be glad to see
it done, yet not to cost so dear.
Behold therefore and wonder, and stand aghast ! He takes this way to
choose, and chooseth Christ to this work ; and thus to choose him was God
the Father's work, and indeed a work of wonder. Isa. xlii. 1, ' Behold my
servant, whom I uphold ; my elect, in whom mj' soul delights.' And so
Mat. xii. 18, ' Behold my servant whom I have chosen, in whom my soul
is well pleased.' That ever these two should be put together in one sen-
tence, — SciL, ' In whom my soul delights,' Avith this, ' Behold my servant
whom I have chosen,' to such a harsh and difficult a business ; j'et that was
the very reason of this choice, therefore he chooseth him, and therefore it
is mentioned with it ; for the more he loved him, the more love he should
shew in giving him for us.
And observe it. It is made an act of choice in him, full and free. He
had other wa3fs ; at least, he was no way necessitated unto this. He might
have destroyed us, and lost nothing by us. He might have pardoned us,
and shewn more love therein than unto millions of new created friends.
Yea, suppose a creature could have satisfied, yet he takes this way to choose ;
it suits with the utmost extent of all his ends. If the sacrifices of bulls
and goats could (as they could not), have taken away sin, yet these ' thou
wouldst not,' says Christ, Heb. x. 8, ' but a body hast thou fitted me. He
takes away the first ' (says the apostle, Heb. x. 9), ' that he may establish
the second.' That is, he layeth aside all other means (if other could be
supposed), and chooseth this, and however resolves to take this course ex
ahundanti ; and as in making his promises it is said, Heb. vi. 17, ' God
being willing more abundantly to shew to the heirs of salvation the immu-
tability of his counsel, confirms them by an oath,' which puts an end to all
controversies ; ver. 16, ' And because he can swear by no greater, he sware
by himself.' So say I in this : What if God, ex ahundanti, if upon supposi-
tion other means could have done it ; yet out of his abundance of love to us,
whom he thinks he can never love enough, nor to shew his love, do too
much for ; what if he means to give his Son because he cannot give a
greater, and so at once to give the gi-eatest instance of his love and justice :
of his love, in that he is not only content to commute the punishment, but
lay it on his Son ; of his justice, in that he will not only punish sin in us,
but even in him. He will not spare his own Son, Rom. viii. 32, and so he
22 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
will make sure work indeed, and put an end to all suppositions, fears, yea,
possibility of miscarriage ; a way whereby to accommodate all things so
fully, as all conveniences requisite to this work should concur, yea, abound
indeed in Christ's alone mediation. The demonstration of which doth de-
pend upon the second part of the story, when we hear what Christ did do
to the ellecting of it.
So as it is, and may be a great question, whether God hath shewn more
love in pitching on this way, when by other means he might have saved us
if he would ; or if no other means could be had, and God was confined to
this, yet that God would do so much rather than we should not be saved ?
We could have had pardon without Christ, yet to have not pardon only,
but Christ also, this is infinitely more. The pardon of sin is a greater gift
than millions of worlds ; but to have pardon through Christ, and Christ
with the pardon, though but of one sin, is more than the pardon of worlds
of sins.
And, further, consider what he chose Christ unto ; ' He appointed him
to death,' as the apostle says of himself in another case. Therefore Peter,
1 Pet, i. 18, 19, speaking of our redemption by his blood ; ' which (says
he) was verily foreordained before the foundation of the world.' So as he
chose him not as a head only, but as a lamb to be slain : Rev. xiii. 8,
' And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are noi
written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world.'
I have elsewhere * shewed how he was appointed to be an heir ; but
there is some dignity in that, and yet it was a humiliation in him to take
that by appointment which was his own by natural inheritance ; but to be
appointed to death so long afore, and to such a death, and there was not
a circumstance in it but his Father appointed it, that it should be thus
shameful, thus painful, &c.,this was love indeed ; Acts ii. 23, 'Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel of God, ye have crucified and slain.'
All was done by the determinate counsel of God. He not only secretly de-
termined it, but which is more, called him to it, moved him in it himself
to undertake to do all this ; for calling and election of us are two distinct
things ; and so in the designing of Christ to this office, they are to be con-
sidered apart.
Now the Father was not only the contriver and designer, but had the
heart (such M'as his love to us) to be himself the first propounder also of
it to him, and withal to tell him he was to be the executioner, or he should
not be satisfied by him for sin. And who should break this to Christ, and
persuade him, or bring him off" to be willing to it ? No creature had inte-
rest enough in him, to be sure. None of us did ever speak to him to die,
nor no creature mentioned it for us ; for none durst so much as to think it.
Who did then ? His Father owns it as his own work ; Isa. xlii. 6, ' I
have called thee in righteousness ; ' and it was necessary he should. Both
because.
First, Christ was not to begin to offer it of himself. That conceit of
Bernard's, bringing Christ in ofiering himself for poor man (as he doeth),
saying, ' Take mo, sacrifice me for them,' hath no ground, for he doeth
nothing but what his Father propounds ; John v. 19, 20, ' Then answered
Jesus, and said imto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do
nothing of himself ; but what he seeth the Father do : for what things soever
* In the ' Discourse of the Knowledge of God the Father, and his Son Jesus
Christ.' In 2d volume of his Works.— [Vol. IV. of this edition.— Ed.]
Chap. VII. J of ciirist the mediator. 23
ho doetb, these also docth the Son likewise. For the Father lovoth the
Son, unci shcwoth him all things that himselt' doeth : and he will show him
greater works than these, that j'e may marvel.' Ho is the second person,
aud all motions are to begin and come from the Father, who is the first
person. And as to this particular, Christ speaks in this wise, John viii.
42, ' I came from God, neither came I of myself, but my Father sent me.'
Secoudh/, It being au olHce, aud an oflice of priesthood, he was to be
appointed to it. Hob. v. 4, 5, ' No man takes this honour to himself, but
ho that was called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ' (though he had
all excellencies and abilities in him) ' glorified not himself to be made an
high priest for us.'
God therefore called him to it ; and this as making it his own business,
as he was pleased to account it, and as such commended it to Christ, and
therefore Christ calls it his ' Father's business:' Luke ii. 49, ' And he said
unto thorn, How is it that ye sought me ? Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business ?'
Aud now will you see how and in what manner it was he called him, and
be amazed at it, to see how earnest he is in it. See his own words (as the
Holy Ghost, the great secretary of heaven, who alone was by at that great
council, hath recorded it), Heb. v. 5, 6, ' So also Christ glorified not him-
self to be made an high priest ; but he that said unto him, Thou art my
Sou, to-day have 1 begotten thee. As he saith also in another place. Thou
art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec ; ' where we find the
very words he spake to him recorded, ' He that said to him. Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee, says in another place,' which records
another passage then spoken, ' Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of
Melchisedec' The Holy Ghost brings in both these, and joins them to-
gether, and brings that which was in the first as the argument or motive
which God used to him to persuade him, when he moved him to it. He
that said, ' Thou art my Son,' says, ' Thou art a priest ' also, to shew the
ground of authority which ho urgeth in it. He that was his Father, and so
had power to appoint his Son his calling (as other parents have), appointed
him as his begotten Son thus to be a priest. And therefore he tells him,
in the first speech, that he is his Son, and he begat him ; and therewithal
wooes him, that as he was his Son, and he his Father, and puts him in
mind of all that mutual love which was between them upon so high a rela-
tion ; and so much the higher, by how much the thing communicated was
greater, in that he was God by his begetting him ; that therefore and there-
upon he would take on him this so hard and harsh an undertaking. He
calls him indeed, and speaks (as if he meant not to be denied) in the highest
language of a father, and useth his whole interest in that, mentions the
deepest obligation, and he notes out the time ; it was on his birthday, ' This
day have I begotten thee.' As parents often dedicate their children, when
first born, to such and such a calling, as Hannah did Samuel to the priest-
hood, so doth God his Son. Yea, he is yet more earnest, he laid his express
command on him, John x. 18, though the other mentions the most com-
manding argument and relation of all other, viz., as he was his Son, All
obedience as due on Christ's side, and authority on his Father's, are spoken
in such a word. Yea, and yet to shew more vehemency and earnestness,
he adds an oath to it, Heb. vii. 21, ' He swore he should be a priest,' and
when he hath done, records it. ' It is written of me,' and that sv xnpaKihi
To\) jSiZXiou, in the first page, or beginning of the book of his decrees ; yea,
and puts his seal to it, ' Him hath the Father sealed,' John vi. 27. By
24 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK L
all which he precludes him from a refusal, to prevent all supposition of
denial.
God the Father, you see, hath done all that lies in him, and yet no more
than was necessarily required to this work, as was in part said before, and
may be further observed out of the 10th verse of the 10th chapter of the
Hebrews, wherein he says, ' We are sanctified through his will, through the
offering of the body of Christ ; ' having reference to that his will of calling
him, before expressed in that 5th chapter, without which Christ's offering
had not been satisfactory, or of force to sanctify us.
CHAPTER VIIL
CJirisf^ acceptance of the terms ivliich God the Father propounded to him for
man's redemption. — That his iviUinijness in the undertaking proceeded not
only from the love he had for us, but from that uhich he did bear unto his
Father, and his desire to obey him, and to perform his ivill. — That the elect,
redeemed bij Christ, were first God the Father's, and by lam given in trusf"
and charge to Christ to save them.
Now the next thing to be considered is, how this motion takes with Christ's
heart, which his Father makes, and what he says to it, how he answers it
again, and how willingly. And this is as necessary as the former ; for
besides that it could not be forced on him ; for, John v. 26, ' the Father
hath given him to have life in himself, and so to have power over his life.'
John X. 18, 'I have power over my life, and none can take it from me.'
Besides that, if it came not of him freely, it had not been satisfactoiy ; for
satisf actio est redditio voluntaria, it must be a voluntary payment ; and as our
disobedience was free, so must his satisfaction be. Though he had at last
yielded, yet if he sticks at it we are undone, if he makes but an objection.
And is it not infinite love he should not, being he was the party to
undergo so much debasement? How did the eldest son's stomach rise,
when but the fat calf was killed for the prodigal ? But the eldest, only
begotten Son of God, must sacrifice himself for enemies (not the sacrificing
of worlds would serve, whereof he could have created enough), and yet not
a thought did arise contrary to his Father's will. So his own words, in
answer to the former call of his Father, do shew, ' Lo, I come to do thy
will, God,' Heb. x. 7. The psalmist, from whence the words are bor-
rowed, hath it, ' I delight to do thy will,' Ps. xl. 8. ' Lo, I come ' (says
Christ) ; I am as ready, as forward, God, as thou to have me ; not will-
ing only, but glad ; I delight to do thy will. As the sun rejoiceth to run
his race, so the Sua of righteousness to run his, for he was ' anointed with
the oil of gladness above his fellows,' Ps. xlv. 7. He was as glad to do this
work as ever he was to eat his meat : John iv. 34, ' Jesus saith unto them,
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.'
' AVith desire' (saith he) ' have I desired it:' Luke xxii. 15, ' And he said
unto them. With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before
I suffer.' He longed as much, and was as much pained, as ever woman
with child longed to be delivered, till this work was accomplished. Luke
xii. 50, ' But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened
till it be accomplished.'
It was well for us that his Father struck thus strongly in. For, take the
CUAP. VIII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 25
business in itself, you know how unwclcomo it must needs bo to Christ :
' F.athcr, if it bo possible ' (says he), ' let it pass ;' yet because it was his
Father's will, he submits, ' Not my will, but thine be done,' Mat. xxvi. 39.
As it was his Father's will, he had no reluctancy, neither would simply all
our cries or mediation have ever moved him, no more than straws can movo
a mountain ; but that it was his Father's will, it was enough. For besides
that reason for it, John x. 30, ' I and my Father are one ' (saith he), and
so have one will and agree in one, there is another thing in it most pre-
valent, seeing that his Father entreats him thus to do it. The Father re-
solves to hear him in all things ; and should not he then hearken to his
Father, especially when his request is made upon his birthday (' This day
have I begotten thee '), when all requests are rendered more easy and facile
to be granted ; as Herod on his would give to the half of his kingdom ?
What, and as he was his Father and he his Son, — ' Thou art my Son,' — •
this overcame him. John x. 17, 18, Though he had life in his own hand,
yet (says he) I lay it down, because my Father loves me. Surely his
Father being so earnest in it, he ^YOuld not deny him, especially when he
added a command to it. This is the reason he likewise gives, John x.
18, 19, * I have power to lay down my life, and this command I have re-
ceived of my Father.' It had stuck with him from the first, and he remem-
bered it still. His Father had power (as other fathers have, to dispose of
the calling of their sons) to dispose of him ; and though he was so great a
Son, equal to so great a Father, yet, being a Son, he is not exempted from
obedience. Philip, ii. 8, ' And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.'
Heb. V. 7, 8, ' Who in the days of his flesh, when he had ofi'ered up prayers
and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to
save him from death, and Avas heard in that he feared : though he were a
Son, 3'et learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And when
his Father shall add an oath to it also (that is an end of all controversies
between man and man, Heb. vi. 16, much more between the Father and
Son), and last of all sets his seal to it, it must stand good, for his seal
stands sure, 2 Tim. ii. 19, there is no breaking of it ; and therefore all these
made Christ fully willing.
And this is therefore to be in a more especial manner taken notice of ;
that we may consider for whose sake principally Christ did die, and under-
take it, and thus see whom so much we are beholden to. Though Christ
did it out of love to us, 3-et chieflj' for his Father's entreaty and command,
and out of love to him. So Christ says, John xiv. 31, ' That the world
may know that I love the Father, and that as he gave commandment, so I
do.' He spake this when he was to go to suffer, for, saith he, ' Arise, let
us go hence.'
In the sixth place, as his Father recommended the business to him, so
also he gave especial recommendation of the persons for v/hom he would
have all this done ; for he gave those of the sons of men unto Christ whom
he would have reconciled, and this with a charge to bring them to salvation.
Hence Christ, when he was to offer up himself, he commits and com-
mends them at his death again to his Father and to his love, upon this
great ground and motive, that he himself gave them first to him ; alleging
that he himself came to have a share in them, by his gift and commenda-
tion: John xvii. 6, ' Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.' A strange
gift it was, which he must yet pay for, and must cost more than they were
worth, and yet he takes them as a gift and favour from his Father ; which
26 OF CUEIST TUE MEDIATOE. [BoOK. I.
also when he head bought, he hkewise begged at his Father's liands, in John
xvii. 20, 21, 24.
And observe that they were first his Father's ; first thine, and then mine
by thy gift ; and this was not a late or new acquired projjriety of God's in
them, but an ancient one, which Christ puts him in mind of, ' Thine they
were.' So that as the Father gave him his work he was to do, ver. 4, so
he gave to him the persons for whom he should do it ; ver. 6, so as both
things and persons, ' all things whatsoever thou hast given me, are of
thee,' ver. 7. As he doeth nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father
do ; so as mediator (and though mediator) he saves not a man but whom
his Father did give him, nor puts a name in more than were in his Father's
bill. John vi. 37, 38, ' I came not to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me.' And this is spoken in relation, not to the business
only he was to do, but of the persons also that were to be reconciled ; for
it follows, ver. 39, ' This is his will, that of all which he hath given me I
should lose none.' And they are not said to be then given to Christ only
when they are called and begin to believe, but before, even from everlasting
(of which transaction we now speak) ; for, John vi. 37, ' All the Father
givcth me shall come to me ;' therefore the}^ are not then said first to be
given when they came, but before.
And hence, by reason of his Father's giving of them to him, he calls
them his sheep, and that before they are called, which as yet were not of
the fold, but which were yet to bring in ; John x. 16, ' And other sheep I
have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.' Yea, and
he calls himself such a shepherd, whose own the sheep are ; John xvi. 2,
3, 4, ' They shall put you out of the synagogues : yea, the time cometh,
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And
these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that, when the time
shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things
I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.' Ver. 11,
12, ' Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.' He was
owner of them (as all shepherds are not), and delighteth to use a phrase of
propriety. His own sheep they are. How his own, but by gift from his
Father, and by special love and care of his own ? And their names he knows.
John X. 14, ' I am the good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known
of mine.' As God by name is said to know who are his ; and therefore
their names are said to be written in the Lamb's book as well as in his
Father's : Eev. xiii. 18, ' Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding
count the number of the beast : for it is the number of a man ; and his
number is six hundred threescore and six ;' yea, they are written in his
heart. And as the high priest had the names of all the tribes written on
his breastplate, so had Christ the names of all his written in his heart, by
a pen of adamant, by the will of his Father, written with ever-living and
everlasting love ; so as the letters can never be worn out.
And as he gave them to be his, so also with a special charge to bring
them to salvation, to lose not one of his tale and number. John vi. 38, 39,
' This is my Father's will, who sent me,' says Christ, ' for which I came
down from heaven, that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing.'
As Laban required his tale of Jacob, so doth God of Christ. When he
sent him he gave him that charge, ' This is the will of him that sent me.'
Chap. IX. , of ciiiusx the mediator. 27
I come with this errand, charge, and message, which therefore Christ had
still iu his eye, yea, and looks at it as a duty enjoined him ; * Them I must
bring,' sa3's he, John x. 10, which hath relation to that command laid on
him.
And as Judah became a surety to Jacob his father for his younger
brother Benjamin, to bring him safe to him out of Egypt — Gen. xliii. 9, ' I
will be a surety for him, and if I bring him not unto thee, and set him not
before thee, let me bear the blame for ever ' — so did Christ for his younger
brethren, whom God, through him as their captain and chief leader, would
bring to glory: Heb. ii. 10, 11, 'For it became him, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to
make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both
he that sanctiheth and they who are sanctified are all of one : for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.' Who therefore had the
charge of conducting them, and to that end he took flesh, and in regard to
it gives an account to his Father of them ; ' Behold I and the children
which God hath given me.' And you may observe how careful he was in
this his account, and how punctual in it : John xvii. 12, ' Those thou gavest
me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition.' He
is exact in his account, as appears in that he gives a reason for him that
was lost, that he was a ' son of perdition,' and so excuseth it ; and to this
end God also gave him, as he was mediator, power over all flesh, that he
might be enabled to give eternal life to those God gave him : John xvii. 3,
' And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.'
CHAPTER IX.
That upon Christ's accepting this agreement, God the Father, to reward him,
engages to bestow all the blessings xvhich he should purchase to those redeemed
by him. — That all these blessings of grace and eternal life were j^romised to
us in Christ from all eternity.
Christ thus willingly undertaking to die, and to fulfil his Father's will,
his Father, to gratify him, enters into a covenant with him, and binds him-
self to him to bestow the worth and value of all his obedience in all spiritual
blessings (both of grace and glory, which that his death should purchase), to
those whom he had given him, and that he and his children should have it
out in everlasting revenues of grace and glory. As Christ undertook to
God, so God undertakes to Christ again, to justify, adopt and forgive, sanc-
tify and glorify those he gives him. All the blessings his love intended,
Christ was to purchase them ; and all the blessings Christ's death did pur-
chase, he promiseth Christ to bestow on those whom he purchased them
for, so as his labour should not be in vain.
This 3'ou maj^ observe out of manj' places ; as, in general, Isa. liii. 10-12,
* Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him ; he hath put him to grief : when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied ; by his know-
ledge shall my righteous servant justify many ; for he shall bear their ini-
quities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong ; because he hath noured out his soul unto
23 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
death : and he was numbered with the transgressors ; and he bare the sins
of many, and made intercession for the transgressors ;' where God makes a
promise imto Christ that he should see his seed, and see the travail of his
soul, and should be satisfied ; for my righteous servant shall justify many,
and thus because he underwent so much sorrow and grief so willingly, as
it is in the former part of the chapter, and the joy of this was it that made
him undergo it so willingly : Heb. xii. 2, * Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith ; who for the joy that was set before him, endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God.' And that his joy was this, that he should prolong his
day3, and though he died in the travail, yet should see the travail of his
soul ; as though a woman be in great pains, yet her joy is, that a man-
child is brought forth into the world. And so it was with Christ ; his joy
is, that many children should be brought to glory, and by this he should
be satisfied, namely, that many should be justified by him, as it follows
there (for nothing else will satisfy Christ), ' and that he should divide the
spoil with the strong ; because he poured out his soul to death,' ver. 12.
That is, he triumphed over hell and death, and by the conquest spoiled
principalities and powers, and obtained heaven and everlasting righteous-
ness, by which himself is notof himself made the richer. God therefore allows
him to divide it and give it away to others. And God considered also how
that in this work he was his servant, ' My righteous servant,' says he,
* shall justify many.' He was his servant, and did his business in it, and
should he have no wages nor rewards ? Yes he should ; and the only
reward he seeks for, is the salvation and justification of his elect, and of
those whom God hath given him. And therefore we find this very cove-
nant bargain-wise struck up, and by way of a most elegant dialogue
expressed to us, Isa. xlix., which chapter is, as I may call it, the draught
of the covenant, or deed of gift, betwixt Christ and his Father for us ;
wherein Christ first begins and shews his commission, as the ground of
the treaty between them ; intimating unto his Father that he had called
him to this great work : ver. 1, ' Listen, isles, unto me ; and hearken, ye
people, from far ; The Lord hath called me from the womb ; from the bowels
of my mother hath he made mention of my name.' And fitted him for it :
ver. 2, ' And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword ; in the shadow
of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a poHshed shaft ; in his quiver
hath he hid me.' He therefore expects what fruit and reward he should
have of all his sufferings.
His Father offers (as it were) low at first, and mentioneth but Israel
only as his portion ; ' Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will be
glorified,' ver. 3. Then he, as thinking them too small an inheritance, too
small a purchase for that great price, foreseeing the hardness of their
hearts, and how few of them would come in, not worth his coming into the
world for, so that it the gleanings of them were all, he says, ' He should
labour in vain, and spend his strength for nought,' ver. 4. Though, how-
ever, he satisfies himself with this, ' My work is with thee, Lord,' &c. ;
namely, that his main end of undertakmg it was for his Father's sake, and
in obedience unto him.
God therefore answers him again, and enlargeth and stretcheth his cove-
nant further with him : says he, ' It is a light thing that thou shruldest be
my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel,' ccc. ' I will give thee for a
light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the
earth,' ver. 6. And, ver. 8, ' I will give thee for a covenant to the people,'
Chap. IX.] of curist the mediator. 29
&c. God, you see, makes this covenant with him, to save both Jews and
Gentiles, as the reward of his death.
And this compact you have also expressed, Ps. ii. 7, 8, where, after he had
called him to this ollice (which then he calls the decree, ' I will declare the
decree : Thou art my Son ; this day have I begotten thee'), he subjoins this
covenant made upon it. ' Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.'
And this was shadowed out by that famous covenant made with David for
his seed, for an eternal kingdom : Ps. Ixxxix. 4, 5, ' Thy seed will I estab-
lish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. And the
heavens shall praise thy wonders, Lord : thy faithfulness also in the con-
gregation of the saints.' And ver. 28, 29, ' My mercy will I keep for him
for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also
will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.'
Which covenant was made with David, as a type of Christ, and is to be
meant as spoken of Christ ; and that covenant too made by God with him
for his spiritual seed. That covenant is called ' the sure mercies of Da\'id,'
and is applied to Christ as that spiritual David ; Acts xiii. 34—37, * And as
concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to
corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sm-e mercies of David.
Wherefore he saith also in another psalm. Thou shalt not suffer tliine Holy
One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own genera-
tion by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and
saw corruption : but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption :' who
therefore is called David, as here and elsewhere ; and that oath God made
to David, shewed the everlasting oath and covenant made to Christ for his
seed : Ps. cxxxii. 10, 14, ' For thy servant David's sake, turn not away the
face of thine anointed. The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David ; he will
not turn from it ; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.'
And hence further to confirm this, we find, Titus i. 2, that ' eternal life
is promised afore the world began ;' which is to be understood in relation
to this covenant. A promise then was made ; that is, an expression of an
engagement, which is more than a purpose, for a promise is an expression
of a purpose ; and to whom can this be understood to be made so long
afore but to our head Christ ? And we were then looked at by God only
as in him ; to whom therefore for us he promised to give eternal life as the
fruit of his death. This very covenant, therefore, that God struck with
Christ for us, this was the promise meant ; which was, that as he should
die, so he would as certainly bestow the fruit and revenue of his death in
glory on those he gave to him.
So as though God had never expressed any promise to us, yet having
made it to Ckrist for us, he would have performed it ; therefore he adds,
God that cannot lie hath made this promise ; and further says, that as
before all worlds he made this promise and covenant with Chi'ist, so in due
time he hath further manifested this his word by preaching, &c. All the
promises that now are revealed are but the manifestation of that gi'and
promise; but copies, as it were, of that which was made to Christ, in whose
breast the original of our records are kept, and the application of those
promises to us is but the writing out the counterpane* of what was done
in heaven. As all promises are made in him, so all promises were first
made to him, and to us as one with him. Therefore, saj's the apostle,
* Not to seeds, as of many, but to seed, as of one, which is Christ,' Gal.
* Tliat is, ' counterpart.' — Ed.
80 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I.
iii. 16, who in our name, and for us, took a deed of gift from God the
Father, for all blessing we are to enjoy, before the world was. And there-
fore also, 2 Tim. i. 9, ' Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began.'
There is grace spoken of as given us in Christ ere the world began, which
place explains the fonner ; for as the former sajs it was promised, so this,
that grace was given us, and as then promised to Christ for us, so then also
given us in Christ, God looking on us as one with Christ. Which promise
is made upon that his promise to his Father, to give himself for us. The
sum of all is : his Father promiseth to him to give all spiritual blessings in
him, and then makes a deed of gift to him for our good and use ; even as
goods may be given to and by a feofi'ee in trust for one that is yet not born.
And so our life is said to be ' hid with Christ in God ; ' and so it was from
everlasting there laid up by God with Christ.
And hence also we find that all blessings which God in time bestows are
said to be given in Christ, ere they are actually to us. So Eph. i. 3,
' God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ.' So his pur-
pose of saving us is said to be purposed in Jesus Christ : Eph. iii. 10, 11,
' To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, accord-
ing to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
So to be reconciled in Christ here in the text. So, speaking of our re-
demption, he says, ' which is in Christ Jesus;' Rom. iii. 24, ' Being justi-
fied freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.'
So all grace is said to be given in Christ, 2 Tim. i. 9, before the world
was.* So 2 Tim. i. 1, ' Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.' The promise of
life is said to be in Jesus Christ. Now^ the phrase notes out a transaction,
an endowment of all these on us, not first immediately in ourselves, but in
Christ for us, and on us in him.
Hence likewise in Scripture we read of promises, not only conditional,
that he that believes and repents shall be saved, but also absolute ; as that
in Jeremiah, ' This is my covenant, to give them a new heart and a new
spirit, and they shall walk in my commandments,' Jer. xxxi. 33, wherein
he undertakes to fulfil the conditions themselves ; and that covenant must
needs be made with Christ first, and mediately for us ; and he only knows
for whom it is made, even for those his Father gave him.
CHAPTER X.
What is the reason that thour/h we receive all these blessings by Christ, and on
the account of his merits, yet titey are said to be yiven to us of pure grace.
And upon this covenant made with Christ, and compact between God
and him for us, comes it, that all things we have by Christ, though pur-
chased by him, are yet said to be by grace, as well as by Christ's merits,
because they are bestowed by a compact with Christ, by virtue of which
compact his merits are accepted for us ; so that though Christ laid down
a price worth all the grace and glory we shall have, yet that it should be
accepted for us, and all that grace bestowed on us, comes from this com-
* Vide Alliau. Ora. iii. cont. Avianos.
OhAP. XI.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 81
pact and covenant made by God witli Christ to accept it for us. And tho
acceptation of it for us depends as much on that covenant made with Christ
as on his merits. Therefore, Heb. x. 10, our sanctification and salvation
is ascribed as much to God's will and covenant with Christ (of which ho
spake, ver. 7) as to Christ's offering himself ; for he says, ' By which will
we are sanctified, through the offering of the body of Christ.' And there-
fore, as it is said that Chi-ist died, so also it is God that justifies ; Rom.
viii. 33, ' Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God
that justifieth ; ' justifies freely by his grace; Horn. iii. 24, ' Being justified
freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.' Though
Christ hath laid down a sufficient price, and equal to the guilt of our sins,
yet that God justifies us for it is an act of grace. Why ? Because the
acceptation of it for us was out of covenant ; and therefore our divines say
against the Jesuits, that his merits are merits ex compacto, and not which
absolutely could oblige God to us. Though they be equal to our demerits
by sin, yet it is only that relation that they had to this covenant made with
Christ which gave acceptation to them for us.
And the reason is, because to satisfy for another, especially in corporal
punishments, requires the compact and willingness of the party to be satis-
fied, to accept it for him that should else undergo it. Let the satisfaction
be never so equivalent to the wrong, yet without a covenant of the party
to be satisfied it may be refused. Therefore umpires use to bind the parties
in bond to stand to their word ; Quando aliiid offertur qiiam est in ohliga-
lione, satisfactio est recusuhiUs, say the schoolmen. So Ahab ofteredNaboth
as good a vineyard ns his own, yet he might refuse it, as he did. This
covenant therefore which God made with Chi'ist, to bestow all the merits
of his obedience on us, which he called him unto, is the main foundation
of all our happiness. As it obliged and engaged God firmly to us in Christ,
so it makes all that Christ purchased to be of grace. Though he paid an
equivalent price to what we should have done, and much more, yet it is
accepted for us out of a covenant of grace. And therefore in Rom. v. 17,
though the apostle shews and proves that there is more merit in Christ's
obedience to justify than in Adam's sin to condemn, yet the imputing of
it to us he calls ' abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness.'
Though it was an abounding righteousness, yet there was an abounding of
gi'ace to accept it for us, and it is derived by way of gift.
And the ground of all is because of this covenant made by God with
Christ for us, upon which the acceptation of all depends.
CHAPTER XL
That upon the conclusion of this agreement or covenant of redemption., there
was the greatest joy in heaven ; the divine persons exulting in the delightful
thoughts, that so many wretched, lost creatures should be effectually saved.
And now our reconciliation being brought to this blessed issue by God
the Father and his Son, their greatest delights have been taken up with it
ever since, so as never in like manner with anything else. There was
never such joy in heaven as upon this happy conclusion and agi'eement.
The whole Trinity rejoiced in it (which is the last thing, and the coronis of
this discourse), they not only never repented of what they had resolved
upon ; ' he swore, and would not repent,' Heb. vii. 21 ; but further, their
32 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK I,
cliiefest deliglits were taken up with this more than in all their works ad extra
God's heart was never taken so much with anything he was ahle to effect ;
so as the thoughts of this business, ever since it was resolved on, becamd
matter of greatest delight unto them.
This you may see, Prov. viii. 30, 31, ' Then I was by him, as one brought
up with him : and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; re-
joicing in the habitable part of his earth ; and my delights were with the
sons of men.' Where you have that curious question in part resolved,
what God did before the world was made ? How that eternity was run
out, and what the thoughts and delights of the great God most ran on ?
You have it resolved by one that knew his mind, and was of his council,
the ' mighty Councillor,' as being the Wisdom of his Father, as he is there
styled that was before God made the world, Prov. viii. 22, 23, ' The Lorr*
possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was
set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.'
' Then was I' (says he, ver 30) ' all the while by him,' that came out of
his bosom, John i. 18, and who therefore compares himself in this Prov.
viii. to a child brought up with the parent : ' so was I ' (says he) ' brought
up with him.' And what did they together ? Two things.
1. They delighted one with and in another, the Father that be was able
to beget such a Son like him, and of equal substance with himself : ' I was
daily his delight,' and he mine, ' rejoicing always before him.' And this
was and would have been delight enough to them, though no creature had
ever been made.
2. But, secondly, next to that, what did they delight in most ? It fol-
lows, 'rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth; and my delight was
with the sons of men.' And observe it, that next to those internal, essen-
tial, and personal delights each in other, the greatest and dearest unto
those two divine persons were their delights in ' the sons of men ;' of all
God's works ad extra, in these they most took pleasure.
Now, what is it concerning them should afford God and Christ such
thoughts so long aforehand, but this plot concerning them of reconciling
them again ? For to look and foresee them all at one clap turned rebels
against him, and view them mustering together in troops against him, this
could minister none but sad and disconsolate thoughts, and it pained him
at the heart to think of it : Gen. vi. 5, 6, ' And God saw that the wicked-
ness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the .
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord
that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.'
What was it delighted him then ? Men delight only in their friends, not
enemies- Was it in them then, as they were at first created in a state of
fiiendship, that God was pleased ? No. Then there were but a couple to
delight in ; but this delight is said to be ' in the sons of men,' all the earth
over, ' in the habitable parts of the earth,' which implies he had some in
all parts inhabited who were the desire and delight of his eyes. And be-
sides, that first friendship was not worth the thinking of, it lasted so little
while, and ended in so great and general a breach. These delights then
were most in this, to think that he should win to him and gain the love of
these accursed rebels whom he himself loved so dearly, and that he should
shew that his love, by an unheard of way, that should amaze angels and
men, to take away their sins, and reconcile them to himself again by the
incarnation and death of his Son ; and tie them to him by an everlasting
knot, ■svhich their sins should not untie again, nor separate from that hia
Chap. XI.] of Christ the mediator. ,33
love. This took up his delights (in the plural) ; ho delighted to think of
it again and again ; his double delights (as some paraphrase it) were in
this, insomuch as he glads himself with the continual thoughts of it again
and again. Which may appear by another scripture added unto this,
which tells us how his thoughts did run upon this so dear a design to him
(speaking after the manner of men), above all else, and that they were
taken up with it ; as it useth to be with us, when we are deeply affected
with anything. So Ps. xl. 5, ' Many,' says he, ' are the wonderful works
that thou hast done, and thy thoughts to us-ward cannot be reckoned.'
His mind hath ran on them from everlasting, that his thoughts cannot be
numbered. Thei-e are many works of wonder which he hath done for us,
which hath exercised these his thoughts towards us, but above all in this
we have been speaking of; therefore he passeth by all other works, and
mentions this very transaction, and calling of, and covenant with, his Son,
which we have all this while been speaking of, as that wherein these his
thoughts have been most spent and exercised with delight. So ver. 6-8,
' Sacrilice and oflering thou didst not desire ; mine ears hast thou opened :
burnt- ofi'ering and sin-ofi'oring hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo,
I come : in the volume of the book it is written of me, I dehght to do thy
will, my God : yea, thy law is within my heart '
And by all this you see that our salvation was in sure hands, even afore
the world was ; for God and Christ had engaged themselves by covenant
each to other for us, the one to die, the other to accept it for us.
And though Christ was yet to come and die, yea, and though there
were not one word of promise written that was made to us expressing
God's mind, yet this everlasting obligation made all sure that it should
be done.
So as had I no other news to tell you, and could not secretly assure you
of these passages from everlasting, they might be enough to persuade and
over-persuade you to come in for mercy and grace with him ; but much
more when it shall be further told you, what Christ hath done to the ac-
complishment of all this, and what fulness was in him for it, which makes
up the second part of this glorious story.
VOL. V,
84 OF CH3IST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK 11.
BOOK II.
The sole and peculiar fitness of Christ's person for the worlc of redemption.
For verily he took not on him the nature of anr/eJs ; but he took on him the seed
of Abraham. — Wherefore in all thinffs it behoved him, to be made like vnto
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the peopile. —
Heb. ii. 16, 17.
CHAPTER I.
Tliefitiuss of Christ's person for the work of a mediator, hath a great influence
to make it successful and prosperous.
Ix the first chapter, the apostle shewed that our mediator was God, and the
Son of God. In this second, he shews that he is man also, and a man made
of the same lump with other men, and flesh and blood as well as we. And
he knits up all with this, that thus it behoved him to be, that he might be
a priest to reconcile us to the Father. That therefore which these two
chapters drive at, is to shew the personal fitness, in all relations and respects,
that was in Christ for the work of mediation between God and us. A point
therefore to be insisted on, because it is the drift of these two whole chapters,
and is mdeed the foundation of all that follows, concerning his ofiices and
works ; which therefore he mentions not here only, but had intimated it
before, in ver. 10. To which we may add that in Heb. vii. 26, ' For such
an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens.' So that his singular fitness
for this work is a thing that the Scriptures would have us to take special
notice of, and which God aimed at in choosing him unto it, for,
First, In general, to give a reason or two of it. Fitness in the person
that goes about a matter of reconciliation, is more behoveful and available
to further it, than all the means and satisfaction besides that can bo made.
For reconciliation is a matter of fi'iendship, and therefore it is to be wrought
in a fi-iendly way, and a word from a fit person will ofttimes more prevail
to efi'ect it, than k gi'eat ransom from, and much entreaty by another. ' How
forcible are right words !' as Job says — fit words, rightly placed and ordered,
but especially when from a fit person ; the person adds grace and accepta-
tion to them.
Secondly, In reconciling us, God likewise had a special regard to this.
He aimed not only to have satisfaction made to his justice, and so to be
sure to have an equivalent ransom, but that he might be fully pleased. He
would have it carried on in the most pleasing and suitable way that might
be, that so his mind might receive full content in it, and that his love might
rest in it with delight, and that his wisdom also might infinitely please itself
CUAP. I.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOU. 85
ill the sweet harmony, the consent, and the fit accommoclations of all things
in it ; to see all aptly meet and accord for the making of his covenant, as
it might be sure, so ordered in all things (as the phrase is, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5).
But above all, that this conlluence of fitness should be especially in tho
person that was to perform it ; one that should be most pleasing to himself
and most fit for the business, even so fit, as none fitter. Thus the apostle,
in the text, giving the reason why God made him the ' Captain of our salva-
tion,' and appointed him to suifer : ' It became him,' says he, ' for whom and
by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain
of their salvation perfect through sufierings ;' that is, seeing this work of
redemption was the grand plot and master-piece of him who is both the
efiicient and end of all things, and that the bringing of many sons to gloiy
■was of his works and ends the master-piece, it became him therefore to
take such a course to do it as was worthy of him, and as might most
of all and best of all suit with all his ends, and with that work which con-
tains all his other works eminently in it. And therefore it was meet for
him to make choice of the fittest person that could be found in heaven or
earth to be his captain, and to make him, in saving us, as perfect as was
possible, as full and complete a Saviour in his person and in his works as
could be. And that nothing might be wanting in him which might be
thought fit for him who was our Saviour to perform, he was to sutler the
utmost of sufierings, rather than he should not be a full, perfect, and com-
plete Saviour ; ' God made him perfect through sufierings ;' for (as Christ
tells his disciples, Luke xsiv. 4) ' it behoved him thus to sufier.' And it
was his speech to John, Mat. iii. 15, ' Thus it becomes us to fulfil all
righteousness.' And surely that God, who did all things else in a due pro-
portion, in weight and measure, and this, in his works of an inferior kind
and mould, the works of creation (wherein we yet see he hath artificially
suited one thing to another), will much more in this transcendent work of re-
demption cause the greatest harmony to meet in the plot and contrival of it.
And so I come to the point delivered, namely.
That there is a fulness of fitness in the person of Christ for this gi'eat work
of reconciliation between us and God.
First, I say, ' In the person of Christ.' For although in the works of
his mediation there may a great correspondent fitness be observed, and a
harmonious proportion, both in relation to the benefits they are to procure
for us, and between themselves (as was before observed), yet we must now
in this head bind ourselves only to the fitness in his person ; and therein
also carefully sever such considerations as tend to discover his fulness of
abilities for this work, many of which are apt to fall under this head.
Which notwithstanding we will keep as immixed as we can from these, which
argue his fitness, and reserve those other for a second head.
Seconclhj, There is not only ' a fitness,' but a ' fulness of fitness ;' so that
suppose others besides him had been able, yet none so fit, or in whom there
is an universal concurrency both of fitnesses and abilities. And therefore
he is designed out for this work with an emphasis : Col. i. 20, ' And (hav-
ing made peace through the blood of his cross) by him to reconcile all things
unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in
heaven.' ' By him, by him, I say ;' and so ' in him ' is with the like emphasis
repeated, as denoting him to be eminently fit above all others, in Eph. i.
10, ' that, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather
together in one aU things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which
are on eai-th, even in him.'
36 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
This? premised, we will proceed hv degrees, and we shall find, that there
was nothing in his person but what fitted hi in for this work.
Consider what he was before he took our nature ; what this he was,
mentioned in the IGth ver., ' He took,' &c. For he was a person of him-
self ere he took our nature. And this refers to the first chapter, where the
apostle shews that he was God, and the Son of God : Heb. i. 3, 5, ' Who,
being the brightness of his glory, and tlie express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high ;' ver.
5, ' For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee ? And again, I will be to him a Father, and
he shall be to me a Son ?' And thus it behoved him to be, that was our
priest.
It behoved him to be God. It was not fit that any mere creature
should have the honour to be the mediator and reconciler. Could we sup-
pose that a creature had been able to have performed it, yet it h?,d been no
way fit. The honour of this place and office was too transcendent for any
mere creature ; and nothing is more unseemly and uncomely than an office
of dignitv and honour misplaced, as Solomon tells us. And this crown of
honour woukl not have fitted and sat w dl on any creature's head. An
honour T call this office, and that the most transcendent ; for to be a priest,
was to be taken out, and separated from, and above other men, to draw
nigh to God for them; Heb. v. 1, 'For every high priest, taken from
among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may
ofier both gifts and sacrifices for sins.' And therefore it is such ' an honour'
(says he at the 4th ver.) ' as no man takes to himself, but he that is called
of God, as was Aaron.' And yet, what was the high priesthood of Aaron
in comparison with this ? A mere shadow ; not so much as an image of
it, as is said of the types of the law : Heb. x. 1, ' For the law having a
shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can
never with those sacrifices, which they ofiered year by year continually,
make the comers thereunto perfect.' It was but as the office of a king-at-
arms in comparison of a real king indeed. And therefore this priesthood,
to otter real satisfaction, is accounted such a glory, as Christ himself (though
full of all infinite perfections, and in whom the fulness of the Godhead
dwells) took not upon him till he was called ; as chap. v. ver. 5, ' So also
Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest ; but he that said
unto him. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.' The phrase
used is, that ' he glorified not himself to be made an high priest,' &c. It
is not an honourable office only this, by which phrase Aaron's is expressed
to us, but it is glorious. He being to be not an ' high priest ' only, but to
be ' a great high priest :' chap. iv. 14, ' Seeing then that we have a great
hi<7h priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us
hold fast our profession.' Yea, it is so glorious as is fit for none but the
King of glory, who is the only wise God. Which therefore, as it is so
glorious, as Christ, till caUed unto it, takes it not on him, so it is so tran-
scendent a glory, as God will not bestow it on, or call any to it, but him
who is God. ' My glory' (says God) ' I will not give unto another,' Isa.
xlii. 8. And this office he accounts part of it. Road the words going
before (and which occasioned that speech), and you shall find that they are
spoken of the bestowing this office upon Christ, and the glorifying him by
calling him to it : ver. 6, 7, ' I the Lord have called thee, and will give thee
for a covenant,' &c. And then follows, ' My glory will I not give unt(?
CUAP. II. J OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 87
another.' As God will not give his praise and worship to graven images
(as in the words following), so nor this glory to any creature, not to any
other but to one who is God equal with himself. And consider but that
one main end and consequent of his mediiition there expressed, that he
was to be made a covenant for the people ; that is, the founder and striker
up, and mediator of a new covenant for us (as he is called, Heb. ix. 15) — •
yea, a surety, not only of a new covenant, when an old one is made void,
but of a ' better covenant' (as he is called, Heb. vii. 22), ' established upon
better promises' (as it is Heb. viii. 6) — a better covenant than the angels
stand under, who yet are the most glorious of all the creatures. And there-
fore ' he hath obtained ' (says the text there) ' a more excellent ministry, by
how much he is the mediator of a better covenant :' not brought into a
better covenant, or made under a better covenant (which is our happiness),
but the maker of that better covenant itself, yea, so as to be made that
covenant ; and it will be evident that it was not fit for any mere creature to
undertake so great an office.
CHAPTER II.
That it ivas iiecessary for our mediator to be G'jd, — '-He coidd not otherwise
have been presoit at the making of the etermd covenant of redemption. —
None bat God could have the pniver to bestow such great blessings as are
those of tJie covenant. — None but God could be the obj'ct of our trust, faith,
and hope, and obedience. — Nom but God could be sufficiently able to succour
us at all times.
That Christ the Son of God was the only fit person to be the mediator,
will appear plainly to us upon these considerations :
I. If you consider that it was fit that he who thus made a covenant for
us should be present at the making of it, and at the first striking of the
bargain, and should be privy to the plot, and know the bottom of God's
counsel in it, and the depth of all his secrets, and should know for whom
and what he was to purchase, and upon what conditions ; now then this
plot and covenant, having been as ancient as eternity, even an everlasting
covenant, and it being requisite that God should have om- mediator by him
from eternity, with whom he might strike it for us, and also that he should
know all God's secrets, and be admitted into all his counsels from eternity,
therefore no creature could be capable of this. * For who of them hath been
his counsellor ?' And who knows his depths of election, which are past
finding out ? as Rom. xi. 33, 34, ' the depths of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and
his ways past finding out !' ver. 34, ' For who hath known the mind of the
Lord ? or who hath been his counsellor ?' God may say to all the creatures
as he said to Job, Where were you when the plot of redemption was laid,
and the platform thereof drawn, and the book of life penned, and the names
of my redeemed ones put in ? None but he whose name is ' Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, and everlasting Father,' as Isa. ix. 6, was
capable of all this ; which names of his are put into that promise of him as
mediator, because it was requisite that our mediator should be all this.
And now he being tl e mighty God, he might be of counsel with God from
eternity, he was present at the first pricking down our names, nnd foreknew
all God's choice. He stood at God's elbo.v and consulted vith him whose
88 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR- [BoOK 11.
names to put in (' Then I was by him,' says he, Prov. viii. 30), and so
became their everlasting Father, begetting them in the womb of eternal
election.
II. If we consider the conditions of the covenant, no mere creature was
fit to undertake them ; neither those on God's part, nor those on ours.
1. Not those on God's part. Was it fit that a mere creature should be
God's executor, and have power to leave such legacies, as the promises of
heaven, pardon of sin, &c., are ? Without whom, and without whose blood,
all those promises had been of no force, but had been nothing worth ; as
Heb. ix. 15—18, ' And for this cause he r's the mediator of the new testa-
ment, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that
were under the first testament, tliey which are called might receive the pro-
mise of eternal inheritance.' Ver. IG, ' For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator.' Ver. 17, ' For a tes-
tament is of force after men are dead : otherwise it is of no strength at all
whilst the testator liveth.' Ver. 18, ' Whereupon neither the first testa-
ment was dedicated without blood.' Was it fit that a mere creature's hand
and seal should be required to God's own will and testament, or else it
could not be of force ? Certainly it was too much. And therefore the
apostle, ver. 14, having shewed how Christ ' by the eternal Spirit ofiered
up himself ' (that is, by his Godhead, &c.), he adds, ver. 15, 'For this
cause he is the mediator of the new testament.' Hence it was that he
became the founder of it, that he was ' the eternal Spirit,' God immortal,
else he had not been capable of being mediator of such a testament ; a
testament also, whereby he not only was to undertake to make satisfaction,
and to make good all God's legacies, but to make good in us the condi-
tions on our part, by writing the law in the heart. For that is the new
covenant, as Heb, viii. 10, 11, ' For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts ; and I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people :' ver. 11, ' And they shall not
teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying. Know
the Lord : for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.' And if
the mediator had not engaged to do this, God would not have dealt with
him, for he will make sure work in the covenant, since it was to be a cove-
nant ordered in all things, and sure ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, ' Although my house
be not so with God ; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, and sure : for this is all my salvation, and all my
desire, although he make it not to grow.' And what creature could do
this ? Or was it fit that God should put so much trust in any creature, who
' finds folly in his angels, and puts no confidence in his saints ? ' God would
not vouchsafe to treat or trade with any mere creature, upon so high and
deep engagements, nor enter into partnership with them, to share alike, as
in that covenant thus made God and the mediator of it were to do.
2. The part which we bear in the covenant, and our actings in it, ren-
dered it unmeet that au}^ but the Son of God should have the administration
of it committed to him. For,
First, If we consider what is the business and acts of our faith, it will be
evident that it was fit and requisite that our mediator should bo such a one
as we might rely upon, and trust in. Now was it fit that any mere ci'eature
should be made and set forth to us as the object of our faith ? And yet it
is that faith which is the most suitable condition for the covenant of grace ;
as Piom. iv. 10, 'It is therefore of faith, that it might be by grace ; and sure
Chap. II. j of ciikist the mediator. 39
to all the seed.* And that faith must pitch upon our mediator as upon a
corner-stone laid by God, as a sure foundation (as Paul and Potcr speak),
so as he that belicveth niis^ht not come to be ashamed : 1 Pet. ii. 6, ' Whore-
fore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief
corner stone, elect, precious: and he that belicveth on him shall not bo
confounded.' Would it then have been, or could any arm of flesh have
thus secured us, or under-pi'opped our hearts ? Or was it fit that any crea-
ture should be propounded to us, as the object of our faith as justifying, and
so be ' set forth as a propitiation throush faith in his blood,' and mediation ;
and so we to be justified by faith in him (as the apostle's expressions are in
Horn, iii.) ? No, this is an honour not fit to be put upon any creature ;
no, not on all the anj^els and saints. Take, not Peter only (on whom the
papists say the church is built), but the whole church and family of God in
heaven and earth, and we say indeed, that ' we believe the catholic church,'
but not ' in the catholic church ; ' we believe only in God, and i)i Jesus
Christ. Any creature had been too weak a foundation to build the faith of
the church upon ; they could not have borne the weight of it. And there-
fore, 1 Tim. iii. 16, when the apostle had said, ' God manifested in the
flesh,' he adds, * believed on in the world,' for if he who was manifest in
the flesh had not been God, he could not have been the object of faith.
And, indeed, it was fit for us that we should have one whom we might fully
trust, and whose sufficiency might answer all our fears. For if a creature
had been our mediator, we would have been afraid of a miscarriage in the
business, as there was such a cause of fear whilst the concern was in the
hands of our father and head, Adam ; and we should still have feared that
the devil might overcome us and him again ; and though he had held out
many years, yet we would have been afraid that one day he might fail and
have perished. Besides, we should continually have feared, that the guilt
of our sins would revive again in our consciences, for conscience being sub-
ject to God only, no mere creature therefore could still it, or purge it ; but
it is the eternal Spirit alone that can do it, as the apostle shews, Heb. ix.
14, ' How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the etei'nal
Spirit oflered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God ? ' And it is God alone that can subdue
iniquities : Micah vii. 18, 19, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity, and passeth bj' the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ?
He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.' Ver.
19, ' He v>-ill turn again, he will have compassion upon us ; he will subdue
our iniquities ; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.'
Therefore, to take away all fears, it was fit that our reconciler should be
God. And therefore, Isa. xxxv. (throughout which the coming of Christ is
foretold) ver. 3, ' Strengthen you' (says the prophet) 'the feeble hands,'
&c., . . . ' say unto them that are of a fearful heart. Be strong, fear not :
behold, your God will come with vengeance,' namely, to destroy the enemies
of your salvation ; he says it again, ' God will come with a recompence ; '
and then again he speaks it, ' he will come and save you ;' and he goes on
to shew his kingdom, ver. 5, 6, 7, ' Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.' Ver. 6, ' Then shall
the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing : for in the
wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.' Ver. 7,
* And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs
of water : in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass, with
reeds and rushes.' Any other saviour would have needed salvation himself,
40 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
except him who is salvation itself, and so Christ is called : Luke ii. 28-30,
* Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,' ver. 29,
' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word : '
ver. 30, ' For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.'
The second condition is obedience, even that we should wholly give up
ourselves to his service for ever, which also comes in in our indentures, and
is mentioned in the covenant on our parts, and which, out of thankfulness,
we could not but perform, as a due to him that should be our mediator.
For he that should have reconciled us must have bought us, and so deli-
vered us from death and hell ; and if so, we must then by all right and
equity have been his servants for ever. Now surely, God would not have
us so obliged to any mere creature, as wholly to serve and obey it ; and
therefore it was fit that none but God himself should save and buy us out ;
1 Cor. vii. 23, * Ye are bought with a price : be not the servants of men.'
To prevent which inconvenience, God himself would redeem us, that we
might serve none but him : ' Him only shalt thou serve,' for it is his due.
The apostle also judgeth it an equal thing that men should live to him who
died for them, to redeem them from death. Thus, 2 Cor, v. 14, 15, ' We
thus judge,' saith he, ' that in that he died for all, they who live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them.' It was
therefore no way fit that any mere creature should be employed in this
work. It was fit that none should do so much for us, but only he who made
us ; for to justify us, and to restore us out of this miserable, lost condition,
was more than at first to create us. For our misery was worse than a not-
being ; and should it ever be said that a creature had done as much for us
as God did at the first ?
Thirdhj, Besides all this, would we not have had such a Saviour (to
choose) as might know our hearts, and be able to succour us ? on whom
we might rest securely, that he knows God's mind, and searcheth the deep
things of him, and who is his counsellor ? And therefore, when he speaks
to us kindly, we may be sure God means us good, and in whose face we
may read God's mind. Would we not have such a Saviour as might have
an unlimited power over all flesh to defend us, so that nothing shall be able
to withstand our salvation ? As John xvii. 2, ' As thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given him.' Now such an one must be God, who can save not only the
body, but the soul too. All the creatures, as they can destroy the body
only, so they can save the body only ; and of the two it is more easy to
destroy than to save. When the people of Israel were to be led into
Canaan, and so to be carried through the wilderness, and through many
enemies and difliculties, they hearing (Exod. xxxiii. 2) that an angel should
go before them, and drive out the Canaanites (ver. 3), and that God would
not himself immediately go up with them, it is said, that ' all the people
mourned because of this;' yea, and Moses also (at the 12th verse) was
fearful of a mere angel's conduct, his heart was not secured thereby, as it
would have been if God himself would have been pleased to go with them.
And therefore he says to God, ' Thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt
send with me.' And yet God had told him that an angel should. But
Moses seemed not to understand God, but would have had another answer.
Thus, when we are fearful and cannot trust to the conduct or undertaking
of one employed for us, we use to say, to a friend that puts it oS" and sends
another. You leave me. and send I know not whom with me ; that is, one
that I am not secure of, one in whose sufliciency I cannot rest for the per-
Chap. 111. J of cuuist thk mediator. 41
formance. And this therefore (ver. 4) is called ' evil tidings.' In Exod.
xxiii. 20, before this, there was an angel promised to go before them, namely,
Christ the angel of the covenant, who indeed was God (for, ver. 21, he says,
' My name is in him'), and then the people's hearts were quieted. So
that some think that this other angel in the 23d* chapter was but some
mere created angel, whom when they heard to be substituted in God's stead
to be their leader, then they mourned ; and then Moses also complained.
However, if it were the same angel, yet they understood it and conceived of
it to be a creature, and not the Son of God. By which you see that the
people desired that no creature, no, not an angel, should be their leader
(though one angel could destroy a host of men in a night), but they would
have God himself or none. And so if w^e had been to have chosen a
* captain of our salvation,' a head and governor ' to bring us unto glory,'
as the apostle speaks, Heb. ii. 10, and withal had known that there was
speech iu heaven of, and so a possibility, of having the Son of God for this
cm* captain, how would we have said as he did of Goliath's sword, ' There
is none like to this saviour ! ' Or as they of Joseph, ' Can we find such
another one as this ? ' And on the contrary, if God had instead of him
sent but an angel to redeem us, how would we have mourned, as the people
there did, and as John did. Rev. v. 4 ; and have said as Moses., ' We
know not whom thou wilt send with us ' ? We will therefore conclude
with that which God speaks, Isa. xliii. 11, 'I am the Lord, and besides me
there is no Saviour.'
CHAPTER III.
OJ the three persons in the Godhead, the Son is the fittest to he mediator. —
What are the reasons of it.
We have seen it was meet our redeemer should be God, and the God-
head itself cannot become a redeemer but as subsisting in a person, one of
three. Now which of the three so fit as is the Son ? The oath and
decree of God makes the Son to be appointed to this office. And the
reasons of the fitness and meetness of this second person are :
First, If we consider the relations of the three persons among themselves,
he is of all the fittest to undertake this work.
1. It was meet the ibioiiJ^aTa, or the proper titles by which the persons of
the Trinity are distinguished, should be kept and preserved distinct, and no
way confounded. He that was to be mediator it was meet he should be the
Son of man, the son of a woman as his mother, as I shall shew anon ; and
this title and appellation will fithest become him that is a Son (though of
God) already ; and it was not fit there should be two sons, or two persons
in the Trinity to bear the relation or title of sons. For instance, that
the Father shovild in any respect be said to be a Son, or to have a mother,
or call David or Abraham father, was most improper ; so as this would not
become him. And so in like manner it was as unfit for the Holy Ghost,
who himself was to have the hand in his conception, to be called a Son ;
but that the Son of God should is not improper, for he is a Son already.
2. It was meet that the Son of God should be this mediator, that the due
order that is between these three persons be also kept. The Father is the
first, the Son the second, the Holy Ghost the third ; and he that is to be
» Qu. '33d'?— Ed.
42 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
mediator must be called to it, and sent by another person, therefore the
Father is not to be mediator ; for both the Son and the Holy Ghost being
from the Father in subsisting, are not to send the Father, who is the first.
And as the order of their subsisting, so of their working ; and therefore the
Holy Ghost, he likewise being the third person, cannot so fitly be mediator;
for though he might be sent from the Father and the Son, as he proceeds
from both, j'et his work and task is to work from the Son, and to take off
his work wrought first, as the Son is to take from the Father : John
V. 19, 20, ' Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto 3"ou, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father
do : for what things soever he doth, these also doth the Son likewise. For
the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doth :
and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.' And
as in order of subsisting, the person of the Spirit proceeds from him, so in
order of working, his work is from the Son's work , ' He shall take of mine,'
says Christ, ' and shew it to you;' John xvi. 13—15, 'Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth : for he shall not
speak of himself : but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak :
and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me : for he shall
receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father
hath are mine : therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew
it unto you.' And therefore he that is to be mediator to redeem must
be the Son, who may send the Holy Ghost to apply his work, who, being
the last person, is to appear last in the world, and take the last work,
which redemption is noi, but the application of it. And therefore,
3. The Father is the person to whom the redemption is to be paid in
the name of the persons ; to whom the reconciliation is made by the re-
deemer ; and the Holy Ghost is he that most fitly should apply that redemp-
tion unto us the redeemed. Therefore the redemption itself fitly falls to
the Son's share.
And secondhj, As thus to preserve the due decorum among the persons,
so also in respect of the work itself, it was most proper to him.
1. He being the middle person of the three, bears the best resemblance
of the work, to be a mediator, to come between for us, to the other two.
Herein the work and the person suit. He was from the Father, and the
Holy Ghost from him, and it is he in whom, as it were, the other two are
united, and are one, and so he is not* able to lay hands on both. As the
nature of man is a middle nature between the whole creation, earthly and
heavenly ; and as for one and the same person to be both God and man
was a middle rank between God and us men ; so is the Sou of God a
middle person between the persons themselves.
2. It best suited all the particular benefits of redemption, and the ends
thereof. Many divines, for the demonstration of this, allege that the second
person being that Word by whom all things were made, as Heb. i. 2 and
John i. 3, that therefore it was fit for him to restore all ; and it is certain
that in those places his working all things is alleged on purpose to shev/ it
was meet he should be the restorer of them. It becomes him who hath
such an interest in the first building, that he should found them anew and
repair them. It is alleged also that he was the life of man in innocency :
John i. 4, ' In him was life, and the life was the light of men ;' and there-
fore he was fittest to restore that new life. Eph. ii. 1, ' And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sius.' Ver. 5, ' Even when we
* Qu. ' he is ' '?— Ed.
Chap, m.] of cheist the mediator. 43
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye arc
saved).' Also that he being the image of God, therefore to restore it in
man when it was fost, the best way was to set forth the original image, and
to bring our decayed unage to this to be conformed. But I allege not these
to this purpose, as not being certain whether these things are spoken of
him, considered simply as second person, or as foreseen and decreed to bo
God-man (as I have elsewhere* shewn), which design, besides the work of
redemption, served to all these ends and purposes. But I shall mention
one, which is the main end of his being mediator, and for the bestowing
which redemption maketh way ; that is, adoption, and maldng us sons,
which is made one of the gi'eatcst benefits of all other, Eph. i. 5. Now it
is certain that to convey this to us, of all persons the Son was the fittest ;
Gal. iv. 4, 5, ' God sent forth his Son, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.'
"Where there is a double antithesis or opposition : (1.) Christ a Son, to
make us sons ; (2.) Christ made under the law, to redeem us that were
under the law. We were slaves under the law ; who then was so fit to
redeem us as the King's Son ? We were servants ; who then so fit to con-
vey sonship as the eldest Son ? And to sinners convey sonship he could
not, till they were redeemed, as that place shews. God was to be a Father
to us, and in whom or for whose sake so fitly as for his Son's, through our
union and marriage with him ? Heaven and the glory of it is called adop-
tion : Piom. viii. 23, ' And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body ;' and to bestow this
on us by a right of inheritance, for whom was it so proper as for God's own
Son, the heir of all things ? This is manifest further by these scriptures :
John xs. 17, ' I go to my Father and to your Father;' and ' In my Father's
house are many mansions,' John xiv. 2. As if he should have said, I am
his eldest Son, I can bid you welcome thither. And so in Rom. viii. 17,
* Ye are heirs and co-heirs with Christ ;' and in many the like places.
Some divines say that no person else could have been mediator, because
sonship was to be derived to us ; for nothing, say they, is communicated
by grace to us but is first in the Godhead, or in some person in the God-
head, who is made ours, and so it is derived through fellowship with him.
Thus we are made wise because God is wise, holy because God is holy, and
we made partakers of the divine nature, which is the image of what is in
God. Now therefore, in like manner, if we be sons, it must be through a
sonship found in one of the persons, and our communication with that
person, and so we are made sons because he is. I will not say it could
not have been otherwise ; sure I am it was fittest and comeliest it should
be so.
And also that we should be accepted graciously, and beloved of God,
which of ourselves, without a mediator, we could not be ; who so fit as the
Son to make us thus accepted, who is the first beloved, the Sen of his love,
as he is called. Col. i. 13, ' Who hath delivered us from the power of dark-
ness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.' But the
Holy Ghost proceeds from both per modum amoris, and so is rather the re-
flection of love of both, wherewith God loves his Son and himself also.
Then the Son was fittest to be the mediator in respect of all those offices
that belong to the performance of this great work.
* In the ' Discoiirse of the Knowled.cje of Gnd the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ.'
In 2d Vol. of his Works.— [In Vol iV. of this Series.— Ed.]
44 OF CUBIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
As First, If we regard the office of high priest, who so fit as the Son, the
eldest Son, to be so ? it being the birthright of the eldest in the family, by
the law of nature, to be the priest. Therefore, Heb. v., to prove that he
was a priest, the apostle presently cites that saying out of the second Psalm,
' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,' as being all one with
that other which follows, quoted out of Ps. ex., ' Thou art a priest for ever.'
And especially when the work of oux salvation and his mediation was to be
transacted by intercession ; none so fit to be an advocate with the Father
(as John speaks) as Jesus the Son. 1 John ii. 1, ' My little children, these
things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.'
Secondly, If we consider the office of being a prophet, none so fit for this
as the Word and Wisdom of the Father ; therefore, Heb. i. 1, it is said that
in the last days God hath spoken by his Son. Who so fit to break up
God's counsels as the mighty Counsellor, and next in counsel to himself?
• None hath seen God at any time ;' but it follows, ' The only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,' John i. 18.
Aad so, thirdly, for the kingly office, none so fit as the heir, as sons use
to be ; none so fit to have all judgment and the kingdom committed to him
as God's Son.
And last of all, if we consider the inauguration into these offices and
work of mediation, it was by an anointing, as all those offices of old were.
He was to be the Messiah, and God's Anointed ; now the Father (as was
meet) was to be the Anointer : so Acts iv. 27, ' For of a truth, against thy
holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together ;' and
the Holy Ghost was to be the oil with which he was to be anointed above
his fellows ; as it is expressly. Acts x. 38, ' How God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power : who went about doing
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil ; for God was with
him.' So as in this respect none bat the Son was capable of these offices,
and to be Messiah or the Anointed one ; and so accordingly he was conse-
crated a priest for ever.
CHAPTER IV.
That it was necessary our mediator should be man. — Tlie reasoiu ivhy the an-
gelical nature would not hare been proper for this work; and therefore why
Christ assumed not that, but the nature of man.
That which next is to be demonstrated is, that if Christ be a mediator,
he must be something else than mere God or second person ; as the text
saith, ' He took to himself the seed of Abraham.'
For, first, if he be a reconciler he must become a priest, and ofier up
something by way of satisfaction to God ; so Heb. viii. 3, ' Every high
priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices : wherefore of necessity he
must have somewhat to offer ; ' and that which he ofiers must needs yet be
greater than all things but God. For nothing else would be a sacrifice
great enough to expiate sin ; and therefore that which he offers must some
way be himself, for otherwise there could nothing be greater than all
things, and yet withal something else than God. And therefore still it is
said, ' he offered himself.' But if he be God only, he cannot be sacrificed
lior offered up.
Chap. IV.] op christ the mediator. 45
And again, secondly, if he be God only, he should reconcile us to his
own self; but he that is a reconciler must be some way made diverse from
him unto whom the reconciliation is made, for he is to be a surety to him ;
and therefore Christ being made man, he, as 'oix.ovoij,r/.ui;, or ministerially
considered, is diverse from himself as (pvaixuig considered, viz., as he is
the Son of God, and so is fit to become a party between us, and to recon-
cile us to himself.
And, third!;/, if he be a reconciler and mediator, he must become some
way subject to God, and less than God ralione officii ; as he says, * My
Father is greater than I,' John xiv. 28, for he must subject and submit
himself, and be obedient, and be content to be aiTested by the law. He
must become an intercessor and entroater, and so become subject, as
Christ did, who, when he was equal with God, humbled himself: Phd. ii.
0-8, ' Who, being in the form of God, thought it not 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 as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.'
Now, then, if he must take up some creature or other, it must be a
rational creature ; and therefore there being but two sorts of creatures
reasonable, angels and men, they are both mentioned in the text as those
that only were capable and fit for this assumption. The disputes of some
hchoolmen, that the Son of God might have assumed any creature, though
unreasonable, into one person with himself, are in a manner blasphemous.
And, to be sure, if such an assumption bad been possible, yet unfit.
First ; for his person, for which we see the reasons of the schoolmen, for
there was reason that he that is taken up to this glory should be capable
of knowing and loving God.
And secondly ; and above all, for this work, for he must be holy : Heb.
vii. 26, ' For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, un-
defiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.' Such
a high priest became us as was holy, he should not fulfil the law else.
He must love God, for love is the fulfilling of the law. He must have an
understanding and a will. He must be full both of grace and truth : of
truth in his understanding part, of grace in his will. And he was to be-
come obedient to God for us, and to have a holy will ; for the will of the
Godhead could not have become subject.
Now, then, seeing there are but two rational natures, angels and men,
that can stand for this place, it is to be considered which of these two is
the fitter.
Now, consider this fitness as it relates to the person of the Son of God
simply so considered ; and so the nature of angels was a fairer match for
him by far. But an angel, though a more fit match for him who is a
Spirit, and they spirits, and so there is a nearer assimilation, and which
he would have assumed and united to himself (for his soul, when separate,
was still united to him) ; yet it was not so fit for this business to reconcile
us, therefore he says, Heb. ii. 16, at no hand he took their nature. He
supposeth it possible, he would not else have instanced in it, but he by no
means supposeth it as fit ; for ' it behoved him to be made hke unto his
brethren.'
First, It was not so fit for us that he should assume the angelical nature,
it was not so fit,
1. That we, being the persons to be reconciled, should be beholden
46 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK 11.
to a stranger, but to a Icinsman of our own nature. It was a law in Israel
that their prince should not be a stranger ; and it was meet to take place
in this, that one should not be a mediator who is a stranger.
2. That the relations that were to be between us and him might be
founded upon the greatest nearness, and so more natural and kindl}', it
was meet that the mediator should be of the same nature with us.
(1.) He that reconciled us was to be head to us; and it was fit the head
and the bod}^ should be, as near as could be, of the same nature, homo-
geneal, not diverse, else there would be a monstrosity in it.
(2.) We were to be made sons in him, and he to be our brother, and
therefore to be of the same nature. Cant. viii. 1.
(3.) He was to be a husband to us, and man and wife must be of tha
same nature, that she may be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.
3. That he might more natm-ally love us more, and we him, it was fit
that he should take our natui'e. Likeness is the cause of love. Brethren
that are like each other, love more than the other of the brethren use to
do ; therefore God made man in his image at first, that so he might be the
nearer object of his love. But if he will take up our natm^e also to him-
self, how will this raise his love yet higher ! His end in reconciling was
to make us like himself, and therefore he made himself like to us, and we
being to partake of a divine natm-e from him, he partakes of a human
nature with us ; and therefore he was made in the likeness of man. Kngs,
whom they love, they use to apparel like themselves ; their favourites were
so of old. As men are to love men better than angels, because made of
one blood, and God did it on pui-pose ; so Christ seeing his own nature in
us, and that we are given him, cannot but love us the better ; he cannot be
averse to his own flesh and blood.
Secondly, An angel's nature would not have been so fit for the business
or work itself; for,
1. Seeing that justice permitted a commutation, it was but comely that
yet justice might be satisfied in all other points as near as possibly might
be. It was but fitting that satisfaction should be made in the sameness of
natui-e at least, seeing it could not be by the same individual persons.
This reason seems to be rendered, Bom. viii. 3, ' For 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.'
He took the likeness of sinful flesh, to condemn sin in the flesh. Also
this was meet, that the very same nature that was contaminated and
defiled might be cleansed and purified, that they who are sanctified, and
he that sauctifieth, might be of one natm-e : Heb. ii. 11, ' For both he
that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one : for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.'
And, 2. Seeing that we fell by the sin of a man, God (that in his wisdom
and justice loves like proportion to be made up, himself making all things
in due order and measm'e) ordained that we should be redeemed by a man.
This reason is intimated 1 Cor. xv. 21, ' Since by man came death, by man
also the resurrection of the dead ;' and so by the like parallel reason, seeing
by man came sin, by man came redemption ; the like proportion the apostle
also holds forth, Bom. v. 15-18, ' But not as the ofience, so also is the
free gift. For if thi-ough the ofience of one many be dead ; much more the
gi-ace of God, and the gift by grace," which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is
the gift : for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift
CnAP, IV.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 47
is of many offences nnto justification. For if by one man's offence death
reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and
of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. There-
fore, as by the oHence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ;
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life.'
Thirdly, If we consider the obedience which the mediator was to perform
for us, it was not fit he should be an angel. For,
1. He was to fulfil the whole law, and every iota of it, and that in a
double respect.
(1.) For our righteousness.
(2.) For our example.
Now in either of these respects an angel was not so fit ; for the angels
were not capable of fulfilling so many parts of the law as a human nature
is. An angel could not perform the ceremonial, as to be circumcised, &c. ;
nor half the moral, as to be subject to parents, to be temperate, sober, to
sanctify the Sabbath, &c. But it became him that was our mediator (as far
as possibly might be) to fulfil all (that is, every part of) righteousness.
2. He was to fulfil all this righteousness by way of example, Socinug
he would make it all the intent of Christ's coming into this world (but
blasphemously) ; yet this was requisite, that Christ should set us the greatest
example of holiness. 1 Peter ii. 21, 'He left us an example that we should
follow his steps : who, when he was reviled, re\dled not again, nor was guile
found in his mouth.' He was to be a visible example ; now so an angel's
obedience could not have been. He was to be a perfect example and copy
— Follow me as I follow Christ, says Paul, 1 Cor. xi 1 — now so an angel
could not have been. All duties of obedience that are performed in the
body, as we are men, they are not capable of; the second table is cut
off to them ; their obedience is only spiritual, and the duties of the first
table.
As thus an angel's nature only could not have fulfilled that law we were
to have fulfilled, so much less could it have suffered what was requisite.
They could have endured God's wrath indeed, but not that other curse which
went out in the letter against us ; they could not die, not retui'n to dust, and
bodily death was threatened, ' To dust thou shalt return.' They had no
body and soul to be separated by death, and therefore could not be a sacri-
fice for sin, for without blood there is no remission : Heb. ix. 22, ' And
almost all things are by the law purged with blood ; and without shedding of
blood is no remission ;' for without blood it had not been extensive, a full
redemption. Now the angels have no blood to lay down nor shed.
Lastly, It was not so fit that we should be reconciled by angels, but by
one in our own nature, that so the devils might be the more confounded.
Now seeing the devil had out of malice rained man's natm-e, God would
have man's nature to destroy the works of the devil, as 1 John iii. 8, ' He
that committeth sin^ is of the devil ; for the deril sinneth from the begin-
ning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might de-
stroy the works of the devil.' And God, to the devil's confusion, would have
him led captive by one who is man. So Heb. ii. 14, * He took the nature
of man, that he might by death destroy him that had the power of death.*
It is a reason given of his assuming it. If this gi'eat act had been done by
an angel, the devil might have said he had met with his match, and so was
foiled ; but to have it done by a weak man, one that was once a babe, a
suckling, this was a mighty confusion of him. And thus it is noticed in
48 OF CHRIST THE JIEOIATOE. [BoOJi II.
the 8th psalm, which is apphed to Christ, ' Out of the mouths of sucklings
thou hast ordained strength, that thou mightest still the enemy and avenger,'
Ps. viii. 2. And this very confusion and revenge upon Satan, who was the
cause of man's fall, was aimed at by God at first ; therefore is the first promise
and preaching of the gospel to Adam brought in rather in sentencing him
than in speaking to Adam, that the seed of the woman should break the
serpent's head, it being in God's aim as much to confound him as to save
poor man.
CHAPTER V.
Tliat it was Jit that our mediator sliould he both God and man in one person,
that so he viif/ht partake of the nature of both parties, and be a middle per-
son between them, and Jill tip the distance, and briny the.n near to one another,
— That he might be in a better capacity to communicate unto us his benefits,
and that he might be capable of pierforniin<j what our redemption required.
"We see then how much it behoved Christ to be man as well as God, and
indeed both, for a mediator is a mediator between two. Gal. iii. 20 ; and
those two between whom a mediator must go, were God and man ; and
therefore it is said that there is but one mediator between God and man,
the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. ii. 5. And this was most fit ; for,
First, Hereby he participates of both natures, and so his person doth
bear a resemblance of the work in general. Mediation was the business,
and who so fit as a middle person ? Therefore, fii'st, he became medins, a
middle person, and then a mediator ; fii'st medius, then medians — a middle
person in regard of participation of both natures, and then a mediator in
regard of reconciliation and reconciling both natm-es. And a middle person,
not in order only, as men are between angels and beasts, and as a middle
rank of men are between those above them and under them, but of partici-
pation, as having the natures of both. A middle person not in place only,
as Moses when he stood between God and the people, Exod. v. 5, but in
person. A medium, not only between God and us, but one with God and
us, and symbolising with both. Therefore our divines say, that mediatio
operativa is founded, and hath influence from his mediatio substantialis, that
his works of mediation, whereby he mediates for us, ariseth from his per-
son, that they arise from both natures, so as both natures have an influence
into all his works, and they are the works of both, so that he might be totus
mediator, a whole, entu-e mediator, in his person and in his works.
And, secondly ; Hereby he is of equal distance and diflerence from both ;
as he is God he difl'ers from us, as he is man he difters from God. Yea,
and as he is mediator he takes on him a diflering person as it were from
himself, and what he is essentially, as being only the Son of God ; for he
became lesser than himself in his office, and emptied himself, and so is a fit
mediator between us and himself also as he is the Son of God, Biffert Filius
incarnatus, or/.ovo/xr/.us, a seipso <pvaix.cijg. The Son incarnate difiers minis-
terially from what himself is naturally. As we say in philosophy, Una et
eadem res a seipsa diversa est, mudo et ratione. One and the same thing is
diflerenced from itself by a difi'erent modus, or manner of existing.
Thirdly; Hereby he is indiflerent also between both, so as not to take part
with the one more than with the other, ready to distribute to both with
unequal hands their due, and be faithful to both : Heb. ii, 17, * That he
Chap. V.] of christ the mediatob. 4U
might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to
make reconciliation for the people.' Lo here are the matters both of God and
man refeiTed to him, for the cause of both was to be committed to him, Ta
a^os &ebv, and ra rrfog ri/Mcig, therefore he partakes of both, and is distant from
both, as a middle thing participates of both extremes, and toucheth both.
Fourthly ; He was to make peace between both, and take away hostihty,
therefore he takes pledges both out of earth and out of heaven. He takes
the chief nature on earth and the chief in heaven, thereby to still the enmity,
and to part us who were fighting each against other, we against God, and
God against us. Now having our nature and God's, he had two hands
able enough to part us, he could take hold of God's strength, and hold his
hands, as it is Isa. xxvii. 5, and so make peace ; and having our nature,
he had a hand to take hold of our hands also.
Fifthly ; He is hereby able to draw near to both, and bring both toge-
ther, and so make us one; for is not he fit to do this, that is both God and
man ? He joins om* nature first with God in his own person, and makes
both one there, that so God and man becoming one in person, he might
the easilier make God and man one in covenant. God and man were at
division, and when he would make utnimque unum, he becomes et unum ex
utroqiie. He by this means is in a fi'iendly way able to treat with both,
and hath a hand to shake with both. He is become ' the man God's fel-
low,' Zech. xiii. 7. K he had been God's fellow, and not the man God's
fellow, he might have drawn near to God, and yet we have been never the
nearer ; and yet if not more than man, and so God's fellow (which no mere
man could be) he could not have approached to God; as Jer. xxx. 21,
' And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed
from the midst of them ; and I will cause him to draw neai", and he shall
approach unto me : for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto
me ? saith the Lord.' "VMio but he could have engaged his heart, or
assumed the boldness to have drawn near unto God "? And yet withal he
being the man God's fellow, we may draw nigh to him, and come to God
by him, as the phrase is in the epistle to the Hebrews ; for why, he comes
out of the midst of us, as in the same Jer. xxx. 21. Thus Heb. iv. 15, 16,
' For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet with-
out sin. Let us therefore come boldy unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.' And Heb. x.
21, 22, ' And having an high priest over the house of God ; let us draw
near with a time heai-t, in full assurance of faith, ha\'ing our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.'
Sixthly ; He could hereby communicate the benefit of all he did for us
unto us, which without it had not been done, Participavit cle nostra, id com-
municaret suum : He partakes of ours, that he may communicate to us his.
We are to participate the divine nature, 2 Pet. i. 4, and therefore he takes
part of oui's. If we were to have righteousness from him, it was fit our
own nature should be the fountain : John xvii. 19, ' For their sakes I
sanctify myself that they may be sanctified ; ' I, that is, my deity, sanctifies
myself, that is, my human nature, which he calls himself, because it was one
in person with himself. It was fit that that nature that sinned should be
sanctified to ' condemn sin in the flesh,' Kom. viii. 3. And hence it is the
benefit of his righteousness is not extended to angels, because he that sanc-
tifies and them that are sanctified are of one, Heb. ii. 11, which he and
angels are not ; and therefore his merits reach not in a proper and direct
VOL. V. D
50 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
YfRj unto them. The intense worth indeed of his benefits ariseth from his
abilities and sufficiency personal, but the extension from his so proper fit-
ness that he was a man, and therefore reacheth only to men.
Seroithhj ; That which he was to do for us required he should be both
God and man. For consider but the principal parts of the work that he
was to do, and it was fit that he should be both, that what did not become
the one nature the other might do.
1. He was to keep and fulfil the law, and be subject to it, and to merit
by keeping it. Now if he had not been man he could not have been sub-
ject to the law ; therefore he was made of a \Yoman, and made under the
law ; first, therefore, made of a woman, that so he might be under the law :
Gal. iv. 4, ' But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law.' And if he had not been
God, he could not have merited for us by that his keeping the law, for he
had done but what was required and what was a due, and so it could have
reached but to himself, for all creatures, when they have done all they can,
are but unprofitable seiwants ; and he that merits must do it by his own
strength, for otherwise ' what hast thou that thou hast not received ? '
2. He that is our mediator must die and overcome death, for he was to
rescue us from death, and destroy him that had the power of it. Now if
he had not been man, he could not have died ; therefore he took such a
body as we have that he might die ; he could not have tasted of death else :
Heb. ii. 9, ' But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suflcring of death, crowned with glory and honour ; that he by the
grace of God should taste death for every man.' Ver. 14, ' Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil.' And if he had not been God he could
not have raised himself: Rom. i. 4, ' And declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from
the dead :' therefore, John x. 18, 'I lay down my life,' saith he, * and take
it up again.'
(1.) He had not had a life to lay down if he had not been man, for the
Godhead could not die.
(2.) If he had not been God he could not have merited by laying it
down. It must be his own, not in the dominion of another ; now the lives
of creatures are not their own, and therefore their laying of them down
cannot merit.
(3.) He must have it in his own power ; if another could take it away
he could not have merited, for it must be a voluntary laying it down,
and there is no mere man but another may take away his life from him if
God prevent not ; but Christ, having his life wholly in his own power,
resigned it, therefore that centurion said he was God, Mat. xxvii. 54.
(4.) He could not else take it up again. None ought to die but man ;
none could give up his life, and reassume it, but God : he had the passive
power to die, as man, the active power, to die of himself, as God.
(5.) And so for endm-iug the wrath of God ; if he had not been man he
had not had a soul to be heavy to the death ; and if he had not been God
it had died through heaviness, if the Godhead had not upheld him that
upholds all things.
(G.) Also he was to be a judge : and that he could not be unless he had
been God ; and also an advocate : and that he could not be, unless he had
been man.
CUAP. VI.] OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. CI
CHAPTER VI.
How the two natures, the divine and human, which are so different, are
united into one person, Christ God-vian. — That the Son of God did not
assume a human person, but the nature. — The reasons why a human person
could not have been assumed. — It tvas our ivhole nature which the Son of
God took, both soul a)ul body. — The reasons uhich made this necessary.
And now that we Lave the reasons that he was to be both, you will ask
how can this be that he should be both ? The text resolves it, and says,
* He took to himself,' Heb. ii. 16. The meaning is, he did take man's
nature into one pei'son with himself. He not only took on him, but to
him, \-~t\a[jJZaMTat, assumpsit ad. Assutnpsit nan hominem jiersonam., scd
hominem in personam ; he took not the person of a man, but man to be one
person with himself. ' He took the seed of Abraham ' to himself, that is,
to subsist in himself, not of itself, and to have his subsistence communi-
cated to it ; this nature being as an appendix, as a part of him subsisting in
him, but communicating the subsistence of that divine person to the human
nature that they are personally one, as truly as soul and body joined be-
come one man ; and therefore the phrase is, that this second person was
* made flesh:' John i. 14, * And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amonc
us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father),
full of grace and truth.' Though God dwells in the saints in heaven, and
fills them with his fulness as a cause efiicient of all their glory and their
chiefest good, yet they are not so united as that God can be said to be made
the saints ; but Christ may be said to be made man, and to be as essentially
man as he is God ; made, not as the water was made wine, and ceasing to
be water, but both natures remaining distinct, are made one person, so as
both became one Lord and one Christ ; there is one Lord, 1 Cor. viii. 6,
* But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
we in him : and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by
him ; ' God and man personally one. So 2 Cor. v. 14, ' For the love of
Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then
■were all dead.' One is said to have died for all, that is, but one person,
though there were two natures, God and man, j^et but one person of both.
That as in the Trinity there are three persons in one nature and Godhead,
so here are two natures, one in person and subsistence (the manner of
which union hath no similitude in nature to express it by), so as in the
concrete the man Christ may be called God, and the Son of God (so Luke
i. 35, '■ That which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God'),
though the manhood cannot be called the Godhead. And then this second
person is said to dwell in that nature : Col. ii. 9, ' The fulness of the God-
head ' is said to ' dwell in him bodily ; ' and so notes out a permanent
union, not God to dwell in him only by his graces, but the Godhead is said
to dwell in him, and the fulness of the Godhead to fill that human nature,
as fire fills the iron that is in it=;= — and not to dwell in him as in the saints
by grace, and as being their portion, uniting himself to them as an object
they love, as God is said to be all in all in the saints in heaven, and as the
Spirit dwells in us, sanctifying, &c., and as the same Spirit dwells in Christ,
■ — substantially dv;elling in him, (rw//.ar;xw5 ; that is, not only in a body,
noting out the subject in which, but the manner, personally, bodily. Now
the Grecians put trw/xa to express a person, ffw/y-ara iroWa. r^i(psiv. And so
« Qu. ' that it is in ' ?— Ed.
52 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK 11.
Thucydides, ou/Maai 'xokiij.uv. As the Hebrews put soul for person : Exod.
i. 5, the souls came out of the loins of Jacob ; the Grecians use the word
body, so that bodili/ is personaJhj.
God communicates his presence to all creatures, his gi'ace to the saints ;
but the Son of God communicates his personality, his subsistence, to the
man Christ Jesus — this is the highest communication, for his nature is
communicable to none but the three persons — so as our nature and Christ's
person is one ; not in office only, as two consuls or bailiffs in a town, that
have a joint commission ; not as man and wife only, who are in a relation
one flesh ; not spiritually only, as Christ and we his members are one spirit,
as the head and members are one ; but they are personally one. So as
when we see a man, we say, there is such a man, such a person ; so when
you shall see Christ at the latter day, you may say as John doth, 1 John
V. 20, ' This is the true God, and eternal life.'
God is the princijnum of subsistence to all, but in Christ he is the termi-
nus subsistendi, yet not so as if the personal property were communicated
that is incommunicable, as to be begotten of God, and to subsist of itself,
but that the second person becomes a foundation of subsistence to the
human nature of Christ, as an oak is to the ivy.
Now to shew the grounds why this was fit (which is the proper scope of
this discourse) why this union was requisite, and fitted him for the work of
mediation. Had he not been thus God and man^ he could not have been
mediator. For,
1. It being necessary he should be God and man, and remain perfectly
God and perfectly man, and the Son of God, and the same person that he
was, therefore they could no way else be united to do us good ; for they
could not the one be changed into the other, for God was immutable ; and
it was impossible that the nature of man should become the natui-e of God,
since the essence of the Godhead is incommunicable. And if they had been
so united as that a third person out of both had been made, as when the
elements are made one in a man's body, as the soul and body make one
man, besides the impossibility of it, it had not served this turn. For he
that redeems us must be God and man, therefore there is no way but that
the personality of the second person be communicated to the human, both
natures remaining united in one person ; it cannot be more nor less. If the
personality of the Son of God had been communicated only by power and
grace, &c., then his actions had been of God as the author or efficient, but
not actions of the person of the Son of God, as his personal actions, which
should have received a worth fi-om him.
And, 2. This will fit us well ; for now all that Christ as God doth, the
man Christ shall be said to do for us, that so it may be ours ; and all that
Christ man doth, Christ God shall be said to do, that it may have an infi-
nite merit in it. For as there is a communication of the personality of
Christ to the manhood, so of acceptance of all the human nature doth : 1
Pet. iii. 18, ' For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit.' And therefore the blood shed shall be called the
blood of God, as well as the man is called the Son of God : so Acts xx. 28,
' Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood.' And so the Lord of glory is said to
be crucified : 1 Cor. ii. 8, ' Which none of the princes of this world knew :
for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.'
Chap. VI.] of christ the mediator. 53
And as the person is one, so the redemption, and all that both did, became
one work of mediation, and one is said to die for all, Christ as one, God
and man ; so as, when he offered up the human nature as a sacrifice, he
may be said to offer up himself, for it is himself, and he poured out his own
soul : Hcb. ix. 14, * How much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through
the eternal Spirit, ofi'cred himself without spot to God, purge your con-
science from dead works, to serve the living God ? ' Isa. liii. 12, ' Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with
the strong ; because he hath poured out his soul unto death : and he was
numbered with the transgressors ; and he bare the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors.'
Now then, if this manhood be assumed into one person with the Son of
God, then it could not remain a person of itself; and so the text also inti-
mates, calling him * the seed,' Heb. ii. 16, as not a person, but a human
nature ; so as though he took our natm-e, and an individual particular
nature, yet that nature was not a person. Therein indeed his human
nature differs from ours ; but that difference is not in any part of the sub-
stance of om' natures, but only in a complement of being, or rather a
modification of being, a difference in the manner of subsisting : it is no more.
(1.) The nature is the same for being and substance.
(2.) It is an individual nature.
But (3.) it is not a person of itself apart for subsistence, for that is pro-
perly called a person that subsists in itself ; though we all have our being
in God, and exist by him as in a cause thereof, yet we do not subsist as
one with him as a person ; that is, we are persons apart and alone of our-
selves, and God and we are two persons, but our natm-e in Christ is one
with God, and in God.
The reasons of this are two.
1. It was not indeed possible that a person (as the second person was)
should assume another person, subsisting of itself, into personal union with
him : it had been a contradiction, and therefore it is impossible. For that
two persons, remaining two, should become one, is a contradiction ; even
as to say of an accident (the nature of which is to subsist in a substance),
that it subsists in itself, is a contradiction. Now to be a person of itself is
to subsist of itself alone ; this is the condition of its subsisting as it is a
person ; and therefore here in the IGth verse of this Heb. ii., when he speaks
but by way of supposition of the second person's assuming the natm-e of
angels, he doth not say, he took not on himself ' an angel,' but ' not of
angels,' that is, the nature of angels ; for to have assumed the person of an
angel had been a contradiction, and so such a phrase of speech was not fit
to have been used so much as in a supposition.
2. As it was not possible that the second person of the Godhead should
take the person of a man into union with himself, so it was not fit (the
demonstration of which is that which I in this discourse did aim at) for the
work of mediation. For although it was necessary for that work that he
should be an individual particular man as we are, particularly existing —
for else he could not merit, nor act, nor suffer, for all merits and actions
are of individuals — yet if he had subsisted of himself, and been a person
of himself as man, all that merit and actions of obedience would have been
but for himself. If he had been a person of himself apart, so his merits
would have been for himself apart ; and he subsisting in his own bottom,
and in himself as a person, must have stood by his own obedience, and so
all his obedience would have been but enough for himself, and have been
54 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
shut up in himself, and confined to himself. But he having an individual
nature of man as we all have, without a propriety of subsistence, all his
obedience may be common for all others, and as many as he shall please to
communicate it unto may have a share in it. It may be a common salva-
tion, as it is called Jude 3, ' Beloved, when I gave all diligence to writo
unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you,
and exhort you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints.' For our nature in him, as it is human, is
not circumscribed or enclosed with a proper subsistence of its own, but lies
like a field unenclosed, not hedged in with personality, as all our natures are.
And to this purpose observe the phrases whereby the Scripture expresseth
this nature assumed by the Son of God, which are such as do imply, that
that which was assumed was only a human nature, and not a person. As
when it is said, ' He took the seed of Abraham,' Heb. ii. 16, not a person,
but ' the seed,' our nature. Semen est intimum suhstant'uj!, the quintessence
of nature, but notes not out a person. So the Word is said to be made-
flesh ; that word flesh noteth out but one nature assumed, not a person ;
and therefore the apostle speaking of Christ, he makes him the person, and
his flesh or human nature but as an appendix : Rom. ix. 5, ' Whose are
the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' And so in Luke i. 35, ' And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' The
angel there speaks of Christ's human nature, which was to be born of Mary,
not as of a person but as of a thing, in the neuter gender : ' That holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' And
besides, he, the man Christ, could not have been called the Son of God if
he had been a person apart of himself, for one person is not predicated of
another ; the husband cannot be called the wife, though most nearly united,
for they are two persons. And therefoi'e likewise Christ himself, when ho
was to take our nature, speaking of that which was to be assumed, saith,
Heb. x. 5, * A body hast thou fitted me ;' vie notes out the person, the
other is but a body assumed ; so he calls it, because himself as God was
the person ; this was not a person but the nature of man, therefore he calls
it a body, and so Col. i. 22, ' in the body of his flesh through death, to pre-
sent you holy and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight :' it is h no
6ujij.aTi TTjg au^xog, in that body of his flesh.
But though he subsisted not as an entire person, yet it was fit and neces-
sary that he should be a whole and perfect man entire, so as though he
took not a person on him, yet he took our whole nature for substance, eveiy
way as perfect as ours, in all the parts of it, both of soul and body : ' He
was made like us in all things,' says the apostle, Heb. ii. 17. There was
nothing wanting essential to either, or for the perfection of either part of
our nature, for he will be like us in all things, in all members of our bodies,
and faculties of our souls. It is called flesh indeed, and a body, but yet
lest only a body should seem to be meant, he elsewhere is called ' a man,'
' the man Christ Jesus,' as having all belonging to a man ; and he is called
' that man' in Acts xvii, 31 : ' Because he hath appointed a day, in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath
ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead.' He had a perfect body as ours, and a soul,
and both united, and so was a whole man.
Chap. VI.] op christ the insDUTOB. 55
1. For the body, Col. i. 22, it is called ' the body of bis flcsb.' They
tbougbt bo bad been a spirit, but in opposition to tbeir conceit, * It is I,'
says bo. Mat. xiv. 27 ; ' and feel,' says bo ; ' batb a spirit ilesb, and blood,
and bones ?' Luke xxiv. 39. And tbis was fit, tbat tbc similitude of our
union migbt be tbe nearer, and tbat wo mi^qbt be truly culled ' members of
his body,' as being ' of bis flcsb and of bis bones :' as Epb. v. 30, ' For wo
are members of bis body, of bis flcsb, and of bis bones.' Also because bo
was to reconcile us ' in tbe body of bis flesb tbrougb deatb,' Col. i. 22, by
bearing our sins upon bis body on tbe tree : 1 Peter ii. 24, ' Wbo bis own
self bare our sins in bis own body on tbe tree, tbat we, being dead to sin,
should live unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye were healed.' If he
had not had the body of a man, he could not have been fastened to tbe tree,
nor endured our sorrows, the pains of death. And again, as all our mem-
bers are weapons of unrighteousness, therefore he was to take them all, to
sanctify all to God, and make them weapons of righteousness.
And that body did not want a soul, for his ' soul was heavy unto death,'
Mat. sxvi. 38. And it was meet it should be so, for first the chief suit and
threatening for sin was against the soul : ' The soul that sins shall die,' Ezek.
xviii. 20 ; therefore he must ' pour out his soul to death,' Isa. liii. 12, and
it is the redemption of the soul that is precious : Ps. xlix. 8, ' For the
redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever ;' that is the
chief thing to be redeemed, and tbat is so precious, as nothing but a soul
could be a fit price. He was made like us therefore, that he might succour
us in all respects : Heb. iv. 15, ' For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin;' Heb. ii. 17, 18, 'Wherefore in
all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make
reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suf-
fered, being tempted, he is able to succour them tbat are tempted.' And
now om* greatest temptations are in our souls, and therefore be had a soul
to be tempted in all things, sin only excepted ; and so he knows how to
pity our souls, and the distress of them, and he joys to be a ' shepherd of
our souls :' 1 Peter ii. 25, ' For ye were as sheep going astray ; but are
now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.'
And then, 2, both body and soul must be united, else the body could not
die ; for bodily death is the separation of soul and body, and that was
threatened against us, and therefore to be executed on our mediator ; and
therefore when he died, it is said, ' He gave up the ghost,' Mat. xxvii. 50.
And be must be a whole, perfect man, for this reason too, because he was
to be a priest and a sacrifice both, and the priests in the law were to be
perfect men in all parts of their bodies. If they had any blemish, they
were not to be priests. And so the sacrifices were to be whole burnt-
ofl'erings, therefore a whole man was to be ofiered up by the Son of God.
And he being to redeem the whole man, it was fit he should take the
whole human nature. All that was lost was to be saved by him : Luke xix,
10, * He came to seek and to save that which was lost.' There was not
that thing in man that was lost (as all was), but he saved it, and therefore
took the whole of man into union with himself.
56 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
CHAPTER VII.
Tliat it was not only fit that Christ should he man, hut such a man as to be
like us in the matte)' and substance of his body — And to be like us in his
production and birth, to be born of a ivoman, as ive are. — What are the
reasons of this — What is the reason why Christ, though born of a woman,
is yet idthout sin. — Why he is man, and of the Jewish nation.
Now seeing he was thus to be a man, let us consider what manner or kind
of man every way qualified was fittest in this business, and we shall find
that such a man did God every way make him ; for he must have a human
nature fitted for him on purpose : Heb. x. 5, ' Wherefore when he cometh
into the world, he saith. Sacrifice and ofiering thou wouldest not, but a
body hast thou prepared me.' 'A body hast thou fitted me,' so some read
it, adaptasti, fitted him with a body for the purpose. And indeed if for all
other works God chooseth out fit instruments, then surely for this great
work of all works else ; and accordingly divines call his human nature
instrumentum Deitatis, the instrument of the Godhead. It is not every kind
of body wiU fit him for this purpose of reconciling. Some schoolmen have
thought that not any other human nature but that which was assumed could
have been assumed ; sure I am a greater fitness could not have been in any,
and all to make up this his personal fitness for a mediator full, that in him
all fulness might be found to dwell.
Now concerniag what qualifications are to be in him for this work, we have
this general rule given us here in Heb. ii. 17, ' That it became him in all
things to be made like to us who were his brethren ; ' so as the liker he
should be to us, the fitter mediator he should bo for us, and that for the
very reasons before mentioned, that because justice admitted of a commu-
tation, it would yet come every way as nigh to have a full and proportion-
able satisfaction as could be. As satisfaction must be made in a nature of
the same kind, by man, not an angel, so in such a nature a man as should
be as near akin to us, and like us, as the matter would possibly pennit,
so as the business of reconciliation be not hindered nor evacuated by it ;
for then he should have lost his end.
First, Whereas he might have been a man of the same nature with us,
consisting both of body and soul, and yet have been created immediately,
as Aadm was, out of nothing, yea, or out of matter in heaven (as some do
dream), as his body itself is now heavenly and spii'itual, and therefore
called ' the heavenly man,' 1 Cor. xv. 48, 49 : yet that he may be like to
us, he will take human nature of the same lump with ours, and out of which
ours is taken. So here in Heb. ii. 14, ' He took part of the same ; ' the
same flesh and blood that we have ; and again, ver. 11, ' Both he that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one : ' he says, not only
that both are one for nature and kind, but all are ' of one,' that is, one lump
and mass, that so he might be a little the more akin to us, our countrv'-
man, being made of the same earth we are of. If he had been made of
heavenly matter he had been countrj-man to the angels rather, for heaven
is their countiy ; yea, he had been utterly a stranger to us, though of the
same nature ; as a man di'opped from heaven would be, as some conceive
Melchisedec his type to have been. And the reason there given is proper
and pertinent, for he was to sanctify us ; and he that sanctifies and they
that are sanctified it is meet they should be ' of one.' The ground of this
Chap. VII.j of chmst the mediator. 57
reason is taken from that of the Lcvitical law, by which the first-fruits sancti-
fied the whole lump or mass which those fruits were taken out of ; and they
by this sanctiticd the rest, because they were of the same lump or mass, as
it is expressed, Rom. xi. IG, ' For if the tii-st-fruit bo holy, the lump is
also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.' They were not only
of the same species of creature that the rest were of, but growing out of the
same earth that the rest of the fniits did. Now Christ, as he is called
' the/n//7 of the womb,' Luke i. 42, so the ' first-fruits,' : 1 Cor. xv. 20,
' But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fniits of them
that slept ; ' which, though spoken of the resurrection only, yet holds in
all, even to his very natm-e. He is in all things wherein he is like us the
first-fruits, and therefore is to be made like us in all, that he might be the
first-fruits. And he was to sanctify others of mankind ; and this he had
not so fitly and coiTcspondently, according to the law of nature, done, had
not both they and he been all of one And besides God meant not to create
anew any of mankind, and therefore he made woman of man rather than of
nothing, intending to make out of Adam all which he meant to make, even
Christ and all. But then,
Secondly, He might have been made of the same lump, if made of some
man, in that manner as Eve was out of Adam, made of a rib, or some such
part of mankind. But he resolves to come nearer yet, and to be made as
like in all things as may be, and therefore he will be made of the same
kind of matter that we all ai'e made of, even of seed, which is the quint-
essence, the elixir of man's natui'e, intimiim sitbstantm ; and therefore the
first title and appellation he was known by unto the sons of men was ' the
seed of the woman : ' Gen. iii. 15, 'And I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' So Acts xvii. 26. God hath made
mankind all of one blood, that so they might love one another ; and he will
have this man that is to be om* redeemer to be of the same blood, that is,
of seed, which is the blood of man concocted to an height, and therefore he
is not only called a man, but the ' Son of man,' Mat. xvii. 12. Eve,
though made out ol man, was not filia hominis, a daughter of man ; nor
Adam, though a man, yet not a son of man ; no. In the genealogy, Luke
iii. 38, Adam is called the son of God ; but Christ is to be the Son of man
as well as man, and that by being made of seed, which all men are made
of; and so inHeb. ii. 16, ' He took not the nature of angels, but the seed
of Abraham.' And the reason is given in the next verse here, that he
might call us brethren, and not be ashamed of us. A brother is more
than of the same nature, it notes one made out of the same blood. And
God would have the same blood run in his veins that runs in ours. And
this fitted him the more to be a redeemer, and to have right to do it by
the Levitical law also, for it was proper to a brother to redeem, and a
stranger could not : Levit. xxv. 25, 'If thy brother be waxen poor, and
hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem
it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.' So that the church
comes to have her wish : Cant. viii. 1, ' Oh that thou wert as my brother,'
&c. For so Christ is. Yea,
Thirdhj, He will come yet nearer, evon in the manner of his production,
or being made a man, as like as may be to that of ours, as near as possibly
might be, so as not to take infection. He will be made of seed, even by
a conception, and lie in the womb, and grow up there, from a tear, a drop,
by degrees, as man doth, and be bom, and be a suckling as we, as Ps.
53 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
viii. 2 speaks of him, and therefore he is called the fruits of the womb :
Luke i. 42, 'And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art
thou amouc; women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.' And more
expressly, Luke i. 31, ' Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth
a son,' speaking to Mary. You see Christ is like to us in being produced
both by the same way, and to he in the same place, that secret and dark
chamber that all mankind lies in. Conception is the groundseil (as I may
caU it) of our natm-e, which sin had infected, and it was rotten and cor-
rupted, and from it the leprosy was spread over all the walls of this build-
ing : * In sin my mother conceived me,' says David, Ps. li. 5, and Christ
coming to repair and restore us from the very foundation, sanctifies that
veiT way of production, conception, and consecrates the curious room and
privy chamber that all mankind lies in. Man is said by the psalmist to be
curiously wi-ought ' in the lower parts of the earth,' Ps. cxxxix, 15 ; and
Christ descends even thither, that so he may ascend the higher. He takes
his flight thus low, in that he ascended, he descended first into these lower
parts of the earth, which surely is pai"t of the apostle's meaning, in com-
paring it with that psalm : Eph, iv. 9, 10, ' Now that he ascended, what is
it but that he also descended fii"st into the lower parts of the earth ?' ver. 10,
* He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill aU things.' And that we may be where he is, as he
prays, John xvii. 24, he will condescend for a while to be where we were,
enclosed in the womb. And that we may come to his place, his mansion-
house in heaven, his Father's house, he wiU first come down to our place,
oui" mother's house, for such is the womb. And therefore he is still called
'the seed of the woman,' and 'made of a woman;' Gal. iv. 4, 5, 'But
when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law ;' ver. 5, ' To redeem tbem that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons ;' to the end that he might
be fitted to redeem us. This reason is expressly added there, ' that he
might redeem us that were under the law.' And this woman was yet a
virgin, as you shall see by and by, ' A vu'gin shall conceive :' Isa. vii. 14,
* Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign ; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.' One reason
of it, besides that which I shall anon give, might be, that God would take
a new course in the rearing up this human nature, diflering from what was
taken afore. If he had made him out of man, or the rib of a man, so ha
had made the woman before ; if out of nothing, so he had made the first
man before. But to make him of a woman, and the seed of the woman, by
conception, without man, this was a new thmg in the earth, as the prophet
speaks, Isa. xhii. 19. And God herein kept some further correspondency
also with man's sinning, that (as was observed before) as by a man came
death, so by man should come the resurrection ; God observed a propor-
tion in it. So here, a woman afore destroyed us, and was ' first in the
transgi'ession ;' nevertheless, both she and we shall be saved by her child-
bearing, or that child- beaiing (as some interpret that place, 1 Tim. ii. 15).
And Adam laid all the blame on the woman (reflecting withal on God) :
Gen. iii. 12, ' And the man said. The woman whom thou gavest to be with
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.' And therefore God presently,
to meet \rith him, says, ' The seed of the woman,' not the man, shall break
the sei-pent's head ; as if he had said. Thou hast laid the fault on me for
giving thee a woman, because she hath been the occasion of thy fall ; but
I will be even with thee (but it is in mercy, as God's revenges on his chil-
Chap. VII.] op cheist the mediator. 59
dren arc). Thou slialt liavo cause to thank me more for this woman, than
thou now hast clone ; for ' the seed of the woman shall break the serpent's
head ;' and so doth God reprove him, and for his unthankfulncss puts the
honour upon the woman.
()l)J. Yea, but now in ihefoiirth place, you will say, this kindred is too
nigh, he had better have married our nature farther ofi", and at a greater
distance ; for thus he is in danger to be made sinful. Doth not the
psalmist say, ' In sin my mother conceived me,' Ps. li. 5. Doth not the
apostle say, ' And such an high priest became us as was separated from
sinners'? Heb. rii. 2G. Why, then, the work of our redemption will be
spoiled by this way of conception of Christ, and he be uniitted for the
work.
But for answer, though there is a concipiet, yet not a f/enitiis est ; though
there is a conception, yet not a generation. It is conception upon genera-
tion defiles, Man begets in his image, but Christ was not begotten, but
conceived only. He comes so near, you see, that it is but the cutting of a
hair keeps him from being infected ; and so though he will have the same
substance, yet separate from sinners, as there the separation means quantum
ad cuJpam, as to sin ; non natnram^ as to nature. And therefore though he
will be conceived in the same place we are, and be of the same substance with
us, yet not after the same yvaj ; and it is not the substance that defiles, or
the place, but the way of framing our natures. We are framed by genera-
tion of man and woman, he but by conception only of a woman, but made
by the Holy Ghost ; so in our Creed, ' conceived by the Holy Ghost ;' so in
Luke i. 25, ' The Holy Ghost shall overshadow thee ;' and Mat. i. 20, ' That
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.' Not G<Kioij,arr/.uig, but
dr]/Miov^yr/.ug, as the builder framing and forming his body. Therefore it is
not said he was begotten of a woman, but made of a woman, non r/enitus, sed
/actus, and therefore he is called ' The man from heaven,' though the matter
of his body was from earth, 1 Cor. xv. 47, 48. And to this purpose it is
observable, that Heb. x. 5 is with difference spoken of Christ's human
nature and ours, * A body hast thou prepared me ;' that is, God did it, and
not man by generation, which is the ordinary way of producing men, and
the only way of conveying sin. The parents, they are therefore said to beget
a man, not because they afford matter and stuff, but because there goes a
forming power, vis j^lcstica, as philosophers call it, that doth prepare the
matter, form it, and, to use the word which is here, doth -/.araprrC^n, articu-
late it for the soul, which is the utmost they do, and for which they are
said to beget, and wherein the \eYj form alls ratio of generation lies. Accu-
rately therefore to distinguish this production of the human nature of Christ
from the ordinary, though he useth the same word, that signifies the manner
of making our bodies by way of articulation, yet he expresseth it as done
by another hand, ' Thou hast prepared it,' the Holy Ghost performing that
which the vis ylastica, or forming power, in all other generations useth to do.
Luke i. 35, ' And the angel answered and said unto her. The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee :
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called
the Son of God.' That though the matter is the same, and this formed
by articulation, as ours is, yet it is done by the power of the Most High,
and therefore exempted from sin ; therefore he adds, ' That holy one that
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' For because genera-
tion by men is the only way of conveying sin, and theformalis ratio of genera-
tion hes in that vis plastica, whereby a parent forms the birth (as philosophy
60 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK II.
teacheth), therefore his body, though made of the same matter, seed, that
ours is, and that seed articulated into the same shape ours is, yet because
by another hand, ' the jDower of the Most High,' therefore he is a holy one
separate from sinners, his body being a tabernacle which * God pitched, not
man,' Heb. viii. 2. Not of this building, not built as man's is, not by the
same hands, as Heb. ix. 11, * But Christ being come an high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building.' Man reared it not, nor jointed
it, nor framed it, but ' A body hast thou (0 God) prepared.' And therefore
this body was of a virgin without a father, that as Melchis6dec is said, Heb.
vii. 3, to be without father and mother, so Christ as man was without
father, and as God without a mother, who is therefore the stone cut out of
the same quarry with us, but ' without hands,' Dan. ii. 45, that is, the help
of nature, or by a man. And it was necesssary ; for,
1. Otherwise his human nature had been a person (the inconvenience of
which you heard afore) for terminus generationis est persona. What is pro-
duced by generation is a person. And,
2. He had otherwise had two fathers, which nature abhors, that one per-
son should have two fathers.
And in preparing this nature of Christ, the Holy Ghost sanctified that
matter, and purified it, as goldsmiths do gold from the dross. And his
business being to part sin and our flesh, it was fit he should take such
flesh as, though once sinful, yet now sin was parted from it. It is gene-
ration defiles, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, John iii. 6, and
that as from a man, by whom sin is conveyed ; but it follows in the same
place, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Now, of Christ it is said
that which is conceived in thee is of the Holy Ghost : Mat. i. 20, ' But
while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto him in a di'eam, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Ghost.' It is not the matter nor the place we are conceived in defiles, but
the being begotten by a man in the ordinary way of nature, upon which
the law of nature seizeth, by which a man is to beget in his own likeness.
And therefore the difierence of the phrase used here in Heb. ii. 11, of
Christ and us ; and that in Rom. v. 12, speaking of om- coming from
Adam, is observable. Here, in Heb. ii. 11, Christ and we are said to be
' of one,' that is, of one lump ; but the phrase that is used, Rom. v. 12,
when the apostle speaks of the propagation of original sin, runs thus, ' By
one man sin entered,' because all came by and of that one man. And
therefore though Christ be made a Son of Adam, Luke iii. 38, as made of
that substance and matter derived from him, yet not in regard of the same
way of conveying that matter, by fleshly generation of a man, which is the
natural channel of conveying his image and original sin. And yet.
Fifthly, To make up this disproportion, he will in all other respects be
yet the more like to us ; and seeing he must not take sinful flesh, yet he
will take the likeness of sinful flesh, as Rom. viii. 3, ' For 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.'
He partakes of flesh and blood, Heb. ii. 17 ; and by flesh and blood are
meant infirmities of all sorts, he excepts sin only, a body passible ; he
might have had a body exempted from all sufierings or misery, but he
would not. And this assumption of frail flesh was the first part of satis-
faction for sin, and the condemning sin in our flesh is attributed to it,
Chap. VII. J of cheist tue mediator. CI
Kom. viii, 3. He took not indeed personal infirmities, as sickness, but
what were common to man's nature ; bo did bear dolores nostras, our
griefs, not of John or Peter, not such evils as came from the particular
sins of men, but such as llowed from the common sin of man ; nor such
as do spring from sin, as not despair, though fear ; and those he took was
to shew his love, and as they were part of the curse, that he might be able
to pity us, and that he might sufl'er and die and feel the pains of death, in
all which he was left to infirmity ; as you have it, 2 Cor. xiii. 4, ' For
though he was crucified through weakness, yet he livcth by the power of
God : for we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the
power of God toward you.' And so in this text, he was ' partaker of flesh
and blood,' that is, of the infirmities of man's nature, as well as of the
natm-e ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil. If he had not taken this frail flesh, he could not
have died.
Hitherto you have heard every way what manner of man he was, and
such as in all respects was fittest for him to be, in all things. But there
are two things yet to be added, and both such as will make him yet fitter. I
add them that j^ou may every way see a fulness in it. Therefore,
Sixthly, Man's nature, you know, was diversified into two sexes, male
and female. Now, which of the two was the fittest for him to assume ?
And this is a distinct consideration from all the former. Of the two, a
male was fittest ; and such was he. It is not so directly in the text, and
yet all that is spoken of him runs in the masculine gender, him and he ;
and so this is included: Mat. i. 21, 'Thou shalt bring forth a son,' and,
ver. 25, ' she brought forth her first-born son ;' and so Luke ii. 22. For
he was to be our high priest, and consecrated to God as holy, and so
thereby to sanctify his brethren, as Heb. ii. 11 hath it; and so was the
first male child by the law, which is on purpose noted, Luke ii. 23, ' Every
male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.' And again,
all his other ofiices required it. He was to be a prophet, and to teach
God's will first, Heb. ii. 2, 3, and for ever to be in the great congregation;
and a woman is not to teach in the church. He was to be a king, and to
rule his church ; and a woman is not to usurp authority over the man.
He was to be a husband, and his church a spouse ; and only a male could
fitly bear that relation. And besides all this, there was this further har-
mony in it, that as by the male, the man, not the woman, sin is said to
enter into the world, Eom. v. 19 ; so by the man we should be restored.
And thus indeed both sexes came to share in this honour — the male, in that
Christ himself is a man ; the female, in that she yet was the instrument
of bringing him forth into the world. He is of the woman's seed, but of
man's sex, that so both male and female might be all one in Christ Jesus.
There is now but one thing left, and that is, seeing God hath appointed
several bounds to man's habitation, though all are made of one blood, of
what country or kindred of men was it fittest for our Redeemer to be of ?
God pitched it on what of all was fittest, that he should be ' of the seed of
Abraham.' This Heb. ii. 16 you see also hath it; and so I could not but
take notice of it. As he took the nature of man, not of angels, so he took
the seed of Abraham more eminently than of any other nation ; although
he had by some of his progenitors Gentiles' blood in him, yet he was of
Abraham in a lineal descent: Rom. ix. 4, 5, ' "Who are Israelites, to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving
of the law, and the service of God, and the promises ;' ver. 5, * Whose are
62 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II,
the fathers, and of -whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen.' I will not mention any other reason
of this, but what is proper to set out his fitness the more for this work-
It was well for us that he took Abraham's seed, for so in him all nations
were blessed, as was the promise, Abraham being father of all the faithful.
But especially he was thereby engaged to keep the whole law for us ; for
Abraham's seed were all to be circumcised, and he that was circumcised
was a debtor to the whole law : Gal. v. 3, ' For I testify again to every
man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.' And
so the law will take hold of him, and so hereby he was made under the
law ; and this was one reason why he was a male child also, for they only
were circumcised. Thus you see Christ hereby engaged to keep the law
for us, yea, to satisfy for sin ; for the ceremonial law was a bond against us,
which he must cancel and destroy.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Uses. — Since God hath thus fitted us icith a Mediator, we viay he assured
that he will fit us with all other things. — L,et us choose Christ to he our only
Saviour, and trust in none but him. — Is he God ? — Let us not then fear or
doubt. — Hath he taken our nature ? — Let us admire his love in this, and
consider our oim privilege. — Let us endeavour to fit our natures all that we
can for fellowship with him.
We will now come to uses of all this. And surely the doctrine of Christ
will aftbrd many ; for his person is the most useful of any in heaven and
earth. I deferred the uses until the last, that so you might view the frame
of the doctrinal part, as set together without separation.
I. The first uses shall be from this. That God chose him to be mediator,
because of his fitness above all other.
1. Hence learn and be assured, that that love which thus fitted thee
with a Saviour, will much more fit thee with all other things which thou
hast need of. Thou shalt have the fittest condition, the fittest calling, the
fittest yoke-fellow, the fittest estate, ' food convenient,' as Agar speaks :
God will fit thee in everything. Thus he sought out a * meet help ' for
Adam, Gen. ii. 20. The fulness of fitness in Christ to be a saviour is a
pawn for fitting and suiting thee with all things else ; for he that gave
Christ gives all besides : Rom. viii. 32, ' He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things ?' And believe that as aU things do meet in Christ, and
nothing is wanting that may make him a fit and meet saviour for thee, so
all things shall conspire, all things shall suit and kiss each other ; sins,
afilictions, mercies, yea, all God's dealings shall work together for thy good.
Be quiet therefore, and trust him in all ; ' lean not,' as Solomon says, ' to
thine own wisdom,' Prov. iii. 5. Thou knowest not what is fittest for
thee, as the sons of Zebedee did not when they asked for a place that was
not fit for them. The phj'sician knows what is fit for his patient better
than he himself does ; and so does God. He takes measure of thy spirit,
and knows the composition of it ; and so orders his prescripts accordingly.
We cannot judge what is fit for us, God only can. If thou hadst seen
Christ in the flesh, poor and despised (as he was whilst on earth), thy
carnal heai-t would have judged him as unlikely and as unfit a man to be
CUAV. VIII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOU. G3
tho saviour of the world as the Jews did ; Isa. lii. 14, ' His conntcnanco
was so marred.' Thou wouklst never have thought that a carpcutur's son
shoukl huild God a church ; that a man unlearned should be the prophet
of God's people. The Jews refused him as an unfit stone to be laid in
their building, whom God had yet hewn out on purpose, as being only fit
to be made ' the head stone of the corner,' as a stone elect and precious :
Isa. xxviii. 10, * Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure
foundation : he that believeth shall not make haste ;' 1 Pet. ii. 6, 7. And
as much mistaken are men in judging of their own condition.
2. Is Christ cveiy way so fit a saviour ? Then choose him, and rest in
him alone. It is necessaiy that a saviour you should have ; for otherwise
you perish , and it is as necessary that you should have Jesus Christ, or
else you must have none : for there is, there can be, no other. But yet, sup-
pose you should have your choice of many, nay, suppose there were as
many saviours as men to be saved (as many as the papists would make),
yet he so transcends, that if ye all knew him, you would all make choice of
him, and refuse all others. As ' who is a god like to our God ? ' so, who
is a saviour like to our Saviour ? Isa. xliii. 11, ' There is none besides him.'
What do you therefore mean, to stand demurring and deliberating whether
you should take him or no for your Lord and Iving, as the most men do ?
Do you look for any more such Christs, or can you have a better, a fitter
saviour ? Let this encourage you also to be willingly subject to him.
What greater motive can there be to this, than that of all princes he is the
fittest to be thy king (and none fit to be king of saints but he), and of all
husbands he is the fittest to rule over thee ? It grieves no man, nor do
any think much to be subject to such a governor as all men with one con-
sent acknowledge to be most fit for them : * The people rejoice,' says Solo-
mon, ' when the righteous are in authority,' Prov. xxix. 2. No\V that the
Lord Christ is Iving, ' let the earth rejoice, and the multitudes of the isles
be glad,' Ps. xcvii. 1.
II. The second sort of uses may be taken from this, that our sa-s-iour is
God.
1. Is he who is thy saviour God ? Then fear not to commit thyself to
him. ' Thy God is thy saviour.' K ' God will justify ' (though there were
no mediator), 'who should lay anything to thy charge?' Rom. viii. 33.
Surely none would open their mouths against you ; ' The Lord that chooseth
Jerusalem rebuke thee,' said the angel unto Satan, Zech. iii. 2 ; but if God
will also be thy mediator, and die for thee, then much more art thou safe :
* Who shall condemn ?' as the apostle says, ' It is Chi'ist that died.' Do
you know and consider who he is that died for you ? It is even ' Christ
that died,' Rom. viii. 34 ; who in the beginning of the next chapter, he
tells them, is ' God over all, blessed for ever.' " ' In his days Judah shall
be saved,' Jer. xxiii. 6. It shall be so, says the prophet, ' for his name is
Jehovah our righteousness.' ' Say to the feeble of heart. Fear not : for your
God will save you,' Isa. xxxv. 4. When princes will themselves in person
go into the field, how doth it encourage their subjects and soldiers ? Now
Jesus Christ, who is God, came down into the field himself : ' Who is this
that comes from Bozrah ?' Isa. Ixiii. 1. ' It is I,' says Christ, ' that am
mighty to save.' The heathens thought that if their gods should but come
down, they were sure of the \actory. Now God came down, and was found
amongst us as a man, and is become a ' Captain of salvation,' Heb. ii. 10 ;
therefore let fear have no entertainment with you.
G4 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK II.
Only in the second place,
2. If lie be God ; altliougli this may raise your hearts not to fear dis-
couragements (I speak to you whose hearts are set to be saved), yet it may
withal strike the greatest and most awful dread upon your spirit, and pro-
voke you to fear this your saviom-, and not to deal presumptuously with
him, nor to slight him, and play fast and loose with him, thinking you may
have salvation at any time. No ; he is God ; and ' God will not be mocked,'
Gal. vi. 7. You must carry yourselves towards him as towards God him-
self. Because Christ came to be a saviour, and hath a nature so full of
meekness, therefore men think to deal with him as they please. But, as
God elsewhere says, Ps. xlvi. 10, ' Be still, and know that he is God.'
Therefore, when God sent him before the Israelites, Exod. xxiii. 21, he
bade them ' beware of him, and provoke him not ; for,' says he, ' he will not
pardon your transgressions ' (that is, he will not pardon you upon any other
than gospel terms and limits) : ' for my name is in him :' that is, he is God
as well as I, and therefore will not suifer you to he in such sins as cannot
stand with the rules in his word, and yet pardon you. Think not to deal
so with him. He will save you upon no other terms than I myself would
by him. And therefore the apostle, when he had shewn how Christ was
God as well as man, in the first and second chapters to the Hebrews, to
the end that ' he might be a faithful high priest to God,' as well as ' a mer-
ciftd high priest to men ' (ver. 17 of the second chapter), that is, such a
saviour as was not so made up all of mercy to men, but that withal he is
as faithful to God. From this therefore the apostle in the third chapte'-
makes this use, and bids them ' consider what an high priest they have '
(ver. 1), who was and will be ' faithful to God that appointed him,' ver. 2.
And he bids them to consider this, to this end, not to neglect the present
opportunity of salvation, and think to put Christ off for the present, and
come in to him when they please, in that he is so merciful a saviour. But
(says he, ver. 7) consider, that as ' the Holy Ghost says, To-day, if ye will hear
his voice, harden not your hearts ;' so take heed how there be in you an
evil heart, to depart from him, he being ' the living God,' ver. 12. Re-
member how he dealt with the Israehtes in the wilderness (his Father's
name being in him), and how he sware against them, and said, ' They
should not enter into his rest.' Bead the whole chapter, and you will find
this use made of it, as by the apostle elsewhei'e it is. So, 1 Cor. x. 4, 5, 6,
I would have you, brethren, says he, ver. 1, to consider that our fathers
had Christ for their captain, as we have (ver. 4), and they had him ofiered
unto them in the ordinances ; but they tempting him, ' with many of them
God was not well pleased ;' that is, Chi'ist was not well pleased (for, ver. 9,
they are said to have tempted Christ), and he, being God, ' destroyed them
in the wilderness.' For in that he was God, he would not be so dealt
withal by them. These things therefore are examples unto us (as he there
concludes that discourse), that we may know and consider what a saviour
we have to deal withal : who, as he is man (and therefore you might expect
all mercy from him), so he is God also, and will be faithful unto God to
save men, but this upon his Father's own conditions. And if we seek not
salvation according to his own rules, he will take part with his Father
against us, for his Father's name is in him. And yet,
3. Withal we may fetch this ground of encouragement against the guilt
of great sins for time to come, that he is God, therefore able to pardon us.
Were he mere man, though he had our nature, yet he would not endure us.
So much mercy as serves to pardon us, never entered into the heart of any
Chap. YIII.] op christ the mediator. (55
mere creature : ' I am God, not man, thcrcforo you sons of Jacob are not
consumed.' But the human nature of Christ being united to the Son of
God, his will in pardoning doth accompany the divine will, and goes alon"
Avith it ; and as in all acts else, so in forgiving, it is able to hold pace with
him.
III. A third sort of uses are taken from this, that he who is God hath
took our nature, our whole frail nature, unto himself, in that humbled way
mentioned.
1. Admire we the love of God towards us, which (if ever it was shewn
in anything) is shewn in this ; and therefore this is made the great act of
love, his ' emptying himself,' and ' becoming nothing,' as it were, that he
being equal with God, ' took upon him the form of a servant.' Solomon
made a wonder of it, that he whom ' the heavens of heavens cannot con-
tain,' should vouchsafe to dwell in * temples made with hands,' 1 Kings
viii. 27. But this is nothing to his being personally united to the human
nature, and to dwell bodily and personally in it, and so to be made one with
the house in which he dwells, and which he himself built, that is, he to be
made a creature, who made all creatures. It is to be admired that God
would ever have it said that a creature was God, and that God is become a
creature ; yet so it is said, John i. 18, ' The Word was made flesh.' For
him to be made a creature is more than for us to become nothing, or for an
angel to become a worm. It is therefore made a mystery, a great mystery,
that all stand aghast at, as well angels as men (and this o;xo?.6you/yJ^w;, even
with one consent), that ' God should be manifest in the flesh : ' 1 Tim. iii.
16, ' And, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness : God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.' And if he
be made a creature, let him be made the best of creatures, an angel, there
being such nobleness in them above what is in us. Their perfections are
the measure of om's, and our perfection is expressed but by being like to
them. Our estate in heaven is to be wj ayyiXoi, ' as the angels.' Like-
wise the cbiefest wisdom in any man is but as an angel's (as it is said of
David). They for their substance are spirits, and therefore in a nearer
degree of assimilation unto God, they are the fitter matches for him who is
a spirit. Again, if he will assume anything of ours, let it be our souls only,
for our bodies are 'vile bodies,' Philip, iii. 21. But such was his love to
us, that he will take both, because he means to redeem both, and to make
our bodies glorious like his own body. And how doth the apostle in this,
Heb. ii. 16, set forth his love in this, that ou hri'xov, * at no hand he took
upon him the nature of angels,' though he could have done it easily, and
with more personal honour, but he would ' in no wise ' entertain a thought
of it. Such was his love to us, that he refused that match, his heart being
fixed on us. He lets ' principalities and powers' go, and ' hath respect to
the lowness of his handmaid,' Luke i. 48, the mean estate of our nature.
But yet, if he take our nature, let him take it at its best, whilst in a state
of innocency ; let him marry it in its prime, and (as the high priest was to
do) when it is a virgin uncoi'rupted, unpolluted with sin or misery, or rather,
let him take it such as it is now in heaven, all glorious. But he will, out
of his love to us, take our nature on him when it is at the worst, and then
make it glorious, and us like him. When we are traitors, and out of favour,
he will marry flesh and blood out of our stock and kindred, so to bring us
into favour again. Was it not unparalleled love in Jonathan then to love
David, when he was in disgrace with his father ? Much more would it have
VOL V. E
66 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK II.
been for him, out of his love to David, as then to have married one of his
children. How exceeding much more then is the love of Christ towards us ?
2. For all which, as we should admire his love, so withal we should consider
our privilege by having our nature so advanced. What a pawn and pledge
of love is it to us, to have one of these bodies of ours made more glorious
than all the angels ? To whom charge is given, when he ' comes into the
world,' to ' worship and adore him,' Heb. i. G. Who is to have them, and
all things else put under his feet, and is to be their Lord and judge, and
they all but to be his guard. What a prerogative is it that our nature should
be in him made higher in court than any queen can be in the court of any
king ; and thus it is, seeing he is one in person with God, not in conjugal
relations only, and the rest of his brethren are advanced to be his queen,
and the angels to be but his and her guard and servants. And as this is
the privilege of our nature, so some of the ancients have thought, that the
revealing of God's purpose in it unto the angels before their fall was the
occasion of the same, and that their casting out of heaven was a punishment
of their proud stomaching of the honour done unto our nature, that it should
be advanced so far above them (as the apostle speaks, Eph. i. 21). And
it should teach us not to dishonour and defile this nature (which God hath
so honoured) with intemperancy, uncleanness, or any base or noisome lusts.
It also may encourage us to come with boldness to the court of heaven and
throne of grace, for that our nature is chief in favour there. Heb. iv. 14,
' Seeing we have so great an high priest passed into the heavens, let us hold
fast our profession.' And seeing he was man, ' touched with our infirmities,
let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of gi'ace, that we may find
grace and mercy in time of need.' When one of a kindred is advanced and
made a favourite at court, how will every one of his alliance (though never
so far ofi") challenge kindred of him, and seek favour by him, and hope to
be advanced too ? And Christ is ' not ashamed' of us, his poor kindred ;
but being allied to us by his nature, he deigns to call us brethren, and is
grieved that we come no oftener to him, with petitions of favour to be put
up by him. And he not only called us brethren, when himself was with
us in a poor estate here below, and lived in our houses amongst us, but
likewise when he was risen again, and thereby entered into possession of
his kingdom. Even then the first message that he sent, and the first words
that he spake, were those in John xx. 17, ' Go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father,' &c. You see his pre-
ferment alters him not ; after his resurrection he calls them brethren. We
should therefore improve this our affinity and kindred with him ; he took
it on him for that very purpose. And,
3. In that he took upon himself such a human nature as should be every
way fit for the business of mediation that he was to perform for us, let us
endeavour to fit ourselves all that we can, for communion and fellowship
with him. The reason why we live here absent from him so long, though
contracted to him already, is, to be fitted for his bed in heaven, and for
everlasting embraces. Even as Esther was a long while preparing for
Ahasuerus his bed, so are we here in preparing for glory ; as it is, Rom.
ix. 23, ' And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels
of his mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.' The bride dresseth
herself here in this life ; Rev. xix. 7, ' Let us be glad and rejoice, and give
honour unto him : for the man-iage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath
made herself ready,' and prepares to meet her Lord, with whom she must
live for ever. And look, as he took our nature, let us take his ; labour we
Chap. VIII. J op cheist the mediatob. c,j
to be changed into his image, being made partakers of the divine nature.
As ho took our whole nature, to save the whole of it, so let us consccrata
the whole to him, and ' be sauctiticd throughout in body, soul, and spirit ;'
as 1 Thcss, V. 23, ' Cleanse we ourselves from all pollution of flesh and
spirit,' soul and body, 2 Cor. vii. 1. And as he came as near in likeness
to our nature (as was shewn) as possibly he could, in conception, in birth,
and in everything, yet so as ho might avoid sin, so should we come as near
to him as is possible. Be we ' like him in all things.' In his power and
prerogative indeed we cannot ; they are as incommunicable to us, as our
sin was to him ; but in gi-aces and in holiness we may, in meekness and
humility we may. And as he took up our infirmities, so take we up his
cross ; be. we willing to be ' made conformable to him in suflerings' for him.
And as his human nature subsists whohy in the second person, losing its
own proper personal subsistence to be one with him, and to become a fit
instrument together with him of our salvation ; so be we content to lose
ourselves and our own personal j^roprieties, to subsist only in him and to
him, and to be for ever serviceable unto his glory.
OF CHBIST THE MEDIATOB. [BOOE III.
BOOK III.
The fulness of abilities which are in Christ to accomplish the work of our
redemption, which are impossible to he found in any other person.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith. Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt-offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure : then said I, Lo, I come {in the volume
of the book it is written of me) to do thy ti'ill, God. Above, xchen he
said, Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and offering for sin thou
wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein ; ivhich are offered by the law ;
then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, God. He taketh away the first,
that he may establish the second. By the which will ive are sanctified, through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. — Heb. X. 4-10.
CHAPTER I.
The all-sufficient abilities to accomplish our redemption, demonstrated from
God the Father's calling him. to it, ivhich he ivoidd never have done had
not he known him able. — Fro7n God's engaging also to furnish him ivith
abilities. — From Christ's undertaking it, ivhich he did upon the knowledge
which he had of himself, as equal to the great p)erformance. — From the
greatness and excellency of his person, icho, being God-man, is able to do
anything. — The reasons which induced God to fix on this tray of salvation,
to be by the blood of his Son. — An answer to that objection, how God is
said to pardon us freely by his grace, when yet he requires full satisfaction
to be made.
Having at large laid open that sole peculiar fitness which is in Chi'ist for
the work of reconciliation, we will now come to discover likewise that all-
sufficient fulness of abilities in him for the accomplishment of this great
work, in all particulars required to it. Which, first, in the general, your
faith may be helped in the persuasion of by these demonstrations.
Deiiwnstration 1. Because God the Father did call him to this great work.
And had not Christ been fully able to bring you to heaven, without all pos-
sibility of miscarriage, God would never have pitched upon him. Man may
sometimes choose one for a place of office and honour, who yet is not suffi-
cient to discharge it, because they are mistaken in men's abilities ; but God
could not be mistaken, but must needs know, that Jesus Christ was able
to "0 through without miscarrying, and therefore he pitched upon him.
In Ps. Ixxxix. 19, ' Then thou spakest in vision to the Holy One, and saidst,
I have laid help upon one that is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen out
Chap. I.] op christ the mediatob, G9
of the people.' That whole psalm is a prophecy of Christ, under the type
of David, and hath in it much of the gospel, which is called ' the sure mer-
cies of D.ivid.' The state of the people of Israel when David came to the
crown (if you take the psalm of the type David) was a shattered state ;
Israel was a racked people, all was distracted, tottering, and broken ; Saul
their king, and Jonathan his son, slain ; themselves overcome and routed by
the Philistines; their religion, state, and all were desperate and staggering;
but God chose David, an able governor, to restore all, and so ' laid help on
one that was mighty.' In Ps. Ixxv., David speaking of his comin^ to the
government and kingdom, ' when I shall receive the congregation,' ver. 2,
adds, ver. 3, 'The earth' (namely, the land of Judca), 'and all the inha-
bitants thereof, are out of course : I bear up the pillars of it.' Now, he
therein was a type of Christ (who often in the prophets is called David) ;
for when we were without strength, being captived by Satan, forlorn and
undone, and no creature able to help us, then did God ' lay help on one
that was mighty ; ' that is, he laid the task of saving us upon Christ, who
was able to do it. Thus also, Heb. vii. IG, ' He was made a priest, not
after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life ; ' that is, he was armed with power to execute the office of priesthood
for ever, and to overcome all difficulties ; and therefore he is said to have
been made after the power of an endless Ufe, and not after the law of a
carnal commandment, as other priests were. And, ver. 18, the apostle
says their office was weak, and not able to bring things to perfection.
Those priests were not able to satisfy God, nor to carry on the work ; but
Christ had the power of an endless life, because Christ had power to lay
down his life and take it up again, to survive the encounter of his Father's
wrath, and then to live for ever, and intercede for us, and so to go through-
stitch with the work, and without once fainting, much less succumbing or
sinking under it, or failing in bringing it to its full perfection.
Demonst. 2. In that God called him, he undertook to make him able ;
for besides that God knew Christ to be able, and therefore called him, it
may be farther said, that in calling him he undertook to make him able.
Men, if they find one not able for an office to which he is called, cannot
give him abilities ; but God, when he gives a call, gives likewise abilities.
Thus of Christ it is said, Isa. xlii. 1, 4, 6, ' Behold my servant, whom I
uphold ; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth : I have put my Spirit
upon him : he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth : and the
isles shall wait for his law. I the Lord have called thee in righteousness,
and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant
of the people, fjr a light of the Gentiles.' ' Behold my servant, whom I
uphold,' saith he; ' mine elect, whom I have called in righteousness.' That
is, I have both called him to this office, and that in righteousness. I have
not forced it on him, nor put him upon this hard task unwillingly. (1.)
He is my elect ; I chose him of all that ever were or shall be. (2.) I have
called him in righteousness ; that is, he being not unwilling to undertake
it, but consenting to it. And (3.) I promised faithfully to stand by him,
and not to leave him in it. And (4.) He being my servant in it, therefore
certainly' I will uphold him through it, as it is, ver. 6. God promiseth
that he will ' hold his hand,' that he sink not (even as Christ held up Peter
by the hand fi-om sinking), and will keep him so as (ver. 4), ' he shall not fail
or fall short' to accomplish the work of mediation, in the least tittle ; nor
shall he be discouraged, or (as it is in the original) broken (and yet he was
70 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
to undergo that, whicli would have hroken the backs of men and angels,
and have pushed them all to hell), but he shall be backed with all the power
that God hath, even that he hath who made the heavens (as it follows,
ver. 5), which he mentions as engaging all that power in it.
Demomt. 3. Christ was willing to undertake it, and therefore surely he
knew himself able to go through with it, for otherwise he would never have
undertaken it. A wise man will not undertake an enterprise which he ia
not able to manage and go through with ; and Christ much less, he being
the Wisdom of his Father. He will not do as a foolish builder that sets
upon a work which he is not able to finish. What wise man will enter
into bond for another, for more than himself is worth, and so run a hazard
of Ij'ing in prison all the days of his life ? Surely no wise man will do
this ; and much less would Christ undertake to be our surety, if he had
thought himself insufficient to pay ; therefore certainly he knew that he
was able to perfect and consummate the great work of our reconciliation
before he took it upon him.
Demmist. 4. In that he is God as well as man, therefore he must needs
be able for any undertaking, be it never so hazardous. If it had been pos-
sible for his Father to have forsaken him (as he complained that for a time
he did), and afibrd him no succour, no support, but leave him to himself,
nay, do his utmost against him, and make known against him the power
of his wrath (as indeed he did), yet he is able alone to uphold himself, for
that the * fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him,' Col. ii. 9, and
therefore there was an impossibility of miscaniage, as you have it, Acts
ii. 24, 'It was not possible that he should have been held under the pangs
of death.' If anything would have held him, it would have been death
and hell ; for then his power was put to it to raise himself; but it was impos-
sible that he should be held by them, because he was God. It is one of
his gi-eat names, Isa. ix. 7, that he is the mighty God : therefore he is
mighty and able to save himself and others.
Now the particulars of all that salvation whereunto this all-sufficiency of
his is required, are many ; as (not to name all) to make your peace, par-
don your sins, bring you into favour, send his Spirit into your hearts, to
change them, and dwell there for ever, to subdue your enemies, defend and
keep you blameless unto the great day, and then to raise you up, and glo-
rify you for ever.
But the foundation of all these lies in that all-sufficiency that was found
in Christ to satisfy for sin and to justify sinners ; for by that satisfaction
sin was removed, which before did separate between God and us, and was
a hindrance of all blessings from descending upon us ; for there cannot
be so much as peace whilst sin remains ; and by Christ's satisfaction sin
being removed, then likewise all the blessings wherein salvation consists,
and which God's free favour intended to bestow, were also purchased by
him. And however that the application of all be performed by degrees,
yet the purchase of all was laid in that one satisfaction of his, ere he
offered to set a foot out of the grave. And therefore, Heb. x., he is said,
* by that one offering' (which was the great and last payment), ' to have for
ever perfected those that are sanctified;' that is, to have done all that
which was to be done for that blessed estate of perfection which he was to
bring them unto. The all-sufficiency of which satisfaction is that particular
subject that we are now to handle, the opening of which we reduce to
these two heads :
I. More generally ; That in Christ, and him alone, there was an all-
Chap. I,j of christ the mediator. 71
sufficiency or fulness of abilities to bo found, to satisfy for sin, and to jus-
tify sinners.
II. More particularly ; That all the several particular parts of, and what
is requisite to complete the justification of a sinner, are fully found in
Christ's satisfaction : so that there is in it a fulness and perfection of parts
also.
I. For the first of these, viz., That in Christ, and in him alone, there is
an all-sufficiency to satisfy for sin, and to justify sinners, I will (as a
ground for it) take for my text Hcb. x. 4-10, ' For it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he
Cometh into the world, ho saith, Sacrifice and oliering thou wouldcst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me : in burnt- oflerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of
the book it is written of me) to do thy will, God. Above, when he said,
Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and oflering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein (which are ofi'ered by the law) ; then said
he, Lo, I come to do thy will, God. He taketh away the first, that he
may establish the second. By the which wall we are sanctified, through
the oflering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.'
For the opening of this point out of these words we will proceed by
degrees, first premising such observations as shall make way for the clear-
ing of it.
Obs. 1. You see that the project that he mentioneth is the taking away
of sins ; and nothing had been more easy for God to have done. He might
have taken away the sins by taking away the sinners, and so have made
short work of it, taking them both out of the way at one stroke, by which
course he might have caused sin to cease, as Ezekiel speaks, Ezek. xxiii. 48.
But this is not his meaning ; for his pui-pose is, so to take away sins as
the sinners might stand still ; that is, that they might stand in judfunent,
and be justified in his sight. There are some even among sinners whom
he bears a secret good-will unto, and hath done so from everlasting ; but
their sins have separated between him and them, and he would fain sepa-
rate their sins as far ofl' from them, that so he might draw near to them,
and communicate himself fully and freely unto them. And because sin is
a bm-den which they can neither stand under nor throw ofi themselves : — ' a
wounded spirit who can bear ? ' — and fui'ther, they can never give thanks
enough for his benefits received, much less satisfy for sins ; therefore he
resolves to have them took off, as the word d:paioiT\i seems to signify.
But then again, for to take away sins only is but half the design. The
4th verse indeed mentions no more, because the ' blood of bulls ' could not
do so much ; yet that same ' will of God,' mentioned in the 7th verse, had
a further aim, not only to take away sins, that he might not hate us, but
further to give us such a righteousness as for which he might have more cause
to love us than ever, and loving to delight in us. His will meant not only
peace or pardon to us, but grace and favour. It was as they sang, Luke
ii. 14, ' Good\i,-ill towards men,' as well as ' peace on earth.' His will is
to have us adopted and graciously accepted, as well as pardoned : E2)h. i.
6, 6, ' Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Chiist to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.'
But then again, thus to have taken sins oflf from them might have been
done by a sole, free act of pardon passed from him, and he needed not to
72 OF CHRIST THE JfEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
have made any more ado about it. I dare not say the contrary, as some
are bold to do ; for this reasou sways with me, namely, to pmiish sin being
but an act of his will (as all his other works ad extra are), and not of his
nature; for what is the reason else that he sometimes suspends the punish-
ing of wicked men, out of the riches of his forbearance ? It is because to
punish them is but an act of his will. If it were an act of his nature, then
whosoever sinned should die for it immediately ; but it being an act of his
will, he may suspend it, as he oftentimes doth. And if for a while he thus
forbears, why might he not have done so for ever, and so wholly pardon ?
Surely there is no reason to the contrary. To hate sin indeed is an act of
his nature, but to express his hatred by punishing is an act of his will, and
therefore might be wholly suspended. And that which yet further confirms
me in it is, that Christ, when he prayed that ' the cup might pass from
him,' Mark xiv. 36, uscth this argument, ' All things are possible to thee.'
The thing he entreated for was, that the cup might be taken away; and he
intimates this as the ground of his prayer, that it was possible to God,
that notwithstanding he was resolved to have the world saved, yet to have
that end of his brought about another way, though in view there is none
that we know of but this. Now there was a truth in this, else Christ
would not have used it as an argument to this purpose. The impossibility
lay only in God's will to have it done by Christ's satisfaction, and no
■way else ; which therefore Christ submitted unto — ' not my will, but thine
be done ' — only natm-e in him, to shew its averseness to that cup as simply
in itself considered, sought a diversion. And to shew that there was
another way, he useth this as the gi'eatest argument, thereby the more
to set forth his and his Father's love, that he yet underwent this most
difficult one.
Obs. 2. Therefore, secondly, observe in the general, that for to take away
sins God takes means into consideration. Why else do bulls and goats
come into consideration here ? He means not to use his sole prerogative
in it, but to do it fairly; and though by a bare act of his will he might
have done it, yet his will working by counsel, Eph. i. 11, he thought it not
so fit to do it. The apostle therefore speaks of blood here, and in Heb.
ix. 22, 23, he also says, that ' without blood there is no remission.' He
will have blood for satisfaction ; and, ver. 23, the apostle makes it a
necessity that there should be sacrifices, yea, better sacrifices than the
blood of bulls and goats. It was necessary (says he), not absolutely, but
in regard of God's resolution to satisf}^ justice. And therefore the heathens
offered sacrifices to pacify their incensed gods ; this thought being innate
in every man's nature, that God must be satisfied, the reasons of which
(namely, why God requii-ed satisfaction) I shewed in that first part of the
story of the gospel* (in God's eternal transaction with Jesus Christ), only I
will now but use the ground of it which lies ia the text itself.
1. Consider that the project is to take away sins (as hath been shewed);
and then for to make way for the manifestation of this it was necessary to
give a law, which might both discover what sin was, and how heinous ;
and also shew by a threatening annexed, that punishment which it naturally
deserves, and what the sinner might in justice expect from God. This was
necessary; for otherwise, ' where there is no law there is no transgression;'
at leastwise * sin is not imputed where there is no law,' Rom. v. 13, and
then there would have been no sins actually capable of mercy, or none to
pardon. Now then, upon God's giving this law, he ipso facto takes upon
* Qu. ' Glory of the Gospel' ? In Vol. IV. of this series of his works. — Ed.
Chap. I.] of christ the mediator. 73
him to be a jnclge, and the judge of all the world ; for in the very making of
the law he declares himself to be so. So then he is engaged, upon many
strong motives, to shew his justice against sin, in punishing it according as
he had threatened (as I then shewed).
2. Consider that if he hath satisfaction it must be perfect and full ; for
why else is the blood of bulls and goats here rejected, and that with an
impossibility ; — ' It is not possible that they should take away sins ' — but
because his end was to have perfect satisfaction? It is true he might have
accepted of that for an acceptilation (as they call it), which should not so fully
have answered his justice ; for if he might have pardoned without any satis-
faction at all, then certainly he might have accepted of so much or so little.
If he might wholly pardon he might then abate, and take but something.
And the reason of it is the same with the former ; for it being an act of his
will, he might (as Christ said) ' do what he would with his own ; ' he might
forgive all or require all ; forgive part or require but part. Though full
satisfaction be not given, yet the laws of men use to give some damages,
though never so little, unto the party wronged ; though not for satisfac-
tion, yet for an acknowledgment of the injury. But God will have satis-
faction to the full, or none at all. He stands upon it, and therefore it is
that the' apostle saith, that the blood of bulls and goats cannot possibly take
away sin. If God had only required an acknowledgment of that satisfaction
which a sinner was to make him, he might then have accepted of the blood
of bulls and goats to satisfy his justice. But on the contrarj^ in Rom. iii.
26, he declares himself to have ' set forth Christ as -a propitiation, that he
might be just, and a justifier of him that believes in Jesus.' And if he
speaks of justice in it, surely an imperfect satisftiction is not worthy to have
that name put upon it. In like manner the Scripture speaks of a price
paid to redeem us, which argues it to be special justice; the word redewption
itself (which is so frequently used) doth likewise argue it ; and it differs
from buying but in this, that it implies a buying anew that which was one's
own before, but yet by a price ; so that this justice of God came to set a price
that it would have ; and if justice sets a price it will have a -full one. We
use to say. What I give I give, but what I sell I sell. When men indeed
are frightened for lack of money, they will sell their goods at any under
rate ; but God was no way necessitated ; he could have improved his glory
another way, and in the mean time have lost nothing by us. Therefore if
God will sell, and his justice sets the price, he then will have his full
price ; he will make a wise bargain, and not see our ransom undervalued.
That phrase in 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' Bought with a price,' may seem to be a
tautology, and as if one should say, ' He speaks with his mouth; ' for if they
be bought, they must needs be bought with a price. But there is an emphasis
in the phrase ; the word price is added to note that he hath bought them
indeed, and over-bought them, and that he hath paid for them, and that a
full price. Therefore, 1 Tim. ii. 6, it is called uvtIX-jt^ov, that is, a ransom
every way answerable and adequate. And besides these reasons intimated,
add these :
(1.) All God's works are perfect in their kind, Deut. xxxii. 4. God
loves not to do things by halves ; if therefore he goes about to shew his
justice, he will do it perfectly or not at all.
(2.) If God should have required something that was not fully satisfac-
tory, then the sinner relieved would have been apt to have thought and
spoken of it as if it had been fully such, and would have been ready to
have upbraided God therewith, as being not so much beholden unto him
74 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK III.
for cutting off part of the payment due. We see how conceited proud
nature is of its own performances ; and notwithstanding that God, to con-
vince it of its own inabihties, has set forth his Son as making so transcendent
a satisfaction, yet it would needs esteem that httle which it is required to
do, merely as an acknowledgment of thankfulness, to be in lieu of satisfac-
tion, and accordingly it stands upon it ; and we have much ado to break
ourselves of this conceit. How much more then would we have done this
if God had required no other ?
(3.) As to prevent the false conceits of our hearts, so also for the full
quiet and security of our spirits, God did ordain that there should be a full
satisfaction made, that so we might have perfect peace in our spirits, as it
is Isa. xxvi. 3, ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on thee ; because he trusteth in thee ;' and trust perfectly upon it, as
1 Peter i, 21. If it had been an imperfect satisfaction, the soul of man
would still have been solicitous and doubting, it would still have been prying
and questioning whether God would have accepted it or no, fearing it had
not been full enough. Wherefore, as to take away our unthankfulness, so
to prevent our infidelity, it was to be a perfect satisfaction, even such as his
justice shall require no more at our hands.
Quest. But a question may here arise. How can God be said to pardon
freely by his grace, when yet his justice requires a full satisfaction ?
Ans. The answer is, that both may well stand together. And therefore
we have both joined together : Bom. iii. 24, 25, * Being justiiied freely by
his grace, through the 4-edemption that is in Christ.' And clearly to solve
this doubt, consider,
1. That it is of gi'ace that this satisfaction is transmitted, and translated
from us unto another ; which satisfaction, when it should come from another
for us, God was no way bound to accept of; and yet he doth accept it
fi-eely. To illustrate wdiich, there is this difference between satisfaction for
damage in goods, and for injuries in point of honour (which is the thing
wherein God accounts himself mainly wronged), that satisfaction for goods
(which we call restitution) may be performed for the debtor by another per-
son, and stand as good and valid as if himself had done it. But if it be to
be made in point of honom*, or that the punishment be to reach the life of
the party wronging, then to commute or transmit it, it was a matter of free
grace and pardon.
2. It was free grace unto us, however, because we were wholly spared.
All is freely remitted to us, although he ' spared not his own Son,' as it is
said, Rom. viii. 32, and especially in that this was done to this end, that
he might spare us. A type of this were those two goats in the old law,
whereof the one was sacrificed, and the other let go free, and was called the
scape -goat. And although mercy would not have been so much shewn in
accepting what was a defective and imperfect satisfaction from ourselves, as
if mercy had wholly and alone supplied and made up all, yet it was shewn
as much in accepting what another performed for us (though that satisfac-
tion was never so perfect) as if it had wholly forgiven it.
8. If furthermore we consider, that it was his Son from whom this satis-
faction was exacted, one so dear to him, and one who of himself was free
from all such obligations, and put upon it by God, the more to shew his
grace, this makes it to be mere gi-ace ; and indeed the more grace, by how
much the satisfaction was greater. And therefore God is said ' to commend
his love in this, that Christ died for us,' Bom. v. 8. And Eph. i. 7, we
are said ' by him to have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
Chap. II.] of cheist the mediator. 75
of sins, accorcling to the riches of his grace.' Had Christ been one nearer
to us than to him, or had he been wholly a stranger to God, it might then
have been esteemed to have less of grace in it ; but in that he spared not
his own Son, that he might spare us, this makes grace the more to abound
in it, though the satisfaction be never so perfect.
CHAPTER II.
That in Christ alone there was sufficient ability to take away sin. — Tlie weak-
ness and insufficiency of any creature for this work demonstrated. — That it
is for the greater honour of Christ to effect that, which none could do besides
him. — The insufficiency of any creature loroved by an enumeration of par-
ticulars. — That the blood of all sacrifices could not hare such an efficacy.- —
That ice rrere unable to satisfy God by anything which tee could suffer, or
do. — That all the saints are as unable to help v^ in this case. — That it is
beyond the jjower of angels themselves.
These observations having been sent before to make way, we come now
to the main point at the first'propounded, viz., That in Christ, and in him
alone, there is an all-sufficiency of abilities to take away sins ; and that
seeing God stood upon a full and perfect satisfaction, he alone was able to
effect it. Which proposition we will branch out into two, and those both
of them founded upon the text.
I. That it was not possible for any of the creatures to have made satis-
faction, and to have taken sins away.
II. That in Christ's offering up himself as a sacrifice, there was an all-
sufficiency to do it.
I. The creatures could not satisfy God, nor take away sin. The hand-
ling and proving of this tends so much the more to set forth and advance
Christ's all-sufficiency. As therefore, in shewing his fitness, we made it ap-
pear that his office was fit for no creature, but only for himself, so now in
declaring his abilities for this office, we will shew that none besides him
was able to perform it. And for proof of this, we need go no further than
the apparent drift and scope of this text, and of this epistle, which as it is
to shew the perfection of Christ's oblation once oflered, so it was withal to
shew the weakness of all other offerings, even of those appointed by God
himself under the old law ; and to that end, comparing them all along with
this sacrifice of his Son, In which comparison you may observe,
1. That a sufficient worth and value was the thing that God stood upon,
(as hath been said). So Heb. ix. 23 : 'It Avas therefore necessary that the
patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these ; but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.' The apostle
speaks of the worth and betterness of sacrifices, ' better sacrifices than these.'
So he speaks of a sacrifice that should perfect them for whom it was oflered :
Heb. X. 14, ' For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified.' And chap. vii. 26, 27, he mentioneth abilities to save, as being
required in him who was our high priest : Heb. vii. 25-27, 'Wherefore he
is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him,
seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' Ver. 26, ' For such
an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners, and made higher than the heavens ;' ver. 27, ' Who needeth not
7G OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
daily, as those high priests, to oflfer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and
then for the people's : for this he did once, when he offered up himself.'
2. You may observe, all other sacrifices were laid aside as weak, and
wanting of this worth and value. So the apostle saith, ' The law made
men high priests who had infii'mities :' Heb. vii. 28, ' For the law maketh
men high priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.'
There was an infirmity and a weakness that accompanied all the sacrificcrs
and sacrifices. And for this weakness of theirs, there was a ' disannulling
of that commandment,' for the ' weakness and unprofitableness' of it, ver.
18. And Heb, ix. 9, he tells us, ' They could not make him perfect who
did the service,' and also that all those sacrifices, as they could not make
the ofierer himself that did the service perfect, much less could they make
them perfect for whom they were offered : Heb. ix. 9, ' Which was a figure
for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices,
that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience :' Heb, x, 1, ' For the law having a shadow of good things to
come, and not the yoyj image of the things, can never with those sacrifices,
which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto
perfect,' All which argues, that God would have such a satisfaction as
should make men perfect, that is, should be fully able to satisfy his justice,
and their consciences. And therefore also here in the text God is brought
in, consulting about, or considering and weighing all other sacrifices ; and
when he had found them all too light, the text says, he laid them all aside,
and pitched upon, and established this of Christ, And therefore you see
this profier of Christ, ' Lo, I come,' comes in after God's refusal of all
others as ineffectual ; ' then said I, Lo, I come :' Heb. x. 5-7 ' Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, he saith. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me :' ver. 6, ' In burnt-offerings and
sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure :' ver, 7, * Then said I, Lo, I
come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, God.'
Thus Gal, iii, 21, 'If there had been a law that could have given life,
righteousness had been by the law,' The apostle speaks as if God would
have taken that, or any other course, if it could have been sufiicient. And
Gal. ii, 21, ' Do I frustrate the grace of God ?' says he, ' If righteousness
be by the law, then Christ died in vain,' What he says of the law may be
said of all means else, if any other could be supposed. The same reason
that is there given against the law (namely, that the grace in Christ's dying
and justifying us, would be frustrated) holdeth as well, to exclude the sup-
posed jDossibility of any other means to make us righteous. For by that
reason it appears, that God's aim and end in Christ's dying was to advance
the glory of his grace, which consists in having the monarchy and sole pre-
rogative in saving sinners attributed unto it ; the height of whose honour
and eminency is this, that it alone reigns, and hath nor could have any
competitor therein. And therefore if there could be supposed to be any
other means, Christ's death would then lose something of its peculiar gloiy ;
which if it should, he would account himself to have died in vain ; for the
glory of his aim had been defaced and frustrated, and his end in his account
as good as lost. As it is the excellency of God, that he is God alone, and
there is none besides him, so of Christ, that he alone is our saviour, and
that there is none besides him. But take this as still spoken in opposition
to all creatures only ; for otherwise that former supposition, that God could
have pardoned us by a mere act of grace without Christ's satisfaction, doth
Chap. II.] op christ the mediator. 77
not detract from this glory of Christ's death, -which is not to take away from
free grace, and to be accounted in comparison of it, the principal and only
saviour. Christ is content that the free grace of his Father should share
with him in it, and himself to be in this work God's servant. But this
competition of Christ is with all other means by creatures ; the excluding
the possibility of which to perform our redemption, makes Christ solo heir
to this kingdom and monarchy of grace, which is destructive of the domi-
nion of sin, and so endears his death to us : ' He hath a priesthood that
passeth not away,' Heb. vii. 24, as the high priest did by reason of death.
But he dies not ; and his office is such, as if ho should lay it down, there is
not any creature in heaven or earth that could take it up. The fullest trial
and manifestation of this is made in a case of less diliiculty (which evidently
reacheth this of satisfaction), in the fifth chapter of the Revelation, where,
as a prologue to that ensuing prophecy (which begins chap, vi.), there is a
solemn proclamation made by a strong angel, who ' spake with a loud voice,'
ver. 2 (as that which might come to the hearing of all creatures) : and the
matter of this proclamation was this challenge, ' AVho is worthj^ to open the
book' (namely of the Revelation, which was sealed in the hand of God,
that sat upon the throne, ver. 1), ' and to loose the seals thereof? And
there was none ' (so it is in the original, that is, no reasonable creature ;
we read * no man,' but that is too much limited), man or angel, ' in heaven,
or in earth, or under the earth, that was able to open the book, or so much
as to look thereon.' And John was at this discouraged, and ' wept much,'
ver. 4, as thinking, here must be an end of all, and that he should have no
further vision. But God did premise this on purpose to shew the difficulty
of the work, and to spoil all creatures of the glory of it, and the more to
set off and make illustrious the sole power and worth that was in Jesus
Christ for this work ; even as men in their fictions use to do, when they
would gi-eaten some one man, whose story they write. For after this non-
plus and dejection, a stander-by comforts him, and bids him ' not weep :
for lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath obtained to open the book,' &c.
And presently a lamb comes, approacheth the throne, and takes the book
out of his right hand, ver. 6, 7. And upon that all the chorus of twenty-
four elders and four beasts (who are there the church representative of
saints on earth), do fall down before the lamb, and set this crown of glory
upon his head alone, with this new song and shout, ' Worthy art thou,' &c.,
and thou alone ; unto which the angels give a respond of praise, ver. 11,
12, and heaven, and earth, and all creatures, echo to it, ver. 13. Now how
much more might all this solemnity have been used about satisfaction to be
made for sin ? To approach the throne, and take the book, and open it,
was far less than to have the heart to break through an army, and approach
God in his fury and fulness of wrath for sin, and to sustain that wrath, and
satisfy it by overcoming it. And this is more than intimated in that very
chapter ; for (ver. 9) the elders in their song do attribute this power of
Christ to open the book, unto the merit of a far greater work done, even
this of our redemption, and Christ's satisfaction for sin : ' Thou art worthy,'
say they, * to take the book, because thou wast killed, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood.' And how far off then will all creatures be found
to be, and how short of worth and power to redeem a sinner by their blood,
who were all not worthy so much as to look on that book, much less to
open it, not worthy to reveal this redemption, much less to effect it ? Than
which there cannot be a stronger proof for this my assertion. Thus much
in general. Now secondly,
78 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IH.
II. To demonstrate this by an induction and an enumeration of all par-
ticulai' means, wliich may be any way supposed able to help us.
1. First, Take the blood of bulls and goats, and add to them all the
creatures -which man is lord of, and which are his to give ; yet this whole
world of creatm-es would not be a sufficient sacrifice for sin. In Micah vi.
7, there is one comes ofi" with a good round price, 'Will the Lord be pleased
with thousands of rams, or with thousands of rivers of oil ? or shall I give
my fii'st-born for my transgression ?' And nature is apt to be thinking of
such sacrifices. But if justice could have afi"orded it so cheap, God would
not have turned away so fair a chapman ; yet he there turns him away.
One reason for which is there intimated, namely, that sin is the sin of the
soul, but aU these are but the appui-tenances of, or at the highest, but
fniits of the body : ' Shall I give the fruit of my body for the sin of my
soul ?' The soul, which is lost and forfeited by sin, is (as Christ says)
more worth than a whole world. Mat. xvi. 26. Yea, the Ufe of the body is
more worth in a man's own estimation than aU that he possesseth ; ' All
that a man hath wlU he give for his life,' Job ii. 4 ; but the ' redemption
of the soitI is ' yet much more * precious,' as the psalmist speaks, Ps.
xlix. 8. And as a king's ransom is more than another man's, so is the
redemption of the soul, which in worth exceeds all creatures, more than of
all other creatures besides. And yet further, the sin of the soul cannot be
recompensed by the loss and saciifice of the soul itseh ; for by sin the glory
of God sufiers detriment, but by a soul's loss the good of a creatm-e only is
damaged. It is a rule cuiTent in cases of moraUty and justice, that the
injmy of a supreme order is not made good by things of an inferior rank
unto it. "\Miat recompence will the forfeiture of a murderer's goods give
to a man for his ^ife, or for that of his fi'iends ? WTiat satisfaction can
money give for a dishonour cast upon a man's good name, which Solomon
says is ' better than riches' ? Prov. xxii. 1. So what is the fruit of a man's
body (as it is in Micah vi. 7) to the sin of his soul ? Yerily there is no
proportion. Yea, it falls short in the estimation of a man's own conscience.
Unto this disproportion the apostle adds another, Heb. ix. 23, that the
blessings to be purchased and obtained by this satisfaction are heavenly ;
but all such sacrifices as these are but things earthly ; and therefore better
sacrifices than these are required. All such external sacrifices are but
enough (if enough) to sanctify the ' pattern of heavenly things ;' that is,
the types of the law ; and this too, but only as they were ' shadows of things
to come.' Wherefore ' it was necessaiy that the heavenly things themselves '
(the substance) ' should be purified with better sacrifices than these.' Now
grace is heavenly, and pardon of sin must come fi'om heaven, even out of
God's bosom ; and will God (think we) exchange heavenly commodities for
earthly treasures ?
Again, the apostle adds a third disproportion unto these, Heb. ix. 14,
all such sacrifices cannot reach to the conscience. We have consciences to
be purged, and what are such outward things to pm*ge a man's conscience ?
As plasters outwardly apphed cannot reach to benefit the heart or lungs ;
so neither can these reach the conscience. They might sanctify the out-
ward man (as he there speaks), to purge away a ceremonial outward un-
cleanness, but not the inward, Jer. ii. 22, ' Though thou wash thee with
nitre, thy iniquity is open before me,' says the Lord. AU these could not
satisfy a man's conscience, much less God's justice. Therefore those that
were exercised in sacrifices, their consciences were unquiet, as both the
Jews' and heathens' were.
Chap. II.] of christ the mediator. 79
2. As for ourselves, thoro was no hope that ever we should satisfy God
by aught that cither we can do or suflcr.
(1.) Not by suflering anything. And for this, take the highest instance.
If there were any hope to satisfy by sufferings, it would be by the sufler-
ings of men in hell, because they are the utmost and the most extreme
punishment that are threatened as the reward of sin, and whereby God re-
covers all that may be had out of the creature. A man would think that
after millions of years expired, the torments which men there sufler should
satisfy for sin ; but they do not. Those eternal flames in which their
souls are scorched do nothing purify or diminish the stain of one sin : they
may indeed destroy the sinner, but they can never take away the sin ; for
therefore it is that they shall for ever suffer. He must for ever remain to
be punished, because for ever he remains a sinner. And it is also a certain
and sure rule, that nulla ptena nocentls est pcccati deletiva; no punishment
of a person nocent is deletive of sin. The sin can never be taken away or
blotted out by it.
(2.) Nor by doing ; for,
First; We are not able by all our works to satisfy our own consciences,
which still prick us in the midst of them ; much less can we satisfy God,
who is greater than our consciences. In Rom. v. 6, the apostle gives us
all up for desperate and past recovery ; ' When we were without strength,'
says he, ' Christ died for us.' W^e had no strength left us wherewith to do
anything ; neither could all the strength that the law could put into us, by
quickening and exciting our consciences to do good works, anything avail
us. So, Rom. viii. 3, the apostle tells us, that ' what the law could not
do, for that it W'as weak through the flesh,' that Christ came to do. If
anything had been done by us, it must have been by the help of the law in
om* consciences, directing, inciting, and carrying us on to obedience. But,
saith he, our corruption still weakeneth the power of the law, that it cannot
do any good upon us, in us, or by us. As when nature is spent, physic is
said to do no good through the weakness of the patient, so nor the law
through the weakness of the flesh. And therefore it follows, there being
no help in ourselves, ' God sent his Son in the similitude of sinful flesh,
and condemned sin in the flesh.' Neither,
Secondhj; Axe we thus weak"only, but also ungodly ; and so are all our
works. There is not only a weakness in all that the flesh can do, but also
a wickedness or enmity ; so that ' they who are in the flesh can never please
God ;' as Rom. viii. 8. Yea, it is impossible they should, for their works
are all defiled ; and though they were good, yet,
Thirdlij; They could not bring our persons into favour. For sin, breaking
the first covenant, by the tenor of which our works did keep our persons in
favour ; hence we have forfeited aU honour to our persons for ever, and so
unto all our works also, that look, as traitors when their persons are con-
demned, all their works are void in law, so are ours. So that if we could
suppose ourselves to love God, yet dllectio ilia nos quidem face ret dilectores,
sed non dilectos ; though thereby we might be called lovers of God, yet they
could not make us beloved of him again.
Fourtldij ; As we have forfeited all favour to our persons for ever, so we
have forfeited too the having any graces, or gifts of grace, whereby we might
be supposed to come into favour. For sin hath put in a bar against us,
this being the eternal demerit of it, that the former grace be never more
bestowed upon any of that former interest ; for it is wholly made void unto
all ends and purposes. And therefore, ere ever new grace be bestowed, the
80 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
guilt, and forfeiture, and desert of sin must be forgiven ; and how can we
ever come to obtain that for ourselves ?
Fifihhj ; If that demerit be cut off by free pardon, and grace be anew
bestowed, then that grace becomes a new favour, for which alone we can
never be thankful enough by the power of all the grace we receive. We
run into a new debt, which we can never requite or satisfy for, much
less by that can we pay our former debts. Therefore,
Lastly; Grace received anew, though in and through Christ, it may
indeed come to please God, as a token of our thankfulness (and so it doth),
yet can it never so much as justify us. The graces of godly men made
perfect in heaven shall (it may be) be as much and more than that of the
angels. Now then, suppose it such in this lifj, jet all that grace would
not justify us, because we once forfeited all of it, and the receiving of it
now were a new mercy. The gi'ace of them who are in heaven may indeed
please God, but it cannot justify them, and therefore much less could it
ever come to satisfy God for sin. And besides, dehitum peccati est wfi-
nitum, the debt and guilt of sin is infinite, because against an infinite God.
Graces would be but finite, because in us, and because ours, who are finite
creatures, as our graces also are. So then, you see, ourselves could not
make God any satisfaction.
3. If you go to all the saints, they are unable to help you ; Mat. xxv. 1,
2, 8, 9, ' Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten vngins,
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegrori;'. :' ver. 2,
' And five of them were wise, and five were foolish :' ver. 8, ' And the
foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out :'
ver. 9, ' But the wise answered, saying. Not so, lest there be not enough
for us and you ; but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for your-
selves.' The foolish virgins go to the wise, and say, ' Give us seme of
your oil,' that is, of your grace. They would have had some of the others'
graces to help them, but the wise virgins answered, ' No, lest there be not
enough for us and jow. ; but go you rather and buy of them that sell.' The
saints then (you see) have gi'ace little enough for themselves ; all the grace
they in heaven have is little enough to save them, and all the grace they
have is borrowed, and cannot justify themselves, much less therefore can
it satisfy for another. The papists, who so much extol works, though they
say, indeed, that good works do merit for the saints themselves, yet not
that they can satisfy for another.
4. Go from them to the angels. If they were a grain lighter, they would
be found too light, and their kingdom would depart from them, and them-
selves would be stripped of all their happiness. They need confirmation
in their estates themselves ; it is well that they keep their own standing,
and their heels fi'om being tripped up. All they can do in obedience to the
law, they owe it ; and how can one debt be paid with another ? God says
of them. Job iv. 18, * that he finds folly in them.' If God's curious
eye inquire and search into them, they will be found defective of that holi-
ness which he desires, though they be the works of his hands, and though
they have such a holiness as is the perfection of their natures ; and (so far
as such creatures can be), they be perfectly righteous. But yet if they
be compared to that holiness wherewith God is delighted, and that which
the curious eye of his purity would require, he finds a folly in them. And
therefore they need not only a mediation of union to confirm them in grace,
but fm-ther, for this end, that God may be pleased with them and their
works ; he being so curious, that but for a mediator (whose holiness wholly
Chap. HE.] op ohbist the mediator. 81
satisfies his exact eyo), ho would be pleased with no works of his own
hands whatever, but would rend, and tear, and throw all away, as not yet
worthy enough of him, even as curious artists do their best draughts, as
not satisfied with them. Yea, if the angels were but one grain wanting,
scruple not to say, they would bo cast down, yea, fall down, and become
devils. And therefore how can all that they can do be able to help you,
seeing they have little enough for themselves ?
So you see, upon a survey of all particulars, that no creature could make
satisfaction to God for sin.
CHAPTER III.
That the most perfect creature, though having all the perfections of Christ's
human nature, yet could not he our redeemer. — The utmost extent to which
the power of any creature can reach, to save himself or others, which yet all
fall short of that which ivas to be performed for our redemption.
Add to all these the utmost supposition that can be made, of the most
transcendent perfection of grace that may possibly be bestowed upon any
mere creature. Take the supposition which some of the schoolmen have
made, that as God appointed Adam, a mere creature, to convey and derive
grace to all his posterity, so if we with them suppose, first, some one
mere creature as a head, appointed to satisfy for sin, and' convey grace to
sinners (as Christ doth) ; and, secondly, suppose this mere creature filled
with as much grace habitual as Christ had, as much love, humility, &c.,
only that grace of union to a divine person set aside, which so transcend-
ently elevates all in him above created perfections, and then such a suppo-
sition cannot be denied. Thirdly, Suppose a transcending degree of favour
and glory appointed as the reward of that grace, more than is boiflie
towards all other creatures ; yet though this creature should lay down all
that glory, quit itself of all that happiness, and subject itself to all those
torments which Christ's soul underwent for us, to the end that our punish-
ment might be cut ofi", and we brought unto favour, all this could no way
deal with justice to satisfy for sinners, and restore them to favour. Which
now we will endeavour to make good from those more near and intimate
demonstrations, which hold forth in them the true grounds why no mere
creature can satisfy for sin, upon no supposition, how high soever. By all
which the superabundant grace and glory of Christ will the more appear,
whose cause herein we plead, and who pleadeth ours in heaven.
And, first, to make the clearer entrance, and the better explication and
stating of this point, let us consider and examine how far the graces of a
mere creature, how great soever, have gone, or can go, to advantage and
promote either the owner of them, or another, in the way of salvation ; and
so see the utmost extent of their abilities, and where they have and must
fall short. Which will likewise afford us evident demonstrations how far
short they come of satisfaction for sin, or justifying of a sinner.
I. Let us see what they can do for the owner and possessor of them.
1 . They can and do justify the possessor of them, if he have never sinned.
Thus the grace and works of the angels do justify them before God ; which
yet is much for God to accept of, for he ' seeth folly in his angels ; ' yet
this privilege he vouchsafes to their own grace. And thus to be justified, is
VOL. V. F
82 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
no more than to be accounted righteous before God's tribunal, and so worthy
to live in his sight, and by means of it to enjoy their present condition
of happiness. And thus Adam's grace in innocency did justify him : God
by his law and ordination pronouncing him righteous by it (whilst he con-
tinued in it), as wanting nothing which his law required in him for happiness
and life. And though grace in Adam and in the angels did, by a natural
law and just ordination of God, justify them before him, so as, God look-
ing on their works, did pronounce them righteous in his sight, according
to his law, yet this law or ordinance was founded upon no other obliga-
tion from God than the ordinances and laws of providence towards other
creatures, even such as the ordinances of day and night (as he speaks of
them) ; and so it was but such as when God saw all the creatures which
he had made keep the ordinances which he had set them in, he pronounced
that they were all good, namely, in their kind. Gen. i. 31, they continuing
(as the psalmist says, Ps. cxix. 91) according to their ordinances. So
whilst man continues in the ordinances which God hath set him in, he
pronouuceth him good in his kind, that is, righteous ; righteousnsss being
his proper goodness, and such to him, as the proper goodness of all crea-
tures are in their kind unto them. And as this righteousness was due to
him, and so created in him, not by merit, but as the native perfection
without which he could not be a man, so was this pronouncing of him
righteous (and to be in God's favour whilst he continued in that goodness)
not due of merit (for what can we do towards it ?), but only as a due appro-
bation and suitable reward and consequence of his goodness, meet for God
to bestow, according to that special law of natm-e which God had created
him in. And so I understand that same ex debito, Rom, iv. 4, where the
apostle, speaking of the covenant of works (which was the covenant of
nature), he says, ' the reward was of debt, not of grace ; ' that is, there was
a reward that was a natural due to it (which is opposed to mere grace),
which notwithstanding is not of merit, nor could that deserve it at God's
hands ; only it was meet and due, in a natm'al way, that God should so re-
ward it.
2. The grace of such a mere creature can preserve itself, and increase it-
self. Therefore Christ compares it unto mustard-seed, the least of all seeds,
which yet grows up to be a great tree ; and so the stock that Adam had he
might have kept, by the power that God had given him. As Adam might
have maintained his bodily life unto eternity by food, so his spiiitual life
by keeping the law — ' do this and live.' So that grace in a pure creature
before the fall might possibly have kept its station. Yet,
3. It could not, nor cannot absolutely confirm and establish such a crea-
ture in a state of justification, which is a further thing than simply to jus-
tify, as to give perseverance in grace is more than to give grace. Thus
the angels, though always they be justified by their own grace, yet no acts
of their own did, or could, procure a confirmation in that grace, or strength
and security that they should not, nor could not, fall. It is an incommuni-
cable property of Jehovah not to change, and to have no ' shadow of turn-
ing,' James i. 17. It is therefore judged by all divines that this benefit
they have by Christ.
4. Much less can the grace of a mere creature (or ever could) merit a
higher condition ; to do which is more than to confirm the continuance of
the present condition. Adam could not earn a condition of a higher rank,
nor by all his works have bought any greater preferment than what he was
created in. To compass it was ultra siiam splneram, above his sphere; he
Chap. III.J of christ the mediator. 83
could never have done it. As, for instance, ho could not have attained
that state in heaven which the angels enjoy. What says Christ ? * When
you have done all you can, say. You are unprofitable servants,' Luke xvii.
10. This he could no more do than other creatures by keeping those their
ordinances can merit to be ' translated into the glorious liberty' which they
wait for, and shall have at the latter day. The moon, though she keep all
her motions set her by God never so regularlj% yet she cannot thereby
attain to the light of the sun as a new reward thereof. And thus no more
can any pure creature of itself, by all its righteousness, obtain in justice a
higher condition to itself. And therefore the angels, by all their own
grace, have not to this day earned a better condition than they were
created in. And yet all this falls short of satisfying for sin, as we shall
see anon.
II. We have taken a view of all that which all the grace of a mere crea-
ture can do for the owner of it ; let us now> secondly, see what it can do for
another. And,
First, We may safely say, it can avail less for another than for the person
himself. For what it doth for another it doth by virtue of what it first doth
for itself. If it brings another into favour, it must needs be much more
beloved itself.
Secondhj, We grant that it might have been a means of conveying right-
eousness, through God's goodness and appointment of it, unto another.
For so Adam's grace should have done to all his posterity. For as he
falling we now inherit his sin, so if he had stood we by the same law
should have had his righteousness conveyed unto us ; and so much indeed
may the grace of a creature that never fell do for another. But then take
in these cautions with it.
1. That other must be one who also never fell, it could not do thus for
those that were once sinners, though it might convey righteousness to an-
other that never sinned.
2. Though a creatm-e that never sinned might have a stock of righteous-
ness convej'ed from another (as we should have had from Adam), yet that
creature must still continue to be justified by its own righteousness, besides
by what was conveyed from that other (even as well as the conveyer him-
self was by his own righteousness to have lived), and so might notwith-
standmg have fallen away. For Adam's righteousness, and the imputation
of it, would not alone have been sufiicient to justify us eternally ; but our
justification must have been continued by our own righteousness. For as
although we have Adam's sin conveyed to us, yet we are condemned for
our own sins besides, and not only for his ; so Adam's righteousness being
conveyed to us, we must afterwards have had, and must have continued to
work, a righteousness of our own. He was only a means to give us a
stock wherewith to begin, all which we might have spent, and it was likely
we should.
So that, in the last place, to draw up all, by a comparison from the less
to the greater, it will appear how far short the power of grace in mere crea-
tures doth come of satisfying for another's sin. You see how little it can
do for itself ; and it must needs be able to do less for another than for it-
self, and less for a sinner than for either. It may justify itself, and the
possessor of it may actually live by it, but not so another. For though
that other maj^ have righteousness conveyed to him at first, yet he must
ever after live upon his own. The creatures' grace cannot confii-m itself
in a perpetual state of justification for time to come, much less merit a
84 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK III.
better condition. But to satisfy for sin is beyond all those ; it is as much
as to merit a better condition, and more.
(1.) It is as much, for satisfaction hath to do with justice as well as
merit ; for to merit is to do that which justice itself shall count truly
worthy of such a reward. And so to satisfy is at least to offer that for a
satisfaction, which justice itself ofiended cannot but think worthy to be ac-
cepted in recompence. The one undertakes to deserve of justice reward- ^
ing, the other to pacify and fully content justice ofiended. And,
(2.) It is more ; and therefore the papists themselves, who say that a
man's own grace may merit for himself, yet deny it to be able to satisfy
for another's sin. And reason is for it ; for,
First ; In meriting a better condition, a man earns but of another's goods,
and undertakes to do something worthy of a better reward ; and there is in
it but eomparatio rei ad rem. But in satisfying for injuries, he undertakes
to repair personal wrongs ; which it is so much harder to repair, as men
love their own persons more than their goods. A poor man may earn some
of a nobleman's goods by a day's work ; but can never satisfy him for a
disgrace.
tSecondhi ; To satisfy for sin is more than to do something worthy of a
higher and better condition ; because there is a greater distance between a
sinner's estate, and justification to be attained, than is between the estate
of one already justified, and a higher condition of favour ; such as was be-
tween the estate of Adam and that of an angel. There was not such a gulf
(as Christ says) or distance between Adam's earthly state and theirs, as is
between an offender and the favour of God ; which by his ofience is wholly
forfeited. He when innocent was much nearer the most glorious condition
which any creature was capable of. Even as a good subject, though never
so poor and mean, who yet never ofi'ended, is nearer the dignity of a duke,
and more capable of it, than one who is a traitor, and so hath forfeited not
only his honour, but his life and the privilege of a subject.
CHAPTER IV.
The inability of the creature to redeem us, demonstrated from the nature of the
satisfaction. — First, That which the law required, a creature coidd not
answer for us, neither in obeying the precept, nor sufferinrj the p>enalty.
This premised, we will now more distinctly consider whereunto satisfac-
tion must be made, wherein it must consist, and according to what it is
to be proportioned.
There are two to be satisfied before ever a sinner can be justified, viz.,
God and the law. For as the evil of sin is expressed by its enmity unto
both these (as Rom. viii. 7, where the flesh is said to be ' enmity against
God and his law '), so answerably may the satisfaction that is to be made
for it be measured out by both. I confess that both come to one ; for
satisfy the law, and you satisfy God, and so e contra : yet we may take the
distinct consideration of each as a help in the search, and for the finding
out wherein true satisfaction for sin is to consist.
First ; For the law. No mere creature could satisfy that for us, or make
compensation for sin, as it is the transgression of it.
1. In general ; let us measure satisfaction by the worth of the law, and
of every iota of it, which sin doth what in it lies to make void and of none
Chap. IV.] of ohrist the mediator. 86
effect. In Ps. cxix. 126, ' They have willingly,' says David, * destroyed thy
law:' that is, what they did tended to destroy it; though yet it doth it
not : for not one iota of it shall pass. Now seeing satisfaction is redditio
(cquirah'iitis pro (rqnivaJeuti ; that which is given in way of restitution must
bo of an equivalent worth to that which is endamaged ; what therefore can
any mere creature have to render to God, equivalent to this his law ? For
is not the least tittle of the law worth heaven and earth, and so all in it,
even saints and all, because God's prerogative lies at stake in it ? Is it
not the rer/ula, the pattern, yea, the original copy of all the grace which the
saints have ? For all grace is but the copy of the law. And doth it not
command all that is in them ? What have they then to be deprived of that
is worth it ?
2. Let us more particularly consider those special debts which the law
requires satisfaction in and for ; which, according to the two main parts of
the law, are answerably two. As all laws, so this, hath.
First, A preceptive part, ' Do this and live ;' and this requires exact
obedience to every tittle of it.
Secondly, A penal part. If we trespass in the least, it exacts a punish-
ment ; and that is, eternal death.
Now therefore when we transgi'ess in the least, we hence first grow into
a double debt, and become debtors to both parts of the law ; and the reason
hereof is, because sU. laws require both. So the laws of men do ofttimes
require not only restitution and satisfaction to be made to the party wronged ;
but they enjoin a further punishment as a satisfaction to the law itself,
which was contemned and broken. And therefore in many cases, though
no hurt be done, the trespasser failing of his purpose, yet the law takes
notice of the attempt, and punisheth him for it ; because therein the law
is contemned. For in such trespasses against men there is a double wrong :
the one to the party injured, whose goods or honour is impaired ; and the
other to the law, which is scandalised by it. And so he is not only to
satisfy for the personal damage, but also for the public oflfence, and the
vitiosity of the act in breaking order ; and so a double satisfaction is to be
made. Thus also it is in debts : for there is both the principal, and the
forfeiture also. So likewise in the Levitical law, when a man had wronged
his neighbour in goods, he was to do two things ; not only to make resti-
tution due to the party wronged, and that double at least, as part of a punish-
ment also, but he was to satisfy the law besides, and to offer sacrifice. And
in case of debt, before instanced, until a man hath paid it, he is to lie in
prison, to satisfy the law.
(2.) We having sinned, do owe satisfaction to God in respect of his law ;
and that in a double relation and respect : first, on our parts ; secondly,
on God's part.
First, On our own. As we are creatures, we owe him service ; and as
we are sinners, we owe punishment.
And Secondly, On God's part. We owe satisfaction to him, both as he
is our lord, our creator, and owner, that hath right to us ; and also as he
is our lawgiver.
[1.] As he is our lord he hath a right to us, and as a creditor he gave
us ourselves and graces : and we are his goods, and so do owe him active
obedience.
[2.] As he is our lawgiver, so he hath the right of a judge, to whom for
our neglect we do therefore owe punishment. For God hath over us both
jus crediti or domlnii, and jiis rectoris ; he is lord of his law, and lord of
86 OP CHRIST THE 5IEDIAT0R. [BoOK III,
US ; and we are his subjects, and also his servants ; and there is in equity
very good grounds for both debts. For we owe him subjection for his
benefits bestowed, although there were no law : but then in regard of his
vTs^o^yj, his transcendent excellencj', he is our lawgiver and judge ; and so
he might give us these laws, though it could be supposed that we had no
such benefit from him,
Ohj. And [3.] Whereas it may be said that the bearing the punishment
due to the ofi'ence against the law, may seem to stand for that debt of obe-
dience to the law ; —
Ans. The answer is, that it is clean otherwise ; for we owe both punish-
ment for sin past, and obedience also. And the reason is evident, namely,
in that punishment for sin is but an appendix to the law, and not that
which the law chiefly intends ; for it principally aims at obedience, and
docs therefore indeed threaten punishment to keep the creature to obe-
dience ; and therefore to endure the punishment is no satisfaction to the
law. As though a debtor should live in prison all his lifetime, yet he should
be in debt still ; and therefore could not be said to satisfy the law, because
the principal intent of the law is to recover a man's goods. So that we are
for ever bound to God by a double debt, a debitum pcenff, a debt of punish-
ment, and a debitum ncgligenticc, a debt of neglect ; both which are to be
satisfied for.
Now for neither of both these debts can either we ourselves, or any crea-
ture for us, ever satisfy God.
(1.) Not we ourselves ; for we can never discharge the debt of active
obedience, though God should exact no more ; for part of it is neglected
already ; and you may as well call back time that is past, as satisfy for
what is past, jjecause we are bound to God for our whole time, even to
eternity. If an apprentice were bound to his master for ever, and he ran
away at any time, he can never satisfy his master for his time lost. If he
were bound indeed but for seven years, then he might afterwards serve out
his time, though he ran away for a while.
(2.) Nor can any mere creatm'e be ever able to give satisfaction in our
stead, upon the same grounds. It is true indeed, that a mere creature
might perform and undergo this and all other kind of obedience that the
law requires, both active and passive ; but not so, as that both, or either of
these obediences so performed by it, should be satisfactory to the law for
us, or stand us in stead. We will prove this, of each severally, and of both
jointly. And first of either of them singly.
[l.J The active obedience performed by any mere creature for us could
not discharge or satisfy that debt of active obedience which we owe to God,
so as we should have any benefit by it. Such a creature may indeed per-
from it, so as to profit himself (as Job speaks. Job xxxv. 8), but not so as
to profit us and himself by way of satisfaction. The reasons of which are,
First, Because his whole self, and all he can do, is in all respects whoUy
and altogether subject to the law already for himself, and he can plead no
privilege of exemption whereby he should be any way free from this total
subjection to the law. And therefore the law commanding him, and all the
relations and respects that are in him, all that he can do is Uttle enough
for himself to satisfy the law. This is the reason which the saints them-
selves give to put others off" with (for I would not give j'ou school reasons
herein, but scriptm-e reasons) : Mat. xxv. 8, 9, the wise virgins said to the
foolish, when they came to them for oil, ' We have little enough for our-
selves,' All the money which any creature can make, will but serve to
Chap. IV.] of ohrist the mediator. 87
satisfy what the law requires for himself, and he hath nothing over and
above what the law can challenge, to bcnciit another. ' Do this, and live,'
says the law to all that are ' under the law,' and altogether under it. And
it is as much as they can do to live by the law themselves. They have
little enough for themselves, and nothing over. And this reason holds as
fully in the best creature that can be supposed to have never so much grace
(set that of hj'postatical union aside, which is Christ's sole prerogative), as
it doth in that creature that hath never so little. For all the grace that
any creature hath, be it of never so large a revenue, he holds by the same
tenure, namely, the tenure of the law, that one of never so low a degree of
grace doth hold his by. And the law doth as fully exact all he can do, as
being his own debt, as it doth the other's. Even as a man that hath never
so much land, if his tenure from the lord in chief be the same by the law
with that of another man who possesseth but a cottage ; and the conditions
of both are to pay the whole revenue (their own mere and bare subsistence
set aside), the former is as much disenabled to pay another's rent as the
latter, though he hath never so great revenues. In this case he that hath
the least hath no lack ; for God accepts what a man hath, and he that hath
never so much hath nothing over. There is an equality or proportion, as
the apostle speaks in another case.
If we consider the ground of the law's thus requii-ing the whole, it will
afford a fm'ther reason. The ground why the law requires this, lies in two
things :
1. That whatever the creature hath, it hath received it from God : And,
2. So received it, and upon such terms as to give an account of it. So
as after it is given, God still challengeth a right in it, as being wholly his.
Hence all that a mere creature hath, or can have, it owes to God.
1. Because it hath it wholly from God; and therefore God challengeth
all again, and obligeth the creature as a debtor to him for the benefit
received. And then withal there cannot any respect of propriety be found,
which a mere creature can challenge, in what it hath received, as having a
title to it, distinct from that which God claims to himself ; but all is wholly
and alone his. And therefore the creature can never lay out anything for
another, which it can call its own stock, and say. This is mine to dispose
of, and I have enough besides to account with God for myself another way ;
for ' what hast thou,' says the apostle, ' which thou hast not received ?'
1 Cor. iv. 7.
And, 2dly, it receives all from God so as to give an account, as a mere
steward unto him. So the apostle Peter speaks, ' A steward of the mani-
fold grace of God,' 1 Peter iv. 10, and so accountable to him for all. Now
it is as impossible for a mere creature to satisfy God for another's debt, or
he is as unable to do it, as the steward can undertake to pay his master for
his fellow- servant's debt, out of the money his master hath betrusted him
with. For what can be in this case given is the master's own already, and
in having all resumed, the master hath no more than what he should have ;
this being a certain rule and principle in equity, that it is impossible to
satisfy another man with what is wholly his own already. And upon this
ground doth the Lord refuse sacrifices for sin, even because they are all his
ah-eady ; ' All the beasts of the forest are mine :' Ps. 1. 8-11, ' I will not
reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt-offerings, to have been con-
tinually before me ; ' ver. 9, ' I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor
he-goats out of thy folds :' ver. 10, ' for every beast of the forest is mine,
and the cattle upon a thousand hills.' Ver. 11, ' I know all the fowls of
88 OF CHRIST THE IIEDIATOE. [BoOK III.
the mountains ; and the wild beasts of the field are mine.' Therefore
David, 1 Chron. xxix. 14, acknowledge th it mercy enough that God would
but accept of their offerings for themselves : ' What are we that we should
offer thus freely even for ourselves ?' He considers both God's transcen-
dent excellency in himself, and that total dependence which they had on
him for all ; as it follows, ' Of thine own have I given thee,' and how can
that satisfy the debt ? Sin indeed is our own, which we owe for ; but
obedience, that is not om- own, but comes fi'om the grace of God, and from
his enabling. Indeed, if God had given us grace, as friends give gifts
each to other, to do what they please with them, without requiring any
account of them, then we might have payed him with that which he hath
given us. But he gives grace to us as he does talents unto seiwants. And
therefore he requires answerable service and improvement of those talents,
of which he takes account according to the number given ; and if they be
not well used, he takes them away. ' And v*hen we have done whatever
we can, we are unprofitable servants too,' Mat. xxv. 14 to 30. And it is
impossible for one who is wholly a servant, to satisfy his master for the
debt of another. Inter servum et dominum nulla interciorit justUia, says
Aristotle, speaking of mere servants as in those times, because such a
servant is pars domini, part of his master's goods. And herein let the sup-
position made hold good, as, let the creature have never so much grace, so
much the more is he disenabled to satisfy for another ; for the more gi'ace
he hath received, the more service is required from him ; ' Much is required
from him to whom much is given,' Luke xii. 48. Yea, the obligation upon
himself is the greater, and binds him to do so much the more ; and there-
fore he can as little, yea less, spare anything for another, as he that hath
less.
In the second place, for passive obedience, that cannot be satisfactoiy
for another. For,
1. Even so much passive obedience as any creature can undergo, is in
itself in strict terms of justice due unto God from the creature, though not
as a punishment, yet as a trial of obedience, if he should be pleased to lay
it upon the creatm-e. How else could Paul wish himself ' accursed from
Christ for his kinsmen and brethren' the Jews ? Rom. ix. 3 , and this as
a duty surely. For he did not supererogate therein, nor do more than God
might require. It was no more than what was due unto him.
2dly. Both of these obediences must be jointly performed by him that
undertakes to satisfy ; and it is impossible for him so to perform both.
(1.) Both must be perfomied jointly ; for passive obedience alone would
never pay both debts. To cast a man into prison pays not the creditor,
and punishment is required by God as he is the judge of the world ; it is
jus rectoris, and we owe obedience to him besides, as he is a creditor. And
though God be content with passive obedience from those in hell, because
it is all he can get of them, yet he is not satisfied with it, and therefore
they are for ever to abide there. It is true that he improves it to his
glory, in that it shews the various ways of his manifestation of his attributes
upon creatures ; but yet, simply in itself it would not satisfy it. Further-
, more, the threatening of punishment is (as was said) but the appendix of
the law, not the primary intent of the lawgiver ; and therefore God doth
not simply dehght in it, nor is he satisfied -svith it.
(2.) There is an impossibility that any creatm'e should perfonn both of
them jointly and together, which it must do if it satisfy. For from that
creature, though never so excellent, an eternity both of active and passive
Chap. IV.] of christ the mediator. 89
obedience would be exacted ; and he could not dispatch or end cither, nor
perfonn both together. If the obedience that is set him might be ended,
or if both could be performed together, he might satisfy ; but the law exacts
both for ever of us. And therefore the psalmist midies the redemption of
the soul too precious for any creature to meddle with, Ps. xlix. 8, giving
this reason why a man ' cannot redeem his brother ; so precious is the re-
iemption of a soul, and it ceaseth for ever ;' that is, it shall never bo ac-
eompUshed ; so the phrase is taken elsewhere. The work is so precious,
tis it requireth eternity to do it in. So that that which the best of creatures
should do, or suffer for us in any finite term of time, would not satisfy for
what was due from us to eternity, but it doth require yet a further and in-
finite worth in the obedience to be added to supply that eternity, and it is
an utter impossibility to perform both together for ever. Look, as it is im-
possible to ' serve two masters, but that a man must lean to the one, and
neglect the other,' Mat. vi. 24, so it is impossible for the creature to caixy
along both these obediences together. For when he were obeying the
■whole law, how could he at the same suffer ? And when he were suffering,
how could he obey the whole law ? All the graces then exercised would
have been only patience, and all little enough to afford him that ; there
would have been no room for the exercise of other gi'aces. And as God
calls us not to do and suffer at the same time, for both cannot stand to-
gether, so neither could any creature do and suffer at the same time for
us. If indeed he could first despatch the active part, and then encounter
the torments due unto us, and despatch them also, then there might be hope ;
but this he cannot ; and to perform both to eternity is impossible.
But yet by making as free and large concessions as are imaginable, fur-
ther to shew the impossibility of it, suppose that passive obedience and
suffering for us would stand for both debts ; and suppose also, that if their
lives went for om's, they then might satisfy as well as we can, seeing theirs
are as good as ours ; and therefore, if eternal death in us be a satisfaction
to God's justice (which if it be not so, God then loseth by sin, and then he
would not have let it come into the world), then it might be so in them for
us, and we be fi-eed, yet consider the inconveniences that will follow :
1. They must always be satisfying, and it could never be said, ' It is
finished.' They must lie by it till they have paid the uttermost farthing,
which they can never do, no more than we ourselves can ; and so they could
not take away sins from us, for we could not have an acquittance till the
debt were paid, we could not be justified till our surety were acquitted.
Therefore, ' if Christ had not risen,' says Paiil, ' we had yet been in om*
sins,' 1 Cor. xv. 17. And therefore the psalmist says, of the redemption
of the soul by any creatm-e, Ps. xlix. 8, ' it ceaseth for ever,' that is, shall
never be accomplished, but shall always be a-doing, and never ended, and
BO, we never be the better, nor the nearer having our bonds cancelled.
And this is the reason why sacrifices were rejected, even because every year
they were still forced to offer them : Heb. x. 1-4, ' For the law having a
shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can
never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually,
make the comers thereunto perfect : ver. 2, * For then would they not have
ceased to be offered ? because that the worshippers once purged should have
no more conscience of sins ; ' ver. 3, ' But in those sacrifices there is a
remembrance again made of sins every year ; ' ver. 4, ' For it is not pos-
sible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.' And,
Ter. 11, it is said, that ' they stood daily offering the same sacrifices.'
90 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
2dly.. Suppose yet farther, that God, to whom eternity is but as one in-
stant, should give us in our bond, when the other had entered in his, because
though it be to eternity a-paying, yet to him it were as good as paid in
hand presently. Suppose this, yet notwithstanding, one just man or angel
could satisfy but for one of us. Life could go but for life, and ' a tooth
for a tooth,' as the law runs ; and so he must sacrifice as many creatures
as good as we are for ever, as he meant to save of us men. That one
creature's obedience would not, as Adam's righteousness, have extended to
many, for that was a favour, but this a debt. And we cannot pay many
bonds with one sum which is due for one ; for every one is a distinct debt
and obligation.
3dly. If we gi-ant all this, yet what creature would have had so much
love in it towards us as willingly to sacrifice itself for us ? "Which it must
fully do, or else it cannot be satisfaction ; for satisfactio est redditio volun-
taria, says the school. The apostle, Rom. v. 7, says, that * peradventure
for a good man some would dare to die.' Mark it, he makes a peradventure
of it, and it must be for ' a good man ;' that is, one profitable to him, as
they expound it ; and seeing death is poCsgwi' tpoQi^urarov, he must be very
hardy and daring that would do it. i3ut to encounter God's wrath, who
dares do it? Jer. xxx. 21, ' And their nobles shall be of themselves, and
their governor shall proceed from the midst of them ; and I will cause him
to draw near, and he shall approach unto me : for who is this that engaged
his heart to approach unto me ? saith the Lord.' The prophet there making
a promise of Christ to be a mediator, and one that should be able to draw
nigh to God, he gives this reason, ' For who is there that engageth his
heart to draw nigh to me ?' As if he had said, none else durst have stepped
in, to encounter me for you ; especially, not for enemies both to God and
themselves. There is need of a mediator to reconcile us and the angels,
as that place in the Eph. i. 10 may seem to imply, where the apostle says,
that ' God made known unto us the mysteiy of his will, that he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, which are in heaven and earth :'
making us, as friends to himself, so one to another ; and if so, then ante-
cedently, they could not be the reconcilers. And further, the holier they
were, the less must they needs love us ; and so not of themselves would they
ever undertake such work for us.
4thly. Suppose yet fui'ther, that any had so much love, or would have
been so hardy to venture, as with Paul to wish they may be accursed ; yet
if they were in hell but half an horn-, they would repent themselves, and
wish themselves out again, and so it had been spoiled for ever being satis-
faction, which must throughout be voluntary, as our disobedience was. And
therefore God would not trust to their help in so weighty a business, wherein
his own will was so engaged. It is said in Job iv. 18, ' Behold he puts no
trust in his servants.' Which though he might in ordinary works of
obedience, yet he will never rely on them for so gi-eat a matter. He finds
folly even in the angels, they are mutable. He trusted one man once for
all, only in matter of obedience to his law, which was easy and sweet to
him ; but see how he failed and left all, and that upon no great or strong
temptation. He therefore will never hazard the second Adam to be a mere
creature in a matter of punishment, which that he may be willing to undergo,
he must be fed with some dehght or hopes of ease. No ; he will make sm'e
work now.
5thly and lastly. Suppose any creature had been so full of excellency, as
that the sufierings of it alone could have been satisfactory for all that God
Chap. V.] of christ thk mediator. 91
meant to save, and according to the supposition formerly made, that he
ha-s-ing more grace than all mankind, and so, being made heir to more glory
than all mankind besides, would have been content to lay all aside, and to
have subjected himself for ever to undergo all our punishments ; yet con-
sidering all this must have been done by him, in obedience unto God, and
for his sake (for otherwise it could not have been accepted, in that satis-
faction for another must be voluntary on both parts, both on his that under-
takes it, and also by the consent and acceptation of him that is wronged),
if the case had thus stood, then this inconvenience would have followed,
that a creature should have been obedient unto God, yea, and performed
the highest obedience unto God, whom yet God never should have had an
opportunity to reward, because he was to be in hell for ever. And God will
never be so behind-hand with any creatm-e that shall do him service, much
more so great a service as this would be.
CHAPTER V.
That no creatures could make that satisfaction which an injured God required.-
They cannot compensate the ivrong done to him by sin, nor repair the loss
of his honour.
We have seen what satisfaction the law requires, and how far the crea-
ture would fall short of that. Let us, secondly, now see what satisfaction
God requires. And although re ipsa, in the thing itself, it comes all to one
to satisfy God and to satisfy his law, and both these heads be really coin-
cident, yet our understandings may take a distinct consideration from each,
which win serve the better to clear this point.
Now to make way for the demonstrations I inteni, let us define in gene-
ral what satisfaction is, and wherein it is to be made.
Satisfaction in general is, when so much clear emolument ariseth to the
party wronged, as was impaired by the trespass committed. Now all such
damages to be repaired do usually consist either in goods or honour ; and
satisfaction for goods is usually called restitution, but satisfaction for honom*
is it which is more properly called satisfaction.
Now we may consider a wi'ong done to God both these ways, and an
answerable satisfaction requisite.
First, For that of goods ; though it be a thing which God doth not much
reckon, yet something is considerable about it ; and therefore the prodigal's
wild com'se is expressed and aggi'avated by this, that he spent his father's
* goods and substance in riotous living,' Luke xv. 13. Therefore also God
compares himself to a householder, who commits goods and talents unto
his servants, to be by them improved. Mat. xxv. 14, and who, when he
reckons with them, doth count up their waste and expense thereof upon
their lusts ; and therefore they are said to * consume them upon their
lusts,' James iv. 3, that is, so to engi'oss them to themselves, and as it
were consume them, that God gets nothing by the things which he hath
made. By reason of sin he hath no profit by those creatures which sin-
ners have committed to them, and the world becomes loss unto him.
And though God stands not much upon this (as neither vdU. I stand long
upon the handling of it), yet this much is soon demonstrated, that no
creatures were ever able to make satisfaction for losses of this kind : they
92 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK HI.
are not able (as Esther said in another case) to make good, or ' countervail
the king's loss,' Est. vii. 4.
Now, to instance in some particulars :
1. Sin b}^ a forfeiture had quite destroyed this world, if Christ had not
upheld it. And can all the graces in the creatui'es make another, or up-
hold this from falling ? Surely no.
2. It blotted grace out of the heart of man ; and can the power of all the
creatures make one dram of grace ? Yea, could we so much as have lighted
our candles, that were blown out, at their tapers ? Surely no.
3. By sinners the law was destroyed also : Ps. cxix. 126, ' They have
destroyed thy law.' Now, if you would set a price upon the law, one tittle
of it is more worth than heaven and earth.
4. Through sin was much service due unto God lost. For that we may
reckon amongst goods, as a master doth the service of an apprentice. Al-
though all sinners should presently cease to offend God any more, yet still
God hath lost so much service from them for the time past. Now all mere
creatures being God's servants, and owing all their endeavours and services
unto him for themselves, no one of them therefore can do two men's work,
because they owe all they can do for themselves, and so they can never
repay that loss of service past. God did hire mankind into his vineyard
for all eternity ; and though we could suppose they had not committed any
positive sin, yet if God had but only lost so much service from them, and
the sin of that neglect had annihilated them (and it doth as good as anni-
hilate them to God, and therefore he accounts and calls them lost ; as the
• lost sheep,' the * lost son,' &c.), and then, if God had come to have
entered into terms with any mere creature for these losses, and should have
said. Give me but the creatures you have spoiled, make me a new world,
for your sin hath spoiled this, and ' subjected it to vanity i' had any of
them power to have done it ? Surely no. When God would confute Job's
contending with him, he doth but ask him, whether he could make the
least creature, yea, or being made, command it: 'Thou!' (says God)
' where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ?' Job xxx\dii. 4.
* Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days, or caused the day-
spring to know its place ?' ver. 12. ' Out of whose womb came the ice ?'
ver. 29.' ' Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds' (and bid them rain),
' that abundance of waters may cover thee ? Canst thou send lightnings
that may go, and say unto thee. Here we are ?' ver. 34, 85. And though
thou canst do none of all this, yet dost thou contend with me ? * Let me
see' (says God) ' what thou canst do,' Job xl. 7, 8, 9. If thou couldst
make or command the least creature, then ' I will confess to thee that thine
own right hand can save thee,' ver. 14. Can all the angels in heaven (as
powerful as they are) make one hair of thy head ? Can they set ordinances
in heaven ? Job xxxviii. 33. The philosophers feigned them to be but the
movers of those wheels and orbs, not the founders of them. They cannot
set the clock, much less make it. And can they make grace, or can they
make the law whole again, which sin had broken ?
But the truth is, that herein God expected not, nor is he capable of any
satisfaction or restitution of goods, for * none can be profitable to him,'
Job xxii. 2, 3. When that formahst thought to oblige God by sacrifices ;
' If I were hungry' (says God), ' would I tell it thee ?' Ps. 1. 12. ' The
world is God's, and the fulness thereof,' says the apostle, 1 Cor. x. 26.
And again, ' Who hath given to him, and he shall be recompensed ?' Eom.
xi. 35. No ; it is glory only that the creature is capable to give him. So
Chap. V.] of christ the mediator. 93
it follows there in Ps. 1. 15, ' Thou shalt glorify mo.' God is not as a
king, whose tribute lies as well in goods as in honour ; but all the tribute he
expecteth or exacteth from the creature consists in honour, for that is the
end of all his works. He made all things for his glory ; ' I formed it,'
says he in the prophet, ' for my glory,' Isa. xliii. 7. ' Of whom, and to
whom, are all things, to whom be glory for ever,' says the apostle, Rom.
xi. 36. And . herein also, though it be most true that the creature can
contribute nothing to God's essential glory, yet to his manifcstative glory
it may, and doth ; at least the creature may take from it, as by sin it doth.
And the reason is, because this kind of glory is revealed in and by
creatures. Now it is in this that God expects satisfaction, and that this
satisfaction in point of honour does much more infinitely transcend the
power of any creature, is the thing which I am now to demonstrate.
Let us therefore in like manner come to the particulars wherein God's
honour sufters by sin, and shew how irrecompensable the injury therein is
by creatures.
1. If it were no more than to satisfy for that tribute of honour left
behind-hand unpaid, for the neglect of that homage due to God, and which
is to come in by our service of him, what a quarrel must it needs breed,
not to be composed or taken up by any creatm'e ! You know, kings that
have homage due to them from other kings, their equals, though the
tribute itself, or thing to be paid, be small, yet if it be neglected, what
wars and stirs hath it bred, merely because it is a matter of honour
neglected ! Hence also the neglect of paying a small acknowledgment
(suppose a pepper-corn, or the like), or of doing some petty service yearly,
do ofttimes forfeit great estates, because they are acknowledgments of
honour to the lord of whom the tenants hold ; and so being omitted, they
are neglects of an honour that is due. Now, the like slight being offered
towards God, how great a wrong doth he account it ; if no more, yet be-
cause there is a neglect of his honour in it ! If indeed the terms of our
service between God and us did stand upon free mutual conditions of bar-
gain, as when fi'eemen are hired, and work only for wages, who if they
neglect a day's work, it is but calling in so much of their wages, and they
are even again with him that hired them ; if it were thus between God and
us, the matter were easier to be reconciled ; but it carries a dishonour with
it, such as ■ are those neglects of service to a great prince, which service is
not due by any bargain for wages, but out of subjection, or as to a lord
by way of knight-service, not out of love only and liberty, but out of re-
spect and homage. God is desirous of nothing but honour from you, and
all the honour the creatm-es can give him is too little for him ; it satisfies
not, neither answers to his vast desires of being glorified, nor to the dues
of his most glorious excellency. And therefore if any be behind-hand un-
paid by any of his creatures, it is a loss by creatures irreparable, for they
render no overplus to make it up, and he cannot but account it so much
loss to him ; and should they now do what they can, still God would want
of his due.
2. Satisfaction is to be made for honour debased also ; for sin casts a
soil of disgrace and debasement upon the honour which God hath, and
goes about to despoil and rob him of it. It is said, Rom. ii. 23, ' In
breaking the law thou dishonourest God ; ' there is a dishonour cast upon
him by it, yea, it toucheth upon the height of his honom* ; which will
appear,
(1.) In that every law of his is backed with his prerogative, and is a
94 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
note of his absolute sovereignty ; James iv. 12, 'There is one lawgiver,
who is able to save and to destroy ; ' that is, he is the supreme potentate
of all the world, the absolute Lord paramount ; and this is shewn and
declared in giving his law, and is therefore answerably denied by the crea-
ture in every breach of every law, to which every sin is an affront.
Now, as amongst men, kingly authority being the summity, the supre-
macy, the transcendency of all honour-, therefore the law hath so fenced it,
that whatsoever is immediately directed against it, or is a denial of it, is
rebellion, and crimen Ima majestatk ; and to disgrace a king's personal per-
fections is not so much, nay, to speak dishonourably of the personal imper-
fections of a king, dishonom-eth him not so much as to oppose his kingly
power and dignity ; as to say that kings are not so learned or so vahant as
many other men, this is not in account so high a dishonour to them, be-
cause it toucheth not upon their sovereignty and princely dignity, for they
may notwithstanding be acknowledged and obeyed as kings. But whatever
tends to impair and blemish that their prerogative and dignity, is held to
be the height of dishonour, as kingly authority is the sublimity and top of
honour. So now in breaking the least law of God, we do deny the sove-
reignty and kingly authority of God. To despise any of God's works, and
slight them, is a dishonour to the Maker, as Solomon says ; but to slight
his law is more, because that his transcendent excellency and kingly autho-
rity is thus engaged in it. Some of the schoolmen fondly reason to diminish
and lessen the heinousness of sin, sajdng that all the evil of sin lying simply
in this, that it is the breach of God's law, therefore it is not properly an
injury to God, no otherwise than as a thing contrary to his will; as when
a master commands a servant to do a thing, and he doth the contrary, and
so, though indeed he displeaseth his master thereby (as doing a thing con-
trary to his command), j-et, say they, it is no injury. But they do not
consider that not only God's will is engaged in his law, but also his
supreme authority, the law being made by his prerogative, and by the
same prerogative backed and commanded. Kings indeed, in their laws, do
not lay all the weight of their authority upon every law, but God doth.
And therefore every sin is not only a transgression of his will, but a debase-
ment of the sovereignty of his will. Hence in the promulgation of God's
laws there runs this preface, ' I am the Lord thy God ; ' therefore do this,
Exod. XX. 1. So that his sovereignty is slighted in every sin, and in it
there is a contempt of his crown and dignity.
Sin is not only a dishonour to him simply as he is a supreme lawgiver,
but unto all his other personal glorious perfections. Every contempt of the
authority of a prince reflects not upon his personal virtues, but sin reflects
upon all God's excellencies; as upon his goodness, &c., for men seek that
happiness and goodness in the creature which is to be had in God alone,
and so profess him not to be the chiefest good. There is no attribute upon
which a disgrace is not cast by the sins of men ; yea, and therefore they
tend to make him no God: Titus i. IG, 'In their works they deny God.'
Traitors may aim to unking a prince, and to that end rebel against him,
and yet their treason not reach unto his life. But God's sovereignty, and
perfection, and glory are himself, and his life, the least detraction from
which is to destroy the whole ; for qnicquhl est in Deo Dem est, whatever is
in God is God himself. It is true indeed that in the event those hurt not
God, no more than snow-balls thrown against the sun can hurt it. God
dwells in light which darkness cannot approach or touch. Sin hurts him
no more than grace benefits him. But yet injuries and dishonour's are not
Chap. V.] of christ the mediator. 95
measured iu morality by the event only, but by what is the terminus, the
thin^ they tend to ; which is to un-God the great God, and despoil him of
all his titles. To resolve to kill a king is accounted treason, as well as to
do it, and so punished for such ; therefore Solomon did put Adonijah to
death. Even as he who hates his brother is counted a murderer, 1 John
iii. 15, so he who hates God is a murderer of God. Now, every sinner is
said to hate God, Rom. i. 30, peccatum est Deicidiinn. It is trae that
physically sin is but piivatio honifiniti, of that good which we might have
iu God, not haul ui/iiuti, or Dei, not the privation of God as in himself,
but as he is to be participated by us. Yet as the astronomers call the
interposition of the moon between the earth and the sun the eclipse of the
sun, though the sun doth really lose no light by it, but only the earth ;
yet because it makes the face of the world below to be as if there were no
sun, it is therefore commonly called the eclipse of the sun, and not of the
earth ; so may it be said of sin. It is in the guilt of it a privation of God,
and of his glory, and of his law ; because, though indeed and in truth we
onl}' are the losers, yet it makes to us as if there were no God, as if God
had no being ; and so it may be said to be the eclipse of his being, viz.,
to us. Therefore men are said to 'live without God in the world,' Eph.
ii. 12, and without the law, 1 Tim. i. 9 ; and to be ' deprived of the glory
of God,' as being not manifested in them nor by them, Rom. iii. 23.
Now, if it be so that the sinfulness of sin thus lies in so great a dishonour
to so great a God, what satisfaction can then be made for the demerit of
it by all the creatures "? For in this respect it transcends in evil, and out-
weighs all the goodness that is either in the persons or graces of all the
creatures. Indeed it is true, if we take sin physically, as it is a privation
of the contrary habit of grace and of oui- good only, that then it hath no
more evil in it than gi-ace hath goodness ; for as sin separates from God —
' Your iniquities have separated you from me,' Isa. lix. 2 — so grace draws
the soul neai'er to God, and so makes a man as happy as sin makes him
miserable : ' To draw near to thee is good,' says the psalmist, Ps. kxiii.
28. But this is not that special evil in sin for which satisfaction is re-
quired, as neither is it the chief matter of our repentance for sin ; for no
man satisfies for an evil done to himself, neither is it sin's having so much
evil in it against us that hinders a mere creature from satisfying ; which
notwithstanding was that that misled some of the ancient schoolmen, who
upon that ground thought a pure creature might satisfy for sin ; all their
reasons ninning upon the evil of sin as a privation of gi-ace, and of God to
us only, and as he is oui- good ; not considering that over and above it is
an evil against God himself: Jer. ii. 19, 'It is an %vil and a bitter thing
to forsake God.' And sin is accordingly called ' enmity against God,'
Rom. viii. 7, and ' a provoking the eyes of his glory,' Isa. iii. 8. It is
likewise said to be against him : so says David, Ps. Ii. 4, ' Against thee,
thee only have I sinned.' He looked not so much at the wrong to Bath-
sheba and Uriah, as at the dishonom* done to God ; and this is the eminent
evil to be considered in sin ; for as God is the chiefest good, so himself is
the measm-e of aU other good and evil. Now, then, the evil of sin lying
thus in so great a dishonour unto God himself, no creature can make
amends for it. For,
1. Dishonom', which reflects upon a person of worth, cannot be satisfied
for but by a person equally worthy and honourable ; for the satisfaction
must be made by restoiing of honour again, and that will depend upon the
honour and worth of the party honouring. The restoring of honom- is to
96 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
be measured by the same rule, and weighed at the same balance, that the
honour of the person dishonoured is measure by. As, therefore, honour is
in itself a personal thing, so the repairing of it again depends upon the
personal -worth of him that goes about to repair it. Were vfe and God
equal, so as there were as much worth in us to honour him withal, as our
dishonouring of him comes unto, then indeed, if we went about some way
to restore again that honom* that was impau'ed by us, we might perhaps
satisfy for it. And yet the law is so tender of dishonour, that in case of
defamation it is not enough for a person equally honourable to submit, and
to say as much for a man as he hath said against him ; that is accounted*
satisfaction ; but the law enjoins a penalty besides. But however, the re-
storing of honour being a thing personal, doth therefore depend upon the
honour of that person who is to restore it ; for ho7ior est in honorante,
honour is in him that honoui's ; the meaning of which saying may weU be
this, that honour depends upon the worth of the party honouring. There-
fore we see that honour fi'om a mean peasant is not esteemed or accounted
of by one that is highly noble. And hence it is, that wrongs in point of
honour offered by inferiors to superiors do oftentimes transcend satisfac-
tion. It is not so in goods ; a poor man may satisfy a king in goods, in
case he be able to restore, as well as another. And the demonstration of
of this is, that the best way of satisfaction to be made by such inferiors
being to submit themselves, and that submision being a due fi'om them
already, and no more than the distance of their ranks calls for, it therefore
reacheth not to satisfaction. And thus it is in common esteem, and that
founded upon what is in the things themselves, and not upon common
opinion only. And therefore it is evident, that though the creature 3 should
do that which might bring in as much gloiy to God as was lost, yet, because
of the distance and disproportion that is between the persons, it would never
satisfy. The aggi-avation of a dishonom* ariseth not so much fifom the fact
as fi'om the disproportion between the persons ; for honour is not inter res,
but personas, it concerns not things, but persons. To strike, or offer
to strike at a magistrate (though we hurt him not), the heinousness of the
fault lies not so much in the fact, as in the disproportion between the
persons. Therefore though in the old law ' a tooth for a tooth ' was satis-
faction enough between private men, yet not so in case of hurting a magis-
trate, or stiiking a man's parent, which was death by that law, because of
the dishonom* done to them thereby. So upon the same ground, for a mad
man to strike the king is death by our laws, not in respect of the fact or of his
intention, but in regard of the transcendent honour of the person of a king,
and the disproportion tnd inferiority that'^is in him that strikes him. Now the
disproportion between God and us is so infinite, that it makes our sinning a
dishonour altioris ordinis, of a higher kind than is recompensable by creatures.
And to enlarge this demonstration further. If no creatm-e can make unto
God a reparation of goods (as was shewn), then much less can it make
satisfaction for his glory impaired. For goods are extrinsccal to a man's
person, and therefore the loss of them a man less regards ; yea, the greater
spirit a man is of the less he cares for goods ; and indeed the wrong therein
becometh less ; even as to wrong a poor man in his goods is worse (because
of his need) than to wrong a rich man ; bnt the gi'eater any one is in spirit the
more he regards honour, and that far above his goods. Men wiU lose their
blood rather than suffer a hair of honour to perish ; which disposition,
though it be often set wrong in men, yet it is a spark of God's image, and a
* Qu. ' is not accounted ' '? — Ed.
Chap. V.] op christ the mediator. 97
resemblance of what is in him. God can bear the loss of creatures and
worlds, and never be touched with it ; but he will not lose one ray of
honour. For glory is a personal thing : it is the lustre of his person which
he carries and wears about him ; and it is intrinsecal to him, which goods
are not ; and therefore God is willing to lose creatures, thereby to gain the
more gloiy. So he casts away the most of men and angels for his own
glory. ' My glory,' says God ' I will not give to another,' Isa. xlii. 8. But
his goods he doth : ' He gave the earth and all the fulness thereof unto the
sons of men,' Ps. cxv. 16. He gives worlds and kingdoms away even to
the basest of men (says Daniel, Dan. iv. 17), but he will part with none of
his glory, that is proper to himself, unto any of them. Of all the goods he
possesseth, his children are the dearest unto him ; he ' gives nations for
them,' Isa. sli. 2, and once he gave his Son for them ; they are ' the apple
of his eye;' and he that toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye.
But his glory is dearer to him than all his children, for ' he formed them
for his glory,' as the same prophet there also says, Isa. xliii. 7. How hard
is it to pacify jealousy when a man's spouse is deflowered : ' It is the rage
of a man, and he wdll not regard any ransom,' as Solomon says, Prov. vi.
34, 35. How hard then must it needs be to pacify God, who is said to be
jealous of nothing but his honour ?
Again, 2. Though it be but the manifestation of God's glory, which hath
a soil and a reflection cast upon it by sin, not his essential gloiy (which
loseth nothing by sin, as it gains not, nor is increased by all the works that
Christ or God himself hath done), yet not all that the creatures can do is worth
the least beam of that his glory as it is to be manifested. For that is the
end for which they were all made, and is therefore better than they. And
besides, all they can do to the advancing of it they do owe it already ; and
God stands not in need of them to manifest it ; he could have let them re-
main in the womb of nothing, and have raised up others to glorify him.
3. In that sin strikes at God's being, what is there in the creatures that
can make amends for it, they being but shadows of his being, and he the
substance, whose name alone is / am ? The over- shadowing, therefore, of
the eclipse of his being is more than the destruction of ours.
Obj. Yea, but you will object, and say that the grace of a mere creature
may seem to vie with all the evil that is in sin, and this in point of honour.
For as sin is against God, so grace, though but in an impure creatm-e, can
say, ' I am for God ; ' and as sin sets up another god, so this grace glorifies
God as God. Now God being the object of both, why should they not
alike set a worth or a demerit upon what is done, and God accept of grace,
which is for him, as much as condemn and punish sin, the aggravation of
the sinfulness of which is, that it is against him ?
A71S. For answers unto this :
1. Though it be true that sin hurts him no more than grace benefits him
(in that God is capable neither of benefit nor hurt) ; even as clouds take no
more from the sun than candles add to it ; and therefore in Job xxxv. 6, 7,
it is said, ' What dost thou to him if thou beest righteous, or against him
if thou sinnest ? ' For nothing is opposed to God immediately, but only to
him in his works. As no darkness can obscure the sun itself, though his
beams it may intercept, so sin may dim the manifestative glory of the
Father of lights. Yet as we measure not kindnesses or injuries by the event,
but by what they are in the acts themselves (as treason is not punished
according to the event, but according to the nature of the act plotted or
purposed), so are we to do by sin.
VOL. V. Oc
98 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
And, 2. If we compare the ingi'edient qualifications considerable in the
one, and in the other, as the one is an injury and the other an act of obe-
dience, we shall find a great disproportion between them. For,
(1.) If an injury is accounted more e\i\ and blameworthy than all kind-
nesses praiseworthy and to be accepted, then when the injury is an undue
act of us, unworthy of all the obligations between us and another whom we
wrong, when it is causeless, and when the kindnesses we do are all due
from us, herein Ues the disproportion which makes the obliquity of the
injury of sin the more transcendent. All the obedience we perform is due
fi'om us to God : ' You do,' says Christ, ' what you ought to do,' Luke
svii. 10. But in this (as Christ again says), ' we hate God without a cause,'
John XV. 24, 25. And ' what iniquity have you found in me,' says he,
' and for which of all my perfections or kindnesses to you, do you sin against
me ? ' John x. 32. Now it is this inequality that lies between the one and
the other, that makes the obliquity of the one to exceed the goodness of the
other. As for examjjle : for a child to love his father, though it be good
and commendable, yet in so doing he doth but his duty, and even what
nature teacheth to do ; therefore this is not so praiseworthy, as to hate his
father is odious, for he therein goes against his kind, there is an unnatural-
ness in it ; and, therefore, we see that one such act does more discommend
one to men, than all former acts of dutiful and loving obedience do or can
commend him. The being due does diminish of the praise and commenda-
tion of what is good : ' If you love those that love you ' (says Christ, Luke
vi. 88, 34), 'what thanks have you ? ' No reward attends such a love,
although it be good, because it is a due and suitable act ; but ' love your
enemies,' says he, unto whom (in regard of any obligation to them) nothing
is due, and ' then your reward shall be great ; ' this is praiseworthy indeed.
I may tmn this speech and say, that to obey God, and love him, and exalt
him as God, though it be good, yet what is it but what is due from you,
and that which all obligations tie you to ? ' "What does God require of
thee, man,' says Moses, 'but to love and fear him?' Deut. x. 12. He
requires but what is reasonable and due. Now to do all this is not thank-
worthy, for if you knew him, you could not choose but love him ; but to be
rebellious to him, to be an enemy to one so good and so glorious, and one
lAiio whom you are so much beholden, this is unsufferable.
(2.) As in regard of the undueness of the act, as from us to God, there
is a gi'eater obliquity in sin than goodness in grace, so in regard of God
also. Though the act of a creature obeying God doth intend glory to him,
as much as a sinner doth intend dishonour to him, yet the sin is more, and
that in regard of him who is the object of both. For,
[1.] All the honour which we can give God is but his due already. We
do but attribute that to him which is his own already, and that independ-
ently without us. What do we in being holy and obedient ? We exalt him
as God ; why, he is God already, whether we exalt him or no, yen, what
we can do this way falls short of that which is his due in himself, for, Nehem.
ix. 5, ' He is above all blessings and praises.' But the very formalis ratio
of sinning against him, is to set up another god, and so to attribute that to
him which is not, or that which is below him, that is thereby to affix a new
title of disgi'ace upon him, utterly unworthy of him. As for the eye to call
the light beautiful and glorious, and to admire it, what is it but only to
speak that of it which it is akeady ? But for the eye to call light darkness,
this is de novo to coin and put a disparagement upon it, and sin is a new
invention of our own, as Ecclesiastes speaks, Eccl. vii. 29, to dishonour
Chap, V.j of christ the mediator. 99
God. Thus unbelief makes God a liar ; and what a wrong is that ? It is
not recompcnsablo by all our acts of faith iu believing that he is true ; for
to believe so, is but to declare what is his already ; but the other is the
invention of a falsehood obtruded upon him by men. For one to speak
truth is but little or no commendation, for a man speaks but what is ; but
to tell a lie, is to invent a new thing that is false, and therefore how odious
and shameful is it. Now, every sin is a lie concerning God, * changing tha
truth of God into a he,' Rom. i. 25. It declares that of God which is not.
And to be the inventor of new gods, or of false things of God, what an evil
is it ? Again, to love God and honour him, is a thing duo to his name —
' Give him the praise due to his name,' Ps. xxix. 2 — and his excellency chal-
lengeth it. Now to love goodness, what is it ! So to love God ; but what
an incongruity is it to hate goodness ? For subjects to honour their king,
whose title and prerogative is independent upon them, is not so much to
him, as it is a dishonour for one man to disparage his title, and to go about
the setting up of another king. Now God's glory is in and from himself ,
and therefore he hath reason to account it more dishonour to him, that one
man should rebel, than honour to him, that all should obey him. When I
honour him, his honour ariseth from himself, not me ; as the gloiy of the
sun shining in the water is not from the water, but from the sun. So
when we reflect glory on God, that glory ariseth not out of what we do,
but is in himself already. But the dishonour of him is wholly in us. We
are the sole inventors of it, and there is no such thing extant, except in a
sinner's heart.
[2.] Add to this, that all the grace wherewith we glorify God is not a
man's own, but sin is wholly his own ; so John viii. 44, when he sins, he
sins sx rou lliov, from his own ; and so in Jude 16, their lusts are called
their own ; and, Eccl. vii. 29, they are said to be our inventions.
Again, [3.] If the compass and measure be taken of that dishonour which
sin tends unto, there will be found a wider distance between the two terms
of its reach, than there is of the honour that the creature can give to God,
or than it doth extend itself unto. For the measure and compass of the
dishonour is plainly this, to make the great God no God ; these are the
terms the least sin stretcheth itself unto, in the scope and tendency of the
act, though not in the event, nor in the intention of the sinner. But when
the creatures glorify God, though they should ' glorify him as God,' as far
as the creatures can do it, yet if you take the measure of the utmost eleva-
tion of his glory by them, there still remains an infinite distance between
the honom' which they aim to give him, and what is in himself, so that it
falls so far short, that it is infinite goodness in God to accept it.
As the conclusion therefore of this answer, and closure of this discourse,
I will super-add these few demonstrations drawn from the effects, to shew
clearly, and confirm this, that the least sin transcends in evil the worth of
all created graces, which puts all out of question, and makes the whole
demonstration undeniable ; for satisfaction being reductio ad aqualia, a
reducing of things to an equality, therefore if all their graces cannot make
so much goodness as shall counterbalance the evil of sin, it is impossible they
should ever satisfy. Now that they do not, appears by these demonstrations.
First, One sin, when it is committed by the best of creatures, prevails
more with God to condemn him, than all his righteousness to justify him.
If one of the angels did never so much, so great, so long service, yet if,
after millions of years, he sinned in the least, all the forepast service would
be forgotten. As a favourite that hath done much service at com-t, or iu
100 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK HI.
the wars ; if, after all, lie should be found guilty of one treason, that one
act would put a blot upon all his former services, and render them nothing-
worth. If a man doth not all things, yea (more than that) ' continues not
in all things,' he is accursed, Gal. iii. 10. Now if sin were not more evil
in God's judgment (whose judgment is righteous) than all obedience is
good, then this could not be. It is not as the pharisees dreamed, that men
should be justified, if their good works were more than their sins ; as if
their good works being weighed, and found exceeding the other in number,
they should therefore carry it ; no, a world of good works will be found too
light for the least dram of sin.
Secondly, The demerit of sin is more than the merit of goodness can be,
for that the evil that is in sin does truly deserve death ; not only in relation
to, or by virtue of, a penal law arbitrarily given, or out of a voluntaiy com-
pact and agreement between God and the creature, but in its own nature.
That threatening, * Thou shalt die the death,' is not added ex compacto only,
neither depends it merely upon an outward declaration of God's will, but
further, sin is such an evil as, in the nature of the thing, deserves death,
and that immutably. Therefore that oi/ialu/j^a rou &sov, that judgment of
God written in all men's hearts, says that ' they who do such things are
worthy of death,' Rom. i. 32 ; and so also Rom. vi. 23, ' The wages of sin
is death.' But if you put all the grace in the world together, it cannot
merit at God's hands his favour. God may out of his bounty oblige him-
self by a promise to reward it, but it is not out of the worth of the thing.
So it follows there, in that Rom. vi. 23, ' The gift of God is eternal life ;'
you see what an apparent difierence the apostle puts between the one and
the other. In like manner, Luke xvii. 10, it is said, ' When you have
done all,' if you could suppose you had done all, yet ' you are unprofitable
servants :' for God's right over us is founded upon his excellence ; and
accordingly, om* obligation to serve God is not from his benefits only, but
from a due unto his own excellencies. And therefore, although there were
no reward for our service, yet service were due from us. So says Aristotle :
If any man transcendently excel all others, that man is to be king over
them, and they are bound to serve him. Yea, and therefore the privilege
to justify a man is separable from our graces (as in men sanctified by the
gospel), but so is not condemnation from sin. And therefore, although sin
in the godly redounds not in the event to the persons, to condemn them,
by reason of Christ's righteousness imputed, yet all that righteousness
makes not but that sin in its own nature deserves death ; and so they are
to judge themselves for it, as worthy to be destroyed. But all the gi'ace
that is in them doth not only not justify them ipso facto ; but it hath wholly
and for ever lost that privilege. Which argues that it is not seated in the
nature of grace to justify, as to demerit death is seated in the nature of sin :
for then, though the effect might be retained, yet that property would be
inseparable from it.
And Thirdhj, That the strength of sin was gi-eater than that of grace, ap-
pears by this also, that it is able to expel grace out of the heart, as it did
out of Adam's ; but all the grace of all the creatures could not restore it.
Fourthlij, It is counted more mercy to pardon one sinner, than goodness
to reward and save all the angels. More riches are attributed even to God's
mercy and patience towards wicked men, than to his simple goodness to-
wards other creatm'es innocent, though never so holy.
Chap. VI.] of chbist the medutob. 101
CHAPTER VI.
Tluxi Christ hath made full reparation of all which uas lost by sin. — The glory
of the law, which sin had darkened, is by him perfectly recovered. — And
God's image, tdiich sin had defaced in man, is more fully restored in him.
We have seen the power of all the creatures set up, and at a loss as to
this, the greatest and most difficult business that ever was set on foot, viz.,
the taking away of sins. Let us now come to lay open that fulness that is
in Christ for this work ; before which all these difficulties that have been
put, and all our sins likewise, will vanish and melt away, as clouds before
the sun. A fulness it ia that answers to every defect, and to every parti-
cular objection made. I will begin with that satisfaction that is to be given
to God ; for in the wi'ong to him doth the principal knot and difficulty he.
First, If God should stand upon satisfaction to be made, in point of goods
(which yet, as I said, he doth not), Christ hath therein abundantly made
amends. Which although he reckons not as any part of his satisfaction,
which only consists in his obedient humbling of himself, yet it may be con-
sidered as part of the surplusage and redundancy of it. Let justice come
and bring in her bill of damages, and see if Christ hath not abundantly
given satisfaction for them : as,
1. Will the complaint be of the loss, spoU, and waste made of the world,
and of all the creatures therein, and of the unjointing that fi'ame, unto the
danger of the destruction of it, which no creature is able to repair or to
uphold ? Then let it withal be remembered that he that had undertook to
satisfy God had his hand in making this old world, and ' without him it
had not been made,' John i. 3. It is a consideration that both that evan-
gelist, and the author to the Hebrews (Heb. i. 2), as likewise the apostle
to the Colossians (Col. i. 16), do all suggest to this very purpose, thereby
to shew Chiist's ability to satisfy for sin. And if God would yet further
desii'e new worlds to be made him for satisfaction, Christ could make enough.
And it may be further pleaded, that this world (as we see) stands and con-
tinues still, notwithstanding all the sins committed in it, and that justice
had destined it to present ruin the first day that man should sin. Now
whose power is it that upholds it ? Is it not Christ's, whose very word is
able to underprop it '? So Heb. i. 3, ' Upholding all things by the word of
his power ;' who with one hand holdeth his Father's hands from destroying
this world, and with the other upholds it from tottering. Yea, if it were
no more but this, that he who made the world would vouchsafe to admit
himself into it, and become a part of it ; and that he whom God did never
make nor create, but from eternity begat, would be ' made flesh,' and be-
come a creature and servant (which was an addition to God's goods, and
worth all that he had made besides), this might make reparation for all
such damages. And again, at whose expenses are all things here main-
tained ? Are they not at Christ's ? The Father did as it were deny to lay
out any more power or patience in upholding the world, till he should be
paid for it ; and did not Christ undertake this, and at his due time lay
down a price that fully bought it ? who is therefore called the ' Lord that
bought,' 2 Pet. ii. 1, as wicked men, so all the world. And that he who
made the world, and is joint-heir with God, and hath as much right to it as
he, should, to satisfy him, lay down his right, put himself out of all, and
then take it up upon a new title, when it was his before, so buying what
102 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
himself made, and what was his own : that he should become poor, even
not worth the ground he went on when he came into the world, and should
suffer himself not to be owned (as John speaks), yea, to bo cast out of the
vineyard, as one that had nothing to do with it ; will not all this make
amends, will not this poverty rise to great riches ? The apostle Paul tells
us so. Wherefore this may well make satisfaction to God for goods lost.
2dly, If justice complain of the law defaced, and as it were abolished by
sin ; if she plead that through it the righteous law is made void, and of
none effect, and so bring it in, in this inventory of wasted goods, considered
only as It is a copy of God's will, an expression of his holiness, an effect of
his wisdom, and monument of the same, the least iota of which is so pre-
cious, as not all in heaven and earth can make amends for its loss : — should
justice make this complaint, then let the reply be, that our Redeemer's head
was in the making of that law ; and that the hand of him who was the
* Mighty Counsellor,' did guide the pen that wrote it in Adam's heart at
first ; and further, that himself is the substantial image of God, and the
TgojTorwTrov of the law. And besides, when it was lost, and no copy on earth
to be found, he it was that wrote it in the consciences of men fallen. In
which sense the apostle John says, that it is he who * enlightens every man
that comes into the world,' John i. 9. And because that was but an im-
perfect copy, it was he that further delivered the law, of which David says
it was perfect : Ps. xix. 7, ' The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
soul : the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple ;' and
renewed it on Mount Sinai, Gal. iii. 19. And in the fulness of time him-
self came, and vindicated it from all corrupt glosses in his preaching, ful-
filled it in his life, and in fulfilling it, writ it out again with his own hands,
and so set a more perfect copy than ever was extant in the hearts and lives
of angels. ' I came not to destroy the law,' says he, ' but to fulfil it.'
Yea, and if all the copies of the law that are in the world were burnt, they
might be all renewed in his story, insomuch that he is reckoned a new
founder of it. ' A new commandment' (says the apostle, 1 John ii. 8),
* write I unto you,' and so the apostle Paul speaks of ' fulfilling the law of
Christ,' Gal. vi. 2. * Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law
of Christ.' Yea, and suppose, that that covenant (which is the first story
and copy of God's will and wisdom) had been utterly lost (like as some of
Solomon's books were), yet he by his works of mediation makes a new
story of another wisdom infinitely more glorious, viz., the gospel, whereof
he is the sole founder, and of whom it is written as being the subject of it,
the least line of which is worth all the law, so that the angels stand amazed
at the ' ti-easures of wisdom' that are to be found therein, being deeper than
ever were revealed in the law. The law, that ' came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ,' John i. 17 — a new volume of truths,
which had not been true, if he by his blood had iiot made them so.
3dly, Though God's image be lost by sin, yet he is such an image of
him, as the very sight and beholding of him renews it, and change th men
into the same image : 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' But we all, with open face beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' Yea, the image which he
renews is a better image than that of Adam's, it is of a higher strain and
key, and raised by higher motives.
4thly, As for loss of service, to repair it, ' He took on him the form of a
servant,' Phil. ii. 7. And such a servant he was, as was not to have been
hired amongst all the creaturee. They all could not do the work that he
Chap. VII.j of chbist the mediator. 1U3
did ; ' The government of tlic whole world is upon his shoulders,' Isa. ix. 6.
He caseth his Father of it for the present, and when ho hath brought him
in infinite revenues of glory, ho will at last ' deliver up the kingdom to him,'
1 Cor. XV. 2-1, with a greater surplusage than else would have been had out
of tliat begun course of providence taken up at the creation. And if j-ou
will not reckon that as part of satisfaction, yet consider the service he did
in the priest's office, wherein God acknowledged him his servant. He des-
patched more work in those thirty-three years wherein he lived, yea, in
those three hours wherein he sulfered, than over w^as or will be done by all
creatures to eternity. It was a good six-days work when the world was
made ; and he had a principal hand in that, neither hath he been idle since ;
' I and my Father work hitherto,' says Christ, John v. 17. But that three
hours' w^ork upon the cross, was more than all the other. Eternity will not
have more done in it, than virtually was done in those three hours ; so as
that small space of time was rh vZv (cternUatis. As they say of eternity, that
it is all time contracted into an instant, so vras all time, past, and to come,
into those few hom'S, and the merit of them. For he then made work for
the Spirit, and indeed for all the three persons, unto eternity. He then did
that which the Spirit is writing out in grace and glory for ever, yea, and
all that ever was or will be done towards the saints, was then perfected :
' He perfected for ever them that are sanctified, by that one ofiering :' Heb.
X. 12, 14, ' But this man, after he had oflered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God ;' ver. 14, * For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'
CHAPTER VII.
That Christ hath repaired the loss of honour which God sustained by sin. —
Satisfaction injJoint of honour being to be measured by the excellency, dignity,
and reputation of the person satisfying. — Christ being God-man, in this re-
spect makes the greatest which could be.
But the greatest evil of sin lies in the injury by it done unto the honour,
and sovereign glory, and to the person of God himself, which is the thing
that makes sin so heinous, that the difficulty of satisfying God herein is
insuperable by all the creatm'es (as hath been shewed), unto which, not-
withstanding, we shall see Christ is as much enabled, as we have seen him
to be unto the former, to make amends for the damage which God sustained.
Honour (as was said) being a personal thing, and a due resulting out of
personal perfections, answerably therefore satisfaction therein is fundamen-
tally to rise out of, and to be measured by, the personal worth, dignity, ex-
cellency, and reputation of the person who undertakes to satisfy. Where-
fore, as the foundation of this great demonstration, let us consider briefly
the personal worth of Ckrist our sm'ety, as from whence all his satisfaction
receives its force and value, and so we will go on to shew what his person
hath done to make amends therein ; and then by comparing (as we go along)
both what he is, and what he hath done to satisfy, with what is in the dis-
honour done to God by sin (which is the thing to be satisfied for), you wall
see all the disproportions that have been mentioned and can be thought of,
to make sin so above measure sinful, exceeded, and wholly overcome. Now
as a ground-work to this, I will take but that one place ; —
WIio, 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,
104 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK III.
aiid icas made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of thecivss.
—Phil. ii. 6-8.
A place full and adequate to my scope, wherein (you see) the apostle
argues the efficacy of Chi-ist's merit, and the worth of it, from hence, that
being equal with God, •\az., in glory (as the opposite to he humbled himself
shews), he should be humbled ; and that he should humble himself, and be-
come obedient, &c., and all for the glory of God the Father. Every word
is weighty, and speaks satisfaction ; and that he, so great a person, for
greatness of glory equal with God ; for right to glor\^, one that thought it no
robbery to challenge it ; for the kind of gloiy which was his due, it was not
accidental, but substantial, ' being in the fonn of God ;' that he should be
emptied of all, and lay aside that honour, which was due unto him, yea,
sufl'er all his glory to be debased, and his honour laid in the dust, and him-
self to be humbled to the gi'eatest and basest of evils, death, and of all deaths
the most shameful, * the death of the cross,' and not humbled passively
only, but that he should vohmtarily ' humble himself, and become obedient,'
and that the object of this subjection should be but actions only, not* himself,
his person, so as all that he did or suffered reflected on himself, and his
person was humbled in all ; and all this, to recover God's honour lost,
it was ' to the glory of God the Father' (as the closure of all hath it) ; surely
all this (as you will see) must needs make a full amends.
Now for the clearing of this point and demonstration, whence it is that
this satisfaction ariseth, I will proceed by degrees, until a full satisfaction
shall rise up to all your apprehensions, in a way of just reason, as there
did unto God himself, by that one oblation of Christ himself for us.
And, first, let us consider the worth of the person, upon which the worth
of the satisfaction doth depend. And to the manifesting of this, consider
we first, that Christ had an essential glory, as he is God, which was the
foundation and groundwork. This I need not insist upon, all knowing it,
and taking it for granted, though divers interpreters judge it not to be that
glory which the test doth directhr and in the first place intend, yet to be
ultimately supposed, as that which is the original gi'ound of all that oriental
transcendent glory, which as God-man he parted withal, for satisfaction to
God, And though it be true that this glory of his, as he is merely God,
cannot be debased or diminished, and so can never properly become the
matter of satisfaction for sin, but it is another glory, which I shall speak of
presently, is the matter of it ; j'et this is it that was the cause and rise of
that God-man's glory, and that doth give the original worth and value to
all that Christ did or suffered. You shall still find that the Scriptm-e puts
the efficacy of his actions upon the worth of his person ; for, indeed, it is
the dignity of the person that dignifies the work. God had respect first to
Abel, then to his sacrifice, for the sake of Abel. Therefore, in a proportion,
the more worth and esteem the person is of with God, the more worth the
actions are. And therefore, as the worth of Christ's person was infinite,
so must the worth of his actions be. His person raiseth his actions in
statum sibi similcm, unto a state suitable to himself, as a king doth his
children to a state answerable to his own. And as the human nature, being
personally united to the Godhead, is raised unto a transcendent privilege
by virtue of that union, which no other creatm-e hath, so the actions
thereof do, by virtue of the Godhead, come to have similem statum, they
are raised to a proportionable state also. And as the human nature is
* Qu. ' not actions only, but' ? — Ed.
Chap. VII.] of ohrist the mediatoe. 105
sanctified through that union with the divine, with a sanctification beyond
that of habitual graces (as the schoolmen have rightly observed and de-
scried), so the actions thereof are deitate perfusa, they have a divinity in
them. As the human nature of Christ, by reason of its union with tho
Godhead, hath more worth and dignity communicated to it than is or
could be in all creatures — * in all things he had tho pre-eminence,' Col, i.
18 — and therefore when he comes into the world, it was said, • Let all the
angels worship him,' which honour no creature must have ; so his actions
and graces are translated into as high a rank of dignity, above the graces
and actions of creatui-es, and this by his person, even as his very human
nature is exalted above the rank of all creatures. And this makes his blood
to be precious blood indeed, in that it is the ' blood of God,' Acts xx. 28.
The worth of this person being substantial, it doth se totuni tramfundere, it
trausfuseth, or rather casts its whole worth upon his actions, to the utmost
of it. And as all the fulness of the Godhead is said to dwell in (Col. ii. 9),
and to be personally communicated to, the manhood, making it as glorious
as a creatm'e can possibly by God be made, so the whole person doth cast
a glorious brightness or lustre, and reflecteth upon the actions he doth in
that nature all that personal worth that is communicable. And surely this
will equal the proportion of evil that is in our sins ; for as the oifence was
against an infinitely glorious God, so the works done to take away the
ofience were wi-ought by one as infinite. And as the chiefest accent* of the
offence lies in this, that it was against an infinite majesty, so the greatness
of the satisfaction made lies in this, that it was performed by the mighty
God ; which proportion could never have been filled up by any creature
who was not God, satisfaction in point of honour depending upon the equal
worth of the person honouring, and the person dishonoured. And though
the human nature (which is in itself finite) be the j^r'mcipiurn quo, and the
instrument by which and in which the second person doth all that he doth ;
and therefore answerably the physical being of those actions is but finite
in yenere entis, yet all those articles being attributed to the person who is
princlpiuyn quod, the principle which doth, and unto which all is to be
ascribed (for adiones stmt suppositorum, actions are attributed to the persons,
because that is said only to subsist), therefore the moral estimation of them
is from the worth of the person that performs them. And thus though the
immediate principle, the human natm-e, be finite, yet the radical principle,
the person, is infinite. And both natures being one in person, what the
one is said to do or sufier, the other is said to do and suffer ; and therefore
his blood is called * the blood of God.' Yet this is not so to be understood
(nor was it necessary unto satisfaction to God) as if the worth of the actions
of this person should be as infinite as the person is, essentially and sub-
stantially ; for Christ's merits could not be infinite, as God's attributes are ;
but it is enough to satisfaction, that they might be valued such in a moral
estimation ; for thereby it holds an answerable proportion unto the evil of
sin. For as the evil of sin is said to be infinite morally only, and in repute,
and objective, as it is against an infinite person, and not essentially infinite,
as the object of it is ; so answerably the satisfaction that it requires to be
made for it, needs not to be essentially and physically infinite (for that were
impossible), but it is enough if it be, as sin itself is, morally such, and in
its value such, which then it will arise to be, when the person that per-
forms it is infinite ; and so this will come to be subjectively infinite, as
from an infinite person, as sin is objectively infinite, as against an infinite
• Qu. ' asceut ' ?— Ed.
106 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. |BoOK ITT,
God. And such a person is the second person in the Trinity, and such
therefore is his righteousness, it being the righteousness of him who is God.
But, sficondh/, although this essential glory of the Godhead gives the worth
and value to all the actions that Christ did, yet in itself it was not capable
of being debased, nor he of being emptied of it ; nor could this therefore
properly become the object matter which should be oifered up to God for
satisfaction. For as, in our sinning, God's essential glory is not nor
cannot be injui-ed by us, but it is wronged only in the shine and lustre of
it, in the putting of itself forth before us creatures, or the manifestations of
it (wherein though the essential glory of his Godhead is not obscured, but
the manifestation of it only, yet the injury reflects upon that his essential
glory, because that was it that was manifested), so in like manner is it in
Christ's satisfaction. Christ's essential glorj, as he is only God, could of
itself alone never have satisfied for sin ; for satisfaction in point of honour
being to be effected by the lessening of glory in the satisfier, to give glory to
him that is to have satisfaction, thence therefore the essential glory of the
Godhead (which cannot be impaired of itself), if it remained unmanifested,
it could never satisfy. But if this second person, putting himself forth to
be manifested, will suffer himself to be obscured in that glory which is due
to him when he comes to manifest himself, this indeed wiU come in to be
fit matter for satisfaction.
For, thirdhj, if the Godhead of Christ had gone about to manifest itself
in works only, or such ways as are common to the other persons of the
Trinity with himself, as by creating of worlds, making of laws, &c., he
had not by those ways satisfied neither ; because the other persons had had
as joint an interest in all such kind of manifestations as himself had, and
the obscui-ement of him in such manifestations had reflected equally upon
the other two persons as upon himself. Wherefore over and above that
his essential gloiy, he must have a manifestative glory, an outward, visible
brightness of glory, and that also such as must become personal, and pro-
per, and peculiar to him, so as to none of the other persons ; that as it may
be capable of being obscured, so also that obscurement of it may reflect
upon his person, and upon it alone.
Therefore, /o!/r^/i7^, the Son of God, if he make satisfaction for sin, must
necessarily be supposed fii'st to take, or to have taken on him the nature of
some reasonable creatui'e, either of mankind or of the angels, into personal
fellowship with himself; which would be both a peculiar way of manifest-
ing himself and of his glory not common to the other two persons, and
would also draw in all his personal excellencies into such an engagement,
as that, both in the manifestation of himself in that nature assumed, his
personal glory may be interested, and also, in the obscm'ement and clouding
of Jhimself in that manifestation, all these his excellencies may be said to be
abased likewise, and so come to reflect upon the whole person himself, who
is thus glorious, and upon all that is in him : and thus fitly come to make
a full satisfaction.
Now, in the fifth place, let us consider what a manifestative glory is due
to the Son of God, if he assume a creatm'e into one person with himself.
And herein consider we, that that nature or creature which he shall assume
(be it man or angel) must by inheritance exist in the form of God, Phil,
ii. 6 ; which ' form of God' I here take not to be put for the essence of
God, as neither is ' the fonn of a servant,' in the following sentence, taken
for the nature of man simply considered, but for that debased appearance
in which he in our natm'c came into the world, not as a Lord, glorious, but
Chap. VII.J of chbist the mediatob. 107
covered with infirmities ; and this expression seems to be all one with that,
Rom. viii. 3, ' He came in the likeness of sinful flesh.' And so in like
manner the * form of God' here, is that God-like gloiy, and that manifesta-
tion of the Godhead, which was, and must needs be due to appear in the
nature assumed; ior funn is put for an outward appearance and manifesta-
tion, in respect of which Christ, as God-man, is called * the brightness of
his Father's gloiy,' Heb. i. 2. Brightness (you know) is not the substance
of light, but the appearance of it. And so also he is called ' the image of
the invisible God,' Col. i. 15. The meaning of which is this, that whereas
God's essential glory is invisible (for ' he dwells in light that no man can
approach unto,' 1 Tim. vi. IG). Christ assuming our human nature,
becomes the image of it, and so makes it visible to us, God having stamped
all his glory upon his face, that we might see it in him : 2 Cor, iv. 6, ' For
God, who commanded the Hght to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the gloiy of God, in the face
of Jesus Christ.' So that if the Son of God will assume our nature, then
it will follow that unto that nature there is due a God-like gloiy, so much
transcending all creatures, that all might plainly see and say, certainly that
natm-e is united to God ; sui*ely that man must needs be God as well as
man : Hence,
1. He was to be endowed with privileges answerable to the dignity of
the person assuming that natui-e ; for if that nature becomes one in person
with the Son of God, he becomes one in the privileges of the person also,
and so that nature is to have a glory, ' as of the only begotten Son of God'
(as the evangelist speaks, John i. li), proper and peculiar to him. And
so, besides that essential glory of his Godhead, there will necessarily be
due to that person, in that natm-e assumed, a more manifestative glory
shining foi-th, than could have arisen to God any other way ; for God mani-
fested in the flesh personally, must needs have (as his due) more manifesta-
tive glory, and so manifest more of the essential glory of the Godhead, than
God manifested in all his other works, be they never so transcendent : even
as there is more honour due unto a king, if he in person shew himself, than
if his arms only be set up, or proclamation be made in his name. And in this
respect Christ God-man may be said in a safe sense to be ' equal with God,'
as here in the text, not in essence, but in a communication of privileges :
that as God hath life in himself alone, and it is a royalty incommunicable
to any mere creature, so this Son of man, when once united thus unto the
Godhead, is also said to ' have life in himself,' John v. 26, this equahty,
or idoTYig, not being to be understood of equality in proportion, but of like-
ness, and is all one with that which Zechariah speaks of his manhood,
when he calls him * the man God's fellow,' Zech. xiii. 7, one in joint com-
mission with him. And thus Christ himself interprets it, John v., when
the Jews, looking at him as a mere man, had objected it unto him as blas-
phemy that ' he made himself equal with God ;' ver. 18 (it is the same
word that is here used in the text), Chi-ist answered them, ver. 19. And
you find that his answer runs upon this, that even as he was Son of man
(which was it that made them to stumble so at his former words), his privi-
leges were such by the union with the second person, that he had a true
kind of partnership with God the Father in his privileges, and such as did
arise to a likeness, though not to an essential equality: so ver. 19. It is
true (says he), ' The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the
Father do ; and yet whatever things he doth, these also doth the Son like-
wise.' And so, he goes on to shew, that he could do hke things to his
108 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK HI.
Father, and how he was to be honoured as his Father, ver. 23 ; and had
life in himself, as his Father had, ver. 26 ; and had all judgment com-
mitted to him, &c. And that he might be understood to speak this of
himself as God-man, he expressly adds, ' Because he is the Son of man,'
ver. 27.
2. And hence, secondhj, unto the Son of God thus dwelling in a human
nature (when it shall be first assumed), all this honour and glory is due :
it is proper to him ; and therefore it is here said in the text, ' he thought
it no robbery' for him to challenge it. Yet of all things God is tender of
his glory ; ' I will not give my glory to another,' Isa. xlii. 8. But Christ
God-man dares challenge such a glory as we have been speaking of, as his
due, and it is no robbery for him to do it, because it is his right. As, is
worship to be performed unto God ? So it is to be given to Christ as
dwelling in a human nature : Ps. xlv. 11, ' He is thy Lord, worship thou
him.' Yea, ' let all the angels worship him,' when he comes into the
world, and so as considered with his manhood, Heb. i. 6 : and ' Worthy
art thou' (say the saints and angels, and all creatures) * to receive honour
and glory;' and so ' they fiall down before him,' Rev. v. 12. And therefore
this high character of him is put in, 1 Cor. ii. 8, that ' they crucified the
Lord of glory.' He was Lord, and possessor of all the glory that God
hath, for as his Father hath given him to have life, so glory in himself also,
as in that John v. And here in the Philippians he is said to exist in this
glory, Phil. ii. 6, not that his human nature had this glory actually put
upon it at first (for he was born as we are, and took upon him the form of
a servant) ; but because thus to exist in this glory was his due, from which
he could not be put by ; so as, if God would ordain him to subsist per-
sonally in a human natui-e, it was his due to have existed thus gloriously
in the foi-m of God, and not in the form of a servant, which is put in to
shew how the form of a servant was merely arbitrary in him, in that another
form was due to him, and in respect of that dueness is accounted as really
existent, with an existency of right (for it should so have done), which is a
real existency ; even as one that is born a king, though he for some end
take on him a mean condition, jei he being born a king does so exist, and
it prejudiceth not his right all that while, for it is innate and bred with his
existing. And therefore the Scripture speaks of Christ even as Son of man,
as if as Son of man he had been in heaven, and had come down : not that
actually he had been there, but because it was his right to have been there
the first moment of the assumption of that nature. Thus John iii. 13,
' And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven.' He (you see) says, that
he is in heaven.
Thus much shall suffice to have shewn the foundation of satisfaction,
jfrom the qualifications and requisites in the person.
CHAPTER VIII.
What this excellent and glorious person did for satisfaction, brings more honour
to God than ever sin had done dishonour. — The glory ivhich redounds to
God from this persons condescending to assume human nature, and that too
in such a low condition, and meanest circumstances.
Now to come to the second head proposed, namely, to shew what it is in
or of such a person that may become, or is the matter of this satisfaction
Chap. VIII.] op christ the medutob. 109
oflfered up to God, for the debasement of his glory by sin. To clear this,
I will first shew what it is that God reckons not upon for satisfaction in
this person ; what God cuts ofl' from the account, because he would be sure
to have full satisfaction in specie, in kind, which will also serve the more to
set forth the fulness, the abundancy of Christ's satisfaction, when God
accepts not of what might have been so accounted, but stands upon more ;
which Christ performs to him.
As, 1. The very condescending of the second person, who natively and
essentially is so great, to assume man's nature, although in this form of God
described, invested with all that manifestative glory spoken of, and this
from and upon the first moment of his assuming it ; if this act of assuming
had been done and undertaken principally in order and with intention to
satisfy God, by bringing in a new glory to him, gi-eater than that which he
lost by him, and this without the least humbling of himself; I ask, why
might not this in just reason have been accounted satisfaction ?
For (1.) he had thereby lessened himself to give glory to God. For in
that assumption, and in that communication of himself to a creature, he
takes on him such relations as do in some respects abate of the height of
his native personal glory, as he is considered merely as second person ;
and in respect to this assumption, he is made less than what before he was.
For now it may be said of him, as it was by himself, that ' his Father is
greater than he,' John xiv. 28, whereas he might have kept himself in a
foil equality to him in all respects for ever, and to have had no such dimin-
ishing respect affixed to him.
And (2.) by this voluntary act alone he had brought in unto God a new
and further revelation of the Godhead than ever was obscured by sin ; and
it is certain that he had never assumed man's nature, and thus lessened
himself, but that so he might manifest the glory of the Godhead in such a
manner as otherwise it never should have been. Therefore for him thus
to lessen himself, to the end to manifest and exalt the glory of the Godhead
the utmost way it could be, or more than otherwise it should have been,
might not this make amends for the glory that sin would take from God ?
And the reason of this is, that satisfaction being a return of as much glory
as was lost, and that by this means (if no other were added) more mani-
festative glory would come in unto God than either was or ever could have
been debased or impaired by sin, why therefore might it not have been
accounted satisfactory, if it had been ordered simply unto this end ? And
further also, even this would have seiTcd to fill up many of those dispro-
portions found in the evil of sin. For as the evil of Adam's sin (which
was the first sin) lay in this, that he who was a creature aflected and
aspired to be as God — He is become as one of us, said God, Gen. iii. 22 —
so Christ's obedience, in assuming our nature, would herein have answered
it, that he that is God becomes a creatiu'e, and on the other side is become
as one of us men ; so to bring in a new honour unto God. So that, look
how high our nature would have ascended, so low doth he descend ; and
as sin is a tm^ning from God to the creature, so in this act the Creator de-
scends from the height of his glory to become a creature, and join himself
in a nearer union with us than wherein we in sinning affected to join our-
selves to the Creator.
And then again, 2. All the works and actions which, in that nature thus
assumed, in this height of glory that becomes due to it, he will set himself
about to work, and to shew forth the glory of the Godhead of his Father,
and of himself ; even these also, by reason of that worth which his personal
110 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK III.
perfections do contribute unto them, might haply be estimated sufficient to
give satisfaction in point of honour, though no further debasement be laid
upon our nature in him. As suppose that he would have done nothing
therein but work miracles, utter his treasm'cs of wisdom, shew forth his
holiness and power, &c. ; yet these being from a person so infinitely glori-
ous, have therefore an infinite worth in them all, even as all his actions,
now he is in heaven, have ; for the person is infinite, and he it is that gives
this acceptance and this lustre to them. And these would also have brought
more glory to God than was lost, and so would have countervailed our sins.
For all the actions that he doth, and all the glory that he hath now he is
glorified, are all ' to the glory of God the Father ' (as this text hath it), and
therefore if in all that he had ever done he had as directly glorified himself
as now in heaven, jet all of those actions being fui'ther and besides, to the
gloiy of God the Father, they might superabundantly have made amends
for the dishonour that sin brought him.
But God reckons all this not as any part of that satisfaction which we
are a-seeking after. He accepts not simply the assumption of our nature,
though never so glorious, and he accepts it not, although it were a lessening
of the second person. In the Scripture I find nothing for it, and what God
reckons not satisfaction to him, we must not account such. Neither do I
affirm it, having only pleaded what might be argued (and what haply God
might have reckoned), thereby the more to advance that satisfaction which
Christ hath performed in this human nature ; the like whereof I did when
I discom'sed the point of satisfaction for goods. It is indeed the foundation
of satisfaction, and makes way to it, but is not a part of it. And so the
actions of him now glorified in heaven, though they have so much worth in
them, yet God reckons them not to be a part of satisfaction ; for that was
all fijiished here in his humbled estate, ere ever he ascended.
And the reason of this, why this assumption of our nature in a glorious
condition, or the actions thereof, are not mentioned in Scripture as any part
of satisfaction may be ; both because the sole end of Christ's assuming our
nature, quoad suhstantiam vnjsterii, for the substance of this mystery, was not
(as I have elsewhere* shewed) the redemption of man ; but there were other
ends, which taken all together are as great as this, if not greater ; as, the
manifestion of God to the utmost. God could not have been manifested
to the utmost, but by lessening one of the persons of the Trinity by an
hypostatical union ; as also because God would make the subject of all the
parts of satisfaction to be Christ, God-man, and not the second person
simply so considered, and therefore he must be suj)posed ordained to assume
man's natm'e, ere he becomes a fit subject for satisfaction. But the act of
assuming our nature is the act of the second person, merely so considered ;
and so, though done in order to satisfaction, as being the foundation of it,
yet is not a part of it. And thus all this glory spoken of being due to the
person in this nature, and so to shine forth in this nature ; for him to lay
it aside when he assumes this nature, and for him then to take the form of
a servant, instead oi this glorious form and manifestation of the Godhead ;
this draws the manhood also into the merit of such a debasement, because
a greater glory was due unto him ; and he might be truly said to exist in
his glory whenever that natm-e was assumed, for so he ought to have done,
and it might have been stood upon.
So then, the first ingredient into this satisfaction lies in the laying aside
* In the ' Discourse of God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ,' Book iii., chap.
1, 2, 3, 4, in the second volume of his Works. [Vol. IV, of this Edition. — Ed.]
CUAP. VIII.] OP CHRIST TUE MEDIATOR. Ill
the glory duo to the second person when ho should dwell in a human na-
ture ; and mstead thereof, taking on him the form of a servant, and tho
likeness of men, or of ' sinful flesh,' as Rom. viii. 8, that is, fi-ail flesh,
subject to infirmities and miseries, as ours is here. And so the total sum
of that satisfaction which God reckons of as such, is hero also cast up first
and last to have been, the taking the foi-m of a servant, humbling himself,
being emptied, or of no reputation, and becoming obedient in his life, and
this to the death of the cross, as being the last part of this payment. And
this (you will see) will in so great a person amount to and become tho
matter of a full and just satisfaction indeed, even to a flowing over. Which
is the second thing in this head we inquire and seek for.
In the second place therefore, positively to lay down and define wherein
Christ's satisfaction unto God for sin in point of honour lies ; it is in brief
this, viz., Christ's voluntary laying aside all the glory that was due to his
person in his human nature assumed, and his submitting himself to the
utmost debasement due to sinners, in pure obedience to his Father, thereby
to restore and return glory unto God for the diminishing of it by sin. This
God required, and this Christ performed, and this is satisfaction indeed,
even to flowing over. God in his demanding satisfaction stood so much
upon his glory, that,
1. He would not be contented with the mere lessening of this great per-
son, in assuming our nature glorious ; but he will have him take upon him
(as this text hath it) the form of a servant, and be found as men here on
earth, even clothed with the same frail condition of passible nature that sin-
ful men are found in ; nor,
2. Will he be contented with such actions from Christ in that nature
debased, whereby Christ might seek and shew forth his own glory imme-
diately and directly — ' I seek not my own glory ' (says Christ, John ix. 50),
' but the glory of him that sent me ' — but he will have him perform such
actions, and submit to such sufierings, as shall take away glory from him,
and obscure and veil his glory due to him. He will have him take the
form of a mere servant, and become wholly obedient, and not be for him-
self at all ; who yet might think it no robbery to seek his own glory directly
with God's. Nor,
3. Will God be satisfied to have this his gloiy a little veiled, and in some
parts clouded ; but he will have him robbed and spoiled oi all manifestative
glory whatsoever due unto him. He will have him emptied, or made of no
reputation, as it is here ; the Messiah shall have nothing left (as Daniel
speaks, Dan. ix. 26), not a grain or mite of the riches of his glory which
he could call his own, as God doth. Yea, if there be any debasement worse
than other, he will have him obedient to it, even to death ; and if any death
be more shameful than other, he will have him submit to it, even the death
of the cross. And,
4. God will have all this come from him willingly, heartily, and freely.
He is not only thus to be humbled, but he must ' humble himself,' as the
text also hath it ; who indeed was so great that no other could do it, with-
out his own free consent ; and all this to the gloiy of God the Father.
And ere we go any further, do but think with yoiu-selves that if a per-
son, such as in the first head hath been described, who is equal with God
in glory, will, to glorify God and exalt him, not only condescend to lessen
himself, and that so much as to have it said, the second person is made a
creature ; but will further, at the command of his Father, lay aside even
that glory which is still due to him when thus made man, yea, even empty
112 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
himself wholly of all that gloiy personalty due to him, and take on him the
form of a servant instead thereof; and yet further, will actually become
obedient in the performance of all such actions, not only which it was meet
so great a person glorified in heaven should employ himself in, and shew his
own, and his Father's glory jointly in, but such as men on earth shew their
subjection in, both as mere creatm'es and as sinners ; yea, and not only so,
but will be obedient to the utmost of sufferings, even to death, and to the
most shameful and ignominious death, the death of the cross ; and will per-
form all this voluntarily, with an intention of mind and will, directing all
to this sole end, so to make God alone glorious by and through his own utter
debasement and obsciu'ement, falling down thus low to exalt and set God
up thus high, by his having so great a person, and in himself so glorious,
thus obedient to him, and lowered for his glory's sake ; I appeal even to
the justice that is in all men's hearts, if it doth not both equalise the dis-
honour done to God by sin, and also bring in a greater overplus of glory
than was taken from God by it, and so make a full amends.
CHAPTER IX*
Tlie xirincipal matter of Christ's satisfaction was not only in a diminisJmig of
his glory, but despoiling him of it. — And that he did this xiillingly, hg
humbled himself. — And that his ijerson was the subject of this debasement
and humiliation.
But to speak yet more distinctly, the matter of his satisfaction lies in these
three things principally, all which are in the text.
I. That it was not only a lessening of his glory, but a despoiling and
emptying him of it, or a making him of no reputation.
II. That this was voluntary in him; he humbled, actively; it is not said
he icas humbled, passively.
III. That the subject of this humbling was himself, considered both as
the subject- author of all this obedience, and also as the subject-matter in-
volved in this obedience and debasement : ' he humbled himself.'
I. It was an emptying himself of glory to glorify God ; which, in the
strictest way that justice can i-equu-e, becometh properly and truly satisfac-
tion in point of glory debased. To clear this, let us consider the difference
between giving honour simply, and giving satisfaction for honour. We give
mutual honour to one another without debasing ourselves, as inferiors to
superiors, and superiors to inferiors, by mutual uncovering of the head each
unto other. But if satisfaction in point of honour be strictly stood upon,
then some acts of humbling are exacted from the party that is to satisfy,
even a taking down of the glory of the one, to restore it to the other ; ex-
amples whereof we often see, by the sentence of such courts as deal in jioint
of honour and the restitution of it. Now to make use of this in the point
in hand. A mere creature indeed cannot give the simple tribute of glory
that is due unto God, but by humbling itself some way, either in obedience
or worship ; all the acts of which have a humbling of the creature in them.
Thus the angels cover their faces, and cry, ' Holy, holy, holy,' &c., and the
elders cast down themselves and their crowns, and cry, ' Worthy art thou
to receive honour and glory.' And the reason is, because of the transcend-
ent distance and disproportion between God and mere creatures ; his glory
Chap. IX.j of christ the mediator. * 113
being so high and sovereign, that they cannot show forth tho greatness of
it, but by veihng their own glory before him. Thus the distance between
kings and ordinary men, being in the institution of it so high and sovereign,
the greatness of their majesty and glory cannot be held forth but by their
subjects debasing of themselves, and falling down before them. And in
this respect, the creature's debasement could never have satisfied for God's
honour lost and impaired ; because all its debasements are but suitable ways
to give and shew forth that gloiy of God which is simply due from them
although they had never sinned. But Christ, though he were lessened in-
deed (as became God-man), yet still, this man being one person with God,
and so God as well as man, and so being by right of inheritance in joint
commission with his Father, and set up in such a kind of equality, as hath
been shewn, hence, as two kings in joint commission for the government
of a kingdom, and by a like right, though they give glory each to other,
yet not by debasement of their glory ; so nor was Christ to have done, as
now in heaven he doth not, where, though he intercedes for us, yet more
regio, as a king, ' sitting' (not kneeling, as on earth) ' at God's right
hand ; ' and st'do regio, in the language of a king — ' Father, I will,' as
John xvii. 24. It is not performed in away of a humbling debasement,
though in a way that argues a lessening of him. And thus he might have
kept his state and majesty, as now in heaven he doth, and have given glory
to God for ever, upon such terms, and by such ways, as should withal have
held forth his own glory jointly and as directly as his Father's. Thus, at
the latter day, when he comes to judge the world, he will come in his full-
est glory, and ' every knee shall bow to him, to the glory of God the
Father ; ' this being his due, that he should be honoured together with his
Father : ' That all should honour the Son ' (says Christ, speaking of that
judgment committed to himself), ' even as they honour the Father,' John
V. 22, 23. Thus indeed he might (as now he doth) have glorified God.
But then all this in him would not have been satisfaction for the impairing
and diminution of God's glory by sin. This is no way to be effected (no,
not by Christ), but by a humbling, a lowering, a debasement, an emptying
himself of glory, to restore it to his Father. For look, as in point of goods
restitution is not made but by a parting with some of that man's goods that
is to satisfy, to be added to his who is to be satisfied, so in point of
honour, if satisfaction for dishonour (which is a taking away of honour, or
reflecting disparagement on him who is dishonoui-ed) be to be performed,
there must in like manner be a taking away of, or a parting with, honour
and glory in the satisfier, done for the injured person's sake, to give again
unto the dishonoured, so as his glory shall be made up, or shewed forth by
the other's debasement. For else it ariseth not to a proportion, which is
the rule of justice in such cases. Therefore, nothing but a debasement can
make a fall amends for a debasement ; but when so, then a proportion is
observed ; and honour can never be repaired but out of another's honour
impaired, for it must be paid in its own coin ; and in this case, you cannot
repair a loss to the one, but you must impair it to the other. And this is
the true reason why Christ, now he is glorified in heaven, though he be as
full of action and employment as ever, and all to the glory of his Father,
as much as those actions were which he performed here below ; yet all
that now he doth in heaven hath not a meritoriousness in it, nor is it ac-
counted of as being satisfactory for sin, as what he did here below was ;
yet all those actions have an infinite worth in them, in respect of the person
performing them, considered merely as an agent_and efficient cause of them;
VOL. V, H
114 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK HI.
and they are infinitely acceptable to God (as glorifying him) to other ends ;
but still, they arise not to answer the proportion that in justice satisfaction
requires. For though they are the actions of Christ considered as an in-
ferior, and one made less, and that in order to the glorifying of God, yet
so as he still having a right to be glorified with God in all jointly, and as
dii-ectly as God himself is to be glorified, and accordingly, all these actions,
as immediately holding forth his own glory as his Father's ; therefore,
though God reckons and accounts of them as a glorifying oi" himself, yet
not as a satisfaction to himself for his glory impaired, because Christ is
not humbled in any of them, so as by a debasement in them to give glory
unto God, but does now share with God in the tribute of glory that comes
in, as being his due. But here on earth he abated of, and hid his gloiy ;
he was emptied of it, to the end that thereby what was lost to him might
accrue unto God ; which debasement does truly and properly become fit
matter for satisfaction.
II, That which gives worth and acceptation to this debasement of his, to
make it satisfactoiy, is, that himself, or his person (so great a person), is
included in it : 'He humbled himself and became obedient ; ' and so, this
obedience of his, being in such a way of debasement, does di-aw and take
into it all his fore-named personal perfections, to contribute an infinite
dignity, worth, and satisfactoriness unto all he did or sufi'ered ; and this,
from the consideration of himself as being included therein, and so in a
double respect and relation giving a double gift unto his obedience, as I
may so speak.
1. If his person be considered as the worker and efiicient cause of all he
did or suflered, and withal, as the root fi-om whence it sprung, and as the
subject author of all those graces and seK-denials, this gives a worth to his
obedience and sufi'erings.
2. As his person and all his excellencies are yet further involved as the
materiale, the subject matter itself of this his obedience, as that which he
offered up in all that he either did or sufi'ered, so the honour of his person
not only gives an influence of worth into his works of obedience, as he is
the efiicient of them, but further, in that his honour was reflected upon in
them all, and he debased himself therein. And thus his person is doubly
enwrapped in all he did ; and therefore, in the text, it is said, ' He humbled
himself and became obedient ; ' that is, in his actions of obedience himself
was humbled and made subject. There is a reduplication, he and him-
self, noting that they came from his person, and that they again reflected
upon his person, and were not only proceeding fi-om x>ersona infinita,
in an infinite person, but are circa personam iiijinitam, concerned about
him.
1. Kow for the fii'st ; Consider him but as the subject author of them ;
and yet even so, all his gi-aces and actions, in his person thus humbled,
receive an infinite value and worth from him. Therefore the efficacy of his
righteousness is put upon this, that it was the righteousness of God and
our Saviour, that is, our Saviom- who was God. So 2 Peter i. 1, ' Simon
Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us, through the righteousness of God and oui- Saviour
Jesus Christ.' And though this relation of his actions unto his person
simply and alone considered in Christ as glorified, God accounts not satis-
faction, yet they coming fi'om Christ as humbled, he accepts of all his graces
and actions, not only as having an infinite worth in them, but also as part
of satisfaction. And to that end he considers this in them, that thev are
Chap. IX. J op christ the mediator. " 115
all from a person so infinite, and in that respect they add a distinct worth
to that satisfaction, which thus humbled he performs, from this other that
follows ; which is,
2dly, That his person is further to be considered as the materkde, the
matter of all his obedience, namely, in this respect, that his person was
debased in all that obedience of his, so that it came to pass, that this his
obedience was not only accepted because the offerer of it, the sacrificer, was
a person of that worth, but also in that himself and his glory became the
sacrifice and offering itself. He not only gave honour to God by his actions, and
with his graces ; but did also therein give away his own honour, the honour
of his person. I will make this plain to you by a place of Scripture, namely,
Heb. ix., where that that gives weight and efficacy to his blood to ' purge,
our consciences' (which all the sacrifices in the world could never have
done, as the apostle says, verses 13, 14), is made to be this, that ' through
the eternal Spirit he offered up himself,' as the 11th verse concludes.
Whence observe, that he, viz., his person with his Godhead, was considered
not only as the offerer (which those words import, ' through the eternal
Spirit'), or as the author of that action of sacrificing, as the priests were
of those sacrifices of the law (which is the first consideration mentioned
in the former part of this distinction), but besides, himself was the thing
offered, as those words shew, ' offered up himself.' So that that action had
a double respect to his person, both as the subject author and as the matter,
both as the sacrificer aud as the sacrifice. The priests, they offered indeed,
but it was the gifts which people brought, so as therein the priest was cue
thing, and the sacrifice another ; but here Christ was both offerer and offer-
ing ; there the giver was one thing, and the gift another ; but here Christ
was both the giver and gift : Eph. v. 2, ' Who hath loved us, and given
himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.' And this is that which
the Scripture mentions to have given a further infinite over-balancing weight
of merit and satisfaction, and distinct from the former, unto all that Christ
did, namely, that in all he still gave away himself. They were not mere
actions from him and in him, but such as included himself as given, and
humbled in them. This, as the places above mentioned, so that in Heb.
. 3 does plainly shew, ' having by himself purged our sins ;' mark it, not
by actions merely from him, but by himself humbled in these actions and
sufferings. And therefore the same author to the' Hebrews puts the main
value upon himself considered as the person offered, and not only on him-
self considered as the offerer ; and indeed he distinctly mentions both. For
throughout the 7th chapter he shews that it was necessary he should be
the priest, the offerer, that should sacrifice, and so appease God's wrath,
shewing oppositely, the insufficiency of the Levitical priests, although their
sacrifices had had no defect, and so concludes, that ' such an high priest
became us,' &c., ver. 26 ; and yet because all the merit lay not in the bare
person of the priest as an offerer, had not the sacrifice itself been answer-
able, therefore he further shews in the 9th and 10th chapters, the worth
of that sacrifice also which by this our high priest was offered, which was
no other than himself. And this the apostle shews as considered apart by
itself from the former consideration ; and therefore in like manner he oppo-
sitely shews the weakness and unworthiness that was in all the Levitical
sacrifices and things offered, as he had formerly done of those offerers,
chap, vii., still mentioning the worth of that one sacrifice of himself; shew-
ing that he was also the person offered, and that tliat was it which gave that
super-eminent worth to his offering, to take sins away. And it is plain
116 OF OHBIST THE MEDUTOR. [BoOK III.
that the apostle considers both these, for he argues the perfection of his
satisfaction from both.
Now to clear this distinction by comparing an instance or two together ;
when Christ wrought a miracle, turning water into wine, this was an action
from him merely as the author of it, and wherein he humbled not himself,
which therefore made up no part of satisfaction. It was from him, but it
reflected not thus upon, nor included his person thus in it. But when he
was circumcised, and became obedient to his parents and to the law, all
these actions, as they were from his person, so also they included in them
the humiliation of himself, and had therefore the whole worth of the person
who did or suflered them communicated unto them, as being included in
them, and as reflecting upon the whole honour of his person in a way of
debasement ; for his glory is himself. Therefore in all his obedience, doing,
and sufiering, his glory being reflected upon, or debased, his person is said
to be involved in the matter of it, as a king's honour is, when he doth an
action that debaseth himself.
Or if you will yet more accurately consider how many ways himself or
his person was included in this, then in a word to sum up all.
1. His obedience was from an infinite person as the cause thereof.
And, 2, performed likewise in himself as the immediate subject thereof;
the difi'erence between which two is evident ; for the Holy Ghost, who is
God, when he prays in us, and helpeth our infirmities, and makes inter-
cession for us, though he be the efficient of the prayers made, yet these are
not wi'ought in himself, but in us as the subject of them, and therefore are
called our prayers. And hence these actions of his in us have not this gi-eat
worth in them, though he be the author of them. But Christ's satisfaction
and intercession were not only efi'ected by him, but further, were performed
in himself as the subject in whom the action doth reside, and to whom it
appertains for ever.
3. It was not only performed by him, and in him, but himself was the
matter of the obedience ; ' he gave himself.' And so near an aUiance of
his obedience unto his person, must needs every way add an infinite worth
unto it. Thus much for the second requisite to the matter of satisfaction.
ni. Now, in the third place, add this other also, that all his obedience
and humiliation was voluntary and arbitrary.
1. Voluntary, ' He humbled himself;' which I know is included in what
hath been even now said in that second head fore -mentioned ; yet something
there is, that the distinct notion of it addeth to all the former, and it is a
necessary requisite in satisfaction, which cannot be without it. Wherefore
all that Christ did was voluntarily done by him ; ' he humbled himself.'
For submission and obedience forced, or to give honour to another out of
constraint, can never satisfy, but rather prejudiceth it. And as honour
sought for by the person himself who is to be honoured is not honour (as
Solomon saith), so constrained submission in the person honouring another,
redounds not to the honour of him who is to be honoured, and so not to
satisfaction. And therefore among other defects in the satisfaction to arise
from the punishment of men in hell, this is justly to be reckoned one, that
all that submission and punishment of men and devils is not voluntary, but
forced. But now, this of Christ's was voluntary ; ' he became obedient.'
Yea, and 2, it was voluntary in a further consideration than can be at-
tributed to the obedience of any creature, in that it was arbitrary in Christ
as well as voluntary. He might have stood upon it by reason of his pre-
rogative and equality with his Father, and was at liberty whether he would
Chap. X.] op christ the mediator. 117
do that which he did, or not do it. And this the text intimates, when it
prcmiseth unto this his obedience, that he was existing ' in the form of God,'
and * equal with God ;' that is, he might have stood upon his terms not to
have subjected himself in any such way of humiliation ; yet ' he humbled
himself, and became obedient.' The ci-eature's obedience, though never so
voluntary, cannot thus be said to be arbitrary ; ' A necessity lies upon me
to preach' (says Paul), ' and woe is unto me if I do it not ;' and yet he
preached willingly. It is a due from them, but not so from Christ. And
this added unto it, makes it fully and properly satisfaction. And thus much
for this second head, the matter of this satisfaction.
CHAPTER X.
The greatness and super-eminent worth of this satisfaction, as performed by such
a person. — That hence the acts of his obedience exceed in goodness all the evil
that is in sin, and that therefore they make full reparation, since they honour
God mare than ever sin had disJwnoured him.
Now having thus seen the excellencies of the person who was to satisfy,
Christ God-man, which excellencies have an influence into the worth and
merit of this satisfaction made, and having also viewed the ingredients into
the matter of this satisfaction for the dishonour d«ne unto God, I will now
come to rear upon these as foundations, demonstrations of the super-emi-
nency that must needs be in the materials of such a satisfaction performed
by such a person ; which makes the third and last head propounded. And
whereas there were presented many insuperable mountains of difficulty,
that lay in the way of all the creatures to satisfy for sin, which they could
never pass over or remove ; and such vast gulfs of disproportions between
God's dishonour and debasement by sin, and all the creatures' abilities to
repair and restore it, by reason of the distance between God himself and
them, such that nothing in or from them could ever make up or fill ; you
shall now see all and every one of those mountains overtopped and levelled,
and before this our mediator, Christ God-man, become a plain, all those
chasms and chinks being filled up, and the way of satisfaction made so even
and plain, that our faith may pass over it, and walk in it, assisted and sup-
ported even with reasons deduced from principles of justice and equity; and
so all the principles of understanding in us may come to see and receive
full satisfaction in this satisfaction of his.
In making of this reddition, I shall not be able exactly to keep unto the
same method I held in the beginning of this discourse, viz., to bring in the
mention of every particular of this satisfaction, in the same order that I
marshalled each of those particulars of the creatm-es' non- satisfaction, so as
to set the one against the other in a parallel rank. For the disposing of
such materials as do follow in the way of a natural consequence one from
the other, must be suited unto the matter itself, not in an artificial, but
according to the natural dependence wherein one thing may appear to arise
from another. Hence, therefore, when I was to shew the creatures' inabi-
lities, I so ranged and placed those things that should demonstrate, and in
such an order, as might, by the consequence that one thing held upon
another, best set forth the creatures' insufficiencies, which therefore was
most suitable to that subject. And accordingly, now that I am to speak of
the abiUties that are in Christ, I must present the fulness of them in each
118 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
of those particulars so as will best suit with this subject, by setting forth
one particular after another, as they arise from or depend each on other :
arguing in an orderly yvny from ^Yhat is to be considered in him that makes
this satisfaction, to make it by degrees rise up to its height and fulness ;
yet so as there shall be no particular ground of difficulty that made it
impossible for the creatui'es to satisfy, that shall be left out unsatisfied in
these demonstrations of the fuhiess of Christ's satisfaction, although not in
the same method that in the fonner part was observed.
The first and lowest consideration, from whence I shall begin to argue
this satisfaction of his, is that which was in the former head given, viz.,
that himself, or his person, is to be considered as the subject of all his graces
and obedience. And lot us first see how much even this will contribute
towards the satisfactoriness of his obedience, and equalise the evil and dis-
honour by sin, and how far it will carry this on.
You may remember how, in the fii'st part of [this discourse, viz., the
demonstration of the creatures' inabihty to satisf}', I shewed both how far
short the graces of a mere creature, never so pure and innocent, do fall, as
not having any worth in them, more than to justify themselves, and that by
God's appointment too ; and likewise how much sin exceeded in evil the
goodness and worth of all mere creatures' graces, and that they did no way
so much honour God as sin dishonoured him. Now let us from this first
consideration, that so infinite a person is the subject of grace and obedience,
shew both,
1. How much their graces are exceeded; and,
2. Also the evil of sin thereby.
1. These his humbling graces (as I call them), for such only are matter
of satisfaction, and his actions of obedience springing therefrom, infinitely
excel those of mere creatures, conceive them never so vast and large. That
which makes grace more excellent than any other creature, and so is the
true measure of the greater or lesser worth in grace or holiness, is that it
is the participation of the divine nature. Now take but an estimate in your
thoughts of the vast difference between the participation of the divine nature
in Christ, which makes his graces and obedience accepted, and that in mere
creatures. The participation of the divine nature in the grace of creatures,
is but by way of a mere shadow, likeness, or similitude, something resem-
bling ; and so the worth thereof is but such as you would have of the picture
of a king, that is somewhat like him. But the grace of union (as divines
call it, and that in way of distinction from Christ's ovra. graces habitually
considered, as well as from those in mere creatures) which derives worth
into Christ's graces and obedience, is a kind of communication of the God-
head itself personally united, and so diffusing answerable worth and accepta-
tion afore God into the actions of human nature thus united. The difference
herein is such, that whereas in mere creatures, standing afore God under a
covenant of works, and the covenant by mere right of creation is no other,
it is merely their graces and actions that make their persons accepted in
such a covenant, and they have no worth from the person at all whose
graces they are, but the person from them. Now, contrarily, the graces
and actions of Christ do not dignify the person so much, as the person them.
So that look in a proportion how much his person exceeds all the creatures,
so much in their capacity, and measure, and in a moral value, must his
graces and actions of obedience excel all theirs. It is true, that for kin^*
his grace and ours are and would be the same, for ' of his fulness we receive
grace for grace,' John i. 16. But look, as what a transcendent distance
CbAP. X.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 119
there is between the worth and excellency that is put upon the body and
the actions thereof in a man (by reason of that eternal soul that dwells in
it, and is substantially united to it), and the actions of a beast, so that one
and the same kind of earth is made capable of, and is to be a partner of
eternal life, and of heavenly glory, by reason of the soul in a man, whereas
that in a beast is ordained but to a life of sense. Look in like manner how
those actions are ennobled (comparatively to those of beasts), wherein the
members of man's body are employed as weapons of righteousness, so that
they are actions of eternal consequence, and acceptation with God. Now
an infinitely greater transcendent distance is there between the worth which
the person of Christ doth communicate to the human nature, and the actions
thereof, or of his person therein (it being thereunto substantially united),
and the worth which the person of mere creatures, though supposed to be
as full of habitual grace as Christ himself, can communicate to their actions.
Though for metal they had been the same that Christ's were, yet wanting
this royal stamp of the Deity upon them, they had not been coin that would
have passed for paj'ment and satisfaction. His glory is substantial, and
communicates its worth to the utmost to all and every action, so far as
the act is capable, even as the whole king's image is stamped upon three-
pence as well as sixpence ; yet sixpence is of more value, because the
matter is capable of more ; and so one action of Christ was capable of more
worth than other, yet so as in them all there was an infinite moral dignity
from the person. And again, as all the Godhead in all his fulness is said
to dwell in him and his person, so all the whole worth that the substantial
excellency of the person can translate is in like manner stamped upon all
his actions. And though the human nature, which in itself is finite, be the
2mncijnum quo, the instrument of all, by whom and in whom the second
person doth all he doth, and therefore answerably the physical being of
those actions is but finite, in fjenere entis, take them as created productions ;
yet all Christ's actions being attributed to the person who is principium quod
(for actiones sunt suppositorum, actions are attributed to and said to be of
the persons that perform them, because that is said only to .•-ubsist), there-
fore the moral estimation of them is infinite. And though the immediate
principle, the human nature, be finite, yet the radical principle, the person,
is infinite, and they being one in person, what the one is said to do, the
other is said to do also ; and therefore Chi-ist's obedience is called ' the
righteousness of God,' and the obedience of God.
2. Yea, secondly, his graces do for this respect so far exceed any that are
in creatm'es, that their goodness (as, Ps. xvi. 2, it is called) equals the
utmost evil can be supposed in sin. For as the offence is against an infinite
glorious God, so the holy works are wrought by one as infinite. And as
the highest accent of the essence of sin lies over this head, that it was
against an infinite majesty, so the greatness of the satisfaction herein lies,
that it was performed by the mighty God. "Which proportion could never
have been filled up by any creature who was not God ; satisfaction in point
of honour depended upon the equal worth of the person honouring and
disgraced.
Yet it is not so to be understood, nor was it necessary, that the worth of
the actions should be as infinite as the person, essentially and substantially.
For Christ's merits could not be infinite as God's attributes are, nor so
loved by God as his attributes are, but that they are so in a moral estima-
tion was enough. For look, as though sin was infinite, yet not so essen-
tially, so justice required not an obedience essentially and naturally infinite,
120 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK III.
but personally infinite, which Christ's is, it being the righteousness of him
that is God.
The second thing propounded to be proved was, that his graces and
actions of obedience did exceed in goodness the utmost evil that was in sin,
which we saw no creature's graces did, or can be valued to do.
1. In the general, the evil of sin lies in this, that it is committed against
the great God, and that God is the object of it : so as the utmost aggrava-
tion of the evil of sin is taken at the highest but from the worth of the
object, God and his glory, against whom it is committed ; but the worth of
all his graces and actions being taken from the person, the subject, the
efficient, from whom they do proceed, look how much more reason there
is that the person, who is the author and subject of his actions, should
convey more worth to his own actions than a person who is but an object
of another's action can do to the action of that other, so much doth his graces,
having a person that is God for the subject of them, exceed the evil of sin
that is against God, the mere object thereof. For the subject conveys
worth to his own actions, as the father conveys nobleness to his child ; his
child inherits it from him, and so an action doth worth from the person
from whom it is natively derived ; but that worth, and so that evil too,
which it hath from the object is but extrinsecal and borrowed, and therefore
the denomination of actions is taken rather from the subject than the object.
As when a man understands an angel never so perfectly as the object of his
understanding, it is called human knowledge, because man is the subject
of it, and it is his knowledge ; though the object it is conversant about be
an angel, it is not called angelical knowledge. So by the same reason
actions derive more proper worth and merit (for both worth and denomina-
tion arise from the same root) from the person from whom they come, and
in whom they are, than from the person unto which they tend. And there-
fore though sin be done against God as the object, and so is heinous, yet
because this satisfaction was made by God as the subject of it, therefore it
is more meritorious than sin can be demeritorious. This satisfaction sucks
more nobleness from the subject of it, which is the root it grows upon, than
sin can take evil and blackness from the external shadow the Father of
lights casts upon it by the sinner's eclipse of him. And the reason is,
because all participation is founded upon union, mutual relation, and con-
junction, and the more remote and fm-ther ofl" the union and relation is,
the less a thing participates from it. Now the relation and conjunction
between the act and the object is but extrinsecal, it is an external conjunc-
tion that is between them, such as is between a man's eye and the sun,
they remain strangers still ; but the relation, conjunction, and kindi'ed, that
is between a person and his actions, is nearer, it is intrinsecal, such as is
between the sun and the beams that flow from it, which is yet nearer when
the person himself is included in the matter of the very action, as in this
of Christ it is, whose person is intrinsecally included as the necessary part
of the satisfaction itself. Now if this, that God is but the object of sin,
doth cast such a heinousness upon the acts of it which come from us, if
such a remote far off extrinsecal relation and conjunction brings forth so
much demerit, and makes sin to abound in sinfulness, what will the satis-
faction which comes from so great a person as Christ, God-man, and
includes that person as a part of the satisfaction itself, how will this nearer
union and relation between this person and his actions beget worth and
dignity in them ?
But then add to this further that other consideration mentioned, which
Chap. X.] of christ the mediator. 121
will mako a second head of tliis demonstration, that himself was not only
the subject of his gi-aces and actions of obedience, but that himself and his
personal worth were included and involved therein as the matter also of the
satisfaction (as I shewed at large) ; hereby it comes to pass that the evil of
sin is again afresh exceeded to a flowing over. For as the relation between
the act and the subject from whom, and in whom, is more near (as is said)
than between the act and the object, so the subject matter, the materiale of
the action circa quam hath a nearer affinity than the subject in quo, for it
includes it, enwraps it into itself. And so did all Christ's obedience enwrap
his glory in it and robbed him of it, and so he sacrificed it to God ; and
hereby God comes to have honour paid him double, over and over, not only
honour returned him from a person as honom'able and glorious as himself,
which makes it infinite, and more than ever sin took from him, for honor
est in Jionorante, actions of honour take value from the person ; and as one
king may render honoui* to another when as yet he keeps his state, so might
Christ have honoured God, manifesting himself in a glorified condition.
But God hath not this single but a double subsidy and tribute of honour ;
he will have Christ lay down his glory to glorify him, he will have the for-
feiture, and not the principal debt only. And as Christ's obedience redupli-
cates upon his person, he humbled himself, so the honour due to God is
reduplicated also, so that as the apostle says, there is superfluity in his
satisfaction, 1 Tim. i. 14. For as if when he who was the Lord of so many
worlds became poor for us, it must needs purchase infinite riches, as the
apostle speaks, so if he who was equal in glory to God will debase himself
at God's command, to glorify and give honour to him, and give up his own
glory to add as it were to his Father's, what honour must needs redound
to God thereby ? John xvii. 3, 4, * Father' (says he), ' give me the glory
which I had ere the world was ; I have glorified thee on earth ;' as if he had
said, I have laid aside the gloiy which I had afore the world was, all this
while, and which was all this while my due, have left heaven and come to
earth, and all to glorify thee on earth, ' Now glorify me,' &c. Christ
reflects upon, and draws and includes all his glory to contribute and impute
this double worth and satisfaction to his obedience.
And to make this demonstration the more full and satisfactory, let us
more particularly consider what was that special damage and injury sin
did unto God. It was (as I shewed) the obscuring of the gloiy of God,
and reflecting dishonour to him. Now then let us but weigh together, as
it were, in two scales, that exceeding weight of the glory of Christ, who was
debased, with the glory of God the Father, which was obscured by sin,
satisfaction being a reducing things to an equality, and a making of amends
in what is lost or endamaged ; and if it be in point of honour, it is requi-
site that as much and as great an honour be debased to make restitution,
as was reflected upon or taken away. And here you may remember that
satisfaction in point of honour doth depend upon the worth and reputation,
of the person that satisfies for it ; and what was the worth of Christ in his
personal dignity I have spoken to, what is meet for the point in hand. And
from thence it is evident that such worth of the party honouring, equally
balances all the dishonour which sin had thi'own upon God.
But, 2dly, as was also shewed, this satisfaction of Christ is not simply a
giving honour to God, but a giving away his honom' to make God's gloi^
the more illustrious. Now, therefore, Christ made all his honom- a sacri-
fice to God (I shewed how himself was the matter of the sacrifice), and
therein indeed might especially be said to sacrifice himself, and to humble
122 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
himself, and it is the principal meaning of those expressions, for his glory
is himself. As a king, consider him as a king, and his gloiy is himself,
for his being a king is whoUy matter of honour, and consists in nothing
else ; and therefore we use the word ' His Majesty,'' for the king ; so God is
called ' the God of gloiy,' Acts vii. 2 ; and ' the Father of glory,' Eph. i, 17 ;
and Chi'ist, ' the Lord of glory,' 1 Cor. ii. 8 ; and the Jews paraphrasti-
caUy use to say, ' the glory of God,' to express God himself; and we also
in ordinary speech, speaking of a man of worth doing anything dishonour-
able or unworthy of him, we say, ' he doth below himself,' for his honour
is himself; and to any spirit that is noble, it is a nearer thing than wives,
children, goods, or whatever. Now all this in men is but a spark of that
image in God and Chi'ist ; and in Scripture phrase it is said of God, that
* he made all things for himself,' that is, for his honour. And though
the honour that he hath by it is but a manifestative honour and extrinse-
cal, yet because himself is interested in it, and it is his, therefore it is
called himself, and he is as tender of it as of himself, ' My glory I will not
give to another,' Isa. xlii. 8.
Now, therefore, let us come to weighing, and put these two glories in the
scales, God's obscui-ed by sin, and Chi-ist's debased for sin.
A double glory God hath.
1. The one essential, the glory of the Godhead in itself.
2. A manifestated glory unto us. And the fii'st is reflected upon by sin,
the other detracted from.
And Jesus Chiist, the second person, God-man, hath answerably a
double glory, as was shewn, the one essential and equal to that of his
Father ; the other due to be manifested in and upon his assumption of our
natui-e. Now look, whatever can be said of the proportion of dishonour
done to either of these glories by sin as concerning God, the like may be
said of the debasement done to and performed by Christ, in respect of both
those his glories also.
And fii-st compare we the reflection and shadow cast upon then- essential
glory on either side, and at least the scales will be even. The essential
gloiy of God, although it cannot really be impaired by sin, yet it is reflected
on by sin, and so that that gloiy which is impaired (as his manifestative
is), being a peculiar belonging to his person, and indeed is himself (as was
said), hence all the essential gi-eatness that is in God is taken into aggra-
vate the guilt of sin, and hence there is a denomination given to our acts
of sinning, as if they were destroying and dishonouring the Godhead ; as
Rom. i. 23, speaking of the sm of idolatry, ' They changed,' says he, ' the
glory of the incon-uptible God into the image of a coiTuptible man, and
creeping things.' He speaks as if they had utterly destroyed the Godhead,
and turned him into a creature ; thus a denomination is given to sin, as
reflecting on the eternal Godhead and essence of it.
Now, then, to answer this evil in sin, and make all even, it must be
remembered what was afore said, that Christ that was debased was God,
and his glory essentially equal to his Father ; and that though that his
essential glory was not impaired, yet all the debasement of his person in
the human nature reflected as much upon that, as that of sin doth any way
upon God's. When he appeared in our flesh, I may say, he changed the
glory of the incoiTuptible God into the image, yea, the reaUty, of a crucified
man, a malefactor, the scum and dung of the earth, yea, a wonn and no
man. And as sin hath a denomination, as it it did thus and thus to the
essential Deity itself, so hath Christ's sufierings a denomination of reflect-
Chap. X.] of cheist the mediator. 123
infT on his Godhead in all its sufferings ; it is called ' the blood of God,'
Acts XX. 28, and God may be said to have died, and to have been crucified;
and so it is said, ' They killed the Prince of life,' Acts iii. 15, and 'cruci-
fied the Lord of glory,' 1 Cor. ii. 8, Now then all that substantial glory
of his comes in (as was said) as the foundation, to give worth to all he did
or suffered, as reflected upon hereby. For as no creature could have satis-
fied, because they have no radical internal worth to fill up this dispropor-
tion, theirs is but a borrowed and extriusecal glory ; so if Christ had had
no other, if indeed his glory had been but a borrowed glory, extrinsecal and
but by representation, and but as called God, as kings are in name, not
really and substantially (as the Arians and Socinians teach), then his being
himself made 'of no reputation,' when his glory lay but in reputation,
would have had no satisfaction in it, God, who had a substantial glory
reflected on by sin, would never have regarded or accounted of receiving
any honom- from the humbling of such a one. What is it to have a king-
at-arms, or one that doth but personate a king, crouch unto a king ? "WTiat
glory is it to the sun to have the stars to puU in their gloiy, and be put
out, and not to shine, whenas all their glory is borrowed from itself? The
creatures, although they may rob God of glory, and reflect dishonour upon
God, and seem to eclipse him by sin, yet they can add no gloiy to him, as
the moon, which receives light from the sun, may inteipose between it and
the earth, but she can noway add to the sun's brightness, or make it more
illustrious, no, not although she disappears in the presence of him, and looks
pale. And no more would all the debasements of the creature, though
directed and intended to give glory unto God. But if there were another
sun as glorious as this, and you should see it hide its brightness in this
sun's presence, as if not worthy to shine together with it, that the sun
might alone appear ; or if you should see a king as great in majesty as ours
come and leave his kingdom and royalty, and debase himself to honom* our
king, what an honour adds this to the king, whenas it would not be so
much for a subject to do this. (And this makes the pope's glory so extra-
vagant and transcendent, that kings give their gloiy and power to him, and
kiss his feet.) Now so did Christ lower his glory to God's, when he was
equal in substantial gloiy to him. All the glory of the creatures is but
accidental, put upon them as garments are, they shine alienis radiis, as
stars with another's beams. Thus in kings, all their glory is accidental
to their persons, therefore Chiist says, the glory of the lilies exceeded
that of Solomon, Mat. vi. 29, because it was native and inbred in compa-
rison of his. But Christ's is glory substantial, residing in his person, as
light in the body of the sun. Accidental glory, such as in kings, doth not
give a worth to all their actions ; they sleep, eat, drink, &c., as other men,
and these actions are no more royal in them than in other men ; they do
not all they do as kings ; but where substantial glory dwells, it transfaseth
a value into every thing that is done ; and therefore Christ's glory, being
his essence (as he is God), it diffuseth a royalty on all his actions, and
so the least debasement of him to give gloiy to God, how infinite a
value must it put upon it ! He having (as I shewed out of the text) an
equal glory to his Father, and so his condescension makes at least the
scales even.
But then there are even in this respect some considerations that make
the reflection of dishonour on Christ's substantial glory, greater than that
by sin on God's, and so to outweigh it.
1 . Because the creatures' act is but a tendency, or at most an attempt to
124 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
eclipse this glory of God, and therein falls short in comparison ; for it is hut
as if a mote should go about to eclipse the sun, when the sun shines round
about it still. But these debasements of the Son of God, equal with God,
are real, and they being arbitrary and done by himself, and from himself,
are therefore greater and deeper than what the creatm'e could any way
effect, for he himself, that is God, debaseth himself.
2. Yea, and secondly, there is a personal glory proper to the second per-
son as such, which was lessened and reflected on, besides his essential
glory, as I may so distinguish it. For there is an essential glory common
to all three persons, the gloiy of the Godhead, which is properly the object
of sin ; and few or no sins are peculiarly against that proper personal glory
of any of the persons apart. When we sin, we sin no more against the
Father, than against the Son and Holy Ghost ; and even that sin against
the Holy Ghost is rather against the effects of the Holy Ghost than against
his person distinctly considered of by the sinner. Now then, in this de-
basement of Christ, there was not only a reflection on his Godhead, as it is
common to him with the other two persons, but that personal glory proper
to him, as he was the second person, was in a further peculiar manner re-
flected on ; and this in every debasement of his. Yea, that personal glory
was in some respect lessened. For besides that his Father was greater than
he in a true sense, upon the assuming of man's nature, he was also made
less than other men, and the terminus or subject of this lessening or dimi-
nution was truly the Son of God. For although it cannot be said that the
Godhead sufiered, yet of the second person it may now truly be said, he
sufiered as well in, as that he was made, flesh. Now the personal glory of
the other persons is not debased or lessened by sin, because they do not
personally manifest themselves : but the second person did personally
manifest himself, and present himself to men ; and his person was
made the sole butt, mark, subject, terminus of all the dishonour done
the Godhead in him. His person was singled out to bear it, and be the
sole receptacle thereof ; so as he being thus debased, this dishonour re-
flected on his person and the glory thereof, besides what in common fell
upon his essential glory, his Godhead, and so he came to have a further
and more special debasement than the Godhead had by sin=
But then, in the second place, let us make the comparison between the
obscuring the manifested glory of God detracted from by sin, and the dis-
honour done to Christ's manifested glory, which is the second thing, and you
will find his losses in that manifestative glory that was due to him to ex-
ceed God's losses in the dishonour done to his. For as was said, the
manifestative glory due to Christ at his appearing in the flesh personally,
must needs be more than what the Godhead any other ways could have
ever manifeisted in effects, be they never so transcendent. As more honour
is due unto a king if he appears in person than if his arms only be set up,
or proclamation be made in his name, or than unto his picture or coin, so
by the like reason unto ' God manifested in the flesh' (as it is said of Christ,
1 Tim. iii. 16) a greater manifestation of glory is due than unto God, but
manifest in his works, as Rom. i. 10, 20 ; and so more was to have shone
in Christ, the express image of the invisible God (as Col. i. 15, and Heb.
i. 3), than in God's works, which are but the footsteps of the invisible things
of God ; or in his law, which is but the shadow of his glory : Heb. x. 1,
* For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by
year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.' Now that manifested
Chap. XI. j of christ thk medutor. 125
glory of God's (of which alone properly and really sin is the obscurer and
the detracter from) is but that which shincth in his law, which we sin
against, or as he is manifested to us in his works ; and this glory due to
shine in Christ's person manifested in the human nature must needs infi-
nitely transcend the glory of all those, yea, and in his person doth now
shine more of the Godhead dwelling in him than in all his own works of
redemption wrought by himself, which yet exceed those of creation wrought
by God. And therefore, that he should empty himself of all that glory due
to him the first hour he assumed our nature, he must needs lose more than
God did or ever can come to lose by sinners, and so the satisfaction in
that respect doth superabound. Yea, and this manifestative glory was as
truly his due as his Father's glory was due to him, or ought to have been
given the Father by us his creatures, either upon the manifestation of
his glory in his works or holy law, in which the Godhead shined ; for
because such a glory was his right, therefore all that great name or
dignity he hath above the angels he is said to have * by inheritance,'
Heb. i. 4.
CHAPTER XI.
That upon the whole it is evident that there is all in the satisfaction made by
Christ which justice can require. — An enumeration of the several pleas which
may he framed against the sinner, and how they are all answered by what our
Redeemer hath performed.
Now these general grounds of satisfaction for sin being laid, if justice wiU
yet contend, or Satan, or the sinner's conscience, dare to avouch or produce
any of those particulars which were found in sin, so transcendently sinful
as exceeded all the creatm'e's satisfaction, I make proclamation here in
open com't, and do challenge heaven and earth, things visible and invisible,
to bring in their bills and aggravations of a sinner's sinfulness; and they
shall see a just, and full, and particular discharge unto highest satisfaction.
And for a trial we will go over all those particular damages in honour which
afore were mentioned, and require satisfaction for them, and you shall see
that what Christ hath done, will in all things punctually and particularly
make amends for them.
First, If we reckon honour due to God left behind unpaid, which all the
creatures are never able to restore, because all they can do is due for them-
selves, and therefore they cannot afi'ord an overplus of glory to repay what
is lost, yet Christ is able to make amends. For he who was thus glorious
to the highest degree (and it was his due by inheritance), he laid aside his
honour, ' made himself of no reputation,' so the text says, yea, emptied him-
self of all, became vain, left himself disrobed and despoiled of all : * I am a
worm and no man,' says the psalmist, Ps. xxii. 6, of him ; he made him-
self nothing, became nothing, not in being or substance, but in account and
reputation. It is said of Herod and his men, they did set him at nought,
made nobody of him ; and when we saw him ' we esteemed him not,' says
the prophet, speaking concerning the Jews' usage of him. Is. liii. 3. Yea,
they called it blasphemy in him when he but meekly challenged his own,
and told them for their good he was the Son of God. If God should reckon
what manifestation of glory all those that have, or shall sin against him, had
been able, or ought to have brought in to him, and which through their
126 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK HE.
negligence and omission is now for ever lost, it will be found to hold no
proportion unto what was to have been manifested in Chi'ist God-man the
first lioui" of his assumption. For when he had assumed our natui'e per-
sonally, there must needs be a- greater brightness (as the author to the
Hebrews styles it, Heb. i. 3), a more glorious gleam or issuing forth of
splendour was to accompany and shine forth in that nature so united, than
could possibly result to God out of all other ways of revealing himself what-
ever. Because they all are of a lower kind, and inferior unto this. This is
a manifestation of the Godhead altioris ordinia, of a superior kind and order
to all other. If himself personally appears, his gloiy must also appear as
the glory of the only begotten Son of God. But he suffered all this utterly
to be veiled and clouded, though sometime, perchance, as it were, a beam
broke forth through a cranny, that, as John says, ' we saw his glory, as
the only begotton Son of God,' John i. 14. Which yet was rather to make
them believe what he was, than any way to glorify himself; but otherwise,
he stole into the world as a prince disguised, and lived as an exile, debarred
and kept fi-om wearing the crown of glory, which should have been set upon
his head the first horn*. He stood out of his glory for three and thiiiy
years, which was due to him as soon as he was conceived, therefore it
comes in, ' Jesus was not yet glorified,' John vii. 39. What ! not yet ;
not after thirty-three years' dwelhug in flesh and debasement ? Why, to
stay for his crown one hour, in that one hour he should lose more than
ever God could lose, in all that the creatures could aftbrd him, in aU those
ways he had manifested himself to them by, unto eternity, or in any other
way than by the assumption of a creatm-e he could ever shew. And yet, I
say, this glory was his due the first minute ; for when he came into the
world, when he first landed, it is proclaimed, ' Let all the angels of God
worship him,' Heb. i. 6, and even as much was due then as he now wears
in heaven, or as he put forth 'on the holy mount.' He hath not increased
his personal glory by his own merits ; nil meruit sihi ; in that respect he
deserved as great and high a name for personal glory as he hath now in
heaven, for the great name he hath by inheritance, Heb. i. 4. I say, per-
sonal glory as much was his due the first day ; for I confess there is a glory
shines out of his works of mediation, and a glory of his ofiices, which is
additional to his personal glory due unto his person. If a ruere creature,
that had done never so much sei*vice to God, had been content to have
stood out of that glory, which, as a reward, God had promised unto him, this
would not have satisfied for God's loss of honour by sin, as this of Christ
doth ; for, besides that the loss of the creature had not been equal to what
God lost, as his was (as hath been shewn), even more than God could other-
wise expect in his manifestation in his works ; the glory due to that creature
as a reward of its service being but by promise, out of favour, could never
have come up to satisfaction. But the glory due to Christ was by inheri-
tance descended to him, when once united to God, by natural right, so as
though he was man, j-et that man being one in person with the Son of God,
is not to be reckoned the adopted Son of God, but the natural Son of God ;
and so his gloiy was answerable, not borrowed, but natural to him and by
right ; not as one who holds it by promise only, but as inheriting it. ' We
saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God,' John i. 14 ; a glory
that was proper to him, such as he who was the Son of God must neces-
sarily have, and that by inheritance, as his right. Thus much for the first
part of the bill — honour lost to God.
Well, but justice will plead yet further damage, not only of honour omitted
Chap. XL] of christ the mediator. 127
find neglected to be given, but of honour robbed, stolen from God and given
away to creatures, and so debased ; ' Changing the gloiy of the incorrupt-
ible God, into an image made like to con-uptiljle man and fowls,' &c., llom.
i. 23. Now, behold, Christ did that which well may make amends, for he
not only emptied himself, and stood out of honour, but humbled himself to
the death of the cross ; which, besides the pain, had also the highest shame
accompanying it, put upon his person in it ; therefore we find both joined,
Heb. xii. 2 — ' He endured the cross, and despised the shame.' And now,
bring in all the objections and aggravations of dishonour done to God, and
see them all equalled and exceeded in his debasement.
First, Doth the evil of sin lie in a dishonour done by such base creatures
as we are, to a God so glorious? And is it indeed the infinite disproportion
between him and us makes the guilt thereof so heinous ? Why, if this per-
son, so gi-eat as Christ was, and whose essential gloiy is equal with his
Father, if he will subject himself to the lowest debasement that is possible,
so as between that his glory, the glory of his person, and this his debase-
ment, shall be as great a distance every way found as between the creatures
and the glory they are able to give to God, or God to receive from them ;
this must needs answer to, and fill up the disproportion. But there was a
greater distance ; for he that is equal with God, takes ' upon him the form
of a servant,' and will subject himself to God ; and if that be not low enough,
he subjects himself to the basest of creatures, yea, and will fall lower yet,
to the basest condition of creatures, yea, as low as hell itself, and for sub-
stance endm-e the same anguish which the damned there do ; and shall not
this make amends ? If sin hath ofi'ended God's glory as far he can be
ofiended, quantum offendibilis est, he subjects himself quantum suLjicibilis est,
as far as he can be subject. If sin exalts a creature above God, in lieu of
it God will debase himself below all creatures, and of all conditions take
the basest ; will not this hia falling so low rise up in all apprehension to
highest satisfaction ?
Again, Secondly, If you say God's prerogative and sovereignty is afironted
by every sin ; Christ, though he can stand upon his prerogative as much a,s
God, being equal with him, yet he lets it fall, lays it down, yea, stands and
holds up his hand at a bar as a malefactor. Yea, it is that vei-y prerogative
of his, and his being a king, that was the greatest exception which they had
against him, r/loriajit crimen, his glory is turned into his shame; he is con-
demned to death for an usurper and an impostor, for saying he was the
Messiah, and king of the Jews. It was written as the title on his cross, of
what he sufiered for ; and though he tells them that he was a king, and
above a king, which was that good confession which Paul puts Timothy in
mind of, w^hich he made afore Pilate, yet Pilate thinks himself a better man
than he : ' Have I not power to condemn thee ? ' And will not Christ, thus
divesting himself of all his royalty, in like manner make amends ?
Thirdhj, Is not only God's prerogative, which he backs his law with,
contemned, but all his glorious pei-fections sHghted and denied, as his
wisdom, holiness, &c. ? So were all the excellencies in Christ debased,
1. His person was debased ; ' He said he was the Son of God ; let God
save him if he will have him,' say they of him when he hung on the cross.
Mat. xxvii. 43.
2. All his offices are blasphemed.
(1.) Prophetical ; ' Prophesy to us,' say they in a jeer when they bufieted
him, Mat. xxvi. 68, ' and tell us who it was that smote thee.' He will one
day tell him that did it, at the day of judgment!
128 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
(2.) Also, his kingly office ; Mat. xxvii. 42, ' If he be the king of Israel,
let him come down,' said they, mocking him.
And (3.) his priestly office also ; ' He saved others, himself he cannot
save,' say they in despite, Mat. xxvii 42. They say this when he was doing
that veiy thing they mocked him for, namely, saving others ; it was his
business he hung upon the cross to finish.
As thus his person and offices, so all his attributes suffered contempt.
Though he was the Wisdom of his Father, and discovered more than ap-
pears in all the works of creation and the law, yet how is he slighted as
unlearned ! He knows not letters (say they, John vii. 15). And who are
his followers ? None but the people that know not the law, John vii. 49.
And how is Moses preferred before him ! John ix. 29, ' As for this feUow,
we know not whence he is.' So how do they scoff at his omniscience, ' Tell
us who it is that smote thee,' Mat. xxvi. 68. As if when they had blinded
him, and covered his eyes, they thought they had hoodwinked his aU-seeing
eye also. He that is truth itself is counted a deceiver of the people ; yea,
he that is holiness itself is reckoned amongst transgi'essors, Isa. hii. 12,
yea, the greatest of sinners ; and this not by men only, but by God him-
self, by whom he was made sin that knew no sin, 2 Cor. v. 21, so that by
imputation he was the gi-eatest sinner that ever yet the world had, as Luther
used to speak. He was made, as it were, a sink into which the guilt of all
sin was di'ained : ' The iniquities of us aU did meet in him,' Isa. liii. 6.
His body on the tree was made the centre of all sins, as so many lines
coming in upon him from the circumference of all ages. Yea, and he was
not only to be accounted a sinner by others, but he was himself to do such
actions whereby he ipso facto acknowledged himself such, as to fulfil the
ceremonial law, to be cu'cumcised, &c., which was our bond, whereby we
acknowledged oui'selves debtors to the law ; and he set his hand to it, as
acknowledging the debt. And now methinks he that was holiness itself
should least of all have brooked this dishonour. What ? Made sin ! Why ?
It is that which he only hates, which his pui'e eyes abhor to look upon, and
yet he must quietly bear the name of it, and take upon him the guilt of it,
as if it were his own ; a greater indignity than for the chastest woman to
be called a whore. I wiU say no more but this ; he that was the great
God was called devil, and content to put it up.
Lastly, The being and life of God makes sin most odious, as being that
which sin, in the natm^e of the act, tends to take away fi'om God : for (as
was said) as he that hateth his brother is a mm'derer, 1 John iii. 15, so he
that hateth God is a mm-derer of him (though it doth him no hm-t) in the
attempt or rather tendency of the act, though not in the attempt or inten-
tion of the sinner ; and therefore the life of all mere creatures will never
make amends, no more than the life of a traitor ever can for murdering
his prince ; only it is all the satisfaction that can be had. And so in hell
God takes their Uves for it, because it is all that can be gotten. But now
come we to Christ ; he of whom it is said that he * hath life in himself,'
John V. 26, and is the ' living God,' is content really to be mm-dered and
put to death. Murderers (says Peter to the Jews, Acts iii. 15), ' ye have
killed the Prince of life ;' and Paul says, ' They crucified the Lord of glory,'
And though it was but in the flesh that he was crucified, as Peter elsewhere
distinguisheth, yet the life he laid down was the hfe of his person ; and as
it is called the blood of God which was shed, so this was the life of God
which was taken away ; therefore, John x. 17, 18, Christ there calls it his
life ; — ' I have power to lay down my life, and take it up again.' None could
Chap. XI. j op christ the mediator. 129
say so much but he who was God, but he who is the Lord of Hfo ; and it is
more plainly expressed, 1 John iii. IG, ' Hereby we perceive the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us.' It was the life of God, and that
in so true and real a sense, as therein the utmost of his love appeared. Yea,
further, he not only died, but death held him a while under it, as a con-
queror of him, therefore, Rom. vi. 9, death is said to have once had domi-
nion over him. Now this true and real laying down of his life must needs
be more satisfactory unto God than the attempt, or rather tendency, that is
in the act of sin to take God's life away can be reputed heinous.
You may remember, when we did set forth (in that first part of this dis-
course) sin's sinfulness, and the evil of it against God, wherein it was that
it exceeded all the goodness of the creature (which yet was for God, as well
as sin is said to be against God), we pitched it upon this, the undueness of
the act of dishonour done to God by the creatures ; whereas all the honour
their graces bring in to him, is due from them towards him. Now there-
fore let us see if, even in this particular, the evil of sin be not exceeded by
Christ's satisfaction also, that nothing may be omitted that may satisfy a
sinner's reason about the all-sufficiency of this satisfaction. This undue-
ness of the act of dishonour was the highest and utmost aggravation of
man's sinfulness, and did cast the balance, and was found to weigh heavier
than all the creatures' goodness. Now let us put Christ's debasement of
himself into the balance with it, and we shall see it far over-balanced even
by this, that all this debasement of his to glorify God was infinitely more
undue ; which naturallj^ riseth thus to all men's apprehensions.
1. In that it was such a way of giving honour to God by him, as God
himself could no way challenge as his due from the second person towards
him ; for he was equal with him. He did owe indeed (as all the persons
do one to another, a mutual honour) an honour unto God, even as kings
mutually honour one another ; yet still but as equals use to do. And if as
man, being made inferior to God, he owed subjection, yet still not in this
way of debasing himself. He honoured his Father, and his Father the Son,
from all eternity ; for as they love one another, so they give honour one to
another. But that God should have honour this way, by having his Son,
a person his equal, become inferior to him, and obedient, and that so far as
to death, and to profess that he did it freely at his command, this was in
itself more than could be challenged, as due from him, by God, and there-
fore must needs be a full amends for any dishonour thrown on him by sin.
It is as if the king of Spain should come out of his own kingdom, and ad-
mit himself into this of ours, and subject himself to our king and his laws,
thereby to make our king seem greater ; what an honour were it to him !
More than all his subjects can do to him all sorts of ways in which they
can be subject.
And 2. As Christ's debasement was thus undue, in respect that God
could not exact it from him but by his own voluntary compact, so most of
all undue it was, if we consider that which so often hath been inculcated,
viz., the glory that himself could challenge as his due, and that by right of
inheritance ; and how great that was, and how due it was, hath been de-
clared ; and for him to be so debased, how infinitely undue was it in this
respect also ! Of sin's undueness it may be said, ' Hear, heavens ; and
hearken, earth ;' that men should sin and rebel against the great God,
so undue an act it is, and unworthy of the creature. But when we think
or speak of this debasement of the Son of God, equal with God, to whom
so much glory is due, stand astonished at it, all you angels and men ;
VOL. v. I
130 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
and with mere amazement fall and slirink into your first nothing, to think
that ever it should be said, and be a truth, that the great God, the Lord of
gloiy, should be crucified, the Lord of life killed. I appeal to j'ou all, if
this be not an act infinitely more unworthy, and as much out of course,
more horrid to the thoughts of men and angels, than sin can be supposed
to be. That a base creature should sin against God, it is a thing to be
wondered at indeed as a strange indignity ; but j'et the creatures, if they
know themselves, may well know, yea, and fear, that they being but crea-
tures, they may do it too soon, as the best of them did ; and it was a won-
der rather that any stood. But that the Lord of glory should be thus
debased and killed, no creature durst have thought it, if they had conceived
it possible ; but it is so abhorrent as it could never have entered into their
thoughts, had not God done it ; and it is marvellous in our ej-es.
And lastly, That sin may have nothing left to boast of, and that we may
omit nothing that mayor hath been any way pleaded about sin's sinfulness,
but see it out-pleaded, and cast, and exceeded by this satisfaction of Christ's,
let us put into the balance likewise those evil eifects mentioned also in that
first part of this discourse, whereby the heinousness of sin was demonstrated
to transcend the goodness of the creatures' graces in any effects of their
goodness : you shall find the effects of Christ's righteousness to abound far
above them.
For, first, his actions, by reason of the dignity of his person, do please
God more than sin can displease him. For if our works, although full of
sin, are yet, by reason of our union with Christ as our head, made so ac-
ceptable as to please God more than the sin in them doth displease him,
how must his own works be accepted, wrought in himself, in our natm'e
hypostatically united to him !
Secondly, And therefore if sin hath that inseparable evil (as was said) in
the nature of it, that where it is found it condemns all, though the crea-
ture had been in former times never so righteous, nor never so long such,
so hath Christ's righteousness that inseparable royaltj^ to save and justify,
though sins be never so great and many. So Eom. v. 17, he compares
both the one and the other : ' If condemnation came by one man's dis-
obedience, how much more shall, by an abundance of his righteousness,
justification be unto life ? ' So as if he will impute this righteousness, and
account it to the ugliest sinner in the world, then by virtue of the imputa-
tion he cannot but justify him, and pronounce him as wortby of eternal
life as the greatest and the holiest angel in heaven. For this righteousness
claims it by the merit of it, when once the sinner can call it his. And
although one sin spoils and makes void all the good in any creature, though
it hath been of never so long continuance, yet his righteousness, on the
contrary, is sin-proof for time to come, and hath the worth of his person,
who is the gi-eat God, to give power to it to prevail against all sins past,
present, and to come ; it is an ' everlasting righteousness,' Dan. ix. 24,
such as which sinners can never spend or evacuate. And if sin take away
the justifying power from grace, his righteousness takes away the con-
demning power from sin : ' There is no condemnation to them that are in
Christ;' for it ' condemneth sin itself.' Rom. viii. 1, 3, 'There is there-
fore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.' Ver. 3, ' For 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.'
CuAP. XII.] OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 131
CHAPTER XII.
That all the pleas ichich the law can mulic ariainst a sinner are by this satis-
faction of Christ also full D answered.
And now we have shewn such abundant satisfaction given to God in
point of his honour, the law niethiuks may well sit down and never so
much as mention the debt that is its due. Yet if the law will needs brin»
in her bill also, there will be found satisfaction full enough for its claim
also.
And first, in general, what is the law ? The will, word, and command
of the great God. Well, but Christ is the Word of his Father in a higher
and more glorious sense ; the original of this word and law. This is but
the copy of what is substantial in him ; he is therefore called 6 /-(jyog, ' the
Word,' John i, 1. Yea, and is not Christ the maker and the giver of that
law ? Gal. iii. 19. And if he that made the law will be ' made under the
law,' as, Gal. iv. 4, he was, and enter into bond to the law, and give the
law power over him, as a servant and an apprentice to it, make himself a
debtor to it and fulfil it, will not this make amends ? We might make very
short work with the law's suit but by calling for her bond, which once she
had to shew against those Christ died for. Therefore let the law shew and
bring in that bond into open court. She returns answer, that she hath it
not ; we find then that it is ' taken out of the way,' Col. ii. 14. But how,
and by whom ? Not surreptitiously, and by stealth, or by force and vio-
lence, but openly in the face of the com-t of justice. And by whom ?
Christ blotting it out, nailing it to his cross, and ' triumphing openly,' says
the 15th verse, and before the judge's face. The moral law, that was the
creditor, and the bond which God appointed the Jews to give in, whereby
to acknowledge the debt, was the ceremonial law ; therefore says the aj)ostle,
'he that is circumcised' (upon which the bond was entered into, and
sealed) ' is a debtor to the whole law.' Now, in token that the debt is
paid, we find the bond cancelled ; and now she hath nothing to shew against
believers so as to condemn us, and this is evidence sufiicient. But yet if
the law, or any legal conscience, would notwithstanding have further satis-
faction, and put us to prove and shew how the particular debts due there-
unto were paid and discharged, both that of service to be done, acd fulfil-
ling all the law, by active obedience, and then by passive obedience also,
and know how the punishment and cui'se threatened was undergone, the
particular discharge is yet upon record. Christ hath done both fully ; and
what he hath done and suffered hath that in it which the obedience and
suff"erings of no pure creature could have had, nor could have satisfied as
his hath done. It is a point I shall speak of after, when I shall shew the
fulness of parts that is in his obedience ; yet I shall say a little now, and
enough to stop the law's mouth, for this is but a ruder draught of what
more particularly we will fill up.
First, He fulfilled the law in service and obedience perfonned unto it for
the space of thirty-three years : John viii. 29, ' I do always the things that
please him.' The text too says, 'he was a servant,' and obedient usque ad
mortem, until death, Philip, ii. 8, and therefore all his life. He there men-
tions that obedience in lieu of service due by us ; and although creatures
could fulfil the law, yet they could not perform it for us, and for themselves
Ib2 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IIL
too, because the law requires all they can do for themselves, and what they
do is not their own ; but what Christ doeth shall stand for both. To go no
further now than the text for clearing this ; —
First, Though as Christ was man, the law required obedience of him for
himself, when once he is become a man, and had once assumed our nature,
yet being before his assumption equal with God (which the text on purpose
mentions to shew the worth of his obedience), and at his choice to have
continued free for ever from all subjection ; that he should take upon him
voluntarily this condition of a servant (as the phrase ' he became obedient '
importeth, and he was servus /actus, non natus, so Gal. iv. 4, 'made under
the law'). This act of such a person, and thus free, doth make all the
obedience he upon this performed, to stand both for himself and for others
also ; for the righteousness the manhood performed, his person had no need
of. And then again the assumption of this nature was agreed on by cove-
nant, and this by a more ancient law and decree made in heaven ere there
were any creatures extant to give the moral law unto ; whereby it was
agreed that the service he did in that nature should justify others ; so Isa.
liii., ' My servant shall justify many ; ' though a servant, yet his service
was not for himself, but others. And again, though as a man he is sub-
ject, yet that man is personally united to the Godhead, and so partakes of
all his royalties, whereof one is to be Lord of the law. Mat. xii. 18 ; * and
therefore his fulfilling the law is truly the obedience of God, the Lord
thereof, as well as his blood is the blood of God. The creatures have no
relation or privilege whereby they can plead exemption from the law, but
so can he ; but all that the creatures have is necessarily and wholly sub-
ject, and therefore all which they can do is only for themselves. But his
person is equal with God, and in that relation (which over-balanceth all
other) is free and subject, not necessarily, but voluntarily, and that by a
covenant made on purpose, the condition whereof was to assume the nature
and the form of a servant in it, merely to justify others ; and therefore will
stand good for us against the law. Jehovah, that hath no need of acquisite
righteousness, is our righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6. And,
Secondly, Though creatures could not by their active obedience satisfy
for another, because what they did was not their own, nay, it was but bor-
rowed, yet he could say his soul was his own (as we use to speak) and that
his life was his own, which no creature could say ; they cannot say their
service is their own, and grace their own. And this propriety in what he
had, did, or suflered, the Scripture often puts an emphasis upon, as that
which conduceth to satisfaction, as when it is said he washed us with his
own blood, Rev. i. 6. And * I will lay down my life, and take it up
again ; ' and, John xvi. 14, ' he shall receive of mine.' And though, as
some of the schoolmen object, Christ's human nature and all his actions
were sub dominio Dei, under the dominion of God, as creatures, and God
had an interest in them, yet this human nature, and all that it could per-
form, was in another relation so peculiarly the second person's own, as it
was not the other persons', namely, his own by personal union, which pro-
priety was incommunicable to the other persons. Habitual grace, though
it was the work of the Holy Ghost, Luke i. 35, yet due unto the human
nature when united as its own ; and as the human nature was to be called
not the adopted Son of God, but the natural, so the grace in that human
nature might be called, now it is united to the Godhead, co-natural to him.
And though the first grace of union was mere grace, yet that grace was
* Probably a misprint for Mark ii. 28. — Ed.
Chap. XII.] of christ the mediator. 183
vouchsafed to the human nature, not the divine, subsisting in the second
person, who as such is the person who owneth all both graces and actions
in the human, and is the proprietor of them ; and he it was who was lessened
by that assumption. Yea, and besides, when once that human nature is
assumed, then all the dues and rights of that person, as to be full of grace,
and Lord of glory, &c., was due and proper to him as the only begotten
Son of God : John i. 14, ' And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father), full of grace and truth.' And grace was not given to him as
a mere servant to give account of, but he entered upon it as a Lord ; for if
he be ' the Lord of glory,' as 1 Cor. ii. 8, then the Lord of grace too ; and
he is not as Moses, as a servant, but as a Son in his own house, Hcb. iii.
5,6; and so there are these great and just respects upon his obedience,
that it was free, and his person not subject to that law which he ful-
liUed.
And whereas the creatures must have gone over their works again and
again to eternity, done nothing but written the blurred copy of their obe-
dience, copy after copy, in their lives, and so have made nothing perfect,
there is in Christ a fulfilling of it but once by him, which will serve for that
eternal debt of active obedience. And as by once offering of himself, Heb.
X. 14, so by one righteousness and obedience, Rom. v. 18 ; that is, once
gone over, he is able to justify us for ever. And therefore he tells his
apostles, a little afore his death, that he had now but one thing to do, and
that was to drink of the last cup ; and how do I long, says he, till it be
accomplished ! And at his death he tells his Father, John xvii.*4, ' I have
finished the work which thou gavest me to do.' And so he having des-
patched the active part, he had space enough left to undergo the passive,
which, as I shewed in the first part of this discourse, no creature was cap-
able of. Nay, further, he can do both at once : in obeying, suflfer ; and in
suffering, obey ; and each successively, so as God shall be no loser by the
one or the other, and in the end can say of both, 'It is finished.' Thus
much for the debt of active obedience.
Secondly, Now, if we come to passive obedience, we shall find that he
was able so to undergo it, as shall put that worth into it, as it shall soon
be finished, and be yet satisfactory.
First, Whereas no creature could have so much as borne the imputation
of sin (which yet was necessary to satisfaction), for it would have withered
and shrivelled up all their grace, because their grace is all but washy stuff,
and but as a gilding by gold slightly overlaid ; now Christ's grace is sub-
stantial, it was as gold itself, therefore it was sinproof. He can be made
sin, and yet his grace continue, as ours doth not, when Adam's sin is
imputed. Grace maintains itself in him, not by a covenant of works, but
by the personal union and the rights thereof, and so can bear the guilt oi
all our sins, and his grace never a whit the worse for it ; his person ia
unpeccable, and so uncapable of hurt by the imputation of sin.
Secondly, The life and comforts thereof, which he lays down, and sacri-
ficeth, is his own. His life is not due to God, as is the creatures', for it is
given him ' to have life in himself,' John v. 26. ' And I have power over
my life to take it up and lay it down,' says he. God, that hath power over
life and death, hath not power over his : John x. 17, 18, ' Therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.'
Ver. 18, ' No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command-
134 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOB, [BoOK HI.
ment have I received of my Father.' So as whatever he loseth in suffering
for us shall be his own, he will not borrow anything to suffer with, but all
he offers is his own, as it must be, if it be a mediating death. He was able
to offer up himself, and so be his own sacrifice, altar, and priest ; he bor-
rowed nothing ; and this all at once ; and this no creature could do.
1. He being God, was able to be his own priest, and in dying offered up
himself to God, and needed no other priest : so Heb. ix. 14, ' through his
eternal Spirit he offered up himself.' Yea, and
2. He finds a sacrifice also, which was in a true respect his own, a
respect wherein it was not God's, himself offering up his bodj', Heb. x. 10,
and pouring forth his soul an offering for sin, Isa. liii. 10. And,
3. He is the altar himself: Heb. xiii. 10, 'We have an altar whereof
they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle.' And so he offers
all upon his own cost, and boiTows nothing.
Tliirdh/, Now in the last place, let us take a brief survey of all those
inseparable inconveniences (mentioned in the first part of this discourse)
which we found to attend upon and clog the passive obedience of all mere
creatures, if they should presume to undertake it, and you shall see them
all to melt away, and come to nothing before his fulness. As,
First, The creatures would very hardly have so much as dared to die and
undergo it for us : Piom. v. 7, ' For a good man peradventure one would
dare die :' Jer. xxx. 21, ' Who hath engaged his heart,' says God, ' to draw
nigh unto me ?' No crea'.ure durst do it, but only, ' this one that shall
come out ^"the midst of you' (as there) ; ' he shall draw near to me.' He
durst encounter with his Father's wrath ; he hath the hardiness to encounter
with it, and to bear it and not be broken. The wrath of God it broke the
backs of angels, but, Isa. xlii. 14, ' My servant,' says he, * whom I uphold,
shall not be broken.' Again,
Secondly, Will he be overcome with it, or always satisfj-ing ? No ; where-
as if any of the creatures had had the boldness to undertake it, yet they
must have been always satisfying, and so we should never have come to
have our bond out ; but Christ will bear it, so as to come at last to say,
' It is finished,' as he did say at his death. He that was to be our mediator,
was to rise again as a conqueror over death, to overcome hell, God's wrath,
and not lie wrestling under them to eternity ; for if he had lain by it, and
had been kept in prison, so long the debt had not been paid. If ever
therefore he will justify us by his death, he must overcome and rise again,
else we should still be in our sins, as 1 Cor. xv. 17, ' And if Christ be not
raised, your faith is vain ; you are jet in your sins.' And this no creature
could ever do, God's wrath would have held him tugging work to eternity,
and they never have risen again from under it. He that overcomes that,
must be as strong as God himself. Yea, and he must do this himself, by
his own power too. It was not enough to be raised up, as Lazarus was,
by the power of another ; that will not serve to satisfy for a sinner. For
that power that raised him, must first satisfy and overcome God's wrath,
eluctate, and break open the prison doors. Now if another power than his
own had done it, that party that helped him had been in part the mediator,
and so not he. But Christ being God, he is able to do all this, and to do
it by his own power. For,
1. Being God, he was backed with that power that was able to raise him
up, and to loose the pains of death ; yea, and it was impossible he should
be held thereof, says Peter, Acts ii. 14. Those pains of death there men-
tioned were fi'om the wrath of God, which would have stayed all the creatures
Chap. XII.] op cnnisT the mediator. 135
in tbo workl for* ever rising; and the place implies that those pains would
not have let him go till they were loosened and overcome ; foi' if possil)lo,
they would have held him ; but being he was God, it was not possible ; but
he takes hell-gates, like another Samson, and throws them oil" their hinges,
carries them away, and swallows up death in victory.
2. He could raise himself up ; * Destroy this temple,' says he, John ii.
19, and ' I have power to raise it up,' I myself. The body could not raise
itself, nor the soul have joined itself to that body ; therefore if he had been
but mere man, he could never have done it, but that Spirit, the eternal
Godhead, could : 1 Peter iii. 18, * He was put to death in the flesh,' that is,
his human nature, ' but quickened in and by the Spirit,' that is, his God-
head united thereunto. And he will thus overcome, not by mere power,
by force, but in a way of justice, so as justice itself shall willingly let him
go free, as being itself first satisfied. Yea, he will overcome upon such
terms that it shall be unjust to hold him any longer, unjust, and so impos-
sible in that sense also ; for he will in a few hours pay the whole debt,
undergo the whole wrath due ; that which the creatures' strength could
endure but by drops (and therefore endures it ever), he will be able to bear
at once, so as justice itself shall say, It is finished, and I am satisfied.
And further, when he hath despatched it, there will be time enough left,
even an eternity of time, to reward him in, and to be glorified with the glory
he had before the world was. This was another inconvenience attended
the creatures' satisfaction, that it must always be a-satisfying, and so should
never have been rewarded ; which God would never put any creature to,
for then he should require and accept the highest obedience from a creature
whom he should never have time to reward for it. But Christ can so
satisfy as there will be time enough to reward him in. Yea, and he needs
but a little time to satisfy in, and then he will survive and live again to call
for his reward : ' He shall prolong his days, and see his seed, and be
satisfied,' Isa. liii. 11. And therefore in this text we read of ' a great name
above every name,' which as a reward God gave him for his being obedient
unto death, Phil. ii. 9. And,
3. Thirdly, Will his satisfaction serve but one sinner (as also I shewed
would be the case if creatures had performed it ; yea, God must have
sacrificed as many innocent creatures as he meant to save sinners) ? No ;
Christ's satisfiiction will sei've for worlds, Rom. v. 17, 18. He is able to
bring in such abundance of righteousness as abounds to many.
4. And in the last place, to crown the conclusion of this discom'se with
an additional weight of glory, that is more than all that hath been spoken.
What will there be but just enough in this his obedience to make satisfac-
tion for sin, and procure peace for sinners ? The creatures they could not
have done so much. No ! But his will not only satisfy and make peace,
but also reconcile, make friends : Col. i. 20, ' And, having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto him-
self ; hj him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.'
His righteousness will not only pacify vengeance, but there is enough in it
to bring us into favour with God. The worth and grace of his person is
such, and he so beloved, as it makes us, though sinners, graciously accepted
in his beloved, Eph. i. 6, brings us into a degree of favour infinitely greater
than ever, and more lasting. He is the natural Son of God, the beloved in
whom God's soul is well pleased; and his love being conveyed to us through
him, it falls upon us with more strength and ferA'om' than ever. And also
* That is, ' from.'— Ed.
186 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK III.
this offering up himself was so sv/eet a smelling sacrifice to God (as Eph.
V. 2), that although God expressed never so much anger against Christ as
when he hung upon the cross, yet he was never so well pleased by him as
then ; nay, he was more pleased than he had been displeased with all the
sins the creatures have or can commit. The damned spirits their punish-
ment satisfies not ; vengeance can never suck out blood enough ; and yet
if what they did could satisfy, it would never rise so high as to please God,
never be of worth enough to bring them into favour again. But here when
first vengeance had sucked its full, and falls off satisfied, then the favour of
his person, the willingness of his obedience, purchaseth an overplus, a re-
dundancy of merit, a surplusage of riches, ' unsearchable riches,' Eph. iii. 8,
not only able to pay our debts the fii'st day (and that is the least part of the
benefit by it), but enough besides to purchase heaven itself as a portion for us,
the favour of God. Yea, as much there is of it as we can spend or take out
in glory to eternity. God had large thoughts of great and glorious bless-
ings to be bestowed upon his people, and the righteousness of Christ is as
large in merit as God's heart in purposes, adequate thereto ; therefore the
apostle makes God's grace and Christ's righteousness of equal extent, so
that what God intended to be bestowed, his righteousness hath purchased:
Kom. V. 17-20, ' For if by one man's offence death reigned by one ; much more
they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall
reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.' Ver. 18, ' Therefore as by the offence
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life.' Ver. 19, ' For as by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.' Ver.
20, ' Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound.' Yea, the merit of this his
obedience is so great, as it shall never be rewarded to the full ; the saints
shall not have to eternity the full worth of it out in glory.
Chap. I.] of chbist the mediator. 187
BOOK IV.
Christ^s willingness to the ivork of redemption from everlasting till
he accomplish it.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not jwssible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou j^i'epared me: in burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure ; then said I,Lo,
I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, God.
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (which are offered
by the law) ; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, God. He taketh
away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which ivill we are
sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all, —
Heb. X. 3-^10.
CHAPTER I.
That there are two things to be considered in the obedience which Christ per-
formed, the will and the deed. — That from all eternity he expressed his
willingness, in his consent to undertake the work.
As in all our obedience there are two principal ingredients to the true
and right constitution of it, the matter of the obedience itself, and the prin-
ciple and fountain of it in us : whereof the one, the apostle calls the deed,
the other, the will — which latter God accepts in us, oftentimes without,
always more than, the deed or matter of obedience itself — even so in
Christ's obedience, which is the pattern and measure of ours, there are
these two eminent parts which complete it.
I. The obedience itself, and the worth and value of it, in that it is his,
so great a person's.
II. The willingness, the readiness to undertake, and the heartiness to
perfonn it. The dignity of the person gave the value, the merit to the
obedience performed by him. But the will, the zeal in his performance,
gains the acceptance, and hath besides a necessary influence into the worth
of it, and the virtue and efficacy of it to sanctify us. All which you have
in the text. The ' ofiering up the body of Jesus : ' there is the matter.
The 'obedience of him to death:' there is the will by which he offered it
up : * by which will.' As calling not only for a distinct, but a more emi-
nent consideration, and both necessarily concurring to om- sanctification
and salvation; ' By which will we are sanctified.' Now the stoiy of his
willingness to redeem and save, or the will by which we are sanctified, is a
story of four parts.
138 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV,
1. Of his actual consent and undertaking tlie work, made and given to
Ms Father from everlasting.
2. The continuance of that his will to stand to it from everlasting, unto
the time of his incarnation and conception.
3. The renewal of this consent when he came into the world.
4. The stedfast continuance of that will all along in the performance,
from the cradle to the cross.
And 1. As to his voluntary undertaking it 'afore the world was.' In
the handling and discovery of those transactions of God the Father with him
about the work of redemption, I have spoken something of Christ's willing-
ness and consent, as it was there necessary ; for else I could not have set
forth the issue and conclusion of that treaty made by the persons shewing
themselves ; yet so as I reserved enough to make it a distinct head, when
I should come to Christ's part. And so I here begin with it ; for it was
then, as was said, left by God the Father with him, and did wholly lie
upon him.
It was necessary that Christ's consent should be then given, even from
everlasting, and that as God made a promise to him for us, so that he should
give consent again unto God. Yea ; and indeed it was one reason why it
was necessary he that was our mediator should be God, and existent from
eternity, not only to the end he might be privy to the first design and con-
trivement of our salvation, and know the bottom and the first of God's mind
and heart in it, and receive all the promises of God from God for us, but
also in this respect, that his very consent should go to it from the first,
even as soon as his Father, should design it. And it was right meet it should
be so ; for the performance and all the working, operating part was to be his,
and to lay* all upon his shoulders to execute, and it was a hard task, and
therefore reason he should both know it with the first, seeing he was extant
together with his Father, and should also from the first contrivement by his
Father give his consent to it. It was fit that both his heart and head should
be in with the first. And jow have all in one Scripture, Isa. ix. 6, where,
when Christ is promised, ' Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,'
observe under what titles he is set forth unto us : ' Counsellor, the mighty
God, the everlasting Father.' Where everlastingness, which is affixed to
one, is yet common to those other two. The ' everlasting Counsellor,' as
well as ' everlasting Father ; ' for he was both Counsellor and Father, in
that he was the viif/hti/ God, and all alike from everlasting. For, being
God, and with his Father as a Son from everlasting, he must needs be a
Counsellor with him, and so privy unto all God meant to do, especially in
that very business, for the performance of which he is there said to be given
as a son, and born as a child, and the etfecting of which is also said to be
laid wholly on his shoulders. Certainly in this case, if God could hide
nothing from Abraham he was to do, much less God from Christ, who
was God with him from everlasting. And as he was for this cause to
be privy to it for the cognisance of the matter, so to have given his actual
consent likewise thereunto : for he was to be the father and founder of all
that was to be done in it. And in that very respect, and in relation to that
act of will then passed, whereby he became a father of that business for us,
it is he is styled the ' everlasting Father,' and that from everlasting d parte
j)Ost. For it is in respect of that everlastingness he is God, and so father
from everlasting, as well as God from everlasting ; a counsellor for us with
God, a father of us, and our salvation. God's counsellor, because his wis-
* That is, 'lio.'— Ed.
Cu-vp. I.J OP cnmsT the mediator. 139
dom -was jointly in that plot and the contrivcment of it : and father hoth of
lis and this design, because of his will in it, and undertaking to cfl'ect it.
In that his heart and will were in it as well as the Father's, he was there-
fore the father of it as well as God, and brought it to perfection.
I acknowledge the Scripture is more sparing in recording that hand and
will that the Son of God had in it as from everlasting. And I have long
apprehended this to be the reason of it ; because his will is so necessarily
and naturally resolved into his Father's will, they having but one will be-
tween them (as I have elsewhere alleged it upon this very argument), but
chictly because what was done as in the point of our salvation from ever-
lasting, it is and was the proper honour of God the Father ; and so the
concurrence of the Son is swallowed up in the Father's contrivements about
it ; and the rather also, because the Son hath manifested his willingness so
abundantly in the very performing it, which necessarily imported and re-
quired this everlasting consent of his, and argues it. Hence so little is
explicitly said of it. But as the w^ork of redemption performed in time is
attributed to the Son, so these works from everlasting to the Father. And
therefore all the speech is of what he then did ; how he made promise to
Christ, and blessed us in him with all spiritual blessings, and sware he
should be priest upon the veiy day he begat him, in Heb. v., which refers
both to his eternal generation and call to the office of priesthood, from the
same everlasting, as well as to that in time.
Yet there are two things said elsewhere, that imply Christ's full consent
given from everlasting, in answer unto that oath of God. For it is not
barely said, as in that place, that he w^as 'made a priest' passively, as dedi-
cated onlj^ by his Father to the priesthood, that might have been supposed
to have been without his own actual consent given ; like as parents, from
the births of their children, have dedicated them to the ministiy, or the like
calling, as Hannah did Samuel without his knowledge ; and thus also
Sampson was a Nazarite. But it was not so here, that his being made a
priest then by his Father, is elsewhere interpreted by his being made a
' surety of a covenant.' So Heb. vii., by comparing the 21st and 22d
verses together. In the 21st verse that oath is mentioned, ' The Lord
sware and will not repent. Thou art a priest.' And this is interpreted by an
inference from it, ver. 22, * By so much was Jesus made surety of a better
testament.' Now, this oath, though it was recorded and uttered by David,
Ps. ex., after Moses' law supposed given, as the last verse of that chapter
insinuates, yet we elsewhere find this covenant to be called an everlasting
covenant, and the everlasting gospel, as Piev. xv., as that which had been
made and lain hid in God from everlasting, d ^Jrtfte post, as the apostle,
speaking of the gospel, plainly insinuates, Rom. xvi. 25, 26, ' The mystery
kept secret since the world began ; but now is made manifest, according to
the commandment of the everlasting God,' which special attribute of
eternity is there given God, to signify that though he had ' kept it secret
since the world began,' and but now revealed it, yet he had framed and
contrived it from everlasting and afore the world. And it is certain, that
as all promises in the word are but the copies of God's promises made to
Christ for us from everlasting, so these oaths and covenants recorded in the
word are but the copy of that oath and covenant struck betwixt God and
Christ from everlasting. These the extracts, those the original.
Now, then, if the intent of God's oath was to make a covenant of it, and
not only a promise but a covenant, then Christ's consent is manifestly im-
ported. If it had only been called a promise from God, that would not
140 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
necessarily have implied Christ's consent, though it would have implied his
existence or being then, as I have used to argue from that place, Titus i. 2,
* In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the
world began.' But it being called further a covenant, it doth import two ;
for as a mediator is not of one but two, so a covenant is always the consent
of two, and not of one only ; it cannot be a covenant else. You use to
say, to every bargain two woi'ds must go ; the meaning is, the consent of
two parties. So to every covenant ; it had not been a complete covenant
else. If God had sworn to it ; yea, if Christ himself had been secretly
willing, yet if by his consent expressed it had not been struck up, it had
not been a covenant. A purpose also it might have been called, but not a
covenant.
Yea, and let me further improve it. If Christ had not fully and perfectly
consented, it had not been a perfect covenant. Yea, and if he had not at
first propounding of it (which was from everlasting) come off to it, without
taking any time to deliberate, it had not been an everlasting covenant ; that
is, from everlasting.
But (which is more) the second person did so fully engage himself, that
God calls him not only his covenanter, but his covenant. It is in that place,
Isa. xhx. 8, out of which I have elsewhere shewed how the covenant was
struck dialogue -wise. You may see there how it was driven ; and after he
had shewn upon what considerations Christ came off to it, he thereupon in
the 8th verse calls him his covenant.
And if it be objected that a covenant may be made without the consent
of both parties, for God says, ' This is my covenant,' when he promiseth
to give to us (who had not then consented) a ' new heart,' &c.
Yet for answer, consider that this promise alleged was necessarily made
fij'st to Christ for us, and was driven covenant-wise with him ; and in that
respect it is that it becometh to be called a covenant ; as thus it respects
us, because indeed made with him for us first, and so made known unto us.
The meaning is, that therefore it is that God promiseth on his part to give
us a new heart, because Christ promised afore to him, for his part, to work
redemption for us, otherwise it could not have been called a covenant till
we had consented.
Then (2.) the word, ' He was made a surety,' doth argue it also, for that
evidently imports an undertaking on Christ's part : and so as the oath was
God's, so the suretyship was Christ's. And a surety, 'E77U05 is a plighter
of his troth, by ' striking hands,' as the phrase in the original, Prov. xxii, 26.
Now 2. for the second interval of the continuance of that his wiUingnesa
fi'om everlasting unto the time of his coming to perform it, that is as evident
also out of Prov. viii. 30, which shews how his delights were in it all the
while ; and therefore his heart was more especially set upon it than all
works else. But this I have also spoken unto elsewhere.
Chap. II.] of ohrist the mediator. 141
CHAPTER II.
That Christ renewed his consent as soon as he came into the world. — That his
human nature from his first conception agreed to it. — That this is apparent
from the scope and intent of the twenty-second Psalm.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the icorld, he saith, Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepiared me. — Heb. X. 3-5.
The other two parts of his willingness come now to be handled.
I. His willingness and consent renewed, when he came into the world,
to perform what he had undertaken and covenanted for from everlasting.
II. The constant and fixed postm-e of his will, and heartiness in the work
all along, during his lifetime, and in his death, till he had finished it, John
xiii. 1. I shall not need to pursue this any further than unto his death,
for the rest of his work in heaven was pleasant work, and but as the reaping
the joyful harvest of his seed sown in tears.
The first I call the will of dedication, or consecration of himself by a vow
to this great work, then solemnly made and given when he came into the
world ; the latter, the will of execution or performance. The first is hke
the dedication of the temple, which was his type, and was a most glorious
action, and fundamental to all that followed ; and calls for an answerable
regard and observation from us. The dedications of the outward temple,
the type of his body, the tabernacle made without hands, were the most
solemn actions recorded in the Old Testament. And the first dedication
had to accompany it the greatest hecatombs and sacrifices that ever were
afore or after, joined with a large, set, and powerful prayer, composed by
Solomon, and upon record. The other by Zerubbabel had a yearly feast,
called the ' feast of the dedication,' to celebrate the memorial of it. But
' a greater than Solomon is here,' and a more glorious dedication of that
temple, which was the glory of that second, as Haggai had foretold, Hag.
ii. 9. What sacrifices of prayers should we then ofi'er up to God upon the
news thereof?
I. For the first, Christ's willingness and renewed consent when he came
into the world. These words hold forth eminently two things concern-
ing it.
1. The time of Christ's dedicating himself.
2. The dedication itself.
1. The time you see is at the very instant of his coming into the world,
to undergo this great work and service. * When he comes into the world,
he says,' &c. This must needs be observed (as it is) a great and mighty
secret, that the very words that God the Son then used to God the Father, '
at the moment of his incarnation (when he was to take our nature, to be-
come flesh, and appear in this world as a part thereof), should be recorded,
which words were before known alone to the three persons ; which yet the
Holy Ghost, the gi'eat secretary of heaven, hath vouchsafed to reveal unto
us ; for the great concernment of them, as to our salvation, so to our know-
ledge thereof. The words were first uttered by David, prophetically of
Christ, Ps. xl. 6, 7, and the apostle not only interprets them of Christ, but
adds that which David mentioned not. David speaks not a word of the
142 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
time tlicat the date of tliis speech should be at, viz., when he should come
into the world. No ; this is one of Paul's secrets, revealed to him by the
Holy Ghost, and could have been known from no other hand. You have
the like speech recorded of the Father's to Christ, when he came first to
heaven, by the same David, though the time thereof is more clearly hinted
there, in the words themselves, Ps. ex. 1, ' The Lord said to my Lord, Sit
thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.'
The great inquiry next will be, who this / was, in Ileb. x. 7, that should
then utter it ? Whether the second person only, as now being to take
up our nature, or withal, the human natui'e concurring with him in that
consent.
1. That it was the speech of the second person, then existing, is evident.
For it was spoken when the Holy Ghost was framing the body or human
nature in the womb ; * A body hast thou fitted me : lo, I come.' For he
is the person, the vie, and the /, that took up that body into one person
with himself. He was more concerned than that human nature, and gave
more away by his incarnation and the sufferings that followed ; and there-
fore his willingness was the more requisite and eminent, and to that end
recorded for om- comfort. Thus at the instant when the human nature was
a-making, and so was not capable as 3'et to give consent, yet had the great
and total sum of glory due to it upon its union with that person, given
away for thirty-three years to come, by him that was indeed the person that
assumes it. Then did the second person (that is the person to whom all
actions are attributed) express his readiness and willingness, ' Lo, I come.'
And to shew he did it the most deliberately, and consulto, as we say, it is
prefaced how he had taken aforehaud consideration of all ways else ; and
now that his Father had took a summaiy of all other means, that might be
in pretence to redeem mankind, and how all would prove invalid, giving
one instance for all the rest, as of which the experiment fully has been
made, namely, sacrifices and burnt- offerings ; and so by that one instance
for all other, at once declaring that all creature sacrifices would be too hght,
and of no value : ' Sacrifices and burnt- ofierings thou wouldst not.' And
be speaks withal as one who had consulted his Father's decrees, ' the volume
of that book ' written in heaven, wherein all our names are written, Heb.
xii. 23, and had there seen all the whole work set down, and every tittle of
God's will he was to perform or suffer. And now when it was come to the
very moment of time set down, the fulness of time, Christ the Son ofiers
himself to perform every jot of it ; and doth not so much as stay expecting
his Father's answer in return, or that he should speak anew to him about
it, or move him in it, but prevents him. He says, ' Lo, I come ;' as car-
rying all this in his heart written there, and precisely remembering the
time, the moment ; for you see himself is only here to speak to his Father.
So then you have the speech which at that instant not only the angel
spake to his mother on earth, Luke i. 28-38, but here also that which
the Son spake in heaven. And it speaks all willingness, yea, heart and
zeal not to fail a moment, ' Lo, I come to do thy will, God.' And it is
with an Ecce, ' Lo and behold ' how ready I am to do it.
2. It is worth our next inquiry what consent, and when it was, that the
human natm'e, that body which he assumed, actually did first give.
(1.) It was necessary that this human nature should likewise consent
and be willing ; for as it was a distinct nature from the divine, so it had a
distinct will, and also it was concerned, being to be made the subject of all
the sufferings, the sacrifice to be given away and ofl'cred up, as the 10th
Chap. II.] of christ the mediator. 143
verse hritli it. It is necessary that it consent too, when it is able to put
forth an act of consent, and of a deliberate will. The fundamental consent
was the divine person's, and the act of assuming our nature, and coming
into the world, and writing his name among crefitures, was solely and singly
the act of the divine person. But yet there is to be an accessory consent
of the human nature, now married into one person with the divine, con-
cerning this.
(2.) The question will be about the time, whether at his first coming into
the world this consent was actually given ; or, that the consent of the
human nature was included, as of one under age, in the consent of the
divine person, the Son of God.
For answer ; how soon, and when first, the human nature gave his con-
sent, is hard to say.
1. This may safely be affirmed, that as soon as, or when first he began
to put forth any acts of reason, that then his will was guided to direct its
aim and intentions to God as his Father, from himself as the mediator. And
look, as in infants' hearts, if they had been born in iunocency, there would
have been sown the notion of God, whom they should first have known in
and by whatever they knew else ; and the moral law being w)itten in their
hearts, thej' should have directed their actions to God and his glory, through
a natural instinct and tendency of spirit ; the principal law written in their
hearts then, and wherein holiness consists, being to direct all to God and
his glory. Thus it was in Christ when an infant, and such holy principles
guided him to that, which was that will of God as to him, and to be per-
formed by him ; and which was to sway and direct all his actions and
thoughts, that were to be the matter of our salvation and justification, which
were to be exerted according to the capacity of reason, as it should grow
up more and more. Hence therefore this law, from the very first of his
acting intelligentlj', must move and predominantly carry all along with the
motion of it, as the j^iimtim vwhile doth all the rest of the spheres. And
look, as it would have been necessary that the law of love to God, and
aiming at his glorj', should have acted all thoughts and imaginations rational
in infants in innocency, or they had not acted holily, as parts and pieces
of mankind ought to do, when they acted, so Christ, being not only a man
that had the law of holiness in him, but also the Messiah or mediator
by special office and calling, and accordingly had that special law of
his office written in his heart, it was as necessary to the performance
of that office, that all thoughts and acts of understanding, &c., should
be directed to God by him from the first, as works and parts of mediation,
as it was for him, as a man, to address them all unto God's glory, as parts
of holiness or righteousness. For else he had not discharged his office and
calhng from the first, nor had those first dawnings and actings of his will,
thoughts, and affections, been involved and included as parts and pieces of
his mediation, as the other parts of his obedience afterwards were. But
now what Christ did when a child, hath a meritoriousness in it, as well as
what he did when he was a man giown ; and also what he suffered, his veiy
circumcision is made influential into our sanctification, through the merits and
virtue of it, as well as his after being baptized when thirty years old. And
therefore for certain his actions, which proceeded from will and understand-
ing from the first, had in their proportion the same meritorious influence.
The Twenty-second Psalm, which was peculiarly made for, and in the
name of Christ, doth expressly and directly tells us not only that God tf ok
him out of the womb, and that he was cast upon God from the womb,
144 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR, [BoOK IV.
ver. 9, 10, the latter of which may be passively understood of God's care
of him ; but further, ' Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my
mother's breasts,' ver. 9. ' And thou art m}' God from my mother's belly ;'
or, as Ainsworth reads the words, ' The maker of me to trust at my mother's
breasts.' Which words cannot be understood only in a passive sense, but
do import acts of faith miraculously drawn forth from him to God as his
God. As also those words, ' Thou art my God,' may well be taken to import
how he had owned and relied upon him as his God from his mother's womb,
shewing how that then he had owned him as his God, with an act of faith,
as truly as in ver. 1, when he cried out, ' My God, my God,' &c., when on
the cross.
But that I insist on is to observe to this purpose the coherence of his
words all along afore, as also in this passage. Christ had pleaded ' their
fathers trusted in thee, and were delivered,' ver. 4, 5 ; and ver. 8, he
alleged how that that his faith upon God as his God, and as a Father to
him, as his only begotten Son, and the Messiah and Saviour of the world,
was the thing he was reproached and upbraided with now when on the cross :
ver. 7 and 8, ' All they that see me laugh me to scorn : they shoot out the
lip, they shake the head, saying. He trusted on the Lord that he would de-
liver him : let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.' I say, this
was the reproach cast on him in particular, viz., how that he had with con-
fidence given out and taken upon him, as being the Son of God and Messiah,
and for his trusting on God under that special relation to him, was the
thing they jeered. Thus it is expressly, in the citing of that place by
Matthew, Mat. xxvii. 43, ' He trusted in God ; let him deliver him now, if
he will have him : for he said, I am the Son of God.' Now then, in the
next verses of the psalm, he allegeth in answer to his reproach, ' Thou
didst make me hope at my mother's breasts.' Which in its coherence is
as if he had said, did the fathers trust thee with that faith, as men thine
elect use to trust thee withal ? Why, lo. Lord, I began to trust thee
sooner than ordinarily any of them do, or ever did, even at the breast when
an infant ; and, Lord, thou hearest them mock me, that I trusted I was
thy only begotten Son ; and now. Lord, this was the very thing thou causedst
me to trust and have assurance of, when at my mother's breasts. Yea,
and I did it then in that sense, and with that faith I now on the cross do
call thee my God withal, as being that beloved Son of thine, my Father and
my God, in whom thou delightest. And with this faith it hath been that I
have owned thee as my God all along, even from the veiy womb.
Now then, if Christ had an actual faith then on God as his God, answer-
able to his personal interest in and relation unto God as his God, and so
in his proportion such as holy men have in their measure, and from their
interest in God as adopted sons, suitably to their condition and estate
when they come first to believe ; then that faith in him must needs in time
rise up to faith and apprehension of him, as a Father to him, as the only
begotten, the Messiah. For else his faith had fallen short of that object of
it which was proper and peculiar to him and his state and condition. And
if this be at all wondered at, that Christ's human nature should do it so
soon, Christ himself tells it here as a wonderful work of God towards him
in that human soul of his, in that he celebrates God as the maker of him
to trust, or ' thou causedst me to trust then,' and thou that drewest me out
of the womb, and didst miraculously form me there, didst draw my soul then
to believe in thee as my Father.
Neither are these mine apprehensions alone upon this place, but the
Chap. II.] op christ the mediator. 145
same I have found to be in one late learned commentator* on the words,
who says, Nos himc version de Christo interprelaiiuir, in quo cum ah instanti
concept ionis fuerunt omnes thesauri sapientiw. et scienticc ahsconditi, potuit ah
instanti concept ion is omnem suam curam et spetn, ul homo, in nno I)eo fiyere
et hcare. Christ having in him, from the instant of his conception, all the
treasures of his wisdom and knowledge hidden in him, it might be so, that,
from the instant of his conception, he as a man might fix and place all his
care and hope in God alone. And to that end he quotcth also this place,
Heb. X. 7, my text, ' When he came into the world, he says,' &c.
Now there are two speeches in the 40th Psalm more proper to apply to
the soul of that human nature assumed.
1. * My ear hast thou bored through,' is appliable more properly to the
human nature than to the divine ; and so to be understood to be the voice
of the human natui-e rather than of the divine.
Now, what is it to have an ear bored through ? It is to be made will-
ing and obedient to do God's will, as a servant is to do his master's. You
know how that one that was purely a servant, and for ever such, he had
his ear bored, Exod. xxi. 6. This was typical. He that had his ear bored
through gave his consent first, which is implied in those words, ' And if
the sei'vant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my childi-en,
I will not go out free.' If he would be free, he was to forsake his wife
and children, which were a motive to many to live as a servant with them.
The human nature now united might have stood upon it, not to enter into
any service ; that is, as in respect of his own prerogative, being taken up
into an equality with God. But, says Christ, I love my Father, and there-
fore I will serve him in the work of redemption : John xiv. 31, * That the
world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me com-
mandment, even so I do.' He also loved his wife, his spouse, his church,
&c. He will have her live with him, he must serve for her company, and
he loves his children particularly (as that speech imports, ' Lo, here am I,
and the children thou hast given me'). This moved Christ to serve, as
Jacob did Laban : Eph. v. 20, ' Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
loved the chui'ch, and gave himself for it.' He should not have her society
else, as himself speaks : John xii. 23, 24, ' Except the Son of man die, he
must abide alone,' or be in heaven alone, without his church's company.
Neither is it the phrase only that complies with this sense, but you have
another scripture doth manifestly apply this phrase to Christ, in this sense
of willing obedience : Isa. 1. 5, ' The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and
I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.' Do you know his voice
that speaks it, and about what ? It is your Saviour's. I will give you a
comfortable token you shall know it by : ver. 4, ' The Lord God hath
given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word
in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he
wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.' You know who afterwards
said of himself, ' Come to me, all ye that are weary, and I will ease you,'
Mat. xi. 28, as you have it in the margin. And will you know what the
work was for which God had opened his ear ? ' And I am not rebellious,*
says he. It was the hardest piece of it, to which of all other, if to any, he
should have been unwilling. It follows, ver. 6, ' I gave my back to the
smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ; I hid not my
face from shame and spitting.' Read Matthew the 26th and 27th chapters.
But is that all, that he was not rebellious or refractory to it, his ear was
* Muia in Ps. xxii. 9.
VOL. V. K
146 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
bored, he di-ew not his back away? Xo : 'I give my back to the smiters,'
&c. It was his own free act, as elsewhere it is said, Gal. ii. 20, * He gave
himself.' And whereas the servant in the type had but one ear bored
through, of Christ the psabnist says in the plui-al, ' My ears ' (so it is in
the original) ' hast thou bored through,' to note an abundance, an overplus
of willingness ; as when we say, a man hears of a thing with both ears, it
notes he hears of it, and hears of it again. Christ was all ear, to shew he
was aU obedience. His eai* bored is put for the whole : as the apostle in-
terprets it, ' A body.'
2. There is another speech argues this consent to have been the human
nature's also, when he says, speaking of his willingness, ' Thy law is in my
bowels ; ' written there habitually fi-om the womb, which cannot be meant
of the divine natm'e. And yet even when he assumed this human nature,
the law of God, and this special law of the mediatorship, was written there.
That phrase shews (as I said at first) that it was by instinct, such as natu-
rally it would have been in infants in innocency. Now, this is more than
simply to l«ive an ear bored, to give consent ; it is to have his law made
natural to him. And it is in the midst of the bowels, in the will, the afiec-
tions, that are the centre of the soul, and the middle of it. But the apostle
speaks this of him when coming into the world. And these speeches being
manifestly proper to the human soul and will, and being compared with
these passages of the 22d Psalm, they aU together do strongly argue that,
in a miraculous way, the human soul of Christ did then give up itself to
this whole work.
And so to conclude this, look as his mother consented to the angel's
message before she conceived of him : Luke i. 31, says the angel, ' Thou
shalt conceive, and shalt call his name Jesus.' And in the middle of his
delivei7 of it, she had not as yet conceived him, for, ver. 35, he says still
in the future, ' The Holy Ghost shall come on thee, and shall overshadow
thee,' &c. And when the angel had done his message, ver. 38, * Mary
said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord ' (I give myself up to him) ; ' be it
unto me according to thy word.' And so thereupon she conceived of him ;
for, Luke ii. 21, it is said, ' his name was called Jesus, which was so
named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.' And therefore,
till the angel had done his message, she conceived not of him, and so not
till her own consent was given. And as God had hers that she might be
freely the mother of him, so in like manner God, it would seem, had the
consent of that reasonable soul of Jesus presently after his coming, and
being made the Son of God. And so was fulfilled that which in the pro-
phecy was foretold he should utter: Isa. xlix. 1, ' God hath called me from
the womb,' as well as made mention of his name (Jesus) from his concep-
tion ; as it follows there, ' From the bowels of my mother he hath made
mention of my name.' T^Tiich, though spoken of others (as of Cyrus), it
imports but God's ordaining him from that time to that work; yet we may
apply it to Christ, considering all that is said afore ; as also that this is
not passively spoken of him, as that of Cyrus and others, but is recorded
as to be uttered by himself, 'The Lord hath called me from the womb,' &c.
It may import more, even how Christ did then answer his call, and gave
up himself to this work ; but of this more anon.
And thus again, as his conception was at Nazareth, Luke i. 26, so he
was every way Na ^aja/o;, a Nazarite, given up to God from the womb,
given up by the second jjerson that assumed that nature, given up by the
human nature, the soul of it assumed, by a miraculous work of God, as
Chap. III.] of christ the mediator. 147
was bis conception itself, given up by bis motber also, who assents to all
that the angel said of him, to have such a child to be conceived in her: ' Bo
it according to thy word,' stiid she. Lastly, a Nazarite by God's own dedi-
cation and separation of him then to it, in the message of the angel, which
was sent by him.
CHAPTER III.
Shewinr/ the mystery of that appellation given him, * Jesus the Nazarite,' to
have been, that he ivas thus dedicated from his very conception to this great
work.
»
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might he fulfilled
which was sjjoken hy the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. — Mat.
II. 23.
There was no name more ordinarily and familiarly given to Christ, and
that by all sorts of persons, than this, ' Jesus of Nazareth,' and ' Jesus the
Nazarite.' It was given him by the Jews, John xviii. 5, 7, Mat. xxvi. 71;
by angels: (1.) the bad, Mark i. 24; (2.) the good, Mark xvi. 6. Yea,
this appellation obtained so among all, that it was put by Pilate, the
Roman Governor, into the superscription upon the cross, in all three lan-
guages, ' Jesus the Nazarite,' John xix. 19 ; and was further used by his
apostles, as glorying to own him under that title after his ascension ; so
Acts ii. 22, and chap. iii. 6, iv. 10. Yea, and himself, after his ascension,
doth from heaven decipher himself thereby : Acts xxii. 8, ' I am Jesus
(o 'Na^u^aTog) the Nazarite.'
Now it so fell out, in the providence of God guiding the idiom or manner
of speech in that language, that a Nazarene or Nazarite signified both an
inhabitant of the city Nazareth, as also one that by profession and vow was
peculiarly separated and dedicated to God.
The Jews, as they gave this name unto Jesus, intended no other thing
thereby than that he was an inhabitant of and dweller in the city of Naza-
reth ; as you say a Londoner, noting out an inhabitant of the city of Lon-
don. And so it is given to Christ, 'tia^a^rivhg, Luke iv. 34, compared with
John i. 46, where it is tov a.'jb Na^ags^, that is, one of the inhabitants of
Nazareth.
But Matthew tells us that God had a further design in guiding those Jews
to this appellation, to hold forth a higher mystery, namely, that this was
the great Nazarite, vowed and separated unto him, of whom all the vota-
ries or Nazarites of the Old Testament were types. And therefore he is
termed by Matthew and others 6 Na/^upawg, the great Nazarite, those having
been his shadows, even as he is called the last Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 43 ; the
true David, Acts xiii. 34.
The words of Matthew to this pui-pose are these, Mat. ii. 23, ' And he
came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth,' which was the only occasion
why the Jews termed him Jesus of Nazareth, or Nazarene ; but it had this
mystery further in it, ' That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets,' of him that was to be the Messiah, ' that he shall be called,' that
is, be, * a Nazarite.'
Now, under the Old Testament, the writers of which are generally called
the prophets, all that were dedicated or consecrated unto God b:y vow of
148 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
their parents from their birth, or that separated themselves unto God in a
special vow of holiness and obedience above others of their brethren, these
were termed Nazarites ; as Joseph, Gen. xlix. 2G, ' The blessings of thy
father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, and to the
utmost bounds of the everlasting hills they shall be on the head of Joseph,
and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.'
And Samson also, Judgee xiii. 5, ' For, lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a
son, and no razor shall come on his head ; for the child shall be a Naza-
rite unto God from the womb.' And whoever he was that vowed his per-
son to God, and not his goods only, was by the law called a Nazarite :
Num. vi. 2, ' Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When
either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Naza-
rite, to separate themselves to the Lord.' All which were acted as types
and shadows of the dedication of himself, to be after this made by this
great votary, who was the substance of them in this particular, as in all
things else he was of all his other forerunning types, in what was attributed
to them.
There may other royal qualifications and characters of Christ the
Messiah fall into this, that he was called a Nazarite, as will in the cur-
rent of this discom'se appear ; but this of his being vowed to God was
the great and main thing intended thereby, as Joseph and Sampson and
others were.
The main difficulty herein is, how the examples and the law of those
Nazarites should be esteemed prophecies of him, as Matthew here says,
' That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets.'
It is a known and a taken-for- granted truth, that those names and
things spoken of the eminent types of Christ, are by the evangelists and
apostles given unto Christ, whom they prophetically signified, as more truly,
and in a more transcendent manner, belonging to him than unto the per-
sons themselves to whom they were first given unto ; as eminently fulfilled
in him, yea, and as more really intended of him than of them, as appears
by many instances of the like kind.
Thus when Paul to the Hebrews would prove Christ to be the Son of
God, in that peculiar manner as never man, yea, nor angel, ever was : Heb.
i. 4, 5, ' Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inhe-
ritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the
angels said he at any time. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten
thee ? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a
Son ?' He would here prove that Christ's name given him in the Old
Testament, was * the Son of God,' and so the Son as no angel. He cites
a speech spoken of, and to Solomon, ' And again I will be to him a Father,
and he shall be to me a Son.' Now where are these words to be found,
or how come they to be meant of Christ ? The words are only found,
2 Sam. vii. 14, 1 Chron. xxii. 10. No way can be devised but this, that
what God speaketh of Solomon is more properly intended of Christ ; De
Solomone vera, more than de Solomone mero. David's Son was but a sha-
dow. Yea, and which is stranger, he quotes it to prove that Christ the
Messiah was the Son of God in such a transcendent manner as Solomon
was not, even tbat he was the only begotten Son, whereof Solomon's son-
ship was but a shadow. This and many the like must be resolved into
this general rule, that what is attributed to the type his shadow, must
needs be in a more divine and super-eminent manner ascribed to him the
substance. For if so excellent persons in their highest excellency were
Chap. IV.] of christ the mediator. 149
but his tj^cs, then what aro those excellencies in him, a person so divine ?
I might exemplify all this more clearly in the apostle's quoting, and that as
a proof too, what was said of the first Adam, that he was an earthly man,
a living soul, to fore-prophesy Christ's super-excelling dignity of his being
the Lord of heaven, a quickening Spirit, a second Adam : 1 Cor. xv. 44, 45,
' It is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natu-
ral body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first
man Adam was made a living soul ; the last Adam was made a quickening
Spirit.' And multitudes of other instances might be given ; as that in
Hosea xi. 1, ' Out of Egypt have I called my Son,' quoted by Matthew in
this chap. ii. ver. 15. Now then parallel this of Matthew, concerning
Christ his being a Nazarite, with that of his being a Son under the type of
Solomon, and a second Adam, &c., and you will readily say as Matthew
here. This name of Nazarite was commonly given him, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarite.
So as, although there were no other scriptures in the prophets to foresignify
this thing, than these which were his tj-pes, yet that alone is sufficient to
call for Matthew's -TrXri^odfi , 'that it might be fulfilled' ; yea, and the name
and thing more eminently fulfilled in him than it was in them ; and he a
more transcendent votary, made more holy and more sanctified than
they all.
CHAPTER IV.
That Samscn, and other Nazant.es of the law, were types of Christ the great
Nazarite, ivho dedicated him to the holy work of redemption. — By what
rules and reasons we may judge that Christ vias in this respect typified by
those Nazarites.
Two things here are to be foi'ther inquired into. «
I. By what it doth appear that Samson and Joseph, and those by the
law of vows that were Nazarites under the old law, were therein types of
our Jesus, termed the Nazarite.
II. How he, being a Nazarite, or a devoted person, from his very con-
ception and education in his younger years, was fore-signified, and how
fitly and correspondently his being termed a Nazarite fi-om the city Naza-
reth (which Matthew alfirms) falls in herewith ; as also by what a won-
derful providence it came to pass that this great and important title of the
Christ, Nazarite, should commonly and ordinarily be given him by the
Jews themselves, they intending it only to signify that he was an inhabi-
tant of the city Nazareth, and but to vilify him ; but God intending it fur-
ther to signify his dedication and consecration to the work of redemption
from his conception, and all along in his education, Nazareth being the
place of both.
I. To clear the first, viz., How Samson and other vowed Nazarites
appear to be types of Christ.
1. In general, even by the same rule that we know Adam and Solo-
mon to have been types of him, and that what was said of them is to be
applied to him, who yet ai-e nowhere in the Old Testament called his
types. And as we receive the testimony of Paul, that so apphes it from
them, so we may here do this of Matthew by the same warrant ; though
we had no other special application of these types unto Christ in the Old
Testament.
150 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
The general mle which the apostles went by, and which the Jews them-
selves assented unto, and their teachers taught them, was, that whatever
eminent and extraordinaiy excellency was found in any of their ancestors
renowned in the Old Testament, or in the ceremonial law, that all such fore-
signified the Messiah to come, as the perfection and centre of them. Thii
themselves acknowledge of David, who yet was not styled a saviour oi
deliverer, as Samson and Joseph are expressly termed, which was also
the eminent character and work of our Jesus ; this I say they acknow-
ledge of Melchisedec, David, Solomon, the high priest among the Jews,
their kings, &c. Then if it be so, that special institution of the Nazarite
must mean the like. And the reason is undeniable ; for what excellency
was it that a Nazarite, a votary under the old law, took upon him the pro-
fession of? Why a peculiar and more singular holiness, separation, con-
secration of their person unto God, in some special service which they
were by vow or dedication obliged unto above their brethren, which they
expressed by a peculiar strictness in abstaining from wine, and the like,
which others did not. Thus Num. v. 2-5, ' Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, Allien either man or woman shall separate
themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the
Lord ; he shall separate himself fi-om wine and strong drink, and shall
di'ink uo vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he diink
any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist gi'apes, or dried. AH the days of his
separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine-tree, from the ker-
nels unto the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall
no razor come upon his head ; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he
separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks
of his hair grow.' He shall be holy, that is, peculiarly, singularly holy.
Now then, if civil excellencies in public persons were types of him, as
kings, &c., then sacred much more, and that of special holiness and conse-
cration to God above»any other.
PecuUar holiness, whether real or ceremonial, did make a Nazarite ;
therefore, in Num. vi. 8, he is called ' holy to the Lord.' And a Nazarite
is translated by the Septuagint ayioz, a holy man ; especially they were
termed such, when these were joined with their being saviours and de-
liverers of the people of God. All such were eminently, and must be
acknowledged, types of him that was to be the great saviour and deliverer
whom the Jews expected.
2. Particularly, to give the reasons for it.
(1.) Joseph, both for his excelling in holiness above his brethren, as also
his eminent advancement over them, was an apparent type of Christ.
[l.j For holiness. It might seem by the stoiy he was devoted thereto
from his yoimger years, when his brethren were vain and wicked, which is
discovered in the story by this, that when he was seventeen years old, he,
detesting their sinful ways, brought the report thereof unto his father,
being a reprover of his brethren, for which his brethren hated him. That
other, of his dignity, is more apparent. For these reasons he is twice
called a Nazarite.
First; By Jacob, his father, in his prophecy, for so that his last speech
.concerning his son was, Gen. xlix. 26, ' The blessings of thy father have
prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bounds of
the everlasting hills ; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the
crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.' In the
original it is, ' That was a Nazarite among his brethren.'
Chap. IV.] of christ the medutor. 151
Sccondh/: And then by Moses it is again repeated, as of mystical im-
portance, Dent, xxxiii. 16. And in this last place, the Septuagint hath it
h^aahig et a.hi\:p')7;, ' He was glorious above his brethren.' And added
unto this was (as you all know) Joseph, his being a saviour, and so ac-
knowledged by Jacob. And he was so, upon record, in the bringing the
first fruits, acknowledged by all his posterity : ' My father was a Syrian
ready to perish,'* and who saved them? Joseph. And the Gentile
Egyptians, they also acknowledged it, Gen. xlii. 2, ' Thou hast saved our
lives.' And he was one separated, singled out by God, and sent afore to
t^ave them. Joseph was beloved of his father, so Christ is the beloved ;
Joseph was blessed above all, and his house in him. Gen xlix. 26, Deut.
xxxiii. 16, so we are blessed in Christ. Eph. i. 3, ' Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ.' Joseph was carried into Egypt, so
Christ too : Mat. ii. 15, ' Out of Eg}-pt have I called my Son.' Joseph
sold to the Gentiles, was a saviour to the Jews and Gentiles, so Christ too.
Joseph was suddenly advanced out of prison, Christ in prison. Is. liii. 8,
taken out of prison, and then ascended. Joseph in his advancement for-
gives, so Christ on the cross ; and when he came first to heaven, as a
testimony thereof, he converted three thousand of the Jews that had cruci-
fied him. Joseph's brethren bow to him ; and of Christ it is said, * All
knees shall bow to him.'
And because that this title Nazarite was, in Joseph's example, used to
design and note out one that excelled his brethren, and was a ruler over
them, as Joseph was ; hence further, the word Nezer and Nazer was after
used to express the oil and mitre that consecrated the priest, also the crown
that was set upon their kings ; so as their kings, prophets, and priests were
Nazarites all of them in the type. Thus the mitre on the high priest's
head, in which holiness to the Lord was written, Ex. xxix. 6, is called
Nizri; and chap, xxxix. 30, the oil that anointed his head, Lev. xxi. 12, is
called 'the holy oil,' and the word for holy there is Nezer. And the diadem
of the king is termed by the same name Nezer, 2 Sam. i. 10, Ps. Ixxxix. 4,
and Ps. cxxxii. 18, as being a sign of his separation from his brethren.
So, then, this name seems to set the mitre and crown upon Christ's head.
In plain words, they were all Nazarites, kings, priests, and prophets.
Now, take in all these, and I am sure you must have prophets enough that
came in to call him Nazarite, in recording the stories of these his types ;
those that call him 'Holy, holy, holy,' as angels do, Isa. vi., or seeing his
glory, as Dan. ix., call him 'most holy,' those who call him separated;
Heb. vii. 26, ' anointed,' as Joseph, ' with oil above his brethren,' Heb. i.
9 ; a person sanctified to his works, as he speaks of himself, when to die,
John xvii. 19. What need I quote any more ? All these express his
being a Nazarite.
(2.) Of Sampson, it is yet more expressly said, Judges xiii. 15, that he
should be called ' a Nazarite to God from the womb.' And to what end
was that separation of his from the womb made, and he marked out thereby ?
It follows, ' He shall begin to save or dehver Israel out of the hands of
the Philistines their enemies.' And he killed these enemies, and de-
livered that people without weapons, by the jaw-bone of an ass, a con-
temptible instrument for such a slaughter ; and at last died out of an
heroicness of spirit, by an extraordinary warrant, for it was eflected by an
extraordinary strength renewed upon him ; and so he was a greater con-
* Deut. xxvi. 5. — Ed.
152 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
queror in his death than in all his life. You know how easy and natural it
is to find all these in our Jesus. But how his being consecrated from the
womb was a type of Christ (that is the main intended by me), I shall ex-
plain in the second head.
In the mean time, the result of these two types is to represent Christ as
a Nazarite, eminently for these three things.
1. Excelling holiness and strictness of life, which was the law of
Nazarites.
2. Dominion or i-ule over their brethren, as then* kings and priests were,
and Joseph, and Sampson, judge of Israel.
3. Being a saviour and deliverer from death and enemies. ' Sampson
began to deliver,' &c., Judges xiii. 15.
Now, all these are found to have met in our Chi-ist, as is the import of
that ordinaiy. appellation given him, 'Irisovg Na^aga/og, Jesus of Nazareth,
or the Nazarite, which are usually coupled together.
1. Jesus is the name of Saviour given him at his conception: Mat. i. 21,
* Thou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their
sins.' And then Nazarite imports his being separated to that work, namely,
to save, as in that speech of the angel he was declared to be, whilst his
conception at Nazareth was efiecting in the virgin's womb.
2. For holiness. The first time that we read of, wherein he was called
Jesus the Nazarite, was by Satan, Mark. i. 24, and Luke iv. 34. And
there, by the providence of God, this is added and confessed by that evil
spu'it, ' I know who thou art, the holy one of God, that eminent holy one,
of whom all other eminent holy ones were types,' which was the import of
the name Nazarite. Now, compare this with what is said of Samson,
his type. Judges xiii. 5, ' He shall be a Nazarite unto God,' or ' of God;'
and the Septuagint translates Nazarite sometimes aywc, one holy ; and so
to be an holy one of God, and a Nazarite to God, is all one. But of
Samson, his being his type in his conception, more hereafter.
3. His being king. Go to the cross, you find it written there, * Jesus
of Nazareth,' or, ' the Nazarite, King of the Jews.'
CHAPTER V.
How Christ was presignified as a Nazarite by these types. — The 2}(irallel be-
tween him and Samson. — How God having thus in the tyj^e foretold that
Christ shoidd he a Nazarite, so tvisely ordered it, that both his conception
and education should be there, that so that name Nazarite, as an inhabitant
of that city, viight belong to him.
Now follows the second head, which hath two things in it.
1. How his being a Nazarite, or devoted person from his very concep-
tion, and education in his younger years, was foresignified in any of these
types.
2. How it came to pass that, though he was called a Nazarite by the
Jews as in their common language, noting forth only an inhabitant of
Nazareth, as Matthew tells us, this should yet withal fall in and serve to
fulfil God's intention of his being called a Nazarite, as was by these pro-
phetical types foresignified ; and by what a wondeirful providence this was
brought about, so to fulfil the prophecy.
1 , For the first ; take the type of Samson, and see how exactly parallel
Ch.\P. v.] op CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 158
it falls out to foresignify Christ's being a Nazarito from his conception.
Let us but seriously compare the history of both.
Of Samson, Judges xiii. 2, 8, 5, ' And there was a certain man of Zorah,
of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah ; and his wife was
bai-ren, and bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the
woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not :
but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. . . . For, lo, thou shalt conceive,
and bear a son ; and no razor shall come on his head : for the child shall
be a Nazarite unto God fi'om the womb ; and he shall begin to deUver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.'
Of Christ, Luke i. 2G-31, ' And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin
espoused to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house of David ; and
the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou
among women. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Maiy ; for thou
hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy
womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.'
(1.) Observe Samson's wonderful separation from his conception. An
angel is sent to foretell it. The prophecy of an angel is recorded : so it is
in Christ.
(2.) Both appearances of the angels are afore the conception of either.
(3.) As the angel is sent to a woman utterly barren, to shew Samson's
conception should be extraordinary, as to an extraordinary end, so Gabriel
is sent to a virgin, who without man's copulation with her had a womb far
more barren and incapable to conceive a child than Samson's mother's was.
And therefore to strengthen her faith the angel tells her, ver. 36, 37, ' Be-
hold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age :
and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren. For with God
nothing shall be impossible.'
(4.) The messages sent at and before their conception, to both, concerning
these their sons, ax'e parallel.
[1.] That he be a Nazarite of God, that is, holy and consecrated to God
from the womb (yea, from his conception, and therefore his mother was
warned not to drink wine nor strong drink from this time afore his concep-
tion, nor whilst she bore him) unto the very day of his death. Now of
Christ, it is at and from his conception, Luke i. 35, ' The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee :
therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called
the Son of God.' Now a Nazarite of God, and one holy unto God, were
all one ; as hath been said.
[2.] In that the work which each of these were separated unto is declared
alike at their conception, as to be saviours of the people. Of Samson it
is said, ' He shall begin ' (as being Christ's type) ' to save Israel out of the
hands of the Philistines.' And as expressly of Christ it is said by the
angel, Mat. i. 21, 'She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name Jesus ; for he shall save his people from their sins.' Not to insist
on this addition which some make, that Herod a Philistine was then king,
and the Jews subject to Christ,* when this message was delivered of Christ,
as in Samson's time they also were.
[3.] And lastly, how Christ was a Nazarite until the day of his death
from the womb, as of Samson it is said, I need not shew. That one text
* Evidently a mispriut. I suppose ' liim.' — Ed.
154 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
speaks it, ohediens usque ad mortem, obedient until death, all his life long,
Philip, ii. 8. Only take this, that at his conception at first, those three
fore-mentioned characters or designments of a Nazarite were declared by the
angel. 1. Jesus a saviour. 2. The holy one of God. 3. His dignity and
pre-eminence over all : ' Luke i. 31, 32, ' Thou shalt conceive in thy womb,
and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David.' To which the types, both
of Samson the judge, and Joseph the ruler, do fully answer. Thus also
again at his death, those all meet in the inscription on the cross, ' Jesus
the savioui', of Nazareth,' or ' Kazarene,' the holy One, ' king of the Jews.'
For the second particulai-, viz., how it was ordered by God that the Jews
should call Jesus a Nazarite ; three things are worthy our notice in it.
1. That God in his all-wise counsel so ordered it, that the name or title
Nazarite, which in the Greek is Na^wsa/bg, should be used in the common
language of the Jews to express an inhabitant of the city Nazareth, which
word also had been singled forth by God to express a Nazarite to himself,
one holy and consecrated to himself. It was, as many other words are,
vox ffquiroca, that had two senses equally and vulgarly in use. Fuit turn
nomen r/entiUtium, turn religiosum, as Latimis, or Aars/Vog, signified both an
inhabitant, or one born in Italy, an Italian, so denoting a man's country ;
and was anciently used to signify one that adhered to, and was one of the
popish religion, as distinguished from that professed by the Greek churches,
or now by the protestant. And this was foretold by Irenseus as the title of
antichrist his followers, long before that division was made ; he thus inter-
preting the mystery of the number 666, Rev. xiii. 18. So now Eomanus,
a Roman, may and doth import one either dwelling or born at Rome, or
one of the Romish religion. Or as if a child of an Englishman that had
been of the separation at Amsterdam, and educated or born there, should be
termed an Amsterdamian, it would import at once both the place whence
he came and where he dwelt ; as also (as commonly it doth) that he was of
that profession which the English separatists did hold forth there. Multi-
tudes of such instances are producible, and thus it fell out here.
Now that this word Na^wsa/bg was then used to express both, I judge
more evident.
(1.) In that we are sure that Na^waaro; imported an inhabitant of Naza-
reth ; for Matthew, who gives him that style, directly pointeth us unto that
sense and signification of the word : for he says, ' He carne and dwelt in
Nazareth : that it might be fulfilled.' He was called a Nazarite, as being
vulgarly so styled from that city ; yea and therefore it was that the Jews
in scorn so called him, to defame him from that city, which was so vile and
mean, as no good was thence expected ; and therefore much less he that
was to be the Messiah should come forth from thence. Also this appears
in that in another evangeUst, speaking at a time afore that name was given,
he is called 6 aero tou Na^ass^, ' one of the city of Nazareth.'
Then [2.] The scripture or prophets nowhere speaking of Christ's dwell-
inff in the city Nazareth, the fulfilling of the prophecies must be found in
th?s, that this word Na^apa/"oc hath some other mysterious signification,
which should be proper and eminent in him that was the true Christ. Now
this title Na^a»a/6; is in the same letters and syllables thereof a Nazarite,
or one holy and separate to God. For the Septuagint, translating the
Hebrew word for Nazir or Nazarite into the Greek, do stUl use this word
with the same syllables and letters, only they sometimes use a, ^a, Na^asa/bg,
Ch.U>. v.] of CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 155
sometimes tj, or ^jj, 'iJa^rioa.Tog, whereas Matthew, w, iJa^uaaTog, and that is
all the ditl'erence.
And this those of an opposite opinion ohjcct, that because Matthew useth
the letter u, whereas the Septuagint useth a, that therefore it is not the
same word which they use to signify a Nazarite by. To which the answer
is ready.
For 1 . In that the Septuagint themselves do vary it, sometimes writing
it with a, sometimes with ri, yet in each they alike intended to signify a reli-
gious Nazarite. I say, if they alter a into tj, in either intending the same
word and the same signification, it may bear as well this other alteration
of u), it being but a matter of diverse pronunciation, as Grotius observes,
and not a diversity of the word itself, which in differing dialects, when the
word is the same, is ordinary in languages, as we see in the Scottish and
English tongue (which I mention for inalgar illustration). Yea, the ancient
fathers make another alteration, writing it with / : so Eusebius, Epipha-
nius, and Nazianzen, terming them Nazireans or Nazirites.
But 2. We all know that nothing is more usual than, in translating a
word out of one language into another, to change a letter ; as Miriam in
the Hebrew, the Greeks into Maria, Schemuel, Samuel, and the like. And
the Syriac, which was the language Christ and the Jews did then speak,
did ordinarily in pronouncing the Hebrew, turn a into w : so as Nazareth
after the Hebrew pronunciation was Xasoreth in the Syriac. Now Matthew
in the Greek did incline and conform the termination or sound of the word
to the Syi'iac rather than to the Hebrew, the Syriac being then in use. And
so Xazorean, or Nazarite, is all one with Nazarite.
3. I omit to retort, that those of the other opinion that would have Christ
here called by Matthew Na^wsa/o;, from Netzer, the title in Hebrew which
Isaiah gives to Christ, Isa. xi. 1, ' Of the branch,' is far remoter in sound
and letters by far. And besides that that is a substantive word, this of
Na^w|a?oj is an adjective. But of this afterwards.
It is objected, 2. That Christ is also called Jesus Na^aajjvo;, the Nazarene,
as well as Na^aja7&;, the Nazaraian. But Nazarene was not used (say they)
to signify a Nazarite.
And it is answered again, that if Nazarene and Nazaraian (that I may
in the English vai'iation express it) signified both one, where his city's name
is intended, as it is evident they did, then why not both these words also
be as promiscuously used for a religious Nazarite, when it is evident that
one of them was used to express it, viz., his being a Nazarite? There is
nothing more usual in all languages than to make such variations, in names
of religion as well as other, and yet so as they are still but one word in
signification ; as we say sometimes a Grecian, sometimes a Greek, and
both signifying either his religion or his countiy ; a Roman, a Romanist,
a Calvinian or Cahinist ; so if you will, a Nazarite, a Nazarean, is all one.
And 2. Matthew that holds out to us this mystery, he calls him Nazaraian,
or Nazarite, not Nazarene ; so in this place, and so constantly elsewhere.
And thus the inscription on the cross (as in John also) and not the other
word Nazarene at all. So as Matthew intended to hold forth his being a
Nazarite, as well as of the city Nazareth.
The second thing to be noted is, that as Christ was to be a Nazarite
from his conception (as in his type of Samson it was foresigned), and also
in his younger years of education, as well as when he died, so God in his
providence ordered it, that the city Nazareth, from whence he should by
the Jews be called a Nazarite, was not only the very place of his education,
156 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV.
but also of his very conception ; and this is sedulously noted (to complete
this mystery) unto us in the story of his conception : Luke i. 26, 27, ' In
the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent fi'om God unto a city of Galilee,
named Nazareth, to a vii-gin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David ; and the virgin's name was Mary.' So then, though
Bethlehem was the place of his birth, yet this Nazareth, from whence he
had his name of Nazarite, was the place of his conception, to shew he was
a Nazarite fi'om his very conception, which hath been the point I have
pm'sued. And as it was the place of his conception, so of his abode and
education, until he put himself forth into the world, and appeared as the
Messiah. This you have, Mat. ii. 22.
Now, yet further, to add unto Matthew's '!rXrt^u6fi, and to make up his
fulfilling of prophecies yet more full, it was foretold by the prophet Jere-
miah that his coDC-'ption should be in one of the cities of the ten tribes,*
which the story here in Matthew tells us was Nazareth. The prophet
Micah had, before Jeremiah's time, foretold that the city of his birth
should be Bethlehem, which the tribes of Judah and Benjamin gloried in,
and therefore despised the other ten. The pharisees understood this, as
you read in the evangelists, when Herod puts the question to them. But
that any of the cities of the twelve f tribes should have any honour of his
residence, much less the gi'eatest honour of the laying the foundation of
this tabernacle which God, not man, reared, viz., his very conception,
they never so much as dreamed of this, especially not of that region or
part of the ten tribes, Galilee ; and above all the cities in GaUlee, not out
of that barren, desert place of all other, viz., ' Shall Christ come out of
Galilee?' say they, John vii. 41. And again, ver. 42, 'Hath not the
scripture said. That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the
town of Bethlehem, where David was ? ' And again, ver. 52, ' Search, and
look : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.' Not so much as a prophet,
much less the Messiah, the great prophet. And yet it was apparent, that
one of their prophets, Jonah, was a Galilean, 2 Kings xiv. 25. Gath-
hepher was a city of the tribe of Zebulon, compared vnih. Josh. xix. 13,
which Zebulon was a part of Galilee, Isa. ix. 1.
But as for that city of Nazareth, they are yet more confident that Christ
should not come thence : John i. 46, ' Can any good come out of Nazareth? '
And out of this confidence it was that they styled him so ordinarily ' Jesus
of Nazareth' in scom, as ima.gining that alone did carry a confutation and
evidence in it that this man of all else could not be the Messiah. So con-
fident are men often of some one unanswerable argument against a great
truth, when on the contraiy it proves to be the greatest evidence of that
truth, as in this case it fell out. But, lo, how Jeremiah had foretold how,
though Bethlehem was to be the place of his birth, yet one of the cities of
the ten tribes, and that in Galilee, should be the place of his conception
(which is the thing in hand), as Isaiah had also that Galilee should be of
his preaching. Read Jer. xxxi. 21, 22, ' Set thee up waymarks, make
thee high heaps : set thine heart towards the highway, even the way which
thou wentest : turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
How long wilt thou go about, thou backsliding daughter ? for the Lord
hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.'
Jeremiah, as you know, lived till the Babylonish captivity, and had fore-
told how the captive Jews should again have liberty, by Cyrus his procla-
mation, to inhabit then own land, when Cyrus should give them liberty
* Jer. xxxi. 21, 22.— Ed. t Qu. ' ten ' ?— Ed.
Chap. V.] of chkist the mediator. 157
as Isaiah had foretold, and as he promisoth Judah : ver. 23, 24, * Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, As yet they shall use this
speech in the land of Judah, and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring
again this captivity. The Lord bless thee, habitation of justice, and
mountains of holiness. And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all
the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks.'
Also God courteth Ephraim, or the ten tribes, who had been long afore
dispersed, to return with the tribes of Judah into their cities also, which
they should then have free liberty to do. And to invite and allure them
to it, they had the prophecies of their Messiah to them both, * the delight
and joy of each,' Mai. iii. 1, and glory of the people of Israel; and how
each should come to have a share in him, the one in his birth, the other
in his conception.
1. Of his birth ; that it should be in those parts the two tribes inhabit
he prophesies : Jer. xxxi. ver. 15-17, ' Thus saith the Lord, A voice was
heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping ; Rachel weeping for her
children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from
tears : for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord ; and they shall come
again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith
the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.' Now,
this properly and exactly relates to the story of his birth, for being born
in Bethlehem, which was on the confines of Judea, near Ramah, his birth
there was the occasion of the slaughter of many of Rachel's, the mother of
Benjamin, her great-gi'andchildren there in Ramah, and also of Judah in
Bethlehem. You all know how Matthew applieth this to his birth : Mat.
ii. 16-18, ' Herod sent forth and slew all the children that were in Beth-
lehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, accord-
ing to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was
fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying. In Ramah
was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning ;
Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they
are not.' And to comfort her, he tells her, that together with these lamen-
tations and throes of hers, the Messiah's birth (who was the hope of Israel)
should be attended into the world, which would sweeten these sorrows in
the end or issue, to the hearts of the rest of the elect, which were to come
out of their loins in those times, and then to dwell in those cities. And
so this birth of the Messiah, to be in their quarters, was worth this sorrow,
and abundantly recompensed it, and was a sufficent invitation for Benjamin
and Judah to return to their cities.
2. Then, secondly, he applies himself to Ephraim, or the other ten tribes,
as it is expressed, ver. 18-20, and invites them by this argument to turn
again with Judah into their cities, that the conception of the Messiah
should be in their quarters, and in one of their cities, as his birth was to
be in the other: ver. 21, 22, 'Turn again, virgin of Israel, turn again
to these thy cities. How long wilt thou go about, thou backshding
daughter ? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth,
a woman shall compass a man.' His meaning is, that this share and
interest they and their regions should have in the Messiah, that in one of
their cities this strange and unheard-of thing in the earth, and which the
first creation knew not, should be; a woman, and a woman alone, without a
man, should encompass a man in her womb, and conceive that Gehar, that
strong man, that Son of man, the Christ. Now, this he alleging as ao
158 OF CHRIST THE MEDUTOB. [BoOK IV.
argument to return unto their cities, his scope must be, that in one of
their cities this great thing should be done. Now, then, turn we again to
Luke i. 26, and the region, province, or shire in which this fell out was
Galilee, and the city in that country this of Nazareth : ' In the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Naza-
reth.' So then, in a manifest contradiction to the Jews, here is some good
thing, yea, our chiefest good, comes out of Gahlee ; and Nazareth, it was
the place of his conception.
Yea, and to view how all things meet yet more fully, as Samson was
from his conception proclaimed a Nazarite, and the eminent type of Christ
in this of his, so as in allusion thereunto, the word which Jeremiah there
useth of Christ's conception hath an eye unto Samson, his type herein.
It is not simply that a woman shall conceive a man, but Gebar, a strong
man, that strong man of whom the strongest man that ever the world had,
Samson, was but a shadow, a man filled with strength to overcome all our
enemies, and to lift hell gates off their hinges, and to carry them up the
mountains, as Samson did. Thus much for the second thing.
CHAPTER VI.
Eovo God wisely ordered it that the Jens shoidd call Christ a Nazarite,
though he was not really horn in that city.
The next thing to be noticed is, that God having in these types foretold
lie should be a Nazarite ; and also in his wise disposement forelaid it, that
an inhabitant of Nazareth, and a Nazarite devoted to be more eminently
holy and a saviour, should by one and the same word be signified in vulgar
use ; yet further stand and admire that wonderiiil providence of his, whereby
he brought it about that the Jews themselves should upon occasion of this
city come unawares to give him this name, so to fulfil the prophecies which
themselves read and understood not.
Let it be, 1, considered, that oui' Christ was not to take up the outward
legal and ceremonial profession of a Nazarite among the Jews, which his
forerunner John Baptist and Samson did. No ; as he professed not him-
self to be legally a priest, that is, after the order of Aaron, so nor to be a
Nazarite, having a vow upon him according to the tenor of their law, but
came secretly and unknown to fulfil the substance and reality of both. Now
how should this name then come vulgarly to be given him ? . No other way
but by his having had his known and constant abode from his infancy in
that city Nazareth. Then,
2. Consider how contingent a thing that was to fall on't.* The seat of
the seed and progeny of David by inheritance, and according to their
genealogy, was Bethlehem by Jerusalem, far removed fi'om Nazareth in
Galilee. But Herod then reigning, who was jealous of all that might pre-
tend to be heu's of that crown he then wore, these the true heu's, Joseph
and Mary, were forced to skulk and retire themselves to these remoter parts
of Galilee, as the seat of then* dwelling ; and hence it fell out that this his
conception fell out to be in Nazareth. Well but,
3. That his conception (so secret a matter) was at Nazareth, the Jews
ordinarily would not have known or considered ; nor was it (as it is not)
the manner of men to give the name of one's countiy to the place he was
* Qu. ' out ' '? — Ed.
Chap. VI.j of ciirist the mediator. 169
conceived. Yea, God ordered that so as, had not Matthew related it, the
Jews nor we would never have heeded it ; for as soon as she had conceived,
the angel having told her, to the end to confirm her faith, that her cousin
Elisabeth, who had been so long barren, had also conceived a son : Luke
i, 36, ' And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son
in her old age : and this is the sixth month with her^ who was called barren ;'
it is said at ver. 89, 40, ' That Mary arose in those days, and went into
the hill-country with haste, into a city of Juda ; and entered into the house
of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.' And this they did to rejoice and
congratulate each the other. But this performed, Mary returned to Naza-
reth, as intending to lie in there, but was just against the time of her
deliveiy hurried to Bethlehem, by reason of a decree that came forth from
Augustus the emperor, ' that all the world should be taxed,' Luke ii. 1.
And the law of that nation was, as ver. 3, ' All went to be taxed, every one
into his own city.' Hence therefore it came to pass, as ver. 4, 5, * That
Joseph also went up fi-om Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea,
unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the
house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being
great with child.' And this providence was to fulfil the prophecy of the
place of his birth at Bethlehem ; which yet not being their constant place
of abode, and his coming thither but transient, it still cast a blind amongst
the Jews, that though he was so bom at Bethlehem, they accounted him as
a constant inhabitant of the other place Nazareth. For we read, ver, 39,
that ' when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord,
they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.'
Well but, 4, there is yet a far greater contingency falls out, utterly to
prevent his being called a Nazarite from this city, though hitherto the city
of his parents' abode. For unless they had abode there, and he with them
the greater part of his life, the Jews had never come to have given him this
name. Herod being disappointed by the wise men to bring him word of
the town where he was born, meant to make the most exact inquiry after
this child, that the power and sagacity of so subtle a king could make, to
find him out to destroy him. And, lo, no sooner was Joseph returned to
his city Nazareth, Mat. ii. 13, but ' an angel appeared to Joseph in a
dream, saying. Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee
into Egyjjt, and be thou there until I bring thee word : for Herod will seek
the young child to destroy him.' Which indeed further strengthens the
point in hand, and shews him to have been that true Nazarite, of whom
Joseph was the type, in this respect, that when young he was driven into
Egypt, as Christ also was. And then again in his return, to fulfil another
prophecy spoken of by Hosea, ' Out of Egypt have I called my Son,' Mat.
ii. 15. But when in Egj'pt Joseph's heart was weaned from Nazareth,
which was a place of his abode but out of necessity and fear of Herod.
And the angel having told him that ' they were dead which sought the
child's life,' he came, as is evident by ver. 22, with a purpose to go into
Judea ; but hearing that Archelaus, and not his brother Herodias, had
obtained the rule thereof, and knowing him to be bloody as his father, it is
said, ver. 22, ' But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the
room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither.' And then also
being over and above this fourth time * warned ' (as it follows) ' by God in
a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee,' clean beyond his inten-
tion and inclination. And upon this occasion, and this alone, it was that,
as it follows, ' He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth,' and bo from
160 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK IV.
that time made his constant abode there ; that by this means this ' might
be fulfilled ' (we have all this while been treating of) * which was spoken by
the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarite.'
For, lastly, upon this occasion, this city being now his continued seat of
his education and life tiU he was thirty years old, the Jews who inquired,
and were curious and diligent enough, and did know from whence he came,
they out of scorn and malice did give him this title, Jesus, ' Jesus the
Nazarite,' or ' of Nazareth.' And this they gave him in contempt, as being
in then- account a base and unworthy place, so baiTen, as it was a proverb
among them, ' Can any good come out of Nazareth ?' And the devil, he
Btin-ed them up to it, himself (say some) first giving him that title, Mark
i. 24 ; howsoever he with the first seconds it ; and he did it on pui-pose to
divert the thoughts of the Jews from inquiring after his buih at Bethlehem,
they all cried it up to have been at Nazareth. Then it was generally given
out thus by the people, Mark x. 47, Luke xviii. 37 ; and as his fame grew,
this name spread also. And that it was out of scorn appears also by this,
that as Tertullian saith, unto his time they caUed the Christians !^fazarites,
as also Galileans. But lo, what Satan and the Jews designed out of the
greatest malice, God made use of the malice of man to attribute to him one
of the greatest characters of his being the Messiah, which was to be a Naza-
rite, and holy unto God by a vow from his conception, which had been
wrought also in that city. Thus also he ordered Caiaphas, out of malice,
to say, ' One man must die for the people,' to hold forth a just acknowledg-
ment, that Christ by his death should be the saviour of that people, and of
aU the elect of God in. the world. He ordered Pilate to say, and not recall
it, that he was ' King of the Jews,' which he did in scorn ; but God thereby
proclaimed him his king to aU the world in these three general languages,
Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
Some object against this interpretation given, that it is nowhere written
he should be called a Nazarite ; nay, nor were Joseph and Samson so
called.
The answer is, that these two phrases in Scripture are all one, ' to be,'
and ' to be called.' So when it is said, ' He shall be called the Son of the
Most High ;' that is, ' He shall be the Son of the Most High.' ' He shall
be called the Lord our righteousness.' And so it was true both of Sam-
son and Joseph, that they icere Nazarites, and are expressly said to be
separated ; and it is more true of Christ, that he was such.
Again it is objected, that Matthew says ' by the prophets ;' whereas
Moses, that wrote Joseph's stoiy and the law, is distinguished from the
prophets ; nor was he that -nTote the story of Sampson, in Judges, a pro-
phet : and therefore this allusion cannot be to these.
The answer is easy.
1, That although in stricter sense only they are termed prophets that
wrote those books of prophecy, as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the small prophets,
hence you read of Moses, the law, and the prophets, as distinguished ; yet
again, in other scriptm-es, the title of prophet is given to all the sacred
writers of the Old Testament. 2 Pet. i. 19, the whole is termed * a word
of prophecy.' And ver. 20, 21, it is styled ' prophecy of the scripture,'
as inspired by the Holy Ghost ; so as all scripture, inspired immediately
by the Holy Ghost, is termed prophecy : so Heb. i. 1, * God spake in old
time by the prophets,' and then cites the books of Samuel and Chronicles ;
ver. 5, ' I will be to him a Father,' &c. ; Acts iii. 24. Samuel, who
wrote a story, is termed a prophet ; and all the wiiters of Scripture from
ClU.P. VII.] OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 161
his time are termed prophets ; and, vcr. 21, all arc called holy prophets,
which have been since the world began.
2. And as to this particular, the thing in hand, it is evident that both
Jacob and Moses, whilst thcj- spake this of Joseph the type of Christ, were
then a-prophesying as truly as any of the prophets. Jacob professeth so
to do in the beginning of his speech, Gen. xlix. 1, ' That I may tell you
what shall befall you in the last days.' And as evident it is that Moses, in
that his repetition of Joseph's being separated from his brethren, Deut.
xxxiii. 16, did then also by the spirit of prophecy bless and foretell what
should befall him. And then for that other, of Samson, it is delivered as
a plain prophecy, even before his conception, how he should be a Nazarite,
who was therein a type of Christ. And this, though uttered by an angel,
is recorded by a sacred writer, that records it as a prophecy aforehand
given. And thus much of Christ's being vowed and consecrated from his
conception.
CHAPTER VII.
That another proplieey of Christ, Isa. xi. 1, Jer. xxiii. 5, and Zech. iii. 8, is
fulfilled in Christ a Nazarite, or inhabitant of that city.
I must not conceal, to ingratiate this, another known fair and pregnant
interpretation or allusion held forth by many interpi'eters to another prophecy
of him : and I would if there were a thousand of them more, if possible, to
fall in into everything about him. For the more such lines of prophecy
about our Jesus meet in any one centre, the more ascertained we are that
he is that Messiah that was then to come, and the Scriptures are thereby
discovered to be the more mystical, and himself illustrious. It is evident
that Matthew, whilst he says that he was spoken of hj ivophets, not prophet,
had more in his eye than one^ yea, and prophecies perhaps more than of
one sort ; and so there will be a tXj^^w^jj, as Brugensis* observes.
Now this other interpretation affirms this name Nazaraian to be an allu-
sion to that mystical and metaphorical name of Netzer ; that is, the plant
or branch, given him by Isaiah. Chap. xi. 1, ' And there shall come forth
a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.'
Seconded by Jeremiah, chap, xxiii. 5, ' Behold, the days come, saith tho
Lord, that I will raise up David a righteous Branch, and a I^ing shall reign
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.' And
chap. XXXV. 15. And thirded by Zechariah in two places, chap. iii. 8,
' Behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.' And especially chap,
vi. 12, ' Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying. Behold the man wlijse
name is The Branch ; he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build
the temple of the Lord.' And the name, say they, of the city Nazareth in
Hebrew was Netzer, or Natsoreth, a city of plants (that abounded there, say
they), as Jericho was called a city of palms. f So this of gritis. And an
inhabitant of it, in the Syriac language, then in use, was Noseraio. So
* Lucas Brugens. in locum.
t To name towns from what more eminently groweth and aboundeth therein is
usual to this day in those eastern countries, as Herbert in his Descriptions of Persia
notes : as Shyras, a town of milk ; Whormoote, a town of dates ; Deagardow, a towa
of walnuts, &c. In his first edition, p. 60.
VOL V. ^
162 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV,
then let us make an apostrophe unto the Jews. You might, Jews, come
to ken and know your Messiah, among other accompHshments of prophecies,
by this one, that he whom your prophet calls ' the Plant,' * the Branch,' it
comes to pass to fulfil that prophecy, that he dwelt at Nazareth, which hath
its name from plants ; so on purpose afore-designed by God, because it was
to be the renowned habitation, and place of education and conception of
him whom yom* prophets had proclaimed the ' top Branch of all your Israel.'
And the same providence so disposing it, that whilst you call him Nazarene,
and Jesus of Nazareth, you therebj' fulfil this prophecy (though not aware
of it), o^vning him, that thereby he should be the branch ; ' The plant God's
own right hand had planted.' By which name the prophets had foretold
he should be made famous by yourselves, whilst you styled him, ' A man
of Nazareth.' Yea, and the prophet Zechariah seems, under that his name,
* The Branch,' to point us withal to this place, where this Branch should
gi-ow ; ' The man whose name is The Branch shall grow out of his place,'
meaning this city Nazareth, where he had his conception and gi'owing up ;
referring to his education, which was there also until he went forth to
preach : and that foretold too in these following words, ' And he shall build
the temple of the Lord ' (speaking to Zerubbabel his type, who built the
second temple) ; fulfilled in our Christ, who says, ' I will build my church
of the new testament.' Which when he went first to lay the foundation of
by preaching the gospel, providence disposed so of it that he went out from
Nazareth, his place and city, as the 4th of Matthew hath it. So then what
Matthew here says, ' He dwelt in Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled. He
shall be called a Nazarite,' a dweller in a Branch town, answers to what
Zechariah says, chap. vi. 12, ' Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Behold the
man whose name is The Branch : and he shall grow up out of his place, and
he shall build the temple of the Lord.'
But this interpretation hath its lameness, so as, though it may be taken
in as an allusion, yet not so literally as the former, much less only or ade-
quately fitted to Matthew's quotation here. For,
1. It cannot undoubtedly be proved that the city Nazareth had its name
from Kctzer, plants. For that town was so obscure, as the name of it is
not recorded in the Old Testament, which should decide it. Nor doth
Zechariah here use the word Netzer for ' Branch,' as Isaiah doth, and that
but once, as prophesying of the Messiah. He useth the word Semah, as
also those other prophets mentioned do. So as if we should entertain that
to be Matthew's whole or main scope, we put ourselves upon but one scrip-
ture or prophecy, namely, that of Isaiah, who in the letters doth only use
that word Netzer, all the rest a far difi"ering word. Now when Matthew
here says that by being called a Nazarean from the city Nazareth the pro-
phecies were fulfilled ; it is a matter of sameness of names or words that
must be intended, to be found in those scriptures which are thus said to be
fulfilled. Now the name or word Netzer is nowhere else given him but in
Isaiah.
Again, that word, as used by the prophet of him, is a noun substantive
(as we say), a Plant or Branch ; but the title here mentioned by Matthew,
to be found in the scripture answering to it, is a noun adjective, signifying
an attribute or qualification belonging to him.
But, my brethren, is it not pity that these two interpretations should
strive in the womb of this text, the one against the other, if it were possible
to reconcile and take in both ? For then you will be sure to have prophets
enough wait and attend upon the accomplishment of it.
Chap. VII.J op ohrist the medutor. 168
There have been of those of old, and of late, havo endeavoured to tako
in both and reconcile them, whilst others argue wholly for the one, to ex-
clude the other. So &, Lapido, Cartwright, and Jackson, and Ilierom of
old, as appears by comparing his comment on Mat. ii. 23, and Isa. xi. 1.
So as that if we respect the name Nazoraios, as Matthew gives it in the
letters and syllables thereof, that of Christ being a Nazarite doth carry it
clear. Yet so as withal there may be an allusion to make it the more full
unto Isaiah's Nctzer, or Christ's being the Branch ; especially considering
the name of the city was obscure, and not mentioned in the Old Testament,
and so uncertain, whether written by ts, or z, by tsade, or zayn, Notsereth,
or Nazareth, primitively in the Hebrew. And if written by ts, yet that letter
ts being often turned in pronunciation and writing into z, whereof Drusiua
and Grotius, and others give many instances ; and so in that respect well
serving, or complying with either interpretation. And it being the Holy
Ghost's manner, in things of this nature, to have a vast and comprehensive
aim, and by way of allusion in fulfilling prophecies to take more ways than
one, I confess I am therefore easily induced to eye and give an ear to both
Only I must withal put in this profession or caution as to my judgment,
that if these two cannot be found to stand together (which I see not but
they may), that if I must lean to one interpretation rather than the other,
I should unto the first, as I have presented it, of Christ his being a Nazarite,
the holy one of God, or consecrated unto God. And I do prefer upon all
accounts that unto the other for these, reasons, besides what hath been afore
argued and said.
1. He is called a Nazarite from the city, which is evident by Matthew
and other evangelists' testimony. If the question came, whether of the
two that city's name was Notseroth or Nazareth, so whether taken from
Netzer, signifying the branch or fpiff, or from Nazari, signifying a person
vowed to God, it is clear that the latter carries it both in that first of
Matthew and the other evangelists, who write the name of that city in the
Greek with z, not s, Nazareth, and not Nasareth, or Notseroth. And secondly,
that it is as evident that if, according to the analogy of each of those tongues,
you would translate that word from Hebrew into Greek, if in the Hebrew
that city's name had been Netsereth or Netseroth (from griffs and plants),
then in Greek it must have been written Nasoreth with s, or double ss, sTjiLa ;
for rg in the Hebrew is in the Greek rendered by s, not z, that is, by aTy/j^a,
s or ss, not by ^-^ra, as Melchitsedec in Hebrew is rendered MeJchisedec,
by Paul to the Hebrews. Tsion is translated in the Greek Sion ; so Tsabhooth
is Sabboth, &c., whereas all the evangelists do constantly write the name of
that city Nazareth with z, but not one Nasareth. And again, on the other
side, when the Hebrew word is with zain, then the Greek writes ^'/jra or z,
as in the words Zabulon, Zacharias, and Beelzebub.
And again, that this city should have its name from plants or trees grow-
ing there, and to be eminently renowned for such, is more improbable,
because Zebulon, in which it was seated, was a deserted place in darkness
(as the prophecy and evangelists tell us*) ; and on the contrary renowned
for such by the Jews, as that usual proverb of theirs shews, ' Can any good
come out of Nazareth?* a place so barren and vile above all other places,
as that no good, no not of any kind, was growing there, or expected thence.
For which cause perhaps this flourishing plant, the Messiah, is said by
Isaiah to ' grow out of a dry ground,' Isa. liii. 2, even with an 63^6 to the
unfruitfulness of this place ;md city.
* See Heiiisiiis in Mat. ii. ult.
164 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK IV.
2. If the importance of these two mysteries pleaded for on each side be
weighed, this of his being a Nazarite, in the sense given to have been in-
tended, ditpiius est (as a Lapide says) is of the more worth in the importance
of it, that only referring to a metaphorical expression of his being a
' Branch,' and at the highest notes out our engrafting into him as branches
into a graJS^ But this other denotes his personal holiness as God-man, his
being dedicated and consecrated to God, separated and sealed by God to
the work of redemption, which is the foundation of all ; and many other
mysteries, as his kingly and priestly offices, all far more glorious than the
other, as in the sequel will appear. This will be found most comprehen-
sive, and to take in all the prophets.
3. If we regard the prophecy itself, this name of his, Nazarite, is not in
metaphorical words, but in clear and express types, who, as being his
types, and for that very end were called Na^a^a/b/, Nazarites, as men in a
special manner above the rest holy, separate, dedicated, and consecrated to
God, or men crowned with a peculiar excellency above others. And so the
Septuagint sometimes translates it ayioi, sometimes a(puj^ici/jbsm, separated,
kcTiipavcj)n,hoi, crowned. Now, if they which were his types were called so
in all these senses Nazarites, then he in them was much more styled so,
and signified thereby to be the reality, the substance, of what they were
shadows.
But still I conclude, as I said before, that I wish and hope that both
may stand, aud I would there were a thousand more such, of so great a
variety and comprehensiveness.
CHAPTER VIII.
That as Christ expressed his will and consent in the dedication of himself to
the tcork, so he shewed his cheerful willingness in all the parts of the per-
formance.
You have had the former part of this gi'eat story, his dedication of him-
self at his conception. The last part follows, to see how he made good
his vow from the first to the last act thereof, ' obedient to the death.' I
need take no text for it, the New Testament gives everywhere testimony
thereof. It were infinite to give you all the passages that argue this his
willingness and zeal throughout the whole of his life and at his death. I
shall lay afore you but some more eminent and obvious.
It is observable that the very first words you have recorded as uttered
by himself, and that when a child, at twelve years old, yea, and that but
one speech neither ; and this that I am now a-speaking was the sum and
eminent import of it : Luke ii. 48, his mother seems to chide him, that
without their privity he had stayed behind, and put them to that sorrow
and trouble in seeking him, and not knowing what was become of him.
What is Christ's answer ? Ver. 49, ' Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business ? ' As if he had said. It is true you are my parents,
and I have been subject to you hitherto in your particular affairs, but do
not you know I have another Father higher than you, who hath com-
manded me, by virtue of my office of mediatorship, other manner of busi-
ness to be done by me than to attend on you, and wherein I am not to
take counsel or direction from you, or ask leave of ycu ? For I am not
an ordinary son : ' Wist ye not I was about my Father's business ? ' h ToTg
Chap. VIII.] of christ the mediator. 166
roZ irctT^lg, * in the things or affairs of my Father,' who is my Father after
another manner than you are, and therefore my business is another manner
of business than of other children. I am the Christ, the Messiah, and at
these years do understand myself well enough to be so ; and I have a
spiritual work to do, enjoined me by my Father, which all other obliga-
tions, though at these years, must give way to. And as elsewhere it is,
*As the Father commands me, so do I,' as John xiv. 31. His will and
law is written in my heart from a child ; I am engaged to do his will, to
perform the office of a mediator, the Messiah, whereof one part is the pro-
phetic office, to teach and to instruct. And to give a specimen or an evi-
dence of it, I have now by his command (this being my first coming up to
the temple, my Father's house, where I am to preach hereafter many a
sermon) been ;imong the doctors arguing with them, ver. 46. It would
seem the first time he came, according to the law, to the feast ; the manner
being at twelve years to put a difierenoe between a child and a youth, that
the males of that age should go up to the temple. Malachi had told he
should, as a messenger of the covenant or prophet, suddenly come to his
temple: Mai. iii. 1, 'Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall pre-
pare the way before me : and the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come
to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in :
behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.' And when he comes first,
he will come as a messenger or declarer of the covenant, though but at
twelve years of age. As God shewed Moses that he himself was that
deliverer to his people (long afore he delivered them) by one act of ven-
geance upon anEg}^ptian, so God gave demonstration that this was the angel
of the covenant in the temple, almost twenty years afore he came to exer-
cise that function ordinarily. But that which I observe out of it is to the
point in hand, that at twelve years old, and long afore, the human nature
understood full well his office, and his being the mediator, and did direct
his actions to that aim and level. He acted as the Messiah unto his
Father, as his Father in another manner than he is the Father of men or
angels, and had the law written in his heart at his conception in his eye.
To do his will he was careful of, yea, delighted to do that will : I was about
my Father's business : yea, I ought to be (says he). This is the original
obligation and undertaking my ear was long since boi*ed through to do, viz.,
this his will. I am not mine own, nor yours, but his servant ; I must be
in his business. And though now you have a more eminent instance of it
at twelve years, you might have perceived it long ago, if you had observed
my carriage, and how I have directed my aims ; therefore, you see, he
blames them : * Wist you not that I was in my Father's business ? ' And
the word umi h To7i, to be in the things of his Father, imports his being
wholly in them. And though his Father did not ordinarily, or perhaps
had not afore this his appearing at the temple, set him about business ex-
traordinary, or other than such as a child subject to parents useth to
be (as, ver. 51, it is after this said of him that he was subject to them),
yet he had been in all his course in the things of his Father, and had car-
ried himself as one that walked by a higher principle of obedience to God
than other men were bound to. And this they might have observed, else
he would not have blamed them for not considering it. And the word
iimi is to be wholly and continually given up to it, as men in an office
ought to be. As Rom. xii. 7, 8, ' Or ministry, let us wait on our minis-
tering ; or he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on exhorta-
tion : he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity ; he that ruleth, with
166 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [rOOK IV.
diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.' 1 Tim. iv. 15,
* Meditate upon these things ; give thyself wholly to them ; that thy pro-
fiting may appear to all.' That which we translate, and rightly too, ' give
thyself wholly to them,' is the like phrase, h rou-oig 'io6i, ' be in these
things.' So then Christ as now, so from his infancy, had been wholly in
the things of his Father, and as mediator, directing all obedience as such
to him ; and not only acting holily, as a child sanctified from the womb,
but mediator-like ; and he delighted to do it, and shewed so much at his
first undertaking. This is the first speech, and it is an early one you
have of him, and it imports it. In a word (Christ says), ' He that sent
me is with me,' namely, always ; ' and I do always those things that
please him,' John viii. 29. And he had done so always from his infancy,
and directed all to him as a Father that had sent him on that spiritual
woik. And the Father hath not left me alone, but guided me from the
first thus to do (says he) ; for of his guiding him to do his will he there
speaks.
Why should I be large in rehearsing to you all his other speeches which
might argue this, how that it was his meat and drink to do the will of God ?
John iv. 34, ' Jesus saith unto them. My meat is to do the will of him that
sent me, and to finish his work.' He was hungry, and yet zeal and desire
to do God's will in saving of souls, swallowed up the sense of that hunger
and faintness. He delighted to do God's will more than ever hungry man
did to eat his meat ; and not only at this time, and for this fit, but to do all
the rest of the work to the last, to perfect and to complete every part of it.
So it follows, 'and to finish or perfect his work.' So then, all his time
afore, he had made it his meat and drink, as much as now, and for all
years to come, the same zeal was in him, even to the whole, from first to
last, as the word perfecting implies. And in all this he still directed his
obedience as mediator, looking at all he did, not only as obedience due in
common as from other men, but as it was the work designed by him that
had sent him, and sealed him to this work : see John vi. 38, ' For I came
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me.' Still, you see, he fulfils that primitive obhgation of his, ' I delight
to do thy will, God.' Yea, it is not only said, as here, that it was more
to him than meat to do his will ; but further to express his zeal in it, in
another place at another time, this his zeal is said to have ' eaten him up,'
his strength, and spirits, and all. He was eaten up, and devoured there-
by : it swallowed up all his intentions, as the wrath of God is said to have
drunk up Job's spirits : John ii, 17, ' The zeal of thy house' (and of thy
glory concerned in it) ' hath eaten me up,' says Christ.
CHAPTEE IX.
That he did not shrink at the ajjproach of his greatest sufferings, his death, but
shewed a cheerful resolution to the very last moment.
Let us instance further, in that which was the hardest piece of his work,
and the finishing of all, his sufierings at his death.
1. Afore he came to undergo it a good while, see the frame of his
spirit ; Luke xii. 50, ' I have a baptif3m to be baptized with ; and how am
I straitened till it be accomplished I' He knew the bitterness of that bap-
Chap. IX.J of christ the mediatoh. 1G7
tism to be such as no creaturo was able to be baptized with it : Matt. xx. 22,
' But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to
drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with ? They say unto him. We are able.' Yet, says
he, ' How am I straitened till it be accomplished.' How much I cannot
express ; and I am straitened that my desire and longings are delayed, and
they straiten and contract the heart. Never woman desired more to be
delivered, than he to have finished that work ; to have gone over that brook,
that sea of wrath, he was to be sunk over head and ears into.
Upon a time when Christ began first to declare the greatness of his suf-
ferings — Mat. xvi. 21, * From that time forth, began Jesus to shew unto
his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things
of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised
again the third day' — Peter took him (that is aside, as a friend out of
love) and began to rebuke him, that he would spare himself, and not pro-
voke the pharisees by zeal ; and ' be it far from thee, Lord' (says he), that
never deservedst it, that art the Saviour of men, goest up and down doing
good, this shall not be to thee. But how did Jesus take this ? One would
have thought he should have taken it lovingly. Absolutely, we never did
see Christ so angrj^, and take a thing so ill. It is said, ver. 23, ' But he
turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an ofience
unto me : for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that
be of men.' The word (ST^a(pslc, translated ' h^ turned,' it imports not so
much the turning of his body to him, as the turning and change of his
countenance unto a paleness or redness, as when a man's blood is up, or
when he is moved with anger and indignation. And what said he ? ' Get
thee behind, Satan.' There was never such a word came forth of those
lips afore or after, given to a saint, as Peter was. All was because he
touched him in what his spirit was most eager for ; as anger swells and
riseth against what comes in the way and current of men's desires, even as
a strong stream against what would stop it. And Christ adds, * Thou art
an ofience unto me ! ' An oflence is properly an occasion of stumbling.
Now Christ's holy nature was not capable of such an occasion of stumbling,
or being drawn to sin, as ours is ; yet Peter's speech had that tendency in
it, to divert him from that great work his heart was intent upon. Then at
another time Peter would be meddling to rescue him by the sword, John
xviii. 11. And though he then received a milder answer from Christ, ' Put
up thy sword into its sheath ;' yet still you may thereby see how strongly
his heart continued set upon the work of redemption that was undertaken
by him, and designed to him ; ' The cup which my Father hath given me,
shall I not drink ?' Every word speaks the eagerness and strength of his
will and resolution therein. Interrogations in that case argue the greatest
vehemency. But this belongs to the next particular : namely.
When he came to perform that last part of his obedience, his sufferings
to death,
1. As the time drew nearer and nearer for him to take his last journey
to Jerusalem, not having many months or days to live, and knew also all
that would befall him there, as he had told Peter and his disciples ; the
evangehst Luke says of him, chap. ix. 51, ' When the time was come he
should be received up ' (namely, by means of that cruel death, unto glory),
' he stedfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem.' I will not dispute
whether it was his last journey (which I rather think with Grotius), or that
it was half a year afore, as others ; but two journeys to Jerusalem are after-
168 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. LBoOK IV.
wards mentioned by Luke (which yet argue not that his disposition, here
recorded occasionally, should not be intended of his last journey) ; for Luke
tells things not strictly in order of time, but of occasions (as Grotius hath
observed). However this all do and must acknowledge, that the scope of
this passage was to shew that Christ now toward his end hardened himself,
and in all his deportment (which is expressed by face there) set himself to
manifest so much, that nothing did or should divert him. Yea, and this
was ohseiwable in him more than at former times ; for, ver. 53, it was
obseiTed by a whole city of the Samaritans, who therefore received him not :
' And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would
go to Jerusalem.'
Hence the exhortation from Chi'ist's example, suffering resolutely for us :
1 Peter iv. 1, is this, ' Forasmuch as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves likewise with the same mind ;' a strong resolution, causing
a man's mind as boldly and venturously to encounter difl&culties, as strong
armour doth embolden a man's mind to rush into battle. So then Chiist
armed himself, steeled his heart, as we use to speak.
And then w*hen he was to eat his last supper, to eat his last (as we use
to speak), so it is called, Luke xxii. 16, see what vehemency of desires he
utters, ver. 15, ' With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you
before I suffer ;' that is, how have I longed with the most passionate desire
for the arrival of this last night and meal that I must make, that it would
come and hasten, as all men are apt aforehand to do for that which their
hearts are set upon. And that to have been his reason is evident by what
follows, ver. 16, ' For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the
vine, until the kingdom of God shall come :' the thing signified by the
passover, the redemption of the world by my death. This is to be my last
drink I shall drink with you ; and now my death comes on, by which you
and the world shall be saved and redeemed.
And again, when he knew Judas was to go out to betray him, he said,
' Do what thou dost do, quickly ; ' John xiii. 27, 30, as soon as thou
wilt, for I am ready and resolved. He dares him, and hastens him to it
to shew his own resolvedness. And when he was gone out he claps his
hands (as it were) for joy, and utters his joy and triumph in it, ver. 81,
* Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said. Now is the Son of man glori-
fied, and God is glorified in him.' For he reckoned the stroke now as good
as struck, the thing now as good as done, that he should be cinicified. For
the instrument that was to set all a-work was gone out about it, and he
calls his death, his being glorified, because it was the foundation of all
that glory himself and his elect were to have. How bitter soever it proved
afterwards, his heart at present was filled with joy for the thoughts of the
approach of it ; he looks upon it as his wedding day, his coronation day
(as in more respects than one it proved) ; as Solomon's heart is said to be
fiUed with joy in the day wherein his mother crowned him. And that so
he esteemed it, you have another place to the same purpose, John xii. 23,
24, 28, ' Now the hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified,'
which is spoken out of the same passion of spirit as the former ; as if he
had said, Non-, even now is the time, the longed-for hour, so long longed
for, come, wherein I shall be glorified, and do that most glorious work for
which I came into the world. ' For this hour I came into the world,' as
ver. 27. And this he speaks in relation to his death, so in the 2-lth verse,
as also ver. 27, 28, and 32 evidently shew. It is true, he was struck with
terror and trouble at his entrance into it (for here the first thunder- clap
Chap. IX.j of ohrist the mediator. 169
that struck him did begin), so ver. 27, ' Now is my soul troubled,' and so
troubled, as he adds, ' What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?'
But withal, he renews and recovers that which had been his constant re-
solution and pursuance. ' But for this cause came I to this hour.' It was
a consideration he took in to hearten himself unto it ; that he had gone
so fiir, and was now come to it, and should I now recoil ? And what was
it did glad him, even in the midst of this his trouble ? 1. That his Father
should be glorified. ' Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice
from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.'
2. That thereby souls should be saved, which, in ver. 24, he gives this account
of, ' Except a corn of wheat ' (to which he compares himself, who was to be
the root of multitudes to spring out of him), ' die, it abides alone ; ' as he
otherwise must have done in heaven. ' But if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit ; ' which further, ver. 32, 33, he expresseth, 'I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will di-aw all men to me. This he said, signifying what death he
should die.'
After this he maketh a long sermon to his disciples, when Judas was gone
forth to act his fatal design ; and Christ, to lose no time, in the mean while
enters into a long and large sermon to hearten his disciples, recorded in
the ensuing thu'teenth and fourteenth chapters of John. And it is greatly
observable, how that in the midst of his sermon, in the tenor of his discourse
coming to that which most of all did move him to that work, namely, his
Father's love, you have the passage, John xiv. 31, 'But that the world may
know that I love the Father ; and as the Father gave me commandment,
even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.' He would needs in all haste be
gone, as if he had overslipped his time of Judas his meeting him with his
trained bands, and so they would miss of him. He sits upon thorns (as
we use to say of one that thinks the time long), for he breaks off" in the
midst of a discourse, which he assumes again (as if he had forgotten him-
self), though two chapters afterwards, the fifteenth and sixteenth. Of all
works else, preaching, and preaching his last too, his heart was most in ;
and 3'et he makes a start in the midst of a sermon to be gone, to be taken
and crucified : ' Arise, let us go hence.' He looked on the glass, and saw
it was not yet run out, and he sits down again, and preacheth another
sermon of the vine and of the branches, occasioned by what he had been
administering, the sacrament of his supper, his blood, so signified by the
blood of the vine. Well, when that sermon and his latter prayer, chap,
xvii., was done, it came to the very point of his bitter execution, he stays
not till their pursuivants and Judas with his trained bands should find him
out; but as the eighteenth chapter teUs us, he offers himself as a sacrifice
iato their hands (for so all sacrifices were to be brought to the door of the
temple by the person that sacrificed), and so to be offered up. And all
this he did willingly and knowingly aforehand of what should come to pass,
chap, xviii. 4. And these things the eighteenth chapter of John doth
punctually and setly relate, from the first verse to the ninth : ' When
Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the
brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his dis-
ciples. And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place ; for Jesus
ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. Judas then, having received a'
band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh
thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them,
Whom seek ye ? They answered him, Jesiis of Nazareth. Jesus saith
1 70 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK IV<
unto them, I am he. And Judas, which betrayed him, stood with them.
As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and
fell to the gi'ound. Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you that I am
he ; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way : that the saying might
be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou givest me have I lost
none.'
We had sinned against knowledge, and he suffers with a full cognisance,
and an aforehand deliberation of all that was to befall him. And further
(to make us apprehensive of this his will in it), he tells Peter, when he
would needs vainly and weakly attempt to rescue him, Mat. xxvi. 53,
' Thmkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall pre-
sently give me more than twelve legions of angels ?' Alas ! he needed not
so great a party ; his owti word, ' I am he,' John xviii. 8, struck them all
backward, and might have done dead ; and ver. 11, * The cup which my
Father hath given me, shall I not di'ink it ? '
He never shewed any sign of reluctancy, till in the garden he saw
what was indeed in that cup his Father did present him with, even his
wi'ath, and being made a cui'se. And to shew what the nature of a man
in itself might in such a case do, namely, shew his abhorrency of so high
an endurance, and merely to let us understand so much, to the end we
might see his love (for it was meet we should by something understand
how much he was put to it), he thereupon cries out, ' Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass.' But as he had, John xii. 27, so here his
Father's will quiets all again. And the whole mind of this passage is but
to shew,
1. His averseness, as to the thing in itseK simply considered, because of
the bitterness of it ; and,
2. That the whole ground of his submitting notvdthstanding thereunto
was his Father's will ; and,
3. How that, notwithstanding his will stood to it as high as ever, yet
only upon that gi-ound, ' Not my will, but thy will be done.'
When they had him in the high priest's hall, scorning and bufi'eting of
him ; as he had set his face, as you heard, afore his sufferings to go to
Jerusalem ; so now the prophet uttering it in his person, tells us how he
steeled his heart thereagainst also : ' I gave my back to the smiters, and my
cheeks to them that plucked off the hair : I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. For the Lord God will help me ; therefore shall I not be
confounded : therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I
shall not be ashamed.'
Lastly, 'UTaen he hung upon the tree, and had enough to have provoked
so great a spii"it, so empowered as he was with the sovereignty of heaven
and earth to have relieved himself, and to have commanded those nails to
have given way, he could have taught them better obedience than to
detain their Lord in so gi'eat sufferings a moment ; and that which did and
might have provoked him farther to have shewn his power to rescue him-
self, was their cruel mockings of him added to all his sufferings, ' Come
down' (say they), 'thou that savest others, and we will believe thee.'
"Well, he still hangs quietly there. 'He endured the cross' (Paul says),
' and despised the shame,' Heb. xii. 1. When in the grave, all the power
of death could not keep him there, for he had done his work. But love
kept him on the cross, and nailed him there with stronger nails than men
or devils could have driven in.
Chap. IX.] op Christ the mediator. 171
Alas ! He could, as Samson, whilst they mocked him, have broke down
the pillars of heaven about their ears, and himself have stood erect from
out the ruins of it. In the sixteenth Psalm (made of him) he blesseth God
for having given him that counsel to persist in his resolution to die, and
keeping the purpose of it fixed in his heart during all those nights in which
he had to do with his Father afore his sufierings. If he, I am sure we
much more, have cause to bless God for giving it, and him for following it.
Even so, Jesus blessed ! Amen.
172 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK V.
BOOK V.
Chrisfs actual pei^formance of our redem^otion. — In the general, he gave him-
self for us. — The paHicular j^arts of our redemption are, that he was
made sin, and a curse ; and by his death obtained a victory over Satan,
whereby he delivers us from slavery ; and hath performed all righteousness
which might answer the law for us. — And that Christ, as our great shep-
herd, takes care to p)reserve and secure u^ safe, thus redeemed and freed by
him.
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. — 1 Tim. II. 6.
CHAPTEE I.
That God pi-eseritly , on man's fall, making the discovery to him of a Redeemer ^
Adam transmitted the knowledge of him to his posterity, and he was accord-
ingly proposed to the faith of the piatriurchs.
Though believers, before tbe coming of Christ, had in their faith but some
obscure glimmerings of Clxrist the Redeemer, j'et they had real apprehen-
sions of such a person to come. And there were certainly some outward
glimmerings and rays, in the things appointed to represent Christ shining
through that vail. For the difference that the apostle puts, when he
handles and compares the point of both and each of those dispensations,
ours and theirs, seems to import so much in saying, that ' we behold
with open face the glory of the Lord,' 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; implying that they
had some darker, obscure, confused gleams and apprehensions darted into
their minds thereof. It is true the person was then veiled indeed, and hid
in cloudy and dark expressions and representations, that were but shadows ;
even as we read of Moses, that his face was covered with a veil, to signify
thus much. And Moses being as their mediator then, and face being put
in Scripture for person, we may say that Christ's person was then obscured ;
and yet with such a veil as did not utterly darken all perceivance of his
gloiy. It is true, indeed, that they knew not the individual person, who
he was to be, as now we do, and is necessary for us to do ; as Christ told
the Pharisees (who lived under the light of his gospel and miracles), ' unless
you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins.' But that there was
one of the sons of men, that was to come, who should be a dehverer, this
the saints that were saved generally then knew. Although the vulgar
Jew stuck in the letter, as at this day, the veil being on their hearts, as
2 Cor. iii. 15. It is not now on Christ's face, chap. iv. 4, 5, but upon
men's hearts.
I shall begin my proof with the first promise in paradise, which appa-
rently was, that a son of Eve, the seed of the woman, was to come, that
Chap. I.] of christ the mediator. 173
should have power to break the serpent's head : that is, in plainer lan-
guage now said, ' who should destroy the works of the devil,' 1 John iii. 8,
or as it is in the epistle to the Hebrews, chap. ii. 14, ' "Who should destroy
him that had the power of death,' and save and deliver from him that had
just that very day brought sin and death into the world, and thereupon had
the power of death. And therefore also that person promised was to be
more than a mere man, or mere creature. For how otherwise could he
have power to overcome and destroy and break the power of those fallen
angels ? yea, and which was more, of God's law, that threatened death ?
Now are we to be saved by the knowledge and faith of this person, as Eve
(to be sure) first was by the faith on him, and then we. And the neces-
sity to salvation of that knowledge appears in the case of our first parents.
For why else did God thus hastily, in the cool of the evening of that very
day wherein they had sinned, discover this, but that the knowledge of it
was necessaiy to their salvation ? And the same necessity must be sup-
posed to hold for the salvation of others that were to be saved after them.
And therefore the knowledge of a redeemer was delivered unto them, to be
transmitted down to their posterity. Adam also li-ving nine hundred and
thirty years and upwards into that first world, and a godly seed and race
being reckoned from him unto the flood, and those our first parents being
godly, and having been the causes of transmitting sin to all their posterity,
were the more engaged and obliged, and accordingly zealously moved, to
derive down the knowledge of that means, whereby themselves had been
recovered, by the which their posterity might be saved also ; and it were
strange to think that they should not. And that, de facto, they did so
deliver it, besides what the story in Genesis doth relate of the religion pro-
pagated in those times, there were some footprints remaining among the
heathen of Eve's fall, by name,* of the serpent's venom and infection, for
which they made a collision and bruising of serpents, and of a seed, Jovis
Incrementum, as Virgil calls him, who should be a restorer and confounder
of the devil. Such memorials were left and found among the heathens,
though so defaced, as they could not be saved by them, they wanting a
spiritual light to accompany that knowledge. It would be, therefore, I say,
unreasonable to think that those who after were to be saved, should be
utterly kept by God from the inkhng and knowledge of that first promise.
For there was no other promise (which we read of extant) whereby those
might be saved that were saved.
Now that which I would have observed upon that original promise, is,
that there are but two eminent things that promise consists of, First, the
deliverance and salvation from the serpent's power, which is the break-
ing the serpent's head. And the second is, that a person, one of the sons
of men, should efiect this, and break his head. Concerning this my pre-
sent argument proceedeth.
The all-wise and gracious Lord first saw and conceived the knowledge of
such a person necessary for the bringing of the sons of men in to him, as well
as of his grace to save them, and therefore contented not himself to make
barely a promise of deliverance. And the necessity lies in this, that the
guilty conscience of the sinner, rightly apprehensive of what the heinous-
ness of sinning against God is, and of God's wrath for sin is, even a
• consuming fire,' hath not the boldness to approach to God in its own
person, in its own sin, but hides himself, as Adam did. Nor would man
dare to approach to him without a mediator promised to him. As is evident
* 'See An Unregenerate Man's Guiltiness,' &c., Book ix., chap. 4.
174 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
from the people of Israel's desire, that Moses should approach to God for
them ; and upon which Moses received the promise of a prophet to come after
him, like unto him. This also caused Job to wish a day's-man betwixt
God and him, Job. ix. 33. And how natural conscience awakened dictates
to men the necessity of a mediator, we have an instance in that Highlander,
who hearing Mr Robert Bruce inveighing against those sins, of which he
knew himself guilty, his conscience being deeply touched, said, ' Ise give
him twenty cows to gree God and me.' Poor man ! He felt the power
of God's word on his soul from that man's ministry ; and he thought him
to have acquaintance with God, and thought that he might be able to
reconcile God to him again. Thus the first grand charter granted to Adam
held out the person of Christ as a potent victor over Satan, and mediator
for man.
Now this was also succeeded with sacrifices offered to God. Witness
Abel, of whom you read, Heb. xi., which way of worship to God sin alone
brought in, and which the state of innocency knew not of. And these
pointed unto an atonement ; and by the saving faith upon the Messiah to
come, who had been held forth in the aforesaid promise, was Abel accepted,
which Cain wanted, Heb. xi.
CHAPTER II.
That Christ gave himself for us to redeem us. — What is implied in that ex-
pression. — We should duly consider the greatness and value of such a gift.
— Christ giving himself is a high testimony of his own jyeculiar love to us.
I have at large shewn the free willingness that was in Christ to perform
the work of a redeemer for us, which also these words sufficiently import,
* He have himself.' He was not passively given up by his Father, but it
was a free act of his own ; and so gifts are.
We have likewise discoursed the fulness of his abilities and capacities to
make satisfaction, and purchase redemption, which no mere creature was
capaole of, but that his power, being God-man, was as great as his heart was
free. Let us now come to the performance, the price, the ransom itself as
it is here declared to be, a giving himself. Towards the general opening of
this we may observe.
I. How Paul delights in this expression ' he gave,' or ' offered himself
up,' both in the frequency of using it, Eph. v, 2, 25, Titus ii. 14, Heb.
ix. 14, 'offered himself;' and Heb. i. 3, 'purged away our sins by himself ;'
Phil. ii. 7, ' emptied himself.' As also in that, when that holy apostle,
with application, speaks of Christ's love unto himself, and would set it out
to the highest elevation, to affect his heart most deeply, he then useth this
expression, ' who loved me, and gave himself for me,' Gal. ii. 20.
II. That what other scriptures do parcel forth in particulars of what
Christ gave, this one sums up in this total, as comprehensive of all else.
The Scripture elsewhere, yea, the Lord's supper, doth set it forth by piece-
meals': his blood in the wine, his ' precious blood shed to redeem us,' 1 Pet.
i. 19 ; his body in the bread, * this is my body which is given for you,' Luke
xxii. 19 ; his Jiesh or whole man, ' I give my flesh for the life of the world,'
John vi. 51 ; his life; ' I give my life for my sheep,' John x. 15 ; his
said, ' poured out as an offering for sin,' Isa. liii. 10 ; his giving up all his
estates and riches, and becoming poor, 2 Cor. viii. 9 ; his leaving father
Chap. II. of christ the mediator. 175
and mother, Eph. v. 81, 32, compfircd. Whatever, I say, other scriptures
oil the Lord's supper do by parcels inventory forth to us, all and each of
these, this one word, ' he gave himself,' doth at onco, by the great, sum-
marily comprehend. For to say himself, to be sure was his all.
III. He gave, he gave away ; for what is given as a price or ransom (as
this in the text), as also to give himself as a sacrifice, as Eph. v. 2, this is
purely a giving away, whereby the giver sufi'ers so much real loss and
damage to purchase that redemption. And so the sacrifice was burnt and
consumed to ashes, there was perfectly so much loss to him that offered it,
as what is given comes to ; and so in giving away his riches, he is said to
have become poor thereby, 2 Cor. viii. 9, and to have nothing left to him-
self, Dan. ix. 26, and that he emptied himself, Phil. ii. 7, 8. There was
nothing that was gain to him, but he sufiered for the present loss of it, as
to his present use and advantage.
IV. Himself was that which was given away. Not his only, or what was
his, but himself; not sua but se (as Paul said, ' I seek not yours, but you') ;
so here Christ gave away not only to, 'idia, what were his own (as proper
goods and chattels are said to be a man's own), extrinsecal to him (and
thus the whole creation is said to be to Christ, John i. 11), but it is him-
self, his very person, or what was personally his, whatsoever was most in-
trinsecally his own, intimum suiim, and what was, as himself, unto himself
most dear and precious, and innate. This is therefore an extensive word,
and draws in all of himself (as we shall see anon), the whole of himself, all
that could be made of himself, all that he could rap or rend, as we say, that
could possibly any way be made away from himself. This in the general.
As for particulars, I shall confine myself to such things only as are in
Scripture or common speech termed ones self, and which, according to the
dialect of the Scriptures, about Christ's person, are in a more special manner
deemed himself. Now what is it that may be, and usually is, called a
man's self?
1. A person's doings, works, operations, and actings, which are the fruits
that proceed from and grow upon one's self; these are reckoned a man's
self. Thus when a servant gives up all his actions and service, all his
time, and what he can do, that all this should be to his master's use, though
suppose that master hath not power over his life, or goods, yet in that case
he is said to let himself, to sell himself, to give himself up, to that man's
use and service, to be managed all by his master's appointment and com-
mand. Or if (suppose) out of love and friendship to another, one employs
his whole time and labours, and suffers all his actions to be ordered for the
other, though not in way of service, but as a friend ; yet in this case he may
be said to give up himself when he is all that while of no use to himself, or
to his own private and personal advantages. Whereas otherwise it is the
nature of self to work for itself. In this case a man is rightly said to give
over himself, when his operations are thus to be disposed of by another.
The philosopher says, that ' that day a man is made a servant or slave to
another, he loseth half of himself,' half of his reason and thoughts (such
was the condition of servants then, especially slaves), they being ordered,
disposed of, and subjected to another's will. When Ahab is said to have
' sold himself to work wickedness,' it was by giving up his works, and
actions, and ways, to the dominion and power of sin, as a lord and master
over him. And on the contrary, the obedience we owe to God in ' keep-
ing his commandments' is called 'the whole of man,' Eccl. xii. 13, be-
cause it exacts and takes up the strength and might, and the whole in man
176 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK '\ .
as given up in it, if rightly performed as it ought. Now in this sense, the
whole of Christ might be justly said to be given away, and he to have given
himself ; for all his actions, and whatsoever he did, were wholly at the
direction of another, for, and on our behalf, and not his own ; and accord-
ingly were wholly directed by him to that end, to serve us according to his
appointment : ' I came not,' says he, ' to do mine own will, but the will of
him that sent me,' John vi. 38. The Father gave him every jot of his
works ; and I have finished it, says he. It is his speech at the last of what
he had done in this world, from first to last, in John xvii. 4. And so in
doing only such works as the Father gave him, he gave away himself to his
Father first, and therein to us also. For that work being all, in the earn-
ings of it, wholly for our behoof and advantage, he is withal as truly said
to have given himself for us. He was hereby a perfect servant to his
Father for us, yea, and ours also. And this also doth Christ in that one
single passage. Mat. xx. 28, give us the sense and interpretation of, ' The
Son of man came not to be ministered unto,' as Lord of all, ' but to minis-
ter, and to give his life (as in and by dying, so through the whole course
of his hfe by serving) ' a ransom for many,' that is, for us. He professeth
every where that he was not at his own dispose, and so not his own : ' I
came not to do my own will ;' how often do you meet with it from him.
He was not his own, or himself (as we use to speak in that case) in any
thing he did here, who yet was himself (by his native right) most free, and
had the prerogative to act all for himself, and of glorifying himself another
way than this. But this privilege he laid down wholly at his Father's
feet, and took up all by a new commission from him, to act all according
to his will, and not his own, in order to our salvation. And therefore when
he came to die, he says, ' As the Father giveth me commandment, so do I.
Arise, let us go hence,' John xiv. 31,
2. A person may be said to give himself, when he gives up the comforts
of his life ; and therefore denying a man's self is interpreted by Christ, a
forsaking lands, houses, father, mother. And life is put in for the comforts
of life, as when it is said, that 'Life lies not in abundance,' the meaning is,
the comfort of life doth not. Now all the comforts of this and the other
life did Christ part withal first or last, even unto the light of the sun itself,
the common privilege of mankind, which was darkened when he was a-crucify-
ing. And then all the joys and comforts of the other world Christ parted
with for a time. When it was his due to have been in heaven glorious, he
left heaven and all its glories. And then death, which is, as we know, a
privation of all worldly things, put a period to all his enjoyments of this life.
3. His manhood of human nature, consisting of soul and hodj, is called
himself, and is meant by giving his flesh for the life of the world, John vi. 51 ;
that is, the whole human nature, in distinction from his Godhead, and
second person as God, as is noticed in those very words, ' my flesh, which
I will give ;' and the giving of the life thereof, as John x., is justly termed
the giving himself. And so Heb. ix. 14, the sacrificing thereof (which was
a whole burnt-ofl^ering) is termed the ' ofi'ering up himself.' He ' offered
up himself by the eternal Spirit,' that is, by his Godhead, who is that Spirit
which quickeneth that human nature. This Spirit was the oflerer, and the
manhood the sacrificer,* and yet that sacrifice is called himself, even as the
body of a man is called the man, so in vulgar speech ; and Mary, John
XX. 2, calls the body of Christ, which she thought dead, ' the Lord.' But
then the soul is much oftener styled the person ; but take body and soul
* Qu. ' sacrifice ' ? — Ed.
ClIAP. II.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 177
both, as united into one man, and tho oflforing of both, as so united, that
to bo sure is the offering of one's self. And in this sense tho Scripture,
especially that epistle to the Hebrews, opposeth that himself, that is, his
human nature, to all other sacrifices wherein priests offered up things that
were not themselves, but things extrinsecal to their persons, as the blood
of bulls and goats. And as when the idolatrous and superstitious Jews
offered up their children to Moloch, the fruit of their bodies, the offerinf^
up of such things was not in any sense a sacrifice of themselves. But God
being made flesh, that is, the second person, the Son, taking a human nature
into one person with himself, hence, though he offered but that human nature,
yet in opposition to such foreign offerings, he is said to have offered up himself,
though the Godhead were not oflered up, even as the soul or the person of a
man might be said to do, that offers up but his body a sacrifice, and so but
his bodily life, though his soul he doth not, and cannot offer ; and in this
opposition to things foreign to a person, it is said Heb. ix. 14, compared
with verses 11-13, ' But Christ being come an high priest of good things
to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building ; neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh ; how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered 7tj?«se?/ without spot to God,' &c. Wherein he doth compare
Christ, who was God's high priest, with their high priests, sajdng, that they
offered but the blood of bulls and goats, things that could in no sense be
called themselves, but he offered up himself; and more clearly, ver. 25,
where his offering himself is opposed to the high priests' offering other
creatures and not themselves, in these words, ' nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year ivith
blood of others,' aT/j^a aXkor^iov, others' blood. So that the blood of bulls
and goats, or, by the same reason, the blood of other men (if there had been
such sacrifices) as suppose of children, offered up by father and mother
(which God required not, though the idolatrous Jews practised it), yet all
still had been but the blood of som8 other thing than himself, aJn,a aXkor^iov ;
but this offering of Christ in opposition was of himself, as that text hath it, aJ/Mu,
auToj as also Rev. i. 5.
Now then, if you ask what that was which was the sacrifice, and yet is
reckoned himself, 10th chapter to the Hebrews ver. 5 resolves us that it
was that body or human nature, both soul and body, prepared to be that
sacrifice : ' Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me.' So then this
is a third sense wherein he offered himself.
Use. Let us set a value upon this gift and ransom, according to the dig-
nity of it. It was the greatness of the price is set forth hereby (that he
gave himself, which is the express scope of this text in Timothy, and Mat.
XX. 28), to shew the inestimable value of the gift. It was once said of a
great bargain, or sale and purchase made by the great, and in the lump,
between two great personages, that the one bought and the other sold, they
knew not what. And truly, although God knew, and Christ knows, what
the price comes to, yet we for whom it was given can never know nor esti-
mate it to all eternity. Oh, never ! nor can we comprehend what this
reacheth to, ' Christ gave himself.' It is an unknown gift and ransom this.
* What is his name, or his Son's name,' says Agur, Prov. xxx. 4. * Canst
VOL. V. M
178 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
thou tell ?' And as little canst thou tell, what this giving himself amounts
to ; thou mayest as well ' bind the waters in thj' gannent, and ascend to
heaven,' &c., as Agur there speaks, as fathom to the bottom this depth, and
sound what an infinite treasure lies sunk therein. It is himself, none but
himself that disbursed and pailed with it, knows what of himself went from
him, when he gave himself. None knows the worth of himself, but himself,
Rev. xix. 12. His ' name' is such, as it it said, * none knows but himself.'
None but himself that disburseth it can tell what of himself he parted with,
and went from him to make up this payment ; none, I say, but he and his
Father, unto whom it was he gave himself, and who set and took the price
and made the bargain for our redemption, know the value. We use to set
out things of the gi-eatest worth and the vastest sums amongst men, by ' a
king's ransom.' It is worth a king's ransom, so 3'ou use to say, in saying
which you suppose to yourselves some great king taken captive and prisoner
by a potent enemy able to retain and keep him ; and how that then his
whole kingdom (as the law and manner is) contributes and gives a ransom
worthy to restore him to his throne again. And that is estimated also
according to what proportion his kingdom may be judged to be in riches,
or their prince in glory and dignity. Oh ! what a value then would be set
upon a king's becoming a ransom himself, yea, of the gi*eat God made one
person with om* nature, and of his giving himself a ransom, who is the King
of kings. If God sets a value upon each hau* of his children's head (which,
to express with esteem, they are said to be numbered by him), then of
what esteem with him (think we) must needs eveiy thing of Christ's, every
hair of his head be, who is the head, worth all the saints themselves, aU the
saints together, who are but the body to him ?
There is yet a more special reflection in this speech, ' He gave himself,'
as it is in a special manner a setting forth the proper and peculiar love of
Jesus Christ himself in this matter ; proper, I say, to himself, as distin-
guished fi-om the Father, and his love in giving him also. Nothing is or
could be more expressive of a love, and the greatness of it, than to say, ' He
gave himself.' You may therefore observe that they are often joined to-
gether ; and where this of giving himself is mentioned, there the other, his
love, also is spoken of. Yea, and this is pui-posely mentioned, as the
gi'eatcst thing by which his love could be set out. This conjunction we
find again and again, Eph. v. 25, ' As Christ loved his church, and gave
himself for it,' And a second time by Paul, Gal. ii. 20, ' "\Mio loved me,
and gave himself for me.' The highest signification and e\idence of love
that is found amongst men, is that in a husband towards a wife, that he
gives himself to her, and so giving himself, he gives all things with himself,
that there needs no more be said or added to signify love. But lo ! here
is more, not only Christ giving himself, his whole self to his church, as a
husband doth, but a giving himself /or his church, as Eph. v. 23, 25.
And that is it the apostle would make impression of upon us, as the gi-eatest
demonstration of his love to his church ; that when she was captived to sin
and everlasting miseiy, then he gives himself for her, to save her, as it
follows there. We adore and admire his love ; his love in giving himself
to us, %hen by the application of redemption he is made ours by grace.
And how great a favour is this to the saints, that live in communion with
Christ daily, which they feel in the sweets of a real enjoyment of such a
person, so great, so lovely ; which they accordingly take in by the most
exquisite spiritual sense, that the presence and gift of such a person requires
of them. 0, but how great must his love be in giving himself for them
Chap. II.] op christ the mediator. 179
so long ago, before they were ! although the application of him to them was
the end of it. And whereas this transaction of giving himself, they know
but by hearsay, and relation of the scriptures, it was what he did for them
* in himself (as the phrase is, Col. ii. 15). And so they take it in but by
faith. Yet when Christ himself is applied to thy soul, then put but both
together, and let the distinct apprehension of each meet in any one's heart,
that hath a principle of love to Christ in him ; and what an infinite of lovo
to us will the joint stream of them arise to ! Himself given, his whole self,
yea, and doubly given ; given to us in application, and that not enough, but
given for us first in redemption ; and so given over and over — each of
which givings is enough to overcome and confound (with a love's confusion)
the stoutest, hardest heart of any, yea, of all believers, when they come to
comprehend these things. And it was Paul's prayer for the Ephesians,
chap. iii. 17-19, ' That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and know
the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.' Some interpreters would
have it, that the apostle should speak all that of the height and depth, &c.,
of the love of Christ to us, because that doth follow so immediately. I dis-
pute not that now ; but this I will say, that although the Father's love in
other respects exceeds, and is therefore to be extolled for the height, and
depth, &c., of it, and is in other scriptm-es set forth accordingly, in that
it was the original of all (for it was he that made choice of the persons that
shall be saved, contrived and designed all the grace and glory which each
person so chosen shall have ; yea, and his love is also commended to us,
in that he gave his only begotten Son, &c., Rom. v. 8, John iii. 16), yet
still let me say it, that Chi'ist's love hath this whereby it excels, and which
is peculiar to him in this matter, that it was he alone that gave himself.
The Father gave not himself. He gave but a Son indeed, yet as a person
distinct from himself. And for a father to give a son who is dear to him
is love ; but for him that is given to give himself, this in that respect speaks
higher. That speaks a strain of more intimacy of love than the Father's is
in that respect ; although his Son were never so dear and near to him, and
inward with him. But on Christ's part it was himself, and what was proper
to himself in distinction from the Father, that that was given by himself.
It was he that bare the brunt, that paid the price, out of what was not his
only as appurtenances of him, but even out of himself. As therefore, when
God would swear, ' because be could swear by no greater, he sware by him-
self ;' so Christ, when he would give a gift to express and shew his love, be-
cause he could give nothing greater, he gives away himself, and that over
and over. We are to render to each of those persons that love and honour
which is due to them, as the apostle speaks of men in another case, Rom.
xiii. 7. And look in what particular thing or respect the love of each of
them is proper to each, our affections of love and honour should accordingly
uprise and apply themselves to render a suitable return, that is, to give to
the Son what is the Son's, and to the Father what is the Father's. Let
us therefore bring all of what Christ hath done home to our hearts, under
that very respect and consideration that it was he that gave himself, &c.
And then withal, let all that can be said to commend the Father's love, let
it all come in upon our hearts ; as his giving a Son, an only begotten Son,
one in essence and eternal fellowship with himself, as he is God with him ; —
' My Father and I are one ;' — and then let us meditate on God's giving his
Son, considered as he is God-man, in that God chose and designed him as
180 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
such chiefly and principally, and in the first place for his own peculiar de-
light, as he says of him, Isa. xlii. 1, ' Mine elect, in whom my soul delights.'
Even that glory which was to be in him, as God-man, was an object in
itself more lovely, and dearer unto God for him to please himself with, and
to take delight in, than milHons of worlds, yea, than all that which he could
have made. And therefore for God the Father to part with such a Son, to
give such a Son, and all the glory of his, in which he so much delighted,
was infinite love. But yet stiU even all this wiU serve the more to com-
mend the love of Christ the Son to us, that himself was given by himself.
I say, in that respect it will be the more heightened on his part also, that
he should part -ndth such a Father that so loved him, and his own glory at
once. In and from the Old Testament we find the love of the Father is
greatened to us by giving men or nations, when j'et they were most wicked,
and so most hateful to God of themselves ; to give them for a ransom for
his people. And it is used by God himself as an argument of infinite love,
Isa. xliii. 4. So as still his love is gi'eatened to us by all ; and it is he,
and none other, even this Chi'ist (who is God) of whom Isaiah speaks these
very things, both in the one place and the other which I have cited. It
is he of whom he says that ' All the nations are but as the di'op of a bucket
to him.' Compare for this but ver. 3, 9, 10, 11, of that 40th chapter,
with the 12th, 15th, 17th verses, and you will see all these words are
spoken of him. what a gift was this then ! How much more cause have
we to say, than the apostle of the Corinthians' collection for the saints, Oh !
blessed be God for this unspeakable gift.
CHAPTER III.
It is lyroved in the general, that Christ was made sin and a curse for ns, be-
cause he, redeeming us uho icere under the law, must become that ivhich we
were in the account and judgment of the law. — That how Christ ivas made
sin for its demonstrated and explained in what respect he %ms so. — -Uses
drawn from the doctrines.
It is said. Gal. iv. 4, 5, that ' God sent his Son, made under the law,
to redeem them that are under the law.' Now, whatever Christ redeemed
us from, he was himself made for us ; redeeming us from it by being made
it. He that made the law, was made under it for us. Both he and we
were under the law ; but with this difierence, we were born under it, but
he was made under it, by a voluntaiy covenant freely undergoing it. To
be * under the law' is to be subject to all that the law is able to say or do.
So we use to express the condition of a subject, saying he lives under the
laws. And so the apostle expresseth it, Rom. iii. 19, ' What the law says,
it says unto them that are under the law.' So that whosoever is under
the law, whatever the law is able to say and exact, to him it says and of
him it requires it. And if Christ will be made under the law for sinners,
the law will have full as much to say to him as unto sinners themselves ;
that is, as he is their imdertaker.
And the law hath more to say to sinners than to any other creatures.
1. It can accuse them, and call them sinners to their faces. It can
arraign them, and lay all their sins to their charge, and will not leave out
one tittle in that indictment. It can say, Thou art a blasphemer, thou an
adultei-er, thou a drunkard, &c. It does not, it will not, spare at any time
to speak this.
Chap. III.] of chbist the mediator. 181
2. It can call them cursed for all tlioso sing : Gal. iii, 10. ' Cursed is
every one,' Sec.
There is the accusing power of the law, and there is the condemning
power, as appears by the law in our own consciences : Rom. ii. 15, * it
accuseth,' and, ver. 1, 'it condemneth.' And so you have both a witness
to accuse and a judge to condemn in your own breasts, which (as the
apostle saith) shews but the effect of the law, which in itself it will do,
much more to them that know it in the rigour of it. If therefore ho who
is our Redeemer will come under the law for sinners, the law will say as
much to him as it had to say to us, give him as ill language, exact as
hard measure from him as from us. The law is backed with God's jus-
tice, and so will not respect or spare the greatness of Christ's person, if he
once come under it. As we are creatures, and he our surety, it will as
boldly command him to keep the commandments on our behalf, as it
would us. Look what it would have said to us as we were sinners, it will
as boldly and as freely speak, and speak out against him, only with this
differing respect of reverence to him, as by himself voluntarily made under
it, whereas we were born slaves under it.
That therefore this clamour of the law might be fully stopped, and we
redeemed and freed from whatever the law had to say against us, Christ
was made all that we had made ourselves.
As, 1. were we sinners ? Christ, that was made under the law, was
made sin for us, 2 Cor. v. 21, that sin might ' not be imputed to us,' ver.
19. Again, were we accursed ? Christ is made a curse for us, to redeem
us from the curse of the law. Gal. iii. 13 ; that so, by his being made sin,
we may say, ' Who shall lay anything to our charge ? ' Eom. viii, 33 ; and
by his being made a curse, we may as triumphantly say, ' Who shall con-
demn ? Christ hath died,' Rom. viii. 34. So as, though but the one is
here mentioned, yet we will handle both. W^e will both shew how he was
made sin for us, and how he was made a curse for us. Indeed, neither of
these places do mention both distinctly ; but yet either place includes and
supposeth both. He had not been made a curse, if he had not first been
made sin. He could not be made sin, but he must likewise be made a
curse, the consequent of sin. They are two strange words to be spoken
of God's Son, and such as it had been blasphemy for us to speak, if God
himself had not spake them first. And now that he hath spoken them, we
had need take them in a right sense, or else they will be blasphemy in
our thoughts still.
1. Christ was made sin for us, 2 Cor. v. 21. By sin some have under-
stood only an offering for sin ; and then to be made sin there, and a curse
here, comes all to one. I confess it is sometimes so taken, as the ofierings
in the Levitical law are called sin ; but it is not so here, but truly and
more plainly for the guilt of sin. And the reasons why it must be so
meant here are, first, because that which sin is here opposed unto is right-
eousness : ' He was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him.' Now, by the righteousness of his made ours, is here meant,
not only the benefits which his righteousness deserved and purchased, but
his very fulfilling the law ; so Rom. viii. 4, ' That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit.' Therefore (as the law of opposition carries it) his being made sin
is not only his being made the punishment, the curse that sin had deserved,
but even the very guilt and breach of the law itself was made his, even as
182 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
his righteousness was made ours. And. how this came about, we shall
shew presently.
SccoHcUi/, He was made sin, which he ' knew not,' that is, not experi-
mentally, he was not conscious and guilty of it in his own person : ' he
was made sin, who knew no sin.' Now, if" only punishment for sin were
here meant, this were not true, for he experimentally knew what punish-
ment for sin was as fully as we do : Heb. iv. 15, ' We have an high priest
that was touched with the feeling of our infirmities,' and touched to the
quick too. His soul knew full well what it was to suffer for sin ; hut he
knew not what sin, the breach of the law, was. He knew not Avhat it was
to act sin ; and yet this which he knew not he was some way or other made,
even made the guilt of sin.
It is time to explain how, lest any of your thoughts run too far. The
text helps us in it. As we are made his righteousness, so he was made
our sin. Now, we are made his righteousness merely by imputation, that
is, all his obedience to the law is accounted ours, is reckoned ours, even as
if we had fulfilled it, though we knew none of it. It was fulfilled, not by
us, but in us, Eom. viii. 4. He fulfilled it, not we ; so that there was an
exchange made, and all our breaches of the law were made his ; our debts
put over to him, that is, reckoned to him, put upon his score. That is
all ; let your thoughts therefore go no further. It was ' we that like sheep
went astray,' and not he, and yet 'the Lord laid on him the iniquities of
us all,' Isa. liii. 6. And to be made sin in this sense is but to be charged
and accused as a sinner, and not made really so by committing it. As we
use to say, when we would accuse and prove one to be a thief, we say, I
will make a thief of you ; that is, not make you steal, but prove you to be
such. So this making here is but God's reckoning him as a transgressor.
That phrase is used ver. 12 of Isaiah liii. : ' He was numbered amongst
the transgressors,' reckoned such by God and men. By imputation then
he was counted as one that hath broken the law. And yet (to free j'our
thoughts from the least mistake) though by imputation, yet not such as
whereby we were made sinners in Adam, which was by imputation, but
originally. Now, Christ was not so made our sin. That which is imputed
may be said to be imputed either by derivation, or else by voluntary assump-
tion, or willing taking it upon one. Now, Adam's sin, though it was but
imputed to us, yet it was by derivation, and by a natural and necessary
covenant. But oar sin, though to Christ it was imputed, yet not by deri-
vation, but by a willing, fi-ee undertaking or taking them oft" from us, and
by a voluntary covenant. So that, although he was made sin, jet in that
he was freely made so, therefore that imputation stained not him, nor his
nature ; but he remained holy, undetiled, and separate from sinners ;
whereas the imputation of Adam's sin stained and depraved us his pos-
terity. For though that sin of his was but imputedly made ours, yet so
as we, being one in him, are truly said to have sinned in him ; and there-
fore his sin is ours, because we committed it, and sinned in him, Rom. v.
12. But of Christ we must abhor to think so. Nay, in this doth the im-
putation of his righteousness to us difler from the imputation of our sins
to him, that his righteousness is so imputed to us as we, by reason of that
covenant between God and him, may be said to have fulfilled the law in
him, and the law is said to be fulfilled in us, because we were in him ; but
not so are our sins imputed to him. It cannot be said in any sense, he
was made sin in us, but /or m only, or the sin which was committed first
in us, and by us, considered in ourselves, was made his ; for though we
ClIAP. 111.] OF CUUISX THE MEDIATOR. 183
wore in him, yet not be in us : for tbo root bears the branches, and not
the branches the root.
Having thus shewn how it was, and in what sense, we will now shew,
I. By Scripture.
II. By Reason.
I. By Scripture. And here take the instance of the scape-goat, over
whose head the sins of the people were confessed (Lov. xvi. 21) by Aaron's
putting his hand upon it ; therein acting the part of God the Father, ' lay-
ing the iniquities of us all upon Christ,' and translating them from the
people. To which those phrases in Isaiah liii. do refer. And this was in
respect of leaving the guilt of their sins, not the punishment of them, upon
him. For to express and hold forth Christ as made an offering for sin,
that other goat was sacrificed ; but the scape-goat was ordained to hold forth
Christ's bearing the guilt of our sins, for that goat was carried away into a
land of separation, or a place inaccessible. And so Christ, whom John
saw as the ' Lamb of God, bearing the sins of the world,' carries away our
sins, to an utter abolishing of them fi'om before the face of God, so that,
(as it is in Jer. 1. 20) ' they shall be sought for, but not found,' they being
taken away, as the phrase of the New Testament is. Christ had them put
upon him when he was baptized, d/^wi/, suscijjiens, j^ortans, aiiferens ; and
principally when he was upon the cross, as 1 Peter ii. 24, ' Who his own
self bai'e our sins on his body ' (that is his human nature) on the tree.'
So Heb. ix. 28, ' Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,' and he
shall appear the second time ' without sin,' Therefore, now thi« time he
appeared (to John) canying the sins of the world, but being risen, justified
from all those sins, he shall appear without the guilt of them lying upon
him. And accordingly, when he was in this life, he demeaned himself as
one that had been a sinner, as in appearance such. The flesh he took had
' the likeness of sinful flesh,' Rom. viii. 3. The foreskin of his flesh was
cii'cumcised, as if he had been bom in sin. So his mother was purified,
Luke ii. 23, 24, and offered an offering, as if she had conceived him in sin;
and Lev. xii. 2, 6, this was a sin-offering, namely, for that sin which their
seed was brought forth in. And as in those rites at his birth, so in his
whole life he submitted to the ceremonial law, the intent of which was to
be puUica confessio, and hke to penance, whereby they were to profess
themselves sinners, and to stand in need of a mediator, and so thrice a year
he came unto the temple, &c. All which, if he had not some way been
made a sinner, he ought not to have done, for he should thereby have pro-
fessed that which was not. Yea, in those confessions, those passionate
psalms made for him, we find him acknowledging of sin as his own. This
will appear by some passages in those psalms which are prophetically made
of Christ, and utter the inward addi'esses of his soul unto his Father. And
of all the psalms, or other prophecies of this nature, there is no one except
the twenty- second, which can challenge more passages in so small a space, ap-
plied expressly unto Christ in the New Testament, than the sixty-ninth psalm.
In ver. 4 we have it, ' They hated me without a cause.' This we find aj^plied
by Christ himself, as prophesied of himself, John xv. 25. Again, we have it
ver. 9 of that psahn, ' The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.' This you
have in like manner, John ii. 19, applied unto Christ. Moreover, the next
words of that 9th verse, ' The reproaches of them that reproached thee are
fallen upon me.' Lo, you have them applied by Paul as expressly unto
Christ, Rom. xv. 3. Again, that passage, ver. 21, ' They gave me gall for
my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegai- to drink ; ' you know both
184 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR, [BoOK V.
the story and the application of it by the evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and
John. Then that other passage that follows, ' Let their table be made a
snare,' you have it applied accordingly unto the Jews that crucified him, for
their crucifying of him, Kom. xi. 9.
Now then, so many of these being so applied, why should not those others
also be so applied ? as when it is said, ver. 4, 5, ' Then I restored that
which I took not away ; God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my
guiltiness is not hid from thee.' How fitly do these words express the im-
putation of sin to him. It was a proverbial speech, when a man suft'ered
innocently as to his own person, to say that ' He restored that which he
took not,' and so Christ on the cross is brought in here speaking. For as
Isaiah tells us, * He bore our sins ; ' with Oh in the next verse of the psalm
he confesseth as his own, having taken them upon him. ' God, thou
knowest my foolishness' (that is my sin, as foolishness it is usually taken),
' and my sins are not hidden from thee.' Which is plainly in other words
that which the apostle says of him, 2 Cor. v., ' He that knew no sin was
made sin.' The like you have in the fortieth psalm, ' Sacrifice and burnt-
offering thou wouldst not; Lo I come,' &c., ver. 6, 7, which how it is
applied to Christ you may read in Heb. x, neither can it well be applied to
any other. Yet, ver. 12, he says, ' My iniquities take hold of me.' He
calls them his, not by perpetration, but by a voluntary assumption, and by
imputation, reckoning them as his. So Isaiah liii. 6, ' He laid on him the
iniquities of us all.' In the Hebrew it is, ' He caused to meet in him the
iniquities of us all.' He was made the great ocean, into which the guilt of
all our sins did run.
II Now, second, for the reason of it.
1. He was not only an inier-mmcius (as Socinus would have him), or one
that came as an extraordinary messenger between God and us, but he was
sjjonsor, a surety. So Heb. vii. 22, such as Judah undertook to be for
Benjamin, Gen. xliii. 9, ' I will be surety for him and bring him to thee, or
let me bear the blame for ever.' Or such as Paul was to Onesimus, Phil.
xviii. 19, 'If he hath wronged thee, or owes aught,' says he, 'put it on my
account ; I will repay it.' Just so doth Christ engage himself unto his
Father for us. If they have wronged thee in any thing, put it on my
account, reckon it to me, and I will repay and satisfy for it. A surety,
whose name is put into a bond, is not only bound to pay the debt, but he
makes it his own debt also, even as well as it is the principal's, and he may
be sued and charged for the debt as well as he. And so Chiist, when he
once made himself a surety, he thereby made himself under the law, and
so put himself in the room of sinners, that what the law could lay to their
charge, it might lay to his.
2. And, secondly, there was a necessity, that if he would take our
punishment upon him, and so satisfy justice, he should first take on him
the guilt of our sins, ' for the judgment of God is according to truth.' The
party whom God punisheth for sin, must be some way found guilty of that
sin, or else judgment proceeds not according to right rules. Guilty, not by
inherency, yet by imputation and account. For as we can have no interest
in any benefit merited by Christ, but we must first be partakers of the
righteousness that purchased it, that must first be made ours, and then his
benefits ; so if Christ will be made a curse for us (which is the demerit of
sin), he must first be made sin. And therefore Isaiah, in the 53d chapter of
his prophecy, when at the 4th and 5th verses, he had said that Christ our
surety was not punished for himself, but ' bore our griefs,' &c., that is.
Chap. III.] of Christ the mediator. 185
those that wo should have borne, and * was wounded for our transgressions,*
lie., he then goes on to clear it how it was done: * wc,' says he, ' as sheep
had gone astray, but God laid upon him the iniquity of us all,' that is, he
ha^ang first charged upon Christ our sins, which we in our persons com-
mitted, when once they were thus laid upon him, God's justice then wounded
him for them. Unjust it is not, that a person righteous should suffer for
an unrighteous man (Peter affirms it, 1 Peter iii. 18) ; but then the un-
righteousness of that man must be laid upon him and made his.
Thus in general.
But when we say Christ was made sin, what sin was it that he is made, and
that was thus imputed to him ? Was it sin in the general only, and in the
abstract evil of it ? Surely more ; for how that should be imputed in the
universal notion of it, is hard to conceive, though it is true that he appre-
hended the evil thereof more fully than all mankind ever did, or shall do.
The Scripture seems to speak more, and as if he bore particular sins ; so
all these fore-mentioned places have it. As 1 Peter ii. 24, ' He bare our
sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin,' &c., so over
the scape-goat were the particular sins of the congregation confessed. And
so in those fore-mentioned psalms he speaks as of multitudes of iniquities,
and ' innumerable evils ' that compassed him about and came over his head.
And as Christ bare sins (in the plural), and innumerable sins, so he bare
the sins of all, and every particular man he died for; so. Is. liii. 6, ' God
caused to meet in him the iniquities of us all,' he being made as the
common drain and sink into which all the sins of every particular man do
run, and the centre in whom they all meet ; and that meeting implies an
assembly of particular sins.
Again, if he bare the particular sin of every man he died for, what were
they ? Gross sins only, and those which were more eminent for guilt ?
Why not all and every one, both small and great ? For where shall we
set the limits ? Why may it not be thought, that as there was a bill of all
the persons he died for given him (for Christ died not for propositions only,
to make them true, but for persons, and therefore is said to ' know his
sheep by name,' John x. 3), so also that he had a bill of their particular
sins, so as not one sin was left out unreckoned to him. Adam had not a
bill of our persons, for his sin is naturally derived to as many as shall
come of him ; but Christ died out of love to persons, and that out of a
voluntary covenant ; and so it was necessary that all their names should be
enrolled and given him, as himself says, John xvii. 6, ' Thine they were,
and thou gavest them me.' And as their persons, so all the sins of all
those persons, they were all to meet in him, and to be laid to his charge.
And there are these reasons for it :
1. God was to deal in justice with him (as was said), and as a surety he
was to satisfy to the uttermost farthing. And if so, it was meet he should
have an account, and know the several items of what he paid for.
2. Therein it was that he shewed more love in dying for one than for
another ; as for Mary more than another, because he bare much for her,
and more than for another ; which caused her to love him more. And how
is it that a great sinner is more beholden to Christ for his dying for him
than a small sinner is, but by his bearing more sins for the one than for
the other, and so suffering more for him ? Which if it had been carried in
a confused and general manner, and as it were in a sumvia totalis, without
the distinct reckoning of particulars, is hard to conceive how it should be.
3. It was needful, that so a sinner might say with boldness, as Kom.
186 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK V.
viii. 33, ' Who shall lay anything to my charge.' Ne aliqmd, not the least,
because that qidcqiiid, whatever it was, it was laid to Christ's charge.
And if it now be asked, how this could be, that so many millions of sins
should be distinctly considered by him in his sufferings, I answer,
1. He that is OlD/? (as Daniel calls him, Dan. viii. 13). 7s qui hahet
oinnia in numerato, he who hath all things before him at his fingers' ends,
and as it were in ready coin ready told over, could easily keep a distinct
account of all our sins.
2. He who now is in heaven, knows all that is done here below as a man,
and hath all the businesses of the world in his head and guides them, and
hath all the accounts of the world by heart, so as he is able (as at the latter
day he will) as man exactly to give unto every man his accounts, both
receipts and expenses, and that to the utmost farthing ! For every work
shall come into judgment before the man Christ Jesus, be it good or evil.
And Peter tells us, he is ' ready to judge both quick and dead,' all that are
alive, and all that are dead. He who can do all this, is able to keep a
particular account of all the sins which he expiated ; and if he did not as
man know all things here below (which in themselves are but finite, though
to us innumerable), how as man were he experimentally able to compas-
sionate all his saints upon all occasions, and in all their sufferings (as he
is said to do, Heb. ii. 18, and iv. 16) ? If now in heaven his understanding
as man be thus enlarged and vast, why, when he descended into hell (as
when our sins were reckoned to him he did), should he not be able as well
to take in all and every particular sin of his elect for whom he died ? Yea,
this stretching of his understanding then, thus to take in all men's sins,
did prepare it for that vastness which it now hath in heaven, even as our
humiliation makes way for comfort and consolation. Lastly, if Satan could
shew him all the glory of the world in the twinkling of an eye, as it were,
why might not God shew him aU our sins in as full a manner, and set them
in order before him ?
Use 1. See the immense love of Christ unto his elect, in that he would
not only be made a curse, but sin too for them ; which he being holiness
itself, must needs be most abhorrent of such an imputation. That which
we most hate, how do we abhor the imputation and name of ! That excel-
lency which we most affect, what an insufferable injury do we count it to
be blemished in ! For a chaste and undefiled maid to be counted a whore,
how nearly would it touch her, how deeply affect her ! But for holiness
itself to be ' numbered among transgressors,' for God to be called devil,
yea, prince of devils, how beyond all expression insupportable must it
needs be !
2. Learn we to confess and take upon us our sins in particular. Men's
sorrow for sin is usually general and confused. They acknowledge they
are sinners, &c., but Jesus Christ's sonl could not escape with a general
charge (as that he stood in the room of sinners) ; but the particulars are
charged on him. As he says of our persons to his Father, ' Thine they
are, and thou gavest them me ;' so maj'est thou say to him as concerning
thy sins. Mine they are, and thou tookst them on thee. And if Christ took
them on him to satisfy for them, thou must at least take them on thee to
humble thee.
3. If thou canst not confess all thou art guilty of (as thou canst not),
yet comfort* thyself with this, that Jesus Christ knew all particulars to
satisfy for them, and so entreat the Lord to cleanse thee from thy secret
Chap. III.] or christ the mediator. 187
sins, which were not hid from him. What the apostle speaks to terrify
hypocrites, that * God is greater than their hearts,' and knows more by
them than they can do by themselves ; that may we consider to our comfort,
that Christ is greater than our hearts, and knows more of our sins by us
than all we do, yea, and knew them to take them off from us.
4. Make use of Christ's blood and satisfaction, not for thy sins in the
lump, but for particular sins, because he satisfied for particulars. Not only
spread the plaster over all, but lay particular plasters of his blood to par-
.ticular sins. And as in crossing a writing which you would not have read,
you not only draw lines but also rase and scratch out every word in
particular, that it might not be read, so apply Christ's satisfactiou, and
his being made sin to every tittle and circumstance in sins more heinous,
and go over them again and again with cross lines of Christ's blood, espe-
cially in two cases.
(1.) When a new sin is a-fresh committed. Christ is a fountain to wash
us eveiy day (Zech, xiii. 2) from those daily pollutions that befall,us.
This was typified out in the old law, when they brought sacrifices upon
every particular occasion. Even so should we (not ofter up as the papists
in the masses) but put God in mind of Christ's sacrifice for particular sins
committed. So 1 John ii. 1-3, ' If any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father,' and he was the propitiation for those sins. Or,
(2.) W^hen a sin stares a man in the face much, as David's murder did
in his, when he said it was ' ever before him ; ' in this case have recourse
to this, that Christ did bear it, and apply Christ's bearing of it unto the
guilt still as it riseth. And as you lay aqua fortis upon letters of ink to eat
them out, so still be a-dipping the hands of thy faith in Christ's blood, and
through faith applying of that blood to the sin. This do in every prayer
and in every sacrament, and thou shalt secretly find the horror of it
diminish, and those letters of guilt wherewith it was written in thy con-
science, grow paler and dimmer till they vanish.
6. It may serve to strengthen thy faith against particular sins by this,
that Christ bore them. Say and plead to Christ when thou beggest par-
don, Was not this sin in the number ? And as we make it a great uphold-
ing to faith, to consider that God knew afore what we would be, and that
we would sin, and yet chose us, and that therefore no sins will put him oflf,
so we may as well make use of this like consideration, that Jesus Christ
also, when he died for us, knew what we would be, and what our sins would
be, and yet refused not our bill of sins, nor our names given in to him, but
bare all those sins of ours in his body on the tree. And if he had meant
to have refused thee for thy sins, he would have done it then. When a
new sin is committed, we are apt to be amazed, and to call all in question.
If indeed thou couldst commit a sin wdiich God and Christ had not known ;
if any sin were or could be now new unto Christ, then it might trouble thee ;
but there is none that is so, but even this sin that troubles thy conscience
so was amongst the rest.
6. See the fulness and completeness of justification, together with the
way of dispensing it.
(1.) The way of dispensing it. We think with ourselves. How shall the
righteousness of Christ come to be made mine ? Shall I, a sinner, ever
become righteous ? what a wonder were this ! Yet behold, a gi'eater
wonder is here ; Christ who is righteousness itself ' was made sin, that so
we might be made the righteousness of God in him.'
(2.) See here the completeness of justification. All sins are laid to
188 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
Christ, that we might say, Ne aliquid, not the least thing shall be exacted of
us — Who shall lay any thing'? &c., Rom. viii. 33 — and that we might with
boldness come to a particular reckoning with God, nothing fearing that any
exception can be made, or that the least sin was left out of the catalogue
which Christ had of them, that should yet remain unpaid for. We may see
here the absoluteness of God's pardon, in that, to make sure work, Christ
was made sin, and took upon|^him the guilt of all our transgressions to answer
for them ; so that God gave us an absolute discharge. Thus, ver. 21,
' Not imputing their trespasses to them ; ' but looking for payment at
Christ's hands, who was made sin for them. In law both the principal
and the surety use to stand bound ; but God here did from everlasting
secretly (as it were) cancel our bond, and keeps Christ's only, and there-
fore it stands Christ in hand to see our sins answered for. And in that he
shall appear without sin, it should comfort us that we shall do so in like
manner.
7. It may teach us how to mourn and be troubled ; not for punishment
only, but for sin as sin also. Christ in satisfying for them not only bare
our punishment, but our sins also, which are things distinct from our
sorrows. And therefore we in sorrowing for sin should as distinctly mourn
for sin as for misery, the effect of it.
8. Those that are the greatest sinners should mourn most for sin, and
love Christ most ; and this, because he hath borne their sins, and more of
their sins than of others. They are to ' love much,' not simply because to
them ' much is forgiven,' or that Christ pardons them much, and so passeth
a greater act of grace in pardoning them than he does to others, but be-
cause Christ paid more for them, he underwent and suffered more that their
sins might be forgiven, than for other men. Mary loved much, because
much was forgiven her, Luke vii. 47. But Paul goes farther, thereby exalt-
ing the grace of Christ, that he came into the world to save sinners, ' whereof
I am chief,' says he, 1 Tim. i. 15. As a natural son is more bound to a
mother than an adopted son can be, because he, besides his education and
inheritance, was moreover born in her womb, and she underwent many
painful throes for him (and the harder her labour is with any, the more
they should love her) : so we are bound to love Christ, not simply for for-
giveness, but also for that he bore us in his soul, and our sins, and had a
harder labour of it with some of us, who were greater sinners, than he had
with many others.
CHAPTER IV.
How Christ was made a curse for us. — That it was the curse of the moral laiv,
and the whole substance of what it threatened. — Argumeiits to prot'c that
Christ suffered it.
We have seen how Christ was made sin ; let us now see how he was
made a curse. The other was but by imputation, but this by infliction.
He was made sin, who knew not what it was to sin ; but in being made a
curse he knew it to his cost ; it entered into his soul and bowels. To ex-
plain this a little ;
1. This curse was not merely the curse of the judicial law, or of a male»
factor hanging upon a tree ; for the curse which he was to redeem us from
was the curse of the moral law, not of the judicial. It was not the curse of
such a malefactor's death before men, but before God ; for from that curse
Chap. IV.] op christ the mediator. 189
wo were to be recleemed, and therefore that cnrso was he made. And Gal.
iii. 10, 13, we have it expressly thus: ' The law says, Cursed is every one,'
&c. It is true that this hanging on a tree (on which judicial punishment
a curse was pronounced) was made the figure of Christ's being cursed
with the curse of the moral law ; but that was the cm-se which Christ wag
made, and therefore, Deut. xxi. 22, God aforehand typically accursing that
death (as aiming at his Son), says of him that hangs ou a tree, that he is
accm'sed before him. So that his Son, whom this aimed at, was not only
cursed before men, in that he was put to such an accursed death, but
was also cursed before God with the curse of the moral law, whereof the
apostle brings this as the sign and proof, that that death which in the judi-
cial law only was accursed, was executed upon him.
2. The curse of the moral law, spoken of ver. 10, is opposed to blessing;
and as the blessings of God are the matter of his promises, so curses are
the matter of his threatenings. Blessings are conveyed by promises,
curses by threatenings. The threatenings of the law are the cannons, and
the curses in them are the bullets. And as whom God blesseth, he blesseth
with all blessings ; so whom he curseth, he curseth with all cursings. As
there is a fulness of blessings in the gospel (as Rom. xv. 29), so the moral
law is full of all curses, which notwithstanding Christ underwent.
3. The curse contains in it the avenging wrath of God, and is more than
a bare punishment from God. As God's favour is the life of all blessings,
so God's avenging wrath gives weight to all curses. The saints are
punished in anger, but not cursed in their chastisements, because they are
inflicted on them out of love. But here we must warily distinguish between
loving the person punished, and punishing that beloved person out of love.
God, though he loved the person of Christ when he punished him, yet he
punished him, not out of love, but wrath. When he punisheth the saints,
he both punisheth persons beloved, and also out of love, which stirs up
anger. But he punisheth Christ out of wrath, and therefoi'e he was made
a curse. His person was beloved, but he being made sin, to that end to
bear the full punishment due to sin, God theretore out of wrath punisheth
sin imputed to him. Not God's wrath, but an anger arising from love, is
it that chastiseth us ; but it is not so with Christ, the wrath of God was
poured forth on him. Which yet dift'ers from his punishing of wicked
men> whose persons he hates, and whom he punisheth out of wrath also.
But though he loves Christ's person, yet he punisheth sin in him out of
pure wrath, and lets justice fly upon him to have its full pennyworths out
of him ; he lets wrath suck the blood of his soul, till it falls off, as the
leech when it is filled, and breaks.
So that, put all these three considerations together, that Christ was made
the curse of the law moral, not judicial only ; that the curse thereof contains
in it all curses ; and that those curses are laid and set on with God's wrath ;
and this will be the doctrine ; —
That the whole curse that our persons were subject unto from the law,
Christ underwent to redeem us from it. For,
1. That curse which we were redeemed from he was made ; but we were
redeemed from the whole curse ; therefore he was made, or underwent, the
whole curse.
2. That curse which contains all curses in it Christ was to be made for
us ; now such is the cm-se of the moral law. For as the least breach of the
law is copulative, and he that offends in one is guilty of all, so are the curses
of the law : he that is cursed with any one is cursed with them all. As there
190 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
is a fulness of blessings, so of curses. As therefore a blessed man is called
vir beatitiulinum, a man of blessednesses, Ps. i. 1, as being blessed with all
blessings, Eph. i. 3, ' Being heii* of all the promises ;' so he that is cursed is
exposed to all curses ; and so was Christ, and therefore he is called vir do-
loriim, a man of sorrows, as being the centre of them (Isa. liii. 3). And as
all our sins met in him, so all our sorrows ; and from his birth all the great
ordnance of God's curses were ready charged with \\Tath, and bent against
him, and were all in their order discharged, and let off upon him. And
therefore not his suffering, but his sufferings, are mentioned by Peter, 1 Pet.
iv. 13. ' Being tempted ' (not in one, but) ' in all things wherein we were,
sin only excepted,' Heb. iv. 15. In universali hominw/i miseria immersm,
says Bernard : tujv oXuv Tag crai'-ag •/.ard^a.c hiaoi'/irai, says Justin MartjT.*
He wholly took upon him all the curses of all ; he was wholly and fully
cm'sed.
Now to give some reasons of it ;
1. The first shall be, because he was become a debtor to the whole law
by voluntary suretyship (as was said) for us, and therefore was circum-
cised, and so made under the law ; and therefore that whole cm-se and
punishment which the law required he was to undergo, ere the law would
free him. And for this reason, when he was to suffer anything, as well as
to do am'thing, you shall find him speaking in the language of a debtor,
that could not now evade it. So John iii. 14, ' The Son of man must be
lifted up :' thus likewise Mark viii. 31, Luke xxiv. 26, and Mat. xxvi. 54,
' These things,' says he, ' the Son of man ought to have sufl'ered.' He
was now entered into bond, and it was his duty to pay even the utmost
farthing. It is not the custom or manner of the law to aljate anything ; and
therefore he undergoes the whole curse, or we are not freed.
2. God dealt with him in justice, and justice was that which he was to
satisfy ; which could not be till he had borne the whole i^unishment due to
sin. Rom. iii. 25, 26, '"Whom God hath set forth to be a jDropitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ;' ver. 26, * to declare,
I say, at this time his righteousness ; that he might be just, and the justi-
fier of him which believeth in Jesus.' Compared with Rom. viii. 33, ' Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth.'
This justice is shewn in our redemption : for Christ redeemed us not vi,
sed JHstitia, so in that Rom. iii. 25 ; and not 2^o^<^statii-e, out of his prero-
gative and greatness, bearing us out by mere favour, without satisfying
justice ; but rationahiliter, by a way of equity, sahis justitice reffulis ; by
paying dvriXvr^ov, a coiTespoudent ransom, even in proportion, a tooth for
a tooth, as the law required, 1 Tim. ii. 6. He was not only to make inter-
cession, but satisfaction. As he is called ' an advocate ;' 1 John ii. 2, so
also ' a propitiation :' he has paid for the favour which he now intercedes
for. And as he is called an intercessor, so (Rev. v. 6) ' a Lamb slain ;' and
by bearing our whole punishment, he made his intercession more prevalent.
Yea, I will lay down this for a conclusion, ere I go any further : that Christ
was dispensed with in nothing. Justice abated him nothing of that punish-
ment which was due to us. It regarded not the gi-eatness or dignity of his
person, to spare him in the least. So that if there had been anything
necessarily to have been undergone for satisfaction, which was not com-
patible with his person, he must not have undertook it. For justice (if
God go that way) wiU have its full due, or nothing. And the reason is
* Justin Martirr contra Tryphonem.
ClIAP. IV.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 191
evident ; for if Christ had been abated in anything, he might have been
abated in one thing as well as in another, and so in all. But he says it
was necessary for him to suffer ; and the same necessity lay on him to
suffer all that was due, as well as anything at all.
But you will say, Did not the dignity of his person avail to some abate-
ment, so as one drop of his blood might have served ? The answer is, that
indeed the dignity of his person did add an infinite merit to everything he
suffered; but not so that any particular should be abated. Again, this his
dignity conduced to the acceptation of his sufferings for many persons ; that
what that one person did should be for many (as Paul says) ; but it struck
off no part of the debt, or of the things to be paid. It caused that that one
payment should stand for many ; but not that a farthing of that payment
should be wanting. But ere we go over any of the particulars, we must
answer an objection ; which is this. That there were many particular evils of
punishments which were ingredients in many of our cups, which yet he
never tasted of, as sickness and distempers of body ; for his body saw no
coiTuption, neither before death nor after. And many like particular
branches of the curse which befall men for sin he met not with. ' Not a
bone of him was broken.' How then did he satisfy for the whole cm'se ?
Yea, hell itself, and the eternity of its punishments, the worm of conscience,
despair, &c., he endm-ed not ; how then underwent he the whole curse
following upon sin ? I answer,
1. (In general) Know that the wrath of God is the whole curse ; it is the
total sum of all curses, it is the curse in solido, in gross. And as a pay-
ment, consisting of many farthings, may be made in one piece of gold, so
all particular cm*ses may be undergone in bearing that one gi'eat curse, the
original of curses, for otherwise the angels now in hell should not undergo
the whole curse, seeing many miseries that befall men here they are not
capable of. The wrath of God is either expressed mediately, in particular
punishments, or immediately upon the soul. Now this immediate wrath
eminently contains all mediate crosses in it. The cup of the Lord's wrath,
which Chi-ist drank up, is said to be full of mixture ; for all evils were strained
into it. If therefore it can be proved that Christ underwent the whole
wrath of God, it may be said that he underwent all curses, although he had
endured none of the miseries of this life. Which (among other interpre-
tations I have elsewhere given) may perhaps be the intendment of those
words. Mat. viii. 17, where the evangelist quotes out of Isaiah, that Christ
' bare our sicknesses ;' and so by virtue of that his bearing them, he healed
them. The meaning whereof is not, that he bare the sicknesses of the
body, but that he, sustaining the wrath of God, which was more than the
gout, stone, or whatever else, might be said virtually to bear them all, and
by virtue of that heal them. And so in that place, Isa. liii. 10, the phrase
translated ' bruising him ' is by some read, ' He, or his soul, was made
sick.'
2. It is in his passive obedience as it is in his active, when it is said he
fulfilled every iota of the law ; the meaning is not, that he performed every
duty ; for he performed not the duty of a husband to a wife, or of a magis-
trate, &c., in this world ; but in fulfilling the law of love (which was the
sum of the law), he fulfilled all. So in his passive obedience, l-y under-
going the wi-ath of God, he underwent the sum of the curse, the curse in
aolido.
3. It is in temporal curses as in temporal blessings. Many particular
good things may be withheld, when yet God ' withholds no good thing
192 OF cnRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
from his children,' in that he vouchsafes them his favour, which is better
than all ; and so makes up all temporal promises an hundredfold. Thus
is it in temporal curses ; it was not necessary that Christ should endure
each particular, if he endured God's wrath ; he fulfilled the whole in under-
going that.
CHAPTER V.
An enumeration of the particulars of the curse which Christ endured. — That
assuming our nature, he took also those infirmities which sin hath brought
upon MS. — That a painful ivretched life being the curse of our first father's
sins, the life of Christ answerably was filled with miseries and sorrows.
Now for the particulars of this curse, it were endless to go over all those
that he endm'ed. We will therefore have recourse to, and instance only in
that fii'st curse which was laid on that first Adam, and in his name upon
aU his posterity, as we find it recorded. Gen. iii. 17-19, ' And unto Adam
he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying. Thou shalt not eat
of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life :' ver. 18, ' Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth
to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field :' ver. 19, 'In the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out
of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.'
Compared with chap. ii. 17, ' But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.' And to shew how all the particulars of the curse there
mentioned were by him undergone will sufiice, that cm'se being indeed the
sum and epitome of curses, as the Lord's prayer is of prayers.
It consists of three parts :
^■' 1. The frailties man's nature became subject to, tending in themselves
to death and dissolution : ' dust thou art, &c.' The curse then seizing on
him wasted his body and spirit, and made both subject unto fi-ailties, and
to be of a mouldering nature : ' Thou art dust,' says God, ' and to dust
thou shalt return i'
2. The miseries and sorrows which man's nature meets with, until he
returns unto dust ; which are either,
(1.) The labour and travail he must take to get his living, expressed * by
eating his bread in the sweat of his brow ;' sweat being put (by a synech-
doche) for all the labour and travail that man is bom unto, ' as the sparks
fly upwards,' Job v. 7 ; or,
(2.) The sad and cross events and accidents which befall men from the
creature, in the course of occurrences and various passages of God's pro-
vidence : in that all creatures are at enmity ; the earth brings forth thorns,
the forests wild beasts, &c.
3. The thu-d part of this curse is death ; both bodily, * to dust thou
shalt return,' and of the soul, ' dying thou shalt die.'
Now to go over all these, and shew how they were undergone by Christ,
and how from the cradle to the cross the curse followed him.
It seized on him in the fii'st assumption of the human nature : which
was dust as well as our nature is, and subject to the same frailties. The
simple assumption of the human nature was no part of the curse, and there-
Chap. V.] of ciirist the mediator. 1U3
fore is nowhere represented to us as such in the Scripture. It was a con-
descending indeed to take it, though at first it had been as glorious as now
it is in heaven ; but it was no part of the curse. And therefore when the
Scripture speaks of his abasement in assuming our nature, it speaks of it
imder the investment of frailties ; as in Philip, ii. 7, 8, where it is said * he
humbled himself,' &c., in taking the form of a servant, that is, the nature
of man as now made servile and debased, which is therefore expounded in
the next words, * and was found as a vian,^ in the likeness of man. And
so being found, ' he humbled himself,' &c., and therein, in that he was not
only a man, but such a man as we, his body of the same metal, mouldry,
and weak as ours is : herein became his humiliation. So likewise, Rom.
viii. 3, 4, in that ' God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,' it is
indeed made part of his satisfaction, so ' to condemn sin in the flesh.' But
otherwise simply to assume our nature, though it was the foundation of all
his satisfaction, yet it was not reckoned as a part of it ; and though it was
that which formerly gave the value to it, yet was it not part of the dis-
charge. I confess it to have been a minoration or lessening of him in some
respects ; for let him take our nature how he will, never so gloi'ious, yet
then it will be said of him, ' My Father is greater than I,' which cannot be
said of the Holy Ghost ; yet this is not satisfaction ; the assuming our
nature simply considered is not part of the curse. Again, that it was an
action merely of the second person ; but satisfactory acts are of Christ
God-man, and so he must be supposed to be God- man first. That the second
person would undertake to lower himself so that he might be capable of
making satisfaction (which without assumption had not been) is the foun-
dation of the merit of it ; but materially is no part thereof. But in that
this flesh assumed was frail, that makes the assumption of it to be satisfac-
tory ; in that he was found hungiy, weary, sleepy, sad and heavy, ignorant
of many things, &c., in that he was ' tempted in all,' and after that manner
that we are, Heb. iv. 15, these frailties were to be accounted as part of
satisfaction. And though he bare not all our frailties personally, as not
sickness — for his body ' saw no corruption,' neither after nor before
death, for it would have interrupted and hindered him in the work of our
salvation — yet in sympathy and pity he bare them all ; and in that sense
fore-mentioned, that place, he hare our sicknesses, may be understood, he
having a heart soft, and framed to compassion ; therefore, when any of his
elect were sick, and brought unto him, he by a feeling pity took their griefs
on him, and so freed them. Diseases also, being rather personal than com-
mon infirmities, it was not absolutely necessary that he should bear them.
But ' he bare our sorrows,' Isa. liii. 4, even oui-s in common.
Secondly, For the miseries incident to man's life ; and herein,
1. For his eating his bread in the sweat of his brows (besides that it was
in so eminent a manner fulfilled at Christ's death, as it never was in any
man ; for in drinking that cup he sweat dodders of blood), how eminently
was it fulfilled in doing his Father's will when he lived a public life, tra-
velling over, and preaching in all towns and villages ; his zeal for God's
house eating him up, and wasting his spirits, together with his watching
whole nights, and many nights together, to pray, &c.; and when he lived a
private life, in following a calling of a handicraftsman, and living upon it
alone (for his parents were poor, as appears by their ofi'ering a poor man's
offering, a pair of tm'tles). So that by his daily labour he got his food
from hand to mouth (as we say), he never working any miracles to supply
his own necessities ; but as, when in his public life, he depended upon
VOL. V. N
194 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK V.
what was ministered unto him, so, when in his private life, he lived by his
labour. Those who knew his education, and for whom haply he might
have wrought, those of his own countiy, who, ver, 3, are said to have
known his brethren and sisters, and himself particularly — those did not
only call him the carpenter's son, but more expressly, the carpenter ; so
Mark vi. 1-3. And it is noted that, at twelve years old, he disputed
with the doctors, which was God ' his Father's business ; ' so that after-
wards he ' was obedient to his parents,' Luke ii. 51, that is, doing their
business, and helping them in their trade of carpentering ; this 51st verse,
relating to what the evangeUst before had said, ver. 49, thereby intimating,
that as in that other work of disputing he had been about his heavenly
Father's business (which ver. 49 shews), so that now he was answerably
employed in his earthly father's work (which the 51st verse declares, say-
ing, ' he was obedient to his parents '). *
2. For sad occurrences and events befalling him from the dispensation
of providence, and the enmity of the creatui'es, there were more befell him
than ever befell any man. He was vir dolorwn, a ' man of soitows,' which
did all wear and waste him, as gi-iefs use to do us, so that in the'judgment
of those that saw him, he looked nearer fifty years old than thirty, as that
known speech may seem to import. Furthermore, we never read that he
once laughed in his lifetime. And,
(1.) For the enmity of the creatures, — besides that in a literal sense the
earth might be said to bring forth thorns and briars to him, to such a pur-
pose as scarce ever befell any man, namely, to crown his temples with them ;
— at his birth, he is denied a lodging in a common inn ; then, the wilderness
denies him bread for forty days, the fig-tree affords him no fi'uit, and the
sun withdraws its light from him. The fathers have many pretty interpre-
tations of that great echpse, but more witty than solid. The truth is, it
was an evidence of God's anger, and of the enmity of all the creatures. Is
it in the sunbeams to aflbrd some glimmering comfort to a man in misery?
They are denied him. Can darkness add to one's distress, and render it
more horrid ? Why, he is enveloped with a Cimmerian darkness, and that in
the very meridian and mid-day. Yea (the which was never denied to any but
to a man in hell), a drop of water to quench his thirst may by no means
be gi-anted him, but instead thereof, shai-p vinegar, which their cruelty and
scorn do hand unto him.
The sea and winds were once arising up in arms against him, but that
he made use of his prerogative and extraordinary power to quell their fierce-
ness. And then at the last he was by all left, and by one of his disciples
betrayed, which how it grieved him the psalmist foretold. Then,
(2.) For sad and cross events from the dispensation of God's providence.
He met with those which gi-eat spirits account the most sad and heavy. He
was crossed ere he was crucified, even through his whole life ; as,
[1.] By a mean and poor birth and breeding, which was often cast in his
teeth : ' Is not this the carpenter's son ? '
[2.] By a poor outward condition. He was not a beggar indeed, for then
he had not fulfilled the judicial law, that there should be no beggar in Israel ;
but poor he was : ' for our sakes he became poor.' It appears his parents
were poor ; for at the purification of Mary, they ofiered only a pair of
tm'tles, which (according to the law) were to be the offering of the poorer
sort. Again, he wrought daily ; surely, therefore, it was for his living.
And further, he had nothing at his death to leave his mother, and therefore
it was that he bequeathed the care of her unto John. Now, how heavy a
Chap. V.j of ohrist the medutor. 196
clog is poverty to a great spirit, and how does it keep him under ;- it puts
a contempt upon the greatest virtue, and prejudices the most solid wisdom
against esteem. ' No man regarded that poor wise man.'
[3.] By a mean calling. Thirty years lived he in a mechanic trade, and
that no better than of a carpenter. Now, for him to be hid under chips,
who was born to sit upon the royal throne of Israel ; for those hands to
make doors and hew logs that were made to wield the sceptre of heaven
and earth ; and that he who was the * mighty counsellor ' should give his
advice only about squaring of timber ; what an indignity, what a cross is
this ! Do but think with yourselves what an affliction it would be to a
professor of divinity in an university, to a privy councillor, or (much more)
to a prince, for thirty years together to be put to cart and plough.
[4,] By company unsuitable to him, which to a great and noble spirit is as
great a burden as anything else whatsoever. For him who from everlasting
enjoyed the sweet society of his Father in heaven, and might there have
for ever had it ; for him to leave such company, and come down to earth,
and here converse with sinners ; how harsh and unpleasing must it needs
be to him. And therefore the apostle might well say, ' Christ pleased not
himself,' Rom. xv. 3, meaning it of his company. To a man wise and holy,
there is nothing more burdensome than the company of men ignorant and
sinful ; and the best company he had were his apostles, who, how ignorant
were they ! Even so far, that they lay as a burden upon his spirits, inso-
much that once he cries out, * How long shall I suffer you, men of little
faith,' or wisdom ? Mat. xvii. 17. They being so incapable of what he
said or taught, that most would have been lost, had not his Spirit after-
wards brought all unto their remembrance. And, besides their ignorance,
they were men clothed with infirmities and sins, and more gross corruptions
of foolish ambition and contention. What a burden, therefore, must they
needs have been to him who was holiness itself! Yea (to conclude), every
man was a briar and a thorn unto him (as the prophet speaks), and he
went through the world against the stream of a perverse and crooked gene-
ration, and was a contention to the whole land where he came, which
therefore contradicted, opposed, and reviled him, &c. And therefore it is
reckoned among his sufferings, that ' he endured the contradictions of
sinners,' Heb. xii. 3, which was so heavy unto Jeremiah, that it made him
weary of his life : ' Woe is me,' says he, ' my mother hath born me a man
of contention to the whole earth,' Jer. xv. 10. So Elias complains that he
was 'left alone,' &c., and thus was it with Christ in his times ; yea, all the
sins he saw or heard became crosses to him, and went to his heart ; so
Rom. XV. 3, where those words are applied to Christ, ' the reproaches of
them that reproached thee ' (speaking of God) ' are fallen upon me.' All
the blows that blasphemers at any time gave his Father, he takes upon his
spirit. And what a life then must he needs live, whose soul was so right-
eous ? If Lot's soul were vexed, how must his needs be, whose spirit was
so tender of his Father's glory ?
* * Nil hatit infelix paupertas durius in se,
Quam quod ridiculoa homines facit.' — Juvenal, Sat. 8, v. 158.
196 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
CHAPTER VI.
What were the sufferings of Christ, as bearing the curse of our sins, more
immediately foregoing his crucifixion, described in an exposition of the first
21 verses of the 18t,h chapter of John's gospel. — A garden teas the place
where he had his first agonies, and was apprehended. — The reasons why
such a place was appjointed and chosen by him. — The first 9 vo'ses ex-
plained, and observations raised from them.
The eighteentli chapter of John's gospel, and that which follows, do con-
tinue the stoiy of the sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Christ, as they
are recorded by that apostle, who, writing after all the other evangelists
were dead, or at least the last of them all, he inserteth divers things which
they had omitted, as by comparing the one with the other will easily
appear.
Chi'ist, you know, had three offices : he is the prophet, he is the priest, he
is the king of his church. His prophetical office he exercised in his doc-
trine while he was here below, in those sermons and prayers which John
and the other evangelists record. Which, when he had finished, he goes
forth to his sufferings, to exercise his priestly office also, to offer himself up
a sacrifice for his people. And now being ascended into heaven, he there
exerciseth his kingly office, in ruling his church, and in ruling the nations
in order to his church, and so he will do to the end of the world.
John xviii. ver. 1, ' When Jesus had spoken these words, he ivent forth with
his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he
entered, and his discipjhs.
When Jesus had spoken these words. "Which hath a more special relation
to that last prayer of his, and that last sermon which he made, recorded
by John. Vv'hen he had fortified his own heart by prayer, and prepared
himself to die ; when he had instructed his disciples, and spoken all those
truths that he came into the world to speak, and laid a foundation of
comfort for them, and had put up prayers for them, and confirmed and
strengthened their hearts ; when he had fully done his duty ; when he had
spoken these words, he cheerfully goes forth to the place his Father had
appointed him to be taken in, and giveth himself up to be sacrificed, and
to lay down his life for them.
He went forth. And he went forth with his disciples. What was the
reason that Chi'ist went forth, to be taken abroad ? Why would he not be
taken in the city, in Jerusalem, in the chamber where he ate the passover,
where he might have stayed if he would ?
He went forth, first, that he might give his enemies the more free scope
to take him, for they feared the people, which was always the great objec-
tion against their laying hold on him ; therefore, that that impediment
might be removed, he chose to go out of the city, to a place in the fields,
in a garden, where they might have full opportunity to apprehend him and
to cany him away in the night, without the knowledge of any. And, secondly,
he did it that his disciples might the better escape ; for had he been in the
city, there might have been a hurly-burly, and so his disciples might have
been in danger.
And he went forth also with his disciples. First, to teach them this les-
son, that they are likewise to leave this world and to give themselves up as
Chap. VI.] of ohkist the mediator. 197
men that arc to suffer with him and for him ; that as ho himself suffered
without the f;ate (for the beginning of his sufForiugs, those sufferings that
were the sullerings of his soul, his inward sufferings, when he first encoun-
tered with his Father's wrath, they were in the garden, which was without
the gate, as well as those upon mount Calvary, which were eminently the
sufferings of his body), so they also were to go forth with him : Hob. xiii.
12, 13, ' Jesus, that ho might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the
camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city,' &c. And
likewise he carried his disciples \vith him, that they might be witnesses of
his passion and sufferings more or less, as well as of his resurrection. And
he would have his disciples with him too, that he might shew his power the
more in preserving them ; for as it follows afterwards, he doth but speak
the word, ' Let these go,' saith he, (which was a word of commandfrom Christ,
as he was a king), and there was none that so much as offered to lay hands
on them. He carried them out with him also that they might see their
own weakness and inability to suffer (for they all forsook him and fled),
that so they might depend the more upon his strength ; for so oftentimes
God doth, he brings us into danger on pmpose, as to shew his power in
delivering us, so to teach us to depend upon him for ability to suffer. And
lastly, he went forth with his disciples, that he might shew them an example
that one day they must suffer with him and for him, as they did all after-
wards more or less ; only John indeed escaped martyrdom, yet he suffered
much, for you know he was banished into the isle Patmos.
Over the brook C'edron. This brook divided Jerasalem and mount Olivet,
as Josephus saith. It was on the east part of the city, as mount Calvary
was on the west, the two places of sufferings : his taking was in the one, and
his crucifying was in the other. He suffered in the east and in the west ;
and so indeed the gospel hath reigned, as the sun doth, fi-om east to west.
It is called the field of Cedron, 2 Ivings xxiii. 4, and the valley of Cedron,
because it was an obscure, darksome, shady place, and not because that
cedars did grow there, as olives did upon mount Olivet (which is a mistake
of some), but it had its name from the dai'ksomeness of the place.
Why did God in his providence order it that Christ should go over this
brook Cedron ? It is a cu-cumstance which only John records, for all the
other evangelists omit it ; and as interpreters observe, John doth seldom
mention any particular ckcumstance, upon which any emphasis is put, but
there is a mystery in it.
We read in 2 Sam. xv. 23, that David and his men went over this brook
Cedron, mom-ning and lamenting, when Ahithophel, his familiar friend, had
betrayed him, and Absalom his son sought his life.
Now our Lord and Saviour Christ, whose type David was, this very thing
is fulfilled in him ; for Ahithophel typified out Judas : that you have in
Ps. xH., ' The man,' saith he, ' that did eat with me, that was mine equal,
we took sweet counsel together,' &c. Da\id spake this of Ahithophel in
this very journey of his, and it is applied unto Judas in John xiii. 18.
Now as David's life was then sought after, so was Christ's now ; and as
David went over with his companions, so did Christ with his disciples. As
Ahithophel betrayed him, so did Judas betray Christ ; and as David went
over with a sad heart, so Christ tells his disciples, that his soul was heavy
unto the death.
And that you may see the allusion to be yet more fuU, in Ps. ex. 7,
(which is plainly and clearly a psalm of Christ), it is said, ' He shall drink
198 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
of the brook in the way, therefore shall his head be lifted up.' He was to
sit at God's right hand till his enemies were made his footstool, as you have
it ver. 1 ; but before he cometh to be thus exalted, he must drink of the
brook in the way, he must go over this Cedrou with a sad soul : for the
truth is, all the while he was a-going his heart was heavy, and it increased
in his going much more. He shall drink of the brook in the way ; not that
he drank of the water of this brook Cedron, but it typified out those sufi'er-
ings which lay in his way to heaven.
Where teas a garden. This was the place where he had that sad encounter
with his Father's wi-ath, which made him sweat drops of blood. The soul-
sufferings of Christ we eminently read of to have been in this place. Now
the fields that adjoined to this Cedron, and that which did border upon this
place of the garden (which Matthew calls Gethsemane), was that place which
the Jews called Gehenna, or Gehinnom, or hell, because that Josiah had
cursed that place, 2 Kings xxiii. 4, and because that there the great slaughter
was done upon the Babylonians, and afterwards upon the Jews. And it was
the place which they afterwards called Tox)het, and it is the only word they
had for hell after the Babylonian captivity. It was an execrable place ; and
into this place did Christ come ; for indeed our Lord and Saviour Christ, he
did, in his soul, in respect of the sufferings of it, descend into hell. Now
there was a mystery also in this. Adam he was the most eminent type of
Christ, so he is called, Rom. v. 13, and in 1 Cor. xv. And the type holds
in this, for when we have a ground that such a thing is a type, we may
apply it to such particulars as we find suitable. Adam's fall, you know, was
in a garden ; Satan there encountered him, and overcame him, led him and
all mankind into captivity to sin and death. God now singleth out the
place where the great redeemer of the world, the second Adam, should first
encounter with his Father's wrath, to be in a garden, and that there he
should be bound and led away captive as Adam was. He fighteth with
Satan upon his own ground (it became him so to do) ; and here he gives
the first great overthrow to his kingdom, and to the kingdom of sin and
death. God did suit it so, as indeed he did suit many things in that par-
ticular of the fii-st and second Adam. Because (says he, 1 Cor. xv. 21)
' by man came death, by man came also the resurrection.' Because by a
temptation let in at the ear man was condemned, therefore by hearing of
the word men shall be saved. ' Thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of
thy brows,' that was part of Adam's curse ; Christ he sweat drops of blood
for this, it was the force of that curse that caused it. ' The groimd shall
bring forth thorns to thee ; ' Christ he was crucified with a crown of thorns.
Adam his disobedience was acted in a garden, and Christ both his active
and passive obedience also, much of it was in a garden ; and at the last, as
the first beginning of his humiliation was in a garden, so the last step was
too ; he was buried, though not in this, yet in another garden. Thus the
type and the thing typified answer one another.
Into the nhich he entered, and his disciples. StiU there is an emphasis
put upon this, that his disciples were with him. It is not only said, that
he went forth with his disciples, but that he entered into the garden with
his disciples, who were to be witnesses of what he suffered, and for tho
reasons mentioned afore, as also to shew that he had no other guard but
them. So much for the first verse.
Verse 2. * And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place; for Jesus
c/ttinies resorted thither icith his disciples.'
Chap. VI.] of christ the mediator. 100
Our Lord and Saviour Christ, ho knew he should be taken, and taken
by Judas, a disciple, and that that was the place appointed by his Father
wherein he shcjuld be taken ; for the 4th verse tells us, ' Jesus knew all
thii)f;s that should befall him.' He knew that Judas would be there that
night, and therefore, like a valiant champion, he cometh into the field first,
afore his enemy. He goes thither to choose, and singles out this place on
purpose.
In this place Christ used to pray most, especially a little before his suf-
ferii^'^s ; for in Luke xxi. 37 it is said, that ' in the day time he was
teaching in the temple ; and at night he went out, and abode in the
mount that is called the mount of Olives. And all the people came early
in the morning to him in the temple, for to hear him.' This was but a
matter of seven days before he was crucified ; for Christ, when he saw that
he must die, and that now his time was come, he wore his body out ; he
cared not, as it were, what became of him, he w'holly spent himself in pray-
ing and preaching. He was preaching in the day time, and that early in
the morning in the temple, and at night he abode in the mount of Olives ;
and there sometimes he spent the w^hole night in prayer privately, and
sometimes he took his disciples with him, as now he did.
In this place, which had been a place where Christ received a great deal
of heavenly refreshment from his Father in prayer, where he had immediate
converse with him, in that place of all others must Christ be fii'st attached,
and there must be the beginning of his sufferings. For so indeed God did
deal with Christ ; he would have all things that were most comfortable to
him embittered to him. This was the place of his repose, where he had
sweet refreshings from God ; and this must be the place where he must
encounter w^ith his Father's wrath. He sweat his bloody sweat in this
place where he had so often prayed.
And he likewise knowing that this was the place in which he should be
taken, made it the place where he prayed most, that every thing might
put him in mind, and strengthen him when he came to sufier, to comfort
him and to help him, as indeed circumstances of time and place do. If
a Christian would choose where he would be taken and hauled to punish-
ment for Christ, it should certainly be in his closet, or in a place where he
had prayed most.
Christ had oftentimes afore evaded suffering ; he would shift places on
purpose ; as in John iv. 1, ' "When the Lord knew how the Pharisees had
heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, he left
Judea, and departed again into Galilee', he flew from them ; and so in
Luke iv. 29, when they led him unto the brow of the hill whereon the city
was built, that they might cast him down headlong, he passed through the
midst of them, and escaped away. But now when his last hour is come,
and he knew it was the hour appointed him by his Father, now he goes to
the veiy place where he knew Judas, that should betray him, would come.
You shall find this eminent observation in the story as John relates it,
differing from all the other evangelists : he endeavours to hold forth in a
special manner the willingness of Christ to suffer. Other evangelists hold
forth other circumstances of his suffierings ; but you shall find all along
that John is especially diligent in holding forth the willingness of Christ to
off'er up himself, which he doth by all sorts of circumstances, as in the sequel
will appear. Here it appears by this that (as I said before) he goes first
into the field ; he goes to the place which he used to go to, and which
Judas knew to be the place, and he knew too that Judas would be there.
200 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK V.
It was a matter of tlio greatest moment to hold forth this wiUingness of
Christ to offer up himself, of any other. For there are two necessary
things that were to be concurrent in the sufferings of Christ to make it
satisfactory for us : the one is the eminency and worth of his person. Had
he not been God as well as man, his obedience would never have satisfied
God. But the second is a free-willingness to undergo what he did ; for we
sinned wiUingly, therefore Christ, when he comes to suffer, he must suffer
as willingly. It is as great and as essential an ingredient to give force and
eflficacy to his sufferings, as the worth of his person. Therefore, in Heb.
X. 7, 8, you will find a great deal of emphasis put upon this : ' Lo, I come
to do thy will, God ;' ' by which will' (saith he) ' we are sanctified.'
Both the will of God the Father, and the willingness of Jesus Christ thus
to sacrifice himself, was that great circumstance, or more than a circum-
stance, upon which oixr salvation depends, and the acceptation of that
offering of his. Christ, therefore, to shew his willingness, he goes to the
place where he knew Judas would come ; he went thither on purpose ; put
himself on this temptation, on purpose that he might put himself into
their hands. It was indeed by the commandment of his Father ; for so
you shall find, John xiv. 31, 'As the Father gave me commandment, even
so I do. Arise,' saith he, * let us go hence ;' let us go to the place where
I must be taken.
That which we find of circumstances in the sufferings of Christ, may
oftentimes help us in circumstances of our sinning. Dost thou tempt
thyself to sin ? put thyself upon occasions of sinning ? and is that an
aggravation of thy sinning ? Thou hast this to help and relieve thee in the
sufferings of Christ, that he put himself upon the occasion of being taken,
put himself upon that temptation.
And it may move thee to shun and avoid the occasions of sin, for Jesus
Christ, that he might suffer for thee, avoided not the occasion of suffering ;
he goes to the very place in which he knew he should be taken.
Also those things which had been comforts unto Christ are (through the
merit of our sins, which do turn blessings into curse) turned unto Christ
into a bitterness. The place where he had praj^ed, and been refreshed,
there is his agony and encounter ; a garden turned into hell. His sweet
communion with God there is now turned into wrestling with God's anger
falling on him here ; and now through it, on the contrary, we may expect
curses turned into blessings ; and the worst of dealings from God to us to
be sanctified to our greatest spiritual advantage and comfort.
It is said that ' Judas also knew the place.' Take notice here of the
hard-heartedness of the heart of Judas. He had all that time since he
received the sop, yea, all the way he went (which was a pretty way from
the city), to think upon what he was about to do, that he was going to
betray his master, the Saviour of the world, in whom he had for a time
believed. Yea, he had that place to strike his conscience ; it being the place
where he himself had been often with Christ, and present at many a good
prayer, and many an excellent sermon, which he had heard from no less
than the Messiah. Whose conscience almost but would have smote him ?
Yet so hard, so obdurate is the heart of Judas, that he dares out-face all
those prayers and sermons, and to come to that very place to lay hold of
his master, and to betray him with a kiss.
An obdurate heart will break through all sort of circumstances and con-
siderations that may keep him from sinning ; so Judas doth here.
And we may learn to aggravate our sins by such circumstances, whereof
Chap. VI.] op cueist the mediator. 201
we shall find many in our lives, if we study our own sinful ways, that God
doth suilbr to fixll out to keep us from sinning, that notwithstanding such
ou-cumstanccs and considerations, yet we should break through all such
difficulties and sin against God ; this should make our sin out of measure
sinful to us. It was a circumstance that much increased the sin of Judas,
that he knew the place where Christ used to resort with his disciples (going
thither often for freedom's sake of prayer), that yet ho would go thither
and there betray him.
Verse 3. * Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from, the
chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and
weapons.'
Judas then, having received a band of men, &c. Judas did not desire this
band of men ; he did but ofier to betray him. It was the chief priests and
Pharisees that desired them ; they went to Pilate (who was the Roman
governor), and told him they had a seditious person to take, and implored
his help and assistance ; and so he let them have a band of men. And yet
it is said that Judas received them ; it is all laid upon him, because in
Acts i. 16 he is called their guide ; he was the leader of this cursed band
that took our Lord and Saviour Christ ; he was the foreman in it: there-
fore all is laid on him more than upon them ; he is still branded in a pecu-
liar manner, ' Judas the traitor,' ' Judas which betrayed him.' All, I say,
is chiefly laid upon him ; for the truth is, Christ took this act of his more
heinously at his hands, that had been his disciple and a professor of him,
than he did either of the Pharisees or of the Roman soldiers, and his end
was accordingly. And therefore Paul, in 2 Cor. xi. 26, when he makes a
catalogue of his sufierings, he mentioneth those which he had from false
brethren as the worst and chiefest.
The eminent observation that I make out of these words is this, that
here is both a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees.
The band of men was the Roman band ; for the Romans having conquered
that city, the civil power was in their hands, and Pilate the governor under
them kept a band of men about him, which he lends at their request unto
the Pharisees and chief priests, to go with their own officers to help to take
Christ. All along this story you shall find that there were two sorts of men
that God would have, in his providence, to have their hands imbrued in the
blood of Christ from first to last. Here is a Roman band, and the officers
of the chief priests and Pharisees : here is the civil magistracy, and here is
the ecclesiastical state ; for as the civil power was in the Romans, so the
ecclesiastical power was in the hands of the chief priests ; the Romans, not-
withstanding their conquest, leaving them to the rites of their religion still.
They would not trust the Roman band alone to do it, for they knew
they were not such enemies to Christ ; but they sent their own ministers
and servants (and some evangelists tell us that some of the Pharisees them-
selves were there) to attend them, and see the thing done. The soldiers,
poor men ! they went about they knew not what ; they went to take him
as a seditious person, and an enemy to Caesar ; little thought they that
the Messiah of the world was there. This, I say, you shall find in the story
all along, that two sort of powers were stiiTed up against Christ. Here was
both Jews and Gentiles : ' Why doth the heathen rage, and the people
imagine a vain thing ?' Ps. ii. 1. Both concur here. Here is a band of
Romans, and officers of the chief priests ; the heathen and the people of
the Jews. Christ, as he did die both for Jews and Gentiles, so likewise he
202 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
would have both Jews and Gentiles to have a hand in his death. And
therefore let us not say onh^ that the Jews shall look upon him whom they
have pierced, but the Gentiles also shall look upon him whom they have
pierced. God would have the Gentiles have a hand in it as well as the Jews.
And not only so, but he would have both the civil and ecclesiastical state
to join in the sufferings of Christ ; for the Pharisees and chief priests they
were the ecclesiastical state, they make use of the magistrate, for his assist-
ance, to lay hold of our Lord and Saviour Christ.
Theij come thither niih lanterns, andtordtex, and uith u-eapons. Although
it was full moon then, and therefore the moon did certainly shine, yet, to
make sure work, they come not only with torches, that use to give great
lights, but with lanterns, that their lights might not be blown out with
the wind, and all to seek him, that they might be sure, if he did not hide
himseh", to find him, or if he did hide himself, to seek him out with their
hghts. And they came wdth weapons, too, though they knew he was but a
poor man to see to ; but they came with weapons, because they were afraid
of the people, and because that Judas had told them how his master had
often escaped from them before, as when he was brought to the brow of the
hill, &c. ; therefore now to make sure work, both to find him and to carry
him away, they come forth with these.
Cm- Lord and Saviour Christ, he had dealt with them at other weapons ;
he had often disputed with the scribes and Pharisees ; and the truth is, he
had always been too hard for them. But now they come and deal with him
at a weapon they thought he should not be too hard for them at ; they come
upon him wdth torches and with weapons, and by force they set upon him.
And that indeed is the manner of those that oppose the church in all ages.
As they dealt with Chi'ist, so they do with his people, and will do to the end
of the world.
Verse 4. ' Jesus therefore, hiouing all thhir/s that should come upon him,
u-ent forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye V
Still you see the evangelist John holds forth, in an eminent manner, the
wilhngness of Christ to suffer ; for that is the thread he spins throughout
this whole stoiy, because indeed so much depends upon it. He tells us
that Christ knew all things that should come upon him. He did not come
to this place unawares ; no, he knew that Judas knew that he usually re-
sorted thither, and he knew that Judas would come thither, as well as he
knew that he should betray him, and therefore he comes thither on pur-
pose. And he comes thither fii-st ; and being there, as soon as the band
and the officers came, he went forth of his own accord, and said unto them,
' Whom seek ye ? ' He knew all things : he might have hid himself, and
evaded his being taken, as he had often done before. No.
There is a case which intei-preters here put, whether this example of
Christ's be for om- imitation, whether we should thus expose ourselves to
suffering, choose thus to suffer, or rather decline and avoid suffering in a
lawful way, by lawful means ?
The answer is clear. We have divers examples of Christ's avoiding suf-
fering ; as that in John iv. 1, when he did but hear that they knew of him,
and knowing their malice, he went and removed to another place. So like-
wise when he was young, and Herod sought his life, he was carried into
Ef^'pt. And then again, when they brought him to the brow of the hill,
he escaped. All which examples strongly hold forth, that we may use all
lawful means of escaping suffering. But when he knew that his hour was
Chap. VI.] of christ the mediatoh. 203
come in which ho must be taken aside, and it beinff by compact between
his Father and him, for so it was he covenanted with God to suffer, it be-
came him to show the fullest and most ready obedience to his Father that
could be, to go to the place where he must be attached, to offer himself to
them as a prey, to provoke them : ' Whom seek ye '?' Now herein Christ's
case and ours in suffering doth certainly diffur ; we do not know what shall
befall us, as Christ did ; for if we did, we ought not to evade our suffer-
ings, as Christ did not ; but because we are ignorant of what shall come
upon us, we are to serve the ways of a providence, ways of escaping that
are lawful.
Observe fi'om hence, Jirst, this. Christ, you see, did not only suffer will-
ingly, but knowingly ; and as his putting himself willingly upon suffering,
and into the opportunity of being taken, may help us against our having
tempted ourselves (which is a great aggravation of om' sinning), so likewise
oui' Saviour Christ's suffering thus with knowledge, deliberately, knowing
all circumstances, is a consideration may help us against our sinning know-
ingly. Hast thou sinned presumptuously against knowledge ? Our Lord
and Saviour Christ he suffered as deliberately, h-e suffered with the gi'eatest
knowledge that could be. There was not only the greatest will in his suf-
ferings, but to make up that will more eminent and conspicuous, there was
also the greatest knowledge ; he knew all that should befall him, yet he
went forth and offered himself.
Secondly, Did Christ know all that he was to suffer ? Certainly then
he knows all that we are to suffer. Did he know his own sufferings on
earth ? Certainly he knows ours, now he is in heaven. The things we
are to suffer, they are called in Col. i. 24, ' the after- sufferings of Chiist ;'
certainly, then, he knows them. Therefore though thou knowest not what
shall befall thee in such or such a course as thou takest in professing his
name, yet comfort thyself in this, that Christ knows it. And as he, know-
ing all things, ventured himself, so do thou, upon the confidence that he
knows all things that shall befall thee. Ventm-e thyself too, and trust him
and his knowledge for the ordering of all things for thy good, as well as he
trusted his Father to do with him what he would. It is our comfort, I say,
that Jesus Christ knew all his own sufferings ; he certainly, therefore, knows
all ours. ' I know thy labour and thy patience,' saith he. Rev. ii, 2. He
takes notice of it, therefore fear not the things you shall suffer ; give your-
selves up unto his providence, trust his knowledge, for he knows what
shall befall you.
It would be miserable for us to know what we shall undergo in this world,
for the thoughts of it aforehand would hui-t us ; the anxiety of it would
trouble us ; it is better for us to be ignorant of it. But Christ he had
strength in him, he could know what he should suffer and foresee it, and
yet keep his mind quiet and composed ; as you see he did till it came to the
very instant. And it was necessary too that he should know all he was to
sutler, because he suffered by compact with his Father, which makes a great
difference between the sufferings of Christ and ours.
Now he, knowing all that he should suffer, he went forth, and said to
them, ' Whom seek ye ?'
Once they would have made him a king, and then he hid himself; but
when he comes to be a king crowned with thorns, and knew he should be
so to save us, then he hides not himself, but he goes forth to them. Adam,
as I said, was his type in his sinning in the garden ; but in this they are
unlike, Adam hides himself, and God was fain to seek him out. But here
291 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
our Lord and Saviour Christ, to shew his willingness to be found, stepped
forth, and said unto them, ' Whom seek ye ?' He provokes them rather
to lay hands upon him than otherwise. And so much for the fourth
verse.
Verse 5. ' They answered Jiim, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesiis saith unto them,
I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood loilh them.'
From hence interpreters do observe — and I think rightly — that both these
Roman soldiers, and also these officers of the high priest, at their first
approach to him, did not know him by sight ; no, nor Judas neither ; for
it is said Judas stood with them when he asked them, ' Whom seek ye ?'
Afterwards, indeed, he was the first that went to him, and kissed him, and
said, ' This is he.' He asked them twice the same question, and they answer
both times, ' Jesus of Nazareth,' which clearly argues, that they did not know
him to be the man. Therefore some think there was a piece of a miracle
in this, that he struck them with blindness, as the Sodomites were that
beset Lot's house, or as the servants of the king of Syria were that came
to take Elisha. Others think that their eyes were with-led by a miracle, as
the eyes of those tvro disciples that went to Emmaus were, so that though
they had often seen him before, and heard him preach, yet now they could
not know him. But, however, it is exceedingly likely that these soldiers
did not know him, for the Romans regarded not the gospel, nor did they
regard the Jewish religion. So far were they from knowing of him, and the
officers it is likely they were such as had not heard him. Therefore you
may observe this by the way, that the rage of men against the people of
God, it is of those that are ignorant of them ; as these here were ignorant
of Christ, and these the chief priests and Pharisees set to take him.
They answered, Jesus of Nazareth. They do not say they sought Christ,
for they did not own him as such, but they call him by the name of the
place of his birth, and by the name of his country. And Christ owns it :
* I am he,' saith he. Aid he owned that name from heaven when he spake
to Paul : Acts ix. 5, ' I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou perseeutest.'
"Why did he not say, I am Christ? He speaks to Paul's apprehension, — I
am he whom thou knowest and hast heard of by the name of Jesus of Naza-
reth. He shewed himself to be Christ indeed in his appearing ; but to
shew who he was that Paul persecuted, he said, ' I am Jesus of Nazareth ;'
for had Paul persecuted him as Christ, he had sinned against the Holy
Ghost ; but he persecuted him only as Jesus of Nazareth. So did these
poor men, they did not know him to be Christ, only they came to take one
Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus saith unto them, I am he. We should boldly hold forth our profes-
sion. When we are asked, Ai-e you a Christian ? Yes. Eusebius reports
of one that, being asked divers questions, as what country he was of, and
the like, he always answered, * I am a Christian,' to shew his boldness in
his profession ; so Christ here, ' I am he.'
And Judas also, which betrayed him., stood with them. This is noted, first,
to shew that Judas was struck backward as well as the rest, for all that
company that was together fell to the ground, as you shall see in the next
verse. Christ had struck an arrow through his conscience, dashed him, and
certainly aimed at him in the confounding of these more than all the rest.
Therefore it is added, ' and Judas also stood with them ;' for special con-
fusion shall befall them that profess Christ, and afterwards fall away.
This miserable man (secondly) was wont to stand amongst the disciples,
Chap. VI. ] of christ the mediator. 205
but now ho stands where he shall stand at the latter day, amongst those
that are reprohates, and the crueifiers of the Lord of life ; that as it is said
in Ps. cxxv. 1, * The righteous shall be like mount Zion, but those that
work iniquity, God shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity,' In
the end the Lord doth discover them ; he will bring them into that di-ove ;
they shall fall to that side their hearts are with ; they shall stand amonf^st
them in the issue and end (for God in his providence orders it), with whom
they shall stand for ever. And this God doth usually fulfil upon wicked
men, though they have a temporaiy work upon them ; and though for tho
present they profess the name of Christ never so much, yet at last they
stand — and it is a fatal standing — to sever themselves from tho people of
God, and betake themselves to that side that are persecutors, or otherwise
corrupt. So Judas doth here : he stands among Gentiles and officers of the
Pharisees and chief priests, an epitome of reprobates, and so he shall stand
at the latter day. God will lead forth all men that do work iniquity with
the workers of iniquity. To go on.
Verse 6. ' As soon as he had said unto them, I am he, they u-ent baclcward,
and fell to the groimd.'
Here you see the confusion that did befall them, from the power of
Christ, afore such time as they did lay hands upon him. It is prophesied
by David in Ps. xxxv. 4, as a curse upon his enemies, and the Septua-
gint there use the same word that is here : ' Let them,' saith he, ' be turned
backward.' It is a phrase that noteth out confusion, and Christ fulfilleth
it here upon these Jews in the very letter. ' They went backward, and fell
to the gi'ound.'
And he doth not simply say they fell backward, but it is evident he puts
it upon the power of Christ, that did cavTse them to fall backward ; for it is
said, ' As goon as he said, I am he,' (or, as others read it, ' He therefore
said, I am he,') ' they fell backward.'
My brethren, there was never such a thing done in the world. Tell me
in any story that ever any king, Alexander the Great, or the greatest mon-
arch that ever was in the world, with a word of his mouth, did, against men's
wills, make them fall backward to the ground. Had they fallen forward, it
might have been thought other force behind them had thrown them down ;
or it might have been thought they had worshipped him in a counterfeit
way, as afterward they did at his arraignment. But to fall backward at
the speaking of a word ! In the word of this king, what power was there !
And therefore some of the ancient fathers that are interpreters, they say
that of all the miracles that ever Christ did, this was one of the greatest.
Some indeed have pitched upon that miracle of his when he whipped the
buyers and sellers out of the temple, and said, ' You make my Father's
house a den of thieves.' But assuredly this was a greater than that, for
there Christ had some kind of weapon, here he had none. He was then,
when he did that, surrounded with people that applauded him, for they
had newly brought him into the city with triumph, the children crying
Hosannah to him ; but here he had none to take his part when these bands
came out against him, but eleven poor disciples. There he had to do but
with poor men that sold turtles and doves, here with soldiers armed, that
came, out on purpose to take him ; yet at one word he throws them down.
He doth but say, ' I am the man,' wherein he offers himself to them, which
makes the miracle the stranger, that that voice which did invite them to take
him, that very voice should throw them backward to the ground.
206 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR, [BoOK V.
Now, the reasons why our Lord and Saviour Christ deals thus with them
before he would be taken are these :
First, Because he would shew them that he was God, gives them this
sign of his divinity. And the truth is, if you observe it, he did all along
in the course of his life, with his weakness, mingle some specimens of his
power and Godhead. Thus when he was a child in the cradle, as an evi-
dence of his Godhead, there came kings, three wise men out of the East,
to worship him ; when he was tempted in the wUderness by Satan, he is
succoured by angels ; and here, when he comes to be bound, and to be
carried away to be crucified, he first strikes them that were to do it back-
ward with a word of his mouth. It is made the property of God alone to
consume men with his breath. Job iv. 9 and Dan. x. 17. Now, Christ shews
himself to be God by this, he doth but say, ' I am he,' and they are confounded.
Oh, my brethren, if there was this power in the words of Christ in an-
swering but a question when he was in the form of a servant, what power
will there be in his words when he shall come to judgment ! What power is
there in that word by which the whole world is upheld, as the apostle saith,
Heb. i. 2.
He did do it, secondly, that they might have some space to repent, that
they might have something to strike them, to occasion their repentance.
.And you see no outward means, no, not miracles, will work upon the hearts
of men, if God do not strike them with his Spii"it. And you see likewise
that men, though their consciences strike them in the very act of sin, and
strike them deeply (as this must needs do their consciences here, especially
Judas his), yet they w'ill go on. As Balaam, he went on even against the
hair as we say, and so did these.
But the chief reason why Christ thus confounded them, and struck them
backward first before he would be taken, is that which .Jphn (as I said afore)
eminently and visibly holds forth, namely, to shew that he was wilhng to
Bufler ; no man had power to take his life away, they had not power so
much as to lay hands on him, they fall down first. All the world might
think, and so might they think too, that if with his breath he thus stnick
them to the ground, with the same breath he might have struck them into
the ground, nay, struck them to hell, never have suffered them to rise
more ; he needed never to have been taken by them. But when once he
had shewed that it was in his power not to be taken, when he had struck
their consciences, then he doth willingly give himself up iuto their hands ;
but he would do this fii'st.
And what words are they by which he doth confound them thus ? They
were mild words ; no more than this, ' I am he.' Yea, you shall find else-
where that by these veiy words he comforted his disciples at other times ;
as when he walked upon the sea, ' Be not afi'aid,' saith he, ' it is I,' or ' I
am he.' And after his resurrection, when he comes into the room where
his disciples were, he saith, ' I am he ; ' and here now he useth the very
same words to his enemies, to the gi'eatest ten-or in the world. The vei-y
same words which Christ speaks, and which we his ministers speak, being
his words, that are unto some a savour of life, they are unto others a savour
of death. He strikes them dead here, as it were, with the very same words
that he put life and comfort into his disciples by. At the latter day, when
Christ shall appear, the very same look, the verj' same presence of his, that
wiU be nothing but grace and sweetness to his childi'en, and fill all their
hearts with joy, will be horror, and amazement, and confusion to his ene-
mies, and fill aU their hearts with teiTor.
Chap. VI.] of christ the mediator. 207
And then another observation I may make from hence is this, that as in
this apprehension of Christ, before they prevailed over him, he strikes them
with terror, so wicked men do seldom meddle with the people of God, to
persecute them, or apprehend them, to condemn them or the like, but
Christ strikes terror in their consciences for so doing. As it is in Ps.
xiv. 4, ' They eat up my people like bread ; ' they eat them up so heartily,
and seem to be so greedy and so mightily hungry after their blood, and
after their hurt, that one would think they have no knowledge : ' Have tho
workers of iniquity no knowledge,' saith he, * that eat up my people as they
eat bread ? ' that they fall so fast to them as they do ? But what saith
the next verse ? ' Then were they in gi-eat fear, for God is in the genera-
tion of the righteous.' And in Philip, i. 28 the apostle bids them, when
they suffer, to carry it with a confidence, and to be nothing terrified by
their adversaries ; which, saith he, ' is an evident token unto them of per-
dition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.' His meaning is, that
when men do cany things confidently, being in a right way, usually God's
Spirit doth bless that confidence to a double end. First, He seals up sal-
vation to them that sufi'er for him ; even while they suffer he breaks in
upon their spirits, and fills their hearts with assurance. And, secondly,
he breaks in also upon the hearts of the persecutors, and strikes them with
terror. ' It is a sign,' saith he, that is, a present sign, there is from God,
as to you that suffer, inward joy and comfort ; so there is oftentimes terror
in the hearts of wicked men that persecute you, which is as it were the
first-fruits of hell and of perdition. And so here Christ, to shew that he
will one day throw them to hell, he flings them to the ground now. Eccle-
siastical stories tell us that the very heathens themselves, though they knew
not what they did when they persecuted the Christians, they had oftentimes
terrors in themselves while they were executing their cruelty upon the people
of God.
And then again, out of this verse, observe this, that the church may pre-
vail against the enemies thereof, and make them fall, and yet those enemies
may recover and fall upon the church again. Men that shall fall upon the
church, and prevail against it, they may for a time fall before it. These
very men that God had designed to take Christ, they fall backward first,
and they fall backward terrified and amazed ; yet they rise up again, and
take him. So is it oftentimes with the body of Christ here on earth, the
enemies sometimes are greatly prevailed against, confounded, that one
M'Ould think they should never rise more ; yet, as Jeremiah saith, ' These
wounded men shall rise up every man in his tent, and take the city.'
These men, you see, that thus fell backward and were confounded, they
were the men that took Christ ; for when Christ had done, and shewed
them that he was the Messiah, he gave himself up to them. So it is, and
will be, to the end of the world.
Yet you may take it as a certain sign that they shall fall one day ; as this
was here, it was a sign that they should fall into ruin and destruction, but
they must do their work first. If God come down and help his church, and
appear in his power, as here Christ doth, I am sure his enemies will foil
backward ; though his enemies, I say. may rise again and take the city.
Yet it is a help to our faith that that God that came down as a lion thus,
and they were scattered, shall ruin them in the end, that is certain. It
is the prophet's expression, when they are all preying like a company of
wolves upon the sheep, 'He shall come down like a lion,' and they will
all run away presently. Thus, you see, at this day Christ came but down
208 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
amongst them, and said, ' I am he,' and you know how they all crouched
presently.
We see likewise the way that Jesus Christ useth to confound his enemies ;
it is with his breath, it is with his word. As soon as he had said, ' I am
he,' or therefore when he had said, ' I am he,' they fell backward. Still
Christ is said to do all his great businesses with a word of his mouth.
There is a sword in his mouth that kills them. And in Isa. xi. 4, he
strikes them with the rod of his mouth ; and antichrist is to be destroyed
with the spirit of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming. As it was
the word of Christ that confounded his enemies here, so it is that word
shall confound them to the end of the world. And if they have any other
enemies about their ears besides the word, it is because the word stirs them
up. It is the word that works in the hearts of men, and makes them
enemies to the enemies of God, and brings them upon them. It is the
vengeance of the word which the people of God execute upon wicked men.
You see likewise, when Christ will appear, what a little thing daunts his
enemies. It is but a mere word, * I am he,' and they fall backward to the
ground. But to go on.
Verse 7. 'Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And theij said,
Jesus of Nazareth.'
When they were thus fallen down and risen again, perhaps they went up
and down like amazed and confounded men to seek him ; therefore he comes
to them, and asketh them, ' Whom seek ye ?'
This second question carries a mighty conviction, a mighty triumph with
it over their consciences ; as if he had said, I have told you who I am ; and
I have told it you to purpose, have I not ? Have you not learned by this
time who I am, when your hearts are so terrified, that j^ou all fell do^vn
before me, a poor man ? They had been taught by wofol experience who
he was, when he blew them over, flung them down with his breath ; and it
might have turned to a blessed experience had God struck their hearts, as
he did their outward man. But still they will not call him * Christ' for all
this, they call him but ' Jesus of Nazareth.'
You see the desperate hardness of the hearts of wicked men, and it is in
experience true, no means, no convictions, no miracles, will work upon them.
One would have thought that this should have struck the spirits of any
men in the world, that a poor man with his breath should cause them to
fall down backward, they should be afraid, and not have dared to have laid
hold on him. They were afraid indeed afore, that's the truth on't, they
had a suspicion that there was more than a man in him ; why else had
they the Roman soldiers and all their officers armed with weapons ? And
you see how he falls upon them but with his word, yet still they are
hardened. A man would wonder, when there are such evidences of God's
taking part with his truth, such providences of God, punishing those that
go against his people, yet that men should go on still. Nothing will soften
the hearts of those that are resolved in wickedness. There is one instance,
and it is to me a mighty one, of the desperate hardness of men's hearts,
and that is, of the men that did watch at the grave of Christ. Chiist had
foretold that he would rise again the third day, and the Pharisees, after he
was buried, they come to Pilate, the governor, and say they, This impostor
said he would rise again the third day, therefore let us make sure work
with him, and let us have a stone rolled upon his grave, and set men to
guard it ; and so a watch was set. Now while they were sitting to watch
Chap. VI. j op ohrist the mediator. 209
him, there comes a great earthquake, and an angel descends from heaven
and rolls away the grave-stone, and was so droacllul to these keepers that
they fell down, and became as dead men, whereby it is evident that from
heaven there was a testimony of his resurrection. They go and tell their
masters, the chief priests, all these things that were done ; they bid them
hold their tongues. ' Say you ' (say they to them) ' that his disciples came
by night, and stole him away while wo slept,' and we will satisfy the
governor, and secure you. Though Christ, even by the testimony of their
own men, had fulfilled what he himself prophesied, and it was plainly
evident to them, yet they hired the soldiers to tell this lie, though the lie
contradicted itself (as some have observed) ; for how could they tell his
disciples had stolen him away, when they were asleep ? To this desperate
hardness do the hearts of men come ; therefore never think that tmth, or
reason, or anything, will prevail upon wicked men ; all the means and
miracles in the world will not do it, unless God persuade Japhet to dwell
in the tents of Shem. In Kev. xvi., when the fourth vial was poured out
upon the sun (which is thought to be that execution that is now in the
world upon the house of Austria, or whatever it is), it is said, that * though
men were scorched with great heat, yet they blasphemed the name of God,
and repented not to give him glory.' And when the fifth vial comes to be
poured out (which is the vial upon the city of Rome, the seat of the beast,
and it may be some of it is begun to be fulfilled, the httle seats of the beast
are begun to be removed), it is said, ' The kingdom was full of darkness,
yet they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed God, and repented
not of their deeds.' Men that are resolved in their wickedness come to
such desperate hardness, that they never repent, let what will fall out.
Those that harden themselves against Christ shall be hardened. So much
for the seventh verse.
Verse 8. * Jesiis ansivered, I have told you that I am he ; if therefore ye seek
me, let these go their imy.'
Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he. There is a great deal of
majesty in this speech, a great deal of exprobration ; ' I have told you,'
saith he, and I think that I have told you with a witness, ' that I am he.'
As was said of the river Jordan, * What ailest thou that thou fleddest back ? '
So it might be said of these men, What do you ail that you fall backward
at a mean man's only saying, ' I am he ' ? a mean man in appearance.
It is as if Christ had said, you say you seek for Jesus of Nazareth ; I have
told you that I am he ; why did you not then lay hold upon me ? Was it
a divine power that struck you dead first ? Then be warned by it ; I am
the same man ; upon your peril be it if you lay hold upon me. Yea, Christ
did intimate thereby that they could not know him, unless he himself had
helped them to himself. He said again, ' I am he ;' they knew not who
was he.
Which still also argues his willingness to sufier, that he should twice put
himself upon them, twice say that he was the man. They being as blinded
men (for so indeed they were), he might have escaped if he would ; but he
is so far from that, that he provokes them by a double question to know
him. He would not be taken by Judas his sign at first, but by his own
voluntary resigning of himself up, for that is the thing (Christ's willingness
to sufier) which John doth eminently endeavour to hold forth in this story.
My brethren, these men took pains to seek Jesus Christ to damn them-
selves ; had they bestowed the same diligence to seek him as a saviour,
VOL. V.
210 OP OHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V
tbey micflit have been saved ; had they took the same pains to seek hia
favour that here they took to seek him to crucify him, he would have mani-
fested himself unto them. There is no man that seeks Christ, but in the
end he saith unto him, ' I am he.' And if they have lost their knowledge
of him (as many oftentimes do), he saith it the second time, ' I am he,' and
provokes their hearts to know him. To all seekers of him he doth so,
whether they be those of the left hand, such as these that sought him
to crucify him, or those of the right hand, that seek him to be saved by
him.
There is one general observation that I shall give you here, upon the
occasion both of this miracle and that of healing Malchus his ear ; for he
did both these miracles afore they apprehended him, as the context evi-
dently argues ; and although Matthew and Mark relate the stoiy of Peter's
cutting off Malchus his ear after his being apprehended, which indeed they
do by way of narration, yet it is clear by Luke and John that it was before ;
for when his hands were bound it was not a time for him to put forth his
hand to heal him. Our Saviour Christ did not put forth any more miracles,
or gave any more signs of his divinity now ; but after they had taken him,
he is as calm as a lamb. Before, indeed, he doth two things : he terrifies
their consciences by casting them backward ; and he healeth him who, like
an enemy and a wretch, came to attach him, and it seems was the first that
laid hands on him.
Ohs. The observation I make from hence is this : You shall find this to
be true in experience, that when you are entering into a sin, then will God
use that means that he meaneth to apply to keep you from it ; he doth
usually do it then ; but after you are entered into it, then your hearts are
let go on. So indeed it was here with these men ; Christ useth two means,
and notable ones too, two gi-eat miracles, before they took him, to strike
their consciences, in a way of judgment the one, in a way of mercy the
other. But when once they had laid hold of him and got their prey, he
leaves them to their- own hearts' lusts. So he deals with wicked men, and
in experience you will find it true. Therefore, let this be the use of it :
observe what God saith to your hearts, what means he useth to your spirits,
when you are entering into any great sin. If you neglect cleaving to God
then, and making use of those means, you are in danger never to be re-
covered, but to be left to that sin. And so much for that general observa-
tion upon these miracles of Christ.
//" tlierefore ye seek me, Jet these (fo their way. Whilst Jesus Christ was
ready to be taken, he takes upon him hke a king. If you will have me,
saith he, here I am ; but I charge you do not meddle with one of these,
touch not mine anointed, let them go.
The words are to be considered, first, as they are a command from
Christ ; they are not a matter of compact or agreement only with them, or
of humble suit, ' Let these go their way ; ' but he speaks as a king, as one
that had conquered them before ; he had thrown them backward before,
they had felt of his power, 'Let these go their way,' saith he. And that
it was a command doth seem to be manifest by this, by the words that fol-
low, 'That the sayiug might be fulfilled which he spake' (in his praj'er), 'Of
them that thou hast given me I have lost none.' As he bad prayed and
had assurance from God of it, so now he gives forth a command about it.
For assuredlj', otherwise, those which did command those officers to take
Christ, did command them to take his disciples also; their hatred was
extreme gi-eat against the disciples as well as against the master. And
Chap. VI.J of ohrist the mediator. 21 1
therefore, when all the disciplos forsook him and fled, although there was
time enough, to show that Christ's power kept tlicm from taking them, yet
when there was a certain young man that i-ose up, and came out in his
Bhirt in the night, and did but follow him when he was taken and led away,
they laid hold upon him, thinking him to bo a disciple; and he was fain to
leave his linen cloth that was about him, and to ily from them naked.
Therefore certainly they had as full a purpose to have taken any that
countenanced him, any disciple, as Christ himself, but only here he speaks
to them as you see, * Let these go their way.'
And by virtue of this command it was, that though Peter did provoke
them after these words the most that could be, by drawing his sword, and
falling upon a servant of the high priest's, and strikes off his ear, which
could not but mightil}' enrage them, yet the command of Christ must stand ;
he had hold of their hearts, he charged them that they should not meddle
with them, and they durst not lay hands on them. Peter endangered him-
self and all his brethren, that after Christ had said this, he should fall
upon them, and strike them with his sword; so that though they had no
malice against the disciples before, yet this drawing of swords and striking
off an ear, could not but extremely provoke them ; 3'et, I say, Christ's com-
mand must stand. And Peter, after this, he comes into the high priest's
hall, and there was challenged again and again, yet this word of Christ,
' Let these go,' stood. And John afterward, he comes and stands about
the cross, sees him crucified ; they had no power to meddle with him,
Christ's word stood still, 'Let these go.' It is as if Christ should have
said. Well, I will suffer you to take me ; but as I have shewn you, by
throwing you to the ground, that you cannot take me unless I please, so
still, here I am, ' if j'ou seek me, let these go.'
Ohs. 1. Observe from hence first, it is a command from heaven, from
Christ, that doth deliver his people in all dangers whatsoever. Men could
not be in a greater danger than these disciples were in, nor were there ever
any men more malicious than these were, yet we see they are preserved hy
virtue of this word of Christ's, ' Let these go.' In Ps. cv. 14, 15. Though
they were strangers, saith he, and though the other were kings, and had
power enough to hurt them, yet he suffered no man to do them wrong.
God from heaven spake to their hearts, ' Touch not mine anointed, do my
prophets no harm ; ' so doth Christ here speak with the same authority,
* Let these go.'
Ohs. 2. Observe from hence, as the power of Christ to deliver us in all
dangers, so his willingness to preserve us. He voluntarily resigns himself
up to be taken ; but as for his disciples, ' Let these go,' saith he. Was he
thus willing to put himself in our stead, when he was here on earth ? Do
you think that now he hath suffered and is gone to heaven, where he is to
intercede, to reap the fruit of his sufferings, that he doth not say to his
Father upon all occasions, ' Let these poor souls go, I have suffered for
them' ? If, when he was crucified in weakness, he put forth such a power
to deliver his people in so great a danger as these were in, certainly you
may trust him upon all occasions to deliver you, now he is glorified much
more; unless there be some peculiar reason, some peculiar decree of God's
(as there was for Christ himself), that the Father hath appointed us a cup
for to drink, and that neither shall not be till the time come. These
apostles they w^ere afterwards to suffer ; yet Christ, because their time was
not yet come, gives this charge to those that took him, ' Let these go.'
This being said concerning the command itself, we will consider the rea-
212 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
sons why Christ did preserve his disciples at this time. The reasons are
clearly these.
1. To shew that he could have saved himself if he pleased : for he that
saved others could have saved himself; he that so with authority did command
them to let these go, could have commanded them to have let himself go.
2. He would shew that he alone was to suffer. In this work (saith he)
I will have none to be my companions. I stand now in their stead, and
their sins are laid upon me, therefore meddle not with these, ' Let these
go.' As David said, 'Let thy hand be upon me and my father's house,' so
doth Christ say, Let your hands be upon me, let the sword of God awake
against the shepherd, but not against the sheep. You know it was the
prophecy of Caiaphas, * It is meet that one man should die for the people ; '
therefore, if you seek me, saith Christ, I am that one man, let these go.
3. Christ meant to employ them in other services : they were to preach
the gospel to all the world, and when they had done they were to suffer.
He had other work for them to do, and until that were done, 'Let these go.'
4. They were not yet fit to suffer. Christ he knew the weakness of their
spirits ; it is true he could have given them power, but according to an
ordinary course, had they been called to suffer now, in that state they were
in, tliey would have all done as Peter did, denied him ; for you see they all
fled away from him presently, as soon as he was taken, they would never
have held out, the business was too strong for them to undergo at the pre-
sent. And that this is the reason is clear by the next words, ' That the
saying might be fulfilled which he spake. Of them which thou hast given
me I have lost none,' implying that if they had been put upon suffering
now, they had been lost, their souls would have been undone, they would
have denied him. This Christ foresaw, and therefore prevents then- suffer-
ings, and so the occasion of their falling so grossly. Therefore, to preserve
them every way, both their bodies and their souls, saith he, ' Let these go.'
The observations from hence are these :
Obs. 1. You may see the great care of Christ; when he was .to suffer,
one would think his thoughts should have been wholly taken up about him-
self. No ; you see he doth not mind himself, his care was to preserve his
disciples : ' Here am I,' saith he, ' let these go.' Was Christ so careful of
his disciples when he was to undergo so great an encounter ? How much
more doth he take care of his saints now he is in heaven.
Obs. 2. Christ is careful to bring us but then to suffer, when he means to
fit us for suffering, and when we shall be able to suffer, and if need be, and
so much only as shall need be. That place in 1 Pet. i. 6 contains a pro-
mise in it, speaking of sufferings : ' Wherein,' saith he, ' you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need he, you are in heaviness,' &c. He will
not, unless there be need, bring temptations upon you. If Christ had laid
sufferings upon them now, they had not been able to have suffered : you
see Peter foreswore him upon the assault of a maid, how much more would
he have done so, if attached and brought before the high priest. It is
Christ's manner not to call us to suffering till we can suffer, nor to
lay more upon us than we are able to bear. You know the promise in
1 Cor. X. 13.
Obs. 3. They that are of public use, for whom God hath work to do, till
the time appointed in which God will have them suffer, they shall escape
abundance of dangers of sufferings. The truth is, had these Jews seized
upon Christ and all his disciples at once, they had made sure for* the gospel
* That is, ' they would have prevented.' — Ed.
Chap. VI.J of cdrist the mediator. 213
ever to havo been propagated, according to what God had appointed, for
he had chosen these men to be witnesses and preachers of it, there had
been none left but Paul to preach. They might have crushed the gospel in
the very shell, had they taken Christ and all the apostles at once. No ;
saith he, ' Let these go.' So long as God hath work for men to do, he will
preserve them from being taken and seized upon, and ruined by their ene-
mies. Let no man, therefore, that is in any work and service for God,
fear; he shall never be cut off till such time as his work be done, and then
to be cut off" it is no matter ; he shall not be sent for out of the harvest till
he hath reaped that God hath appointed to reap by him. ' Go tell that
fox, Herod' (saith Christ, Luke xiii. 31), ' Behold, I cast out devils, and I
do cm-es to-day and to-morrow ;' and I will do it in spite of him ; he shall
not be able, for all he is a crafty, wily fox, with all his cunning, to take me.
* I will work to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'
Till I have accomplished all my work, till the time come that my Father
hath appointed me to suffer in, I will go up and down freely, let him do
his worst ; and when I have done I will suffer, for I have vowed to do
it. So here, * Let these go,' saith he, I have work for them to do, I must
send them abroad into all the world, do not touch a hair of them ; no more
they did. So much for the 8th verse. The reason of this is given in the
next words.
Verse 9. * That the saying might be fulfilled ivhich he spake ^ Of them which
thou gavest me have I lost none.^
You must not take these words as spoken by Christ, but it is the com-
ment that John, who wrote this gospel, putteth upon Christ's speech imme-
diately foregoing ; and he openeth, through the revelation of the Spirit of
God, the true reason why that command of Christ did take place, that
the disciples were let go, because, saith he, that Christ had prayed even
just befoi-e, in the 17th chapter ; for, if you read that chapter, you shall
find that Christ, in that solemn prayer which he puts up to his Father,
saith, ' Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost,
but the son of perdition.' This prayer he had put up just afore, and you
see what present need there was of having it answered.
I ahall give you two general observations from this.
Ohs. 1. We had need to lay up prayers every day before we go abroad
and do our business ; for indeed we do not know what dangers may befall
us afore we come in again. Christ here, if he had not prayed just afore
that all his apostles might be kept, they might have been in danger ; for a
great danger they came into, but the efficacy of that prayer kept them.
Ohs. 2. How soon are prayers answered ! Christ had put up this
prayer but even just before ; and as some think, he did pray as he came
along out of the chamber where they did eat the passover, and that he
uttered this prayer to his Father walking from thence. For in the last
verse of the 14th chapter, saith he, ' Arise, let us go hence ;' therefore
they conceive that his sermon mentioned in the 15th and 16th chapters,
and his prayer mentioned in the 17th, were all uttered as he went along
from the chamber to the brook Cedron. However, certainly it was not long
before, perhaps not above half an hour ; and here you see it answered, the
thing he prayed for is fulfilled ; ' Let these go,' saith he, and it was done
accordingl}", they did not touch one of them, ' That the saying might be
fulfilled which he spake. Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. '
In Dan. ix, 3, 21, you shall find that Daniel set himself to pray whenas
214 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK Ve
the evening sacrifice began, and there was a commission presently given td
the angel to come and give him an answer. Prayers, my brethren, are
presently heard ; so was Christ's here, he had an answer presently. So
much for the general observations out of these words.
Now the only question for the opening the words lies in this. Those
words of Christ's in the 17th chapter — ' Those that thou gavest me I
have kept, and none of them is lost' — seem to have been put up for the
keeping them, in respect of the salvation of their souls, whereas this here
(which it is applied unto) is spoken only in respect of the preservation of
their bodies, in appearance ; ' Let these go,' saith he, let them escape for
this time. It is most certain that what our Saviour Christ spake in that
place, referi-eth principally to the salvation of their souls ; what is the rea-
son, then, that here it should be applied to this dehverance of their bodies,
to a temporal deliverance ?
My brethren, all the promises in the Scripture are to be taken in the
largest sense that may be. As we say of privileges and favoui's, they are
to be intei-pvcted in the largest sense, so are all the promises. That pro-
mise made to Joshua, ' I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee,' is referred
only to the carrying of him on in that war ; yet all the elect may apply it
to all sorts of distresses, not only that God will never leave them nor for-
sake them, in respect of bodily deliverances, but in respect of their souls
also. So here, on the other side, that which Christ speaks of their souls
is extended to their bodies too, and they reap the fruit of it in that respect.
And it argues this too, that that God that saves thy soul, out of the
same love saves thy body too ; therefore interpret it so, for so John doth
here ; what was spoken in the 17th chapter of their souls, he applies it
here to their bodies. Will God save thy soul ? Certainly he will deliver
thy body. When we seek spiritual things much, in the height of our
spirits, then doth God answer us also in temporal things. And as by the
virtue of Christ's resm-rection we shall be raised up at the latter day and
saved, so by virtue of the same resurrection we shall be preserved here in
the world ; the same power that shall raise us up then, works for us lesser
dehverances now. Paul, in 2 Cor, iv. 10, speaking of the many dehver-
ances he had from temporal dangers, he attributes it all to the resurrection
of Christ : ' We are' (saith he) ' troubled on every side, yet not distressed ;
cast down, but not destroyed, &c., that the life of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body.' So here, though Christ did not in his prayer intend
so much the preservation of their bodies as their eternal salvation, yet their
deliverance from this so great a danger was a fruit of that prayer. The
same prayer that saved their souls saved their bodies too ; and it was a
pawn and pledge to them that their souls should be saved, because the vir-
tue of that prayer wrought a deliverance for their bodies out of so eminent
a danger ; for who would not have thought but that they should all
have been taken, seeing they laid about them so as they did ? And it
was in answer to Christ's prayer; one would have thought it had been but
an ordinary providence, that they were so greedy of Christ that they let
the disciples slip away. No ; it was an answer to prayer made but a while
afore.
Obs. 1. ObseiTe from hence, that of all things else in the world, the
greatest care that Jesus Christ hath, it is to preserve all his saints, not to
lose one. For he comforts himself in the seventeenth chapter, that of those
God had given him, he had lost none, but he that was designed to perdi-
tion by God himself; and here it is repeated again, and you see what care
Chap. VII.] of chkist the mediator. 215
he takes for tlieir preservation. My brethren, it would trouble Jesus Christ
to eternity (I may say it with boldness) if he should lose one soul that he
died for. Are the hairs of your head numbered ? Certainly your persons
are numbered, and Christ will not lose one of his tale, nor a finger of his
body ; nay, though thou beest but as a little tip of his finger, or as his little
toe, he will have a care to save thee. When he makes up his jewels, he will
not lose any, not the least of them. ' Lo, here am I,' saith he, ' and the
children thou hast given me,' Heb. ii. 13. ' And this is my Father's will,
that of all those he hath given me I should lose none, but raise them up at
the latter day,' John vi. 89.
Obs. 2. And observe this too from hence, that Jesus Christ he can keep
us in the very midst of his enemies. He gives his disciples here a pass
(as I may call it) ; when there was a band of Roman soldiers, divers of the
chief priests, and elders, and officers from them, all about him and his dis-
ciples, ' Let these go,' saith he. And all to fulfil this, ' Of those thou hast
given me have I lost none.' It is because he rules in the midst of his
enemies. Jesus Christ shewed his power before, in confounding these
Jews and the rest, by throwing them backward ; and now he shews his
power as much in preserving his disciples in the midst of them, and so he
will do to the end of the world. ' He knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptation,' 2 Peter ii. 9. He hath the art and skill of it, and the
power of it too, for he awed their hearts here when he said, ' Let these go.'
Obs. 3. Lastly, ministers likewise should have the like care, that none of
those that are committed to them perish, for so Christ as a good shepherd
had. And so much for the ninth verse.
CHAPTER VIL
The tenth and eleventh verses explained, ivith suitable observations raised from
them. — The iviUingness ivhich Christ expressed to come to die, and he made
a sacrifice, and would have nothing to hinder it.
You shall find this (that I may give you a general preface to the opening
of the words of this tenth verse, and those that follow) that the evangelists
in setting down the story of Christ's sufferings, they do diligently insert the
behaviour of his apostles, how they carried themselves. It was an ill time,
brethren, for disciples to sin, wdien their master was to be taken ; and yet
I know not how many sins of theirs are mentioned. They were fast asleep
at that time when he was in his greatest agony. One would think that at
that time above all other they should have watched with him, when he was
entering into his sufi'erings for their sins. And now when he was to be
taken, you see into what a miscarriage Peter runneth, what a furious rash
act he performs. If Christ had pleased, he might have kept them from all
these sins, he had power enough to have done it, but he would not. What
is the observation from hence ?
Obs. 1. That Jesus Christ may be present with a man's spirit, and pray
for him too (for he had prayed for these that they should be kept from the
evil of the world), and yet that man run into sin. If Christ, when he was
here upon earth, did not keep his people from falling into manifold sins and
eiTors, do not think much if sometimes thou art left to sin against him-
He made good use of it, he did bring glory out of it ; this same rash act of
Peter's here, it was an occasion of two things : first, of illustrating the power
216 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOB. [BoOK Vt
of Christ the more in keeping of them, according to the command he gave,
' Let these go ; ' for who would not have thought but that they should all
have fallen upon Peter and the rest, and have killed them presently, a com-
pany of rude soldiers and officers armed ? Yet they meddled not with
them. And it was an occasion of Chinst's shewing his goodness in healing
the man's ear, and of shewing a miracle. And this be assured of, that Christ
will work good out of all thy sins, as he did here glory to himself out of this
sin of Peter's.
Ohs. 2. That God may leave his people to sinning even at that time when
he is doing the greatest things for them. But I shall pass that now, because
we shall have occasion to speak of it in the following discourse. To speak
therefore a little more particularly of this act of Peter's.
Verse 10. ' Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and smote the high
priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name teas Malchiis.^
You read in Mark xiv. 31, that the disciples, they did all vow that they
would live and die •s^'ith him, as we say ; they all promise him that if he
were taken that night, they would lose their lives in his defence, that they
would ; and Peter above the rest he was the forwardest, Whoever leaves thee,
saith he, I will not leave thee. Now these disciples, having thus engaged
themselves, when they saw that their master would be taken, they asked
him, ' Lord, shall we smite with the sword ?' So Luke tells us, chapter
xxiii. 39. And yet, poor men, they had but two swords amongst them all.
And Simon Peter, as he had been the forwardest man in promising to assist
Chiist, so he is the forwardest in striking, for before Christ gave them an
answer whether they should smite or no, he out with his sword and strikes.
Peter, having a sword. There were two swords in the company, as Luke
hath it. Chi'ist indeed had said a few hours before, ' He that hath a sword,
let him take it ; ' but he intended it in another sense, and therefore they
mistook him. However probable it is that the}^ knowing Christ was to be
betrayed that night, they carried out their swords to fight, having promised
to do so before ; which may be one occasion of Peter's having a sword ; but
Josephus and others say (and it is as likely too), that those that came up
to the feast (as these did), they travelled through woods and wildernesses,
and so were in danger of wild beasts, or thieves, or the like, and therefore
they earned swords with them ; and besides, it was the manner and custom
of the Galileans especially to wear swords, as hath been observed by some.
Some intei-preters hence observe that it is lawful to wear defensive weapons,
which the anabaptists of Germany did use to deny. There is the clearest
evidence for it here, for they did not only wear swords, but Christ bids them,
if they had no swords, to sell their garments and buy swords ; so says Luke
chap. xxii. 36. And when Peter had done this mischievous act, in di'awing
his sword and striking the high priest's servant, Christ did not bid him fling
it away, but only to put it up again into his place.
In this action of Peter's there was something good and something bad.
Something good. It is evident first that there was a great deal of zeal
and love to his master. He was encouraged to it likewise, because he had
seen his master to throw them all upon the gi'ound afore him ; thought he,
though we be but eleven, and have but two swords, we may venture, for
GUI' master will assist us. There was a confidence, a faith, in the power of
Christ. And it would seem also that what he did was upon warrant, as he
thought ; for at the passover Christ had said, ' If any man have a sword let
him take it.' He spake it indeed to another purpose (as I said even now),
Chap. VII.J of christ the mediator. 217
but Peter might take his ground from thence, misunderstanding his master's
words.
There was something bad and sinful likewise in this action, viz.,
1. That Peter did rashly fall upon this act; for the disciples having asked
Christ whether they should draw, before ever Christ answered, ho out with
his sword and falls upon the man. Peter had a bold and a rash and sudden
spii'it, as appeared, as by a world of carriages of his toward Christ, so by
this, which was as rash an act as could be ; and it was a folly for him to
do it ; for what was he and ten more, that had but two swords amongst
them, to encounter with all that band of men that came with weapons to
take Christ ?
2. That he went about to hinder our Saviour Christ from dying. That
is clear to be a sin by Christ's reproof of him ; for saith he, ' Shall I not
drink of the cup that my Father hath commanded me to drink of?' Wilt
thou hinder me ? Wilt thou go contrary to God's will ? Thou didst tempt
me once before, ' Master, spare thyself ; ' and now thou wouldst keep me
from dying for thee and all thy brethren.
3. That whereas a lawful power had seized upon Christ (a lawful power,
I say, though they did it not lawfully), he would lift up his sword against
the magistrate, who had sent these men to take him.
4. That he did endanger all the rest of the disciples to have been pre-
sently hewn a-pieces, but that the force of those words, ' Let these go,'
hindered it.
5. The truth is, there was an injustice in it, Christ having as it were
made a bargain with them : ' Here am I,' says he, ' let these go ; ' it was
injustice in Peter to fall upon them.
Ohs. 1. Comfort to those that have bold, and rash, and sudden spirits.
Hast thou a rash, a sudden, spirit ? That rashness is sinful, for Christ re-
proves it in Peter; yet comfort thyself: Peter, that great apostle, was a man
subject to the same infirmity. Yet take heed of walking rashly : Lev.
xxvi. 40, ' If you walk contrary to me ; ' so we translate it ; but I remem-
ber Junius translated it, ' If you walk rashly with me, I will walk rashly
with you.' If we walk rashly with God, though he love us and will pardon
us, yet he may walk rashly with us again, give us a blow afore we are
aware, come with some casual kind of cross or other upon us. God is
pleased to spare Peter, for he doth not animadvert for every fault ; yet
in that place of Leviticus, he expresseth what be will do upon men's rash
walking.
Obs. 2, See here the spirit of Peter, how valiant and bold he is, runs
into the midst of a band of men, and strikes amongst them ; but, alas ! he
did it out of a human courage and valour, because he had said he would die
with Christ. This poor man afterwards denies Christ upon the charge of a
damsel ; he was afraid of a maid, and yet here he encounters a company of
armed men ; he shewed his courage with his sword, when he would not do
it with his tongue, as Calvin saith. Let us have never so much greatness
of spirit natm-ally, if we come to any spiritual sufiering, and have not grace
to assist us, our natural spirit will not help us in it. Certainly this act
of Peter's proceeded from his natural spirit and human valour that he
had, but when he comes to be put to it to suffer in a spiritual way, Peter
shrinks back.
Obs. 3. Good men may carry on a good cause extreme indiscreetly. In
appearance this was as good cause to ventui'e one's life in as possibly could
be, yet how indiscreetly doth Peter manage it ! He managed it worse than
218 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
they did that came- to take Christ, for you see they did not fall upon the
disciples at all, which a thousand to one but they had ; whereas Peter, con-
trary to Christ's agreement with them, falls upon them. As Abimelech
said unto Abraham, ' I am more righteous than thou,' in that act : so the
truth is, these men were in this respect more righteous than Peter. In
managing a good cause, godly people commit such errors as this was, and
then all the world takes notice of it. They might have blamed Christ and
his disciples, and said, they were a company of rebellious, froward fellows,
and the rest of them are like these. This might have been laid to Christ's
charge, through Peter's indiscretion.
Obs. 4. Our Saviour Christ would not have Peter venture his life this
way. He knew he was better at preaching than at fighting, therefore he
would have him reserve himself for that, and therefore he bids him put up
his sword. It had been well for this kingdom if some had ventured them-
selves in a way of counsel rather than fighting. Christ, I say, had other
work for Peter. It is good for a man to lay out his life in that which he is
best in. Peter, who was designed for an apostle, that had so many precious
notions committed to him, for him to venture his life in such a rude manner,
it was a great fault.
Obs. 5. Although Christ was an eminent person, the Saviour of the
world, yet Christ would not have Peter fight for him against the magistrate,
as in this Peter did, because it was against the authority of the magistrate.
The sword is committed peculiarly to the magistrate : as Piom. xiii., ' He
bears not the sword in vain ; ' he bears the sword, not thee;-'- thou mayest
defend thyself in a private quarrel if set upon, but here came out the
authority of the magistrate to attach Chi'ist ; and in such a case thou
art not to hft up thy sword. ' Put up thy sword again into his place,' saith
Christ.
And yet it was the best cause, one would think, that ever was to fight in.
If a man might fight merely for religion, I say merely for religion, here
had been the greatest colour for it in the world. ^Tiy ? It was to save
the life of Christ, the Lord of the world ; and to fight for the hfe of Christ
is more than to fight for the truth of Christ ; yet no, saith Christ, • Put up
thy sword again,' trust me to manage my own cause. Religion may bo-
fought for as it is become a civil right and liberty of a state, for so it be-
cometh when it is enacted by the power of that state ; but merely and simply
to fight for religion, there is no warrant in the word of God for it. To
fight for Christ's life was not warrantable for Peter.
Christ tells him withal (as in other evangelists), ' He that kills with the
sword shall be killed with the sword ;' he that will fight in a quarrel that is
not warrantable, he himself shall be found out one day. But I rather think
the meaning is, thou needest not trouble thyself to avenge my quarrel upon
these men, for the sword shall find out this nation for putting me to death ;
for so you know it did, the Romans came and took away their city and
nation.
Obs. 6. Lastly, When God hath made a promise, and given forth his
word, though tlijre may many things fah out to overturn it, yet it shall
stand. Christ hath said, ' Let these go.' Peter, you see, had like to have
spoiled all ; he goes and runs into a riot which might have endangered them,
yet notwithstanding the word of Christ doth stand. When God hath made
a promise of deliverance, there shall those things fall out that one wotild
think would hazard the performance, and that through men's own default,
* That is, ' not thou.' — Ed.
ClIAP. VII.] OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 219
yet God will bring about the deliverance. So much in the general for this
act of Peter's.
And he smote the hirjh priest's servant, and cut off his rirfht ear; the
servant's vaiue tvas ]\lalchm. This servant of the high priest's, it seems,
V\as the first man that stepped forth to lay hold upon Christ, and therefore
Peter encounters him first, for as yet they had not taken Christ ; for the
text saith afterwards, ' Then the captains and the band took Jesus.' It
seems, therefore, I say, that this man was the forwavdest of the company,
■which he did either to please his master, or perhaps he was the officer to
serve the arrest upon him in a formal way, as we do. Peter now falls
upon him first, and cuts ofi' his ear. Some think it was but the tip of
his ear, for so the word signifies sometimes, but there is no ground for that,
for Luke he calls it the whole ear.
He saith the servant's name was Malchus, which some fetch from the
Hebrew root, which signifies one bought. Because as he was a servant, so
perhaps his master had bought him with his money, or otherwise obtained
him to be his servant. And as Cuiaphas, his master, was (as appears by all
the story) the gi-eatest enemy of Christ, so this Malchus was the forwardest
of all the rest to attach Christ. The obedience of the servant to the master
in Scripture, is expressed b}^ lending the ear, and by boring the ear ; and
therefore for his doing this out of obedience and zeal to his master, this
punishment befalls him. But I pass over that.
Peter cut off' his ear. It is certain that Peter aimed at his head, to have
cleft that down, but God in his providence directs the blow so, that no more
hurt was done but the cutting oti' the ear. It is strange it should not hit his
shoulder, yet you see God guided it so that it did not.
Ohs. The observation I have from this is only this, that God in his
providence guides and directs blows, and all such casual things as these are.
Such passages of providence there are, in guiding the motions of men's
hands, and the motions of the creatures, oftentimes for the preservation of
us in dangers. And how manifold experiences have we had of them ! Who
almost is there but in their lives have been either near being killed, and
God hath come in by his providence, guiding and directing such accidents
and occurrences, that they have been preserved ! Especially those that are
soldiers, they have found strange kind of shots that have been made, and
how near they have come to kill them, and yet they have missed. Or else
they have been near killing others in a casual way, and God in his provi-
dence hath prevented it. I say it is every man's case almost ; we may see
man}' examples of the providence of God in this kind. We see it here
towards Peter, and it was a mighty providence ; for had Peter killed this
man, had there been a murder committed upon him, there had been such
a ground of quarrel that they would have fallen upon all the disciples, and
certainly have cut them to pieces ; but Christ had prayed that they should
go away free, therefore God in his providence guides Peter's blow, so that he
strikes ofi" nothing but the ear, though he aimed at his head ; and Christ
heals that ear too, that so his disciples might be all saved and delivered. So
much for the tenth verse.
Verse 11 . ' Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath:
the cup ivhich my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it V
I have observed something before upon Christ's bidding him put up hia
sword, therefore I shall say little of it now. Jesus said unto Peter. Why
unto Peter ? For in Luke he speaks to them all not to draw their swords :
220 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
* Suffer you thus far,' saitla he. But as he spake to them all, because they
all asked him whether they should draw, so more particularly and person-
ally to Peter, because he had sinned and did actually draw his sword ; for
that is the manner of Christ, to reprove those, and to have those reproved
in a peculiar manner, that sin more peculiarly. He bids him put it up ;
he doth not bid him not to wear it, or not to use it, but to put it up only.
But of that before.
The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? In Mat.
xxvi. 51-54, you shall find that Christ useth other arguments to his disciples
to be quiet and to put up their swords. ' How shall the scriptures be ful-
filled,' saith he, ' that thus it must be ?' that is one reason. What need I
care for your help, ' cannot I pray to my Father, and he shall presently give
me more than twelve legions of angels ?' and, ' all they that take the sword,
shall perish with the sword.' All these doth Christ give as reasons to them
to be quiet. But the apostle John, writing after all the other evangelists,
inserts what they omitted ; and he mentioneth here another reason, and,
indeed, the highest reason of all the rest, ' Shall I not di'ink,' &c.
From whence take this general observation, that there may be many
motives and reasons in one action, many considerations that may keep a
man from sinning in one action, though there be one more principal than
all the rest, as this was the principal in Christ.
But why doth he use this argument to Peter more than to all the rest ?
Upon a double ground.
1. Because it had been Peter's sin to hinder him from suffering. And you
shall see how his heart still rose against Peter for it. He had once before
said, ' Master, spare thyself.' Christ calls him Satan for it ; and he never
called any of them Satan but Judas : ' Get thee behind me, Satan,' says he
to Peter (Mat. xvi. 28). He saw Satan in it. And now again, when he was
to enter into his sufierings, Peter's zeal was so high that he would have
rescued him out of their hands if he could, and have kept him from suffer-
ing ; therefore Christ in a special manner speaks to him.
Ols. To hinder one in any good, to hinder one in suffering when
God calls him to it (though out of a foolish pity), how great an evil is it t
With what a slight eye did Peter look upon this thing of Christ. He
thought it was only a carrying of him to prison, and that the life of a man
should be taken away. He saw not into the bottom of it ; he was ignorant
of the scope of all this, viz., that it was the saving of the world. Peter,
though otherwise a good man, and a believer, he understood it not.
2. Christ speaks this to Peter, not only to lay open his sin in hindering
him, but to lay open his own spirit. ' The cup which my Father hath given
me, shall I not drink ?' He doth not say, A necessity is laid upon me to
drink this cup. He doth not say simply. My Father hath commanded me
to drink it, but ' Shall I not drink it ?' It is a speech that implies that his
spirit knew not how to do otherwise than obey his Father, as if there were
such a natural principle in him, such an instinct that he could not choose
but do it. Even just as Joseph said. Gen. xxxix. 9, * How shall I do this
great wickedness, and sin against God ?' So Christ here, The cup which
my Father hath given me, how shall I but drink it ? It implies the highest
willingness that can be. For still you shall find this to be John's design,
to hold forth the willingness of Christ to sufler ; that is his project. There-
fore he singles out a speech that the other evangelists omit, which most of
all holds it forth. He mentions not the necessity because of the law and
because of his duty, or because the scriptures must be fulfilled. Others
CuAr. \1I.J OF cnmsT the mediator. 221
had done that ; but shall my Father give me a cup, and shall I not drink
it ? He doth here shew that ho doth fulfil the commandment more out of
love than any other principle, that he was led by the gi-eatest spirit of
ingenuity that could be, for I know not a speech of gi-cater ingenuity than
this is, ' The cup that my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it '?'
My brethren, to fulfil the law of God out of a principle of love and in-
genuity, it is a higher way of fulfilling it than merely to aim at the letter.
Christ indeed had an eye to the command, yet that was not it that princi-
pally moved him. It is true, saith he, there is a necessity laid upon me,
and the Scriptures cannot else be fulfilled, yet above all this I have a prin-
ciple in me that moves me. It is my Father, he hath commanded this cup
to me, how shall I not but di-ink of it ? There is a further principle than
merely obedience to the law that leads on a godly man, and led on Jesus
Christ to obedience. For love, it is the fulfilling of the law; so it was in
Christ, and so in his apostles, and in all his saints.
You read in other evangelists, that when Christ was in the garden, but
a matter of half an hour before, he had earnestly prayed to his Father that
this cup might pass. But when once God had set it on upon his spirit that
it was his will that he should drink it, and that it was impossible in respect
of his decree that it should pass from him, when God, I say, had intimated
this to him in prayer, and he had submitted to it, then he says, ' Not my
will, but thy will be done.' Now, you see how firm and strong his reso-
lution w^as. He that had prayed against it before, when once he knew
God's will, and submitted to it, now he longs to di-ink of it : ' Shall I not
di'ink,' saith he, ' of the cup that my Father hath given me ? ' Will you
have me go and overthrow the answer I have had of my prayers ? Shall
I break that resolution I have taken up and expressed in my prayer ?
Shall I not drink of the cup, when I have yielded and submitted to my
Father ?
When thou seest God's will determined, or when God hath cast thy heart
in prayer one way, and he calls thee to suffer, and hath brought thy heart
to yield. Oh ! learn then to keep thy heart in that frame, to continue thy
resolution, have no more risings against it ! Christ, you see, had not but
the highest ingenuity that ever was to it.
Therefore now, you that seek to God at any time by prayer for anything,
and you have an answer, you have a resolution drawn forth in prayer, you
have a bent, a bias of spii'it clapped upon you in seeking God in some par-
ticular business, keep to it, hold to it. It is a mighty engagement to have
had a man's spirit so and so framed in prayer, when a man can say, I have
been afore God in prayer, and my spirit hath submitted, and I have been
brought to such a resolution. Oh! take heed of breaking such resolu-
tions ! You have the highest engagement in the world to continue in
them. Therefore, when you pray, mind those engagements that are in
yom* hearts to God in prayer, and keep to them. Christ he came new
from prayer now ; he had prayed that the cup might be removed, when
God had once set it upon his spirit that it was his will he should drink of
it, and he had submitted to it, and resolved upon it, you hear of no more
complaints, yea, you hear complaints on the contraiy, that he should be
hindered in doing it. How often, my brethren, do we come before God,
and express ourselves against such and such a sin, we submit ourselves to
such and such a way of self-denial, but when we are come from before
God, how do our minds alter ! You see Christ's did not in the greatest
point that ever was ; when he once had submitted, saith he, I have sub-
222 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
mitted, and ' shall I not drink it ? ' He had not the least rising thought
against it afterward. We come and engage ourselves against such a sin to
God in prayer, and go away with our eyes scarce dry, aud are tempted to
it again. Oh ! how should we think with ourselves, Shall I do that which
I have prayed against ? which I have engaged myself against ? This was
Christ's case here : ' shall I not drink it ? ' saith he. Nay, it is more em-
phatical, * The cup that my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ? '
He turns the words, the phrase is set in such a posture as hath the most
emphasis that can be.
The cup uhich mij Father hath f/icen me. His passion is called a cup ;
so he himself calletla it. Mat. xx. 22 and Mark x. 38, ' Ai-e ye able to drink
of the cup that I shall drink of ? ' speaking of his passion. And it is called
a cup, not only because it was his demensum, the portion that was allotted
him by his Father ; for the manner of the ancients in feasts * was to set
every man his cup, or portion of drink that was allotted him> by his trencher,
as it were ; as we now set bread, so they had every one his cup, every
one his quantum or portion. And so indeed in Scripture, any portion of
affliction or suflering that God doth set out to men, it is called a cup ; as
in Jer. xxv. 17, ' I took the cup, and I did give it from the Lord into the
hands of all the nations, and made them all to drink of it.' So in Ezek.
xxi. 31—33, and in Hab. ii. 16. And in many other places you have the
cup put for the portion or measure of an affliction. But, I say, he calls it
a cup, not only because it was his portion, but I rather think that which is
in this place aimed at is, that it was his meat and drink to do the will of
his Father. For, you see, Christ is hearty in submitting to his Father :
It is the cup, saith he, which my Father hath given me, which speech (as
I said afore) expresseth the highest wilhngness. Now, in John iv. 3-1, he
saith, ' My meat and drink is to do the will of my Father, and to finish his
work ;' and he looks upon this cup, when once he had prayed over it, as
that which his Father had given him to di'ink ; and therefore as it was
meat for him to do his will, so it was drink to him, it was pleasant to him
(in some respect sweetened by an angel) to take this cup and drink it off.
Obs. 1. First you see the sovereignty of God, to dispose of what cup he
is pleased you shall have in your lifetime ; which, you see, Jesus Christ
here submitteth unto. For a cup it is not only taken for a portion of evil
things, but for a portion of good things ; and God disposeth unto several
men several cups, and of several sizes, as he pleaseth. It is certain that
the bitterest cup that ever was was disposed of unto Jesus Christ, therefore
no man needs complain.
Obs. 2. Secondly, Christ did not look to what the Jews did, or the
Roman band that was with them, that were now round about him, he eyes
not them ; but still he looks to God, eyes him : ' It is the cup which my
Father hath given me.' Peter, you see, he looked only at the Jews as his
adversaries. No ; Peter (saith he), it is my Father's cup, there is a higher
hand in it. So should we do in all our actions ; as Job did w^hen he said
(Job i. 21), * It is God that hath given, aud God that hath taken away.'
* God hath bid him curse,' saith David of Shimei, 2 Sam. xvi. 10 ; ' there-
fore what have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?' So here Christ
carries himself. This is from my Father (says he), I will not have to do
with these Jews ; it is true I fall into these men's hands, but it is the
counsel of my Father ; as Acts ii. 23. This Christ looks to ; and so, I
say, should we do in aU our sufferings.
* Stuckius' Antiq. Convival, lib. iii. c. 13.
Chap. VIII.] op christ the mediatob. 223
Obs. 3. Thirdly, It is the cup which my Father hath given me. Christ
in his sulleriiigs doth not look upon God as a judge. Nor do not you, my
brethren, in any of your alUictions. Suppose you see the atlliction answer-
ing your sin, yet look not upon God as a judge in it, but as a father. It
is the cup which my Father hath given me, saith he ; and we are to be
conformable to him in afUictions. The greatest and bitterest suflerings be
sweetened to us, looked upon as coming from a father. It was so with
Christ ; when he looks upon this as a cup given him by his Father, ho
looks upon it as his drink, and it is a pleasure to him to drink it oO'.
Obs. 4. Fourthly, Every man hath a set portion of atlliction, every man
hath his cup. It is the cup my Father hath given me to drink. Christ
himself had his cup, his set quantity ; he had a cup that was answerable
and proportionable to the sins of those he suffered for ; God put in a
quantity for every man's sin, and Christ drank it off to the bottom ; the
sins and the wrath due for them was all wrung into this cup which Christ
drunk off, and drunk off heartily. If thou hadst drunk off that cup, there
had been eternity in the bottom, and thou couldst never have wrung out
the dregs of it ; but he drinks it off' heartily, and he thinks much of Peter
that went about to hinder him of it : ' Shall I not drink of the cup which
my Father hath given me ? '
How is his Father said to have given it him ?
By decreeing it aforehand ; for he had not yet taken it : he had entered
into it indeed, he had tasted of it in the garden, but he was going on to
taste more of it ; and that cup which his Father by his decree allotted to
him, he willingly takes and submits to it.
And let me add this, whatsoever cup it be that God in thy life affords
thee, take it, and go drink it off heartily ; for whether thou wilt or no, if
it be a cup he hath given thee, thou shalt drink it. In Jer. xxv. 15, ' Go,
saith God, to all the nations, and say unto them all, Drink ye of this cup ;
and if any of the nations shall refuse to drink it, tell them, that my people
have drunk it, therefore the}^ shall di-ink it.' Do not therefore only make
a necessity of it, and because of a necessity submit, but do it out of that
ingenuity that Christ did here ; he did not submit merely out of necessity,
but with all the willingness in the world, * The cup which my Father hath
given me, shall I not drink it ? '
CHAPTER VIIL
How Christ was taken and bound bij those ivho came to apprehend him, and
was thus led away by them, as the victims, or sacrifices, used to be to the
altar, — That even this his binding hath an infi.uence on our being loosened
from those chains, wherein sin hath fettered us.
Now beginneth the first of Christ his outward sufferings, his sufferings
from men ; he had suffered from his Father before, in the garden, where
now he was, when he sweat drops of blood.
Verse 12. • Then the band, and the captain, and officers of the Jews, took
Jesus, and bound him.'
In these words thero are two things considerable :
1. The persons taking.
2. The person taken.
224 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
The persons taking, are the band, and the captain, and the officers of the
Jews.
The person taken, is Christ himself.
And then here is what they did with him, they took him, and they bound
him, ' Then the officers, and the captain, and the band took Jesus, and
bound him.'
It is said that all of them took him. Certainly all of them at that instant
could not lay hold upon him ; but his being taken is ascribed unto them
all, because they all rushed upon him at once with a violence. His throw-
ing of them down backward afore had made them afraid, therefore they
break forth with violence, and they did all environ him and compass him
about, and in that respect it is said they all took him.
You shall find in Ps. xxii. (which psalm we may indeed call a crucifix, it
being as clear a story of the crucifying of Christ as Mat. xxvi. is) ; in that
psalm, the fii'st thing in the stoiy of his suflerings mentioned there (for the
rest are prayers) is, ' Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan
have beset me round,' so ver. 12. And again, ver, 16, 'Dogs have com-
passed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.' The title of that
psalm (as some out of the Hebrew read it) it is ' the hind of the morning ; '
so he calls himself, and they like so many hounds here came round about
him in a ring to apprehend him : ' Dogs,' saith he, ' have compassed me,'
which hath an allusion to the title of the psalm.
Here is likewise, you see, a particular mention of the persons, here is the
band, and the captain, and the officers of the Jews ; both Jews and Gen-
tiles, which I shall give you obsei-vations upon anon.
There is one particle, which is a very small one, but there is much in it:
Then. ' Then the captain, and the band, and the officers of the Jews took
Jesus.' Some read it (and rightly too) ^Therefore the captain,' &c. Why
therefore ? Because that he had afore ofiered himself willingly to them,
they could not else have taken him. There is a great deal of emphasis in
that little particle, as there is in every tittle of the Scripture. 'No man,'
saith he, John x. 18, 'is able to take my life from me except I lay it down.'
These men whom he had thrown down to the ground had never been able
to have laid hands on him, had he not expressed himself willing. ' Have
I not told you,' saith he, ' that I am the man ? ' And he shewed his will-
ingness too in his expression to Peter, ' Shall I not drink of the cup which
my Father hath given me to drink ? ' And ' therefore the band, and the
captain, and the officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him.'
All the other evangelists do not tell us that they bound him when they
fijst took him. Matthew tells us indeed, chap, xxvii. 2, that they sent him
bound from Caiaphas, the high priest's hall, to the common hall to Pilate.
But that he was bound at the first taking, and that by them that took
him, we are beholden to John for this circumstance. Now, the reasons of
their binding him (I speak now by way of historical interpretation of the
words) are these.
1. Because Judas had bid them (as Matthew tells us) to hold him fast,
' Whomsoever I shall kiss,' saith he, ' that same is he, hold him fast,'
Mat. xxvi. 48. For Judas he knew the power of Christ, he was privy to
his going through the midst of a whole press of men when they would have
thrown him down from off the brow of a hill ; therefore, saith he, when
you take him, hold him fast ; and therefore they bind him, and they took
him and bound him with that cruelty, that the disciples all ran away.
2. They bound him likewise as one that was worthy of death, and so
Chap. VIII.] of christ the mediator. 225
thereby to prejudge his sentence. Such the Jews did use to bind, as
Jerome says. And it was that which is mentioned, vcr. 2-4, as one great
ingredient that had influence into Peter's denial of him, and persisting in
it the second time, that ho was sent bound from Annas, and continued still
bound afore Caiaphas, and so thereby saw there was no hope for him of
life, and so the more easily drawn and tempted to deny him.
3. They bound him likewise that they might cast shame upon him, that
they might lead him bound, which was proper to malefactors. And, 2 Sam.
iii. 33, 34, David's speech of Abner implies it : * Died Abner as a fool, as
a malefactor ? Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters.'
Now our dear and blessed Lord and Redeemer, he died like a vile person
in outward appearance ; his hands and his feet were bound, at least his
hands were bound. And that which might further move them to deal in
this manner the more violently with him, was the fetters that he had cast upon
them. And therefore in Ps. ii. 1-B (which Peter quoteth in Acts iv. 25,
and applies to the crucifying of Christ), he mentioneth that as the reason :
' Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing ? ' They
are mightily provoked ; why ? ' Come let us break their bands asunder.'
Christ and his disciples had extremely bound them and their consciences ;
now they are even with him, they clap fetters and bands upon him.
4. They did it likewise in a way of trophy ; and therefore you shall find
in Mat. xxvii. 2, when they had bound him, they led him away fi'om the
high priest's house, in a kind of triumph, to Pilate the governor.
So you have the historical opening of the words, ' They took Jesus and
bound him.' And in all this, and so likewise in whatsoever befell Christ in
his sufferings, there was a further mystical meaning, which I term so in
respect of those hidden ends in it. Therefore in the next place we will con-
sider what was the mystery of all this. There was nothing befell Christ in
his passion, but it was both to fulfil prophecies, and it was for something
answering thereunto in us as the cause thereof ; and in the merit of it, and
the benefit by it redounding to us, it hath a suitable influence into some-
thing about ourselves.
First, All that befell Christ was to fulfil the types and prophecies that went
of him. The great and most eminent type of Christ in his sufferings was
Isaac, who was the son of the promise, as Christ was the promised seed.
And in Heb. xi., the apostle makes him a figure of Christ's resurrection ;
and as in his resurrection, so in his offering to death. Now the fixst thing
that Abraham did to Isaac, when he was to offer him up as a sacrifice, was,
he took him and bound him ; so saith Gen. xxii. 9. And Christ here,
whom Isaac typified, in his death as well as in his delivery from death, was
bound.
The sacrifices of the old law, they were first led bound to the priest, and
then bound to the horns of the altar, and there slain. So was Christ here.
And so for Christ his taking ; for I here put both together. The ark was
a type of Christ, and that you know was taken by the Philistines ; so is
Christ now.
Adam, he likewise was his type. There was an allusion in the sufferings
of Christ in the garden, unto the first temptation in a garden. Adam, you
know, sinned in a garden. Christ he suffered in a garden ; there doth the
agony meet him, and there he was taken. And what was the first outward
act of sin ? How was it put forth ? Gen. iii. 6, * The woman took of the
fruit of the tree' (having first plucked it off" with her hands), ' and gave it to
her husband, and he took it and did eat thereof.' In answering to this,
VOL. V. P
226' OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
Christ, the second Adam, his hands are bound while he was here in the
garden. And as his being bound, so also this his being taken by them
was foresignified. Thus in Mat. xxvi. 56, when it is said they took him,
it is added, ' That the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.' Now
do but look in the margin of your Bibles, what scripture is quoted there ?
What is the place of Scripture that the translators of the Bible refer to in
that verse ? You shall find it to be Lam. iv. 20, and there it is said, ' The
breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord' (the Messiah, the Christ,
for so anointed signifies in the Hebrew, the Christ of the Lord), * he was
taken in their pit, of whom we said, under his shadow we shall live among
the heathen.' This book of the Lamentation, though it was made upon
occasion of the captivity, yet because the foundation of the captivity Vi'as
laid in the taking away of that good king Josiah — for after his death that
people had never a good dajs they never thrived — so that book relates to
him. And it is clear that the Lamentations were made in relation to Josiah,
as well as to the captivity, by that in 2 Chron. xxxv. 25, ' And Jeremiah
lamented for Josiah' (and these Lamentations in this book, you know, are
the Lamentations of Jeremiah) ; ' and all the singing men and the singing
women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them
an ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations ; '
that is, in the book of the Lamentations. Now of Josiah it is said, ' He
was taken in their pit,' so we translate it ; but others, and the Septuagint
agrees Avith it too, ' He was taken in their sins.' The sins of that people
were the cause of his death, which is said to be in the valley of Megiddo,
2 Chron. xxxv. 32.
But whether is Josiah a type of Christ or no, that our translators should
refer the taking of Christ to the fulfilling of this prophecy in the Lamen-
tations ?
For that you have Zech. xii. 10, 1 1 . He saith there, that he ' will pour upon
the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of prayer
and supplication' (speaking of the time when they should acknowledge
Jesus Christ to be the Messiah) and (saith he) ' they shall look upon me
whom they have pierced' (meaning the Messiah), ' and they shall mourn for
him,' &c. And ver. 11, ' In that day shall there be a great mourning in
Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon, in the valley of Megiddon.'
Now that mourning there was for Josiah, for there he was taken and arrested
with a deadly wound, whereof he died, and was taken and slain in the sins
of that nation, and to that do our translators refer us ; and you see he was
a type of Christ too, he had kept a passover, as Christ had done, a little
afore this. They promised themselves to live safely under his shadow, even
as the disciples promised themselves that Christ would presently restore the
kingdom unto Israel ; but he was taken in our sins, and our sins were the
bands that fettered him.
SecondJi/, As all this was done to fulfil the tj'pes and prophecies of him,
so we shall see that our deserts were the cause of it, and that his being
bound hath an influence to loose us from something with which we were
bound. For there was nothing befell Christ in these sufferings, nothing was
done to him, but what answers to something which we had done, and which
was to be done toward us.
1. Our sins were the cause of his binding. Therefore in Ps. xl. (which
also is a psalm of Christ, for it is, part of it, quoted by the apostle in Heb. x.
and applied uuto Christ, ' Sacrifices and ofi'erings thou wouldst not have'),
saith he at ver. 12, ' Innumerable evils have taken hold upon me; mine
Chap. YIII.] of christ the mediatob. 227
iniquities have compassed me about.' It is jilain, my brethren, that Christ
speaks this psalm of himself; ho reckoned all our sins as his own, and by
virtue of our sins encompassing us about, and taking hold of us (which in
the garden they did) it is, that these men take hold of Christ, and bind
him, he standing now in our stead. For the truth is, Christ he could, like
Samson, have broken all these cords asunder. What weakened him ? It
■was because he was fettered with our sins. ' Mine iniquities,' saith he
(confessing ours to be his), ' have taken hold upon me ;' and therefore these
came all about him like bees, like dogs, and seize vspou him. We were
Satan's captives, therefore was he theirs. In sinning against God we break
all bands, as the expression is, Jer. v. 5, therefore is he bound. Our sins
took hold of him first, and then the band and the officers had power to take
him and bind him.
2. Consider the answerable fruit and benefit of it arising to us. Hereby
we were all bondslaves to sin and Satan : 2 Peter ii. 19, ' Of whom a man
is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.' We were led captive
by Satan at his will, so saith the apostle, 2 Tim. ii. 26, Rom. vii. 23. Sin
it ensnareth a man : Prov. v. 22, ' His own iniquities shall take the wicked
himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.' And we were
not only in the bands of iniquity (as the expression is Acts viii. 23), but we
should have been reserved, as the devils and his angels are, in chains of
darkness. Such an expression the Scripture hath in the epistle of Jude :
ver. 6, he saith, ' The angels which kept not their first estate, he hath re-
served in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great
day ;' and Peter, Epistle 1, chap. iii. ver. 19, speaks of spiiits in prison,
which were once disobedient in the days of Noe. Chains of the everlast-
ing wrath of God, and of guilt, should have bound us over to the great day,
bound, and bound hand and foot, as you have it in Mat. xxii. 1 3, ' Take him,
and bind him hand and foot, and cast him into everlasting darkness.' This
was our condition ; and now because we are bound with these chains, to
the end that we might be set free and loosed from them, is Christ bound.
For it is a certain rule, what should have been done to us, something cor-
respondent was done to Christ ; and the virtue and excellency of his person
was such, though it was done to his body, it bringeth us freedom from the
like due to our souls ; and by his being thus bound and led, he himself
afterward, when he ascended, led captivity captive. You have a place ex-
press to this purpose, and it is a place that plainly speaks of Christ, for it
is applied unto him by the apostle in 1 Cor. xv. 55 ; the place is Hosea
xiii. 14, ' I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; I will redeem
them from death : death, I will be thy death ; grave, I will be thy de-
struction.' But what goes before this? See ver. 12, 'The iniquity of
Ephraim is bound up.' God had bound up Ephraim and his iniquity to-
gether for hell ; saith he, I will ransom them. And how doth he ransom
them ? The truth is, by being bound himself; he standeth bound before
God his Father (for he deals with his Father in all this, he doth not deal
with the Jews here), and in God's intentions, those fetters that were to be
laid upon us were laid upon him, and so he cometh to free us by virtue of
himself being bound ; and thus as we should have been arraigned before the
judgment- seat of God, so was he before Pilate. The analogy holds all along
in his sufferings.
Therefore you shall find the scripture follows this metaphor. In Zech.
ix. 10, he tells us, by the blood of the covenant we are delivered, being
prisoners of hope. And in Isa. Ixi. 1, and Luke iv. 18, he is said to be
228 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V-
* anointed to preach liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound.' And the like you have in Isa. xlii. 7, ' I have
given thee for a covenant of the people, &c., to bring out the prisoners from
the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.' Hence
is it that, when he comes to convert a man to God, he is said to bind the
strong man ; Mat. xii. 28. Whence is it that Christ hath this strength in
him (I mean meritoriously) ? Because he himself was bound ; it is by
virtue of that that the strong man is bound.
3. Lastly, Will you consider the heart of Christ all this while ? For under
his sufferings it is good to consider that. Certainly Christ's heart was sen-
sible of his sufferings in every particular ; none was ever so sensible as he.
Why, you shall find how his heart took it, by that speech of his whilst they
were a-binding of him. Matthew tells us, chap. xxvi. 65, that he said to
the multitude at that time, ' Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords
and staves for to take me ? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple,
and you laid no hold on me.' And now they did. And Luke he tells us
further, chap. xxii. 52, ' Jesus said unto the chief priests, and captains of
the temple, and the elders, which were come to him, Are ye come out, as
against a thief, with swords and staves ?' Wliat ? to bind me as a thief?
To deal so dishonestly with me ? This is mentioned as a thing that grieved
him, and soaked into his very soul. The dishonour of it did. So to be
bound and led was most dishonourable. Thus 2 Sam. iii. 33, 34, David,
when he lamented over Abner, expresseth it, ' Died Abner as a fool dies ?'
That is, as a bold person, a malefactor, by justice, and law convicted :
* Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters,' as of malefac-
tors it was used to be ; yet this was done to Christ : his hands were bound
in, as of a bold person, and so he was led to death. So in Judas his be-
traying of him, W^hat ? thou ? saith he, my familiar friend, that didst eat
bread with me, dost thou lift up thy heel against me ? That was it that
did sink into his spirit. And in that Ps. xl. 13, you shall see how this
act of theirs pierced his soul, ' Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me ;
innumerable evils have compassed me about, so that I am not able to look
up.' His iniquities took hold of his very soul, while they were encompassing
him about like dogs. And Ps. xxii. 12, ' Be not far from me, for trouble is
near.' He saw them coming. All this affected the heart of Christ ; for
the psalms lay open his heart, as the evangelists do the outward story.
So much now both for the historical opening of the words, and also for that
which is the mystery of it. I will now come to an observation or two from
all this that was done to our Lord and Saviour Christ, and from the persons
that did it.
Obs. 1. First, from the persons that did it, they are, you see, all here
enumerated, ' The band, and the captain, and the officers of the Jews.'
And Luke saith, there were some of the chief priests there (and by chief
priests were meant the heads of the Levites, of which there were twenty-
four), and the captains of the temple, as well as the captain of the Koman
band, and some of the elders of the people. And it is said of them all, that
they took him (though all could not lay hold on him), because they all
consented to it, because they all gathered round in a ring about him, that
he might not escape. Observe, that God takes notice particularly of every
one that has any hand (yea, he doth ascribe the act to them if their con-
sent be but to it) in persecuting his people, as he did here of these that
persecuted Christ, for there is the same reason of both ; they are all named,
all the sorts of them are enumerated. He takes notice of any one that
ClIAP. VIII.] OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 229
doth but cry Aha ! at any thing that is done against a child of God ; as Edom
that cried Aha ! and poor Tyrus, in Ezok. xxvi. 2, because she cried Aha !
and said she should be replenished, she should have the trade now Israel
was destroyed, God takes notice of it, and threatens ruin to her for it.
Obs. 2. But, secondly, God did so order it, that in all the sufferings of
Christ, both Jew and Gentile had a hand in them, in every particular action
that did befall him. Here was the captain of the Roman band, and the officers
of the Jews, and here were the high priests and elders of the people, at the
taking of him ; both the ecclesiastical and civil state. So likewise when
he was condemned (for the evangelists carry it along through all the story),
there was Pilate the governor, he must have a hand in it ; and there was
Herod that was the king of Galilee, he was sent to him also ; and there were
the Roman soldiers ; and there were the high priest and the rest of that
Sanhedrim. Ecclesiastical state, civil state, Jews, Gentiles, all have a hand
in every particular of the suffering of Christ.
Obs. 3. Thirdly, Fi'om the consideration of Christ's being bound,
take this meditation : let no affliction (for all afflictions are called bands by
the apostle : ' Remember those that are in bonds, as if ye were bound with
them,' Heb. xiii. 3), let no band, I say, be thought too much by you. Be
willing to be bound for Christ, if he call you to suffer ; you see he was will-
ing to be bound for us. And never let the vileness of the persons trouble
you, which indeed would even make one's stomach rise, that such should
have to do with a man ; consider the Lord of life was apprehended and
bound by the basest and vilest sort of men ; for commonly such are those
that are employed in such offices. He was taken by the rude soldiers, that
certainly handled him rudely and with violence ; for it is said in Zech.
xiii. 7, ' I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.'
Now they all ran away when he was bound, therefore they smote him.
Obs. 4. And then again consider, while Christ was bound, all that
whole city, the Pharisees and the Jews, they were free. Whilst wicked
men do enjoy all liberty and freedom, the church is bound ; so Christ him-
self was.
Obs. 5. And then further, we should therefore prize all the liberty
and freedom that the gospel affords us, because they are all fruits of
Christ's being bound ; Christ's being bound was it that purchased all our
liberties.
Obs. 6. Lastly, Let the bands of his love draw our hearts, for, as I said
afore, he could have broken all these cords, as Samson did those with which
he was bound ; but the cords of love bound him as well as the cords of our
sins. It was these cords fastened him to the cross, more than the nails ;
yea, and bound him there more than our sins did,* or else he would never
have suffered himself to be bound. As Paul went up bound in the Spirit
to Jerusalem, bound up in the bands of love, which made him willing to
be bound outwardly, therefore he calls himself the prisoner of Christ, and
to have the bands of Christ upon him, to be the bondman, the vinctus of
Christ ; so doth Christ, he is bound with the cords of love, so they are
called : Hosea xi. 4, ' I drew them with the cords of a man, with the bands
of love.' Oh let the love of Christ bind us and constrain us (as the phrase
is 2 Cor. V. 14), to bring every high thought into subjection, into captivity
unto him ; so he was for us. And so much for this first cii'cumstance, or this
first beginning of the outward sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Christ, his
being bound : * And they bound him.'
* Qu. ' our sins bound him more than the cords did ' ? — Ed.
230 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
Verse 13. * And they led him away to Annas first: for he was father-in-
law to Caiaphas, which nas the liigh priest that same year.'
The ScriiDture doth put much, as upon his being bound, so upon his being
led away. And, mj' brethren, as we go along in opening of these sufferings
of Christ, carry in your thoughts still the person to whom all this was done ;
it was our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Every thing he did in a way of
suffering, how great must it be, think you, when nothing befell him but what
was appointed him by his Father, and that in relation to the taking away of
our sins !
They led him away. The truth is, his being led up and down is noted in
the story as one eminent thing in his suffering, and therefore is not to be
passed by. Those that have made the topography of Jerusalem and those
places, do account it to be seven miles that he was led up and down fi"om
first to last afore he was crucified, which was an exceeding gi-eat indignity
to him. They hurried him first from the garden to Aunas's house ; from
thence (as another evangehst tells us) he was led to Caiaphas ; Matthew
tells us he was led from thence to Pilate, to the common hall ; from Pilate
he was led to Herod ; from Herod he was led back to Pilate again ; from
Pilate, when he had sentenced him, he was led to the cross. Thus was our
Lord and Saviour Christ tossed up and down, and there is particular men-
tion made of them all, which could not choose but put him to a great deal
of pain and trouble.
And, my brethren, do but consider, do but think of any person that is a
person of worth, that should be hurried thus up and down from place to
place, with his hands manacled, all the people following him, using all
manner of indignities to him ; think of one that you praise and value, either
for the gospel's sake or otherwise ; I say, do but think of such a one, and
then behold our Lord and our Saviour Christ in all his tossings and leadings
up and down. I remember there is this expression in one of the psalms,*
' I am as a grasshopper,' saith he, because he was thus hurried and tm--
moiled from place to place, his heart was sensible of this.
But what is the mystery of this ? For still let us look to the inward
part of it, as well as to the history of itself.
First, There was a type in it, for every sacrifice was first led to the high
priest, and then offered. Lev. xvii. 5. So Christ, being to be made a sacri-
fice for sin, he is carried to the high priest. In the wny he goes to Annas,
indeed, but afterwards from him he was led to Caiaphas, who was high
priest that year. And to make up the type more full, which is a thing ex-
ceedingly observable, it is said in Is. liii. 7, that after our sins were laid
upon him, and that the iniquities of us all did take hold on him, ' he was
led as a sheep to the slaughter.' Now you must know that the garden from
whence he was led stood at the foot of the mount of Olives, beyond the
brook Cedron ; and the gate which was next to that place, through which
he was to go into the city, was called the sheep-gate, for it was nigh the
temple, which stood on that side of Jerusalem ; and the sheep and oxen (but
especially the sheep, for they sacrificed most of them) that were to be sacri-
ficed, were fed in the meadows and fields of Cedron ; and from thence they
■were led through that gate to the temple to be sacrificed, which therefore
was called the sheep-gate. To make up the type therefore more full, and
that you may see how the Scripture opens itself in these things, he is led
* It is not easy to ascertain the expression that the author refers to. There is
on such expression in our version, nor do we know of any that could be so rendered.
— Ed
Chap. VIII.J of christ the mediator. 231
as a sheep to the slaughter, to be a sacrifice for sin (for so the prophet saith
he was), even through the shcep-gato.
My brethren, 'all we like sheep have gone astray' (so the prophet saith),
and because we had taken our wills in sin, and went whither we would,
therefore Christ is bound and led away. It was all because of our wander-
ings. He was led away as a sheep to the slaughter, therefore, in Heb. xiii,
20, it is said he was brought back again, he having been first led away as
here to death, as he was brought back again through the resurrection ; it ia
a phrase that hath relation to his being led away.
How are we tossed to and fro, hurried up and down with divers lusts,
with every wind of our inordinate atlcctions ! Our Lord and Saviour Christ
was therefore led from place to place, posted up and down.
And in all these leadings of his, God still would have both the civil and
ecclesiastical state to have a hand and some interest in every sort of his
sufferings. He was led to Annas, that had been high priest, and then to
Caiaphas, that was the present high priest — they were the chief of the church,
as it may be called — and then to Pilate, the Roman governor, and then to
Herod, the king of Galilee. All the powers that were then in Jerusalem
and over Jerusalem, and in those countries, he was brought afore them all,
that they might all have a hand and a concurrence in his ruin, that God
might make his sutlerings every way complete, that all these might cast
dishonour and disgrace upon him. For as honour depends upon the
honourer — that is truly honour when a person of worth honoureth one —
so God would have the disgi-ace and contempt that was cast upon Christ
to depend upon the worth of the persons that dishonoured him. There-
fore, whatever was excellent in that state, either of kingly power or ecclesi-
astical, whatsoever pretended to wisdom or justice, or learning, or religion,
God ordered it that all these should have a hand in the condemnation of
Christ, and so they had. The eminency of learning and religion was
amongst the chief priests, they professed it and pretended to it; of justice,
in Pilate ; of excellency and kingly power, in Herod. All these concurred.
Therefore, if the saints in after ages find that they are condemned by all
sorts, let them not wonder at it.
And, lastly, he was led out of the garden, whither he used to go for the
enjoyment of communion with his Father (for the evangelists say that to
that place he did often resort to pray) ; and indeed it was his paradise,
where he had infinite sweet fellowship and communion with God. Now,
as Adam was driven out of the garden, out of paradise, where he had
communion with God, as a punishment for his sin, so is our Lord and
Saviour Christ led out of this garden, which, I say, was to him a paradise,
and carried to die and to offer up himself a sacrifice for sin. And so much
now for his leading : ' they led him.'
To Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the high
priest that same year.
For the opening of the historical meaning of these words, I shall do two
things.
1. Shew who this Annas was, as the text here holds him forth.
2. Open the reasons why he was led first to him.
1. Who he was. Josephus, who writes the story of these times, calls
him Annanas. Certainly he was the greatest man amongst the Jews (of
a Jew), and of the most illustrious family, which will appear thus. He
himself had been high priest formerly: so you have it, Luke iii. 1, 'In
the fifteenth year of Tiberius, Annas and Caiaphas being high priests,
232 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V,
the word of tlie Lord came unto John,' &c. And the high priest was the
supremest officer, and in highest place among the Jews, though the Ro-
mans had the cinl power in theu* hands. Here, you see, his son-in-law
Caiaphas, who married his daughter, or otherwise his son-in-law, was high
priest after him, himself still living ; and after Caiaphas, Josephus tells us,
that Eleazar, a son of his own, was high priest also. So that his family
was the gi'eatest family among the Jews that lived at Jerusalem, being
thus greatened by having the high priesthood successively amongst them,
for so they had ; therefore, in Acts iv. 2, you read of Annas and Caiaphas,
and John and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high
priest, were gathered together against the apostles at Jerusalem. They
followed their old trade still ; and as they had their hands imbrued in the
blood of Christ, so in the apostles' too. Now, to this man is oui* Lord and
Saviour fu'st brought.
2. 'V\Tiy brought to Annas first ? Some say because he being so great a
man, and his house lying in the way to Caiaphas (as indeed it did, if we
may believe the new description of Jerusalem, and the relation of those
that have visited it, for they say we have fii'st shewn you the house of
Annas, and then the house of Caiaphas), he was therefore led thither fii'st.
But surely that is not all the reason. It is a circumstance not mentioned
by any of the evangelists but by John, and therefore here must be some
other ground for their leading of him first to the house of Annas. For we
read in Mat. xxvi. 57, and in Mark xiv. 53, that all the chief priests, and
the elders, and the scribes, were assembled at Caiaphas his house, attend-
ing the issue of Judas his plot, and waiting when Christ should be brought
thither. For them therefore to interrapt then- going directly to Caiaphas
his house, where all the council was set, and to carry him first to the house
of Annas, it must needs be for some special reason. To me therefore there
ai'e these two reasons of it.
The fii'st is that which is expressly mentioned by John himself here in the
text, for (saith he) he was father-in-law to Caiaphas ; which implies that
Caiaphas, either because he honoured his father-in-law, who was the head
of that great family, had given some secret order to the officers to lead him
fii'st thither, or rather indeed, because they would gratify that great man,
who was the chief of them that had been high priests, and withal because
they would gratify Caiaphas too, whom they knew they should please by
doing this honour to his father-in-law. They earned him to him as a sight,
as a spectacle. Lo, here we have him that is the great enemy to the high
priest's office, that would subvert the law, and pull down the temple; this
is the prey we have looked long for. And as in a way of gratification Pilato
afterward sent him to Herod, so in a way of like gratification he is here
earned to Annas fii'st, sent to him as a gift to cheer and glad his heart.
As in Rev. xi. 10, in allusion to the death of Christ (for that chapter
carries on that allusion), speaking of the witnesses being killed in that
place where our Lord was crucified, he saith, * They shall rejoice over
them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these
two prophets tormented them ; ' so here, when they had gotten Christ, that
had tormented them so, they were so glad they had got him, that in mer-
riment Caiaphas gives order to have him carried to Annas, as a gift and
gratification to him ; and so Pilate sent him to Herod. Thus to shew
their joy and triumph, they send our Lord and Saviour Christ thus bound
from one to another. Lo, here is the man that would destroy the law, and
then all our honour must down; we have him now fast enough. For in-
Chap. VIII.] of curist the mediatob. 233
deed there is nothing that more pleaseth the revenge of people malicious
against Christ or against his saints, than to see them in their hands, and
to see them under, and to see them down. ' Come,' say they in Ps. ii. 3,
' let us break their bonds, and cast away their cords from us.' And cer-
tainly this cu'cumstancc is on pui-pose mentioned by John, as an a"<Trava-
tion of the suflerings of Christ, that they not only carried him to the high
priest, but to gi'atify this wi-etched man, that was his desperate and most
deadly enemy, whom they knew not only hated him, but that of all other
men this sight of Christ being taken and bound would be most acceptable
to him, they carry him to his house fii'st of all. This, I say, aggravateth
the sufferings of Chi-ist the more.
But, secondly, he was carried thither also that there might be an appro-
bation visible before all the people, of Annas his approving of the fact, he
being the gi'eatest family of all the rest amongst the Jews. Therefore the
24th verse of this chapter tells us, that Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas
the high priest ; that was all he did ; he did not command them to unloose
him, but approved what they had done in taking and binding him, and in
a way of approbation sent him bound to the high priest's hall, which was
a matter of great prejudice unto Christ, and served a little also to take the
envy off from Caiaphas.
My brethren, what a great deal of do is here about a poor man, in view
a cai-penter's son ! And how glad were the great ones of the world when
they had got him down ! And so it hath been in all ages, the getting down
of a poor saint, it hath been the greatest glory to men carnal, as if they had
done so great a matter. "V^Tien they have gotten the witnesses down, as
one day they will, they make meny and send gifts one to another. The
poor disciples all this while were a- weeping, while they were making meny ;
so Christ himself said it should be : John xvi. 20, ' The world shall make
meny, but you shall weep.'
If therefore at any time we should be made spectacles unto men for
Chi-ist's sake, and should be thus sei-ved as Christ was, than which there
is nothing more grievous to a great spiiit, for misery and shame is more
than death to a king, and Saul would not fall into the hands of the Philis-
tines, lest they mock me, saith he, 1 Sam, xxxi, 4 ; if, I say, any of us
should be so sei*ved, made a spectacle to angels and men, as the apostle
saith, 1 Cor. iv. 7, do but remember how they led our Lord and Saviour
Christ up and down as a trophy, as a sight to cheer and gratify those that
were his enemies. So much for this, that he was sent to Annas first, that
was father-in-law to Caiaphas. Of Caiaphas it is said.
He was high priest that same year. There are some that would make both
Annas and Caiaphas to have been high priests together, because in that
place, Luke iii. 2, it is said that John did baptize in the time when
* Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.' But the meaning of that is this,
that they were high priests in their order ; in the beginning of John's
preaching Armas was high priest, and after him succeeded Caiaphas.
But why is it said he was high priest that same year ?
It is a thing which John obseiweth, and none else. He useth that phrase
by way of emphasis; you have it twice repeated in the 11th chapter:
ver. 49, * Caiaphas being high priest that same year;' and ver. 51, ' He
being high priest that year.' And you see it noted here, and noted with an
emphasis. Now that it should be twice noted in one chapter, within the
compass of two or thi-ee verses, and here again, there must be some spe-
cial reason for it. It is not that the high priest's office did go year by
234 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
year, as mayors in incorporate towns do with us, a new one cliose every
year. It is clear by the story of Josephus, that Caiaphas was seven years
(some say more) high priest. It is therefore added, ' He was high priest
that same year,' tliough he was more years besides, yet it fell out that he
should be high priest that year, when under his authority, and by his
power in a more esj)ecial manner, and by his counsel, the Lord of life
should be crucified.
And yet withal, 2. It is to note and to hold up this before our eyes, the
great corruption that was about the priest's oflice when Christ was cruci-
fied ; for in Num. xxxv. 25, and so in Josh. xx. 6, you shall find that
according to God's institution the high priests were not to be removed, but
he was to continue in that office during his life. And likewise he was to
be the eldest son of the family of Aaron. Now to shew that this was out
of course ; for the truth is, the Jews being oppressed by the Syrian kings,
and afterwards by the Romans, they sold the high priesthood as them-
selves pleased, and put in new ones as often as they would, contrary
to the institution of God at first ; to shew, I say, the corruption that was
then amongst them, this is particularly noted with an emphasis, ' Caiaphas
was high priest that same year, though Annas, that had been high priest,
was yet alive.'
To give you an observation or two fi'om this. ' He was high priest that
same year :' and if you read John xi. 51, ' By reason that he was high priest
that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.
The observation I make from thence is this : that if a man be in a place
that is an office instituted by God, though he came into it corruptly, and
is not such a one as ought to be in it, yet whilst he is in it, God doth
more or less accompany him according to his own institution. This
instance here is clear for this ; for it is certain that the high priests then
were not lawfully called to that office ; for there were three circumstances
which made their calling unlawful (I do not say unlawful in itself for the
substance, but unlawful for the act of calling) : 1. They were not of the
tribe of Levi, and of the eldest sons of Aaron ; for so the institution was, it
should have gone by birth, as in Exod. xl. 15. 2. They had not the place
for their lives, but were changed and altered at pleasure. B. They were
chosen by the Roman praetors, and by Pilate the Roman governor, and so
it was ordinarily bought and sold for money. Yet notwithstanding Christ,
he comes to that worship which this high priest performed, though he came
into the place corruptly; and the acts which he performed (he being in the
room of the high priest) were valid. I say, the acts he performed as high
priest (though unlawfully called), when he went into the Holy of holies
every year, they were acts of worship, and they were valid. Why ? Because
the office itself was a place of God's institution. For otherwise Christ had
not had opportunities to have fulfilled the whole ceremonial law, if that the
going in of this high priest into the Holy of holies had not continued and
been in use ; but it is clear it continued ; for it is said, Paul went up to
the feast, that is, the great feast, when the priest went into the Holy of
holies. Christ, you know, he was to fulfil the whole ceremonial law, which
he could not have done if he had not come to that feast which was once a
year, for there was a curse upon him that did not, his soul should be cut
off from the congregation ; and upon that day the high priest went into the
Holy of holies, and performed those great acts of worship, that was to be
done. If Christ had not been present at this feast, and at these perform-
ances, he had not fulfilled the law ; surely, therefore, when the high priest
Chap. VIII.] of chkist the mediator. 235
was doing bis office, Christ was present, and did communicate in this case
with this priest, and with these Jews ; and yet this man had not a hiwi'ul
calHng to the high priesthood, for the manner of it ; but because for the
substance of his calhng it was hiwful, and be was in that office, the acts
he did were vaUd. Even as it is in the laws of this kingdom ; aUbough
Richard the Third came into the place of being king unLawfully, yet because
when he was in it, it was that hiwful place settled by this state, tbcFefore
the carls that he made, or the barons, or the acts of parliament that he
confirmed, they were all valid ; for whilst he was in that place, the place was
it (being that which was settled by the law) that gave a validity to all such
acts of his. So it is here. And therefore let it never be said, that because
ministers are not oftentimes so called to their places as they ought to be,
come not in so rightly as they should, by the choice of those whom it
depends upon, that therefore the}' are not lawful ministers ; — lawful in this
sense, that the acts they do are valid, and are ministerial acts. And indeed
it were a hard case if the lawfulness of all men's being baptized, or receiv-
ing the sacrament, or the like, should depend upon the lawfulness of the
man's being called to his place. It depends upon the office that Jesus
Christ hath instituted in his church, and so far forth as there is anything of
his institution, he will follow it with his blessing. The ordinances of
Christ, the validity of them doth not depend upon the lawful call of the
minister ; and therefore it is no argument to say, such a man had an unlaw-
ful calling to the ministry in that place where I was baptized, therefore my
baptism is invalid. For the act and manner of his call may be unlawful,
yet he being in that place, he is for those acts a lawful minister of Christ,
and his acts are so accounted by God. So it was here. Caiaphas being
in the room of the high priest, the acts he did were acts of the high priest,
and were valid. And yet further, to shew that God himself respected him
as high priest, God put into his mouth that prophecy ; therefore it is said
in John si. 51, ' This spake he not of himself, but being high priest that
year, he prophesied.' So that God himself was with him as high priest,
though for the manner of his calling to this place he was not lawfully and
truly the high priest.
06s. 2. Then, again, another observation that I may make from hence is
this. This Annas, it is said, was father-in-law to Caiaphas. You see now
by this, how dangerous it is oftentimes to the souls of others to be linked
in affinity with men that are carnal and wicked. How many a man's soul
is undone by his father-in-law, or perhaps the father-in-law by the son : or
the husband by the wife, and the wife by the husband. In all likelihood
these two here, Annas the father-in-law, and Caiaphas the son-in-law, are
both mentioned as having drawn one another into this great conspiracy
against our Lord and Saviour Christ, and joining the more heartily in it,
the one engaging the other in this wicked design. And therefore men
should very much consider into what families they marry, for if into a
wicked family, it may be an occasion of much evil to them. Men are drawn
to much wickedness, or strengthened in much wickedness, by their rela-
tions, as Annas and Caiaphas were here for the crucifying of Christ, having
this relation of father-in-law and son-in-law.
Obs. 3. Lastly, these two, Annas and Caiaphas, they are here noted out
in a peculiar manner above all the rest of the Pharisees, as the most emi-
nent enemies, and those that did most malign our Lord and Saviour Christ.
Observe that God takes special and particular notice of those that are the
most eminent enemies of Christ and his saints. Still you see Annas and
236 OF CHRIST THE BIEDIATOE. [BoOK V.
Caiaphas are mentioned : certainly it is according to their hatred ; these
two had a deeper malignity against Christ than other of the Pharisees
had ; and therefore you read of them again in Acts iv. 6. Annas the
high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, they are all reckoned
up, they had their hands imbrued in the blood of Christ, and they
go on ; and that is the curse of it, that the same men should finish up
their iniquity, by laying hold of the apostles too. And in a more special
manner you see there is an emphasis put upon Caiaphas, for it is said,
' He was high priest that same year.' It is noted out as the greatest cm-se
that could befall that wretched man, he having so much malignity in his
heart against Christ, that it should be his lot to be then high priest, when
he had opportunity enough to vent it. So that men of much malice against
the people of God, to them doth God give oftentimes most power, and
dignity, and ability to do most mischief. Caiaphas he is put into the high
priesthood, and the providence of God ordereth it so that this man had a
more special enmity against Christ, as the next words imply : ' It was he
that gave the counsel that one man should die for the people,' and that man
must be Jesus Christ. And so I come to handle that.
Verse 14, * Noiv Caiajihas ivas he that gave counsel to the Jews, that it was
expedient that one man should die for the people.'
It implies that Caiaphas was the first man that made the motion to have
Christ put to death, and that with the strongest and most taking plausible
reason that could be supposed.
In handling this verse, I shall do two things.
1. Open the words.
2. Give the reasons why they are brought in here.
1. And, first, to open the words. ' Now Caiaphas was he that gave coun^
sel to the Jews, that it was expedient for one man to die for the people.'
The words, you see, refer to an act formerly done by him. You are there-
fore to have recourse to John xi. 49, 50, where you shall find the same
thing recorded ; only there it comes in as a prophecy, here as a counsel
given by himself. ' You know nothing ' (saith he there ; he speaks it like
a carnal proud high priest, as if he only had knowledge, taking the glory
of this counsel to himself), * nor consider that it is expedient for us that one
man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And
this ' (saith John) ' spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.' And yet that he did
speak this of himself too, is clear by these words in the text; for it is
brought in here as his great sin, and a brand is put upon him for it : This is
he, saith the text ; even as a brand was put upon Ahaz, 2 Chron. xxviii. 22,
* This is that king Ahaz,' so, this is that wicked Caiaphas ; this is he that
was the fu-st contriver, the first man that made the motion, that gave the
counsel to have Chi'ist put to death.
It is strange that one and the same act should be from the Spirit of God,
and called prophecy, and said not to be spoken of himself, and the same act
to be of himself, and called counsel, and one of the gi'eatest sins that hath
been committed. But the meaning is this, that however he had a most
wicked end in this speech, yet notwithstanding, the Holy Ghost (before he
was aware) guided his tongue to speak (though he knew it not) that which
was a truth, and indeed a prophecy. ' He spake this not of himself,' saith
John, that is, not knowing or intending to prophesy, for as it came from
him it was spoken out of spleen, and malice, and hatred unto Christ. And
Chap. VIII.] op christ the mediator. 237
yet he took upon him to speak like a high priest ; * You know nothing at
all,' saith ho ; I am now the high priest, and I deliver this to you as an
oracle, ' that it is expedient for one man to die for the people ; ' and tho
Holy Ghost intended his words should be spoken as the high priest. ' This
he spake not of himself : but, being high priest that year, he prophesied ; '
not that the high priests used to prophesy, or that he himself used to pro-
phesy, but being high priest that year, an emphasis lies in that, wherein
Christ was to be crucified, God raised up that ordinance of high priesthood
above the ordinary use of it, he being the highest person in that state.
And you see he delivers it as a state axiom, and yet with extreme cunning :
' It is fit,' saith he, ' that one man should die for the people.' He doth
not say that it is fit that Jesus should die (he doth not express it so at first),
or that this man should die, who is a rebel or a blasphemer, ' but it is fit
one man (let it be him or any one else) should die for the nation ' ; and
what is one man's life to the nation ? And so consequently he implies,
that seeing it is this man's lot to disturb the state, and to endanger it by
bringing in the Romans amongst us, it is fittest that he should die, rather
than the people should perish. And yet if you mark it (to shew the
wickedness of his speech yet further), though he puts a public face upon
it, and pretends the preservation of the nation, yet the thing he aimed at
was the preservation of the clergy only ; and that moved him so much.
Saith he, ' You consider nothing at all, that it is expedient for us that one
man should die.' ' It is expedient for us,' that is his expression ; for us
that are or shall be high priests ; our calling will down unless this man be
taken out of the way.
So much for the opening of the words.
Now, secondly, to give you the reasons why he (having said it before in
chap. xi. 50) brings it in again here in this place.
1. It was to set a brand of maliciousness more eminently upon this
Caiaphas than upon any man else ; and to shew also what an accursed
man he was in this, that the motive or the reason that should stick with
them all, why they should so fixedly resolve to kill Christ (for, you must
know, this speech was first spoken at a consultation they had about taking
of him), should come first from him. To set, I say, a note and a brand
upon Caiaphas in a more eminent manner, is this circumstance here by the
Holy Ghost inserted, he being the most desperate and malicious enemy of
Christ amongst all the Pharisees ; for certainly God chose out the wickedest
man among all the Jews to be in the place of the high priest that year,
that he and his father-in-law, Annas, should eminently have their hands in
his crucifying.
2. It likewise comes in here to shew upon how slight gi'ounds our Lord
and Saviour Christ was crucified ; it was merely but upon politic considera-
tions (as to them), and that upon but imaginary suppositions neither, that
the nation must perish else ; for so as it came from Caiaphas it was meant,
though God guided it to be a prophecy. And so it clears the innocency of
Christ so much the more, that the high priest himself, in his counsel about
putting him to death, should only go upon this pohtic reason, that it was
fit one man should die for the nation. They only did it as a state busi-
ness, and that, I say, but upon a mere imagination that the Romans would
else come and take away their place and nation.
3. It is premised unto all the other sufterings of Christ that follow, and
it is inserted here in that passage of the story of his leading to Caiaphas,
to shew that there was no equity to be expected in all their proceedings
238 OF CHEIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
against him Why ? Because they had resolved, before ever they took
him, to put him to death, and that upon a state consideration ; and there-
fore they would be sure to keep to their own resolutions, whether he were
innocent or not innocent, whether they could convict him or not convict
him. And Caiaphas having spoken so peremptorily, ' Ye know nothing at
all, neither consider that it is expedient for one man to die for the nation,'
he being the great oracle in this business, he would certainly prosecute
Christ, according to his own words ; therefore there was no favour to be
expected. And to this end also doth the Holy Ghost record it here.
4. But to me the chiefest reason is this. You know it was foretold of
Christ that he should not die for himself; so you have it in Isa. liii. 4,
* Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did
esteem him stricken of God and afflicted ; ' so did the apostles and those that
beheld him. It was not for himself that he was stricken and afflicted ; no,
there was something else in it, it Avas for others : ' He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, and he was wounded for our transgressions,' &c.
Now, to the end that you should not only have a word of Scripture for this,
but a testimony also even from the mouths of the Jews, and from the
mouth of the high priest himself for it, hence, therefore, is the Holy
Ghost so diligent to record this passage, ' that it is expedient that one man
should die for the people ; ' which, though Caiaphas meant one way, God
meant another way ; and therefore it is added, ' and not for that nation
only, but that he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad.' And therefore, as it was a counsel in Caiaphas, it
was a prophecy in God. And so 3'ou have the reasons why this passage
comes in here. Now to give you some observations out of it.
Obs. 1. You see here what mischiefs and sins state policy ofttimes puts
great men upon. How much state interests prevail to move men against
the saints, and the purity of religion. State policy here was the cause of
the death of Christ. And j^etthis very act of theirs, in crucifying the Lord
of life, brought mischief upon the state. Here is Caiaphas, he brings the
most authentic state axiom that was ever brought. It is but a small
matter, saith he, it is but one man's life, and it is better for one man to die
than the state should perish. He did it, I say, out of the greatest worldly
wisdom that ever man did, and yet you know what followed. By this we
may come to understand that place in 1 Cor. ii. 8, where, speaking of the
crucifying of Christ, saith he, ' We speak the wisdom of God in a mys-
tery, which none of the princes of this world knew ; for had they known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of life ; ' but, saith he, as for
the wisdom of this world, and of the princes of the world, it comes to
nought, for (as it is, chap. iii. ver. 19), ' The wisdom of this world is fool-
ishness with God, for it is written, he taketh the wise in their own crafti-
ness.' By the princes of this world it is evident that he means the Jews,
the Pharisees, and the ralers, Pilate and Herod, and the rest that put
Christ to death ; this great Sanhedrim here, Annas and Caiaphas, and their
fellows, and Pilate ; for he went on the same worldly principle too, for
whenas the Jews told him that if he did not put Christ to death he was not
Caesar's friend, the text saith, ' Therefore when Pilate heard that saying,'
Go crucify him, saith he ; it was state policy did it. They all thought they
were so wise in putting Christ to death upon this state axiom ; and it was
a fair one. This wisdom, saith the apostle, came to nought ; God made
the wisdom of the world foohshness ; for, alas ! were ever men befooled as
these men were ? For this very crucifying of Christ was their ruin, that
Chap. VIII.] op christ the mediator. 239
brought the Romans upon them. Yea, if you read Jcsephus and others,
you shall find that that which strengthened them to rehel against the
Romans was their ver}' looking for the Messiah, and the prophecies they
had, that about that time the Messiah should come.
Obs. 2. A second observation that I make upon this is this, that a state
is not to put a man to death merely and simply for the public good, unless
he is an offender. For here this state maxim the Pharisees and Pilate took
up, and used as the great plausible argument to the people ; yet it being
against a man's life, supposed innocent (whether they knew him to be the
Christ or not), it is noted as a high and mighty injury, and as an act of
the greatest injustice in them. It is the greatest instance this that can be,
that no evil is to be done that good may come by it. An innocent man is
not to be put to death, nor innocent men to be injured or wronged (if they
be innocent) for a public good. A man's life is not to be taken away merely
to save a state. Indeed, if a case of necessity lie, so as that a man offer
himself freely up for the saving of a state, as some noble Romans have done,
that is another matter ; but to condemn a man to death simply to save a
state, ought not to be.
Obs. 3. You may observe, that carnal men, when they would prevail
with others to do anything, they 'ndll speak to their very lusts. All their
hearts here were on fire against Jesus Christ ; Caiaphas now speaks the
highest reason to the lusts of the Jews that could be, invents a reason upon
■which they should put him to death, a most plausible one, colours it over
so cunningly as might take with all the people. It is better, saith he, that one
man be put to death, than that the whole nation should perish ; he knew
this would move them all, and all that is in them. I say he gave counsel
to their lusts ; and so you shall have carnal men to do, speak to men's lusts,
and vent then- own lusts too, vent their own malice ; for so Caiaphas did.
* It is expedient for us,' saith he, for us that are the priests, but puts it
upon the people, ' that one man should die for the people.'
Obs. 4. Observe hence likewise, what a dangerous thing it is to be the
first mover in any great wickedness. Here you see Caiaphas, because he
was the first that gave counsel against Christ, he is noted out in a way ol
eminency, with this brand upon him, ' This is he that gave counsel that it
was expedient for one man to die for the nation.' He did it cunningly and
plausibly, but God for all that took notice of it, and lays this great load upon
him, ' This is the man.' Therefore, I say, to be the first mover and leader
in a wicked business, as Annas and Caiaphas was in the great business of
crucif\-ing Christ, is a dangerous thing. And you see one wicked, cunning man
wiU carry the whole. Caiaphas here spake such great reason, that he carried
them all ; but such men, of all others, that are the counsellers in evil, and
that are the first counsellers in evil, though they glory and pride themselves in
it — as certainly as this man did, ' You know nothing at all,' saith he — such
men will God brand, as he branded him here, and their damnation shall be
great at last. Poor Caiaphas, there was another that gave counsel that
Jesus Chi-ist should be put to death afore thou didst, and that was God the
Father ; for in Acts iv. 28, ' Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy
hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.' There was not only
his wisdom, his counsel, but his hand, his power in it, though it was the
greatest sin in the world. Yea, God the Father had given counsel to Christ
himself to do it, before ever Caiaphas had spoken : Ps. xvi. 7, ' I wiU bless
the Lord, who hath given me counsel.' And what was the counsel he
210 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
pave him ? He bade him die for his people, and he would raise him up;
and therefore ' my reins instruct me in the night season,' saith he ; that
night when he was in the garden, and when he was before Pilate, God's
counsel was to him to do it, beforehand, and he blesseth God, that gave
him that counsel. This psalm is a psalm in relation to Christ, and it is
spoken of his death and resurrection.
Obs. 5. Lastly, observe this, that oftentimes the speeches of great per-
sons (as of fathers concerning their children, &c.), which they do not speak
prophetically, as in theii* intentions, yet they are so in the event. As
Homer brings in the di'eam of Agamemnon. So Pharaoh dreamed, and
Nebuchadnezzar dreamed. Yet oftentimes princes and others do utter
speeches that have a prophetical meaning in them in the conclusion. It is
dangerous therefore for a man to curse himself, to wish this or that upon
himself, for whilst thou dost it in a coiTupt passion, out of a corrupt heart,
God may tui-n it to a prophecy ; therefore take heed of such speeches upon
all occasions. And so much for this 14th verse.
CHAPTER IX.
Peter's denial of Christ. — That this was an addition to his sufferings.
There is a great question among interpreters (which I will handle very
briefly, because I will not trouble you much with difficulties), whether all
this that follows concei^ning Peter's denial, and the high priest's asking
Christ of his disciples and of his doctrine, was done in Annas his house, or
in Caiaphas his ? All yield that there were some things done in Caiaphas
his house, and that he was led to Caiaphas, and that from Caiaphas he was
led to Pilate, and from Pilate to Herod ; but some would have what is
brought in here of Peter, and the examination of Christ concerning his
disciples and doctrine, to have been in Annas his house, and by him. But
the case is clear in other evangelists that it was not. For we read in all
the other evangehsts, especially in Matthew, that Peter's denial was in
Caiaphas his house. And John here saith expressly that Caiaphas was
high priest that same year, and that Peter's denial was when he got into
the palace of the high priest, and that the high priest asked Jesus of his
disciples and of his doctrine. Now though Annas was lather-in-law to the
high priest, yet it was Caiaphas that was the high priest ; therefore all this
must needs be done in Caiaphas his house, and not in Annas his. The
plain meaning then is this, that whereas Annas was father-in-law to Caiaphas
the high priest, they led him therefore first to his house ; but when Annas
had seen him, they (without Annas doing anything to him at all that we
read of) led him away to Caiaphas ; and though his leading to Caiaphas be
not mentioned here, yet it is mentioned at the 24:th verse, where it is said,
' Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.'. So that, I
say, all these things were done in Caiaphas his house, and not in Annas
his ; and therefore there is none of the evangelists but John that mention
anything of Annas, because, indeed, there was nothing done in his house ;
only they brought him unto him because he was Caiaphas his father-in-law,
for to see him ; and when he had seen him, he sent him directly to Caiaphas ;
the very words, * to Annas first,' impHes this. And the truth is that C}Til,
an ancient Greek father, he brings in even here, afore he comes to the 15th
verse, ' Annas he sent him bound to Caiaphas,' and in the copies that he
Chap. IX.] of christ the mediator. 2-11
had and had seen, those words were found. And Beza inclines to that too,
and thinks it was an omission in the writer, and that it ought to be here
inserted. So much now for the solving of that question ; and so I come
to the words of this 15th verse.
Verse 15. * And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.
That disciple ivas known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the
door, and hrought in Peter.''
It is the beginning of the story of Peter's denial of Christ, which denial
of Peter's is intermingled by all the evangelists with the suficrings of our
Lord and Saviour Christ ; and I think it is done on purpose, first, to illus-
trate the sufferings of Christ ; for certainly this denial of Peter's did some-
thing add to Christ's sufferings ; that at that very time when he was asked
of his doctrine and of his disciples, one of his greatest and most eminent
disciples should be denying of him (for so you see the context runs), which
Christ knew, for in the end he looked back upon Peter, and shewed his
grief for him, and that he took notice of him, and of what he had done.
And, 2, the evangelists do it also for this purpose, to shew the great love
of Christ, that though Peter and the other disciples were a- sinning, espe-
cially Peter, for he sinned most greviously, Jesus Christ went on in his
work, went on to suffer even for those sins that they were then committing.
And as Christ knew what Peter was a- doing then, and yet went on to suffer,
so he knew what thou wouldst do against him, and yet suffered for thee.
But to come to the story.
There are in all the evangelists recorded three several denials of Christ,
and that by Peter ; and as I go along I must compare the one with the
other, and shew that there is no contradiction in what the evangelists
record.
In the words here, from the 15th verse to the 19th, you have two
eminent things to be considered.
1. The introduction, or the story that delivers how it came to pass that
Peter did get into the high priest's hall, which was the occasion of his
denial.
2. The denial itself.
1. First, For the story how Peter got in. John waiting* after the other
evangelists, still labours to insert some circumstances which they had
omitted. Now none of the other evangelists tell us how Peter got into the
high priest's hall ; they tell us indeed that Peter followed his master afar
off, but this great circumstance, which was a preparation to his denial, how
he got in, and with what difficulty, it is only recorded by John. And there
is a great deal to be observed in it. But first I shall open it historically,
and then give you the observations as I go along.
Simon Peter foHoived Jesus. The other evangelists tell us that he followed
Jesus afar off. But I shall not speak of that circumstance, intending to
keep principally to what John here saith. It was certainly a mixed action
in Peter, that is, an action mixed of love and of fear, of grace and corruption.
For that he followed him argues that he had a love in his heart to Christ ;
yet there was fear mixed with it, for he walketh after him afar off.
The question is here, whether Peter sinned in this, in his going to the
high priest's hall ?
Assuredly he did; For, 1. Christ had expressly told him, Mat. xxvi. 2,
that he should suffer at that passover ; therefore it was unbelief in him to
Qu. ' writing ' ? — Ed.
VOL. V. Q
242 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK: V.
follow him after he was apprehended, to see the event of it, as Matthew
tells us he went for that reason. And,
2. Christ had taken order, when he was first taken, that his disciples
should be kept safe, and let free. ' Let these go,' saith he, which was inti-
mation enough that they were unable to sufl'er ; for it follows, ' That the
word which he had spoken might be fulfilled, of those thou hast given me
have I lost none ;' implying that if they had then been put to sufler, they
had been lost, for they were weak and unfit for suffering, and it was not the
mind of God to strengthen them to suffering at that time. And therefore in
John xiii. 36, saith Christ, ' Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but
thou shalt follow me afterwards.' Thou canst not follow me now, for thou art
not able to follow me, neither will my Father strengthen thee to follow me ;
but afterwards he followed Christ, even to the cross, for, as ecclesiastical
stories tell us, he was crucified as his master was. But yet the meaning of
that place is, that as Christ went to heaven in a way of suflering, so he told
him that he should follow him thither, but he should not follow him pre-
sently in the like way of suffering. And besides,
3. Christ had plainly and fully told him that he would deny him. Now
for him, having been thus warned by Christ, and having had experience of
his own fearfulness — for having struck off the high priest's servant's ear, he
fled away amongst the rest ; and it was not likely that he should be more
valiant and courageous in the high priest's hall, amongst soldiers and officers,
than he had been in the garden — for him, I say, notwithstanding all this,
to be venturing, and to put himself upon that temptation, it was certainly a
sin. But still, I say, grace will work with corruption ; his love unto Christ
wrought with his fear, and then the words that he had spoken himself, those
courageous stout words, ' I will die with thee rather than deny thee,' those
rise in his mind, and put him upon going after Christ to see the issue of the
business ; and perhaps he hoped that he might happily get in with the
crowd, and so not be seen.
Ohs. 1. The observation that I make from hence by the way, is this, That
we should not put ourselves upon occasions of suffering or danger, till such
time as God calls us. It is unwarrantable, and it is sinful so to do. It was
so in Peter.
Obs. 2. As it is unwarrantable to put ourselves upon occasions of suffer-
ings, so it is dangerous for us to tempt God by putting ourselves upon
occasions of sinning ; to go to the door, as it were, where a man shall be
drawn in to sin, as Peter here ; he follows, and he goes to the door, and
stands without, hankering to see what shall be the end of it. I say it is a
dangerous thing for us to put ourselves upon occasions of sinning, to tempt
God, for then you see by this of Peter what the issue is ; when Peter tempt-
eth God, then doth God suffer Peter to be tempted, he leads him indeed
into temptation.
But Peter had not got in for all this, had it not been for an unhappy pro-
vidence to him ; for so I may call it in respect of his sin, though God
intended good by it. For the story tells us that another disciple went along
with him, and that disciple, being known unto the high priest, went in with
Jesus into the palace of the high priest. This is brought in here on pur-
pose to shew how Peter got in, for otherwise there is no reason of mention-
ing this going in of the other disciple. The providence of God would that
here should be two disciples eye-witnesses of Christ's sufferings in the high
priest's hall, from whom the rest might have the relation of it. There was
Peter and another disciple. He is called a disciple, for that was the name
Chap. IX.J op ohrist the mediatob. 243
that was given to Christians in Christ's time, and so in the Acts of the
Apostles, till they came to Antioch, for then they were first called Chris-
tians.
There is a question amongst interpreters who this other disciple was.
Some say (and many good interpreters) that it was John, and the reason
they give is this, because John in this epistle * when he speaks of himself,
he styles himself ' that other disciple,' and never mentions his name, as in
John XX. 30. But you shall find that where John speaks of himself, though
he conccaleth his own name, and saith ' that other disciple,' yet he adds
withal, ' whom Jesus loved ;' so you have it in the same 20th of John, ver. 2
i>ut now that addition is not put to this disciple, but it is another dis-
ciple which was known to the high priest. And besides, to me there is
this great reason that this other disciple was not John, because there is no
likelihood (but the contrary seems much more probable) that John should
have so much knowledge and familiarity as this disciple apparently had,
both with the high priest himself, and so, by virtue of that acquaintance and
greatness with him, an interest in his family also ; so that he could com-
mand or order to have Peter let in. Now John was a poor fisherman, that
lived in Galilee, a country remote from Jerusalem, and came but up with
Christ at the feast ; for Christ did not live ordinarily at Jerusalem, but
always after the feast went down again into Galilee, the place of his usual
residence ; unless he preached sometimes up and down in the country ; and
when he went, his disciples went with him ; therefoi-e it is not likely that
he should have such interest in the high priest's house. And then again,
if it had been John, he would certainly have been questioned as well as
Peter, neither would he himself have ventured in, being so well known as
it is said this other disciple was. And the Syriac translation favours this
opinion, that it was none of John, for it reads it thus, imus ex aliis, one of the
other disciples, not being one of the twelve. And it was a disciple, though
known to the high priest, yet certainly he was not known to be a disciple ;
for had he been known to be a disciple, doubtless they had fallen upon him
as well as upon Peter, for all his favour with the high priest. And it bad
been brought in as an argument to Peter, that he was a disciple, because he
was helped into the hall by another disciple ; but you see it is not, only they
allege that Peter was one of them that was in the garden, &c. But the
truth is, when the Holy Ghost hath concealed who this disciple was, why
should we go and say. Who is it ?
Obs. From hence I will give you this observation, that Christ he had
other disciples besides his apostles ; many hidden ones. You shall find in
John xii. 42, that among the chief rulers thei'e were many that believed on
him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him. And in
Acts i. 15, there were a hundred and twenty that met together. So that
there were more disciples than the twelve, yet there were many that appeared
not, as Nicodemus, that came to Jesus by night ; and they did not appear
till after his death. Christ hath many hidden ones that are a long time
putting themselves forth in profession. "We see it in experience ; it hath
been known that men have been long converted, and lived privately in the
family, before they made an open profession. And so now, many are
favourers of the cause of Christ that do not shew themselves ; but shew
themselves they will in the end. This man here, though he would not pro-
fess himself openly, yet when he saw a disciple, he would do him a good
turn, as he thought he did Peter in having of him mto the high priest's house.
*Qu. " Gospel ?"— Ed.
244 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
The text saith, this other disciple was kno-wn to the high priest. The
reason why this expression is used, is, to shew that it was a hard thing to
get in unless a man had acquaintance, and it was likewise a gi'eat favour to
come into this Sanhedi'im, yea, this very acquaintance of the high priest him-
self, as it is thought, was not admitted into the inner room where Christ
was ; for their proceedings against Christ were secret and hidden, they
would not have this court kept openly, for the people to see their juggling
dealing. Peter, you see, could not get in but by favour of this disciple who
was known to the high priest, though unknown to us.
Ohs. From thence we may obseiTe, that we should not presently censure
a man, that he is not holy or the like, because he holds correspondency, or
it may be some intimacy or acquaintance, with men that are carnal ; for
there may be reason why he doth so, and yet he may be a holy man, as
this disciple certainly was, and yet kept his correspondency with the high
priest. I will not justify in all things the act itself, but we should not
esteem men, or think that therefore they are ungodly, for even that judg-
ment may deceive us.
Now this disciple he went in with Jesus, that is, he went in with the
crowd of the officers, and the band of men that went in with Jesus.
He went into the palace of the high priest ; into the outward court, so it
is in the original. The question is, whether Peter and the soldiers that
were about the fire and the like were in one room, and Christ in another ?
That which breeds' the scruple is that in Mat. xxvi. 69, it is said that Peter
sat without in the palace ; which seems to argue that Chiist was in one room
and he in another.
The answer is clear, that they were both in one room, that is evident,
because the other evangelists tell us that Christ looked back upon Peter.
Now it is not to be thought that Christ came out to look upon him when he
denied him. Therefore that which is the reconciliation of it is this : whereas
it is said he was in the lower part of the hall, the meaning is plainly this,
that the high priest and his fellows, they sat in a place more high advanced
by steps or so, all within the same walls, and in the lower part of it there
was a fire, where Peter and the rest stood ; and so Christ being called before
them there, he might eminently look over all the room.
Verse 16. ' But Peter stood at the door ivithout. Then went out that other
disciple, u-hich was known unto the high priest, and spake %into her that kept
the door, and brour/ht in Peter.''
That other disciple, perceiving that Peter stood vrithout, and knowing him
to be a disciple, and bearing love and goodwill to him, befriends him, goes
to her that kept the door, and as some think, betnists her with this secret
that Peter was one of Christ's disciples, which made her so confidently
afterward charge him, as you know she did ; and so upon this speech he
gets in.
Peter stood at tlie door icithout. As I said before, it was an unwarrant-
able action for Peter to follow Christ ; he had had warning about his deny-
ing of him before, yet you see ho would not awa}", but though he found
the door shut upon him, yet there he stands ; and as he followed Christ in
confidence of his own strength, so here in the same confidence he stands at
the door, waiting for an opportunity to get in. My brethren, it is a certain
rule and truth, that though another man may sufier for Christ out of a
heroic spirit, out of some carnal grounds and ends, yet God will not per-
mit those that are his own children to suffer for him upon such grounds ; he
Chap. IX.] of christ tue mediator. 215
■will rather give them up to a denying of him, till such time as they are fitted for
a true and real suffering; and so he did Peter here. Above all things, there-
fore, we should by this example learn to take heed of venturing in ways of
suffering out of our own strength, for so Peter did ; he went forth in his own
strength, and you see what the issue of it is.
Well ; Peter, you see, by the help of his fiiend, gets in. The observa-
tions that I make upon all tliis story of letting in Peter are these.
Obs. 1. Observe the workings of God's providence about this sin and
denial of Peter's. The providences of God they were many ; I shall men-
tion them here.
(1.) He could not get in : * Peter stood at the door without.' Here now
God in his providence at first did put an impediment, a bar to Peter's
attempt, stopped him in going on to that which should be the occasion of
his sin. Peter ho should have taken this for a warning, he should have
observed the providence of God in hindering him, but he would not. In
any way or course wherein we find that God in his providence doth put
impediments, it should strike our hearts ; and we should look upon it as
a call and warning from God to examine our grounds in going on in that
way. If indeed we find our ways such as are warranted by the word, or
that our consciences are clear in it that it is a duty, and that we are called
to it, then, let there be never so many impediments, we are to go on in it.
But otherwise, in a doubtful way, if a man finds impediments, let him
observe that providence. If Peter had done thus when he found the door
shut, he had not sinned thus against Christ as he did ; but he still stands
at the door, tempting of God, and therefore doth God in the end suffer
him to be tempted.
(2.) But yet, though Peter was thus stopped for a while, there comes (after
he had tempted Providence) the fairest and clearest providence to bring him
in to the high priest's hall that could be. Peter spake not to this disciple
to let him in, but he, spying of him, goes out and brings him in. So that,
on the other side, we are not in businesses to go merely by providences,
for you shall find that oftentimes providences do lay fair for occasions of
sinning. Here was as fan- and as clear a providence to bring Peter into
the high priest's haU, where he should deny Christ, as could be ; nay, the
providence was so fair, that one would think that God called Peter into
the hall. We are apt ofttimes to measure our ways by providences much ;
but never believe the works of God unless thou hast a word of God first
for thy way, for God doth lay snares, especially when men tempt him.
"V\Tien Jonah was to go to Nineveh, and instead of going thither, ran away
from God to go to Tarshish, he had the fau'est providence that could be,
for he found a ship that was fitted and all ready to go to Tarshish ; he
might now think, here is a providence serves me as fit as can be. Ay, but
he went against the word of God. And the truth is, so doth Peter here ;
and therefore, I say, never be ruled by the providences of God, unless thou
hast the word of God, for the providence of God doth as equally and in-
differently lay temptations for men as it doth facilitate their way in what
he would have them do. In things which are not God's way, you shall
have providences fall exceedingly fair ; and in things that are God's way,
you shall have many impediments to the contrary, to try your faith.
"When Peter now did thus get in, he thought it certainly a vei-y great
favour and courtesy, and a special privilege, that he should, according to
his desire, see the issue of things ; for he went for that end, as Matthew
saith. And his friend certainly intended to do him the greatest kindness
246 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
and favour that could be. There are snares that lie oftentimes in the
courtesies and kindnesses of friends. For so there is in this ; he did it as
a kindness, and the other thought it a favour , but the truth is, it was a
great snare, and in the end it proved a fatal business to Peter, as being the
occasion of that great and famous denial of his master.
It is strange likewise that Christ, who could tell him he should deny him,
would not bid him take heed of the high priest's hall. He could have done
the one as well as the other. He, that knew all things that should befall
himself, knew what should befall Peter, how it was he should deny him.
But yet Jesus Christ, he being God as well as man, he was not obliged to
give Peter that caveat ; but though he knew it, and suffered it for his o^vn
glory, yet it is no warrant for us to do so. God may permit sin, he knows
how to punish it, and how to get glory out of it, and he himself is not de-
filed by it ; but we are not to permit others to sin. And so much for the
16th verse, and for the introduction into Peter's denial. I come now to
the denial itself.
Verse 17. ' Then saith the damsel that kept the door imto Peter, Art not
thou also one of this mans disciples ? He saith, I am not.'
That a damsel should be the door-keeper to the high priest, some say
(and indeed many of the best interpreters) it was ex more ffentis, from the
custom of the country. Thus, in Acts xii. 13, you read that when Peter
knocked at the door, that a damsel went and opened the door ; for it was
her place so to do. And in 2 Sam. iv, 6, in the Septuagint it is in the
feminine gender ; it is not in the Hebrew indeed, but the Septuagint, that
ancient translation (which shews it was the custom of the country), inserts
these words, and the woman that was the doorkeeper was winnowing of
corn. I speak it only for this, to shew the reason why a damsel kept the
door of the high priest. But others say (and probably too) that the reason
why this damsel kept the door, was because that all the servants were now
busy, and taken up in attending one way or other ; the keeping of the door
therefore for the present was committed to this maid. But I take it that
the first is the truth, that it was the manner of the country ; it being
strengthened by those two instances. However it fell out, certainly God
ordered it in the greatest providence that could be. For of all men you
know how confident Peter was, and how he had said, ' Though all men
forsake thee, I will not forsake thee.' He goes forth in his own strength ;
he had out of his valour cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, falling
upon a whole multitude of men, he alone and one other ; for there was but
two swords amongst them. God therefore ordei'ed it in his providence,
that he would confute the pride of Peter this way, that his weakness might
be seen to all posterity, and made the more famous : at the speaking of a
poor silly maid, he denies his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ !
Then said the damsel unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's dis-
ciples? The evangelists they do all reckon up three several sorts of
denials that Peter had ; yet if you compare the first in Matthew, and the
first in Mark, and the first in Luke, with this fu'st in John (which all must
be accounted to be but one), the story seems to be exceeding different, if
you either consider what the evangelists record her speeches to have been
unto Peter, and of Peter, or of what his speeches were unto her. Li
Matthew, chap. xxvi. 69, the speech she there useth to him is, ' Thou also
wert with Jesus of Galilee,' that is, thou as well as others. In Mark it is
thus, ' Thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth;' now Nazareth, j^ou know,
Chap. IX. J of christ the iiediatok. 2-t7
xas a city in Galilee. And in Luke, chap. xxii. 56, her speech is not to
Peter, hut to them that stood by, and it was thus, ' This man also was with
him.' Now here in John it is a differing speech from all these, ' Art not
thou also,' saith she, * one of this man's disciples ?' And as her speeches
recorded by the evangelists do varj', so you shall find that his speeches to
her vary as much. For in Matthew, chap. xxvi. ver. 70, it is said, ' He
denied afore them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.' It is the
highest kind of negation that can be ; the meaning of it is, I am so far from
belonging to him, that the truth is, it is strange to me that you should ask
me any such question ; I do not know the least of him ; as if he had never
heard of the man before. And so in Mark xiv. 68, * I know not, neither
understand I what thou sayest.' And in Luke xxii. 57, ' "Woman, I know
him not.' Now here, in John, being asked, whether he was his disciple ?
he saith, ' I am not.' How shall we reconcile this ?
The reconciliation is very easy, for they are several speeches of hers, and
several speeches of his, whereof some evangehsts record some, and others,
others. And it seemeth to have been thus (that I may hang and pin them
altogether) : this maid she first says to the standers by, ' This man also
was with him,' as Luke hath it ; and then she turns to Peter, and says,
' Are not thou one of this man's disciples ?' as John here hath it ; and
then she peremptorily affirms it, that she upon her own knowledge had seen
him with him, ' Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee,' as Matthew and
Mark have it. Now she, using several forms of speeches, some to the
standers by, and some to himself, at the first asking him the question
only, afterward peremptorily affirming it, this is it which draws out those
several answers from Peter, according to the several occasions ; which all
the evangelists severally record, and all these make but this first denial of
Peter's.
Others cast it thus (which comes all to one) that she did first ask Peter
the question, as John hath it here, ' Are not thou one of this man's dis-
ciples ?' as he came in at the door. He answered, ' I am not.' After-
wards going to the fire where Peter sat, and as Luke hath it, seeing him
by the Hght thereof (for so it is in the original), and as the text there saith,
viewing of him wistly, with fixed eyes, thought she, I have seen you afore
now, and seen you with him. And now she doth not go and ask him, ' Art
thou not one of this man's disciples ?' but she plainly saith, ' Thou art
one ;' and she tells the standers by so too, ' This man' (saith she to them)
* also was with him ;' and therefore Matthew tells us, that he denied before
them all, spake as loud as he could, that they might all take notice of it, ' I
know not,' saith he, * what thou sayest.'
You may likewise see the working of the providence of God even in this
too ; as, namely, that such a woman as had seen him some time or other
with Christ, should now keep the high priest's door ; for indeed that seems
to be plain, that she speaks of her own knowledge : ' Thou also,' saith she,
* wast with him,' that is, thou didst converse with him ; so Matthew and
Mark have it. And the truth is, that the coherence here in John evidently
carries it so, for here at the 17th verse we translate it, ' Then saith the
damsel;' but in the original it is, ' Therefore saith the damsel,' the coherence
whereof is plainly this, that she having observed him to be spoken for to be
let in by a disciple, being at the door, minds him not so much at first, but
afterwards eying him more wistly by the hght of the fire, having formerly
seen him, she peremptorily challengeth him : ' She therefore saith unto him,'
&c. Now, I say, here was a providence of God, that that woman (it mps be
248 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
none of all the family else had observed him), that she should be at the door
and take notice of all these things, that she should come to challenge him,
and did challenge him, or else he had not been challenged. Others of them
bring other arguments, that his speech bewrayed him, and that they saw
him with Jesus in the garden ; but the providence of God so ordered it, that
of all the family she should be the woman that kept the door, who had seen
him and knew him to be with Christ. At fii'st indeed she did not know
him so perfectly, therefore she only puts the question to him, ' Ai't not thou
one of this man's disciples ?' But afterward viewing him more strictly, and
that by the light of the fire, she comes to know him, and challengeth him
in a peremptory manner. So that God's providence did still strongly work
in this great business to discover Peter. To get him in, it vsrought much,
and now it works as strongly even for a discovery. And you shall see
other passages of providence afterward in the story, and how strongly they
wrought too. And so much now for the historical opening of the words of
this verse.
I will give you but an observation or two, and so pass on.
Obs. 1. You see that as God would have it manifested that all sorts of
people, Jew and Gentile, civil state and ecclesiastical, all these sorts were
against our Lord and Saviour Chiist, so all sexes too. There is this damsel
here, and another damsel afterward, as Matthew and Mark have it, that fall
upon Peter, and challenge him for being his disciple.
Obs. 2. You see likewise the weakness of Peter ; he was but asked by a
damsel, and at the first but in a secret way, for I take it this speech here
in John, \^hich occasioned his fii'st denial, was when he came in at the door;
it was then that she asked him, ' Art not thou one of this man's disciples ?'
A damsel, you see, foiled him ; he that was not long before so extreme eager,
that he promised he would die with Christ, that he would never leave him,
that he would not, promised it three times ; he that in the garden was so
valiant as to cut oft' Malchus his ear, in defence of his master ; this man
being left to himself, at a private question that a damsel makes him, falleth
into this great lie, which afterwards he seconded with further and greater
protestations, as we shall see in the story. If that God doth leave us, what
poor creatures are we ! That that Peter who had naturally so bold a spirit,
so great a natural com-age, one that was a rash and a ventm'ous, a bold
and a daring man, as appears by all his actions, especially by that in the
garden, when he cut oft' the high priest's servant's ear ; he that was so
bold afterward from the Spirit of God, when the Holy Ghost comes upon
him ; this Peter, when he is left to himself, neither natural courage doth
assist him, but at the whispering of a maid you see what a lie he tells ;
neither doth the Holy Ghost help him, who yet did dwell in his heart.
What poor creatm'es are the most com'ageous of men, if God leave them ;
they will fall short not only of the gi'ace that is in them, and of the power
of the Holy Ghost that is in them, but of that natural boldness which they
have, for so Peter did.
Obs. 3. When was it that Poter thus foully and grossly denies his master ?
It was then when our Lord and Saviour Christ was entered into his suffer-
ings ; when he was arraigned, and arraigned for him, for his sins, before
the high priest. Then when om- Lord and Saviour Chi-ist was about to do
the greatest favom* and mercy that ever was done for creatures, and for
Peter amongst the rest, then God ordered it that Peter should sin, and sin
thus foully and gi'ossly. It was a very great aggravation of his sin, even
this, for so the cii'cumstance of time is to any sin. If that, at the same time
Chap. IX.j of cheist the mediator. 249
that a friend is contriving, or taking pains for me, or doing anything for mo
of the gi'catcst moment, saving my life, begging my i)ardon, if I should at
that time wrong my friend most, how would that heighten my unkindness !
This was Peter's case. Yet you see Christ goes on with his work for all
that. He knew Peter was a-denying of him, yet that did not make him
withdraw his neck from suffering for Peter. Great sins against God, when
he is doing us very great mercies, should exceedingly break our hearts, as
it did Peter's here ; he went out afterwards, and wept bitterly. Whenever
we do sin, Jesus Christ is interceding in heaven for us. Our sins do not
hinder him from going on to intercede, as Peter's sinning here did not hinder
him from going on to suffer for him.
Ohs. 4. And then again, Peter being asked whether he was one of his
disciples, answers, ' I am not.' He doth not deny Christ to be the Messiah
of the world, only he saith, ' I am not one of his disciples.' Yet Christ
had said, ' Thou shalt deny me.' He denied, indeed, that he belonged to
him. For any man to slink out of the profession of Christ when he is
called to it, or out of any truth of his, though he deny not that Christ is
the Messiah, and that Christ is come in the flesh, or the great points of sal-
vation, yet it is a denial of Christ. And so much now for the 17th verse.
Verse 18. ' And the servants and officers stood there, who had made afire
of coals [for it ivas cold), and they ivarmed themselves; and Peter stood with
them and ivarmed himself.'
The scope of this relation is only this, to shew the occasion of Peter's
second and third denial, which John afterwards tells us of. For though
his second denial comes not in till the 25th verse, yet this story here is
related as a preparation thereunto : that the weather being cold, the ser-
vants and officers were not scattered up and down, but were all gathered
together in a ring, and cluster in the midst of the hall about the fire, and
Peter he was in the midst of them ; and therefore, if there were notice taken
of Peter, all must take notice of him, one as well as another ; and hence it
came to pass that Peter was so mightily afraid, that he went on to deny his
master, with oaths and curses, as afterward you read in the story. It was
to shew the publicness of his sin, for Matthew saith, ' he denied before
them aU,' for they were all gathered together in a heap, and Peter in the
midst. But to open it a little.
They had a fire of coals ; of wood already burned or kindled, to avoid
the smoke, because the fire was in the midst of the hall, as Luke hath it.
For it was cold, which might seem strange, because those countries are
hot, and it was in the spring time, for it was in March. But this is easily
resolved, for you must know that in those countries, as there is an extremity
of heat in the day, so there are oftentimes in the spring, as well as in the
winter, exceeding cold nights, especially after rain. And it was that night
especially a cold night, and that was the reason of the fire.
The observations I make out of these words are only these two.
Obs. 1. It is said that it was a cold night. Now this night, which thus
occasionally fell out to be more cold than ordinary, it was that night in
which Christ sweat drops of blood in the agony of his spirit when he was in
the garden. For that agony of his was not many hours afore this befell
him ; for after he had supped, he made a long sermon and a long prayer,
and then went into the garden, and from thence they fetched him out (all
this was within night) ; and afore the first crowing of the cock this denial of
Peter's fell out. It is noted, therefore, by interpreters, as a circumstance
250 OF CHRIST THE MEUIATOK. [BoOK V.
to greaten the agony of Christ, and to set forth the extremity of his suffer-
ings, that in a cold night he should sweat drops of blood, which was con-
traiy to nature, and must proceed, therefore, from that great anxiety and
perplexity his soul was in. It is brought, I sa}^ by divines as an aggrava-
tion and evidence of those great soul-suiierings of Christ, more than from
the fear of death, that in a cold night he should thus sweat drops of blood.
It is noted upon that, though it comes in here upon another occasion, viz.,
that it being cold, there was a fire, and Peter stood there to warm himself,
as he might lawfully do, but that he stood in the midgt of temptations, and
in the midst of tempters.
Obs. 2. Peter stood in the midst of them ; so Luke hath it ; for now he
was in, and having once denied him to the damsel, to the end he might not
further be known, he goes and shrinks in amongst the crowd, thinking to
hide himself; and there he stands amongst the enemies of Christ, who
being all full of malice did certainly speak evil of him, and talked their
pleasures of him ; but he, standing b}', w^as forced to be silent, said not a
word, sufiered all to pass in silence, which was a kind of a denying Christ.
And so, Peter having sinned thus far, God gives him up still to more sin.
It is a dangerous thing, my brethren, without a special call of God, to be in
ill company, especially in evil times. Peter being amongst these enemies
of Christ, it was the occasion of his being challenged, and that was the
occasion of this great sin he fell into. In evil times, if a man be in such
company, either he must be silent, or if he speak, they will be ready to per-
vert his speech, to put him upon a temptation. We should therefore avoid
all needless societies with carnal people. Take heed of coming into high
priest's halls ; you see into what inconvenience it drew Peter to. And so
much for this first denial of Peter's, which I have historically laid open. I
come next to the examination of Chiist, in the nineteeth, twentieth, and
twenty-fii'st verses.
CHAPTER X.
The accountof Chrisfs examination before Caiaphas, in the nineteenth, twentieth,
and one-and-ticentieth verses of this eif/hteenth chapter of John. — We now
come to the other part of Christ's sufferings recorded in this chapiter, and
that is a strict examinaton of him.
* The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his doctrine. Jesus
answered him, I spake openly to the imvld ; I ever taught in the synagogue,
and in the temple, uhither the Jews always resort; and in secret have 1 said
nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, tvhat I have
said unto them: behold, they know uhat I said.' — John xviii. 19, 20, 21.
Here begins a third part of Christ's sufferings recorded in this text.
You have first his having been taken, and so bound, and then led to Annas
his house in a triumph of glory ; now, here is the third, his coming to
Caiaphas his house (for Annas had sent him bound to Caiaphas), who is
called the high priest, because he was that year the high priest, though
others had the name also, for they still retained the title, though they were
out of the office. And being here, they fall to examining of him about his
disciples, and his doctrine. Other evangelists tell us of their examining of
him, and bringing in witnesses against him, concerning some speeches he
Chap. X.J of christ the mediator. 251
spake about the temple, and about his own office, and his being the Messiah ;
but this examination here, which certainly was the first they began with,
and was as the prodwmus to all the rest, no evangelist hath it but only
John.
The time was (some twenty-one years before) when Christ, being but
twelve years old, had asked them, and posed the doctors in the temple; and
he was then (as he saith) about his Father's business, putting forth then
some beams of the Godhead dwelling in him. And now he is before them
in a state of ignominy, and he is asked and examined as a delinquent, as
a malefactor, as a heretic and seditious person ; and he is about his Father's
business in this as well as in the former.
And by the way here, afore we come to the particular opening of these
verses, let us consider who it was that vas thus examined. It was he that
■was the great prophet prophesied of by Moses, that should come into the
world, of whom ii was said, that whosoever would not hearken to the words
of that prophet which he should speak, he should surely be put to death.
Clean contraiy now, he being come into the world, he is examined as a false
prophet, that they might find cause of putting him to death. He that was
the truth itself, is examined and charged with false doctrine. He that was
the prince of peace, and came and preached peace (as it is, Eph. ii. 17), he
is charged with rebellion, and accused to have preached sedition. But, to
come to the words.
The high priest then ashed Jesus. 21icn, or therefore. Some translate it
therefore, and so it hath relation to what is said in the 13ch and 14th
verses, where John speaks of the high priest, and brandeth him to be the
man that gave the first counsel that Christ should die for the people. And
now they having resolved to put him to death, therefore the high priest
asked him of his doctrine and of his disciples, seeking by questions to
ensnare him, that so they might have some plausible ground for his con-
demnation. Others they translate it then, and so the meaning is this, that
whilst our Lord and Saviour Christ was examining concerning his dis-
ciples, then was one of his disciples a-denjang of him ; whilst he was called
in question for them, and it was made an occasion of his suffering, then
was Peter commit Ling that foul sin. You see the love of our Lord and
Saviom* Christ.
The hifjh rriest asked him; — as being the mouth of that great assembly,
the Sanhedrim, of all the elders and the priests who were met together at
his house. For you must know it did belong to the high priest, and to
that assembly of elders, to decide all controversies of doctrine that did
arise, and to make inquiry into heresies and false doctrines, as appears by
that place in Dent. xvii. 11—13, therefore now to deal with Christ about
his doctrine, had it been in ary thing false or untrue, it had not been
unlawful for the high priest to have done it. But see the iniquity of his
and their proceedings. They proceed altogether against and without law,
for they do not lay any false doctrine to his charge, they bring no witnesses
that this and this he had said, but merelj-, after the manner of the Inquisi-
tion, ask him questions to ensnare him ; whereas there should have been a
complaint made first unto him, and he should have brought forth the evi-
dences, and not go and wire-draw (as I may express it) and examine him
npon interrogatories, and so to get something from himself; this was alto-
gether beyond his commission.
He asked him, it is said, of his doctrine and of his discijjles. The scope
of the high priest in this question must be a little considered, for that will
252 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOE. [BoOK V.
give us light into it ; what end it was that the high priest had in it ; and
what end likewise it was that God had in it.
The end and scope of the high priest was twofold.
It was first, (as I hinted before), to fish out of Christ whether or no he
had taught such doctrine as should come within the compass of that law in
Deut. xiii. 5 ; for as I said, this great Sanhedrim, the councU of the high
priest, and the rest of his fellows, had especially to do in the case of a false
prophet. Now there, in Deuteronomy, the law is this, ' If a prophet arise
that shall revolt fi'om the Lord your God' (as it is in the margin), teach
men to apostatize h'om God, ' who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
and set up auj' other god, that prophet shall be put to death.' Now because
that Christ had set himself up to be a prophet, yea, and more than a pro-
phet, to be the Son of God, they would have ensnared him by asking him
questions of what he had taught, that so according to the law they might
put him to death as a fiilse prophet. And because that in that law (as
appeareth ver. 6), not only a false prophet was thus to be put to death, but
if any one did secretly entice another, saying, ' Let us go and serve other
gods' — even as now secretly to persuade any to popery is death by the
lav/ of this land, — so it was to turn from the true God, or to turn to any other
god ; this the high priest had an eye upon, and would have gathered it out
of Chi'ist himself, as appears b}'^ Christ's answer, in which he quits himself
from any such practice of enticing any secretly, ' In secret,' saith he,
have I said nothing.'
And, seconcUij, another end the high priest had was this. They were
resolved he should be put to death, and they would therefore fain have
gotten something out of him that should be matter or cause of death, and
that by the judgment of Pilate. For you must know that all matters of
controversy in their own law Pilate would not meddle withal ; but if it
touched upon anything that concerned the Roman state, either raising of
sedition, or that did touch upon Caesar, denying of him to be king, &c., of
that Pilate was exceeding jealous (and that they knew), and about that ho
meddled, as being within his cognisance as the P^oman governor. You
shall read in Luke xiii., that Pilate had mingled the blood of the Galileans
with their sacrifices : he killed a great many of them while they were sacri-
ficing. What was the reason ? Pilate did not regard sacrifices nor sacri-
ficing, and all the schisms that were in that church Pilate took no notice
of them, but he let all the sects amongst them enjoy their liberty ; why doth
he kill these Galileans ? Look in Acts v. 37, and you shall find that there
was one Judas of Galilee, that, in the days of the taxing, went and drew
away much people after him, raised sedition, and taught that it was not
lawful to pay tribute and taxes to Caesar. This was it that made Pilate to
fall upon a remnant of these Galileans that came up to Jerusalem to wor-
ship, and to do it even while they were a-sacrificing. Now, therefore, that
which this Caiaphas did fish for was this, to have matter to accuse Christ
unto Pilate, for having done as that Judas did, drawH much people after
him in a way of sedition. Therefore he tries now if he could get anything
that might di'op from his own mouth, out of which he might frame an accu-
sation ; and therefore the doctrine which he especially aimed in this ques-
tion was. Whether he were the Son of God or no ? And hence is it that we
find in Luke xxiii. 2, when they came to accuse Christ before Pilate, the
thin" they urge upon Pilate against him is this, ' He forbiddeth to pay
tribute unto Caesar, saying that he himself is a king;' and (ver. 5), ' He
Btirreth up the people, teaching thi'oughout all JewTy, beginning from Galilee
Chap. X.] op christ the mediator. 253
to this place.' They would insinuate to Pilate that he had gone up and
down teaching this doctrine, and gathering disciples after him, to make a
head against the Romans, as being king of the Jews. They put all upon
this interpretation,* and this was it that Caiaphas, in his questioning Christ,
fished for ; and thus doth Gerrard interpret the words. And that is the
reason that Pilate still saith, ho found no cause in the man to put him to
death ; for Pilate did not meddle with their controversies concerning mat-
tors of their religion, not he ; but if it were a matter of right or wrong, as
Gallio said, a matter of sedition, then he meddled with it. This, I say,
■was the second thing that Caiaphas aimed at in his asking Christ about his
disciples and his doctrine, namely, to find out, if he could, that he had
taught a doctrine of rebellion, and did go about to draw disciples in a sedi-
tious way after him ; which you see is insinuated to be his scope in
Christ's answer. You have gone into corners (saith Caiaphas) and into
woods, and spread your doctrine in secret, and have taken cunning ways
to draw disciples after you. No ; saith Christ, whatsoever I have said I
have said publicly ; ask them that heard me what I have delivered, for I
will not accuse myself.
The end that God had in this, why he should be examined about his
disciples and his doctrine, it was,
1. To shew that he should suffer for having disciples, that those whom
he died for the owning of them should be part of his crime for which they
put him to death. Which is a circumstance mightily setting out the love of
Christ unto us.
2. To shew what it was that they chiefly maliced him for, it was for
having disciples, which was the work of his ministry. And yet they them-
selves had disciples, for there was nothing more common (as all men know)
than for the several sects which were among them (and there were multi-
tudes of them) to have their several disciples, and liberty was given to them
so to do ; yet his disciples, of all the rest, they maliced ; and though they
themselves had all the power, yet that vexed them, that he should have any
disciples at all.
And they asked him of his doctrine also, as one that had taught new mat-
ters, and had not followed the traditions of the elders in all things, but had
corrected them in a great many of their false glosses by which they misin-
terpreted the law.
Neither do they ask him at all of his miracles ; not a word of them.
Whatsoever made for him, that they meddled not with, but whatsoever
might any way make against him, that they might fish anything out of, of
that they make inquiry ; for his miracles were they that confirmed him to
be the Messiah, and confirmed his doctrine. They asked him of his
doctrine, as that which was contrary to the law of Moses, and as one that
brought in innovations ; and they asked him of his disciples, as one that
brought in sedition ; but that which confirmed the truth of both they speak
not a word of. For that is the natui'e of corrupt men, that which makes
for the truth in any cause or business, they let that pass in silence, not a
whit of mention of that. * Believe me,' saith he, ' for my works' sake.'
He still confirmed his doctrine by miracles ; they would not so much as
consider of them, but only barely asked him of his disciples and of his
doctrine. ' They asked him of his disciples, and of his doctrine.'
What is the answer now that Christ makes ? It is not to the matter of
what Caiaphas said or asked him. He declareth neither what his doctrine
was nor what disciples he had. Only he deals with them warily, as with a
254 OF CHKIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V
cunning adversary, one that was skilful to destroy. He would not go and
accuse himself, but refers what he had taught to their proof, for it was
matter of fact. • If I have taught anything,' saith he, * ask them that
heard me.' And he answers nothing about his disciples at all, for if what-
soever he had taught had been sound and good doctrine, there had been no
guilt iu drawing disciples after him. And whereas Caiaphas in his exami-
nation did insinuate that he had gone about in a cunning way to draw dis-
ciples after him, he clearly wipeth oif that challenge : he never went about
deceitfully to sow tares whilst others slept ; he never enticed any one
secretly to any doctrine which he had not publicly taught, but tells them
that he did always aftect publicness, and he expresseth his affectation of
publicness in his doctrine by all sorts of expressions. This in the general.
' 1 spake openly to the tvorkl, I ever taugjit in the synagogues, and in the
temple, whither the Jews alicays resort; and in secret have I said nothing.''
I shall first open the words, and then shew you Christ's scope in this
answer of his, as I shewed you their scope in their examination.
First, To open the words. You see our Lord and Saviour Christ answers
them fully, and he answers them sharply : ' I spake openly.' The word is
'KaihriSM, and it hath a twofold meaning.
1. That for the place where he spake or preached, it was open; so the
word is taken, John xi. 54, where it is said, that ' Jesus walked no more
openly,' that is, in public view. 'I spake openly;' that is, I did not
seek corners to preach in, or to deliver my doctrine.
2. It signifies that he did speak plainly his mind; he spake out; he did
not go about the bush, as we say. So the word is used, John x. 24, 'If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly ' (it is the same word that is used here) ;
tell us plainlj^ with a j^ctrresia, with a freedom and plainness, whether thou
be the Christ. And they themselves once gave that testimony of him, that
he was regardless of any, and cared not who knew his mind ; so Matt. xxii.
16, ' We know thou regardest no man's person, but wilt speak the truth
plainly.' So he had ever done. ' I spake openly ; ' that is, what was in
my heart about the truth, I spake it plainly.
And then as he had spoken openly and plainly, so to the world : ' I spake
openly to the world,' saith he ; that is, to all sorts of men, for so tvorld is
taken. He did not restrain what he taught to a few disciples only, but he
told it to the people also, as the Syriac translation hath it. As when a man
publisheth a book, he publisheth it to the world ; so saith Christ, * I spake
openly to the world.'
And this, saith he, I have ever done. It hath been my custom from the
beginning, as oft as I had any occasion, to speak publicly. It was so at
the first; for in Mark i. 21, when he began first to preach, * He entered
into the sj'uagogue and taught.'
' / ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temp)le, ivhither the Jews always
resort.'
There were those two places of public preaching, which he took occasion
to preach in, and he instanceth in both. I have taught my doctrine in all
the several sorts of public audiences that are amongst the Jews. First,
he instanceth in the temple, that is, in Solomon's porch, for that was the
great place where they used to speak to the people ; and therefore when
Christ is said by one evangelist to walk in the temple, another saith, he
walked in Solomon's porch, whither all the Jews did resort (for so some
read this, whither the Jews always resort), or as others, whither the Jews
out of all quarters did resort. Which by the way may be an answer to that
Chap. X.] of christ the mediator. 255
which is said, that there were such mnltitude of believers in Jerusalem,
that they could not meet all in one place. Certainly there were mighty
audiences amongst the Jews, consisting of many thousands, when they
came up to the feast, unto whom Christ preached ; therefore at one time
in the feast it is said that Christ (to the end they might all hear) * lifted up
his voice and cried, He that is athirst, let him come unto me and drink.'
There they all met, and in that respect he had opportunity to preach to
many thousands at once, for all the Jews, it is said, came thither ; and so
that was fulfilled which was spoken of him, Ps. xl. 10, ' I have not con-
cealed thy word from the great congregation.'
The synagogues (which he instanceth in likewise) did differ from the
temple thus, that the synagogues they had only moral and natural worship
in them, not ceremonial. The temple had ceremonial worship, it was made
■principally and especially for that, yet so as that prayer and preaching, &c.,
was exercised in it too ; but in the sjTiagogues there was only prayer and
preaching, and the moral and natural worship of God, which is to be for
ever, and they were for that use only. Now under the gospel, that which
God hath made to be the seat of all worship, it is not so much the imita-
tion of the temple or representative worship, but it is the imitation of the
synagogues (for so particular congregations and churches are) ; and there-
fore in James ii. 2, ' If any man come into yom* congregations ' (the word
is, 'into your synagogues') 'with a gold ring,' &c. And in Heb. x. 25,
* Forsake not the assembling of youi-selves together ;' it is, assembling
together in a synagogue. Yet though, for the matter of it, the congi-egations
now be as the synagogues then, which therefore have only moral worship,
yet for the privileges and for the promises, they are called temples too, the
meetings of the saints in the New Testament are. Every synagogue now,
that is, every assembly of the saints, have the promises of the temple made
to it. ' You are a temple built up to God,' saith the apostle, ' acceptable
to him by Jesus Christ.' ' I ever taught in the synagogue and in the
temple.' The doctrine which he had to deliver, he hath chosen all sort of
ways to make it public. And he addeth a negation besides.
In secret have I said nothwg. These words you have spoken of the great
God in Isa. xlv. 19, which he that is God applies here unto himself.
But how is it said that he taught nothing in secret ? for in Mark iv. 10,
when he was alone, he preached to his disciples. And he made a long
sermon here (which John recordeth), at the passover, and he did it when
nobody was by but his disciples. And in Mat. xvi. 26, he charged them
that they should tell no man that he was the Messiah. And many instances
might be given of his often preaching privately ; how then doth he say,
' In secret have I said nothing ' ?
Certainly our Saviour doth not contradict himself or the truth. But this
speech of his doth not refer to the act of preaching only, as if it had been
unlawful for him to teach in private, but refers to the matter, ' I have said
nothing in secret' ; that is, I know nothing that ever I have spoken unto
any in private, but I have spoken it publicly ; I was never shy or chaiy ot
my doctrine ; I never feared the face of any man ; neither cared I if all the
world heard me, but I have ever declared the mind of God to the full, and
done it with all the freedom of mind that could be. And then likewise the
scope of that speech is this, that he had not two sorts of doctrine, which
they would have charged him with ; that he held forth his best doctrine in
public to the world, that so he might gain applause from the people ; and
another private doctrine which he reserved to himself, and taught it only to
256 OF ciirasT the mediatok. [Book V.
his disciples. No ; Christ was so far from it, that if you read that place in
Mark iv., and compare the 10th and 21st verses together, you shall find
that though ^Yhen he was alone he did indeed explain a parable privately to
his disciples, and so make a sermon of it, yet what saith he at the 21st
verse ? ' Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed ?
There is nothing hid which shall not be made manifest.' And look in Mat.
X. 26, you shall see his meaning to be this : though I have opened this
parable to you in private, and so preached a sermon privately, yet what I
have said in your ear, do you go and preach it on the house-top. So that
Christ professeth the highest plainness and openness that could be, of
whatsoever he held, and he had that spirit that scorned to reserve himself,
to deliver one thing in private and another in public. And then he had
this third scope also, that he was ready to defend what he had taught, if
there were any man that could lay anything to his charge. I know nothing,
said he, that ever I spake in private, but I spake it openly ; therefore if any
man can accuse me, I am here ready to defend it. This is the scope of
his speech.
Our Lord and Saviour Christ, you see, he doth not answer a word con-
cerning his disciples. What was the reason?
1. Because it was lawful for him, according to the custom that was
amongst the Jews, to have disciples. The Pharisees they had so uncon-
trolled ; and the Sadducees had so : and you know what great contention there
was between those two sects ; so the Essenes, so the Nazarites, so the
Herodians, and so others. And Christ he might as well justify the one asi
they the other.
2. It needed not : for if he could justify his doctrine, he might justify his
having disciples. If his doctrine were sound and true, there was no guilt
in this that he had disciples.
3. He would say nothing concerning them, because he would take all
upon himself, he alone would suffer. Others give this reason : because his
disciples had forsaken him, or because he would not betray them, therefore
he would not tell who they were. And they observe this from it, that men
should not betray others when they are asked of them, as here Christ did
not his disciples. But I take the second to be the truer reason, namely,
that he standing to the justification of his doctrine, his gathering disciples
that makes no crime.
There is only this question a little more largely to be insisted upon,
whether that all private preaching, that is not in public assemblies, be
unlawful ?
1. It is the objection that the papists urged against the churches of Christ
in their first Keformation (as Beza hath it in his sermons upon the passion).
They say, saith he, that we preach in chimney-corners. But what saith
Calvin ? It is, saith he, a childish argument to go about to prove by this
answer of Christ's to Caiaphas, that in some cases men should not preach
the word of God in private ; for Christ's scope in this speech is not to jus-
tify the lawfulness or unlawfulness either of the one or the other, but only
to shew what course he had held, and to rebuke the impudent malice of his
adversaries ; for otherwise Christ had preached not only in the synagogues,
but in a ship, and in mountains ; and whenas the Jews went about to sup-
press him, you shall find that he withdrew himself with his disciples into a
desert place, and he did so a long time. And the disciples themselves did
the hke for fear of the Jews, as in Acts i. 14 and Acts xii. 12.
2. But, secondly ; there is this may be gathered out of it too, as the scope
(Jhap. X.] Of cumsT the mediatob. 257
of Christ, and that justly : that no man should go and spread a doctrine
privately, which he will not own and preach publicly, or own before all the
world ; for so our Saviour Christ did. It was not but that he taught
privately, and so his apostles did too ; but as they taught privately, so
they did teach also in the temple, and never scrupled to do it. It is the
property of wisdom (as it is Prov. i. 20, 21) to utter her voice in the streets,
and to cry in the chief places of concourse, and in the city to utter her
words. It is the devil's practice to sow tares in the night whilst men slept.
And the apostle, in 2 Tim. iii. 6, speaks of a sort of men that creep into
houses, and pervert silly women. And it is certainly a sign of falsehood,
and argues a lie, to conceal men's minds, or to speak that in private which
they will not do in public. Error and falsehood always shun the light. Our
Saviour Christ, you see, scorned to speak anything in private, which he had
not publicly vented, and he was ready to give an account of it ; and so did
the apostles too ; and although they held their meetings, in times of perse-
cution, privately, yet so as what they preached privately, they did not fear
to profess publicly. And it is the genius of the trath, and of them that do
profess it, so to do. The gospel is hght, and it seeks no comers, and it
ought to seek no corners, but ought to be spoken publicly ; Acts v. 20,
' Go, stand and speak in the temple all the words of this life.' It was
Christ's charge to the apostles.
3. Therefore, in the third place, I remember Beza gives this answer :
The papists, saith he, need not object to us, that we seek comers to preach
in ; for, saith he, we desire nothing more than all that ever we preach or
hold, to preach it to all the world. And so much now for answer to that
question.
Now, the scope of Christ in this 20th verse (to touch that a little) is this.
You see he doth not answer directly to what Caiaphas asketh him ; Caiaphas
would have had something that he had taught out of him, that so he might
ensnare him, which was against the law ; for by the law he was not thus to
sift him, but to have produced witnesses. Christ therefore tells them that
he had taught what he held in public, and so puts them upon the proof,
refers them to what he had delivered, which they were (if they counted it
heresy) to bring proof of. And, secondly, if I have disciples, saith he, I
have not gathered them by any secret whisperings or creeping into houses,
but it hath been by preaching publicly ; and if I have preached anything
publicly, and gathered disciples by it, you yourselves may convince me of
what I have taught, and here I am to answer it. So that I say, Chi-ist he
doth not go to answer punctually to what the high priest asked him, for he
would not give that advantage to so cruel an adversary ; but here I am,
saith he. They ought to have produced witnesses in a matter of fact as
this was. And so much for the 20th verse, the opening of it. I shall open
likewise the 21st, and then give you observations out of them altogether.
* Why askest thou me ? ask them which heard me, uhat I have said unto
them: behold, they know ichat I said.'
Our Lord and gaviour Christ, as he had cleared himself in the former
words, so here he gives the sharpest reproof, which the high priest to the
uttermost deserved, for his unjust proceedings against him ; for they were,
according to their law, to prove everything by witnesses. Christ, though
he stood at the bar, yet he would shew the greatness of his spirit, he speaks
home, you see, and sharply. It became him so to do ; he speaks not rail-
ingly or revilingly, but that which shewed both the injustice of Caiaphas,
and that he himself, though he stood there before them as a malefactor,
VOL. V. a
258 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
was not a whit dejected. Do you ask me, saith he ? I never spake any-
thing privately, but in public, and if there be a fault in gathering disciples,
the fault must lie upon my doctrine ; and if there be anything in my doc-
trine, you have the world to witness against me, for I have taught openly
in the synagogue and in the temple ; and do you ask me ? And do you
begin now to ask me ? Have j^ou not excommunicated my disciples, and
made a law that whosoever confesseth me shall be cast out of the syna-
gogues, and have cast them out because they followed my doctrine ? As
you never yet refuted my doctrine, and now you bring no witnesses about
it, do you ask me, that have dealt so injuriously with me and my disciples ?
And not only so, but you have bound me, and brought me hither to j'our
bar, and have nothing to lay to my charge ; but what I am accused of, 3'ou
would get out of my own words. Do you ask me in a matter of fact what
I have preached, that so you might ensnare me out of my own sayings ?
Do you ask me ? Will you have me to accuse myself ? The law allows
me this liberty, not to accuse myself; no man by the law is to be judged
without witnesses. Produce them. * Why ask you me ? Ask them that
heard me.'
Obs. It is not irreverence to magistrates to defend ourselves in such
cases as these are. Christ doth not stand upon his points as the Messiah,
but as a subject to that state. And men ought to shew great boldness of
spirit in such cases. So the apostles. Acts v., '"WTiether it is better to obey
God than man, judge you.' And Paul saith, Phil. i. 28, that such bold-
ness is a token of perdition to the adversaries, and of salvation to the people
of God.
Ask them that heard me. This shews his innocency. I do not desire
you, saith he, to ask my friends only ; ask my enemies, the worst I have,
any one that hath heard me, that can testify anything ; here I am ready to
defend it; if they will frame up any accusation, I will answer it.
Behold, theij know what I have said. That same behold hath an emphasis
with it. Some interpreters very probably conjecture, that he did point to
their own officers, who had former^, when they were sent by their masters
to entrap him, given this testimony of him in John vii. 46, that 'never
man spake like him ; ' and that therefore he did insinuate this in his speech,
and perhaps did more largely explain it ; for the Holy Ghost records but
the sum of things ; and so now ho gives the greatest justification of himself
that can be : saith he, your own officers (pointing at them) that stand here
at the bar holding of mc, many of those can tell what I have delivered ; I
have those to justify me, for they said never man spake as I did, therefore
ask them, and never stand asking of me. It is a mighty reproof. I am so
free in myself, and stand so innocent and so resolved in that truth that I
have spoken, that let your own servants and ministers be called, and let
them speak. And so you have the answer of Christ in this 20th and 21st
verses. I shall now give you some observations, and so conclude this story
of Christ's sufferings, which were antecedent to his being scourged, crowned
with thorns, and crucified.
Obs. 1. You may observe that the high priest doth not find fault with
Christ nor with his disciples, for that they had taught without authority.
In another case, when he whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple,
they asked him, ' By what authority doest thou these things ? ' But here
they do not lay that to his charge. Certainly they would have silenced him
long afore for his preaching, if it had not been allowable by the custom of
that country. The truth is, that though none but the priests and Levites
Chap. X.J of chkisx the mediator, 259
that were skilful in the law were to preach, yet divers others did, and were
permitted so to do in that state, if they were gifted. The Pharisees did so,
and so did Paul, who was a Pharisee, and sat at the feet of Gamaliel ; and
yet he was not of the tribe of Levi, but of the tribe of Benjamin. And
Christ himself did not take upon him to preach simply as he was the
Messiah, as holding that forth for his warrant, though that was warrant
abundantly for him. And when they come to condemn him, they do not
quarrel with him for that, but for the matter of his doctrine, whether yea
or no he did teach these and these points, which they would have known
from himself, and therefore they asked him of his doctrine,
Ohs. 2. You see they object no vice against Christ, only his doctrine to
him (lor otherwise Christ was innocent), and his having disciples. Observe,
then, that his professing Christians should herein imitate their master, that
when they come to sufier, they may no way suffer as evil doers ; that they
may suffer for nothing but the doctrine they have held forth, the disciples
they have kept company with, the profession they have made, that it may
be barely and merely the truth of their religion they suffer for,
Obs. 3, Still the great charge in all ages that they go about to lay, as to
Christ, so to his people, it is heresy, and it is sedition. This they would
have fastened upon Christ, charging him with heresy in his doctrine ; with
sedition in gathering disciples to disturb the state, as Theudas and others
that you read of in Acts v. ; and therefore they ask him of his doctrine,
and of his disciples, and they would have fetched that out from himself,
that when he had gathered disciples enow he would presently have rebelled.
This they would have made Pilate believe. Both these, heresy and sedi-
tion, in terminis, were laid to Christ's charge.
Ohs. 4. In that Chi-ist answers nothing about his disciples, we may ga-
ther this (which indeed I hinted afore), that if the doctrine be good, as to
the having disciples that do embrace it, there is no guilt in that. If Christ
had done it seditiously indeed, which was it they endeavoured to la}^ to his
charge, therein there had been a guilt. Look of what kind the doctrine is,
of that kind the disciples must be. If the doctrine be right, there is no
danger that disciples embrace it. Therefore Christ, in Mat. xxviii. 20,
bids them make disciples, not to themselves, but to the truth, to their
doctrine.
Obs. 5. Observe, that even these men here accused themselves in accus-
ing Christ. There were several of them had several sorts of disciples, but
what themselves went on in and agreed in amongst themselves, that they fall
upon Christ for; for this is manifest by all the stories of the Scripture, and
by their own Rabbins, that in those times it was free to gather disciples.
There were three eminent sects among themselves, that still agi'eed in
temple worship ; there were the Sadducees, that denied the resurrection,
against the Pharisees, and the Pharisees against the Sadducees ; there
were the Herodians likewise; there were the E&seni; there were the Naza-
rites. All these were amongst the Jews ; and it is evident that after the
time of the Maccabees, yea, after the captivity of Babylon, there was a
permission of great differences in point of doctrine amongst them. Yet
when the true Messiah cometh to teach his doctrine, and to make disciples,
they fall upon him for that which they themselves practised. Here were
many Pharisees here present that were sectaries (that is the truth on it),
but what was a commendation, and tolerable in them one to another, that
must not be suffered in Christ ; for men will bear anything but the truth.
They themselves (saith the apostle in the Galatians) would constrain ^ou
260 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. ["BoOK V.
to be circumcised and to keep the law, yet they themselves do not keep the
law. It is constantly so in experience ; they that are 02:)posers of the truth
always do so. The papists they suffer a world of differences amongst
themselves, they suffer even Jews that are opposite to Christ, and who
blaspheme him ; but any that do profess but the least of protestant doc-
trine or worship, how do they oppose them ! The Pharisees, you see, did
the like, though there was a world of division amongst themselves, and
they had a liberty to differ in matters of doctrine, and in matters of a high
nature too ; yet when it comes to the truth, there they would not permit
Christ either to teach any doctrine differing from them, or to have disciples;
which yet they themselves allowed, both in themselves and others.
Obs. 6. Those that were the greatest corrupters of doctrine (for these
Pharisees and the high priests were those that had coiTupted the doctrine
of religion by their traditions, as Christ intimateth often in his speeches),
they are they that are here most zealous in the matter of doctrine, who
themselves, I say, had been the greatest corrupters of it, and had drawn in
their several waj^s several disciples after them, as the manner of those
times was.
Obs. 7. This very speech of Christ may teach us this, to take heed of
perverting the speeches of men. For this speech of Christ, if you do not
take the scope he aimed at, is subject to perversion. He saith that in
secret he had taught nothing. Now all the stories of the evangelists shew
that he had taught much in private ; but (as I have shewed you) his mean-
ing is this, I have not one kind of doctrine that I teach privately and an-
other that I teach publicly. He doth not so much refer to the act as to
the matter.
Obs. 8. Though they had authority to examine men's doctrines, yet here
lay the evil of their examining Christ, that they should have done it upon
complaints first brought before them. It is still as controversies do arise.
It was not that the Sanhedrim went and made so many doctrines unto
which they would tie men, and they must preach no other ; that power
even those amongst the Jews had not. It was lawful for men to inter-
pret the Scripture, and that not only by the rule the Sanhedrim set out ;
but indeed if any controversy did arise upon the spreading of a doctrine,
then it belonged to their cognisance, as appeareth by Deut. xvii. If a
false prophet arise, and if there wei'e any controversy between blood and
blood, case and case, or interpreting Scripture, the thing was to be referred
unto them, and it was examinable by that council. But that men should
be limited in their doctrine to what all the councils in the world should
say, this is not the rule. It was not the rule among the Jews themselves,
although that Sanhedrim had that authority which no council ever had
since the world began, for it was by divine institution. Therefore, I say,
they do not find fault with him because he had not come to know what
doctrine he should teach as from them, but that he taught a doctrine con-
trary to God's law. They indeed acted beyond their authority, to proceed
by way of examination ; they should have done it by wa}'' of charge.
Obs. 9. You see the freeness of truth and innocency ; it is able to appeal
even unto enemies, unto any, to defend itself. And therefore as we should
so preach, so we should so walk, as we may freely and boldly appeal unto
any, for so Christ doth here : ' Ask them that heard me,' saith he.
Obs. 10. Oftentimes doctrines and opinions are condemned by prejudice,
and upon hearsay only. This Caiaphas and manj^ of those rulers, they
had not heard Christ; no, the greatness of their places kept them from
Chap, X.] of christ the mediator. 261
that, as oftentimes great places keep men from the means, from that which
should save them ; but their oificcrs heard him, and by the report of mali-
cious and malignant spirits, Caiaphas and the rest were thus informed.
Ol)s. 11. Lastly, it is the law of God, and indeed the law of nature and
equity, that there should not be an oath ex officio ; that is, that men should
not be proceeded against, either in chui'ch or otherwise, by a bare exami-
nation of themselves, till such time as witnesses have brought an accusa-
tion against them. As in Acts xxv. 27, ' It seems to me unreasonable ' (it
was the speech of a heathen) ' to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify
the crimes laid against him.' That rule which is given concerning an elder
is true concerning every brother also, though the instance is only in an
elder, as one whose credit should be more than another's : 1 Tim. v. 19,
* Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three wit-
nesses.' I do observe this difference, my brethren, and it is very notable:
when afterward the high priest doth examine Christ of this truth, whether
he was the Messiah, and when he was punctually asked whether he was
the Son of God or no, he answers plainly, I am. But when he would ex-
amine him about matter of fact, not about the matter so much what he
taught, as that he had taught thus and thus, which might be proved by
witnesses, then Christ referreth it to witnesses, and would not answer him-
self. And the reason of the difference to me holds forth this great truth,
that no man is to refuse if he be positively asked whether he hold this or
that opinion or no. Or if he be asked an account of his faith, or demanded
what his judgment is in such or such a thing, he is freely to tell it, espe-
cially if they that ask him have authority. It is a thing in which Christ's
example is held forth to Timothy by the apostle Paul, that he witnessed a
good confession before Pilate and the high priest, 1 Tim. vi. 13. A man
is to give an account of his faith to any that will ask him ; let him look to it
though, whether it be to ensnare him or no. But if any shall come and say,
I preached such a thing, which is matter of fact (for as it is preached it is
matter of fact), and there are witnesses that can clear whether I did or no,
in that case the way is not to proceed by examination of me, but to pro-
duce the witnesses, and so to proceed ; for no man is bound, in matter of
fact, to accuse himself. This I take to be the difference of Christ's answer
in this, when the high priest examined him about his doctrine, that is,
asked him whether he had not preached thus or thus ; saith Christ, If I
have preached thus or thus, prove it ; there are witnesses enough, I refer
myself to them ; I will never tell you what I have preached : go to them
that heard me, and bring them hither, and then examine me, and I shall
give you an answer. But when he came positively to ask him whether he
held this or no, whether he was the Messiah, he answered clearly and
plainly ; for no man is to refuse to give an account of his faith, though it
endanger his life, if he be called to it. But for matter of fact, whenas it
may be proved by witnesses (and all such things may be proved by wit-
nesses, though it be matter of doctrine), a man is not to accuse himself.
It was the proceeding in that great oath that you are now freed from,
which, as it was a great oppression, so it is a great mercy to this kingdom
that it is taken away.* And whereas they used to allege that Christ
accused himself, the case is different ; it was not what he had preached in
* There were many oaths imposed in those times ; hut I suppose the reference is
to the oath imposed by the Convocation in 1640 (sometimes called the Et Cetera
Oath), and declared illegal by the Parliament in 1641. See Eapin's History, vol. ii.
pp. 321 and 380, or any other history of the period. — Ed.
OF CHEIST THK MEDIATOE. [BoOK V.
matter of fact, but in matter of opinion and judgment. But as to the
matter of fact, ' Askest thou me?' saith he. 'Ask them that heard me.'
And this is the law of nature, and this is the law of the Jews ; and this
was Christ's dealing with a cunning and wary adversary that sought his
life ; and this, you see, he stands to. I have taught, saith he, where all the
Jews come ; I have taught in the temple, taught in the synagogues, taught
before all the world ; and now have you brought me hither, having bound
me, and cast me and my disciples out of the synagogues, and ask me what
I have preached ! Here was the most unjust and unequal proceeding in
th?. world ; yet thus they did with Christ, and the disciple is not above his
master.
CHAPTER XI.
The last sufferings of Christ coming to his death. — Both the shame and
torments are to he considered in them.
We have seen our Lord Christ a man of sorrows and sufferings through
the whole course of his life ; we have seen him betrayed, apprehended,
seized on as a criminal, and brought to examination and judgment ; and all
these were the fruits of his being made sin and a curse. Now the next part
and conclusion of the curse, unto which all the other tend, as so many small
rivulets into the ocean, is death ; and that,
1. Natural, of the bodj^: 'To dust thoushalt return,' Gen. iii. 19, which
phrase notes out the separation of soul and body. So Eccles. xii. 7, it is
expounded, ' Dust returns to the earth, and the soul to God that gave it.'
2. Death spiritual, of the soul : ' Thou shalt die the death,' Gen. ii. 17,
which words intimate a double death, even another death besides that o;
the body, and bej'ond it. Now,
1. I shall shew how Christ was made a curse in his enduring a bodily
death ; the circumstances whereof do all of them yet add unto the curse
thereof. You see that death in itself (whether natural or violent) is by
God's first sentence on Adam made a curse for sin. And thus is the death
of every man who dies not in the Lord. But- yet further, whereas there
was but one particular kind of death that was in a more eminent manner,
of all deaths else, the most accursed — and that was ' hanging upon a tree' —
even that did Christ undergo, so that to be sure he might bear the ex-
tremity of the curse herein. And that kind of death was not accursed by
God's law and doom only, but was also esteemed to be a curse among the
Gentiles. Thus it was among the Romans, who, when they would curse
any man unto whom they owed ill wll, they expressed it by this, Abi in
viaiam crucem; that is, I would thou wert crucified, or Mayest thou die the
death of the tree. Equivalent to which is that way of cursing taken up by
ill tongues among us, when they say, ' Go and be hanged,' &c.
In that his last suffering the death of the cross (which was the epitome
of all), two things are eminently to be considered by us :
(1.) The shame of that death, and the circumstances of it.
(2.) The pains of those suflerings, and the death itself, which is the
sepai-ation of soul and body, and the conclusion of all. And unto these
may the chief of those his sufferings, either preparatoiy unto, or at his
death, be reduced. The apostle, in Heb. xii. 2, draws them to these two
heads :
Chap. XI.] of christ the mediator. 263
[1.] Enduring the cross, wliich includes both the pains of his suflfering,
and death itself.
[2.] The shame that accompanied it, in those words, 'despising the
shame.' And Christ himself, particularly summing up all that was to be
done to him, and that was foretold of him by the prophets (as he says),
Luke xviii. 31, ' Behold, we go to Jerusalem, and all things that are written
by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.' The
main particulars of which, all, he after mentions : ver. 32, 33, he expresseth
it in these words, ' The Son of man shall be delivered unto the Gentiles,
and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on ; and they shall
scourge him, and put him to death ; ' which particulars, if you will reduce
them to heads, do fall into these two :
1. The shame, expressed in three particulars : (1.) Mocked. (2.) Spite-
fully entreated. (3.) Spitted on.
2. The pains, laid down in two things : (1.) Their scourging him. (2.)
Their kilUng him.
And accordingly we find two especial epithets of excellency mentioned of
Christ, when his suflferings are mentioned by the apostles, on purpose to
aggravate those sufferings from the worth of the person that underwent
them : — the first, that ' they killed the Prince of life : ' so says Peter, Acts
iii. 15 ;^ the other, that ' they crucified the Lord of glory : ' so Paul, 1 Cor.
ii. 18 ; the first serving to illustrate his dying, that they should kill the
Prince of life ; the second, the shame of his death, that they should crucify
the Lord of glory — the apostle mentioning his glory, together with his
crucifying, so to set out the shame of that death above all other, and also
as an evil to be considered in his death, as great as death itself, and greater.
And accordingly in respect of death he is called ' the Lamb slain,' Rev.
xiii. 8, and in respect of shame he is called ' a worm and no man,' Ps. xxii.
6, being trodden on by all men, and his life of so poor a value with them, that
they made no more of it to kill him than to ti'ead a worm to death, which
to do no man hath the least regret. And accordingly also, Heb. vi. 6, the sin
of apostates from Christ is set out by their doing (so far as in them lies)
that unto Christ, which the Jews, that put him to death, did to him at his
crucifying. It is set out by these two things : 1. That ' they crucify to
themselves the Son of God afresh ; ' secondly, that * they put him to an
open shame.' And so I reckon this of shame with the curse of his death,
because they are thus linked together by the apostles ; and also because
indeed, in all death, shame is a part of the curse (and therefore it is said,
the body is ' sown in dishonour,' 1 Cor. xv. 43) ; but especially in Christ's
death, for it was more than dying, the kind of death being the shame-
fullest. And though shame be not mentioned in the words of the curse of
our first parents, yet the first fruit, and so the first appearance of the curse
(that we read of) even in them, was shame and fear ; it is said, ' they were
ashamed,' &c. And so I come,
1. To the shame of this death. It is a great question, whether shame
or death be the greater evil. There have been those who have rather
chosen death, and have wiped off a dishonour with their blood. So Saul
slew himself rather than he would fall into the hands of the Philistines,
who would have insulted over him, and mocked him as they did Samson.
So that king, Jer. xxxviii. 19, rather chose to lose his country, life, and
all, than to be given to the Jews, his subjects, to be mocked of them. And
we see that many malefactors that are to le condemned to die, and though,
dying as malefactors, any sort of death hath shame in it, yet to avoid a
264 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
degree of shame in death, they out of the greatness of their spirits choose
a death that is much more painful, as to be pressed to death, rather than
this same hanging on a tree, which unto this day is, in men's esteem, of all
deaths else, the most ignoble and ignominious. Yea, confusion of face is
one of the greatest miseries that hell itself is set forth unto us by. There
is nothing that a noble nature more abhors than shame ; for honour is a
spark of God's image ; and the more of God"s image there is in any one,
the more is shame abhorred by him, which is the debasing of it; and so the
greater and more noble any one's spirit, the more he avoids it. To a base,
low spirit, indeed, shame is nothing ; but to a great spirit (as to David),
than to have his ' glory turned into shame,' as Ps. iv. 2, is nothing more
grievous. And the greater glory any one loseth, the greater is his shame.
AVhat must it be then to Christ, who because he was to satisfy God in point
of honour debased by man's sin, therefore of all punishments else he suf-
fered most of shame ; it being also (as was said) one of the greatest punish-
ments in hell. And Christ, as he assumed other infirmities of our nature,
that made him passible m other things — as to be sensible of hunger, want
of sleep, bodily torments, of unkindnesses, contempt — so likewise of dis-
grace and shame. He took that infirmity as well as fear ; and though he
had a strength to bear and despise it (as the author to the Hebrews speaks),
yet none was ever more sensible of it. As the delicacy of the temper of his
body ma le him more sensible of pains than ever any man was, so the great-
ness of his spirit made him more apprehensive of the evil of shame than ever
any was. So likewise the infinite love and candour of his spirit towards
mankind made him take in with answerable grief the unkindnesses and
injuries which they heaped upon him. And if to be abhorrent of shame be
a spark of God's image, so as where more of that image or of glory is in
any one, the more abhorrent he is of shame ; yea, if even those in hell are
confounded with it (they there still retaining so much of God's image in
them), then what must so much shame and contempt be unto Christ, who
was and is ' the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of
his person ' ? Heb. i. 3. Such an image of him as no mere creature is
capable to be ; all which he considered and took in, well knowing what and
who he was, and this before his sufferings. So John xiii. 3, and also when
he was both at Pilate's and at the high priest's bar. As therefore the
highest lights have the deepest shadows, so all his ' glory being turned into
shame,' it made his shame the deeper and the greater.
Now if we go over all the particulars of this his shame, never was any
shame like unto it. There was nothing but shame, and that the utmost
that could be, in all the passages of his sufferings.
This shame I shall set forth to you by these two generals (which will con-
tain several particulars under them) :
1. Their mocking and spiteful entreating of him.
2. Other circumstances, that, through God's providence, were ordered to
accompany his misusage and death, tlaat served to heighten the shameful-
ness of them.
1. For their cruel mocking and shameful usage of him, the very words
that Christ, in Luke xviii. 32, expresseth it in the general by, are very em-
phatical. The one sa'Traiy^drjCirai, which we translate, • He shall be mocked,'
in the derivation of it, signifies ' to make a child of one.' They made a child
or fool of him by their actions and dealings with bim. Like unto which is
the word that is used of Herod's mocking of him, Luke xxiii. 11, s^ovOsr/jsac,
' he made no body,' or * nothing of him.' The other word, bQ^iGOyiasrai,
Chap. XI.] of christ the mediator. 265
principally respectetli contumelious speeches, and injurious despiteful railing
at ; viSoi'g, noting out the highest kind of injur}', and that done out of a
despite. It is the same word whereby the sin against the Holy Ghost is
expressed, Heb. x. 29, and is there translated ' doing despite.' Now for
him whose name is / a»i, to whom all beings are but shadows, for him to
be made nothing of, for him who is the ' Everlasting Father' and the * wis-
dom of God,' for him, I say, to be made a child of, what an intolerable
shame is this! ' Died Abner as a fool dies P said David of him. Truly
through their usage of him Christ died no otherwise.
But I rather come to those several particular ways wherein they express
that extreme contempt and despiteful mockage of him ; as,
(1.) Their putting several apparels upon him in derision ; one while
arraying of him in purple, another while in white, then shifting him into
his own clothes again, thus making him ridiculous to all that saw him.
[Jnmeetness and unsuitableness of apparel is matter of shame. Jehoshua
the high priest appeared in ' filthy apparel,' Zech iii. 3, and so Christ our
high priest, being clothed with all our sins. For one to be led about in a
fool's coat, what a shame is it ! Yet thus was he served.
(2.) Their using jeering and mocking gestures. Because he had said he
was a king, they therefore make a May-game king of him ; and,
[1.] They crown him with a crown of thorns.
[2.] They put a reed in his hand for a sceptre (though his sceptre was a
* sceptre of righteousness,' Heb. i. 8), to shew how powerless and weak a
king he was, who had a kingdom and sceptre as easily broken as a reed.
And therefore, to demonstrate his weakness the more in respect of any such
kingdom as he assumed a title unto, they strike him with his own sceptre,
which is to a king the same disgrace, and much more ignominious, as for an
able scholar to have his own argument retorted on him to his own confuting
and confusion ; as for a valiant man to have his weapon taken from him,
and with it to be beaten.
[3.] They hoodwink and blindfold him, and hide his face. Now cover-
ing the face is a gesture of shame ; Jer. xiv. 3, it is said, ' They were
ashamed and covered their heads.' Then they smite him, and when they
have done it, they in scorn ask him. Who smote him ? because he took on
him to be a prophet.
[4. j They smite him both with their hands and with their rods . both are
mentioned. And majus dedecus est vianu feriri quam gladio ; no noble spirit
can brook a box on the ear, or buffet, but takes it in more disgrace than
a wound honourably given. And therefore Micaiah, you know, was smitten
on the cheek by the lying prophet, as a token ol disdain ; for to smite with
the hand or fist argues subjection in the party smitten.
[5.] They in mockery kneel to him, and salute him as they did their
Cajsar, ' Hail, king of the Jews.' To him whom all the angels (when a
child) did worship — ' Let all the angels of God worship him,' Heb. i. 6 —
to whom ' every knee shall bow, both that is in heaven, and in earth, and
under the earth ;' to him do they in scorn bow the knee, and then as flout-
ingly salute him with an ' All hail, king,' &c. The greater reverence is
given in a disgraceful way, the greater the disgrace is ; for shame is glory
turned into inglory or shame.
[6.] They spit on him ; and it was not one or two of them that did this,
but many, as it is said. Now this is the greatest indignity that may be.
If a father spit in his daughter's face (who yet is an inferior to him), * shall
she not be shut up ?' (says God, Num. xii. 14), in that he hath disgraced
266 OF CHBIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
her. And Isa. 1. 6, Christ is brought in, saying, ' I hid not my face from
shame and spitting upon ;' they are both Hnked together. The face is the
noblest of the exterior parts of man, as in Avhich God's image doth shine
forth, and is therefore called ' the glory of God,' 1 Cor. xi. 7. Now there-
fore for it to have an excrement, with which men will not defile a clean room
they tread on, cast upon it, what a disgrace is it ? And if so, how much
more, then, for that face to be spitted upon, in which the ' light of the glory
of God' shines far more immediately and more plentifully, 2 Cor. iv. 6.
And how disgraces of this nature must needs work upon a spirit so high and
so full of glory as his was, we may see (and yet but a glimpse of it neither)
by the heart of that king (one of our own), who, being deposed, and by night
removed, was in his journey shaved, to the end he might not be known, and
set upon a mole-hill instead of a chair of state, and washed with puddle-
water, in the midst of which he burst out into this pathetical speech, ' I will
yet have clean water to be washed with ;' and foi'thwithhe shed many tears,
which in ri^Tilets distilled down his princely cheeks, and cleansed them
from that filth wherewith the puddle-water had sullied and besmeared them.
What heart would it not affect to read this storv of a king ? And how much
more did it afiect his own heart '? And yet what was he to Christ, who in
the midst of all their misusage of him knew well what a kingdom he was
bom unto ! as himself told Pilate.
[7.] They unbare him and make him naked, and then whip him ; and
both these to his shame. Nakedness, you know, is shameful ; and, there-
fore, our first parents, when they were naked, were ashamed. And then for
whipping, it was a punishment inflicted upon none but slaves and villains,
never upon a fi-ee-born Roman. Therefore how afraid were the whippers
of Paul when they heard that he was a Pioman. And mastir/ia (or one that
is subject to whipping), and a base villain, are all one. Now the reason
why they might whip Christ was, that he had taken upon him the foim of
a sei-vant ; and so they whipped him, as we use to do runaways, which Peter
alludes to, speaking to servants, and setting before them Christ's example,
* We like sheep had gone astrav, and by his stripes were we healed,'
1 Peter ii. 24, 25.
[8.] They mock him and abuse him by giving him gall before, and
vinegar after he was upon the cross, to quench his thirst with. Which
therefore Christ is brought in mentioning, as being sensible of the scorn of
it, Ps. Ixix. 21 (which psalm is a psalm of Christ).
[9.1 They wag their heads at him when on the cross, and gape with their
mouths ; which is, first, a gesture of despising : so, Isa. xxxvii. 22, it is
said of Sennacherib, that Zion had ' despised him and shaken her head at
him.' Secondly, it is a gesture of detestation. So, Jer. xviii. 16, it is said
of Israel, that ' every one that passeth by her shall be astonished and wag
his head at her.' Thirdly, it is a gesture of scom. So, Lam. ii. 15,
it is said, ' they hiss and wag their heads' (at Jerusalem), 'and say. Is
this the city that men call the perfection of beauty, and joy of the whole
earth?'
[10.] They mock and jeer him by the most contumelious words that
could be — i^sisSriSiTai, ' He shall be opprobriously reviled,' Luke xviii. 32 —
yea, they blasphemed him. First, In all his offices : as, fii'st, prophetical ;
they blindfold him, and smite him, and then bid him prophesy who it was
that smote him. Christ will one day tell him that did it who it was.
Second, priestly ; he saved others (say they), let him save himself. ^Vhy,
he was even then a-saving others by bearing their misusage ; he was then
Chap. XI.] of christ the mediator. 267
a -doing that for which they mocked him. Third, kingly ; 'If,' say they,
' thou be the king of Israel, then come down,' &c. Thus they mock all
his offices. So,
Secoiulhj, His person, and his being the Son of God ; * He trusted in
God' (say they), ' and said he was the Son of God ; let God now save him
if he will have him.' And (which is strange) in these and the like speeches
they use the very same words that in Psalm xxii. were foretold should be
used by them ^hen he should be crucified. > For these words of theirs you
have there recorded, ver. 8 ; so that, as Paul afterward told them, they
fulfilled the prophecies, whilst they ridiculed him. Yea,
Thirdly (Which is an inhumanity unheard of before or since). They mock
at his very prayers, which he makes out of the deepest bitterness of spirit
that ever creature spake out of, and which were full of the saddest com-
plaints that could be uttered, when he cried out most bitterly, ' Eli, Eli, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' They put it off, and turn it
into a scofl', as if they understood it not : ' He calls for Elias,' say they in
scorn ; as if he had prayed unto a creature, unto Elias, instead of the living
God: and 'let us see,' say they, ' if Elias will come and help him.' In
Heb. xi., among other persecutions of the martyrs, cruel mockings are
mentioned as none of the least, reproaches being to the soul (as the
psalmist expresseth it, Ps. Ixiv. 4) as the pricking of a sword. Now was
there ever such cruel mockings as these heard of? Christ complains in
Ps. Ixix. 26 (for it is a psalm of him), ' They persecute him whom thou
hast smitten.' When God had smitten him, and he in bitterness cried,
' Eli, Eli, My God, my God,' they turn it to Elias. Take the most hateful
malefixctor that ever was, one that hath been the most flagitious traitor to
his prince and country that ever pestered the earth, and so had rendered
himself most abominable and odious to all mankind ; yet, let him come to
die for it, and though the rage and fury of men make them not to compas-
sionate his tortures, as being far less than his desert, yet still for his soul,
as it stands in relation to God, they wish well to it, and that it may be
gaved ; their malice rageth not to jeer at the prayers he makes for the
salvation thereof. Nay, men are even ready to afford comfort and help
unto, and to further such a man's faith, and to join in prayers with, and for
him. But these Jews scoff" at Christ's very prayers. They speak what
they are able to make him despair. If ever the devil was abroad, and the
malice of hell in the hearts of men, it was at that day.
In the second place, add unto all these misusages those circumstances
that accompanied both his death and mockings, to heighten his shame the
more. God contrived all things so to fall out as to make his shame above
measure shameful, as our sin had been above measure sinful; he heaped
shame upon shame upon him.
The fu'st circumstance here observable is that of time. All this was done
to him at the most public time that could be chosen out ; even at the pass-
over, when all the males came up to Jenisalem, and many strangers with
them, to celebrate that feast — a concourse like our commencement at our
universities, or like the most general assembly you can imagine.
Second is, the circumstance of place. Which,
1. For the publicness of it, was at Jerusalem, the head city of Jewry, a
stage the most eminent upon which to be made a spectacle to men and
angels. ' Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem' (said two of his disciples
unto himself), ' and hast not known these things ?' Luke xxiv. 18. ' These
things were not done in a corner' (as his disciples said). And when God
268 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
would shame David, he cast in this circumstance to aggi'avate it ; ' Thou '
(says God) ' didst it secretly, but I will punish it before this sun.'
2. (More specially and restrictly) For the infamousness of the place ; he
was crucified at Golgotha, a place of skulls, as ignominious as our Tyburn.
The place had a reproach in it; therefore, Heb. xiii. 13, 'Jesus sufi'ered
without the gate,' says the apostle ; ' let us therefore go forth to him without
the camp, bearing his reproach,'' namel}', of sufiering in such a place. It
shewed he was an outcast, rejected of men, and as dung cast out.
3. For the persons that mocked him, they were persons of all sorts ;
kings and rulers, Herod and the elders, the priests and soldiers, together
with the multitude of common people that followed him, and that passed
by occasionally, yea, the very thieves themselves that were crucified with
him. Now the baseness of the persons that contemn one doth add to the
contempt. Therefore you shall find Job complaining. Job xxx. 1-10, that
those that were younger than he, and whose fathers he would have disdained
to set with the dogs of his flock, did mock him ; they are (says he, ver. 8,
9) the children of villains, more vile than the earth they tread on, and now
I am their song, yea, their by- word,' &c. ' Rsproach ' (saj's Christ in
one of the psalms made of him) * hath broken my heart,' Ps. Ixix. 20.
4. The death itself was also the most shameful ; even ' the death of the
cross ;' which for his disciples to preach and profess, had in the eyes of all
the world a shame in it. Therefore Paul, Gal. v. 11, calls it ' the ofi'ence
or scandal of the cross.' And if that were a shame, to profess a crucified
God, what a shame was it then for God himself to sutfer such a death.'
The cross was so shameful, that therefore none of all the meanest and
basest of the people could be procured so much as to carry it ; so that they
were fain to compel Simon of Cyrene unto it. And it was the custom ever
after to call such as carried a malefactor's cross, Crucigeri, as a brand of
disgrace. And for himself to carry it (as he did), was such an addition of
ignominy unto his death, as for a malefactor to go all the way to the gallows
with a rope about his neck.
5. All this was aggravated also by the persons that sufi'ered with him,
and their saving one of their lives before his. A comparative contempt is
more than a simple one. As,
(1.) That he should be crucified between two thieves, as if he were the
prince of them. It is made an heightening circumstance of his shameful
death (in Isa. liii. 12), that ' he was numbered amongst the transgressors.'
Then,
(2.) (Yet farther) That Barabbas, the most infamous thief, seditious
person and murderer that was in that nation (and so a proclaimed enemy
unto that state), should be voted to live by the common voice of all the
people, and this when with the same breath they cry, ' Let Jesus be crucified,
let him be crucified.' Pilate put them upon choosing one of these two,
and set Jesus in the comparison with Barabbas, on purpose to get Jesus
saved, not thinking they would be so shameless as to prefer him to Christ,
who was a murderer as well as a thief, and one that had made himself
odious unto them all, and whom by their law they were not to pardon or
sufier to live. Yet they are content to bring both the blood he had shed
(by sparing him), and Christ's also, upon then- heads, by crucifying him,
rather than to deliver him that was innocent. Thus much for the shame
of his death and sufi"erings.
Chap. XII.] of chkist the mediator, 269
CHAPTER XII.
The extremity of pain which Christ our Redeemer- endured in his body. — His
heinrj harassed day and night uilhout a moment'' s rest. — His being crowned
uith thorns, torn uith rods, and at last crucified.
The second thing to be considered is the pains and dolours thereof,
which are all sorts of ways set forth to us in his story.
1. Immediately afore his death, Avant of sleep, not that whole night only
which preceded his crucifying, in which he was kept waking in the high
priest's hall, but three or four nights afore, as Brugensis computeth them.
He in preparation to his passion, and being now to leave the world, spent
those nights in praj^er on mount Olivet, and on the days did teach the
people in the temple after his coming into Jerusalem : so towards his end,
pouring forth his spirit as a sacrifice to God and his people, ere he was
oflered up as the sacrifice. He knew his tabernacle was now to be dis-
solved, and he spared not himself, whom God afterwards spared not, days
and nights wearing out himself in private prayer or preaching. Luke's
words are these : Luke sxi. 37, ' And in the days' (it is in the plural) ' he
was teaching in the temple, and in the nights he went out and abode in the
mount' (that is, the whole nights, as abiding implies) ' that was called the
mount of Olives.' This was his wonted custom for the time after he came
into Jerusalem, confirming by his example what in the words afore he had
taught his disciples, verse 36, ' Watch ye therefore, and pray always,' &c.
And then, ver. 30, it follows, ' And all the people came early to him in the
morning' (that is, every morning of those nights, as knowing his manner
and wont) ' for to hear him.' These incessant prayers without rest must
needs bring a strong body low in spirits, and weary it out. The fourth
night, which was Thursday night, he was apprehended after those long
sermons made to his disciples, which John hath recorded, and that solemn
prayer put up, John svii.
2. That night and next day they hurried him up and down seven jour-
neys from one place to another (the Messiah had no rest, that those that
were weary might have rest in him) according to the compute, of six miles
and a half, or seven miles.
3. Whilst he was that last night in the high priest's hall, they smote him
with the palms of their hands (which are bones, as our translators render
that of Matthew, chap. xxvi. 67), saith Matthew; and with their fists, saith
Mark, and both often ; others add with rods, as the word gacr/'^s/v signifies,
derived from gacr/g, a rod ; and these on his mouth or face.
4. He had a crown of thorns plaited on his head, where the nerves ten-
derest of sense do meet. To harrow men with thorns is made a high and
gi-ievous torture and punishment, Judges viii. 16. Gideon, when by sense
he would teach the men of Succoth, by sense and sore experience to do no
more so wickedly, it is said, that ' he took the elders of the city, and thorns
of the wilderness, and briars, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.'
This croA^-n of thorns was kept upon his head all the time, both in his way
to the cross, and whilst on the cross, which pierced those veins and sinews
on the temples and forehead, and caused his face, besmeared also with dust
in his travel to the cross, to be (as the prophet speaks) more marred than
any man's, Isa. lii. 14.
5. Add to this weariness and faintness of spirits, which appeared in the
270 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V-
carryinf^ of his cross. There was that one thing only, wherein they seemed
to pity him, in caUing to another to help him, Simon of Cyrene. But the
truth of the thing was, that he having watched and spent himself so many
days and nights together, he failed so much that they feared he would have
fainted, and so expired ere he came to the place of execution, and so they
should have missed of their designed malice in crucifying of him. We have
wearied him with our sins, and this made him weaiy and ready to faint.
Oh, come to him, all ye that are weary and heavy laden.
6. He was whipped and scom-ged, which was twice, once by Pilate's
command, and that to the end to move compassion in the Jews, that so he
having suffered so cruel a punishment as was sufficient to assuage their
malice, and to satisfy for any crime they could in their own imagination
think him guilty of, who in Pilate's had deserved nothing of death, they
might relent and cease to desire his being crucified. And when he had
scourged him, he brings him forth to pubHc \-iew, and cries, ' Behold the
man !' And after that he was again scourged (as John relates it), as of
custom the Romans used to do those whom they crucified. And these
strokes were laid on, not by the Jews, who by their law were limited not to
exceed forty stripes, but by the Roman soldiers, who had no bounds set
them, but gave as many and as cruel ones as their barbarous nature
pleased, unto an abject man, designed and condemned to the highest
tortures.
7. He after all was crucified. The evangelists aggravate not that in the
circumstances of it ; only say, ' he was crucified ;' but much is shut up in
that one word — the cruelty of that death being known in those days, and
by the relation of it in stories, and by those who have made a collection of
it, of the manner of it, in these days. The apostle Paul put this emphasis
upon his death, ' To death, even the death of the cross,' Phil. ii. 8, crucia-
tus, or the pains of the cross, being commonly used by the Romans (among
whom this death was frequent) to express the sharpest pains and tortures.
The manner of which was,
(1.) The cross, the person to be crucified was being affixed unto, being
laid upon the ground, his hands and feet were stretched out as far as they
could extend, and then nailed in the hands and in the feet unto the cross ;
which the Psalmist, Ps. xxii., expresseth by digging holes (foclentnt) in his
hands and feet, ver. 16, as the vulgar translation reads it. In the hands
and feet the nerves again meet and centre, and so they are of the most
exquisite sense. Then,
(2.) The rearing up the cross with the man nailed on it (whilst on the
ground), and fixing the cross in the hole which was digged for it, with a
violent jog to fix it in the earth, as was their manner; this exceeded all
the torments of our racks. In the 22d Psalm, ver. 14, 15, himself tells us
that it loosened all his bones, or my bones dispart themselves. And it is
not only said, as ver. 17, ' I may tell all my bones,' he hanging naked, but
further, ver. 14, ' All my bones are out of joint.'
(3.) And thereon they hung till death, tlaeir arms and hands bearing the
weight of their whole bodies, so as they died of mere pains (and thus Christ
huncT on the tree. Acts v. 30), exhausting their spirits. For a man to hold
his hands but stretched out, what a trouble is it. Moses could not for a
day do it, but was lain to be supported.
(4.) And this put them into an exquisite fever, as such pains do, as
appeared by his thirst, as Ps. xxii. 15, ' My strength is dried as a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.'
Chap. XIII.J of christ the mediator. 271
The last (of bodily sufferings) is death itself, which is the separation of
soul and body : unto this the curse reached ; and it was not his pains or
shame or hanging on a cross that would satisfy, unless he also breathe out
his soul. This was necessary ; ' unless the corn fall into the ground and
die' (it is Christ s own similitude, John xii. 24), ' it abideth alone.' So he,
unless he had died, had been (of mankind) in heaven alone. He was also
to be the founder of a will and testament, and that is not of force until the
death of the testator ; he must therefore die : Ileb. ix. 16, 17, ' For where
a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead ; otherwise it is of no
strength at all whilst the testator liveth.' And he was to be the death of
death, Hosea xiii. 14. And it is a general rule, what he procured virtue
for in man's behalf, he did it by undergoing the same. Yea, he thereby
made death a dead and ineffectual thing, -/.araBy/jgavTog rh ^dvaroy, destroy-
ing death, 2 Tim. i. 10. This was held forth in the type. Num. xxxv. 28,
in that the murderer or manslayer was then set free from his prison, the
city of refuge (which was a confinement to them) when the high priest died,
but not till then. Nor should we have been set free unless our High Priest
had died. Now for his soul and body thus to part, and for the Son of
God, united to both personally, to continue that union unto that dead car-
case of his body laid in the grave, what a debasement was it, besides all
considerations else that belong to this head.
CHAPTER XIII.
The greatest of all Christ's suffenngs icere those of his soul. — What were the
causes of those sorivws. — The greatness of those sufferings. — Wherein they
did consist. — How it could consist u-ith his being the Son of God, to be for-
saken of God, and to bear such extremity of his Father's urath.
But yet, though we have seen the woe and curse in this life due to us by
sin passed over and sustained by Christ ; and secondly, the curse cf bodily
death undergone too ; yet (as the Revelation to another purpose speaks)
there is a third woe, which a guilty conscience fears more than all the other,
and which is the curse of curses, ' Thou shalt die the death.' ' Two woes
are passed ; behold, a third woe is yet to come,' which is the great and main
curse of the law that is to be undergone (as the text sa,js) before the law be
fulfilled. For as the life promised — ' Do this and live' — is more than to
live bodily, or as a beast doth, or rationally, as men do ; it being to live in
communion with God, as angels do ; so, * Dying thou shalt die' is more
than the bodily death and returning unto dust. And as that life promised
is the favour of God — ' Thy favour is better than life,' Ps. xxxvi. 3 ;
' With thee is the fountain of life,' Ps. Ixiii. 9, says David — so this death
here threatened is from the wrath of God, which therefore is put for hell
and death ; as when it is said, ' We are saved from wrath to come,' 1 Thess.
i. 10 ; ' This is the second death,' as it is called, Rev. xx. 6. And it is
the original curse, the fountain of curses ; whereas the death of the body,
and all miseries of this life, are but the streams. This is the pure curse,
without mixture, as it is called in the Revelation ; the other is the curse in
the dregs, mingled and conveyed by creatures. All other curses light upon
the outward man first, and upon the soul but at the rebound, and at the
second hand, only by way of sympathy and compassion ; but the immediate
272 OP CHRIST THE MEDIATOR, [BoOK V.
and proper subject of this curse is the soul and spirit : * Indignation and
wi'fith, tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil,' Eona.
ii. 9. And this is the sum of all curses, and instead of all the rest. And
therefore Paul, when he would express his willingness not only to die bodily,
but to endure hell also, for his brethren, as Christ had done for him, he
expresseth it by this, ' I could wish myself to be accursed from Christ,'
(Rom. ix. 3) ; that is, to be separated from all the comfort I shall have by
him, and endure that wrath that is due unto me, though undergone by him
for me. Which wish of his may help us to understand how far Christ was
made a curse for us ; for it was the love of Christ which constrained Paul's
heart unto this wish ; and his meaning was to undergo that for his brethren
in Christ, which Christ underwent for him, and so far as Christ underwent
it, without sin. And so far as Paul wished it without sinning (for he spake
it in Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, as ver. 1), so far might and did Christ
undergo it without sin also. His meaning therefore was not that he was
content to be cut ofi' from being a member of Christ, and so to have no in-
fluence of grace from Christ derived to him. No ; that had been a sinful
■wish, and not from the Holy Ghost. But his meaning is, that he could be
content to lose that portion of comfort which was to be had in the enjoying
of Christ, and so undergo that displeasure from him which was due unto
his sins, by feeling the effects of it in anguish and pain, &c. Thus when
it is said, that Christ was made a curse, not only in bodily miseries, but in
his soul also, the meaning is not that the hypostatical union was dissolved,
or the influence of divine grace restrained, but only, that in regard of com-
fort he was ' forsaken' of God, and felt the fearful effects of his anger due
to our sins, without sin and despair.
In like manner, when it is said, Christ underwent this curse also, ' D3'ing
thou shalt die,' the meaning is not that Christ's soul did die the second
death : the Scripture speaks it not, neither are we to speak it ; but thus the
Scripture expresseth it, that ' his soul was heavy unto death,' Mat. xxvi. 37, 38.
It is spoken of this curse of his soul, which did not work death in it, but
a heaviness unto death, not extensive so as to die, but intensive, that if he
had died it could not have suffered more. As Jonas is said to be * angiy
unto death,' Jonah iv. 10 — that is, he thought that misery and cross for
which he was angry to be even as great an aifliction as death itself, and so
he could out of his anger wish for death — so Christ's heaviness was as great
as theirs that undergo that death ; yet die he did not ; it was but ' unto
death,' as Onesiphorus was said to be ' sick unto death,' or as a woman in
travail is said to be at the point of death, because if she were a-dying, she
could not have more pain. There is such another phrase, Acts ii. 24, where
it is said, that Christ ' was raised up, God having loosed the sorrows of
death,' uBlvac:, the throes of death, of which it was impossible he should be
held. It is evident that it is spoken of his soul ; for if it were spoken of
bodily death, there were no sorrows that remained on his body in the grave,
to withhold it from rising again. No ; these sorrows died when he died,
and were then ended, and so could not be said to be upon his body, to
hinder it from rising. Again, it is not absolutely called death, but * the
sorrows of death ;' that is, the same pains and throes that dying men's souls
have, he felt. And it is observed, that the same phrase that is used to ex-
press the sorrows of hell, 1 Thess. v, 3, the travail of a woman (so Ps.
xviii. 4, 5, the pangs of hell, or birth-throes, as the word signifies), the
same phrase [udivag] is here used, signifying the throes of a woman in
travail, and having reference to that phi'ase in Isaiah liii. 11, * He shall see
Chap. Xni.] op ohrist the mediator. 273
of the travail of his soul.' His sonl, and not his person, is there properly
meant, for it is spoke as of a part of himself, ' He shall see of the travail of
his soul.' Those pains were indeed birth-throes to us, they tending to our
life, but in him they were the sorrows of death. And so in this he bare the
woman's curse in his soul, as well as Adam's curse in his body ; as he did
eat in sweat, so he brought forth in pain, and in sorrows unto death ; but
yet such as did not kill his soul, it died not, for he was to live to see his
seed, and have joy in his soul for them for whom he had had most pain :
so it is in Isa. liii. 10. For, thirdly, these sorrows did not ' hold him ;'
had they held him, then indeed he had died. And the reason why he died
not, was not that he had not the same throes and stabs that use to kill
others ; for they are therefore called the sorrows of death, because they
were the same which kill all men's souls in hell ; but he was too strong
for them, nature was too potent in him, and life too vigorous ; otherwise
that which he underwent was enough to have killed out of hand all men
and angels ; but him they could not hold, it was impossible. Yet, fourthly,
they were loosened, not so as never to have hold of him, or as if he never
came in to them (as Bellarmine trifles) ; no, he was in them : (as Ps.
cxxiv. 7), * His soul escaped as a bird out of the snare : the snare was broken,
and he was delivered.' The devils they are reserved in chains too strong
for them, Jude 5, but he, like another Samson, brake these ropes, these
cords. So Ps. xviii. 5, 6, where the sorrows of hell are called cords, for the
same word, v3n, signifies both, and so the Chaldee Paraphrast reads it.
And yet, fifthly, because these were truly the pains of death, therefore this
delivery of his soul from them is called a resurrection ; and the greatest
wonder of his resurrection is ascribed to this ; for the main power of the
resurrection was seen in raising his soul, because it conflicted with such
sorrows. For his soul had a resurrection as well as his body, which Peter
also, to shew he means it here, does distinctly mention. Acts ii. ver. 27.
God's promise was, that he would not ' leave Christ's soul in hell ' ; that
is, under the pressures of these sorrows ; there is the resurrection of
his soul from the sorrows of death expressed ; ' nor sufier the Holy One
to see corruption ;' there is the resurrection of his bodj" from the power of
the grave, both which make up that greater resurrection of his there spoken
of. For to raise a soul from the terrors of God's wrath, does as much de-
serve the name of a resurrection, and more, as to raise a dead body. There-
fore, says Heman (suffering these terrors in his soul), ' I am like the slain
that lie in the grave, and wilt thou shew wonders to the dead ? shall the
dead arise and praise thee?' Ps. Ixxxviii. 6, 10. And this resurrection
Christ's soul had before it went out of his body : for after it went out, it
went to paradise, and encountered not with the pains of death ; but before
it left his body, it did, and was rescued. And therefore, after that long
conflict, for three hours' space, whilst the curtains of the woi'ld were close
drawn, and ail was hushed up in darkness, during which time he had
struggled with these sorrows and with God's wrath, which towai'ds the
conclusion he manifests by that bitter expression, * My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me ?' after that conflict (I pay) he cries out, ' It is
finished ;' which some divines think not to have reference to the work of
redemption, that that work was finished. Ko ; for that was not as yet
finished, his bodily death being a part of it, as also the piercing of his side,
and laying of him in the grave ; but the meaning is, that now the great
brunt was over, that cup which he so feared was drunk off, his soul was
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274 OF CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. [BoOK V.
come out of its eclipse, as the sun did then also out of its darkness, -which
was a shadow or sign of this in his spirit ; unto this it is that those words
refer. And that which seems to confirm it is that when first these kind
of sorrows fell on him in the garden, the evangelist notes it, saying, that then
his soul began to be heavy ; and now when they went off him, he shews,
that then it was finished.
As therefore we, who are his members, have a double resurrection in our
souls whilst they are in our bodies, John v. 25, ' The time now is,' &c., and
in our bodies, at the latter day, ver, 29 in the same chapter; so had
Christ : one of his soul from the terrors following the guilt of sin, the sor-
rows of death upon the cross ; the other of his body from the grave the
third da}% which was a manifestation of the first. And answerably those
sorrows may be called a kind of death, at least the sorrows of death, in the
same sense that bodily dangers and distresses are called dying, as Paul,
being in jeopardy every hour, is said to ' die daily,' 1 Cor. xv. 31 ; and so
in that sense, and no other, may he be said to have undergone this curse
of dying the death. Therefore, Isa. liii. 9, we have his deaths in the
plural mentioned, not his death only : ' He made his grave with the wicked
in his deaths.' So in the original. And in his bearing these sorrows of
death was the curse abundantly fulfilled, although he did not die the second
death ; for that wrath, which is the cause of the second death in others, he
underwent ; and those sorrows of death, which that cause produceth, he
bore ; though the same event followed not, his soul died not, as theirs
through weakness doth.
Having thus explained and fitted these phrases to our hand, we will now
come to the particulars of the sufl'erings of his soul, which are merely and
properly such, and which, as that curse seizeth on wicked men by degrees,
so did seize on him by degrees, towards his end. The first mention we
have of them is in John xii. 27, four days before his passion, when on the
sudden he breaks forth, ' Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? '
He then saw the storm a- coming, and a black cloud rising, which troubled
him ; and in the expectation of it, he saw so much to be troubled at, as he
knew not how to express it, but cries out, ' "V\^lat shall I say ? '
The second degree was in the garden, as both Mat. chap. xxvi. from
ver. 3G to the end, Mark xiv. from ver. 32 to 51, Luke xxii. 40, and John
xviii. 1, 2, do set it down. There it was where the storm overtook him,
ere ever he fell into the hands of Judas or the high priest, and he began
to feel some drops of it ; and indeed the sorrows that there seized on him
were such as fetched blood from him ere these his enemies approached him.
Whereby was shewn, that he had other and gi-eater miseries to encounter
with than from men. And whereas, for all his bodily soitows, we hear not
one groan from him, as neither for his wounding with the crown of thorns,
with nails, &c., but ' as a sheep that openeth not his mouth, so was he
led to the slaughter,' Isa. liii. 7 ; yet here, in the very entrance into these
sorrows, we hear him lamenting : Mat. xxvi. 38, ' My soul is heavy unto
death.' He names, and as it were lays his finger on, the part affected,
which was not his body, but his soul ; it was there where his grief lay.
And we have many words and expressions which may help us to see into
his grief what it was. Amongst which, the first and lowest expression is
XwrnloSai, Mat. xxvi. 37. He had said before, that he was troubled : and
we read not so much as of the least trouble of his for outward pains ; but
now it is said, he became sorrowful. It was no pain of his body could
make his great spirit sorrowful. Sorrow is more than pain, as joy is more
Chap. XIII.j of chkist the mediator. 275
than delight. Beasts arc never 6orro\vful properly, and yet they have all
sorts of pains of the body, which touch not their souls with a reflection, and
60 cause sorrow. The cause of Christ's sorrow reached his reasonable soul,
which is the proper subject of sorrow, and not the inferior, but the superior
part also. Yea, Tully restrains the word tristis to sorrow for the punish-
ment of sin and wickedness : j)oena sceleris tristis est. And yet this is but
the lowest degree, but the beginning of soitows, which, notwithstanding,
reached as deep- as any kind of worldly sorrow could do ; for even David's
soiTow or aflliction for his son Absalom is expressed by the same word.
Now there were two things which made his soul to be thus sorrowful.
1. The sins of the world imputed to him and charged on him.
2. The curse or wrath of God upon him for those sins.
1. First, the sins of the world came in upon him; and therefore, ver. 38,
he is not simply said to be sorrowful, but -rrisi/.vzog, which word signifies an
encompassing about with sorrows, as David often expresseth it : ' The sor-
rows of hell encompassed me about,' Ps. xviii. 5. His soul was plunged
into them over head and ears, so that he had not so much as a breathing
hole. For intention, this sorrow was unto death, and for extension, all the
powers and faculties of his soul were begirt, besieged, and imprisoned ; and
this expression is especially used in respect to om* sins taking hold of him.
So Ps. xl. 12, 'Innumerable evils encompass me about: mine iniquities
take hold of me.' It is spoken by Chiist as in his suft'eiings, for of him is
that psalm prophetically made. So that, I take it, this phrase tss/ak-o;
hath a more proper respect to the charging of our particular sins upon hun,
Tvhich began to encompass him, or (as Isaiah's phrase is, Isa. hii) 'to meet
in him,' to come about him from every quarter. His soul was so environed
and shut up in sorrows (or in prisons, as Isaiah's phi-ase, Isa. liii. 8, is),
that he had not a cranny left for comfort 1o come in at. Gal. iii. 23,
the law is compared to a prison, in which men under the guilt of sin are
shut up ; and so was Christ. Now, no temporal mercies do so environ an
ordinaiy man's spii-it, but that there is some hole left to take breath at.
But sin can do it ; and much more all the sins of the world, which now at
once did meet at and beset Christ's soul. As Heb. xii. 1, sin is said to be
that which ' easily besets us,' and so do both the power and the guilt of it.
2. Secondly, there is yet a further expression used by another evangelist,
that respects the terrors of God's wrath, seconding and following upon this
his apprehension of our sins, and it is in Mark xiv. 33, ' He began to be
sore amazed,' h.&aixZi7a&ai, which is a third expression used concerning his
trouble. Our translation rightly renders it ' sore amazed,' for Sa/Xos/V
signifies to be amazed ; but sz added, signifies the extremity of that amaze-
ment, such as when men fall into it, their hair stands on end, and their
flesh trembles. It signifies ' to be in horror.' No sooner hath these our
sins presented themselves to him, as being our surety, but that withal
thunder and lightning from God do presently strike him, and his wi-ath
and cui'se for them suddenly arrests him ; this was it that put him into
such an amazement as contains in it both fear and horror. His Father is
presented unto him as an angry judge brandishing his sword of justice.
And as the delivering of the law made Moses tremble, so the curse of the
law made Christ ; ' I quake and tremble,' says Moses, or (as David ex-
presseth it) ' My flesh trembleth because of thy judgments,' Ps. cxix. 120.
Now, in the third place, follows the ellect of both these two (namely, the
imputation of our sins, and the inflicting of God's wrath), which was an
abriiio'/ia, an exceeding ' heaviness ' upon him. "VMiich word, both Mat.,
270 OF CURIST THE MEDIATOR. fBoOK V.
chap. xxvi. 37, useth, saj-iiig, '/i^^aro a.brjfj.ovsTv, which is translated, * He
began to be very heavy ; ' and the same in Mark, chap. xiv. 33, where it in
hke manner follows that former expression of his being amazed. Now,
this word imports first the deep intention of his mind, so as to be wholly
taken and swallowed up with sorrow and amazement, and even to be
abstracted from his own thoughts, and to forget all comfort whatsoever,
being wholly intent and thinking upon nothing else but God's wrath, with
which he was to encounter — so full, so adequate an object is sin and the
wrath due unto it, even broad enough for Christ's understanding to be
wholly taken up with it. And therefore he hath the thoughts of our sal-
vation, as it were, struck out of his mind for a time ; all his powers being
so occupied about, and possessed with these doleful sights presented, that
they forget their own functions. Some have put a further emphasis upon
the word, as noting out, not only an abstract 
