f Hieron. Quern approbat, i. e. Whom my soul approves. Pagninus & Mont anus, Complacuit aninuz mea, i. e. One that highly delights my soul. The Septuagint, Qusnt suscepit anima mea} i. e. Whom my soul takes or wraps up.
«ERM. II. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. '45
can express : but then not only to appear in true flesh, but also in the likeness of sinful flesh, as, Rom. viii. 3. O what is this !
Secondly ', Christ was not under the law in this estate. I confess it was no disparagement to Adam in the state of innocency, to an- gels in their state of glory, to be under law to God ; but it was an unconceivable abasement to the absolute independent Being to come under law: yea, not only under the obedience, but also under the malediction and curse of the law, Gal. iv. 4. " But when the " fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a f* woman, made under the law."
Thirdly, In this state he was not liable to any of those sorrow- ful consequents and attendants of that frail and feeble state of hu- manity, which he afterwards assumed, with the nature. As, (1.) He was unacquainted with griefs ; there was no sorrowing or sighing in that bosom where he lay, though afterwards he became " a man " of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,''1 Isa. liii. 3. " A man of " sorrows," as if he had been constituted and made up of pure and unmixed sorrows ; every day conversing with griefs, as with his intimate companions and acquaintance. (2.) He was never pinched with poverty and wants, while he continued in that bo- som, as he was afterwards, when he said, " The foxes have holes, *' and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath *' not where to lay his head," Matth. viii. 20. Ah blessed Jesus ! thou needest not to have wanted a place to have lain thine head, hadst thou not left that bosom for my sake. * (3.) He never un- derwent reproach and shame in that bosom, there was nothing but glory and honour reflected upon him by his Father, though afterwards he was despised, and rejected of men, Isa. liii. 3. His Father never looked upon him without smiles and love, delight and joy, though afterwards he became a reproach of men, and des- pised of the people, Psalm xxii. 6. (4.) His holy heart was never offended with an impure suggestion or temptation of the Devil ; all the while he lay in that bosom of peace and love, he never knew what it was to be assaulted with temptations, to be besieged and battered upon by unclean spirits, as he did afterwards, Mat. iv. 1. " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness " to be tempted of the Devil." It was for our sakes that he sub- mitted to those exercises of spirit, " to be in all points tempted
* He that ivas in the bosom of his Father ; an expression showing the intimate, close, and secret delight and love he had from the Father. How unspeakable is it, that he should deprive himself of the sense of it ? to put himself, as it were, out of heaven into hell ? this is deeper love than ever we can imagine or conceive : No wonder the apostle calls it VtpOlttW)) [pcrisseuon], and vwipftlPltylvm [hi/perpuisseuon] the unsearchable riches of grace ; we are never able to go to the bottom of it, but still there is more grace and love behind, Mr, Anth. Burgess, led. on John xvii. p. 505.
46 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SEEM. II.
" like as we are, that he might be unto us a merciful and faith- " ful High-priest,'1 Heb. iv. 15. (5.) He was never sensible of pains and tortures in soul or body, there were no such things in that blessed bosom where he lay, though afterwards he groaned and sweat under them, Isa. liii. 5. The Lord embraced him from eternity, but never wounded him till he stood in our place and room. (6.) There were no hidings or withdrawings of his Father from him ; there was not a cloud from eternity upon the face of God, till Jesus Christ had left that bosom. It was a new thing to Christ to see frowns in the face of his Father ; a new thing for him to cry, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" Mat. xxvii. 46. (7.) There were never any impressions of his Fathers wrath upon him, as there were afterwards : God never delivered such a bitter cup into his hands before, as that was, Matth. xxvi. 39. Lastly, There was do death, to which he was subject, in that bosom. All these things were new things to Christ ; he was above them all, till for our sakes he voluntarily sub- jected himself unto them. Thus you see what that state was not.
2. Let us consider it positively ', what it was, and guess by some particular considerations (for indeed we can but guess) at the glory of it ; as, (1.) We cannot but conceive it to be a state of matchless happiness, if we consider the persons enjoying and delighting in each other : he was with God, John i. 1. God, you know, is the fountain, ocean and centre of all delights and joys : Psal. xvi. 11. " In thy presence is fulness of joy." To be wrapt up in the soul and bosom of all delights, as Christ was, must needs be a state transcending apprehension ; to have the fountain of love and delight letting out itself so immediately, and fully, and everlast- ingly, upon this only begotten darling of his soul, so as it never did communicate itself to any ; judge what a state of transcendent felicity this must be. Great persons have great delights.
(2.) Or if we consider the intimacy, dearness, yea, oneness of those great persons one with another : the nearer the union, the sweeter the communion. Now Jesus Christ was not only near and dear to God, but one with him ; " I and my Father are one," John x. 30. one in nature, will, love and delight There is in- deed a moral union of souls among men by love, but this was a natural oneness ; no child is so one with his father, no husband so one with the wife of his bosom, no friend so one with his friend* no soul so one with its body, as Jesus Christ and his Father were one. O what matchless delights must necessarily flow from such a blessed union !
(3.) Consider again the purity of that delight with which the blessed Father and Son embraced each other ; the best creature- delights one in another, are mixed, debased, and allayed ; if there
SEKM. IT. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 47
be something ravishing and engaging, there is also something cloying and distasting. The purer any delight is, the more excellent. Sow, there are no chrystal streams flowing so purely from the fountain, no beams of light so unmixed from the sun, as the loves and delights of these holy and glorious persons were : the holy, holy, holy Father embraced the thrice holy Son with a most holy delight and love.