Sixthly, To conclude : if in Christ, know this for your comfort, that your own Lord Jesus Christ keeps the keys of all the cham- bers of death : and as he unlocks the door of death, when he lets you in, so he will open it again for you when you awake, to let you out ; and from the time he opens to let you in, till the time he opens to let you out, he himself wakes and watches by you while you sleep there. " I (saith he) have the keys of death," Rev. i. 18. O then, as you expect peace or rest in the chambers of death, get union with Christ. A grave with Christ is a comfortable place.
SE11M. XXXVIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 467
Wherein four weighty Ends of Christ's Humiliation are opened, and particularly applied.
Is a. liii."&^ He shall see the travail of Ids soul, and be satisfied.
W E are now arrived at the last particular place which we de- signed to speak to in Chrisfs state of humiliation, namely, the de- signs and blessed ends for which he was so deeply abased. It is inconsistent with the prudence of a common agent, to be at vast expences of time, pains, and cost, and not to propound to himself a design worthy of all those expences. And it is much less ima- ginable, that Christ should so stupendously abase himself, by stoop- ing from the bosom of his Father to the state of the dead, where our last discourse left him, if there had not been some excellent and glorious thing in his eye, the attainment whereof might give him a content and satisfaction, equivalent to all the sorrows and abasements he endured for it.
And so much is plainly held forth in this scripture, " He shall " see the travail of his soul, and be satisfied."" In which words three things fall under our consideration.
First, The travailing pangs of Christ. So the agonies of his soul and torments of his body are fitly called, not only because of the sharpness and acuteness of them, being in that respect like the sharpness and acuteness of them, being in that respect like birth- pangs of a travailing woman, for so this * word signifies, but also because they fore-run, and make way for the birth, which abun- dantly recompenses all those labours. I shall not here insist upon the pangs and agonies endured by Christ in the garden, or upon the cross, which the prophet stiles " the travail of his soul,1* having, in the former sermons, opened it largely in its particulars, but pass to the
Second Thing considerable in these words, and that is the assured fruits and effects of this his travail ; he shall see the travail of his soul. By seeing, understand the fruition, obtainment, or enjoyment of the end of his sufferings. He shall not shed his blood upon an hazard ; his design shall not miscarry ; but he shall certainly see the ends he aimed at, accomplished.
And Thirdly, This shall yield him great satisfaction : as a
* *"?ray, wdivw, This word signifies both the birth and pain attending it. —
408 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XXXVIII.
" woman forgets her sorrow, for joy that a man is born into the " world." John xvi. 21. he shall see it and be satisfied. As God, when he had finished the work of creation, viewed that his work with pleasure and satisfaction ; so doth our exalted ' Redeemer, with great contentment, behold the happy issues of his hard suffer- ings. It affords pleasure to a man to see great affairs, by orderly conduct, brought to happy issues. Much more doth it yield de- light to Jesus Christ to see the results of the most profound wisdom and love wherein he carried on redemption-work. All runs into this doctrine,
Doct. That all the blessed designs and ends for which the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself to the death of the cross, shall cer- tainly be attained, to his full content and satisfaction.
My present business is not to prove, that Christ shall certainly obtain what he died for ; nor to open the great satisfaction and pleasure which will arise to him out of those issues of his death, but to point at the principal ends of his death : making some brief improvement as we pass along.
First, Then let us enquire into the designs and ends of Christ's humiliation, at least the main and principal ones; and we shall find, that as the sprinkling of the typical blood in the Old Testa- ment was done for four weighty ends or uses, answerably, the precious and invaluable blood of the Testator and surety of the New Testament is shed for four weighty ends also.
First, That blood was shed and applied to deliver from danger ; Exod. xii. 13. " And the blood shall be to you for a* token upon " the houses where you are ; and when I see the blood, I will pass " over you : and the plague shall not be upon you, to destroy you, " when I smite the land of Egypt."
Secondly, The blood that was shed to make an atonement betwixt God and the people ; Lev. iv. 20. " And he shall do with the " bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin-offering ; so shall he " do with this, and the priest shall make an atonement for them, " and it shall be forgiven them."
Thirdly, That blood was shed to purify persons from their cere- monial pollutions, Lev. xiv. 6, 7. " He shall dip the cedar-wood, " and scarlet, and hyssop, with the living bird, in the blood of " the bird that was lalled over the running water, and he shall " sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven
* The Jews implicitly acknowledged by this ceremony, that they were to be liberated from eternal death by the blood of the Messiah. Vatab.
SERM. XXXVIII. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 469
" times * ; and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living " bird loose in the open field."
Fourthly, That f blood was shed to ratify and confirm the testa- ment or covenant of God with the people, Exod. xxiv. 8. " And " Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, " Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made " with you concerning all these words.11 These were the four main ends for shedding and sprinkling that typical blood. Suita- bly, there are four principal ends for shedding and applying Christ's blood. As that typical blood was shed to deliver from danger, so this was shed to deliver from wrath, even the wrath to come. That was shed to make an atonement, so was this. That was shed to purify persons from uncleanness, so was this. That was shed to confirm the Testament, so was this. As will appear in the following particulars more at large.